Elden Ring speedruns have seemingly been altered completely after the new 1.0.3 patch nerfed a number of items key to achieving the current record times.
The current world record holder, Distortion2, tweeted (below) "RIP Elden Ring speedruns" in response to a reduction in power for Hoarfrost Stomp (a previously extremely powerful ice spell).
Elden Ring's first major patch made a number of changes in favour of certain playstyles – such as improving buff length time and making it easier to upgrade weapons – but other nerfs to the Icerind Hatchet and Mimic Tear spirit ashes will definitely make certain approaches harder, including speedrunning.
Distortion2 isn't the only person expressing dismay at the new patch, as Elden Ring...
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Elden Ring has received a major patch across all platforms, which fixes a number of bugs and even adds new content (or perhaps finishes some previously unfinished content).
Developer FromSoftware said in its patch notes that it's added new phases to NPC questlines for Diallos, Nepheli Loux, Kenneth Haight, and Gatekeeper Gastoc, and has also added new NPC summons to some boss fights. It's not clear if these quests are brand new, or close off questlines for characters that previously weren't complete.
Players can also encounter a new NPC altogether, Jar-Bairn, a small living jar that can be found sitting on some steps in the north of Jarburg.
There's now a way to track all these NPCs too, as FromSoftware has added a much-requested...
Let it be known—I'm a big fan of the ol' jumpy-jump collect-a-thon. Today, you can acquire some of the best ones ever devised at butt-stomped prices. Modern stuff like Super Mario Odyssey and the Ori series, plus ye oldies like Ghosts 'n' Goblins and the Spyro series (both remastered). Anyway, lets have less talking and more double-jumping into deals...
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
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Exciting Offers for XO/XS
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On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Jada Griffin, Mark Medina, and Seth Macy to break down all the biggest games of March we've been enjoying so far. March's best games have included some memorable cars, chaos, and ghosts, and we're breaking it all down on Podcast Beyond Episode 741.Before we dig into gameplay impressions, we first cover some of the latest news in the world of PS4 and PS5, including the sales success of Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, and how the latter stacks up to sales of other PS5 games. Continuing our coverage of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, we also give Jada and Seth, two TMNT superfans, time to dig into the reveal of the TMNT...
Closed Beta Test Sign-ups are LIVE this spring from March 15 - March 28, 2022
In this all-new title, publisher Level Infinite aspires to create a next-level immersive experience for Open World RPG. The title focuses on character-rich storylines, deep customization options, and a robust palate of colors and vibrant graphics in its animation. Here are some takeaways from this open-world RPG Beta.
A Next-Level Interactive World
Whether swimming, soaring, sprinting, or sauntering, Tower of Fantasy is a vast and open world you can traverse by land, air, or water. With a robust post-apocalyptic sci-fi art style, freeform character development, a vast seamless environment sets a distinctive backdrop for an Open World RPG with a slick...
The latest ID@Xbox had something for indie lovers of all stripes, including samurai swords, pixelated pro wrestlers, and cute little foxes...with swords. Basically, if you love the unique characters and locales of indie games, you're in for a treat this year. Even better, we've saved you the trouble of scrubbing back through the whole show and rounded up everything we saw during the ID@Xbox event livestream.
Immortality: An Interactive Movie Trilogy
From the mind of Sam Barlow (creator of the critically acclaimed Her Story and Telling Lies) comes a new interactive mystery. You'll trawl through lost home movies to figure out what exactly happened to a woman named Marissa Marcel.
Release date: Summer 2022
Platform: X/S
Xbox Game Pass...
Don’t let Tunic’s first-glance charm fool you. Actually, nevermind – go ahead and enjoy that charm. It’s a gorgeous game with a colorful, almost Link’s Awakening-esque art style, beautifully serene music, and an adorable sword-wielding fox for a protagonist. Enjoy it, because even though Tunic may look like a simplistic isometric action-adventure that draws clear inspiration from the early Legend of Zelda games, it is in reality a decidedly hardcore experience that will fiercely test both your mind and your combat abilities. It’s not “kiddier Zelda,” as its bushy-tailed hero suggests (though Tunic himself should be made into a real-life plush immediately). Instead, Tunic caught me off guard with its challenging combat and complex...
Ghostwire: Tokyo is set to release on PlayStation 5 and PC on March 25. An open-world horror game, Ghostwire: Tokyo puts you in the shoes of a ghost-busting hero who finds himself in a deserted version of Tokyo that’s haunted by spectral entities who mean great harm. The game is up for preorder now at a variety of retailers (see it at Amazon).
Read on to find out about preorder bonuses, what comes in each edition, where it’s available, and more.
Preorder Ghostwire: Tokyo
PS5
Get it at Amazon - $59.99
Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
Get it at GameStop - $59.99
Get it at Walmart - $59.99
Get it at PS Store (digital) - $59.99 ($53.99 with PS Plus)
PC
Get it at Amazon - $59.99
Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
Get it at GameStop - $59.99
Get it...
Three major topics dominate our discussion this week: 1) Our spoiler-free thoughts on the Halo TV show after we all watched the first two episodes. 2) Ryan's spoiler-free thoughts on Tunic now that the review embargo has lifted. And 3) The rocky situation at The Initiative as development on Perfect Dark reportedly struggles to move forward in the wake of many senior development leads leaving the project.
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 latest IGN Unfiltered interview, where Joseph Staten – one of Halo's original creators and now the head of creative on Halo Infinite – discusses his fascinating career:
Oh...
Star Trek: Resurgence is the upcoming narrative adventure from the team of ex-Telltale developers at Dramatic Labs. It's a non-episodic dialogue-driven game set in the post-Star Trek: Nemesis era of The Next Generation, and throughout your adventure, you'll make your way to, of course, strange new worlds. But you'll also be able to freely roam many sections of your ship, the U.S.S. Resolute, a medical vessel.
As you can see in the screenshot gallery below, you'll be able to explore Engineering deck, the shuttle bays, the corridors on the ship (a little thing that's huge for us Trek fans!), and of course the Bridge.
If you're interested in more of our exclusive month-long IGN First coverage of Star Trek: Resurgence, don't miss our...
Players have found a pair of bizarrely fancy underwear hidden within Elden Ring – but you can't find them through normal means.
The Deathbed Smalls aren't accessible without cheating, but were seemingly cut from the game fairly late as they're a fully fledged item with artwork and stats, Polygon reported.
They're part of a wider Deathbed set found in the game. Another piece of the same set, the Deathbed Dress, is available in Elden Ring an found in Leyndell, The Royal Capital, close to the Lower Capital Church Site of Grace.
According to Elden Ring hackers, Fia – one of the characters in Elden Ring's Roundtable Hold hub area – wears the Deathbed Smalls. Being able to wear NPCs' and enemies' clothing has been a staple of...
A new developer diary for Starfield has revealed that Oblivion’s persuasion mini-game has been updated and included in Starfield’s dialogue systems.
No footage of the system was shown as part of the video, but lead quest designer Will Shen did explain the thinking behind it. “We sat down, and it was funny [because] we didn’t start with ‘let’s look back at the old Oblivion system’, but there are a couple of beats there. You have to think about, ‘What’s my risk here? Which one do I want to choose?’ We didn’t want it to be a system where there was definitely the right thing to say.”
“It feels like you’re having a conversation where you’re actually trying to persuade somebody of something,” said game director Todd Howard. “As far as new...
Bethesda has revealed in a new Starfield developer diary that its upcoming space RPG will allow you to join multiple factions, including the bad guys.
As part of the diary, lead quest designer Will Shen revealed three of the main factions that will be available to join.
“One of the big choices is, ‘Which part of the game world am I going to engage in?’” he said. “We always make a bunch of different groups that represent some of the major factions in every game. And in this one we’ve got the United Colonies, that represents the future of space republic idealized. You also have the Freestar Collective, which is the space western fantasy, people that are out there on the frontier. We’ve got Ryujin Industries which represents corporate...
Starfield's first companion character has been revealed – VASCO is a robot, who looks to be a loader droid of some kind.
Revealed in a new developer video, head of Bethesda Game Studios Todd Howard said, "No matter what story we write, the one the players tell themselves is the one they think about and love the most – and the companions."
We then saw what seems to be an in-game shot of VASCO, a very practical looking robot who greets viewers by saying, "Hello, Captain. How may I be of assistance?"
VASCO is presumably named after Portugese explorer Vasco da Gama, given that Bethesda is aiming for "grounded exploration" in a more realistic universe, and describes its game as NASA-Punk.
The developers continued by explaining how...
A new Starfield developer video has revealed a ton of new concept art for the upcoming space RPG.
Revealed as part of Episode 2 of the Into the Starfield series, the concept art shows new locations, enemies, and more – some of which was more specifically explained by the devs themselves.
You can check out all the new art below:
During the video, we find out that some of the art represents specific locations based on Starfield's major factions.
We see the sleek, sun-dappled ships and locations home to the United Colonies space republic:
There's also the home of the Freestar Collective, which offers more of a "space western" approach. We previously found out this location is the Collective's capital, called Akila – although the...
Private Division: PS5 And Xbox Series X/S Transition 'Less Painful' As Publisher Inks Four New Deals
Private Division announced four new publishing partnerships today, adding to a group of developers that includes the studios behind Kerbal Space Program and OlliOlli World.
They include Yellow Brick Games, the Quebec-based studio founded in part by Mike Laidlaw, who is best-known for his work on the Dragon Age series. Private Division also signed agreements with Piccolo Studio, the Barcelona-based outfit behind Arise; Evening Star, which is working on a "fully original 3D action platformer," and Die Gute Fabrik, which most recently produced Mutazione.
The new agreements mark Private Division's steady evolution from an indie publisher into what it hopes will be something of a prestige label. According to Vice President of Marketing...
Elden Ring is off to an incredibly strong start as it has already sold 12 million copies worldwide since its February 25 release date.
FromSoftware and Bandai Namco shared the news in a press release, stating that Elden Ring has sold more than one million copies in Japan alone and 12 million copies worldwide as of March 14, 2022. These sales are "derived from distribution figures of the package version and sales figures of the downloadable versions."
"It's astonishing to see just how many people have been playing Elden Ring," FromSoftware President and CEO/director Hidetaka Miyazaki said. "I'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks on behalf of the entire development team. Elden Ring is based on a mythological story written by George...
If you've somehow done the unthinkable—bought a Switch and not Breath of the Wild, too—today''s the day to rectify your mistake. It's also a super good time to lay claim to your copy of Ghostwire:Tokyo, a $3 Tomb Raider and a God of War for 9 bucks. These deals and more await you below!
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for PS4/PS5
Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.
Continue reading...
In another blow to an already uncertain summer events season, IGN can reveal that EA will not be hosting its traditional EA Play event this year. Instead, the publishing giant will be revealing more about its projects "when the time is right for each of them."
An EA representative shared the following the statement with IGN:
EA has traditionally hosted a press conference or broadcast in tandem with June's E3 event. Beginning in 2016, EA turned the press conference into a live event called EA Play where fans could try the publisher's upcoming lineup of games. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced EA to shift to a streaming format.
While live events are beginning to return, the summer schedule remains uncertain due to E3 2022...
Tencent has been on a spree of acquiring or investing in gaming studios over the past few years. Now, the Chinese tech giant has become the majority shareholder of the Spanish studio, Tequila Works. The developer is known for games such as Rime, Gylt, The Sexy Brutale, and the upcoming Son of Nunu: A League of Legends Story.
In a statement, Tequila Works CEO Raul Rubio said, "For 12 years, the teams at Tequila Works have passionately crafted high-quality titles that radiated our personal sensibilities. But there’s a limit to how much you can grow by yourself."
Rubio says Tencent is a "partner that can appreciate the value of top creative talent with originality as their banner. One that respects our independence and creative freedom...
Players unable to migrate their GTA Online characters to next-gen consoles are now able to.
Rockstar announced on Twitter (below) that save migration is now working as intended just a few hours after it acknowledged the issue.
Early during the launch period users playing on the newly released PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions of GTA V were unable to transfer their characters from previous generation consoles if they'd already done so to PC. This issue has now been resolved.
The PS5 and Xbox Series versions include much faster loading times, new graphics modes, and a number of other performance upgrades including "increased population and traffic variety, increased vegetation density, improved lighting quality across shadows...
Monster Hunter Rise's Sunbreak Expansion officially has a release date of June 30, 2022, on Switch and PC via Steam.
Series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto announced a slew of new details about the expansion during today's Monster Hunter digital event. A new trailer showed off the new story, the new outpost hub, new monsters to hunt, and new abilities to gain after completing the base game. Check out the trailer above.
The digital-only version of Sunbreak will cost you $39.99, while a Deluxe Edition will cost $49.99, but comes with layered armor sets, hairstyles, and gestures. Those who want a physical copy can spring for a limited Collector's Edition for $99.99, which comes with a digital voucher for the Deluxe Edition, a steelbook case...
The announcement of Exoprimal last week saw Capcom formally return to the world of human vs. dinosaur combat for the first time since 2003 – but many fans of the long-dormant Dino Crisis series haven't reacted well to the new game.
Dino Crisis first appeared in 1999, combining the survival horror spirit of Resident Evil with a dinosaur breakout storyline drawn from the likes of Jurassic Park. It hasn't seen a new entry since 2003, but retained a cult following over the intervening years. When last week's Sony State of Play showed a Capcom game featuring dinosaur combat and a redheaded character with a resemblance to Dino Crisis' lead, Regina, many thought the wait was over.
But that hope was dashed when it was revealed to be a...
Microsoft has announced that DirectStorage has finally arrived on Windows. The tech, previously used in Xbox Series X consoles, means PC games that support it will not only have more expansive and detailed in-game worlds but will have faster load times as well.
If you are unfamiliar with DirectStorage, it is an I/O system that was introduced in the Xbox Series X. DirectStorage is designed to use hardware compression and fast solid state drives (SSDs) to improve load times and reduce the CPU's workload, allowing the processor to focus on demanding elements such as physics or adding more NPCs.
Back in 2020 – a couple of months before the Xbox Series X launch Microsoft promised to bring this critical piece of tech to PCs.
As detailed...
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands will have multiple options for co-op, including local split-screen and full cross-play online.
For local splot-screen, up to four players can play locally on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series consoles, while PS4 and Xbox One are capped at two. Players can also choose between vertical or horizontal split-screen orientation.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands can also be played online with up to four players, across all available systems. Players on Xbox, PlayStation and PC can all play together through the Epic Games Store and Gearbox's SHiFT Matchmaking.
All versions of co-op will also offer two gameplay options for determening how loot drops and enemies scale during multiplayer.
The inclusion of PlayStation cross-play is...
Horizon Forbidden West sees franchise hero Aloy take on a mysterious new threat, learn more about her modern world and the once-modern world that lies in ruin, and find both new friends and foes as she travels throughout the Forbidden West.
It's a captivating story as IGN's Horizon Forbidden West review noted, and one that simultaneously answers lingering mysteries of the Horizon universe and opens up potential paths for the future, all while telling deep, character-driven stories. And if you're wondering how some of its biggest moments came together, IGN spoke with Guerrilla Narrative Director Ben McCaw and Senior Writer Annie Kitain to break down some of Horizon Forbidden West's biggest story moments in our latest spoilercast...
Elden Ring is Europe's best-selling new gaming IP since Ubisoft's The Division in 2016.
Revealed in the latest GSD data, as reported by gamesindustry.biz, Elden Ring is also the biggest game overall to launch in Europe since 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard, meaning it outsold the likes of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Halo: Infinite, and Horizon: Forbidden West.
The GSD data also included a breakdown of formats, showing that 44% of European Elden Ring copies were sold on PC, followed by 27% on PlayStation 5, 16% on Xbox, and 13% on PS4.
Elden Ring continues its world domination as last week it became the United States' best selling game of 2022 so far, and was only outsold by Call of Duty: Vanguard in the previous 12...
A new report suggests that Microsoft's The Initiative, the studio developing a reboot of Perfect Dark, has suffered significant staff departures over the past 12 months. Staff are apparently leaving the company due to "a lack of creative autonomy and slow development progress."
The report from VGC is complied from interviews with unnamed ex-Initiative employees and analysis of the studio's structure. It notes that around 34 people have quit within the last year, including much of the senior design team. Game director Dan Neuburger appears to have left the team this year, and previous departures include design director Drew Murray, lead level designer Chris O’Neill, principal world builder Jolyon Myers, and several more from the core...
Devolver Digital co-founder Mike Wilson is beginning to make a habit of turning career disillusionment into hope.
He’s been candid in the past about how the fall of his first major endeavor, Gamecock Media Group, was a good thing — its efforts to humorously lampoon the industry were more bully than benevolent. But its demise led to the founding of Devolver Digital, keeping the good-natured snark while redefining indie relationships with publishers. Wilson also co-founded Good Shepherd Entertainment in a further effort to push back against what he saw as harmful practices in indie publishing, and joined the board of gaming mental health charity Take This. And he’s done numerous speaking engagements on the importance of good mental...
Today, Steam is very much the place to be if you're a fan of JRPGs. Meanwhile, some insane discounts on a handful of AAA Switch games continues from yesterday. Lastly, it's also proving to be a logical time to score tech (think: Logitech stuff). All those deals and more await you below!
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for PS4/PS5
Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.
Continue reading...