IGN

With Mortal Kombat 1 just over a month old, Warner Bros. Games has launched Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, its mobile-exclusive collection role-playing game set in the Mortal Kombat universe.

Onslaught, out now for free on the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android, features party-based combat that plays out automatically, with the player tapping to trigger special abilities and combos. Yes, there are Fatalities.

There’s a fleshed out Story Mode that revolves around Shinnok’s bid for destruction. Mortal Kombat veterans Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Sub-Zero go up with familiar villains such as Shang Tsung, Kano, and Shao Kahn in what appears to be their Mortal Kombat 11 visual style.

Expect Boss Tower and Chasm modes, as well as an Arena in which you can challenge other players in real-time matches that take part in PvP seasons. Screenshots are in the slideshow above.

“In Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, players will be able to unleash total mayhem in strategic, fast-paced battles with up to 10 characters at once,” said Ed Boon, chief creative officer of NetherRealm Studios and co-creator of Mortal Kombat.

“Mortal Kombat: Onslaught introduces a new level of strategic gameplay and we’re excited to see how players build their teams to overcome various opponents and challenges.”

Now that PS5 consoles are regularly available to buy, it's an excellent time to start picking up games, accessories, and hardware for it. What's even better is when you can find all of those things at a discounted price.

TL;DR - Best PS5 Deals Right Now

Below, you can find a variety of different sales on everything from games to SSDs and even information on where to buy a PS5 now. With Black Friday coming up soon in November as well, we'll keep this updated with all of the new PS5 deals as they appear. And, though not a sale but still exciting to keep on your radar, if you're looking to preorder Marvel's Spider-Man 2 for PS5, we've even included links to those preorders so you won't miss out on the web-slinging action.

Navigate to:

• Best PS5 SSD Deals
• Best PS5 Video Game Deals (Physical)
• Spider-Man 2 Preorders
• When Should I Buy a PS5?

Buy a PS5, Get a Free Game

Starting on September 20 and running through October 20, those in the US can pick out a free PS5 game with purchase of the console. There's an excellent variety of games to choose from as well, which we've listed below. To redeem this game, all you need to do is look for the banner in the PlayStation store after activating your console!

2023 continues to be an extremely difficult year for the video game development industry, with yet another wave of layoffs announced.

This time, UK studio Frontier Developments has announced an organisational review of the business that includes a wave of redundancies, subject to consultation. A spokesperson for Frontier told IGN this morning that it was unable to share how many people will be affected as the review is not yet concluded.

Frontier Developments is the veteran Cambridge-based studio behind 2014’s space sim Elite: Dangerous, Microsoft’s Zoo Tycoon, Planet Coaster, and the Jurassic World Evolution games. In recent years, it’s released two F1 Manager games, with real-time strategy game Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin due out in November. Frontier also published games from external developers under its Frontier Foundry label, including Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, Deliver Us Mars, and FAR: Changing Tides.

Skull Island: Rise of Kong is out today, October 17, and the $39.99 action adventure has already been called “the worst game of 2023”.

Skull Island: Rise of Kong was developed by IguanaBee, the Chilean studio behind 2020’s G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout and Headsnatchers, and is published by Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's GameMill Entertainment under licence from DeVito ArtWorks, which controls the King Kong / Skull Island universe.

Announcing its release date, GameMill described Skull Island: Rise of Kong as an “exhilarating, third-person action-adventure game [that] lets you become Kong on a journey of vengeance as you fight to claim your rightful place as King of Skull Island”.

The truth of Skull Island, however, is quite different. It’s already gone viral on social media for all the wrong reasons, with one tweet showing a cutscene with visuals you’d expect three generations ago viewed nearly seven million times.

Actual cutscene

DO NOT BUY THE NEW KING KONG GAME. IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM pic.twitter.com/6hiCWOSnNc

— Rick (@RickDaSquirrel) October 16, 2023

Another tweet showing rudimentary action gameplay has had over a quarter of a million views.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder arrives October 20 but spoilers have already leaked across social media, showing fans glimpses (or lots) of the game Nintendo would rather keep quiet.

IGN won't reveal any of these spoilers here, of course, but wanted to offer a heads up for those looking to experience the long-awaited next-generation 2D Mario game completely fresh.

While a handful of now deleted tweets showed some glimpses at levels beyond what Nintendo has revealed so far, another main instigator of spoilers appears to be emulation. As reported by DSOGaming, players are already able to run the entirety of Super Mario Bros. Wonder through illegal PC emulation.

Nintendo understandably doesn't take kindly to those who create such software or even leak their games. It cut ties with one publication who showed images of Pokémon Sword and Shield ahead of the games' embargo in 2020, and recently issued a cease and desist order against Wii and GameCube emulator Dolphin over its launch on Steam.

YouTuber Markiplier has revealed why he had no choice but to turn down a role in the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's movie.

Markiplier, real name Mark Edward Fischbach, is known as "the King of FNAF" for his hugely popular YouTube videos featuring the horror game series. He’d dropped one or two hints of his intended involvement in the movie, sparking excited fan speculation about what the role might have been.

In a new video published to his YouTube channel, which boasts 35.6 million subscribers, Markiplier said a scheduling clash between the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie and his own movie, Iron Lung, ended his hopes of appearing in the film.

"It was supposed to happen,” he said. “There was a time it was supposed to occur, and unfortunately the Five Nights at Freddy's movie and my movie, Iron Lung, were being filmed at the exact same time. It was nothing more than it just so happening to be a conflict of schedule.

“Now despite that, I was trying to make it work... I was supposed to be out there for two days, but unfortunately it was one of those things where I needed every second that I had to make my movie what it needed to be... It was one of those things where I had to make a call. I wouldn't expect them to compromise the quality of their project for me, just like I would hope they wouldn't expect me to compromise my own movie on their behalf."

Lies of P has sold one million copies since going on sale last month, publisher Neowiz has said.

Round8 Studio’s well-received soulslike launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PC via Steam, and Mac via the Mac App Store on September 18. It reimagines the classic fairy tale of Pinocchio in the Bloodborne style.

IGN’s Lies of P review returned an 8/10. We said: “Lies of P might not branch out particularly far from its soulslike inspiration, but it plays the part extremely well.” Lies of P has a “very positive” user review rating on Steam too.

"This incredible milestone for Lies of P proves the potential of Korean console games on the global stage,” said Seungchul Kim, co-CEO of Neowiz. “The Lies of P project was a challenging endeavor for Neowiz and Round8 Studio and we take great pride in what we achieved with this title.”

Given the success of Lies of P, thoughts turn to the possibility of DLC and a sequel. Earlier this month, IGN reported on a job listing for a quest planner role for a Lies of P DLC, with one of the bullet points on the listing directly stating that the DLC is in development. At the time, Neowiz told IGN it did not have an official statement regarding upcoming DLC for Lies of P, however, the studio said it "will be providing a roadmap of the contents planned for Lies of P as soon as it is ready”.

Spoilers of Lies of P are ahead

After an illustrious career spanning more than 60 years, Michael Caine is ready to bid goodbye. The 90-year-old actor confirming that he intends to retire in the wake of the real of The Great Escaper, which will be his final film.

Caine, who has been frequent collaborator with director Christopher Nolan, feels he has nothing else to accomplish.

A new Grand Theft Auto Game may be on the horizon, and no, we're not talking about Grand Theft Auto 6. Instead, it sounds like streaming giant Netflix wants a taste of the GTA pie, and is reportedly trying to get a Grand Theft Auto game of some kind onto its Netflix Games service.

This comes from a report in the Wall Street Journal today covering the company's ongoing efforts to make a meal out of its library of original IP in the games space after acquiring a number of game development studios. The report claims that the company has "discussed plans" to release a Grand Theft Auto game on its service through a licensing deal with publisher Take-Two Interactive.

What kind of game it would be, or who would develop it, remains to be seen.

As Spider-Man 2 swings onto PS5 in the third Insomniac game, the shackles are off on the technological baseline now that there’s no PS4 version to support. Traversal speed is more than twice the previous maximum, with you able to literally fly around New York like a spider bat. Miles and Peter can now catapult themselves, cannonball style, through the skies like Sonic, and yet it never causes issues on the PS5’s blistering memory and SSD speeds, allowing it to stream in even higher traffic, building, and pedestrian density. Water has been a key improvement over the prior games, with full geometric surface bodies now morphing and wrapping around boats and characters and playing a bigger role in the city interaction, your traversal, and even some key action scenes.

Roblox is off to a great start on PlayStation. This analysis comes from Mat Piscatella, executive director and leading analyst at Circana (NPD). In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Piscatella said Roblox "ranked 3rd in percentage of PlayStation players that played the title at least once" during its launch on the PlayStation, trailing only Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Fortnite.

Roblox had a huge debut week on PlayStation.

According to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, during its launch week Roblox ranked 3rd in percentage of PlayStation players that played the title at least once.

Only Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Fortnite ranked higher.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) October 16, 2023

The statistics for the PS5 and PS4 versions of Roblox isn't too surprising. According to a September 15 post from the official Roblox account on X, more than 65 million play Roblox daily. Now that the game is available on PlayStation, the numbers may increase as new players discover it for the first time. Roblox has experience big growth in the last few years among kids and teens under 16, with the COVID-19 pandemic cited as among the reasons.

Fortnite maker Epic Games has launched a back catalog program to incentivize game developers and publishers to make their old games available on Epic Games Store.

According to a blog post published on Monday, the company said the program, dubbed Now on Epic, was launched to make it easier for Epic Game Store users to discover back catalog games, and to better compete with Steam. Mainly, it will allow participating developers and publishers the opportunity to increase their net revenue from user spending from 88% to 100% for any eligible back catalog games they offer up on Epic Games Store.

What was meant to be a charming and delightful Pokemon and Van Gogh Museum collaboration has turned into a scalper's paradise and a fan's worst nightmare, leading to the Amsterdam-based museum has halting the the distribution of the limited-edition trading cards.

The Times reports that it will no longer give out these specially-issued Pokémon trading cards, citing "safety and security concerns" caused by scalpers. The Times notes that a group of scalpers have been heckling visitors leaving the exhibit, asking to sell the cards to them at a cheap price. Visitors obtain the limited-edition promotional trading card upon completing a special treasure hunt found at the exhibit.

I grew up in arcades, dumping quarter after quarter into machines like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and especially Tekken Tag Tournament – the first fighting game my arcade crew and I ever truly fell in love with. Arcades were special; you could make friends, fight rivals, learn new tricks, and build a community. Unsurprisingly, much of the Tekken 8 team, including producers Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray, feel the same way. Arcade Quest, the newest single-player mode in Tekken 8, is separate from the main story, but looks to teach new players the ins and outs of Tekken 8 and introduce players new and old to arcade culture.

For people like me, it’ll be like going home; for people who didn’t get a chance to be a part of the arcade scene, it will hopefully let them see what it’s all about while learning skills that will help them throughout their Tekken journey. Murray described Arcade Quest like this when I sat down with him: “It's like a different story mode, almost. And you use the avatars, the same ones that you use in the Tekken Fight Lounge. You start off knowing nothing and you have a mentor in the local arcade. There's different arcades you visit along the way. In your home arcade you start off in, Max, your mentor, is like ‘Okay, you don't know how to play fighting games. Here's how to block. Why don't you try it out? Good job.’ Or ‘Hey, this is how to do a basic combo,’ and it teaches the basics of the game, then the basics of the new mechanics like Heat, and then combos, how to throw escape, all these different things that you’ll want to know.”

Games have always existed in a numbers-obsessed industry. Sega vs. Nintendo defined a generation in the '90s, while today's comparatively mild console wars and monthly NPD reports keep sales figures near the forefront of games-related discussion. New monetization models require new metrics for success — monthly active users, player retention rates, in-game revenue, etc. — but one of the industry's biggest questions remains: What are the best-selling video games of all time?

To answer this question, we set out to compile the most accurate list possible by reaching out to publishers and digging through financial reports, news stories, interviews, and more. The result is the following list of the ten best-selling video games of all time.

Some notes up front:

The developer and publisher of Cities: Skylines 2 have admitted the game’s performance isn't up to scratch, but insisted they will launch the hotly anticipated city builder on PC as planned on October 24.

Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox issued a joint statement to fans left concerned after Cities: Skylines 2’s minimum and recommended specs were raised.

"Cities: Skylines 2 is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements,” Colossal Order said. “With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted.”

While it’s highly unusual for a developer to issue a warning about an upcoming game’s performance, Colossal Order said it took the decision because “we've always believed in transparency”.

Even with these potential performance issues in mind, Colossal Order said it will release Cities: Skylines 2 next week, hitting the current release date. “We still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward,” the developer said. “We are proud of the unique gameplay and features in Cities: Skylines 2, and we genuinely believe that it offers a great experience that you will enjoy.”

Colossal Order said it will “continually improve” the game over the coming months, “but we also want to manage expectations on performance for the coming release.”

Pete Hines, one of the key executives at Bethesda Softworks, has announced his retirement from the company.

pic.twitter.com/QukEnV1zEd

— Bethesda (@bethesda) October 16, 2023

In a statement published on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Bethesda announced Hines' retirement and thanked him for his contributions to the studio during his nearly 25-year tenure. "Pete's public presence was only a small part of his role at Bethesda," the company wrote, "although the way he represented us carried over into the values he nurtured here: authenticity, integrity and passion."

Around the same time the statement went out from Bethesda, Hines posted his statement on his personal X account, confirming his decision to retire and thanking his colleagues and fans. "After 24 years, I have decided my time at Bethesda Softworks has come to an end," Hines wrote. "I am retiring and will begin an exciting new chapter of my life exploring interests and passions, donating my time where I can, and taking more time to enjoy life."

pic.twitter.com/dhZEmRbzjz

With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac has the unenviable task of following up two riveting superhero fantasies full of excitement and heart. While that may sound like a good problem to have, the question becomes where do you go from there? Well, its answer is to double down. Double down on Spider-Men. Double down on the size of the map. Double down on explosive action sequences. In doing so, the studio has crafted another consistently exciting rollercoaster ride and the best story of the series yet – but stand the original alongside this sequel in other ways, and it can look a bit like two Spider-Man games pointing at each other. The excellent combat hasn’t gotten old, but it is largely the same fun as before, and despite that larger map, most of the open-world activities found within it are in desperate need of evolution. The result is a blockbuster in the most modern sense of the word: undeniably thrilling for long stretches, but by the numbers for others.

Despite a couple of new tricks up its sleeve, Spider-Man 2’s combat is very familiar – it doesn’t have that new suit smell anymore, but it still feels incredibly comfy to slip back into. The rhythm of precision dodges, the new perfect parries (so you’re not only swerving and striking now), and acrobatic finishers are hugely satisfying, as is chasing high-hit combos to keep the fight as stylish as possible. The movement is smooth and the hits are crunching, like some sort of peanut butter hybrid that every one of your foes is allergic to. Power and elegance are brought together in a brick-to-the-face ballet as enemies are thrown around like dolls, juggled in the air, slammed across concrete floors, and slung into each other like body-armoured bowling pins – but, naturally, never killed. Every bone in their body may be broken and every organ punctured, but of course, they'll somehow live to commit crimes again.

There’s a reason our cars aren’t also boats. It’s often as hard as it is risky to combine two very different functions into one package, especially when designing a system to do one thing well can be hard enough. That’s why, as I sat in front of my computer taking stock of the 20+ hours I spent playing Endless Dungeon, I couldn't help but smile at the sheer audacity on display. There’s no other way to describe the daring it must have taken to create this hybrid twin-stick shooting, tower defending, science fiction roguelite. Those are three very different genres all their own, so to take them all on simultaneously and make the result work so well is borderline miraculous.

Endless Dungeon is set aboard The Station, a massive, multi-leveled space station that belonged to an enigmatic race known as the Endless. Now it is abandoned, save for the monsters on each floor and the small cast of colorful heroes trapped aboard with them. Their only hope is that reaching the Station's Core and powering on the Reactor will reactivate the station, and allow everyone to escape. It's a simple setup, with just enough mystery to be intriguing, told in a really attractive, colorful, comic book-esque art style.

Diablo 4’s road to recovery hit an embarrassing snag after developer Blizzard published a new video hyping up the upcoming season that was filled with mistakes.

YouTuber Raxxanterax picked up on the video, which was published on the official Diablo Twitter account on Friday, October 13 — a day that proved unlucky for Blizzard. The video was meant to detail improvements coming to the action role-playing game with Season 2, dubbed Season of Blood. Instead it became the focus of a few laughs.

As Raxxanterax shows, the video includes incorrectly labelled dungeon maps, a horse speed comparison that shows both before and after horses trotting along at the same speed, and maths blunders when calculating experience point boosts.

Battlefield 2042 enjoyed a huge surge in players over the weekend sparked by the game going free-to-play as well as meaningful improvements made over the last two years.

DICE’s first-person shooter launched in October 2021 and became one of the worst-reviewed games on Steam, with players pointing to myriad bugs and performance issues, controversial gameplay changes, and a lack of expected features.

The player count quickly declined after strong launch day concurrents and, at one point, more people were playing 2018’s Battlefield 5 than the more recent Battlefield 2042. Things got so bad that EA boss Andrew Wilson was forced to admit to investors that Battlefield 2042 "did not meet expectations".

DICE has stuck with the game though, issuing a number of improvements and continuing seasonal updates. This culminated with a free weekend across all platforms, which saw a peak of 102,009 concurrent players on Steam (Microsoft and Sony do not publish concurrent player numbers).

Voice actor and Critical Role star Matt Mercer will play Vincent Valentine in Square Enix's upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

As reported by Kotaku, Mercer revealed at New York Comic Con that he'd play the gun slinging pseudo-vampire in the highly anticipated sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake. This was followed up with a tweet from the official Final Fantasy Twitter account (below).

Mercer, who's played plenty of prolific video game characters, including Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, said he was pranked by the Square Enix team ahead of being offered the role.

It's official!

Matt Mercer (@matthewmercer) is the voice of Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. #FF7R pic.twitter.com/8dKq3E6EXj

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) October 14, 2023

The voice actor was called in to record lines for an unimportant NPC in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth before the script screen appeared to glitch and eventually faded to black. What emerged afterwards was the script for another character, Vincent, revealing to Mercer that Square Enix wanted him to play the iconic character.

Insomniac has released the Spider-Man 2 launch trailer ahead of the PlayStation 5 exclusive’s release date on October 20.

Spider-Man 2 spoilers follow.

The trailer makes a number of reveals, including offering a first look at previously unseen villains Sandman and Mister Negative. We also get a snapshot of Harry Osborne, Spider-Man’s fight with Lizard, and a close-up of Venom. Check out the relevant images from the trailer in the slideshow below:

The trailer suggests Peter Parker becomes Venom during the events of the game, although it’s worth pointing out a previous Spider-Man 2 trailer all but confirmed the man behind the alien suit is Pete’s friend, Harry Osborn.

The list of villains Spider-Man goes up against in this game is growing larger. We already knew about Kraven the Hunter and Lizard. Now we can add Sandman and Mister Negative to the lineup.

While you wait for Spider-Man 2 to come out, check out our hands-on preview, as well as our interview with Insomniac about the tech that powers the game.

Yakuza spin-off Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name won't launch with an English dub language option but will receive an update with it later.

Players eager to hear longtime protagonist Kiryu Kazuma's new English voice actor will have to wait a little longer as the game will only have Japanese audio with English subtitles when it launches November 9.

Yong Yea, who will replace Darryl Kurylo as Kiryu for the first time in Like a Dragon Gaiden (in a move some fans were unsure of), tweeted to break the news just a few weeks ahead of launch but didn't say when the English dub would arrive.

"Since Like A Dragon: Gaiden is a few weeks away and many may not know about this, thought I should let you know the English dub will not be available on the November 9 launch date and will release as a post-launch patch," Yong Yea said.

Proper sequel Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, considered to be Yakuza 8 outside the series' name change, launches on January 26 with an English dub option, according to its Steam page.

Turbochargers work by sucking in air from the atmosphere, compressing and cooling it, and subsequently blowing it into the cylinders to help your engine burn fuel at a faster rate. Unlike turbochargers, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged doesn’t suck or blow, but it is pretty damn cool. This palm-sized sequel shines with graphics that range from excellent to outright remarkable, an inspired selection of life-sized environments where stools loom large like skyscrapers and skateboards are as big as sailboats, and accessible and drift-heavy handling with a couple of new twists. However, while it’s certainly a slight step forward from the excellent 2021 original, it has introduced a couple of annoying quirks – like creases in the cardboard of a Super Treasure Hunt blister pack.

Just like Milestone’s first Hot Wheels Unleashed two years ago, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is still the antithesis to the tossed-together, toy-licensed turds today’s parents toiled through during our own childhoods. Beneath the corporate branding, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 really does remain an indubitably groovy arcade racer with highly imaginative tracks and some of the most brilliant-looking vehicles in the genre.

Minecraft Live returned for 2023 and brought with it some big announcements, including a new Star Wars DLC that takes players from padawan to Jedi knight, Planet Earth III DLC, a ton of new features in mid-2024's Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21, and more!

We're here to break down all the biggest announcements in one place to ensure you don't miss a thing!

Also, even though it wasn't revealed during Minecraft Live itself, Mojang has confirmed that Minecraft has officially crossed 300 million copies sold.

Minecraft's Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC Will Take Players From Padawan to Jedi Knight

On November 7, the Minecraft Marketplace will be home to the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC that will take players from "padawan to Jedi knight and showcase a variety of gameplay features including lightsaber combat and using Force powers."

Iconic Star Wars characters will also be showing up throughout the adventure, including Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Coleman Kcaj, Saesee Tiin, and Plo Koon.

Alongside confirming a November 2023 release window, NetherRealm has revealed the first gameplay trailer for Invincible's Omni-Man in Mortal Kombat 1 at NYCC 2023.

Omni-Man will be the first playable character in Mortal Kombat's Kombat Pack 1 and will be available as a standalone fighter or as part of the Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition. The trailer is a brutal look at Omni-Man in action and shows that many of his moves were pulled straight from the Prime Video series.

If you need a bit of a refresher, you can check out this comparison of the scenes right below!

We noticed some familiar scenes in that Omni-Man #MK1 trailer. pic.twitter.com/LYsL2VDTaq

— Skybound Games (@skyboundgames) October 14, 2023

During the reveal at Skybound's 20th anniversary panel at NYCC, Robert Kirkman and Ed Boon shared that "every moment of Omni-Man in Mortal Kombat 1 is inspired by a piece of the show."

Speaking of the show, Omni-Man also made an appearance in the Season 2 trailer for Invincible, in which Mark Grayson worries he may become too much like his father.

If you love freebies and sweepstakes, today (and many other days on IGN) is your lucky day! There are quite a few cool giveaways going on right now, so you can enter for your chance to win a Nintendo Switch OLED, Steam Deck, Vizio TV, PlayStation 5, and the new Mission: Impossible movie, just to name a few.

The Custom Terra Alia Nintendo Switch OLED Sweepstakes

• Custom Nintendo Switch OLED

Sweepstakes closes on Nov. 22, 2023.

The Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Prize Pack Sweepstakes

• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART One Digtial Code - (redeemable 10/10)
• Branded Backpack
• Branded T-shirt

Sweepstakes closes on Nov. 17, 2023.

The Ultimate Vizio Gaming Setup Sweepstakes

At least one Nintendo fan would still like to play the Wii U, the troubled console that lasted just over four years before making way for the Switch.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella took to X on Friday to reveal that Nintendo sold one new Wii U in the U.S. in September. It's apparently the first Wii U to be sold since May 2022 according to Circana's data. The new unit was apparently purchased from a retailer that reports individual store level sales data to the company, which video game industry sales data on a monthly basis.

1 new Wii U was sold in the US in September. First time a new Wii U sold since May 2022. Last time a new Vita unit sold was in November 2021, when 3 (!!) were purchased.

Is any of this at all meaningful? No. Sales fun facts that do not matter.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) October 13, 2023

"We acquire and process individual store level sales data for every sku across most retailers, which combined account for about 97% of the hardware market," Piscatella explained in a follow-up post. "It does force us to use all our fingers and toes."

But wait, didn't Nintendo buy back all Wii U retailer stock when it stopped production to avoid clearance sales?

"So you never lost your keys or misplaced a sock?" Piscatella responded jokingly.

With All Hallows' Eve just a couple weeks away, spooky season is officially here. Of course, the scares started creeping up the calendar much sooner at Universal Orlando Resort, where the park's annual Halloween Horror Nights event has been raising goosebumps and chilling spines since September 1. That month-plus of frights has mostly come courtesy of the celebration's 10, elaborate haunted houses, including an especially terrifying take on acclaimed PlayStation game The Last of Us.

But while Joel and Ellie's inclusion on this year's roster has fueled its fair share of nightmares, HHN's other walk-through attractions also deserve your screams. As any horror enthusiast worth their weight in spilled entrails knows, however, those cries of terror can be triggered by any number of very specific elements – from the monster lurking beneath your bed to the clown peering through your window. With that in mind, we braved this year's slate of mazes and broke them down by distinct categories catering to fright fans of all stripes. Read on, if you dare.

Best Storytelling: The Darkest Deal

If you like your scares supported by absorbing storytelling, you'll want to sign up for The Darkest Deal, the rare haunted house that prioritizes narrative progression and character development as much as nightmare-conjuring encounters. Guests follow the career path of Pinestraw Spruce, a fledgling Mississippi Delta musician who finally finds success after making the titular pact with the menacing “Collector.”

In case you did not know, Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard after announcing the plans over a year ago. With the merger now complete, Xbox owns some of the biggest gaming franchises, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft.

While it is easy to craft a wishlist of games you wish would be produced because of this new merger, such as a Halo game made by Infinity Ward, a Crash Bandicoot racing game by Playground Games, or even a new Call of Duty game from 343 Industries. Yet, many users on the social media platform X wish and remain hopeful that Xbox will leverage these new IPs to revive some classic, forgotten gems in Activision's IP vault.

The biggest one is Guitar Hero, the music rhythm game that uses plastic guitars to play rock music. The irony of this comes a few days after a report was published that revealed Activision CEO Bobby Kotick brought in James Corden during a company meeting earlier this week and teased the revival of the dormant franchise.

After the acquisition was announced in early 2022, Xbox head Phil Spencer said he was eager to visit abandoned Activision franchises, with Guitar Hero being one such property name-dropped during an interview with The Washington Post.

Xbox has finally completed its historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard and with it gains control of some of the biggest franchises in video game history.

Not mincing words, Xbox now owns the best-selling video game each year in Call of Duty. This franchise was at the centre of conversations (and arguments) during the acquisition process, as Xbox fought desperately to see the deal through.

Unlike Bethesda games such as Starfield, Call of Duty won't become exclusive to Xbox. Microsoft essentially had to sign 10-year deals with PlayStation, Nintendo, and several streaming services to complete the deal.

Activision Blizzard brings a lot more than Call of Duty, of course, with franchises such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush Saga, Diablo, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Spyro and more also joining Xbox.

Here's a full list of major Activision Blizzard games now owned by Xbox.

Activision

• Call of Duty
• Crash Bandicoot
• Guitar Hero
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Prototype
• Blur
• Spyro

Blzzard

• Diablo
• Warcraft
• Overwatch
• StarCraft
• Lost Vikings

King

It’s official: Microsoft has bought Activision Blizzard for an incredible $69 billion. It’s the biggest buyout in video game history, and in one fell swoop expands Xbox’s first-party offering to encompass everything from Call of Duty to World of Warcraft.

Thoughts immediately turn to Game Pass and how its library of games may expand. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has already said work has begun on bringing Activision Blizzard games to Game Pass, although he suggested it may take some time for them to show up. Activision Blizzard itself has indicated this year’s Diablo 4 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 won’t hit Microsoft’s subscription service until 2024.

“Microsoft has clearly missed the 2023 holiday marketing window given how long this approval process has taken,” Gareth Sutcliffe, senior games analyst at Enders Analysis, told IGN. “It’s going to be well into 2024 before we start to see the first signs of joint marketing and other combined initiatives with Activision franchises.”

Whether it’s this year or next, it’s clear a long list of Activision Blizzard games will soon head to Game Pass, which overnight becomes an even better deal for subscribers. Will Microsoft chuck the entire Call of Duty back catalogue into Game Pass? Why not? What about Blizzard’s games? It would make a lot of sense. Xbox owners and Game Pass subscribers are already rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of what’s to come. But it’s worth remembering what this eye-watering transaction is all about: making Xbox competitive again.

It’s cold at the recording studio at Bandai Namco’s offices in Irvine, California. Tekken 8 producer Michael Murray and I are mic'd up, waiting for the go-ahead from the production team. We’re talking about the weather in the different places we’ve lived, the two American fighting game majors we’re representing (I’m wearing an EVO shirt; Michael is wearing a Combo Breaker hoodie), and Tekken. Lots and lots and lots of Tekken. We spent most of the prior day playing and talking about Tekken 8, but it’s always a little different doing it in front of a camera, and we wanted to be prepared.

Michael Murray is uniquely qualified to talk Tekken; he joined Namco in 2001 because he loved the series. He started out in localization, which wasn’t really a thing at Namco at the time, and he’s been at the company ever since, working on Tekken the entire time. He started out on Tekken 4, but he also worked on several other games, including Ridge Racer, MotoGP, SoulCalibur II, and Ace Combat 4, among others. After spending several years doing localization, he started going to EVO and other fighting game events, where you might have seen him translate for long-time Tekken executive producer Katsuhiro Harada.

This October Prime Day deal is still available. Amazon is offering the WD Black C50 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series consoles at just $124.99. This marks a 17% off price reduction from its original $150 MSRP, making it the best deal we've encountered for a 1TB storage add-on for Xbox. It's also currently $25 cheaper than the Seagate 1TB Expansion Card. Both of these expansion cards are officially licensed by Microsoft.

WD Black C50 1TB Storage Expansion Card (SSD) for Xbox for $124.99

The WD Black C50 expansion card is essentially a 1TB NVME SSD encased in a specialized Xbox-compatible shell. Unlike the more complex PS5 SSD installation process, which involves opening up the PS5 to access the SSD slot, the Seagate expansion card simply plugs into its dedicated port on the back of the Xbox.

This expansion card offers the same speed as the internal SSD, ensuring that you won't sacrifice performance or encounter extended load times as you might with a regular USB drive. With a 1TB expansion card, you can double the storage on your Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S Carbon Black Edition console, and triple the storage on your OG (white) Xbox Series S console.

In contrast to the PS5, there are no alternative methods for adding high-speed storage to your Xbox console. Your options are limited to either the WD or Seagate expansion cards, underscoring the importance of seizing a good deal when one becomes available.

From PS2 exclusives like Okami and Shadow of the Colossus to best sellers like Final Fantasy X and GTA: Vice City, when it comes to picking the best PlayStation 2 games, there's no shortage of titles to choose from. It's true -- Sony's second console has quite the game library and story behind it.

Released in the US on October 26, 2000 and nearly one month later in Europe and Australia, the PS2 arrived right at the start of a new millennium. And like the many other consoles that came out around that time (Nintendo Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast, and original Xbox), it became an important piece of video game history, innovating the way we play by bringing the experience online and making online gaming much more accessible to a larger audience.

The PS2 was a revolutionary console, both in terms of its hardware and its massive library of games. It birthed franchises that are still going today, and kept classics alive for future generations to enjoy. Reigning for about 12 years and with a catalog of almost 2,000 games under its belt, there are dozens upon dozens of titles that remain replayable classics til this day.

To celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the PlayStation 2 this year, we ranked our picks for the best PS2 games of all time.

More on the best PlayStation Games of all time:

The Communications Workers of America union has expressed delight in Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard, calling it a “new day” for workers at the Call of Duty maker.

The CWA, the largest communications and media labour union in the United States, said the completion of the $69 billion buyout represents “a milestone in the effort to improve working conditions in the video game industry”.

Microsoft is set to remain neutral when Activision Blizzard employees express interest in joining a union, providing a clear path to collective bargaining for almost 10,000 workers, the CWA said. Activision Blizzard has been accused of fighting union efforts at every turn.

In recent years Activision Blizzard employees have issued a number of complaints about sexism, a toxic work culture, and even walked out over reports controversial CEO Bobby Kotick failed to make the company’s board aware of allegations of rape and other serious misconduct. California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging a retaliatory “frat boy” culture. Activision Blizzard has denied the accusations. Kotick is set to exit Activision Blizzard at the end of the year.

One of the hottest topics in video games is the future of physical media, with both Microsoft and Sony making moves to suggest digital will eventually win out.

The huge Xbox leak of last month revealed Microsoft’s alleged plan to launch a digital-only mid-generation console refresh of the Xbox Series X and S. And this week Sony announced a mid-gen refresh of the PlayStation 5, with a smaller console that comes with a detachable disc-drive.

Now Ubisoft has snapped up the cloud gaming rights for all Activision Blizzard games as part of Microsoft’s $69 billion deal for the Call of Duty maker, the French mega-publisher has issued a blog post featuring an interview with Chris Early, Ubisoft’s SVP, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development, who was asked: what do you think of the future of physical media in games?

A new Mario game is upon us and Dale is here to give us his preview thoughts of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. He's joined by Cardy and Jesse as a rambling episode loses all control as under-the-radar horror movies are recommended, crisps are talked about, Bob the Builder makes an appearance, and there's quite frankly too much David Beckham chat.

Have any thoughts about The Endless Search theme? Got any good demo disc stories? Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com

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Microsoft has released an emotional trailer to celebrate its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, showcasing the wealth of games Xbox now owns (and seemingly what it finds most important and wants to show off).

The titles that now come under the Xbox Games Studios banner is a little eye-watering, with some of video games' biggest franchises of all time featuring in the trailer. World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, and Candy Crush all feature alongside franchises Xbox already owned like Halo, Fallout, Forza, and Starfield.

The trailer (above) was released alongside Microsoft's announcement that it now owns Activision Blizzard, with the $68.7 billion deal the biggest in gaming history. You can read about the full acquisition, from its reveal in January 2022 to completion in October 2023, in IGN's full timeline outlining all the challenges Microsoft had to overcome.

Xbox uses its franchises to welcome Activision, Blizzard, and mobile publisher King into its company. A World of Warcraft cutscene, for example, has one character say: "This is home now. Family." Another from Pyschonauts 2 replied: "That's cute."

It's Starcraft's Tychus Findlay who perhaps best sums up what Microsoft and Activision Blizzard is feeling at the moment, however. "Activision, Blizzard, [and] King join the Xbox family," the trailer reads, before Findlay chimed in: "It's about time."