The Resident Evil movie is officially titled Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and director Johannes Roberts confirmed that this is an entirely new start for the Resident Evil universe as it appears on film, unrelated to the wildly successful Paul W.S. Anderson adaptation. “Obviously, there is the Resident Evil [film] franchise and this movie doesn’t have anything to do with that,” says Roberts in an interview with IGN for SXSW. “It’s a whole separate origin story based in the roots of the [video game series] and the world of horror.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/21/resident-evil-movie-title-revealed-more-with-director-johannes-roberts"] Roberts says he loved Anderson’s take on the Resident Evil universe and the fun it had with the franchise, but Roberts says that his film will hopefully be the start of a new franchise of Resident Evil movies. Roberts says he wasn’t presented with the task of remaking Anderson’s films. “We’re not [making a remake]. We’re going in a completely different [direction]... It was a real pleasure to be given the reins of a new franchise, hopefully, that really is its own thing,” says Roberts. One that he says deals with the “lore and history and fabric” of the games. Roberts’s primary background as a filmmaker is in horror movies, having directed films like The Strangers: Prey at Night and the shark horror film 47 Meters Down. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will be working with Constantin Film, the production company behind the previous Resident Evil film franchise, but it appears that the company and director are both looking to take Resident Evil in a new direction for this origin story. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will take the story of both the first and second Resident Evil games and tell an origin story featuring all the main characters, including Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy. You can check out the announced cast in the slideshow below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-origin-movie-cast-comparison&captions=true"] Check out IGN’s full Resident Evil coverage from SXSW, including just how “creepy as f*ck” Roberts intends to make the film and some of his surprising influences for the movie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

The Resident Evil movie is officially titled Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and director Johannes Roberts confirmed that this is an entirely new start for the Resident Evil universe as it appears on film, unrelated to the wildly successful Paul W.S. Anderson adaptation. “Obviously, there is the Resident Evil [film] franchise and this movie doesn’t have anything to do with that,” says Roberts in an interview with IGN for SXSW. “It’s a whole separate origin story based in the roots of the [video game series] and the world of horror.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/21/resident-evil-movie-title-revealed-more-with-director-johannes-roberts"] Roberts says he loved Anderson’s take on the Resident Evil universe and the fun it had with the franchise, but Roberts says that his film will hopefully be the start of a new franchise of Resident Evil movies. Roberts says he wasn’t presented with the task of remaking Anderson’s films. “We’re not [making a remake]. We’re going in a completely different [direction]... It was a real pleasure to be given the reins of a new franchise, hopefully, that really is its own thing,” says Roberts. One that he says deals with the “lore and history and fabric” of the games. Roberts’s primary background as a filmmaker is in horror movies, having directed films like The Strangers: Prey at Night and the shark horror film 47 Meters Down. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will be working with Constantin Film, the production company behind the previous Resident Evil film franchise, but it appears that the company and director are both looking to take Resident Evil in a new direction for this origin story. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will take the story of both the first and second Resident Evil games and tell an origin story featuring all the main characters, including Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy. You can check out the announced cast in the slideshow below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-origin-movie-cast-comparison&captions=true"] Check out IGN’s full Resident Evil coverage from SXSW, including just how “creepy as f*ck” Roberts intends to make the film and some of his surprising influences for the movie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

The official title for the upcoming Resident Evil movie from director Johannes Roberts will officially be called “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” IGN learned the official title of the upcoming movie from Roberts himself during an interview at SXSW’s online event. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is an adaptation of the first two Resident Evil games and will include main characters from both titles including Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/21/resident-evil-movie-title-revealed-more-with-director-johannes-roberts"] Set in the year 1998, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will tell the events of the city under siege from infected zombies. Both the mansion from Resident Evil 1 and the city itself and police station from Resident Evil 2 will be present in the movie. There are a lot of Resident Evil films and adaptations in the works, so to clear the air, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a new feature-length movie reboot completely unrelated to the franchise previously directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Mila Jovovich. Constantin Film, the same production company that produced the first Resident Evil film franchise, is working on Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The film has already announced who it has cast for its main roles which you can see in the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-origin-movie-cast-comparison&captions=true"] Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is not to be confused with a couple of projects in the works at Netflix including the animated CGI movie Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and a live-action Resident Evil TV series spinoff starring Wesker’s children. Check out IGN’s full interview with Roberts to learn more about Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, including Roberts’ John Carpenter influence, and how the film will focus on its horror roots. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

The official title for the upcoming Resident Evil movie from director Johannes Roberts will officially be called “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” IGN learned the official title of the upcoming movie from Roberts himself during an interview at SXSW’s online event. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is an adaptation of the first two Resident Evil games and will include main characters from both titles including Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/21/resident-evil-movie-title-revealed-more-with-director-johannes-roberts"] Set in the year 1998, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will tell the events of the city under siege from infected zombies. Both the mansion from Resident Evil 1 and the city itself and police station from Resident Evil 2 will be present in the movie. There are a lot of Resident Evil films and adaptations in the works, so to clear the air, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a new feature-length movie reboot completely unrelated to the franchise previously directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Mila Jovovich. Constantin Film, the same production company that produced the first Resident Evil film franchise, is working on Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The film has already announced who it has cast for its main roles which you can see in the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-origin-movie-cast-comparison&captions=true"] Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is not to be confused with a couple of projects in the works at Netflix including the animated CGI movie Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and a live-action Resident Evil TV series spinoff starring Wesker’s children. Check out IGN’s full interview with Roberts to learn more about Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, including Roberts’ John Carpenter influence, and how the film will focus on its horror roots. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

The Last of Us on HBO will directly lift dialogue from the original game, says executive producer Neil Druckmann, but will see some episodes “deviate greatly” from the events we’ve played previously. The Last of Us is the first of several planned PlayStation adaptations into film and television, and with both Ellie and Joel’s roles cast, one of the biggest questions remains how closely will the HBO series adhere to the original’s story. Speaking to IGN during SXSW 2021, The Last of Us game director and show executive producer Neil Druckmann, spoke about his and showrunner Craig Mazin’s approach to adapting the acclaimed original game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/20/the-last-of-us-hbo-series-will-cover-the-first-game"] “We talked at length [that season 1 of the show is going to be [the first game],” Druckmann explained, noting that for him and Mazin, “the philosophical underpinnings of the story” were the essential thing to get right about the adaptation. “As far as the superficial things, like should [a character] wear the same plaid shirt or the same red shirt? They might or might not appear in it, that’s way less important to us than getting the core of who these people are and the core of their journey.” And while Druckmann could not, of course, reveal too much about the team’s exact plans for how the series will play out in comparison to the game, he did explain that viewers will certainly recognize some dialogue - and be surprised by large parts of episodes. “Things sometimes stay pretty close. It’s funny to see my dialogue there from the games in HBO scripts. And sometimes they deviate greatly to much better effect because we are dealing with a different medium,” he said. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=playstation-major-franchise-output&captions=true"] “For example, in the game, there’s so much action you have to have to train the player about mechanics. You have to have more violence and more spectacle to some degree than you would need on a TV show because you don’t need to train people on how to use a gun. So that’s something that’s been really different, and HBO’s been great in pushing us to move away from hardcore action and focus more on the drama of the character. Some of my favorite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story, and I can’t wait for people to see them.” But beyond that, Druckmann didn’t want to spoil the experience of what’s to come, only to say that he “can’t wait for people to see what we saw in the people we’ve brought together,” referring to Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. But he did recently get to see one of the game’s main threats come to life. “I just saw the first prosthetic test for the Clicker and it’s awesome. It’s so rad to see this thing come to physical life,” he said. While we await a first look at the upcoming HBO adaptation, be sure to read up on Sony’s ambitious plans for non-gaming PlayStation projects, and check out IGN’s weekly PlayStation show Podcast Beyond! for more on everything in the world of PlayStation. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

The Last of Us on HBO will directly lift dialogue from the original game, says executive producer Neil Druckmann, but will see some episodes “deviate greatly” from the events we’ve played previously. The Last of Us is the first of several planned PlayStation adaptations into film and television, and with both Ellie and Joel’s roles cast, one of the biggest questions remains how closely will the HBO series adhere to the original’s story. Speaking to IGN during SXSW 2021, The Last of Us game director and show executive producer Neil Druckmann, spoke about his and showrunner Craig Mazin’s approach to adapting the acclaimed original game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/20/the-last-of-us-hbo-series-will-cover-the-first-game"] “We talked at length [that season 1 of the show is going to be [the first game],” Druckmann explained, noting that for him and Mazin, “the philosophical underpinnings of the story” were the essential thing to get right about the adaptation. “As far as the superficial things, like should [a character] wear the same plaid shirt or the same red shirt? They might or might not appear in it, that’s way less important to us than getting the core of who these people are and the core of their journey.” And while Druckmann could not, of course, reveal too much about the team’s exact plans for how the series will play out in comparison to the game, he did explain that viewers will certainly recognize some dialogue - and be surprised by large parts of episodes. “Things sometimes stay pretty close. It’s funny to see my dialogue there from the games in HBO scripts. And sometimes they deviate greatly to much better effect because we are dealing with a different medium,” he said. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=playstation-major-franchise-output&captions=true"] “For example, in the game, there’s so much action you have to have to train the player about mechanics. You have to have more violence and more spectacle to some degree than you would need on a TV show because you don’t need to train people on how to use a gun. So that’s something that’s been really different, and HBO’s been great in pushing us to move away from hardcore action and focus more on the drama of the character. Some of my favorite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story, and I can’t wait for people to see them.” But beyond that, Druckmann didn’t want to spoil the experience of what’s to come, only to say that he “can’t wait for people to see what we saw in the people we’ve brought together,” referring to Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. But he did recently get to see one of the game’s main threats come to life. “I just saw the first prosthetic test for the Clicker and it’s awesome. It’s so rad to see this thing come to physical life,” he said. While we await a first look at the upcoming HBO adaptation, be sure to read up on Sony’s ambitious plans for non-gaming PlayStation projects, and check out IGN’s weekly PlayStation show Podcast Beyond! for more on everything in the world of PlayStation. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Iron Gate has teased Valheim's Hearth and Home update with a new image alongside announcing that its Norse survival game has officially passed six million units sold. Now that things are "calming down since launch," Iron Gate is able to spend more time focusing on Hearth and Home. While not much is known about this new update, Valheim's lead artist did share a small sneak peak, which you can see below; Hearth and Home is said to "focus on the house building aspect of the game" and will provide "more building pieces and stuff to do in and around the house." This is one of the many planned updates that Iron Gate has planned for Valheim's 2021. Speaking of sales, Valheim has reached this impressive six million milestone in just a little over six weeks since its launch. Although it is already a huge success, the game is still in Early Access and the team is hard at work at fixing high priority bugs and many of the problems that have been reported, including networking issues and balance tweaks to "our most evil bug, the Deathsquito!" [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/17/valheim-early-access-review"] For more on Valheim, check out how a 5-person team created this incredibly popular game and our full wiki guide that will help you understand how to become a true hero in Valheim. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Iron Gate has teased Valheim's Hearth and Home update with a new image alongside announcing that its Norse survival game has officially passed six million units sold. Now that things are "calming down since launch," Iron Gate is able to spend more time focusing on Hearth and Home. While not much is known about this new update, Valheim's lead artist did share a small sneak peak, which you can see below; Hearth and Home is said to "focus on the house building aspect of the game" and will provide "more building pieces and stuff to do in and around the house." This is one of the many planned updates that Iron Gate has planned for Valheim's 2021. Speaking of sales, Valheim has reached this impressive six million milestone in just a little over six weeks since its launch. Although it is already a huge success, the game is still in Early Access and the team is hard at work at fixing high priority bugs and many of the problems that have been reported, including networking issues and balance tweaks to "our most evil bug, the Deathsquito!" [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/17/valheim-early-access-review"] For more on Valheim, check out how a 5-person team created this incredibly popular game and our full wiki guide that will help you understand how to become a true hero in Valheim. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's first expansion - Wrath of the Druids - will be released on April 29, 2021 and will send Eivor "through the haunted beauty of Ireland as you gain the favor of Gaelic kings and confront the druidic cult, the Children of Danu." This expansion is part of Valhalla's post-launch support, which was revealed prior to the game's launch in 2020. Following Wrath of the Druids in Summer 2021, the Siege of Paris will let players relive the "most ambitious battle in Viking history" as they infiltrate the fortified city of Paris. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/19/assassins-creed-valhalla-ostara-season-free-update-trailer"] Wrath of the Druids release date was revealed with details of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Ostara Season that began with the Ostara Festival on March 18. This festival will run through April 8 and allows players to "experience a wholesome time hunting eggs, or share in the festivities with archery, drinking, and brawling." When night falls, Eivor must protect the Raven Clan from spirits who are running wild through the forest and causing chaos. Ubisoft is also gifting players a Godly Reward, which is an outfit inspired by Assassin's Creed's Altair. Furthermore, the Yule Gear Set and cosmetics will be given for free alongside 300 opals. All players need to do to claim these gifts is go to the Animus store. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ostara-season-screenshots&captions=true"] Transmogrification has also been added to AC: Valhalla and will allow players to change the appearance of Eivor's gear with visual customization. If you like the way a piece of gear looks, you can modify another piece of gear in the same category to look like it for 50 silver at the Blacksmith. This is useful if you love how something looks but find better gear in the wild. Three new skills have also been added, and they are as follows;

• Fearless Leaper - This skill thrusts Eivor upwards before landing a mastered falling attack atop enemies
• Raven's Loot and Loot Food - Increase Eivor's efficiency when at range of on the prowl, giving you more time to stay on the move

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/20/assassins-creed-valhalla-official-post-launch-trailer"] It's also important to note that Ubisoft has had to deploy a server-side hotfix to address a rise in game crashing near Ravensthorpe. To ensure stability, Settlement decorations will be temporarily removed and Ostara Festival quests involving decorations will not be completable. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's first expansion - Wrath of the Druids - will be released on April 29, 2021 and will send Eivor "through the haunted beauty of Ireland as you gain the favor of Gaelic kings and confront the druidic cult, the Children of Danu." This expansion is part of Valhalla's post-launch support, which was revealed prior to the game's launch in 2020. Following Wrath of the Druids in Summer 2021, the Siege of Paris will let players relive the "most ambitious battle in Viking history" as they infiltrate the fortified city of Paris. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/19/assassins-creed-valhalla-ostara-season-free-update-trailer"] Wrath of the Druids release date was revealed with details of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Ostara Season that began with the Ostara Festival on March 18. This festival will run through April 8 and allows players to "experience a wholesome time hunting eggs, or share in the festivities with archery, drinking, and brawling." When night falls, Eivor must protect the Raven Clan from spirits who are running wild through the forest and causing chaos. Ubisoft is also gifting players a Godly Reward, which is an outfit inspired by Assassin's Creed's Altair. Furthermore, the Yule Gear Set and cosmetics will be given for free alongside 300 opals. All players need to do to claim these gifts is go to the Animus store. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ostara-season-screenshots&captions=true"] Transmogrification has also been added to AC: Valhalla and will allow players to change the appearance of Eivor's gear with visual customization. If you like the way a piece of gear looks, you can modify another piece of gear in the same category to look like it for 50 silver at the Blacksmith. This is useful if you love how something looks but find better gear in the wild. Three new skills have also been added, and they are as follows;

• Fearless Leaper - This skill thrusts Eivor upwards before landing a mastered falling attack atop enemies
• Raven's Loot and Loot Food - Increase Eivor's efficiency when at range of on the prowl, giving you more time to stay on the move

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/20/assassins-creed-valhalla-official-post-launch-trailer"] It's also important to note that Ubisoft has had to deploy a server-side hotfix to address a rise in game crashing near Ravensthorpe. To ensure stability, Settlement decorations will be temporarily removed and Ostara Festival quests involving decorations will not be completable. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.