Gaming News

PGA Tour 2K25 Review

Despite my avid love for all things sports, I've given up on the idea that I'll ever be good at golf. Something about the way the body must contort to successfully crank a ball down the fairway just doesn't compute in my mind. But like few other games can, PGA Tour 2K25 takes everything I visualize myself doing in real life and executes it virtually, thanks to its in-depth simulation gameplay that lets my thumbs and brain do what my actual body simply refuses to do. To be honest, I went into PGA Tour 2K25 a bit hesitant. While 2K23 wasn’t the worst golf game I’ve ever played, it lacked any shine in its personality or gameplay, which came as a surprise considering HB Studios has been dutifully working on successful golf sims like The...

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A Marvel Rivals Player Created a Playable Doctor Octopus Concept and Fans Love It

NetEase Games has promised to release at least one new Marvel Rivals hero every half-season, but that didn’t stop one creative player from bringing his idea for a playable Doctor Octopus to life. Reddit user WickedCube surprised r/MarvelRivals followers earlier this week with a 30-second video showing what looks like rough gameplay from NetEase’s smash-hit hero shooter. At a glance, the footage seems to focus on a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in midair in what appears to be a testing room – but it’s more than that. Marvel fans will recognize this eight-armed version of the gamma-infused doctor as an unpolished, Marvel Rivals-inspired take on classic Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus. It's stiff and a touch goofy, but the likeness...

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AU Deals: Elden Ring Nightreign Drops, A Super Price on Mario Wonder, Wo Long Fallen Prices, and More!

It’s time to mobilise fellow bargain hunters because the new discount list just dropped. Leading the charge is Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a moustachioed Switch must-have alongside perennial PC classic Skyrim Anniversary for 77% less. I’m also mega impressed by a similar percentage off Shin Megami Tensei V on Xbox plus an all-out war on the RRP of Space Marine 2 on PlayStation. These deals won’t last forever, friends, so loot ‘em while they’re hot. This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm celebrating the 22nd birthday of Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's synesthesia masterpiece. One part Panzer Dragoon on-rails shooting and another part LSD degrees of "ohhh, I can seeee the muuuusic," this Dreamcast must-own stands up today, particularly inside...

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PS5 and PC Single-Player Action Game Lost Soul Aside: The Big Interview

After roughly a decade in development, Lost Soul Aside is finally scheduled for a launch. Originally the passion project of solo developer Yang Bing, Lost Soul Aside has grown to become a major Sony-published title under the company's 'China Hero Project,' with Bing now the founder and CEO of Shanghai-based studio Ultizero Games. With a release date of May 30 on PlayStation 5 and PC closing in, IGN had the opportunity to sit down with Yang Bing to discuss the long road to launch. So many years of development went into this single-player action game, escalating from a solo creator's vision to a trailer reveal at Sony's State of Play. Through it all the hype has grown, with some calling Lost Soul Aside an exciting mix of Final Fantasy...

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Marvel Rivals Players are Already Worried Human Torch Is OP Days Before Mid-Season Update

As Marvel Rivals players plot how they’ll use the Human Torch to smoke enemy teams when he arrives alongside a mid-season update later this week, others are already worried the fiery Fantastic Four member will be overpowered at launch. NetEase Games pulled back the curtain on its next Duelist hero addition yesterday, revealing a first look at how Johnny Storm’s gameplay will light up the Marvel Rivals battlefield. While it’s easy to look at things like flight as standout features for the character, there are a few specific abilities that have players fearful of Human Torch takeovers once the Season 1.5 update launches February 21. Concerns about the fire-based Marvel hero’s impact really kicked off when content creator Necros shared...

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Microsoft and Hellblade Developer Ninja Theory Built an AI Called Muse Designed to Generate Ideas for a Game's Design — and It’s Already Making 'Compl

Microsoft has announced a new generative AI model designed for gameplay ideation. The company detailed what it calls the first World and Human Action Model (WHAM). The WHAM, Katja Hofmann, Senior Principal Research Manager and lead of the Microsoft Research Game Intelligence team, said in a blog post, is a generative AI model of a video game that can generate game visuals, controller actions, or both. Microsoft calls this generative AI model Muse, which was developed by the Microsoft Research Game Intelligence and Teachable AI Experiences (Tai X) teams in collaboration with Hellblade developer Ninja Theory. It’s open sourcing the weights and sample data and making the executable available for the WHAM Demonstrator — a concept...

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Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake Is on Sale for Up to 23% Off

Presidents' Day video game deals may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean there aren't still some worthy discounts to check out. If you've had Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on your radar to add to your collection of physical games, we've got good news: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch is on sale right now at Amazon. Each copy has varying discounts, though. The Xbox Series X version is currently 23% off, dropping its price to $45.99, the Nintendo Switch version is 16% off, dropping its price to $50.40, and the PlayStation 5 version is 9% off with a price tag of $54.50. Regardless of the price, though, we consider this game a "shining example of how to remake a classic RPG" in our review, so...

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Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Preview: A Solid Job of Reviving a Classic Military FPS Campaign

Team Jade’s Delta Force: Hawk Ops revival was always planned to be an ambitious attempt at the modern military shooter in three distinct flavors: large scale tactical team-vs.-team multiplayer; Escape from Tarkov-inspired extraction shooter; and a focused, high-energy single-player campaign. The Warfare and Operations modes launched last year to mostly positive reception, but the single-player campaign – a remake of the original Black Hawk Down game inspired by the 1999 book that inspired the 2001 movie – was still in the oven cooking up a lot of intrigue. I finally got some hands-on time with a small selection of missions ahead of its launch, and while I can confidently say that it does genuinely capture the spirit of an old-school...

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Palworld Hits 32 Million Players During Year 1 as Nintendo Pokémon Lawsuit Looms Over the Horizon

Palworld has seen more than 32 million players across all platforms since its early access launch in January 2024. Developer Pocketpair said its crafting and survival game, which was dubbed “Pokémon with guns” before its record-breaking release, hit the milestone across PC via Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation 5. “Thank you so much!” Pocketpair said in a tweet. “As always, your support means the world to us!” “We will continue to work hard to make Palworld year 2 even better!” added Pocketpair Communications Director and Publishing Manager John 'Bucky' Buckley. Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC a year ago, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss...

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The 10 Best Monster Hunter Games

For the last 20 years Capcom's Monster Hunter series has captured fans' hearts with its exhilarating mix of careful strategy and heart-pounding monster battles. From its humble beginnings on the PlayStation 2 in 2004 to topping the charts in 2018 with Monster Hunter World, the series has evolved a lot in the last two decades. While every Monster Hunter game is unique in its own way, we’ve ranked the entire list of games plus the biggest DLCs, to determine which is the very best. One note to consider – given that Capcom has released multiple versions of some of the games, our ranking only takes into consideration the Ultimate versions of each of these. So with that cleared up, let’s kick things off… 10. Monster Hunter Developer...

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Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 Lineup Confirmed

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 lineup, which kicked off with Obsidian entertainment’s single-player fantasy role-playing game Avowed on February 18. On February 20, EA Sports F1 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on EA Play. IGN’s F1 24 review returned a 7/10. We said: “In isolation, F1 24 remains a slick, deep, and marvellous motorsports experience, but it’s hard to argue it’s essential for returning players.” Also on February 20, the well-received Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) enters Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an isometric RPG by Owlcat Games, set in the grim darkness...

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Activision's Costly Call of Duty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover Has Some Players Saying Black Ops 6 Should Just Go Free-to-Play at This Point

Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover looks set to cost up to $90's worth of COD Points in order to obtain all the items — and the community is now saying Activision should just make Black Ops 6 free-to-play at this point. Activision unveiled the Black Ops 6 Season 02 Reloaded content coming to the shooter on February 20, and detailed the mid-season Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in the process. Each of the four turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael) has their own premium bundle. Based on previous collaborations, these bundles are expected to cost 2,400 COD Points, or $19.99, each. So, if you want all four turtles you face the prospect of handing over $80’s worth of COD Points. But that’s...

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Team Fortress 2 Modders Rejoice as Valve Releases Full Client and Server Game Code

Surprise! Valve's just released a massive update to the Source SDK, adding "all" the Team Fortress 2 client and server game code. Valve said the update lets players build entirely new games from its source code, and unlike Steam Workshop or local content mods, it gives modders access to change, extend, and even rewrite Team Fortress in pretty much any way imaginable. You won't be able to sell anything you make with it — which means any mods or spin-off content will have to be released for free on a non-commercial basis — but creations can be published on the Steam Store, "appearing as new games in the Steam game list." "Players have a lot of investment in their TF2 inventories, and Steam Workshop contributors have created a lot of...

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Information-Starved The Elder Scrolls 6 Fans Use Official Create-a-Character Competition to Come Up With a Release Date

The Elder Scrolls 6 fans are, a bit like Grand Theft Auto 6 fans, starved of information. And so perhaps it comes as no surprise to see the community go into release date speculation mode with only an official create a character competition to go on. This week, Bethesda announced its next Make-A-Wish project: you can bid on a chance to work with Bethesda Game Studios to create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6. “For the last several years, we have been lucky enough to work with Make-A-Wish to grant wishes, support some of their local events, and provide items and experiences, all to benefit children who are fighting life-threatening illnesses,” Bethesda said. “This year, for their Silent Auction we are giving one...

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Pokémon Go Developer Niantic Reportedly in Talks to Sell Video Game Business to Saudi-Owned Company Behind Stumble Guys

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game division to Saudi-owned Scopely for $3.5 billion. As first reported by Bloomberg, the sale would likely include Pokémon Go, the hit augmented-reality mobile game that sends players out into the real world to collect Pokémon. A source talking to Bloomberg under the promise of anonymity said that while the deal was by no means complete, if approved, it could be confirmed in a matter of weeks. Neither Niantic, Scopely, nor its owner Savvy Games Group were prepared to comment publicly on the reported acquisition. Savvy Games Group acquired Scopely back in April 2023 in a deal worth $4.9 billion that came after the Saudi Arabia government said it wanted to buy "a...

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Marvel Rivals Director and Entire Seattle Design Team Laid Off, NetEase Tells Fans Not to Worry About the Game

Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has confirmed cuts to its Seattle-based design team for “organizational reasons.” Overnight, Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser took to LinkedIn to announce that he and his team were laid off. “This is such a weird industry,” Sasser began. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games... “...and were just laid off! “Oh well! Times are tough all over - Let's find these incredible people new jobs, because we all need to eat, right? :D” The video game development community reacted with a mix of shock and anger to the cuts, given Marvel Rivals’ explosive success. The free-to-play hero shooter has seen over 20 million...

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AU Deals: Super Reductions on Storage, High Percentages off Headsets, Cut Price Controllers, and More!

Welcome to a hump day of high percentage discount opportunities. Cases in point include a hellishly good Hades price and a slam dunk on NBA 2K25. My antiquated self is also all about 80% off Oblivion GOTY and the rather timeless Batman Arkham Collection. Failing all those, go score a cheap FFXVI, GTA V, or some other acronym that will befuddle any non-gamers who have stumbled into this article by mistake… This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm celebrating the 16th birthday of House of the Dead: Overkill which (at 189 f-bombs dropped) is one of the sweariest video games ever made. Hilariously, it was released first on the more family-friendly Nintendo Wii console and eventually morphed into a kick arse edutainment game that taught you...

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Jenna Ortega, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, and More to Headline IGN Fan Fest 2025

IGN Fan Fest 2025 is less than a week away and stars from your favorite movies, series, games, and comics have teamed up for what will be our biggest Fan Fest ever. Starting Monday, February 24, be sure to tune into IGN for tons of exclusive reveals, trailers, clips, gameplay, and spoiler-filled interviews from all the biggest upcoming titles in the world of games and entertainment. Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd will be on hand to delve into their upcoming A24 movie, Death of a Unicorn. Osgood Perkins, Stephen King, and James Wan stop by for an in-depth interview on how they brought their creepy new movie, The Monkey to life. Director Bong Joon-ho will introduce a brand-new exclusive look at his upcoming film, Mickey 17...

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Fellowship Takes the ‘MM’ Out of ‘MMORPG’ in a Super Fun Way

It's always cool when a game designer takes one neat thing out of a complex genre and turns it into an entire game. That's how we got the MOBA, after all — breaking just the heroes out of an RTS. Enter Fellowship, a so-called Multiplayer Online Dungeon Adventure that's going to pluck out team-based dungeon raids that are the beating heart of modern MMOs and turn them into a streamlined game – without the hundred hours of leveling up before you get to the best stuff. After some time with a development version of Fellowship I have to say that the concept turned out just as cool as it sounds: It's no-nonsense, endlessly scaling dungeon runs in a four player team of a tank, a healer, and two damage heroes from among a selection of unique...

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Elden Ring Nightreign Channels the Spirit of a Forgotten God of War Game

This past weekend saw the first round of network tests for Elden Ring Nightreign, the upcoming standalone multiplayer game spun out of FromSoftware’s magnum opus. Unlike last year’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Nightreign resembles Elden Ring in name and appearance only, trading its parent game’s open world structure for a streamlined survival format in which three-player teams have to drop into gradually shrinking maps to fight off groups of enemies and increasingly challenging bosses. It’s a design that undoubtedly suggests the developers were inspired by the hugely popular Fortnite – unsurprising, considering Epic’s battle royale has been enjoyed by no less than 200 million players this month alone. But Nightreign bears an even...

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Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Review

It may seem like a long leap to make from the R-rated streets of Tokyo's red light district to the yarrr-rated pirate-infested waters of the Hawaiian islands, but Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has successfully pulled off the switch from bareknuckling to swashbuckling with confidence and considerable flair. This jaunty adventure jettisons the series’ typical turf war cliches and pulpy plot twists in favour of spinning a streamlined and spirited tale of seafaring and treasure hunting, without sacrificing any of the addictive diversions and slapstick silliness that have long become its hallmarks. As far as spin-offs from the mainline entries go, Pirate Yakuza makes for an absolutely invigorating seachange that left me feeling...

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The 25 Best Monster Hunter Monsters

Over the last 20 years Monster Hunter has delivered some of the most memorable, over-the-top monster designs that have scared, delighted, and stunned fans in equal measure. Whether your first hunt dates back to the original game on PlayStation 2, or you hopped in when 2018's Monster Hunter: World dominated the charts, you're bound to have that one monster you've grown attached to and love more than any other. Capcom’s hugely popular hunting RPG series boast over 200 monsters in total, so we've gone through them all to find our top 25 – the very best of the best, and the beasts we love to gush over as much as we hate battling them. And with Monster Hunter Wilds adding to that tally, now is the perfect time to take a look at some of the...

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AU Deals: A More Than Solid Snake Eater Discount, Pay Less Gil for Final Fantasies, and More!

Well, there are no two ways about it. This is a Tuesday where your backlog explodes thanks to my usual scorching list of game savings. On Nintendo Switch, a discount Shin Megami Tensei V beckons with its dark, apocalyptic Tokyo, and PC fans can tangle with a 9ft tall vampire lady for less in Resident Evil Village. Meanwhile on Xbox, a seriously reduced Suicide Squad is worth it purely for the touching Kevin Conroy tribute within. And I’ll always shout my love from the rooftops of Stormveil Castle for a lower-priced Elden Ring on PS5 (or anywhere else). This Day in Gaming 🎂 Today, in Games That Nearly Broke Me As a Child news, it’s the 31st birthday of Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. My memories of playing this at launch...

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Elden Ring Nightreign Testers Discover the Fell Omen Is Back via Morgott Jump-Scare Invasions

The Fell Omen bosses of Elden Ring are infamous at this point, so it's nice to see that with Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware has let them loose upon the Lands Between. Morgott, whom Elden Ring players had to fight later on in the game's campaign, is one such infamous boss. His phantom versions can pop out and surprise you throughout the campaign, and it seems like that particular facet of Morgott made it into Nightreign, where an unnamed Fell Omen (essentially an upgraded Morgott) can jump-scare invade players. While Morgott isn't the only boss that can invade your squad as you run through Nightreign, he is a very fitting invader. Not only does it line up with his surprise appearances in Elden Ring, but he even gets some extra...

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WWE 2K25 Roster Reveal - IGN FanFest

With every new WWE 2K release comes the promise of the largest roster ever and WWE 2K25 breaks the record again, powerbombing through the 300+ barrier this year when including variants. But who has made the cut in WWE 2K25? Let’s find out. The following is a full list of playable superstars in WWE 2K25, pulling from the Raw, Smackdown, and NXT rosters, and of course, a mouthwatering amount of WWE legends. Many superstars such as Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker also have variants, letting you play as superstars from different eras. However, because these are sometimes unlocked in the Showcase and MyRise modes, we wouldn’t want to spoil them for you. This list is variant-free. But enough talk. In alphabetical order, here are all the...

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Final Fantasy Commander Decks Revealed, Feature Cloud, Tidus, and More

Even if you don’t play Magic: The Gathering, you’ve probably caught wind of its numerous video game crossovers in recent years, including Fallout, Tomb Raider, and Assassin’s Creed. But today we’ve got an exclusive first look at one of the most exciting yet: Final Fantasy. And not just one Final Fantasy – from Terra to Y’shtola, four different mainline games are represented across the preconstructed Commander decks headlining the set. Flip through the image gallery below for a first look at the lead card and packaging for each deck, and read on for a conversation with Wizards of the Coast about what to expect inside them, why these four games were picked, and plenty more. Set to launch this June, Magic’s Final Fantasy crossover will...

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Diablo Hackers Tear Through Billions of Possibilities to Debunk a 15-Year-Old Record Speedrun No-One Thought Could Be Beaten

Speedrunning has been a time-honored tradition of video game enjoyers for years, with some records being held not just for months or years, but even decades. One particular legendary Diablo run, though, has been the subject of scrutiny, an intense investigation, and now a thorough debunking. In 2009, Maciej "Groobo" Maselewski recorded an Any% segmented run, as the Sorcerer, made up of 27 segments. The final time, at three minutes and 12 seconds, appeared on Speed Demos Archive, where no concerns were raised, and was subsequently published on February 26, 2009. It would garner two Guinness World Record entries, and Diablo speedrun attempts would proceed to decline as the run seemed nigh-impossible to challenge. As the years went on...

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Armored Core 6 for PS5 Drops to $20 in Amazon and Best Buy’s Presidents’ Day Sales

Presidents' Day marks one of the first big sale events of the year, and if you've been looking to save on video games there's been a fantastic variety on sale to look through. One of our favorite video game deals at the moment is on Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon for PS5, which is down to just $20 at Amazon and Best Buy. This marks a 67% price drop from its $59.99 list price and a return to its lowest price yet, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. If you've been hoping to dive into its masterful world of mechs, now's your chance to do it and save some cash in the process. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon for $20 If you're still on the fence about adding this game to your collection, it's worth noting that we had a lot of...

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Shows No Sign of Slowing Down, Sells 2 Million Copies in Less Than 2 Weeks

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s success is showing no sign of slowing down — it’s now sold 2 million copies in less than two weeks. Confirmation comes from a tweet by developer Warhorse Studios, which hailed Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s success as a “triumph,” as it had done when the game sold 1 million just a day after going on sale. It's an incredible result for developer Warhorse Studios' medieval Europe action role-playing game sequel, which launched on February 4 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Last week, Warhorse Studios parent company Embracer said Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 had done particularly well on Steam, where it saw over 250,000 peak concurrent players. For context, the first Kingdom Come...

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Why You Should Play Monster Hunter: World Before Wilds

As one of Steam’s most pre-ordered games right now, we know Monster Hunter Wilds is going to be massive. We also know that Wilds will be some people’s first Monster Hunter game. While we’re sure it will have a solid enough tutorial for newcomers, the series is undeniably dense and complex, and so if Wilds is your first go at hunting monsters you may find value in trying one of the previous games first. So before hopping into the vast and dangerous expanse of Monster Hunter Wilds, there’s one game we really recommend you check out: 2018’s Monster Hunter: World. We don’t recommend Wold because of some big narrative tie-in or cliffhanger ending that will leave you lost and confused when you embark on Wild's central plotline. We suggest it...

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