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I’m not sure how we got to this point in the gaming community, or in society in general, but there’s some thought-provoking news coming out of the Fortnite scene today. “Skibidi Toilet” is coming to the game tomorrow, according to Fortnite data miner SpushFNBR on X (formerly Twitter). A line from Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel Watchmen comes to mind: “If that statement starts to chill you after a couple of moments’ consideration, then don’t be alarmed. A feeling of intense and crushing terror at the concept indicates only that you are still sane”—or at the very least, over the age of 12. View the full article

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is coming to an end in February 2025. The D&D title struggled to gain solid footing after its 2021 release, even after a series of updates fixed some of the game's most pressing issues. It seems these fixes were not enough, as the devs behind Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance have announced they're shutting down its servers early next year. View the full article

Marvel Rivals is off to a solid start, considering how many live service shooters have failed to hit the mark this year—and it's aimed to keep that momentum with its first seasonal event starting December 20, dubbed the "Marvel Rivals Winter Celebration", for which Netease released a trailer earlier today and, hold on, wait a minute, is that baby shark Splatoon?.. Read more.View the full article

I quite enjoyed the first initial demo of Tempest Rising, a classic RTS like Westwood used to make (Red Alert, Command & Conquer) only a lot shinier and now it has a release date along with a new trailer. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

2024 will likely be remembered as a transitional year for Nintendo. Last year saw heavy hitters like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder while next year is all about the Nintendo Switch 2, leaving this year in kind of an awkward middle ground. Even so, Switch owners still had a ton of great games to play during the aging console’s eighth year on the market as Nintendo somehow managed to publish a game every single month, while third-party and indie developers continued to support Switch with awesome series revivals and clever new ideas. While many fans were begging to turn the page to the next generation, Nintendo proved Switch still had enough in the tank for one more year with a surprise Zelda game where you actually play as Princess Zelda, our favorite Mario Party in years, and a whole lot more. These are the best Nintendo games of 2024, starting off with the honorable mentions. Honorable Mentions A couple of titles just barely missed out making our top tier or picks for the year. For years, the concept of a Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake felt as mythical and unattainable as opening the titular door itself, but Nintendo finally listened to this RPG’s extremely vocal fanbase and delivered a near perfect retelling of Mario’s iconic GameCube quest. It’s remarkable how well The Thousand-Year Door holds up 20 years later, with its hilarious script, satisfying combat, lovable party members, and memorable locations. Mario literally climbs the ranks of a pro wrestling league set on a floating island in the sky, and that’s just the setting for one chapter of this epic adventure. And, following the last few Paper Mario entries that traded in unique, original characters in favor of hordes upon hordes of samey Toads, it’s a complete delight to see the slimy city of Rogueport and its surrounding areas peppered with fresh personalities. Simply giving The Thousand-Year Door a gorgeous new coat of paint and sprinkling in a few quality-of-life improvements has instantly placed it on the list of the best RPGs on Switch. And then there's Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, a stunning return to form for a series that had completely lost its way for the better part of the last two decades. After several misguided attempts to get the monkey ball rolling again, the pieces finally fell into place in Banana Rumble thanks to the tightest controls, physics, and level design the series has seen since Super Monkey Ball 2 in 2003. Tilting the stage to roll your monkey to the finish feels right again, and the new spin dash ability significantly opens up speedrunning and trick shot techniques without feeling like a betrayal to Monkey Ball’s core mechanics like some past gimmicks did. It doesn’t hold back by the end either, with devilish late-game obstacles that will throw your monkey off the stage dozens of times before you finally break through that sweet, sweet goal. It’s also a fantastic game to play with others, as you can tackle all of Banana Rumble’s 200+ stages in local or online co-op with up to four players. It may not quite soar to the lofty heights of the GameCube originals, but it’s undeniable that Super Monkey Ball is back after years of fall outs, and I’m both shocked and overjoyed I get to say that in 2024. Runner-Up: Super Mario Party Jamboree Now we move onto the runner-ups – the games that narrowly missed out on the top spot. First is Super Mario Party Jamboree, one of Nintendo’s finest efforts of 2024, which simultaneously became a go-to multiplayer game on Switch and a standout entry in the longrunning dice-rolling, backstabbing series. It has pretty much everything you’d want from a great Mario Party: a wonderful set of seven boards each with their own unique wrinkles, an incredibly fun and varied set of minigames you’ll want to return to again and again, and a huge roster of 22 playable characters filled with both fan favorites and deep cuts. Plus, if you’ve been on the wrong end of one too many Chance Times or Bowser Revolutions and just can’t take it anymore, the all-new optional Pro Rules offer an alternative take on Mario Party that lessen the luck-based elements and emphasize skill and strategy. Jamboree is particularly exciting because it’s easily the best original Mario Party game developed by Nintendo Cube, the studio that’s been in charge of the series since 2012’s Mario Party 9. The developers spent years trying to completely transform the Mario Party formula – from putting all four players into a car, to having everyone take their turn at the same time – and it just never really worked. But the Switch era represents a comeback story for the Mario Party series, beginning with Super Mario Party which was a step in the right direction, but still not entirely there. Then, Nintendo Cube returned to the franchise’s greatest hits in Mario Party Superstars, which was a ton of fun, but it wasn’t original content. Finally, the Mario Party comeback arc is complete with new boards, items, and minigames that stand side-by-side with the greats and cement Jamboree as a modern multiplayer classic. Runner-Up: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes If you like head-scratching, mind-bending puzzle games like Return of the Obra Dinn and The Witness, then Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a must-play to add to your Switch wishlist. Created by Sayonara Wild Hearts developer Simogo, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes features the same unrivaled presentation and atmosphere with a tantalizing mystery to match. The story begins with Lorelei arriving at a creepy, surreal hotel and within minutes you’ll be enraptured by unraveling its greatest mysteries and discovering why she was summoned there in the first place. Our reviewer Tom Marks called it “the closest thing I’ve played to a modernization of what a point-and-click adventure could be,” saying “Its story is enticingly fresh, its vibes perfectly eerie, and the desire it evokes to uncover every inch of its intricately interwoven mystery is irresistible.” It’s also not afraid to scare you. While it never treads too far into horror game territory, it effectively keeps you on edge with a handful of frightening moments as you dive deeper down its ever-expanding rabbit hole. As Tom said, “Lorelei and the Laser Eyes does do a fantastic job of unsettling you as you go, using its beautiful ******-and-white visual style with pops of neon to create haunting, abstract imagery that can sometimes be as anxiety-inducing as any monster.” This is one of the best examples of a small developer bringing a brilliant set of ideas to Switch in 2024, resulting in an unforgettable journey that’s not quite like anything else on the console. Runner-Up: Unicorn Overlord It’s been a phenomenal year for RPGs, and Unicorn Overlord is a big reason why. This is a superb high-fantasy strategy RPG from 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim developer Vanillaware, and the developer’s iconic art style is on full display with Unicorn Overlord’s beautifully animated characters and backgrounds, along with some of the most unnecessarily good-looking food we’ve ever seen in a video game. Our reviewer Eric Zalewski said Unicorn Overlord has one of his favorite strategy RPG combat systems ever, praising its unique blend of real-time strategy and turn-based RPG mechanics that result in something entirely new and delightfully deep. You’ll need to expertly maneuver your squads and fully engage with its complex ability system to succeed on the higher difficulties, and our review praised the scenarios you’re thrust into across Unicorn Overlord’s diverse maps, calling the mechanics and gimmicks presented some of the very best in the genre. Unicorn Overlord’s fairly stereotypical story about a prince fighting to take back his kingdom is immaculately presented across five separate arcs that each add vital context to the tale, with Eric saying, “Rather than lengthy exposition or 30-minute lore dumps, its wonderfully realized world is gradually fleshed out by the people you interact with, providing interesting perspectives as you learn the stories of both your allies and your enemies. Its overarching plot may be rather simple as a result, sticking closely to genre tropes, but when paired with a beautiful presentation, even familiar stories manage to feel fresh.” Unicorn Overlord is a special RPG in a year full of them, and proof that some third-party developers are still bringing the good stuff to Nintendo Switch. Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom There were a lot of great Switch games this year, but in the end it’s tough to beat The Legend of Zelda, and Echoes of Wisdom is IGN’s pick for the best Nintendo game of 2024. Echoes of Wisdom marks a lot of exciting firsts for the series: It’s the first new top-down Zelda game on Switch, the first time a Zelda game is played largely without a sword, and most importantly it’s the first time Princess Zelda is the playable character in a mainline entry. However, this isn’t just a traditional adventure where Zelda simply takes the place of Link. Instead, Echoes of Wisdom carves out its own niche in Hyrule’s history thanks to its central copy-and-paste gameplay mechanic where Zelda can summon Echoes of objects and enemies she encounters to solve puzzles and take down powerful foes in unique ways. From plopping down a bed to restore her health with a quick nap whenever and wherever to finally turning the tables and commanding enemies that have been nuisances for years, there’s no shortage of fun, innovative uses for the dozens of Echoes at Zelda’s disposal. It takes a page from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom by setting players loose to find their own solutions, where the only wrong answers are the ones that don’t work. It only took hours after Echoes of Wisdom’s launch to see crazy improvisational combinations surfacing on social media, like tornado beds and crows endlessly chasing after a chunk of meat just out of their reach, leading to a pretty reliable form of flight. Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t entirely return to the classic top-down setup that a lot of longtime fans miss, but it takes several half steps that bridge the gap between the modern formula and the old favorites. Hyrule is littered with Heart Pieces to find, warm orchestral melodies accompany nearly every step of the journey, and many characters, locations, and other references make Echoes of Wisdom feel like a love letter to cherished Zelda games like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and many others. With Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo once again took the Zelda series in a bold, unexpected direction, giving Hyrule’s princess her long-awaited starring role with new gameplay concepts we never could have imagined beforehand, and that’s why it’s our pick for the best Nintendo game of the year. Let us know what your pick is for the best Switch game of the year, and be sure to check out all of the other categories for the 2024 IGN Awards. More of IGN's 2024 AwardsThe Best Anime of 2024The Best Horror Movie of 2024The Best PC Game of 2024The Best Comic Book Series or Original Graphic Novel of 2024The Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie of 2024The Best Nintendo Game of 2024IGN Awards 2024: The Nominees[/url] View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Borderlands 4 narrative director Sam Winkler responds to a fan online and reveals that Gearbox is cutting back on references to memes and reliance on toilet-based humor. The franchise is well known for its humor and references, though Borderlands 4 may be looking to course correct after many felt that its predecessor took things too far in terms of its tone and reliance on memes and streaming. View the full article

Big changes are in store for the way Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 handles cheaters, with the game announcing improvements to its Ricochet Anti-Cheat system. More accounts are being banned at a faster rate, and the leaderboard clean-up process is also being improved significantly. These changes follow complaints regarding Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6, specifically the game's ranked multiplayer mode, which has been filled with cheaters since it first launched. View the full article

Loading screens are a fact of gaming life. When you exit the Capital Wasteland and walk into Megaton in Fallout 3, there's a loading screen. When you go to see the Jarl in Whiterun, loading screen. From the mightiest open-world games to the smallest indies - from Grand Theft Auto to Half-Life to Dead Cells - loading goes with the gaming territory. Starfield, Bethesda's somewhat struggling sci-fi epic from 2023, naturally features loading screens, too. But according to one former developer from the Elder Scrolls and Fallout 76 studio, there are sections of Starfield that "could have existed" without so much segmentation. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The 66 best Starfield mods This official Doom themed Starfield mod lets you play a hellish new quest Grab Starfield at its lowest price ever, with the space RPG at almost half price View the full article

Every time I check out the newest Skyrim mods, I come away needing to scrub my eyes. While there are some astounding gameplay tweaks, quests, and creative ideas on display, that game's modding scene is so big that every time I blink there's another upload that'll haunt my nightmares for weeks. With the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port around the corner, I'm certain Cloud's latest adventure will also have many mods at launch. Square Enix thinks so, too, and the game's director has asked players to refrain from making mods that aren't, shall we say, 'proper.' Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: You can grab the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port at a big discount before launch FF7 Rebirth PC release date estimate, story, and more FF7 Remake part 3's airship has a new aspect that will "blow you away" View the full article

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is being delisted on February 2, 2025, it’s been announced. The a co-op action RPG will remain purchasable up until that date, after which the base game and its DLC it will remain playable offline in single player only. The news was confirmed in a message posted on console and PC digital storefronts. Read More... View the full article

Almost a decade ago, Warframe players were using weapons like The Tipedo to send themselves flying through the air at ludicrous speeds. This turned the mobility game on its heads, allowing folks with the dexterity to do so to quickly soar through levels. Digital Extremes, rather than remove this bug, made it a feature. Now, with Warframe 1999, it seems a similar revolution in the mobility game has happened again. Read more View the full article

Path of Exile 2 is tough, a much more challenging affair than most other ARPGs. The Ranger was the third class I played, and let me tell you—if you're looking for a leg up to handle the difficulty, you've come to the right place. After being on the struggle bus for days, especially with my Chronomancer, playing a Ranger was easy breezy and I thoroughly enjoyed blasting everything to bits... Read more.View the full article

While Sony’s dormant first-person shooter franchise Killzone seems dead in the water in terms of brand new games, it looks set to live on via a crossover with Helldivers 2. The gritty first-person shooter franchise saw five games released from 2004 to 2013 for a range of PlayStation consoles as Sony took on Xbox's Halo, culminating in PlayStation 4 launch title Killzone Shadow Fall. But fans haven’t heard a peep out of Killzone ever since (save a T-shirt in The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered), with the last decade and seemingly beyond devoted to developer Guerrilla Games' smash hit Horizon franchise. Based on recent comments from one developer, however, we perhaps now know why. Warning! Helldivers 2 spoilers ahead! Helldivers 2 dataminer Iron_S1ghts tweeted details on the unannounced Righteous Revenants Warbond, which include armor that features the gas masks and red eyes that will be instantly recognizable as belonging to the Helghast, Killzone’s villainous enemy. Cementing the leak as legitimate is the telltale asset takedown following a request from the “copyright holder,” in this case Sony. (Leak) Righteous Revenants Warbond#Helldivers2 [Hidden Content] — IronS1ghts (@Iron_S1ghts) December 13, 2024 Killzone feels like a great fit for Helldivers 2, and this leaked crossover has already sparked excitement among fans that Sony may be ready to return to the franchise. Alas, developer Guerrilla Games has its hands full with the Horizon Online project and the inevitable Horizon 3, so if Sony does have plans for more Killzone, it will probably have to come from another developer. Last month, Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt cautioned against doing too many crossovers, saying “it would dilute the IP and make it a ‘not Helldivers’ experience.” However, he also published an extended list of IPs he “really would love to do a take on!” Killzone, perhaps understandably, was not on the list, below: AliensStarship TroopersTerminatorPredatorStar WarsFifth ElementBlade RunnerWarhammer 40kTrench CrusadeMutant ChroniclesDropzone Commander Helldivers 2 is currently enjoying a resurgence after the release of the long-awaited Illuminate update, which adds a third faction for players to fight against. Expect plenty more from the explosive third-person shooter, which remains the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with an incredible 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks, in the months ahead. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Your ghost-hunting journey starts off pretty rough in Phasmophobia, but over time, your skills will improve and you’ll gain access to better gear. Getting rid of your default gear can be a tricky process to navigate, though. The better gear you have to work with, the easier your investigations become, as all higher Tier items can acquire evidence a lot more quickly. It can be tough to figure out how to upgrade though, so here’s how to get rid of default gear in Phasmophobia. View the full article

Developer miHoYo has announced Zenless Zone Zero is getting update 1.4 this month, bringing with it new characters, PS5 Pro support, and more. The new 1.4 update “A Storm of Falling Stars” will launch on December 18th across all supported platforms, continuing the ongoing post-launch support for the game. Here’s a rundown on the new update, […] Source View the full article

Publisher Bandai Namco and developer Dimps shared the opening movie for Freedom Wars Remastered, their remastered port of Sony’s 2014 PS Vita action RPG. Here’s a rundown on the new remaster, plus the opening movie: Good morning, Sinner. For the crime of existing, your 1,000,000-year sentence begins today. Fulfill your duty to the Panopticon. In celebration […] Source View the full article

If there's any company that nails narrative-focused action games, it's Sony. The return of Kratos in 2018 led to God of War earning the coveted Game of the Year, and its follow-up, God of War Ragnarok, received similar acclaim when it launched back in 2022. Fortunately, the finale of the Norse duology dropped on PC earlier this year, and it's currently available at its lowest price yet. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: AMD Ryzen gaming CPU owners need this new God of War Ragnarok PC patch God of War Ragnarok is GOTY material when it's not boring me to death God of War Ragnarok PC players peak at just half predecessor's best View the full article

A Game About Digging A Hole sounds like it might actually be somewhat amusing. As the name suggests, it's all about digging down deep where you might find some secrets. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Publisher Square Enix and developer Mistwalker Corporation have released a demo for Fantasian Neo Dimension. The new demo is now available for all platforms, except for PS4. Players will be able to experience the beginning of the game’s story, including its multi-dimensional gameplay, and save data can carry over to the full game. Fantasian Neo […] Source View the full article

Celebi ex is one of the strongest decks to come out of the Pokémon TCG Pocket Mythical Island expansion set and is staking a claim to be part of the meta due to its strong ability to deal a bunch of damage to overthrow any deck—including Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex. It works similarly to the Mewtwo deck, where you stack your backline with a certain grass Pokémon to boost your attack chances, but it has a mix of other strategies in play, too. But how does it work? And what is the best deck list to field? View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

South Korean video game developer and publisher Pearl Abyss has revealed that Crimson Desert, its upcoming open-world fantasy experience, is launching in late 2025. Prior to working on Crimson Desert, the company released the popular MMORPG ****** Desert Online, among other titles. View the full article

Activision has outlined the steps it’s taken to combat cheating in Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 after Ranked Mode came under fire by fans. Ranked, ****** Ops 6’s most competitive Multiplayer mode, began November 21 but reaction so far has been largely negative. This is because of the apparent prevalence of cheaters who are ruining the integrity of the mode. And yes, as has become Call of Duty tradition, console players are turning off crossplay in a bid to avoid PC cheaters. In a new blog post, Activision’s Team Ricochet, the division responsible for its Call of Duty anti-cheat tech, admitted not enough had been done to prevent cheating with the launch of Season 1. “After a series of updates our systems are in a better place today across all modes; however, we did not hit the mark for the integration of Ricochet Anti-Cheat at the launch of Season 01 — particularly for Ranked Play,” Activision said. “We understand the promise of glory and notoriety from Ranked Play leaderboards makes Ranked Play an attractive target for cheaters. For this reason, our teams have been especially focused on turning the tide to deliver the competitive arena our players seek.” Activision said account bans are now happening hourly due to increased “velocity” from several Ricochet Anti-Cheat systems, in addition to the over 19,000 accounts it’s removed recently. Cleanup of the Ranked leaderboards, which has suffered greatly from cheaters, is now faster, Activision said. And Activision has “significantly expanded” its Replay Investigation render farm (the machines used to generate clips for examination.) The company said it’s also ramped up the group dedicated to manually reviewing clips based on a priority order that favors detections. “In the last several weeks, the Replay tool updates have been highly effective at validating detections and reports, providing further training for AI systems for the anti-cheat team, and removing cheaters,” Activision added. The things you work so hard to earn (Ranked Play status, camos, etc.) are attractive targets to cheaters who want nice things but don’t like to put in the work. Activision also promised more updates to come for its Ricochet Anti-Cheat systems, including its kernel-level driver and brand-new server-side protections. These are set to launch during Season 2 and 3. In the meantime, Activision encouraged players to enable 2FA on their account, and report cheaters in-game. “The things you work so hard to earn (Ranked Play status, camos, etc.) are attractive targets to cheaters who want nice things but don’t like to put in the work,” Activision said. “The Ricochet Anti-Cheat team will be continuing its work to fight cheaters throughout the remainder of the month. While we have made progress, we know more needs to be done and we’re eager to share details of our planned major updates coming in the new year.” Most Activision anti-cheat updates are met with a healthy dose of scepticism from hardcore fans, and this latest one is no different. Cheating is not unique to Call of Duty of course, but it has become a significant reputation issue for Activision ever since the free-to-download battle royale Warzone exploded in popularity back in 2020. The mega publisher has spent millions of dollars developing its anti-cheat technology as well as pursuing cheat makers in the courts, with a number of recent high-profile successes. In October, ahead of the launch of ****** Ops 6, Activision said that it aimed to kick cheaters out of the game within one hour of them being in their first match. ****** Ops 6 launched with an updated version of Ricochet's kernel-level driver (this also applied to Warzone), with new machine-learning behavioral systems focused on speed of detection and the analysis of gameplay to combat aim bots in place. "The people behind cheats are organized, ******** groups that pick apart every piece of data within our games to look for some way to make cheating possible," Activision said at the time. "These bad guys are not just some script kiddies poking around with code they found online. They are a collective who profit from exploiting the hard work of game developers across the industry. "But cheat developers are flawed (clearly — they have to pretend to be good at video games). Every time they cheat, they leave breadcrumbs behind. We’re always looking for those breadcrumbs to find the bad actors and get them out of the game." Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

I still think Volcanoids has one of the absolutely coolest ideas for a survival game, with your base being a big moving drill that burrows through the earth and it just keeps on getting better. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Zotac briefly leaked listings for five graphics cards from Nvidia's upcoming GeForce RTX 5000 series. The mistake marks the first official confirmation that the lineup, codenamed Blackwell, continues the RTX branding. More information regarding video memory arrangements has also emerged. Read Entire Article View the full article

Wayward is an Early Access wilderness survival roguelike that's highly rated by players, and it just had a massive update launch with "Runekeeper". Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article