Oscar Isaac has explained his love for Metal Gear Solid led him to accept the role as Solid Snake in an upcoming movie adaptation, saying that its "psychedelic military horror" and anti-war message are a big part of his affections.

Following the news that Oscar Isaac is set to play Solid Snake in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the actor has explained to Total Film why he joined the film.

"I just loved the game," Isaac said. "I love the feeling that the game would give me every time I’d play. It’s just a strangely isolated, mournful, lonely game to play that has these incredible moments of violence and terror, with these weird, psychedelic concepts and villains. But, yes, it’s kind of like psychedelic military horror things that happen."

Isaac spoke further about the themes behind Metal Gear Solid and his hopes for the series' adaptation onto the big screen. "The truth is, underneath the whole thing, it’s an anti-war story. So I think those are the elements I really love," he explained. "And, like I said, I love the feel of playing it, and the big question of: can something like that be transferred – or can you explore those themes in a really interesting way – on film?"

Isaac has long since been known to be a fan of the role. During an interview with IGN for Netflix's Triple Frontier, the actor stated his desire to play the role of Solid Snake in a movie adaptation. "Metal Gear Solid, that's the one," Isaac said at the time. "I'm throwing my hat in for that one."

Following the interview, Vogt-Roberts seemed keen for Isaac to portray the film's lead even before casting had started. The director commissioned artist Bosslogic to create a mock-up of the actor as Snake which you can see in the tweet below.

THIS-MUSING-IS-NOT-NEWS-PSA:

To everyone asking how I feel about Oscar Isaac saying he wants to be Solid Snake.

The full process required to cast an icon hasn’t even started, but..

Ask @Bosslogic where the idea for his brilliant mock up came from.

The ball’s in Oscar’s court. pic.twitter.com/DKM1gw0Oc2

— (((Jordan Vogt-Roberts))) (@VogtRoberts) March 4, 2019

Very little is known about the movie at this point with neither the film's release date nor production date having been announced. With Isaac's incredibly busy schedule, fans will hope that the film is able to move forward sooner rather than later.

In addition to being cast in Metal Gear Solid, the actor has been working on a number of other projects including Marvel's Moon Knight where he is set to play the show's titular character, Marc Spector. The actor will be joined on Moon Knight by Ethan Hawke, who recently revealed what it took for Isaac to convince him to join the Disney Plus series. Meanwhile, Dune - Isaac's next major sci-fi theatrical release - is set to release on October 22. Isaac will portray House Atreides' leader Duke Leto in the film adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Black Myth: Wukong – the gorgeous upcoming Soulslike based on Journey to the West – is now being developed on Unreal Engine 5, with support from Epic Games and Nvidia. You can see how it looks in a brand new trailer.

After being announcing and showing off Black Myth: Wukong as an Unreal Engine 4 game, developer Game Science made the switch to Unreal Engine 5 this year. Both Epic Games and Nvidia are providing support with that switch, and the game will support 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, raytracing, and Nvidia DLSS upon launch.

You can see the fruits of those upgrades in a new 12 minute trailer for the game, below, which has been released to celebrate the year anniversary of the game’s reveal.

The first Black Myth: Wukong trailer was incredibly popular, garnering tens of millions of views in its first few days of release, but Game Science has been very quiet about revealing more since, with a few scant details provided in the year after it arrived. The new trailer offers a lot more than we’d previously seen, with new abilities, visual effects, bosses, and story clues offered – you can learn more about all of those in our trailer breakdown.

We still don’t know a release date, or what platforms the game is aiming for outside of PC, but we’ve collated everything we know about Black Myth: Wukong in one place. Since the reveal, we’ve also learned more about the developer making Black Myth, and seen a shorter trailer to celebrate Chinese New Year that showed off bosses, spells, and more.

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.

By most measures Danny DeVito is exactly the kind of person you'd expect to be verified on Twitter. That makes it all the more surprising that the popular actor abruptly lost the blue checkmark earlier today, to the consternation of his fans.

DeVito's verified status vanished after he tweeted in support of a strike by Nabisco workers. He wrote, "Support Nabisco workers striking for humane working hours, fair pay, outsourcing jobs. NO CONTRACTS, NO SNACKS."

Support Nabisco workers striking for humane working hours, fair pay, outsourcing jobs.
NO CONTRACTS NO SNACKS

— Danny DeVito (@DannyDeVito) August 18, 2021

It is unclear if DeVito's verified status disappeared because of his tweet. IGN reached out to Twitter for comment, and will update this article if we hear back.

Twitter verification is at best a finicky process. Recently, Twitter reopened the application process, whereupon the company was immediately inundated with requests for the blue checkmark. Many users across a multitude of industries — including some boasting tens of thousands of followers — have been denied verification.

DeVito, however, was already verified, and he's a major celebrity to boot. Either way, his fans don't seem too happy right now.

Danny DeVito when Twitter calls to give him back his verification pic.twitter.com/oreJPNT707

— Rich (@UptownDC_Rich) August 19, 2021

HOW DO YOU UNVERIFY DANNY DEVITO https://t.co/ApiEeJPtBw

— danielle tcholakian (@danielleiat) August 19, 2021

Whatever happens, DeVito is staying busy within the entertainment industry. He is current working on a comic about the Penguin, the villain he played in 1992's Batman Returns, and will voice a character in the animated show Little Demon alongside Aubrey Plaza. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in which DeVito plays a starring role, was renewed late last year for another four seasons.

Image Credit: Getty Images/VES 2021

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN.

While Marvel's Ironheart series for Disney Plus is still a way off, fans will be getting their first introduction to the character ahead of the show's premiere. Ironheart star Dominique Thorne will make her MCU debut as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever next year, as confirmed by Variety.

Thorne's involvement with the Black Panther sequel was confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige during an interview with Comicbook.com.

"We're shooting Black Panther: Wakanda Forever right now," Feige said. "The character of Riri Williams, you will meet in Black Panther 2 first... She started shooting, I think, this week before her Ironheart series."

Thorne joins an ensemble including returning cast members Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Lupita Nyong'o. Last month, it was reported that I May Destroy You creator, co-director and star Michaela Coel was joining the project in an unknown role. The film began production in late June and is set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022.

Ironheart, a.k.a. Riri Williams, was created by Marvel comics in 2015. A genius teenage student at M.I.T., Williams creates the most advanced suit of armor since Tony Stark's Iron Man. The character's upcoming Disney Plus series has tapped Chinaka Hodge to serve as head writer. Hodge's previous television credits include Apple's reboot of Amazing Stories and TNT's adaptation of Snowpiercer.

While Marvel hasn't confirmed a release window for Ironheart, the studio has plenty of Disney Plus projects on the horizon. Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye will return in an original series later this year. Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk will also hit the streamer sometime in the future. For a review on every MCU project on the way, check out our complete rundown of the studio's upcoming line-up.

Head here for more on Riri Williams/Ironheart and her comic book history, as well as how she could fit into the MCU.

J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

Steven Spohn describes himself as a “twice-over terminally disabled individual” with spinal muscular atrophy who, according to doctors, shouldn’t be alive. He also describes himself as someone deeply dedicated to advocating for people with disabilities who want to play games.

He turned 40 last year and despite feeling the friendly pressure to celebrate it in a big way — “It’s like a rite of passage, right?” — that was never a reality for him. The COVID-19 pandemic threatened his existence, something spinal muscular atrophy was already doing. Instead, he channeled his love of games and advocacy for the disabled gamer community into a charity drive that managed to raise more than $1 million.

“I am extremely grateful right now,” Spohn said. “But you know, I’m someone who’s also never satisfied with what I’ve done. My personality is always looking for what’s next and I’m just someone trying to figure out how to do more good for the world. I’d love to give you the perfect sound bite — ‘I’m going to Disney World’ — but the only thing on my brain right now is, ‘Ok cool, we managed to do this really cool thing, and here’s what this money is going to do. What’s next?’”

How The Charity Drive Came to Be

Spohn became especially interested in a fundraising effort like this after someone he looks up to named Benjamin Lupo (aka DrLupo) raised millions of dollars for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Lupo showed Spohn that one person can start something that can make a massive difference.

Disabled gamers can face a plethora of challenges when it comes to gaming depending on their disability, such as being unable to use traditional controllers. That’s why AbleGamers works to raise money to purchase items like Microsoft’s adaptive controller for disabled gamers. Spohn himself plays games with a mouse and an infrared hat that uses the pitch and yaw of his head to select preset keyboard buttons.

Many people have a disability like blindness that makes seeing what’s on the screen difficult, or deafness, which can affect one’s ability to hear what’s happening in a game. AbleGamers works directly with developers to help them build options in their games to make them more accessible for people with these kinds of disabilities, and others too.

Spohn’s $1 million charity drive was started to continue all that AbleGamers does, be it remain afloat with paid employees, purchase controllers, create new courses for developers, or hire occupational therapists.

The official fundraising effort began on Spohn’s 40th birthday on September 15 last year and Spohn’s fundraising effort became formally organized under the “#SpawnTogether” hashtag the day the drive began. From there it grew more and more popular throughout the fundraiser.

Spohn says it was always going to be a grassroots effort because he wanted the wider industry to see that people care about people with disabilities.

Today is my 40th birthday!

For my 39th birthday, I made friends with @TheRock

To celebrate this milestone, I'm going to raise $1,000,000 for charity.

But I'm going to need your help. pic.twitter.com/bu1t9KKRg1

— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) September 15, 2020

Before the first 24 hours were up, more than $130,000 had been raised. By the next day, other content creators had raised over $10,000 under the #SpawnTogether Tiltify effort. By the end of that month, almost $150,000 had been raised. The number continued to rise and then on November 14, during GlitchCon, Dr. Lupo informed Spohn that Twitch was donating $1 million to AbleGamers.

Technically, Spohn had hit his $1 million goal at that point, but during the excitement and happiness of the moment, he decided right then and there that he wanted to raise another million.

“I said, ‘thank you for the million and now I'm going to go out and raise another,’ and then we raised $1 million from the community,” Spohn said. “Because here’s the thing: Let’s say I live for another 20 years, or maybe I die in three months. Either way, the charity is going to go on. I knew that it couldn’t be as simple as just convincing a big conglomerate owned by Amazon that they need to hand over a million dollars every year. I needed to show people that it’s something we can all do together.”

I am so shook.@Twitch donating $1,000,000 to @AbleGamers is going to *literally* change the lives of thousands of people with disabilities.

To you who supported me, my work, AbleGamers, and our lofty dream of enabling everyone to play: Thank you

They did this because of you! pic.twitter.com/pxtYXs5lQX

— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) November 14, 2020

Spohn's Riders of Rohan

And show people #SpawnTogether did. Sure, some bigger names helped out, including game developer Alanah Pearce, streamers Bruce Greene and BloodyFaster, and even State Farm and Felicia Day. Spohn, who had received support from people like actors Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in the past, saw his fundraiser reach the likes of actor Brie Larson, too. But Spohn is just as proud of the hundreds of other names that helped out by donating, streaming for the fundraiser, or even sharing a link.

All told, about 250 streamers and 50 teams joined Spohn’s fundraising effort through Tiltify. Whether they donated a dollar or $10,000, partners urged their communities to donate or helped people learn what AbleGamers is about. They pushed forward Spohn’s mission to prove that making gaming more accessible is a cause worthy of the world’s attention.

Spohn said steamer Lilsimsie was one of his main rocks throughout the effort. He called her his Pikachu, always there when he would say, “I need you,” much in the same way Ash Ketchum relies on Pikachu to pull him through the toughest of challenges.

The toughest challenge of all was actually raising $1 million — which is no small sum. Lilsimsie raised $150,000 alone for #SpawnTogether. Halfway through the year-long goal, #SpawnTogether had raised $300,000 since the $1 million donation from Twitch. That topped Spohn’s wildest expectations, but with just six months to go until his next birthday on September 15, there was still a lot of work to be done. Hundreds more, however, helped him smash past that goal, weeks before the year was up.

Then, there’s also the extra attention the fundraiser brought to Spohn, his disability, and AbleGamers as a whole. There were positives, of course. Namely, people learned more about video game accessibility and what AbleGamers is trying to do. Unfortunately, it also led to people mocking Spohn, but he saw those moments as teaching opportunities, sometimes successful, sometimes not.

“We’ve [disabled gamers] kind of become masters of taking a negative and turning it into a positive because people with disabilities have been so looked down on in our society,” Spohn said, reflecting on how his disability led him to a place in life where he can do something like raising $1 million. “All of this was a grassroots effort. This was a Steven Spohn thing at first because this was not an AbleGamers-sanctioned event, there was no marketing budget put into this, nobody was paying me to do anything...this was about people doing something out of the goodness of their hearts and simply helping out one another.”

What's Next for Spohn and AbleGamers

Spohn hasn’t quite figured out what’s next. He knows how the money will immediately help AbleGamers, where he’s the chief operating officer. It’ll help purchase more accessible controllers for the organization to give to disabled gamers. It’ll allow AbleGamers to hire occupational therapists and more to help the organization reach the 46 million disabled gamers in America. It’ll help AbleGamers continue to teach developers how to develop games with accessibility in mind. But for Spohn, looking five years into the future isn’t easy.

“Where we’ll be in five years, I have no idea,” Spohn says. “I couldn’t have told you I’d be doing this interview even a year ago. However, I’m always somebody who wants to figure out how to help the most people in the most efficient ways and I think we’re slowly figuring out how to do that. I think in five years, you’ll see an organization that is raising millions of dollars, an organization that the industry respects because of how transparent we are with where our money goes and…generally, how we don't leave any ambiguity as to what’s going on behind the curtain.”

WE DID IT

WE DID IT

WE RAISED $1,000,000 FOR DISABLED GAMERS

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU pic.twitter.com/VlIrrBYMVo

— Steven Spohn (Spawn) (@stevenspohn) August 16, 2021

Spohn said he’s incredibly grateful for all of the congratulations and buzz around the $1 million achievement, but he doesn’t want people to think of the achievement as his. He just wants to be known as the person that lit the fire. He’s the person that lit the beacons of Gondor, he says. Every single person that donated to his cause is a Rider of Rohan.

“I think that’s my general advice for anybody out there who’s currently looking at me as their inspiration to do something like this,” Spohn says. “Move forward. When we join this world, there's a lot wrong with it and there’s a lot of things that can be done better, and we can’t fix everything. But you can pick a couple of things and you can make them just a little bit better.”

“Now we can say to the industry, ‘people with disabilities are important, and they’re so important that we banded together to raise a million dollars.’ That validation of gamers with disabilities is important...and the games industry needs to keep paying attention to it.”

The #SpawnTogether charity drive for AbleGamers is still live and if you'd like to donate, you can do that here.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. You can also follow Steven Spohn on Twitter @stevenspohn and AbleGamers on Twitter @AbleGamers.

Since last year, Epic Games has been in a legal battle with Apple. When the case was argued in May, a lot of information came out during the trial; this includes Epic offering Sony millions to get first-party PlayStation games onto PC.

While this has news has been around since May, a lot of documents and information surfaced during the span of 21 days. But a new report from The Verge, which recaps some of the most interesting exhibits presented during the trial, shared a lot of interesting things from both parties involved in the case. According to a 222-page confidential document shared during the trial, the Fortnite developer offered Sony $200 million to get Sony to put at least four first-party games to PC.

The document notes Epic was waiting for a response from Sony and that the offer was "$200 MG + for 4-6 titles." Unfortunately, there is not much information as to what the deal between Epic and Sony consisted of and whether or not an exclusivity deal was mentioned to have these PC ports available only on Epic Games Store.

But it is important to note that the PC versions of Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn were released on Epic's digital storefront in addition to its competitor, Steam.

The document also states that Epic Games had individual tactics on trying to get Microsoft and Nintendo on the Epic Games Store, the latter which Epic described as a "moonshot." The document states that Epic was in "opening conversations with Microsoft," and Xbox boss Phil Spencer met with Valve CEO Gabe Newell "occasionally." While another sub-bullet, which is likely referring to Xbox Game Pass for PC, was something "against what [Epic's] doing."

While the document does not provide too much firm information on what Epic Games discussed with these three gaming giants, Epic Games may have convinced Sony to move in a direction that would bring its first-party games to a PC gaming audience. Within the last year, Sony has made it clear this year that more of its first-party games will come to PC.

In an interview with GQ earlier this year, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan noted it was a "straightforward decision" to create more PC ports of its first-party titles. In May of this year, ahead of Sony's Investor Relations Day, a presentation showed that "more PC releases [are] planned" and that the 2016 PS4 exclusive Uncharted IV: A Thief's End may be the next game in PlayStation's portfolio to arrive on PC.

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

Skyrim is back... again. Bethesda announced that it is releasing The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for next-gen consoles, bringing with it various enhancements.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news is that this version will be available for PlayStation 5. In the wake of Bethesda's acquisition by Xbox, the availability of games like The Elder Scrolls on Sony's platforms has been an ongoing concern. In this instance, at least, PlayStation fans are being included.

The Anniversary Edition will include 10 years' worth of content plus some new features. One new feature? A free fishing mechanic. Plus, if you own Skyrim Special Edition, you can upgrade to the Anniversary Edition for free.

For folks who just want to play Skyrim on next-gen consoles, a free next-gen upgrade will be coming to all players.

Originally released in 2011, Skyrim has since received numerous re-releases. It was most recently remastered for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 when Skyrim celebrated its fifth anniversary. You can read our review of it right here.

There have been a lot of fun behind-the-scenes Skyrim stories of late. Just recently we learned the secret behind Skyrim's treasure foxes.,

The Skyrim 10th Anniversary Edition will be released on November 11, 2021.

The fate of a third season for The Witcher on Netflix could depend on how Season 2 goes. Speaking during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour about a potential Season 3, Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich says that there there has yet to be a formal renewal for another season.

Knowing this, the team is focusing on putting out the strongest season possible, aware that a letdown could spell the end for the series.

"There has been no formal renewal," Hissrich says. "In fact, right now my focus is on Season 2. I mean, we have this airdate now, we're going to launch on December 17. There is still a lot of work to be done in post-production. So I'm back and forth between Los Angeles and London completing that, and that is just where all of our focus is right now, because we need a great Season 2 if we have a hope of having a Season 3."

Netflix is notoriously trigger happy with its cancellations, even for shows that are successful. This in part because shows tend to get more expensive as they head into later shows, and because viewership usually declines overall.

IGN thought Season 1 of The Witcher was okay, giving it a 6.5 out of 10, but it was one of Netflix's most-viewed first seasons ever. The second season, which premieres this December, was given the greenlight before the first season had even aired. That doesn't seem to be the case this time around, though, as the future of the series seemingly depends on how Season 2 performs.

That said, IGN reported back in October that a third season was seemingly confirmed by the Writer's Guild of America directories, so Hissrich might just be keeping her cards close to her chest. Hissrich did just sign an overall deal with Netflix, after all.

Season 2 of Netflix's The Witcher will premiere on December 17. While waiting for that, watch the first trailer and then watch IGN's trailer breakdown. Read about how Season 2 starts with A Grain of Truth after that and then check out all seven episode titles from The Witcher Season 2.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Bandai Namco is developing a new Ace Combat game with ILCA, the developers of the upcoming Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes.

ILCA is currently at work on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl while the mainline Pokemon developer, Game Freak, is working on Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

ILCA's next project seemingly won't be Pokemon-related as it will begin work on a new Ace Combat game, as reported by Gematsu.

"We've started work on a new project in the Ace Combat series," Ace Combat producer, Kazutoki Kono, said during the Ace Combat 25th Anniversary Retrospective showcase that aired yesterday. "Our small team can't handle it alone, so we're looking to expand the Ace Combat team in a big way. That's why we want to form a business alliance with ILCA, who will become more deeply involved in the Ace Combat series than ever before, and create a new Ace Combat."

ILCA helped Bandai Namco develop the most recent game in the series, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and it sounds like that partnership went really well as Kono wants them more involved than ever before. More details about this partnership and new Ace Combat game were not revealed by Kono, but he said he hopes fans are happy to learn that more Ace Combat is on the way.

"With this new staff, we're creating a new Ace Combat — a new era," Kono said. "I don't know where we'll be in the next 25 years, but the Ace Combat series will continue, and to everyone who supports us and creates with me, I will continue to give it my all."

While waiting for this new Ace Combat game, check out our thoughts on the latest iteration in IGN's Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown review and then watch the trailer for the upcoming Japan Air Self Defense Force DLC. Watch the latest trailer for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which is ILCA's upcoming set of games, after that and then read about how the remakes will let your Pokemon follow you once again.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

A remaster of the original Quake is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch today. It's also launched into Xbox Game Pass, and will get enhanced native editions on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S "soon", as a free upgrade. It also comes with a brand new expansion, created by MachineGames (Wolfenstein: The New Order).

Announced at QuakeCon, the classic FPS will be available with up to 4K resolution, as well as "enhanced models, dynamic and color lighting, anti-aliasing, depth of field, and the original soundtrack and theme song by Trent Reznor." The upgrade will be free for those who already own Quake on Steam or Bethesda.net.

The campaign can be played entirely in 4-player co-op (online or local, with split-screen) with full cross-play across all platforms. As for multiplayer, Quake's classic arena combat will be available for 8 players online or 4 players locally, and includes "dedicated server support for online matchmaking and peer-to-peer support for custom matches."

Quake Remastered comes with original expansions, The Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity, as well as MachineGames' 20th anniversary expansion, Dimension of the Past. More unexpectedly, the new version comes with a brand-new expansion, Dimension of the Machine, also created by MachineGames.

We all but knew the remaster would be announced soon, after it leaked on the QuakeCon schedule and was subsequently rated by the ESRB. Nevertheless, it's a welcome glow-up for one of the most important FPS games ever created.

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.