Gaming News

Ubisoft Is Grappling With a 'Great Exodus' of Talent

At a time when many industries are suffering from waves of resignations as employees seek better pay and working conditions in the midst of a global pandemic, Ubisoft in particular appears to be dealing with unnaturally high turnover. According to a new report from Axios, Ubisoft has seen "massive departures" over the past 18 months, including both lower and mid-level employees as well as big names. Five of the top 25 credited people who worked on Far Cry 6 are gone, as well as 12 of the top 50 credited names from Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Two current employees said that these departures are slowing or stalling projects. The departures are especially significant at Ubisoft's Canadian studios in Montreal and Toronto, with LinkedIn...

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Working on Elden Ring 'Too Exciting to Refuse,' George R.R. Martin Says

George R.R. Martin admits he isn't really a video games guy, but apparently when Hidetaka Miyazaki and his fellow game designers approached him to work on the worldbuilding for Elden Ring, he found their pitch "too exciting to refuse." "Miyazaki and his team from FromSoftware were doing groundbreaking stuff with gorgeous art, and what they wanted from me was just a bit of worldbuilding: a deep, dark, resonant world to serve as a foundation for the game they planned to create," Martin wrote in a blog post over the weekend. "And as it happens, I love creating worlds and writing imaginary history." Despite not being into video games broadly, Martin also admitted he used to play a few: Railroad Tycoon, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and...

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Psychonauts 2 Team Is Now Working on Multiple New Projects

Psychonauts 2, Double Fine’s long-in-the-making sequel and one of the studio’s most critically-acclaimed games, was finally released this year. Now Double Fine is looking towards the future with multiple new projects in the works. “Psychonauts 2 has essentially wrapped up as a project although there will be tweaks and fixes as we move forward,” Double Fine says in a new blog. “The studio is already splitting up into various teams and starting different projects that we think you’ll enjoy.” Double Fine officially announced Psychonauts 2 back in 2015, years before Microsoft announced it acquired the studio in 2019. As a result, while Psychonauts 2 was released under the Xbox Game Studios banner, it began as an independent project...

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Best Curved Gaming Monitor 2021

Curved gaming monitors might seem like a gimmick compared to flat-screen displays that work plenty fine, but there are some real advantages to them. With a screen that wraps around your field of view, you can see more of the display at a glance and reducing the need to shift your focus to different parts of the screen. On top of reducing eye strain, a curved monitor creates a more immersive, distortion-free viewing experience. We completed hours of hands-on (or eyes-on) testing with a huge collection of curved gaming monitors, ranging in size from 27" up to a massive, (ultra-)ultrawide 49" model. Based on our testing and consideration of price, features, and performance, here are our picks for the best-curved gaming monitors – and...

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Spider-Man Producer 'Threw a Sandwich' at Kevin Feige When He First Suggested an MCU Movie

Spider-Man: No Way Home producer Amy Pascal has admitted that she didn't initially like the suggestion of having Peter Parker join the MCU, and even "threw a sandwich" at Marvel's Kevin Feige over the idea. During an interview with The New York Times, the Spider-Man: No Way Home producer revealed that she had called Feige for help after The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but ended up lobbing a sandwich at the Marvel boss after he suggested the best solution was to introduce Spidey to his MCU. “I called Kevin and said, ‘Help.’ And then he came over to my office for lunch and said, ‘I know how to help you.’ And then I threw a sandwich at him.” “She said ‘I really want you to help on this next movie. We have these great ideas for the next one...

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Hades Makes History as the First Video Game to Win a Hugo Award

Supergiant Games' Hades has made history as it has officially become the first video game to win a Hugo Award. The Hugo Awards were first presented in 1953 and honor the best works in science fiction and fantasy. Up until 2021, video games and their stories have not been under consideration, but that has now changed. While this is exciting, it's important to note that the "Best Video Game" category was a special category added only for 2021. However, the committee of WSFS Business Meeting has "been studying the possibility of adding such a category for several years now." Despite it being a special category, Hades' win is still treated the same as those in permanent categories. To win the prestigious award, Hades had to best Animal...

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Microsoft Used Xbox Series X Dev Kits for Its Halo Infinite Tournament Due to the Ongoing Chip Shortage

In another example of how bad the ongoing global chip shortage is, Microsoft couldn't even secure enough Xbox Series X consoles for Halo Infinite's first Halo Championship Series tournament and instead had to use a mix of retail and development consoles. Tahir Hasandjekic, the Halo esports and viewership lead at Microsoft/343 Industries, shared the news on Twitter, saying open bracket players would be playing on Xbox Series X development consoles. Fortunately, there is no need for these players or fans to worry as they are "functionally identical" to retail Xbox Series X hardware. "Heads up open bracket players - you'll be playing this weekend on Series X development consoles," Hasandjekic said. "They're functionally identical and...

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake On PC Has Some Major Problems

While many were very excited when Final Fantasy 7 Remake finally arrived on PC after a year and a half from its original release date, it was quickly discovered that this port has some major problems that will hopefully be addressed in a future patch. As reported by PC Gamer, Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Graphics Settings list on PC is surprisingly bare and offers "no variable framerate option, no way to tweak anti-aliasing, toggle VSync, or control effects like motion blur." There is also no way to control resolution scaling to help balance image quality and performance. Speaking of performance, there have also been reports of framerate drops and instability when simply moving the camera. Digital Foundry's John Linneman and Alexander...

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Exo One Blends Journey-like Gameplay With a Beautiful, Galactic, Sci-Fi Tragedy

Imagine an open world Sonic game, but Sonic has his own controllable personal gravity machine. Or imagine Marble Madness inside No Man’s Sky. Or think of Tiny Wings, but with found footage and a space tragedy. Somewhere in the middle of all these imaginings you might get an idea of Exo One, a beautiful, gravity-bending movement game about a tiny spacecraft trying to undo a terrible event. Exo One is a recent Xbox Game Pass launch title where you move a little orb by increasing and then releasing its personal gravity to speed it up down hills, launch it off slopes, and then glide it through the skies, seas, and atmospheres of a series of gorgeous, uninhabited worlds. Wordlessly, Exo One nudges the player to certain destinations on each...

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Best Keyboard 2021

If you're using a desktop computer, you're absolutely going to need a keyboard to do much of anything. And, there's plenty of benefit to having a standalone keyboard when you're using a laptop or tablet as well. The advantages of a physical keyboard over a touchscreen keyboard are numerous, but a standalone keyboard can also edge out laptop keyboards, which may make sacrifices in their design so they can fit within the confines of the laptop. If you're trying to work, browse the web, tackle homework, or just generally be productive, a good keyboard can make a huge difference in how effective and quick you are. All that said, it will come down to the keyboard you get. Some make it easier to type but could take up too much space to be...

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"We Had Alarms Going Off:" Amazon Games On New World's Chaotic First Months

It's been close to three months since New World, the musket-toting MMO, welcomed players to the beaches of Aeternum, a land of bears, cranberries and piratical skeletons. Squeezed into those two fall months were enough bugs, controversies, and economic crises to last other games an entire year. First, it became so popular you had to join a queue to play, then a bug allowed players to duplicate gold, then supply-and-demand weirdness led to some players returning to a barter-style economy. Now that player numbers have dropped, the developers are hoping to catch their breath. We spoke to a director at Amazon Games about what went wrong, what he'd do differently if he had the chance, and how (with small changes and a bit of diligence)...

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Game Scoop! 655: Our Favorite Games of the Year

Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops -- Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis -- are discussing IGN's Game of the Year AND the Daemie Awards. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service. Listen on: Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify Stitcher Find previous episodes here! Continue reading...

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Steam Deck Still on Track to Meet February 2022 Release Despite Chip Shortages And Other Issues

We already knew that Valve had to delay the Steam Deck, its handheld gaming PC, from December 2021 into February 2022 due to the ongoing chip shortage. Thankfully, that appears to be the only delay for the product before its release date, as Valve confirmed the Steam Deck will still make its new release date with no further delays. In a recent interview with PCGamer, Valve designer Greg Coomer confirmed that the company will not have to delay the Steam Deck's release, with the first shipments still on track for a February 2022 release. "We're still bummed that we had to move from end of this year to beginning of next. But yeah, all the signs are pointing to us being able to ship in February," Coomer told PCGamer. Despite the...

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Halo Infinite Glitch Enables Couch Co-op, But Could Delete Your Save

A Halo Infinite player has discovered a glitch that enables local co-op in Halo Infinite's campaign, months before the feature is planned to be officially released. In a video posted to Twitter, and reported by Kotaku, user nobleactual posted a few seconds of split-screen multiplayer running in the Halo Infinite campaign. Along with the video, they also explained how you can pull off the glitch as well. Before you get too excited to try this for yourself, it's necessary to note there are serious limitations and risk after activating multiplayer. First of all, you can't progress the campaign's story or access FOBs when a second player is in the game. And, player two won't have a HUD, meaning they can't see weapons, ammo, health, or...

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Tencent Acquires Back 4 Blood Developer Turtle Rock Studios

Tencent has announced today that it has acquired California-based developer Turtle Rock Studios, the developer of Back 4 Blood and the Left 4 Dead series. A press release sent out today notes that Turtle Rock will become part of Tencent, though the studio will retain its independent operations in Lake Forest, California, with the existing team continuing to "run all studio operations." The press release also confirms that Turtle Rock co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton will continue to lead the studio following the acquisition. Additionally, a spokesperson told IGN in an email confirming that Turtle Rock's "partnership with Warner Bros. to publish Back 4 Blood is not affected" by the recent acquisition. “We are all looking forward...

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NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Bruce Lee Crossover Let's Play: How to Watch and What to Expect

In celebration of NARAKA: BLADEPOINT's newest crossover that brings themed items based on the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee into its world, IGN is proud to partner with 24 Entertainment to host a let's play that will dive deep into all the best parts of this new update. IGN will be carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the let's play, including when it starts, a list of places you join us, and what you can expect to see. NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Bruce Lee Crossover Let's Play Start Time The NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Bruce Lee Crossover Let's Play takes place on Saturday, December 18, and will start at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET. If you’re tuning in from the UK or Australia...

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Best Gaming Headset 2021

We often think about a quality gaming experience in terms of resolution, frame rates, and how high we're able to dial our graphics settings. While visuals on your gaming monitors are important so is what we hear through our headphones. Few things can ruin an experience as deeply as bad audio. An overly compressed video might still be watchable if the audio is clear, but try watching a clear video with audio that's clipping or out of sync is far worse. Matters are only worse in games, where a bad audio experience can hurt your ears with sounds that take a sudden turn toward explosive or enemies that you can't hear until it's too late. A quality gaming headset can help ensure these audio issues won't be a concern of yours. The best...

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Detention Developers Turn Away From Horror With New, Sekiro-Inspired Action Game

Red Candle Games, the Taiwanese studio behind critically acclaimed horror adventure game Detention, has announced that its next project will feature a change in genre as the studio looks to bring to life an action game inspired by From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. As announced on Twitter, Red Candle Games' next project is Nine Sols - "a lore rich hand-drawn 2D action platformer with Sekiro-inspired deflection-focused combat." While very few details have been revealed about the game, the studio has teased the game's premise with a short statement alongside some art. According to the tweet, players entering Nine Sols will "Embark on a journey of Asian fantasy, explore the land once home to an ancient alien race & follow a...

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GTA Online's New Update Confirms Which Original GTA 5 Ending Is Canon

This story contains minor spoilers for GTA Online's The Contract storyline. A new update to GTA Online has seemingly confirmed which of the Grand Theft Auto 5's three original endings is canon. As reported by Kotaku, GTA Online's latest update, The Contract, features dialogue that seems to confirm what happens to Michael following the end of GTA 5. As part of the new missions, you help iconic rapper Dr. Dre in a bid to locate and recover the musician's lost phone and a range of unreleased material that resides on the device. As part of the hunt for the missing phone, Franklin ends up in a golf cart chase through a movie set. In a bid to catch up with a man who has angered the rapper, Franklin's erratic driving forces the character...

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Amazing New Halo Infinite Gaming Accessories Launch in the UK

If you’ve been playing Halo Infinite over the past week, then you’re going to want to check this incredible PC and Xbox gear out. Razer has recently launched its beautiful set of Halo Infinite gaming accessories in the UK, and I’m not kidding, it’s all spectacular. From headsets to keyboards, mice, and even mousemats, you can now full-deck out your gaming set-up with these incredible Halo Infinite themed accessories from Razer. But, some of the new items are also retailer exclusive, so we've created a quick and handy guide to help alleviate the stress of locating everything. Editor's Note: This article is brought to you in association with Currys. Where to Buy Halo Infinite Gaming Accessories Not all of the Halo Infinite...

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The Voice of GTA's Franklin Clinton on His Surprise Return to the Franchise

It’s been quite a few years since Franklin Clinton and his unlikely friends successfully pulled off the most audacious heist Los Santos had ever seen, but after the events of GTAV’s story mode it’s been unclear what became of Franklin. With the arrival of this week’s new update to GTA Online – The Contract – we now know what he’s been up to: setting up a high-end “celebrity solutions agency” for rich folk with rich folk problems. Of course, bringing back Franklin Clinton naturally meant reenlisting Shawn Fonteno, the man who helped bring him to life in the first place. IGN spoke with Fonteno about his unexpected return, Franklin’s new attitude, and his thoughts on working alongside Dr. Dre. IGN: Did the plan to bring Franklin back...

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Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Adds 5 SEGA Genesis Games, Including Altered Beast

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack has added five new SEGA Genesis games to its service, including Altered Beast, ToeJam & Earl, Dynamite Headdy, Sword of Vermilion, and Thunder Force II. Nintendo announced the news on Twitter alongside sharing a quick video of each of the five games in action. As a reminder, these games are available to all who have subscribed to the higher-priced Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. After today's additions, the full list of SEGA Genesis games includes Castlevania: Bloodlines, Contra: Hard Corps, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Ecco the Dolphin, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, M.U.S.H.A., Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium, Ristar, Shining Force, Shinobi 3, Sonic the Hedgehog...

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Aussie Deals: Kickstart Your Holidays With Freebies and Sizeable Discounts!

Thank your own personal God—possibly Palutena—it's Friday! More importantly, it's time to Save/Quit on the school year. Go on and swap your books and pencils for controllers and mice. Your new six-week curriculum: losing yourself in (or outright conquering) far more exciting worlds than this one. The discounted games below are all good places to begin that process. Stay safe, save often and see you Monday! Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch Purchase Cheaply for PC Exciting Offers for XO/XS Product Savings for PS4/PS5 Adam used to beat Driver's insanely hard intro level for customers at the store he once worked at. Good times. Continue reading...

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STALKER 2 Developers Announce They Will No Longer Use NFT [Update]

Update 3:23 pm PT: A little under an hour after posting and deleting a tweet justifying the decision to incorporate NFT technology into the upcoming STALKER 2, GSC Game World has published a follow-up statement announcing it is backing away from the use of NFTs. "We hear you," GSC Game World writes in a new statement. "Based on the feedback we received, we've made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in STALKER 2," the developer writes. GSC Game World had come under intense scrutiny for announcing the use of NFT technology in its upcoming shooter. Critics say NFT in games offers nothing tangible to players while feeding a highly speculative market. There are also environmental concerns related to NFT's energy consumption. Check...

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Bandai Namco Pauses Elden Ring Premium Collector's Edition Pre-Orders After Overwhelming Demand

Bandai Namco announced that it has paused preorders on the Elden Ring Premium Collector's Edition due to overwhelming demand. The company will announce when these limited editions will be available for preorder again. Elden Ring is one of the most anticipated games coming in 2022, so it's normal to expect demand for its Premium Collector's Edition to be high. The Collector's Edition is the most limited edition of the game up for sale. For $260, it includes an official scale replica of a helmet from Elden Ring, along with a statue, collector's box, art book, steelbook, digital soundtrack, and a copy of the game. However, Bandai Namco also relaunched its store with a new look at the same time preorders for the Collector's Edition went...

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Dying Light 2's PC Specs Are Demanding If You Want to Run the Game at 1080p at 60FPS With Ray Tracing

Dying Light 2's PC specs have been officially released. If you're looking forward to parkouring over the scalps of the undead, here's the hardware you'll need to either just get by or fly high. The big kicker here will be the requirements to run Dying Light 2 with ray tracing, which should go a long way to upping the beauty of the "City." At a minimum, you'll need 16GB of RAM, and an RTX 2060 6GB or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB. That will still only get you 1080p and 30fps. If you want ray tracing on and running at 60fps, you'll need one of those elusive Nvidia RTX 3080 GPUs, plus an Intel i5-8600K or AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X. Read the list or image below for more details. Minimum System Requirements (Ray Tracing Off)*: CPU: Intel® Core™...

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GTA Online Winter Update: Everything We Know About the Festive Surprise 2021 Event

If the past is any indication, Grand Theft Auto Online's Winter Update - usually known as Festive Surprise - should be just around the corner. While Rockstar has yet to confirm the arrival of snow and holiday-themed goodies to San Andreas, we're here to break down everything we know about the much-anticipated event. GTA Online Winter Update: Festive Surprise 2021 Start Date Rockstar has yet to reveal when/if Festive Surprise 2021 will begin, but it has held this wintry event every year since 2014. In the past, the event has begun as early as December 18 and as late as December 20, and it lasts until the first week of January. What Is Festive Surprise and What Rewards Does It Offer? Festive Surprise is a limited-time free event for...

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Rainbow Six Siege Snow Brawl Event Is One Big International Snowball Fight

Rainbow Six Siege is gearing up for the first Rainbow International Snowball Fight with its upcoming Snow Brawl event. This holiday-themed celebration will put players on either the Orange Blizzards or the Blue Blades to compete for victory in a snow-filled capture the flag game mode. Furthermore, the event will bring with it the Snow Brawl Collection, which features 45 Winter/Holiday-themed uniforms, headgear, weapon skins, and operator card portraits. Rainbow Six Siege’s Snow Brawl event will run from December 14 - January 4 and, while there will be high wintry stakes, it is meant to be fun, casual game mode that all can enjoy. Each match will start at the exterior of the Chalet map with flags at the home base of each team, and the...

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Fortnite Winterfest 2021: Spider-Man: No Way Home Outfits And All the Rest Of This Year's Goodies

Fortnite’s Chapter 3, Season 1 Winterfest event is here. Ushering in a ton of activities and treats, including Spider-Man: No Way Home outfits, fans will be able to celebrate this festive occasion in style. Fortnite Winterfest 2021 Past Fortnite Winterfest events always came bearing gifts. This year is no different. Starting today and running through Jan. 6th, 2022 (ending at 9 AM ET), Winterfest will offer 14 free presents from Sgt. Winter. These include two outfits – Krisabelle and Polar Peely. All players have to do is visit the Winterfest Lodge over the next 14 days to snag each item. Missed a day or two? No worries. Just head to the lodge before the event is over on Jan. 6th to unlock all the presents. Fortnite Crew members are...

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Best Budget Monitors 2021

A monitor might not always seem like the most necessary thing. If you're working on a laptop, you might already feel like you've got a good enough display. You might spend most of your time gaming on a 4K TV. With those two displays already available, a monitor can come across as pointless, but there's actually a fair bit of value to get out of a decent monitor, and you won't have to spend too much. There's a wide variety of affordable monitors, and our top picks all offer at least a Full HD picture to ensure clarity for your work or games. The big perk is that most also deliver much more screen real estate than a laptop display to spread out multiple windows without shrinking text to illegible levels. They also can have an edge over...

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