Classic ‘90s beat-em-up Streets of Rage looks to be the latest video game to get its own movie. According to Deadline, the upcoming video game adaptation is currently in the works with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad writing the script.

It certainly feels like a good time for SEGA to adapt more of its existing properties, with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dominating the box office and impressing critics.

Streets of Rage first appeared on the SEGA Genesis back in 1991 and has spawned a number of sequels. The side-scrolling beat-em-up tells the story of two former police officers taking to the streets to bring down a nefarious crime syndicate.

Since the game’s debut, Streets of Rage games have appeared on Xbox One, PS4, and even the Nintendo Switch. Among gamers of a certain age, Streets of Rage is often considered a classic title, so a big screen adaptation from a successful action director feels like a very natural choice.

Streets of Rage will be dj2 Entertainment’s latest video game adaptation, following on from Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s colossal box office performance. The company will also produce an adaptation of the BAFTA Game Award-winning title, It Takes Two.

Meanwhile, Derek Kolstad is busy working on Just Watch Me – the upcoming Gerard Butler heist movie based on Dexter writer Jeff Lindsay’s hit novels. But while John Wick 4 and 5 are currently in the works, they will be moving ahead without Kolstad.

The most recent Streets of Rage game arrived in the form of Streets of Rage 4 back in 2020 and was met with plenty of hype.

IGN’s own review said: "Streets of Rage 4 delivers the greatest hits of the classic series and is at its best when played with at least one friend. If the primary focus was delivering a traditional Streets of Rage experience with a modern coat of paint, it absolutely succeeds. But while it layers on a few new and interesting mechanics, it’s still a very conservative update to the quarter-century-old format that feels like a slave to the past."

How this will translate to the big screen remains to be seen.

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

Former Xbox vice president Ed Fries says that he tried to buy Blizzard multiple times back during his tenure at Microsoft before he left in 2004.

In a podcast with XboxEra, Fries implied that the acquistion would have made sense given Microsoft's history with the PC platform, saying, "I was a huge Blizzard fan. If you think about the roots of our PC gaming business, it was real-time strategy...Warcraft, of course, was their biggest product."

ICYMI:

The latest XboxEra Podcast is now available on demand!

Sik and Nick were joined by former Xbox Team and Microsoft legend Ed Fries and it's a chat you won't want to miss!#Xbox #Gaming #Podcast https://t.co/hgO6qiP3MH

— XboxEra (@xboxera) April 17, 2022

Back in 1994, learning software company Davidson and Associates acquired Blizzard (which was named Chaos Studios back then). In 1996, Davidson and Associates was acquired by Cendant Software, which Fries recalls losing out on, saying, "I just got outbid by a time-share camping business?"

Cendant was then put on sale, along with Blizzard, in 1998, which was when Vivendi bought the PC gaming studio. "Blizzard gets put up for sale a second time. And I bid again, and this time I get outbid by a French water utility," Fries explains. This French water utility company had made strategic inroads into gaming, and acquired shares in developers like Ubisoft, though Vivendi sold all of its Ubisoft stock in 2018 following a failed takeover.

Fries says that once Blizzard made World of Warcraft, the studio was impossible to buy. However, the string of events has come back around and Microsoft finally bought Activision-Blizzard for 68 billion in January 2022.

Other studios Microsoft almost bought include Westwood Studios, the company behind Command & Conquer. He was putting a deal together to acquire the company and then went off on his honeymoon. Once he returned, EA managed to step in and buy Westwood instead of Microsoft.

The studio closed down in 2003 after it had merged with EA Los Angeles. Fries says, "I still think Westwood would have been better with Microsoft, but that one didn't happen."

Warner Bros.' troubled Minecraft movie is reportedly negotiating with Aquaman star Jason Momoa to voice the main protagonist.

According to The Ankler, Warner Bros.' rights to Minecraft expire in January 2023, meaning the studio must start production on the movie before then.

In addition to Momoa, the film has also apparently tapped Jared Hess to direct. Hess is best known for directing Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.

The report also states Warner Bros. is looking to turn the Minecraft movie into a franchise if the first movie can get off the ground. Recently, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise has successfully proven a video game movie series can work, with two hits at the box office, a third on the way, and a spinoff streaming series in development. It seems Warner Bros. is hoping Minecraft can be next in line to continue that trend.

The Minecraft movie's troubled development dates back nearly a decade when Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy left Warner Bros.' Minecraft project over creative differences in 2014. Levy was replaced by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-creator Rob McElhenney, but McElhenney also dropped out.

In 2016, the movie was in its scripting stage, and producers said the movie was targeting the same audience as Jurassic World.

Since then, the movie has had multiple release dates come and go, directors drop out, and at one point included Steve Carell. Most recently, the movie was to be directed by Raising Victor Vargas' Peter Sollett with a release date of March 4, 2022.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Thor: Love and Thunder is set to be full of celebrity cameos, and the movie's first trailer gave us our first look at Russell Crowe's portrayal of Zeus.

Zeus represents the introduction of Greek mythology to the Thor series, expanding from the trilogy's roots in Norse mythos. You can see a quick look at Crowe's character below.

The 90-second trailer features just a quick look at Crowe, who appears to grab a lightning bolt before taking in the applause of a large arena that could end up being Olympus, the city of the Greek gods. Although, whether or not Zeus and Thor are actually literal "gods" in the MCU is up for debate, thanks to new revelations in Disney Plus' Moon Knight.

We first learned that Crowe was joining the Thor 4 cast last March. Reports originally described his role as a "fun cameo" that was intended to be kept a secret until the film's release. Just a month later, we learned Crowe would play Zeus, the sky and thunder god of ancient Greek religion.

Thor, who is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, has been known to face off against Zeus in the comics, so we'll have to wait and see how big of a role Crowe plays in the movie.

One character noticeably absent from the trailer is the film's villain, Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher. According to the film's official synopsis, Love and Thunder sees Thor working with King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) to stop the God Butcher's conquest for revenge. Jane Foster is wielding Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, a story that originated in the comics.

After a delay, Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. There's certainly plenty more waiting to be revealed, as director Taika Waititi has called the movie the "craziest thing I've ever done."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

After a long wait, Marvel Studios released a brand-new Thor: Love and Thunder trailer this morning featuring among other things a glimpse of Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor. In addition to the trailer, Marvel also released a synopsis that revealed how Thor: Love and Thunder will follow the God of Thunder’s quest for inner peace as well as Christian Bale’s role as the villain.

The synopsis reads:

The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late. Directed by Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Jojo Rabbit”) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in theaters July 8, 2022.

Gorr The God Butcher is not featured in the new trailer, but the synopsis offers a pretty good glimpse of what to expect from the villain. Gorr the God Butcher was first revealed in Thor: God of Thunder #1 in 2013. You can read our full explainer here.

The trailer itself heavily features Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy as they hop across the galaxy. Set to the tune of “Sweet Child of Mine,” it seems like it will combine the best elements of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Thor Ragnarok.

Thor: Love and Thunder will be released July 8, roughly two months after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse. A lot of Marvel content is coming this summer to both theaters and Disney Plus, so be prepared. While you wait, check out our explainer on how Jane Foster becomes the Mighty Thor in Love and Thunder.

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.

Activision Blizzard has stated that its CEO Bobby Kotick and Microsoft have not yet discussed what his employment status will be following Microsoft's acquisition of the company.

As spotted by Axios' Stephen Totilo, Activision added a line to its United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing about the planned sale to Microsoft that made clear these talks have not happened yet.

"No discussions or negotiations regarding post-closing employment arrangements with Microsoft occurred between Microsoft and Mr. Kotick prior to the approval and execution of the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, or have occurred subsequent to such approval and execution, through the date hereof," the filing reads.

A big question following the announcement of Microsoft's intent to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion was whether Kotick would be coming along with the deal or not. Reports have come out saying that he is set to leave after the deal closes, but nothing has been confirmed one way or another.

Kotick is at the center of the fallout of a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that alleged Activision Blizzard fostered a "frat boy" culture in which female employees were subjected to sexual harassment, unequal pay, and more.

Another report claimed Kotick knew about these allegations "for years" and over 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees reacted by signing a petition for the removal of Kotick from the company.

The Activision Blizzard and Microsoft deal is not set to close until "sometime in Microsoft's fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023," which means many details are obviously still being worked out.

Blogroll Image Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Thanks to a "first-of-its-kind" Netflix deal, an exclusive version of the card game Exploding Kittens is launching on the streamer ahead of an animated series.

This will be the first time Netflix will release a mobile game and a TV series from the same franchise and Exploding Kittens - The Game will be released on Netflix in May 2022 and the adult animated comedy series will premiere in 2023.

The animated series, which will be titled Exploding Kittens, is set to star Rush's Tom Ellis, The Boys' Abraham Lim, Elementary's Lucy Liu, Toy Story 4's Ally Maki, What We Do In the Shadows' Mark Proksch, and Woke's Sasheer Zamata.

"The eternal conflict between Heaven and Hell reaches epic proportions when both God and the Devil are sent to Earth - in the bodies of chunky house cats," the official description reads.

Shane Kosakowski and Matthew Inman will serve as Exploding Kittens' showrunners and its executive producers include Mike Judge, Greg Daniels, Dustin Davis, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Elan Lee.

The game will feel very similar to those who have played the card game as it tasks players with avoiding the titular Exploding Kitten. The game will feature two new exclusive cards, Radar and Flip Flop. Radar will reveal the position of the next Exploding Kitten in the deck and Flip Flop will reverse the order the cards are drawn.

Future cards and game mechanics will be added once the series arrives so "friends and families can play with their favorite characters and bring the show to life." Furthermore, the game will feature single and multiplayer modes and will be available to all Netflix members "without additional fees or in-app purchases."

“Netflix is the only service that could bring Exploding Kittens to life in both a series and a game,” said Matthew Inman, Exploding Kittens Chief Creative Officer and Creator of The Oatmeal. “We actually launched Exploding Kittens on Kickstarter as a weekend project, but our community has been the heart and soul of the company over the past six years. The new series and game will give our fans new ways to connect and interact with the franchise.”

Exploding Kittens was brought to life thanks to a Kickstarter in 2015 that raised $8,782,571 - which was well over its inital goal of $10,000. Backers began recieving the game in July 2015 and it was released on iOS/Android in 2016 and on Switch in 2021.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Portal 1 & 2 co-writer Erik Wolpaw has shared his desire to begin work on Portal 3, but warns it may be tough to actually get it started at Valve.

As reported by VGC, Wolpaw appeared on the Kiwi Talkz podcast and ended his appearance by saying, "we've gotta start Portal 3. That's my message to... to whoever."

He continued to say that he isn't getting younger and that, if Valve wanted to do a Portal 3 with any of the original team members, it should greenlight the project sooner rather than later.

"I am not getting any younger," Wolpaw said. "We are reaching the point where it’s crazy to think [that we’re] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3, so we should just do it.”

Alongside working on the Portal franchise, Wolpaw has also written on Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, Left 4 Dead, and Half-Life Alyx, so one would assume that he has some power in convincing Valve to act. Unfortunately, it still isn't that easy. While he admits he'd "love" to work on Portal 3, he understands he can't "make it happen by myself."

"Oh, I could advocate for it […] it might help a little bit, but the problem is [Valve has] 300 employees and I don’t know exactly the breakdown – how many of them are on the production side versus Steam business side versus legal versus whatever," Wolpaw explained.

“So there’s a lot of opportunity cost to taking 75 people and trying to get a game made," he continued. "As much as it seems like Valve often [is] just a bunch of people sitting around sipping gin and tonics by a pool, everybody’s working.

“They’re working all the time, it’s just you don’t always see the [result], it doesn’t always end up coming out, or it comes out years later, it gets turned into something else. So everybody is accounted for, I guess is what I’m saying. People are all doing something.

“So you’d almost have to take them – it’s like a revolution – [and] stir up a bunch of people to leave what they’re currently working on and come work on something else, in this case it would be Portal 3.”

Many, including Wolpaw, agree that Portal 3 would be a moneymaker for Valve. The problem, however, is how much money it could actually make.

"The problem is, you would make money, but what kind of money will you make? Are you gonna make Counter-Strike: GO money? Probably not. But having said that, maybe every game doesn’t need to make Counter-Strike: GO money, you know, Gabe, if you’re listening," Wolpaw said with a smile.

While fans may have to wait a long time for a Portal 3, Switch owners will be able to jump into the legendary series with the Portal: Companion Collection - which includes Portal 1 & 2 - later this year.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder has arrived and it features not only the Guardians of the Galaxy, but also our first look at Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor.

Marvel shared the trailer of Thor: Love and Thunder ahead of its July 8, 2022, theatrical release date, and it has Thor trying to figure out exactly who he is. He also wants to "choose his own path" as he claims his "superheroing days are over."

Perhaps most exciting is the end of the trailer, as it gives us our first look at Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor. As if her introduction wasn't enough, it also shows her calling the reassembled Mjolnir to her and proving she is just as worthy to wield it.

Russell Crowe's Zeus also makes an appearance, but we only see his back and a moment of him catching one of his iconic lightning bolts. Notably absent from the trailer is Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher, but it shouldn't be too long until we see the film's villain in action.

We also know that Thor left with the Guardians of the Galaxy after the events of Avengers: Endgame, and the trailer shows Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket Racoon, Nebula, Mantis, and a Groot who looks like a lanky teenager. Oh, and of course the wonderful King Valkyrie and Korg are there as well, which is always great news.

A new Thor: Love and Thunder poster was also revealed alongside the trailer, and shows Thor calling lightning down from above.

"The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace," the official description reads. "But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods.

"To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late."

Thor: Love and Thunder will arrive a bit over two months after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is released in theaters and one month after Ms. Marvel arrives on Disney+.

Yes, Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Atlus has confirmed that Shin Megami Tensei V has sold over one million units worldwide, seemingly making it the best-selling entry in the franchise.

The news was shared on Twitter alongside a special illustration of Nahobino from character designer Masayuki Doi to celebrate the milestone.

Shin Megami Tensei V has sold 1 million units worldwide! ✨

Character Designer Masayuki Doi has created a special illustration to celebrate! Thank you so much for your support! #SMT5 pic.twitter.com/ZDKePUroZS

— Official ATLUS West (@Atlus_West) April 18, 2022

Crossing one million copies appears to make Shin Megami Tensei V the best-selling game in the franchise, as Atlus previously confirmed that 3DS' Shin Megami Tensei IV sold 600,000 units.

The success of SMT5 is another example of franchises finding a massive bump in sales on the Nintendo Switch and it is added to an ever-growing list that includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 43.35 million, Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 37.62 million, and so many more.

In our Shin Megami Tensei V review, we said that its "excellent JRPG combat and deeply rewarding customization shine bright, even when it sometimes feels like Persona without the heart."

The Megami Tensei series began all the way back in 1987 with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, a game that itself was based on a trilogy of science fiction novels by Japanese author Aya Nishitani. Fans of the Persona series owe a lot to Shin Megami Tensei as it was a spin-off from that original franchise.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.