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Following numerous leaks, Nintendo has officially unveiled their next console with the Switch 2. [Hidden Content] Similar to the original Switch, Nintendo has put out a video that shows out first look at the new console. The Switch 2 will feature the signature Joy-Cons like the original but now with a magnetic attachment system instead of a sliding rail. Each Joy-**** has the usual array of thumbsticks, D-Pad, face buttons, home button but there’s a new button below the home button on the right Joy-**** controller. Nintendo Switch 2 The kickstand on the back is now a U-shape design and the screen of the Switch 2 looks larger but Nintendo hasn’t given many details. On the top of the tablet portion of the Switch 2, you’ll find a power button, volume, headphone jack, speaker grill and ventilation, game cartridge slot and a USB-C port, presumably for accessories and charging. The bottom of the Switch 2 has another USB-C port that will be used to connect to the dock. Also, Switch 1 owners who’ve acquired a big library of games, don’t fret as Nintendo has said that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible and can play both physical and digital Switch games. However, they have said that certain Switch 1 games may not be supported or fully compatible but the company hasn’t said which ones. The Switch 2 will have exclusive titles such as new Mario Kart that Nintendo showed brief glimpses of in the Switch 2 trailer. There’s also still a lot we don’t know about the new console such as processor, specific screen resolution, battery life and pricing. Nintendo says they’ll be hosting a Nintendo Direct on April 2nd, where they’ll reveal more about their upcoming console. In addition, Nintendo is holding a number of hands-on events in cities around the world including: North America: New York, April 4-6, 2025Los Angeles, April 11-13, 2025Dallas, April 25-27, 2025Toronto, April 25-27, 2025 Europe: Paris, April 4-6, 2025London, April 11-13, 2025Milan, April 25-27, 2025Berlin, April 25-27, 2025Madrid, May 9-11, 2025Amsterdam, May 9-11, 2025 Oceania: Melbourne, May 10-11, 2025 Asia: Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26-27, 2025Seoul, May 31-June 1, 2025Hong Kong, To be announcedTaipei, To be announced Registration opens from January 17th at 3pm ET until January 26th at 11:59pm local time. Attendees will be selected via a drawing and will be notified after the registration ******* closes. You’ll need a free Nintendo account to register. Registration links can be found above. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be releasing sometime later this year. Source: Nintendo View the full article

There's usually at least one game in early access I'm waiting on the full release of before I try. At the moment, I'm holding off on anime finance sim Stonks-9800. But it's easy to miss a release when there are so many games coming in and out of early access all the time, often without advance notice. So let me give you a heads-up on one of them: board game-esque deckbuilder Takara Cards, which leaves early access on January 17... Read more.View the full article

The Pokémon Company It’s coming a little later than we initially thought, but The Pokémon Company (TCPi) has finally announced when Pokémon TCG Pocket’s long-awaited trading functionality is rolling out. Today, TCPi revealed that, along with Pokémon TCG Pocket’s next set of cards, the game’s trading feature is set to launch later this month. TCPi didn’t specify an exact date in its statement about the update, but it did explain that trading will involve some restrictions and costs. In order to swap cards, people will first have to be friends with one another in the game. Trades can only occur if players are offering up cards with the same rarity, meaning that you won’t be able to trade powerful EX cards for more common ones that are easier to pull. Additionally, TCPi trading is limited to cards that have rarities of 1-4 diamonds or a single star full-art cards, and TCPi noted that “items must be consumed in order to trade.” It’s not clear which particular items players will need for trades, but it feels likely that the process will involve spending Poké gold, one of Pocket’s multiple in-game currencies that can be purchased in exchange for real money. The item requirement sounds like logical (but not exactly welcome) way for Pocket to generate even more revenue given how easy it is to accumulate certain duplicates from every set. In a follow-up post to X, Pocket’s official account stated that it was hearing people’s immediate concerns about how this is all going to work in practice, and encouraged everyone to provide more feedback once the feature is out. View the full article

Nvidia held a lengthy presentation at CES 2025 outlining the past and future of its DLSS neural rendering technology. One slide included a data point claiming that over 80 percent of users with RTX 20, 30, and 40 series graphics cards use DLSS on games, vindicating the company's extensive use... Read Entire Article View the full article

Sting's RPG / board game hybrid launches next week on PC Steam with English and Japanese language support. View the full article

In Ark: Survival Ascended, managing resources well and taming the right creatures are crucial for survival. While trying to tame every dinosaur you see might be tempting, focusing on specific types that will help you succeed is much more effective. Some creatures may look interesting, but they don’t provide much value compared to the time and effort needed to tame them. View the full article

The Triple Jump Boots in Palworld are a late-game item that makes moving around the island much more manageable. With these boots, you can jump three times in the air, giving you better control and helping you reach higher places, cross significant gaps, and escape tough spots that would be hard to get to without them. While they can always be replaced with a regular Pal, this removes the need to call on a Pal or waste food on them. View the full article

An unforeseen glitch in World of Warcraft Classic’s latest Anniversary Realm update caused Season of Discovery characters to start showing up in PvP Battlegrounds. While the feature was quickly disabled after the issue was discovered, overpowered Season of Discovery characters were briefly terrorizing these World of Warcraft Classic realms for a short time. View the full article

Cast your mind back a couple of years, and you'll remember Sony proudly declaring that it'd be releasing a dozen live service games before the end of 2025-26 financial year. Ever since, it's enjoyed a couple of victories, like Helldivers 2, but it's mostly been marked by embarrassing failures (Concord) or cancelations of projects that never saw the light of day (that The Last Of Us multiplayer game). Well, you can now add two more onto that pile. Sony has confirmed that it has canceled live service projects that were being worked on by Day's Gone developer Bend Studios and ******'s Souls remake wizards Bluepoint. Oh, and according to reports, Bluepoint was cooking up a God of War game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Best action games on PC 2024 New God of War Ragnarok mod removes the game's most annoying feature God of War is now half price and totally DRM free View the full article

Diablo 4 Season of Witchcraft is fast approaching. There's understandably a lot of hype for all the new witchcraft powers, the freaky Headrotten enemies, and all the usual balance changes that come with a new update, but Season of Witchcraft also delivers what might just be Diablo 4's best quality of life feature yet, and it's one that feels long overdue for the ARPG. The Armory is a new tool that lets you save builds and switch back to them at any time, and a few more details about exactly how it'll work have been shared by Blizzard. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The original Diablo is now on Game Pass, and it's still worth playing Diablo 4 Season 7 features Diablo 3 throwbacks and "a murderous **** frog" Diablo 4 Season 7 release date estimate View the full article

Cast your mind back a couple of years, and you'll remember Sony proudly declaring that it'd be releasing a dozen live service games before the end of 2025-26 financial year. Ever since, it's enjoyed a couple of victories, like Helldivers 2, but it's mostly been marked by embarrassing failures (Concord) or cancelations of projects that never saw the light of day (that The Last Of Us multiplayer game). Well, you can now add two more onto that pile. Sony has confirmed that it has canceled live service projects that were being worked on by Day's Gone developer Bend Studios and ******'s Souls remake wizards Bluepoint. Oh, and according to reports, Bluepoint was cooking up a God of War game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Best action games on PC 2024 New God of War Ragnarok mod removes the game's most annoying feature God of War is now half price and totally DRM free View the full article

Learning to level up, use, and equip pyroxene gems is a vital part of your character build in Dynasty Warriors: Origins. Unlike previous games in the series, there's only one playable character in Origins: the player-named protagonist, nicknamed Ziluan by his brothers-in-arms. Ziluan is an army of one in every sense of the word, not only in his ability to fend off massive enemy forces, but also in his customizability. Players can select Ziluan's weapons, skills, tactics, and more, but one of the most flexible types of character customization comes from his pyroxene gems. View the full article

Music Sheets is one of the quests you will be tasked with by the Bard in Enshrouded. Playing songs grants you a +1 Rested buff, providing you with all sorts of regeneration boosts. Here are all the music sheet locations in Enshrouded. Table of contentsAll Music Sheet Locations in EnshroudedSheet #1: Fleeting MemorySheet #2: Cup Runneth OverSheet #3: Of Daggers And WineSheet #4: Moon Over The WellSheet #5: By The RiversideSheet #6: Satin StringsAll Music Sheets in the Albaneve Summits in EnshroudedSheet #1: Blood In The SnowSheet #2: Silent EchoSheet #3: Market On Winter’s DaySheet #4: Lonely At The Top All Music Sheet Locations in Enshrouded There are six music sheets in total that you can find and collect for the first Bard quest in Enshrouded. View the full article

Edit: The story has been updated to report that Bluepoint's canceled live-service game was a God of War title. Sony has reportedly canceled two unannounced live-service games that were in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, respectively. Bloomberg reports that Sony has ended production on two live-service games that were in the works at Bend Studio, best known for the zombie game Days Gone, and another separate game in the works at Bluepoint Games, best known for their remasters of games like Shadow of the Colossus and the ******'s Souls remake. The Bluepoint game was reportedly a live-service God of War game according to Jason Schreier. A Sony spokesperson confirmed the cancellations to Bloomberg. Sony also added that neither studios will be closed and that they will work with them "to determine what are the next projects," from the two studios will be. This is another blow to Sony's ambitious live-service game plans. In 2022, Sony acquired Destiny 2 developer Bungie and announced plans to have 12 live-service games running by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. Those plans have failed to materialize after Sony revised that number down to just six, of which Bend and Bluepoint's games were likely two of them. Sony also closed down Concord developer Firewalk Studio, oversaw layoffs at Bungie, and canceled numerous online projects like Naughty Dogs' The Last of Us PvP game, a rumored Spider-Man online game, a live-service Twisted Metal game, and a third-person Destiny spinoff titled Payback. This leaves just Bungie's Marathon and Haven Studios' PvP project still in the works, alongside continued support for Helldivers 2 which Sony is publishing. There are also rumors of two online Horizon games, one co-op experience and another being an MMO. It's clear now that Sony seems to be rethinking its live-service strategy, but whether that means backing online projects it believes will succeed or abandoning the space altogether remains to be seen. Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor. View the full article

A new Honkai: Star Rail leak has revealed several Version 3.1 events, including a new permanent game mode and some details of the new Divergent Universe. Honkai: Star Rail recently released the planet Amphoreus, which brought a lengthy new Trailblaze mission and many characters. View the full article

As firefighters in Los Angeles County finally seem to be making serious progress containing the wildfires that swept through multiple California neighborhoods, Riot Games is pitching into relief efforts through cosmetic sales in VALORANT and League of Legends. Beginning on Jan. 22 and running until Jan. 30, the EX.O bundle in VALORANT will see ***** proceeds go to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, which Riot says “will then direct funds to organizations aiding natural disaster recovery in Southern California and around the world.” Along with the VALORANT fundraising *******, a concurrent fundraiser will come to League, where the Firefighter Tristana skin will be unvaulted from Jan. 23 to Feb. 5. Proceeds from sales of Firefighter Tristana will also go to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. View the full article

While we already knew that another new Destiny 2 dungeon will arrive with the start of its next episode, Heresy, in a few weeks time, very little else was known about it. Today though, Bungie revealed its name, location, and (for me) the most important detail of all: the world's first dungeon race is returning after its success at the launch of Vesper's Host. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: As Destiny 2 hits a new all-time low, here's what needs to change Destiny 2 new episode release date, seasonal activity, latest news Destiny 2 codes for free emblems and shaders View the full article

Hollow Knight: Silksong has a lot to live up to. Not only must Silksong be able to live up to the critical and commercial success that the original Hollow Knight achieved, but the game will be a crucial moment for developer Team Cherry to prove it can continue to deliver the same incredible, mesmerizing gameplay experience that it demonstrated with its debut title. Thankfully, the few trailers and previews shown of Silksong during its long development have been very promising, and anticipation for the indie game has only continued to grow. View the full article

World of Warcraft Patch 11.1 is adding a new vendor to the game who sells some items that were available in WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria. Fans will be able to exchange Timewarped Badges at this World of Warcraft vendor to obtain Remix-exclusive items, like Chen Stormstout’s Bamboo Hat or the Sha Corruption weapon illusion, as well as a selection of cosmetic armor sets from Mists of Pandaria. View the full article

Less than six months after angering its community by hiking the price of Runescape, Jagex has done it again with a new player survey asking players for their thoughts about some potentially very big changes to the game's pricing and feature set. With those thoughts now coming in like cow ***** in a hurricane, Jagex has hastened to reassure players that the survey "is not a list of planned changes," but just some research... Read more.View the full article

Treyarch has added Gunfight to the Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 game mode rotation to the excitement of part of the community. Gunfight was first introduced in Modern Warfare (2019) and is now back as one of the many options in Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6. View the full article

X/Twitter owner Elon Musk lit up social media feeds today when he launched a wave of posts publicly criticizing Twitch streamer and content creator Zack Hoyt (a.k.a. Asmongold) following controversy regarding the tech billionaire’s high-level gameplay of Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile 2. Musk first shared his thoughts in a reply to a post from YouTuber Screamheart, who published a two-minute clip from a new video that dives into the allegations surrounding the X owner’s Path of Exile 2 gameplay. The full video totals eight minutes and includes approximately 20 seconds of footage from Asmongold's livestreams where he alleges that Musk is not totally responsible for the progress made on his level 97 Path of Exile 2 character. “There is no way he played that account. Like, I’m sorry,” Asmongold says in the clip. “I think he bought the account, or somebody played it for him. A hundred-f***ing-percent.” Asmon behaves like a maverick “independent”, but in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025 Musk’s response includes a series of replies where he calls the streamer “not his own man.” The billionaire also took the opportunity to post what Asmongold is calling a picture of “leaked” direct messages shared through X where the two previously spoke about how the streamer manages his YouTube account. It was a moment that has led to a messy back-and-forth between the two social media giants, and it’s preceded by in-depth investigation into Musk’s involvement in the gaming space. Musk has long been championed as a gaming enthusiast. For years, he’s mentioned his appreciation for Blizzard Entertainment’s work on titles like Overwatch, and just yesterday, he said he still plays games “as my one recreational activity to quiet my mind.” However, Musk's self-proclaimed gaming prowess has been brought into question in recent months as players began to take a closer look at his performance and knowledge of the games he plays. One title that has seemingly taken up hundreds of hours of Musk’s time is 2023’s Diablo 4, though as he’s climbed leaderboards and chatted with developers on X, many have commented on how much time he might be dedicating to Blizzard’s dungeon-crawling experience. In November of last year, the billionaire boasted about his place as one of the top 20 Diablo 4 players in the world, and he reached the number one spot a few weeks later. While others spend hundreds if not thousands of hours merely chipping away at the never-ending faucet of content available, Musk has maintained his gaming status while juggling his responsibilities as a figurehead of companies like X, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and more. Leaking my DM's is one thing but this is absolutely uncalled for [Hidden Content] — Zack (@Asmongold) January 16, 2025 Discussion about Musk’s abilities as a gamer reached a new level after a recent, early January livestream that saw Musk tackling endgame tasks in Path of Exile 2 drew criticism from fans. Videos like those from content creators such as Quin69TV, penguinz0, and Asmongold have garnered millions of views as action RPG veterans analyze footage and commentary posted by the tech giant. One specific point of contention revolves around his (now deceased) level 97 Hardcore character, Percy_Verence. “Two weeks into the league, when people are playing the game, literally, they are staying up 40 to 50 hours without sleeping, only playing Path of Exile – and they are the most try-hard guys in the world – the highest-ranked player in the Hardcore trade league was level 93,” Quin69TV explains in his video 'Elon Musk is Lying About Being Good at Video Games.' “You’re thinking to yourself, ‘That’s kind of close to 97.’ Every time you level up, it becomes exponentially harder to gain experience. A lot harder. So, these players, to get to level 97, had to be playing the game every day for the majority of their day.” Musk’s stream features a number of moments that players are pointing to as signs he may not be quite as familiar with Path of Exile 2’s endgame mechanics as one might expect him to be after spending so much time in its world. Seemingly struggling to access Maps, strange tab names, illogical inventory management, leaving behind rare loot, and a disregard for notoriously powerful weapons is just some of the evidence from Musk’s stream that players are using to accuse the billionaire of not playing nearly as much as he says he is. Many are working with the theory that Musk might be paying others to boost his Path of Exile account for him, though there is no confirmation of this. The “why?” in the formula remains a mystery, too, but the idea is that maintaining his status as a gaming expert is something Musk is interested in, regardless of whether he’s actually the one playing the games. Asmongold, whose YouTube channel features numerous other videos discussing content and updates for Path of Exile 2, took the time to address the topic with his own video called 'Elon Musk is not getting away with this...' In the footage, he largely agrees with Quin69TV’s analysis of the situation, believing that Musk may not be as truthful about his experience as he’s letting on. “I thought it was really cool that Elon Musk was, like, a serious player of Diablo, and everything. I did,” Asmongold says. “I thought it was awesome, and I bet he probably did play PoE 2 on day one. I do. I bet he probably played it, and then he stopped.” I’m on hundreds of streams on YouTube/Twitch playing live with the world’s best players. No other way to say this, but, while Asmon IS good at caustic commentary and making fun of people, he is NOT good at video games — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025 In the fallout of Musk’s posts to Asmongold, X’s own Community Notes feature has chimed in to clarify a few points. Regarding the tech billionaire’s comments suggesting that Asmongold must ask his bosses for permission, Community Notes clarifies that the employees mentioned in the leaked screenshots are the streamer’s editor, not his bosses. The user-driven feature also addressed Musk’s comment that Asmongold is “NOT good at video games” by listing his achievements in World of Warcraft. “Was he probably not happy about the PoE video? He’ll get over it,” Asmongold added in a recent livestream. “Listen – it was so obvious. You cannot get mad at me for bringing this up. Everybody was talking about this. Come on, man.” Elon has not directly addressed the widespread criticisms regarding his Path of Exile 2 gameplay at the time of this story’s publication. Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe. 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The early access release will include Lothair de Montdragon, Electrane, and Rurik Haraldson as the three playable characters. View the full article

After waiting for news on a card trading feature since launch, Pokémon TCG Pocket has finally outlined how it will work when it comes later this month. Unfortunately, many Pokémon TCGP players are underwhelmed with the news coming from the game’s developers, with one huge reason why: “Items must be consumed in order to trade.” As with other mobile games, many are assuming this to mean a new, paid consumable. View the full article

fter a hands-on preview with Hyper Light Breaker in late 2024, we walked away liking Heart Machine's neon-splashed Drifter follow-up quite a bit. Our Ted Litchfield called it "a great action game that nails the look and feel of Hyper Light Drifter in a 3D open world," which left him hopeful for how the game might shape up in early access. Since its launch on January 14, Hyper Light Breaker's early access reviews haven't been as favorable: At time of writing, it's sitting at a Mixed rating on steam after receiving nearly 1,600 reviews... Read more.View the full article