EA has added microtransactions to Skate during its latest alpha test, and ahead of a release date announcement.
As reported by Insider Gaming, developer Full Circle added microtransactions to the ongoing closed alpha test of EA's free-to-play Skate revival.
You can spend real-world money on a virtual currency called San Van Bucks, which in turn is used to buy cosmetic items. It sounds like Full Circle wants to test Skate’s microtransaction purchase system, as it states it wants players to have a “positive experience when purchasing items from the Skate store.”
“Your feedback will be greatly appreciated in providing a great experience at Early Access launch,” the message continues.
According to Insider Gaming, Full Circle has warned...
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This ain’t no idle Wednesday, fellow bargain hunter. I’ve dug up a treasure trove of discounted games just waiting to be snagged, and I’ve picked some of the best deals across Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox Series X, and PS5 to make your decision easier. But hey—less talking, more saving. Get amongst the list.
This Day in Gaming 🎂
In retro news, I'm celebrating the 32nd birthday of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, the best of the Mario/Wario platformers on Game Boy. SML2 is remembered for ditching the original’s Superball Flower in favour of the more familiar and satisfying Fire Flower, plus it introduced Bunny Mario. He could jump higher, glide through the air, and procreate faster (fan theory unconfirmed). I sacrificed many a AA...
If you're looking for an affordable power bank that will fast charge your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld, then check out today's deal. Amazon has the INIU 20,000mAh Power Bank with up to 65W of Power Delivery over USB Type-C for only $21.59 after you clip the 40% off coupon on the product page (if you don't see it, try applying promo code "WN9GQJRA"). INIU power banks have solid reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models. This particular model has 2,600 reviews on Amazon with a 4.5 star average and a Fakespot "B" rating.
Iniu 20,000mAh 65W USB Power Bank for $21.59
This Iniu power bank boasts a generous 20,000mAh, or 74Whr battery capacity. If you factor in 80% power efficiency, here are...
Hazelight's latest co-op adventure, Split Fiction, has officially surpassed one million copies sold in the first 48 hours, setting a new record for the studio.
This news was announced on BlueSky, with the official account saying, "The love you all show for our game is overwhelming! 😍 Everyone here at Hazelight are beyond happy - and we can’t stop enjoying your amazing reactions! 🤩"
Notably this is one million copies sold, which means it's possible that far more than that are playing Split Fiction. Every copy of the game comes with a Friend's Pass that lets a friend play the entire game in co-op with the purchaser for free. While not everyone will take advantage of that option (some will play local co-op, some may play with someone...
With all the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that often lead up to a game’s launch nowadays, it’s harder than ever for one to be a real surprise – and that’s especially true of a multiplayer first-person shooter when, like me, you are a Certified Old Gamer™ who’s been playing them since the genre began. Yet FragPunk has done just that. What I worried might end up being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and a big list of other buzzword features has instead impressed me with how fresh it all feels. It's still early, and I'm far from ready to say if this is a definite winner, but so far, I’m having a hard time putting FragPunk down.
In many ways, FragPunk reminds me of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If every component of a game came...
Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive is suing online marketplace PlayerAuctions, alleging it contains "thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing GTA V content – including heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency – all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits."
The lawsuit was filed last week in the U.S. Central District Court of California against the Chinese company that owns the website, Paiao Network Technology. It accuses PlayerAuctions of operating "with full knowledge that its sellers are engaged in rampant infringement and other unauthorized conduct," while it "reaps millions in revenue by taking a cut of every transaction on its marketplace."
Specifically, Take-Two...
Blizzard has announced today that it will once again hold an in-person BlizzCon convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. However, it won't be happening until 2026.
In a press release today, Blizzard revealed the next in-person BlizzCon dates: September 12 and 13, 2026. It also promised to bring back favorite convention elements such as the opening ceremony, panels, the Darkmoon Faire, competitions, and hands-on gameplay. Additionally, Blizzard says it will "aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience for all who take part in it."
Blizzard did not provide an explanation for why it was skipping 2025, or if it has plans for any sort of online celebration this year.
BlizzCon's status...
Developer weltenbauer Software Entwicklung (creators of the Construction Simulator games) and publisher astragon have announced Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, a new Unreal Engine 5-powered simulation game that puts you in the boots of a firefighter, rescuing trapped citizens, battling electrical blazes, handling flammable liquids, and dealing with grease fires, backdrafts, flashovers, and explosions. You can team up in four-player co-op as well. It's due out in Fall 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Firefighting Simulator promises realistic fire, smoke, and heat physics. It also aims to up the immersion with "officially licensed firefighting equipment and tools from industry-leading brands like HAIX, Fire-Dex, and STIHL...
Monster Hunter Wilds has emerged as one of the most popular games of the year thus far, setting records for both the series and Capcom. The reason for its popularity, according to series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, comes down to story, immersion, and cross-play.
Tsujimoto spoke to The Nikkei (via Automaton) about Monster Hunter Wilds. According to the producer, the biggest factors that influenced the new Monster Hunter's popularity are an emphasis on story, heightened immersion (citing Wilds being fully voiced), and cross-play.
It might sound a bit strange, but Monster Hunter Wilds does have a surprising interest in the story and "why" behind all of the monster hunting. Alongside the obvious points like cutscenes and a sizeable cast of...
Today, Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has offered just the tiniest tease of its next project: a game focused on the themes of spy and espionage currently being referred to as "Project C4".
As part of the reveal, we got a look at a short teaser trailer, and were briefed on a few of the big ideas we can expect in C4...as well as what we should NOT expect. For one, we were told C4 is not Disco Elysium 2, but instead takes place in a completely original new world. We also were told that it's explicitly not a 007-style spy tale. Instead, it's inspired by the novels of John le Carré, especially the Smiley vs. Karla trilogy (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People). It also includes elements of psychadelic...
Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm has revealed a detailed look at T-1000 gameplay, and a look at a new Fatality packed with references to Terminator 2.
In the video, below, we see the T-1000 use various liquid metal abilities to move about the screen, absorb hits, and poke at his enemies. Even shapeshifting sorcerer Shang Tsung praises the T-1000’s abilities during one pre-match trash talk cutscene.
The highlight of the video is the look at one of the T-1000’s Fatalities, which includes three references to Terminator 2. The first is the iconic finger point through the eyeball, the second the arm blade through the mouth, then the elevator door parting, except through the T-1000’s foe’s torso. Its animality sees the T-1000 transform...
Despite requiring players to sign NDAs to prevent details of EA's upcoming untitled Battlefield game leaking online, it leaked online anyway, with dozens of video and screenshots popping up, showing off what players participating in the game's closed playtesting have been up to.
As we reported when the leaks surfaced, the footage seems to confirm the "modern" setting previously teased by Vince Zampella, distinguishing it from other Battlefield games. A quick scroll through the Battlefield subreddit gives us plenty of firefights, as well as a taste of the game's destructible environments and a handful of new mechanics, including the ability to hang off vehicles and dragging wounded teammates out of harm's way.
Perhaps most surprising...
The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann has shared more details about Naughty Dog's upcoming game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
In an interview with Alex Garland, the writer of zombie movie 28 Days Later, Druckmann talked candidly about the development process, confirming Intergalactic has been in the works for four years.
"I joke about this with the team. We made a game, The Last of Us 2, we made certain creative decisions that got us a lot of hate. A lot of people love it, but a lot of people hate that game," Druckmann said, to which Garland joked: "Who gives a shit?"
"Exactly," Druckmann added. "But the joke is like, you know what, let's do something that people won't care as much about — let's make a game about faith and...
A leaked internal video has revealed Sony is experimenting with AI-powered PlayStation characters.
The Verge reported on the emergence of an internal video allegedly created by PlayStation Studios' advanced technology group that uses Aloy from the Horizon games to demonstrate AI-powered game characters.
The video was subsequently pulled from YouTube following a copyright claim from Muso, an internet enforcement company The Verge said lists Sony Interactive Entertainment as a client. This suggests the video is legitimate. IGN has asked Sony for comment.
In the video, as reported by The Verge, Sony Interactive Entertainment director of software engineering, Sharwin Raghoebardajal, has a conversation with an AI-powered Aloy via voice...
Welcome back to yet another chance to level up your pile of shame for less. Today’s gaming deals are stacked with legendary adventures, thrilling mysteries, and timeless classics at unbeatable prices. These deals certainly won’t last forever—or may even be micro-adjusted higher by the time you read this—so get cracking.
This Day in Gaming 🎂
In retro news, I’m using my Heavy Thrusters to light a 22-candle cake for Freelancer. Chris Roberts, the mind behind Wing Commander, was behind this fine mix of dynamic economy, faction-driven conflicts, and narrative-driven campaigns.
In the fullness of time, Freelancer has since gone on to directly influence a new gen of space sims with its groundbreaking vast open-world, seamless planetary...
Most people associate Monster Hunter with actually hunting monsters, but capturing is an important piece of the pie, too. As Monster Hunter Wilds players have discovered, capturing a monster and hanging around long enough can result in a funny little interaction playing out.
As shown by Reddit user RDGtheGreat over on the r/MonsterHunter subreddit, hanging around a captured monster long enough will let you catch a little behind-the-scenes magic. Namely, the monster getting up and leaving.
After capturing a Nu Udra and waiting around, the giant cephalopod just kind of gets up and leaves. Jokes about it all feeling like a wrap on a film set were made a few times over, it's some good fun.
For actual in-universe theories as to why this...
Activision has confirmed the release date for the return of original Verdansk map to Call of Duty: Warzone.
Verdansk returns to the battle royale on April 3 alongside Season 3, Activision said alongside the following tease: “Get ready for the drop zones and familiar terrain that players loved, alongside new updates to explore.”
There’s even a teaser trailer, below, to whet players’ appetites.
Verdansk returns to Warzone as part of its fifth anniversary celebration. Since launching in March 2020, the free-to-download Warzone has seen more than 125 million players. Fueled by stay-at-home gaming during the pandemic, Warzone changed Call of Duty forever, and in the years since has become tied to the release of each annual premium game...
Assassin’s Creed Shadows may be the latest game in the long-running series, but its feudal Japan setting places it at the midpoint of the series’ historical timeline. That’s because Assassin’s Creed doesn’t progress chronologically; this long-running franchise hops forwards and backwards in time between each entry, exploring significant events from as far back as the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, and right up to the dawn of the First World War.
With 14 games in the mainline series and counting, the timeline of these events is increasingly complex. That’s why IGN has pored over every scrap of lore to make sense of the series' centuries-spanning timeline, the overarching story, and how the games all fit together. The result is...
Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5 requires a Microsoft account, the company has confirmed.
Confirmation comes from a FAQ posted to the Forza support website: “Yes, in addition to a PSN account you’ll need to link to a Microsoft account in order to play Forza Horizon 5 on PS5. This process begins the first time you start up the game on your console.”
This policy is in keeping with other Xbox games released on Sony’s console, including Minecraft, Grounded, and Sea of Thieves.
However, it has caused a degree of controversy among some. Does it play?, which works to “ensure games and hardware remain accessible now and always,” tweeted to say the news “basically kills preservation for the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 5.”
That statement...
Capcom has released Monster Hunter Wilds hotfix 1.000.05.00 across all platforms, making important improvements and fixes for the game.
The patch removes various progression blockers and fixes various bugs, but players won’t find any performance improvements in the patch notes, below.
Monster Hunter Wilds is still sitting on a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam despite its record-breaking launch, and most of the complaints revolve around performance problems on PC.
Despite these issues, Monster Hunter Wilds’ success cannot be denied. It sold a huge 8 million copies in just three days, becoming the fastest-selling Capcom game of all time. Monster Hunter Wilds has the fifth highest ever concurrent player count on Steam, with a...
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a PlayStation 5 rating on the website of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, suggesting a release date isn’t too far away.
MachineGames’ well-received action adventure game launched on Xbox Series X and S and PC in December 2024, and currently has a spring 2025 release window on PS5. That suggests the game will be out at some point in the next few months.
Microsoft has so far remained quiet on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s PS5 release date, preferring to focus on other games at its recent Xbox Developer Direct showcase. But it seems an announcement will be made soon.
MachineGames has issued a series of updates since the game’s initial Xbox launch, most recently fixing various bugs...
Are you on the hunt for unbeatable gaming deals? Well, equip a wallet to your main hand and empty your inventory, because this week’s discounts are overloaded with gems. I’ve taken all the grind out of bargain fetch-questing by collecting the standouts of the day. Get scrolling to get saving!
This Day in Gaming 🎂
In retro news, I’m celebrating the 30th birthday of Star Wars: Dark Forces, an FPS ahead of its time. In an age of Doom, endless corridors, and fairly mindless stage-based bloodshed, this bad boy held me in thrall with its multi-level maps and “mouselook” aiming. It also had the cracking, lore-expanding tale of Kyle Katarn, a gruff ex-Imp who took on daring mission-based objectives with his amazing (at the time) ability to...
Few sports are more primed for the whole “being a video game” thing than professional wrestling, but it’s kinda weird when you think about it: the WWE itself is more akin to an elaborately choreographed fight or dance sequence in a movie than it is an actual competition, whereas the goal of the games based on it is to fight to win. But inherent contradictions aside, I’m enjoying my time with WWE 2K25 so far – just a couple of days in – thanks to its much-improved Showcase mode and generally great game feel.
When I step into a new version of an annualized game like this, the first thing I try to do is get the lay of the land. Even though I’ve been playing wrestling games since the N64 days, my first stop is the tutorial because, unless...
Balatro developer Local Thunk has published an extensive history of the game's development to his personal blog, in which he admits he didn't play any rogue-like games at all during Balatro's development...except one.
In his development timeline, the anonymous developer says as of December 2021, he made a conscious effort not to play any more roguelike games starting from that point.
"I want to be crystal clear here and say that this was not because I thought it would result in a better game, this was because making games is my hobby, releasing them and making money from them is not, so naively exploring roguelike design (and especially deckbuilder design, since I had never played one before) was part of the fun for me. I wanted to...
Let's start by saying this: there is no best weapon type in Monster Hunter Wilds. If you're looking for a definitive answer on which weapon type will get you the fastest hunt times every time because it's just that good and overpowered, there isn't one. The truth of it is that you should choose what feels good to play with for you. If you're not carting, are consistently hitting the monster, and having fun while doing it, that's what matters the most.
There's a lot that goes into making a build for any given weapon successful, like armor, decorations, and a particular Artian weapon for the particular monster you're up against, and those are the most important aspect, but if you're looking for weapon types that just might help you get...
Revisiting a game series from your youth is like exploring the basement in your childhood home. As you sift through the boxes and shelves, old memories come flooding back — which is exactly what happened as I started playing Carmen Sandiego, the latest game in a multimedia series that spans four decades. When the master thief appeared onscreen in her iconic trenchcoat and fedora, I was eight years old again, my face inches from a computer screen as I used my nascent knowledge of math, geography, and history to solve Carmen’s latest caper. 40 years later, Carmen Sandiego gives me that same thrill of solving puzzles by collecting clues, even if some of the modern additions to the visual novel-esque interface miss their mark.
As a former...
Apex Legends developer Respawn has canceled an incubation project this week, and laid off an unknown number of individuals working on it in the process.
This news was first reported by Insider Gaming, sourcing a now-unavailable LinkedIn post from a former production coordinator who wrote that “The unannounced incubation project I was a part of for the past year was canceled this week, so I am joining the group of extremely talented and kind people in the games industry searching for a new role."
IGN has been able to independently confirm that Respawn has canceled an unannounced incubation project. IGN understands this was a multiplayer FPS (for which at least one job posting was listed last year) spun off by members of an internal...
It appears that some early gameplay footage of EA's upcoming Battlefield game has leaked online, following closed playtesting.
As reported by TheGamer, a Twitch user named anto_merguezz appears to have streamed footage from EA's closed Battlefield Labs playtest, which allowed a small group of players to try out early versions of the game to help developers fine tune. Though there are no clips of the stream available on anto_merguezz's page, someone appears to have recorded footage from the stream and it's been posted online in various places, largely circulating via Reddit.
The footage appears to confirm the "modern" setting teased by Vince Zampella previously, distinguishing it from other Battlefield games with historical or...
When I sat down to play developer MercurySteam’s latest project, Blades of Fire, I expected something of a return to the studio’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games, updated with the modern stylings of God of War. An hour later I thought I was playing a Soulslike, albeit one where all the stats were in my weapons rather than an RPG character sheet. By the end of the three-hour hands-on session, I realised both of those observations were simultaneously true and false: this is a game that is unmistakably built on well-worn ground, but the unique arrangement of both its borrowed components and new ideas results in a fresh and interesting approach to the action-adventure genre.
While it’s not exactly a clone of Sony Santa Monica’s work...
Join me on a violent journey through the English countryside, AKA: 90 minutes with Atomfall, the new survival-action game from Sniper Elite developer, Rebellion. I recently visited a pub in North London to have a pint and some hands-on playtime, and came away intrigued by Atomfall’s open-ended approach to mission design and eerie tone. I also may have lost my mind and decided to attack everyone I saw, including an old lady who likely didn’t deserve it, with a cricket bat. Let me explain why.
Every NPC in Atomfall can be killed, from the lowliest grunt to the most important quest-giver. As I sit down to start the demo, I decide that my mission is to test that design. I’ll admit that my approach is inelegant; barely two minutes into my...