There’s one plane in Top Gun: Maverick that’s been causing a bit of a stir.

A fictional jet set to appear in Top Gun: Maverick called the hypersonic Darkstar may not be real, but it looks as though the Chinese government has taken an interest in it, nonetheless.

In an interview with Sandboxx, producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained what happened: “The Navy told us that a Chinese satellite turned and headed on a different route to photograph that plane,” he revealed. “They thought it was real. That's how real it looks.”

Although the upcoming Top Gun sequel features a whole load of real-life aircraft, the Darkstar is entirely fictional. But that doesn’t mean it’s unrealistic.

Aircraft buffs will note that the film’s Darkstar plane looks a lot like the real-life Lockheed Martin prototype, the hypersonic SR-72 – a follow-up to the SR-71 Blackbird. And that’s no coincidence.

“[Director] Joe [Kosinski] worked with Skunk Works and Lockheed to design the plane that's in there,” revealed Bruckheimer. “So, they had a lot of fun doing Darkstar.”

That’s right — Lockheed Martin actually helped design the new Top Gun prototype. It’s no wonder the Chinese government thought it might be the real deal.

“The reason we approached Skunk Works is because I wanted to make the most realistic hypersonic aircraft we possibly could,” said Kosinski. “In fact, as you saw, we built it full-scale in cooperation with them. But the reason it looks so real is because it was the engineers from Skunk Works who helped us design it. So, those are the same people who are working on real aircraft who helped us design Darkstar for this film.”

In fact, the team at Skunk Works was the very same team that designed the SR-71.

According to Kosinski, this was essential. After all, the fictional Darkstar would have to sit alongside the very real F-18s on the Top Gun runway.

“It had to look just as real as the F-18s, the P-51 and everything else in the movie in order for you to buy it,” he said, “That's why we worked closely with them.”

The Top Gun director previously revealed that he shot over 800 hours of footage for Top Gun: Maverick. However, Tom Cruise was stopped from flying an actual jet during the film’s production.

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

The Saved by the Bell reboot had no right to be good, but when it first appeared in 2020, we lauded it as one of the "funniest shows of the year." Ultimately, though, it was only able to make it two seasons, as Peacock announced the show's cancellation

"We are so proud to have been the home of the next iteration of 'Saved by the Bell' for both new and OG fans," Peacock said in a statement, as reported by Deadline.

"'Saved by the Bell’ has been a cultural mainstay for more than 30 years and the new series, led by Tracey Wigfield’s superfan enthusiasm and signature witty humor, seamlessly continued the show’s legacy, all while allowing more audiences to feel seen. We’re grateful to Tracey, Franco Bario, our partners at UTV, the beloved cast, and the fans who have continued to champion one of the most iconic shows of all time."

Developed by Wigfield, a 30 Rock veteran, it had all the manic energy of the Tina Fey vehicle, and it only got crazier in its second season. It played with the premise of the original show, casting Zack Morris as the governor of California among other odd turns. It also included a touching tribute to Dustin Diamond, the actor who portrayed Screech, who died last year.

Saved by the Bell originally premiered in 1989 and ran until 1993, going on to become one of the iconic sitcoms of the 90s. Follow-ups included the considerably less popular Saved by the Bell: The College Years as well as Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran until 2000.

For more 90s nostalgia, check out our review of Bel-Air, which recently wrapped its first season.

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 Saved by the Bell reboot had no right to be good, but when it first appeared in 2020, we lauded it as one of the "funniest shows of the year." Ultimately, though, it was only able to make it two seasons, as Peacock announced the show's cancellation

"We are so proud to have been the home of the next iteration of 'Saved by the Bell' for both new and OG fans," Peacock said in a statement, as reported by Deadline.

"'Saved by the Bell’ has been a cultural mainstay for more than 30 years and the new series, led by Tracey Wigfield’s superfan enthusiasm and signature witty humor, seamlessly continued the show’s legacy, all while allowing more audiences to feel seen. We’re grateful to Tracey, Franco Bario, our partners at UTV, the beloved cast, and the fans who have continued to champion one of the most iconic shows of all time."

Developed by Wigfield, a 30 Rock veteran, it had all the manic energy of the Tina Fey vehicle, and it only got crazier in its second season. It played with the premise of the original show, casting Zack Morris as the governor of California among other odd turns. It also included a touching tribute to Dustin Diamond, the actor who portrayed Screech, who died last year.

Saved by the Bell originally premiered in 1989 and ran until 1993, going on to become one of the iconic sitcoms of the 90s. Follow-ups included the considerably less popular Saved by the Bell: The College Years as well as Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran until 2000.

For more 90s nostalgia, check out our review of Bel-Air, which recently wrapped its first season.

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.

Call of Duty: Vanguard and Activision Blizzard just can’t catch a break. Despite being the best-selling game in 2021, Activision is still unhappy with how the game has performed. Who have they identified as the culprit? World War II.

The company recognizes that the franchise is still one of the most successful entertainment franchises, at least, but their 2021 premium didn’t meet their expectations. In their annual report to investors, Activision Blizzard wrote, “The game’s World War II setting didn’t resonate with some of our community.”

Back in November, we reported that GameIndustry.biz, in collaboration with PAX and EGX, concluded people weren’t playing Vanguard because they were too busy playing other games. In fact, World War II even got a mention with 24% of those polled saying they also weren’t interested in games set during that time.

The company also says there was a lack of "innovation" in the 2021 mainline Call of Duty game, though what exactly that means is unclear.

Furthermore, Activision Blizzard's 2021 was marred by high-profile sexual discrimination and it's been reported that Activision Blizzard is facing even more complaints. This time on rushing the sale of the company to Microsoft to help dodge fallout from the sexual misconduct reports.

Perhaps the recently announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will fare better than Vanguard.

In our review of the single-player campaign, we called Call of Duty: Vanguard “highly polished” but “brief” with a “lack of variety.”

Casey David is a Freelance Writer for IGN.

Call of Duty: Vanguard and Activision Blizzard just can’t catch a break. Despite being the best-selling game in 2021, Activision is still unhappy with how the game has performed. Who have they identified as the culprit? World War II.

The company recognizes that the franchise is still one of the most successful entertainment franchises, at least, but their 2021 premium didn’t meet their expectations. In their annual report to investors, Activision Blizzard wrote, “The game’s World War II setting didn’t resonate with some of our community.”

Back in November, we reported that GameIndustry.biz, in collaboration with PAX and EGX, concluded people weren’t playing Vanguard because they were too busy playing other games. In fact, World War II even got a mention with 24% of those polled saying they also weren’t interested in games set during that time.

The company also says there was a lack of "innovation" in the 2021 mainline Call of Duty game, though what exactly that means is unclear.

Furthermore, Activision Blizzard's 2021 was marred by high-profile sexual discrimination and it's been reported that Activision Blizzard is facing even more complaints. This time on rushing the sale of the company to Microsoft to help dodge fallout from the sexual misconduct reports.

Perhaps the recently announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will fare better than Vanguard.

In our review of the single-player campaign, we called Call of Duty: Vanguard “highly polished” but “brief” with a “lack of variety.”

Casey David is a Freelance Writer for IGN.

An Apple retail store located in the Towson Town Center Mall in Maryland announced today that it has filed for a union election.

In a press release, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) organizer Dave DiMaria announced that the employees at the Maryland-based store had organized a union called Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (AppleCORE for short), and the trade union will represent it.

In a recent report by The Washington Post, several members of AppleCORE explained the decision to unionize was to allow them to have a voice on matters such as scheduling, pay, and coronavirus safety. "To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have," members of AppleCORE wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Towson Town Center is the third Apple Retail store based in the US to file for a union election. In mid-April, workers at the Grand Central Terminal location in New York began collecting signatures to form a union. While employees at the Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, Georgia, filed a petition to unionize later that month, with its union election set for June 2.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

An Apple retail store located in the Towson Town Center Mall in Maryland announced today that it has filed for a union election.

In a press release, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) organizer Dave DiMaria announced that the employees at the Maryland-based store had organized a union called Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (AppleCORE for short), and the trade union will represent it.

In a recent report by The Washington Post, several members of AppleCORE explained the decision to unionize was to allow them to have a voice on matters such as scheduling, pay, and coronavirus safety. "To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have," members of AppleCORE wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Towson Town Center is the third Apple Retail store based in the US to file for a union election. In mid-April, workers at the Grand Central Terminal location in New York began collecting signatures to form a union. While employees at the Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, Georgia, filed a petition to unionize later that month, with its union election set for June 2.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Arkane Studios might have canceled Ravenholm, the working title for its Half-Life 2 spinoff, over ten years ago, but that won’t stop video game historians from digging up footage of the game. Today, the video game documentary channel Noclip shared a video with nearly an hour of unfiltered footage from the abandoned zombie shooter project.

The footage is contextualized by Danny O’Dwyer, who explains the development process as well as the game’s environment and characters in between sections of narration-free gameplay. As O’Dwyer begins playing, Lieutenant Shepard (the player character) gains consciousness in an abandoned hospital and is guided by Father Grigori, who’s known for his role in Half-Life 2. It doesn’t take long for the action to kick in, as the hospital is soon invaded by zombies.

O’Dwyer notes that the game, while still playable, is visibly unfinished. It’s apparent that the game has some rough edges — as many commenters noted, some of the zombies are comically wearing shirts that say “I’m a placeholder.”

The game was canceled for unknown reasons after development taking place between 2006 and 2007. Previously, footage of the game was revealed for the first time by Noclip back in 2020 in a documentary on Arkane.

Most recently, the Half-Life series was expanded by Half Life: Alyx, which IGN gave a perfect score. Other than Alyx, Valve hasn’t done much work on the Half-Life series since the 2000s, but fans have recently taken matters into their own hands with Black Mesa, the fan made Half-Life remake that we praised for its skillful (yet slightly outdated) improvements to the original game.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Arkane Studios might have canceled Ravenholm, the working title for its Half-Life 2 spinoff, over ten years ago, but that won’t stop video game historians from digging up footage of the game. Today, the video game documentary channel Noclip shared a video with nearly an hour of unfiltered footage from the abandoned zombie shooter project.

The footage is contextualized by Danny O’Dwyer, who explains the development process as well as the game’s environment and characters in between sections of narration-free gameplay. As O’Dwyer begins playing, Lieutenant Shepard (the player character) gains consciousness in an abandoned hospital and is guided by Father Grigori, who’s known for his role in Half-Life 2. It doesn’t take long for the action to kick in, as the hospital is soon invaded by zombies.

O’Dwyer notes that the game, while still playable, is visibly unfinished. It’s apparent that the game has some rough edges — as many commenters noted, some of the zombies are comically wearing shirts that say “I’m a placeholder.”

The game was canceled for unknown reasons after development taking place between 2006 and 2007. Previously, footage of the game was revealed for the first time by Noclip back in 2020 in a documentary on Arkane.

Most recently, the Half-Life series was expanded by Half Life: Alyx, which IGN gave a perfect score. Other than Alyx, Valve hasn’t done much work on the Half-Life series since the 2000s, but fans have recently taken matters into their own hands with Black Mesa, the fan made Half-Life remake that we praised for its skillful (yet slightly outdated) improvements to the original game.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Update 11:53am PT: Activision Blizzard has issued a statement in response to the New York lawsuit, which it has shared with IGN:

“We disagree with the allegations made in this complaint and look forward to presenting our arguments to the Court.”

Original story: Multiple New York City funds have banded together to file a complaint against Activision Blizzard, alleging that CEO Bobby Kotick and the board may have breached their fiduciary duty in their dealings with Microsoft to be acquired, and harmed the company's value.

As reported by Axios, the suit was filed on May 2 by the New York City Employees', Board of Education, and Teachers' retirement systems, as well as pension funds for the city fire department, and police — all of which hold stock in Activision Blizzard. The plaintiffs are claiming their right to inspect various Activision Blizzard records to determine if any wrongdoing was done through the acquisition process, citing a number of concerns to back their demand.

Per the suit, the same plaintiffs had originally requested to inspect the company's books in October of last year following the numerous reports of an unsafe working environment for minority and women employees at the company as well as CEO Bobby Kotick's apparent knowledge and dismissal of said environment. Activision complied with some of their requests, but not all.

While all this was going on, Activision announced its pending acquisition by Microsoft, but this only furthered concerns. Plaintiffs point out that if the merger goes through, it will "have the effect of extinguishing these highly valuable derivative claims against Activision's Board" as well as Kotick, who will be "able to escape liability and accountability entirely."

Further, they note that Kotick was allowed by the board to negotiate the deal with Microsoft "despite his potential liability for breaches of fiduciary duty," and despite the fact that he stands to benefit substantially from the merger aside from the direct benefits from the purchase price.

With all this, the plaintiffs conclude that it is "unsurprising" that Activision ended up "seriously undervalue[d]" at $95 per share — only a 1% premium over its stock price before the initial California discrimination suit. They note that the price was rapidly negotiatied largely by Kotick himself, who "without Board authorization or an actual offer from Microsoft" suggested an offer between $90 and $105 per share. They accuse Kotick and the board of speeding through the deal in an effort to "escape liability for their egregious breaches of fiduciary duty."

Though it is unclear what, if any, actual wrongdoing might be revealed should New York gain access to the numerous documents it is requesting, as Axios points out, there is already a traffic jam of lawsuits piling up against Activision Blizzard both related to the accusations of discrimination as well as activities related to the acquisition.

At the latest count, this included a federal harassment suit, the California discrimination suit, a class action lawsuit, four shareholder lawsuits, eight lawsuits related to the merger, this complaint from New York as well as another like it, an SEC investigation, and investigations into insider trading. Several of the suits are either in appeals or have been dismissed or consolidated, but plenty of others are still rolling onward as Activision Blizzard inches closer to finalizing its acquisition by Microsoft, though a planned review by the FTC may halt things further.

For the full context of the Activison Blizzard discrimination lawsuit, you can follow our timeline of events.

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