PlayStation Access, a show owned by PlayStation that talks about upcoming and ongoing games on Sony’s platforms, may have revealed Ridge Racer 2 is coming to PlayStation Plus Premium in a new video before promptly hiding it from the public.

The since-hidden video said Ridge Racer 2 would be joining the subscription service in October. This is specifically the PlayStation Portable version that launched in 2006, not the 1994 original that was playable in arcades.

The video was made private, but not before the Ridge Racer 2 news started circulating online.

PlayStation Access says Ridge Racer 2 is coming to PS+ Premium on their YouTube video for October games (at around 5:17) https://t.co/Npb79nU2xf

via @Barnacle310 pic.twitter.com/S1wmof5FPv

— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 12, 2022

Ridge Racer 2 did appear in previous PlayStation Blog posts about games coming to PlayStation Plus Premium, but the racing game was never actually added to the service’s catalog. At this point, it's unclear if PlayStation Access accidentally announced an early reveal, or if it was a mistake and the racing game isn't coming to PlayStation Plus Premium.

Sony started rolling out new PlayStation Plus tiers back in June, with the Premium subscription allowing users to download and stream a large library of games on their PlayStation system as long as they’re subscribed. While Ridge Racer 2 is not yet on the platform, there are still plenty of great games available on the service. For more on that, check out IGN’s database for the full catalog.

Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment, and queerness all around the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr, and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which is currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.

Batgirl star Brendan Fraser says it’s “tragic” that the superhero movie was canceled.

During an interview with Variety, Fraser opened up about what it’s like to see the project scrapped by Warner Bros. Discovery.

“It’s tragic,” he said. “It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She’s a dynamo, just a spot-on performer,” Fraser said.

Fraser would have starred as the film’s villain, Firefly.

Batgirl was unceremoniously canceled back in August following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Although details of the film remain scarce, WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav doubled down on reasons for its cancellation, following claims that a test screening left viewers wanting.

“We're not going to release any film before it's ready,” he said. “We're not going to release a film to make a quarter, we're not going to release a film — the focus is going to be, how do we make each of these films, in general, as good as possible. But DC is something that we think we could make better, and we're focused on it now.”

Despite this, Fraser states that Batgirl was still a “big-budget” movie.

“Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all green screen thing,” he said. “They ran fire trucks around downtown Glasgow at 3 in the morning and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials.”

Batgirl was originally devised for streaming – presumably via HBO Max. Instead, the film was bumped up to a theatrical release.

Unfortunately, it’s thought that Zaslav and other execs felt that it didn’t have the big budget appeal of a theatrical comic book movie, and that played a part in its cancellation.

“This idea of expensive films going direct to streaming: we cannot find an economic case for it,” said Zaslav. “We cannot find an economic value for it. So we're making a strategic shift...Our focus will be on the theatrical.”

Fraser remains adamant that the film was coming together nicely.

“I don’t eat half-baked cake,” said Fraser. He then went on to praise Batgirl filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. “Everything that Adil and Bilall shot felt real and exciting,” he added.

Want to read more about Batgirl? Check out details of Batgirl’s secret funeral screening as well as which other DC projects may have been affected by the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

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

A novel based on CD Projekt Red's world of Cyberpunk 2077 will be released next year.

The official Cyberpunk Twitter account announced (below) that the novel, titled Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence, will be released in August 2023. It's being written by Polish science fiction author Rafał Kosik and will tell the story of a group of strangers who discover the dangers of Night City.

Not much else was said about the novel, but CD Projekt Red did confirm that a Polish version would also be released. The book's front cover was also revealed, appearing to show two versions of the same character holding the throat of a cyborg-looking person.

The new novel, "Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence, " is coming to bookstores in August 2023.

Written by Rafał Kosik, "No Coincidence" tells a story about a group of strangers as they discover the dangers of Night City.

Stay tuned for more details! #Cyberpunk2077 pic.twitter.com/03BCFbIzuv

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) October 12, 2022

Cyberpunk 2077 has had a resurgence recently following its fairly disastrous launch, and CD Projekt Red is now doubling down on its reach both within and outside of games.

The developer is currently working on the game's major expansion, Phantom Liberty, which will be released in 2023 and continue the story of V and Johnny Silverhand as they swear allegiance to the New United States of America. It also recently announced Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, which it will develop at its new studio, CD Projekt Red North America, with a team of hundreds of developers.

Cyberpunk has also seen success with the recent Edgerunners anime series that premiered on Netflix in September 2022.

Its reception perhaps bodes well for further adaptations, as in our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners delivers a satisfying return to Night City that does a better job exploring why Mike Pondsmith’s famous location became so iconic in the first place."

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

The Penguin star Colin Farrell has revealed where HBO Max's upcoming The Batman spinoff series picks up while sharing new details about its opening scene.

ExtraTV fished for news about The Penguin series in a recent interview with Farrell about his new movie The Banshees of Inisherin. The actor decided to take the bait by offering some additional morsels of information about the show, specifically when it takes place and where we will find his titular character in the first episode of the season.

"[The Penguin] starts about a week after the film The Batman ends, so Gotham is still somewhat underwater," Farrell explained, referring to the closing act of Matt Reeves' movie. "I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone's office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, 'Oh, jeez.'"

Farrell described the script as "lovely" and "so well-written" before piling on the praise for Lauren LeFranc and the "extraordinary job" she has fulfilled on the project. "She's writing the whole thing and showrunning, and she's formidable," he said. "It's just a very exciting prospect because I love that character and I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn't have enough."

The actor shared his enthusiasm for getting the chance to return and do "more" with The Penguin following his acclaimed turn as the character in The Batman. "The world that Matt Reeves created for The Batman is one that warrants a deeper gaze through the eyes of Oswald Cobblepot," Farrell said in a previous statement about the HBO Max series.

"I couldn't be more excited about continuing this exploration of Oz as he rises through the darkened ranks to become The Penguin," he added, teasing a little more about what's to come. "Will be good to get him back on the streets of Gotham for a little madness and a little mayhem."

In our review of The Batman, IGN's Alex Stedman called Farrell's performance in The Batman "formidable," noting the actor is "deeply unrecognizable" under the convincing prosthetics.

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

FIFA 23 has proved incredibly successful for publisher EA so far as a record 10.3 million players logged in during its first week on the market.

EA revealed the news today, October 12, saying that the massive number of players signalled the biggest launch period in FIFA's franchise history.

"The response from our fans has been nothing short of incredible, and we’re thrilled that our community is playing with their favourite players and teams across FIFA 23 in record numbers," said SVP GM of EA Sports FC Nick Wlodyka.

"With both the Men’s and Women’s World Cups, and exciting updates to our women’s club football content in game still yet to come, we’re just getting started on providing players with the most authentic and immersive experience yet."

EA announced the inclusion of women's clubs in FIFA for the first time back in July, alongside the reveal that Chelsea star Sam Kerr would be the first woman to grace an international cover.

FIFA 23's record breaking launch will likely also be a pleasing send-off for EA - and perhaps a slightly worrying one for the actual FIFA association - as next year's entry will be called EA Sports FC. EA ditched the brand name after FIFA reportedly asked for $1 billion every four years for the name alone, spurring EA CEO Andrew Wilson to comment that all it gets from FIFA is "four letters on the front of the box".

In our 7/10 review of this year's entry, IGN said: "FIFA 23’s slick and dramatic virtual football is fitting for the series’ last hurrah under its long-time name, but familiar frustrations abound, and it still greatly undervalues some of its most beloved modes."

As for the Nintendo Switch version, however, IGN gave it a 2/10, saying "FIFA 23 on Switch is a prime example of minimal effort for maximum profit."

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

Witchfire, the long-awaited spooky shooter from The Vanishing of Ethan Carter developer The Astronauts, has been delayed to early 2023 to facilitate a shift to open world gameplay.

Announced in a blog post on The Astronauts' website, the development team blatantly said that Witchfire is now better thanks to the open world change, but such a drastic shift has required extra time.

Players will now be able to tackle the game in almost any order they want, presumably indicating a change from Doom-style arena-based combat to the more open style of something like Fallout 4.

"The feature is now 95% implemented. It makes the game better. It is kind of hard for me to imagine the player did not have that freedom before," said creative director and co-founder Adrian Chmielarz.

"You can still be trapped by the witch in this or that spot, and some doors will be closed until you find a key, and it might be too dangerous to enter areas closer to the boss before you are ready, but the world is wide open for you to explore in almost any order, and you can both push forward and retreat as you please.”

Despite the delay only spanning a few months, as Witchfire was previously intended to enter Early Access in late 2022 (and will still be in Early Access when it's released in 2023), the game has been a long time coming given it was originally revealed in 2017.

Having gone quiet for nearly five years, however, Witchfire was re-revealed during Summer Game Fest 2022 with a new gameplay trailer that shows off its grimdark fantasy setting.

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

The developer behind Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is working on a new, AAA D&D game and has rebranded from Tuque Games to Invoke Studios.

As reported by Polygon, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast announced the new game is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and will be "a AAA game derived from the Dungeons and Dragons universe".

No release date or further details about what the game will be were announced, but Wizards of the Coast did reveal that Invoke is planning to up its development team from its current 80 members to more than 200 by 2025, though it's unclear if this full, 200+ team will be necessary to complete development on the new game.

Dominic Guay is leading the studio after leaving Ubisoft in 2021, where he worked for 20 years on games including Watch Dogs and its sequel.

Fantastical, AAA open world games appear to be a theme for Wizards of the Coast at the moment as the publisher opened a new studio in July led by Dragon Age's former executive producer Christian Dailey and, elsewhere in the D&D world, Baldur's Gate 3 is now confirmed for a full launch in 2023.

In our 4/10 of Invoke Studios' previous game, IGN said: "Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is a tedious co-op adventure with lots of goblins and even more bugs."

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

Diablo: Immortal players are now able to earn the game's premium, end-game content without having to pay real money for it.

A blog post on Blizzard's website announced its plans to introduce a new currency called Telluric Pearls which can be used to craft five star Legendary Gems, items that were previously locked behind what are essentially loot box dungeons.

It's not totally clear how easy to get Telluric Pearls will be, but Blizzard did announce two ways to get them not linked to paying money. Players can trade Hilts with Lieutenant Fizriah, the Hilt Vendor in Westmarch, or earn them as rewards in Diablo: Immortal's limited-time events.

They'll also be available through in-game shop bundles such as Seekers Supplies and Rift-Runner's Supplies, but as the name implies these items cost money.

Diablo: Immortal's pushing of paid-for content in the end-game proved fairly controversial when it launched back in June, with many players upset because Legendary Gems (required for the most powerful upgrades) were only available after purchasing Legendary Crests. 45 of these cost $100 at their cheapest and still only presented a 0.5% chance to receive a Legendary Gem.

Blizzard CEO Mike Ybarra defended the monetisation, however, saying it was implemented to make Diablo: Immortal more accessible.

The late-game cost also came up in our 6/10 review, as IGN said: "Diablo Immortal's monster slaying action is visceral and satisfying, and the game offers up a huge amount of gameplay for free. That said, its monetisation model and numerous restrictions sour the end game experience, and leave plenty of room for improvement."

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

Microsoft held its annual Surface event today, dedicated to the latest products to bare the Surface name, with a new 2-in-1 tablet, a new laptop, and a refresh to the Surface Studio series. Here's everything announced at Microsoft's 2022 Surface Event.

Surface Pro 9

Succeeding last year's Surface Pro 8, the Surface Pro 9 offers a 13-inch PixelSense Flow display with a 2880 x 1920 resolution and a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The Surface Pro 9 includes two CPU options: 12th Gen Intel Core or a Microsoft SQ3 processor, the latter is an ARM processor that offers 5G support. Depending on the CPU you choose, the Surface Pro 9 with the Intel processor has a battery life of up to 15.5 hours, while the Surface Pro 9 with 5G support offers up to 19 hours of battery on a single charge.

The Surface Pro 9 and Surface Pro 9 also have different RAM configuration options, with the non-5G variant offering 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, while the 5G model offers LPDDR4x RAM in just two options: 8GB and 16GB. Storage options also differ slightly, as both the 5G and non-5G models offer 128GB, 256Gb, and 512GB of removable SSD storage, but the non-5G model offers a 1TB option.

Surface Laptop 5

The Surface Laptop 5 was also announced during today's Surface Event. The latest iteration of the Surface Laptop offers a PixelSense touchscreen display with an option to either buy it in 13.5-inches or 15-inches. The 13.5-inch model offers a resolution of 2256 x 1504, while the 15-inch offers a 2496 x 1664 display. And like the Surface Pro 9, both models of the Surface Laptop 5 include a 10-point multi-touch.

The 12th Gen Intel Core processors are available for Surface Pro with an option of i5 or i7. Memory options include up to 32Gb of LPDDR5x RAM and three removable SSD storage options: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

Microsoft touts that the Surface Laptop 5 promises all-day battery life, and it now includes support for Thunderbolt 4. According to Microsoft, the Surface Laptop 5 is over 50 percent more powerful than its predecessor.

Surface Studio 2+

Back in 2016, Microsoft shocked everyone with the Surface Studio, an all-in-one PC, followed by the Surface Studio 2 in 2018. Four years later, Microsoft announced yet another product as part of the lineup, the Surface Studio 2+.

The Surface Studio 2+ features a 28-inch 3:2 display with a 4500 x 3000 resolution, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. The Surface Studio 2+ includes Windows 11 Pro operating system installed on the device, along with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU. and an Nvidia RTX 3060 laptop graphics card with 6GB of GDDR6 GPU memory.

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

Horror classic The Wicker Man is being adapted into a TV series.

According to Deadline, the upcoming show is being developed by Urban Myth Films and The Imaginarium – Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s production company.

The show has reportedly been in the works for some time following the 2006 adaptation of The Wicker Man starring Nicolas Cage.

War of the Worlds writer Howard Overmann has already penned the script after Urban Myth and The Imaginarium acquired The Wicker Man rights from Studio Canal.

“They are in the early stages of pitching to potential broadcasters,” said Deadline.

The 1973 original starred Edward Woodward as Sgt. Neil Howie – a policeman who travels to the island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. One of the founding films of the folk horror genre, The Wicker Man tells the story of a small community that has abandoned Christianity in favor of a form of Paganism, with Christopher Lee as the enigmatic Lord Summerisle.

Overman told Deadline that the TV show will differ from the original film but will “explore the same themes of sacrifice, superstition, and ritual that were at its core.”

The Imaginarium co-founder Jonathan Cavendish said that Overman has “created a bold, shocking, and unique series, pulling the themes and terrifying power of the original Wicker Man into a thrilling modern setting.”

IGN’s review of The Wicker Man remake gave it 7/10 and said: “The Wicker Man is a competent thriller with some clever moments, a few nice scares, and some inventive visuals. It's weird enough to engage those seeking something a little different, but not really daring enough to break ground. The cast aid the story with strong performances across the board, and LaBute's direction gives the film an edginess that drives Wicker's best moments.”

Want to read more about The Wicker Man? Check out Nicolas Cage’s top 10 misfires as well as the 21 movies audiences hated the most.

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