Sony's PlaYStation Network is experiencing network issues currently. The official PlayStation Status page notes that, "All services are experiencing issues."

This includes account management, gaming and social, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Store, and PlayStation Direct.

The website Downdetector notes that the PSN issues have been ongoing for hours already. People are reporting issues with logging in, launching games, and connecting to servers.

Oof.

Whenever the PSN goes down, it's unfortunate, but the timing is especially tough for people wanting to try the Marvel Tokon multiplayer beta that started today, July 24.

"We're aware that some PlayStation players are experiencing login and network issues. Our team is actively investigating the problem and working to identify the cause. We'll share updates as soon as we have more information," the developers wrote.

On the PlayStation Status page, Sony wrote, "We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience."

There's undeniable hype and chatter for filmmaker Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie, but one talking point from fans concerns the evident differences in setting between the adaptation and the Resident Evil 2 game, despite the film "living in the world" of that game. But Cregger hasn't been shy to address these creative changes, and he candidly spoke about why his movie is set in the present day with a snowy backdrop.

Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con (per DiscussingFilm), Cregger reminded fans that he "took liberties to tell a story [he] wanted to tell and make a movie look the way [he] wanted to look." While the Raccoon City outbreak depicted in Resident Evil 2 and 3 takes place in September 1998, Cregger's film depicts characters using contemporary iPhones and sets the outbreak during wintry weather.

"I am not doing exactly a one-to-one Resident Evil 2 adaptation," Cregger said. "There are differences between the movie and the game." He added that the snow is an aesthetic choice, and he "looks really f**king cool to have a horror movie set in the snow."

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/2080477872934854745?s=20

These statements are consistent with what Cregger has been saying about his film for the past couple of years--he's previously talked about how his film is "following the rules" of the Resident Evil world while wanting to create an original story in that universe. The latest Resident Evil trailer certainly shows the writer-director's love for the series, with numerous easter eggs and moments that tonally fit with the Resident Evil games.

The original Resident Evil 2 takes place in 1998 because, well, it released in 1998. It was a present-day setting at the time, and Cregger has chosen to set his film, which premieres September 18 this year, in our present day. Series purists might disagree, but Cregger is arguing that he'd rather capture the spirit of a Resident Evil game in a movie rather than creating a story completely subservient to lore.

"If the barrier of entry is whether I do a one-for-one port, then I guess in that regard, I have failed," Cregger said at San Diego Comic-Con. "But I think the movie is stronger for it."

Best Resident Evil Games, Ranked View Images

The launch of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has proven that there's still a strong appetite for video game remakes, and at 3.5 million sales and counting, Ubisoft's new game is off to a smashing start. That's not too bad, and if you look at the numbers, the Black Flag remake is already one of the best games in this category of the current generation. It still has a long, long way to go before it can dethrone the current king of remakes, as 2023's Resident Evil 4 is still a sales juggernaut.

According to new data by Alinea Analytics, the Resident Evil 4 remake has reached lifetime sales of 16.8 million units across PC and console so far. One thing to note is that the game has lifetime sales of 13.6 million units as of March 31, 2026, according to Capcom, and it hasn't updated those figures yet. If Resident Evil 4 has sold another 3 million units in the last couple of months, then that would make it the company's fifth-best-selling game of all time, leaping over the lifetime sales of Resident Evil Village (14.90 million) and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (16 million). We've reached out to Alinea Analytics for clarification on the figure and will update as soon as we hear back.

The remake gold rush has a clear champion.

As for the rest of the list, the other entrants all boast impressive numbers of their own. Alinea counted games released for the current console generation--starting on November 10--and its data covers overall estimates of copies sold across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. In the number two spot is Ark: Survival Ascended, the 2023 remake of 2015's Ark: Survival Evolved, with 7 million units sold so far. Steam is where the lion's share of the sales came from (3.9 million), followed by PlayStation (2.1 million) and Xbox (1 million).

The Last of Us Part 1 took third place with 6.3 million lifetime sales, which is pretty high considering that it was only available on PS5 and PC. Oblivion Remastered generated 4.5 million lifetime sales, Dead Space reached 4.3 million units sold, and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth sits at 4.2 million units sold since it launched in early 2024. Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake rounds out the list at 3.2 million lifetime sales, but since Ubisoft revealed the Black Flag remake sales numbers this week, it looks like the Ubisoft game has already outperformed it and in record time.

Not even sales chart success could save Dead Space  Dead Space

Sadly, while Dead Space occupies a prime spot on the list, it wasn't enough to save the franchise from going on hiatus. The sci-fi horror series is reportedly on ice at EA, and there are no plans for a new sequel, remake, or even reboot of the IP in the future. Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield revealed last year that he's attempted to revive the series at EA with pitches that he claimed would save the company tens of millions if they greenlit it, but so far, there has been nothing but radio silence regarding its future. Schofield also recently announced that he is retiring from day-to-day game development.

Remakes are more valuable than you think Silent Hill 2

Alinea noted that while remakes have been around for decades, in recent years, they've become a vital part of the video game industry for many publishers. "The way I see it, it's a direct response to the AAA market's woes," Alinea's Rhys Elliott wrote. "A brand-new IP is a six-to-eight-year gamble with no guaranteed audience, the riskiest bet on the board at the worst possible time to be making those bets. A high-fidelity remake is different, with a proven design blueprint, a built-in fanbase, and a much shorter, cheaper production cycle. So the budget gatekeepers aren't gambling on whether people want the thing--the demand’s proven. AKA, less risk."

As Elliot noted, constantly remaking games is not a sound business strategy. Capcom appears to have cracked the right approach, as it uses remakes to help make the production of new games less risky, resulting in critically acclaimed titles like Pragmata. A remake is seen as a dependable source of revenue that also keeps an IP relevant, giving a publisher the space it needs to work on a new project. 

Mario and The Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto has also spoken about remakes, defending them as a way to connect with new audiences.

Meanwhile, last year saw dozens of familiar IP dominate the JRPG genre. The top-rated games--according to GameSpot's sister site Metacritic--were remakes and remasters, with only a handful of original IP like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker emerging to earn critical acclaim.

The 30 Best Video Game Remakes View Images

Alan Ritchson, known for his role as Aquaman on Smallville and Jack Reacher on Reacher, has revealed that Call of Duty is his favorite video game and that he would be interested in appearing in the upcoming Call of Duty movie.

Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Richtson said video game adaptations "scare me a little bit" because "so few work." He's right that video game movies have a spotty track record when it comes to critical and commercial success, with many notable flops, like 2024's Borderlands. There have been huge hits, too, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Minecraft.

"I think the ones that work are the ones that are made directly for kids. Minecraft is a good example. If you make it for kids first, or it's fun... or self-aware, they tend to work. But ones that take themselves too seriously ... [shrugs]. It has to know what it is and it has to be ready to have a good time," he explained.

Alan Ritchson and his muscles in a scene from Reacher.

Asked if he would be up for a role in the Call of Duty movie, he said, "I do love Call of Duty, man... if the story is right."

He also advocated for the Call of Duty movie to feature Zombies, which he said are the best part of the Call of Duty series.

The Call of Duty movie is set in the Modern Warfare universe, which is not normally associated with the franchise's Zombies mode. But in Hollywood, anything is possible.

https://twitter.com/Logan_Taaffe_/status/2080401000675029023

The Call of Duty movie has no confirmed casting yet, but we do know it's going to be directed by Lone Survivor's Peter Berg, with Sicario's Taylor Sheridan writing. Paramount is producing the movie.

As for the Call of Duty game series, Modern Warfare 4 is the next entry in the series and it's coming this October. A free multiplayer beta takes place in August.

Video games are the hot new thing in Hollywood AKA the next content library to mine for ideas and stories. Atari has announced a 10-movie deal with Jurassic World and The Odyssey studio Universal to adapt some of the company's legendary video game properties for the big screen.

Announced at San Diego Comic-Con, Atari has partnered with Entertainment 360 to make a deal with Universal Pictures to give the movie studio the option to develop 10 Atari games into films. Not all of them are expected to go forward, as is often the case with development deals in Hollywood.

According to Deadline, Universal has, however, already bought the first project from the 10-movie deal and hired Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe to write and produce.

What this movie is, however, remains a mystery, but Deadline said it's an "original spec" from Reilly. He is a former Universal executive who switched to screenwriting and producing. Hampe, meanwhile, was a producer on 2019's Hellboy and also worked on Jungle Cruise.

The 10-movie deal includes the following Atari properties:

• Asteroids
• Adventure
• Berzerk
• Breakout
• Centipede
• Crystal Castles
• Millipede
• Missile Command
• Pong
• Yars' Revenge

Atari CEO and chairman Wade Rosen said, "We are excited to work with Universal and Entertainment 360 to bring the spirit of our iconic brand and games to a new medium.”

There are 50+ video game movies currently at various stages of production in Hollywood. In terms of movies that are definitely coming out, Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie arrives in September, followed by Street Fighter in October.

Zach Cregger, the director of the upcoming Resident Evil movie, appeared at San Diego Comic-Con this week, where he revealed that the movie's star, Austin Abrams, nearly died filming a scene that ended up in the movie. The Resident Evil franchise has a history with this kind of thing, as a member of the production crew on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was killed from injuries he sustained during an on-set accident.

At Comic-Con, Slash Film reported that Cregger said there is a scene in the movie where Abrams' character, the medical courier Bryan, is running through a street, with zombies leaping from the tops of buildings at him. Cregger wanted to film this sequence practically instead of using CGI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c

To film the scene, the production team created 150-pound "body-sized blood bags" that were dropped from cranes to create the effect. One of the blood bags came close to striking Abrams, and Cregger said, "It would've killed him."

"If he had been one step to the right, he would've died," he said.

This shot--teased in the new trailer above--made it into the final cut of Resident Evil, "so it's f**king worth it," Cregger said.

"That's what's so great about making movies is you have this scene, you have this amazing idea in your head, and then you just have all these people help you realize that idea and immortalize it on the screen," he said. "And there's a real sense of teamwork and accomplishment. I'm very proud of this movie. I feel like I grew a lot making it, just as a filmmaker."

The Resident Evil movie comes to theaters on September 18. Cregger says the story is akin to The Lord of the Rings.

“Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor,” he said.

For more, check out GameSpot's breakdown of the latest terrifying new trailer for the Resident Evil movie.

EA looks like it'll be aiming to extract extra cash from consumers, as not only will the company be offering $70 standard and $100 "Ultimate" editions of its soccer game EA Sports FC 27, it'll also be selling a $150 "Ultimate Plus" version.

To put this into perspective, EA already sells an MVP bundle of its football games for the same price, but you're getting both Madden NFL, College Football, and deluxe edition perks in that package. In comparison, the Ultimate Plus edition of EA Sports FC 27 is a single game that includes a sizable amount of DLC, such as four premium season passes, 10,000 FC Points--the game's premium currency--spread across several months, player boosts, a Hall of FUT Player Pick, and more.

The other big draw is that this version of the game allows you to start playing seven days early, a perk that we're seeing pop up more often in video games lately. Halo: Campaign Evolved players who purchased the $70 Premium edition currently have early access to the game ahead of its official release on July 28, but a launch issue prevented them from hopping in ahead of schedule.

It's also worth noting that the EA Sports FC games have drawn heavy criticism over the years for how progression has been hidden behind paywalls, while other parts of the game have also been called out for overt pay-to-win gameplay mechanics. These ideas made their way into EA Sports College Football, resulting in everyone being pissed off. EA eventually removed the controversial microtransaction system, but there are still plenty of microtransactions for the popular Ultimate Team mode.

There are also fears that these gameplay systems could become more prevalent if the sale of EA goes through. The company is aiming to sell itself to a group of investors led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and the $55 billion deal will see the company burdened with billions in debt--debt that could require it to make some massive cuts to its portfolio of game studios.

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot believes that Sony's plan to kill PS5 game disc production in January 2028 could have some benefits for the gaming industry. Speaking during a recent investor Q&A, Guillemot expressed his opinion that the PS5 console market could emulate PC gaming--which has been an overwhelmingly digital-only scene since the rise of Steam--and hardware costs could come down as a result.

"What we saw on the PC is that it helped to grow the market," Guillemot said (via VGC). "There's also some pressure for the future on the cost of machines, and being able to be only digital will help to have a more accessible machine, I would say. "There are pluses and minuses, but we think it will not disturb too much the industry."

https://youtu.be/4FatSqS3VYY

Sony's rationale for ending game disc production is that it's following market trends and consumer preferences, as the majority of PS5 game purchases are currently digital. New data suggests that physical game sales are weaker than ever, as only two PlayStation games sold more than 10,000 physical units in the US for the week that ended on July 11, 2026. Throughout 2026, only seven games have sold more than 100,000 physical units so far.

That's still a sizable number of people who purchase physical games every year, but even with its social media channels under siege from consumers demanding that Sony reverse course on its decision, it looks unlikely that the company will budge. Sony--and third-party studios--simply earn more from digital sales, especially with first-party games where it won't be required to pay any retailer fees or handle the financial cost of pressing discs, packaging, and distribution.

With spending on new physical games having been in decline since 2009, the numbers are clearly in Sony's favor as the majority of consumers prefer the convenience of digital games. Guillemot's other point of hardware being more accessible looks unlikely, however, as the current RAMageddon that has seen component prices skyrocket means that the next PlayStation console could cost north of $1,000.

The new season of Batman: The Caped Crusader kicks off on July 31, and anyone looking to join the world's greatest detective in solving some mysteries can also jump into a new game launching the same day. Amazon Luna and Warner Bros. have announced Batman: Caped Crusader - Chronicles, which will be available for Amazon Prime members through the Luna library of streaming games at no extra cost. Amazon also revealed today that Luna will be rolling out to Prime Video on Fire TVs in the US and UK, and the games can be streamed directly from these devices. You can use a controller or a smartphone, making it easier to access games from a single app.

Set in the continuity of Caped Crusader, the co-op party game supports up to four players as they join a special Gotham City Police Department task force and join Batman's inner circle. Alongside Detective Montoya, there'll be 11 episodic missions featuring a mix of sleuthing and minigames. Several of the crimes will also see Batman villains like Babyface, Scarecrow, Dollmaker, and the Joker step into the spotlight. Additionally, Hamish Linklater and Michelle C. Bonilla will reprise their roles as Batman and Montoya, respectively, to create a link between the game and the animated series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F22Gqk_ylNM

The first season of Batman: The Caped Crusader launched in 2024, and unlike other Dark Knight shows, it's set during the 1940s. Using a film noir-inspired setting, the series follows a young but capable Bruce Wayne as he establishes Batman as a force for good, even if the GCPD views him as a dangerous vigilante. Season One included new takes on Batman villains like the Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and Gentleman Ghost. Another big departure from older animated series was the focus on Batman's skills as a detective, with many episodes featuring mysteries that only he could solve.

For Season Two, Batman will take on several familiar foes for the first time, including the Riddler, Mad Hatter--and after being briefly teased at the end of Season One--the Joker. Amazon's game isn't the only new project featuring Batman, as a new fighting game called DCKO was also announced this week. The mobile game features a roster of DC Universe characters slugging it out.

On top of that, the new Lego Batman game is also an unexpected treat and the Arkham sequel that you've been waiting for.