Palworld players have come up with an ingenious way of defeating the game’s toughest bosses, and it involves building an actual in-game ‘stairway to heaven’.
As reported by GamesRadar, the video posted to Twitter / X shows how one player created a huge stairway and led a level 50 Jetragon to the top. From there, it’s a simple case of jumping off, gliding to the bottom, and destroying the lower portion of the stairway. Without this foundation, the structure comes crashing down with the Jetragon, presumably so bemused it forgot it can fly, falling to its death. The power of gravity!
This strat is so simple you imagine it’s not long for this world. Palworld developer Pocketpair has yet to indicate its readiness to take action, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s noticed (the tweet above has had just shy of two million views, after all) and plans a fix in an upcoming patch.
Speaking of Palworld patches, update v0.1.4.1 is out now on Steam and makes more welcome fixes. The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, is also out now. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.
Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.
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.
If you played and liked last year’s excellent slice-of-life adventure A Space For The Unbound, stop what you’re doing and go and download the Steam Next Fest demo for Until Then. Go on, I’ll wait. Right, sorted? Let’s continue. Like A Space For The Unbound, Until Then is a coming of age story where the ups and downs of everyday high school life start intermingling with strange, supernatural occurences.
It has gone down as one of the most tumultuous days in video game development history, but even now, nearly 14 years later, we’re still getting insight into the day Activision fired the founders of Infinity Ward.
In March 2010, Infinity Ward co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West were escorted out of the studio by security after being fired for breach of contract and insubordination. The shocking news came just a handful of months after Activision had released blockbuster hit first-person shooter Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward and launched to $1 billion in sales.
What happened next is well-documented: West and Zampella sued the Bobby Kotick-led publisher Activision for $36 million. Activision counter-sued, accusing West and Zampella of meeting EA in secret “to steal the [Infinity Ward] studio.” Of course, West and Zampella did end up co-founding rival FPS studio Respawn Entertainment with EA, bringing plenty of disgruntled Infinity Ward staff with them, and went on to develop Titanfall before smash hit battle royale Apex Legends. Complaints about unpaid royalties were lodged. In the end, all the messy lawsuits were settled. What was left of Infinity Ward went on to release Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, with the help of the likes of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.
Now, as spotted by PC Gamer, NetEase games lead designer and former Infinity Ward member of staff Paul Sandler has penned an article on LinkedIn dubbed ‘That day when Activision fired Jason and Vince.’ It’s a fascinating read that reveals what it was like for the rank and file to go through such a dramatic series of events.
What sticks out for me is Sandler’s recollection of Activision’s attempt to prevent Infinity Ward and thus Modern Warfare 3 from collapsing:
“There was an emergency company meeting in the kitchen space. A group of top Activision high-ups were already at the studio, ready to steady the ship. The Infinity Ward team piled into the kitchen and glared at the group of executives standing behind the long kitchen island table. One of them tried explaining what was happening, which nobody on the development team bought or cared for. The response was mostly stoic silence. Then, a team member asked bluntly if we were going to be paid the bonuses we have already earned for shipping Modern Warfare 2. Reading the tense vibe in the room, another executive took his turn and tried a different strategy. Paraphrasing, he said: ‘Guys, if you stay with the studio to make Modern Warfare 3, you will receive your MW2 bonuses. AND we will also give everyone a fifty percent salary increase’. He paused slightly before repeating: ‘That is a five and a zero, fifty percent’. The looks on peoples faces did not change. If anything, most of the team was feeling even more upset. The executive spoke again: ‘Look, I get it. I know this is a tough situation. But, just take the money and get over it.’ I specifically remember him telling us to ‘Get over it’.”
IGN has asked Activision for comment.
As we know, despite Activision’s attempts, Infinity Ward suffered a mass exodus of staff following the firing of Zampella and West. Sandler says around 40 developers quit from a total headcount of about 100. “Activision had inadvertently splintered their flagship studio, which was also one of the best studios of all time.”
Much has changed over the course of the last 14 years. Infinity Ward endured a poor run of form with Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, before kicking off Call of Duty’s comeback with 2019’s soft reboot, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the phenomenally popular battle royale Warzone. Infinity Ward has also released Modern Warfare 2 and last year’s Modern Warfare 3.
EA ended up buying Respawn in 2017 after the release of Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Apex Legends followed, with another team making the successful action games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Respawn is currently working on a third Star Wars Jedi game, as well as an untitled Star Wars FPS. Zampella rose through the ranks at EA to become Group General Manager in charge of Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield, and Need for Speed.
Image credit: Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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.
Season 2, which kicks off later today, February 7, is the first big update of 2024 to the first person shooter, and adds a number of new maps, a new battle pass, and of course new cosmetics.
The free trial runs from February 8 to 12 and grants access to the new Season 2 map Stash House as well as eight other multiplayer maps across Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, and Team Gun Game. It also grants full access to Modern Warfare Zombies.
Season 2 itself adds a good deal to Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer. Four new core 6v6 maps arrive across Season 2, including three brand new 6v6 maps and a remaster of Das Haus. There are two “otherworldly” themed map variants based on Skidrow and Terminal as well.
There’s a new War map, Operation Tin Man, in which you assault a downtown Urzikstan skyscraper from the skies. Five new game modes (Team Gun Game, Snipers Only, Hordepoint and Bounty, and Juggermosh) and a Vortex Playlist are all in-bound. Elsewhere, expect Season 2 Ranked Play, and the new Ninja Vest for silent running, as well as a bonus knife and throwing star ammo.
As for Zombies, the Dark Aether story act continues with a new anomaly in the Exclusion Zone, the Second Rift, new challenges and schematics, and the addition of Warlord Keres, who’s set up shop at the Killhouse in the Orlov Military Base.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 2 Release Times:
West Coast North America: 9am PT
East Coast North AMerica: 12pm ET
UK: 5pm GMT
Western Europe: 6pm CET
Japan: 2am JST December 8
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 latest Counter-Strike 2 update re-introduces Arms Race, a beloved multiplayer mode from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in which players level up and are handed new guns as they moider each other, with victory going to the player who levels all the way up and performs a final knifekill.
I’ve played many variations of this mode – which was originally a mod, Gun Game – over the years in other games, and it’s always a laugh, for the simple reason that it can be tuned to allow less proficient FPS players to catch up with their brethren, by introducing less powerful or harder-to-master weapons at certain levels as “speed bumps”.
Thanks to yesterday’s quarterly financial results from Nintendo, we have updated figures for the company’s best-selling games on Switch. These numbers are perfectly interesting to look at in list form, but you know what would be more interesting? A fun graph, of course!
One creative on the YouTube channel Pierre485 has done just that and has turned Nintendo’s list of numbers into a bar chart race that documents the ever-changing order of the Switch’s best-sellers.
We’re celebrating ten years of tanks throughout the whole year.
Enjoy a look at the Year of the Dragon season.
Get a preview of what’s coming this year in World of Tanks Modern Armor.
World of Tanks is hitting the big ten! Since 2014, the game’s been part of the Xbox free-to-play scene, bringing you only the best tank battles on console. It’s safe to say that the game wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for its first release back in the Xbox 360 days.
Wargaming CEO, Victor Kislyi himself reflects on his time at the Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference. “As I look back, it was incredible to be on stage 10 years ago during the 2013 Microsoft press conference announcing World of Tanks for Xbox. Wargaming was thrilled to bring World of Tanks, the game that has been my life, to a platform with millions of players. We were the vanguard of F2P on console, providing a new way to both play and discover games. This was only possible with the support and belief of our trusted partner, Microsoft, with whom we have continuously achieved significant results. It has been an amazing decade for World of Tanks on Xbox and here is to many more!”
Since then, it was full speed ahead to keep Victor’s vision alive. And Director of Live Operations Valerie MacCracken will vouch that it was quite the ride. “At the time, there weren’t many free-to-play games on Xbox 360… It felt like unchartered territory.” The hard work would eventually pay off. “The game has evolved tremendously since its release, from having only three tank nations to now having a full tech tree across two game modes, a ton of new features, with more coming up this year!”
From the World War II theaters to the high-paced Cold War battlefields, we’ve traveled across history with a roster of tough-as-nails vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and nations.
As a thank-you for ten incredible years of tanking, get ready for a yearlong celebration unlike any other with monthly gifts, special events and sales, and the opportunity to earn two end-of-the-year tanks with the year-long Celebrations event.
The American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank.
Firstly, enjoy your first gift by logging in on February 13 and unlocking the American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank (plus its exclusive Raider Skin) for free, or in discounted bundles. Your discount is based on the number of years you’ve been playing the game.
Leading into our tenth anniversary festivities, our January 30 update brought important updates to the game, particularly to Cold War mode. We’re calibrating the Silver and XP research costs for your Cold War vehicles, so you grind less, collect faster, and enjoy your time on the battlefield even more.
The latest update also brought the new Azure Coast community map, a fresh batch of War Chests, and limited-time Chinese New Year-themed bundles to the game. It also marked the end of the Resolutions event. Commanders who participated in it (by completing seasons throughout 2023) and finished at least five seasons will find the one-of-a-kind T34 Calliope waiting for them in their garage. This unique vehicle is the only World War II tank with rockets, making it a real collector’s item exclusive to console. And if you’ve completed six seasons, you’re getting the tank plus a side of bonus rewards!
And now, let’s dive into the Year of the Dragon season details. As in previous seasons, you have 100 levels where themed rewards are ready to be earned. In this season, inspired by the Chinese zodiac for 2024, there are three reward paths to choose from. All tank commanders automatically start on the Free path, where you can earn rewards every few levels ranging from the reliable Type 59-II Premium tank, the season Medal, a 2D Dragon Commander, Gold, War Chests, and more! Then you have the Season Pass, where you receive rewards at every level (in addition to the Free rewards), more tanks, and the new WZ-1224 premium tank once you complete level 100.
And for your third option, the Ultimate Season Pass will immediately give you everything in the Season and Free pass, plus the new Highlander 116-F3 Premium tank for World War II mode, a themed 3D Hero Commander, and 25 completed levels.
It’s World of Tanks Modern Armor’s anniversary, but it’s you who’s getting the gifts. New affiliations for Cold War mode, a new World War II Tech Tree line, and specials for D-Day’s 80th anniversary, Tankfest, and Halloween are among some of the highlights for 2024.
The WZ-1224, unlocked by completing level 100 in the Year of the Dragon Season Pass.
Also, going back to Cold War and researching just for a bit, this February, you’ll be able to start a new Tech Tree line of German light tanks, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) all the way to the Détente Era (Era 3), and tank destroyers, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) to the Escalation Era (Era 2). If you’re new to the game, Cold War mode’s light tanks may look “light” at first, but they pack some serious firepower and are crucial for suppressing and ambushing the enemy thanks to their maneuverability. As for the tank destroyers, their name says it all.
There’s so much to look forward to with the release of Year of the Dragon and World of Tanks Modern Armor’s tenth anniversary’s yearlong celebrations.
Here’s to ten more epic years to come. Keep on tanking!
World of Tanks is a global online multiplayer free-to-play game dedicated to tank warfare in the mid-20th century. Custom built for Xbox, World of Tanks features realistic vehicles and environments, enabling players to command history’s most powerful tanks and experience combat on Xbox like never before.
Features:
• Strategic, fast-paced 15 vs 15 online action.
• Over 700 authentic tanks to choose from among 12 nations.
• Battle across a variety of environments with varying terrain and weather effects
• Built-in support for Xbox One X pushing the boundaries of graphic fidelity.
• Regular updates offer new content and frequent special events.
Palworld developer Pocketpair has released another patch for the all-conquering ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game, this time bringing the Steam version up to v0.1.4.1.
The patch for the Steam version of the game, out now, makes a number of major fixes, improves some base-related issues, and further tackles cheating and exploits.
Of note, the patch fixes an issue from the previous update that affected save data, which remained in a broken state. Now, save data should load properly. Elsewhere, there’s a fix for an issue that caused some weapons equipped by other players to disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer, and there’s a fix for an issue that caused capture probability to not increase despite the game suggesting it had.
And, as always, there’s a funny change in the patch notes: a fix for an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever. Bleak!
The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, will be released soon, Pocketpair added. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.
Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.
Here are the Palworld Steam update v0.1.4.1 patch notes in full:
▼Major Fixes
・Fixed an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the total number of Pals captured by the guild reached approximately 7000.
・In the previous patch, save data that had already been in this state (for servers, the server’s world data) remained in a broken state that made it impossible to load, but after applying this patch it will be resolved and will load properly.
・Fixed an issue where some weapons equipped by other players would disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer.
・Fixed an issue where, although the displayed capture probability increased when the capture power was strengthened with Lifmunk Effigies, the capture probability did not actually increase at all due to an internal processing bug.
▼Base related
・Fixed an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever.
・Fixed an issue where no wood would drop when Pal at the base felled a tree.
▼Others
・Implemented countermeasures against some cheats and exploits.
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 latest major Palworld update is live, fixing a range of crash and save data bugs while also addressing a glitch which saw your much-abused indentured munsters falling into an eternal slumber when assigned to a Pal breeding farm. I continue to wonder how much of Palworld is deliberate satire.
Developed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive by South Korea-based studio Shift Up, Stellar Blade emphasises fast-paced action and boasts a post-apocalyptic setting. Both its flashy combat and stunning visuals scream next-gen, yet at the same time, Stellar Blade is not shy to hide the past it was inspired by. IGN Japan had the chance to sit down with the developers and talk through their inspirations.
As Eve, players perform flashy combos while quickly reacting to enemy attacks by parrying and dodging at the right time to create openings for counters. Developer Kim Hyung-tae told IGN that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bayonetta were some of the action games his team was inspired by.
Visually speaking, Stellar Blade’s world shares vibes with many science fiction works that have a post-apocalyptic setting, albeit with a strong Asian touch. Many of the game’s main characters have Asian appearances, and Xion – a city built by the last survivors on Earth – appears to be heavily inspired by modern Asian cityscapes.
“As for Stellar Blade’s world-building, we designed it by mixing cultural elements from Hong Kong, Japan, China and Korea,” Kim said.
“That being said, Xion isn’t only inhabited by Asian people, and we didn’t intend to make it look like a specific country or culture. The most important thing about Xion is that it is a city built for the world’s last survivors. Of course, I have enjoyed many different cultures and art myself, so I can’t deny that I was inspired by other science fiction works with a similar dystopian setting.”
As some of the main inspirations on Stellar Blade’s world, Kim mentions cyberpunk manga series Battle Angel Alita and the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner.
However, Stellar Blade’s biggest source of inspiration might be Nier Automata. The combination of Yoko Taro’s stylish action and dystopian world-building feels close to Stellar Blade. On top of that, both games have a badass anime-inspired female protagonist.
“Nier: Automata left a huge impression on me,” said Kim. “It made me realize that a game like this could be made, and allowed me to rediscover the kind of game that I want to make.”
