Category: IGN

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has a new update (patch 4.5) out now across all platforms, adding the hotly anticipated Neo-Volkite pistol to the game.

Saber Interactive’s explosive third-person melee / shooter set in Games Workshop’s grimdark sci-fi universe set records for a Warhammer video game upon its release in September, and has sold an impressive 4.5 million copies so far. Saber has continued to update it since, with today’s patch notes revealing yet more balance changes ahead of a larger update set to add Dark Angels cosmetics.

Let’s start with the Neo-Volkite pistol, which is a powerful thermal ray weapon that shoots lethal beams that burns enemies to ash. It’s available now for the Assault, Vanguard, and Bulwark classes, but is limited to Operations mode only. Operations is the three-player co-op focused PvE mode designed to be played long-term after the campaign is completed.

Unlike other weapons, the Neo-Volkite pistol blasts a heat ray onto your enemies, dealing accumulative thermal damage. Focusing on one enemy ramps up the damage until it generates a localized explosion for huge damage to your target and all nearby enemies.

The Neo-Volkite pistol makes its entry in the #SpaceMarine2 armoury

In Operations, blast heat rays onto your enemies, inflict accumulative damage and blow up those xenos! pic.twitter.com/HmkZEjPmBi

— Focus Entertainment (@Focus_entmt) November 12, 2024

Publisher Focus Entertainment said it’s limiting the Neo-Volkite pistol to Operations mode for now “as we continue to experiment with balancing in PvP.” It will be added to Eternal War mode in Space Marine 2’s next major update alongside a new Operations map, a new enemy, and the Dark Angels cosmetics. Until then though, you’ll be able to try it out against your friends in the Battle Barge’s Sparring Arena.

Moving on, there are a number of balance changes for Operations mode only, including buffs to the Plasma Incinerator, Bolt Sniper Rifle, Occulus Bolt Carbine, Bolt Carbine SMG, and the Auto Bolt Rifle. There are general fixes and tech improvements, too.

In September, Saber Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits told IGN how the breakout success of Space Marine 2 had “changed everything” for the company. Eagle-eyed fans have spotted the Space Marine chapter now all-but confirmed to get a cosmetic pack after the Dark Angels, too.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 4.5 patch notes:

BALANCING TWEAKS

Weapons (Operations mode only)

PLASMA INCINERATOR

👉 Slightly reduced amount of heat generated by normal and charged shots for versions:

– Master-Crafted – Alpha

– Salvation of Bakka – Alpha

– Gathalamor Crusade – Alpha

👉 Fixed a bug that would cause several versions not producing heat at all.

BOLT SNIPER RIFLE

👉 Fire rate increased from 50 to 60 rounds per minute.

👉 Headshot bonus increased from x2 to x2.5.

OCCULUS BOLT CARABINE

👉 Scope added

👉 Headshot bonus increased from x1 to x1.33

BOLT CARABINE (SMG)

👉 Adjusted damage falloff curve: Base damage increased by 50% for the first 10 meters, after that, the damage drops to the original pre-patch value.

AUTO BOLT RIFLE

👉 Max ammo increased by 1 magazine for each version.

GENERAL FIXES

– Fixed a bug causing unlocked DLC cosmetic items to get locked again after a restart.

– Fixed a bug causing the Sniper perk “Targeted Shot” to not work after swapping weapons.

– Fixed a bug causing the Sniper invisibility not getting removed after a shot in rare cases.

– Fixed a bug preventing players from muting the others in PvP.

– Fixed several perks not triggering correctly from enemy kills.

– Fixed a bug that prevented certain weapon perks from triggering correctly when reaching a specific HP threshold.

TECH IMPROVEMENTS

– Crash fixes and general stability improvements.

– Fixed server disconnects with unstable user connection.

– General connectivity improvements.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

In The Valley of Gods, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Firewatch from developer Campo Santo, was put on hold after Valve acquired the company back in 2018. Now, years later, it remains on hold, but one Valve developer has given fans a glimpse at what might have been.

Announced during the 2017 Game Awards, In The Valley of Gods is set in Egypt during the late 1920s. It stars Rashida and Zora, a pair of documentary filmmakers who accidentally made it big with a hit movie but have since seen their careers go off a cliff. They reunite years later after receiving information about the lost Tomb of Nefertiti, with a goal of reigniting their careers by documenting their trip to Egypt.

Valve visual effects developer Matt Wilde took to Bluesky to publish a six second water test created by Camp Santo before the studio’s move to Valve. It shows the player character bobbing in impressively realistic water while looking out from inside a cave at the other protagonist from a first-person perspective. “I do often tend to work on liquidy things,” Wilde said.

Matthew Wilde, the Valve developer behind the water shader for Counter-Strike 2, has shared a rare gameplay footage. It shows the water technology that was tested for In The Valley of Gods before Valve acquired the company Campo Santo. Team shelved the game not so long after… pic.twitter.com/wIs6Im8KYx

— ‎Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) November 11, 2024

That’s a reference to Wilde’s work on Valve’s 2020 virtual reality exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which caught attention for ultra realistic liquid in glass bottles. More recently, Wilde worked on Counter-Strike 2’s water and effects.

Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg

— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020

Wilde’s In The Valley of Gods clip obviously sparks questions about whether Camp Santo / Valve will one day return to the game. “To fans looking forward to In The Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the optimistic ‘2019’ at the end of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be accurate,” Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin said when it was announced that In The Valley of Gods had been put on hold.

“In the end, Valve Time makes fools of us all. But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other projects at Valve, including Half-Life: Alyx.

“So to answer your question as of today, In The Valley of Gods development is on hold — but it certainly feels like a project people can and may return to. And when that happens, we’ll find an exciting way to let fans know.”

It’s worth noting that In The Valley of Gods’ Steam page is still live — with a December 2029 release window. Perhaps that will end up being true.

Image credit: Matthew Wilde / Bluesky.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Hideaki Itsuno, famed former director of the Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma series, has joined Tencent Games subsidiary LightSpeed Studios.

Itsuno, who left Capcom earlier this year after over 30 years at the Japanese games company, announced the formation of a new developer called LightSpeed Japan Studio, with offices in Tokyo and Osaka. Most exciting for fans, however, is Itsuno’s plan to focus on developing original AAA action games, something he built his career doing at Capcom.

Itsuno’s long list of credits includes the likes of Rival Schools, Power Stone, the Devil May Cry series, and most recently, the Dragon’s Dogma games. He was the director of Dragon’s Dogma 2, which launched earlier this year and goes down as Itsuno’s final game for Capcom.

Overwatch 2 is taking a page from WoW Classic and returning to the beginning, announcing a brand-new Overwatch Classic mode featuring the original 21 heroes and 12 maps from the 2016 release.

The nostalgia mode, which launches Tuesday and continues over the course of three weeks, will feature key moments from Overwatch history, Blizzard says. It’ll begin with the original 1.0 version from launch, with no limits on which characters you can pick, meaning you can theoretically have a team full of tanks or Torbjörns. And yes, it will be 6v6, though Blizzard says it’s unrelated to its experiments with bringing the format back to Overwatch 2.

“Overwatch Classic is separate from our broader 6v6 plans. Overwatch Classic is meant to be a nostalgic experience, taking heroes, players, and the game back to moments in the game’s history for limited time events,” Blizzard explains in its official FAQ about the event.

Overwatch Classic’s gameplay will largely match up with the original game’s mechanics, with characters regaining their original abilities and Ultimates charging up much more quickly. However, maps like Dorado, Numbani, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar will retain their changes from Overwatch 2, including match timing and how elevator platforms work.

As the event progresses, Blizzard plans to progressively layer in changes, including single hero limits. Future updates will return to “popular moments in the game’s history,” with Blizzard citing the 2017 Moth Meta — in which Mercy was one of the most powerful characters — and the triple-tank, triple-support style of “Goats” as two examples.

Potentially the best Black Friday deal on a high-end OLED gaming TV is already avaialble. Right now, Best Buy, Amazon, and Samsung are offering the 65″ Samsung S90C 4K OLED Smart TV for just $999.99 after an absolutely massive $1,600 price drop. This is an excellent TV to pair up with your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. In fact, some critics rate the S90C as a better gaming TV than the LG C4. RTINGS writes that “the LG (C4) is noticeably dimmer in Game Mode while the Samsung (S90C) isn’t, making the Samsung the better choice for gamers.”

Note: The best vendor to get this TV from is Samsung because you get a bonus $50 Best Buy gift card. However, most zip codes show this TV is out of stock. If so, then get it from either Amazon or Best Buy.

65″ Samsung S90C 4K OLED Smart TV for $999.99

The Samsung S90C is a 2023 model (superseded by the S90D for 2024) and was considered one of the best OLED TVs on the market last year, superior to even the LG C3. The S90C uses Samsung’s proprietary quantum dot (QD) OLED panel. QD OLED panels are brighter than traditional OLED panels without losing the color accuracy, range, and wide-viewing angles that OLEDs are known for. Compared to a traditional LED LCD TV, an OLED TV offers superior image quality, near-infinite blacks, near-infinite contrast ratio, and near-instantaneous response times.

OLED technology aside, the Samsung S90C also has all the features you’d want in a gaming TV. It has a native 120Hz panel that can be pushed to as high as 144Hz (rare in a 2023 TV) as well as four total HDMI 2.1 ports for running 4K at 120Hz on a PS5 or Xbox Series X. The S90C also supports variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode. This is an especially good complement to the Playstation 5 Pro console that was just released.

Should You Buy Now or Wait for Black Friday?

Although this is an extremely good discount for one of our favorite gaming TVs, you may be wondering if you should wait until Black Friday to make a purchase. Black Friday 2024 will definitely have more options available, but if you’re looking for a 65″ OLED TV, this is an outstanding deal and we doubt you’ll find anyhthing better. It’s the best TV deal right now and I bet it will be one of the best TV deals for Black Friday as well.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The Persona 5 battle theme, officially called Last Surprise, has been nominated for a Grammy award thanks to a cover by jazz orchestra The 8-Bit Big Band.

Charlie Rosen, who arranged the cover alongside Jake Silverman, celebrated the nomination on X/Twitter. “Just nominated for my fourth Grammy in a row,” he said. “So thrilled to be nominated alongside [Silverman] for our co-arrangement of Last Surprise from Persona 5 for The 8-Bit Big Band. Long live video game music.”

Last Surprise has been nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals and is up against the likes of John Legend’s Always Come Back, Willow’s Big Feelings, and more. The winner will be announced on February 2.

Fans of Persona 5 will be familiar with Last Surprise because, as mentioned, it is the main battle theme of the 100 hour plus role-playing game. Those who’ve played through even a small portion of it will therefore recognise its jazzy beats, and it’s also featured in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and Persona 5 Strikers.

Persona 5 arrived in 2016 and, despite its critical acclaim, with the enhanced version being dubbed a masterpiece in IGN’s review, developer Atlus hasn’t released another entry since. The team behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 did recently release Metaphor: Refantazio, however, a very Persona-esque RPG set in a fantasy world.

Nothing has been announced regarding the next mainline Persona game, but a somewhat bizarre and incredibly subtle tease seemingly alludes to a green color theme for the next game.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Stellar Blade gets its highly anticipated Nier: Automata downloadable content on November 20 as part of a larger update that also includes a photo mode.

A PlayStation Blog post from Stellar Blade developer Shift Up said “Nier: Automata significantly inspired Stellar Blade” and the DLC is “marked by mutual respect and creativity” between the games’ directors: Yoko Taro and Kim Hyung Tae respectively.

A handful of screenshots showed Nier: Automata protagonist 2B in the world of Stellar Blade alongside the iconic but bizarre Emil. “Emil’s Shop makes a surprise appearance in the world of Stellar Blade where 11 different collaboration-special items will be available,” the post said. “Items that intertwine the best of both games, leading you to a more enriched world.”

Also coming in the November 20 update is the aforementioned photo mode, which lets players pose the characters of Stellar Blade and dress them in different clothes to capture the perfect snap. Four new costumes and one new accessory (the Symbol of Legacy) are also coming in the update, alongside the ability to remove Eve’s ponytail altogether.

On the audio front, players can soon choose what song to listen to from the camp turntable and lip-sync support for French, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese, is also coming.

As well as Nier: Automata, action game Stellar Blade drew inspiration from Alita: Battle Angel, 80s and 90s science fiction, and a taxi driver strike according to director Hyung Tae. Its already enjoyed a handful of other post-launch updates too, including one which added a boss challenge and new outfits.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: “Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its role playing game mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.”

In July, Shift Up raised 435 billion won ($320 million) in its first day of trade after an initial public offering. According to Bloomberg, that was the largest in the country for a gaming company since 2021, when PUBG maker Krafton Inc. raised $3.8 billion from its own IPO.

The company’s success came off the back of the launch of PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade, which has sold more than one million copies and may spawn a sequel as well as a PC version, and its popular mobile game, Goddess of Victory: Nikke.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket players have voted Charizard ex the best card in the game, with his meta game rival Mewtwo ex coming in a close second.

An IGN poll asked players which of 10 popular cards was the most popular and, with 20.8% of more than 1,000 votes, Charizard ex took the crown. This Stage 2 Pokémon has the highest damage attack in the game, with Crimson Storm’s 200 power able to take down any other card in a single shot.

Charizard ex is extra powerful because of fellow fire type Moltres ex though. This card lets the player flip three coins and add a fire energy to a bench Pokémon for every heads, so players use it to overload a Charmander, Charmeleon, and eventually Charizard on the bench so it’s not impacted by the loss of two energy when using Crimson Storm.

The second best card in Pokémon TCG Pocket, as per our player poll, is the biggest rival of Charizard ex at the top of the meta: Mewtwo ex. It came in at just a touch below with 20.1% of votes, so the two are practically neck and neck.

Mewtwo ex works in a similar way as Charizard ex, though as a basic Pokémon itself, players will often put it directly into the active Pokémon slot. It also has a two energy, 50 damage attack, and 150 hit points to keep it around and doing damage, meaning players have enough time to set up a Gardevoir on the bench.

This Stage 2 Pokémon takes some time to set up, with Ralts and Kirlia coming before it, but once it’s on the bench, players can use its Psy Shadow ability to add one energy to the active Pokémon. This again counters the discard two energy cost of Mewtwo’s 150 damage attack, as the standard energy joins the Gardevoir energy each turn to add two at a time.

Following Charizard ex and Mewtwo ex came Pikachu ex in third place, with 17% of votes, and in fourth place, but way below, came Starmie ex. Both of these have high damage, low cost attacks, meaning if players can deploy them quick enough it’s hard for opponents to build a strong board.

Next in the poll came the infamous Trainer card Misty at 7.3%, followed by Professor’s Research at 5.2%, Farfetch’d at 5%, Sabrina at 4.5%, and Dragonite at 4.1%. Only the last of these is the leader of its own deck and not a supplementary card, and seemingly the only non-ex Pokémon to stand a chance against the meta leaders.

All of this could change when another set comes out, of course, and while developer Creatures Inc. hasn’t revealed when this will be, a datamine of Pokémon TCG Pocket alluded to an expansion set in December and the next full release in January.

Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October on iOS and Android as a digital version of the beloved trading card game. It lets players open packs, collect cards, build decks, and battle others, a simple formula that has already proved popular given it made $12 million in just four days and was downloaded more than 30 million times in just nine.

Creatures Inc. is keeping interest high by releasing myriad events catered to different playstyles. The first offered players freebies in the form of Wonder Picks, and to entertain more than just collectors, Creatures Inc. soon launched battle events both in single player and player versus player.

The Lapras ex Drop Event lets players take on a handful of water decks for a chance of winning the beloved Pokémon, while the PvP event embraces Pokémon tradition by putting badges on the line.

On the collecting front, some players are focused on a conspiracy theory about crinkled corners while most are swooning over mythical god packs that award five alternate art cards in one go. There’s also a secret Mew card hidden in the game that’s not super difficult to get.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

November is an excellent time to track down deals in the lead-up to Black Friday. Numerous retailers usually offer a variety of discounts for shoppers to check out, and Woot is one spot that’s had several great game deals catch our eye recently. In particular, as part of its ongoing ‘Fall In Love With Video Games’ sale event, you can score Mario & Luigi: Brothership there for $49.99.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Discounted at Woot

Nintendo has sued a gamer for streaming pirated Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom before their official release date.

As reported by Polygon, Nintendo filed a lawsuit in a Colorado court against Jesse Keighin, aka Every Game Guru, accusing him of not only streaming 10 Nintendo games before they came out, but telling his viewers how to obtain them. The list includes The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

According to the lawsuit, Keighin obtained and streamed leaked Nintendo games at least 50 times since 2022, and provided links to the Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators for viewers. Nintendo alleged these actions amounted to “trafficking” in illegal “circumvention devices,” and insisted they caused “millions of dollars” worth of damage through “lost video game sales.”

The lawsuit reads:

“Streaming leaked games prior to their publicationnormalizes and encourages prerelease piracy — Defendant is signaling to viewers that they too should acquire a pirated copy and play the gamenow, without waiting for its release and without paying for it. Prerelease piracy harms law-abiding Nintendo customers who may have been waiting for a particular game release for months or years, and then may see gameplay and spoilers online that ruin their own surprise and delight when experiencing the game. In turn, prerelease piracy causes Nintendo tremendous harm, including millions of dollars of monetary harm from lost video game sales both of Nintendo’s and its licensees’ copyrighted games, and loss of goodwill.”

Apparently multiple takedown notices from Nintendo failed to prevent Keighin from continuing to stream the company’s games on the likes of YouTube, Twitch, and Kick. His YouTube and Twitch channels are now offline as a result of copyright strikes.

What’s more, the lawsuit alleges Keighin sent a letter to Nintendo in late October “boasting” he had “a thousand burner channels” to stream from and threatened to continue to use them, saying he could “do this all day.”

In addition to the seizure and destruction of emulators and devices in Keighin’s possession, Nintendo wants $150,000 in damages for each alleged violation of Nintendo’s rights under the Copyright Act, and $2,500 per violation arising from violations of the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Copyright Act. With over 50 alleged incidents in two years, the potential damages could reach $7.5 million. Or, Nintendo could take “actual damages” to be proven at trial.

Nintendo told Polygon: “We can confirm that we filed a lawsuit against an individual who has engaged and continues to engage in clear infringement of Nintendo’s IP rights, as well as violations of our Game Content guidelines.

“Nintendo is passionate about protecting the creative works of game developers and publishers who expend significant time and effort to create experiences that bring smiles to all.”

This is yet another lawsuit in Nintendo’s long-running war against emulators. Earlier this year, Yuzu developer Tropic Haze agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million in a settlement, and last month Ryujinx reportedly ended development after Nintendo had a word. And how can we forget the fate of Gary Bowser, who was sentenced in 2021 to 40 months in prison and a $14.5 million fine for his role in Nintendo hacking group Team Xecuter? The infamously litigious Nintendo is also in the middle of suing Palworld maker Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement.

Photo by Valeria Mongelli/Anadolu via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.