Author: Game Infliction

The Best PS5 2TB SSD Deals (January 2025)

With PS5 games getting bigger each year and SSD prices rising, we want to make sure you can find the best amount of storage for the lowest price possible. Here, we’ll point you in the direction of some of the greatest 2TB SSD deals we can find at the moment, like this incredible deal on a WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD with heatsink for $149.99.

It’s worth noting that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid-state drive with at least a 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive. We’ve gathered up SSDs that match or exceed these specs in the list below to make your search easier.

Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD and not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (like this one for $10) and install it yourself. For our top recommended picks for 2025, check out our full breakdown for the Best PS5 SSDs.

2TB WD Black SN850X PS5 SSD With Heatsink for $149.99

If you’re looking to kickstart your year with some extra storage, look no futher than this deal on a 2TB WD Black SN850X PS5 SSD. This SSD features read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s to ensure your games load as fast as possible, and it’s currently enjoying a very nice discount down to $149.99 at Walmart.

TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for $102.99

This is one of the best deals on a 2TB SSD at the moment: Amazon is offering the TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for just $102.99. It unfortunately does not have a heatsink so you’ll have to invest in one, but you can easily do that here for under $10. It also offers transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write.

Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $149.99

This is another excellent SSD deal that comes complete with a heatsink. Corsair’s MP600 PRO LPX 2TB SSD with heatsink is discounted to $149.99 at Amazon, 25% off its list price of $199.99. It boasts 7,100MB/s sequential read and 6,800MB/s sequential write speeds and we even rank it as the best PS5 SSD to buy in 2025.

Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $154.99

This SSD earned a spot in our list of the best PS5 SSDs as the best high performance PS5 SSD. This is all thanks to read/write speeds up to 7300MB/s and 7000MB/s, respectively. Not to mention, it comes with a heatsink all ready to go. It’s currently enjoying a nice little discount down to $154.99 at Amazon, which is definitely worth taking advantage of.

SAMSUNG 980 PRO 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $187

If you don’t mind spending a little extra cash, Samsung’s 980 PRO 2TB SSD with heatsink is worth every penny. This PS5-ready SSD is currently marked down to $187 at Amazon, a 19% discount from its $229.99 list price, which is absolutely worth taking advantage of if you’ve had your eye on a SSD from Samsung.

What if the SSD Doesn’t Include a Heatsink?

Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for $10 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.

Budget to Best: PS5 SSDs

There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, so they’re useful for more than just those who need additional storage for their PS5 console.

How To Install a New PS5 SSD

It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original article by Eric Song.

Black Ops 6’s Squid Game Season 2 Crossover and Call of Duty’s Controversial Relationship With Microtransactions

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Squid Game crossover is in its second week and dredging up familiar, thorny questions around the series’ microtransactions.

As players run around the virtual battlefield of Black Ops 6 and Warzone dressed as not only Squid Game contestants but the masked-up soldiers who keep them in line, the Call of Duty community is questioning Activision’s aggressive monetization of its hugely popular money-spinner.

Fans had already hit out at the Squid Game event pass, which includes a paid premium track. Call of Duty has never locked event rewards behind a paywall before, and this 1,100 CP ($9.99) battle pass within a battle pass has certainly proven controversial.

Now, the first Squid Game premium bundle is on sale, and as expected, it’s expensive. The 2,800 CP ($24) bundle includes three new skins (the triangle, circle, and square Squid Game workers), two weapon skins, and other digital gubbins. 2,800 CP is in-line with some of the most expensive bundles Call of Duty already offers, but there’s more than the up-front cost here that’s upsetting fans.

The three Squid Game operators included are all restricted to the same “side.” This means that in Black Ops 6 Multiplayer, you only use them if you’re on the Crimson One team. So, it may be the case that you have a run of games in which you can’t use the skin you’ve paid for.

While this makes sense on one hand (having these skins available for use on both sides would probably create visual confusion), Call of Duty players have expressed frustration at the restriction. “2,800 COD Points for operators on the same faction… Can’t even use more than one at a time,” redditor mrdounut101 complained.

I’ve seen many familiar counter arguments pop up in response to this complaint. Just don’t buy Call of Duty skins, some say. If you do, you’re part of the problem. Some can’t understand why anyone would buy a Call of Duty soldier skin in the first place, given the game is first-person.

Unlike, for example, Fortnite, which is third-person and thus lets you see your character during gameplay, Call of Duty only lets you see your character skin’s hands and forearms as you’re fighting, or in their entirety during executions. Black Ops 6’s Winner’s Circle, itself the focus of some frustration within the community, shows off your skins in all their glory after the end of a Multiplayer match. Activision certainly knows what it’s doing here.

Players are also complaining that Black Ops 6 is currently packed with players wearing Squid Game skins, but that was inevitable. For a start, one of the skins made available as part of this event is free to all players, so that was always going to prove a popular option, especially given the internet’s obsession with Squid Game itself. Squid Game has overrun Call of Duty, yes, but it will pass.

Anyone else sick of these damn skins?
byu/btrosCuPoJoE inblackops6

Inevitably we arrive at the endpoint of the Call of Duty microtransaction debate: Activision monetizes the game like it’s free-to-play, like it’s Fortnite, and while that’s true for Warzone players, it very much is not for Black Ops 6 players, most of whom have forked out at least $70 just to start playing Multiplayer or Zombies.

This gets to the issue at the heart of Call of Duty and why it continues to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars through microtransactions alongside the huge amount of money generated by sales of the game itself. Activision has created this cross-progression monetization system that means the free-to-play Warzone has the same microtransactions as the $70 Black Ops 6. But players do not necessarily play both games. If you play Black Ops 6 Multiplayer only, for example, a cosmetics bundle that costs a third of the full price of the game is probably going to feel unfairly expensive. But if you play Warzone only, then you probably feel like the price is justified.

And then there’s all the positions in-between. Perhaps you play both games. How do you feel about the monetization then? Perhaps you play Black Ops 6 via your Game Pass subscription. Are the microtransactions good value for you now? Did you pay extra for the BlackCell version of the premium battle pass? If so, perhaps you feel all the Squid Game event pass rewards should be yours without having to hand over even more cash.

It really does feel like Activision is pushing the boundary of what it can get away with when it comes to the cost of Call of Duty cosmetics. In truth, the mega publisher has added new types of battle passes and bundles multiple times over the years. But now Call of Duty is in the hands of Microsoft and the pressure is on Phil Spencer to deliver a return on that huge $69 billion acquisition, fans will likely find themselves having to contend with even more new and potentially controversial types of monetization as they struggle to improve their K/D ratio. The Squid Game event pass is probably just the beginning.

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.

Many are the nostalgic 2D Sonic fangames, but Sonic Galactic might be the best

The last time I wrote about Sonic fangame, I innocently and absent-mindedly described it as “SNES-style”. This led to a social media dog-pile of an intensity typically reserved for major international banks accidentally tweeting rule34, a howl of derision that washed over me again and again while I rolled around on the floor beneath my desk, caterwauling at Graham to please please delete the whole internet, I want to start all over again.

Let’s see if we fare better this time round: Sonic Galactic is an absurdly accomplished Sonic fangame from Starteam that, broadly, imagines how the Mega Drive and Genesis platformers might have looked and felt had they been made for the Sega Saturn. There’s a new demo, if you fancy trying it for yourself. Please find it here on Itch.io. Perhaps if I’d put the download link higher up the page in the other article, people would have got distracted and refrained from dunking on me so awfully.

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WWE 2K23 Servers Discontinued Less Than 2 Years After Launch, WWE 2K24 Last Game in the Series Standing

WWE 2K23 servers close today less than two years after the game came out.

The official WWE tie-in wrestling title launched on March 14, 2023. As noted by Eurogamer, WWE 2K23 goes dark today, January 6, 2025, when the servers are discontinued.

This includes all online functions, such as online matches and Community Creations. Players will no longer be able to access any online game mode after this point. However if you already own the game you will be able to continue to play offline modes. The game itself and all VC (Virtual Currency), as well as DLC/Add-Ons, were pulled from sale in November.

This also means WWE 2K23’s PS5 and PS4 Platinum Trophy is unobtainable, the latest to fizzle out of existence with a server shutdown. Gamers have long called on the platform holders to mandate achievement and trophy changes upon a server shutdown so customers can still complete those challenges.

IGN’s WWE 2K23 review returned an 8/10. We said: “Though the Showcase mode isn’t as super as its subject, John Cena, the sharp focus on refinement instead of reinvention helps keep WWE 2K23 as the gold standard of wrestling sims.”

WWE 2K23’s server shutdown leaves last year’s WWE 2K24 as the only game in the series with online functionality. The expectation is WWE 2K25 launches around March this year, but some fans are now debating the value in investing time in these games if they fail to last even a couple of years.

Publisher 2K has form when it comes to shutting down its sports games in the immediate years after release. 2022’s NBA 2K23, for example, shut down in December 2024. Rival sports video game maker EA tends to keep the online portion of its games running longer than 2K, with FIFA and Madden servers often up and running years after launch.

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.

GTA copycat Paradise is an alleged crypto scam, yet continues to gain Steam wishlists

An upcoming life sim which claims to be a competitor to Grand Theft Auto VI is continuing to amass followers and wishlists on Steam, despite the game being unmasked as a vehicle for a dodgy cryptocurrency. Paradise is marketed as a third-person game set in a sunny modern city, where you can speak to any NPC via microphone on the street and get stilted responses powered by artificial intelligence. You will supposedly drive sports cars, shoot guns at people, and accrue in-game cash. But its more outlandish claims attracted immediate scrutiny from video creators who found countless inconsistencies in the marketing material. The game has since been removed from the Epic Games Store, presumably for breaking many of the store’s rules. But it’s still on Steam, and somehow clambering steadily up the wishlist ladder in defiance of its many red flags.

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Valorant: Meet Your New Agent, Tejo

Valorant: Meet Your New Agent, Tejo

  • Ashley Tsao, Global Community Manager, Riot Games

Valorant Tejo Hero Image

Summary

  • Say hello to our newest Agent, Tejo, who’s joining our roster from Colombia.
  • As part of the Initiator class, Tejo specializes in flushing out enemies with a unique kit consisting of information gathering, explosions, and a concuss.
  • Those who have strategic game sense and understand how the enemy plays will be able to thrive on this Agent.
  • Tejo, like all Valorant Agents, is unlocked for those with a Game Pass membership.

“This should be simple enough. I flush them out. You finish them.” This statement from Tejo perfectly encompasses our newest Initiator-class Agent, the well-dressed man of action.

Hailing from Colombia, Tejo will undoubtedly shake up the gameplay with his unique kit that flushes out enemies using a top-down approach. Tejo will require you to think proactively and strategically–analyzing the situation mid-round and using his abilities to help clear the way for your team.

Tejo’s abilities, which revolve around flushing out enemies, consist of 3 outputs: information gathering, damage, and concuss effects:

  • Stealth Drone: Throw and possess a stealthed drone that, upon activation, creates a small sonar pulse at its location.
  • Guided Salvo: Pull up a map to target one or more missiles towards a location. Upon reaching their location, the missiles explode twice, pushing enemies off of angles.
  • Special Delivery: Toss a grenade that bounces once (sticks to players immediately), sticks, then winds up and explodes. Explosion concusses.
  • Armageddon: Cast a wave of explosions, forcing enemies to move in the direction of your choosing.

The perfect teammates for Tejo will be those who can quickly follow up on the space he creates. Let’s take a closer look at how that’s done.

Stealth Drone

Valorant Tejo Screenshot

Whether your team is attacking and attempting to take a site or defending and playing retake, having a drone can be extremely impactful. Especially on maps where there are a lot of corners to clear, it allows your team to take space safely or be prepared to fight for that space. Since drones are great pieces of utility, the enemy team is often prepared to shoot down whatever you’re using to take space. Tejo’s Stealth Drone is unique in that it’s invisible at long range, giving you more time to grab information about where the enemy team could be.

“Drones typically give a lot of baseline value of information gathering, but we wanted to give this drone a little spin where the information is secondary, and the effect of suppressing an enemy is why you take this drone over others,” Game Designer Ryan Cousart tells us.

Guided Salvo

Valorant Tejo Screenshot

When we asked the devs, “Why rockets?”, Cousart smiles and says, “Because rockets are sweet.”

In addition to rockets being sweet, they made sense thematically for what the devs were trying to accomplish.

“When you start putting things like a map targeter or world placements on Agents, you force people to think about the game more proactively and more strategically. We wanted something to lead your team in and show you the effect of telling your team, ‘Hey something is going to happen.’ We could’ve used anything but we landed on rockets for these reasons,” Cousart adds.

Tejo’s abilities, which revolve around flushing out enemies, consist of 3 outputs: information gathering, damage, and concuss effects. “There’s a lot to consider and be careful about when deciding the output of an ability. Damage as an output is a lot more permanent than a concuss or a flash. It’s worthwhile to explore though and I think we’ve landed in a pretty good spot but that’s one we’ll need to keep a really sharp eye,” states Cousart.

Special Delivery

Valorant Tejo Screenshot

“With how naturally ‘guns down’ his other abilities are, Tejo really needed something that was just simple to understand and simple to cast but still captured that feeling of being explosive but directed. I wanted Special Delivery to be a quick, like, ‘Let’s fight’ button”, states Cousart.

Unlike the other abilities where Tejo needs time to set up the play, Special Delivery allows him to initiate a fight quickly in the moment. Whether or not an enemy is there for the concuss, using the ability there will give them the confidence they need to take that space. One thing is for certain – even if players can use the ability quickly, we won’t be surprised when players are making fancy lineups to get that perfect angle to land on that perfect circle.

Armageddon

Valorant Tejo Screenshot

“Tejo’s rockets are really only valuable if you’re following up on the pressure that’s created. But the sweet spot is when you fire your rockets and you force people to move and then while they’re moving, you’re able to capitalize on them having to reposition. Tejo would be great with another Agent that can go in very fast, like Neon, who can capitalize on the distance he casts his abilities from,” notes Character Producer, John Goscicki.

Tejo’s ult, Armageddon, is something enemies will need to be aware of round-to-round. Watch that scoreboard and check how many ult points he’s away from being able to use it, since it can heavily impact the flow of a round. The wave of explosions will force enemies to move in a direction of Tejo’s choosing or at least have players moving further back, since the site will be difficult to hold. This will give his team the perfect opportunity to follow up and take control of the space he just created.

Everyone can play Tejo but those with strategic game sense can make this new Agent really shine. All of Valorant’s Agents are unlocked for Game Pass members, so step up to the challenge  learn to use him to your advantage before everyone else. In the words of Tejo, “We can stand around all day talking about killing them… or we just do it.” So what are you waiting for?


VALORANT

VALORANT

Riot Games

☆☆☆☆☆
786
★★★★★

Get it now
Xbox Game Pass

VALORANT is a character-based 5v5 tactical shooter set on the global stage. Outwit, outplay, and outshine your competition with tactical abilities, precise gunplay, and adaptive teamwork.

DEFY THE LIMITS
Blend your style and experience on a global, competitive stage. You have 13 rounds to attack and defend your side using sharp gunplay and tactical abilities. And, with one life per-round, you’ll need to think faster than your opponent if you want to survive. Take on foes across Competitive and Unranked modes as well as Deathmatch and Spike Rush.

CREATIVITY IS YOUR GREATEST WEAPON
More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine. No two Agents play alike, just as no two highlight reels will look the same.

FIGHT AROUND THE WORLD
Each map is a playground to showcase your creative thinking. Purpose-built for team strategies, spectacular plays, and clutch moments. Make the play others will imitate for years to come.

The post Valorant: Meet Your New Agent, Tejo appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Fallout creator asks why triple-A RPGs focus on violence, doesn’t provide very hopeful answer

Original Fallout designer Tim Cain, also known for co-directing The Outer Worlds at Obsidian, has published a video responding to a player’s question about why violence is the “default” path in so many big budget RPGs. That’s specifically RPGs with “AAA” budgets, whatever AAA means these days. Cain is, of course, well aware that there are many RPGs from smaller teams that “evolve past the paradigm of violence being the default way in which the player interacts with the world”, and that there are plenty of puzzle games, adventure games and the like in which there is no violence at all.

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Stellar Blade Dev Is Doing So Well It’s Given All 311 Staff a PS5 Pro and $3,400 Bonus

Shift Up, the South Korean company behind PlayStation 5 exclusive action game Stellar Blade, has gifted all its staff a PlayStation 5 Pro as well as a cash bonus of 5 million won (around. $3,400).

As spotted by VGC, South Korean publication Naver reported that the eye-catching bonuses were designed to encourage the company’s staff. As of the third quarter of last year, 311 people were working at Shift Up.

Shift Up had an impressive 2024. The Sony Interactive Entertainment-published Stellar Blade launched exclusively on PS5 in April and sold more than one million copies in two months. IGN’s Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: “Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.” Since then, Shift Up has continued to update the game and even added crossover DLC with other video game franchises, most notably Nier: Automata.

In July, Shift Up raised 435 billion won (around. $320 million) in its first day of trade after an initial public offering. According to Bloomberg, that was the largest in the country for a gaming company since 2021, when PUBG maker Krafton Inc. raised $3.8 billion from its own IPO.

In a recent financial report, Shift Up said that after Stellar Blade’s launch “sales continued at a stabilized level,” although it failed to provide an updated sales figure. It did, however, provide revenue directly attributed to the game: 25.8 billion won (approx. $18.5 million) during the quarter Stellar Blade came out (April to June), and 22.5 billion won (approx. $16.1 million) during the company’s third quarter (July to September). That’s a total of 48.4 billion won (around $34.6 million) as of the end of September. For context, Shift Up’s other game, mobile action RPG Goddess of Victory: Nikke, makes more money than Stellar Blade (approx. $51.9 million during the same two quarters).

There’s more to come, too. The developer has confirmed plans to release Stellar Blade on PC in 2025, and pointed to Black Myth: Wukong’s incredible success on Steam in predicting more sales on PC than on PS5.

Shift Up has an unannounced multiplatform game codenamed Project Witches, which it plans to launch after 2027. Given the success of Stellar Blade, it seems likely Shift Up is also considering a sequel.

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.

Tyrant’s Realm is a grimy, spartan soulslike infused with Deathtrap Dungeon nostalgia

The baggiest thing about PS1-harkening soulslike Tyrant’s Realm is the ratty pair of prisoner pants you start out with. Everything else is pleasingly austere. It is, like Dark Souls, a game about equipment and stamina management, but it finds most success as a soulslike in the sensation that you are alone somewhere bad, not able to do very much except hit horrible things in the space between them trying to hit you. It also offers notable moments of lonely, loud footsteps rebounding off cold stone tiles in the seconds after felling some giant man-bastard – one of the subgenre’s greatest un-joys.

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