January 2024

PlayStation has listed the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, officially Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater (the Δ is pronounced delta), as a 2024 game.

A trailer advertising various PlayStation 5 games coming in 2024 (below) includes lots of entries with established release dates (like The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth), but also quietly listed the release window for the highly anticipated remake.

Publisher Konami is yet to confirm any sort of release date or window itself, though given it was announced by PlayStation in 2023 and is coming to the PS5, it likely knows it's stuff. IGN has reached out to Konami for comment.

Not stopping there, the PlayStation trailer also listed the Silent Hill 2 Remake as a 2024 release, seemingly dropping two major release windows in the space of two minutes.

Will Ospreay donned entrance gear inspired by Jacob Frye from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate video game when he strutted into Japan's Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 18.

Ospreay took inspiration from the wardrobe of master assassin Jacob Frye for his recent Wrestle Kingdom entrance, wearing a stylish top hat, a long hooded leather coat, and a gauntlet glove with a blade protruding from it. The British star thanked Ubisoft and Assassin's Creed on Twitter/X for allowing him to live "a lifelong dream."

Thank you to @Ubisoft and @assassinscreed for allowing me to live a lifelong dream at Wrestle Kingdom! I hope you all enjoyed it! pic.twitter.com/Sgwfi2IF2C

— Will Ospreay • ウィル・オスプレイ (@WillOspreay) January 4, 2024

🔥WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in 東京ドーム🔥

第8試合IWGP GLOBALヘビー級選手権 初代王者決定3WAYマッチ‼️
"The Assassin"東京ドームに降臨‼️#njpwworld で配信中📡

視聴＆登録⏩https://t.co/CeQLGjTmZ5#njwk18 #NJPW pic.twitter.com/FUyhBKl46H

The highly anticipated Silent Hill 2 Remake may have just received a release window as PlayStation quietly listed the game as a 2024 title.

A reel advertising various PlayStation 5 games coming in 2024 (below) includes lots of entries with established release dates (like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Rise of the Ronin) but also Silent Hill 2 Remake, which hasn't had any release window until now.

The advertisement didn't offer any more details, as Silent Hill 2 Remake was simply listed amongst the other titles with some previously seen footage. IGN has reached out to developer Bloober Team for comment.

Silent Hill 2 Remake is set to be a full recreation of the survival horror classic, though Bloober Team has been adamant about not making story changes.

"We are focusing on bringing the distinct, visceral atmosphere back in the modernized Silent Hill 2," chief marketing officer Anna Jasińska said in January 2023. "Longtime fans shouldn’t worry about us missing the point while we’re livening up the title.

"We faithfully stick to the traditional story canon while remaking the gameplay and updating the graphics from the ground up. These are the reasons why Konami entrusted us with the remake in the first place."

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has revealed the game's Phantom Liberty expansion has sold more than five million copies.

Revealed in a post on X/Twitter (below), the developer confirmed the sales milestone and thanked players for their support. "Over five million agents have infiltrated Dogtown," it said. "Thank you for all your support, and good luck on your mission."

Though no exact timeframe was released, CD Projekt Red said the five million copies were sold in 2023, and as Phantom Liberty launched on September 26, it reached the milestone in just over three months.

Over 5 million agents have infiltrated Dogtown! 😱

Thank you for all your support — and good luck on your mission. ❤ pic.twitter.com/zXT3SZlvwL

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) January 4, 2024

The expansion surpassed three million units within its first week, with the strong reception, holiday period, and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition seemingly contributing towards its further success.

Kiryu Kazuma and Kasuga Ichiban are two sides of the same Like a Dragon coin. Their personalities could not be more different — Kiryu, a world-weary lone wolf, and Kasuga, a Dragon Quest-loving golden retriever — but they live by a similar code of ethics and share a similar past, both locked up for crimes they didn't commit to help out their yakuza families. It was a bummer that Kiryu didn't stick around longer when he came around in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The two men would sure as hell have a lot to talk about.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth finally brings the two mainline protagonists together for an ultra-compelling and sprawling game that lives up to its subtitle. The three-and-a-half-ish hours I spent roaming Honolulu and Yokohama, sprucing up the trashed Dondoko Island, and battling a Megalodon-sized shark felt like a drop in the Pacific Ocean in terms of the game's scope. And that's just speaking to the gameplay. Having both Kasuga and Kiryu as playable protagonists place the story on a broad emotional spectrum that plays to the strengths of each character's worldview: Kasuga and his ridiculousness, Kiryu and his legacy of struggle. It's a great balance between the past and future of the Like a Dragon franchise.

First, we had the Xbox Series X Mini Fridge, and now we're veering into other kitchen appliances. The Xbox Series S toaster is real, it costs $39.99, and is currently available to buy directly from Walmart. Now we've seen everything.

The new two-slice toaster also features a bagel function, digital countdown timer, and six different shade settings. Moreover, it will also expertly toast the Xbox logo onto your toast -- what a marvel of engineering.

We have also left a handy link just below if you're interested in checking out the live Xbox Series S Toaster listing at Walmart (or even want to consider buying it).

Due to some unconventional design choices, both the Xbox Series X and Series S have already been the subject of various memes since launch.

As mentioned, the Xbox has already leaned into this discussion with the release of the Xbox Series X Mini Fridge and now seems to be testing the waters with more Xbox-themed applicances.

The Xbox Series S Toaster was first speculated about back in March 2023 when France-based outlet Xbox Squad first tweeted about their discovery.

Xbox Squad's source has also claimed that even more products like the Series S toaster could be on the way, including dinner sets, pens, and more.

Bryan Ansell, one of the chief architects of the Warhammer franchise alongside Richard Halliwell and Rick Priestley, has died. He was 68.

Ansell's death was announced on Instagram on December 30 with the message, "With great sadness, we announce that Bryan passed away peacefully at home this morning surrounded by his family, 30th December 2023."

It included a classic photo of Ansell sitting in front of a Warhammer army with the description, "Mighty, Dark-Winged, Avenging Lord of Chaos, Bryan Ansell, and his Mighty Avenging Chaos Army."

Warhammer founded Cidatel Miniatures in partnership with Steven Jackson's Games Workshop in 1978. His initially sold 25mm historical and fantasy miniatures and games, but it was 1983's Warhammer Fantasy Battle that would become the company's breakout hit. Ansell bought out Games Workshop alongside Tom Kirby, and the company was eventually refocused around Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. Ansell ultimately left Games Workshop to focus on Wargames Foundry.

Warhammer, of course, remains immensely popular to this day, as evidenced by the huge range of licensed video games and other media that have come out of the property. The tabletop game likewise remains very popular, fostering a passionate community dedicated to painting miniatures among other activities.

We're kicking off 2024 with a whole month long of coverage for the hotly anticipated Dragon's Dogma 2 from Capcom. All throughout January, we'll have interviews, reveals, deep dives, and much more covering our experiences and impressions after getting play about 10 hours of the game at Capcom's offices in Japan.

For now, have a look above at 18 minutes of gameplay covering both basic Fighter and Thief vocations, along with some never before seen looks at the Warrior and Sorcerer vocations as well.

Keep an eye out right here on IGN for more Dragon's Dogma 2 all throughout the month of January as IGN First rolls on.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

Super Smash Bros. and Kirby director Masahiro Sakurai revealed he's still making games while juggling his recent shift into becoming a video game YouTuber.

In the latest episode of Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, aptly titled "Creators Change, Too," Sakurai reflected on what it was like entering the video game industry at a young age and experiencing his predecessors slowly phase out of public consciousness. As if reading the room via the internet, Sakurai addressed whether the subject matter of his video pertained to himself saying he's still actively working in the industry.

"As for me, I'm still creating games for the time being," Sakurai said. "But I'm also making this YouTube channel. I'd never done anything like this before starting out, so in a way, you could say I haven't exactly stayed put either."

Although Sakurai coupled his announcement with an old Smash Bros. gameplay video, he didn't disclose whether or not he was working on a new entry in the eclectic video games Oscars-esque fighting game series. However, in a previous YouTube video, Sakurai has gone on record saying "I can't imagine a Smash Bros. title without me," and that he'd still like to "keep working with Nintendo." Regardless, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed for whatever Sakurai has been cooking at a later date.

Microsoft has announced the games coming to Xbox Game Pass in January 2024, with Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Resident Evil 2 headlining this month's offerings.

Revealed on Xbox Wire, the mysterious adventure game Close to the Sun is available today, January 3. Set in the 1890s, players must board a mysterious ship complex created by Nikola Tesla in an alternative version of history. In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "Close to the Sun is a harrowing and thoughtfully designed first-person exploration adventure that shows a twisted world in which Nikola Tesla’s ideas came to life."

Mecha BREAK, at first glance, has all the flash of a mecha anime brought to life. I’m talking massive, colorful robot suits, each with their own movesets, roles, and specialties strafing across arena shooter-style maps in bouts of neon-lit glory. What you might not have been able to glean from its energetic reveal trailer at The Game Awards, though, is that it’s actually a multiplayer-only experience. And with Titanfall on ice and Armored Core 6 burying its PvP behind a few chapters of its campaign, it’s cool to see a mech game on this scale fully commit to multiplayer.

Despite their hulking size, mechs in Mecha BREAK don’t feel like lumbering bots of mass destruction. Instead, they move with speed and grace. Strafing to dodge enemy fire just to get in close to hit them with a few melee attacks before parrying their counterattack with your shield and then finishing the job, feels much tighter than you’d expect. Hits land with the appropriate oomph, and each attack lights up the screen with bright colors. It’s clear Mecha BREAK understands that mechs are inherently cool and that a good mech game needs to transmit that coolness through the controller.

Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is not interested in being acquired despite the likes of Xbox and PlayStation actively seeking out studios to purchase.

Adam Kiciński, chief strategy officer of parent company CD Projekt S.A., told Polish outlet Parkiet that the company is happy and healthy as an independent being.

"We are not interested in integrating ourselves into any larger entity," Kiciński said. "Throughout our entire lives we have worked towards the position we currently hold. We believe that in a few years, we will be even bigger and stronger."

CD Projekt Red is certainly getting bigger as an expansion into North America is currently underway. The aptly titled CD Projekt Red North America will include teams at an already established Vancouver studio plus a new Boston-based studio currently being built. These teams will work adjacent to the CD Projekt Red developers in Poland but will focus on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Orion, instead of the next mainline Witcher game, codenamed Polaris.

The NES version of Tetris, believed to be impossible to complete by even the most dedicated fans, has finally been beaten. Thirteen-year-old phenom Willis "Blue Scuti" Gibson was the first to pull off the improbable feat, which saw him reach level 157 before hitting what is being called the "final killscreen" by fans."

A new video charts the community's progress to beating the famously challenging version of the game, which lacks later features like the ability to store pieces. Even experts were only able to make it to around level 38 before it became impossible to keep up. However, a technique introduced in 2021 called "rolling," which was achieved by utilizing the bottom of the controller, revolutionized the Tetris community and led to a host of new world records.

Just six months after its much-hyped return to Xbox Game Pass, Grand Theft Auto V is set to once again drive off into the sunset.

As spotted on Twitter and elsewhere, GTA 5 is among the games that will be leaving the subscription service soon. Other notable departures include Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable. Here's the full list of impending removals on console.

Leaving #XboxGamePass on Jan 15th

- Grand Theft Auto 5 🎮
- Persona 3 Portable 🎮🖥️
- Persona 4 Golden 🎮🖥️
- Garden Story 🎮🖥️
- MotoGP 22 🎮🖥️

Console PC pic.twitter.com/PEwvkA7fWE

— Idle Sloth💙💛 (@IdleSloth84_) January 2, 2024

• Grand Theft Auto V [Xbox Series X|S]
• Grand Theft Auto V [Xbox One]
• Persona 3 Portable
• Persona 4 Golden
• Garden Story
• MotoGP 22

The games listed will be available until January 15, after which they'll be available for up to 20 percent off. Xbox will also be rotating in a new selection of games for subscribers.

GTA V has been in and out of Xbox Game Pass since its initial debut back in 2020. Its most recent stint came in July 2023, shortly before the service's price hike. Now a decade old, GTA V remains quite popular, with numerous content updates continuing to be released on all platforms.

Update: Infestation '88 has been officially renamed Infestation: Origins following blowblack over its references to Neo-Nazi ideology. In a statement to IGN, Nightmare Forge Games reiterated that the original name was meant to reflect the year "1988," adding, "Unfortunately, at the time of its announcement, we were unaware of any additional meanings the number '88' has. Through feedback from the community, we learned it did, and therefore made this name change ASAP."

We want to apologize for our ignorance on this topic and appreciate that it was brought to our attention so we could address it. There is no intentional use of Nazi symbolism in our game nor studio, and we'll continue to address any concerns as they arise. We strongly stand against Nazism and hate in any form."

The original story continues below.

The developers behind the game announced as Infestation 88, a new Mickey Mouse horror game announced shortly after the character entered the public domain, are responding to claims that it contains Neo-Nazi references and other problematic content.

In separate interviews with Motherboard and Kotaku, the developers at Nightmare Forge Games, who declined to reveal their identities "for the sake of maintaining privacy," claimed that the references to "88" — a common Neo-Nazi dogwhistle — were unintentional. The developers also responded to claims of asset flipping and AI-generated voices, which have been in the news recently amid controversies like The Day Before.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed he's not quite ready to call it a career at Nintendo just yet.

"More so than retiring, I’m thinking about the day I fall over,” Miyamoto told The Guardian. "In this day and age you have to think about things in a five-year timespan, so I do think about who I can pass things on to, in case something does happen."

"I’m really thankful that there is so much energy around things that I have worked on,'" he continued. "These are things that have already gone out into the world … they’ve been cultivated by others, other people have been raising them, helping them grow, so in that sense I don’t feel too much ownership over them any more.”

This has been a common refrain from Miyamoto, who previously said he wasn't ready to retire when we interviewed him on the occasion of Super Nintendo World opening in the U.S.

Frogwares has announced that it is the sole publisher of The Sinking City on all platforms. This comes after Frogwares’ lengthy legal battle with the game’s original PC publisher, Nacon.

The PC version will be updated on Steam, Epic Games, GOG, and Gamesplanet in the coming weeks. “This latest version will come with all the previous bug fixes and optimizations, as well as a few things to keep in mind for the existing owners of the game on Steam and Epic Games Store,” Frogwares explained.

Old saves won’t be compatible with the latest PC version of the game, although Steam users will have the option to continue playing the old version if they want to finish it. However, the old version will only stay around until February 28. Frogwares will also release new saves for players to download and use.

Folks, we got some big news!

Frogwares is now the sole publisher of The Sinking City on all platforms! We're happy to finally put this whole thing behind us, and we look forward to sharing more news about the future of the franchise very soon.

Please read our full statement pic.twitter.com/IxWblqbYmP

— The Sinking City (@thesinkingcity) January 2, 2024

The Sinking City was pulled from some platforms back in 2020 due to disputes between Frogwares and Nacon. Frogwares alleged that Nacon breached its contract and withheld at least €1 million in royalties, falsely implying ownership of the IP, and more.

Update: Ubisoft reached out to IGN to say that the "late 2024" timing had been updated to a "correct" release window of 2024. The original story is below.

Star Wars Outlaws, the highly anticipated open world game from Ubisoft, will be released in late 2024.

Though Ubisoft and Star Wars owner Disney had previously remained tight lipped about the release date, a Disney Parks blog post quietly announced the release window, which was previously only confirmed to be sometime in 2024.

"Star Wars Outlaws, the open world Star Wars game, is set to release late this year," the post said. "The game lets you explore distinct planets across the galaxy, both iconic and new. You can risk it all as Kay Vess, an emerging scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. If you’re willing to take the risk, the galaxy is full of opportunity."

Star Wars Outlaws was revealed at the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase with a gameplay presentation coming soon after, and fans quickly grew obsessed with the cute axolotl-like Nix.

First Contact Entertainment, the developer behind such PlayStation VR titles as Firewall Ultra and Firewall Zero Hour, has announced it will be shutting down at the beginning of 2024.

First Contact took to Facebook to share the news, saying "the lack of support for VR within the industry" is one of the main reasons for this decision.

"After almost 8 years of working with the most amazing team I’ve ever have the pleasure of being part of, I’m sad to announce that we will be closing our company First Contact Entertainment by the end of the year," First Contact Entertainment wrote. "The lack of support for VR within the industry has eventually taken its toll.

"As a AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed gouging [sic] forward. We are a team of fearless innovators willing to push new technologies to its limits. I am extremely proud of the team and grateful to our investors, our partners and of course our community of dedicated and passionate players. It’s been a wild ride, Thank you!"

Firewall Ultra was released in September 2023 and we enjoyed parts of it, saying, "with two steps forward and two back, this VR sequel feels ultra ambivalent."

"A competent sequel to the multiplayer VR shooter original in most ways, Firewall Ultra's awkward use of eye tracking and lack of content are a shot in the foot rather than the arm," we added in our Firewall Ultra review.

Nearly seven years since its last major content update, Geometry Dash received a massive update just before the holidays. Now, players are using features newly added to the game's level editor to recreate games like Mario Kart, Five Nights at Freddy's, and Yume Nikki, essentially turning the rhythm platformer from 2013 into its own game engine overnight.

Update 2.2, released by developer RobTop on December 19, adds a new game mode, a new main level, and (perhaps most importantly) new features to the game's level editor, including new shader effects, a particle editor, and camera controls. Two weeks later, Geometry Dash players are still taking to social media to share their creations, and they've cooked up some pretty impressive recreations of popular games — including a few that seemingly shouldn't be possible in Geometry Dash.

A few players have pushed Geometry Dash to its limit by recreating 3D games despite the level editor being entirely 2D. As shared by several players across X/Twitter and Reddit, player YaY is currently working on a Geometry Dash recreation of the original Five Nights at Freddy's, and they've already added working doors and cameras.

foxy in fnaf+ in gd 2.2 by yay

yes this is geometry dash pic.twitter.com/ieoQKzfCUu

— Inex (@InexGD) December 30, 2023

Another player has recreated Rainbow Road from the original Super Mario Kart, complete with a seemingly 3D player model of Yoshi.