Gaming News

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That Return to Monkey Island is happening at all is a game industry modern miracle unto itself. In the three decades since Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman last made a Monkey Island game together, the point-and-click adventure game genre has soared, been left for dead, and eventually been resurrected. When Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge was busy stumping players with “monkey wrench” puzzles, hint lines were still an actual thing, because online wikis, walkthroughs, and hint guides were still in their infancy, along with the Internet itself. I spoke with Gilbert and Grossman ahead of Return to Monkey Island’s release next week to discuss how puzzle making has – and hasn’t – changed since the duo last left wannabe pirate Guybrush...
Capcom has unveiled a ton of new details about Street Fighter 6 including character customisation and the return of Ken, Blanka, Dhalsim, and E. Honda. Revealed during the publisher’s Tokyo Game Show presentation, Capcom didn't waste time in flashing through a quick gameplay reel of all four of the new (returning) fighters. Character customisation was also shown off, with a ton of different options available to players to change their appearance - from cheek bulge to jaw length to eyelash colour and lots more - plus update their outfit by visiting clothing stories in-game. This customisable avatar will be the player's main character who travels the world battling fighting masters to become stronger and stronger. There even appears...
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2's Beta kicks off this weekend, and you can get early access to it if you preorder the game right now. PlayStation users can preorder and get their preorder code right away, and can also download the beta onto their PS5 or PS4 right now - ready for the beta to start at 6PM BST on Friday, September 16. Furthermore, Modern Warfare 2 preorders have also been discounted by £10 at Amazon at the moment, which means you can get the game for just £59.95 rather than the new RRP of £69.99. This is a great preorder deal, and well worth considering if you want to play the beta this weekend or next. Don't forget, Amazon won't charge your card for the preorder until the game ships, so you can also very easily preorder...
One Piece Odyssey will be released in the west on January 13, 2023 - slightly later than its planned 2022 release. Announced during a Tokyo Game Show showcase, the game will arrive on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on January 13. Originally, the game was scheduled to arrive this year. Producer Katsuaki Tsuzuki (through translator), explained: "Before, we were planning to launch this by the end of 2022. However, in order to create an adventure where users can 'touch the world of One Piece,' we decided to have more time to make further development." The showcase showed off a chunk of the JRPG in action, shoing off its mixture of 3D environments and semi-cel shaded characters, combat, quests, and more. DLC was also introduced, including...
The upcoming remake of Resident Evil 4 is unexpectedly headed to PS4 as well as new-gen consoles. Announced during a Capcom showcase at Tokyo Game Show, producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi explained that the game was now in development for the last-gen PlayStation, but did not mention any Xbox One or Switch version. Hirabayashi added that more details about the game would arrive in next month's Resident Evil Showcase. Resident Evil 4 Remake was initially announced for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC ahead of a release next year. The game will seemingly make some fundamental changes to the original's gameplay, and appears to connect to Resident Evil Village. Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip...
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered has finally arrived on Xbox and Game Pass today, following years of the beloved JRPG being available on PlayStation, PC and Nintendo Switch. Announcing during Tokyo Game Show, Ni No Kuni's surprise release on Xbox will be followed next year by its sequel, Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom. The former PlayStation exclusive has gradually made its way to PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, but has been made even more widely available thanks to the Xbox version, and it's free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. First released in 2011, Ni No Kuni gained immediate attention for its art style that looked to have been straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. That was for good reason, of course, as...
Blizzard is changing its philosophy behind hero designs with Overwatch 2, and it will change the way new characters are released in the game. As revealed in a new blog post this morning, Blizzard announced that it is doing away with hard counters for heroes. This means there will be less emphasis on heroes who are able to defeat specific characters, and forcing players to swap heroes. The example Blizzard uses is Tracer, who is hard countered by Cassidy. In Overwatch, a skilled Cassidy player can effectively shut down Tracer and force the player to swap to a different character. “While Overwatch 2 heroes will each have their own clear strengths and weakness, and some heroes will be more effective against others, we believe our game...
While Overwatch 2’s battle pass plans leaked early, Blizzard has now detailed how its new seasonal structure and battle pass will work as Overwatch makes the transition to a free-to-play title. Earlier this week, fans learned that Overwatch 2 intends to put new heroes behind a previously announced battle pass. This is true, but Blizzard has clarified its plans in a new blog post. Like similar battle passes, Overwatch 2 will have both a free and premium pass, and new heroes will be available in both the free and premium paths. While players who own the premium pass will get instant access to new heroes, players on the free track can level up their battle pass and earn new heroes. These heroes will unlock for everyone at Tier 55 if...
Overwatch has announced its newest hero, Kiriko, a healing ninja who joins the roster as its latest Support character. Kiriko is a ninja healer who grew up alongside the Shimada brothers, Hanzo and Genji, who view her like a niece. Kiriko is aided by her Kitsune spirit and can throw protection Suzu to her allies or kunai against her enemies. Kiriko’s protection Suzu makes allies briefly invulnerable when hit, and cleanses them of most negative effects. Her healing Ofuda channels a burst of healing talismans that seek targeted allies. Kiriko can also Swift Step and teleport directly to an ally, even through walls. Or even just wall climb like Hanzo and Genji. Kiriko’s Ultimate is Kitsune Rush, where she can summon a fox spirit that...
Microsoft has announced that Deathloop, last year's PlayStation 5 console exclusive, is finally coming to Xbox Series X and S. Furthermore, it will come with a collection of upgrades that include a newly extended ending. Announced as part of the Xbox Tokyo Games Show stream, Deathloop will be available on Xbox Series X/S and via Game Pass on September 20, with pre-loading available now. While it is the same game released on PlayStation 5 last year, it comes complete with all the improvements made since it launched, including a photo mode and a suite of accessibility options. The big news, though, is that a free 'Golden Loop update' has been added, which includes a new weapon, new enemy types, new upgrades, cross-platform matchmaking...
Microsoft has announced that BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Guilty Gear Strive are both coming to Xbox next year. As part of Xbox's Tokyo Games Show stream, trailers for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Guilty Gear Strive were shown, with both being dated for an Xbox release in Spring 2023. Guilty Gear Strive was released earlier this year on PlayStation and PC, while BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle was first released back in 2018. Both coming to Xbox in 2023 marks two significant Japanese fighters making it to Microsoft's console. We rated BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle a great 8.3 in our review, while our Guilty Gear Strive review recieved an even more impressive 9. Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor. Continue reading...
Like a Dragon 8 will be a turn-based RPG, what about the future? In a new roundtable interview that included IGN, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio [RGG Studio] and series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama seemed to leave the door open for a return to the franchise’s action-based roots.... if it fits the story. Speaking before the formal announcement of Like a Dragon 8, Yokoyama was cagey about its status despite series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Kazuki Hosokawa previously saying that Like a Dragon would remain a turn-based RPG going forward. It was later confirmed that Like a Dragon would indeed be an RPG. As for the series overall, Yokoyama says that Like a Dragon will utilize whatever gameplay mechanics enhance the story – even...
The Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular consoles in the world, and it’s especially dominant in Japan — home of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza series. But don’t expect to see the series on Nintendo’s platform any time soon. Speaking with IGN as part of a roundtable interview, RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama was blunt in his assessment of the franchise’s prospects on the Switch. “First of all, whether our games will run on the Switch is probably the first question. The second is, when people are doing things that they don't want to do, and you lose the morale and urge to do it,” Yokoyama said in response to a question from GameSpot, which first reported the story. “And when it comes to the Switch, it’s kind of a system for a...
Since its introduction in 2016, the Dragon Engine has been crucial to defining the look and feel of the series. However, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio [RGG Studio] and series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama acknowledges that it’s time for a “major update.” “The Dragon Engine at this point is kind of a bit of an old engine. We have made a lot of minor updates over the years for it, or we've made a lot of minor updates over it, but we haven't made any major updates. So probably next what's coming for would be a major update if we had to do anything,” Yokoyama says. First introduced with Yakuza 6, the Dragon Engine has since driven Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and the Judgment series. Like a Dragon: Ishin is notable in that it...
Welcome to the 'Throwback Thursday' edition of IGN AU Daily Deals. It's the initiative where I highlight a somewhat crusty yet beloved piece of interactive entertainment. Why? Because this is your gaming heritage and it ought to be known and celebrated. Also, nobody said I couldn't. Today's highlight is the Rare Replay pack on Xbox—noteworthy because it's been discounted and is soon to receive GoldenEye 007 as a free tack-on. Can confirm: it still offers absolutely amazing multiplayer experiences...if you're ok with local play only. Should you prefer to play outside of your opponent's physical punching distance, wait for the online-enabled Switch version. Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch Purchase Cheaply for PC Exciting Offers...
Microsoft has released a new update for its Xbox app on Windows, which includes faster launch times and will now tell you how long it takes to beat a game. As part of a partnership with IGN's sister site, HowLongToBeat, the Xbox app for Windows computers includes some information on most of the games available on PC Game Pass, such as how long it takes to beat a game or get 100 percent completion. HowLongToBeat is a community-driven based site, so you will be able to submit your own times, as well as check things like forums and community reviews. The Xbox Wire post also notes that Microsoft has made some improvements to the Game Details pages, allowing PC users to now view things like trailers, screenshots, and game descriptions...
Microsoft's ID@Xbox Fall Showcase has now concluded, following appearances from a ton of Xbox games including Valheim, Moonscars, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and more. IGN has you covered right here with everything shown during the event, which included trailers, new Game Pass additions, and interviews with developers. Eville Arrives on Xbox and PC This October Social deduction game Eville is officially coming to Xbox Series X/S and One, and developer VestGames has also announced an October 11 release date for both the console and PC versions of the game. It's also coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, making it easier for friends to get together and play this murder mystery multiplayer title when it's released. WildArts Studio...
2022 marks the 35th anniversary of the FINAL FANTASY franchise. Since the original launched in 1987, FINAL FANTASY has captured the hearts and minds of millions worldwide, with its music playing a massive part in its appeal. To honor this milestone, a brand new FINAL FANTASY piano concert, produced by Square Enix, called CRYSTALLINE RESONANCE is headed to more than 45 cities around the world in celebration of the music of this critically-acclaimed series. CRYSTALLINE RESONANCE : FINAL FANTASY Piano Concert will be an all-new program that will feature live performances of such tracks as “Heavensward” from FINAL FANTASY XIV, “Somnus” from FINAL FANTASY XV, and “Zanarkand” from FINAL FANTASY X. There will also be other classics from...
Company of Heroes 3 has set out to bring us some of the untold stories of World War II, with its focus on the Mediterranean theater and involvement of partisan forces. So while we won't be storming the beaches on D-Day or taking on waves of tanks at Kursk, we do get to see some battles that haven't been portrayed a thousand times in games and film already. And one of the most exciting flashpoints I got to check out was an epic assault on the Italian town of Potenza. This wasn't a battle I'd even heard of before getting placed into the commander's chair. It doesn't even have its own wikipedia page. But let me set the scene for you: It's September 20, 1943. The Allied invasion of Italy is already well underway, but the Axis forces have...
The Sims 4's base game will soon be free to download and play for everyone. EA and Maxis have announced that The Sims 4 will be free to download for all new players from October 18, 2022. Better yet, that’s across all platforms, including PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. “EA and Maxis have welcomed millions of The Sims players over the years,” said an official announcement. “With The Sims 4 base game going free, the team is more dedicated than ever to developing new and meaningful experiences for players, and will continue to develop and release packs, Kits and Sims Delivery Express drops into the foreseeable future.” It sounds as though EA and Maxis have plenty of content lined up for The Sims 4, and...
There’s nothing quite like the rush of ripping and tearing your way through swarms of grotesque enemies at a speed that would likely earn you a traffic violation in real life. The high-speed first-person shooter genre was majorly popular in the 1990s, once dominated by games like DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Duke Nukem 3D to name only a few. But as PC hardware and monitors have steadily grown more advanced and, by extension, capable of handling much higher frame rates, this specific flavor of shooter, known today as the “boomer shooter,” has steadily made its return with tributes like Dusk and Post Void. And now, the heavily cyberpunk-inspired Turbo Overkill seems like the next big leap in boomer shooter madness, taking its cues from...
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...
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 Purchase Cheaply for PC Exciting Offers for XO/XS Product Savings for PS4/PS5 Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays at ludicrous difficulties on YouTube. Continue reading...
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...