An expansion pack for The Sims 4 that was previously announced as not coming to Russia due to restrictions on LGBTQ media content in the country will be released in Russia after all, following community outcry.

The pack, "My Wedding Stories," is an expansion for The Sims 4 that adds the ability to plan and perform detailed weddings. The pack's marketing centers around the courtship and marriage of two women, Dominique and Camille. Initially, EA and developer Maxis had cited Russian federal law as the reason for skipping the release in the country, saying that doing so would have forced them to alter their storytelling, "compromising the values we live by."

Since then, Sims community members have pushed back using the hashtag #weddingsforrussia, with some noting that The Sims 4 already has queer relationship options and is currently available in Russia, albeit at an 18+ rating. Though EA had not cited a specific federal law in its initial announcement, it seems likely that the law in question was one introduced in 2013 prohibiting content marketed toward children (anyone under the age of 18) that presents homosexuality as a societal norm, labeling it as "propaganda." The law has been condemned by numerous global human rights groups and has coincided with an uptick of violence against LGBT individuals within the country.

It is unclear whether EA's initial decision was related to a concern that the pack or its marketing would result in legal trouble for the company, or if the decision was made as a form of protest, or other reasons.

In a statement today, EA and Maxis said that it would release the pack after all, following "the outpouring of feelings from our community including both support for our decision and concern for their fellow community members."

"Since then, we’ve been listening to It’s equally important for us to stand by our values, including standing against homophobia, and to share stories like this with those who want and need it most.

"With this in mind, we’ve reassessed our options and realized we can do more than we initially believed and we will now release The Sims 4 'My Wedding Stories' Game Pack to our community in Russia, unaltered and unchanged, featuring Dom and Cam."

The release of My Wedding Stories globally — Russia included — is being delayed to February 23 to account for this change.

When pressed for additional comment as to the reasons for the initial decision and what had changed in the subsequent days, a representative told IGN that the team "realized they had more options than previously understood and are actually able to release." They declined to give further comment.

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

Marvel and DC may have a legendary rivalry going on, but much like the heroes that populate both universes, they know how to put aside their differences for a good cause. Marvel and DC are teaming with The Hero Initiative to finally reprint the crossover comic JLA/Avengers, all to benefit artist George Pérez.

Perez, who retired from comics in 2019 due to ongoing health issues, revealed in December 2021 that he's been diagnosed with inoperable Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer. Pérez told fans on the private Art of George Pérez Facebook group that he's decided to forgo further treatment and has a life expectancy of 6-12 months.

In light of that tragic news, The Hero Initiative has arranged this new printing of JLA/Avengers to benefit the Pérez family. Due to the complicated rights issues surrounding this joint Marvel/DC release, JLA/Avengers has been out of print for a number of years, with both the original comics and the various collected editions fetching high prices on the secondary market.

This new 288-page softcover edition will collect the entire miniseries along with 64 pages of bonus content. Both original forewords by Julius Schwartz and Stan Lee will be included, along with a new afterword by writer Kurt Busiek. This new printing is priced at $29.99 and is limited to 7000 copies. The book will be released through Diamond Comics Distributors in March 2022, meaning you should be able to preorder a copy through your local comic book shop.

Pérez has enjoyed a hugely influential comics career, with some of his major works including The Infinity Gauntlet, New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths and multiple runs on The Avengers. Pérez finally combined the Marvel and DC Universes into one project when JLA/Avengers debuted in 2003.

JLA/Avengers remains the last major collaboration between the two publishers, though a version of the Justice League did recently make a small appearance in Marvel's Thor series (before being brutally killed). DC's Doomsday Clock also hinted at a potential future crossover called Secret Crisis, though it's unclear whether that story will actually materialize.

For more information on The Hero Initiative and how you can support this charity, check out the official Hero Initiative website.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Some Xbox Series S owners are unhappy with how Cyberpunk 2077 runs on the console in the wake of yesterday's 1.5 patch, and CD Projekt Red is taking note. The developer is pledging to look into bringing the experience on Series S closer to the other next-gen versions.

Even after the new next-gen upgrade, the Xbox Series S version of Cyberpunk 2077 only performs at 30 FPS, while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions can reach 60 FPS with occasional frame drops. The PS5 and Series X versions also have a ray-tracing mode that drops the framerate to 30 FPS while providing 4K resolution. The Xbox Series S version currently supports 1440p.

In a post on the CD Projekt Red forum, the developer said they've heard the request for the improvement, and are looking into the possibility of implementing it. However, CD Projekt says they are "investigating our options but don't know if this will be possible".

Besides the difference in framerate and lack of a ray tracing mode, the Series S version does come packed with all of the content and improvements seen from the other next-gen consoles. These improvements include new weapons, updated gameplay, and improved crowd reactions — a feature not included in the last-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

Cyberpunk 2077's long-awaited next-gen upgrade arrived earlier this week, which added a 50 GB patch, free DLC, and a new, five-hour free trial. Fans seem to be largely on board with the updates and changes to the game, which is a welcome sight after the game's notoriously bumpy launch in 2020.

If you want to see the new and improved gameplay for yourself, check out 30 minutes of Cyberpunk gameplay on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

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

The Last of Us fans will have to wait a bit longer for the upcoming TV series. During an interview with Deadline, HBO Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys said that the upcoming TV adaptation of The Last of Us won't appear until at least 2023.

“It’s not going to air in 2022,” he revealed. “They are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in ’23.”

While the series won’t be coming for another year, it already looks promising.

“I have seen some early episodes and I’m very excited,” Bloys said. “Craig did Chernobyl for us, he is a fantastic writer and director. What I’ve seen looks amazing, so I’m excited for it, but it will not be in ’22.”

Bloys also dismissed assertion that it could be the next Game of Thrones.

“There is no next Game of Thrones,” he cautioned. “I’ve been here long enough that I’ve been through, what’s the next Sopranos, what’s next Game of Thrones, now what’s next Succession. There is no next Game of Thrones.”

Either way, it looks as though the upcoming TV show is going to be quite the sensation – especially among those who enjoyed the game. It will star Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, with Pascal saying that the TV show will “more than live up to” the game.

While you wait, check out the The Last of Us' full cast, as well as why the movie ultimately fell apart.

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

Peacemaker will be returning for a second season following the show's breakout success on HBO Max, which has quietly seen it become one of the most-watched shows of 2022.

James Gunn will write and direct all of the episodes in Season 2, with John Cena set to reprise the role of Christopher Smith. HBO heralded the show's social media presence, announcing that it's the "#1 new original streaming series for social engagement on Twitter" — not bad given that Peacemaker ran concurrently with a new Star Wars show.

Learning about and eventually becoming #PEACEMAKER was an exercise in exploring the fun and absolutely genius mind of @JamesGunn. It’s been a privilege to work on this show and with the cast, crew and @hbomax team. Elated to say we’ll be back to create more peace for Season ✌️! pic.twitter.com/ujeeXODvOn

— John Cena (@JohnCena) February 16, 2022

"Learning about and eventually becoming #PEACEMAKER was an exercise in exploring the fun and absolutely genius mind of @JamesGunn. It's been a privilege to work on this show and with the cast, crew and @hbomax team. Elated to say we’ll be back to create more peace for Season 2!" Cena tweeted following the announcement.

Gunn called Peacemaker "one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise."

Peacemaker's season finale is set to debut on HBO Max tonight at midnight. In our review of the premiere, we wrote, "Peacemaker isn't quite as sharply written as Amazon’s The Boys, but James Gunn is aiming for the same sort of subversive superhero show, using excessive violence and biting humor to deconstruct the failings of the genre."

You can check out what else is coming to HBO Max in February 2022, as well as how John Cena inspired the decision to make Peacemaker bisexual.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

A video game reseller has discovered hundreds of factory-sealed Nintendo and Sega games from the 80s and 90s inside a storage facility in Nebraska.

Hoards of SNES, Sega CD, Genesis, Saturn, and 3DO games were put in storage after a local store closed down in 1994 and have remained untouched until now.

A Nebraska-based reseller called Gameroom found the collection and staff joked in a video that there are as many copies of the less valuable NBA and Madden games as there are interesting finds, but the several boxes of incredibly rare games more than make up for it.

The video ends with Gameroom showing off some of the collection's rarest sealed games, including Chrono Trigger on SNES, valued at over $2,400 according to Price Charting, a website that tracks the value of classic games.

Also on SNES was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time (worth over $1,400), Final Fantasy III (worth over $1,200), and Sunset Riders (worth over $750).

The value of these finds makes the lesser titles, such as several copies of Aladdin on SNES, Contra Hard Corps on Genesis, and Musya on SNES seem less exciting, despite them being worth hundreds of dollars each.

Gameroom said they won't be releasing any details on the overall value of the collection until it's all preserved and documented, but it's likely worth tens of thousands of dollars.

It's worth noting that, if they get the games officially grades, the value for most of them could double, triple, or quadruple in price.

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

We're used to seeing next-gen console upgrades that improve visual fidelity or framerates, but it's so far been rare to see next-gen only features that centre around AI. However, one update to Cyberpunk 2077's NPCs was deemed too demanding to bring to PS4 and Xbox One.

Cyberpunk 2077's latest 1.5 patch came with many, many changes for all available platforms – but one next-gen only feature caught the eye. Covered in yesterday's Cyberpunk announcement stream, CD Projekt Red announced that the game's crowd reactions had been improved, both for pedestrians and vehicles.

The changes mean that crowds in the game will now react more realistically to your aggressive actions, with NPCs fighting back, running away, or even fighting each other. "It brings up a bit more reactivity and life to the city," said quest director Paweł Sasko. "The fact that some of the people are actually armed, and they may decide to attack you at the moment when you threaten them in some ways." In cars, similar reactions can take place, with what the team calls "panic driving".

The drawback here is that the change could seemingly only be made on PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia – with PS4 and Xbox One versions seemingly retaining the original AI.

Speaking to IGN, CD Projekt Red global PR director Radek Grabowski explained that decision, effectively saying that the update to AI was too demanding for the older hardware:

"I can say that with the changes and additions being made via updates to Cyberpunk 2077’s core, the game, which was already technically complex, is becoming more and more so. This growing complexity requires more resources — such as faster internal storage, or more memory of which there is typically a finite amount on consoles. With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to introduce some features only in the next-gen versions when it comes to consoles, in order to keep targeting the delivery of the most optimal and stable gameplay experience on base PlayStation 4 and Xbox One hardware."

Before the release of new-gen consoles, we heard many developers discuss how increased power wouldn't just assist with better visuals or loading times, but more complex AI interactions. However, with many games still being released as cross-generation titles, we've so far not seen the full effect of that.

There are some examples aside from Cyberpunk: NBA 2K21 touted its next-gen only AI, and the developers of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora previously told us that it could not have come to last-gen, in part because of enemy and creature AI.

It will be fascinating to see where Cyberpunk goes from here. While we know that much of the team is working on an expansion rather than the core game, there will almost certainly be further tweaks and improvements. Whether those arrive on all platforms will be a point of great interest.

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.

PlatinumGames executives Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya say that they haven't been considering NFTs in the gaming space – and have called out what they see as the money-hungry gaming companies that have adopted NFT schemes. Kamiya called out Konami in particular.

The execs say they understand that NFTs have been the talk of the town but, as it stands, they see it as a way only for driving profit within a company and have little to no positive impact on creators or gamers. The topic of NFTs has been contentious, so those who might have feared that PlatinumGames might join the party won't need to fear.

In an interview with VGC, Inaba says, "The people who are trying to promote NFTs and partner with gaming companies, their conversations seem extremely one-sided. ‘Hey, you’re going to make money!’ But how does it benefit the user or the creator? If I want to spend my time on something, I want it to benefit making good games."

Inaba says that as content becomes increasingly digitalized, the concept of NFTs could become more important. However, as he sees it, early adopters are using them just to profit. As a result, Inaba has no interest in making NFTs a part of Platinum's business.

Kamiya also notes that he has absolutely zero interest in NFTs because he thinks of himself more as a gamer at heart rather than a businessman. "It doesn’t have any benefit for users at the moment," Kamiya explains. "In the future, if it’s expanded in a way that has a positive side for users, then maybe I’ll start to be interested in what they do with it. But I’m not seeing that at the moment."

Additionally, other Japanese companies like Square Enix and Konami have expressed their interest in NFTs. When asked about whether it was surprising that Konami jumped on the NFT train so quickly, Kamiya was fairly brutal in his assessment, "Not really. If it smells like money, Konami’s going to be there in a heartbeat!"

While some companies have been embracing NFTs (often to huge backlash), others have been similarly hesistant. Sega explained that it would drop NFT plans if they end up being perceived as simple money making schemes. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson also previously said NFTs were going to be an important part of the game industry's future. However, he eventually stepped back saying that the company was not actively pursuing NFTs, presumably due to their recent backlash from gaming communities.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Players playing the pre-release version of Nintendo Switch Sports are forbidden from talking about their experiences with the game on social media – despite the Online Play Test being free to anyone with a Switch Online membership.

As spotted by Liam Robertson on Twitter (below), Nintendo said on its website, that "by registering to participate in the Online Play Test, you agree not to share information about the Online Play Test publicly, including the sharing of screenshots or video footage from the game on social media."

It's unclear how Nintendo intends to enforce that rule, however, and no punishments are listed for those that break it.

In more news of Nintendo being dumb and out of touch: they are prohibiting players of the Nintendo Switch Sports online playtest from sharing *anything* on social media about it. https://t.co/UWdnCUR9G1 pic.twitter.com/yboRpRZLBS

— Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) February 16, 2022

It's not uncommon for such a stipulation to built into closed beta builds of pre-release games, but this paytest is far more open to the public than many such schemes. Reaction to the decision online has been one broadly of confusion.

Nintendo points out further into its terms and conditions that the "Online Play Test software is under development and may not be reflective of the full version of Nintendo Switch Sports," adding that "you may experience unexpected behaviour or errors while playing."

Registration for the playtest opened today, and you can get access by subscribing to the Switch Online service and heading to this website.

The Online Play Test for Nintendo Switch Sports, a 15-years-later sequel to Wii Sports, is spread across five separate 45-minute sessions on February 19 and 20, offering Switch Online members a chance to play the game ahead of its launch on April 29.

The game will feature six different modes on launch (Tennis, Bowling, Chambara, Soccer, Badminton, and Volleyball) but Nintendo has confirmed that Golf is also on its way via a free update this autumn.

Nintendo unveiled Switch Sports during its latest Nintendo Direct, where it also announced Xenoblade Chronicles 3, 48 new tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a new Mario Strikers and a ton of other new games and updates.

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

HBO Max's Peacemaker just confirmed that Christopher Smith is bisexual, and James Gunn has credited John Cena for making that decision about his character.

In an interview with Empire magazine, hitting newsstands on February 17, per SlashFilm, Peacemaker creator James Gunn revealed that the idea to turn the series' titular anti-hero into a bisexual character was one that developed naturally when John Cena stepped back into the role of the violent vigilante to lead his own solo series on HBO Max.

"Peacemaker is an interesting character because he's so f*****-up in so many ways, and then in other ways, he is kind of weirdly forward-thinking," Gunn explained. "John does improv all the time, and he just turned Christopher Smith into this hyper-sexualized dude that is open to anything sexually. I was surprised by that. But I thought, 'I guess it makes sense that this guy isn't one-dimensional.'"

Cena determined that Peacemaker would be bisexual by reflecting on the history of his character and the struggles that he faced throughout his bleak upbringing, which is when the realization hit that his past experiences would most likely have broadened his mind and made him "willing to do anything" to a certain extent.

"We see in the show that he doesn't have any issues with sexuality," Gunn said, acknowledging that the series dropped more than a few hints about Peacemaker's bisexuality before confirmation arrived in the penultimate episode. "As long as you're not f****** animals — that he's not into. But besides that, he's pretty open. And yet other things he's completely close-minded on."

Peacemaker's bisexuality was referenced in a line of dialogue from his father, the villainous White Dragon, in Episode 7, "Stop Dragon My Heart Around," which aired on February 10. IGN awarded the episode an 8 out of 10, noting how "the characters have grown individually and as a team, developing into a group that just might be capable of saving the world."

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