Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he was offered a role in Top Gun: Maverick, but he had to turn it down due to other commitments.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Hamilton recalled watching the original 1986 Top Gun movie at a young age and becoming fixated on the idea of becoming a fighter pilot, so when he heard about the sequel, he decided to approach his good friend Tom Cruise to ask about appearing in the film. He was subsequently offered his dream aviation role, but it came at a time when he couldn't accept it.

"When I heard the second one was coming out, I was like, 'Oh, my God, I have to ask him,'" Hamilton admitted. "I said, 'I don't care what role it is. I'll even sweep something, be a cleaner in the back.'"

He was offered a spot in one of the fighter jets' cockpits but realized the filming schedule would have clashed with the climax of the Formula 1 season. Hamilton acknowledged that he is a "perfectionist," and there wasn't enough time for him to prepare for the role. He added it was "the most upsetting call that I think I've ever had," reaching out to Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski to decline the offer.

Hamilton has dabbled in the film industry before, having had a cameo in Zoolander 2 and lending his voice in Cars 2 and Cars 3. He's also recently joined Brad Pitt as one of the producers of the upcoming Formula 1 movie directed by Kosinski. In that film, Pitt will play a veteran driver who comes out of retirement to mentor a young driver on the race track, but Hamilton's role will be much more behind the scenes.

For now, though, Kosinski is still flying high on the success of Top Gun: Maverick, which recently surpassed James Cameron's Titanic to become the seventh highest-grossing movie ever at the US box office, earning $662 million in ticket sales. The film has also crossed the coveted $1 billion mark at the global box office and is Tom Cruise's highest-grossing movie of all time.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

A new video has emerged of a White Xbox Elite Series 2 controller.

The Xbox Elite Series 2 controller has only been available in black (or a limited-edition Halo-styled version) but the White edition has been expected for some time. Now, it looks as though they may be on their way, after Twitter user Rebs_Gaming (via VGC) uncovered a new video of the controller being unboxed.

“I think this is our first footage of the Xbox Elite Series 2 White Edition controller,” he said via Twitter. “A leaked image of the controller was shown by @IdleSloth84 back in March.”

Leak: I think this is our first footage of the Xbox Elite Series 2 White Edition controller. A leaked image of the controller was shown by @IdleSloth84 back in March.

Source: https://t.co/WfMCEk3FQv#Xbox #XboxOne #XboxSeriesX pic.twitter.com/t97qbaNPCu

— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) August 8, 2022

Microsoft is yet to confirm the existence of the fabled White Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, but the video appears to be genuine – showing a brief unboxing of the controller. While some viewers note that the security stickers were removed very quickly, it’s likely that the box was prepped or already opened ahead of the unboxing video.

The original video was posted by YouTuber Nicholas Lugo, but there’s currently no information about how Lugo got his hands on the coveted controller.

According to Microsoft, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller is “the world’s most advanced controller” with a range of pro features including:

• Adjustable-tension thumbsticks
• Shorter hair trigger locks
• Wrap around rubberized grip
• Up to 3 custom profiles and 1 default profile
• Button Mapping

Additionally, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller is the only Xbox controller to feature a built-in rechargeable battery pack.

The standard Xbox Elite Series 2 controllers include the controller itself, a carrying case, set of 6 thumbsticks (2 x Standard, 2 x Classic, 1 x Tall, 1 x Wide Dome), set of 4 paddles (2 x Medium, 2 x Mini), set of 2 D-pads (Standard and Faceted), a thumbstick-adjustment tool, a charging dock, and a USB-C cable.

Want to check out even more Xbox Series X|S controllers? Here’s our guide to the best budget Xbox controllers, as well as a good look at the Halo edition controller.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

A modder has put Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's genius Nemesis System into Skyrim, which means you can now set yourself up for revenge against dragons (or mudcrabs, or anything else) that kill you.

Syclonix's Shadow of Skyrim: Nemesis and Alternative Death System mod turns almost any enemy that defeats you into a nemesis. This nemesis gains a unique name, grows in stength, steals your weapons (and may even use them), and inflicts a debuff on you. The only way to remove that debuff and gain back your equipment is to seek your nemesis out and kill them. Handily, the mod creates a quest in your log so that you can easily track your revenge.

The mod's design attempts to thread together situational stories with your nemesis. For instance, if you're killed by an Argonian Vampire he may become known as "Breaks-Many-Shields" and be given the Shield-Breaker buff as part of his stats upgrade. The debuff inflicted on you from the encounter may force you to be unable to use shields, too. And then, as part of your revenge quest, your nemesis may be found in a vampire lair, since Breaks-Many-Shields is a vampire.

As the title suggests, the system requires Skyrim to use an alternate approach to death. Rather than being killed and forcing you to reload, death instead respawns you in the world. This means the data on your nemesis isn't lost, and helps keep the system flowing.

You can have up to five nemeses at any one time, although Syclonix has wisely restricted them to enemies within 25 levels of you to prevent you from gaining a nemesis you have no chance of defeating. You also can't turn a quest-related or essential character into a nemesis.

Syclonix notes that Shadow of Skyrim is a "nod" to Shadow of Mordor, rather than a copy of the actual Nemesis system. Their inspiration also includes roguelikes, Crusader Kings, and trait sytems in more modern RPGs. They note that it does not infringe on Warner Bros.' patent for the Nemesis system.

For more cool Elder Scrolls upgrades, check out the Skyrim co-op mod, which has been downloaded more than 80,000 times since its recent release.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is on its way, heading to the big screen on December 20, 2024.

The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog sequel sees the return of our favorite Sega character, with both Tails and Knuckles the Echidna teased alongside him.

“Running faster, flying higher, and punching harder,” said an official announcement via Twitter. “#SonicMovie3 hits theatres on December 20, 2024.”

Running faster, flying higher, and punching harder. #SonicMovie3 hits theatres on December 20, 2024. pic.twitter.com/DcFGbaKUao

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@SonicMovie) August 9, 2022

Thankfully, it looks as though Ben Schwartz will be back to voice the Blue Blur, as he reiterated Sonic 3’s release date announcement.

“HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!” he said via Twitter. “#SonicMovie3 IS COMING TO THEATRES ON DECEMBER 20, 2024!!! AHHH!!!”

Although it’s unknown whether Colleen O’Shaunnessey and Idris Elba will return to voice Tails and Knuckles, it feels like that’s already in the bag. After all, Elba has already agreed to voice the Sonic character in an upcoming Knuckles spin-off.

A third Sonic movie seemed inevitable after the franchise’s success so far. The first Sonic the Hedgehog film was met with critical and box office success, while Sonic the Hedgehog 2 became the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the US.

IGN’s own review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 said: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2 improves upon its predecessor in many ways while falling short in a few others. It feels more attuned to the Sonic lore than ever before, and fans of the games should have a great time seeing their favorite characters so lovingly recreated on the big screen. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are a ton of fun, as is Jim Carrey’s wonderfully over-the-top reprisal of Dr. Robotnik. It doesn’t quite know how to make its other human characters work, however, and is definitely longer than it needs to be. Still, it’s overall a sweet, funny, and action-packed ride that fully embraces its video game roots.”

What Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be about, remains to be seen, but with Shadow the Hedgehog teased in a post-credits scene, it looks as though we may have already had a pretty big hint.

Want to read more about Sonic the Hedgehog? Check out our guide to all the Easter eggs in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as well as what will happen to Dr. Robotnik if Jim Carrey retires.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

PixelJunk Scrappers – previously an Apple Arcade exclusive – is now coming to PC as a Deluxe edition. We've got some exclusive gameplay to show you.

Part of Q-Games' ever-changing PixelJunk series, Scrappersis a 2D brawler mixed with a party game that sees teams of players cleaning up the streets of Junktown, and fighting off rival crews of garbage collecting robots.

You can check out seven minutes of exclusive gameplay in the video below:

The Deluxe version is currently listed only as "coming soon", and will add "an array of additional features including new combat methods, the addition of weapon drops, multiple level adjustments and the inclusion of score challenges across all stages."

Q-Games creative director Maeta Kazushi adds, "We’ve also spent time optimizing for Steam Deck and the game feels amazing to play on the go. We’ll have more details to share soon, but our whole team is really excited for the PixelJunk series to be back on PC!”

The game supports up to four players in local or online co-op, includes 25 stages, 100 items to unlock, multiple modes and mini-games, and characters to unlock throughout.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

It turns out Super Punch-Out!! was a competitive multiplayer game all along — it just took fans 28 years to figure it out.

Earlier today, the Twitter account Unlisted Cheats revealed two new previously undiscovered cheats for Super Punch-Out!!, the sequel to Punch-Out!! released in 1994.

The first cheat offers access to a free single match with any fighter in the game. It can be accessed by holding Y+R on a controller plugged into the player two slot, then pressing start on the player one controller.

The second cheat, remarkably, makes it possible to actually play as one of the 16 characters in Super Punch-Out!!, and even perform their special moves. Want to use Bald Bull's charge attack? Just press Down + B and away you'll go (just pray you don't get punched at the wrong time).

At the title, hold Y+R, then press A or START. Following screen will appear instead or regular menus. Here you can select any character to fight a free single match. See, even fighters from SPECIAL CIRCUIT are available here. -> pic.twitter.com/Hh7AtPdTcK

— Unlisted Cheats (@new_cheats_news) August 8, 2022

To access the two-player mode, you'll need to enter the free match mode screen; select a fighter, and when it goes to the character info screen, holding B+Y on the player two controller while pressing start on player one. You should be able to control the second fighter from that point onward.

Both cheats have been confirmed to work on the Nintendo Switch Online version of Super Punch-Out by IGN. You can see the full list of confirmed cheat codes on our SNES Cheat Code Guide.

It's unclear why this secret mode has been hidden away all this time, though it's likely there for testing purposes. Whatever the reason, it adds a whole new dimension to this 16-bit classic, allowing players to unleash the full might of Bear Hugger and Gabby Jay.

This isn't the first time a Punch-Out!! game has had multiplayer, granted. The Wii's Punch-Out!! also had multiplayer, though you fought a clone of Little Mac instead of one of the actual boxers. Super Punch-Out!!, by contrast, now allows you to play as a crazed circus clown.

You can read our review of Super Punch-Out!! as well as where it lands on our list of the Top 125 Nintendo Games of All Time. And if you want additional news from the world of Nintendo, check out the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, where we recently reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

The Flash star Ezra Miller has been charged with felony burglary, adding to their legal troubles in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and North Dakota.

According to a police report filed August 7 in Vermont, several bottles of alcohol were taken from a home on May 1, leading police to charge Miller with felony burglary after viewing surveillance videos and statements.

Miller was finally located on August 7. They will appear in court on September 26 for arraignment on the burglary charge.

Miller, who is set to star in Warner Bros' upcoming Flash movie, has been accused of throwing a chair at a woman, grooming minors, and other misconduct. In addition to Vermont, their legal troubles extend across Hwaii, Massachusetts, and North Dakota.

Miller drew national attention when they abruptly deleted their Instgram and seemingly vanished.

Warner Bros. Discovery has remained largely silent amid growing speculation that The Flash might be in trouble due to Miller's legal troubles. Director Kevin Smith is among those who have criticized the media giant for canceling Batgirl while seemingly allowing The Flash to move on.

"I don't give a sh*t how bad the Batgirl movie is, nobody in that movie is complicated or has anything in their real life you have to market around. In The Flash movie, we all know there's a big problem! Flash is the Reverse-Flash in real life," Smith said in his podcast, Hollywood Babble-On.

Smith also called it an "incredibly bad look" to "cancel the Latina Batgirl movie." At least for now, though, The Flash is currently set to release on June 23, 2023.

Blogroll image credit: David Bennett / Getty Images

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise wants to return as Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder.

According to Deadline, the 60-year-old actor and Mission: Impossible producer Chris McQuarrie are “fixated” on Grossman.

“It’s unclear if they will create a whole movie around Grossman or borrow him for inclusion in [one of two upcoming movies],” they explained.

The two projects in question are an upcoming musical that Cruise and McQuarrie are said to be putting together, as well as another “original action film” with franchise potential that’s presumably unconnected to Mission: Impossible.

But their fixation on Les Grossman is far less straightforward.

Tom Cruise starred as producer Les Grossman in the 2008 comedy film, Tropic Thunder. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, and Jack Black, the action comedy followed a band of actors shooting a war film in the middle of the jungle… only to find themselves thrust into the middle of a real-life conflict.

Grossman was the film’s crass, over-the-top producer – not exactly a shoo-in for Tom Cruise, but a role he made his own with some extraordinary one-liners and a killer dance routine.

How they work Grossman into their upcoming films remains to be seen. The thought of Les Grossman appearing in a musical is certainly an intriguing concept, especially if the film has firm comedy roots. But Les Grossman in a straight action flick? I can’t exactly see that happening.

Then there’s the prospect of a Les Grossman solo film… surely an extraordinarily difficult watch. But the cringe-inducing producer could well make an excellent addition to another project – especially if it’s one about filmmaking.

Cruise and McQuarrie will next reteam for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One with Dead Reckoning Part 2 soon to follow.

The upcoming Mission: Impossible flick is said to include Cruise’s most dangerous stunt ever and recently unveiled its thrilling first trailer.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Valve has finally added Nintendo Switch Joy-Con support to Steam through its Client Beta program.

As reported by PCGamer, the Steam Client Beta was re-released and updated on August 5, allowing for official support of Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers. They can be used individually as a mini-gamepad or combined into pairs.

The update also provided improved support for the Nintendo Online Classic controllers.

In order to use this function, users will need to go into the Steam Client Beta and at the top left corner, click "Steam," then "Settings." After that, go into the "Account" tab and in the "Beta Participation" section, click "Change."

Click the dropdown menu and select "Steam Beta Update." After that, restart Steam and you should be good to go.

Steam supports a wide variety of controllers, both wired and wireless. Unfortunately, there's no way to wire your Joy-Cons to your PC set up so you'll have to use bluetooth.

While Nintendo insists that Joy-Con durability and manufacturing have improved since the Switch's launch in 2017, some repair centers reportedly felt overwhelmed due to the sheer volume being sent in for fixing.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

There's a lot Game of Thrones star Sean Bean didn't like about, well, being a star.

Speaking to the U.K.'s Times Magazine (via Variety), Bean, who played Ned Stark in the Game of Thrones, said he disliked the intimacy coordinators production would bring in to help film the show's many sex scenes because they would "spoil the spontaneity" of a scene.

“It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things,” Bean said. “Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing… I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise.”

Speaking about Snowpiercer, another series Bean worked on, the actor said he doesn't like when TV companies or advertisers cut out the most "experimental" part of a sex scene.

"I think they cut a bit out actually. Often the best work you do, where you’re trying to push the boundaries, and the very nature of it is experimental, gets censored when TV companies or the advertisers say it’s so much. It’s a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract. And mango-esque.”

When asked if the intimacy coordinators are present to protect the performers, Bean said it depends on the actress.

Some other Game of Thrones stars don't agree with Bean's take on the steamy scenes in the show. Actress Gemma Whelan, who played Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, said the sex scenes were "a frenzied mess" due to the lack of direction, and that other projects benefit from intimacy directors. "With intimacy directors, it’s choreography – you move there, I move there, and permission and consent is given before you start. It is a step in the right direction.”

Bean is also not a fan of fan conventions, citing a bad experience he had at one Lord of the Rings convention. Bean said the fans were "good-natured, positive people who were getting tossed around and overcharged for things.”

The conversation surrounding Game of Thrones' sex scenes is continuing with the franchise's prequel show, House of the Dragon. Just over the weekend, House of the Dragon star Matt Smith said he thinks there are too many sex scenes in the series.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.