After the release of The Batman’s gritty new trailer, it looked as though Bruce Wayne may have some anger issues, and an official story synopsis makes that very clear, saying that this Bruce Wayne, at least initially, is "no better than the ruthless serial killer he's hunting."

Warner Bros. has now released a synopsis for The Batman which explains that Robert Pattinson's Wayne is a “disillusioned, desperate vigilante” when we first meet him.

“The Batman is an edgy, action-packed thriller that depicts Batman in his early years, struggling to balance rage with righteousness as he investigates a disturbing mystery that has terrorized Gotham,” reads the official synopsis. “Robert Pattinson delivers a raw, intense portrayal of Batman as a disillusioned, desperate vigilante awakened by the realization that the anger consuming him makes him no better than the ruthless serial killer he's hunting.”

Famously, Christopher Nolan’s Batman films took the Caped Crusader into more serious territory, while Zack Snyder’s version of the Dark Knight followed suit. Now, it looks as though Matt Reeves is set to drag Bruce Wayne into even grittier realms.

Andy Serkis has previously said the movie will be darker than previous Batman films and our early looks at the move – which features a younger, seemingly more impulsive Batman than many depictions – already seems to confirm that he could be the craziest Dark Knight yet.

The Batman features an all-star cast, including Robert Pattinson as Batman, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot and Paul Dano as Edward Nashton.

Dano's Nashton is also known as The Riddler, and we've said that this Batman needs the classic villain as a foe. The Batman opens in theatres on March 4, 2022, and we've recently gotten a new trailer, behind-the-scenes feature, and even a look at upcoming statues.

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

Love Hard debuts on Netflix Nov. 5.

It’s that time of the year again! Time to get cheesy with romance.

The countdown to Christmas, filled with tropey storylines and predictable endings from Lifetime, Hallmark, and Netflix has arrived. With the success of films like A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch, Netflix, which has become one of the biggest churners of the genre, has released the first of its many holiday movies slated for this season, Love Hard. And there’s a lot to love in this rom-com, which succeeds in embracing the genre in all its corny glory.

Directed by Hernán Jiménez and written by Danny Mackey and Rebecca Ewing, Love Hard follows disaster dating columnist Natalie (Nina Dobrev) as she believes she has finally found the man of her dreams through a dating app and decides to fly across the country to surprise him for Christmas. But when she arrives to meet “Josh” (Jimmy O. Yang), she finds out that she’s been catfished. The photo Josh used is actually of his completely unaware friend, Tag (Darren Barnet). Josh proposes a deal to Natalie: if she pretends to be his girlfriend in front of his family for the holidays, he will help her win Tag’s heart. Desperate for her “fairytale happy ending,” she agrees to the ruse. Of course, as Josh and Natalie play pretend boyfriend and girlfriend in front of his adoring parents and egotistical older brother, Owen (Harry Shum Jr.), they inevitably start falling for each other.

Following the predictable rom-com formula of “average joe and the hot girl” and the fake couple trope, Love Hard doesn’t offer much of anything new, but still finds a way to be charming. It’s also refreshing to see Yang, who is often cast as the funny side character, be the romantic lead. Unfortunately, Hollywood has frequently treated Asian men simply as foreigners or stereotypical nerds who never get the girl. Though it’s been nice to see gorgeous leading men like Henry Golding and Barnet himself get more time in the spotlight, it’s left little middle ground for the average Asian guy to find love on screen. That’s part of what makes Love Hard so interesting. Though Josh may not look like the standard love interest, the catfish reveal is not played up for laughs, which is such a relief. Instead, Josh is given some empathy and a chance to show Natalie that he’s still the guy she fell for through their many texts and phone conversations. Despite Josh’s lie, it’s hard not to root for him as Yang plays him with such humor and sincerity.

Dobrev is delightful as the vulnerable yet slightly awkward leading lady. There are some cringe moments where you feel for Natalie, but, given some questionable decisions she makes, she also kinda deserves it. Though the chemistry between Yang and Dobrev is hit or miss at times, the characters themselves are both flawed yet likeable people who do deserve a little Christmas romance. Even with the clichés and cheesy moments — like the leads singing an updated consensual version of the classic holiday song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” — it’s endearing to watch Josh attempt to woo Natalie with his creativity.

As for the supporting cast, they do provide some laughs and are given a bit of storyline to work with, but their roles never truly feel complete. Even though Barnet’s Tag is set up to be “the other man” in the story, the script never makes him out to be the bad guy… because, well, he isn’t. Tag is a genuinely nice guy who you feel for in the end, but because he’s not the main love interest, his feelings get brushed aside with no fulfilling conclusion. Shum is hilarious as the overzealous golden child of the family, but consistently plays up the competitive brother charade so much that it’s hard to believe that he is earnest when Josh is struggling. Even Natalie’s boss, Lee (Matty Finochio), who toes a thin line of the stereotypical sassy gay man character, is given a 180-degree turn from annoyingly demanding a story of the fiasco to suddenly becoming her voice of reason. Sure, it doesn’t make sense, but it does fulfill the purpose for plot reasons.

Love Hard is by no means reinventing the wheel, but for those looking for a feel-good Christmas rom-com, it works. It embraces the predictable formula by sprinkling in mentions of classic Christmas movies like Love Actually and Die Hard (yes, there’s a whole thing about that in the film) and including them into their own love story in the end. As cheesy as it is, fans of holiday films know exactly what they’re getting from this genre. This movie isn’t much different, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Cardy reviewed Call of Duty: Vanguard's campaign so tells you all about its hits and misses. Matt and Dale join him to wax lyrical about the pure joy of Forza Horizon 5 and where the fun can be found in Riders Republic once you've broken through the wall of shack daddies and their triple shroom burgers. Matt also gives his verdict on Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho before a Mass Effect Endless Search quiz. Stay tuned until the end for some spoiler-filled Guardians of the Galaxy chat too

Want to submit your own Endless Search, food opinion, or a bit of other nonsense? Feel free to get in touch with the podcast at: [email protected].

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Nintendo has said that it will continue to improve and expand on its Switch Online service as well as its recently released premium Expansion Pack – possibly in response to the poor reception to its pricing and recent additions.

As part of its latest Corporate Management Briefing, Nintendo has stated that it will "continue to improve and expand both Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack" in order to provide services that satisfy its fanbase.

The pledge to improve comes shortly after the company experienced a rocky start to the launch of its premium Expansion Pack subscription service. The service, which launched last month, adds a new membership tier to Nintendo Switch Online that gives players access to an expanding catalog of Nintendo 64 and Sega Mega Drive games, as well as paid DLC (currently in the form of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise pack).

However, following its release Nintendo received backlash from some of its fanbase, who reported that they were experiencing a number of issues with classic games running on the handheld. Complaints from the community varied from player to player, however, most commonly seemed to revolve around issues with input lag, sound delays, frame rate, and incorrect controller layouts. Nintendo doesn't specificially mention the backlash as the reason for its comments on improving the service.

Despite taking some criticism over the launch of the premium tier subscription service, elsewhere in the briefing Nintendo announced that it has seen an overall increase in the number of players subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online this past year. The publisher stated that the number of players accessing its online services had now exceeded 32 million – a figure up 6 million from this time last year.

It isn't particularly surprising to see that this figure has increased across the last year considering the continued popularity that Nintendo has seen across the hardware market. According to data published by the NPD Group, Nintendo's handheld has remained a popular choice for US consumers throughout 2021. Data from the Group showed the Switch to have a strong grasp over the US monthly hardware charts for units sold where it consistently held pole position in the charts for 33-months straight. While that reign was finally ended by Sony's PlayStation 5 this September, the additional Switch's sold across that time are likely to have contributed to an increase in Switch Online members.

For more from Nintendo, make sure to check out this article detailing how the publisher is still discussing what its next console after the Switch might be.

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

Nintendo will seemingly be sticking with the Switch for several years yet, with internal discussions for a next-generation console still taking place around a release window, and even what its concept will be.

As you'd expect, Nintendo does plan to one day replace the Switch with a new gaming system, with the company's latest financial presentation making clear that new hardware was part of its wider plans to expand the business (alongside expanding IP, and adding services to the Nintendo Account system). However, the presentation only gave a date of '20XX' for that hardware's release.

During a financial results Q&A – as attended, translated, and reported by analyst David Gibson – Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked what he could say about the next-gen device. Furukawa was clear that he could say very little, and it seems even what the next console will be is still up for debate within the company.

"On next gen, we are not saying right now," Furukawa said, "we are still going through internal discussion on concept, timing etc and discussing everything."

However, Furukawa did say that the Switch remains in the "middle phase" of its lifecycle, meaning we have several more years at least before Nintendo considers replacing it. In May 2020, Furukawa said the Switch was "barely" halfway through its life, so it may be that its huge recent success has seen Nintendo extend how long it could support the hybrid hardware.

That tallies with Nintendo's goals for the coming year. The financial presentation indicated that, by adding the Nintendo Switch OLED model to its lineup, it's hoping to see a sixth consecutive year of growth in Switch sales, "something never before experienced with our dedicated video game platform business." Until the Switch stops growing, Nintendo is extremely unlikely to seek to replace it.

Despite its hopes for the OLED, Nintendo has already confirmed that won't be putting all of its resources into the new model, saying that all three Switch variants (regular, OLED, and Lite) "cater to different needs".

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 [email protected].