The Game Awards 2021 will be held on Thursday, December 9 and, after more than a year of digital-only events, the show will be held in-person.
Despite being an audience event at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, the event will of course still be streamed live, for free – and it promises "awards, first-look world premieres and new game announcements, plus musical performances, including The Game Awards Orchestra live on stage at Microsoft Theater, conducted by Lorne Balfe."
The event will be invite-only, and details on health and safety protocols will be announced in the coming weeks. Nominees will also be anounced closer to the event.
10 weeks from tonight, December 9th, we will be live on stage for @thegameawards at Microsoft Theater in LA.
Excited to be back to our full-scale show — that means The Game Awards Orchestra live on stage once again conducted by @Lornebalfe
“We are very excited to return to the Microsoft Theater for a special night to celebrate the past, present and future of video games,” said creator and host Geoff Keighley in a press release. “Our goal is to bring the entire community together to celebrate the most powerful form of entertainment in the world, and recognize emerging voices that represent the future of the medium.”
Last year's Game Awards saw The Last of Us Part 2 dominate proceedings, taking home wins in 7 different categories, alongside the likes of Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, and No Man's Sky.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
IGN’s Path to Dune continues this week with a sneak peek at the creation of the movie’s villains, House Harkonnen.
In an exclusive video that you can view in either the player above or the embed below, Dune director Denis Villeneuve, Makeup & Hair Dept. Head and Prosthetic Designer Donald Mowat, and cast members Stellan Skarsgård, David Dastmalchian, and Josh Brolin talk about the film’s various makeup designs.
Much of author Frank Herbert’s Dune centers around the desert planet Arrakis. Though remote and all but inhospitable, Arrakis is the only major source of the all-important spice Melange in the universe. Whichever house controls Arrakis stands to reap great wealth, but also faces constant danger from rival houses. There's a reason people in the Dune-verse have the saying, "He who controls the Spice, controls the universe."
One of the wealthiest members of the Landsraad, House Harkonnen is the bitter rival of House Atreides. This sinister family is ruled by the cruel, hedonistic Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (played by MCU veteran Stellan Skarsgård). House Harkonnen hails from the bleak, heavily industrialized world of Giedi Prime.
While Baron Harkonnen pretends to be outraged over losing control of Arrakis and its vital spice production to his rival, Duke Leto Atreides, in reality, he aims to use the situation as an opportunity to destroy his enemy once and for all.
Actor Stellan Skarsgård endured hours of heavy makeup to transform into the monstrous, morbidly obese Baron, who is strapped into “suspensors” in order to move (or, more precisely, float) and literally lord over other characters.
“I had long discussions with Denis about where I wanted to go with it and that (the Baron) looked different than he had, a presence that you hadn't seen before,” Skarsgård explained in IGN’s exclusive video.
“It was difficult because I didn't want the Baron to look like a caricature. I wanted to feel the madness of that massive human being and that weight.”
Donald Mowat went to colleagues in Sweden to produce the actual Baron Harkonnen “fat suit”, a process he described, without a hint of irony, as “a huge, huge undertaking.” As Mowat put it, “I knew the Baron would be big, but it really is big.”
House Harkonnen also includes the Baron’s nephew and vicious enforcer “Beast” Rabban, and the cunning and twisted Piter De Vries, the Harkonnens’ Mentat. In this era, advanced technology like computers and atomic weapons are strictly forbidden. Instead, most technology relies on human brain power. Specially trained "Mentats" have conditioned themselves to operate as living computers. Where Beast Rabban offers Baron Harkonnen physical might, De Vries plays a game of psychic warfare between the warring Houses.
Mowat said of the designs for Dune’s antagonists: “The Harkonnens have a clean-shaved face, kind of smooth and eyebrow blockers, which is quite a complex makeup.”
Actor David Dastmalchian, who plays Piter De Vries, praised the designs: “The makeup lends so much to the character. The first time I looked in the mirror when the makeup artist completed the look for the day, I just saw Piter. It was amazing.”
Watch the full video above for more on Dune’s makeup designs, including details on giving Josh Brolin’s good guy Gurney Halleck his distinctive scar from the novel.
During Tokyo Game Show 2021, Gungrave G.O.R.E publisher Koch Media showcased a new gameplay video, and announced that Ikumi Nakamura is involved in the game’s development.
While the first half of the trailer is dedicated to cinematic scenes from the Gungrave sequel, the second half shows the game in action, including scenes showing combat with guns and swordplay.
Gungrave G.O.R.E is the latest title in the “Grave” series of 3D action games. The title centers around Grave, a former mafia member who died once and has returned after being resurrected through a surgical procedure. He acquired a stronger body in exchange for losing his memories and as a result can perform superhuman feats.
In the trailer, Grave was seen unleashing stylish attacks against large numbers of enemies. According to the trailer, Grave can attack using a combination of guns and swords, and by kicking enemies.
Publisher Koch Media announced that Ikumi Nakamura, who previously worked on The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo at Tango Gameworks, is involved in the development. Nakamura’s role on Gungrave G.O.R.E was not specified, but it sounds like more information will follow.
“This Gungrave G.O.R.E collaboration has been a valuable experience for me,” Nakamura said. “I played the original Gungrave, so this has brought back lots of precious memories. You can expect more updates and other news from now on!”
Gungrave G.O.R.E is being developed by Iggymob for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Jason Coskrey is a writer based in Tokyo. Find him on Twitter at @JCoskrey
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Warner Bros. has released four new images from the upcoming Injustice movie that sees Superman take the law into his own hands.
Ahead of the release of DC's Injustice on October 19, Warner Bros. has unveiled a new batch of images that transport viewers to the film's alternate universe. The first image captures a pivotal moment early on in the film wherein Green Lantern uses his power ring to protect Batman, Wonder Woman, Joker, and Harley Quinn from an impending explosion.
The second image features a meeting of Super Heroes as Superman's new world order starts to take hold while the next image offers a better look at Harley Quinn, who is said to be "up to her old tricks" again. The fourth and final image targets Green Arrow as he sets out on an "especially complicated assignment" beyond his usual duties. Check them out below:
The upcoming Injustice movie is inspired by the NetherRealm Studios game Injustice: Gods Among Us and the DC graphic novel based on the game, Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One by Tom Taylor. The story takes place in an alternate universe where Joker tricks Superman into killing Lois Lane, sending him down a dark path.
The all-star voice cast includes Justin Hartley (Smallville, This is Us) as Superman, Anson Mount (Star Trek Discovery, Hell on Wheels) as Batman, Gillian Jacobs (Community) as Harley Quinn, Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects) as Joker and Jonathan Kent, and Janet Varney (The Legend of Korra, Stan Against Evil) as Wonder Woman, amongst others.
Injusticearrives on 4K Ultra-HD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms on October 19. The latest DC animated movie follows Batman: The Long Halloween, which comprised of two parts released just under a month apart from one another. IGN reviewed both Part One and Part Two, praising the latter for being "adapted with care and performed with conviction."
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is bringing a double dose of villainy to Eddie Brock's world. Not only will Woody Harrelson's Carnage step into the spotlight, but Carnage will also be joined by his deadly lover, Shriek. Naomie Harris is playing the Marvel villain, so we're basically one six-armed Spider-Man clone away from a full-fledged Maximum Carnage movie at this point.
But if you're not a hardcore Spider-Man comic reader, you may be unfamiliar with who Shriek is. That's why we're breaking down everything you need to know about the character and her history in the Spider-Man franchise. These are the topics we'll be covering here:
Who Is Marvel's Shriek?
Shriek's Origin
Shriek's Powers and Abilities
Shriek's Relationship With Carnage
Naomie Harris' Role in Let There Be Carnage
Shriek in TV and Games
Who Is Marvel's Shriek?
Many of Spider-Man's most deranged villains make their home at Ravencroft Institute, basically the Arkham Asylum of the Marvel Universe. That's where Shriek got her start. And after a chance run-in with fellow inmate Carnage, Shriek's path to supervillainy was cemented. Whether teamed with Carnage or on her own, Shriek is easily one of Spider-Man and Venom's deadliest foes.
Tragically, though, Shriek's criminal rampages all stem from a traumatic childhood. Her lack of a strong mother figure feeds into Shriek's criminal insanity and her compulsive need to create a twisted supervillain family of her own.
Whether teamed with Carnage or on her own, Shriek is easily one of Spider-Man and Venom's deadliest foes.
Shriek's Origin
Shriek's real name is Frances Barrison, though she's also used the cover identity Sandra Deel. As a child, Frances was neglected and abused by her mother, driving her into a life of crime and drug addiction.
Frances also happens to be a mutant, though she's one of the rare mutants whose abilities didn't manifest naturally with age. Instead, it took the combination of being shot in the head by a police officer and exposed to the Darkforce Dimension (thanks to a run-in with the hero Cloak) to awaken her dormant powers.
Newly reborn as Shriek, she was imprisoned in Ravencroft at first, but was soon freed during Carnage's jailbreak and joined forces with the powerful offspring of Venom. That alliance has caused no small amount of misery for the heroes of the Marvel Universe.
Shriek's Powers and Abilities
In a nutshell, Shriek's mutant powers allow her to manipulate sound energy. She can deploy that power in a number of interesting ways. As her name suggests, Shriek can fire destructive blasts of sound at her enemies. She can also use this energy for defensive purposes, such as creating sonic shields or even flying.
What truly makes Shriek a dangerous opponent, however, is that she can see the darkest parts of a person's mind and use her powers to manipulate their emotions accordingly. She literally plays on a person's worst fears. And because symbiote-powered heroes like Venom are especially vulnerable to sound, Shriek is more than a match for Eddie Brock. Though as Carnage eventually learned, the same applies to him as well.
Shriek's Relationship With Carnage
Shriek made her debut during the iconic Maximum Carnage crossover in 1993, and that story set the tone for her relationship with the titular villain. With Carnage often being described as the Spider-Man franchise's answer to the Joker – a deranged lunatic villain motivated by a love of chaos and bloodshed – it's not a stretch to describe Shriek as the Harley Quinn to Carnage's Joker. Both Shriek and Harley are mentally unstable women who fall hopelessly in love with a dangerous supervillain inmate. Once freed by Carnage, Shriek declares him to be her husband. As for the other villains they recruit to their cause in the Maximum C – Doppelganger, Demogoblin and Carrion – Shriek considers them to be their children. At her core, Shriek desperately wants to create a family to make up for a terribly unhappy childhood.
The key difference from the Joker/Harley relationship is that Carnage seems to genuinely care for his "bride," despite his otherwise nihilistic views on life. This is most clearly seen in the miniseries Deadpool vs. Carnage, where the Merc With a Mouth defeats Carnage by tricking him into believing he's killed Shriek.
Shriek's profile in the Spider-Man comics has also tended to rise and fall with that of Carnage himself. The character temporarily faded into obscurity after Carnage was ripped in half and seemingly killed by the Sentry in 2004's New Avengers #2. When Cletus Kasady returned in 2010's Carnage, readers learned that Frances Barrison was well on the road to recovery thanks to Ravencroft psychiatrist Dr. Tanis Nieves. Sadly, her lover's return brought a swift end to that. She even briefly bonded with a fragment of the Carnage symbiote and gained new powers, though that symbiote quickly found a different home in Dr. Nieves, spawning a new symbiote character named Scorn.
Shriek's love for Carnage ultimately proved to be her undoing. In her most recent appearance in Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors, Shriek willingly sacrificed herself so that Carnage could remove the traces of the symbiote codex contained within her body, bringing Carnage one step closer to communing with the symbiote god Knull. Shriek now lives on in death as the demonic Demagoblin.
Naomie Harris' Role in Let There Be Carnage
So what role will Naomie Harris' Shriek actually play in Venom 2? The first Venom movie ends with a post-credits scene featuring Hardy's Eddie Brock visiting an incarcerated Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), and the first trailer for Let There Be Carnage confirms that Kasady somehow acquires a piece of the Venom symbiote (or a symbiote of his own), transforming into Carnage and breaking out of prison. Carnage will recruit his fellow inmate to his cause, and director Andy Serkis even confirms the film will be a twisted love story.
The end result will surely be a formidable new threat to Eddie and his symbiote partner. Shriek's sonic powers directly play into one of the symbiote's two weaknesses (sound and fire). We wouldn't even put it past Venom 2 to subvert expectations and position Shriek as the true villain of the story, one whose power threatens both Venom and Carnage alike eventually.
It's also possible the movie will emphasize the twisted husband/wife relationship between Carnage and Shriek. It may even set the stage for a full-blown Maximum Carnage-inspired team-up movie. However, we wouldn't expect the entire Carnage Family lineup to assemble until Spider-Man officially enters the picture, whether that happens in Venom 3, a Spider-Man/Venom crossover, or some other upcoming Sony project.
Catch up on the history of Venom villain Carnage with the video below:
Shriek in TV and Games
TV: Surprisingly, Shriek never made it into the '90s Spider-Man animated series or its symbiote-heavy spinoff, Spider-Man Unlimited. She did appear in several episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man (voiced by Ashley Eckstein), including the multi-part storylines "The New Sinister 6" and "The Symbiote Saga."
Games: Shriek made the jump from comics to video games not long after her initial debut. Shriek is one of the main bosses in the SNES/Sega Genesis brawler Maximum Carnage, which directly adapts the comic book storyline of the same name. She would return to the video game realm in the Wii/PS2/PSP version of Spider-Man 3. While ostensibly an adaptation of the Spider-Man 3 movie, that version of the game includes several characters and storylines not featured in the film. One of those involves Shriek, who is re-imagined as the wife of Michael Morbius and acquires her powers after being exposed to Spider-Man's symbiote costume.
