Netflix’s Devil May Cry Creator Originally Wanted to Do a Dino Crisis Anime

Listen closely: do you hear that sound? It’s the cry of hundreds of beleaguered Dino Crisis fans, mourning the revival that could’ve been.

Adi Shankar, the creator of Netflix’s upcoming Devil May Cry show and a filmmaker with a strong reputation for video game anime adaptations (Castlevania, Captain Laserhawk), revealed some interesting information in a recent X/Twitter post. Specifically, when he first started talking to Capcom years ago, his sights weren’t actually set on Devil May Cry.

He began by sharing some quick thoughts on each of the three Dino Crisis games, praising the first two while conceding that the third “lost that magic” as it headed off Earth.

“Why am I telling you this?” he continued. “Because when I first went to Capcom in 2017, my mission was clear: I wanted to bring Dino Crisis back. But in an awesome twist of fate, they sold me Devil May Cry instead! I didn’t think DMC would even be on the table.”

It’s an almost comically tragic twist of fate for Dino Crisis enthusiasts, who have long awaited another installment in the survival series created by Resident Evil’s Shinji Mikami. “Like it’s cool Devil May Cry fans can eat but god damn. Dino Crisis fans stay in sad I guess,” bemoaned one X/Twitter user.

The last mainline Dino Crisis game came out all the way back in 2003, and rumors have swirled for years about a potential fourth game. There are a few reasons not to hold your breath, though: for one, Mikami said earlier this year that the popularity of Monster Hunter doesn’t leave a lot of room for another Dino Crisis entry. Plus, Capcom recently tried its hand at another dinosaur-focused game, Exoprimal, a multiplayer title that stopped adding new content just a year after its launch.

Still, hope for a revival in anime form isn’t completely extinct just yet — even if it’s a little thin. While clarifying that he’s currently committed to a “very long-term plan” for Devil May Cry, Shankar added, “But yes, one day perhaps I usually use my powers to resurrect Dino Crisis.”

Devil May Cry, at least, is still set for an April 2025 release date. For more, check out my profile of Shankar last year, where we talked his Captain Laserhawk for Ubisoft and Netflix and much more.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Gears of War: E-Day Will Feature Marcus and Dom’s Original Voice Actors

Gears of War voice acting veterans John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro will officially reprise their roles as Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago for Gears of War: E-Day.

Developer The Coalition announced the news on Thursday, which also happens to be the 18th anniversary of the launch of the original Gears of War. It’s big news for longtime fans of the series, who will remember that DiMaggio and Ferro played the two leads in the franchise’s first three games. An image of the two stars standing together was shared to studio’s official X/Twitter account.

Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel that takes place awhile before the mainline Gears story got its start. Specifically, it’s set around Emergence Day, which is known as the day the Locust horde made its way to the surface of Sera to launch its attack on humanity. That means that we definitely won’t be seeing protagonists like JD Fenix and Kait Diaz from future Gears games, and more importantly, it means that Marcus and Dom get one more game to see how exactly their bond was strengthened.

It’s not much of a surprise to hear that DiMaggio and Ferro will re-team for E-Day – fans had guessed that the longtime Marcus Fenix voice actor would at least return following the reveal of an emotional announcement trailer earlier this year – but it’s still nice to hear that Dom’s voice will be returning as well. While Marcus lived on to fight in Gears 4 and 5, his partner’s journey ended with a heroic sacrifice in Gears of War 3. Many believe the duo’s relationship and the performances behind them are what helped propel the Gears of War series to success, and now, E-Day is attempting to recapture that gritty, gory magic.

The Coalition told us earlier this year that Gears of War: E-Day gives the team to return to the series’ roots in more ways than one. One element set to return in the prequel is the horror that the original trilogy is known for. Brand Director Nicole Fawcette and Creative Director Matt Searcy spoke to us about their goals in an interview that took place shortly after the game’s reveal.

“For us, it’s like a what-if story,” Searcy said. “What if the ground opened up and monsters came out? Yeah, it’s set on a fictional, other planet, but there are very human reactions and stories we get to tell. To do that, we need to be able to tell a story that feels like a horror story.”

Gears of War: E-Day is currently without a release date but is expected to come to PC and Xbox Series X | S sometime in the future. In the meantime, you can read about why the prequel doesn’t meant the end for the story that left off with Gears 5. You can also check out why we think E-Day needs to rediscover the franchise’s sense of fun.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone Season 1 Roadmap Revealed: Details on Maps, Weapons, and More

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 1 now only one week away, Treyarch has taken the time to reveal a roadmap featuring the weapons, maps, and modes players can look forward to.

The team behind this year’s first-person shooter hit detailed their plans in a lengthy post on the Call of Duty website. There are a few highlights that we know about – the Warzone revamp and a fresh batch of new maps for Multiplayer and Zombies are the real draws – but there are plenty of other surprises hidden in today’s update that should get players excited. This includes a handful of new Operators, such as one based on the franchise’s long-running The Replacer character, and information about the launch of Ranked Play later this month.

Treyarch says Black Ops 6 Ranked is an experience it has been working toward since 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Expect to see it launch November 21 with what the team is calling “several streamlined features, innovations, and updates,” including changes to the ranking system to focus more on skill, a forfeit feature, and map/mode voting.

Warzone is another attractive feature coming with Season 1 and includes the previously revealed Area 99 Resurgence map. Every subsection of the map essentially works as its own smaller map to fight through, with the entire setting themed after an abandoned government testing site from the ‘50s that bears a striking resemblance to the fan-favorite Multiplayer map, Nuketown. Black Ops 6 Warzone Season 1 will also see the return of the Urzikstan and Rebirth Island maps as well as the Plunder game mode.

The standard Multiplayer game mode, meanwhile, is getting three new maps at launch: Hideout, Heirloom, and Extraction. Modes like Ransack and Prop Hunt are also coming with Season 1, as are new weapons like the Krig C assault rifle, Sirin 9mm special weapon, AMR Mod 4 sniper, and even a power drill melee tool. Zombies fans can also look forward to three new GobbleGums and a new map called Citadelle des Morts that looks like a dusty medieval castle.

Much of what is shown today will arrive when Black Ops 6 Season 1 drops November 14, but players will have to wait for the mid-season update to see everything the introductory season has to offer. This includes things like Warzone Ranked as well as new Multiplayer maps Hacienda and Racket. Nuketown will also get a holiday makeover around this time. While Zombies additions like the story-driven Directed mode will come with launch, that creepy castle is another Season 1 goodie that won’t arrive until the mid-season update.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 1 will continue Treyarch’s strong start following launch late last month. One recent update arrived earlier this week, bringing a crate full of weapon balancing changes, perk nerfs, and a tweak for the flashbang that makes it a bit less annoying. For more on this year’s Call of Duty installment, you can read our reviews for the Multiplayer and Zombies modes. You can also check out our list of essential tips and tricks for players who are just getting their boots on the ground.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Creator Says It’s Time for AAA Studios to Move Away From Safe Bets

The 15-person team behind Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was recently put on notice, following struggles to find funding for their next project. But Surgent Studios isn’t shutting down, its staff aren’t gone forever, and it’s not asleep at the wheel, according to its founder, Abubakar Salim.

They are, he says, “literally raring” to go the second money comes in, like a “cocked gun.”

“We still have so much more to say and so much more to build on,” Salim tells IGN. “And the audiences that we’ve already started to build as well, and the players and the people who want to champion us, they want to hear more…We are ready. We’re so ready. It is just about taking that leap of faith with us.”

Leap of Faith

So what’s the leap of faith? It’s called Project Uso, and it’s a single-player, isometric, Afro-gothic action RPG. You play as a vampiric android containing the spirit of Eshu, the Yoruba god of chaos. As Salim explains, the idea is to explore the idea of two minds in one body through the mechanics of tabletop RPGs. But rather than rolling against a dungeon master, in Project Uso, the player sometimes must roll against themselves.

Project Uso is about the concept of identity, with Uso meaning “face” in Swahili. It’s inspired by Salim’s exploration of his own dual nature in the wake of his daughter’s birth. While ZAU was about who he is without a parent, Salim says that Uso is about asking who he is as a parent.

“As a parent, I always used to find myself being like, I love my daughter, cleaning her dirty nappy. I also want to go see my mates to the cinema, go outside with my mates or whatever. You know what I mean? There’s a battle of freedoms here. And there’s that sense of, do I do this or do I do that? Or even when I’m talking to my daughter and I’m making choices, how do I make sure that she listens to me? Am I strict or am I soft? You are having this battle within you.”

Salim is candid that he’s relatively new to game development. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was the first game he’s made, having come into the industry from acting. He’s best known in gaming spaces as Bayek in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and has held a number of other gaming roles since then in addition to his numerous film and TV acting credits (including the most recent season of House of the Dragon). But the last four years of working on ZAU have been a learning experience for him, particularly in how games are typically funded.

“What I’ve learned is that mainly when you get funding for a game, that funding is really there to get you to launch and maybe just a bit more after,” he says. “Maybe. And you are supposed to have your next project turned up and done and signed either before you’ve even launched the first game or maybe just afterwards. That gap in between is frightening because you can see that coming like a train.”

The way that you entice people to go to somewhere different and somewhere new is by doing something different or something new.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, he explains. While gaming companies briefly poured funding into new projects, there’s been an industry-wide wake-up call in the last two years resultings in mass layoffs, financial struggles, and funding drying up. As a result, Salim explains that companies have become far more cautious in the bets they’re willing to make on new games. That includes EA, whose EA Originals label published Tales of Kenzera: ZAU but which hasn’t picked up Salim’s next project.

Salim says he understands, but doesn’t agree that it’s the best strategy. On the contrary, he thinks now is the time for companies to take risks.

“Why would I, as a player of Call of Duty or as Fortnite, want to leave that to go to something new when I’ve already established myself in this space?” he says. “I totally understand that. It’s like going to your favorite cafe or going to your favorite restaurant. The way that you entice people to go to somewhere different and somewhere new is by doing something different or something new, by being bold, by being creative.

“I think a great example of this is Animal Well. You look at Animal Well and it’s completely unexpected. You didn’t know what you were getting into. And that was a risk that was taken by a YouTuber. I think we need to see more of that from people in positions of power and in positions of stability.”

Bouncing Back

Surgent Studios and Salim have had a rough time finding funding for Project Uso, but there’s been another layer to their struggles: harassment. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU has found itself the target of ongoing, racist attacks online, largely targeting the game for its Black protagonist and its Bantu inspirations. But none of this has discouraged Salim from pitching Project Uso. On the contrary, he’s of the belief that it’s important to address such attacks directly.

“I think that the anti-diversity, equity, inclusion sort of movement, it’s about not having the right information,” he says. “I think we are seeing a lot of gaps being filled with conspiracy theories, like ticking boxes and all this sort of stuff, which isn’t actually true when you look into it. And that dialogue needs to happen.”

Salim acknowledges that directly speaking with harassers can be dangerous, and isn’t for everyone. Both parties, he says, have to come to the discussion in good faith, and harassers often don’t. But he believes such engagement can change hearts and minds, and is worth doing for those able. And on a higher level, he adds, companies have a responsibility to take even firmer action against harassment.

“There is definitely a fear of having a stance, I feel, when it comes to businesses. They kind of want to be neutral, which again, totally understand. But there is a level where it goes a bit too far…We’re in a time right now where someone can post a YouTube video and say my garb is like a Rafiki outfit and call my studio Spear-Chucker Studios, and I don’t know whether there’s going to be repercussions or not. I have to call them out on it. And it’s like, come on. It should be down to the [company], be it YouTube, or be it Twitch, or be it even Valve, for example, to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s not cool. Get out.’”

Though Surgent Studios is currently in a holding pattern with Project Uso, Salim has faith that the industry will bounce back from its rough patch, and he’ll bounce back with them. He believes that while video games are both art and business, they are art first and foremost, and “the arts always survive.”

“The beauty though, about games, I feel, is that the conversation and dialogue is a lot more open,” he says. “And so I feel that bouncing back can happen sooner and bolder and more brilliant than any other art form. And that’s what gets me, that’s what inspires me. That’s what kind of drives me to continue going on even after everything that’s happened. Because it’s a beautiful space to be in. It really is. And don’t get me wrong, the amount of times I’ve wanted to be like, ‘I should just stay as an actor, man. I’m in a big TV show. I should just be really comfortable here and just doing my thing here.’ But there is something inside me that just says, ‘Nah, man, I wouldn’t be happy. That’s just not enough.’”

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.

Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 Pro Enhancements Revealed

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has confirmed what graphical enhancements the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game has received in time for the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro.

Larian said it’s tweaked the game’s Quality and Performance modes “to achieve crisp console visuals without sacrificing smooth performance.”

“Tinker away in the settings to find the perfect array of pixels for you!” the studio added.

On PS5 Pro, Quality mode runs at a native 4K resolution and 30 frames per second, whereas Performance mode upscales from 1440p to 2160p 60fps. Meanwhile, split-screen on the PS5 Pro will now offer either 30fps or 60fps depending on whether you’re using Quality or Performance mode.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is of particular interest when it comes to PS5 Pro given the game’s early performance troubles on the base PS5. Act 3 in particular, with its dense city area filled with NPCs, caused the game’s framerate to struggle. Performance has improved with various updates, but clearly the PS5 Pro will be the platform of choice when it comes to console.

Alongside Baldur’s Gate 3’s PS5 Pro update is a “quick” multiplayer fix, detailed in the patch notes below:

Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 Pro patch and multiplayer fix:

IMPROVEMENTS

  • On PS5 Pro, Quality mode now runs at native 4K (2160p) 30fps.
  • On PS5 Pro, Performance mode will upscale from 1440p to 2160p 60fps.
  • Split screen on the PS5 Pro will now offer either 30fps or 60fps depending on whether you’re using Quality or Performance mode.

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

  • Fixed an issue on PS5 preventing you from downloading or subscribing to mods when loading into another player’s multiplayer game with mods enabled.

Larian has of course said it’s moving on from Baldur’s Gate and the world of Dungeons & Dragons to develop something entirely new. However, it continues to update Baldur’s Gate 3, and has teased more patches to come.

The $700 PS5 Pro launches today, November 7, and there is a long list of games with enhancements for the mid-gen upgrade. Check out IGN’s PS5 Pro review for more.

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.

No Man’s Sky Finally Gets Cross-Save, PS5 Pro Footage, and Mass Effect’s Normandy for N7 Day

It’s a big day for No Man’s Sky thanks to the launch of cross-save support, the release of PS5 Pro footage, and the return of the Normandy from Mass Effect.

Following hot on the heels of the Halloween-themed The Cursed update, Hello Games’ long-running space sim finally has cross-save support on all platforms, a feature the developer said had been years in the making. “This has been a huge undertaking, and is one of most requested features,” Hello Games said.

“Being able to jump seamlessly between platforms is really transformative. Players can play from the comfort of their sofa on console, continue an Expedition on the move with Switch or Steam Deck, build an incredible base on their beefy PC rig, and view it in incredibly immersive Virtual Reality.”

No Man’s Sky now supports cross-play and cross-save between a huge number of platforms including PC, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S, Game Pass, GOG, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, PlayStation VR 1 and 2, and PCVR.

“Adding the ability to transfer saves between platforms via a server is especially difficult for No Man’s Sky, as the work involved increases with each platform supported and how long folks have already been playing for,” Hello Games continued. “Both those numbers are large for our tiny team.

“It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves exploring across space, building elaborate bases and cataloging their discoveries, with incredibly detailed saves. Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them! We also have players who played once at launch, eight years ago, suddenly loading up that save on a platform that didn’t even exist back then!

“For these reasons we have secretly been introducing the technology for this update for over six months. We are now ready to start rolling cross-save out to a small number of players.”

From today, No Man’s Sky all players can link their different accounts together at https://cloud.nomanssky.com/cross-save. A subset of players will be enabled to then select their saves from multiple devices on the in-game save screen. In the coming weeks all players will be invited to do so, Hello Games added.

Moving on to today’s launch of PS5 Pro and No Man’s Sky’s support for the $700 mid-gen upgrade, Hello Games said users can expect PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to provide 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. No Man’s Sky is also an early supporter of 8K resolution, running at 30 frames per second.

Check out No Man’s Sky running on PS5 Pro in the video below:

“As well as a much sharper resolution at higher framerates, the increased power of the PS5 Pro has enabled us to ramp up the graphical quality across the board,” Hello Games explained.

“Players on PS5 Pro will see improved lighting, with ultra quality reflections and higher quality ambient occlusion in all modes. Explore the most beautiful and detailed alien worlds No Man’s Sky has to offer, for the first time on console.” All these improvements are also coming to PSVR2, Hello Games added.

And finally, the Normandy from Mass Effect returns to No Man’s Sky as part of BioWare’s N7 Day celebrations.

“It was back in 2021 that the Normandy made its first appearance in one of the first expeditions we ever ran,” Hello Games said. “The limited-time expedition starts today, runs for two weeks and culminates in players being able to claim the Normandy for their fleet.

“In the intervening years since that event, we have welcomed a huge number of Travellers, not least a whole new cohort of Switch players and an increasingly large number of Chinese fans. Many of these new players have envied those who proudly displayed their Normandy in their frigate collection.

“Mass Effect fans know that this legendary freighter only appears when it is most needed! Today, and for the next two weeks, as a love-letter from one science fiction game to another, we are giving everyone another chance to encounter the Normandy in an overhauled version of the original mission and add it to their collection.

“Huge thanks to our friends at EA and Bioware for helping make this happen.”

No Man’s Sky launched in 2016 initially for PC and PS4 before coming out on Xbox One in 2018, and PS5 and Xbox Series X and S in 2020. A Nintendo Switch version followed in 2022. Over the years, Hello Games has issued a long list of major updates that have continued to boost player numbers.

Indeed, it’s a busy time for Hello Games, which alongside updates for No Man’s Sky is working on its next game, Light No Fire. It’s about adventure, building, survival and exploration together, set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth.

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.

Mass Effect: Dark Horse Reveals Commander John Shepard Statue

It’s November 7, which means it’s once again Mass Effect Day for all who celebrate. That also means Dark Horse is back with another jaw-droppingly cool collectible, this time spotlighting the main hero of the original Mass Effect trilogy.

IGN can exclusively reveal a first look at the Mass Effect: Commander John Shepard 1:6 Scale Statue. Get a closer look at this piece in the slideshow gallery below:

This Commander John Shepard statue is a follow-up to last year’s Commander Jane Shepard statue, obviously spotlighting the character in his male incarnation this time. The statue depicts Shepard ready to leap into action while holding an M-8 Avenger assault rifle and Omni-Blade. It also includes interchangeable helmeted and unhelmeted heads.

The Mass Effect: Commander John Shepard 1:6 Scale Statue measures 14.5 inches tall and is made of polystone. The piece was sculpted by Substance Model Works, with prototyping and paint by Substance Model Works and J.W. Productions.

This statue will be sold exclusively through the Dark Horse Direct website. It’s priced at $199.99 and is limited to 1000 units worldwide. Orders placed between now and November 13 will receive a $20 discount.

You can also check out the Mass Effect collectibles available on the IGN Store. That includes past Dark Horse releases like the Tali’Zorah figure and the Liara figure.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Players Swoon Over Mythical ‘God Packs’ That Have 5 Alternate Art Cards

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket players are swooning over opening what’s been dubbed a god pack, which includes super rare alternate art cards in all five slots.

Card collectors have taken to social media to post their god pack pulls, with some unable to believe their luck and thinking a bug is at play. Blankb01 on Reddit, for example, pulled alternate art versions of Moltres ex, Rapidash, Pinsir, Erika, and Charmander in a single pack.

Actual-Impact8802 pulled two alternate art Nidoqueens, a Nidoking, Gyarados, and Snorlax in theirs. Another user, bodeler, pulled a Moltres ex, Rapidash, Charizard ex, Moltres ex, and Alakazam, again all in the incredibly rare alternate art forms. “I pooped,” they said.

These 60 alternate cards are the rarest pieces available in Pokémon TCG Pocket and add well over a year to the completion time of the first set, Genetic Apex. Pulling five in one go will certainly speed this process along, however.

This has led many to desperately attempt to figure out if there’s a hidden mechanic that can trigger god packs, though beyond the almost definitely not legitimate conspiracy theory about crinkled corners, it comes down to pure luck.

Developer Creatures Inc. has shared the actual odds behind these packs, however, which are officially just called Rare Packs. Players have a 0.05% of opening one, Pokémon TCG Pocket tells players, meaning a one in 2,000 chance.

Some friendly fellow players and some who are, dare we say, jealous, are urging those who shared their god pack pulls to also share their friend codes. Pokémon TCG Pocket features something called Wonder Pick, which lets players dip into others’ packs and pull one of those cards, and the list of available packs can be pulled from the friend list.

This means that, if someone is friends with a player who opens a god pack, that secondary player may also get a taste. While Wonder Picks are often reserved to middling packs, leaving plenty of common cards on the table for the random one in five chance, god packs obviously guarantee an incredibly rare card even at their weakest.

Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October as a streamlined, digital version of the beloved trading card game. It has players opening packs, collecting cards, building decks, and battling others; a simple formula that’s already proved popular given it made $12 million in four days.

Creatures Inc. is busy adding all sorts of events to the game, including a player versus player battle event released today, November 7. This isn’t quite a full competitive mode for Pokémon TCG Pocket but is certainly a step in that direction, and will certainly be the first proper competitive test of which decks are best, with both Mewtwo ex and Charizard ex having dominated so far.

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

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Finally Breaks 2024’s Nintendo-Amazon Freeze Out, Now Sold Directly by Amazon

For much of 2024, a strange trend has dominated Amazon’s listings: Nintendo first-party games have been conspicuously absent from the retailer, both physically and digitally, for preorders and after release. Rather than being sold and shipped by Amazon, major Switch titles have been limited to third-party sellers only. This extended absence has also included Nintendo’s digital offerings — no Nintendo Switch Online memberships, gift cards, or digital game codes have appeared on Amazon’s storefront since early this year.

But, that seemingly ends with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. This latest Zelda title has become the first Nintendo first-party game of 2024 to be sold and shipped directly by Amazon, marking a significant change in Amazon’s recent Nintendo offerings. Although it comes over a month after The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s release, the listing signals positive signs after months of silence from both Amazon and Nintendo regarding these absences.

As reported by GameRant, and discussed on the Nintendo Switch subreddit, some Nintendo preorders like Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door earlier in the year were also inexplicably canceled, leaving fans wondering about the retailer’s allegedly strained relationship with Nintendo.

This freeze has been specific to Amazon, as Nintendo games like Mario & Luigi: Brothership and digital items remain available at other major retailers such as Best Buy, GameStop, and Target. Up until now, Amazon has been a veritable ghost town for Nintendo products, lacking even the digital storefront presence that many gamers expect.

There’s also still no indication from either Nintendo or Amazon as to why this freeze-out occurred, and at the time of this article’s publication it hadn’t been fully reversed. Currently, only Echoes of Wisdom is available directly from Amazon, with no sign of digital items like Switch Online or gift cards returning for now.

For Switch fans eager to buy Nintendo titles from Amazon’s official stock, the reappearance of first-party games hints at a potential shift just as the holiday shopping season ramps up — especially with a Nintendo Switch successor announcement on the horizon.

With Black Friday around the corner, there’s also hope that this change could signal a return to Amazon deals on popular Switch games by month’s end. By no means, however, is Amazon currently the cheapest place to pick up Echoes of Wisdom right now going into the sale season. Woot, an Amazon-owned retailer (but treated as a separate business unit), has had the game consistently on sale for over a month. It’s currently listed for just $49.99 ($10 off the MSRP).

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 YouTuber Accidentally Leaves 12 Hour, 147-Round Zombies Run Live on Stream Instead of Saving and Quitting

Call of Duty Zombies YouTuber MrRoflWaffles had a disastrous end to a high round Black Ops 6 run, leaving the game at round 147 and after 12 hours of play rather than saving and quitting.

Black Ops 6’s round-based Zombies mode sees players face off against endless waves of the baddies in a bid to reach ever higher levels of difficulty. Saving in Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode is only available to solo players, and you can only save one solo match at a time, which means if you leave the match without saving, there is no save to return to.

MrRoflWaffles, who has 2.11 million subscribers on YouTube, set out to break his personal best of round 141 and to hit round 200 before the disastrous mistake put an end to the attempt.

The disaster began when a confident MrRoflWaffles signaled his intention to save and quit then load back into the match. “This is how this works chat,” he declared. “You quit the game, you reload in, and you try not to get bugs.”

MrRoflWaffles, perhaps moving too fast through Black Ops 6’s pause menu for his own good, accidentally selected ‘leave match’ rather than ‘save and quit.’ Despite the ‘leave game?’ warning pop up, MrRoflWaffles proceeded, putting an end to the run forever.

All the while, MrRoflWaffles’ chat couldn’t believe what they’d witnessed, with various messages of disbelief littering the screen.

Realization then kicked in, and, as you’d expect, MrRoflWaffles couldn’t believe what he’d done. “I left?!” he said. “What?! What?! What?! Are you kidding me?! You’re kidding me! You’re joking chat. Noooooooo!”

“12 hours of my life,” MrRoflWaffles eventually sighed after a period of silence. “The bugs won. I’d rather have fought the bugs! I can’t believe I just did that. I’m in pain.”

So, who’s to blame? MrRoflWaffles for accidentally pressing the wrong button, or developer Treyarch for putting the ‘leave match’ and ‘save and quit’ buttons right next to each other in the Zombies pause menu? For his part, MrRoflWaffles said it was entirely his mistake, but called on Treyarch to make the leave match button a ‘hold for three seconds’ selection.

“I really want to blame Treyarch for putting the leave button next to the save button,” MrRoflWaffles said. “I want to blame them, but honestly this is my fault. I pressed the button.”

In a desperate bid to save the run, MrRoflWaffles pulled the power cable and ethernet cord out of his Xbox, hoping Black Ops 6 would somehow forget what had transpired. But, alas, the game remembered. No save files were available upon loading back in.

A clearly devastated MrRoflWaffles decided to end his stream early, saying that starting all over again “tilted” would only cause him to die early on in a subsequent run. But he insisted he would continue his bid to hit round 200 — perhaps once he’s had a lie down.

Taking on Zombies mode yourself? We’ve got Essential Zombies Tips and Tricks to help you get started, plus a guide on How to Exfil. Both Zombies maps are full of easter eggs and secrets; here’s everything we’ve found in both Terminus and Liberty Falls, including How to Pack-a-Punch in Liberty Falls and How to Get the Meteor Easter Egg in Terminus.

Image credit: MrRoflWaffles / YouTube.

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.