Category: IGN

The Game Developers Choice Awards have arrived and look to honor the best of the best in the world of video games from 2023. This year’s show has 12 categories and the winners are chosen by industry professionals from around the world.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3 are leading the way going into tonight with seven nominations each, and both are part of a surprising yet wonderful list of nominees for the best game of 2023 that also includes Cocoon, Dave the Diver, Dredge, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

As we’ve seen in awards shows in the past, any game can emerge victorious, and we’ll be covering the show live and updating the list below, so be sure to stay tuned to see the winners of the Game Developers Choice Awards 2024!

BEST AUDIO

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
• Venba (Visai Games)
  • Honorable Mentions: COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive), Diablo IV (Blizzard
    Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix), Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software / Portkey
    Games), Humanity (tha ltd. and Enhance / Enhance)

BEST DEBUT

• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• Dave the Diver (Mintrocket)
• Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)
• Venba (Visai Games) – WINNER
• Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful Publishing)
  • Honorable Mentions: BattleBit Remastered (SgtOkiDoki, Vilaskis, and TheLiquidHorse / SgtOkiDoki),
    Party Animals (Recreate Games / Source Technology), Pizza Tower (Tour De Pizza), Planet of Lana
    (Wishfully Studios / Thunderful), Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Summerfall Studios / Humble
    Games)

BEST DESIGN

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) – WINNER
• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)
• Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
  • Honorable Mentions: Dave the Diver (Mintrocket), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Street Fighter 6 (Capcom), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

INNOVATION AWARD

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo) – WINNER
• The Making of Karateka (Digital Eclipse)
  • Honorable Mentions: Dave the Diver (Mintrocket), Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17), Marvel’s
    Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios /Bethesda Softworks), Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful Publishing)

BEST NARRATIVE

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games) – WINNER
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
• Venba (Visai Games)
  • Honorable Mentions: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (CD Projekt), Dredge (Black Salt Games /
    Team17), Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP), Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (Guerrilla Games /Sony Interactive Entertainment), Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD

• A Space for the Unbound (Mojiken Studio / Toge Productions)
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft Bordeaux / Ubisoft)
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Terra Nil (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)
• Venba (Visai Games)
  • Honorable Mentions: Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP), Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
    (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony
    Interactive Entertainment), Tchia (Awaceb / Kepler Interactive), Thirsty Suitors (Outerloop Games /
    Annapurna Interactive)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games)
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo) – WINNER
  • Honorable Mentions: COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive), Cyberpunk 2077:
    Phantom Liberty (CD Projekt), Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix),
    Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST VISUAL ART

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games) – WINNER
• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix)
• Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
  • Honorable Mentions: Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment), Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17),
    Lies of P (Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio / Neowiz Games), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Super
    Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

GAME OF THE YEAR

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• Dave the Diver (Mintrocket)
• Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
  • Honorable Mentions: Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games), Diablo IV (Blizzard
    Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Starfield (Bethesda
    Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

Guilty Gear Strive’s newest DLC character for Season 3 has been revealed as A.B.A., a long-missed fan favorite that first appeared in 2012’s Guilty Gear XX Accent Core R and will arrive once more on March 26, 2024.

A.B.A.’s return was announced during the Arc Live AWT Preview Show, and she will be released alongside a free update that introduces a new battle stage called ‘Fallen Prayer, Engulfed Lives,’ balance changes, and a new special move for Millia Rage called Artemis.

If you’d like to play as A.B.A., she will cost $6.99 individually or as part of Season Pass 3 for $24.99.

A.B.A. is known for being jealous and belligerent from time to time, but she is also considerate and sympathetic towards others. That jealousy does have benefits for combat, however, as she can enter the powerful Jealousy Rage state by meeting certain conditions.

Once in Jealousy Rage, she gets improved movement and different properties for the majority of her normal, special, and Overdrive moves.

A.B.A. is joined by her “reluctant husband” named Paracelsus, who is currently in the form of a magical battle axe named Flament Nagel. As they spent more time together, Paracelsus slowly began changing into a key, and A.B.A. now wants to find a human body for him and discover why these things are happening.

On March 26, A.B.A. will become the third character in Season Pass 3 following Johnny and Elphelt. There will be one more character in this season that will jump into battle later in 2024.

As for the battle stage, ‘Fallen Prayer, Engulfed Lives’ features a “clear blue sea and an eye-catching monument” and a coral reef overgrowth that has made this place a hit for tourists. Millia Rage’s new Artemis special move, on the other hand, lets the character “attack while leaping up at an angle behind her.” While she attacks, she can evade low-hitting attacks and get to an opponent’s opposite side.

For more, check out our Guilty Gear Strive review, what games will join it in EVO 2024, and where this game ranks on our list of the 10 best fighting games ever made.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

EA’s long-running life simulation series The Sims is being adapted into a movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project will be directed by Kate Herron, who previously directed season one of Loki for Disney+ and four episodes of Sex Eduction season one for Netflix. Herron will reportedly also co-write the screenplay.

Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap (which Robbie runs alongside Tom Ackerly, Josey McNamara, and Sophia Kerr) is on deck to produce, in conjunction with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment, as well as Electronic Arts itself.

No other details on the upcoming film are available at this stage, so it’s unknown how many Sims will drown following the removal of the ladder after they jump in the pool.

Created by iconic game designer Will Wright (the creator of 1989’s pioneering SimCity), The Sims was first released in early 2000. With over two decades of sequels and expansions under its belt (and more than 200 million copies sold) The Sims is one of the best-selling video game series off all time.

This isn’t the first time a movie based on The Sims has been in the works; back in 2007 Fox was gearing up for its own live-action adaptation of the series, but it floundered in development limbo for over a decade before being officially cancelled in 2019 in the wake of the Disney-Fox merger.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

The Nintendo Switch has entered what is likely its final year in the console market, and it appears to be going out in a blaze of glory with some exciting games to make way for its successor, the Nintendo Switch 2. Whether they’re exclusively developed for the Switch or ported over from other platforms, we’ve rounded up the upcoming Switch games that will make the hybrid console’s final year one of the most memorable.

The next release we’ve got coming down the pipeline is Princess Peach: Showtime, the Mushroom Kingdom monarch’s first solo game since Super Princess Peach was released on the Nintendo DS nearly 20 years ago. Then there’s the long-awaited remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, World of Goo 2, and Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, just to name a few amazing titles that were announced in last month’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase and prior. Here are all the new Switch games we can look forward to in 2024.

All Upcoming Switch Games With Release Dates

Princess Peach: Showtime (March 22, 2024)

Princess Peach takes the spotlight in Princess Peach: Showtime, an adventure game in which she and her band of Toads must save Sparkle Theater from the clutches of the Grape and the Sour Bunch. Every level has Peach changing her costume, which changes the gameplay style depending on what she’s wearing. For example, Swordfighter Peach turns gameplay into a hack ‘n slash, Patisserie Peach introduces a baking minigame in which you decorate cakes and stack carts with cookies, and Mermaid Peach takes you underwater. Whatever her costume, she’ll teach those baddies not to mess with the princess.

South Park: Snow Day (March 26, 2024)

Cartman, Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and all the other kids are having the best day off from school in South Park: Snow Day. In this four-player co-op, you play as the New Kid, whom you can customize any way you choose, and battle it out in a big game of medieval make-believe. It’s like The Stick of Truth, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone set it in a snowy winter wonderland.

Pepper Grinder (March 28, 2024)

From Ahr Ech and Devolver Digital comes Pepper Grinder, a 2D fast-paced platformer in which you can dig for treasure using your drill. You play as Pepper, a treasure-hunting pirate who sets out to retrieve her lost loot after a group of narwhal-type creatures make off with it following a storm that wrecked her ship and left her on an unfamiliar island. You can use the drill, named Grinder, to travel underground, power various vehicles, and solve environmental puzzles along the way.

Freedom Planet 2 (April 4, 2024)

Freedom Planet 2, originally released on PC in September 2022, is coming to the Nintendo Switch to give players a chance to play the sequel to the Sonic-inspired game at home and on the go. Play as Lilac, Carol, Milla, and Neera Li as they battle an army of robots led by Merge, a water dragoness hellbent on revenge for atrocities committed during Avalice’s deadliest war in ancient times. It’s sure to delight fans who have been wanting a Switch port of Freedom Planet 2 for some time.

Grounded (April 16, 2024)

Grounded is an originally Xbox-exclusive survival game that shrinks players down to the size of ants. In 1990, four teens — Max, Willow, Pete, and Hoops — wake up to find themselves bug-sized and trapped in the backyard of a scientist who invented a device that shrinks objects and people, hence their disappearance and small forms. Playing as one of the teens, you must scavenge for food to stave off starvation and dehydration and resources to build forts, and fight off other insects and animals lurking in the scientist’s yard.

Read our review of Grounded.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau (April 23, 2024)

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is an EA Original Metroidvania title developed by actor Abubakar Salim and his developer Surgent Studios. Inspired by the actor’s journey of grief after losing his father, the game takes players on a journey with the titular warrior-shaman, who works to capture the spirits of three monsters as offerings to Kalunga, the God of Death who promises to bring his father back to life. You’ll be equipped with two masks, the sun mask and the moon mask, that allow you to attack enemies up close and personal and from a distance, respectively, and collect soul energy that unlocks new abilities for each mask.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (April 23, 2024)

Produced and directed by the late Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of Konami’s Suikoden series that Eiyuden Chronicle is a spiritual successor of, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a six-player turn-based RPG that allows you to choose six characters out of 100, hence the title, to form a party to join you on a heroic campaign across the war-torn continent of Allraan. You can manage your town and work with your companions to gather resources and build new facilities while taking on some fearsome foes.

Endless Ocean: Luminous (May 2, 2024)

If you find scuba diving to be a relaxing hobby, Endless Ocean: Luminous, the second sequel in the Endless Ocean series following Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep, is the most relaxing endless ocean game you’ll ever play. During your dive, you explore the Veiled Sea, a mysterious underwater region where the environment changes every time you dive into the water. You can also explore more than 500 species of marine life inhabiting the area.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake (May 23, 2024)

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has finally gotten the remake treatment for the Switch nearly 20 years after its release on the GameCube. Intelligent Systems redid the graphics and animations to make the game modernized, smooth, and more theatrical as Mario races to rescue Princess Peach from an alien race called the X-Nauts after they kidnap her. This could likely be the final Mario game on the Switch.

World of Goo 2 (May 23, 2024)

World of Goo 2 comes 15 years after the release of the original physics-based puzzle game on the Wii and PC. As the name heavily implies, players will use tiny balls of goo to build bridges, towers, and similar structures to overcome chasms, cliffs, spikes, hills, and other obstacles to reach goal points. The challenging part is, when you build these structures, you have to use as few goo balls as you possibly can.

Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance (June 21, 2024)

Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is an enhanced version of the original game, with an additional storyline and other new content. The game’s story mode lets you choose between two storylines: Canon of Creation, the original storyline, or the titular Canon of Vengeance, which undergoes drastic changes in the latter half of the game stemming from your choices, as well as new characters like Yoko Hiromine. The game will also have 40 new demons, new locations, quality-of-life upgrades, and new gameplay mechanics.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (June 25, 2024)

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble surprised fans during the Nintendo Partner Direct with cute new character designs for AiAi and the other monkeys and loads of new gameplay features. You can customize your monkey and Monkey Ball in 300 different ways, use the new Spin Dash move to zip past opponents and create shortcuts (a la Sonic) in 200 new levels. And for the first time in the Super Monkey Ball series, you can play with up to 16 people in online multiplayer mode.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (June 27, 2024)

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a remaster of the 2013 Nintendo 3DS title, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. In the game, Luigi is sent to Evershade Valley by Professor E. Gadd to capture ghosts in five haunted mansions with his invention, the Poltergust 5000, and retrieve a Dark Moon fragment hidden within it. Each mansion is built around a specific theme, such as a frozen mine, an overgrown greenhouse, and a sandy clock factory. Get your flashlights ready!

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Deluxe Edition (July 11, 2024)

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Deluxe Edition is an enhanced version of the original game developed exclusively for Nintendo Switch. The game follows fighter pilot Trigger, who gets assigned to a penal squadron after being accused of murder during a war between Osea and Erusea. The Switch-exclusive deluxe version will come with six DLC packs and bonus content not seen in the original game.

Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus (July 18, 2024)

Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is a hand-drawn 2.5D action platformer inspired by Japanese folklore developed by Squid Shock Studios in partnership with Humble Games and funded on Kickstarter. You play as Bo, the celestial blossom (fox tentaihana) descended from the heavens to embark on a journey through the mystical land to take part in a mysterious ancient ritual. The bo staff helps you bounce and glide seamlessly from place to place throughout the dreamlike realm, and you’ll get to meet yokai and monsters of various types, shapes, and sizes.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (October 10, 2024)

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is the long-awaited sequel to the original RPG-style life-sim game that released on Nintendo 3DS in 2014. In addition to working any job you want — from woodcutter, blacksmith, paladin, cook, and more — each with its own set of quests, you’ll get to build your own city on an abandoned island, travel through time, and meet new characters with some mysteries of their own.

Upcoming Switch Games With Unknown Release Dates

Over the last year, we’ve been hearing rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2 regarding its appearance, release date, and name. Though the Switch 2 should have been released by now per the 7-year console release rule, Nintendo has reportedly delayed its release to March 2025 in an effort to curb scalping and garner enough stock to satisfy demand. There are also rumors that the Switch 2, if that’s its final name, has the same hybrid functionality as the original, but with a bigger screen.

Meanwhile, there are other upcoming Nintendo games coming out this year and the next that don’t have a solid release date yet, but will update them as soon as we hear them. Here are the games without release dates.

• Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – TBA
• Hollow Knight: Silksong – TBA
• Metroid Prime 4 – TBA
• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam – 2025
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A – 2025

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

This article contains spoilers for the late game of Stardew Valley.

A sinister new cut scene introduced in Stardew Valley’s massive 1.6 update scolds those who glitch their way to an endgame region of the map.

Perfection is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder. In the case of Stardew Valley, however, only one beholder really matters, and that is the game’s developer, Eric Barone, who has set very stringent criteria as to what constitutes a perfect game. Progress towards a “perfect” playthrough can be tracked via the perfection meter found in the Walnut Room on Ginger Island.

To fill it up, you’ll have to spend countless hours slaying monsters, finding collectibles, growing crops, and generally being an outstanding, problem-solving member of the community. Put in the time and effort to achieve perfection, and you’ll be rewarded with access to a part of the map known as The Summit, where you’re treated to a heartwarming cutscene with your loved one of choice, before being presented with a parade of every animal and character in the game. As its name suggests, reaching The Summit could be considered the pinacle achievement of a Stardew Valley playthrough, a fitting reward that is gated behind tens of hours worth of digital sweat.

Or, you be a monster, and skip all of the effort to take the easy way to the summit by using an exploit to glitch out of bounds, and navigate to the endgame section of the map. Thankfully, Barone is well aware of this particular dirty trick, but rather than patching out the exploit for 1.6, the developer instead opted to introduce a cutscene to the game, which punishes players for accessing The Summit without achieving perfection.

Reddit users like Snail51 caught the cutscene shortly after release, which we here at IGN have captured as well. If you don’t mind suffering the wrath of Mister Qi, you can watch a walkthrough below (which also includes the cutscene itself if you don’t want to go through all that).

After following the steps, you’ll come face-to-face with Mister Qi – a mysterious character who operates the Casino found in Calico Desert.

“Well, well, well, look who ‘made it to the summit,” taunts Mister Qi, against the backdrop of a glitching sky. “Thought you were really clever, didn’t you?” The NPC then chides the player further for cheating the system, before calling them “despicablee,” and lunging forwards as the screen fades to black.

The player then comes to in the hospital, only to be told that Harvey had been forced to perform “emergency surgery” on them after they were found “unconscious” and “battered.” Harvey then charges the player 500g for medical expenses, because he isn’t running a charity thank you very much.

Since the cutscene obviously didn’t appear in the extensive list of changes following the release of 1.6, we have no idea what other surprises might be waiting for other players who look to game the system. Regardless, those hoping to get to The Summit the honest way would do well to consult IGN’s comprehensive Stardew Valley Wiki, and to check out our page detailing everything that you need to know about the 1.6 update.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

The first autobiography I ever read was I Had a Hammer, the memoir by the legendary Hank Aaron. In it, he talks about growing up too poor to have any baseball equipment, so he had to swing sticks at bottlecaps. The fact that he would go from these humble beginnings, through the segregation era, and on to become Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king astounded me; his story is so much of what makes baseball so romantic. The way that MLB The Show, Sony San Diego’s annual baseball simulation, captures this is remarkable. The respect for the history and love of The Game fuel its best parts. While it swings and misses on a few odd choices, there is no doubt that MLB The Show 24 is yet another great entry in arguably the best sports gaming franchise running today.

The pure gameplay of The Show has taken no steps backward from last year’s excellent standard. Multiple control and difficulty options do a good job giving you the ability to tailor the experience to your preference, with more complex settings like Zone Hitting rewarding the higher skill level with greater influence over what happens. It also still looks and sounds great, with a solid television-style presentation, and the feeling of a “perfect-perfect” hit never gets old. The updated lighting system in particular has the action looking more vibrant and lifelike than ever.

Baseball is an ever-changing sport, and the way The Show keeps up with that is pretty impressive. Whether it’s the pitch clock, rules around shifts, or two-way players (a la Shohei Ohtani) it seems like there are always new wrinkles to keep up with, and this year is no different. Slightly larger bases were added in real-world MLB, and those are implemented in The Show 24. New rules around pickoff attempts were added, with new pitcher animations to work around them. It’s this commitment to authenticity that continues to make MLB The Show stand out.

My favorite new addition, though, is the Impact Plays. Great defense is a hallmark of real-life baseball, and adding a focus on diving or leaping catches, difficult throws, and scooping challenging hops does a good job of reinforcing that. Impact Plays are possible anytime you are locked as an individual ballplayer, like in Road to The Show. If an opportunity for a spectacular play arises, time slows down and a fast quick time event takes place. How you perform here determines the success of the play. They look spectacular, and it feels great to pull off an all-out dive and throw to rob a hit from a batter.

I just wish Impact Plays would happen more frequently. Often, the Moments in Diamond Dynasty mode and the chapters in Storylines focus almost exclusively on getting hits or pitching innings over and over again, largely ignoring the defensive aspects of baseball. These plays make a few appearances, but not nearly enough. Not further integrating great fielding is a missed opportunity to alleviate some of the staleness that comes with grinding these Moments out.

The Storylines were a highlight in last year’s edition, and this year continues that trend with The Negro Leagues season 2. At launch there are four stories, with more set to arrive in forthcoming updates. Brilliantly produced videos, narrated by the charismatic president of the Negro League Museum Bob Kendrik, tell the stories of some of baseballs most legendary players, many of whom never had the opportunity to play in the MLB. Kendrick’s youthful enthusiasm when he talks about a skinny teenager who swings his bat with a backwards grip that would go on to become Hank Aaron, maybe the greatest baseball player of all time, is so easy to get caught up in, and does a great job capturing the magic and history of baseball.

A second, separate Storyline track was added for this year, and focuses on legendary Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. The concept is solid: you play through key moments of his career, preceded with commentary from Jeter himself, with highlights and clips in a well-presented package. It’s a bit odd focusing once again on The Captain after he had his own special edition of The Show last year, but hearing Jeter talk about growing up as a Yankees fan and what his experience was like being called up to the big leagues is a neat idea.

The problem is his story, and that of the Yankees from that era, isn’t very interesting. This history of a team that won three straight World Series – four in five years – has no adversity, nothing to overcome. That’s true of Jeter himself as well. His suspect defensive skills were more than made up for by incredible hitting ability and his performance in clutch moments, and his place in the pro baseball Hall of Fame was secured many years before he retired. Combine that with a notably drama-free off-the-field persona, and you end up with no ups and downs, no hardship. It’s the only time playing MLB The Show where I felt bored.

It’s an odd choice in a game as full of amazing stories as baseball. We just as easily could have played through the eyes of Mike Piazza, a 62nd-round pick who became the lowest-drafted player to reach the Hall of Fame. Or Ichiro, coming over as the first Japanese position player, and paving the way for others with his legendary career. What about the Red Sox overcoming a curse dating back to Babe Ruth? I hope Sony San Diego sticks with the storyline idea – it’s a great concept that just needs a better story to tell.

Road to Everyone’s Show

For the first time, women are playable in MLB The Show 24. That’s a big update (mirroring what we’ve seen in NBA 2K, FIFA, and NHL in recent years) and it’s implemented pretty well overall. The highlight is Toni Stone, who appears as part of the Negro Leagues storylines as the first female professional baseball player. She has the same fanfare of her male contemporaries, and I found her story of grit and determination compelling.

You can also create women characters for Road to The Show, the single-player campaign where you play as a prospect working your way up to the big league. New hairstyles, body types, and the option to add makeup if I so chose to wear are all integrated seamlessly. The woman I created was a power-hitting infielder, and I was pleased to see that the video packages and story in Road to The Show were different for her, and embraced the historical achievement that it would be for a woman to be drafted. Considerations like a private changing room are accounted for, and a nice touch of authenticity.

The quality did leave a bit to be desired overall, however. The various story-based cutscenes all playing out via text stood out in a series that has traditionally been largely narrated. It veered too close to something like Superstar mode in Madden, which isn’t a compliment.

The other big addition to Road to The Show is the Draft Combine. This lets your created player demonstrate their skills in front of scouts, and hopefully move up to the coveted top pick. It’s a cool spectacle, and I like that it grades your performance as you go. However unlike other sports games it doesn’t seem like it affects your player’s attributes, and given the fact that you can select which team drafts you instead of the other way around, it’s hard to feel like it actually matters.

Diamond Dynasty, the card-collecting-meets-squad-building mode, is largely unchanged from MLB The Show 23, which is mostly fine. It still plays great, card packs full of players are awarded freely and often and are a lot of fun to open, and the mix of single-player and multiplayer options caters as well to multiple play styles, as it always has. Playing out historical moments to unlock particularly notable cards, then taking those into games is fun, and as satisfying as ever.

Last year saw the implementation of Sets and Seasons in Diamond Dynasty, which made higher-rated cards more accessible, but many of them were only usable in competitive modes during a two-season window. This year that formula has been adjusted: cards are only active for a single season, but the seasons are now longer. They also reduced the number of top-rated cards that are available at the start of a season. That’s a good change, because so much of the fun in this mode is the steady climb from a low-rated team to a juggernaut squad.

Still, the seasonal model in general has its share of issues. For instance, it’s hard to stay motivated to chase a great card for your team when it has an expiration date. There are wildcard slots that will allow you to carry a few outdated cards, but having to decide which favorite players can no longer take the field is a bitter pill to swallow. It was because of this that last year ended up being the fastest I’ve jumped off of Diamond Dynasty and, while I’m hopeful that this year will be different, I remain skeptical.

The Franchise and March to October modes are back and similar to previous years. This is where you take control of your favorite team in hopes of leading them to the promised land of a World Series. They remain solid as ever, and offer the usual range of control from “automate everything” to “I want to live in spreadsheets.” As someone in the latter category I particularly appreciate that Sony San Diego has added the Prospect Promotion Incentive, which rewards MLB teams with draft picks for playing top prospects. Deciding strategically whether to keep a player in the Minors for contract reasons, or to take advantage of their skills and the additional draft pick is a nice new wrinkle.

The best new addition, though, is the Custom Game Entry. This is a setting that allows you to let your team simulate games until certain conditions are met, in which case you take control. 162 games is a lot to play, so I set myself to only come in during the 9th inning in especially high-leverage situations, like a save opportunity with runners on base, or a chance for a walk-off victory. It’s a fantastic feature that lets me focus on team management most of the time, but be the deciding factor in the 20-30 games that make the difference between a first-place finish and missing the playoffs.

Today Amazon is offering the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7P wireless gaming headset for only $127.99. That’s a nearly 30% discount and the best price we’ve seen for the Arctis Nova 7 series headset so far this year. We deemed the Arctis Nova 7P as the best wireless PS5 gaming headset of 2024.

A quick note on compatibility. The Nova 7P is compatible with the PS5, PS4, and PC consoles. You will need to the the Nova 7X model for the Xbox console, although unfortunately it’s not on sale right now.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7P Gaming Headset for $127.99

The SteelSeries Arcis Nova 7P is the latest successor to the highly rated Arctis 7 series of headsets. It’s every bit as good as its predecessor but with some welcome upgrades like a USB Type-C charging port, a longer battery life (38 hours vs 30 hours), simultaneous wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, and multi-platform compatibility. PC gamers also have access to the SteelSeries GG app, which opens up a whole suite of customization for your audio. You can tailor your audio settings independently for each game. If that’s too much for you, there are presets for specific games that are actually tailor-made by the game developers.

Other than that, the Nova Arctis is largely similar to the original Arctis. That’s not a bad thing because the Arctis 7 happens to be Steelseries’ most successful gaming headset ever. This headset has significantly better build quality over the official $100 Xbox wireless headset. If you want an even better wireless headset, in our opinion you’d have to step all the way up to something like the Nova 7 Pro, whose $350 price point puts you in a completely different bracket altogether.

For our hands-on impressions, check out our IGN SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 review. We picked the Nova 7 as one of the best wireless gaming headsets. In my opinion, the only superior SteelSeries headset is the Arctis Nova Pro (wireless) and that goes for more than double the price.

If you’re looking for more PS5 games and accessories, check out the best PS5 deals today.

SSD prices are trending upwards for 2024, but there are still some excellent deals to be found if you’re vigilant. For a limited time, Amazon is current offering this PS5 compatible HP FX900 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive (SSD) for only $107.99. For the even more space hungry, the 4TB is also on sale for $224.99. You’ll need to supply your own heatsink, but you can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10. All of the other best PS5 SSDs cost $40 or more.

HP FX900 Pro 2TB SSD (PS5-Compatible) for $107.99

4TB for $224.99

The HP FX900 Pro meets all the requirements for your PS5 SSD upgrade. This is a PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD with an M.2 2280 form factor and transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,800MB/s write which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. It also makes an excellent boot drive for your gaming PC, especially with its 2TB storage capacity. If you go with the 4TB version, you might not even need a second drive.

The PS5 is an outstanding gaming console, but the 1TB SSD is a real bottleneck. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, can exceed 200GB alone. NBA 2K23 weighs in at 150GB and even older games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space. Future games like Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly demand even more space. The advantage of a PS5 console over the Xbox Series X is that the SSD slot is not proprietary; you can install most third party PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs as long as they are fast enough. Slower drives WILL work, but they may bottleneck the original SSD.

Willing to pay more for another brand? Check out all of the best PS5 SSD deals today.

At GDC 2024, Epic held its State of Unreal event, unveiling the latest news and developments coming to Unreal Engine — specifically Unreal Engine 5 and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).

If you missed the event, here’s a quick rundown of everything announced during the 2024 State of Unreal presentation.

Amy Hennig Reveals Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra at State of Unreal

In an unexpected yet pleasant surprise, Amy Henig and Skydance Media started the show by unveiling Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, one of two projects Hennig has spearheaded since joining the studio.

Alongside a proper reveal of the game, we also learned that it would use Epic’s tech, most notably MetaHuman Animator, to provide more photorealistic facial animations. Last year, it was revealed that Ninja Theory was using this same technology in its upcoming game Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga.

Epic is Integrating MetaHuman to UEFN

As we previously mentioned, MetaHuman Animator is one of the tools part of MetaHuman, and Epic announced today that both MetaHuman Animator and MetaHuman Creator are coming to UEFN. Epic says integration will debut “at the end of April.”

With MetaHuman, UEFN creators can craft both photorealistic fictional characters and provide photorealistic facial animations using captured footage they obtained from an iPhone or a head-mounted camera.

Epic Will Launch a Fortnite Season Developed on UEFN Next Year

As part of its UEFN roadmap, Epic Games revealed that “by the end of 2025,” it will ship the first season of its widely popular free-to-play Battle Royale, made entirely using the level editor.

Beyond that surprise, Epic went into more detail about the UEFN roadmap and the new creator tools it will add this year. This includes confirmation that the highly-requested first-person camera setting will arrive in UEFN sometime this year.

Fortnite Creators Will Get Access to Elements From Rocket Racing, Fall Guys, and LEGO Assets

Epic continues expanding on the Fortnite creator economy by introducing new creative devices and race track templates. Specifically, the publisher revealed that Fortnite creators would be able to leverage elements from Rocket Racing, Fall Guys, and LEGO, allowing creators more ways to express their creativity while building unique experiences all within Fortnite.

Fortnite’s creator economy has continued to go strong since both it and UEFN launched roughly a year ago. Epic revealed that since then, it has paid more than $320 million to creators in the first year of engagement payouts and that creators have published over 80,000 UEFN islands.

Some New Details on Epic Games Store Mobile Version

We already knew that Epic Games was planning to release its digital storefront on mobile devices via the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play later this year, thanks to the new EU legislation, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Epic took time during today’s State of Unreal to share its plans. It touts that the Epic Games Store (EGS) will become the “first-ever game-focused, multi-platform store” that will work across Android, iOS, PC, and macOS. Epic further revealed that mobile developers would benefit “from the same fair terms” found on EGS with an 88/12 revenue share, in addition to other programs that allow you to keep 100% of the revenue earned from using your own payments for in-app purchases.

Epic also revealed that when this digital storefront releases, Fortnite will be brought back to mobile devices (EU only) after the mobile version of its popular battle royale was removed from the App Store and Google Play in 2020.

Dune: Awakening Gets a Deep Dive at the State of Unreal

Skydance Media was not the only game developer to attend the State of Unreal. Funcom also appeared to dive deeper into its upcoming open-world game Dune: Awakening.

It was previously revealed that Dune: Awakening was powered by Unreal Engine 5, but Funcom also elaborated further on how the Dune IP was leveraging Epic’s technologies. This includes Funcom sharing how Dune: Part 2 cinematographer Greig Fraser used Unreal Engine for planning and pre-production purposes for the film.

Unreal Engine 5.4’s Full Release Is Coming Next Month

Epic told IGN ahead of the presentation that while it has some ideas for Unreal Engine 6, we should not expect the next major iteration of its game engine anytime soon.

With that in mind, State of Unreal provided the latest update for the already impressive Unreal Engine 5, revealing that version 5.4 Preview 1 is launching today with a full release slated for “late April.”

Most notably, Epic says that “animation takes big strides forward,” thanks to Unreal Engine 5.4, confirming that it features Motion Matching, a streamlining but highly effective way for developers to animate characters. Epic revealed that Motion Matching has already been on full display via Fortnite, which has used It since Chapter 5 was released.

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

We already knew that Amy Hennig, the award-winning writer and director behind games such as Jak 3 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was working on a narrative-driven Marvel game focused on Captain America and Black Panther. And today, we finally learned some new details, including its official title: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. It’ll arrive sometime in 2025.

The reveal was made at Epic’s State of Unreal 20024 showcase, where we saw a cinematic trailer featuring Captain America and Black Panther in 1940s Europe. We also learned that the game will not only be powered by Unreal Engine 5, but it will include MetaHuman Animator, the same facial animation tool that Ninja Theory will be using for its upcoming project Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga. MetaHuman Animator will allow any developer taking advantage of the tech to use an iPhone or stereo helmet-mounted camera to “reproduce any facial performance as high-fidelity animation” on its characters, providing more realistic facial animations.