Gaming News

Four years ago, between the announcement of Xbox Game Pass and its launch, Microsoft’s vision for the “Netflix of games” had yet to come into focus. Phil Spencer and team Xbox were clear in its direction, though public perception surrounding the game subscription service was muddier: What did Game Pass mean for consumers? Was it sustainable for developers? How would it affect the future of game ownership?Now, coming up on the service’s fourth anniversary, public perception has cleared, and the verdict is near-universal: Xbox Game Pass has been heralded as a cost-effective, accessible alternative to traditional game purchasing for many players.As Sony takes a bigger step into offering its own subscriptions with its “all-new...

A Call of Duty: Warzone player has glitched their way into Rebirth Island's Golden Vault.The mysterious vault was added during the Season Two Reloaded update in March and teased to be opened soon, but one impatient player has now managed to force their way in.As reported by DualShockers, Twitter user @BobNetworkUK uploaded a video of the glitch (below), showing another player essentially push them through the vault door with a jeep.The vault appears to be fully functional apart from its locked doors, as it's full of loot chests that open as normal. The weapons dropped are useless, however, as there's no way to glitch back out into the main map.The previously mysterious doors were due to be unlocked soon as Infinity Ward had...

Halo Infinite Season 2 will add new maps, modes, and events when it launches on May 3.Announced with a trailer on the game's official Twitter page, Season 2 is titled Lone Wolves and promises several new additions to the multiplayer portion of Halo Infinite."Gear up for Season 2 of Halo Infinite," the post said. "Experience fresh content, including new maps, modes, themed limited-time events, and an all new Battle Pass that never expires."While the trailer doesn't give too much away, developer 343 Industries has previously said the new Battle Pass will allow players to earn credits to spend in the in-game shop on items, cosmetics, and even the next Battle Pass.Season 2 is also expected to fix the lack of content that has the...

Elden Ring players have discovered a quick and easy way to defeat Starscourge Radahn, one of the game's toughest bosses.The famed Red Lion seemingly shares the fear of most cats as drawing him towards the water in his boss arena causes Radahn to defeat himself.As reported by PC Gamer, the method was shared at similar times by both Reddit user HomeGrownCrown7 and Twitter user izuoku_ (below). It's a strategy that, while 'cheesy', still requires some skill as players need to first bring Radahn's health bar down to 50% before the instant kill method can be used.This prompts the boss to enter his second stage which starts with a massive attack where Radahn leaps into the air before shooting back down in the form of a comet. By...

Cardy, Matt, and Jesse are here to rattle through all of the games and films they’ve been watching and playing recently. There’s The Quarry, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Weird West, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Too much really.Want to get in touch to talk about game mechanics you completely missed? Or maybe about chocolate? Feel free to send us an email at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.IGN UK Podcast #639: Three Bunged Up BoysIGN UK Podcast #638: The Steam Deck Is a Big Boi IGN UK Podcast #637: Ghostwiring and Smelly Feedback IGN UK Podcast #636: GTA V is Old but so Are We Now IGN UK Podcast #635: More Decent Chat IGN UK Podcast #634: The Batman, Elden Ring, and...

Sea of Thieves is getting a partially randomised three-part quest called Legend of the Veil.The update arrives on April 21 and aims to combine a well put together, cinematic story with the "anything can happen" appeal of regular gameplay.While the third chapter of Legends of the Veil is unchanging, the first two sections will have randomly generated quests with both combat and puzzle-solving objectives.The mission starts as the Pirate Lord appears on-board, asking the player to collect three Veil Stones to place in the Veil Mask, each located behind their own mini-adventure.Chapters one and two may take players to underwater shipwrecks and haunted islands, while the final chapter has them chase a tornado across the map while...

Thank your own personal God—possibly Ormagöden—it's Friday! I've found tons of great deals to get you stocked for the Easter holidays. Stuff like BAFTA best ofs, a selection of TT's most bricktastic adventures and even a range of extra controllers to use on them. Anything below is a great reason to stay inside, off the roads and away from the rubbish weather. Stay safe, save often and see you Monday.Notable Sales for Nintendo SwitchPurchase Cheaply for PCExciting Offers for XO/XSProduct Savings for PS4/PS5Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.Continue reading...

We may be a third of the way into 2022, but it's not too late to honor the best games of 2021. The 18th British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA) were held tonight in the U.K., with the award for Best Game of 2021 going to Returnal. Returnal took home the most awards overall, also winning in the Audio Achievement and Music categories.Other winners include It Takes Two, Unpacking, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, among others. You can take a look at all of the categories below, where the winners are in bold.BAFTA 2022 Nominees for Best GameDeathloop Forza Horizon 5 Inscryption It Takes Two Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart WINNER: ReturnalBAFTA 2022 Nominees for British GameAlba: A Wildlife Adventure Death’s Door Fights in Tight Spaces...

Activision Blizzard has announced that it will be converting nearly 1,100 US-based temporary and contingent QA workers to full-time positions.The company says that the change will increase Activision Publishing’s total full-time staff by 25%, following a recent conversion of nearly 500 contractors to full-time employees. However, some dozen QA team members at Raven Software were not part of this transition, leading to a walkout at the studio.Along with the move to full-time, QA workers will have their hourly rate increased to $20 per hour, and be able to partake in the company’s bonus plan and have access to full-time benefits.Activision Publishing COO Josh Taub and head of Blizzard Mike Ybarra both sent emails to staff today...

The Quarry is Supermassive Games’ spiritual successor to Until Dawn, a brand new 10-hour horror game unconnected to its not-so-distant cousin, The Dark Pictures Anthology series. It heavily evokes classic teen horrors, sticking close to the path that made Until Dawn so successful. Also, like Until Dawn, this path branches off in various different directions, twisting and turning along the way until you reach one of its 186 unique ending variations. From the three hours I spent with its first three acts, I was constantly reminded of what made Until Dawn so enjoyable and fresh when it was first released. While The Quarry may not be treading as much new ground, it definitely got its hooks into me with its gorgeous cinematic presentation...

Developer Cellar Door Games has announced that Rogue Legacy 2, the roguelite sequel to the original 2013 game, will be leaving Early Access and officially launching on April 28. To mark the occasion, the developer is making the original game available for free right now on the Epic Games Store."Our goal for Rogue Legacy 2 was always to make 'Rogue Legacy 3', because we didn’t want to settle for just more," Cellar Door said. "It had to stay true to the original, but also stand on its own as something new. After nearly four years of development, bringing it to the fans is the final step in this long journey, and we hope they find it as special as we do."The sequel features a new 2.5D art style, weapons, classes, abilities, and biome...

Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.Blizzard has quietly removed the Z symbol from skins in Overwatch following the icon's use during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Zarya, a Russian character, previously featured the letter Z on her Arctic and Siberian Front skins but these were removed in the latest Anniversary Remix update, as reported by Polygon.The Z symbol has been used in Russian propaganda to show support for the country's invasion of Ukraine, appearing on tanks and other vehicles before entering mass media at the beginning of March.Russian...

A new Ghost Recon game is reportedly in development at Ubisoft.Sources told Kotaku that "codename OVER" will be the series' latest and could be released in fiscal year 2023, meaning sometime next year.This is a separate project from Ghost Recon Frontline, a free to play battle royale that saw a delay within a week of being revealed last October.Kotaku also reported that development on Frontline is expectedly shaky as the project is undergoing a full reset with no launch date anytime soon.Mumblings of Ghost Recon "OVER" came soon after Ubisoft announced it was ending content support for its previous game, Ghost Recon Breakpoint. The codename Project OVER had also been previously spotted in a GeForce Now leak last year.Having...

An earlier version of Resident Evil Village reportedly had mermaid-style monsters.A series of tweets from known Resident Evil leaker Dusk Golem claims that the swamp area of the game once featured mermaid-like enemies before it underwent a major rework.Dusk Golem claimed that in this early version the player had to traverse through the swamp, choosing between walking on land or wading through water, while being stalked by "a slimy-sorta Tyrant-like creature" that was likely Moreau, the area's final boss.The mermaids would hunt protagonist Ethan while he was in the water and stun him on land, leaving the player wide open for an attack from the stalker.Dusk Golem also said this version of the sequence had "weird ritual type...

Epic Games and The LEGO Group have announced a new collaboration in which the two companies will work together to create a child-friendly space within the metaverse.The announcement states that "the two companies will team up to build an immersive, creatively inspiring and engaging digital experience for kids of all ages to enjoy together."The digital space will be governed by three principles agreed upon by LEGO and Epic Games:Protect children’s right to play by making safety and wellbeing a priority. Safeguard children’s privacy by putting their best interests first. Empower children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.Concrete detais about what this "digital experience" will be are...

Cyberpunk 2077 just got a pretty significant update in February, and plenty of us took the time to jump back into Night City and take on a few more gigs. Maybe a few of you even checked out the 5-hour trial CD Projekt RED put out on Xbox and PS5 as well. Well, if you can find time away from Elden Ring, and want to pick up the full game, this deal is absolutely brilliant.Cyberpunk 2077 is now only $5 at Best Buy for a limited time. That's right, for one day only, you can get what is probably the cheapest a Cyberpunk 2077 physical copy will ever be. The discount is available until the end of the day (April 7) on PS4 and Xbox One copies of the game. Both copies can be upgraded to their new-gen console equivalent for free as well...

Well, it looks like large chunks of Oz will have a wet and miserable Easter break. The good news: that's the perfect excuse to park your butt, forget your gym membership and knock a few levels off your game pile of shame. If you don't really have one of those yet, I can help you lay a new foundation (or build on a loft extension) with a ton of great discounts!Notable Sales for Nintendo SwitchPurchase Cheaply for PCExciting Offers for XO/XSProduct Savings for PS4/PS5Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.Continue reading...

On this episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Mark Medina and Jada Griffin to talk about PlayStation... and Severance. But mostly PlayStation, we promise, Mark's just really happy Severance got renewed.But after that, we dig into the biggest news of the week, including confirmation that a new Tomb Raider game is confirmed, as well as our hopes and expectations for a new Lara Croft adventure from Crystal Dynamics. We dig into what we did and didn't like about the reboot trilogy, what we hope a new game would carry forward, and if it's even something we want set in that same universe or a new timeline entirely.Then, we discuss a bit about E3 2022 not happening, what we expect...

Remedy and Rockstar Games have announced they will be remaking Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.In a surprise announcement Remedy will work with Rockstar under a new publishing agreement to remake the first two Max Payne games for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Remedy will handle development while Rockstar will finance the project "which will be in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production."The Max Payne remakes will also be developed on Remedy's Northlight game engine, the same engine used to develop Control and the upcoming Alan Wake 2.The original Max Payne games were also a result of a partnership between Remedy and Rockstar, with Remedy handling development and Rockstar Games publishing...

Over two decades after its original PlayStation release, Chrono Cross is finally seeing the light of day again with Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. It’s a fascinating remaster on a technical level, offering an identical reproduction of the original but with the option to turn on improved visuals including clearer text, retouched visuals, and new character portraits. The rest looks like it leaped right out of 1999 and into our fancy 4K TVs, giving it the thematically appropriate vibe of being temporally displaced.Chrono Cross, despite its age, is well-worth playing today for any number of reasons - among them the amazing IGN review score it earned back in 1999. The praise our review offered then for elements like the...

Dying Light 2 is getting a New Game Plus mode later this month.Techland announced on Twitter (below) that the third major patch for Dying Light 2 was on its way with a promise it would be one of the biggest yet.The developer didn't give an exact release date for the update but said it would be available on all platforms by the end of April, meaning it's a few weeks away at most.Several fixes for both the single and multiplayer portions of the game will be included alongside the New Game Plus mode but Techland didn't say if anything else would be included.Patch three would have to be fairly sizable to compete with Dying Light 2's previous updates. Its launch day patch featured more than 1,000 fixes while later ones were tasked...

Days Gone director Jeff Ross has joined Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.In a tweet, Ross announced he was joining the studio as design director just hours after it revealed it was working on a new Tomb Raider game. He didn't confirm which game he'd be working on though, as Crystal Dynamics is also co-developing the Perfect Dark reboot with The Initiative, and continues to work on Marvel's Avengers.Ross will be joining Crystal North West in Seattle this summer, a subsidiary studio of Crystal Dynamics, but his LinkedIn profile indicates he's been a Crystal Dynamics employee since February.Ross has previously expressed his desire to work on an Uncharted game, and considering that Crystal Dynamics took inspiration from the...

Ai: The Somnium Files is set to launch for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on June 24. It's already up for preorder (see it at Amazon). It's available in a standard edition and a special collector's edition. Below, you'll find all the details about what comes in each edition, where you can preorder it, and how much it costs. Let's get down to business.Ai: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative Collector's EditionPS4Get it at GameStop - $119.99 - IN STOCK Get it at Amazon - $119.99 - Sold out Get it at Best Buy - $119.99 - Sold outNintendo SwitchGet it at GameStop - $119.99 - IN STOCK Get it at Amazon - $119.99 - Sold out Get it at Best Buy - $119.99 - Sold outXbox OneGet it at Walmart - $119.99 - IN STOCK Get it at...

Acting for Eidos Montreal’s Guardians of the Galaxy came with an almost unique challenge. Not only were the core cast members tasked with bringing digital avatars to life, they had to differentiate them from some of the most famous onscreen characters of the last decade. Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket, and Groot – they’re all now major pop culture names thanks to their MCU counterparts, not to mention decades of comic book appearances.But this isn’t an MCU game, nor a straight comic adaptation. Not in the slightest. We spoke to all five lead cast members for Guardians of the Galaxy to work out how they managed the balancing act of presenting players with new versions of beloved, familiar characters.“We were told...

Konami is finally releasing the full version of eFootball on April 14, with a new patch set to fix bugs and add new features many have been waiting for since last year.Patch 1.0 promises to turn the game from what Konami said was "basically a demo" into the fully-fledged first version of its new soccer series.Announced in a blog post on the eFootball website, the development team said it had been working hard to "regain the trust" of players and had taken on feedback to fix bugs, improve online play, and add new gameplay mechanics.One of the major additions comes in the Dream Team mode, previously branded as Creative Team, which allows players to combine a mixture of their own players and real-life soccer stars to form a, well...

Today, the twin suns have risen on a great deal for a star war. I've actually clocked LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga already, and I can confirm it's goofy, block-rocking fun for the whole family. The amount of collectables and side content makes this thicker than a Hutt with a Brazilian butt lift. 59 galactic credits is a steal. Do it.Notable Sales for Nintendo SwitchPurchase Cheaply for PCExciting Offers for XO/XSProduct Savings for PS4/PS5Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.Continue reading...

Blizzard today announced that the next year of Hearthstone will be known as The Year of the Hydra. It will commence on April 12 (April 13 in ANZ) with the release of Hearthstone's newest expansion, Voyage to the Sunken City, and will see three sets leave the Standard format - Ashes of Outland, Scholomance Academy and Madness at the Darkmoon Faire. It's going to be a massive shakeup, and not just because the card pool will be significantly smaller for Standard players, but also because the game's foundation - the Core Set, which is free for all players to use - will be radically different to The Year of the Gryphon's.Last year's Core Set was 235 cards, but for The Year of the Hydra, the set will expand to 250 cards. In terms of...

Ubisoft has announced that it will be ending content support for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, after a little over 2 years of continuous updates. The final piece of content, Operation Motherland, launched back on November 2, 2021."The last four months marked the release of our final piece of content: the brand new Operation Motherland mode, tons of new items including 20th-anniversary iconic outfits and Quartz items for Ghost Recon Breakpoint," Ubisoft said in a statement on Twitter. "We will continue to maintain servers for both Ghost Recon Wildlands and Ghost Recon Breakpoint and we truly hope you will continue to enjoy the game and have fun playing in solo or co-op with your friends."Ghost Recon Breakpoint has received plenty of...

Developer Tendershoot is releasing two sequels to '90s internet simulator Hypnospace Outlaw – and they're both due to arrive this year.Dreamsettler is the true spiritual sequel to Hypnospace, putting players inside the internet of the early 2000s. Meanwhile, Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is a Doom-like first-person shooter featuring a character from the original Hypnospace Outlaw.The games were announced by Tendershoot and publisher No More Robots during their Hypnospace Next presentation and are due for release on PC and consoles.Like Hypnospace Outlaw, Dreamsettler will have players navigating a parodic version of the internet – but where the first game was set in a '90s-like cyberspace, Dreamsettler...

A new video from Bethesda has offered a closer look at VASCO, the first Starfield companion to be revealed.VASCO is an expeditionary robot in the service of Constellation, which is denoted by his white and red paintwork. Based on a bipedal chassis, VASCO was designed to aid in extended overland journeys, and comes equipped with components to aid in the carrying of survival gear and payloads.Starfield's lead artist, Istvan Pely, says that VASCO is a peaceful robot, but "does have defensive capabiulities should the need arise". The concept art shown in the video suggests Vasco's right arm houses some kind of rifle, and a square box on his should could perhaps be some kind of launcher.Pely descirbes VASCO as a "reliable companion...