Gaming News

World of Warcraft: The War Within Preview - Scratching the Surface

Back in 2022, I previewed World of Warcraft's last expansion, Dragonflight, in a press pre-alpha situation. Though I'm always hesitant to glowingly recommend an entire MMORPG expansion based on brief early alpha storyline play and not the sum of its content, Dragonflight felt exceptional out of the gate, and was, largely thanks to the transformative new dragonriding mechanic and other major changes that shook off the dust from the widely panned Shadowlands expansion. Blizzard designed the Dragon Isles with bombast in mind, and my very early experiences zipping around them adequately conveyed the sense of increased scale and majesty that would carry throughout the entire expansion. Looking at The War Within's pre-alpha by comparison...

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World of Warcraft Game Director Calls Controversial The War Within Paid Early Access an 'Experiment'

World of Warcraft: The War Within is out later this year, and at launch will be trying something new for a WoW expansion: a three-day, paid early access period. When this was announced, a lot of people were pretty upset! But in an interview with IGN ahead of the game's alpha launch, game director Ion Hazzikostas defended the decision, calling it an "experiment." Essentially, World of Warcraft as it currently exists has a number of price gates. It's entirely free to try up to level 20, and for a $15/month subscription, you can play most of the game's past expansions and reach up to level 50, and you'll also get access to World of Warcraft: Classic on top of that. For an additional $50, you get access to the current expansion...

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Final Fantasy 16 Update 1.31 Adds Quick Complete Sidequest Function, Lowers Time Before Re-Petting, and More

Square Enix has released Final Fantasy 16 update 1.31, and it’s a big one. According to the patch notes, highlights include the addition of a quick complete sidequest function, custom controller type, the ability to save up to five skill sets, and additional photo mode functionality. Elsewhere, there are a number of quality-of-life improvements across the board, new content, and, crucially, adjustments to when Torgal can be petted and lowered time before re-petting. You can see these new features in the screenshots below. The update also allows for the purchase and installation of the DLC package The Rising Tide, due out tomorrow, Apr 18, 2024 Here’s the setup: Final Fantasy 16 launched as a PlayStation 5 exclusive in June 2023...

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Steamworld Heist 2 Announced: We Talk to Thunderful After the Sequel's Indie World Showcase Reveal

Steamworld is hitting the high seas with Steamworld Heist II, the sequel to its critically-appreciated tactics game. As revealed in the initial trailer during Nintendo's Indie World Showcase, Steamworld Heist II will retain the turn-based richochet strategy of the original game, but also add new elements like an interactive world map. Set in a tropical environment called Carribea, Steamworld Heist features a new cast led by Captain Leeway and a host of other crewmembers. It is the seventh entry in the burgeoning Steamworld universe, all of which are connected by a single timeline, and according to producer Peter Magnusson it is a "milestone of size and scope for the series," with a deeper story, a greater emphasis on crew...

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Fallout Official Timeline Confirmed: How the Show Fits In With the Games

One of the joys of Fallout as a fan is to sit down and deep-dive into its alternate-reality take on United States history. The lore masters at Bethesda have entire events mapped out into canon, from the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese government to the recall of Teddy Fear bears in 2072 and beyond. Until recently this alternate history has existed primarily through the many Fallout video games developed by studios like Interplay Entertainment, Black Isle, Bethesda, and Obsidian. But with the new show from Prime Video now available to stream, there’s a new entry in the canon. We know this because IGN sat down with Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard and Fallout: The Series co-creator Jonathan Nolan to talk about how the...

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Nintendo Indie World Showcase April 2024: Everything Announced

Nintendo is hosting its first Indie World Showcase of 2024. As the name implies, this digital event focused entirely on indie games that were headed to Nintendo's hybrid gaming system, the Nintendo Switch. IGN has you covered with everything announced during the first Indie World Showcase of 2024, which you can read below. Steamworld Heist 2 Officially Announced, Out August 8 Thunderful announced today that Steamworld Heist II is in development and will be released on August 8th, 2024. The new gameplay trailer revealed at the showcase showed that SteamWorld Heist II would keep the same turn-based ricochet strategy gameplay while being set in a lush tropical environment called Carribea. Thunderful spoke with IGN before the...

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Arena Breakout: Infinite Announced for PC

You asked for a PC version of Arena Breakout, the popular mobile military multiplayer tactical first-person shooter, and here it is. Say hello to Arena Breakout: Infinite, which will be getting a closed beta next month. Check out the announcement trailer above and the first batch of PC screenshots in the gallery below. Arena Breakout: Infinite will hit Steam promising a realistic military shooter that features 500 gun accessories like rifle stocks, muzzle breaks, custom barrels, and many more. Developer MoreFun Studios also pledges "long-term community support" that includes anti-cheat measures, data tracking, game reports all made "with the player in mind." Furthermore, the team also says, "Infinite represents an all-in commitment to...

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Fallout Fans Are Convinced a Brotherhood of Steel Airship Confirms One of Two Canon Endings From Fallout 4

While the showrunners behind the Fallout TV show have insisted none of the endings of previous games are considered canon, at least in terms of a jumping off point for the show itself, eagle-eyed fans reckon the Brotherhood of Steel airship seen in the series suggests one of two endings from Fallout 4 is now canon. Warning: spoilers for the Fallout TV show and Fallout 4 follow. Let’s start with the basic timeline: the Fallout TV show is set in 2296, nine years after the events of Fallout 4. In the first episode of the Fallout TV show, we see an enormous Brotherhood of Steel airship. Some believe this to be the Prydwen from Fallout 4. According to Fallout lore expert TKs-Mantis, if this is true, that rules out two of the four main...

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Factory Striders Are Back in Helldivers 2 — and They’re Multi-Dropping

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has triggered the resurgence of the Factory Striders — and on harder difficulties they’re dropping in packs. For the uninitiated, the Factory Strider is an AT-AT-style Automaton walker that drops onto the battlefield, stomps around shooting up Helldivers, and sometimes even spawns other enemies. They were stealth-dropped into the PlayStation 5 and PC co-op shooter earlier in April, but it seems this was something of a test. Now, according to Arrowhead, Factory Striders are back and in a big way. Since this announcement, Helldivers 2 players have discovered that on the game’s harder difficulties, the Factory Striders can multi-drop. That is, they can drop in groups, which is a terrifying prospect...

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Hasbro Talking to 'Lots' of Partners About the Future of Baldur’s Gate After Larian Walked Away From Dungeons & Dragons

With Larian leaving Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons behind to work on a brand new game, the future of the series and the characters the developer brought to life is up in the air. But for Hasbro, owner of Dungeons & Dragons operator Wizards of the Coast, the hope is fans won’t have to wait as long for the next Baldur’s Gate game as they did for Baldur’s Gate 3. Baldur’s Gate 3 launched 23 years after Baldur's Gate 2, which was developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It proved a smash hit, selling millions of copies and winning a number of game of the year awards. Now, it seems inevitable that Hasbro will continue the franchise, given the incredible success of Baldur’s Gate 3. And speaking to PC Gamer...

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The 24 Carat Deals in a Capcom Golden Sale, A Smashing TopSpin Discount, and More!

If you're not on school holidays right now, happy stuck-at-work hump day! While I can't magically grant you similar time off, I can direct you to the cheapest escapism needed for when you do knock off. Case in point: a ridic amount of Resis and my usual eclectic assortment of price-mauled modern classics. In retro news, I'm celebrating the sweet 16th of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the first game I ever reviewed for IGN AU! I'm all about its co-op PvE mode, called Terrorist Hunt, that my mates and I sank about a hundred hours into. Whether you do it via two-player split or 4P over Xbox Live, the concept is simple: survive a butt-clenching, one-shot-one-kill onslaught against thirty AI scumbags. I played this just the other day on...

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Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Roster Adds Future Gohan Along With Several Other New Characters

New screenshots of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the next game in the beloved Budokai Tenkaichi series, confirms more characters coming to the hotly-anticipated 3D fighting game. Among its ranks of super-powered heroes is Dragon Ball Z’s oft-forgotten Saiyan warrior, Future Gohan. V-Jump magazine's Sparking Zero screenshots, later shared on X/Twitter with fan translations, confirmed Future Gohan among five other playable characters bolstering the upcoming arena fighting game’s ever-increasing roster. As of the time of publication, Sparking Zero now has 42 playable characters. Here’s the list of the other heroes coming to Sparking! Zero: Beerus Whis Gohan (Adult) Videl Trunks (Sword) Although Future Gohan is among the likes of other...

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Hades 2 Technical Test Announced. Here's How to Join

It won't be long before players can get their hands on Hades II, the sequel to 2020's critically-acclaimed roguelite by Supergiant Games. In a new post on X/Twitter, Supergiant Games announced an upcoming Hades II Technical Test along with instructions on how to join. The goal of the technical test is to ensure that the upcoming Early Access release has a "smooth play experience from the start." It will have much less content than the Early Access version — including the first major area of the game and early-game characters — and it will only be available to a "relatively small subset" of players who sign up to play. "If you played the original game, imagine a version where you couldn't get past Tartarus even if you vanquished its...

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What’s New In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree

A full-fledged continuation to one of the best games of the current decade, Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion looks set to broaden the horizons of From Software’s finest hour in ways that will surely delight players. From mystical new lands to new weapons, terrifying big bads and more, here’s what’s new in the […] Continue reading...

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Star Wars Outlaws' ESRB Description Reveals That Sabacc Will Appear for the Very First Time in a Game

Star Wars Outlaws is not out for a few more months, but as the release date slowly approaches, the game's ESRB rating summary revealed that a popular and nearly-forgotten card game is set to return as a playable mini-game. Spotted by GamesRadar, the ESRB summary description for Star Wars Outlaws reveals that "players can wager in-game currency on Sabacc, a blackjack-like card game with detailed rules." The card game, which first debuted in the L. Neil Smith novel Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, has rules and concepts similar to those of blackjack and poker. The rules of Sabacc were first published in 1989 with the release of the Crisis on Cloud City supplement for the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, which Games...

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25 PS5 and PS4 Games Set to Leave PS Plus in May — Here's the List

25 games are set to leave PlayStation Plus next month as part of one of the biggest clearouts of the subscription service. As reported by Push Square, 25 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games leave PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium on May 21, 2024, including eight high-profile Final Fantasy games. Highlights include Beethoven & Dinosaur's wonderful guitar adventure The Artful Escape, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 15, and Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster. The news comes as indie hit Dave the Diver hits the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Tales of Kenzera: Zau releases day one into the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog on April 23. Tales of Kenzera: Zau is an EA-published, Surgent Studios-developed 2.5D story-driven, action-exploration game...

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Eternal Strands’ Magic and Physics Offer a Zelda-Like Level of Combat Freedom – IGN First

While you’re exploring the land of the Enclave and taking on gargantuan bosses in Eternal Strands, you’ll unlock more and more magical abilities to help you on your journey. But unlike many games where magic might let you toss a fireball or Force push an enemy off a cliff, Eternal Strands has a unique approach to the nine physics-altering abilities it puts in your toolbelt, all of which allow for an impressive level of freedom. Continuing our month-long exclusive coverage of the upcoming action-adventure game from a new team comprised of ex-BioWare and Ubisoft developers, today we’ll be taking a look at a few abilities at the heart of this battle-heavy odyssey and how they can be combined in surprising and creative ways. In the same...

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Even Fallout Shelter Is Getting a Boost From the Fallout TV Show

We’ve already reported on how the PC and console Fallout games have received a shot in the arm following the success of the Fallout TV show. Now it’s the turn of mobile game Fallout Shelter. Fallout Shelter, a free-to-play base-building and people management sim set within the post-apocalyptic Fallout world, has seen its daily revenue skyrocket from an average of $20,000 to $80,000, mobile analysis firm Sensor Tower said, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz. Downloads of the game have more than doubled around the launch of the Prime Video show, the data also revealed, from around 20,000 to over 60,000 within three days. Sensor Tower's data governs the mobile version of Fallout Shelter, but other versions of the game have seen an...

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After Palworld Was Accused of Ripping Off Pokémon, Its CEO Has Accused Other Companies of Making Palworld Clones

The boss of Pocketpair has accused Chinese game companies of making Palworld clones, saying: “These are incredible times.” In a tweet translated by Automaton, Takuro Mizobe, CEO of PocketPair, published a screenshot of a mobile and PC game called Auroria, alongside the following statement: “Tencent is already making a Palworld clone game! In China, many companies are simultaneously developing mobile clones of Palworld, and the budgets are in the 10 billion yen-range, 10 times larger than Palworld’s... Next year, we might see many Genshin Impact-level creature (or bishojo) raising games... These are incredible times.” Auroria, which has a Steam page as well as mobile store pages, is developed by Chinese studio Tianjin Wumai...

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Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass April 2024 Wave 2 Lineup

Microsoft has announced the second wave of games coming to Game Pass in April 2024. Highlights include Orcs Must Die! 3, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, and the hotly anticipated Manor Lords. Out today, April 16, is Slow Bros' narrative game Harold Halibut (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) as a day-one Game Pass launch. IGN’s Harold Halibut review returned an 8/10. We called it “a wholesome, handcrafted adventure with plenty of heart.” Tomorrow, April 17, Robot Entertainment’s Orcs Must Die! 3 (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass. Orcs Must Die! 3 got a 7/10 in IGN’s review. We said it was “very familiar to players of the second game but still a fun and goofy action/tower-defense challenge.” A day later, on April 18, EA...

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Nintendo Indie World Showcase Announced for Tomorrow, With 20 Minutes of Indie Games Heading to Switch

Nintendo has announced the first Indie World Showcase for 2024. The digital showcase airs tomorrow, April 17, at 7am PT / 10am ET. As with previous Indie World Showcases, the event will be roughly 20 minutes and will feature news and updates focused on indie games heading to the Nintendo Switch. The last Nintendo Indie World Showcase was held in November; some of the announcements from that event included a Switch port of Outer Wilds, Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution, and On Your Tail. Though Nintendo did not tease or specify which indie games would appear this time around, many fans hope that Team Cherry will finally unveil a release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Silksong, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2017 game Hollow...

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Mortal Kombat 1 DLC Character Ermac Has a New Brutality Ripped Straight From Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Mortal Kombat 1’s upcoming DLC character Ermac has a brand new Brutality that veteran Mortal Kombat fans have recognised as being inspired by a nearly 30-year-old Fatality. During a livestream held to show off the soul-obsessed ninja’s new telekinetic moves for Mortal Kombat 1, developer NetherRealm revealed Ermac’s new Brutality, a Telekinetic Slam that sees his hapless opponent (Reptile, in this case) repeatedly slammed into the ground until the only thing left to do is explode in a shower of gore. Check it out in the tweet video below: In Mortal Kombat, Brutalities are special match enders that are performed with special input commands. They’re not as flashy as Mortal Kombat’s iconic Fatalities, but some players prefer them...

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Voice Actor Who Played Fallout 3 Radio Host Three Dog Wants to Be in Fallout TV Show Season 2

The voice actor behind the popular Fallout 3 radio host Three Dog has expressed interest in appearing in season two of the Fallout TV show. Erik Todd Dellums played Three Dog in Bethesda’s 2008 post-apocalyptic role-playing game and became the sound of the wasteland for many players. While Three Dog remains Dellums’ only role in Fallout so far, his performance is a memorable one, given the character’s prominence on the in-game radio station, Galaxy News Radio, and how he would comment on various actions of the Lone Wanderer through his radio broadcasts. In a tweet, Dellums said he would love to voice a new DJ in Fallout Season 2, one “Darker than Three Dog, but just as funny and alluring!” He added: “I've got something new to...

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Dragon Age TV Show Would Be a ‘Terrible Idea’, Says Co-Creator

Hot on the heels of the breakout success of The Last of Us and Fallout TV shows, many are wondering which video games would make a great pick for the next great series. Dragon Age is often suggested as a good candidate for the TV show treatment, but according to its co-creator, that would be a “terrible idea.” In a series of tweets, David Gaider, who created the setting for fantasy role-playing series Dragon Age and was its lead writer while at developer BioWare, said any Dragon Age TV show would have to be “more than a rote adaptation” in order to surface what makes the game’s story unique and interesting, which, he suggested, would be unlikely. Gaider agreed with a user who said the problem with adapting fantasy IPs like Dragon...

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Helldivers 2 Patch 01.000.203 Fixes Ground Breaker Armor, Sorts Out Crashes, and More

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released yet another update for the PlayStation 5 and PC third-person co-op shooter, this time patch 01.000.203. This update includes fixes to armor passives as well as various improvements to stability, Arrowhead said in the patch notes, below. Of most interest is a fix for the CE-27 Ground Breaker medium armor, which now has the Engineer Kit passive as previously advertised. Ground Breaker was added to Helldivers 2 as part of the recently released Premium Warbond, Democratic Detonation, and players soon discovered it had the wrong passive attached. Elsewhere, the update fixes a number of crashes and a troubling issue that caused different damage to be dealt to enemies between PC and console...

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Ubisoft Responds to Star Wars Outlaws Season Pass Backlash, Insists Jabba the Hutt Is Part of the Experience for All Players

Ubisoft has responded to the ongoing backlash against the Star Wars Outlaws season pass, insisting Jabba the Hutt is part of the experience for all players. The publisher has come under fire for locking the Jabba’s Gambit mission behind Star Wars Outlaws' controversial season pass, which comes with the $109.99 gold edition and even more expensive $129.99 ultimate edition. "Play the exclusive Jabba's Gambit mission at launch," the Season Pass explainer reads. "Just as Kay is putting together a crew for the Canto Bight heist, she receives a job from Jabba the Hutt himself. Turns out that ND-5 owes Jabba a debt from years ago, and he has come to collect." The revelation sparked a backlash, with some players criticizing Ubisoft’s...

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Catch a $48 Pokémon Adventure on Switch, Price Sliced Final Fantasies, and More!

Let's begin with a shining pearl of wisdom—when Pokémon games go 40% off, secure a copy. Why? Because Nintendo AAAs seem to retain their value, and their prices don't often swoop this low. Also, the fact that Brilliant Diamond hasn't seen a similar chop suggests that this could well be an anomaly. Whatever the case, capitalise now. In retro news, I'm celebrating the 10th birthday of Trials Fusion, an impressive follow up to 2012's Trials Evolution. Like before, it was an arcadey, 2.5D take on the real-life sport of observed trials. My overriding memories of over-riding things in it are of an awesome track editor, epic 8-player multi, and the surprising inclusion of a quad bike. Oh, and also swearing bloody murder at my TV while trying...

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LawBreakers Playable Again for First Time in Six Years Thanks to Fan Project

Gaming saw a rise in team-based hero shooters from 2016 through 2018, with games like Overwatch, Battleborn, and LawBreakers as notable standouts. Lawbreakers is long gone, but an unofficial fan project aims to revive it, making it playable for the first time in six years. LawBreakers, developed by Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski's studio Boss Key Productions, was a 5v5 hero-based first-person shooter set in a futuristic anti-gravity landscape. Despite its promise, LawBreakers’ servers were shut down a year after its launch in 2018. At the time, Boss Key Productions' development team released a statement saying LawBreakers "failed to find enough of an audience to generate the funds necessary to keep it sustained in the...

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The Fallout Game You Need to Play While You Wait for Season 2

Of Fallout’s narrative high notes, the peak is arguably Fallout: New Vegas, the much-loved installment set in post-apocalyptic Vegas and crafted by Obsidian Entertainment, members of which have shepherded the Fallout aesthetic all the way from the Wasteland games to the Outer Worlds. And although Obsidian were fated never to helm another mainline Fallout game, they did get to revisit the universe four times before being ripped away by cruel reality. It’s those four twists on the formula, those four adventures into the unknown, that we’re here to celebrate today. At the height of their storytelling powers, Obsidian gave us some of the best sci-fi in games with the four Fallout: New Vegas add-ons: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World...

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Another Secret Dragon Ball Z Connection May be Hidden in Sand Land's Musical Sandstorm Trailer

Bandai Namco's new trailer for Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's desert wasteland manga, Sand Land, committed what could possibly be the most intellectual marketing song choice of 2024 by having it accompanied by the iconic 2001 dance hit, Darude's Sandstorm. While folks rightfully lost their minds at the trailer's apropos song choice, eagle-eyed Dragon Ball Z fans spotted a clue toward a Dragon Ball Z crossover. At the end of the Sand Land Sandstorm trailer, characters Beelzebub, Thief, and Sheriff Rao are sucked into an underwater current. When the trailer fades back in, Beelzebub appears, seemingly teleported from his arid desert to the wasteland of another word. Folks in the Sand Land Sandstorm YouTube trailer comment section...

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