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343 Industries has finally released an update to help fix Halo Infinite's long-term lag problems, and confirmed it is working on long term solutions too.

For the first time since Halo Infinite released on December 8, 343 Industries has addressed the problems by offering an explanation and partial solution in a blog post on its website.

Since launch, players have encountered various syncing issues in the game such as accurate shots that don't connect, melee attacks going through enemies, and bullets twisting around corners.

Lead Engineer of the Sandbox team, Richard Watson, said in the post: "In Halo, we choose to favour the shooter. Practically, this means that whatever happened on the shooter’s screen the server endeavours to honour. That means whenever a player sees themselves hitting a target, our system does its best to give them the hit on the server."

The studio has outlined a few partial solutions to reduce, but not necessarily eliminate, the issue. Matchmaking will now more consistently connect players living close to each other to improve connections.

The update should also prevent players from manipulating Halo Infinite to connect them to servers near to them, which forces other players to have poorer connections.

Watson added that the update is "already shown promising results and should take further advantage of this morning's changes."

Cardy, Dale, and Emma pick out their highlights from this week’s Nintendo Direct including Kirby’s magnificent mouth and the return of Mario Strikers. Emma’s had the chance to play a bit of Elden Ring and shares what she thinks of it while Dale has been watching Pam & Tommy. Then Cardy blabbers on about Korean cinema for a little bit.

As ever there's a round of the Endless Search and your feedback.

Want to get in touch to talk about your favourite lunch box snack or maybe even video games? Feel free to send us an email at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast #631: A Motley Mouthful

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FromSoftware says that it's seeking to balance Elden Ring's difficulty, with one particularly frustrating Network Test among the elements being tuned for the final version. But there will still be some difficult bosses, some of which will reportedly rank among the most difficult the series has ever seen.

Speaking with Gamer Braves, Elden Ring producer Yasuhiro Kitao covered a variety of topics pertaining the final release, which is due later this month. Among them, he discussed the difficult balance, saying that the Network Test's showcase boss, Margit the Fell Omen, was "just too hard."

Nevertheless, Elden Ring will have a myriad of optional bosses to test the skills of top players, some of which will be very difficult.

"In terms of bosses that are unessential and optional and hidden, there are some of these that we have deliberately increased the challenge for those players who want to seek out this kind of experience. Hopefully if you’re that way inclined, you can seek out some really tough challenges hidden away in the world," Kitao said.

FromSoftware's Souls games have a long history of very difficult optional bosses. They include the likes of Bloodborne's Martyr Logarius, who will test your ability to parry attacks while heavily punishing mistakes. The DLC bosses are even nastier, with expansions like The Old Hunters notably featuring some of the toughest bosses in FromSoftware history.

Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser will serve a 40 month jail sentence for his role in creating and selling devices that host pirated games, Nintendo announced today. While significant, it's short of the five-year jail sentence the U.S. government previously requested.

The original proposed 60-month sentence was discovered in a recent court document, spotted by Eurogamer. The document lays down the argument for Bowser to be locked away for five years, with a further three years of supervised release, in order for him to "recognize the harm" that derived from his crimes, having pled guilty to two piracy charges last year.

The US government suggested that their recommended term of imprisonment reflects "the nature and circumstances of the offence, the history and characteristics of the defendant, and the need for the sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offence, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment...to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct."

Bowser's legal team, however, asked for a much shorter sentence, arguing that their client is "the least culpable and only apprehended defendant from this indictment," leaving him with the "brunt" of the blame. His lawyers recognized that Nintendo had "suffered substantial monetary loss" as a result of the offences but deemed a 19-month jail term as appropriate.

Fans of platform brawlers like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can now look forward to LEGO Brawls, an Apple Arcade game that's making the move to consoles.

Confirmed for Nintendo Switch in yesterday's Nintendo Direct, today we're learning LEGO Brawls is also coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles this June. LEGO Brawls is a free-for-all fighting game taking place in the LEGO universe. It was first released in 2019 as a launch game for Apple Arcade.

The game has eight different battle arenas pulling from classic LEGO sets like castles and the wild west, as well as licensed LEGO franchises like Jurassic World.

Fitting with the LEGO brand, players will be able to design their own brawling LEGO Minifigure, choosing cosmetics and battle abilities. The gameplay trailer also shows powerups, like giant LEGO mech suits that can tear up the stage and the competition.

We've been seeing more and more Smash Bros.-likes make their way to consoles, from LEGO Brawls, to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, to WB's MultiVersus. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is still getting content, recently welcoming TMNT's Shredder to the roster.

For more, check out everything else announced in this week's Nintendo Direct.

New details have emerged from the long-rumored Resident Evil 4 Remake, including the potential direction the yet-to-be-announced game may take.

In a new report by Fanbyte, sources claim that Capcom is not looking to make a "strict scene-by-scene remake" of one of the most popular installments in the Resident Evil series. The outlet reports that several scenes in the game will change dramatically from the original, with a "decent portion of the game" reportedly taking place at night, which may include the early scene where Leon fights off hordes of infected in a village.

While Resident Evil 4 is known for taking a more action-focused approach with less emphasis on horror, Fanbyte's sources claim that the project will take a scarier approach, with the three early builds of Resident Evil 4 serving as inspiration for the rumored remake. The prototypes were more supernatural and horror-tinged than the final game.

Staff at Worms developer Team17 have spoken out on issues of sexual harassment, low pay, and poor treatment within the studio in the wake of public backlash following its NFT U-turn.

Increasing numbers of staff have allegedly left Team17 in recent years due to the issues that allegedly include a dismissive HR team, demeaning boss, and a culture of being overworked, more than a dozen team members told Eurogamer.

Staff said the company's HR team failed to act appropriately when women reported sexual harassment such as being sent degrading messages and suggestive photos by male colleagues. HR "minimized" the incidents, gave the accused "a slap on the wrist" and told victims to sort it themselves.

Team17's group CEO Debbie Bestwick was also criticized. One staff member said: "Debbie posts so many things about being a woman in the games industry on Twitter, and yet harassment is going on in her company and people are being told, essentially, it hasn't happened."

Staff hold "mixed feelings" overall for Bestwick who has allegedly made staff cry by singling them out in meetings. One employee told Eurogamer that they're so overworked that "things are going to get missed" and "you're sat in a meeting being asked 'why the hell did this game not meet our expectations?'"

Horizon: Forbidden West includes dozens of accessibility settings to "create an immersive and accessible experience that can be enjoyed by everyone," Guerrilla revealed in a PlayStation Blog post.

Some settings have been brought over from the original Horizon: Zero Dawn but others have been added, including options to sprint automatically, heal automatically, and turn on context reminders.

Principal designer Brian Roberts said in the post: "Early on in the game’s development, we established that we wanted to bring the game to as many fans as possible and create an immersive and accessible experience that can be enjoyed by everyone.

"We hope these features help craft the gameplay experience that works best for you, and look forward to hearing your feedback so we can finetune even further."

One option added because of player feedback is the Co-Pilot mode that allows a second player to take over if need be through a second controller. Buttons are also completely customisable and can be changed between toggle and hold for convenience.

Assist settings can also alter specific areas of gameplay to, for example, slow time down when aiming, automatically activate Concentration mode to show weak spots, or enable aim assist.

A full list of the accessibility settings can be seen below:

2D puzzle platformers often have some fairly recognizable similarities. I’ve played enough to know that I’ll probably unlock a double jump at some point, eventually find a new item to beat enemies I can’t harm yet, or likely find some sort of lantern if there are areas obscured by darkness. Animal Well has all of those things, but never quite in the way I was used to. Instead of a double jump, you’ll be blowing bubbles to hop on top of, and instead of a lantern you’ll get a glowy yo-yo. It twisted my expectations of the genre at every turn, and consistently delighted me as I discovered more of its quiet, pixelated world.

Animal Well has you hopping around as a little blob, exploring the branching paths of its map to do… something. It’s rarely explicit with its explanation of pretty much anything you are doing, but I never felt like I was lost or didn’t have a drive to find more either. I simply picked a path and explored what I could, and it was rare I wasn’t rewarded for doing so. I enjoyed that freedom, even when it occasionally left me wondering if I should have gone up instead of down.

Perhaps more than anything else, the Borderlands series has been defined by its distinct, hand-drawn, comic-book look. That's definitely the defining feature of the series. Also, the guns of course. And the loot. And the humor. But the look is undeniable in its uniqueness, and the art style of the mainline series carries over into Tiny Tina's Wonderlands.

While Borderlands' overall style is best described as "cartoonish sci-fi outer space western," Wonderlands is closer to "cartoonish sci-fi outer space western with fantasy elements." Take a look at the slideshow below to see some of the concept art that helped form the distinct look of Wonderlands.

We're showing off Wonderlands all month long as part of IGN First for February. You can follow it all on our Tiny Tina's Wonderlands hub page, or check out our Tiny Tina's Wonderlands hands-on preview. Also be sure to check out how Tiny Tina's Wonderlands spells complement Borderlands' already rock-solid gameplay loop, and be sure to keep checking back all month long for even more exclusive Wonderlands content.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Ubisoft has never been one to shy away from reinventing the Assassin’s Creed series, whether they’re killing off their protagonist , taking a brief detour into competitive multiplayer, or transforming their most recent games into stat-driven RPGs. And the upcoming expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dawn of Ragnarök, looks to be no exception. Taking on the role of the iconic Norse God Odin on a quest to rescue his son, you’ll find yourself with a plethora of over-the-top, game-changing supernatural powers that are unlike anything we’ve seen in the beloved saga of cloaks and daggers.

Among the abilities available to Odin are the Power of Jotunheim, which turns you into a frost giant and lets you teleport while dodging, rolling, or firing arrows where you want to reappear. It also lets you blend in with frost giants if you’d rather avoid conflict. Similarly, the Power of Muspelheim turns you into a fiery demon, making you immune to lava, fire, and explosions while also letting you trick fellow lava lads into thinking you’re one of their own.

Never Alone 2 is officially on its way, with a sequel to the 2015 BAFTA winning platformer in pre-production.

The news came in a trailer (below) that also showed off the original Never Alone on Nintendo Switch, which arrives on February 24 in the form of the Arctic Collection that includes the base-game and Foxtales DLC.

The trailer ends with a short teaser that shows a number 2 appearing above a snowy landscape as we hear a giggle and a fox bark.

As well as being an accomplished platformer, Never Alone is also a collaboration with Alaska Natives, aiming to spread knowledge of indiginous culture. IGN said Never Alone is "a charming puzzle platformer" and "an indie not to be missed", and it went onto win the 2015 Gaming BAFTA for Best Debut.

Developer E-Line Media's president and co-founder Alan Gershenfeld said: "We are pleased to announce that we've begun pre-production on a sequel to Never Alone, building upon the same inclusive development partnership for sharing and celebrating Alaska Native culture and storytelling with a global audience."

Little else was mentioned about Never Alone 2, but it will likely include similar puzzle platforming gameplay set amid a world rich in traditional Alaska Native culture, playable solo or in co-op.

Following Nintendo's drop of a new Splatoon 3 trailer yesterday as part of Nintendo Direct, news has spread through the community of an apparent release date hidden within the video. However, it appears that said release date is fake.

A now-removed post on the Splatoon subreddit claimed that a QR code can be seen at the 55 second mark in the latest Splatoon 3 trailer. The QR code, which can indeed be spotted in the UI in the top left corner of the screen, is too fuzzy to be scanned, but the Reddit post suggested that enhancing and sharpening the image produces a usable QR code that reveals Splatoon 3's release date. However, the 'enhanced' version of the QR code provided by the user is not identical to the one in the trailer.

Despite initially fooling some fans, visitors to the thread quickly called out the post for offering up a QR code that was not of the same design as that seen in the trailer. It appears that this is a new QR code designed to send excited fans to a fake release date page. The date reads August 18, 2022, which is a Thursday (despite Nintendo games typically being released on Fridays).

Furthermore, the QR code in the new trailer is actually the same as one that was seen in the original announcement trailer. The code can be seen in UI elements at the 22 second mark. As such, it seems as if this 'QR code' is just part of Splatoon 3's art style, rather than an actual Easter egg or hidden message.

Sony has provided updates and reveals for seven indie games coming to PS4, PS5 and PSVR – including a new character announcement for TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.

On the PS Blog, Head of PlayStation Indies Shuhei Yoshida introduced the mini-event, which included 7 games – TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Hello Neighbor 2, Post Void, Salt and Sacrifice, Moss: Book, Samurai Gunn 2, and Animal Well. Some announces new details, others revealed PlayStation ports, and Animal Well is a brand new announcement

Check out all the details below:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Tribute Games has announced that Master Splinter will be a playable character in its retro beat 'em up. Describing the character as a 'must have' for the game, Tribute's Eric Lafontaine explains that that Splinter is "calm and collected in his movements – but not slow," designed to reflect his passive nature in the TMNT cartoon, but allowing him to take part in the action.

Splinter has a cane that opens up bouncing combos, can bite, and has a ranged flying special attack. He also has a special move based on the opening credits of the 1987 animated series, "in which for a few frames we see Splinter shattering a bunch of wooden boxes with all fours."

The game will arrive later this year.

It’s been a few months since a chosen few were able to take their first steps into Elden Ring - thanks to From Software’s Closed Network Test - and explore just a small fragment of the open world that was teeming with mini dungeons, roaming field bosses, and plenty of secrets. With the release date looming large just a few short weeks away, I was given one last chance to explore as far as I could in the Lands Between. This time there were no barriers to stop me — just a lot of incredibly tough adversaries waiting to kick my ass.

Rather than trying to solely progress through Elden Ring’s “main path” that led through incredibly grueling “Legacy Dungeons”, I decided to spend my precious six hours finding out exactly how the open world really works, and there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

Microsoft wants Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles to make their way to Nintendo consoles like the Switch.

Putting current Activision Blizzard games on as many systems as possible is a goal Microsoft wants to achieve after its monumental takeover goes through, company president Brad Smith told CNBC.

He said: "One of the things we’re being very clear about as we move forward with the regulatory review of this acquisition is that great titles like Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard today will continue to be available on the Sony PlayStation.

"We'd like to bring it to Nintendo devices. We'd like to bring the other popular titles that Activision Blizzard has and ensure that they continue to be available on PlayStation [and] that they become available on Nintendo."

Call of Duty games have appeared on Nintendo consoles before, but not with huge regularity – the last CoD game to appear on a Nintendo platform was Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 director Tetsuya Takahashi has said the game's Nintendo Direct reveal trailer contains secrets that eagle-eyed viewers may pick up on.

Speaking in a Nintendo blog post, Takahashi said the biggest secret lies not behind something you can see but something you can hear. The trailer's "intriguing" flute-based music seemingly signifies that "the flute is actually one of the key themes in this game," Takahashi said.

He added: "A variety of other elements and themes are hidden in the trailer and we’ll be revealing the details a bit at a time going forward."

Takahashi didn't go into more detail about those secrets, but did spend time talking about how the game has come together, and how long its ideas have been in the works.

The key art released for the game, showing a broken great sword of Mechonis and the body of the wounded Urayan Titan, was "conceived quite some time ago" between the developments of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2. Takahashi hinted that there are significant story details hinted at by the image.

He also confirmed the same musicians who worked on the previous Xenoblade Chronicles games have returned for the series' third instalment, namely Yasunori Mitsuda, Manami Kiyota, ACE (TOMOri Kudo, CHiCO), Kenji Hiramatsu, and Mariam Abounnasr.

EA and Sims developer Maxis have announced that they will not be releasing the upcoming The Sims 4 expansion pack, My Wedding Stories, in Russia.

In a blog post today from The Sims Team, Maxis said that releasing the pack in Russia would have meant "compromising the values we live by," saying that federal laws would have forced them to make changes to the pack's development and marketing.

My Wedding Stories is a wedding-focused pack that allows players to plan and hold elaborate weddings in a new location, Tartosa. It expands on existing wedding features including proposals and the ceremony itself, adding detailed planning, decor, outfits, cakes, events, and much more.

Though any adult Sims can marry one another currently in The Sims 4 and will be able to do so in My Wedding Stories, the pack's marketing and storytelling explicitly feature two women: Dominique and Camille, as they plan their wedding.

Russian federal law introduced in 2013 prohibits content marketed toward children (anyone under the age of 18) that presents homosexuality as a societal norm, labeling it as "propaganda." The introduction of the law has coincided with an uptick in violence against LGBTQ individuals in Russia and has been condemned by numerous human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The most anticipated of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster releases will finally be releasing later this month after previously being pushed into 2022.

To celebrate, Square Enix released the news alongside a remastered arrangement of Terra's Theme, still regarded as one of the most beautiful tracks in gaming history.

This isn't just another wild goose chase, it's time to move out.

The Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster launches on Steam and Mobile on February 23rd PST/GMT. In the meantime, enjoy the rearrangement of Terra's Theme in all its majesty.

Pre-order: https://t.co/MOlhSpxdED pic.twitter.com/Z4N9TD0bNE

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) February 9, 2022

First announced in 2021, Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster was subsequently pushed out of 2021 in order to apply additional polish. The first five games in the series are already available.

The delay appears to be drawing lessons from the previous Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, which were generally well-received but nevertheless required several patches to deal with various bugs. This is on top of ongoing complications from the COVID-19 pandemic.

To make up for the delay, Square Enix is adding additional items for those who pre-purchase Final Fantasy 6. They include the following (bolded tracks are new):

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was already a huge Mario Kart game, featuring new and retro courses for a total of 48 tracks. But now, Nintendo is doubling that number with today's announcement that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is getting 48 additional retro courses as paid DLC.

With a total of 96 courses, this iteration of Nintendo's kart racer will have over half of every Mario Kart track in history when it's all said and done.

If you take a look at the eight main console Mario Kart games and the mobile Mario Kart Tour, there are 170 original tracks across the entire franchise. This is not counting the Mario Kart Arcade series of games, or retro courses that have reappeared multiple times throughout the series.

Here's the breakdown of original courses featured in each Mario Kart game:

• Super Mario Kart: 20
• Mario Kart 64: 16
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit: 20
• Mario Kart: Double Dash: 16
• Mario Kart DS: 16
• Mario Kart Wii: 16
• Mario Kart 7: 16
• Mario Kart 8 (With DLC): 25
• Mario Kart Tour: 25
• Total: 170

Now, with its original and retro tracks combined, Mario Kart 8 will carry 96 total tracks, making up just over 56% of the franchise's total. This is by far the most courses we've ever seen in a Mario Kart game. The next closest is Mario Kart Tour, which featured 72 total tracks. On console, Mario Kart: Super Circuit on GBA had 40 total courses, with 20 original tracks and 20 returning courses from the original Mario Kart on SNES.

Over the years, our pal Kirby has eaten a lot of strange things. The pink puffball has devoured countless enemies and elements, all sorts of foodstuffs, entire trees, every character in Smash Bros, and more. But you know what he hasn't eaten? A whole working automobile.

Until now.

During today's Nintendo Direct, we saw a new look at Kirby and the Forgotten Land, with the introduction of a new mechanic called Mouthful Mode. In this mode, Kirby gets a very literal mouthful of a super large object, gaining its powers. In the trailer we see examples like a vending machine, a traffic cone, a scissor-lift, and yes, an entire car.

The internet has gone predictably nuts over "Carby."

I was always meant to draw carby pic.twitter.com/uvN17iGkgj

— shan horan 🎷 🐛 (@shanhorandraws) February 9, 2022

Carby pic.twitter.com/EuAg3UI2DM

— Cheryl 🍡 (@cysketch) February 9, 2022

we're calling about your carby's extended warranty https://t.co/2hgE9G9VBp

Warning: this article contains full spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett finale! If you haven't already, be sure to check out IGN's review of Episode 7.

The Book of Boba Fett has wrapped up its seven-episode first season on Disney+. As of publish time, there's no word on whether the series will return for a second season (though that could quickly change following Disney's upcoming earnings call). But whether or not the series is renewed for Season 2, it's clear there's more story to be told in Boba Fett's corner of the Star Wars universe.

Read on to learn more about a possible Season 2 and what loose ends still need to be addressed after the Season 1 finale. If you're curious about The Book of Boba Fett post-credits scene, we have a quick breakdown of Cobb Vanth's fate.

Will The Book of Boba Fett Return for Season 2?

Disney has yet to confirm whether The Book of Boba Fett will be renewed for a second season. It's possible the series was never intended to be anything more than a single season spinoff of The Mandalorian. And even if Season 2 is being considered, the mixed reviews to the series (it currently stands at a metascore of 59 on Metacritic) may influence Disney to shift focus to other Star Wars streaming projects.

In the wake of a successful remaster of the original game, developer MonolithSoft is once again venturing into the world of Xenoblade Chronicles this September.

During today's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced Xenoblade Chronicles 3, saying it will be set in a new world with connections to both the first and second game. Its reveal trailer showed off new characters and locales, teasing lots of story threads without sharing too many exact details on its plot or mechanics.

A press release after the Direct had a little more info, saying "Players will step into the roles of protagonists Noah and Mio amid turmoil between the hostile nations of Keves and Agnus. Six characters hailing from those nations will take part in a grand tale with 'life' as its central theme."

Xenoblade Chronicles was first released in 2010 on Nintendo Wii, where it gained prominence as part of a fan campaign to get it localized in North America. Following a spinoff on the Wii U and a sequel on the Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles was remastered in HD in 2020, with its protagonist, Shulk, also appearing in Super Smash Bros.

Xenoblade Chronicles can trace its roots back to Xenogears, a trippy PlayStation RPG that won acclaim for its mindbending story and fantastic soundtrack. Xenogears was directed by Tetsuya Takahashi, who served as the scenario writer on both Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2.

A sequel to Wii Sports was announced during today's Nintendo Direct in a surprising twist.

Nintendo Switch Sports will arrive on the Switch on April 29. The company confirmed that the following modes will be available: Tennis, Bowling, Chambara, Soccer, Badminton, and Volleyball. Nintendo also confirmed that it will add Golf into the game via a free update this fall. Miis will also return to the game as playable characters.

Ahead of the game's late April release, Nintendo announced that it will be hosting an online playtest for Nintendo Switch Sports beginning February 18 and will conclude on February 20. However, only players with an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription will access the playtest.

The announcement of Nintendo Switch Sports has been long-awaited for fans of Wii Sports, which was released as a launch title for the console back in 2006.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Live A Live is headed to North America for the first version. Not only that, it will be available in the HD-2D format made famous by Octopath Traveler.

First released on Super Nintendo back in 1994, Live a Live was an import-only RPG that garnered a passionate fanbase due to its unique gameplay and narrative mechanics. It was released during Square's heyday alongside classics like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger.

In addition to a new translation, Live A Live is getting a big graphical upgrade in line with Octopath Traveler, which was praised for its unique visual style.

Live A Live is out on Nintendo Switch on July 22.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Announced during today's Nintendo Direct, a collection with two Klonoa games is coming to Nintendo Switch on July 8.

Called Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series, it includes classic platformers Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, seemingly with remade or at least improved graphics.

The first Klonoa was originally released on PlayStation in 1997, then remade in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. Klonoa 2 was a direct sequel that came out on PlayStation 2 in 2001.

It's unclear at this time how much work has been done to revamp or remake either game for the switch, but the gameplay shown in its reveal trailer looked much crisper than any of the previous systems these games were on could allow.

While everyone waits for Mario Kart 9, Disney is getting its own combat racer for characters including Mickey Mouse, Sully, and Mulan.

Titled Disney Speedstorm, the new racer will be be free-to-play and will support cross-platform play. New characters will be released in a seasonal format. Tracks and Karts will be based on popular Disney franchises.

Racers will have a mix of special abilities and ultimate skills. In addition to online multiplayer, Disney Speedstorm will feature splitscreen.

Disney Speedstorm releases this summer on Nintendo Switch.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editorat IGN

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii Version) is coming to Nintendo Switch on April 20, 2022.

The 2008 action-adventure Star Wars game developed by LucasArts will be coming to the Nintendo Switch. As a port of the Wii version, it will include unique modes like two-player multiplayer duels between iconic Jedi and Sith characters.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed tells an original story in the Star Wars universe. Galen aka Starkiller, Darth Vader's apprentice. Players are able to make certain choices that lead them towards the Dark side or the Light.

Star Wars: Force Unleased focused heavily on force powers and they are on full display in Force Unleased, something we praised in our review. You can read IGN's original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed review here.

Since the release of Force Unleased, Star Wars games have adopted a licensing system. EA oversaw much of the Star Wars games developed in the 2010s, but Disney has since spread the wealth with new Star Wars games in the works at Quanatic Dream.

Meanwhile, EA will continue to make Star ars games including a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The Chrono Cross remaster is actually, really real, and Nintendo showed off the first look of it at today's Nintendo Direct. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, is out on Nintendo Switch on April 7, 2022.

The Radical Dreamers Edition includes updates like the ability to turn off encounters and an enhanced soundtrack. As noted in the game's title, this edition also includes the Radical Dreamers text adventure that was previously exclusive to the Satellaview.

Chrono Cross remaster rumors have been swirling for some time now, beginning with reports of a "big remake" announcement for around Christmas time this year, and then further reports that this was actually a Chrono Cross remaster. We were all further riled up when mobile JRPG Another Eden announced a Chrono Cross collaboration, especially since its cinematic trailer set to Time Scar looked so dang good.

During today's Nintendo Direct, the company announced that the first two installments in the Front Mission series are coming to Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo confirmed that the remake, Front Mission 1st, will arrive on the company's hybrid gaming console sometime this summer. The company also confirmed that a remake for Front Mission 2 would arrive on Switch as well, though no release date or launch window was provided.

Front Mission was originally released in Japan in 1995 on the Super Famicon, though players in the United States would have to wait until 2007 when the game was ported to the Nintendo DS. While a remake of Front Mission 2 will mark the first time that game will have been released outside of Japan since its initial release on the PlayStation in 1997.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

We may have not gotten an exact release date for Splatoon 3 in today's Nintendo Direct presentation, but it was confirmed that Salmon Run, Splatoon 2's popular horde-like co-op multiplayer mode, will be returning for the third installment.

The new version of this mode will officially be called Salmon Run: Next Wave, and Splatoon 3 will be released this summer. Nintendo also released a brief teaser of all the colorful chaos, and while this Salmon Run looks very similar to Splatoon 2's, a large new enemy boss Salmonid was also teased.

Salmon Run was Splatoon 2's only dedicated co-op mode, and saw up to four players attempting to fend off three waves of Salmonids while also collecting their eggs.

Nintendo revealed Splatoon 3 almost exactly a year ago, and revealed more gameplay details a few months later. The sequel will feature a single-player campaign called "Return of the Mammalians," as well as the return of its classic Turf War multiplayer mode.

A brand Mario soccer game was revealed for the Nintendo Switch during today's Nintendo Direct: Mario Strikers: Battle League. It was announced alongside a release date of June 10

Following in the footsteps of Super Mario Strikers, Battle League is a 5v5 soccer game mixed with offensive items like shells, and bananas, as well as special shots based on the character you are controlling.

Battle League will also have different gear you can equip to augment each character both statistically and visually. Some examples shown were Mario himself wearing beefy metal armor that increased his Strength stat, compared to lighter armor that seemed to include a Dragon Ball Z-style scouter lens that instead increased his Passing stat.

The reveal trailer also detailed a move called the Hyper Shot, which enables players to charge a super kick when they collect a special orb on the field. If the kick goes in, it will count for two goals instead of one.

Up to 8-player multiplayer will be supported locally on a single Switch. Additionally, online play will be available – including a "Club Mode" that allows you to invite others to join and compete globally.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes will bring the heroes from Fire Emblem: Three Houses into the Warriors-Musou genre.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes will be released on June 24, 2022, for the Nintendo Switch.

This is not the first Warriors game set in the Fire Emblem universe. The first Fire Emblem Warriors game was released in 2017 and featured characters from games like Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates. You can read our review of Fire Emblem Warriors here.

This sequel stars characters from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the first strategy Fire Emblem game developed for the Nintendo Switch. Players are able to lead one of three schoolhouses as they learn to grow into proper leaders on the battlefield.

Warriors is a unique action genre where players take on a single hero who must take on wave after wave of enemies to reclaim territory.

Nintendo has worked with the developers of the Warriors series on several spinoffs including Fire Emblem Warriors and Hyrule Warriors.

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

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp's new release date is April 8, 2022, Nintendo announced during today's Nintendo Direct.

The reboot of the classic Advance Wars games was originally intended to release on December 3, 2021, but was delayed to 2022 for "a little more time for fine tuning."

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp was originally announced at E3 2021. This remastered collection includes Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising.

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.

Hello Games has announced that No Man's Sky is coming to Nintendo Switch this summer.

Announced as part of today's Nintendo Direct, the ambitious space-faring survival game that originally launched on PS4 and PC back in 2016, will soon be available in a portable form.

This is a full version of No Man's Sky, including five years worth of updates. That means the many features introduced in updates such as Foundation, Pathfinder, Companions, and more will all be included, although it presumably doesn't include the next-gen focused updates added as part of the Next update. This is, after all, a Switch and thus has modest hardware compared to a PS5 and Xbox Series X.

No firm release date has been set, but No Man's Sky will be available on Switch sometime this summer.

For more from No Man's Sky, check out what arrived in its most recent update back in October, and the major Frontiers update earlier in the year.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

The first Nintendo Direct of 2022 wrapped up on Wednesday and revealed a ton of new games on their way to Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2022 and beyond. From Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to 48 new DLC courses being added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to a remaster of Chrono Cross, there was a lot to keep track of.

To ensure you don't miss a single highlight from the livestream, we've gathered up all the biggest news and trailers from the latest Nintendo Direct below. Let us know which reveal was your favorite!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Announced for September 2022

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been announced and it will be released in September 2022. This new story will follow the adventures of Noah and Mio amid "turmoil between the hostile nations of Keves and Agnus." Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also looks to "connect the futures of both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2."

Mario Kart Deluxe to Get 48 New Tracks With Paid DLC Through 2023

Mario Kart 8: Deluxe will soon be getting new tracks via the paid Booster Course Pass. This will add 48 additional courses to the game through 2023. The first of six waves, all of which will contain eight courses, arrives on March 18 and includes such classic tracks as Wii Coconut Mall, N64 Choco Mountain, and Tour Tokyo Blur.

While the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass will cost $24.99, it will also be free to all members of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

Editor's Note: The subject of NFTs is currently a very controversial topic in the gaming community. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

PUBG: Battlegrounds' creator Krafton is developing an NFT metaverse in Unreal Engine in collaboration with NAVER, the company behind Asia's largest metaverse platform, ZEPETO, which has more than 290 million users.

Krafton will use its experience creating online games like PUBG to build the virtual world alongside a user-generated content creation tool in the Web 3.0 and NFT-based project.

NAVER Z, the subsidiary of NAVER that Krafton has entered a memorandum of understanding with, meaning a nonbinding agreement, will use its experience designing and running ZEPETO to manage the metaverse's services.

HyungChul Park, lead of the Web 3.0 team at Krafton, said: "This partnership between Krafton and NAVER Z is bolstered by each company’s unique expertise and shared global focused as they look toward a future driven by NFTs and metaverses.

"By combining Krafton's existing technologies and research on how to build scalable Web 3.0 creator-driven ecosystems with NAVER Z and ZEPETO’s experience and capabilities, we’re confident we can build a high-quality user-generated content-driven open metaverse that stands apart from other services and vitalizes the global creator economy through NFT technologies."

Jak and Daxter could be the next PlayStation franchise to receive a TV or movie adaptation. Sony has lately been pushing film and TV adaptations of Uncharted and The Last of Us, and it looks like the initiative won't end there.

In an interview with Digital Trends, Uncharted movie director Ruben Fleischer said that he's developing a potential adaptation of the classic franchise. Fleischer said, "I’m actually working on Jak and Daxter, a version of that, for PlayStation, which I think would be really cool to bring to life."

Sony hasn't officially announced any plans, but Fleischer has at least confirmed that it's being discussed. This also means that there's some hope for a possible new Jak and Daxter game, as PlayStation released a Ratchet & Clank animated film, which led to a 2016 reboot on PlayStation 4.

The release of the Uncharted film later this month also lined up quite nicely with the launch of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection late last month on PlayStation 5. The Last of Us TV adaptation is heading to HBO, and there are rumors about a remake of the 2013 game as well.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 has seemingly been in development hell for years, and there doesn't appear to be a finish line anywhere in sight.

Bloomberg reports that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in pre-production after over five years of development. Rumblings of a Beyond Good & Evil sequel date all the way back to 2008, when Ubisoft showed off what seemed to be a teaser trailer for the game.

Nearly a decade later at E3 2017, the game was finally revealed. It looked like an incredibly ambitious project, promising a multi-planet world populated by dynamically-generated characters.

Update 2/9 2:35 pm PT: As speculated from Itoi's tweets both EarthBound and EarthBound: Beginnings have been announced for Nintendo Switch Online and will be coming to the subscription service later today.

With a Nintendo Direct set to go live in just over two hours, a series of tweets from Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi has fans speculating on a potential announcement for the beloved series during the upcoming stream.

Earlier today, Itoi quote-tweeted the official Nintendo Direct tweet with a comment that roughly translates to, "7am, huh? Amazing. Maybe it'll be snowing."

朝7時って、すごいな。雪が降ってるかもしれない。 https://t.co/TQk985WDqp

— 糸井 重里 (@itoi_shigesato) February 9, 2022

Itoi's cryptic tweet immediately sent Nintendo fan speculation into overdrive, with some sending shots of various Earthbound characters in the snow.

Apparently taking notice, Itoi followed by quipping that he was seeing a lot of foreign language responses to his tweet, and wondering if they were especially interested in the topic of snow. A little later, he posted a third tweet featuring a weather map.

いまの気温と、雲の様子と、雨の状況などを「アースボール」で眺めると、
あんまり雪が降るって感じじゃないんだよなー。それでも、降るのか。 pic.twitter.com/AEsqOxUEwS