Well done, everyone! We finally made it to the end of January! There was quite a bit of Nintendo news this week, so we’re sure everyone will enjoy kicking back with a couple o’ games over the weekend.
We were treated to yet another Nintendo Direct this week, with Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream taking the spotlight. It looked really rather sweet, all in all, and it was nice to get some confirmation on the game’s price, release date, and features.
A new Arc Raiders duplication glitch has fans worried about exploits, but others just want to know why it’s being used to spawn mountains of rubber duck trinkets.
The Headwinds update brought new content, alongside fresh gameplay tweaks, when it launched for Arc Raiders players across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S earlier this week. While the 40+ level matchmaking option, Solo vs. Squads, was positioned by developer Embark Studios to be its big selling point, some players are more concerned with the return of an item duplication exploit and how it has affected the in-game (duck) economy.
Although players are no doubt using the dupe glitch to amass piles of rare items like blueprints, it seems a few fans are manipulating the system to make some serious coin – and maybe even a quick joke. The duck has slowly become a bit of a running gag for fans on its own, as the squeaky bath toy is one of a few lightweight trinkets that can be found topside and then sold in Speranza for a decent chunk of Raider Coins. It also happens to be the sillier items in Arc Raiders, so when a recently patched dupe glitched returned in a new form, those looking to exploit the system knew just what to do.
Those who are discovering topside players with hundreds of ducks, however, are just confused.
Did we come across the duck Santa Clause or something?
“Did we come across the duck Santa Clause or something?” one Reddit user said a few days before the launch of Headwinds. “Dupe hacking gone wild? At first we thought it was some joke because the stash was just full of ducks but then we realized they were stacks of 15 ducks each.”
“Okay so I actually came across a guy in blue gate in a random house just spamming ducks on the ground,” another replied. “I assumed he was duping. The floor was littered with them, probably like 100 of them. He wouldn’t respond and kinda just stared at me til I walked away.”
Arc Raiders’ mallard problem has only gotten bigger in the aftermath of Headwinds, as the January content update also introduced a handful of more valuable (and more vibrant) ducks to collect as part of the new Bird City map condition. It’s resulted in an abundance of ducks across Buried City…and some very awkward moments.
“A raider caught on fire in Buried City Metro, went down without saying a word, and left behind a mountain of Familiar Ducks,” another user shared. “I extracted with $2.8M. Still confused.”
“Was doing the pharmacist quest for Lance, heard the tell tale duck noise…came upon this silent raider,” one person said, sharing a picture of a solo Raider standing alone in a dark attic.
Referencing a recent cyber-attack against Embark and Arc Raiders, someone replied, “This must be what brought down the servers. DDOS (Duck Duplication on Server).”
In a game that constantly sees players backstabbing each other for a small chance to net worthwhile resources, it’s hard to deny the comedy in PvP players only finding stacks upon stacks of little rubber duckies. Still, it’s definitely the kind of thing Embark promised to clean up earlier this month. Players have complained of cheaters and exploiters in Arc Raiders for weeks, so as goofy as these issues are, they are still causing some players to worry that others have an unfair advantage.
It’s especially concerning for those who have kept up with Arc Raiders updates since launch. Embark issued update 1.12.0 January 20 and fixed a handful of exploits, including an item duplication glitch. It took less than a week for players to begin reporting what appears to be a new version of the exploit, and it’s unclear how long it will take for the developers to publish a new patch or how many other glitches will be discovered in the meantime.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Speaking to Polygon recently, Hamaguchi mentioned how a status update on the Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will hopefully be shared in the “very near future”. So far, this version of the game has been built, and the team is now working hard to optimise and polish it. Here’s the full exchange:
“We’re already working with Nintendo on a path forward”.
Following an official response from Nintendo yesterday about the censorship in the Switch versions of Dispatch, the developer AdHoc Studio has now shared a lengthy statement.
Just one day after the announcement of Genie, Google’s generative AI-powered virtual world creator, a number of major video game companies are seeing their stock prices tumble, seemingly because some investors think you can just generate an entire video game with AI now.
Of course, that’s not what Genie is. Genie essentially lets you create a virtual “world” by offering prompts to describe the environment, a main character, and first or third-person view. Once it’s created, you can control the described character and wander around the world you’ve made.
And that’s…kind of it? While you can walk around these virtual spaces with your keyboard, critically, there’s nothing else you can really do. There are no game mechanics, there’s no one to talk to, no goals, no scores or meaningful interactions. Additionally, each generation is limited to just 60 seconds. And while you could maybe argue that this is just the first step on a road to eventually getting AI to generate playable 3D video games, there’s no real evidence yet that such a thing is possible, or that the games would be good or even coherent. The Verge, for instance, tried to basically copy Breath of the Wild using Genie, and while they got something that essentially looks identical, that’s just it. It’s not playable, the “Link” looks kind of frightening actually, and Genie had to copy something that already existed to make this. It didn’t come up with this on its own.
But that hasn’t really stopped a lot of investors from suddenly jumping off the video game train, a conclusion first posed by Investing.com and shared by others, including Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. Perhaps the most notable decline is Take-Two Interactive, which reached a six-month low this morning and, while it rallied somewhat by the closing bell, still ended down 8%. Engine maker Unity is in a similar spot, dropping 24% today also to a six-month low. Roblox stock also cratered today by 13% by close today, though notably Roblox has been on a downward trend since November. Still, it’s a six-month low for Roblox, too.
Not every gaming company is seeing a massive nosedive. Ubisoft is technically down 7% today, but with its stock down to just $1/share, any small movement in either direction will seem significant. The company has been in pretty dire straits for months, even years now, and its announcement of more layoffs, closures, and cancelations earlier this month already had stock even further in a downward spiral. EA stock hasn’t changed much today at all, but that’s understandable, given EA announced last fall that it was preparing to sell to an investor group headed up by the Saudi Arabian government and will soon exit the public trading market. Meanwhile, Nintendo stock, down just under 5% today at the time this piece was written, has been all over the place all month, following a steady downward trend since November.
The pattern I’m seeing here between Take-Two, Roblox, and Unity is a sudden distrust not in games as an idea, but rather concerns about “platforms”. Unity is a game engine. People use it to make games. If Genie can also make games, who needs Unity? In Roblox’s case, Roblox is a pure user-generated content (UGC) factory – something that would likely become obsolete quickly if Genie took over. And for Take-Two, the publisher is about to release Grand Theft Auto VI later this year (we hope), which would very likely be accompanied at launch or not long after with some new version of GTA Online. While the current GTA Online doesn’t rely on UGC, there have been recent suspicions this new version might. Again, the thinking here is seemingly that if people can just make their own little games in Genie, why would they bother doing it in Roblox or GTA or Minecraft or Fortnite or Unreal or anywhere else (Microsoft, for its part is too big to see any stock impact from Genie today and Epic Games is not publicly traded).
Is selling shares of major game publishers going to pay off for these investors? I’m not a stock expert, but if nothing else, it doesn’t seem to be like a good idea to bet against GTA 6 right now (though Take-Two’s earnings are next week, so we’ll see I guess). And while Genie doesn’t seem up to the task of making a whole video game out of nothing, plenty of other studios are coming out on one side of the fence or the other on using generative AI of any kind in their work. It seems that one way or another, the folks betting big money on generative AI will reap whatever harvest of that investment there is sooner rather than later.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
We were a little caught up in all of yesterday’s Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream news to get to the Japanese charts, but worry not, we’re on it now!
Yes, Famitsu has shared the latest look at physical sales in the region, and it’s Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade that has come out on top with 23,428 units sold in its debut week. That’s not a particularly high number, it’s true, but considering that Mario Kart World came in second with almost 14 thousand, it’s not bad going.
Crosak: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets of a Multi-Gravity Play-Dough Universe
Irene Guardiola – CEO, WildSphere
Summary
Open-world platformer set in multi-gravity, play-dough-style environments.
Pro tips to help you save everyone from the evil wizard Double G.
Two-player co-op mode with no splitscreen.
Crosakhas arrived, ready to transport you to a fun universe made of play-dough, where gravity is on your side. Step into the role of a true caveman, grab that sturdy bone club, and head out in search of adventure, because adventure is just a small planetary spin away.
Life in Routine Village is peaceful, but it doesn’t take long for things to take a dark turn with the arrival of the evil wizard Double G.
Your journey will take you through several freely explorable open worlds, each with its own distinct theme. You’ll need to overcome the challenges and minigames, and to progress in the adventure, you’ll also need to battle Double G’s minions, the Kobi, defeat Mr. Egg and Big Rock, eventually reaching the depths to face Double G himself. Read on to discover some of the best ways to explore, vanquish enemies and save the world.
Exploring the planetoids and uncovering their secrets is a big part of the fun. Thanks to the smooth gravity shifts that keep you glued to the ground, you can walk across their entire surface. If you see the horizon getting close, don’t worry, just keep moving and you’ll discover you can loop around to the other side, uncover hidden areas beneath the surface, or even drop through a hole into the planet’s inner layer.
There’s only one exception: those ultra-flat platforms have gravity fixed in a single direction, tied to their specific zone. So don’t try to stand on them upside down or you’ll fall into nothingness… or lava… or water… either way you end up respawning at the last checkpoint.
To save your impatient pals, you’ll need to overcome a wide variety of challenges and games. Here are a few hints of the ones you’ll have to discover: find the toy plane so a Kobi will agree to race you, convince a pterodactyl to carry you to a distant planetoid, chase and catch slippery critters, take on combat arenas, ground-pound buttons to flush out hidden Kobi, roll a massive ball of bones without falling into the void, and for those giant balls… find a proper goal.
Oh, and will you manage to find the T-Rex? At first, it may seem a bit aggressive, but that’s only because you wandered into its lair unannounced. Soon enough, it’ll become a loyal friend, letting you ride on its back to reach places that would otherwise be impossible.
As for enemies, don’t let them pile up. They may be small, but they pack a punch. If you keep them under control, you can definitely defeat them. Knock out the Kobi by hitting them or jumping on their heads. The karate dinos are easy to beat but very fast, so take them out quickly. If carnivorous plants give you trouble, try attacking them from behind. Snakes are sneaky, dodge their strike and hit back right after. And when it comes to skeletons, a solid ground pound will keep them from getting back up.
If, when you start playing, you notice small white items floating around that don’t seem to do anything yet, don’t panic, they’re power-ups you’ll unlock later on. You’ll earn the anti-gravity feathers by defeating Mr. Egg, and these will allow you to jump higher and fall more slowly, making longer jumps possible and letting you escape the planet’s gravity at certain locations. The rock helmet, unlocked after beating Big Rock, adds weight so you can sink in water and grants damage resistance, enough to walk across lava. Finally, by defeating Double G, you’ll obtain the flaming club, which lets you shoot fireballs and access green fire areas.
All of this can also be enjoyed in co-op mode with a second player. Invite a friend, sibling, parent, child, grandparent, cousin, anyone you like! They can jump into the game at any time.
This co-op mode doesn’t use a split-screen setup to allow both players to work together toward the same goal without losing track of each other during exploration. And if the second player strays too far or gets a bit lost, the teleport function is always there to help.
Crosak comes packed with a feel-good vibe, a touch of classic platforming, and a strong sense of adventure, all while having fun turning the world upside down. Jump in and enjoy the ride!
Do you like platforming, exploration, and plumbing…? Uh, I mean… play-dough?! Well, we may not have pipes, but we can give you 64 reasons to join Crosak’s daring adventures.
1. Become a real caveman jumping and clubbing your way through a multi-gravity universe made of sticky play-dough: six open worlds full of secrets plus three special worlds with everything a galaxy could wish for.
2. Invite your favorite second player to have fun with Crosak and his friend Ena! Enjoy the full adventure in one- or two-player mode, switching whenever you like.
3. Face crazy “Jurassic-inspired” enemies — from giant carnivorous plants to karate dinosaurs or our take on the missing link (the Kobi).
4. Experiment with various power-ups to overcome the twisted planets’ challenges: anti-gravity feathers, rock-helmet, or flaming club, to name a few.
64. And let’s not forget the main mission! Rescue the 60 cavemen from Routine Village captured by the fearsome warlock Double G. 60 objectives with all kinds of missions: races, pterodactyl flights, mini-games, free falls, T-Rex rides, powerful boss fights, and much more.
Don’t overthink it — give your world a spin with Crosak!
Catherine O’Hara, the beloved actress best known for her roles as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek and Kate McCallister in Home Alone, has reportedly died at the age of 71.
This comes from TMZ, which spoke to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, as well as Variety, which confirmed with her manager. Variety reports that O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles, following “a brief illness.”
O’Hara had a storied career spanning over 50 years, beginning in 1974 as a The Second City cast member in Toronto and moving into sketch shows, cartoon voice work, and eventually various television and film roles. In film, she appeared as Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice, Kate McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2, was the voice of Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas (a role which she also voices in Disney Dreamlight Valley and Disney Speedstorm), and Cookie Fleck in Best in Show. We interviewed her back in 2012 about her role as Susan Frankenstein in Frankenweenie.
In television, O’Hara was best-known for portraying the eccentric Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek from 2015-2020 across all six seasons, a role for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actress. She also appeared in numerous other roles, such as Carol Ward in Six Feet Under, Dr. Orwell in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and most recently Patty Leigh in The Studio, and Gail Lynden in The Last of Us. Her final film appearances included as Ruth in Argylle, a reprise of her portrayal of Delia in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the voice of Pinktail in The Wild Robot, and as herself in the documentary John Candy: I Like Me.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Battlefield Studios and EA have published Battlefield 6 version 1.1.3.6 patch notes, revealing the next update will alter the controversial “Call of Duty: Ghosts” skin and a seemingly AI-generated sticker.
Details on the incoming patch, which launches across PC and consoles February 3, were published via the official Battlefield website today. It’s a relatively insubstantial update that targets quality-of-life issues across the experience, but one bullet point tucked under the “Player” changes section makes it clear the developers are still listening to fans as they move toward the delayed launch of Season 2.
The one-sentence change says the Objective Ace and Winter Warning cosmetics will be altered to “better align with Battlefield’s visual identity.” It’s easy to miss but one of the more important changes Battlefield 6 has received in the last month, as it relates to two of the biggest controversies for the entry so far.
Winter Warning was perhaps the most infamous of the two cosmetics, drawing criticism from players who feared it had been generated using artificial intelligence. Questionable features, such as unrealistic finger placement and, most notably, a double-barreled M4A1, were what first saw players cast accusations regarding the use of generative AI. In the time since conversation began in mid-December, players still reference Winter Warning as one example of their issues with Battlefield 6.
Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like BF Studios will be removing Objective Ace or Winter Warning, saying only that they’ve been “updated.” Although Battlefield 6 already has a history of tweaking skins to appease fans in its nearly four-month lifespan, it’s unclear how each cosmetic will be altered to lower the temperature in the community.
Also included with Battlefield 6 update 1.1.3.6 are fixes for player movement related to sprint-jump momentum, REDSEC battle royale parachute behavior, and glitch-y destruction, as well as “a handful of UI, audio, and stability issues.” The patch is set to arrive this Tuesday, two weeks before EA attempts to regain its balance with the launch of Season 2. The publisher announced it had chosen to delay the season earlier this month amid complaints from fans related to both cosmetics and gameplay as a whole.
As the extended Season 1 continues, you can check out the full patch notes for the February 3 update below.
Battlefield 6 Update 1.1.3.6 Patch Notes
Update 1.1.3.6 is a small quality-of-life update focused on polish, stability, and targeted fixes across Battlefield 6. It addresses a selection of gameplay flow issues, UI reliability improvements, audio consistency fixes, and map-specific adjustments, with a particular focus on smoothing out edge cases reported by players.
The update will be available on Tuesday, February 3 at 09:00 UTC.
Major Updates for 1.1.3.6
Fixed player movement issues, including cases of excessive sprint-jump momentum and unintended movement behaviour. This won’t impact player movement at a large scale and is meant to target those specific edge cases.
Resolved a set of destruction-related visual and lighting issues on Eastwood that could result in lighting artifacts, blackouts, or incorrect colour rendering.
Fixed a handful of UI, audio, and stability issues, including crashes related to challenges, minimap accuracy, unintended gadget audio playback, and platform-specific problems.
CHANGELOG
PLAYER:
Fixed an issue where sprint-jump momentum could behave inconsistently and grant higher or lower momentum than intended.
Updated the Objective Ace and Winter Warning cosmetics to better align with Battlefield’s visual identity.
MAPS & MODES
Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying a building near the A flag could cause unintended green or purple visual effects across nearby structures.
Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying a building near the B flag could cause a complete lighting blackout across the map.
Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying the villa near the B flag could cause excessively bright lighting artifacts to appear.
UI & HUD:
Fixed an issue where downed squadmates were shown on the minimap for classes unable to revive them.
Updated legal text to reflect current policies and requirements.
AUDIO:
Fixed an issue where UAV Drone enemy detection audio could be heard by all teammates instead of only the operator.
PERFORMANCE & STABILITY:
Fixed an issue on PlayStation 5 where ownership validation could fail during system lifecycle events, causing connectivity issues.
Fixed an out-of-memory crash on Xbox Series S that could occur when loading Daily and Weekly Challenges.
REDSEC
PLAYER:
Fixed an issue where Battle Royale Initiation matches did not end after eliminating the final AI opponent.
Fixed an issue where parachute deployment could remain linked to the jump leader after breaking off.
Fixed an issue where players could become stuck mid-air during insertion after progressing through the pre-deploy sequence.
UI & HUD:
Fixed an issue where the Second Chance redeploy icon could incorrectly transfer to a living teammate.
Fixed an issue where the Second Chance redeploy timer refreshed each time the map was opened.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Are you more of a supervan wrecker or a bone stock maniac? Can you be best described as a British couch racing champion, or is your calling more in the realms of Finnish folk? These are the sorts of questions you’ll have to pose to yourself whenever you fire up Wreckfest 2‘s still-in-the works career mode, which devs Bugbear Entertainment have just laid out a bunch of plans for.
