Season 2, which kicks off later today, February 7, is the first big update of 2024 to the first person shooter, and adds a number of new maps, a new battle pass, and of course new cosmetics.
The free trial runs from February 8 to 12 and grants access to the new Season 2 map Stash House as well as eight other multiplayer maps across Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, and Team Gun Game. It also grants full access to Modern Warfare Zombies.
Season 2 itself adds a good deal to Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer. Four new core 6v6 maps arrive across Season 2, including three brand new 6v6 maps and a remaster of Das Haus. There are two “otherworldly” themed map variants based on Skidrow and Terminal as well.
There’s a new War map, Operation Tin Man, in which you assault a downtown Urzikstan skyscraper from the skies. Five new game modes (Team Gun Game, Snipers Only, Hordepoint and Bounty, and Juggermosh) and a Vortex Playlist are all in-bound. Elsewhere, expect Season 2 Ranked Play, and the new Ninja Vest for silent running, as well as a bonus knife and throwing star ammo.
As for Zombies, the Dark Aether story act continues with a new anomaly in the Exclusion Zone, the Second Rift, new challenges and schematics, and the addition of Warlord Keres, who’s set up shop at the Killhouse in the Orlov Military Base.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 2 Release Times:
West Coast North America: 9am PT
East Coast North AMerica: 12pm ET
UK: 5pm GMT
Western Europe: 6pm CET
Japan: 2am JST December 8
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 latest Counter-Strike 2 update re-introduces Arms Race, a beloved multiplayer mode from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in which players level up and are handed new guns as they moider each other, with victory going to the player who levels all the way up and performs a final knifekill.
I’ve played many variations of this mode – which was originally a mod, Gun Game – over the years in other games, and it’s always a laugh, for the simple reason that it can be tuned to allow less proficient FPS players to catch up with their brethren, by introducing less powerful or harder-to-master weapons at certain levels as “speed bumps”.
Thanks to yesterday’s quarterly financial results from Nintendo, we have updated figures for the company’s best-selling games on Switch. These numbers are perfectly interesting to look at in list form, but you know what would be more interesting? A fun graph, of course!
One creative on the YouTube channel Pierre485 has done just that and has turned Nintendo’s list of numbers into a bar chart race that documents the ever-changing order of the Switch’s best-sellers.
We’re celebrating ten years of tanks throughout the whole year.
Enjoy a look at the Year of the Dragon season.
Get a preview of what’s coming this year in World of Tanks Modern Armor.
World of Tanks is hitting the big ten! Since 2014, the game’s been part of the Xbox free-to-play scene, bringing you only the best tank battles on console. It’s safe to say that the game wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for its first release back in the Xbox 360 days.
Wargaming CEO, Victor Kislyi himself reflects on his time at the Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference. “As I look back, it was incredible to be on stage 10 years ago during the 2013 Microsoft press conference announcing World of Tanks for Xbox. Wargaming was thrilled to bring World of Tanks, the game that has been my life, to a platform with millions of players. We were the vanguard of F2P on console, providing a new way to both play and discover games. This was only possible with the support and belief of our trusted partner, Microsoft, with whom we have continuously achieved significant results. It has been an amazing decade for World of Tanks on Xbox and here is to many more!”
Since then, it was full speed ahead to keep Victor’s vision alive. And Director of Live Operations Valerie MacCracken will vouch that it was quite the ride. “At the time, there weren’t many free-to-play games on Xbox 360… It felt like unchartered territory.” The hard work would eventually pay off. “The game has evolved tremendously since its release, from having only three tank nations to now having a full tech tree across two game modes, a ton of new features, with more coming up this year!”
From the World War II theaters to the high-paced Cold War battlefields, we’ve traveled across history with a roster of tough-as-nails vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and nations.
As a thank-you for ten incredible years of tanking, get ready for a yearlong celebration unlike any other with monthly gifts, special events and sales, and the opportunity to earn two end-of-the-year tanks with the year-long Celebrations event.
The American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank.
Firstly, enjoy your first gift by logging in on February 13 and unlocking the American Tier X MBT-B Heavy Tank (plus its exclusive Raider Skin) for free, or in discounted bundles. Your discount is based on the number of years you’ve been playing the game.
Leading into our tenth anniversary festivities, our January 30 update brought important updates to the game, particularly to Cold War mode. We’re calibrating the Silver and XP research costs for your Cold War vehicles, so you grind less, collect faster, and enjoy your time on the battlefield even more.
The latest update also brought the new Azure Coast community map, a fresh batch of War Chests, and limited-time Chinese New Year-themed bundles to the game. It also marked the end of the Resolutions event. Commanders who participated in it (by completing seasons throughout 2023) and finished at least five seasons will find the one-of-a-kind T34 Calliope waiting for them in their garage. This unique vehicle is the only World War II tank with rockets, making it a real collector’s item exclusive to console. And if you’ve completed six seasons, you’re getting the tank plus a side of bonus rewards!
And now, let’s dive into the Year of the Dragon season details. As in previous seasons, you have 100 levels where themed rewards are ready to be earned. In this season, inspired by the Chinese zodiac for 2024, there are three reward paths to choose from. All tank commanders automatically start on the Free path, where you can earn rewards every few levels ranging from the reliable Type 59-II Premium tank, the season Medal, a 2D Dragon Commander, Gold, War Chests, and more! Then you have the Season Pass, where you receive rewards at every level (in addition to the Free rewards), more tanks, and the new WZ-1224 premium tank once you complete level 100.
And for your third option, the Ultimate Season Pass will immediately give you everything in the Season and Free pass, plus the new Highlander 116-F3 Premium tank for World War II mode, a themed 3D Hero Commander, and 25 completed levels.
It’s World of Tanks Modern Armor’s anniversary, but it’s you who’s getting the gifts. New affiliations for Cold War mode, a new World War II Tech Tree line, and specials for D-Day’s 80th anniversary, Tankfest, and Halloween are among some of the highlights for 2024.
The WZ-1224, unlocked by completing level 100 in the Year of the Dragon Season Pass.
Also, going back to Cold War and researching just for a bit, this February, you’ll be able to start a new Tech Tree line of German light tanks, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) all the way to the Détente Era (Era 3), and tank destroyers, from the Post-War Era (Era 1) to the Escalation Era (Era 2). If you’re new to the game, Cold War mode’s light tanks may look “light” at first, but they pack some serious firepower and are crucial for suppressing and ambushing the enemy thanks to their maneuverability. As for the tank destroyers, their name says it all.
There’s so much to look forward to with the release of Year of the Dragon and World of Tanks Modern Armor’s tenth anniversary’s yearlong celebrations.
Here’s to ten more epic years to come. Keep on tanking!
World of Tanks is a global online multiplayer free-to-play game dedicated to tank warfare in the mid-20th century. Custom built for Xbox, World of Tanks features realistic vehicles and environments, enabling players to command history’s most powerful tanks and experience combat on Xbox like never before.
Features:
• Strategic, fast-paced 15 vs 15 online action.
• Over 700 authentic tanks to choose from among 12 nations.
• Battle across a variety of environments with varying terrain and weather effects
• Built-in support for Xbox One X pushing the boundaries of graphic fidelity.
• Regular updates offer new content and frequent special events.
Palworld developer Pocketpair has released another patch for the all-conquering ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game, this time bringing the Steam version up to v0.1.4.1.
The patch for the Steam version of the game, out now, makes a number of major fixes, improves some base-related issues, and further tackles cheating and exploits.
Of note, the patch fixes an issue from the previous update that affected save data, which remained in a broken state. Now, save data should load properly. Elsewhere, there’s a fix for an issue that caused some weapons equipped by other players to disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer, and there’s a fix for an issue that caused capture probability to not increase despite the game suggesting it had.
And, as always, there’s a funny change in the patch notes: a fix for an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever. Bleak!
The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, will be released soon, Pocketpair added. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.
Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.
Here are the Palworld Steam update v0.1.4.1 patch notes in full:
▼Major Fixes
・Fixed an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the total number of Pals captured by the guild reached approximately 7000.
・In the previous patch, save data that had already been in this state (for servers, the server’s world data) remained in a broken state that made it impossible to load, but after applying this patch it will be resolved and will load properly.
・Fixed an issue where some weapons equipped by other players would disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer.
・Fixed an issue where, although the displayed capture probability increased when the capture power was strengthened with Lifmunk Effigies, the capture probability did not actually increase at all due to an internal processing bug.
▼Base related
・Fixed an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever.
・Fixed an issue where no wood would drop when Pal at the base felled a tree.
▼Others
・Implemented countermeasures against some cheats and exploits.
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 latest major Palworld update is live, fixing a range of crash and save data bugs while also addressing a glitch which saw your much-abused indentured munsters falling into an eternal slumber when assigned to a Pal breeding farm. I continue to wonder how much of Palworld is deliberate satire.
Developed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive by South Korea-based studio Shift Up, Stellar Blade emphasises fast-paced action and boasts a post-apocalyptic setting. Both its flashy combat and stunning visuals scream next-gen, yet at the same time, Stellar Blade is not shy to hide the past it was inspired by. IGN Japan had the chance to sit down with the developers and talk through their inspirations.
As Eve, players perform flashy combos while quickly reacting to enemy attacks by parrying and dodging at the right time to create openings for counters. Developer Kim Hyung-tae told IGN that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bayonetta were some of the action games his team was inspired by.
Visually speaking, Stellar Blade’s world shares vibes with many science fiction works that have a post-apocalyptic setting, albeit with a strong Asian touch. Many of the game’s main characters have Asian appearances, and Xion – a city built by the last survivors on Earth – appears to be heavily inspired by modern Asian cityscapes.
“As for Stellar Blade’s world-building, we designed it by mixing cultural elements from Hong Kong, Japan, China and Korea,” Kim said.
“That being said, Xion isn’t only inhabited by Asian people, and we didn’t intend to make it look like a specific country or culture. The most important thing about Xion is that it is a city built for the world’s last survivors. Of course, I have enjoyed many different cultures and art myself, so I can’t deny that I was inspired by other science fiction works with a similar dystopian setting.”
As some of the main inspirations on Stellar Blade’s world, Kim mentions cyberpunk manga series Battle Angel Alita and the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner.
However, Stellar Blade’s biggest source of inspiration might be Nier Automata. The combination of Yoko Taro’s stylish action and dystopian world-building feels close to Stellar Blade. On top of that, both games have a badass anime-inspired female protagonist.
“Nier: Automata left a huge impression on me,” said Kim. “It made me realize that a game like this could be made, and allowed me to rediscover the kind of game that I want to make.”
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorders are currently down to just £56.65 in the UK right now. This is a tremendous deal, and guaranteed to arrive on launch day February 29. All you need to do is use promo code LOVE10 (see here) to secure the game at a discount.
This is the best Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorder deal in the UK right now, making it the perfect time to secure your copy and ensure you’re among the first to explore the expanded universe. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to save big and embark on an unforgettable adventure. But, the only caveat is that this LOVE10 code will expire after February 8, so there’s a limited time frame on this one.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth promises to bring back the nostalgia while adding layers of depth to the story and gameplay that we’ve been dreaming of since the original. The game is the highly anticipated second installment in the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, taking the iconic story into its next chapter.
The anticipation surrounding the release of the game is palpable, with fans eagerly discussing how good they expect the game to be. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a curious newcomer, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is shaping up to be an unforgettable journey through one of gaming’s most cherished universes.
In our final hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, we said: “This second game in the reimagined trilogy is like an extension that flows out of its predecessor rather than another radical rethink. But Rebirth is layered with several new ideas that, at least across the duration of a recent three-hour playable demonstration, suggests Cloud and co’s upcoming journey will feel like a genuine sequel rather than a full-priced expansion.”
There’s also a new relationship system, called Bonds of Friendship, that has been added to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As explained in the system’s tutorial, “the strength of these bonds can alter portions of the story.” One of those story moments is the Gold Saucer date, and you’ll be able to see how your potential partner feels about you via a variety of emoji-like faces.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
The well-executed beat ’em up rogulike Sifu is teasing some surprises for its second anniversary, even though the developer rolled out the final content update on Switch last November.
In a brief message via social media, Sloclap said it had some “surprises” to share over the coming days, beginning with the anniversary on 10th February (that’s later this week).
The biggest fighting game tournament in the world is returning to Las Vegas. EVO 2024 will take place from July 19-21st in a new venue: the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. EVO 2024 will be the biggest EVO ever, featuring several new additions and eight games gracing the main stage. All told, four games will be making their debut as a main title. We learned a ton about what EVO will look like in 2024 from the EVO Announcement Show on Twitch. In short, it’s going to be much, much bigger than last year’s event.
Speaking of the EVO Arcade, EVO 2024 will be the largest in EVO history with a bigger BYOC (Bring Your Own Controller) area. This year, there will also be an all-new art gallery with works from the history of the FGC on display and a brand new stage for EVO showcases on Friday featuring interviews, exhibitions, and more. The popular cosplay contest will also return, and perhaps most importantly, you’ll no longer need separate tickets for the Finals on Sunday. Since the show floor will be open all three days, you can go back and forth from the Finals to the show floor as much as you like.
In addition to all the details on the event itself, we also got a look at the eight games that will grace the EVO main stage, four of which will be making their EVO debut, which are highlighted in bold:
Street Fighter 6 (Capcom) – PS5
Tekken 8 (BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment) – PS5
Mortal Kombat 1 (WB Games) – PS5
Guilty Gear: Strive (Arc Systems Works) – PS5
King of Fighters XV (SNK) – PS5
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Cygames, Inc.) – PS5
Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] (French Bread) – PS5
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Capcom) – Arcade
You’d expect newcomers like Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1, but it’s good to see smaller, lesser-known games like Granblue and Under Night get their turn under the bright lights. The real story, however, is the return of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, which makes sense, since Evo 2024 will be the 20th anniversary of EVO Moment 37. Yes, that EVO moment 37. There will also be a community stage where community-run tournaments will get their time in the sun, though those games haven’t been announced yet.
It’s a lot to take in, but if you can’t get enough EVO, EVO Japan is set to take place in April 27-29, which will feature every game at EVO minus Mortal Kombat 1. If you’re looking to register or just want to learn more, you can head over to https://www.evo.gg for additional details.
Will Borger is an IGN freelancer. You can find him on Twitter @bywillborger
