The CEO of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has responded to fan concern about the choice of Justin Lin as the director of the Helldivers movie, after it emerged he leaned into not being a gamer for his pitch.

Helldivers 2 is an explosive co-op focused action shooter that’s a lot like a video game version of cult sci-fi classic Starship Troopers. You play as a disposable soldier in an ongoing galactic war, defending a fascist Super Earth regime against alien robots called Automatons and bugs called Terminids, all the while preaching “Managed Democracy.” (Incidentally, Sony is also working on a new Starship Troopers movie, which should make for a somewhat bizarre one-two punch of sci-fi satire.)

This week, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Justin Lin is set to direct the upcoming Helldivers live-action film adaptation. Lin is best known for his work on the Fast & Furious films, and was the director of the series from 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to 2013’s Fast & Furious 6. He also directed 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the final film in the modern Star Trek trilogy, and 2021’s F9.

But it was one paragraph in THR’s story that raised eyebrows within the Helldivers community:

Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material, said insiders. He aims to find the humanity in the characters and weave timely themes into the story, while building out a world and mythology. There are plenty of details waiting to be drawn in, something that is compelling to the filmmaker.

Some fans are now worried that Lin simply won’t get what Helldivers is about because he’s not a gamer and, presumably, hasn’t played Arrowhead’s shooter. And because of that, some players believe, the Helldivers movie is at risk of missing the video game’s vibe.

Over on the official Helldivers Discord, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani briefly addressed this concern. He first responded to one fan who asked if they could direct the Helldivers movie instead of Lin, saying: “let Justin Lin work his magic.”

Jorjani then responded to the following question from a fan:

“If you guys have any sway with Sony over the movie can you make sure the director plays the game at least once or at least sees some gameplay?”

Jorjani replied: “I trust Justin. He did a great job on the Star Trek movie.”

Arrowhead will likely face this sort of concern until fans see the Helldivers movie in trailer form, or hear from Lin himself on his vision for the film. And Helldivers is not alone in this approach. Amazon’s adaptation of God of War is helmed by Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore, who isn’t a gamer either.

But it is in contrast to the situation with the Elden Ring movie, which is being directed by Ex Machina and Civil War director and self-confessed Elden Ring superfan Alex Garland. In June, Garland told IGN he was on his seventh playthrough of FromSoftware’s epic fantasy RPG, and revealed the boss he found the toughest to take down.

As for Helldivers, in January, Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt insisted the studio shouldn’t have the final say on the Helldivers movie because it doesn’t know anything about making films.

“We are not Hollywood people, and we don’t know what it takes to make a movie,” Pilestedt said. “And therefore we don’t, and shouldn’t, have final say.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

New gameplay footage of Resident Evil Requiem has teased a glimpse at a fresh area in the game filled with classic zombies — and it all looks very Resident Evil 1.

The snippet comes from a special Resident Evil program that aired recently on Japanese TV, shared online by long-time Capcom leaker DuskGolem. Within the footage, we can see Requiem’s lead character Grace Ashcroft approaching a staircase in a dimly-lit mansion, and taking aim at a shuffling zombie.

Ashcroft’s shots miss, and the zombie lunges forward to grab the character. It looks like the undead enemy manages to gnaw her arm, before she eventually fights it off — only to find another zombie waiting for her down the corridor.

There was some new Resident Evil Requiem gameplay of a new area with Grace fighting a zombie in the Resident Evil special program that aired on Japanese television. pic.twitter.com/FToPeqi4HW

— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) December 3, 2025

It’s only a short clip, but fans are celebrating the classic Resident Evil vibe it gives off, and the setting for this gameplay segment which looks straight out of the Spencer Mansion. (It’s definitely not, but still.)

Of course, another classic element expected to appear in Resident Evil Requiem is a certain fan-favorite Leon S. Kennedy, who has been named in persistent rumors and reports as secretly appearing in the game as a second playable character. Capcom has remained tight-lipped on the matter and refused to discuss Leon’s involvement specifically, though recently gave its biggest hint yet when it acknowledged that other classic characters connected to the Raccoon City incident would indeed appear.

Capcom has specifically pitched Resident Evil Requiem as a return not just to the classic location of Raccoon City, but also to the series’ “overarching narrative” begun 30 years ago, after more recent games such as Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village focused on events set elsewhere, with fewer connections to past titles.

What has Capcom got in store? Time is beginning to run short for Capcom to reveal much more, as Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S.

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

At the PlayStation Partner Awards 2025 Japan Asia held in Tokyo on December 3, Monster Hunter Wilds won the Grand Award and the User’s Choice Award.

In an interview held before the award ceremony, Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of this work, and Yuya Tokuda, the director, answered questions from local media. IGN Japan was in attendance.

When Monster Hunter Wilds was first released on February 28, some players left harsh feedback, but Tokuda said the team worked to improve the game by taking advantage of that feedback.

“Immediately after the release, we apologized for the inconvenience caused by the volume of content and the difficulty level. Despite this, we were delighted to receive various awards, including Users’ Choice awards. We would like to thank all the players who have given their opinions and spoken warm words even in this situation. The development team was able to turn everyone’s feedback into an asset and work on the update with all our strength, and I think the result was also the reason why players voted for us,” said Tokuda.

Legendary voice actress Jennifer Hale has been replaced as the voice of Samus in Metroid Prime 4, the new game’s credits have revealed.

Numerous actors have voiced Samus over the years, though Hale had been the artist behind most of the bounty hunter’s grunts and cries in Metroid Prime 1, 2 and 3 (with some additional work from a second artist, Vanessa Marshall).

Many fans had assumed Hale would return as Samus in Nintendo’s long-awaited new Prime game, but Nintendo Life has now reported on Metroid Prime 4’s credits, which list that Erin Yvette has taken on the role of Samus.

If you’re playing Metroid Prime 4 and think Samus’ grunts sound familiar, Yvette previously voiced Snow White in The Wolf Among Us, Alex in Oxenfree, and can currently be heard as Blonde Blazer in Dispatch.

The past few years have seen Nintendo replace many of its previous regular voice actors, including the veteran voice of Mario and Luigi, Charles Martinet. Princess Peach and Toad voice actress Samantha Kelly, meanwhile, discovered her 18-year tenure as the Super Mario characters was over on Nintendo Switch 2 launch day — when Mario Kart World released without her in it. Takashi Nagasako, who previously voiced Donkey Kong for 21 years, has also been replaced as of the Switch 2’s launch.

IGN recently caught up with Hale and discussed her past work as Samus, and questioned whether she had recorded any new material for Metroid Prime 4 over the course of its lengthy development.

“I don’t know,” Hale told IGN. “I have no recollection of recording it or signing a contract, so it could be no. When we work, this is the thing, everything’s under a code name, so they would’ve called it Sasquatch or Pineapple or Cookie Jar. And ‘okay, I’m going to do Cookie Jar.’ And then when you get to the session they’ll tell you, but it stays in your brain for so much shorter a time. It doesn’t stick as much.”

While Hale’s work as Samus is limited to the famously silent bounty hunter’s range of grunts, she said she still had a full voice for the character in her mind while performing the role.

“I like to have identified a character’s way of speaking before I do grunting for them, because how you grunt is different to how I grunt, to how anyone else grunts,” Hale explained. “It’s very specific. If you are a civilian and you’re grunting, you’re like… [makes surprised grunt noise] because it’s all surprising and it’s all new. If you’ve done it a million times, you’re like [makes short grunt noise], because you’ve gone under fire 1,800 times and you’re used to it.”

Hale has voiced a string of famous video game characters over the years, including Ratchet and Clank’s Rivet, Metal Gear Solid’s Naomi Hunter, and BioShock Infinite’s Rosalind Lutece. But it’s for her role in Mass Effect that she remains perhaps known. Speaking to IGN, Hale said she hadn’t been asked to return for Mass Effect 5 yet, but “would be there before they finish the sentence” if BioWare got in touch.

“Not all of Prime 4’s additions work, but this is still an excellent comeback,” IGN wrote in our Metroid Prime 4 review, scoring the game an 8/10.

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

Fern “Antireal” Hook, the artist who found her own designs and graphics in Bungie’s Marathon, has confirmed she has “resolved” the issue with the studio and its parent company Sony.

In a brief update posted to X/Twitter, Hook wrote: “The Marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction.” She did not provide details of any settlement.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie found itself battling accusations of plagiarism back in May after Hook accused the studio of lifting aspects of her artwork for its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon. In screenshots taken from Marathon’s alpha playtest accompanying the tweet, Hook alleged she could see distinct icons and graphics she designed, some of which were originally shared on social media years ago in 2017.

bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language i have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution. pic.twitter.com/G3FbPtbPJD

— N² (@4nt1r34l) May 15, 2025

Shortly afterwards, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joe Cross apologized on a painfully uncomfortable livestream that featured no Marathon art or footage at all, as the team was “still scrubbing all of our assets to make sure that we are being respectful of the situation.” The studio commenced an “immediate investigation,” eventually acknowledging that a “former Bungie artist” had indeed used Fern Hook’s work without compensation or credit.

And then, of course, Marathon was delayed into 2026 as Bungie worked to respond to feedback from playtests. Things went very quiet until Marathon reemerged in October, when Bungie announced the extraction shooter was ready for a limited, invite-only playtest for players in North America and Europe across PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and Steam.

The art issue continues to cast a shadow, though. Last month, the director of the Marathon reveal cinematic short expressed his disbelief that he felt forced to come out and defend the work as “not AI.”

Marathon has certainly endured a troubled development and has suffered multiple delays. The pressure is on for Marathon to succeed amid Destiny 2’s high-profile struggles. Earlier this month, parent company Sony said Bungie had failed to meet its sales and user engagement targets, resulting in a $200 million impairment charge.

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.