Microsoft is doubling down on a known strength by confirming that the Xbox Series X will launch with "thousands" of games, leveraging its years-long backward-compatibility efforts, in comparison to Sony's mixed messaging on PlayStation 5's backwards-compatibility capabilities. "With more than 100,000 hours of play testing already completed, thousands of games are already playable on Xbox Series X today, from the biggest blockbusters to cult classics and fan favorites," Xbox Series X Director of Program Management Jason Ronald wrote in a new blog on Xbox Wire. "Many of us in Team Xbox play on the Xbox Series X daily as our primary console and switching between generations is seamless. By the time we launch this holiday, the team will have spent well over 200,000 hours ensuring your game library is ready for you to jump in immediately." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-xbox-series-x-games&captions=true"] Ronald also spoke with IGN, and when asked if "thousands" meant that the goal was every single Xbox One game – in addition the hundreds of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games already compatible with Xbox One that will also play on Xbox Series X – Ronald said, "The goal is definitely the thousands of titles that run on Xbox One today. If the game runs on Xbox One, it is our goal to get that to run on Series X. There might be some one-off exceptions here or there," he added, noting that "licensing or a technical issue[s]" should be the only possible roadblocks. For instance, in the former case, a game with licensed music whose contract with the publisher has expired. Even better, Ronald says that Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games will run better on Series X than they originally did. "All titles run at the peak performance that they were originally designed for, many times even higher performance than the games saw on their original launch platform, resulting in higher and more steady framerates and rendering at their maximum resolution and visual quality," Ronald said on Xbox Wire. "Backwards compatible titles also see significant reductions in in-game load times from the massive leap in performance from our custom NVME SSD which powers the Xbox Velocity Architecture." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/07/the-technology-behind-xbox-series-x"] When pressed for specific examples, Ronald said, “All of them are seeing a lot of benefits in certain areas.” As an example, he noted “titles that use dynamic resolution scaling – now it’s a rock-solid 4K or whatever its originally designed resolution was." HDR is among the new technologies being seamlessly retrofitted into older Xbox games. "Geometry Wars is one that I really enjoy. To actually see that in HDR..." he tailed off, also mentioning Boom Boom Rocket alongside the two games that have already had their post-generational HDR added, Halo 5: Guardians and Fuzion Frenzy. Higher framerates are also in the mix: "The compatibility team has invented brand new techniques that enable even more titles to run at higher resolutions and image quality while still respecting the artistic intent and vision of the original creators," Ronald said in his blog. "We are also creating whole new classes of innovations including the ability to double the frame rate of a select set of titles from 30 fps to 60 fps or 60 fps to 120 fps." We asked about any specific 120fps examples, if you've got the TV for it, and Ronald noted that they do exist, but they can't confirm any quite yet. "In a lot of cases we have so much processing power in the Xbox Series X [that] what used to take a set number of milliseconds in prior generation consoles, it just runs through that computation so fast that the GPU is just sitting there waiting to do work." He continued: "But part of the challenge is that some titles actually base their physics or animation on [the framerate], so we're still figuring out what titles we can actually do this with without violating the original intent of the title. We definitely have some titles we've seen go from 30 to 60 and there's a handful of titles we've seen go from 60 to 120, but we're still in the process of validating the game end-to-end." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=xbox-series-x-controller-6-new-images&captions=true"] For more, check out the full Xbox Wire blog, and stay tuned to IGN for plenty more Xbox Series X coverage, including the monthly Xbox 20/20 events that debuted last month. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

A PC demo for the upcoming Destroy All Humans! remake has launched on GOG. The demo, which is 8 GB in size, offers the first mission of the game as well as a bonus challenge mission. This build was previously demoed at trade shows in 2019 and sees Crypto decimate a local farmstead with his trusty Zap-O-Matic. It's a great initiative if you want to check out the game ahead of its launch on July 28th. The demo has an expected playtime of 20-30 minutes and includes many of the classic powers debuted in the 2005 original, including Psychokinesis (so you can hurl cows through the air) and the devastating Death Ray attached to Crypto's flying saucer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/21/destroy-all-humans-remake-preview"] The original Xbox version of Destroy All Humans! is one of June 2020's Games with Gold, so if you're keen and can't wait until July, you can redeem it and play around in the original if you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription. If you're a series megafan, the collector's edition of Destroy All Humans! 2020 ships with a number of absurd items, including a Crypto backpack, a stress toy and a series of lithographs. For more on the Destroy All Humans! remake, check out our preview of the game from PAX East this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

A PC demo for the upcoming Destroy All Humans! remake has launched on GOG. The demo, which is 8 GB in size, offers the first mission of the game as well as a bonus challenge mission. This build was previously demoed at trade shows in 2019 and sees Crypto decimate a local farmstead with his trusty Zap-O-Matic. It's a great initiative if you want to check out the game ahead of its launch on July 28th. The demo has an expected playtime of 20-30 minutes and includes many of the classic powers debuted in the 2005 original, including Psychokinesis (so you can hurl cows through the air) and the devastating Death Ray attached to Crypto's flying saucer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/21/destroy-all-humans-remake-preview"] The original Xbox version of Destroy All Humans! is one of June 2020's Games with Gold, so if you're keen and can't wait until July, you can redeem it and play around in the original if you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription. If you're a series megafan, the collector's edition of Destroy All Humans! 2020 ships with a number of absurd items, including a Crypto backpack, a stress toy and a series of lithographs. For more on the Destroy All Humans! remake, check out our preview of the game from PAX East this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Logan director James Mangold has shared the original test footage of the opening scene from the final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie. During ComicBook.com's recent Quarantine Watch Party, Mangold tweeted the previsualization version of the opening sequence from the 2017 movie, showing Logan getting into a violent altercation with a gang who leave him on the floor, before he rises to his feet, extends his claws and rips them to shreds.

And here is the video viz for the opening scene that Garret Warren (stunts / 2U) & his team & myself put together in prep. #Logan #QuarantineWatchParty @ComicBook

I had to repost, the previous post had the wrong viz! pic.twitter.com/w2At0wteY9 — Mangold (@mang0ld) May 27, 2020

As it turns out, this raw footage is not too dissimilar from the final cut of the scene, though it's widely known that Logan nearly had an entirely different opening sequence, as Mangold previously told IGN that he originally intended the slaughter of the X-Men to be shown on the big screen in the first few minutes of the movie. "I literally had written an opening which started with that sequence," said Mangold. "And so it was quite literal, who was dead. But the reason we didn't do it wasn't to spare other films, it was that it redefined the movie. It made the movie about the X-Men, instead of being about Logan and Charles. And irrevocably, when you read the script opening that way, it became about this other tragedy, as opposed to that tragedy being something hovering like a shadow in the background for these characters." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/02/28/wolverines-x-men-movie-timeline-in-chronological-order"] While the test footage shows that the crew stuck closely to their original vision in pre-production, they deviated away from the colourful comic costumes in the wardrobe department. During the Watch Party, Mangold elaborated on why it wouldn't have made sense for Wolverine to emerge wearing the faithful yellow and brown suit.

Sorry. He never put it on. We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting "uniform". I'm sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there. https://t.co/FU7FrYQS6S

— Mangold (@mang0ld) May 28, 2020

"He never put it on," Mangold tweeted in response to a question about whether Jackman ever donned the classic superhero mask. "We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting "uniform". I'm sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-x-men-movie-rotten-tomatoes-score&captions=true"] One thing is for sure, Jackman has put the character of Wolverine behind him. He recently revealed that he is at peace with the idea of Wolverine being rebooted with another actor playing the iconic X-Man in the future, though he does wish the X-Men had joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe back when he was still in the role. For now, the X-Men's debut in the MCU appears to be some years away while the studio continues to work on their Phase 4 slate. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Logan director James Mangold has shared the original test footage of the opening scene from the final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie. During ComicBook.com's recent Quarantine Watch Party, Mangold tweeted the previsualization version of the opening sequence from the 2017 movie, showing Logan getting into a violent altercation with a gang who leave him on the floor, before he rises to his feet, extends his claws and rips them to shreds.

And here is the video viz for the opening scene that Garret Warren (stunts / 2U) & his team & myself put together in prep. #Logan #QuarantineWatchParty @ComicBook

I had to repost, the previous post had the wrong viz! pic.twitter.com/w2At0wteY9 — Mangold (@mang0ld) May 27, 2020

As it turns out, this raw footage is not too dissimilar from the final cut of the scene, though it's widely known that Logan nearly had an entirely different opening sequence, as Mangold previously told IGN that he originally intended the slaughter of the X-Men to be shown on the big screen in the first few minutes of the movie. "I literally had written an opening which started with that sequence," said Mangold. "And so it was quite literal, who was dead. But the reason we didn't do it wasn't to spare other films, it was that it redefined the movie. It made the movie about the X-Men, instead of being about Logan and Charles. And irrevocably, when you read the script opening that way, it became about this other tragedy, as opposed to that tragedy being something hovering like a shadow in the background for these characters." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/02/28/wolverines-x-men-movie-timeline-in-chronological-order"] While the test footage shows that the crew stuck closely to their original vision in pre-production, they deviated away from the colourful comic costumes in the wardrobe department. During the Watch Party, Mangold elaborated on why it wouldn't have made sense for Wolverine to emerge wearing the faithful yellow and brown suit.

Sorry. He never put it on. We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting "uniform". I'm sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there. https://t.co/FU7FrYQS6S

— Mangold (@mang0ld) May 28, 2020

"He never put it on," Mangold tweeted in response to a question about whether Jackman ever donned the classic superhero mask. "We never even made a version of the outfit. Everything about his character as I understand it, would keep him from donning a self promoting "uniform". I'm sure the next incarnation of the Wolverine will go there." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-x-men-movie-rotten-tomatoes-score&captions=true"] One thing is for sure, Jackman has put the character of Wolverine behind him. He recently revealed that he is at peace with the idea of Wolverine being rebooted with another actor playing the iconic X-Man in the future, though he does wish the X-Men had joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe back when he was still in the role. For now, the X-Men's debut in the MCU appears to be some years away while the studio continues to work on their Phase 4 slate. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

An update for Valve's Half-Life: Alyx has launched today, bringing some seriously impressive liquid physics to the game. Update 1.4 for Half-Life: Alyx was revealed via the game's Steam community page, with the full patch notes available to read here. In-game bottles will now "appear to have liquid inside them." There's a gif at the bottom of the blog post which shows wine sloshing around inside of a bottle when shaken. It's kind of amazing. We can seemingly credit this work to Valve visual effects developer Matthew Wilde, who said on Twitter, "this booze shader has been my lock-down hobby". He showed off more of his work, too, which you can see in the tweet below:

Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg

— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020

It's a cool and meaningful detail that adds another layer of realism to one of VR's most impressive outings. There are a lot of bottles in the game, with some achievements even asking you to carry bottles of Vodka through entire maps to satisfy one of the game's NPCs. As well as the liquid physics, update 1.4 fixes a number of bugs and adds functionality to the game's recently launched Workshop Tools. Extra features include a Postprocessing Editor and a series of example maps. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/half-life-alyx-review"] Players have already been modding the game prior to the opening of the Half-Life: Alyx Workshop on May 15, which has resulted in some ridiculous memes involving the TV screens in the game's opening scene. If you're still deciding whether to pick up a VR headset for Half-Life: Alyx, check out our review of the game, which we thought "set a new bar for VR." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

An update for Valve's Half-Life: Alyx has launched today, bringing some seriously impressive liquid physics to the game. Update 1.4 for Half-Life: Alyx was revealed via the game's Steam community page, with the full patch notes available to read here. In-game bottles will now "appear to have liquid inside them." There's a gif at the bottom of the blog post which shows wine sloshing around inside of a bottle when shaken. It's kind of amazing. We can seemingly credit this work to Valve visual effects developer Matthew Wilde, who said on Twitter, "this booze shader has been my lock-down hobby". He showed off more of his work, too, which you can see in the tweet below:

Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg

— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020

It's a cool and meaningful detail that adds another layer of realism to one of VR's most impressive outings. There are a lot of bottles in the game, with some achievements even asking you to carry bottles of Vodka through entire maps to satisfy one of the game's NPCs. As well as the liquid physics, update 1.4 fixes a number of bugs and adds functionality to the game's recently launched Workshop Tools. Extra features include a Postprocessing Editor and a series of example maps. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/half-life-alyx-review"] Players have already been modding the game prior to the opening of the Half-Life: Alyx Workshop on May 15, which has resulted in some ridiculous memes involving the TV screens in the game's opening scene. If you're still deciding whether to pick up a VR headset for Half-Life: Alyx, check out our review of the game, which we thought "set a new bar for VR." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Josh Gad is gathering the cast of The Lord of the Rings for his quarantine-friendly web show Reunited Apart. Gad’s LOTR reunion special will air this weekend on his YouTube channel, but he’s released a brief teaser via Twitter.

Enjoy this tease! To watch the full trailer for #LordOfTheRings #ReunitedApart go to https://t.co/H5wpKJTjxm NOW and SUBSCRIBE! Catch the entire episode this Sunday at 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 OM EST only at https://t.co/PtdorqAZ6O pic.twitter.com/7G3WbUI6ho

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) May 27, 2020

The teaser reveals Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and Ian McKellen will make an appearance, but a recent post by Dominic Monaghan on Instagram confirmed the attendance of many other core cast and crew, including Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, and Peter Jackson.

[caption id="attachment_2357717" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Via Dominic Monaghan on Instagram.[/caption] This upcoming Lord of the Rings reunion is the fourth Gad had arranged for Reunited Apart, following The Goonies, Back to the Future, and Splash. The specials aim to raise money for COVID-19-related charitable causes. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=amazons-the-lord-of-the-rings-every-confirmed-actor&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

Josh Gad is gathering the cast of The Lord of the Rings for his quarantine-friendly web show Reunited Apart. Gad’s LOTR reunion special will air this weekend on his YouTube channel, but he’s released a brief teaser via Twitter.

Enjoy this tease! To watch the full trailer for #LordOfTheRings #ReunitedApart go to https://t.co/H5wpKJTjxm NOW and SUBSCRIBE! Catch the entire episode this Sunday at 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 OM EST only at https://t.co/PtdorqAZ6O pic.twitter.com/7G3WbUI6ho

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) May 27, 2020

The teaser reveals Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and Ian McKellen will make an appearance, but a recent post by Dominic Monaghan on Instagram confirmed the attendance of many other core cast and crew, including Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, and Peter Jackson.

[caption id="attachment_2357717" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Via Dominic Monaghan on Instagram.[/caption] This upcoming Lord of the Rings reunion is the fourth Gad had arranged for Reunited Apart, following The Goonies, Back to the Future, and Splash. The specials aim to raise money for COVID-19-related charitable causes. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=amazons-the-lord-of-the-rings-every-confirmed-actor&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

Warner Bros. reportedly still intends to bring back Henry Cavill as Superman in a future DC movie, although which one remains unclear. Deadline claims they've heard "Cavill could come back in a couple of different ways, not a standalone film, but there are plans to put him back in the big red cape again sources with knowledge tell us." Variety reports that Cavill is "in talks to return as Clark Kent in an upcoming DC Comics movie." Deadline points out that while Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad are already done filming, and Superman isn't expected to appear in 2021's The Batman, Cavill's Man of Steel could appear in such future DC productions as Shazam 2, Black Adam, or Aquaman 2. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dceu-movie-review-score&captions=true"] Shazam 2 seems like a likely bet given the Superman cameo at the end of the first movie, but Black Adam could also be a possibility given Dwayne Johnson's previous pronouncement that a Superman/Black Adam brawl "is in the cards." Cavill recently appeared in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel watch party during which the release of the Snyder Cut of Justice League was officially announced. Deadline's report follows rumors from Heroic Hollywood which claimed Warner Bros. had put the brakes on developing a Supergirl movie in favor of another Superman project starring Cavill. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-official-hbo-max-announcement"] It was reported in 2018 that Henry Cavill was out as Superman, while Cavill later insisted the role was still his (as did his Justice League co-star Jason Momoa). Cavill still has to finish filming Season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher, which was shutdown indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. His next movie, Enola Holmes, sees Cavill play Sherlock Holmes. The film was originally meant to be released theatrically by Warner Bros. but will now debut on Netflix instead.