Back in June, a report indicated that Everwild, Rare's newest game IP, was being completely rebooted. In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty said that that report was "more definite and a little more extreme" than the truth.

In his Kinda Funny interview (via GamesRadar), Booty elaborated on how game development, particularly the narratively rich and distinct flavor that Rare creates, is a difficult process consisting of thousands of little decisions.

"What is Rare known for?" Booty said. "They're known for creating new IP and creating worlds. I'll say when you look at it from the outside, when you hear words like 'reset' and maybe 'restructure,' those are probably a little more definite and a little more extreme than what really happens as a game comes to life."

Booty also referenced his time working alongside NBA Jam developer Mark Trammell.

"He used to say that a game gets made a thousand small decisions at a time," Booty said. "Every day you're making hundreds of small decisions and at the end of however long you work on the game, they all add up. I think that's where the Everwild team is right now. They're just trying to make sure that they've got something special."

Booty also touched on how, even with how long a game can take to make and release, the state of a game can dramatically change (or improve) with each new build.

"There's some days where you're just terrified," Booty said. "'What are they making? How is this ever going to come together?' Then you balance that out with a day later, this build comes together and you're like 'this is magic.'"

Worries about a reboot of Everwild's development started when the game was absent from Microsoft's game showcase events during 2019. Everwild's creative director Simon Woodroffe also left Rare in 2020. Rare filled the director's chair with veteran designer Gregg Mayles, who previously worked on Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata, and Sea of Thieves.

The initial report of the supposed reboot also stated that Everwild may have changed the game's original concept of third-person adventuring with "god game elements," but didn't confirm if any changes actually happened.

Booty said Xbox will have more to share about Everwild when Rare has more to show and that they "don't want to keep things hidden for too long."

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/nature wizard for IGN.

Back in June, a report indicated that Everwild, Rare's newest game IP, was being completely rebooted. In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty said that that report was "more definite and a little more extreme" than the truth.

In his Kinda Funny interview (via GamesRadar), Booty elaborated on how game development, particularly the narratively rich and distinct flavor that Rare creates, is a difficult process consisting of thousands of little decisions.

"What is Rare known for?" Booty said. "They're known for creating new IP and creating worlds. I'll say when you look at it from the outside, when you hear words like 'reset' and maybe 'restructure,' those are probably a little more definite and a little more extreme than what really happens as a game comes to life."

Booty also referenced his time working alongside NBA Jam developer Mark Trammell.

"He used to say that a game gets made a thousand small decisions at a time," Booty said. "Every day you're making hundreds of small decisions and at the end of however long you work on the game, they all add up. I think that's where the Everwild team is right now. They're just trying to make sure that they've got something special."

Booty also touched on how, even with how long a game can take to make and release, the state of a game can dramatically change (or improve) with each new build.

"There's some days where you're just terrified," Booty said. "'What are they making? How is this ever going to come together?' Then you balance that out with a day later, this build comes together and you're like 'this is magic.'"

Worries about a reboot of Everwild's development started when the game was absent from Microsoft's game showcase events during 2019. Everwild's creative director Simon Woodroffe also left Rare in 2020. Rare filled the director's chair with veteran designer Gregg Mayles, who previously worked on Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata, and Sea of Thieves.

The initial report of the supposed reboot also stated that Everwild may have changed the game's original concept of third-person adventuring with "god game elements," but didn't confirm if any changes actually happened.

Booty said Xbox will have more to share about Everwild when Rare has more to show and that they "don't want to keep things hidden for too long."

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/nature wizard for IGN.

EA has temporarily banned over 30,000 players in FIFA 22 for seven days. These bans were the results of the players taking advantage of a "no loss" glitch in the game's Ultimate Team mode last week.

As reported by Eurogamer an exploit appeared where, if abused, players could obtain a 20-0 perfect win record. All players had to do is click on the "home" button on their PlayStation or Xbox controllers to go back to the console's home screen. Then simply wait for the match to time out.

If players were losing a match, they could use this exploit and the game wouldn't register it as a loss.

We have identified over 30K active accounts that exploited this issue consistently and have suspended them from FIFA 22 online for 7 days, preventing them from participating in this week’s FUT Champions Finals.

Read about our Positive Play Charter here - https://t.co/KR5ZrE9X5O https://t.co/c5wih0bkGR

— FIFA Direct Communication (@EAFIFADirect) October 20, 2021

Now, these same players will not be able to participate in the FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Finals this weekend. However, they will still be able to keep the rewards they earned through exploiting the glitch. Some players say they received an in-game message noting they were banned for 1000 days rather than the seven that EA had stated. EA responded by stating that it is a visual bug and the correct time, seven days, is listed in the email that was sent to the affected players.

EA backed up its decision to issue bans by referencing its Positive Play charter, which specifically says, "Don’t: Use exploits, cheats, undocumented features, design errors, bugs or problems to get a leg up on others. This includes using unsupported mods, unauthorized hardware or accessories, or specialized software to gain an unfair advantage, such as 'aimbots' or 'triggerbots,' intentionally 'boosting” or 'teamkilling,' or using exploits to gain in-game items. Seriously, cheaters never prosper."

It certainly seems like this "no loss" glitch falls into that category.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @yinyangfooey.

EA has temporarily banned over 30,000 players in FIFA 22 for seven days. These bans were the results of the players taking advantage of a "no loss" glitch in the game's Ultimate Team mode last week.

As reported by Eurogamer an exploit appeared where, if abused, players could obtain a 20-0 perfect win record. All players had to do is click on the "home" button on their PlayStation or Xbox controllers to go back to the console's home screen. Then simply wait for the match to time out.

If players were losing a match, they could use this exploit and the game wouldn't register it as a loss.

We have identified over 30K active accounts that exploited this issue consistently and have suspended them from FIFA 22 online for 7 days, preventing them from participating in this week’s FUT Champions Finals.

Read about our Positive Play Charter here - https://t.co/KR5ZrE9X5O https://t.co/c5wih0bkGR

— FIFA Direct Communication (@EAFIFADirect) October 20, 2021

Now, these same players will not be able to participate in the FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Finals this weekend. However, they will still be able to keep the rewards they earned through exploiting the glitch. Some players say they received an in-game message noting they were banned for 1000 days rather than the seven that EA had stated. EA responded by stating that it is a visual bug and the correct time, seven days, is listed in the email that was sent to the affected players.

EA backed up its decision to issue bans by referencing its Positive Play charter, which specifically says, "Don’t: Use exploits, cheats, undocumented features, design errors, bugs or problems to get a leg up on others. This includes using unsupported mods, unauthorized hardware or accessories, or specialized software to gain an unfair advantage, such as 'aimbots' or 'triggerbots,' intentionally 'boosting” or 'teamkilling,' or using exploits to gain in-game items. Seriously, cheaters never prosper."

It certainly seems like this "no loss" glitch falls into that category.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @yinyangfooey.

Does Robert Pattinson as Batman make you think it'd be awesome to see him square off against his old Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart as the Joker? Well, don't get your hopes up. In an interview with Variety, Stewart briefly entertained the idea but squashed hopes for her to ever inhabit the oversized shoes of the clown prince of crime.

The idea started with a social media campaign to cast Stewart alongside her old Twilight counterpart Pattinson, who stars as the titular dark knight in the upcoming The Batman film directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes).

“I love the energy behind that,” Stewart told Variety. “It’s really been done so well. I feel like, maybe, we don’t traipse over, but I love that gusto. Let’s figure something else out. I’m totally down to play a freaky, scary person.”

Stewart reiterated her opinion when asked again if that was a hard "no."

“Not ‘no,’ but not the most stoked I’ve ever been. Let’s do something new," Stewart said.

Stewart and Pattinson are certainly plenty far removed from their roots as Twilight's breakout stars 13 years ago. Stewart's most recent film, "Spencer," casts her as the late Princess Diana during the crumbling of her marriage to Prince Charles. Her next project is David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future," which follows a performance artist in a world where humanity has evolved to develop new types of organs.

Meanwhile, Pattinson's star has risen even further, landing him starring roles in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, Netflix's The King, and Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse alongside Willem Dafoe.

As for The Batman, we'll be seeing Pattinson square off against the Riddler and Colin Farrel's Penguin, two of his oldest nemeses. We got a huge new look at the film during DC FanDome, including a new trailer.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/caped brew-sader for IGN. Brood with him on Twitter.

Does Robert Pattinson as Batman make you think it'd be awesome to see him square off against his old Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart as the Joker? Well, don't get your hopes up. In an interview with Variety, Stewart briefly entertained the idea but squashed hopes for her to ever inhabit the oversized shoes of the clown prince of crime.

The idea started with a social media campaign to cast Stewart alongside her old Twilight counterpart Pattinson, who stars as the titular dark knight in the upcoming The Batman film directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes).

“I love the energy behind that,” Stewart told Variety. “It’s really been done so well. I feel like, maybe, we don’t traipse over, but I love that gusto. Let’s figure something else out. I’m totally down to play a freaky, scary person.”

Stewart reiterated her opinion when asked again if that was a hard "no."

“Not ‘no,’ but not the most stoked I’ve ever been. Let’s do something new," Stewart said.

Stewart and Pattinson are certainly plenty far removed from their roots as Twilight's breakout stars 13 years ago. Stewart's most recent film, "Spencer," casts her as the late Princess Diana during the crumbling of her marriage to Prince Charles. Her next project is David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future," which follows a performance artist in a world where humanity has evolved to develop new types of organs.

Meanwhile, Pattinson's star has risen even further, landing him starring roles in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, Netflix's The King, and Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse alongside Willem Dafoe.

As for The Batman, we'll be seeing Pattinson square off against the Riddler and Colin Farrel's Penguin, two of his oldest nemeses. We got a huge new look at the film during DC FanDome, including a new trailer.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/caped brew-sader for IGN. Brood with him on Twitter.

Facebook is reportedly planning to change its name in an effort to reflect its work building the "metaverse," The Verge reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly plans to announce the name change at the company's Connect conference on October 28, if not sooner. The name change could signal Facebook's intentions to grow further beyond a social media company and into more of a tech conglomerate. With Facebook owning Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR devices, and other brands, the name change will likely organize every group under one umbrella, similar to Google's change to Alphabet in 2015.

Zuckerberg has previously commented on Facebook's intentions to expand into different technology and the metaverse. He told The Verge earlier this year that "we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”

The Verge also reports that the name is a closely guarded secret, even among Facebook's senior leadership. One theory is that it will take its name from Facebook's unreleased VR platform, Horizon Worlds, previously known as Facebook Horizons.

Facebook's rebranding could also have an impact on the negative perception of the company as a major source of misinformation. Earlier this month, a whistleblower (and former employee of Facebook) testified that the company prioritized profit over the well-being of its users, and leaked confidential documents related to her allegations.

Some of the whistleblower's most notable claims include that Facebook was aware its product was having a negative impact on people's health, particularly teen mental health. The whistleblower also alleged that Facebook softened its regulations on misinformation after the 2020 election, just before the January 6 riot in Washington D.C., Vox reports.

Even prior to 2021, Facebook was frequently mired in controversy. The infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal showed that Facebook had exposed the data of 87 million accounts to the political consulting firm working for the Trump campaign. A lawsuit was filed in 2018 over the data-mining scandal and more recently today the DC Attorney General announced that Mark Zuckerberg had been added as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Even Facebook's technology has found itself under intense criticism. Facebook formally apologized last month after the platform's AI labeled videos of black men under "primates."

What exactly is the metaverse? It depends on who you ask. The founder of Pokemon Go creator Niantic called it a "dystopian nightmare," but Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who received $1 billion earlier this year to help build Epic's own metaverse, believes it will be an asynchronous and persistent virtual universe where every brand, company, independent users, and independent creators can be interconnected. Imagine Ready Player One's Oasis, but where Fortnite and Instagram exist in the same code.

It's definitely complicated, and likely years and years away from becoming a reality thanks to the diverse and unregulated nature of the internet and different tech platforms, to say nothing of convincing major brands to participate in a virtual world. The term "metaverse" has also been used by NFT and cryptocurrency groups to describe their vision of a shared universe where a unique item in one game/app can be used in another. However, the NFT and cryptocurrency community is so rife with scams and dodgy promises that even Steam has seen fit to ban all games with any NFT or cryptocurrency integration. Lucky for them, Sweeney says they're cool with Epic.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/non-fungullible for IGN. Become a part of his meh-taverse on Twitter.

Facebook is reportedly planning to change its name in an effort to reflect its work building the "metaverse," The Verge reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly plans to announce the name change at the company's Connect conference on October 28, if not sooner. The name change could signal Facebook's intentions to grow further beyond a social media company and into more of a tech conglomerate. With Facebook owning Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR devices, and other brands, the name change will likely organize every group under one umbrella, similar to Google's change to Alphabet in 2015.

Zuckerberg has previously commented on Facebook's intentions to expand into different technology and the metaverse. He told The Verge earlier this year that "we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”

The Verge also reports that the name is a closely guarded secret, even among Facebook's senior leadership. One theory is that it will take its name from Facebook's unreleased VR platform, Horizon Worlds, previously known as Facebook Horizons.

Facebook's rebranding could also have an impact on the negative perception of the company as a major source of misinformation. Earlier this month, a whistleblower (and former employee of Facebook) testified that the company prioritized profit over the well-being of its users, and leaked confidential documents related to her allegations.

Some of the whistleblower's most notable claims include that Facebook was aware its product was having a negative impact on people's health, particularly teen mental health. The whistleblower also alleged that Facebook softened its regulations on misinformation after the 2020 election, just before the January 6 riot in Washington D.C., Vox reports.

Even prior to 2021, Facebook was frequently mired in controversy. The infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal showed that Facebook had exposed the data of 87 million accounts to the political consulting firm working for the Trump campaign. A lawsuit was filed in 2018 over the data-mining scandal and more recently today the DC Attorney General announced that Mark Zuckerberg had been added as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Even Facebook's technology has found itself under intense criticism. Facebook formally apologized last month after the platform's AI labeled videos of black men under "primates."

What exactly is the metaverse? It depends on who you ask. The founder of Pokemon Go creator Niantic called it a "dystopian nightmare," but Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who received $1 billion earlier this year to help build Epic's own metaverse, believes it will be an asynchronous and persistent virtual universe where every brand, company, independent users, and independent creators can be interconnected. Imagine Ready Player One's Oasis, but where Fortnite and Instagram exist in the same code.

It's definitely complicated, and likely years and years away from becoming a reality thanks to the diverse and unregulated nature of the internet and different tech platforms, to say nothing of convincing major brands to participate in a virtual world. The term "metaverse" has also been used by NFT and cryptocurrency groups to describe their vision of a shared universe where a unique item in one game/app can be used in another. However, the NFT and cryptocurrency community is so rife with scams and dodgy promises that even Steam has seen fit to ban all games with any NFT or cryptocurrency integration. Lucky for them, Sweeney says they're cool with Epic.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/non-fungullible for IGN. Become a part of his meh-taverse on Twitter.

Respawn has asked Apex Legends players to stop posing – at least, until they can implement a fix next week to stop client crashes linked to Epic poses.

Apex Legends has been plagued by crashes recently, as a result of a new bug caused by animated Epic poses – which are animated poses that play out on the game's menu screens between matches. Developer Respawn has issued a statement about this game-breaking issue, with some stern advice: stop posing.

“We’ve just published this message in-game to help cut down on crashes called by animated poses,” they shared via Twitter. “Tell your friends! A full fix is scheduled for next week.”

We’ve just published this message in-game to help cut down on crashes called by animated poses. Tell your friends!

A full fix is scheduled for next week. pic.twitter.com/mXguAzBvN3

— Respawn (@Respawn) October 15, 2021

The full in-game message reads: “Bug Notice: There’s currently an issue with animated poses which can cause crashes. We advise you to unequip these epic poses while our team works on a fix. Thanks, Legends!”

A similar issue appeared last month, with Respawn issuing the same advice at the time. Epic poses are usually equipped for each character in their customisation options, but Respawn suggests equipping non-animated poses for the time being. At least, until the upcoming fix goes live.

“There's no obvious reason - looking at the code - why epic (animated) banner poses should trigger this more often,” said a Respawn developer going by RobotHavGunz on Reddit, replying to people pointing out the issue. “I never saw this bug in testing, nor did QA, but I know the bug is happening. And I can definitely believe this post - that epic banner poses are triggering this more often, because the bug is with a safeguard to make sure we don't try to run a pose on a character for which it doesn't apply. Maddeningly, it's not 100%... it doesn't happen every time. And, again, we had no reports of this during testing.”

There’s currently no indication of when the hotfix will go live, so it’s best to follow Respawn’s advice and stop posing for now. Although, with a range of new epic poses added in the ongoing Monsters Within event, it’s pretty unfortunate timing.

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

No Man's Sky has announced Emergence, a fourth expedition and Halloween update that focuses on the game's horrific sandworms. Also it adds flesh fireworks, because why not?

Expeditions are No Man's Sky's event quests, and Emergence is the first with a full narrative attached – stranding players on a barren world and asking them to solve the mystery of a cult that appears to be connected to the Titan Worms infesting planets across the galaxy.

The expedition also acts as a mini-update, adding a number of features to the game, from better particle effects to fully rideable flying sandworms (after you tame and grow them, of course). There are also a number of grosser effects being added, from a jetpack trail that fires worms, and a "Flesh Launcher", that sends up fireworks that "explode in a splatter of slime, plasma and wormlets." Delicious.

Developer Hello Games has released a full list of additions coming in Emergence, which is released today.

No Man's Sky: Emergence Additions

• More Varied Sandworms - The titanic worms throughout the universe have been enhanced with a variety of new biologies and types. These colossal beasts can now be found with a broader selection of more horrifying variants.
• Richer Particle Effects - Particle effects have been improved. Meteors, muzzle flashes, explosions, burrowing fauna dust, billowing smoke and laser impacts have all been revamped and can be seen throughout the game.
• Rideable Sandworms - Players can now tame and grow a tremendous sandworm companion to feed, pet, ride and explore the universe with. These are both terrifying and awesome creatures when fully grown, and incredible to fly.
• Feasting Casque - After discovering the secrets of an ancient Vy’keen cult, explorers can also echo their appearance with this unique, many-toothed grotesque alien.
• Ghastly Trail - The Ghastly Trail customisation applies a unique organic effect to the Jetpack's exhaust nozzles, ejecting gooey fluids and tiny worms during flight.
• Titanic Trophy - This eerie skull, once belonging to a large legless cousin of the titan sandworm, adds a touch of macabre decor to bases.
• Flesh Launcher - Add an organic element to pyrotechnic displays with the Flesh Launcher firework. These unusual fireworks explode in a splatter of slime, plasma and wormlets.

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.