It's seemingly official: Pokérus is gone. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet just released on Thursday, but players are already discovering the rare, fictional disease is not present in the new games.

Pokérus was first introduced in Gen 2 Pokémon games. The status is essentially a virus; it infects any Pokémon adjacent to an infected Pokémon in your party, even though they're both still in Poké Balls.

The disappearance of Pokérus was discovered by Twitter user and dataminer @mattyoukhana_, who found that the game's code showed no indication of Pokérus.

Pokérus is no longer present in Scarlet & Violet! No assets for the Pokérus status icons exist in the game, and it can not be found on wild Pokémon.

After testing with a Pokémon forcibly given Pokérus, they still gain the usual EV yield (not x2), and Pokérus does not spread. pic.twitter.com/DIklfjbQHS

— Matt (@mattyoukhana_) November 18, 2022

While a virus surely sounds bad, Pokérus is actually completely beneficial. The status, which was indicated by a small icon, doubled the EV points that the infected Pokémon gained from battle, making training exceedingly easy.

All you had to do was place your Pokémon all around the infected and poof! Within hours, all your Pokémon would have the status.

With Scarlet and Violet, Pokérus is no more. The icon indicating the infections is gone, and there aren't any assets for it in the game. In fact, the status can't even be found on wild Pokémon.

So, for those of you trying to gain EV quickly and easily, hoping to get Pokérus isn't gonna be a great strategy.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have been to a rough start, with many players experiencing gameplay issues on the Nintendo Switch. According to IGN’s Rebekah Valentine in her review in progress: there really isn’t a moment in [Pokémon Scarlet & Violet] where’d I’d say they run well. Frame rates are dropping, Pokémon are clipping through walls and character models are popping in and out.

For our full review of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, stay tuned to everything IGN.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.

It's seemingly official: Pokérus is gone. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet just released on Thursday, but players are already discovering the rare, fictional disease is not present in the new games.

Pokérus was first introduced in Gen 2 Pokémon games. The status is essentially a virus; it infects any Pokémon adjacent to an infected Pokémon in your party, even though they're both still in Poké Balls.

The disappearance of Pokérus was discovered by Twitter user and dataminer @mattyoukhana_, who found that the game's code showed no indication of Pokérus.

Pokérus is no longer present in Scarlet & Violet! No assets for the Pokérus status icons exist in the game, and it can not be found on wild Pokémon.

After testing with a Pokémon forcibly given Pokérus, they still gain the usual EV yield (not x2), and Pokérus does not spread. pic.twitter.com/DIklfjbQHS

— Matt (@mattyoukhana_) November 18, 2022

While a virus surely sounds bad, Pokérus is actually completely beneficial. The status, which was indicated by a small icon, doubled the EV points that the infected Pokémon gained from battle, making training exceedingly easy.

All you had to do was place your Pokémon all around the infected and poof! Within hours, all your Pokémon would have the status.

With Scarlet and Violet, Pokérus is no more. The icon indicating the infections is gone, and there aren't any assets for it in the game. In fact, the status can't even be found on wild Pokémon.

So, for those of you trying to gain EV quickly and easily, hoping to get Pokérus isn't gonna be a great strategy.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have been to a rough start, with many players experiencing gameplay issues on the Nintendo Switch. According to IGN’s Rebekah Valentine in her review in progress: there really isn’t a moment in [Pokémon Scarlet & Violet] where’d I’d say they run well. Frame rates are dropping, Pokémon are clipping through walls and character models are popping in and out.

For our full review of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, stay tuned to everything IGN.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.

James Gunn and Peter Safran may have only been handed the reigns to DC Studios recently, but the pair are apparently fine-tuning their master plan for the DC universe, with plans to unveil them soon.

According to The Wrap, the DC Studios master plan is still fermenting, with news of Gunn and Safran’s takeover only announced less than a month ago. But an inside source says their long-term plan for DC “should be revealed in the next two months.”

The future of the DC universe is seemingly fractured, but unified, all at once. Prior to Gunn and Safran’s arrival, DC movies were shooting in several directions whether it’s the remnants of the Snyderverse like Aquaman and The Flash, new arrivals like Black Adam, Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, and Todd Phillips’ Joker films.

At the same time, Gunn and Safran will gain overall creative control over most of these movies (Reeves’ The Batman and Phillips’ The Joker are potentially autonomous) and could give DC Studios a unified vision similar to the MCU under Kevin Feige.

The DC slate is apparently at a bit of a standstill until Gunn and Safran finalize their plans. According to The Wrap, there’s actually no formal deal with Cavill to return as Superman while Gunn and Safran figure out a “long range plan for the DCU.”

Despite Cavill posting an Instagram story about his return, and his cameo in Black Adam, several insiders say that there’s no writer or director attached for Man of Steel 2. Cavill has even departed his popular role as Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher series with many speculating it was to prepare for a new string of DC appearances.

All this to say, the future of DC will be laid out soon and it remains to be seen just how involved Cavill will be under the new regime. For more, read why Gunn's arrival could be the best thing to happen for DC.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

James Gunn and Peter Safran may have only been handed the reigns to DC Studios recently, but the pair are apparently fine-tuning their master plan for the DC universe, with plans to unveil them soon.

According to The Wrap, the DC Studios master plan is still fermenting, with news of Gunn and Safran’s takeover only announced less than a month ago. But an inside source says their long-term plan for DC “should be revealed in the next two months.”

The future of the DC universe is seemingly fractured, but unified, all at once. Prior to Gunn and Safran’s arrival, DC movies were shooting in several directions whether it’s the remnants of the Snyderverse like Aquaman and The Flash, new arrivals like Black Adam, Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, and Todd Phillips’ Joker films.

At the same time, Gunn and Safran will gain overall creative control over most of these movies (Reeves’ The Batman and Phillips’ The Joker are potentially autonomous) and could give DC Studios a unified vision similar to the MCU under Kevin Feige.

The DC slate is apparently at a bit of a standstill until Gunn and Safran finalize their plans. According to The Wrap, there’s actually no formal deal with Cavill to return as Superman while Gunn and Safran figure out a “long range plan for the DCU.”

Despite Cavill posting an Instagram story about his return, and his cameo in Black Adam, several insiders say that there’s no writer or director attached for Man of Steel 2. Cavill has even departed his popular role as Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher series with many speculating it was to prepare for a new string of DC appearances.

All this to say, the future of DC will be laid out soon and it remains to be seen just how involved Cavill will be under the new regime. For more, read why Gunn's arrival could be the best thing to happen for DC.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

The otherwise sweet and wholesome Cooking Mama has been in some hot water over the last year as a legal dispute threw 2020's Cooking Mama: Cookstar into contention. The good news is that this dispute seems to have been resolved.

The bad news is that Cooking Mama: Cookstar is being pulled from store shelves, and may never return.

In a press release from license holder Office Create, the company says that its ongoing legal battle with Cookstar publisher Planet Entertainment has been resolved in its favor.

According to Office Create's account, Planet Entertainment released Cookstar back in 2020 for the Switch without Office Create's approval — a decision for which Office Create revoked its license to Cooking Mama. But Planet continued to sell the game and even released a PS4 version the following year.

Office Create took Planet to international court over it, which has now ruled that the release infringed on Office Create's trademark, and has ordered the game removed from all digital and physical store shelves.

It's a bit confusing how we got here in the first place, but here's the summary: Cooking Mama: Cookstar is licensed by Office Create, the company that owns the Cooking Mama franchise. Planet Entertainment signed on to develop Cookstar, but according to Office Create, the game wasn't up to standards. Office Create says it instructed Planet to correct the issues and resubmit, but that Planet then just went and released the game anyway on the eShop.

At some point, it seems like another developer called 1st Playable was involved too. But its involvement has since been scrubbed from official websites and other spaces, so it's unclear what, if anything, that studio did on the game.

That back and forth probably explains why Cookstar's initial release was such a mess, with some official sources claiming it was available on the eShop when it actually wasn't, retail copy availability being wildly spotty, especially in Europe, and a PS4 release that wasn't announced at all.

Even the run-up to its release was a mess, with unlisted trailer leaks, incorrect release windows, non-existent websites, and a brief controversy in which it was announced the game would allow for background mining of cryptocurrency, only for that to be retracted. While we don't know how or why any of those individual instances happened, a rogue developer releasing something without permission and a license holder trying its best to walk it back might explain at least some of it — and that's certainly what Office Create has claimed.

If all that has your eggs scrambled, you're in good company. It's a confusing mess and one that isn't much clarified by the seeming conclusion of this lawsuit. We also haven't heard much of Planet Entertainment's side of the story at all — our attempts to reach the developer last year went ignored, and when I tried again for this piece, all my emails bounced back.

The publisher did release a statement last year, but it's a bit thin. In it, Planet admitted there were "creative differences" involved in Cookstar's creation, but insisted that “Planet is fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama Cookstar” and that “There is no active litigation or ruling that prevents Planet from publishing the game.”

What we do know is this: Cooking Mama: Cookstar was a weird game with a lot of unanswered questions about its creation and ownership. And now it is no longer available on digital storefronts, and pretty soon it might vanish from retail as well (at the time of this piece, we were still able to find it on Amazon and Walmart).

If for some reason you're dying to play a cooking game by Planet Entertainment, it did just release a rather similar-looking game called Yum Yum Cookstar for Switch and Xbox. And it is, funnily enough, developed by 1st Playable. Meanwhile, a new Cooking Mama game wholly made by Office Create just dropped on apple Arcade in July, entitled Cooking Mama: Cuisine!

That said if you're still going to try to grab a copy of Cooking Mama: Cookstar before it vanishes forever, maybe don't worry about it: our reviewer called it a "stale, undercooked simulator that needed a lot more time in the oven."

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

The otherwise sweet and wholesome Cooking Mama has been in some hot water over the last year as a legal dispute threw 2020's Cooking Mama: Cookstar into contention. The good news is that this dispute seems to have been resolved.

The bad news is that Cooking Mama: Cookstar is being pulled from store shelves, and may never return.

In a press release from license holder Office Create, the company says that its ongoing legal battle with Cookstar publisher Planet Entertainment has been resolved in its favor.

According to Office Create's account, Planet Entertainment released Cookstar back in 2020 for the Switch without Office Create's approval — a decision for which Office Create revoked its license to Cooking Mama. But Planet continued to sell the game and even released a PS4 version the following year.

Office Create took Planet to international court over it, which has now ruled that the release infringed on Office Create's trademark, and has ordered the game removed from all digital and physical store shelves.

It's a bit confusing how we got here in the first place, but here's the summary: Cooking Mama: Cookstar is licensed by Office Create, the company that owns the Cooking Mama franchise. Planet Entertainment signed on to develop Cookstar, but according to Office Create, the game wasn't up to standards. Office Create says it instructed Planet to correct the issues and resubmit, but that Planet then just went and released the game anyway on the eShop.

At some point, it seems like another developer called 1st Playable was involved too. But its involvement has since been scrubbed from official websites and other spaces, so it's unclear what, if anything, that studio did on the game.

That back and forth probably explains why Cookstar's initial release was such a mess, with some official sources claiming it was available on the eShop when it actually wasn't, retail copy availability being wildly spotty, especially in Europe, and a PS4 release that wasn't announced at all.

Even the run-up to its release was a mess, with unlisted trailer leaks, incorrect release windows, non-existent websites, and a brief controversy in which it was announced the game would allow for background mining of cryptocurrency, only for that to be retracted. While we don't know how or why any of those individual instances happened, a rogue developer releasing something without permission and a license holder trying its best to walk it back might explain at least some of it — and that's certainly what Office Create has claimed.

If all that has your eggs scrambled, you're in good company. It's a confusing mess and one that isn't much clarified by the seeming conclusion of this lawsuit. We also haven't heard much of Planet Entertainment's side of the story at all — our attempts to reach the developer last year went ignored, and when I tried again for this piece, all my emails bounced back.

The publisher did release a statement last year, but it's a bit thin. In it, Planet admitted there were "creative differences" involved in Cookstar's creation, but insisted that “Planet is fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama Cookstar” and that “There is no active litigation or ruling that prevents Planet from publishing the game.”

What we do know is this: Cooking Mama: Cookstar was a weird game with a lot of unanswered questions about its creation and ownership. And now it is no longer available on digital storefronts, and pretty soon it might vanish from retail as well (at the time of this piece, we were still able to find it on Amazon and Walmart).

If for some reason you're dying to play a cooking game by Planet Entertainment, it did just release a rather similar-looking game called Yum Yum Cookstar for Switch and Xbox. And it is, funnily enough, developed by 1st Playable. Meanwhile, a new Cooking Mama game wholly made by Office Create just dropped on apple Arcade in July, entitled Cooking Mama: Cuisine!

That said if you're still going to try to grab a copy of Cooking Mama: Cookstar before it vanishes forever, maybe don't worry about it: our reviewer called it a "stale, undercooked simulator that needed a lot more time in the oven."

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Hit comedy-drama The White Lotus will be heading back to HBO for a third series.

The popular anthology series will be back, and while details remain scarce, HBO has confirmed that the upcoming series will focus on a different cast at an entirely different White Lotus resort.

“There’s no place I’d rather work than HBO and there’s no people I’d rather partner with than Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi, Nora Skinner, and their incredible team,” said showrunner, writer, and creator Mike White. “I feel so lucky to get this opportunity again and am excited to reunite with my amazingly talented collaborators on The White Lotus.”

I can’t wait to welcome you to the next White Lotus property.#TheWhiteLotus has been renewed for Season 3. pic.twitter.com/T6xOpAK9Jj

— HBO (@HBO) November 18, 2022

The White Lotus premiered in July 2021 and focuses on the guests and employees of the White Lotus resort in Hawaii.

Although the second season moved to a different resort in Sicily, Italy, actress Jennifer Coolidge (aka Stifler’s mom) returned to reprise the role of Tanya McQuoid – a troubled woman trying to process the recent death of her mother.

“Reflecting on The White Lotus’ humble, run-and-gun origin as a contained pandemic production, it’s impossible not to be awestruck by how Mike orchestrated one of the buzziest and most critically acclaimed shows,” said HBO Programming executive VP Francesca Orsi.

Season 2 saw Jennifer Coolidge joined by F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James, Meghann Fahy, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander, Sabrina Impacciatore, Jon Gries, Haley Lu Richardson, Beatrice Granno, Simona Tabasco and Leo Woodall.

It’s unclear whether any of these actors will return for the third season.

IGN’s review of The White Lotus Season 2 gave it 8/10 and said: “The White Lotus Season 2 shifts its location to Sicily, but the guest registry collects another fascinating grab bag of ugly Americans wrestling with mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

Want to read more about The White Lotus? Check out the burning questions we had after The White Lotus Season 2 premiere as well as our best-reviewed TV shows of 2022.

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

Hit comedy-drama The White Lotus will be heading back to HBO for a third series.

The popular anthology series will be back, and while details remain scarce, HBO has confirmed that the upcoming series will focus on a different cast at an entirely different White Lotus resort.

“There’s no place I’d rather work than HBO and there’s no people I’d rather partner with than Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi, Nora Skinner, and their incredible team,” said showrunner, writer, and creator Mike White. “I feel so lucky to get this opportunity again and am excited to reunite with my amazingly talented collaborators on The White Lotus.”

I can’t wait to welcome you to the next White Lotus property.#TheWhiteLotus has been renewed for Season 3. pic.twitter.com/T6xOpAK9Jj

— HBO (@HBO) November 18, 2022

The White Lotus premiered in July 2021 and focuses on the guests and employees of the White Lotus resort in Hawaii.

Although the second season moved to a different resort in Sicily, Italy, actress Jennifer Coolidge (aka Stifler’s mom) returned to reprise the role of Tanya McQuoid – a troubled woman trying to process the recent death of her mother.

“Reflecting on The White Lotus’ humble, run-and-gun origin as a contained pandemic production, it’s impossible not to be awestruck by how Mike orchestrated one of the buzziest and most critically acclaimed shows,” said HBO Programming executive VP Francesca Orsi.

Season 2 saw Jennifer Coolidge joined by F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James, Meghann Fahy, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander, Sabrina Impacciatore, Jon Gries, Haley Lu Richardson, Beatrice Granno, Simona Tabasco and Leo Woodall.

It’s unclear whether any of these actors will return for the third season.

IGN’s review of The White Lotus Season 2 gave it 8/10 and said: “The White Lotus Season 2 shifts its location to Sicily, but the guest registry collects another fascinating grab bag of ugly Americans wrestling with mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

Want to read more about The White Lotus? Check out the burning questions we had after The White Lotus Season 2 premiere as well as our best-reviewed TV shows of 2022.

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

Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train Director David Leitch, X-Men series producer Simon Kinberg, and Channing Tatum are reportedly teaming up for a new spy thriller called Red Shirt.

As reported by Variety, Leitch is set to direct what's being described as "a new spin on James Bond that has franchise potential." Tatum is attached to star and produce the new movie.

Leitch is producing alongside Kinberg and Kelly McCormick. According to the report, studios are currently submitting offers and the movie could sell before the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

Tatum has had a big 2022, appearing in both The Lost City and Dog. He's also working on Magic Mike's Last Dance, which is set to open on February 10, 2023.

Leitch directed Bullet Train, which was one of this past summer's blockbuster action movies. We called Bullet Train good in our review, saying, "It's bloodier than expected, lands its punches at the right moments, and pleases with painful combos worth crowd-pleasing smiles." The director is also known for John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Hobbs and Shaw.

Kinberg is best known for producing Fox's series of X-Men films from 2011's First Class to 2020's The New Mutants. The filmmaker most recently wrote, directed, and produced The 355, a Mission Impossible-style espionage film we were not fond of in our review.

Kinberg was also responsible for the original pitch that Red Shirt is based on and served as a writer on Star Wars Rebels.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train Director David Leitch, X-Men series producer Simon Kinberg, and Channing Tatum are reportedly teaming up for a new spy thriller called Red Shirt.

As reported by Variety, Leitch is set to direct what's being described as "a new spin on James Bond that has franchise potential." Tatum is attached to star and produce the new movie.

Leitch is producing alongside Kinberg and Kelly McCormick. According to the report, studios are currently submitting offers and the movie could sell before the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

Tatum has had a big 2022, appearing in both The Lost City and Dog. He's also working on Magic Mike's Last Dance, which is set to open on February 10, 2023.

Leitch directed Bullet Train, which was one of this past summer's blockbuster action movies. We called Bullet Train good in our review, saying, "It's bloodier than expected, lands its punches at the right moments, and pleases with painful combos worth crowd-pleasing smiles." The director is also known for John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Hobbs and Shaw.

Kinberg is best known for producing Fox's series of X-Men films from 2011's First Class to 2020's The New Mutants. The filmmaker most recently wrote, directed, and produced The 355, a Mission Impossible-style espionage film we were not fond of in our review.

Kinberg was also responsible for the original pitch that Red Shirt is based on and served as a writer on Star Wars Rebels.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.