I regularly go against my best consumer instincts and check out the yearly iterations of sports games. It’s not something I’d likely be doing without some Steam press account magic letting me dodge the yearly cash sacrifice for a game that usually shares a huge chunk of DNA with its direct predecessor; a sense of deja vu is inevitable, unless you’ve been sensible enough to either let a few years pass or wait until you’ve spotted a new feature that piques your interest.
With NBA 2K26, there was one such addition in my mind. As someone who’s been keen to see 2K’s ball-to-basket series get rid of the invisible wall it’d put up between its simulations of men’s and women’s basketball for a good few years, the first-time addition of WNBA players to one of the marquee male-dominted modes caught my attention. Granted, it was MyTeam, the depressing pit in which you fork over either real money or fake money – acquired across hours of grinding – to buy trading cards that may or may not be dished out via something resembling a slot machine.
Despite leaning heavily on tried-and-tested survival horror tropes, Bloober Team’s latest delivers a fascinating story involving time travel, big helmets, and gross, gooey creatures that have the ability to merge with dead bodies. Gross. If you’re a genre fan or you simply enjoy well-told stories, this one might be for you.
A Nintendo Direct is confirmed to be taking place this Friday, September 12. The broadcast will begin at 6am PST/9am ET/2pm BST, and will run for roughly a whole hour.
As for what’s going to be included in the stream, Nintendo has yet to confirm. But seeing as it’s taking place just one day before the 40th birthday of the Super Mario Bros. series, it wouldn’t be a shock to see some plumber-related news.
For context, a similar showcase took place to mark the 35th anniversary of the original Super Mario and included Super Mario 3D World: Bowser’s Fury, and limited release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, and a Super Mario Bros Game & Watch.
What could we expect this time around? Well, we certainly wouldn’t say no to the reveal of a brand-new 3D Mario platformer to mark the Nintendo Switch 2 era, some Mario Kart World DLC, or a sneak peek at the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, scheduled for April 2026.
Developing story…
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
Better yet, not only does Amazon have Sidon, Riju, and Tulin in stock, but they’re all discounted for a limited time right now.
Amazon Amiibo Sale: Save $10 for a Limited Time
Each of these amiibo figures would set you back $29.99 when they first released, but Amazon has discounted three of the figures to $19.99. That’s a saving of 33% each, and $10 off per amiibo.
So, whether you want Riju, Tulin, or Sidon to drop into your latest adventure, you’re in luck.
As for what they do in-game, all three unlock content in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Using any of the three figures via NFC will net you amiibo-exclusive paraglider fabric options, as well as some additional materials and a weapon or rare item.
Since they’re part of The Legend of Zelda series, you can snag extra goodies in other titles. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has amiibo-exclusive Chamber Dungeons, for example, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe players can get a new Mii racing suit.
If you are playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 with the upgrade pack, you’re in for a treat.
The update smooths out that frame rate and improves the resolution throughout, fixing just about the only thing that was wrong with the Switch 1 original: Its performance.
Tom Marks said in his review update that ”This [Switch 2 upgrade] really does feel like the way this game was always meant to be played, and I’m thrilled by the idea of a new generation discovering it for the first time.”
Hard to argue there, really.
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.
I bring ill tidings from the land of folks who’re usually busy stressing about their heirs, sire. Crusader Kings 3‘s paid Coronations DLC has arrived alongside the Ascendant update, and I regret to inform you that the little expansion’s immediately been put in the stocks. The rotten tomatoes doth fly towards its bonce, and the resulting juice has turned its Steam reviews a mostly negative shade of crimson.
Sucker Punch director Nate Fox has revealed that the day Rockstar confirmed GTA 6 was delayed until 2026 was a “great” one for the Ghost of Yotei team.
Grand Theft Auto 6 was due out in fall 2025, but over the summer, Rockstar confirmed a delay to May 26, 2026, saying it needed “this extra time to deliver at the level of quality [players] expect and deserve.” And while the delay may have been disappointing news for players desperate to experience a new GTA game, Sucker Punch was delighted that Rockstar’s upcoming game would no longer clash with the October release of Ghost of Yotei.
In an interview with MinnMax (thanks, GR+), co-creative director Fox said the news resulted in a celebration, joking: “We’re all still hungover, multi-month hangover. That was a great day.”
Much like how the shadow-dropped announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date of September 4, 2025, was a less-than-celebratory day for the developers of around 10 other video games with existing marketing plans to launch around that same time, studios have also been shuffling release schedules to ensure their titles don’t bump up against GTA 6 and soak up the time, money, and interest of potential players.
As we summarized at the time, Hollow Knight: Silksong’s debut affected the release of games like Demonschool, Aeterna Lucis, Little Witch in the Woods, CloverPit, Megabonk, Baby Steps, Faeland, Starbirds, and Moros Protocol. Even Stomp and the Sword of Miracles, an indie game with no release date plans anywhere in sight, elected to delay its Kickstarter launch and demo release due to Silksong.
Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of Devolver Digital, told IGN: “There are AAA games and then there’s AAAA games and I’d argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game, it’s just bigger than anything else both in the scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands.”
Adam Lieb, CEO of marketing platform Gamesight, added: “I would say that GTA for the last year and a half has been a part of almost every conversation around launch dates I have heard.”
At least Ghost of Yotei’s release date seems certain: October 2, 2025. The follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, Yotei is set in the lands surrounding Mount Yotei, and takes place more than 300 years after the events of the first game.
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.
As highlighted by Mike Odyssey over on X, the trademarks are currently under examination as of 2nd September 2025 before full publication, which is normal. As for why they’ve been updated, well… that’s up for debate.
Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford has suggested that the game’s pre-order bundle, which contains a free Fortnite skin, could become a worthwhile investment — after a previous Borderlands skin fetched “over $2k when trading on eBay.”
Writing on social media, Pitchford highlighted the looter shooter’s Epic Games Store pre-order offer, which unlocks the Mad Moxxi skin in Fortnite. But players have been quick to point out that “trading” is against Fortnite’s Terms of Service, and liable to result in a ban.
“Is it true that the pre-order incentive Psycho Bandit skin in became one of the most valuable skins in Fortnite sometimes fetching over $2k when trading on eBay?” Pitchford wrote. “What are the odds this bundle becomes worth much more than the price of the game it is promoting?”
Firstly, it’s worth breaking down exactly what Pitchford is referring to here. The Psycho Bandit skin he mentions was originally released in 2019, as part of a similar Epic Game Store promotion with Borderlands 3. It was also briefly available via Fortnite’s item shop — before disappearing from sale for a lengthy period.
It’s during this time that the skin did become something of a coveted item among Fortnite players, though its perceived value dropped significantly when it returned returned on sale in April 2025, becoming widely-available once again after a gap of five years.
Fortnite skins deemed rare or unlikely to be sold again often attract player interest, though Fortnite itself of course does not offer any ability to sell or trade in-game items with other players. Instead, some players simply buy or sell accounts with rare items included — something which Epic Games is clear is against the company’s Terms of Service, and risks a lengthy (or permanent) ban.
All of which is worth bearing in mind when considering whether buying Borderlands 4 just for its attached Fortnite skin is really the best pitch for a money-making scheme. But hey, at least the game isn’t $80.
Borderlands 4 launches this Friday, September 12, for PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will then follow on October 3.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Microsoft have announced plans to roll out a policy which will mandate that staff return to working from the office at least three days per week, with a first phase of it set to come into force as of February 2026.
In a memo about the move shared by The Verge, Microsoft executive vice president and chief people officer Amy Coleman asserted that it’s “not about reducing headcount”. The mandate comes just a couple of months after the company’s mass layoffs which saw about 9,000 employees let go and several games cancelled. The bloodletting hasn’t stopped since that point either, with The Seattle Times reporting this week that Microsoft have laid off a further 42 employees, bringing the total to 15,000 since May.
In my experience, there are two kinds of tank in Battlefield games. There are the ones driven by other people, which are cut from solid granite yet move like ballet dancers. And then there are the ones driven by me, which are made out of candy floss and handle like shopping trolleys. Possibly, this reflects some kind of underlying “skill issue”, but come now, that’s speculative reporting that flies in the face of logic. Clearly it’s a balancing issue. Here’s Battlefield 6 lead producer David Sirland with a little more, based on learnings during the new shooter‘s multiplayer beta.
