It’d be fair to say 8BitDo knows a fair bit about peripherals, but this one still caught us by surprise. The 8BitDo Retro 87 Xbox Edition is a mechanical gaming keyboard inspired by Microsoft’s original, monolithic black box.
We’ve already heard a lot about how Silent Hill f hopes to set itself apart from its predecessors, particularly by honing in on its Japanese roots. But it’s also hoping to stand out to avoid “clone” comparisons to Silent Hill 2, and appeal to younger players by racheting up the combat.
Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto and Silent Hill f director Al Yang have been making the rounds just recently, and an interview has popped up at Game*Spark. Okamoto discussed that whilst his aims for the remake of Silent Hill 2 were to respect the source material, for f, he’s interested in “more entertaining and thrilling action.”
“Inserting more entertaining and thrilling action into Silent Hill f was an idea I had ever since the early phases of the development,” Okamoto said, as transcribed by Automaton.
“And, since NeoBards is a company that’s tremendously good at making action games, this is also one of the reasons why we decided to choose them as the developers.
“The Silent Hill series isn’t considered a game that has entertaining action per se, but as we’re opening our doors to new players, we began to wonder what it would be like if we added more of those elements into the game.” Okamoto added.
“Challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays, so I believed that if we implemented such elements into the game, it would resonate well even with people who are new to the series.”
Yang added: “We didn’t want to end up recreating Silent Hill 2 over and over again, and we were aware that there was no reason to keep making clones of it. So, in order to avoid repeating what previous major titles did, we decided to make the action stand out more.”
Silent Hill f is not a sequel to any of the existing Silent Hill games. Instead, it will offer a standalone story “independent from the series.” That came from publisher Konami itself, which finally confirmed on X/Twitter that the latest instalment of the horror series — which is usually, if not always, based in a sleepy resort town on east-coast America — will be “a completely new title” that “people who have never played the Silent Hill series can enjoy.”
Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.”
Higurashi and When They Cry creator Ryukishi07 also recently opened up about writing Silent Hill f, likening the game’s supernatural and psychological elements to, uh, “salad dressing.” The writer explained that it would initially be difficult for players to distinguish between the game’s supernatural and psychological horror motifs, as they’ll often feel like one and the same. As the game progresses, however, players will understand more of what’s going on —and it’s here that the game “will be like a salad dressing”, he said.
Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan. It’s out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 25.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
I’ve been liking, even occasionally loving ghostly bicycle racer Wheel World, for several reasons. One, it’s relaxing enough for post-work decompression; two, it’s just competitive enough that I can enjoy winning without necessarily undermining point one; and three, it’s far enough outside my usual interests that the culture and lexicon it celebrates feel fresh and interesting to learn. Those of cycling, to be clear. I obviously know loads about ghosts.
Nonetheless, I’ve struggled to engage with its parts system, which isn’t ideal given it both determines the performance of your haunted bike and, outside of the story, acts as Wheel World’s primary measure of progression. I agree with Brendy (who doesn’t?) that once you earn enough metal bits to replace the rusting starter parts, there’s very little to be gained from fine-tuning towards a particular spec – an all-rounder bike can win anything. And, given the game’s gentle difficulty, probably will.
Four decades of 1-1.
Five years ago, Nintendo made an appropriately big thing of Super Mario Bros.‘ 35th anniversary, with a bespoke Direct broadcast featuring a bunch of new games and, naturally, merch celebrating the Famicom release of video gaming’s most famous platformer on 13th September 1985.
Half a decade on and the 40th anniversary is just over a month away. With Switch 2 out in the wild and a Mario platformer-shaped gap in Nintendo’s announced lineup, it feels natural that there would be similar celebrations planned for this year. Super Mario Bros. 35 40, anyone?
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The latest Magic: The Gathering set, Edge of Eternities, has finally arrived, but if you’re wondering which cards from the new set are worth keeping an eye out for, we’ve got you covered.
From spaceships to planets, this new sci-fi universe is a stark departure even in a year that’s included Aetherdrift, Tarkir, and Final Fantasy, and early impressions seem to be positive.
To clarify, these are the best-selling Edge of Eternities cards so far, thanks to data from TCGPlayer, and it’s changed a fair amount from our initial coverage during pre-release.
Here are the best-selling Magic: The Gathering cards of Edge of Eternities so far.
Breeding Pool is the first of a whopping FIVE lands in the top ten, tapping for Green or Blue, but you’ll have to pay life if you don’t want it to enter tapped.
The Dimir version of Breeding Pool, Watery Grave taps for blue or black but with the same caveat.
More land? Yep! At number 8, it’s Godless Shrine which, as you can probably guess, taps for White and Black at the cost of land.
Also available in a Borderless, Galaxy Foil version that’ll set you back $100, Uthros, Titanic Godcore taps for as many artifacts as you have as long as you’ve stationed enough creatures in it.
The last land on here, we promise, Evendo, Waking Haven is analogous to Uthros (above), except it taps for green mana for each creature you control.
Number five is Exalted Sunborn, a flying Angel Wizard with lifelink that gives you a touch of the Doubling Season effect of double tokens. It can also be Warped, meaning you can cast it for less, exile it at the end of the turn, and then summon it back later.
Cosmogrand Zenith is fourth, and lets you create tokens or add counters when you cast a second spell each turn.
Tezzeret, Cruel Captain is up next, and he’s the only Planeswalker on this list. He’s all about using artifacts to power him up before spreading that love to creatures or finding even more of them.
No, not the Batman villain. Quantum Riddler is a space Sphinx that can draw you cards, and potentially draw you a lot of cards if you’re playing them quickly.
Finally, Icetill Explorer is a super easy upgrade for the World Shaper precon since it allows for additional lands to be played, and from your graveyard. That second part is handy in case its Landfall effect mills your lands.
So, there you have it, the most popular cards of Edge of Eternities so far. Which ones are you considering for your deck? Let us know!
Play Boosters are now the standard way to crack open Magic packs, having replaced both Set and Draft Boosters. But if you’re on the hunt for rare cards, Collector Boosters are the best option.
These packs are more expensive, but are much more likely to include various foil treatments, extended arts, and all sorts. There are usually 5 Commons, 4 Uncommons, 5 Rare or Mythic Rare cards, a Land and a Token, but the rub here is that 6 of the included cards have a ‘booster Fun frame’ and 12-13 of them are foil.
Surprisingly, stock is already running low on Amazon for most Edge of Eternities boosters. That said, sites like TCGPlayer still have a solid supply, and in some cases, better prices too.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
The new Bioshock game in development at Cloud Chamber Games is in difficulties, according to sources of the multiple and anonymous persuasion. Announced in 2019, the game has reportedly failed a recent internal progress review, with its narrative found to be in particular need of revamping.
Quality assurance workers at Raven Software, one of the developers of Call of Duty, have officially ratified their first union contract with Microsoft three years after they first unionized.
In a press release, the union shared several highlights of the new contract, including a guaranteed 10% wage increase over two years plus additional raises through merit and promotions, significant restrictions on mandatory overtime, layoff protections, expanded disability accommodations, and more.
“After more than three years of organizing and bargaining, seeing it finally pay off feels incredible,” said bargaining committee member and QA tester Erin Hall in a statement. “From day one, we made it a priority to include every voice in the room, and the contract we came out with reflects what we need—better pay, real career paths, and protection from burnout. It’s a contract that actually values the work QA does. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I hope it shows other game workers that organizing works—and it’s worth it.”
Raven Software’s QA union has had a long road to get here. The inciting incident for its unionization was a round of layoffs back in December of 2021 as a part of a studio restructure instituted by then-parent company Activision Blizzard. The following day, employees walked out to protest the cuts, garnering the support of employees at other Activision Blizzard companies. Raven Software continued to strike for weeks before the company finally responded in January, only to be acquired by Microsoft just over a week later. By the end of the month, Raven QA workers had announced the formation of Activision Blizzard’s very first union. While Activision Blizzard declined to recognize the union voluntarily, the group won its union election the following May anyway.
Since then, a number of other groups under Microsoft Xbox have unionized, both within Activision Blizzard and in other subsidiaries such as ZeniMax. This past May, QA workers at ZeniMax Media reached a contract agreement with the company, while many others are still at the bargaining table.
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.
Techno-loving hollowtooth Blade has joined the playable cast of Marvel Rivals, but he’s not what I find most interesting about the free-to-play shooter’s latest update. Developers NetEase Games have introduced a new system of penalties for ragequitters, keyboard-away-frommers, and other craven scumbags who abandon a competitive mode match early on because the dishwasher’s overflowing, or similar.
One pro fighting game player’s reaction to losing at Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was so dramatic that it’s going viral on social media and already showing signs of becoming a meme.
If you’ve been looking at game-related sections of social media today, chances are you have stumbled across a picture or clip of Japanese player Kazuyuki ‘Kojikog’ Koji, mouth open in a scream and clutching his head, while fellow player Goichi “GO1” Kishida looks on with a mixture of concern and bemusement. A couple of stills were even shared by EVO2025’s official X account.
A story in two parts.#Evo2025 pic.twitter.com/eo2pkg2Psg
— Evo (@Evo) August 3, 2025
The player in question is KojiKOG, an esports pro from Japan who mainly specializes in fighting games like Street Fighter, the King of Fighters and Guilty Gear. This weekend, he took on fellow Japanese player GO1 (Goichi) in the Winners’ Semi Final for Fatal Fury: City of Wolves at the Evolution Championship Series 2025 (EVO2025).
Although GO1 won both rounds (and went on to win overall), the fights were very close. Upon being defeated, KojiKOG clutched his head with his mouth open in a continuous scream worthy of… well, Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream. This dramatic emotional outburst, plus GO1’s bemusement, resulted in a number of meme-worthy shots.
I swear to God I’m not making fun of this dude but NO ONE HAS EVER LOOKED LIKE THEY SUFFERED LIKE THIS IN HUMAN HISTORY pic.twitter.com/JekIbl1F0a
— kayos (@kayos_o) August 3, 2025
KojiKOG eventually snaps out of his losing pose and can be seen chatting to GO1 and tidying up. It is clear from this that he was acting. However, shorter clips on social media have caused some who are unfamiliar with KojiKOG’s antics to worry that he was having a real breakdown.
The End of EVOgelion #EVO2025 https://t.co/fZOHd1HmNF pic.twitter.com/Ht0vzmHXd3
— Keith Ace (@Keith_Ace_) August 3, 2025
KojiKOG is known for being a bit of a comedian, often doing his screaming pose and pulling funny faces in interviews (like at EWC2025). His dramatic reaction to losing this weekend was likely a reference to when he previously faced off against GO1 at EVO15. As seen in the video below, he did a similar screaming pose- puzzling the Japanese commentators as his antics weren’t well known back then.
10 years ago, GO1 went to EVO for the first time and won 4 side games—Melty Blood, Dengeki Bunko, UNI, and AQUAPAZZA, beating KojiKOG in the finals
Today, they meet again on the EVO main stage, recreating the ‘leg cutting incident’ meme https://t.co/p5whu1GNLB pic.twitter.com/rfPVn2HJXg
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) August 3, 2025
Commenting on this, legendary pro fighting game player Daigo Umehara mused that KojiKOG’s reaction was like a character in the SAW movies having their leg cut off. This is why many Japanese fans colloquially refer to KojiKOG’s dramatic pained reaction as the “leg cutting incident” and the like.
Although KojiKOG lost against GO1 at EVO2025, he came in joint fifth place overall, winning 80% of his matches in Fatal Fury: City of Wolves.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
I was munching crisps while watching a showcase of upcoming games from THQ Nordic last week, letting the likes of a new Spongebob Squarepants game and the Gothic Remake wash over me like barely flavoured fizzy water, when Fatekeeper showed up. I straightened up, just a little. It is a fancy looking first-person RPG made with all the hyper detail and vivid lighting you might expect of a game developed in Unreal Engine 5. It is also conjuring a game worth conjuring: the heavy hitting fantasy brawlabout Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic. As I watched the below trailer, I became more and more cautiously hopeful. Looks slick, but where’s the kick?
