Crysis 4 is on its way, with developer Crytek putting out a teaser trailer following a leak on Chinese social media.

Announced under the simple headline of 'A Crytek Announcement', the teaser shows a number of images, from an unstable sun to a collapsing building, before ending with a large number 4 and the tagline "Join the journey. become the hero."

It's time to join the journey and be the hero.

A Crytek Announcement. pic.twitter.com/Ohbux0w0s5

— Crytek (@Crytek) January 26, 2022

A leak from earlier today confirms that the 4 refers to a fourth Crysis game. As reported by Eurogamer, Crytek's BiliBili account posted a message that translates to "The 'Crysis 4' project is confirmed, opening a new nano battlefield!"

Developing...

A Resident Evil 4 HD remaster eight years in the making finally has a release date.

The fan project, which is being developed by just two people, will rebuild Resident Evil 4 from the ground up. Based on the 2014 Ultimate HD version, each texture has essentially been scaled up 8-16 times the original resolution and redrawn from there.

A brand new trailer detailing the features of the 1.0 version has been released. According to it, this project has improved lighting effects and contains thousands of 3D model revisions with restored visuals. In some cases, the creators have been able to find the original source materials used, allowing the team to faithfully recreate the original texture at a much higher resolution.

RELEASE TRAILER! resident evil 4 HD project 1.0https://t.co/Q3bPv7nUsu pic.twitter.com/i9u0ffna9u

— RE4 HD Project (@re4hdproject) January 25, 2022

The project's main campaign is playable along with Mercenaries mode, Assignment Ada, and the Separate Ways minigames. The project is compatible with Steam's Resident Evil 4 versions 1.0.6 and 1.1.0.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed games of all time. A remake from Capcom is rumored to be in the works right now, with a release date reportedly sometime in Q4 2022. However, the most recent iteration of Resident Evil 4 is the VR version on Oculus Quest which launched last October.

In IGN's Resident Evil VR review, Taylor Lyles said, "Given that it wasn’t originally designed with VR in mind, it’s truly remarkable how well Resident Evil 4 has been adapted."

The Resident Evil 4 HD Project 1.0 will be out February 2.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

A German physicist has found a way to make Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 playable on a 1989 Nintendo Game Boy through the use of a custom-built streaming cartridge.

As spotted by GamesRadar, Sebastian Staacks, a physicist and drummer from Germany, has managed to play GTA V on a Game Boy by using a WiFi cartridge to stream the game. As explained by Staacks on YouTube, the game itself doesn't run on the Game Boy itself, that would be practically impossible:

"I am playing GTA 5 on the Game Boy," says Staacks in the video. "But it's not running on the Game Boy. The game is rendered on my PlayStation and then streamed to the Game Boy via WiFi. Conversely, if I press a button on the Game Boy, the input is sent back to the PlayStation so I can control the game."

Here is how I stream video and even play GTA5 on my unmodified #gameboy.
Video: https://t.co/Gai3pasEJm

Blog: https://t.co/9YrKTwmgSu#nintendo #retrogaming

— Sebastian Staacks (@diconx) January 13, 2022

While streaming games from one device to another wouldn't typically be cause for celebration, Staacks' efforts are certainly impressive given the nature of the technology he's working with. In order to bring GTA's 3D moving images over to the device, Staacks had to find a workaround for bringing an HD game to the Game Boy's 160x144 resolution screen. To do so, the developer's solution remaps images from the game and pieces them back together as tiles of pixels. For a full description detailing how Staacks overcame this problem, you can check out the full rundown on his YouTube channel.

Once Staacks had figured out exactly how to overcome streaming the game's video imagery onto the device and found a way to transfer that data at an acceptable speed, he had a cartridge capable of streaming Grand Theft Auto 5 (and virtually any other video) from modern hardware to the handheld at around 20 frames per second.

A two-button, olive green version of GTA 5 might not be the ideal way to play Rockstar's modern classic, but it might be one of the most impressive. Not only that, but Staacks has since stated that he's been able to get the cartridge working on an Analogue Pocket too, though with some small graphical glitches still to iron out.

My WiFI cartridge on the @analogue Pocket.

It works right away, but with a small timing problem: Those horizontal glitches are not present on the original #gameboy. Still, I am very impressed that the Pocket is so close to the original.https://t.co/tBC05jGYBP pic.twitter.com/sU9B2BikO2

— Sebastian Staacks (@diconx) January 15, 2022

For more similar fan-made projects, make sure to check out this piece detailing how someone built a whole new Doom game in Minecraft.

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

Following the discovery of a "serious exploit," the PC PvP servers for Dark Souls: Remastered, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 have been temporarily deactivated as Bandai Namco works on a solution.

On Reddit, users like TripleBrownMeow shared a Discord message in the Elden Ring Subreddit saying that a RCE (Remote Code Execution) exploit was discovered that could let hackers "run arbitrary code on your machine without permission."

This RCE exploit could allow these hackers to "brick your computer," "steal your logins and banking information stored on your computer," "execute malicious malware like bitcoin miners," and more.

It was also said this issue could have caused similar problems in FromSoftware's next game, Elden Ring.

Bandai Namco thanked the posters on Reddit and said the "topic was submitted to relevant internal teams earlier today." It also followed up with a Tweet confirming an investigation was underway.

"PvP servers for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls: Remastered have been temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate recent reports of an issue with online services," Dark Souls' Twitter account wrote. "Servers for Dark Souls: PtDE will join them shortly. We apologize for this inconvenience. This downtime does not affect PvP servers for Xbox or PlayStation consoles."

Luckily this problem was discovered before Elden Ring is officially released on February 25, 2022. For more on FromSoftware's newest adventure, check out our hands-on preview and details on the game's multiplayer.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Assassin's Creed series has always paired exploring historical time periods with modern-day technology and storylines, but we're now learning the original plan for the Assassin's Creed trilogy almost took that concept to an entirely new level.

As reported by Eurogamer, details of the franchise's original ending were published by a student from a Belgian research university. In a work examining developer Ubisoft's use of religion, Ph.D. student Lars de Wildt of KU Leuven wrote that modern-day characters Desmond Miles and Lucy Stillman would escape Earth on a spaceship, setting off to start human civilization elsewhere.

de Wildt described this plan, saying it was pieced together based on interviews de Wildt held with Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Désilets and Assassin's Creed 3's creative director Alex Hutchinson.

"Briefly put, the third game would end with a resolution of the conflict in the present day, with Desmond Miles - voiced by [Nolan] North - taking down Abstergo using the combined knowledge and skills of all his ancestors, including AC1's Altair and AC2's Ezio," de Wildt wrote. "Also, it is the end of the world in 2012, and Desmond Miles and Lucy are starting a new civilization somewhere else - as Adam and Eve."

When de Wildt asked Désilets where they were going, Désilets said, "Boom! It's a freaking spaceship!"

The actual Assassin's Creed Trilogy wrapped up very differently than this plan. Instead of heavily focusing on modern-day Miles, the game starred Ratonhnhaké:ton, also known as Connor Kenway, an assassin during the time of the American Revolutionary War. The modern-day story still focused on Desmond dealing with the end of the world, but the results were quite different.

The character of Lucy was no longer around for Assassin's Creed 3, having been killed off earlier in the series. And, despite wrapping up Desmond's story, Abstergo would go on to appear in future Assassin's Creed games. And, of course, the trilogy didn't wrap up with any of the main characters on a spaceship.

While space is still an option for the series to this day, the Assassin's Creed franchise isn't afraid to go supernatural. The upcoming expansion for Assassin's Creed Valhalla turns players into Odin and sends them through the realm of Norse mythology.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

A PC mod has been released for the original Final Fantasy 7 that cranks that framerate up to 60fps, and the resulting game is... almost disturbingly smooth.

Mum: "Don't worry dear. Smooth 60fps battles FF7 doesn't exist and can't hurt you"

Smooth 60fps battles FF7: pic.twitter.com/8o4Tran8nC

— Steve Of Warr (@SteveOfWarr) November 30, 2020

That buttery battle comes courtesy of the FFNx modding project, a modding platform for Final Fantasy 7 and 8 that endeavors to make both games look, feel, and sound better on PC. This specific 60fps mod endeavors to make the lackluster, 15fps PC versions of Final Fantasy 7 look not just playable, but downright silky, including not just battles but cutscenes, dungeons, and the overworld. It's a heck of an achievement, even if watching such an old game run that well is a bit disarming at first.

Before you run off and download this, be aware that the mod is still in beta and the team behind it is actively hunting and removing bugs, so play at your own risk. Also of note is that the mod works best with the original 1998 version of the game, though the Steam version is technically supported by FFNx. This mod is likely best for nostalgic lovers of the original, though given Final Fantasy 7 Remake's visuals are struggling a little bit compared to the PS5 version, this mod may really be onto something.

In the meantime, we thought the 2020 remake breathed new life into the series while also standing alone as a great RPG, and there are more episodes on the way... hopefully soon.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

There are a lot of questions still left to be answered following Microsoft’s announcement that it will acquire Activision Blizzard. But with everyone involved keeping details close to the chest, some details are beginning to emerge, including Phil Spencer’s excitement to dive into Activision Blizzard’s library of retired franchises.

Speaking briefly with The Washington Post Spencer avoided talking about the future of ongoing blockbuster franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft under Microsoft. Instead, Spencer spoke about the overlooked franchises Activision owns that Microsoft will get access to.

“I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer exclaimed. “King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero.’... I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’”

Spencer says once the deal is finalized — it’s expected to close by the summer of 2023 — the Xbox team will speak with its many developers about what possible franchises from Activision Blizzard they might like to work on.

In recent years, Activision Blizzard has pointed its many teams towards key franchises with studios like Toys for Bob now lending support for Call of Duty and Diablo. But this deal could potentially free them to pursue different opportunities within the Xbox Games Studios.

As for the question of what will happen to the big franchises like Call of Duty, Spencer revealed on Twitter just today that he spoke with Sony leadership about keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation. But as with the nature of businesses, the wording is key and even the experts are still deciphering Call of Duty’s future on PlayStation.

The Xbox takeover of Activision Blizzard is ongoing, and while legal experts suggest it should pass regulatory muster, there’s still a year between now and when the deal is done. Check out what the Activision Xbox deal means for the games industry by the numbers.

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

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has described the launch issues that plagued last year's release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy as a 'glitch' that has since been 'resolved'.

During a CNBC interview, Zelnick spoke about the release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, where he appeared to draw a line under the issues that the collection of classic games suffered from across a number of consoles.

"With regards to the GTA trilogy, that was actually not a new title," Zelnick stated when speaking about the game. "That was a remaster of preexisting titles. We did have a glitch in the beginning, that glitch was resolved."

For those who didn't follow the release of last year's GTA remastered trilogy - or others who may have burned the memory from their mind - the title's launch was far from smooth. Issues across consoles and PC ranged from seemingly downgraded character models to poorly implemented weather systems, bizarre effects caused by rendering distances, and much more. In response to the game's poor launch and technical problems, Rockstar even ended up relisting the original versions of the game on PC while it set to work on fixing the remasters.

While there were certainly many problems with the game's launch on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, those who'd bought the game on Nintendo Switch complained of further issues including fluctuating framerates, lower-than-expected resolutions, and long loading times.

Despite the many problems, Rockstar has since apologised for the state of the game and begun deploying a number of patches to the trilogy in an attempt to fix its issues. Despite Rockstar acting to improve the performance of the GTA Trilogy, many fans may feel frustrated by Zelnick's comments who then went on to state that the title has done "just great for the company".

In other recent Take-Two news, the company recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy mobile game developer Zynga. The deal itself is valued at around $12.7 billion and could have been the highest-valued video game acquisition of all time, had Microsoft not announced its plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion a few days later.

Zynga is one of the world's most successful mobile games developers, having created a number of popular mobile games such as Words With Friends, Farmville, and Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells. The company is currently busy working on Star Wars Hunters, which is set to launch on Nintendo Switch in 2022.

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

NFTs and cryptocurrency have seen a massive wave of attention in the tech space in the last year, and continue to be controversial subjects. In games, at least, over a quarter of game developers have said they are interested in using cryptocurrency or NFTs in their games -- but only 1% are actively using them now.

This comes from the GDC's annual State of the Industry survey, which polls 2,700 games industry professionals on various industry topics. The survey concluded that 27% of developers in 2021 were interested in using cryptocurrency as a payment tool, and 28% were interested in implementing NFTs.

But even among those interested, some indicated that they may hesitate to implement either due to their reputation. Comments included:

“How this hasn’t been identified as a pyramid scheme is beyond me.”

“Blockchain is a foundational technology that will transform organizations and accountability, but NFTs and cryptocurrencies in general are a scam.”

“I’d rather not endorse burning a rainforest down to confirm someone ‘owns’ a jpeg.”

“I personally am quite interested in NFTs and cryptocurrency, but many people in my studio and friend circle do not like them and won’t develop for them. I think NFTs need to get a better reputation when it comes to [the] environment and art theft first, then it might be an interesting way to give digital content unique value.”

“I’d be lying if I said that I don’t think NFTs are, at best, stupid, and at worst, predatory and ecologically dangerous. Cryptocurrency, I think, can also be a sensitive thing to deal with. Both have had an immense amount of scams pop up in a very, very short while, and it makes me wonder if that trend will stay.”

Even so, a number of major gaming companies have publicly announced interest in NFTs in recent months, including Square Enix, EA, Sega, Epic Games, and Konami. Others, like Microsoft and Valve, have pushed back, and Stalker 2 actively retracted its announcement of in-game NFTs after fans criticized the move.

Blockchain and NFTs weren't the only topics GDC polled developers on. Another big, recent issue that came up was workplace toxicity, specifically in the wake of the California lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard. GDC asked respondents if their companies had proactively reached out to combat toxicity in their own studios following the news. Only 38% said yes, with outreach initiatives including group discussions on misconduct or simply reminders of how to report inappropriate behavior.

The survey also broke down interest in developing for different platforms. 31% of respondents said they were working on a game for PS5, while 29% said they were working on a game for Xbox Series X and S. 20% were working on a Nintendo Switch game. Most popular was PC (as it has been in prior years), with 63% of developers working on a PC game. Only 3% of developers were making a game for Google Stadia, and only 1% for Amazon Luna.

You can see the full results of the survey here.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Update: With the recent reveal of the official plot synopsis for Amazon's Lord of the Rings series and the debut of the series' full title, we thought it was the perfect time to dig in on what the Second Age of LOTR is all about. Read on to learn more about the marvelous world author J.R.R. Tolkien created.

As the streaming wars heat up, Amazon is betting big on The Lord of the Rings. The company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars developing a prequel series set long before the events of the movies. This series, dubbed The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, will be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, an important time that literally reshaped the face of the planet.

And now casting news is pouring in on the show, with Game of Thrones’ Benjen Stark, Joseph Mawle, hired to play -- it seems -- the series’ villain. Will Poulter will play protagonist Beldor and Markella Kavenagh has been cast as Tyra.

If you're not familiar with the extensive backstory behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, don't worry. Here's everything you need to know about Middle-earth's Second Age and what it could mean for the plot of the prequel series.

The Second Age: The Basics

The fantasy universe created by J.R.R. Tolkien is much bigger than just the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. The land of Middle-earth is part of a larger world called Arda. Over the course of several decades of work (much of which was only published posthumously), Tolkien created a detailed history of Arda, ranging from the creation of the universe all the way up to humanity's modern era. The recorded history of Arda is divided into four Ages, each of which span many hundreds or thousands of years.

Learn about the Lord of the Rings show's setting here:

The Second Age is a period only briefly glimpsed in the Lord of the Rings movies. This setting spans a long period of time in between the banishment of Morgoth (the original Dark Lord) and the first defeat of his servant Sauron. The Second Age is defined by key events like the rise and fall of the kingdom of Númenor, the creation of the Rings of Power and the formation of the Last Alliance that temporarily saved the world from Sauron's wrath. This is the setting of Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel series.

The Second Age: Major Events

The Second Age begins in the aftermath of a catastrophic war over mystical jewels known as Silmarils and Morgoth's banishment from Arda. In this new era, both men and Elves begin leaving Middle-earth and venturing west. Many Elves retreat to a place called the Undying Lands (the place Frodo and Bilbo are taken to at the end of Return of the King), while a group of men called the Edain settle on an island called Númenor. While initially benevolent, the Númenóreans become more warlike due to their jealousy of the elves' immortality.

Watch the trailer for the Middle-earth: Shadow of War game here:

The Second Age is where Sauron begins consolidating his power and filling the void left by his master, Morgoth. Skilled at flattery and deceit, Sauron manipulates the Elves into creating the Rings of Power and giving him the weapons he needs to dominate Middle-earth. The rings are forged by an Elf Lord and master jewel-smith named Celebrimbor (a character who plays a major role in the 2014 video game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel). Only too late does Celebrimbor discover Sauron's true nature and the real purpose of these powerful artifacts.

The reign of the Númenóreans culminates with the rise of a king named Ar-Pharazôn. Sauron convinces Ar-Pharazôn to turn against the Valar (basically Tolkien's version of angels) and attempt an invasion of the Undying Lands, where the Númenóreans might find the immortality they so crave. This is one of the few instances where Ilúvatar (or the God of Tolkien's fantasy universe) directly intervenes in mortal affairs. Ilúvatar annihilates Númenor in an act so destructive it transforms Arda from a flat plane into a globe. This act also cuts off the Undying Lands from the rest of the world, forever denying men the chance at immortality.

Sauron himself is nearly destroyed in this attack, but his spirit survives and he soon begins building a new army in Mordor. Fortunately, not all men were destroyed along with Númenor. A group called the Faithful, led by King Elendil (the distant ancestor of Aragorn), return to Middle-earth and create the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. Along with his sons, Isildur and Anárion, and the Elven kings Gil-Galad and Elrond, Elendil forms the Last Alliance and wages a long, costly war against Sauron.

Lord of the Rings fans probably know what happens from there. Sauron is defeated but not destroyed, Isildur claims the One Ring and the Second Age makes way for the Third.

The Rings of Power: Amazon's Prequel Series

Even knowing that Amazon's Lord of the Rings prequel series is set in the Second Age doesn't tell us a great deal about the plot. For one thing, the Second Age lasts for almost 3500 years. More importantly, this is an era of Middle-earth history that isn't very well-defined. Tolkien never actually published any books after completing the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1955. Most of what we know about the Second Age is taken from posthumous works like The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle-earth series, all of which were compiled by Tolkien's son Christopher using unpublished manuscripts and earlier drafts of the LotR trilogy.

Learn how Amazon could produce at least five seasons of the LOTR show:

Basically, there isn't one set story or a specific cast of characters Amazon can rely on when creating the prequel series. Though Amazon has revealed a sizable cast for Season 1, none of the actors have confirmed roles yet. We may see certain key events like the fall of Númenor or the formation of the Last Alliance play out over the course of several seasons, but the series will also need to introduce new plot points and characters to fill in the blanks and turn the broad strokes of Tolkien's writing into a complete, cohesive story.

We also don't know if the prequel series will attempt to chronicle the entire scope of the Second Age or focus on one, specific conflict. Showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have hinted the series may be taking the first approach.

"This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien's other classics,” Payne and McKay said in a statement. “The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

One possibility is that the series will explore multiple, distinct time periods. Amazon has reportedly committed to five seasons and a potential spinoff, so it's possible each season will focus on a different pivotal event from the Second Age.

Early rumors suggested the prequel series would focus on a young Aragorn. While Aragorn wasn't born until several thousand years after the end of the Second Age, these rumors could still pan out. The series could use Aragorn's story as a framing device, with the king-to-be learning about the history of his people and the mistakes made by previous kings like Ar-Pharazôn and Elendil. This might be an ideal way of introducing viewers to the complex history of Middle-earth while giving them a familiar character to latch onto.

For more on what we do know about the prequel series, read our breakdown of the creative team, find out how many episodes will be in the first season and learn why Orlando Bloom probably won't be back as Legolas.

title=Explained!&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=explained-recirc&count=6&columnCount=6&theme=article

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

A group of Firaxis Games veterans has announced a brand new Maryland-based studio called Bit Reactor which will be focused on turn-based strategy games.

Bit Reactor will be headed up by former Firaxis art director Greg Foertsch, who worked with Firaxis for over 20 years on games including XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2, Civilization 3, and Civilization 4. Other members of the studio include former lead developers and creatives who also worked on the XCOM franchise.

The studio will focus on turn-based strategy games, with Foertsch saying that the genre has been "greatly overlooked" amid the current new generation of technology and that tactics games have "an enormous amount of room for innovation." Multiple unannounced games are currently in the works.

Whatever Bit Reactor is working on, we can only hope it's as solid as XCOM 2, which we found to be a brilliant new spin on great tactical combat in our 2016 review. We were also pretty big fans of Civilization 6, with its impressively robust features right at launch as well as its new ideas establishing a separate identity from previous Civilization games.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Voice actor Troy Baker has announced he is partnering with an NFT company, and his fans are less than impressed.

Baker, who is most famous for his role as Joel in The Last of Us, revealed on Twitter that he's partnering with Voiceverse, a company that helps create and promote AI powered voice NFTs. These text-to-speech voices are designed with the intention of being used to create audiobooks, podcasts, read scripts, and other projects that require voice over without the need for an actual voice actor.

I’m partnering with @VoiceverseNFT to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create.
We all have a story to tell.
You can hate.
Or you can create.
What’ll it be? pic.twitter.com/cfDGi4q0AZ

— Troy Baker (@TroyBakerVA) January 14, 2022

"I’m partnering with [VoiceverseNFT] to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create," said Baker, before signing off "You can hate. Or you can create. What'll it be?"

At the time of writing, the tweet vastly more replies and quote retweets than likes. I think it's safe to say Baker has been ratioed.

troy, this isnt just an "i hate NFTs for the sake of having sth to hate" thing, NFTs have such huge consequences. "you can hate or you can create" is so petty and such a middle finger to all the artists who have already been affected negatively by NFTs. you're better than this.

— 🥭🌈 MANGO | She/They 🌈🥭 (@MangoThey) January 14, 2022

The largely negative response to Baker's announcement includes a variety of concerns, including those about how NFTs impact artists, actors, and the creative industries at large.

This is an outrageously bad idea. On top of the NFT bumf, it's "Here is an AI tool that can render voice actors useless". You're not only pulling up the ladder for voice artists just finding their feet, you're also *devaluing your own work*. Staggeringly, blisteringly terrible. pic.twitter.com/FJLVc7txB7

— Bison 'Guy Kelly' Sexhorn Twitch.tv/Brainmage (@Brainmage) January 14, 2022

Replies have tried to draw Baker's attention to how many artists have fallen victim to NFT scams, and that the NFT movement as a whole has fundamental flaws in regards to its use as a creative platform.

Super disappointed. So many artists I know are victims of art theft due to NFT marketplaces. This enriches nobody but the wealthy and least of all the art community. Do better.

— 💀🌈denise🌈💀 (@dinnasaw) January 14, 2022

Just a reminder we already have a way to support creators and give a way to own things its called an invoice and contract. No NFT acts as an authoritative proof of ownership in and of itself. Now excuse me as I toss this whole ill-conceived post into the void.

— Notorious C.A.T (@_Script_Daddy_) January 14, 2022

Others have draw attention to the environmental impact of NFTs, and their use in potential fraud and tax evasion.

https://t.co/BvDYdBvstj
☠️ pic.twitter.com/LId0qXfFAE

— The Drunk Cat™ (@Alcoholikaust) January 14, 2022

Essentially, the reaction can be summed up succinctly with this tweet:

pic.twitter.com/wKUwXsIvwb

— Joe C (@JCosta197) January 14, 2022

The NFT debate seems like it's going to be a major games industry talking point in 2022; Square Enix's President noted that he was exploring them in a New Year's letter, and this follows EA's claims of NFTs being an important part of the future. Sega has also hopped on the NFT bandwagon, but says it will drop plans if fans see it as "simple moneymaking".

While the industry does seem to be pushing into the field, it hasn't stopped fans fighting back. STALKER 2's developers cancelled its own NFT plans in less than an hour after fan backlash.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

After being literally too popular to handle following the release of the game's Endwalker expansion, Final Fantasy 14 is set to go back on sale on January 25.

In an update post by Naoki Yoshida, the Final Fantasy 14 game director explained that "after due consideration", Square Enix has decided to resume digital sales.

Sales for Final Fantasy 14 were suspended back in December, following the overwhelming popularity of the game's Endwalker expansion. At the time, Yoshida explained that due to the sheer amount of people playing Endwalker, Square Enix had taken the decision to temporarily stop selling Final Fantasy 14 in order to try and combat the long wait times that players who already owned the game were facing.

However, in a lengthy new update, Yoshida explained that plans to resume digital sales for the game come alongside opening a new Oceanian Data Center, which will add five new worlds, and should mean that there is “more than enough room for everyone in Oceania to transfer over”.

The data center's launch will coincide with the restart of digital sales on January 25. According to Yoshida, this change will help players in the region "who have struggled with network latency issues". In addition, Square Enix has also said that it will be providing additional incentives to those who do make the switch over to the new data center, such as waiving the transfer fee to make the change.

Due to the addition of the new data center, Yoshida also confirmed that the developer would be resuming the game's Home World Transfer service, which allows players to move to different worlds, on January 26. Yoshida says that the change will take place the day after the launch of the Oceanian Data Center "to ensure a smooth and stable launch" and that while all players who "wish to change Home Worlds may do so", there will be an exception for "transfers to certain congested worlds".

To further combat the game's congested servers, Square Enix is also planning to expand its Japanese, European, and North American data centers. Japan will receive its new data center in July 2022, which will add a fourth logical data center and increase the game's capacity by 50,000. Meanwhile, Europe and North America will receive a two-phase server expansion, beginning in July 2022, and August 2022 respectively.

Yoshida explained that these changes will hopefully allow the game's servers to steadily return to normal levels. That being said, the director didn't rule out further suspending digital sales in the future should "event servers continue to experience extreme levels of congestion."

For more on Final Fantasy 14, make sure to check out this article detailing how Naoki Yoshida asked for fans to be kinder to developers when giving feedback.

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

Despite rumors that said otherwise, Matt Reeves’ The Batman will not be rated R and will instead have a rating of PG-13. While that may be disappointing for some who were hoping for a much darker and grittier version of Batman, it bears mentioning that The Dark Knight was also PG-13 and is considered one of the superhero movies of all time.

Even still, those who were hoping for a new R-rated superhero comic book movie can always fall back on the various films in the genre that are available to watch right now and which carry with them a more adult edge.

From Joker to Zack Snyder’s Justice League to Watchmen and many more, here are the best R-rated superhero comic book movies.

Birds of Prey

In terms of sheer fun, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) delivers in spades. While its emphasis on Harley Quinn doesn’t leave much room for the Birds of Prey (though each scores a standout moment), the movie is a stunning showcase for Margot Robbie, who commands the screen and gives her damaged protagonist all the dimension she deserves. And although we’d have preferred to see a true team-up with fewer narrative detours, Birds of Prey provides a perfect setup for a host of other intriguing spinoffs in the DC cinematic universe - can we request Poison Ivy next?

Blade

Blade is a movie fueled by spectacle, by outrageous, blood-soaked hyper-violence and beautiful people with immaculate skin. Yes, it’s silly, but it’s embracing its equally silly comic book roots, complete with a healthy splatter of black humour and enough gory practical effects to delight horror fans (few will ever forget Pearl.)

Constantine

Keanu Reeves’ Constantine was sort of controversial among comics fans back when it was released -- “he doesn’t have blond hair, he’s not British” and so on -- but it was a different era for comic book movies back then. When you watch the film now, you find a creepy, atmospheric tale that feels appropriate to the comic, despite the cosmetic changes. And it also doesn’t pull its punches in the scares, hence the R rating.

The Crow

Aka The Film That Launched 1000 Goths, The Crow’s seductive appeal is as much due to its moody gothic sensibilities as the tragic off-screen death of star Brandon Lee. Underneath its heavy eyeliner, however, resides a great comic book movie; just one that appeals directly to the romantic concerns of angsty teenagers.

Deadpool

Wade Wilson was successfully revived on the big screen in a movie that’s full of amusing one-liners, stylish action, and heaps of fan service. Weak villains and an unsatisfying revenge plot ultimately hold it back from being something more distinctive, but Deadpool delivers a large dose of unwholesome fun.

Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2 is fairly small-scale and character-focused, and surprisingly, it’s emotionally effective too. Despite the character’s trademark flippancy, there’s a real unexpected warmth to Deadpool 2. Not only does the sequel explore this flawed character, it firmly establishes him as a loveable and effective hero too.

Dredd

In many ways, Dredd feels like an action film from a simpler time, like Assault on Precinct 13 or Escape From New York. It doesn’t break the bank with escalating set-pieces, to the point where the character is lost amidst the explosions. Dredd is a character study, primarily, one fuelled by violence and action, and we can’t help but continue to ask: WHy hasn’t a sequel happened yet?

Joker

Joker isn’t just an awesome comic book movie, it’s an awesome movie, period. It offers no easy answers to the unsettling questions it raises about a cruel society in decline. Joaquin Phoenix’s fully committed performance and Todd Phillips’ masterful albeit loose reinvention of the DC source material make Joker a film that should leave comic book fans and non-fans alike disturbed and moved in all the right ways.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a surprise vindication for the director and the fans that believed in his vision. With a mature approach to its superhero drama, better-realized antagonists, and improved action, Snyder’s version of Justice League saves the movie from the dustbin of history, something that likely only could’ve happened on a streaming platform like HBO Max. Though not every addition feels totally necessary, and some new visual effects stick out as unpolished, it's hard to overstate how much more enjoyable this version of Justice League is.

Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass features storytelling of the very highest order, crafted by experts who know, love and treat the subject matter with the respect it deserves. The result is utterly compelling from start-to-finish; an adaptation that perfectly captures the anarchic nature of the comic while at the same time eliciting unexpected emotions from a film about a crime-fighting kid in a wet-suit. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll squeal in delight at the outrageous behaviour of a little girl in a purple cape.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a spy movie made by James Bond devotees who know the genre so well that they can have a good time with it while also paying it respect -- and taking it to someplace new entirely. It’s also R-rated as hell, but in all the right ways. (The sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is also rated R and also worth a look.)

Logan

Logan is in many ways an emotional, heavy picture, but it’s also an uplifting one that reminds us that it’s okay to fight for something more, something better. It’s an amazing swan song for the Wolverine character, and for Hugh Jackman, and perhaps the best X-Men movie yet.

The Suicide Squad

James Gunn absolutely kills it with The Suicide Squad. The film is a bloody, chaotic ride from start to finish that finally does justice to Task Force X. It’s endlessly shocking and funny, and its showcase of F-list DC villains is nothing short of brilliant.

V For Vendetta

V For Vendetta is a triumph for director James McTeigue and the Wachowski siblings. It delivers its message and keeps up a very brisk pace from the opening frames, while also looking great and featuring a very carefully and perfectly chosen cast. The unflinching message may be too much for some people to accept, but this is a film that sticks with you and makes you think. The best political films are the ones that fuel debate afterwards and V For Vendetta does that in spades.

Watchmen

Watchmen is Zack Snyder’s first foray into true superhero cinema (having already make his mark in comics-based moviemaking with the amazing, also R-rated 300), and he makes no attempt to pull back from the violence, sex, and adult nature of the original graphic novel. It’s a divisive film among fans, with some saying it’s too faithful to the comic, but there’s no denying that it’s one of the finest R-rated superhero movies out there.

While we may have now entered 2022, that doesn't mean that fans will stop going to extreme lengths to ensure that you can play Doom on pretty much anything you'd like. Doomed: Demons of the Nether is the most recent fan-made project to successfully translate the franchise – this time by way of a Minecraft map that looks absolutely wild.

The map itself was created by modder Sibogy and even has its own trailer (which you can watch below). According to a post made by the fan-developer on Reddit, the adventure map took two years to create, uses data packs, command blocks, and a custom resource pack, and will be completely free for anyone to download.

While the game is based on the recent Doom games by id Software, it isn't an exact copy. Speaking to PC Gamer about the creation, Sibogy explained, "I didn't want to make a 1:1 copy because you might as well play Doom at that point. If something seemed fun I looked to implement it."

The adventure map itself contains four different levels that players can work through, comprising Mars, The Foundry, The UAC Facility, and The Nether while also including a number of cutscenes, boss fights, and more. The map pack is currently available for download through Sibogy's website. While the download itself isn't particularly tricky, the page does also feature a set of installation instructions in order to get you up and gunning as quickly as possible.

The fan-made take on the franchise follows on from a number of other attempts from the Doom community to spread the game's universe as far and wide as possible. Only a few months ago, IGN reported on another Doom project that allowed players to step into the shoes of the series' iconic Doom Marine all through the medium of Twitter. The creation of a Tweet2Doom bot on the social media platform allowed players to reply in tweet-form using various command prompts in order to progress through the game in an almost turn-based fashion.

For more from Doom, make sure to check out this piece from December that details how rats are being taught to run around various Doom maps as part of a VR experiment.

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

Fans of Red Dead Online are fed up with Rockstar's seeming inattention of late, and they've been making their feelings known on social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit with the hashtag #SaveRedDeadOnline.

The hashtag kicked off after Rockstar published an announcement on January 6 about new content coming to Red Dead Online... though most of those using the hashtag would probably hesitate to call it content. The gist of the update is that it increases the rewards for doing a bunch of existing activities in Red Dead Online for a period of time, making it easier to earn gold, experience, items, and other currency. It's all enhancement to stuff that's already there, rather than anything new.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is too beautiful to abandon @RockstarGames #SaveRedDeadOnline pic.twitter.com/WlDF7PNFn2

— Gaming Detective || #SaveRedDeadOnline (@that1detectiv3) January 9, 2022

An announcement of improved in-game rewards would normally be a cause for celebration in an online game, but a number of other factors have instead turned it into a community breaking point. For one, the last actual content update Red Dead Online received was back on July 13, 2021, and it wasn't received especially well due to focusing more on quality of life changes and new missions rather than anything meaty or transformative. Prior to that, Red Dead Online received updates roughly every six to seven months or so, a cadence that was already dissatisfying to its players.

Twice-yearly regular content for an online game might, in a vacuum, actually sound pretty good. But there's another major factor alongside the slow, thin trickle of updates that's had Red Dead Online fans riled up: its comparison to GTA Online.

The GTA Promise

When Red Dead Online first appeared in 2019, it was initially intended to follow in the footsteps of GTA Online as a persistent, online world for Red Dead Redemption 2 players to sink their teeth into for hundreds of hours, over years of updates. After GTA Online's success, it seemed certain that Red Dead Online would stand side-by-side with it as a cowboy-stuffed version of Rockstar's massive, ongoing moneymaker. But in the years since, the differences in support have grown stark.

Like Red Dead Online, GTA Online is also getting major content updates roughly every six months or so, though its updates are consistently much larger and better-received than Red Dead's. It just saw one of those major updates in December, called The Contract, which added an entire new adventure alongside the usual slate of new weapons, vehicles, and missions. These massive updates are proving financially successful, too. At the end of 2020, for instance, GTA Online brought in its highest holiday earnings ever thanks to the Diamond Casino update.

Dear Rock Star! Please don't forget that you have a great game like Red Dead Online! Many players, including myself, really want to return to this incredible world again and again. But the lack of attention to the game gets boring:((( #SaveRedDeadOnline #RockstarGames pic.twitter.com/xgfgCXmkrX

— Valentina (@_ValentinaAleks) January 10, 2022

Worth pointing out is the fact that GTA Online is going on nine years old, while Red Dead Online just turned three. When GTA Online was that age, it was getting anywhere between five and eight major updates in a year (depending on how you classify a "major" update).

Red Dying Online

Perusing the #SaveRedDeadOnline hashtag, which is still going strong days after it started, reveals a number of mixed feelings. There's the initial anger at the lack of meaningful updates in the January 6 post, and reflection on how useless it is to earn more XP and gold when there's nothing new to spend it on. There are requests for specific kinds of content, like proper player housing, a DLC set in Mexico, more story, and even specific bug fixes. There are plenty of memes of course, and lots of snark directed at GTA Online, though there's also some support from GTA Online community members who recognize that their cowboy friends are getting the short end of the stick.

#SaveRedDeadOnline Rockstar is killing the best game ever made pic.twitter.com/DVAs1egkZr

— Z5at|زخات (@Z5at73) January 8, 2022

Many of the tweets seem to simply be worried that without major updates, Red Dead Online will die an early death — one that Rockstar is perhaps endorsing by inaction. While meaty content updates are ultimately what they want, the vast majority of users tweeting #SaveRedDeadOnline come across not so much as making demands of developers, as wanting assurance that the promise of an ongoing Wild West world in the tradition of GTA Online hasn't been broken already by Rockstar and publisher Take-Two.

IGN has reached out to Rockstar for comment.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection - which includes Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed Revelations - will be released on Nintendo Switch on February 17, 2022 for $39.99.

Switch owners will soon be able to experience the full tale of Ezio Auditore da Firenze in one complete package, and this collection will take "full advantage of the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch, including
enhanced features such as Handheld Mode, HD Rumble, Touchscreen Interface, and Optimized HUD."

Furthermore, all solo DLC will be available alongside two short films - Assassin's Creed Lineage and Assassin's Creed Embers - that "dive even deeper into Ezio's story."

Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection was first released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 and, in our review, we said, "Ezio’s trilogy helped build Assassin’s Creed into the giant franchise it is today thanks to its fantastic storytelling, amazing characters, and gorgeous world building. And while all of that is still here in The Ezio Collection, the lack of meaningful improvements and any sort of substantial bonus content make it a tough compilation to recommend."

Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection joins Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection - which includes Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Rogue - as the only games from the franchise on Nintendo's latest system.

Hopefully, it fares better than Assassin's Creed III did on Switch, as our review noted that it was "an ugly mess that barely looks better than it did on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and yet somehow runs worse."

For more on Assassin's Creed, check out the crossover that brings Valhalla's Eivor and Odyssey's Kassandra face-to-face, Valhalla's expansion Dawn of Ragnarok that turns you into Odin, and the latest on Assassin's Creed Infinity - a new entry that is said to be an online platform that will feature multiple historical settings and will evolve over time.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

After announcing one of the biggest acquisitions in game industry history, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick named his company's biggest franchises. It contained some expected names, and one outlier – Midnight Club, which hasn't seen a new release since October 2008.

Speaking in an investor call, Zelnick was laying out how he wants new acquisition Zynga to help bring its biggest franchises to mobile. Before doing so, Zelnick named some of the company's key properties: "Our labels are home to some of the most iconic brands in the world, including Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, NBA 2K, BioShock, Borderlands, Sid Meier's Civilization, Mafia, and Kerbal Space Program."

It's a list of heavy-hitters from across Take-Two's developers, but Midnight Club feels a little out of place. Every name on that list has seen a new release in recent years, or is currently seeing development of a new one – except the Rockstar-developed Racing Series, which saw the release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles in 2008, before going dormant.

It's not clear exactly why Zelnick brought the game up in this context, although it's possible he's alluding to the series getting a mobile version in future. Within Zelnick's presentation to investors, Midnight Club is also included on a list of console and PC franchises that Take-Two sees as potential opportunities for mobile development.

That same set of games is also listed elsewhere in the presentation as one of the company's top franchises, having passed 5 million units sold – so it could be that its inclusion on the list is simply because it's a part of that bracket, rather than any future plans. Zelnick also understandably said that it was "early days" for collaborations between Take-Two and Zynga, meaning it's entirely possible there are no plans.

Either way, it was an unexpected addition to a list of games we're far more used to seeing from Take-Two - and it hasn't gone unnoticed by fans.

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 newstips@ign.com.

Sony's rumoured reboot of Twisted Metal is reportedly no longer under the remit of Lucid Games and instead has been handed over to one of Sony's first-party studios.

In a report by VGC, sources told the outlet that a reboot of the car combat series is still on the cards but that it is no longer being developed by UK-based studio Lucid Games – which created PS5 exclusive Destruction All-Stars – and instead has been handed over to one of its first-party studios in Europe.

Sony's European studios include Guerrilla Games (Horizon: Forbidden West), Housemarque (Returnal), London Studio (Blood & Truth), Media Molecule (Dreams), and new acquisitions Nixxes and Firesprite.

At present, neither Sony nor Lucid Games have inclined to comment in regard to the report. VGC states that the sources providing the information did not give a reason for Sony's change in developer, though one person did suggest that the mixed reception to Destruction AllStars could have factored into the decision.

AllStars was met with muted reviews when it launched last year. In our very own rundown of the game, we awarded it a 6/10, stating that it contained a "disappointing lack of depth beneath the loud crashes, bangs, and wallops that feel so exciting at first."

Reports of Lucid's involvement in a Twisted Metal reboot surfaced back in September - at the time suggesting that the game could be set to feature a free-to-play model, similar to Destruction AllStars' last-minute development shift. AllStars was originally set to be priced at $70, however, weeks before launch, the game ended up delayed into 2021 and was free to PlayStation Plus subscribers for around two months, before eventually being listed in the store at around $20.

2012's Twisted Metal reboot was the last time fans were able to delve into a mainline entry for the series. While only time will tell whether or not Sony has taken the decision to change studios over the series latest reboot, there's still plenty to look forward to from the franchise. In 2019, it was announced that a Twisted Metal TV show was in the works.

Since then a number of different cast and crew have signed on to the project including Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as well as Marvel star Anthony Mackie who is set to play the series lead. The series acts as another example of PlayStation Productions' efforts to bring its many celebrated games to screen and joins the likes of Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Ghost of Tsushima in that respect.

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

Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two just bought Zynga in a practically unprecedented $12.7 billion deal, and part of the reasoning is that it wants the opportunity to bring some of its biggest console and PC game properties to mobile.

In an investor presentation following the announcement of the deal, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick discussed the deal and presented a slideshow to investors. Under a slide titled, 'Product Portfolios are Highly Complementary', Take-Two shows how the company's respective games and studios can be used in tandem.

Of particular interest to many fans will be the line-up of Take-Two games, with the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, BioShock and Mafia listed alongside a caption reading, "Opportunity to bring Take-Two's console/PC properties to mobile & add new game modes". Those games are paired with a list of Zynga's in-house studios, which are listed as having a "track record of successfully executing mobile game development."

In a Q&A segment, Zelnick expanded on that point while discussing the benefits of the deal: “Perhaps most importantly we have the ability [with Zynga] – from both a development and a publishing point of view – to optimise the creation of new titles; new titles based on Take-Two’s core intellectual property. We believe we have the best collection of console and PC intellectual property in the interactive entertainment business – and it’s basically nearly entirely un-exploited from mobile and free-to-play around the world."

Zelnick didn't specify which specific franchises would be considered for mobile development, nor whether those would take the form of new games, or ports. He also called it "early days" for the collaboration, so it may be some time before we see those projects announced or released.

Even before the Zynga deal, Take-Two's plans were extensive, with the company aiming to dramatically increase the number of "core" titles it released, with 19 games set for the next three years.

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 newstips@ign.com.