IGN

Bandai Namco is continuing to celebrate the first anniversary of Elden Ring by sharing a morbid but hilarious infographic on the number of times players have died in the game. Spoiler alert: they've been killed over 9 billion times to date.

There are a thousand ways to die, but the publisher created a pie chart narrowing it down to four causes of in-game deaths. According to the chart, damage from enemies and NPCs, including boss fights, is the leading cause of in-game death at 69%. The infographic revealed that players attempted to fight Malenia 329 million times. That number may not reveal how many players died at her hands, but it doesn't exactly show how many players defeated her, either.

Meanwhile, players have tried fighting Margit the Fell Omen 281 million times, Limgrave Tree Sentinel 277 million times, Radagon of the Golden Order 148 million times, and Starscourge Radahn 139 million times.

The second-leading cause of death is the status effects (15%) doled out to them in battle, including poison, scarlet rot, blood loss, frostbite, sleep, madness, and death blight. The third-leading cause of death is players falling to their death (14%). The last cause of death is players getting killed by other players, although the chances of that happening are a minuscule 2%.

Developer Supermassive Games has released a statement acknowledging “graphical issues” that players have experienced following the launch of The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR on PlayStation VR2 earlier this month.

“Since the launch of Switchback VR Yesterday, we have seen and heard the feedback that some players are experiencing graphical issues in the game,” read a tweet from Supermassive Games.

“The Switchback VR Team have been investigating the issues raised as a matter of urgency. So far, a potential cause of the reported blurring has been identified, along with other issues still undergoing testing and reproduction.”

An Update about Switchback VR. pic.twitter.com/cP2J0JvuqG

— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) March 17, 2023

The developers are encouraging players to report any bugs that they experience through its Zendesk Portal.

Switchback VR is an on-rails shooter set in the horror infused universe of Supermassive Games’ The Dark Pictures Anthology, which features villains from titles including The Devil in Me and The Man of Medan.

EA's Respawn Entertainment has released a story trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, setting the scene for Cal Kestis' next adventure.

The trailer, which you can watch above still includes plenty of gameplay, opening with an Uncharted 2-style scene of Cal holding onto a ship for dear life as it falls off a cliff.

It also gives a look at Merrin and Greez in Survivor for the first times (as the sequel takes place five years after Fallen Order), with Merrin sporting a new hairstyle and Greez sporting a new arm.

"The dark times are closing in as Cal Kestis seeks out a safe haven far from the reach of the Empire," reads an official synopsis. "Five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a more mature Cal Kestis must look beyond his lightsaber to find his destiny in the shadow of the Empire."

The trailer explores this idea too, suggesting that Cal and his crew may need to stop fighting and instead look for somewhere where they can rest and build what comes next.

Cal said in the trailer he believes they've found that place, but as is the case with most of his adventures and the general fate of Jedi post Order 66, things probably won't go that smoothly.

Hideo Kojima originally considered Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes as an experiment for an episodic format. It was a prologue to 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Kojima went into more detail about Ground Zeroes development for its nine year release anniversary. “In fact, it was my big intention to launch GZ. The development of a full game takes four to five years. Times change during production," Kojima said on Twitter (below). “So I thought of offering an episodic format, like a streamed drama, where one episode is produced and distributed. GZ was meant to be an experiment.”

In fact, it was my big intention to launch GZ. The development of a full game takes for 4-5 yrs. Times change during production. So I thought of offering an episodic format, like a streamed drama, where one episode is produced and distributed. GZ was meant to be an experiment. https://t.co/EeyJAs2HCR

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 20, 2023

He also explained the Metal Gear Solid V prologue was an introduction to Snake’s vengeance in The Phantom Pain's story and its theme of retribution. Kojima noted that since the PlayStation 4 was launched at the end of 2013, the game was released with the console, the game’s Fox Engine, and an open-world concept in order to introduce the franchise's new direction with the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and gather feedback from Ground Zeroes before The Phantom Pain's release.

Capcom has released a cute yet unsettling anime trailer for Resident Evil 4, offering an all too merry look at the horror remake ahead of its launch later this week.

The cheerful clip introduces "Leon and the Mysterious Village" in an episode that sees Leon Kennedy approaching various folk while looking for the US president's missing daughter, Ashley Graham, only to find that his search is - quite literally - cut short in the most unsuspected way.

Resident Evil 4 ×Nippon Animation
Short anime series Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater - “Leon and the Mysterious Village” Episode 1

The original animated PV has been produced in cooperation with Japanese animation studio "Nippon Animation", famous for its World Masterpiece… https://t.co/q3jogMxv0e pic.twitter.com/j65gnz8gTh

— Capcom Asia (@CapcomAsia) March 20, 2023

Acclaimed Japanese studio Nippon Animation produced the short but sweet video in the style of its classic World Masterpiece Theater series, which first aired from 1969 to 1997 before restarting again in 2007 and running through to 2009 with its various animated adaptations.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has reaffirmed Microsoft's decision to open an Xbox mobile app store in time for the EU’s Digital Markets Act coming into place in March 2024. This act requires Apple and Google to allow third-party app storefronts on their mobile platforms.

"We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play," explained Spencer in an interview with the Financial Times.

"Today, we can't do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up."

He continued: “The Digital Markets Act that's coming, those are the kinds of things that we are planning for. I think it's a huge opportunity."

Microsoft presented documents to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority last year that made clear its intentions to create an Xbox mobile store app.

The PlayStation 5 console is much easier to find now than ever before. Unfortunately, even with the more sustainable inventory, it's still very difficult to find a PS5 that's actually discounted. Fortunately, that changes today.

Dell is offering a PS5 Disc Edition console, bundled with the God of War: Ragnarok game and a second DualSense (Cosmic Red) controller, for only $589.99. If you were to buy the PS5 God of War bundle alone, it would run you $559. The DualSense controller in Cosmic Red costs an additional $75. That means instead of paying $634 for both, you're paying $589.99. That's a savings of about $45, or 7%.

PS5 God of War Bundle with 2nd DualSense Controller

God of War: Ragnarok is the latest God of War game and we gave it a 10/10 "Masterpiece" rating. If you liked the last God of War game, then you'll enjoy Ragnarok. It continues the story of Kratos and Atreus as they take on the nine realms of Norse mythology.

Sega has announced that the Sights, Sounds, and Speed update will come to Sonic Frontiers on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on March 22.

The first of three content updates for the game will add new Challenge modes, a photo mode, and a Jukebox for players to listen to their favourite Sonic tracks.

The new Challenge modes include the Cyber Space Challenge and Battle Rush and can be accessed after completing the main story. The former is a time trial mode where players race through multiple Cyber Space stages in a row, while the latter is a timed battle mode where players fight several enemies and bosses in a row.

A photo mode is also being added to the game, letting players capture and edit screenshots of their Sonic adventures, while the Jukebox lets players listen to 53 songs released through new Sound Memories collectibles spread across the islands.

Sonic Frontiers launched in November last year and had sold 2.5 million copies as of December 13. Sega revealed its 2023 content roadmap around the same time, confirming that Update 2 will celebrate Sonic's birthday by adding an Open Zone Challenge and new Koco. The final update of 2023 will even add a new character and story content.

In its sophomore year of video game development, Netflix has pulled back the curtain on the future of its gaming service.

During a recent press event, Netflix spoke about some of its plans for video games in the rest of 2023 and beyond. The company said it has 70 games in development with external partners, in addition to the 16 games Netflix's in-house studios are developing. Netflix said it will release around 40 games throughout the remainder of 2023, with new games hitting the service at least every month. Currently, Netflix's gaming platform houses 55 games.

However, when it came to actually showing some of the games in development for Netflix, the company didn't have as much to say. Netflix announced that Monument Valley 1 and 2 — the isometric mobile puzzle games from 2014 and 2017, respectively — are coming to Netflix sometime in 2024.

In addition, Netflix revealed that a new Too Hot to Handle game is coming later this year alongside a new season of the reality dating show. Plus, Netflix teased the next game in its previously-announced three-game deal with Ubisoft. It's called Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace, and it's a rogue-lite follow-up to The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, Ubisoft's PC and mobile game that combined castle building and dungeon crawling. Rogue Palace is coming to Netflix on April 18.

Finally, the studio revealed that Vainglory and Catalyst Black developer Super Evil Megacorp is working on an exclusive game based on an unannounced Netflix IP. The studio plans to share more on this release sometime later this year.

A YouTuber has spent more than $22,000 digitally purchasing every Wii U and 3DS game ahead of their Nintendo eShop shutdowns next week.

As reported by VGC, The Completionist uploaded a video sharing the endeavour which took 328 days to complete. Including DSi Ware, the Virtual Console, and DLC, the project saw 866 Wii U and 1,547 3DS games purchased in total.

The completed project, totalling a Wii U with three external hard drives and a 3DS with four micro SD cards, will be donated to the Video Game History Foundation to preserve the digital offerings that will otherwise cease to exist when the stores shut down on March 27.

The Completionist spent $22,791 spread across 464 eShop cards, which amassed to 1.2 terabytes of Wii U games and 267 gigabytes of 3DS, translated to 2,136,689 blocks (Nintendo's own data measurement system).

These incredible numbers were just half the battle for The Completionist, however, as the Nintendo eShops of old don't run as smoothly as the Switch's version. The software is clunkier, slower, has limited search functionality, and even adding funds can get complicated.

Destiny 2 players have been gathering en masse at the Tower to honor the late Lance Reddick, who passed away yesterday at the age of 60.

After the news broke yesterday, Guardians began flocking to Commander Zavala, who Reddick famously voiced, to pay their respects. News traveled quickly in the Destiny community as Reddick was not only an avid fan of Destiny, but would occasionally engage with players on social media as Commander Zavala.

Although it's a bit quieter in the Tower today, just about every instance had Guardians standing stoically in a circle around Zavala yesterday using the "Humanity's Sheild" emote to signify his character's larger-than-life presence, or sitting amongst their fellow Guardians while attending a impromptu candlelight vigil.

A Black Lotus, arguably the most sought after card in Magic: The Gathering, has sold for a record-breaking price of $540,000 at a recent auction.

As reported by Polygon, the Black Lotus has been topping its own record each time it's been available for auction. In 2019, a Black Lotus sold for $166,000 on eBay, followed by another purchase just two years later in 2021 for $511,100 — more than triple the price. Now, with the recent auction held by PWCC Marketplace, the Black Lotus cements its position as the most expensive Magic: The Gathering card ever sold.

“This record sale reinforces the Alpha Black Lotus as an investment-quality asset, fortifies its claim as a true work of art, and shows exactly how important Magic: The Gathering is to the culture of gaming and trading card games," said Jesse Craig, Vice President of Sales at PWCC Marketplace. "It’s extremely unlikely we see one of these signed copies available for purchase again in the near future. They are crown jewels for a collection. They will remain under lock and key and treated as the museum-caliber pieces they are,” Craig said, perhaps with only slight overstatement.

Those hoping to get an early start on slaying the queen of Succubi have had to wait longer than anticipated, as many players logged on to the Diablo 4 beta servers today to discover long queue times and error codes preventing them from jumping into the ARPG.

Today marks the start of the early access beta available to those who preordered the full game or got a code by eating Kentucky Fried Chicken, while next weekend will host anyone looking to start their adventures early in the open beta.

But many players were greeted by long wait times to log into the server, error codes, and other issues.

Taking to Twitter while facing wait times of upwards of an hour, players took the opportunity to warn their fellow demon slayers and make light of the situation.

To everyone waiting for the Diablo 4 Beta servers/queue to stabilize:

Queue will soon be cleared up once everyone that got beta by eating KFC goes to the toilet for hours pic.twitter.com/5CVbm4QL3Z

Kung Fury: Street Rage is a video game tie-in to the hit Kickstarter indie martial arts comedy short film, "Kung Fury," the tale of an 80's cop who decides to take on Hitler with his superhero-level martial arts mastery. Kung Fury: Street Rage is available for $19.99 on Steam, but it's this month's IGN Plus game and Plus members can get a Steam key as an IGN Reward and jump in right now.

Plus members - get your key for Kung Fury: Street Rage - Ultimate Edition here on its IGN Rewards page. Not a Plus member? Learn more here. You can also follow the devs on Twitter.

Oskar Eklund, CEO & Founder of Hello There Games

I sat down with Oskar Eklund, CEO of Hello There Games, to talk about Kung Fury: Street Rage, the 5th anniversary update, and how the game originally came to be.

Eklund originally met Kung Fury writer, director, and star David Sandberg while the two were at Universal Music. Eklund (a Taikwondo fighter himself) had just led the studio in releasing Taekwondo, a touch-screen game based on the martial art, and was at Universal to talk to AVICII, the late musician the dev team had worked with for both AVICII Gravity and AVICII Invector.

“Even Stronger” is the perfect tagline for WWE 2K23. Last year’s reinvention laid a solid foundation, and every aspect of it has been refined for the better this year. Combat is flexible without becoming burdensome, and the MyRise campaign mode focuses on telling more focused stories without compromising its open-ended gameplay. MyGM is more user friendly and lets you invite a larger number friends to get in on the action, too. Even the 2K Showcase, which has maybe the most glaring inconsistencies of all the modes, subverts expectations in creative ways. The pickings are slim for full sim-style pro-grappling alternatives, but WWE’s flagship game has never been more deserving of its spot at the head of the wrestling game table.

2K wrestling games have been largely hit or miss when it comes to how they look and sound, but 2K23 has to be the best “hit” this series has had in years. There are still several characters who’ve adopted newer looks and attitudes than the ones captured here, but with only a handful of exceptions everyone at least looks good. Cover boy John Cena and the son of a son of a plumber, Cody Rhodes, are standouts on the high end, which ironically makes some of the low-end models like poor Dana Brooke feel like that much more of a missed opportunity. New lighting effects and reflections give an overall boost that make stages shine and title belts sparkle. Menus are clean and colorful, a step up from last year’s bland layouts, all without sacrificing legibility. Visually, 2K23 is a grand slam.

The freaky little hooded creature, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Located Today?

Xûr's location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on March 17 through March 21. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you'll find the retail monster who inspires us all.

Those who preorder Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Amazon in Japan will receive a special spoon as a bonus. If you manage to snag the Collector’s Edition, you get a fork as well.

According to Wario64 on Twitter, these utensils have the “Legend of Zelda” name and logo engraved on them. The spoon comes as a preorder bonus for the standard edition on Amazon Japan. However, if you want both the spoon and fork, then you’ll have to shell out for the Collector’s Edition. Good luck with that, by the way. The Collector’s Edition already seems to be sold out and is listed as “Currently Unavailable.”

it appears Amazon JPN preorder bonus for Tears of the Kingdom is...a spoon/fork pic.twitter.com/j0ipOECFqG

The developers of Final Fantasy 16 revealed that it will take players roughly 35 hours to beat the game's story and 70-80 hours to do everything else alongside it.

In an interview with Famitsu (translated by Twitter user @aitaikimochi), director Hiroshi Takai and producer Naoki Yoshida said they thought out the play time for Final Fantasy 16's story mode to take into account that gamers have busy lives outside of video games, so they wrote it in a way that allows players to do just the bare minimum if they're too busy to do any side quests. The team aimed for 20 hours at first, but the extra content they put into it brought the story time to 35 hours.

"When the game development was just starting out, I had the idea in mind that gamers these days are really busy with other things, so I wanted them to be able to at least aim to complete the story," Yoshida said. "I thought making the game something you can complete in about 20 hours would make sense, but more and more just got packed in."

"[Final Fantasy 16] is a story-driven game that will take you on a roller coaster trip," Takai said. "You’ll see the entirety of Clive’s way of life, and the game will probably take about 35 hours to clear. If we include side content, it’ll be double that amount."

Blizzard fans are freaking out about the only current way to access the long-awaited Diablo 4 beta other than preordering: ordering KFC.

As the beta kicks off today, March 17, hopeful players are taking to the game's Reddit to express their surprise, frustration, and amusement over the KFC beta code promotion.

Some users are ordering KFC simply for the beta code, with no intentions to eat the chicken sandwich, while some are protesting it altogether.

Buff up your game play #DiabloIV Beta Access now available with purchase of a Double Down via the KFC app or on https://t.co/LRobd1LxIL
Good luck heroes pic.twitter.com/M7nS5TvRp2

— KFC (@kfc) March 9, 2023

Reddit user kuroineko666 posted an "anti vegan beta key" post, asking why the only way to access Diablo 4's beta other than preordering is "to order a dead chicken from KFC".

Another user, MahiMatt, falls into the latter category.

"Just ordered my KFC chicken sandwich with the Diablo promotion," they said. "Question: do I actually have to pick up the sandwich to get the code?"

Cardy, Emma, and Mat are here once again to talk absolute nonsense. In amongst that, though, Emma has played 5 hours of Dead Island 2 and tells us all about its delicious gore. Mat has had the pleasure and relative displeasure of seeing both John Wick 4 and Shazam Fury of the Gods. Plus, Cardy has finished Death Stranding so has some 3 year-delayed thoughts.

Got a game for us to play, or just want to tell us the weirdest thing you've eaten for breakfast? Drop us an email: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 688: What is the Best Shape of Doughnut?

In light of the high-quality remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 released in 2019 and 2020, it felt like a safe bet that Capcom would do an equally admirable job of rebuilding Resident Evil 4. Even so, when I hit the start button on this 2023 remake of the legendary 2005 action-horror game I wasn’t prepared for how forcefully it would knock my knees out from under me and suplex me headfirst into 16 hours of sustained tension and exhilaration. This fully revitalised campaign dramatically one-ups the original in almost every conceivable way. Its Spanish countryside setting is substantially more sinister, its pacing has been tightened to the point where hardly a single minute is wasted, and its controls have been modernised in order to allow its signature dynamic shooting mechanics to really shine. I’ve been waiting 18 years for a game to thrill me in the same way as Resident Evil 4; as it turns out, this whole time I’ve just been waiting for another Resident Evil 4.

Bethesda's upcoming RPG Starfield has received an R18+ rating in Australia due to its depiction of "interactive drug use," according to the Australian Classification Board's database. It is Australia's strongest classification for games, meaning sales of Bethesda's new RPG will be restricted to adults 18 and over in the country. Australia's R18+ rating is commensurate to the ESRB's M (Mature 17+) in North America and PEGI 18 in Europe.

Starfield's drug use is what drove the rating to R18+, with its depiction being classified as "High Impact." The overall ratings of films and games in Australia is determined by the level of the highest ratings criteria. Violence was determined at the slightly lower "Strong Impact" level, while nudity was regarded as very low level. Starfield's rating is stronger than Fallout 4, which received an MA15+ rating for its violence when it was released back in 2015. Drug use in Fallout 4 was only regarded as "Moderate Impact" by the Australian Classification Board at the time.

Bethesda's RPGs have long been known for their explicit content, including featuring a fictional drug called "Jet" that your character can get addicted to in-game. This is a stronger rating than the last few Fallout games, though, and perhaps offers a hint of what to expect when it's eventually released later this year.

Publisher Perfect World and developer Black Wings have announced Persona 5: The Phantom X for iOS and Android. A free-to-play game with in-app purchases, playtests for the new Persona 5 spin-off will start on March 29 in China.

The Phantom X’s style and gameplay is exactly the same as in Persona 5, but the game’s user experience will be tailored for mobile gamers. Atlus is supervising the game’s development.

Persona 5: The Phantom X follows a new group of Phantom Thieves and focuses on the theme of “desire.” Like in Persona 5, the protagonist in The Phantom X can participate in classes during the school day and do activities like watching movies and playing baseball. After school, the new Phantom Thieves can infiltrate the Metaverse and the accompanying Palaces.

A brand new gameplay trailer was released, featuring Lyn’s song, “Life Will Change” from Persona 5. Designed by Atlus’s Shigenori Soejima, the protagonist wields a singular pistol in battle, and his currently unnamed Persona wields two shotguns with hook grooves at the ends. There are also what appears to be two female Phantom Thieves, one wielding a crossbow and the other a rifle.

Whereas Persona 5’s mascot was the black cat Morgana, The Phantom X’s animal mascot is an owl who wields dual tonfas as its weapon of choice. There are also some familiar characters, such as Igor, as well as what looks to be a brand new attendant in the Velvet Room.

Hyperkin, the company that makes retro-inspired gaming accessories for modern-day consoles, is at it again. Instead of making an original Xbox controller this time, the company has decided to jump a generation and create an Xbox 360-style controller for the Xbox Series X|S called the Xenon.

The Xenon is set to come out on June 6 and will be priced at USD 49.99. You'll be able to buy the controller in black, white, pink, or red.

Additionally, the 360-inspired controller will come with precision analog impulse triggers, a view and share button allowing you to take screenshots and record gameplay, vibration feedback, a 3.5 mm headset jack, and a detachable Type-C cable so you can charge/update your controller.

The controller was announced last November and is named after the original codename given to the Xbox 360's first console iteration.

This isn't the first time Hyperkin has decided to pay homage older Xbox consoles. On its website, you can purchase a Duke wired controller that works on the Xbox Series X|S and even the iconic single-ear-piece headset used in the 360 era.

You can play a pre-order for the Xenon controller on the Hyperkin Website on May 5.

Hi Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer who loves games. You can reach him at @ImLuisGutierrez on Twitter.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been confusing global officials for over a year. What's even more confusing is a reference to PlayStation's Superman in a case underway in the U.K.

The legal team representing Microsoft referenced a PlayStation Superman game in a document responding to the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) provisional findings regarding concerns the company's nearly $70 billion acquisition of the publisher may render Activision Blizzard games exclusive to Xbox should the merger go through... but that reference was most likely a typo.

In Section 2.20, where it discusses the impact the merger will have on PlayStation exclusive titles on Xbox console sales, it wrote, "This applies for 'big titles' like God of War and Superman. There has never been evidence that exclusivity of one single franchise can drive console sales."

The problem is, a Superman game hasn't been made for the PS5 or PS4. In fact, the last time a Superman game was made for a PlayStation console was Superman Returns, the video game adaptation of the 2006 movie of the same name starring Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, for PS2.

Barry Keoghan is in talks to star in the upcoming Gladiator sequel directed by Ridley Scott, and he could be playing a real-life historical figure.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Keoghan might be cast as Emperor Geta, a Roman emperor who ruled from the year 209-211. Although he's playing a real historical figure, the upcoming sequel won't be based on real-world events.

It was previously reported that Scott had announced that the script for the Gladiator sequel is complete and has a release date of November 22, 2024. In addition, it was announced that Paul Mescal had been cast as the lead in the upcoming film. Mescal is best known for his work on the Hulu series Normal people and for starring in the acclaimed movie Aftersun.

Not much is known about the Gladiator sequel plot other than Mescal will be playing Lucius, the son of Lucilla and nephew to Commodus. The original Gladtior film was released in 2000 and featured Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus. It had grossed over $460 million worldwide and won five Academy Awards.

I’m not exactly sure why a developer best known for quiet, choice-filled games that border on interactive movies is so interested in turning them into arcade-style rail shooters, but Supermassive Games is taking another crack at exactly that – this time with the help of the new PlayStation VR2 headset. Like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood before it, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR focuses less on storytelling and more on action to mixed results. While it’s fun to blast through ghouls and bats in my path, this spinoff is plagued by many of the same issues as its predecessor, including a disappointingly short runtime.

Switchback VR’s story feels like an afterthought, putting you in the role of an unnamed protagonist on a hellish rollercoaster ride across ten different stages. Most are locations featured in the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology, but you’re never really told much about why the protagonist is visiting them or any of the few supporting characters they meet. That’s partially because Switchback VR is very short, only taking me about four hours to complete, but it’s disappointing all the same, given how good of a job Supermassive usually does providing backstory and depth to its characters.

Dying Light developer Techland has revealed more information and another piece of concept art for its upcoming open-world fantasy action RPG, which is shaping up to look like a big departure from the studio's previous works.

On Twitter, Techland shared just a bit more information about its unannounced title, writing, "Our newest game is set to be a narrative-driven #fantasy epic with an exotic open world ready to be explored. We strive to create a compelling story-focused #AAA title that combines and refines the best aspects of gameplay that Techland is known for."

Emmett Shear, CEO of uber-popular streaming platform Twitch, is resigning from his position after more than 16 years at the helm.

Shear announced his departure in a Twitter thread today. According to screenshots of his blog post, the birth of his son made him pause and reflect on his future at Twitch. He compared its growth from a 24/7 reality show to a site where streamers can broadcast their gameplay to millions of people to raising a child — his first child.

"Twitch often feels to me like a child I've been raising as well," Shear said. "And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old it feels to me that Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone. So it is with great poignancy that I share my decision to resign from Twitch as CEO."

In October 2006 we started working on live video for the internet. That became Twitch. More than 16 years later, I'm now a father and ready to move to my next phase of life. I wrote a blog post, but the short version is: thank you so much to everyone who built this with me.

— Emmett Shear (@eshear) March 16, 2023

Dan Clancy, the current president of Twitch, will now serve as CEO effective immediately. Shear will continue working at Twitch in an advisory role.

Recently, OpenAI released GPT-4, the latest iteration of its AI language model. And people are already putting the new AI tool to the test, including one user claiming that the model created a fully playable version of Pong in less than a minute.

Among them is Pietro Schirano, who tweeted out that GPT-4 created the iconic game in less than a minute, along with a screenshot of the conversation Schirano with GPT-4, asking how he could create "a pong-like game."

The model suggested how he should make it before providing a basic example using JavaScript with an HTML5 Canvas API. Schirano then shared a Replit link for those that wanted to play this build.

I don’t care that it’s not AGI, GPT-4 is an incredible and transformative technology.

I recreated the game of Pong in under 60 seconds.
It was my first try.

Things will never be the same. #gpt4 pic.twitter.com/8YMUK0UQmd

Ubisoft has announced that its open-world RPG Far Cry 5 will get a 60fps patch for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 to help celebrate its fifth anniversary.

The studio revealed the news on Twitter today:

You've been waiting long enough… Welcome to Hope County!

Experience Far Cry 5 in native 60 FPS - available for PS5 & Xbox Series consoles … NOW!#FarCry5 will also have a FREE WEEKEND from March 23-27 on all consoles & PC.

Enjoy!#FarCry5Anniversary

— Far Cry 5 (@FarCrygame) March 16, 2023

In addition to the 60fps update, there'll be a free weekend from March 23-27 for both console and PC players. The Far Cry Twitter account teased the update yesterday, hinting at a "highly requested feature for next-gen consoles." They added that there will be several announcement over the next three weeks.

The phrase “It’s Pizza Time” could cause a number of different reactions in your average person. Maybe it unlocks a memory of playing Turtles in Time at the arcade as a kid, maybe it makes you think of Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2, or maybe you’re hungry and it just gets you excited for some pizza. But for me, as someone who just played through the eccentric and thrilling Pizza Tower, when I hear Pizza Time, my hands start sweating, my pulse quickens, and anxiety creeps in as that music starts to slowly build in my head.

The debut game from developer Tour de Pizza could most simply be described as a spiritual successor to the Wario Land series, but it’s so much more than that. The speed of its 2D platforming can rival that of even the fastest Sonic games, its unforgettable art style oozes love for 90s Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network shows like Ren and Stimpy, and it's absurdly packed with secrets and extra challenges. Then there’s the eclectic soundtrack, which expertly nails the unique theme and vibe of each of its levels, especially the anxiety-inducing main theme that kicks in at the end of every stage as you race back to the start to avoid getting killed by an evil pizza face. Not only is Pizza Tower an adrenaline-filled thrill ride from start to finish, it’s one of the most creative 2D platformers I’ve played in quite some time.

Five ex-Criterion and Need for Speed developers, including former GM Matt Webster, have founded Fuse Games, a AAA studio focused on "blockbuster spectacle and player-centric innovations in social gameplay, self-expression, and creativity".

Joining Webster, who will serve as the new studio's GM, are head of content Steve Uphill, head of production Pete Lake, head of operations Alan McDairmant, and head of technology Andrei Shires, according to Eurogamer. The quintet of developers departed Criterion in December with over 90 combined years of experience at the prolific racing studio.

Fuse Games will develop for consoles and PC. Despite the developers' experience with racing games, Webster told GI.biz the team hasn't committed to a genre for its debut: "Obviously arcade racers and open world racers are what we know very deeply," they said.

"But we have played around in other genres over the years, including Battlefront, Battlefield… VR. We know what we are good at, and that spans a broad range of things now. Once we select our genre, we want to lead that genre."

Webster and his colleagues are looking to set up shop in Guildford, the same UK town Criterion calls home. The staff has already been built up to 17 employees.

Content creators will finally be able to try their hands at the Unreal Engine 5 Editor for Fortnite starting next week. Epic Games already released Unreal Engine 5 to game developers last year, but now the company will be releasing the beta version of Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) to everyone on March 22, according to the DLC's page on its website.

The UEFN works a bit like the game editor in Roblox, only it's more advanced because, aside from Fortnite being 3D in the first place, it works in tandem with the pre-existing Fortnite Creative feature, providing teams of creators the ability to work together to create new games and experiences within Fortnite using all the tools at their disposal.

This includes the new programming language called Verse to design gameplay, Niagara to create visual effects, Control Rig and Sequencer to animate their custom characters, World Partition to create bigger gameplay experiences (like the virtual concerts we've been seeing as of late), and Fab to discover assets and import them.

Epic Games was originally expected to release the UEFN last year, but it quietly pushed back its debut date behind the scenes. At the time, CEO Tim Sweeney said the feature was designed to allow creators to monetize their custom content without having to make a deal with Epic Games, thereby turning Fortnite into a digital marketplace akin to Steam, Google Play Store, or the App Store.

Danish developer IO Interactive made a name for itself over two decades ago when it released Hitman: Codename 47, the first in a long line of games starring everyone’s favorite sardonic assassin with a barcode tattooed on the back of his bald head. The series has spawned over half a dozen games, two major motion pictures, and lots of commercial success and critical acclaim.

Now, however, with the most recent Hitman game trilogy completed and all folded together under the Hitman: World of Assassination umbrella, IO Interactive is moving on to two other projects: a James Bond 007 game – of which little is known about so far – as well as a new online fantasy-RPG, which looks like it will come after Bond and we know even less about. Hitman, the studio says, is on hiatus for now.

All of this preamble is to set up what I’m about to say, and that is this: Microsoft, if it isn’t already, should be taking a long, hard look at IO Interactive as its next potential acquisition target – regardless of whether or not the Activision-Blizzard deal is approved by regulators, but especially if it isn’t. The fact is, there aren’t a lot of independent AAA game development studios left on the market. Embracer Group bought Gearbox (and a whole bunch of others), Sony took Bungie off the market, Microsoft has spent the past several years acquiring the likes of Obsidian, inXile, and Playground, etc.

Developer ZA/UM has announced Collage Mode for Disco Elysium; a photo mode-like addition that allows you to arrange your own scenes and dialogue using the game’s characters and locations.

Launching today on PC and coming to consoles in the coming days, Collage Mode can be found on Disco Elysium’s main menu. Unlike a photo mode, it is not a system to take screenshots of moments within the game. Instead, Collage Mode gives you full access to every character, location, and effect used across Disco Elysium’s story, and allows you to create a scene from scratch. Think of it as a fan art tool rather than an in-game camera and you’ll be on the right track.

The tool is pretty simple to use, with drag-and-drop controls that allow you to easily place items in the world. Characters can be set in a large variety of poses, and even rescaled to tiny or huge proportions. A collection of stickers, including cute emoji-like faces or items of clothing, can then be layered over the scene. You can also add effect filters, like rain, snow and fog, or a frame around the scene, to add the final touches.

My personal favourite addition, though, is the dialogue reel that runs down the left-hand side of the screen. You can add this to scenes and input dialogue for each of your characters, allowing you to create an ‘authentic’ Disco Elysium scene.

Arkane Studios has shared the official story trailer for its upcoming co-op shooter Redfall which shares the mad science origins of the game's vampire apocalypse.

The lengthy three minute trailer (below) opens with an optimistic message from a character called Ava, who says a drop of her blood was promised to "free people from sickness and death".

This seemingly turned into a dangerous experiment that resulted in her death, however, with the extracted blood not just healing people and granting immortality, but turning them into vampires too. These vampires took over the town of Redfall, which quickly collapsed into a broken society led by gangs of the savage monsters.

Some of the stronger vampires are also introduced in the trailer, suggesting that Redfall will be separated into four areas with vampire leaders at the helm of each. These include The Hollow Man, a winged vampire with protruding organs; Bloody Tom, a massive, muscly vampire; Miss Whisper, who seems to have branch-like growths all over her body; and the Black Sun, suggested to be the most powerful of all.

Various gameplay clips also featured in the trailer, showing how up to four players can take on the town at once to defeat facilities full of the vampires in a ton of creative ways.

Kirby's Dream Land 2 has joined the Nintendo Switch Online collection along with BurgerTime Deluxe, Side Pocket, and Xevious.

Nintendo shared its March 2023 NES, Super NES, and Game Boy Updates for its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in a YouTube video that turned the spotlight on the new additions, which are available on both the Basic NSO and Expansion Pack tiers.

Players will be able to explore the Rainbow Islands in Kirby's Dream Land 2 and feast on arcade action in BurgerTime Deluxe, both of which are joining the Game Boy library, while also putting their skills to the test in Side Pocket, now in the SNES collection, and Xevious, in the NES library.

Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games were added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in February, with classic Game Boy games available to those with the Basic NSO subscription, and Game Boy Advance games going to Expansion Pack subscribers.

Blizzard is allowing Diablo fans to preload the open beta for Diablo IV, which is scheduled to run for three days this weekend. The preload is 84 GB, or 42 GB without the high-resolution texture pack.

To commemorate the open beta, Blizzard has revealed its World Bosses. The company explained in the PS Blog that World Bosses are filled with new, challenging monsters designed for multiple Diablo players to take on regardless of their class or playstyle. The first World Boss that Blizzard has introduced is named Ashava, a gruesome monster with razor-sharp claws elongating from her wrists.

Grab your allies and get ready. Ashava's hungry. #DiabloIV's first World Boss spawns four times during Open Beta Early Access this weekend. pic.twitter.com/b1dQNUIpuu

Hitman developer IO Interactive is starting to talk about its new online fantasy-RPG project. Plus it's got a James Bond 007 game in the works. We discuss those, and then debate whether or not they might – or should – be Xbox's next acquisition target. Plus: Zombie Telltale is saying all of right things about its decision to delay The Wolf Among Us 2 into next year, guest panelist Cameron Hawkins agrees to take one for the team and eat a KFC Double Down in order to get Diablo 4 beta access, and more!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.