A DDOS attack against Activision Blizzard brought down the company's PC servers for hours, leaving many users unable to play games including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch.
Activision Blizzard first acknowledged the issue in a tweet at 12:15am Pacific on September 14, saying it was investigating an issue affecting its authentication servers that was causing slow or failed login attempts for players.
Around 40 minutes later, however, Activision Blizzard confirmed that its PC servers were down as a result of a DDOS attack. "We continue to actively monitor an ongoing DDOS attack which is affecting latency/connections to our games," it said in a follow-up tweet (below).
The issue is resolved now, with the servers being...
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This isn’t the Harley Quinn you know.
As Gotham Knights creative director Patrick Redding puts it: “She is coming not from a place of, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be zany. I'm your manic pixie.’ She doesn't need to be the manic pixie anymore. She has gotten to a point where she knows who she is. She has a very clear sense of what her identity is, and she's going to present herself in this much stronger, developed supervillain way.”
Gotham Knights’ Harley Quinn is a very interesting case study in how to adapt a beloved comic book character. Her look, her voice, and her brand of villainy are immediately recognisable – but her story, and her reason to be is fundamentally altered. It came out of a general philosophy for villains that guided Warner...
Our Xbox crew discusses a significant management shake-up at the top of 343 Industries, Sony boss Jim Ryan's public airing of Call of Duty-related grievances against Phil Spencer and Microsoft, the biggest news from the weekend's Disney/Marvel and Ubisoft showcases, the new Xbox Elite controller, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our recent interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:
For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's...
Have I got a deal to get your engine running this morning. Though it descended to $44.50 in a recent retailer war, the price of Gran Turismo 7 has now dropped lower than a dumped Commo. Speaking of fully sick bargains, I have a lot of time for way cheaper Resi Evil and AC triple packs, plus an Xbox Game Studios Steam sale. Gamers of sophisticated taste also ought to snap up Spec Ops: The Line for a tenner.
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays at ludicrous difficulties on YouTube.
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Ironwood Studios has announced its first game, Pacific Drive, coming in 2023.
The new title puts players behind the driver's seat of a car in what looks like a post-apocalyptic version of the Pacific Northwest. The developers call their title a "run-based first-person driving survival game."
According to Ironwood Studios, players explore the "Zone" with the car as their lifeline. Search for resources, improve your car, and keep it powered to continue exploring and evading danger.
In a PlayStation Blog Post, the Pacific Northwest became an irradiated wasteland after it was claimed by the United States government. The Olympic Exclusion Zone is the result of technological research gone horribly awry.
Players will make trips from...
Project Eve, the extremely shiny-looking action game shown off last year from Korean studio Shift Up, has reemerged at Sony's State of Play with a new title and release window: it's coming in 2023, and it's now called Stellar Blade.
The new trailer showed off some of Stellar Blade's slashy gameplay and lovely visuals, as well as gave another taste of the story. We saw a locaiton called Xion, the city of the abandoned, which seems to house thousands of people in a deep sleep due to energy depletion.
From a PS Blog post, we get a little more info about Xion and the old man seen in the trailer, a town elder whose name is Orcal. While on her mission, Eve develops relationships with various people in Xion and helps rebuild the city...
During Sony's State of Play today, we got another look at Hogwarts Legacy, specifically a little taste of a console-exclusive quest involving a shop in the village near Hogwarts: Hogsmeade.
The trailer shows the shop of a woman named Madame Mason, who is apparently putting it up for sale - but there seems to be something strange at the heart of her desire to sell. There's a creepy basement involved, and a run of bad luck, a hallway that is much longer than it initially appears, and some extremely creepy mannquins near the end of the trailer.
The end of the trailer revealed that this is all a PlayStation-exclusive quest called "The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop", which includes an additional dungeon, a cosmetic set, and an in-game shop.
A...
PlayStation's September State of Play has concluded after 20 minutes of reveals, new updates, and fresh gameplay footage for ten games coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PS VR2.
IGN has you covered right here with every announcement from the show, including those from God of War Ragnarok, Tekken 8, and Hogwarts Legacy.
Tekken 8 Officially Revealed
The State of Play got off to a hot start, opening with the reveal trailer for Tekken 8. A release date wasn't shared for the game, but the trailer did only mention a PlayStation 5 release for the game, meaning the latest entry in the classic fighting game series may be next-generation only.
God of War Ragnarok Gets New Trailer, Limited Edition DualSense
PlayStation's State of...
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, the Wii entry in the famous survival horror series, is finally coming to the West for the first time.
Announced as part of today's Nintendo Direct, a localised version of Mask of the Lunar Eclipse will be available on Switch early in 2023. This entry follows Ruka Minazuki who, after mysteriously disappearing as a child, explores an abandoned hospital in search of her lost memories. The hospital is, of course, full of all kinds of nasties, which can be repelled with Fatal Frame's classic tool, the camera obscura.
The original version of this fourth game in the Fatal Frame series was released in Japan back in 2008. While a European release was announced, it never made it to the West. This new...
My friends, the day has finally come. A brand new Nintendo Direct has arrived and, among many other games, it gave us the long-awaited title and release date for the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
While that was all the Zelda news, fans were also treated to the reveal of Fire Emblem Engage, the news that Pikmin 4 will arrive in 2023, a new Octopath Traveler and Kirby game are on the way, that Goldeneye 007 is headed to Nintendo Switch Online, and so much more.
There was a lot packed into those 40 minutes, and we are here to gather all the announcements, trailers, and gameplay videos in one place to ensure you don't miss a thing.
The Sequel to Breath of the Wild Is Called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom...
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion officially has a release date, with Nintendo confirming that the remastered prequel will arrive on December 13.
Announced during September's Nintendo Direct, the December 13 release date has only been confirmed for Nintendo Switch so far but, given that the game is also arriving on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and PC (with no timed-exclusivity previously announced), it's likely this is the release date for all platforms.
A handful of new gameplay clips were also shown during the direct, giving fans another chance to see Zack in action in the remastered Final Fantasy 7 prequel.
Developing...
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
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Alongside a brand new trailer for Harvestella, we learned today that a free demo will be dropping on the Nintendo Switch eshop that will allow players to check out the first few days of farming gameplay.
During today's Nintendo Direct, a new Harvestella trailer focused on Quietus - the season of death - that is plaguing the lands you're farming in. We also got a look at the combat, which looks much deeper and more RPG-focused than we previously anticipated.
The demo that's out today contains "the first few days of your farm's first season", and save data can be transfered to the full game when Harvestella launches on November 4.
Developing...
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A series of cloud-based Resident Evil games has been announced for Nintendo Switch, and it covers the four most recent games in the mainline series.
Announced as part of today's Nintendo Direct, The Resident Evil Village cloud version will be available from October 28, and a free demo is available after the Direct finishes. The recently announced Village DLC is also coming to Switch on December 2.
Village isn't the only modern Resi game coming to Switch; the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, alongside Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, will be available later this year. No release date was given.
Catch up on everything announced during today's Nintendo Direct in our roundup right here.
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Octopath Traveler, the Square Enix RPG featuring eight protagonists each with their own separate but converging stories, is getting a sequel. It will arrive far sooner than we expected, on February 24, 2023.
Announced at today's Nintendo Direct, Octopath Traveler 2 will feature eight new protagonists, travelling through the world of Solistia - including merchants, scholars, thieves, and more.
We gave the first Octopath Traveler a 9.3 at launch for its "beautiful style and outstanding take on traditional turn-based combat" that "pushed JRPGs forward rather than paying homage to the greats." Though initially a Switch exclusive, it's since found a home on PC, Xbox, and Stadia, and has even gotten a mobile spin-off in Champions of the...
Ubisoft's biggest games will now be sold at the $70 price point – something the company had so far resisted.
During an interview with Axios, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that the company’s upcoming AAA games will now be sold at $70 – a price hike that’s in line with the current industry standard.
“Some of the games will come at the same price as the competition,” he confirmed. “The big AAA games will come at $70.”
Skull & Bones is the first of these games to be set at the new $70 price point. Amazon has already adopted the new pricing structure with both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of Skull & Bones available to pre-order for $69.99.
However, the Ubisoft store itself lists the game at just $59.99 – you can save...
Steam Deck developer Pierre-Loup Griffais has unveiled a whole range of Valve’s original working prototypes for the new handheld.
As part of the Steam Deck’s launch event in Asia, Valve has put together a display of the Steam Deck’s original prototypes, and Griffais has unveiled the never-before-seen line-up on Twitter.
“As part of the Asia launch press event, we made the design lab into a showroom of development history,” he said. “My favorite are the playable prototypes: bootable Deck family tree from mid-2019 to now, from a couple of hand-built units onto gradual mass production.”
Valve’s Steam Deck was released on February 25, 2022, but was in development for years. The above display depicts different iterations of the Steam...
Poorly received action game Babylon’s Fall will be shut down early next year, less than a year after it was released.
The online hack-and-slash from Square Enix debuted to catastrophic reviews and has now effectively been canceled, with the game being shut down completely in February 2023.
“With the desire of delivering an exhilarating online multiplayer action RPG set in an elaborate high fantasy world, we launched the game’s official service on Thursday, 3 March 2022, and have continued to undertake additional development and operations,” said an official statement. “However, it is with deep regret to inform you that we will be terminating the game’s service on Tuesday, 28 February 2023.”
Babylon’s Fall launched earlier this year...
The Coalition has pledged 1% of all future net revenue from Gears of War games and merchandise to suicide prevention charities, with Crisis Text Line announced as its first partner.
Studio head Mike Crump revealed the commitment on Xbox Wire, saying that Gears of War has always stood for belonging and The Coalition's message amid soaring suicide rates in the United States is to 'Never Fight Alone'.
"We are proud to announce that The Coalition will donate 1% of net revenue from all Gears of War games and merchandise to organizations working to prevent suicide and combat loneliness through mental health advocacy," Crump said. "This is a multi-year commitment our studio is making to give back to our community and create real-world...
Before making a decisive move, it pays to wait and watch. This is true for assassinations, considering video game preorders and swan-diving kidneys first into a haystack. (Seriously, there could be a pitchfork in there.) Whereas yesterday offered the deals thirsty no Assassin's Creed Mirage discounts, Amazon has now become a small oasis of savings in a vast, depressing desert of regular RRP.
It's also worth noting that it's covered under their Preorder Price Guarantee. Very basic gist: if the price inches even lower between now and release, you'll pay that instead. See website for extra rules way too verbose for here.
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for...
EA has announced that its EA Originals label has entered a partnership with Koei Tecmo and Dynasty Warriors studio Omega Force for a new hunting game - that's like Monster Hunter hunting, not Big Buck Hunter hunting.
We don't know a ton of details yet about what this new hunting game will be, but EA did say it is a "AAA experience" and is based in fantasy feudal Japan. We're expected to get more details about it later this month, which could suggest a showing at Tokyo Game Show this week.
“The EA team fully embraces our creative independence and have become invaluable partners offering both development and publishing support," said Koei Tecmo executive VP Yosuke Hayashi. "Adding the global resources of EA with our own will help us...
343 Industries head and founder Bonnie Ross announced that she is leaving the studio.
“While I had hoped to stay with Halo until we released the Winter Update, I am letting you know I will be leaving 343 and attending to a family medical issue,” Ross says in a statement on Twitter.
She continues, “I am incredibly proud of the work everyone at 343 Industries has done with Halo Infinite, the Master Chief Collection, the Halo television series and so much more. It has been an honor to serve alongside the team for the last 15 years and to be a part of a universe that I love.”
In a statement to Windows Central, Microsoft says that effective immediately, head of production Pierre Hintze will take over as studio head in Ross’s place. He...
A new Assassin’s Creed game has been announced, and it’s starting to go up for preorder. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set to release in 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. Style-wise, it’s pitched as a throwback to the early Assassin’s Creed games, with a smaller map and a focus on stealth kills and parkour traversal. As such, Mirage is expected to be shorter than recent releases like Valhalla and Odyssey, and is priced accordingly: $49.99 for the standard edition. Read on for more info.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Standard Edition)
PS5
Get it at Amazon - $49.99
Get it at Best Buy - $49.99
PS4 (includes free PS5 upgrade)
Get it at Amazon - $49.99
Get it at Best Buy - $49.99
Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
Get it at...
Naughty Dog has seemingly included a big reference to hit sitcom The Office in its The Last of Us Part 1 remake.
As shared on the Naughty Dog Central Twitter fan account (below), a video from TikTok user rxelei shows an office layout featured in the game that looks remarkably similar to the Dunder Mifflin Scranton office from the show. It appears to have been newly added in the remake.
In the Pittsburgh section of the game, the player enters a smashed window into an office building that looks identical in areas to the sitcom location. As Joel moves towards the front of the room, we see (what appears to be) Pam's desk, Michael's office, and the Dunder Mifflin front door, complete with couch.
Jim and Dwight's desk block isn't quite...
Ubisoft has made clear that an Adults Only 18+ rating that was presented ahead of Assassin's Creed Mirage's reveal was a mistake. The game will definitely not feature gambling or lootboxes, which were suggested by the rating.
In a statement made to IGN, an Ubisoft spokesperson said the game hasn't yet been rated and that any reference to an Adults Only 18+ rating - which apparently meant the inclusion of intense violence, blood and gore, sexual themes, partial nudity, and real gambling - was a mistake.
"Following the announcement of Assassin's Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages mistakenly displayed the game for preorders with an Adults Only ESRB rating," said the Ubisoft spokesperson.
"While Assassin's Creed...
The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the seminal releases of its era; a comedic adventure game with heart, humour, and problem solving rubber chickens. Created by Ron Gilbert and with a team that included a fresh-faced Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer, this inventive take on both adventure games and the swashbuckling life of a pirate debuted in 1990 and was followed by a sequel the very next year.
So. Instant, genre-defining classics, right? “It was very much a surprise for me,” says Ron Gilbert, of the enduring popularity of those first Guybrush Threepwood adventures. “It's hard sometimes for people to look back and think that Monkey Island wasn’t this giant franchise, and it confuses them that I left the company right after Monkey...
Despite the many issues Cyberpunk 2077 has seen (and fixed!) since its launch, CD Projekt has said that it is "totally, fully committed" to developing the Cyberpunk IP further.
Michał Nowakowski, CD Projekt's vice president of business development, confirmed the company's commitment to the Cyberpunk IP during the CD Projekt Group H1 2022 earnings call, saying that the foundation the studio built for this particular universe is not simply going to be thrown away.
"We decided to develop one major expansion for Cyberpunk, which is going to take advantage of all the capabilities of the new-gen consoles," Nowakowski said. "Having said that, we’re totally, fully committed to developing the Cyberpunk IP further, beyond this particular...
Disney Dreamlight Valley will expand its roster with The Lion King and Toy Story content later this year, bringing more characters, realms and stories to the life-sim adventure game.
Gameloft has unveiled an Early Access roadmap for Disney Dreamlight Valley, confirming two free content updates before the end of the year. The first update will center around The Lion King and is expected to arrive sometime this fall. Players will be able to unleash Scar as a new villainous character while also continuing the main story and encountering "more surprises."
After that, there will be a Toy Story in late fall that will come with new characters to interact with, a new realm to visit, and even "more surprises." The Toy Story update was...
With the demon-rousing riffs of Eddie Munson’s Master of Puppets performance in Stranger Things still fresh in our social feeds, the timing could not be more ideal for Metal: Hellsinger to strut out onto the main stage and adopt an imposing power stance. Taking the love affair between Doom and heavy metal music and melding it into an official marriage, Metal: Hellsinger’s rhythm-based rampage through the fiery depths of Hell had me gleefully headbanging along to every heathen-seeking headshot. I couldn’t help but be disappointed, though, that much like the ethos of the musical genre that powers it, Metal: Hellsinger is here for a good time rather than a long time. When I rolled credits after roughly four hours of play I was left with...
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2's Open Beta is kicking off this weekend with the first wave of players. This wave starts on Friday, September 16, and will include PS5 and PS4 owners who have preordered already. This runs until Sept 17, with the Beta opening up for everyone on PlayStation from Sept 18-20. The next beta dates will then proceed from Sept 22-26 (we've got all the precise details below).
Remember, you're getting early access to the Open Beta with your preorder, and you don't have to pay anything until the game ships in late October. So you could absolutely preorder, get a beta code, and then cancel your order after the beta finalises if you don't like the game, at no cost. But, if you don't want to preorder, don't worry, as...
Forspoken is a lot more fun than I expected. It’s arguable its marketing campaign so far has actually done Forspoken a disservice by focusing on campy dialogue instead of what it’s doing best. Forspoken is actually an RPG lite with a very heavy emphasis on big, bombastic combat sequences that have an optional bonus challenge for try-hards like myself in a Devil May Cry-like combat rating system. Because of this misdirection, Forspoken surprised me with this focus on combat, roaming bosses to challenge, and a map filled with objectives to complete. I finished my demo excited to get better ratings in fights, and to see how this all ties into lead character Frey’s experiences in her fish out of water story.
The majority of this demo was...