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Showing posts from August, 2023

See 64 Beautiful Screenshots From Super Mario Bros. Wonder

We recently learned a lot about Super Mario Bros. Wonder thanks to Thursday's Nintendo Direct , our first hands-on preview , and our interview with producer Takashi Tezuka and director Shiro Mouri . But maybe you'd like to see more? In addition to new footage and other info, Nintendo released the 64 Super Mario Bros. Wonder screenshots below. Check them out and bask in all those lovely colors. The screenshots highlight all the way that Nintendo manages to infuse its upcoming platformer with the sense of joy and (ahem) wonder that the series is known for. It also includes glimpses of the world map, the full cast, and the Elephant Mario power-up that everyone seems to like so much ( but Shigeru Miyamoto didn't like so much ). If you want to see Super Mario Bros. Wonder in action, you can also check out our full preview below. Super Mario Bros. Wonder was first announced earlier this year. It's a fresh take on the New Super Mario Bros. formula, bringing with it on

Best Nintendo Switch Deals Today (August 2023)

Like many video games, ones from Nintendo don't come cheap. This was especially true when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed to be $69.99 on release, a whole $10 more expensive than other Switch titles. However, this doesn't mean there aren't deals to be had for Nintendo fans. In fact, there are plenty of sales on games, Switch consoles, and various accessories that are worth checking out throughout the year. You can also follow @IGNDeals on Twitter or Threads for even more updates on the latest discounts, or check out all our handpicked Switch deals just below. TL;DR - Best Switch Deals The Best Nintendo Switch Deals - Navigate to: Switch SD Card Deals Buy 2 Get 1 Free Best Buy Deal Switch Video Game Deals When Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch? Perfect Switch SD Card for $23.99 (and More Deals) The best Switch SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it's quite likely we'll

Mario Red Nintendo Switch OLED Announced

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Today’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Direct spilled a lot of tea on the upcoming game and concluded with the reveal of a new Switch OLED model. If you love the color red, then Nintendo has a console for you.  The Mario Red Edition Switch OLED is coated in the plumber’s classic shade of red and the dock even includes a couple of Mario silhouettes and hidden coins on the backside, as you can see in the photo below.  The console does not include a copy of Wonder, mainly because it hits store shelves a couple of weeks beforehand on October 6. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, meanwhile, launches on October 20. Still, if you're a passionate Mario fan looking for an excuse to upgrade to an OLED model, this version will set you back $349.99. from Game Informer https://ift.tt/mTqjhnY via IFTTT

Cyberpunk 2077 Only Getting One Expansion Was a 'Technological Decision', CD Projekt Red Says

CD Projekt Red choosing to make Phantom Liberty the only Cyberpunk 2077 expansion was a "technological decision", the developer has said. Speaking during CD Projekt's latest earnings call , senior vice president of business development Michał Nowakowski said shifting from REDengine, the developer's own game engine, to Unreal Engine 5 was a "key reason" in deciding only one expansion would be made. "As we have announced a long time ago, we're not going to make a second or third expansion", Nowakowski said when asked how many copies of Phantom Liberty would need to sell for CD Projekt Red to make more DLC. "This is the only expansion of the game, and it has nothing to do with the numbers and how satisfied or not we are with sales or anything of the kind. "It's a technological decision to be honest. This is the last time we're working on the REDengine, for the time being at least, and in the foreseeable future as you know we

A.K.I. Joins The Street Fighter 6 Roster Next Month

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Earlier this month, Capcom teased an all-new character named A.K.I. coming to Street Fighter 6 as a DLC fighter. Now, the company has revealed that A.K.I will hit the game later next month on September 27 alongside a twisted gameplay reveal trailer.  When A.K.I. joins the fight next month, she’ll be the 20th playable character in Street Fighter 6, following the first DLC fighter, Rashid, who hit the game in July . Like Rashid and all future DLC fighters, players will encounter A.K.I. across all three modes of Street Fighter 6: World Tour, Fighting Ground, and the Battle Hub.  Check out the A.K.I. gameplay trailer for yourself below for a taste of what to expect:  As you can see, A.K.I. has quite the poisonous moveset. Capcom says she draws much of this toxic personality and moveset from her master, F.A.N.G., first introduced in Street Fighter V. "In the single player World Tour mode, players can learn more about A.K.I.’s interest in the evil Shadaloo organization and help he

CD Projekt: 'Big Part' of Cyberpunk Team Moving to The Witcher 4 After Phantom Liberty Launch

CD Projekt Red is shifting a "big part" of its Cyberpunk 2077 team to The Witcher 4 (officially known as Polaris) once the Phantom Liberty Expansion launches in September. Speaking during CD Projekt's latest earnings call , president and CEO Adam Kiciński said the company is shifting more and more resources to the next Witcher game with a big development boost happening when main development on Phantom Liberty is complete. There are currently "250ish" developers working on Polaris, while even more are working on the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion. "After releasing Phantom Liberty we'll transfer a big part of the team to Polaris," Kiciński said. "Some remaining members will then focus on supporting other ongoing projects like Orion or Hadar but bear in mind we'll also be supporting Phantom Liberty for some time. "And across the company but including Phantom Liberty we're at the same time parting ways with some team members . It

How to Play Dungeons and Dragons: A Beginner's Guide

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Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is what is known as a Tabletop Role-playing Game, or TTRPG. A collaborative storytelling and boardgame experience where various dice rolls help to decide how the game and story progress. With the recent release of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and now Baldur's Gate 3 , more and more people are making their way to the role-playing game that started it all. Currently in its 5th edition (D&D 5e), D&D has never been more approachable or understandable for new players and now is a perfect time to join the fun! Also see: the latest news about D&D Expansion yet to come. What You Need to Play D&D People Rulebooks Dice Character sheets Miniatures and Game Boards 1. The People D&D can be played with a minimum of 2 people, but often having 3-5 people is an ideal table size. At minimum, you'll need a Dungeon Master (DM), or Game Master in other TTRPGs, and one or more Players. That being said, there is really no

The Elder Scrolls 6 Officially in Early Development, but Don't Expect to Hear About It Soon

Bethesda has confirmed it's highly anticipated role-playing game The Elder Scrolls 6, which was officially announced in 2018, has entered early development. Speaking to Vandal about the imminent release of Starfield , Bethesda head of publishing Pete Hines confirmed the Skyrim sequel has completed the pre-production stage and moved into the development phase. Hines was asked if fans will hear more about The Elder Scrolls 6 once Starfield launches . "We have put all of our studio's focus on making this game the best it can be," he said, translated by ResetEra user Shoot. "And yes, there are people working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but this is what the studio has focused on. So no, you are not going to hear soon about The Elder Scrolls 6. Starfield is our focus for now, and it's going to remain our priority for a while before we talk about anything else." When asked to confirm if The Elder Scrolls 6 was still in pre-production, Hines said: "No.

Suikoden I And II HD Remaster: Gate Rune And Dunan Unification Wars Delayed Out Of 2023

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Konami has revealed that Suikoden I and II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars have been delayed out of 2023. The company did not indicate when it will now be releasing these games.  These remasters were revealed last September , packaged into the same collection and given a release window of 2023 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam. However, that was the last time we heard of these games. Yesterday evening, Konami gave us an update, stating they had been delayed out of 2023.  Important information regarding Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: https://t.co/2yjEoDi6jL pic.twitter.com/5mlAqHs0gb — @Suikoden (@Suikoden) August 30, 2023 “Regarding the planned release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, we have reached the conclusion that despite the very best efforts and our dedicated development staff to release the remasters in 2023, additional time is needed to ensure the quality performance and gameplay experienc

Put Those Baldur’s Gate 3 Karlach Romance Playthroughs on Hold — She’s About to Get a Better Ending

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has issued an official ‘Looking to the Future’ blog post that outlines a raft of changes coming to the game with the imminent Patch 2, including an update to the ending for everyone’s favourite Tiefling Barbarian. In the blog post , Larian said Patch 2 adds “better closure” to the story’s final act in the form of a more fleshed-out ending for Karlach, something “many of you have been asking for”. Karlach is one of the most-popular companions and romance options in Baldur’s Gate 3 (check out IGN’s Karlach Companion Guide for more). But some players expressed dissatisfaction with her ending. Brief Baldur’s Gate 3 Karlach spoilers ahead. Karlach is slowly dying from an infernal engine, which is housed in her chest. At the end of the game, she can either return to the hellish realm of Avernus to prevent her from burning to a crisp, turn into a Mind Flayer, or give up the ghost entirely and die. In either case, Karlach is pretty hard done by. Patch

It Takes Over Two Hours to Do the Fellowship’s Walk Through Moria in This New Lord of the Rings Game

One of the most memorable scenes from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation is the Fellowship’s brutal journey through the abandoned, once great Dwarven city of Moria. From Gandalf’s puzzle-solve to open the West Gate to the Fellowship’s dramatic battle against a cave troll in Balin's Tomb, from Gandalf’s dramatic last stand against the Balrog to the Fellowship’s last-ditch escape through the East Gate, Moria has cemented itself in the hearts and minds of Tolkien fans the world over as an iconic location within Middle-earth. Upcoming crafting and survival game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, which is set in the Fourth Age (70 years after the destruction of the ring), revolves around the dwarves themselves and their bid to reclaim their lost home following a call to arms by Gimli himself. The game’s version of Moria is enormous, and includes all the landmarks you’d expect and where you’d expect them to be. Procedurally-generated environme

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars Delayed

Konami has announced that it is delaying Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars. However, Konami didn’t specify a new release date. In a statement on its website , Konami said, "Regarding the planned release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, we have reached the conclusion that despite the very best efforts of our dedicated development staff to release the Remasters in 2023, additional time is needed to ensure the quality performance and gameplay experience our users deserve.” Konami didn’t actually provide a new release date, just that the development team needs more time to work on the game. Konami also didn’t explicitly state that the remaster was delayed to 2024, but its phrasing heavily implies that it will most likely not be coming out this year anymore. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars was first announced in 2022 and set for a 2023 release . At Tokyo Game Show la

Sonic Team Head: Pixel Art Won't be Viable Art Style for Sonic Games in 10 - 20 Years

Sonic Superstars is shaping up to be the biggest Sonic game of the year partly because of the new 2.5D aesthetic for Classic Sonic. However, Sonic Team suggests Classic Sonic's new look may be permanent, as they believe pixel art won't be a viable style for Sonic in 10 to 20 years. According to a report from GamesRadar , Sonic Team creative officer and producer Takashi Iizuka said at Gamescom that Sonic Superstars is "an evolution of the 2D Sonic gameplay," but doesn't believe that 2D pixel art will survive as a video game art form for the franchise within the next two decades. This comment effectively throws cold water at the possibility of Classic Sonic fans seeing Sonic Mania 2 coming to light. "[W]e look at the pixel art — it's great — but when we think about 10-20 years in the future, we don't think it's going to be a viable art style or presentation for our players," Iizuka said through a translator. "And in order to advance

Someone Has Beaten Baldur's Gate 3 With the Worst Possible Ending for Everyone

A Baldur's Gate 3 player has just shared their detailed notes from a playthrough of the game in which they tried to get the absolute worst story outcomes for every single character. All except for Scratch the dog. In a Reddit thread, u/Sparkism provided a detailed guide to ruining the day of every single Baldur's Gate 3 character systematically through all three acts. Surprisingly, this is more complex than it seems: while it may feel like the easiest way to do this is to just murder everyone, some characters actually have a better time if certain other characters are dead, so they had to get creative to make things as abysmal for everyone as possible. Warning: Light spoilers for act one of Baldur's Gate 3 are detailed below. Read on at your own risk! For instance, Sparkism's guide recommends saving Oskar from the Zhentarim in their hideout. Him being alive plays an important role later in the game, as it makes another character miserable who would otherwise be h

The Developers of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Created Tolkien’s Secret Dwarven Language

The developers of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria took a frankly over-the-top approach with their Fourth Age-set Dwarven-focused survival-crafting game: they created the entire secret Dwarven language just so players can hear their characters use it in-game. While Tolkien fans have worked to develop the Dwarven language, called Khuzdul, over the years, the developers at Free Range Games went one step further and worked with a linguist to create a full Khuzdul grammar. That linguist is David Salo, who worked on the languages of Tolkien for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, expanding the languages (particularly Sindarin, one of the languages spoken by the Elves) by building on vocabulary already known from published works, and defining some languages that previously had a small published vocabulary. This collaboration created a full lexicon and a full grammar of Khuzdul, game director Jon-Paul Dumont told IGN in an interview at gamescom 2023. Free Range Gam

Microsoft Pulls $1 Xbox Game Pass Trial Just Days Before Starfield Release Date

Microsoft has removed the $1 / £1 Xbox Game Pass trial, just days before Starfield launches. Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed it would put an end to the monthly $1 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate trial offer, but after raising the price of the subscription , the $1 trial returned in 14-day form. XGP spotted the removal of the 14-day trial from Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass sign-up page . This 14-day trial was the only trial option left after Microsoft cut the full month $1 Game Pass trial earlier in August. IGN has asked Microsoft for comment. It means those hoping to jump into Game Pass just to play Bethesda’s space role-playing game now have to pay $9.99 / £7.99 for a month on PC, or $10.99 / £8.99 for a month on Xbox, or $16.99 / £12.99 for a month of Ultimate, if you sign up through Microsoft’s website. Check out IGN's guide on how to avoid the Xbox Game Pass price hike if you're looking to save money. While Microsoft pulled the Game Pass trial on the quiet, it’s an

Sonic Superstars Preview – Playing Co-Op In A New Zone

<p><img src="https://ift.tt/xsPyiC4" width="800" height="450" alt="Sonic Superstars" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-body-default" /></p> Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC Publisher: Sega Developer: Arzest, Sonic Team Release: <time datetime="2023-10-17T12:00:00Z" class="datetime">October 17, 2023</time> Rating: Everyone <p>As part of <a href="https://ift.tt/Ujcz0Eh last issue's cover story</a>, we provided exclusive insight into Sonic Superstars, the upcoming 2D platformer starring everyone's favorite blue hedgehog. We gave first hands-on impressions with several never-before-seen zones (read all about them <a href="https://ift.tt/7QZpwWS), but I recently got my hands on another all-new zone that I didn't see earlier this summer. Not only that, but I also experienced perhaps my

Read This Before Playing Sea Of Stars

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The latest from Sabotage, the creators of 2018's The Messenger , is a fantastic throwback that takes lessons from the best 16-bit RPGs of the past while ignoring all the annoying elements that makes some of those games hard to go back to. You can absolutely dive in blind, but I highly recommend reading this update on the game's Kickstarter page . Titled Prologue - The Two Alchemists, it basically lays the groundwork for the universe Sea of Stars takes place in and establishes two important characters I was grateful to have known more about when I started the game. Know The Prologue To quickly summarize, Aephorul and Resh’an are alchemists who figured out the secret to immortal life, but it turns out being immortal is kind of terrible and the two came to this realization in opposing ways. Aephorul turned evil and gleefully spreads chaos across the world with monsters (known as Dwellers) and became known as The Fleshmancer. Resh’an embraced good and tries to make life better f

Sea of Stars Review

I had to go back and play a little of Chrono Trigger just to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me about the obvious similarities between that classic RPG and Sea of Stars. This brand-new yet old-school game doesn’t present nearly as much time-hopping or world-traveling as its clearest inspiration, but its seafaring adventure still has plenty of twists and turns that fill up a solid 30 hours of linear spelunking. Rich and often funny character-driven stories wrap up with surprising twists that give weight to the story and provide a reason for its visually wild and mechanically interesting boss fights. At the same time, there’s just not that much depth to its combat options, and its 16-bit graphics generally satisfy nostalgic cravings rather than inspiring shock and awe all over again. By its name alone, Sea of Stars may immediately sound like a generic knockoff of its forebears. The opening scenes present a story about two decently written albeit occasionally overly talkative teena

Sea of Stars Review - Genre Excellence

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Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC Publisher: Sabotage Developer: Sabotage Release: August 29, 2023 Rating: Everyone 10+ Sea of Stars is like a great genre film by a skilled director. It looks and feels familiar; you basically know what to expect and can probably even predict the major beats, but it doesn’t hinder the experience. The intention is so well-executed that I was eager to soak it all in and, in this case, swim in the stars. I dreaded Sea of Stars’ conclusion not because I feared the worst but because I didn’t want to leave the world and stop playing. Overtly inspired by 16-bit RPG greats like Super Mario RPG and primarily Chrono Trigger, Sea of Stars is a journey about a group of friends that grows in size and experience throughout an approximately 25-hour adventure. The story centers on two Solstice Warriors, children delivered by a magical eagle instead of traditional childbirth, who can control the