Gaming News

Square Enix Reportedly Overhauling How It Makes Games

Square Enix is reportedly set to significantly overhaul how it makes games following flat sales despite the release of a mainline Final Fantasy game. According to Bloomberg, Square Enix director and president Takashi Kiryu told analysts this week that the company’s new structure will be announced by spring 2024 and put in place in time for the start of April, and aims to improve the quality of the company’s games. In its financial results for the nine months ending December 2023, Square Enix's sales were essentially flat, with sales from its digital entertainment business actually down 4.7%. This is a somewhat surprising result given the release of Final Fantasy 16 in June. The PlayStation 5 exclusive sold three million copies...

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Mortal Kombat 1 Peacemaker Release Date Confirmed

Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm has finally issued a release date for the hotly anticipated DLC guest character, Peacemaker. In a tweet from the official Mortal Kombat account, Peacemaker got an early access release date of February 28. The fighting game’s new season arrives “around the same time”, which confirms a big extension compared to the previous duration of Mortal Kombat 1's seasons. Details on both are due later this month, the tweet reads. Early access for Mortal Kombat 1 DLC characters is for those who have bought Kombat Pack 1, and usually lasts a week, which suggests everyone else will be able to buy Peacemaker around March 7. Kombat Pack 1 includes access to Omni-Man (from Invincible), Quan Chi, Peacemaker (from...

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Elden Ring Mobile Game in Development, as Wait for DLC Continues

An Elden Ring mobile game is in development, but don’t hold your breath — it sounds like this one’s a while away. Reuters reports that Tencent is working to adapt FromSoftware’s mega hit into a mobile game, but progress is described as “slow”. Apparently Tencent wants the Elden Ring mobile game to work similarly to gacha game Genshin Impact, with a free-to-play business model supported by in-app purchases. But the design of Elden Ring, which is a single-player, premium action role-playing game, is “at odds” with Tencent’s vision. News of an Elden Ring mobile game comes amid what fans hope is the imminent release of the hotly anticipated Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. Various changes to the back end of Elden Ring’s entry in...

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Up to 75% off PlayStation Studios Must-owns, Widespread Drops on Square RPG RRPs, and More!

If you love an XP grind, performative magic attacks, and ludicrously perfect hairstyles, today's the day to reach for your wallet. Along with the FF series, Square Enix has taken some big zwiehander cuts at the prices of its other notable franchises, too. So gather up your Gil and get some while the going's good. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PC,PS2,XB) 2004. Get Table of Contents Nintendo Switch PC Xbox PlayStation Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch How much to make the switch to Switch? Back to top Purchase Cheaply for PC Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch Slay your pile of shame. Back to top Exciting Bargains for Xbox...

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Avowed Team Is 'Actively Working on' Making Combat More Impactful, Says Director

Obsidian Entertainment has responded to criticism revolving around its upcoming fantasy RPG, Avowed, saying that there is still work to be done before players try the experience for themselves. This update on one of Xbox Game Studios’ most anticipated titles comes from the Dropped Frames podcast, which recently invited Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel on to talk about how development is going. She says it’s been interesting to work on Avowed while periodically unveiling slivers of content to the public. However, as fans get to peek behind the curtain and critique what they see, she hopes they realize that these demos represent somewhat dated builds. Avowed has only shown up at events a handful of times, with one recent example being...

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Best Xbox Series X/S Controller 2024

The Xbox Core Controller is hard to beat, but there are plenty of other controllers offering more customizations, extra controls, and special uses to deck out your Xbox Series X/S. Click here to jump to a detailed look at the best Xbox Series X/S controllers, or check the shopping list below: TL;DR – These are the Best Xbox Series X/S Controllers: Xbox Core Controller - Best Overall Turtle Beach Recon Wired Game Controller - Best Budget Option PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller - Best Ultra Cheap Option Xbox Elite Series 2 - Best High-End Option Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra - Best Tunable Option Scuf Instinct Pro - Best Competitive Option Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro - Best Customizable Option Thrustmaster TMX Force Feedback - Best Racing...

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Apex Legends Season 20 Gets Rid of EVO Shields and More

Apex Legends is celebrating its 5th year anniversary and season 20 is bringing about a complete overhaul to the classic battle royale mode. Not only is Apex Legends getting a new performance 120fps mode for consoles, new shield system, and a new leveling system in matches, and more. Here’s what you need to know about Apex Legends Breakout. New Leveling System When playing battle royale in Ranked or Casual in Apex Legends, you will now be using a Leveling System to unlock better shields and modified abilities. When entering a game, you’ll enter at Level 1 with a basic Shield. When you do Class actions, do damage, or get kills you’ll get XP that will increase your Level. Additionally, you can find Evo Harvesters around the world...

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Game of Thrones' Scrapped Spin-Off Gets Surprising First Look 5 Years Later

HBO's cancelled Game of Thrones spin-off on The Long Night has received a surprising first look five years after its scrapping. As reported by GamesRadar, hair and makeup designer Flora Moody posted a handful of photos to Instagram showing actress Naomi Watts in costume and on set. The prequel series, set thousands of years before Game of Thrones and focusing on the Age of Heroes' apocalypse, was cancelled after the pilot didn't live up to the original series' grandeur. Though Moody's post focuses on Watts' look, it also offers a brief glimpse at one of the sets as she stands in costume against a very Game of Thrones background. A stone carving behind Watts shows a horse and chariot with men killing what looks to be a lion in a grand...

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Final Fantasy 14 Requires Game Pass Subscription to Play on Xbox

The Xbox version of Final Fantasy 14 requires a Game Pass subscription on top of the massively multiplayer role-playing game's own monthly cost. Tucked into a blog post revealing the Xbox version's open beta begins on February 21 at 12 midnight Pacific / 3am Eastern / 8am UK, Square Enix revealed that, unlike PlayStation, Xbox players will have to pay for two subscriptions to play Final Fantasy 14. "The Free Trial version, including the open beta test, will not require an Xbox Game Pass (Core or Ultimate) plan to play," Square Enix said. "However, the full Xbox Series X and S version will require an Xbox Game Pass (Core or Ultimate) plan to play." A 30 day subscription to the game costs $14.99, 90 days costs $41.97, and 180 days...

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Drops to $39.99 at Best Buy Two Months After Release

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has dropped a significant $30 from its MSRP in a brand new sale at Best Buy. It's down to just $39.99 for PS5 and Xbox, marking a serious saving on a game that came out just less than two months ago on December 7, 2023. From what we can tell, this is the best price on the game at the moment, compared to the $50 pricepoint that is being offered at Amazon and Target. As they say, it can pay to be a patient gamer. If the $70 pricepoint was too steep for you, this new sale might just hit the sweet spot for many of us to pull the trigger on the latest entry into the famous franchise. IGN reviewer Tristan Ogilvie gave the game a 7/10 in his review, stating: "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora features a stunning...

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The Inquisitor Review

Video games can be great vehicles for mysteries. The idea of gathering clues, questioning witnesses, and giving dramatic speeches where you stun an array of suspects with your intellect makes for an exciting fantasy. But lots of games stumble trying to fit the inherently open-ended, red-string-connecting fantasy of the detective into traditionally linear story structures. The Inquisitor is a game like that — it starts with the compelling concept of playing as a medieval church cop hunting a vampire, but it always puts the strings on the board for you, and thus never really lives up to the potential of its premise. It is quite a premise, though. As inquisitor Mordimer Madderdin, you've been dispatched to investigate the citizens of a...

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Premium Controller Price Cuts, Save Hundreds on a Tomb Raider Trilogy, and More!

Let me be blunt: Mondays are rubbish, and the only thing that makes them even close to okay are the video games we get to play at the end of them. That being the case, I've gone looking for the absolute best ones you can buy for cheap. Cutting-edge AAAs, older gold you should've played but somehow didn't—they're all perfect prescriptions for that start-of-week headache you're experiencing. Take two games and see me in the morning. In retro news, it's now been a quarter of a century since we slapped a Crash Bandicoot 2 disc into our PS One. The icy floor/nitro box death route of the 'Cold Hard Crash' level sticks out as my most groin-kicking memory of it all. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - Crash Bandicoot...

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Possibly Starfield Are Reportedly Being Considered for PS5

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and possibly Starfield are reportedly being considered for PS5, and this may indicate a new multi-platform approach inside Microsoft for certain Xbox games going forward if it proves to be true. As reported by The Verge, a source with knowledge of Microsoft's plans have claimed the company is "weighing up which titles will remain exclusive and others that will appear on Switch or PS5 in the future." Indiana Jones is seemingly part of this new plan and could be one of the first to kick off this new strategy if it ends up happening. Assuming this plan goes forward, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle appears set to launch exclusively on Xbox and PC in December 2024 and would arrive on PS5 after a...

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The Turbulent Story of Skull and Bones

For years, many assumed Skull and Bones was a ghost ship; the Ubisoft pirate game that would never make it to harbour. Having suffered six public delays, it is one of the most frequently postponed games of all time. The near total silence that surrounded it year after year convinced people that it was either permanently anchored at the port of development hell, or that it had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But within the halls of Ubisoft Singapore, hundreds of developers were navigating a storm of design problems in hunt of their white whale. Now, almost seven years since it was first revealed, Skull and Bones is ready to set sail. But this final version is very different to the game we first saw in 2017. Across its...

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Ending Explained - How the Game Sets Up Future DLC

Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League! After a long series of delays, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is out in the world. And DC fans all want to know — do you actually kill the Justice League? How does this bloody adventure end? Now that the game is out of early access and available to all players, we’re here to break down the ending to the new Suicide Squad game, how it impacts the Arkham-verse, and how it sets up future DLC campaigns. Because if there’s one thing clear by the time the credits roll, it’s that Harley Quinn and the gang still have a lot of killing ahead of them. Do You Actually Kill the Justice League? Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League does indeed live...

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7 Games to Play If You Love Pokemon

Monster capture games have certainly captured the attention of players for generations, with Pokemon being the most prominent and beloved series within the genre. Due to its popularity, it isn’t any surprise that games of a similar vein have popped up to occupy the same space. But that doesn’t mean all of these games are the same, despite sharing a similar foundation, or even considering several games that predate this wildly popular series. Either way, there’s a wide world of monster capture games for all you Pokemon fans out there. Below are a list of games that reside within the vast monster capture genre, or dabble in the mechanic in some meaningful way. Cassette Beasts While it was a very busy year for major game releases...

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Open-World Factory Sim Satisfactory Will Finally Launch Version 1.0 This Year

Coffee Stain Studios will finally launch Satisfactory 1.0 later this year, it has announced in an update video. Studio Community Manager Snutt Treptow laid out the 1.0 plans — along with a definitely not-fake roadmap filled with guns, fast cars, and romanceable creatures — today. There’s no release date yet, but the team is confident that there will be no more Early Access updates for players to wait through before the full factory-building experience becomes available. As for what Satisfactory 1.0 looks like, Coffee Stain says players can expect new content, fixes for long-lasting issues, an end game and narrative, and more. As these final features are ironed out, Treptow says that there will be “next to no patches for the game...

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Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Shares Hard-Fought Journey to Include One Extremely Specific Feature

A CD Projekt Red developer has shared their hard fought journey to get a very specific and utterly random feature added to Cyberpunk 2077. Online services lead Leszek Krupiński made a lengthy post on X/Twitter to chronicle the journey of getting the "munch munch" sound added when protagonist V eats an item in the menu. This sound was already in Cyberpunk 2077 when players ate while roaming around the world, but the menu sound only arrived with its latest 2.11 update. "This version includes a tiny thing, tiny feature I've poured my heart into," Krupiński began, who explained his inspiration came from the Niezatapialni podcast which has a host who always asks for the feature. "Yes, the lack of this was an omission, but I dunno if it...

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Kevin Conroy's Batman Is Completely Wasted in Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a superhero game saddled with an unusual amount of baggage. It may be the follow-up to 2015’s much-loved Batman: Arkham Knight, but it’s also a game that’s been subject to numerous delays and concerns over its live service elements and gameplay choices. It also happens to be the final DC game featuring the voice of Kevin Conroy as Batman. Now that the game is finally out in the wild, one thing has become abundantly clear This is not the sendoff Rocksteady’s Dark Knight deserved. Why does Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League miss the mark where Batman is concerned? Let’s take a deep dive into where the game goes so wrong, but beware of full spoilers ahead for the new Suicide Squad game...

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How Long Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

Traditionally, Rocksteady’s past Batman titles clocked in anywhere between 10 to 16 hours, but with Suicide Squad departing from the studio's usual single-player traditions, for a live-service co-op experience, you might be left wondering “Just how long is it”? Here we’ll let you know how long it took different IGN team members to finish their adventure to Kill The Justice League, and what they prioritised during their time. How long is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League? Our fastest player finished it in just under 8 hours. Our “slowest” player completed it in 20 hours. Every player is different, and as you read on, you'll get more details about how each of us played, how quickly we got to the credits, and what we focused on or...

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Persona 3 Reload Won't Get an Expanded Golden or Royal Edition Anytime Soon, Dev Says

Persona 3 Reload won't get an expanded edition akin to Persona 4's Golden or Persona 5's Royal anytime soon, developer Atlus has said. In an interview with GamerWK, translated by Persona Central, Persona Team production manager Kazuhisa Wada insisted fans can buy Persona 3 Reload with confidence they won't need to upgrade soon. "Currently, we are not considering a revision like with Persona 5 to Persona 5 Royal, which involved significant changes and additions to the original title," Wada said. "Fans can rest assured knowing that Persona 3 Reload offers a complete experience." Much more than just a Game of the Year Edition or similar product, the likes of Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal added a significant portion of story and...

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The Secret Origins Behind Persona 3 Reveal the Series’ Past and Future

Persona 3: Reload is out now and, if you’ve played a video game at any point in the past 7 years, chances are you’ve heard of the explosively popular turn-based RPG and social sim series of games from developer ATLUS. If you’ve ever played a Persona game, chances are you know that they’re a wildly more popular spin-off of ATLUS’s Shin Megami Tensei series. If you’ve played any Shin Megami Tensei games, not only are you a real one, but chances are you probably know that these games are an evolution of the Megami Tensei games; which is why hardcore fans use the term “MegaTen'' to refer to titles under this wide umbrella. Even if you’re aware of all of this, what you probably don’t know is that the first games in this franchise are based...

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Starfield's Next Update Adds AMD's FSR 3 Tech

Bethesda Game Studios will add the latest iteration of AMD's supersampling tech FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) into Starfield this month. In a post on the official Bethesda Game Studios X/Twitter account, Bethesda revealed that FSR 3 will be added to Starfield via Steam Beta next week. FSR 3's addition will roll out publicly to all PC players later this month "ahead of our next scheduled update," Bethesda added. FSR 3 is the third generation of AMD's answer to Nvidia's supersampling tech DLSS, which adds frame generation technology to supported games. However, unlike DLSS, which only works on RTX GPUs, AMD's supersampling tech can work on AMD, Nvidia, and Intel graphics cards. Starfield previously supported FSR 2 when the game...

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Sega Gives Itself a Cheeky Pat on the Back in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Spoiler Warning: The following article includes minor spoilers for side content in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Publisher Sega gives itself a cheeky pat on the back in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth as the game's protagonist praises the amazing games its produced over the years. The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series is largely set in Japan and aims to replicate real world locations, and one way it does so is by including genuine Sega arcades where players can essentially emulate other games. These typically match the era they released in. Yakuza 0 takes place in 1988, for example, so includes Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, Out Run, and more. Upon entering a retro arcade in Infinite Wealth, longtime protagonist Kiryu Kazuma (who's one of...

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IGN UK Podcast 734: Suicide Squad and Dale's Big Plane Story

Cardy and Jesse have played Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and both equally share their disappointment. Dale has been on a WWE adventure which resulted in a strange plane story, and all three boys have some strong thoughts on Sony's recent State of Play, especially that mad 9 minutes of Death Stranding 2 On the Beach. Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com. IGN UK Podcast 734: Suicide Squad and Dale's Big Plane Story IGN UK Podcast 733: Slurping Pal Fluid IGN UK Podcast 732: Indiana Jones and the Fantastic Triangle IGN UK Podcast 731: The Big 2024 Preview IGN UK Podcast 730: Flo Rida's Christmas Catch-Up IGN UK Podcast 729: The 2023 Alternative TV Awards Continue reading...

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Tencent Reportedly Killed an Unannounced Nier Mobile Game

Following news that Nier mobile game Nier Reincarnation shuts down in April, publisher Tencent has reportedly cancelled an unannounced Nier mobile game that was in development for nearly two years. As reported by Reuters, Tencent “halted development” of the mystery mobile game in December 2023, “marking a setback in the Chinese gaming giant's hunt for new hits”. Tencent reportedly failed to work out a “compelling” monetisation model given the “expensive” development costs and franchise rights (which Square Enix owns). IGN has asked Square Enix for comment. Blockbuster hit Nier: Automata is approaching its seventh birthday with no new mainline game announced so far. Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito said in November 2023 that while...

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Almost Had a Glitch From Insomniac’s Miles Morales

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse almost made a popular glitch from Insomniac’s Miles Morales game canon. During the latest episode of Sony's Creator to Creator series, makers of the animated movie and the video game chatted about their work on all things Spider-Man. “[There were] people on our crew that were like, playing your game while they were working on the film,” said Across the Spider-Verse director Joaquim Dos Santos. “We almost put one of your guys’ glitches that made it into... Like, we almost put a heater, like a space heater, swinging through.” Bryan Intihar, senior creative director of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, acknowledged the glitch came from 2020's Miles Morales before mentioning Spider-Man 2’s infamous Spider-Cube...

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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Sells 1 Million Copies

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has become the Yakuza series' fastest-selling game to date, passing one million units sold within its first week on sale. Publisher Sega and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are celebrating by giving players some free downloadable content too. The Celebratory T-Shirt Set will be released "at a later date", with Sega advising fans pay attention to its social media channels to learn when the pack will be available. It's also unclear what the pack entails, but Infinite Wealth leans into the ability to change characters' outfits in battle, and goes even further in the post game, so Ichiban, Kiryu, and the team will likely be able to don a ridiculous looking t-shirt in battle and elsewhere. Infinite Wealth...

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Avowed Developers Confirm Game Has Multiple Endings: 'It's an Obsidian Game'

During the recent Xbox Developer Direct, we were treated to a deeper look at how Obsidian's upcoming RPG, Avowed, will handle player choice via a close look at a certain sidequest. But that left us wondering: what's the natural endpoint of a game emphasizing choice? Will Avowed have multiple endings? I was able to learn the answer to that by speaking to game director Carrie Patel not long after the direct, where she confirmed that yes, Avowed will indeed have multiple endings. Obviously! "I mean it's an Obsidian game," she said. "What else would we be if we didn't have a few different endings?" Patel didn't specify further about how many endings there would be or how different they would be from one another, but we did talk further...

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Helldivers 2: The Final Preview

Sweet liberty! One of my favorite PS4-era shooters is back with a whole new perspective and it’s up to me and my friends to defend Super Earth in glorious co-op! After going hands-on with Helldivers 2 for three hours, I’m sold on the bold pivot from the original’s top-down view to the sequel’s new third-person perspective, the appetizing roster of deadly gadgets, and the outrageous comedic tone that expertly channels the low-budget action film vibes that pair perfectly with the developer’s live-service ambitions. I’m a bit concerned at the moment that it won’t have enough content to go the distance long term, with only two enemy factions (so far as we know), procedurally generated levels that can feel a bit one-note, and no real...

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