Author: Game Infliction

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals and Bundles Right Now (January 2025)

The holidays and big seasonal sale events may be behind us, but if you’re still itching to hop on the Game Pass bandwagon there’s still time to save on a membership. Amazon’s currently offering a nice 10% discount on three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, dropping its price from $49.99 to $44.88. With this, you can jump into exciting new releases like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which we gave a 9/10).

You can learn more about that deal, what’s coming soon to Game Pass, and the big releases still to come below.

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Best Xbox Game Pass Deals

Amazon’s currently offering three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $44.88, 10% off its list price of $49.99. While not a massive discount, this is still a cheaper way to set you up with three months of Game Pass Ultimate compared to what you’d pay for the three months at regular subscription cost. Considering the new price of Game Pass Ultimate is $19.99/month, you’re saving $15.09 with this three-month deal, which is well worth taking advantage of to enjoy the massive Game Pass library.

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 January, we’ve got you covered. The Xbox Game Pass January wave 1 lineup is:

  • Road 96 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 7 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
  • Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Xbox Series X|S) – January 8 Now with Game Pass Standard
  • My Time at Sandrock (Console) – January 8 Now with Game Pass Standard
  • Robin Hood – Sherwood Builders (Xbox Series X|S) – January 8 Now with Game Pass Standard
  • Rolling Hills (Console) – January 8 Now with Game Pass Standard
  • EA Sports UFC 5 (Cloud and Xbox Series X|S) EA Play – January 14 Game Pass Ultimate
  • Diablo (PC) – January 14 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

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 on January 15.

  • Common’Hood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Escape Academy (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Exoprimal (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Figment (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Insurgency Sandstorm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Those Who Remain (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Biggest Games Releasing on Xbox Game Pass

Xbox’s Summer Showcase last 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 on the platform 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.

MSI’s panoramic PC case severely underestimates how bad at cable tidying I am

As someone who believes in the ideal of the trim, tidy PC interior, I do applaud the intent behind MSI’s Project Zero X. Currently on show at CES 2025, it’s a prototype desktop build that uses clever geometry and an unconventional motherboard I/O layout to hide practically every single wire in the joint, for a clean design that’s housed for your viewing pleasure within a four-sided glass chamber. It’s the closest PCs have come to the simple Victorian pleasures of a nice terrarium, and honestly, good on it.

The problem is that if Project Zero X’s components ever actually go on sale, there becomes a non-zero percent chance that I will come into possession of that see-through case. And there is a one hundred percent chance I will ruin it.

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Stimulation Clicker is web 1.0 and web 3.0 having a fight inside one browser window

The more I tell you about Stimulation Clicker, the less funny it will be, so let’s keep this brief. It’s an idle clicker, obviously, which starts with a single button in the centre of a browser screen. The more “stimulation” you accrue through clicking, the more options become available. It escalates. And escalates. And escalates. I found that my feelings of delight grew roughly in proportion to the toll taken on my computer’s processor. After 30 minutes, I was huffing and hooting like a drunken horse to a soundtrack of disintegrating laptop fans.

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Review: Freedom Wars Remastered (Switch) – A Fair Reprieve For One Of PS Vita’s Best

Free from Vita jail.

Like Nintendo’s own Wii U, the PS Vita has seen a good chunk of its best games migrate to alternative platforms in the years since the system itself veered into the realm of ‘commercial failure’. One of those games is Freedom Wars, a third-person action title created by Dimps that, at the time, was one of the most successful first-party-published Vita games (in Japan, at least). Now, over 10 years later, publisher Bandai Namco has taken the reins to present a remaster for Switch, retaining much of the original’s essence while improving upon the core gameplay.

Freedom Wars Remastered is, at its core, a loose take on Monster Hunter’s gameplay. As a Sinner within an underground Panopticon city, you must complete combat ops. Y’see, in a world in which resources are exceptionally scarce, the very nature of existence is in itself a crime; hence, you begin the game with a rather harsh one million-year sentence. By completing operations and rescuing your fellow citizens from large creatures known as Abductors, you can reduce your sentence and gain entitlements along the way.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

AMD’s CES 2025 announcements include what will probably be yet another ‘world’s fastest’ CPU

Last year’s annual CPU tug-of-war was cleanly won by AMD, its obscenely fast Ryzen 7 9800X3D almost singlehandedly leaving Intel and their Core Ultra chips in a heap of mud and P.E.-spec rope. Coming soon to press that advantage are the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D, a pair of even higher-spec processors that headlined AMD’s plethora of CES 2025 hardware announcements.

No pricing (or exact release date) on these yet, but they both up the core and thread counts over the 9800X3D while peaking at higher boost clock speeds. And, of course, they share the same 3D V-Cache design that makes the 9800X3D such a superlative CPU in the first place. If you don’t know what this is and how it helps game performance, imagine how much faster you could eat Wotsits if you had a massive bucket of them on your desk at all times, instead of having to get up and walk to the kitchen to grab individual packs. In this case the Wotsits are data, the bucket is 3D V-Cache, and the hastened ruination of your digestive system is games running faster.

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Monster Hunter Wilds Second Open Beta Announced — but Don’t Expect Improvements Set for Launch to Make It In

Capcom has announced a second open beta for Monster Hunter Wilds ahead of its release date.

The beta includes the content from the first beta but adds returning monster Gypceros to hunt. You’ll get to use the character realtor, play the story trial, and complete the Slay Doshaguma Quest. Capcom said those who played the first beta can transfer their character to the second beta, and then onto the full game release. Game progress, however, does not carry forward, but those who take part in the test get special bonuses that can be redeemed in the full game, including a decorative charm for your weapon or Seikret, and an item pack.

Capcom warned fans that improvements it has already announced are set for the full release will not make it into the second open beta. This includes performance improvements, balance changes, weapon mechanics, and other known issues.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ second open beta goes live February 6 at 7pm PT, and runs until February 9 at 6.59pm PT. If you miss out on that, don’t worry: another beta weekend is set for the following weekend (February 13 to 16). Monster Hunter Wilds then launches proper on February 28.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the subject of the latest IGN First, which kicked off with two brand new videos featuring gameplay of Ajarakan and Rompopolo on the Oilwell Basin map. We visited Capcom’s offices in Japan, where we played the first five hours or so of Monster Hunter Wilds, and exclusively faced a few Oilwell Basin local monsters. Look out for more gameplay throughout January, along with in-depth interviews, fun details, and a final preview for Monster Hunter Wilds.

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.

World’s biggest game publisher Tencent threaten to sue US government for listing them as a Chinese military company

Yesterday, we reported that the US federal government had placed Chinese video game publisher Tencent – owner of League Of Legends developers Riot Games, Path Of Exile developers Grinding Gear and much more besides – on a list of Chinese military companies. The list in question is part of a strategy of counteracting what the US sees as the close relationship between China’s armed forces and various civilian technology suppliers and research projects.

At the time of publication yesterday, a Tencent spokesperson had commented that the listing was based on a “misunderstanding”. In a statement sent to RPS overnight and also published online, Tencent’s chairman Ma Huateng and executive board have now said that they’re prepared to get legal if the misunderstanding isn’t resolved.

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Feast Your Eyes On Some Of The Exclusive Merch Coming To London’s Pop-Up Pokémon Center

Arriving next month.

The Pokémon Europe International Championships return to London next month (20th-23rd Feb), and while we are, of course, very excited to see the cream of the competitive crop go head to head across a range of disciplines, the big selling point for many will be the pop-up Pokémon Center.

Reservations for this one are expected to open in the coming weeks (yep, if you want to shop, you’ll have to book a slot), but Pokémon site Serebii has today revealed a first look at some of the exclusive merch we can expect to find this year. Spoilers: it looks set to be a big one for Psyduck fans.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Smite 2’s Aladdin will trap players in a lamp with an angry genie as the MOBA becomes free-to-play

God-wrecking MOBA Smite 2 is going free-to-play next week after four months of paid early access. The game of omniscient deities scrapping over lanes and minions has been playable since September last year by early bird “founders” willing to pay some bucks (it had plenty of closed alphas since May too) but now it’s finally opening up to the rest of us mere mortals. And it’s throwing in a new “god” too, the genie-toting thief Aladdin.

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