Metacritic released its 14th annual publisher rankings earlier this week and Nintendo has placed in the top 10 for 2023.
Thanks to the critical success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and some other titles, Nintendo placed sixth place out of 46 publishers on the list. It had an average Metascore of 79.5 in 2023 after releasing 22 titles, with four great games overall. In the previous year, it was 12th. Here’s what Metacritic had to say about its latest result:
The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is sprawling and dense, with hundreds of materials, chests, secrets, and much, much more to find as you explore. The map isn’t uncovered until you manually trek through wherever it is you want to go, too. Luckily, we have an interactive map for Dragon’s Dogma 2 to show you locations for spots to rest, Seeker’s Tokens, Ferrystones, Portcrystals, and more.
The starting area is filled out robustly, but the Dragon’s Dogma 2 interactive map is still a work in progress, so check back often for more updates!
The map in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is quite large, and our interactive map also includes maps for caves and interiors as well. Click on the arrow and door icon to see what map that cluster is for. We’ve also cataloged many locations of collectibles, quests, and important items in our Dragon’s Dogma 2 wiki guide:
Plus, keep track of everything you’ve collected and completed so far with our useful checklists that sync to your IGN account, so you’ll never find yourself backtracking unnecessarily to check if you actually opened that one chest or not. If you want a guide to help you through the story, check out our Dragon’s Dogma 2 walkthrough.
As we said, this interactive map is a work in progress, so check back for even more soon!
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve gathered up some excellent deals for you! Whether you’re searching for a new VR headset or more storage for your console, we’ve got you covered with the best deals for Sunday, March 24. These deals include Persona 3 Reload, Meta Quest 2, PS5 Slim, and more.
Persona 3 Reload for $39.99
Persona 3 Reload is already one of the biggest 2024 releases so far. The remake brings in new gameplay features, new voice actors, and an impressive slew of technology, including ray tracing. It’s on sale right now at Amazon for $39.99, which marks a new all time low for the title. If you’ve never experienced the story of Persona 3, this is the definitive way to do so.
Lowest Price Ever for Meta Quest 2
If you haven’t yet purchased a VR headset, this amazing deal on the Quest 2 is the lowest price we’ve seen for the headset. For $199, you’ll get a fantastic VR headset and $50 of credit for any games you’d like! The Meta Quest 2 is an excellent VR headset that works great standalone or hooked up to a PC. You can access your entire Steam library with Steam Link, either wired or wirelessly. The screen provides an 1832 x 1920 resolution per eye, with up to a 90Hz refresh rate.
MEGA Showcase Microsoft Xbox 360 Collector Building Set for $99.99
This MEGA Showcase set is perfect for any Xbox fan. With over 1300 pieces, you can build a replica Xbox 360 console, controller, and a physical copy of Halo 3. Every port, grate, and button has been accounted for, with an astounding amount of detail on this build. This set will make a great addition to any collection, with loads of options for display.
Save $70 Off 1TB of Additional Xbox Series X|S Storage
Best Buy currently has the Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S listed for $149.99. If you’re currently just utilizing the console’s internal storage, this is a great deal to look at. Additional storage will allow you to download more games without having to free up space. It’s a great addition to your console and will benefit you in the long run. The WD – Black 1TB SSD Card for Xbox is priced even lower at $129.99, so take your pick of either brand.
Xbox Wireless Controller for $44
This weekend, Amazon is offering the Pulse Red Xbox Wireless Controller for just $44. You can always use an extra Xbox controller. Not everything lasts forever, and controllers can wear down easily, especially when used frequently.
Save 20% Off This LEGO Icons Tiny Plants Building Set
If you’re a fan of LEGO, Amazon has a sweet discount on this LEGO Icons set. A total of nine differents plants and pots can be built with this set, ranging from Cacti to different flowers. With Mother’s Day and other holidays slowly getting closer, this could be a great option as a gift for a loved one.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for $32.80
Fantastic news for stealth action fans: the Switch version of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is currently priced at $32.80, which marks the lowest we’ve seen this collection thus far. This is a great package with the first three Metal Gear Solid games, in addition to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. If you’ve yet to play through the Metal Gear series, the Master Collection is how to do so on modern platforms.
PS5 Slim Spider-Man 2 Bundle for $399.99
Amazon has a fantastic deal ongoing for the PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition. The console itself is $50 off, and you get Spider-Man 2 for free. In total, that’s $120 worth of savings. This is perfect if you’ve yet to pick up a PS5, as we most likely won’t see a better deal than this for a while. With major exclusives like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Rise of the Ronin now available, an extensive library awaits any new PS5 user.
PlayStation PULSE 3D Headset for $69.99
Right now, Amazon has the PlayStation PULSE 3D headset on sale for $69.99. This headset was made with 3D audio in mind, so you can take advantage of all the best PlayStation 5 audio features. While there are better and more comfortable gaming headsets out there, this will get the job done with good audio quality and great features.
Pick Up the Dead Space Remake for $29.99
Dead Space launched last January, and this is a great time to pick up the game if you haven’t already. This remake features an impressive use of technology and a completely modernized combat system. Special attention has been put on the audio, with 3D Audio technology utilized for an immersive experience. You can expect loads of thrills and horror as you look to escape the stranded ship. The USG Ishimura has never looked better or been scarier.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns for $19.99
You can grab one of the best tactical RPGs of 2022 on Amazon at a discount right now. Marvel’s Midnight Suns features a unique cast of Marvel characters with plenty of fan favorites, such as Iron Man, Wolverine, and more. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating the game “makes excellent use of card game mechanics to keep battles fresh, evolving, and unpredictable over the course of an epic-length campaign.”
In last week’s brawl, we checked out Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color, pitting the Western Design against the rather quirky effort from Japan. In the end, Japan won the vote at 72% – well done!
The sun’s streaming in through the crack in the curtains. Perhaps last night was a large one and you’re a little fuzzy, maybe the kids are awake, jumping on you or haring around the house, or maybe your partner is already up and the smell of a fresh brew is drifting from room to room. Lovely.
Capcom launched Dragon’s Dogma 2 this week, and if you’re craving a similar fix on the Nintendo Switch we thought now was a great time to let you know that Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is actually on sale via the eShop across multiple regions.
It reduces the title from $29.99 / £24.99 to just $4.99 / £4.24, which is more than 80% off its standard price. There’s just a day remaining on this sale in the UK, with the sale ending in the US on March 26th. So, if you haven’t already played this title, or would like to revisit it on Nintendo’s hybrid system, now is the “perfect time”.
With this in mind, the film’s director Wes Ball (known for the Maze Runner trilogy) has told Total Film how he understands just how “important” the Zelda franchise is to fans and aims to “fulfil people’s greatest desires”.
Nintendo’s Switch has become home to an almost overwhelming number of fantastic games since launching back in 2017. A great deal of them have appeared on other platforms — whether celebrated indie titles or huge AAA releases getting a second wind on Nintendo’s handheld hybrid — but the console is also home to a clutch of brilliant exclusive titles.
With Amazon’s new Fallout TV show slated to hit Prime next month, longtime Fallout fans have already started wondering what the next official entry in the iconic post-apocalyptic video game series will look like.
Although it’s still years away, Bethesda Game Studios has been very upfront about the fact that Fallout 5 is in the pipeline, going as far as to say it will be the studio’s next major project after the release of The Elder Scrolls 6. With that in mind, we decided to round up all the early details we’ve heard about the next major installment in the Fallout game series so you can get caught up on everything we know so far.
The first and most crucial thing to note is that Fallout 5 isn’t going to be released for a very long time. As series director Todd Howard told us in an interview back in 2022, “Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that.”
Bethesda has said multiple times that The Elder Scrolls 6’s development would become the studio’s main focus after it wrapped up work on Starfield, which only launched in late 2023. Considering Xbox Head Phil Spencer claimed during last year’s Microsoft vs FTC Trial that The Elder Scrolls 6 itself isn’t expected for “five plus years,” it’s safe to assume we’re not going to be hearing much about Fallout 5 or its release date for years to come.
Bethesda Has Drafted Up Early Plans For Fallout 5
Although its still early days for the sequel, Todd Howard has admitted that he’s taken some time laying out the groundwork for Fallout 5 and where he wants to take the franchise next. Speaking to us on the IGN Unfiltered Podcast in 2021, Howard revealed: “We have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do.”
In essence, it seems Howard has already spent some time figuring out the broad concept for the next major entry in the Fallout series and the ideas Bethesda hopes to tackle going forward. That being said, he did make it clear those ideas are still in the very early stages. Continuing his discussion about Fallout 5 and Bethesda Game Studios’ future projects in general, he claimed: “I’d like to find a way to accelerate what we do, but I can’t really say today or commit to anything, [like] what’s going to happen when.”
Ideas From The Fallout TV Show Were Held Back Because of Fallout 5
During recent press events for the upcoming Fallout TV show, Todd Howard and the show’s crew talked more about the adaptation’s story and crafting a live-action adventure set in such a lore-rich world. During these interviews, Jonathon Nolan claimed that making the show felt like working on “Fallout 5,” telling Total Film that the show being an original, canon story set in the game’s world makes it feel like a “non-interactive” new entry in the series rather than an adaptation.
Todd Howard later expanded on these comments while speaking with Den of Geek, revealing that he had several conversations with the team behind the show and asked them to avoid including certain story elements due to the eventual release of Fallout 5.
“There were some things where I said, ‘don’t do this because we are going to do that in Fallout 5,” Howard revealed, with showrunner Graham Wagner adding, “I think we made Fallout 6.” It appears the show and the next game will explore different aspects of Fallout’s world, although things were close enough that Howard wanted them to circle around certain topics to ensure they both covered new ground. With The Fallout show centering on a vault dweller exploring the remnants of Los Angeles, this could be our first hint that Bethesda aims to head to the West Coast for its next iteration of the series.
What Platforms Will Fallout 5 Be On?
Regarding what platforms Fallout 5 will be on, it’s safe to assume that it’ll be available on Xbox consoles and PC considering Bethesda now falls under the Microsoft banner. However, whether that’s on current or next-gen consoles remains to be seen.
Seeing as the game’s still a ways off and Phil Spencer didn’t clarify whether Elder Scrolls 6 (which is launching prior to Fallout 5) was a current or next-gen release when talking about the game during Microsoft’s FTC trial, it seems likely that Fallout 5 will release on future Xbox platforms. We’ll just have to wait and see where the game eventually falls.
What About PlayStation?
Currently, Bethesda Game Studios seems focused on releasing all of its upcoming games exclusively on Xbox platforms and PC. With Starfield releasing as a full Xbox console exclusive and leaked Microsoft documents suggesting that The Elder Scrolls 6 could be following suit, there’s a very good chance Fallout 5 will continue the trend.
That being said, Xbox has been more lenient with its library of exclusives in recent months, announcing that Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, and Pentiment are all making their way to other consoles. Whether this new approach to first-party releases eventually results in them launching flagship titles on rival consoles remains to be seen, but there’s always a possibility Fallout could be a multi-platform release. Right now, it’s far too early to say. If it did release on PlayStation, it would likely be on the PS6.
Fallout 5 Will Use A More Advanced Engine Than Previous Fallout Games
In preparation for the release of Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda’s teams announced they’d fully overhauled the Creation engine, which was used to develop Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. The most advanced version of the Creation Engine yet, Todd Howard called it “the largest [overhaul] we’ve probably ever had, maybe larger than Morrowind to Oblivion,” during a Develop: Brighton Digital conference in 2020.
Regardless of whether this remains the engine the team will use for Fallout 5 or they upgrade it further in time for the long-awaited sequel, Fallout will utilize a more advanced set of tools than its predecessors, benefitting from better graphics, pathing, lighting, NPC animations and more.
Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.
Final Fantasy 14‘s next expansion, Dawntrail, will launch in early access on June 28th and then release in full on July 2nd. Producer Yoshi P announced the date onstage at PAX East, while acknowledging the release date’s proximity to another RPG: Elden Ring’s Shadow Of The Erdtree expansion, which releases on June 21st.
