Gaming News

Diablo 2's Runewords are Being Resurrected in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

During their livestream today, Blizzard announced a rather unexpected feature will be returning to Diablo 4 with Vessel of Hatred: Runewords. Found exclusively in Diablo 2 up until this point, Runewords are an upgrade system that lets you imprint your equipment with special properties by combining specific runes to form words with potent effects. Though Diablo 4's take on this mechanic has been overhauled, the fundamentals remain the same, and will offer an entirely new way for players to power up their heroes of Sanctuary. In an interview with IGN, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred game director Brent Gibson explained, "The biggest change is that the requirement is sockets. The D2 system is great, but it's also not super approachable for...

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Black Myth: Wukong Xbox Delay Due to Sony Exclusivity Deal, Not Tech Issues, According to Source

Black Myth: Wukong's delay on Xbox is due to an exclusivity deal with Sony, a knowledgeable source has told IGN, corroborating reporting on Forbes as well as what IGN has heard elsewhere. The source denied that Black Myth: Wukong's delay is due to a memory leak issue, which was circulated by Spanish leaker eXtas1s after what they said was a conversation with Xbox developers at Gamescom. Because of that, they claimed, Black Myth: Wukong had not been able to pass bug detection tests and was thus delayed indefinitely. However, IGN understands that no tech issue that would delay Black Myth: Wukong has been reported to Xbox. Rather, the Xbox delay is the result of an exclusivity deal neither Game Science nor Sony have publicized, the...

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The Top 5 Improvements in the Massive Update That Introduced Hunt: Showdown 1896

The extraction first-person shooter Hunt: Showdown has been going strong for five years and has gotten dozens of patches and updates, but none as big as the one that launched recently. It’s such a significant upgrade that the game itself got a new name — Hunt: Showdown 1896. If you’re not familiar with Hunt: Showdown, it’s a multiplayer shooter on PC and console that mixes the supernatural with dark realism. It’s a PvPvE extraction shooter that puts you in the shoes of a bounty hunter. In order to claim your bounties, you need to venture across large maps, kill supernatural creatures, and fend off your fellow hunters to survive long enough to reach the extraction point. The game’s recent update might have changed the name, but it’s...

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Indy's Most Iconic Look Locked Behind Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Premium Edition at Launch

Indiana Jones' iconic outfit from Temple of Doom is locked behind the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Premium Edition at launch. The Digital Premium Edition of MachineGames' hotly anticipated adventure costs $99.99 instead of the Standard Edition's $69.99 and comes with the base game, story expansion The Order of Giants, a digital artbook, and the Temple of Doom Outfit, deemed by Microsoft itself "Indy's iconic look" on the Xbox Store page. This edition also arrives three days before the Standard Edition, meaning those only willing to pay $69.99 have to wait longer to play. It's worth noting that Game Pass subscribers can upgrade to the Premium Edition for $35, which is a cheaper route to the Temple of Doom outfit in the short...

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Control and Alan Wake TV and Movies on the Way Thanks to New Annapurna and Remedy Partnership

It's a good day for fans of the Alan Wake and Control universes. Remedy Entertainment announced today it's partnering with Annapurna Interactive to work on film, TV, and "other audiovisual formats" based on these franchises...as well as help fund the upcoming Control 2. In a press release, Remedy and Annapurna revealed that Annapurna would serve as a co-production and co-financing partner on Control 2. Remedy will remain focused on developing that and other games, while Annapurna takes the lead on multimedia adaptations. "This deal with Remedy isn't just about adapting great games—-it's about breaking new ground in how companies can collaborate," said Hector Sanchez, former head of Unreal Engine games business at Epic and...

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The Best Nintendo Switch Games Are on Sale Ahead of Labor Day

In my experience, Labor Day sales tend to skip over video games. But, for some reason, most of the games I’ve been waiting for a good deal on are at their lowest prices ahead of Labor Day weekend. In fact, I'm seeing better Switch deals now than anything I could find during Prime Day earlier this year. If you’re like me and have been waiting to pick up Tears of the Kingdom or the new Mario Kart, now might be the time to go for it. Best Zelda Deals I've Seen This Year Before Echoes of Wisdom drops in September, Walmart has cut prices on the two most recent Zelda games on Switch. Last year's Tears of the Kingdom is at a lower price than it’s ever been on Amazon. BotW and TotK were both released to critical acclaim (IGN gave them both...

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Will Seemingly Usurp Baldur's Gate 3 as the Game With the Longest Script

Baldur's Gate 3 currently holds the world record for the video game with the longest script, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will seemingly take that award for itself when it launches in 2025. Dan Vávra, co founder and creative director at Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios, said on X/Twitter that the game script currently totals 2.2 million words. Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios said on Steam its game totalled "roughly 2,000,000 words" at launch, meaning Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 could be the new champ. "Yesterday, we were counting with our lead designer Prokop Jirsa how much we actually wrote for KCD2," Vávra said. "So guess how big the script is? 2,200,000 words! Or 11,000 typical screenwriting...

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Has a New Feature Fans Are Saying Will Get People Banned or Make Them Go Viral — or Both

Amid the cacophony caused by Call of Duty Next, one new Black Ops 6 feature flew under the radar — but it could end up as the most impactful of all. Black Ops 6, out October 25, 2024, has a new Body Shield feature in multiplayer that lets you grab an enemy and hold them in front of you to soak up bullets, while firing off a few rounds of your own. We’ve seen a body shield feature in plenty of shooters over the years, but what developer Treyarch has done here is enabled voice chat between the attacker and the victim. “Be nice…” the studio tweeted, perhaps in hope more than expectation. As you’d expect from the notoriously toxic Call of Duty community, reaction is a mix of disbelief and excitement. Disbelief in that some can’t...

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CD Projekt Has Fun Over Cyberpunk Stars Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba Appearing in Sonic 3 Together

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 stars Cyberpunk 2077's most famous actors in Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba, and developer CD Projekt is loving it. Using its Cyberpunk 2077 X/Twitter account, CD Projekt replied to a post from the Sonic the Hedgehog account sharing the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. "Remember Knuckles and Shadow's first meeting? In Dogtown," it said. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 features the regular cast of anthropomorphic beasties such as Tales and, of course, Sonic himself, but also features Knuckles and the brand new character of Shadow. These latter two will be familiar to fans of Cyberpunk 2077, as Knuckles is voiced by Elba and Shadow is voiced by Reeves. Both previously starred as the most recognisable faces in Cyberpunk...

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ConcernedApe Hasn’t Worked on Haunted Chocolatier ‘In a Long Time’ Because of Troublesome Console and Mobile Ports of Stardew Valley 1.6

It sounds like the console and mobile ports of Stardew Valley’s game-changing 1.6 update are proving troublesome — so much so that developer Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, hasn’t worked on his follow-up game “in a long time.” The free 1.6 update, which sparked a fresh 10/10 Stardew Valley review from IGN, launched on PC in March, which means console and mobile players of the phenomenally successful farming and life sim have waited nearly half a year so far. ConcernedApe initially expected the ports would be released a month later. In a tweet, a clearly frustrated ConcernedApe apologized to disgruntled fans, and promised not to return to work on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, until Stardew 1.6 is finalized. “Console and mobile...

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Couple Has Black Ops 6 Themed Wedding at Call of Duty Next Event

Two Twitch streamers got married at a Black Ops 6 themed wedding outside the Call of Duty Next event in Washington, D.C. As reported by PC Gamer, streamers TheCallofDutyDJ and chloejagger tied the knot on August 28, 2024 in celebration of their love of each other and Call of Duty. Publisher Activision held the Next event to show off its upcoming shooter Black Ops 6 and the happy couple held their wedding alongside it. TheCallofDutyDJ, real name Brad, wore a black suit with white shirt and orange tie (in the colors of Black Ops 6) and chloejagger, real name actually Chloe, carried a bouquet of orange flowers. Their four-tier wedding cake was adorned with Call of Duty branding and a cake topper of the pair playing video games together...

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Black Myth: Wukong Patch 1.0.8.14860 Makes Some Crucial Fixes, and Nerfs One Boss in Particular

The Black Myth: Wukong updates are starting to kick into gear following its record-breaking launch. Today we have patch 1.0.8.14860, out across PC and PlayStation 5. The patch, which weighs in at around 1.6GB, makes a number of fixes and adjustments, as well as a solitary balance change to one boss in particular. When Black Myth: Wukong launched, developer Game Science apologized for any tech problems players encountered, and promised to release patches aimed at these performance issues. In a statement, Game Science warned that “despite multiple internal full-process tests of Black Myth: Wukong, given the game's vast scale and the myriad of software and hardware environments, occasional serious issues may still arise.” Patch...

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Concord is Another High-Profile Victim of AAA’s Painfully Long Development Time

Concord, PlayStation’s online hero shooter from first-party studio Firewalk, launched this week to a Steam concurrent player count high of 697, according to SteamDB. To describe the launch as dismal is an understatement. But while this three-figure player count has captured headlines and provoked ridicule across the internet, the detail that caught my eye was that Concord reportedly spent eight years in development. That means Concord began its journey sometime around 2016 – the same year Blizzard released Overwatch. Firewalk Studios is made up of veterans from Bungie and Activision, two of the foremost makers of online PvP shooters, so it’s no surprise it attempted to go toe-to-toe with Overwatch to win over fans in the genre given...

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Indie Game Round-Up – September 2024

The best September indie games will help you ease into the cooler months of the year and find some fun with friends, on your own, in the stars, and even with… dogs?! That’s right, it’s once again time for our monthly round-up of upcoming indie games, and like usual we’ve got a lot of cool […] Continue reading...

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Monster Hunter Doesn't Leave Room for a Dino Crisis Reboot, Creator Shinki Mikami Says

The popularity of Monster Hunter doesn't leave room for a reboot or remake of beloved PlayStation game Dino Crisis, its creator Shinji Mikami has said. The famed developer told Eurogamer he's surprised gamers want more of the series but doesn't think it's likely because of another popular series about killing big beasties. "I'm very surprised to hear that [fans want more Dino Crisis]," Mikami said. "The awesomeness of dinosaurs and the stuff you can do with dinosaurs, that's been kind of really nailed down by Monster Hunter in recent years. "Even if I were to decide to make a remake or a new version of Dino Crisis, I don't really feel like there's a whole lot of space for that kind of game right now, just since Monster Hunter has...

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Ubisoft Gives Annoyed Star Wars Outlaws Players Who Paid to Play Early but Lost All Progress a Trinket and Some Loyalty Points No-One Wants

Following this week’s Star Wars Outlaws update that forced some early access players to restart the game, Ubisoft has offered a make-good: an in-game trinket and some loyalty points. In the wake of releasing Star Wars Outlaws patch 1.000.002, Ubisoft warned PlayStation 5 players that they might have encountered issues with their current save if they were playing on the older version of the game. The solution: start a new save. Here’s Ubisoft’s initial message: Players complained that they were forced into losing hours of progress through no fault of their own, a loss made all the worse by the fact that it occurred during Star Wars Outlaws’ early access period, which was reserved for those who paid more than $100 for the Gold...

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Atomfall Isn’t British Fallout, It’s Something Much More Interesting

When Atomfall was announced as part of the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this summer, its first-person, post-apocalypse, alt-history design made it appear that developer Rebellion was crafting a British version of Fallout. And, for a while, that’s (sort of) what it was building. But the team at Rebellion soon realised that a story driven by traditional RPG quests just wasn’t what they wanted to make. They hoped for something much, much more interesting. The solution was to replace quests with ‘leads’, transforming Atomfall into what’s probably best described as a ‘detective survival game’. Here’s how that all works. My hands-on demo begins with the UK’s iconic red telephone box. One stands alone amid the verdant, picturesque English...

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The First Descendant Update 1.1.0 Goes Live, Kicking Off Season 1 Invasion

The First Descendant’s big 1.1.0 update is now live across PC via Steam, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. It kicks off Invasion, Season 1 of Nexon’s popular free-to-play looter shooter. The headline addition is a new playable character, or Descendant, called Hailey Scott. Hailey is a ranged DPS specialist who fires beams and bullets from a sniper canon infused with chill. Elsewhere, there’s a new Invasion episode that includes a new quest, called Mysterious Phenomena, and a new Invasion dungeon. As you’d expect, there’s a new Season 1 Invasion battle pass with lots of cosmetics to unlock. There is also a long list of gameplay, balance, and user interface changes with 1.1.0, the biggest update yet for...

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Call of Duty Next: Everything Announced for Black Ops 6 and Warzone

COD: Next 2024 dropped in with new details about what to expect from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, zombies, multiplayer, Warzone, and much, much more. The day-long celebration of Call of Duty’s future didn’t disappoint, as the four-hour showcase featured interviews with developers and gameplay reveals while attendees got to go hands-on with upcoming releases. This year’s Black Ops installment had already promised a slew of changes to Activision’s first-person shooter formula, but we’ve now gotten a better look at things like the Area 99 Warzone map, omnimovement, the Liberty Falls zombies maps, and other fresh gameplay tweaks. While we wait for the Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta to kick off this weekend, we gathered all of the major...

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Guilty Gear Strive Switch Edition Appears to Have Leaked Thanks to a Banner Spotted at PAX West

Guilty Gear Strive seems to be getting a much asked-for release on the Nintendo Switch, at least according to a giant banner hanging up at PAX West in Seattle today. In a now-deleted tweet posted to X/Twitter yesterday and archived on Reddit, a massive banner over a convention lobby entrance advertises Guilty Gear Strive, with a Nintendo Switch logo and the text "Nintendo Switch Edition" and "Pre-order now" in the left corner with a QR code. While Arc System Works has yet to confirm the veracity of this, it's hard to imagine a giant banner like this going up outside of a real announcement - with PAX West starting Friday, we're likely to see it shortly. The banner does not specify a release date, but it's possible the Switch version...

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Blizzard Addresses Controversial Leveling Changes in World of Warcraft: The War Within

Earlier this week, Blizzard announced changes to how leveling from level 70 to 80 will work in recently-released World of Warcraft expansion, The War Within. And now, after criticism from players, developers are reassuring that the overall impact to leveling time will be "minimal." The changes were announced yesterday in an official post, with community manager Kaivax sharing that the team had noticed players coming into the new expansion content with endgame gear from the previous expansion, Dragonflight, were "extremely powerful relative to that intential content." The post goes on to say that a hotfix to be pushed today would "adjust the scaling of enemies in War Within leveling content to increase the power of lower-level enemies...

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Verdansk Is Finally Returning to Call of Duty Warzone, and Fans are Delighted

Call of Duty Warzone is bringing back the map that started it all: Verdansk. Activision confirmed the return of what might be the most beloved open-world map in Warzone history as part of COD: Next, today, celebrating the news with a special post that made its way to X/Twitter. The announcement marks the end of rumors that the map would be making a comeback for months. Now we know that Verdansk – along with iconic points of interest like Stadium, the Train Station, and Superstore – will finally return in spring 2025. It’s unclear if it will be altered in any way or if it will be just as players remember it when it eventually drops in Warzone. A specific release date has also not yet been revealed. Verdansk first debuted alongside...

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Marathon Director Was Fired Following Misconduct Investigation at Bungie - Report

Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired after an internal misconduct investigation at Bungie, according to a new Bloomberg report citing sources within the studio, who say that at least eight women came forward saying that Barrett behaved inappropriately toward them. The new report says that Barrett "called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio, suggesting that he could help advance their careers." Barrett also allegedly befriended women in various department and sent them a "barrage of text messages that blurred the lines between professional and personal." Internally, Bloomberg reports that Bungie employees weren't told about the...

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Call of Duty Warzone’s Next Map Is Area 99, the ‘Birthplace’ of Nuketown

Activision has revealed fresh details on the next map coming to battle royale Warzone, and it’ll be familiar to fans of Call of Duty multiplayer. Wazone is getting a new Resurgence map in Season 1 called Area 99, which is described as the “birthplace” of Nuketown. Check it out in the trailer below. Set in a U.S. fake town used for nuclear tests, Nuketown is one of the most famous and popular recurring maps in the Call of Duty series. It’s tiny, which makes for fast and often chaotic gameplay, perfect for players who are on the Call of Duty grind and want to level up weapons, unlock attachments, or complete challenges. Area 99, developed by Black Ops 6 studio Treyarch with support from Warzone custodian Raven Software (union staff...

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World First Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Nuke Achieved Before the Beta Even Launches

We're still a couple days away from the release of the Black Ops 6 beta release date, but one streamer has already managed to pull the notable feat of dropping the game's first nuke. Streamer JustHazzardous, who claims to have pulled off a similar achievement in Modern Warfare 3, posted a clip of what looks like Black Ops 6's very first nuke, which he recorded live from Activision's Call of Duty NEXT event. While it's unconfirmed how many kills it takes to reach a nuke in Black Ops 6, nukes can typically be achieved after gaining 25 kills without dying. The imagery of the nuke is as intense as you'd expect, with even the player character catching fire and burning up, Terminator 2-style, in a brand new animation ahead of a massive...

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel: Who Is the Shadow Duelist and How to Watch

On August 12, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel announced a new tournament with a shadowy twist. Participants in the Shadow Duelist tournament will compete for the title and to unravel the mystery of what celebrity is behind the masked persona named Nocturne. The winner of the tournament will be crowned on August 29 and claim an autographed copy of Nocturne’s mask. IGN will carry the stream across our channels, and this watch guide will tell you everything you need to know to watch the unveiling of the Shadow Duelist Nocturne, including when it starts, a list of places to watch it, and what you can expect to see. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Shadow Duelist Start Time The Shadow Duelist stream will start on August 29 at 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm BST...

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CD Projekt 'Definitely' Planning More Cyberpunk 2077 Animation Projects

CD Projekt has renewed hopes for Cyberpunk Edgerunners Season 2 after saying it is "definitely" planning more animation projects set with the Cyberpunk 2077 universe. Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski was asked during CD Projekt's latest earnings call if it was planning more projects in the pop culture realm and if the beloved Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime, from CD Projekt, Studio Trigger, and Netflix, is getting a second season. Nowakowski and his colleagues have been fairly insistent in the past that Cyberpunk Edgerunners would not continue after its first season, and while he by no means confirmed more here, he did at least say fans should expect more animation projects in the same vein. "We are definitely planning to do more in terms...

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Sony Announces PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for September 2024

Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus monthly games for September 2024, all playable for subscribers from September 3. As revealed in a post on PlayStation Blog, the headline addition is Harry Potter game Quidditch Champions (PS4, PS5), which makes its debut as part of September’s PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup. MLB The Show 24 (PS4, PS5), meanwhile, also joins September’s PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup. IGN's MLB The Show 24 review returned an 8/10. We said: "MLB The Show 24 continues to push the genre forward – not every choice is a homerun, but it has enough hits for another all-star appearance." And rounding out the month is Tarsier Studios' horror adventure Little Nightmares 2 (PS4, PS5). IGN's Little...

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RGG Summit Showcase to Reveal Next Yakuza/Like a Dragon Game in September

Yakuza/Like a Dragon developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio will reveal the next game in the franchise in an RGG Summit showcase on September 20, 2024. The developer announced the showcase during a livestream today, August 28, and confirmed the next game in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise will be revealed there. It will take place at 3am Pacific / 6am Eastern / 11am UK. Though RGG only launched its last big game, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, in January 2024, it's known for relasing an almost constant stream of new titles. In the last five years, for example, RGG released Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Judgment Remastered, Lost Judgment, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased...

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Infamous PS1 Hagrid Meme Shows Up in Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions features a reference to the infamous PS1 Hagrid meme. A post on the Harry Potter website outlined the handful of Easter eggs present in the game, such as Harry spitting up his first Golden Snitch and even his first flight from the original film, though the Hagrid reference leans a tad more ridiculous than sentimental. "If you’ve been on the internet in the last few years, you will have seen this iconic Hagrid image pop in meme form," the post said. "Now it is back. Yes, in what could be considered the ultimate Easter egg, players will be able to use a paper mask in game which takes the form of Hagrid’s gloriously low-res visage! We’re getting all nostalgic just thinking about it." According to Know...

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