Andrew Garfield says that he had a 'few meetings' about a Spider-Man vs. Sinister Six movie, before Spidey became part of the MCU.

In an interview with Collider, Garfield was asked whether he had met up with director Drew Goddard around the time that a potential Sinister Six movie was set to be made, and discussed how close the film came to becoming a reality.

"I don't know how close it got, but I definitely had a few meetings, and it was really exciting," said Garfield. "I've got to say, because I love Drew so much, and I love Cabin in the Woods, and the other stuff that he's made. We just got on like a house on fire. I loved his vision, he's so unique and odd and off-kilter and unconventional in his creative choices. So that was definitely a fun couple of months, but life."

Garfield played everyone's friendly neighborhood web-slinger across Sony's two-film reboot of the superhero franchise in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Despite on numerous occasions speaking about his love for the role, Garfield was replaced as Peter Parker by Tom Holland in 2015 as Sony scrapped the Amazing Spider-Man series and the hero moved over into the MCU. At the time, Garfield had said that he'd felt a "little heartbroken" by the news that he wouldn't be returning to play Spider-Man for a third time but also stated that he was excited "just to be a fan again."

In among the news that the character was transferring into the MCU and that Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man series would be shelved by Sony, any talk of a Sinister Six movie quickly died down as the unproduced film became another product to be scrapped as a result of the deal between the two companies.

While it's been seven years since fans last saw Andrew Garfield sporting the webhead's famous red and blue spandex, many fans are hoping to see the actor return to the franchise in Marvel's upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home. The title, which has already teased characters from across both Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man series and Sam Raimi's earlier trilogy of films, will release on December 17.

With the film's teaser trailer showing off what seems to be Tom Holland's portrayal of Peter Parker haphazardly opening up the MCUs version of the multiverse, a return for Garfield as Peter Parker could feasibly be on the cards. Despite a flurry of rumors and speculation surrounding Garfield's return in No Way Home, however, the actor has stood firm on speculation, emphasizing on a number of occasions that he is not involved in the upcoming movie.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Randy Pitchford quietly announced a new Brothers in Arms game months ago and nobody seemed to notice.

As spotted by Exputer, Pitchford announced that Gearbox is working on a new entry to the Brothers in Arms series during a podcast interview with Ted Price of Insomniac Games back in April this year. While the episode of The Game Maker's Notebook originally aired back in April, news of the announcement has finally been picked up after the podcast was uploaded to YouTube this month.

While discussing the larger topic of studio announcements and how these have to be timed correctly to avoid sending fans' expectations into overdrive, Pitchford spoke about his preferred method for revealing games using the release of Borderlands 3 as an example before casually announcing a new Brothers in Arms title to reinforce his point.

"I didn't announce Borderlands 3 until, like, it was beta," said Pitchford. "And it sucks because we're working on another Brothers in Arms game, but I'm not saying sh*t until we have it. We have fans that really love that and they're just going to have to suffer." For those who'd like to listen to the excerpt, it begins around the 53-minute mark.

The Brothers in Arms series began life back in 2005 with the release of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 for PC and consoles. The title garnered interest as it poised fans in command of their very own small tactical units as they looked to maneuvere through enemy forces. Since then a number of subsequent titles in the series have released – the most recent of which was Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War in 2014 for mobile.

In 2015, Gearbox announced that it had cancelled production on Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 – a title that looked set to return the Brothers in Arms franchise to PC and consoles. Following its cancellation, Pitchford said at the time that the game had eventually been repurposed and became what we know today as the free-to-play shooter Battleborn, which released in May 2016. It's not clear whether the new Brothers in Arms game would reprise Furious 4's ideas.

In other Brothers in Arms news, the studio announced last year that it is adapting the World War 2 shooter series into a TV show with the help of showrunner Scott Rosenbaum. While very few details have since emerged about the show, it is understood that the show will feature characters based upon real people from the period as it follows a team of eight soldiers on a mission to rescue their colonel from the Nazis before they discover the D-Day plans.

If you're looking to relive more from the Brothers in Arms franchise, then make sure to check out this article we published last year that discusses just some of the reasons behind how the tactical shooter series managed to captivate its audience so well.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Norwegian video game company Funcom announced it has fully acquired the rights to Conan the Barbarian as well as other properties like Mutant Year Zero and Solomon Kane. A new, unannounced game that combines many of Robert E. Howard’s characters is now in the works as a result of this new acquisition.

In a press release, Funcom announced it has acquired Cabinet Group for an undisclosed sum, and with it, several iconic characters most notably Conan. Cabinet’s entire portfolio will be absorbed into Funcom’s subsidiary Heroic Signatures and Cabinet CEO Fredrik Malmberg will become the new president of the Heroic Signatures.

As part of the announcement, Funcom disclosed that it is “currently overseeing the development of an unannounced game which will combine many of the characters in the Robert E. Howard universe.”

Howard is a pulp fiction writer whose most famous characters include Conan the Barbarian and the demon-slayer Solomon Kane. While the game isn’t specifically a Conan the Barbarian game, whatever this project is will likely include him as a character.

Funcom’s acquisition of Conan and other Cabinet properties will not affect any projects currently in development, including the Conan series at Netflix. Nor will it impact the ongoing Conan comic book from Marvel.

Instead, the developers of several Conan games including Age of Conan and Conan Exiles will fully own the character going forward.

Although Conan was made famous on film thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last time we saw Conan on screen was in a 2011 reboot starring Jason Mamoa. Luckily for us, Mamoa went on to play another fantasy hero in DC’s Aquaman.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Netflix has released a trailer and poster for Bright: Samurai Soul, an upcoming anime set in the magical world of David Ayer's live-action, Will Smith-starring film Bright.

Netflix recently offered fans a slice of the action by dropping the first trailer for director Kyohei Ishiguro's anime spinoff. The story revolves around Izou, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, who work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north during the early years of Japan's Meiji Restoration. Check out the first trailer below:

The English-language voice cast of Bright: Samurai Soul features Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu in the role of Izou, the one-eyed wandering samurai. Netflix revealed that Liu is joined in the cast by Fred Mancuso as the orc Raiden, who attempts to redeem himself from a life of thievery; and Yuzu Harada as the young elf Sonya.

The Netflix Geeked Twitter account also shared a poster for Bright: Samurai Soul, which is set to premiere on the streamer on October 12. The upcoming anime explores an all-new setting and era while introducing a fresh bunch of characters, many of whom are featured on the poster, with the film's human ronin, orc assassin, and elf orphan taking center stage.

Last year, Netflix announced its plans to produce more anime content after noting an exceptional uptake in anime streaming on the platform, with statistics showing that over 100 million households globally watched at least one anime title on Netflix between October 2019 and September 2020 — a noted increase of more than 50% on the previous year's figures.

Bright: Samurai Soul is just the latest addition to a growing list of anime titles on Netflix, with many more still to come. It joins several other planned titles at the streamer, including a Tomb Raider anime series with Hayley Atwell as the voice of Lara Croft, an anime prequel series of Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, and a new horror sci-fi tale called Make My Day.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

With brand deals for the 2010 cult classic Alan Wake long since expired, the title's upcoming remaster will not feature its predecessor's iconic product placements when it launches on October 5.

According to an article by Screen Rant, Remedy is set to strip the game of its real-world products when it releases next month. With brand deals having since expired for the title, a PR representative for Alan Wake Remastered confirmed that the remaster will be replacing its partnership-sponsored advertisements with generic in-universe branding.

Aside from its otherworldly tone and cult classic status, the original release of Alan Wake also became known (less lovingly) for its high number of brand deals. Product placement in the psychological thriller managed to creep its way into everything from background environment models to the title's core gameplay elements. When exploring the quaint mining town of Bright Falls, fans will likely remember the Verizon billboards that stood proudly along the game's forest-lined streets, even after darkness fell.

The title didn't stop there, however, as a number of core gameplay elements also brought with them exclusive brand tie-ins. From searching far and wide for Energizer branded batteries as a vital source of power for Alan's torch to including vehicles manufactured by Ford and Lincoln, players were never far away from encountering a familiar corporate logo in the game.

The inclusion of real-world products in Alan Wake is one that divided its fanbase. While some players balk at the idea of real-world products being pushed on consumers during a time of escapism, others found it gave the title grounding and relatability. In a Reddit thread detailing Remedy's decision to replace the old branded products with in-universe advertisements, one fan seemed particularly repulsed by the thought of using anything but Energizer batteries to power their torch:

To see more from the upcoming remaster, make sure to check out the title's recent trailer, which debuted at this month's PlayStation Showcase. It'll be interesting to see – if there is an Alan Wake sequel on the way – whether that game gets the same generic branding, or if the real-world advertisements return.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.