Mortal Shell, the action-RPG souls-like by Cold Symmetry, has changed its closed beta to an open beta and is allowing all players to download it now on the Epic Games Store. The developers took to Twitter and Discord to explain the decision that stemmed from an unexpectedly high demand following the start of the closed beta. Cold Symmetry was giving away codes on its social channels and through e-mail, but after the vocal community spoke out with their interest to try the game, the developer decided to change course. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/02/mortal-shell-hands-on-preview-finding-its-own-souls-like-voice"] "We heard that a lot of you were feeling left out and frustrated with how we were handling key distribution," Cold Symmetry said on Discord. "We have tried our best to keep up with requests, but we never expected this level of high demand. So we have decided to open the PC beta early, and it's available right now." Mortal Shell was part of IGN's Summer of Gaming and we revealed a new trailer for the game that has players inhabiting the bodies (see: Mortal Shells) of vanquished warriors and gaining their unique stats and skills. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=mortal-shell-11-screenshots&captions=true"] In our hands-on of Mortal Shell, we said "all in all though, Mortal Shell left an extremely strong first impression, not because of how much it evokes the look and feel of Dark Souls, but because of how it evokes it while also feeling like something completely fresh and unique." [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.

Mortal Shell, the action-RPG souls-like by Cold Symmetry, has changed its closed beta to an open beta and is allowing all players to download it now on the Epic Games Store. The developers took to Twitter and Discord to explain the decision that stemmed from an unexpectedly high demand following the start of the closed beta. Cold Symmetry was giving away codes on its social channels and through e-mail, but after the vocal community spoke out with their interest to try the game, the developer decided to change course. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/02/mortal-shell-hands-on-preview-finding-its-own-souls-like-voice"] "We heard that a lot of you were feeling left out and frustrated with how we were handling key distribution," Cold Symmetry said on Discord. "We have tried our best to keep up with requests, but we never expected this level of high demand. So we have decided to open the PC beta early, and it's available right now." Mortal Shell was part of IGN's Summer of Gaming and we revealed a new trailer for the game that has players inhabiting the bodies (see: Mortal Shells) of vanquished warriors and gaining their unique stats and skills. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=mortal-shell-11-screenshots&captions=true"] In our hands-on of Mortal Shell, we said "all in all though, Mortal Shell left an extremely strong first impression, not because of how much it evokes the look and feel of Dark Souls, but because of how it evokes it while also feeling like something completely fresh and unique." [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.

20-year-old Georgia State University student Julian Bass recently posted an awesome TikTok video to Twitter that shows him transforming into three of his favorite heroes - a Star Wars Jedi, Ben 10, and Spider-Man. "If y’all can retweet this enough times that Disney calls, that’d be greatly appreciated," Bass wrote, probably not anticipating that the tweet would be viewed close to 21 million times. Check it out...

if y’all can retweet this enough times that Disney calls, that’d be greatly appreciated pic.twitter.com/GrKlIRxg3J

— Julian Bass (@thejulianbass) July 2, 2020

And among those who watched? Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, who responded to Bass with "The world’s gonna know your name!!!" Yup. Three exclamation points, folks.

The world’s gonna know your name!!!

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) July 3, 2020

Even writer/director James Gunn got in on the praise, with Scrubs' Zach Braff instructing Gunn to hire Bass.

Hire this man, Gunn!

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) July 3, 2020

Iger, who served as CEO of The Walt Disney Company since 2005 and oversaw some of the company’s biggest acquisitions like Marvel and Lucasfilm, stepped down from that role last February, before Disney parks closed due to the pandemic. About a month later, Disney announced that top company executives will take pay cuts during the COVID-19 crisis, with executive chairman Iger foregoing his salary entirely. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-disney-animated-movies&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

20-year-old Georgia State University student Julian Bass recently posted an awesome TikTok video to Twitter that shows him transforming into three of his favorite heroes - a Star Wars Jedi, Ben 10, and Spider-Man. "If y’all can retweet this enough times that Disney calls, that’d be greatly appreciated," Bass wrote, probably not anticipating that the tweet would be viewed close to 21 million times. Check it out...

if y’all can retweet this enough times that Disney calls, that’d be greatly appreciated pic.twitter.com/GrKlIRxg3J

— Julian Bass (@thejulianbass) July 2, 2020

And among those who watched? Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, who responded to Bass with "The world’s gonna know your name!!!" Yup. Three exclamation points, folks.

The world’s gonna know your name!!!

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) July 3, 2020

Even writer/director James Gunn got in on the praise, with Scrubs' Zach Braff instructing Gunn to hire Bass.

Hire this man, Gunn!

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) July 3, 2020

Iger, who served as CEO of The Walt Disney Company since 2005 and oversaw some of the company’s biggest acquisitions like Marvel and Lucasfilm, stepped down from that role last February, before Disney parks closed due to the pandemic. About a month later, Disney announced that top company executives will take pay cuts during the COVID-19 crisis, with executive chairman Iger foregoing his salary entirely. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-disney-animated-movies&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Those waiting for news on the Nintendo Switch version of Doom Eternal won't have to wait much longer as executive producer Marty Stratton has said that the release date will be revealed "pretty soon." As reported by Nintendo Everything, Stratton spoke to Gamereactor at Gamelab Live 2020 and explained how they believe it will live up to the standard set by 2016's Doom on Switch and will indeed be the full experience. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/24/doom-eternal-final-review"]

“We’ll be talking about the release date pretty soon," Stratton said. "We haven’t announced that yet – I can’t do that now. It’s really made great progress. Panic Button, the studio we work with on that, as I’ve said before they’re masters of the platform. … we released Doom Eternal on all the same platforms we released Doom 2016, and I thought that was a real feather in the cap of our tech team, and I think this will be the same for Panic Button and our engine team as well because it kind of starts with their core that gets passed along and the optimization that’s done. I think it’ll be every bit as good as Doom 2016 was, and I’m super excited for people to get it." "Doom 2016 on the Switch felt a little bit like an experiment – that type of game, the mature nature of it, and the first-person shooter, how’s it going to play? It was fantastic on the platform, so I think we’ll take another step with Doom Eternal coming out just because it’s kind of established itself as something that really does work on the Switch, and it’s such a big, fantastic game. We’re really not watering it down at all. People can expect the full experience.”

Doom Eternal was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC on March 20, 2020. In our review of Doom Eternal, we said "whether you’ve been playing Doom for a few years or a few decades, Doom Eternal demands your attention." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=doom-eternal-january-2019-screenshots&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.

Those waiting for news on the Nintendo Switch version of Doom Eternal won't have to wait much longer as executive producer Marty Stratton has said that the release date will be revealed "pretty soon." As reported by Nintendo Everything, Stratton spoke to Gamereactor at Gamelab Live 2020 and explained how they believe it will live up to the standard set by 2016's Doom on Switch and will indeed be the full experience. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/24/doom-eternal-final-review"]

“We’ll be talking about the release date pretty soon," Stratton said. "We haven’t announced that yet – I can’t do that now. It’s really made great progress. Panic Button, the studio we work with on that, as I’ve said before they’re masters of the platform. … we released Doom Eternal on all the same platforms we released Doom 2016, and I thought that was a real feather in the cap of our tech team, and I think this will be the same for Panic Button and our engine team as well because it kind of starts with their core that gets passed along and the optimization that’s done. I think it’ll be every bit as good as Doom 2016 was, and I’m super excited for people to get it." "Doom 2016 on the Switch felt a little bit like an experiment – that type of game, the mature nature of it, and the first-person shooter, how’s it going to play? It was fantastic on the platform, so I think we’ll take another step with Doom Eternal coming out just because it’s kind of established itself as something that really does work on the Switch, and it’s such a big, fantastic game. We’re really not watering it down at all. People can expect the full experience.”

Doom Eternal was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC on March 20, 2020. In our review of Doom Eternal, we said "whether you’ve been playing Doom for a few years or a few decades, Doom Eternal demands your attention." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=doom-eternal-january-2019-screenshots&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.

Square Enix's anime adaptation of The World Ends with You received its first teaser trailer and a few more details as to what fans of the 2007 Nintendo DS classic can expect from this new project. As reported by Funimation, The World Ends with You: The Animation will arrive in 2021 and follows "Neku Sakuraba as he’s thrust into a video game scenario in Shibuya called Reaper’s Game that will have him fighting for his life. Along with the allies he teams up with along the way, Neku will have to make it to the end to see his humanity again." The first teaser trailer stays faithful to the original's art style and the anime itself will be a retelling of the original game with expanded scenes.

The Reaper's Game is about to begin...

The World Ends with You The Animation is coming to Funimation in 2021! Learn more: https://t.co/GFXUuu3PNb pic.twitter.com/pjyAVSNzNS — Funimation (@FUNimation) July 4, 2020

The official description from the teaser trailer's YouTube page is as follows;

"The main character Neku wakes up in the middle of a busy Shibuya Crossing Intersection unaware of how he got there. He’s in an alternate plane of existence called the Underground (UG). Unknowingly forced to participate in the “Reaper’s Game”, Neku must partner with Shiki, a teenage girl player whom he meets. Neku must fight to survive by completing the missions thrown at him and defeating the creatures called “Noise.” By doing so, he will confront the “Reaper’s Game” along with the truth buried deep inside his memory. “The only way to survive is to trust your partner” Will they survive the “Reaper’s Game”...?"

The World Ends with You: The Animation is directed by Domerica's Kazuya Ichikawa and is being produced by Domerica x Shin-EI Animation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/10/10/the-world-ends-with-you-final-remix-review"] Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts' Tetsuya Nomura is also working on the project, and he was responsible for the main character designs and orchestration of the game. In 20018, The World Ends with You: Final Remix was released on Nintendo Switch and, in our review, we said it "is as good as ever in handheld mode, but it loses much of its appeal with motion controls." [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.

Square Enix's anime adaptation of The World Ends with You received its first teaser trailer and a few more details as to what fans of the 2007 Nintendo DS classic can expect from this new project. As reported by Funimation, The World Ends with You: The Animation will arrive in 2021 and follows "Neku Sakuraba as he’s thrust into a video game scenario in Shibuya called Reaper’s Game that will have him fighting for his life. Along with the allies he teams up with along the way, Neku will have to make it to the end to see his humanity again." The first teaser trailer stays faithful to the original's art style and the anime itself will be a retelling of the original game with expanded scenes.

The Reaper's Game is about to begin...

The World Ends with You The Animation is coming to Funimation in 2021! Learn more: https://t.co/GFXUuu3PNb pic.twitter.com/pjyAVSNzNS — Funimation (@FUNimation) July 4, 2020

The official description from the teaser trailer's YouTube page is as follows;

"The main character Neku wakes up in the middle of a busy Shibuya Crossing Intersection unaware of how he got there. He’s in an alternate plane of existence called the Underground (UG). Unknowingly forced to participate in the “Reaper’s Game”, Neku must partner with Shiki, a teenage girl player whom he meets. Neku must fight to survive by completing the missions thrown at him and defeating the creatures called “Noise.” By doing so, he will confront the “Reaper’s Game” along with the truth buried deep inside his memory. “The only way to survive is to trust your partner” Will they survive the “Reaper’s Game”...?"

The World Ends with You: The Animation is directed by Domerica's Kazuya Ichikawa and is being produced by Domerica x Shin-EI Animation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/10/10/the-world-ends-with-you-final-remix-review"] Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts' Tetsuya Nomura is also working on the project, and he was responsible for the main character designs and orchestration of the game. In 20018, The World Ends with You: Final Remix was released on Nintendo Switch and, in our review, we said it "is as good as ever in handheld mode, but it loses much of its appeal with motion controls." [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.

Following MCU star Anthony Mackie's criticism of Marvel movies for lack of diversity, and his desire to use his status as the co-lead of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to push for more diverse representation on Marvel Studios' projects, Tessa Thompson, who will reprise her role as Valkyrie in Thor: Love and Thunder, thinks that Phase 4 will more fully embrace those ideals. As part of Variety's Actors on Actors series, Thompson and Ramy's Ramy Youssef spoke about the topic and why it's so important to the fandom at large. "I think in this next phase of Marvel, we're really talking about what representation looks like in those spaces," Thompson explained. "Because the truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways and if you can represent people that are of color, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it's a pretty big deal." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=endgame-where-the-hell-were-these-characters-when-the-avengers-needed-them&captions=true"] "There's millions and millions of people, particularly young people, that show up to the cinema," Thompson continued. "And I think if you can show them something that looks like them, they feel valued. Particularly inside of these narratives of the comic books, that's what it's all about. It’s that our differences make us special." "I'm really excited that we're able to continue to push the bounds of that and that I'm able to do that with Valkyrie, because there's so many cool queer characters in the comic books and they should have a place on-screen." Since the onset of COVID-19, the MCU's Phase 4 schedule has been reshuffled a few times. The latest iteration has Thor: Love and Thunder opening February 11, 2022. Ragnarok director Taika Waititi will return for the film and has promised to "double down" on the craziness. Thor: Love and Thunder will feature Natalie Portman's Jane Foster as Thor and Christian Bale as a yet-to-be-revealed villain. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/13/thor-love-and-thunder-breaking-down-taika-waititis-crazy-clues-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Following MCU star Anthony Mackie's criticism of Marvel movies for lack of diversity, and his desire to use his status as the co-lead of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to push for more diverse representation on Marvel Studios' projects, Tessa Thompson, who will reprise her role as Valkyrie in Thor: Love and Thunder, thinks that Phase 4 will more fully embrace those ideals. As part of Variety's Actors on Actors series, Thompson and Ramy's Ramy Youssef spoke about the topic and why it's so important to the fandom at large. "I think in this next phase of Marvel, we're really talking about what representation looks like in those spaces," Thompson explained. "Because the truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways and if you can represent people that are of color, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it's a pretty big deal." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=endgame-where-the-hell-were-these-characters-when-the-avengers-needed-them&captions=true"] "There's millions and millions of people, particularly young people, that show up to the cinema," Thompson continued. "And I think if you can show them something that looks like them, they feel valued. Particularly inside of these narratives of the comic books, that's what it's all about. It’s that our differences make us special." "I'm really excited that we're able to continue to push the bounds of that and that I'm able to do that with Valkyrie, because there's so many cool queer characters in the comic books and they should have a place on-screen." Since the onset of COVID-19, the MCU's Phase 4 schedule has been reshuffled a few times. The latest iteration has Thor: Love and Thunder opening February 11, 2022. Ragnarok director Taika Waititi will return for the film and has promised to "double down" on the craziness. Thor: Love and Thunder will feature Natalie Portman's Jane Foster as Thor and Christian Bale as a yet-to-be-revealed villain. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/13/thor-love-and-thunder-breaking-down-taika-waititis-crazy-clues-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.