Rainbow Six Siege‘s creative director Alexander Karpazis doesn’t believe the elderly shooter needs a change of game engine or for that matter, a sequel. He feels that Siege can “last forever”, adding that “I’m not going to name names, but you see games go through sequels and just completely drop the ball.”
The parent company of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware is releasing a novel based on the beloved fantasy role-playing game, but its subject isn’t necessarily what you’d expect.
As reported by Siliconera, Kadokawa Corporation is releasing See You At That Grace After Work in Japan, a novel telling the story of two co-workers who get to know each other by playing Elden Ring. The title references the Sites of Grace locations throughout Elden Ring’s world of The Lands Between.
The novel follows a Japanese office worker and gamer who enjoys Elden Ring but has only played solo. After spending his workbreaks looking at guide websites, a senior colleague notices and, as a fan of Elden Ring themselves, speaks to the worker about it. The two interact more and more both at work and online as they play Elden Ring together.
The novel arrives on March 29, 2024 in Japanese only, with no word on an international release. Keiichi Hikami, the author of several Monster Hunter novels, is writing this one too.
It’s not the first time a somewhat bizarre book on Elden Ring has been released, as Kadokawa previously released a manga. Instead of being a dark and dramatic fantastical story, however, as is told in the game, it followed a naked Tarnished called Asea as a comedy.
While it’s been more than two years since Elden Ring launched and a wave of wild and wacky content and creations around the game emerged, a similar situation may unfold soon as FromSoftware has announced a June 21 release date for its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree.
Elden Ring proved somewhat of a cultural phenomenon upon its launch, with players finding a ton of different ways to interact with the game. Fans played it using a Fisher Price toy, the Nintendo Switch Ring Fit controller, and someone even made a working VR version of the game.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Nightingale’s dapper cast of cross-dimensional pathfinders are right about one thing: realmwalking is dangerous business. Attempt to tele-portal between realities on the Steam Deck, for instance, and you may find yourself trapped in the Stygian void, naught but a frozen loading screen tip for company and suspended hopelessly for all eternity. Or until you hold down the power button.
This crashing tendency alone means that while Nightingale can technically run on the Steam Deck, even without resorting to rock-bottom graphics settings, the current early access build isn’t yet ready for regular handheld play. That’s nothing developers Inflexion Games won’t tell you themselves – they’re “not considering [the Deck] officially supported at launch,” after all – but if you were thinking of giving this gaslamp fantasy survival sim a portable whirl, you might want to let that call to adventure go unanswered.
Tekken 8 has sold over two million copies in the first month after launch, publisher Bandai Namco has announced.
The fighting game launched on January 26 across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, and sold one million on its first day of release, then hit the two million sold mark in the first month. This “greatly outpaces” the sales of Tekken 7, Bandai Namco said. Tekken 7, which is still being played, has the series’ total highest sales record of over 11.8 million copies sold worldwide.
Tekken 8 appears to be selling at a similar pace to rival fighting game Street Fighter 6, which also shifted two million copies after a month on sale. Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 went on to sell three million copies in seven months. NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 1, on the other hand, sold three million copies just over a month after going on sale.
Bandai Namco said support for Tekken 8 will continue “through various content updates, esports events, music and licensing announcements.” To that end, the Tekken World Tour 2024 kicks off on April 13, with the Tekken World Tour Finals the culmination of the game’s first year of esports.
Bandai Namco also mentioned Tekken 8’s controversial Tekken Shop, which has drawn complaints from some players. “This in-game shop will provide customisation items such as costumes from previous installments, character skins for avatars, and licensed items from our collaborations, letting players put their own touch on their favorite Tekken characters,” Bandai Namco said.
Tekken 8’s Year 1 pass is set to add four additional playable characters as DLC. The first of these is Eddy, who sports a new high-top dreads hairstyle and a new outfit for Tekken 8, although his capoeira fighting style is present and correct.
IGN’s Tekken 8 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Tekken 8 is an incredible evolution for the series, with tons of single player content, an excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience, and exciting new mechanics that make Tekken more dynamic than ever.”
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.
Austrian developers Microbird released a new trailer for their upcoming Alpine dungeon-crawler Dungeons Of Hinterberg over the weekend, giving us a closer look at some of the eponymous dungeon environments we’ll be biffing monsters in come its release later this summer. In addition to the previously revealed mountainsides and glacial snow peaks, it looks like Hinterberg will have a big green swamp to travel to as well. Question is: will it be a poison FromSoft variety of swamp? Or something more innocuous? Hard to tell with that searingly green water on display, but one thing is certain: with Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree and its confirmed poison swamp launching on June 21st, this summer won’t be short on big bog energy.
Yeah, science!
Do you like Metroidvanias? Do you like science? You do?! Well good news, because the two are combining in Exographer, an upcoming adventure title from Abylight Studios and SciFun Games.
Imagined by CERN physicist and sci-fi author Raphael Granier de Cassagnac, Exographer is a Metroidvania that ditches combat for science-based puzzles in which you utilise four distinct powers to uncover secrets hidden within the strange, atmospheric environment.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Foamstars released on February 6 as a PlayStation Plus Monthly Game, and we’re elated that so many players have tried out the game. It’s not too late for PlayStation Plus members to add it to their library before March 4.
In Foamstars, each season will last about 5 weeks, so we’d like to share details on the new season, Groovy Disco, which begins March 8.
Groovy Disco features the new Foamstar, Coiff Guy. Coiff Guy can use a rocket launcher-style foam gun to take down enemies from a distance, while his skills include an up-close body slam inspired by his background as a pro wrestler.
Coiff Guy can be unlocked by progressing the Season Pass to Tier 31. He may also be unlocked immediately for users who purchase the Premium Pass.
Earn XP via online matches, completing missions or clearing Challenges to progress through the Season Pass tiers and unlock new items. In the Groovy Disco Season Pass, on top of the new Foamstar Coiff Guy, Foam Gun skins for multiple characters and a Character skin for The Baristador are also available for free.
By purchasing the paid Premium Pass, you can unlock even more glorious rewards. Players will immediately unlock any rewards up to their Season Pass Tier at time of purchase.
Missions 4 through 6 will be added to the current Foamstar Missions.
In Mission 6, Dark Ramzey will appear, offering a harder challenge compared to the previous bosses.
Please try to use what you’ve learned thus far to beat it!
Compete solo in Ranked Party Lonestar or with a team in Ranked Party Tribe-Vibe. Both events will be available to play in Groovy Disco.
Ranks in Foamstars are categorized into seven tiers: Bronze Star, Silver Star, Gold Star, Platinum Star, Diamond Star, Superstar, and Party Legend. Once enough Rank Points (RP) have been attained, you will be able to partake in Rank Up Trials which if completed successfully, allow you to progress to the next Rank.
The Ranked Party Lonestar action kicks off starting March 11 PST (March 12 UTC), and Ranked Party Tribe-Vibe begins on April 4 PST (Aril 5 UTC).
Extreme Party will be held twice during Groovy Disco. In the first event – All Coiff Guy Party – every player will join the fun as Coiff Guy.The second event, Super Duel Party, will introduce intense 1-on-1 battles. Please see below for the schedule and join these events!
The All Coiff Guy Party kicks off on March 22 PST (March 23 UTC), and the Super Duel Party begins on March 30 PST (March 31 UTC).
All PlayStation Plus members can redeem, download, and play Foamstars at no extra cost until March 4 on both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
The number of people playing Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has risen 200% on Steam after the release of fellow Ubisoft pirate game Skull and Bones.
As reported by PCGamesN, the player numbers of 2013’s Black Flag have floated either side of 1,000 for years. According to tracking website SteamDB, however, this number spiked on February 16: the day Skull and Bones finally released after years of troubled development.
Black Flag rose to 1,679 players upon launch, followed by 2,600 on February 17, and 3,226 on February 18. That growth has continued, not dipping below 2,401 since reaching a new peak of 3,594 on February 25. Skull and Bones has yet to launch on Steam, with Ubisoft favouring a PC release on the Epic Games Store and its own storefront, so player numbers are unavailable.
Announced in 2017, Skull and Bones initially looked set to provide players with more of what made Black Flag so popular: intense and dramatic ocean adventuring and combat. Six delays seemingly caused excitement to dwindle, however, and Skull and Bones has finally arrived in 2024 to little fanfare. “Skull and Bones is a maritime RPG with a strong foundation, even if it feels like a live-service first draft,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.
Ubisoft’s marketing for the game has seemingly inspired a few thousand players to return instead to Black Flag, even with an eight-hour free trial of Skull and Bones available.
In our 8/10 review of the former, IGN said: “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is a gorgeous, fantastic sequel that gives you the freedom to make your own fun.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Nintendo Switch 2 won’t launch until March 2025 at the earliest, according to a new report.
Japanese publication Nikkei reported the March 2025 release window with much of the same information leaked so far: that Nintendo’s next console is a Switch successor with similar hybrid functionality but a bigger screen.
The Nikkei report does, however, suggest one of the reasons Nintendo has set a March 2025 release window is to ensure it can manufacture enough launch stock to satisfy demand and, therefore, combat scalpers. When the Switch launched in March 2017 it was almost impossible to get hold of, sparking a vibrant scalping market. It stands to reason Nintendo would want to avoid repeating the situation.
Indeed, Nikkei reports March 2025 is the earliest possible date Nintendo’s next-generation console will launch, suggesting it may not make Nintendo’s next financial year. Given the pressure Nintendo is under to release the successor to the near seven year-old Switch, a post-March 2025 launch would come as a huge surprise.
Earlier this month, Nintendo announced it had sold 13.74 million Switch units in the first nine months of the financial year, a 7.8% decline on the same period a year earlier. But it revised its forecast for the current financial year up, predicting Switch sales of 15.5 million, up from the 15 million previously predicted.
Nintendo said sales of the console “continued to be steady” in its seventh year since launch. The Switch is now up to 139.36 million units sold, lagging behind only the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2 in the best-selling consoles of all-time list. Indeed, the Switch has more annual playing users than ever before, with 122 million recorded during the 2023 calendar year.
“For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try not only to put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person,” Nintendo said. “Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales.”
One of the big unanswered questions is whether Nintendo’s next-gen console will be backwards compatible with the Switch. With 122 million Switch players in tow, it seems unlikely Nintendo will leave those accounts behind to start over.
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.
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When I did my undergrad degree in the nowadays-blissful-seeming early noughties, I swore off videogames entirely. I sternly and sorrowfully turned my back on such hit releases as Shadow of the Colossus, Far Cry and yes, even, that PC gaming essential Half-Life 2, so as to spend 11-hour days boning up on Aeschylus and Samuel Johnson. Then, two weeks before my final exams, I somehow went out and bought Ensemble’s Age Of Mythology.
I’m not sure why – blame the devil on my shoulder, I guess. It wasn’t even a new release at that point. I managed to get good marks in the exams despite several nights of binge-playing, but what direction, in general, would my life have taken if I hadn’t bought Age Of Mythology at such a fateful hour? Better or worse? Could I have been some kind of billionaire don with a Pulitzer by now, if it weren’t for Age Of Mythology? These things keep me awake at night. Anyway, here’s a little more info about the forthcoming reboot Age of Mythology: Retold, which broadly aims to turn this wrinkled titan of the strategy genre into a proper modern esport.
