Overnight, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio director and executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama introduced RGG Direct 2025, a livestream chiefly dedicated to a remake of the previously leakedYakuza 3, which will be released alongside the spin-off game, Dark Ties.
Yakuza 3 was released in 2009 — that’s over 15(!) years ago now — and Yokoyama said this remake “is the best iteration of the original game, Yakuza Kiwami 3.” Dark Ties, however, is a “new, never-before-seen story,” which means this essentially bundles two games in one package.
“Like a Dragon & Yakuza series will celebrate its 20th anniversary on December 8 of this year,” the team said. “We sincerely appreciate your continued support of RGG Studio.”
Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties
“We’re developing [Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties] based on the concept ‘a legend is reborn and a new legacy begins,'” Yokoyama added, after which chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto said that both Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 “directly link to this title.” Producer/director Ryosuke Horii introduced details about the upcoming game, which is out in February 2026.
“[Kiwami 3] is a total remake of 2009’s Yakuza 3,” he explained. “We’ve rebuilt it from the ground up using the latest technology developed by our talented staff. The game has evolved enormously with loads of new cutscenes and newly added game elements. I can proudly say that we’re delivering a game worthy of the Kiwami title.”
We had a good time with the original, awarding it 8.5/10 back in 2010, but while the remake follows Yakuza 3’s story, RGG has added cutscenes “that we weren’t able to fully deliver before.”
“Whether it’s Kiryu and his pal Rikiya Shimabukuro, or enemies like Mine, Kanda, and Hamazaki, we’ve further detailed their thoughts and actions to better depict the human condition and connection,” Horii added.
Additional scenes are not the only new things coming to the game, either. Players can expect re-recorded voice lines as well as brand new ones, and “overhauled” animations, with some scenes “changed drastically with different developments and outcomes.”
“In order to greatly outdo ourselves and make a game that everyone will love, we didn’t take the safe, defensive route by glorifying the past with a simple remake, but instead took a more aggressive approach to make Yakuza Kiwami 3,” Horii said.
🐉A LEGEND IS REBORN AND A NEW LEGACY BEGINS🐉 Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties releases Feb 12, 2026 on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam). 👉Digital pre-orders now live (link in bio)! Physical to follow in coming days.#YakuzaKiwami3… pic.twitter.com/hhIei4IUYv
— RGG Studio | Like a Dragon & Yakuza Series (@RGGStudio) September 24, 2025
The battle system has also been reworked so you can expect two kinds of battle style, Dragon of the Dojima: Kiwami and a brand new battle style, Ryukyu, which is inspired by generational Okinawan martial arts.
“For beyond a remake, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a brand new title, vastly evolved from the original,” Horii added, after which Sakamoto explained the new Dark Ties story sees Yoshitaka Mine — chairman of the Hakuho Clan and a “popular character from the series” — as protagonist for the first time, joining the yakuza to “pursue unwavering bonds.”
Essentially a spinoff, Dark Ties is an action-adventure game that depicts the events leading up to Yakuza 3. It’s a story of the “gritty reality of human relationships in the criminal underworld,” with a “refined but cool” combat style centered around boxing.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties are out on February 12, 2026. You can pre-order now.
Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Yakuza Kiwami 2
Meanwhile, both Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 are coming to Nintendo Switch 2, with both physical and digital editions available, on November 13, 2025.
They’re also coming to PC via Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S, albeit a little later on December 8, 2025.
Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut
Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut is already available on Nintendo Switch 2, but it’s now also coming to PC via Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S on December 8, 2025. Again, it’ll available both digitally and physically.
Live-action Yakuza 3
Details were slim here, admittedly, but a live-action production featuring Kazuma Kiryu is also on the way. The team working on this previously worked on one of Japan’s most popular crime series, Nihon Touitsu.
“Through the collaboration of the game and the live-action drama themed around the underworld, we’re creating a work to make Yakuza even more accessible to those unfamiliar with the series,” Yokoyama explained, adding that multilingual localization will also be available “to make this more accessible for those of you around the world.”
Stranger Than Heaven
To close out the livestream, fans were treated to a brief behind-the-scenes snippet of Stranger Than Heaven, which is also in development. We don’t get to see much, unfortunately — the video is only a couple of minutes long — but the team is making good progress, as showcased by a BTS peek at programming, mocapping, and more.
New Virtua Fighter Project
I’m afraid I have nothing additional to report here other than to reiterate that Yokoyama said a “new Virtua Fighter project” was on the way. Watch this space…
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.
A fresh update for Nintendo Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World has once again improved the frequency of lap-based courses, meaning fewer tracks that require you to drive for miles through the game’s open world in order to get started.
There are some welcome adjustments to racing generally, too, with slightly more time spent invincible after spinning or crashing out during a race — so you have a fairer chance at getting back on track. Item boxes will now take slightly less time to refresh, also.
For those who do enjoy the game’s open world, improvements have been made there, too. Nintendo has added the locations of previously-found P Switches and Peach Medallions to the map for easier tracking, and you can now warp to P Switches if you want to go replay them.
Other tweaks include the ability to join friends in Knockout Tour, and encounter UFOs more easily in Free Roam. Nintendo’s full patch notes for the update, which brings the game to version 1.3.0, lie below:
Mario Kart World Ver. 1.3.0 patch notes:
General
You can now join friends playing “Knockout Tour” by selecting “Friends” from “Online Play” “1p.”
Up to 2 players can now play “Free Roam” while waiting if the game was full when trying to join friends playing “Race,” “Knockout Tour” or “Battle” in “Online Play.”
The “Free Roam” map now displays the locations of P Switches you’ve run over and Peach Medallions you’ve obtained.
You can now select a P Switch from the map and move to a location near the P Switch.
In “Free Roam”, you can now transform into the character pulled into the UFO.
If “Dash Food” in “Settings/Controller” is set to “Doesn’t transform” then you will not transform.
It is now easier to encounter UFOs in “Free Roam.”
The conditions for the appearance of some Peach Medallions in “Free Roam” have been adjusted.
When spectating in “Knockout Tour” or “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play” or “Wireless Play”, you can now choose who to watch, even if you are holding the Joy-Con 2 or Joy-Con horizontally.
Decreased the time between when an item box is taken by someone and the next time it is revived.
Increased the invincible time after spinning or crashing during a race.
Reduced the force of jumps when landing on a rival from above.
Decreased the amount of time between when you finish and when spectating begins in “Knockout Tour” or “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play” or “Wireless Play.”
Decreased the amount of time between passing through the checkpoint and when the ranking is displayed in “Knockout Tour” in “Wireless Play” and “LAN Play.”
Further increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in “VS Race” and wireless races.
Fixed Issues
Fixed an issue in “Online Play” and “Wireless Play” where the ranking would sometimes become incorrect if a player went off course at the same time as reaching the finish line.
Fixed an issue in “Grand Prix”, “Knockout Tour”, and “VS Race”, where the CPU’s ranking would sometimes drop after reaching the finish line.
Fixed an issue in “Knockout Tour” in “Online Play” where other players’ ratings would sometimes appear as “0” on the results screen.
Fixed an issue where a Spiny Shell would sometimes pass the first place player in “Wireless Play” or “Online Play.”
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be sent flying backwards a great distance when hit by a Spiny Shell.
Fixed an issue where the second item in an item slot would sometimes not disappear when hit by Lightning.
Fixed an issue where hitting the base of a pillar in mid-air would sometimes cause a large jump.
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused movement to become unstable when doing a wall ride on water.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be swept away strongly after landing when doing a mini jump while going up a river.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes pass through the ground when hit by a car driving on the road.
Fixed an issue in “Free Roam” where players would sometimes be unable to enter pipes correctly after exiting a trailer.
Fixed an issue where the results screen would sometimes become distorted after spectating “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play.”
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes not proceed to the course selection screen after exiting a pipe during “Free Roam” in “Online Play.”
Fixed an issue where Bullet Bill would sometimes slip through walls when used in “Sky-High Sundae.”
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck on a wall at the start of the race heading from “Airship Fortress” to “Shy Guy Bazaar.”
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck in walls when using a Bullet Bill in “Bowser’s Castle.”
Fixed an issue in “Cheep Cheep Falls” where item boxes were sometimes difficult to pick up when Smart Steering was turned on.
Fixed an issue in “Knockout Tour” “Spiny Rally” where sometimes there was an item box buried in the ground.
Several other issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Popular Grand Theft Auto 5 roleplay server nopixel is collaborating with Rockstar Games for an official “evolution” of the RP service called nopixel V.
The nopixel X/Twitter account confirmed the news today with a trailer teasing Rockstar-backed roleplay support for GTA 5. With Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon, Rockstar’s continued interest in the RP community has fans hoping for nopixel servers on console versions of past and future GTA games.
We’re excited to support the nopixel team as they create the future of GTA RP. https://t.co/pyb9SzfrfZ
Nopixel 1.0 launched in 2016, three years after GTA 5’s original release date, as a PC server where players can immerse themselves within the world of Los Santos by roleplaying as everything from taxi drivers and EMS to police officers. Various updates have arrived for the massively popular roleplay offshoot in the years since, but nopixel V marks the team’s first official collaboration with Rockstar.
It’s not quite clear what exactly nopixel V is. The announcement itself promises to bring its updated take on GTA 5 RP to the Rockstar Games Launcher and other PC platforms “soon,” pointing fans to its website for more news and to sign up for invitations.
A roster of content creators confirmed to be involved in nopixel V is also available on its website and includes names like Valkyrae and Pokimane. More names will be unveiled in the near future, with the next announcement tied to a countdown that ends in one week. While there’s still much about nopixel V to be revealed, official presence on the Rockstar Games Launcher and other PC platforms is still a significant change.
“I used to be on nopixel, then I started working on GTA 6, and they told me I couldn’t do RP anymore because it kind of goes against… they had this whole speech, like, ‘What if somebody took your album and re-recorded it, and more people were listening to that,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, I kind of get that, but I was having a good time. Alright that’s fine,'” T-Pain said at the time.
Now, with Rockstar doubling down on its support for fan-driven RP servers, some believe it’s only a matter of time before the company announces roleplay support in GTA 5 on consoles, or even for GTA 6. However, Rockstar has yet to announce plans for this kind of support.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
EA’s official Skate FAQ is very clear about what 2025’s new early access iteration represents for the series as a whole. “This isn’t a sequel, remake, or a remaster,” states the brief explanation. “It’s the evolution of the Skate franchise.” The first part I wholeheartedly agree with. This is not Skate 4, and it certainly isn’t a remake of the originals by any stretch of the imagination. The second part is not entirely untrue either: It is an evolution, of sorts. That is, it’s certainly changed. A lot. Unfortunately, this means this new version of Skate bears little semblance to the late-2000s originals I love – and I’m currently finding it impossible to warm to its sanitised, homogenised, and monetised reinvention. Yes, Skate has evolved dramatically, but it’s done so to blend into its free-to-play, service game-dominated surroundings – like moths in the sooty cities of the British Industrial Revolution. I don’t think I’ve ever compared a game to an insect before, but perhaps it makes sense when I find it this repellant.
Before I get too deep into why it’s offputting, there are a couple of true strengths that I can identify in Skate’s early access launch – the first of which are the sound effects. When it comes to capturing the nuanced array of skateboarding sounds – the hiss of spinning wheels, the friction of plywood on varied surfaces, and the clink of metal on metal – the team has done a terrific job. Ignoring the music and dialogue (which I’ll discuss later), Skate absolutely nails its sounds. This stuff is the symphony of skateboarding and, when you’re in a real flow, there’s an almost meditative rhythm to it. The pops and pings, the scrapes and squeaks – these sounds are just soothing, and I don’t know how else to explain it.
It must also be established that the feel of Skate, when you’re on a board at least, is still supreme. I adore the wild, arcade wackiness of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater – and I respect the punishing, twin-stick precision required by the likes of skate sims like Session – but Skate’s controls are my jam. Just about everything I crave is wrapped up in its approachable yet deceptively deep system. Tricks on the right stick, turning on the left, grabs on the triggers, and grinds on… how good you are at lining them up. There’s a lot of depth to unlock once you get the hang of it.
The feel of Skate, when you’re on a board at least, is still supreme.
Now, the new Skate doesn’t quite look and feel identical to the older games. Turning appears a little stiffer, and probably lacks a bit of the more pronounced and organic lean from the early Skate games. The grind assist is also considerably too sticky by default, and there’s definitely jankiness present in the transition skating; I’m experimenting with the pump settings but haven’t quite cracked a consistent solution to always getting the momentum I want and not getting randomly bogged down. Skitching is absent, and there are other missing tricks. Overall, however, it’s entirely familiar enough to be instantly intuitive to me as a returning player. At a minimum, Skate has done a fine job of reconstructing that buttery, legacy street skating feel from the original games. That’s an important thing to bring back if you’re going to use the classic name.
Unfortunately, that’s all it brought back.
Streaming the Cube
Making Skate an exclusively online experience was an immediate and utter mistake. During my first session on the day of its early access launch I was unceremoniously disconnected during a random challenge and kicked out of the map, back to the main menu. The error message here was comically emblematic of my thoughts on the overall situation. Something went wrong? Yes, something certainly went wrong with Skate. But it went wrong long before I started playing.
I am, of course, aware that server problems and queues are typical of day one of a new online game (although I’m still waiting in queues the week after launch). The community has come to accept this compromise as the opposite side of the free-to-play coin. For me, this is uncharted territory. The last time I waited in an online queue I was buying concert tickets, but at least I got seats to Metallica out of it. Skate is giving me no such joy. It does not benefit from being an online-only live service. It has new priorities, like selling $25 clothing ensembles. To pass the downtime I played a bit of the existing Skate trilogy (all of which are parked on my Xbox courtesy of backwards compatibility and will work just fine offline today, tomorrow, and in 10 years time).
In a deeply unfortunate twist, playing the new Skate is regularly just as annoying as not being able to play it. From the get-go it’s evident every shred of the personality of the originals has been ruthlessly and shamelessly cut away in favour of infantilised garbage. Every part of Skate has been corporatised and Disney-fied, from art style to attitude.
Every part of Skate has been corporatised and Disney-fied, from art style to attitude.
Remember the authentic human characters that accompanied your skater as you progressed through the story modes of the old games, who would blurt in sympathy as you tumbled down the dam for the tenth time, breaking every bone in your body? Well, forget anything like that. Your “filmer” in the new Skate is… an AI app, called Vee, who just may be the single worst video game character I’ve ever encountered. Vee’s dialogue is beyond nauseating, and is delivered in a faux-robotic fashion that makes it doubly awful. It’s essentially a simulation of AI slop – like having a friend that only speaks to you like they’re reading the captions on a Tik-Tok video. The low-fi and realistic filmer approach of the old Skate games is greatly missed. In 2025, this could have been emulated easily by just giving us an in-game friend with a phone. Instead, we have an ill-conceived chatbot who regards my successful tricks as, “Algorithmic!”, refuses to stop “edu-skating” me on the fact “footy” means “video footage,” and mines 35-year-old LL Cool J songs for quips even my mum would wince at. “Your female parent said knock those objectives out?” Good grief.
Holy Cow Oh My God
Sadly the “human” cast is no better. They’re saddled with an inauthentic, overwritten script stuffed with cringeworthy sentences no person would ever say aloud, and lines I’m not even sure the voice actors quite understood before reading. Skate’s fascination with the term “skater eyes” (which is inexplicably capitalised in the captions like some kind of proper noun) is simply baffling. It’s referenced with such heavy regularity that it sounds like the name of an in-game function you can personally toggle on and off to highlight particular parts of the environment like Batman’s Detective Vision (like certain things that are automatically covered in a yellow mask during some challenges) but it isn’t. It’s just a hackneyed slang phrase Skate has invented and overuses far beyond the point of parody.
Who says the word “BEEP” instead of cursing, even mildly? Everything that’s even a fraction edgy or mature has been masked under layers of corporate coddling, like those soft, squishy curves that stop toddlers from splitting their heads on the corner of the kitchen bench. You can, I guess, mute the dialogue – but that doesn’t make it immune from criticism. Besides, the dialogue is also just one part of a cavalcade of complaints I have about the current state of Skate.
Why was it so important, for instance, to concoct an in-universe explanation for the fact that nobody in Skate’s new city of San Vansterdam can suffer any injuries? Making skaters invincible thanks to the medical miracle of “ImpervaTEK” doesn’t make Skate better; it just feels like it’s here because some suit was worried about the optics of children playing a game where people tossing themselves off buildings might have to be depicted as being seriously hurt. As a result, Skate’s traditional post-wipeout x-rays and bone-snapping sound effects are totally gone (as are bloody scrapes, grime, and wear on skaters and their boards).
My sons began playing the original Skate games from about the moment each was old enough to hold a controller. I vividly remember them cackling uncontrollably at how many bones they could break as their characters tumbled and fell, their skeletons squelching and shattering. Skate 2025 seems totally toothless in comparison. It treats its audience like babies.
10 Things I Skate About You
Skate’s art style doesn’t do it any favours, either. The stylised approach may be crisp and colourful, but it’s also vanilla and boring. The doe-eyed, Sims-style character models do absolutely nothing for me, and this cartoony u-turn is a truly unwelcome departure from the realistic approach the series previously took. I don’t like their plastic beards, or their chunky pants, and I certainly don’t like being surrounded by them at all times – particularly when other players have a habit of visibly stuttering, lagging, and even floating as they move by. It’s also a complete eyesore having everyone constantly clipping into each other, all plonked in front of the same shop counter – or teleporting and gathering atop the same ramp. I don’t know where I start and everyone else begins.
There’s also a real sterility to the city that the simplified visual style can’t shake. Plain walls, impossibly clean surfaces – San Vansterdam just isn’t a place that feels legitimate or lived-in. It feels fake because it looks fake. There’s not enough granular detail or texture. Hell, sometimes there’s no texture at all, like when the roads appear to glitch and turn into a featureless, uniformly black surface. That happens a lot.
San Vansterdam isn’t all that interesting to skate around, either. The map is a largely flat downtown area, broken up into four quadrants that aren’t particularly distinct from each other. You can skate across it in about two minutes. There’s no zany hill descent, or dam drop, or wild spillway – nothing I’m drawn to gravitate towards like I am in Skate 2’s San Vanelona. There was a sense of reward in finding a neat place to skate in the original games, because the maps primarily felt like cities – not skateparks. The DNA of San Vansterdam is that everything is skatepark-adjacent. Top of a building? Skatepark. Inside a church? Skatepark. At this point, designing the city to be an unrestrained skate utopia just feels like too much – like it’s a big, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater level instead of a city you can skate in. It’s weird when the original Skate games were entirely antithetical to that.
Speaking of pro skaters, don’t expect to see any of those old faces in the new Skate. This obviously means no cleverly edited live-action intro montage packed with recognisable skaters in silly situations. Starting with a memorable short film may have become a tradition for the original trilogy, but that idea appears to have been firmly kickflipped to curb. More disappointingly, however, it also means no pro challenges – no real-life skaters to meet and speak to as you progress through what constitutes the campaign at the moment.
Could pros come to the game later in this fashion? As a live service… maybe, I guess. But I’m very pessimistic they’d add the same level of personality they injected into the original Skate games. Those had brief cutscenes with back and forth between the pros and your sarcastic filmer. Is John Rattray going to have a conversation with a disembodied app on a floating video camera? I doubt it.
As it stands right now, the campaign feels weak: part lengthy tutorial, part service game treadmill, where miscellaneous skating tasks are rationed out every 24 hours. Some of these are satisfying enough, and they do reward a certain degree of mastery of Skate’s classic controls. There are stints of Skate where I’m absorbed to some degree, sure, but there’s surprisingly little to it right now – particularly considering how immediately the daily challenges have begun to repeat.
In terms of solo content, there are no competitions, no death races, no games of S.K.A.T.E. No magazine cover shoots, or sponsorship challenges. The campaign missions, or “tours”, here are really just a series of lessons. It’s clumsily paced, too, since the only way to unlock new tours is to complete an extensive amount of goals from the miscellaneous trick challenges that are refreshed on a daily basis. That is, many hours after completing a daily objective that required me to do multiple manuals, I found myself sleepwalking through a separate tutorial mission about how to manual. And this after Skate confirmed with me I’d played Skate 3 before I even set foot on a board.
Skate sure does love its collection missions, though. In these you must skate a certain line while hitting a predetermined amount of floating wheel bearings, or perhaps skate through some basketball-sized bird poo. Either way, it’s mobile game-inspired fluff. I’m not a bored toddler in a restaurant being handed an iPad while his parents peruse the dessert menu, so this is just not my scene.
The whole progression loop is simply geared around collecting enough in-game currency to open loot boxes.
That only became more evident when I realised the whole progression loop is simply geared around collecting enough in-game currency to open loot boxes. Want to rank up? You need to return to the store to trigger that. Hey, while you’re at the store, why not open some boxes of crap with all your in-game credits? I didn’t bother opening any for the first few days because I wasn’t interested, but I eventually realised the boxes also contain additional reputation points that are important for leveling up your neighbourhood rank and unlocking new fast travel spots – so you basically have to open them. This means sitting through the unskippable “Congratulations!” animation for each individual one – that I assume has been meticulously modelled for maximum poker machine potency – every single time.
Which boxes? These ones, just past all the premium items you need to hand over real money for instead. Wait, why are there bundles of items priced at 1600 Skate-bucks when Skate-bucks are available in increments of 500 and 1050? Oops. Guess you’ll have to buy more than you need. It’s insidious and I hate it. I hate it in other games and I hate it in this one. I am not young and immune to the caveats of free-to-play gaming. It makes it feel like a service and a store first, and a game second.
Hell, maybe that’s true. After all, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
The next big expansion in the Pokémon Trading Card Game has been steadily gearing up. Phantasmal Flames lands on 14 November 2025, and collectors are already scrambling to secure their favourite sealed products before the inevitable shortages.
With headliners like Mega Charizard X ex taking centre stage, demand is set to run hot across every major retailer. Whether you’re chasing bulk booster packs, prefer the organisation of an Elite Trainer Box, or just want a quick dip with blister packs, here’s the full breakdown of where you can preorder Phantasmal Flames, and at what price, before current stock vanishes.
Elite Trainer Box (ETB)
The Elite Trainer Box is the marquee product for each set, and Phantasmal Flames is no different. Packed with nine booster packs, a 1 full-art foil promo card featuring Charcadet, themed sleeves, dice, and all the accessories needed for play.
For Phantasmal collectors and Pokémon TCG fans in general, it’s the best way to get started.
TCGplayer: The only place with standard Phantasmal Flames ETB stock readily available. However, these Elite Trainer Boxes are listed for around $174.56, while the Pokémon Center-exclusive version is an eye-watering $2000 at the lowest.
Best Buy: Listed at $49.99, making Best Buy the only retailer selling these at MSRP. No stock is currently available, and we expect any units that do pop up to sell instantly
Pokémon Center: Listings are slightly higher at $59.99 each, but are still completely sold out. We’d also expect any stock to sell instantly, so it’s important to keep an eye out.
Booster Box (36 packs)
For players who want the biggest bang for their buck, Booster Boxes are the classic choice.
TCGplayer: Phantasmal Flames Booster Boxes are twice the MSRP with an 100%+ markup, but it is the only marketplace with stock available for Pokémon TCG collectors at the moment.
Best Buy: Listed at $160.99, but is regularly cycling between “Coming Soon” and “Sold Out” with no regular stock available yet phantasmal flames – Best Buy
Pokémon Center: MSRP $161.64, but is also currently sold out at the time of writing
Booster Bundle (6 packs)
Positioned between a blister and an ETB, bundles are great for smaller sessions.
TCGplayer: Preselling at nearly $90 each, which is a huge price hike, but is currently the only way to get one guaranteed
Best Buy: Priced at $26.94, but marked as “Coming Soon”, with no stock available
Pokémon Center: Also listed at $26.94 MSRP but marked as sold out.
3-Pack Blisters & Single Blisters
These casual-friendly packs usually come with a promo card and coin, perfect for a stocking stuffer or a starter collection.
TCGplayer: Singles are currently out of stock, but the 3-Pack Blister is available for $49.99; the Weavile Blister is slightly higher at $50.97
Best Buy: Listing a “Styles May Vary” SKU at $13.99 each (meaning you’d get Sneasel’s or Weavile’s at random), but it is currently out of stock
Standard Boosters & Sleeved Booster Packs
Individual boosters are intended to be the cheapest entry point, with an MSRP of around $4.49 MSRP in the US, containing 10 random cards each.
Best Buy: Listed at $4.49 (MSRP), but still isn’t available to order at the moment, marked as “Coming Soon”
Build & Battle Boxes
Perfect for prerelease events, these contain four booster packs and a ready-to-play 40-card deck.
TCGplayer: The only live option at the moment are cases of 10 Build & Battle boxes. While each being worth around $65 is still a high price, this is likely the beat deal we’ll see around Phantasmal Flames’ release period.
Is Phantasmal Flames Up for Preorder at Amazon & Walmart?
At other major retailers who normally sell Pokémon TCG sets, like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, Phantasmal Flames is currently not available to preorder.
This can be for any number of reasons, but it is usually due to these online stores simply not receiving stock allocation from the wholesaler, yet.
There’s also the element of the ongoing Pokémon card shortage happening in the industry right now. Because of the continuous concern over scalpers and bots taking advantage, some stores take longer to prepare contingencies than others — like Amazon UK introducing invitational lotteries for Pokémon TCG ETBs.
If you’re determined to get Phantasmal Flames products at fair pricing, timing is everything. Be ready to refresh Best Buy at odd hours, and don’t sleep on bundle or blister preorders. For those who’d rather lock it in, TCGplayer guarantees stock at a premium.
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Blizzard has just released Diablo 4 Season 10 — the Season of Infernal Chaos — featuring the new Chaos Armor feature along with adjustments to the endgame loop. Additionally, the Infernal Hordes mechanic has been reworked, and players will face a new ladder boss: Bartuc, Lord of Chaos. To help you come to grips with all the changes and take on Bartuc, check out this massive Season 10 Compendium our friends at Maxroll have put together!
Chaos Armor
Chaos Armor is a special tier of item above Ancestral. These items can contain effects which are not normally found on the item slot.
This opens up more options for buildcraft as you gain access to effects that were otherwise mutually exclusive. Learn more with Maxroll’s Seasonal Guide.
D4Planner Update
If you want to get theorcrafting, check out Maxroll’s Diablo 4 Planner (updated for Season 10). You can plan out your equipment, skills, paragon, and mercenary. Plus select the new Chaos Armor and Chaos Perk effects.
Tier Lists for Season 10
Season 10 brought a big change to the build meta, with a lot of builds gaining significant amounts of power from the Chaos Unique items. As a result Maxroll has updated all of their Diablo 4 Tier Lists.
Get started with leveling builds, ranked on their ability to take you from level 1 to 60 quickly and efficiently.
On the other hand if you want to farm resources and clear quickly, check out the Speedfarming Tier List. As usual, the Sorcerer class dominates S tier thanks to their ability to teleport with ease.
The Overall Endgame Tier List is a list of builds recommended by Maxroll creators, of builds that perform well across a wide variety of content including Bosses, Pit, Speedfarming and more.
Pit Push focuses on builds that excel in the Pit of Artificers, pushing into higher tier content and scaling well with gear. This season, Spiritborn and Druid builds are particularly well suited to pit pushing.
The Bossing Builds Tier List focuses on single target damage output and ability to kill T4 Bosses quickly and efficiently.
On the other hand, if you’re dead set on playing a specific class, check out our Class tier lists to find out how each build performs relative to the others available for that class.
If you’re new to Diablo 4, our Game Help Alliance partners at Maxroll have an extensive section catered to beginners, going over many of the game’s mechanics and systems. In addition to the above, Maxroll has tons of Diablo 4 guides and resources freshly updated for Season 10. Their Build Guides section has over 100 builds covering leveling and endgame across all of Diablo 4’s classes. If you want to be up to date on the most efficient farming and pushing strategies, head over to the Meta Section. The Boss Section includes guides on how to take down Diablo 4’s most challenging foes, along with the rewards you can earn for beating them. Learn more with Maxroll’s Season 10 Guide Compendium.
Written by: IGN staff with help from the Maxroll Diablo 4 Team
Did you manage to get some of my hot deals on games and amiibo yesterday? Don’t worry if you’ve missed it, i’ve got them here so you don’t need to shuffle pages. There’s some gems here, with Gamestop bringing the heat with some (very) cheap legacy amiibo figures to fill the holes in your collection and Woot delivering some absolute bargains on first party Nintendo Switch games, Xbox and PS5 game bargains and more peripherals than Tokyo Game Show on offer. But today’s deals are sharply focused on Pokémon TCG sealed product, and there’s plenty of deals to catch today.
TL;DR: Deals for Today
The battle against big box retailers overcharging is still very real in what i’m calling Pokémania 2025, and things won’t be slowing down thanks to the new era of Mega Evolution base set and it’s first expansion, Phantasmal Flames. From sleeved boosters to Elite Trainer Boxes, there’s something here for every budget, and even then i’ve found the best prices. Let’s get into it:
Who’s your favorite Batman? I’m not going to start an all-out comments war on that one, but every Batman movie worth watching is here, not to mention Batamn: The Animated series and the animated feature of the fan-favourite “Hush” graphic novel. You can even get a 4K film collection for under $35, so if you’re looking to beef up your Bat Cave, now’s the time.
Woot! Gaming Sale
Majority of mainline Pokémong Switch 1 games? Check. Every Mario game you need for your collection? Yes. How about Kirby? Yep, here’s here too. Not only is Woot smashing it when it comes to adding to your Ninty games library, but they’re also bulking up on peripherals, cases and more games for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. It’s worth looking through, did I mention you can get up to 87% off?
Amiibo Switch 1 Sale
Late to the game building an ammibo collection? Gamestop have your back today with a tonne of legacy ammibo at just $5.99 each, down from $19.99. They’ve even thrown in Charizard, Pikachu and their exclusive Mr. Game and Watch amiibo. It would be rude to not pick up atleast four.
Amiibo Switch 2 Sale
Gamestop are even slashing prices on newer amiibo, including the new Donkey Kong and Pauline amiibo from DKs latest outing on Nintendo Switch 2. There’s also Minecraft, Street Fighter 6, LoZ: Tears of the Kindom and Monster Hunter amiibo on sale. Just over $14 off $30 amiibo? Yes please.
Save Up to $130 Off Brand New PlayStation 5 Slim Deals
If you’re looking for the least expensive brand new PlayStation 5 console you can get your hands on, AliExpress is going to be your best bet. Right now they’re offering an imported Sony PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition gaming console for just $369.73 after $80 off coupon code “AEUS80“. Alternatively, the PlayStation 5 Disc Edition is down to $425.16 after an even bigger $100 off coupon code “USDEAL100“. Shipping is free. These are brand new and retail boxed products that are stocked in a US warehouse and qualify for local delivery. This PlayStation console is imported from another country, however all PS5 consoles are region unlocked and so it will play in the US without any modifications. Keep in mind that imported consoles have an overseas warranty that won’t be honored here in the United States.
Chrono Trigger (Steam)
We called this remaster of Chrono Trigger a masterpiece and slapped a 10/10 on it back in 2011, and we’re standing by it. Serving as the foundation of “New Game +” modes and sporting the late great Akira Toriyama’s artwork, Chrono Trigger is JRPG nostalgia bottled, and still tastes great 30 years later. It’s a great chance to grab one of the best games ever made, complete with new animé cutscenes, for an absolute steal.
JSAUX Carrying Case for Nintendo Switch 2
Jsaux have been making cases, screen protectors and the like for longer than I can remember, and it’s quality gear. I’ve been personally using this case for my Nintendo Switch 2 when i’m out and about, and it’s great having that extra bit a tough protection for when I inevitably drop it on the pavement. It’s not going to make you get more banannas in DK, but it’s a good carry case for under $18.
Duo of Justice Capcom Game Bundle (Steam)
I object to anyone not grabbing this bundle, and i’ll never apologise for that Ace Attorney reference either. There’s some brilliant games here:
This much content for $35 is ridiculous and is well worth adding to your Steam backlog. If you want to do your good deed for the day, paying more supports the charity Breakthough T1D. It’s the leading organization for type 1 diabetes research and advocacy. Winner.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
We’ve seen the One Ring and Final Fantasy’s crystals, but now the infamous Infinity Stones are coming to Magic: The Gathering across multiple sets, including a cosmic foil variant that’s already sold for $10,000.
With the Soul Stone already in the Spidey set, here’s all we currently know about where the other stones could appear, and how to find them.
Magic: The Gathering’s Infinity Stones Explained
If you’ve kept up with Marvel comics or even the MCU, you’ll no doubt know all about the Infinity Stones. All six of them contain untold power, but bringing them all together is Thanos’ mission as he looks to wipe out half of all life in the universe.
That means they’re likely to be powerful in cardboard form, too. The Soul Stone has been revealed so far in various designs, and it’s running a high price already because of its ability to exile a creature in return to bring cards back from your graveyard every turn. So, what can we expect from the others?
The Soul Stone is a black legendary artifact, and the other Infinity Stones will almost definitely come in Red, Blue, Green, and White versions. That leaves one missing, so we eventually expect to see a colorless one as well to complete the six: Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Time, and Soul.
Since we’ve only seen one Infinity Stone so far, it’s hard to see if there’s a pattern, but given it comes in Cosmic Foil, we reckon there’s a solid chance that theme continues.
If you’re looking to go chase these rare cards without wanting to pay the big bucks, then unfortunately you might just be out of luck. Collector’s boosters are the best chance at scoring these rare finds, and they’re sold out completely expect for resellers (who are charging upwards of $1000 for just 12 Packs).
For more on the Spidey set, check out the ten cards everyone is after in the build up to release day, September 26, 2025, including the borderless Spectacular Spider-Man, villains aplenty in Electro, Carnage, and Hob Goblin, and a whole lot more.
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.
Larian may be done with major updates to its blockbuster role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s still releasing hotfixes. The latest, Hotfix #34, is a juicy one. It adds a native Steam Deck build and should reduce framerate spikes in busy areas such as the Lower City in Act 3 across all platforms.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 3 is infamous for its performance issues. Indeed it was one of the tougher areas to navigate, especially in the months after the game launched and before Larian issued various updates, mainly due to the sheer number of NPCs who mill about on-screen and everything the game has to consider as a result.
In a post on Steam, Larian said the native Steam Deck build means Baldur’s Gate 3 has a more stable framerate, lower loading times, and smoother gameplay on Valve’s handheld. But the work done for this build benefits all players by improving the way the game’s models are streamed across all platforms.
Meanwhile, Hotfix #34 addresses “some rather annoying” instances of crashing on Xbox, Larian said. And as is Larian’s way, it sprinkled the patch notes, below, with some trademark flair. For example:
Fixed the audio levels for a rat in the Lower City that you, tragically, couldn’t hear squeak when it squoke.
Reminded Halsin to actually yell when he gains barbarian Rage instead of silently miming it.
Told one of the imps on the nautiloid to stop looking in the wrong direction.
The Dungeons & Dragons RPG was a breakout hit in 2023, dominating online conversation and setting sales records. Its wild success was a game-changer for Larian, and the title has continued to perform strongly in the two years since launch, with mods helping to fuel seemingly never-ending interest in the RPG, especially on Steam.
The developer shocked the video game world when it announced plans to make brand new games outside the Dungeons & Dragons universe, rather than follow Baldur’s Gate 3 with DLC or a sequel. It is now hard at work realizing that vision.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix #34 patch notes:
FIXES
Crashes and Performance
Fixed a potential crash related to the Slow condition during combat.
Fixed a potential crash related to using the Find Familiar spell on Scratch and Boo during combat.
Xbox
Fixed a crash that could occur when suspending and then resuming the game mid-cinematic.
Fixed a crash when loading a save while playing an Honour Mode game.
Fixed an issue that could cause the game to hang and become unresponsive when exiting to the Main Menu from an Honour Mode game.
Selecting View Xbox Live Profile via the Larian Friends list will now correctly show the user’s gamercard.
Fixed a Cross-Play issue where, if one player had their cross-network privileges blocked on Xbox and was then invited to a multiplayer session by a friend, they wouldn’t get notified of the conflict in their settings telling them why they couldn’t proceed to the lobby.
Fixed a bug where creating a new game in Honour Mode after having loaded a previous savegame would cause the game to get stuck at 33% or 83% loading.
Gameplay
Fixed the Hound of Ill Omen and the Accursed Spectre’s HP being affected by difficulty modifiers for enemy characters.
Fixed a bug causing the Apostle of Myrkul to regain Hit Points every time you load a savegame mid-combat in Tactician and Honour Mode.
Audio
Fixed a bug causing the sounds that djinn summons make when they follow you to loop continuously, creating an uncharacteristic metallic thrum.
When you’re on the ground floor of Felogyr’s Fireworks, the smokepowder explosions going off on the floor above will no longer sound like they’re happening right next to you.
Fixed the audio levels for a rat in the Lower City that you, tragically, couldn’t hear squeak when it squoke.
Fixed missing SFX when preparing to cast Wind Walk.
Fixed an issue causing the SFX to play longer than they should when preparing to cast the Way of the Drunken Master’s subclass-specific actions.
Fixed missing SFX when preparing to cast Booming Blade.
Fixed the SFX for preparing a Starry Form continuing to play if you cast the spell quickly after selecting it.
Fixed missing SFX when Astarion taps Woe on the ground during a cinematic.
Fixed missing SFX in the overhead dialogue between Minthara and the questioners in Moonrise Towers Prison.
Fixed a sound resource for Photo Mode not being generated correctly.
Fixed the rattling Moonlantern SFX continuing to play after you unequip it.
Recovered some missing SFX when casting Speak with Dead on the mind flayer in the Shattered Sanctum.
Reminded Halsin to actually yell when he gains barbarian Rage instead of silently miming it.
Fixed the SFX during Vlaakith’s appearance at camp getting cut off prematurely.
Cinematics
Told one of the imps on the nautiloid to stop looking in the wrong direction.
Fixed a super-mega-ultra-close-up shot during the dialogue with Raphael at Last Light.
Removed a static pool of blood hovering mid-air in the cinematic with the gnolls on the Risen Road when playing as a short Dark Urge character.
Fixed Karlach’s line about Gale being a hero getting cut off prematurely.
Fixed a bug causing party members to appear as floating torsos (or simply floating hair) when talking to Ketheric’s dog, Squire.
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.
After three days of competition, Q9 has emerged victorious at the 2025 Delta Force Invitational. The inaugural event, held at the Hangzhou Esports Center in China, brought together twelve of the world’s best Delta Force teams. But it was Q9 who ultimately stood above the rest and took home the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool.
The Delta Force Invitational featured twelve teams that each qualified through region-specific qualifiers, each bringing their own playstyle and strategies. The teams competing included AKA, FL, FN, GS, Q9, STS, ESG, INK, ISG, LEG, MBA, and MG. Throughout the weekend, fans witnessed everything from carefully executed stealth operations to explosive final pushes.
The tournament began with the Group Stage, where each team competed for a spot in either the Upper or Lower Bracket. FN, Q9, GS, MBA, ESG, and INK secured strong performances that placed them in the Upper Bracket, while FL, AKA, STS, LEG, MG, and ISG found themselves in the Lower Bracket, facing elimination pressure early on.
In the Bracket Stage, the competition intensified. During Upper Bracket Turn 1, Q9 and MBA were the first teams to advance to the Grand Final, while ESG, GS, INK, and FN were pushed down into Upper Bracket Turn 2. Meanwhile, in Lower Bracket Turn 1, FL and LEG were eliminated, while STS and MG headed to the Upper Bracket Turn 2, and ISG and AKA earned one last chance by moving forward into Lower Bracket Turn 2. This set up high-stakes clashes as the brackets narrowed.
During Upper Bracket Turn 2, ESG and FN succeeded in advancing to the Grand Final, while GS, STS, INK, and MG dropped down into Lower Bracket Turn 2 for one last shot at victory. In Lower Bracket Turn 2, the tension peaked. INK and MG battled their way into the Grand Final, while AKA, STS, ISG and GS were eliminated after a hard-fought run.
Ahead of the Grand Final, fans in the Hangzhou Esports Center were treated to a spectacular opening show that brought the game to life. The stage came alive with characters, tanks and battle scenes inspired by Delta Force, immersing the audience in the action before culminating in a performance of the iconic song Dawn, sung by Lithium Done.
Q9 set the tone in Round 1 of the Grand Final with a commanding performance, led by GuoR, who earned MVP honours with 2 kills, 2 assists, and 205 damage. But the competition quickly heated up in Round 2, when INK surged ahead by outpacing everyone in decoding a Mandelbrick. Kilzal was the star of the round, securing 6 kills and carrying his team to victory.
Momentum shifted yet again in Round 3 as Q9 reclaimed dominance, with K1De stepping into the spotlight as MVP. In Round 4, ESG broke through with a show-stopping display, turning the match in their favour. DT proved unstoppable, racking up 5 kills to claim MVP. Round 5 saw Q9 refuse to back down, they seized the last Mandelbrick, with K1De earning his second MVP of the series.
Heading into Round 6, it was all to play for. Q9 secured a prime position early and began decoding the Mandelbrick, forcing the other teams to scramble for an opening. None could break through, and with Q9 completing the decode, they locked in the invitational victory. But the map clock was still ticking, leaving room for a shake-up in the standings, and it was INK who endured the longest, gathering crucial assets to secure second place.
The Delta Force Invitational has proved just how much momentum the game’s competitive scene is building. With their victory, Q9 have laid claim to the top prize in Delta Force esports, but the question is, who will rise next to seize their own moment. The Delta Force Global League Season 3 is set to start next month.
