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Xbox and Bethesda are set to host their very first Developer_Direct on January 25, and the pair promise to reveal a bit more about the future of The Elder Scrolls Online, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, Redfall and more.

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

Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct January 2023 Start Time

The upcoming Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct takes place on Wednesday, January 25, and will start at 12pm PT/3pm ET/8pm GMT. If you live in Australia, that translates to January 26 at 7am AEDT.

Where to Watch the Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct January 2023

If you’re interested in watching the upcoming Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct, 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:

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is finally coming back to Netflix in the U.S. on February 1.

As reported by GameSpot, Netflix announced the return of all three films on Twitter (below), meaning The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King will once again be available to watch.

Somewhat oddly, this will also be the first time all three films have appeared on the streaming service at the same time. The Fellowship of the Ring was available for two brief stints in 2018 before being removed in January 2019, and its sequels appeared from September 2019 to March 2020, but none of the films have been available since.

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

Peter Jackson's incredible The Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to Netflix US on February 1! pic.twitter.com/6hlwumO9NU

— Netflix (@netflix) January 23, 2023

Though what's considered by many to be the best fantasy film trilogy of all time doesn't need much help, The Lord of the Rings was making headlines again last year thanks to Amazon's The Rings of Power series.

Rockstar says it's preparing a title update for Grand Theft Auto Online in response to an exploit that is effectively locking some players out of the popular multiplayer game.

First spotted late last week, the remote code execution exploit [RCE] allows cheaters to effectively corrupt accounts from afar. Players affected by the exploit will finding themselves permanently trapped in Grand Theft Auto's loading screen.

#GTAOnline PC High Alert⚠️

New extreme exploits have appeared allowing cheaters to remotely add/remove/modify your stats and permanently corrupt your account aka ban/delete.

Avoid playing without a firewall rule or playing at all!🚨

Thanks to @HarryGotTaken for notifying. pic.twitter.com/tyh4tCInML

— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) January 20, 2023

RCEs have been an ongoing concern in several multiplayer games, most notably Dark Souls, which saw its PvP servers shut down for months due to the issue. While a firewall rule can help, fans are currently being encouraged to take a break since RCE expoits can be quite dangerous, allowing hackers to do significant damage to a player's PC from afar.

Amidst rumors that 343 Industries has been taken off of lead development of the Halo franchise, the studio has taken to Twitter to state that it will continue to "develop Halo now and in the future."

343 Industries' studio head Pierre Hintze shared the message on Twitter, saying, "Halo and Master Chief are here to stay. 343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great."

pic.twitter.com/03Xm3a9s59

— Halo (@Halo) January 21, 2023

The news follows the mass layoffs of 10,000 people at Microsoft, which saw a number of employees at Xbox Game Studios, The Coalition, 343 Industries, and Bethesda let go. Shortly after, Halo Infinite director Joseph Staten reportedly left 343 Industries to rejoin Xbox publishing.

Alongside a number of fixes that, among other things, addresses the Maximum Security Achievement/Trophy bug, The Callisto Protocol's latest update has added New Game+.

Striking Distance Studios shared the patch notes for the v. 3.01 update on Reddit, and it will finally allow players to jump back into the horrors of The Callisto Protocol after they roll credits with all of their weapons, upgrades, and Callisto Credits.

Some of the other fixes include general performance optimizations, players no longer taking damage when vaulting over objects, voice leveling and subtitle mismatch adjustments, and much more.

The full list of changes in update v. 3.01 can be seen below;

NEW GAME+

• Users who previously completed the game will have access to NewGame+ after the patch.
  • Application restart may be required.
  • Requires an active save file from game completion.

GLOBAL

Directors and Hollywood studios have been remaking films for decades. Many of those remakes are considered among the best movies of all time: The Thing, Heat, Scarface, A Fistful of Dollars, The Departed… the list goes on. Each one of these examples reexamines and recontextualizes the original story, creating a recognisable but – vitally – distinct final product. A good remake retains the core essence, but provides a new perspective on the same events. This is a pathway that video game developers seem largely hesitant to follow, and that threatens to have the industry stuck in a creative rut. Nostalgia continues to exert its iron grip on pop culture, and it's asking us to pay full price for games we’ve already played.

Among the least inspiring movie remakes are those that are overly beholden to the original work. Gus Van Sant’s 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Psycho comes to mind, as does Disney’s current campaign to pointlessly clone its animated back catalogue in live-action format. Sony’s first-party studios have adhered to a similar approach over the last few years with remakes of Shadow of the Colossus, Demon’s Souls, and last year’s The Last of Us: Part 1. While these remakes are undeniably fantastic games, that’s almost entirely down to their timeless original concepts – preserved almost entirely intact like precious museum pieces – rather than any new ideas.

A little more than two years after its original release, Crystal Dynamics is preparing to end active development on Marvel's Avengers, a decision it says it "undertook in conjunction with our partners."

According to a blog titled "Final Update on the Future of Marvel's Avengers," support will discontinue on September 30, after which digital purchases will no longer be available. All solo content will continue to be playable after support ends, and multiplayer will also remain available.

An important announcement about the future of Marvel's Avengers: https://t.co/hTmenK6wmJ pic.twitter.com/JVZNNDNzZy

— Marvel's Avengers (@PlayAvengers) January 20, 2023

Crystal Dynamics does not plan to release any new stories, features, or Heroes, making Update 2.7 — which added the Winter Soldier and the Cloning Lab Omega-Level Threat — the final content release for Avengers. Spider-Man will remain a PlayStation exclusive.

Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart said he’d like to create another Fallout game before he retires.

In an interview with Gamepressure, Urquhart was asked whether a new Fallout game would be possible under Obsidian, who developed Fallout: New Vegas. “I would love to make another Fallout before I retire. I don’t know when that is, I don’t have a date of my retirement,” Urquhart explained.

He continued, “It’s funny – you can say I’m already 52, or only 52. It’s one of those two, depending on the day. My hope is that’ll happen, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Back in October, Urquhart said he’d like to create another Fallout game. The main question wasn’t whether Obsidian Entertainment would make one, but when will the opportunity arise to do it? Currently, Obsidian is working on Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2, which so far don’t have a release window.

However, Bethesda said that Fallout 5 would be the next project for the studio after The Elder Scrolls VI. So hopefully, something like a Fallout: New Vegas sequel could fill the void until then. According to Bethesda’s Todd Howard, Fallout: New Vegas was originally envisioned as a big expansion to Fallout 3 but it eventually became its own standalone product.

If you are a Nintendo Switch owner, you have probably heard of the infamous Joy-Con Drift. An ongoing issue with the Joy-Con's signature controllers for Nintendo's hybrid console.

Thankfully, gaming peripheral maker GuliKit recently released a new joystick upgrade kit that not only allows you to replace the joysticks on your Joy-Cons, but it touts that you will never have to worry about Joy-Con drift ever again.

As spotted by Gizmodo, the GuliKit Hall Joystick features a pair of replacement joysticks for your Joy-Con controllers. The company notes the joysticks are Hall Effect, meaning that the joysticks use a magnetic system, so it does not physically touch other parts inside the controller, which would cause the pieces to get worn out over time after extended use.

2023 is well underway at this point, and with it comes the promise of another year of (hopefully) spectacular games that will make us laugh, cry, and just have the best old time. As it stands (before delays start piling in), we have such potential classics as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Starfield, and so many more games to look forward to. However, which game are you most excited for? Over the past week, we asked IGN's audience to let us know which games they can't wait to play, and the results are in.

After thousands and thousands of battles with matchups like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor vs Final Fantasy 16 and Dead Space Remake vs Resident Evil 4 Remake, the most-anticipated 2023 game, according to you, has been decided. Who took the top spot? Drumroll please...

Yes, in what you may call a bit of an upset considering the behemoth that is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has taken the ultimate prize by winning 65,038 of its 79,160 battles. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 appears to be the big PlayStation exclusive on the horizon and everyone loves that friendly neighborhood spider. This entry also looks to ramp things up even more by bringing Peter Parker and Miles Morales together to face Venom.

The answer to "sell me a gun, but make it creepy," 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 Today?

Xûr's location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on January 20 through January 24. 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.

Welcome to the inaugural issue of our new, weekly Nintendo Voice Chat column. We're kicking things off by tackling a user-submitted question for our Question Block segment. Listeners of the show are no doubt familiar with the fact we will run into... time constraints... where we can't give your questions the time they deserve. What better way to tackle this problem than to pick one of our favorite user-submitted questions of the week and answer it here?

Super Ninfriendo Tracy Vincent asked: "Is there a game that came out in your youth, but you didn’t get around to it until much much later? Why did it take you so long to play it – and what are your thoughts when you finally did. Do you think you would’ve enjoyed it more or less had you played it around when it was originally released?"

Kat Bailey

It wasn’t always easy getting hold of NES games during Nintendo’s 8-bit heyday. Castlevania was one of many popular games from that era that never seemed to be on store shelves – not even the gas station where I rented Battletoads and Batman over and over again (Beetlejuice was also there, but not Konami’s equally spooky and far superior platformer). One of the few hints I saw that Castlevania even existed was through my dog-eared copy of the Ultimate Unauthorized Nintendo Game Strategies, which barely even included screenshots. Still, Castlevania was to be one of the best NES games among my circle of friends, with Simon’s Quest being particularly popular. Castlevania continued to bounce around in the back of my head until I headed off to college a decade later, where I discovered a copy of Symphony of the Night in a random record store. I picked it up for $25 (a steal!) and decided to see if Castlevania indeed lived up to the playground hype.

Matt P and Dale have played a huge chunk of the new Dead Space and they're very excited to tell you all about it and whether it's a worthwhile remake. Speaking of remakes, we also go down the rabbit hole of what makes a good one, what their value is and games that we'd love to get the remake treatment. Mat J is also on the podcast and he tells us all about the latest horror film M3GAN.

Got a game for us to play or some feedback you'd like read out on the show? Why not email us: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast #680: Dead Space and Other Games We Want Remade

EA Sports PGA Tour will finally be released on March 24 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

As reported by Eurogamer, the date was announced alongside a new trailer (below) that showcases some features coming to PGA Tour including its Pure Strike shot system, which promises "fluid swing mechanics, innovative ball behaviour, and lifelike course dynamics".

Around four minutes of gameplay was shown in total, giving fans the first proper look at the game outside of a brief teaser trailer that was released in October last year.

EA Sports PGA Tour promises a recreation of the world's top golf courses, allowing players to build their own virtual careers and compete against famous golfers. This line-up won't include Tiger Woods, however, who instead signed a multi-year deal with rival franchise PGA Tour 2K.

Woods was the headliner of EA's golf franchise for years before the it switched to Rory McIlroy for its 2015 title, meaning the new game will end an eight year hiatus when it launches next year.

In our 5/10 review of the 2015 release, IGN said: "Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is a disappointing golf game that just barely manages to make the cut."

Nintendo is planning to ramp up Switch production in the next fiscal year ahead of the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Nintendo has told suppliers and assembly partners that it plans to increase production in financial year 2023/2024, meaning from the beginning of April.

The increase in production is also a result of component shortages subsiding after two years, according to the sources, which finally lets Nintendo overcome supply constraints and produce as many consoles as the market demands.

The company admitted in August last year that these shortages were hurting sales, and while it is apparently open to revising its new production plans if they prove too ambitious, the previously reduced sales are largely attributed to the component shortages.

The increased production plans are somewhat unusual given how long the Switch has been on the market, however, as it's now approaching its sixth year having originally launched in March 2017.

Riot Games has laid off 46 employees amidst an ongoing wave of industry mass layoffs.

The League of Legends developer confirmed to journalist Jacob Wolf that it had eliminated the positions, which were largely concentrated in the company's talent acquisition, recruiting, and publishing departments as well as a few roles in esports and support. Riot employs roughly 4,500 people globally.

As commonplace as it's become to see big, bold speculations about a futuristic metaverse in games industry discussions, game developers themselves don't seem too hot on the concept.

The 2023 State of the Game Industry survey has just been published, canvassing over 2,300 game developers for their situations and opinions on topics such as platform development, working conditions, and interest in technology. One of its more interesting questions this year was specifically about the metaverse:

"Which of these companies/platforms do you think is best placed to deliver on the promise of the metaverse concept?"

The platform that ultimately got the most votes was Epic Games' Fornite with 14%, followed by Meta (Horizon Worlds) at 7% and Microsoft (Minecraft) also at 7%. Five percent of developers said Roblox, and even fewer brought up options like Google, Apple, Second Life, Sony, Tencent, Amazon, and VR Chat.

But nothing got anywhere near as many votes as an answer that isn't a platform at all: "None - The metaverse concept will never deliver on its promise," which took away 45% of the vote, up from 33% last year. So almost half of all game developers surveyed don't think the metaverse promise is worth much at all.

Why?

From its weapons to its bosses, stages to systems, January’s IGN First has been all about Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. So far, all of our footage has been from earlier stages of the game – but how does developer Team Ninja shake things up later in the game? What kind of weapons and Wizardry Spells can be learned and obtained? How can you evolve your character build? Do the stages become more difficult?

To answer such questions, let’s take a look at a playthrough by one of Team Ninja’s developers of mid-game stage Hulaoguan Pass.

Hulaoguan Pass is a site of many historical battles, in this case the clash between　dissidents led by Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo, who had occupied China’s ancient capital Luoyang. Team Ninja has implemented this in Wo Long as a huge battle site with siege weapons that can be utilized by the player. Hulaoguan Pass is much wider than earlier stages and can be tackled in multiple ways. Break the front line and fight hordes of fierce enemies to reach General Hua Xiong, or make a detour and find your way in through the castle’s walls.

Both routes ultimately lead to an epic boss fight with mighty warlord Lu Bu. Will this high-spec player find their way to Lu Bu, and if so, will they be able to defeat the powerful Three Kingdoms warlord? Be sure to check it out.

Sony has officially confirmed the launch window lineup for PlayStation VR2 through March 2023, and it includes 13 new titles that haven't been announced for the platform before, including Tetris Effect: Connected and Rez Infinite.

As detailed on PlayStation.Blog, PlayStation VR2 will launch on February 22, 2023, and more than 30 games will be available on the platform before March comes to an end, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Alongside big hitters like Horizon Call of the Mountain, Resident Evil Village, No Man's Sky, and Gran Turismo 7, PS VR2 owners will also be able to look forward to these 13 newly announced titles, which include Before Your Eyes, Kayak VR: Mirage, Pavlov VR, Puzzling Places, Song in the Smoke: Rekindled, Synth Riders: Remastered Edition, Thumper, NFL Pro Era, What the Bat?, Rez Infinite, Tetris Effect: Connected, Creed: Rise to Glory - Championship Edition, and The Last Clockwinder.

The full list of games in PlayStation VR2's launch window lineup are as follows;

A few days ahead of visiting EA Motive for our Dead Space-focused IGN First, I played the original game for the first time since 2008. I only intended to play the first hour or so, but seven hours later I found myself still battling through the rusted corpse of the USG Ishimura. I always knew Dead Space was a modern classic, but I was surprised just how well it stood up all these years later. And so I headed to meet the developers with a slightly cynical mindset: what was the point of remaking something that remains so brilliant?

After playing the same seven hours of the remake, I think I may have been convinced. In many ways Dead Space is a purist’s remake; I’d estimate that around 85% of what I experienced was identical to the original game, just with vastly superior visuals. But it’s the other 15% that has me quietly wondering… could this remake genuinely be better than its progenitor?

Many of these changes are gameplay improvements, several of which are drawn directly from Dead Space 2. The zero gravity sequences now allow you to move freely in all directions, rather than hop from surface to surface. This obviously allows for a better sense of freedom, but segments redesigned around this ability are notably more interesting than their original counterpart. The centrifuge generator puzzle in chapter three is now a genuine spectacle, while the ADS cannon repair job has been completely changed to be a dangerous space walk that amps up the tension.

Paradox Interactive and developer Triumph Studios have announced Age of Wonders 4 nine years after the previous game was released.

A launch date of May 2, 2023 was also announced, with Age of Wonders 4 coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

Combining strategy RPG combat with turn-based combat, players can create the empire of their choosing by blending different cultural traits into their people that later manifest in combat.

Triumph also promised an intense level of choices and consequences that may even have implications in later games. Random events and world configurations have also been added to try and keep things fresh, with the intention of making Age of Wonders 4 endlessly replayable.

“For 25 years now, Triumph has been exploring new places to take our original fantasy strategy series, and the fans who have taken the journey with us have made it a rewarding endeavor,” said co-founder of Triumph and director of Age of Wonders 4 Lennart Sas.

“Even after all this time, we’re still adding amazing new ideas to Age of Wonders, and whether you’ve been playing since the beginning or ready to visit our worlds for the first time, you’re about to experience something special.”

In our 7/10 review of the previous game, IGN said: “It does all the little things right with its fantasy tactical battles, but it struggles to find its footing on the larger, strategic scale.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Trophies may not be for everyone, but for me and many others Trophy hunting is fun method of achieving that sweet, sweet 100% completion on a game. A much-deserved prize for doing everything there is to do. Lots of games have easy requirements for Platinum Trophies, and often certain quests or challenges associated with them will reward you with cool stuff for going the extra mile. But while collecting Trophies is mostly a lot of fun, sometimes one comes along that makes us question our choices in life. To those we say, "F This Trophy".

This week's 'F this Trophy' is the DMW Master Trophy from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. The DMW is a strange slot machine-style mechanic that constantly ticks over during battles, its three reels displaying the faces of characters you have met across the story. When those reels align and display three of the same character, it triggers a Limit Break; a powerful ability associated with that character.

The DMW Master Trophy requires you to achieve 100% completion for each of the 18 Limit Breaks in the game. Now you might be saying 'Hey, Jada, that doesn’t sound so bad – Limit Breaks are awesome! Channeling Sephiroth's Octaslash, Aerith's Healing Wave, and all the other character's special abilities in battle can help turn the tide, so you want to use them whenever possible.'

Following Microsoft’s extremely frustrating no-show at The Game Awards last month, the folks at Team Xbox kicked off 2023’s events calendar by announcing its first-ever Xbox Developer_Direct, aka Microsoft Is Finally Stealing the Nintendo Direct Format Just Like Sony Did With State of Play Because This Format Just Works. The broadcast is next Wednesday, January 25, at 12pm PT/3pm ET, and we’ll have it live on all of IGN’s channels. Four games will be highlighted, and one will not: Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, and Elder Scrolls Online are in, and Starfield is out – with the latter getting its own separate Direct sometime in the future.

First, I must commend Microsoft for messaging Starfield’s absence up front. The company has a history of tarnishing its otherwise-good showcases by failing to properly set the Xbox community’s expectations up front. They have done so here, though they would be wise to make sure that the same message is communicated directly in the, um, Direct itself, to ensure fans who aren’t on social media or reading sites like IGN don’t end up disappointed.

On that note, my first prediction for the Xbox Direct, as I and everyone else is going to call it forever, is that we’ll get a date for the Starfield Direct in this upcoming showcase. Xbox desperately needs release dates right now and if we’re not going to get that for Starfield at this event, then a date for a dedicated Starfield broadcast – where we probably will get the release date – is the next best thing.

Accessibility is not a trend. With over 400 million disabled players globally, studios are actively working to ensure their games include features and design practices that benefit disabled individuals. From changing key bindings to adjusting subtitle size, accessibility understanding continues to grow with each passing year and 2022 was no exception.

Last year saw the release of multiple titles that put accessibility at the forefront, not only revolutionizing the industry but demonstrating that not every option needs to be innovative. Part of the reason why 2022 was so successful for disabled players was because developers refined many of the tools that are now commonplace across genres and systems. Not every game needs to reinvent the accessibility wheel, but rather keep polishing and improving current options and designs. For me, 2022’s accessibility offerings proved that a single setting or design decision could open entire worlds. Let’s examine some of my favorites and explore what made them so entertaining and accessible.

Elden Ring

FromSoftware titles are notorious amongst the disabled community for being inaccessible nightmares. Even me listing this as one of my favorites has the potential to draw immense criticism from my disabled peers. In terms of options, Elden Ring’s selection is relatively bare. There are no settings aside from brightness adjusters for blind/low vision players, subtitles are only available for spoken words, and physically disabled players like me can’t even rebind every key. But the levels of choice people have within The Lands Between are so vast that Elden Ring perfectly encapsulates the notion that a game can be accessible without extensive menus.

Blizzard Entertainment is being investigated by a law firm after it allegedly misrepresented the effects of the purchasable Blessing of the Worthy gem in Diablo: Immortal.

This legendary item now lies at the heart of a potential class action lawsuit from the firm Migliaccio & Rathod LLP, which is investigating Activision Blizzard on the basis that it misrepresented the effects of the Blessing of the Worthy gem.

As reported by Polygon, the description of this gem - which has since been changed to accurately reflect the item’s capabilities - stated that the gem would grant a 20% chance to deal damage to enemies that amounted to 12% of the player’s maximum life.

But the damage dealt by the gem is actually equivalent to 12% of the player’s current life, which means the gem becomes less effective the lower the player’s health gets.

The legendary gem was available to purchase either by itself or as part of various bundles, some of which cost over $100. Members of the Diablo Immortal community have since voiced their anger at the misrepresentation in a reddit post announcing an update to the item's description. The developer also gave players a set of free gems by way of an apology for the error.

Ubisoft has confirmed that one of the games it cancelled last week was the mysterious Project Q, its online battle arena game.

Speaking to Eurogamer, a Ubisoft spokesperson said it was cancelling development on the game, which was only announced in April 2022, to focus on other projects.

It was one of three games cancelled by the Assassin's Creed publisher last week to counter what it called "major challenges" of the industry, in a move that also saw Skull and Bones delayed for the sixth time.

"We can confirm we will no longer support the development of Project Q in order to focus on priority projects, to which our teams are being reallocated," the spokesperson said.

Project Q was a "team battle arena" game that had several public testing periods planned that of course never came to fruition. A single image of the game was shared alongside its announcement, showing a handful of cartoon characters battling in what looks like New York City's Central Park.

Very little else was known about the game, though it appeared to look somewhat similar to Fortnite despite Ubisoft making clear it wasn't a Battle Royale.

Skybound Entertainment is returning to the world of the popular mobile game Summoners War. Skybound is teaming with publisher Com2uS to release a second spinoff comic called Summoners War: Awakening.

Summoners War: Awakening is a direct sequel to the original Summoners War: Legacy comic. Awakening reunites writer Justin Jordan (whom you may also recognize from the Luther Strode franchise) and artist Luca Claretti, with Igor Monti (Radiant Black) coloring the series this time.

Season 2 of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 have been delayed while Activision makes several changes in response to player feedback.

As reported by Eurogamer, Call of Duty announced the two week delay in a tweet (below), meaning Season 2 will now launch on February 15 instead of February 1.

"Our studio teams have been making several changes based on what we heard from our player community," Activision said.

Season 2 will be launching on February 15.

Stay tuned for additional intel. pic.twitter.com/Ro68oGmcM5

— Call of Duty UK (@CallofDutyUK) January 18, 2023

Season 2 will see the return of fan-favourite Resurgence mode and also add a brand new small map for Warzone, and Activision has also made changes to the Gulag, looting, and loadouts.

As for Modern Warfare 2, Activision is add several multiplayer maps, new modes, and weapons, and Ranked Play is also returning.

All of that time away has taken its toll on the Croft Manor, and now the iconic Tomb Raider locale needs a scrub down. To restore Lara Croft's lavish dwellings, PowerWash Simulator will crossover with Tomb Raider later this month in a free DLC for all players.

On January 31, the bizarre crossover from Square Enix Collective and FuturLab brings a free Tomb Raider Special Pack to PowerWash Simulator owners on consoles and PC. The trailer shows off a few familiar places around Lara's home, including an outdoors obstacle course reminiscent of her earliest PlayStation adventures.

Grapple with grime at Lara Croft’s stately Manor home in the PowerWash Simulator Tomb Raider Special Pack DLC.

Launches Jan 31, same day the game hits PS5 and PS4: https://t.co/MR8XEjrVFA pic.twitter.com/xOSzowE78a

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) January 18, 2023

It looks like the inside has plenty to tidy, too. The PowerWash Simulator footage teases a few clean-up jobs around the Croft Manor, where layers of grime and dirt cover everything from the walls to ancient artifacts.

It's not her most thrilling gig, but it at least looks satisfying. In a press release for the special Tomb Raider DLC, FuturLab lead designer Dan Chequer added, "We can’t wait for players to get up close and personal with Croft Manor and explore its many secrets!”

After today's announcement that Microsoft will lay off 10,000 people, details on how internal restructuring will hit its gaming divisions continue to emerge, with Halo Infinite's 343 Industries among the studios impacted.

According to Bloomberg, Joseph Staten, a Halo veteran who began his career with Bungie in 1998, will transition from his Halo Infinite creative director role and rejoin Xbox's publishing division. Staten joined the team at 343 Industries in 2020 as the campaign project lead on Halo Infinite and later saw a title change to Head of Creative.

Bloomberg's report includes an email from 343 Industries head Pierre Hintze, who explained the studio "made the difficult decision to restructure" and that support for Halo Infinite's live service features will continue. Details on Staten's new role and the exact degree of impact at 343 Industries remain unclear for now.

Spawn on Me host/creator Kahlief Adams returns to Unlocked to tell us all about Spawn on Me's upcoming awards show, The Spawnies. He then sticks around as we all make our predictions for next week's big Xbox Developer_Direct event. We predict release dates and a whole lot 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.

Ubisoft is facing turbulent times financially and in-house, and CEO Yves Guillemot was forced to reckon with recent comments he made shifting the blame to the staff.

After cancelling three unannounced games and delaying the release date of Skull and Bones for a sixth time, Guillemot told employees “the ball is in your court” to help get the $3 billion company back on track.

The changes at Ubisoft were scrapped up to "major challenges" in the industry, the underperformance of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023, and an upcoming "restructuring" for the publisher. On Wednesday, a new report from Kotaku revealed that Ubisoft had a company-wide Q&A to address the news of the restructuring. There, the CEO apologized for his previous comments.

“I heard your feedback and I’m sorry this was perceived that way,” Guillemot said, according to sources present. “When saying ‘the ball is in your court’ to deliver our lineup on time and at the expected level of quality, I wanted to convey the idea that more than ever I need your talent and energy to make it happen. This is a collective journey that starts of course with myself and with the leadership team to create the conditions for all of us to succeed together.”

Amidst news of a mass layoff of 10,000 people at Microsoft, a number of employees at Xbox Game Studios The Coalition, 343 Industries, and Bethesda are learning their jobs are being impacted.

According to reports at Bloomberg and Kotaku, a number of developers at the three Xbox studios were informed today that their positions were being elimintated. In total, 878 positions are being impacted immediately in Washington across all of Microsoft, while further layoffs are expected through March.

Specifically, layoffs hit The Coalition (which is responsible for the Gears franchise as well as an upcoming new IP), 343 Industries (which has been working on ongoing support for Halo Infinite), and Bethesda (working on the upcoming Starfield). It is not yet clear specifically how the layoffs impacted any of these projects, or how many people from each studios were affected.

IGN is pleased to exclusively reveal the five playable classes in Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, the upcoming horror multiplayer title from the executive director of Friday The 13th: The Game.

In the video above you can meet the five playable Klowns: the Trapster, Tracker, Scout, Fighter, and Tank. A team of three of these Klowns will be able to cause chaos in multiplayer matches versus seven other players taking the role of humans in the town of Crescent Cove. Each Klown is equipped with a raygun that can encase humans in a cotton candy cocoon, the Klown Jump ability that allows them to jump to any point on the map previously discovered by the team, and the all-important healing laughter ability. In addition, each Klown has their own signature set of skills that makes them unique.

Trapster

Based on Rudy from the Killer Klowns film, the Trapster is a trap-laying class designed to lock down humans and help other Klowns find them. His main weapon is the Jawbreaker Mace, which causes an explosion of popcorn on contact. When popcorn sticks to humans, all Klowns are able to see them through walls and on the map, and so the Trapster is able to tag enemies with every strike of the mace. He also has a deployable Popcorn Mine, which will also tag any human that runs over it. For a more grotesque trap option, he also has the Baby Klown, a disgusting larvae-like creature that latches on to humans and holds them in place.

The New York Game Awards 2023 have arrived and, alongside honoring CEO of Microsoft Gaming and head of Xbox Phil Spencer with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award, the show saw Elden Ring walk away victorious with the Game of the Year and the Best World awards.

The New York Video Game Critics Circle hosted the 12th annual New York Game Awards tonight, January 17, and it honored the best games, actors, esports athletes, and journalists of 2022.

Elden Ring was the only game to win multiple categories, meaning a ton of games were given the spotlight they deserve, including Vampire Survivors, God of War Ragnarok, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Immortality, and more.

As we previously mentioned, Phil Spencer won the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the show, and it is "presented by the New York Videogame Critics Circle to recognize people and organizations that have exhibited a significant, sustained body of work that shows exceptional artistic achievement and innovation."

“Phil and I have been a part of this industry together for many years and I’ve always admired his ability to find new, creative ways to serve gamers,” said Reggie Fils-Aimé, former industry and COO and board member, NYVGCC. “Phil isn’t just an executive in games, he is a gamer himself and because of that he knows exactly what fans want when it comes to the Xbox brand. I am thrilled to have him join the prestigious ranks of Andrew Yoon Legend Award winners and look forward to celebrating his illustrious career at the New York Game Awards this January.”

Many of the best board games are geared towards smaller groups of players. So what's one to do when you have a party or other gathering of fun-loving people in higher numbers? Thankfully, board game and card game makers have not left these scenarios in the cold. If you know where to look, you can find some awesome tabletop experiences that cleanly and elegantly scale up to 10 or even more players, giving everyone something to do.

If you’re seeking a good board game to break out at your next party, these are the best board games for parties and large groups.

TL;DR The Best Party Board Games

• Wits and Wagers
• Codenames
• Time's Up - Title Recall
• Snake Oil
• The Resistance: Avalon
• Sushi Go Party!
• Bang! The Dice Game
• Telestrations
• Dixit Odyssey
• Wavelength
• One Night Ultimate Werewolf
• When I Dream
• Mysterium
• Monikers
• Decrypto

Don't want to read a bunch of words? These are our favorite party board games.

The NPD Group has released its analysis of US game sales for the month of December and for the full year 2022, and while the full-year results aren't shocking, December specifically has some interesting tidbits in the game sales charts that shed a bit of light on how well two supposedly "underperforming" games have done lately: Callisto Protocol, and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

First, Callisto Protocol. It debuted in December at No.17 on the US sales charts (ranked by dollar sales), reaching No. 10 on the PlayStation charts and not cracking the top 10 on Xbox at all. That's not bad in and of itself, to be clear: Callisto is a brand new IP by a brand new studio, after all. It was never going to beat out giants like Elden Ring or Call of Duty.

But it's a little bit surprising it didn't do better than some of its competition. For instance, it was beaten out by the nearly nine-year-old-and-only-on-one-major-platform Mario Kart 8 (which admittedly had some DLC recently that likely bolstered sales), the even-older Minecraft, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - another console exclusive that had no meaningful updates in December.

And it's notable too that reports have indicated Callisto Protocol didn't meet the company's sales expectations after being billed as a "quadruple-A" game and having an absolutely massive budget. Given that context, a multi-platform game with essentially an entire month of sales included in the report debuting at No.17 isn't great news.

It seems Rocksteady's upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could feature live service elements including a store and a battle pass. This information comes from a leaked screenshot of the game four months ahead of its release.

VGC reports that the leaked image originated on 4chan, and the outlet says it confirmed with its own sources that the image is real. The screenshot shows what looks like the game's main menu, where we can see all four playable characters lined up.

First look at the Suicide Squad game menu. Mentions Battle Pass, Loadout, Missions based structure. #Batman #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/t3vmHmjQ8k

— Andrew Marmo (@the_marmolade) January 17, 2023

The left side of the screen shows a chapter select menu, while the bar on the top of the screen shows options including Looks, Loadout, Social, Store, and Battle Pass. This indicates that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could contain live service elements.

A top-to-bottom remake of Dead Space is set to release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on January 27, 2023. Like its predecessor, it finds the engineer Isaac Clarke among the last survivors of a deep space catastrophe on the mining ship USG Ishimura. The game is available to preorder now in several editions and from a variety of retailers (see it at Amazon, or Amazon UK). Read on to find out what comes in each edition, how much it costs, and more.

Preorder Dead Space

Physical Version

PS5

• Get it on Amazon - $69.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $69.99
• Get it at GameStop - $69.99
• Get it at Target - $69.99
• Get it at Walmart - $69.99
• Get it at PS Store (digital) - $69.99
• Get it at Amazon UK - £69.99

Xbox Series X

Unlike some of its peers, The Forest – the survival horror from Canadian-based studio Endnight games – delivered on not just the popular gather-and-craft survival game format, but also added a surprisingly complex (and equally bananas) story featuring cannibals and mutants. With the immediate arrival of its long-awaited sequel, Sons of the Forest, comes not only the pressure to top the beloved experience of the original, but also to add some new and increasingly wild surprises. And, based on the five hours I’ve played so far, I’m not only excited about the sequel’s potential, but also confident that Endnight could revolutionise the survival genre.

The Forest began with a simple premise; you crash-landed on a mysterious peninsula and began your quest to survive at all costs. There was also the optional objective of finding your kidnapped son, a task that would take you down a wild and disturbing narrative rabbit hole populated by flesh-hungry mutants. Sons of the Forest largely shares the same set-up, substituting your son for a missing billionaire. It’s a basic idea, but one that allows you to jump straight into the action, allowing players who have no intention of progressing the rescue mission to solely focus on building their very own lakeside resort with some friends right away.

Just like its predecessor, you can play, build, and cause chaos with seven of your friends in co-op. But you can still see everything Sons of the Forest has to offer in single-player. The big difference this time, though, is that even if you play solo, you’re not alone. Enter Kalvin.