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Earlier in the month, we learned that Stray and Neon White publisher Annapurna Interactive’s entire staff resigned after a dispute with boss Megan Ellison. Reported by Bloomberg as a disagreement over attempts to "spin off the video-game division as an independent entity," the details were nonetheless somewhat scant. A new report from Rebekah Valentine at IGN has since shed some more light on the walkout, which reportedly involved “disagreements over the direction of the Interactive division, chaotic departures, communication breakdowns, and a perceived lack of leadership transparency.” It’s a thorough account of some messy events I recommend reading in full, but here’s a brief rundown. Read more View the full article

The PC version of **** of War Ragnarok has officially arrived on PC. The game launched Thursday, September 19 on Steam, as well as the Epic Games Store. Ragnarok is the latest Sony first-party PlayStation title to make it to PC, but it doesn’t look like the audience showed up for this one. Read more View the full article

One new release missed from last week, with Freebird Games launching Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The re-release of the classic Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is right around the corner, with GOG today announcing it will release on September 25th to finish up their re-release trilogy. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, one of Team Secret’s founding members, has been with the organization since its inception. But in a recent post on FaceIt, Puppey’s former team, NAVI, showcased him as an active roster member, leading to speculation about the player’s future. In a recent Reddit post, Puppey appeared on NAVI’s active roster page, which led to a discussion on forum sites. Puppey’s Team Secret roster has seen numerous reshuffles throughout the last decade, but if there was one mainstay on the team, it was Captain Puppey himself. View the full article

The PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 just got expanded online play support, thanks to an update to RPCN, a server for matchmaking meant to be used with RPCS3. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Players attempting to jump into EA FC 25 with the 10-hour free trial are being met with a frustrating error that prevents them from enjoying the game. If you have experienced the problem and are looking for a solution, we’ve got a fix that may help. The 10-hour free trial of EA FC 25 with EA Play provides the perfect opportunity to try out the game and see whether it’s worth picking up or allowing you to jump in early without paying for the Ultimate Edition that grants the full game on early access. However, there have been issues. View the full article

While, Helldivers 2's most recent patch tweaked a whole bunch of weapons, there were naturally some guns that didn't make the cut. Thankfully for those who might be a bit concerned their favourite bug blaster is missing out, Johan Pilestedt's now confirmed that at least one will be buffed in the game's next patch. Read more View the full article

For all of you who play games from other stores and want those games on Linux and Steam Deck, Heroic Games Launcher continues to be one of the best ways to do it. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

EA FC 25 is here, and as usual, there’s a bunch of Promo cards to collect for your Ultimate Team—and you can get the Robert Sanchez World Tour card for free by following our guide. The World Tour Promo in EA FC 25 Ultimate Team is set to span the game’s duration, with each season focusing on a different nation. Spain is kicking things off with a bunch of Spanish World Tour players to earn, as well as players from LaLiga. View the full article

***** Rising made its long overdue comeback last week with the Deluxe Remaster, sending us to the zombie-infested Willamette Parkview Mall once more after 18 years. But Capcom is already looking to the future, asking fans in a new survey what other games they'd like to see get the DRDR treatment. View the full article

Raise your thumb if you’ve ever impaled it on a HeroQuest skeleton’s scythe. Country’s gone soft these days, I tell you. I’ve seen those new Heroquest skellies. You couldn’t injure yourself on those scythes if you tried. It’s polearm-ical correctness gone ****! Well, good news if you’re nostalgic for a simpler time, where tiny scythes could maim you for life, and binary digits came in lots of eight and not a binary digit more. RPG Beyond Shadowgate is a vastly-expanded, modernised sequel to the classic NES adventure, created by the original’s designers, and it just released last week. Read more View the full article

The success of breakout hit Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 ‘changes everything’ for developer Saber Interactive, it’s said. Speaking exclusively to IGN as part of a sweeping post-launch interview just over two weeks after Space Marine 2’s record-breaking launch, Saber Interactive Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits said the success of the game would even positively affect its future projects. While neither Saber nor publisher Focus Entertainment have announced a sales figure for Space Marine 2, Focus has confirmed over two million played at launch. In fact, Space Marine 2 is the most-played Warhammer video game of any type ever released on Steam, with 225,690 peak concurrent players on Valve’s platform. Willits won't go into hard numbers for Space Marine 2's success, either in revenue or profit terms, but he has gone on the record to say Space Marine 2 is the fastest-selling game he's ever worked on, and that includes all the *****, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Rage games id Software released over the 24 years he was at the studio. Speaking to IGN, Willits revealed that the budget for Space Marine 2 was less than half that of ***** Eternal, the last game he was id Software studio director on before leaving to join Saber in 2019. The suggestion here, of course, is that Space Marine 2, whose standard edition currently costs $59.99 on Steam and $69.99 on console, is already a highly profitable endeavor for all involved. While Space Marine 2 leans on the power of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 brand, its back-to-basics approach to the action genre and eye-catching alien swarm tech that puts hundreds of Tyranid creatures on-screen at once has wowed critics and gamers. Just shy of three weeks from release, Willits is hopeful Space Marine 2 will end up seeing the sort of player numbers Saber’s co-op zombie shooter World War Z has. World War Z, whose zombie swarm tech was used as the basis of Space Marine 2's Tyranid swarm tech, has seen 25 million players since going on ***** in 2019. “With Space Marine 2, it really does change everything,” Willits said. “During our company party, I gave a little 30-second speech and I told the whole team, this changes everything we do moving forward, from our small games like our third-party publishing games, to A Quiet Place next month. We have Toxic Command coming up with Focus soon. Everything that we do now, this changes. “And as employees, and I know this firsthand, when you have a big hit and you have that internet kind of popularity, there's more passion and there's more responsibility for the quality that you do. And you look at yourself through a different lens. And sometimes that success lens can be a little dangerous because then you get so paranoid about making sure everything is great that you overstress about things, but it's that success lens that really drives amazing games into the future. So I do believe that through the success lens that we have, we will just make far better products in the future.” In practical terms, the success of Space Marine 2 means Saber staff can now “dream *******,” Willits said. Saber will make good on its original post-launch plan, which involves new missions, modes, maps, enemies, and weapons, but it will also make "adjustments" fueled by Space Marine 2’s now confirmed success — once the dust settles. There is now the possibility of story DLC, Willits confirmed, with ideas floating around for a potential Space Marine 3. Without spoiling the Space Marine 2 campaign, it strongly suggests a continuation (IGN has reported on the probably new ****** faction we’ll see in Space Marine 3), and given the success of the game, this is now a case of when, not if. “Our game director Dmitry Grigorenko, he has proposed some story ideas that could either be DLC or a sequel,” Willits said. “We're literally just catching our breath. This is two weeks out. We just need to get the dust to settle. But I can confidently say that we will not disappoint our Warhammer fans in the future. It's too big of a success! I know that's an obvious thing to say, but hopefully we'll be working on Space Marine content for a long time.” For Space Marine 3, Willits said, Saber would need to work with publisher Focus as well as Games Workshop once again. "We just have to figure it out. I would love to do it, yes,” he continued. “Yes, yes, yes! There's so many different factions... there are other chapters, too, that are interesting...” In the shorter term, Saber is working on adding new classes, which will be released for free and, hopefully, will add some variety to Space Marine 2's gameplay. Willits wouldn’t be drawn on which classes are coming, though fans are hopeful for a Chaplain or an Apothecary. The post-launch plan, though, is informed by the continued success of World War Z, which has retained a loyal player base through the release of new and free classes in the years since launch. “One of the reasons why we got 25 million people in World War Z is because every time we release a new DLC pack or a free class and we had a *****, people buy it. We literally see a spike,” Willits said. “We put out a video promoting a new character pack, we see a spike in sales. So it just drives attention and drives awareness. “There's always one guy that says, ‘guys, come on, there's new stuff coming up.’ And then, 'okay,' so three other people are like, 'it's only five bucks, let's buy it.' And so you get this kind of group FOMO thing going on that really helps. And we had so much success with that model. That's what we'll do.” We are focused on development. We look forward to sharing more when the time is right. There you go, brother. Saber is already thinking about its other announced games in development as it continues to shift staff from projects ramping down to projects ramping up. Willits has already mentioned A Quiet Place The Road Ahead, a video game based on the hit horror movie franchise it's publishing next month, and John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, another co-op focused shooter that makes use of Saber’s swarm tech. With Space Marine 2 out the door, expect to hear more on Toxic Commando soon. Then, there’s Jurassic Park Survival, a single-player action adventure game set on Isla Nublar the day after the events of the beloved 1993 Jurassic Park film. There’s no release date on that one. And, further ahead, the big one: Saber’s troubled Star Wars The Knights of the Old Republic remake, which the company continues to insist is in development. When asked if the success of Space Marine 2 had increased the likelihood of KOTOR becoming a reality, Willits, expecting to be asked about the MIA remake, turned to a prepared statement: “Right now, we are focused on development. We look forward to sharing more when the time is right. There you go, brother.” 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

A good number of you Stardew Valley console players have been waiting for the 1.6 update to come to consoles, and thankfully, your time is nearing. Read more View the full article

Valve's Steam just seem to be unstoppable lately, with another huge user milestone achieved over the weekend. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Every World of Warcraft expansion brings something new and unique, but The War Within surprised players with Delves. On Sept. 22, a player on Reddit explained how the introduction of Delves is one of the best things Blizzard has ever done. Many players love this new gameplay mode because it respects their time, and the rewards they get in return are simply amazing. All of that makes Delves a godsend and one of the best features in The War Within. View the full article

Marvel Rivals ran a trivia event over the weekend that rewarded fans with our first look at Psylocke, the next iconic X-Men character to join the growing roster of heroes and villains. View the full article

Players who pre-ordered EA FC 25 are entitled to a heap of benefits in the game, including goodies in Ultimate Team to help get you started, and we’ve got a guide on how to claim all the rewards available. While most of the pre-order rewards in EA FC 25 are tied to Ultimate Team, there are also bonuses available for Career Mode. As the rewards are spread across game modes, you may find it difficult to ensure you’ve been granted everything you are entitled to. View the full article

Do you like traveling by train? It’s a treat to look at the green pastures and structures along the way. Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue, “Someone walking in front of a train?” certainly emphasizes wordplay and makes you think out of the box to get the answer. If the clue in today’s Sept. 23 NYT Mini Crossword is confusing, you can look at our hints and answer below to solve it yourself. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Home Safety Hotline has a linear story with the same order of callers and inquiries. You can follow our guide below to get all the correct answers. There are seven shifts, with an increasing number of calls as you complete each day. Every shift gives you new entries, but this doesn’t mean they will come up as a solution. To unlock the good ending, you need to get all the correct answers in Home Safety Hotline. View the full article

This week's Maw, quantified: one compound eye with nine hundred and two quicksilver facets. One and a half wings with the texture of freshly peeled orange. Fifty tentacles, proboscises or flagella, some slender as cheesewire, some thick as a conifer. Ten sets of amethyst dentures shared by ten thousand mouths. One utility coat of muscles. One bowler hat. And now, an accompanying inventory of this week's most eye-catching new PC games. Read more View the full article

So, you want to secure the best loot possible and make a quick buck in Escape from Tarkov? Your best bet is to take on The Lab, a maze of rooms and stairwells with secret passageways and plenty of expensive loot to grab. But getting access to The Lab isn’t as simple as dropping in like a normal raid. You’ll need the TerraGroup Labs Access Keycard first—and they don’t grow on trees. View the full article

More than one League of Legends team from the LCS or LEC competitions making it into the 2024 World Championship playoffs was always going to be a surprise, but fans will be dismayed to see just how long the odds on Western teams are this year. The numbers, crunched by a League tech whizz on their Worlds Simulator app, are rough reading for ********* and North ********* fans alike: If every Worlds team plays to their ******** odds—in this case, Bet365 was used—then there’s a 65.44 percent chance a single Western team qualifies for the eight-team quarterfinals. Chances then plummet to as low as 1.21 percent regarding two teams from the competitions surviving groups. View the full article

Bungie’s decision to reintroduce the grind for Pinnacle drops and a power level boost in Episode: Revenant has soured the moods of many fans this week, with many perfectly happy with changes made over the past two expansions to cut back on the early season grind. A TWID blog post from the Destiny 2 developers outlined plans to increase Power caps and bring back Pinnacle grinding after an adjustment ******* through Lightfall and The Final Shape. Power level increases for gear were put on pause throughout these two expansions with Fireteam Power helping new players participate in endgame activities earlier than normal. That time’s passing, however, with Bungie forcing players to grind out power levels again in the next episode—and players are *******. View the full article

The 2024 League of Legends World Championship is just around the corner, and with it comes the excitement—and dread—of trying to win something in Pick’Em. Whether you’re a seasoned Pick’Em veteran or just trying it for the first time, we’ve got you covered with a guide based on past results, current meta analysis, and some good old gut feeling. What is Worlds Pick’Em? This year Pick Em rewards include some expressive emote. Image via Riot Games. Pick’Em is an activity hosted on the LoL Esport website where fans can predict outcomes for the League World Championship. This year there are three stages of Pick’Em: Crystal Ball, where you predict many things like champions picked or pentakills scored, Swiss, and Knockout stage, where you’ll try to predict which teams will survive the longest in the tournament. You can score points for accurate predictions, and, if you do well, you could win cool in-game rewards like emoticons and the almost unreachable ultimate skins. View the full article