Category: IGN

Longtime Tekken character Eddy Gordo has always been a little polarizing, particularly in Tekken 8, and one streamer has found a way to make him even more of a pain to fight, rising through ranked mode using a script that spams one button.

#jimmashima Someone made a Tekken 8 bot spamming one input in ranked and it gets plugged on pic.twitter.com/xaeJs7kDw3

— Livestream Fails (@LSF_Forwarder) April 28, 2024

Over on Twitch, jimmashima is currently streaming ranked mode matches of Tekken 8 using Eddy Gordo as his fighter. The streamer is using a script that keeps spamming “3,” or the Left Kick move, to attack their opponent. Aside from the obvious repeated kick show on stream, jimmashima also provided a little UI for the controller, showing the button inputs and the repeated pressing of the “X” button to attack.

The jimmashima “3ddy” bot has caught the attention of the community outside of Twitch, too. Users on Reddit and X/Twitter point out that the creator is using a script for spamming the same button input for every match (and even between matches). As X/Twitter user JakubDi notes, most viewers watching Tekken 8 streams on Twitch are watching jimmashima.

Jimmashima is not the only person with a 3ddy bot, however. Twitch streamer 3ddySmurfy is also live streaming themselves, playing ranked matches against other players using a script that spams the Left Kick button. 3ddySmurfy calls themselves “3ddy: North America.”

Assassin’s Creed fans embedded into the Apple hardware ecosystem can rejoice, as Ubisoft announced today that Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS and iPadOS will arrive in early June.

In a press release, Ubisoft revealed that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be released on June 6 for the iPhone 15 Pro series and iPad Air and Pro tablets powered by the M1 chip or newer. This will be the most recent port of Ubisoft’s open-world game since its initial release on October 5. This will be the first time an Assassin’s Creed game that was originally released on consoles and PC will be available natively on iOS and iPad.

Although pre-ordering is now available on the App Store, Ubisoft has not publicly shared how much this port will cost. However, it did reveal on the game’s App Store listing what in-app purchases would be available and how much they would cost, as shown in the screenshot below.

Realistic first-person shooter Gray Zone Warfare is currently Steam’s best-selling game as extraction rival Escape From Tarkov endures a community revolt, though its also being panned with “mixed” user reviews.

Gray Zone Warfare’s Early Access began today, April 30, 2024, timed just as Escape From Tarkov players are sharing their frustration at “shameless” and “tone deaf” developer Battlestate Games. But while Gray Zone Warfare, which promises similar tactical FPS gameplay, is currently the best-selling Steam game above Manor Lords, Helldivers 2, and Fallout 76, players are having significant issues, including poor performance, frustrating design choices, unsatisfying gunplay, and connectivity issues.

“Can barely manage 60 frames per second with specs higher than the recommended,” wrote one Steam user. “AI is weird. [It] either shoots you from way too far away with no warning or runs out in the open and stands there like a mannequin.”

Another complained about lack of simple quality of life features. “Chose the wrong faction. Now I can’t play with my friends because there is no way of recreating your character or changing,” they said.

DemonicSquid posted an extensive review detailing the above issues alongside others such as “extremely annoying” loud music during the character creation scene, clunky movement, random slowdowns, unusual NPC health bars (enemies can be bullet sponges or they can go down in one hit), and “very shady” practices where upgrading the game makes the entire product non-refundable.

The connection to Escape From Tarkov’s isn’t lost in the reviews either, with many referencing the recent controversies. “At least it doesn’t cost $250,” wrote one positive review. This comes after Battlestate announced the $250 Unheard Edition upgrade to the Escape From Tarkov beta, which added an exclusive player-versus-everyone mode amid other extras, and notably wasn’t deemed downloadable content by the developer. This meant those who’d bought the $150 Edge of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov, which came with a Season Pass and thus “free access to all subsequent DLCs”, wouldn’t obtain this new content without spending another $250.

While Battlestate has already reversed some of these decisions following a backlash, fans arguably grew more upset at comments made by COO and studio head Nik Buyanov. “I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” he said, which was dubbed a “fake apology” by many.

For its part, Gray Zone Warfare developer Madfinger Games has said it’s working to iron out the problems players are facing.

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

Epic Games has announced plans to bring back the iPad version of Fortnite, but it will only be available for countries in the European Union (EU).

In a post on X/Twitter, the Epic Games newsroom announced that EU Fortnite players who miss playing the free-to-play battle royale natively on Apple’s tablet will soon be able to play it again. The statement follows a recent announcement by the European Commission that it now requires Apple to have iPadOS comply with the same rules iOS must abide by as part of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Epic had already said it planned to bring the iOS version of Fortnite back to the EU App Store thanks to the DMA. This comes as part of a wider effort to launch the Epic Games Store on Android and iOS in the EU, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney previously stating the company’s ultimate goal is to become the “number one multi-platform software store, on the foundation of payment competition, 0%-12% fees, and exclusive games like Fortnite.”

At the State of Unreal event last month, Epic shared some new details on the mobile version of the Epic Games Store, revealing that mobile developers that use its third-party storefront would benefit “from the same fair terms” found on the main Epic Games Store. This includes an 88/12 revenue share, and developers can keep 100% of the revenue it earns by using its own payment system for in-app purchases.

Fortnite was removed from all mobile devices nearly four years ago after Epic rolled out a direct-pay system in-game. The outcome resulted in cheaper V-Bucks for players; however, it violated Apple and Google’s app store policies, with both companies removing the app from their respective digital storefronts. Shortly after Fortnite was banned from both app stores, Epic announced it was suing both companies, with varying outcomes.

Since the removal, those who wanted to play Fortnite on the go but did not have a Nintendo Switch or a portable gaming PC like the Steam Deck were required to stream Fortnite on either Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now. Epic has yet to announce a fresh release date for Fortnite on mobile.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Funko Inc. and developer 10:10 Games have announced that 20(!) franchises will be a part of their upcoming Funko Pop-based co-op action game Funko Fusion. They also announced a release date for PC and consoles: September 13. Check out the new gameplay trailer above and a half-dozen screenshots showing off some of the crossover IPs in the gallery below.

Expect to see and play as Funko Pop characters from the worlds of Jurassic World, Back to the Future, Masters of the Universe, JAWS, Shaun of the Dead, Chucky, The Thing, Battlestar Galactica, Umbrella Academy, The Walking Dead, Invincible, and many more.

“Our vision at 10:10 Games is to create an incredible co-op videogame experience that will bring gamers from across the globe together in a unique, fun, energetic, and authentic gaming experience,” said 10:10 Games cofounder and Head of Publishing Arthur Parsons. “Crafted by a talented team, Funko Fusion is the ultimate celebration of fandom, blending beloved movie and TV properties for every generation with humor, fun mechanics, and fast-paced high-adrenaline action. Funko Fusion is the experience we believe fans are waiting to play, and finally, on a personal note, I get to have He-Man in a video game!”

Don’t miss the announcement trailer for Funko Fusion if you missed it.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

You can currently bag yourself an Xbox Elite Series 2 Core Wireless Controller for just £71.99, just use code PAYAY20 at checkout. These usually go for about £115, so you’re making a very tidy saving here. One of the reasons for the lower price is that the item might be missing its original packaging, The controller itself hasn’t been used though, so you’re essentially scoring a £43 discount for a missing or opened box.

The PAYAY20 sale has been offering up some delightful gaming deals this last week, but you’re going to have to make a move today, as this is officially the last day of the deal. Pick up a Nintendo Switch for just £183.99. And it’s not just the standard model Switch included in the sale either. If you’d rather get your hands on the OLED model, you can pick it up for £227.19 using the same code.

Also in the deal is a Hisense 43A6KTUK 6 Series 4K Ultra HD Smart TV for just £183.20. There are other sizes available with the same code as well. The 50″ model is down to £231.20, and the 55″ model costs just £255.20 at the moment.

Today is also your last day to get your hands on the likes of Stellar Blade for just £56 using the promo code, alongside Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for just £47.16, and a Steam Deck 512GB for £374.95. Away from gaming, these AirPods Pro 2nd Gen are included in the deal for just £167.99. Long story short, there are a tonne of deals waiting for you, but you’ve gotta get on them today.

Joe O’Neill-Parker is a freelance writer and audio producer. He is the owner of O’Neill Multimedia. He writes commerce, sports, and audio-related tech articles for IGN.

An Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim streamer created a mod which let his Twitch chat control what the game’s NPCs said in real time, with expectedly hilarious and horrifying results.

As reported by Kotaku, Twitch streamer Blurbs shared a clip from the stream on X/Twitter, below, which shared a compilation of some of the most ridiculous results. Beyond the Twitch chat’s comments merely appearing on screen, the mod converts them to speech in the style of the Skyrim characters and moves their lips to match.

“I have never made a game mod before. Chat can live voice NPCs. It’s gonna go horribly,” Blurbs said to open the stream.

I created a Skyrim mod that allows my Twitch chat to voice in-game characters (with mouth movements/subtitles/etc) *live* in real-time. It went as horribly as you’d expect.

Also, if you die in the game: YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE pic.twitter.com/yTKUVnuMd8

— Blurbs (@Blurbstv) April 29, 2024

One NPC he approached was a woman in Riverwood, who in her usual voice, declared: “It’s said that the lord of all dragons, Alduin, was born in 1998 when the Undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell and plummeted 16 feet through the announcers table.” A Whiterun Guard said: “Hello there. I’m brought to you by Raid: Shadow Legends.” There are plenty of other examples too, many of which are quite explicit.

With The Elder Scrolls 6 still five years away at least, fans have had to find their own ways, like this, to keep the ageing Skyrim entertaining. Another player recently accrued a 267,000 gold bounty murdering 5,000 NPCs in a quest to kill “everything that was killable”, for example, while one fan recreated the game in Age of Empires 2.

Looking to take immersion to the max, another player added two haptic feedback suits to their already $15,000 virtual reality setup to simulate actual pain when they’re hurt in-game. And a speedrunner has now reached Level 80 and killed the infamous Ebony Warrior in under 12 minutes.

Waves of sentimental fans recently booted up their old Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s to “retire” their original characters too, showing how much Skyrim has remained in player consciousness over its 12 years of being available.

In our 9/10 review of the beloved role playing game, IGN said: “Skyrim is a rare kind of intensely personal, deeply rewarding experience, and one of the best role-playing games yet produced.”

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

With all things Fallout now enjoying a significant boost following the breakout success of the Fallout TV show, Fallout 76 is enjoying a significant rise in player numbers. Last week, Bethesda announced that Fallout 76, its most recent mainline Fallout game, saw over one million people play in a single day.

That focused attention on Fallout 76 has brought its lack of cross-play under the microscope, especially at a time when most multiplayer-focused games do have cross-play. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard explained why Fallout 76 does not yet have cross-play, pointing out that when the game was developed it was not done so with cross-play in mind.

“We keep looking into it. It [Fallout 76] wasn’t designed that way from the beginning,” Howard said. “So obviously we get into server and database silos.”

Fallout 76 launched in November 2018 across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and was savaged by critics and players at release. However, over the last five years, Bethesda has worked to improve the game, turning around sentiment to such an extent that Fallout 76 now enjoys a ‘mostly positive’ user review rating on Steam. Howard said Fallout 76 has been “sneaky popular” for the last three or four years.

Not only does Fallout 76 not have cross-play, it also doesn’t have cross-progression, another pretty standard feature for multiplayer games in 2024. In the interview, Howard went on to say cross-progression is more important to Bethesda than cross-play when it comes to Fallout 76, but again, technical issues with the way Fallout 76 was built are a stumbling block.

“Here’s what I would say, which is for us the more the important thing is cross-progression than cross-play — and we do separate them — we’d love to have it all.” Howard said. “It’s something we are looking at, but I will say it’s quite — the way that [Fallout 76] was architected from the beginning — a technical lift. Not saying we are or aren’t doing anything, we are looking at it and seeing where that’s going to impact people.”

While cross-play and cross-progression sound unlikely for Fallout 76, it sounds like both are very much on the table for Bethesda’s future games. Indeed the recently released Starfield, a single-player adventure, does have cross-progression between PC and Xbox.

Howard added: “Going forward in the world we want to be in, I think it’s very important and something that you know in our future games that we’re going to be really, really mindful about to make sure — in particular the progression — that where you pick up a game you’re able no matter what screen you’re on you’re able to just keep going with your character and what you were doing.”

Howard’s interview with Kinda Funny Games also revealed a fall release window for Starfield expansion Shattered Space, and potentially two new Fallout projects.

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.

Whenever Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead releases a big balance update for the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter, the community debates the various nerfs and buffs as it gets to grips with the evolving meta. After this week’s release of patch 01.000.300, which tweaked a long list of weapons, stratagems, and enemies, the debate was especially vociferous.

A change to the beloved Quasar Cannon is but one that has led to claims that Arrowhead has nerfed fun out of Helldivers 2. The game’s Discord and subreddit are especially spicy as Arrowhead community managers address concern about nerfs even as they point out that in reality, the patch made significant buffs to a number of key weapons. The Adjudicator, for example, has enjoyed a meaningful buff, as has the Punisher Plasma, and the Counter Sniper. The regular Guard Dog and the Railgun also got some love. Other weapons were rebalanced with a combination of buffs and nerfs.

As the row over Helldivers 2’s apparent nerfs continues, Arrowhead has addressed another aspect of the patch that has drawn controversy: patrols for solo players.

In the patch notes released this week, Arrowhead said patrol spawning was increased when there are fewer than four players. The fewer the players the bigger the change. For four-player missions there is no change compared to before. But “the biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties.”

Essentially, Helldivers 2 is now tougher for teams of three players and less, and much tougher for solo players. Helldivers 2 is designed to be played co-op, ideally in squads of four, but of course sometimes that’s not possible, and indeed there are plenty of players who prefer to play solo, challenging themselves to complete missions on their own and on the toughest difficulties even though Helldivers 2 can be incredibly difficult played this way.

Following the release of the patch, Arrowhead released a statement attributed to design director Niklas Broström, who explained that this change was about righting a prior mistake.

“We unintendedly had non-linear scaling of the patrol spawns so they didn’t spawn as often as they should have when less than four players,” Broström said. “The intention is that one player has 1/4th of the patrols compared to four players, but it used to be that they had 1/6th.

“Scaling of patrol spawns was exponential before, and that felt good on four player lobbies but a bit too empty when playing with fewer players, especially when playing solo. So now we made the scaling of patrols to be linear, which means if you play solo you will get 25% of the patrols compared to a four-player lobby instead of having about 17% of the patrols. There is still a cap of patrols that can spawn at the same time so during situations when we spawn a lot of patrols, such as extractions, even solo players won’t notice the difference. The change is made to make the world feel less empty for one and two-player lobbies, especially on high difficulty missions which was also slightly too easy for solo players compared to our intentions.

“Hope this clarifies the change for everyone – we’re not making the game arbitrarily harder!”

So, it turns out, Helldivers 2 was unintentionally too easy for solo players, and now it’s at the difficulty Arrowhead always intended.

The patch reaction doesn’t end there. There’s also a debate about a significant change to ricochet: “Shots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. Trigger discipline is highly recommended.”

After the patch:
The New Ricochet System Sucks

🔗Eys-Beowulf | #Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/RPO0hJcN8t

— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) April 30, 2024

Players are now reporting getting killed more often by shots that ricochet, but there is confusion about just how much of an issue this is. Clips are doing the rounds on social media that appear to show players suffering embarrassing deaths at the hands of their own ricocheting projectiles, but some have suggested there isn’t a big change here. The prevailing theory is that the patch has made it so the player now takes damage from their own bullets and shrapnel when ricochet occurs, compared to the pre-patch situation where they were immune.

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

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.