“A free Nintendo Account is required to make a reservation”.
Well, we’ve just had our first proper look at the Nintendo Museum, courtesy of Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and at the very end of the broadcast, an opening date was confirmed.
The official date is now confirmed as 2nd October 2024, following previous statements from Nintendo mentioning how it would be opening its doors in Fall 2024.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Minecraft Realms have been struggling with downtime and other connectivity issues for almost a week now, and fans are taking notice.
Fans trying to access Realms have been reporting long loading times, connection errors, and other problems since at least August 13. It appears to have started around the release of Minecraft update 1.21.20, which included updates to Realms invite links as well as various bug fixes.
On August 15, Mojang tweeted that the Realms team was working “around the clock” to resolve the Bedrock Realms service issues. It subsequently reported that service had been restored, but connectivity issues continued throughout the weekend.
We are still hard at work to bring Realms back online for all players. As of now roughly 70% of players should have access. As part of this work we have had to block traffic to Realms on 1.21.20 on all platforms other than Switch (until Switch gets the hotfix). -DK
— Mojang Status (@MojangStatus) August 18, 2024
“We are still hard at work to bring Realms back online for all players. As of now roughly 70% of players should have access,” Mojang wrote on August 17. “As part of this work we have had to block traffic to Realms on 1.21.20 on all platforms other than Switch (until Switch gets the hotfix).”
Minecraft Realms are personal servers that are available to players via subscription. It’s touted as an area where fans can “easily and safely play online with their friends in shared worlds across devices.”
As of August 19, fans are still reporting connectivity issues with Minecraft Realms, which is corroborated by a large spike on Downdetector. IGN reached out to Mojang representatives for an update, but have not received a response.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
Nintendo is skipping the event this year.
Who remembered that Gamescom gives out awards? Yep. At the end of every event, the show hands out awards to all eligible games that are present at the Cologne-based expo. One of these categories is the ‘Best Nintendo Game’, which has been around since 2012. However, the award won’t be handed out this year as the organisers have scrapped the award for 2024.
TheGamer, who reported on the story, reached out to Gamescom’s organisers about the decision to scrap the award, and their response revealed that there were “too few submissions” for the category. Here’s the brief statement in full:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
While Nintendo still has a few first-party games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Mario & Luigi: Brothership in the works for 2024, it appears Nintendo’s gamescom presence is so small that even the event organizer has confirmed it will not issue a Best Nintendo Switch Game award this year.
A gamescom spokesperson confirmed to TheGamer today that it will not issue a “Best Nintendo Switch Game” award because the event organizers received a small number of submissions to warrant an award at gamescom 2024.
“There were too few submissions for the Best Nintendo Switch category this year,” the spokesperson confirmed to TheGamer. “The award committee, therefore, decided to cancel the category.”
This marks the first year the Nintendo Switch will not have its own award category since the hybrid gaming system was released in 2017. Last year, the recipient of the Best Switch Game award was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which also won three additional awards, including Best Audio and Best Gameplay.
Of course, it may come as a surprise to no one. In April, Nintendo of Europe representative Games Wirtschaft told IGN sister site GamesIndustry.biz that Nintendo would not be physically appearing at gamescom 2024. This news is part of the wider rumor mill as Nintendo begins to gear up for the next hardware successor for the Switch, which is often regarded as the “Switch 2.”
While Nintendo has yet to reveal its next gaming system endeavor properly, the company does not anticipate the release of new hardware before April 2025.
gamescom 2024 is set to kick off on August 2024 with Opening Night Live, which will provide a ton of major news, reveals, and announcements. For more on gamescom 2024, check out our piece, where we predict what we can expect from this year’s event and what streams are scheduled throughout the week.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting a big bad new ending for the Dark Urge playthrough in September and developer Larian Studios has shared a first look at its cinematic.
In a post on X/Twitter, the studio showed (spoilers ahead) what appears to be the Dark Urge protagonist sacrificing their beloved companions Shadowheart, Lae’zel, and Wyll, using mind control to force them to jump to their deaths.
The “cinematic teaser” is 52 seconds long, suggesting the full version must be fairly significant. It will arrive alongside the final full update to beloved role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 sometime in September, though no specific release date has been announced yet.
Father would be so proud.
Embrace your destiny and feast your eyes on a new evil ending cinematic teaser for the Dark Urge, landing this September 👇
Warning: contains spoilers! pic.twitter.com/1TkwDGqyle
— Baldur’s Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) August 19, 2024
“Father would be so proud,” reads the post. “Embrace your destiny and feast your eyes on a new evil ending cinematic teaser for the Dark Urge, landing this September.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 was the surprise hit of 2023, as the Dungeons & Dragons-based game captured the attention of fans in unprecedented ways with its seemingly unlimited ways to tackle a seemingly unlimited number of situations.
In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Tactical Breach Wizards is a tactics game for people that don’t like tactics games. Magically, it’s also a tactics game for people who love them like nothing else. It’s permissive and demanding; playful and tense. Its globe-spanning plot covers conspiracies, PMCs, and brutal theocratic dictatorships. It also features a traffic-summoning warlock named Steve wearing a hi-vis robe. It’s finding that one absolutely, perfectly ridiculous XCOM turn, every turn…and at the same time knowing it’s absolutely, perfectly fine if you don’t. In short: it’s one of the most enjoyable tactics games I’ve ever played, and the only tactics game with a pyromancer so rubbish he relies on making his enemies pass out from heatstroke.
“We’ve made adjustments to improve the overall gameplay experience”.
Some of you may have seen earlier this week that BAKERU, the previously Japan-only 3D action platformer from Good-Feel, was announced to be coming to Western shores for a fresh English release in just a few short weeks.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Unbeatable is a stunning hand-drawn anime-inspired rhythm adventure game. Experience what it means to be a band on the run – music is illegal in this world, but you won’t let that stop you. Follow Beat & her bandmates through their journey of self-discovery blending live song performances, spectacular set pieces and quirky rhythm challenges.
Explore a detailed open world and engage in branching conversations with several unique characters. Featuring a 100% original soundtrack alongside guest tracks and musical collaborations.
After revealing the game this summer with the memorable track “Memorize” (You see what we did there?) We are now excited to highlight a brand new track here on the PS Blog.
How do we even come up with new songs like this? Well, best to ask Clara Maddux, who is one half of the band Peak Divide who provides all the music for the game.
Has anyone seen Clara?
Oh there she is!
“Hi hi!! I’m Clara! I focus on a lot of the songwriting for Unbeatable. Since the music for the game is inherently intertwined with the narrative, the sound team has made an effort to squeeze as much emotional juice as we can from our collective musical brains to compliment it.
For me personally, I’ll try to find something in my life that parallels a story beat I’m writing music for. Most of the noodling I do before a song takes form is honestly just figuring out what that connection is, but once I’m able to picture it in my head, it’s much easier to relate to a character and tap into what they might be feeling.
Sometimes I’ll even just make a song to process emotions and then suddenly, oops, it’s an Unbeatable song because we’ve found a way to tie it into the story. Hopefully that just means the songs turn out all the more meaningful!!”
– Clara Maddux, Composer & Musician, D-Cell Games
See! Clara knows about this stuff.
Anyway, Unbeatable isn’t just about cranking up the tempo and shredding through tracks—it’s about getting you into the rhythm. The newly dropped track “Future People” proves just that, by flipping the script with a slower, more melodic groove that expands the game’s killer soundtrack. This track isn’t just versatile—it’s a curveball that forces you to rethink your rhythm game strategy. Who says rhythm games have to be all speed and no soul? With “Future People,” it’s all about getting into the zone, savoring every note, and owning the moment.
That doesn’t mean you can’t kick it up a notch though, increasing the difficulty will keep you on your toes (and maybe make you break a sweat).
Just remember, playing on normal is perfectly fine, we’re not here to judge, we’re here to make you bob your head and make you feel something.
In Unbeatable, music isn’t just the soundtrack—it’s the lifeblood of the world. As Beat, the game’s relentless protagonist, you’re not just moving through a city— you’re completely in tune as every step is in sync with the underground rhythms that defy the silence imposed by the no-fun-allowed regime. The world around you doesn’t just echo with the beat; it drives you forward, like a rebellious marching band, that refuses to be silenced.
You want special features? We’ve got special features! Feel the heartbeat of the city in your hands with the haptic feedback features of the DualSense controller.
Feel the heartbeat of the city in your hands with the haptic feedback features of the Duel Sense controller. You can literally (figuratively) keep your finger on the pulse during your playthrough for that extra level of (music notes emoji) Immersion (Music notes emoji).
The adaptive triggers also come into play during some of the mini-games, to really make you feel like you’re sticking it to the man. Or wall, like, when you stick posters on the wall, specifically.
This is of course only a glimpse of what we have in store for Unbeatable so keep an eye out for more killer (news) beats.
Unbeatable will launch on PS5 in 2025.
PC gamers, your wait will be over soon, as Square Enix has officially announced that Final Fantasy 16 is headed to PC on September 17, 2024.
Announced ahead of tomorrow’s gamescom Opening Night Live presentation, the publisher confirmed that the PC port is on the way and will cost $49.99. Final Fantasy 16’s two DLC expansions, Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide, are launching simultaneously on PC, too, but you’ll need to pay extra if you want to play them. While it’s unclear if the story add-ons can be purchased individually, Square Enix is offering a “Complete Edition” version of the game for $69.99 that comes with the base experience, both DLC expansions, and a few miscellaneous in-game items. Additionally, Square Enix confirmed that a demo is available on Steam and the Epic Games Store now, with any progress made in the demo carrying over to the full build.
Final Fantasy 16 was released in 2023 exclusively for the PS5. Last September, Square Enix confirmed that a Final Fantasy 16 PC port was in the works, which came to the surprise of many as Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida previously shut down the possibility of it coming to PC, noting players should go buy a PS5 if they wanted to play it. In March, during an interview with Game Informer, Yoshida revealed that the PC port of Final Fantasy 16 was in the “final stages of optimization” and hinted that the system requirements to run the game would be “somewhat high.”
In our review of Final Fantasy 16, IGN wrote: “Featuring fast, reflex-driven, action-heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world-building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
There are few ideas more worthy of a sequel than that which powered Splitgate. Cribbing Aperture Science’s portal tech and loading it into a competitive arena shooter? I mean, c’mon – who the heck wouldn’t want to play that?! But while the first stab at this awesome concept proved too much of a rough draft to keep players’ fickle attentions for long, Splitgate 2 hopes to build on what worked by making modest improvements to the formula. After playing four hours of its fast-paced PvP matches for myself, I think this streamlined sequel stands a much better chance of keeping my attention, even though it seems like it won’t exactly swing for the fences with the kind of significant overhauls one might hope for.
Most of Splitgate 2’s tweaks are incremental improvements rather than anything revolutionary, but nearly all of the decisions developer 1047 Games has made are welcome changes. Without question the biggest refinement is the addition of character classes in the form of the three playable factions. Aeros is all about mobility, with abilities that keep you moving faster and let you easily restore your health. My personal favorite, Meridian, is a support faction that can reveal enemies through walls for their whole team and manipulate time within an area of effect, so you can do things like shoot and reload faster, but your enemies do so more slowly. Finally, there’s Sabrask, who are brute force bruisers with sticky grenades and deployable protective walls they can shoot through while their opponents can’t.
None of the factions play all that differently from one another (you’re still always manipulating the battlefield with portals, jetpacking all over the place, and using samey feeling weapons with all three), but the abilities and equipment they each bring into battle are pretty significant, and since they all have quite short cooldowns to boot, that makes them feel pretty distinct despite having a lot in common. Dropping barriers as a Sabrask knucklehead or a time-altering dome as a Meridian agent can have a significant impact on the flow of battle, and encountering a Aeros fighter hopped up on stims and flying through the air at blazing speeds can be extremely bad for your health. It’s also neat that you can customize all three with a handful of different options for your class equipment, a few options for perks that passively augment how your character plays, and more. For example, if you want a more tactical version of the Sabrask faction, you can replace your sticky grenade with a smoke grenade that gives you a different sort of advantage with that class. Or, if you’re like me, you might just want to go into battle with a shotgun to pop out of portals and give the enemy a lead surprise at close range.
Another fairly big adjustment comes in the form of Splitgate 2’s maps, which are much smaller than its predecessor’s arenas and are more conservative in their placement of surfaces you can place portals on. The original Splitgate’s maps were often too big for the player count and as a result, it took a bit too long to get into the action after each respawn. In Splitgate 2, that’s not a problem at all, and maps on the whole seem to be a lot more thoughtfully planned out. Of course, smaller maps mean there are also more opportunities for spawn killing, and at least a few of my deaths came mere seconds after spawning, which never feels great. The fact that portals only appear in select areas and are way less common than in the last game is also mostly a good thing. Plus, there’s generally less chaos and fewer opportunities for more experienced players to sweat all over newcomers with their portal-based tricks and superior map knowledge, which definitely makes for more welcoming matches. On the other hand, though, it’s a bit of a bummer that there are fewer opportunities to get creative and pull off wild stunts. I’ll probably need more time in the wild with the more prudently placed portal surfaces to say for sure whether this adjustment is for the best.
While factions and map design represent the biggest changes in Splitgate 2, most of the other adjustments are much more minor. One nice update is how your respawn timer works, which grows longer with each death, and can be sped up by having your teammates score kills against the enemy, with each frag reducing it by three seconds. Another is how portal mechanics have been simplified, so instead of having to juggle two separate commands for each part of your portal, your gun is now smart enough to do this automatically based on context. The freedom you lose from getting to assign your portal manually is more than worth sacrificing for a simpler and more intuitive experience. These minor quality of life updates might not be the game-changers one might expect from a sequel, but they definitely help nudge an already rock-solid concept in the right direction.
The flip side, though, is that so much of Splitgate 2 remains unchanged from the original that I’m genuinely not sure if it’ll be enough of a shot in the arm for this sequel to avoid the fate of its predecessor. From what I can tell, it certainly seems this will be a step up from Splitgate 1, but will it be enough of an improvement to keep my attention? Time will tell.
