Category: Video Games

While yesterday we spotted a deal on Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander Decks for kicking off Magic: The Gathering’s big 2026 lineup (which includes seven (!) sets), the next set has just seen a nice early discount.

Universes Beyond: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is launching in March 2026, but Amazon has dropped the price of a Play Booster Box by 24% already – although there is a slight catch.

Terminator 2D: No Fate is packed with Terminator references and Easter eggs, but this one is perhaps for hardcore fans only.

Bitmap Bureau’s retro action game has an Easter egg that can only be accessed once you’ve unlocked its hardest mode, Judgment Day. Once you’ve done that, play through the game on Judgment Day difficulty and reach the Biker Bar level, which is only the second level in Arcade Mode if you want to get there quickly. The instant the level loads, you’ll immediately notice that the previously naked Arnie is now wearing some very bright, ultra ‘90s neon Zubaz shorts.

Why is he doing that? It’s a reference to how The Governator actually dressed on-set during the filming of the biker bar scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. That’s right: naked Arnie in Terminator 2 is a lie, and you can get a glimpse of those incredibly colourful shorts in this footage from behind the scenes.

We thought we’d check in with the Terminator 2D development team to find out more about this cheeky Easter egg, and they explained how it came together:

“When planning the game we did a lot of research on the movie; watching it scene-by-scene, going through materials such as the illustrated screenplay and also looking at making of content which is where the shorts idea came from.

“After looking at how some of the older T2 games handled the naked Terminator for the bar scene (for example in the SNES game where it was behind a strategically placed wooden fence) — Mike [Tucker, designer] jokingly had the idea of making a pixelated crotch effect for Easy Money mode.

“But we decided the shorts from behind-the-scenes pics would be a hilarious Easter egg and you can only unlock it on the Judgment Day difficulty!

A cluster of Starfield fans say they’ve gained an early glimpse at improvements coming to Bethesda’s sci-fi role-player, though have suggested the changes are relatively modest in scope.

The fans claimed Bethesda invited them to take a look at the upcoming content, with one saying they were “stoked” by what they saw, while another suggested they were “excited for the future of Starfield.” For now, the details of what was shown remain under embargo, to be properly revealed at a later date.

But there’s also a note of caution here, regarding the scope and scale of what Bethesda is actually working on. Another content creator, who said they had been contacted by several Starfield fans either at the event or who helped put it on, suggested this “probably isn’t a Cyberpunk 2.0-scale update,” referencing the major additions that helped improved CD Projekt’s RPG.

Word that Bethesda is working on more content for Starfield is unsurprising — indeed, Bethesda boss Todd Howard said back in August that the company had “free updates and features the players have been asking for, as well as a new DLC story” in the works.

“I can’t go into all the details just yet, but I will say part of the team has been focused on space gameplay to make the travels there more rewarding,” Howard noted. “We’re also adding some new game systems, and a few other smaller delights. There’s also some really interesting stuff coming down the pipe from our verified creators. There’s some fun stuff.”

This tease followed a long period of radio silence on Starfield’s future, and the discovery of datamined references to a still-unannounced “Cruise Mode” that suggested players would finally be able to actually travel in your spaceship from one planet to another. Firm details from Bethesda itself remain thin on the ground, however, with the game’s second anniversary in September passing with just a simple social media post and the vague tease of something named “Terran Armada.”

Bethesda’s vagueness around future plans for Starfield has long been a point of discussion among fans, with a sense that the company has pulled back on its previous ambitions for the game following its mixed response and amid a clamoring for the company’s two bigger franchises, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

In August it was reported that Bethesda had delayed Starfield’s second expansion due to “weak sales” of its first, Shattered Space, which launched in September 2024 to a ‘Mostly Negative’ Steam user rating. Todd Howard had previously talked of Starfield expansions releasing annually. Another reported reason for the delay was Bethesda’s plans to launch Starfield on PlayStation 5, with both the second expansion and the game’s multiplatform rollout potentially happening simultaneously. Here’s hoping 2026 provides a clearer sense of the game’s future.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Doomed Xbox blockbuster Perfect Dark had “entire chapters” of performance capture work in the can before its shock cancelation this summer, according to Joanna Dark actress Alix Wilton Regan.

In an interview with TheGamer, the voice behind Dragon Age’s Inquisitor and Cyberpunk 2077’s Alt Cunningham says she recorded scenes for The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot over the course of several years, beginning in 2023. “Lots” was done in 2024, with work continuing in early 2025.

“To my knowledge, we were pretty far along, I’d done entire chapters of this universe,” Regan said, adding that she was shocked to learn that Microsoft was pulling the plug, with The Initiative itself also set to be closed down as part of a wave of funding cuts and layoffs.

“I was as shocked, surprised, and devastated as everyone else was when the funding was pulled, and the studio was closed,” Wilton-Regan continued, saying she learned the studio’s fate at the same time as it was announced publicly. “I did not see it coming. I was absolutely blindsided when the project was defunded,” she added. “It was devastating. So many people lost their jobs. An entire workforce was disbanded.”

A further blow would come as last-ditch talks to salvage the project also fell through — a process Wilton-Regan admits she had insider knowledge of. Interestingly, the actress mentioned that Perfect Dark may have changed in scope had it been saved, with a “slimmed-down” version ultimately seeing the light of day instead.

“I couldn’t say too much about it because I knew The Initiative was in talks to keep Perfect Dark up and running in some shape or form,” Wilton-Regan revealed. “Possibly a slimmed-down version, possibly something slightly different. But certainly, everyone was working really hard behind the scenes to bring Perfect Dark back. And then one day, I heard from the creative director that the deal hadn’t gone through, and that really everything had fallen apart, and production was fully stopping.”

A report from Bloomberg, which IGN corroborated from its own sources, previously revealed that there had been a plan to keep Perfect Dark alive via the team working on the project at Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics, which had been serving as a co-developer. Leadership from both Crystal and The Initiative reportedly spent two months looking for a new publisher and funding source.

While multiple parties expressed interest, the most likely candidate turned out to be Take-Two Interactive. However, the two groups couldn’t come to an agreement, at least in part due to disagreements over long-term ownership of the property. As a result, the deal fell through, resulting in layoffs at Crystal Dynamics as all hope of the project being reinstated vanished.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Perfect Dark studio head Darrell Gallagher and director Brian Horton had now been hired by 2K to start a brand new outfit. No details have yet emerged as to what the new studio will work on, or if any other former Perfect Dark employees joined them.

As for Wilton-Regan, while she may have lost the Joanna Dark gig, this month’s big Tomb Raider reveal at The Game Awards revealed that the actress was now the official new video game Lara Croft. She’ll star in next year’s reimagining of the original Lara Croft adventure, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, as well as all-new blockbuster Tomb Raider: Catalyst, due in 2027.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social