A game that sees you forcibly kidnapped, smuggled aboard a mega yacht dubbed The Avarice, and made to play demon billionaires at lethal dice poker just got a new trailer, and it looks as funky as you’d expect. Dead Finger Dice: A Billionaire Killing Game is its uber-snappy name, and it’s coming to Steam this summer.
Psychroma and Raptor Boyfriend developers Rocket Adrift Games released a trailer for this roguelike dice builder as part of yesterday’s The Mix showcase, and as soon as I clapped my eyes on it, I was intrigued.
A new adventure set in Lumiose City of Gen 5’s Kalos region, launching on October 16th, Legends Z-A is on average priced a good number of pounds higher at other online stores.
The Switch 2 version of the game is currently priced at £59.99 at shops like Very, Smyths, and Game UK. Some retailers’ prices are even higher, with ShopTo asking for a whopping £66.85, making Amazon or TCG the best options by far right now.
If the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Switch vs Switch 2 comparison is anything to go by, following our first look at the older game’s free update, the new console’s upgraded hardware will make the higher price tag worthwhile.
While some older Switch games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have the option to buy an upgrade pack for the Switch 2, those two being for £7.99 each, it’s currently unconfirmed as to whether Pokemon Legends: Z-A will have the same option.
Based on that pricing, though, it’s possible the Legends: Z-A upgrade pack will cost even more since it will be a brand-new game. While still in stock at The Game Collection, we’d recommend jumping on this lower price for the Switch 2 edition now, so you won’t have to worry about potentially paying more in the future.
Witcher fans have naturally been busy poring over The Witcher 4’s tech demo in search of interesting details beyond the big obvious teases. One group on Reddit reckon their ears picked up the voice of Witcher 3 actor Richard Hawley.
Hawley voiced a few characters in Gerry from the Riviera’s RPGclash with the Wild Hunt, with Caleb Menge, Francis Bedlam, and Redanian schemer Sigismund Dijkstra all boasting his dulcet tones. It’s that last one that’ll likely have lodged the actor’s voice into your brain.
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney believes small teams will soon be able to use AI prompts to make video games on the scale of Nintendo masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Speaking to IGN at Epic’s State of Unreal 2025 event (where CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 tech demo), Sweeney said AI prompts will be “a fundamental part” of game engines, and will result in “entirely new genres of games invented that weren’t possible or practical before” without it.
“Every significant advance in technology has led to the rise of new games,” Sweeney explained.
“I remember 3D gaming just became possible and then Doom and Wolfenstein introduced the 3D shooter. The battle royal genre itself only became possible when you had enough performance on hardware and engines that you could have a hundred players in a single play space.
“AI characters giving you the possibility of infinite dialogue with a really simple setup for creators means small teams will be able to create games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds. What would it take for a 10-person team to build a game like Zelda Breath of the Wild in which the AI is just doing all the dialogue and you’re just writing some character synopsis? That’s totally going to be within reach over the next few years.”
Sweeney’s enthusiasm around AI is no secret, of course, and Epic Games is all in. AI Darth Vader hit Fortnite last month in a first for the all-encompassing battle royale. He can serenade you, join and leave squads at will, respond intelligently to the player, issue impromptu dialogue, summarize gameplay events, and warn the player if something’s about to go down.
Darth Vader is voiced by the inimitable James Earl Jones, who died in September 2024 at the age of 93. This AI version of his voice, powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5, is used with the Jones family’s permission.
This sparked a debate about the ethics of generative AI, particularly when it comes to NPCs such as Darth Vader that revive the voice of dead actors. Sweeney, though, believes AI technology is ultimately of net benefit to society, despite some drawbacks.
“I see AI as technology that’s ultimately there to empower human creators to create stuff more efficiently,” he said. “I think that’s a good thing. It’s unfortunate that the advent of modern AI has been tainted by companies just ripping massive amounts of content off of other companies and individuals on the web. But as a base level technology, it should be a multiplying factor and multiplying force on our abilities.
“Certainly enabling indie teams to build bigger and better games means also enabling AAA teams to build staggering, immense huge games and to polish it ever further. So I think there’s going to be a massive evolution as everybody scrambles to learn new skills as you get on top of what’s possible here. But I think as with any other technology that’s improved our lives, the ultimate net opportunity for people is higher.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
If you caught The Witcher 4‘s tech demo at yesterday’s Unreal showcase, you likely spent an above-average amount of time for a Tuesday being impressed by horse muscles. Still, however excited you were about that horse, I’d wager you weren’t quite as happy as Alice Ruppert – creative producer on the upcoming Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori, consultant, and owner of the very best website about video game horses on the internet. Ruppert’s initial reaction? “Tears of joy in my eyes when they showed the slow mo horse movement”.
“I’m a big fan of the of the Witcher books, and so I knew that Ciri has a horse named Kelpie in the books,” Ruppert tells me over a call, “so, that’s part of it”. But it’s also the care that’s been put in. “Like: here’s our gorgeous horse. We care about it, and we know you care about it. And that made me feel very seen. I think that’s what brought the tears to my eyes. Of course, I am so profoundly a horse girl that you can, depending on my mood of the day, you can show me a slow mo footage of a horse galloping and I will cry in any case. That’s just my horse appreciation brain rot.”
On the eve of Nintendo Switch 2’s global launch (OK, technically it’s already the 5th in some locations), there is one burning question we have for you, the Nintendo Life audience: Will you be buying a Nintendo Switch 2?
It’s fair to say that Nintendo Switch 2 seems about the “safest” console Nintendo has ever produced, but with good reason — the Nintendo Switch was a huge success. Has Nintendo managed to convince you that the shiny new console is worth the money? Maybe you’re holding out for a mid-gen refresh? We’re keen to learn where you are at as we swiftly head into the launch period.
The Gran Turismo World Series racing action starts in earnest this weekend when 24 of the world’s fastest Gran Turismo racers gather at the famous BBC studios at Television Centre in West London for Round 1 of the 2025 season. If you haven’t got a ticket to see all the drama unfold in person, don’t worry. You can watch all the action live in Gran Turismo 7 and on https://www.gran-turismo.com/world/live/
Selected from the Online Qualifiers in April and May, the 12 best Manufacturers Cup competitors from the Asia-Oceania Region fly into the UK capital, with the action set to start at 16:00 British Summer Time (15:00 UTC) on Saturday, 7 June. The Manufacturers Cup is a team competition with the competitors from the EMEA Region taking the wheel for Round 2 in Berlin on 20 September before the Americas drivers in Round 3 in Los Angeles on 8 November. All three drivers compete together at the World Finals in Fukuoka, Japan on 20 and 21 December.
Broadcast Schedule – June 7, 2025
Manufacturers Cup / Nations Cup
New York (EDT)
Manufacturers Cup 11:00
Nations Cup 14:00
Los Angeles (PDT)
Manufacturers Cup 08:00
Nations Cup 11:00
Sao Paulo (BRT)
Manufactures Cup 12:00
Nations Cup 15:00
London (BST)
Manufacturers Cup 16:00
Nations Cup 19:00
Madrid (CEST)
Manufacturers Cup 17:00
Nations Cup 20:00
Tokyo (JST)
Manufacturers Cup 00:00
Nations Cup 03:00
Beijing (CST)
Manufacturers Cup 23:00
Nations Cup 02:00
Sydney (AEST)
Manufacturers Cup 01:00
Nations Cup 04:00
In the Nations Cup, the top three drivers from the 2024 season – World Champion Takuma Miyazono (JPN), Kylian Drumont (FRA) and Jose Serrano (ESP) – won automatic qualification for the 2025 edition. They will be joined in London by established stars such as former champions Valerio Gallo (ITA) and Pol Urra (ESP) with 18-year-old Samuel Cardinal from Canada the only rookie in the 12-man field. The Nations Cup action starts at 19:00 local time (18:00 UTC).
Manufacturers Cup – Round 1 London Drivers
BMW – S. Suzuki (JPN)
AMG – K. Sasaki (JPN)
Lamborghini – Y.Goto (JPN)
Lexus – K. Kawakami (JPN)
Porsche – S. Sato (JPN)
Toyota – K. Morimoto (JPN)
Nissan – H. Okumoto (JPN)
Mazda – R. Kokubun (JPN)
Ferrari – J. Hashima (JPN)
McLaren – T. Kamada (JPN)
Honda – R. Tsujimura (JPN)
Subaru – T. Miyazono (JPN)
Nations Cup – Round 1 London Drivers
France – K. Drumont(EMEA)
Spain – J. Serrano(EMEA)
Italy – V. Gallo (EMEA)
Spain – P. Urra(EMEA)
France – T. Labouteley(EMEA)
Netherlands – K. De Bruin(EMEA)
Brazil – A. Carrazza (Central & South America)
Chile – A. Inostroza(Central & South America)
Canada – S. Cardinal(North Amerca)
Japan – T. Miyazono(Asia)
Japan – T. Sasaki (Asia)
Australia – G Barbara(Oceania)
As ever, a round of the Gran Turismo World Series brings several in-game benefits featured on the World Map in GT7. Correctly predicting the winners will win you a lot of in-game Credits. Watch the Nations Cup live stream and you could pick up an Aston Martin Valkyrie with the winning country’s livery, while watching the Manufacturers Cup means you’ll be gifted a car with the winning team’s livery. *
Players can also get involved by taking part in a special time trial inspired by the Manufacturers Cup Qualifying Session using a Gr.3 car on the Tokyo Expressway – South Counterclockwise, while a new Daily Race features the same combination.
And remember to add all the Gran Turismo World Series 2025 live events to your calendar:
Round 1 – London, UK | Saturday, 7 June Round 2 – Berlin, Germany | Saturday, 20 September Round 3 – Los Angeles, USA | Saturday, 8 November World Finals – Fukuoka, Japan | Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 December
*Entry limit to one per account for PlayStation Network. Once an entry has been submitted it cannot be withdrawn or changed. See the links below for more information.
A Switch 2 Edition for No Man’s Sky will be available alongside the launch of Nintendo’s new console, developer Hello Games has announced.
This version will come as a free upgrade for current No Man’s Sky owners, and offer a range of improvements such as full multiplayer, high-res texture support, and improvements to resolution and frame-rate.
No Man’s Sky on Switch 2 also offers cross-save and cross-play, so you can pick up exactly where you left off on Switch 1 — or elsewhere.
Hello Games has said the Switch 2 version of its successful sci-fi adventure survival game is the product of 12 month’s work getting to grips with Nintendo’s new hardware, after receiving development kits a year ago.
This new version arrives alongside (and, unsurprisingly, also contains) the latest big update for No Man’s Sky, entitled Beacons. This overhauls settlements and adds town management to the game, with some surprising new features.
Alongside new homesteads to discover, you’ll be able to become mayor of multiple locations. This will let you design hangout locations such as bars or fishing ponds, defend your towns from attack, and even get involved in the lives of your settlers, welcoming them in and helping them resolve disputes.
Beacons launches as a free update on all No Man’s Sky platforms today, ahead of the game’s Switch 2 version launching tomorrow, June 5.
Nintendo has a swathe of Switch 2 Editions also set to arrive tomorrow, although some of these will need paying for, while others (Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) also come included with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
If you found the feudal festival of backstabbing that was Final Fantasy Tactics distressingly upbeat and wholesome, perhaps you’ll be more impressed by Never’s End, a new turn and grid-based RPG from Destiny‘s former lead sandbox gameplay designer Ryan Jucket with character designs from Final Fantasy artist Masayoshi Nishimura.
It takes place in a world swamped by creeping undead darkness, and casts you as a warrior spirit wrought of deathless silver. Taking charge of the last surviving village, you will possess and burn away the very souls of townsfolk in order to transform them into battlefield units. Careful, though, because the more villagers you catch in your mirrors and reduce to living weapons, the stronger the Never becomes.
Mario Kart 8’s souped-up 200cc difficulty isn’t yet included within Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World — but Nintendo has hinted at the possibility of its reappearance via a post-launch update.
Nintendo added 200cc mode to the Mario Kart series for the first time in Mario Kart 8, though it only turned up in a post-launch patch. Could Nintendo be planning to do the exact same thing for the series’ follow-up? It seems very likely.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki acknowledged that 200cc had been a popular addition to the series, but stopped short of confirming anything around its return — for now.
“Some players are really happy with the addition of high difficulty modes likes this,” Kosuke teased. “However, does that mean we’re going to consider adding engine sizes that are larger than 150cc to Mario Kart World? I’m afraid I can’t say just yet.”
It’s not surprising that Nintendo has not included 200cc within Mario Kart World at launch. The mode’s arrival at a later date allows the game’s fans to learn courses and get used to playing at the standard 150cc (or lower, if you need) before the tougher challenge of 200cc arrives at a later date.
This will likely only be more of a consideration with Mario Kart World’s multiplayer-friendly gameplay, in which groups of players are encouraged to team up and explore together, their GameChat open, and cameras switched on.
Presumably, whenever Mario Kart World’s 200cc update does arrive, all players will need to be playing at the same level to explore the game’s map together. It’s therefore better, once again, to let players get to grips with 150cc first before things step up a gear, or engine size.
