First Looks at Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country Set for the Game Awards

2K has announced two of its big hitters are set for fresh reveals at this week’s The Game Awards: Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country.

“Who’s ready to get their first look at the most ambitious Borderlands yet?!” reads the tweet from the Borderlands account.

“See you at @thegameawards!” reads the tweet from the Mafia account.

Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford tweeted to hype up the Borderlands 4 trailer, which he said includes gameplay. He added that he will also share an original cinematic sequence depicting a moment that occurs about halfway between the end of Borderlands 3 and the beginning of Borderlands 4.

Both Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country are due out at some point in 2025, potentially running up against the behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto 6. Last month, Rockstar and 2K parent company Take-Two insisted GTA 6 was still on course for launch during fall 2025, despite ongoing speculation that Rockstar may delay the game into 2026. 2K is set to release Borderlands 4 during the same fiscal year (at some point between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026).

Is there a danger, then, that GTA 6 will eat Borderlands 4’s lunch? Not so, according to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick. Speaking to Variety, Zelnick said that while he couldn’t offer a release date for GTA 6, the guaranteed megahit won’t cross paths with Borderlands 4. “I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t, and no one would, stack up huge releases unnecessarily,” Zelnick said.

What does this mean for Borderlands 4’s release date? Well, in order for it to get out of the way of GTA 6 (assuming GTA 6 does indeed release fall 2025), and to fit in with the next fiscal year, it would either have to launch in the April to June 2025 quarter or the January to March 2026 quarter.

GTA 6 will probably be the biggest video game launch of all time, so no other game is safe from its gravitational pull. Even the might of Call of Duty, set to launch yet another premium iteration around October or November 2025, will be sorely tested by GTA 6.

The Game Awards 2024 is set for December 12.

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.

UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Leads The Pack For Nintendo, As Familiar Faces Hold The Podium

Guess who’s back.

After a quick look at the latest UK boxed software charts? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

With Black Friday sales fizzling out, things have mostly returned to normal this week. The big three of EA Sports FC 25, Hogwarts Legacy and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 assume their positions on the podium once again, leaving Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to lead the pack for Nintendo in fourth.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals and Bundles Right Now (December 2024)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but there are still some seasonal sale surprises available for Xbox fans. Woot’s currently offering a phenomenal deal to first-time Woot customers on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate where you can get three months for just $28.99 with the code ‘GAMEPASS’. With this, you can jump into exciting new releases like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which we gave a 9/10).

According to Woot, this deal only lasts for five more days or until its sold out, so act fast to sign up and save some cash. You can learn more about that deal, what’s coming soon to Game Pass, and the big releases still to come below.

Navigate to:

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals

Woot has come through once again with our favorite Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deal. For a limited time, first-time Woot customers can get three months of the service for just $28.99 by using the code ‘GAMEPASS’ at checkout. However, it’s worth noting it allows just one coupon per user. If you’re not a first-time Woot customer, you can still get the three months at a discounted price of $33.99.

Considering the new price of Game Pass Ultimate is $19.99/month, you’re saving $30.98 with this three-month deal. This is the best way to avoid the Xbox Game Pass price hike. By stacking these codes you can set yourself up for success to play all of Xbox’s upcoming releases at a lower price.

What’s Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass?

Game Pass has a nice rotation of new titles to play every month. If you’re curious about what’s in store for December, we’ve got you covered. The Xbox Game Pass December lineup is:

Unfortunately, for those subscribing to the new Standard tier (available for $14.99/month), this does not give Game Pass users access to day one releases. This means big new releases on the platform like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will not be available on that tier.

What Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass?

Unfortunately with new games joining the catalog it means a few must take their leave. Below, we’ve listed the games that’ll be leaving Xbox Game Pass in December.

  • Amnesia: The Bunker
  • Forager
  • Forza Horizon 4
  • The Quarry
  • Tin Hearts
  • Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider

Biggest Games Releasing on Xbox Game Pass

Xbox’s Summer Showcase back in June was a massive success, showcasing an incredible amount of new titles coming to the platform. Alongside Black Ops 6, the showcase also included Doom: The Dark Ages, Perfect Dark, Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and so many more. But which of these titles will appear as day-one releases on Game Pass? Thankfully, quite a few! Including all of the previously mentioned titles.

The latest big release this month is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which we gave a 9/10 in our review. IGN’s Luke Reilly said, “With a host of gorgeous and lavishly detailed levels, satisfying combat hinged on jawbreaking haymakers, and a focus on slow-paced exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving (interspersed with a handful of high-voltage action scenes), The Great Circle is an irresistible and immersive global treasure hunt for Indy fans who’ve felt underserved by the likes of The Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

If you’re looking for even more savings on all things Xbox, have a look at our roundup of the best Xbox deals. There, we’ve highlighted all of the latest and greatest discounts on the platform, from incredible game deals to fantastic offers on high-quality headphones. Or, if you’d rather see what’s going on with other platforms, check out our roundups of the best PlayStation deals, the best Nintendo Switch deals, and our overall roundup of the best video game deals.

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

Amazon Drops the Price of Helldivers 2 Again – It’s Now Cheaper Than On Black Friday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be behind us, but some retailers have a few deals left up their sleeves before the holidays. Amazon, in particular, has a great offer right now. If Helldivers 2 was on your radar during the sale event, the PS5 version is currently down to just $24.99 for Prime Members.

That’s $5 lower than the $29.99 price it dropped to during Black Friday, and $15 off its original price. With a deal like that, there’s no better time to join the fight for Super Earth. For Democracy!

Our Helldivers 2 review had high praise for this game as well, if you need a little extra convincing before picking it up. Writer Will Borger said, “Helldivers 2 is the rare modern multiplayer game that does almost everything right. It gives you a ton of freedom, feels fantastic to play, and has a smart progression system that doesn’t nickel and dime you or rely too much on a paid battle pass.”

We also consider Helldivers 2 to be one of the best video games of 2024, but that’s not the only list its popped up on this year. Helldivers 2 even made our list of the 100 best PlayStation games of all time, which is a victory worth celebrating.

Looking for even more PlayStation game deals? There are quite a few available right now alongside Helldivers 2 that you can see in our roundup of the best PlayStation deals.

Some of our favorites include God of War III Remastered, NBA 2K25, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Resident Evil 4, and plenty more. There are also some really great discounts on DualSense controllers right now that are worth taking advantage of (and you’ll need a quality one to save the galaxy), including the shiny new Chroma Pearl DualSense controller.

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

“Winners do drugs after all” – you can rewrite your favourite game screens with this fun tool

Fancy taking the piss out of video games? Here you go, a fun little tool you can run in your browser easily lets you rewrite famous game quotes. The Death Generator offers a gallery full of (mostly) retro games and a simple text box that will replicate the exact font used by those games, all so you can make the little shopkeeper in Zelda say rude words, or entirely rewrite the pre-mission dossiers of Goldeneye 007. There’s a lot more than that though. I’ve done a bunch, come see what I mean and have a go yourself.

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Path of Exile 2 Dev Already Hitting Skills With Big Nerfs: ‘It Is Better to Do This Early Before It Feels Obligatory to Use the Skill’

Path of Exile 2 developer Grinding Gear Games has already identified a number of skills it plans to nerf following the action RPG’s explosive Early Access launch.

Just a day after Path of Exile 2 launched to huge concurrent player numbers on Steam, GGG tweeted to say it had “finally hit that point where a skill with unacceptable balance has been discovered.” The skill in question is Supercharged Slam, which GGG said is dealing “far too much damage than was intended given the short channel window required to hit maximum stages.”

The developer reduced its damage via a hotfix soon after issuing the tweet. “As much as we are trying to avoid nerfing skills and builds, it is better to do this early before it feels obligatory to use the skill,” GGG explained. “It is important that a wide variety of skills feel viable and fun to play and it simply diminishes all other abilities when one is clearly outshining the others like this.” Another nerf is set for Supercharged Slam to adjust how long it takes to build up charges, “as it is far too quick at the moment.”

Then, on December 8, GGG said it had found another skill in an “unacceptable” balance state: Magnetic Salvo. Path of Exile 2’s next hotfix reduces its damage. “Note that this isn’t the only skill on our radar right now but we’re really just trying to address egregious cases at the moment,” GGG said.

“We’re currently playing alongside you all and are also collating a lot of your feedback that we’ll be addressing as much as possible in the upcoming week once the team is back in the office before the holidays.”

And then, on December 9, GGG said it’s “a bit too easy” to detonate Gas Cloud explosions when combined with persistent Ignite skills like Flame Wall. Yet another upcoming hotfix will nerf explosion damage of both Gas Grenade and Gas Arrow.

“In the future, we want to update it such that the potency of the Ignite or Detonator contributes to determining the damage of the Gas Cloud explosions, that way we would be able to avoid balancing around the simplest and most efficient way to apply Ignites,” GGG explained.

Path of Exile 2 is GGG’s action role-playing sequel set years after the original game. Players return to the world of Wraeclast and seek to end a spreading corruption, with six character classes, each with two Ascendancy Classes, available to play at the launch of Early Access. There’s co-op for up to six players, but you can play solo.

It launched across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on December 6 and immediately ran into server issues that prevented players from logging in. GGG had warned players that Path of Exile 2 might struggle with the influx of players at launch, and so it proved. But over the course of Friday and into the weekend, the New Zealand developer began to get on top of the problems, and its concurrent player count on Steam shot up.

Here’s which class to pick in PoE 2 Early Access, plus an early Mercenary build guide and Sorceress build guide to help you get started. Beyond that, if you’re wondering how to get more Spirit, how to trade, and how to ascend, we’ve got you covered.

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.

Shmup Fans Rejoice! ‘DoDonPachi True Death’ Is Coming To Switch In Japan This Month

It’s true!

Off the back of last year’s exquisite Dodonpachi DaiOuJou Blissful Death Re:Incarnation, publisher Live Wire has announced that it’s bringing DoDonPachi True Death to Switch in Japan on 19th December.

True Death (or ‘DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou’, in Japan) is the sixth entry in Cave’s vertical-scrolling shoot ’em up series, initially launching in arcades in 2012 before coming to Xbox a year later.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

PlayStation Store: November 2024’s top downloads

It’s time to see which PS5, PS4, PS VR2, PS VR, and free-to-play games topped the download charts last month. November’s PS5 list saw spooky newcomer Phasmophobia rise from the dead, landing in the top five of the US and EU charts. Metro Awakening claimed the top spot on November’s PS VR2 list in the US and EU.

Check out the full listings below. What titles are you playing this month?

PS5 Games

US/CanadaEU
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
PhasmophobiaEA SPORTS FC 25
NBA 2K25Farming Simulator 25
EA SPORTS FC 25Phasmophobia
EA SPORTS Madden NFL 25Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto VHogwarts Legacy
Dragon Age: The VeilguardMinecraft
EA SPORTS College Football 25NBA 2K25
Farming Simulator 25Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2UFC 5
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZEROCyberpunk 2077
Hogwarts LegacyDragon Age: The Veilguard
MinecraftPalworld
Mortal Kombat 1God of War Ragnarök
UndisputedASTRO BOT
ASTRO BOTPlanet Coaster 2
PalworldBaldur’s Gate 3
UFC 5DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO
Cyberpunk 2077The Crew Motorfest
God of War RagnarökResident Evil 4

*Naming of products may differ between regions
*Upgrades not included

PS4 Games

US/CanadaEU
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6EA SPORTS FC 25
Red Dead Redemption 2Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Need for Speed HeatNeed for Speed Heat
Batman: Arkham KnightRed Dead Redemption 2
Gang BeastsBattlefield 1
Grand Theft Auto VNeed for Speed Payback
EA SPORTS FC 25The Forest
Need for Speed PaybackBattlefield V
The ForestGrand Theft Auto V
Battlefield 1Gang Beasts
EA SPORTS Madden NFL 25Mortal Kombat X
MinecraftBatman: Arkham Knight
theHunter: Call of the WildMinecraft
Mortal Kombat XHogwarts Legacy
Battlefield VKingdom Come: Deliverance
NBA 2K25A Way Out
Hogwarts LegacyRayman Legends
STAR WARS Battlefront IIUnravel Two
Chained Climb TogetherChained Climb Together
BODYCAMERA SHOOTERMafia: Trilogy

     *Naming of products may differ between regions

PS VR2 Games*

US/CanadaEU
Metro AwakeningMetro Awakening
Beat SaberBeat Saber
Arizona Sunshine RemakeArizona Sunshine Remake
Arizona Sunshine 2Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge – Enhanced Edition
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge – Enhanced EditionArizona Sunshine 2
PavlovPavlov
Into the RadiusHorizon Call of the Mountain
Red Matter 2Red Matter 2
Among Us VRCrossfire: Sierra Squad
Crossfire: Sierra SquadCreed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition

 *PS Store purchases only. Game upgrades or games bundled with hardware not included

PSVR Games

US/CanadaEU
ASTRO BOT Rescue MissionBatman: Arkham VR
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VRThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
Batman: Arkham VRASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Borderlands 2 VRJob Simulator
Paranormal Activity: The Lost SoulDOOM 3: VR Edition
SUPERHOT VRLethal VR
Beat SaberBeat Saber
Job SimulatorDOOM VFR
DOOM 3: VR EditionBorderlands 2 VR
Surgeon Simulator: Experience RealitySUPERHOT VR

Free to Play (PS5 + PS4)

US/CanadaEU
FortniteFortnite
Call of Duty: WarzoneCall of Duty: Warzone
RobloxRoblox
Rocket LeagueRocket League
Asphalt Legends UniteAsphalt Legends Unite
Fall GuyseFootball
Apex LegendsFall Guys
VALORANTVALORANT
eFootballThe Sims 4
The Sims 4Stumble Guys

Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston Actor Rob Wiethoff Starts OnlyFans, But It’s Not What You Think

Red Dead Redemption actor Rob Wiethoff, who plays the iconic John Marston in both the original game and Red Dead Redemption 2, has started an OnlyFans page.

While the website is predominantly associated with adult content, Wiethoff’s OnlyFans page, spotted by ComicBook, will instead chronicle his journey getting in shape.

“This page is not like other OnlyFans pages,” Wiethoff said in an Instagram comment. “If you follow, you’re going to watch an old guy work out. That’s all it is. My plan is to get ripped, though. You can do it with me if you want.”

He warned he’s by no means an expert, however. “I am not certified or even trained in any kind of physical training nor am I an educated or certified dietician,” Wiethoff said on his OnlyFans page. “If you decide to do what I do and eat what I eat, that’s up to you. I’m certainly not asking for you to do either of those things or even suggesting that you do. This is for fun. I hope we all enjoy it.”

His first post on OnlyFans asked fans if they’re ready for it, and if he’s ready for it. Wiethoff’s second and latest post chronicles his water drinking philosophy for the day while explaining his eating habits.

The actor plays one of the most iconic roles in video games as the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption and a main character of its sequel, both of which have gone down among the greatest games of all time.

In our 10/10 review of the second, IGN said: “Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game of rare quality; a meticulously polished open-world ode to the outlaw era.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.