Square Enix's Forspoken can be deciedly mixed when it comes to performance, but the game's director says some fixes are on the way. On Twitter, Forspoken director Takeshi Aramaki didn't provide a timeline for upcoming performance updates, but said the developers are working hard at it now.

"We've been listening to all your feedback and are hard at work on an upcoming patch that will include improvements to overall performance, graphics, playability, and general updates and fixes to the game content across PS5 and vartious PC hardware configurations," Aramaki wrote. "We are committed to making Forspoken the most enjoyable experience possible and will provide an update about the timing of the next patch as soon as possible."

A message from @LumiPro_EN’s Takeshi Aramaki on upcoming updates for #Forspoken pic.twitter.com/BH0zC9edEb

— Forspoken (@Forspoken) February 8, 2023

In IGN's Forspoken performance review, we said that the game misses the expected mark in quality and consistency, hoping that patches could resolve some of the performance and quality issues present.

Overwatch 2 had an enormous launch last year, seeing 35 million players try the free-to-play game in its first month alone. Now, IGN can exclusively reveal four new Overwatch 2 toys from Funko, including three action figures and a new Funko Pop.

The three action figures are Tracer, Genji, and Reaper. The action figures stand at 3.75 inches tall, and will retail for $12.99. Each figure comes with alternate hand and weapons attachments, while Genji and Tracer also come with an alternate head attachment.

The newly-revealed Pop is of Echo in a Hot Rod skin. The Pop stands at 5.05 inches tall. You can take a look at all four newly-revealed products in the gallery below.

You can order the new products beginning today at Funko's website. If you're interested, you can check out the links for the Tracer action figure, Genji action figure, Reaper action figure, and Echo Pop.

Apex Legends Season 16 Revelry is just around the corner launching February 14th and there are a lot of changes coming for Apex’s fourth anniversary. There’s a big rework coming to the Legends Class system and rebalancing along with a new weapon, new limited time modes and permanent playlist, and the farewell of Arenas. Here’s an in-depth look at everything changing in Apex Legends Revelry.

Reworked Class System

The Legend Classes were implemented before but didn’t really have much to offer the Legends in each category. So the rework focuses on 5 new classes - Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller, Support. Each class has individual gameplay perk for strategic gameplay value not combat.

Assault

Focus: Assault Legends are the instigators. They focus on combat Initiation and utility, using their abilities to initiate plays or force enemies to play.

Assault Legends: Maggie, Fuse, Ashe, Revenant, Bangalore

Perk: Open hidden shelf of new weapon red supply bins - upgrades for your squad and can

carry an extra stash of ammo in the inventory slot one more bar

Nintendo fans, rejoice! A brand-new Nintendo Direct is on its way and it will be here today, February 8, with roughly 40 minutes of updates focused mostly on Switch games planned for release in the first half of 2023.

IGN is carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including when it starts, a list of places you can watch it with us, and what you can expect to see from the Nintendo Direct today.

Nintendo Direct February 2023 Start Time

February 2023's Nintendo Direct will take place on Wednesday, February 8, and will start at 2pm PT/5pm ET/10pm GMT. If you live in Australia, that translates to 9am AEDT on Thursday, February 9.

Where to Watch the Nintendo Direct February 2023

If you’re interested in watching the latest Nintendo Direct today, we’ll be hosting the stream here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch the show with us:

After Microsoft’s shopping spree of studio acquisitions over the last few years, there’s a long list of video game licenses that are now technically first-party Xbox properties – but possibly the weirdest is that PlayStation’s biggest competitor is now the home of its original mascot, Crash Bandicoot.

If you grew up in the ’90s, Crash and PlayStation were almost synonymous. Not only were the first few crash games amazing tech demos of what Sony’s first console could do, Crash himself was an extremely vocal hype-man; the mascot platformer became a literal mascot for the PS1 and millions of people likely heard about Sony’s new console from a guy in a fur suit yelling through a megaphone about it in TV commercials.

The first three Crash games were published by Sony but the rights to the bandicoot himself belonged to Universal Studios’ video game publishing wing, Universal Interactive, which also happened to hold the leash of Sony’s second-most popular platformer, Spryo the Dragon. In 2001, Sony acquired Naughty Dog – the studio that created Crash – and Universal Interactive merged with another company to become Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing.

After another merger in 2008 Vivendi became part of Activision Blizzard, but after a bunch of mediocre games and the decline in popularity of 3D platformers, the custody rights for Crash weren’t at the forefront of most peoples’ minds.

Amazon is running another of its excellent buy one, get one 50% off deals. Now I will admit, I was thrown a bit by the "Buy 2, Get 1 50% Off" phrasing, but according to the sale page, that just means if you buy two items, one of them will be half-priced. Specifically, the lower-priced of the two items you buy. But holy crap is there a lot to choose from, including new release games like Dead Space and board games galore.

Amazon Buy One Get One Half Off Sale

This is but a tiny sliver of what's available on the sale. Note: the items change quite frequently, so if I were you and I saw something I liked, I'd scoop it up.

Also, if you've never had an Audible subscription before, you can get 3 months of Audible Plus Premium for free right now. That's a bonus. Amazon seems to really be going hard with the sales today.

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

Azul is named after azuleijos, the brightly coloured geometric tiles sported by beautiful buildings across North Africa and Portugal; the Portuguese learned to make them from the Moors. The board game has become a celebrated design in its own right, popular enough to launch several sequels which use the same core mechanics and the same beautiful printed plastic tiles. We’re revisiting the original to try and find out what makes this game about decorating palace walls quite so compelling.

What’s in the Box

Like many other abstracts, Azul is a little short on the components front, but what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. Underneath the rules sheet, you’ll find four colorful, clear, sturdy playboards, one for each player. There are also a number of cardboard discs and some classic wooden cubes.

The most impressive eye candy is the piles of plastic tiles and the big cloth drawstring bag you keep them in. They’re an absolute delight: smooth and chunky, bright and colorful and some are embossed with intricate geometric designs. The game has them on display for full effect and they’re really satisfying to handle and rummage around in when you pull them from the bag.

Atari is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style with a $999.99 collectible boxset that features 10 Atari 2600 cartridges with reimagined artwork, acrylic toppers that light up when inserted into the console, and more. Oh, and there will only be 100 of them available worldwide.

As detailed by Atari, these cartridges — which hold Adventure, Missile Command, Warlords, Super Breakout, Crystal Castles, Haunted House, Yars' Revenge, Centipede, Asteroids, and Gravitar — also feature a remastered version of their original key art.

Also included are cardstock posters, instructional manuals with bonus material, hard enamel pins, patches, certificates of authenticity, and a digital copy of each game that can be played on the Atari VCS. If that wasn't enough, when you put all 10 cartridges together, they display the Atari 50th Anniversary logo, making it a perfect item for any collector's shelf.

The collection is currently in pre-production and Atari notes that any artwork is subject to change. Pre-orders are now open, and those who wish to secure one will have to wait three to four months to get their product. It's also important to note that once the pre-order window closes, all orders will be considered final and will not be able to be canceled.

This is only one way Atari is celebrating this big milestone, as it previously released Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, and we fell in love with it.

Today's daily deals include several Apple devices, including the newest Apple AirPods Pro, and several of the newest Apple iPads. You can also save on the Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope game for the Nintendo Switch, the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game for all platforms, a fantastic ASUS ROG Scar Strix RTX 3080 gaming laptop, and more.

PlayStation 5 Finally In Stock on Amazon

Amazon is finally letting you buy a PS5 console without an invite. The PS5 God of War Bundle (Disc Edition) is currently the only model available without requiring an invitation. That means Amazon now joins the ranks of Walmart, Best Buy, and Target who have already had PS5 consoles in stock. For Amazon Prime cardholders, that's great news because now you can get 5% Amazon cashback on this deal. If you're an Amazon Prime member and you don't have the Prime card, you're missing out. The Price card has no annual fee and gives you 5% cashback on all Amazon purchases.

Out February 10: Preorder Hogwarts Legacy, Get a $10 Best Buy Gift Card

The highly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy game, an open world adventure that takes place in the Wizarding World in the late 1800s, has an imminent release date of February 10. Right now the only way to get a discount on the console version is at Best Buy. If you preorder the standard edition on either Xbox or PlayStation, you get a bonus $10 Best Buy digital gift card. Check out our review for our impression of the game.

Here’s a great deal on an excellent game that many Switch owners slept on when it first came out. The colorful, turn-based strategy game Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is on sale at Amazon for $29.99 right now. That's the lowest price we've seen on this game. Also, it's unclear how long the sale will last, so grab it if you've had your eye on it.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Deal

This Nintendo Switch exclusive is a sequel to the 2017 game Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. But instead of doing a copy-paste job, Ubisoft brings a bunch of major changes and improvements to this crossover sequel. The overworld is expanded and sprinkled with puzzles. Battles are more dynamic this time around, thanks in large part to new movement mechanisms that let you cross the map quickly, giving you tons of leeway in your battle strategy.

Also mixing things up is the addition of Sparks, critters you collect and equip in order to broaden your characters’ ability sets. Sparks let you do everything from adding elemental charges to your attacks to reviving fallen teammates. You can equip two Sparks to each character, creating clever and powerful combos, if you play your cards right.

In our Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope review, critic Dan Stapleton scored it 9/10, writing:

February's IGN First is all about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the hotly anticipated sequel to 2019's Jedi Fallen Order. We've got a whole month's worth of exciting coverage, but to kick things off, we wanted to start with an introduction to a brand new planet in the Star Wars universe: Koboh.

Not too far into the game, Cal crash lands onto Koboh after a secret mission goes awry, and must seek out assistance in repairing his ship, The Mantis. This gameplay picks up soon after Cal lands and goes through a number of new combat techniques, force powers, and enemies that players can expect once Star Wars Jedi: Survivor releases on April 28, 2023.

Stay tuned for more coverage all throughout the month of February right here on IGN.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

After three games of air juggles, pistol dances, hair-centric finishing moves, and universal acclaim from both critics and fans, PlatinumGames is dramatically remodeling the established Bayonetta formula. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is arriving only five months after the release of the erstwhile Bayonetta 3, and it brazenly trades in its third-person, button-mashing precepts for what is, essentially, a straight-up Zelda facsimile in the Super Nintendo tradition. The camera has been yanked back to an isometric vantage point, the levels are deliberately balanced between doses of environmental puzzle solving, tricky combat, and light platforming, and the sweatless, stylish tone of the mother series has been replaced with a somber tale about a vulnerable girl in an uncaring world. It is, in other words, the last thing you'd expect from a game bearing the Bayonetta name. That will undoubtedly turn off some fans of the franchise, but personally, I already can't wait to play more.

Veiled Experts is quite the mysterious name for a game that is filled with mechanics and game modes that are commonplace in multiplayer shooters these days. Being familiar isn’t a bad thing here, though. The team-based tactical shooter is easy to pick up and play competently, as demonstrated in the short time I had to preview it. Its two modes – a standard deathmatch with a little twist and a more tactical bomb defusal – were a bombastic good time. But without much depth outside of the running and gunning, the future for a game like this in today’s tough games-as-a-service climate seems cloudy.

Before you jump into either game mode, you’re introduced to the cast of contractors that you can take the field with. A surprising nine of them were available to try, each with their own sets of passive and active abilities. I didn’t get to examine and try out team comps that took best advantage of these unique abilities, but some seem like they can be pretty impactful – like this guy who is definitely not John Wick, but can stun enemies with pistol shots to the torso. The cast is also pretty diverse and aesthetically expressive up close, but I found that when it came to game time, it was pretty hard to identify them. They dress well and have fun haircuts, but in the heat of battle, they're all just humanoid shapes.

If you liked the idea of mixed reality kart game Mario Kart Home Circuit but felt like it could use fewer red-clad plumbers, the same developers are on the cusp of releasing a very similar game... but with Hot Wheels. It's called Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, and it's coming to iOS, PS4, and PS5 on March 14, 2023.

Hot Wheels: Rift Rally is, similarly, a mixed reality game that involves a Chameleon RC car and tracks that players can set up around their homes using "Rift Gates" - basically gates the car can drive through that denote where the track is. Then, players drive the tracks they've set up using the in-game screen, with the RC car digitally changing into one of over 140 different variations of Hot Wheels car on-screen.

Rift Rally includes both a campaign mode where players use the gates to build tracks and explore different maps, and a stunt mode that eschews the gates for performing drifts, wheelies, and burnouts to hit high scores.

Like Home Circuit, Rift Rally does get a bit pricey because of the included RC car - the standard edition is $129.99 and the collector's edition is $149.99, which includes a special edition RC car and an additional limited edition Hot Wheels car in a display case.

Update 02/07/2023: Nintendo has revealed that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have now sold through more than 18 million units, with more than 20 million units sold to retailers.

As revealed in Nintendo's latest earnings report, 18.2 million customers bought a copy of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet by the end of December 2022, up eight million from the previously announced ten million units sold as of November 23.

In terms of units sold through to retailers, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sitting at 20.61 million units puts it straight onto the Nintendo Switch's top ten best selling games list. Currently in seventh place, it sits behind Super Mario Odyssey, Pokémon Sword and Shield, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Cross: New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in first, which sits at 52 million units.

Original Story 11/23/2022: Not only has Pokemon Scarlet and Violet sold an impressive 10 million combined units within the first three days of launch, they also account for "the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform" within that time frame.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launched globally on November 18, 2022, and these sales figures from Nintendo include both packaged and downloadable versions.

It's that time of year again folks. We've got a Nintendo Direct on the way, taking place tomorrow, February 8.

Confirmed in a tweet from Nintendo of America (below), the Direct will take place at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 10pm UK (so 8am on February 9 AEST) and can be viewed on Nintendo's website and its YouTube channels.

The Direct will be around 40 minutes long, focusing on games launching in the first half of 2023. Though no specific games were confirmed by Nintendo in the tweet, this could include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which has a May release date.

Tune in at 2 p.m. PST tomorrow, Feb. 8, for a #NintendoDirect livestream featuring roughly 40 minutes of information mostly focused on #NintendoSwitch games launching in the first half of 2023.

Watch it live here: https://t.co/8ce3reaEig pic.twitter.com/Pmf41dQWIw

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 7, 2023

We've also yet to see anything about Pikmin 4, which is also supposedly planned for this year, and Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp is supposedly still done and sitting on a shelf somewhere too. Beyond that, fans are hopeful we might get a look at Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Dwarf Fortress has sold over 600,000 copies in its first two months on the market according to a new post from publisher Kitfox Games on Medium.

“In the first two months, which ended yesterday, we’ve now sold exactly 606,342 copies of Dwarf Fortress, almost exactly 5,000 of which are from itch.io,” wrote Kitfox Games co-founder Tanya X Short on behalf of the development team.

Prior to release, Kitfox Games posted the projections of an analyst who used the Steam wishlist numbers of previous titles to forecast that Dwarf Fortress would sell around 160,000 units in its first two months. According to Short, that same number of games were sold within 24 hours of its December 6 launch.

The success of Dwarf Fortress reportedly netted the game’s original creators, Zach and Tarn Adams, a healthy January paycheck of $7 million - a figure which dwarfs December’s pre-release earnings of $15,635.

Kitfox Games also posted the Steam traffic stats for Dwarf Fortress, revealing that the store page received a staggering 26.81 million visits in the first two months following its release.

Dwarf Fortress’s Steam release brought much needed graphics, UI and control improvements to the beloved cult classic from 2006, making it accessible to a new generation of gamer, and the game currently has a 95% positive score from 17,478 user reviews on Steam.

The Nintendo Switch has now sold 122.55 million units, surpassing the PlayStation 4 and Game Boy to become the third best selling video game console of all time.

The figure was revealed in Nintendo's third quarter earnings report, which also announced that 994.30 million units of Switch software have now been sold.

Having passed 122.55 million units, the Switch now sits behind just the Nintendo DS at 154.02 million units sold and the PlayStation 2 at 159 million units sold.

Despite the impressive number, up eight million from November, Switch sales declined by 21.3% from 2021, when it sold 18.95 million units in the first three quarters compared to 2022's 14.91 million units. 5.22 million of these were of the original Nintendo Switch, 7.69 million were the OLED Model, and 2 million were the Nintendo Switch Lite.

Check out our Hogwarts Legacy vs Harry Potter movies comparison. Hogwarts Legacy lets us walk around the iconic magical school from the Harry Potter series, but just how accurate are its ancient passageways and sprawling towers compared to the movies? From Hogwarts’ familiar grounds to the quaint Hogsmeade Village, and even the depths of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, we’ve visited various locations from the Harry Potter films and compared them with the new action RPG. We also ran into some familiar magical creatures along the way!

For more on the Wizarding World, check out our Hogwarts Legacy review, or the first 25 minutes of the game.

Emma Matthews is IGN's Junior Syndication Editor.

Attention, Metal Gear Solid fans! Right now on the IGN Store, you can preorder a Metal Gear Rex model kit. The model kit costs $99.99 and is expected to ship in August of this year. The preorder is open now at the IGN Store, and you can check out the listing below.

This iconic mech from Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid comes in black to allow for easy painting. It also comes with decals like caution marks that add detail to the model. Plus, it comes with four minifigures: Solid Snake, a Cyborg Ninja figure, a damaged version of Cyborg Ninja, and Liquid Snake. Take a closer look at the model kit in our gallery below.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is known for being very upfront with media and investors about where he thinks technology, especially around games, is heading. And during today's earnings call, Zelnick made his thoughts clear on a subject that's recently been popular in tech circles: artificial intelligence, and whether or not it will transform game development.

Zelnick offered a lengthy response to a question about AI technology like ChatGPT, opening by noting his own historic skepticism around overwrough technology hype and saying that while AI stands for artificial intelligence, "there is no such thing as artificial intelligence."

That said, he's "really excited" about the current leaps being made by AI and machine learning, and believes that tools are actively being created that will eventually reduce development costs in gaming. However, he doesn't think it's going to impact overall cost structure - because if development becomes easier, he says, developers and publisher will simply want to do even more.

"The belief among college students [is] that ChatGPT is now going to allow them to make a query and send their homework. The problem is if the question is, 'Describe what actually happened on the night of Paul Revere's ride', and everyone gets the same question, which you do in class, and everyone uses ChatGPT, oops, everyone's going to submit the same essay, last time I checked.

For the first time since 2012, the new World of Warcraft expansion has not performed as well commercially as its predecessor. In Activision Blizzard's Q4 2022 financial results, the company said "early Dragonflight sales have not reached the level of the prior expansion".

The new World of Warcraft expansion failing to meet or exceed sales of the previous expansion is a rarity for the franchise. 2020's Shadowlands sold over 3.7 million copies on its launch day, which outpaced 2018's Battle for Azeroth. That expansion sold over 3.4 million copies on launch day, which was a record for the franchise at the time.

2016's Legion sold 3.3 million on day one, matching the previous record. You have to go all the way back to 2012's Mists of Pandaria to find the last expansion that didn't match or outsell what came before.

After years apparently in development hell, Ghost Story Games appears to finally be ready to show us more of its mysterious FPS, Judas. We got our first real look at the next game from BioShock creator Ken Levine at The Game Awards last December, and according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, we'll get to actually play it for ourselves...sometime before the end of March of 2025.

This comes from Take-Two's quarterly earnings report, which outlines that it has 87 total games planned for release between fiscal 2023 (the fiscal year we're in now, which concludes at the end of March) and fiscal 2025 (which ends at the end of March 2025). Speaking to IGN ahead of the earnings release, I asked Zelnick if Judas was included in that 87 number, and he said yes.

That said, delays happen all the time, 2025 is far away, and delays have been especially prevalent across AAA game development in recent years. I followed up by asking Zelnick if he anticipated significant delays to impact that promise of 87 games, and while he acknowledged some delays were always possible, he seemed confident in the plan Take-Two is putting out to its investors.

"We did have some slippage in the last few years," he said. "We feel really stable right now. I feel great about our upcoming schedule. Of course there's always the possibility of some slippage but the teams seem to be functioning really well and I'm optimistic about delivering great titles to the marketplace on an ongoing basis."

It's been a tricky quarter for Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive - its earnings today fell short of its guidance, the company's planning for cost reductions that may include "modest" layoffs in the workforce, and its biggest potential blockbuster on deck, Grand Theft Auto 6, suffered a massive leak late last year.

On the final point, at least, CEO Strauss Zelnick isn't concerned that the leaks might impact the business. But speaking to IGN ahead of Take-Two's earnings release today, he called them an "emotional matter" and focused on the impact to developers working on the game.

"We take leaks very seriously indeed and they disappoint all of us, it's really frustrating and upsetting to the team," he said. "However as a business matter we're not affected. But as a personal matter and an emotional matter, our teams are affected."

That said, the earnings suggest that Take-Two employees may be about to feel a more tangible kind of business impact soon, in the form of layoffs. Following a report of $1.38 billion in net bookings for the quarter, falling short of its $1.41 billion guidance, Take-Two is preparing to undergo cost cutting measures that it projects will save it roughly $50 million per year. One of the areas Take-Two suggests this will impact is personnel.

When I asked Zelnick if this meant layoffs, he replied that "that's not the plan," but caveated that while he doesn't expect large-scale layoffs, some jobs may be lost.

Warning: The below contains some vague details about an early Hogwarts Legacy mission, but no major spoilers.

Adding a new wrinkle to the ongoing debate over the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy, IGN has learned that a transgender woman features prominently in an early mission.

The character, Sirona Ryan, runs the Three Broomsticks tavern and is first encountered in the second main story quest.

Sirona's inclusion in Hogwarts Legacy is particularly notable given the controversy surrounding the game, which has ignited debate because of Harry Potter author and primary rights holder J.K. Rowling's consistent anti-transgender rhetoric for the past few years. Many Harry Potter fans have vowed not to buy Hogwarts Legacy as not to benefit Rowling and her anti-trans views.

Curiously, Sirona was not included in any pre-release marketing for Hogwarts Legacy, and the development team at Avalanche Studios has largely remained mum on Rowling and the controversy at large. IGN asked Avalanche to comment on Sirona's inclusion in the game, and a representative for the developer responded via email:

Can you talk about the creation of Sirona Ryan? How early in development was she conceived?

Major League Baseball, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and San Diego Studio are partnering to introduce legends from baseball's Negro Leagues to MLB The Show 23.

In a video posted to MLB's Twitter, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick spoke about the partnership, saying the museum is thrilled to "take you on a journey back to the Negro Leagues and introduce you to some of the baddest brothers and sisters to ever play this game." You can check out the full video for yourself below, which introduces the players and shares some brief history of the Negro Leagues.

MLB The Show 23's new game mode is called Storylines: A New Game Experience Celebrating The Negro Leagues. Eight Negro League legends are a part of MLB The Show 23: Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Buck O'Neil, Rube Foster, Hilton Smith, Hank Thompson, John Donaldson and Martín Dihigo.

MLB announced that Storylines will feature a narrative experience for each featured Negro League player, with "short videos about the players mixed with gameplay centered on important moments of their careers." The players will also be available in exhibition mode and other areas of the game.

This isn't just a one-off idea, either. MLB The Show 23 will feature Season 1 of Storylines, with every new MLB The Show game including a new roster of Negro League legends. Kendrick will narrate the stories in the mode, and also helped select the list of Negro Leaguers to introduce over the next several years.

Superman's son Jon Kent is spinning out into a new DC Comics series called Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent, but there's a big piece of the story DC hasn't revealed until now. The series will feature Jon crossing over into the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe.

Adventures of Superman is one of several books included in DC's line-wide revamp of the Superman franchise this year. Up till now, DC only revealed that the series will feature a rematch between Jon and Earth-3's Ultraman (a villain who's busy trying to murder the Supermen of the multiverse) and that Jon's powers are beginning to flare out of control. Now we know that Jon will be further tested by meeting a version of his father who was driven to become a despotic tyrant instead of a force for good.

This is an auspicious crossover, considering that series writer Tom Taylor also penned the bulk of DC's Injustice: Gods Among Us and Injustice 2 comics. Taylor has helped greatly flesh out a universe where Superman is driven mad by the deaths of his wife and unborn child. So what happens when he meets his son from another universe?

Overwatch 2 Season 3 will not only feature an Asian Mythology theme, a new Antarctica Control map, and a Valentine's Day-themed browser-based Overwatch Dating Simulator, but it will also see the game's first IP collaboration with Doomfist's One-Punch Man skin.

Season 3 of Overwatch 2 will begin on February 7 and the One-Punch Man collaboration follows comments by Overwatch's commercial leader and vice president, Jon Spector, about the company's interest in exploring brand crossovers in the game similar to those seen in Fortnite.

Overwatch previously crossed over with other Blizzard games for special skins like Widowmaker's Nova and Kerrigan Legendary skins, but this will mark the first time Overwatch 2 has seen a skin from another company.

As for the other additions in Season 3, the first one discussed was the new Antarctica Control map. Fans may remember that the main facility of Ecopoint: Antarctica was seen in Mei's "Rise and Shine" cinematic, but this will be the first time players will be able to explore it to the fullest. Blizzard promises it is a "lore-rich tundra with several stories yet to be told."

After first launching in Early Access in October 2021, Darkest Dungeon 2 will officially get its version 1.0 release on Steam and the Epic Games Store on May 8, 2023. Furthermore, a demo will be available today, February 6, thanks to Steam Next Fest.

Darkest Dungeon 2, the "grim turn-based roadtrip RPG," is the sequel to the 2015 original by Red Hook Games and is a roguelike with a Lovecraftian horror setting that follows a group of heroes who are doing their best to "avert the apocalypse."

In our Darkest Dungeon 2 Early Access review, we said that it "has enough new and interesting ideas that it feels like more than a retread of the original, but they're there's a lot of work to be done to refine it into something that holds a torch to the original."

Unlike the original, which had a campaign that could take a hundred hours and featured dozens of heroes, the sequel focuses the experience a bit more with a campaign starring a smaller group of heroes you'll really get to know that takes around five or six hours to complete.

Alongside replayability, a big part of Darkest Dungeon 2 is managing the relationships of your heroes, and positive or negative emotions can trigger some great buffs or awful debuffs. Stress also returns in the sequel, but it impacts the group much more than the individual this time around.

EA has once again made its official prediction for the winner of Super Bowl 57 after simulating the game in Madden NFL 23.

Revealed in a new trailer starring the Cincinnati Bengals' Chad Johnson, EA has predicted that the Philadelphia Eagles will overcome the Kansas City Chiefs in this year's Super Bowl.

Anticipating a final score of 31 to 17 in favour of the Eagles, Madden NFL 23 also predicted specific stats for the teams' stars. In the simulation, Pat Mahomes had 29/39 completions and one touchdown, A.J. Brown had eight catches and one touchdown, Chris Jones had four tackles and two sacks, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson had five tackles and one interception.

Fans should take the prediction with a pinch of salt, however, as Madden NFL hasn't always been accurate in its simulations. The last ten years have seen it proved wrong 60% of the time, though it did perfectly anticipate the New England Patriots' 28 to 24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in 2015.

It was wrong last year (though admittedly not by much), predicting a 24 to 21 Cincinnati Bengals victory over the Los Angeles Rams in a game where the Rams beat the Bengals 23 to 20.

In our 7/10 review of EA's latest, IGN said: "After playing Madden NFL 23 I finally have a little optimism that the series is on the right path — maybe not an emphatic 'Boom!', but clear forward progress for a series that so desperately needs it."

Apex Legends Season 16 Revelry is dropping February 14th at 10 AM PT and this time, Apex is reworking quite a bit of its game in this massive update. A lot of this is what players have been asking for, for a long time so returning players and new players have a lot to look forward to. Here’s a sneak peek into what the next season will bring, with more details to come later this week.

New Gamemodes

Team Deathmatch will be finally arriving in Apex as a limited time mode. Players will play a 6v6 lobby, though you won’t be able to squad up with more than your normal three teammates to queue. The best of three rounds in Apex Team Deathmatch will win.

With Team Deathmatch being the new Limited-Time Mode (LTM), there will be a permanent rotating LTM playlist called Mixtape arriving a little after the season launch on March 7. This will contain a playlist of rotating favorite limited time modes like Team Deathmatch. Control, and Gun Run.

Class System Rework

There’s a huge change coming to Apex in Revelry with the new remaster of their class system. Currently the Legends are all classified loosely into categories but this new rework will actually make the Legends carry out specific Class roles and give them additional exclusive perks. The Classes are: Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller, and Support. We’ll have an in-depth look into this rework later this week so keep your eyes posted!

The soulslike genre has exploded over the last decade or so with all sorts of different takes on the genre. We’ve seen 2D soulslikes, anime soulslikes, sci-fi soulslikes, ninja soulslikes, third person shooter soulslikes, Star Wars soulslikes… the list goes on and on. But I think it’s hard not to argue that the king of the genre is still the originator of it: FromSoftware. Now, if you were to ask 10 different people why that is, you’d probably get 10 different answers, because the Souls games mean different things to different people. For some, they’re all about the PvP invasions and the unique brand of online play that only FromSoft’s games provide. For others, they love the deep lore that FromSoft buries deep in its environments, world design, and yes, even item descriptions. Others still just broadly like the unique challenge these games provide.

But for me, if I had to boil down the key reason why the FromSoftware soulslikes are so special in a genre so full of other games trying to capture that same magic, it’s this: The feeling of awe and/or dread that you get from walking into a new region for the first time, not knowing what to expect or whether or not you’re even prepared for what’s in store for you, and the excitement that comes with the thought of exploring it. Other games have done a great job of putting their own spins on the methodical combat of the Souls series, the risk/reward mechanics surrounding death, and unique take on online play. Hell, some have even improved upon those features. But no soulslike has ever given me goosebumps like the first time I ventured into Sen’s Fortress, or Cainhurst Castle, or the Siofra River.

The big question Harry Potter fans are probably asking themselves this week is whether or not to pick up Hogwarts Legacy. So, should you? Signs are pointing to yes, absolutely. Based on our Hogwarts Legacy review, this is the the game many Harry Potter fans have been waiting their entire lives to play. It’s an open-world game set at the storied school of Witchcraft and Wizardry that gives you a lot of freedom to roam the grounds, engage in spell combat, and much more.

The standard edition of the game is out February 10, while the deluxe edition, which costs $10 more, is out February 7. If you preorder Hogwarts Legacy today for PS5, Xbox Series X, or PC, you can get some extras. Let’s take a look.

Preorder Bonuses for Hogwarts Legacy

• Or save 15% off Hogwarts Legacy (Steam code) on GMG

Console owners can get a preorder bonus for placing an order prior to launch. If you preorder at Best Buy, you’ll receive a free digital $10 Best Buy gift card when the game ships. It works on both the standard edition and the deluxe edition, though the deluxe edition for PS5 is currently sold out.

If you’re a PC gamer, you can get a nice discount on a Steam code at Green Man Gaming. They have the standard edition on sale for $50.99 and the deluxe edition for $59.49.

After two years of early access, Rockfish Games is finally ready to bring Everspace 2 into full release, and it's got a date and everything: April 6. However, that's PC only, as Xbox Series X and S and PS5 will see an Everspace 2 release later this summer.

Currently, Everspace 2 is available in early access on PC only. That will remain true up to launch, but if you are interested in buying it, you may want to bite sooner rather than later. At the moment, Everspace 2 is $39.99 on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and GOG, but it's getting a price increase to $49.99 beginning February 20 to reflect its full release.

Notably, the upcoming full releases don't include Xbox One or PS4, and Rockfish has said it's ditching the previous-generation platform releases.

“Our vision for Everspace 2 has taken us beyond the limitations of previous generation consoles," said Rockfish CEO Michael Schade. "Our team has spent a significant amount of time trying to create an experience that would satisfy our fans on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but downscaling Everspace 2 to those platforms does not hit the level of quality that we want to deliver. We’ll be in touch with backers who pledged for copies on console during our Kickstarter to ensure interest is still there for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game and offer refunds in the event they do not have access to those platforms.”

EA's Respawn Entertainment has listened to fan feedback and added the much requested fast travel feature to its upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

As reported by Games Radar, director Stig Asmussen told Play Magazine that Respawn is implementing more ways to travel around Jedi: Survivor's worlds by including both fast travel and rideable mounts.

The lack of fast travel in the original Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order caused frustration for many fans in a game that was otherwise well received. Players were encouraged to travel back to and explore different areas but, without being able to immediately teleport between these locations, were forced to essentially start from the beginning of each world before they could do so.

"We will feature both fast travel and rideable creatures to help players quickly get from point A to B, and back to A," Asmussen said.

"The fast-travel is point to point, and the rideable creatures offer a way to quickly negotiate between points and explore what is in between."

These new additions aren't the only differences coming in the sequel, however, as Jedi: Survivor's protagonist Cal Kestis is also going through changes. "[Cal’s] more matured, he's more rugged, and he's been weathered by time and by situation,” voice actor Cameron Monaghan told IGN in December.

Hogwarts Legacy is incredibly close to releasing in the UK, and the hype continues to build. The game is now consistently number two on the Steam charts (sitting closely behind the Steam Deck), and is set to have a colossal launch. If you're looking to preorder the game, or even preorder the deluxe edition to get early access, we've collected all the current best Hogwarts Legacy deals in the UK in one easy place.

Best Hogwarts Legacy Preorder Deals on PS5 and Xbox Series X

If you're on console, there's still an incredible Hogwarts Legacy preorder deal available to you in the UK. Just use code HOGWARTS20 at Currys and you can get the game for just £47.99 on PS5 or Xbox Series X. This is an absolute bargain for one of the biggest games of the year and well worth using for anyone who wants the cheapest physical copy of the game possible. See our full Hogwarts Legacy Preorder Guide here.

Best Hogwarts Legacy Preorder Deal in the UK

The absolute best deal for Hogwarts Legacy goes to those on PC at the moment, as you can pick up the game on Steam (via Green Man Gaming's preorder deal) for just £42.49 right now. This is especially good for those who use Steam, and even better if you've got a Steam Deck, as Hogwarts Legacy is confirmed to be Verified at launch. Or, if you're feeling bold go for the Deluxe Edition for £50.99 and play on February 7 instead).

Like many, I’ve been waiting for a truly excellent Harry Potter game since I was in the third grade. In that time, we’ve gotten some respectable LEGO Potter games, an underwhelming EA Sports Quidditch game for some reason, and even suffered through the fevered nightmare that is Harry Potter Kinect. But none of these has come close to fulfilling that fantasy of receiving a Hogwarts admission letter that opens the door to a secret world. With Hogwarts Legacy, I’m happy to say that we finally got a Harry Potter game that captures some of that magic. Its open world map absolutely nails the vibe of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it has spellcasting combat that’s stupefyingly good, the characters that inhabit it are charming and unforgettable, and it is positively brimming with countless diversions to soak up dozens of hours of your time. It may not be the most impressive technical achievement and it is certainly cursed with a lack of enemy variety, but none of Hogwarts Legacy’s issues can cast a Descendo charm on this triumphant visit to the Wizarding World.

Warning: contains full spoilers for episode 4 of HBO's The Last of Us.

HBO's The Last of Us is a mostly faithful adaptation of the hit PlayStation game. But just how close to its source material does it get? We've gathered images from the episode and put them next to stills from Naughty Dog's masterpiece to see just how similar some of it is.

For more on The Last of Us, check out our review of episode 3, or an interview with the show's creators about Bill and Frank's new story.

Simon Cardy is reviewing The Last of Us for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the upcoming Soulslike from Nioh developer Team Ninja, is getting a second demo on February 24 that will allow you to transfer save data to the full game.

Team Ninja announced the news on Twitter, and it confirmed that the demo will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Furthermore, those who complete the demo will be able to obtain the "Crouching Dragon Helmet" DLC in the full game.

This will give fans another chance to try out Wo Long, which is especially great as Team Ninja took the feedback from the first demo to heart and, in our opinion, already vastly improved the experience.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will be released on the above platforms and Xbox Game Pass on March 3, 2023, and will welcome fans to a darker version of China's Three Kingdom period. However, don't expect a warm welcome.

"Wo Long is more massive in scale compared to our previous games set in Japan, which allowed us to show a more severe and dark world," Producer Fumihiko Yasuda previously told IGN. "The same can be said for the difficulty. There’s no doubt this will be an extremely challenging and demanding game, but we’ve come up with new ways to approach that difficulty."

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok and its composer Stephanie Economou have won the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.

This first award for the video game music category comes at the 65th Grammys, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok and Economou won over Austin Wintory and Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Bear McCreary and Call of Duty: Vanguard, Richard Jacques and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and Christopher Tin and Old World.

If you have yet to hear any of the music from Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok or just want to listen again, here is a preview of the main theme from Ubisoft and a link to the full album on Spotify.

A main theme worthy of the All-Father himself. 🔥 @stepheconomou @ubisoftmusic

👉Stream the full album now: https://t.co/VtC4u8PbK5 #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/oAPv7AcqkN