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In a hilarious fake trailer, Saturday Night Live has cast The Last of Us' Pedro Pascal in HBO's Mario Kart and tasks him with taking Princess Peach to Rainbow Road.

The trailer, which you can check out below, is roughly three minutes long and also features appearances by Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, and Luigi.

HBO's adapting another iconic game pic.twitter.com/YtsIswwSBb

— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) February 5, 2023

In this world, it's been 10 years since Mushroom Kingdom fell and the only thing left is "hope." Pascal's Mario, who introduces himself with the iconic line, "It's a-me, Mario," is asked to take Princess Peach to Rainbow Road in an attempt to save humanity, and he's given a kart to do so.

Instead of Clickers, our heroes have to face off against Goombas, but luckily they have shotguns with red shell ammo to keep them safe. We even see Mario eating a mushroom and, when Princess Peach asks why he's eating poision, he responds with, "It makes me feel big, okay?! I need to feel big, because Bowser is out there, and he's the main bad guy."

The trailer is full of other Easter Eggs, the death of a major character we won't spoil here, and even more.

One of the funniest bits also notes that this new series is from the "master storytellers behind Mario Kart 1-8." As everyone knows, we all flock to the Mario Kart franchise because of its riveting tales.

Activision Blizzard has been charged $35 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for "failing to maintain disclosure controls related to complaints of workplace misconduct and violating whistleblower protection rule."

The SEC shared the news in a press release, stating Activision Blizzard agreed to pay the $35 million to settle its violations, and the charges stemmed from issues dating back to 2016.

"According to the SEC’s order, between 2018 and 2021, Activision Blizzard was aware that its ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees was a particularly important risk in its business, but it lacked controls and procedures among its separate business units to collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct," The SEC wrote.

Between 2016 and 2021, the SEC stated Activision Blizzard also "executed separation agreements in the ordinary course of its business that violated a Commission whistleblower protection rule by requiring former employees to provide notice to the company if they received a request for information from the Commission’s staff."

As a result, Activison Blizzard was said to have violated Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(a) and 21F-17(a). The company did not admit or deny the SEC's finding, instead it just "agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a $35 million penalty."

Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games has announced it will be changing the game's February 23 release date to an early access release date to prevent further delays and to allow fans to jump in and help the studio reach the finish line.

Endnight Games revealed its plan for the Sons of the Forest's release and development going forward via a post on Steam, and shared it very much wants the community's help as it did for the original game.

"It’s been a long journey since we first started ‘Sons of The Forest’ development and it’s grown into the biggest most complex game we have ever made," the post reads. "There is still so much more we want to add; items, new mechanics, gameplay balance and more. We didn’t want to delay again so have instead decided to involve the community in the continued development of this project and keep our February 23rd release date but instead release in Early Access.

"‘The Forest’ turned out to be a massive success, due mostly to the awesome community and the suggestions, feedback, and bug reports the players shared with us," the post continues. "We are really excited and hope that players want to come on this new journey with us to make this the ultimate survival horror simulator."

The regular person with no unique or weird features, 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 Located Today?

Xûr's location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on February 3 through February 4. 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 retail monster who inspires us all.

Remedy Entertainment and Smilegate announced that they will be shutting down CrossfireX on May 18, 2023. This announcement comes right before the game’s one-year anniversary as it was released on Xbox Series and Xbox One back on February 10, 2022.

“Since the launch of the game, we have worked tirelessly to bring it to a point where we can all be proud, and throughout it all we have had the honor and pleasure of supporting our players,” CrossfireX’s development team said in a statement.

It continued: “Coming to this decision was not easy, however, we can proudly say that our players have been amazingly active, passionate, and enthusiastic in working with us to create a game that would be fun and enjoyable by all. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing CrossfireX and being a part of this journey with us.

It is with deepest regret that we must inform you of our decision to terminate our service for CrossfireX. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing and being a part of this journey with us. For full details, please visit: https://t.co/Kx03nYOmLA pic.twitter.com/Gl790Tn38T

— CrossfireX (@PlayCrossfireX) February 3, 2023

Sales for the game on the Xbox Store have already been disabled, and there will be no new content added to the game, including maps, modes, and camos. Additionally, purchases made within the last 14 days as of February 3, 2023, are eligible for a refund.

Update: 02/03/2022: It Takes Two has now sold more than ten million copies, doubling its five million record set this time last year.

Announced on developer Hazelight Studios' Twitter (below), the team said "our minds are officially blown" as they celebrated the impressive number.

"Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game," it added. "We never dared to dream of so many fans. Thank you for all the love."

Our minds are officially blown.#ItTakesTwo has sold over 10 (TEN!) MILLION 😳💥

Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game - we never dared to dream of so many fans!
Thank you for all the love. 😍 pic.twitter.com/GzF1UL7ZUn

— Hazelight Studios (@HazelightGames) February 3, 2023

Original Story: 02/07/2022: It Takes Two has sold five million copies, including two million since October, developer Hazelight Studios has announced.

The developer tweeted (below) that "our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game."

Hazelight previously announced on October 13 that the award-winning co-op game had passed three million units sold, showing that It Takes Two had a strong holiday period performance with at least two million sales.

Naughty Dog has announced that the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1 will be delayed by a few weeks from its original March 3 release date to March 28.

“Hearing your love for the HBO adaptation, seeing your beautiful Photo Mode shots, and learning about how the world and characters our studio created nearly a decade ago continue to reach new and old fans alike floors us every day,” Naughty Dog said in a statement (below).

“We know a lot of you have been revisiting the story that started it all with The Last of Us Part 1 on [the] PlayStation 5 console, and we realized many of you have been excited to jump in — some for the first time — when Part 1 hits PC."

The Last of Us Part I PC will now be released on March 28. An update from our team: pic.twitter.com/lvApDT71Xj

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) February 3, 2023

The studio continued: “We want to make sure that The Last of Us Part 1 PC debut is in the best shape possible. These additional few weeks will allow us to ensure this version of The Last of Us lives up to your, and our, standards.”

The HBO adaptation of The Last of Us has proved incredibly popular and critically well-received. Its success helped drive sales for The Last of Us Part 1 on PS5 in the UK by 238%, and the PS4 remaster also saw a 322% sales increase.

Cardy, Dale, and Mat dream up what they think should be the next big video game TV show following The Last of Us as they pick the game, director, cast, and much more for their big-budget projects. Before that, though, there's time for a little Dead Space catch-up, impressions of Knock at the Cabin, Knockout City sadness, and the bizarre thing that is Infinite Seinfeld.

Got a game for us to play or just want to tell us the weirdest thing you've eaten for breakfast? Why not email us: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 682: Creating the Next Best Video Game TV Show

• IGN UK Podcast 681: Shadow Drop It Like It's Hot
• IGN UK Podcast #680: Dead Space and Other Games We Want Remade
• IGN UK Podcast 679: The Last of Us is Very Good
• IGN UK Podcast #678: Wot We Did Over Christmas
• IGN UK Podcast 677: The Big 2023 Preview

Welp. Nintendo won't be on the floor at E3 2023. Neither will Xbox. Sony… well, we knew Sony and the ESA haven't been hitching horses for a while now. So that means the "Big 3" are no-shows at what we had all hoped was going to be a triumphant, perhaps even jubilant, return of the most legendary gaming show of them all. I'm not going to write about "Is E3 even relevant?" or "do we still need a show like E3?" Those pieces have already been written, often by people much more talented and wise than I. Instead, I just want to say, as a fan of video gaming, how I am truly bummed out to see E3 once again falling to the wayside. Some of the greatest E3 moments of all time come from Nintendo, and while they stopped doing live conferences in 2012, their E3-timed Directs have been some of the most memorable parts of E3 without technically being part of E3.

While Nintendo wasn't doing live press conferences, its presence on the showfloor was always massive and one of the places you absolutely, positively had to visit if you were among those lucky enough to attend E3. Usually Nintendo would have a Treehouse live event immediately following its Direct, and we'd be treated to several hours of live gameplay of games we only just learned about. It was all so exciting and fun, and this year it's gone.

As I am writing this, the wikipedia article "List of World War II video games'' includes over 1000 entries. But the prequel to end all prequels, World War I, doesn't even have 200 games to speak of. The Great War: Western Front might, in fact, be the first World War I RTS worth mentioning in the modern era. It's not especially pretty, but neither was the Battle of the Somme. And the ways it models early 20th Century warfare feel surprisingly authentic without dragging everything down to a snail's pace.

When I think about World War I, particularly the Western Front, I immediately think of trench warfare. And, indeed, that is a key component of how The Great War's battles play out. Each engagement begins with a set-up phase where both sides can place and upgrade trenches, position artillery and machine gun nests, and deploy troops along the line. This draws from a common pool of supplies that are also used once the clock starts to order bombardments and call in reinforcements.

The interesting trade-off here is that troops are cheaper to deploy in the set-up phase, but placing them early means they might take damage from the enemy's strategic-level siege artillery before battle is even joined. There's also the important consideration of how many supplies to spend on set-up and how many to hold in reserve to use throughout the battle. When I tried to really turtle up as hard as I could from the start, I often found that I would run out of shells for my artillery long before I had achieved a convincing breakthrough and have no choice but to call a ceasefire.

Free-to-play, team-based dodgeball game Knockout City is about to be, well, knocked out. According to an official post today, it's shutting down in June.

We have an important announcement about the future of Knockout City.

Season 9 will be our final Season. All servers will be shut down on June 6th. We have more in store, so stay tuned!

Learn more about the upcoming sunset in our latest blog: https://t.co/15hTpzmSyq

— Knockout City (@knockoutcity) February 3, 2023

In the full blog post, developer and publisher Velan Studios says that Season 9 will be the final season for Knockout City, with the game shutting down on June 9, 2023 — over two years after launch. This means that all servers will shut down and Knockout City won't be playable at all.

Beginning February 28 (the same day that Season 9 starts), all real-money transactions will be removed. However, Velan reassures that Season 9 will include copious rewards in the form of XP, style chips, and the currency holobux. Additionally, "almost every cosmetic we've ever sold" will end up in one of the upcoming event sale shops, and rewards for login bonuses, league play, and other elements will be increased.

A final, two-week-long event on May 23 will conclude Knockout City's run with triple XP, "massive rewards," and a community-favorite playlist.

The last thing I expected from developer Tango Gameworks was a vibrant, fun-loving action game with the heart of a cartoon I would’ve absolutely loved. The studio’s primarily known for the dark and creepy likes of The Evil Within or Ghostwire: Tokyo, but Hi-Fi Rush is instead filled with a joyous, youthful personality seen in its stunning animation, art style, and characters. And while the surprising change of pace is already refreshing, Tango’s greatest accomplishment is how it expertly executes on the singular concept that permeates Hi-Fi Rush’s design — that rhythm is everything.

Right from the jump, Hi-Fi Rush establishes its reverence for modern garage and alt-rock, kicking things off by using The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy” to introduce the cheesy but endearing protagonist Chai and the colorful, high-tech industrialized world he lives in. Labeled a “defect” by robotics megacorp Vandelay Industries after a surgical mishap leaves him with an iPod stuck in his chest, Chai can see and feel the pulse of his music coursing through the world around him. From that point on, nearly everything is impressively tied to the rhythm of Hi-Fi Rush’s soundtrack as this boyish goofball bashes Vandelay robots with a makeshift sword in the shape of a Gibson Flying V.

The monstrous hero Swamp Thing is coming to the big screen thanks to DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DCU plan, the first part of which is dubbed Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. Looks like we know which section of that title Swamp Thing fits in...

The character has gotten his fair share of cross-media attention in recent years, including being in the roster for the 2017 fighting game Injustice 2 as well as having his own live-action TV series on the DC Universe streaming app. Alas, that show only lasted one season, and the service itself is long gone as well now.

Still, Swamp Thing has had a long and interesting history at DC Comics. Here's everything you need to know about the roots of this character (pun intended) and the role he plays in the larger DCU.

Who Is Swamp Thing?

Alec Holland was a brilliant scientist developing a "bio-restorative formula" that promised to change the fields of botany and medicine forever. But when Holland refused to sell his formula, his lab was sabotaged. Holland was doused with burning chemicals and dove into the nearby swamp to save himself. Instead, he emerged as a giant, plant-like monster. His old life gone, Holland was left to roam the bayou and punish anyone who threatened his new home.

After years of almost nonstop scarcity, you can finally just go to Amazon and buy a PS5 or an Xbox Series X. No "request invitation" button. No inflated third-party pricing. You can just buy one.

This day has been a long time coming.

This console generation -- the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and, to a lesser extent, Nintendo Switch OLED -- has been an unusual one, to put it mildly. Finding current-gen consoles in stock, either in brick-and-mortar stores or online, has been far more difficult than usual. For the average consumer who doesn't follow Wario64 or IGN Deals on Twitter, finding these devices in stock was nearly impossible any point over the past two years.

Sony recently said the PS5 shortage is essentially over, and we’re finally seeing that bear out. Right now, you can order all of the latest game consoles at one retailer or another, and they will ship almost immediately. It’s about time.

Where to Buy Current-Gen Consoles

Naturally, there are a couple of caveats. For the PS5 disc edition, the only SKU that’s currently available is the one that comes with God of War: Ragnarok and costs $559. Back in the old days, game pack-ins came at no additional cost, but those days are over. (Thankfully, it’s a great game; see our 10/10 God of War Ragnarok review). And the PS5 Digital Edition isn’t as widely available as the disc version. It still requires you to request an invitation to order from Amazon, or it ships out in a week from Walmart.

While there are clearly many millions of players who have secured their own PS5 and Xbox, lots are still looking. Whether you are trying to figure out which outlets have them available, which console and accessories you should actually buy, and what the pros and cons for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are, we've got you covered. Read on to find all that and more.

Where to Buy a PS5

Walmart has PlayStations available right now, while Amazon is still requiring you to apply for an invitation. However, the turnaround for those invitations is getting faster and faster.

Where to Buy Xbox Series X

Should I Buy a PS5 or an Xbox?

That's a complicated question that has a lot of answers. First, what types of games do you like? If you like single-player games with more serious tones, PlayStation arguably has the lead (at least right now), although some feel that there is a degree of "same-ness" to them, which is something to keep an eye on.

Xbox currently has what some consider to be less compelling single-player exclusives, but Xbox is arguably better for those who love multiplayer games, with better chat integration, cross-platform functionality with PC, and several exclusive games that feature multiplayer prominently. PlayStation 5 has some of the most celebrated and popular exclusive franchises, like Last of Us and God of War, while Xbox has heavy hitters like Halo, Forza and Flight Simulator, to name a few.

Open-world survival game The Day Before got a 10-minute gameplay footage trailer today, the first new look at the game in over a year as developer Fntastic finds itself embroiled in a trademark dispute.

The new look shows off some exploring, weapon modding, scavenging, and shooting down infected enemies.

The Day Before was originally scheduled to be released in June 2022, but was delayed until March 1, 2023, and is now scheduled to drop on Nov. 10. While the first delay was due to the game's switch to Unreal Engine 5, it was further pushed back as the developer allegedly failed to trademark its name.

However, Fntastic told IGN last month that a delay was planned before the trademark dispute came to light.

"We planned to move the game's release before and plan to announce it with [publisher] Mytona in a 10-minute gameplay video," Fntastic said at the time. "And then you all know what happened. So to be on the safe side, to ensure there are no more transfers, we, along with the publisher, chose November 10. That is a safe date, given the trademark dispute."

There's been so many delays that some fans even accused it to be a scam, doubting that a game was even in development. Fntastic pushed back on those claims as well last month, saying "the storm will calm down eventually, and time will put everything in its place. When the game comes out, people will finally see the truth."

Turtle Rock Studios announced that it will not be adding any more content to Back 4 Blood and will be focusing on its next big game. The game has already received three expansions: Tunnels of Terror, Children of the Worm, and River of Blood.

“Turtle Rock Studios is actually pretty small for a studio making AAA games,” Turtle Rock Studios said in a statement. “We don’t have quite enough folks to continue working on Back 4 Blood content while we spin up another game - yes, another game! Given this, it’s time for us to put our heads down, get back in the lab, and get to work on the next big thing.”

Turtle Rock Studios continued, “While we may be a bit quieter in the short term we promise that we’ll be Back, bigger, bolder, and better than ever!

Turtle Rock Studios working on next game as it confirms Back 4 Blood won't receive new content https://t.co/4zTLrAMSIQ pic.twitter.com/yn3dao6w7F

— Wario64 (@Wario64) February 2, 2023

The studio said that it will continue to support the game and noted that it is available to play via PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium as well as Xbox Game Pass.

Turtle Rock Studios was part of Valve until 2010 but was recently acquired by Tencent back in 2021.

Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer will be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame this month at the 26th annual DICE Awards, in recognition of his over 30-year impact on the games industry.

Schafer's career began at LucasArts in 1989 as a programmer working on games including Indiana Jones and the last Crusade and Maniac Mansion. He was eventually invited by Ron Gilbert to work on The Secret of Monkey Island and its sequel, both of which received massive acclaim. Schafer went on to design games such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango before eventually leaving LucasArts in 2000 to found Double Fine Productions and create Psychonauts, Psychnauts 2, Brutal Legend, and Broken Age.

AIAS Hall of Fame status is given to "game creators who have been instrumental in the development of highly influential games and moving a particular genre forward." Schafer will join past honorees such as Ed Boon, Connie Booth, Bonnie Ross, Todd Howard, Hideo Kojima, and others.

“Tim has been a beacon of creativity and innovation in the games industry for decades,” said head of PlayStation Creators Greg Rice, who will be presenting the award. “Since the early days of LucasArts he’s been setting the benchmark for storytelling in games, and with the formation of Double Fine he created a place that not only allowed him to continue to deliver incredible games, but also inspire and support others doing the same. He truly is a legend.”

The difference between PlayStation and Xbox over the past generation-plus isn’t just the quantity of exclusives, it’s the quality of them. Microsoft has had precious few exclusives at all, which in and of itself has been a big problem. But worse, the number of those that have been not just good but fantastic is embarrassingly small. And that’s why last week’s surprise reveal and immediate shadow-drop of Tango Gameworks’ rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush was so huge for Xbox. It surprised, it delighted, and it’s a viral hit – and it’s exactly what Xbox needs right now.

Rhythm-action games aren’t new. But they’ve also never really been “hit” games. We’ve enjoyed a steady diet of them over the past few years, likely from game developers who themselves are, like many gamers, mourning the seemingly permanent death of the plastic-instrument genre that Guitar Hero and Rock Band pioneered in the late-2000s. And while a number of the new-age rhythm-action games have been good – last year’s Metal: Hellsinger leaned hard into its theme and was an incredibly fun game for doing so – there’s something more approachable and appealing about Hi-Fi Rush. Maybe it’s the literal-cartoon art style and its equally cartoonish plot about a teenager who cuts the line at Vandelay Technologies to get his disabled right arm replaced with a functioning robotic limb, only to end up getting rockstar powers courtesy of the iPod that gets mistakenly fused to his chest during the automated, factory-like procedure.

After the infamous WWE 2K20 misstep, the hugely popular WWE 2K22 arrived last year to course-correct the series and revolutionize the way we play simulations of the squared circle. Hot on its heels and looking to capitalise on its predecessor’s revolution this year is WWE 2K23. But from what I’ve played so far, it feels less like it’s standing on the shoulders of the giant, and rather peaking over cautiously.

As to be expected, WWE 2K23 comes with all the bells, whistles, and powerbombs you’d expect from a new WWE game. There’s a whole new roster featuring the likes of the returning Cody Rhodes and the up-and-coming NXT champion, Bron Breakker. Also receiving a yearly upgrade is the wrestler’s attire, music, and general presentation. It’s all as up-to-date as it could be, but outside of these upgrades, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that, at its core, it was largely the same game as before.

Much like the way lots of sports games iterate on their established winning formula, everything in terms of gameplay in WWE 2K23 has rolled over from the previous game. So much so that despite only having an hour to play the game, I immediately felt at home with the breaker system, combos, reversals, and all the grappling intricacies. If you’re familiar with 2K22, you’ll know exactly what to expect.

Sony's video game division has experienced its best financial quarter since launching the PlayStation 5, boasting a huge increase in console sales and first-party software.

As revealed in Sony's 2022 third-quarter financial results, the PS5 saw its best ever sales quarter with 7.1 million consoles sold during the three months ending December 31, 2022. That puts the console at 12.8 million sold during the 2022 financial year, and 32 million units shipped since launch. That's a 34% increase year-on-year, a figure that demonstrates the supply issues that once plagued the console may well and truly be behind us.

The PS5's success has seen Sony increase its annual sales target, from 18 to 19 million.

Sales revenue for the Game & Network Services Segment of Sony clocked in at ¥1246.5 billion, a 53% year-on-year increase, while operating profit came in at ¥116 billion, a 25% year-on-year increase. This makes for not just the best quarter of the year, but the best quarterly results of the PS5's entire lifespan.

Sony has had similar good news beyond just console sales. It's 86.5 million video game sales didn't quite hit the highs of Q3 last year (92.7 million), but this year's Q3 saw a substantial increase in first-party game sales; of the 86.5 million games sold, 20.8 million were first-party. 11 million of those alone were God of War Ragnarok.

A new PS5 system software beta has added Discord voice chat and Variable Refresh Rate support for 1440p displays, among a number of other upgrades.

Announced on the PlayStation Blog, the new system software is available for beta participants in the U.S., Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, and France. Its main feature is the addition of Discord voice chat, which allows cross-platform calls through the popular Discord system. Users will need to link their Discord and PlayStation Network accounts to use the service, and then begin a call on the Discord mobile app before transferring it to their console. It seems a little more fiddly than a standard PSN party, but will no doubt be very welcome to those who frequently play with friends who are on Xbox and PC.

The other headline feature of the beta update is Variable Refresh Rate support for 1440p resolution displays. This allows smoother visual performance when using a VR-compatible HDMI 2.1 display, provided the game supports Variable Refresh Rate. VRR can be enabled from your Screen and Video settings.

What should have been a celebration of a group clearing the most challenging possible content in Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker has turned into controversy, as the very first team to clear the latest FF14 raid has been accused of cheating.

Except...it's also kind of not cheating? Depending on who you ask.

The gist is that last week, FF14 patch 6.31 released, including a new, super-hard version of an existing raid: The Omega Protocol. A typical race to be the first raid team in the world to clear it ensued, with a group called Unnamed_ taking the crown on Monday by posting screenshots of their victory. However, not long after, an unlisted video began to circulate showing one of their members using a mod to zoom the camera out much farther than it normally should be able to do, presumably to get a better view on the mechanics. There are also some less-obvious UI mods displayed in the video tracking various elements of the fight.

Now that we've had a week to play Hi-Fi Rush and see the incredible viral reaction to it, we had a deep and extended conversation about Tango Gameworks' surprise rhythm-action release. We discuss why it was exactly what Xbox was needed, whether we might get a sequel, and more. Plus: the second half of the podcast is dedicated to an equally deep and heartfelt conversation about the state of 343 Industries and the Halo IP.

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have some pretty big plans for connecting the DC Universe (DCU), including video games. But at least one developer is skeptical of this approach.

Reacting to the news that Gunn and Safran plan to work games into the overall plan for the DCU, Firaxis Games designer Jake Solomon tweeted, "This would have been a nightmare for us on Midnight Suns. I understand the desire (I think) but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure this puts on the amazing voice actors in the games space? Different universes. And that's how they should/will stay."

This would have been a nightmare for us on Midnight Suns. I understand the desire (I think) but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure this puts on the amazing voice actors in the games space? Different universes. And that’s how they should/will stay. https://t.co/grKQGkhCsl

— Jake Solomon (@SolomonJake) February 1, 2023

Solomon was co-director on Marvel's Midnight Suns, which incorporated many stylistic elements from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but ultimately stood apart from it.

Electronic Arts is currently in the midst of a slew of cancellations and closures, the latest being a previously unknown project code-named TFL or Titanfall Legends — a secret single-player game set in the Titanfall and Apex Legends universe. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Not much is known about Titanfall Legends save that it was reportedly directed by Mohammad Alavi, who served as a design on the Titanfall games among other projects. Alavi departed EA early last year.

The cancellation coincides with the closure of the mobile versions of Apex Legends and Battlefield, as well as the shuttering of Industrial Toys. According to Bloomberg, roughly 50 developers were affected by the Titanfall Legends' cancellation. EA will reportedly try to place them in other positions within the company.

Titanfall's last solo outing was in 2016. It initially sold poorly but subsequently gained a following thanks to its superb single-player shooter design.

"It's rare that a sequel evolves on every part of the original concept so consistently for the better, but Titanfall 2 is that exception," we wrote in our review at the time. "Its feelgood movement is the foundation for both the engaging action and platforming gameplay of its strong campaign and its over-the-top competitive multiplayer. With bolstered progression, customization, variety, and a fleshed-out story, Respawn has made good on its original vision with Titanfall 2. And bottom line, it's just damn fun to play."

For today only Amazon is offering this Lightning deal: score a SanDisk Ultra 1TB Micro SDXC card for only $99.99, down about 30% from its original retail price of $139.99. This is the same deal we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

If you've started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch's base storage capacity. With only 32GB of starting space (and some of it reserved for the OS), you'll barely fit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Sword or Shield, which tap out at 13.5GB each! There's only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.

Black Friday Deals on Nintendo Switch Memory Cards

The SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC cards are pretty much the exact same memory cards as the ones that have the Nintendo branding on them. In fact, the Nintendo branded cards are also made by SanDisk. The SanDisk Ultra has respectable U1 A1 read and write speeds. There are other more expensive U3 A2 cards that are faster, but If you're putting this in the Nintendo Switch, it doesn't even matter. The Nintendo Switch can only support U1 speeds, so a higher rated U3 speed will just be throttled back down to U1 speeds anyways. So make sure your money goes into maximum storage capacity, not maximum speed.

Santa Monica Studio has confirmed that God of War Ragnarok has sold through 11 million copies.

The developer behind the latest God of War shared the news on Twitter with an adorably funny gif of Kratos making a heart with his hands.

"We're incredibly humbled that #GodofWarRagnarok has officially sold through 11 million copies," Santa Monica Studio wrote. "None of this would be possible without the support of our fans, so thank you for coming on this journey with us."

We’re incredibly humbled that #GodofWarRagnarok has officially sold through 11 million copies!

None of this would be possible without the support of our fans, so thank you for coming on this journey with us! pic.twitter.com/7KlAT9eddG

— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) February 1, 2023

In 2022, Sony shared that 2018's God of War had sold more than 23 million copies through September 30, 2022. It's important to note that those sales include the PC release of God of War, so expect a big boost to come God of War Ragnarok's way if it makes it to PC.

One of the biggest games announced at Xbox's Developer Direct livestream last week was Tango Gameworks' rhythm action game, Hi-Fi RUSH. The surprising title, which was released on the day of the livestream, became an overnight hit thanks to its colorful visuals, and satisfying, rhythm-based combat.

IGN spoke with Hi-Fi RUSH director John Johanas to discuss why Tango — best-known for horror games like The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo — chose to go a more colorful route this time, and how it pulled off one of the biggest gaming surprises of the year.

IGN: My entire timeline's talking about Hi-Fi RUSH. I'm curious, when did the development for Hi-Fi RUSH begin?

John Johanas: It was actually right after The Evil Within 2. I directed that and as we were winding up, we knew that Ghostwire [Tokyo] was the next game that the studio already had begun working on pre-production. Just from a personal standpoint, I felt like I needed a palate cleanser.

And when you develop a game with the other team members, you talk about other games people like. When we're playing games in our downtime, we talk about action games. I had this idea kind of brewing in my head for a while, but being this studio known for horror, in my mind I'm like, "Oh, this, this'll never get approved."

IGN Fan Fest will officially return the week of Feb. 13, with exclusive trailers, clips, news, reveals, interviews, and more surprises for upcoming games, movies, and shows rolling out all week.

The main event will be a live-stream on Feb. 17 and 18, starting 10am and streaming across all IGN platforms. It'll feature the likes of Redfall, John Wick: Chapter 4, HBO's The Last of Us, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Hogwarts Legacy, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Creed III, and a whole lot more.

See below just a taste of what'll be featured:

Games

• Redfall
• Diablo IV
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Street Fighter 6
• Elder Scrolls Online
• AEW: Fight Forever
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Layers of Fears
• Homebody

Movies

• John Wick: Chapter 4
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
• Creed III
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods
• Polite Society
• Cocaine Bear
• Scream VI

TV and Streaming

• Netflix’s Shadow and Bone
• HBO’s The Last of Us
• Trigun Stampede
• Star Trek: Picard
• The Ark
• Young Rock

This marks the third year of IGN Fan Fest, following two reveal-packed shows in 2022 and 2021. Last year's event featured exclusive panels with the likes of Halo, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, while the inaugural show had a conversation with Zack Snyder about his Justice League cut and a whole lot more.

Stay tuned right here on IGN for more details and reveals from 2023's big show.

Sony has announced that the PlayStation Plus games for February 2023 are OlliOlli World (PS4 and PS5), Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4), Evil Dead: The Game (PS4 and PS5), and Destiny 2: Beyond Light (PS4 and PS5).

As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all four games will be made available at no extra cost to PlayStation Plus subscribers on February 7.

OlliOlli World is a skateboarding action-platformer that lets players traverse a wild and wacky colourful world on, well, a skateboard. Players can take on different missions, customise their look, meet eccentric characters, and explore vibrant locations in a skateboarding utopia.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Rollercoaster-like courses and a wealth of moves make OlliOlli World a huge amount of fun to play, whether you’re just cruising or out to become a true skate god."

Mafia: Definitive Edition is a considerably different type of game, taking players back in time to 1930s America in a remake of the original PlayStation 2 and Xbox title to experience a blend of mystery solving and gangster gunfights.

IGN gave this one an 8/10, saying: "Oozing with 1930s atmosphere, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a successful rejuvenation of the best story in the series."

As part of James Gunn’s big reveal for the newly launched DCU, he shared that video games will tie into the movies, TV, and animation projects that will make up Warner Bros. Discovery’s big reboot of the DC universe. While Hollywood has spent the last century perfecting the production process of movies and TV shows, paving the way for grand, interconnected universes, adding video games into the mix could be a bold direction that not even DC’s rivals at Marvel are trying to do.

Marvel's Avengers fans may have seen its end coming, but that doesn't stop the disappointment caused by not seeing its story finished or potential met.

Following developer Crystal Dynamics' announcement that it would be delisting Avengers and ending active development, its community took to social media to share their disappointment.

Many complained about cosmetics being made free after its dedicated community had already spent considerable amounts of money on them, others lamented that long-requested features would never come to be, and others just shared their sadness that a game they enjoyed is shutting down.

The biggest complaint, however, seems to be that Avengers will forever have an unfinished story, as despite having three major expansions, plot points set up in the base game will now remain unanswered.

Konami's online murder mystery game Crimesight is being removed from sale just ten months after it launched, and shut down for good in May.

As reported by PC Gamer, Konami quietly updated the game's Steam page to announce that sales of the game would be ending on February 27 and it would be made unplayable on May 1.

Crimesight will therefore essentially cease to exist, due to what Konami called "various circumstances", but perhaps most likely as a result of a player-base that dwindled almost immediately.

Despite a generally positive reception, Steam DB data shows just 572 players online at its launch on April 14 last year, though this fell to just a few dozen a month later and has ranged from ten to 20 players since December.

"Online battles will not be available after the service ends," the Steam post reads. "Also, the game itself won’t be able to play. Although the time left until the end of the service is limited, we hope you will enjoy it to the end."

Crimesight puts teams of players against each other in futuristic London, with one team looking to sneakily assassinate a target NPC and the other looking to find out the culprits.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Whether they play D&D online or prefer your tabletop RPGs on an actual table, the roleplaying nerd in your life deserves something cool, so we've put together this list of the best D&D gifts of 2023 - along with some recommendations for other great tabletop games and accessories, too!

Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or a newcomer to the world of tabletop gaming, this gift guide is for you. We've scoured the land to bring you the best gifts for those who love to roll the dice and embark on epic quests. So, gather your party and let's embark on a journey to find the ultimate D&D gifts

TL;DR - Must-Have D&D Gifts of 2023

We've got a ton of recommendations for the RPG fan in your life further down the page, but if you're looking for the short short version, these are our picks for the must-have D&D and tabletop gifts this year.

Microsoft has announced that 46 games will be removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace on February 7, including Dark Souls, The Witcher 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and more.

As reported by Game Informer, Xbox shared the list of disappearing games on its official support website, though it varies slightly between regions.

Disc versions of these games will remain playable, and previously downloaded copies can also still be played. Gematsu also confirmed that the versions of these games available to download on Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles will also remain on those respective stores.

The Xbox 360 games being removed varies from region to region, but the list affecting customers in the United States is as follows:

Capcom has shared new details on the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 4. This includes confirmation that it will remove quick-time events, add sidequests, and introduce breakable knives.

Capcom provided a better idea of what fans can expect from the highly anticipated remake in a new cover story for Game Informer. The most significant change from the remake is that there will be no quick-time events.

Game Informer's story mentions that sidequests are also being added to the remake, stating that blue flyers located in-game are used to collect sidequests for you to complete, with examples including solving a puzzle, tracking down and eliminating a specific enemy. The blue medallion collectible that was featured in the original will also be returning in the remake..

One of the more interesting gameplay changes is that knives will have limited durability and will break after a certain amount of use. However, you can store multiple knives in your inventory. Additionally, you will have the option to trade jewels with the merchant in exchange for items such as yellow herbs, treasure maps, and weapon attachments.

Electronic Arts has announced that both Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile are shutting down. Apex Legends Mobile will sunset on May 1, 2023, at 4 pm PST. After that point, the game will no longer be playable. There was no date provided for Battlefield Mobile, but EA said that it will cease development. Industrial Toys, the studio behind Battlefield Mobile, is also being shut down altogether.

“Despite Apex Mobile’s strong start, the ongoing experience was not going to meet the expectations of our players,” explained EA in a statement. “After months of working with our development partner, we have made the mutual decision to sunset the mobile game.”

EA continued, “We've also made the decision to stop the development of the current Battlefield mobile title. As the industry has evolved and our to create deeply connected Battlefield ecosystem has taken shape, we decided to pivot from the current direction to best on our vision for the franchise and to meet the expectations of our players.”

On today's earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson offered an additional sentence in his prepared remarks that speaks to the possible future of Apex Legends on mobile. "We have learned a great deal [from Apex Legends Mobile] and have plans to reimagine a connected Apex Mobile experience in the future."

This seems to indicate that EA may bring Apex Legends back to mobile in some format without Apex Legends Mobile's development partner, Tencent subsidiary and PUBG Mobile maker Lightspeed Studios.

As Netflix’s library of Japanese anime series goes through the growing pains of expiring licenses, this Best of List will too. But there’s still plenty of canon anime series to watch. And we’re sticking to strictly Japanese animated series if you’re wondering why you don’t see anime-inspired juggernauts like Castlevania or more recent additions like Arcane (of which season two still lacks a release date).

Despite the imminent release of the live action One Piece movie sometime this year, Netflix US has not renewed several seasons of the original anime series– including Romance Dawn (Ep.1) to the end of the Alabasta Saga (Ep. 130). Which means these seasons will leave its library on February 11, 2023. To make up for that loss, the final season of the fan favorite Aggretsuko, a new crime series, and the sci-fi drama Make My Day arrives on the platform this February.

Note: As this is a list of anime series to watch, no anime movies were considered for this feature. This list applies to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms (yet). This list will also be periodically amended to remove series no longer available on Netflix, as well as add anime shows now available for streaming on the service.

What constitutes a remake or a remaster or even a reboot? Regardless of what you call it, today we’re looking at Dead Space, the new recreation of the classic survival horror game. The original is beloved by many – will history repeat itself here?

What’s on the menu?

Motive studios have some space experience, but this war is of a much bloodier kind, and remaking such a cherished sci-fi tale is surely a daunting task. The weapon of choice is DICE’s long serving Frostbite engine which has been used for everything from Battlefield to FIFA. Here they have to turn down the lights for a gory, tension-soaked rebirth of Isaac aboard the doomed Ishimura. The upgrades and rebuilt assets and models transform the entire game, and Isaac himself is now front and center with many of Dead Space 2’s improvements merged into the first game.