Wake up, it’s the 90s again. Ok, so maybe I’ve lied to you there, but two classic shooters from the decade that I as a child of 1999 definitely remember fondly have been re-released as one handy bundle with some extra features. Heretic + Hexen is out now.
The surprise re-release of these virtual spell boxes came as part of QuakeCon, with Nightdive Studios and id Software collborating to revamp more old school shooty things after doing the same with Doom and Doom 2 last year.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is now just weeks from launch, though fans will have to wait a little longer to play Fox Hunt, the game’s online multiplayer mode.
While the main, single-player portion of Snake Eater will launch for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 28, Fox Hunt will arrive via a post-launch update sometime this “fall”. And yes, that’s as specific as publisher Konami is currently willing to get.
Announced back in June, Fox Hunt is an entirely new multiplayer offering unrelated to Metal Gear Online, which came bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots back in 2008. MGO lasted four years, before its servers were switched off in 2012.
“Fox Hunt is a completely original online multiplayer mode,” said veteran Metal Gear Solid developer Yu Sahara, who now acts as the mode’s director, back in June. “Although it shares the same world with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the gameplay is completely different.
“When we say Metal Gear multiplayer, many fans will probably think of Metal Gear Online, but Fox Hunt will be its own new type of mode. We very much appreciate all the long-time fans of MGO who have always wanted to see it make a comeback, but the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot since MGO. It took a lot of careful consideration to think about what a new online mode should look like.”
Sahara continued by saying that Fox Hunt would focus on Metal Gear series’ stealth and survival elements, and take “camouflage and hide and go seek to the next level” in order to ensure the mode offered “more than just a shootout.”
Outside of Fox Hunt, Delta is a remake of the 2004 classic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Original Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has said he won’t be playing, however.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Microsoft have brought development work on Contraband, the co-op smuggling game that Just Cause developers Avalanche Studios announced back in 2021, to a standstill. That’s the official line, while a report from Bloomberg claims the game’s been cancelled outright.
Nothing had been been seen or heard of Contraband since its reveal to the world at E3 four years ago, and this sudden status update comes just weeks after Microsoft cancelled Perfect Dark, Everwild, and an unannounced MMO from ZeniMax as part of mass layoffs that saw around 9,000 staff lose their livelihoods.
Nintendo has announced a new claymation Mario show that’s set to premiere on YouTube. The series, which will feature kid-friendly animated episodes just one-minute in length, will launch alongside a major new push by Nintendo for the kid’s product market, with a range of toys, picture books, and more released under a new “My Mario” banner.
Notably, this range includes a set of wooden blocks that you can use as amiibo figurines. Other products on the way include a set of plastic tableware, a board book, a backpack, a plushie Mario, rattles and items of baby and toddler clothing including T-shirts and Mario hoodie.
My Mario has interactive elements too, including a My Mario app for smartphones and Switch consoles where you can play with Mario’s face, like a 2D version of the Mario 64 start menu.
The Hello Mario app will launch for iPhone and Android devices on August 26 in Japan, with the rest of the My Mario range set to arrive there on August 28. Nintendo has plans for an international My Mario launch, it has said, but not until the beginning of 2026.
While designed for kids, it’s easy to see some of these products becoming collector’s items — in particular the wooden blocks set which features Mario, Peach, Luigi and Yoshi alongside a range of Mushroom Kingdom props like a Mushroom and Fire Flower.
Nintendo has said that these figures can be used as their appropriate amiibo in compatible games, adding to their worth — though you’ll need to green shell out around $135 for the set (and also, at least until next year, be in the position to buy it from Japan).
The original Super Mario Bros. celebrates its 40th anniversary on September 13, while the coming year will see the launch of the next Super Mario Movie. Potentially titled Super Mario World, it’ll launch in theaters on April 3, 2026.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Pre-orders are now live.
LEGO fans are in for a treat with not one but two new titles announced today for the Switch and both are due out later this year.
First up we’ve got LEGO Voyagers – a new two-player co-op adventure all about “friendship and play”. There’ll even be a “Friend’s Pass” a bit like Hazelight’s games (Split Fiction) where you can play together with just one copy of the game.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Akatsuki Games has announced that its game based on the hugely popular manga and anime series Kaiju No. 8 will be released globally for Android and iOS on August 31st (JST), with a PC version to follow later.
Kaiju No. 8 tells the story of Kafka Hibino, a member of the crews that clean up after kaiju threats have been eliminated in greater Tokyo, but who longs to be a soldier in the Japan Defense Force (JDF), and actually be on the front lines. With goofy humour, slick action, an endearing protagonist and some pretty wild twists and turns, it’s a fun series. Its second season is airing now, but you can read our review of season one here.
Kaiju No. 8 The Game will let you take control of a host of fan favourite members of the JDF including Kikoru Shinomiya, Reno Ichikawa, Mina Ashiro, Gen Narumi and Soshiro Hoshina, and form them into four person squads to do battle against a new kaiju threat. What’s going on? Strange Dimensional Gates are opening up all over the place and otherworldly kaiju are flooding in.
The game also introduces a special unit named CLOZER, which exists to deal with the Dimensional Gates, and is commanded by a brand new character – Kikoru Shinomiya’s sister, Sagan Shinomiya. Other new characters introduced in the game include Chester Lochburn, CLOZER’s strategist who is able to wield a wide range of weapons, and Suited, the brains behind CLOZER’s weapons development.
Kaiju No. 8 The Game features a turn-based battle system that lets your squad work together to expose the core of the kaiju you’re facing in order to dispatch them, and fights scale all the way from confrontations with smaller Yoju through to skyscraper-sized beasts capable of razing cities.
Can this free-to-play live service title capture the intensity of the source material’s battles? And when will it be set in the timeline? Find out on August 31.
Cam Shea headed up Australia’s editorial team for many years but these days mostly lives and breathes craft beer.
Launching in Japan this month.
Earlier today, Nintendo announced it was releasing a new range of Mario-themed products, and while it is marketed towards parents and children, the ‘wood block’ sets on the way will actually double as amiibo figures.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Free-to-play time-traveling strategic RPG Reverse: 1999 just launched its biggest collaboration yet, its first to ever launch simultaneously worldwide, and it teamed up with another time-jumping franchise to do it: Assassin’s Creed. The collab adds new story chapters and popular characters Ezio, Kassandra, and Alexios, all three of whom will be playable.
Reverse: 1999 first launched in 2023 and has seen global success in the time since. It’s been downloaded more than 30 million times worldwide and stands at “very positive” with more than 2,500 reviews on Steam. Those fans have been clamoring for this collab since it was first announced earlier this year, and there’s been particular excitement about the addition of Ezio — as you can see from the 270,000 views and hundreds of comments on his official trailer.
While the characters and story content might be the headliners of this collab, there’s a lot more to it than that. You can see Assassin’s Creed inspirations in the UI, music, and garments that have been added. Plus, there are free goodies being given away (including Alexios), extra prizes in the gacha system designed to make it easier to pull the new characters, and both online and offline events to celebrate.
Let’s get into the details, shall we?
Reverse: 1999’s story takes you through different eras of history, and that trend continues with this crossover, whose new content will be released in two phases. Phase 1 is live right now and will run until September 18. It adds a story chapter that brings you to Florence, Italy, where you’ll meet the legendary Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed II.
The collaboration trailer hints at how the story of Phase 1 will bring you into contact with Ezio. Mr. APPLe, one of the important characters of Reverse: 1999, is mistaken for a fabled Apple of Eden and must be protected. He’s nearly dissected by Leonardo da Vinci, another character from Assassin’s Creed II who plays a significant role in the Phase 1 story.
Ezio’s character trailer shows some of the memories from his journey in Assassin’s Creed II — his assassinations, gathering feathers for his brother, the tragic execution of his family — materializing into different weapons, which references the unique ability he brings into Reverse: 1999. He can wield several different primary and secondary weapons and can swap them out as needed, so he’s always ready for any situation.
Like all other 6-star characters, Ezio comes with two garments, the second of which is unlocked after increasing his Insight level. His first garment is the assassins’ classic white robe, and his second (featured in the photo of him above) is the Armor of Altair from Assassin’s Creed II, which was built by and named after the hero of the original Assassin’s Creed.
Kassandra and Alexios will join in on the fun when the story shifts to Ancient Greece in Phase 2 of the collab, which will run from August 28 to September 18. Like Ezio, Kassandra will get a unique ability designed to make her adaptable: She has three skill trees (Hunter, Warrior, and Assassin) and can switch between them.
Beyond the characters and plot, Assassin’s Creed fans will notice other references. The level selection interface adopts the genetic sequence design of the Animus, and music — including the familiar song “Ezio’s Family” — has been pulled from the Assassin’s Creed series. The Into the Shadows mode will let you see the villa in Monteriggioni and complete events in Florence and Venice to experience the Renaissance assassin life like Ezio.
It wouldn’t be a Reverse: 1999 update without new garments, and this collab is no exception. Four characters have new garments inspired by Assassin’s Creed and Greek mythology (pictured below). Hissabeth’s new look is inspired by Medusa, the famous snake-haired Gorgon from Greek myth who put up a hell of a fight in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. The art showing off her new garment shows her dancing between Medusa’s two sisters frozen in stone, the crown she wears pays homage to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’s Medusa design, and the artifact she’s holding resembles an Apple of Eden.
Marcus’s new garment draws from the myth of the musician Orpheus, who traveled to the underworld and used his music to convince Hades to let him take back his deceased wife Eurydice, on the condition that he not look back at her until they reached the surface. During their ascension, Orpheus was overcome with doubt and couldn’t help looking back, and Eurydice was taken from him forever. Marcus’s art recalls this moment of legend, as she glances back and offers her hand to guide her fallen friends to the gates of the underworld.
Vila gets a new garment inspired by the Sirens of Homer’s Odyssey who would lure sailors to their deaths with their beautiful song. Her artwork shows her standing among violet waves and singing as storms gather around her, and the Poseidon statue beside her is pulled directly from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
Last but certainly not least, APPLe’s new garment turns him gold, and you can see how Leonardo da Vinci and other characters in Florence would mistake him for an Apple of Eden, the symbol of desire and temptation. And best of all, APPLe’s new garment is free for all players during the collaboration event.
APPLe’s new garment isn’t the only thing that’s free. In this collab version, every player can get a free monthly pass that allows them to get 2,700 Clear Drops in total, which is 15 free gacha pulls. Additionally, free resources given out during the collaboration will make it possible to have at least 43 pulls on the event banners.
During Phase 2, everyone can recruit Alexios for free by taking part in the collaboration’s events. Plus, to celebrate the partnership with Assassin’s Creed, players can receive additional collaboration characters after 100/160/220/280 pulls. And there are other log-in and event rewards that you can see in the image below.
You can download Reverse: 1999 for free right now on Steam, the iOS App Store, Google Play and Windows PC. The Assassin’s Creed collaboration is live now, and with all the goodies being given away for free, there’s never been a better time to jump in.
If you want more info about the existing characters of Reverse: 1999, you can check out the official website for details. You can also follow the game and join the community on Twitter, TikTok, Discord, Facebook, or YouTube.
Wood Block amiibo also revealed.
Nintendo has today announced it’s releasing a new line of Mario-themed products, videos and even an app designed for parents and their children.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
EA has flat out said that fans shouldn’t expect The Sims 5 anytime soon. But if you’re looking for a new release from the franchise, you’ll be happy to know a new Sims game actually did just come out July. Did you somehow miss this momentous news? I certainly did, and that’s because it’s actually just a board game. The Sims Board Game arrived at Target on July 20, 2025 and it seems to have gone largely unnoticed.
Which makes a lot of since to me. It’s been a long time since I’ve played The Sims 4, but having spent a decent amount of time in that game I can’t really conceptualize how it would effectively transition to a tabletop experience. The board game itself is a collaboration with Goliath that was announced back in February and garnered a bit of news coverage from various gaming outlets, but now that it’s available to buy nobody seems to be talking about it.
I have no plans on ever purchasing or playing this game, but for the sake of this article I watched the official how to play video recently published on the Goliath YouTube channel. It’s about five and a half minutes long and after sitting through the whole thing, I’m still not sure how to categorize this game or even how to actually play it. The gameplay and rules seem unnecessarily confusing despite the narrator suggesting just “tossing out the rulebook” early on in the video. The main theme of the game is that each player tries to earn points by completing aspirations and various actions throughout play. The first player to eight points wins, with the bonus option of playing to 10 points instead to make the game longer.
As confusing as the gameplay seems, what turns me off to this game the most about this game is that it’s meant for 2-5 players. That immediately removes the thing about playing The Sims I enjoyed the most: That I got to do it by myself. Introducing one or more players into the experience seems like a recipe for disaster. It’s being marketed as a family board game, but I could never imagine trying to play this with my actual family.
Although it initially launched at Target, The Sims Board Game is currently available to preorder from Amazon with an August 15 release date. If you feel like giving it a try, it is actually pretty reasonably priced at $19.99.
