Key Note Gaming

It’s been close to three years since the January 2022 reveal of Showa American Story , whose B-movie style trailer depicting 1980s America as a colony of Japan became a viral hit. Updates have been few and far between since then, but IGN can now exclusively reveal a new trailer along with a 2025 release window on PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam). The game genre is described as an “end of the century romantic RPG fantasy ensemble period drama”. The dramatic trailer introduces new boss character named Shogun, a tough-looking villain who holds a shield like Captain America, a fluttering cape, and floats like Superman against the sunset. Elsewhere in the video, we see Shogun riding on the back of a pitch-black giraffe. Creative Director XY.Luo told IGN, “Shogun is a boss character who stands 6 meters tall. He uses the giraffe’s long neck to strike, and he can also fly, throwing his shield to attack the player.” Luo explained that the battle against such an oversized enemy who rides on t...

Dragon Age: The Veilguard's launch has already made it EA's biggest ever single-player game on Steam, topping the charts and beating out the concurrents for 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor . At the time of publication, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's peak was about 70,414 concurrents, putting it just outside the top 10 most played games on the platform with mostly positive reviews. It sits one spot ahead of Baldur's Gate 3 , which continues to enjoy ongoing success thanks to the introduction of mods and other new features. EA previous high watermark was Jedi Survivor, which managed an all-time peak of 67,855. EA CEO Andrew Wilson predicted success for Dragon Age during Tuesday's earnings call, saying that BioWare had "returned to its strengths," and that it would be benefit from limited competition thanks to Ubisoft's decision to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows . We wrote in our own review , "Dragon Age: The Veilguard refreshes and rein...

To celebrate the partnership between EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 and Uber One, we are launching the Uber One Underdog Academy hub , a space where EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 players can access quick, insightful video guides to help improve their in-game skills and begin scoring goals like a pro. Kicking off the game help videos is a countdown of the top five tips EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 players need to know when beginning their in-game journey, including simplifying team formations, learning the best time to sprint and how to harness the power of the Finesse Shot Modifier. The Uber One Underdog Academy hub also hosts an epic giveaway exclusive to Uber One members, who have the chance to win an EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 prize pack that will help boost their gaming setup. Plus, every Uber One member that enters will be rewarded with an EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 Ultimate Team™ pack. In addition to being updated with more game help videos post-launch, the Uber One Underdog Academy hub will be the home for the exciting ...

Marvel’s Wolverine on PS5 has a new leadership arrangement, according to a new report by Game File . Game File’s sources indicate that creative director Brian Horton has not been part of the project since mid-year, and that Wolverine’s game director Cameron Christian has since taken on a different role at Insomniac. Wolverine’s new creative director is reportedly Marcus Smith, and its new game director is Mike Daly. Smith previously served as one of three creative directors on 2021’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Daly as one of its three game directors. For his part, Horton has since jumped the first-party fence to Xbox as the new creative director for Perfect Dark, which is being co-developed by The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics. Horton previously served as a game director on 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider at Crystal Dynamics, before a brief stint at Infinity Ward and subsequently joining Insomniac. There's been little official word on Marvel's Wolverine since i...

Ahead of Black Friday , Amazon and Best Buy have dropped the price on the new-for-2024 85" Hisense QD7 4K Smart TV. Right now, you can get it for just $799.99 after a $400 instant discount. This is an excellent deal for a huge TV that can run games in 4K at up to 144Hz on your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console. It costs hundreds of dollars less than every TV in our roundup of the best TVs for PlayStation 5 . For those of you who plan on picking up a PS5 Pro when it becomes available on November 7, perhaps this will help alleviate the sting of spending, at minumum, $700 on a console. 85" Hisense QD7 4K 144Hz QLED Smart TV The QD7 is one of Hisense's newest TV releases and became available for purchase only a few months ago. It's a gaming-oriented TV that's a great option for anyone who owns a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console and wants to be able to play games without compromise at a budget price point. This particular model of the 4K TV boasts ...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty release ever, with sales on PlayStation and Steam up 60 percent compared to 2023's Modern Warfare III . Game Pass also benefited from Call of Duty's release, setting a new record for amount of new subscribers in a single day. Nadella announced the results during today's Microsoft earnings, which as usual focused heavily on the company's AI and cloud-based initiatives. According to Microsoft, Activision Blizzard helped drive a 43 percent rise in gaming revenue while Xbox content and services grew 61 percent. Xbox hardware dropped 29 percent. Call of Duty Black Ops 6 launch last week saw strong concurrents on Steam that outperformed Modern Warfare II and III . You can read our review of Black Ops 6's multiplayer right here . Developing... Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot. from IGN ...

Apex Legends is now five years old, and still going strong. The game is currently headed toward season 23 in early November, and while its player numbers aren't quite at the heights they used to be , the hero shooter still seems to be doing all right for itself. Some companies might be thinking right about now as to how they can refresh and replenish that playerbase with a sequel, but EA CEO Andrew Wilson doesn't seem interested. During today's Q2 earnings call, Wilson stated in answer to an investor question that large live service games such as Apex that reach massive audiences must continue to creatively innovate and update, or they risk losing that coveted top spot. For that reason, he continued, EA recognizes a "need for meaningful systematic innovation that fundamentally changes the way the game plays," and said that this is something the teams are actively working on. As a follow up, someone else asked him that as the teams are working on that "s...

PS5 gamers rejoice, because a popular exclusive game is on sale ahead of Black Friday . Amazon Best Buy is currently offering Stellar Blade for only $49.99 shipped after a 30% price drop. This is the first time we've seen this game discounted at all (it was full price during Amazon Prime Day), and I doubt this price will drop any further on Black Friday. Update: This deal is already sold out on Amazon , but it's still available at Best Buy . 30% Off Stellar Blade Stellar Blade, the first stateside non-gacha IP from Shift Up, is a well-reviewed game that's best known for its challenging souls-like gameplay, outstanding graphics, killer soundtrack... and of course its suggestive character design. In our Stellar Blade review , Mitchell Saltzman wrote that "Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses. Both its story and characters lack substance, and some of its RPG elements are poor...

Most games, when they launch, experience an initial rush of sales that quickly tapers off to a steady tricky over time. If you're a live service game, you're lucky if you can keep your returning and new player numbers steady long-term. But The Sims 4 is currently dealing with the exact opposite of that trend: ten years after launch, it just brought in over 15 million new players in a year. This comes from EA's Q2 earnings, which released today. The 15 million figure is fairly shocking for a ten-year-old game, even given that the base game has been free-to-play since 2022 . For some perspective, it took The Sims 4 four years after launch to reach 20 million unique players (this was back when it was a premium game). When it first went free-to-play, it gained a whopping 31 million new players out of the gate, and reached a total of 85 million as of May 2024. It's not clear how exactly the 15 million gained lines up with the last count of 85 million to give us a new, cu...

Marathon, the upcoming PlayStation extraction shooter from Halo and Destiny developer Bungie, is "on track" at the studio but too early to show off yet. Bungie released a lengthy development update video which shed light on some of Marathon's mechanics but also just how early it is in development. Player character models are still "coming together," for example, while enemy models are still in an "early state." It's therefore "a little early to show you all of it as a one piece," game director Joe Ziegler said, though insisted Marathon is progression as planned. "They're not all together, but when they all do come together, we really, really are looking forward to showing you what that looks like, especially in play," he said. Marathon was revealed in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise , and Ziegler said it will retain its themes of "mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness." Que...

The Path of Exile 2 Early Access release date has been pushed by three weeks from November 15 to December 6. Game director Jonathan Rogers appeared in a very apologetic X/Twitter video to announce the delay, saying he is "really sorry about this one" as he understands fans have booked time off work and so on based on the old release date. "But we just have to do it," he said. "It isn't really the game itself that we're behind on, it's a bunch of server side infrastructure work that is taking us a lot longer than we expected," Rogers said. He explained he didn't realise how much work was involved in making both the original game and Path of Exile 2 compatible, so things like players' paid content isn't lost. In order to ensure a smooth launch, Path of Exile 2's Early Access will be delayed for 3 weeks. The new date is December 6th PST. Statement from Game Director Jonathan Rogers below. pic.twitter.com/Bk8Ti8u94d — Path o...

Return to the plane of Innistrad, where dark alleys, looming forests, and fearsome creatures beckon. With the new Magic: The Gathering Innistrad Remastered sets , fans of the spooky and supernatural can rediscover classic cards with fresh new twists. As luck would have it, booster boxes are on sale at Amazon before release day. Let's take a look. Magic: The Gathering Innistrad Remastered Play Booster Box - 36 Packs This 36-pack Play Booster Box, discounted to $219.99 from its original $251.64, is a great deal for collectors and players. Inside each pack, you'll find 14 cards, with every booster holding surprises, like Retro-frame cards , Rare or higher rarity cards, and potential art cards that showcase updated visuals for this eerie set. Each pack offers: 1–4 Rare or higher cards with alternate art or unique border treatments for that classic Innistrad chill. 1 Traditional Foil card every time, and a 20% chance of a Foil Land to add a wicked gleam to your decks. Art...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has outperformed both Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 on Steam but falls short of Warzone 2.0's peak player count. Data from player tracking website SteamDB shows the Call of Duty app saw a peak concurrent player count of 306,460 in Black Ops 6's first weekend on sale. It peaked at 263,174 during Modern Warfare 2's opening weekend in 2022 and just 190,707 for the universally panned Modern Warfare 3 . Warzone 2.0 still has the best debut of a recent Call of Duty with a peak of 491,670 players, but the free to play battle royale is much more accessible than the $69.99 Black Ops 6. This SteamDB data is the best indication of how Black Ops 6 is performing, as neither Xbox or PlayStation release player numbers for their consoles and publisher Activision Blizzard hasn't shared any figures yet either. Further comparisons are also difficult due to Call of Duty bypassing Steam for five years between 2017 and 2022, when Activision Blizzard...

Uber One is teaming up with IGN to launch an epic giveaway to help budding EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 players who are Uber One members improve their game on the pitch. Thanks to Uber One, three Uber One members have a chance to win an EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 prize pack which includes a 4K Ultra HD TV, PlayStation 5 Slim Disc Console and more! Better yet, every Uber One member who enters will score an EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 Ultimate Team™ Pack*! Three prize winners will score: A 4K Ultra HD TV and soundbar A PlayStation 5 Slim Disc Console A copy of EA SPORTS FC™ 25 on PlayStation 5 1-on-1 coaching session with EA SPORTS FC™ 25 pro Dylan Banks FC For EA SPORTS FC ™ 25 players looking for tips on how to improve their in-game skills, be sure to checkout the Uber One Underdog Academy hub to access a series of quick, insightful video guides, presented by Uber One. For your chance to win, all you need to do is join Uber One if you are not already a member and answer this question: In 25 word...

The weekend is officially here, and we've rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Sunday, October 27, below: Sonic X Shadow Generations for $39.99 Sonic X Shadow Generations just released this week, and you can already save $10 off a Nintendo Switch copy at Woot. This package includes a remastered version of Sonic Generations and a brand-new campaign focused on Shadow. Both 2D and 3D levels are included, making for the ultimate package for any Sonic fan. Save on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is on sale for the very first time at Amazon. With the game's outstanding success, physical copies have been somewhat hard to come by recently, so this is a great deal overall. If you're looking for a deeper discount, though, it might be worth waiting for Black Friday . In our 8/10 review , we stated, "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a terrific third-person shooter with a compelling story, loads of weap...

Video game remakes are everywhere these days. We’ve just had a new version of Silent Hill 2 , the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy is in full swing, and a recreation of Metal Gear Solid 3 is on the horizon. But few people know remakes quite as well as Shinji Mikami. The co-creator of Resident Evil has watched teams craft highly-successful recreations of his own games, and back in 2001 even helmed the remake of the first project he ever headed up - making him the director of both Resident Evil and Resident Evil. So, if there’s anyone who knows what makes a good remake, it’s Shinji Mikami. “I think the comprehensive and fundamental understanding of what it was that made the original work in the first place is probably the most important point of a good remake,” he tells me. “Everything from the ground up, basically,” he explains. “There's a few examples of that with certain series that Capcom has put out.” He is, of course, talking about the recent run of Resident Evil remakes, ...

For the majority of its runtime, Cyberpunk 2077 is an action-packed RPG. Even if you hone your protagonist, V, into a stealth ninja assassin, the neon-soaked Night City is still frequently the stage for tense combat encounters. That is, however, until Somewhat Damaged, one of the Phantom Liberty expansion’s final quests. Inside a bunker buried deep beneath the city, Cyberpunk 2077 leaves its RPG structure behind and morphs into a survival horror. A relentless robotic hunter stalks you through chambers and corridors, and there’s nothing your weapons can do to stop it. To find out how this level and its terrifying mechanical monster were created, we spoke to staff from developer CD Projekt Red. With their insight, we examine how Somewhat Damaged makes use of logical environment design, increasingly stressful objectives, and resourceful AI scripting to manifest Phantom Liberty’s terrifying crescendo. Phantom Liberty tells the story of Song So Mi, better known as Songbird, and Reed, tw...

Apple is developing a movie based on Oregon Trail, the beloved educational computer game that has spawned multiple generations of in-jokes and memes among gamers. THR reports that the film, which is currently early in development, will be an action-comedy with a handful of musical numbers in the vein of Barbie. Will Speck and Josh Gordon are reportedly attached to direct, with Kenny and Keith Lucas penning the screenplay alongside Max Reisman. The story, as you might expect, will be about a 19th-century covered wagon train traveling to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The musical aspect offers a glimpse of what to expect, suggesting that it will be a fairly irreverent take on the historical adventure. Songwriters and producers Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, who are best-known for their work on La La Land, are among those involved in the film. The original game was developed as a text-based adventure in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium starting in...

Note: This review specifically covers the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our single-player campaign review or our multiplayer review in progress . You ever wonder how we got here? Not in an existential, “where did we come from?” kind of way, but more specifically “how did a one-off, co-op survival mode in a video game that used to put quotes about the horrors of war on screen when you died turn into this ?” 16 years on, it’s hard to reconcile what the original Nazi Zombies mode from 2008’s World at War used to be with the outrageous, Resident Evil 6 -inspired campfest I spent several red-eyed hours playing late last night. I’m not saying any of this in a bad way, mind you; Black Ops 6’s take on the mode is thrilling and unique thanks to all new movement mechanics and good map design. Zombies hasn’t been the thing it was in World at War for a while, and I still have a lot more of this year’s version to play before I am ready f...