I was rubbing along pretty well in House Of Necrosis before I hurled a vial of unidentified black serum at a squashy purple Devourer. I was hoping the serum would be some kind of poison – I mean, come on, an unidentified black serum? You wouldn’t pour that on your chips. It turned out to be an XP potion, which transformed the Devourer into a Foul Devourer – still squashy, still purple, but with much sturdier defence.
I managed to recover some of the accidentally donated XP by lobbing a cheeky hex, but not enough to boost the stopping power of my homely pawnshop knife and pistol. So down I went in a pool of that special red serum the billionaires like to drink when they’re feeling mortal.
****, we didn’t mean for that to happen. This has been the response from Call of Duty Black Ops 7 developers Activision to folks spotting that you couldn’t type the name of fellow shooterArc Raiders into the chat of the game’s beta without it being censored. Yep, you could reportedly get away with Arc or Raiders, but stick the two together, and it was off to the starred-out naughty corner.
Naturally, folks wondered why this was a thing, especially since you could chat about more obvious Black Ops 7 competitor Battlefield 6 to your heart’s content without facing any star-based repercussions.
Thankfully, not only does Amazon have them in stock, but they’re discounted in the Prime Day Big Deals, starting as low as $23.
Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy Playmats Are Discounted For Prime Day
Before we start, it’s worth noting the labelling is wrong on some of these options. For example, the Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER playmat is listed as being $28.79, but the actual artwork shows an Eikon battle from Final Fantasy 16. Be sure to check the artwork before you place your order.
Elsewhere, the black stitched playmats are down to $23.03. These include Vivi, Lightning, and Y’Shtola. The ‘Sephiroth’ playmat is erroneously labelled, though – it’s clearly Final Fantasy 6 baddie Kefka in the artwork. That one is $35.99.
Finally, even the double-sided playmats are discounted. This listing does have a (correct) Sephiroth listing, with the One-Winged Angel’s playmat coming in at $31.67, the same price as the Clive and Ifrit two-sided one. Emet-Selch, Unsundered’s is $37.45.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
At the risk of being viciously cyberbullied for admitting I have a favourite power bank: I have a favourite power bank. It’s the Ugreen Nexode Retractable, and it’s perfect for topping up your Steam Deck, Windows handheld, laptop, headphones, wireless controller, portable fan, or overpriced electric toothbrush. It’s also going cheaper than usual in Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale, shedding 25% off in the UK and 30% off in the US.
Good news, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 fans — Activision has extended its open beta to run an additional 24 hours to October 9, taking it right up to competitor Battlefield 6‘s release, which is slated for October 10.
“The reaction to the Black Ops 7 Beta so far has been awesome to see! Whether you’re calling in Nukes in Multiplayer or going for high rounds in Zombies Survival, there’s plenty to jump into and we’ve had a ton of fun playing alongside everyone,” Activision wrote in its latest blog.
“On behalf of all of us at Treyarch, we’re truly grateful for your feedback so far… and speaking of which, we heard you might want a little more, so we’re extending the Black Ops 7 Beta to 9am PT on Thursday, October 9!”
The beta now includes sixth Beta MP map, Toshin, and Open playlists, which have classic matchmaking where skill is minimally considered, Activision said.
Activision also confirmed it will be extending 2XP + 2X Weapon XP through the rest of the Beta “to help everyone hit level 30, try out all the weapons and gear, and unlock plenty of attachments and Overclocks along the way.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Amazon are currently running another Prime Day sale, of sorts – technically it’s Prime Big Deal Days, which is like Prime Day, but worse. Yes, you still need an Amazon Prime account to get the full discounts, and no, there isn’t nearly as much worthwhile PC gaming hardware with discount stickers as there were in the ‘main’ sale.
Still, this one isn’t entirely deprived of good finds. For one, there’s the Logitech G305 Lightspeed, probably my favourite cheap wireless mouse among all cheap wireless mice. It’s even less of a money sink with a Prime account, which currently snips it down to £28 in the UK and $28 in the US, with the latter getting a few different colour options as well.
Battlefield 6 has suffered numerous leaks throughout 2025, and now, just three days before launch, the game itself may have leaked its way into the public’s hands, too.
Reddit users grecea_vlad and SS-Enter-Thighs shared they had recently managed to secure early copies, posting images of what seem to be Phantom Edition versions of the game that have been unintentionally released days before Battlefield 6’s October 10 release date.
Box art highlighted in both posts features labels from the European video game ratings board, PEGI, suggesting both copies were sold by European retailers. It’s unclear which store(s) could be responsible for the alleged leak or how pre-release copies of Battlefield 6 could have slipped through the cracks and into the fans’ hands. Of course, that may not be a concern for the two – or maybe even more – Battlefield 6 fans who now have the game in hand days before everyone else.
It’s unclear which features these supposed early Battlefield 6 adopters have access to, so for everyone else still waiting for official launch, it’s probably best to be wary of spoilers for the next few days, just in case.
Meanwhile, EA and the four-company team that makes up Battlefield Studios recently previewed some of the changes set to be introduced with the Battlefield 6 day one patch. It’s a tease for this Friday’s patch that also came with an update regarding the debate between Closed and Open Weapons, as the developers insisted that “the vast majority of players” prefer the latter.
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).
Right, it’s time to get ahead of the game. Approach your router and force it to repeat the things Lightning McQueen says about speed at the start of Cars, because Battlefield 6 has a launch patch coming and it sounds like it’ll be weighty. EA say “over 200 changes” will be dropping as part of it and have also teased some potential future additions in their latest beta learnings post.
Looking for a pick-me-up on a chilly morning (or afternoon, or whenever you happen to be reading this)? This five-minute arrangement of classic Koji Kondo tracks from the Mario series just might do the trick.
Recorded back on 23rd August, the WDR Funkhausorchester takes a delightfully brisk jog through some classic platforming tunes, spanning 1985’s Super Mario Bros. to New Super Mario Bros. (yes, that is now retro, folks) by way of SMB3 and SM64.
If you’re still on the hunt for certain Switch 2 accessories and are looking for alternatives to Nintendo’s products, there are plenty of third-party offerings. Accessory maker Turtle Beach has already released a headset and it’s now announced it’s bolstering its own line of Switch 2 products.
This includes a new range of wired and wireless controllers, cases, and screen protectors. There’s the Rematch, Afterglow Wave and Afterglow controllers as well as a PlayTrek 2-in-1 Case and cases for the standalone system.
