The fine frigate which serves as the featured image for this article is called the Stately Gunwale. That’s not a name I, the boat’s creator, gave it. It’s a name ShipShaper’s demo automatically assigned my vessel when I picked the set of colours I wished it to be painted. Quite frankly, I doubt I could have dreamed up a more fitting moniker for my deliberate attempt to fling something funky onto the high seas.
Norwegian electronics retailer Komplett has promised it will give away free copies of GTA 6 to anyone giving birth on the game’s launch day, exactly nine months ahead of its arrival.
The cheeky store chain has even encouraged fans to, er, get busy with their efforts to ensure this happens. Images on social media and reddit show posters for the campaign have been spotted, while the retailer’s Instagram has confirmed that this offer really isn’t just a joke.
“GTA 6 dropping in 9 months ;)” declares advertising posters seen in the Norwegian capital of Oslo this week, designed to promote the country’s major electronics chain. The posters also feature an image of a messy bed, strewn pillows, and a scattering of rose petals. It’s not subtle.
You can get GTA 6 for free if you give birth to a baby on the game’s release date in Norway. pic.twitter.com/d4fANWhAnr
— YabaLeftOnline (@yabaleftonline) February 12, 2026
On Instagram, Komplett describes the idea of having a baby on GTA 6 launch day as a “life hack” — with the obvious implication being that you could time your parental leave perfectly for when Rockstar’s highly-anticipated blockbuster drops.
(Of note, Norwegian parental leave offers a total of 49 weeks at 100% salary, or a total 61 weeks at 80% salary, shared between two people.)
“This is actually not nonsense,” Komplett wrote in a caption for an accompanying Instagram video. “GTA 6 is released in 9 months (🤞) and if you have a baby on the launch date, we’ll give you the game for free.”
Of course, the campaign is primarily designed to make headlines and get Komplett some attention — and it’s certainly doing that, even if the responses on social media are full of people pointing out that having a baby is quite a time-consuming thing all on its own.
“Lol, you’re not getting time to play gta 6 if you have a screaming baby at home,” wrote Low_Possibility_8893 as part of a lengthy thread on reddit.
“That baby is gonna cost alooooot more than 70 dollars…” suggested sopedound, hinting that actually this didn’t represent much of a financial saving.
“Haven’t slept in 6 days, nipples are like bullets and I’ve been hit in the face with explosive diarrhea,” concluded the appropriately-named PloppyTheSpaceship, suggesting what life with a newborn was actually like. “I don’t even know what my name is right now let alone how to turn on a game, but I’m sure it’s good.”
Komplett’s offer comes in the wake of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two giving its strongest indication yet that the long-awaited blockbuster will make its current November 19, 2026 launch date, after several previous delays. Last week, as part of its latest financial results, Take-Two said marketing for what will surely be the biggest entertainment launch of all time kicks off this summer. Take-Two also denied rumors that GTA 6 will be a digital-only release upon its initial launch.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
WARNING: Major story spoliers for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, as well as the original Yakuza 3, lie ahead.
It’s natural to spend a lot of time thinking about what games could have been, had different decisions been made. Whether the change is preferable to the reality often doesn’t come into it, the fantasy of another possible world is the draw.
Despite that, few studios choose to make major shifts – at least as far as the main stories of those games go – when they remake their previous games. This won’t necessarily be a philosophical decision: the remaster or remake has to sell. Games which get revisited are ones players deeply love, and the suits will inevitably see tweaks to their fundamentals as an unnecessary risk. Old Oblivion is loved, so Bethesda adopted a rubber glove approach to the Oblivion remaster. They limited changes to modernising visuals and snipping away some annoying features. It’s akin to polishing up a holy relic, rather than replacing the gemstones or changing the engravings.
Magic: The Gathering is kicking off its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set in a few weeks, and while we’ve seen plenty of deals on upcoming sets, Collector Boosters have been like gold dust… until now.
Amazon is offering a box of 12 Collector boosters for $449.99, but you’ll need to act swifter than one of the titular turtles to grab one.
How much?! That’s right, the fee is high. The reason for this is that Collector Boosters are the best way of grabbing the most expensive cards in any given Magic: The Gathering set because they’re full of alternative art treatments and foil variants.
The rub in this instance is that we don’t know what the most valuable cards in the set are going to be because Wizards of the Coast hasn’t started card reveals outside of a handful just yet.
If you want to snag some great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cards for your Magic: The Gathering collection, this is the way to go, but with the $37 per pack around the same price you’d pay anywhere, don’t expect any discounts.
Honestly, in the time it’s taken us to write this article, there’s a good chance a bunch more of these have been sold, and they’re not likely to be reprinted after the fact, either.
As a reminder, Collector Boosters don’t necessarily contain ‘better’ cards than Play Boosters, they just contain rarer versions. If you’re looking for cards to play with, you can grab a bundle at a discount right now.
For more deals on Magic’s TMNT set, be sure to check out the Turtle Power Commander Deck, also discounted at Amazon, while June’s Marvel Super Heroes set is also seeing discounts nice and early.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
What does this reflection show?
Nintendo’s relationship with the Monster Hunter series is an intriguing one – in one sense it’s at the heart of the IP with timed exclusives, but it’s also missed out on two blockbuster mainline entries in World and Wilds; perhaps Switch 2 will remedy that shortcoming. The spin-off Stories series, however, started out as a late-gen 3DS game and the series has kept on coming to Nintendo hardware ever since.
The first two games offer a good time for those new to the IP, or fans that want an adventure a little less intense and challenging. They were largely (though not exclusively) cutesy in style, and while that’s still partially true with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, this does feel like an entry that’s following its audience. If you were young when you played the original, this may now fit well into your older sensibilities. It’s still charming and easygoing at times, but the tone has shifted a little.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Of all the action-RPG franchises to make you work for an epic moment, Monster Hunter is up there among the ones that push you hardest, and the Monster Hunter Stories series is no exception to the rule. You take on the lowest rank Monsters, you get pummelled into the dirt until you learn how to beat them, and then you excitedly hurry back home to build a new weapon and a cool set of armor from the creature you’ve just murked, ready to go through the entire process again with a slightly harder monster. It’s a rewarding battle, but a tough one, and Monster Hunter’s greatest secrets are often reserved for those that take the time to fully embrace its many systems.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection shows you right from the start that things are going to be a little different around here. In the first minute of my hands-on session with the game, my Rider (not a Hunter, but we’ll get into that later) is sprinting down a cliff at warp speed before leaping right off the edge, only to be caught mid-air by her pet Rathalos and, together, they soar across a glittering lake, in what may be the most breath-taking introduction to a Monster Hunter game I’ve seen yet, inviting you, the player, to immediately take the reigns of this majestic creature – who, for once, at isn’t a foe to be conquered, but a friend. It’s a stark contrast to the opening of Monster Hunter Stories 2, in which you carry a Rathalos egg around for hours before it hatches. This introduction feels like the culmination of a spin-off that’s ready to step out of the shadow of its mainline series, and show us exactly what it can do.
To set the scene, Monster Hunter Stories ditches the mainline series’ traditional fast-paced, unforgiving third-person combat for a turn-based system, riffing off the likes of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokémon, and other similar monster-packed RPGs. Instead of a Hunter, you are a Rider, able to befriend and battle alongside monster companions (Monsties).
In this third instalment, set a long time after the events of Stories 1+2, your character is the heir of Azuria, the kingdom in which our adventure begins. In the first few story missions, we meet and are partnered up with Eleanor, the princess of the adjacent kingdom Vermeil. The two are on the brink of war, and it’s up to you to figure out how to resolve each kingdom’s needs and put a stop to it. Meanwhile, a phenomenon called the Crystal Encroachment is threatening to destroy the ecosystem, turning Monsters feral and driving some close to extinction.
Your character is also a member of the Rangers, a team of Riders assembled to research Monster ecology and help protect it. It’s a super compelling setup that sees your created character grappling between their royal responsibilities and goals as a Ranger, crafting a darker, stronger narrative than the previous instalments. You don’t need to be familiar with the previous stories, either, just jump right on in.
This setting is also new to Monster Hunter Stories 3. Azuria serves as a vibrant, sprawling starting ground that feels effortlessly inviting – almost Ghibli-esque in style – and you begin the game equipped with Monsties that enable basic traversal right away. Ratha (your Rathalos) can’t maintain unlimited flight, but he can catch updrafts to get a boost of height for travelling long distances quickly, as can many other Monsties with the flying ability. Monsters roam the world freely, and you can choose to battle them or leave them be.
Stories’ turn-based combat system is simple to grasp in its basic form – a rock/paper/scissors setup where one move type beats another. Stories 3 is much more tutorialized than predecessors; you’ll quickly get to grips with what move type monsters use, as well as more in-depth mechanics like elemental attacks, and behaviour that shows where they’ll change up their strategy. However, do not mistake guidance for ease – despite its turn-based presentation, there are meticulously crafted systems at play that mean you’ll need to come extremely prepared for every fight. My hubris quickly got the better of me while moving through story missions, thinking I could push through one more mission, only to be flattened by a new Feral Monster. It pays to take your time, fully explore the world, level up your Monsties, and plan out your approach.
The world has Monster nests scattered around, which contain eggs. This is your primary method of collecting new Monsties, and each one is a surprise. Some contain rarer eggs, some contain multiple eggs, and some will have a Monstie ready to jump out and defend the eggs you’re trying to run off with. This mechanic comes from the previous games, but it’s much more simply presented, at least in the early game – you don’t need to run through a winding maze of caves as in previous games, just dip in, grab the eggs you want and dip out before a Monstie comes to get you – another example of how Stories 3 is streamlining to build a smoother experience for newcomers.
The more eggs you collect, the more Monsties you’ll end up with in your stable. As with previous Stories games, you’ll be able to ‘release’ a Monstie you don’t want to keep, but Stories 3 introduces another brilliant mechanic – Habitat Restoration.
With this, you can actually change the ecology of different areas of the map by intentionally introducing different monsters to the ecosystem. For example, the early game invites you to release a Rathian into the starting area, and shortly after, you’ll see Rathians appear in that part of the world. As you release more Rathians, its rank in the ecosystem will rise, which means you’ll find more powerful Rathian eggs hidden in nests surrounding the region the creature lives in. In previous Stories games, finding powerful eggs relied on pure luck when scrabbling through nests, but this time, you can effectively engineer a powerful version of the Monstie you want by creating a home for it, which is absolutely brilliant, truly rewarding your careful thinking (or just letting you buff the monster type you happen to love).
Monsters also have the opportunity to mutate, offering an even more powerful variant. By releasing Rathians into the wild, I was able to unlock Pink Rathian, build up their rank, and eventually leading to unlocking a Dreadqueen Rathian – the most powerful version of the Monster – in my first few hours of play.
Beyond that, the ecosystem can also affect the element of a Monster, which is an exciting new first for the series. Very early on in the game, I ended up finding a green dual-element Anjanath, able to deliver its trademark fire attacks alongside less expected lightning abilities. It’s such an interesting evolution for these beloved Monsties, without changing up their core dynamic, and another area in which Stories 3 feels like it’s growing to meet the complexity of mainline Monster Hunter games, without losing its own identity and charm.
With this entry, Monster Hunter Stories no longer feels like the franchise’s quirky distant cousin, this is a fully-fledged, magnificently designed adventure that can stand proudly on its own. With a striking new world and a mature, promising new narrative that gives your adventure purpose from the start, you’re no longer an unknown Rider making their way through the world or riding the coattails of another legend – you’re a royal heir, a renowned Rider, and a Ranger that from the off says “I’m here, and I’m ready”. Not unlike the game itself.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection launches on Xbox Series X|S March 13.
While you’re waiting, Monster Hunter Stories 1+2 are also available on Xbox Series X|S, and you can grab them both today.
CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Monster Hunter Stories is an RPG series set in the Monster Hunter world, where you can become a Rider, raising and bonding with your favorite monsters.
The Story
Azuria and Vermeil: two countries, on a path to destruction.
When all hope seems lost, an egg is found. Inside is a Rathalos, a species thought to be extinct.
But this quavering light of hope is quickly extinguished, giving way to the darkness of despair.
Born from the egg is not a single Rathalos, but twins, bearing the Skyscale marking that hearkens back to the disastrous civil war of 200 years prior.
The natural world teeters on the verge of destruction, with countless monster species facing extinction. In the shadow of these dark times, the flames of war rekindle.
Two countries, and two Rathalos.
A Rider and their trusted Rathalos, buffeted by the winds of fate, set out on a journey for the truth.
*There are other bundles that include this product. Please be careful of duplicate purchases.
Agreement to the End User License Agreement is required to play this title. (https://manual.capcom.com/eula/game/)
©CAPCOM
MONSTER HUNTER STORIES is a trademark and/or registered trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. and/or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The post Monster Hunter Stories 3 is Ready to Step Out of the Shadow of the Mainline Series appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Development studio ZA/UM has announced that a free demo for its upcoming espionage-flavoured RPG, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, will be available to play on PC as part of Steam Next Fest.
Launching on February 23 and available until March 16, the demo features a “tailored” version of Zero Parade’s opening hours. While not everything from this section of the full game will be available as part of the demo, it does include two full quests, a variety of side activities, and the freedom to explore the city state of Portofiro. You can get a small taste of what awaits in the gameplay video below, which showcases the very first minutes of Zero Parades.
The demo also allows you to choose from three different character archetypes, which dictate the skills and stats of protagonist Hershel Wilk. ZA/UM encourages replaying the demo with each of the archetypes to see how a physical, soulful, or analytical build affects your choices and opportunities.
IGN recently interviewed several developers from ZA/UM to learn more about Zero Parades, which tells the story of a spy brought out of retirement to complete one last job. Its key theme is failure, and ZA/UM states that it has designed its dialogue system around that. “Every door closed is an open opportunity to go through the window instead,” said the studio in a press release.
Zero Parades features a similar design to Disco Elysium, ZA/UM’s previous game, and has been created by a team made up of both old and new employees. The full game is scheduled to launch in 2026, first on PC through Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store, and then later on PlayStation 5.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.
Best Buy’s latest Deal of the Day has dropped the critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden 4 down to just $42.99 for one day only on Xbox. Not only that, but this is the Deluxe Edition as well, making this discount all the more impressive.
The Deluxe Edition of the game retails for $89.99, so that’s a serious $47 saving, and available for just a few dollars more than the game was listed on sale for at the start of the year ($40), and you’re getting a whole lot more for it as well.
So what’s included? For just over $40, you’re getting the base game, future gameplay content (The Two Masters DLC), exclusive character skins (Traditional Dark Blue, Legendary Black Falcon for Ryu; Divine Chimera, Raven Master for Yakumo), the Blade of the Archfiend weapon skin, 50,000 bonus NinjaCoin, and additional in-game items.
The standout is definitely the DLC content, The Two Masters, which is still expected to release in early 2026, so stay tuned for more news on that.
But, as I mentioned, this deal is also not long for this world. You’ve got until the end of the day at 11:59 PM ET, February 12, 2026, to secure the discount.
Yeah, yeah, this is also on Xbox Game Pass, but you remember when we used to own games? Those were the days! I have personally been trying to buy more physical games and more physical media in general, and I’d highly recommend others do the same as well.
Think about it this way as well: Game Pass Ultimate is $29.99 per month, and at just $13 more, you can own the game to revisit and play the DLC on as well. That’s worth it, at least in my opinion.
Our review from IGN’s Mitchell Saltzman said, “Despite its disappointing story and bland level design, Ninja Gaiden 4’s excellent combat still make it one of the best 3D action games in recent memory.”
It even earned a runner-up nomination for Best Action Game of 2025, as it’s a “pure action fan’s action game, featuring some of the best melee combat we’ve seen in years, bolstered by aggressive enemy AI, excellent weapon design, and the ability to let your creativity run wild by giving you the freedom to hotswap between all of your weapons on the fly.”
Robert Anderson is IGN’s Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.
Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel’s cat breeding roguelike Mewgenics came out earlier this week to an overwhelmingly positive reception and plenty of early success. However, one aspect of the game has left folks on the fence – this list of pretty… complicated internet personalities who’ve voiced the copious amounts of meows emitted by in-game cats. So, to get a better picture of how those cameos came to be, I reached out to developer McMillen.
Announce the game, already!
A curious new listing for an Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remaster art book has appeared on Amazon UK in what may be the clearest indication yet that Ubisoft is gearing up to release an updated version of its swashbuckling classic.
As reported by IGN, the listing states that the book is scheduled for launch on 24th March 2026 and is being published by Titan. Its price is currently £29.95, a 25% reduction on its £39.99 RRP. There are few additional details at this stage, and even the use of the word ‘Remaster’ is seemingly at odds with the ‘Resynced‘ moniker we’ve been hearing for a while now.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
