Author: Game Infliction

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has said the release of the Kingdom Hearts Sora Amiibo marks the end of his work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In a post on X/Twitter translated by Siliconera, Sakurai posted a photo of the Sora Amiibo alongside a statement celebrating its release and confirming the end of his work on the Nintendo Switch game.

“Sora’s Amiibo comes out today,” Sakurai began. “Thank you to everyone who worked on it (this was an amazing accomplishment). The design was always perfect, and the details and the colours look exactly as intended. The pose and sculpting look good as well.

ソラのamiiboが本日発売!
関係者のかた､本当にありがとうございました｡(スゴいことだと思います)
元々の完璧なデザインに､色分けも精細でバッチリ｡
造形もポーズもよいですね｡

全ファイターがamiibo化され､『スマブラSP』仕事もいよいよフィニッシュでしょうか｡おつかれさまでした｡ pic.twitter.com/zUBdMtA29y

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) February 16, 2024

“Now that all of the fighters have an Amiibo, my work on Super Smash Bros Ultimate is basically done. Thank you for everything.”

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launched in 2018 and Sora arrived as its final expansion fighter in 2021. The Kingdom Hearts character wrapped up an 89 character roster for the game, which includes fighters from The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Banjo Kazooie, Dragon Quest, Persona, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Minecraft, and many more.

It’s this expansive roster that’s made the future of the franchise somewhat unclear, however. Sakurai said in October 2023 he’s not sure where to take Super Smash Bros. next, because “it’s difficult to imagine an increase of this magnitude happening again”.

Sakurai’s future in video games at all was even in question for a while, after the famed developer started a YouTube channel in August 2022 to reflect on his career and his time making games. Fans’ hope has been restored more recently though, as Sakurai said in January 2024 he’s still focused on making games and will be leaving his YouTube channel behind sometime this year.

These developments, alongside word that Sakurai considers his work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate complete, will no doubt have fighting game fans looking to the future once again, eager to hear about the next game in the franchise.

If it does exist, Nintendo will perhaps look to line it up with its next console, which will reportedly be released in late 2024. Very little is known about what’s been dubbed the Switch 2, but more and more tidbits are emerging as the expected late 2024 release window approaches.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has released another patch for the popular co-op shooter which takes aim at the various matchmaking issues that have plagued launch.

While Helldivers 2 is a critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies across PlayStation 5 and PC, and becoming Sony’s biggest ever launch on Steam, its release has been blighted by server problems that made matchmaking a serious issue. Arrowhead even promised to compensate players for lost rewards.

The developer has worked to combat these issues since launch, admitting it was not prepared for the over 360,000 concurrent players it had to deal with. And now patch 01.000.008 is here on PS5 and PC to help in the fight.

According to the Helldivers 2 Steam page, the main areas of focus for the patch are resolving crashes, improving matchmaking, optimising the game’s server, and to update the new Defend event, which has seen new planets open up in the fight against the Automatons.

Helldivers 2 Update 01.000.008 Patch Notes

Fixes

The following issues have been fixed for this version.

• Matchmaking
• Playfab optimization
• Playfab environment optimized – All lobbies now have proper data to run more effective matchmaking
• Filtering optimization
• We are optimizing the filter system when players are searching for lobbies, so that it excludes already full lobbies.
• Stability and crashes
• We have fixed three of our top crashes in the game, including particle renderer crashes and ragdoll crashes.
• Fixed an issue where the application prioritized integrated graphics over some GPU in laptops.
• Defend Events and Major Orders.
• For readability purposes, we added a visual progression indicator to major order defend events

Known Issues

These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed.

• Players may still experience some instability while matchmaking.
• Background music, Sound effects and JP audio does not play during the opening cutscene. Japanese VO is also missing from the Ship TV.

It’s busy times in the world of Helldivers 2 following its impressive launch. This week, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said the developer will “never” add PvP to Helldivers 2 in order to reduce “toxic elements” from the community. Speaking of the community, one of the cool things about Helldivers 2 is that players have established an ‘unspoken’ co-op etiquette, which is useful for a game in which voice comms are rarely used when playing with randoms.

And overnight, Xbox boss Phil Spencer brought up Helldivers 2, which is Sony’s first simultaneous PS5 and PC release, saying in an interview with Game File: “I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2 — and it’s a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I’m not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox. If you try to twist yourself to say, like, somehow that benefited somebody somewhere.”

Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 tips and tricks for getting started if you’re jumping in.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The 27th D.I.C.E. Awards have arrived and celebrated the best of the best in the world of video games from 2023. While there were a ton of winners, Baldur’s Gate 3 walked home with Game of the Year alongside Best Role-Playing Game and Outstanding Achievement awards in Story, Game Direction, and Game Design.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 may not have won Game of the Year, but it did lead the night with six wins – Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement awards in Animation, Character, Original Music Composition, Audio Design, and Technical Achievement.

No other game won multiple awards, but some of the other highlights included Alan Wake 2 winning Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom winning Adventure Game of the Year, Super Mario Bros. Wonder winning Family Game of the Year, and Street Fighter 6 winning Fighting Game of the Year.

You can check out the full list of winners from the 27th D.I.C.E. Awards below.

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

• Final Fantasy XVI
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

• Alan Wake 2 – WINNER
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Starfield

Outstanding Achievement in Character

• Alan Wake 2 – Saga Anderson
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – Astarion
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – Karlach
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Miles Morales – WINNER
• Thirsty Suitors – Jala

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

• Alan Wake 2
• Diablo IV
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Planet of Lana
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design

• Alan Wake 2
• COCOON
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Outstanding Achievement in Story

• Alan Wake 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Thirsty Suitors
• Venba

Outstanding Technical Achievement

• Alan Wake 2
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Hogwarts Legacy
• THE FINALS
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Action Game of the Year

• ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON
• Dead Space
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Remnant II

Adventure Game of the Year

• Alan Wake 2
• COCOON
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – WINNER

Family Game of the Year

• Disney Illusion Island
• Fae Farm
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure
• Midnight Girl
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder – WINNER

Fighting Game of the Year

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Pocket Bravery
• Street Fighter 6 – WINNER

Racing Game of the Year

• F-ZERO 99
• Forza Motorsport – WINNER
• Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged
• LEGO 2K Drive

Role-Playing Game of the Year

• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
• Diablo IV
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Starfield

Sports Game of the Year

• EA SPORTS FC 24
• MLB The Show™ 23 – WINNER
• WWE 2K23

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

• Against the Storm
• Cobalt Core
• Dune: Spice Wars – WINNER
• The Last Spell
• Wartales

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

• Asgard’s Wrath 2
• Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
• Horizon: Call of the Mountain – WINNER
• Vertigo 2
• We Are One

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

• Asgard’s Wrath 2 – WINNER
• Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
• Horizon: Call of the Mountain
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice
• Vertigo 2

Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game

• COCOON – WINNER
• DREDGE
• El Paso, Elsewhere
• Thirsty Suitors
• Venba

Mobile Game of the Year

• Gubbins
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Terra Nil
• WHAT THE CAR? – WINNER

Online Game of the Year

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
• Diablo IV – WINNER
• Omega Strikers
• Street Fighter 6
• THE FINALS

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• COCOON
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• COCOON
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Game of the Year

• Alan Wake 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• COCOON
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The 27th D.I.C.E. Awards have arrived and are here to celebrate the best of the best in the world of video games from 2023. The show, which is put on by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and takes place at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas, will feature 23 categories and 56 games that were nominated by and voted on by game developers.

Going into the show, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is leading the way with nine nominations, Alan Wake 2 is close behind with eight, Baldur’s Gate 3 is at seven, and Cocoon is at six. Anything can happen when D.I.C.E. begins, however, and we’ll be gathering all the winners here below and updating it live throughout the night, so be sure to keep checking back to see who took home the ultimate prizes!

You can also watch the show above if you’d like as IGN is the official media partner of this year’s D.I.C.E. Awards, which is hosted by IGN’s Stella Chung and Kinda Funny CEO and IGN alum Greg Miller. Good luck to all the games and incredible people behind them!

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

• Final Fantasy XVI
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

• Alan Wake 2
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Starfield

Outstanding Achievement in Character

• Alan Wake 2 – Saga Anderson
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – Astarion
• Baldur’s Gate 3 – Karlach
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Miles Morales
• Thirsty Suitors – Jala

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

• Alan Wake 2
• Diablo IV
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Planet of Lana
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design

• Alan Wake 2
• COCOON
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Outstanding Achievement in Story

• Alan Wake 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Thirsty Suitors
• Venba

Outstanding Technical Achievement

• Alan Wake 2
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Hogwarts Legacy
• THE FINALS
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Action Game of the Year

• ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON
• Dead Space
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – WINNER
• Remnant II

Adventure Game of the Year

• Alan Wake 2
• COCOON
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – WINNER

Family Game of the Year

• Disney Illusion Island
• Fae Farm
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure
• Midnight Girl
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Fighting Game of the Year

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Pocket Bravery
• Street Fighter 6

Racing Game of the Year

• F-ZERO 99
• Forza Motorsport
• Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged
• LEGO 2K Drive

Role-Playing Game of the Year

• Baldur’s Gate 3 – WINNER
• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
• Diablo IV
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Starfield

Sports Game of the Year

• EA SPORTS FC 24
• MLB The Show™ 23 – WINNER
• WWE 2K23

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

• Against the Storm
• Cobalt Core
• Dune: Spice Wars
• The Last Spell
• Wartales

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

• Asgard’s Wrath 2
• Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
• Horizon: Call of the Mountain
• Vertigo 2
• We Are One

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

• Asgard’s Wrath 2
• Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
• Horizon: Call of the Mountain
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice
• Vertigo 2

Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game

• COCOON
• DREDGE
• El Paso, Elsewhere
• Thirsty Suitors
• Venba

Mobile Game of the Year

• Gubbins
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Terra Nil
• WHAT THE CAR? – WINNER

Online Game of the Year

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
• Diablo IV – WINNER
• Omega Strikers
• Street Fighter 6
• THE FINALS

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• COCOON
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• COCOON
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Game of the Year

• Alan Wake 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• COCOON
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Amid a flurry of Xbox news today, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that four Xbox exclusives are headed to other platforms. He’s not, however, expecting other companies to take the same approach.

In an interview for Stephen Totilo’s Game File newsletter, Spencer specifically brought up Helldivers 2, Sony’s first simultaneous PS5 and PC release, while touching on the subject.

“I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2 — and it’s a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I’m not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox,” he said. “If you try to twist yourself to say, like, somehow that benefited somebody somewhere.”

Still, Spencer relents a little bit, saying, “but I get it”: “There’s a legacy in console gaming that we’re going to benefit by shipping games and not putting them on other places. We do the same thing.”

He also pointed out that that Helldiver 2’s simultaneous release on PC and PS5 is “doing really well,” and he’s not wrong. The cooperative action sequel notched Sony’s biggest-ever game launch on Steam when it debuted last week.

The state of exclusive games

While Spencer doesn’t expect every other publisher to take Xbox’s approach, he did say during an Xbox podcast today that he has a “fundamental belief that, over the next 5 or 10 years, exclusive games – games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware – are gunna be a smaller and smaller part of the game industry.”

“That’s not some great insight, because if you look at the last 10 years and what the biggest games are today, it’s a natural place,” he said. “Whether it’s one console and PC; multiple consoles and PC; mobile, console, and PC; you see big games landing on multiple platforms, and we wanna be a great platform for creators that are trying to realize that potential.”

Spencer didn’t reveal what four Xbox games are headed to other platforms, but he did confirm that that number does not include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Even then, in a separate interview with The Verge, he wouldn’t say they’ll never come to PS5, adding “I don’t think we should as an industry ever rule out a game going to any other platform.”

Altogether, it’s all spawned even more discourse about platform exclusivity, Xbox’s strategy, and a whole lot more. You can see everything we learned from today’s Xbox announcements right here.