Gaming News

Sonic Collaboration Coming to Monster Hunter Rise Has Been Revealed

The Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration coming to Monster Hunter Rise has been revealed by Capcom in a brand new trailer. Monster Hunter Rise has seen a number of free DLC updates over the past few months that have looked to combine the world of Monster Hunter with other gaming franchises. In its most recently revealed collaboration, which can be seen teased in the trailer (below), the game is set to feature nods to both Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails in a new pack launching later this month. Similar to the game's previous DLC collaborations, neither Sonic nor Tails will actually appear in the game. Instead, Monster Hunter Rise will make use of special armor sets which give the feel that both characters have entered the world. Releasing...

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Halo Infinite: 343 Says It's Assessing Controversial Multiplayer Progression

Following the launch of Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode, 343 Industries has confirmed that it's currently assessing the game's controversial multiplayer progression system. The announcement was made in a tweet by studio community director Brian Jarrard. "Thank you to everyone who has jumped into the Halo Infinite beta so far," said Jarrard in the tweet. "FYI the team is looking at Battle Pass progression and gathering data from yesterday's sessions and we'll share updates as we have them," he continued before asking fans to share further feedback as and when they felt necessary. Halo Infinite has adopted a Battle Pass system to reward players with cosmetic content, similar to modern multiplayer shooters such as Fortnite and Call...

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Saints Row Delayed Until August 2022

Deep Silver and Volition have today confirmed that Saints Row has officially been delayed. Volition’s Saints Row reboot is now due to arrive on August 23, 2022, seven months later than its initially-planned arrival date of February 25, 2022. Volition chief creative officer Jim Boone announced the delay via the Saints Row Twitter account. In an extended post on the Saints Row website Boone conceded the team misjudged the impact the COVID-19 pandemic would ultimately have on Saints Row’s development. “Our priority is to create the best Saints Row game yet and, if we released on the original date, it wouldn’t be up to the standards we’ve set ourselves, and that you’re expecting and deserve,” wrote Boone. “The team just need more time...

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All Three Original Harry Potter Cast Members Re-Unite for 20th Anniversary Special on HBO Max

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson will come together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter film series in a new reunion special for HBO Max. The special will also include Chris Columbus, who directed The Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, as well as other cast members from the series. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is a reunion that will drop on HBO Max on January 1. It will air on TBS and Cartoon Network in Spring 2022, sometime before the April 15 release date of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Other cast members taking part in the reunion include Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, Tom Felton, James...

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Aussie Deals: 36% Off Forza Horizon 5, 62% Off a Hori HOTAS, and More!

Today I'd like to highlight a game that's near and dear to my heart. Party Golf—the criminally underplayed local multiplayer king—can be yours for less than 2 bucks. Get it, keep it handy on your PC for when people come over, and thank me later. It's basically Mario Kart / Bomberman levels of pick-up-and-battle-for-hours hilarity. Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch Purchase Cheaply for PC Exciting Offers for XO/XS New to backwards compat catalogue! Product Savings for PS4/PS5 Adam's an Aussie deals wrangler who is the king of Party Golf at his house. He's also @Grizwords. Continue reading...

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New Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Details Feature Pirates, Only a Little Chaos

Square Enix has shared new details and screenshots for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the new, souls-like Final Fantasy game from Nioh studio Team Ninja. Stranger of Paradise is a new interpretation of the original Final Fantasy and focuses on the hero Jack and his quest to destroy Chaos and return light to the crystals of Cornelia. Today, Square Enix introduced Captain Bikke, a pirate who Jack and his companions will encounter. They'll run into Bikke at a pirate ship moored in the Pravoka Seagrot, a new location in the game. The pirate captain swings a two-handed axe in battle. Other characters introduced include Cornelia's royal family comprised of the King, Queen Jayne, and their daughters Sarah and Mia. Square Enix...

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Halo Infinite Multiplayer Arrives Early! – Unlocked 521

Xbox creator Seamus Blackley joins us for a special episode commemorating the 20th anniversary of Xbox. He shares stories from the early days of building the Xbox at Microsoft, discusses what he thinks of Xbox and the gaming industry now, and much more! Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our new YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our special Xbox 20th anniversary episode, featuring a candid interview with Xbox creator Seamus Blackley: Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan! For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox...

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Riot Forge Announce Three New Games From Rime, Speed Brawl Developers

Riot Forge, Riot Game's third-party publishing label, announced three new games set in the League of Legends universe Tuesday, two of which are available now. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a single-player turn-based RPG developed by Airship Syndicate, the same team behind Battle Chasers: Nightwar and Darksiders: Genesis. Ruined King takes place in Runeterra's regions of Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles, letting you form a party of League of Legends characters like Ahri, Miss Fortune, or Braum to investigate a blight known as the Black Mist and defeat a common enemy — presumably the titular Ruined King. Ruined King is out now on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC (Steam, GOG, Epic) with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions...

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Jurassic World Evolution 2 Review

You could’ve tracked me down in any given year of my life and gotten me excited about the idea of running my own dinosaur park, and Jurassic World Evolution 2 makes good on a lot of the important parts of that promise. While it lacks the customization and management depth of Frontier's other recent, excellent park-builders, Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, getting to see these prehistoric beasts at eye-level from one of those stylish ‘90s tour Jeeps has never looked more enticing. At least until you lightly bump into a goat and the physics engine sends several tons of steel hurtling into the air like a Looney Tunes gag. Yeah, there are still some rough bits. The stars of the show are, of course, the over 70 species of unlockable...

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Following Short Google Cloud Outage, Discord, Apex Legends, and More Are Back Online

If you are trying to play an online match of Apex Legends or Rocket League right now but having issues connecting, you're not the only one. It appears a massive outage has taken down several services and popular websites. As noted on the Google Cloud service status page, it displays that Google Cloud Networking has some issues which are causing some apps, such as Discord to not work properly. IGN's sister site DownDector also shows widespread outages across various websites and online services. The Google Cloud Outage showcases the issues of what happens when a common provide experiences technical issues. While services like Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services which houses many clients — if the service experiences any...

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Dying Light 2: The First Hands-On Preview

The first Dying Light was an open-world survival game built primarily around smooth parkour-inspired movement, brutal melee combat, and a unique day/night cycle that featured an action-heavy style of gameplay during the day, and a more careful stealth-based style at night to avoid the much stronger and more aggressive Volatile zombies. Based on my four hours of playtime with a preview build of Dying Light 2, it’s certainly more of the same, but developer Techland has obviously put a lot of effort into addressing many of the issues from the previous game, while also completely reinventing certain fundamental pillars of design – ultimately building a game that, thus far, simultaneously feels like the natural next step for the franchise...

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Marvel's Avengers Shows Off Some of Its Spider-Man Suits

Crystal Dynamics has shown off some of the costumes that will be available for Spider-Man when he's added to the PlayStation version of the game later this month. Among the final line-up are suits based on his look from Secret War and Spider-Man Noir. The seven suits revealed so far on the Avengers website can be seen in the gallery above. The 'classic suit' is, as the name suggests, based on Steve Ditko's original drawings of Spider-Man, with blue and red fabric panels and the black-line webbing design. That look has been updated for the Iconic Suit, which is the bespoke design for Marvel's Avengers. Looking a little closer to the suit from the Insomniac games, it has more textures and eye lenses inspired by John Romita Sr.'s...

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Dragon Ball: The Breakers Is a New Online Survival Co-Op Game

Forget the Dragon Ball fantasies of being Goku and blasting Cell out of the sky. Bandai Namco just announced Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an upcoming asymmetrical online multiplayer game where you can either be Cell, or be one of seven people trying to run the heck away from his particular brand of chaos. You can check out an announcement trailer below: Dragon Ball: The Breakers puts you in the oversized boots of either a Raider -- Cell, Buu, or Frieza -- or one of seven "survivors" who must cooperate to try and escape the temporal anomaly they're stuck in before the raider blasts them into oblivion. Aside from just running around and hiding, survivors can work on customizable skill trees, use items like weapons and grappling hooks...

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Aussie Deals: Lit Deals for Hot Wheels, Ride 4, 80% Off Worms, and More!

In order to understand today's picks, a quick news wrap up is required. First of all, apparently Ride 4 running on PS5 in first-person mode is sheer, photo-realistic terror. Also, Hot Wheels Unleashed is out and has proven to be quite a sleeper hit arcade racing experience (9/10 review here). I've tracked down the best prices for both of those, along with a bunch of eyebrow-raising peripherals deals. They're all waiting below! Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch Purchase Cheaply for PC Exciting Offers for XO/XS Product Savings for PS4/PS5 Sign up to get the best Aussie gaming deals sent straight to your inbox! Adam's an Aussie deals wrangler who loves HW: Unleashed but was more of a Micro Machines kid. Don't @ him...

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Fortnite Has Officially Given Up on Trying to Crack China

Epic Games has officially given up in its pursuit to fully bring Fortnite to audiences in China as the studio calls time on its servers in the country without having made a cent. As reported by Bloomberg, Epic Games shut down Fortnite's serves in the country yesterday (November 15) following a three-year trial of the game which seemingly didn't earn the company any money despite what must be significant investment. As per Bloomberg, the game started off quite positively in its attempts to tap into the Chinese market, with 10 million players pre-registering to play the game in the Summer of 2018. However, due to laws in the country, which require new video games to gain approval in order to sell copies of virtual items in the region...

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Releasing Halo Infinite on Steam Looks Like a Very Good Decision

Halo Infinite's multiplayer was released early yesterday and Xbox Game Studios' decision to launch it on Steam alongside the Xbox PC App seems to have worked out very well already. As per SteamDB, the game has seen a huge influx of players within the first day since its release. Across the period, Halo Infinite's peak number of concurrent players eclipsed the quarter of a million mark at 272,856 - instantly ranking it at 22nd in the platform's all-time peak player count rankings. This places the game above the likes of Payday 2 and Rust, and just below Skyrim and Destiny 2. Given the game reached this peak on a Monday, it's entirely possible it will climb those charts this week. Although statistics surrounding the Steam version of...

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Halo Infinite Multiplayer: 343 Clarifies Why This Is a Beta, Extends Season 1 Battle Pass

Halo Infinite's head of creative, Joseph Staten has clarified why the early release of the game's multiplayer mode is being treated as a beta until the full game's official release date on December 8. 343 has also extended the multiplayer mode's first season Battle Pass until May 2, 2022. On the Halo Waypoint blog Staten explained that the surprise launch of the game was being treated as a beta – meaning you could potentially run into bugs, see changes, and more – because the team expects an even larger influx of players next month and wants to be able to prepare. "Our previous Multiplayer Technical Previews went a long way to battle-testing our services and infrastructure," wrote Staten. "But as we prepare for a significant increase...

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Call of Duty Cheaters Could Be Banned From All Entries 'Past, Present, and Future'

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject. Call of Duty is ramping up its anti-cheat effort in a big way when its kernel-level anti-cheat, Ricochet, in December and with it is updating its permanent ban policy to include all Call of Duty games past and future. That’s right, if you earn a permanent suspension now, you may be barred from playing future games in the series. In a new Call of Duty blog post, the Ricochet anti-cheat team announced it is getting ready to deliver the kernel-level driver alongside the Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific update in December. As part...

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Phil Spencer: Xbox Game Pass Is 'Very, Very Sustainable,' Not 'Burning Cash'

Since its inception, Xbox Game Pass skeptics have wondered whether Microsoft's popular subscription program is too good to be true. With Xbox generally reluctant to share hard numbers, observers have speculated that the service is being treated as a loss leader in order to build up as many subscriptions as possible. But during a press blitz intended to promote today's Xbox's 20th anniversary celebration, Xbox Executive Vice President Phil Spencer said that isn't the case, even with subscriber growth beginning to slow. Instead, he said the service is "very, very sustainable" and is "continuing to grow." "I know there's a lot of people that like to write [that] we're burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end,"...

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Halo Infinite: Initial Multiplayer Reactions Are Positive Even As Battle Pass Grind Draws Criticism

After a week full of rumors, the reports turned out to be true, as Microsoft released Halo Infinite's multiplayer more than three weeks early. The multiplayer was supposed to launch alongside Infinite's campaign on December 8, but now that it's here to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary, the reactions are already pouring in. After many players had to figure out how to get around Halo Infinite's blue screen, Spartans on PC and Xbox consoles have been jumping into Halo Infinite's multiplayer beta. Fans Reacting to the Early Release Even though it had been rumored for the past few days, many Halo fans were still surprised and delighted by the multiplayer's early launch. In addition to raw excitement over the release, fans also...

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New World Is Having a Problem With Gold Duplication - Again

Amazon Games' New World has gotten a lot of attention over the past few months, both positive and negative including a gold duplication exploit. While Amazon worked to fix the issue the first time around, a new gold duplication exploit has reared its head. In New World, this new exploit involves the wealth transfer function between players. Reportedly, this exploit allows players to duplicate their trophies, which are valuable end-game items that can be sold for a lot of gold. As the supply of trophies around New World increased, the average price of them in the game's economy tanked. "We are aware of a possible duplication exploit that has been circulating the forums and social media," wrote Amazon Games in a statement. "We are...

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PSA: Halo Infinite Multiplayer on PC Currently Only Works on Steam [Update]

Update: Following an update, Halo Infinite Multiplayer on the Xbox PC App is now playable, in addition to the Steam version and the console versions of the game. Halo Infinite's multiplayer was released early today, but if you are trying to play it right now, the Steam version appears to be the only platform currently running the game. Halo Infinite was released on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in addition to PC, where you can choose to play it either on the Xbox PC app or through Valve's digital distribution platform Steam. At the time of writing, the Xbox App on PC or an Xbox console you can "preinstall" the game but the file size is about 200MB and doesn't appear to launch properly. Whereas if you want to play on Steam...

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How to Access Halo Infinite Multiplayer Beta

With rumours flying recently, it has now been confirmed that fans will be able to access Halo Infinite's multiplayer early from November 15. Halo Infinite Multiplayer is free-to-play, and early access via the Beta will be made available to all current players. The multiplayer was originally meant to launch on December 8 alongside Halo Infinite's campaign, but 343 has revealed it is ready to have fans jump into the multiplayer right away on the 20th anniversary of Xbox and Halo: Combat Evolved. How to Download Halo Infinite Multiplayer Beta You can download Halo Infinite Multiplayer right now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. Head over to the Xbox Store and simply click download on Halo Infinite, this will include the Multiplayer...

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Halo Infinite Multiplayer Has Been Surprise Released Early

Halo Infinite's free multiplayer mode has been released early – it's available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. As part of Xbox's 20th anniversary stream to celebrate the release of the original Xbox, Microsoft confirmed the surprise release of the multiplayer component, which will be entirely free-to-play. The surprise announcement is a nice way to celebrate the anniversary, not to mention one of the company's longest-running franchises – not least given that Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch game for the original Xbox. The mode was originally supposed to be released on December 8, alongside the game's campaign mode. Unlike previous Halo games, the multiplayer and campaign modes are two separate releases, with the former...

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Sherlock Holmes Chapter One Review

Beyond any grisly homicide or nasty insurance fraud arson case, the biggest crime suffered by LA Noire fans was the shuttering of developer Team Bondi, since any prospect of a sequel has seemingly been snuffed out with it. The announcement of Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, a reboot of developer Frogwares’ long-running detective series that shifts its established sleuth-’em-up gameplay into an open-world, revived hope for a second coming of Cole Phelps and company, but I’m afraid those have been dashed as well. Chapter One’s underfeatured open world and uninspired combat prevent it from solving the case of the missing great detective game. Chapter One sees the world’s second most famous detective (sorry, but Batman has a better marketing...

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Xbox Creator Seamus Blackley Talks 20 Years of Xbox – Unlocked 520

Xbox creator Seamus Blackley joins us for a special episode commemorating the 20th anniversary of Xbox. He shares stories from the early days of building the Xbox at Microsoft, discusses what he thinks of Xbox and the gaming industry now, and much more! Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our new YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out the last time Seamus was on Unlocked, back on the legendary episode 201 with fellow Xbox bosses Peter Moore (Xbox 360-era) and Phil Spencer (present-day): Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan! For more next-gen coverage, make sure to...

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Rogue Jam Is a Brand-New Indie Game Jam Competition With $800k In Prizes

IGN and Rogue Games are partnering to produce Rogue Jam, a brand-new game jam that's offering exclusive development deals along with $800,000 in total prizes to competing indie game developers. Submissions will be accepted between November 29 and December 31 at Rogue Jam's homepage, with finalists being showcased in a show produced by IGN in early 2022. The grand prize winner will win $500,000 to develop their game as well as an exclusive Rogue Games publishing deal. In addition to the grand prize, the competition will feature several other categories, including a "WTF" prize for Rogue Jam's weirdest and wildest game, and an "Eye-Poppingly Beautiful" award for the most attractive game of the competition. Both categories will offer...

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OlliOlli Studio Roll7 Bought By Private Division

Private Division, the publishing subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, has acquired OlliOlli series developer Roll7. As reported by MCV UK, the publishing label purchased the London-based developer for an undisclosed sum. Roll7 is currently working on its latest installment of the OlliOlli series, OlliOlli World, which is set to be published by Private Division this winter. In a statement, Executive Vice President and Head of Private Division Michael Worosz spoke positively about the publisher's relationship with the BAFTA award-winning studio. “We’re thrilled to welcome Roll7 to the Private Division family,” said Worosz. “As a team passionate about action sports ourselves, seeing how Roll7 combines the thrill of competition with the...

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Battlefield 2042's Early Launch Has Had Some Teething Problems

Battlefield 2042 isn't being fully released until this Friday, but many of those playing early haven't been pleased with the release version. Server issues, unexpected gunplay quirks, glitches, and UI design have been singled out for criticism by many in the community. A cursory look at Reddit right now reveals headlines like "Do not buy Battlefield 2042", "Battlefield 2042 is completely unplayable", and "This game is a major step back for battlefield". Unfortunately for DICE, many of these posts are being written around completely different topics of complaint – we've listed some of players' most consistent problems below. Server Problems Battlefield launched last Friday as an EA Play trial, as well as offering the full version to...

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Phil Spencer Talks Halo Infinite's Botched Original Reveal: 'We Should Have Been Honest with Ourselves'

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has discussed his regret around the original announcement of Halo Infinite as an Xbox Series X/S launch game, saying that his team should have been honest with itself about whether the game was ready to show off and release. Speaking to British GQ, Spencer looked back the original gameplay reveal of Halo Infinite, which was famously shown off and delayed shortly afterwards: “I don’t like how we did it. I don’t like that we showed the game, talked about it launching at the launch of the consoles. And then within a month we had moved it.” Spencer added that the decision to delay Halo Infinite just a few months before its intended launch wasn't an attempt to fool anyone: “We should have known before and just...

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