Nintendo pulled back the curtain on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s gameplay on Tuesday to reveal a ton of new ways Link can craft stuff. Mushroom shields. Helicopter rafts. Big, huge sticks. The hero of time is handier than ever and fans are loving it.
Capcom’s long-awaited and much-hyped remake of its classic survival horror game, Resident Evil 4, is finally here. Once again Leon S. Kennedy must venture to Europe to save the President’s daughter from a deadly and creepy cult of villagers who are infected by an ancient parasitic organism that mutates its hosts into…
You know that new-age internet saying, “all women do is eat hot chip and lie?” Well, now we’ve got a new gamer saying for men. And no, it has nothing to do with them chugging Monster energy drinks and punching holes in the wall when they lose in Warzone, because all men do is “play The Sims and lie,” according to the…
Nintendo dropped a wild 10-minute look at the anticipated sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (TotK), on Tuesday. We saw new abilities, the Sky Islands our Himbo of Time can ascend to, and the enemies he’ll encounter in Hyrule. We also learned weapon degradation has made a return, but it’s not all doom…
If you were to ask me “Mitchell, what kind of video games do you like,” I honestly don’t know how to really answer that question. I feel like I can find the fun in just about any genre, outside of ones that really require some sort of enthusiast or hobby level interest, like simulation car games, sports games, or walking games.
But if you were to say “No, Mitchell, what’s like… your genre. The bundle of games that you’d save on a sinking ship and be forced to forsake all others.” Well, that’s easy: It’s action games. Or if we want to get extra specific, it’s the subgenre that’s become known as “Character Action Games”
Character action games are my first love in the world of video games. When they’re good, they light my brain up like no other thanks to their challenging yet rewarding difficulty, flashy combat, and moments that just make you feel awesome as the person orchestrating the on-screen chaos.
But while we’ve seen modern sequels and reimaginings of classic series like God of War, Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta, there’s one 3D action game pioneer that still has not seen a new entry in over a decade: Ninja Gaiden. And that’s a dang shame because, in my eyes, Ninja Gaiden Black is the best pure action game of all time.
When talking about what makes Ninja Gaiden Black so dang good, we gotta break the conversation down into three main points. So let’s start with the flashiest of the bunch, the combat, and specifically how it works on both the surface and deeper levels.
Concern over E3 2023's future is continung to grow, prompting more publishers to drop out behind Nintendo, Xbox, Sony, and Ubisoft. IGN has learned that Sega and Tencent will be skipping E3 2023 amid rumors that the promised triumphant return of gaming’s biggest event may not happen after all.
IGN reporters have spoken with numerous individuals in publishing and PR who typically have knowledge of event strategies, all of whom expressed concern about the status of this summer’s event. Many told us that they hadn’t heard of anyone else who was planning to attend for sure, and some said they felt there had been a significant lack of communication from the ESA and organizer ReedPop as to what exactly they should expect from the show. Several described the situation as one where everyone was waiting for someone else to be the first to jump, but no one was willing to take the leap – and time was running out.
As one knowledgeable source put it ahead of the Monday news of Ubisoft’s departure from the show, “There’s no possible way this show can happen.”
Neither ESA nor ReedPop responded to IGN's request for comment in time for publication.
On a Dungeons & Dragons livestream hosted by Wizards of the Coast, the tabletop game maker announced two new collaborations with video game developer Mojang, creator of Minecraft.
The first collaboration is a DLC for Minecraft itself (the trailer can be viewed here), which will feature reskins of the Minecraft sandbox, new enemies like Mimics and Beholders to slay in custom D&D landscapes, and much more. Collaborations of this kind are far from new to the world of Minecraft, and past crossovers include Halo and Star Wars, but this trailer showed off more significant overhauls to a sandbox that's become quite familiar to Minecraft players over the past 14 years.
Not only were iconic locations from The Forgotten Realms shown off in the trailer, but also what appeared to be unique enemies and possibly even boss fights. Some were clear reskins, like the D&D dragon which almost certainly behave identically to Minecraft's own Ender Dragon, but there were also other enemies shown, which seem to deviate from Minecraft's existing creatures.
Meanwhile, Dungeon & Dragons fans will be getting a free monster compendium full of Minecraft creatures including Creepers and Endermen. This player resource will offer stat blocks for various Minecraft baddies, who can then be used in D&D campaigns by those looking to inject some blocky charm into their dungeons.
Wizards of the Coast just finished hosting their 2023 Dungeons & Dragons livestream, which was packed with crossovers, campaign announcements, and...musical numbers?
We've compiled a list of everything shown at the live stream below!
Minecraft developer Mojang and Wizards of the Coast announced collaborations in each of their respective fantasy adventure games. Minecraft is getting a Dungeons & Dragons themed DLC, complete with reskins of the Minecraft sandbox and new enemies like Mimics and Beholders to slay in custom D&D landscapes. In the world of tabletop, players will be able to download a free Minecraft-themed monster compendium that includes stat blocks for Creepers, Endermen, and more.
We also got another peek at Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves days before its theatrical debut in a new trailer which included some fun bits Paramount has shown before, like one section where the party hilariously botches using the "Speak with Dead" spell, and mostly just served as a reminder that this tabletop-inspired movie is imminent. You can read our spoiler-free review here.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features a ton of new abilities that weren't in Breath of the Wild, including one that references a classic Nintendo toy.
As revealed in the new ten-minute gameplay showcase, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma showed off four new abilities of Link's: Recall, Fuse, Ascend, and Ultrahand.
The last of these is named after a grabbing toy from the late 1960s. The Ultra Hand consisted of several criss-cross plastic tubes that connected a grabber on one end and handles on the other. The concept was simple: kids could use the Ultra Hand to pick things up from far away and drop them elsewhere, not completely unlike Link's ability in Tears of the Kingdom.
Ultrahand / Toy / Nintendo / 1973 pic.twitter.com/ptyulRBXYr
— Cool Box Art (@CoolBoxArt) March 28, 2023
Even more interestingly, the Ultra Hand was invented by Gunpei Yokoi, who would go on to create the video game console D-Pad, the Game Boy, and Game and Watch.
The Ultrahand ability in Tears of the Kingdom lets Link pick things up and move them around too, though it admittedly gets a little bit more complex than its 1960s counterpart. Link can use it to combine different objects, from logs and shields to rocks and pitchforks and seemingly everything else.
Come one, come all to our very first RPS Game Club liveblog session about this month's chosen pick, Hi-Fi Rush. We'll be piling into a liveblog on Thursday March 30th at 4pm BST (that's 8am PDT / 11am EDT), so please do come and join us to talk about what you loved most about Tango Gameworks' infectious rhythm action brawler.
One last Amazon Spring Sale highlight from me today, readers, and I’m happy to say it’s a very personal recommendation. I’ve been using the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless almost every day since putting them on our best gaming headsets list – that was in June last year, and today, it’s a solid £70 off in the UK.
After weeks of teases and rumours, Counter-Strike 2 invaded the internet to confirm that, yes, it was a real thing and not a figment of the community's shared imagination. It’s fully launching this summer, and Valve have been holding a limited access test since the pseudo-sequel's announcement. They’ve been inviting select players based on factors that are important to the dev team, such as trust factor, Steam account standing, and recent playtime on Valve servers. But last night, Valve shook their finger like a stern parent, informing fans that playing more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive wouldn’t get them into the CS2 test any faster.
From now until May 8th, Square Enix are giving away Final Fantasy 14’s Stormblood expansion for free to all new and existing owners of the MMORPG’s Standard Edition. The offer ends at 7am PDT/ 3pm BST, so you still have over a month to grab and keep the second expansion on Steam, the PlayStation store, or any other storefront that’s participating in the promotion. Squeenix have an FAQ page for more information, too.
UPDATE 29/03/23: Both Sega and Tencent have now backed out of attending E3 2023.
As reported by IGN, Sega stated: "After careful consideration, we have decided not to participate in E3 2023 as an exhibitor. We look forward to sharing more information on announced and unannounced projects in the future."
Tencent confirmed through a spokesperson that Level Infinite would not be attending. Other publishers IGN contacted have not responded.
Record of Agarest War is a game that wants to be many things at once. It is, first and foremost, a turn-based strategy game with RPG features. It also includes visual novel-style narration with light dating sim elements. While it is no Persona on that front, romancing and choosing a partner for your protagonist is an integral part of the game. These elements tie into the titular generations, as the story is told through five different generations of the lineage of the initial hero, Leonhardt Raglan.
Immediately after pressing “New Game,” you are offered the option to enable any of the multiple DLC packs that released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Record of Agarest War. These DLCs range from very powerful weapons and skills to extra gold and resources. Activating any of them will make the game a breeze, as you will immediately get a ridiculous amount of resources from the beginning. I imagine these would be better suited for a second or third run of the game, when trying to see new generations of heroes and other endings.
The makers of Dolphin announced the GameCube and Wii emulator will come to Steam Early Access later this year. It promises to let users play classics like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Super Mario Galaxy with improved graphics and better performance than the original consoles offered. I’m sure Nintendo’s…
Bloober Team has come out and clarified rumors surrounding the Silent Hill 2 remake release status, as well as some inaccurate translations and out-of-context statements. This comes after Bloober Team president Pitor Babieno gave an interview with the Polish site Bankier.pl last week, reportedly saying that the game was “technically ready.”
“As the Bloober Team, we don’t comment on rumors. However, this time we need to take the floor, as some recent statements have been taken out of context, due to inaccurate translations,” the developer said in a statement on Twitter. “Our company’s messages did not contain sales forecasters of specific titles. The figures connected to Silent Hill 2 refer to the potential success of the type of games we will be focusing on in the future.”
— Bloober Team (@BlooberTeam) March 28, 2023
Bloober Team continued: “It is also not true that we have announced that Silent Hill 2 is ready for release. Regardless of the development stage, all of our activities are focused on obtaining the highest quality for the finished product—the quality that fans of Silent Hill 2 deserve. We are aware that players are waiting for more information about Silent Hill 2. As soon as such information becomes available, we are sure that Konami, the publisher for the game, will share it with fans.”
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is getting its very own limited edition Switch OLED. It was initially revealed during a Tears of the Kingdom gameplay showcase on March 28, and will release on April 28, 2023. It is now available to preorder from select retailers, and you can find links to preorder the console just below.
Preorders for Tears of the Kingdom are also available from all retailers, and you can find out everything you need to know when scoring your copy in our dedicated preorder guide, alongside news on the Link Amiibo, and Collector's Edition. For more updates on preorders, make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter.
At the time of writing, only Amazon, Best Buy and Target have the console available to preorder, but this is likely to change very quickly, so stay tuned for more updates. To limit any scalping, Best Buy is allowing only one order per customer, and you need to be logged in to an active Best Buy account to complete your preorder.
This will be the first fully-fledged Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch console as Breath of the Wild launched alongside the base red and blue or grey hardware, though Skyward Sword HD did get its own special Joy-Cons.
Donnie Yen had some things to say about how Quentin Tarantino handled Bruce Lee's portrayal in one of his movies — and they were not pretty.
The John Wick: Chapter 4 star commented in a recent interview with Variety about the late martial arts master's portrayal in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which he was painted as a pompous actor on set. Lee was played by Mike Moh in the 2019 film.
"Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Quentin Tarantino is a renowned filmmaker, and he is entitled to his status — and I'm entitled to state my own view," Yen said. "Obviously, he was making fun of Bruce. It was cartoonish."
Back in 2021, Lee's daughter Shannon Lee spoke out on her father's controversial portrayal following Tarantino's guest appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience to promote the novelization of the film, saying she was extremely fed up with how Tarantino and other white male directors treated him when he was alive.
After years of nothing but teaser trailers, Nintendo has finally blown the doors open with a 13-minute The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay showcase. The Breath of the Wild sequel is out in just a month and a half, and many Nintendo fans have been surprised at just how little we've seen of what's set to be one of 2023's biggest games.
Thanks to today's gameplay showcase, we can put some of our questions to rest. Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma showed off a quartet of key new abilities for Link, including the new Fuse mechanic which easily stole the show. We also saw an expanded demo of the vehicles teased in the most recent trailer, as well as gameplay of Tears of the Kingdom's newly-dubbed Sky Islands.
Here are the biggest gameplay reveals from today's Tears of the Kingdom showcase, as well as a few secrets Nintendo quietly snuck into the footage.
Breath of the Wild's most controversial feature was weapon durability, where Link's swords, shields, and bows would permanently break after too much use. Aonuma wasted no time in confirming the mechanic's return, as Link's Tree Branch quickly snapped while fighting the first enemy Link encountered in the gameplay footage. It seems players will once again have to accept that nothing is permanent in the world of Hyrule. Fortunately, there's a brand new mechanic that could prolong the life of some of your favorite tools, which we'll get into next.
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Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft has appointed Katie Scott as president of editorial.
Scott joins the global creative office, overseeing alignment between the unit and production teams. Before joining Ubisoft, she served as game design director at The Coalition Studio.
French union Solidaires Informatique has accused Ubisoft Paris of mismanaging production of Just Dance 2023 and imposing crunch on the staff, as reported by NME.
The union alleged that 10% of developers working on the game had experienced burnout in the past year as the game's difficult development included an engine change 11 months before launch and unfulfilled promises that more staff would be hired to lessen the burden on employees.
One Ubisoft employee told the outlet that they worked 13-hour shifts during the game's development, with some QA testers putting in 14 hours or more in single shifts.
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It's important to remember that game development is global as more and more creators work to draw attention to their local scenes. One of those efforts was the Windies Direct showcase by the Jamaica Game Developer Society (JGDS), focusing on Caribbean-developed indie games.
The October 2022 presentation was created by Raccine Malcolm, Zane Francis, Glen Henry, and Graham Reid. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, the organizers share their motivations and hopes for shining the light on the island and its diaspora.
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Roman Alkan began making video games at 18. The realisation that she could make money from these projects shifted her games development from hobby to career.
Today, she stands at the head of indie games studio Larky Labs, and has been named as one of this year's Ensemble cohort – an exhibition dedicated to showcasing Black, Asian and underrepresented ethnicities working in the UK games industry.
The organisers of London Games Festival have announced this year's cohort of developers and games professionals to be featured in the 2023 Ensemble exhibition.
Now in its fourth year, Ensemble displays profiles of Black, Asian and other underrepresented ethnicities working in the UK games industry.
It will be displayed at various locations throughout this year's London Games Festival, which kicks off tomorrow, including consumer games event WASD, which runs from Thursday, March 30 to Friday, April 1. It will be displayed at Trafalgar Square from Wednesday, April 5.
Take-Two has acquired mobile games subscription service GameClub for an undisclosed sum.
The news was first reported by analyst Piers Harding-Rolls last Thursday. Take-Two confirmed the information to GamesIndustry.biz but had no additional information to share.
GameClub was founded in 2018, with the aim to update and bring premium, classic mobile titles to current devices via a monthly subscription fee. In 2019, the company raised $2.5 million and talked about the "growing sense of freemium fatigue in the mobile games market."
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US Members of Congress have raised concerns over Sony's "monopoly" over the "high-end" games market in Japan, saying it's preventing healthy competition in the country.
As reported by Politico, US senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) made this remark during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, calling on US trade representative Katherine Tai to bring up the issue with Japan in ongoing trade talks.
Debbie Bestwick will be stepping down from her role as Team17 CEO once a successor is found.
The announcement said that the search for her replacement has started, with the company considering both internal and external candidates. After stepping down from her CEO role, Bestwick will remain at the company in a non-executive role, remaining at Team17's board to provide "mentorship, support and guidance."
"This has probably been the hardest decision I’ve made, but I wouldn’t have made it if I wasn’t confident in the succession plans and the leadership team’s ability to deliver the clear and focused strategy regarding our collective goals and ambitions," Bestwick commented.
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Warner Bros. Games has announced that MultiVersus will go offline on June 25 as it prepares for launch in early 2024.
The multiplatform free-to-play fighter was originally launched in July 2022 as an open beta.
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Ubisoft has announced it will not be present for this year's in-person E3 show.
As reported by VGC, the Assassin's Creed publisher said that it will instead host a Ubisoft Forward event live on June 12 in Los Angeles.
The remake of Resident Evil 4 is the eighth biggest Resident Evil boxed launch in the UK, beating week one sales of the GameCube original.
Sales are 29% higher for the remake compared to the original, which launched in the UK in March 2005. Of course, the GameCube Resident Evil 4 was only released on one platform, and not a particular popular one, either. However, 100% of its sales were physical, whereas this remake will have substantial digital sales (download data is not included in this report, and will be available later in the week).
Resident Evil 4 did eventually release on more popular platforms, namely PS2 in November 2005 and Wii in July 2007, but both launches were slightly below the GameCube original.
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Industry trade body SELL says the French games market hit €5.5 billion, down 1.6% year-on-year. While close, the figure is the first time in three years in which consumer gaming revenue in France didn't reach €5.6 billion.
Here's what you need to know for the French 2022 market report:
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The abuse allegations against long-serving games writer Chris Avellone, and his subsequent libel case against his accusers, have been settled.
A blog post described as a joint statement between Avellone, Karissa Barrows, and Kelly Bristol states the claims were "dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a confidential settlement that provides for a seven-figure payment," which includes a reimbursal of legal fees of Barrows and Bristol's that Avellone had been ordered to pay.
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A new AAA development studio has opened doors in the UK hub of Leamington Spa, helmed by the former studio head and co-founder of Forza Horizon creator Playground Games.
Lighthouse Games is the latest venture by veteran developer Gavin Raeburn, who helped form Playground in 2010 and oversaw the creation and rise of the Horizon games, which became some of Microsoft's best-selling titles – even outperforming the core Forza Motorsport games from which they were spun out.
Dark and Darker has been pulled off Steam – where it was currently in playtests – following the ongoing battle between developer Ironmace and publisher Nexon.
As reported by RPS, Ironmace received a cease and desist and DMCA takedown from Nexon. The developer posted a message on its Discord explaining this is all based on "distorted claims."
In the DMCA, which was shared on Dark and Darker's subreddit, Nexon said that Ironmace "is making unauthorised use of Nexon's trade secrets and copyrighted material."
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[Trigger warning: This article contains references to sexual assault]
Update, March 28, 2023: The organisers have responded to GamesIndustry.biz with the following statement.
It’s coming on April 28. Best Buy and Target are now taking pre-orders
It seems like everyone except Paramount Plus is clamoring for this spinoff
In case you can’t get a Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom edition Switch OLED, this is a cheaper alternative