The hit action-RPG Nier: Automata is being made into an anime.

Announced today by developers Square Enix during the game’s Fifth Anniversary Livestream, the adaptation will see the Japanese videogame become a TV anime series.

A brief teaser trailer gives us a glimpse of the animation style. Along with the trailer, Square Enix also revealed an image of 2B along with her Pod companion robot:

According to a translated official statement, the story sounds as though it hews close to the original game. Humans have fled to the moon in the face of the "overwhelming force" of machines life forms, and combat android 2B has been sent to recapture the planet.

Aniplex, the studio responsible for Fullmetal Alchemist and Sword Art Online is said to be involved in the production of the Nier: Automata anime.

The original Nier: Automata is set during a proxy war between alien-created machines and human-made androids, vying for control of planet Earth. The story follows the tales of combat android 2B, scanner android 9S, and rogue prototype A2 – requiring multiple playthroughs to unlock the full story.

It was released on February 23, 2017, to resounding critical acclaim. IGN’s own review said: “Nier: Automata is a crazy, beautiful, and highly entertaining journey full of nutty ideas and awesome gameplay. It may not include the most sensical story or compelling characters, but its frenzied combat -- coupled with beautiful visuals and a stunning soundtrack – make it too much fun to pass up.”

Although the game was considered to be one of our top 25 PS4 titles, the PC version was met with some criticism – especially its Steam version, which received a slew of fixes last year, including 4K UI textures, improved cut scenes, and more.

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

The upcoming Blade reboot just added Krypton star, Aaron Pierre.

According to Deadline, the 27-year-old British actor will co-star alongside Mahershala Ali in the upcoming reboot of Marvel’s vampire hunter franchise.

Known for his role as Dev-Em in the Man of Steel prequel, Krypton, Pierre also recently starred as the rapper Mid-Sized Sedan in the M. Night Shyamalan movie, Old.

It’s currently unknown which role Pierre will take. The Blade reboot will see Mahershala Ali take over from Wesley Snipes as the half-vampire vampire hunter.

Although the film’s plot is currently being kept firmly under wraps, it’s also thought that Marvel’s Black Knight will appear in the movie after he was approached by Blade during a mid-credits scene in Marvel’s Eternals.

Played by Kit Harrington, the Black Knight was last seen reaching for his iconic Ebony Blade, and as Blade himself seemingly intervenes, it feels like a team-up waiting to happen. Director Bassam Tariq has already teased that Marvel takes “big swings”.

“I didn't think [Blade] was going to happen, just to be very honest,” he said. He also hinted that he has a clean slate when working on the reboot. “I think the reality is there is no Blade canon, you know?” he added. “If you ever read the comics, they're always changing… Unfortunately, the [comic series] never lasted that long."

As well as the addition of Aaron Pierre, it looks as though Delroy Lindo has joined Blade in an unknown role. Meanwhile, original Blade Wesley Snipes responded to Mahershala Ali’s casting.

Need a refresher course on all things Blade? Check out our history of Marvel’s day-walking vampire hunter. And if you’re wondering how Blade will fit into the MCU, here’s what we think will go down.

Blade will star Mahershala Ali, Delroy Lindo, and Aaron Pierre. Bassam Tariq will direct the movie with a script from Stacy Osei-Kuffour, based on characters created by Gene Colan and Marv Wolfman.

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

Guerrilla Games has released its first post-launch patch for Horizon Forbidden West, which fixes several gameplay, graphics, and quest bugs – and stops the game crashing as much.

Version 1.05 doesn't fix all known issues within the game, as Guerrilla acknowledged in a Reddit post that it's still working on some of the visual problems players have reported – but it does address some.

Two gameplay fixes have been made for the Second Chance skill and the camera jumping to random angles when using certain weapon techniques.

Several glitched quests have also been fixed, including the main quests Reach for the Stars, The Eye of the Earth, Cradle of Echoes, and The Sea of Sands, alongside a handful of side quests, errands, and world activities.

Several general fixes have been deployed as well, including images incorrectly sharpening in HDR mode, the HUD flickering when looting, Aloy's jittering when climbing, and Petra's teleporting in the Chanscrape brewery.

Some issues that the developer is aware of but has not addressed yet, it said, were the "high priority" graphical issues regarding shimmering, sharping, and screen saturation; some players experiencing infinite load screens to the Melee Puts; Aloy being blurry in Photo Mode; and an issue in Reach for the Stars where Aloy can't interact with a carcass, blocking progression.

While patch notes can often be a dry affair, Guerrilla opted to include a bit of humour in its post, saying "a rogue Tallneck that would sometimes change the direction of its route has been disciplined," and "NPCs that seemed to suffer from insomnia and would gather in large groups at night in settlements should act more naturally now."

The problems don't appear to affect the game's overall enjoyability too much as IGN said the PlayStation exclusive was "amazing" as "Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5."

Be sure to check out our guide as well for the best place to start in Forbidden West, the most powerful skills to acquire, the most important things the game doesn't tell you, and more.

The full notes can be viewed below:

Horizon Forbidden West 1.05 Patch Notes

Main Quests

• Fixed an issue in main quest ‘Reach for the Stars’ where reloading a certain auto-save after completing the first quest could block progression.
• Fixed an issue during interlude ‘The Eye of the Earth’ where Aloy could fall out of the world after skipping a cinematic.
• Fixed an issue in main quest ‘Cradle of Echoes’ where Varl would wander off on a reload from save.
• Fixed an issue in main quest ‘The Sea of Sands’ affecting several grapple points.

Side Quests and Errands

• Fixed an issue in side quest ‘Blood Choke’ where Atekka would appear to fall out of the sky.
• Fixed a progression issue in side quest ‘In The Fog’ related to fast travel during the quest.
• Fixed an issue in errand quest ‘Night of Lights’ where a pullable box could get stuck and block the quest progression.

World activities

• Fixed an issue where Relic Ruin: The Daunt could not be started in certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue in salvage contract The Greenswell: Plowhorn and the Plants where an optional objective could not be completed if the required item was sent to the player stash.
• A rogue Tallneck near The Sand of the Sentinels that would sometimes change the direction of its route has been disciplined.

Gameplay fixes

• The Second Chance skill should now work correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the camera had an unintended position when using certain weapon techniques.

General fixes

• Image oversharpening in HDR mode has been corrected.
• Fixed an issue where some settlements would stream in, then stream out in certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue where the HUD would flicker when the player performs a loot action.
• Fixed an issue where rapidly opening and closing the map could cause graphical anomalies.
• Fixed an issue where Aloy's animation would sometimes jitter rapidly when climbing after picking up a plant has been fixed.
• Fixed a global issue where the direction of Aloy's gaze, or that of certain NPCs, was incorrect.
• Fixed several instances where Aloy, NPCs or enemies could get stuck in geometry.
• Fixed an issue where roads and icons on the map would sometimes appear with a delay.
• Fixed several streaming issues and unintended loading screens.
• NPCs that seemed to suffer from insomnia and would gather in large groups at night in settlements should act more naturally now.
• Petra will no longer teleport into her seat inside the Chainscrape brewery if followed immediately after the initial conversation with her.

Crash fixes

• Fixed several crashes.

Other

• Various performance improvements.
• Various other minor fixes and cosmetic improvements.

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

Valve has released a new tool that will let you see exactly which games from your Steam Library will be compatible with the Steam Deck.

Those interested in seeing which games Valve's upcoming handheld gaming PC will be able to run can head over to the Steam Deck Compatibility page and log in with their Steam account to see if their Steam Library games are Deck Verified, Deck Playable, Unsupported, or Untested.

Deck Verified games will be "fully functional" right out of the box, Deck Playable games will work but “might require extra effort to interact with or configure,” Unsupported means a game is currently not functional on Steam Deck, and Untested means Valve simply hasn’t checked the game for compatibility yet.

As an example, the games in my Steam Library that are Deck Verified are Vampire Survivors, Stick Fight, Disco Elysium, Half-Life 2, The Messenger, Return of the Obra Dinn, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Stardew Valley, Portal 2, Sonic Generations, Super Meat Boy, FTL, and Left 4 Dead 2.

My Deck Playable games include The Forest, Among Us, Before Your Eyes, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Final Fantasy VII, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Civilization VI, Valheim, 7 Days to Die, Loop Hero, Path of Exile, Kerbal Space Program, Pillars of Eternity, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Antichamber, Don't Starve Together, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection.

My Unsupported games are Lost Ark, Duck Game, New World, Half-Life: Alyx, Scavengers, and Bright Memory: Infinite. Lastly, I currently have 78 untested games in my Steam Library.

Valve notes that the Steam Deck review team is "testing more games every day, working our way through the Steam catalog."

The Steam Deck will be released on February 25, and you can check out everything you need to know about Valve's upcoming handheld gaming PC with our Steam Deck explainer.

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.

Valve has released a new tool that will let you see exactly which games from your Steam Library will be compatible with the Steam Deck.

Those interested in seeing which games Valve's upcoming handheld gaming PC will be able to run can head over to the Steam Deck Compatibility page and log in with their Steam account to see if their Steam Library games are Deck Verified, Deck Playable, Unsupported, or Untested.

Deck Verified games will be "fully functional" right out of the box, Deck Playable games will work but “might require extra effort to interact with or configure,” Unsupported means a game is currently not functional on Steam Deck, and Untested means Valve simply hasn’t checked the game for compatibility yet.

As an example, the games in my Steam Library that are Deck Verified are Vampire Survivors, Stick Fight, Disco Elysium, Half-Life 2, The Messenger, Return of the Obra Dinn, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Stardew Valley, Portal 2, Sonic Generations, Super Meat Boy, FTL, and Left 4 Dead 2.

My Deck Playable games include The Forest, Among Us, Before Your Eyes, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Final Fantasy VII, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Civilization VI, Valheim, 7 Days to Die, Loop Hero, Path of Exile, Kerbal Space Program, Pillars of Eternity, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Antichamber, Don't Starve Together, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection.

My Unsupported games are Lost Ark, Duck Game, New World, Half-Life: Alyx, Scavengers, and Bright Memory: Infinite. Lastly, I currently have 78 untested games in my Steam Library.

Valve notes that the Steam Deck review team is "testing more games every day, working our way through the Steam catalog."

The Steam Deck will be released on February 25, and you can check out everything you need to know about Valve's upcoming handheld gaming PC with our Steam Deck explainer.

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.

After record-low viewership for the 2021 Oscars, the Academy is changing things up for 2022. THR reports that the presentation for eight award categories will be prerecorded at the Dolby Theatre and edited into the live broadcast.

The categories that will be prerecorded are as follows:

• Documentary (Short Subject)
• Film Editing
• Makeup and Hairstyling
• Music (Original Score)
• Production Design
• Short Film (Animated)
• Short Film (Live Action)
• Sound

In a letter sent to the Academy's members, Academy President David Rubin said this decision was made with the television audience in mind. After last year's low viewership, Rubin wrote that the Academy needs to, "increase viewer engagement and keep the show vital, kinetic, and relevant."

Still, all awards categories and acceptance speeches will be featured on the live broadcast. It's likely that the prerecorded awards will be trimmed down to save time, as the purpose of the move is to adhere to a tighter schedule for the broadcast, with the goal of hitting the Best Picture announcement right at the three-hour mark. The Academy tried a similar model in 2018 that it immediately abandoned.

The Academy Awards is also introducing a new level of fan participation for this year's event. The Oscars will host a new fan poll allowing Twitter users to vote for their favorite movie of 2021. The movie fans vote for doesn't have to be a nominee at the Academy Awards, meaning any movie can take home the title. Maybe Spider-Man: No Way Home will take this award, and Kevin Smith won't have to complain about the snub any longer.

Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes are set to host the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.

For more, check out the Oscars 2022 nominations, where The Power of the Dog leads the way with recognition in 12 categories. And, check out our picks for the biggest Oscars snubs.

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

After record-low viewership for the 2021 Oscars, the Academy is changing things up for 2022. THR reports that the presentation for eight award categories will be prerecorded at the Dolby Theatre and edited into the live broadcast.

The categories that will be prerecorded are as follows:

• Documentary (Short Subject)
• Film Editing
• Makeup and Hairstyling
• Music (Original Score)
• Production Design
• Short Film (Animated)
• Short Film (Live Action)
• Sound

In a letter sent to the Academy's members, Academy President David Rubin said this decision was made with the television audience in mind. After last year's low viewership, Rubin wrote that the Academy needs to, "increase viewer engagement and keep the show vital, kinetic, and relevant."

Still, all awards categories and acceptance speeches will be featured on the live broadcast. It's likely that the prerecorded awards will be trimmed down to save time, as the purpose of the move is to adhere to a tighter schedule for the broadcast, with the goal of hitting the Best Picture announcement right at the three-hour mark. The Academy tried a similar model in 2018 that it immediately abandoned.

The Academy Awards is also introducing a new level of fan participation for this year's event. The Oscars will host a new fan poll allowing Twitter users to vote for their favorite movie of 2021. The movie fans vote for doesn't have to be a nominee at the Academy Awards, meaning any movie can take home the title. Maybe Spider-Man: No Way Home will take this award, and Kevin Smith won't have to complain about the snub any longer.

Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes are set to host the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.

For more, check out the Oscars 2022 nominations, where The Power of the Dog leads the way with recognition in 12 categories. And, check out our picks for the biggest Oscars snubs.

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

Denis Villeneuve is one of sci-fi’s preeminent visualists, but one opening scene idea was scrapped due to its immense budget.

In an interview with IndieWire, Dune screenwriter Eric Roth was asked about how he joined the project and what early ideas he had for his version of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi opus. According to Roth, he appreciated the source material but wasn’t a “fanboy” which gave him some distance to approach the work.

“That gave me an objective view of it. I grew up in that era, which ‘Dune’ was part and parcel of — psychedelics and all the things that I lived through… And so I said, ‘What the hell, I’ll try it. What have I got to lose?”’

Working with Villeneuve was another reason Roth joined the project. However, an early draft of Roth’s script began with a biblical “Genesis” of the desert planet Arrakis, where Dune is set.

“Because I’m adventurous, I started the movie with what would seem to be Genesis — “and God created’ — and you think you’re seeing the formation of the Earth. And it’s ‘Dune,’ with wild animals, things you’ve never seen.

However, this idea never made it to film because according to Villeneuve, while he loved the idea, if done the director claims the team “can’t afford the rest of the movie.”

Roth says he’s unsure if this was Villeneuve's polite way to pass on the idea, but given Dune’s other visual effects and massive budget, any additional scenes may have stretched the cost too much.

The idea of genesis has been done on film before, notably by Darren Aronofsky in his 2014 biblical movie Noah. But certainly, an entire cold open dedicated to visually representing the creation of an entire planet could add months of production to a movie already split into two parts.

Safe to say Dune still succeeded without this early idea as we considered it one of the best movies of 2021. Check out IGN’s review for Dune here for our take on, what I’d consider, successful adaptation of the unfilmable sci-fi novel.

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

Denis Villeneuve is one of sci-fi’s preeminent visualists, but one opening scene idea was scrapped due to its immense budget.

In an interview with IndieWire, Dune screenwriter Eric Roth was asked about how he joined the project and what early ideas he had for his version of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi opus. According to Roth, he appreciated the source material but wasn’t a “fanboy” which gave him some distance to approach the work.

“That gave me an objective view of it. I grew up in that era, which ‘Dune’ was part and parcel of — psychedelics and all the things that I lived through… And so I said, ‘What the hell, I’ll try it. What have I got to lose?”’

Working with Villeneuve was another reason Roth joined the project. However, an early draft of Roth’s script began with a biblical “Genesis” of the desert planet Arrakis, where Dune is set.

“Because I’m adventurous, I started the movie with what would seem to be Genesis — “and God created’ — and you think you’re seeing the formation of the Earth. And it’s ‘Dune,’ with wild animals, things you’ve never seen.

However, this idea never made it to film because according to Villeneuve, while he loved the idea, if done the director claims the team “can’t afford the rest of the movie.”

Roth says he’s unsure if this was Villeneuve's polite way to pass on the idea, but given Dune’s other visual effects and massive budget, any additional scenes may have stretched the cost too much.

The idea of genesis has been done on film before, notably by Darren Aronofsky in his 2014 biblical movie Noah. But certainly, an entire cold open dedicated to visually representing the creation of an entire planet could add months of production to a movie already split into two parts.

Safe to say Dune still succeeded without this early idea as we considered it one of the best movies of 2021. Check out IGN’s review for Dune here for our take on, what I’d consider, successful adaptation of the unfilmable sci-fi novel.

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

Update: Activision has reached out to IGN with a statement on the report that 2023's Call of Duty release was being delayed to 2024.

“We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. Reports of anything otherwise are incorrect. We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right."

IGN has followed up with Activision to ask if this was a direct denial of the claims in the Bloomberg piece that specifically the typical major November Call of Duty release in 2023 would be delayed to 2024, and will update this story accordingly.

Original story:

The typical annual Call of Duty release planned for 2023 has reportedly been delayed into 2024.

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the situation, executives in charge of the franchise have made the decision early after "a recent entry in the series failed to meet expectations," leading them to believe that Call of Duty's current annual cadence of releases was too rapid. The decision is reportedly unrelated to the recent Microsoft purchase of the publisher, and the 2022 Call of Duty release is still on track.

The "recent entry" is most likely Call of Duty: Vanguard, which faced release competition with Battlefield 2042 this past holiday season, as well as the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone. A previous report noted that Vanguard's sales had also been suffering due to players feeling fatigued at Call of Duty's constant release cadence, making them less interested in buying a new entry every year.

The annual Call of Duty release has traditionally been one of gaming's biggest moneymakers, typically topping sales charts in the US at launch and remaining in the top ten year-round. With a massive sales gap now looming, Activision is reportedly working on other projects to fill in the gap such as ongoing content for 2022's Call of Duty release and a separate new, free-to-play online game that's as yet unannounced.

One interesting note is that this could mean Call of Duty players on PlayStation are able to stick with the series on their console of choice for a bit longer, as Microsoft has reportedly said it wants to release the next three games (Call of Duty 2022, 2024, and Warzone 2) on all platforms post-acquisition.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.