February 27 is a special day in the Pokémon calendar, commemorating the release of the very first Pokémon games in Japan. Known to fans around the world as ‘Pokémon Day’, 2026 will be a special 30th anniversary celebration as well.

To celebrate, The Pokémon Company has recently dropped a 30th Anniversary Pokémon Day TCG Collection, featuring a specially stamped foil Pikachu promo card, a metallic coin featuring the 30th anniversary logo, and three booster packs from Phantasmal Flames and Mega Evolution.

Forza Horizon 6 comes out in May for PC (later for PS5), so why not get ready with this excellent deal on a popular racing wheel? For a limited time, Amazon is offering the Logitech G29 Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for just $179.99 with free shipping after you clip the coupon on the product page. That’s a hefty 45% off and the lowest price I’ve seen on a brand new Logitech racing wheel so far this year. The G29 is compatible with both PlayStation 5 and PC.

Logitech G29 Racing Wheel and Pedals for $179.99

Amazon will no longer publish UK developer Maverick Games’ yet-to-be-titled open-world driving game, reports The Game Business.

“As part of our strategic evolution to focus on projects that leverage Amazon’s unique strengths and scale, including the recent re-launch of Luna and our Tomb Raider franchise partnership with Crystal Dynamics, we have decided to release Maverick Games from their publishing agreement with Amazon Game Studios,” the company explained in a provided statement.

“We have tremendous respect for the Maverick Games team and the compelling narrative-led driving experience they’re creating. This decision allows Maverick Games the flexibility to find a publishing partner whose strategic priorities are better aligned with bringing their game to market. We’re proud of what we accomplished together during our partnership and wish them every success in the future.”

Fortunately, this does not mean the end of the road for the project itself, with Maverick Games co-founder Mike Brown confirming on social media that development is continuing to progress strongly and plans are in place to share information about the game later this year.

Maverick Games was founded in 2022 following the departure of a number of staff from Forza Horizon developer Playground Games. At that time, former Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown was joined by producer Tom Butcher, technical director Matt Craven, technical art director Gareth Harwood, audio director Fraser Stachan, and art director Ben Penrose. It was revealed in January 2023 that the team was working on a “premium open-world game for consoles and PC.”

Skate developer Full Circle has announced layoffs affecting an undisclosed number of staff as it aims to “better support” the “long-term future” of its free-to-play title.

Publisher EA revealed its “reshaping” plans with a blog post on the studio’s website. No detailed information about the number of affected employees or their roles was given, with the message only stating that “making changes to our team structure” means that “some roles will be impacted.”

“The teammates affected are talented colleagues and friends who helped build the foundation of skate.,” Full Circle said. “Their creativity and dedication are deeply ingrained in what players experience today. This decision is not a reflection of their impact and we’re committed to supporting them through this transition.”

The post mentions that tens of millions of players have played the free-to-play Skate reboot since it launched as an Early Access title for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S September 2025. Today’s restructuring is said “to better support skate.’s long-term future and focus the team on the things that matter most to you.” EA and Full Circle sign off by assuring fans they will work with the community as they “move faster, listen more closely, and deliver consistently” as development on Skate continues.

“To our departing teammates: thank you. skate. exists because of your hard work and dedication to the craft.”

Full Circle’s restructuring is only the latest in a string of layoffs and game cancellations at EA. Following layoffs impacting around 670 workers in early 2024, the Battlefield and Madden publisher cut 300 additional jobs across the company in April 2025. That move alone saw the cancellation of a new project set in the Titanfall universe at Respawn Entertainment, as the studio accounted for around 100 of the affected roles at the time.

EA went on to end remote hiring and push employees to return to the office the following month. The closure of Cliffhanger Games, the studio behind the now-cancelled Black Panther video game, then arrived just weeks later. September 2025 then saw the company announce it had accepted a $55 billion acquisition offer from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake.

Full Circle will continue development on Skate as it works to secure its long-term future. As detailed in a separate post last week, the free-to-play skating revival will soon launch into Season 3. The rest of its roadmap includes the promise of additional features, cosmetics, game modes, and more.

IGN has reached out to EA for comment regarding the restructuring at Full Circle.

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).

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s release date is right around the corner, and IGN had the chance to speak to the developers in depth about a brand new locales trailer released at IGN Fan Fest. We’ve got never-before-seen concept art of the three main bases in the game – Azuria Castle, Shepharden, and Galyad – and insightful commentary from director Kenji Oguro, art director Takahiro Kawano, and lead game designer Daisuke Wakahara.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is shaping up to be a beautiful game, which is wholly supported by the diverse scenery you’ll encounter on your journey as an environmentalist Ranger. The Monster Hunter Stories 3 team allocated a lot of time and research into making the locations enjoyable for players, and their attention to detail shows. You can watch the new locales video with commentary direct from the developers above, or, if you’d like to immerse yourself in the scenery with no commentary and a few bonus scenes, check out the trailer below.

Azuria

If you’ve played the free demo version of Monster Hunter Stories 3, you’ve seen Azuria. This land features fields, forests, and picturesque mountains on the horizon with a castle town on a lake, lending a classic storybook backdrop.

“In the design process, we wanted to make the stereotypical fantasy castle type of design to depict how peaceful Azuria is, and to depict the beautiful nature of the world of Azuria and the castle itself,” Kawano said.

The team had some real-world inspiration that made its way into the concept art for the surrounding area of Azuria and its castle, specifically, a Spanish castle called Alcazar de Segovia. This wouldn’t be the first time the castle has inspired a creator – as part of its 100th anniversary, The Walt Disney Company revealed in 2023 that it was the inspiration for Snow White’s castle. A magical locale, indeed.

Kawano also described how the wing-like flags represent the wings of Rathalos to signify the special bond Azuria has with the endangered species. The town even has a runway of sorts for monsters to take flight, something uniquely logical for the Stories series, where Riders form bonds with monsters called Monsties and, as the name suggests, ride them.

The attention to detail in the scenery carries into the connection of Twisted Reflection’s story as well. The main catalyst of the plot in Stories 3 is the “Crystal Encroachment,” a phenomenon with unknown origins affecting both the environment and monsters, but the Egg Quartz it leaves behind is used by the residents of Azuria and elsewhere as a source of light.

Shepharden

Shepharden is the second locale the protagonist and the rangers will visit, and if you’ve played a certain entry in the regular Monster Hunter lineup, you may recognize the lush environment.

“One key feature of [Shepharden] is that monsters from Monster Hunter Rise inhabit the area around it,” revealed Kawano. “So based on Monster Hunter Rise, as you may have known, it has a very Eastern, Asia-like taste. So Shepharden and the surrounding area is also designed after that art style.”

You might also notice a structure at the base of the stairs to the village elder’s place inspired by Japanese torii gates, clearly recognizable as orange, angular arches. Right beneath that torii gate are masks stuck into the ground, which represent the graves of the former elders of the village, explained Kawano.

Another Shepharden detail the team had to consider is that this village is not built for Riders the way Azuria is. As such, there aren’t stables – so Ratha, the protagonists’ Rathalos, is stuck into a very small space that’s part of an unused residence.

Galyad

Galyad is a bustling, prosperous town surrounded by desert and relatively desolate lands compared to Azuria and Shepharden. It’s covered in decoration, stones, and jewelry, somewhat fueled by the residents’ successful trade of Egg Quartz. Kawano described that as you get deeper into the city of Galyad, you might discover a boundary between the prosperous residents and the not-so-fortunate residents, and find slum-like areas.

The city’s architecture and design is actually inspired by Mediterranean regions and even has a Lagiacrus fountain in the city center. It’s especially interesting given the desert environment – Lagiacrus is, after all, a Leviathan monster known to inhabit the water.

“Galyad used to be an ocean port city that was floating on top of the ocean,” Kawano explained. “So all the jewelry and the decorations were based off of the Mediterranean sea theme, but desertification has caused the city to lose all the water and it is currently barren, sandy. So that is the reason why there’s a difference between the decorations and the actual cityscape itself.”

Monster Hunter 3: Twisted Reflection Q&A

Of course, I had to take advantage of the time I had speaking with the Monster Hunter 3: Twisted Reflection developers, so I asked a few questions unrelated to the new trailer I thought might be interesting. We got into the game’s more mature protagonist, the weapon availability, the habitat restoration mechanic, and dual-element monsters.

The interview below has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

IGN: I’d say habitat restoration is one of the biggest new gameplay mechanics in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Can you describe the inspiration behind building the system and why you included it?

Kenji Oguro: The first reason we wanted to implement this feature into Stories 3 is because of the protagonist. He or she is the captain of the Ranger Corps and their objective is to protect and preserve the environment. So we wanted to express the preservation of the environment, not just only in the storyline, but in the actual gameplay cycle itself.

Tthe second reason we implemented habitat restoration is to expand on the Monster Hunter Stories series formula, where deepening bonds with the monsters is very important. In the previous entries, you would collect monster eggs from dens, hatch them, and raise them, but the places where you could get those eggs were very limited and were the same across all players. But for Monster Hunter Stories 3, by implementing this habitat restoration feature, every player will have their very own environment. So your environment and my environment might differ a lot.

By restoring the monster populations and sending them off back to the wilds, you might be able to find some rare eggs with dual-element monsters, as well as Deviant Monsters. [Deviant Monsters] are popular monsters from the previous Monster Hunter mainline series games. You might be able to find eggs of the Deviant monsters by raising the ecosystem rank within the habitat restoration feature. We wanted to reward players for helping to protect the environment and restoring the endangered species and growing their population in the world by providing rare monsters that might hatch from the eggs.

IGN: In the first Monster Hunter Stories, changing a Monstie’s element worked differently, and was achieved by swapping genes to change their stats. Can you tell us the reason behind changing this method to the new one?

Kenji Oguro: In the first Stories game, when you change the genes of the monster and get a dual-element monster, the element that monster possesses completely changes. So that might end up as a disadvantage for a player if you get the wrong combination. But for Stories 3, the team wanted to expand the user’s options more and also make habitat restoration more unique. So they implemented habitat restoration and by raising the ecosystem rank and getting the rare eggs, you are rewarded with the dual-element monster.

For Stories 3, the dual-element monster will retain their original element. So if the original monster has a fire element, they will keep the fire element, and on top of that, they’ll get their second new element. So in the combat, players might want to keep the original fire element and get a new element on top.

This gives players an advantage and more options when they are forming their parties. Usually for RPG games, players tend to go for the strongest character or strongest monster with the highest stats and abilities. But developing Monster Stories 3, with the dual-element feature, you get special monsters with different appearances. One of [my] favorites is the Velocidrome imbued with the dragon element. So you get a pitch black Velocidrome, very badass. And that was [my] favorite monster within the development cycle.

After finding [my] favorite dual-element monster, [I] found that, “Hey, maybe I can just play with my favorite monster instead of focusing on the stats or the ability skills.” So that’s one of the ways that the players can enjoy the game. It’s not just going for the strongest, most powerful monsters, but instead finding a true partner that you love and want to bond with.

IGN: I played the Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflections demo, and I did notice that the Long Sword was added to this game. It hasn’t been in Monster Hunter Stories yet. But I didn’t see the Sword and Shield in my bag. Can you tell me if the Sword and Shield is in Monster Hunter Stories 3, and why you decided to add the Long Sword?

Daisuke Wakahara: So first off, we implemented the Long Sword because the Long Sword itself throughout the Monster Hunter series is very popular amongst hunters and riders. However, we did have some trouble implementing the weapon itself into the RPG formula in the previous games. But in Monster Hunter Stories 3, we were able to come up with a formula to have the Long Sword join the weapon roster.

And in terms of Sword and Shield, unfortunately, it is not going to be included in Monster Hunter Stories 3 this time around. The reason why we came to this decision is because we had to carefully think about the weapon balance.

When looking at the overall weapon roster for Stories 3, we have Slash, Blunt, and Piercing weapon types. And having both Long Sword and Sword and Shield would change the roster to go towards the Slash weapon types a little too heavily, so we had to take out the Sword and Shield from the roster, unfortunately.

IGN: The main character this time around is more of an adult than the previous protagonists in the Monster Hunter Stories series. Can you tell me why you made that decision to make the protagonist more mature this time around?

Takahiro Kawano: We wanted to differentiate this with the previous entry stories, Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2, where the focus was on a child growing into a young adolescent. We decided to start the story off with a full-grown adult as the elite rider. So in terms of the setting for Monster Hunter Stories 3, the protagonist actually starts off already grown up as a prince or a princess of Azuria, and is an elite rider.

IGN: Is there anything else you want to say to the fans watching before we let you go?

Takahiro Kawano: As you’ve seen in the video, we put a lot of effort into the background character designs for Monster Hunter Stories 3. So we’d like to have the players have fun and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the characters in Monster Hunter Stories 3.

Daisuke Wakahara: Thank you to all the players for supporting the Monster Hunter Stories series from the first title. You’ll be surprised at how much the Monster Hunter Stories series has evolved throughout Stories 2 and the newest entry, Monster Hunter Stories 3. We are very confident in this game and that any player can enjoy it as an RPG title. So even if you haven’t tried out the Monster Hunter Stories series yet, we highly encourage new players to try out the Monster Hunter Stories series.

Kenji Oguro: [I’ve] played through Monster Hunter Stories 3 10 to 20 times during the development process. And every time I go through the gameplay, there’s something new that the player can find. I’m very surprised that there’s many, many cards up the development team’s sleeves. So we highly encourage you, the players, to have fun with the game.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on March 12, 2026. You can play a free trial right now featuring a huge portion of the first area, Azuria, and continue your progress in the full release.

Casey DeFreitas is Deputy Editor of Guides at IGN, and is a first fleet Monster Hunter. Catch her on Socials like Bluesky @ShinyCaseyD.

Similar to every other high-end GPU on the market, the AMD Radeon 9070 XT graphics card is selling for above MSRP in 2026. Fortunately, it’s not as egregiously marked up as Nvidia cards, and now there’s an even better incentive. For a limited time, you can purchase an AMD Radeon 9070 XT GPU on Amazon and get a free Crimson Desert code. Since Crimson Desert isn’t out yet, you’ll have to wait to download the full version of the game when it releases on March 19.

Buy an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, Get Crimson Desert Free

The Radeon RX 9070 XT Received a 10/10 at IGN

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the only 2025-released GPU that we gave a 10/10 score. Even though it costs $150 less than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the 9070 XT beats it out in several of the games we tested. In a few benchmarks, the results aren’t even close. The 9070 XT approaches the performance of the $1,000 RX 7900 XTX but with better ray tracing and upscaling performance than its predecessor.

This is the least expensive graphics card from either AMD or Nvidia that I would comfortably recommend for playing the latest and most demanding games in 4K at 60fps or higher framerates.

The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU is the best model to get

Chapter 5 of the popular survival horror game Poppy Playtime just came out, but now fans of the game’s creepy monster dolls are closer to having a Huggy Wuggy of their very own. As part of IGN Fan Fest, McFarlane Toys is revealing some brand-new looks at their line of Poppy Playtime figures.

The lineup, which includes 4.5-inch, 7-inch, and 12-inch models, features fan-favorite characters like Huggy Wuggy, Kissy Missy, Killy Willy, and Harley Sawyer. The 7-inch figures will be available for pre-order February 27. You can purchase the entire lineup in-stores like Walmart, Target and GameStop as well as online at Amazon, BigBadToyStore, Entertainment Earth and the McFarlane Toys Store this Spring.

I spoke exclusively with Todd McFarlane about his company’s collaboration with Mob Entertainment, producer of Poppy Playtime, and what makes the game the perfect target for collaboration.