Star Wars: Rian Johnson Casts Doubt on Directing Ep. IX
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is doubtful he'll take on Episode IX.
During a conference in Japan (via io9), Johnson revealed the plan was never for him to direct both The Last Jedi and Episode IX, and so the filmmaker currently doesn't "know what’s going to happen with" the next Star Wars movie following Colin Trevorrow's departure from the next "Episode" Star Wars film.
Every Box Office Record Broken by IT’s Opening Weekend
Following a low-grossing summer box office, Stephen King's IT started up the fall movie season with a massive opening weekend. And in doing so, the adaptation of King's novel set a number of new industry standards.
Pulling in an estimated $123 million, IT easily took the top spot at the box office this past weekend. And in doing so, it passed the following box office milestones in just three days of release:
- Biggest opening weekend in September (adjusted and unadjusted) — The previous record holder was Hotel Transylvania 2, which made $48.5 million in its debut in 2015
The Benefits of Being a Bloodsucker in Code Vein
Code Vein pits you in a world where you, a vampire, must traverse a mysterious landscape peppered with 'The Lost': other vampires who have gone insane and twisted from blood starvation. You can drain blood from The Lost, but there's a far more practical reason for doing so beyond survival. In the video above, Bandai Namco Studios explains Blood Veils, which are special garments that turn your 'charge' drain attack into a performative, blood-splattered spectacle, and Gifts, which are special moves and active or passive buffs that can be utilized if you drain enough blood. These add up to a very different blood sucking experience, where minute-to-minute gameplay is switched up constantly.
Why the Wait for Borderlands 3 Has Been So Long
While Borderlands 3 has yet to formally be announced by Gearbox Software, studio president Randy Pitchford confirmed last year that work has indeed begun on a new installment, and just recently discussed with IGN why the wait has been so long.
On the latest episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered (airing tomorrow), Pitchford emphasized that Borderlands is "really important" to Gearbox, and while he loves Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, he believes fans expect the next Gearbox-developed entry in the series to be a "really big, worthy" step forward for the franchise. "If we're going to do one, it's going to be that," he said in reference to his prior comment, noting, "that's not something you can just cook up overnight."
Out This Week: Metroid: Samus Returns, Ys VIII, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Nintendo Direct Incoming: Focusing on Switch & 3DS Games
Nintendo has announced that another in its occasional series of info-heavy Nintendo Directs will be airing later this week, on Wednesday, September 13 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm UK (or 8am Thursday, September 14 AEST).
Although it's not currently confirmed exactly what will be discussed during the presentation, the announcement on Nintendo's website says that we can expect around 45 minutes of material focused on various Switch and 3DS titles coming up in the next few months, with a particular focus on October 27's Super Mario Odyssey.
IT: Why You Only Saw Pennywise, Never Bill Skarsgard
Now that Stephen King's IT is the No. 1 movie in North America, the curtain can be pulled back on the actor who brought the terrifying title character to life on the big screen. New Line marketed IT around the villainous Pennywise, but their plan to tout Pennywise as a supernatural persona meant keeping the actor who plays the role, Bill Skarsgard, largely absent from the film's publicity push. To Skarsgard, New Line's strategy "doesn’t make much sense to me" even if, ultimately, he was "completely fine with it."
"I do think that that’s definitely a strategy from their part, you know, to have … yeah. I don’t know, it doesn’t make much sense to me," Skarsgard, 27, told me during a recent phone interview. "But there’s a mystery to the character. I guess they kind of want to keep sort of an illusion that Pennywise is not played by an actor." (Indeed, my interview with Skarsgard was embargoed until after IT's opening weekend.)
PewDiePie Uses Racial Slur; Firewatch Dev Responds
YouTube personality Felix Kjellberg, AKA PewDiePie, has once again courted controversy after using a racial slur towards another player during a live playthrough of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
As reported by the BBC, Kjellberg - who has over 57 million subscribers on the video sharing website, and was the first person to reach 10 billion views - was livestreaming when he used the slur to refer to another player, appearing afterwards to realise his error and saying "I don't mean that in a bad way".
It prompted a furious response from Sean Vanaman, creator of Firewatch, who promised via Twitter to use the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to file for any videos of Kjellberg's featuring Firewatch to be taken down. Since then, PewDiePie's playthrough of Firewatch has since been removed from his channel, although it's unclear if it's as a result of Vanaman's actions.
Switch Achievements Incoming, Says Indie Dev
The Nintendo Switch may soon be joining the ranks of other consoles by introducing an integrated Achievement or Trophy system, if the words of a group of indie developers are to be believed.
During a Reddit AMA, the team behind Lichtspeer, which is coming to Switch, were asked about whether the game supported online rankings; in the reply, team member Tom indicated that they were hoping to add rankings "along the way", also dropping an intriguing little nugget:
"Nintendo doesn't have an official support for Achievements and Leaderboards, like Sony or Microsoft, but we know that they're working on it."
When called out on it, Tom responded with a guilty "Oops" before adding that he thinks Nintendo "hinted it a few times".
UK Daily Deals: Save £25 When You Spend £150 or More at Tesco Direct
Want IGN UK Deals in your social feeds? Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for the most up-to-date bargains.
Looking for New Console Releases or the Xbox One X? Follow me on Twitter