IGN

Overwatch League Officially Ending as Blizzard Focuses on 'New Direction'

4 months 2 weeks ago

Six years after its glitzy launch, Blizzard's grand experiment appears to be over. Blizzard has confirmed in a statement to IGN that it is "transitioning from the Overwatch League," seemingly spelling the end for the competition once billed as the future of esports.

"We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction," an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told IGN. "We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program. We are excited to share details with you all in the near future."

Author
Kat Bailey

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Take-Two CEO Says GTA 6 Is 'Completely Protected' From Delays if Voice Actors Strike

4 months 2 weeks ago

With SAG-AFTRA video game actors and major video game companies still negotiating over a new union contract amid a year packed with major labor actions, the possibility of a video game actor strike continues to loom. But one major gaming executive isn't worried about the possibility: the CEO of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive.

Answering an investor question on today's Take-Two earnings call about whether or not GTA 6 could see a delay if a strike happened, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick seemed to think it was unlikely that SAG-AFTRA's video game actors would go on strike like their TV and film brethren. Rather, he said he thought negotiations would turn out "just fine."

As he put it, "Negotiations are expected to resume next week. We're optimistic. We value all of our talent greatly. We value excellent labor relations, we're looking forward to reaching an agreement that serves everyone well."

However, he added that "in the event they don't work out just fine now, we are completely protected."

What the strike could mean for GTA 6

SAG-AFTRA film and television actors are currently on strike as they continue to hash out a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Video game actors are not striking from video game work just yet, but they did authorize a strike back in September if union negotiators feel one is necessary during negotiations. Contract negotiations have thus far not resulted in an agreement, and negotiations have been on hold for several weeks.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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How Dead by Daylight Summoned Horror's Most Iconic Characters

4 months 2 weeks ago

Dead by Daylight launched in 2016 with a cast of original killers and survivors inspired by the horror archetypes of the 80s golden age of slasher cinema. As the game quickly grew in popularity, developer Behaviour kick-started an ambitious plan to see if they could bring together horror’s most iconic villains under its umbrella, almost like what Fortnite did for pop culture, but specifically for horror.

We spoke to the creative minds behind Dead by Daylight to understand the challenges and journey it took for some of the most iconic crossovers in the game, from Ghost Face to Alien’s Xenomorph, check below to see how some of your favorite horror icons made it into Dead by Daylight.

In the Beginning

Behaviour didn’t begin Dead by Daylight with a cast of recognizable faces. Before Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, the studio launched the multiplayer survival horror game with four original killers and five survivors that were created in-house but designed to evoke the style of the iconic 80s horror golden age. “The first originals, these guys up there, were really inspired by obviously the classics of the horror world, the slasher movies of the '70s and the '80s. So for us it was always part of the DNA of what we were building,” says Behaviour’s head of partnerships Matthieu Cote.

Author
Matt Kim

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New Characters and Stories Arrive in Goddess of Victory: Nikke’s 1st Anniversary!

4 months 3 weeks ago

Level Infinite’s Goddess of Victory: Nikke celebrated its first birthday with a livestream on October 27. The stream revealed big celebration plans for this free-to-play shooter's incredibly successful first year. There's an all-new storyline, new characters, and can look forward to some top-tier fanservice. If you're already a Nikke player, you've hit the jackpot. And if you're a newcomer, there's never been a better time to join the ranks.

Nikke drew in 25 million downloads in its first year alone thanks in part to its beautiful art, animations, and collaborations with popular properties like Chainsaw Man and Nier: Automata. Its development team also built up confidence over the past year by paying close attention to fan feedback from around the world when it's optimizing the game or designing new content. Nikke was voted Best App at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2022 in Japan, and it's on track to keep getting better.

Nikke players love their fanservice, so it goes without saying that its anniversary celebration had plenty to offer. A new major story event called "Red Ash" was one hinted reveal, an expansion with fully voiced story content and animated cutscenes seeded throughout.

Author
Kenny

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World of Warcraft: Classic May Be Teasing a Revamp of the Game's Creepiest Cut Content

4 months 3 weeks ago

If you've been playing World of Warcraft for long enough, you've probably heard stories about datamined and cut content over the years - much of which has been repurposed eventually. Take the Dragon Isles, for instance, which were a zone originally cut from the game way back in the original game's alpha, but which are now the elaborate setting for the most recent Dragonflight expansion. And now, Blizzard may have just teased the canonization of one of its most notorious, creepy pieces of cut content: the Karazhan Crypts.

The Karazhan Crypts were a badly-kept secret from way back in original WoW. It was a massive, hidden area behind the Karazhan tower that, while gated off, could be easily accessed by players back in the day who were savvy enough to clip their way in. The crypt included areas with creepy names like the Well of the Forgotten and the Pit of Criminals, and was full of piles of bones and dreary scenery. The area was most notorious for a massive water-filled cavern known as the Upside-Down Sinners, which featured dozens of dead bodies chained by their feet to the floor and floating, upside down, in the pool.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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World of Warcraft Community Can't Get Over Anduin's Glow Up

4 months 3 weeks ago

There's a lot to unpack from the deluge of new World of Warcraft content we were treated to today during BlizzCon 2023. The Worldsoul Saga, three teased expansions, Classic getting the Cataclysm expansion, and so much more. But excited as everyone is for all this, some people are arguably even more excited about, uh, a very, very specific kind of content update to a very, very specific character.

I'm talking about Anduin Wrynn's glow-up. He's hot now. And the WoW community is thrilled.

First, some context. Anduin Wrynn has been a staple character in World of Warcraft for a long time now. He's the son of the former king of Stormwind and High King of the Alliance Varian Wrynn, and in the earlier days of WoW was seen as a child and then a teenager hanging out in Stormwind. As WoW expansions passed, he grew older, eventually showing up as a main character in Mists of Pandaria and becoming pals with the Black Prince Wrathion.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Every Godzilla Game Ever

4 months 3 weeks ago

As the king of the monsters celebrates its 69th birthday, we take a look at every time Godzilla ever made an appearance in a game, from humble beginnings on the Commodore C64 in the early Eighties to the pinnacle of monster mayhem, Destroy All Monsters Melee on the Nintendo 64. How many do you remember?

Godzilla

C64, 1983

Completely unrelated to Toho, Godzilla on Commodore 64 is a well thought-out strategy game where Godzilla is attacking from the ocean, and you have to stop him before he destroys Tokyo. Use a nuke to destroy him, but not when he’s too close to the city.

Godzilla & the Martians

ZX Spectrum, 1984

Beyond the title, this game doesn’t seem to have any relation to Godzilla. The instruction manual says, “The Martians have invaded, destroying the molecular structure of Earth's atmosphere to make it compatible with their own planet. “The girl of your dreams” is trapped at the top of a building site but for the moment protected from the evil invaders by a friendly dinosaur!” Sounds like a Mario clone!

Author
Alex Simmons

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World of Warcraft: Classic Is Adding the Cataclysm Expansion

4 months 3 weeks ago

With World of Warcraft: Classic beginning to wind down its Wrath of the Lich King expansion, many players have been wondering where the game would go from here. The answer is...not going to shock anyone, as Classic will be adding the next expansion in line, Cataclysm.

Cataclysm was...a rather controversial expansion in its time. It consisted of a massive revamp to the world of Azeroth, transforming entire existing regions and making old questlines and stories unplayable while adding brand new ones. The giant dragon Deathwing soared across the map, spewing fire on regions and frying players where they stood. Worgen and goblins were added as playable races, Archaelology was added as a profession (and eventually discontinued).

While many of the changes it brought to the game were instrumental in shaping its future, one of the reasons World of Warcraft: Classic exists in the first place was because players wanted to experience the "old world" of Warcraft, the one that existed before this transformation. So it will be interesting to see how Blizzard handles this transition. We do know that some small changes are being implemented such as streamlined leveling,the continuation of the Titan Rune dungeon system from Wrath Classic, and an expanded collections UI.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Blizzard Announces Next Three Expansions in World of Warcraft: The Worldsoul Saga - BlizzCon 2023

4 months 3 weeks ago

Today at BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that the upcoming tenth, eleventh, and twelfth expansions to its ongoing popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, all three of which will be contained in a larger narrative called World of Warcraft: The Worldsoul Saga. The first of these will be entitled World of Warcraft: The War Within, and it's coming next year.

During the keynote, Blizzard brought out WoW legend Chris Metzen, who recently returned as executive creative director of the Warcraft franchise, to announce the update. He called the expansion "the culmination of the first 20 years of our storytelling" that will "vector us into the next 20 years of adventure." And boy, did what he announce sound massive, with Metzen unveiling an almost MCU-like setup for the coming years of World of Warcraft.

The tenth expansion and the first in the Worldsoul Saga, The War Within, will send adventurers inside Azeroth, to subterranean kingdoms, where Nerubians and an Allied race called the Earthen Dwarves await. We got the most details on The War Within, such as the promised return of former talking knife Xal'atath, new zones like Azj-kahet, Isle of Dorn, The Ringing Deeps, and Hallowfall, a new treasure hunting adventure activity called Delves, an account-unifying feature called War Bands, and new dungeons and raids.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Hearthstone's Next Major Expansion Is Showdown in the Badlands - BlizzCon 2023

4 months 3 weeks ago

Hearthstone took the stage at BlizzCon 2023 today with a major announcement: Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands is the game's next big expansion, and it takes place in Azeroth's wild west.

Blizzard shared the expansion's reveal trailer, detailing Hearthstone's classic card battling gameplay with a western spin. Showdown in the Badlands will serve as an origin story for Hearthstone's Reno Jackson and Elise Starseeker, where they'll work together to save the Badlands from a nefarious mining operation. The expansion will feature Hearthstone's first-ever neutral hero card. The expansion is coming on November 14, 2023.

We also learned about Catch-Up Packs, a new type of pack where players can get up to 50 cards from a single pack to help grow their collection faster. The cards in Catch-Up Packs are all from the last two years of Hearthstone. Players will see Catch-Up Packs when they log in to Hearthstone. Catch-Up Packs will be included in pre-purchase bundles for Showdown in the Badlands.

For more on BlizzCon 2023, check out details on Diablo 4's first major expansion, Phil Spencer's surprise appearance at the show, Overwatch 2's next hero, and how to watch the rest of BlizzCon 2023.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Diablo 4's First Expansion Will Be Called Vessel of Hatred - BlizzCon 2023

4 months 3 weeks ago

Today at Blizzcon, Blizzard teased an upcoming expansion to Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, which will include a brand new, never-seen-before in Diablo class. It's coming in late 2024.

We didn't get too many details about Vessel of Hatred beyond that, though we did learn it will take place in a region called Nahantu, and will concern the fate of Mephisto and his plans for Sanctuary.

We might be able to glean just a little more from some recent datamines, which suggested an expansion called "Lord of Hatred" rather than Vessel of Hatred, but did center Mephisto. The datamine suggests new questlines, new gear, and new endgame activities, as well as a new class called "Spiritborn" and a mercenary system for NPC companions to fight alongside the player.

Datamines frequently include outdated or even inaccurate information, so it's possible all of the above is changed or not relevant by the time the actual Vessel of Hatred expansion rolls around. But it could be a useful clue to Diablo fans hungrily gobbling up details of what the Prime Evils of Hell are cooking up.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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BlizzCon 2023: Everything Announced and Revealed

4 months 3 weeks ago

BlizzCon 2023 has officially kicked off and its opening ceremony was filled with big announcements, including Diablo 4's first expansion called Vessel of Hatred, three new expansions for World of Warcraft in The Worldsoul Saga, a new Overwatch 2 hero named Mauga, and much more.

To ensure you don't miss any of the big news from BlizzCon, this article will gather all the biggest announcements, reveals, and trailers from throughout the weekend, and we will continue to update it throughout the show!

Diablo 4's First Expansion Will Be Called Vessel of Hatred

Diablo 4's first expansion will be called Vessel of Hatred, and it will include a brand-new, never-before-seen class. We didn't learn too much, but it was confirmed it will take place in Diablo 2 region Nahantu and will concern the fate of Mephisto and his plans for Sanctuary.

Blizzard Announces Next Three Expansions in World of Warcraft: The Worldsoul Saga

Blizzard has announced The Worldsoul Saga, a larger narrative that will contain the next three expansions for World of Warcraft. The first of these expansions will be called The War Within and will be released in 2024.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

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Welcome to Tarisland: Mystery of the Hollows, a Game Bringing Balance to the World of MMORPGs

4 months 3 weeks ago

Whether it’s games, movies, music, or even food, the best art is usually the result of someone transitioning from loving fan to passionate creator. This couldn’t be truer about the game developer known as Locojoy. Their project with Level Infinite is proof of that fact. In 2023, they set out to create a fair (read: free from pay-to-win), raid-focused MMORPG with gamers like themselves in mind. The team’s influences over the years include classic MMOs like Ever Quest and Ultima Online, so it’s no wonder that an immersive experience, social enjoyment, and challenging events that require team strategy are crucial elements they would focus on for their project: Tarisland: Mystery of the Hollows. As they transition from players to game developers, we’re here with all the updates on why you should check out their new project.

A World at War

Tarisland: Mystery of the Hollows for PC and mobile promises to deliver a unique and immersive gameplay experience with classic MMORPG gameplay, deep character customization, and challenging dungeons and raids. The game developer’s commitment to fair and balanced gameplay, no game-altering pay-to-play items, and cross-platform accessibility seek to make Tarisland stand out from other modern MMORPGs. Intending to create a game accessible and enjoyable for every player, Locojoy seeks a level playing field where everyone has an equal chance to become powerful and achieve greatness.

Author
Cesar

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Single-Player Campaign Review

4 months 3 weeks ago

Modern Warfare 3 has perhaps the worst Call of Duty single-player campaign I’ve played. It’s shallow, dull, and plays less like the greatest hits and more like underbaked cover versions of missions past. It’s too busy looking back at former glories rather than focusing on making any new moments worth remembering, wrapped up in a borderline incoherent story with nothing to say. The only part we haven’t seen in a campaign before falls flat, bizarrely cobbling together pieces of the Warzone mode into actively bad sandbox missions, abandoning all of what made Call of Duty so great at its peak and instead delivering a dull string of missions that amount to a thoroughly disappointing handful of hours.

Author
Sophia Rocha

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Save $40 Off Xbox Series X Diablo 4 Console Bundle and Get a Bonus Second Controller

4 months 3 weeks ago

As part of its early Black Friday Sale event, Walmart is offering the Xbox Series X Diablo 4 console bundle bundled with a second Xbox Core Wireless Controller in Shock Blue for only $519.00. The bundle by itself without the controller normally retails for $559, so you're saving an extra $40 and getting a free controller.

Xbox Series X Diablo 4 Bundle with 2nd Controller for $519

The Xbox Series X is a current generation system able to drive 4K games at up to a glorious 120fps. It is technically a more powerful system than the PS5 and games that are compatible with both consoles usually perform better on the Xbox console. Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, the X features more powerful hardware to enable it to run games in 4K (the Xbox Series S runs games at 1440p). The Xbox Series X also has a disc drive that can play 4K Blu-ray movies and physical game media. The Series S doesn't.

This is a great time to get started on Diablo 4 because Season 2, Season of Blood, launched in mid October. After you hit your level cap and max out your gear, expect a host of new additions like the Battle Pass to keep you occupied for hours and hours to come. This bundle does come with a DLC freebie in the guise of horse armor. It's just a cosmetic item, but hey it's free. Diablo 4 itself as an incredible game. IGN gave it a pretty glowing review and I fully agree with the score.

Author
Eric Song

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Diablo Tabletop RPG Announced - BlizzCon 2023

4 months 3 weeks ago

Blizzard Entertainment, Glass Cannon Unplugged, and Genuine Entertainment have announced a tabletop role-playing game adaptation of Diablo.

Described as a "long-term tabletop gaming programme", the TTRPG was announced at BlizzCon 2023 with a core book launching fall 2024. The Diablo TTRPG will launch via a pre-order campaign on Kickstarter.

"We’ve spent the past year living the dream with Blizzard," Glass Cannon Unplugged CEO Jakub Wiśniewski said. "Collaborating with game directors, producers, and loremasters, testing our demon-fighting skills, reading endless tomes. We couldn’t have asked for more access, enthusiasm, and support."

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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OG Fortnite Update Causes Huge Spike in Players

4 months 3 weeks ago

Fortnite has seen a huge surge in players with the launch of its OG update that brings back the original battle royale map.

According to unofficial but reliable stat website Fortnite.GG, Fortnite has a 24 hour peak of 3.9 million concurrent players, compared to the roughly two million concurrent players it held for most of September and October.

Its previous highest peak arrived alongside Chapter 4 Season 4 in August, but this spike only saw concurrent player numbers rise to 2.8 million.

The OG update arrived November 2 and let players return to the beloved Fortnite map that revolutionised battle royale games and perhaps video games as a whole. This means players can once again visit locations such as Tilted Towers, Paradise Palms, Salty Springs, and more. The movement evolutions Fortnite has made since Chapter 1, like sprinting and mantling, remain.

Publisher Epic Games returning to Fortnite's roots, when the game was at its peak of popularity, perhaps isn't surprising given the company's recent financial struggles that forced it to lay off 830 employees.

CEO Tim Sweeney even admitted in an internal memo that, "while Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion."

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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CD Projekt on Reviving Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty's Success, and the Franchise's Future

4 months 3 weeks ago

Cyberpunk 2077's development is now, for the most part, complete, marking the end of an incredible rollercoaster for CD Projekt that saw the studio go from being one of the most beloved developers in the industry to one of the most criticised, before slowly climbing back up to new heights with the release of Phantom Liberty.

At its lowest, CD Projekt was slammed for the launch state of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles (that was so poor the PlayStation Store removed it from sale) as well as for crunch culture ahead of the game's release, though for the recently released expansion Phantom Liberty, staff say improvements were made. Lay-offs at the developer have also cast doubt over future projects, of which there are many including a live-action Cyberpunk 2077 project.

IGN spoke with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's art director Paweł Mielniczuk about this journey, discussing the lessons CD Projekt learned as a result of Cyberpunk 2077's turbulent launch, why it wanted to rebuild the game instead of just moving on, and what influences will carry forward into future projects like Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion.

You can read about all that and more in the full interview below.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Counter-Strike 2 Gets Custom Maps as Part of Workshop Update

4 months 3 weeks ago

Counter-Strike 2 has received a much-needed update with the arrival of custom maps.

“The Maps workshop is now open for business,” developer Valve declared in a post on the Counter-Strike website.

“Community map makers can start uploading their maps to the workshop, and community servers can host those maps,” Valve added. “If you'd like to try some workshop maps offline, subscribe to them on the workshop and head to the Play menu.

“There are a bunch of other workshop tool updates today, along with a host of other fixes and adjustments to CS2. Check out the notes, play some matches, and keep that feedback coming!”

Fans have welcomed the news for a number of reasons, chief among them because custom maps are great for training. CS2's predecessor, CS:GO, had a few useful maps for aim training and learning how to pre-fire, learn smokes, and spots to peek on certain maps, but those maps were inaccessible when CS2 replaced CS:GO in September. And already community map makers have worked their magic, with an aim training custom map going live less than 24 hours after the update launched.

Here are the Counter-Strike 2 November 2 patch notes in full:

[ WORKSHOP ]

Author
Wesley Yin-Poole

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Thirsty Suitors Review

4 months 3 weeks ago

I never thought I’d experience the comedically over-the-top drama of Indian serials through characters in a rural American town. Burned bridges abound and tensions run high as mountains in Timber Hills, but Thirsty Suitors cleverly uses familiar turn-based battle mechanics to let its lovable characters creatively reconcile through self-reflection. Rather than making matters worse, fighting gives them space to share their deepest feelings, smartly showing how we often need to look back in order to move forward in life. While Thirsty Suitors does try to say and do too much through its battles, leaving me wanting more out of other parts of the story, who knew therapeutically throwing hands could be this fun.

You play as Jala, a local skating legend who left Timber Hills on bad terms with both her family and more than a few exes, which puts her in a tough spot when she suddenly moves back home after a bad breakup. From there you’ll skate around town, unraveling the mystery behind a hilarious skate punk cult in an abandoned theme park while reconnecting with the important people from your past. Jala’s talks with these characters carry most of the weight in Thirsty Suitors, with cathartic conversations clearing up misunderstandings and acknowledging past mistakes in the form of fights. This turn-based RPG combat always kept me engaged thanks to how they weave precise timing into each encounter, whether that's spamming a button to dodge or rotating the stick to in just the right way for an attack.

Author
Tom Marks

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PlayStation Plus Games for November 2023 Announced

4 months 3 weeks ago

Sony has revealed the lineup of PlayStation Plus monthly games for November, which includes Cold Iron Studios' Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and Dragon Ball: The Breakers.

As detailed in a new PlayStation Blog post, the titles will be available to download at no extra cost for PlayStation Plus subscribers of any tier from Tuesday, Nov. 7 up until Monday, Dec. 4, at which point the titles will leave the service.

Mafia II: Definitive Edition is set in the fictional post-World War II, New York-inspired city of Empire Bay, in which the protagonist Vito Scaletta becomes entangled with the mob while attempting to clear his father’s debts. The definitive edition includes an HD remaster of the base game, in addition to all subsequent DLC content. In our 7/10 review of the 2010 original, IGN said that “Mafia II is a solid little game that’ll give you a fun ride, just don’t expect the world."

Author
Anthony Wood

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Gran Turismo 7's Update 1.40 Is the Biggest One Since Launch

4 months 3 weeks ago

If you haven't played Gran Turismo 7 yet, you might have just gotten new incentive to rev up those engines. Developer Polyphony Digital announced a huge 1.40 patch that adds a ton of new content, including four-player split-screen races.

A new PS Blog post details the changes and additions, including snow race tracks that allow for icy races with the option to race in the day or night. Seven new cars have also been added to Gran Turismo 7, including the Tesla Model 3. You can check out the list of cars below:

  • Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi ‘68
  • Dodge Charger SRT Demon '18
  • Lexus LFA '10
  • Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II ‘91
  • NISMO 400R ‘95
  • Porsche 911 GT3 RS (992) ‘22
  • Tesla Model 3 Performance '23

Yet, the most exciting things introduced in Gran Turismo 7 are both exclusive to the PS5 version. PS5 users will have the option to race against Gran Turismo Sophy, a prototype AI racing agent, in a Quick Race (formerly Arcade Race). Split-screen races are also available to PS5 users thanks to update 1.40. Previously, only two players could take advantage of split-screen play, but the new update adds two additional players, allowing up to four to play locally at the same time.

Gran Turismo 7's Update 1.40 will be available to PS4 and PS5 users starting today at 11pm PT.

For a brief rundown of all the new things included in Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.40:

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Best Anime Series on Netflix Right Now (November 2023)

4 months 3 weeks ago

One of the best things about anime is, just like its most common source material, manga, its ability to balance narrative originality, an exploration of the genre's varied core tropes and themes, and fan service. Whatever your preference: action anime, light novel, slice of life, comedy, supernatural or horror there’s an anime to feed fit your current interests. The tricky part with the seemingly ever-volatile streaming marketplace is locking in reliable ways to access both forever watchable favorites to reel your friends into and discover new anime originals and long-awaited adaptations.

That’s where our best anime on Netflix list comes in. Think of it as an open conversation, a place to recall genre staples and older gems the streamer, thankfully, continues to extend its license to. It’s also a place to discover the original series coming out of Japan contemporaneously worth adding to your watchlist. If you're an anime diehard, then no one needs to tell you that as a platform Netflix tends to veer away from edgier fare in favor of series likely to be more widely accessible. But original content like Castlevania and its epic follow-up Castlevania: Nocturne and Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix and upcoming Blue Eyed Samurai show a growing commitment to adult anime; and that’s overall a good thing.

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Mario Kart 8's Final Wave of Booster Course Pass Content Lands Next Week

4 months 3 weeks ago

Nintendo has revealed that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s sixth and final wave of Booster Course Pass DLC content will be released on Nov. 9, adding a number of classic characters and eight courses to the racing game.

Ever since the release of Wave 1 in March 2022, Nintendo’s Booster Course Pass DLC has been steadily feeding fresh tracks and fan favorite characters to Mario Kart 8. This latest release brings the grand total of DLC courses up to 48 - equalling the number of tracks that originally launched with the 2014 kart racing extravaganza.

Switch owners who have paid out for a yearly subscription to the USD $49.99 Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will gain access to the DLC at no extra cost. Alternatively, players can opt to buy the digital content outright by purchasing the $24.99 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass from the Nintendo Store.

Author
Anthony Wood

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Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West Board Game Review

4 months 3 weeks ago

Ticket to Ride is a phenomenon. The original board game achieved the unthinkable, breaking out of nerd space and into the almost unassailable world of family board game fun and supermarket shelves, selling millions of copies in the process. Along the way, it’s spawned a whole host of different versions and expansions, becoming a mini-industry in its own right. This latest iteration, Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West is a whole new spin on the concept, creating a campaign of rail building which lasts across twelve games, with changes from the previous game carrying on into the next.

What’s in the Box

Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West comes in a truly massive box, especially compared to previous Ticket to Ride games. Sadly, we’re not allowed to tell you very much about the contents because most of it is closed away in individual boxes which you open as you progress through the game. We’re going to try and avoid spoilers in this review, although there might be one or two very minor ones for your first play, so we’re not going to talk about what’s inside.

Author
Chris Reed

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The Strange Saga of The Day Before

4 months 3 weeks ago

The Day Before is an upcoming post-apocalyptic open world MMO in which players must contend with zombies and other survivors in equal measure.

It quickly grabbed the attention of those looking to fulfill their own Walking Dead or The Last of Us-esque fantasies and exploded to become Steam's most wishlisted game, but excitement eventually turned to doubt for many fans after several delays and other controversies surrounding developer Fntastic.

Now with a release date of November 10, 2023, IGN has chronicled the ups and downs of The Day Before's development as it gears up for its long anticipated launch.

Plain sailing.

On January 29, 2021, Fntastic announced The Day Before with a five minute trailer. It showed two players driving into a city and looting various cars and shops before getting into a firefight with another group, and then fleeing from a hoard of zombies that were attracted to the noise. The graphics were of a higher quality than many games released since, the gameplay was seamless, and the world was open, full, and completely interactive.

It gained the attention of the gaming community, who looked on hopefully at what appeared to be a mix of Ubisoft's The Division and PlayStation blockbuster The Last of Us. And the next few months only gave fans more reason to get excited.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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CD Projekt Wants Cyberpunk 2077 to Undergo a 'Similar Evolution' to The Witcher

4 months 3 weeks ago

CD Projekt Red wants Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, to undergo a similar evolution to that of The Witcher franchise.

Speaking to PC Gamer, narrative director Igor Sarzyński compared the growth between 2007's The Witcher and its 2011 sequel, Assassins of Kings, with CD Projekt Red's hopes for its sci-fi role-playing game franchise.

"Consider The Witcher games and how much they changed with each instalment. We want a similar evolution here," Sarzyński said. "Cyberpunk 2077 was our first venture into a futuristic-sci-fi world with a ton of new gameplay mechanics, narrative tone, themes, and art direction.

"Some of the stuff worked almost right out of the box, such as the art, city design, music, interactive scene system, playstyles," he continued. "Other aspects took more time to get right, like character progression, NPC interactivity, and optimization.

"That’s natural; it’s impossible to nail everything on your first try. Now with all the game elements iterated and working well, we’ll focus on connecting them even tighter and creating a coherent, total immersion experience."

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Spider-Man 2 Player Does an Amazing Job Making the Game Look Like the Marvel Noir Universe

4 months 3 weeks ago

Spider-Man 2 features a number of suits, including an Into The Spider-Verse Noir Suit (check out IGN’s list of all Spider-Man 2 suits to see them all). But one player took the Noir influence a step further and adjusted the game’s settings to make Spider-Man 2 look like it’s set in Marvel's Noir universe.

For the uninitiated, Spider-Man Noir is a character who’s part of the Marvel Noir universe. He’s an alternate take on the Spider-Man we know and love who exists in New York during the Great Depression. Spider-Man Noir actually appeared in 2010’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, as well as in the 2018 and 2023 animated Spider-Verse films, from which the Spider-Man 2 suit is lifted.

Redditor SpaceYetiGamer tweaked Spider-Man 2’s settings to get the game looking just right. IGN has verified the settings, and published a useful guide on how to make everything Spider-Noir.

Author
Wesley Yin-Poole

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WarioWare: Move It! Review

4 months 3 weeks ago

Like an “Oops, All Minigames!” version of Mario Party, the latest WarioWare continues its chaotic legacy by rapid-firing hundreds of ridiculous three-second microgames at you and your friends with reckless abandon. And like its predecessors, WarioWare: Move It!’s over-the-top silliness makes for a hilariously good time, even if you’re likely to have seen the vast majority of its antics within just a few hours. With some of the series’ most creative multiplayer modes, one second you’ll be told to catch a leaping fish by squeezing your feline legs together and the next you’ll find yourself returning curtsies as a pretty anime lady. The motion control accuracy of the Joy-Con doesn’t always rise to those challenges, but it’s all so fast, weird, and very often dumb that Move It! is just about guaranteed to make everyone at your house party fall over laughing – it certainly achieved as much with mine.

WarioWare isn’t exactly known for focusing on its story and Move It! is no exception. After an opening cutscene shows Wario winning a free vacation to an island paradise for him and all his friends, the usual Wario crew – including Ashley, Orbulon, Young Cricket, and 9-Volt – all head off to get into trouble while wearing floral prints. There’s really not much here aside from a shallow “Wario goes tropical” premise, but what’d you expect from a party game that includes a minigame where players compete to pluck the longest hairs out of a giant nose?

Author
Tom Marks

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Remnant 2’s First DLC the Awakened King Has a Release Date, Price, and Teaser Trailer

4 months 3 weeks ago

Big news for Gunfire Games’ popular co-op looter shooter sequel Remnant 2: its first DLC, dubbed The Awakened King, launches November 14, with the promise of two more DLCs due out next year.

Remnant 2 enjoyed a big launch and critical acclaim when it launched in the summer. IGN’s Remnant 2 review returned a 9/10: “Where Remnant: From The Ashes was a strong first draft, Remnant 2 is a revolutionary sequel and a sterling manifesto for the looter-shooter soulslike.”

Now, after a series of updates, publisher Gearbox and Gunfire Games have unveiled what’s next. The Awakened King is Remnant 2’s first premium DLC and launches on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on November 14 priced. This is the first DLC in the previously announced DLC bundle, which includes three DLC packs. The two other DLC packs launch at some point in 2024. Those who bought the Ultimate Edition of Remnant 2 get all three DLCs at no additional cost.

Here’s the official blurb on The Awakened King DLC:

Author
Wesley Yin-Poole

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Best Call of Duty VPN: How to Avoid SBMM in Modern Warfare 3

4 months 3 weeks ago

Can you avoid SBMM in Call of Duty Modern Warfare III? Short answer, no. Long answer, kinda? Call of Duty is all fun and games until you're absolutely tanking and there's nothing you can do about it. Have you ever felt like you were being put up against players way better than you? Have you ever had that niggling doubt that the skill-based matchmaking system was out to get you?

That might be one of those gaming conspiracies, but why not try and find out the truth? SBMM is notoriously hard to get around, but there is actually a way for you to potentially skirt this aspect of online gaming for good. No Smurf accounts, no intentionally throwing off your K/D.

What is Skill-Based Matchmaking?

If you're new to online gaming, you might be a touch confused about what the hell SBMM is in the first place. Put simply, it's a system by which players are pitted against players of similar skill levels in matches. The goal of SBMM is to create a balanced and competitive gameplay experience by ensuring that players are competing against opponents of roughly equal skill.

You can see this feature in almost all games that have an online element in which players compete with each other. The exact details and metrics of Warzone's SBMM algorithm are not publicly disclosed by Infinity Ward, but there are some general things that determine SBMM in Warzone based on available information and player observations:

Author
Joe O'Neill-Parker

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The Best Way to Find All Spider-Bots in Spider-Man 2

5 months ago

Unlike most of the other collectibles and side activities in Spider-Man 2, the little Spider-Bots won't naturally show up on your in-game map. You'll need to rely on the colorful spheres that pulse from these 42 collectibles to find them—unless you use a thorough guide. Collecting all the Spider-Bots leads to a unique side mission with a pretty big deep cut reference for Spidey fans. You also get 150 XP and 100x Tech Parts for each bot, which is actually a pretty amazing early game bonus!

Spider-Man 2 Spider-Bot Locations Guide

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IGN's complete guide on Spider-Bot Locations includes screenshots of each item's location on the in-game map plus images of it in game, so you can see exactly where you need to look. Use the checklists on the page to keep track of which ones you still need—there's even a drop-down menu at the top to quickly see the full checklist.

Author
Casey DeFreitas

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Is Destiny 2 Still Worth Playing in 2023?

5 months ago

With the ups and downs of long-running live-service games like Destiny 2, you can hardly be blamed if you’re one of the many people wondering if now’s a good time to jump in. My passionate love-hate relationship with this iconic Bungie shooter is well-documented, but the question of whether I’d recommend it to others has varied wildly over the years as the game has redefined itself time and time again. Whether you’re someone who’s never played before or a former player considering jumping back in, here are our thoughts on whether or not it’s worth playing Destiny 2 in 2023.

The New Player Experience

Though many Destiny players have been blasting Hive in the face since 2014, if you’re considering jumping into the fray in 2023, you’ll want to consider how good the game is at onboarding new players, and unfortunately it’s pretty terrible.

Why? Well, firstly, Destiny 2 is a complicated game with dozens of currencies, hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor (including many that can no longer be earned), a massive laundry list of things to chase, and the “new light” onboarding questline does a poor (not to mention incomplete) job at bringing players up to speed. I recently completed the New Light experience and while it’s added cutscenes and context that do a much better job of introducing players to the ongoing story, it leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to giving players additional reasons to play, and because seasonal content overlaps with main expansions, there’s a lot of added confusion surrounding what’s essential to play and what’s the flavor of the week content that’ll disappear after a time.

Author
Jacob Kienlen

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Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk's Secret Spider-Man 2 Cameo Finally Revealed

5 months ago

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has only been out for a week, but fans who already beat the game and stuck around for the end credits might have noticed actors Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk listed in unspecified roles. Now, their roles have been confirmed, and they're pretty silly.

After some suspicion among fans, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, senior creative director Bryan Intihar has officially confirmed that Fillion and Tudyk's mysterious roles are none other than... the duo of rivals both wearing cat mascot suits and Spider-Man masks while arguing outside a bodega.

During Spider-Man 2, players receive a side mission to find photo ops and capture various happenings around New York City. Players can find the duo in the center of the northern side of Little Odessa as part of this mission, and when they do, they'll be drawn into a heated argument over who stole whose outfit.

The duo is excited to see Spider-Man, and taking a picture of them to complete the mission will lead to dialogue where their argument awkwardly continues, with one asking, "And also, am I prominent in the picture? Because I do represent a larger customer base."

Robbie Robertson even dubs the duo's feud "The Bodega Beef." You can read our complete guide to the Bodega Beef photo op right here.

Author
Amelia Zollner

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Diablo 4 Patch 1.2.1 Makes Respecs Far Easier

5 months ago

Respecs are about to get a lot easier for top-level Diablo IV players. According to patch notes released by Blizzard, Diablo IV's 1.2.1 update will deliver a long list of fixes and quality of life improvements, but perhaps none more notable than changes to respec.

Anyone who's reached Diablo IV's endgame will be familiar with the complex and satisfying Paragon Boards, which drive much of the late stage buildcrafting that becomes necessary to take down the game's most challenging bosses and dungeons. But the inflexibility of that system — namely that resetting the hundreds of perks on the board requires a ton of time and resources — has become a sticking point for many of Diablo IV's most hardcore players.

Thankfully, Blizzard is poised to relieve this particular pain, as the very top of the patch notes reads, "Added a Refund All button to Paragon Boards."

In a more detailed developer's note just below, it goes on to say "Players communicated that reworking all or most of their Paragon Points was a common occurrence. We've added this button to make it easier to do big respecs, along with the increases to Gold income from Whispers in Season of Blood."

With a single button that refunds all Paragon points and more gold to pay for the respec, Blizzard hopes to answer the cries of their players, an especially important adjustment after the most recent changes to the meta likely will require most players to augment their builds.

Update 1.2.1 will also make plenty of other changes including a training dummy to test your builds on and reduced search areas for Tree of Whispers bounties that have you hunt down a monster.

Author
Travis Northup

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2023 Marks the Turning Point for Nintendo as a Full-Blown Entertainment Brand

5 months ago

Last December, the NVC crew pondered if 2023 could be Nintendo’s biggest year ever. Between the launch of games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder, I think it’s safe to say that 2023 has earned a spot on the short list of the greatest years in Nintendo history.

But beyond just games the company is celebrating just as many — if not more — successes in the entertainment space. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Super Nintendo World’s opening in Hollywood, and the Nintendo Live fan event should all be considered as successful as the enormous launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser said as much himself in my interview with him.

While I will always remember Zelda, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Pikmin 4, I will remember 2023 more so as the year Nintendo turned the corner in its long-running mission to transform from a video game publisher into a full-blown entertainment brand.

Author
Matt Kim

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Insomniac Confirms Wolverine Game Is Set in the Same Universe as Spider-Man 2

5 months ago

Ever since Insomniac first announced that it was working on a Wolverine game for PlayStation, fans have wondered whether it is set in the same universe as Spider-Man 2. There's been plenty of speculation that they're all together, not the least because the original teaser contains a "1048" nod, but otherwise there's been no official word one way or another.

In an interview with Kinda Funny, though, Spider-Man 2 director Bryan Intihar confirmed that the two games do in fact exist in the same world.

"They're all 1048," Intihar said, then added, laughing. "I think I got that right."

Spider-Man 2 was previously confirmed to be universe 1048 in Across the Spider-verse. This means that Wolverine has the potential to tie into Spider-Man's ongoing story, though direct references and other easter eggs have thus far been relatively few and far between.

In our own interview with Intihar, we asked whether there were plans to include more teasers for Wolverine, which has thus far remained heavily under wraps.

"We wouldn't be true Marvel fans if we didn't have discussions like that, but I think for us it was, 'Hey, working on these games is really hard. They're really complicated.' And I think it was just like, 'Hey, let's let the Wolverine team cook.' Let's let them cook and if something ever happens in the future, great," Intihar said.

Author
Kat Bailey

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Exodia Obliterates Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament Feature Match With Unexpected Win

5 months ago

Exodia The Forbidden One is one of the most powerful card combinations in all of Yu-Gi-Oh! because assembling all five pieces in your hand automatically wins you the game, but pulling off such a feat isn’t so easy at a competitive tournament. That’s why the crowd went wild last weekend at the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series (YCS) Indianapolis 2023 when player Jeffrey Leonard pulled it off not once but twice on a streamed feature match.

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Leonard started the tournament with an impressive 3-0 record piloting his Exodia Dracoslayer FTK (First Turn Kill) deck. Exodia is, of course, beloved by Yu-Gi-Oh! fans because it’s how Yugi Moto won his first duel against Seto Kaiba in the first episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime (“Exodia, OBLITERATE!”), but it’s considered one of the worst FTK decks in the competitive scene. Essentially, you either win the coin flip to go first and pop off with an extended combo that lets you summon Exodia in one turn, hoping and praying that your opponent doesn’t have a way to counter it, or you lose. This YCS was a major tournament with almost 2000 duelists competing, so Leonard winning three matches in a row with Exodia got him noticed and put on camera for the fourth round of the tournament.

Author
Joshua Yehl

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Mortal Kombat 1 Halloween Fatality Costs $10 and the Community Is Pushing Back

5 months ago

Earlier this week, Mortal Kombat 1's community was incensed after publisher Warner Bros. Games revealed that it will sell a seasonal Fatality for real-world money. Now, this Fatality is available in the shop with a confirmed price, and players are up in arms once again, with many vowing to boycott the Fatality (and some abandoning the game entirely) because of its cost.

Today, the Halloween Fatality was added to MK1's Premium Shop for the price of 1200 Dragon Krystals (1250 of which can be bought in a bundle for $10). The move came after players noticed that patch notes vaguely mentioned a "Halloween Fatality added to the Premium Store," which was later confirmed by Warner Bros. Games.

You can watch the Fatality below, which involves slapping a jack-o-lantern over your opponent's head before creepy crawlers emerge.

Players have expressed shock at the Fatality's $10 price tag, especially because it's added on to the game's $70 cost (or $110 for players who bought the premium edition). Many community members are now criticizing the move as an indication that MK1 is shifting toward a freemium model despite not being free.

"Are you having a laugh? Can I get a refund for this full price freemium model game?" Reddit user u/BarnsleyLad posted.

Author
Amelia Zollner

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Iron Lung Has a New Mode That Surrounds You With Markiplier's Face

5 months ago

Markiplier is currently directing and starring in a film adaptation of Iron Lung, the short 2022 horror game that sees a convict exploring an alien moon's blood ocean in a cramped submarine. But, if that isn't enough, he's now also the star of a strange new mode of the original game.

On Monday, Iron Lung developer David Szymanski announced The Cheats Update via a Steam announcement. The update introduces a few useful cheats, but it also adds Markiplier Mode, which turns most of the submarine's textures into, well, Markiplier. When this mode is activated with the command "chmark," quite literally everything in the submarine (save for a few buttons and indicator lights) is overlaid with low-quality images of a few memes of the YouTuber.

Other cheats added in the update activate a "rave" mode that adds colorful lighting, a speaker, and the ability to see out of the submarine's front porthole. Along with the update, Szymanski also announced a price increase from $6 to $8 — though the game is currently on sale as part of Steam's Halloween sale, and future updates and DLC (including behind the scenes photos that Szymanski plans to release after the movie is released) will be free.

Markiplier helped popularize Iron Lung after playing it last year, but this wasn't the only event that propelled Iron Lung to relative indie stardom — earlier this year, the game saw a spike in sales (which Szymanski said "feels so wrong") after the disappearance of the Titan submersible due to the game's similar premise.

Author
Amelia Zollner

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