Category: IGN

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Minecraft Update Adds Long-Requested Wolf Variants After Over 10 Years of Waiting

Since Mojang added wolves to Minecraft’s Java Edition beta in 2011, they’ve remained pretty much the same, with only one variant (in comparison to the game’s 11 different cats and an impressive 2,700 different tropical fish). Quite a few players have begged Mojang to add more wolves — and now, after 13 years, it seems their work has finally paid off.

In a blog post today, Mojang revealed that it’s testing out eight new wolf variations for the game’s next update. According to the blog post, each new wolf variant lives in its own biome and has its own rarity. (The game’s original wolf is also sticking around in the taiga biome, but it’s now called the Pale Wolf.)

While Minecraft’s revamped wolves aren’t in an official release of the game right now, they can currently be tested by installing the most recent snapshot, which also features the long-requested wolf armor.

Of course, the Minecraft community was thrilled by the long-awaited announcement, with a few players sharing that the update was enough to draw them back into the game.

A few players even deemed it the game’s best snapshot ever.

We gave Minecraft a 9 in our 2011 review, calling it “a blank page just daring you to jump in and do with it what you will.” Since then, it’s changed quite a bit, with its latest major update adding camels and archaeology. The game’s annual addition of mobs hasn’t been without controversy, though — last year, players even “unionized” to petition Mojang to abolish the mob vote.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun, and they’re currently developing a game called Garage Sale. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

The Xbox Toaster Oven Is Back on Sale at Walmart

It’s back! Walmart is once again offering the Xbox Series S Toaster for $40. Don’t be fooled by the $84.49 MSRP listed on the site, though; the toaster launched back in January at a retail price of $39.99. That said, $40 isn’t a bad price for a toaster oven, even if it’s a meme one like this.

Xbox Series S Toaster for $40

The toaster looks similar to the white Xbox Series S console, but it is an actual working 2-slice toaster with creature comforts you’d expect from any decent toasting appliance like defrost and bagel functions, digital countdown timer, and six different shade settings. Of course, an Xbox toaster’s gotta have a gaming-centric feature, and fortunately the Xbox toaster does not disappoint. It will expertly imprint the Xbox logo onto each and every slice of toast – genius!

Check out all of the best Xbox deals today on consoles, games, and accessories.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Is Secretly a Real-Time Strategy Game – Xbox Partner Preview 2024

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was given a fresh look at the Xbox Partner Preview through a brand-new gameplay trailer. Interestingly, it seems to secretly be a real-time strategy game as much as an action game like Devil May Cry.

The new trailer shows the hero as they traverse the world and battle various spirits. It also showcases the the game’s day/night cycle and how it incorporates the strategic positioning of villagers, who will fight by your side, along with a building element that sees you explore villages and repair contraptions that can be used to your advantage when the monsters come at night.

An Xbox Wire post further fleshes out the details on Kunitsu-Gami, revealing that the story revolves around a hero named Soh who must work together with the maiden, Yoshiro, to “purge and cleanse the villages of defilement.” Masks worn by Soh and various villagers confer divine power, with 12 available in total.

This game features a very distinct blend of action and strategy genres and takes strong inspiration from various elements of Japanese culture

“After releasing Shinsekai: Into the Depths four years ago, we’re ready to open a new chapter for players around the world to enjoy,” director Shuichi Kawata wrote. “This game features a very distinct blend of action and strategy genres and takes strong inspiration from various elements of Japanese culture. With all of that, we’re excited (and maybe a little nervous…in a good way!) to have everyone experience this game.”

According to Kawata, Kunitsu-Gami is in the “final stages of development.” When it releases, it will be available on day one on Xbox Game Pass.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was first revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023, with the initial trailer featuring a lavishly detailed vision of the Japanese spirit realm mixed with the combat that Capcom is known for. It was also confirmed to be headed for a day one release date on Xbox Game Pass.

Aside from Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, the showcase includes new info on The First Berserker: Kharzan and a host of other games. You can read about everything announced at the Xbox Partner Preview right here.

Look for Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, with more info to be revealed at a Capcom streaming showcase scheduled for March 7 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

One of the Best Power Banks for Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally Is on Sale Today

Today, Amazon is offering the powerful and high capacity Anker Prime 20,000mAh USB Power Bank for only $89.98, a hefty 31% price drop from its original $130 MSRP. This is the successor to the Anker 737 that we deemed the best Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally charger. It boasts an absolutely massive 200W of USB power delivery to charge all of your mobile devices simultaneously.

Anker Prime 20,000mAh Power Bank for $90

with 200W of USB Type-C Power Delivery

The Anker Prime can be used like any other power bank; it does a fine job of charging any of your standard mobile electronics. However, its main purpose is to charge more power hungry devices like laptops, portable gaming systems, and high end phones. It has two USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port. Each USB Type C port supports up to 100W of Power Delivery. In fact, both ports can charge 100W at the same time. If you want to charge using all three ports simultaneously, then the power distribution will be 100W (Type C), 60W (Type-C) and 40W (Type-A). The 20,000mAh is under the TSA’s 27,000mAh limit so it can be brought onto airplanes; it can charge a Nintendo Switch OLED about 4 times, iPhone 15 Pro Max about 4 times, Steam Deck about 3 times, and an ASUS ROG Ally about 7 times.

What makes the Prime unique compared to most other power banks is the LCD digital readout which displays a lot of useful real-time information like remaining battery capacity, power input, and power output from each port. The power bank measures 5″x2″x2″ and weighs in at 1.2 pounds.

The Anker Prime is an excellent Steam Deck / ASUS ROG Ally charger

The Anker Prime is an outstanding charger for the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally portable gaming handhelds. The Steam Deck accepts up to 38W of USB Power Delivery and the ASUS ROG Ally accepts up to 65W. That means the Prime can charge three Steam Decks or two ASUS ROG Allys simultaneously at their maximum charging rate. Both the ROG Ally and Steam Deck suffer from a short battery life when gaming on the go. For instance, when playing most games at 60 FPS, you’re likely looking at four hours of battery life for the Steam Deck and far less with the ASUS ROG Ally, which is equipped with a measly 2600mAh battery. During our Steam Deck review, we even found games like God of War or Spider-Man would tap out in under 2-hours as well. At the end of the day, you’ll never get the full potential out of your Steam Deck or ROG Ally if you’re not equipped with a decent portable charger.

Remedy Lowers Minimum System Requirements for Alan Wake 2 on PC

Alan Wake 2‘s hefty system requirements shocked many PC gamers when they were announced last year. The requirements noted that you needed at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 or an AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU to run the game at 1080p / 30 frames per second (FPS), with no support for older GPUs such as Nvidia’s GTX 10-series. Roughly four months after its release, Remedy has released a new patch that lowers the minimum PC system requirements and allows older PC gaming rigs to run the game.

Remedy posted the new system requirements, which you can check out below, to X/Twitter alongside the release of update 1.0.16.1.

The minimum requirements now call for at least a GTX 1070 or an RX 5600 XT graphics card. As previously noted by Remedy, if you have either GPU, in addition to the other minimum specs that remain unchanged, you can run the game at 1080p / 30FPS.

As Remedy mentioned in the patch notes for Alan Wake 2 update 1.0.16.1, the developer has “optimized rendering for GPUs that don’t support mesh shaders.” The GTX-10 series lacks mesh shader support, which is a type of code that allows game developers to process polygons with more power and control, enabling things such as greater detail. This results in a detail-rich in-game environment but leaves older PC gaming rigs in the dust.

Yet, even if you don’t have an RTX 1070 and are rocking an RTX 1060, which is still one of the top five most-popular GPUs PC users are using as of a Steam February 2024 hardware survey, you will get a slightly better performance than you did at release, as Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia pointed out in his recent retesting of Alan Wake 2 running GTX-10 series cards. While the GTX 1060 still failed to run 30FPS, Battaglia discovered that the GTX 1060 got a performance improvement, with some demanding areas now putting out 26FPS instead of 18FPS.

In IGN’s Alan Wake 2 review, we said: “Alan Wake II is a superb survival horror sequel that makes the cult-classic original seem like little more than a rough first draft by comparison.”

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

Project Tower: Copy Your Enemies’ Skills in New Unreal Engine 5 Shooter

Developer Yummy Games has officially announced Project Tower, a new third-person bullet hell shooter powered by Unreal Engine 5. It’s in development for PC and PS5. Take a look at at the story-focused gameplay announcement trailer above as well as the first screenshots in the gallery below.

Yummy describes Tower as such: “In this third-person shooter that combines bullet hell and transformation abilities, use your powers to copy your enemies’ skills and solve puzzles to escape the alien tower that’s holding you prisoner.”

As you can see from the trailer, in addition to the bullet hell gameplay, there’s also a heavy focus on Project Tower’s “last of humankind” narrative here, which will hopefully make for a compelling time between the copious amounts of shooting that you’ll be doing. Wishlist it on Steam if you’d like to follow its development progress.

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.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Revealed for Consoles Ahead of Xbox Showcase

Pre-orders for an unannounced S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy have gone live in Japan, suggesting an announcement during today’s Xbox Partner Preview Event.

Gematsu reported pre-orders for the collection on PlayStation 4 went live on Japanese retailers alongside a June 27 release date. It includes S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and marks the series’ debut on consoles.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, developed by GSC Game World and published by the now defunct THQ, launched on PC only in March 2007.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was well-received for its post-apocalyptic, alternative reality Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, as well as its non-linear storyline. Prequel Clear Sky followed in 2008, with sequel Call of Pripyat launching in 2010.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is due out in September on Xbox Series X and S and PC, and may also appear during the Xbox Partner Preview Event, which kicks off today, March 6 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK.

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.

Helldivers 2 Developer Insists Sony Acquisition Rumor Is ‘Fake’

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has denied a recent rumour that Sony is buying the studio.

While Helldivers 2 is published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Swedish studio Arrowhead remains an independent company. But following Helldivers 2’s explosive success across PlayStation 5 and PC, rumors have emerged that Sony has made a move to acquire Arrowhead.

Responding to a tweet from an account that reposted the rumour and even created a Sony ‘welcome to the family’ image to boost the post, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said: “This is fake… Unless I’ve missed something. Also, a really sh***y old logo from 2008 or so when we just started the studio.”

Pilestedt responded to another tweet that posted the same image alongside a message hoping for the acquisition. “This is the first I hear of this,” Pilestedt said. “And that’s a good indication that it’s fake. Also, very old logo.”

Pilestedt had previously replied to a tweet to clarify that Helldivers 2 was not developed by a Sony-owned studio, saying: “We are not owned. We are independently owned!” Then: “I mean… We are owned, but only by the founders (including me) of the studio.”

Last month, Sony announced a significant round of layoffs affecting around 900 staff, or about 8% of its global PlayStation workforce. The layoffs affect a number of PlayStation studios, including Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Firesprite, and, most significantly, PlayStation’s London studio, which is closing entirely. Alongside the layoffs, a number of in-development games were canceled, including a Twisted Metal live-service game.

Arrowhead was founded in 2008 by a group of students who went on to release Magicka, The Showdown Effect, and Gauntlet. The first Helldivers game launched in 2015, published by Sony for PlayStation platforms and PC. Helldivers 2, however, is Arrowhead’s biggest game to date, and Sony’s biggest ever PC game launch.

There’s a lot happening in the world of Helldivers 2, including a recent new strategy that involves hugging and the game’s first balance patch. The galactic war continues, of course, as players await the arrival of mechs. This week, IGN reported on how 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, as well as the best loadouts.

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.

Helldivers 2 Patch 01.000.100 Nerfs the Game’s Best Loadout, Adds Planetary Hazards

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released its first balance update, patch 01.000.100, which nerfs the game’s best loadout among other things. The update is out now on PC and coming soon on PlayStation 5.

First up, it’s worth mentioning the patch adds planetary hazards. This means planets now have extra environmental challenges that appear at random while you’re deployed, including fire tornadoes and meteor showers. In the patch notes, Arrowhead said there are many more planetary hazards now active, so players will no-doubt have fun contending with them all.

The meat of the patch, though, is a sweeping balance pass. On this, the quickfire eradicate missions, which are used by farmers to efficiently gobble up resources before resetting operations, now require more kills and enemies spawn more often. “The time to complete the mission was previously shorter than intended and should now usually take twice as long to complete,” Arrowhead said.

As for weapons and stratagems, the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack are all nerfed, among other items. These three in particular were seen as essential for high difficulties, and were a part of most of the game’s agreed upon best loadouts.

Explaining the decision to nerf the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, designer Alex K said all three “were quite strong with too little downsides, overshadowing all other options on higher difficulty levels.” However, the developer expects the changes won’t ruin the build, “but rather help the affected items find their place among the other options and stay effective in capable hands.”

Elsewhere, there are a number of fixes. The highlight here is armor rating values are now fixed, which means they should reduce damage as intended. This is fun, too: Helldivers standing next to ICBMs during launch will get properly toasty with a chance of not-so-spontaneous combustion.

There’s a lot happening in the world of Helldivers 2, including a recent new strategy that involves hugging. The galactic war continues, of course, as players await the arrival of mechs.

This week, IGN reported on how 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, as well as the best loadouts.

Helldivers 2 Update 01.000.100 Patch Notes:

Major Updates

  • Planetary Hazards active
  • Many planets now have additional environmental challenges that will appear at random while you are deployed, from fire tornadoes to meteor showers and many more.

Balancing

  • Eradicate missions now require more kills and enemies spawn more often. The time to complete the mission was previously shorter than intended and should now usually take twice as long to complete.

Primary, Secondary, & Support Weapons

  • Breaker: Decreased magazine capacity from 16 to 13, increased recoil from 30 to 55
  • Railgun: Decreased armor penetration, decreased damage against durable enemy parts
  • Flamethrower: Increased damage per second by 50%
  • Laser Cannon: Increased damage against durable enemy parts, increased armor penetration, improved ergonomics
  • Punisher: Increased total ammo capacity from 40 to 60, increased stagger force, increased damage from 40 per bullet to 45 per bullet
  • Breaker Spray & Pray: Increased armor penetration, increased fire rate from 300 to 330, increased number of pellets from 12 to 16 per shot, decreased magazine size from to 32 to 26

Stratagems

  • Energy Shield Backpack: Increased delay before recharging
  • 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages: Increased duration of the bombardment, decreased spread

Fixes

  • Fixed armor rating values not reducing damage as intended.
  • Fixed certain Bug Holes (including Stalker Nests) that were unnecessarily hard to destroy.
  • Fixed anti-aliasing toggle not working on PS5.
  • Balanced lighting across all planets to solve cases where the game was too dark.
  • Improved flashlight efficacy.
  • Increased visibility during “sand rain” weather on Erata Prime.
  • Updated tutorial materials and lighting.
  • Improved cases where some materials could look blurry if “Lighting” graphic setting was set to “Low”.
  • Fixed timing issues that could occur in the “Extract E-710” primary objective.
  • Changed button interaction behavior for buttons in bunker POIs. Helldivers will now let go of the button after holding it for a few seconds.
  • Fixed some cases of large assets floating if the ground beneath them was blown up.
  • Helldivers standing next to ICBMs during launch will get properly toasty with a chance of not-so-spontaneous combustion.
  • Fixed unthrowable snowballs after ragdolling.
  • Fixed being able to use grenades after drowning.
  • Camera no longer locked on the player’s own corpse and blocking spectator mode.
  • Helldivers now take damage from fire, gas etc. generated by other players.
  • Armor no longer stretches when dismembered.

Known Issues
These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed.

  • Game may crash after dropping several high power stratagems in succession.
  • Picking up items from caches may cause characters to freeze in place for an extended period of time.
  • Picking up items from bunkers and caches in quick succession may render one of the items unpickable.
  • Players cannot unfriend other players befriended via friend code.
  • Players may be unable to select loadout or return to ship when joining a multiplayer game session via PS5 Activity Card.
  • Mission objective HUD displays different numbers for client and host during some missions.
  • Default armor is always shown while viewing the warbond, regardless of the armor that player has equipped.
  • Text chat box display is obstructed by the cinematic letterboxing during extraction.
  • Some text in the HUD/UI is missing or not displaying correctly.
  • Players may experience issues when many players attempt to login and/or play at the same time:
  • Login rate limiting
  • Players may become disconnected during play
  • Various UI issues may appear when the game interacts with servers
  • Some games may not be joinable by others for a short period of time

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.