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A plodding team of armored knights crashes into their enemies, scything them down with blows left and right. They're much more powerful than those they fight, but far fewer, and in the tactical combat of King Arthur: Knight's Tale you're the one in charge of making sure those knights triumph. I sat down with a preview of the second act of this story-driven strategy RPG, and I found myself intrigued by its mix of combat, knightly tales, and casual castle management.

I'll be straight with you here: this remix of Arthurian legend plays fast and loose with the myths, and I'm here for it. Arthurian legends are the comic book stories of the medieval period, all about larger-than-life heroes and wildly inconsistent in how they're depicted. What I mean is that I don't think you'll need to know jack about Arthur to enjoy this, but here's the details anyway: King Arthur: Knight's Tale is set in a grimdark Arthurian purgatory of sorts. Avalon, what should be a shining mystical paradise for knights, has gone really wrong and Arthur has gone not just normal evil, but super evil.

Oh, and you play the bad guy. You're Mordred, and you've killed Arthur at the same moment he's killed you. Now you're both in Avalon, but Arthur has gone all kinds of bad, so now you need to kill Arthur… again. To do so, you need to recruit his former knights, enemies, and allies to your side. Basically none of them like you or want to work with you, and depending on your actions some of them will happily abandon you for a return to Arthur's side. Complicating things are the Lady of the Lake, ancient gods, elves, and all manner of other supernatural stuff cribbed from Celtic, Irish, and Brythonic mythology both pre- and post-Christian.

An incredibly detailed Batman mod has been created for Grand Theft Auto 5 that includes multiple Batsuits, gadgets, a dozen bat-vehicles, and more.

JulioNIB, who's previously modded Godzilla, Superman, and Jaws into the game, released their latest creation on February 2 with a video showcasing its features (spotted by GameRant).

JUlioNIB's Batman Script Mod lets PC players don multiple Batsuits (or even walk around as an un-costumed Bruce Wayne), and run, glide, and grapple around Los Santos. The mod also adds its own melee combat reminiscent of the Arkham series, which includes that series' slow-motion finishers.

A "simple" Batman mod for GTA 5 by JulioNIB 😎🤩
Full video: https://t.co/hI4CpFsOYz
big thanks to @PainFuuma for the amazing melee animations that he shared pic.twitter.com/3fGqReldFR

— JulioNIB (@julionib) February 2, 2022

Players can also enjoy not one but 12 different bat-vehicles, including the 1989 Batmobile and the Tumbler from The Dark Knight Trilogy. They can be called to you, sent away, and even have their own array of weapons.

Anime adaptation Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles will come to Nintendo Switch on June 10.

The arena-based fighting game will arrive on Switch alongside all the post-release content that's hit previous editions – including 6 new characters, online missions, and balance changes.

A physical edition of the game is available to pre-order now, which comes with a bonus character unlock key for Kimetsu Academy Tanjiro Kamado.

Teh fighting game follows the same plot as the anime and manga it's based on, following Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado after their family are killed by demons, each on a path for revenge, and a cure for a demon curse placed on Nezuko.

When it arrived on other formats last year, we awarded The Hinokami Chronicles a 7/10 review, calling it "a fighter that balances depth and accessibility well, but it’s hamstrung by an inconsistent story mode and a slim roster."

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Pokemon Legends Arceus is a certified hit among Pokemon fans and critics alike and has already sold 6.5 million copies worldwide. If you've been considering picking it up, it's now available for just £34.99 at Currys, just use code SWNEXTDAY at checkout (see here).

There are plenty of other incredible deals to check out at the moment as well. This includes HP 4K monitors for £229.99 (see here), Nintendo Switch Pro controllers for £44.99 with code GAMINGFND (see here), Elden Ring (Launch Edition) preorders for £45 on Xbox and PS4 (see here), and 50% off 3-months of PlayStation Plus (see here).

TL;DR - Our Favourite Deals Right Now

Pokemon Legends Arceus for £34.99 (Use Code SWNEXTDAY)

A500 Mini (Electronic Games) Preorder for £115 (Save £5)

50% Off ExpressVPN Right Now

Incredible Horizon Forbidden West PS5 Preorders

Those who preorder on PS4 can upgrade their copy to the PS5 edition for free.

Dying Light 2 appears to be off to a strong start, as it has already shambled its way onto Steam's top 25 most-played games of all time with a peak concurrent player count of 274,983.

According to SteamDB, Dying Light 2 - which has greatly outperformed the original Dying Light's all-time peak of 45,876 players - has passed both KHOLAT and Halo Infinite to place 23rd on the list of Steam's most-played games of all time by concurrent players, and it sits behind The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

For comparison, PUBG: Battlegrounds is holding strong onto the #1 spot with an all-time peak of 3,257,248 players. In a distant second sits Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with 1,308,963 players. Additionally, the original Dying Light had an all-time peak of 45,876.

In most cases, the launch of a game will see the highest concurrent player count. However, in the age of live-service games and expansions and more, sometimes games can find a second chance at moving up the list.

In our Dying Light 2 review, we said that it "is an ambitious zombie action adventure that's packed with top-notch parkour, an awesome open world, and every painful bug in the book."

According to French retailer WTT, Nintendo Switch may soon be getting the Batman: Arkham Collection, which includes Rocksteady's three Batman games - Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight.

As reported by VGC, this listing by WTT is of note as the retailer had previously listed the Switch port of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt before it got its official reveal. It's important to remember that this doesn't necessarily confirm that these games are coming, as this could have been a mistake or otherwise, but it should give some hope to those looking to take Batman on the go.

The listing, which is still up as of this writing, has a placeholder date of August 31, 2022, which could hint it may be planned for a summer 2022 release date. Who knows, if this listing does prove to be true, it could be part of Nintendo's currently unannounced first Direct of 2022.

From the very first punch, Sifu is utterly uncompromising in its design. Absolver developer Sloclap’s latest martial arts beat-em-up is bold, its combat exquisite, its animation top-notch, its music outstanding, and its story – while very simple – is poignant and elegantly told. It’s also unforgiving and unapologetic, with pockets of frustrating moments during which I was certainly not in my happy place. But by the end, Sifu offered me a nearly unparalleled sense of mastery and accomplishment, and I can’t imagine that I would’ve enjoyed it half as much if it pulled its punches.

Sifu begins, as so many revenge-fueled martial arts stories do, with a murder. Your father and martial arts master is killed right before your eyes in what is quite simply one of the best prologue chapters I’ve played in recent memory. It both serves as an excellent tutorial, and a teases at what the future holds for you as you have full access to the entire catalog of unlockable moves. Eight years later, you set off on a journey to kill each of the five people involved.

Elden Ring's director Hidetaka Miyazaki and multiple PlayStation Studios developers have revealed their personal favorite bosses from the Dark Souls series, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

While Miyazaki had previously shared that the Old Monk boss from Demon's Souls was his favorite, he discussed a bit more as to why he made that choice with PlayStation.Blog.

“If we’re talking about a boss that I’m ‘most proud of’ (to use those specific words), it would probably be the Old Monk from Demon’s Souls," Miyazaki said. "The reason being is there was a lot of pushback against that design and what we were trying to do with it. But it was something I really, really wanted to do. I wanted to get that boss concept into the game, both from a visual design perspective and gameplay perspective, including the multiplayer element.

I haven't been to a proper museum in a long time — it's been solidly on the list of activities I felt were inadvisable during a global pandemic. But even when I visited museums on the regular, I'd never been to one quite like Johnnemann Nordhagen's Museum of Mechanics: an interactive museum built in a video game to showcase a specific type of game mechanic. In this case: lockpicking.

Nordhagen has a heck of a resume behind him: he's been a QA tester for Sony, worked on the PC port of BioShock 1, and served as a programmer on BioShock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified before leaving 2K to co-found Fullbright Studios in Portland, where he helped make Gone Home. He then returned to the Bay Area and founded Dim Bulb Games, where his team made Where the Water Tastes Like Wine.

But after Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Nordhagen's list of big projects hit a bit of a lull. He did some contract work for other indies, and put together some prototypes to pitch to publishers, but didn't get anything accepted. During this time, he saw the following tweet from journalist Nat Clayton:

A virtual museum of fishing mechanics

— nat clayton, space mom (@its_natclayton) June 22, 2020

And Nordhagen replied:

Despite Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar reiterating that Hogwarts Legacy is still on track to release this year, the publisher has yet to give a firm release date on when the game is due. However, new evidence suggests the open-world Harry Potter game could be out as soon as September.

The Rowling Library, a literary website that is devoted to promoting "the life and works of J.K. Rowling," officially announced a release date for the official artbook of Hogwarts Legacy. According to the website, The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy will release on September 6. Coincidently, September 1 is "Back to Hogwarts Day," which marks the day when the fictional characters of the wizarding world return to Hogwarts.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that neither of these things confirms that Hogwarts Legacy will actually release in September. And there is always a chance that the game may get delayed into next year. Yet, we will not know for certain until Warner Bros. officially shares a firm release date for the highly anticipated title.

If you've ever wanted to get to know the brilliant mind behind Death Stranding and the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima, now's your chance. The game director has started his own podcast called "Radioverse." However, you'll also need to understand the Japanese language because it's exclusive to Amazon Audible in Japan.

The podcast description on the website reads, "Each time, we welcome a variety of guests to talk about deep topics related to games and movies that cannot be heard anywhere else."

His first guest on Radioverse is a let's play Youtuber named Otsuichi, who is part of the channel 2Bro. In the debut episode, they talk about the Metal Gear franchise, Death Stranding, Kojima's aim for each of his titles.

The reviews of Radioverse have been unanimously positive so far. In the three categories of "comprehensive evaluation," "narration," and "story," the podcast has almost all five-star reviews across the board, with one four-star review.

One reviewer states that the episode was funny, saying, "I enjoyed listening to it very much! I would like to hear more behind the story of MGS production! Looking forward for next time!"

Microsoft's planned $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is a massive undertaking like nothing we've seen thus far in the gaming industry, and it certainly wasn't a decision the company came to overnight. In fact, discussion at Microsoft internally seems to have begun as far back as when the board gave approval to acquire ZeniMax, at which point they asked Phil Spencer a critical question:

"What's next?"

According to an interview with Spencer conducted by Axios, the answer was that Xbox needed to make a move in a new direction, a space where it didn't have any strong investments. "The constant conversation had always been about mobile and casual."

Though most people think of Activision-Blizzard most immediately for, well, Activision and Blizzard, the third arm of the publisher is King, maker of Candy Crush and a number of other wildly popular mobile titles. With King under its banner, Xbox has finally picked up a major name in mobile gaming.

In that regard, the acquisition is well in keeping with Xbox's philosophy of recent years: to be on as many platforms as possible and to reach as many users as possible. As Spencer told Axios, he is currently focused on raising player counts for Microsoft games, and will consider the Activision-Blizzard deal a success if it allows him to do that.

With Dying Light 2 officially releasing today, the new action game is facing the sort of online issues that often plague new multiplayer games. Players on social media are currently reporting network disconnects, co-op problems, and other online issues, leading developer Techland to put out a statement saying that addressing these problems are at the "top of our list."

In a statement echoed by Dying Light's official Twitter account, a Techland rep told IGN, "Thank you to gamers for your feedback! Disconnects in co-op mode and problems with redeeming awards, codes, and other in-game content (including Twitch Drops from TechlandGG) are at the top of our priority list. Our team is on it. We will update you on the progress."

Dear gamers, thank you for your feedback. Two things on the top of our list: disconnects in co-op mode and problems with redeeming awards, codes, and other in-game content, including Twitch Drops from TechlandGG. Our team is on it. We will update you on the progress.

Destiny and former Halo developer Bungie was at one point considering launching its own game streaming platform, Business Insider reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

As part of a report about Google's attempts to course correct on its failing Stadia streaming service, Google reportedly pitched its tech to Bungie, which was already exploring its own potential streaming service. Under the white-label deal, Bungie would own content and control the front-end service, but Google technology would support the platform.

Of course, Sony recently announced a decision to purchase Bungie for $3.6 billion. Talks between Bungie and Google apparently made "considerable" progress before the deal, but it remains unclear how the acquisition will impact Google's plans. Bungie has said it will keep supporting Stadia — Destiny 2 has been one of the service's marquee attractions — but Sony has an existing deal with Microsoft on cloud gaming infrastructure.

Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops -- Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis -- are discussing Sony buying Bungie, live service games, and big milestones for both the PS5 and Nintendo Switch. 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!

Apex Legends has a new Limited Time Mode coming into Season 12: Defiance. I got to play a bit of it before launch and honestly it just makes me wish Titanfall 2 servers were functional again because it’s basically a Titanfall 2 multiplayer mode in Apex. Here’s how the mode works.

Control is basically like Domination. Two teams of nine compete to hold three different points. You’ll be given unlimited Syringes and Medkits to use to heal your base health throughout the match but your shield will regen on its own after eight seconds of you not taking any damage. You’ll have five different loadouts to choose from before spawning into the match and these options will change daily. You can customize the optics for the weapon sets you do choose, like you can in Arenas. These weapons you spawn with will have infinite ammo as well. Control is much faster than Battle Royale or Arenas since you do respawn after a short timer and it’s all about defending or attacking points. Controlling a zone will give you points every second and the more zones you have, the more points you get per second. The first team to reach the score of 1250 wins.

Fanart and Pokémon practically go hand-in-hand. Just a quick Google search will reveal dozens — if not hundreds — of passionate fan projects inspired by Game Freak's world of Pokémon. But one fan's creation is taking off within the Pokémon community thanks to its strong resemblance to the Pokémon series' original monster design philosophy. It's called the Mezo region, and it's a passion project that the creator, a DeviantArt user named Lugi-Oh, says has been in the works for over a decade.

The Mezo region is a Pokémon fan art project made up of designs for 170 unique Pokémon. Its origins can be traced all the way back to 2006, when Pokémon Diamond and Pearl came out. Lugi-Oh has always had a passion for character design, and wanted to create a Pokémon region himself. While it may seem like these characters belong in a Pokémon fan game, that's not the case; Lugi-Oh says he started drawing these Pokémon just to get the designs and ideas out of his brain and onto paper. The project was never intended to be anything more than a fun art project for Pokémon fans to enjoy.

"Character design in general is what I have the most fun doing," Lugi-Oh told IGN. "Pokémon just happens to be an endless playground for that. I loved the games and ever since they first made sequels with new Pokédexes, I wanted to make one of my own. I technically began this project back around the release of Diamond and Pearl. I would casually catalog ideas and scrap them every time a new Pokémon title came out with similar concepts. After the release of Sun and Moon I decided to revisit the idea as a personal design challenge, only this time without caring!"

Google is planning to repurpose its Stadia technology by partnering with companies to white-label the tech that powers the tech giant's streaming service, Business Insider reports.

According to the outlet, the new partnership will be rebranded from Stadia to "Google Stream." Several companies, including Capcom and Bungie, are among the companies expected to use the service. Bungie, which is set to be acquired by PlayStation, is "exploring" its own streaming platform.

Google is also broadening its horizons and apparently talked to other companies, such as the exercise equipment company Peloton. Business Insider reports that conversations between the two companies include whether Peloton can be a "back-end" provider for games running on its line of fitness bikes. Last June, Peloton announced it intention to launch an in-app fitness game.

This would not be the first time Google pivoted to licensing out its tech to other companies. Last October, AT&T was offering customers a chance to stream Batman: Arkham Knight, free of charge on Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome desktop browsers. IGN received confirmation from both AT&T and Google that the game was being powered by the technology that Stadia uses.

Resident Evil 4 has long been rumored to be getting a remake, and the original game’s creator wants to see it improve on his story, which he says he was forced to write in just three weeks..

During an interview with VG242, Shinji Mikami said that “fans will most likely want [a remake], and so that’s a good thing.”

“It would be great if Capcom could do a great job and make the story better,” he added, “and put out a good product.”

Mikami – who created the Resident Evil series, directed and wrote Resident Evil 4, and left Capcom in 2007 – revealed that he wrote the Resident Evil 4 story in just three weeks. According to the former Capcom director, this was out of necessity more than anything. It seems he's less happy with that narrative than the game itself.

The Resident Evil 4 remake has been rumored for some time, with leaked documents reportedly from Capcom suggesting a release date was at one point planned for sometime later this year, in Q4 (October-December).

GTA 5 and GTA Online will be released as upgraded, native PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions on March 15.

After a delay last year, Rockstar has confirmed that the new-gen editions will arrive soon, bringing "new graphics modes with up to 4K resolution, up to 60 frames per second, texture and draw distance upgrades, HDR options and ray-tracing".

Rockstar also promises that the games will take advantage of new console tech, offering "faster loading times, immersive 3D audio, platform-specific features like advanced haptic feedback, and much more."

Players will be able to perform a "one-time migration" of their story mode progress and GTA Online characters from PS4 and Xbox One to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

It's not clear whether there will be a free or paid upgrade path from last-gen games, nor whether save migration can be performed cross-platform, or has to stay within a console family. We've contacted Rockstar for comment.

As previously announced, GTA Online will also be released as a standalone game, without the need to purchase GTA 5. It will be free for three months after launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X, but Rockstar has not announced a price after that date.

GTA Online itself will also be add new onboarding features when it comes to the new console generation. Players will be able to skip the GTA 5 story prologue to enter (presumably because Online no longer requires a purchase of 5), and a new Career Builder feature is being added.

After years of rumours and reports, Rockstar has confirmed it's working on a new Grand Theft Auto game, and said that it's "well underway".

In a new press release, a Rockstar spokesperson wrote:

"With the unprecedented longevity of GTAV, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered — and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.

On behalf of our entire team, we thank you all for your support and cannot wait to step into the future with you!"

IGN reported that GTA 6 – if that is indeed what the game ends up being called – was in development back in 2020, but that it was a long way from release. Further reports pegged the game to arrive in 2024 or 2025.

There is absolutely no mistaking where Ghostwire: Tokyo – which just confirmed a March 25 release date – takes place. LED billboards beam down from the tightly packed skyscrapers. Torii gates, sheathed by leafy trees, pockmark the urban sprawl. A convenience store beckons to the player on every street corner, offering a bright jingle and a catalog of processed sweets. At last, after a decade spent in American suburbia with The Evil Within franchise, Tango Gameworks is returning to their beloved homefront. After watching a 20 minute gameplay demo of Ghostwire: Tokyo at a recent preview event, I don't think the megacity has ever been rendered more accurately… you know, save for the marauding evil spirits and the psychedelic geysers of dark energy. In Tango’s vision, the Japanese capital has gone to hell, but at least you can still pick up some plastic-wrapped onigiri before your next fight.

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has said that he doesn’t believe Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be blocked by the US Federal Trade Commission.

Talking to the Financial Times, Nadella said that the deal would only place Microsoft as the third largest player in the video games industry, and the fragmentation of the market would prevent them from gaining a monopoly.

“At the end of the day, all the analysis here has to be done through a lens of what’s the category we’re talking about, and what about the market structure?” said Nadella. “Even post-this acquisition, we will be number three with sort of low teens [market] share, where even the highest player is also [in the] teens [for market] share. It shows how fragmented content creation platforms are. And so, that’s the fundamental category. Yes, we will be a big player in what is a highly fragmented place.”

Should the deal go ahead, Microsoft will still be behind Sony and Tencent in terms of industry size.

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.

Call of Duty: Warzone has reverted an unpopular change - and that led to a popular Warzone player having developer Raven Software's logo tattooed onto his butt.

The initial change came on December 8, 2021, when Call of Duty: Warzone Season 1 introduced players to the Caldera map. As part of the update, Raven Software implemented a change to the way Loadout Drops work. Aside from the two free loadout drops each game, players are able to purchase one from any Buy Station.

Originally, there was no limit to when you could buy one, meaning that more aggressive teams could earn enough to get their custom loadouts early in the game. But the update on December 8 changed that. The change restricted the purchase of Loadout Drops until after the first circle.

Matt, Joe, and Emma come together this week to discuss two of the biggest games of the moment: Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Dying Light 2. But we don't just do games on this podcast, oh no, so there's also talk of two new Netflix hits - Archive 81 and Murderville - as well as the latest stabathon from the Scream series.

As ever there's a round of the Endless Search - this one's Goosebumps themed - 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 #630: My Mum's Dating a Frankenstein!

• IGN UK Podcast #629: Lu Bu & Nute Gunray
• IGN UK Podcast #628: Operation Wotsit Rescue
• IGN UK Podcast #627: Our Big Video Game Sequel Predictions
• IGN UK Podcast #626: The 15 Best Things We Played and Watched Over Christmas
• IGN UK Podcast #625: The Big 2022 Preview

Former Guitar Hero legend Schmooey has revealed that his top-scoring videos were completely and utterly fake.

The prolific Guitar Hero player, previously thought to be the best in the world, has been faking it all along, and admitted as much in a lengthy apology he posted to YouTube.

“I won’t waste any time on this,” he said. “Yes, most of the stuff I did was unauthentic and I am at fault for being a fraud, for the things I tweaked and edited.”

“I'm sorry I'm not the person you thought I was,” he added. “I am a fraud.”

His apology comes after YouTube investigator Karl Jobst uncovered his cheating in a now-viral video.

Since 2018, Schmooey has been dazzling the Guitar Hero fan community with numerous world-firsts. Often playing some of the most difficult songs at speeds well above anyone else, he was considered to be the world’s greatest. But a world first he posted to YouTube in December 2021 would be his undoing.

The video chronicled Schmooey’s world-first – a ‘flawless’ run of 9 Patterns of Eternal Pain. This instantly drew suspicion, and on further examination, the video included several errors.

Expert players noticed an inconsistency between the notes and his finger positions, but the moment that sealed his fate was a Windows Media Player overlay that appeared very briefly towards the end of the video. This was a huge red flag – it wasn’t a live video at all, but a screen capture of a previous recording.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human has already dropped to just £42 in the UK (see here). Clubcard holders at Tesco can walk into their local superstore right now and pick up the game on a massive discount, especially since it's literally only just released. If you've been considering getting the game, and didn't preorder, this is a great discount and a top deal.

There are plenty of other incredible deals to check out at the moment as well. This includes Elden Ring (Launch Edition) preorders for £45 on Xbox and PS4 (see here), or 50% off 3-months of PlayStation Plus (see here). That brings it down to £9.99 when it would usually cost £19.99, a great deal if you want to dip your toe into PS Plus for a few months. We've got plenty of other great gaming discounts listed below, so make sure to check them all out.

TL;DR - Our Favourite Deals Right Now

Dying Light 2: Stay Human Drops to £42 in the UK

Elden Ring Preorders: Launch Edition Down to £45 (was £59.99)

50% Off ExpressVPN Right Now

Nintendo has announced that Pokémon Legends: Arceus has sold 6.5 million copies in its first week of release – meaning the somewhat experimental new title is selling faster than the recent mainline Pokémon games.

Announced on Twitter (below), Nintendo thanked fans a week after the game arrived, announcing the huge sales figure. We're waiting for official word from Nintendo, but this likely puts Arceus among the upper echelons of the fastest-selling games on Switch.

Thank you to the more than 6.5 million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in #PokemonLegendsArceus!

We hope you're loading up on more potato mochi before your next research mission! pic.twitter.com/u1MKRHkhhD

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 4, 2022

It looks as though The Pokémon Company's experiment in a new kind of RPG is paying off, given that Arceus has outpaced both Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's first weeks on sale. Both the last mainline games, and the DS remakes, managed to sell 6 million copies in the same time on sale.

One of the biggest changes to the Xbox business in the past five years has been the introduction of the Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft Games CEO Phil Spencer has been its biggest champion, and according to a new profile, a major reason why Microsoft took a chance on the experimental gaming service in the first place.

In a profile by the Wall Street Journal, Xbox Game Pass — a service where for a monthly fee players can download and play from a library of games, including Xbox first-party titles — was born from Microsoft’s success with its cloud service business. But it was never a guarantee Microsoft would go through with the proposal.

“In meetings, Mr. Spencer’s staff would present arguments for why Game Pass Wouldn’t work — publishers wouldn’t participate, or it would eat into profits,” says former Xbox veteran Richard Irving.

“‘[Phil Spencer] wouldn’t take no for an answer,’” Irving added, saying Spencer was at the center of pushing forward with Xbox Game Pass. “He was always trying to find a way to make it work.”

While Xbox Game Pass has been touted as a success with around 25 million subscribers. There are reports that PlayStation is working on a similar service codenamed Project Spartacus.

While most folks are still chewing their way through the hours of adventure available in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, if you're close to wrapping up the main story, you might be wondering whether DLC will be on the table. Though there's no official word yet, Legends: Arceus fortunately leaves open quite a few possibilities for where a potential DLC could go.

Warning: Minor spoilers for story and locations in Pokemon Legends: Arceus (or, rather, locations not in Legends: Arceus) follow.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus does a fairly good job of canvassing the breadth of "vast Hisui," but there are a handful of key locations that appear in Diamond and Pearl that we never actually get to visit in its past-tense Hisui that could be ripe for some kind of DLC area down the line, big or small.

On the main continent itself, two that spring immediately to mind are Eterna Forest and Canalave City. Though it seems like we visit the forest in the Obsidian Fieldlands, Eterna Forest is located to the north of Jubilife in Diamond and Pearl, while the Heartwood is far to the south in an area we don't really visit in Diamond and Pearl. Canalave is actually in a similar boat, as it's located to the west of Jubilife in an area that appears covered by ocean on the Hisui map. Both of these are relatively small spots though, so they're less interesting DLC fodder than other possibilities.

A new Halo Infinite patch appears to have finally fixed its Big Team Battle mode's matchmaking issues, which have persisted since early December.

In a tweet posted earlier today, the official Halo Infinite Twitter account confirmed the improvements to matchmaking in Big Team Battle. Players are being asked to close and relaunch Halo Infinite to install the patch.

In addition to the problems with Big Team Battle, the new patch also resolved known campaign issues while also making balanced changes. A few of the most notable changes can be found here:

• Local Area Network (LAN) multiplayer is now available. There is a known issue for LAN multiplayer: Match settings changed in the Mode Editor still show as the defaults. The changed settings work as expected once the match begins.

• Players with AMD Radeon RX 500 Series GPUs no longer experience crashes because Async Compute in Video Settings is turned on.

• Players who have turned off Async Compute because of this can now turn it back on.

Another long-awaited game is joining the stacked release lineup of February and March, as PlayStation has announced Ghostwire: Tokyo will launch on March 25, 2022. In addition to the release date news, PlayStation is also holding an official showcase for the game tomorrow, February 3 at 2 p.m. PT. You can watch the showcase on PlayStation's YouTube page.

Ghostwire: Tokyo update! See new gameplay and behind-the-scenes details in a special presentation from Bethesda this Thursday at 2pm Pacific: https://t.co/qTfvK9oYdJ pic.twitter.com/GPcTmNQ5A5

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 2, 2022

Ghostwire: Tokyo is the next game from Shinji Mikami's Tango Gameworks, developers of The Evil Within. It was first announced as a PlayStation exclusive during Bethesda's E3 2019 conference. Since then, Bethesda and all studios under its umbrella have been acquired by Microsoft, but the game is still launching as a timed console exclusive on PS5 and PC.

The title is an action-adventure game that will see players take on paranormal threats called The Visitors. These creatures take on forms like a child in a yellow raincoat, a bride who never got married, and other manifestations of loss and separation.

Ghostwire: Tokyo has been something of a mystery since Bethesda unveiled the game in 2019, but a new gameplay deep-dive has finally shed light on how the game actually works, including its open world and combat mechanics.

Tango Gameworks, developers of The Evil Within, revealed the game is an open world set in a haunted Tokyo following "the Vanishing", a paranormal occurance where 99% of the population vanished.

The city has become overrun with spirits from Japanese mythology and the player must use a combined arsenal of supernatural powers and traditional weaponry to save it.

Open World

Ghostwire: Tokyo's open world, despite its fairly unique setting, appears to take on more traditional elements of the genre

A standard menu map allows the navigation of a Tokyo packed with main missions, side quests, and points of interest that involve defeating enemies within a certain location to clear surrounding fog.

These areas are marked by corrupted torii gates that players must cleanse in order to clear the fog, and there are several – big and small – scattered throughout Tokyo.

Another open world activity is the inclusion of strange spaces throughout the map that lean back into Tango Gameworks' horror past. The player must walk through corridors "where time and space cannot be trusted" which look to be something like a toned-down version of P.T. "The only way to complete your mission is to power through," the deep-dive narrator explains.

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.

A new year means a new Call of Duty and this year’s entry will be developed by Infinity Ward.

To maintain Call of Duty’s annual release cycle, Activision rotates development across three developers, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer, with other studios lending support.

Infinity Ward is once again up to bad having previously developed 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, as well as the ongoing Call of Duty: Warzone. Infinity Ward’s official Twitter account confirmed the news by tweeting that a “new generation of Call of Duty is coming soon,” along with the words, “Stay frosty.”

A new generation of Call of Duty is coming soon.

Stay frosty.

Rumors of a Warcraft mobile game have swirled since way back in 2017, and it looks like 2022 will finally deliver. Blizzard has just confirmed that a new Warcraft mobile game will be releasing this year.

In its quarterly earnings report, Blizzard said that it is "planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including new experiences in World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time."

Previously, Blizzard has revealed it was in fact working on multiple Warcraft mobile experiences that were in "advanced development" as of August 2021. Further official details haven't been shared, including genre or exactly what element of the Warcraft universe this will cover, though it's possible one of the games on deck is a rumored Pokemon GO-styled AR game.

If a Warcraft mobile game makes it out this year, it won't be the only mobile game from Blizzard, as Diablo: Immortal is currently planned for release as well in the first half of 2022.

Kabam announced that the servers for the mobile MOBA Marvel Realm of Champions will shut down on March 31, with the game having already been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Additionally, players are no longer be able to make in-app purchases. Existing players, however, will receive quite the send-off package before the game shuts down for good.

"When we started to develop Marvel Realm of Champions, we set out to create a fast-paced action RPG with competitive PVP battles, and the ability to customize your own Marvel Champions in the way that you want," Kabam said in a statement. "Despite making multiple adjustments and changes along the way, we have not been able to meet the vision that we had initially set."

Kabam is making the following adjustments to the game before March 31 to give existing players one last memorable experience:

• Unreleased Gear Sets and Weapons will be made available
• The number of Units given away will substantially increase
• Gear Crates and Crafting Crystals will cost fewer units
• Arena Conquest, Daily Missions, Solo Conquest, War Thor’s Crucible and Deathmatch game modes will be available until March 31

The plot of Marvel Realm of Champions revolved around who killed the Maestro, an evil version of the Hulk. The conclusion of the story will be revealed before the game shuts down. Additionally, new and existing players of another Kabam game, Marvel Contest of Champions, will receive an adjustment package based on their progress and investment in Realm of Champions.

If you've been after an Xbox Series X, this is a great opportunity. Xbox Series X is currently still in stock online at UK retailer GAME (see here). This stock has lasted since around 10 am on February 3, 2022, but it is still highly likely it will sell out very soon. There is only one caveat, it'll cost £464.99 (£20 above RRP) and includes a baseball cap. I mean, beggars can't be choosers, right?

But, this is still a great opportunity for anyone who has been waiting long enough to avoid the rush and disappointment of stock hunting. While component shortages are still heavily affecting the industry, the Xbox's continued availability spikes in 2022 might be a saving grace for the consumer, especially since you can also pick up a Series S for less than £220 regularly (see here).

Xbox Series X In Stock at GAME (£464.98 + Hat)

Xbox Series S for £215.99 (LOVE20OFF)

On the other end of the console shortage, Sony is expecting to sell fewer PlayStation 5 units in the current financial year than previously forecasted. The company slashed its forecasts by millions of units due to ongoing component shortages.

The Battlefield 2042 features that DICE delayed its first season pass for have now also been delayed until March.

The much-requested scoreboard update was due to release in February but a Twitter post from the Battlefield Direct Communication page (below) announced it would be delayed until March.

Our next Update after todays Hotfix will now roll out in early March. This is a change from our last messaging to you all on it's intended release.

The extra time will help to ensure we improve the quality of our Updates, and include additional changes.https://t.co/WoeHvOludK

— Battlefield Direct Communication (@BattlefieldComm) February 3, 2022

Two days ago on February 1 DICE announced it would be delaying Battlefield 2042's Season One to early summer to instead focus on fixing current issues in the game. It said that implementing a refreshed in-round scoreboard that separates the player's and enemy's teams into two tables would be coming "as soon as possible", meaning mid to late February according to the studio's Twitter post.

But today DICE tweeted again to announce it had pushed out a hotfix to address instability issues caused by the previous update, and in a reply to that post revealed that the scoreboard update would now be delayed.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, as you’ve already seen in our first hands-on preview, is a mash-up of Borderland's unique shooter-looter setting and the world of fantasy as filtered through the mind of a 13-year old explosives expert. Taking meta to the next level, we return to the Bunkers and Badassery of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dungeon Keep for an entirely new adventure through the cracked lens of fantasy as it exists in Tiny Tina's mind. With the world of Borderlands existing under a fantasy veneer, we're introduced to characters we've never seen before, both "real" and imagined, including one of the most important NPCs in Wonderlands, Izzy, owner and tavern keeper of Izzy's Fizzies, the "strictly non-alcoholic" soda bar.

Izzy has a warm and inviting personality, punctuated by her soft quasi-Minnesotan accent. It’s meant to evoke friendliness, but also serves as an in-game gag. According to Senior Writer Sam Winkler, "Tina is just running out of accents" for the non-playable characters in her B&B campaign.

IGN can exclusively reveal that Shredder, the ultimate bad guy of the TMNT universe, is being added as a new playable fighter in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl starting today. Get a first look at him in action in the reveal trailer above, and then watch the deeper-dive gameplay showcase narrated by Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl environment artist/lighting artist Hans Stein further down this page.

The metal-clad menace of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael isn't the only new thing in the latest All-Star Brawl update. As you can see in the Shredder screenshots immediately below, the set from the classic Nickelodeon game show Double Dare is also being added as a fighting stage.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl unites a slew of characters from across the kids' network universe into this family-friendly four-player fighter, including cast members from Rugrats, SpongeBob, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more.

IGN called All-Star Brawl "a very respectable platform fighter that serves as a fun, though far less polished and less fully featured alternative to its competition" in our review, adding that "the characters and stages feel soulless without the iconic Nickelodeon voice acting and music of its source shows, but All-Star Brawl lands its hits where it matters the most: in the fights themselves."