Tom Hardy to Star in Splinter Cell Movie

Tom Hardy will star in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, the Ubisoft film adaptation of the game franchise.

Hardy, who of course co-starred as Bane in this summer's The Dark Knight Rises, will play Sam Fisher, a special ops agent for the organization known as Echelon.

Who Is Sam Fisher?

Collider reported earlier today, and Variety now confirms along with this casting news, that Eric Warren Singer (The International) will write the script.

Hardy brings a certain prestige to the game-to-film genre that has often been missing in the past. This tracks with Ubisoft's other big property currently in development, Assassin's Creed, which Michael Fassbender will co-produce and star in for New Regency and Fox. Splinter Cell doesn't have a studio yet, though Ubisoft has already begun talks with Warner Bros. and Paramount.

"Tom Hardy is currently one of the biggest talents in the film industry, and he has a phenomenal ability to take on complex and varied roles with his broad range of acting skills," said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "His involvement in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell movie is exciting news for movie and video game fans alike. Meanwhile, Eric Singer is one of the most talented writers of the moment, and ... we're confident he'll bring a fresh approach and create a thrilling story ... while still respecting all the codes and traditions of the franchise that are so important to fans."

Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online “On Hold” For Wii U

Ubisoft has confirmed that the Wii U version of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online has been temporarily put on hold. In an interview with VideoGamer, producer Theo Sanders discussed the team’s decision to focus “completely on the PC version.”

"As of right now, the entire Ghost Recon team is focused on the PC version only," Sanders said. "The Wii U version is on hold. If in the future we have an opportunity to address it again, we'll make future announcements.”

As for the notion that this development has something to do with Nintendo’s online plans or Wii U hardware issues, Sanders was quick to debunk such speculation. "It's not a reaction to anything specific happening to [Wii U]," he said. "It was a really fun, cool platform to develop for. But you realize once you launch an online service that it's an all-consuming effort, so we really wanted to have all hands on deck. It was the same dev team working on both SKUs, and [we] really wanted to focus on doing the PC version right.”

While this may be disappointing, don’t rule out the possibility of Ghost Recom Online hitting consoles sometime down the line. "It's hard to say how the future will go for Ghost Recon Online," Sanders said. "I think in the future as different platforms evolve towards service models and towards being really online-driven, community-driven platforms, then we'll definitely be looking at what our options are.”

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

Source : ign[dot]com

First Look at Chris Pine's Jack Ryan

Paramount has released the first two photos from Jack Ryan, the studio's reboot of the Tom Clancy CIA hero that just began filming in Manhattan under the direction of Thor's Kenneth Branagh. Chris Pine plays the title character and Kevin Costner plays his field agent mentor.

Jack Ryan opens Christmas Day 2013.

Source : ign[dot]com