Gaming News

Final Fantasy 14 Version 7.0 Patch Notes Reveal Every Change Coming Alongside Dawntrail

Square Enix has released the preliminary patch notes for Final Fantasy 14's highly anticipated Patch 7.0, which will arrive soon alongside the Dawntrail expansion. Revealed on its website, the incredibly long patch notes outline everything changing in the massively multiplayer online game and, interestingly, what isn't changing yet. Square Enix said the new raid, the Arcadion, will arrive with Patch 7.01, while the Savage version and the Cenote Ja Ja Gural treasure hunt will arrive with Patch 7.05. The update still adds plenty of new content, of course, including new areas, quests, quality-of-life improvement, a huge graphical upgrade, the Viper and Pictomancer jobs, plenty of raids and dungeons, and much more. Square Enix...

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Hardest Bosses Ranked

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is finally out, and with it comes a whole lot of new bosses to terrorize you. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki himself says some of the bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree were designed to push players to their very limit, and after finishing the DLC, we’re inclined to agree. So of course we decided to rank all of the new bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree, from least difficult to most. One important caveat is that there are way more bosses than the ones we’ve listed here in the DLC. However, we’ve decided to just rank the main bosses – the ones that drop Remembrances you can then take to exchange for legendary gear and weapons. And of course, this is one of the most spoiler-filled lists we have for Shadow of the...

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Brutal Stardew Valley Mod Obliterates Your Farm If You Open The Wiki

Last week, the satirical video game website Hard Drive posted an article reporting on the fictional uproar created by the introduction of a mandatory (and fake) Stardew Valley update, which cruelly deleted players save data the moment that they the opened up the game’s Wiki. Now, one enthusiastic modder has taken the joke to the next level and designed a very unofficial add-on for the game that does just that, though thankfully the real version of the ‘hardcore mode’ is entirely optional. The mod was posted to Github by self-described software engineer and system administrator ‘lostkagamine’, and seemingly follows Hard Drive’s joke to the letter. As reported by GamesRadar, the mod works by scanning every window on a player's computer...

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6 Months Later, Palworld Dev Insists Nintendo Is Yet to Make a Complaint Despite ‘Pokémon Rip-Off’ Claims

The developer of Palworld has said Nintendo is yet to make a complaint after The Pokémon Company said it intended to investigate amid the “Pokémon rip-off” claims earlier this year. Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with Guns,’ launched in early access form in January 2024 on PC via Steam and on Xbox as a day-one Game Pass title. It saw enormous popularity overnight, becoming one of the biggest game launches of all time. But it’s also one of the most controversial. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid the Pokémon "rip-off" claims, which it has denied. Soon after Palworld’s launch Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: "We intend to...

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Sega Allegedly Developing Jet Set Radio Remake as Screenshots and Gameplay Surfaces

Sega is allegedly developing a remake of the original Jet Set Radio as a separate project to the officially announced franchise reboot, as screenshots and footage have appeared online. It's unclear if the leaks are genuine, but X/Twitter user @MSKAZZY69 shared four images of the alleged reboot, sourcing previously reliable Sega leaker Midori — though they were exposed to be a leaker called MysticDistance pretending to be someone else when they claimed to give up leaking information earlier in June 2024. The source of the screenshots are therefore hazy, as is a 32-second gameplay video which appears unlisted on YouTube channel @CrimsonMk3, but both show what looks like an updated version of the beloved Jet Set Radio. IGN has asked...

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If Mr. House Is in Fallout Season 2, Which New Vegas Ending Is Canon? Fans Have Their Theories

This week the showrunners of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show confirmed Robert House “will be involved” in Season 2, cementing the appearance of a major Fallout New Vegas character after a pre-war cameo in Season 1. Warning: Spoilers for Fallout Season 1 and Fallout New Vegas follow. Given the Fallout TV show is set after all the Fallout games and is considered canon, the confirmation of Mr. House’s appearance in Season 2 has sparked all sorts of fan theories about how he’ll make his live-action appearance, and what it means for Obsidian’s much-loved New Vegas itself. First, some background. Robert House appears in New Vegas as Mr. House. He rules New Vegas as a brain plugged into a supercomputer that has extended his existence from...

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Helldivers 2 Update 01.000.403 Fixes Broken Spear

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has issued a new patch for the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter that fixes the Spear after a previous update caused crash problems. Last week’s update 1.000.402 included a fix for the Spear not targeting several entities (spawners, compound objects, etc). This change was welcomed by fans because, it was hoped, it would finally make the Spear weapon more reliable out on the battlefield. However, players soon found that the Spear, the very weapon Arrowhead had sought to fix, caused crashes, resulting in a fresh recommendation not to use it. Now, patch 01.000.403 includes a fix for Spear-related crashes. Fingers crossed that’s now the end of the Spear’s tumultuous time in Helldivers 2. Elsewhere...

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How Slay The Spire Became The Gold Standard For All Card Battler Games

Right up until November 14, 2017, my disdain for the card battler genre was both all-consuming and utterly ignorant. Though I had tried my hands at earlier fare such as Blizzard’s Hearthstone among others, it’s fair to say that card battler games just didn’t click with me and as time went on I just couldn’t […] Continue reading...

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PS First-Party Must-owns Down to $13, A Bevy of Bethesda AAAs for 5 Bucks Apiece, and More!

In addition to the headliner deals for today, allow me to highlight a few more money-savers. Switch owners should beeline for those seriously reduced LEGO titles—those games cross generational divides like nothing else, and you should always have a co-op game installed. Beyond that, a $13 Horizon Zero Dawn Complete really is a phenomenal deal. I rate the mystery of that OG tale over its follow-up, Forbidden West. In retro news, I'm celebrating the 14th birthday of Demon's Souls, the first sup many of us took of FromSoftware's sadism. Whispers of this game's brutality had wafted into my ears for a good 12 months before it arrived on our shores; the last six months were particularly fascinating when it landed on US soil and in English...

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A Twitch Streamer Just Killed Off Two Shadow of the Erdtree Bosses Using Mind Control, and Zero Hands

Twitch streamer Perri Karyal has taken down two major Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree bosses using a hands free 'mind control' virtual controller, which decodes electrical information fed directly from her brain in real time. Prior to Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki was quoted as saying that the challenge posed by the DLC “really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player”. True to his word, the days following Shadow of the Erdtree’s June 21 launch have seen many players take to social media to lament that the new content is simply too hard, while others complained of performance issues, leading to a ‘mixed’ review on Steam. However, its fearsome difficulty...

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Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review

A lot of tears have been shed and drinks poured out over the “death” of the classic point-and-click adventure game. While some stalwarts like Return to Monkey Island have valiantly kept the torch burning, the days of walking around 2D environments shoving seemingly unrelated items into your pockets and then pushing them up against equally random objects in cryptic combinations have largely passed. With that in mind, it seems especially fitting that Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, the latest from Sayonara Wild Hearts developer Simogo, is a puzzle game very much about gazing back through the tangle of time (in more ways than one). The striking style of this exceptionally clever adventure may not look familiar on the surface, but at its heart...

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How to Watch the 2024 Naraka Fest Direct

Naraka: Bladepoint launched in 2021 and quickly took the world by storm. The free-to-play battle royale has amassed more than 40 million players, and it’s coming up on its three-year anniversary. This year’s Naraka Fest Direct will celebrate that anniversary by giving fans details about upcoming in-game events and new content, and IGN will host a livestream of the show. Here’s all the info you need to watch the event live, as well as what kind of new reveals to expect. Naraka Fest Direct Date, Time, and How to Watch The show will be livestreamed on Tuesday, June 25 starting at 7 p.m. Pacific. That’s 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central, and 8 p.m. Mountain. You can tune in to watch it live on any of these channels: IGN.com (our...

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Starfield on Xbox Series S Can Run at 60fps Thanks to Mods

Bethesda recently added a 60 frames per second option to Starfield on Xbox Series X but left the Xbox Series S version out in the cold. Thankfully modders have stepped in to save the day, as they so often do. As verified by the tech wizards at Digital Foundry, Starfield on the less-powerful Xbox Series S can now be played at 30fps thanks to mods (search for ‘Series S' under the mod menu). Using mods, Digital Foundry found Starfield on Xbox Series S hit a baseline of 60fps even on challenging GPU-limited areas of the game, such as heavily populated cities, with some less-demanding areas rising to 90fps. However, it’s worth noting that playing Starfield on Xbox Series S in this way drops the resolution to 1280x720 from 1600x900. "We...

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Avowed Dev Once Again Asked About Skyrim Comparison, Points to The Outer Worlds

Fallout New Vegas, Grounded, and Pentiment developer Obsidian has responded to a question about the ongoing comparisons between its next game, Avowed, and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim by pointing to another of its previous games: The Outer Worlds. In an interview with Game Informer, game director Carrie Patel was asked if Obsidian embraces comparisons to Skyrim or pushes against them. Patel replied by failing to namecheck Bethesda’s all-conquering fantasy role-playing game, instead suggesting fans should think about sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds instead. “I think the best comparison is The Outer Worlds,” Patel insisted. “I think that gives a much clearer idea of the scope of the game and also the design and layout. Like The Outer...

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Blizzard Reveals Diablo 4 Season 5 PTR Details, Including New Questline Requirement

Blizzard has announced plans to run a second Public Test Realm for action role-playing game Diablo 4, this time for Season 5. Diablo 4’s first PTR ran in April and let Battle.net PC players play the well-received Season 4 early. Similarly, the Season 5 PTR gives fans a taste of what’s to come June 25 to July 2 for players with a PC Battle.net account only. “The purpose of the PTR is to test updates and features before the launch of Season 5,” Blizzard said in a blog post. “Then we’ll make adjustments to Season 5 using your feedback before it goes live for everyone. The feedback we receive helps us to fine-tune balance changes, eliminate bugs, and create the best experience possible. Having a PTR gives us a chance to test new systems...

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Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is Up for Preorder, Out September 6

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is officially up for preorder with a price tag of $39.99 and a release date of September 6, so you won't have to wait too long before it's in your hands. You can find links to the physical release for Nintendo Switch below. It will be available on other platforms as well in digital storefronts - including Nintendo, Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox - on the same day. This collection features Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit with full HD graphics, quality of life improvements, and more. There's even a preorder bonus of five arranged in-game tracks for Ace Attorney Investigations 2. You can preorder the game and learn more about its...

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Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Is Up for Preorder

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is set to release before the end of the year for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC. The PS4 version, of course, will be perfectly playable on PS5, thanks to backwards compatibility. It also includes new features like online play. The collection is available for preorder from a variety of retailers, in both digital and physical formats. We have all the details below. Preorder Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics PS4 Get it at Amazon - $49.99 Get it at Best Buy - $49.99 Get it at GameStop - $49.99 See it at PS Store (digital) - (not yet available) Nintendo Switch Get it at Amazon - $49.99 Get it at Best Buy - $49.99 Get it at GameStop - $49.99 PC Get it at...

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War Thunder Dev Apologizes After Using Explosion From Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster in Key Art

War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment has apologized after using the explosion from the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in key art for the World War 2 massively multiplayer online game. A forum post from community manager magazine2 said Gaijin "accidentally" used the explosion as it was part of a reference pack used by its artists. The explosion, which killed all seven crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger when the spacecraft broke apart 73 seconds after take-off, had a fairly distinct shape and was thus recognized by War Thunder players when used in the key art. "Hey guys, we have accidentally used the explosion from the Challenger disaster in one of our key art images," magazine2 said. "Please accept our sincere...

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The Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Mods Have Begun — and Yes, Most Make It Easier

Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree is just a few days old but, predictably, mods for the expansion have already started coming in. Most of the mods targeting Shadow of the Erdtree on Nexus Mods right now make the expansion easier. That’s no surprise, given the reaction so far. As IGN has reported, Steam user reviews currently have a ‘mixed’ rating after a flood of complaints about the rock hard bosses as well as PC performance issues. Belger’s ‘Easy Shadow of the Erdtree’ mod, for example, decreases all enemy damage in the DLC by around 25%. “Many players complain about enemies in SOTE dealing too much damage,” Belger said in the mod description, “so if that’s your case, you can try this mod that lowers it significantly.” Belger...

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Square Enix Asks Fans Not to Spoil Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail as Early Access Looms

Square Enix has asked Final Fantasy 14 players not to spoil the highly anticipated Dawntrail expansion upon its early access launch on June 28, 2024. A blog post from Square Enix outlined the early access period, which begins at 2am Pacific / 5am Eastern / 10am UK and is available to anyone who preorders Dawntrail, but closed with a message asking players to be considerate to those waiting for the full launch. "During the early access period, there will be no restrictions on what content you can discuss, post, or stream while following the Material Usage License Agreement," Square Enix said, making clear spoilers will be out in the wild. "However, we ask that early access users please be considerate and do their best to avoid...

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Fallout Showrunners Confirm Robert House for Season 2

Prime Video’s Fallout TV show ended with a clear nod to a much-loved Fallout video game, but there are still many questions left unanswered by Season 1. One thing we do know now is that a major character from the games — and who only makes a brief appearance in Season 1 — will play a part in Season 2. Warning: Spoilers for Fallout Season 1 follow. In an interview with Variety, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet confirmed Robert House “will be involved” in Season 2. Fallout video game fans know Robert House as Mr. House, one of the main characters in Obsidian’s Fallout New Vegas. In that game, Mr. House runs New Vegas as a brain plugged into a supercomputer that has extended his existence from the pre-war era into...

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Looks Like Palworld Is Coming to PlayStation

One of the developers of Steam and Xbox hit Palworld has teased the release of a PlayStation version. Pocketpair community chief Bucky tweeted adding blue-colored hearts to Palworld’s existing black (PC), green (Xbox), and white (Mac) hearts. Blue is, of course, the color of PlayStation branding. With this context, a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 release now seems likely. Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with Guns,’ launched in early access form in January 2024 on PC via Steam and on Xbox as a day-one Game Pass title. It saw enormous popularity overnight, becoming one of the biggest game launches of all time. But it’s also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid Pokémon "rip-off"...

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Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree Down to ‘Mixed’ on Steam as Players Complain About the Difficulty and Performance

It’s been a bruising weekend for many Shadow of the Erdtree players. The DLC’s extreme — and intended - difficulty has sparked a debate about the rights and wrongs of developer FromSoftware’s approach with this Elden Ring expansion. But now that debate has spilled over into Steam user reviews, which currently have a ‘mixed’ rating after a flood of complaints about the rock hard bosses as well as PC performance issues. Ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, director Hidetaka Miyazaki signaled the DLC would significantly test players’ abilities. "The new challenges for the player are going to be the boss encounters as well as the different kinds of threats that the world will impose on people," Miyazaki told CNET. Some of these...

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150 Bucks Off a PS5 Slim, PS VR2 For 200 Less, and the Hottest Switch First-Party Preorders!

Welcome back to another week of savings! I know some of you are sporting a Shadow of the Erdtree hangover right now—because I've already served my time in those salt mines—so I'll be brief. Today is all about securing the cheapest preorders from the most recent Nintendo Connect, and PS5 hardware is uncharacteristically reduced for EOFY purposes. Make a play for a 'Station while you can, I guess? In retro news, I'm celebrating the 27th birthday of my personal favourite moustache racer, Mario Kart 64. What sold me was its first-in-series 4P multi, and probably about a hundred hours spent doing "winner plays on" 150cc VS. Mode and Block Fort balloon battles at a mate's house. When the surf was crap in Kiama, his place was basically a...

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PSA: Shadow of the Erdtree's Scadutree Blessings Are the Answer to Elden Ring DLC's Difficulty

Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has only been out for a few days, and many players are already finding that their character — who became the Elden Lord of the Lands Between — is barely a match for the first chakram blade-wielding weirdo you can run into. These early punishing fights are merely a prelude for the raw aggression of the DLC bosses, who are able to turn you into a bloody smear on the ground with just a few attacks. Even worse, this difficulty ramp-up spares no one — regardless of your level, the weapons you wield, or the armor you equip. The key to salvation in the Realm of Shadow lies within a brand new Shadow Realm Blessing system, but if you aren't paying attention you may just miss out on how it works. With a...

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DeathSprint 66 Hands-On Preview

What if when playing Mario Kart and you throw a red shell at an opponent, instead of just knocking them aside, you blow them up instead? That’s the kind of outside-the-box thinking Sumo Digital is cooking up with DeathSprint 66, which is basically a real murder-y version of Mario Kart. Set in a dystopian future that’s part GhostRunner, part Running Man, DeathSprint 66 has a story insofar as you play as a runner forced to partake in a deadly race for the amusement of viewers on the internet. This race isn’t just built for speed, however, it’s also built for danger. This futuristic race course is full of buzz saw traps, laser beams, and other deadly additions to make your run truly a run for your life. I was able to play a few rounds...

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Fortnite Reload Is a New Mode With a New Map, Endless Revives, Classic Elements, and No Vehicles

Fortnite is launching a new mode today, June 22, called Fortnite Reload that features a new map, a ton of classic weapons and locations, endless revives as long as one player on a team remains alive, and no vehicles. As detailed by The Fortnite Team, Fortnite Reload is a 40-player "Fill or No Fill Squads'" experience on a "tighter map" with such POIs as Tilted Towers and Retail Row, and players will be able to return to the action much quicker than other modes. When a player is downed, their individual reboot timer begins and will keep running as long as one other team member is alive. Reboot timers begin at 30 seconds and increase to 40 seconds later in a match, and teammates can decrease the time until their friends return by...

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Anode Heart Is The Indie Digimon Game Of Your Dreams

It’s fair to say that creature-collecting games will probably always be popular. There’s just something about catching adorable critters and then training them until they’re unholy abominations that makes us all feel good. It’s also true that if you’re a Digimon fan, then your options for similar games are a lot less numerous than Pokemon-style […] Continue reading...

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Bodycam Early Access Review

There’s a concept in business called a “fast follow.” The idea, essentially, is that one company shows a product it’s working on, and another imitates it and gets their version out quickly, taking advantage of the buzz and beating the original to market. Bodycam, made by the two-person team of Reissad Studio, looks very much like it is fast-following Unrecord, a first-person shooter from the perspective of a police bodycam that garnered a lot of attention for its exceptionally lifelike graphics. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – Fortnite adding a PUBG-like battle royale was a literal game changer, for instance. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with Bodycam. While it is an interesting proof of concept in its early access phase, it...

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Microsoft Addresses Black Myth: Wukong's Delay on Xbox Series X/S

Microsoft has just addressed Black Myth: Wukong's delay on Xbox Series X/S, issuing a brief statement on the matter on Friday. "We’re excited for the launch of Black Myth Wukong on Xbox Series X|S and are working with Game Science to bring the game to our platforms," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, first reported by Windows Central and also obtained by IGN. "We can't comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders, but we remain focused on making Xbox the best platform for gamers, and great games are at the center of that." Back at The Game Awards 2023, developer Game Science announced an August 20, 2024 release date for Black Myth: Wukong for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Earlier this month...

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