| | | The Original Voice of Solid Snake Is Creating an American McGee's Alice TV Show | | by Ryan Leston Jan 31, 2022 | | American McGee’s Alice is getting its very own TV show, and it's being created by David Hayter, writer of the original X-Men movie, and voice of Solid Snake. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hayter will write and showrun the upcoming video game adaptation, bringing the classic twisted Alice in Wonderland video game to TV. “The American McGee’s Alice and Alice: Madness Returns game series is a ground-breaking reimagining of the classic tale,” said Hayter. “It takes you into the heart of a corrupted Wonderland and throws light into shadowy corners the world has never seen. I am beyond excited to bring this world of madness and wonder to a global audience.” American McGee’s Alice was originally released in 2000 and told the story of Alice, a psychiatric patient traumatised by the death of her family who retreats into the fictional world of Wonderland. IGN’s own review said: “Alice impresses and keeps impressing. It's really rare that you play a game that's just so consistently brilliant, and never falls to the "first level punch" only to peter out as you get more than halfway through the game. Alice will suck you in, and keep you interested through its entire elaborate journey.” The game was followed up with a sequel, Alice: Madness Returns in 2011. As for the upcoming TV show, no broadcaster has been set just yet, but the show will be produced in partnership with Abandon Entertainment. “David Hayter brings imagination, experience, and stealth sneaking skills gained through successful missions in film, TV, and video games – a unique combination sure to make this adventure into Wonderland a successful one for the franchise and the fans,” said series creator McGee. “I am excited to be working with him and know the Alice fans will welcome him with mad affection.” Hayter himself is best known as the original voice of Solid Snake in the English language version of Metal Gear Solid. However, he has a history in screenwriting, penning the original X-Men movie, co-writing X2, and an early version of the Watchmen movie. American McGee’s Alice was once tapped to head to the big screen, but development of the project faltered after a few years. Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter. | | | | | Team17 Reveals 'Environmentally Friendly' Worms NFTs, and Fans Don't Seem Pleased | | by Jared Moore Jan 31, 2022 | | Editor's Note: The subject of NFTs is currently a very controversial topic in the gaming community. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind. Team17 has revealed a set of what it describes as 'environmentally friendly' Worms NFTs and fans seem to be far from pleased. The company has subsequently said that it won't nclude NFTs within games it publishes. As announced in a press release this morning, fans will soon be able to buy officially licensed NFT collectibles based upon the retro gaming franchise, Worms. Called MetaWorms Team17 says that its NFTs will encompass content from across the last 26-years of Worms games to form "unique, generative artwork." Similar to other NFTs, the limited edition set of MetaWorms will be secured on the blockchain in order to assure digital ownership. The collection itself will be created and managed by the Reality Gaming Group, which has also been involved in creating blockchain collectibles for subsequent franchises such as Doctor Who: Worlds Apart and Reality Clash. According to Team17, this has enabled the studio to ensure that it is creating a range of "environmentally friendly" NFTs. It says that thethe cost of minting 100,000 NFTs through the group's Etherium sidechain uses the same energy as the average annual kettle usage of around eleven UK households. The two companies have also announced that the project will partner with sustainability platform "Coin 4 Planet", and specifically its Refeed Farms project, meaning that a portion of every NFT sale will be used to invest in real-life worm beds that are used to replenish soil instead of synthetic fertilizers. Although Team17 is set to make blockchain-based Worms products, the studio has said in a recent statement to Eurogamer that it doesn't plan on introducing NFTs into the games that it publishes. "Team17 is licensing the Worms brand to our newest third-party partner so they can produce collectible digital artwork based on one of the most beloved IPs in indie games, in a similar way to already available physical merchandise," a Team17 spokesperson stated. "Team17 has no plans to introduce NFTs or play-to-earn NFT mechanics into any of its indie games label titles." Despite the efforts to create a more environmentally friendly NFT, many members of the Worms community are yet to be convinced by the move. While some fans on social media have aired their disappointment and anger at the decision, others have vowed to steer clear of any future Worms content while the developer remains in the NFT market. Below you can find a selection of responses from fans upset by the recent news. Team17's recent move into the NFT market follows a number of similar paths taken by other developers within the industry. However, very few projects in the space have been met with positive reactions from their communities. Last month, STALKER 2 developer CSG Game World announced that the upcoming sequel would be supported by a range of linked NFTs when it launches. However, following a wave of fan backlash and criticism, quickly dropped those plans the same day. In a similar fashion, Sega recently stated that it was reassessing its plans to launch NFT content after it too subsequently received negative reactions from its community following an initial announcement on the topic. Voice actor Troy Baker also announced he would pull out of an NFT partnership after a fan backlash. On the flip side, Ubisoft Strategic Innovations Lab vice president Nicolas Pouard said that gamers simply don’t understand the benefits of NFTs after the company announced its new NFT service to negative feedback. “I think gamers don't get what a digital secondary market can bring to them,” he said. “For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it's first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation. But what we [at Ubisoft] are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they're finished with them or they're finished playing the game itself.” For more from the controversial world of Blockchain technology, why not check out this article detailing how a GDC survey has suggested that 28% of game developers are interested in NFTs. Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter. | | | | | Gaming-Centric Chromebooks Reportedly in the Works | | by Taylor Lyles Jan 31, 2022 | | Google might finally enter its Chromebooks into the gaming laptop scene, and they may arrive sooner than we expected, according to a new report. 9to5Google reports that three codenames for potential gaming-centric Chromebooks have been spotted: Vell, Taniks, and Ripple. The outlet claims that all three of the Chromebooks are equipped with RGB keyboards, and that the latter is a tablet with a detachable keyboard. 9toGoogle speculates that HP and Lenovo are working on the products based on employee contributions to Chrome OS. Alongside the report of gaming-centric Chromebooks, the outlet also notes that a new Chrome flag or experimental feature has been spotted in the operating system that allows the user to toggle RGB keyboard support. RGB keyboards in gaming laptops are not surprising as several laptop makers, including MSI and Razer, have made laptops that feature RGB keyboards. The report is no surprise as Google has slowly been shifting in this direction. Two years ago, the tech giant revealed that it was working on Steam support for its Linux-based Chromebooks. Last year, as part of a GDC presentation, Nvidia demoed supported for DLSS and ray tracing working on Arm-based laptops, which can benefit Chromebooks using applicable Arm CPUs. The news is also coming as Valve is preparing to launch its portable gaming PC, the Steam Deck next month. Like Chromebooks, Valve's forthcoming handheld uses a Linux-based operating system. Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster. | | | | | Impact Winter: Exclusive Trailer for Audible's Post-Apocalyptic Vampire Series | | by Jesse Schedeen Jan 31, 2022 | | Several years after the surprise finale of The Walking Dead, Skybound is getting back in the post-apocalyptic game. IGN can exclusively reveal the release date and voice cast for Impact Winter, a new audio drama series being released through Audible. Impact Winter is created by Carnival Row' Travis Beacham, produced in a partnership between Skybound and Anonymous Content and coproduced by Cliff Roberts (The Midnight Sky). This survival horror series is set in a world ravaged by a devastating comet strike. With the sun little more than a distant memory, vampires now reign supreme. Only one sword-wielding vampire hunter named Darcy holds the key to humanity's survival. You can check out Audible's teaser trailer for the new series in the video player above or embedded below: The voice cast for Impact Winter includes a number of Game of Thrones and HBO veterans. That lineup includes Himesh Patel (Don’t Look Up, Yesterday, Tenet), Holliday Grainger (The Borgias, My Cousin Rachel), David Gyasi (Interstellar, Panic), Esme Creed-Miles (Hanna), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), Caroline Ford (Carnival Row), Chloe Pirrie (The Queen’s Gambit, The Crown), Indira Varma (Carnival Row, Games of Thrones) and Freddy Carter (Shadow and Bone, Pennyworth). Here's Audible's official description of the series: More than a decade after a comet strike has inflicted an “impact winter” and blacked out the sun, vampires have emerged in the darkness to take over what remains of the world. Humans have fled underground, clinging to an existence that feels increasingly doomed. One vampire hunter, a young woman named Darcy, is lured from her bunker beneath an ancient castle by a powerful vampire overlord and thrust into a fight for her people’s future. From Travis Beacham, the mind behind Carnival Row and Pacific Rim, this action, romance, coming-of-age story delivers an unprecedented sonic experience via binaural action sequences, original music and incomparable sound design, all of which come together to bring to life this post-apocalyptic world in visceral detail. 
Impact Winter will release exclusively on Audible on February 17, 2022. You can head to Audible's Impact Winter page to learn more about the series and add it to your wish-list. Impact Winter isn't the only Audible Original series with some major comic book pedigree. The company has been busy adapting Neil Gaiman's seminal DC series The Sandman into an audio drama. That series features an impressive voice cast of its own, including James McAvoy as Dream and Kat Dennings as Death. Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter. | | | | | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Gets a New Official Plot Synopsis | | by Ryan Leston Jan 31, 2022 | | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has teased alternate realities and a mysterious new villain in its new official synopsis. The film, which follows on from the dimension-shattering shenanigans of Spider-Man: No Way Home, sees Marvel’s Doctor Strange exploring the multiverse. “In Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before,” reads the new plot description. “Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.” It’s no secret that the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel will explore the multiverse. After all, the clue is in the title. But who is this new adversary? We’ve got some ideas: Evil Doctor StrangeWe know that Evil Doctor Strange will be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after his appearance was teased in the film’s first official trailer. But will he be the villain? Introduced in Marvel’s What If…? this twisted take on Doctor Strange certainly has a lot to answer for. Driving himself mad trying to save Christine Palmer, this alternate version of the Marvel sorcerer ends up becoming a host for just about every demon he can conjure – using this unholy power to save his love. Although he saves Christine, he manages to destroy his universe in the process. With Mordo warning Doctor Strange that he is the true villain, this evil take on the superhero could be the multiverse’s undoing. Either way, What If…? has become essential to Marvel fans everywhere. Shuma-GorathKnown as The Great Old One, Shuma-Gorath is one of Doctor Strange’s most powerful adversaries… and a creature resembling the elder god has already been confirmed to be in the movie. Shuma-Gorath was originally created by writer Robert Howard in the 1920s as part of the expanded Lovecraft mythos and has since appeared as a powerful antagonist in the Marvel comic books. He’s faced off against Doctor Strange, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy, and he’s certainly a big enough villain to wreak havoc across the multiverse. He was also recently seen in Marvel’s What If…? and that could be a major hint that we’ll see more of him in The Multiverse of Madness. TiboroA villain who was banished to the Sixth Dimension, Tiboro was once said to have ruled civilization here on Earth. The god-like sorcerer became the Sixth Dimension’s Sorcerer Supreme and harnesses the power of lightning. Interestingly, he has clashed with Miss America in the comic books after she found herself stranded in the Sixth Dimension. With America Chavez getting an MCU debut in this movie, could her appearance in The Multiverse of Madness hint towards a clash with Tiboro? This classic Marvel villain has done battle with Doctor Strange, the Black Knight, and even Baron Mordo, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to see him appear on the big screen. Right now, the plot of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is being kept firmly under wraps following significant reshoots late last year. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is directed by Sam Raimi, based on a script by Jade Halley Bartlett. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Doctor Strange alongside Benedict Wong as Wong, Rachel McAdams as Dr Christine Palmer, Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Nicodemus Wwast, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo. Elizabeth Olsen returns as Wanda Maximoff along with newcomer Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter. | | | | | Halo Infinite Devs Say Shop Wasn't 'Delivering on Value, Quality, or Price' Ahead of Changes | | by Jared Moore Jan 31, 2022 | | Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has stated that the game's shop was not delivering on "value, quality, or price" prior to its recent post-holiday shift – and explained that more changes could arrive. In a recent community update post from 343, the developer spoke about a number of updates, and provided more information to fans surrounding the game's shop, which saw the addition of individual items for the first time last week. "Our quick shift post-holidays was in recognition that we were not delivering on value, quality, or price," explained 343 senior community manager John Junyszek. "The offers we are running now, and will continue to run throughout S1, are to help us learn what is working and what’s not. This will take time, but we know that our learnings here will positively impact Season 2 right off the bat." Junyszek says that it has been paying attention to feedback surrounding the shop and has been taking on board community thoughts on everything from its presentation to item pricing. Throughout that process, the developer noted that it's seen a desire from fans to have bundle options while also the ability to purchase individual items from those bundles on a singular basis. While Junyszek confirmed that this isn't a feature that the shop is currently able to support, he did note that the team is evaluating the shop's "overall presentation to see how we can better meet the needs and expectations" of users. Junyszek also spoke further about the possibility for previous bundles to return to the shop, stating that it is "looking at this on a bundle-by-bundle basis." According to the post, "some bundles will come back into rotation and some will be broken up to allow players to purchase their individual items" though the developer did note that further information surrounding this topic will be shared at a later date. He added that the hugely popular cat ears attachment will retrun to the shop before the end of Season 1. Elsewhere in the community post, Junyszek offered a further update on a fix for the game's Big Team Battle bug that has been affecting matchmaking in the game. The developer noted that it expects that a hotfix for the issue could be implemented into Infinite anytime from February 3 at the very earliest. For more from Halo Infinite, make sure to check out this article detailing how the game's multiplayer will let you earnt credits in its Season 2 battle pass. Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter. | | | | | Square Enix Teases Even More Final Fantasy 7 Spin-Offs | | by Ryan Dinsdale Jan 31, 2022 | | More Final Fantasy 7 spin-offs are on the way, according to the game’s creative director Tetsuya Nomura. In addition to Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, which hits mobile later this year, Nomura said the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake in 2020 has prompted “even more FFVII projects” (as spotted by Siliconera). The comments were made in a statement celebrating the original game’s 25th anniversary, with Nomura and Final Fantasy VII Remake’s producer, Yoshinori Kitase, reflecting on their involvement in the series. Nomura, who also worked on the original game, said the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, alongside The First Soldier battle royale and the upcoming Ever Crisis, give him “a real sense of how more and more people are supporting FFVII. Not just the fans from the original game, but also those who never experienced it are being drawn to the unique world of FFVII." Nomura continued: "And there will be even more new FFVII projects that started up after the remaking coming in the future too. The team see this 25th anniversary as a waypoint on our journey with FFVII, and will continue pressing ahead to even greater things.” Kitase, who was director of the original Final Fantasy VII, added: “You can look forward to even more exciting new developments in the future.” There’s no word on what these new projects are, but they'll come alongside the already-announced sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake. Back in 2020, we heard that Part 2 had entered full development, but we've heard little since then. VGC reports that Kitase used a livestream to say there will be more information "this year if we can", but there's not much else to go on right now. Final Fantasy 7 Remake only featured the Midgar portion of the original game – around the first seven hours of the original – although an INTERmission DLC expansion added a parellel storyline that bridges the gap between Parts 1 and 2 somewhat. Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is a chapter-structured, free-to-play single player experience covering the entirety of the main game’s timeline, coming to Android and iPhone in 2022. Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. | | | | | |
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