Nintendo's former managing director of sales, planning, and strategy has joined Bayonetta and Nier: Automata developer PlatinumGames as vice president.

Announced in a Famitsu article featured on Platinum's website, Takao Yamane will also take on the role of chief business officer after spending his last 27 years at Nintendo. Yamane became managing director back in March 2004, meaning he was there for the release of the Nintendo DS, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, and Switch. He had other roles at the company previously, including as vice president of Nintendo France.

Yamane made clear he didn't leave Nintendo with any ill-feelings, but he had just turned 50 and wanted a new challenge. "My resignation was very smooth," he said. "My desire to take on something new and what PlatinumGames was aiming to do lined up perfectly. And to be perfectly honest, I felt like my last company would be perfectly fine without me."

Platinum has been steadily expanding in the last few years but the company isn't ready to stop yet, as its goals are "simply not possible with the numbers we have now", Yamane said. "I’m building an organization capable of tangible action from the ground up," which includes "self-publishing and promoting Project G.G. and other titles globally".

Nintendo's philosophy of prioritising game development over sales will also be brought over. "When it comes to sales and development, development takes priority," Yamane said. "Even if I come up with a schedule and think, 'this will be a hit,' if [vice president and chief game designer] Kamiya says 'sorry, but development is running six months late,' I’ll just smile and say, 'I understand'."

Platinum currently has two games in development that we know of: Bayonetta 3 for Nintendo Switch (which arrives this October) and the aforementioned Project G.G. The latter is the developer's first self-published game, and Yamane promised more details would be revealed about it in June next year.

Thumbnail Image Credit: PlatinumGames

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

Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell have joined the cast of Apple and Legendary's upcoming live-action Godzilla and the Titans series.

According to Deadline, Kurt and Wyatt have signed on to star in the Monsterverse series alongside previously announced cast members Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski. Details on their two roles are being kept under wraps for now, so it's not currently known whether their on-screen characters will be related or not.

Kurt Russell is a legendary actor known for his frequent collaborations with John Carpenter throughout the 1980s, starring in films like Escape from New York, Escape from L.A., The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. He's also featured in several other notable projects during his lengthy acting career, including playing Ego in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and What If…?

Wyatt Russell is coming off of FX's true-crime drama series Under the Banner of Heaven alongside Andrew Garfield. His other acting credits include movies like 22 Jump Street and Overlord, as well as TV shows such as Lodge 49 and The Good Lord Bird. He is also part of the MCU, having portrayed John Walker in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Solider.

Apple's new Godzilla series is part of Legendary's growing Monsterverse franchise. The show will explore the aftermath of the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that levelled San Francisco and the shocking new reality that monsters are real, as one family sets out to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.

The series is being co-created by Chris Black, a writer on Star Trek: Enterprise and Outcast, and Matt Fraction, writer of comics like Hawkeye, The Defenders, and Sex Criminals. Black will also serve as showrunner on the project. The first two episodes will be helmed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman who is also on board as an executive producer.

The untitled series about Godzilla and the Titans stomps in the footsteps of 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Skull Island, 2019's King of Monsters, and 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, which brought the kaiju legends to a head against each other and eventually Mechagodzilla. There's also a Godzilla vs. Kong sequel film currently in the works and an animated Skull Island series, which is being produced for Netflix.

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

Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell have joined the cast of Apple and Legendary's upcoming live-action Godzilla and the Titans series.

According to Deadline, Kurt and Wyatt have signed on to star in the Monsterverse series alongside previously announced cast members Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski. Details on their two roles are being kept under wraps for now, so it's not currently known whether their on-screen characters will be related or not.

Kurt Russell is a legendary actor known for his frequent collaborations with John Carpenter throughout the 1980s, starring in films like Escape from New York, Escape from L.A., The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. He's also featured in several other notable projects during his lengthy acting career, including playing Ego in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and What If…?

Wyatt Russell is coming off of FX's true-crime drama series Under the Banner of Heaven alongside Andrew Garfield. His other acting credits include movies like 22 Jump Street and Overlord, as well as TV shows such as Lodge 49 and The Good Lord Bird. He is also part of the MCU, having portrayed John Walker in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Solider.

Apple's new Godzilla series is part of Legendary's growing Monsterverse franchise. The show will explore the aftermath of the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that levelled San Francisco and the shocking new reality that monsters are real, as one family sets out to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.

The series is being co-created by Chris Black, a writer on Star Trek: Enterprise and Outcast, and Matt Fraction, writer of comics like Hawkeye, The Defenders, and Sex Criminals. Black will also serve as showrunner on the project. The first two episodes will be helmed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman who is also on board as an executive producer.

The untitled series about Godzilla and the Titans stomps in the footsteps of 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Skull Island, 2019's King of Monsters, and 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, which brought the kaiju legends to a head against each other and eventually Mechagodzilla. There's also a Godzilla vs. Kong sequel film currently in the works and an animated Skull Island series, which is being produced for Netflix.

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

EA has revealed that FIFA 23 will be available on September 30 and will feature women's clubs for the first time, as well as same-generation cross-play, World Cup DLC, and more.

Revealed on its official website and in a new trailer (below), EA's final FIFA game will include both the UK's Barclays FA Women's Super League and France's Division 1 Arkema, letting fans play as cover star Sam Kerr.

FIFA 23 will also be cross-play at launch, though like the testing in last year's edition, there are caveats. Players can only play together between the same generation of consoles, meaning those on PlayStation 4 can only play against those on the same platform or on Xbox One. PC players (and those on Google Stadia) will be in the same pool as players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series (X and S).

Friends can also only play against each other in online friendlies and FIFA Ultimate Team's Play a Friend mode. All other modes - FUT Online Friendlies, Online Seasons, FUT Rivals, FUT Champions, and FUT Online Draft - can only be played cross-play through online matchmaking. Players can also choose to opt-out of cross-play altogether, meaning they'll only ever come across players on the same platform.

EA has also announced that free DLC will be released down the line, bringing both the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 to the game. No release window was given for the DLC but the world cups start in November 2022 and July 2023 respectively.

FIFA 23 also promises to bring more realism and control than ever before through its new HyperMotion 2 technology that includes 6,000 unique animations to make players move more authentically than ever before.

This technology will not arrive in the Nintendo Switch version, however, nor will cross-play in any capacity, as EA is once again re-releasing FIFA 19 with updated players, kits, and squads, the new women's clubs, and a handful of new stadiums, but no "new development or significant enhancements".

Further reveals will be made in the lead-up to the game's September release date, with EA promising new information on gameplay features on July 27, Career Mode on August 1, Matchday Experience on August 5, Pro Clubs and Volta on August 8, and FIFA Ultimate Team on August 11.

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

Paramount Pictures and eOne have unveiled the first glimpse at their upcoming fantasy film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves via a series a shots showcasing the cast of the film in full costume.

The images, which feature stars Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodríguez, Chris Pine, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis, can be seen in the gallery below.

Little is officially known about the film, but an apparent synopsis discovered back in 2021 indicated the plot would involve a thief assembling a crew in the wake of a botched heist, in order to rob a traitorous
conman who stole all his loot.

Hugh Grant has been confirmed to be playing Forge Fletcher, the main villain.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will release on March 3, 2023 after several years of delays.

To hear more from some of the cast and crew of the film, IGN will be hosting a TikTok Live at the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience at San Diego Comic-Con on Wednesday, July 20.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

Paramount Pictures and eOne have unveiled the first glimpse at their upcoming fantasy film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves via a series a shots showcasing the cast of the film in full costume.

The images, which feature stars Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodríguez, Chris Pine, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis, can be seen in the gallery below.

Little is officially known about the film, but an apparent synopsis discovered back in 2021 indicated the plot would involve a thief assembling a crew in the wake of a botched heist, in order to rob a traitorous
conman who stole all his loot.

Hugh Grant has been confirmed to be playing Forge Fletcher, the main villain.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will release on March 3, 2023 after several years of delays.

To hear more from some of the cast and crew of the film, IGN will be hosting a TikTok Live at the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience at San Diego Comic-Con on Wednesday, July 20.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

Spider-Man Remastered is swinging onto PCs soon, and today, the official PlayStation blog revealed some of the new graphical features that will be available, assuming your PC can keep up with all the web slinging.

Spider-Man will look extra smooth swinging through the Big Apple thanks to DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). DLSS “increases graphics performance using dedicated Tensor Core AI processors found only on GeForce RTX GPUs, boosting frame rates with uncompromised image quality.”

If you’re a person with many monitors, you’re in luck! Spider-Man Remastered will support a number of display rations including NVIDIA Surround multi-monitor setups, ultrawide 21:9, and panoramic 32:9. You’ll also be able to customize a number of graphical options including SSAO, texture filtering, LoD quality, shadows, and more.

For gamers who haven’t gotten a chance to experience the scope of the PS5’s DualSense Controller, the game will support adaptive trigger feedback and haptic response as you take down baddies. This, however, will require the controller to be connected via a wire to experience the full set of the controller’s features.

Insomniac's Spider-Man games have been a huge hit - reaching 33 million units sold in June. Be sure to check out today’s trailer that dropped showing off a number of the features on the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. The game’s spin-off, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, is heading to PCs sometime this fall.

In our review for the PlayStation version of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered we gave it a 9/10 and called it “the definitive version of one of the best superhero games ever made.” Spidey web slings onto PCs August 12, 2022.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Spider-Man Remastered is swinging onto PCs soon, and today, the official PlayStation blog revealed some of the new graphical features that will be available, assuming your PC can keep up with all the web slinging.

Spider-Man will look extra smooth swinging through the Big Apple thanks to DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). DLSS “increases graphics performance using dedicated Tensor Core AI processors found only on GeForce RTX GPUs, boosting frame rates with uncompromised image quality.”

If you’re a person with many monitors, you’re in luck! Spider-Man Remastered will support a number of display rations including NVIDIA Surround multi-monitor setups, ultrawide 21:9, and panoramic 32:9. You’ll also be able to customize a number of graphical options including SSAO, texture filtering, LoD quality, shadows, and more.

For gamers who haven’t gotten a chance to experience the scope of the PS5’s DualSense Controller, the game will support adaptive trigger feedback and haptic response as you take down baddies. This, however, will require the controller to be connected via a wire to experience the full set of the controller’s features.

Insomniac's Spider-Man games have been a huge hit - reaching 33 million units sold in June. Be sure to check out today’s trailer that dropped showing off a number of the features on the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. The game’s spin-off, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, is heading to PCs sometime this fall.

In our review for the PlayStation version of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered we gave it a 9/10 and called it “the definitive version of one of the best superhero games ever made.” Spidey web slings onto PCs August 12, 2022.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

As some developers embrace the controversial use of digital tokens, the folks at Minecraft have put their foot down on NFTs and blockchain technologies.

Their post comes in response to feedback from their community members asking for “clarification and transparency” on where Mojang Studios and Minecraft stand on the topic.

“While we are in the process of updating our Minecraft Usage Guidelines to offer more precise guidance on new technologies, we wanted to take the opportunity to share our view that integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow,” the post says. Just last year, Steam banned blockchain games and those that issued cryptocurrency.

Some creators use blockchain technology to sell things like skins and worlds, but the folks at Minecraft want their community to be a place “where everyone has access to the same content.” They believe NFTs “can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.”

They go on to say “to ensure players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft in-game content such as worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods, be utilized by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset.”

The decision comes in part, Mojang says, because NFTs and blockchain do not align with “Minecraft’s values of creative inclusion and playing together” and “create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”

In all, the folks at Mojang Studios just want to look out for their community, recognizing that “NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them.”

Their stance comes at a time where some developers have even signed anti-NFT pledges while others who have embraced the technology have been called out for their money-grabbing schemes. Some, like Team17, have even announced NFT projects only to end them after their outrage from their community.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

As some developers embrace the controversial use of digital tokens, the folks at Minecraft have put their foot down on NFTs and blockchain technologies.

Their post comes in response to feedback from their community members asking for “clarification and transparency” on where Mojang Studios and Minecraft stand on the topic.

“While we are in the process of updating our Minecraft Usage Guidelines to offer more precise guidance on new technologies, we wanted to take the opportunity to share our view that integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow,” the post says. Just last year, Steam banned blockchain games and those that issued cryptocurrency.

Some creators use blockchain technology to sell things like skins and worlds, but the folks at Minecraft want their community to be a place “where everyone has access to the same content.” They believe NFTs “can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.”

They go on to say “to ensure players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft in-game content such as worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods, be utilized by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset.”

The decision comes in part, Mojang says, because NFTs and blockchain do not align with “Minecraft’s values of creative inclusion and playing together” and “create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”

In all, the folks at Mojang Studios just want to look out for their community, recognizing that “NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them.”

Their stance comes at a time where some developers have even signed anti-NFT pledges while others who have embraced the technology have been called out for their money-grabbing schemes. Some, like Team17, have even announced NFT projects only to end them after their outrage from their community.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.