Amazon-owned Twitch have announced that they will lay off “just over 500” people – almost 35% of their workforce – in the course of on-going plans to “rightsize our company”, with CEO Dan Clancy conceding that the streaming service has been operating based on “where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today.”
The PlayStation Access Controller is finally available to the public after months of teasing and development updates. IGN previewed the device several months ago, and I gave it a 7/10, noting its software is its biggest selling point. It’s another piece of accessible hardware in a barren landscape of choices for disabled players. It’s good but not perfect, and that’s ultimately okay.
This Access Designed isn’t another review of the controller, nor is it a list of grievances or wishes for a future iteration. Instead, I want to talk about my enjoyment of PlayStation games. I want to explore how the most accessible game of 2020 – which demonstrated the importance of accessibility journalism – wasn’t accessible to me, because of a lack of hardware. I want to discuss how the Access Controller, despite its flaws, finally let me experience a major aspect of the games industry.
I’ve mentioned previously about my adoration for anything and everything Nintendo. Everyone who knows me understands my obsession with the Pokémon franchise. I grew up with Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. But that’s only a small portion of series that formed my love of gaming.
In the fourth grade, my parents surprised my brother and I with a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. We spent the entire break playing Star Wars Battlefront, Champions of Norrath, and a plethora of demo discs that GameStop used to throw at willing customers. Within a year, I was intimately familiar with Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and even Kingdom Hearts, the latter becoming one of my favorite series to this date. But beyond my enjoyment of these iconic titles, the PlayStation 2 acted as my first experience with inaccessible hardware.
Long before the introduction of extensive accessibility menus, I heavily relied on a game being accessible solely from its design. Even though I played Jak and Daxter, I routinely struggled to shoot enemies. My atrophied hands prevented me from comfortably reaching R1, R2, L1, and L2, forcing me to use melee for most of the enemy encounters. And before my brother had the idea to customize my controllers, I would simply give up after reaching segments which required shoulder buttons. That was my reality, and for years I was comfortable with never finishing inaccessible games. As a child, all I cared about was seeing my favorite characters.
I spent my preteen years alternating between Nintendo and PlayStation. And when I purchased my Xbox 360, I admittedly abandoned some of my favorite games for new titles and more accessible devices. Despite owning a PlayStation 3, I rarely, if ever, played on the system, instead spending time with friends across varying Xbox Live parties. It wasn’t until the release of the PlayStation 4 that I decided to reunite with some of my favorite games.
By the time of the PlayStation 4’s release, my disability progressed to the point of me requiring accessible hardware. Years before the introduction of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, as well as the Access Controller, disabled players like me needed solutions from charities or organizations that designed accessible controllers. I often tell others being disabled costs significantly more than being able-bodied. A custom Dualshock 4 controller with bumpers on the side which mimicked shoulder buttons cost approximately $180. And if that device broke or was not conducive to my needs, I would be required to spend even more on another potential solution.
Thankfully, my adaptive Dualshock 4 from Evil Controllers served its purpose, allowing me to play Kingdom Hearts 3, Diablo 3, and even Child of Light. Yet, with a progressive disability, it was only a matter of time before I needed something else. In 2020, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part 2. The industry celebrated it as a win for the disabled community. With dozens of options, varying disabled players could find some form of a solution for any inaccessible barrier they encountered. At the time of its release, I was the Mobility Editor for Can I Play That, the largest publication dedicated solely to accessibility in gaming. My team and I produced numerous stories and videos surrounding the release, highlighting the necessity for coverage of accessibility written by disabled people. When it was my turn to write the mobility review, I was unable to even make it beyond the start menu. I couldn’t access a game with dozens of options because I could no longer hold my Dualshock 4. And rather than spend hundreds of dollars on another solution, I did what was necessary as a journalist – I wrote about my experience and need for accessible hardware.
For several years I was unable to cover, let alone play any PlayStation game. Despite consistent accessibility efforts with dozens of options and design practices across several of their its party studios, my biggest barrier was always a lack of a controller that fit my needs. Now I finally have a device that lets me access some of the most accessible games in the industry.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. The buttons are often difficult to press, the circular design prevents me from reaching five of the eight buttons, and it only includes four external 3.5mm ports. Yet, despite its imperfections, I’m still able to do something I thought I lost control of years ago. And with a progressive physical disability, reclaiming lost function is an indescribable feeling, one which I don’t want people to experience because of how traumatic it can be.
I’m still struggling to fully play and enjoy PS5 games. For example, I’m unable to collect all the puzzle pieces in Astro’s Playroom because of the lack of a microphone on the Access Controller. But it’s not a situation that deters me from playing. If anything, it’s reminiscent of my childhood struggles with PlayStation long before accessibility became mainstream. Do I wish the Access Controller met my needs? Absolutely. But for now, I’m just excited to finally play PlayStation again.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
Like many video games, ones from Nintendo don’t come cheap. This was especially true when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed to be $69.99 on release, a whole $10 more expensive than other Switch titles. However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be had for Nintendo fans. In fact, there are plenty of sales on games, Switch consoles, and various accessories that are worth checking out throughout the year, and we’ve made sure to gather the very best going on at the moment below.
You can also follow @IGNDeals on Twitter or Threads for even more updates on the latest discounts, or check out all our handpicked Switch deals just below.
Amazon is having a sale at the moment on a variety of Nintendo Switch games, controllers, and cases that are well worth picking up. Below you can find our favorite deals from the sale, but if you want to see the full list of available items, check out Amazon’s store page here.
Nintendo Switch Games on Sale at Amazon
Nintendo Switch Controllers on Sale at Amazon
Nintendo Switch Cases on Sale at Amazon
This is an excellent price for Tears of the Kingdom, saving you $14.04. It’s available at Walmart for $55.95. You can also save a few bucks on Super Mario RPG right now at Walmart, which is down about $12 to $47.75! To see even more Switch games on sale at the moment, click on the links below.
More Switch Video Game Deals
The best Switch SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it’s quite likely we’ll be getting a Switch successor / the next Nintendo console within the next year or so (if rumors are to be believed). Therefore, you’re going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That’s a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we’ve left our top suggestions and deals just below for your convenience.
More Switch Micro SD Card Deals
While an outstanding deal might not always be available at the time of searching, there are still some incredibly affordable Switch-related products out there if you look hard enough. You can see our favorite budget to best items here, including deals on the best Switch micro SD Card, power banks, and an affordable Switch Pro controller alternative.
More Switch Budget to Best Picks
With these, you’ll have a detailed overview of Hyrule, a helpful walkthrough to get you through the game, and much more. Not only that, but they have gorgeous covers as well, especially the Collector’s Edition. The Standard Edition has an MSRP of $29.99 but is on sale for $18.74, and the Collector’s Edition normally runs for $44.99, but you can get it for $26.85. Plus, if you want to complete the set, the Breath of the Wild guidebook is also down to $22.49 right now as well.
The short answer is that you should buy a Nintendo Switch whenever there’s any kind of sale, regardless of the time of year. Amazon will likely offer the same console bundles on any other sale as it will on Black Friday, so there’s no real reason to wait if you’re in need of a Nintendo Switch.
That being said, there are sometimes some unique bundles and promotions during Black Friday that you won’t find any other time of the year. They usually includes additional games (like the infamous Mario Kart 8 bundle) or accessories for free, but quantities tend to be limited. As always, do your research into the seller before you make a purchase.
Where to Buy a Nintendo Switch in 2023
With how expensive gaming is getting in 2023, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as PlayStation and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand-new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Earlier this week, I shared a Tweet, or X post or whatever, that was a Twitter Film Guy being like, “It’s a burden talking to people about my passion, movies, because I think about them on a fundamentally different level”. Like, okay, Scorsese, you can say you didn’t really like Murder Mystery 2, the normies won’t chase you out of town with pitchforks. You know what actually is a burden? Your passions being watching hours of anti-multi-level marketing (MLM) YouTube videos, which is the content hole I fell down over the Christmas break. Your weird uncles have at least seen a film before, but it’s not like I can turn to my mum and ask her if she thinks the weird Monat Christians are worse than the Seint make-up TikTok girlies without explaining almost every word in the sentence.
Anyway. My point is: someone should make an MLM simulation game.
“Like a river’s flow, it never ends”.
Here’s a little fact that made us choke on our Cornflakes this morning, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is old. Okay, maybe not old-old, but older than the original N64 release was back in 2011.
Yes, the time between today (10th January 2024) and the release of OOT 3D (16th June 2011) is now one day longer than the time between the N64 original (21st November 1998 in Japan) and the 3DS remake. Or, as @SapphireSenatrx nicely worded it on Twitter, “Ocarina of Time 3D is now as old as Ocarina of Time was when they made Ocarina of Time 3D”.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Xbox racing fans were left questioning myriad elements of Forza Motorsport upon its launch in 2023 and, following a blog post from developer Turn 10 Studios designed to address these complaints, have only grown more frustrated.
A “message to the Motorsport community” was posted on Forza’s website by game director Andy Beaudoin, creative director Chris Esaki, and executive producer Trevor Laupmanis to “thank you for your support and feedback since launch, reflect on some of the things we have learned, and share what you can expect from us in the coming months.”
In what it said would be the first of quarterly updates on hot topics within the community (to go alongside various other forms of communication), the Forza team addressed the car progression system, race regulations, and AI racers.
Frustration comes at the lack of definitive statements, however. In addressing the car progression system, for example, Turn 10 said it’s “exploring changes to the system” but it will “take some time to properly evaluate options, make the necessary code changes, and thoroughly test those code changes.”
Similar sentiments came for the other two topics. “It’s important that we capture all the data that we can about a race when [race] rulings happen in error, so over the next few months, we will be working with some long-time competitive Motorsport players to gather direct telemetry from them while they’re playing,” Turn 10 said regarding race regulations.
“We understand how important it is to have fair and competitive AI in Motorsport and our top priorities in early 2024 are addressing overly aggressive AI, while also getting a cleaner race start into turn one where many of the issues above most severely manifest and impact players,” it said about AI drivers, meaning Turn 10 didn’t have any actual solutions for players currently despite Forza Motorsport launching more than three months prior in October 2023.
Players therefore took to the internet to express their frustration, saying Turn 10 essentially said nothing about these issues in the post and complaining about other problems not mentioned at all.
“No call to action, no roadmap, no progress update. This is a yap session,” said crasy8s on Reddit. “AI fixes could come in a month or in December but they are dreaming if they think players are gonna sit idly by waiting for drip feed content.”
“Three game directors and basically nothing has been said,” added Cantewakinyan. “Amazing. Do not praise them for this.” Physical-Result7378 chimed in too: “All they say is, ‘We released an untested, unfinished, and unpolished game a year too early. Thank you for your money. We will talk to some streamers if they think we should fix something’.”
A similar comment came from cooReey: “This kind of statement would be okay if it came a month after the release, not in freaking January. This is just a PR move to buy yourself more time.”
Another common sentiment came regarding the lack of comments on the single-player mode. “My biggest problem is still the awful career mode and there’s no mention of it,” said Zafir on ResetEra. “The lackluster career mode killed this game for me more than any other issue and this doesn’t mention it at all,” Cheesetriangles added. “I have no interest in racing online.”
Forza Motorsport arrived as a reboot of the long-running racing simulator franchise, essentially being Forza Motorsport 8 but dropping the numbered branding. Spin-off franchise Forza Horizon, which features arcade-style gameplay in an open world, has perhaps overtaken Motorsport in terms of critical reception, with IGN giving the latest a 10/10 in our review.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
We didn’t review Turn 10 and Microsoft’s latest Forza Motorsport and well, thank goodness, because I’ve just taken a look at the Steam page and it’s a regular six-mile pile-up in there. The game’s user reviews are Mostly Negative, three months after release, with complaints covering a wide gamut: the online being full of cheaters, the single player being boring, and the game being poorly optimised for PC.
Marvel’s Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones, and the entire Defenders Saga has been added to the official MCU Timeline on Disney+, essentially extending the canon by 161 hours.
Spotted by @CanWeGetToast on X/Twitter, all of the Marvel Netflix shows — which released adjacent to the MCU but have always been questioned when it comes to what’s technically considered canon — have for the first time been listed as part of the official MCU timeline.
These Netflix shows include Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher, and in total add around 161 hours of content to the MCU. Daredevil and Jessica Jones each had 39 hour-long episodes across three seasons, Luke Cage and The Punisher had 26 across two, Iron Fist had 23 across two, and The Defenders had eight across one.
All of the Marvel Netflix shows, also known as the Defenders saga, have been added to the official MCU timeline page on Disney Plus. pic.twitter.com/sA5hJ1y1dX
— CanWeGetSomeToast (@CanWeGetToast) January 10, 2024
The shows were generally considered separate from main MCU despite events from Avengers being referenced within them. But as Marvel itself never made the shows official, and the likes of Daredevil and Iron Fist didn’t show up in Avengers films or elsewhere in the regularly collaborating franchise, many fans following the MCU didn’t add the Netflix shows to their watch list. Until now, anyway.
Questions were raised a little earlier though, when Daredevil (played by Netflix actor Charlie Cox) appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, and Kingpin (played by Netflix actor Vincent D’Onofrio) appeared in Hawkeye.
Things ramped up earlier in January 2024 when MCU executive producer Brad Winderbaum said he considers Daredevil to be MCU canon, and a trailer for Echo, which also features Daredevil and Kingpin, featured clips from the Netflix shows.
The addition of the Defenders Saga comes as the MCU is widely considered bloated, with even Bob Iger, CEO of Marvel owner Disney, saying the volume of TV shows has “diluted focus and attention”. This is evidenced by the recently completed Phase 4 lasting 54 hours and 40 minutes compared to Phase 1’s 12 hours and 24 minutes.
Marvel fans are already struggling to stay up to date too, as the latest film, The Marvels, had the worst box office numbers so far despite positive critical reception.
Cox will also star in his own, dedicated show Daredevil: Born Again, though he said in September 2022 that it won’t be a continuation of what’s come before. This was put on hold pending a creative reboot in October 2023, however, though Marvel found a new showrunner later that month.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
What have you got, 2024?
Nintendo shares have hit a record high of 7,823 yen (roughly $54.14) as of Wednesday, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
While increasing steadily over the last year or so, shares have recently spiked with WSJ citing ‘solid earnings’ and the expectation of new hardware from the firm to succeed the current Nintendo Switch. It’s no secret that fans have been clamouring for new hardware, and the general expectation is that Nintendo will finally reveal its upcoming plans at some point this year.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has said Microsoft plans to release a firmware update to fix the pesky save bug that has plagued the game’s release on Xbox.
In a tweet, Larian said Microsoft had identified the cause of the save bug on Xbox and will issue a firmware update to fix it. Users can update their console manually on January 16 or wait a week longer for the update to roll out globally, Larian added.
“Although we haven’t been able to independently verify this fix, we’re optimistic that Microsoft have gotten to the bottom of it,” the developer said.
Larian boss Swen Vincke had tweeted to say Microsoft had “found the firmware issue that cause save games to go missing” and that a fix was coming out. “In the end, all will be well.”
Xbox players of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be hoping this firmware update will mark the end of the game’s troubles on the console, although of course Larian will continue to update the game across all platforms. Just this week Larian released a beefy hotfix for Baldur’s Gate 3 that makes quest items more accessible.
It’s not all fun and games when it comes to Baldur’s Gate 3, though. Also this week, Xbox users criticised Microsoft for its policy of having auto-upload of captured content on by default, after some Baldur’s Gate 3 players were banned when captured sex scenes were automatically uploaded to the Xbox network.
Despite these issues, Baldur’s Gate 3 has enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim since its launch last year. Updates continue, and Vincke is already teasing the studio’s next game.
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.
