Gaming News

DICE Awards 2024: How to Watch and What to Expect

The 27th D.I.C.E. Awards are nearly here and are set to celebrate the best of the best in the world of video games. The show kicks off later this week in Las Vegas and will once again be hosted by IGN's Stella Chung and Kinda Funny CEO and IGN's Greg Miller. IGN is also the official media partner of the show and this guide will let you know everything you need to know about this year's D.I.C.E. Awards, including how you can watch it with us, what you can expect, and more. DICE Awards 2024 Start Time The D.I.C.E. Awards 2024 will take place on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 8pm PT/11pm ET. If you live in the GMT or AEST timzones, that translates to Friday, February 16, at 4am GMT/2pm AEST. Where to Watch the DICE Awards 2024 If...

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Dead Island: Riptide Is Currently Free as Dead Island 2 Gets Steam Release Date

Developer Dambuster Studios has announced that Dead Island 2 will be available on Steam on April 22. To celebrate, publisher Deep Silver is having some promotions around the series. Kicking it off, Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition is free on Steam until February 15. Dead Island Definitive Edition and Dead Island: Retro Revenge are discounted at 85% and 75% discount, respectively. The latter is a side-scrolling game developed by Empty Clip Studios, best known for other small side-scrolling games likes A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV, Streets of Kamurocho, and Gargoyles Remastered. Dead Island 2 was first released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Epic Games Store on April 21, 2022. Now...

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Pick Up a 512GB Nintendo Switch Memory Card for Only $24.99 on Amazon

Amazon has discounted the Samsung EVO Select 512GB Micro SDXC Card down to $24.99, a 30% price drop from its original $35 MSRP. This is an excellent price for a 512GB Micro SDXC card from a well-known and respected brand. I's fully compatible with the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally portable handhelds. It also comes with a SD adapter for devices that only take full-sized SD cards. Check out all of the best Nintendo Switch deals for sales on other games and accessories. 512GB Samsung Micro SDXC Card for $24.99 If you've started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch's base storage capacity. The Switch and Switch OLED consoles have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage...

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Xbox Created a Floating Controller to Celebrate Dune: Part 2

Microsoft has created the "world's first floating Xbox controller" in celebration of Dune: Part 2, alongside a special (and dare we say bizarre) Xbox Series S. Revealed on the Xbox Wire, the controller doesn't technically float itself but sits atop a stand that does. "A specially designed console holder inspired by the Ornithopter captures the vibrant colours of Arrakis’s sun, planets, and sand," the post said. "This custom Xbox Series S is a true collector’s item for fans. In addition, Xbox introduces the world’s first floating Xbox Controller. Hovering above oceans of sand dunes like an Ornithopter, the visually stunning design will look great in any living room." The Xbox Series S console takes the inspiration a little more...

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The Sims 4 Adds Vitiligo Skin Feature in Free Update Today

Today, The Sims 4 developer Maxis has announced a free update to the game that will add a Vitiligo skin feature in Create-a-Sim. The feature will allow players to customize Sims of all ages with Vitiligo skin details, including patches for the face, upper torso, lower torso, arms, and legs. Some examples can be seen below: Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes a person's skin to lose color in patches, and which affects roughly 70 million people worldwide. Though rarely represented in video games, some more recent releases such as Baldur's Gate 3, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and others have included it as an option in character creators. And Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 featured a character named Nova with Vitiligo...

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Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 Is Colossal

Larian Studios has revealed a few features coming in Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 alongside its colossal file size. The developer made a series of posts on X/Twitter to tease the update, which is due sometime this week, and revealed its 21GB download. Those on PC and Steam Deck will need around 150GB of free space to download Patch 6, though Larian said those short on space can uninstall the full game and redownload the patched version. Mac players will receive the Patch at a later date, which is yet to be announced. Though Patch 6 will no doubt feature a lot more given its size, Larian teased a handful of changes the update will make to the beloved Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The first is a time-saving change, as players will...

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The Best PC Games That Are A (Little) Like Palworld

One of the most entertaining aspects of Palworld is that it fuses a few different genres into one very silly package. It means that finding a game that’s a lot like all of Palworld is tricky, although not impossible. It also means that if there’s a part of the game you enjoy, you can find […] Continue reading...

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Tomb Raider (1996) – Mini Retro Review

Tomb Raider, and we’re talking about the original one that is frustratingly hard to play on any modern consoles or PCs, is nearly three decades old now. Seriously, it’s 28; it’s old enough to be grappling with all of the same existential and financial horrors the vast majority of us who played it back in […] Continue reading...

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New WWE 2K24 Trailer Shows Off WrestleMania’s Greatest Moments Recreated In-Game

2K has released a new trailer for WWE 2K24, this time showing off the video game version of some of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history. In the upcoming game, you can play as some of the WWE’s biggest legends in 21 matches lifted from WrestleMania history. Check out IGN’s WWE 2K24 hands-on preview for more. In the trailer we see Cody Rhodes, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Roman Reigns, Bianca Belair, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Rhea Ripley, Eddie Guerrero, and more battle in WWE 2K24, with real-life footage transitioning to gameplay and back again. We see Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon’s Ladder Match, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs the Rock in a No Disqualification Match, The Fiend against John Cena...

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Granblue Fantasy: Relink Hits 1 Million Copies Sold

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a hit, selling over one million copies since going on sale early February 2024. Cygames’ action RPG hit the million milestone worldwide across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam just 11 days after it came out on February 1. It’s been a particularly big hit on Steam, where it remains one of the most-played games with a concurrent player peak of 114,054. Granblue Fantasy: Relink joins a growing list of successful Japanese role-playing games that launched early 2024 and hit one million sales. RGG Studio’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Atlus’ Persona 3: Reload have each sold one million copies, breaking records for each franchise. IGN’s Granblue Fantasy: Relink review returned an 8/10. We...

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Diablo 4’s Latest Microtransaction Backlash Is Over Portal Reskins That Cost the Same as Palword

Diablo 4’s troubled history with microtransactions has grown more grim after Blizzard began selling class-locked portal reskins. “Portal through Sanctuary in style,” begins the description for the $29.99 Dark Pathways pack, as noted by PC Gamer. The pack includes the Hell and Back bundle, which contains the Tempest Gate Sorcerer Town Portal, Transit Artery Rogue Town Portal, Netherworld Threshold Necromancer Town Portal, Wildroot Way Druid Town Portal, Warpath Barbarian Town Portal, and 1,000 Platinum (which is itself worth $9.99). There is currently no way to buy the portals individually. As you’d expect, players have reacted negatively to the existence of the cosmetic pack, and not just because the price of the thing is equivalent...

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Original Dead Cells Designer Slams Developer for Ditching the Game

Dead Cells is currently embroiled in a row over its developer’s decision to leave the game behind to focus on its next title, Windblown. Earlier this month, the developers of the critically acclaimed, 10 million selling 2D roguelike signaled their intention to leave Dead Cells behind after five years of updates. Original developer and current Dead Cells IP owner Motion Twin issued a statement to the Dead Cells Steam page alerting players to update 35, appropriately titled The End is Near, on PC and consoles and update 34, called Clean Cut, for the mobile version, which will be the game’s last. Meanwhile Evil Empire, which was set up by former Motion Twin staff to work on updates for Dead Cells over the last half decade, issued a...

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PS5 Exclusive Stellar Blade Reportedly Rated Adults-Only in Korea for Nudity and Violence

Upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade appears to have an age-rating in Korea — and it won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s seen gameplay. Stellar Blade is developed by Korean studio Shift Up and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment as a PS5 exclusive. It’s an action game heavily inspired by the likes of Nier Automata, Bayonetta, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and stars a badass anime-inspired female protagonist called Eve, who many are comparing to 2B and Bayonetta. In an interview with GamesRadar, Stellar Blade game director Hyung-Tae Kim said Shift Up had "put special attention" into Eve's back, because that's what players see for the vast majority of their time in-game. With that in mind, Stellar Blade’s...

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Helldivers 2 Dev to Compensate Players for Lost Rewards, PC Patch Rolled Back Amid Performance Issues

While co-op third-person shooter Helldivers 2 has gone down well with players and become Sony’s biggest ever PC game launch, it has continued to struggle with login issues and rewards not tracking, even forcing its developer to roll back a patch due to performance problems. Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios released patch 01.000.005 for the game on Steam yesterday, January 12. The update was designed to tackle the main issues impacting players’ ability to log in, but it caused performance problems, which in turn caused Arrowhead to roll the patch back. “We have rolled back the patch due to some users experiencing significant degradation in performance,” Arrowhead said in a note on the Helldivers Discord. “The mission...

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Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment Reportedly the First Two Xbox Games to Launch on Rival Consoles

Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are the first two Xbox games to launch on rival consoles, according to The Verge. Amid slowing Game Pass subscriptions and flagging sales of Xbox consoles, Microsoft will soon announce both games are coming to “rival” consoles, The Verge said. Neither the PlayStation 5 nor Nintendo Switch are specified in the report, but we can assume Sony and Nintendo’s consoles are in the mix. The Verge added that Microsoft will launch Rare’s pirate adventure Sea of Thieves on non-Xbox platforms later this year. Other first-party titles are also said to be under consideration. Conflicting reports suggest Bethesda’s Starfield and MachineGames’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were at one point under consideration for a...

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Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo Review

Atomic Heart’s Trapped in Limbo DLC is colourful and eye-catching, and I hated every minute of it. I certainly felt trapped; trapped in a mobile game-inspired expansion that’s repetitive, frustrating, and a chore to complete. As someone who enjoyed Atomic Heart itself a great deal last year and found several things to like about the previous DLC, I am genuinely baffled at how actively I do not want to play Trapped in Limbo ever again. While Atomic Heart’s first dose of DLC, Annihilation Instinct, explores what happens after the shorter of the main game’s two unfulfilling endings, Trapped in Limbo picks up in the aftermath of the longer one. Respecting and expanding upon both endings is an interesting and commendable approach, even if...

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A Sub $20 GOTY, Triple Digit Dollar Savings on Starfield Constellation and Yakuza Collection, plus More!

As a bargain hunter, nothing pleases me more than the continuing slow orbit decay of that Starfield fancy edition. Why? Because I need that watch in my life, but I'm sure not going to pay 500 bucks for the privilege. Personally, my event horizon for a purchase is the $200 off mark. Will it get there before stocks deplete fully? Who knows, fellow space cadets. Meanwhile in retro news, it's been 15 years since the highly magical Flower floated its way onto PS3. Being the spiritual successor to 2006's Flow, it effectively bloomed thatgamecompany into a top-tier indie dev. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - F.E.A.R. 2 (PC,PS3,X360) 2009. Get - Flower (PS3) 2009. Get - Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS3) 2010...

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Skull and Bones Review in Progress - Open Beta Impressions

Like spotting the first sign of shore after years adrift, Skull and Bones has finally, actually found its way to launch. Six separate delays and several different concepts that were forced to walk the plank might’ve made you understandably apprehensive about Ubisoft’s long-brewing pirate game, but I’ve already found a yo-ho-whole lot to be excited about after spending nearly 30 hours with its surprisingly unconstrained open beta this past weekend. The 17th-century Indian Ocean works well as avast open world to be explored and plundered, the RPG mechanics are (briny) deep with opportunities for buildcrafting alongside your fellow scurvy dogs, and the naval combat you’ll spend bucca-nearly all your time on the high seas engaging with is...

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Wolverine's Clawful History in Marvel Games

If there’s any Marvel hero who can challenge Deadpool or Spider-Man in the popularity department these days, it’s Wolverine. That’s why it’s fitting that the ol’ Canucklehead is joining Spidey in getting a big-budget action game from the folks at Insomniac. That's right -- things are looking up for Wolverine in games and movies again. Aside from the Insomniac Wolvie game that's in the works, Hugh Jackman is also returning to the character, joining Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool & Wolverine, which will finally properly unite the two heroes. In the MCU to boot! We just got our first official trailer for Deadpool 3 during the Super Bowl, and man, are we excited. Wolverine has a fascinating history in the video game realm. It took years for...

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A Whole Palworld City Was Built by a Player Without Using Any Mods

One Palworld player has fully cranked up their ingenuity by creating a massive city, and they didn't even need to use a single mod to make a virtual urban base. Reddit user Commercial_Neck8986 has posted a screenshot and a video of their Palworld base showcasing how they made an entire urban-esque base called Palcity. Commercial_Neck8986 notes that it took them two weeks to finish their base and that it used no mods to create Palcity. IGN has reached out to the user for additional comment. "No mods carried enough stone to not overweight," the Redditor replied when a user accused them of using a mod to create Palcity. "Good thing trees are present everywhere, so I just chop off some wood for the roofing." As you can see from the...

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Xbox's 'Vision for the Future' Set for Thursday With Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty

Xbox will reveal its vision for the future in a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast set to release on Thursday, February 15 at 12pm PT. The official announcement reads, "Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast. Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty as they share updates on the Xbox business." The podcast is expected to address questions about Xbox's first-party releases including Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Indiana Jones and the Great Cicle, which have been rumored to be heading to PlayStation and other platforms soon. Spencer reportedly reassured employees that Microsoft plans to continue making consoles amid questions surrounding Xbox's third-party strategy going...

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'I've Never Seen It This Bad:' Game Developers Explain the Huge Layoffs Hitting Riot, Epic, and More

In August of last year, Ascendant Studios developer Aaron (name changed for anonymity) was ready to take a well-deserved victory lap. He had crunched hard with many of his colleagues in the final sprint to complete Ascendant’s debut game, Immortals of Aveum, but the team had finally done it. He attended a launch party in the Bay Area where he celebrated with his colleagues, some of whom he said had to pay partially out of pocket to make the trip. But while the event was supposed to be jubilant, there was an uneasy atmosphere: it seemed like Immortals of Aveum wasn’t performing especially well. At the party, developers kept asking leadership how the game was doing, only to be met with non-committal answers. A few weeks later, almost...

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Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review

In a sea of sequels, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has a wonderfully fresh story to tell. I didn’t know I wanted to play as a ghost-hunting detective in a supernatural, alternate reality version of 1600s America, but developer Don’t Nod provides such a compelling mix of death, drama, and romance it made me wonder why no one had tried this sooner. It mostly sticks the landing with the things it tries beyond that story as well, from the excellent concept of swapping between your living and spectral protagonists, to its absolutely stellar investigation mechanics. That said, other parts of Banishers aren’t as original, borrowing the bulk of its structure from plenty of action-adventure games before it, but with stiff and repetitive combat...

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The Best Power Bank for Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally Is on Sale Today

For a limited time, Amazon is offering the powerful and high capacity Anker PowerCore 737 24,000mAh USB Power Bank for only $90, a massive 40% price drop from its original $150 MSRP. This power bank dropped to $110 on Black Friday, but it's even less expensive right now. This is close to the highest capacity power bank you're allowed to bring on airplane carry-on, and it also boasts an absolutely massive 140W of USB power delivery. It's one of the best Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally chargers. Anker 24,000mAh Power Bank for Only $90 with 140W of USB Type-C Power Delivery The Anker PowerCore 737 boasts an impressive 24,000mAh battery capacity, which is just under the TSA's 27,000mAh limit; it can charge a Nintendo Switch OLED about 5...

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Earth Defense Force 6 Western Launch Delayed to the Summer

Earth Defense Force 6 now launches in the West this summer, D3Publisher has announced. The third-person action shooter, already out in Japan, was set for launch in the West this spring but will now release this summer. That’s for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. There is no launch planned for Xbox or Nintendo Switch. “Developer Sandlot and publisher D3Publisher have decided to extend the launch window to add finishing touches and finalize preparations for its Western launch,” reads a joint statement. Here’s the official blurb: “In the year 2025, humanity won the war against the unknown invaders known as Primers, and peace returned to the planet. As a result of the conflict, 90% of Earth’s population was destroyed...

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Helldivers 2 Says 'We Really Applied Ourselves to Not Make It Pay-to-Win'

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has discussed the game’s microtransactions, insisting the game is not ‘pay-to-win.’ Helldivers 2 is a $39.99 co-op shooter in which players team up to battle alien bugs and terrifying automatons. It’s gone down particularly well with players, becoming Sony’s biggest ever launch on PC after hitting at least 360,000 peak concurrent players across PlayStation 5 and Steam. However, there is some debate about Helldivers 2’s monetisation. The game features a free and premium battle pass, both of which include items that affect gameplay. Some weapons and armour, for example, are restricted to the $9.99 premium battle pass. There are also gameplay-affecting items available for direct purchase via...

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Dev Rocksteady Creating Entirely New Leaderboard Due to Burn Bug

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League dev Rocksteady has announced plans to create an entirely new leaderboard due to a Burn bug. In a post on the game’s Discord, Rocksteady discussed the looter shooter’s upcoming patch, and in doing so said that it had noticed “some of our more dedicated players started reaching Mastery Levels beyond our wildest expectations.” The root cause of this is a bug with the Burn status effect. This was supposed to scale across the Mastery Levels so it remains viable for damage dealing, but a “major” unintended bug made it scale incorrectly. “As Mastery levels increased, Burn's damage also increased, which basically meant that if you used a Burn build, every Mastery Level had the same difficulty,”...

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Doctor Who Showrunner Russell T. Davies Calls Heavily Rumored Fortnite Collaboration ‘A Complete Myth’

The boss of Doctor Who has moved to debunk various rumors that indicated the popular show would soon launch a collaboration with Fortnite. As reported by Eurogamer, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies replied to a user on Instagram who asked about the reported Fortnite collaboration to say: "There isn't one! It's a complete myth, I'm afraid." The comment comes despite evidence pointing to the existence of a Doctor Who x Fortnite event, which was assumed to go live alongside the upcoming new season in May. There’s even a list of datamined Doctor Who content that may or may not have been scrapped, including skins for David Tennant v2 and Ncuti Gatwa. Despite Russell T. Davies’ definitive statement, some still believe Doctor Who is...

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Helldivers 2 Players Establish ‘Unspoken’ Co-Op Etiquette

Helldivers 2 has only been out for a handful of days, but already its community is working to establish the “unspoken” rules of engagement, with an etiquette for good co-op play. For the uninitiated, Helldivers 2 is a co-op focused shooter in which players team up to defeat giant alien bugs and terrifying automatons. It’s a dangerous game, and I don’t just mean just because of the bad guys. In Helldivers 2, you’re as much a danger to your teammates as the big bugs you face. With friendly fire very much a part of the gameplay, Helldivers 2 is a game in which you need to watch where you’re shooting - and where you're landing in a drop pod. And so, across the Helldivers subreddit, Discord, and social media, players are setting down best...

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Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Reportedly Told Employees Microsoft Has No Plans to Stop Making Consoles

Amid increasing speculation about the future of Xbox, its exclusives, and even its status as a hardware manufacturer, Phil Spencer reportedly told employees last week that it has no plans to stop making consoles. Reporter Shannon Liao said in her weekly Substack industry newsletter that Spencer moved to reassure staff during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday. “The company held an internal Tuesday townhall where Spencer told employees that there were no plans to stop making consoles, and that Xboxes would continue to be part of a strategy that involves multiple kinds of devices,” Liao reported. Microsoft has yet to comment. Liao’s report has come at a time of concern for the Xbox brand, with various articles indicating recent...

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