Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, the spiritual successor to the Suikoden series developed by the same developers, has hit its Kickstarter goal in just two hours. Eiyuden Chronicles was revealed just last week. Suikoden 1 and 2 writer Yoshitaka Murayama is returning as the writer for Eiyuden while character design, system design, and direction are handled by additional ex-Suikoden team members. It launched on Kickstarter on July 27 with a goal of $500,000. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-16-images&captions=true"] At the time of this writing, the funding has reached $564,224 although the number continues to go up every few seconds. The Kickstarter will remain live until Friday, August 28, leaving 31 days for would-be backers to commit some money to the project. The game currently has 4,800 backers. With the minimum goal reached, Eiyuden Chronicles is guaranteed to come to PC. The next goal is $750,000 and if reached, a Fortress mode will be added to the game. "The Fortress Town, the player's base of operations throughout the game, serves as the main character's military base, but also their home," the Kickstarter page reads. This mode allows players to acquire a small town and build it over time by recruiting players and putting them to work to build castle walls, expand military equipment, cultivate crops, and develop trades. The next goal is $1 million and if reached, the game will come to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-gameplay-teaser"] As far as pledges go, you can pledge $10 as a show of support — this pledge does not get you any reward. You can pledge roughly $38 to get a digital version of the game as well as some unique Discord roles or, if you're looking for a physical version, you can pledge about $57. Doing this gets you a physical copy of the game, unique Discord roles, and access to the game's beta. Higher-tier pledges include double packs of the game, unique buttons, the soundtrack, and more depending on how much money you pledge. Eiyuden Chronicle is being developed by a studio known as Rabbit & Bear, which is a studio made up of Murayama, ex-Suikoden team members, and veteran developers from the Castlevania, Wild Arms, and Tales series. The game sports a 2.5D visual style and will have 100 heroes available to recruit. Combat will be turn-based with parties of six and boss battles will have different angles determined by the environment. The game is estimated to launch in October of 2022. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Two major drops of confidential Nintendo code and documentation — now popularly referred to as the Nintendo Gigaleak — have seemingly revealed previously unknown canceled games, prototypes, source code, development tools, internal communication, and more. It marks what may well be the largest leak of internal video game information ever released. Throughout the weekend, hundreds of leaked files have been unpacked, pored over, and speculated about, leading to a constant stream of new information. We've attempted to pull as much of that together as possible to explain what you need to know about the Gigaleak right now.

What Is the Nintendo Gigaleak?

The Gigaleak is made up of multiple drops of information, stemming primarily from two posts on 4Chan. The posts each contained gigabytes' worth of files and documentation from internal Nintendo projects. The first set of files contained data primarily from SNES-era projects, and the second set included information from N64 projects. The leaks include (among a lot of other elements), source code for games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and more — as well as entirely unknown games and canceled projects. The leaks' validity comes down to a couple of factors: 1) The sheer amount, scope and granular detail of information discovered make it very unlikely that someone's fabricated the data, 2) Developers responsible have already confirmed the validity of some parts of the leak. For instance, Q-Games' Dylan Cuthbert — who helped create the original Star Fox games – pointed to a development tool made for Star Fox 2 that he hasn't seen "for almost 30 years". There remains the possibility that false files have been inserted among the rest, but we know that at least some of the Gigaleak are legitimate information.

How Did It Happen?

This remains a topic of some discussion, with Nintendo so far making no official comment on the Gigaleak. Unreleased files for the Pokemon series have been leaking for some time now, with some commenters pointing to those seeming hacks as the source. Others have pointed to April's major Nintendo hack, which saw tens of thousands of user details released onto the Internet. At the time, Nintendo said those details had been accessed "by some means other than our service", and said that there was "currently no evidence pointing towards a breach of Nintendo’s databases, servers or services." There's also the case of Zammis Clark, the security researcher who was arrested for hacking Microsoft and then hacked Nintendo while on bail for the first crime. Clark was accused of accessing "Nintendo's highly confidential game development servers", where code for unreleased games was stored. While Clark's hack on Nintendo was some time ago, the Pokemon leaks, a set of Nintendo console source code leaks and, now, the Gigaleak itself have been attributed to his breach.

What's Been Found?

There is simply too much in the leak, both discovered and undiscovered, to be totally comprehensive here, but we've included the most important, weird, and wonderful finds below (and we'll update as and when more emerge).

Super Mario 64 - Luigi Discovered and More

Perhaps the most notable of the discoveries so far is that source code for a version of Super Mario 64  (which may at one point have been called Ultra 64 Mario Bros.) seems to include a model for Luigi. Those with the files noticed a folder titled 'Luigi', and loaded the contents into existing SM64 mods, creating the model you can see below. If legitimate, it confirms decades of rumors and speculation about the other Mario brother appearing in the game in some form. The game's files also reveal beta-only enemy types.

super luigi 64 in Real pic.twitter.com/2mbm8wlnK3

— axo #BlackLivesMatter (@axoonium) July 26, 2020

Cancelled Pokemon MMO

Fans have been calling for a Pokemon MMO for years — to the point where the makers of Temtem just ended up making one themselves. However, it seems that the idea had been pitched to Nintendo as early as 2004. Files in the leak suggest that iQue (a Chinese support company co-founded by Nintendo) worked on a prototype for a Pokemon game that would be playable by connecting a Game Boy Advance to a PC. Offline, the game would allow players to catch around 30 Pokemon in a game based on the Fire Red and Leaf Green installments. Connecting to the PC and going online would add a "hatch system" that used multiple conditions to determine what Pokemon eggs would appear, feature weather based on the region you were connecting from, add online battle tournaments based on Pokemon Colosseum's code, and more. You can see an iQue presentation in the tweet below:

FILTRACIÓN:

iQue estuvo trabajando en un juego de Pokémon "principal" completamente en línea por allá de 2004. ➡ Hilo con detalles. Esto es increíble. pic.twitter.com/cIfHq6QETk — Centro Pokémon (@CentroPokemon) July 24, 2020

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Early Maps

The key discoveries around Ocarina of Time have centered around areas that seemingly didn't make it into the final version of the game — and others that were perhaps planned for the 64DD Ura-Zelda expansion. Pre-rendered backdrops for OoT's Temple of Time area have been dug out of the files, as well as unused areas - such as an early Kokiri Forest - that may have been created for alpha versions of the game, or the ill-fated Disc Drive expansions. We've also seen alpha enemies, such as a "Baby Skeleton".

Well we finally get to see Zelda 64, 25 years later..#nintendoleaks pic.twitter.com/1vgk2DIIJy

— Zelda Gif World (@GifZelda) July 26, 2020

Prototype Yoshi's Island

Seemingly at one point titled "Super Mario Bros 5: Yoshi’s Island", this playable prototype features a different art style, UI, overworld menu, and uses placeholder music:

A bunch of Nintendo prototypes are apparently currently being compiled from leaked source code right now as of this post First up there's this Yoshi's Island proto with different UI graphics, placeholder music from Mario World, and has a prefix of 'Super Mario Bros. 5' pic.twitter.com/Qqock5RZaS

— Akfamilyhome @ Origami King (@Akfamilyhome) July 24, 2020

Super Donkey

One of the oddest and most fully-fledged discoveries so far is a game seemingly titled Super Donkey, which may have been an early version of Super Mario World 2 (the game that would become Yoshi's Island). Featuring an unknown character — who could be a version of Mario rendered in Yoshi's Island style — the game features similar mechanics to what would become Yoshi's Island, but a different set of visual assets.

super donkey pic.twitter.com/59OaRGJ0DK

— David notgivingmylastname (@DavidNGMLN) July 25, 2020

Prototype Super Mario Kart / Mario Kart 64

The leaks not only include a version of the original Super Mario Kart with unused or altered tracks and a lack of drifting but also seemingly include an alpha version of what would become Mario Kart 64, which seemingly uses the original Super Mario Kart sprites as placeholder art.

Some Mario Kart 64 (Super Mario Kart R) alpha source seems to have surfaced. Very interesting. Guess they started with some SMK source/assets pic.twitter.com/yWLDFECD2k

— Beck Abney (@abney317) July 25, 2020

Canceled Zelda 3 / Zelda 2 Remake

Sprite sheets have been discovered for a side-scrolling Zelda to follow Zelda 2. The community has variously speculated that it would have been an original Zelda 3 for SNES or could have been a Zelda 2 remake to played on the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral. What's perhaps most striking is that Link's sword, on one sheet, appears to be marked with blood - not something we associate with the family-friendly series.

So here he is. It is now largely assumed that this particular Link sheet comes from a scrapped BS Zelda 2 remake. (for Satellaview) There's some interesting details here, like the blood or rust on the sword. Fascinating stuff. https://t.co/xPnEiLPI5v pic.twitter.com/FBlvt8TF4A

— Brian (@Protodude) July 25, 2020

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Beta

Placeholder designs found in beta files for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl seem to show off early sprites for the likes of Darkrai, Arceus, and more. Some bear an unfinished resemblance to their finished forms and others (Arceus) very much do not:

Sprites e designs beta dos Pokémon de Sinnoh encontrados no código fonte de DP vazado no último dia 24. É bom tomar nota que muitos desses sprites são apenas placeholders. Na sequência: Arceus, linha Gible, Regigigas, Darkrai.#pokemonleaks #nintendoleaks pic.twitter.com/4azIr1Yy7k

—  Zenny TH  (@Treinador_Zenny) July 26, 2020

Pilotwings Prototype, Dragonfly

We've previously heard about Dragonfly, the prototype game that eventually became flight simulator Pilotwings. However, the leaks appear to have surfaced unseen visuals from the original version, which was a shooter designed to show off the SNES' Mode-7 chip.

I still can't believe we have actual graphics data for Dragonfly of all things now. today's been like some kind of weird fever dream pic.twitter.com/FJcNy0JtQZ

— Rusty! (@PixelatedWah) July 25, 2020

Super Mario World

Beta visuals from the game that became Super Mario World showed off some of the funnier sides of the leaks, from a far more dinosaur-like original Yoshi, the fact that SMW's Bowser at one point showed off his legs, and that one potential sprite for Luigi showed him seemingly flipping the player the bird.

Why is nobody talking about this from the Nintendo #GigaLeak (Miyamoto Yoshing drawing/ beta SMW Yoshi) pic.twitter.com/bf8Gite5CX

— Greese (@TheRealGreese) July 25, 2020

People are digging up all sorts of unused art assets from the latest Nintendo leak. Here's some screenshots of some examples. Bowser from SMW apparently had legs at one time? pic.twitter.com/EZGDjiGAx6

— Gaming Alexandria (@GamingAlexandri) July 24, 2020

they found an unused sprite of luigi giving the middle finger in a super mario world prototype pic.twitter.com/HMYMj9OgvX

— misato bruh (@KatsuragiSimp) July 25, 2020

[poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Warner Bros. has announced that Tenet will premiere in international theaters first before opening in select North American cities at a later date. As reported by Variety, Tenet will be released in 70 international territories including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom on August 26, and then Canada on August 27 before making ways to select North American theaters on September 3. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/tenet-official-trailer-2"] Warner Bros. previously indicated it could become more flexible with releasing Tenet in other territories first after a U.S. theater release date was continuously delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Other countries that have had more success with flattening the curve on coronavirus have begun opening movie theaters with social distancing rules in place. The United States has the most confirmed cases for Covid-19 in the world. Meanwhile, China has blocked movies that run over 2 hours from playing in theaters, which includes Tenet’s 2 hours and 20 minutes runtime. Though WB is hopeful that China will ease these rules ahead of a potential theater release. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Opening Tenet internationally first increases the risk of spoilers and piracy ahead of Tenet’s U.S. premiere. But given Nolan’s insistence on Tenet’s theatrical release, and a U.S. release date that continues to be pushed back, it appears WB is taking the unprecedented approach of releasing a major blockbuster film in other territories before the U.S. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

An update for Ghost of Tsushima will bring a new Lethal difficulty mode and more accessibility options for reading text and more forgiving combat intensity. This update, patch 1.05, brings a new Lethal difficulty to the game and accessibility options that lower the intensity of the combat.  The patch also brings some new text changes to Ghost of Tsushima as well. Depending on when you're seeing this, the update might already be out as its set to go live on July 27. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ghost-of-tsushima-photo-mode-greatest-shots-by-ign-staff&captions=true"] "Later today, Patch 1.05 for #GhostOfTsushima will be released, adding new Lethal difficulty, a new option for Lower intensity combat, and new text settings," a tweet from Sucker Punch reads. The new difficulty level is called Lethal and it makes enemy weapons more deadly. It also makes Jin's katana more deadly as well. Enemies are more aggressive in combat, they detect Jin faster, and the parry and dodge windows are "tighter," the patch notes read. As far as new accessibility options, they seem to be focused around lowering the intensity of the game's combat. "Lower intensity mode is meant to maintain the heart and feel of Ghost of Tsushima combat while relaxing several timing-specific elements. Combat is less intense, giving you more time to react. Stealth settings are more forgiving, and enemies take longer to detect you." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/14/ghost-of-tsushima-review"] The patch notes say that most enemy attacks usually unblockable become blockable when Lower Intensity is enabled. Blocking with L1 will keep Jin safe from more attacks than standard combat, although some attacks will still need to be dogged. Enemies break off their attack combos after damaging you, giving players the chance to heal up before more attacks. Heavy attacks will interrupt Brutes when Lower Intensity is enabled as well. Beyond that, enemies will not attack at all when players try to use Resolve to heal and their awareness builds more slowly when Jin is trying to remain hidden. In terms of text changes, a new Large Text option will increase the size of subtitles, mission objectives, and interact prompts by 150%. Sucker Punch has also added the option to turn the speaker's name off when subtitles are enabled. Yellow, blue, red, and green color options have been added to subtitles as well. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/ghost-of-tsushima-gameplay-exploring-tsushima"] While the patch is focused on everything mentioned above, the notes indicate that it includes some bug fixes too, although those specific fixes aren't outlined. Read our thoughts about the game in our Ghost of Tsushima review and then read about how it's PS4's fastest-selling first-party original IP debut. Be sure to use the official IGN Ghost of Tsushima Wiki Guide as you make your way through the game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Even though Comic-Con was a very different and entirely virtual show this year, it's still the source of some major announcements in the entertainment world. We learned about a new Star Trek series, glimpsed several awesome new trailers and learned about Marvel's ambitious plans for its Darth Vader comic. And that's just the start! Read on to see all the biggest Comic-Con@Home 2020 news. You can also go back and check out IGN's Comic-Con@Home livestream panels, and view our full Comic-Con 2020 livestream panel schedule for everything that aired during our livestream of Comic-Con@Home. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Zack Snyder Reveals Henry Cavill in Snyder Cut Superman Black Suit Clip

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/zack-snyder-reveals-henry-cavill-in-snyder-cut-black-superman-suit-clip"] The IGN Comic-Con team reacts to the Superman black suit clip revealed by Zack Snyder from Justicecon this weekend in the above segment. And that's not all that happened on The Snyder Cut front: The director also talked about how he refuses to use a "single frame" of Joss Whedon's footage in The Snyder Cut of Justice League, and Cyborg actor Ray Fisher talked about how an investigation into Whedon's behavior during the film's reshoots will get to the "heart of everything."

Batman Nemesis The Robin King May Be the Most Demented DC Comics Villain Ever

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/25/dchome-day-two-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] The DC Comics panel on IGN's Comic-Con@Home livestream offered fans a closer look at Dark Nights: Death Metal, with writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo appearing to tease what's still to come in the remaining five issues of the series. Death Metal #3 will shine a spotlight on Batman's newest nemesis, a villain known as The Robin King.

2020 Eisner Award Winners Revealed

The winners of the 2020 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were revealed. Essentially the comic book industry equivalent of the Oscars, the ceremony was again held (albeit virtually) during Comic-Con, this year hosted by actor Phil LaMarr.

Keanu Reeves and Constantine Team Reunite, Discuss Movie Sequel That Never Happened

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/25/constantine-15th-anniversary-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] Keanu Reeves joined director Francis Lawrence and producer Akiva Goldsman at Comic-Con@Home today to look back at the original live-action version of the Hellblazer himself for Constantine's 15th anniversary. A Constantine sequel involving Jesus that never got made was discussed, among many other things!

How the Creator of I Am Legend Was Partially Responsible for the Bill and Ted Movies

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/25/bill-ted-face-the-music-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves weren’t the first dudes to play Bill and Ted... and that's just one fact we learned in the Comic-Con@Home livestream panel for Bill and Ted Face the Music. It also turns out that legendary sci-fi author Richard Matheson -- father of Bill and Ted co-creator Chris Matheson -- had a hand in helping Bill and Ted to become a movie.

Family Guy Spoofs X-Men: Days of Future Past in New Footage

Fans got their first look at Family Guy's upcoming 19th Season thanks to Fox's panel at Comic-Con@Home. The series will continue spoofing all corners of the pop culture universe, including a hilariously gross parody of an iconic X-Men movie scene that was shown off in a sizzle reel at the panel.

Rick and Morty Season 5 Sneak Peek: Meet Rick's Nemesis

Adult Swim Con's Rick and Morty panel -- featuring co-creator Dan Harmon and cast members Sarah Chalke, Chris Parnell, and Spencer Grammer, and moderated by IGN's own Terri Schwartz -- gave fans a cool sneak peek from Season 5 in the form of an awesome animatic, plus some hints about the season. Check out the Rick and Morty Season 5 animatic and all the details.

Marvel's Helstrom First Look

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/first-look-at-hulus-helstrom-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] Helstrom showrunner Paul Zbyszewski and cast -- Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Wisdom, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy -- offered up a sneak-peek look and conversation around bringing Marvel's Helstrom to life as Hulu's next horror series. Best part of the panel? It was moderated by IGN's amazing Laura Prudom! Also be sure to check out our Who's Who in Hulu's Helstrom and the Helstrom trailer.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Creator Joel Hodgson on Another MST3K Comeback

Whither Season 13? Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson discussed the return of the beloved series with IGN during Comic-Con@Home. "The narrative is really important to me," he said. "What is the story of Mystery Science Theater? How does Gizmonic Institute fit into it? What was the purpose of Gizmonic Institute?" Read on for everything from MST3K creator Joel Hodgson on the show's return.

Mega Man Live-Action Film Is Still Happening and 'Big News' Is Coming Soon

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/mega-man-movie-directors-offer-update-on-live-action-adaptation"] During IGN's Comic-Con@Home livestream for their film Project Power, Joost and Schulman were asked about the Mega Man film they've been attached to since 2018. "I think we’re going to have some big news about it soon," was the response. Get all the details in our Mega Man live-action movie story.

The Dragon Prince Renewed for Four More Seasons

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/netflixs-the-dragon-prince-comic-con-home-season-4-reveal-clip"] Dragon Prince fans, rejoice! Netflix has given the creative team at Wonderstorm the greenlight to produce four more seasons of the animated epic, which will allow the series to complete its saga at the end of Season 7. Now, with The Dragon Prince Seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7 a go at Netflix, fans can rest assured knowing they're going to get a complete story. While no release date for Season 4 (Book 4) has been revealed, the title of the upcoming season will be called "Earth."

Archer Season 11 Release Date Revealed, Premiere in September

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/20/archer-magnum-opus-official-trailer-comic-conhome-2020"] Archer Season 11 will premiere on Wednesday, September 16 on FXX, it was announced at the Comic-Con@Home Archer panel. You can check out the trailer above or watch the full Archer Comic-Con@Home 2020 panel here.

Why the Vikings Sequel Series Valhalla Is on Netflix Instead of History Channel

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/vikings-season-6-official-clip-comic-conhome-on-ign"] While Vikings may be coming to an end soon after six seasons on History Channel, its saga will live on in a sequel series, Vikings: Valhalla, which will stream on Netflix. Vikings showrunner Michael Hirst explained to IGN why History Channel isn't making this follow-up to their wildly successful TV series and also provided details on the narrative timeline of Valhalla.

The Walking Dead Universe's Three Rings Group Explained

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/25/how-the-walking-dead-will-connect-to-new-series-world-beyond"] The Walking Dead: World Beyond's EP and showrunner Matthew Negrete spoke to us a bit about the Three Rings Group (aka "those rascals in those helicopters," as he put it) in order to shed a bit more light on their mission, their presence on the spinoff series, and what they might mean for the endgame of the Walking Dead universe as a whole.

The Walking Dead: Season 10 Finale Release Date

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/25/why-the-walking-dead-season-10-finale-is-delayed-ign-now"] The Walking Dead viewers have been stuck in limbo for months, with the show's Season 10 finale being delayed due to coronavirus concerns. Fortunately, the wait is almost over. We learned that the finale that everyone has been waiting for will now air on October 4, followed immediately by the long-awaited series premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. But the plan is to now extend Season 10 by six episodes, which will air in early 2021 (followed by Season 11 also in 2021).

Star Trek: Prodigy Coming to Nickelodeon

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/star-trek-universe-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] There's a second Star Trek animated series in the works. Star Trek: Prodigy is a family-friendly, CG-animated show about "a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation.” The series is expected to debut on Nickelodeon in 2021.

New Mutants Footage Debuts

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/the-new-mutants-comic-con-2020-footage-breakdown"] New Mutants has basically become an annual fixture at Comic-Con, as Fox's final X-Men movie continues its Sisyphean struggle to actually see a theatrical release. Only time will tell if its latest release date holds true, but at least we got a closer look at the movie during the New Mutants panel. Fans got to watch the opening scene from the film, and we also learned which X-Men characters would have been introduced in potential sequels.

Amazon Renews The Boys for Season 3

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/the-boys-season-2-official-panel-comic-con-2020"] Mirroring last year's Season 2 announcement, Amazon's The Boys panel brought with it news the superhero series has been renewed for another season. "Because this show has fans and it is watched by people like you, they have decided to renew it yet again for a third season," executive producer Seth Rogen said. "So if you like The Boys, you got more of it, thank God!"

Darth Vader Comic Ties Into The Rise of Skywalker

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/darth-vader-comic-will-crossover-with-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker"] Marvel's newest Darth Vader series has already made waves, and fans may be in for even bigger surprises to come. During the Lucasfilm Publishing Panel, writer Greg Pak revealed the series' upcoming second story arc will tie into the events of The Rise of Skywalker. “It’s going to be a huge, hopefully deeply disturbing and entertaining and satisfying epic by the time it’s all done,” Pak told IGN. “We got permission and the green light to do some stuff I never thought we’d be able to do.”

Bill & Ted Face the Music Heads to Streaming

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/bill-ted-face-the-music-official-trailer-2"] Though the Bill & Ted Face the Music panel hasn't aired as of publish, we already learned what's sure to be the biggest topic of discussion. The long-awaited third Bill & Ted movie will be debuting simultaneously in theaters and on-demand on September 1. With so many other big 2020 movies being pushed back into 2021, at least we still have this sequel to look forward to.

Image Comics Reveals Crossover

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/creating-the-anti-crossover-event-at-image-comics"] Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw are the superstar creative teams behind books like God Country and Thanos Wins, and now they're returning to Image Comics for one of their most ambitious projects yet. Crossover explores what happens when a superhero comic book epic spills out into the real world.

Next Adventure Time: Distant Lands Special Revealed

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/adventure-time-distant-lands-on-marceline-princess-bubblegums-relationship-comic-con-2020"] Though Adventure Time ended its run in 2018, the series continues on in the form of a series of Distant Lands specials on HBO Max. IGN was able to exclusively reveal a new poster for the next special, Obsidian, which focuses on Princess Bubblegum and Marceline.

His Dark Materials: Season 2 Trailer

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/his-dark-materials-season-2-teaser-trailer-comic-con-2020"] His Dark Materials is returning to HBO for a second season later this year. HBO debuted a new trailer for Season 2, giving fans a better idea of what to expect from the fantasy series this time around.

DC Announces Watchmen Sequel Rorschach

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=rorschach-1-preview-dcs-new-watchmen-sequel-revealed&captions=true"] Though this series was technically announced in the lead-up to Comic-Con@Home rather than the event itself, it's still worth spotlighting. DC is publishing a new sequel to Watchmen called Rorschach. This 12-issue project from Batman's Tom King and Jorge Fornes is set 35 years after the original comic, as a new Rorschach emerges and attempts to assassinate President Redford.

Celebrities Writing Comics

So far, we've learned of two Hollywood celebrities dipping their toes into the comic book world. Keanu Reeves is co-writing a series called BRSRKR with co-writer Matt Kindt and artist Alessandro Vitti, while Oscar Isaac is developing a graphic novel called Head Wounds: Sparrow through his production company Mad Gene. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Thor: Love and Thunder star Natalie Portman has revealed that production on the fourth Thor movie is now expected to commence in early 2021 after being delayed earlier this year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Appearing on a recent Instagram Live with tennis icon Serena Williams, Portman shared her excitement over the reprisal of her Thor character, the astrophysicist Jane Foster, who will wield the hammer of the Mighty Thor in the slated MCU Phase 4 movie. She revealed that cameras are scheduled to start rolling on Thor: Love and Thunder at the beginning of next year. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/26/thor-love-and-thunder-jane-foster-as-thor-explained"] "We haven't started [filming yet]," she explained. "More time to get jacked. Which I have not. I've got the carbo-loading down, but not the exercise part. I'm super excited. We're shooting in Australia at the beginning of next year. I think. Obviously everything is weird because of pandemic time, who knows what's happening, but the plan is for all of us to go." Thor: Love and Thunder was originally scheduled to start filming in Sydney, Australia this summer, but the start of production was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Director Taika Waititi revealed that he has been working hard on the movie in the interim, noting, "I think this little break that we're taking is going to be good for all films, all scripts, all art." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=visual-history-of-thor&captions=true"] Waititi recently shared another update about his progress on the forthcoming Marvel movie, as he admitted that the script is almost finished after a lengthy writing process. "I think it's going really good. We've been writing the script off and on for over a year and... actually, this week, doing another pass on it," he said before adding that the script is "so insane" and "also very romantic." Thor: Love and Thunder was originally slated to hit theaters in 2021 but it has been pushed back several times since that initial announcement. The movie is now scheduled for release on February 11, 2022. In the meantime, check out our in-depth explainer on Jane Foster and Thor: Goddess of Thunder. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Sony has announced that both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered and Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout are the PlayStation Plus games for August 2020. Announced on PlayStation.Blog, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered will be available to PlayStation Plus subscribers on Tuesday, July 28, while Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout will be available on its release date of August 4, 2020. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered was released earlier this year and is an updated version of 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/03/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-campaign-remastered-review"] In our review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered, we said "Thank goodness for all of its memorable, Michael Bay-style blockbuster moments, because in 2020, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is competing for our attention with its own very impressive reboot." Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a very stylish 60-player minigame battler that sounds like a battle royale, but is actually a playable game show. In our preview for Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, we said "where most other 100-player games rely on tension and gigantic maps, with opponents rarely meeting more than once, Fall Guys stuffs everyone onto a single screen, gives them a set goal, and waits to see who comes out on top, over and again. It might be ridiculous, it might even be unfair, but it will definitely be funny." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/11/fall-guys-release-date-trailer"] Both of these games will be available on PlayStation Plus until Monday, August 31. Also, be sure to claim July 2020's PlayStation Plus games - NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, and Erica, before they leave the service on August 3. [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.

The Analogue Pocket - a modern reimagining of classic handheld consoles that can play cartridges from the Game Boy family as well as other cart-based handhelds - has finalised its design and features in preparation for release in 2021. The design, which still looks like a classic Game Boy as designed by Sony’s PS4 concept artists, has had its start/select/home button cluster moved from the right-hand edge to the bottom centre of the console for ease of reach. The power button on the side of the unit can be used to sleep and wake the console, providing the ability to pause and resume games. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=analogue-pocket-8-new-images&captions=true"] While the 1600x1440 resolution screen offers 10x the resolution of the original Game Boy and has display rotation and a variable refresh rate, the Pocket also has an Original Display mode that replicates an original Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, or Game Boy Advance screen as it was, “quirks and all”. The Pocket’s dock - which works akin to a Switch dock for HDMI-out to TV functionality - has had its USB C connector recessed to provide extra stability when the console is attached. It also supports up to 4 controllers via Bluetooth, 2.4g, and USB. Much like classic Game Boy consoles, multiplayer between Analogue Pockets can be done with the use of link cables, which will be sold separately. Talking of cables, Analogue has also developed new MIDI and Analog sync cables for use with Nanoloop, the Pocket’s music creation software. Nanoloop is built into the Pocket, and cables can be used to bring your chiptune creations into a Mac, PC, or other music hardware. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=analogue-pocket-13-images-of-the-new-handheld&captions=true"] The Pocket isn’t just a music creation tool, though. Analogue has partnered with GB Studio to allow users to create retro-style games for the system. The ‘drag and drop’ interface allows game development with no coding experience, and created games can be played on the Pocket from an SD card. Analogue is launching a FPGA developer program to support this. Alongside the Pocket, Analogue will launch a series of accessories, including screen protectors, a hard case, and the all-important cartridge adaptors to allow Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Colour, and Atari Lynx games to be played on the console. If you find the idea of a Game Boy for the year 2020 (well, 2021) appealing, the Analogue Pocket will be available to pre-order from August 3 at 8am PT on the company's website here. The console will ship in May 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.