Following PlayStation and Xbox releasing their annual player wrap ups, Nintendo has now released its own in the Nintendo Switch Year in Review 2024.
The wrap up is now available on Nintendo’s website. “Revisit your 2024 on Nintendo Switch with your personalized Year in Review,” it reads.
Using their Nintendo account, players will receive a recap of their year including how many different games were played, how long they were played for, what the most played game of the year was, and a breakdown month by month.
Wrap up features gained traction first through the likes of music app Spotify before gaming brands like Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox got on board. PlayStation’s arrived earlier in December but was broken for a while, though once working even revealed players’ historical statistics in celebration of its 30th anniversary.
The new console is expected the following financial year, meaning by the end of March 2026, but Nintendo will perhaps look to capitalize on the holiday season and release it by the end of 2025.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Activision has confirmed it has recast some members of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 cast after fans noticed much-loved Zombies characters with new voices in-game.
The company issued a statement to Game Developer admitting characters in Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode were recast amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Zombies characters William Peck (Zeke Alton) and Samantha Maxis (Julie Nathanson) are currently voiced by new, unknown actors. Alton told Game Developer that he takes no issue with Activision’s actions with Peck, but expressed concern “for my brand as a performer.”
“Fans of the game have reached out to me because the lack of crediting [of the replacement actor] implies that it may still be me which unfairly represents my abilities as a performer,” Alton said.
SAG-AFTRA’s dispute with the video game industry revolves around the use of generative AI to replicate voice actor performances. Activision said: “We respect the personal choice of these performers. Out of respect for all parties, we won’t add new commentary about the ongoing negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. We look forward to a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible.”
The concern now is Activision may replace other voice actors in Black Ops 6, if it hasn’t done already. Fans are already on high alert after accusing Activision of using “AI slop” for in-game art. Activision has so far failed to comment on the likes of the six-fingered Zombie Santa.
SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors went on strike in July, accusing gaming companies of refusing to meet their demands on artificial intelligence. Negotiations over a new contract began in October 2022 and SAG-AFTRA members approved the strike last September. Check out IGN’s feature, What the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Actors Strike Means for Gamers, for more.
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.
Huh, it’s a little hard to breathe today, don’t you think? Like the air’s a bit thin. Anyway, I have a job I need to get to and there’s this guy who’s going to mentor me on my first day. A guy called Mo, who seems nice but isn’t particularly talkative. Prefers paper and pencil.
Publisher Live Wire has announced that DODONPACHI SAIDAIOUJOU will be available on the Nintendo Switch eShop from today.
The game is available now via the North American eShop for $34.99, though at the time of writing, it’s not yet visible via the EU eShop, and Live Wire has not confirmed a release within Europe at this time. If it shows up later today, mind you, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World has released the game’s first major update, patch 1.1.
The update makes over 1,800 fixes and adjustments, GSC said, including the first iteration of A-Life fixes.
Stalker 2 launched late last month to a positive reception on Steam and one million sales. It’s a success for the Ukrainian studio, a miracle, really, considering the harrowing circumstances that followed Russian’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. But Stalker 2 suffers from well-documented bugs; chief among them A-Life 2.0.
A-Life was a key feature of the first Stalker game that governed AI behavior across the game world. At a high level, it is a system for simulating life in the Zone that works its magic seemingly independently of the player’s actions or whereabouts. It helps to create convincing AI and the emergent gameplay Stalker is famous for.
GSC had said A-Life 2.0 would make the Zone feel alive as never before, that it would fuel emergent gameplay on a scale previously thought impossible. Indeed for some fans, A-Life 2.0 was Stalker 2’s biggest selling point. But when Stalker 2 actually came out players discovered that A-Life 2.0 didn’t work properly, with some questioning whether it was even in the game at all.
A-Life fixes added with patch 1.1 include the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player’s back. Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often, and the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player is greatly extended.
Stalker 2 patch 1.1 A-Life fixes in full:
A-Life fixes
Fixed the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player’s back.
Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often.
Greatly extended the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player.
Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player’s visualization range).
In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time.
Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they’ve previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs.
Improved A-Life NPCs navigation in Offline using GameGraph (global AI navigation map):
Fixed multiple issues where NPCs would fail to follow or find a path to their designated goals.
Fixed several issues with NPC being stuck in Online-Offline transition state,
Enhanced A-Life NPCs’ motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.
Fixed issues that could result in fewer A-life NPCs encountered than intended.
Further contextual actions improvement to ensure seamless transitions between Offline and Online states for NPCs engaged in these actions.
The groups exploring the Zone are now more diverse regarding possible factions and group sizes.
Fixed issue that while roaming over the Zone, Human NPCs didn’t satisfy their communication needs and talks.
And some other development related improvements.
Elsewhere, there’s a long list of AI improvements, balance changes, and loads of other fixes Stalker 2 fans will benefit from. This patch fixes mainline missions, story progression and side missions, crashes, and many, many bugs. It also improves performance and optimization. The patch notes, posted to Steam, are well worth checking out if you’re playing.
GSC warned that patch 1.1 is a massive download, so players should brace themselves for that. “We understand that the size of the patch is huge and the process of downloading will take some time,” the developer said. “We would like to thank you for your understanding, and we will work on this aspect as well.”
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.
The writer of the infamous Sonic Adventure 2 song “Live and Learn” is suing Sega, claiming he owns the rights to the song in part, and alleging the company has been using the song without his permission and making money off it over the last 20 years.
In a lawsuit first spotted by Polygon and also viewed by IGN, John Gioeli, the writer and performer for Live and Learn, asserts that he has maintained his songwriting registration for the song for over 20 years since he first wrote and recorded it for Sonic Adventure 2. However, he says Sega has been improperly claiming it is the actual owner of the song and behaving as such, including licensing the song to “at least 25 video games, television shows, live performances/events, and films.”
Specifically, Gioeli’s suit claims that Sega is basing its ownership of Live and Learn off “a 2001 lyric agreement where Gioeli was paid $3000 to write lyrics for a as-yet-untitled song that would be included in Sonic Adventure 2.” He did so at his home studio, using his own equipment and own vocals, allegedly without Sega’s direct involvement. He did work with Sega composer Jun Senoue over the phone, with Senoue initially sending him a music demo that Gioeli was supposed to write lyrics for. But the suit claims that the scope of Gioeli’s work expanded over the course of his work on Live and Learn without amendment to the initial agreement, which was only for the lyrics. Allegedly, Gioeli revised the song significantly, communicating changes over the phone to Senoue.
As a result, Gioeli says Sega claims it owns both the recording and musical composition, but argues this is not actually the case and that there is no agreement stating such. And Gioeli also claims that Sega has acknowledged in the past that the composition is “likely jointly owned”, with one Sega lawyer allegedly telling Gioeli at one point that he is entitled to 50% of profits from its use.
Gioeli allegedly was somehow unaware that Sega has been using Live and Learn with regularity in a number of other formats over the last 20 years. This is despite Gioeli working closely with the company on a number of songs throughout this time, all of which had far more specific agreements signed about who owned what. Per the suit, he only found out about its myriad uses through a fan telling him, and has since identified 25 video games it exists in. These include multiple Yakuza and Sonic games, Super Smash Bros, Phantasy Star Online, the maimai series, and Monster Hunter Rise). Notably, Gioeli was involved in the song’s inclusion in the recent movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (which we’ve just reviewed), and even signed the deal with Paramount for song placement.
Gioeli is seeking a court decision as to the ownership of Live and Learn, as well as a restitution for any money he is owed and damages for breach of the 2001 Lyric Agreement.
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.
It’s been rumoured for a while that Sony are about to buy Kadokawa Corporation, a monolithic Japanese media conglomerate that means nothing to the bulk of you unless I append the magic words “parent company of Dark Souls developers FromSoftware” and possibly also, “parent company of Spike Chunsoft”. Sony and Kadokawa were reported to be in talks last month, fomenting all sorts of speculation about, say, the PC version of Bloodborne being ritually sacrificed to consecrate the PS6-exclusivity of Dark Souls 4. Now, the pair have emerged from the Cave of Haggling and announced… “a strategic capital and business alliance agreement”. What does this mean? Is it safe to scream yet?
December is a big month for me. It’s a time to celebrate the holidays with friends and family, surprise loved ones with unique gifts, and attempt to reconnect with the ever-growing monstrosity that is my backlog. December is also a time for me to reflect on games that launched throughout the year – especially those that continued to demonstrate the rise in accessibility acceptance, as well as push the innovative boundary for future titles.
2024 was rife with accessible games, spanning across numerous genres and developed by various sized studios. As the industry’s understanding and implementation of features and designs continues to evolve, games are far more accessible than before. And with this year-end issue of Access Designed, IGN would like to recognize several games for their accessibility excellence.
Runner-up: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Bioware’s latest installment in its fantasy RPG series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is the purest definition of normalizing and standardizing accessibility. Not only does it demonstrate the studio’s increased commitment to disabled players since Dragon Age: Inquisition’s release in 2014, but Veilguard’s accessibility offerings also impressively cater toward an array of disabilities.
Visual features like subtitle adjustments, colorblind filters, and both melee and ranged threat indicators allow deaf and hard of hearing users to process gameplay information without audio. For blind and low vision players, Veilguard’s options offer audio indicators for incoming attacks, dialogue options, and interactive objects – all of which are crucial for combat, storytelling, and overworld traversal. Physically disabled players can remap controls, toggle options for mechanics like blocking, aiming, and holding inputs, and even remove QTEs and combos with rapid button presses.
Veilguard’s greatest accessibility achievement, though, comes in the form of dynamic difficulty. Difficulty is not unanimous. Not only do the rules, methods and understanding of challenge vary between studios, individual games, and player experiences – the majority of difficulty settings only tackle enemy aggression, player damage output, and player health. But in Veilguard, disabled players can alter settings like enemy resistances, enemy vulnerability, timing windows for dodging and parrying, enemy health and aggression. You can even toggle player death, allowing you to remain alive no matter how much damage you take. Combine that with settings that allow players to continuously access previously learned information, have consistent waypoints for objectives and overworld items, and the capability to pause whenever you like, and disabled players are given the chance they need to process each encounter or recover stamina.
Veilguard isn’t perfect. Some features like single stick movement and robust guidance systems are missing. Yet it still acts as the quintessential modern accessible experience. The industry continues to rightfully praise games like The Last of Us Part 2, but Veilguard demonstrates it’s time to move beyond the notion that a single game deserves all the accessibility praise. Instead, accessibility is evolving across the industry, and Veilguard is one of this year’s prime examples.
Runner-up: Botany Manor
It’s a common misconception that accessibility can only be achieved by companies owned by wealthy megacorporations like Microsoft or Sony. This belief that accessibility requires dozens of developers and untold amounts of money continues to plague innovation. But Botany Manor, a low-budget puzzle game, is proof that such a belief is a fallacy.
Developed by Balloon Studios and published by Whitethorn Games, Botany Manor is a soothing puzzle solving game set in a stately home in 19th century England. This genre is, admittedly, not my favorite – I prefer action and turn-based RPGs. But the accessibility features and design of Botany Manor made this game an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. For starters, it offers full support for mouse and keyboard or controller, depending on your preferred setup. It also offers single stick gameplay, with an option to toggle the capability to look around. Finally, a toggle to sprint is also offered.
That’s an admittedly small selection of options, but they’re augmented by Botany Manor’s impressive use of inclusive design. There are no time limits for solving puzzles; instead players are allowed to take as much time as needed to figure out ways to grow specific plants. Furthermore, puzzles are relegated to a select number of rooms per chapter. Rather than opening the entirety of the manor to players, which could feel overwhelming, those with physical and cognitive disabilities can preserve energy knowing puzzles are within sections.
Botany Manor is by no means perfect, as blind and low vision players will undoubtedly struggle without specific audio-based options. But an indie studio that creates a game with such accessibility-focused attention to inclusive design should be rewarded for its efforts. Botany Manor is proof you don’t need an extensive budget nor dozens of options to make puzzle games accessible.
Winner: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
The winner of this year’s accessibility award is bittersweet. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown proved truly innovative for the Metroidvania genre. However, publisher Ubisoft recently disbanded the Montpellier-based development team and assigned them across several new projects, meaning that a sequel or future innovations from the studio has very little chance of happening. But I’m not awarding developers because of pity. Rather, I’m awarding the team because they created the most innovatively accessible experience of 2024.
The Lost Crown offers customizable controls, subtitles, audio indicators for varying attacks, and a toggle that automatically unfreezes your character when frozen by a frost status effect. But these options ultimately pale in comparison to the innovative Memory Shards and Guided Mode features.
The Metroidvania genre relies on extensive memorization and backtracking. Areas are meant to be explored numerous times throughout a playthrough, with each segment opening new layers on repeat visits as players acquire new tools or powers. Memory Shards allow players to place a screenshot of a location on the overworld map, reminding them of hidden items or barriers to new routes that can only be accessed with yet-to-be-acquired skills or equipment. Spotted a power up at the beginning of a zone that’s inaccessible? Just place a Memory Shard on the map to remind you to return when you’ve progressed. This feature has been praised as a gameplay tool in general, but it is an incredibly helpful tool for players of all cognitive abilities.
To coincide with Memory Shards, Guided Mode shows players precisely where their next objective is, as well as highlights any upcoming barriers along the path. Combined, these two features dramatically reduce the chance of cognitive overload while still respecting the core feature of a Metroidvania – exploration. While guides and placeable hints are not new to gaming, Metroidvania games have always been dense and obscure and, as a result, cognitively inaccessible. That is until the release of The Lost Crown. This year’s Prince of Persia really is a game (and genre) changer.
2024 continued the trend of improving accessible experiences for disabled players. No longer are we expected to follow specific studios for accessible games. From AAA to indie, disabled players are no longer confined to specific genres because of accessibility offerings. And while barriers still exist, 2024 is indicative of increasing support from studios that continuously adopt the best accessibility practices. Some shortcomings aside, 2024 was as accessible as ever, and another fantastic year for disabled players.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
Undertale creator Toby Fox has rolled out his “holiday newsletter” for 2024 and it’s got some “progress updates” in it about Deltarune Chapter 3, 4, and 5.
Chapter 3 has recently been tested by a “professional team on PC” and it’s “pretty solid now”. According to Fox, “only console-related aspects remain”. He’s even got some impressions from the team who playtested it:
SNK has announced new ACA NEOGEO Selections – this time including Vol. 3 and Vol. 4. It will be releasing for the Switch next year on 10th April 2025, with each collection featuring 10 games previously released as ACA NEOGEO games on the eShop.
Here’s a look at the collection, courtesy of Gematsu:
