At the most recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo fans were blessed with the news that not one, not two, but three modern Resident Evil games would be coming to Nintendo Switch 2: Village, Requiem, and Biohazard. But according to Requiem’s developers, this wasn’t always the plan. In fact, the team didn’t originally plan to bring anything to the Switch 2 at all.
Speaking to me at Tokyo Game Show, producer Masato Kumazawa explains the story of how the Nintendo Switch 2 ended up with the three most modern Resident Evil games on their way to the system:
The Switch 2 hadn’t been announced when we started planning this game [Requiem], so of course it wasn’t in the original plan. When the Switch 2 was announced we were able to start testing developing games for it, and we thought it would be great if we could bring the Resident Evil series to this platform. We started off with internally porting Resident Evil: Village to see if it would work well on the hardware, and it looked really great, so that gave us the confidence to add a Switch 2 version of Reqiuem to the plans, and that led us to the recent announcement where we confirmed not only Reqiuem was coming, but 7 and 8 would also be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 at the same time.
It’s no surprise that Kumazawa is gassing up the Switch 2 port of his own game, but I played a brief section of Resident Evil: Requiem at Tokyo Game Show in handheld mode on the platform and…yeah, it looks pretty good! I asked him as a follow-up if there was anything unique about the Switch 2 version of the game, and his response that no, there isn’t, “in a good way.” It’s just Requiem, on the Switch 2, able to be taken on the go. And though my sampling of this experience was brief, I’m optimistic from that short demo that Kumazawa’s not just all talk here.
We previewed Resident Evil: Requiem just last month, and you can read our impressions of what we’ve seen so far right here. You can also check out the rest of my discussion with Nakanishi and Kumazawa, including continued efforts to get them to say something, anything, about Leon Kennedy, and why the pair are struggling to figure out what qualifies as “scary” after all these years. We’ve also previously spoken to the pair on a number of other topics, such as Raccoon City’s return and the game’s new monster design.
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.
When I walked into my interview with Resident Evil: Reiquem director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazama, I came equipped with a big pile of questions about a character who, as far as we know officially, is nowhere to be found: Leon Kennedy.
I had these questions prepared because the day before my interview, Capcom aired its Capcom Online Program showcase to coincide with Tokyo Game Show. And to eager Resident Evil fans, me, and many of my coworkers, it seemed obvious that we were finally going to get a new trailer revealing Leon’s official precense in the game, as a playable character or otherwise.
But that’s not what happened. We did see a new trailer, but no Leon. And a preview build available at TGS, which I went hands-on with after my interview, was similarly bereft of Leon.
When I brought up the strangeness of my expectations and the resulting Leon Kennedy drought to Nakanishi and Kumazawa, they just laughed.
“We will take on board this feedback,” Kumazawa said.
Fan clamor for Leon has been going on for months now, ever since the game’s first trailer appeared to contain multiple teases for, at minimum, a Leon appearance. But rumors have since grown, with some suggesting Leon might show up in the game as a secondary playable protagonist alongside newcomer Grace Ashcroft. Nakanishi and Kumazawa have attempted to brush those rumors aside, saying that Kennedy is a poor match for Reqiuem’s less action-heavy tone, but the fervor has persisted anyway, and the two are stopping short of saying outright that we won’t get to control him at all, even for just a little bit.
Given all this discussion, I asked the pair if they had any concerns that all the Leon nonsense was distracting from their attempt to position Grace as the game’s star. But they’re not worried. “We’re always happy that people are interested in the game enough to speculate so much,” Kumazawa said.
If, then, the pair are so insistent that Grace is the new face of this Resident Evil story, could Reqiuem server as a sort of passing-of-the-torch between old and new Resident Evil? Not quite, Kumazawa says.
“Although we don’t have firm plans for the future storylines of later titles in the series, I still think passing the torch is probably going a bit too far, because we’re not just going to wipe the slate clean completely in terms of the series lore and history. But at the same time I don’t want to always have to just go back to the well of existing characters to create new games, which was part of the motivation to introduce Grace.”
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.
The long-awaited Mega Evolution era has finally arrived in Pokémon TCG following the Japanese releases of Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia in August 2025. With their towering HP values, spectacular full-art designs, and that notorious 3-Prize rule when a Mega ex is knocked out, these cards are already shaking up both the collector market and early deck-building experiments in Japan, and we expect the same to happen worldwide, too.
Like every major set, certain chase cards have risen to the top. That’s whether for playability, stunning artwork, or simply the popularity of their featured trainer or Pokémon. Below, we’ve ranked ten of the most expensive Mega Evolution cards in today’s market on our favourite dedicated marketplace, TCGPlayer, starting from the lowest on the chart and working up to the crown jewel.
The original Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia expansions have already delivered some of the most eye-catching and valuable cards of the year, with the 10 most valuable of which from the combined Mega Evolution set can be found below, for those who don’t feel like scrolling through the whole larger list.
However, with the set only just being released, TCGplayer’s exact most valuable card rankings are changing rapidly, due to continuous market price changes. So, be sure to also check out the live page showing the most expensive Mega Evolution Pokémon cards on TCGplayer right now.
Still, as for our top 10, from dazzling behemoths like Mega Venusaur ex and Mega Gardevoir ex, to nostalgic Special Art Rares of fan-favourite trainers like Lillie’s Determination, collectors are still scrambling to secure them before prices climb higher. Here’s a quick look at the ten of the most expensive cards currently dominating the Mega Evolution market.
10. Mega Venusaur ex – 155/132 (Ultra Rare)
Mega Venusaur ex cards in general thrive on endurance, and Mega Evolution’s is no different. Solar Transfer lets you freely move Grass Energy around, while Jungle Dump delivers 240 damage and heals 30, making it tough to topple.
5ban Graphics’ artwork reinforces that bulk, with Mega Venusaur ex crouched under vibrant petals in a pose that radiates raw power. Both a sturdy option in Grass decks and a visually commanding card, it’s a sought-after Ultra Rare.
9. Mega Absol ex – 161/132 (Ultra Rare)
Absol has always had a cult following since its debut in Gen III , and this new Mega form captures that same aura of menace. Mega Absol Ex’s Ultra Rare gives us an eye-catching, almost gothic rendering, making it look like it has stepped out of a noir film, with its mix of black and yellow tones.
Competitively, its Terminal Period attack is an intriguing win-condition attack, knocking out foes that line up perfectly on damage counters, while Claw of Darkness offers raw power plus disruption. Though it’s a little clunky in the current fast-paced meta, Absol’s fan appeal ensures this one holds value.
8. Vulpix – 138/132 (Illustration Rare)
Gameplay-wise, Vulpix won’t shake the meta with Stampede and Combustion, which are serviceable but underpowered. What makes this card stand out is its Illustration Rare art by saino misaki, showing the fox Pokémon curled up by a fireplace in a warmly lit, rustic room.
It’s a cosy-looking slice-of-life card that collectors are eager to chase, proving once again that atmosphere and nostalgia can lift even a low-power card into a high-value slot.
7. Marshadow – 146/132 (Illustration Rare)
Marshadow is one of the more competitively promising Illustration Rares. Shadowy Side Kick deals respectable damage, and its effect of blanking damage to Marshadow on the following turn if it takes a KO can stall opponents effectively. Altogether, this card straddles the line between competitive tech and collector gem.
6. Bulbasaur – 133/132 (Illustration Rare)
Already a major seller amongst Pokémon TCG collectors on TCG player, this Mega Evolution Bulbasaur’s Bind Down is a deceptively disruptive move, trapping your opponent’s Active Pokémon in place while chipping away at their board state.
This utility, combined with Bulbasaur’s nostalgic allure as the original Grass starter, gives it both competitive and casual appeal. Artist mashu delivers bold, swirling colours that make Bulbasaur appear almost dreamlike, enhancing its chase factor. Along with being playable, it’s one of the most visually striking cards in the set.
5. Lillie’s Determination – 169/132 (Ultra Rare)
Although not as dazzling as its more artistic counterpart below, this UR of Lillie’s Determination is already one of the hottest chase cards of the Pokémon TCG’s Mega Evolution set. Atsushi Furusawa’s stunning full-art design captures Lillie with delicate, vibrant detail, and the card effect remains a flexible draw option.
While it may not dominate the competitive scene, it is almost guaranteed to headline binders and display cases. It can be easy for newcomers to underestimate Lillie’s immense popularity, but that doesn’t stop its position near the very top of the set’s value list.
4. Ivysaur – 134/132 (Illustration Rare)
Razor Leaf offers a reliable 60 damage for two Grass Energy, positioning Ivysaur as a useful bridge to Mega Venusaur in dedicated Grass decks. The artwork, again by mashu, captures Ivysaur leaping forward with fierce determination against a backdrop of glowing foliage and vibrant petals.
As part of the full Kanto starter line, collectors are eager to build the evolutionary trio, and its combination of steady damage and stunning visuals cements its rising market value.
3. Mega Venusaur ex – 177/132 (Special Illustration Rare)
Our third-most valuable card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s new Mega Evolution set, Mega Venusaur ex is a true battlefield tank, with Solar Transfer enabling seamless Energy redistribution and Jungle Dump delivering 240 damage while healing itself.
In terms of gameplay, this makes it one of the most flexible and durable attackers in the set. The SAR artwork by mashu is extraordinary, depicting a lush, chaotic jungle scene bursting with colour, where Venusaur looms as a dominant presence. The synergy of competitive utility and jaw-dropping art is what has pushed this card into the top tier of value.
Few Trainers hold the same sway in the secondary market as Lillie. Not only does the floral artwork of Lillie’s Determination by Atsushi Furusawa give off endless warmth and nostalgia, the actual effect of this Trainer card is great as well: refreshing your hand with seven new cards or even eight when behind, presenting real utility in control and comeback strategies.
On top, Lillie’s sheer popularity, though seems to be additionally driving the price tag into the around-$200 stratosphere, just as we’ve seen with her earlier Sun & Moon prints.
1. Mega Gardevoir ex – 178/132 (Special Illustration Rare)
Priced at over $500 at the time of writing, Mega Gardevoir ex stands as the Pokémon TCG’s crown jewel of the Mega Evolution set. Whilst Overflowing Wishes accelerates Psychic Energy across your Bench, Mega Symphonia converts that fuel into devastating damage.
Raita Kazama’s museum-quality artwork, full of pastel tones and floral elegance, perfectly matches the card’s grace and strength. It’s this union of competitive power and striking style that cements this beautiful piece of cardboard as the set’s most coveted prize.
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Over the last few decades, soccer (or football, if you’re not from the US like me) hasn’t changed much. Sure, there are new rules, improved tactics, and so much more money involved in the modern game – but at its heart, it’s still all about kicking a ball into a goal more than the other team. So how does a series like EA Sports FC improve each year when the sport it’s emulating isn’t introducing massive changes? For me, it’s about quality-of-life updates, and FC 26 has those in spades. It’s filled with small adjustments that make this one of the best versions of the beautiful game in the last several years, from stickier dribbling and crisper passing to smarter goalkeeper positioning. Unfortunately, the goodwill those changes garner have also been undercut by some of the most aggressive microtransactions EA has ever introduced. So while FC 26 is inching in the right direction, that progress is primarily kept to the pitch.
A phenomenal example of this is the new gameplay presets. In the past, everyone was using the same gameplay style, whether diving into competitive games in Ultimate Team or trying to win the league against CPU opponents in Manager Mode. This year, EA has split things between two different presets: Competitive and Authentic. With the Competitive preset, you can expect the fast-paced action and smarter AI teammates that you might be used to from previous FC/FIFA games. Meanwhile, Authentic will feel more realistic to what you see on the real-life pitch every weekend. Players are slower, and you need to use your tactical intelligence to get into scoring position.
The most important part of this change is that these two options do not impact each other. That means EA can tune Competitive mode however is needed without changing the balance of Authentic mode, something they couldn’t do in previous versions of FC. People come to FC 26’s various modes for different reasons: Career Mode players want a game that plays as close to real-life as possible, while Ultimate Team and Clubs players want fair and balanced online competition. Those two ideals have sometimes worked against each other in the past, so giving us two totally separate gameplay styles is a great way to serve both communities.
What’s strange about the implementation is that the Authentic preset is restricted to offline modes only. That means you can’t even use it in your Squad Battles matches despite them being the only single-player content in Ultimate Team. It’s something I hope is added in the future, as it feels odd not to include all of the single-player content by default, especially when it does exactly that with the new version of the Season Pass.
This might be the worst version of a Season Pass in a sports game yet.
Before diving into some of the other positive changes, let’s go over that Season Pass, as it’s one of the biggest points of contention for me. Last year, EA introduced a paid Season Pass into FC 25 toward the end of the cycle, so we knew this was coming, but seeing it drop on day one does sting. You can ignore it and stick with the free version of the pass, or even earn enough in-game currency to buy it without spending real-world money, but I would argue that this might be the worst version of a Season Pass we’ve seen in a sports game yet.
The issue with FC 26’s Season Pass is that you’re not just earning rewards for Ultimate Team, where people are already (unfortunately) conditioned to spend money. You’re also earning a ton of rewards for Clubs, Player Career, and Manager Career. The latter is where things really get icky, because one of the big draws for FC 26 is that Icons and Heroes are finally available in Manager Mode. For the first time ever, you can take classic players like Luis Figo, Toni Kroos, and Julie Foudy and put them into your Manager Mode saves. It should be a revelation, but instead, EA made the strange decision to lock many of these players behind the Season Pass.
There are several reasons this is frustrating. The first is that you probably won’t be able to acquire enough XP for them by playing either Manager or Player Career Mode alone. EA might implement more ways for non-Ultimate Team players to earn XP, but with how things are currently constructed, you’ll need to dive into that lootbox opening simulator or open your wallet if you want to finish enough of the pass to claim Career Mode rewards like Gianfranco Zola, Miroslav Klose, and Park Ji-Sung. Even as someone who primarily plays Ultimate Team, this change sucks.
And keep in mind, this is only the first Season Pass. If FC 26 continues to lock Icons and Heroes behind future passes, we’ll likely see desirable players like Ronaldinho, Toni Kroos, and Johan Cruyff tucked behind a paywall as well. It’s an unfortunate situation that reeks of EA trying to get even more money out of its playerbase than usual. It’s bad enough that Ultimate Team players are being milked dry, but now you can’t even enjoy your offline Career Mode without feeling the pull to spend money. Forcing this Season Pass on everyone feels like a bridge too far, even for EA.
Most of the modes feature fun updates to their tried and true formulas.
What makes this situation all the more painful is that most of the modes feature fun updates on their tried and true formulas this year. For example, the new Manager Live Hub lets you dive into specific challenges and earn new jerseys for your club. These feel like the next step toward a historical mode like the Negro Leagues option in MLB The Show, as you’ll be challenged to recreate moments like Jamal Musiala’s double with Bayern Munich or take a mid-level club like SK Rapid or Strasbourg to European glory. The classic version of Career Mode is still there, but Manager Live gives you a rotating list of challenges that will test your skills in fun ways on and off the pitch.
Even Ultimate Team is home to several small yet meaningful changes. Everything from the return of tournaments to the ability to choose the cosmetics on your Evolutions feels carefully crafted to deliver the improvements fans have been asking after for years. EA has been actively working on making its online play more stable as well, and so far I haven’t run into many server issues. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still run into slowdown at peak times, but it’s never felt unplayable.
Unfortunately, EA also promised a slower power curve in Ultimate Team, and while it’s still early days, all that’s meant so far is that the mode has become even more pay-to-win than usual. Rewards from every mode have been nerfed, and slowing things down like this seems well-intentioned on paper, as it would theoretically allow your cards to stay viable for longer. But you can still buy the best card packs in the store for the chance to get top-end players, so those intentions look a lot less noble when they are placed next to $30 lottery tickets that’ll help you compete at the highest level right away. In the past, if you didn’t pay with money, you could pay with time and effort. That’s still true if you want to work the Transfer Market to make Coins, but average players are going to be stuck firmly in the rearview mirror until they open their checkbook. B
Elsewhere, Clubs have probably seen the least changes, though the Archetype system is a nifty new form of progression. I’m not much of a Clubs player but, to my untrained eye, the ability to pick a famous player from soccer’s past to emulate makes it a little easier to stick to a role and provides a better way to gauge forward momentum.. While a meta will surely settle over the mode in the coming weeks, it’s a change that has piqued my interest enough to make me wish I had a group of 10 friends to play with consistently.
Thankfully, the on-pitch gameplay might be better than it’s ever been during the current console generation. Part of that is thanks to the split between Authentic and Competitive, but it’s more thanthat alone, as FC 26 is just generally more responsive than ever. There are dozens of ways this manifests, but the thing you’ll notice most is left-stick dribbling. The ball feels sticky to your feet, letting you make microadjustments as you dribble down the pitch. With the extra control, you’re better able to set up passes and find lines to cut through the defense.
Speaking of passing, everything is a bit crisper this year. You can’t ping up and down the field with no-look passes, but you can use positioning to tiki-taka your opponent to death while you look for an opening. Speed is still king on the wing, but in the middle of the pitch, it’s all about controlling the flow and looking for that one incisive pass to get in front of the goal for a shot. If that sounds like FC 26 could become a score-fest, especially online, with the faster pace of Competitive mode, you’d be partially correct. Defending can be difficult. Mistimed tackles will leave you even further out of position than usual due to the dribbling improvements, and your AI teammates tend to run out of position already.
However, EA has given goalkeepers an AI boost to help offset that. Your shot-stopper isn’t perfect, but they’re much more intelligent with their positioning. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still see a few weird bounces here or there – that’s soccer, after all. But goalkeepers are much less frustrating in FC 26. Not only do they set up better to close off shooting angles, but they’re better at punching and pushing the ball out of danger. Instead of blocking a shot directly into the path of an attacker, they’ll send it wide to give your defense a second to catch your breath. FC 26, especially in online play, is much more offensive than the real-life version of the sport, but goalkeepers will at least keep you honest this year.
EA is reportedly closing in on a $50 billion deal to go private in what could become the biggest leveraged buyout of all time.
Details on what could be a monumental shift for the Madden and Battlefield publisher come from a Wall Street Journal report. The site’s sources say investors include private-equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Affinity Partners, an investment firm led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also said to be in the mix.
Should the alleged deal be made official, an announcement could be made as soon as Monday. EA had a market value of about $43 billion before Wall Street Journal’s story was published. That jumped nearly 15% to around $48 billion since word of a move to go private first arrived.
A $50 billion deal to remove EA from the public stock exchange would be about $18 billion more than the $31.8 billion buyout of Texas power company TXU, which occurred in 2007. Should the EA deal go through, it would likely stand as the largest leveraged buyout of all time (without adjusting for inflation).
PIF’s supposed involvement in the buyout would see Saudi Arabia strengthen its already deep roots in the gaming industry. It currently has a 10% stake in EA, and in 2022, it became one of the largest Nintendo shareholders with 5.01% ownership. Pokémon Go developer Niantic also announced that it had sold its library of games to mobile games maker Scopely, which is controlled by Savvy Games and PIF, earlier this year.
Silver Lake, meanwhile, has partial ownership in game engine tech company, Unity. Should the deal with EA go through, it would see PIF, Affinity, and Silver Lake as new owners as EA goes private.
The publisher’s list of recently released games includes a number of EA Sports titles, such as EA Sports FC 26 and Madden NFL 26, as well as Skate. Next month, EA developer DICE will release Battlefield 6, which has been poised a particularly important moment both for the series and the publisher.
IGN has reached out to EA for comment.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Wizards of the Coast is keeping its line of Magic: The Gathering crossovers cards going with the announcement of three new card sets: Marvel Super Heroes, The Hobbit, and Star Trek.
Wizards of the Coast announced its latest trading card collaborations at a MagicCon: Atlanta panel today. Along with updates to the base MTG universe, the show has featured reveals for expansions in its line of Marvel and Middle-earth sets, as well as a completely new set of cards featuring familiar faces from Star Trek.
The Marvel Super Heroes set is the first bombshell of today’s show and comes with the promise of a June 2026 release date, which will be revealed at a later time. Although we’ll have to wait to see each card and its abilities (and hopefully more Infinity Stones), Wizards of the Coast shared a first look at key art featuring an army of Marvel heroes and villains.
It comes hot off the heels of the Spider-Man set, which launched today. The Marvel Super Heroes MTG cards will take things a step further, with the art featuring Thanos, Ultron, Black Panther, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Squirrel Girl, and many, many more.
Details on The Hobbit MTG set, which follows the monumental release of The Lord of the Rings Magic set in 2023, are quite a bit lighter. We know The Hobbit cards will drop August 2026, with key art featuring the likes of Gollum and Gandalf, but we’ll have to wait a while for any additional updates.
Finally, there’s the long-rumored Star Trek set, which is set to take MTG players to new worlds November 2026. This is uncharted territory for Magic fans, with key art revealing cards based on characters like William Shatner’s Captain Kirk and Gowron, son of M’Rel.
Including the newly announced Lorwyn Eclipsed (January), Secrets of Strixhaven (April), and Reality Fracture (October) sets, as well as an unannounced Universes Beyond set (March), MTG players can currently expect seven new sets to drop throughout the year. Meanwhile, more expansions in the MTG Universes Beyond line of sets should come as no surprise. The recently released Final Fantasy set, which is also prepped to receive new cards this December, managed to be quite the success for Wizards of the Coast when it launched earlier this year. Featuring names like Cloud, Vivi, Noctis, Sephiroth, and more, the set managed to rake in $200 million in just one day.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Marvel’s Spider-Man set for Magic: The Gathering has finally swung into stores (after its recent prerelease), and the unique combination of comic book icons and fun new play designs is making it pretty popular so far.
So popular, in fact, that one rare card has already sold for $10,000, while others are also making a strong case for collectors themselves, tallying in the hundreds for market value. That’s at least for now, as these values could still change wildly in the coming weeks.
Yet, suppose you were hoping to snag these rare cards without dropping a fortune, tough luck, as standalone prices on these bad boys likely won’t change that much.
Collector Boosters were the only real shot to pick them up, and they’ve already vanished from shelves. The only ones left are with online resellers, who are asking over $1,000 for a box of just 12 packs.
So if you’re opening packs this week (particularly if you were lucky and snagged some Collector Boosters before the rush), these are some of the priciest cards to look out for, courtesy of data from our friends at TCGPlayer.
10 – Gwenom, Remorseless (Extended Art)
Kicking off the list with a banger, Gwenom, Remorseless is a Venomized version of Gwen. It’s 4/4 with Deathtouch and lifelink, which lets you spend life to play extra cards from the top of your library.
It’s a neat idea, and one I’m curious to see players build around. The card is around $37 right now.
9 – Gwen Stacy/Ghost-Spider (Borderless)
Sticking with Gwen, but a much less spooky version, this borderless card shows our heroine relaxing before flipping into action against Electro.
8 – Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man (Borderless)
Another transforming Spidey card, this version of Miles Morales powers up other cards and then transforms into a camouflaging web-slinger with first strike and haste.
He’s sitting at around $40, but you can expect to pay $70 for the foil.
7 – The Soul Stone
We’ll see this card again very soon, but The Soul Stone is not only a piece of Marvel history – its card is exciting in its own right.
To play it, you’ll exile a card in order to trigger its ‘Harness’ ability, which essentially brings a creature card back from your Graveyard every turn. It’s going for around $85.
6 – Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man (Borderless)
This version of Miles Morales is the same as the prior one on this list in terms of play functionality, but it has an awesome reverse that looks like a comic book cover.
It’s pricier, too, currently fetching close to $150.
5 – Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man (Borderless)
He had to show up eventually, right? This card looks like the iconic moment Peter Parker gets bit by a spider on one side, and his first appearance alongside Marvel’s Fantastic Four on the other.
It’s currently sitting at around $200, and could climb.
4 – Eddie Brock/Venom, Lethal Protector (Borderless)
This Eddie Brock/Venom, Lethal Protector card is another one with a comic-book cover on the flipside, and the iconic antihero is fetching a mean price at $200.
As for gameplay, Venom lets you sacrifice cards to draw and play other spells, potentially shifting your board state pretty quickly.
3 – The Soul Stone (Borderless)
Yes, there’s a less flashy version of The Soul Stone, but this Thanos artwork looks amazing. The Borderless version of the card is currently going for around $4,000 on TCGPlayer, but the site lists its market value as closer to $1,000.
2 – Spectacular Spider-Man (Various)
The Spectacular Spider-Man cards from this set were bound to be popular, both because the card is great and its artwork is awesome, but if you have a textured foil one, you might be in for a windfall.
This powerful card is up for big money in its borderless format as we’ve covered already, but the Soul Stone’s Cosmic Foil variant is even harder to find. As I mentioned, one has reportedly already sold for $10,000, which just about buys a box of Collector Boosters these days.
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.
Dying Light: The Beast has rolled out a hotfix to ensure all players who pre-ordered the game can get their Kyle Crane Legacy Skin. This means that if you’ve updated to version 1.2.2, you only have to check your in-game stash to find it.
It follows a number of other brief updates deployed since the standalone zombie game released on September 18, most recently Hotfix 1.2.1 which addresse the “indoor rain and disturbed day/night cycle” issue and similarly popped the APEX Car Skin into the in-game stash for all who pre-ordered the game or own it through the Dying Light 2 Ultimate Edition.
Techland had spotted the weather abnormalities shortly after launch, promising players it was “aware that you’re experiencing issues with Indoor Rain and the Disturbed Day/Night Cycle, and fixing them is our top priority.” But because the bug only appeared in “rare situations, it takes a lot of extra testing.”
Commenters on the post expressed relief that the hotfix had been sent out, although some are still asking for more information about ray tracing, stuttering, frame drops, and memory leaks.
In Dying Light: The Beast you play Kyle Crane, a legendary hero who breaks free after years of brutal experiments. It’s currently sitting on a ‘Very Positive’ Steam review rating, and secured a 7/10 in our recent review, in which we called it “a goofy, bloody sequel with a monstrous twist, but doesn’t do much else to mix things up.”
Dying Light: The Beast Hotfix 1.2.2 Patch Notes:
If you’ve pre-ordered the game, this update makes your Kyle Crane Legacy Skin automatically granted from the server. After updating, check your in-game stash – if it’s not there immediately, it should appear shortly.
Dying Light: The Beast Hotfix 1.2.1 Patch notes:
The fix addresses the issues with Indoor Rain and the Disturbed Day/Night Cycle.
Once the hotfix will be live on all platforms, the APEX Car Skin will be waiting in the in-game stash for all of you who pre-ordered the game or own it through the Dying Light 2 Ultimate Edition.
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.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 director Naoki Hamaguchi has assured fans that despite Square Enix admitting last year that Rebirth “did not meet expectations,” the second part of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy has been “doing very well” on both PC and PS5, and the team has been able to channel that success into a “high-quality third instalment.”
“The second entry, FFVII Rebirth, has been doing very well on both PS5 and PC,” Hamaguchi told Automaton. “I know some fans have expressed concerns, but please rest assured, we’ll be able to deliver a proper, high-quality third instalment.”
Hamaguchi also took the opportunity to assure the community that development on Final Fantasy 7 Part 3 is going “extremely well,” adding: “The game is shaping up nicely. A lot of the content is already playable, and the game’s direction and form are firmly set in place. Right now, the team is united around refining everything.”
And though he was still being a little coy with the details, in a separate interview with German outlet JPGames, Hamaguchi revealed that the “key words […] that underpin the design philosophy and then the theme for each game” were “reunion” for Remake, and “bonds” for Rebirth. The third instalment also has a key term, but Hamaguchi’s keeping that to himself for now.
“In terms of development [of Part 3], we’re working on that right now,” he added. “We’ve got builds running where you can actually experience what that theme is through the gameplay. And we know where we’re going with it. It’s looking like it’s going in the right direction, and we’ll keep working on it and make it even better. So hopefully in the near future we’ll be able to reveal some of that.
“And yeah, this is going to be the climax, the finale of the series. And we’re going to make it a suitable finale, a really great send-off for the game. It will be something ideally we hope will please fans, will delight the fans of this much-loved series, and really reward everyone for sticking with us to the end. So look forward to that. More information in the not too distant future. It’s all in safe hands!”
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.
Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox has asked PC gamers to wait 15 minutes for shaders to compile in the background while playing after some said this week’s update had caused increased stuttering.
The update, released September 25 (check out the patch notes here), was meant to improve Borderlands 4’s high-profile performance issues on PC, but soon after it rolled out, some players complained about stuttering.
Borderlands 4 is still on a mixed Steam review rating, with most of the negative comments revolving around PC performance. The tech experts at Digital Foundry have said their initial analysis of Borderlands 4 on PC showed significant stutter problems, and advised against running the game on its ‘Badass’ graphics setting.
Responding to the increased stutter issues reported by PC gamers, Gearbox issued a statement on social media, below, calling on players to give the looter shooter 15 minutes of gameplay to continue to compile shaders in the background, by which time those stuttering issues should resolve. If that doesn’t work, Gearbox suggested manually clearing your shader cache via your video card manufacturer’s approved method. And, if all else fails, Gearbox pointed to its support ticket process.
We’ve received reports that some players are experiencing reduced stability after downloading today’s update.
Stuttering issues should resolve over time as the shaders continue to compile in the background while playing. If you’re still experiencing issues after 15 minutes of…
As anyone who’s played Borderlands 4 on PC knows, when you first boot up the game you must wait for shaders to compile before you spawn into the virtual world. But this process doesn’t appear to catch all the shader compilation that might have to be done during gameplay, causing stutter. At least, that’s the running theory.
Meanwhile, some players are recommending traveling to certain zones in the game to brute force shaders to compile before moving on to what they actually want to do in-game.
To expand on this: quit the game once after launching and relaunch it. Now travel into a zone and back out (Idolator Sol’s or a Vault will work) this should compile a BUNCH of shaders and start improving the smoothness.
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.
