Gaming News

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Warning: spoilers for the Fallout TV show follow. If you watched the Fallout TV show as a fan of the video games upon which it’s based, one revelation in particular will have caught your eye: who dropped the bombs first on that fateful day in 2077. Fallout’s nuclear apocalypse was thought to have been triggered by China going first. Tim Cain, co-creator of Fallout, said in an interview last year that it was indeed China who dropped the first nuke. "The reason we got nuked is: bio-weapons were illegal and somehow China found out we were doing FEV [Forced Evolutionary Virus]," Cain explained in an interview with Fallout lore expert TKs-Mantis. "And they were like, 'you have to stop it.' And we went, 'OK.' And all we did is move it. All...
An executive of Electronic Arts Japan has criticised the Japanese video game ratings board for allowing upcoming action game Stellar Blade to be released uncensored while EA's own Dead Space was banned in the country. In posts on X/Twitter, EA Japan general manager Shaun Noguchi questioned the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) for allegedly banning horror game Dead Space over features he claimed also appear in Stellar Blade. "What’s going on CERO?," Noguchi asked in the post, translated by Automaton. "The Stellar Blade demo was really fun and absolutely action packed. However, CERO, you denied our Dead Space a rating because it included cross-sections of severed body parts and internal organs, but here we have both...
2014’s The Crew was the first project for developer Ivory Tower, which was founded in Lyon, France, in 2007 and later acquired by Ubisoft in late 2015. While it may have been the debut game for the studio, a number of Ivory Tower’s staff formerly hailed from Lyon’s Eden Games (including Ivory Tower’s three founders) and had previous experience on the first three instalments of the V-Rally series, the PlayStation version of Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, and the trendsetting Test Drive Unlimited. As such, there was a good deal of optimism around The Crew. While The Crew was a racing game of impressively preposterous proportions – with a map that spanned a condensed version of the entire continental USA – it was admittedly shy of...
Amid the success of the Fallout TV show, Fallout video games are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. The player boost is so significant that even NexusMods is struggling to cope. The mod site issued a warning over the weekend that increased interest in Fallout mods had caused heavy network traffic, forcing it to deploy “extra resources” to cope. Explaining the situation, NexusMods namechecked the popularity of the Fallout TV show. "We are experiencing much more traffic than usual due to the popularity of the Fallout TV series," NexusMods said in a statement. "We have deployed extra resources where possible and we are monitoring the uptime and performance across the network. We have staff on call at all times to deal with any...
Fallout 4 sales have skyrocketed in Europe in the past week, rising over 7,500%. Steam player charts also recently hit more than 160,000 people over a weekend, almost ten years after the game was initially released. The Fallout TV Show on Amazon Prime Video has massively influenced the resurgence of the game, with fans of the show now flocking to play Bethesda's 2015 entry to the franchise. Not only that, but there's been some huge sales on the Fallout franchise since the show hit our screens, and Fallout 76 is even free to download on Xbox and PC right now as well. With all that in mind, if you're looking to play Fallout 4 again this week ready for the 'next-gen' update on April 25, here are all the best deals running right now for...
Welcome to another smashing week of smart purchasing decisions on the games worth owning. Today is very much all about the first discount I've seen for the venerable Meta Quest 3 512GB. Speaking personally, 70 bucks off and free shipping (via a disposable "First" membership) were enough to tip me into a purchase. Be sure to look out for some future Best Quest 3 Games to Get article from me in the near future! In retro news, I'm celebrating the 19th birthday of the needlessly verbose Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict. A solo/multi and 1st/3rd-person hybrid, UC2 was an important series milestone that added melee combat, fatality moves, and a character class system of Light, Medium, or Heavy. My overriding memory of it was the...
With Sunday here, the weekend is almost over—but there are so many great deals to check out before it ends. We've rounded up some of the best deals you can find this weekend, with everything games and technology included. The best deals for Sunday, April 21, include the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset, HORI Split Pad Compact, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Super Mario RPG, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, Persona 3 Reload, and more. Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset for $279.99 Amazon has the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro discounted by 20% to $279.99. While this is still expensive, the Nova Pro is one of the best gaming headsets on the market and normally starts at $349.99. The Nova Pro features Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)...
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a classic rags to riches tale, only about an entire army. I didn’t know what my team would end up looking like when I started recruiting dozens of unique characters – however, as more fighters joined my cause, from a two-faced healer with a brutish side to a magical girl with a hero complex, this unpredictable journey started to take shape. The scale of the story grew with every chapter, folding in more countries and people that would eventually turn my ragtag team into a proper battalion. That sizable cast and loads of side content can add fluff to the campaign, with half-baked elements like encounters that rely on RNG to drag things down a bit. But for anyone willing to hold out long enough...
Saturday is here, and that means the weekend has officially kicked off! We've rounded up some of the best deals you can find this weekend, with everything games and technology included. The best deals for Saturday, April 20, include the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Super Mario RPG, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, and more. Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset for $279.99 Amazon has the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro discounted by 20% to $279.99. While this is still expensive, the Nova Pro is one of the best gaming headsets on the market and normally starts at $349.99. The Nova Pro features Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) through four microphones placed around the headset. Additionally, you can...
Horizon Forbidden West is one of the best-looking games on consoles, period – a statement that now extends to PC thanks to this port from Nixxes, the Sony-owned studio responsible for the recent PC ports of PlayStation games like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. While this is a cross-generation game, the PS5 is where it pushes the fidelity needle most, so that’s what we’ll be using for the main console comparison. Compared to the PS5, this PC port loses none of the quality and, depending on the machine, can even exceed it. It also comes with one big and welcome improvement – Nixxes has added real-time render options via a transparent menu, a genius touch that aids PC market’s desire to fiddle, offering...
With more than a decade on the books, FINAL FANTASY XIV certainly has a substantial amount of lore behind it. Though an impressive feat, having such a weighty chunk of lore embedded into FINAL FANTASY XIV can make acclimating to the latest expansions quite tricky for those who aren’t intimately familiar with the story. So […] Continue reading...
Though Fallout creator Tim Cain has not been involved in the series in over 20 years, he still keeps up with the franchise. Case in point, he recently shared his thoughts on the first season of Prime Video's Fallout TV series. In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Cain spent nearly 13 minutes discussing his thoughts and impressions on the show's first season. Right at the top, he says he likes the show before going on to "ramble" more about the specifics, including why he likes it so much. "Everything feels like Fallout. It feels like Fallout," he says. "That is hard to do, trust me. I know how hard that is to do. It's easy to write post-apocalyptic stuff that doesn't fit in the Fallout mold, and it would have been very easy...
Warning: The below story contains FULL SPOILERS for Fallout Season 1, which is now streaming on Prime Video. Ever since Fallout Season 1 hit Prime Video, there's been quite the debate over what some fans argued was a timeline discrepancy with Fallout: New Vegas. While Bethesda's Todd Howard cleared all that up in a recent interview with IGN, original Fallout creator Tim Cain has also joined in on the theorizing fun, offering up his own speculation on what "The Fall of Shady Sands" could be referring to. To give you the TLDR on what fans thought the conflict was: in short, in episode 6 of Fallout Season 1, fans spotted that "The Fall of Shady Sands" was written on a chalkboard, and that event happened in 2277. What got fans up in arms...
Last week, Square Enix revealed the benchmark trailer for Final Fantasy 14’s upcoming expansion, Dawntrail. While Dawntrail’s showcase of new in-game areas, enemies, and combat garnered positive feedback online, the lifeless eyes of its character creator left a lot to be desired, fans said. In response to the negative feedback, Director Naoki Yoshida has promised a graphical update that will fix its character creator’s soulless eyes. In a recent blog post, Yoshida detailed the technical components that led to Dawntrail’s slightly off-putting character creation system. Chief among them is that Dawntrail’s character creation system is a decade old and is based on the release version of A Realm Reborn. “Although it used the same...
It’s never been easier to play Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, especially for those with an Xbox and Game Pass. Benefits like FPS Boost – which makes games that traditionally run at 30 frames-per-second run at a smoother 60fps – and native 4K are possible on Xbox Series X and S thanks to backwards compatibility enhancements, but it’s not quite so straightforward if you’re playing on PC. If that’s the case, to get the best experience you’ll need to use mods – fan-made modifications that add a bunch of quality-of-life add-ons to make the Fallout experience the best it can be. What’s more, the best is Begin Again - A Tale of Two Wastelands, which is a curated collection of over 300 mods that bring two classic Fallout games – Fallout 3...
It looks like publisher Konami and developer Bloober Team have redesigned the main character in their Silent Hill 2 remake, and fans are taking the news pretty well. Some Silent Hill fans took notice of the change thanks to an update to the project’s Steam page (via SteamDB). It changed the Steam icon, revealing a look for its lead, James Sunderland, that lines up closer with his original 2001 design. Bloober hasn’t officially spoken about a change to the character’s looks, but this new image does appear to be completely new, signaling that this may indeed be what James looks like in the Silent Hill 2 remake. It's worth noting that the image can only be found as part of this new update, and its public Steam page still features the...
There’s an uncomfortable sense among the gaming community, as industry layoff numbers stack up, project after project is cancelled, and as console life cycles slow, that we’re on the cusp of a bit of a video game dry spell. That feeling isn’t totally unfounded - there are very few AAA game release dates announced for the second half of this year, and the AA market isn’t exactly hopping either. All three console communities - Switch, Xbox, and Playstation - are feeling empty on the games front right now, and only the Switch has the excuse of a new box being imminent. And even that’s still technically just a rumor! But video games are not mysteriously vanishing off the face of the earth tomorrow. I recently attended the Game Developers...
Fallout 4, the post-apocalyptic wasteland action RPG from 2015, is gaining popularity, with sales in Europe jumping by over 7,500% in the last week. Spotted by GamesIndustry.biz, the outlet reported a massive spike in Fallout 4 series on the heels of the Prime Video release. Incredibly, the nearly 10-year-old game has jumped all the way to the top of the GSD charts, which tracks digital games across all of Europe and physical sales in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It now sits atop the weekly top ten, beating out Helldivers 2, EA Sports FC 24, and Grand Theft Auto 5. You can probably guess why Fallout 4's sales have spiked to the extent that they. First, it is seeing extremely deep discounts, with prices slashed by...
Stardew Valley’s 1.6.4 update is now live on PC, bringing with it an impressively long list of bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and fresh content, along with the mysterious removal of two ‘inappropriate names’ from the game’s random name generator. Among the new 1.6.4 additions are over 20 never before seen ‘alternate’ mine layouts - which start to appear once players have reached the bottom of the mines for the first time - and a brand new cutscene that triggers upon helping to grow a neighbour’s family to its maximum size. Players were also thrilled with some of the adjustments made to existing items, including one newly implemented balance change that allows golden mystery boxes to yield an auto-petter, which, as the name...
Cardy, Mat, and Emma are here to share their picks for some of the best games you can finish in 5 hours or less this week. A mix of well-known indies and hidden gems, maybe you'll find something new to play this weekend. Before that, though, there's time for some more thoughts about Alex Garland's Civil War and flower-puzzle game Botany Manor. Plus, a nail-biter of an Endless Search. What's the best thing to put gravy on? Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com. IGN UK Podcast 745: Our Favourite 5 Hours or Less Games IGN UK Podcast 744: We Don't Want to Set the World on Fire IGN UK Podcast 743: Hellblade 2, Stellar Blade, and Salad Gravy IGN UK Podcast 742: Solid Snake Smoking Meats IGN UK Podcast 741: Dragon's Dogma 2 Has the Sauce...
Now that’s what I call a big hunt! It took Helldivers 2 players less than 24 hours to complete its latest Major Order: to kill two billion Terminids. On April 18, developer Arrowhead triggered the next step in Helldivers 2’s ongoing Galactic War after the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter’s community successfully completed a Major Order to slow a significant Automaton invasion. Game Master Joel turned players’ attention to the Terminid front with the biggest kill order since the game’s explosive launch in February. Helldivers 2 players were given six days to kill two billion Terminids, which sounded like an insurmountable task, but players made it clear they’d hit the kill count sooner rather than later. So fast was progress that...
Capcom has detailed an upcoming patch for Dragon’s Dogmas 2 that makes a number of changes and fixes, but there’s no mention of the performance mode so many players are waiting for. Following the release of the sprawling action role–playing game in March, players experienced inconsistent framerate performance, particularly on PC. Whereas games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gives players a Performance or Graphics mode option — prioritizing either a consistent framerate or increased graphical output — Dragon's Dogma 2 only has one visual mode across all consoles. Check out IGN’s Dragon's Dogma 2 Performance Review - PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S vs PC, for more. Now, Capcom has announced an upcoming Dragon’s Dogma 2 patch, due out later in...
Dataminers are doing their thing with World of Warcraft expansion The War Within now that developer Blizzard has made an alpha build available for early testing, and already there are some interesting discoveries. Warning! Potential spoilers for World of Warcraft The War Within follow. As Wowhead reports, The War Within appears to contain a new playable race called the Harronir. The Harronir, so far unannounced, have so many customisation options that Wowhead speculates they will become playable at some point in the future, if not at the launch of The War Within, based on past experience with existing playable races the Nighborne and Vulpera. So, what are the Harronir, exactly? Without further information from Blizzard, we can...
Valve has updated its near 17-year-old competitive first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 to finally add 64-bit support. The update, which some fans are calling the most significant from Valve itself in years, should result in a performance improvement for most users. Reports indicate Team Fortress 2’s frames-per-second count is increased by around 20%, resulting in a much smoother experience. While this Team Fortress 2 update is certainly welcome, it has done little to calm the constant stream of requests from the player base for Valve to tackle the game’s most troublesome issue: bots. Team Fortress 2 has had a bot problem for years, and despite a community-wide drive to raise awareness for the issue, there is little sign of...
Thank your own personal deity—possibly the Mother Sphere—it's Friday! I'm not going to spend too much time waffling this morning, as the deals speak for themselves. Just get in and secure something awesome to play for the weekend. In case I don't see you, stay safe, save often, and catch you Monday! Lastly, in retro news, I'm celebrating the 42nd birthday of Dig Dug, an arcade classic. Reports on how it came to be are spotty at best. Wikipedia states it was planned and designed by Masahisa Ikegami, with help from Galaga creator Shigeru Yokoyama...however, I've also been told it was created by Larry, the Architect of the Matrix. Ergo, concordantly, vis-à-vis, Lar' also made Q-bert and came up with the name for Frogger. This Day in...
The team at Rabbit & Bear Studios is continuing with the development of a new Eiyuden Chronicle sequel following the death of series creator Yoshitaka Murayama. The studio opened up about its future and what’s next for the Eiyuden Chronicle series in a recent Reddit AMA conducted with Studio Head and Character Designer Junko Kawano, Director and System Designer Osamu Komuta, and Art Director and Producer Junichi Murakami. With the release of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes only days away, fans were quick to ask about how the team might continue without Murayama at the helm. Rabbit & Bear acknowledges the unfortunate passing of their former studio head but hopes to carry his legacy into the future. "It is very sad that Murayama is...
Gamers worldwide have long wondered whether Microsoft’s historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard would lead to structural and organizational changes for the World of Warcraft developer. Now, six months after the acquisition’s finalization, a higher-up at World of Warcraft has revealed that the Xbox maker has “let Blizzard be Blizzard.” Speaking with Video Games Chronicle, World of Warcraft executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale revealed that developers' day-to-day operations have remained largely unchanged. “There’s no one asking us to do anything,” Longdale told VGC. “World of Warcraft is doing very well and they’re very proud of what it’s been able to accomplish, so it’s almost like just let it be, and let it keep...
As Manor Lords prepares to finally make its way to the public, developer Slavic Magic has stepped in to make sure fans’ expectations are in check. The one-person studio has been painstakingly crafting the medieval city builder for the last few years, and the PC community has taken notice. The promise of city-building features, realistic gameplay mechanics, and more have continuously positioned Manor Lords at the top of Steam’s most Wishlisted titles. Now, with its Early Access release just more than a week away, Slavic Magic has published a post to clarify a few things. Most notably, they want soon-to-be leaders to remember that Manor Lords isn’t an RPG or a game that’s meant to go toe-to-toe with Sega’s Total War franchise. “Manor...
Earlier today, Warhorse Studios officially announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the sequel to its popular RPG set in medieval Bohemia. In a private presentation to media, Warhorse Studios revealed it would be "twice as big" as the first game, among other details. It also confirmed that the sequel will continue the story of Henry, the protagonist of the first game. Speaking with IGN over email, Warhorse Studios spokesperson Tobias Stolz-Zwilling shed additional light on what to explore from Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, including some of the practical implications of what it means to be "twice as big" as the original game. Warhorse Studios also touched on how the sequel will approach historical accuracy, and what the introduction of...
Warhorse Studios has officially announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the sequel to its popular RPG set in medieval Bohemia. Warhorse Studios fully unveiled the sequel at a private event last week, confirming among other things that it will be twice as large as the original, touting it as a “behemoth” of a game. “What we are making now is what it was supposed to be in the beginning, but we weren’t able to do it because we didn’t have enough resources and experiences and all that stuff,” creative director Daniel Vavra said in a presentation. “We’ve proven the concept works, so now we can take it to another level, which is what we always wanted.” To that end, Kingdom Come will be “much bigger in scope,” with “five hours of cutscenes...