Spider-Man: No Way Home helmer Jon Watts is rumored to be in talks to direct at least one episode of a new mystery Star Wars series for Disney Plus.

According to a report from Discussing Film, Watts has been invited to sit in the director's chair for at least one episode of the upcoming Star Wars series that is apparently operating under the working title of "Grammar Rodeo." Watts' involvement in the project is said to be dependent on his busy schedule, given that he's also helming Marvel's Fantastic Four.

Jon Favreau is reportedly attached to executive produce following his most recent stint as a writer and executive producer on both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. It is currently unknown who will be writing this new series but more details are expected to emerge as it nears production, with cameras currently scheduled to start rolling this summer.

Cinelinx first reported on the series, describing it as a "Stranger Things in space" with a story that focuses on a "younger generation of heroes" during the High Republic era. The Acolyte, another upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series, will be set during the final days of this same period, in connection with the publishing initiative launched by Disney and Lucasfilm in 2020.

The Acolyte is currently in pre-production with Russian Doll writer Leslye Headland overseeing the series, and Amandla Stenberg eyed for the lead role. Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy previously teased the story, saying it will "take us into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emergent dark side powers," 200 years before the events of the Star Wars prequels.

As the galaxy far, far away expands, the star-studded roster of talent working to tell these tales grows along with it. Watts could be the next high-profile name to secure a slot on a Star Wars project, though he does have a busy time ahead with Final Destination 6 coming up, and an untitled thriller for Apple TV+ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt also in the mix.

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

Spider-Man: No Way Home helmer Jon Watts is rumored to be in talks to direct at least one episode of a new mystery Star Wars series for Disney Plus.

According to a report from Discussing Film, Watts has been invited to sit in the director's chair for at least one episode of the upcoming Star Wars series that is apparently operating under the working title of "Grammar Rodeo." Watts' involvement in the project is said to be dependent on his busy schedule, given that he's also helming Marvel's Fantastic Four.

Jon Favreau is reportedly attached to executive produce following his most recent stint as a writer and executive producer on both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. It is currently unknown who will be writing this new series but more details are expected to emerge as it nears production, with cameras currently scheduled to start rolling this summer.

Cinelinx first reported on the series, describing it as a "Stranger Things in space" with a story that focuses on a "younger generation of heroes" during the High Republic era. The Acolyte, another upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series, will be set during the final days of this same period, in connection with the publishing initiative launched by Disney and Lucasfilm in 2020.

The Acolyte is currently in pre-production with Russian Doll writer Leslye Headland overseeing the series, and Amandla Stenberg eyed for the lead role. Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy previously teased the story, saying it will "take us into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emergent dark side powers," 200 years before the events of the Star Wars prequels.

As the galaxy far, far away expands, the star-studded roster of talent working to tell these tales grows along with it. Watts could be the next high-profile name to secure a slot on a Star Wars project, though he does have a busy time ahead with Final Destination 6 coming up, and an untitled thriller for Apple TV+ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt also in the mix.

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

Lost Ark's Central Europe region cannot be expanded any further, and so players will continue to experience long queue times, at least while the game's popularity remains high.

Developer Smilegate announced in a blog post spotted by Eurogamer that there is no way to increase the number of players per game world or add more servers to the region.

Instead, early-on players are encouraged to switch to the new Europe West region that Smilegate was forced to create due to Lost Ark's immense popularity.

Moving servers is only a truly viable option for new players as Smilegate again confirmed that server transfer functionality isn't currently possible, though it "will not rest until we've exhausted all options".

Unlike North American players, who were given a West and East region from day one, players in South America and Europe were only given a single region to spread its player-base across.

The latter has struggled to keep up with demand as Lost Ark quickly became Steam's second most-played game of all time, which also meant players had to wait much longer to enter the game in what Smilegate called "a less than ideal experience".

It has attempted to lure players to less busy servers by offering souped-up Founders Packs to early-access players that make the move, but this seemingly hasn't proved very popular as long queue times persist.

Once in the game, however, IGN said Lost Ark was "great", adding that "with an outstanding variety of places to visit and a strong combat system, Lost Ark is an extremely generous free-to-play action-RPG-MMO that draws a lot from Diablo – including its well-worn story about humans and Heaven teaming up against demons."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Lost Ark's Central Europe region cannot be expanded any further, and so players will continue to experience long queue times, at least while the game's popularity remains high.

Developer Smilegate announced in a blog post spotted by Eurogamer that there is no way to increase the number of players per game world or add more servers to the region.

Instead, early-on players are encouraged to switch to the new Europe West region that Smilegate was forced to create due to Lost Ark's immense popularity.

Moving servers is only a truly viable option for new players as Smilegate again confirmed that server transfer functionality isn't currently possible, though it "will not rest until we've exhausted all options".

Unlike North American players, who were given a West and East region from day one, players in South America and Europe were only given a single region to spread its player-base across.

The latter has struggled to keep up with demand as Lost Ark quickly became Steam's second most-played game of all time, which also meant players had to wait much longer to enter the game in what Smilegate called "a less than ideal experience".

It has attempted to lure players to less busy servers by offering souped-up Founders Packs to early-access players that make the move, but this seemingly hasn't proved very popular as long queue times persist.

Once in the game, however, IGN said Lost Ark was "great", adding that "with an outstanding variety of places to visit and a strong combat system, Lost Ark is an extremely generous free-to-play action-RPG-MMO that draws a lot from Diablo – including its well-worn story about humans and Heaven teaming up against demons."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Supermassive Games seemingly has plans to work on non-Dark Pictures Anthology games in the near future following its trademark of a new IP called The Quarry.

The developer filed the new title, which will be its first diversion from the Dark Pictures games since 2018, with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, as spotted by @the_marmolade on Twitter.

This comes just three weeks after Supermassive filed trademarks for six further Dark Pictures games to release on top of its upcoming The Devil in Me.

Another new Supermassive Games trademark has shown appeared: https://t.co/uwdvS1oOJT pic.twitter.com/tZzin4ho7B

— The_Marmolade (@the_marmolade) February 20, 2022

There's no guarantee The Quarry will become a full game but Supermassive has filed it under the categories typical for console and PC releases: games software, entertainment services, and computer programming services. There's also a logo, which doesn't match the design of the Dark Pictures games, nor any of the studio's other games.

The developer, which found mainstream success in 2015 with the release of Until Dawn, last released a non-Dark Pictures game in 2018 with PlayStation VR title Bravo Team.

Since then, however, development has shifted to focus solely on its horror anthology franchise.

IGN has given The Dark Pictures Anthology mixed reviews so far. We said Man of Medan was "good", and "offers an unnerving horror adventure" with consequences directly linked to the player's actions. Little Hope was "mediocre", with "uninspired characters and relatively meaningless consequences," but we thought House of Ashes was "great", and the studio's best since Until Dawn released in 2015.

The next game in the franchise, The Devil in Me, doesn't have a release date as of yet but is likely to release sometime this year after being announced in October 2021.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Supermassive Games seemingly has plans to work on non-Dark Pictures Anthology games in the near future following its trademark of a new IP called The Quarry.

The developer filed the new title, which will be its first diversion from the Dark Pictures games since 2018, with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, as spotted by @the_marmolade on Twitter.

This comes just three weeks after Supermassive filed trademarks for six further Dark Pictures games to release on top of its upcoming The Devil in Me.

Another new Supermassive Games trademark has shown appeared: https://t.co/uwdvS1oOJT pic.twitter.com/tZzin4ho7B

— The_Marmolade (@the_marmolade) February 20, 2022

There's no guarantee The Quarry will become a full game but Supermassive has filed it under the categories typical for console and PC releases: games software, entertainment services, and computer programming services. There's also a logo, which doesn't match the design of the Dark Pictures games, nor any of the studio's other games.

The developer, which found mainstream success in 2015 with the release of Until Dawn, last released a non-Dark Pictures game in 2018 with PlayStation VR title Bravo Team.

Since then, however, development has shifted to focus solely on its horror anthology franchise.

IGN has given The Dark Pictures Anthology mixed reviews so far. We said Man of Medan was "good", and "offers an unnerving horror adventure" with consequences directly linked to the player's actions. Little Hope was "mediocre", with "uninspired characters and relatively meaningless consequences," but we thought House of Ashes was "great", and the studio's best since Until Dawn released in 2015.

The next game in the franchise, The Devil in Me, doesn't have a release date as of yet but is likely to release sometime this year after being announced in October 2021.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Robert Downey Jr. will star in a new Amazon Studios film from Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys writer Shane Black, based on Richard Stark's Parker novels.

Joel Silver, who's worked on several Hollywood blockbusters including The Matrix and Die Hard, will be producing with Downey Jr. and Susan Downey according to industry insider Matthew Belloni in Puck's What I'm Hearing newsletter.

Downey Jr. worked with Black previously when he wrote and directed 2013's Iron Man 3, one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most interesting takes on the superhero formula.

As the new film is still awaiting an official announcement from Amazon it's hard to say when it may release or even start filming, but Belloni said it's already scripted.

Downey Jr. will play professional criminal Parker in the seventh film based on Stark's novels. They include 1967's Point Blank, 1968's The Split, 1973's The Outfit, 1983's Slayground, 1999's Payback, and 2013's Parker starring Jason Statham.

This isn't the only thriller Downey Jr. is starring in soon as he's also appearing in a TV adaption of The Sympathizer for HBO and A24 with Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Robert Downey Jr. will star in a new Amazon Studios film from Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys writer Shane Black, based on Richard Stark's Parker novels.

Joel Silver, who's worked on several Hollywood blockbusters including The Matrix and Die Hard, will be producing with Downey Jr. and Susan Downey according to industry insider Matthew Belloni in Puck's What I'm Hearing newsletter.

Downey Jr. worked with Black previously when he wrote and directed 2013's Iron Man 3, one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most interesting takes on the superhero formula.

As the new film is still awaiting an official announcement from Amazon it's hard to say when it may release or even start filming, but Belloni said it's already scripted.

Downey Jr. will play professional criminal Parker in the seventh film based on Stark's novels. They include 1967's Point Blank, 1968's The Split, 1973's The Outfit, 1983's Slayground, 1999's Payback, and 2013's Parker starring Jason Statham.

This isn't the only thriller Downey Jr. is starring in soon as he's also appearing in a TV adaption of The Sympathizer for HBO and A24 with Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Exclusive to IGN, Bandai Namco and Koei Tecmo Games have revealed first images from a special upcoming collaboration update between Tales of Arise and Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. Tales of Arise was released in September 2021 and Atelier Sophie 2 will follow on February 25, and since both series are celebrating their 25th anniversaries, a set of collaboration items will be made available in each game via an update.

It is not yet clear whether the update for each game will be free or require a fee, and the exact dates of the updates are also yet to be confirmed.

Players of Tales of Arise will get the Atelier Sophie 2 Collaboration Pack, which includes multiple items, the first of which we can reveal is Sophie’s Flower Hair Clip, allowing players to decorate the Arise character of their choice with a Sophie flavor. Below are images of the hair clip as worn by Plachta, Olias, Alette and Diebold.

Similarly, players of Atelier Sophie 2 will have access to the Tales of Arise Collaboration Accessories set, including Alphen’s Iron Mask, which can be equipped to the Atelier Sophie 2 character of their choice. In the images below you can see the mask as work by Rinwell, Law and Kisara.

Four illustrators from both series, along with the Blue Reflection series that is also made by Atelier series developer Gust, worked together on a collaboration illustration that celebrates the series’ 25th anniversaries. The picture features four women characters from each game posing together, each drawn by a different artist: Minoru Iwamoto, Yuugen, Noco and Mel Kishida.

At a recent panel event held in Tokyo to celebrate the collaboration, the four illustrators told IGN Japan about their design process and how they worked together on the new piece of anniversary artwork.

Speaking about the collaboration illustration, Minoru Iwamoto, the art director and character designer for Tales of Arise, said, “In Tales of Arise, Shionne doesn’t usually appear in a group of only women, so this is an unfamiliar setting for her. I wanted to show her surprise at being surrounded by Sophie and the others, as she tries to fit in with them.”

Yuugen, artist on Atelier Sophie 2, said, “Having four illustrators working together on one picture resulted in a work with lots of hidden depth.” Meanwhile, artist Mel Kishida reflected that “Blue Reflection is different from the other games because it has a modern setting, so I wanted to embrace that dissonance. I hope the girls will get on well together!”

Iwamoto explained how series such as Dark Souls and Game of Thrones inspired his designs on Tales of Arise.

“Given the recent trends for open-world games, it was hard to decide how the team wanted to depict the action sequences in Tales of Arise. We thought about going for a Dark Souls-like battle style with realistic movements, or a moreanime/manga inspired style. In the end, I feel we found a style that really fits the image of the series.

“Personally, I like things like Dark Souls and Game of Thrones, but it wasn’t possible to bring that style to Tales of Arise exactly as it is. That said, I believe the sense of excitement you get from Dark Souls or Game of Thrones is reflected in Tales of Arise.”

Noco, another character designer on Atelier Sophie 2, said she toyed with changing the design of the lead character, who was already established in the previous game. “I came up with about 15 designs, including some unusual things, like dressing her in men’s clothing. But in the end I decided I liked the original design the best.”

Further information about the collaboration update will be announced on February 22 during a livestream (in Japanese only) broadcast by Koei Tecmo Games.

Daniel Robson is Chief Editor at IGN Japan and is on Twitter here.

Ryuchi Kataoka is a freelance writer for IGN Japan.

Exclusive to IGN, Bandai Namco and Koei Tecmo Games have revealed first images from a special upcoming collaboration update between Tales of Arise and Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. Tales of Arise was released in September 2021 and Atelier Sophie 2 will follow on February 25, and since both series are celebrating their 25th anniversaries, a set of collaboration items will be made available in each game via an update.

It is not yet clear whether the update for each game will be free or require a fee, and the exact dates of the updates are also yet to be confirmed.

Players of Tales of Arise will get the Atelier Sophie 2 Collaboration Pack, which includes multiple items, the first of which we can reveal is Sophie’s Flower Hair Clip, allowing players to decorate the Arise character of their choice with a Sophie flavor. Below are images of the hair clip as worn by Plachta, Olias, Alette and Diebold.

Similarly, players of Atelier Sophie 2 will have access to the Tales of Arise Collaboration Accessories set, including Alphen’s Iron Mask, which can be equipped to the Atelier Sophie 2 character of their choice. In the images below you can see the mask as work by Rinwell, Law and Kisara.

Four illustrators from both series, along with the Blue Reflection series that is also made by Atelier series developer Gust, worked together on a collaboration illustration that celebrates the series’ 25th anniversaries. The picture features four women characters from each game posing together, each drawn by a different artist: Minoru Iwamoto, Yuugen, Noco and Mel Kishida.

At a recent panel event held in Tokyo to celebrate the collaboration, the four illustrators told IGN Japan about their design process and how they worked together on the new piece of anniversary artwork.

Speaking about the collaboration illustration, Minoru Iwamoto, the art director and character designer for Tales of Arise, said, “In Tales of Arise, Shionne doesn’t usually appear in a group of only women, so this is an unfamiliar setting for her. I wanted to show her surprise at being surrounded by Sophie and the others, as she tries to fit in with them.”

Yuugen, artist on Atelier Sophie 2, said, “Having four illustrators working together on one picture resulted in a work with lots of hidden depth.” Meanwhile, artist Mel Kishida reflected that “Blue Reflection is different from the other games because it has a modern setting, so I wanted to embrace that dissonance. I hope the girls will get on well together!”

Iwamoto explained how series such as Dark Souls and Game of Thrones inspired his designs on Tales of Arise.

“Given the recent trends for open-world games, it was hard to decide how the team wanted to depict the action sequences in Tales of Arise. We thought about going for a Dark Souls-like battle style with realistic movements, or a moreanime/manga inspired style. In the end, I feel we found a style that really fits the image of the series.

“Personally, I like things like Dark Souls and Game of Thrones, but it wasn’t possible to bring that style to Tales of Arise exactly as it is. That said, I believe the sense of excitement you get from Dark Souls or Game of Thrones is reflected in Tales of Arise.”

Noco, another character designer on Atelier Sophie 2, said she toyed with changing the design of the lead character, who was already established in the previous game. “I came up with about 15 designs, including some unusual things, like dressing her in men’s clothing. But in the end I decided I liked the original design the best.”

Further information about the collaboration update will be announced on February 22 during a livestream (in Japanese only) broadcast by Koei Tecmo Games.

Daniel Robson is Chief Editor at IGN Japan and is on Twitter here.

Ryuchi Kataoka is a freelance writer for IGN Japan.