Gaming News

Martha is Dead Review

What is Martha is Dead? Three words that neither Batman nor Superman ever want to hear. I’m sorry, but I feel the need to open this review with a joke since things are going to get pretty dark from here. Martha is Dead spins a torturous tale of psychological horror that focuses on the tragic death of a young woman and the subsequent mental and emotional torment suffered by her surviving twin sister, all set against the backdrop of one of the most harrowing times in human history, World War II. This feel-bad romp takes you on a trip through a small but fastidiously crafted slice of Italian countryside and into body horror-heavy nightmares that are not for the squeamish. It’s an engrossing and at times gruesome five-hour journey, but one...

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Elden Ring: 1.02 Patch Addresses Controls, Frame Rates, and More

Elden Ring has seen the release of a 1.02 patch that addresses a few elements, such as controls and frame rate drops – and Bandai Namco says you should update before playing the game. Announced in a news post, the 1.02 patch is coming for PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game, with no word on a PC equivalent just yet. The patch is primarily being used "to improve the stability of the gameplay." You can check out the full patch notes below: Elden Ring 1.02 Patch Notes Improved player controls Addition and adjustment of BGM Text adjustments Balance adjustments NPC event fixes and adjustments Fixed frame rate drops under certain conditions Fixed text bug in some languages Fixed a bug that prevented the Xbox wireless headset from...

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Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster's Opening Credits Sequence... Forgot the Opening Credits

Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster includes a bizarre omission, adapting the lengthy original opening credits sequence – but leaving off the actual credits themselves. The result is a two-minute scene of watching mechs walk across an empty landscape. The recent Pixel Remasters of Final Fantasy have come under fire for a few unpopular changes to the original games, but this might be the strangest so far. As you can see in this video, the original version of FF6 included a scene that invoked classic cinema, as a sweeping score accompanied the opening credits while we saw the kidnapping of key character, Terra. As noted by shinimomi on Twitter (below), the Pixel Remaster entirely removes the credit text. IGN has independently confirmed that...

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Not Only is Elden Ring a 'Masterpiece', It's Also Just £45 in the UK

Considering you might be asked to pay up to £70 for a new video game in the UK right now, Elden Ring is seemingly an outlier and a certified bargain to boot. Costing just £45 from Amazon for the Launch Edition, this is probably one of the most affordable new games to launch in a long while. While PS5 exclusives and the likes of Battlefield, Call of Duty, or FIFA publishers are looking to charge British gamers a premium to play on new-gen consoles - Elden Ring is cross-generation, and costs the same across the board. £70 is a huge ask for gamers in the UK, considering the average price for a new game has been about £55 for a few years at least. But, Elden Ring is even undercutting that, dropping to just £45 on PS5, PS4, and Xbox. This...

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Gaming Will Dominate the Future of Storytelling, Avengers: Endgame Director Says

Leaders in the games industry have spoken at length about how video games are the original metaverse, which is quite convenient for the games industry. But now Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo agrees that if the metaverse comes to fruition, gaming will be the leader. “I think the revolution comes from the gaming side because that’s where the technology is,” Russo says in a conversation with Epic Games chief creative officer Donald Mustard at the annual DICE Summit. In a talk titled, ‘The Future of Media: World Building and Universe Expansion’ the two spoke at length about the future of technology, especially in media and storytelling. Russo in particular is convinced “The future is going to be virtual.” Russo says that the...

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DICE Awards 2022: How to Watch, All the Nominees, and What to Expect

The 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards are nearly here and, in 2022, the game awards show from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) will be back in person at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas after going completely virtual last year. This year, the peer-juried D.I.C.E. Awards will feature 59 nominated games competing in 23 categories, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart leads the way with nine nominations. IGN is the official media partner of the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards and that means you'll be able to stream the entire event live right here with us. As usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including when it starts, a list of places you can watch it with us, the full...

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Aussie Deals: The Cheapest Ways to Get Your Fingers on an Elden Ring, Discounted Peripherals and More!

We liked it and, preorder-wise, you shoulda put a ring on it. FromSoftware's latest is a towering, 10/10 achievement that should have been secured several yesterdays ago. That being said, you still have time to stake your claim on a true genre-advancing adventure with these deals. Buy Elden Ring now while stocks last; die later on. Repeatedly...for about, oh, 80+ hours. 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...

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Valve Details First Wave of Steam Deck Shipments Ahead of Friday Launch

If you want to know whether or not you are in the first wave of Steam Deck shipments, you won't have to wait much longer. Valve has announced new details regarding the Steam Deck's February 25 launch. Beginning at 10am PT / 1pm ET that day, Valve will send out emails to reservation holders that are included in the first wave of shipments. (That's also when IGN will post our reviewer's impressions of the Steam Deck.) The emails will go out to the addresses that are associated with the Steam account used to place the $5 reservation for the portable gaming PC. As Valve previously stated, reservation holders will have 72 hours to complete the purchase of the Steam Deck model they reserved. Failure to finalize the purchase within that...

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85% of Apex Legends Players Responded Better to Direct Feedback Than Outright Bans

EA chief operating officer Laura Miele says it’s on the games industry to build a better online community and how it’s not as hard a challenge as one would expect. At the annual DICE Summit, Miele delivered a keynote address that covered a range of topics from the metaverse to the state of the industry. One element Miele touched on was how the games industry is uniquely positioned to improve all the various burgeoning metaverses and social networks currently in the works. Miele cites EA’s work with games like Apex Legends and how the community improved itself without bans or other punitive measures. “85% of players who receive feedback about their behavior under the Positive Play charter changed their behavior. We didn’t have to ban...

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Elden Ring Is Currently One of the Best-Reviewed Games in Modern History

Elden Ring has been one of the gaming community's most anticipated games for years, and its review scores appear to be living up to the hype. Right now, Elden Ring is one of the highest-scoring games on Metacritic and OpenCritic. The two websites compile scores from various outlets, giving an average score that's usually a pretty good indicator of the general critical consensus on a game. Over on Metacritic, the PlayStation 5 version of Elden Ring has a score of 97, tied with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Grand Theft Auto V, Metroid Prime, and more. Only four games have ever scored a 98, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time stands alone at 99. And on OpenCritic, Elden Ring is currently tied with Super Mario...

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EA CEO Says its Soccer Games Are Being Held Back by FIFA License

EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told his staff in November 2021 that the FIFA license has been an "impediment" to EA's hopes for its football games. Citing sources familiar with the conversation, VideoGamesChronicle reports that Wilson told staff in an internal meeting that FIFA (the organization) had kept EA from expanding FIFA (the games) into additional modes beyond a standard 11 vs. 11 or "broader digital ecosystems." Wilson also reportedly stated that the only value EA received from FIFA in a non-World Cup year was "four letters on the front of the box." “I’m going to be more open… more open than I’ve been with the outside world,” Wilson reportedly said, when asked why EA was considering breaking up with FIFA. “We’ve had a great...

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The Best Reviewed Games of 2022

2022 has the potential to be the biggest year for new video games since 2017 — a standout year that brought us Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Nier: Automata, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and so much more. And now, less than two months into the year, that potential is being realized: 10 games released in 2022 have already been awarded a review score of 8 or higher from IGN. To keep track of the year’s best new releases we’ve compiled this running list of every new, standalone game (no DLC) that received an 8 ("Great”), 9 (“Amazing”), or 10 (“Masterpiece'') from IGN. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for our full list of 2022's best games, ordered from lowest...

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PlayStation Plus Games for March 2022 Announced

Your free PlayStation Plus games for March 2022 are Ark: Survival Evolved, Team Sonic Racing, and Ghostrunner's PS5 version, and the standalone version of the multiplayer Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is also being added. All games will be available to download from March 1 to April 4. After that, you'll need to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription to keep the games. If you're still playing on a PS4, unfortunately you won't be able to get Ghostrunner. If survival games featuring robot dinosaurs (but not those robot dinosaurs) are your thing, check out our review of Ark: Survival Evolved for a taste of prehistoric battle. It's worth noting that if you're already an Xbox/PC Game Pass subscriber, the service recently added Ark...

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You Can Now Pre-Load Elden Ring

If you can't wait to start exploring the Lands Between in Elden Ring the moment it is released, FromSoftware has confirmed that pre-loading is now available for all platforms. FromSoftware shared the news in a Tweet by simply saying, "pre-loading for #EldenRing is available now on all release platforms." Those release platforms are PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. After you pre-load Elden Ring, you can also check out what time you can start playing with a handy infographic previously FromSoftware shared. Players can jump into Elden Ring on PC on February 24 at 3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm GMT. If you are in Australia, that translates to 10am AEDT on February 25. Most of the world will be able to begin their...

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Every Modern Game IGN Has Given a 10/10

Below is a compilation of every game IGN scored a 10 out of 10, reaching all the way back to 2008's Metal Gear Solid 4 (and a couple of older favorites because why not). With the exception of some of the much older titles, you should still be able to find and play all these games on Amazon or through Steam, Xbox, or the PlayStation stores. With backwards compatibility becoming increasingly common, it's possible you could just dust off your original copies and play those, but no promises. Elden Ring Reviewed February 23, 2022 From our Elden Ring review by Mitchell Saltzman: It is no exaggeration to say that Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s largest and most ambitious game yet, and that ambition has more than paid off. Even after 87 hours...

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How to Watch IGN's Black History Month 2022 Charity Stream

Black History Month is the annual celebration of Black people, their achievements and contributions throughout history. As a video games and entertainment media company, we personally want to make sure we not only celebrate Black History Month by showcasing Black creators and entertainers across different mediums, but also do it with a cause in mind. To help achieve that goal, we've assembled some of our awesome, amazing, and talented friends to play Among Us with us for two hours, and raise money for Black Girls CODE in the process. IGN is carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the stream, including when it starts, a list of places you can watch it with us, and...

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Elden Ring Has a Detailed Tutorial Dungeon For New Players

Elden Ring offers what is probably FromSoftware’s best ever introduction for new players, thanks to an optional tutorial dungeon located just before you enter the main world of The Lands Between. The Souls studio has what could charitably be called a patchy history when it comes to teaching you how to play its games. A few messages on the ground to explain basic attacks, guards, and parries is pretty much all you usually get in its action-RPGs, with everything else taught through experimentation, failure, and usually a lot of help from other players. Elden Ring’s tutorial dungeon is a different story. Called the Cave of Knowledge, this optional series of chambers introduces Elden Ring’s fundamental mechanics one by one. Starting...

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Playing Elden Ring in Co-op Is Much Easier Than We Thought

FromSoftware has made playing Elden Ring in co-op much easier than in its previous games – and easier than the previous network test made it seem. Elden Ring features a system broadly similar to Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, and Bloodborne, in that you must first use a consumable item to open your world up and allow co-op allies to visit you. However, rather than demanding a semi-rare item that you must scour the world for, Elden Ring uses an item that can be crafted from incredibly common materials. This item - called the Furlcalling Finger Remedy - is made using two Erdleaf Flowers, a plant that grows, at least in the opening area of the game, all over the place. This means that within the first few hours of Elden Ring you can create...

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Elden Ring Review

In the 87 hours that it took me to beat Elden Ring, I was put through an absolute wringer of emotion: Anger as I was beaten down by its toughest challenges, exhilaration when I finally overcame them, and a fair amount of sorrow for the mountains of exp I lost along the way to some of the toughest boss encounters FromSoftware has ever conceived. But more than anything else I was in near-constant awe – from the many absolutely jaw-dropping vistas, the sheer scope of an absolutely enormous world, the frequently harrowing enemies, and the way in which Elden Ring nearly always rewarded my curiosity with either an interesting encounter, a valuable reward, or something even greater. FromSoftware takes the ball that The Legend of Zelda: Breath...

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Nier: Automata Is Becoming an Anime

The hit action-RPG Nier: Automata is being made into an anime. Announced today by developers Square Enix during the game’s Fifth Anniversary Livestream, the adaptation will see the Japanese videogame become a TV anime series. A brief teaser trailer gives us a glimpse of the animation style. Along with the trailer, Square Enix also revealed an image of 2B along with her Pod companion robot: According to a translated official statement, the story sounds as though it hews close to the original game. Humans have fled to the moon in the face of the "overwhelming force" of machines life forms, and combat android 2B has been sent to recapture the planet. Aniplex, the studio responsible for Fullmetal Alchemist and Sword Art Online is...

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You Can Now Check Which Games From Your Steam Library Are Compatible With the Steam Deck

Valve has released a new tool that will let you see exactly which games from your Steam Library will be compatible with the Steam Deck. Those interested in seeing which games Valve's upcoming handheld gaming PC will be able to run can head over to the Steam Deck Compatibility page and log in with their Steam account to see if their Steam Library games are Deck Verified, Deck Playable, Unsupported, or Untested. Deck Verified games will be "fully functional" right out of the box, Deck Playable games will work but “might require extra effort to interact with or configure,” Unsupported means a game is currently not functional on Steam Deck, and Untested means Valve simply hasn’t checked the game for compatibility yet. As an example...

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Next Year's Call of Duty Has Reportedly Been Delayed to the Following Year

The typical annual Call of Duty release planned for 2023 has reportedly been delayed into 2024. According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the situation, executives in charge of the franchise have made the decision early after "a recent entry in the series failed to meet expectations," leading them to believe that Call of Duty's current annual cadence of releases was too rapid. The decision is reportedly unrelated to the recent Microsoft purchase of the publisher, and the 2022 Call of Duty release is still on track. The "recent entry" is most likely Call of Duty: Vanguard, which faced release competition with Battlefield 2042 this past holiday season, as well as the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone. A previous report noted that...

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Aussie Deals: Up to 40% off Mario Must-owns, Deathloop and Nioh 2 for $24 Each and More!

Deathloop for a mere 24 clams is the obvious choice in today's bargains. That being said, I don't believe I've ever seen Mario Kart Live go this cheap before. Lastly, I reckon Strider for under 4 bucks is ridiculous good value. Metroidvania platforming starring one of gaming's coolest heroes—scoop up that plasma sword and give it a stab. 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...

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Halo Infinite Made Life Tough for Battlefield 2042? – Unlocked 532

Our Xbox crew discusses the report that, among other issues, the release of Halo Infinite's free-to-play multiplayer hurt the launch of Battlefield 2042. Plus: Ubisoft stakes a claim to independence in the wake of so many publishers being bought...unless the right price comes along, Street Fighter 6 just got announced but it's already off to a controversial start, 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 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, and you can be featured on...

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Total War: Warhammer 3 Multiplayer Review

Note: This review covers the multiplayer of Total War: Warhammer 3. You can find our Total War: Warhammer 3 single-player campaign review here. Total War: Warhammer 3 has given me more reasons to fire up multiplayer than any game in the series’ history. It's the most effort Creative Assembly has ever put into making its campaign mode work for groups of up to eight friends, and while some network issues can still occasionally crop up like a Skaven undercity, it's pretty damn fun the rest of the time. The biggest exciting innovations are simultaneous turns and the ability for anybody to pick any side in any battle. And when I say simultaneous, I don't mean everyone decides what they want to do and then it all resolves at the same time...

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Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Initially Underperformed for Square Enix

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy had a slow start for Square Enix as the publisher admitted the game initially underperformed when it launched in October last year. During its latest financial briefing, Square Enix commented that despite receiving positive reviews, Guardians of the Galaxy's "sales on launch undershot our initial expectations." The game made up ground later however through different sales initiatives (such as store discounts) that began in November, and Square Enix said it intends "to work to continue to expand sales to make up for the title’s slow start." It proved to be the second shaky start for Square Enix's Marvel games as its president Yosuke Matsuda commented in November that its Avengers game "has...

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Bethesda Is Retiring Its PC Game Launcher and Moving Games to Steam

Bethesda.net Launcher, a PC gaming launcher home to games by Bethesda Softworks, is shutting down this year, the company announced today. Beginning in early April, players that regularly use the game launcher will have the option to migrate their game library and virtual currency onto Steam. Bethesda notes that players will not be able to access or play games on the launcher starting in May, suggesting that players impacted by the news start the migration process as soon as it begins in April. The studio notes that many titles in the launcher will have their saves migrated, though "a few" will require manual transfers to ensure you do not lose your progress. Games that still require a Bethesda.net login, such as Fallout 76, will...

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Pokémon Trading Card Game Live Preview: A New Way to Play the Pokémon TCG

Out with the old and in with the new! Pokémon Trading Card Game Live is an upcoming video game that lets you play the Pokémon TCG, replacing the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online client that launched in 2011. Live offers a fresh look, a first-ever ranked mode, and a new crafting system among other updated features. IGN attended a first-look demo of PTCGL with a group of press to get a look at the game in action on desktop. We’re going to share everything we learned, show off some new screenshots, and offer our thoughts on what we saw. Pokémon Trading Card Game Live Gameplay Overview Pokémon Trading Card Game Live uses the same official rules as the physical TCG. If you learned how to play the Pokémon TCG back when it first came out in...

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Elden Ring: New Trailer Shows Off Bizarre Bosses and Locations

A new Elden Ring trailer teases some surprising new bosses and locations. The official launch trailer, released today by Bandai Namco, offers a further glimpse at the world of Elden Ring. And that includes some weird and wonderful new bosses. “Though shattered, it shall guide thee,” says the video’s description. “Though fractured, it yet calls. Enact thy will. Become Lord. Seek the Elden Ring.” Check out the trailer below: Teasing the awakening of your character, the Tarnished, it feels almost Destiny-esque as a mysterious light finds and revives them. But the trailer soon thrusts you into the world of the Lands Between – a dark, fantastical world filled with perilous monsters. And… err… giant lobsters? “Never met someone with a...

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Daily Deals: Absolute Best Elden Ring Preorder Deals Right Now

Elden Ring is probably going to go down as one of the most affordable blockbuster games of the new-gen era. For just £45, you can pick up the Launch Edition including a wide range of extra goodies alongside the game. Considering some publishers want you to pay up to £70 for a new game, this is great value for money. Other deals today include 50% off ExpressVPN, a great solution to keep all your data private online (see here). You can also pick up Far Cry 6 for £26.99, Pokemon Legends Arceus for £34.99 with code SWNEXTDAY, and Horizon Forbidden West for £52.95 on PS4 (with a free PS5 upgrade). TL;DR - Our Favourite UK Deals Right Now Best Elden Ring Preorder Deals Right Now Preorders for the game were initially in the range of...

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