IGN

There are some absolutely incredible PS4 games on sale right now, with the vast majority dropping to just $10 in the latest spring sales. From God of War to The Last of Us Remastered, Until Dawn, Ratchet & Clank, The Nathan Drake Collection, and more. There are so many great games here, and they've all been discounted.

If you've been playing Elden Ring recently, and want to get even more of what developer FromSoftware has to offer, then should definitely check out Bloodborne as well. It's also down to just $10 at Best Buy, and I promise you won't be disappointed with your purchase.

Greatest Hits PS4 Games on Sale Right Now for $10

Sure, some of these games are available via the PS Plus Collection, and that means likely a part of PS Plus Extra and Premium from June. But, I still argue that nothing beats the feeling of owning your own physical copy that you can use whenever, and even lend to people as well. For $10, you're looking at some of the best games ever made, and that's a bargain.

There are plenty of other great sales going on at the moment, including a few Switch games that have also been discounted at Best Buy, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for just $39.99. Halo Infinite has also seen a massive drop in price, coming down to just $20 for a limited time. For more on the latest and greatest gaming offers, make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter.

Oddworld: Soulstorm being a free game on PlayStation Plus was "devastating" for sales according to its creator.

Lorne Lanning, founder of Oddworld Inhabitants, said the game was downloaded close to four million times through PS Plus, significantly more than the studio's expectations of 50 to 100,000.

Speaking on the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Lanning said there was nothing malicious about the deal on Sony's end but circumstances made it "a double-edged sword".

Soulstorm was free to download in April 2021, the same month it launched, and while Sony has never made clear how it comes to this agreement with developers, it's understood that a one-off payment is made.

Lanning explained that Oddworld Inhabitants and its partner developers were already struggling when they were approached by Sony. "We were hitting a number of legacy, technical, debt issues, and talent issues" he said.

The developer needed more money to finish the game and didn't expect launch sales on PlayStation 5 to earn more than what Sony offered, because in January, when the game was due to launch, there was still a severe shortage of consoles.

Fortnite creator Epic Games has invested in and signed a publishing agreement with Brazilian developer Aquiris.

The studio is best known for the Horizon Chase series and its Apple Arcade release Wonderbox, but Aquiris is also working on a new, currently unannounced game.

Epic Games will publish it alongside an undisclosed number of other future titles, with Aquiris saying the investment will shape the next 15 years of the studio.

CEO Mauricio Longoni said: "We are thrilled to partner with Epic Games. It's a strong endorsement of what Aquiris has built so far, and we can't wait to show the world what we are working on together.

"Epic's publishing power and close collaboration with us on tech, business intelligence, and product development will help us boost the quality and the reach of our titles."

Head of third-party publishing at Epic Games, Hector Sanchez will join the Aquiris board of directors as a result of the investment.

He said: "Aquiris not only have a keen eye for quality game experiences, but have demonstrated great artistic and technical capabilities with their utilization of Unreal Engine in their products.

"We’re honoured to have this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with one of the premiere studios in the growing and important Latin American development scene."

Space pirates are coming to No Man's Sky today with the Outlaws update.

Developer Hello Games announced that, while the previous Sentinels update focused on ground combat, Outlaws will overhaul space combat and add other new features.

These are headlined by the introduction of a pirate underworld that lets players embody Han Solo in new rebellion and smuggling missions. Outlaws have taken over space stations across the galaxy and turned them into dangerous, lawless places where players can purchase illegal goods and smuggle them out for a considerable cash reward.

The update also adds the speedy Solar Starship, the first new ship type in more than two years, and for players worried about giving up a previous vessel to make room, the number of ships a player can own has increased from six to nine.

Players can also hire their own squadron of wingmen with the Squadrons feature and are encouraged to build their perfect fleet of ships and pilots (which all have different, upgradeable abilities).

Hello Games has promised more speed and excitement in space combat overall with improved handling and visual effects. Enemy starships now have shields while the player's weapon selection has been broadened with new secondary effects such as being able to slow enemy engines or disable shield systems.

Ship versus ship combat can also now occur within a planet's atmosphere and pirates can raid players' settlements. For those who struggle with space combat, Hello Games said accessibility has been "significantly improved" thanks to a new Auto-Follow mode.

The perfect TV for your PS5 or Xbox Series X is available right now, and you can currently get up to £300 off via cashback if you buy it before June 1. This cashback offer is with LG directly, and you'll typically get your money back within three weeks of purchasing.

This comes at the perfect time, as the new LG OLED 4K TV range for 2022 is now available in the UK, and I have to say, they're the near-perfect TVs for all your gaming or movie-night needs. Not only that, but you use this cashback offer on the new fan favourite LG C2 series.

For two years running now, this series of TVs has topped IGN's lists of best TV for gaming and best high-end TV. And judging by early reviews of the LG C2, that’s not likely to change this year. This is absolutely going to be one of the best TVs for PS5 and Xbox Series X, so here's how to can save big on the new model.

Editor's Note: This article is brought to you in association with LG.

Get Up to £300 Cashback on New LG OLED 4K TVs

The new C2 model is a jaw-dropping example of everything you could want from a TV. With a brilliant OLED display and full HDR vibrant colours. There's also “pixel-level dimming,” which allows for absolute blacks — as in, the LEDs in the display can turn off entirely so no light seeps out anywhere. There are also four HDMI 2.1 ports and a 120Hz native refresh rate, therefore it can render everything the PS5 and Xbox Series X can throw at it.

A Metal Gear Solid 3 player has figured out how to skip the game's infamously long ladder climb.

Though it came out 18 years ago in 2004, YouTube user Apel has finally figured out a way to skip MGS3's two minute climb altogether, as spotted by Polygon.

They showed off the tactic in a video but it essentially involves positioning protagonist Snake next to the ladder before pressing a few particular buttons in the menu. When the player comes back to the game, Snake enters a T-Pose and floats for a moment before being fired like a rocket to the very top.

While this may seem a bit redundant given the game is nearly two decades old, speedrunners are still chipping away at Metal Gear Solid 3 to achieve quicker and quicker times. In fact, the top five speedruns were all set in the last year, showing that new tactics like these are still very valuable to the community.

The best time of one hour, 16 minutes and ten seconds is only ten seconds ahead of the second best time, meaning speedrunners will likely be racing to master this new tactic to try and retain or claim or the crown.

Elsewhere in the speedrunning community, Elden Ring player Distortion2 has shaved his time down to under seven minutes, while Tunic has been beaten in just 24 minutes.

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.1 is finally live, and so are the patch notes for the newest content drop.

Alongside a new story questline, Patch 6.1 also includes a new 24-player Alliance Raid, housing options, and much more. As always, Final Fantasy 14 Patch Notes are quite in-depth, but you can read below for a summary of some of the biggest new content and changes.

Update 4/12 4:58 pm PT: PlayStation Network is back up according to the official Network Status page.

PlayStation's official PSN Status page is now listing all online services as up and running. If you log into PSN on your PlayStation device now, you should be able to engage with online services.

PlayStation has not acknowledged the temporary outage that lasted a little under an hour.

PlayStation Network is currently down.

Reports from PlayStation owners online as well as the PlayStation status page indicate that PSN is currently experiencing some technical difficulties.

As shown on IGN sister site DownDetector, there have been over 13,000 reports of an outage with PSN since 4 pm PT.

According to the official PlayStation Network status tracker, all services, from Account Management, online gaming, PlayStation Now, and the PSN Store are experiencing issues.

No official word yet on why exactly there's an outage or how long it will be until services are back to normal. So check back with IGN as we'll update this story when services resume, or there's an official announcement.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

This week the Unlocked crew are joined by a very special guest host, Adam Cole! Discussions include speculation about what we can expect from Halo Infinite Season 2, the Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal, and Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming story expansion. Also, have you guys tried Destin's cookies yet?

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode.

If you missed any of the news featured this week, you can read more about them here:

• Halo Infinite Multiplayer - Season 2
• Cyberpunk 2077 Story Expansion
• Kingdom Hearts 4 Reveal

You can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan!

Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN and a member of Podcast Unlocked. She's a big fan of stationery and fountain pens. You can sometimes find her on Twitter.

Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops -- Daemon Hatfield, Justin Davis, Mark Medina, and CJ Gibson -- are beginning the Game of the Year Watch 2022 discussion. Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, Tunic, and more. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions.

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

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

Spotify

Stitcher

Find previous episodes here!

Sony Pictures has named Takashi Doscher as the writer for the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima film adaptation, according to Deadline.

Doscher previously wrote sci-fi romance Only, and his most recent project, Blue, is a twist on a Japanese monster movie that's currently in development.

The story will be a retelling of Jin Sakai's journey as seen in Ghost of Tsushima, where the samurai warrior fights to free the island of Tsushima from a Mongol invasion.

A movie based on the 2020 PlayStation 4 exclusive was announced last year, where we learned John Wick director Chad Stahelski will helm the project. The production will also have input from Sucker Punch, the studio that developed the video game.

Stahelski has said the filmmakers are "taking our time and doing it right. We're working very closely with the game developers to make sure we stick to what's great about it."

The Ghost of Tsushima movie is just one part of a larger push from Sony to bring its PlayStation IP to the silver screen. Beyond Ghost, there's the recently-released Uncharted movie, The Last of Us TV show, a God of War series, and more.

Will The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 launch on an as-yet unrevealed Nintendo console? Some tech experts are theorizing that could be the case based on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2's most recent round of footage.

Over on Digital Foundry (first reported by GamesRadar), Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Alex Battaglia dissected the most recent Breath of the Wild 2 footage, pointing out a couple of details that suggest the next big Zelda game might be too big to perform on the current Switch hardware.

"This trailer was interesting because the image quality seemed quite good, I think," Linneman said. "I was a little bit surprised by how sharp and clear this looked compared to the original in general."

Battaglia dove into specifics, saying that the "volumetric clouds" present in the footage would be hard for the current 2017 Switch to pull off, while camera cuts with perfect anti-aliasing are something even the Xbox Series X struggles with.

"It could be the next Switch, it could be just that they rendered out a trailer on higher resolution and higher settings," Battaglia said.

However, the guys were quick to point out that Nintendo generally doesn't release trailers at a higher quality than the final product, with one exception being the draw distance for the original Breath of the Wild.

Despite numerous hints over the years that he might be slipping into something that looked like retirement, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi appears to be far from done making games.

In an interview with IGN, Sakaguchi confirmed that he's been approached with one or two offers for new projects that he's currently considering... in between sessions of Final Fantasy 14.

"They're still in the planning stages, where we're deciding on how the business will work and putting together contracts, so it's not as if we've started on actual development, but I do think I'll be working on something," he said. "Of course, the more concrete those plans start to look, the more I feel like I need to play FF14 while I still can."

Sakaguchi has been spending a lot of time gaming lately, especially Final Fantasy 14, though he added in the same interview that he isn't interested in getting involved with its development and doesn't want to learn any inside information about it, for fear it would ruin his experience as a player and ability to connect with the FF14 community.

But he's playing other games, too, trying to get in as much gaming time as possible before he dives into a new project of his own.

It’s time to dive into the heart yet again, as the Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal trailer offered a surprisingly deep look at the next numbered sequel in Square Enix and Disney’s long-running franchise. Though it begins a new arc in Kingdom Hearts’ overarching narrative, it’s a sequel clearly ingrained in the series’ fundamentals and lore from all corners of the Kingdom Hearts and Disney universes.

So,if you’re a Kingdom Hearts expert who knows the series from Ansem to Zexion, you likely recognized and guessed at many of the topics we're going to dig into. But if you’ve just occasionally dabbled in the universe and are wondering how Sora ended up in what looks like Tokyo, let’s examine the biggest burning questions the Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal trailer left us with, and some potential answers for them.

Before we get going, a couple of qualifiers - while we’re going to be touching on some deep Kingdom Hearts lore, this is by no means a comprehensive primer on any and everything Kingdom Hearts. There is, quite frankly, so much to get into even with these topics, particularly related to the backstory of the series prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts 1. Nonetheless, there will be some spoilers for the Kingdom Hearts series to date, including Kingdom Hearts 3 - consider this your spoiler warning!

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising will launch on May 10 and arrive on Xbox Game Pass the same day. The action-RPG will also be available for $14.99 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, and PC, as per the game's official Twitter.

Rising was announced at E3 last year as a spin-off to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (which releases in 2023 and is the Suikoden spiritual successor). It's a 2.5D town-building and dungeon crawling RPG that sets up the story of the main release.

ARPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising will be available on PC, PS5, PS4, XSX, XB1, Nintendo Switch, & Xbox Game Pass on May 10!

Prequel to the RPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes scheduled for release in 2023!

Strengthen Your Bonds🔥#百英雄伝 #100heroesstrong pic.twitter.com/RrMa5yRrgp

— 【公式】Eiyuden Chronicle (百英雄伝） (@eiyuden) April 12, 2022

Its official story synopsis states: "What begins as a simple treasure hunt turns into a dark conspiracy that will shake the world and plant seeds that carry over into the main story of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

"The game will introduce a portion of Eiyuden Chronicle’s cast of characters in an original story with thrilling action and engaging town-upgrading elements."

A scientist has used facial reconstruction technology on the skeletons from Skyrim.

Twitter user Sulkalmakh, who's part of the Ancestral Whispers cranial reconstruction research team, posted (below) what appeared to be another normal project but a deeper look revealed its nerdy origins.

This particular specimen was an "ancient Atmoran from Saarthal, dated to the late Merethic Era," they said. In other words, it's the skeleton model from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, revived into a grumpy looking cave man.

Facial reconstruction of an ancient Atmoran from Saarthal, dated to the late Merethic Era. pic.twitter.com/jz8R5IgsT7

— 30k years prior, in a previous incarnation... (@Sulkalmakh) April 1, 2022

The tweet was then noticed by Jonah Lobe, who wasn't just a Bethesda developer who worked on Skyrim but the actual designer of the skeleton.

"You did an awesome job with the reconstruction," he said. "I wanted them to look thuggish, thick-jawed, thick-browed and sort of Neanderthal-like. This is that.

"Since they were going to be attacking the player I wanted them to look intimidating but not with those meanie-eyes you see on so many fantasy skeletons. The answer, for me, was to go heavy with the brows and big with the teeth, and just thicc overall."

Update 03/14/22: Elden Ring has now been completed in six minutes and 59 seconds.

Distortion2 continues to dominate the speedrunning community by cutting down his own records over and over again.

He tweeted his latest time earlier today, saying that while there's still room for improvement, he's "done with this for now".

WORLDS FIRST SUB 7 MINUTES IN ELDEN RING. This category has been quite the ride. Still some room for improvement but I am done with this for now :) pic.twitter.com/0EBda2gnSn

— Distortion2 🕐 Elden Ring (@Distortion_2) April 12, 2022

Original Story: An Elden Ring speedrunner has now beaten the game in less than nine minutes.

YouTube user Distortion2 has cut his time down to just 8 minutes and 56 seconds, primarily using the Zip glitch – which essentially allows players to teleport across different parts of the map.

Combined with other exploits that allow most of the game to be skipped, Distortion2 has shaved minutes from his time day after day since setting the first under-30 minute speedrun a month ago.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and Skylanders developer Vicarious Visions has merged with Blizzard Entertainment.

The developer was previously tied to Activision but has moved across to the Blizzard side of the partnership after it most recently worked on Diablo II: Resurrected.

While the 200 or so employees will remain in their Albany-based studio they will now solely work on Blizzard games, meaning Vicarious will no longer be the lead developer on any project but instead a supporting studio. This is nothing new for staff at Vicarious - they were important support during the development of Destiny 2's PC version - but this official merge signals the end of lead development, such as that on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2.

We've officially merged with Blizzard Entertainment. Our development team will remain in Albany, NY and fully dedicated to Blizzard games. We invite you to follow us @Blizzard_Ent

— Vicarious Visions (@VvisionsStudio) April 12, 2022

A Blizzard spokesperson later told gamesindustry.biz that the studio would be "fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives" going forward.

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo has accidentally leaked an upcoming Final Fantasy clothing line.

While not announced officially, the series of t-shirts appeared on the company's Vietnamese website before being quickly taken down, as noticed by Kakucho Purei.

The collection features 16 unique shirts, one for every mainline game in the series and the upcoming Final Fantasy 16, created to celebrate Final Fantasy's 35th anniversary this year.

There's no real consistency to the collection, with some featuring modern artwork, others logos, and the ones based on older titles showing off the games' pixel art.

A price-tag wasn't revealed but Uniqlo's Pokémon series of t-shirts retail at $19.90 for adults and $14.90 for children.

Given that half the Final Fantasy series was released before any kids today were born it's likely this collection will only be available for adults though, and the advertising (accidentally) released so far is certainly only modelled by adults.

Dedicated fans will likely scan the Final Fantasy 16 t-shirt for clues about the currently unreleased game but the image doesn't appear to give anything new away.

Hironobu Sakaguchi knew what he was getting into the first time he picked up Final Fantasy 14. An avid gamer himself, he had once forced members of Final Fantasy’s development team to play EverQuest under the guise of doing research.

“My first [MMORPG] was EverQuest. I got absolutely addicted to it and forced a dozen or so SquareSoft staff members at the time to play as well, telling them it was required knowledge. Incredibly, most of them got hooked too, which led to [Final Fantasy 11],” Sakaguchi remembers.

“Actually,” he laughs, “some of the staff never made it back to the real world.”

Sakaguchi knew that would be his fate if he were to ever play Final Fantasy 14, which has steadily grown in popularity since its 2014 reboot. But the desire to feel prepared for an on-stage discussion with director Naoki Yoshida in September 2021 finally pushed him to venture into Eorzea. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.

“Part of why I'd never played [Final Fantasy 14] is because I've always liked MMORPGs,” Sakaguchi says, “and just like I feared, I got addicted to it once I started.”

Goblins by the sea

Early game developers who manage to stick around the industry tend to fall in two buckets. On one end there are the developers who become executives and develop a mercenary outlook on the business; on the other there are the developers who retain a hobbyist’s appreciation for the medium. Sakaguchi seems to fall into the latter category.

Bugsnax, which originally debuted on PS4, PS5, and PC in November 2020, has been announced for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X and S, and Xbox One, including a Game Pass release for console, PC, and cloud.

Developer Young Horses has announced Bugsnax will arrive on these new platforms April 28, which will also mark the release of the anticipated Isle of Bigsnax expansion, both on all of these platforms as well as via a free update for PC and PlayStation players. The expansion will come with additional trophies on PlayStation platforms, as well as additional achievements to the base list on Xbox.

For new players, Bugsnax is a first-person adventure game that sees you explore a colorful island full of the titular Bugsnax, helping the handful of grumpuses living on the island with both their personal stories as well as uncovering the larger secrets of what’s happen to the mysteriously disappeared explorer Elizabert Megafig, who invited you to Snaktooth Island in the first place.

The Isle of Bigsnax expansion will be accessible to new players after completing a particular grumpus’ storyline, while players who have already beaten the base game can load a pre-ending save to hop into the experience. IGN recently went hands-on with the Isle of Bigsnax and found its potential as an exciting expansion to the world both mechanically and narratively exciting. Young Horses expects the expansion’s additional campaign to add three to four hours of story content, as well as new additional quests, collectibles, and a new home decorating addition on the main Snaktooth Island.

An Elden Ring player has beaten the game using only the Ground Slam Ash of War.

For those unfamiliar, this is basically the ground pound from Mario, where players jump into the air before slamming to the ground on their butt.

YouTube user Distortion2, an Elden Ring speedrunner who currently holds the world record for beating the game in under nine minutes, uploaded a two-hour highlight reel of his Ground Slam-only run, as spotted by Games Radar.

Unlike his speedruns, Distortion2 does defeat a number of bosses in this playthrough, and while he doesn't take on all of them, he does make his way through all Remembrance bosses (which are the main, tough ones).

This feat is also achieved from a completely fresh character, meaning it's not been achieved by bringing in an already over-powered Tarnished.

That being said, Distortion2 does deploy a number of tactics and buffs, all legitimate, to make himself, and his Ground Slam attack, incredibly strong. These include buffing his character with incantations like Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength.

Nintendo is set to expand its main campus in Japan with a brand-new Development Centre.

The company has purchased a 10,000-meter square plot of land next to its existing headquarters in Kyoto and plans to build a new center, called simply “Corporate Headquarters Development Centre Building No 2”. The purpose of the building is reportedly to strengthen the company’s research and development and will be complete by 2027.

“In addition to the conventional R & D investment and capital investment, we have positioned the site to be acquired and utilized this time as having an important role in strengthening R & D,” they confirmed in an official statement.

We posted the News Release "The Acquisition of the City Owned Land Adjacent to Nintendo Headquarters”.https://t.co/iOKsJrbPka

— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) April 12, 2022

The land was once the site of the former Foundation Support Factory and Material and Disaster Prevention Center, owned by the city of Kyoto.

Now, Nintendo will use the land to build its new R&D center after purchasing it from the city at a cost of ¥5 billion ($39.8 million).

As part of Kyoto’s Corporate Location Promotion System, Nintendo will be granted up to ¥100 million ($1.4 million) every year for the following three years to help cover its operational costs. However, this is dependent on how many employees Nintendo hires at the new center.

Halo 3 and ODST can now be played crossplay through the Master Chief Collection.

Developer 343 Industries released a new update to the eight year old game (or 15 for Halo 3 and 13 for ODST) that adds a number of new features.

Namely, players can now play the campaigns of Halo 3 and ODST cooperatively with other players whether they're on Xbox One, Series, or PC.

Doing so may not work perfectly straight away, 343 Industries warned, as "the team requires additional insight from real players with different networking setups," they said in a blog post.

The update adds several other features to the Master Chief Collection and weighs in at 21.56GB on Xbox, 26.5GB on the Xbox PC app, and 11.2GB on Steam.

A new mode called Flood Firefight has also been added to ODST, which essentially adds new enemies to the pre-existing Firefight mode.

The Flood enemies bring some spookiness to the mode with a fog that accompanies them into battle, and can now occupy vehicles, wield support weapons like turrets, and infect ODSTs and Elite Majors.

General performance upgrades and bug fixes were made across all games in the Master Chief Collection, and 343 Industries has promised it will continue to improve it in the future.

The League of Legends MMO may never be released according to the game's executive producer, but he remains "optimistic" that it still probably will.

Speaking on Twitter (the same way he announced the game in December 2020) Executive Producer of the MMO project at Riot Games, Greg Street, said there's "no guarantee this game will ship".

Street later clarified this is largely the case with any game though: "Until a game ships, you don't know it will ship", he told a fan. "We wouldn't be dedicating so much time to it if we thought the chance of shipping was low."

There is no guarantee this game will ship. We are optimistic, but you just never know until it does. However assuming it does, this will be the fourth major franchise I have worked on (AoE, WoW, LoL), and likely the last. And I am very okay with that. It will be a good final act.

— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 8, 2022

The only reason it wouldn't be released, he said later, is if it's not up to Riot Games' standards. A fan asked why, if a lot of players wanted to play a League of Legends MMO, would the developer cancel it?

Street replied: "If it's not good. If we think it will disappoint players. We don't want to be a game that is hyped for two weeks and then fades from view."

He's also tweeted since saying that Riot Games is eager to hire people with no prior games experience for the MMO, in a discussion around getting started in the industry.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Kristen Hines will join Activision Blizzard from April 25, 2022, and already has her sights set on increasing the number of women and non-binary employees by 50%.

“I’m excited to join a company that is prioritizing its commitment to [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion], and making progress on the ambitious goals it has set for itself,” she said in an official statement. “In an industry with historical underrepresentation, I’m looking forward to leading the company’s efforts to further build a workplace that values transparency, equity, and inclusivity.”

Activision has confirmed that Hines will play a “crucial role” in the company’s efforts to increase the number of women and non-binary employees in its workforce over the next five years.

There are plenty of great gaming deals going on at the moment across the spring sales, and a certain notable Xbox game has surfaced at a rather good price. Halo Infinite is now available for just $19.99 at Best Buy, a massive drop from its $60 retail price. Not only that, but this copy still also includes the Halo Infinite Steelbook, which is worth $10 alone.

Just for clarity, it's worth noting that this deal is for Halo Infinite's campaign, not to be confused with the Halo Infinite Multiplayer, which is still free-to-play and about to enter its Season 2 of content. So overall, it's a pretty impressive deal for what is considered one of the best games of 2021.

Halo Infinite Drops to Just $20 at Best Buy

If you're not on Game Pass, this is one hell of a deal and well worth considering for your Xbox. Remember, Halo Infinite runs well on both Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles, so if you haven't had the chance to play the game yet, this could be a great opportunity. It's such a big IP, that we even reviewed the single-player campaign and multiplayer experience separately.

There are some great deals right now on the latest and greatest HDMI 2.1 gaming monitors. These monitors can utilize 4K 120FPS gameplay, perfect for those who love shooters or racing games on PS5 or Xbox. Our favourite in the spring sale is the new Samsung Odyssey G7, down to just £619 at Amazon. There are also a few PS5 bundles available at Argos (region dependent) and Currys right now, with Very expected to restock soon as well.

Other deals today include a bunch of PS5 games on sale, alongside Ghost of Tsushima for just £33 on PS4, or £40 on PS5. There's also an amazing Easter sale at Secretlab right now, with up to £90 off IGN's absolute favourite gaming chairs over the next week. You can also currently get an extra £6 when you top up £50 onto your account at Amazon.

TL;DR - Our Favourite UK Deals Right Now

Secretlab Easter Sale: Up to £90 Off the Best Gaming Chairs

Best PS5 and Xbox 4K UHD Gaming Monitors (HDMI 2.1)

PS5 Consoles in Stock at Select Retailers

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium has been announced for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A sequel to last year's Capcom Arcade Stadium, this new game will bring another 32 Capcom classics to modern consoles

While it didn't reveal what games would be included, nor when fans can expect them, Capcom did reveal in a that SonSon will at some point be a free download. In addition, those who preorder the Capcom Fighting Collection will get Three Wonders as a launch day bonus.

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is bringing another 32 arcade classics to Switch, PS4, XB1, and PC!
SonSon will be a free download with this collection, and pre-orders / early purchases of Capcom Fighting Collection will also get Three Wonders as a bonus at launch.
More info soon! pic.twitter.com/mbvrpwr7LB

— Capcom USA (@CapcomUSA_) April 11, 2022

The announcement didn't reveal much else but promised that more information would be available soon. Fans may not have to wait long, as Capcom Arcade Stadium was released just two months after it was revealed in December 2020.

The original also featured 32 classic Capcom games including Ghosts 'n Goblins, Final Fight, and Street Fighter II. While players could enjoy them in their original forms, the collection added several other features, including the ability to rewind and speed up gameplay, and more.

While Cyberpunk 2077 has significantly improved from its notoriously difficult launch, a developer from CD Projekt says the game still has a long way to go. In a video posted on the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit, Quest Director Paweł Sasko shared some behind-the-scenes information about Cyberpunk 2077. When asked if CD Projekt is planning to deliver a DLC expansion this year, Sasko explained the studio's priorities.

"I can assure you that we are working [on an] expansion, we're working [on] stuff for you guys besides that," Sasko said. "That didn't change, we are still improving the game because we are all aware there is work to be done."

Sasko also expressed appreciation for the positive feedback they've received about Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen release, adding that the fan reaction has given the developers more incentive to work hard on the game.

"We're very happy you guys liked [Patch 1.5], and that gives us more...incentive to work for you guys because you show your appreciation for it," Sasko said. "That's as much as I can tell you. We are working on stuff for you. Like I'm literally daily reviewing quests, talking to people about stuff, so it is happening."

Sony is investing a further $1 billion in Fortnite publisher Epic Games. The investment is intended to deepen Sony's investment in the metaverse, adding to the $450 million it invested in Epic Games last year.

CEO of Sony Group Corporation Kenichiro Yoshida said: "As a creative entertainment company, we are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time.

"We are also confident that Epic’s expertise, including their powerful game engine, combined with Sony’s technologies, will accelerate our various efforts such as the development of new digital fan experiences in sports and our virtual production initiatives."

Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney added: "As we reimagine the future of entertainment and play we need partners who share our vision. We have found this in our partnership with Sony and KIRKBI.

"This investment will accelerate our work to build the metaverse and create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences and creators can build a community and thrive."

KIRKBI, the company behind LEGO, also invested $1 billion, just days after Epic Games and The LEGO Group announced a new collaboration to create a child-friendly space within the metaverse.

A classic Dungeons & Dragons character from the 1980s cartoon is coming to Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, the officially licensed D&D strategy game. Developer Codename Entertainment is gearing up to release the game's 100th Champion, and to celebrate, they're bringing the Dungeon Master from the 1983 D&D cartoon into the fold.

Idle Champions is a free-to-play D&D strategy game available on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android. The game brings together characters from different novels, campaigns, and shows into one large D&D crossover. The developers work with D&D content creators to bring popular characters into the game, including contributions from content creators like Mark Meer, Anna Prosser, B. Dave Walters, and more.

Now, the newest Champion to join the bunch is Dungeon Master from the classic 1983 D&D cartoon. Players can unlock him in The Running event that kicks off April 27 and ends on May 9. In addition to the Dungeon Master Champion, the content drop also includes Uni the Unicorn from the cartoon. The developers say it was a blast to work these classic characters into the game.

"This was our 100th Champion, and we had a lot of classic D&D characters to choose from," Idle Champions' Live Services Manager, Chris Dupuis, said. "However, when we finally landed on Dungeon Master, everything clicked into place - I knew we had something special brewing."

IGN and Rogue Games have partnered up to produce Rogue Jam, a brand-new game jam that not only offers publishing deals to indie developers, but also $800,000 in total prize money that will be used to bring their game to life. Devs from around the world submitted their unreleased games late last year, and the Rogue Jam panel of judges that includes IGN EVP and CCO Peer Schneider and former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé have spent the last couple months picking the best of the best.

The winning games and developers will be announced beginning April 18, and this watch guide will help ensure you don’t miss a thing and can see some of the biggest and brightest indie games that may one day just become your new favorite.

Rogue Jam 2022 Winners Showcase Start Times

The Rogue Jame winners showcases will begin on April 18 with the premiere of Episode 1 - Huge Potential. The awards will air each day leading up to the announcement of the Overall Winner on Friday, April 22. The full schedule is as follows;

Ubisoft's Watch Dogs is getting an official manga set in Tokyo. The manga will debut in Japanese on April 12 and is simply called Watch Dogs Tokyo, as spotted by manga news feed Manga Mogura RE (below) and shared by Games Radar.

It will feature the evil Bloom Corporation from the Watch Dogs games — which have so far been set in Chicago, San Francisco, and most recently London — as it extends its reach to Japan.

A new manga series based on the "Watch Dogs" video game series by Ubisoft titled "Watch Dogs Tokyo" drawn by Kamo Syuhei (Gangsta: Cursed) & written by Shirato Seiichi will start on Kurage Bunch website on April 12, 2022

Image © Shinchosha, Ubisoft, Kamo Syuhei, Shirato Seiichi pic.twitter.com/XSGhtKiths

— Manga Mogura RE (@MangaMoguraRE) April 7, 2022

Manga Mogura RE also shared a plot synopsis, saying: "It will be about a special new infrastructure system from a company called Bloom Japan used by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to change people's lives. However this new system does in fact also harbour a great darkness.

Not much else is know other than it will be released on manga website Kurage Bunch and is drawn by Kamo Syuhei and written by Shirato Seiichi. It's currently unknown if an English version of the manga will be released.

Elden Ring seemingly once featured items and quests that focused on exploring NPCs dreams.

Lance McDonald, a prominent dataminer who's previously revealed secrets in Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, explored the mechanic using 2021's network test version of Elden Ring (spotted by Eurogamer).

Though cut from the final game, the content had a unique, fully voiced and animated character called Monk Jiko who requested the player bring him Dream Mist - an item acquired from the dreams of certain NPCs.

I worked really hard on this video you should look at it and tell your friend(s) to look at it https://t.co/bU7soHcJP0

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) April 11, 2022

Exploration was limited in the early version of Elden Ring but McDonald showed two sleeping characters, a Wolf and Land Octopus, with a "dense fog of sleep" floating around them, indicating that Dream Mist could be extracted.

These were exchanged with Monk Jiko (who was found at the Scavenger's Shack location) for Dreambrew, an item that could be given to different NPCs, sending them to sleep and prompting new dialogue options based on the dreams they had.

One of the lasting images of Nintendo's motion control era is a Wii Remote crashing through a high-definition television, its hapless owner looking on in shock. It would wind up lodged into the collective memory to such an extent that the Hard Drive would eventually memorialize it with the headline, "Neglected Wii Controller Hurls Itself at Flatscreen TV," complete with a cracked image of Wii Sports Tennis.

It captures a particular moment in video game zeitgeist, when Nintendo inaugurated a new era for motion controls by releasing the Wii and making the world go wild for waggle. It's a moment that Nintendo Switch Sports seeks to recapture, and as I discovered when my shoe went flying off my foot and bounced off the (thankfully) undamaged television screen, it's largely successful.

Nintendo Switch Sports is a collection of six sports – some of which will be familiar to longtime Nintendo fans, some of which are brand new. Tennis and bowling are functionally very similar to their counterparts on the Wii, while the more complex motion controls of Badminton and Swordfighting are reminiscent of Wii Sports Resort. It’s worth mentioning that Nintendo Switch Sports has roughly half the number of minigames available in Wii Sports Resort, though it will add Golf as a free download later in the year to bring the total to seven.

The Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer could be teasing the inclusion of a Star Wars section.

Eagle eyed fans have noticed what could be the foot of an AT-ST walker during a brief scene in the trailer, indicating that Star Wars could be one of the Disney properties included in the next game.

Images circulating on the Kingdom Hearts reddit (as noted by VGC) show side-by-side comparisons of the trailer and the AT-ST foot, with fans speculating that the jungle setting could be Star Wars' Endor.

Each game in the series features several Disney-themed worlds to play through, with Kingdom Hearts 3 including properties such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and Toy Story.

Neither Star Wars nor Marvel – two of Dinsey's biggest franchises – have appeared in Kingdom Hearts games before, and neither developer Square Enix or Disney itself has confirmed if this will be the case in future.

Kingdom Hearts 4's impressive gameplay introduction was made using Unreal Engine 4 – but the final game is being developed on Unreal Engine 5, and will see improved visuals when it's released.

A lengthy reveal yesterday showed off a more realistic visual look in the game's Quadratum area, as well as shots that may hint at a Star Wars section of the game. It seems this is only a taster of how the final game will look, as a Famitsu article (translated by IGN) points out.

Speaking at the Kingdom Hearts anniversary event where the game was revealed, co-director Yasushi Yasue explained that the trailer was made using Unreal Engine 4, but the game itself is being developed using Unreal Engine 5. Yasue pointed out that the final game will see better lighting and visual detail in particular.

However, it seems it'll be a little while before we see any of the fruit of that work – the game has no release date, and Famitsu indicates that there won't be any more information released in June, the usual timeframe for E3 and other major game reveal events.

There are some incredible deals available right now. To kick things off you can currently get an extra £6 when you top up £50 onto your account at Amazon. This is perfect for those who use Amazon to order items quite often, or even better for those who want to make a bigger purchase and fancy a little bit extra off the top. This is for select accounts only, so check out your free Amazon rewards here.

Other deals today include £20 off Nintendo Switch OLED at AO, and regular Switch consoles down to just £239, alongside Ghost of Tsushima for just £33 on PS4, or £40 on PS5. There's also an amazing Easter sale at Secretlab right now, with up to £90 off IGN's absolute favourite gaming chairs over the next week.

TL;DR - Our Favourite UK Deals Right Now

Get £20 Off Nintendo Switch OLED Model

How to Get an Extra £6 for Free at Amazon

PS5 Games on Sale for Less than £40 at Amazon

After travelling to the neon-lit, Japanese culture-inspired vision of a futuristic Kamigawa earlier this year, Magic: The Gathering is now shifting to the no less visually arresting world of New Capenna. A city "built by angels and ruled by devils," New Capenna is a 1920s-esque art deco noir metropolis, run by five crime families. This concept comes to life wonderfully well in the card art (and all the different treatments), but the designers have really doubled down on it for the mechanics too.

Each of the five syndicates is represented by a three-colour combination and a unique mechanic. You can read about each of them here but to give you an idea, The Obscura are represented by white, blue and black, and are magic users focused on deception; on manipulation and blackmail. The mechanic they utilise is "Connive," which lets the player draw a card and discard a card. And if the discarded card is a nonland, the creature that connived gets a +1/+1 counter. It promises to be a useful mechanic that will help players dig through their deck and find what they need for the situation at hand.

So how does IGN's card reveal for Streets of New Capenna tie into the five families? Well, it's actually a tool that any of them could potentially utilise. Introducing Luxior, Giada's Gift: