Category: Gaming

Sony’s major upcoming update to PlayStation Plus consolidates its existing services into three tiers, the two most expensive of which offer players hundreds of games from PlayStation’s current and back catalog. As the PS5 is only backward compatible with the PS4, these new plans are the only way for players to access PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games on their latest PlayStation systems. Most of those libraries will be directly downloadable, but there is a major outlier: PlayStation 3 games will only be available to stream, as has been the case on PlayStation Now.

This disparity is disappointing, particularly for fans with poor internet speeds that cannot reliably stream games. Following the lack of PS3 backward compatibility on the PS4, the announcement once more raised the question: Why won’t Sony emulate its 2006 console, which has a fantastic library of games, and could there be technical issues preventing them from doing so? To find out, I spoke to the developers of fan-made PS3 emulators to understand why the unique construction of the PS3 hardware continues to haunt PlayStation. IGN has also reached out to PlayStation for comment on the lack of PS3 downloads for PlayStation Plus, but did not hear back by the time of publishing.

Development Hell

The primary roadblock to proper, official PS3 emulation could be that, well, the console was built differently. The PlayStation 3 utilized a unique structure that differed from the relatively simpler Xbox 360 and PC architectures at the time that Sony called “Cell.” The PS3 console’s CPU was comparable to the Xbox 360, running at 3.2GHz, but Sony aimed to bolster the CPU’s capabilities by including seven floating co-processors, aka the PS3’s synergistic processing units (SPUs), which were infamously complex for developers.

Here’s a brief rundown of how it worked. The processor’s setup allowed the central power processing element (PPE) to offload complex code to the extra cores. Those SPUs could handle parallel mathematical calculations, which made them perfect for intricate physical simulations, like collisions, clothing, and particles. Sony flirted with the concept in the PlayStation 2, but boosted the power in the PS3 with a floating speed that was forty times faster than its predecessor.

Harnessing the PS3’s potential – back then and in the present day – wasn’t easy in large part because the process described above wasn’t automatic. Developers had to code this handoff themselves, creating a multi-step process that resulted in a steep learning curve for programming on the PlayStation 3. We’re all familiar with the time pressures developers face and the prevalent problem of crunch that may arise as a symptom of these time pressures. When developing for multiple platforms, developers regularly ignored the complicated SPUs and just used the PPE. When it came time to port Bayonetta to PlayStation 3, Platinum Games producer Atsushi Inaba described to Edge Magazine how Platinum handed the project off to an in-house team at Sega. A failure to utilize the SPUs resulted in terrible performance compared to other platforms. Inaba called it at the time “the biggest failure for Platinum so far, the one that really sticks in my mind.” A similar story surrounds the problematic PS3 port of The Orange Box, which Valve handed off to EA rather than tackling it themselves. Simply, re-engineering games for a completely new system unlike any other was a time- and cost-prohibitive process, which meant that the Cell processor wasn’t used to anywhere near its full extent.

Despite sinking millions into Cell architecture, the complexity of its SPU hardware contributed, in part, to a slow start for the PlayStation 3. Add onto that the PS3’s much higher retail price and the extra year the Xbox 360 enjoyed ahead of its release, and the PS3’s potential wasn’t realized until late in its life-cycle.

Simulating Synergy

Sony was aware of the issues its console caused developers, though wasn’t especially apologetic about it at the time. “We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console,” CEO Kaz Hirai told Official PlayStation Magazine in 2009. “A lot of people see the negatives of it, but if you flip that around, it means the hardware has more to offer.”

Some developers weren’t shy about criticizing Sony’s choices for the PlayStation 3’s architecture back then. Gabe Newell, speaking to Edge Magazine, branded it “a waste of everybody’s time.” Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of Gran Turismo, recently told TheGamer that the “PS3 was a nightmare” and that “the hardware was so complex and difficult to develop on.” A 2007 doctoral study by Daniele Paolo Scarpazza, Oreste Villa and and Fabrizio Petrini supported this, finding that “software that exploits the Cell’s potential requires a development effort significantly greater than traditional platforms.”

Thirteen years later, the PS3 architecture is still causing headaches.

There are several unofficial PS3 emulators available today. On one of them, RPC3, 65% of the PS3’s catalog is currently playable. I asked its developers about the problems emulating the PS3.

One of RPCS3’s developers, Whatcookie pointed to the PlayStation 3’s “128 byte read/write as well as the quirky floating-point format that the SPUs support” as the major bottleneck in reaching RPCS3’s stated goal of 100% compatibility. The PlayStation 5 runs on an x86 CPU like most computers. It’s one reason the PS5 is backward compatible with the PS4, another x86 system. Both have cache lines of 64 bytes, as opposed to the PS3’s 128 bytes per line.

“128 bytes of data can be written ‘atomically’ on PS3, meaning it appears as a single event, while on a system with 64-byte cache lines it appears as two events,” Whatcookie explained.

Cache in this context is essentially chunks of memory. Splitting the data into blocks – often called lines – makes the size of that memory more manageable. But it means that the PlayStation 3, which can read and write 128-byte cache lines can assimilate its own data much faster and more consistently than the PS5 which reads and writes in 64-byte blocks. This incompatibility can cause major performance issues on top of those already caused by trying to simulate the console’s Cell structure.

An alternative would be to install SPU furniture on the PlayStation 5 motherboard, which essentially means building PS3 hardware into the PS5. It’s a method Sony implemented on the PlayStation 2 and early models of the PS3, both of which included CPU architecture from their predecessors to allow backward compatibility with previous models. But of course, Sony removed those elements from the PlayStation 3 after it initially retailed at $300 more than the Xbox 360 in its earlier run of consoles. Adding that technology now would not only drive up console prices, but leave those who already own a PS5 without access to that functionality.

One user on the RPCS3 Discord told me that “developing an emulation solution for the SPUs would be ridiculously expensive [for Sony] and makes no financial sense.” Whatcookie also thought this was the case, referencing that Sony has only managed to emulate the PS1, PS2, and PSP for two generations.

“If they were making huge money from these emulators, then I think they’d put huge money into it,” Whatcookie said.

Depending on how you look at it, Sony’s struggle to emulate the PlayStation 3 is complex or incredibly simple. On one hand, an expensive maze of technological issues makes it appear a quagmire of complications. Yet it all seemingly boils down to the whole process most likely being prohibitively expensive, at least in terms of the interest and profit for PlayStation. This leaves PlayStation players with only a couple of options: Stream PS3 games through PS Now (and eventually PS Plus) or hunt down an old PlayStation 3. Either way, it’s more complicated than simply being able to download games to current consoles, as players will be able to do with PS1, PS2, and even PSP games.

Whatever the case, maybe don’t get rid of your PlayStation 3 just yet.

Geoffrey Bunting is a disabled freelance journalist. As well as IGN, he has written about games, entertainment, accessibility, and more for Wired, Rock Paper Shotgun, Inverse, and others.

Gearbox Publishing has announced Eyes in the Dark: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom, an atmospheric roguelite coming to PC on July 14.

Players take on the role of Victoria as she searches for her lost grandfather in the ever-changing Bloom family mansion, fighting all manner of monsters with a flashlight and slingshot in 2D twin-stick shooter style gameplay.

The game is being developed by indie developer Under the Stairs and will be available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store for $14.99.

“Eyes in the Dark creates an atmosphere of loneliness and isolation, all while giving you the tools to ultimately come out of the experience as a stronger person,” said game designer Filip Neduk said.

“Victoria’s trial – going through the mansion alone and facing her fears – mirrors the player’s need to learn and master the mechanics of the game to progress; you both go through this adventure together.”

More items and upgrades will become available to Victoria as she makes her way through the mansion including a Shotgun Bulb or matches that set your enemies alight. Each item also has a unique ability that players can mix and match to create new combos.

“One of the beautiful things that the team focused on was making sure that no two playthroughs of the game would be the same, regardless of how you guide Victoria,” added Under the Stairs’ director Vladimir Bogdanić.

The PC requirements for Eyes in the Dark were also revealed, which can be seen below:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 7
• Processor: Core 2 Duo
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Integrated graphics card
• Storage: 800 MB available space
• Sound Card: Yes

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core 2.0 (or higher)
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 and higher, ATI Radeon HD-Series 4650 and higher, Nvidia GeForce 2xx-Series and up
• Storage: 800 MB available space
• Sound Card: Yes

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

A former Nintendo of America employee has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accusing Nintendo of terminating their employment due to their involvement with a union.

The specific charge, as first reported by Axios, is levied against both Nintendo of America and recruiting firm Aston Carter, which hires contractors for various administrative and customer support roles at Nintendo. It alleges that the employee was terminated from their role due to activities connected with unionization – either joining or supporting a union, and participating in other activities such as discussing their wages and terms of employment. The complaint also accuses Nintendo of “engaging in surveillance” of union activities.

Through the NLRB, employees are protected from retaliation or termination for participating in union activities or otherwise organizing. With the complaint now filed, the next step is for the NLRB to investigate the termination to determine if it was, as is claimed, illegal and related to unionization.

In a statement shared with Polygon, Nintendo confirmed the employee in question was terminated but asserts it was not due to organization:

“We are aware of the claim, which was filed with the National Labor Relations Board by a contractor who was previously terminated for the disclosure of confidential information and for no other reason,” the statement reads. “Nintendo is not aware of any attempts to unionize or related activity and intends to cooperate with the investigation conducted by the NLRB.

“Nintendo is fully committed to providing a welcoming and supportive work environment for all our employees and contractors. We take matters of employment very seriously.”

The NLRB has been increasingly involved in video game companies’ activities lately as organization efforts continue to crop up across the industry. Just today, Apple workers in Georgia filed a petition with the NLRB to form a union. And last year, Activision Blizzard workers filed a complaint with the NLRB accusing their employers of union-busting and intimidation, and subsidiary Raven Software ultimately formed its own union. Their organizing efforts came following an ongoing series of lawsuits and accusations against the company going back to last July, beginning with a California suit accusing the company of a frat boy culture, sexual harassment, unequal pay, and more.

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

Square Enix and People Can Fly have announced Outriders Worldslayer, an expansion to 2021’s chaotic looter shooter, will launch this June.

Outriders Worldslayer pushes the action into the further reaches of the world of Enoch, to regions where frost storms and blizzards have coated the landscape with snow and ice. This is the setting for Worldslayer’s new campaign, which sees the leader of the human insurgence faction, the incredibly powerful Ereshkigal, plotting her own future for humans on Enoch.

The expansion’s campaign features new additions to all of the key aspects of Outriders; there’s new zones, enemies and enemy variants, two new five-piece legendary armor sets per class, new multiclass three-piece legendary armor sets, weapons, and mods. In total, Worldslayer adds almost 100 new Legendary items across armor, weapons, and mods.

All of this can be played by existing players with powerful characters, but brand new players can get straight into Worldslayer by using a Level 30 Boost to bring a fresh character up to the required level for the campaign. This boost can be used as many times as you want to create several different level 30 characters.

The flagship changes, though, come in the form of new progression paths. The Power of the PAX opens up a secondary skill tree, which provides two new subclass branches for each of Outriders’ four classes (Devastator, Pyromancer, Trickster, and Technomancer). Beyond that is the Path to Ascension, a new long term progression system. After hitting level 30, all XP goes towards Ascension, which has 200 points to unlock and has been designed to support hundreds of hours of play. People Can Fly note that this progression will improve things like endurance, anomaly, and brutality, so it sounds like Path to Ascension will help build up fundamental character stats.

Worldslayer will also make changes to Outrider’s escalating endgame difficulty system by replacing Challenge Tiers with ‘Apocalypse Tiers’. These go up to level 40, and are considered an ‘informal’ New Game+ system. That increase is accompanied by a new, higher level cap of 75 for gear. And talking of gear, Apocalypse Tiers also open up the potential for grabbing Apocalypse-grade gear, which provides a third mod slot to help tailor the weapon to your ideal specification.

That progression system sounds like it’ll take you far beyond a playthrough of a new campaign, which is likely why a whole new endgame has been created for Worldslayer. Very little has been announced about this aside from a name, Trial of Tarya Gratar, although more information has been promised at a later date.

Outriders Worldslayer will be available on June 30, 2022. It will launch as a digital upgrade for existing players, or as an all-in-one pack with the original game and expansion.

For more, check out our Outriders review and our Expeditions guide for anyone looking to buff their characters up ahead of the expansion.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.

Imagine, if you will, a world in which Nicolas Cage had played Aragorn or Neo. That could very well have been our reality, had the actor not firmly had his priorities in order. He is one of the most recognizable leading men in Hollywood… and the face of some of the most memorable memes on the internet.

But, before all that, Cage is a father and a family man.

“First and foremost… there’s no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn’t want to spend time with his children,” Cage told People.

“There’s no version of Nic Cage that didn’t put family first over career. I turned down Lord of the Rings and I turned down Matrix because I didn’t want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that’s a fact.”

Cage has two sons, Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16. The actor and his wife Riko Shibata are expecting a baby later this year.

Cage went on to describe his acting ethos, and how he tries to never take himself too seriously.

“I always say to myself, ‘I never had a career, only work.’ What I mean by that is sometimes — and I won’t mention names — but when you get into this career-minded perception of one’s self it can be a slippery slope, and it can lead to things where you start believing in your own mythos and you start taking yourself way too seriously,” he said.

Cage has a new project, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, debuting in theatres tomorrow, where he will star alongside Tiffany Hadish and Pedro Pascal. Elsewhere, Cage’s Reddit AMA recently became a wholesome internet moment, and he also shared the villain he would like to play in a future Batman movie.

Blogroll Image Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Khayl Adam is a freelance writer at IGN.

Earlier today, Meta hosted its second annual Meta Quest Gaming Showcase, featuring a variety of announcements including a brand-new Ghostbusters VR game. The showcase sparked a spirited discussion within IGN about the Meta Quest 2’s comparative dominance of the VR market, where it currently enjoys a roughly 78 percent market share, and whether Sony’s PlayStation VR2 can be successful in such an environment.

First announced back in February 2021, the PSVR2 will reportedly focus on “console-quality” VR games for PS5 via hybrid games that can be played both with and without VR. Sony officially unveiled the new tech at CES along with its new Sense Controllers, with Sony confirming that it will feature a high-res OLED display, a controller-tracking IR camera, and four cameras in the headset itself. Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is being developed by Guerilla Games and Firesprite, is an “ambitious AAA narrative adventure” that seems to be a template for what Sony is trying to achieve on the platform, though we don’t know a full extent of the library, nor even if it will be backward compatible, just yet.

When the PSVR2 is eventually released, it will be an interesting test of whether AAA VR can draw a mainstream audience. It will also draw inevitable comparisons to Meta’s standalone headset. But can the PSVR2 succeed on its own merits? And are those comparisons even fair? Here’s what we think.

Is the PSVR2 the Next Vita?

Kat Bailey, Senior News Editor: It’s funny that we’re having this conversation right now, Taylor, because I actually just purchased a Meta Quest 2. I did so in reaction to setting up my Valve Index for some rounds of Star Wars Squadrons. It’s been used maybe once since I first bought it, and at some point it just became too much of a hassle to use a wired headset, which is why I eventually decided to spring for a Meta Quest 2.

It’s emblematic, I think, of how much the VR market has evolved since Sony first released PlayStation VR back in 2016. Even in the early days, I feel like there was awareness that VR wouldn’t take off until inexpensive, standalone headsets with high-quality screens became available on the mass market. The Meta Quest 2 cracked that code and the result is that it’s the most popular VR headset available today.

Put another way, I think the PSVR2 might end up being the VR equivalent of the PlayStation Vita. I’d love to hear your thoughts, Taylor.

Taylor Lyles, Associate Tech Editor: It’s interesting you bring that point up, Kat. I have been big on VR even before the first PlayStation VR came out. Having owned an HTC Vive and a PlayStation VR, there is certainly a lot of hassle involved with both, as they are optional accessories that require other hardware to actually function.

When I finally purchased a Meta Quest 2, I had no reason to use my HTC Vive. Not only was it a standalone headset with its own operating system that allowed me to easily access my game library, but I also had the additional option to connect my desktop to it with a USB-C cable if I wanted to play SteamVR games.

When I heard Sony announce it was making a successor to the PSVR, I was optimistic. You could argue it’s cautious optimism, given it is still an optional accessory for a still hard-to-find game console. And given the last several years, Meta and its standalone functionality has become a dominant force in the VR gaming market in the last four years. Sony is coming in at a strong disadvantage.

So given the odds against it, you’re not wrong to say PSVR2 could end up having a fate similar to the PlayStation Vita. That said, there’s a lot Sony can learn from not only the Vita’s history, but from Meta’s early successes. The PSVR2 could even push the VR market to new heights through eye tracking, haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers, despite having a design that is considered outdated for the current VR hardware market.

Kat: That’s an interesting perspective, Taylor. I think the features you just listed can definitely make for a more immersive experience, particularly the eye tracking. That said, I suppose I bring up the Vita because the PSVR2’s potential focus on console-quality games makes me think of Sony’s fixation on the AAA handheld experience while Nintendo mostly focused on affordability, battery life, and smaller-scale experiences that fit well on portable devices with the 3DS. The PSVR2 is also at the mercy of how much support Sony decides to put behind it, both in terms of marketing and in terms of software support.

In deciding to go with a wired rather than a standalone solution, it seems to me that Sony is explicitly favoring power over accessibility with the PSVR2. That’s fine, but I’m not sure the appeal of God of War or Horizon in VR outweighs the inconvenience of being wired at this point. It’s on Sony to prove that these specific experiences are worth the expense and hassle of a wired headset.

I’ll grant that there’s certainly a hunger for high-end VR experiences, as Half-Life Alyx has shown. But when I see Sony pushing a successor to a modestly successful device that is seemingly billed as being “bigger and more” versus a less advanced but more accessible competitor, I think to myself, “We’ve been down this road before, haven’t we?”

Taylor: PlayStation’s seeming focus on power is not just about graphical fidelity or making things look as photorealistic as possible in virtual reality, though. It is about propelling virtual reality gaming as a more mainstream option as well as enhancing how people interact with those games.

When you think about the PSVR2’s unique features, it sets up the potential to push VR gaming to new heights. The PSVR2 will have eye-tracking, and its Sense Controllers will feature haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. These features have the potential to offer more immersive experiences that bring gamers closer to the games they play. Even just looking at the Sense Controllers’ design alone shows Sony learned a lot from its first VR hardware outing. We won’t be relying on Move controllers from the PS3 era any longer!

It has a chance to not only further immerse you in genres and worlds you know well, but also breathe new life into those that have languished in the traditional console and PC marketplaces, like on-rail shooters and sports sims.

Also, I’m afraid I have to disagree with calling PSVR a “modestly successful device.” While selling more than 5 million units does not sound like a lot, you have to keep in mind VR is still a niche category, particularly when the PSVR first released and amassed most of its sales. As the first console-exclusive headset, a strong case can be made that the PSVR helped project VR gaming more into the mainstream. Meta’s Quest has certainly reached more players, but when looking at the VR market as it was when the PSVR initially launched – filled as it was with unwieldy headsets like the HTC Vive – it was quite successful in getting more people to try VR gaming.

Kat: I think you’re right about VR being able to showcase compelling virtual worlds. Half-Life: Alyx has certainly shown the potential for VR to be really special in that regard. That said, the ongoing success of Job Simulator and Beat Saber has shown that a game doesn’t really need to be a VR powerhouse showcase to succeed. I would even argue those are the dominant VR experiences at the moment, and they are perfect Meta Quest 2.

You also mentioned that the PSVR sold more than 5 million units, which to me still seems pretty small in light of the PS4’s install base of more than 115 million units, its comparatively attractive price point, and the heavy marketing push it received at launch. I’m wondering if you think it can compare to the Quest 2’s sales, or if the PSVR 2 can match or exceed the PSVR’s original total given the more mature market and what is currently a much smaller install base for the PlayStation 5, which still appears to be hamstrung by supply chain issues. And if it doesn’t, is there some other way that the PSVR 2 can be a success?

Meta Quest 2 remains polarizing

Taylor: I believe the PSVR2’s success will not be measured against whether it outsells the Meta Quest 2. Because I don’t think it will, and I don’t think it needs to, either.

The measurement of its success will be how it takes advantage of the technology introduced with the PS5. Developers need to make games that will take full advantage of the new tech coming out of the PSVR2 and the Sense Controllers, which are a logical next step from the DualSense. They don’t necessarily need to convince Quest 2 owners to buy a PS5 and a PSVR2; they just need to convince the limited base that owns a PS5 to invest in the headset.

More first-party developed and published games will also help with its success. Horizon Call of the Mountain is a good start, and sequels to PSVR exclusives Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Firewall: Zero Hour would go a long way as well. Even better is if it can secure some major VR games that never came to PSVR, like, say, Half-Life: Alyx, a game you can technically play on the Meta Quest 2.

And while the PSVR2 is still debuting at a disadvantage to the Quest 2 because it is tethered to a console, Meta is still a polarizing company right now. If you look at Meta in recent years and the controversies its subsidiary Facebook has encountered, there are many people distrustful of Meta as a company. Some are refusing to buy a Quest 2 because it still requires a Facebook account despite Meta’s promises to the contrary

Is the Facebook account thing grasping at straws? I suppose if you have a Facebook account, which I do. But let’s say I got banned or just wanted to delete my Facebook account, oh well I just burned through $299+ because I cannot access my Quest 2 or any of the games I own on it.

Kat: I think my concerns over its chances at success are less about the Meta Quest 2 itself and more about the direction of PSVR 2’s actual design. I’m convinced standalone headsets are the future for VR, and even if the PSVR 2 is more powerful and includes superior features like haptic controllers, it still feels like a bit of a regression in that respect. But you’re right, how much PlayStation decides to support the PSVR 2 will be a major piece of the puzzle. If it has a true killer app you can’t play anywhere else, it will find an audience, and being the one and only console-exclusive headset remains a strong selling point (no, I don’t count the Nintendo Switch VR headset, sorry).

We’ll know soon enough whether Sony’s first-party developers are willing to invest major resources into a platform that’s bound to have a comparatively small install base to the console, at least to start. Either way, if we do actually get a sequel to Astro Bot Rescue Mission, I’ll call the PSVR2 a win.

The PlayStation VR 2 does not yet have a release date. For more information, check out how the PSVR2 stacks up against the original PlayStation VR, Quest 2, and Valve Index, as well as our list of the best PSVR games.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will now produce the It Takes Two movie adaptation.

Variety reported that Johnson is set to join Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia to produce the project on behalf of Seven Bucks Productions for Amazon Studios and dj2 Entertainment.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller are also on board as executive producers as well as Josef Fares and Oskar Wolontis of Hazelight Studios, the studio behind the It Takes Two game.

According to the report, it’s also possible that Johnson will star in the movie, though the cast hasn’t been finalized yet.

It Takes Two is a two-player platformer that places players in the shoes of May and Cody, a couple in the middle of a divorce. After being turned into dolls, May and Cody are forced to traverse their now oversized surroundings in an effort to return to their bodies.

We gave It Takes Two a 9/10, praising it for its imaginative environment and satisfying co-op gameplay elements. It Takes Two also became quite the winner this awards season, receiving the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2021 and the Multiplayer Game award at the BAFTA Awards 2022.

The award-winning co-op game’s adaptation was originally hinted at back in January, when the game’s developer Hazelight Studios partnered with dj2 Entertainment to bring the beloved game to screens. Most recently, dj2 Entertainment worked on the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, the most recent of which IGN loved for its humor and loyalty to the Sonic games.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Close to 10 years after its original release, Rockstar has quietly removed a handful of characters and jokes from Grand Theft Auto 5 that critics have described as harmful stereotypes of transgender people.

As first reported by Ars Technica, GTA community members have noted various changes to the remastered version of GTA 5 available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. They include characters labeled as “drag queens” no longer spawning outside Cockatoos in addition to having dialogue removed.

Over on Reddit, another user noted that a Captain Spacetoy with “interchangeable genitalia” has been cut.

As community members have pointed out, the changes follow an open letter from Out Making Games asking Rockstar Games to remove the content, which was described as transphobic as far back as the original release in 2013. A follow-up article on Kotaku also called for the removal of the content in the new-gen releases.

In the wake of the changes, Out Making Games said it was “thrilled” by the removal of the content.

IGN reached out to Rockstar for comment on the changes but have not received a response.

This is not the first time that Rockstar has opted to remove controversial content. The Confederate Flag was removed from certain locations in Grand Theft Auto 5 back in 2015, where it was replaced with the American flag.

GTA 5 released on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in March, bringing with it significantly enhanced load times and other enhancements. Rockstar also quietly announced GTA 6, with more to be revealed at a later date.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

My Xbox and Me host MC Fixer joins us to discuss a big week of Xbox news, from Portal 2‘s lead writer publicly calling on Valve to greenlight Valve 3 to Amy Hennig getting another shot at a Star Wars game to Sega working on big-budget reboots of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio and more!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out our latest IGN Unfiltered interview, where Joseph Staten – one of Halo’s original creators and now the head of creative on Halo Infinite – discusses his fascinating career:

Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan!

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Crystal Dynamics announced its plans to add Jane Foster: The Mighty Thor to Marvel’s Avengers’ roster of playable characters. This will mark Avenger’s first new character since Spider-Man in November 2021.

Jane, who has appeared in the Thor comics since the early 1960s, will join the game in Update 2.5. In a blog post announcing Jane Foster, the developers say that Jane Foster Thor will be a unique hero with her own abilities.

“Our Hero designs are driven first and foremost by their core comic book identities, so, as a fellow wielder of Mjolnir, her suite of abilities will have a lot in common with the Odinson’s, however she will also have elements that are distinctly Jane,” Square Enix said via a development update.

It’s unclear what the rest of this update will include or when it will launch. However, Square Enix plans to reveal more details about Jane’s role in the future as more news regarding Update 2.5 rolls out.

Jane’s announcement arrived alongside details regarding Update 2.4, which is slated to release in May. Update 2.4 focuses on retooling the game’s rotation of events to keep things “fresh and compelling for replays.” This will include more diverse rewards, higher power level gear rewards, and rewards that apply to players’ entire rosters rather than just one hero.

Marvel’s Avengers isn’t the only place Jane Foster is appearing. She will also be coming to the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder played once again by Natalie Portman.

The update seems to target many of the complaints surrounding the game, which Crystal Dynamics released to mixed reviews. We reviewed the game in 2020 and initially enjoyed the single-player campaign, though the loot-based endgame became tedious and repetitive.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN.