Bryan Walker, who was Retro Studios' director of development and producer until 2012, revealed that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption could have been an open world game that featured a heavier gameplay focus on Samus' ship if, among other reasons, the Wii was a bit more powerful.

As reported by VGC, Walker detailed these development stories on Kiwi Talkz and shared that Metroid Prime's series director Mark Pacini had much more ambitious plans for this third entry than what ended up being in the shipped game. Unfortunately, some of the ideas were a bit too big for the time.

“Mark came forward with an interesting twist in the vision and some of the formulas for Metroid Prime 3, compared to Metroid Prime 2,” Walker said. “We wanted to a great degree leverage the ship as a playable asset, and we had that to some degree in Prime 3 but Mark was thinking much more ambitiously.

“There was also an open world that was much less linear that he was proposing and the team was excited about. We weren’t able to prototype a lot of those because they were really big. We did have some ship prototypes, but the open-world one was much bigger.

“In fact, Mark printed out as one of his visual aids this origami Samus ship. He had taken the mesh of the Samus ship and used a program that basically unfolded it into what he could then turn into a paper model. So we had this cardboard Samus ship that he had coloured in and it looked great! I think we could sell it today.”

He continued to say that the specs of the Nintendo Wii, which were behind that of the PS3 and Xbox 360, could also have been one of the reasons these grand ideas never saw the light of day.

"We knew what the Xbox 360 was going to have, when knew what the PS3 was going to have and the initial specs we were looking at [for Wii] were not competitive from a hardware and memory standpoint… there were all these disadvantages,” Walker said. "We were a little concerned, to be blunt, and then they rolled out the Wii Remote and kind of in unison the team went, ‘ah! Ok.’"

Despite this, Walker is proud of what Metroid Prime 3 ended up being. At IGN, we share that sentiment as we gave it a 9.5/10 and called it a "spectacular must-own experience and one of Wii's defining games."

“We may have fallen short of our goals with Prime 3 in not being able to expand the formula a bit," Walker concluded. "We’re still very, very proud of Prime 3, it turned out to be a fantastic game, but I would be very interested to see what the response would be, especially the fan community, to the expanded ship and the non-linear experience that we were touching upon.”

Will some of these ideas end up in Metroid Prime 4 when it is finally released on Nintendo Switch? While that question may not be answered for some time, fans only have a few more days to wait until Samus' newest adventure begins in Metroid Dread.

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.

Bryan Walker, who was Retro Studios' director of development and producer until 2012, revealed that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption could have been an open world game that featured a heavier gameplay focus on Samus' ship if, among other reasons, the Wii was a bit more powerful.

As reported by VGC, Walker detailed these development stories on Kiwi Talkz and shared that Metroid Prime's series director Mark Pacini had much more ambitious plans for this third entry than what ended up being in the shipped game. Unfortunately, some of the ideas were a bit too big for the time.

“Mark came forward with an interesting twist in the vision and some of the formulas for Metroid Prime 3, compared to Metroid Prime 2,” Walker said. “We wanted to a great degree leverage the ship as a playable asset, and we had that to some degree in Prime 3 but Mark was thinking much more ambitiously.

“There was also an open world that was much less linear that he was proposing and the team was excited about. We weren’t able to prototype a lot of those because they were really big. We did have some ship prototypes, but the open-world one was much bigger.

“In fact, Mark printed out as one of his visual aids this origami Samus ship. He had taken the mesh of the Samus ship and used a program that basically unfolded it into what he could then turn into a paper model. So we had this cardboard Samus ship that he had coloured in and it looked great! I think we could sell it today.”

He continued to say that the specs of the Nintendo Wii, which were behind that of the PS3 and Xbox 360, could also have been one of the reasons these grand ideas never saw the light of day.

"We knew what the Xbox 360 was going to have, when knew what the PS3 was going to have and the initial specs we were looking at [for Wii] were not competitive from a hardware and memory standpoint… there were all these disadvantages,” Walker said. "We were a little concerned, to be blunt, and then they rolled out the Wii Remote and kind of in unison the team went, ‘ah! Ok.’"

Despite this, Walker is proud of what Metroid Prime 3 ended up being. At IGN, we share that sentiment as we gave it a 9.5/10 and called it a "spectacular must-own experience and one of Wii's defining games."

“We may have fallen short of our goals with Prime 3 in not being able to expand the formula a bit," Walker concluded. "We’re still very, very proud of Prime 3, it turned out to be a fantastic game, but I would be very interested to see what the response would be, especially the fan community, to the expanded ship and the non-linear experience that we were touching upon.”

Will some of these ideas end up in Metroid Prime 4 when it is finally released on Nintendo Switch? While that question may not be answered for some time, fans only have a few more days to wait until Samus' newest adventure begins in Metroid Dread.

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.

Alongside Xbox reiterating its commitment to making games more accessible for the "estimated more than 400 million gamers with disabilities across the globe," 343 Industries has given a sneak peek at some of the accessibility features coming to Halo Infinite.

These updates and many more were part of Microsoft's Xbox Accessibility Showcase, and 343 Industries' Paige Johnson stopped by to share some of the accessible and customizable features that will be part of Halo Infinite when it is released on December 8, 2021.

The team's goal was to "make the newest journey into the Halo universe more accessible to as many gamers as possible." This includes veterans of the series and those who "struggled to play due to barriers that hadn't previously been accounted for."

Some of these new features, as detailed by 343 Industries, include;

• For Subtitles:
  • Adjust the font size
  • Adjust the background opacity
  • Enable color coding of dialogue per speaker
  • Choose whether you’d like subtitles for all dialogue or just dialogue related to the narrative in Campaign
• Customize menu and gameplay font size
• Menu narration with adjustable narration speed for those who commonly utilize screen readers
• A new mode called “Linear Navigation” that lets users navigate through the UI without the need to visually see how controls are positioned on-screen to access them
• Option of changing the friendly and enemy colors to include more options than just red versus blue
• More UI settings, such as HUD (Heads-up Display) and reticle opacity to make it easier to identify information in the HUD
• Text-to-speech and speech-to-text options for players that want to participate in Voice Chat and either need to send synthesized voice or receive voice chat as synthesized text
• New customizations for players to control their sound experience with different volume sliders for a variety of sounds in the game
• Customizability for both controller and Keyboard and Mouse to rebind keys, adjust sensitivity, and change to taps and toggles versus holds
• A new Movement Assisted Steering feature, which lets you use additional controls to help steer wheeled vehicles rather than just the classic “look-to-steer” mechanic

343 also strongly believes that "representation in gaming matters." To live up to that mantra, it has worked with such organizations as Warfighter Engaged to "offer new prosthetic options for gamers to customize their Spartans."

According to 343, "accessibility is a journey," and it promises to continue to update Halo Infinite "in ways that empower as many people as possible to battle alongside the Master Chief."

Microsoft also revealed some of its plans to improve accessibility on Xbox, including adding new Game Accessibility Feature Tags on the Microsoft Store to help the Gaming & Disability community know what games have any of a list of 20 accessibility features implemented. These include "Narrated Game Menus, Subtitle options, Input Remapping, Full keyboard support, and Single Stick Gameplay."

There will also be other new features launching on Xbox soon, including Quick Settings, Color Filters, Night Mode Display, Globalization of Speech-to-Text / Text-to-Speech Chat Settings, and more.

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.

Alongside Xbox reiterating its commitment to making games more accessible for the "estimated more than 400 million gamers with disabilities across the globe," 343 Industries has given a sneak peek at some of the accessibility features coming to Halo Infinite.

These updates and many more were part of Microsoft's Xbox Accessibility Showcase, and 343 Industries' Paige Johnson stopped by to share some of the accessible and customizable features that will be part of Halo Infinite when it is released on December 8, 2021.

The team's goal was to "make the newest journey into the Halo universe more accessible to as many gamers as possible." This includes veterans of the series and those who "struggled to play due to barriers that hadn't previously been accounted for."

Some of these new features, as detailed by 343 Industries, include;

• For Subtitles:
  • Adjust the font size
  • Adjust the background opacity
  • Enable color coding of dialogue per speaker
  • Choose whether you’d like subtitles for all dialogue or just dialogue related to the narrative in Campaign
• Customize menu and gameplay font size
• Menu narration with adjustable narration speed for those who commonly utilize screen readers
• A new mode called “Linear Navigation” that lets users navigate through the UI without the need to visually see how controls are positioned on-screen to access them
• Option of changing the friendly and enemy colors to include more options than just red versus blue
• More UI settings, such as HUD (Heads-up Display) and reticle opacity to make it easier to identify information in the HUD
• Text-to-speech and speech-to-text options for players that want to participate in Voice Chat and either need to send synthesized voice or receive voice chat as synthesized text
• New customizations for players to control their sound experience with different volume sliders for a variety of sounds in the game
• Customizability for both controller and Keyboard and Mouse to rebind keys, adjust sensitivity, and change to taps and toggles versus holds
• A new Movement Assisted Steering feature, which lets you use additional controls to help steer wheeled vehicles rather than just the classic “look-to-steer” mechanic

343 also strongly believes that "representation in gaming matters." To live up to that mantra, it has worked with such organizations as Warfighter Engaged to "offer new prosthetic options for gamers to customize their Spartans."

According to 343, "accessibility is a journey," and it promises to continue to update Halo Infinite "in ways that empower as many people as possible to battle alongside the Master Chief."

Microsoft also revealed some of its plans to improve accessibility on Xbox, including adding new Game Accessibility Feature Tags on the Microsoft Store to help the Gaming & Disability community know what games have any of a list of 20 accessibility features implemented. These include "Narrated Game Menus, Subtitle options, Input Remapping, Full keyboard support, and Single Stick Gameplay."

There will also be other new features launching on Xbox soon, including Quick Settings, Color Filters, Night Mode Display, Globalization of Speech-to-Text / Text-to-Speech Chat Settings, and more.

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.

Due to the rising COVID-19 rates in Romania, Valve has made the decision to cancel the in-person event for Dota 2's The International 2021 tournament and will instead host a digital-only event.

Valve shared the news in a blog, confirming that all ticket sales will be refunded for those who were planning on attending the event in person.

"We have been carefully evaluating the continued rise of Covid rates in Romania, as well as the resulting introduction of new local restrictions in Bucharest," Valve wrote. "To ensure the safety of all players, talent, and production staff participating in the event, we have decided to refund all ticket sales for The International 2021.

"We wanted nothing more than to welcome fans live to the event, but we can no longer do so in a way that allows us to prioritize the health and well-being of both audience members and participants. Those who purchased tickets will be issued a full refund automatically.

"The International 2021 will begin as planned on October 7, and we look forward to welcoming the best Dota teams in the world to the stage and sharing the experience online with millions of fans around the world."

As reported by Reuters, these new restrictions were put in place in Romania following new COVID-19 infections reaching 12,032 on Thursday, September 30. The country also has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.

Assuming everything is still "as planned," The International 10 - Dota 2 Championships' Group Stage will run from October 7 -10 and Main Stage play will begin on October 12. On October 17, the two top Dota 2 teams will "face off for the Aegis and their shares of the $40,018,195 prize pool that awaits."

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.

Due to the rising COVID-19 rates in Romania, Valve has made the decision to cancel the in-person event for Dota 2's The International 2021 tournament and will instead host a digital-only event.

Valve shared the news in a blog, confirming that all ticket sales will be refunded for those who were planning on attending the event in person.

"We have been carefully evaluating the continued rise of Covid rates in Romania, as well as the resulting introduction of new local restrictions in Bucharest," Valve wrote. "To ensure the safety of all players, talent, and production staff participating in the event, we have decided to refund all ticket sales for The International 2021.

"We wanted nothing more than to welcome fans live to the event, but we can no longer do so in a way that allows us to prioritize the health and well-being of both audience members and participants. Those who purchased tickets will be issued a full refund automatically.

"The International 2021 will begin as planned on October 7, and we look forward to welcoming the best Dota teams in the world to the stage and sharing the experience online with millions of fans around the world."

As reported by Reuters, these new restrictions were put in place in Romania following new COVID-19 infections reaching 12,032 on Thursday, September 30. The country also has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.

Assuming everything is still "as planned," The International 10 - Dota 2 Championships' Group Stage will run from October 7 -10 and Main Stage play will begin on October 12. On October 17, the two top Dota 2 teams will "face off for the Aegis and their shares of the $40,018,195 prize pool that awaits."

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.

While it has yet to premiere in North America, No Time to Die has already earned $119.1 million in 54 markets in its international debut and has become the first Hollywood film to cross $100 million in its overseas launch without China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by THR, the 25th James Bond film earned $11.4 million in the U.K. and Ireland on Saturday, earning it the records of the highest box office single day for any Bond film and the highest single-day earnings for any movie in the pandemic era.

It is expected to also achieve the "third-biggest weekend of the Bond franchise with $34.8 million, and the sixth-biggest for any film."

No Time to Die has been a huge success in IMAX as well, as it set the best opening weekend for a Bond film in 24 countries and was the best pandemic-era opening in 21 markets, including the U.K., Hong Kong, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which earned $13.8 million in its international debut in Russia only, also broke a pandemic record with a $90.1 million opening in North America. In its third weekend internationally, Dune earned another $13.7 million to surpass $100 million overall.

No Time to Die will premiere in North America on October 8 and will be the fifth and final film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. In 2022, the search for the next James Bond will begin.

For more, check out our No Time to Die review, our explainer of the ending, and how Daniel Craig hopes that James Bond has "changed a lot" while he has played him.

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.

While it has yet to premiere in North America, No Time to Die has already earned $119.1 million in 54 markets in its international debut and has become the first Hollywood film to cross $100 million in its overseas launch without China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by THR, the 25th James Bond film earned $11.4 million in the U.K. and Ireland on Saturday, earning it the records of the highest box office single day for any Bond film and the highest single-day earnings for any movie in the pandemic era.

It is expected to also achieve the "third-biggest weekend of the Bond franchise with $34.8 million, and the sixth-biggest for any film."

No Time to Die has been a huge success in IMAX as well, as it set the best opening weekend for a Bond film in 24 countries and was the best pandemic-era opening in 21 markets, including the U.K., Hong Kong, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which earned $13.8 million in its international debut in Russia only, also broke a pandemic record with a $90.1 million opening in North America. In its third weekend internationally, Dune earned another $13.7 million to surpass $100 million overall.

No Time to Die will premiere in North America on October 8 and will be the fifth and final film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. In 2022, the search for the next James Bond will begin.

For more, check out our No Time to Die review, our explainer of the ending, and how Daniel Craig hopes that James Bond has "changed a lot" while he has played him.

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.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage set a pandemic record with its $90.1 million domestic box office debut, surpassing Black Widow's $80 million performance earlier this year.

As reported by Variety, Venom: Let There Be Carnage also opened in Russia with $13 million in ticket sales and will premiere in Latin America next week before its major international rollout.

“We are also pleased that patience and theatrical exclusivity have been rewarded with record results,” Sony’s chairman Tom Rothman said. “With apologies to Mr. Twain: The death of movies has been greatly exaggerated.”

While it broke the record held by Black Widow, it's important to remember that Black Widow was also released on Disney+ Premier Access on the same day it arrived in theaters and earned another $60 million on Disney's streaming platform. Venom's sequel, on the other hand, is only available in theaters.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage also was able to secure a bigger opening than the original film from 2018, which opened to $80 million pre-pandemic. Venom went on to gross $213 million in North America and $856 million globally.

Behind Venom, The Addams Family 2 took second place at the domestic box office with ticket sales equaling $18 million and Shang-Chi's four-week streak at #1 came to an end with it placing third with $6 million.

Shang-Chi also passed $200 million at the domestic box office, making it the first film to do so in the pandemic with its current total of $206 million. Globally, the latest MCU film has generated $386 million.

The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark took fourth place with $5 million and Dear Evan Hansen rounded out the top 5 with $2.4 million. The Many Saints of Newark, which is also available to all HBO Max subscribers, cost $50 million to produce.

For more on Venom: Let There Be Carnage, check out our review of the film, the biggest WTF questions we have after watching it, and our explainer of the end credits scene and the movie's ending.

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.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage set a pandemic record with its $90.1 million domestic box office debut, surpassing Black Widow's $80 million performance earlier this year.

As reported by Variety, Venom: Let There Be Carnage also opened in Russia with $13 million in ticket sales and will premiere in Latin America next week before its major international rollout.

“We are also pleased that patience and theatrical exclusivity have been rewarded with record results,” Sony’s chairman Tom Rothman said. “With apologies to Mr. Twain: The death of movies has been greatly exaggerated.”

While it broke the record held by Black Widow, it's important to remember that Black Widow was also released on Disney+ Premier Access on the same day it arrived in theaters and earned another $60 million on Disney's streaming platform. Venom's sequel, on the other hand, is only available in theaters.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage also was able to secure a bigger opening than the original film from 2018, which opened to $80 million pre-pandemic. Venom went on to gross $213 million in North America and $856 million globally.

Behind Venom, The Addams Family 2 took second place at the domestic box office with ticket sales equaling $18 million and Shang-Chi's four-week streak at #1 came to an end with it placing third with $6 million.

Shang-Chi also passed $200 million at the domestic box office, making it the first film to do so in the pandemic with its current total of $206 million. Globally, the latest MCU film has generated $386 million.

The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark took fourth place with $5 million and Dear Evan Hansen rounded out the top 5 with $2.4 million. The Many Saints of Newark, which is also available to all HBO Max subscribers, cost $50 million to produce.

For more on Venom: Let There Be Carnage, check out our review of the film, the biggest WTF questions we have after watching it, and our explainer of the end credits scene and the movie's ending.

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.