A former IT security analyst at Sony PlayStation has filed a lawsuit against the company on Monday, alleging gender discrimination and wrongful termination after speaking up "about discrimination against females" at the company.

Bloomberg reports that the former IT security analyst, named Emma Majo, is seeking to expand her lawsuit into a class action on behalf of women who've worked at Sony PlayStation in recent years.

The lawsuit charges that Sony "tolerates and cultivates a work environment that discriminates against female employees, including female employees and those who identify as female."

Majo also says that Sony discriminates against females and female-identifying employees in terms of compensation, promotions, and "subjects them to a work culture predominated by men." Majo similarly alleges that she was passed over for multiple promotions, was ignored by her manager, and that her employment was terminated after she submitted a gender bias complaint to Sony.

Adding to the mystery, the lawsuit claims that Majo received a letter stating that a certain department of Sony was being eliminated, and thus Majo's employment was being terminated, but Majo was not a member of that department.

The lawsuit was filed with California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which submitted a similar lawsuit against Activion-Blizzard earlier this year.

Representatives from PlayStation did not immediately respond to IGN's request for a comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit joins the growing list of gender discrimination controversies and legal battles facing video game companies big and small, including Activision-Blizzard and its longtime CEO Bobby Kotick, Riot Games, and indie studios like Gone Home developer Fullbright.

You can read the full lawsuit here.

Joseph Knoop is a reporter/producer for IGN.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to gobbling up major Hollywood talent for its growing cast of heroes, and Keanu Reeves certainly seems willing to join the MCU in the future, according to new comments from the star of The Matrix and John Wick series.

"It would be an honor [to join the MCU]," Reeves told Esquire in a new interview. "There's some really amazing directors, and visionaries, and they're doing something no one's ever really done. It's special in that sense in terms of the scale, the ambition, the production. So it'd be cool to be a part of that."

It's not just speculative chit-chat, either. Back in 2019, as Reeves was enjoying a second renaissance with the release of John Wick 3: Parabellum, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that Marvel had been talking to Reeves "for almost every film we make."

“I don’t know when, if, or ever he’ll join the MCU, but we very much want to figure out the right way to do it," Feige said. Feige reportedly drew a comparison between Reeves and Jake Gyllenhaal, who was approached for several Marvel roles before ultimately signing on to play Mysterio in the second Tom Holland Spider-Man film.

In the meantime, you can catch Keanu Reeves in the upcoming DC League of Super Pets, where he plays a currently unknown role. You can check out the brand new trailer above.

You can also check out which Hollywood actors will be joining Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/super pet for IGN.

Paramount Plus' live-action Halo TV Series has continued to fill out its cast, with several more stars reporting for duty alongside Pablo Schreiber's Master Chief.

Halo: The Series will focus on the 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the alien forces of the Covenant. Production on the series began in Budapest in 2019 but the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions. Cameras started rolling again in late 2020, with the series now scheduled to release on Paramount+ in 2022.

Otto Bathurst is onboard to direct and produce the live-action series, bringing many of the game's beloved characters to life. Kyle Killen and Steven Kane are both credited as showrunners on the first season's nine episode order, however, neither will be continuing with the show if it happens to be picked up for a second season.

Keep reading for a rundown of who's appearing in the Halo TV series — and don't forget to bookmark the page, as we'll be updating this article with all-new casting announcements.

Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief

Pablo Schreiber has boarded the Halo TV series to portray lead male protagonist Master Chief, aka Earth's most advanced warrior in the 26th century and the only hope of salvation for a civilization pushed to the brink of destruction by the Covenant — an unstoppable alliance of alien worlds committed to the destruction of humanity.

Schreiber is best known for his roles on The Wire, American Gods, and Orange Is the New Black, proving he's capable of wearing many hats when it comes to his character portrayals, and now he will be sporting the iconic helmet from the Halo video game franchise. The first image of Schreiber's Chief is said to have shown him wearing authentic-looking armor.

Danny Sapani as Jacob Keyes

Another series mainstay was found in Danny Sapani who signed on to play Captain Jacob Keyes in the upcoming adaptation. His character is described as being a dedicated military man, a war hero and a caring father, though he finds that working alongside his daughter and his ex-wife can usually be a cause of conflict rather than comfort.

Olive Gray as Miranda Keyes

Meanwhile, Olive Gray was cast to play Jacob's daughter Dr. Miranda Keyes, with the friction between the pair set to be explored in the new series. Miranda is a brilliant UNSC Commander who is dedicated to understanding the technology, language and culture of the Covenant, but she'll have to learn to navigate the politics of the UNSC to get what she wants.

Charlie Murphy as Makee

Peaky Blinders actress Charlie Murphy also joined the cast as a brand new character named Makee. Makee is an orphaned human raised by the Covenant to hate her own people. She is said to be a different character from the video games' Mahkee, who made her debut in Halo 5: Guardians and is the first female Sangheili person in the series.

Yerin Ha as Quan Ah

Newcomer Yerin Ha will also be portraying an original character in the Halo universe, as she steps forward to play Quan Ah, a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both. The budding actress celebrated her breakthrough role on the series in a Facebook post that announced the casting news.

Jen Taylor as Cortana

Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana in the mainline Halo games, will reprise her role as the "smart" AI for the upcoming TV series. Taylor was enlisted to replace actress Natascha McElhone after she was forced to bow out of the role due to scheduling difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, though McElhone will remain onboard as Cortana's creator.

Cortana made her appearance in the original Halo as the AI for Master Chief, with Taylor voicing the beloved character in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 5: Guardians. She also makes a brief appearance in the prequel Halo: Reach, as well as voicing Microsoft's virtual assistant of the same name on Windows devices.

Natascha McElhone as Catherine Halsey

Californication star Natascha McElhone will continue in the role of Dr. Catherine Halsey, a key scientific adviser of the Office of Naval Intelligence who is highly respected for her work as the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan supersoldiers and Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race.

Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066

After receiving critical acclaim for his role in the second season of the FX series Fargo, Bokeem Woodbine will take on a new role playing Soren-066 in the Halo series. He will embody the morally complex privateer at the fringes of human civilization whose fate will bring him into conflict with his former military masters and his old friend, the Master Chief.

Shabana Azmi as Admiral Margaret Parangosky

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi will portray Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence. According to her character's Halopedia page, Parangosky is known to be very powerful and deadly. In fact, Dr. Halsey is the only person who has ever crossed her and lived, which may make for an interesting on-screen dynamic.

Bentley Kalu, Natasha Culzac and Kate Kennedy as three new Spartan characters

The forthcoming TV adaptation is also set to introduce three new characters to the Halo universe. Bentley Kalu, best known for his roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron and American Assassin, will play Spartan Vannak-134, a cybernetically augmented supersoldier conscripted at childhood who serves as the defacto deputy to the Master Chief.

Natasha Culzac, who landed a guest role playing Toruviel on Netflix's The Witcher, will take her place in the Spartan gang. She will portray Riz-028, a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine, while Catastrophe's Kate Kennedy takes on the role of Spartan Kai-125, an all-new courageous, curious and deadly Spartan supersoldier.

Keep checking back here for all the latest casting updates for the Halo TV series.

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

Remember that "big remake" PlayStation was reportedly going to announce around this coming Christmas? Good news, JRPG fans: it might be beloved Square Enix classic Chrono Cross.

According Xbox Era's Nick Baker on a recent podcast, the reported "big remake" mentioned by folk singer Éabha McMahon on an Irish radio station back in October is indeed a remaster of the sequel/spin-off to Chrono Trigger from the original PlayStation era, and what's more, Baker's sources tell him that it will be "multi-platform" as opposed to PlayStation exclusive.

Notably, a Chrono Cross Remaster was also among the numerous titles listed in Nvidia's GeForce Now game leak back in September. Though that list has thus far been hit-or-miss as to accuracy and Nvidia has claimed the titles were "speculative," some of the games in that leak have turned out to be real, like the GTA Trilogy Remaster.

Chrono Cross itself is a beloved classic that IGN adored when it first released way back in 2000, though it's gotten mixed reception due to the strange space it occupies as a sort of alternative universe spin-off of Chrono Trigger rather than a direct sequel. Unlike its predecessor, though, Chrono Cross hasn't received any love via ports or new content on other platforms, meaning the only legitimate way to play it anymore is to own an original PlayStation or PS2 and have a physical copy of the game.

And while there have been plenty of whispers over the years of a Chrono sequel, none have yet emerged. For now, if you want to enjoy something like the Chrono games, you'll have to turn to projects made by some of the same team members, such as mobile games Another Eden or Fantasian.

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

Epic Games has announced that it has acquired rhythm game maker Harmonix, best known for titles like Rock Band and Dance Central.

In a press release, Epic announced that as it continues work on building the metaverse, it has enlisted Harmonix to “reimagine how music is experienced, created, and distributed.” Harmonix will help develop “musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite,” while still working on Rock Band 4.

Harmonix offered more insight into its future in its community blog. The studio announced that it will continue its existing DLC plans and plans to release more tracks next year. Rock Band Rivals Seasons will also continue with plans for both Season 25 and 26.

The studio reiterated that it will next be working with Epic on creating musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite. Sadly, Harmonix also says it does not plan to resume production on more Rock Band instruments, so expect them to still be rare commodities on the second-hand market.

Harmonix is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Epic Games. Alongside tech-focused ventures, Epic acquired Rocket League studio Psyonix and Fall Guys developer Mediatonic.

The most recent rhythm game from Harmonix is Fuser, a music festival game where players can create a custom DJ set to play in front of a virtual crowd. IGN reviewed Fuser and awarded it a 7 praising its core campaign but offered little outside of it.

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

For the second time, the inhabitants of Fortnite have met their collective end with the close of Chapter 2, Season 8. In its wake comes Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 1 – an updated Battle Royale experience with new gameplay mechanics, an altered island map, and a Battle Pass featuring Spider-Man.

Fortnite Update: Chapter 3, Season 1 Map Changes

Recent events in Fortnite have ushered in sweeping changes to its island map. Fans can not only expect to see altered versions of familiar places, but there will be new locations as well, including Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s own Daily Bugle.

Marvel’s iconic newspaper facility won’t be the only new area worth exploring, as The Sanctuary, The Seven’s secret base of operations, has been revealed as well.

Fortnite: New Gameplay Mechanics

Beyond new characters and map changes, Fortnite Chapter 3 adds new traversal mechanics. These include the ability to slide about in hopes of evading enemy fire or the new swinging mechanic that allows you to mimic Spidey’s movements.

Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 1 also introduces the biggest game-changing feature since Reboot Vans in Camps. These special locations will allow you and your squadmates to store items to be used in later matches. Not only that, it’ll also allow you heal up after taking damage.

Fans can expect new items and weapons scattered all over the island. If utilized well (and with a bit luck) they’ll be able to get multiple Victory Royales and potentially earn the new Victory Crown. This digital accolade will certainly encourage competitive play.

Fortnite: Chapter 3, Season 1 Battle Pass

It wouldn’t be a new season of Fortnite without a brand-new Battle Pass. This latest pass will offer a lot of the same – new skins, emotes, weapon wraps, etc. It also features the amazing Spider-Man. While those things are worth getting excited for, it’s Epic Games allowing players to continue earning Battle Pass XP outside of Battle Royale that’s really interesting.

Done by using the Accolade Device, Fortnite Creative Mode players can build XP gain into their created experiences. They won’t be able to set the amount, so it won't be easy for players to blast through all 100 levels. Instead, they can set XP award weight based on the number Accolade Devices they have and how frequent players are awarded.

Essentially, players won’t be able to manually type in how much XP they want their friends to earn. All of the math is done in the background in a way that keeps things balanced; players will be able to influence things based on the complexity of their created accolades but won’t be able to give out free XP.

And that’s it for Fortnite’s latest update. Be sure to check back here for more Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 1 patch notes! Also, if you missed it or want to make sure you didn't miss a thing, read our breakdown of Fortnite Chapter 2's finale event and the introduction of The Rock as The Foundation.

Kenneth Seward Jr. is a freelance writer, editor, and illustrator who covers games, movies, and more. Follow him @kennyufg and on Twitch.

The Mercenaries mode is coming to Resident Evil 4 VR in 2022.

As noted in an Oculus press release, the fan-favorite mode will arrive as a free update sometime next year. Prior to the announcement, the RE4 VR was the only version of Resident Evil 4 not to include The Mercenaries. The Mercenaries is an arcade-style mini-game that first appeared in Resident Evil 3, in which players are tasked with obtaining the highest score by killing as many enemies as possible before the timer runs out.

Alongside the inclusion of The Mercenaries mode, Oculus also announced that it plans to add additional mobility and comfort settings into Resident Evil 4 VR sometime next year. This includes hand-based steering, better left-handed controls, and the option to fine-tune the location of your chest and waist inventory slots.

Resident Evil 4 VR launched last month and it quickly became one of the most popular games for the Quest 2 headset. According to Oculus, based on gross sales in the first week since release, Resident Evil 4 VR has become "the fastest-selling app in the history of Quest."

The game has been met with critical acclaim and was nominated for "Best VR/AR Game" at the 2021 Game Awards. In my review of Resident Evil 4 VR, despite the fact the game lacked additional modes like Separate Ways, I noted that it offered a fresh take on one of the most ported entries in Capcom's popular survival horror series.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster

Halo Infinite's Joseph Staten has discussed the year-long delay to the game, saying that while it was "very, very hard", he is "so proud of the studio and Xbox" for make the decision to prioritise player experience over putting an unfinished game out.

With Halo Infinite's multiplayer is out in the wild, and apart from early criticisms of the game's Battle Pass system, the game is largely receiving praise from fans. While final verdicts on next month's campaign are still to come, the multiplayer's positive reception is the first step in what could be a huge redemption story for Halo Infinite.

After a reveal that left many fans underwhelmed and led to Craig the Brute's rise to internet stardom, Halo Infinite was delayed from its Holiday 2020 launch window all the way to Q4 2021. In hindsight, even Phil Spencer said he regrets how the reveal went down.

Now, we're learning even more about what was going on inside Xbox and developer 343 during the delay of Halo Infinite. Speaking on IGN Unfiltered, Halo veteran Joseph Staten went in-depth on his experience working on Infinite, from joining the project part way through development, to the tough decision to delay the game out of the Xbox Series X's launch window.

On a hot summer day in 2020, the internet was ablaze with negative reactions to Halo Infinite's big reveal. Staten, who is known for his work on Bungie's original Halo trilogy, wanted to see if he could help. He called Bonnie Ross, VP at Xbox Game Studios to see if he could help at all with the seemingly troubled development of Halo Infinite. Now, Staten says that was the start of a "brand new career."

Staten, who was instrumental in the success of Bungie's Halo games, was all of a sudden thrust into the role of Project Lead for Halo Infinite's campaign.

Inside 343's Decision to Delay Halo Infinite

In August 2020, shortly after Halo Infinite's big campaign debut, the news of the delay came out. Staten says there was a lot of stress and pressure involved with the delay, even though it ended up being the right choice.

"[There was] a huge amount of pressure to stay the course. I think a really wonderful example of Xbox leadership doing the right thing for our fans, doing the right thing [...] for players, even though it hurt them, Even though there were costs associated with that." Staten said. "It was 100% a player-first decision, and I'm so proud of the studio and Xbox for making that decision."

Staten says the campaign benefitted the most from the delay because it's the "largest Halo campaign we've ever made." The team was also grateful for more time to work on the multiplayer, Staten says the difference is that multiplayer, "doesn't have the same surface area as the campaign."

The team looked at 10 different main areas of the game they wanted to work on. Staten says two of the 10 areas were how to identify and find equipment easily, and how to use the grapple hook, which he calls the "fourth leg" of Halo combat, in addition to weapons, melee, and grenades.

Staten added that another main goal was to finish the game in a healthy way for the studio, to prepare them for moving onto supporting the live service aspect of Halo Infinite. Even though the game is coming out in full next month, not every feature will be there at launch. Fan-favorite modes like campaign co-op and Forge won't show up until May 2022 at the earliest.

Delaying Halo Infinite co-op was "very, very hard," according to Staten. He says the simple truth is that, "co-op wasn't ready," and 343 decided to prioritize effort in other areas, like making sure performance is stable on all platforms.

"If we don't maintain a high bar, if we don't commit ourselves to excellence and commit ourselves to every time we launch something to delighting our customers, living up to their expectations, ideally exceeding our expectations, I don't think we're doing this job right," Staten said.

For more on the development of Halo Infinite, check out the full interview with 343's Joseph Staten. And, be sure to check out our preview of Infinite's campaign.

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

Ahead of the long-awaited launch of Halo Infinite's campaign, 343 Head of Creative Joseph Staten has revealed that his favorite Halo game is Halo 3: ODST.

Staten, who was instrumental in the success of Bungie's Halo games and joined Halo Infinite's development shortly after its delay in 2020, spoke to IGN for our Unfiltered interview series and shared why Halo 3: ODST meant so much to him.

"Halo 3: ODST is my favorite," Staten said. "And not just because I was helping to lead that project, but for me it was... any game developers that are watching will understand this. It was the game that we made in the most stable technology base that we'd ever had. You know, it was Halo 3 ODST. It was built in the Halo 3 engine, very few feature changes, so as almost entirely a content exercise.

"And we just had the flexibility to go in and create an experience, a story that didn't have to wait for the engineers to do all their hard work, rebuild tools and pipelines, implement big features. All of those things are wonderful part of game development, but it just makes things challenging. It extends your timeline."

He also discussed a bit more about its development and talked about how Bungie's studio head Harold Ryan and project lead Paul Bertone came to him and said they need this game to be finished in just six months, which is an incredibly short amount of time for a AAA game.

"So I believe the original charter for ODST was we needed it in six months," Staten continued. "Harold Ryan, our studio head at the time famously came to me, and Paul Bertone, the other project lead and said, 'We need it in six months. Something like Halo 3, but backwards at night.' And we're like, no, we're not gonna do a Halo 3 backwards at night, but we get what you're saying. It needs to be efficient, it needs to reuse assets. We need to be smart about the new things that we put in."

Luckily, that timeline was extended after Staten and the team proved how special this game could be. As it turned out, Halo 3: ODST was delivered in just about 18 months for its September 22, 2009, release date for Xbox 360.

"So we set up a prototype and people saw what we were going for and believed in it enough that they said, okay, well now you've got 12 months total," Staten said. "And it turns out at 12 months for a variety of reasons, we ended up actually getting closer to 18, and we were able to spend those last months just layering on as much polish as we possibly could.

"So for me, in terms of stable technology, just a really tight, cohesive, happy team, everybody marching forward with the same clear vision, it just a really wonderful game to work on. Very different than the vast majority of other games that I've worked on."

It was even more of a dream project for Staten as he got the chance to take risks again in a franchise that was so beloved and established. Furthermore, he got the chance to tell a noir detective story, something he had always wanted to do.

"It was an experimental game too in many ways," Staten says. "When you're working on a franchise like, it's challenging to innovate. It's very risky to try new things. We certainly are in Infinite, which is very exciting. But ODST was a noir detective story, the kind of that I had always wanted to write, and the fact that I was able to do it in Halo was pretty cool. I didn't think that was gonna happen in my career."

While we still have to wait until December 8 to see how truly innovative Halo Infinite's campaign ends up being, fans can jump into its free-to-play multiplayer right now.

If that wait is too tough and you need to learn more Halo Infinite's campaign, be sure to check out our four-hour hands-on preview of the story, the first Craig meme Easter Egg that's been found already, and how hidden audio logs will help tell the larger story of Zeta Halo.

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.

Mario movie co-producer Chris Meledandri has suggested that Chris Pratt's performance as the main character won't be using Mario's usual accent, and that his chosen voice is "phenomenal".

Speaking to TooFab, Meledandri was asked about the divisive casting choice, replying, "All I can tell you is the voice that he's doing for us in Mario is phenomenal. Yeah, I can't wait for people to hear it."

With regard to that performance, he suggested that Mario's normal tones might not be what we should go in expecting: "We cover [that accent] in the movie, So you'll see we definitely nod to that – but that's not the tenor of the performance throughout the film."

Asked about the response to Pratt being asked to play a character traditionally depicted as Italian, Meledandri said: "Well, as an Italian American myself, I understand. You know, I understand the comments. Charlie Day, who's playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah so that's our nod."

Pratt was cast alongside Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike. Mario video game voice actor Charles Martinet will appear in at least one cameo role.

The animated movie, being created by Despicable Me studio Illumination, is scheduled to hit theaters on December 21, 2022. The project was originally announced in 2018, with both Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto attached as producers.

Nintendo is also exploring animation projects beyond Super Mario, and early reports suggest Seth Rogen might be getting his own Donkey Kong movie.

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.