RPS’s corporate daddy has announced that IGN Live is returning this June. The in-person event aims to fill the void left by E3, with playable demos in LA and livestreams of game reveals and panels for those who can’t attend.
A pirate’s life for me.
After a pretty meaty delay (happy end of the week, everyone!), we finally have an updated look at the UK physical gaming charts, and it’s a relatively quiet one for Nintendo.
A couple of new releases have squeezed their way into the top 40 this week, with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii snatching silver and Dog Man: Mission Impawsible landing in 28th.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
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Hey, everybody! Sid, O’Dell, Kristen, and Brett discuss some of the newest releases, including Monster Hunter Wilds and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1, and break down the official LEGO Horizon Adventures playset.
Stuff We Talked About
Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE
Kristen Zitani – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE
Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE
Thanks to Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.
[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]
Coatsink have announced a sequel to Islanders, their pastelcore seaside town-arranger, which was the last game Alec Meer ever reviewed for RPS. Until he reviewed Kentucky Route Zero: Act V, a year or so later. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Alec had planned that deliberately to screw me up. But I’ll forgive him because the KRZ review is very good and thoughtful, and also because the first trailer for Islanders: New Shores is extremely calming. Here you go.
Clone Hero streamer and content creator CarnyJared has completed a full combo (FC) for DragonForce’s infamous Guitar Hero 3 song Through the Fire and Flames — at 200% speed.
The streamer’s description of the event says it all: “IT. IS. OVER.” Posted yesterday, February 27, is recorded evidence of the unbelievable feat and world record CarnyJared managed to pull off while streaming. As he launches into his final, successful attempt at hitting all 3,722 notes without missing a beat, on-screen text reminds viewers that this grand finale is the result of nine months of practicing.
“I am rightfully thankful for everybody that has supported me throughout this ridiculous grind. I have the best supporters on the entire platform of Twitch and YouTube,” CarnyJared explains in the video’s description.
“We all spent an unfathomable amount of time staring at the same 3,722 notes, figuring out any possible way to hit them more efficiently. Somehow it worked out, and somehow I am able to sit in front of this computer which you have all cumulatively provided to me, and make a living playing Clone Hero.”
IT’S OVER
9 MONTH GRIND
THROUGH THE FIRE & FLAMES
(200% SPEED) FULL COMBO pic.twitter.com/IllxUxNYdq— CarnyJared (@CarnyJared) February 27, 2025
Through the Fire and Flames running at regular speed can be a lot to process for the untrained eye, so watching CarnyJared blaze through the song at 200% speed feels completely incomprehensible. There’s not much else to say; FCing a seven-and-a-half-minute song in just over three minutes is extremely impressive.
Achieving an FC on the open-source Guitar Hero-like known as Clone Hero requires playing a song in its entirety without missing a single note. On-screen stats in the streamer’s video reveal that he’s reached nearly 2,000 FC runs past the song’s first bridge, only 662 past its second bridge, and 227 to its solo section. The Through the Fire and Flames 200% FC you see today marks only the fourth time CarnyJared has managed to pass the solo.
“I am blessed every single day to wake up and have food in the kitchen, and a place to sleep because of you amazing group of people,” CarnyJared adds. “And I also thank my family, who has not only supported me my whole life, but they all specifically watched and supported this entire grind at my lowest and highest points. This is a moment that will live with me forever.”
He called the Through the Fire and Flames 200% FC the “hardest thing” he’s ever done in his life, so the celebration that follows his successful run tracks with the effort he’s put into completing it throughout the last nine months. For those interested in seeing how such an inhuman achievement can be accomplished in the world of Guitar Hero and Clone Hero, CarnyJared teased that fans can expect a “1 hour+” documentary in the next few months.
#CarnyJared CarnyJared full combos Through The Fire and Flames on 200% speed pic.twitter.com/bscIumlvhy
— Livestream Fails (@LSF_Forwarder) February 27, 2025
For more on how the Guitar Hero community is keeping the game alive, you can watch music game streamer Acai test out CRKD’s new guitar controller in Fortnite Festival as part of IGN Fan Fest 2025.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor 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).
Gotta rank ’em all.
We’re celebrating Pokémon Day 2025, which took place on 27th February 2025, by republishing this list of the best Pokémon games of all time. Don’t forget, you can get ranking down below, too.
Ranking the best Pokémon games is no easy feat given that many of them are considered among the best games of their particular hardware generation. Then you have to consider just how many spin-off Pokémon video games have hit the gaming world over the last 30 years or so!
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Last week, we asked you to set sail and share swashbuckling moments as a pirate in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:
call_me_xavii shares leaping into the action in Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
MrioMoreno5 shares a council of pirates in Return to Monkey Island.
JLunarTraveler steers the pirate ship in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
xenobitz shares a wrestler donning a Luffy/One Piece costume in WWE 2K24
doodlecep shares Astro Bot in a pirate outfit and Captain Pincher.
fsantos1697 shares the seafaring crew in Sea of Stars.
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on March 5, 2025
Next week, we’re capturing 90s summer memories in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Share unforgettable moments from Tape 1 using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Yesterday’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A gameplay reveal flooded us with new information about the upcoming Pokémon games set in a futuristic Lumiose City, including looks at dozens of Pokémon we should expect to see there. But one trio of monsters that fans were really hoping to see did NOT appear: the elemental monkeys Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear.
Why are fans so hung up on the monkey trio? It’s a bit complicated. The three monkeys and their evolutions have been a part of an increasingly shrinking list of Pokémon that are currently unavailable in any Nintendo Switch game. If you want to truly catch ’em all, you still can, by transferring them from other Pokémon games pre-Switch to Pokémon Home. But at the moment, the following Pokémon are unavailable for capture natively in any Nintendo Switch Pokémon game:
This list used to be much longer, but Game Freak added a ton of new Pokémon in the DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that culled the list down to these nine. What’s more, the trailer we saw yesterday showed both Patrat and Furfrou, confirming these two at least will be available in Legends: Arceus. And since Watchog evolves from Patrat, it’s a safe bet it will be in the game too. So that just leaves the three monkeys.
The elemental monkey trio was first introduced in Pokémon Black and White, and are somewhat beloved by fans due to the unique way the player obtains them. In Black and White, the first Gym the player encounters will use a typing that the player’s starter Pokémon is weak against. However, if the player visits a certain person in the Dreamyard, they’ll receive the monkey that has an advantage against that Gym, making it easier to tackle. Their designs are also memorable for being based on the “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” wise monkeys of Japanese folklore.
Realistically, the odds of the monkey trio showing up in Legends: Z-A are actually pretty good. It would be very surprising for Game Freak to leave them out of what could possibly be the last major Pokémon game on Nintendo Switch, and given that they appeared in the Kalos region PokéDex back in the day, it only makes sense for them to still be there in Z-A.
Even if the monkeys are included, there’s still one other problem Game Freak needs to solve: Spinda. Spinda is catchable on Nintendo Switch in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, but due to an error in how the game reads its spot patterns, it cannot be transferred to Pokémon Home. You can still get a Spinda from pre-Switch games transferred to Home, but the weird stuck nature of Spindas on Switch means that the dizzy little bear could probably use a functional Z-A appearance too, if Game Freak feels amenable.
Our first real look at Pokémon Legends Z-A gave us a lot to take in, and we’re still dissecting the footage to find all the connections between this and other, past Pokémon games. You can catch up on everything we saw at yesterday’s Pokémon Presents right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
How long do you tend to spend creating a character in a video game? The correct answer is three hours. Four hours if it’s a Bethesda game, because creating a character in a Bethesda game is like rewinding the Raiders Of The Lost Ark face-melting scene while shooting at your TV with Homer Simpson’s Make-Up Gun. It takes patience to extract beauty or even just plain inoffensiveness from the Creation Engine’s sticky coils.
Hang on, why am I being mean to Bethesda? I should be directing my snide remarks at Capcom. It turns out the scalliwags want you to pay a small fee to edit your Monster Hunter Wilds character’s voice, face and body structure more than once – so if you’re buying today, you might want to spend a few more hours perfecting that Hunter physique at start-up.
Monster Hunter Wilds is now out in the wild, and monster hunters are logging on in droves to start exploring the Forbidden Lands. Before they go, though, a few are taking a moment to remember some beloved NPCs from games past who kept their bellies full for every hunt.
Over on the Monster Hunter subreddit, posts have popped up reminding players to leave well-wishes for the chefs of previous Monster Hunter games, specifically Monster Hunter World and Rise. Cooks aren’t just the NPCs you tend to interact with pretty often, ensuring you’ve got good food buffs before heading out to fight against a scary beast; they’re also, broadly, pretty well-liked in the community.
The Grammeowster Chef from Monster Hunter World Iceborne, for instance, is a sweet elderly Felyne all bundled up in scarves, since she’s the head chef at Seliana’s Canteen. One post reminded players to let her know they’d be away for a while, because of Wilds’ launch.
Similarly, another post jokes about letting Monster Hunter Rise’s dango chef Yomogi know that they’ll be gone for a bit, saying they’re “going out to get cigarettes.” Though, the chef certainly made some decent revenue on all those dango. “Bro it’s fine, I’ve paid her entire college tuition by this point,” said one commenter.
We can’t talk about chefs without mentioning the classic one from Monster Hunter World, the Meowscular Chef, either. He’s a personal favorite NPC, with his eye scar, giant knife, and incredible poses every time he served up a new meal. The “best, most muscley boy”, as one commenter so aptly said.
It might seem silly to get sentimental over this, but chefs are a core part of the Monster Hunter loop. They’re the NPCs you tend to visit often, and you always get little cutscenes of them serving up the food that fuels your hunts. It doesn’t hurt that their designs are often fantastic, from a burly Felyne chef to the sweet Grammeowster.
A nice meal before heading out was routine for my own multiplayer ventures, and it might even be why Capcom is adding a new “place to gather” in its first Title Update for Monster Hunter Wilds. Having those little zones adds a lot, and having the right character in place only helps, if it wasn’t clear from all the players of previous Monster Hunters wishing the chefs goodbye before heading to Wilds.
Players are certainly digging into Monster Hunter Wilds too, with player numbers hitting massive peaks within 24 hours of its official launch. It hasn’t all been perfect, as PC players have been reporting concerns over performance, prompting Capcom to issue an official response.
To help get your Monster Hunter Wilds adventure started, take a look at what Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t tell you, and a guide to all 14 weapon types in the game. We’ve also got a detailed Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough in progress, a Monster Hunter Wilds multiplayer guide to explain how to play with friends, and if you’ve played one of the open betas, here’s how to transfer your Monster Hunter Wilds Beta character over.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.
