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Prepare to be scared just like you were in 1999–but this time in higher resolution. While we’ve already compared old and new in a side-by-side video, a new Resident Evil 3 remake video shows extended sections of gameplay against their retro counterparts.

After the success of the Resident Evil 2 remake, we’re all looking forward to seeing what will be done with the next game in the series. This video gives a bit of insight into how 2020’s gaming technology can make the game (but mainly Nemesis) feel so much bigger, badder and scarier.

Like its predecessor, the Resident Evil 3 remake isn’t a shot-for-shot remake of the original game, but will include changes that will keep you on your toes.

Seeing the two games presented back-to-back really shows off some of the remake’s graphical strength, such as the intense firefight with Nemesis at the end. Though we now know that Nemesis won’t actually be able to break into safe rooms, his remake incarnation already looks terrifying enough as it is.

For more about the upcoming remake, check out everything we know so far about Resident Evil 3.

The brand-new Mortal Kombat 11 trailer for Spawn contains a special surprise for fans of the American rock/metal band Trivium. It’s now been confirmed that the trailer featured the world premiere snippets of two new Trivium songs, “IX” and “Scattering The Ashes.”

Trivium singer and guitarist Matt Heafy said on Twitter, “What a freaking honor to have our band in this trailer! I grew up with Spawn and Mortal Kombat, so this is un-freakin-real!”

Trivium is signed to Roadrunner Records, which is owned by Warner Bros., which owns Mortal Kombat developer Netherrealm. Talk about synergy.

“IX” and “Scattering The Ashes” are two of the tracks from Trivium’s upcoming album, What The Dead Men Say, which is scheduled to debut in 2020. The first single, “Catastrophist,” was released earlier this month. The full versions of “IX” and “Scattering The Ashes” have not been released yet.

As for Spawn, the Keith David-voiced character comes to Mortal Kombat 11 starting on March 17 with Early Access and then for everyone on March 24. For lots more on Spawn, check out GameSpot’s full coverage of what we know so far.

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During the livestream for Netherrealm’s Final Kombat tournament, Ed Boon and actor Keith David took to the stage to reveal the first gameplay trailer for Spawn, the final character for Mortal Kombat 11‘s Kombat Pack. As another character based on a comic book series, Spawn’s brutal combat style and demonic abilities make him a great fit Mortal Kombat 11’s roster. As one of the more anticipated characters from fans to make their debut in the game, the latest fighter will be playable on March 17 in early access for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

In the new gameplay trailer, we see Spawn–voiced by returning actor Keith David from the short-lived HBO animated series–take on the various MK11 fighters with his unique brand of devious powers and tactics. Formerly a government assassin, Al Simmons met his death after a betrayal and was reborn as a hellspawn after making a deal with the devil, imbuing him with demonic powers and an organic suit that can summon tendril-like chains and a massive cape that can attack his enemies. In addition to his hellspawn powers, Spawn also has an arsenal of conventional weapons such as grenades and machine-guns, allowing him to mix up his attacks–seen in glorious detail during his Fatal Blow attack.

Just like in the comics, Spawn is a no-nonsense character who’s straight to the point, and that’s certainly reflected in his pre-match dialog with Scorpion, a similar revenant from the underworld. During the livestream, Ed Boon stated that the developers at Netherrealm have wanted to bring Spawn into Mortal Kombat for quite some time.

Spawn’s debut will come with a set of new costumes for other characters as well. Once Spawn goes live on March 17 for owners of the Kombat Pack DLC, a Matinee-themed costume pack is also included, allowing Kotal Kahn, Jacqui Briggs, and Erron Black to wear costumes inspired by 1930s pulp-adventure films. Moreover, Jacqui will also get a bonus costume letting her wear a hellspawn costume inspired by Spawn, likely in reference She-Spawn, one of the anti-hero’s allies from the comic.

With a new Kombat Kast scheduled for March 11, we’ll be seeing more gameplay of Spawn soon. This character is also the final addition in the current Kombat Pack, which introduced Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Sindel, The Joker, and The Terminator. With rumors and data leaks of other characters like Ash Williams and Sheeva making an appearance in MK11, we could potentially hear more about another Kombat Pack for Mortal Kombat 11 sometime soon.

For more on Mortal Kombat 11, along with details on when you can expect to learn more about the other characters, be sure to check back with GameSpot.

Disney-Pixar’s Onward, featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, topped the box office this weekend with an estimated $40 million. This made for a good opening, but still one on the lower end of initial expectations which predicted $40-45 million.

Onward’s weekend is also, per Variety, on par with the debut of Disney-Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, which debuted with $39 million and wound up being the lowest-grossing Pixar film of all time. The last two Pixar films, Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2, both had massive opening weekends. Both were also sequels to big hits and opened in the summer, not March.

IGN’s review of Onward hails it as a “fun-filled fantasy adventure tale featuring a solid voice cast.”

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The Invisible Man, dropping about 49% from last weekend, pulled in an estimated $14 million to take the number two spot. Right now, it’s at $52 million domestically. For third place, it was The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck as a mourning alcoholic who tries to turn his life around as the coach of a high school basketball team. It brought in an estimated $8.5 million.

IGN’s review of The Way Back notes that it’s a “gratifying sports movie that is made better than the average by some sadness, some realism, and Ben Affleck’s performance.”

North American Box Office Estimates

In a close race for third, Sonic the Hedgehog will fall just behind The Way Back. Still, the well-received video game flick has, to date, earned a whopping $141 million here in North America.

Meanwhile, Focus Features’ Jane Austen adaptation, Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, brought in $5 million, landing in sixth place.

Bad Boys for Life continues its juggernaut run, crossing the $200 million domestic mark this weekend.

Here are the Top 10 North American box office estimates for the (2-day) weekend (via Box Office Mojo)

• 1. Onward $40,000,000
• 2. The Invisible Man $15,150,000
• 3. The Way Back $8,500,000
• 4. Sonic the Hedgehog $8,000,000
• 5. The Call of the Wild $7,000,000
• 6. Emma $5,000,000
• 7. Bad Boys for Life $3,050,000
• 8. Birds of Prey $2,160,000
• 9. Impractical Jokers $1,845,000
• 10 My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising $1,528,753

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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.

Editors Note: This is a guest editorial written to celebrate International Women’s Day, and hopefully inspire a little, too. We’re very grateful to Alice, backed by her team at Ubisoft, for taking the time to tell her story. 

Video games have always been center-stage in my life. I vividly remember playing my first game at the age of four. I was at a friend’s house and they were playing something on the television called Nintendo. My friend pushed the Nintendo controller into my hand, I gripped it tightly and began to play Super Mario 3 for the first time. From that moment on, I was hooked. Eventually, it became clear I wanted to make video games, and not only that, I wanted to make games that would help change the world.

To me, games are not just a great form of entertainment, but also carry a lot of power in the way they tell stories (Celeste, for example, not only uses its story to communicate an important message about depression but with its gameplay, too.) This passion was the backbone that drove me forward, taking me from that starry-eyed teenager through to the career I have today as a narrative designer.

That was until I hit burnout.

Burnout is a predominantly physical condition where your body has been running on high-levels of adrenaline over long periods of time, and eventually just gives out to exhaustion. But due to the complexity of the condition, it can be quite hard to pinpoint exactly why it happens. Contrary to common thought, it is not always about doing mountains of overtime (at the time of my burnout I wasn’t doing any), and can also happen due to many months/years of working in a high-pressured environment.

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At the time this was incredibly confusing for me. I was working at a company I loved, with a supportive team, on a project that excited me. It’s true that we had been understaffed for some months and I was taking on a lot of that extra work myself, but I still wasn’t doing any overtime, and besides, I really loved my job! Nevertheless, burnout happened, and my body finally gave out to exhaustion. Unfortunately, at that moment, so did my passion for video game development.

Losing your passion for a job that has been the driving force of your life is an incredibly daunting experience. What would I even do if I wasn’t in games? I had never considered being anything else, but for the first time in my career I had to sit down and really assess what I was willing to sacrifice for the sake of a job. In ten years I had lived in four different cities, in three different countries. I had been through two studio closures that forced me into unemployment, and had racked-up numerous hours of overtime along the way. [poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Losing%20your%20passion%20for%20a%20job%20that%20has%20been%20the%20driving%20force%20of%20your%20life%20is%20an%20incredibly%20daunting%20experience.”]

This is not an unusual story in the games industry. Many people have had similar experiences to mine which have seen them burn out, too. I also believe the issue is exacerbated  among women and those in marginalized groups (I am only able to talk about my experience in games as a woman, however it is important to note that marginalized game developers have their own set of exhausting, everyday challenges within the industry.)

Being a woman in a male-dominated space comes with its own, usually invisible, extracurricular workload. Whether that’s running diversity initiatives in your spare time, re-writing emails over and over so that your tone can’t be perceived  as too emotional/bitchy/bossy, or simply pushing yourself beyond utter exhaustion so nobody can accuse you of being weak.

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These little things, on top of the universal uncertainty that comes with game development, stack up over time and take their toll. After I burned out, I really had to ask myself if this was something I was prepared to keep on doing. Was it all worth it? For me,   that answer was yes, and will always be yes. Deep down I am still that dreamy teenager who wants to change the world. I still believe that games can be a force for good and I truly want to help this industry reach its full potential. Because of who I am, it was never really a question that I would leave games. But I know many people who came to a different conclusion, and honestly, I can’t really blame them. [poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=I%20still%20believe%20that%20games%20can%20be%20a%20force%20for%20good%20and%20I%20truly%20want%20to%20help%20this%20industry%20reach%20its%20full%20potential.”]

We must do more as an industry to improve the longevity of developers. When I started at Ubisoft Massive in 2017, one of the first things management said to me was that they wanted their employees to stay for 10 years, not just until the end of a project. This is evident in the many initiatives Ubisoft Massive has to support their employees’ health and wellbeing.

Hours, for example, are flexible so as to accommodate family, appointments, or any personal things that might come up. We get a ‘Wellness Hour’ once a week to spend time on self-care, as well as a health allowance for gym memberships, exercise classes and massages. These things may sound small but they help solidify that employees’ lives at Ubisoft matter beyond the work they do. This means something.

Too many people in this industry burnout and leave. Too many women I know have reached that point of exhaustion and simply said “no more.” We have lost so many smart and talented people because, as an industry, we forget to treat each other (and ourselves) with care. We forget to acknowledge the work many are doing every day to make this industry an inclusive space, or the great amounts of energy that get expended by simply proving you belong. So this International Women’s Day let’s start a discussion about what efforts we can make to ensure that we retain our talent, to end burnout, so that those at risk of leaving find a way to comfortably stay in games.

Let’s all work towards a more sustainable industry for everyone, so that we can continue to make amazing games together.

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Alice Rendell is a Senior Narrative Designer currently working at Ubisoft Massive in Malmö, Sweden. She has worked on a variety of narrative-driven games during her 10+ years in the game industry. In 2014 she was named one of Develop Online’s 30 under 30 and in 2015 MCV’s Top 100 Women in Games.

When not developing, playing or thinking about video games you will find Alice curled up with a good book, surrounded by her two mischievous felines, Furi and Jin.

Before launching into a review of “Playdate with Destiny,” the latest Simpsons short, now playing in theaters ahead of Pixar’s Onward, it might do us all a service to remind ourselves of where The Simpsons may currently stand in the pop consciousness. So the reader may forgive me a few paragraphs of momentary pondering.

While we’ve all been more-or-less getting used to the idea that Disney now owns the entirety of the vast Fox catalogue – including decidedly non-Disney-friendly fare like Aliens, Planet of the Apes, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show – there is still a huge and significant wall of cognitive dissonance surrounding The Simpsons. Matt Groening’s 31-year-old animated creation was, after all, launched as something subversive and even naughty; upon its launch in 1989, it was still regarded as mildly scandalous to hear an animated character say the word “damn” on primetime network TV. Those of us who were kids during the early years of The Simpsons understood that, in watching it, we were getting away with something. The impish cultural subversion presented by The Simpsons would eventually come to define the sarcastic operational ethos of the 1990s.

But that was the ’90s. This is 2020, and arguments about when or whether The Simpsons jumped the shark are plentiful. It doesn’t take much prodding to goad a casual Simpsons fan into admitting the exact season they felt was the last time The Simpsons was “good.” Although the “jump the shark” moments are varied and widespread in these anecdotal arguments, the very general cultural consensus seems to be that The Simpsons has been slowly devolving into… well, into something different. Something less edgy. Something ineffably complacent.

We have now reached the point wherein a theatrical Simpsons short – only the second ever made – is now being used as the opening salvo to a Disney-owned animated feature film, and the cognitive dissonance now stands openly and brazenly before us like the terrifying titular edifice in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Disney owns The Simpsons. All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall. The Simpsons, it seems, has now completed its full evolutionary life cycle. It is now – no matter how crass or edgy they once were – a Disney product.

All these thoughts were swirling through my head when seeing the title card of “Playdate with Destiny,” which bore a proud “Disney Welcomes The Simpsons.” Has the Mouse House become daring, or have the Simpsons been swallowed?

The short itself is a brisk and amusing trifle that follows a romantic adventure of the never-aging infant Simpson, Maggie, as she becomes smitten with a fellow silent child at the local park. Maggie’s paramour, Hudson, sports a small shock of blonde hair on his forehead, and the two bond over mutually elaborate fantasies of Parisian sunsets, and their shared passion for eating sand. At night, Hudson is all Maggie can think about, and she eagerly awaits a return to the park. When Homer takes Maggie to a different park the following day (a much more dangerous park that advertises how much Ritalin one is expected to take upon entry, and features a taco truck named Taco Malo), she must use her one and a half-year-old mental resources to orchestrate a reunion.

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When compared to “The Longest Daycare” – the 2012 Maggie Simpson short that was shown before Ice Age: Continental Drift, and which was nominated for an Oscar – “Playdate with Destiny” feels more wispy. “The Longest Daycare” was about Maggie using her wits to outsmart the oppressive and unfair ideas of a preschool that had adopted Ayn Rand’s blunt, prejudiced philosophies to raise kids. It was, however simple, a comment on the way kids are raised in a modern milieu, and how Maggie’s sweetness could be wielded as a counterpoint. “Playdate with Destiny,” on the other hand, is free of such commentary. It is, in the tradition of Tex Avery, a gag delivery system wherein veteran Simpsons director David Silverman can explore a few fun/funny baby versions of traditional romantic imagery.

Taken outside of the context of the film that it precedes, “Playdate with Destiny” is perfectly amusing and provides a few genuine laughs, although perhaps no guffaws. It’s a lightweight, well-animated, slicker-than-usual Simpsons aside that bares the humor we’ve all come to know from the series. When watched independently, one will find little to criticize. Well, aside from its comparative simplicity.