Gaming News

AU Deals: 128 Bucks Off a Top Tier Headset, Monster Deals on Hunting, Diablo IV Bundles, Battlefield & More!

Some sales weeks feel like filler, but this one’s a greatest hits album. I’ve been revisiting a few personal favourites and picking up titles I swore I’d get “next sale” for years. Turns out, patience really does pay off in the gaming aisle. Get scrolling to get saving! This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I’m firing up the ol' plasma engines to light a cake for WipEout HD, a PS3 anti-grav racer that brought the gravy. The entry took everything a diehard series fan like me loved and polished it to a shine, delivering blistering speeds, stomach-churning tracks and a killer electronic soundtrack that still bangs today. As someone who’s been hooked since the original PlayStation days, WipEout HD felt like the ultimate evolution. It...

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The Best Deals Today: Silent Hill 2, Raidou Remastered, Doom: The Dark Ages, and More

We've rounded up the best deals for Sunday, August 10, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers. The Best Deals for August 10, 2025 Silent Hill 2 for $29.99 Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 is on sale at Target this weekend for $29.99. Recreating one of Konami's most beloved titles was never going to be easy, but the Silent Hill 2 remake delivers an immersive horror experience that preserves almost everything that made the original so great. In our 8/10 review, we said the game "smoothly polishes down the rough edges of the original game’s combat while taking a piece of heavy grit sandpaper to scuff up every rust and mold-covered surface of its nightmarish environments, successfully making them appear far more...

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All Metal Gear Solid Games In Chronological Order

Look, I don’t blame you – navigating your way around the slightly loopy and labyrinthine narrative chronology of the Metal Gear games is quite the task. Luckily for your sanity, we’ve put together this handy and streamlined guide, which lists and details all of the Metal Gear games in chronological order by the year they took place. Oh, and beware all ye who live in fear of spoilers, because they are very much in abundance from this point forward. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (1964) Unfolding during the tumult of the Cold War, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater centres on main protagonist Naked Snake. A skilled operative belonging to the clandestine FOX organisation, Naked Snake finds himself tasked with entering the fictional...

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The Best Deals Today: Doom: The Dark Ages, Stellar Blade Complete Edition, and More

We've rounded up the best deals for Saturday, August 9, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers. The Best Deals for August 9, 2025 Doom: The Dark Ages for $44.99 Doom: The Dark Ages is on a major sale for the first time, and you can save $25 off a PlayStation 5 copy at Best Buy this weekend! This game takes the Doom Slayer back to the medieval ages, acting as a prequel to both Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. The latest update was just released this week as well, so really, there has never been a better time to hop in. Stellar Blade Complete Edition for $59.99 Stellar Blade made the jump to PC in June, and just a few months later, you can save 25% off the Complete Edition at Amazon. This package includes the base game...

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The 10 Best Video Game Prequels

In the world of movies, prequels have a somewhat mixed reputation. There's the ones that enrich their existing worlds and stories, like X-Men: First Class. There's the ones that ruin the mystery, like the heinous Hannibal Rising. And then there's the ones no one can actually agree on, like the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Over in the world of games, though, prequels tend to fare better than their cinematic counterparts. Just look at the recently released Mafia: The Old Country, an enjoyable romp through the early 1900s that chronicles the formative years of the earlier games' criminal empires. Prequel games often benefit from better technology and development tools, making them visually and technically more impressive than their...

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Rod Fergusson Departs Blizzard, Diablo Franchise

Diablo general manager and Gears of War veteran Rod Fergusson has left Blizzard. Fergusson confirmed the news on his personal Twitter/X account: "After five years of driving the Diablo franchise forward with four big launches, it's time for me to step away from Blizzard/Microsoft, sword in hand, and see what's next," Fergusson wrote. "The teams are set up for success, with an exciting slate of releases ahead. I'm incredibly proud of what we've built together and looking forward to what comes next for Diablo, and for me." Blizzard confirmed this news to IGN today as well, but declined to offer further comment as to why Fergusson has left the company, or who will run the Diablo franchise going forward. Blizzard president Johanna...

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Umamusume Pretty Derby Fans Mourn Death of Champion Racehorse Grass Wonder

Grass Wonder, one of the real-life racehorses that inspired a character in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, passed away on August 8 at age 30, prompting an outpouring of condolences from fans of Cygames’ anime horse-girl franchise. The stallion Grass Wonder is one of the real-life Japanese racehorses Cygames turned into a character for its Umamusume: Pretty Derby anime and games. As all Umamusume’s characters are anime girls with equine ears and tails, Grass Wonder also got a sex change. In the Umamusume universe, Grass Wonder is a friendly but determined girl who grew up in America but loves Japanese culture, echoing how the real horse was American-bred but trained in Japan. The character’s light brown hair with a white dot at the front...

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Tron: Catalyst Developer Bithell Games Makes 'Majority' of Its Full-Time Staff Redundant After Failing to Secure New Project

British indie developer Bithell Games has shed the "majority" of its full-time staff, just weeks after the launch of its time-loop action game Tron: Catalyst, after failing to land a new large-scale project. That amounts to 11 team members being made redudant, Bithell Games boss Mike Bithell announced today in a statement posted to social media, and an uncertain future for what the studio will do next. "It became clear leading up to the release of our most recent game that we were not immune to the challenges faced by many game development teams seeking funding partners in 2024 and 2025," Bithell wrote. "We've fortunately been able to communicate these challenges ahead of time, and work with affected staff to ease departures as much...

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Great News, You Can Finally Lean Against a Wall Like an Edgelord in World of Warcraft

A brand new major patch for World of Warcraft dropped earlier this week, including new dungeons, a new raid, a new delve, lots of new story, a big (gorgeous) new zone, and more. But don't sleep on this patch's best, most important feature: the ability for your character to lean back against a wall and look brooding or nonchalant, just like you've always wished they could. Okay, but seriously! WoW's latest patch, 11.2, Ghosts of K'aresh, adds a brand new emote to the game: /lean. It does exactly what it sounds like. Your character leans back, either relaxing against whatever wall or support is behind them or, if there's nothing, will just sort of lean in mid-air awkwardly. It's a fairly small addition, but players are already having a...

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Tencent Quietly Changes Light of Motiram's Steam Page Assets Following Horizon Sony Lawsuit

Tencent has updated its Light of Motiram Steam page just days after Sony filed a lawsuit alleging the upcoming game was a "slavish clone" of Horizon. The complaint, filed in a California court at the end of July, outlined numerous similarities, comparing various marketing screenshots from both games, as well as their descriptions. As we explained at the time, just like Horizon, Light of Motiram takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by giant robot dinosaurs who roam large, natural environments such as tropical forests, deserts, and snowy mountains. Both games even feature red-haired women protagonists that wear very similar outfits and styles, and devices similar to Aloy's "Focus" earpiece. Sony believes that these aren't...

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2 Years Later, Starfield Looks Set to Actually Let You Fly From One Place to Another, Though Not Quite Like No Man's Sky

Remember Starfield? Launched to huge fanfare in 2023, Bethesda's big sci-fi hope landed to a mixed reception from players — who have since gone on to complain about the game's disappointing first expansion and lack of substantial ongoing support. However, one bright spot on the horizon appears to be signs of Bethesda finally adding the highly-requested ability to travel in your spaceship from one planet to another — rather than what happens now, as you load up a loading screen to enter orbit, and from there load up another loading screen to get to where you're going. Fragments of code uncovered by Starfield fans now suggest Bethesda has a more streamlined experience in the works, though potentially still with some caveats. While you...

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Best Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Boss Fights Ranked

The best Metal Gear Solid bosses are the ones that leave a lasting impression with fights that are both thematically rich and mechanically engaging. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater truly stands out in the series for its boss encounters, not just because of the scale of the personalities you’re up against (and yes, we mean that quite literally), but also because of the unique mechanics each battle brings to the table. With the arrival of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, bringing renewed attention to the classic, it’s the perfect time to revisit what makes each of the original game’s bosses so memorable. We’ll be breaking down what sets them apart and sharing a few thoughts on each one along the way. Expect some spoilers—we’ll keep...

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Take-Two Boss Strauss Zelnick Says Borderlands Chief Randy Pitchford ‘Can Be Controversial at Times — Sometimes Intentionally, Sometimes Unintentional

Borderlands 4 will cost $70, publisher 2K Games confirmed in June. That seemingly innocuous fact was big news after the price of the upcoming looter shooter was thrust into the headlines when Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford sparked a backlash with a series of controversial tweets. The outspoken Pitchford had responded to a fan who had expressed concern about the prospect of paying $80 for Borderlands 4, saying: “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.” Pitchford ended up having to address the negativity surrounding his comments, which some suggested might have harmed Borderlands 4’s chances of success. But this was hardly the latest drama revolving around Randy Pitchford, who often gives the press plenty...

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inZoi's All New Island Getaway DLC Has A Release Date — Here's What's Coming

inZoi's first free DLC, Island Getaway, will release on August 20. It also just so happens to coincide with the release of the life simulator's rollout on Mac, too. inZoi says the Southeast Asia-inspired map was "shaped by feedback from our players, going all the way back to [the] Early Access launch earlier this year." As well as introducing the new dual-island map Cahaya, players will also get new activities like swimming, snorkelling, and farming. "This DLC reflects a vision we’ve built together with our community," said director and inZoi CEO, Hyungjun "Kjun" Kim. "Developing a game in a new genre has been a real challenge, but the support we’ve received means everything to us — and we’re just getting started." Here's what...

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How Balatro Captured The Heart (And Social Calendar) Of A Longtime Poker Dodger

I have had a bit of a, shall we say, adversarial relationship with poker in the past. If I were invited to an evening poker game with my buds, I would always find some trite reason to get out of it because, despite the lure of decent convo and foaming, mind-warping beverages. I knew nothing about Poker, didn’t care to learn and knew even if I did, I would be pants at it anyway. Yes, I was a weapons-grade idiot. Luckily for me and others that are similarly afflicted, a form of salvation was to be had courtesy of indie developer LocalThunk and Balatro – a game that not only made me interested in poker (an unfathomable state of mind for me previously), but which also made me appreciate both card games and roguelike deck builders a whole...

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Doom: The Dark Ages Price Drops $25 on PS5 After Its Official Update 2 Patch

Doom: The Dark Ages remains one of the best shooters of 2025 so far, and it seems it’s only getting better with Update 2 dropping this week. Not only does the update add new skins and bug fixes, but a new Ripatorium adds an infinite arena for, well, ripping through foes ad nauseum. Better yet, you can get this new and improved version of the Doom Slayer for under $45 at Best Buy. Best Buy is now offering a $25 discount on Doom: The Dark Ages on PS5, bringing the price down to just $44.99 from $69.99, and it’s a great time to jump in. It's the best price for a physical copy of the game from major online retailers right now, with Amazon OOS, Walmart listing for $49, and Target down to $55.99 today as well. For those looking to buy...

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Fortnite Leaks Point to Pet-Like Companions, Including a Selection of Dogs and a Skateboarding Turtle

Fortnite is set to add pet-like cosmetic "Companions" to its battle royale, a series of fresh leaks suggest. Initial designs include a range of dogs, as well as a turtle on a skateboard. Datamined images sourced from yesterday's new Fortnite season update show what looks to be a golden retriever, a pair of pugs, a robot dog based on the game's iconic Cuddle Team Leader, and the aforementioned skateboard-wielding aquatic reptile. Fortnite fans have been aware of plans by developer Epic Games to release pet-like Companions for some time, based on bits of evidence dug up and posted online from past datamines. But today is our first glimpse at the Companions themselves, from what look to be user interface icons for them. If Fortnite...

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Bethesda Resurrects Classic Doom Duo Heretic + Hexen With 'Improved Performance for Modern Platforms'

Bethesda has confirmed Heretic + Hexen — the definitive re-release of two genre-shaping first-person shooters — are out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. id Software worked "in partnership" with Nightdive Studios to release this updated collection, featuring the "two classics that helped shape the genre." The games have "been restored with improved performance for modern platforms with an enhanced soundtrack from Andrew Hulshult, online cross-platform and local split-screen deathmatch and co-op modes, in-game mod support, and more." Here's what you get in the new collection: Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders Hexen: Beyond Heretic Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel Two all-new...

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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater's Multiplayer Mode Won't Be Available at Launch, But Shouldn't Come Too Much Later

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is now just weeks from launch, though fans will have to wait a little longer to play Fox Hunt, the game's online multiplayer mode. While the main, single-player portion of Snake Eater will launch for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 28, Fox Hunt will arrive via a post-launch update sometime this "fall". And yes, that's as specific as publisher Konami is currently willing to get. Announced back in June, Fox Hunt is an entirely new multiplayer offering unrelated to Metal Gear Online, which came bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots back in 2008. MGO lasted four years, before its servers were switched off in 2012. "Fox Hunt is a completely original online multiplayer...

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Kaiju No. 8 The Game is Out on August 31

Akatsuki Games has announced that its game based on the hugely popular manga and anime series Kaiju No. 8 will be released globally for Android and iOS on August 31st (JST), with a PC version to follow later. Kaiju No. 8 tells the story of Kafka Hibino, a member of the crews that clean up after kaiju threats have been eliminated in greater Tokyo, but who longs to be a soldier in the Japan Defense Force (JDF), and actually be on the front lines. With goofy humour, slick action, an endearing protagonist and some pretty wild twists and turns, it’s a fun series. Its second season is airing now, but you can read our review of season one here. Kaiju No. 8 The Game will let you take control of a host of fan favourite members of the JDF...

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AU Deals: A New Jamboree Switch 2 Low, Freebies Worth Owning, and Your Cheapest Airfare to Mafia's Old Country

If you’ve ever gone online for “just one quick browse” and ended up with a shopping cart that could bankrupt a small nation, we're kindred spirits, friend. My deals haul for today is brimming with must-plays across every major platform, each one more tempting than the last. I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in most of these worlds (Mafia: The Old Country included), so trust me--and my mate Reilly--they’re worth it. This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I’m igniting a 9-candle cake for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron using a crackling burst from an Energon grenade. Why does it still hold a place in my chest (alongside the Matrix of Leadership)? Chalk it up to a blend of tight shooting mechanics, varied character abilities, and...

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Reverse: 1999 Brings Assassin’s Creed Legacy Characters and Story Content in Its First Globally Synced Collaboration

Free-to-play time-traveling strategic RPG Reverse: 1999 just launched its biggest collaboration yet, its first to ever launch simultaneously worldwide, and it teamed up with another time-jumping franchise to do it: Assassin’s Creed. The collab adds new story chapters and popular characters Ezio, Kassandra, and Alexios, all three of whom will be playable. Reverse: 1999 first launched in 2023 and has seen global success in the time since. It’s been downloaded more than 30 million times worldwide and stands at “very positive” with more than 2,500 reviews on Steam. Those fans have been clamoring for this collab since it was first announced earlier this year, and there’s been particular excitement about the addition of Ezio — as you can see...

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The Sims Board Game Nobody Asked for Was Quietly Released at Target Last Month

EA has flat out said that fans shouldn't expect The Sims 5 anytime soon. But if you're looking for a new release from the franchise, you'll be happy to know a new Sims game actually did just come out July. Did you somehow miss this momentous news? I certainly did, and that's because it's actually just a board game. The Sims Board Game arrived at Target on July 20, 2025 and it seems to have gone largely unnoticed. Which makes a lot of since to me. It's been a long time since I've played The Sims 4, but having spent a decent amount of time in that game I can't really conceptualize how it would effectively transition to a tabletop experience. The board game itself is a collaboration with Goliath that was announced back in February and...

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2XKO Lead Champion Designer Talks Vi and the Changes Coming in the Closed Beta | Evo 2025

2XKO has been a staple of Evo for the last three years, but the finish line (or perhaps the true starting line, depending on how you look at it) is finally starting to come into view on the horizon. A closed beta has been announced for September 9, and after that, the servers will remain up all the way until launch, whenever that may be. The game has changed a lot since it's first iteration, and even since its first appearance at Evo, and there are even more changes in store for the Closed Beta. To cover some of these changes, and to get a breakdown of the newest character, Vi, I talked with lead champion designer Alex Jaffe, after going hands-on with the latest build for myself. You’re launching a closed beta on Sept. 9 and have...

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Elden Ring Nightreign Dataminers Say They've Uncovered an Entirely New, Ultra-Hard Game Mode

Love Elden Ring Nightreign, but getting a little bored of the same three-night cycle of bosses and repetitive Everdark sovereigns? Fret not, Nightfarer, because there may be a brand new, extra-hard game mode on the way that will shake up Nightreign's regular playstyle. This new mode, entitled Deep of Night, was found and shared by dataminers, and appears to be essentially a kind of "endless" mode with skill-based matchmaking. Unlike in regular Nightreign, you're not able to choose the boss you target, and it will be picked for you at random instead. With each victory, your "Depth" rating increases, which in turn increases the difficulty, and Nightreign will generally try to pair you with other players that are at the same Depth as you...

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Forza Developer Reassures Fans That Motorsport, Horizon 5 Will Continue to Receive Support After Staff Cuts

The official Forza Motorsport account has issued a statement to the community regarding the ongoing support for both Motorsport and Forza Horizon 5, saying that developers Turn 10 and Playground Games will "continue to support" their existing titles. If it seems like a bit of a no-brainer that a studio would support its own, most recent games, it unfortunately wasn't. This statement comes exactly a month after reports that Turn 10 was gutted during a massive layoff across Microsoft. Initial rumors suggested around 50% of Turn 10 staff were cut at the time, but later reports indicated that even more were impacted, potentially all or most of the studio. One former employee said that the studio was still open to supporting Horizon, but...

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Ninja Gaiden 4 - The Final Preview

Let me take you on a quick journey back to the past for a second. It’s the early 2000’s, years before a little game called Dark Souls would forever change the landscape of the action and action RPG genres. It was a time mostly without stamina bars; a time when style, spectacle, and creative expression of combat ruled above all else, a time when games like God of War 1 and 2, Devil May Cry 1 and 3, and God Hand blazed the trail for others to follow. But if you ask me, there was one game that stood above all of them, a masterclass of action design, that challenged and thrilled the teenaged me with aggressive enemy AI, gorgeous visuals, and the most dazzling combat system I’d ever seen. That game was Ninja Gaiden… (and later Ninja Gaiden...

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Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement

Xbox has stopped development of Contrabrand to "evaluate the project's future," with a Bloomberg report saying the game is canceled entirely four years after its initial E3 announcement. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier first broke the news on Bluesky today, saying that "Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News." This was followed by an official confirmation from Avalanche on its website, which reads as follows: Contraband was originally announced for Xbox and PC at E3 2021 with a teaser trailer. At the time, we knew it would be set in a 1970s smuggler's paradise called Bayan, but we didn't see any gameplay. Since then...

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Madden NFL 26 Review in Progress

I play a lot of Madden every year, gang. Like, a lot a lot. I’m in a 32-man league, and then I have my own Franchise mode going, and none of that includes all the work that goes into writing a review for IGN, which is… substantial. But no matter how much I play, I’ll always discover something new after that review is done – be it an obnoxious bug or just a better understanding of a system under the hood. I feel like I understand a lot more about Madden NFL 25 now that I am about to put down the controller for the final time, but after spending a little time with Madden NFL 26, well… all that stuff’s out the window. Madden 26 changes a lot of what came before, and while I still have more to play before my final review, I’m liking what I...

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Elden Ring Nightreign Has an Ultra-Rare Item You've Probably Never Seen, and Players Still Are Puzzling Over What It's Really For

Elden Ring Nightreign has been out for over two months now, which means players have had ample time to puzzle over and tease out every morsel of its lore. But there's still one ultra-rare item in the game that most players have probably never seen before, but which some in the community believe still holds an enormous secret: the Cord End. If you play Nightreign and, like me, had no idea what this even was until just now, here's the rundown: the Cord End is a legendary consumable item that only appears in big and small churches in Nightreign from breaking boxes. Its drop percentage is ridiculously low - just 0.035% - meaning most players will likely never even run into it. Its listed use is cryptic: "Gain entry somewhere." If you don't...

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