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As if The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered could get any better, all versions come complete with all the original game's downloadable content, giving you access to the magical Frostcrag Spire. This mountaintop tower is just one of the many player homes made available through DLC content, but you still have to formally find and unlock it first. View the full article

Hollow Knight seriously shifted my perspective on giving games a proper chance. Uncertain about the cult-classic Metroidvania despite its reputation, it took much egging on from friends and two separate attempts for me to stick with it, only for it to become one of my favorite games of all time. Of course, I'm now left waiting for news of Hollow Knight Silksong just like everyone else. But, just as it feels more real than ever before, another contender to the throne has caught my eye. Little Mage is a stunning, hand-crafted spin on 2D action platformers, and I'm already eager to try it. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Noir action game The Shadow Syndicate turns you into a stealthy dog detective Stunning new strategy RPG Prelude Dark Pain smashes Kickstarter goal in 12 hours Dark fantasy deckbuilder Deathless gets a new name as its final update lands View the full article

ConcernedApe reckons he could've made the decision a little tougherView the full article

Xbox maker Microsoft hasn’t mandated the use of generative AI across its game studios, despite its recent push for AI use in gaming. That’s according to South of Midnight creator Compulsion Games, which was asked about generative AI use following Microsoft’s recent announcement of its own generative AI model in gaming, which it’s used to power, among other things, a demo version of Quake 2. According to Compulsion CEO Guillaume Provost, Microsoft isn’t demanding its first-party teams to use the technology and, according to him, the studio is unlikely to use AI much at all in the future. Read More... View the full article

The Hundred Line hasn't saved Too Kyo Games just yet, despite stellar reviewsView the full article

I cannot stop myself clicking play on Glass Cannon, it's a properly great and unique shoot 'em up experience that twists the genre in a fun way that's too easy to get obsessed with. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

For all its lore, dialogue, and environmental storytelling, there's a lot we still don't know about Fallout: New Vegas. Perhaps more so than any other Fallout game, New Vegas is wordy. It has several well-developed, unique factions, some of the series' finest story DLC, and one of the most variable, fleshed-out stories in video game history. But part of its appeal is just how much it leaves to the imagination. View the full article

Take a deep breath and remember: Delays are good. OK, that statement isn’t always true, but it usually is. Delayed projects sometimes result in bad games (looking at you, Duke Nukem 3D), but much more often taking more time produces good stuff. Spending meticulous weeks to get something just right matters in art, as does finding the bravery to throw out ideas that seemed wise in concept but never panned out. Think about how many half-finished games you’ve ever bought and played and then wished the publisher had just delayed until it was right and ready. Got that thought in your head? OK, hold onto it. GTA 6 is delayed, and that’s good, because it will probably be better for the delay. Rockstar has a long history of delaying games to make sure they’re ready for market, a strikingly consistent bit of discipline that places them alongside Nintendo in an elite fraternity of studios that wait until the casserole is fully cooked before serving. And boy, is it always delicious. I’ve been playing GTA games as long as they’ve been around, starting with four-player PC GTA LAN parties. I’ve played the most obscure (London 1969), the best (GTA V), and the true best (Chinatown Wars for DS). I’ve ransacked and crashed and shot my way through these goofy, wonderful worlds for decades. And thankfully, these games are practically always late... and not coincidentally, always great. Here’s every delay in GTA history (and some Red Dead too). Grand Theft Auto III Rockstar’s New York offices were located only a few blocks from the World Trade Center, and Take Two didn’t waste any time briefly delaying GTA III following the September 11 attacks. . Marketing VP Terry Donovan announced the delay only days after the tragedy: "Our decision is based on two factors, firstly it has been a little difficult to get work done in downtown Manhattan in the last week since basic communications infrastructure has been intermittent at best, and secondly we felt that a full content review of all our titles and the marketing materials we use to represent them was absolutely necessary for us in light of the horrifying event we all witnessed in the United States last week.” He continued: "As for Grand Theft Auto, since the game is so huge the review is no short process. So far we have come across certain small contextual references that we were no longer comfortable with, as well as a couple of very rare gameplay instances that no longer felt appropriate to us. We apologize to you and all the people waiting for this game to ship for the delays that have now ensued, but I'm sure you can understand our reasoning. Rest assured the game will be phenomenal...and you can expect it to hit shelves in late October.” Even with only minimal content changes, the delay was a wise decision for Rockstar and players alike. Blasting cops and ambulances in Liberty City so soon after the violent deaths of thousands wouldn’t have been appealing to anybody. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas The co-prize for shortest delay is shared between Vice City and San Andreas. Back in the olden days before downloadable game stores and day-one patches, manufacturers guessed ahead of time just how much of a physical product they’d need to produce for a given shelf date, and sometimes they guessed wrong. Rockstar delayed Vice City by seven days to give them time to manufacture more discs (and thus meet the tremendous day-one demand for a GTA III follow-up). San Andreas for PS2 also hit streets a week later than planned, a strategic decision designed to give the dev team a few extra days to polish their two-year project. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Okay, so real talk: The GTA handheld games go hard... hard enough that it’s worth dusting off your ancient PlayStation Portable or DS to try them. GTA’s excellent forays onto portables usually arrive on time, but Vice City Stories for PSP was delayed for two weeks in North America, and longer in parts of Europe. The best GTA of them all (fight me!) didn’t arrive precisely on time. The incredibly creative and intricate DS gamechit shelves two months later than expected. When it did finally arrive, it blew the socks off of critics, and it’s one of gaming’s great tragedies that nobody bought it... we might be playing Chinatown Wars 3 on our new Switch 2s right now if they had. Grand Theft Auto IV After GTA III changed the landscape of video games, anticipation for GTA IV was palpable. With clunky RenderWare left behind and a brand new console generation to work with, Rockstar Leeds was aiming for the stratosphere. Bringing their vision to reality ultimately demanded several months of delay. As Rockstar’s Sam Hause explained, “The new consoles [PS3 and 360] are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game's fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience." Grand Theft Auto V The biggest console game of all time was a long time coming. GTA V finally landed in September 2013, but was originally anticipated to arrive in the spring of that same year. But in late January 2013, Rockstar released the following message: “We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require. ‘To all Grand Theft Auto fans, please accept our apologies for the delay, and our promise that the entire team here is working very hard to make the game all it can be. We are doing all we can to help ensure it will meet if not exceed your expectations come September – we thank you for your support and patience.’" They weren't wrong. GTA V went on to become the most successful console game of all time, and alongside RDR2, it’s a true jewel in Rockstar’s crown. Red Dead Redemption 2 Speaking of RDR2... it’s not a part of the GTA series, but it is Rockstar’s best game and I love talking about it. In keeping with the tradition of Rockstar quality-based delays, we’re adding a bit of an appendix by mentioning Red Dead Redemption 2, which was delayed twice, first in spring 2017 for quality assurance purposes. The second delay came in February 2018, pushing RDR2 to late October. The statement from Rockstar explained that, again, this was a quality issue. "We are excited to announce that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on October 26th 2018. We apologize to everyone disappointed by this delay. While we had hoped to have the game out sooner, we require a little extra time for polish. “We sincerely thank you for your patience and hope that when you get to play the game, you will agree the wait will have been worth it. In the meantime, please check out these screenshots from the game. We look forward to sharing a lot more information with you in the coming weeks." That delay, like all the others here, worked out swimmingly, delivering a true work of art still unparalleled in adventure gaming. So friends, don’t despair. GTA 6 will come, and when it comes, it will almost certainly be very, very good. See you in Vice City. Jared Petty is a former IGN editor who likes writing about how wonderful and silly video games are. You can find him at Bluesky as pettycommajared. View the full article

A new Diablo 4 hotfix is here, as Blizzard dramatically adjusts the reputation gains on offer in its latest update. Diablo 4 Season 8 sees the return of Belial, the Lord of Lies, with his vicious apparitions popping up all across Sanctuary. On the player's side, it grants us access to some of the powers employed by the various big, bad bosses to use as part of our builds. Also core to the season is the regular reputation rewards track, and now a fresh patch has made it vastly quicker to get to that essential Resplendent Spark. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Diablo 4 Season 9 release date Diablo 4's new battle pass system, Reliquaries, is off to a shaky start Diablo 4 Season 8 is making your overall progression smoother than ever View the full article

Prior to the shadow-dropping of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Bethesda was struggling with somewhat of a soured reputation. Although it never got as bad as some developers', a couple of poorly received games and what seemed to be declining quality didn't help its reputation. That being said, Bethesda has excelled as a publisher of late, with the revived DOOM series producing hit after hit and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle being better than the latest film in that franchise. View the full article

Chrono Trigger turned 30 this yearView the full article

PlayStation has removed beloved platforming mascot Sackboy from the cast of characters featured in its movies intro, leading some fans to fear for the future of LittleBigPlanet. As spotted by X user Radec, the PlayStation Productions intro for the recent Until Dawn movie has removed Sackboy from its cast of characters, compared to previous stings featured before movies like 2023’s Gran Turismo, which included the character. Sony’s PlayStation Studios intro included at the start of its PS5 games are bespoke for each game, usually featuring characters from each game’s specific series. However, PlayStation Productions’ intro has always included a cast of characters from across PlayStation’s first-party games, seemingly representing their importance to the gaming brand. Read More... View the full article

Now Playing | Expedition 33 brought me around to one of my least favorite genres by aging up its themes, dialogue and (thank Christ), the castView the full article

South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games has said its role at Xbox “is not to make blockbusters like Call of Duty”, as it shares an early player milestone for the action adventure game. South of Midnight was released for Xbox consoles and PC, including Xbox Game Pass, on April 8, and according to Compulsion Games CEO Guillaume Provost, the game has attracted more than one million players in its first three weeks. It’s unclear how many of these one million players have come from Game Pass versus full sales, but South of Midnight’s peak Steam player count of just 1,483 suggests most have come via subscription. Read More... View the full article

The Wine 10.7 development release is out now, and in the highlights they noted an interesting sounding performance improvement for select games. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Codemasters has confirmed an unspecified number of layoffs, following the news that it’s “pausing” development on its historic rally game franchises. Earlier this week, Codemasters – which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2021 – confirmed it had ended its partnership with the World Rally Championship (WRC), and that it would thus be “pausing” development plans for future rally titles. In a statement to VGC, the EA-owned studio has now confirmed that layoffs will occur, as well as the redeployment of staff to different areas of EA Sports. Read More... View the full article

While undeniably a classic first-person RPG, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind never quite lived up to its name. Sure, you technically were in Morrowind, but the game limited you to the volcanic island of Vvardenfell, with the mainland frequently spoken of, but teasingly just out of reach... Read more.View the full article

Sometimes when a game draws from too many places for inspiration, it can end up being a bit of a muddled, disconnected mess. However, if you expertly pluck only the coolest elements from your peers and throw your own unique visual style over the top, then you might strike a winning formula. That's exactly the kind of game The Shadow Syndicate appears to be. Fully revealed for the first time, it's an action game with flavors of LA Noire, Hitman, GTA, and Max Payne, and I can't wait to play it. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Stunning new strategy RPG Prelude Dark Pain smashes Kickstarter goal in 12 hours Dark fantasy deckbuilder Deathless gets a new name as its final update lands Punishing ARPG No Rest for the Wicked bounces back with brutal Breach update View the full article

While Fallout is Bethesda's baby these days, it wasn't the original creator of the iconic RPG series. That was Interplay, the company that infamously told departing employees to destroy any remnants of work they had on its games. That's led to a years-long mystery around whether the original source code for Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 actually survived, with the series' original producer Tim Cain claiming recently shining a light on Interplay's anti-preservation tactics. However, one of the company's co-founders, Rebecca Heineman, has now revealed that she's got backups of Fallout 1 and 2's source code tucked away, safe and sound. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Fallout, XCOM, and dozens of PC classics will run smoothly forever, GOG says Ambitious Fallout 1 remake Vault 13 is no longer being developed These classic Fallout games are free to keep, if you're speedy View the full article

Is Clair Obscur Expedition 33 the most unexpected surprise of the year so far? Blue Prince is certainly a contender, but hasn't quite hit the dizzying sales and player count heights. Conversely, something like Schedule 1 has exploded out of nowhere, but isn't going to be scooping up end-of-year awards. When it comes to being the complete surprise package, I think Expedition 33 takes it. The game is so popular that on Steam, despite it being a fresh IP and a debut game from a small studio, it has reportedly sold faster than some of the most notable JRPGs of the last 12 months, such as Metaphor Refantazio and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the latest game to cause Steam Deck rating outrage Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is so good, even the French President likes it Best Clair Obscur Expedition 33 builds View the full article

IGN's Blue Prince map is here! Our interactive map tracks essential locations across Mount Holly, including Clues and Puzzles, so you always know where to go next. Blue Prince Interactive Map Use the map markers to check off your progress toward completion! You can also filter specific markers using the left-hand sidebar. [/url] The available map filters for our Blue Prince interactive map include: Locations, including Safes, Terminals, Floorplans, and Permanent Unlocks, such as the West Gate Path.Exploration, such as Clues, Red Letters, Puzzles, and Special Keys.Other miscellaneous map markers, including Upgrade Disks and Allowance Tokens.Blue Prince Guides There are many puzzles in Blue Prince, and it's more than likely you'll find yourself getting stuck more than once. IGN's Blue Prince Game Help is here to assist, with guides for complicated puzzles, how to find certain items, and more. Our Blue Prince coverage includes: Essential Tips and TricksWalkthroughPuzzle GuidesRoom Directory GuideHow to Get More CoinsHow to Get More GemsList of Special Items and KeysAll Workshop Item Contraption Recipes...And more! Head to our Blue Prince wiki for more Game Help. Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG or spending time with her corgi. View the full article

There are a lot of powerful enemies in Oblivion Remastered, but will-o-the-wisps can be one of the most frustrating to battle if you don't know how to deal with them. These little floating ****** of light have a lot of damage resistances, and some powerful moves that make it hard to take them out. They can be especially difficult depending on your class and what loadout you have when you run into them. Although not the most common enemies in the game, it's still worth knowing how to take out will-o-the-wisps so they don't cause you to lose any progress. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

In Schedule 1, there are many different products you can make that will help you grow your business, and explosive crystal is one you should make sure you master. As you progress through each level, more customers, more recipes, and more opportunities will be at your fingertips. With so many traits that can be associated with each product, however, it can get a bit tricky. View the full article

Millennial humor just doesn't hit like it used toView the full article

Not only are they not shutting down Skyblivion; they're big fans of itView the full article