The Nintendo Switch 2 has been pretty difficult to find in stock since June. If you were able to get your hands on the new console, you may be debating whether or not you should get rid of your old one. Amazon has one such option available: You can currently trade in your old Switch for a bit of digital cash. Unfortunately, the most you’ll be able to get in return is just enough to cover the newest Switch 2 game.

The Amazon trade-in program will offer up to $70 in Amazon gift cards for your old Nintendo Switch if it meets all of the criteria. That’s just enough money to buy Donkey Kong Bananza before it releases this week. If you’re interested, here’s a quick rundown of how to do it.

How to Trade in Your Switch on Amazon

Have you been scratching your head about where to find Japanese Pokémon cards? I’ve got you covered. If you’re looking to upgrade your daily tech essentials, today’s lineup covers smart charging, fitness tracking, personal cooling, and workspace organization. Need a powerhouse battery pack for your laptop? A neck fan to beat the heat? Or maybe a fitness tracker that keeps you in sync with your health goals? I’ve also found ultra-fast USB-C chargers and a cracking surge protector built for modern devices.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

INIU’s high-capacity 140W Power Bank and ultra-compact 30W USB-C Charger Block, both built for quick, efficient power on the go. Fitbit Charge 6 offers all-day activity tracking with Google app integration, while the TUNISE Neck Fan delivers hands-free cooling wherever you are. Finally, the Anker 332 USB-C Power Strip keeps your desk or home setup organized and protected, with outlets and USB-C ports ready for your full device lineup. Let’s get into today’s deals:

Where To Buy Japanese Pokémon Cards

Japanese Pokémon TCG booster boxes have far better odds at pulling chase cards, have far less bulk and are often half the price of English booster boxes. This also mean said chase cards are worth significantly less, but Japanese cards are far easier to get perfect grades in given they’re always busting out of booster packs in perfect condition. Want a Pokémon card collection on a budget? Go for Japanese cards.

Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Preorders

This is it, the beggining of a new expansion for Pokémon TCG. Best Buy have gone live with their preorder allocation for Mega Evolutions today, which mean Target and Walmart won’t be far behind. Here’s all the links you need and good luck trainers!

Pokémon TCG Price Updates

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but Amazon has quite a bit of sealed Pokémon TCG product for under market value. Whilst that unfortunately means it’s still way above MSRP, some of these sets are at the best prices they’ve been in the last month.

Last Weeks Crashers and Climbers

As newer Pokémon TCG sets grab the spotlight, Paradox Rift is seeing its high-rarity SIR ex cards drop in value while several Illustration Rares quietly climb due to shifting collector interest and low inventory. Cards like Altaria ex, Gholdengo ex, and Steelix have dropped between 16% and 25%, while Illustration Rares including Morpeko, Plusle, Minun, Groudon, and Iron Valiant ex are climbing fast, with Morpeko leading at a 43% increase. This mirrors earlier trends where less flashy cards gain traction as availability tightens.

MTG Edge of Eternities Preorders

Magic: The Gathering’s next set, Edge of Eternities, officially launches August 1 with preorders now live on Amazon for bundles including Play Booster Boxes, Commander Decks, and Collector Booster Boxes. Blending Magic’s iconic gameplay with science fantasy themes such as flying space whales and alien races, Edge of Eternities introduces four new mechanics: Void, Warp, Station, and Lander Tokens. Fan-favorite tribes like Eldrazi and Slivers return alongside reprints of coveted Shock Lands. Wizards of the Coast is gradually revealing more details, with a full card gallery arriving July 18 and prerelease events happening July 25 through 31, so now is the time to lock in your preorder if you want first access.

MTG Pricing Updates

It’s a bit of a mixed back for Magic: The Gathering prices this week, so it’s always worth double checking eBay before TCG Player and Amazon for a last minute bargain. Also, whoever thinks a Theros Beyond Death booster is worth north of $700 needs to have a word with themselves.

INIU 140W Power Bank

Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker

Personal Fan with LED Display

9-Outlet Anker 332 USB C Power Strip Surge Protector

INIU USB C Charger Block x 2

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection (Switch)

Superman (Blu-ray + Digital)

Split Fiction (PS5)

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake (Switch)

The Lord of the Rings Illustrated (Tolkien Illustrated Editions)

Suikoden I & II HD Remastered (Switch)

Small, portable and sometimes worth so much money that it would give even Pikachu a shock, rare Pokémon cards have increasingly become the target of theft and other crimes. Japanese news outlets Sanspo and Automaton recently reported that Pokémon cards and cash worth a combined total of 13,700,000 yen (approx. $92,000 USD, as per current exchange rates) were stolen from a trading card shop. The twist is that the third person arrested in this ongoing case is apparently the manager of a rival trading card store nearby.

The robbery happened on June 16 at around 3:30 a.m. at Card Shop Masters in central Japan’s Gifu Prefecture. Two men in their 30s were later arrested for breaking and entering. According to the Sanspo article, one of the men is suspected of threatening the owners with a knife before taking the cards and cash. On July 9, a third person, allegedly the owner of a nearby trading card store, was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice in the robbery, although according to police, he has yet to confess or deny his involvement.

The shop that was robbed has been posting about the situation on its X account, revealing the alleged identity of the third suspect as the manager of a rival store. They have also been appealing for information and calling for other people who were involved to give themselves up immediately.

“There’s no use thinking you won’t get caught. We will definitely catch everyone.” they said in a post on July 10, which has since attracted over 1 million views. Commenters expressed sympathy with the victim, and shock that someone would rob a shop in the same line of work.

Incidentally, there was a similar Pokémon card robbery that took place in Japan last year. Back in September, two men broke into a trading card seller in Osaka, also at 3:30 a.m. They threatened an employee (who had just been livestreaming a card sale) with a knife, tied them up and then took over 100 cards (worth over 10 million yen or around $67,000) as well as 250,000 yen (around $1,700) in cash (source: Kochi Shimbun).

Rare Pokémon cards have become a target for heists in other countries too. In February, Australia’s ABC News reported on a string of Pokémon card thefts across stores in Melbourne. Just last week, a store in Massachusetts, USA, had more than $100,000 worth of cards stolen in an early morning break-in (source: The New York Times).

Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images.

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.

The Sonic the Hedgehog crossover with Magic: The Gathering’s boutique Secret Lair drops went live yesterday, and it was predictably popular. Eager fans swarmed the site, and now, scalpers are already selling some of the product online at a mark-up.

Secret Lair is Magic: The Gathering’s special collection of rare and unique cards, with either brand-new designs or special reprints of classic cards. For Sonic, the Blue Blur got three different sets of cards. The Friends & Foes collection featured new cards that could, presumably, be Commanders for Sonic-focused Commander decks, like Knuckles, Amy, Dr. Eggman, and Shadow. Turbo Gear and Chasing Adventure, meanwhile, were reprints of cards like Lightning Greaves and Unexpected Windfall with Sonic-styled card art.

When the set went live at 9am PT yesterday, a queue formed and quickly ramped up. There were limits in place, presumably to prevent people from mass-purchasing and flipping the goods. Still, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a few card sets have found their way onto eBay already, at a marked-up price.

The Turbo Gear Foil Edition, for example, is being listed at $70 (or best offer) on eBay with a preorder/presale marker, as the actual Secret Lair cards have not shipped yet. For comparison, the Secret Lair shop price for this foil set is $39.99.

More expensive options, like the entire Sonic collection sans foil, are going for $349.99 (or best offer), and some listings put individual collections like the Friends & Foes at $80 or more.

The strange part is that while the Secret Lair vault will eventually run dry, and some parts of the collection have already gone down to low or no stock, other card sets are still available. As of this writing, the Friends & Foes Foil Edition is still available for $49.99. It won’t always be available, but it’s somehow both surprising and not surprising these sets are already getting flipped.

For those who’d rather chase after other cards, the next Magic: The Gathering set Edge of Eternities is officially out on August 1, with pre-release starting on July 25.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Switch 2 blockbuster Donkey Kong Bananza will be something of a template for the character’s future 3D games, Nintendo has said, splitting DK’s appearances in 2D and 3D titles.

Similar to how Mario still appears in both 2D and 3D installments — the most recent of each being Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario Odyssey, respectively — Nintendo now sees a similar delineation in its plans for its most prominent ape.

Expanding on comments previously made to IGN about Bananza’s origins, producer Kenta Motokura has said that the game’s development began when Nintendo legend Yoshiaki Koizumi asked his 3D Mario team to work its magic making a 3D DK game instead.

“With an eye to expanding the Donkey Kong franchise further, I’d like the team that’s been working on 3D Mario games to create a 3D Donkey Kong game,” Motokura quoted Koizumi as saying, as part of a new Ask the Developer Q&A. It was this instruction, combined with ongoing experimentation into voxel-based destruction, that led to Donkey Kong Bananza’s genesis.

Asked how Bananza sits alongside other Donkey Kong games, Motokura continued by saying that the 3D Mario team considered this project to epitomise a new 3D Donkey Kong “branch”, separate to the DK’s 2D platformers — leaving the door open to both kinds of games still existing in future.

“In a long-running series, novelty and continuity are both important, but we wanted this title to fully convey the appeal of Donkey Kong as a character,” Motokura said. “Meanwhile, we thought that by creating something new, leveraging our experience developing 3D Mario games, we’d have the opportunity to create two separate branches – 2D Donkey Kong and 3D Donkey Kong – just as we did with Mario games.

“So, keeping in mind that this game will come to symbolise 3D Donkey Kong, and with the theme of bringing Donkey Kong’s strengths and new actions to the forefront, we thought the concept of ‘destruction’ would be a good fit.”

Finally, Motokura discussed Nintendo’s recent Donkey Kong redesign in more detail, and said that it was the development of Bananza which spearheaded the company’s search for a new DK look.

“Donkey Kong Bananza sparked the creation of a design which I think better conveys the new Donkey Kong,” Motokura said, noting that Nintendo’s new ‘standard’ DK was actually another attempt to recapture the character’s original design, drawn by Shigeru Miyamoto for the Donkey Kong arcade game.

“Outside of this game, Donkey Kong has recently appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in 2023 and in Mario Kart World, but there’s a basic character design which provided the foundation for those versions of Donkey Kong,” Motokura concluded. “That basic Donkey Kong design has been completely revamped. While overhauling the design, we returned to where it had all started. We took Miyamoto-san’s original Donkey Kong as the basis, adding design elements from Donkey Kong Bananza here and there.”

What’s next for Donkey Kong? Well, it certainly sounds like the door is being left open for the character to reappear in further 2D games in future. And then there’s the intriguing copyright listing for an unannounced Donkey Kong movie, spotted by Nintendo fans earlier this week. It seems like there’s plenty in store for DK to come.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Microsoft has announced Wave 2 of the Xbox Game Pass July 2025 lineup, which includes the launch of Grounded 2 via Xbox Game Preview, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and more.

As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, returning today, July 15, is High on Life (Cloud, Console and PC) across Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. Next up is the arrival of RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) on July 17, for Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard.

Also on July 17 are My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console and PC), before Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console and PC) on July 18. Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) follows on July 22, before Wheel World (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) then rolls around on July 23 — all for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Microsoft then saves its biggest hitters for the end of the month, with the launch of promising-looking Soulslike action RPG Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) on July 24, before the launch of Obsidian’s garden survival sequel Grounded 2 (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) in Game Preview on July 29 — both for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Capping off the end of the month — or, technically, next month — is the arrival of Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console and PC) on August 1 for Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard.

Xbox Game Pass Wave 2 July 2025 lineup:

• High On Life (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 15
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) – July 17
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 17
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 18
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) – July 22
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Wheel World (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) – July 23
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) – July 24
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) – July 29
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 1
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

As always, whenever Microsoft giveth, it also taketh away. The following games are set to leave Game Pass on July 31, though subscribers can get a 20% discount to keep the games in their library.

• Gigantic (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Bethesda has quietly fixed a door in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered that had left Dark Brotherhood lore fans scratching their heads.

Warning! Potential spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered follow.

Let’s cast our minds back to April and the hugely successful release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Soon after launch, players of the original, much-loved open-world role-playing game noticed the door to the Dark Brotherhood’s Cheydinhal sanctuary entrance was inexplicably changed in a way that broke the lore.

The door in question is at the centre of an iconic moment in Oblivion, one players who took on the excellent Dark Brotherhood quest will probably remember well. In the original Oblivion, the glowing door has a heavy mood aesthetic and a relief showing the Night Mother (who members of the assassination-obsessed Dark Brotherhood worship) murdering five children. The Oblivion Remastered version of this door has no glow, is light on atmosphere and, weirdly, has two extra children.

You can see a comparison with accompanying complaint in the reddit post from alvaro-elite, below:

The Elder Scrolls lore fans were quick to point out that the addition of two kids on the relief makes no sense given what we know about the story of the Night Mother. This moment in time is meant to represent the Night Mother’s murdering of the five children she conceived with Sithis, the Elder Scrolls deity who represents emptiness and the Void. As the story goes, the Night Mother is murdered by the locals for killing her kids, which turns her into the immortal Night Mother in the first place. In fact, in Oblivion, the Night Mother’s tomb includes skeletal remains of one adult and five children, reinforcing this lore.

Fans had wondered whether Bethesda and developer Virtuos would patch Oblivion Remastered to change the door to be lore compliant, and so it has proved. As noticed by PC Gamer, with the recent release of Update 1.2 in Steam beta form, those who have opted in to test the patch now have a lore-compliant door with five children, rather than seven in the relief. Strangely, this change isn’t in the officially released patch notes, below.

The expectation is this new door is what Oblivion Remastered will include across the board when Update 1.2 launches fully.

Be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to everything you’ll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered update 1.2 patch notes:

SETTINGS CHANGES

• We’ve added additional difficulty settings to allow players to further tune their “Player Combat Damage” & “Enemy Combat Damage”. Players can now select from “Novice”, “Apprentice”, “Adept”, “Journeyman”, “Expert”, and “Master” options in the Gameplay menu. We hope the “Journeyman” setting, specifically, will act as a better bridge between “Adept” and “Expert” for players.

UI

• Fixed map markers disappearing
• Fixed missing punctuation in Simplified Chinese text
• Fixed “Toggle All” button on Map screen to work as a ‘Hold’
• Various fixes to localized text
• Fixed controller issues in Spell making menu
• Fixed menus being cropped incorrectly in 1280×1024
• Fixed the incorrect player stance in the inventory menu after fast travel
• Fixed rebinding keys for Lock Picking
• Fixed keybinds not updating in AZERTY
• Fixed soft lock with controller in Enchanting menu
• Fixed stats not updating when equipping enchanted items
• Fixed a character skin glitch when closing the inventory menu

CRASHES

• Fixed crashes that could occur while fighting Jyggalag
• Fixed crashing when killing a paralyzed NPC with an arrow
• Fixed crashing when paralyzing an already-paralyzed NPC
• Fixed crashing in Spellmaking menu when rapidly removing & implementing effects
• Fixed various GPU crashes
• Fixed crashes that could occur during auto saves

AUDIO

• Fixed underwater SFX persisting after leaving exiting water
• Fixed missing ambient SFX in Shivering Isles

QUESTS

• Fixed NPCs floating after being knocked down during Priory of the Nine quest
• Fixed crashing when entering Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest
• Fixed pathing for Shaleez in Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest
• Fixed crashing when opening Gate to The Fringe during Retaking the Fringe quest
• Fixed mages loading without clothes in Fort Ontus during The Necromancer’s Amulet quest
• Fixed NPC pathing issues in Gardens of Flesh and Bone during ‘Through the Fringe of Madness’ quest
• Fixed missing VFX during the closing of the Great Gate
• Fixed Ilav Dralgoner’s missing facial animation during ‘Saving Time Itself’ quest
• Fixed Sir Thredet’s speech during ‘Umaril the Unfeathered’ quest
• Fixed NPC pathing issues during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest
• Fixed Obelisk Crystals spawning disconnected during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest
• Fixed crash at end of ‘Through a Nightmare, Darkly’ quest
• Fixed wall crumbling in Malada during ‘Nothing You Can Possess’ quest
• Fixed misaligned food at the Castle Leyawiin County Hall dinner party during ‘Sanguine’ quest
• Fixed an issue with visibility of ghosts during ‘Ghosts of Vitharn’
• Fixed cutscene not playing during ‘Light the Dragonfires’
• Fixed missing textures in Cropsford Campsite after finishing ‘Goblin Trouble’

PERFORMANCE

• Fixed frame rate drop in Deepscorn Hollow
• Fixed frame rate drops in Black Rock Caverns
• Fixed frame rate drop between Skingrad and Skingrad Castle
• Fixed frame rate drop south of Bravil Castle courtyard
• Reduced the frequency of hitches in the open world.
• General improvements to frame time in many locations.
• Optimize updating of character attachments.
• Optimize rendering of water volumes in the open world.
• Optimize light/shadow updates in several lairs.
• Optimize waterfall particle FX and rendering.
• Optimize the weather system.
• Optimize character animation system.

GAMEPLAY

• Fixed player character height scaling
• Fixed armor items hiding Argonian and Khajiit tails
• Fixed slow camera movement when initiating NPC dialogue
• Fixed soft lock when a player with a high bounty goes to jail
• Fixed Orrery animations
• Fixed physics bug with floating necklaces
• Fixed vampire sleeping animations
• Fixed NPC beards not following facial animation.
• Fixed ghost NPCs being completely invisible
• Fixed missing animation when talking to Shamada in Leyawiin
• Fixed occasional very long load times when fast traveling
• Fixed missing facial animation for Snak gra-Bura
• Fixed falling unconscious in water preventing player from getting up
• Fixed NPCs losing collision when swimming
• Fixed NPCs stopping combat when player is blocking
• Fixed female Dremora teeth clipping
• Fixed soft lock after choosing player class
• Fixed Amber weapons clipping in first person view
• Fixed vines clipping into columns
• Fixed helmets clipping into player character’s head
• Fixed missing textures on Daedric statues
• Fixed duplicated pages between Oghma Infinium and Mysterium Xarxes

SYSTEM

• Fixed flickering shadows when using XeSS Upscaling
• Fixed title properly restarting after purchasing the Deluxe Upgrade on PC
• Fixed settings properly migrating between PC and XBOX
• Fixed water disappearing after fast travel
• Fixed cursor slowdown when enabling high frame rate V-Sync
• Fixed shaders not preloading due to cloud save replication
• Fixed long blackout during loading screens
• Fixed weather VFX flashing while outside
• Fixed motion blur artifacts while in the Oblivion Plane
• Fixed NPCs not obeying the Wait action from the player

This update will be in the Steam Beta. If you would like to opt in to the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Beta update, please follow these instructions:

1. Open your Steam Library and navigate to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

2. Right click on “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered” and select “Properties”

3. In the new properties pop-up window, select “Betas”

4. In the beta drop down to opt into, select “[beta]”5. Wait for app to download new build and launch.

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.

A former head of communications at Dead Island 2 publisher Deep Silver has opened up about the “eight-year product delay” Dead Island 2 endured after early playtests reported “horrific feedback.”

At the end of a Develop:Brighton talk as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Martin Wein — now at GameFlex Consultants — talked candidly about the sequel’s troubled development, and how it was decided at a major milestone meeting with then-developer, Yager, that the game as it was then “sucked.”

Dead Island 2 was revealed at E3 2014 but soon went quiet before “mutual differences” separated Yager from Deep Silver. It was then moved to Sumo Digital before being shifted again in 2019 to its final home of Dambuster Studios. A new trailer and gameplay video was released on December 6, 2022, during a Dead Island 2 Showcase that announced it was delayed once again, slipping 12 weeks to April 2023. It was the first proper look at the game fans had since it was re-revealed after years of troubled development in August 2022.

“I was working on that with the creative team, and we were mightily proud of that [trailer],” Wein said. “But then, about three to four weeks later, we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked.

“It had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island […] really fun. So we commissioned a play test and got horrific feedback. And we sat down with the development team and said, ‘Okay, what’s the course of action?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, leave it with us.'”

But at the next touch-point, Wein said little had changed, with playtest feedback indicating the sequel was “not fun, not engaging, [and] does not feel like the Dead Island that I played.”

“So at the end of the day, we had to take the game away from that external developer, find a new studio, and that put the game on a journey of… well, it was supposed to launch in 2015. When did it come out? 2023?

“Sometimes you have to make hard decisions,” Wein added. “Because we could have, at that point, put out a sh*t game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise.

“I cannot really speak to the conversation between the production team and the development partner as I was not part of those, but as the developer wanted to pursue their vision rather than follow player feedback, the ultimate decision was made to part ways.”

When it did finally release in 2023, IGN’s Dead Island 2’s review returned a 7/10. We said: “Dead Island 2 is a hilarious gore-fest and a competent zombie-slaying adventure, but lacks creativity outside of its great sense of humor.”

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.

Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 updates continue with patch 01.003.200, which makes a big balance change and a number of fixes.

According to patch notes released by the developer, 01.003.200 reduces the time it takes for the Helldiver to regain control after ragdolling from 0.8 to 0.5 seconds.

This seemingly innocuous change will have big implications for how Helldivers 2 feels to play. It’s a game that leans heavily on its physics systems and the emergent gameplay that comes from them, and that includes being blasted around the map.

As any Helldivers 2 player will know, you spend a lot of time prone on the floor recovering after being smashed into a ragdolling status. There’s a panic that sets in as you slowly pick yourself up and dust yourself off while the forces of the Illuminate, the Automatons, and the Terminids continue their assault. Those precious few milliseconds may make all the difference, especially on harder difficulties.

Meanwhile, the flag can now be “proudly” planted directly into enemies — dead or alive — “ensuring the eternal colors of Super Earth are never tainted, only quenched by the blood of its foes.” So, if you want that Charger to be running around with your flag on its back, now you can make it happen.

There are a number of balance changes worth checking out in the patch notes below.

Things are hotting up in the world of Helldivers 2, with the PC and PS5 game set to become the first PlayStation Studios-published title ever on Xbox when it launches on Series X and S next month alongside crossplay.

Helldivers 2 update 01.003.200 patch notes:

🌍 Overview

• Balancing
• Mission Fixes
• Weapon Fixes
• Miscellaneous Fixes

⚖️ Balancing

General

Helldiver

• Reduced the time it takes for the Helldiver to regain control after ragdolling from 0.8 to 0.5 sec
• Increased chest injury bleed damage from 1 to 10. Chest injuries now cause more noticeable damage, as the previous value of 1 was so low it appeared to have no effect

CQC-1 One True Flag

• Thanks to some groundbreaking military research into pointier flag tips, the flag can now be proudly planted directly into enemies—dead or alive—ensuring the eternal colors of Super Earth are never tainted, only quenched by the blood of its foes. Absolute Democracy

Primary weapons

AR-32 Pacifier

• Stun duration increased from 1.5 to 3 sec
• Starting magazines increased from 5 to 6
• Max amount of magazines increased from 7 to 8
• Slight increase in stun value applied to enemies

SMG-72 Pummeler

• Stun duration increased from 1.5 to 3 sec
• Slight increase in stun value applied to enemies

ARC-12 Blitzer

• Slight increase in stun value applied to enemies

R-2124 Constitution

• Bayonet stagger strength increased from 20 to 25

R-2 Amendment

• Bayonet stagger strength increased from 20 to 25

Sidearms

P-92 Warrant

• Now also locks-on to Large sized enemies

Throwables

G-109 Urchin

• Stagger strength increased from 0 to 50
• It now staggers and affects Large sized enemies

G-10 Incendiary

• The amount of fuel has been increased in the grenade, resulting in longer-lasting fire duration

G-13 Incendiary impact

• The amount of fuel has been increased in the grenade, resulting in a longer-lasting fire duration

Stratagems

A/FLAM-40 Flame sentry

• Fire damage resistance increased from 0 to 95%
• Cooldown reduced from 150 to 100 sec

GL-52 De-Escalator

• Slight increase in stun value applied to enemies

Boosters

Firebomb Hellpod

• Now affects the Hellpods default explosion as well
• Stagger strength decreased from 80 to 15 to prevent ragdolling players
• Demolition strength decreased from 40 to 20 because we now correctly also additively apply the normal Hellpod explosion

Stun Pods

• Now affects the Hellpods default explosion as well
• Stagger strength decreased from 80 to 15 to prevent ragdolling players
• Demolition strength decreased from 40 to 20 because we now correctly also additively apply the normal Hellpod explosion

Enemies

General

• It’s now easier to put Large to Massive sized enemies on fire

Terminids

Warrior

• Damage needed to gib Warriors increased from 500 to 750 damage
• This is how much damage is needed to explode the body without leaving a corpse behind

Automatons

Scout strider

• Legs armor decreased from 3 to 2
• Legs durable resistance has been increased

Illuminates

Overseer variants

• Unarmored Torso healthzone armor decreased from 2 to 1

🔧 Fixes

Weapons Stratagems & Boosters

• Fixed an issue with the R-2124 Constitution playing audio during the wrong instances
• Fixed an issue with the draw and holster speed with the Gunslinger Armor Passive
• Fixed an issue with ranged weapon grips after dropping the Entrenchment Tool

Enemies

• Fixed an issue where status effect damage were attempting to apply more times than intended

Missions

• Fixed an issue that prevented stratagems from working correctly on Terminate Illegal Broadcast objectives
• Fixed an issue with bad enemy pathing on military uplink objectives
• Fixed an issue for the terminal and drop off point, where they became inaccessible during the Retrieve Recon Craft Intel objective

Miscellaneous Fixes

• Fixed an issue in first person view where some armors resulted in visible obstructions around the shoulder while using a high Field Of View
• Fixed an issue during map generation that could result in missing terrain features
• Fixed fall animations occasionally playing before victory poses
• Extended some fonts to handle Bengali characters in player names
• Fixed an error that caused some enemy models to appear in lower quality
• Fixed an issue to prevent accidentally triggering jump packs or climbing on supply pods while using the interact button on controller
• Fixed an issue where exiting the chat was leaving players unarmed
• Fixed an issue with aiming during the draw emote
• Fixed issues when exiting First Person View using emotes

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.

The only officially licensed John Wick video game is being removed from sale just six years after launch.

Bithell Games’ well-received John Wick Hex launched in October 2019. It’s a fast-paced, action-oriented strategy game “that makes you think and strike like John Wick.” John Wick, of course, is the hugely popular action hero made famous by Keanu Reeves.

Fast forward six years and John Wick Hex is set for the digital scrapheap. In an update directed at the game’s community, publisher Big Fan Games (which is part of Devolver Digital) said John Wick Hex will be removed from sale on all platforms beginning July 17, 2025.

After July 17, existing owners of John Wick Hex will still be able to access the game via their digital libraries across PC and console, and of course physical copies will continue to work on console. However, new purchases of John Wick Hex will not be possible, regardless of platform or storefront.

Big Fan Games failed to say why John Wick Hex was being removed from sale, but it seems likely it’s the result of the expiration of its licence with John Wick rights holder Lionsgate Entertainment. IGN has asked Big Fan for comment.

The expiration of a licence is one of the main reasons video games end up being pulled from storefronts; you see it most often with video games that have licensed music. It happened to Alan Wake, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake trailers, and Spec Ops: The Line, to name but a few. Video game preservationists often call for video game companies to do more to keep their products alive when this happens. Back in 2018, Rockstar replaced Grand Theft Auto IV song licenses that had expired after the end of a 10-year deal.

As for Bithell Games, it released Tron: Catalyst last month. The game was developed in collaboration with Disney and Pixar Games, and is set within the world of Tron.

And as for John Wick, he recently cameoed in spinoff Ballerina, and John Wick 5, once again starring Keanu Reeves, is in development, although we’re not sure when it will come out. Director Chad Stahelski recently said he’s still trying to work out how to make Keanu Reeves in John Wick 5 make sense given the ending of 4. Meanwhile, Keanu Reeves reportedly pays a company a few thousand dollars a month to get the likes of TikTok and Meta to take down imitators.

Lionsgate has confirmed it has a John Wick AAA video game in the works, although it has said nothing about it.

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.