Ubisoft has released some surprise DLC for Assassin's Creed Valhalla that features a character from the next game, Assassin's Creed Mirage.

As reported by Polygon, Ubisoft announced on Twitter (below) that a new quest called Shared History can now be downloaded for free, introducing Roshan from the upcoming Mirage to Valhalla protagonist Eivor.

Roshan is the mentor of Basim, another character from Valhalla and protagonist of the next game. Given his status as a master assassin, it's only natural that Roshan is too, and her quest kicks off with some foreshadowing of what's to come in Mirage.

Surprise! Roshan from Assassin's Creed Mirage makes an appearance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with our latest update. Eivor and Roshan team up in "Shared History" - a new free quest available now! #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/s7QOcjaavS

There’s a tricky, but boundlessly creative combat system powering Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a tactics game from XCOM developer Firaxis. It relies on drawing and playing Marvel character cards, making it different enough from the studio’s traditional team tactics formula, but not as close to Marvel Snap’s turn-based deck-building as it may initially sound.

It’s a new twist on familiar concepts, combining to create something truly unique, but it does take a little getting used to. In order for you to make the most of its intricate systems, discover some crafty combos, and pick your perfect team, here’s a brief guide to how combat works in Marvel’s Midnight Suns.

In the Mission

Each mission requires you to bring in three different superheroes, chosen from the likes of Blade, Ghost Rider, Captain Marvel, and many others. Each is equipped with a pool of signature ability cards which act as their special moves from the comics and films, with Iron Man shooting repulsor beams or Doctor Strange unleashing combat magic.

These cards are shuffled into a randomized deck at the start of each battle and every turn you'll usually only be able to play a maximum of three freshly drawn moves. If any of these cards don’t fit your current strategy, you can redraw two of them before having to end your turn.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's first post launch patch has arrived alongside a promise from Nintendo to take the games' tech problems seriously.

Patch notes released on Nintendo's website for version 1.1.0 of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet say that the broken music during the Elite Four and Top Champion battles has now been fixed, alongside a vague confirmation that "other select bug fixes have been made". The patch, available now, also kicks of Season 1 of Ranked Battles.

Nintendo also committed to improving the performance of the first open world Pokémon games and apologised for the various issues that are present in the launch versions.

"We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the games' performance," Nintendo said. "Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We take the feedback from players seriously and are working on improvements to the games."

It didn't say when these updates would arrive, however, but this first patch was released just under two weeks after the game launched and exactly three weeks after it released its "day one patch" to those with early copies. If Nintendo sticks to a similar trend, it could be mid to late December before we see another update to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Marvel's Midnight Suns creative director Jake Solomon joins us to discuss Firaxis' new superhero strategy-RPG – including a couple of Easter eggs that big Marvel fans should look out for. Plus: Todd Howard gives a vague hint about what to expect from MachineGames' Indiana Jones game, we've got ideas for how to reinvigorate Xbox Games With Gold, and more!

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

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

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

Quantic Dream is hard at work on Star Wars Eclipse, a new adventure game set in the High Republic era of Star Wars – a golden age of Jedi hundreds of years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. While a lavish teaser trailer paints a thrilling picture of the game’s setting, details are still scarce.

During a recent interview at G-Star in South Korea, director, writer and Quantic Dream founder David Cage told IGN Japan that Star Wars Eclipse is "the most ambitious project of our studio." While he did not go into detail about the game, he gave us some new insights to what we can expect.

Among other things, Cage reiterates that Star Wars Eclipse will be markedly different from Detroit: Become Human, which released on PlayStation 4 back in 2018 and PC the year after. In particular, Detroit: Become Human was more about "anticipation" than sci-fi, imagining a near future in which androids become sentient.

If you’re expecting any of Quantic Dream’s cinematic games to jump to the big screen, don’t. Company president David Cage says the studio isn’t actively pursuing selling the rights to its games for movie adaptations.

But that doesn’t mean Quantic Dream is ignoring movies and TV altogether. Cage says he’s actively following the rise of interactive TV, similar to what Netflix did with Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch.

“[I]f it’s about selling the rights to one of our games to a movie company so they make a movie, it’s not necessarily something we’re actively pursuing,” says Cage in an interview with IGN Japan.

However, Cage says whether Quantic Dream is interested in the TV medium is a separate question entirely. “It’s also interesting to see what Netflix is doing and what other people are doing, experimenting with interactive TV shows. Because it’s really mainstream, it’s about talking to non-gamers, to anyone, and giving them access to the possibility to change the course of the story based on their choices.”

Cage calls this a “simplified version” of the games Quantic Dream already makes but the appeal lies in the chance of reaching a new audience on a new platform with a different interface. But while the interest is there, Cage says “there’s no concrete plan right now with all these things, it’s more like things we keep looking at.”

Still, Cage says Netflix’s attempts at interactive TV are exciting and that “there is a future for interactive storytelling in television.”

Hollywood's favorite martial arts legend Bruce Lee is getting the big screen treatment at Sony. Ang Lee, renowned for his work on movies like Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain, is directing the biopic, and his son, Mason Lee, is attached to star in the film as the Chinese American star.

According to Deadline, the film is currently in development at Sony's 3000 Pictures with Dan Futterman adapting the script from Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower's earlier screenplays. Futterman's previous writing credits include hits like Capote and Foxcatcher.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Gung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,” Ang Lee said in a statement. “I feel compelled to tell the story of this brilliant, unique human being who yearned for belonging, possessed tremendous power in a 135-pound-frame, and who, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.”

Bruce Lee made a name for himself in Hollywood during the 1960's and early 70's before his untimely death in 1973. The star popularized martial arts across the globe with hits like Fists of Fury, Enter the Dragon and The Way of the Dragon. Now, the story behind the legend is coming to the silver screen under the tutilage of an Oscar-winning director.

The second trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie has arrived, and unlike the brief teaser that we saw in October, this trailer is jam-packed with enough details, references and Easter eggs to sink an airship.

Strap on your helmets and find your nearest Kart or Motorbike, it’s time to break down all of the plot details, and deep-cut references that we found in the new Super Mario Bros. movie Trailer.

Mario Enters the Arena

The trailer starts with a shot of Mario nervously walking out into a crowded arena as the soundtrack references the iconic theme of World 1-1 from the Super Mario Bros. NES Game.

As the crowd chants Mario’s name, we’re reminded of this famous Super Mario Bros 3 commercial, featuring a crowd of Mario Fans so large that they can be seen from space.

Organizers of the Smash World Tour have announced its 2022 championship tournament and its 2023 series of events have been canceled following a notice from Nintendo telling them they could no longer operate their tournament.

"It is with an unbelievably heavy heart that we must announce that both the upcoming Smash World Tour Championships, as well as the 2023 Smash World Tour must be canceled,” organizers wrote in a Medium post.

“Without any warning, we received notice the night before Thanksgiving from Nintendo that we could no longer operate. This was especially shocking given our discourse with Nintendo the past twelve months. Since then, we have been working around the clock to take the proper steps logistically, as well as to prepare this statement with proper legal guidance.”

The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entirety of the 2023 Smash World Tour must be cancelled.

Full Story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp

— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) November 29, 2022

The Smash World Tour boasted over 6,400 live events worldwide according to organizers with an attendance of over 325,000. This year’s championship was also set to have the largest prize pool in competitive Smash Bros. history at $250,000.

Since its first console was originally released in Japan in 1994, PlayStation has captured the hearts and minds of millions of gamers around the world. Alongside world-class gameplay and cutting-edge graphics, the stories and the characters that inhabit them have been paramount to its success. However, there have been a lot of characters over the years, and it can be tough to know who is the best of the best. So this is exactly why we asked for your help to decide this matter once and for all.

After thousands and thousands of battles with matchups like Cloud Strife vs. Solid Snake and Nathan Drake vs. Aloy, the greatest PlayStation character, according to you, has been decided. Who took the top spot? Drumroll please...

BOY... what a choice. With an 89.4% win percentage that's worthy of the gods, Kratos has defeated all who stood in his way yet again to claim this coveted Platinum Trophy. The star of God of War Ragnarok and the character who first appeared on PlayStation 2 in 2005 secured victory in 42,088 of his 47,099 battles.

While the chances of Kratos' victory may have been boosted by the recent release of God of War Ragnarok, he is undeniably an iconic character who has gone through some of the greatest character growth we've seen in and out of video games. I mean, we gave both 2018's God of War and this year's God of War Ragnarok a 10/10, and a big reason why was Kratos and Atreus' moving journey outside of the combat and angry screams.

For the first time in nearly three decades, video game composer and designer Yuzo Koshiro is working on a new game for the Sega Genesis.

Koshiro is best known for contributing music to classic game series like Streets of Rage, The Revenge of Shinobi, Actraiser, Ys, and more. Now, the developer is working on a brand new shoot 'em up game designed for the original Genesis/Mega Drive hardware.

As revealed on Twitter, Koshiro posted a couple of images of the game that depict a spaceship flying through what appears to be an alien planet.

It looks like an old shoot 'em up but is a new game we're developing, harkening back to famous franchises in the 80s. We will release it for MD/Genesis. I'm making the soundtrack and have been back also as a game designer since Beyond Oasis. pic.twitter.com/nFPEDoYj1B

— Yuzo Koshiro (@yuzokoshiro) November 30, 2022

Koshiro wrote, "It looks like an old shoot 'em up but is a new game we're developing, harkening back to famous franchises in the 80s. We will release it for MD/Genesis. I'm making the soundtrack and have been back also as a game designer since Beyond Oasis."

The composer added that the soundtrack and sound effects will run off the authentic hardware, as well.

The game is under development at Ancient, which has been Koshiro's studio since the 1990s. This new title will be the first Genesis game from Koshiro since 1994's Beyond Oasis.

Sega has revealed the 2023 content roadmap for Sonic Frontiers. The game will receive 3 updates throughout the year, including a new playable character and story.

In a roadmap, Sega revealed the first update will include a Juke Box feature which could potentially allow players to choose the music they hear in the game. There will also be a Photo Mode and new Challenge Modes for players to tackle.

New modes, new Koco, new...playable characters!? More Sonic Frontiers content coming your way next year! pic.twitter.com/MoZ8Gtj4Ro

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 30, 2022

The second update will celebrate Sonic’s birthday in some sort of fashion. The franchise's birthday is in June, so that could be a hint as to when the update could potentially arrive. It’ll add more Open Zone Challenges to play and Koko to collect.

The third and final update is the biggest one, which will include more playable characters and a new story expansion. The details of the additional story are currently unknown, but the roadmap depicts Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Sage, so it may revolve around them.

Video game delays have become commonplace during the pandemic, as studios largely continue to work within the confines of remote or hybrid development. This unprecedented shift in the way games are made has impacted the last two years of development dramatically, and as such, we're once again seeing a significant number of games delayed — a number that's already passed the total amount of delays in 2021.

To keep track of these ever-shifting release dates and to keep you up on when to expect your most-anticipated games, we've created a running list of every such announcement: full games, notable DLC, and every piece of gaming hardware officially delayed this year.

We're primarily focusing on unreleased games for this list, but if you'd like to see games that were delayed earlier this year and have since been released, you can find those at the bottom. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for the full list of every game delay announced in 2022 (so far).

Sony has announced that the PlayStation Plus games for December 2022 are Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (PS4), Biomutant (PS4 and PS5), and Divine Knockout: Founder's Edition (PS4 and PS5).

As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on December 6.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition turns the three-game line-up into a heftier five as it contains remastered versions of all three original Mass Effect games. Widely considered some of the best RPGs of all time, these modern sci-fi classics follow the story of Commander Shepard as they embark on several galaxy ending missions.

In our 9/10 review of what we called the best of the bunch, IGN said: "Mass Effect 2's Legendary Edition upgrades the graphics to near-modern standards and lets us immerse ourselves in the best game in BioWare's epic RPG trilogy all over again."

Biomutant is another RPG, this time set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world full of kung-fu. Players can blend together melee combat with shooting and mutant abilities as they seek to save (or destroy) their complex planet.

Blizzard Entertainment has revealed what we can expect from Season 2 of Overwatch 2, including balancing updates, limited-time events, skins, and more ahead of its December 6 launch date.

Alongside the introduction of the new Omnic revolutionary tank hero Ramattra and the winding Shambali Monastery Escort map, Season 2 is also bringing some important balancing changes, according to Blizzard Entertainment’s official blog post.

Most significantly, Blizzard Entertainment has moved to nerf the damage hero Sojourn, who according to a blog post on the company’s website has been dominating the high-skill competitive scene in recent weeks, while “remaining a challenge for players without the same mechanical skills”.

To address the issue, the developers announced that they would be “focussing on the lethality of her Rail Gun at distance for Season 2”. This has been done to encourage players of all skills to use Sojurn’s mobility and her power slide to “close the distance for more devastating right-clicks”.

The upcoming Indiana Jones game executive produced by Bethesda's Todd Howard will be a "unique" mash-up of different genres.

Speaking to Lex Fridman on the latest episode of his podcast, Howard denied to comment on which one genre Machine Games' Indiana Jones would be, instead saying it was a blend of different things.

When asked if it will be an action-adventure game, Howard said: "I will just say it's a mash-up. It's unique. It isn't one thing, intentionally, so it does a lot of different things that myself and the folks at Machine Games have wanted to do in a game. So it's a unique thing."

Very little has been said about Indiana Jones since Bethesda announced it in January 2021. It is confirmed to have an original story, at least some of which is set in 1937 and probably in Vatican City, meaning it's somewhere between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

A very brief teaser trailer released alongside the announcement (above) also alludes that Indy will visit Egypt, Peru, and Mesopotamia.

Indiana Jones was thought to be in early development around that time, meaning it'll likely still be a couple of years before it's released. Given that Xbox now owns Bethesda, it will probably follow Starfield's lead of being an Xbox exclusive, though no hard details regarding a release date or platform have been given so far.

Starfield developer Bethesda is currently working on a new mobile game, though it's unclear which of its famous franchises it's based on.

Speaking to Lex Fridman on the latest episode of his podcast, Bethesda executive producer and Starfield director Todd Howard revealed that the Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer has another mobile game in the works.

Talking about the conceptual differences between designing a console game versus one for mobile, Howard said plainly: "Well we've done a few things, and we have a new mobile game that we're working on that we haven't announced yet that I am in love with."

He didn't give anything else away regarding its genre, release date, and so on, but did allude that it would be a more in depth experience rather than a game intended to be played in short bursts.

"We have found with our games, particularly Fallout shelter, people will sit there for an hour or two. They will just sit there and play it. Large numbers of people will play it for hours a day."

Fallout Shelter was released in 2015 as a construction and management simulation game where players take over a Vault and expand it over time, but the developer hasn't done much else in the mobile arena since.

It'll likely be a while before we hear more about this new game as it hasn't been officially announced by Bethesda. Fallout Shelter was released around the same time as Fallout 4, however, so if it's a tie-in to Bethesda's space RPG Starfield, it'll perhaps be released around the same time next year.

Supermassive Games has revealed that The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR will launch as a day one title for the PlayStation VR2 on February 22, 2023.

As reported by Eurogamer, developer Supermassive Games has announced the release date and pre-order bonuses for Switchback VR, its upcoming action-horror shooter set in the same unsettling universe as The Man of Medan and other Dark Pictures titles.

According to its PlayStation Store page, customers who purchase the title early for $39.99 will be rewarded with a number of cosmetic items including the Demon Handgun, a premium skull and bones cart, a skull bobblehead, and a special edition gold gun.

Switchback VR will see players subjected to a horror-themed on-rails shooter steeped in content from The Dark Pictures games. Generally speaking, Switchback looks to offer a similar experience to the developer’s 2016 rollercoaster spin-off Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. This time around the developers have made use of the PSVR2’s eye-tracking features and haptic feedback capabilities intending to draw players deeper into the experience.

2022 had the potential to be the biggest year for new video games since 2017 — a standout year that brought us Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and so much more. Unfortunately, a number of big delays (Breath of the Wild 2 and Starfield among them) took some of the wind out of this year's sails. Yet even with those setbacks, there have still been over 70 games released in 2022 that IGN awarded a review score of 8 or higher.

To keep track of the year’s best new releases we’ve compiled this running list of every new, standalone game (no DLC) that received an 8 ("Great”), 9 (“Amazing”), or 10 (“Masterpiece'') from IGN. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for our full list of 2022's best games, ordered from lowest score to highest.

This list will be updated throughout the year as new games are given qualifying review scores.

Review Score: 8 ("Great")

These games leave us with something outstanding to remember them by, usually novel gameplay ideas for single-player or multiplayer, clever characters and writing, noteworthy graphics and sound, or some combination thereof. If we have major complaints, there are more than enough excellent qualities to cancel them out.

If $240 wasn't low enough for you over the Black Friday sales, then how about $220? They're practically giving them away, but we're not going to complain, as this is an incredible deal on the Xbox Series S. Woot (owned by Amazon), has currently got the Xbox Series S down to just $219.99. This is $80 off the list price, and probably one of the best deals of the year.

Yes, before you ask, Woot is very trustworthy and this is a completely legit deal. Woot is owned by Amazon, so just think of it as buying from the retail giant instead. If you are going to jump on this deal, I'd do it quickly, as it will only remain available while stock lasts, or until the end of the day on November 30.

Xbox Series S Drops to Just $219.99 (Save $80)

We did see a $40 gift card deal at Amazon (+just $240 for the console) over Black Friday, but since that's expired, this is the next best thing, and well worth considering.

The Xbox Series S is normally priced at $200 less than the Xbox Series X but can still play all of the same games. It doesn't have the power of the Series X, so games are displayed at 1440p resolution instead of 4K in order to maintain the consistent 60fps-120fps graphics you'd expect.

But, it does retain all the other next-gen Xbox features such as Game Pass, Quick Resume and ultra-fast load times. If you don't have a 4K TV or feel like the $280 could be better spent elsewhere, then the Xbox Series S might be a smarter purchase.

One of my favorite things about watching superheroes duke it out is when someone gets smacked so hard they fly backwards and crash through solid walls, explode tanker trucks, or slam into their friends. It’s an awesome demonstration of just how strong these godlike characters are supposed to be, and it’s always a disappointment when a superhero game doesn’t quite capture that feeling. With Marvel’s Midnight Suns, however, Firaxis has built a deep and innovative turn-based tactical combat system around the joy of having Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Blade, and more knock enemies around like toys they're trying to break – and that hasn’t gotten old in the roughly 75 hours of its surprisingly expansive RPG campaign. A lot of that time isn’t spent in battles, though, and while it’s certainly appealing to get up close and personal with this cast of more than a dozen popular and lesser-known Marvel heroes, it does tend to go a bit overboard with convincing Earth’s mightiest heroes to all be your BFFs.

A new Marvel Snap update has added a bunch of new cards plus a new way to earn them.

The update, called The Power Cosmic, will add a number of new cards including Thanos, She-Hulk, and Galactus… and perhaps most importantly, introduces Collector’s Tokens.

“We're planning to patch at 3 PM Pacific today!” said Marvel Snap creator Ben Brode. “Once you log into the new patch the game will look at your Collection Level and grant your Collector's Tokens. Have fun! Can't wait to see what new decks everyone will build!”

Collector’s Tokens are a brand-new mechanic which should make acquiring those last finishing touches to your latest deck a little bit easier.

The idea is simple – players are awarded Collector’s Tokens by increasing their Collector’s Level, and these can be spent in the Store to purchase new cards. Essentially, it’s a new kind of currency that’s a neat way of picking up one or two cards to finish off your latest deck.

The number of Collector’s Tokens you get is based on your Collector Level:

• 500-999: 3000 Tokens
• 1000-2999: 6000 Tokens
• Over 3000: 12,000 Tokens

You can then spend those tokens on any cards that appear in the new Token shop. Pool 3 cards will cost 1000 tokens, Pool 4 cards cost 3000 tokens, and Pool 5 cards cost 6000 tokens.

The best part? It should make the Pool 3 climb that little bit easier.

Elden Ring is one of the biggest video game success stories of 2022, but now its developer, FromSoftware, is making headlines due to rumors of crunch and low pay at its development studio.

FromSoftware's latest title earned widespread critical acclaim, and its quality has been reflected in the sales charts as well. The game broke into the mainstream in a big way, having one of the biggest game launches on YouTube ever.

Unfortunately, like so many wildly successful AAA video game titles, it didn't take long for conversations of crunch, long overtime hours, and low salaries to surround developer FromSoftware.

The discourse began in March, shortly after Elden Ring's release. First spotted by The Gamer, it turns out that a handful of FromSoftware employees were turning to a Japanese job board called Career Connection to discuss poor working conditions and low pay.

For context, Career Connection is essentially a Japanese version of Glassdoor, where current or former employees can leave reviews of their employer to inform potential future applicants about working conditions at a company.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has surpassed its previous record for the highest number of concurrent players on PC since its launch three years ago.

As reported by Eurogamer, SteamDB shows Red Dead Redemption 2 racked up 66,492 concurrent players on November 24. This was significantly higher than its previous record of 55,271 that was recorded on December 26 2019, soon after the title’s November 5 PC Release.

The recent upsurge in players was likely spurred on by Steam’s seasonal Autumn sale which saw the game reduced by 67%. Publisher Take-Two Interactive revealed earlier this year that Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 45 million copies to date since its release.

Despite its undeniable success, developer Rockstar Games announced in July that Red Dead Online wouldn’t receive any further “themed content updates”, as development resources were instead being pushed towards the creation of Grand Theft Auto 6.

A week after the announcement, committed fans held a funeral for Red Dead Online, during which members of the community dressed in black and paid their respects.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold line-up for December 2022 includes Colt Canyon and Bladed Fury.

Revealed on the Xbox Wire, the two Games with Gold offerings will be available to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Colt Canyon available first from December 1 to 31 and Bladed Fury available from December 16 to January 15.

Originally launching in 2020, Colt Canyon is a 2D pixel art shooter where players take on the role of a cowboy on a mission to save his kidnapped partner from ruthless bandits.

Exploring the Colt Canyon will reward players with hidden treasures and weapons, but naturally also features various dangers and more than enough TNT.

Bladed Fury was released in 2018 as a 2D fantasy action game based on a slightly surreal version of Chinese history and mythology. Playing as the exiled Princess Ji, players must traverse the side-scrolling environment as they chain combos and destroy all manners of gods and monsters.

New games approaching also means that November's Games with Gold will soon leave the service, so be sure to download Roman Empire RTS Praetorians and co-op twin-stick shooter Dead End Job before it's too late.

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

Update 11/29/2022: Golf has finally been added to Nintendo Switch Sports with Nintendo confirming the free update is now available to all users.

Previously only confirmed for a Holiday 2022 launch, Nintendo announced on Twitter that Nintendo Switch Sports owners can download the update as of November 29.

The golf mode features 21 holes pulled from Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort alongside the online Survival Golf mode that sees several players compete simultaneously.

Original Story 09/13/2022: Nintendo Switch Sports is far from done, as more sport is on the way: golf will be added to the game at last.

At today's Nintendo Direct, it was revealed that golf is being added to the game in the next free update. It will include 21 holes from the original Wii Sports series, so prepare for a little nostalgia. But that's not all; there's a new online mode - Survival Golf - which sees eight players compete on the same course, at the same time, to stay in a multiplayer golf match. Players are eliminated based on their number of strokes - get the most strokes and you're out.

The update will come a little later than initially expected, though: rather than the initially promise Fall launch, the free DLC will be available from Holiday 2022.

Nvidia has announced that its graphically enhanced upgrade Portal RTX is arriving on December 8.

Revealed in a blog post, the December release date marks a small delay from the company's original November launch plan but fans still only have another week or so to wait.

The free DLC for Portal upgrades the 2007 puzzle game with ray tracing and remade high resolution textures. DLSS2 allows for full ray tracing while Nvidia's latest DLSS 3 technology improves the frame rate 2.8 times over for those who own an RTX 40-series graphics card.

Portal RTX was announced during Nvidia's GTC keynote in September alongside RTX Remix, the tool used to remaster the game with ray tracing.

Nvidia said the tool would also be made available so players could upgrade other games, but it's unclear if this will launch alongside the Portal update or be released later.

In our 8/10 review of Portal, IGN said: "The idea behind Portal ends up being more brilliant than Portal itself. Regardless, we definitely had a lot of fun with what is there and appreciate the level of polish and thought that went into the presentation."

Nintendo's Cyber Monday deals have stuck around a bit longer, and there are still a few great deals you can pick up post-Black Friday and Cyber Monday. A highlight of these is definitely the Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 bundle, which is still in stock and available for $299.99.

This has been one of, if not the, most popular deal over the course of the last week for IGN readers. It's a great deal, and well worth considering before it disappears for another year (I guarantee it'll be back for Black Friday 2023). Otherwise, another notable deal right now is the new discount in Best Buy's 12 Days of Gaming sale, with The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD (Switch) dropping to just $29.99 (that's 50% off).

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD for $29.99 (50% Off)

Best Buy is running a 12 Days of Gaming sale, in which the retailer will reveal a brand new gaming deal every single day until December 10. The first of which is for The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD, which has been brought down to just $29.99, 50% off the list price of $59.99. Reminder: remove the free tech decals at checkout if it gives an out-of-stock message. Looking for more Best Buy discounts? Take a look at the Best Buy Cyber Monday deals for more.

Back to the Top

Black Friday may have been and gone, but if you missed the big day itself, there's no need to fret. The savings are continuing into Cyber Monday so we can still say that we've got some great Xbox deals to bring you. Retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart and GameStop are repping Cyber Monday pretty hard, and with Xbox coming in second place for October 2022 sales, there are more and more Xbox consoles in peoples' homes than ever before. There's plenty to check out, so let's get stuck into it.

You just know that savings season is here when you can get big discount on the Xbox Series S alongside plenty of video game Cyber Monday 2022 deals, and even a few brilliant PS5 and PlayStation deals if you like to fraternize with the enemy as well (I'm joking, play games in peace). See below for all the very best Cyber Monday Xbox deals, and make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter for more updates.

TL;DR - Best Xbox Cyber Monday Deals

Xbox Controllers Are Still $39.99 at Amazon (Save $25)

A few Xbox controllers are also still on sale at Amazon right now, with the red, white, and black gamepads all just $39.99. This is likely your very last chance to pick up any controllers at a discount this year.

Arma 3 developer Bohemia Interactive is speaking out against the use of in-game footage to spread false information, specifically about the war in Ukraine.

In a public statement, Bohemia Interactive is speaking out against the use of Arma 3 mods intentionally being made to look like real-life war footage and passed off as genuine.

“These user-made videos have the potential to go viral, and are massively shared by social media users; sometimes even by various mainstream media or official government institutions worldwide,” Bohemia Interactive says in its statement.

Arma 3 is set in a futuristic conflict set in the year 2035, but Arma 3 is also incredibly popular thanks to its robust modding and customization options. Users have created over 20,000 modes for the game set across all kinds of different wars, real and fictional, over many different periods of time.

Dear community,

We are fully aware that fake videos from our #Arma3 title appear on the internet, pretending to be original videos from various armed conflicts.

Here you can read our official statement 👉 https://t.co/jwMNB1AMwl pic.twitter.com/zGoTBGR8NI

Grand Theft Auto V was a historic launch for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, but some GTA series creators weren't always too optimistic regarding its future — once regarding it as "most likely not to succeed."

In an interview with BBC 5, GTA 2 producer Colin Macdonald described the early years of working at DMA Design, now Rockstar North, and how GTA's first game back in 1997 didn't have the most favorable outlook. At the time, Macdonald said they were working on seven projects, and a DMA staff survey showed which games the studio felt would be the most and least successful.

"The one voted most likely not to succeed was Grand Theft Auto," said Macdonald. "That's because, mid-development, the direction of the game wasn't clear. It was also quite buggy – you couldn't play it for more than a couple of minutes without it crashing, so certainly, at the grassroots level, there wasn't a lot of confidence in it."

Macdonald went on to explain how a troubled GTA "wasn't really regarded well for most of the time it was in production" and went through a lot of iterations. The earliest pieces of the series began from an experimental project, where players roamed as a dinosaur destroying buildings. Later on, DMA added cars to the game and changed its focus.

As more and more players finish the main storyline of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, many are dipping their toes into their primary ongoing endgame content: Tera raids. But increasingly, these players are voicing their displeasure with ways in which these raids are extremely broken.

According to players, the newest Pokémon games suffers from poor matchmaking, lag, long animations, unforgiving timers, bugs, and ill-equipped players are actively ruining the experience.

Here's how Tera raids work. Players can find sparkling Tera crystals scattered around the world of Paldea that, when interacted with, offer the opportunity to battle a powerful Terastallized Pokémon. These Pokémon are usually significantly more powerful than regular wild Pokémon, and often have a Tera type (basically this Pokémon generation's battle gimmick of choice) that's uncommon for their species. For instance, a Gyarados (normally a Flying/Water-type) might have a Dragon Tera type.

If you're just playing Pokémon solo, you can assemble a crew of three NPC trainers to join you for a 4-on-1 timed battle against these monsters. If players win before time is up, they receive rewards such as rare items and EXP candies, as well as an opportunity to catch the Pokémon in question.

Battling with NPCs like this works pretty well, but only to a point. Tera Raids have a difficulty rating that runs from one to seven stars indicating how hard the Pokémon will be to defeat within the time limit. One, two, three, and four-star raids are easy enough for your average player to solo with a crew of NPCs. But once you reach five stars, things get tricky.

The issues surrounding Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are largely performance-based; low framerate, extreme pop in, and camera clipping are just a few examples. But now Pokémon fans have seemingly discovered a new issue in Scarlet and Violet that is having a big impact on the competitive battling scene.

As posted to Twitter by Anubis, fans believe Scarlet and Violet's Battle Stadium is currently using the same RNG (random number generator) seed for every single battle. Basically, this means players can figure out what moves will hit and what moves will miss every single time depending on which turn of the battle it is. For example, apparently movies with less than 91% accuracy always miss on the first turn of a Battle Stadium fight.

Uh oh.

Pokémon Scarlet/Violet Battle Stadium currently is using the same RNG seed for every battle.

This allows us to choose moves to ensure that OHKO moves such as Sheer Cold always hit! pic.twitter.com/lSlBJr1AF6

The best Cyber Monday deals didn't actually start today. Cyber Monday sales from the big vendors like Dell, HP, Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon actually started on Sunday. A few of the best Black Friday deals on gaming laptops have carried over to Cyber Monday, but most of the deals are brand new. We've sorted out the best laptop brands that we trust: Alienware, HP OMEN, ASUS, Acer, MSI, Gigabyte, and more, and they're all equipped with GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs to satisfy your mobile gaming needs.

Walmart Cyber Monday Laptop Deals for Gaming

Walmart has some excellent Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals available right now from Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI. These are some of the best laptop deals across all vendors.

See our guide to the best Walmart Cyber Monday deals for more.

Dell Cyber Monday Laptop Deals for Gaming

These are the best Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals that Dell is offering right now. They include the Dell G-series value gaming laptops, which offer ample amounts of gaming power at a very respectable price, the Alienware enthusiast gaming laptops, which emphasize maximum performance above all else, and the Dell XPS laptops, which offer ultraportability.

Troy Baker has revealed how the birth of his son helped him understand Joel’s controversial decision at the climax of The Last of Us Part 1, and talked about his ongoing wish to play Daredevil during an at times emotional appearance at the Milan Games Week in Italy.

In a recording of the interview, Baker — who voiced protagonist Joel Miller in The Last of Us Part 1 - explained that he was at a “disadvantage” to the game’s writer and creative director Neil Druckmann when it came to relating to Joel’s decisions.

Warning: This section contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part 1

Upon being asked if Baker would have made the same decisions as Joel, the actor replied that, “When we were making part one I was at a disadvantage to Neil, because Neil was a father. I was acting. This was a very real possibility for him — what do I look like in the event that I lose my daughter.”

Specifically, Baker was referring to Joel’s decision to save Ellie at the climax of the game, by preventing Firefly scientists from performing a fatal operation on her that could have led to a cure for the cordyceps infection that was destroying mankind. In the time since making the game, Baker became a father.

The Dell Cyber Monday Sale has kicked off, and you'll find some great deals on Alienware and Dell XPS gaming PCs, Alienware and Dell G-series gaming laptops, gaming consoles, monitors, and electronics. Of particular note, for the first time ever the 2022-2023 Alienware Aurora R15 PC with the new 13th gen Intel Raptor Lake CPU and GeForce RTX 4090 CPU is on sale with a 10% off coupon code. That brings the price down to under $4K, still out of reach for most people, but a hefty $450 discount nonetheless. Check out the deals below.

Cyber Monday Dell Gaming Laptop Deals

These are the best Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals that Dell is offering right now. They include the Dell G-series value gaming laptops, which offer ample amounts of gaming power at a very respectable price, the Alienware enthusiast gaming laptops, which emphasize maximum performance above all else, and the Dell XPS laptops, which offer ultraportability.

Cyber Monday Dell Gaming PC Deals

The Dell Cyber Monday Sale includes deals on both the Alienware Aurora and Dell XPS gaming PCs. The Alienware Aurora certainly has gaming in its DNA; it's sleek, shiny, colorful, and include more customization options and better cooling than the XPS desktops to make your ultimate tricked out gaming PC. The XPS, on the other hand, boasts a simpler, more understated design with fewer options but at an extremely reasonable price point. In terms of gaming performance, both will do the job very well.

After months of back and forth between employees and management, Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios – not to be confused with Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software – has published a public apology to its employees for its mishandling of a controversial hire.

The full statement can be read here under the section titled "Our Journey", and includes the following:

There have been times when we’ve had more to learn than we realized, and reflecting on where we’ve been is an important part of our journey forward.

We’re sorry we haven’t gotten things right every time.

During those times, the tireless work of Avalanchers who dedicate their attention and effort to improving the company has been invaluable.

The progress we can celebrate today is thanks to the compassion and convictions of our employees. To all Avalanchers who have spoken up throughout the years, engaged in our DEI efforts, and helped us throughout this journey, we want to say this:

Thank you for your contributions. You have our deepest respect, and we are grateful to you.

While Avalanche didn't go into the specific reasons for adding this apology to its website, IGN has spoken to a number of sources familiar with the situation at the company over the last few weeks, and who have shared more details on how Avalanche got here. According to their accounts, Avalanche's apology comes more than a year after the company hired a high-level individual who had been publicly accused of inappropriate workplace behavior toward female employees at his former company. IGN has verified the public allegations against the employee in question, but is choosing not to identify him here.

CD Projekt Red has confirmed that its Unreal Engine 5 remake of 2007's The Witcher will be fully open world.

Revealed during its third quarter financial results, CD Projekt Red briefly mentioned its announcement of The Witcher Remake, saying that it will be a "story-driven, single player open world RPG".

The studio had previously only confirmed that it would be another "full-fledged" Witcher game, but as the original is not open world, there was still speculation whether or not the remake would resemble the 2007 version or something closer to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CD Projekt Red didn't say anything else about the new game, reiterating its point made in October that "it's gonna be a while until we can share more details."

"The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD Projekt Red. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and remaking the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it feels just as big, if not bigger,” added studio head Adam Badowski at the time.

The original Witcher saw Geralt adventure around the Temerian capital of Vizima, a location briefly visited in The Witcher 3. While players could only access the royal castle in the third game, however, the entirety of Vizima, its outskirts, and more will be opened up in The Witcher remake.

Amazon Cyber Monday deals have been live since Saturday, and a few excellent Cyber Monday video game deals are starting to rise above the rest, including a $15 discount on the recently-released Bayonetta 3.

Best Cyber Monday Nintendo Switch Game Deal

Bayonetta 3 just came out in October, and this is the first deal on what's an excellent game. We gave it a 9 in our review, which is "amazing" on the IGN scale. It's one of many truly excellent Switch games this year in what's turned out to be a pretty incredible year for games.

Bayonetta 3 is a Nintendo Switch exclusive, so if you're hoping to play it, but for some reason you don't have a Nintendo Switch console, you're out of luck. If only there were some way to get a good Black Friday deal on a Nintendo Switch console, one that comes with a free game and maybe three months of Nintendo Switch Online... oh wait, there's the Cyber Monday Nintendo Switch bundle you might remember from last year, or the year before that, or even the year(s) before that.

If you're interested in another great Nintendo Switch Cyber Monday game deal, Sonic Frontiers is on sale for all platforms, and the deal is excellent.

The Best Cyber Monday Sales and Deals

The Black Friday deal on Elden Ring is now a Cyber Monday deal. You can grab yourself a copy of the sensational Elden Ring for just $35 from the folks over at Walmart.

It's highly unlikely that we'll be shutting up about this deal now that we've found it. Don't miss out on an opportunity to get your hands on a copy of this amazing title. For more gaming discounts, check out our full round-up on the best video game Cyber Monday deals.

Cyber Monday: Huge Discount on Elden Ring at Walmart

If you've been waiting for an excuse to get a copy of Elden Ring, then now is your chance. Similarly, if you've been unsure about whether to even bother playing the game, then now is also your chance. Elden Ring is a game-of-the-year candidate and it just won a bunch of Golden Joystick Awards, this really isn't a deal that you want to pass up.

We awarded Elden Ring a 10/10 Masterpiece in our review and for good reason. The game is certainly living up to the hype and we're not the only critics to be heaping on the praise.

If this is your first Soulsborne game and you need a bit of help along the way, check out our Elden Ring guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectable locations, boss strategies, and more. IGN's Elden Ring Wiki also contains a mighty amount of useful information for early, mid, and late games.