A beautiful miniature world without much else to recommend it.

Full transparency, readers, I’m not thinking much about video games this weekend. It is a weekend for movies and music. It’s Wicked weekend and, on top of that, Kendrick Lamar just dropped a whole album. But if, for some reason, you’re looking for something to do other than watch Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo…Read more...

Earlier this week, Jay Leno was injured after he took a tumble down a 60-foot hill outside a hotel in Pennsylvania. Allegedly the former Tonight Show host was trying to find his way to a restaurant to order some food. However, not everything adds up in this story about an aging comedian falling down a dirt path. Read more...

I didn’t expect to say either of these things to you when 2024 began: the new Call of Duty single-player campaign is a blast. And you can play it for $1. A week before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Microsoft removed the ability to try 1-month of Game Pass for $1.

Repairing weapons in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is critical, as you don’t want to find yourself in the irradiated wasteland with broken tools. In this STALKER 2 guide, we’ll walk you through how to repair weapons and detail what to do with broken weapons. How to repair your weapons and gear in STALKER 2

Earlier this month, Sam Leigh of Blinking Birch Games dropped two long-awaited releases: Death of the Author and The World We Left Behind. Designer of the genre-pushing, Ennie-nominated solo RPG Anamnesis — a tarot-based journaling game about  memory and identity — Leigh’s work is often a contemplative meditation on a given theme, with these newest

And the developer plans to double the amount of stuff in the game on full release.

"It was a very weird time."

Lego are neat, fun, and incredibly durable. Long after our names have been forgotten and our ancestral bloodlines have been wiped out, their colorful plastic bodies will persist until the heat death of the universe. They also hurt like hell to step on in bare feet. Read more...

Quite a few Stalker 2 players were concerned that the famed A-Life system had been cut from the new Stalker, but GSC says no, it's just really wonky right now.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard launched on October 31, and we've already got a tiny window into how well it's selling. It debuted at No.6 on Circana's report of the top selling games in the US for the full month, just after Metaphor: ReFantazio. But its placement on a single chart doesn't quite tell the full story.

Tri Breaker goes on an intergalactic odyssey next month.We thoroughly enjoyed Lillymo Games’ Arkanoid-esque Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure on PS4 and PS Vita in 2020, so we’re pretty pumped to see the announcement of pseudo-sequel Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey for PS5 and PS4.As is obvious from the trailer, this is more than just your average Breakout clone, with nods and references to all kinds of 80s and 90s arcade favourites. There’s a snippet of what looks like Frogger in the trailer, as well as R-Type and much more. The general block busting system remains, though, so we’re eager to see how this all works.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

There's no mistaking this guy.

Dungeons & Dragons’ 5th edition rules revision is out in the wild right now, and while lots of folks are peeved that their favorite subclass didn’t make the cut, by and large the upgrade is exceptional. But while the powers that be at Wizards of the Coast have been grinding away at refinements to the

Out on PS5 next year.Strinova is a free-to-play online shooter, which doesn’t sound particularly interesting at first blush. One of its big features, however, is its anime art style – and the fact that it features a gameplay mechanic where you can toggle between 2D and 3D character models.So, let’s just explain that last bit a little more. The big gameplay innovation here is that you can “stringify”, effectively flattening your character like paper. This enables you to dodge bullets, float in the air, or even scale vertical surfaces. It looks extremely goofy, but it’s a system that sets the release apart from its copious competitors.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Was Avowed's third-person camera worth the extra time and effort? As an accessibility option, absolutely. Beyond that...

We’re exactly three decades removed from the launch of the Sega Saturn in Japan, and one veteran developer is celebrating the milestone by sharing footage of a secret Fighters Megamix stage that’s gone undetected since the game debuted on the underappreciated console in 1996. Fighters Megamix, just as a quick history lesson, is a crossover

By and large, I haven’t run into very many bugs in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It’s been quite a polished game at launch. But of course, pobody’s nerfect, and Veilguard’s latest patch just so happens to fix two specific things that have bothered me. Number one: “New rings can now be compared against both equipped

Build our best PS1 games list.Ah, the PS1. The original PlayStation console. The system that started it all. Released in 1994 in Japan, and then heading West in 1995, the PS1 is widely regarded as one of the most important — and successful — consoles of all time, shaping the industry that we know today.But as is the case with any truly great gaming machine, it was the games themselves that cemented the PS1's long-standing legacy. The system's library is both colossal and era-defining; so much of its software planted the seeds of gameplay mechanics, structures, and concepts that still exist decades later.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Big changes are happening at Disney World in Florida. The company has announced that it plans to shutdown a popular Muppets attraction to make room for a new Monsters, Inc.-themed area and ride. And there was bad news for Aerosmith fans, too. Read more...

I have a question for you, Polygon commenters. How broken is too broken when you consider buying a game? The question’s been top of mind for me this week. STALKER 2 was my most anticipated game of 2024. But now, with my finger hovering over the buy button on Steam, I’m having second thoughts. As

Once again, the hands are a giveaway.

Transmedia company Studio Hermitage announced it will be partnering with comics publisher Dark Horse to create Horror at Crane Mansion, a three-installment series set in the world of the Our Brilliant Ruin tabletop role-playing game. The TTRPG, which is free to download on DriveThruRPG, takes place in the world of Dramark, a Gilded Age society

“The Poppy Field” is an early side quest you’ll pick up in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. You’ll get it from a man named Mityay in the first town you reach, Zalissya, and he’ll ask you to find an Orthodox icon that once belonged to his family. In this STALKER 2 guide, we’ll give you

We live in a time of plenty. Perhaps even excess. Before I finish a game, or sometimes even start it, the developers are already releasing free updates ranging from new quality-of-life settings to full-blown content add-ons. Each one makes the game worth revisiting and adds to the pull of picking it up for the first…Read more...

It’s time to be reborn from the ashes in this anime-packed tower defensegame.

Black Friday is a wonderful time of the year to be a gamer, or to shop for gamers in your life, because prices plummet on 2024’s best games, as well as on controllers, gaming gift cards, and sometimes consoles, too. While the official Black Friday deals will kick off before the sun comes up on

It’s late in November, so its time for another big Black Friday sale. Sure, Black Friday used to be a day, but now it’s spread out over two weeks. And PlayStation is the latest big company to offer a bunch of discounts as we get closer to Thanksgiving. Read more...

The early access build promises spectacular boss battles and a massive endgame.

On October 28, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel announced a new Shadow Duelist has emerged. Previously, Duelists competed for the right to claim the mask of Shadow Duelist Nocturne. Now, they’re competing to unmask Axle with an added twist. The winner of the new Shadow Duelist Tournament will also get to face Axle in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. The match between Axle and the tournament winner will be broadcast on November 23, along with Axle’s unmasking.IGN will carry the stream across our channels, and this watch guide will tell you everything you need to know to watch the match between Shadow Duelist Axle and their opponent, including when it starts, a list of places to watch it, and what you can expect to see.Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel’s New Shadow Duelist Event Start Time The Shadow Duelist broadcast will start on November 23 at 3pm PST / 6pm EST / 11 pm GMT. The stream will kick off with the final player match of the Shadow Duelist Tournament followed by the reveal of Axle’s secret identity and their match against the tournament winner. Where to Watch the Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel’s New Shadow Duelist Event If you’re curious to see the mysterious rocker’s unmasking and match in the spotlight, we’ll be hosting the show here and across our many channels on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of IGN channels you can watch it on: IGN.com (homepage) IGN's Facebook IGN’s TwitterIGN’s Twitch ChannelIGN’s YouTube ChannelWhat to Expect from Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel’s New Shadow Duelist Event Axle has been appearing on Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel social channels, talking about training for their Duel and teasing their challengers. Hundreds of players signed up for the honor of claiming Axle’s mask, but only one will get to claim the mask and face Axle. Who is behind the rockstar persona’s mask? Find out Axle’s secret celebrity identity and learn more about them when the new Shadow Duelist event airs on November 23.

All hands on deck.Portable gaming devices are coming back into fashion. The Nintendo Switch has played a substantial part in that, providing users with the choice to play on a TV or untethered, if they prefer. Of course, mobile is an enormous part of the puzzle too, with very capable smartphones in the palms of millions around the world.Sony and PlayStation shifted away from this area following the modest sales numbers of PS Vita, and we never expected the platform holder to take that route again. However, with rumours swirling about the company's next-gen plans involving a handheld counterpart to the PS6, it's left us thinking about what a modern Sony portable would entail.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Avowed's sword-tuner cut his teeth working on actiony MMOs like Warhammer Online and WildStar.

IGN's staff has put their heads together to choose some of the best gift ideas for the gamers in your life, whether they play PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, or PC.

Here's everything included.Level-5 returned to the West in a big way earlier this year with the release of Megaton Musashi W: Wired. Eight months on, the mech battler is landing a beefy new patch, with the 'Megarobo Batroseum' update scheduled to come to Switch on 26th November.As detailed in the new trailer (above) the headline addition of this one is a new online PvP mode — fittingly called 'Megarobo Batroseum' — where you'll select a mech from a limited number of pre-sets and get right into a battle. You can either invite friends or hop into a room with other fighters based on your match rule preferences. Nice.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The impact of Game Pass.The US sales data for the month of October has arrived, courtesy of Circana and analyst Mat Piscatella. Perhaps most interesting is the sales performance of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which is the first entry to be included on Xbox's Game Pass subscription service.As noted by Piscatella, 82 per cent of the game's sales in October were for the PS5 and PS4 versions. It's a somewhat similar story in Europe; the latest physical game chart revealed an 89 per cent slice of the pie for Sony's systems.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

It's been a long and winding road to get here.

Here's hoping Nvidia has clocked the twangers off it.

A little teaser story to end the week, care of Maw reader MiniMatt. Factorio devs Wube Software have dropped the vaguest of hints about their next game project, or at least, shared one of their current inspirations: World Of Warcraft. Read more

I'm not saying it needs elaborate cooking and crafting systems, but it'd be nice to heat up a sausage and fix my own guns.

I've done my own testing, and discovered all of them are the worst. Every single one.

"We're actually hitting the limits of how many mods can be active while still keeping Baldur's Gate 3 stable."

That there are more than 100 entire PC games is a revelation as shocking as it is disturbing, but despite recently spending days translating Horace’s sonorous yawps into the list that eventually became our RPS 100, a chill silence recently befell the treehouse when we realised that some of our personal favourites had somehow been excluded. Determined to right this most heinous of wrongs, and armed with the conviction that no subjectivity be allowed to exist on the internet without at least one supplementary article of caveats, we’ve all put forth a single game that absolutely should have made the list. Consider the matter closed, then, at least until we all realise we’d actually like to do a 102nd pick each. Read more

I bloody love a theme park: the sights, the smells, the gleeful screams, the sense of utter transportation. But most of all, I love the breathless clash of science and art behind these thoroughly encompassing illusions. I’m the kind of theme park nerd who still gets genuinely giddy when they see technology and creativity crash together like this, and who's been daydreaming their perfect rides and coasters into existence since a run-in with Disney's Haunted Mansion at the age of three became a bit of an obsession. For people like me, the original Planet Coaster was a dream. For all its flaws, it was a brilliantly implemented, beautifully presented suite of creative tools capable of turning theme park flights of fancy into digital reality, and its sequel promises the same, but more. Read more

Even further beyond.Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero always felt like an inevitable smash hit, but we didn't see it being a total and utter record-breaker for Bandai Namco.As per the latest Circana report from Mat Piscatella, the brawler — which released last month, on the 11th October — is basically the most successful Dragon Ball title ever in the US. And again, just to hammer home how ridiculous this is, it only launched last month.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Helldivers 2 developers Arrowhead have been voluble lately about potentially adding elements from other sci-fi worlds to the shooter, with chief creative officer Johan Pilestedt rubbing his hands gleefully at the prospect of partnerships with Warhammer, Alien, the Fifth Element, and more besides. Speaking at the G-STAR Conference in Busan earlier this month, recently appointed chief executive officer Shams Jorjani confirmed that Arrowhead are looking into such collaborations, giving the example of refitting your dropship to look like one of Halo's Pelicans, or introducing the Zerg from Blizzard's Starcraft as an enemy faction. Jorjani cautioned listeners, however, that these injections of third-party DNA need to look and feel appropriate to the setting. After all, if you start fecklessly chucking the Zerg, Chaos Space Marines or Fifth Element's, er, flying taxis into Helldivers 2, it might spoil the meticulous coherency of a game in which saluting protects you against lethal falls and some guy called Joel is running the universe. The funny part is that according to Jorjani, Arrowhead once envisaged a system that would get round the problem of inconsistency by essentially making third-party cosmetics, including whole map skins, visible only to players who have them enabled. To put that another way, Arrowhead once envisaged a system in which individual Helldivers would hallucinate other licenses. Read more

Overwatch 2’s newest tank hero, Hazard, is officially launching next month when the shooter’s 14th season starts, but you can take him for a spin from now until November 25. Just before the test period began, Blizzard released the first footage of Hazard in action and a breakdown of the Scottish hero’s kit. In some…Read more...

Nintendo has officially confirmed all the Black Friday deals we'll see for Switch fans over the coming weeks. Here's everything you need to know.

"The only thing bigger would be buying Valve or Nintendo."

It's also just a genuinely cool achievement.

But Steam secures even better version.After effectively confirming a new Virtua Fighter is planned, SEGA has also announced a big balance update to Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, the e-sports leaning version of the classic brawler released on the PS4.This update will deploy in the winter on Sony’s console, alongside a massively improved Steam version of the game on PC.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

This morning when I woke up I, like every other well-adjusted individual, immediately silenced my alarm and opened up Pokémon TCG Pocket to open my morning pack. Lo and behold, I discovered that a brand new event had been introduced to the game overnight. It's a "Fire Pokémon Mass Outbreak Event." And it's. Fine.

"If you are unfamiliar or play worse with a given hero, you will be put in an easier match than your usual."

The Rogue Prince of Persia's enormous new update, Second Act, is here. Read more

The power of Jimbo!

Just say no to wooden keebs.

Idol issues.Fans of manga series Oshi no Ko will likely feel right at home with Detroit: Become Human - Tokyo Stories, a new comic inspired by the 2018 universe created by Quantic Dream. This first volume, finally translated into English by publisher Yen Press, follows the story of Reina – an android idol who’s attracted fame and helped change the public’s perception of robots.<related ids="77419">Read the full article on pushsquare.com

They're a hoot.

The PlayStation 5 Pro has been out in the wild for over a week now, and while it offers impressive improvements on many existing games, there are also some for which it seems to introduce new issues that make things look worse. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and the Silent Hill 2 remake are just a couple of games that new…Read more...

Rockstar was supposed to make a GTA 6 Trailer 2 announcement today, November 22, according to a moon theory that had sent the Grand Theft Auto community into overdrive.

Black Myth: Wukong turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the year, and the action-adventure game is currently racking up awards. During an acceptance speech for one of those trophies, the cofounder of the studio behind the game said fans can expect a new surprise next month. Read more...

We've been poring over dozens of games updated for PS5 Pro, but the one that's most caught my attention is Stellar Blade. This game impressed when it launched on PS5 in April this year, but its slick action and stunning locales were let down somewhat by inconsistent performance and poor image quality. On PS5 Pro, developers Shift Up has delivered a simple but extremely effective upgrade that solves both of these concerns. Read more

You're welcome.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is heading to Switch at the start of next month. Read more

Travel to a new planet early next year.Honkai: Star Rail has been spinning its wheels for several updates now, but we’re finally on the home straight before major single player update Amphoreus arrives.Fans of the game will know the Nameless selected the planet as its next Trailblazing expedition earlier in the year, and here’s our very first look at the all-new map, courtesy of the latest Special Program.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

"The island needs a little more prep time".We've been keeping an eye on Amber Isle, the Animal Crossing-meets-dinosaurs life sim from developer Ambertail Games, for a while now. This one was initially supposed to land on Switch in late October before getting a last-minute delay to November. Well, the developer has now announced yet another delay, with the planned release date shifting to February 2025.A delay like this is never something that we like to see happen, but in the accompanying statement, the developer claimed that the Switch version isn't currently up to scratch: "the island needs a little more prep time before we're ready to open our ports and have you all come ashore". Hey, we'd always rather see a delay than a bug-filled release.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Who would of thunk?

Pokémon TCG Pocket has been quite the roller coaster ride. It’s absolutely got its hooks in a lot of us at Kotaku, and we’re playing it every day. But at the same time, it’s unquestionably a predatory gacha game using a children’s IP. What a muddle. But there’s one thing that’s unambiguous: there’s a lot of room for…Read more...

I feel like I'm back in school.

The PlayStation Black Friday sale is live with a great discount on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, dropping to $39.99 at Amazon, its lowest price ever.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is overflowing with quality-of-life improvements around every corner, successfully bringing the best version of one of the world’s most beloved role-playing adventures to an entirely new generation of players. However, that doesn’t mean that every aspect of the game is drastically…Read more...

Un-bee-lievable.If, during the late 2010s, you were pining for a new Paper Mario game, you may well have picked up Moonsprout Games' Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, a fantastic paper-themed turn-based RPG. It came to Switch half a year after its PC release (in May 2020), and has proven popular.However, five years after its PC release, Moonsprout Games has dropped a surprise free update for the game. What a treat!Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Stalker 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Mission: Impossible, gravy, and prison.

A new mod for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has breathed new life into the game, adding a long list of features that will no-doubt encourage fans to jump back in.

Wuthering Waves developer Kuro Games has announced a PlayStation 5 release date for its open world action-RPG with gacha. Read more

There's some hope for Intel this year.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl developer GSC Game World has announced the game has already sold 1m copies in just a few days since release. Read more

Graphical issues remain on PS5 Pro.Bloober Team has today released a new update for Silent Hill 2 that intends to fix the issues the title is facing when it is played on PS5 Pro. It's available to download now and weighs in at 517.1 MB, but it appears that anyone playing on the new upgraded console shouldn't get their hopes up too much for the update to completely solve everything. The testing done by users after installing the update reveals there are still graphical issues with the build.For example, Twitter user @yrlak responded to the tweet announcing the update with a video of constant flickering and image blotches in an interior environment. Then, on Reddit, it's described how the opening area just outside of Silent Hill still features flickering in puddles and an "annoying shimmer" in reflective surfaces. "The base PS5 still produces a more stable image," claimed user erimiz687.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Snufkin: Melody of the Moominvalley is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows and to celebrate, Raw Fury has revealed DLC is on the way. Read more

Strange Scaffold's sublime shooter, I Am Your Beast, now has nine new levels as part of a free expansion. Read more

"I try to do things within the bounds of what’s not illegal."

Xbox has officially started its Black Friday sale, with discounts on games, controllers, consoles, and more now available.

The U.S. October 2024 sales chart is out now. Check out all the details.

New trailer coming very soon.Paramount and SEGA's upcoming movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is hitting theatres in just under a month, and to drum up some hype, it's sent out an extremely cool press package to the media.Inside a fancy box with some other materials is a SEGA Genesis game box, featuring some custom cover art featuring Sonic, Shadow, and other characters from the film. But what's really exciting is what's inside — a cartridge, and it's not just a replica.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a surprisingly faithful adaption of the original Dragon Quest III, opting to prioritize visuals and quality-of-life changes over many drastic overhauls. It’s a remake done right, and its new features and mechanics only serve to enhance the fundamental experience. One of these very…Read more...

Chronologically perfect.No less than an hour into Radiant Historia, Stocke – a special agent in Astiel’s Special Intelligence Unit and the game’s main protagonist – is on the brink of death. His mission to rescue a spy who has infiltrated the Granorg army has failed, and his subordinates Raynie and Marco have been killed.But it’s not over. On the brink of death, Stocke is transported to some kind of M. C. Escher-like world: Historia. There, he is told about the power of the White Chronicle, a book he was given by his boss before the mission. He can use it to go back in time and fix events in his past. The special agent decides to use that power to save his new friends, and succeeds.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The developer of Black Myth: Wukong has teased "some surprises" for later this year.

The mutant enemies in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl are very hungry. Hungry not only for your flesh, but also all the bullets in your AK-47. It can take entire clips of ammo to take down some of these tough beasts, and you get nothing back for killing this wildlife except the hollow satisfaction of pest control. Alongside the bugs and performance issues, it's a common enough complaint to players of the first-person survival shooter that it's already been addressed by a modder, who has created a tweak to lower the health of various dogs, boars, and bloodsuckers. Read more

Who to side with in The Lost Boys side mission and each outcome.

Plans to double employee numbers.Koei Tecmo's recent shareholders Q&A briefing, which was held in October 2024, has just been published, and it shows that the company is planning some big expansions in the long term.The publisher and developer — known best for Dynasty Warriors, the Atelier series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Nioh — is looking to expand its employee numbers from 2,500 to 5,000, doubling its scale and allowing the company to "steadily produce AAA titles" (via Automaton Media, Stealth).Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Some get a deal, but others don't.The three tiers of PS Plus go on sale today for Black Friday, but whether you actually qualify for the promotion appears entirely up in the air — just like in previous years. On the PlayStation Blog, it's said that new members to the service can claim a 30 per cent saving, and if you're upgrading from one tier to the next, then you can also claim a discount.These offers are now in effect and are available until 12th December 2024. They're fairly good deals if you are only just signing up for a membership, but just like in previous Black Friday sales from Sony, you're out of luck if you simply want to extend your current PS Plus membership — especially at the PS Plus Premium tier. There's no official offer to extend your subscription at the tier you're already on, and if you're already on the highest one (PS Plus Premium), then there is quite literally no Black Friday discount for you to take advantage of.Read the full article on pushsquare.com

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl already looks like a smash hit, with developer GSC Game World declaring one million copies sold and many more players via Xbox Game Pass.