Author: Game Infliction

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the very first movie in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe!

Now that Superman has hit theaters, James Gunn’s DC Universe is fully underway… Or is it? While Gunn has now released a movie, a TV show (Peacemaker), and an animated series (Creature Commandos) under his stewardship, there’s still a missing piece of the DC Universe puzzle: video games.

Gunn told fans back in 2022 that his master plan for an interconnected DC Universe includes video games. But unlike on the movies and TV side of things, there have been no official announcements regarding what the first DC Universe video game will be.

An absence of reveals doesn’t mean we don’t have a reasonably clear picture of what to expect, though. Across multiple interviews and press events, Gunn and co-studio head Peter Safran have explained their plans, including the fact that while they don’t technically oversee Warner Bros.’ gaming division, there’s now a much deeper collaboration between WB Games and DC Studios that could dramatically alter the way future DC video games are made. With that in mind, let’s analyze what the future of games will look like in the new DCU era.

Gunn Takes Over DC

The first time we learned that video games factored into Gunn’s DC plans was shortly after he and producer Peter Safran were announced as co-heads of DC Studios on October 25, 2022. While answering fan questions on X, Gunn responded to one user who asked if games would be connected to the DCU alongside films and TV. To this, he simply replied, “Yes.

It wouldn’t be until a few months later that Gunn revealed what movies and shows were in development as part of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, which is the DCU’s equivalent of the MCU’s Phase 1. And while video games were conspicuously missing from the Chapter 1 roadmap, Gunn told members of the press, “Television, movies, and games all intertwine within the same universe. We’re going to cast actors who are going to be able to play the characters in [animation and TV], as well as in other things.” This was the first clear indication from Gunn that video games were indeed a part of his plans for the DCU.

One important thing to know is that Gunn’s job as head of DC Studios doesn’t include control over any of Warner Bros’ video game studios, which include developers like Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat), Rocksteady Studios (Batman Arkham), and TT Games (Lego).

Under the current Warner Bros. Discovery corporate structure, Warner Bros. Games exists separately from DC Studios and is overseen by Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO of global streaming and gaming, JB Perrette. But after Gunn and Safran were named DC co-heads in 2022, Perrette appears to be deferring to the new DC bosses when it comes to matters of comic book video games.

The Walls Break Down Between WB Games and DC Studios

In an interview with Variety in 2024, Perrette revealed, “Frankly, there hasn’t been as close a relationship between the studio and the games business as there should have been. And James [Gunn] is actually a gamer, so having someone who’s passionate about it is super helpful.” Perrette added that the games departments are now “actively working with [Gunn and Safran] on the core franchises within the DC Universe.”

Based on this interview, it appears there was once a wall that divided WB’s gaming division from the movie and TV studios. And according to Perrette, it was only after Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios that a newfound sense of collaboration was achieved.

This dividing wall was confirmed a year later during a DC Studios Presentation held on February 24, 2025. During the event, James Gunn and Peter Safran confirmed Perrette’s statements regarding the separation between the two WB divisions and how that relationship has changed since they took over.

“We work incredibly closely with JB Perrette, who runs that division, and it’s really the first time ever it’s been this way at Warner Bros,” Safran confirmed. “It’s been great, and we’ve enjoyed it enormously. Everything had been so siloed, and now that’s completely broken down, and it’s been great. Because it also applies to consumer products and experiences, and everything that DC touches runs up through us now, which is awesome.”

“James [Gunn] and I sit with literally the guys that run the studios underneath JB,” Safran added. “Whether it’s NetherRealm or whether it’s Rocksteady, [we] sit with them and talk about characters and stories that we’re interested in and that they’re interested in.”

It’s funny that Safran mentions Rocksteady, as it was reported earlier this year that the studio is developing a new single-player Batman game. While it may be too soon to tell, at least according to Gunn and Safran, there will likely be some input from their side of things at DC Studios.

“We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages,” Gunn said at the event. “When they’re talking about what the story might be, we say, ‘Well, maybe you want to go this way because we’re planning on maybe doing something with this character and so forth and so on,’ and help deal with that.”

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be sold as a physical Nintendo Switch game with the “full base game” included on a 64GB cartridge.

Switch 2 Game-Key Cards are physical cards that contain a key to download your chosen game. That means there’s no actual game data on the card you insert into your Switch 2, and you’ll instead need to download the full game once the card is inserted. Every Game-Key Card case should be appropriately labeled on the front of the box, but the practice has been troubling some gamers, especially those who prefer to physically own their games, not just license them digitally.

This is particularly good news for Sonic fans because there had been confusion and conflicting reports about CrossWorlds in particular. Now, however, Sega has removed all doubt, confirming in a new FAQ that “the physical version will feature the full base game on a 64GB cartridge.”

The FAQ also confirmed that crossplay will be available for Nintendo Switch 2 players, progress will carry over from the original Switch to the newer edition, and yes, there will be a $10 upgrade pack for anyone hoping to upgrade to the Switch 2 version in the future.

By contrast, Square Enix was criticised by fans earlier this week for confirming there would be “no upgrade path” for its Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake on Switch 2, and that its save files would not be compatible across platforms.

Sega has said CrossWorlds will feature a huge roster of over playable characters, if you include DLC. Characters you’d expect to see, such as Sonic, Dr. Eggman, Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails are present and correct, but now you can add the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the mix.

CrossWorlds is, of course, going up against Switch 2 exclusive kart game Mario Kart World, which has so far resisted adding guest characters from outside Nintendo’s portfolio. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is set for release on both the Switch and the Switch 2, so it looks like we’ll be set for some old-fashioned Mario vs. Sonic kart racing rivalry when Sega’s effort launches in September.

IGN recently went hands-on with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and came away impressed. “It’s a vibe,” we said, “and one that I’ve enjoyed and will look forward to drifting through.”

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The alleged risk of using a well-known Pokémon Go exploit is causing widespread confusion among the game’s community, fuelled by a dire warning from a senior player that supposedly originates from the app’s own development team.

Said warning states that Pokémon Go’s developers are aware of the exploit in question — which allows users to interact with in-game locations from further away than normally possible — and consider it “a violation of the Terms of Service of the game.”

Continued use of the exploit is detectable by the developer’s anti-cheat teams, the warning goes on to claim, and risks users’ accounts being flagged for cheating — an offense that can eventually result in a permanent account ban.

The appearance of this message, and the claim it is being passed on from Pokémon Go’s makers, has sparked a firestorm of debate, primarily over the rights and (mostly) wrongs of this exploit being viewed as cheating in the same vein as more nefarious tactics.

Many players have said that this “trick” simply makes use of a unintended bug in how the game functions, and is not comparable to the tools some players use to actively break the game, such as by using third-party apps and hacks to spoof their location.

There’s also a debate over the veracity of the message itself — both over its origins, which appear to be from a senior player marked as a Community Ambassador who has spoken to the game’s developers, and over the likely intent behind what was said.

To understand the nuances here, it’s worth taking a look at the issue in more detail. At a base level, the exploit allows players to access a raid lobby slightly beyond their normal interaction radius via a Daily or Premium Raid Pass, rather than by using a more expensive Remote Raid Pass.

Performing the exploit — referred to locally among players as “flying,” “floating,” or “tricking” — is clearly not intended behavior, but can hardly be considered game-breaking. Accessing a raid lobby that’s less than 100m away but slightly out of your normal range is considered by many players to simply be a convenience — and potentially an aid to taking part in more raids overall, even if this is done so without the top-tier Remote Raid Pass.

That said, a simple glance at the game’s Terms of Service (TOS) shows that, according to the letter of the law, this could indeed fall under the game’s description of cheating as it stands.

IGN contacted the Pokémon Go development team to ask about the origins of the warning, whether the exploit was indeed considered cheating, and what actions players might expect if they continued to use it. In response, a spokesperson pointed us back to the game’s TOS document, and specifically its section on cheating, which we’ll quote below.

Now, it’s entirely possible to see how this exploit could fall under the TOS’ definition of using “techniques to alter or falsify a device’s location” and therefore — again, according to the letter of the law — is something that could be considered cheating.

But by pointing IGN back to its TOS, the Pokémon Go development team is also — deliberately or not — highlighting something potentially crucial around this issue’s enforcement. And that’s the fact that, once again, according to the letter of the law, playing with multiple accounts is also considered cheating — despite it being something that a percentage of the game’s playerbase does, with absolutely zero infraction.

What this may all ultimately boil down to is someone purportedly asking the Pokémon Go development team for its view on an issue that the game’s makers would obviously never sanction, but which seems unlikely to suddenly result in waves of players being banned. And yet, because of the murky origins of the warning, and because nuance can be difficult when messages get passed over the internet, players have now been left aggrieved and concerned.

Will the exploit stick around in the game forever? It seems unlikely. Will players suddenly find themselves banned for using it while it’s still possible? This seems unlikely too. But, we should state, this is just one reading of the situation, in lieu of any formal statement being provided — something which, if formalised, would likely only prompt the need for actual enforecement, which the majority of players seem to be against.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Good news, ‘80s action fans: Blasting bad guys’ brains out and balls off is still RoboCop’s business, and business is… unfinished. A standalone expansion to 2023’s entertainingly authentic RoboCop: Rogue City, RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business takes Robo’s relentless rampage off the scum-riddled streets of Old Detroit and up through the heavily guarded heights of OMNI Tower in an all-new, 10-hour killing spree. The bad news is that with precious few new weapons and enemy types, the action of Unfinished Business never really elevates enough to match the skyward trajectory of its setting or distinguish itself as little more than a replay of the original. There’s still plenty of ultra violence to indulge in here, but it’s a form of mindless fun that’s as familiar as it is ferocious.

Not unlike the 2012 sci-fi splatterfest movie Dredd, the action of Unfinished Business is contained almost entirely within the one highrise building and sees RoboCop making his way from the ground floor to its upper reaches in search of some stolen OCP equipment. It borrows a bit of BioShock as well, since Robo is initially led along by an anonymous assistant on the other end of a two-way radio, and that helps to lend a welcome air of mystery to the story’s opening half – even if it doesn’t eventually pay off with any shocking plot twists like Irrational Games’ underwater classic.

As was the case with the previous game, the success of Unfinished Business’ storytelling largely hinges on the often hilarious deadpan delivery of original RoboCop actor Peter Weller in the main role. Whether he’s repeating iconic lines from the movies or making subtle mockery of almost everyone he meets, Weller’s performance is a noticeable cut above the rest. Admittedly, that’s not a super high bar to clear since the supporting cast often sound like they’re voiced by hastily dashed-out placeholder recordings someone forgot to fill in with the real ones, and each seem to draw from the same shallow pool of character heads, making it tough to really distinguish one from the other. In the end, I was happy to go along for the ride all the way to Unfinished Business’ bullet-riddled gore-gasm of a climax, in spite of the fact that I didn’t particularly feel compelled to focus on anyone other than the scumbags standing squarely in front of my ironsights.

Business As Usual

Beyond the story, though, Unfinished Business is a fairly flat 10 hours because while it increases the amount of bad guys you have to shoot, it doesn’t do nearly enough to expand the variety of ways you do it. If you’ve played 2023’s Rogue City, then you’ve already experienced the bulk of what Unfinished Business’ combat has to offer. Once again, you’re able to ricochet bullets off walls to stylishly snipe enemies hidden behind cover, perform breach-and-clears on almost every door you come across in bloodsplattered slow-motion, and shoot explosive barrel after explosive barrel as you RoboStop and RoboDrop absolutely every criminal you come across. It’s all presented with the same fan-pleasing flair, from the green Apple IIe-like graphics of Robo’s heads-up display to the iconic theme music that swells along with the increasing enemy numbers, and that certainly still goes a long way. It’s just a shame to see the skill and Auto 9 upgrade systems copied across seemingly unchanged. You unlock the exact same perks like armour-piercing rounds and the ability to automatically deflect incoming enemy fire, just a little faster this time thanks to the story’s shorter runtime.

There are a handful of new mechanical enemy types to contend with at least, though none of them really shake things up to a dramatic degree. I did find myself making more consistent use of Robo’s returning slow-mo skill in order to combat the fast-moving robobombs that rapidly roll towards you, as well as the swarms of flying security drones that dart unpredictably through the air above. But while the nimble killbots that cartwheel around the place seem threatening at first blush, they quickly prove to be about as resilient as a jar of baby food as I either shattered their robot skulls with a quick burst of bullets or simply picked them up and disposed of them like katana-wielding Kleenexes, even on the hardest difficulty setting.

OMNI Tower itself does offer the occasional interesting space to host the slaughter in, from the vibrant video arcade and cinema found in the relaxation zone to the trashbag-strewn underbelly of waste management (complete with a Star Wars-style trash compactor to frantically blast your way out of). Those are the exception, though, and most of the carnage takes place in the charmless concrete corridors in between. That’s to be expected from a tour through a corporate dystopia, sure, but it doesn’t make for a lot of fun surprises. Despite the striking gallery of gore and particle effects that shower over each firefight, there were times that Unfinished Business’ drab interiors made it feel less like a thrilling action adventure and more like wandering in circles through a shopping mall carpark trying to work out where I left my 6000 SUX.

Still, the biggest problem I had with Unfinished Business’ gunplay was the same one I found with 2023’s Rogue City. That is, Robo’s signature Auto 9 – blessed as it is with unlimited ammo, easily upgradeable attributes, and an undeniable cool factor – makes the dozens of other firearms found throughout the campaign almost entirely redundant. It’s just so overequipped to deal with everything that’s thrown your way that I never found a good enough reason to holster it. It would be akin to a Star Wars adventure in which you default to the use of a lightsaber – you’re probably not ever going to clip it to your belt and pick up a Tusken Raider’s gaffi stick to crack heads with instead.

There is one exception: the cryo cannon that’s introduced in the second half proved to be worth a few charged-up trigger squeezes, especially since its sub-zero rounds turn your targets into instant ice sculptures that can be subsequently shattered like the T-1000. That’s a time-honored video game tradition that dates back to Duke Nukem 3D. But otherwise I almost never felt the need to bend over and grab any other dropped firearms – and not just because Robo appears to have the knee joints of an 80-year-old man (as well as the voice of a 78-year-old). In fact, the only time I felt forced to employ enemy uzis and shotguns was during an especially violent rescue mission late in the story – and that’s only because the thing I was trying to rescue was, funnily enough, my stolen Auto 9.

Murphy’s Law

Unfinished Business’ structure is effectively built around a cycle of using your Auto 9 to deep-six hordes of mercenaries, pausing to settle disputes between citizens in side missions that veer from moderately humorous to completely banal, and then flicking some switches and turning valves in its basic puzzle sections to open the path ahead before resuming the unrelenting blaze of glorious gore. There are only a handful of detours along the way that at least try to mix up the otherwise predictable pacing, with varying degrees of success.

In one flashback mission we get to pull on the kevlar-lined vest of Alex Murphy in his pre-RoboCop days, as he and his fellow officers are dispatched to investigate the whereabouts of some known perps. I enjoyed this small glimpse of Murphy’s origins in the Metro South precinct even if the stilted banter between his squad was more than a little wide of the mark, and there were some fun Easter eggs to find here including a memo that referenced the ominous rise of a new criminal on the scene that I won’t spoil here.

However, the setting of this sequence lacks imagination given that its abandoned mill surroundings are a bit too similar to the site of Murphy’s infamous ‘crucifixion’ scene witnessed in the first film, and its combat feels somewhat topsy turvy. Where RoboCop must scramble to find OCP charges in order to replenish his rapidly depleting health, regular flesh-and-bone Murphy somehow magically regains it in between shootouts. That’s typical for a lot of first-person shooters, but it’s less of a contrast to playing as a walking tank than I’d been expecting. On the flipside, Murphy can only wield his boring old service pistol, which is frustrating because this was one of the few times I actually wanted to pick up a gun I found but couldn’t. It all makes for a diversion that’s important to the plot, but not particularly compelling to play.

Thankfully, the same can’t be said for the late-game level where you get to pilot an ED-209 mech. This fabulously frenetic stretch of fan service allows you to use twin arm cannons to shred through each hapless human like they’re that one poor bastard executive that probably should have hid in the bathroom during the original ED-209 demonstration, blast through concrete walls with rocket barrages, and even trample over a model of Old Detroit’s skyline while battling rival robots like you’re revelling in a small-scale clash of Kaiju. Sure, it’s perhaps not as cathartic as it could have been given that by that point I’d already very efficiently turned hundreds of mercenaries into mincemeat with Robo’s Auto 9. But I can’t pretend I wasn’t grinning like an idiot through the entire sequence, which ratchets up the carnage to ludicrous levels and doesn’t linger long enough to outstay the welcome of playing as a near-invincible killing machine.

I never got tired of seeing RoboCop himself onscreen either. As was the case with the previous game, his polished steel armour looks absolutely spot-on and he always seems to be lit with ambient neon lights like he’s emerging out of the driver’s side of a Ford Taurus on the poster for the 1987 film. That said, outside of the smooth lines of Robo’s movie-accurate character model there’s a noticeable roughness to Unfinished Business, at least on the PlayStation 5 version that I played. During my time with it I suffered frame rate dips, audio dropouts, animation glitches, dodgy lip syncing, ridiculous moon physics during slow-motion breaches, characters disappearing completely during finishing moves and story cutscenes, and even the occasional crash to the home screen. After a while I started to wonder if the “Unfinished Business” title was a nod to RoboCop’s everlasting quest for justice or merely a reference to the launch state of the game itself.