Ninjala Launch Trailer Is A West Side Story Homage, For Some Reason

Ninjala is coming to Switch as a free-to-play title on June 24, and the game’s launch trailer shows off some of the frantic action you can expect in its eight-player battles. It also, for some reason, opens with a strange little homage to West Side Story.

The musical, which was adapted into a film in 1961 and is getting remade by Steven Spielberg, is about a clash between two teenage street gangs, and a love affair between members of opposing sides. While Ninjala also has warring gangs, it’s not clear whether the game’s Story mode will deal with any of the complex themes of the musical–although it seems unlikely.

The trailer also shows plenty of gameplay footage, so you can check out some examples of the unique powers each character will possess, and witness some intense brawls. Despite an aesthetic that looks like it’s inspired by Splatoon, the gameplay is clearly very different.

You can watch the trailer below.

Ninjala previously held two betas to improve its online functionality, and was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is exclusive to Nintendo’s console.

Ninjala is also getting an animated spin-off featuring these characters.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

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Lord Of The Rings, Avengers VFX Studio Will Make Original Movies For The First Time

Weta Digital, the effects studio owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh, is expanding. The New Zealand-based company has launched a new animation studio, and it will make original content for the first time in the outfit’s quarter-century history.

Prem Akkaraju has been named the CEO of Weta Animated. He is the co-founder of SR Labs with entrepreneur Sean Parker, who himself is a member of Weta Digital’s board of directors and an investor in the company.

Weta Animated will make original animated content for cinema and streaming, Weta said in a press release announcing the venture. Jackson and Walsh will write, produce, and direct “several” of the new animated projects at Weta Animated.

Jackson said in a news release that Weta created the new animated division to help make movies faster and on a smaller budget. “We are huge fans of animated storytelling in all of its forms, but it can be a long, protracted, and often costly way to make movies,” he said. “That’s, in part, why we have created this company–to change the model and open the doors to filmmakers and storytellers who might not otherwise be given the chance to show what they can do.”

Weta is known for creating the effects shots and practical props for Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. The company got it starts 25 years ago on Jackson’s 1994 psychological thriller Heavenly Creatures, and it’s gone on to grow significant since then.

In addition to the Middle-earth movies, Weta has worked on numerous major movies and TV shows over the years, including Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Deadpool 2, Birds of Prey, and The Jungle Book, among so many others.

None of Weta Animated’s projects have been announced yet, but given the talent at Weta, big things are expected.

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Lord Of The Rings Director Peter Jackson Has Posted A Lovely Tribute To The Late Sir Ian Holm

Sir Ian Holm, the actor who portrayed Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (among many other roles over his long career), passed away on June 19 at the age of 88. Tributes have poured in for the actor, and on June 20 Jackson himself weighed in on what made Holm special, and what his presence on the set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy meant to him.

Jackson, who posted his tribute on Facebook, opens by saying that Holm was “was such a delightful, generous man. Quiet, but cheeky, with a lovely twinkle in his eye.” He recalls being nervous about “working with such an esteemed actor” before shooting his beloved trilogy, but writes about how Holm “immediately put (him) at ease.” He recalls how Holm alerted him that he would “be trying different things in every take,” and that if he hadn’t given Jackson what he needed after five or six, he should give him specific direction.

“Incredibly his varied line reads and performances were all quite wonderful,” Jackson recalls. “He rarely needed direction. He gave us an amazing range of choices to select from in the cutting room.” He recalls how Holm enchanted a group of kids they were filming with during a long shoot with a lot of downtime by telling them stories between recording.

Years later, Jackson was hoping that Holm could return for the opening scenes of his Hobbit trilogy, but was shocked to learn that the actor had been diagonosed with Parkinson’s disease, and had quietly retired from acting. However, over a long dinner, they eventually planned for a way to have Holm return to the role one last time. “I knew he was only doing it as a favour to me, and I held his hands and thanked him with tears in my eyes,” Jackson recalls.

He also says that Elijah Wood came to London to help capture Holm’s scenes, as the two had become friends during filming of The Lord of the Rings and he wanted to offer support.

“Watching Ian Holm perform taught me so much – as Ian was being his usual quiet self, that just somehow happened,” Jackson says. “It was a privilege to work with him, and a blessing to know him.”

A new Lord of the Rings TV series is in development at Amazon Studios. There’s also a new MMO in the works, as well as a game about Gollum coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X.

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Fortnite Removes Police Cars

Police cars have been removed from Epic’s hugely popular battle royale game Fortnite, players have noticed following the release of the Chapter 2, Season 3 update.

A source connected to the game told The Wall Street Journal that the removal of the cop cars was in response to the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. However, the source said Epic Games was not trying to make a “political statement” but was instead attempting to be “sensitive about the issues” going on the world today.

Earlier this year, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney spoke about politics in gaming. “If a game tackles politics (or: weighty social issues), it should come from the heart of designers through the game, and not from marketing departments seeking to profit from division,” he said.

Epic Games has yet to make a formal statement regarding the removal of police cars from Fortnite. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Fortnite is not the first game to respond to the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd. Games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and NHL 21 added splash screens to their games to remind people that racism and bigotry have no place in their communities. Numerous game companies have made donations to Black Live Matter and other organizations that fight racial injustice in the world.

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Desert Golfing, One Of The Best Games On Mobile, Asks If There’s Golf On Mars With A Sequel

Is there golf on Mars? There is now. Desert Golfing, one of the best mobile games of the last decade, has just received a sequel, and it’s called Golf On Mars. The game is available now, and costs $3 on iOS and Android. It’s also coming to Steam on June 29, if you’d rather play with a mouse.

Developer Captain Games returns for the sequel, which once again serves up literally millions of holes, all pseudo-randomly generated–meaning that while every player will encounter the same holes, they’ve all been designed by the same algorithm.

You play with simple swipe aim controls, and the goal is, essentially, to go as far as you can with as few strokes as possible. Most players will aim to get their average down, but there’s no end goal–you can theoretically keep playing forever. The game is set in the year 2866 when Mars has been 35% terraformed, but don’t expect much of a narrative.

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While the previous game was set in an endless desert, this one is set on Mars, complete with pockets of water. According to the game’s Steam page, there are approximately 25,770,000,000 holes to enjoy this time. You can also add spin this time for trickier shots.

Amazingly, Golf on Mars weighs in at just 1.5MB on iPhone. You can purchase and install it now, but don’t expect to ever finish it.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

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The Undertaker Has No Desire to Return to the Ring After WrestleMania’s Boneyard Match

In the fifth and final installment of WWE’s docuseries Undertaker: The Last Ride, on WWE Network, Undertaker (real name: Mark Calaway) said that the Boneyard Match he had with AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 is April, which was a non-traditional fight filmed like a movie, was not only “storytelling at its finest” but also the “perfect ending” to his legendary 30-year plus career.

Though Undertaker isn’t totally ruling out an eventual return to the ring for a traditional final match, he said “If there was ever a perfect ending to a career, that right there was it.”

The booked match between Undertaker and Styles became a pre-filmed, cinematic encounter due to COVID-19 and the official nixing of WrestleMania 36’s giant venue, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The decision was then made to try something new with Undertaker, who was set to square off with AJ Styles. The two filmed for a day on a giant “graveyard” set, in a battle that involved a movie score, druid warriors, magic powers, and Undertaker riding off victorious on a motorcycle as a mix of his Deadman and American Badass personas.

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“If Vince [McMahon] was in a pinch, would I come back? I guess time will only tell there,” Calaway said. “In case of emergency, break glass, you pull out The Undertaker. I would have to consider that. Never say never, but at this point in my life and in my career I have no desire to get back in the ring.”

Of course, here Calaway in emphasizing that he has no interest in getting into a ring. He doesn’t say anything about possibly filming another cinematic match down the line.

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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.

GCX Charity Event Raises More Than $6 Million For St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital

Over the last several weeks, the Florida-based gaming event GCX has been hosting gaming livestream marathons on several different platforms, including Facebook, Mixer, and Twitch. All donations go toward St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and thus far, organizers have raised more than $6 million.

The majority of that money has come from Twitch donations since June 14, and they wrap up today. From June 12 through June 14, they took place on Mixer, and were held on Facebook from June 5 through June 7. Segments have included big-name streamers and creators such as Greg Miller, CohhCarnage, and DrLupo, and Bungie even had its own segment on June 18.

Because it could not move forward with an in-person event like it typically does, GCX is also selling tickets to a 2021 event in Orlando. Provided the pandemic is under control by then, this will feature game developers, streamers, artists, and fans who can celebrate gaming together while they raise money for charity.

Another large gaming charity event, Summer Games Done Quick, was recently forced to cancel its on-site event in favor of a fully online charity drive. Summer Games Done Quick 2020 Online will take place from August 16 through August 23, and it will benefit Doctors Without Borders.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

Watch Batman v Superman’s 2013 Comic-Con Announcement

Here at IGN we occasionally like to showcase something from geekdom’s rich history — a pop-culture Time Capsule, if you will, that gives us a peek in to the past, perhaps providing a new appreciation for previous projects.

If you’d like, please check out the past few Time Capsules:

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No, DC FanDome is not an enclosed barbaric battleground pitting fans against each other. Nor is it a nickname for Dick Grayson’s righteous rear. DC FanDome is a 24-hour immersive virtual fan experience that’s being held on August 22 where DC die-hards will be able to log in and see new announcements and trailers for a variety of upcoming DC movies, TV series, comics, and video games.

With this recent announcement rocking the virtual Con world, our Time Capsule this week whisks us back to San Diego Comic-Con 2013 when Zack Snyder, with a little help from Man of Steel actor Harry Lennix, announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Thus, the MCU was born. Er, that’s Martha Cinematic Universe.

Just kidding. It’s the DCEU. Diana Crushes Everything Utterly.

To tease the SDDC crowd into an unbridled frenzy, Snyder handed the mic over to Lennix who read the “I want you to remember, Clark…” lines from the end of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman is in the midst of handing Superman his Kryptonian keister. “My hand, at your throat. My Labradoodle’s poop, on your lawn. My incessant talking, while you’re trying to watch Outlander.” Yup, the Caped Crusader was opening up a can of “get off my lawn!”

Check it out…

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The video ends with the Batman v Superman logo and the audience going nuts. Clearly the idea of justice being dawned appealed to everyone. As did the notion of a reverse MCU, in which DC would start off with the team ups and then splinter off into solo films. As did the combination of Sriracha and popcorn. That’s unrelated, yes, but it’s a very popular snack item.

Little did everyone in the hall know at the time but Batman v Superman, while still raking in a ton of dough, would be the reason films like Suicide Squad and Justice League would get chopped up and tonally altered. Critics’ mixed reaction to Dawn of Justice had Warner Bros. scrambling to make their movies lighter, to match the vibe of the MCU. It was announced however, just a month ago that the Snyder Cut of Justice League would be completed and debut in 2021 on HBO Max.

The first clip of the Snyder Cut was recently released in fact, revealing Darkseid.

In more DC FanDome news, the event’s virtual panels will feature interviews from the cast and creators of many current and upcoming DC projects – including Wonder Woman 1984, The Batman, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, the Arrowverse shows, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. It will be a who’s who of Zoom screens as fans hear from celebs, check out new footage, learn of casting news, argue about casting news, start a hashtag to change the casting news, and then explode into a ball of smoke that evaporates into the clear blue ether.

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Hugh Jackman in Talks for Michael Mann’s Ferrari Biopic

Announced this weekend, Academy Award-nominated director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) will start production soon on his highly-anticipated biopic Ferrari and Academy Award-nominee Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman, Logan) is in discussions to star as the racing icon Enzo Ferrari.

Mann will direct a script he co-wrote with Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job), based on Brock Yates’ book “Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine.”

Ferrari will be set in the summer of 1957, when all the dynamic forces in Enzo Ferrari’s life collide. The racecar company he and his wife Laura built is going broke. Their tempestuous marriage has already suffered the death of their son, Dino, and Ferrari’s other son, 12-year old Piero, the product of a wartime romance, now wants to know his place in the world. Enzo boldly rolls the dice for all their futures on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the brutal and infamous 1957 Mille Miglia.

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Mann was recently an executive producer on James Mangold’s Ford vs Ferrari, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale. In fact, Bale was originally slated to play Ferrari in Mann’s biopic back when it was supposed to kick off production in 2018, but was then replaced by Jackman after Bale developed health issues while putting on weight for the film. In Ford vs Ferrari, Bale played British racing engineer Ken Miles.

Principal photography for Ferrari is anticipated to start in spring 2021. STX is handling international sales at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market and will directly distribute the film in the UK and Ireland.

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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.