Gaming News

Bethesda's former design director thinks The Elder Scrolls 6 will keep The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim's levelling up and progression system.Bruce Nesmith, who was lead designer on Skyrim and senior designer on Starfield before leaving Bethesda in 2021, told MinnMax the highly anticipated sequel would "absolutely" continue the system. Nesmith no longer works at Bethesda, of course, so can't guarantee these inclusions himself, but he was an influential and high-up figure at the developer just a couple of years ago.Skyrim's progression system is similar to that of other role-playing games such as Final Fantasy 2, where the player will level up specific skills when using items and abilities related to that skill. Using a bow and arrow...

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Call of Duty. As part of a week of Call of Duty coverage, this feature takes an in-depth look at 'No Russian', the controversial mission from Modern Warfare 2. It contains discussion of content some readers may find disturbing.Few video game missions can claim to be as well known or as polarising as No Russian. The fourth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the unforgettable story of a deadly terrorist attack. It infamously involves the mass shooting of civilians, a seemingly reckless idea for a piece of entertainment. But behind the shock value and bad press is the tale of a team that dared to push interactive storytelling to its very limits.To find out how No Russian was put...

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria might lovingly depict one of the most recognizable fantasy worlds ever created, but to my surprise, that’s not actually the most recognizable thing about it. This is a survival game first and a Lord of the Rings game second, content to replicate all the familiar mechanics of the genre while leaning heavily on its Tolkien backdrop to compensate for a lack of original ideas. If you’ve played any survival game in the last 15 years, you’ll immediately know what you’re in for as you build bases, upgrade your pickaxes to mine better ores, craft armor and weapons to fight hordes of enemies, and run back home when it gets dark. The loop of exploring deeper and deeper into a dangerous mine filled with...

Now Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is out, players are learning more about what is — and isn’t, on the disc. And in the case of the Nintendo Switch version of the hotly anticipated collection, fans have realised not all the games are on the cartridge.According to redditor Scars1023, the Nintendo Switch cart includes the following games only:Metal Gear (MSX) Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Metal Gear (NES) Snake's RevengeThat means Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3 must be downloaded. The back of the Nintendo Switch box confirms the game requires a download of at least 32GB, and a microSD card is required. Konami's website offers more detail:To enjoy all available content, game data must be downloaded (free). -Internet...

The developer of Cities Skylines 2 has revealed the game targets 30 frames per second, even on the most powerful PCs.In a Reddit AMA, Colossal Order chief technical officer “damsku” said there’s “arguably no real benefit in a city builder to aim for higher fps”. What matters more with city builders, damsku said, is to avoid stutters and have a responsive user interface.Earlier this month, Colossal Order admitted Cities Skylines 2’s performance wasn't up to scratch, but insisted it would launch the city builder on PC as planned today, October 24. "Cities: Skylines 2 is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements,” Colossal Order said at the time. “With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to...

Remedy Entertainment makes games packed full of memorable moments. Whether it’s Max Payne’s nightmare fuel dream state levels or Control’s reality-twisting Ashtray Maze, you’ll no doubt have your favourites. So, we thought we’d ask Sam Lake, Creative Director at Remedy, to choose his fondest moments from each of the games he’s worked on in over 20 years at the studio. Here’s what he picked:Max Payne (2001)My favourite moment in Max Payne goes back to my love of Meta and having that as an element in pretty much all of our games. This is where we did it the first time. There is a moment where Max Payne is pumped full of Valkyr, the drug, and he's hallucinating and we are breaking the fourth wall and he realises that he's in a video...

NetherRealm has released another patch for fighting game Mortal Kombat 1, and while the full patch notes are yet to be released, players have worked out the update makes significant changes to gameplay.Chief among the changes is a nerf to Cyrax’s controversial Horizontal Kopter Chopper Kameo assist, which had come to dominate the meta. This move now costs a full bar, which significantly reduces how often it can be used.Other changes include tagging moves, which should make training, or labbing as the fighting game community calls it, easier. Elsewhere, Baraka has seen a big nerf to damage, and a Halloween theme was added to Johnny Cage’s mansion stage.Mortal Kombat 1 players are still working out everything this patch does...

When Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt laid off 100 workers in the summer, some staff said enough was enough. Sick of the stress and anxiety caused by the spectre of job cuts, the workers set out to form a union. It was a big idea with small beginnings that has the potential to grow beyond the confines of CD Projekt’s Warsaw headquarters to become Poland’s game developer union, offering a home to all with a valid contract in the country.For this small group of CD Projekt developers, the sky’s the limit, and they are galvanised by similar efforts across the world. Związek Pracowników Branży Gier, or Polish Gamedev Workers Union, is a part of a growing labor movement within the volatile video game industry that aims to mitigate some...

If you adore the Metal Gear series as much as I do, then today's your day. I have scoured my Soliton Radar for discounts that will let you secure a classic like Metal Gear Solid and remain financially liquid. The only foreseable problem: the Master Collections of these games do seem to be selling out quite rapidly on PlayStation and Xbox. Here's hoping stock levels remain stable (or get quickly refreshed via nanomachines).This Day in GamingAussie birthdays for notable games and hardware- Ace Combat 2 (PS) 1997.- FF Tactics Advance (GBA) 2003.- Midnight Club: Los Angeles (PS3,X360) 2008.- The Unfinished Swan (PS3) 2012.- Rocksmith 2014 (PC,PS3,X360) 2014.- Bayonetta 2 (WiiU) 2014.- Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) 2015...

Thomas the Tank Engine has become a gaming mod staple, having appeared in everything from Elden Ring to Skyrim over the years. Remarkably, though, the dread train has never appeared in Alien Isolation, the now-classic horror game built around the conceit of being stalked by a Xenomorph. At least until now.Released just in time for Halloween, a new Thomas the Tank Engine mod is now available for Alien: Isolation courtesy of MattFiler, who writes in the summary, "It had to happen sooner or later... Thomas the Tank Engine has arrived aboard Sevastopol Station!"As the description implies, the mod replaces the Xenomorph with Thomas the Tank Engine, an entity at least as scary as H.R. Giger's creation. Like the Xenomorph, the train...

Players are close to cracking the code for a major secret in Diablo 4, which just started its second season on October 17. Players have been searching for the Cow Level, a popular urban legend-turned-meme-turned-Diablo level, since the game released back in June. Now, thanks to the efforts of the Diablo IV community, we're closer than ever to learning the location of the Cow Level.Players have finally figured out how to earn three "Items of Great Significance," which have been hinted at as the relics used to craft a key. This key is needed to access the Forlorn Hovel, a location that's been rumored to be the room in which players can open a portal to the bovine plane and access Diablo 4's Cow Level.All this news comes courtesy of...

Although many PC gamers veer towards using a mouse and keyboard to play PC games, you might want to learn how to pair an Xbox controller to your PC for certain genres.If you’re playing an RPG for instance, a controller might not offer enough buttons to map all your spells or actions to. A racing or fighting game, however, lends itself nicely to a controller thanks to the joystick movement.If you would prefer to use an Xbox controller on your PC, it’s easy to set up as Windows and Xbox are both owned by Microsoft, so compatibility tends to be less of an issue.Pairing a wireless controller can be done via Bluetooth or by using Microsoft’s official Xbox Wireless Adapter. Wired controllers, on the other hand, can be plugged in via...

Comic book fans who play Magic: The Gathering will be happy to know that Wizards of the Coast and Marvel are teaming up for a collaboration that will see notable Marvel characters join the widely popular tabletop card game... but you're gonna have to wait a while.In a press release, Wizards of the Coast announced that its parent company, Hasbro, is teaming up with the comic book publisher to "develop collectible products" and tentpole sets featuring popular characters from Marvel. According to Wizards of the Coast, the products from this collaboration are not expected to be available for purchase until 2025."Trading cards have always been a part of Marvel's DNA, so this collaboration takes that experience to a whole new level,"...

Microsoft has announced an Xbox Partner Preview event livestream that will happen on Wednesday, October 25. The event will show new looks and reveals of upcoming games heading to Xbox, Game Pass, and Windows from third-party partners.IGN will be carrying the Xbox Partner Preview event livestream and this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including start times, a list of places you can watch it with us, and what you can expect from the event.Xbox Partner Preview Event 2023 Start TimeThe Xbox Partner Preview Event will take place on Wednesday, October 25 at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST and is expected to last 30 minutes.IGN will be hosting a live Podcast Unlocked Post-Show immediately...

A Fallout: New Vegas fan has put the entire Mojave Wasteland map inside Fallout 4 with a new mod.As reported by PCGamesN, NexusMods user bololo11 uploaded the FNV to FO4 mod, which grants Fallout 4 players access to the models and plugins for Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 if they own each game.The included script also converts Fallout: New Vegas's map into Fallout 4, letting players explore the beloved game's Mojave Wasteland map inside the franchise's latest.Unfortunately this doesn't just let fans play the entirety of Fallout: New Vegas in Fallout 4 as it doesn't import any NPCs, creatures, quests, and so on. Creator bololo11 does offer some hope, however, saying these features are not "currently" available, meaning they be...

A particularly dedicated fan of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has recreated the entire map in Age of Empires 2.Reddit user Grouchy_Bluejay4511 shared their creation with a handful of screenshots showing iconic Skyrim locations like Whiterun, Solitude, and Windhelm built in the classic real-time strategy game.The world isn't just built to look at though, as Grouchy_Bluejay4511 has also promised it includes more than 50 quests and 100 unique characters, with players able to command any of the cities and push for control of all Skyrim.Those looking to experience it for themselves will be able to "soon", as Grouchy_Bluejay4511 plans to upload it to Steam's modding store Steam Workshop. They didn't say when exactly it will be...

The best sequels are the ones that can recapture what made the original so great, while also expanding those elements to make them feel bigger, grander, and more exciting than what came before. That’s exactly what Ghostrunner 2 manages to pull off. This is still a first person, one-hit-kill slasher where – to quote my review of the first one – you must run fast, slide fast, kill fast, and if you can’t do those things fast enough, you die fast. But now you get to do all of that while also occasionally riding an absolutely sick motorcycle, and with a wider variety ninja tricks to customize your playstyle. Couple that with a much more fleshed out world, excellent level variety, fantastic bosses, and a thumping soundtrack that enhances the...

Microsoft has announced an upcoming Xbox Partner Preview broadcast event set for October 25 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK.The 30-minute show focuses on providing new looks at games coming to Xbox, Windows PC, and Game Pass from Xbox’s third-party partners, Microsoft said.That includes a look at in-game activities for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a launch trailer for Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2, the first gameplay for Studio Wildcard’s Ark: Survival Ascended, and a deep dive into Microbird Games’ Dungeons of Hinterberg. Fans should expect more than 20 minutes of trailers and new gameplay footage.In its note to press, Microsoft made a point of saying the Xbox Partner Preview will not...

Lords of the Fallen has sold one million copies in 10 days, publisher CI Games has announced.Hexworks’ Soulslike launched on October 13 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S with a myriad of performance issues. A number of patches later and Lords of the Fallen is in a better place. Indeed the most recent patch makes big improvements to the game, with a further patch due October 26 that reactivates crossplay between PC and consoles.“Lords of the Fallen is the most important and ambitious game we’ve developed in our 20-year history, and the first in our new planned AAA pipeline of games in the years ahead,” said CEO of CI Games Marek Tyminski.“To see this fresh and innovative take on the action-RPG achieve one million...

Very few video games have truly changed the way we play. The likes of Half-Life, World of Warcraft, and Fortnite are once-in-a-generation shifts. October 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of one of those seismic games: the original Call of Duty. What began as an attempt to beat Medal of Honor at its own game turned into a monolithic franchise with over 400 million sales across 30 different games. It was a significant turning point for both FPS campaign design and online multiplayer, ushering in an era of cinematic set pieces and ladder-based progression. Call of Duty was, undoubtedly, the FPS that changed shooters forever.The tale of Call of Duty can, technically speaking, be traced back to the Second World War, the conflict out of...

Ubisoft will soon let Assassin's Creed Mirage players turn off the controversial chromatic aberration feature many found frustrating.An update coming around the end of October will set chromatic aberration — a graphical effect implemented to simulate lens distortion to make gameplay appear as if filmed with a real camera — off by default with the option to turn it back on.While this is an effect implemented across many games, some Assassin's Creed Mirage players called its use the worst they'd ever seen, while others claimed it made them unwell, forcing them to stop playing. Ubisoft failed to include an option to turn chromatic aberration off in Assassin's Creed Mirage at launch."We are working to address your feedback with...

Lords of the Fallen patches are coming in thick and fast. The latest brings Hexworks’ Soulslike up to version 1.1.224 and makes big changes to the game.The biggest change here is to New Game Plus. In a post on Steam, Hexworks explained the change: “From today's patch onward, now when you complete your initial playthrough, you will be presented with a new option before embarking on your next runthrough; you can either progress directly to the next consecutive New Game (if you’ve just completed NG+1, you would move onto NG+2), or you can replay the current NG at the same difficulty, albeit retaining your character, items and progression, but resetting the entire world, including NPCs and questlines. This will allow trophy hunters and...

Blizzard has once again disabled Diablo 4 trading amid a new duplication exploit players were found to be using. In a post on the Blizzard forum, community manager filthierich said the developer is working on a fix for the issue.“We’ve suspended player trading in Diablo 4 until further notice due to a duplication exploit,” filthierich said. “We are working on a fix to amend this issue and will update you once we’ve reinstated the ability to trade. We will continue to monitor this activity to ensure a healthy playing experience for all.”Filthierich then issued a stark warning to those who are using item duplication exploits: “Any account that engages in gold and item duplication exploits will be actioned in accordance with our End...

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 launches this week with a number of issues, Konami has said. Post-launch updates are planned to address them.Konami provided IGN with a list of these issues, which we are breaking down by their relevance to the games within the collection.Let’s start with the bonus content for the Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge NES ports. In the bonus content videos, the timing of some subtitles doesn’t match up with the audio. Konami said it’s planning a patch that will correct the timing. A post-launch patch is planned to add a number of visual options in the games, including a CRT scanline filter and the ability to change the pixel aspect ratio.Moving on to the MSX2 versions of Metal Gear and Metal...

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has said the campaign portion of its controversial space sim is finally “feature complete”, over a decade after it was announced.Squadron 42 was part of the original Star Citizen Kickstarter campaign launched in 2012, before it was split off from the main game to become a standalone story campaign. It suffered multiple delays and long periods of silence.In 2015, CIG announced a long list of Hollywood stars had joined its cast, including Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, and Gillian Anderson. Flashy cinematic trailers were released showing off the cast in action, with other cast members such as Andy Serkis, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Strong, Harry Treadway, Jack Huston, and John Rhys-Davies...

The best daily deals for Sunday, October 22 include a Callisto Protocol on PS5 for just $3.75, a TCL 65" Smart TV for $399, $300 off a great Acer Predator gaming laptop, and a lot more.Callisto Protocol PS5 for $3.75The Callisto Protocol is a good game, but you don't need to take my word for it, just check out our review from Tristan Ogilvie. While this game, which was originally set to be a tie-in with PUBG, it also draws a lot of inspiration from Dead Space, and right now you can get a Day One Edition physical copy of the PS5 version from GameStop for just $3.75. You'll have to pay a few bucks for delivery if there isn't one you can pick up from your local store, but it's still far cheaper than you could get it otherwise.TCL 65"...

To say that Call of Duty is an important piece of video game history would be an understatement. It’s hard to think of first-person shooters (or even action games in general) without mentioning this series, which became one of the most successful works in media after revolutionizing single-player campaigns and online battles.For decades, the multiplayer scene has been partially dominated by this franchise, with entries that have explored several war conflicts both from our past and possible future. Apart from creating iconic characters in the genre, like Captain Price and Alex Mason, the series has also introduced unexpected figures to their lines, like Spawn, Snoop Dogg, Lionel Messi, and more.Jump to:How to play in...

Square Enix has revealed several new announcements at the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2023 in London as part of a deeper look into its upcoming expansion, Dawntrail. This includes a new Viper job alongside a Final Fantasy XI crossover raid and a Final Fantasy XVI crossover called “The Path Infernal.” Additionally, an open beta test for the Xbox Series X|S version is scheduled for mid-January to February 2024.The Viper class focuses on close-range combat with two one-handed weapons, but they can be combined to create a single two-handed one. Its purpose is to unleash devastating damage swiftly.The crossover raid with Final Fantasy XI is called the Echoes of Vana’diel, which is named after the world in which the game is set in...

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has arrived on PS5 and marks the biggest gaming adventure yet for our favorite friendly neighborhood hero who first swung into the gaming world in 1982’s Spider-Man for the Atari 2600. Since then, there have been some spectacular and amazing entries in the wallcrawler’s game output, as well as some that didn’t quite live up to Spidey’s good name.In celebration of Spidey’s long history in the world of video games and the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, we want to know your favorite game starring the legendary web-slinger. Do you think Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has already climbed to the top of the Empire State Building-sized list of games? Or do you prefer 2004’s Spider-Man 2, the game that first let us feel – in a...

Alan Wake 2's recommended requirements on PC are finally here, and it looks like fans may want to upgrade their GPU.The newly-revealed PC requirements suggest that players will want at least an RTX 4070 if they want to be able to enjoy Alan Wake 2 with ray tracing activated. It will also require at least 90 gigabytes of storage on an SSD harddrive for an optimal experience. Here are the recommended requirements.Recommended (No ray tracing)Resolution: 1440p GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 / Radeon RX 6600 XT VRAM: 8 GB DLSS/FSR 2: Balanced CPU: Ryzen 3700X or i7 10700 RAM: 16 GB Storage: 90 GB SSDRecommended (Ray tracing)Resolution: 1080p GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 VRAM: 12 GB DLSS/FSR 2: Quality CPU: Ryzen 3700X or i7 10700 RAM: 16 GB...