A Half-Life 2 mod is in the works that not only swaps Alyx Vance for Star Fox Adventures' Krystal, but it will also have all of Alyx's dialogue replaced by Krystal's original voice actress Estelle Ellis.

As reported by Polygon, Gagnetar created this mod four years ago when he replaced Alyx for Krystal, but he has now taken it one step further by bringing Ellis out of retirement to record brand-new lines for the project.

Gagnetar shared an early look at the mod with Krystal and Ellis' voice in Kleiner's Lab of Half-Life 2 and it shows how the character created for GameCube's Star Fox Adventures fits into this new universe.

On a Krystal fan site, Gagnetar said he is planning on releasing the full mod on September 23, 2022, which just so happens to be the 20th anniversary of Star Fox Adventures. It was also confirmed that some of the lines were rewritten to help Krystal "fit better" into the world.

As for how he made this happen, he shared in the YouTube comments that he had been talking to Ellis off and on for years now that he "decided to just get her a decent microphone and we worked from there."

Ellis also voiced Queen Earthwalker and Mother Thorntail in Star Fox Adventures and appeared in Perfect Dark Zero and Grabbed by the Ghoulies. 2005's Perfect Dark Zero was her last voice acting credit.

Star Fox Adventures was released in 2002 and remains a divisive entry in the long-flying Star Fox series. In our Star Fox Adventures review, we said that it "arrives as a truly excellent 3D action-adventure for GameCube owners. It's a clear Zelda rip, and not quite as good, but that's okay in my book as Rare has still done a pretty good job of it."

If that's not enough for you, be sure to check out the leaked playable version of N64's Dinosaur Planet, which ended up being repurposed into Star Fox Adventures.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda has once again shared his interest in exploring the world of blockchain video games.

As reported and translated by VGC, Matsuda was speaking to Yahoo Japan and shared that focusing on only traditional games would be "not enough" for the company's future. His thoughts revolve around rewarding those players who want to create content for the games they love.

"In the future, we would like to try our hand at providing ‘autonomous game content’,” Matsuda said. “Until now, in most games, we provided the content as a finished product and the players played that content. However, there are a certain number of players in the world who want to contribute to making games more interesting, by creating new settings and ways of playing.”

Matsuda continued to say that, instead of hoping players would only create content for games because it was their passion, he thinks there could be a world where the company can incentivize those who go above and beyond to create something special using "technologies such as blockchain."

“In the future, we want to utilise the power of these people to create games that will continue to evolve," Matsuda said. “If, instead of relying on goodwill, we can also provide incentives to those who contribute to development by utilising technologies such as blockchain, there is a possibility that innovative and interesting content can be created from the ideas of users.”

These comments follow the controversial letter written by Matsuda on New Year's Day 2022 that was all about NFTs, blockchain games, the Metaverse, and more.

At the very least, Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed that he and the team have no intentions of incorporating NFTs into the MMO.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

As Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore won the domestic weekend box office with a Harry Potter franchise-low $43 million, The Batman has soared to over $750 million globally.

As reported by Variety, Fantastic Beasts 3 continues the downward trend that began after the original Fantastic Beasts was released and followed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2's $169 million opening.

The first film brought in $74 million, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald earned $62 million, and now the third entry has brought that down to $43 million. Fantastic Beasts 3 has brought in $193 million globally so far, and it is on its way to recouping its $200 million production cost.

In our Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore review, we said that it "looks drab and feels like it was made by people who want to leave its magical premise behind, even though the series refuses to have anything resembling grown-up politics or perspectives."

The Fantastic Beasts saga was meant to last for five films, but Warner Bros. is allegedly waiting to see how this latest film performs before moving forward with a script for a potential fourth film.

Besides middling reviews, the Fantastic Beasts franchise has been marred with J.K. Rowling's anti-trans rhetoric, domestic abuse allegations that led Johnny Depp to exit, and Ezra Miller's recent arrest for disorderly conduct and harrassment.

The Batman, on the other hand, continues to impress and has reached $750 million globally. The Batman remains the highest-grossing film of the year and has brought in $365 million domestically and $386 million internationally.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sped to second place this past weekend with $30 million in ticket sales. Sonic's second outing saw a 58% decline from its opening weekend but still managed to pass $119 million in North America.

The Lost City took third with $6.5 million, Everything Everywhere All at Once took fourth place with $6.1 million, and Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson's Father Stu rounded out the top five with $5 million. Morbius was pushed out of the top five as it only brought in $4.7 million.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Kiefer Sutherland believes Jack Bauer's story in 24 remains "unresolved" and he would be open to returning to the character if all the cards fell into place.

As reported by Variety, Bauer was speaking to GQ Magazine and talked fondly of his time on 24 alongside sharing that he hasn't yet fully closed the door on that chapter of his life.

"I miss it. It was an incredible experience,” Bauer said of 24. “I have learned that you’re just better off not to be definitive about your answer of whether you will do something or not do something. I love playing that character.

"I do believe the story is unresolved. If something were to be written that made sense to me and that I thought was going to contribute to the franchise then I would be behind it, even if my participation in that were to be limited.”

He continued to say that his "involvement will always be predicated on what I perceive is the quality of the writing. If [original showrunner] Howard Gordon is motivated to do it, we’ll see what happens.”

24 ran for nine seasons, each of which consisted of 24 episodes that took place over the course of one day in real-time, and the series began in 2001 just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Sutherland spoke on that topic, saying that he almost quit the show during the filming of its first season following 9/11.

"All of us felt very strongly that after that terrible day of 9/11 when our show started emulating one of the great tragedies in American history, ... I remember going through weeks of not wanting to do it anymore, and I think everybody on the show felt the same,” Sutherland said. “Nobody wanted anything coming close to representing this awful thing we just watched happened. Having said that, the country felt very differently. Even if it was just a television show and a guy fighting back, that’s what they wanted. So that’s what we did.”

24 ended in 2010 - after winning an Emmy for outstanding drama series in 2006 - and it returned in 2014 for a limited series called 24: Live Another Day.

In 2017, a spinoff called 24: Legacy premiered and Sutherland executive produced the series but did not reprise his role as Bauer. Instead, Corey Hawkins lead the show as an ex-Army Ranger named Eric Carter. The spinoff only lasted for that initial season.

In 2021, a report said that there are "active creative discussions" happening at Fox over a "potential" return of the show. Who knows? Maybe these comments will kick those discussions into an even higher gear.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

After nearly two years, Sucker Punch has released what appears to be the final planned patch for Ghost of Tsushima and has said it is not "actively working on any additional patches at the moment."

As reported by PlayStation LifeStyle, Sucker Punch shared the news on the notes for Patch 2.18 of Ghost of Tsushima, indirectly teasing that they are full steam ahead on what is undoubtedly its next, unannounced project.

"While we aren’t actively working on any additional patches at the moment, we will continue to monitor feedback on the community-run Gotlegends subreddit and messages sent to @SuckerPunchProd on Twitter for any high priority bugs or issues that emerge," Sucker Punch wrote. "We want to say a huge THANK YOU to the entire community for the incredible amount of support and feedback we’ve gotten since launch.

"When Legends launched in October 2020, we never expected to have such an active community more than a year and a half later, and we could not be more thankful to everyone who has been with us on this journey!"

Ghost of Tsushima was released for PS4 on July 17, 2020, and the Director's Cut for PS5 and PS4 followed on August 20, 2021. While it began its life as a single-player game, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends brought a well-received multiplayer component to the title on October 16, 2020.

Ghost of Tsushima was a bonafide hit for Sony, and a film based on its world is currently in development at Sony Pictures with screenwriter Takashi Doscher and John Wick director Chad Stahelski.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

HBO Max has cast Riverdale's KJ Apa and 1883's Isabel May as Zan and Jayna, respectively, in the upcoming live-action DC comedy The Wonder Twins.

As reported by Deadline, Apa and May will play alien siblings from the planet Exxor. In the past, Zan was a shapeshifter and Jayna was able to take the forms of various animals.

They made their debut on The All-New Super Friends Hour, and would continue on to appear in The World’s Greatest Super Friends, Super Friends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, Smallville, Teen Titans Go!, and The Flash.

The siblings were informally trained by other DC superheroes and a comic from 1977 by E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Ramona Fradon revealed they were "orphaned during a plague and adopted by the alien Exorians."

They would continue their journey by heading to Earth after they discover Grax is bent on destroying it. Zan and Jayna's goal was to warn the Justice League and they eventually make a life among humans as Swedish exchange students who attend Gotham City High School. Oh, and they also travel with a space-monkey sidekick named Gleek.

Black Adam and Rampage co-writer Adam Sztykiel is writing and directing The Wonder Twins, and production is set to begin this summer in Atlanta.

Alongside Riverdale, Apa has starred in Songbird, The Hate U Give, A Dog's Purpose, and I Still Believe. May has also starred in Alexa & Kate and Young Sheldon.

If you want to learn more about The Wonder Twins, be sure to check out the reboot comic that was released in 2019. In our review, we said, "This series retains the campy charm of these two teen heroes while sprucing them up for a contemporary audience. This first issue manages to be both sweetly innocent and self-aware at the same time."

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Ron Gilbert, the mind behind Monkey Island, confirmed another installment in the classic franchise earlier this month. The sixth installment, Return to Monkey Island, will feature the return of Gilbert along with Dave Grossman, who collaborated with Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge.

In an interview with Adventuregamers.com, Gilbert and Grossman shared a little more about Return to Monkey Island. Despite Gilbert's distaste for April Fools, here's what he had to say about announcing that he might be working on a new Monkey Island game on April 1 before formally announcing it a few days later.

"It was maybe about the time right after I wrote that If I Made Another Monkey Island thing [in 2013], and I just thought, you know—it was a weird fantasy, I was like oh, I'd buy the rights back, and I'd announce it on April 1, and it'd be great," Gilbert said.

Gilbert also addressed his famous reluctance to make a new Monkey Island game unless he owned the IP.

"I think the more important thing, rather than owning it, was that I really wanted to have creative freedom. I didn't want to be making a game and having somebody tell me what I should make. It's not a work-for-hire gig. So that was probably more important than actually owning it, was being able to make the game we wanted to make.”

Two years ago, the whole situation came to a head when Gilbert met a Digital Devolver representative, who in turn put him in contact with the head of licensing at Lucasfilm. Shortly after that meeting, Gilbert flew to Grossman to seriously discuss what they would do with another Monkey Island game.

"We just thrashed all sorts of ideas and talked about what are the themes, and what do we want to say in the game, all that stuff," Gilbert said.

For the sequel, Gilbert says he will take a more of a hands-on approach to the game's development. Right now he has a team of twenty-five people working on Return To Monkey Island, which will feature a "modern" art style. Gilbert explained that the reasoning for changing the art style was that he wanted to "embrace something new."

Gilbert also explained how it's always been important to him that Return To Monkey starts where Monkey Island 2 ended, so it'll pick up at the amusement park where the second Monkey Island left off.

Return To Monkey Island will retain the classic point-and-click style, but with a more evolved interface. It’s set to release later this year.

Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer for IGN.

Ron Gilbert, the mind behind Monkey Island, confirmed another installment in the classic franchise earlier this month. The sixth installment, Return to Monkey Island, will feature the return of Gilbert along with Dave Grossman, who collaborated with Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge.

In an interview with Adventuregamers.com, Gilbert and Grossman shared a little more about Return to Monkey Island. Despite Gilbert's distaste for April Fools, here's what he had to say about announcing that he might be working on a new Monkey Island game on April 1 before formally announcing it a few days later.

"It was maybe about the time right after I wrote that If I Made Another Monkey Island thing [in 2013], and I just thought, you know—it was a weird fantasy, I was like oh, I'd buy the rights back, and I'd announce it on April 1, and it'd be great," Gilbert said.

Gilbert also addressed his famous reluctance to make a new Monkey Island game unless he owned the IP.

"I think the more important thing, rather than owning it, was that I really wanted to have creative freedom. I didn't want to be making a game and having somebody tell me what I should make. It's not a work-for-hire gig. So that was probably more important than actually owning it, was being able to make the game we wanted to make.”

Two years ago, the whole situation came to a head when Gilbert met a Digital Devolver representative, who in turn put him in contact with the head of licensing at Lucasfilm. Shortly after that meeting, Gilbert flew to Grossman to seriously discuss what they would do with another Monkey Island game.

"We just thrashed all sorts of ideas and talked about what are the themes, and what do we want to say in the game, all that stuff," Gilbert said.

For the sequel, Gilbert says he will take a more of a hands-on approach to the game's development. Right now he has a team of twenty-five people working on Return To Monkey Island, which will feature a "modern" art style. Gilbert explained that the reasoning for changing the art style was that he wanted to "embrace something new."

Gilbert also explained how it's always been important to him that Return To Monkey starts where Monkey Island 2 ended, so it'll pick up at the amusement park where the second Monkey Island left off.

Return To Monkey Island will retain the classic point-and-click style, but with a more evolved interface. It’s set to release later this year.

Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer for IGN.

Microsoft is reportedly looking into letting advertisers insert ads into free-to-play Xbox games. This program is reportedly going to launch by the third quarter of this year.

According to Business Insider, these ads could show up as rendered billboards in a racing game. However, it wasn't able to be confirmed whether these advertisements would extend to avatar skins or video ads.

Interestingly, Microsoft reportedly doesn't intend to take a cut of the advertising revenue and is more interested in building out Xbox's advertising network, as it is said to be trying to identify which companies and ad agencies to work with. Instead, the revenue from the ads will be shared between the game developer and the respective ad company.

Microsoft reportedly wants to provide game developers the opportunity to make more money from their free-to-play games. It has been trying to build out Xbox's in-game ad network since between 2018-2019, but plans accelerated in 2020 due to the release of the Xbox Series S|X.

Microsoft reportedly also has some concerns about the potential backlash this initiative from consumers could look like, as console players aren't accustomed to seeing in-game ads, unlike mobile players. For example, EA placed in-game ads for UFC 4 but removed them after fan outcry.

The company is also worried about securing its customers' data and keeping it out of other companies' hands. As such, Microsoft reportedly has no immediate plans to let advertisers use its data collected from Bing and other sites and software in order to target Xbox players.

A Microsoft spokesperson said in a comment to Business Insider, "We are always looking for ways to improve the experience for players and developers but we don't have anything further to share." Advertisements are currently limited to places such as the Xbox dashboard.

In-game ads aren't necessarily a new concept. Former president Barack Obama hosted in-game ads on EA games such as Burnout Paradise, Madden 09, and Skate when he was campaigning to become the next Commander-in-Chief back in 2008.

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

Microsoft is reportedly looking into letting advertisers insert ads into free-to-play Xbox games. This program is reportedly going to launch by the third quarter of this year.

According to Business Insider, these ads could show up as rendered billboards in a racing game. However, it wasn't able to be confirmed whether these advertisements would extend to avatar skins or video ads.

Interestingly, Microsoft reportedly doesn't intend to take a cut of the advertising revenue and is more interested in building out Xbox's advertising network, as it is said to be trying to identify which companies and ad agencies to work with. Instead, the revenue from the ads will be shared between the game developer and the respective ad company.

Microsoft reportedly wants to provide game developers the opportunity to make more money from their free-to-play games. It has been trying to build out Xbox's in-game ad network since between 2018-2019, but plans accelerated in 2020 due to the release of the Xbox Series S|X.

Microsoft reportedly also has some concerns about the potential backlash this initiative from consumers could look like, as console players aren't accustomed to seeing in-game ads, unlike mobile players. For example, EA placed in-game ads for UFC 4 but removed them after fan outcry.

The company is also worried about securing its customers' data and keeping it out of other companies' hands. As such, Microsoft reportedly has no immediate plans to let advertisers use its data collected from Bing and other sites and software in order to target Xbox players.

A Microsoft spokesperson said in a comment to Business Insider, "We are always looking for ways to improve the experience for players and developers but we don't have anything further to share." Advertisements are currently limited to places such as the Xbox dashboard.

In-game ads aren't necessarily a new concept. Former president Barack Obama hosted in-game ads on EA games such as Burnout Paradise, Madden 09, and Skate when he was campaigning to become the next Commander-in-Chief back in 2008.

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