With the first season of HBO's Lovecraft Country coming to a close this past weekend, one of the biggest unanswered questions is whether or not the show will be returning for a second season. While nothing is confirmed, there are talks happening at HBO and, if it were to go forward, it would continue in the spirit of Matt Ruff's novel. In an interview with Lovecraft Country's showrunner Misha Green, Rolling Stone asked what the chances were that HBO would greenlight a second season. "We’re in talks with HBO," Green said. "I just finished the finishing touches of Season One three weeks ago. But I’m excited about exploring Season Two and what we have in mind. Nothing’s official." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/05/hbos-lovecraft-country-teaser-trailer"] Green also spoke to Deadline, and revealed a bit more of what she hopes a potential season 2 would look like. "Nothing is official yet, but I envision a second season that carries on the spirit of Matt Ruff’s novel by continuing to reclaim the genre storytelling space that people of color have typically been left out of." Lovecraft Country's first season ended with an episode called "Full Circle," and in our review, we said "Lovecraft Country has attempted numerous times to infuse its characteristic flavor of contemporary pulp with thematic profundity, and, in a number of those instances, has managed to succeed in its aspirations. These are the aspects the show will likely be best remembered for: its incisive themes, its stirring performances, and its bold narrative choices that deconstruct and juxtapose the conventions of pulp-horror with the real-life horrors of being black in America. These qualities are apparent and present throughout this season’s finale, but so are its faults." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lovecraft-country-season-1-photos&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

With the first season of HBO's Lovecraft Country coming to a close this past weekend, one of the biggest unanswered questions is whether or not the show will be returning for a second season. While nothing is confirmed, there are talks happening at HBO and, if it were to go forward, it would continue in the spirit of Matt Ruff's novel. In an interview with Lovecraft Country's showrunner Misha Green, Rolling Stone asked what the chances were that HBO would greenlight a second season. "We’re in talks with HBO," Green said. "I just finished the finishing touches of Season One three weeks ago. But I’m excited about exploring Season Two and what we have in mind. Nothing’s official." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/05/hbos-lovecraft-country-teaser-trailer"] Green also spoke to Deadline, and revealed a bit more of what she hopes a potential season 2 would look like. "Nothing is official yet, but I envision a second season that carries on the spirit of Matt Ruff’s novel by continuing to reclaim the genre storytelling space that people of color have typically been left out of." Lovecraft Country's first season ended with an episode called "Full Circle," and in our review, we said "Lovecraft Country has attempted numerous times to infuse its characteristic flavor of contemporary pulp with thematic profundity, and, in a number of those instances, has managed to succeed in its aspirations. These are the aspects the show will likely be best remembered for: its incisive themes, its stirring performances, and its bold narrative choices that deconstruct and juxtapose the conventions of pulp-horror with the real-life horrors of being black in America. These qualities are apparent and present throughout this season’s finale, but so are its faults." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lovecraft-country-season-1-photos&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Borat, who is claiming to be "Kazakhstan's biggest gamer," will be going live on Twitch to face off against DrLupo in a "battle for global supremacy." Announced on Twitter by Twitch, this epic battle will take place on Twitch.TV/DrLupo on October 20 at 3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm BST, although it is yet unclear as to what games will be played. This event will take place a few days before The Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan makes its way to Amazon Prime on October 23. This new Borat film was announced only earlier this month, after much speculation that Sacha Baron Cohen was planning to release his follow-up to 2006's Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ahead of the US election in an attempt to reach younger voters. This new Borat movie was said to have been filmed internationally, with those involved in the production saying that Cohen had "risked his life multiple times to shoot the scenes in this film," and he even required a bulletproof vest in some locations. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/01/borat-2-official-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Borat, who is claiming to be "Kazakhstan's biggest gamer," will be going live on Twitch to face off against DrLupo in a "battle for global supremacy." Announced on Twitter by Twitch, this epic battle will take place on Twitch.TV/DrLupo on October 20 at 3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm BST, although it is yet unclear as to what games will be played. This event will take place a few days before The Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan makes its way to Amazon Prime on October 23. This new Borat film was announced only earlier this month, after much speculation that Sacha Baron Cohen was planning to release his follow-up to 2006's Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ahead of the US election in an attempt to reach younger voters. This new Borat movie was said to have been filmed internationally, with those involved in the production saying that Cohen had "risked his life multiple times to shoot the scenes in this film," and he even required a bulletproof vest in some locations. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/01/borat-2-official-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Sony has released a new, static Black Lives Matter theme for free to all PS4 owners who want to support the movement. The theme features a black and yellow colorway and features a raised fist and the words Black Lives Matter written off to the side. It's available for free right now on the PlayStation Store. [caption id="attachment_2426236" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Credit: Sony[/caption] Sony and PlayStation have both shown support for Black Lives Matter in the past. PlayStation postponed its PS5 event last June in solidarity, and the Sony Twitter account posted a statement of solidarity back in May 2020. Microsoft and Xbox, along with companies like EA, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Rockstar, Bethesda, and more have also posted statements in support of Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Sony has released a new, static Black Lives Matter theme for free to all PS4 owners who want to support the movement. The theme features a black and yellow colorway and features a raised fist and the words Black Lives Matter written off to the side. It's available for free right now on the PlayStation Store. [caption id="attachment_2426236" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Credit: Sony[/caption] Sony and PlayStation have both shown support for Black Lives Matter in the past. PlayStation postponed its PS5 event last June in solidarity, and the Sony Twitter account posted a statement of solidarity back in May 2020. Microsoft and Xbox, along with companies like EA, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Rockstar, Bethesda, and more have also posted statements in support of Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

A scientific study has determined that 2012's Sinister is the scariest movie of all-time. Scary can be defined by many things and ranges from person to person. Some people are more scared by the drawn-out, gets-under-your-skin horror found in movies like Midsommar while others prefer the more in-your-face scares found in the likes of The Conjuring or Insidious. According to Forbes, a scientific study by broadbandchoices determined that no movie, however, is scarier than Sinister. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/19/sinister-red-band-trailer"] "With more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder," Daniel Clifford, creator of the study, said. The study measured resting heart rates of 50 individuals of different ages while they watched over 100 hours of scary movies. When all was said and done, the study had determined a list of the 35 scariest movies and at the top was Sinister. The average resting heart rate of the 50 individuals was 65 beats per minute. During Sinister, that average jumped to 86 BPM, which equates to a 32% increase. No other movie saw a higher rise in average BPM. 2010's Indisious, however, was crowned the king of the jump scare as it had a particular scare that saw the average BPM rise to 133 during it. No other movie topped this individual jump scare. Overall, Insidious came in second place behind Sinister. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-horror-movies&captions=true"] Rounding out the rest of the top 10, The Conjuring came in third, Hereditary in fourth, Paranormal Activity in fifth, and It Follows in sixth. The Conjuring 2 took home seventh place while The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit were crowned eight, ninth, and tenth respectively. If you haven't yet seen Sinister, it's a horror movie starring Ethan Hawke as a journalist digging into the reason why a family was suspiciously killed in his new home and you can read our thoughts about it in our Sinister review. If you've already seen Sinister and are looking for some more horror, check out these 23 horror titles to watch on Netflix this Halloween and then check out our list of the 25 best horror movies of all-time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

A scientific study has determined that 2012's Sinister is the scariest movie of all-time. Scary can be defined by many things and ranges from person to person. Some people are more scared by the drawn-out, gets-under-your-skin horror found in movies like Midsommar while others prefer the more in-your-face scares found in the likes of The Conjuring or Insidious. According to Forbes, a scientific study by broadbandchoices determined that no movie, however, is scarier than Sinister. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/19/sinister-red-band-trailer"] "With more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder," Daniel Clifford, creator of the study, said. The study measured resting heart rates of 50 individuals of different ages while they watched over 100 hours of scary movies. When all was said and done, the study had determined a list of the 35 scariest movies and at the top was Sinister. The average resting heart rate of the 50 individuals was 65 beats per minute. During Sinister, that average jumped to 86 BPM, which equates to a 32% increase. No other movie saw a higher rise in average BPM. 2010's Indisious, however, was crowned the king of the jump scare as it had a particular scare that saw the average BPM rise to 133 during it. No other movie topped this individual jump scare. Overall, Insidious came in second place behind Sinister. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-horror-movies&captions=true"] Rounding out the rest of the top 10, The Conjuring came in third, Hereditary in fourth, Paranormal Activity in fifth, and It Follows in sixth. The Conjuring 2 took home seventh place while The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit were crowned eight, ninth, and tenth respectively. If you haven't yet seen Sinister, it's a horror movie starring Ethan Hawke as a journalist digging into the reason why a family was suspiciously killed in his new home and you can read our thoughts about it in our Sinister review. If you've already seen Sinister and are looking for some more horror, check out these 23 horror titles to watch on Netflix this Halloween and then check out our list of the 25 best horror movies of all-time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Some scientists believe that there's a 50-50 chance we really are living in a simulation, and now we have to wonder if The Matrix is looking more like a documentary than science fiction. In a report from Popular Mechanics (via Scientific American), some scientists believe that the odds that life as we know it is a simulation could be as simple as a coin toss. This 50-50 coin toss approximation comes from the Scientific American-cited odds of 50.22222 to 49.77778 when determining whether or not life is a simulation. Scientific American, and subsequently Popular Mechanics, cite philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2003 paper, "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?" to explain where odds like the ones above come from. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "I argue that at least one of the following propositions is true," Bostrom says in his paper. "(1): the human species is very likely to become extinct before reaching 'posthuman' stage; (2): any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3): we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we shall one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation." Bostrom's simulation theory focuses on computing power, much like The Matrix and its sequels did when discussing the idea of humankind simulation. It might be hard to believe there exists a computer powerful enough to simulate our entire existence but, if such a computer did exist, we would never be able to recognize it to begin with as we'd be inside of it, or rather, a part of its simulation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/scientists-claim-evidence-of-parallel-backward-universe-ign-now"] Bostrom's theory of simulation sees the odds at nearly 50-50 and Columbia University astronomer David Kipping used Bostrom's theory as a guide for arriving to his own odds. Kipping's theory dictates that simulations cannot spawn their own additional simulations. "That is because as simulations spawn more simulations, the computer resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to the point where the vast majority of realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realties that are capable of hosting conscious beings." As Popular Mechanics points out, think of Russian nesting dolls. Each subsequent doll after the first doll must fit into the doll that came before it. As a result, each doll grows smaller and smaller in size and scale as you go deeper into the nest of dolls. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/20/keanu-reeves-and-carrie-anne-moss-join-matrix-4-ign-now"] Basically, we are either in a simulation or we are not in a simulation. If humankind never creates its own simulation using conscious beings, then the odds of us living in a simulation tip further toward "yes," because if we are in a simulation, then we likely wouldn't be able to create one. If humankind does create a simulation of its own using conscious beings, then Kipping and Bostrom's theory about computing power are closer to being proven wrong and the odds of us living in a simulation shift more towards "no." Regardless, it's probably not a bad idea to let Keanu Reeves know now just in case. For more science, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward and then read about how this simulation might not matter because various species on Earth keep evolving into crabs. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who became increasingly more existential while writing this story. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Some scientists believe that there's a 50-50 chance we really are living in a simulation, and now we have to wonder if The Matrix is looking more like a documentary than science fiction. In a report from Popular Mechanics (via Scientific American), some scientists believe that the odds that life as we know it is a simulation could be as simple as a coin toss. This 50-50 coin toss approximation comes from the Scientific American-cited odds of 50.22222 to 49.77778 when determining whether or not life is a simulation. Scientific American, and subsequently Popular Mechanics, cite philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2003 paper, "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?" to explain where odds like the ones above come from. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "I argue that at least one of the following propositions is true," Bostrom says in his paper. "(1): the human species is very likely to become extinct before reaching 'posthuman' stage; (2): any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3): we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we shall one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation." Bostrom's simulation theory focuses on computing power, much like The Matrix and its sequels did when discussing the idea of humankind simulation. It might be hard to believe there exists a computer powerful enough to simulate our entire existence but, if such a computer did exist, we would never be able to recognize it to begin with as we'd be inside of it, or rather, a part of its simulation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/scientists-claim-evidence-of-parallel-backward-universe-ign-now"] Bostrom's theory of simulation sees the odds at nearly 50-50 and Columbia University astronomer David Kipping used Bostrom's theory as a guide for arriving to his own odds. Kipping's theory dictates that simulations cannot spawn their own additional simulations. "That is because as simulations spawn more simulations, the computer resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to the point where the vast majority of realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realties that are capable of hosting conscious beings." As Popular Mechanics points out, think of Russian nesting dolls. Each subsequent doll after the first doll must fit into the doll that came before it. As a result, each doll grows smaller and smaller in size and scale as you go deeper into the nest of dolls. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/20/keanu-reeves-and-carrie-anne-moss-join-matrix-4-ign-now"] Basically, we are either in a simulation or we are not in a simulation. If humankind never creates its own simulation using conscious beings, then the odds of us living in a simulation tip further toward "yes," because if we are in a simulation, then we likely wouldn't be able to create one. If humankind does create a simulation of its own using conscious beings, then Kipping and Bostrom's theory about computing power are closer to being proven wrong and the odds of us living in a simulation shift more towards "no." Regardless, it's probably not a bad idea to let Keanu Reeves know now just in case. For more science, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward and then read about how this simulation might not matter because various species on Earth keep evolving into crabs. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who became increasingly more existential while writing this story. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.