Author: Game Infliction

Elden Ring fans have grown ravenous for a Shadow of the Erdtree expansion announcement after developer FromSoftware made a change to the game’s backend on Steam.

X/Twitter user and Elden Ring YouTuber Ziostorm noticed the change on SteamDB’s page for Elden Ring, sharing an image of a new application added to the Downloadable Content section of Elden Ring’s Steam page for the first time since launch.

“I’m not saying it’s 100% Shadow of the Erdtree but there’s a pretty good chance it is,” they said, and fans are similarly hopeful elsewhere online. “Announcement must be imminent,” JoRads said on Reddit. “Definitely. It’s a matter of days now, or even less,” Hector_Savage_ replied.

A new Elden Ring DLC package has just been added to Elden Ring within the files for the first time since launch.
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I’m not saying it’s 100% Shadow of the Erdtree but… There’s a pretty good chance it is. pic.twitter.com/1j6HCVfGQo

— Ziostorm (@Ziostorm1) January 15, 2024

This update also adds fuel to the fire of a previous rumour, as a leaked collaboration between Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco and accessory creator Thrustmaster also suggested a February release of Shadow of the Erdtree.

That being said, it’s not the first time Elden Ring fans have grown a bit out of hand anticipating an announcement after growing incredibly confident about a reveal at The Game Awards 2023 — an announcement that obviously never game.

Shadow of the Erdtree was initially announced in March 2023 as a major expansion coming to Elden Ring. A single piece of concept art was released alongside the announcement but didn’t give much away, just showing a character atop a spectral steed looking towards the horizon that featured a dying Erdtree.

It will likely arrive as the only Elden Ring expansion (outside of a smaller piece of player-versus-player DLC) and be akin to the likes of Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters expansion or Dark Souls 3’s The Ringed City.

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

When it comes to game night, it’s always a great idea to have a variety of board games around for people to choose from. Unfortunately, building that collection of games can oftentimes cost you more than you’d expect. Have no fear, though, as we’re here to help you out with a variety of deals on board games that are worth picking up.

TL;DR – The Best Board Game Deals

This doesn’t just cater to events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, either. We try to find deals on the best board games all throughout the year, so you can buy your favorites without breaking the bank. Below, you can find a selection of the best board game deals at the moment.

The Best Board Game Deals

Board Games: Budget to Best

For when board games aren’t on sale, it’s nice to know you still have options that don’t cost you tons of money. Here, we’ll point you in the direction of more affordable board games that are still worth the investment for your next game night.

When Is the Best Time to Find Board Game Deals?

Board games go on sale at sites like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and even GameStop fairly regularly — you can generally find special discounts every month or two. In addition, they absolutely get big discounts during major sale events like Amazon’s Prime Day and Black Friday.

While Prime Day is primarily an Amazon shopping holiday, other retailers always put on competing sales events at the same time. Those are great times to look for board game deals.

As for Black Friday, it’s not just a one-day event: you can often find deals on board games the whole week of Black Friday, as well as on Cyber Monday and throughout that whole following week. Keep in mind that stock runs out (particularly at Amazon), so if you see a good price on a board game you want during one of these major sale events, grab it before it’s gone.

How to Know if it’s Really a Good Board Game Deal

At online board game retailers like Amazon and Walmart, prices are always in flux, to say the least. Many of the board games in the board game section will be discounted to some degree from their MSRP. But there are a few ways to know when a board game is on sale for a notable discount.

For one, you can check Amazon’s daily deals page, where you’ll occasionally find an actual sale on various board games. Sometimes these are from one company, sometimes they’re on the whole category of board games. Target also periodically runs sales on board games, so check their deal page, too.

If you’re looking at a board game and are wondering if the sale price is good, copy the URL and paste it into the search field at camelcamelcamel. That’s an Amazon price tracker that shows you price history. Better yet, it works for any item, not just board games.

Finally, you can follow IGN Deals on Twitter, where we’ll always tweet any notable board game deals we come across.

How Do You Know if a Board Game Is Any Good?

IGN reviews board games fairly regularly, so you can always search to see if we’ve reviewed a game you’re considering picking up. Other websites do, too. We also have a whole lot of board game roundups, ranging from the best classic board games and the best cooperative board games to the best horror board games.

Outside of IGN, the best board game resource around (for my money) is Board Game Geek. It maintains a database of every board and card game you’d want to know about, with all kinds of news, stats, and user reviews all gathered together in one place.

The director of Overwatch 2 has said it was a “mistake” to reveal a controversial new self-healing mechanic coming to all characters in the hero shooter “out of context.”

Last week, developer Blizzard unveiled seismic changes coming to Overwatch 2 as part of Season 9, none more disruptive than giving both Tank and Damage heroes a “modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive.”

Overwatch game director Aaron Keller explained the decision in a blog post on Blizzard’s website:

“This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool. In Overwatch, there is a constant tug of war between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player. A change like this shifts that balance a bit. This is something that we are constantly evaluating. We still want Overwatch to be defined by team strategy and mechanics, but we feel this can be pulled back a bit now and possibly more in the future.”

The announcement sparked a vociferous debate within the Overwatch community, with some complaining that it risked devaluing the team play that has defined Overwatch’s competitive multiplayer since day one, and could make Support characters useless or Tank and Damage heroes overpowered.

Responding to the response, Keller tweeted to issue a clarification around the self-heal announcement.

“It’s one part of a much larger set of changes coming to the game in S9,” Keller said. “Internally we’re talking about, and targeting some of these changes at damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing.

“It was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context, since it’s a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9. Sorry for that, and I look forward to more discussion around S9 balance changes when we drop more details.”

Keller’s clarification has done little to calm Overwatch’s concerned community, which has to contend with a number of controversies during Overwatch 2’s short life. Last month, executive producer Jared Neuss said Blizzard was “actively working towards” giving away new heroes to all players, not just those who buy a premium battle pass, in what would amount to a major shakeup of the free-to-download game’s monetisation model. Overwatch 2 currently only allows new heroes to be acquired instantly if players buy the premium battle pass at 1,000 Overwatch Coins, which costs $10.

Indeed, monetisation has been a controversial topic within Overwatch 2 since its launch in October 2022, as highlighted by its Steam release becoming the platform’s worst reviewed game of all time.

Blizzard was also heavily criticised when Overwatch 2 launched as it forced its premium predecessor to update into a free-to-play sequel, rendering the original Overwatch unplayable. Blizzard also cancelled Overwatch 2’s long-awaited PvE Hero mode — the one feature, players said, that justified the sequel’s existence.

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.

Grand Theft Auto voice actor Ned Luke, who played Michael De Santa in GTA 5, has called out a “f**king bulls**t” AI chatbot that used his voice.

As reported by PCGamesN, Luke responded to a post on X/Twitter from AI company WAME for promoting a chatbot that let users have “a realistic voice conversation with Michael De Santa.” WAME quickly removed the chatbot following Luke’s post, saying “this incident has highlighted the intricate interplay between the advancement of AI technology and the ethical and legal realms.”

Luke didn’t mince words in his post. “This is f**king bulls**t WAME,” he said. “Absolutely nothing cool about ripping people off with some lame computer estimation of my voice. Don’t waste your time on this garbage.”

He also tagged Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games and actors union Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) in his response, and WAME quickly removed the chatbot and all promotional materials for it from the internet.

It also responded to PCGamesN: “In light of the recent controversy surrounding the utilization of Mr Ned Luke’s voice in our application, we at WAME wish to express our profound understanding and concern,” it said. “This incident has highlighted the intricate interplay between the advancement of AI technology and the ethical and legal realms.”

“WAME commits to protecting the rights of voice actors and creators while advancing ethical AI practices. We believe this controversy serves as a pivotal moment in harmonizing AI technology with relevant legal statutes.”

Luke is the latest in a long line of video game voice actors to address the threat of AI and share how it impacts them. The Witcher voice actor Doug Cockle recently told IGN that AI was “inevitable” but “dangerous”, sharing in Luke’s assessment that chatbots and similar uses are “effectively robbing [voice actors] of income.”

Video games have endured a complicated relationship with AI in recent years. Embark Studios, the developer of smash hit shooter The Finals, was criticised for using AI voiceovers by myriad actors and even other developers, for example. Embark told IGN that “making games without actors isn’t an end goal” and claimed it uses a mix of both recorded audio voices and audio generated via AI text to speech tools for its games, however.

Video game voice actors previously called out AI-generated explicit Skyrim mods, and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate voice actress Victoria Atkin called AI-generated mods the “invisible enemy we’re fighting right now” after discovering her voice was used by cloning software. Paul Eiding, the voice actor behind Colonel Campbell in the Metal Gear Solid series, also condemned its use.

Ironically, the biggest developer to use AI for voice acting so far is The Witcher studio CD Projekt Red, though this was only done to replace a deceased voice actor after gaining permission from the family.

Looking to counter chatbots like the Grand Theft Auto one, Cissy Jones, a voice actor known for her roles in Disney’s Owl House, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Shin Megami Tensei 5, and more, has started a company called Morpheme.ai to let voice actors embrace AI in their own way and gain control of their own voices going forward.

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

We’ve rattled on about micro SD card deals in the past but this might be one of the best we’ve ever seen for Nintendo Switch owners. The 128GB SanDisk SD card is down to just $8.99 at Amazon (see here), a significant markdown from its original $34.99 MSRP and a reasonable reduction vs. its average $14-15 price most recently.

These officially Nintendo-licenced SanDisk SD cards look cool but typically have a significant markup when compared to a regular SanDisk model. But, that is not the case this time, and this is legitimately the best deal you can currently get on a micro SD memory card for a portable console like the Switch.

This is one of those standout deals where we have to mention that it could expire or sell out at any time, due to its significant value. If you just got a Switch over the holiday period or even gifted one, this is the perfect next step in ensuring a digital library is available at all times.

The nearest comparison for alternate options for expanding your Switch’s internal memory is the SanDisk 128GB Ultra microSDXC for $12.99, or the Samsung Evo Select 128GB A2 microSDXC for $15.50 (which is slightly more futureproof vs. the previous two). For even more Switch deals, check out our complete Nintendo deals round-up featuring discounts on games, accessories, Switch online memberships, and more.

IGN has gathered a number of details about the rumored Switch 2 console in the meantime, which analysts have been predicting would launch this year, and there were rumors that Nintendo was demoing the console to partners behind closed doors at last year’s Gamescom. We also know that Nintendo briefed Activision on a Switch successor in late 2022.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.