Congratulations! You weathered the queues and were able to nab a PlayStation 5. You’ve somehow finagled the thing into your TV stand and turned it on without issue. So, what comes next? Of all the options at your fingertips, which games deserve your time and energy?
A new console generation usually means a new library of games. That’s not exactly the case with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, at least not yet. So far, there are few true next-gen exclusives. Instead, Xbox games are often released in both last-gen and next-gen versions.
While PS5 restocks seem to be happening more frequently nowadays, the console is still selling out in a matter of minutes. We're hoping the PS5 stock shortage improves in 2022 but there's no guarantees.
To help you buy one of Sony's next-gen console (standard or digital), we recommend bookmarking this PlayStation 5 stock checker page and keep checking back so you can find out all the latest PS5 stock updates, including when a retailer goes live with its restock. You can also find where the Xbox Series X is available to buy on our dedicated Xbox Series X/S stock page.
Got anything important or personal saved on your laptop? If the answer is 'yes', then it might be time to invest in a VPN subscription.
A VPN, or virtual private network, essentially acts as a security screen for your devices by routing all of your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel. One subscription usually covers multiple devices which means you can use it on your mobile or tablet too.
This year, all of the UK's major broadband providers are running some kind of Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, with brands such as BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media all slashing their prices in an effort to outdo one another. If you're looking to switch to a cheaper provider or upgrade your speeds, now is the perfect time to do just that.
Work from home for long enough, and you'll quickly learn the difference between reliable and unreliable broadband. The former will enable you to make a living, while the latter leads only to despair, madness, and destitution.
This year's Black Friday sale officially kicks off on Friday 26 November and we're expecting to see plenty of discounts on Logitech gaming peripherals. Last year saw some very impressive discounts on best-selling headsets, mice, keyboards and accessories and we can expect to see more deals getting announced as we draw closer to this year's sale.
While there's still a couple of weeks to wait until this year's Black Friday sale, Amazon is currently listing a decent selection of Logitech gaming peripherals at discounted prices. If you really can't wait until the end of a month to pick up a new mouse or keyboard at a discounted price, we've rounded up some of the best deals available right now.
BioWare has revealed a lengthy 'behind-the-scenes' look at Dragon Age 4 that both told so much and so little at the same time. Since then, we've had numerous concept art drops to reveal even more puzzle pieces about what the future of Thedas looks like. True to BioWare's nature, we won't actually know how much was hidden in plain sight until after launch, as was the case for previous entries in the franchise, but that hasn't stopped fans from diving deep into everything we've learned thus far. Hi, it's me. I'm fans.
I've done literally nothing to hide my love for BioWare since starting here at Game Informer, and with over 20 playthroughs of the Dragon Age franchise and numerous re-readings of the books and associating comics, that love isn't going away anytime soon. That much time spent in Thedas has given me a lot of up-close-and-personal time with the Dragon Age lore and I can't quite absolve the nagging theory that is always in the back of my head revolving around a certain egg-headed elf.
Obviously, there will be spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition below. Last chance to back away slowly and pretend this never happened. It's not you, it's me; I understand.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS5) | $35 | Amazon
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS4) | $35 | Amazon
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (XBO) | $35 | Amazon
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands doesn’t only straddle the line between life and death – it straddles the line between what was and what could be for Blizzard’s 16-year-old MMO. While it bombards us with familiar characters like Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore, and a few surprise returns in its opening fanfare, it also proceeds to gleefully kick open the doors to new corners of the Warcraft universe and introduce the intimidating Jailer. As the first main bad guy in WoW’s history who didn’t originate in the RTS games in some way, his arrival seems like the start of a whole new chapter of the story. At the same time, Shadowlands tries to turn the page on what max-level activities look like, and it has some success in reinvigorating WoW for yet another year.
World of Warcraft has long felt like two different games to me, especially in more recent expansions: There's the usually exciting, fast-paced, story-dense levelling experience and then the repetitive and ultimately tiresome endgame. Shadowlands does that first part very well, as expected: it plays to WoW's strengths with a plot that kept me hooked for about 20 hours and new zones that are bizarre, distinct, and just wonderful. Revendreth, where the wicked dead go to repent of their sins at the hands of the vampiric Venthyr, is a delightfully gothic sprawl of creepy castles and tangled woods. The ethereal, nocturnal forest of Ardenweald, where creatures of nature are watched over by the dutiful Night Fae until they can be reincarnated into new mortal forms, is downright captivating in its starry luminance.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/29/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-story-trailer"]
Immortals: Fenyx Rising isn’t the game I was expecting. I was prepared for a big Ubisoft open-world action game filled with colorful vistas, Greek gods, and some elements inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. It is all of that, but it’s not just Assassin’s Creed: Hyrule. It’s a welcome streamlining of…
I've quietly been stoked to play PixelJunk Eden 2, the sequel to Q-Games' underappreciated atmospheric platformer about zipping through abstract gardenscapes while chill Baiyon tunes work their magic.
After missing its initial summer 2020 window, it seems that PixelJunk Eden 2 is on track for a December 10 launch on the Nintendo Switch eShop. The new release date showed up on a Nintendo UK store page, and while the equivalent listing for North America still says fall 2020, I'm choosing to believe.
[Update: Q-Games confirmed the December 10 launch date for PixelJunk Eden 2. If you buy the game by December 16, you'll get a decent discount – $9.89 instead of the normal $14.99 price tag.]
Gameplay-wise, I'd expect a similar experience – you'll explore "gardens of psychedelic sights and sounds" to collect pollen, expand the flora to reach new heights, and generally melt into your chair.
As the studio puts it, you'll be able to "swing and spin from silk threads, in both single and cooperative play as you and a partner pirouette around one another in brush-strokes of light and color in the world on your journey to collect the all-important 'Spectra,' the source of all life in the world." It's a trip.
"More PixelJunk Eden" would've been fine by me, but co-op? That's the secret word.
UPDATE 2/12/20: Players now report a fix has been pushed live, and came into effect yesterday evening UK time. Ubisoft is yet to acknowledge the fix but, for those affected, it's worth checking if your PS5 upgrade is now available.
UPDATE 1/12/20: We're approaching the two-week anniversary of PlayStation 5's UK launch, but many Ubisoft game owners are still unable to upgrade PS4 titles such as Watch Dogs Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla to their shinier PS5 versions.
The problem has been an issue since the console's UK launch, though word picked up around a week back. It's then we highlighted the issue to Ubisoft, and have subsequently heard the company is trying to fix it.
Time and again, media has utilized problematic real-life events and figures to carry its entertainment. Whether for comedic or dramatic purposes, movies, comics, books, and video games have taken recognizable personalities and world events and replicated them to offer a slice of "relatable" authenticity to their pulp fiction.
Hollywood has made a billion-dollar business out of setting fictional narratives against the backdrop of real-world atrocities, while satirical shows from Saturday Night Live to Animaniacs have lampooned political figures on every side of history's global conflicts. Ultimately, truth and fiction will forever collide in the name of entertainment, it is up to us to remain focused on the former, once the dust has settled.
Presented for your consideration: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which raised eyebrows with its much-hyped inclusion of the staunchly conservative 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Those of an age will remember the utter terror of the 1980's Cold War era, where daily obliteration felt a mere button push away. With world leaders such as Reagan, Thatcher, and Brezhnev in power, it was easy for the people – particularly minorities and the working class – to feel that life was dangling by a thread, utter destruction at the hands of both the right-wing media and aggressive, warring world leaders.
[Update: The very same intrepid user who found the logo also noted the "Wumpa League" banner in the background of a new Crash Bandicoot ad. A Crash Battle Royale is suggested as a possible spinoff/outcome from this cute little scavenger hunt. Again, bring on anything Crash. I'll try it once! They could even use the Crash Bash name again.]
So Crash 4: It's About Time is fairly manageable if you're a platforming hound, but if you want to get the full 106% completion rate: good luck!
The extra content and time trial/limited life requirements are among the hardest activities I've played in 2020, and it looks like all those efforts do pay off; to some small degree. Sharing their discovery on Twitter, Kevin Fagaragan managed to uncover a secret logo that appears on the first level's television set.
The kicker is that the logo only appears when you've reached the aforementioned percentage. Like all secrets that pop up out of nowhere the solution was crowdsourced, and it seems like it doesn't work for a mere 100% completion rate: only 106%. It explains why it hasn't been as widely known this far out from launch. It's also a "blink and you'll miss it" moment, as it only appears on the screen for a split-second after you cycle through all of the main entry logos.
So what is it? Well, a tease of a new game, some DLC, or a Super Smash Bros. appearance would all work for me. I'm just happy to see Crash back and actually relevant again with a good game.
The developers of Subverse, one of the most anticipated adult games of all time, thought it would be a great idea to publicise their game via a video with Arch, formerly known as Arch Warhammer, a man who we last saw calling Creative Assembly “cuck beta leftists”.
[Update: Bethesda has posted an "everything you need to know" blowout post following the trailer below. It goes over everything from the main story, to shelters, to potential bundles.]
Microsoft got in on Bethesda at a decent time. Fallout 76 was in the rear-view mirror.
Everyone is abuzz about Ghostwire: Tokyo, Deathloop, Starfield, and the next Elder Scrolls. Right now, they have basically all of the hype behind them and none of Bethesda's failures too fresh in people's minds. I also wouldn't put it past Microsoft to allow Bethesda to delay some of the more broken games and bankroll that extra development time for the sake of their reputation. With a strong lack of exclusives for this new console generation, Microsoft needs that rep more than ever.
But before we get too ahead of ourselves, Bethesda did just launch the already-in-progress Steel Dawn update for Fallout 76; which improves the slightly-better-since-Wastelanders-but-still-partially-barren open world with new questlines. Although the DLC just launched, the below trailer just a decent job of spicing up the world of 76, while reminding us that NPCs do in fact now exist.
The main focus is on Paladin Leah Remini Leila Rahmani, as well as Knight Shin, and Scribe Valdez. Choices will be made! Faction loyalties will be tested! It is a Fallout game after all.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released at the start of the year right as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the whole world, making it the perfect game to sink your time into as everyone was in quarantine. Since its release, the game has received consistent free updates that add more to the game.
We’ve gotten seasonal events, as well as the introduction of new NPCs and items to help keep things fresh. Nintendo of Japan has just dropped a quick 30-second video showing off some of the new additions the game has seen since the start of the year, and you can check it out for yourself down below.
We take a look back at Leif, who sold players shrubs for more natural-looking decorations, as well as Pascal, the adorable otter who gives players mermaid-themed DIY Recipes in exchange for scallops you find from diving underwater. The video also gives us a quick glimpse at other events that are still to come, including the much anticipated Toy Day, which is the game’s spin on Christmas.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the latest entry in the annual first-person shooter franchise, and if you’re even remotely familiar with the game’s progression system, you’ll know that there’s always been a bit of a grindy element to it. By playing the game and getting kills, you’ll be able to rack up XP for your equipped weapons and unlock new items like attachments for them.
That being said, since the game’s launch, the XP grind for weapons has certainly felt sluggish, and it looks like Treyarch recognizes that as well. With the release of the latest patch, weapon XP rates have been increased in multiplayer and in the Zombies mode, so you should have a much easier time leveling up your weapons going forward.
In addition to that, the patch also addresses and out-of-bounds glitch that was present in the Nuketown ’84 map, where players were able to exit the map’s boundaries and stay alive that way.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is now available on consoles and PC.
The post New Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Patch Lets You Level Up Weapons Faster appeared first on Twinfinite.
After their critical and commercial success with Divinity: Original Sin, Larian Studios has been entrusted with Baldur’s Gate 3, the latest entry in the beloved DND-inspired series. The game is out now in early access and while we’d still recommend holding off on getting into it until the full release is out, early adopters will be able to follow the game’s development process closely as Larian updates it consistently.
The next major story patch is just around the corner for Baldur’s Gate 3, according to Larian. However, the introduction of the new patch means that your existing save files will no longer work.
That being said, if you’re playing on Steam, it is possible to keep your save files and continue playing on the old build. You’ll need to mess around with the game options and properties through Steam to keep the old build, and once you’re ready to move on, you can switch branches to the new build and start fresh from there. This option won’t be available to players on Google Stadia, however.
It’s certainly a hassle to have to switch branches, but it’s nice to have the option to keep messing around with your saves on the old build if you so choose.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available as an early access title.
The post Baldur’s Gate 3’s Next Story Patch Is Coming, Will Render Existing Saves Incompatible appeared first on Twinfinite.
In Greek mythology, Icarus’s ambition led to his literal downfall when he flew too close to the sun and melted his wax wings. So yes, being overly ambitious does have its drawbacks, but so too does a lack of it. Immortals Fenyx Rising, for instance, offers a light and entertaining spin on Greek mythology that’s clearly inspired by a reverence for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Its setting, systems, and story are packed with references to iconic deities and legendary tales, but always with tongue planted firmly enough in cheek that it avoids coming off as self-important. All this flavour makes for a great set-up that’s complemented by fun combat, but the puzzle design across this colourful open world is disappointingly workmanlike. In a game about heavenly gods and fantastical monsters, the puzzles are far too grounded by earthly concerns.
Immortals’ most inventive touch is its storytelling. The journey of Fenyx, a mortal soldier shipwrecked on a mystical island, is presented as a tale told by an imprisoned Prometheus to Zeus, and the dynamic between the two is hilarious. The pair’s bantering narration interjects regularly throughout your roughly 30-hour adventure, helping to further the plot, provide mythological context, or simply crack jokes. And further on, Immortals does an effective job of balancing the focus on humour with story-driven character development.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/10/immortals-fenyx-rising-ps5-gameplay-4k"]
We can all appreciate general system stability improvements that enhance the user’s experience, but tonight’s Nintendo Switch firmware update actually adds some features to the console, like new ways to manage your screenshots.
Hey now, you're an all-star, Super Mario! The next Tetris 99 Maximus Cup event involves the famous plumber. Earn that theme this weekend!
The post Tetris 99 Super Mario All-Stars Event Begins This Weekend appeared first on Siliconera.
