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Those looking forward to jumping into Gotham Knights on October 21 should be aware that major spoilers for this new DC adventure have begun circling around the internet.

As reported by Eurogamer, it appears Gotham Knight's artbook has been arriving to certain customers early, and some of those customers have begun sharing some of the more spoilery details online.

In response to these leaks, Gotham Knights' executive producer Fleur Marty took to Twitter to share a few words on the unfortunate situation.

"I can't begin to understand why would anyone spoil a story (whether it's a game, a movie, a book, whatever) for others," Marty wrote.

We recently had a chance to preview Gotham Knights one last time before launch, and we said that it is "not an easy game to demo, and while I walked away from my hands-on time less than impressed with many aspects of combat, I still found myself interested in playing more."

Square Enix is urging Final Fantasy 14 players to be vigilant about their account security after revealing that it is currently under attack by hackers who are attempting to gain access to Square Enix accounts.

In a blog post, Square Enix revealed that it is "currently experiencing an attack by a third party that is attempting to gain access to the Square Enix Account Management System by using a combination of email address and passwords that appear to have been obtained from other online services of other companies."

Notices : NA: Precautions for Guarding Against Unauthorized Account Access https://t.co/KWnirT6GmT #FFXIV

— FINAL FANTASY XIV News (@FFXIV_NEWS_EN) October 7, 2022

To protect from any unwanted account breaches, Square Enix suggests changing any passwords you might share with Square Enix with other accounts.

Square Enix is telling players to reset their passwords or to use One-Time Passwords which are temporary verifications that authenticate a user for a single login.

The company says that if it continues to experience hacking attacks, it may force a password reset for all Square Enix accounts in order to protect personal information and data.

No reason has been given for why Square Enix accounts are under attack, but there will likely be continuous updates on the situation as they develop.

A new Crash Bandicoot game could be announced at The Game Awards if a recent promotional teaser turns out to be accurate.

Influencers have been receiving gifts promoting the upcoming Steam release of Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time. This gift is what looks like a pizza box with labels highlighting Crash 4's October 18 PC release date. But a small detail tucked away on the box seems to be teasing an additional announcement.

Also on the box is a little message teasing a new "Wumpa Pizza" available for $12.08. This price happens to be the same date as this year's Game Awards which will take place on December 8th. This has led to speculation that this is for a new Crash announcement.

new Crash Bandicoot teased for The Game Awards pic.twitter.com/IiaYgTiZ82

— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 7, 2022

Fans have been speculating a new Crash Bandicoot game, referred to online as Wumpa League, is in the works. Developer Toys for Bob has been teasing a new game since early this year as well, lending credit to the online speculation.

Toys for Bob revived Crash Bandicoot with It's About Time, a well-received, sequel/reboot of the original Crash trilogy created by Naughty Dog.

After ten years, Electronic Arts is replacing Origin PC with the EA App, a new desktop client for PC.

Today, EA announced the app's release in a new blog, calling it their "fastest and lightest PC client to date." The EA app, which had been in open beta prior to the announcement, is now out and will soon fully replace Origin.

"For over 10 years we’ve welcomed millions of players into our Origin platform, we’ve listened to your feedback and acknowledge the limitations of this platform in a quickly evolving entertainment landscape," EA's post reads.

"So we set out to build EA’s next-generation PC game platform — a faster, more reliable, and more streamlined gaming experience — the best possible place for you to experience EA’s incredible games, services and content."

The EA app will focus more on social gaming and will allow players to import their friend lists from Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation accounts.

For current Origin users, the process of switching over data will be relatively simple — games, local and cloud saves, and friend lists will transfer to the EA app automatically.

The EA app is only available for PC players, and Mac players will still have to use Origin to launch games.

The EA app isn't the only thing EA has in the works. The company is currently working on quite a few games, including skate. and its Dead Space remake.

CD Projekt Red has come a long way since it shipped the original Witcher game in 2007. 15 years later the studio has grown to span two continents and produce not just multiple franchises, but multiple games within those franchises at once.

While we knew it was planning to develop two games simultaneously going forward, the Poland-based developer kicked down the doors of the AAA gaming space in October 2022 as it announced four new Witcher games, a new Cyberpunk, and another, brand new project all at once.

The explosion of information has led to some complicated ideas though, with lots of numbers and orders, and schedules being thrown around. CD Projekt Red's next three releases will be Witcher games, for example, but these aren't the new Witcher trilogy. Confusing!

To keep on top of things, IGN has put together this list of every CD Projekt Red game currently in development, as well as what we know about the release timeline. The developer also said it's opening itself up to partnerships with external studios for mobile games based on its franchises, but as nothing specific has been announced yet, these won't be on the list.

Most games currently just have codenames (which are named after stars, because CD Projekt Red is "reaching for the stars"), but we've also explained in plainer terms what each game actually is.

Street Fighter 6 went into beta today, giving some fans the opportunity to test out the game ahead of its launch. While it's in closed beta, luckily for the rest of the internet, the players with access have created some truly incredible (and terrifying) things with its impressively open-ended character creator.

Of course, plenty of players have begun testing the limits of this character creator by creating terrifying forms that should probably not be allowed to exist, like this man with green chest hair and massive calves:

this is already the wackiest character creator Capcom has ever made and i’m only 10% into it pic.twitter.com/tUlNpDl0wf

— JEFF (@JohnnyUtahNG) October 7, 2022

As seen above, the character creator appears to have plenty of opportunities for hair customization, leading to this extremely buff man with pink and red hair:

SF 6 character creator really lets you be the true version of yourself pic.twitter.com/OkTIZrIpD5

The Silent Hill movie director, Christophe Gans, may have confirmed that multiple Silent Hill games are indeed in the works, corroborating rumors that have been circulating for some time now. Gans directed the 2006 Silent Hill film, and has previously teased his involvement in a new Silent Hill movie.

In a recent French video interview, Gans spoke about the future of the Silent Hill franchise, and thanks to a translation posted on ResetEra (which IGN separately confirmed to be accurate), Gans teased what's to come on the video game front.

"I'm working with the Silent Team, the original creators at Konami, there are several games in development as we speak, there are several teams on it, with a big line of games, they will revive the franchise," Gans said. "I think they were really impressed of the success of the remakes of Resident Evil that are evidently exceptional games."

Gans added that he's not working directly on the games, but he's working with "the Silent Team who I met when I filmed the first Silent Hill movie." Of course, one person Gans said he's obviously not working with is Hideo Kojima.

Simp of the Nine, 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 The Tower on October 7 through October 11. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. You'll find ol' snake-face chilling near the stairs at the back of the Hangar area.

Google Stadia’s announcement back in 2019 was full of big promises for what the tech company – then largely an outsider to the business – called the “future of gaming.” It was to be a streaming platform that would span multiple devices, allowing players to access games across hardware they already had in their homes without buying expensive console boxes. It would integrate with YouTube, allowing capture, streaming, and sharing as well as the ability to jump straight from a YouTube video of a game into an instance of that same game. It was promised to be more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One combined, with the word “teraflops” tossed around gleefully demonstrating its supposed power. These promises were massive ones for a company with hardly a gaming credit to its name, but they were backed not just by money and power and tech prowess, but also by storied developers like Jade Raymond, major studios like Bethesda, indie darlings like Tequila Works and Typhoon Studios (via acquisition), and engine creators like Unreal and Unity.

Why there’s never been a better time to play Cardfight!! Vanguard Trading Card Game

October 7th marks the release of three all-new Trial Decks for CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD will+Dress worldwide. So in celebration of the drop, here are a few reasons you should begin your Cardfight!! Vanguard journey.

If you’ve never played a Bushiroad card game before, you’re in for a surprise. Cardfight!! Vanguard takes a unique approach by incorporating mechanics such as the trigger and damage check, shield, and intercept. These impact deck construction and influence real-time decision making in matches. These features create an immersive experience that will keep players saying “let’s run it back” until they lose track of the time. That said, with any new game there’s a learning curve, so let’s break down how you can get started today!

Players choose from a variety of Trial Decks / Start Decks based on different nations which capture a plethora of playstyles. Whether your strategy is hyper-aggressive offense, a control approach which manipulates your opponents’ boards, or building up to a stacked finishing board, you have the option to play the game in your own style. Don’t know where to get started? Fret not. The Trial Deck / Start Decks are ready to play right out of the box.

After you get a basic understanding of what makes a balanced deck list, it’s a paint-by-numbers approach of adding and removing cards as you see fit. If you're looking to get started, you can check out one of the various Start Decks available such as Start Deck 06: Mirei Minae, which retails for $7.00 in most local game shops. Start Decks were introduced with the launch of CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress and they helped players build wallet-friendly decks like never before.

Splatoon 3's next Splatfest will be themed after Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, asking players to choose which type of Starter Pokémon they go for.

Taking place the weekend ahead of Scarlet and Violet's November 18 release date, running from November 11 to 13, the Splatfest will grant players Pokémon themed shirts depending on which type they choose, Grass, Fire, or Water.

The green grass shirt features a silhouette of new starter Pokémon Sprigatito on the back, the orange fire shirt features Fuecoco, and the blue water shirt has Quaxly.

Nintendo has also promised that the Splatsville hub area will be decorated in celebration of the event, encouraging anyone playing Splatoon 3 that weekend to participate.

Having only launched in September, Splatoon 3 hasn't had many Splatfests so far, but its first one asked players to join teams based on what they'd bring to a deserted island: gear, grub, or fun. There will likely be many more, however, as Splatoon 2's Splatfests ran for years after the game was released, with Nintendo rewarding players who stuck around with bonuses in Splatoon 3.

Hello Games has announced that No Man’s Sky’s 4.0 update, called Waypoint, will be released today, and said it's likely the “biggest generational jump so far” for the game.

The 21st major update brings both design and balance overhauls alongside hundreds of quality-of-life improvements, as Hello Games has attempted to unify all of its previous content into a more cohesive gameplay experience.

Its inventory system is one example of this, as players, ships, and weapons now have a “greatly increased” level cap. Milestones have also been updated and a new information portal makes it easier for returning players to pick No Man’s Sky back up thanks to summary of their goals and progress.

New gameplay modes have also been added, with Relaxed mode letting players enjoy the game more as an exploration and sandbox game over pure survival. Customisable controls for survival, crafting, and combat have all been added too, however, meaning players can shape the experience to match their own playstyle.

Given that Waypoint also marks the full 4.0 step up for No Man’s Sky, Hello Games said it’s as much about laying a foundation for the future as it is improving what’s already in the game.

“The leap from version 3.0 to 4.0 is perhaps our biggest generational jump so far. It’s an exciting moment, and marks a solid foundation for future updates,” it said.

Upcoming visual novel Chaos; Head Noah has been un-canceled for a Steam release, and Valve is changing its review process for games as a result.

The game’s release was pulled last month after Steam insisted upon “guideline-required changes” to the game's content. Now, it looks as though Steam has reversed that decision.

“Valve's content review team, the group that made the original decision, has re-examined CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and decided to reverse course and allow the game to ship on Steam, as is,” said Valve in a statement to the developer, Spike Chunsoft. “We've also examined the process that led to the previous decision about CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, and made some changes to avoid situations like this in the future.”

Chaos; Head Noah is a visual novel (and part of the Science Adventure series that also includes the more well-known Steins;Gate) that sees players attempting to solve a series of murders in Tokyo's Shubuya area. Quite what the proposed changes were remains unclear, but some have speculated that the game's partial setting in a school may have prompted Steam to initially refuse to sell the game.

Whatever the changes were, it looks as though Spike Chunsoft was unwilling to make them, stating that it wouldn’t allow them to release the game to the company’s standards: “Spike Chunsoft, Inc. believes these changes would not allow the game to be released to its standards,” it said at the time.

The upcoming Dead Space remake won’t be coming to PS4 despite a trailer that seemed to claim otherwise.

A PlayStation trailer for the upcoming survival horror seemed to suggest that Dead Space would be getting a PS4 release alongside its PS5 launch. But it looks as though that’s not actually the case.

“A PlayStation trailer listing that suggested EA Motive's upcoming Dead Space remake will launch for PS4 as well as PS5 is a mistake,” said Eurogamer.

The trailer debuted on PlayStation’s Latin America YouTube channel and wrongly stated that the Dead Space remake is coming to both PS4 and PS5. Of course, the news spread quickly among fans, with some taking to Reddit to discuss the implications… even suggesting that the game could be coming to Xbox One as well.

Instead, it looks as though Dead Space will remain a next-gen remake, launching on PS5 as well as Xbox Series X|S and PC on January 27, 2023. Developer EA Motive recently showed off Dead Space with a gameplay reveal that teased the return of the necromorphs as well as introducing some new combat systems.

Magic: The Gathering players are up in arms after Wizards of the Coast announced a $999 product containing just four booster packs with random - and potentially worthless - cards.

The 30th Anniversary Edition set was announced on Magic's website and will include reprints of highly sought-after cards - including the $500,000+ Black Lotus - in a recreation of its second ever set release, Beta. This is another point of frustration for players, however, as Wizards of the Coast had previously vouched to never reprint Black Lotus and several other cards so as to not decrease their value. While the cards included aren't tournament legal, many have still questioned the apparent change in policy.

It's currently unknown just how valuable these 30th Anniversary Edition cards will be once they're released on November 28, but the set totals at least 300 different pieces including tokens and common land cards.

This means that, while it does feature cards that will likely be incredibly valuable such as Black Lotus, players could also spend $999 dollars, open their four booster packs, and receive nothing of real value.

While we may have to wait until 2023 for the official launch of Street Fighter 6, Capcom has announced that a closed beta for the much-anticipated next entry in the legendary fighter series is on its way. We hope everyone who wants to get in is able to try out Street Fighter 6, but if you don’t or you just want to see more of the game in action, IGN is hosting a Let’s Play in Los Angeles to show off what makes this new game so special.

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

Street Fighter 6 Beta Live Stream Start Time

IGN’s Street Fighter 6 Let’s Play will take place on Friday, October 7, 2022, at 1pm PT/4pm ET/9pm BST. If you live in Australia, that translates to Saturday, October 8, at 6am AEST. The show will run for two hours and will feature gameplay and live matches from Street Fighter 6’s closed beta.

The stream will officially begin with a 30-minute countdown at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET/8:30pm BST that will feature trailers, gameplay, and more.

Where to Watch the Street Fighter 6 Beta Gameplay

If you’re interested in watching the Street Fighter 6 Beta: IGN Plays Live show, we’ll be hosting the stream right here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

Here’s the full list of places you can watch it with us:

PlatinumGames says that it is sorry about the impending shutdown of Babylon's Fall’s servers, but also notes that it will not impact any future live-service plans.

In an interview with VGC, PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba said, “The only thing we can comment on here in terms of the closure of Babylon’s Fall service itself, is that this unfortunate conclusion might have been something that had triggered some disappointment, perhaps maybe even anger, to our dedicated fans and players.”

He continued, “And any disappointment that we might have caused for our fan base is something we feel extremely sorry about, the fact that we led our dedicated fans to feel that way as a developer. Providing any sentiment other than enjoyment and fun in our creations to players is something that we’re not very happy about at all as a developer.”

Inaba, unfortunately, was unable to go into any specifics about Babylon's Fall’s shutdown, noting that it was up to Square Enix to divulge any further details about it.

However, despite the game's failure, PlatinumGames still wants to invest in live-service games. “There’s a lot that we learned from this experience, and it’s not changed our future plans or outlook moving forward regarding doing live service games at all. Live service games are definitely something we do want to do and put our effort in moving forward,” Inaba explains.

Disney has captured the heart of many children and adults with its animated films. Whether it's one of the best Pixar movies or an animated classic like The Little Mermaid, most folks have a favorite they can point to with fond memories. And it's that nostalgia that Disney Dreamlight Valley taps into to make a fun and addicting life-sim adventure game.

While the gameplay of this Disney game is fairly simple, there are various quests and discoveries you have to get through to enjoy it to its full extent. If you're looking for a little extra help navigating your way through the game, you can take a look at our full Disney Dreamlight Valley wiki guide or dive right into some of these quick tips below.

High on Life, the upcoming comedy-FPS from Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and his Squanch Games development studio, has revealed its voice cast, and it features Rick & Morty alums, stand-up comedians, sketch comedy legends, prominent video game voice actors, and many other funny and talented people.

Roiland plays your first talking gun, the pistol-like Kenny (who sounds quite a bit like Morty). Curb Your Enthusiasm's JB Smoove voices the shotgun-esque talking gun Gus. Comedian Betsy Sodaro plays Sweezy, the Halo-Needler-like gun you can see in our exclusive 12-minute gameplay video from earlier this week. Tim Robinson, from Netflix's I Think You Should Leave, plays Creature. The Sarah Silverman Program costar Laura Silverman voices Lizzie, while MadTV alum Dave Herman plays Gene, the alien at your house who gives you your bounty-hunter missions. The bloodthirsty Knifey is played by YouTube cartoonist Michael Cusack. Other notable names in the cast include Kids in the Hall troupe member Kevin McDonald, stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, Nathan Drake voice actor Nolan North, Solar Opposites costar Thomas Middleditch, prominent video game voice actresses Jennifer Hale and Tara Strong, and more. Get a look at some of these characters in the concept art gallery below.

Between server errors, broken account merges, and a strange SMS requirement that locked some players with prepaid phone plans out of the game, Overwatch 2's launch on Tuesday became fairly controversial. Now, Blizzard is apologizing and working to fix some of these issues.

In a post on Blizzard's forum, community manager Jodie apologized for the game's launch and detailed some of the ways the team is working to fix these issues.

"First, we want to apologize to our players. We expected the launch of Overwatch 2 to go smoothly," the post reads. "We hold ourselves to a higher standard and we are working hard to resolve the issues you are experiencing."

Overwatch 2 introduced a requirement for players to connect a phone number, which oddly doesn't allow prepaid phone plans. The post explains that Overwatch players with connected Battle.net accounts won't need to provide a phone number starting on Friday. However, it doesn't apppear that Blizzard has entirely removed this requirement.

Blizzard is also working to improve server stability — after countless players dealt with crashes, lengthy queues and difficulty logging in, it's now working on numerous ways to stabilize these servers, including patching the login server and adding nodes to the player database to lessen the load.

CD Projekt Red appears to be ramping up its development capabilities in a big way as it prepares for Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, as it looks to create a new studio and put hundreds of staff on the project.

Speaking during an investors' call after announcing Orion alongside several Witcher games, CD Projekt Red CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said he expects 350 to 500 developers will be necessary to create the game.

It's also creating a brand new, primarily Boston-based studio for Orion, which will combine with its current Vancouver office and be known as CD Projekt Red North America.

Though talent from its Polish studios will also be assisting with the game (including Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer Paweł Sasko, who is moving to Boston for it), the Vancouver studio only had around 12 team members when it was acquired by CD Projekt Red last year. It therefore appears the company needs to hire a few hundred new staff to hit the 350 to 500 quota, and it's already advertising dozens of positions on its website.

"The North American studio will consist of teams working from Boston and the team working from Vancouver," Nielubowicz said, and "the project will also be supported by developers from Poland."

Brazil’s competition watchdog, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has approved the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger without restriction, citing PlayStation’s already dominant position within the video game industry and Nintendo’s ability to compete without relying on franchises such as Call of Duty.

In a long public filing, CADE touched on PlayStation’s portfolio of exclusives, saying, “Investment in exclusive content is, and always has been, very important for the competitive dynamics in the console segment. Exclusive content was, most likely, one of the main factors responsible for positioning the PlayStation as a leader in the world console market for more than two decades, a leadership that continues to this day.”

CADE also mentions that Nintendo employs a similar strategy with exclusive content while noting that Microsoft doesn’t seem to sell as many consoles as PlayStation and Nintendo either. Of course, one of the biggest concerns about Microsoft’s acquisition is the multiplatform status of Call of Duty.

Martin Luiga, the ex-developer of Disco Elysium that brought attention to key figures being 'involuntarily' forced out of the studio, says he thinks it's unlikely that ZA/UM Studio will make a sequel to the modern classic RPG.

Speaking to GamePressure, Luiga was somewhat cagey about the circumstances of the departures of Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere and Aleksander Rostov, but said he doen't believe the remaining developers at the studio will make a Disco Elysium 2:

"I think ZA/UM Studio in its current form will not be developing the sequel and I am unsure of the number of people that left in the company who also worked on the original Disco."

ZA/UM's own response to the news did mention a new project in development, but pointedly did not make clear whether it was a Disco Elysium follow-up. We've contacted ZA/UM for comment. [Update: ZA/UM declined to comment on this story.]

The fallout from Luiga's original message - which announced the dissolution of the ZA/UM cultural association, an arts collective that spawned the studio and Disco Elysium - has seen some fans turn on the developers who remain at the studio, something he doesn't support:

"I do think though that it doesn't make sense to be offensive against the current workers of the company. It is unlikely to change their positions. The managers have a way of making people trust them. Robert (Kurvitz) and others had complete trust in them until it was too late. It pays to remain polite, even if it's hard – and I know that I have not been a very striking example at times."

The greatest compliment I can give the developers of The Invincible is that this feels like walking into the worlds imagined by mid-century sci-fi authors. Based on the novel The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem, I spent an hour with a development build of Starward Industries' upcoming sci-fi adventure and fell into a vibrant wonderland rife with adventure, danger, and discovery.

I took control of Yasna, a crewmember from the ship Invincible trying to find out what happened to some prior explorers on a remote, desolate planet. I wandered through the branches of a mountain pass, finding dead, lost crewmates in narrow ravines and twisting passages. Her slow, plodding space-suited bootsteps and labored breathing as she climbed rocks and dealt with an increasingly bad headache added a sense of depth and feeling to the world around her.

She frequently talks with her navigator, Novik, a crewmember on the orbiting Invincible that lets her know about what's going on and helps make decisions about their course. The steady conversation between the two provides backdrop to the desolate canyon environments, and branching dialogue choices offer up some customization in how Yasna reacts to the events around her. There's also a clear conflict between their personalities, adding a bit of dramatic fuel to the chatter.

The developers behind Moonbreaker have released an update that removes the Cargo Run Contracts system from the game, giving players unlimited access to the PvE mode.

The update was announced in a post on Moonbreaker's Steam page, where the team extended their gratitude to the community for their support during the game's Early Access launch. They assured players that they were making adjustments to address some of the initial concerns that had been raised, specifically the use of Contracts to play Cargo Run.

"While our intent was always for players to be able to earn enough Blanks during Cargo Run to continually unlock additional Contracts to play, we understand the community's collective frustration that this mode felt gated and the desire to have any possible limitation removed," the post read before announcing an update that would remove the controversial feature.

The team explained that players who purchased Cargo Run Contracts using Pulsars or Blanks before this change will be refunded as soon as possible and will receive the full amount of the relevant in-game currency used to redeem any Contracts, while players that had Cargo Run Contracts in their inventory will receive 10 Blanks per Contract as part of the update.

A new Need for Speed will be arriving on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC this December, featuring the return of Criterion as the lead developer for the first time in close to a decade.

Titled Need for Speed Unbound, Criterion's long-awaited return to the racing scene will utilize new-gen consoles and the Frostbite Engine to deliver 4K 60fps visuals in a free-roaming open world called Lakeshore. The physics will run at a high frame-rate as well, offering "more control and nuance to...the physical movement of the cars," creative director Kieran Crimmins says.

A trailer released Thursday offered fans their first look at the newly-revamped art style, which is meant to reflect the franchise's return to its street racing roots as well as the input of rapper A$AP Rocky, who will have his own mode in the new entry. Its emphasis on art and graffiti will extend to the gameplay, with Burst Nitrous boosts rewarded for stylish driving.

"Need for Speed is about trendsetting. Need for Speed is about breaking the mold. Need for Speed is about rebellion. It's at the heart of that street racing fantasy, so we should be exploring new art styles and new visions and new ways the game can look, so that we can not only stand out from everything else, but also deliver innovation where we should be setting trends," Crimmins says.

In celebration of Genshin Impact Genesis Crystals and the Blessing of the Welkin Moon now being available for purchase on Codashop in the U.S., Coda Payments (“Coda”) and IGN are announcing the first-ever Codashop Fan Art Fest that will award talented artists a range of prizes, including one US$5,000 cash prize.

Coda will be marking the Codashop Fan Art Fest kick-off with a Genshin Impact art gallery experience in New York City on October 8. Minutes from the Javits Center at Hudson Mercantile from 12:00-5:00 p.m., fans can enjoy specially-curated Genshin Impact art along with a special guest appearance by popular U.S.-based cosplayer Zekia (@aru.rinh).

The Codashop Fan Art Fest is set to run from October 8th to the 20th, 2022, and those interested in showcasing their skills can submit their original Genshin Impact art or cosplay by following and tagging Codashop on Twitter or Instagram and using the hashtag #CodaCommunityCreates. You can check out the full list of content guidelines by here visiting Coda.shop/FanArtFest.

Winning art will be selected by a panel of Codashop judges and will be considered for a billboard feature later this year. On top of the US$5,000 Grand Prize, winners can also receive Genshin Impact Genesis Crystals and Codashop vouchers.

The upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie has found a replacement director.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming video game adaption has put Emma Tammi at the helm following the exit of Chris Columbus. Blumhouse, who is producing the horror thriller, has already tasked Jim Henson’s Creature Shop with bringing the beloved, yet creepy, animatronic horrors to the big screen.

Blumhouse boss Jason Blum tweeted (below) to add that filming on the movie will begin in February 2023.

#jimhensoncreatureshop is working on our animatronics

Emma Tammi is our director

Filming on #FNAF starts in February 2023. Boom.

The world's largest collection of Pokémon cards, figures, games, and more is expected to sell in the UK later this month for up to £300,000 ($338,000).

As reported by the BBC, the collection will be sold as a single lot at Hansons Auctioneers in Teddington, with a guide price of between £250,000 and £300,000, an expectation backed by the auction house.

The collection of Pokémon merchandise - which has been verified by Guinness World Records as the biggest - was amassed over 25 years and includes 20,000 individual items.

The seller, who wished to remain anonymous, told Hansons Auctioneers that "from childhood, every penny of pocket money and savings went on Pokémon and when it came to Christmas and birthdays, Pokémon presents dominated.

"It’s been brilliant to be recognised by Guinness World Records but, more than that, my hobby has helped me make new friends. I am a quiet soul, a bit of an introvert. Pokémon has helped me gain confidence."

Highlights of the collection include sealed packs of the Pokémon Trading Card Game's Base, Team Rocket, and Jungle sets, alongside a shadowless Base Set Blastoise, and the Pichu and Squirtle Pokédolls, which are among the first plushies released in Japan.

IO Interactive has delayed Hitman 3's roguelike Freelancer mode again, this time to January 26 next year.

Announced in a dedicated blog post, the developer revealed a full roadmap for the long-awaited mode, which also includes further progress updates and a closed technical test that arrives in November.

"We’ve decided to push beyond our original scope for launch and include almost all locations from the World of Assassination from day one," IO Interactive said in the post. "We’re continuing to work on making the launch experience as frictionless as possible for all players. We’ll have more to say about that in future Road to Freelancer posts."

The closed technical test will allow select Hitman 3 players on Steam to play Freelancer ahead of its launch next year.

"The closed technical test is all about putting our servers under stress to prepare for launch," it added. "We also want to get an early idea of player behaviour and do some economy [and] XP balancing in a real-life scenario on a big scale. These are the final checkboxes we need to tick off before we launch."

Freelancer mode was previously due to be released in spring 2022, but was delayed in May as a result of a previous testing period that led IO Interactive to decide that more time was needed to improve it.

Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

Metro Exodus developers have paid tribute to Andrii Korzinkin, a colleague who was reportedly killed in action while fighting in the Ukraine war.

As reported by PC Gamer, Andrii Korzinkin was an animator at Kyiv-based developer 4A Games before joining the Ukrainian army following the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Former colleague Leonid Stepanov shared news of his death on Twitter (below), saying that Korzinkin died during a combat mission.

Andrii "Nizrok" Korzinkin (@korzinkin_3d) died while performing a combat mission in the struggle for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. A talented animator, incredible person and real hero. Rest in peace, friend. We all miss you. https://t.co/2OC83CMdfU

In the second half of 2016, a small team of developers at PopCap Vancouver were gearing up for a presentation that would determine the future of their team, their project, and potentially an already-beloved franchise: Plants vs. Zombies.

For the past year, they had been working on a brand new Plants vs. Zombies adventure that would take the series in a very different direction. Though they had EA’s blessing for their work to that point, it wasn’t a guarantee the project would ultimately see the light of day, especially given how ambitious it was.

It was called Project Hot Tub, a humorous but vague reference to 2010 film Hot Tub Time Machine. It was to be an action-adventure game with the ‘open corridor’ progression of an Uncharted, the combat of something like Batman: Arkham Knight, but the family-friendly vibes of a Ratchet and Clank. Project Hot Tub featured a pair of teenage sibling leads who were thrown back in time by a zombie-corrupted experiment, teaming up with familiar plants from the Plants vs. Zombies series to fight off zombie foes across multiple historical eras. The project represented a major leap for a franchise previously confined to tower defense and third-person shooters, and would potentially stretch some new muscles for publisher EA, whose category of family-friendly, single-player adventures was sorely lacking.

Project Hot Tub was internally planned for a late 2017 release. As we know now, it never materialized. But it’s not necessarily because the project was in trouble. In fact, everything we know about Project Hot Tub indicates that its ideas, development, and progression were going strong right up until its cancellation. It hadn’t run into any major budget issues, deadline misses, scope problems, or other obvious roadblocks that indicated it was in trouble.

Hit roguelite dungeon crawler Cult of the Lamb has enjoyed a successful evening at the 2022 Australian Game Developer Awards overnight, winning Game of the Year, plus three additional awards for Excellence in Gameplay, Excellence in Music, and Excellence in Art.

Developed by Melbourne-based independent studio Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital, Cult of the Lamb was released in early August 2022 and sold a million copies during its first week. IGN’s review called Cult of the Lamb “as adorable as it is unsettling” and noted its eclectic mix of genres and themes come together extremely well.

“After experiencing our success overseas, it was an amazing feeling to see our game really resonate with Australians as well,” said Massive Monster creative director Julian Wilton. “We received such strong support locally and we love that it’s being enjoyed, not just for the gameplay, but also for the art and music.”

Taking place as part of the Melbourne International Games Week and now in its 20th year, the Australian Game Developer Awards are judged by a panel of 70 game industry professionals. A complete list of this year’s winners can be found on the AGDAs website.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

After dozens of hours dedicated to wrangling balls of living goop in developer Monomi Park’s previous life sim, it feels great to be back with Slime Rancher 2 – a sequel that retains all of the original’s stickiness (in more ways than one) and ridiculous charm. It may feel like more of a Slime Rancher 1.5 at its early access release, but its presentation is still a night-and-day improvement over the original, the new slimes and areas are wonderful and unique, and movement and exploration both feel much better. All those upgrades combine to create a satisfying and zen-like adventure that made me want to retire from the rat race of battle royales and action games to settle down on a sticky pasture and live a simple life among the slimes.

If you’ve played the first Slime Rancher, even a little, then nothing about this work-in-progress sequel is likely to surprise you. As with the first entry, you’ll run around chaotic and beautiful otherworldly environments as you collect resources and slimes, then head back to your home base to turn your jelly friends into profit just like Ayn Rand intended. You’ll also fight gross, world-consuming Tarr slimes, upgrade your base of operations and your equipment, and fall off cliffs when you forget you don’t have enough stamina to power your jetpack. The good news is that this formula of exploring, farming, and experimenting with your slimes and their crossbred permutations remains incredibly compelling, and it’s easy to lose track of time while hanging out with this lovable gang of invertebrates. On the other hand, Slime Rancher 2 plays it so safe that it took me a while to even notice some of the changes it’s made.

We kick off this week's show with our hands-on impressions of Gotham Knights. Then, we spend the bulk of the show discussing the 10-year roadmap released by CD Projekt Red – five Witcher games, a new Cyberpunk, and a new IP. Was it a good idea for them to be THIS transparent? What do we want out of new Cyberpunk and Witcher games? We talk about all that and more!

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 recent 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.

After negative feedback, Blizzard is scrapping Overwatch 2's requirement for a non-prepaid phone for most players. The change should come into effect this Friday, October 7.

In a forum post, Blizzard community manager Jodie wrote: "We designed Overwatch 2 to be a live service, which enables us to be responsive to a variety of player feedback. We have made the decision to remove phone number requirements for a majority of existing Overwatch players. Any Overwatch player with a connected Battle.net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9, 2021, will not have to provide a phone number to play. We are working to make this change and expect it to go live on Friday, October 7. We will update players once it is in effect."

The SMS Protect system was intended to help curb cheating and disruptive behaviour from players, and it will remain in effect for those making brand new accounts.

"Accounts that were not connected to Battle.net as well as new accounts will still have to meet SMS Protect requirements, which helps to ensure we’re protecting our community against cheating. If a player is caught engaging in disruptive behavior, their account may be banned whether they have a new account or not," reads the statement.

The post ends by saying the team "will make further adjustments in this area if it is required." The statement does not confirm whether the previous block on prepaid phone numbers has been removed, and we've asked Blizzard for comment.

Various ex-CD Projekt Red employees have clarified that they're not working on the third-party Witcher game, codenamed Canis Majoris, after CD Projekt Red announced that another studio is making a new, "full-fledged" entry.

Rebel Wolves - a studio formed by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's game director and various other former CD Projekt Red employees - confirmed on Twitter (below) that it's not the mysterious studio behind the spin-off after it was hounded by fans who expected its own AAA dark fantasy to be the new Witcher game.

"We're flattered by the questions but Rebel Wolves is working on our own epic IP," the studio said. "We wish the new teams in charge of The Witcher good luck and hope to get to play their games soon."

We're flattered by the questions but Rebel Wolves is working on our own epic IP. We wish the new teams in charge of The Witcher good luck and hope to get to play their games soon! https://t.co/aDO08yvYLh

— Rebel Wolves 🐺🐺🎮 (@RebelWolvesDevs) October 4, 2022

Attention then turned to Marcin Jefimow, an executive producer at CD Projekt Red, who announced on LinkedIn last month that he was leaving the studio for "a new adventure" and is currently "building a new team" to be announced soon.

CD Projekt Red's next mainline Witcher game, codenamed Polaris, is at least three years away according to studio president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński.

Following the studio's announcement that it plans to release the new Witcher trilogy over six years starting with Polaris, Kiciński was asked during an investors' call when players can expect the next mainline game to be released.

"For Polaris we are preparing technology. This is the first project to be released on the new engine, Unreal Engine 5, [so] there is a need for some extra work making this technology," he said. "For this project, for sure we need some extra effort to deliver."

Kiciński went on to say that the second and third new Witcher trilogy games would go much smoother due to this foundation being created now. He was then asked, as the two "smoother" to develop games will take on average three years each, would it be reasonable to ascertain that the next mainline game is more than three years away, to which Kiciński said yes.

Over the course of our month long IGN First coverage, we saw a lot about the world and lore of Gotham Knights – the crafting and gear mechanics, the suits and customization options – but there’s been one big green riddler-esque question mark surrounding the whole game up to this point: How does it play? Well, I played about three hours of it at a recent hands-on event, and the answer is… complicated. What’s for certain, at least, is that Gotham Knights is a wildly ambitious effort that feels appropriately massive and dense, to the point where even a heavily guided three-hour demo felt like just a scratch on the surface.

My demo was broken into four chunks: I played the tutorial that involved following a lead on Batman’s last case, then jumped into a new save to play the first chapter of Harley Quinn’s multi-part villain arc, then continued with several open-world challenges related to Harley’s story, and to put a cap on the event, I jumped to a late-game save that let me and the Internet’s own Destin Legarie face off against Harley in the finale of her arc.

And that leads to one of the main reasons why my takeaways from this event are complicated: Gotham Knights is a game that is centered around building up your character, setting and understanding your own skills and gear, and developing your own playstyle – something that I just didn’t get to do, since I was jumping around to different save files and trying out the different characters. Without that, the combat felt like it was missing a key ingredient.

A new Disney Plus app is now available for Sony's PlayStation 5 that allows users to stream their favourite movies, TV shows, originals, and more in 4K HDR quality.

As noted by The Verge, PS5's former version of the Disney+ app was actually a PS4 app that was running on the newer console, which meant visuals were capped at 1080p resolution, whereas the relaunched Disney+ app has been designed natively for PS5 and now supports 4K High-Dynamic Range playback across the service's growing catalogue of titles.

"A key part of our global expansion strategy is to meet consumers wherever they are, which is why we're excited to enhance Disney+ for PlayStation 5 users," Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product and Design for Disney Streaming, said in a press release. "The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans."

The relaunch of the Disney+ app on PS5 comes a couple of months before the streamer rolls out a new subscription model that includes the launch of an ad-supported membership tier. The ad-supported subscription will be available on December 8 for $7.99 a month, while the ad-free subscription will now be known as the "Premium" tier at $10.99 a month.