In a powerful move, one of the two devs behind Cryptmaster announced the delightful typing-based dungeon crawler’s release date last night during his acceptance speech after it won the Independent Games Festival award for Excellence In Design. Powerful. May 9th is the day, so you have time to practise your touchtyping with Mavis Beacon. I really enjoyed playing Cryptmaster’s Steam Next Fest demo, so I’m excited for the full game.
Media Molecule has said the layoffs at the Sony-owned studio have affected plans for ongoing community and curation support in PlayStation 4 game Dreams.
The Guildford, UK-based developer, also known for creating the LittleBigPlanet series, entered into a consultancy with staff last year. That process ends spring 2024, when Media Molecule will lose its Curation Team.
In a new blog post, Media Molecule said that the impact to its teams means “we will be unable to deliver on all the promises” outlined in a 2023 blog post discussing plans for ongoing community and curation support in Dreams following the end of live support. This included The Impsider editorial, which will now not happen. However, Media Molecule said it will continue its streams and support of the Dreams community via social channels.
As announced, live support for DreamSurfing and DreamShaping will end in mid-April. Media Molecule said this will coincide with the launch of new playlists alongside spotlighting the Dreams Recommender playlist providing “tip-top” recommendations based on what players recently played in Dreams.
“Overall, the plan here is ensuring that Dreams transitions into a self-sustaining platform, with these changes helping to filter new creations through to regular Dreams players whilst creators reach their deserved audience for their games, animations, music and everything in between,” Media Molecule said.
Fans have expressed concern about the future of Dreams ever since Media Molecule announced the redundancies in October. Media Molecule insisted there are no plans to take Dreams offline, while admitting the last 12 months have been “tough” for the studio.
“We see a lot of talk and a lot of worry about the future of Dreams in our streams and on social media, and while it’s impossible for anyone to predict what the future might hold, we want to reassure you today that there are currently no plans to take Dreams offline, restricting access to the thousands upon thousands of amazing creations brought to life by all of our fabulous creators,” Media Molecule said.
“This was an incredibly tough time for the studio as a whole and it meant the world to see support from folks on our social channels. While we’re still working through the process, the studio as a whole continues to work on our exciting new project which we’ll talk about when we’re ready.”
The redundancies at Media Molecule were announced months before Sony confirmed plans to lay off around 900 staff, or about 8% of its global PlayStation workforce. The devastating wave of cuts affected a number of PlayStation studios, including Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Firesprite, and, most significantly, PlayStation’s London studio, which is to close. Alongside the layoffs, a number of in-development games were canceled, Sony said.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The winners of the 2024 Independant Games Festival were announced at GDC last night, and it was Visai Games’ Venba that came home with the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The cooking adventure was up for four IGF awards in total, including nominations for Excellence in Audio, Narrative and Visual Art. But there was no runaway winner at this year’s IGF Awards, with all prizes going to completely different indie games. Come and celebrate the full list of winners below.
Bend and slap.
It’s kinda hard to believe, especially given how ridiculously popular the whole Mushroom Kingdom thing is, that we’ve had so few games starring its actual ruler as the protagonist over the years. Yes, there was Princess Toadstool’s Castle Run on Nelsonic Game Watch back in 1990, Princess Peach’s very first leading role (which you probably don’t need to rush out and buy), and Super Princess Peach on DS, but nothing that feels like a proper turn as the core of a full-on adventure. Until now, that is.
Yep, whilst we were fully expecting this to be a throwaway sort of experience given the above track record, it turns out Princess Peach: Showtime! is easily Ms. Toadstool’s finest hour (shocker), and a far more engaging romp than we had prepared for. It’s still 100% a game aimed squarely at children, mind, and there’s really not a whole ton of challenge for those seeking it, but for younger gamers, for relatives or friends sitting down to have a good old Nintendo sesh with some smaller kids, there’s a whole lot of fun to be had with this one.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
If you’re playing Helldivers 2 and finding the game crashes more than usual, you’re not alone. Developer Arrowhead has said a lot of players are currently being affected by a crash issue, which is linked to the release of a recent patch, and it’s on the case.
The crash problem began with this week’s release of patch 1.000.103, which nerfed planet hazards and patrols spawning on players, among other things. A crash causes the game to freeze and forces a restart. Given Helldivers 2 missions can take around 40 minutes to extract with all obtained resources and objectives complete, getting a crash towards the end is extremely frustrating.
In a post on the Helldivers Discord, Arrowhead community manager Twinbeard addressed the crash problem, and said the developer is on the case.
“We know that many of you are experiencing a lot of crashes at the moment (seemingly linked to the patch deployed earlier today, which at least resolved the persistent friend request issue for a lot of players),” Twinbeard said. “Our team is deep down in the trenches digging into the issue as we speak. We are on alert ready to update on any changes here. We’re very sorry @everyone for not being able to supply you with the glorious feeling of bug and bot stomping and hope to have the game more stable as soon as possible.”
Helldivers 2’s problems don’t end there. A rare message from Game Master Joel, who pulls the meta narrative strings as players fight to liberate planets from the Terminids and Automatons, revealed the Galactic War is not tracking player contribution properly.
“A message for @everyone from the Game Master,” began the post on the Helldivers Discord. “Helldivers! We’re aware of an issue with the Galactic War not tracking your effective spread of Liberty properly. We are investigating this urgently and will keep you posted as soon as we understand the issue and have a fix to communicate to you. Thanks very much for your patience while we squash some software bugs.”
Yesterday, March 20, Arrowhead deployed additional fixes to the game’s backend to address Eagle kill stats not increasing as expected and missions completed stats counting twice per mission. Three fixes were made for the pesky friend invites problem that Arrowhead said should resolve some of the issues there.
These problems come amid Helldivers 2’s latest Major Order, which tasks players with liberating a number of planets controlled by the Terminids. Players are hoping Arrowhead will extend the Major Order deadline as a result.
If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others. Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Featuring a stunning replica ring.
Calling all Fire Emblem fans! Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have just released the official Fire Emblem Engage “limited edition” soundtrack in Japan including a sizable collection of discs.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
In a surprise drop, the first six episodes of the long-awaited ARK: The Animated Series are now available to stream on Paramount+.
ARK: The Animated Series is based on ARK: Survival Evolved and you can check out the new trailer right here. It was also confirmed that part two of this first season will debut at a “later date” with seven episodes.
Before we get to what the show is actually about, we have to talk about the absolutely stacked cast that is led by Michelle Yeoh, Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler, David Tennant, Jeffrey Wright, Elliot Page, Madeleine Madden, and Vin Diesel. Now, back to the story.
“An animated adaptation of the hit video game featuring Yeoh, Butler, Crowe and Diesel, ARK: THE ANIMATED SERIES is a sweeping saga spanning eons of human history,” The official description reads. “When 21st century paleontologist Helena Walker (Madden) finds herself resurrected on a mysterious primeval island populated by prehistoric beasts, she must learn to survive with new allies from throughout time, while trying to uncover the true nature of their strange new world.”
This series was first announced in December 2020 during The Game Awards and followed the reveal of ARK 2, which also stars Vin Diesel. We received a new trailer for ARK: The Animated Series at the end of 2022, but news has been mostly quiet on the project until the surprise release of the first six episodes today.
As for ARK 2, it is currently on track for a late 2024 release and was described by Snail Games CEO as the company’s “next masterpiece.”
In the meantime be sure to check out all the details of ARK: Survival Ascended, the remake of ARK: Survival Evolved that is currently in Early Access.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
At the 2024 Game Developers Choice Awards.
Nintendo’s award-winning Switch exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has just won two more awards – this time at the 2024 “Game Developers Choice Awards”.
Link’s latest outing has been recognised for having the “best technology” and “best innovation” of any game over the past year. Here are both awards, courtesy of the official GDC social media account:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The Game Developers Choice Awards have arrived and look to honor the best of the best in the world of video games from 2023. This year’s show has 12 categories and the winners are chosen by industry professionals from around the world.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3 are leading the way going into tonight with seven nominations each, and both are part of a surprising yet wonderful list of nominees for the best game of 2023 that also includes Cocoon, Dave the Diver, Dredge, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
As we’ve seen in awards shows in the past, any game can emerge victorious, and we’ll be covering the show live and updating the list below, so be sure to stay tuned to see the winners of the Game Developers Choice Awards 2024!
BEST AUDIO
BEST DEBUT
BEST DESIGN
INNOVATION AWARD
BEST NARRATIVE
SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD
BEST TECHNOLOGY
BEST VISUAL ART
GAME OF THE YEAR
Guilty Gear Strive’s newest DLC character for Season 3 has been revealed as A.B.A., a long-missed fan favorite that first appeared in 2012’s Guilty Gear XX Accent Core R and will arrive once more on March 26, 2024.
A.B.A.’s return was announced during the Arc Live AWT Preview Show, and she will be released alongside a free update that introduces a new battle stage called ‘Fallen Prayer, Engulfed Lives,’ balance changes, and a new special move for Millia Rage called Artemis.
If you’d like to play as A.B.A., she will cost $6.99 individually or as part of Season Pass 3 for $24.99.
A.B.A. is known for being jealous and belligerent from time to time, but she is also considerate and sympathetic towards others. That jealousy does have benefits for combat, however, as she can enter the powerful Jealousy Rage state by meeting certain conditions.
Once in Jealousy Rage, she gets improved movement and different properties for the majority of her normal, special, and Overdrive moves.
A.B.A. is joined by her “reluctant husband” named Paracelsus, who is currently in the form of a magical battle axe named Flament Nagel. As they spent more time together, Paracelsus slowly began changing into a key, and A.B.A. now wants to find a human body for him and discover why these things are happening.
On March 26, A.B.A. will become the third character in Season Pass 3 following Johnny and Elphelt. There will be one more character in this season that will jump into battle later in 2024.
As for the battle stage, ‘Fallen Prayer, Engulfed Lives’ features a “clear blue sea and an eye-catching monument” and a coral reef overgrowth that has made this place a hit for tourists. Millia Rage’s new Artemis special move, on the other hand, lets the character “attack while leaping up at an angle behind her.” While she attacks, she can evade low-hitting attacks and get to an opponent’s opposite side.
For more, check out our Guilty Gear Strive review, what games will join it in EVO 2024, and where this game ranks on our list of the 10 best fighting games ever made.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
