Steam

The project will also feature Peter Rice with Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich from DNA, and George R. R. Martin and Vince Gerardis producing it. View the full article

Capcom has officially announced that, yes, in case all the teasers weren’t clear enough, the first Monster Hunter Wilds collaboration event will be with none other than Street Fighter. Collaboration events provide an opportunity for Capcom to bring elements and characters from other games into Wilds. Read more View the full article

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive has said it has no plans to increase the maximum party size of three players for co-op, despite modders getting 12-player co-op up and running recently. Space Marine 2 limits squads to three players for PvE Operations, but it was hoped that this might increase for the upcoming horde mode, dubbed Siege. Not so, Tim Willits, Chief Creative Officer at developer Saber Interactive, told IGN in an exclusive Space Marine 2 interview to discuss the Siege mode. Willits said upping the player count to four for co-op made Operations missions too easy. “As we’ve mentioned in a past interview, sticking to three players for PvE game modes (including Siege Mode) has to do with the challenge we’re able to provide, and specifically, the enemies we’re able to throw at you and your friends,” Willits said. “Having four Space Marines together for a PvE mission simply made it too easy, and scaling enemy assaults to justify bringing a fourth player was too great of a challenge.” Earlier this month, Tom, aka Warhammer Workshop, the modder behind Space Marine 2’s excellent Astartes Overhaul, released a fantastic-looking 12-player co-op mod for the game. Gameplay footage, below, shows multiple players taking on a Tyranid Trygon Prime in a battle reminiscent of an MMO boss fight. This was something players thought impossible, but the modding team not only broke through the 3-player barrier to hit 12-player co-op — with the support of developer Saber Interactive itself — but set to work improving it. “Honestly, I’m just kind of in awe of Saber’s support for the modding community,” Tom told IGN. “None of us expected 12-player PvE sessions to be possible this soon — but somehow, here we are. Thanks to their generosity and trust, this huge leap forward is finally here, and it completely changes what we can do.” As you’d expect, 12-player co-op makes a mockery of Space Marine 2's PvE balance, but it is there working on PC at least. This sparks the inevitable next question for Tim Willits: could Saber expand Siege mode to include more than three players in the future? Alas, no. “We don’t have such plans at this time,” he replied. So, it’s down to modders to improve upon Siege mode and the 12-player co-op they have already released. Tom told IGN the team is working on modes such as prop hunt, PvP inside operations, “massive” horde mode updates, and, perhaps most exciting of all, raid-style missions “with bosses that hit like trucks, take proper teamwork to bring down, as well as some other completely new mechanics.” Siege arrives as part of Patch 8 on June 26, and comes alongside two new DLCs for Ultra Edition, Gold Edition, and Season Pass holders: the White Scars Chapter Pack (a new Champion skin for the Assault class, three exclusive White Scars-inspired weapon skins for the Occulus Bolt Carbine, Stalker Bolt Rifle, and Combat Knife, and a host of cosmetic options and heraldry markings for their Successor Chapters), and the Blood Angels Cosmetic Pack (a number of new armour pieces to be equipped on any of the game’s playable classes, in addition to heraldry markings celebrating eight of the Blood Angels’ Successor Chapters). Earlier this week, IGN reported on various Space Marine 2 datamines that revealed potential upcoming content, including a new class, a new melee weapon, and a new ranged weapon. There’s a lot happening in the world of Space Marine 2, despite the surprise announcement that development of Space Marine 3 development had begun. Space Marine 2’s year one roadmap remains in place. Space Marine 2 Siege mode was revealed during the Warhammer Skulls 2025 broadcast. In case you missed it, check out all the announcements and trailers from the show. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

An Elden Ring live action film is in the works from Ex Machina director Alex Garland, film production company A24 and game publisher Bandai Namco. It’s not clear whether developers From Software are involved, but Game Of Thrones novelist George R. R. Martin - who worked on Elden Ring’s story and characters alongside From boss Hidetaka Miyazaki - is contributing as a producer. All of this comes via Deadline. Read more View the full article

The Dota 2 Spring Forward update is here, as Valve's second-largest free Steam game gets a fresh look courtesy of a major gameplay overhaul, hero reworks, new cosmetics, and a large chunk of quality-of-life improvements. While long-time MOBA heads will immediately be drawn to all the balance changes in the Dota 2 7.39 patch notes, there's also some great news for people who've always wanted to try the game, but have been wary of its notorious complexity. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: New Dota 2 hero Kez brings two full skill sets to the Valve MOBA LoL, Legends of Runeterra, and Dota 2 voice actor Sam Mowry has died Dota 2 Crownfall is a new, ongoing story event packed with rewards View the full article

They're the real heroesView the full article

HoYoverse revealed major news for Zenless Zone Zero, including new content and changes coming in Version 2.0 as well as the game's first anniversary details and Xbox release. With version 1.7 starting to wind down, HoYoverse gave Zenless Zone Zero fans a brief look at the upcoming Version 2.0, setting big expectations for the next big phase of the game. View the full article

May 26, 2025: A new Fantasy Life code is in to celebrate 500,000 copies sold. What are the Fantasy Life gift codes? Despite being a paid experience available on both PC and consoles, Fantasy Life still has the sort of code redeem screen you often see in free-to-play games. So what are some of these codes, and what free Fantasy Life items can you expect from them in the future? Let's see. With 14 classes (or 'Lives') to level up and master, any free items you can get along the way will make a world of difference. And if you're interested in doubling up, check out the best RPGs on PC for a solo adventure, the best MMORPGs and MMOs for a multiplayer journey, or just stick to the latest Reverse 1999 codes to start something you can easily take on the go. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: After 13 years, forgotten JRPG Fantasy Life gets a new sequel and soars on Steam View the full article

The history of Myst is lengthy and storied. The original game arrived in 1993, but, over the years, it's been remastered, remade, and expanded enough times that it can be tough to keep track of what's new and what's old. But one thing has always remained true: all it takes is a single screenshot, and you know you're looking at Myst. A true PC classic, Cyan Worlds' point-and-click is still one of the most visually distinctive games of all time. Riven, the sequel, looks just as good - in an era of high-fidelity and photorealism, these games still stand out by the sheer power of their design. And now, they've just been updated. The original version of Riven, and the 2000 re-release of Myst, are now officially in 2.0. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: 32 years later, PC icon Myst finally feels complete thanks to a big new update The unexpected modern renaissance of point-and-click adventure games A next-gen, VR-friendly version of Myst is coming to PC View the full article

Indie Spotlight | Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping shows the bill is far from due for gaming's best-dressed birdView the full article

If you are in the mood to play Skyrim or the recent Oblivion remaster, but you don't want to play a Microsoft-backed game for, oh, any number of reasons, the word on the grapevine is that open world RPG Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is pretty decent. We don't have a review as yet, but Khee Hoon Chan called Questline's previous Tainted Grail: Conquest one of the best games you missed in 2021, and The Fall Of Avalon is currently humming along with an Overwhelmingly Positive Steam user consensus as it prepares to leave early access today. The Steam page also harbours a demo, plus the below, moderately thunderous trailer's worth of first-person spellcraft, shattered cosmic castles and fishing mechanics. Read more View the full article

If you want to fully develop your island and make it brim with workers in Build An Island!, you will need a lot of Coins. Now, Coins can be hard to come by early on. However, by planting seeds and harvesting crops, you can create a steady flow of income to finance all of your island upgrades. To help you plant only the best seeds, we prepared the following guide on the best crops to grow in Build An Island! Table of contentsBest Crops to Grow in Build An Island!Build An Island! Crop and Seed Prices ListHow to Get and Plant Seeds in Build an Island!How to Increase the Crop Growth SpeedCrafting Potions Using Crops in Build An Island!Grow An Island! Crops Guide FAQsBest Crops to Grow in Build An Island! When you just start out in Build An Island!, the best crops you can grow are Blueberry , Corn , Watermelon , Peach , and Strawberry . All of these provide you with a decent income. You should start saving some Coins in case one of the rare seeds is on ***** at the Merchant. Also, always buy Corn , Watermelon , and Pumpkin seeds and plant them for a quick profit, as they can't be re-harvested. Later on in your Build An Island! grind, the best crops to grow are Cherry , Starfruit , and Magic Durian . Always have some Coins saved up in case one of these rare seeds is on ***** at the Merchant. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on these seeds because they are very rarely in stock. Once you plant a few Starfruit , Cherry , and Magic Durian seeds, you will have a constant Coin income while working on other things. Build An Island! Crop and Seed Prices List You can sell all your crops at the Merchant NPC at any time. Below is a list of all crops you can grow in Build An Island!, along with the ***** prices of their variants and the purchase prices of their seeds. Certain seeds, such as Strawberries , drop multiple crops when you harvest them. So, even though the selling price of a single Cherry is much lower than its seed price, you will get multiple of them when harvested and easily turn a profit. CropNormal PriceGolden PriceRainbow PriceSeed PriceGrowth SpeedRe-harvestable Corn 10502005 Very fast No Strawberry 115522030 Fast Yes Tomato 3015060080 Medium Yes Blueberry 592951,180160 Slow Yes Apple 1628103,240300 Slow Yes Watermelon 9304,65018,600600 Medium No Magic Durian 9504,75019,0001,250 Slow Yes Peach 1,9009,50038,0001,600 Very slow Yes Pumpkin 2,67113,35553,4201,850 Medium No Cherry 8504,25017,0002,400 Very slow Yes Starfruit 1,5007,50030,0002,800 Very slow Yes How to Get and Plant Seeds in Build an Island! A selection of Seeds is available at the Merchant, whose stock refreshes every 5 minutes. Always make sure to carefully plant re-harvestable Seeds so that you can grow as many of them as you can later on. It takes a different amount of time for each type of crop to fully grow. Once the crop has fully grown, stand close to it and press E to harvest it. [/url] [/url] [/url] You can get new seeds in Build An Island! by purchasing them at the Merchant NPC. The Merchant's stock refreshes every 5 minutes, and only a select few seeds are available at a time. Once you purchase a seed, you can plant it in one of your crop plots. Crops will then grow, even while you are offline, until you can harvest them. At the moment, you can't remove seeds once you plant them. So, be careful how you place them and use up all the space you can on every plot. Ideally, plant only the seeds you can't re-harvest early on so that you can grow and harvest only the best crops when you reach the late game in Build An Island!. How to Increase the Crop Growth Speed You can spend Coins to increase the growth speed of your crops. The best way to increase the growth speed of your crops in Build An Island! is through the Upgrade menu using Coins. You can also use Growth Potions (100 Bamboo Planks and 9 Tomatoes to craft) to increase the growth speed of your crops temporarily. However, these can be hard to come by early on. Lastly, by using the watering can next to your plots, you can instantly fully grow all of your crops at the same time. However, this option costs you Robux. Crafting Potions Using Crops in Build An Island! Growth potions increase the growth speed of all your crops. Busy Bee potions increase your Honey production. Strength potions increase your damage and let you farm more resources. [/url] [/url] [/url] In Build An Island!, you can craft potions with specific crops, which can be used or sold at the Merchant. For example, with two Apples and 150 Cactuses , you can craft a potion that sells for 720. So, don't always sell all of the crops you harvested. Instead, save some for crafting. Alternatively, you can also use some of these potions to increase the growth speed of your crops or speed up your honey production. That sums up everything you need to know about the best crops to grow in Build An Island!. Feel free to share which crops work best for you in the comments below. If you want to get some free Coins to buy rare seeds right away, make sure to check out our Build An Island! codes. Grow An Island! Crops Guide FAQsWhat are the best Crops to grow in Build An Island! The best crops to grow in the long run are Starfruit , Magic Durian , and Cherry . Can you remove a seed once you plant it? Unfortunately, you can't remove a plant after you have planted it. Is there a way to track which rare seeds are in stock at the Merchant? You can follow the #rare • seed • notifications channel on the Build An Island discord server, and you will get notified when a rare seed is on ***** at the Merchant. The post Best Crops to Grow in Build An Island! – ***** Prices, Growth Speed, and More appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It's been mere hours since a live-action Elden Ring movie was revealed to be in the works, and already, fans are making their views — both positive and negative — known. Debates have sprung up on all aspects of the production, from the decision to make a film, not a TV show, the choice of its writer and director — Alex Garland directed Ex Machina and Civil War — and whether the story, which is considerably convoluted, should be focused on the Tarnished, the demigods themselves, or something else entirely. A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R. R. Martin, who wrote Game of Thrones and helped create Elden Ring's world, is attached as a producer on the movie, as is Vince Gerardis. "Sigh why? No one ask[ed] for this keep FromSoftware away from hollyweird plz," complained one player, while another said: "I was hoping it was just a meme. This movie is going to be a pretty looking mess." Some are worried about the storyline, given so much of Elden Ring's lore is implied and has chiefly been interpreted by the community. "This is the the main problem with adapting any of the Fromsoft Souls games into movies, almost all the lore is interpreted by the fan base, very rarely will the games tell you very directly about anything, a movie can't be like that since it'll try to appeal to the majority of people, so things will be spelled out in great detail, ignoring one of the main attractions of these type of games," one player added. Another suggested that while that may be the case if a story was based upon the Tarnished, "a movie around the lore or NPCs? That could work." That said, plenty of players are relieved that Garland has been selected as director, given his love of the game. Even putting aside his game-writing credentials (he wrote Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: ****** May Cry), in a Reddit AMA last month, Garland revealed he was currently on an NG+6 run of Shadow of the Erdtree. "Have you seen [Garland's] films?" asked this player. "They're excellent movies but they're a bit weird and so they cause mixed opinions. They're very 'artistic' in the sense that a lot of people bounce off them for being 'weird'. This, in my opinion, is exactly the guy you want involved in an Elden Ring movie because he can handle weird." "Garland makes amazing stuff and I was gonna say this is an out-there director choice, but he did make Ex Machina which is all sorts if f***ed up," this player added. "Could be epic." "Say what you will about the idea of an Elden Ring movie, but at the very least we’re in the best hands possible with Garland," commented this impressed player. "Go watch his video with [Last of Us creator] Neil Druckmann if you need any convincing that he will be as true as possible to the source material." For now, plot, casting details, and a release date for the Elden Ring movie have yet to be announced, and fans are also speculating on that, too, including a cheeky recommendation for Jack ****** to play Godrick — or Torrent; I've seen suggestions for both — and another for Chris Pratt as a Tarnished. Outside of the movie world, Elden Ring has continued to attract gaming fans with more content in the years since its release. DLC arrived in 2024 in the form of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and next week, players will finally get their hands on a completely separate, multiplayer spinoff called Elden Ring Nightreign. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

As we sneak ever-closer to the August release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami has released the stealth game's opening movie. Though there are some gentle deviations, it should nonetheless both look and sound instantly familiar to fans of the original, from the moment the newspapers appear on screen and the James Bond-esque title song, reprised by original performer Cynthia Harrell, kicks in. The video teases several moments in the game itself — albeit without the context, of course — including Snake leaping backwards like an Olympic diver off the side of a waterfall, and Snake the Snake Eater eating a snake. So that's nice. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of Konami's 2004 action espionage game of the same name, sans the "Delta" bit. The publisher recently confirmed Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater releases on August 28, and revealed the Snake vs. Monkey minigame is similarly making a comeback. It'll also include the suggestive and ******* content in Metal Gear Solid 3, including the Peep Demo Theatre, according to an age rating. "Metal Gear Solid Delta seems more like a very shiny HD remaster than the elegant remake it could have been," IGN said in our Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater preview, which reflects on Snake's new first-person perspective. "It’s an admittedly beautiful nostalgia trip, but almost faithful to a fault." We awarded the original Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater an impressive 9.6. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 might be enjoying a player resurgence, but fans shouldn't expect a Battlefront 3 announcement anytime soon. That's according to a former employee who worked on Star Wars: Battlefront 2's live operations at developer DICE, who has been responding to player questions on reddit. Star Wars: Battlefront 2, originally released in 2017, has seen its player count rise rapidly since the start of this month, fuelled by the franchise's annual May 4 celebrations and the critically-acclaimed return of Star Wars TV series Andor. The game's renewed popularity has fans clamouring for more — and to be fair, after eight years, you might expect publisher EA to have something up its sleeve. But, according to former live producer of BF2, Mats Holm, that is unlikely to be the case. "I don't expect Battlefront 3 to be announced at the end of this rally," Holm wrote, referring to the recent uptick in Battlefield 2 player numbers. "But overall, yeah, I think there are people who are talking about it." According to Holm, the biggest issue holding up a new game is that the majority of the Battlefront 2 team are no longer at DICE. "We spread all over," Holm revealed. "A few went to Ubisoft, some went independent, some to King, Avalanche, Star Stables, Paradox, Starbreeze, Mojang to name a few. Some left Stockholm to join game companies abroad as well. "Embark has a lot of the people who made base game, but the people who made the live game did not leave in a pack. We all slowly drifted after being put on Battlefield." Asked whether DICE could still make a new Battlefront game without its previous team members, Holm admitted he was "sceptical." "The live team ended up approaching the game very differently than the original devs," Holm wrote, referring to how the team who continued making Battlefront 2 content post-launch turned around the game's fortunes following a shaky start. "If they went about it the same way as before, they will not get how we brought the game back from the abyss. "So, if their goal was 'let's learn everything from their work,' perhaps. If they are 'new game, Battlefield but in Star Wars outfits' it won't turn out well." As of now, only "about three people" are left from Battlefront 2's live team at DICE, the developer continued. There's also the issue that, for now DICE is busy throwing all of its development weight into getting its big new Battlefield game finished. Still, in a perfect universe, the developer said they would like to see the franchise continue — although they wouldn't make Battlefield 3 next. "Hear me out — no Battlefront 3 right now, but Battlefront 2 Remaster for whatever future console is arriving in 2027-28," the developer suggested. "Dev time is around 2-3 years. There is a laundry list of improvements that this game could get in my opinion, and getting it updated was always on our wishlist. "Once that is a success, then start work on 3. You have a team familiar with engine, assets and really could kick off developing a 3 within a much shorter time span, and working on feedback from a fresh Battlefront 2 audience base. This would be a 5-6 year plan, but it's far more likely to be a success." Improvements for Battlefront 2 would include cross-play, day/night cycles and dynamic weather for all planets, a 1-vs-1 mode and more, the developer concluded. "List is endless, but [these options] were off the table as we were in live, not [original game] production," the developer concluded. Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social View the full article

Japan may be the birthplace and spiritual hub of drifting culture, but Poland is home to the incredible Bartosz Ostalowski. After losing both arms in an accident, he became a pro drifter and is the only professional sports driver in the world who steers with his foot. So yes, on paper, sure, it’s perhaps a little incongruous that JDM: Japanese Drift Master has been conceived and crafted in Central Europe. But it’s not unprecedented, and a simple matter of geography was clearly not going to stop Warsaw-based developer Gaming Factory putting together this reverential ode to the Japanese art of turning corners sideways, belching white smoke and looking cool while doing it. JDM is a good drift racer, with a weighty and approachable handling model that’s been well-honed for overzealous oversteer. It boasts an excellent map, too – it’s filled with eye-catching and authentic detail. However, it’s also currently undermined by a very poor grip racing mode, wonky AI, and uneven difficulty, and it seems a bit like a project car that’s been pushed out on track before it was quite finished. JDM is a story-based, open-world racer, set in a fictional slice of Japan and featuring 250 kilometres of roads to drive – from dense city grids and raised freeways to skinny, snaking mountain passes and blossom-lined byways. It’s hard to get an exact comparison of the map size compared to something like Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, The Crew Motorfest, or Forza Horizon 5, but JDM is definitely smaller than any of those overall. That said, it doesn't suffer from being more compact than its open-world racing peers. If anything, its map may just be its greatest victory. Cherry Good At its prettiest, JDM’s map is a real showstopper. Trees burst with pink, and the quaint little towns on the central lake are brimming with character and charm. Its primary strength, however, is its insistence on far more realistic road widths than we mostly find in other open-world games. Developers generally opt for wider streets to give us more forgiving ribbons of tarmac to race on, as it makes overtaking and navigating through civilian traffic easier. JDM leans away from this philosophy and toward roads that are narrower and more challenging to navigate, and they regularly remind me much more of rally stages than a traditional open-world racer. Several sequences of linked hairpin corners are a particular highlight; they’re an absolute must for a game like JDM, and Gaming Factory has delivered. Having the road network more cramped means you need to brake and weave through and around country traffic rather than simply blaze up the centre, like you can in games with luxuriously wide lanes built to keep NPC vehicles far apart. This does technically bring the overall pace of JDM down, but the good news is that there’s actually still a really effective sense of speed. Thanks to the narrow roads, everything whips by extremely quickly based on sheer proximity. JDM is an arcade racer at heart – and definitely not a hardcore drift simulator – but I enjoy the challenge of patiently but assertively cutting up traffic and threading my car through tricky and tight gaps. It’s demanding in a different way and, at a minimum, it helps set JDM apart. I enjoy the challenge of patiently but assertively cutting up traffic and threading my car through tricky and tight gaps. That said, there are times where the traffic feels a little thicker than desirable out in the countryside – particularly considering the main city feels surprisingly dead by comparison, with large, empty streets and very few cars moving about. At night there’s also something amiss with the lighting; NPC *********** are far, far too dull, and it means oncoming cars only appear in view when you’re nearly upon them. And regardless of time of day, AI cars on the highway have an odd quirk that sees all traffic in front of you pulling to the left automatically as you approach from behind, like you’re an ambulance with sirens blazing. I know my GT-R is pretty sick, but that doesn’t mean I’m taking it to the hospital. There are some other noticeable problems, too. Performance has largely been okay on my system (RTX 4080, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H), but I have had some detectable stuttering on occasion. To the naked eye it seems more dependable with frame generation off and the FPS set to 60. Even setting that aside, though, after several days of driving these streets I still don’t feel like I’ve quite got a handle on which roadside objects are destructible and which aren’t. There are times I can clatter through large posts, and other times where tiny obstacles bring me to a total halt. You’re better off just trying not to collide with anything, because JDM generally doesn’t handle crashes that well, anyway. Bumping and jostling has a tendency to toss and tilt cars in odd ways. For clarity, it’s true that some of these problems may soon be addressed, based on a list of known issues supplied by Gaming Factory, but they’re active frustrations for now. Drift Horse A ******* problem, however, is JDM’s uneven difficulty – which tends to bubble up any time the story steers away from actual drifting that it does so well. To be clear, the majority of its missions are drift-themed, and that’s definitely for the best, because it’s what the handling feels built for. There are two settings for the handling model: arcade and simcade. Simcade has a bit more of a nuanced feel – and it probably lacks a little of the arcade mode’s soft assistance that I could feel keeping the cars stable and obedient during a drift – but overall the difference between the two doesn’t feel particularly profound. There’s a mix of drift missions, from participating in sanctioned events on one of the region’s dedicated race tracks to delivering dinners that come with a larger tip depending on how sideways the sushi got en route. Score requirements for drift missions are forgiving and I rarely found myself needing to repeat them. They’re mostly a pretty light challenge, but I’m okay with that. Frustratingly, any time drifting is not the primary objective, things falter significantly. JDM’s take on grip racing is deeply unsatisfying and proved to be a real bottleneck for a while, with AI opponents that drive directly into (and sometimes under) you and other racers like you’re not even there. Forget about taking a rear-wheel drive car to any of these races; in my case the AI just galloped away like Scalextric cars as I struggled to get any drive out of the corners. Just buy the cheap, front-wheel drive Honda Civic and plonk in whatever upgrades you can. You won't know if it's fast enough until you try, because there’s no real indication of the performance level of your opponents’ cars in these races. It doesn’t help that JDM is not really a great communicator. There were other occasions where an upcoming task was marked as a drift event, but it was actually a race that required me to catch (or escape) an opponent. That’s a mean bait and switch, because drift builds are just absolutely impractical for these events. Smoking it up may look flashy, but it’s by no means the quickest way from A to B. These events require road-holding; something that shoots out of corners like a stabbed rat. Hinting you should turn up with a drift build is a total waste of time. It’s like asking you to catch Russell Westbrook on a freshly-waxed basketball court, in socks. So instead, I bought an all-wheel drive NSX and never looked back. It outpaces the AI with ease. But you won’t know you brought a hopeless car to one of these events until you drive there and get fundamentally outclassed. At that point the only thing to do is quit, respawn at your nearest garage, choose a new ride, and drive all the way back (because quick travel in JDM is limited to jumping between garages). I mostly wasn’t bothered by needing to drive to new events because if driving wasn’t fun I wouldn’t be here in the first place, but it did grate in these instances. As a story-driven racer, JDM stitches all its events together with regular, manga-inspired graphic novel pages (which even read from right to left, as is the case with Japanese manga). It’s not my scene – I have no meaningful history with manga and I very quickly lost track of who all the characters were – but I admire it as a cute and on-brand way of injecting some extra personality into JDM, even if it is extraordinarily cheesy and hilariously horny. The last time I was this surprised by a sex scene in the story of a racing driver I was watching Days of Thunder and Tom Cruise was trying to slingshot a packet of Sweet’n Low into Nicole Kidman’s *******. The last time I was this surprised by a sex scene in the story of a racing driver I was watching Days of Thunder and Tom Cruise was trying to slingshot a packet of Sweet’n Low into Nicole Kidman’s *******. No, I’m here for the cars and, while just over 20 is an admittedly slim selection compared to *******-budget peers, the garage does hit some key notes. For an indie racer it’s honestly impressive that these are largely licensed; Honda, Nissan, Mazda, and Subaru all make official appearances, and that adds a lot of really crucial credibility to the overall love letter to drift culture that JDM is trying to write here. Performance and interior/exterior customisation is a big feature, and there are a ton of parts to earn and install. It’s impressively Need for Speed-adjacent from such a comparatively small developer. At any rate, I tend to keep my cars more understated – but if you want a katana gearstick, you go right ahead. After the roughly 10-hour story ends, collecting the remaining cars, dabbling with modifications, and cruising around solo is largely what’s left. There are some sushi delivery side missions and “underground” drift events where you can bet on how many points you’ll think you’ll score, but that’s it. It’s just not compelling me to stick around. Gaming Factory is promising more modes over the next nine months, like an expanded driving school, more missions, a photo mode, and split-screen (which would be a big deal because there’s no online multiplayer). However, the side effect of all these plans is that it leaves JDM feeling like it wasn’t really finished in the first place, and a lot like an early access game that hasn’t actually been identified as such. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Just days after losing its two-year-old objection to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the U.S.'s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially dropped its case. The FTC’s appeal to block Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to acquire the company behind Call of Duty was denied by San Francisco’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 7, further cementing the purchase that was originally announced in late 2022. It was a move decided by a three-judge panel that brought an end to the FTC’s questioning of the July 2023 decision to allow Microsoft to finalize its purchase. As we summarized at the time, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has faced scrutiny from across the board for more than three years, both in the U.S. and worldwide, with some parties concerned that an acquisition would see popular franchises like Call of Duty become Xbox exclusives. Microsoft confirmed it had no interest in barring certain franchises behind lengthy exclusivity periods, and sold Activision-Blizzard's cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft to satisfy the ***'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) objections. While challenges continued to arise throughout 2023, Microsoft was finally able to complete its purchase of Activision Blizzard in October of that same year. The FTC’s appeal could have presented a late roadblock to continuing. However, as reported by The Verge, the Commission has now dismissed its complaint entirely, stating in a brief filing issued on May 22: "The Commission has determined that the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case." "On May 7, 2025, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, FTC v. Microsoft Corp. [...] denying the Commission’s application for a preliminary injunction to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. by Microsoft Corp. "Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the Complaint in this matter be, and it hereby is, Dismissed." For a timeline of all of Microsoft’s struggles with finalizing its Activision Blizzard acquisition, you can click here. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Build up your game collection easily with the Capcom Legends bundle from Fanatical, with 20 items to choose from. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

On Thursday, Games Workshop revealed a new and updated version of the classic RTS, Warhammer 40k Dawn of War, during its Skulls videogame showcase. Superficially, this looks like little more than a lick of paint and a bundle of all the expansion content for the venerable game - but the fact that it's moving to a 64 bit engine is incredible news for the game's well-established modding community. Read the rest of the story... View the full article

Like many other Elder Scrolls fans, I dove straight into The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered when it was released. With a wonderful dose of nostalgia, stepping back into Cyrodiil seems like the perfect way to fill the long gap until the next installment of the series. However, the more I played, the more my mind drifted to how stripped back many of Skyrim's mechanics and features were, and this only got worse as I started playing through one of my favorite guild questlines. View the full article

There was plenty on offer during the yearly celebration of Warhammer video games. One of the highlights was news that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, still one of the greatest RTS games of all time more than 20 years after its release, is getting a definitive edition. Read Entire Article View the full article

Sam Barlow, Metaphor: ReFantazio leads, ConcernedApe's business head, indie legends, and many more weigh inView the full article

If you're trying to play crossplatform in Star Wars Battlefront 2, then unfortunately that feature is not supportedView the full article

The United States Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has officially dropped its case opposing Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Many people will be surprised that the case was still being pursued, considering that the FTC’s original request for an injunction on the deal was denied in July 2023. Microsoft completed the $68.7 billion acquisition in October of that year, and many Activision Blizzard games have since been released on Xbox Game Pass. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games, Nixxes Software and PlayStation Publishing LLC has Patch 10 out now with some NVIDIA upgrades along with a fix for some Steam Deck players. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article