Gaming News

AU Deals: Deck Your Halls With Deep Discount Hauls And Serious Backlog Fuel

I have a bad habit of telling myself I am just browsing, then somehow ending up reinstalling a 100-hour RPG. This Christmas Eve of delights did not help my self control. There are some genuinely sharp discounts across every platform here, including a couple of games I happily paid full price for years ago and never regretted. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm celebrating the 26th birthday of SWAT 3, a cop-centric inspiration for the tactical CQC antics of your modern Rainbow: Six Siege. It sure had a strange path to becoming a shooter, however, as it's technically the seventh installment of Sierra's old-as-the-hills (or mountain, as it were) Police Quest adventures...

View full article »

I Never Met Vince Zampella, But Here’s The Thank You I Would Have Wanted to Say to Him

It’s no stretch to say I wouldn’t possess the privilege of having this job without Vince Zampella. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare changed the way I played games, interacted with them as part of a community, and made me think deeper about level and mission design than I had up to that point in my life. I was fifteen upon its release in 2007, and, although I had enjoyed playing games throughout my childhood up until then, nothing had a stranglehold on me quite like the rhythmic nature of the original Modern Warfare’s multiplayer. For hours on end, I’d run around the tight hallways of Vacant’s disused office block with a shotgun or sit cowardly waiting at one end of Crossfire, hoping someone ran across my sniper-scoped view. You see, I had...

View full article »

IOI Delays James Bond Video Game 007 First Light to GTA 6's Previous Release Date

007 First light is delayed two months for “further polish,” developer and publisher IO Interactive has announced. The James Bond adventure video game was due out March 27, 2026, but will now release on May 27, 2026. In a statement published online, IOI said the delay would ensure it was able to deliver “the strongest possible version at launch.” It’s worth noting that 007 First Light’s new release date is just a day after Grand Theft Auto 6 was due to be released before its latest delay to November 19, 2026. Essentially, IOI has snapped up the release slot left vacant by Rockstar’s behemoth. 007 First Light was thought to have benefited from the GTA 6 delay, coming out at the time just two months before GTA 6’s prior release date...

View full article »

The Worst Reviewed Games of 2025

Look, not all games can be great. In fact, many of them are not good, and some even fail to be simply okay. If you’re looking for all things good and great, then check out our list of the best-reviewed games of 2025. But this place, sadly, is not where they live. No, this is where I have the job of reminding you of all of the worst games we played this year. The ones that didn’t quite live up to expectations and received a score of five or below from IGN reviewers. Maybe you did enjoy some of these, and to that I say, all the power to you. Let us know in the comments which games featured on this list you did actually love playing. But before you scroll all the way down there, let’s talk about IGN’s worst-reviewed games of 2025. 5 -...

View full article »

The Most Anticipated Upcoming Video Games of 2026

With 2025 rapidly drawing to a close, it’s fair to say this has hardly been a year in which we’ve been starved of exceptional gaming experiences. From the lightning-in-a-bottle success of the magnificent Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, to the long-awaited resurgence of the Battlefield franchise courtesy of October’s excellent Battlefield 6, the superb Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and the unexpected domination of the extraction shooter genre by Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders, we’ve been well and truly spoiled for choice. Happily, we’re delighted to report that 2026 is shaping up to be even better. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most anticipated games of 2026. 007 First Light With it being nearly 14 years since the last James...

View full article »

Star Citizen Dev Says Squadron 42 Is Now Fully Playable, Is Over 40 Hours in Length, and Is Still on Track for 2026 Release Date

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has told fans that the Mark Hamill-fronted single-player space adventure Squadron 42 is still on track for a 2026 release date — and not to expect “a long, drawn-out marketing campaign” beforehand. Founder and CEO Chris Roberts wrote in a blog post that CIG is focusing on quality and polish as it moves toward an internal beta milestone and, eventually, a full release for Squadron 42 at some point next year. “We’re confident in the direction the game is headed and are fully focused on delivering,” Roberts said. “We know many of you are eager to play, and we’re looking forward to putting it in your hands. We don’t plan on a long, drawn-out marketing campaign as we’ve already done our share of...

View full article »

The 10 Best Rockstar Games

Yes, GTA 6 may still be a while away, but that gives us plenty of time to go back and replay all of those Rockstar games we’ve loved from the past, or even check out some that we may have missed. But which parts of the famed Grand Theft Auto developers’ library should you prioritise first? Well, we’ve gone ahead and ranked our favourite Rockstar games. From school-yard antics to tragic tales on the American frontier, here are the 10 best Rockstar games. 10. Manhunt For a studio that’s no stranger to causing controversy due to the contents of its games, arguably none of Rockstar’s negative press surrounding GTA has come close to the furore that followed Manhunt. A stealth-action horror game in which you play as a death row inmate...

View full article »

'We Just Started. I Have Nothing' — Retired Pro Gamer Goes Viral for Relentlessly Killing Casual Arc Raiders Players — but Is It Griefing or Just Fair

Arc Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure in which players scavenge the remnants of a devastated world. The main threat is Arc’s machines and, as developer Embark Studios puts it, “the unpredictable choices of fellow survivors.” But one Arc Raiders player, hell bent on killing relative newcomers, casuals, and those who have next to no loot or even none at all, has gone viral for killing others for sport — sparking a debate about what is and isn’t acceptable PvP behavior in the process. Let’s start with a brief primer on how Arc Raiders works. You can play solo or in parties up to three, working as a team to progress through the game. However, other players are a constant threat, and while Arc Raiders’ explosive launch has seen...

View full article »

AU Deals: A Tonne of Wishlist Worthy Games Are Finally Hitting Sensible Prices

I went in intending to grab one thing and came out mentally justifying half a library refresh. That is usually how these weeks go. If you have ever told yourself you are absolutely done buying games this month, you are among friends here. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm celebrating the Aussie birthday of a rare and expensive bird, the SNK Neo Geo CD. Released in limited numbers in Oz around the $600 ballpark ($1,299 in '25 bux), this bad boy delivered near-perfect arcade-quality games, though it was a "budget" alternative to the hilari-expensive, cartridge-based Neo Geo AES. Being CD-based marred this unit with lonnng load times, though the gruelling wait for Metal...

View full article »

Call of Duty Co-Creator, Respawn Co-Founder, and EA Executive Vince Zampella Killed in Car Accident

Vince Zampella, best known as the co-creator of the Call of Duty franchise and co-founder of Infinity Ward who went on to co-found Titanfall, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment, died in a single-car accident in Los Angeles on Sunday, NBC Los Angeles reports. According to the NBC report, "The single-car crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on the scenic road north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. The southbound car veered off the road, hit a concrete barrier and a passenger was ejected, the California Highway Patrol said. The driver was trapped in the ensuing car fire, the CHP said. The driver died at the scene and the passenger died at a hospital, authorities told NBC4 Investigates." NBC...

View full article »

How Ex-Just Cause Dev’s Samson Aims to Be Like ‘Mad Max…Payne’

All it took for Samson to pique my curiosity was a very brief teaser on social media, and then a follow-up post by the game director that described it “more like Mad Max…Payne” meant it had my attention. And then, once it was officially announced earlier this month, my interest immediately skyrocketed. It’s a gritty crime drama being developed by Liquid Swords, a team made up of a number of former Just Cause developers. It’s due out early in 2026 on PC for $25, with console versions planned for later release. In it, you play Samson McCray, who finds himself in the city of Tyndalston after a job he was the getaway driver for went bad in St. Louis. His sister, Oonagh, had warned him not to take the job, and sure enough she was right. But...

View full article »

The Biggest Disappointments of 2025

2025 has given us plenty of entertainment worth celebrating, but it’s also gone and brought us consoles that cost more now than when they were first released, a Tron movie featuring Jared Leto, and an even bigger hole in our lives where Grand Theft Auto 6 was supposed to be. From price hikes to lowlights, and missed expectations to cruel cancellations, these are the biggest disappointments of 2025. Box Office Blunders Marvel may have kicked off 2025 by sending a brand new Cap into a Brave New World, but audiences clearly had more than a few gripes with Anthony Mackie’s turn in the Stars and Stripes. Despite what pre-release trailers had suggested, Captain America: Brave New World held back Harrison Ford’s transformation from...

View full article »

CarX Street’s Showdown Update Adds New Cops vs. Racers Mode

Since first releasing in 2022, open-world racing game CarX Street has gotten countless updates and pieces of new content, but the update it just dropped is one of its biggest yet. Titled Showdown, it adds a brand-new PvP team mode that pits street racers against pursuing law enforcement. The mode can be played by up to 16 people at a time, eight on each team. On one side, street racers need to reach a designated area to earn points and then deliver them to a garage. On the other side, police officers are rewarded for neutralizing racers in several different ways, which we’ll cover in detail in a bit. Each match is played in two rounds, with everyone randomly assigned to either the racers or police, then switching sides between...

View full article »

Battlefield 6 Fans Accuse EA of Selling AI-Generated Image After Spotting What Looks Like an M4A1 With Two Barrels

Battlefield 6 fans have accused EA of selling an AI-generated image after spotting a sticker of what looks like an M4A1 with two barrels in the in-game store. Following a similar generative AI controversy for rival shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6 has come under fire for selling what some fans have called “low quality AI generated garbage.” The sticker in question comes as part of the Windchill cosmetic pack for Battlefield 6, which costs 900 Battlefield Coins. It includes six items, one of which is a player card sticker called Winter Warning. The red flag here are two barrels on the M4A1, but the hand position of the soldier as well as the scope do not look properly aligned. “Remove this AI s**t from the store,” said...

View full article »

Indie Game Awards Strips Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of Game of the Year Over Gen AI, Dev Says 'Placeholder' Textures Were Patched Out After Slipping

Fresh from receiving the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been stripped of two awards from the Indie Game Awards after its use of generative AI hit the headlines. Sandfall Interactive’s record-breaking role-playing game launched with some placeholder textures built with generative AI. The developer patched them out five days after release, insisting they made the cut by mistake. This went under the radar until recently, when comments from Sandfall co-founder and producer François Meurisse reemerged. Speaking to El País for an article published in July, Meurisse said: “We use some AI, but not much. The key is that we were very clear about what we wanted to do and what to invest in. And, of...

View full article »

AU Deals: I Was Not Planning to Buy Games Today, Then These Bargains Happened

I sat down to sanity check a few discounts and somehow resurfaced hours later with a fuller wishlist and a lighter wallet. On Switch, Hades and Ori still feel like magic tricks disguised as games. Over on Xbox Series X, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds are absurd value for experiences that can eat entire weekends. PS5 is stacked with personality this week thanks to Astro Bot and Lies of P, while PC quietly delivers some of the strongest long form RPG and action value going around. Go get amongst it. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, it's been 26 years since I unpeeled adventure in Donkey Kong 64, a game some called the top banana of Rare 3D platforming (I...

View full article »

The Best Deals Today: Assassin's Creed Shadows, Battlefield 6, God of War Ragnarok, and More

The holidays are almost here, and we've rounded up the best deals for Sunday, December 21, below. Don't miss your chance to save on these last-minute gifts! Save on Assassin's Creed Shadows for Nintendo Switch 2 Launched earlier this month, Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally available on Nintendo Switch. Right now, you can save $10 off the physical copy at Amazon. This edition packs in all the game's DLC, updates, and more into one package for Switch 2 owners. Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $449 The best deal of the weekend is the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle, which is on sale for $449. That's the price of a standard Nintendo Switch 2, which means you're essentially scoring Mario Kart World for free...

View full article »

The Best Accessible Games of 2025

It’s December, meaning it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, I’m cliché and enjoy the holidays for the warmth and celebrations they bring, but today I’m more interested in reflecting on the evolution of accessibility throughout 2025. And thankfully, this year brought improvements to long-standing franchises, as well as surprise additions to the triple-A and indie scenes. From my perspective, there were no accessibility moments that revolutionized the industry in 2025. Instead, the year demonstrated a continuous evolution of what disabled players have rightfully come to expect when purchasing a new release. In my opinion, no one game has been better than another, especially in terms of innovation, but that’s not to say this...

View full article »

The Best Video Game Performances of 2025

It’s been a tough few years for voice actors. While it’s perhaps never been more obvious how much value they provide to a game’s characters and story – the huge success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and its beloved cast put the profession in perhaps the brightest spotlight it’s ever had – voice actors and motion capture performers face a daunting threat in artificial intelligence. That’s just one of the reasons why we wanted to honor the art of performance in this year’s IGN Awards. Actors bring our games to life, and our digital worlds would be poorer without them. As with our other awards, we asked the IGN team to nominate their favourite performances from across the past 12 months, and then we all voted for which one we felt was the very best...

View full article »

The IGN Community Awards 2025

"For those who come after." It's a simple but effective phrase from this year's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one that was stuck in the minds of many for nearly an entire year. But although Expedition 33 won the hearts of many, it was far from alone. 2025 saw the release of the hotly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, and with the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 we got a new Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and the sequel to IGN's 2020 Game of the Year, Hades 2. Over in the world of entertainment we got plenty of great movies like Superman, Sinners, Weapons, and possibly the best Predator movie ever in Predator: Badlands. Every year, across all forms of media, there are situations where critics and audiences either agree or disagree. That's...

View full article »

Everything You Need To Know About Code Vein II

Nearly seven years after the release of the original Code Vein, Bandai Namco Studios has returned to the series with Code Vein 2. Designed as an evolution of the anime-styled, Souls-like-inspired combat and exploration that defined its predecessor, Code Vein 2 builds upon the foundations of the original while pushing the formula forward in meaningful ways. From expanded combat systems to reworked world design, the sequel aims to stand as both a worthy continuation of a cult favourite and a substantial action-RPG experience in its own right. Be sure to keep this Code Vein 2 guide bookmarked to stay up to date with everything from the release date, story so far, and gameplay details, through to trailers, pre-order bonuses, special...

View full article »

Switch 2 Dev Says Nintendo Has Cheaper Cartridges Coming as Alternative to Game-Key Cards, Then Backtracks, but Either Way Its Title Will Now Be a Pro

Fans expect Nintendo to soon make cheaper Switch 2 cartridges available to game publishers as a fresh alternative to Game-Key Cards, though one developer has said it expects its game to still cost around $10 more as it shifts to a proper game card. In a statement today, R-Type Dimensions 3 publisher Inin Games initially said it would take advantage of two new Switch 2 cartridge size options that Nintendo will offer to developers currently stuck choosing between an expensive 64GB cart or a cheap Game-Key Card release. Inin Games has now reworded that same statement to clarify that Nintendo itself has not made any announcement concerning cartridge storage capacities, and in a further post on social media said that any references it...

View full article »

Winter PC Game Sales Are Live, Featuring Big Discounts on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Silent Hill f, and More

Winter PC game sales have officially begun, making now the perfect time to stock up your library with some excellent new games to play over the holidays. Steam, Fanatical, GOG, Humble Bundle, and the Epic Games Store have each launched their respective Winter sales, and there's a treasure trove of discounts to look through right now while they're still live. Winter PC Game Sales Each of these sales is stacked with excellent discounts at the moment. Some of our favorites include The Game Awards' Game of the Year winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 getting a 28% discount, down to $35.99 at Fanatical; Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dropping 50% to $29.99 on Steam; and Silent Hill f coming down 53% to $32.89 at Fanatical, but they're just the...

View full article »

The Best Game of 2025

Variety is, as they say, the spice of life, and 2025 provided a fantastic array of different video games. We’ve survived and extracted from the robot-ruled battlefields of Arc Raiders, adventured across the medieval lands of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and established mind-expanding exhibitions in Two Point Museum. We helped Keeper’s sentient lighthouse solve puzzles, and unearthed the secrets buried in Atomfall’s eerie England. But which of the year’s many different video games is worthy of being crowned the very best of 2025? Every December, the IGN team considers all the games they’ve collectively played and reviewed across the year, and votes on which one they think is the greatest of them all. Which one is the “Game of the Year”...

View full article »

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Fans Are Using the New Photo Mode to Recreate Memes, Take Action Shots, and Catch Incredible Hidden Details

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fans have now had a week to play around with the game's new Photo Mode, introduced in its free DLC. And what a photo mode it is, resulting in some really incredible shots, funny meme recreations, and even discoveries of previously-hidden little details that are making us love this game even more. The update, which launched on December 11 following Clair Obscur's incredible Game Awards sweep, includes a brand new location: Verso's Drafts, with new enemies and bosses and story. It also adds new language localizations, costumes, new ultra-hard bosses in the Tower, and the aforementioned Photo Mode. While all that other stuff is fun, the Photo Mode is really helping Clair Obscur shine. It's already a beautiful...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is Already Half Price at Best Buy, Barely a Month After Release

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last month to become the best-selling game of November in the U.S. by dollar sales. That's a pretty good showing, right? If you're still looking to pick up the new game, it's down to $35 at Best Buy for one day only, and around $40 at most other retailers right now. That's up to 50% off the game, only a month after release, on PS5, PS4, and Xbox consoles. So what's up, and why is one of the best-selling games of the year already so heavily discounted? Well, it doesn't take a genius to realise that Black Ops 7 doesn't seem to be doing as well as last year's Black Ops 6. That's reflected in everything from the critical review scores to fan response to European sales figures, and even Activision's own...

View full article »

Fallout Fans Are Trying to Settle This Mr. House True Identity Question, Ruling Out His Brother in the Process

While it might appear to most fans that Fallout Season 2, Episode 1 answered any lingering questions about the true identify of antagonist Mr. House, there are lingering theories that the character may not be who he seems. Well, it really is that simple, Fallout fans are insisting — and no, that’s not his brother. If all that sounds a little like word soup to you, let’s get some background in. Fallout Season 1 ended with Rafi Silver as Mr. House plotting to end the world with a nuclear bomb for profit. We saw a shadowy figure watch on, a character who was not named. Season 2, however, “recast” Mr. House with Justin Theroux taking over. But as becomes apparent in the first scene from Episode 1, this isn’t a recast situation. Rather...

View full article »

The 10 Best Indie Games of 2025 You Need to Play Right Now

It’s been a truly incredible year for indie games, with an almost absurd number of releases and more than a few genuine all-timers among them. Nearly every month in 2025 has delivered a new indie game that completely captured players’ attention, and the indie scene has felt more creative, ambitious, and exciting than ever before. We’ve somehow narrowed things down to ten of our favourite indie games of 2025, which unfortunately means plenty of phenomenal titles didn’t make the cut. We’re also refusing to rank them, because choosing between favourites feels cruel and unnecessary. You wouldn’t ask us to do that. Legally, you can’t ask us to do that. Anyway, let’s get into the list. Blue Prince Blue Prince had players everywhere...

View full article »

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 Dev Wants 'All Your Favorites' From the Setting to Eventually Coexist in 'A Vast Galactic Sandbox' — and It Might Take a D

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will launch with four factions: Space Marines; Orks; Astra Militarum; and the Aeldari. But based on comments from developer Creative Assembly, it will eventually come to include pretty much every faction in the setting, added over the course of years. Creative Assembly announced Total War: Warhammer 40,000 at The Game Awards with a flashy trailer that combined CG and in-engine gameplay, showing off the scale of the hotly anticipated strategy game. We saw the Space Marines faction fighting against the Orks in a classic boots on the ground matchup, before the camera pulled back to reveal the galactic strategy layer you’ll be able to manage campaigns on. But the Sega-owned developer, which is based in Horsham...

View full article »

'Temper Expectations' — Bethesda Reportedly Prepping Starfield Improvements, Though Suggestion Is This 'Isn't a Cyberpunk 2.0 Scale Update'

A cluster of Starfield fans say they've gained an early glimpse at improvements coming to Bethesda's sci-fi role-player, though have suggested the changes are relatively modest in scope. The fans claimed Bethesda invited them to take a look at the upcoming content, with one saying they were "stoked" by what they saw, while another suggested they were "excited for the future of Starfield." For now, the details of what was shown remain under embargo, to be properly revealed at a later date. But there's also a note of caution here, regarding the scope and scale of what Bethesda is actually working on. Another content creator, who said they had been contacted by several Starfield fans either at the event or who helped put it on, suggested...

View full article »