IGN

Like most other large gaming companies, Take-Two has been a part of a recent flurry of acquisition activity industry-wide. Its planned acquisition of Zynga is set to close by the end of the month, and its Private Division label snapped up Roll7 late last year. But what about Take-Two itself? Is it possible that it, like fellow major publisher Activision-Blizzard, might be acquired by a bigger gaming corporation?

For now, that seems unlikely, based on comments made by CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview ahead of today's full year and quarterly earnings call.

"We're a public company, and we're here for the shareholders," he told IGN. "That said, our track record of creating value as an independent entireprise is pretty terrific, especially if you exclude the last three months. We think there's plenty of great times ahead, and we like being an independent organization. But we're here for the shareholders."

Zelnick also offered some context for the publisher's recent acquisitions of Zynga and Roll7. He acknowledged the reality of industry consolidation, especially over the last six months. But he added that the increase in overall indistry acquisitions wasn't going to change anything for Take-Two, whose growth he says has "always been largely organic" but "populated with some selective acquisitions along the way."

With EA and the FIFA brand set to part ways, one big question on everyone's minds is: who will pick up the FIFA license to keep making more soccer games? One possibility is Take-Two Interactive, but for now, the company isn't saying whether or not it's in to be the official soccer publisher.

Speaking to CEO Strauss Zelnick ahead of today's earnings call, IGN asked if Take-Two was considering working with FIFA in the future to expand its existing sports line-up.

"We're definitely interested in expanding our opportunities in sports, and FIFA has a great brand and incredible clout, but we have no current plans to discuss," Zelnick replied.

It's understandable that Zelnick wouldn't be able to say much for now, as if there is any discussion about a deal right now, it's likely going on behind closed doors. But Zelnick's praise for the brand isn't the only reason to think Take-Two might be interested. The publisher is one of the few who could conceivably afford the reportedly very expensive license, and already has a track record of sports titles with NBA 2K, WWE 2K, plus whatever it's working on with the NFL.

EA and FIFA announced their split earlier this month, with EA citing a desire for more creative freedom as well as the expensive license among the reasons it opted to go its own way with EA Sports FC in the future. FIFA has confirmed it will continue to release games under the FIFA name, but has not yet said who it will partner with to make this happen.

For months now, the Red Dead Online community has been begging developer Rockstar for more significant updates to the game on par with what Grand Theft Auto Online has been getting, using the hashtag #SaveRedDeadOnline. Thus far they've received little in the way of acknowledgement for their movement, until today.

Speaking to IGN ahead of Take-Two's quarterly earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick affirmed he was aware of the community's frustration, but added that fans would need to look to Rockstar for a response.

"Rockstar Games talks about the updates that are coming, and we're working on an awful lot at Rockstar Games," he said. "I've heard the frustration, it's flattering that they want more content, and more will be said by Rockstar in due time."

When asked if Take-Two intended to continue to support Red Dead Online long-term, Zelnick affirmed that this was the plan. [Update 2:45pm PT: Post-publication, Take-Two Interactive reached out to clarify that this comment was "solely referring to the online servers" and that any future content updates would be up to Rockstar.]

Not only is Fall Guys going free-to-play starting next month, the developers at Mediatonic are also working on adding a level editor to the frantic platforming battle royale.

At the very end of today's Fall Guys Free for All stream, we got a very early look at the new level creator. Similar to Nintendo's Super Mario Maker and other level creation tools, the mode lets players create their own obstacle courses from scratch.

The tool gives creators a catalog of common Fall Guys objects, like swinging axes, conveyor belts, and fruit-shooting cannons, and lets players place them anywhere on the map. As long as you don't exceed the weight limit, it seems you can mix and match objects to create anything that comes to mind.

The customization appears to be fairly in-depth, as an options menu popped up that lets you choose a variety of settings like item size, rotation speed and direction, and more. And — also like Mario Maker — after you finish building the level, you have to prove it can be completed before you can publish it, which suggests we'll see online content sharing where you'll hopefully be able to try out levels other people built, and see how many people test out your own levels.

There's no timetable for when this level creator mode will actually join Fall Guys. In the stream, Mediatonic said, "just to be clear, this mode is still a fair way from release."

Achilles: Legends Untold puts the “early” in Early Access. Across the board, this action RPG is full of ideas that feel like they are still an epic journey away from being ready. Combat, which has Soulslike ambitions, is competent but a bit flat; the first stage of this world looks good and is full of monsters to kill but devoid of things worth exploring; and the story – beyond its interesting reframing of the death of Achilles by a well-placed arrow from Paris of Troy – is trivial and its characters are rote. And, while it should go without saying that early access games are buggy, at launch Achilles has more than its fair share, even by this standard. In its current state, there’s nothing legendary to talk about.

The imaginative addition to the myth is that after being slain, our titular demigod goes to Tartarus and meets Hades, where they agree that it would be in their mutual interest to let Achilles return to the surface so that he can take his revenge; in return, Hades gets a superhuman tool to do his bidding. Familiar characters, like King Agamemnon, meet the freshly undead Achilles and aren’t always happy to see him. It’s a good start, but the other characters and story elements introduced thus far are largely forgettable, and much of the dialogue is utterly underwhelming.

Once reborn, Achilles is thrown into a colorful, verdant Greece, with the first bits of his new lease on life spent finding Hades’ missing nephew, Hephestus, the god of fire. Once they’re reunited the three of them hatch a plan: they’ll restore the connection between Greece and the underworld so that the shambling undead can go back to their homes. Sounds good to me, what could go wrong?

As someone who loves the melding of classical myth and epic fantasy, plus keeps having Netflix recommend him “shows with a strong female lead,” Asterigos: Curse of the Stars easily caught my eye when it was announced last fall. I was recently sent a demo build of an early segment, and while it may not be as polished as it could be at this stage, I definitely put down my controller curious to see how this fantastical adventure inspired by a combination of Greek and Roman mythology will come together.

Asterigos casts you as Hilda, a warrior of the Northwind Legion as she investigates the ancient city of Aphes in search of her missing father and its long-buried secrets. The city is said to have been cursed by the gods for its careless overuse of the world’s magic–which Hilda herself seems to be able to harness, though whether this is common for her people or she’s just Extra Special™ is unclear– and the once-great ruin is now filled with dangerous beasts and monsters. I didn’t run into anything as captivating as some of what’s been shown in trailers, though the Pixar-esque design aesthetic (reminiscent of Blizzard's cinematic style or recent mythical adventures like Immortals: Fenyx Rising and Kena: Bridge of Spirits) made even what boiled down to “big alligator” or “giant boar” interesting creatures to square up against.

Since the release of Cyberpunk 2077, fans have held mixed feelings about the game, which was released in a buggy state after being delayed multiple times. While many players still love Cyberpunk 2077, some fans have taken it upon themselves to improve the somewhat controversial title.

In a recent tech demo, YouTuber and developer Enfant Terrible cut together a reel featuring assets from a multitude of artists to create a vision of Night City using Unreal Engine 5. They include:

• Saher Tarek
• Learte Studios
• JSFilmz
• Artcore Studios
• Masashi Imagawa
• Artem Artificial
• J Hill
• Infraction

According to the video’s caption, the artists utilized tools like environment megapacks from the Epic Marketplace, the MetaHumans Creator from Epic, VFX, and Zbrush to create an impressively realistic world with graphics that rival the original Cyberpunk 2077.

Fall Guys is going fully free to play when it launches on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Epic Games Store on June 21.

Players who already own the game on PS4 and Steam will be awarded with a Legacy Pack that includes unique cosmetics plus Fall Guy's first paid-for battle pass (branded as a Season Pass) that will be available alongside the current (and free) battle pass.

Developer Mediatonic is also essentially resetting Fall Guys' seasons as June 21 also marks the beginning of "Season 1: Free For All", likely because the game will be fully cross-play and cross-progression between platforms.

All Fall Guys players will therefore be able to compete against each other, and can log in and continue their progress, regardless of whether they're playing on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, or PC.

A new currency called Show-Bucks can be used to purchase the Season Pass, but Mediatonic hasn't said how much it will cost or how Show-Bucks will compare to the current Kudos currency which will remain in the game.

The new Season 1: Free For All update also promises the "most jam-packed and blunderful season yet" with new challenges, rewards, and more.

The Xbox and Switch versions of Fall Guys were delayed in April last year from an original release date of summer 2021, with Mediatonic saying at the time that "with so many new opportunities now in our hands" it couldn't hit the original date.

An Elden Ring mod is pitting one of the game's most infamous bosses, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, against every other major boss in the game.

YouTube user Garden of Eyes - who also modded legendary summon Let Me Solo Her into Elden Ring and gave Bloodborne a first person mode - uploaded a video of Malenia taking on 25 other bosses.

The fights can be watched as if from one of Elden Ring's suspicious colosseums through a spectator camera, with Malenia starting with Grafted Scion before later fighting everyone from Radahn to Godrick.

Malenia is one of the strongest bosses in Elden Ring, so will any other boss be able to beat her, let alone get her to her second phase? https://t.co/Bx9qHhyGBM pic.twitter.com/wDmQKMTWMw

— Garden of Eyes (@EyesGarden) May 12, 2022

The video is also a great insight into the difference in strength between bosses that seemed impossible early on in Elden Ring and end-game fights like Malenia's.

She cuts down the Tree Sentinel in just a few swipes, for example, and the poor tutorial boss, Solider of Godrick, is one-hit killed.

Peacock's Twisted Metal TV series is taking shape, with more stars signing up for the live-action adaptation of the classic PlayStation video game.

It was revealed in 2019 that Sony was developing a Twisted Metal series, but now the wheels are firmly in motion. Cobra Kai writer and producer Michael Jordan Smith is showrunning, writing, and executive producing the half-hour series, which will be based on an original story from the Twisted Metal universe written by Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Series star Anthony Mackie is onboard as an exec producer alongside Will Arnett and Marc Forman of Electric Avenue, Jason Spire of Inspire Entertainment, Peter Principato of Artists First, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions, together with Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, and Kitao Sakurai, who will direct multiple episodes.

The show will revolve around a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He will be joined by a trigger-happy car thief who will help him navigate the dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.

Keep reading for a rundown of who's appearing in the Twisted Metal series — and don't forget to bookmark the page, as we'll be updating this article with all-new casting announcements.

Ubisoft has announced that its Game Pass-like service, Ubisoft+, is coming to PlayStation. Furthermore, a version of it will be available as part of the new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscription tiers.

Ubisoft+ will first be available on PlayStation in the form of Ubisoft+ Classics, which comes bundled with PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers. This version of Ubisoft+ features a “curated selection of popular games” (27 available at launch) that will include Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, The Division, and For Honor.

Ubisoft+ Classics will be available from when the new version of PlayStation Plus launches (June 13 in America, June 23 in Europe). While Ubisoft has now officially announced the service, it was semi revealed when Sony recently announced that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla would be part of the new PS Plus service.

Other games coming in the first 27 include Child of Light, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Far Cry 4, Steep, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, The Crew 2, Trials Rising, Watch Dogs, and Werewolves Within.

Ubisoft promises the Classics collection will grow to more than 50 games by the end of 2022, and that there are “more games planned in the future”.

Sony has announced several games coming to its new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers, including Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut, and more.

Confirmed in a blog post, there are now 56 PS4 and PS5 titles confirmed for the $99.99 a year Extra and $119.99 Premium tiers. The Premium tier also has 29 Classic Catalogue games confirmed and another 29 PS3 games.

Sony has also announced that "time-limited game trials" will be available on the Premium tier that allow users to sample games including Horizon Forbidden West, Cyberpunk 2077, and WWE 2K22 for a few hours at no extra cost.

These lists are just a "a selection of the content" coming to the new tiers as Sony previously confirmed that more than 700 games would be available when it announced the updated service in March.

It took developer Tantalus Media a year and a half to turn The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's original Wii motion controls into regular button inputs for Nintendo Switch HD version.

CEO Tom Crago shared the trials and tribulations of the game's development with the Fragments of Silicon podcast (as spotted by Nintendo Everything) and also dismissed rumours of a Zelda: Twilight Princess port for Switch.

The original Wii version of Skyward Sword used the console's Motion Plus accessory, meaning protagonist Link's sword swings would match the direction of the player's Wii Remote. While the Switch does support motion controls, the Switch Lite does not, meaning the developer had to translate those controls into more traditional inputs.

"Having it work button-only, joystick only was probably the biggest challenge for us," Crago said. "It took a year and a half, so it was a long process making this game.

He added: "If we hadn’t figured that out, Nintendo just wouldn’t have published it. They’re not going to put something out there that doesn’t really resonate with The Legend of Zelda, with the fanbase, and with the legacy. We knew that we really needed to get that right."

Crago also said that Tantalus, who remastered Twilight Princess for 2016's Wii U HD edition, hasn't been asked by Nintendo to create the long-rumoured Switch port.

Marvel's Midnight Suns may be due to release soon following an official rating in South Korea.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Reddit user LongJonSiIlver spotted the rating (below) which pegs the XCOM-style game as suitable for those aged 15 years and over.

Games are usually only presented to ratings boards (like the ESRB and PEGI) once they're in a complete or near-complete state so that an accurate assessment of suitability can be given, meaning Midnight Suns may almost be ready to be released.

The Game Rating and Administration Committee gave Midnight Suns its "suitable for 15 years and over" rating as it includes bad language and violence towards living things.

Combat in the game is largely similar to the rebooted XCOM series but players take on the role of The Hunter, a customisable character that works with superheroes including Iron Man, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine.

A leaked marketing guide appears to confirm that Arma 4 will not be the next entry in the franchise from Bohemia Interactive, but that it instead will be a PC and console game called Arma Reforger.

As reported by PC Gamer, the marketing guide was posted on Reddit's Gaming Leaks and Rumors and appears to be credible, especially since Bohemia is gearing up to reveal the "Future or Arma" on May 17, 2022.

The guide says that, due to the "complexity of developing Arma 4," Arma Reforger will be a "bridge" between Arma 3 and what will eventually be the official fourth game in the series. While it may not be the Arma 4 people were hoping for, it does look to be using Bohemia's new Enfusion engine.

Arma Reforger will allegedly take place on the fictional island of Everon in the Atlantic ocean and will be set in "an alternate 1989" during a conflict between the US and Soviet Union. The game is being billed as a "military simulation game (as opposed to a 'simulator')," which hints it may be more accessible than the mainline games.

Bohemia hopes this game, which will be on its new Enfusion engine, will get modders comfortable with the new tools in time for Arma 4, whenever it arrives. In doing so, Arma 4 should have a thriving modding community at launch.

After nearly 40 years away from the games industry, Van Mai, the pioneering woman who wrote on Atari 2600's Wabbit and helped create the first console game to star a human girl, has been found.

As reported by the Video Game History Foundation, Polygon began searching for this developer that went by the name "Ban Tran" - a Vietnamese woman who worked at Apollo to develop Wabbit before the company declared bankruptcy in 1982.

In celebration of Friday the 13th, founder and CEO of Striking Distance Glen Schofield has not only teased that news for The Callisto Protocol is on its way next week, but he also shared a terrifying close-up of one of the game's creatures.

Schofield, who was also the creator of Dead Space, shared the news on Twitter for the game that is set in the universe of PUBG and is scheduled to be released on PC and consoles in 2022.

If you don’t already follow @CallistoTheGame now might be a good time to start. Look for some news next week. Until then, here’s a closeup of one of the creatures from our world class character team. They’re incredible. Happy Friday the 13th! Get ready! pic.twitter.com/u9xDxJ4CbC

— Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) May 13, 2022

"If you don’t already follow @CallistoTheGame now might be a good time to start," Schofield wrote. "Look for some news next week. Until then, here’s a closeup of one of the creatures from our world class character team. They’re incredible. Happy Friday the 13th! Get ready!"

I’ve had a bad case of the post-Elden Ring blues lately. After 130 hours of non-stop FromSoft adventure, I was struggling to find another game that compelled me enough to do more than pick it up for an hour or two before sighing and putting it back down again. Then I played Citizen Sleeper, and ravenously devoured the entire thing in two days.

Citizen Sleeper scratches the parts of my brain that loved Disco Elysium, but it’s both shorter and (despite its dystopia premise) gentler overall. You play as a Sleeper, an artificial vessel created by a mega corporation to work off a debt for a human being. While the human lies frozen in stasis somewhere else in the universe, their consciousness was transplanted into the Sleeper and forced to do awful manual labor under grim conditions. But that life massively sucked, so the Sleeper fled, arriving on a space station called the Eye in hopes of building a life of their own.

Genshin Impact developers HoYoverse have officially announced their latest ARPG titled Zenless Zone Zero, a brand-new urban fantasy HoYoverse IP set in a world in which contemporary civilization has been destroyed by a supernatural disaster known as the Hollows.

Players in the game take on the role of a Proxy, a special professional who guides people in their exploration of Hollows. Players are tasked with helping them explore the Hollows, battle their enemies, and achieve their goals. In the process, they’ll come to learn more about their story and their place in it.

“We would like to invite players to discover [New Eridu], the last shelter for urban civilization due to the calamity [Hollows]. Together with a group of distinctive partners, they will fight alongside each other and unravel the mysteries in this post-apocalyptic world,” HoYoverse says in a press release.

In New Eridu, a post-apocalyptic metropolitan city, players will embark on an adventure with diverse characters and experience action-oriented combat.

Alongside the title release, HoYoverse also released this trailer, which features a look into the game’s characters, “futuristic and 3D anime-style art,” and world. Featured in the trailer are the game’s protagonists, Unagi, Billy, Anbi, and NosTradamus, alongside a closer look into New Eridu and the monsters ravaging it.

It featured a mix of gameplay, cutscenes, and what seems to be an arena-based type of combat system, where players fight off the Ethereal in preset combat stages as opposed to in an open world.

Warning: this article contains some spoilers for Halo: The TV Series Episode 8!

The live-action Halo series has made a number of significant changes to the established mythology of the games, and Episode 8 has ushered in what may be the biggest shake-up yet. Master Chief appears to have just lost his virginity.

This is a pretty big departure from the Halo games, where John-117 is depicted as an ascetic super-soldier who only shows a sentimental attachment to his holographic companion Cortana, and has likely never had sex due to being kidnapped into Spartan programmer as a child. The series hasn't exactly followed that path over the course of Season 1, with Pablo Schreiber's Master Chief frequently removing his helmet and dealing with a surge of memories and emotions after encountering a Forerunner artifact.

That artifact also happens to be the reason for John's sexual encounter in Episode 8. The series has introduced a brand new character in Charlie Murphy's Makee, a human who was kidnapped by the Covenant at a young age and elevated to a position of power in that alien theocracy. John and Makee are seemingly the only two beings in the galaxy who can interact with the artifacts. After experiencing a shared vision of the mysterious Halo station in Episode 6, the two characters give in to the hormonal rush and have sex in Episode 8. And just to make things extra weird, Cortana is watching the entire time.

It's been a rough few years for Sega, in no small part due to COVID-19 forcing the shutdown of its already declining arcade businesses. Since last year, the company has been working on a strategy change to help its business become more sustainable long-term. The good news in this for fans of classic Sega games is that this means more remakes and remasters of older Sega IP.

In its annual earnings presentation for investors, Sega outlined some of its plans for the current fiscal year, which runs from April 2022 to March of 2023. One of those plans includes "multiple titles" that Sega considers "Remake/Remaster, Spin-Off/Change of theme."

Though the wording is a big clunky there, Sega gives a few helpful examples from this past year: think more games like Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, or Lost Judgment. The publisher is hoping to sell five million units total from this category, up from four million this past year.

Including brand new releases, Sega is aiming to publish 13 games during that same period, up from seven this past year. We already know about Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Origins, Soul Hackers 2, Endless Dungeon, and Two Point Campus, and it's possible that 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim's Switch release last month is also being counted in that total. That would leave seven games we don't know about yet, and possibly multiple remakes or remasters.

On an average day, the IGN news tips line sees a slow but steady stream of messages from folks who want to let us know about something we might report on. Maybe a handful of tips a day. But this past weekend, the line was flooded in just a few hours with over a hundred messages from a group of very frustrated folk: the Team Fortress 2 community. Why were so many of them in our inbox? According to the contents of all those messages, their game has a massive, two-year-long botting problem – and they desperately want Valve’s attention in getting it fixed.

We weren’t the only site getting these messages, nor were they limited to just the media. The source of the flood is a community centered around Team Fortress 2 content creator SquimJim, who published a video on May 7 lamenting the rampant botting issues within Team Fortress 2. In it, he encourages his audience to reach out to both media and Valve employees in hopes that enough pressure will force the developer to take action. SquimJim offered an email template (which many of our tippers used, though others wrote their own messages) and a list of both media tiplines like our own, and publicly-available Valve employee emails. At the time this piece was written, the video had almost 150,000 views, 15,000 likes, and nearly 2,000 comments chiming in about their own frustrating experiences with bots.

It’d be easy enough to dismiss the problem as the natural fate of a 15-year-old game, or point out that the vast majority of online games have botting problems – how bad could this one be? But as IGN discovered, Team Fortress 2’s botting problems are egregious when compared to other online multiplayer games. Head into a casual match on Valve’s servers, and you’ll find that the game is practically impossible to play.

The alien that's too proud to ask for directions, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Today?

Xûr's location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on May 14 through May 17. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you'll find the freakish salesman we all adore peddling his wares.

Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops -- Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Mark Medina -- are discussing Gotham Knights, the fate of PS4/Xbox One, Starfield, Redfall, Dead Space remake, the Nintendo Switch Pro, and more. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions.

Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

Spotify

Stitcher

Find previous episodes here!

Epic Games is releasing an "open to everybody" Unreal Engine 5 editor for Fortnite, and will let creators monetize what they make.

CEO Tim Sweeney told Fast Company that around half of players' time in Fortnite is spent playing other users' content and Epic Games wants to make that experience more fully-fledged through the editor, and the ability to monetize that custom content.

"We’re going to release the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the full capabilities that you’ve seen [in Unreal Engine] opened up so that anybody can build very high-quality game content and code," Sweeney said, "and deploy it into Fortnite without having to do a deal with us. It’s open to everybody."

He added that it's Epic Games' aim to make Fortnite a marketplace similar to Steam or the App Store, comparing it to other games like Roblox that, while free to download and play normally, feature player-made content that can be bought with real money.

Sweeney said: "We’re building an economy, and it will support creators actually building businesses around their work and making increasing amounts of profit from the commerce that arises from people playing their content."

Despite being involved in a lawsuit over its development, and negative reviews, Square Enix says it recommends Balan Wonderworld "with confidence".

The game was brought up in a Q&A session during a company earnings briefing, during which an investor asked about ex-director Yuji Naka's lawsuit against the company, seemingly brought after his dismissal from the project.

Square Enix confirmed that Naka had a lawsuit case with the company but wouldn't give any further details about it. However, according to Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki, Square Enix also commented on Balan Wonderworld itself, saying, "it is a game that we recommend with confidence."

Square Enix confirmed it had lawsuit case with Yuji Naka but declined to comment further. As for Balan Wonderworld, "it is a game that we recommend with confidence." (from Q&A session during earnings briefing)

Nintendo won't be drawn on when it will release a successor to the Switch, but president Shuntaro Furukawa has made it clear that the company aims not to repeat the same mistakes as it did when moving from Wii to Wii U, and DS to 3DS.

In the company's latest financial briefing Q&A, an attendee asked Furukawa how Nintendo aimed to move on from the Switch smoothly when it chooses to release next-generation hardware. While Furukawa didn't directly acknowledge new hardware, or when it might arrive, he pointed out that the company is aiming to learn from its past mistakes:

"Looking back on past experiences of generational change such as the change from the Wii and Nintendo DS eras, we recognize that one of our tasks is ensuring the transition to future generations of hardware is as smooth as possible," he said.

Nintendo saw enormous success with the Wii and DS (the latter of which remains its best-selling hardware of all time), but their successors, Wii U and 3DS, both suffered very rocky launches. While 3DS recovered to some extent, Wii U became one of Nintendo's most notable failures, with production ending just 5 years after launch. Much of the problem for both machines were their similarities to their predecessors, with many customers unclear on what had been upgraded, and whether they even needed the new hardware.

Variable Rate Refresh has been one of the most requested features on the PlayStation 5 since it launched nearly two years ago. Sony has now resolved that, finally rolling out VRR to PS5 consoles, allowing players with a compatible TV or monitor to activate the feature in potentially any PS5 game. There’s a short list of games that will receive a patch enabling VRR support in the coming weeks, but you can turn it on for unsupported games as well – just know that those without official support might not achieve perfect results.

What is VRR and how does it work?

VRR is a relatively new technology (2013) that changes a long-standing limitation of computer and console display methods. Prior to VRR (also known as Free-Sync/G-Sync), your TV or monitor fixed the rate at which games could update their images each frame, based on the speed at which the screen could refresh its display to draw a new image. Most popular TVs tended to be 60Hz, which is why 60fps has been the target for gaming performance for so long. This means that the fastest a PC or console could send a new image would be every 16ms, which after 1 second gives us 60 new frames.

The next rate below this is 30fps or 33ms, which divides into 60fps evenly. This meant that game engines had to lock all their functions, loops and inputs into this fixed drumbeat that was dictated by the screen, called V-sync, and means that so long as both console and TV align at the same 16 or 33ms point in time, we get a new frame each time. The problem here, or at least one of a few, is this can come at a large cost to performance and impacts console and PC alike. This is why turning off V-sync can sometimes improve performance, as it lets the system ignore this fixed period of waiting for the screen.

Ubisoft's Skull & Bones could finally see release, after a rating for the PC version of the game has found in South Korea.

According to South Korea's Game Management Committee (via VGC), the rating was filed on May 12 and it appears to indicate a game that will fall under a Mature rating. A rating is usually given to a game that is complete or nearing completion, meaning the long-delayed game could finally be on the way.

The game seemingly includes drug use and contains people drinking alcohol, and smoking. The rating also mentions that the game is an open-world set in the Indian Ocean during a golden age of pirates.

Skull & Bones has had a turbulent development. It was first announced at E3 2017 with a 2018 release window. Since then, the game has repeatedly been delayed, amid reports of difficulties in making it. Back in 2020, Ubisoft reportedly rebooted Skull & Bones to follow a live game model, and it apparently only still exists because of a deal with the Singapore government in which Ubisoft must launch original games in return for subsidy payments.

An Elden Ring dataminer has found several unused text popups in the game files, which seem to allude to a PvP ranking system.

The popups were found by Twitter user @StrayKurtis and appear to be part of a progression system tied to different Elden Ring factions, reading "Bloody Finger Rank Advanced", "Hunter Rank Advanced", and so on.

There's currently no way to tell if these are from a scrapped mechanic or if they're perhaps linked to an upcoming piece of DLC but the Elden Ring community is already speculating wildly.

#ELDENRING datamine fun fact: There are several unused text popups related to the various online interactions(invasions, coop, etc). Perhaps there are some sort of ranking systems in the works? pic.twitter.com/FTurtshwS2

— StrayKurtis (@StrayKurtis) May 11, 2022

Previous games from developer FromSoftware, including Bloodborne and Dark Souls, had a somewhat hazy PvP ranking system, where defeating invading players would grant faction-specific rewards that could be traded in to increase your rank and eventually get rare items or unlocks.

Cardy, Matt, and Joe are here to take your breath away with some chat about Top Gun: Maverick. They also delve into how Gotham Knights is shaping up, as well as impressions of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, Rogue Legacy 2, and Citizen Sleeper. There’s also what must be the highest-scoring Endless Search yet to enjoy.

Want to get in touch to talk about digging graves? Or maybe Elden Ring? Feel free to send us an email at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast #644: Top Gun: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

• IGN UK Podcast #643: Doctor Strange in the Desperate Search for Seal Meat
• IGN UK Podcast #642: Overwatch 2 is a Playable Thing that Exists
• IGN UK Podcast #641: Grave Digger 4000
• IGN UK Podcast #640: The 2013 Build-a-Game Workshop
• IGN UK Podcast #639: Three Bunged Up Boys

The latest figures from The NPD Group reveal that the Nintendo Switch is now the fourth highest selling console in US history, having now eclipsed Sony's sales of the PlayStation 4.

The data shown in NPD's U.S. games industry sales from April 2022 report show that the Nintendo Switch achieved the highest unit sales of any console for both April and all of the overall year to date. These sales push it past the milestone set by PlayStation 4, making the Nintendo Switch the fourth highest unit-selling home console in U.S. history, behind the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii.

If handheld consoles are counted, Switch is now the sixth highest-selling video game platform in the US, as both the Nintendo DS and Game Boy are comfortably among the best selling games machines of all time.

In April, spending on games hardware incresed by 16% in the US compared to the same period in 2021, which NPD attributes to the improved supply of PS5 and Xbox consoles. That can be seen in the fact that Xbox Series consoles are the second highest-selling devices of both the month and 2022 overall. The PS5, however, led April in terms of dollar sales.

Last month's NPD data revealed that Xbox Series consoles were 2022's best selling platform by dollars made, representing the continued strengthening of the Xbox brand.

A Final Fantasy 14 streamer was jailed in-game, banned for ten days, and got a week's suspension on Twitch for using mods in the MMO, amid a seeming crackdown on their use.

As reported by Polygon, Twitch user Bagel Goose was streaming Final Fantasy 14 with mods active (that altered his own visuals without affecting other players) when his character was teleported to an in-game jail to face judgement from a moderator.

Various mods have been created to alter the players' HUD and make things like damage output (an important statistic for high-level players) clearer, but a blog post from Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida on May 9 made clear even these are prohibited.

There's no way my tank got pulled out of DSR mid pull to get a 10 day ban on a clean account. I hate it here.

— Melo (@MeloArkwind) May 10, 2022

While these mods may not be damaging to other players, Yoshida said, analysing every mod in existence to determine its appropriateness "is physically impossible, which is why we decided to simply prohibit the use of all third-party tools and software."

A well-known leaker shared four images of an alleged new Silent Hill game before they were quickly deleted by the "copyright holder" – leading many to believe they are legitimate.

Twitter user Dusk Golem posted the images before their account was locked and the images removed. The leaker later claimed on ResetEra that the copyright claim was made by Silent Hill's owner Konami.

The deleted images have been seen by IGN, and appear to show a handful of appropriately horrid environments, including a rundown house and creepy corridor, alongside a character model whose face is peeling away to reveal bits of paper behind the skin.

(1/2) Silent Hill leak. There's a lot I'm not sharing for now. This is from a relatively new source for me, but I have been given more than enough proof to believe them. I also will mention the names "Anita & Maya", "SMS Messages", & this is not the only SH game in dev. The shots pic.twitter.com/t5MWzNxfFS

— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) May 13, 2022

Dusk Golem has previously leaked correct information, particularly in relation to other Japanese horror series Resident Evil, and claimed to have "more than enough proof to believe" these images were real.

Around four in the morning on February 24, 2022, Alex Molodkin was hard at work in his Kyiv apartment. The Steam Next Festival was in full swing, and Molodkin was participating with a free demo of the cozy puzzle adventure he was developing with his partner, Puzzles for Clef. His family was asleep. It was a normal night for Molodkin, until the war began.

“I was just working on our game because I often work late into the night,” Molodkin says. “Everyone else was sleeping and I hear some distant explosions. Didn't need much time to realize what's happening. So I just had to wake everyone up and deliver the awesome news.”

Molodkin woke his family and the group moved into the hallway of the apartment, bringing necessary belongings. And that’s where Molodkin has been, for the most part, since February – sleeping in shifts with his partner to keep an eye on the news or any threats that might require them to react. He considered evacuating with his family, but with a family of four and no car, it’s a logistical nightmare. Plus, as Molodkin puts it, it’s a matter of principle. “When some bad guys show up in your country, you don't want to run the moment they show up. You want to stay put for as long as possible.”

Molodkin’s story is a familiar reality for a number of game developers from all across Ukraine, who found their lives upended unexpectedly when Russia attacked their country in late February. The invasion is still ongoing over two months later, and has resulted in (at time of writing) the deaths of over 3,000 Ukrainian civilians and the displacement of over 5.5 million.

It's shaping up to be another promising year for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S owners. Microsoft will follow up on its strong 2021 with a number of big games in 2022, most notably Arkane's Redfall and Bethesda Game Studios' Starfield. Though the future is bright for Xbox owners, the consoles' current lineup is already worth celebrating, and so we've put together this list of the best Xbox Series X|S games you can play right now.

With the consoles' first full year behind us, we've updated our list to feature only games with dedicated Xbox Series X|S enhancements — no more Xbox One backward-compatible games.

Whether you're diving into an all-new adventure, getting the most out of your gaming TV with 4K 120Hz gameplay, or revisiting an old favorite through backwards compatibility on Xbox, these are the IGN staff's picks for the 15 best Xbox Series X|S games.

Most recent updates were made on May 12, 2022.

More on the best of Xbox:

News that Redfall and Starfield are being delayed into 2023 made waves this morning, not the least because they were expected to be major tentpole releases for Xbox this holiday season. Since then Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has taken to Twitter to respond, acknowledging fan disappointment while also saying that "delivering quality and consistently is expected" and that Xbox "hears the feedback."

Spencer's tweet reads, "These decisions are hard on teams making the games and our fans. While I fully support giving teams time to release these great games when they are ready, we hear the feedback. Delivering quality and consistency is expected, we will continue to work to better meet those expectations."

These decisions are hard on teams making the games & our fans. While I fully support giving teams time to release these great games when they are ready, we hear the feedback. Delivering quality & consistency is expected, we will continue to work to better meet those expectations. https://t.co/mIfXGd3rui

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 12, 2022

Starfield was originally slated for November 2022, where it was expected to be one of the biggest Xbox games of the year. Both it and Redfall join other high-profile exclusives like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 in being pushed into next year.

The brand-new Dead Space remake officially has a release date, with EA announcing during a stream that the updated version of the beloved survival horror game will be out January 27, 2023.

In addition to the release date, EA also released a trove of new concept art for fans to pick through. While EA says it isn't indicative of in-game footage, it does offer an idea of the scope that the development team is going for with its newly-updated version of Dead Space.

First announced in July 2021, Dead Space is a remake of the 2008 sci-fi horror game starring Isaac Clarke, an engineer who must battle a series of horrors known as Necromorphs. The original developer, Visceral Games, was shuttered in 2017, with co-creator Glen Schofield now working on a similar game set in the PUBG: Battlegrounds universe titled The Callisto Protocol.

Meanwhile, EA Motive is handling development of the remake.

According to EA, the Dead Space remake will seek to retain the look and feel of the original while utilizing "next-gen tech." EA Motive has since shown off an early version of the game's build while continuing to interface with fans, including adjusting weapon sounds based on fan feedback.

A "full reveal" of Dead Space will be arriving around Halloween, upon which EA Motive will properly take the wraps off its long-awaited sequel. When it releases next year, it will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. In the meantime, check out our list of the most anticipated games for the rest of 2022.

Pokémon Home will add support for Pokémon Legends: Arceus as well as Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in the coming weeks with update 2.0.0. With the new update, Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be mutually compatible with Pokémon Sword and Shield, allowing Pokémon to be moved freely between them using the Pokémon Home app, albeit with changes to their movesets.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will join a complex ecosystem that also includes Pokémon Go, Pokémon Let's Go, and Pokémon transferred from the Nintendo 3DS games. The latter games, however, will continue to support only one-way transfers with Pokémon Home.

To illustrate the system, the official website included this handy infographic.

Fans have been waiting a long time for Alan Wake 2, and it's finally happening. Unfortunately, it'll be a bit longer until we hear about the game's development from Remedy.

In an Alan Wake anniversary update from Remedy, creative director Sam Lake revealed that the studio will be keeping Alan Wake 2 updates under wraps for a little while longer, and there won't be an update this summer.

"Everything with Alan Wake 2 development is going really well. We are deep in production, have a lot of material, and a great deal of the game is playable," said Lake. "But we've been talking for the past couple of months and have come to the decision here at Remedy, along with our wonderful publisher Epic Games, that we will not be showing anything big this summer."

Lake says that "to create a proper, polished demo or a trailer takes a lot of effort, and it's several months of work that could take away from development."

So, rather than sacrifice resources for a promotional update, Lake says Remedy wants to take the current momentum and keep developing Alan Wake 2 which means "unfortunately, you'll have to wait a bit longer for a demo and trailer."