Games Workshop has added a Black Library logo to its official Big Summer Warhammer Preview showcase, sparking speculation the company may announce new novels that finally move the overarching Warhammer 40,000 narrative forward.
Big Summer Warhammer Preview, set for this Friday, July 18, will contain reveals for Games Workshop’s main tabletop games, including Age of Sigmar, The Horus Heresy, and of course Warhammer 40,000. Its initially released digital poster for the event did not feature the logo for Black Library, Games Workshop’s in-house book publishing division. However, on July 16, it released a new version of this poster with the Black Library logo added, sparking speculation that fans will get new novel announcements as well.
Why is this exciting for fans of the setting? There is a great deal of speculation that Games Workshop may finally be ready to move the Warhammer 40,000 narrative forward with either a brand new series of books, the teased meet-up between two returned primarchs, or the long-awaited third book in Dan Abnett’s Bequin trilogy.
IGN has reported on the now mythical Pandemonium before, when fans speculated its delay might have something to do with Games Workshop and Amazon getting their narrative ducks in a row ahead of the Henry Cavill-fronted Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe. It is perhaps the most-anticipated book in all Warhammer fandom. The first novel in the Bequin series, Pariah, came out in 2012. Its sequel, the Warhammer 40,000 lore treasure trove that is Penitent, followed nearly a decade later, in March 2021. Pandemonium does not have a release date, and the wait for an announcement is fast becoming Warhammer 40,000’s version of George R. R. Martin’s M.I.A. Game of Thrones book, The Winds of Winter. Some fans are speculating — perhaps more with hope than expectation — that now is finally the time for a Pandemonium reveal.
There’s heightened interest in Pandemonium because it promises to actually move the overarching Warhammer 40,000 plot forward. Penitent ended with a significant lore revelation (it has to do with the identity of the mysterious King in Yellow, which we won’t spoil here), and so the ramifications of Pandemonium for the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe could be huge.
Perhaps more realistic is a new novel series set during the period known as The Scouring. This is the largely unexplored time in Warhammer 40,000 history when the Imperium ran down the traitor legions following the defeat of Horus 10,000 years before the current setting. With the Horus Heresy seemingly wrapped up following the release of Era of Ruin, The Scouring seems like a natural next step for Games Workshop if it wants to continue filling in the gaps in the Warhammer 40,000 narrative.
Or this may all be much ado about nothing, and Black Library’s presence at the show ultimately goes down as a disappointment. You’d like to think that Games Workshop knew what it would do to fan expectations by slapping the Black Library logo on its preview poster, though.
Which leads me neatly into why Warhammer 40,000 lore fans get excited by teases like this in the first place. As I’ve reported before, the Warhammer 40,000 story, such as it is, is a slow moving beast. The scribes at Games Workshop sometimes take years to inch the overarching plot forward. Take, for example, the return of beloved primarch, Lion El’Jonson, which was announced in March 2023. Now, over two years later, the character is yet to do much of anything in the setting, his hotly anticipated reunion with his brother, Roboute Guilliman, seemingly further away than ever. Could a new novel finally detail this sure to be spicy meet up?
Maybe, on Friday, we’ll finally get some answers. The Big Summer Warhammer Preview is set for 7pm BST / 11am PDT on Friday, July 18.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
There’s an old idea called the sophomore slump that says second efforts generally aren’t as good as the first. Sophomore students don’t care as much as freshmen; bands have less time to make a second album than the “out of nowhere” breakout hit they worked on for years; athletes who have exceptional rookie years regress to the mean; and so on. There’s no denying the power of new car smell, and part of the reason College Football 25 popped off as hard as it did (and trust me if you’re unsure: it popped off) was because it’d been more than a decade since NCAA 14. People really, really wanted a new game based on college football. It didn’t hurt that it was also a good one, but the annual “it’s the same game as last year” fatigue of the sports genre hadn’t set in yet. College Football 26 doesn’t benefit from new car smell anymore, but it’s not a game suffering from the sophomore slump, either. This season is better than last year’s; it’s just more focused on steady improvement than breakout success.
Here’s the secret, y’all: once a sports series “solves” the gameplay, it’s never really going to be bad. And College Football 26 (and frankly, Madden, too) has largely solved the “make the football video game play good” part of the football video game. At worst, it’s going to feel samey from year to year, like you’re stuck in football-themed purgatory at a party that’s never quite bad enough to leave. That’s not College Football 26; this is good-ass barbeque, and I’m happy to be here. But like a good-but-not-great QB working on his footwork and release, the devil is in the details. Improvements here are more evolution, less revolution, but this is an annual sports game. You kinda knew that going in.
Part of that is because College Football 26 is built on a really firm foundation. College Football 25 was a good game, and it still has that infectious spirit and sense of tradition that made it a nice change of pace from the more straight-laced Madden. This year’s iteration expands on that in good ways. One of the things I appreciate most is the Trophy Room, which tracks the real world trophies you’ll accumulate across your entire career, no matter what mode you’re in. It’s cool to see stuff like the Heisman Trophy, the Unitas Golden Arm Award, and the Orange Bowl Trophy collected in one place, and be able to learn about them, too. There’s a lot of history to college football, and I appreciate that EA has tried to capture that.
Aside from the addition of the Trophy Room, though, there are no new modes in College Football 26. The options are the exact same as last year, so I am going to copy and paste last year’s paragraph breaking down the modes. Fair’s fair, right?
“You’ve got Play Now, Road to the College Football playoffs, which is a quickfire online ranked mode where you’ll pick a team and try to guide them to a National Championship; Road to Glory, which lets you create your own player and pilot them through their college career; the flagship Dynasty mode, where you’ll helm one of College Football 25 26’s 136(!) [Delaware and Mississippi State are new additions] teams as either a head coach or an offensive or defensive coordinator; Practice and Minigames; and finally, College Ultimate Team (CUT), the college version of Madden Ultimate Team. Just like its big brother, CUT is a slot machine masquerading as a trading card game that will almost assuredly make EA hundreds of millions of dollars and eventually earn the ire of the community as it gets more updates per year than every other mode combined.”
Leaving tutorials in Ultimate Team is still a bad system and a deeply cynical move.
I was kinda hoping that College Football 26 would move its tutorials out of Ultimate Team, but no such luck. This is still a bad system and it’s still a deeply cynical move on EA’s part. Again, I quote from last year’s review:
“The only reason to do it this way is to corral new players into CUT so they can fall down the money hole – of course, it’s somewhat self-defeating that they have to figure out that the tutorials are in CUT in the first place, which is something College Football 25 26 doesn’t actually tell you. As someone who doesn’t play Ultimate Team beyond my obligations as a critic for obvious reasons [and presuming I hadn’t played College Football 25], I would’ve just assumed that there were no tutorials at all and EA simply wanted college football-curious folk who didn’t already play their football to wander around aimlessly until they figured it out for themselves. In actuality, EA wants all of us to get hooked on CUT and spend lots and lots of money. I’m not sure which is worse.”
That’s all still true, but the College Football team has at least made some really nice quality of life updates to Ultimate Team. I’m going to single out two I appreciated in particular: One is the Pack Helper, which will immediately tell you if a player is better than someone in your current lineup and let you equip them on the spot without entering another menu. The other major one is that you can now see your challenges from the play call screen and bring them up at any time pre-snap, no more pausing required. These, as well as some other changes, are very nice tweaks. That said, I functionally believe, deep in my soul, that these modes are predatory, more than a little evil, and designed to trigger the dopamine-producing parts of our brain that gambling stimulates in the hopes that you will continue to spend money for a chance at a good outcome, which is what gambling is, and I cannot endorse anything about them. Yes, you can build a team without spending money, but it is designed to take much longer than just opening your wallet, and given that doing so can literally make your team better, it is pay to win. These are unremarkable and verifiable truths. Do with them what you will. I say we move on to greener pastures.
The mode that has seen the most meaningful changes in my eyes is Road to Glory, where you’ll create a player and begin your college journey. Notably, you can now (kind of) play through your high school phase, which determines how colleges view you. Last year, my very own Joe Throw was a five-star recruit because I work hard enough already. This year, I said “f*** it, we ball,” and legendary QB Joe Throw started down the more challenging path of a two-star prospect because why not? You have more customization options this year – I could select my throwing style, shotgun stance, running animation, line up look, and so on – that is really cool, and once I got Joe Throw all prettied up and ready for the dance and selected my archetype (I opted for Backfield Creator), it was time to step out onto the floor. There are six preset teams to play for (I played for the Rattlers), but you can build your own in the Team Builder if you’re so inclined.
After a brief interview with a local reporter allowed me to talk about what I was looking for in a college program, I set up my recruiting board, which showed me what potential schools thought of Joe. You might think you’d play full high school games, but the reality is you’ll select up to four of five possible goals and play through drives based around them, whether that means throwing a play action pass while avoiding a ball-hawking safety, leading your team on a late drive to win the game, or converting an important third down.
The high school system is solid, even if I wish we were playing full games.
How well you do will determine what you put on tape, which is how colleges will evaluate you. Each school has its own criteria and is looking for different things in its players, so some will jive with certain goals (and player archetypes) more than others. Navy is probably more interested in a mobile QB who can run the option than a pocket passer, and will evaluate you accordingly, while a school that runs a pro style offense probably wants a cat who can sling it.
It’s a solid system, even if I wish we were playing full games instead of regular drives. That said, I do like it overall, and it’s a big improvement over last year. I also like that you get a limited number of retries per game depending on your difficulty, and that teams will give you special challenges you can undertake to improve your tape score with them, or tell you that they’re just not that into you thanks to their current lineup or because they’ve just secured a commitment from another player at your position. That doesn’t mean they won’t give you a scholarship or you can’t try out for them as a walk on; it’ll just be harder.
As a two-star recruit, my path was really difficult. I essentially had to play perfectly to get an offer from my preferred school (Virginia), but I liked the challenge. I also like the little touches EA has added: Senior Night, how the camera trails your player during run outs, and a hat ceremony where you can fake people out before you select your school. I started off as a third string QB at Virginia, but it wasn’t long before Joe Throw was in a position battle for the backup spot. Once I won that, he was soon promoted to starter.
Otherwise, stuff is more or less the same as last year, and the same problems persist. It takes too long to get access to things like audibles and hot routes, your coach will make boneheaded play calls (why are we constantly running play action when we never run the ball, coach?) with limited options for you to change them, and your coach will blame you for “stalled drives” when your receivers drop the ball or your running back gets stuffed. You know, things that are not your fault, reducing his trust in you. Some of these restrictions don’t even make sense. Why am I allowed to call timeouts and not audibles? Why can I flip the play on the play call screen but not after I come to the line? It’s maddening until you earn the ability to do basic things. I get that this is meant to simulate earning your coach’s trust and serve as progress in what is essentially a sports RPG, but it can also be frustrating to deal with.
Outside of the games, Road to Glory is largely the same. You’ll manage your time between studying, resting to restore your health, upping your leadership skills, training, and managing your brand. There are occasional extras, like NIL deals and the opportunity to study for or cheat on tests, and so on, all of which mostly boil down to text exchanges that offer their own risks and rewards. You now have to manage Coach Happiness and Career Health, which are nice additions, though the former is very easy if you’re smart (and don’t get caught cheating). The latter requires making sure your Season Health stays as high as it can, otherwise it reduces your career health pool in the subsequent season. These are good additions, if still a little easy to manage. Joe Throw is once again almighty, and Road to Glory is still the same as it was: solid, but not great.
Dynasty is where most people will spend their time, and it’s got the same highs and lows as it did last year, though there are some great upgrades. Over 300 real world coaches are in College Football 26, complete with their own playbooks, tendencies, and skills. Custom coaches have more customization options, from their clothing to how they behave on the sidelines, and they all now have a level cap of 100 up from College Football 25’s 50. Jack-of-all-trades builds are harder than specializing, though you can compensate for this by hiring coordinators who supplement your weaknesses.
There have also been an enormous number of quality of life changes here. I won’t go into all of them because we’d be here forever and EA has a blog explaining all of that anyway, but I dig many of them, like how bringing in a player close to your school costs fewer recruiting hours than flying in someone from across the country, and that you can always see your team needs when you’re on the recruiting menu because they’re now pinned to the top of the page. Oh, and now every player has a dealbreaker (some of which change over time), so there’s more players in the Transfer Portal at the end of any given year, and how much they progress between seasons (or how much weight they gain) is based on how good your school’s training facilities are. Better still, you can finally level them up manually. It’s great stuff, and I saw how much harder it is to recruit at a school like UConn (my online dynasty) and Boise State (my solo world). All very good, very welcome changes, among many, many others.
However, many of Dynasty’s improvements are largely still around the edges, under the hood kind of stuff. This is the same engine and the same car, and you have to love the act of recruiting, leveling up your coach, and playing games because, beyond that, there isn’t much else to do. Dynasty is still good, but it’s very much “more of the same, just better.” If you liked it last year, you’ll like it this year. If, like me, you wish there was more to do, that hasn’t changed. I’m going to try to stick with my Online Dynasty longer than I did last year, but it still doesn’t compel me the way Franchise does in Madden.
The best stuff might be the on-the-field tweaks.
The best stuff might be the on-the-field tweaks. The little change I’m happiest about is to how defenders play the football when it’s in the air. If you’ve played College Football or Madden in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed defenders intercepting passes that they couldn’t have seen without turning around. They essentially had eyes in the back of their heads, and it could be very frustrating. EA has said they’ve changed that, and in my testing, it’s proven true. Now a defender has to see the ball to pick it off, and you’ll notice defenders turning their heads (or not) before the ball arrives. If they don’t, however, it doesn’t mean that defender can’t make a play on the ball. They can still swat it. It’s a good change because it’s two-fold: you now actually have a reason to swat the ball down instead of going for the pick every time, and better defenders can now make plays average ones can’t.
I’m also a big fan of dynamic subs and custom zones for defenders. The former allows you to swap players on the field and not just on the playcall screen (thank God), though you have to wait a play for the substitution to take effect, and the latter is the defensive version of last year’s custom stems for routes on offense. I enjoy the defensive game more than the offensive one, so being able to set where I want my zones to be on the field in real-time and not in a menu is welcome. I’m enjoying playing around with this stuff, and I imagine I’ll be using it quite a bit. And man, being able to sub on the field is a godsend, even if it’s not immediate. Maybe one day we’ll get to the point where players are running on and off the field in real time. That would be neat, but this is a good first step to that (hopefully possible) future.
While nowhere near as popular as Mario games, Donkey Kong has continuously released some of the best 2D platformers in the entire market. The Donkey Kong Country series, which started on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, has released two remasters on Nintendo Switch specifically. One of these is Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, launched earlier this year for Nintendo Switch, and if you’re a fan of 2D platformers, this is easily a must-own game. Then there’s also Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which is on sale for the same price at Woot as well.
These deals are part of an ongoing video game sale at Woot, which lasts until August 1 and includes a ton of other Switch games.
Donkey Kong Switch Games Are on Sale at Woot
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD features over 80 levels across nine different worlds. This version of the game brings the new features found in the 3DS release, in addition to a new Modern Mode that increases the number of hearts per level. Some of the levels you’ll come across will be incredibly challenging, but the platforming is very fair and exceptionally fun, whether playing alone or with a friend.
DKC Returns initially launched on the Wii in 2010, but even 15 years later, the game still holds up. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating, “Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a passable remaster of an amazing platformer – more modern improvements and a larger graphical update would have been nice, but this is still one of the greatest 2D platformers Nintendo has released this century.”
The other deal worth mentioning in this sale is Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which was originally released for the Wii U. We gave that game a 9/10 in our review, stating, “Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is a fun and challenging platformer that isn’t afraid to make you work hard.”
Now is the perfect time to jump into DK’s previous adventures, as Donkey Kong Bananza (out tomorrow!) is set to feature numerous references to older games in the series. If you’re excited for Donkey Kong’s big debut on Nintendo Switch 2, be sure to check out our 10/10 review of the game.
What is Woot?
If you aren’t familiar with Woot, the easiest way to learn more about it is through the about page on its website. In a nutshell, Woot is a daily deals site that was founded back in 2004 and later purchased by Amazon. They offer deals on just about everything that many other retailers don’t often have. The products themselves are always high-quality and backed by Amazon, so it’s legit. Prime members even get free standard shipping on anything they buy on Woot, so you don’t need to worry about hitting a minimum price or total shipping costs if you already have Prime.
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
We’re a few weeks into the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set, and things are starting to settle down as we head into (you guessed it) another set.
That’s right, Edge of Eternities is right around the corner, but before the space-themed set arrives, there have been yet more price fluctuations in the world of Magic: The Gathering.
Crashers: Vivi Drops Again
Vivi Ornitier was around $70 a week or two ago, but is now at around $45. He’s still incredibly popular, but he is dropping off.
Vivi’s synergies are also dropping. Harmonic Prodigy reached $13 but has started to roll downward, closing in on the $10 mark.
Perch Protection from Bloomburrow is also down, now as low as $8 for all you Chocobo lovers. It’s still up, but it’s lower than it has been.
Remember when Tifa, Martial Artist was absolutely flying at around the $50 mark? She’s seen a steep drop, likely because she’s included in the FF7 Commander precon.
She’s down to under $4 now, when just a few weeks ago she’d have set you back $50 (although she’s great fun to use in a game).
Climbers: Cloud Nine
For the first few weeks of the Final Fantasy set, a big focus was on counters thanks to Tidus’ Final Fantasy X deck, but now Cloud is our spiky-haired boy of the week.
The former lets you cast equipment as if it had Flash (and is up to over $20 from $3 in the last 3 months), while Sword of the Animist is up to $14 and lets you rack up land like there’s no tomorrow.
Finally, Panharmonicon gives you extra triggers, meaning you could build an absolutely savage board state very quickly indeed. Interestingly, Pnaharmonicon is sitting at around $5 still. I might have to invest.
Sticking with Cloud, the Kaldheim set’s Halvar, God of Battle is up to around $30 It gives equipped (and enchanted) creatures Double Strike, lets you mix and match equipment, and turns into the Sword of the Realms which can power up a card and protect it from death by sending it back to your hand. Not bad, Halvar.
Finally, another clash of Universes sees the RMS Titanic from the Doctor Who set rising in prominence. Why? Because the now $5 card is likely to be a big winner for the new rules in Edge of Eternities, which will see vehicles become more important since they can be used as Commanders.
MTG Sealed Sets
Everything else Final Fantasy is pretty hot right now, so if you manage to find anything in stock, it might be worth picking up ASAP to avoid disapointment.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
GameFly is running an impressive sale right now on PS5 and Xbox Series X games, plus Blu-ray movies. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking to save money on recent AAA games. You can get PS5 deals like Elden Ring Nightreign for $27.99 and Doom: The Dark Ages for $39.99. You’re not likely to find those kinds of discounts anywhere else for quite a while on new copies of those games, especially after Prime Day.
The caveat is that all of the games are pre-played (more info on that below). You can shop the whole sale here, or read on for our picks.
Save Up to 50% Off Pre-Played Games at GameFly
Elden Ring Nightreign is a fun twist on the From Software formula perfected in the original Elden Ring. It turns the game into a three-player co-op roguelite. It might not be for everyone (see our review for details), but $27.99 makes it much more palatable.
Doom: The Dark Ages may be available for Xbox players on Game Pass, but that doesn’t apply to PS5 owners. So this is a great way to play through it at significantly less than the new game MSRP. Check out our 9/10 Doom: The Dark Ages review for more info on that.
Also on sale are Civ 7, Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and many more. You can even save cash on Blu-rays like Mickey 17 and Mufasa: The Lion King. Lots of savings to go around.
Is GameFly a Good Place to Buy Used Games?
Everything you buy from GameFly is “pre-played,” meaning it’s been sent out to GameFly customers. That said, everything GameFly sells in these sales is in good condition. It also comes with brand-new new cases and inserts where applicable. I’ve bought games in previous GameFly sales, and I never would’ve guessed they were used, aside from arriving without shrink wrap.
All of these games are also “100% guaranteed,” so if you have any problem with them, you can get a full refund. Buying pre-played games is a good way to pick up recent games at way cheaper than new pricing. And this sale knocks even more money off the pre-played discount, which is essentially stacking a deal on a deal.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.3 launches on July 17, CD Projekt has confirmed, across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox — but not Nintendo Switch 2.
In a livestream, CD Projekt developers said the studio needs more time to work on patch 2.3 for the Switch 2 version of the game. No release date was mentioned.
Paweł Sasko, Cyberpunk 2 Associate Game Director, said this patch focuses on vehicles and customization. Adrien Jouannet, Lead Designer at support studio Virtuos, which has helped CD Projekt with Cyberpunk 2077 updates, confirmed 2.3 adds three new cars and one new motorcycle, which is the first customizable motorcycle in the game. The new vehicles are each unlocked by completing a small quest. Sasko said it will be “intuitive” to trigger the quests. The new quests do not contribute to 100% completion for achievement hunters.
Elsewhere, update 2.3 adds the new AutoDrive feature, which lets you drive vehicles hands free. In-universe, AutoDrive hits all the vehicles in the game via a software update. You can set a marker, sit back and let the car drive there for you. (It’s worth noting to use AutoDrive you have be driving on a road.) There’s also a wandering mode, where the vehicle will drive automatically endlessly in free roam, which sounds fun for explorers. Helpfully, the Delamain AI taxi company can be hired for AutoDrive, so he can just drive you around if you’d like.
This, accompanied with the cinematic camera you can activate while driving, will let you see Night City in a much more cinematic way. This, Sasko said, was inspired by fan-made videos of driving around Night City for hours on end. You can use Photo Mode while using AutoDrive.
Speaking of Photo Mode, there’s a lot of new features with 2.3. You can now change the time of day and the weather for the scene. There are 27 new NPCs for Photo Mode, too, as well as new outfits and natural poses for the main characters. CD Projekt teased a new Photo Mode contest for fans.
On the technical side, PC gamers can expect AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.1 (FSR 3.1) support with 2.3 tomorrow. Cyberpunk 2077 will support FSR 4, Sasko said, but it will arrive alongside an AMD driver release. HDR10+ gaming is now properly supported. VRR is coming to the console versions of Cyberpunk 2077.
And finally, CD Projekt talked about the already-announced Mac version of Cyberpunk 2077, which launches alongside 2.3 tomorrow, July 17.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The Pokémon TCG’s Destined Rivals expansion has been as elusive as any of the others, but the coveted Elite Trainer Boxes are back in stock at Amazon and ready to order right now. The only reason that this isn’t sold out already, though, is that they’re being sold for a massive mark-up.
While being advertised on its product page at “11% off from $99.99”, Amazon is now selling Destined Rivals ETBs for an inflated $88.95. As a reminder, that’s $38.96 up from the base price of $49.99, which it’s usually sold for at other retailers like Best Buy.
You’ll still get the exact same contents featured in the Destined Rivals ETB in this case. For the uninformed, this includes nine boosters, a full-art foil promo Team Wobbuffet, 45 Energy Cards, 65 card sleeves, a player’s guide, damage-counter dice, a coin-flip die, condition markers, four dividers, and the collector’s box to keep it in.
Unfortunately, this increasingly seems to be one of the strategies implemented by retailers to combat bots and scalpers instantly scooping all of the stock as soon as it’s available.
While Amazon UK has implemented the invitation system for Destined Rivals, keeping the price at RRP as it should be, Amazon US and Walmart have instead jacked up the price, presumably to scare scalpers off, but still take the money from whoever’s willing to pay.
Granted, both are keeping in line with the price points that seem to have become standard. While you can save a few dollars with sealed Destined Rivals ETBs on eBay, for as cheap as $84-85, dedicated storefronts like TCG Player have listings going for three times the price.
Be that as it may, if you’re dead set on buying one of these Elite Trainer Boxes no matter the cost, Amazon and Walmart are still your best bets in terms of retailers.
Although, you can go through eBay to save a few bucks, if you’re feeling trusting enough in the wild west that is the current world of the TCG.
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
So, I hear you want a new 3D Mario. If that means you’re looking for a console-defining platformer with satisfying, expressive movement, innovative mechanics that constantly grow and evolve, and expertly crafted challenges that unleash the interactive potential between said movement and mechanics, then I’m beyond thrilled to share that Donkey Kong Bananza is all of that and so much more. Bananza is no mere “side project” from the team behind Super Mario Odyssey – it’s a brilliant successor to that masterpiece, a tremendous reinvention for one of Nintendo’s original mascots, and a groundbreaking adventure in every sense of the word.
Every breakable corner of DK’s world (which is most of them) is bursting with timeless Nintendo magic and equally fresh ambition. Bananza wonderfully balances honoring its star’s various incarnations over the decades – with lovely nods to both Shigeru Miyamoto’s seminal arcade original and Rare’s classic Donkey Kong Country trilogy – while also fearlessly punching through a mountain to forge its own path. It also tells a light, sweet story about DK and his spirited sidekick Pauline pursuing an underground legend that will allegedly grant them one wish (Pauline hopes to return home, and DK just wants more bananas, of course), and the deeper the pair dives toward the Planet Core, the deeper the gameplay becomes. Bananza is a constant crescendo across its 20-hour campaign that hits its pinnacle with an unforgettable finale that cements this as one of the best 3D platformers I’ve ever played.
Nintendo builds each new 3D Mario around one big idea: Sunshine’s water pack, Odyssey’s body-snatching hat, and so on. Mario is nowhere to be seen here but, in that same tradition, Bananza’s fully destructible environments suit a hulking, rampaging gorilla far better than the Mushroom Kingdom’s usual leading man, and this exciting concept is truly fit for a Kong. Practically everything in this world is designed for Donkey Kong to punch and break, and the extent to which Bananza commits to letting you tear through its environment is both technically impressive and a ton of fun. It’s refreshing to experience a Nintendo 3D platformer with an almost completely new toolkit, and DK’s set of abilities is endlessly enjoyable and fulfilling to pull off. Donkey Kong is powerful, and that’s regularly reflected across his moves.
The simple action of tearing a chunk from the ground – which you can do almost anywhere – leads to so many dynamic possibilities: DK can hurl it at airborne enemies, swing it to break through walls, bounce off it to double jump, or surf on it to get around faster and safely cross dangerous terrain. When he’s empty-handed he can punch in any direction, slap the ground to instantly gather loose gold and reveal nearby collectibles, and perform a satisfying roll-jump-roll combo cut from the same cloth as Mario throwing Cappy and bouncing off him for distance. Plus, he takes a page out of Link’s book and can climb basically any non-slippery surface, granting an extra sense of freedom to the entire journey.
Crunchy sound effects that change depending on the material DK’s interacting with make it even more entertaining to wreck stuff – like the loud crumble of breaking down a sturdy wall of stone, or the juicy splash of tearing into a watermelon. The controls for doing all of this are so polished, and when you chain together a combo (like tearing a chunk out of the ground, smacking it into an enemy to weaken them, and slamming into it with a roll to finish the job) everything sings together in perfect harmony.
Bananza is one of the best 3D platformers I’ve ever played.
To slightly misquote Shrek, Bananza is like an onion – its levels are called layers, and each one is a sprawling playground constructed to maximize the potential of DK’s destructive abilities. There’s so much to find both on their surfaces and tucked away in hidden caves and tunnels you find by bashing your way through the environment. But Bananza rarely relies on mindless destruction for the sake of it, so you almost never have to stumble onto random discoveries just by beating the snot out of everything. Instead, it excels at rewarding discoveries by way of smart destruction, and it’s remarkable how intentional and well-designed its dense, vertical layers are. Visual cues masterfully draw your eye to areas worth exploring, similar to how veteran Zelda players know to place a bomb in front of any suspicious crack. See a tantalizing gold piece or fossil embedded in the wall? Chuck an explosive Boom Rock at it and there’s a good chance you’ll reveal a new path to explore.
Sure, the open-world nature of these maps means you can occasionally happen upon a collectible by skipping the intended puzzle entirely and just carving a tunnel straight to it. In my experience as I played naturally, though, it didn’t happen that often, and it fits in with modern Nintendo trends seen in games like Tears of the Kingdom where the designers don’t care how you get from point A to point B as long as you have fun doing it. On the other hand, there are limits to that freedom: Bananza smartly walls off most of its main objectives behind terrain the nefarious Void Kong has turned indestructible in order to force you to go through the proper steps of the story, so it’s not like DK can just punch his way straight down to the end credits. That said, I can’t wait to see how speedrunners will find ways to optimize their routes through different levels – I’m sure there are some crazy demolition techniques and shortcuts waiting to be found.
What’s interesting about how the world and objectives are designed is that Bananza isn’t really about destroying everything. Instead, it’s about exploring, platforming, fighting, and collecting in a vast world where you can destroy everything, which is an important distinction. It never feels like a gimmick or the only tool you have to solve every problem, but rather one integral part of Bananza’s larger game design philosophy. I was rarely asked to create random tunnels underground with no guidance like you might in Minecraft, and DK’s upgradeable sonar ability helped me find buried collectibles hidden to the naked eye. And, Pauline helps out with the search, too, as using her singing ability reveals waypoints to collectibles marked on your map, making it easy to pick your next destination. That keeps the hunt for completion focused and fun, even if the camera occasionally struggles with the weird angles you force it into when digging yourself a nice hole. Of course, if you want to rip an entire level down to the studs for the fun of it, you can do that, too.
Romping around the sublevels hunting for treasure is a blast, and the fact that I still felt totally in control of the action even with so much fast-paced chaos unfolding on screen at any given time is an impressive feat. I love how the world crumbles around DK when I’m on a rampage: it makes everything feel more alive and really sells the weight and heft of this character, like the way he leaves a crater when crash landing after a high jump off a cliff (there’s no fall damage, naturally). To some extent, it’s made returning to past Mario games feel less dynamic in comparison – what do you mean Mario’s ground-pound doesn’t shatter the terrain around him?
There was some pre-launch concern that the world’s malleable nature might leave each layer feeling like a palette swap of one big underground region, but fortunately, that’s not the case. Every world has something unique to offer both visually and mechanically, from the Freezer Layer’s icicles you have to knock down to create platforms, to the Resort Layer’s tropical vibes and Liftoff Ore that sends DK soaring into the sky when you grab a chunk of it.
Bananza never stops pulling fresh ideas right off the vine.
And Bananza never stops pulling fresh ideas right off the vine over its 20+ hours. Without spoiling anything, I was stunned at the ingenuity on display as I dove to some of its deeper, late-game layers. There are tons of different material types that make up the world, and there are set rules to how they all interact with each other. A simple example is how throwing ice onto lava creates a hardened rock platform, but the chemistry and interplay between different elements gets more complex as you progress, and learning these relationships and using your knowledge of them to solve increasingly smart puzzles is supremely gratifying.
Those puzzles are often found in standalone challenge rooms, the entrances to which are scattered across each layer. There’s a nicely curated mix of fights, logic puzzles, and platforming sequences that offer a welcome change of pace from the open-ended, explorable layers themselves, and I was consistently impressed with how the challenges take full advantage of the systems Nintendo built for Bananza. After more than 50 hours, I’m still finding new challenge rooms that mix and match enemies, materials, and abilities in brand-new ways. Some of the best examples are sections of blue and pink slime that are inverses of each other: If the blue slime section is completely full, its pink counterpart is totally empty; destroying part of the blue slime fills in the matching part of the pink slime area. Bananza builds several brilliant puzzles off this one idea, and gets similar mileage out of every toy in its toybox. It’s astonishing how frequently I discovered clever challenges that forced me to think about something I’d already seen before in a new way.
On its own, exploration is gratifying, but it helps that there are great rewards for finding Bananza’s heaps of collectibles as well. Fossils are used to buy region-specific outfits that add different perks to DK and Pauline – like increasing your chances of finding a treasure chest – and it’s also just fun to give them both a fresh look. You’ll also collect mountains of gold, and while I was swimming in cash for the first several hours, I eventually had to pay for some optional content that ran my wallet dry. Trust me when I say collecting as much gold as you can will be worth it in the end.
Of course, the main collectible in Bananza is its Banandium Gems, which are comparable to Odyssey’s Power Moons in that they’re plentifully stashed around the levels in places that are often challenging to reach. Unlike Odyssey, though, Bananza doesn’t require you to gather a certain number of Gems before moving onto the next area. Instead, the main story relies on its own linear set of objectives (which often reward you with Gems anyways), while collecting five earns DK a skill point which can be used to upgrade his health, moves, and Bananza transformations. The skill tree doesn’t have a ton of surprises that’ll radically change your playstyle, but it’s nice knowing that grabbing a Gem is always working toward a specific short-term goal, whereas Odyssey’s Moons didn’t really serve a purpose after the credits rolled other than unlocking the far-off final challenge or for the simple sake of being a completionist.
There are tons of Gems to find. I had found literally hundreds by the time I cleared the main story after 20 hours, I’ve spent 30 additional hours collecting hundreds more, and likely have double-digit hours left to reach 100% completion. Going for 100% is a massive undertaking, but with how enjoyable Bananza is to play, I’m not slowing down until I’ve collected every last one. And, unlike Mario Kart World’s lackluster Free Roam map, it’s easy to track your progress this time with a helpful list of your Gems in each layer and a really cool 3D map that accurately reflects the current state of the terrain you’ve destroyed.
Bananza looks great, with expressive animations and colorful environments.
Unfortunately, that map does occasionally suffer from minor framerate drops, as does the rest of Bananza. The action generally stays at a solid 60 fps both while docked on the TV and when playing handheld, but it can briefly dip below that when you’re going crazy with the destruction or when you first drop into a brand new level. It’s not great that we’re already talking about performance issues on Nintendo’s brand new console, but it’s never too noticeable or distracting, either. It’s easier to forgive the occasional dropped frame when it’s because so much beautiful chaos is happening at once, and the ambition of this fully interactable, destructible world is definitely worth that tradeoff.
Bananza really does look great, with amazing, expressive animations for DK himself and colorfully detailed environments, NPCs, and enemies. It also constantly pulls inspiration from DK history, such as the opening level being littered with fallen girders from the original Donkey Kong arcade game and sidescrolling segments that reference classic Donkey Kong Country levels, including a lovely new arrangement of Stickerbush Symphony that’s just one tune in Bananza’s awesome soundtrack. This may be from the 3D Mario team, but Bananza regularly pays respects to all of DK history and, at times, feels like a modern follow-up to Rare’s golden era from the SNES and N64. Even the friendly rocks with googly eyes look as if they were plucked right from Banjo-Kazooie.
Some of the flashiest moments happen during DK’s Bananza transformations: a variety of powered-up, time-limited states that are unlocked as you progress deeper into the planet. Kong Bananza is essentially a souped-up version of DK himself who can disintegrate the harder materials you’d usually need a Boom Rock to break through. Zebra Bananza is all about speed, where you can run over terrain that would crumble underneath DK’s ordinary giant feet, while Ostrich Bananza lets you glide through the air. The character design is hilarious, and each Bananza is accompanied by a catchy tune performed by Pauline, so it’s always fun to mutate into one of these fierce forms. They all feel fleshed out and great to control, and even better, you can instantly swap between the Bananza transformations when you’re in the powered-up state, giving you even more flexibility in how you want to tackle challenges.
If I had to say something critical about the Bananza powers, it’s that sometimes they’re too powerful. You can only enter a Bananza if you have enough Bananergy, which is a meter filled by collecting gold, so in theory, the Bananzas should be somewhat limited. However, gold is so plentiful that you’ll pretty much always earn enough Bananergy to transform almost immediately after spending it. This can sometimes trivialize otherwise interesting puzzles in the overworld – for example, if there’s a Gem surrounded by poison water and the “intended” route involves creating your own path to it using vines, you can instead just skip the whole challenge by gliding to it as Ostrich Bananza. That’s admittedly still a real solution that fits in with Nintendo’s recent love of designing puzzles where any answer that works is a correct one, but having that power so readily available can feel cheap compared to the fun actually figuring an obstacle out. I was usually able to restrain myself from using the most streamlined options Bananzas sometimes provided, but if you’re someone who was unable to resist relying on Tears of the Kingdom’s convenient-but-boring hoverbike, I could see them being a dangerous temptation.
The gloves truly come off during the post-game content.
The sheer power of Bananzas also come into play during the boss battles, which are cool but pretty easy for the most part. The decision to give the big bads a traditional health bar instead of using the “expose the weak spot, hit it, and repeat three times” Mario template fits DK’s brawler-focused style perfectly. Still, thanks to the Bananza powers, that meant I defeated some of newcomer Grumpy Kong’s earlier creations in less than 30 seconds. The bosses all have exciting designs and are very fun to look at, like a giant stone squid made up of dozens of smaller squids that feels clearly inspired by Splatoon, so I would have liked if they had been able to take a few more punches before being ground into the dirt. That said, it does eventually right the ship: some of the late-game bosses put up much more of a fight, so I had few complaints on that front by the end.
Even so, it’s fairly simple to reach the end credits of Bananza if that’s all you’re looking to do. As with most Nintendo games, much of the enjoyment comes from surprise, delight, and poking around for secrets rather than white-knuckle difficulty. That’s not a complaint, given how fantastic the mechanics are and how many optional challenges Bananza presents off the beaten path for veteran players. For example, the platform challenge rooms each hold three Gems within. One is usually not that tough to reach, but the other two are often hidden in shrewd places you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled to spot. It strikes a great balance where most people should be able to get to the end of the story (especially since there’s an optional Assist Mode that increases DK’s health if needed, and a two-player mode great for letting younger players help out by firing Pauline’s vocal projectiles using the Switch 2 Joy-Con’s mouse controls) while still offering plenty to keep hardcore fans entertained. And the gloves truly come off during the post-game content, which continues to push the mechanics in more extreme, exciting ways.
Bungie has confirmed it is “actively re-recording” some of the dialogue in Destiny 2 to restore the voices of characters like Vanguard Ikora Rey.
With the launch of The Edge of Fate, the first expansion in the Year of Prophecy content lineup, fans noticed Ikora Rey, originally voiced by Gina Torres, sounded a lot like Savathun from The Witch Queen. That’s because Ikora Rey’s most recent voice actor was replaced by Debra Wilson, who plays Savathun.
In its defense, Bungie did notify players that changes would be coming for the English casting of Orin, Chioma, and Ikora back in May, but yesterday (July 15) confirmed that while the voice cast had initially been “unavailable to record lines for The Edge of Fate,” it was now “actively re-recording lines for affected characters.” There’s no firm date for when this will happen, but Bungie said it was “aiming for a future update.”
Until then, players will continue to bump into unfamiliar “temporary” voices, or even encounter silent characters. In those instances, much like Destiny 2: Heresy, subtitles for story content will be enabled.
Though Bungie didn’t explicitly reference the SAG-AFTRA game performers’ strike, it did acknowledge there had been “conflicts” and these had now “been resolved,” which just-so-happens to coincide with SAG-AFTRA suspending its strike over AI protections. The SAG-AFTRA strike was instigated back in July 2024 after the union and the major game companies — Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, and WB Games — that sit on the board failed to agree on AI provisions. Over 98% of members subsequently voted to strike.
Bungie recently unveiled what’s coming up in Destiny 2, including two new expansions and major seasonal and core game updates coming for both paying and free players, all badged under the “Year of Prophecy.” Year of Prophecy is the first year to boast four “major content beats,” with two paid expansions and two major updates. The former is paid content while the latter will be available to all players.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Switch 2 owners will be able to take upcoming Nintendo exclusive Drag x Drive for a test run next month — but only with an active Switch Online subscription.
This morning, Nintendo confirmed a two-day Drag x Drive “Global Jam” event on August 9 and 10, the weekend before the game’s August 14 arrival.
To date, Nintendo has said surprisingly little about Drag x Drive, which is set to follow Donkey Kong Bananza as the company’s next Switch 2 exclusive. A multiplayer sports game with mouse controls, the game has only been briefly glimpsed so far — despite it launching in less than a month.
“Eager to hit the court in Drag x Drive? Get a sneak peek with the Drag x Drive: Global Jam demo event!” Nintendo wrote today, announcing the game’s upcoming public trial. “This event takes place on August 9 and 10, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 for Nintendo Switch Online members.”
If you’re interested, you’ll be able to download and try the game’s Global Jam demo between 3am and 7am Pacific, then 5pm and 9pm Pacific on August 9, plus 9am and 1pm Pacific on August 10.
While Drag x Drive is a multiplayer-focused experience, some fans have said it is surprising to see the game’s demo limited to those with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. There is no local multiplayer option within the game, Nintendo has previously noted, but surely the company would want this demo to be available to as large a Switch 2 audience as possible?
Eager to hit the court in Drag x Drive? Get a sneak peek with the Drag x Drive: Global Jam demo event!
This event takes place on Aug 9 and 10, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 for Nintendo Switch Online members. pic.twitter.com/1OVNAHdC3u
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 16, 2025
A previous demo for the game, available to play as part of the Switch 2’s in-person pre-release events, revealed Drag x Drive to be a three-versus-three sports title with gameplay similar to wheelchair basketball. Players must propel themselves across the game’s neon courts and perform a throwing action in order to pass the ball, or shoot it at a basketball hoop.
Exactly which modes will be available in the full game, or indeed this Global Jam offering, remain to be seen. Nintendo has however said that Drag x Drive will be a budget price release, costing $19.99 / £16.99, and an eShop-only digital title.
