October 2021

During Facebook Connect, Mark Zuckerberg announced that a personal Facebook account would soon no longer be required to use Oculus Quest hardware.

"As we've focused more on work, and frankly as we've heard your feedback more broadly, we're working on making it so you can log into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account," Zuckerberg said during the Facebook Connect keynote.

Last year, Facebook announced that Oculus VR headsets would require a Facebook login starting in October 2020, and independent Oculus account support would end at the start of 2023. The move was massively unpopular, as many people did not want to link their personal social media – or use Facebook at all – in order to use their Oculus VR devices.

Now, it seems the company has reversed course.

"We're starting to test support for work accounts soon, and we're working on making a broader shift here within the next year," Zuckerberg said.

During today's event, Facebook also announced that GTA: San Andreas would be coming to Oculus Quest 2, teased a next-generation VR/AR headset called Project Cambria, and said the company would be changing its name to Meta.

Bo Moore is IGN's Executive Tech Editor. You can find him on Twitter @usebomswisely.

During today's Facebook Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Rockstar's classic open-world game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is coming Oculus Quest 2.

While no footage of the VR port was shown, Oculus Quest 2 is no stranger to porting classic games and re-imagining them for VR. Oculus previously worked with Armature and Capcom to bring Resident Evil 4 to VR.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is set in the fictional southern California city and tells the story of the CJ, a framed man who returns to his old San Andreas neighborhood to save his family.

Like other Grand Theft Auto games, San Andreas is an open-world game where players can freely explore San Andreas and its neighboring areas. Facebook didn't reveal details about how this open-world saga will be translated into VR.

Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus lineup for November, and it includes six free games for PS Plus subscribers. The lineup includes First Class Trouble and Knockout City for PS5/PS4, and Kingdoms of Amular: Re-Reckoning on PS4.

To celebrate PlayStation VR's 5th anniversary, PS Plus subscribers can also download three PS VR games: The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, The Persistence, and Until You Fall. The games will be available for download starting Tuesday, November 2.

Knockout City is a team-based multiplayer dodgeball game that launched earlier this year. We said the game was amazing in our Knockout City review, saying, "Knockout City is one of the best team-based PvP games to come out in years. It's a fresh take on the American schoolyard staple that proves that lowering the mechanical bar for entry doesn’t have to come at the cost of deep tactical gameplay.

First Class Trouble was just detailed in this week's State of Play. and it's a new multiplayer mafia-like game that sees a group of players trying to escape a cruise ship, while two of the players work to sabotage the rest of the team.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill will host a new video game showcase event from Thunderful, publisher of the SteamWorld franchise, Aerial Knight's Never Yield, and many other indie games.

Dubbed "Thunderful World," the digital event will take place on November 10 at 11 AM PT/2 PM ET. You can watch the stream on IGN, the IGN YouTube channel, the IGN Twitch channel, and the IGN Twitter.

Hamill will be presenting new game reveals and announcements from Thunderful throughout the show. We can expect to see more of Planet of Lana, the hand-painted puzzle adventure game first revealed at Geoff Keighley's Summer Games Fest kickoff. We'll also see news about The Gunk (the SteamWorld team's next game), Firegirl, Cursed to Golf, Source of Madness, Tinkertown, and White Shadows.

If you're wondering if Thunderful's lineup of games is in your wheelhouse, it's worth knowing they've also published the sci-fi shooter Industria, low-poly biking sim Lonely Mountain: Downhill, the quirky Say No More, and both Bridge Constructor: Portal and Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead.

Apex Legends Season 11 Escape is right around the corner and we’re getting a lot of new content. From the biggest map, Respawn has released for Apex Legends yet, to a new weapon and Legend coming into the games.

There is a lot to take in, but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Let’s go over everything you need to know about Ash’s abilities, the new Stormpoint map, and the new CAR SMG.

A New Challenger - Ash

Let’s start with Ash. If you want a full breakdown of Ash’s lore and backstory I have a recap video you can check out above.

In terms of abilities, Ash heavily mirrors a Titan's abilities from Titanfall. Her tactical “Arc Snare” has her throwing out a projectile that shocks enemies and tethers them to the ground, reminiscent of the Northstar Titan’s ability. Ash’s tactical requires you to be extremely precise with how you deploy it. If you throw it on the ground next to your enemy, it needs to be close enough to the enemy to catch them in the tether.

The best bet is to hit the enemy in the body with the Snare to catch them for the stun damage. The Snare also only lasts a few seconds on its surface if it doesn’t attach to anyone, so precision is key with her tactical. A player caught in the Snare can run in the opposite direction quickly to snap it.

Ash’s passive, “Marked for Death,” reveals deathboxes on the map whenever a player dies but also has another passive that allows her to throw a Dataknife at a deathbox to find where the killer squad is. This is potentially one of Ash’s strongest abilities. Note she can only use this ability once per box and the tracking only pings the enemy’s location like a manual player ping so it’s not constantly tracking.

In a reflection of Sony's recent embrace of PC gaming, the platform holder has introduced the PlayStation PC brand for several of its games on Steam.

The new label popped up just recently as the publisher for Days Gone on Steam, and Video Games Chronicle reports that the name was registered back in April. It further solidifies Sony's intentions for PC, suggesting that PlayStation intends to bring plenty more games to Steam in the near future.

Already, several PlayStation exclusives have made their way to PC, including Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding and Days Gone. God of War and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection are both due in 2022. PlayStation has generally worked with external developers on these projects, including 505 Games and Jetpack Interactive.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan explained PlayStation's strategy for PC in an interview with GQ, "There’s an opportunity to expose those great games to a wider audience and recognize the economics of game development, which are not always straightforward. The cost of making games goes up with each cycle, as the caliber of the IP has improved. Also, our ease of making it available to non-console owners has grown. So it’s a fairly straightforward decision for us to make."

The Samsung Pro series M.2 SSDs are well regarded and high-performing, meeting all the requirements for use in the PS5. Well, every requirement except for a heatsink, which you had to install yourself. Samsung has removed this extra step from the PS5 SSD process and released its Samsung 980 PRO series SSD with a manufacturer-supplied heatsink right out of the box.

PS5 Compatible Samsung SSD

At the moment, you can order the SSDs direct from Samsung, but the listings for both the 1TB and 2TB versions are live on Amazon. However, Amazon has them listed as "temporarily out of stock," which is fairly standard when Amazon puts a placeholder page up for an item its not quite ready to put out for sale.

The Samsung 980 is one of the best PS5 SSDs you can buy, and being able to get one with a heatsink makes things just a little easier for you. Of course, you can always just go ahead and buy the regular Samsung 980 Pro and install your own heatsink, if you're comfortable with that option. It will save you money, too.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Dr Disrespect has joined forces with PUBG MOBILE for the upcoming 13 Days of Halloween livestream event finale and will be squadding up with handpicked teams of elite PUBG MOBILE streamers on October 29 for one legendary showing.

IGN is carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including when it starts, a list of places you can watch it with us, and what you can expect to see at the show.

PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween Finale With Dr Disrespect Start Time

The upcoming PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween finale will take place on October 29 at 5pm PT/8pm ET. If you are in the U.K. or Australia, this translates to October 30 at 1am BST/10am AEST.

Where to Watch the PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween Finale With Dr Disrespect

If you’re interested in watching the upcoming PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween finale with Dr Disrespect, we’ll be hosting the stream here on IGN.com and on our YouTube channel.

• IGN.com (homepage)
• IGN’s YouTube Channel

What to Expect at the Upcoming PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween Finale With Dr Disrespect

Dr Disrespect will be the special guest for the entirety of the PUBG MOBILE 13 Days of Halloween finale and this will actually be his first time playing the mobile version of the popular battle royale title PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on stream.

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.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remake developer Vicarious Visions will reportedly lose its name in a rebrand that comes as part of its ongoing merger with Blizzard.

In January, it was announced that Vicarious Visions would be merging with the publisher to support a number of existing games and initiatives under Blizzard's remit. Now, according to a report published by Polygon, staff at the studio have been told that Vicarious Visions will lose its name as part of the merger.

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.

Diablo Immortal's closed beta goes live today, and brings with it a stack of new features, such as the addition of controller support and the debut of the Necromancer as a playable class. Elsewhere, the game now has set items (but they're a little different to what you might expect), a ladder system for its Battlegrounds mode, and more collaborative raid-style end game content, among many other changes.

Before we get into all that, however, as with the closed alpha, not everyone will be able to access the closed beta. It's running on Android only and is restricted to players in Australia and Canada for now, with access for Korea, Japan and China in the coming weeks. Now, let's go through what players can expect from the closed beta, with a little help from Diablo Immortal's game director Wyatt Cheng and production director Caleb Arseneaux.

Weird West, the first game from WolfEye Studios, has set a release date for January 11, 2022.

The action RPG, set in a surreal version of America’s developing frontier, will be released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One consoles. Pre-orders are now available on Steam, and will grant players an in-game horse named Calamity. This horse doubles inventory size and will come with saddle bags stocked up with lockpicks, bandages, tools, and other items, as well as a Golden Ace of Spades upgrade token.

The announcement comes at the same time as a new video, which emphasizes the interactivity in Wild West’s world. WolfEye wants every item that looks to be interactive to work how you’d expect it to, and so many layers of simulation have been applied to cater to that. The video also reveals that there are five playable characters, each with their own storyline. One of those characters is bounty hunter Jane Bell, whose son has been killed and spouse abducted.

Weird West is a top-down RPG, described by the developers as an ‘immersive sim’, putting it in the same category as games like Dishonored and Prey. That’s no surprise considering WolfEye Studios was founded by Raphael Colantonio, the former founder of Arkane Studios. He set WolfEye up with fellow Arkane veteran Julien Roby.

Capcom has announced that Resident Evil: Village has sold 5 million copies globally, reaching the milestone somewhat quicker than its predecessor Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. The news comes as Capcom reports record level sales and profits for a second quarter.

As announced in a press release, Capcom has confirmed that Resident Evil: Village has now sold over 5 million units globally. Following a successful release window back in May, during which the game sold over 3 million units in its first week, Resident Evil: Village has since seen a "steady growth of sales" that has allowed the game's success to continue on.

According to the company, the success of Village is in part down to its "multifaceted expansion" of the series overall. "In addition to providing a sense of scale that outdoes its predecessor [Resident Evil 7: Biohazard], as well as storytelling that rises above the genre of horror games, this title was lauded for featuring a higher degree of action and even more expansive, highly engaging gameplay," a statement from the studio about the game reads.

With 23 years of history under its belt, the Mario Party series has certainly had its fair share of highs and lows, with its highs representing some of the most fun I’ve had playing local multiplayer games with friends, and its lows being… well, the near opposite of that. Thankfully, Mario Party Superstars is a celebration of only the best moments this long-running franchise has had. It gathers 100 of the most enjoyable minigames, five excellent boards from the first three Mario Party games, and an amalgamation of some of the best rules, mechanics, and quality-of-life improvements into a single Switch game. It’s still unsurprisingly dull without friends, and not all of the minigames are worthy of the “superstar” label, but on the whole this is quite simply the best Mario Party has been in a very long time.

2018’s Super Mario Party represented a “back to basics” shift for the series, and Mario Party Superstars has taken that idea several steps further by focusing in on the N64 and early GameCube days. There are no motion-controlled minigames, no item capsules, no character-specific custom dice blocks, no buddies to recruit, and of course, no party car. Just four players, each taking turns rolling dice, moving along a virtual game board, playing minigames to earn coins, and using those coins to buy stars. And maybe it's because it has been a long while since we’ve had a Mario Party game without some sort of extra gimmick, but this simplicity is incredibly refreshing, and I certainly didn’t miss having something there to mix up the formula.

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.

The announcement comes as part of a letter from Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who also outlined a further four changes the company will be implementing. These include a promised 50% increase in the percentage of women and non-binary people employed by the company, an investment in diversity, a waiveing of required arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims, increased visibility on pay equity, and quarterly progress updates. Kotick also stated that he’ll take a significant pay cut until the company’s problems are resolved.

In an open letter published at 5:15am EDT on October 28, Kotick outlined the five changes Activision Blizzard is set to make, starting with the zero-tolerance harassment policy.

Sony's latest financial reports have announced that 13.4m PlayStation 5 consoles have been sold to date, with 3.3 million PS5s being sold within the July-September Q2 period.

As revealed in Sony's Financial Results for Q2, the company's Game & Network Services Segment sold 1 million more PS5s to retailers in the quarter when compared to previous three-month period. This is the second highest quarterly sales for the PS5, matching Q4 2020 and only just trailing behind Q3 2020's record 4.5m sales.

These sales contributed to a total of $5.86 billion in revenue for Sony's gaming division, up 27% year-on-year for the best Q2 PlayStation has ever achieved. Of that revenue, $0.751b was taken as profit. While sales are impressive, there has been a decrease in operating profit, which is down 21% year-on-year. This comes partly due to lower PS4 sales - the console sold just 0.2m units this quarter - and PS5 consoles being sold at a loss.

Overall, PlayStation accounts for 27% of Sony's total revenue this quarter, and 26% of its total operating profit.

In game sales, Sony reports 76.4m games sold during the quarter across PS4 and PS5. As for lifetime sales, God of War has been its biggest seller, at 19.5 million copies. Horizon Zero Dawn, meanwhile has shifted 10m, and Marvel's Spider-Man has sold 13.2m. On PS5, Demon's Souls has sold 1.4m copies, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has sold 1.2m.

There are some perfect deals right now for new PS5 owners. Deathloop for PS5 is down to just £34.99 at the moment (was £59.99), with code GAMENEXTDAY at Currys. It's also down to £40.99 at Amazon, £35.99 on PC, and £39.59 on the PS Store (digital).

You can also currently get 50% off a 12-month PlayStation Now subscription online right now. This is for both new and returning customers, so if you've let your subscription run out, you can jump straight back into PS Now with this great deal.

TL;DR - Best Deals

Deathloop (PS5) Now £34.99 with Code GAMENEXTDAY

PlayStation Now 12-Month Subscription Down to £24.99 (50% Off)

PS5 DualSense Midnight Black Controller down to £51.95 (was £60)

NordVPN down to £2.44/Month (72% Off)

Nintendo has delivered a surprise demo for Metroid Dread, which is available to download right now. The arrival of the free demo was announced on Nintendo's website, with the Halloween-adjacent timing of the demo being referred to as "all treat, no trick."

The free demo can be downloaded from Nintendo.com or the Nintendo eShop on your device.

Time to amp up the dread for an early Halloween treat.

A demo for the critically acclaimed #MetroidDread releases now! Now everyone can try Samus’ latest adventure by downloading the demo on #NintendoSwitch #eShop!https://t.co/vzDIkbxo5z pic.twitter.com/vhRWhpDcRk

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 28, 2021

Metroid Dread, a surprise sequel after nearly 20 years, was released earlier this month. IGN's review declared Metroid Dread "brings back the legendary exploration and progression and merges it with excellent modern combat and some of the best boss fights ever."

Leave it to Snoop Dogg to deliver some of the biggest news of the day. Snoop Dogg says Dr. Dre is working on new music for an upcoming Grand Theft Auto game.

Snoop Dogg revealed the news while as a guest on the Rolling Stone Music Now Podcast. In an episode that will air on Friday, Snoop said, "I do know [Dr. Dre] is in the studio... I do know he's making great f***ing music. And some of his music is connected to the GTA game that's coming out. So I think that that will be the way that his music will be released, through the GTA video game."

In an article published on Wednesday, Rolling Stone says a representative for Rockstar Games declined to comment.

There is a chance Snoop Dogg could be referring to the recently announced Grand Theft Auto trilogy remaster. Dr. Dre was featured on the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but those were previously-released songs.

Rockstar hasn't yet talked about how much of the original radio station music has been licensed for the new versions of the games or if any of the music has been replaced.