Warning: this article features some spoilers for The Batman and Joker.

The Batman’s depiction of Gotham is similar to another very recent version of DC’s most famous city; that seen in Joaquim Phoenix's Joker. But, despite their gritty similarities, it’s all a complete coincidence.

Talking to IGN, The Batman director Matt Reeves said “I had already written the script when Joker came out, and so when I saw Joker I was like 'ah, interesting'. I saw there were certain threads that they had pulled on.”

The threads that unite The Batman and Gotham are rooted in socio-political issues. Both feature a city where working class support of the government is in turmoil, something that leads a violent group to rally behind the message of a villain. The both deal with corruption within the upper-echelons of the city, and - most interestingly - both reveal an unsavoury side to Thomas Wayne.

Reeves “was unaware” of any of these common threads until he watched Joker. Warner Bros. had given him no heads up that he and Joker director Todd Phillips were exploring similar ground. “But I thought that our take was very different, and so that it was okay,” he explained.

“What was exciting was to see that an audience was really excited by the fact that you could take Gotham and make it really relevant to today,” he continued. “I think what we were doing with the Riddler communicating through social media, and this idea of corruption and how high it goes in the kind of Watergate way, had resonance to what was going on in the times as we were writing.”

“The socio-political context was super important because it needed to feel approachable so that the audience could say that, while that was a Gotham that they'd never been to, it felt very much of their world and they could relate to it,” he said.

For more from The Batman, check out our 10/10 review. If you’ve already seen the movie, you can also check out our ending explained feature, as well as Matt Reeves discussing the big ending reveal and why he had to shoot fake scenes for it.

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

Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online are both coming to new-gen systems on March 15 and today Rockstar Games has detailed a list of enhancements coming to its long-running blockbuster when it arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

In a new blog, Rockstar revealed that all the expected next-gen enhancements will come to GTA 5 and GTA Online, plus more. Both GTA 5 and GTA Online can be pre-purchased and pre-loaded on new-gen consoles from March 8. Physical releases wll follow in April.

Starting with GTA 5, here’s a rundown of new features.

New GTA 5 Features

Grand Theft Auto 5 will support three new graphics settings for players who want specific things from their games. Fidelity Mode will run at the highest visual settings, native 4K with Ray Tracing at 30 FPS, for both PS5 and Xbox Series X. Xbox Series S will support upscaled 4K resolution.

Performance Mode will target 60 FPS at upscaled 4K resolution for PS5 and Series X and 1080p on the Series S.

Finally, Performance RT is a hybrid of Fidelity and Performance mode which will run GTA 5 at upscaled 4K with Ray Tracing and target 60 FPS. This mode is only available on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

GTA 5 will also take advantage of the DualSense controller on the PS5 with haptics and other Adaptive Triggers feedback and will include Tempest 3D audio for PS5 and Spatial Sound on Xbox Series X/S. Both console versions will take advantage of SSDs for faster loading times.

Rockstar promises "high-end PC visuals" on console, including "increased population and traffic variety, increased vegetation density, improved lighting quality across shadows, water reflections, and other elements. Plus improved anti-aliasing, motion-blur, highly detailed new explosions, fire, and much more."

New GTA Online Features

For Grand Theft Auto Online, the live game will include over eight years’ worth of gameplay updates and content as well as new vehicles and the added Hao’s Special Works to the Los Santos Car Meet.

Hao’s Special Works includes vehicle upgrades, a new class of Races for modded vehicles, and a weekly rotation of Hao’s Special Works Time Trials and Premium Test Ride.

The new-gen versions of GTA Online will also receive quality of life improvements, including a new intro and tutorial, and a more useful main menu that lets you jump directly into activities.

GTA Online will also be available as a standalone title for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and can even be downloaded and kept for free for PS5 players during the first three months of release. Rockstar still hasn't announced a price for the standalone GTA Online, however.

For new players who are finally diving into GTA Online, Rockstar is introducing a Career Builder which will onboard new players with a free GTA$4,000,000 bonus for players to purchase Properties, Vehicles, and Weapons.

Transfer Your Existing Character

If you’re a longtime GTA Online player, Rockstar announced that PS4 and Xbox One players can transfer both their GTA 5 Story Mode progress and GTA Online characters to new-gen systems and even across console platforms, meaning PlayStation players can transfer to Xbox and vice versa.

This is a one-time migration, but it includes any characters, GTA$, Progression, Stats, Vehicles, Properties, Weapons, Clothing, and Player-Create Jobs. The transfer will be done through the Rockstar Games Social Club account.

You start a story mode transfer from today by going to the Game tab in the GTA 5 pause menu and hitting Upload Save Game. Saves will be downloadable for 90 days after upload. GTA Online account migration will only be available from March 15.

Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online are both immensely popular while also being nearly 10 years old. And while Rockstar confirmed it is working on the new Grand Theft Auto 6, until then Los Santos will still be open for business.

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

Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

Microsoft has announced that it will suspended sales of all its products and services in Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine.

In a post by president Brad Smith, the company announced, "we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.

"We believe we are most effective in aiding Ukraine when we take concrete steps in coordination with the decisions being made by these governments and we will take additional steps as this situation continues to evolve."

Smith also pointed out that Microsoft has already acted against cyberattacks and "Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations."

In the outspoken post, Smith began, "Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia."

The company will also provide technology and financial support for humanitarian organisations in the region, and is offering support to Ukraine-based Microsoft employees.

The move follows a public call from Ukraine for game companies, including Xbox, to temporarily stop support for Russia and Belarus. Since that call, CD Projekt Red and Bloober have pulled their games from sale in the countries, and PlayStation also appears to have quietly pulled the release of Gran Turismo 7.

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many parts of the games industry have thrown their support behind Ukraine, including a number of fundraising efforts for humanitarian organizations.
A number of humanitarian aid organizations are currently accepting donations and support for their efforts to help Ukrainians impacted by the war. They include:

• Save the Children: On the ground right now providing humanitarian aid to children.
• UNICEF: Providing emergency supplies and safe water to communities, as well as care for children on the ground and who have been separated from families.
• Project HOPE: Sending medical supplies and providing health care for refugees.

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.

White Men Can't Jump appears to be the latest movie to get the reboot treatment, with rapper Jack Harlow signing on for one of the lead roles.

According to Deadline, Harlow delivered a slam dunk at his first-ever screen audition as he ended up scoring a major role in 20th Century's upcoming reboot of White Men Can't Jump, playing the character made famous by Woody Harrelson in the original 1992 film. The reboot is apparently now on a "fast track," with the filmmakers actively searching for Harlow's co-star.

Ron Shelton's iconic sports comedy followed streetball hustlers Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) and Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) as they teamed up to con their way across the courts of Los Angeles in a bid to rake in some big-league cash. The film grossed more than $14 million during its opening weekend in the early '90s and went on to gross over $90 million worldwide.

The new version of the film will be directed by Calmatic from a script penned by Doug Hall and Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, who is also producing through his Khalabo Ink Society company. Hall and E. Brian Dobbins are executive producing the picture alongside Blake Griffin, Ryan Kalil, and Noah Weinstein under their Mortal Media banner.

The project will mark Harlow's feature film debut, having already built a successful music career for himself. His most recent single "Nail Tech" has proven to be another hit, charting at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. His talents don't stop there, either — Harlow recently showed off his basketball skills at the 2022 NBA All Star Celebrity Game in February.

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

Elden Ring's official advertisement in Thailand is a bonkers, live-action drama that also explains some of the game's lore extremely effectively.

The trailer was posted by Twitter user Daniel Ahmad (below) and doesn't actually show any gameplay until three minutes in.

Instead, it firsts unfolds into a family drama where grandma's sacred ring is destroyed, throwing her family into turmoil. Meanwhile, a prodigal son journeys home, reminiscing about his childhood – which includes a surprising number of Elden Ring references.

Thai ads hit different pic.twitter.com/iJnDi31ZLG

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) March 3, 2022

The "Tarnished" child returns home as the family fights to claim pieces of the ring for themselves, and saves the family from further fighting – before playing the PlayStation with grandma.

It's a hilariously odd reworking of Elden Ring's own story, which features a shattered ring being claimed by a number of demigods, and a Tarnished player coming to reclaim them and put the Ring back together. Unlike the Thai advert, there is a lot more murder involved in the game.

Another live action trailer for the game was released yesterday starring actress Ming-Na Wen, and these aren't even the strangest Elden Ring stories to come out in the last few days.

A player used the Nintendo Switch's Ring Fit controller to defeat a boss, a streamer's Twitch chat took control of the game while he slept, and it's even got its own candy.

Elden Ring has dominated the gaming sphere since it launched on February 25 when it became one of the best reviewed games in modern history and only grew in popularity.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Elden Ring players are selling Runes – the game's currency – on eBay. However, those selling or buying Runes could potentially face bans from the game.

A quick search for 'Elden Ring Runes' on eBay reveals dozens of listings, with a variety of price ranges, from $10 USD for 1 million Runes, to $25 for 20 million, and even higher in some cases. Suffice it to say, a million Runes would help a player over-level beyond what the game is built for, helping them avoid much (but not all) of the challenge of the notoriously tough game.

While the specifics differ from listing to listing, buying a set of runes tends to involve sending the seller your character name, entering multiplayer with them in a set location, and having them drop Golden Rune items (which can be used to earn plain old Runes) for you to take away with you. It appears that sellers are using duplication glitches to create the hundreds of items needed to do this.

It's proving a relatively popular service, it seems, with some listings reporting having sold over a hundred packages of Runes already. A report from Eurogamer confirms that at least some sellers are holding up their end of the bargain, too, and delivering the promised Runes rather than disappearing with the money.

The biggest problem here is that selling – and even buying – in-game items for real money is expressly against Elden Ring's terms of service.

In Article 10 of that document, publisher Bandai Namco makes clear that, "No Player shall be entitled to [...] sell to or buy from another [...] any of his/her rights held as a Player, and items, characters and saved data within the game related to the Software which are obtained in the Services (including so-called 'real money trading')."

In that same section, it's described that breaking that term entitles the company to give players warnings about their conduct, delete their data, suspend them from the game, or ban them entirely.

It's unclear how or if Bandai Namco is tracking such activity, or if they've already begin handing out punishments. We've contacted the company for comment.

It goes without saying that you shouldn't buy or sell Runes. Even if it wasn't against the terms of service, Elden Ring is hard but it's not that hard – and there are means of getting plenty of Runes without resorting to paying for them.

Our Elden Ring Wiki Guide includes a whole section on how to level up quickly and farm Runes, not to mention a way to legitimately duplicate Remembrances, which can offer huge amounts of Runes. We even have a video on how and where to Rune farm.

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.

Elden Ring players are selling Runes – the game's currency – on eBay. However, those selling or buying Runes could potentially face bans from the game.

A quick search for 'Elden Ring Runes' on eBay reveals dozens of listings, with a variety of price ranges, from $10 USD for 1 million Runes, to $25 for 20 million, and even higher in some cases. Suffice it to say, a million Runes would help a player over-level beyond what the game is built for, helping them avoid much (but not all) of the challenge of the notoriously tough game.

While the specifics differ from listing to listing, buying a set of runes tends to involve sending the seller your character name, entering multiplayer with them in a set location, and having them drop Golden Rune items (which can be used to earn plain old Runes) for you to take away with you. It appears that sellers are using duplication glitches to create the hundreds of items needed to do this.

It's proving a relatively popular service, it seems, with some listings reporting having sold over a hundred packages of Runes already. A report from Eurogamer confirms that at least some sellers are holding up their end of the bargain, too, and delivering the promised Runes rather than disappearing with the money.

The biggest problem here is that selling – and even buying – in-game items for real money is expressly against Elden Ring's terms of service.

In Article 10 of that document, publisher Bandai Namco makes clear that, "No Player shall be entitled to [...] sell to or buy from another [...] any of his/her rights held as a Player, and items, characters and saved data within the game related to the Software which are obtained in the Services (including so-called 'real money trading')."

In that same section, it's described that breaking that term entitles the company to give players warnings about their conduct, delete their data, suspend them from the game, or ban them entirely.

It's unclear how or if Bandai Namco is tracking such activity, or if they've already begin handing out punishments. We've contacted the company for comment.

It goes without saying that you shouldn't buy or sell Runes. Even if it wasn't against the terms of service, Elden Ring is hard but it's not that hard – and there are means of getting plenty of Runes without resorting to paying for them.

Our Elden Ring Wiki Guide includes a whole section on how to level up quickly and farm Runes, not to mention a way to legitimately duplicate Remembrances, which can offer huge amounts of Runes. We even have a video on how and where to Rune farm.

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.

Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

Gran Turismo 7 has been removed from sale in Russia, but Sony has made no formal announcement about the decision.

As reported by Eurogamer, it is believed that Sony made the decision not to sell the game in Russia last night. Gran Turismo 7 launched across the world today, and so Russian gamers expecting to be able to buy it will have been surprised to discover that is is unavailable in their region.

There has been no official announcement from Sony about the decision. The only communication thus far is a note on the Russian store page for Gran Turismo 7 which states "Release date pending confirmation."

The move from Sony follows an open letter from Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, calling on Xbox, PlayStation and other video game companies to temporarily stop support for Russia and Belarus.

Many companies within the games industry have taken measures to support Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country. The Witcher developer and publisher CD Projekt has halted game sales to Russia and Belarus, and streamers are donating money to Ukrainian charities.

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

Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

Gran Turismo 7 has been removed from sale in Russia, but Sony has made no formal announcement about the decision.

As reported by Eurogamer, it is believed that Sony made the decision not to sell the game in Russia last night. Gran Turismo 7 launched across the world today, and so Russian gamers expecting to be able to buy it will have been surprised to discover that is is unavailable in their region.

There has been no official announcement from Sony about the decision. The only communication thus far is a note on the Russian store page for Gran Turismo 7 which states "Release date pending confirmation."

The move from Sony follows an open letter from Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, calling on Xbox, PlayStation and other video game companies to temporarily stop support for Russia and Belarus.

Many companies within the games industry have taken measures to support Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country. The Witcher developer and publisher CD Projekt has halted game sales to Russia and Belarus, and streamers are donating money to Ukrainian charities.

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

Twitch has introduced new rules to stop channels from consistently sharing misinformation.

The policy update will target streamers who consistently make false claims, on or off Twitch, regarding protected groups, health issues including COVID-19, public emergencies, and misinformation that promotes violence or diminishes civic systems such as election results.

Angela Hession, Twitch's vice president of trust and safety, said the website is "taking this precautionary step and updating our policies to ensure that these misinformation superspreaders won’t find a home on our service," per the New York Times.

The policy states that users will be prohibited if their "online presence is dedicated to (1) persistently sharing (2) widely disproven and broadly shared (3) harmful misinformation topic."

Twitch also makes clear that all misinformation spreaders will be targeted by the new policy even if they don't make false claims while streaming. Sharing the misinformation on other platforms such as Twitter is enough to warrant action against their Twitch account.

The company introduced the changes because of its growing popularity, acknowledging that streamers could use Twitch as a tool to cause real world harm. Twitch has 140 million unique monthly visitors, up from 55 million in 2015 according to Backlinko.

Misinformation is a key area of interest right now, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We've already seen video game footage being passed off as real-life war footage, and one developer has pleaded with people not to use its game for false purposes.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.