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Sometimes everyone already knows what happened to a project, we just need someone to confirm it. In 2017 it was announced that there would be a live-action adaptation of the open-world crime game, Sleeping Dogs, starring Donnie Yen, who was riding high on the success of movies like Ip Man and Rogue One. Director Timo Tjahjanto was also approached to direct, giving this project a real pedigree for anyone who loves hardcore Asian action films. Unfortunately, since about 2018 almost any mention of this movie disappeared. And now Polygon confirmed with Yen that this movie is no longer in the works. "I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights," Yen tells Polygon. "I waited for years. years. And I really wanted to do it... And unfortunately... I don't know, you know how Hollywood goes, right?" Yen calls it an "unfortunate thing," but says he's ready to move "on to better things." Sleeping Dogs was released back in 2012 and was developed by the now defunct United Front Games and published by Square Enix. The open world action game was effectively Grand Theft Auto in Hong Kong, with plenty of influences from Hong Kong crime cinema like Infernal Affairs and Hard Boiled. Starring undercover cop Wei Shen as he infiltrated the local Triad, Sleeping Dogs became something of a cult hit thanks to its mix of action, world design, and star-studded voice cast (including Emma Stone and Lucy Liu). The Definitive Edition received an 8.5 in our review. Unfortunately a sequel and planned spinoff, Triad Wars, never entered into production before United Front shut down, and now the movie adaptation joins the dormant game series. Luckily for fans of Yen, he's been keeping himself quite busy both at home and abroad. Alongside the action movie The Prosecutor, Yen was last seen stateside as the blind assassin Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4, and according to Collider, is in talks to star and direct a Caine spinoff movie. Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor. View the full article

Despite being announced over 3 years ago, not much is publicly known about the mysterious release and gameplay details of Mass Effect 5. Given that BioWare's recent and somewhat controversial Dragon Age: The Veilguard was only just released, the rumors of a 2029 release date for Mass Effect 5 might not be too hard to believe. Regardless of when the next Mass Effect game makes its way into the hands of eager fans, Mass Effect 5 might already show promise of being better than its predecessor, Mass Effect: Andromeda. View the full article

Exploration Support Pack revealed for early purchases on the eShop and at GameStop with various bonus items. View the full article

Ubisoft has announced a new release date for Assassin's Creed Shadows. While the new entry in the classic franchise was planned for February 14, the team will need some extra time to polish the experience. As such, they're delaying the game's launch to March 20, 2025. Alongside the date, they have also shared a note to players explaining the situation. View the full article

If you are a Discord user, you can get a free Jeff The Land Shark Avatar Decoration from Marvel Rivals when Season One releases. The decoration is a small icon on the bottom left part of your avatar featuring Jeff’s default skin and a couple of bubbles. Table of contentsHow to earn the Jeff The Land Shark Avatar Decoration on DiscordCan you get the Jeff The Land Shark Avatar Decoration on consoles? How to earn the Jeff The Land Shark Avatar Decoration on Discord Show your friends your love for the shark. Image via NetEase Games To celebrate Marvel Rival‘s Season One, players can get a limited-time Avatar Decoration on Discord featuring Jeff The Land Shark. You have from Jan. 10 starting at 12am CT to Jan. 16 until 7am CT to complete the Discord Quest and you only need to play Marvel Rivals while on Discord for 15 minutes. View the full article

Management games have tasked us with running theme parks, taking sports teams to glory, and building public transport empires, but only one has you hunting for ****** gold. In the charming but challenging Turmoil, your goal is to become a wealthy oil baron, and now you can grab this highly-rated and strategic management sim for free over on the Epic Games Store. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: We've got 100 copies of oil-rush tycoon game Turmoil to give away. Fancy drilling for some ****** gold? View the full article

A former BioWare artist has shared some early concept sketches for Dragon Age: The Veilguard that give some extra details on the journey of Solas, the sometimes friend, sometimes enemy of the series' protagonists. While Solas plays a major role in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the sketches shared by Nick Thornborrow show him in a different light than what players may be used to. View the full article

The Monster Hunter series first launched on PlayStation 2 in 2004 and has since won over many fans, evolving at a dizzying pace alongside new developments in hardware. While it may sound like a cliché to say that the whole world has been waiting for it, it's not an exaggeration to say that hunters from around the globe have eagerly awaited the next game in the series, Monster Hunter Wilds, releasing at last on February 28, 2025. The gameplay loop that hunters imagine when they hear about Monster Hunter has remained the same throughout the series even after 20 years. Hunt gigantic monsters, strip them of materials, create equipment, then head back into the next hunt. At the same time, though, it seems rare for the game design of a series to so directly reflect the benefits brought about by advances in hardware. Monster Hunter: World, released in 2018, did away with the segmented maps that players were used to seeing in the series, instead allowing them to roam about a single stage without loading times. It also made many other changes, both big and small, but veteran players remained as passionate as ever, helping it to gain global popularity. Gaining Confidence in Monster Hunter Via World The development team also continues to believe that the major turning point for the series in recent years was World, which did away with the fragmented map from previous titles. While Monster Hunter did already have lots of overseas fans, the proportion of them still wasn't very large compared to the Japanese fanbase. Wilds Director Yuya Tokuda has returned following his work on World, and he has the following to say about this phenomenon: "The gameplay loop for a game like Monster Hunter, where players repeatedly gather materials, is agricultural in nature,” he tells IGN. “Some people told me that they believed it would be hard for that to resonate with a global audience." The development team also continues to believe that the major turning point for the series in recent years was Monster Hunter World. At the time of World's creation, the development team did know that the global market was full of shooters and competitive multiplayer games. Kaname Fujioka, who acted as Director starting with the first Monster Hunter and is now Executive Director and Art Director for Wilds, says this was a ******* when he thought about what makes Monster Hunter fun, focusing on what to do in order to bring the game to a wider audience. "Cooperative games weren't part of the mainstream at the time, making World a major challenge for us,” he says. “If multiplayer cooperative play wasn't going to be big to begin with, we would have to reconsider the very form that Monster Hunter takes. But we had absolute confidence about the kind of fun that Monster Hunter provides, and it possessed a history as a series that grew in Japan to become what it was. We never believed that a Japanese sensibility wouldn't be able to land overseas." The rest of the world would surely understand the fun of Monster Hunter. Believing this, the development team decided not to fiddle with or change the central elements of the series, instead keeping the core of what makes it fun intact while trying to convey that enjoyment to a broader range of players. The development team then performed a thorough analysis of what makes Monster Hunter fun in order to do that. The change in the development team's environment must have also largely contributed to World's success. Ryozo Tsujimoto, long-time producer for the Monster Hunter series, tells IGN, "I think you can also credit the fact that it became easier to communicate with foreign fans starting with World. During World's development we developed a strong habit of looking into feedback that we received from overseas, investigating where the issues lay. By digesting what players tell us, regardless of where they're located, we're able to really think about what we're communicating and what's difficult to get across. I believe that this change of environment helped play a major role in changing our own awareness." World gained the support of many players as a result, successfully gaining global popularity. Tokuda says that after seeing the reaction to World, he gained a redoubled confidence in the fundamental kind of fun found within the Monster Hunter games. "Thanks to World, we were able to reaffirm that we hadn't made any mistakes with the core elements of Monster Hunter, giving us confidence once more,” says Tokuda. “It's because of our experience with World that we've been able to feel assured as we take the next step with Wilds, further improving its core while creating an even more attractive game." The development team never bent, always believing in Monster Hunter's charm and the elements at the center of what makes it fun. They began developing Wilds with the success of World driving them forward once updates for World reached a pause. They say the team's mission at first was primarily to test out the available technology with a small team. Producer Tsujimoto tells us about those times. "We predicted that the platforms for the game would be more powerful by the time it was released (with new-generation consoles having come in), and so our mission was to depict the world of Monster Hunter with the technology that would be available at that point in time," he explains. "We've always pictured game design that allows players to immerse themselves in hunts as hunters entering inside of Monster Hunter's carefully depicted ecosystems." What would be possible on new-generation platforms while still making use of their output from World? How could they use the possibilities opened up by new-generation consoles to further evolve the series? Fujioka makes repeated use of a key term when it comes to this: "immersion". "Throughout the Monster Hunter series, we've always pictured game design that allows players to immerse themselves in hunts as hunters entering inside of Monster Hunter's carefully depicted ecosystems,” he says. “Players bought into that sensation to some degree in World, and we tried to take it even further in Wilds." Through repeated technical verifications, it became clear that the team would be able to realize the image they've long held for Monster Hunter. Seamless map design, and an environment that changes with the passing of time. All of this would allow for an even deeper depiction of the ecosystem inhabited by massive monsters and the hunters who hunt them, generating further immersion. Depicting the world of Monster Hunter that has existed from the start of the series in greater depth and detail could allow for the surfacing of an ecosystem that includes the presence of humans in Wilds. "It's nature's two faces of being bountiful yet harsh,” says Tokuda, explaining the world of Wilds. “By depicting these two sides, we hoped to create a world that includes those who live in and become involved with it, like the hunters." Creating Dramatic Moments for All Hunters While Wilds retains the traditional gameplay loop of accepting a quest and going to hunt the relevant monster, Tokuda says that hunters will now need to be aware of what monsters have spawned in the world, hunting them at their discretion based on the state of these monsters. As an example, he explains one possible situation. You're after materials in order to craft a piece of equipment, and so you're sprinting through the Windward Plains on your Seikret. Just then, beyond a cloud of sand, you see a large monster that you aren't currently targeting. It's got several wounds, as it's likely already fought a number of other monsters. It's not as if you need its materials at this very moment, but the rewards would be vast. After a moment of hesitation, you turn back and go after the wounded monster. Hunters need the ability to adapt to their circumstances, and Wilds provides a world where players can experience just that. "The design (in past Monster Hunter games) where you participate in one quest at a time does provide the benefit of a game that you can always play in a stable environment, but you can't help but feel this to be unnatural in ways for a game that depicts ecosystems in the wild,” says Tokuda. “It seems like a given that you'd face different monsters and winds from one day to the next, considering that nature-focused perspective." Scenes before your eyes will change from moment to moment, creating dramatic experiences and giving hunters a sense of immersion as though they're really alive in the game's world. As easy as that is to say, it's by no means simple to realize it in a gaming setting. "There are only a few dramatic scenes and events you get to encounter and experience in everyday life over the course of a year," Fujioka says. Rather than simply constructing a world, we ask what kinds of scenes he wants playing out in front of hunters and his philosophy on creating a game that anticipates these kinds of experiences. "You may only be able to see an evening's beauty for a few dozen minutes over the course of a day, but those moments leave an incredible impression on you,” he replies. “The team has constantly shared an awareness of how important it is to have these kinds of dramatic moments and experiences properly playing out before you in a game while also making sure that they don't appear unnatural. There's the risk of 'nothing happening' to a player within a large open world or with changes in circumstances like seamless shifts in weather. We discussed this concern many times during development, and I was quite aware as a designer to be compacting and connecting what we can do to make things more fun, creating dramatic twists that constantly play out before you." The developers never thought of themselves as making an open-world game. What's important isn't the form that the game takes, but the form of each individual experience encountered by the player. Ever since the announcement of Wilds, many players have seen its seamless stages, real-time environmental changes and other new elements, and called it an "open world Monster Hunter". In fact, I admit that those were the first words to come to my own mind the moment I heard the news about Wilds. But Tsujimoto says that the developers never thought of themselves as making an open world game. "It's not as if the words 'open world' came out of any of our mouths during development, either,” he says. “We wanted players to be able to experience a seamless Monster Hunter, and this is the form we ended up with as we implemented what we wanted." I ask what genre they would call Wilds if they had to give it one, and the three developers look at one another. Fujioka says that while he believes they used phrases like "seamless map" and "seamless stages" during World as well, he could only describe Wilds as a game that gives players "a seamless Monster Hunter experience". It seems that the development team consider the wide-open stages in Wilds as not their goal, but rather a result. According to Tokuda, "Creating large spaces wasn't the goal from the time we made World. It's more accurate to say that they became that large as well as seamlessly connected during the process of properly depicting Monster Hunter's world. More than its size, one of the things that makes Monster Hunter unique is its density of detail. We focused on adding enough density to our stages that just by walking through them, you'll make discoveries, notice interactable elements, and find so much in general, from targets of action to visual aspects. I think that level of detail is a part of depicting the world of Monster Hunter and its ecosystems." Making Monster Hunter More Accessible, Not Easier While the series continues to change with advances in hardware, its core gameplay has always stayed the same. This is because the developers have absolute confidence in what makes it fun. The changes made in World and the improvements found in Wilds have always come from a focus on finding ways to bring what makes Monster Hunter fun to an even larger audience. "We have data showing that many of the people who quit World partway through did so before reaching the part where you're really playing Monster Hunter,” Tsujimoto says of the feedback they received from World. “I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but maybe they couldn't find monsters, or they didn't know what to do once they reached them, or maybe the weapon they brought didn't suit them once it came time for action. We've been incredibly careful in Wilds to guide players to the fun of Monster Hunter without changing the core of the series." Mr. Fujioka explains that it's for this reason that the difficulty in Wilds generally follows suit from World. "Monster Hunter is an action game, which means that you're always going to have some players who never complete the game no matter how much you adjust the numbers,” he says. “That's why we quite carefully analyzed the reasons players can't beat it, or why they can't make it to a hunt, then created a way for them to grow step by step. As you progress through the game, a moment will come when these skills that you've learned one at a time will suddenly all be required of you. At the end of the day, our goal with Monster Hunter is to create action that you can sink your teeth into, and the enjoyment of being able to finally defeat a monster by playing together with a team as one. We've had the goal in every title we've made for people picking up Monster Hunter for the first time to ultimately be able to reach the same skill level as veteran hunters." Given Fujioka’s comments, it sounds as though the development team never even considered making monsters weaker in order to make the game more accessible. They believe in the hunters who decide to take on Monster Hunter, and they want to avoid at all costs lessening the fun that those hunters should eventually come to find. Instead of resorting to the simplest possible way to improve accessibility, they decided to think about a player's experience and design a game that matches it. Tokuda continues, "For Wilds, we conducted an even closer analysis of a player's growth curve. It's good that Great Jagras, the first large monster in World, could easily be hit from many different angles, but it had a broad range of attacks in return, making it feel difficult for those not used to action games. Chatacabra, the first monster in Wilds, has only focused attacks, while the next monster, Quematrice, has wider-ranging attacks. We've designed it in this way so that players will gradually learn how to respond as they get used to the game's action." Another Core: The Communication Factor The developers also spoke about how one other element that helps define Monster Hunter is the communication between hunters. My first time playing Monster Hunter with others was with Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on the PlayStation Portable, but even back then there were already many veteran hunters who had come before me. I remember them taking me by the hand and guiding me through what I needed to bring on hunts and what to do when encountering a monster. But without those people around me, I doubt I ever would have ever become a hunter. "You didn't even know where to mine, right?" Tsujimoto laughs. "Networked communication wasn't as easy back in those days, so it was like whoever found something became a hero. That information and enjoyment would then spread from there. We even had monsters that we never officially announced in order to encourage more communication." Fujioka says these tricks existed within Monster Hunter from the very beginning. "In the mission for Lao-Shan Lung, you're asked to simply repel the monster, but it's actually possible to kill it,” he says. “It's designed so that it can be properly defeated even if that isn't the goal. That information was never officially announced, though, so a player would get that experience and spread the information from there. We were intentional about putting that into the game." Monster Hunter began as an action game that can be enjoyed with other players, communication included. That philosophy has remained consistent ever since its start in 2004. "What we set out to create from the very start was action enjoyed with others, whether that's in the game's setting or in its gameplay,” continues Fujioka. “The focus is on how much fun we can bring players through its action, and just how solid the push and pull against monsters feels. I think that what makes Monster Hunter unique is that you can get a serious action experience whether you're playing alone or with three others." It may be a little early to ask, but now that Wilds nears its release, what do the developers see in Monster Hunter’s future? When I ask Fujioka this, he replies with a forced laugh. "The future, huh..." He then goes silent for a bit, as if to think back on his time developing the game, then continues, picking his words with care. "... Well, I think I've exhausted myself with Wilds, and it feels like it'll be difficult to take a broader view of the game until a while after its release,” he admits. “What I can say, though, is that there has been a dizzying amount of change in the last decade or two, like online games becoming the standard. Advances in hardware and technology are of course going to continue as well. It was a huge shock when the PSP came out and we saw the level of specs that portable games were now capable of. That would have been unimaginable 20 years before its release. All we can do is make games. But when something incredible that feels truly advanced comes along, we get so many ideas about what to do next with Monster Hunter. I think Monster Hunter is just going to keep changing to match the shifts and advances of the times." The interview left me with the powerful feeling that these creators firmly believe in how fun Monster Hunter is. At the same time, their faith is strong that hunters around the world will enjoy Monster Hunter. They leave the core fun of the games untouched while bringing hunters to new horizons made visible by advances in hardware. After the leap that was World, these creators now aim for even greater heights with Wilds. I can barely wait until the day that I get to hunt in the world they've created with it. Monster Hunter Wilds is scheduled for release on February 28. Check out our exclusive Oilwell Basin Ajarakan and Rompopolo gameplay videos, and look out for more exclusive interview articles and videos throughout January as part of IGN First. Shuka Yamada is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom. View the full article

Marvel Rivals still suffers from crashes and disconnects on PCs and consoles. By building the game on Unreal Engine 5, NetEase has made it more unstable without significantly improving the graphics. Mainly for PC owners, the burden of troubleshooting is left to the player base. These issues affect not only the person who crashed but everyone else who remains in the match. Teammates will be punished in several ways, and the winners are likely to have an inflated perception of their skills. View the full article

Ubisoft just delayed Assassin's Creed: Shadows by another month, amid a time of troubled financials, continued cost cuts, and ongoing rumors the company was preparing for a ***** to gaming giant Tencent. In an emergency conference call today, investors grilled CEO Yves Guillemot and CFO Frederick Duguet for answers on all of the above - but their responses didn't provide much reassurance. Ubisoft's call today came alongside not just the delay announcement, but a seeming confirmation of sorts that Ubisoft is preparing to sell, or at least strongly considering it. Per the press release, the company has "appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders. This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes." Back in October, Bloomberg reported that Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent were in discussions to take the company private following a number of high-profile flops, game cancellations, and the collapse of the company's share price. At the time, the talks were merely exploratory, and Ubisoft told IGN it would "inform the market if and when appropriate." Today's update seems to suggest that such talks, either with Tencent or in some other capacity, have moved forward in some way. But it's unclear exactly how, and Ubisoft's shareholders understandably wanted more details during the conference call today. But Guillemot and Duguet weren't biting. First, they were asked directly by a Morgan Stanley representative: "On the various transformation strategic and capitalistic options, it's a bit of a vague phrase if you don't mind me saying. Could you perhaps elaborate on the kind of things you're talking about? And perhaps particularly, there were press reports of detailed discussions with Tencent that were reported on in December. Should we read that there is now some sort of proposal which the independent board members are going to review against other options? Or is that not what you mean by that?" Duguet replied: The objective of this process is to unlock the best value potential of our assets to the benefit of our stakeholders, and to foster the best conditions to create great games in the fast-evolving market. That's the overall objective, so that's why we mentioned that we appointed leading advisors. So we are currently actively exploring different options. And we can't say more. Of course we won't comment on specific rumors we have seen in the market, but we are convinced there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft assets and franchises. We will inform the market if and when a transaction materializes. That...doesn't really clarify anything! And the Morgan Stanley guy seemed to feel the same, because he followed up by acknowledging Ubisoft didn't want to say what the different options were, but asked if they could say "whether there are any concrete courses of action or scenarios that are being considered, or is this more of an exploratory kind of process?" elaborating that he wanted to know what was different about this announcement as opposed to past statements by Ubisoft about such exploration. Duguet's response was short. "We are limited with what we can say today, but we've started a process." Then, seemingly realizing this could be interpreted as a too-specific confirmation, added, "with advisors." The other shareholders didn't let Ubisoft off the hook here. A Barclays representative pointed out to Guillemot and Duguet that Tencent had recently been designated as a ******** military company by the U.S., and wanted to know if that would hinder it becoming the majority owner of Ubisoft. Guillemot declined to comment. A representative from HSBC asked "what stage" the advisors were at, and when Guillemot could expect to get some initial findings. Guillemot would only say they "have started working" and that they could expect "good progress" in the coming months. Admittedly, there's only so much Guillemot and Duguet can say about a potential acquisition without throwing it into legal and negotiational jeopardy, but that doesn't mean the skepticism around the board's alleged plans wasn't warranted. A number of other questions went unanswered during the call, such as a question about how many AAA games Ubisoft expected to release in the coming fiscal year ("you'll know more by May") and what specific sort of feedback Ubisoft got that sparked the month-long delay of Assassin's Creed: Shadows (Duguet and Guillemot tag-teamed an answer about positive community sentiment that did not address the investor's actual question at all). Overall, the tone of the discussion was one of significant concern for the health of Ubisoft and the shareholders' investments, and it's no surprise why. For several years now, Ubisoft has seemed to be in a strange, slow downward spiral, with a number of high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, game cancellations, and delay after delay after delay. Meanwhile, rumors continue to spin about what exact proposals the board is considering, with some media outlets floating the idea that Tencent is increasingly reluctant to embrace Ubisoft due to the Guillemot family's insistance on retaining a significant amount of control. Sans Tencent, there are few other companies big enough and rich enough to spend the cash needed to save the albatross Ubisoft has grown into. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article

Using a broom to fly around in Hogwarts Legacy is both an excellent means of travel and a great way to really take in the stunning scenery. It’s also incredibly fun, so you certainly don’t want to miss out on mastering broom control. Knowing how to use a broom is essential for traveling around the vast explorable world, but it’s a decently tricky process to master. If you’re struggling to master flight, here’s everything you need to know about using a broom in Hogwarts Legacy. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Rangers in the South is a roguelike ARPG in which multiple generations of adventurers try to defeat a ****** lord causing chaos in the world. The game features permadeath, meaning that once you die everything on your character is lost, but their stashed items and world progress are transferred to the next generation of […] Source View the full article

Amid cheater complaints and a long wait until season two, a new ****** Ops 6 update is now live with fixes to a couple of other ongoing issues. In an update last week, Treyarch added a timer that basically screwed up Zombies spawns in Directed Mode, where many players were playing to grind camos. The spawn delay and extended time were crucial to the fun of this mode. View the full article

Destiny 2 chugs on as a live-service title in 2025, and one of the most exciting yearly traditions continues as well. Each year, Bungie hosts a vote for players to decide which armor ornament sets will be available during its Halloween-themed Festival of the Lost Event every fall. Last year it was Good Wizards vs. Evil Wizards, while previous years had Spider vs. Beetle, and so on. But 2025 might be the coolest theme yet. View the full article

Ambessa Medarda was the first Arcane character to join League of Legends alongside the release of the show’s second season. A new year is upon us, and Riot Games is now introducing Ambessa’s daughter, Mel, to the game. We have all of her abilities listed below. Prior to Mel’s official announcement, players who watched Arcane expected her to be added to the League eventually. Most have predicted her to be a support champion, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. With her powerful, damaging abilities, Mel could be one of the most dangerous mages in the game, bound to dominate the mid lane. View the full article

Radiant Greninja fans, beware. The most turbulent—and exciting—time of the year is just around the corner for Pokémon Trading Card Game players, promising to turn most competitively viable decks on their head and shake up the scene. Play! Pokémon announced the next Standard Rotation for the Pokémon TCG on Jan. 9 in an article, highlighting which cards would be dropped from the roster and when fans can expect to see changes in the competitive scene for this format. Rotation will be taking place on April 11, meaning cards with the F Regulation Mark will no longer be eligible for tournament play. From that point, only cards with G and H will be allowed in official competitive settings when the Standard format is in play. View the full article

Image: Naughty Dog The Last of Us Part 2 remaster is joining the PlayStation Network club. That means you’ll need to link a PSN account if you want to play the game after buying it on Steam, Epic Games, and other PC platforms when it launches in April, as spotted earlier by Video Games Chronicle. The requirement has proven very unpopular with other Sony titles released on PC, including Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarök, and the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. Last year, Helldiver players review-bombed the game after it suddenly introduced PSN account linking, leading Sony to walk back on the requirement completely. Screenshot: Steam It’s still not clear why Sony requires a PSN account to play The Last of Us Part 2, as it doesn’t have any multiplayer features, and the requirement may also prevent people across dozens of countries where PSN isn’t supported from playing the game. The Last of Us Part 2 remaster launches on PC on April 3rd for $49.99. View the full article

Yakuza franchise developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has confirmed that New Game Plus in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be added for free at a later date. Set in and around Hawaii, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will chronicle franchise icon Goro Majima's zany pirate adventure after the events of 2024's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. View the full article

Team Rocket is returning to Pokémon Go during the Dual Destiny season for Fashion Week 2025. You can expect to see additional Team Rocket Grunts, leaders, Giovanni, and new Shadow Pokémon appearing halfway through this event. The Taken Over portion of the event does not start at the same time as Fashion Week 2025. It’ll be a few days after that, giving you plenty of time to prepare to face off against Team Rocket grunts and tracking down various leaders. The grunts, leaders, and Giovanni will have several new Shadow Pokémon captured, with Giovanni having the biggest one of all: Palkia. This means you need a Super Rocket Radar to track him down. Here’s what you need to know about when the Fashion Week 2025 Taken Over event begins in Pokémon Go. View the full article

Every time an Old School RuneScape story crops up, there's a ******* of acclimatisation where I struggle to work out exactly what the players are doing and why. I'm not unfamiliar with the game, having played it way back in the day, but RuneScape at the extremes can be a pretty wild place, a world where players suddenly break the dam on a 16 year-old minigame by overwhelming guards en masse, or some thrillseeker risks a 370-hour no-hit account to get a fancy cape (to be fair, it does have flames)... Read more.View the full article

Jinx's Super Mega Death Rocket is hurtling towards Piltover's Council Chambers, shattering a rare moment of peace. As its leering smile draws ever-closer, Mel Medarda's back shimmers with gold, alerting her to the fact that something is coming, and it's not good. From that moment on, I knew that we'd see her join the Rift's ever-growing roster at some point, and now is the perfect time. Yes, that's right, Arcane's Mel Medarda is the new League of Legends champion, and she joins the fray just in time for LoL's Noxian-themed first season. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Riot confirms League of Legends LeBlanc visual update, despite divisive response "Horrible" new League of Legends patch is made for Arcane viewers, Caedrel says Which League of Legends skins are currently on *****? View the full article

It may have taken several years, but AMD has finally joined Nvidia in the AI resolution upscaling club with FSR 4, and I had a chance to play with the new tech on a new AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card at CES. The company had two machines set up for a side-by-side comparison, one with FSR 3 and one with AMD FSR 4, and the difference is instantly noticeable. Of course, the bar was already low here. AMD might be able to say its FSR tech works on any GPU, but Nvidia DLSS has always had the upper hand when it comes to image quality. Now, however, it looks as though AMD has finally nailed the formula with FSR 4, at least from our time with it at CES. There are some caveats, though, one of which is that the tech currently only works on the company's new GPUs, such as the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT release date, price, and specs AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT benchmark leaks show it beating the Nvidia RTX 4080 Super AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT pre-orders could start this month, suggests one retailer View the full article

NetEase Games has posted Marvel Rivals Season 1 patch notes, revealing every change coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S players when update version 20250110 drops later tonight. Included in the full rundown are mentions of more substantial additions we’ve known about, such as new heroes Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, as well as smaller changes, like a streaming mode feature and more fleshed-out graphics and settings options on PC. We also now have a first look at fixes for some of the glitches and bugs that players have dealt with, including a new “get unstuck” feature that can be used when your character finds themselves unintentionally attached to the terrain. Also set to arrive in the upcoming Marvel Rivals update are a variety of tweaks to many of the roster’s heroes. Doctor Strange and Magik, for example, have had a few “minor movement ability discrepancies” fixed, while Winter Soldier’s ultimate ability will now respond more consistently. It’s a list of mostly small adjustments for players on all platforms that should ensure everyone enjoys a smoother experience across the board. There have also been a number of changes to tournaments, such as an automatic follow function, a faction reporting function, and a spectating channel. “We will continue to vigilantly monitor game bug issues and fix them as fast as we can,” NetEase adds. “We also have another patch with new content in the works!” The team detailed hero balance adjustments elsewhere, providing an inventory of every buff and nerf set to shake up the Marvel Rivals meta in Season 1. Highlights include hits to characters like Hela and Hawkeye, while heroes like Moon Knight and Storm are going into the new season with some improvements to their damage output. With these changes comes what NetEase is calling its Hero Hot List, which includes pick and win rate stats for every one of its playable characters. Marvel Rivals Season 1 officially kicks off tomorrow, and you can click here to see its global release times. With its introduction of the Fantastic Four comes a story that pits Earth’s mightiest heroes against Dracula and his legion of the undead. The first half of the season gives players access to Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, with the second half set to bring The Thing and the Human Torch. Meanwhile, as if the emergence of Dracula wasn’t enough of a clue, a recent leak has suggested that the vampire-hunting Daywalker Blade may make an appearance as a playable character in Season 2. While we wait for more information on the future of NetEase’s popular hero shooter, you can read the full list of patch notes below. Marvel Rivals Season 1 Version 20250110 Patch Notes Rivals, Assemble! As the light fades and the eternal night falls, Dracula and his undead legion have seized control of New York City. Before we embark on the epic battle to banish the darkness and restore the light, dive into the thrilling details of this update! 1. New Content1.1 All Platforms Heroes and Costumes - Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman join Marvel Rivals! - New Costumes: Mister Fantastic - The Maker; Invisible Woman - Malice! Maps and Modes - Explore the new Convoy map - Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown. - Prepare for the thrilling arcade mode (Doom Match) and its map (Sanctum Sanctorum): 8-12 players will engage in battle, with the top 50% emerging victorious. - New feature: In Convoy and Convergence, both sides can transition to the next spawn room sometime after the attacking side completes the current target. - Enhanced feature: During the loading phase of a Quick Match, you can now view the Nameplates of both sides. Season & Store - Unlock a dazzling shiny new Battle Pass featuring 10 brand new sets of heroic costumes! - Embark on the first thrilling half of the Midnight Features Season Event! - Dive into the latest Twitch Drops event, featuring rewards such as the Hela - Will of Galacta costume. (Stay tuned for official announcements for specific times) - We have revised the refresh times for various in-game content. Beginning with Season 1, the unlock time for daily missions, the availability of new items in the store, and the start time for most events have been adjusted from 7:00 (UTC+0) to 9:00 (UTC+0). - Additionally, we have optimized the mission types and removed some of the more challenging ones. Ranked - Introducing the Celestial Rank, a tier above Grandmaster and below Eternity, consisting of 3 divisions. - Rank Reset: based on your final Season 0 rank, ranks will be demoted by 7 divisions. For example, if you ended Season 0 at Platinum I, your Season 1 journey begins at Silver II. Tournaments - Newly added automatic follow function for tournament sign-ups: Faction members can opt to follow the captain on the sign-up page. When the captain/coach initiates or cancels the sign-up process, following members will automatically confirm. Please note, this feature, once activated, is effective for the current season only. - New faction reporting function: Report factions for perceived misconduct in the same tournament within the past 90 days. - New spectating channel: Chat in real-time with fellow rivals while spectating the same match. - When spectating, the target player's hotkeys and crosshair settings will be prominently displayed. - New setting option: Block all active invitations and faction join requests. General - Streaming Mode: In Settings - Social, new settings have been added under the social setting allowing streamers to conceal their name as needed (only effective locally; other players in the same match can still see it). 1.2 PC Graphics and Settings - Enhanced and optimized graphics settings for improved performance: · New: Added a new "Off" option under "Anti-Aliasing". · New: Included a "Performance" option for "Model Detail". · New: Integrated a new "Off" option under "Global Illumination". · New: Added a new "Off" option for "Reflection Quality". · Optimization: Adjusted and optimized various parameters within the graphics settings. - Mouse Settings: Under Settings, the Keyboard - Combat category now includes new settings for mouse smoothing and mouse acceleration, enabling customization as required. - Support Intel® XeSS 2: With Intel® Xe Super Sampling 2 (XeSS 2), experience faster, smoother gameplay with higher image quality and a more connected playing experience with Intel® Xe Frame Generation (XeFG), Intel® Xe Low Latency (XeLL). 2. Fixes and Optimizations2.1 All Platforms General - Resolved numerous issues related to notifications. - Rectified various text errors. Maps and Modes - Solved several terrain issues causing characters to become stuck or move to unusual locations. Such issues will continue to be monitored and addressed. We have also added a "get unstuck" feature: if a character is stuck in terrain for a specific duration, you can now control it to return to the spawn room. - Fixed various issues including floating broken objects, collision errors, etc. - Fixed various map sound problems. - Resolved an extremely rare issue where overtime couldn't be triggered or wouldn't end. - Also resolved an exceptionally rare abnormal draw occurrence issue. Heroes - Corrected minor movement ability discrepancies for certain heroes (like Doctor Strange and Magik) at both low and high frame rates. - Addressed occasional malfunctions with, or inability to use Wolverine's team-up ability. - Fixed occasional incorrect resets of Winter Soldier's ultimate ability. - Fixed an issue where the Winter Soldier's ultimate ability would sometimes fail to hit targets within its range. - Corrected instances where Iron Man's ultimate ability would sometimes pass through Hela during her ultimate ability. - Resolved occasional synchronization issues for Venom and Spider-Man after swinging and wall-crawling. - Rectified a situation where Rocket Raccoon, while on Groot's shoulders, could irregularly place Battle Rebirth Beacons (B.R.B.) in abnormal map locations, trapping teammates after revival. - Fixed occasional camera irregularities after Loki transformed into certain characters during his ultimate ability. - Fixed a visibility issue that could sometimes occur when Adam Warlock/Mantis/Star-Lord were in soul form within the mist on Wakanda maps where they couldn't see or be seen by others. - Rectified instances where Squirrel Girl's ultimate ability could get stuck on specific terrain. - Fixed occasional damage loss in Rocket Raccoon's primary attack. - Addressed irregularities and occasional failure to end Wolverine's Feral Leap, along with occasional abnormal behavior. - Resolved instances where Luna Snow's ultimate ability occasionally failed to heal teammates. - Fixed occasional sound irregularities that could occur after being consumed by the Jeff the Land Shark's ultimate ability. - Addressed various ability sound and voice errors for several heroes. - Optimized the playback rules for hero ability voices during combat to reduce auditory confusion. 2.2 Console - Resolved an issue where after console matchmaking, teammates on Xbox were incorrectly shown as muted on other platforms, necessitating manual unmuting to remove the status display. - Rectified instances where for some heroes, when the Field of View changed, the auxiliary sight intensity and crosshair sensitivity did not adjust accordingly. - Resolved an issue where certain button settings were not taking effect as intended. - The global focus switching algorithm has been optimized for smoother overall operation. We will continue to vigilantly monitor game bug issues and fix them as fast as we can. We also have another patch with new content in the works! Be sure to follow our socials for all the latest news! 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. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

2024 was a pretty amazing year for new survival games. While Ark 2 unfortunately went AWOL, we still had Palworld, Once Human, and more arrive. For me, though, the most intriguing has been V Rising, which emerged out of early access and enraptured survival fans with its haunting open-world, clever crafting, and castle construction. Developer Stunlock Studios has just revealed that V Rising has now surpassed five million copies sold and says that its slate of updates throughout 2025 will "redefine" the game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The best vampire games to play in 2025 Vampire survival game V Rising unveils plans for a mega 1.1 update Castlevania expands V Rising with free updates to its vampire filled DLC pack View the full article

The upcoming DnD Monster Manual aims to inject new life into encounters with the game's titular monster, adding a ton of variety and loads of new abilities to ensure high level dragons are "really bringing the hurt". Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: DnD sizes explained All DnD classes explained This unofficial DnD monster is pure, concentrated 'nope' View the full article