Gaming News

Star Ocean: The Second Story R Remake Leaked

A logo for Star Ocean: The Second Story R has leaked via Square Enix’s support website. Spotted by RPG Site, the banner with the logo was found on Square Enix’s official support site, but it has since been taken down. The link that leads to the logo now shows a box with the words “no image". Star Ocean: The Second Story is the second game in developer Tri-Ace’s Star Ocean series, which is published by Square Enix. The game was released for the original PlayStation in 1998. An enhanced version of the game, Star Ocean: Second Evolution, was released in 2008 for PlayStation Portable. In 2008, Square Enix remastered the first game in the series for PlayStation Portable, called Star Ocean: First Departure. In 2019, the game was...

View full article »

Phantom Liberty Director Insists CD Projekt Has Moved Away From Crunch

CD Projekt has moved away from crunch according to one of its own developers, director of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion Gabe Amatangelo. Speaking to Bloomberg, Amatangelo said CD Projekt has lived up to its promise not to force employees to crunch — meaning to work long hours and extra days in order to finish a game on time — after it was heavily criticised for doing so for the base Cyberpunk 2077. "Fortunately, it’s a very healthy work-life balance right now," Amatangelo said, something that was backed up by "lower-level staff members" speaking to Bloomberg. Amatangelo is also set to direct the full sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed Orion, and the lack of crunching for Phantom Liberty bodes well for the developers...

View full article »

Starfield Interview: Todd Howard Answers All of Our Questions After the Xbox Games Showcase

At IGN Summer of Gaming, we were able to sit down with Starfield director Todd Howard for an exclusive interview about the upcoming Bethesda RPG. After years of rumors, teases, speculation, and a high-profile delay, Bethesda is finally ready to launch Starfield into the stratosphere on September 6, 2023. Howard visited IGN and Ryan McCaffrey after the Xbox Showcase and Starfield Direct to go in-depth on what was announced and to try and explain the sheer breadth of all that was revealed during the show. During the interview he discussed its delay, its performance on Xbox, the surprising influence of Red Dead Redemption 2, and much more. "[W]e have put so much into this game, and it is, as you said, our first new IP in over 25...

View full article »

Exclusive: Dead Space: Deep Cover Is a New Scripted Podcast Launching in 2024

IGN can exclusively reveal Dead Space: Deep Cover, a brand-new official scripted podcast launching in Q1 2024 that tells a story of a journalist searching for her missing sister who reportedly joined a local Unitologist church. Dead Space: Deep Cover will be part of the Cineverse Podcast Network and is being produced by Bloody Disgusting in cooperation with EA. As previously mentioned, the series will become available in Q1 2024 and will be free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other podcasting networks. There will be a total of 12 episodes and they will be released weekly. "In Dead Space: Deep Cover, journalist Emmeline Ayuba searches for her sister, who reportedly joined a local Unitologist church," the official description...

View full article »

Phantom Liberty Director Will Lead Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel

Director of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion Gabe Amatangelo will also direct the full sequel from CD Projekt Red. Speaking to Bloomberg, Amatangelo said he'll be moving onto the sequel once development on the long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 expansion is complete. Given Phantom Liberty launches on September 26, this should be within the next three months or so. Little else is known about the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Orion at CD Projekt Red, but the developer promised it "will fully unleash the potential that this universe offers". Development hadn't begun as of October 2022 as CD Projekt Red focused on building a whole new North American studio for the game, consisting of 350 to 500 developers between teams in Boston...

View full article »

Diablo 4 Players Are Hunting for a Secret Cow Level Blizzard Insists Doesn’t Exist

All Diablo games have a secret cow level, right? According to Blizzard, Diablo 4 doesn’t, yet. But that hasn’t stopped players from joining forces in an attempt to uncover the mythical space. In the run up to Diablo 4’s record-breaking launch, development chief Rod Fergusson insisted the action role-playing game does not include a secret cow level, or any secret level for that matter, because Blizzard wanted to keep the tone and feel “grounded”. "We wanted to make sure it felt authentic to the kind of gothic, dark themes we have. We've been really focused on trying to keep it as grounded as possible," Fergusson told Kinda Funny Games. "And because of that, there's no secret level in Diablo 4 that people might be looking for as per...

View full article »

Starfield 30fps Debate Has People Talking About Virtual Sandwiches

As IGN exclusively revealed during Summer of Gaming, hotly-anticipated space epic Starfield runs at 30 frames per second on Xbox Series X and S. The news sparked a vociferous debate about the performance of Bethesda Game Studios’ next big title, and challenged the expectation from some that big first-party games should run at 60fps on Xbox Series X no matter what. But why does Starfield run at 30fps? In an interview with IGN, BGS boss Todd Howard said the development team decided to lock Starfield at 30fps on console to ensure “consistency” of performance. “I think it'll come as no surprise, given our previous games, what we go for,” Howard said. “Always these huge, open worlds, fully dynamic, hyper detail where anything can happen...

View full article »

Yakuza Developer Just Made Like a Dragon 8's Confusing Name Even More Confusing

Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotaku Studio has tried to explain why it changed the franchise's name to Like a Dragon but made things much more complicated in the process. For those unfamiliar, the franchise is called Ryu Ga Gotaku in Japan, which translates to Like a Dragon. 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon therefore adopted both names, but the developer is fully switching over with its sequel, which is called Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. As explained in a tweet (below) from the developer, the Japanese version is remaining a simple Ryu Ga Gotaku 8 because "one subtitle simply isn't enough". "Which character and which point of view in this complex, intertwined storyline do you think you'll most closely relate to? Depending on which of the...

View full article »

F1 23 Review

After roughly 940 million kilometres, the Earth has reached the point on its 12-month celestial march around the sun where it’s time for another Formula 1 game. Fitting, perhaps, considering I feel like I’ve driven roughly 940 million kilometres in this series over the past decade-and-change. Jokes aside, it’s a testament to the incredible robustness of Codemasters’ brand of open-wheel motorsport magic that climbing back into the cockpit each year remains a pleasure, and F1 23 is no exception. Alongside noticeably improved handling for the new-era cars, F1 23 also adds the next chapter of the Braking Point story mode introduced in F1 2021 – plus a new reward-based progression system with daily, weekly, and seasonal goals. The result is...

View full article »

10 Things Diablo 4 Doesn't Tell You

Diablo 4 is full of more demons than ever before, and its expansive regions can be both dangerous and confusing to explore. Whether you’re looking to tweak the difficulty, get help in combat, or understand its various mechanics, materials, and currencies, we’ve compiled the biggest things Diablo 4 doesn’t always tell you outright. See the full Diablo 4 Interactive Map with locations of Dungeons, Collectibles, Strongholds and more! 1 - When Can I Get That Mount? As soon as you finish the Prologue tutorial and arrive in the main city of Kyovashad, you can try to interact with the stables where Lorath got a horse, only to find you aren’t able to purchase one as well. Even if you’ve bought special editions of the game or purchased...

View full article »

Pick Up Returnal on PS5 for Just $21.99 at Best Buy

For those who own a PlayStation 5, or recently picked one up, you can now purchase the console-exclusive Returnal at Best Buy for just $21.99. That’s $48 off its original price of $69.99, which is a deal absolutely worth jumping on! You can check out the game's deal in full on Best Buy’s website below. Returnal on Sale at Best Buy for $21.99 Returnal is a game we really, really enjoy. Upon release, we gave it an 8 and stated in our Returnal review that the gameplay "is sublime, with a great selection of weapons that each have a wide variety of interesting possible traits, meaningful strategic decisions that can either keep a run afloat or doom it to sink, and punishingly challenging yet rewarding gunplay that is consistently...

View full article »

Disney VP of Games Wants More ‘Elevator Proposals’ Like Kingdom Hearts

Way back in 2004, a story surfaced (in an interview with IGN no less) that the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise exists because of a fateful, literal elevator pitch. And now, over two decades after that strange merger of Square Enix fantasy and Disney magic became a hit, Disney Games is hungry for more wild pitch moments like it. I meet with the VP of Disney and Pixar Games, Luigi Priore, at the most appropriate place for it: Disneyland. We’re at a preview event for Disney Illusion Island, nestled in a banquet room well-hidden within Tomorrowland, where Priore is clearly jubilant at the prospect of showing off the game at last. Disney Illusion Island has a look reminiscent of a slower-paced, more friendly Rayman game, with four-player...

View full article »

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie Review

If you could peer into the future and visualize the most immediate outcomes of your actions, would you be able to make the best decisions, or would the weight of your past choices still hold you back? Harmony: The Fall of Reverie artfully takes a microscope to this idea by giving you the power of foresight to make conscious choices about which direction the story flows between its otherwise linear conversations. It took a few hours to get past all the necessary exposition before Harmony really got its hooks in me, but the story it eventually unravels into is a must-play visual novel. It does an eloquent job of mixing its classic choose-your-own-adventure style of decision-making with modern stakes that effectively hold a mirror up to...

View full article »

Seven Things You Should Know About Black Desert Online Land of the Morning Light

Black Desert Online's newest expansion "Land of the Morning Light" has officially launched, and it's bringing a whole lot of new content with it. Newcomers and longtime fans of the game can experience a new story, fight against fearsome new enemies, explore a whole new region, and defeat bosses based on traditional Korean folklore. That's not even half of what’s coming in The Land of the Morning Light. Here are seven things you should know about your upcoming journey 1. Land of the Morning Light is Designed for Beginners Black Desert Online is a big game with a lot of content, but new players shouldn't feel pressured to play "catch up." The Land of the Morning Light expansion is designed to be especially welcoming to newcomers, so...

View full article »

PlayStation Plus June 2023 Games Revealed

Sony has revealed the latest games to join the PlayStation Plus library for June 2023. This includes Rogue Legacy 2, Far Cry 6, and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. In a PlayStation Blog post, Sony revealed some of the games that are going to be available this month. These games will be added to the service on June 20. While the post did not unveil the full list, the PlayStation UK Twitter account tweeted out a full list of the games, which you can check out below. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium: Game Catalogue Rogue Legacy 2 Far Cry 6 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Inscryption Soulstice Tacoma Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Killing Floor 2 Tacoma Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Killing Floor 2 Lonely Mountains: Downhill Vampire...

View full article »

GTA Online Players Are Freaking Out Over a T-Shirt

Grand Theft Auto Online players are freaking out over an in-game t-shirt that many believe is a GTA 6 tease from Rockstar. As reported by PCGamesN, the t-shirt in question arrived in the San Andreas Mercenaries expansion and players who checked out the updated clothing stores immediately noticed one particularly odd item called "??? Tee". This t-shirt shows a bunch of odd symbols with lines of numbers around them. While seemingly random at first glance, attributing each of these numbers to their respective letters in the alphabet reveals a hidden message. Just as bizarre as the t-shirt name itself, this reads: "One day will reveal all." While this means nothing by itself, many fans are hoping it teases a full GTA 6 reveal, even if...

View full article »

Outriders dev People Can Fly Working on Mystery Microsoft IP

Outriders developer People Can Fly is working on a Microsoft IP codenamed Project Maverick, the studio has revealed. According to the announcement published to Polish financial site Interia Biznes, the budget for Project Maverick is between $30-50 million, and its production will be carried out by People Can Fly in a work-for-hire model. People Can Fly previously worked on Gears of War: Judgment back in 2013, so it’s possible the studio is working on something related to the Gears franchise. Whether it is Gears 6 or maybe even a remaster of Judgment is unknown. Project Maverick could be completely unrelated to Gears, too. Back in July 2020, People Can Fly announced it was working on a highly ambitious AAA game, led by Just Cause 3...

View full article »

Dead Cells is Getting an Animated Series

Indie Developer Motion Twin announced today that an animated Dead Cells series is in the works and will air sometime next year. Dead Cells: The Animated Series will comprise of 10 "roughly seven-minute long" episodes and will be released in France first before getting a wider release worldwide. The teaser trailer's YouTube description mentions that the series is set on "a cursed island that a strange plague has racked". Alongside a teaser trailer, the developer confirmed that the series is being co-produced by animation studio Bobbypills and anime streaming service Animation Digital Network. Bobbypill previously worked with Motion Twin as the studio created animated trailers for Dead Cells. Dead Cells originally launched in early...

View full article »

GTA Online Update Removes More Than 180 Cars and Bikes, Puts Some Behind Paywall

GTA Online players are usually happy when Rockstar rolls out a new update, but the latest San Andreas Mercenaries expansion has instead made them upset after removing more than 180 vehicles from the game. As reported by Kotaku, Rockstar removed at least 189 cars and bikes from GTA Online and, making matters worse, put some of them behind its $6-a-month GTA+ subscription, which is currently only available to PS5 and Xbox Series players. Though the developer warned "many lesser-used vehicles" would be removed from the game ahead of the expansion launching, many players assumed just a handful of old cars would be pulled. Instead, Rockstar removed nearly 200 vehicles, including some previously free to acquire, and put some of them behind...

View full article »

Blizzard Nerfs Diablo 4’s Best Dungeons to Farm XP and Loot, Sparking Backlash

Blizzard has sparked a backlash from Diablo 4 players after it nerfed some of the best farming spots in the entire game. A recently-released hotfix, the ninth since the phenomenally-successful action role-playing game launched earlier this month, made further adjustments to elite monster density in dungeons. Blizzard’s note accompanying the change fuelled the backlash: “We are standardizing the density of elite monsters that spawn in dungeons to ensure that no particular dungeon is clearly more efficient to run through than others.” What this means is Blizzard has lowered the number of elite monsters in the dungeons it’s deemed are too popular for farming. In Diablo 4, elite level monsters drop the best loot and dish out the most...

View full article »

Armored Core 6 Impressions: FromSoftware Used Its Blank Check to Make More Armored Core, And I Couldn't be Happier

It's been interesting to watch the reaction to Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. After its expanded showing at last week's Summer Game Fest event, one attendee summed up the overall mood around the game with a dismissive, "It's just more Armored Core, isn't it?" Well, yes. Handed what amounts to a blank check after a decade of hits including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, FromSoftware has opted to return to one of its earliest hits. This is FromSoftware being defiantly FromSoftware, ignoring the pressure to turn Armored Core into another Soulsborne game and making what it wants to make. “The essential direction of [Armored Core VI] was to go back and take a good look at the core concept of Armored Core and what made that...

View full article »

Phantom Liberty Looks Like the Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt Pitched From the Start

CD Projekt is launching its Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty this September, but alongside a chunk of new story content and an extension of the map, it's also revamping a ton of mechanics from the base game. These changes, which include a completely rebuilt police system, brand new skill trees, and more, look to bring Cyberpunk up to what CD Projekt initially pitched for the game at its famous reveal in 2018. An update, presumably version 1.7, will launch around the same time as Phantom Liberty (though no earlier than September 9) and include these changes to the base game, though it's currently unclear just how many of them will be free for all Cyberpunk 2077 players and how many will be locked behind the $30 / £25...

View full article »

Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tactica Confirmed for Additional Platforms

Persona 3 Reload is coming out on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 as well as PC via Steam, Atlus has announced. The confirmation comes after Reload was announced as launching on Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC via Windows during Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase. However, Reload is not coming out on Nintendo Switch, with the console absent from Atlus’ list of additional platforms. Persona 3 Reload, due out early 2024 and available on Xbox Game Pass at launch, is a remake of the beloved Persona 3. It features combat and graphics updated to resemble Persona 5, and enhanced audio with new English voiceover. However, Reload does not include additional content from Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, including the female...

View full article »

The Last of Us Part 1's Latest Update on PC Makes It Steam Deck Verified

The Last of Us Part 1 on PC is now Steam Deck Verified thanks to the game's latest update that also focuses on performance improvements, fixing various crashes, and more. The news arrives via The Last of Us Part 1's v1.1.0 patch notes for PC, and the Steam Deck verification is a welcome addition, especially after Naughty Dog confirmed it wasn't a priority for the team around the game's launch earlier this year. It should be a good sign that many of the issues The Last of Us Part 1's PC players have been experiencing have been addressed since this lower-priority item has now been checked off Naughty Dog's list. The Last of Us Part 1 arrived on PC on March 28 and was almost immediately slammed on Steam for a various number of its...

View full article »

Set Your Course For the First Starfield Discounts, Plus AC Mirage, Diablo IV and More!

Top of the morn, fellow bargain hunters! Welcome to our first taste of Starfield discounts, a game I've cleared my social calendar for. (Wasn't tough — it was non-existent anyway.) In retro news, today is quite the birthday bash for a bunch of must-plays. Be sure to peruse the below list, pick out the gaps in your library, and score them cheap. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - Pikmin (GC) 2002. Sequel - 007: Agent Under Fire (GC,XB) 2002. - Zelda: Collector's Edition (GC) 2004. - Forza Motorsport 2 (X360) 2007. Sequel - American McGee's Alice (PS3,X360) 2011. - Rayman Origins (3DS) 2012. Get - Gravity Rush (PSV) 2012. Remaster - The Last of Us (PS3) 2013. Remake - Dead By Daylight (PC) 2016. -60%...

View full article »

Black Voices in Gaming: Everything Featured at the June 2023 Showcase

Since its creation, Black Voices in Gaming's mission has been dedicated to providing the spotlight for Black game developers in the industry. And one such effort includes hosting a showcase to spotlight upcoming indie games made by black developers. If you missed the organization's latest showcase, here's every game spotlight today. Breeze in The Clouds Announced last month at the Humble Games Showcase, Breeze in the Clouds is a new 2D hand-drawn platformer where you play as a corgi that is using his newfound power to fight pollution. The showcase gave us some new gameplay of Breeze in the Clouds. The game's director and producer, SrBilyon Harris, appeared on stream to discuss what inspired him to create Breeze in the Clouds. Harris...

View full article »

Everything Featured at the Dames 4 Games 2023 Showcase

The first ever Dames 4 Games showcase has now come to an end after sharing a ton of wild and wonderful games, critically important interviews, and trailers highlighting women creators in the gaming industry. The two hour long showcase was full of exciting reveals from all different genres and was kicked off with a message from host and co-creator Destinee Cleveland. "Dames 4 Games was created to give women in the gaming community a chance to share their story, contributions, and love of games," she said. "I wanted this show to highlight some of the things women have done in the industry and continue to do in the gaming community itself and as technical artists, as producers, as art directors, all the things we have done because we...

View full article »

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Doubles Down on What Makes it Great

If you’ve managed to do all of the story content that Cyberpunk 2077 had to offer and have been wanting an excuse to hop back on and do some netrunning or samurai sword slashing, I’m happy to say that Phantom Liberty is going to offer you a lot to chase and then some. I was dropped into Dogtown, the new location you’ll explore in Phantom Liberty, and it’s filled with a new story, new gigs, airdrops that’ll include some coveted loot, new Cyberware upgrades in the form of Relics, new perks, and a lot more I’m probably going to discover when I return in September. To kick things off, when diving back into Night City, you’ll receive a message and a mission from Songbird: Save the President of the New United States. She has crashed and...

View full article »

Xbox Games Showcase Extended: Everything Announced and Revealed

The Xbox Games Showcase took the internet by storm this past weekend, but that isn't all Microsoft has in store for this Summer of Gaming as the Xbox Games Showcase Extended has arrived to give us a deeper look at such games as Avowed, Towerborne, Senua's Saga, Hellblade II, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, Microsoft Flight Simulator - Dune Expansion, and more. This article will gather all the biggest reveals and announcements from the Xbox Games Showcase Extended to ensure you don't miss a thing, so check out all the details and videos below and let us know which games you are most excited for! Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's Dogtown Gets a Deep Dive Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty kicked off the Xbox Games Showcase Extended and...

View full article »

Forza Motorsport Behind-Closed-Doors Impressions: If You Build it, They Will Race

There isn't much in Forza Motorsport that hasn't been ripped out, re-thought, and revamped. Graphics, physics, multiplayer, player scoring, and car building have all been re-architected in the next-gen reboot of Turn 10's long-running racing sim. But it's that last one, car building, that seems to be the piece that the development team is focusing on most. "You don't buy your car so much as you build it," said game director Chris Esaki. So what does he mean by that? For starters, Car Points (CP) are the currency by which you purchase cars and parts, but when you spend them, they don't vanish; instead, the parts hold their value. In other words, Turn 10 is encouraging repeated tinkering and modifying so you can tailor your car to a...

View full article »