New Overwatch 2 players won’t be able to use classic Overwatch heroes straight away.

A new blog post over at the Overwatch website has revealed that new players will need to grind out around 100 matches to unlock the complete roster of original Overwatch 1 characters.

“New players begin with access to a limited set of game modes, heroes, and some other restrictions to onboard them more gradually,” they revealed. “The first phase of our new [First Time User Experience] rapidly unlocks all the game modes and the ability to chat in-game, and the second phase unlocks all the original Overwatch heroes over the course of approximately 100 matches.”

The idea behind the move is to prevent overwhelming new players with too much to learn. Considering each hero has a unique set of abilities and counters, this is certainly an understandable and structured way to get into the game.

“This focused experience eases new players into the world of Overwatch by teaching them about different modes, rules, and other high-level aspects of the game in an approachable way.,” they said.

Importantly, these restrictions won’t be in place if you’re in a group, so new players can still team up with their friends and try out heroes (and game modes) they don’t have yet. “Competitive is the exception to this rule because new players must complete a specific challenge to access this game mode.”

While this move could be seen as controversial, it looks as though the Overwatch community is pretty pleased with the change.

“100 games for 32 heroes, that's roughly a new hero to try out every 3 matches,” said one Overwatch Reddit user. “That sounds like a good way to keep players in that 'just one more game' mindset.”

“It's about as close to a practical ‘Tutorial Mode’ I think devs can get in an FPS,” said another. “I’m certainly not complaining. If this includes matching new players in separate server instances with other new players, all the better. It will definitely keep new players from getting immediately ROASTED by better players and by match chat which will probably create a higher retention rate of new players which is what Blizz is going to be wanting to bolster with it being a F2P model.”

As well as easing new players into the game in an organic way, fans are also pleased that the change will potentially reduce the number of smurfs and hackers.

Want to read more about Overwatch 2? Check out Overwatch 2’s new Portugal map and find out how to merge your Overwatch account ready for cross-progression.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

FIFA 23 lets you turn off commentary criticizing your play, so you don’t have to hear how you're letting the side down.

According to Eurogamer, this new feature is live right now after FIFA 23 early access launched a day early on EA Play.

Just hop into the settings and check the box marked “Disable Critical Commentary” to make sure you only get the nicest pep talks from the likes of Derek Rae, Stewart Robson, and Alex Scott. Get in!

Checking this box means you won’t get any commentary that’s critical of how you play, so no more comments about your shoddy defense, for starters. However, you will still get the regular comments they say throughout a match.

It’s likely that this feature made it into the game simply to make for a more positive experience for some players. But it’s also pretty useful if your children play the game, too. After all, it can be a bit daunting when you pick up the pad for the first time, and that could be made even worse if Stewart Robson is giving you a grilling over your sub-par performance.

But the feature may still need some work… During tests, Eurogamer found that disabling critical commentary during a FIFA Ultimate Team Division Rivals match did absolutely nothing. “Robson still tore into my finishing and had some choice words for poor Mason Mount,” said Eurogamer.

Still, it sounds like a useful edition for the more sensitive players when it works.

FIFA 23 will officially launch on September 30, but EA Play players and those who pre-ordered with early access can jump on and give it a whirl right now.

Want to read more about FIFA 23? Check out Ted Lasso’s addition to FIFA 23 and find out how the game leaked a month early for some players.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Marvel’s upcoming Blade reboot has just lost its director, Bassam Tariq.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 35-year-old filmmaker has exited the upcoming Blade reboot – a report which was confirmed by Marvel itself.

“Due to continued shifts in our production schedule, Bassam is no longer moving forward as director of Blade but will remain an executive producer on the film,” Marvel said in a statement to THR. “We appreciate Bassam’s talent and all the work he’s done getting Blade to where it is.”

Blade was already in production with Tariq at the helm and was due to begin shooting in November.

The upcoming Marvel film stars Mahershala Ali as everyone’s favorite daywalker, Blade, alongside Delroy Lindo as well as Krypton star, Aaron Pierre.

News of Tariq’s exit comes just months after news broke that the director had boarded the project. It’s unclear how Tariq’s exit will impact the production of the upcoming Marvel vampire movie, but it’s likely to see production pushed back for a while as Marvel hunts for a new director.

“It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel,” said Tariq in a separate statement to THR. “We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film.”

As it stands, Blade has already seen its production shift around several times, with THR sources confirming that the project has undergone several rounds of rewrites. Moon Knight writer Beau de Mayo is the project’s current writer.

However, sources also confirm that Marvel is already searching for its new director.

Blade is easily one of Marvel’s most anticipated upcoming projects, stepping into a darker corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside the likes of Werewolf by Night as well as the recent Doctor Strange sequel and WandaVision TV show.

The film also has many fans eagerly waiting – including John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, who has previously expressed interest in helming the project.

“After John Wick 3, [Kevin Feige] was nice enough to carve out a big chunk of time and have a nice talk,” he revealed. “And he actually asked me, 'What could we ever do?' I was like, 'Look, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know if I fit that kind of studio mold, but Blade would be the one interesting thing I'd like to do.’”

Whoever takes over Blade at this point will need to hit the ground running. After all, the film is expected to debut on November 3, 2023. But if you ask me, it’s likely we’ll see that date moved back to accommodate the new director. After all, Tariq had been working on the project since the summer of 2021.

Want to read more about Blade? Check out the 15 best R-rated comic book movies as well as the Eternals post-credit scene explained.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

PUBG creator Brendan Greene has revealed his next game – a blockchain-powered metaverse title.

During an interview with Hit Points, the 45-year-old game developer revealed that Artemis, his next game, will feature NFTs, the metaverse, and blockchain.

“[Artemis] will be a platform that we participate in the maintenance of, maybe,” he explained. “But it’s something that anyone can plug into, and everyone can host a bit of themselves.”

Artemis will reportedly let players make anything they like as part of a large, open world. But now, it looks as though the project will incorporate blockchain.

"I was fascinated with this idea of digital spaces, places where there are no real rules but a set of systems that you can use,” explained Greene. “That fascinated me, and still does. I never considered just walking away.”

Blockchain is often pitched as a way for players to contribute to a game’s development, but many developers have come out against the technology with the likes of Minecraft outright banning the use of NFTs or blockchain.

Greene insists that Artemis is not about making money. “The only way this exists is if it’s made for everyone, and it’s not made for money,” he said. However, he also confirmed that players will be able to “extract value” from their creations by selling in-game items to other players.

Despite the skepticism, Greene says he’ll continue regardless.

“I’m just going to do what I’m going to do,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter if it’s called the metaverse. I don’t care what people want to call it.”

Of course, Greene won’t be the first developer to get into the metaverse. Bandai Namco recently revealed it’s spent a massive $130 million on an upcoming metaverse project. Not to mention Epic Games and LEGO working together on a child-safe metaverse project.

Quite how the Artemis metaverse will take shape remains to be seen. But the addition of NFTs and blockchain sure isn’t going to win over the critics.

Want to read more about the metaverse? Find out what the metaverse means for gamers as well as what the Epic Games metaverse is all about.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Netflix’s Grendel series has been canceled but could be picked up elsewhere.

According to Deadline, the Dark Horse comic book adaptation, about a masked vigilante named Grendel, has been canned by the online streaming service.

Announced back in 2021, Grendel had been picked up by Netflix for an eight-episode series, but now the project has been pulled, despite the fact that it was midway through production.

“This business, man,” said comic book writer Jay Faerber via Twitter. “They were in the middle of shooting their first season and Netflix just... changed their minds. Nothing had even aired yet.”

This business, man... They were in the middle of shooting their first season and Netflix just... changed their minds. Nothing had even aired yet. https://t.co/KZqJfNO7Ax

— Jay Faerber (@JayFaerber) September 27, 2022

Grendel stars Abubakr Ali in the leading role – the first male Muslim actor to portray a series lead in a comic book adaptation. It tells the story of Hunter Rose (Ali), a gifted fencer, writer, and assassin, who’s looking to avenge the death of a lost love. He goes to war with the entire New York criminal underworld, only to realize… why beat them when you can join them?

The series was secured by Netflix as part of its first look series with Dark Horse.

However, this isn’t necessarily the end of the road for Grendel. Now that Netflix has pulled the plug on the project, producers are free to shop the series elsewhere, so we could eventually find that the masked vigilante has simply found a different home.

Additionally, the decision to cancel Grendel apparently came after the bulk of filming was already complete, so streamers and networks might be keen to pick up a series with only minimal work left to do.

Despite Grendel’s cancellation, the relationship between Dark Horse and Netflix remains strong. After all, they recently renewed The Umbrella Academy for a fourth season – another Dark Hose adaptation brought to the screen by Netflix.

Will Grendel ever see the light of day? For now, we’ll have to wait and see.

Want to read more about Netflix? Check out the new Netflix game studio as well as everything announced at Netflix’s Tudum 2022.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the longest Phase 4 movie… by far.

According to a new listing at Cineplex, the upcoming Marvel movie clocks in at 2 hours 41 minutes – that makes it the longest Phase 4 movie as well as the longest non-Avengers film in the whole MCU.

The record is currently held by Eternals which comes in at 2 hours and 36 minutes… but the Black Panther sequel beats it by a full five minutes.

Although Marvel is yet to confirm the official runtime, it does make sense.

For one thing, the death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman leaves a lot to clear up in the film’s opening act… and with plenty of new story in the recent Wakanda Forever teaser trailer, it looks like there’s plenty of justification for a pretty hefty runtime.

“It just felt like it was much too soon to recast,” said Marvel boss, Kevin Feige. “Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story.”

Director Ryan Coogler has revealed that Wakanda Forever will tackle the passing of the original Black Panther and the theme of moving on in the face of insurmountable odds.

“The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’” Feige said. “And how could the legacy of Chadwick – and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas – continue? That’s what it was all about.”

These are obviously big questions, that won’t be wrapped up with a limited runtime. Not to mention the fact that Wakanda Forever won’t have one lead character.

Instead, the film will focus on a larger cast, including Letitia Wright's Shuri, Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda, Winston Duke's M'Baku, and Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to debut on November 11, 2022.

Want to read more about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? Check out the major Namor theory that’s been confirmed, as well as how the original pitch made it through to the final film.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Deadpool will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe on September 6, 2024, and star Ryan Reynolds is teasing a long-awaited meeting with his old friend Wolverine.

In a surprise teaser posted on Ryan Reynold's personal Twitter account, the actor is shown seated on a sofa telling fans he was "extremely sad" about missing D23 where there was no Deadpool 3 announcement.

Reynolds then shares a workout montage before talking about a potential story idea the writers had for Deadpool 3. He then asks Hugh Jackman if he wants to play Wolverine again, to which Jackman appears briefly and says "sure."

Click over to see our biggest burning questions about Deadpool 3 and Wolverine's return.

Hard keeping my mouth sewn shut about this one. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/OdV7JmAkEu

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) September 27, 2022

Jackman last played Wolverine in 2017's Logan directed by James Mangold. At the time, Jackman publicly stated Logan would be his last film as Wolverine. Even after Disney officialy acquired the rights to the X-Men again, Jackman talked about his excitement for new actors to pick up the claws.

However, a Jackman and Reynolds team-up has also been something both actors have wanted for a long time. Especially as a way to make up for their first meeting in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And if Reynolds could reboot Deadpool, why not reboot his relationship with Jackman's Wolverine too?

The pair did briefly appear together in the credits of Deadpool 2, though that was more of a fun joke than proper crossover.

The idea that Jackman could reprise the role of Wolverine is deeply exciting. Jackman has played Wolverine across nine films, and his sendoff in Logan was as close to perfect as can be. But to see Jackman and Reynolds together at last (again) will be a second closure for fans.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Team Ninja says that it is open to outsourcing its own IP, such as Ninja Gaiden, to other studios as long as the game being developed is able to exceed fan expectations.

In an interview with VGC, Team Ninja's Fumihiko Yasuda - director of upcoming Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - said, “If we were to theoretically work with another company on a new Ninja Gaiden title, we would need to make sure that it would be a title that the fans would really enjoy and exceed their expectations.”

Yasuda explained that even though there is a big fanbase for existing IP like Ninja Gaiden, Team Ninja needs to balance its resources within the studio, including seeing what kind of skills members of the development team currently have. From there, they would decide if those skills could fit an existing IP, or perhaps an entirely new one.

He is also open to handing off a potential new Ninja Gaiden game to a team of younger developers within Team Ninja. However, either decision wouldn’t be made lightly. “It’s not just a matter of, ‘hey, let’s just go do this.’ All the pieces would need to fit, and it would need to be the right team…either a younger team internally or another company that would really need to fit the Ninja Gaiden pedigree,” Yasuda explained.

Team Ninja is understandably cautious about such an idea. The last time Ninja Gaiden was outsourced - 2014's Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, made by Californian studio Spark Unlimited - the series was tarnished with poor reviews, including a 5.6 from IGN.

Ninja Gaiden’s latest entry was the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection back in June 2021. Right now, Team Ninja is focusing on Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which will arrive on Xbox Game Pass next year at launch, and Rise of the Ronin, an exclusive for PlayStation 5.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Intel has announced its latest 13th Gen Raptor Lake desktop processors as part of its Intel Vision event.

Like its predecessor, the 12th generation Alder Lake processors, the Raptor Lake uses Intel's hybrid architecture, which mixes performance (P-Cores) and efficiency (E-Cores) x86 cores and uses the new Z790 chipset. Intel says that the Raptor Lake CPUs offer more hybrid cores than the previous generation, with the flagship CPU featuring 24 cores (8 performance + 16 efficiency cores).

Leading the 13th generation line is the $589 i9-13900K, offering 24 processor cores (8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores), 32 processor threads, and clock speeds up to 5.8GHz. As per the other Intel CPUs, the chips with the "K" at the end include Intel UHD graphics, with the other three CPUs offering the integrated graphics include the $409 i7-13700K and the more affordable $319 i5-13600K processor.

Another distinction of the Raptor Lake is these new processors support DDR4 and DDR5 RAM. Mandy Mock, Vice President and GM of Desktop, Workstation, and Channel Group at Intel, notes that the CPU maker anticipates DDR4 RAM will "coexist in the market through the end of 2024."

Raptor Lake offering support for both is an important distinction to note when you factor in that AMD's new Ryzen 7000 series only supports the newer, more expensive DDR5 RAM.

The Raptor Lake processors, along with the Z790 motherboards, will be available starting October 20.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Microsoft has unveiled a new Mineral Camo Special Edition Xbox wireless controller, featuring a camouflage pattern of ocean tones encompassing different shades of blue and purple. It's available to order now at several retailers (see it at Amazon).

The official Xbox announcement identifies the Mineral Camo controller as the fourth addition to the camo series alongside the Night Ops Camo, Arctic Camo, and Daystrike Camo controllers. The newest iteration has patches of mineral blue, aqua, and dark purple, inspired by geode crystals, with a textured grip on the triggers, bumpers, and back case to enhance comfort and make the controller easier to hold.

The Mineral Camo controller has many of the same features as the Daystrike Camo release, including a hybrid D-pad for more precise input in all eight directions, and a Share button to send screenshots and video out into the world. It also includes a 3.5mm audio jack and wireless technology allowing players to fully immerse themselves into gaming on consoles, PC, mobile phones, and tablets.

The latest Xbox wireless camo controller is priced at $69.99 and is available to purchase right now from Amazon and the Microsoft Store. And if you're looking to stock up on your accessories, there's a matching Mineral Camo Razer Universal Quick Charging Stand for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One controllers. That's currently up for order on the Microsoft Store in the US and Razer in all other markets, for $49.99.

Microsoft has released several different versions of its new Xbox wireless controller since the Series consoles launched in November 2020, including a series of one-colour controllers and limited editions such as the 20th Anniversary version, the shiny blue Aqua Shift, and an extremely rare pair of furry Sonic the Hedgehog controllers that Microsoft awarded to a single competition winner.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.