Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus games for September 2022 are Need for Speed Heat, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and Toem. Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on September 6.

Need for Speed Heat is the third game in the reimagined series that kicked off in 2015, taking players to the roads of the fictional Floridian metropolis of Palm City. Heat centres around a day and night cycle that brings out different style of racing, with the player required to master both clean street races and gritty battles with rogue police.

We much preferred this one to Need for Speed 2015 and its sequel, Payback, as in our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Need for Speed Heat is a mosaic of existing ideas but it is easily the most impressive Need for Speed game in years."

Granblue Fantasy: Versus is a different vibe entirely. This four-button Japanese fighting game is made up of light, medium, and heavy attacks — alongside a character-specific finisher similar to Street Fighter 5's V-Skills — and it's automatically implemented combos make it one of the best entry points to the fighting genre out there.

IGN said it was great, as "it smartly balances considerations for more casual fighting game players without ever stepping on the toes of its hardcore audience."

Finally, the most niche of the three new games is Toem: A Photo Adventure, a hand-drawn adventure game centred around the delights of photography. Intended to be a relaxed and charming puzzler, it certainly appeared to accomplish that goal as IGN also gave it an 8/10 in our review.

"Toem is a short, satisfying little photography adventure packed with witty writing, goofy yet grounded characters, and a wealth of interesting, picturesque moments to capture," we said. "Though simple to complete, its diorama-like maps, cartoon style, and pleasing music and sounds make it an inviting world to stay in long enough to uncover all its secrets."

These three new games will be available for free until October 3, while last month's games — which include Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2, and Little Nightmares — will be available until September 6.

Sony also unveiled the new games coming to its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium Games Catalogue on September 20, headlined this month by Deathloop, which IGN called a masterpiece. The full list of games also includes:

• Assassin’s Creed Origins
• Watch Dogs 2
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
• Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale
• Monster Energy Supercross 5
• Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX
• Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show
• Rayman Legends
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

A handful of games are also coming to the Classic Games Catalogue for PlayStation Plus Premium members. The full list of games, which will also be available on September 20, can be seen below:

• Syphon Filter 2 | PS1
• The Sly Collection | PS3
• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time | PS3
• Bentley’s Hackpack | PS3
• Toy Story 3 | PSP
• Kingdom of Paradise | PSP

Check out our updated lists of all PS Plus Premium Catalogue Games and PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog on IGN Playlist. You can use these lists to plan what to play next, create custom ranked lists of your favourites, and track your backlog.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Konami is about to unveil an unknown game in a "world-loved" franchise at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which takes place from September 15 to 18.

As reported by Gematsu, Konami's schedule for the show doesn't say much about the game itself, only adding that voice actor Yuki Kaji will take to the stage to announce it.

Kaji is a pretty big name in video game voice acting, having appeared in Grand Theft Auto 5, Final Fantasy 13, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and many, many more. He's only appeared in three Konami games, however, two of which are part of the long-dormant Suikoden franchise and the other a Japanese-only game called Terror of the Stratus on PSP.

TGS speculation: Konami will announce a new title at TGS and it's a "world-loved title". According to @gematsu article, Yuki Kaji will be presenting it. Checked his wiki entry and the only game that checks out the boxes "world-loved" and "Yuki Kaji" are 2 Suikoden games.

hmmmmmm pic.twitter.com/iac0Rlv7qs

— ryeyoona | WATCH ISEKAI OJISAN! (@SicaSquarepants) August 31, 2022

Fans of the franchise have already noticed the connection on Twitter, with @SicaSquarepants (above) pointing out that Kaji's only Konami games of world renown are 2008's Suikoden Tierkreis and 2012's Gensō Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki - the last two games to be released in the classic RPG series.

Originally released on PlayStation, Suikoden is an RPG series most famous for including over 100 playable characters in its mainline games, as well as stylized 2D art and animations and fortress building aspects. In our review of the original game, we called it "undeniably one of the best RPGs ever made."

Key members of the Suikoden team have since revealed a spiritual successor, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which became a huge hit on Kickstarter and is due to arrive next year.

Nothing is confirmed, of course, and Konami reportedly has several other franchises in development that, given his voice acting prestige, could easily involve Kaji.

Silent Hill is another Konami franchise that is heavily rumoured to be making a comeback at some point, with the last of a long line of leaks taking place in May. Four images of an alleged new Silent Hill game appeared on Twitter before the "copyright holder" took them down, leading many to believe they were legitimate.

A Silent Hill reboot has been rumoured since last October and further reports emerged in February, before flaring up once more in March when Konami renewed the series' trademark.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

In a new talk about the headset, Sony's revealed that PlayStation VR2 has been designed to make it easier for developers to create VR versions of PS5 games, as well as port games to PSVR 2 from other VR platforms.

Speaking during a CEDEC 2022 event, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Yasuo Takahashi and Kenjo Akiyama talked about the hardware's features, from its base specs to its new controllers, to its new user experience, including a "see through" mode. Much of this covered already-announced information, but the talk also included new details about developing for the headset ahead of its early 2023 release.

The broad strokes are that it should be easier for developers to port their games on PSVR, whether that's from existing PS5 development, or other VR systems. PSVR 2 game development uses the same SDK used to develop PS5 games. Through this close linkage to the PS5 SDK, it should be easy to create titles that support the PSVR 2.

The PSVR2's production environment also supports games created with Unity and Unreal Engine. With a standardized controller interface and button placement similar to other VR platforms, it should be far simpler than before for developed games to support the PSVR 2.

The talk also covered a number of other features designed to make developers' lives easier when working with the headset. One feature that developers will appreciate is its GPU's Flexible Scale Rasterization (FSR), which combines PSVR 2's tracking cameras and foveated rendering to freely alter pixel density based on where the player is looking, further optimizing rendering.

A number of sample programs are provided in the development environment for the headset's force feedback that vibrates according to what's seen or heard, allowing developers to test out sample vibrations based on gunshots, footsteps, jumps, and more.

Development environment tools were also introduced during the session. VR Trace allows developers to diagnose issues with their applications through capture and replay. Not only can it automatically detect and highlight problems, it can replace eye and tracking results with dummy data so that VR game development is possible without needing a connected VR headset.

Another tool, PlayStation VR2 Comfort Sample, lets developers learn about the various problems in implementation that can occur when developing VR games. For example, it allows developers to experience for themselves issues that can occur with an in-game horizon not matching the real world's, or comfort issues created by an incorrect FOV. It even contains quizzes that allow developers to learn about these bugs in a fun way. From a quiz where you need to identify issues occurring on a screen to a quiz where you need to identify what bugs are causing a problem, the tool is seemingly full of ways to teach developers about the unique issues that can occur in VR in an easily understood way.

The overall message appears to be that, while the tech has become more advanced in this second-generation headset, developing for it has become simpler. If that's true, we'd hope to see more games - both original and ported - on PSVR this time around.

We don't know a huge number of games coming for PSVR 2 just yet, but we know there will be a Horizon spin-off called Call of the Mountain, as well as VR versions of Resident Evil Village, No Man's Sky, and Ghostbusters VR.

This article is based on an IGN Japan report by Ryohei Ueda. Translation by Ko Ransom, editing by Joe Skrebels.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos was very interested in the production of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, with his son pleading for him to make sure the Prime Video series wasn't a disappointment.

As reported by Deadline, Bezos commented at The Rings of Power premiere that - as a huge Tolkien fan - he gave notes on early versions of the script, though also joked that he appreciated when showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne ignored him altogether. His son's advice was more straightforward, Bezos said – he simply told his dad: "Don't f**k this up."

"Every showrunners’ dream is to get notes on early scripts and cuts from the executive chairman," Bezos said. "They just love that. I want to thank [McKay and Payne] for listening whenever it helped, but mostly I need to thank [them] for ignoring me at exactly the right times."

Bezos heaped more praise on the showrunners, saying that “one of the best decisions we made was to bet on this relatively unknown team because we saw something special.”

He continued: "My kid is a huge Tolkien fan and after Amazon got involved he came up to me, looked me in the eye and said ‘Dad, please don’t f**k this up'."

Thankfully for Master Bezos, his wish seems to be coming true. The Rings of Power will debut on September 1, with the first two episodes appearing simultaneously on Amazon Prime Video and subsequently being released week after week. We awarded those two episodes an 8/10 review, saying the two-episode premiere "may take it a little while to hit its stride, but once it does, it immerses us in a gorgeous fantasy world with a great ensemble and several intriguing subplots."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Thumbnail credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey – the horror movie being made because of lapsed copyright on the original books – has gotten its first trailer.

The trailer shows off a grown-up Christopher Robin returning to the 100 Acre Wood he abandoned – and meeting the bloodthirsty Pooh and Piglet he created by leaving them behind. Later, a group of five women are attacked in a holiday home by the two creatures, which appears to make up the main section of the movie.

The trailer gives a hint of the horrors coming for the humans in the Wood, and ends on a very literal interpretation of "Bloody and Honey", as the two liquids are poured into a vat together for reasons unknown. Suffice it to say, it doesn't look like a great trip for anyone involved.

The movie went viral when it was announced earlier this year, coming from director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and Jagged Edge Productions (who have a bit of form here, having made horror movies The Curse of Humpty Dumpty and The Legend of Jack and Jill).

We've since learned a little more about the movie, from the fact that Eeyore has been eaten by his former friends, to seeing a first poster that makes clear, "This ain't no bedtime story." The movie still doesn't have an official release date.

While Disney still owns the rights to the cartoon versions of Winnie the Pooh, the original A.A. Milne books entered the public domain this year, meaning the filmmakers can use his name and story, as long as the movie doesn't include elements invented by Disney later.

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.

Sigourney Weaver has teased her "goofy" character in Avatar: The Way of Water, explaining how this acting job has differed from her previous onscreen roles.

In conversation with Interview magazine, Weaver briefly spoke about what it was like to return to the world of Pandora as an entirely new character. She admitted that playing Kiri, the adopted teenage daughter of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), was "the biggest stretch" she's ever had to take as an actor and that she had to approach the role in a different kind of way.

"So Avatar I can't really talk about, but I would say that it's the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way," Weaver told the publication about her Avatar 2 role. "I think if Jim Cameron didn't know me really well, he wouldn't have cast me as something as goofy as this. I had to work in a completely different way to play this character, a very physical way."

Weaver starred in James Cameron's first Avatar movie as Dr. Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar program, but her character didn't survive the events of the first film. This time the 72-year-old actress accepted the "challenge" of playing a Na'vi named Kiri, revelling in the opportunity to channel some youthful energy and bring out her inner child.

"I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents," Weaver said in a previous interview with Empire magazine. "I certainly do. I was 5' 10" or 5' 11" when I was 11. I felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time. She's searching for who she is. I was thrilled to be given that challenge by Jim."

Avatar: The Way of Water is set more than a decade after the events of the first film and, alongside Weaver, sees the return of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña, reprising their respective roles as Sulley and Neytiri alongside Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, and many more.

The 2009 film will return to theaters for a limited time this September, giving audiences the chance to refresh their memories before the long-awaited sequel arrives on December 16. Filming on Avatar 3 wrapped in 2020, with that film due out on December 20, 2024, Avatar 4 in December 2026, and Avatar 5 in December 2028 — though Cameron might not helm all of the upcoming sequels.

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

Netflix's newly titled Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley has reportedly entered production with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige joining Eddie Murphy on the long-awaited sequel.

According to Deadline, the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise is finally moving forward as cameras have started to roll on the Axel Foley sequel. The next installment is being directed by Mark Molloy from a screenplay written by Will Beall. Murphy is stepping back into his titular role and also producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Chad Oman, and Melissa Reid of Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Charisse Hewitt-Webster and Ray Angelic are both said to be serving as executive producers on the new movie, which Netflix officially acquired the rights to in 2019. The project, however, has been in the works for several years, with one previous attempt at the fourth franchise entry suffering setbacks and a separate spinoff series failing to ever get off the ground due to fan reactions.

The Beverly Hills Cop franchise launched in 1984 with the release of the first movie which was later followed by Beverly Hills Cop 2 in 1987 and Beverly Hills Cop 3 in 1994. The films grossed a total of $712 million at the worldwide box office, with audiences turning up to theaters to follow the adventures of street-smart Detroit cop Axel Foley and his criminal investigations in California.

The plot of this fourth film is currently under wraps, and it does not yet have a release date.

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

God of War: Ragnorok is building on the last game's combat system, adding elemental attacks tied to the Triangle button, which went relatively underused in the 2018 entry.

Speaking to Game Informer, Ragnarok's lead combat designer Mihir Sheth explained how the Triangle button has been reimplemented to do far more than just recall Kratos's Leviathan Axe.

"In the last game, if you pressed Triangle you recalled the axe, but if you already had the axe, nothing happened," Sheth said. "If you had the Blades of Chaos and you pressed Triangle, you just went back to the axe. We looked at that concept and wondered: 'What if you could do something a little bit different with that button?'"

Sony Santa Monica therefore introduced a whole new style of attack that's activated through the Triangle button's previously unused state. These will be called Weapon Signature Moves and infuse either the Leviathan Axe or Blades of Chaos with elemental damage (ice and fire respectively) known as Frost Awaken and Whiplash.

It's part of a wider revamp for combat in Ragnarok, which runs along the philosophy of 'playing with your food'. “Kratos plays with his food," Sheth said. "We tried to create systems you want to engage with that are fun, very playful, lots of different routes. And when we looked at the combat in the last game, we were like, ‘We can push this further; we can find new toys and ways of playing with enemies and strategies.’ That’s been the guiding principle more than anything else.”

The new ideas at work don't just focus on Kratos' expected weaponry. Game Informer also saw two new arm shields – Dauntless and Stonewall – which can offer a damaging bonus move for last-second parrying, or a kinetic blast after absorbing damage respectively.

These attacks will join several other new gameplay additions, as Ragnarok's trailers have already shown off a variety of new combat options and abilities. Players can discover them all when the game is finally released on November 9, but in the meantime can catch up on lore with a recap of the original God of War or by reading Ragnarok's plot synopsis.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Sony and Tencent have increased their stake in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, now owning over 30% of the company between them.

Sony now owns 14.09 percent of the company while Tencent, via its Sixjoy subsidiary, now owns 16.25 percent. FromSoftware clearly aims to capitalize on this increased investment, with majority stakeholder Kadokawa issuing the following statement:

“FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market, concurrently and separately.”

However, Kadokawa, which still owns 69.66 percent of FromSoftware, also asserted the company will double down on creating its own IP.

“FromSoftware will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities and will seek to establish a framework that allows the expansion of the scope of its own publishing in the significantly growing global market.”

Elden Ring is just the latest in FromSoftware’s long list of popular games. The likes of Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro have catapulted the studio to become one of the most popular developers in the world, with Elden Ring becoming one of the 10 best-selling games in US history. Not a bad investment for Sony and Tencent.

Of course, Elden Ring is clearly a big part of FromSoftware’s plans going forward. One of the company’s best-selling games, it also managed to secure the biggest YouTube launch in history with a staggering 3 billion views in just 60 days. Back in March, publisher Bandai Namco and FromSoftware released a joint statement calling the game “a fantastic start for the new franchise.”

“Much effort was placed into creating Elden Ring so that we could exceed the expectations of our fans worldwide," said Bandai Namco boss Yasuo Miyakawa. "In like manner, we will continue our efforts in expanding the brand beyond the game itself, and into everyone's daily life.”

Clearly, there’s more Elden Ring to come in the long term, and that’s likely a big reason why both Sony and Tencent are keen to increase their stake in the company.

When that will appear remains to be seen. Want some help tackling Elden Ring? Check out our full walkthrough for help playing through the game, and look up our boss guides if you’re having trouble with these major boss fights.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

SNK producer and director of King of Fighters 16 Yasuyuki Oda has confirmed that a new SNK vs. Capcom game is drawing interest from "both parties."

Speaking to VGC, Oda began talking about a potential new game after referencing promotional posters for 2022's EVO fighting tournament that featured artwork from both SNK and Capcom games. While it may not be much of a surprise, this collaboration was a hit for fans, and it "reconfirmed" the interest in that partnership going to the next level once more.

【EVO2022　SNK x Capcom】
After more than a decade, SNK and Capcom are back for two collaborative posters from the legendary illustrators Eisuke Ogura and Shinkiro!

Come get yours at the SNK Booth!#KOF15 #KOFXV #Evo2022 pic.twitter.com/s1xTpz2Awg

— SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) August 5, 2022

"Definitely in the future, that’s something that I think everybody on all sides, in both parties, are interested in making a reality," Oda said when asked if he was interested in being part of the team to bring a new SNK vs. Capcom game to life. "Especially after we saw the reaction to the [Evo posters]… it helped us reconfirm that that is probably one of the most wanted things from the fighting game community across the entire world.”

Those hoping to play this new game anytime soon may want to keep their expectations in check, as Oda said these comments and the public's interest is only the "first step towards maybe something like that happening in the future."

"We haven’t really talked in detail with anybody at Capcom about it," Oda said. "It might have come up as a vague comment. However, we have a lot of experience [in crossovers] with things like Akuma and Geese in Tekken, Terry [Bogard] in Fighting EX Layer, Terry in Smash Bros., and Baiken in Samurai Showdown.

"But recently, we haven’t actually done anything with Capcom, even on character collaboration stuff. So that poster [at Evo], in our sense, was the first step towards maybe something like that happening in the future.”

Oda did offer up a small glimmer of hope, saying that, if he had his way, fans would not have to wait another 20 years to see a new SNK vs. Capcom game.

"20 years is definitely too long for me," Oda said. "We’ll try and get it done in 10!”

There hasn't been a proper SNK vs. Capcom game since 2003's SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, although there was a version of the digital collectible card game called SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS that was released on DC in 2006.

The series first began in 1999 with the original version of SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash and Neo Geo Pocket Color's SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 was the first game in the series to be relased for arcade and it arrived a year after the originals.

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.