Category: Video Games

Gran Turismo World Series 2025 Round 1 recap – great racing in London

A sold-out 700-strong crowd at the BBC’s famous TC1 studio in West London’s Television Centre was treated to an awesome demonstration of racing on Gran Turismo 7 on Saturday, 7 June. With a display of stunning cars gracing the Helios Circle outside the iconic venue, and a big screen relaying the action to those without a ticket, there was a festival feel as some of the world’s fastest SIM racers gathered in the UK’s capital city for Round 1 of the Gran Turismo World Series 2025.

First up was the Manufacturers Cup, a team competition in which the drivers represent their favourite automotive marque. Present for Round 1 were the team members who had qualified online for the Asia-Oceania region. The combination was Gr.3 cars racing around the Tokyo Expressway – South Counterclockwise.

First blood went to Team BMW’s Seiya Suzuki who took pole position in a two-part qualifying session. Lining up alongside him was two-time Manufacturers Cup champion Takuya Miyazono representing Team Subaru. Lined up in P3 was Team Porsche’s 911 RSR, driven by Shota Sato.

The Grand Final saw strategy play a decisive role. Teams were required to make one pit stop and had to choose between soft- and medium-compound tires. The early stages of the race saw drivers hold their positions, assessing both the track and their rivals. But once all the competitors had completed their sole pit stops, the tone shifted dramatically. The gloves came off, transforming the contest into an all-out battle royale.

Lap 16 delivered a moment to remember. A fierce midfield battle involving multiple cars erupted, and in the chaos, the Porsche 911 RS was nudged from behind, sending it to the back of the field and effectively ending its race. The race culminated in a tense final showdown between Sato in the BMW and Miyazono in the Subaru. The two drivers traded the lead several times, but it was Miyazono who executed a flawless pass in his BRZ GT300 at the last hairpin, slipping by Sato’s M6 GT3 to take the checkered flag and the six championship points. BMW settled for five points, while Team Mazda, led by veteran Ryota Kokubun in the RX-VISION GT3, claimed the final podium spot and four points.

In the Nations Cup the Le Mans 24H track provided a fitting setting for the Sprint Race, a week before the 93rd running of the famous race, and the Aston Martin Valkyrie the right car for the job. Spaniard Jose Serrano kept countryman Pol Urra at bay with a victory that rewarded him with pole position for the Gran Finale. 

As is tradition in the Gran Turismo World Series, the drivers would switch to the Red Bull X2019 Competition cars adorned in their nations’ colours for the Grand Final race run around the reverse configuration of Gran Turismo 7’s Gran Valley Highway. Nearly every driver on the grid chose to start the 20-laps on medium-compound tyres. However, the Netherlands’ Kaj de Bruin, starting from P10, opted to gamble on softs. His bold strategy paid off early, propelling him into the lead by the fourth lap. Yet he struggled to maintain the pace under relentless pressure from Serrano, Urra, Kylian Drumont of France, Takuma Miyazono and Takuma Sasaki of Japan, and Italy’s Valerio Gallo. 

Exceeding 320 km/h on the straights, the drivers left nothing on the table. Tyre strategy played a pivotal role: de Bruin made two stops, while most others managed with just one. Miyazono and Drumont chose hard-compound tires for their final stints, a gamble against the favoured mediums and softs. In the closing laps, a fierce wheel-to-wheel battle for the lead unfolded between the two Spaniards, each pushing the other to the limit. The fantastic sold-out crowd watching the action live was on the edge of their seats, gasping and cheering with every turn and attempted overtake.

Ultimately, Serrano emerged victorious, crossing the finish line first by just over two-tenths of a second. Urra settled for 2nd, with Gallo completing the podium in 3rd.

With a spectacular Round 1 complete, the action moves from London to Berlin where Round 2 will be hosted in the Uber Eats Music Hall close to the East Side Gallery. 

Tickets are on sale now here. Round 3 tickets for The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles are also available here. Add the Gran Turismo World Series to your calendar and come and join us for more thrilling action.

Round 1 – London, UK | Saturday, 7 June
Round 2 – Berlin, Germany | Saturday, 20 September
Round 3 – Los Angeles, USA | Saturday, 8 November
World Finals – Fukuoka, Japan | Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 December

Full details of the Gran Turismo World Series 2025 can be found on https://www.gran-turismo.com/world/gt7/championships/2025/.

Nintendo Switch 2 Closer to Xbox Series S Than PS4 in Terms of Raw Computing Power, Koei Tecmo Says

Wondering just how powerful the Nintendo Switch 2 is in terms of raw computing power? One developer has said it’s closer to the Xbox Series S than the PlayStation 4.

In an interview with wccftech, Takuto Edagawa, producer of Koei Tecmo’s Wild Hearts S, said that while it’s difficult to generalize about the power of the Switch 2, the Series S is a decent comparison.

There are a lot of characteristics when it comes to raw computing power so it’s difficult to generalize, but I think it can be thought as closer to the Series S.

Switch 2’s tech specs include a custom Nvidia GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores. Ahead of the console’s launch, Nvidia said the GPU enables 10x the graphics performance of the Nintendo Switch, with AI upscaling via DLSS and ray tracing.

The Xbox Series S is the less powerful alternative to the Xbox Series X. It launched alongside that console in 2020, in direct competition with the PlayStation 5, and this November turns five years old.

If the Switch 2 is similar in power to the Xbox Series S, that suggests it will run most third-party games. Microsoft mandates that any game that launches on the Xbox Series X also launches on the S, so any developer working on a game for the current-gen Xbox must ensure the S is capable of running it.

It’s also worth noting that Microsoft and Activision are still working on bringing Call of Duty to Switch. The recently announced Black Ops 7 isn’t confirmed for Switch 2 yet, but we do know it’s planned for release on the last generation of consoles (PS4 and Xbox One). That should mean it’ll run fine on Switch 2, based on Edagawa’s comments.

Indeed, Switch 2 released with a number of third-party games to flesh out its launch lineup, including CD Projekt’s demanding Cyberpunk 2077. Where the Switch lacked many third-party multiplatform games, perhaps the Switch 2 will thrive.

Switch 2 is off to a great start, selling 3.5 million units in just four days. That’s enough to make it the fastest-selling Nintendo hardware ever.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Mindseye launches to clips of ATVs glitchily spaghettifying a bloke named Seb, but a patch is on the way

Mindseye, the game from ex-Rockstar president Leslie Benzies-helmed studio Build a Rocket Boy, has arrived. Its launch has gone, er, a bit glitchily, currently landing the game at a mixed reception on Steam. That said, the studio have at least confirmed an update designed to improve Mindseye’s performance is on the way.

If you’re out of the loop, the sort of GTA-ish/Cyberpunk-ish game’s road to release had been plenty weird prior to it breaking cover. Build a Rocket Boy co-CEO Mark Gerhard had seemingly suggested on the game’s Discord server that he believed people were being paid to say negative things about Mindseye, and two other high-profile execs had departed the studio not long before release.

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ConcernedApe Says the World of Haunted Chocolatier Will Be Even ‘Larger’ Than Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has confirmed his upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, is “larger” than the already sizeable Stardew Valley.

How much bigger, or in which way it’s bigger? Sorry — Barone didn’t elaborate. “The world of Haunted Chocolatier is larger than Stardew Valley” is the full extent of his message. If he’s referring to the length of the game, however, How Long to Beat? has the average Stardew Valley playtime listed as over 50 hours for just the main story, and around 168 hours for a completionist run.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, these 10 words sent a ripple of excitement through his fan communities, with one exclaiming: “[Concerned Ape] STOP TEASING. I MEAN- DONT STOP TEASING. I MEAN- IDK IM SO EXCITED BUT I DONT WANT U TO RUSH TAKE UR SWEET ASS TIME WE LOVE U.”

Last month, Barone admitted that he “didn’t want to just be the Stardew Valley guy,” explaining that was why he’s currently working on Haunted Chocolatier. We shouldn’t expect a release date anytime soon, though — there’s “still a lot to be done,” Barone recently admitted, particularly as he feels it’s “got to be better” than Stardew Valley.

However, he also suggested that he may “eventually make a Stardew Valley 2.” Before you get too excited, however, the developer also said it’s “so much easier to just add more stuff to Stardew Valley than to make a whole new game from scratch.”

“It’s all the systems — all the major systems — are already all done. That’s the stuff that’s not fun to do. When I make an update [for Stardew Valley now], it’s like, you know, oh, throw in this, throw in that. Let’s add green rain — like, these random, whimsical ideas.”

Barone announced Haunted Chocolatier back in 2021. Much like Stardew Valley, it will be a top-down pixel-based sim, and it looks to have much the same flavor as ConcernedApe’s previous work.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Embracer CEO Who Oversaw High-Profile Acquisitions, Studio Closures, and Thousands of Layoffs to Step Down Later This Year

Lars Wingefors, founder of Swedish gaming company Embracer, is stepping down from his CEO role. Current deputy CEO Phil Rogers will assume the position from August 2025.

Embracer, which oversees IPs like The Lord of the Ring, Dead Island, Metro, and Tomb Raider, is no stranger to change, of course. After making high-profile acquisitions like the purchase of Middle-earth Enterprises and Borderlands-maker Gearbox in 2022 and 2021, respectively, Embracer found itself in turmoil after a $2 billion deal with Savvy Games Group fell through. In the time since, the company has shut down Saints Row developer Volition Games, sold Gearbox, split from Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive, and overseen thousands of layoffs. Wingefors called the criticism and backlash to its missteps “painful.”

In April 2024, Embracer announced plans to split itself into three separate companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends to “unleash the full potential of each team and provide them with their own leadership and strategic direction.” The restructuring and closures saw 1,387 workers lose their jobs and 29 unannounced projects canceled. It recently announced plans to spin off Coffee Stain Group and renamed its The Lord of the Rings business Fellowship Entertainment.

Wingefors isn’t leaving Embracer entirely, however, and has been appointed executive chair of the board, with current chair Kicki Wallje-Lund moving to deputy chair. Wingefors will also be appointed director of the aforementioned Coffee Stain Group.

“With the start of this new phase, I am thankful for the years and lessons learned as CEO of Embracer,” Wingefors said in a statement (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz). “While the road has not always been straight, I am incredibly proud of the achievements made possible by our talented teams, which have created some incredible experiences for gamers.

“This new phase allows me to focus on strategic initiatives, [mergers and acquisitions], and capital allocation, ensuring Embracer’s continued growth and success. I am more convinced than ever that the best is still ahead of us. Having worked very closely with Phil over the past years, I have high confidence in his abilities. I look forward to a continued close collaboration to further strengthen the business and drive value in the coming years.”

Looking to the future, Embracer owns or controls over 450 franchises, with a long list of subsidiaries that includes THQ Nordic, Plaion, Coffee Stain, Amplifier Game Invest, DECA Games, Dark Horse, Freemode, and Crystal Dynamics – Eidos. It has 73 internal game development studios and over 7,000 staff.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Splitgate 2 boss admits the Trumpish hat he wore at Summer Game Fest was a publicity stunt after it goes sour

Ian Proulx, the CEO of Splitgate 2 developers 1047 Games, has apologised for wearing a ‘Make FPS Great Again’ cap while talking about the game’s battle royale mode on stage at Summer Game Fest. As you might have guessed, the hat drew unfavourable comparisons to US president Donald Trump’s MAGA hats.

It’d have been a pretty dumb, controversy-baiting stunt for a games company CEO to pull at any point in recent history, but especially hasn’t gone over well given the timing. As the SGF show happened, a large number of anti-ICE protests also began in response to violent immigration raids, and later that weekend Trump deployed the National Guard onto the streets.”

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Random: Mario Kart World Players, Take Heed – This Is What Happens When You Throw A Blue Shell In First Place

“Mario Kart World is beautiful”.

Mario Kart World is proving to be a big hit with fans, thanks to its range of tracks, the open-world mode and its online features. It still has the accursed Blue Shell, of course, which you can thankfully dodge if you know what you’re doing.

This weapon has been ruining friendships for years and is one of the many tactics the Mario Kart series employs to avoid having a single player dominate the race. When used, it dashes to the front of the pack and takes out the lead driver, evening the odds.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

MindsEye Dev Says It’s ‘Working Around the Clock’ to Improve Performance Amid ‘Mixed’ Steam User Reviews

The developer of MindsEye has said it’s working to improve the game’s performance after a number of players took to Steam user reviews to complain.

Build A Rocket Boy’s debut title launched on June 10 and has settled on a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, where it also hit a peak concurrent player count of 3,302. Many of the negative reviews focus on MindsEye’s performance problems, which appear to be hitting PC gamers hard. There are also reports on various bugs, glitches, and NPC behavior oddities.

In response, Build A Rocket Boy issued a statement on the MindsEye subreddit, saying its engineering team is “working around the clock” to improve performance. Patch 3 will be revealed soon, it added.

Here’s the statement in full:

Thank you kindly to all of you who joined us as pioneers on day one! We understand that the current minimum spec requirements are very high, but our engineering team are working around the clock to improve performance on mainstream hardware as well as consoles by integrating the performance improvements in Unreal Engine V5.6. We will provide patch 3 update timing, including these improvements, within the next 24 hours. In addition to the main campaign, we would also value your thoughts on Build.Mindseye.

MindsEye, led by former Rockstar North chief Leslie Benzies, has endured a tumultuous run-up to release. Last week, Build A Rocket Boy said fans should wait for MindsEye’s official launch rather than play it before its street date, after early copies made their way into the hands of players.

“We want everyone to experience the story the same way at the same time on day one, without bias,” Build A Rocket Boy said in a statement issued in response to early copies being played. “This means waiting until the official release date to play through the game firsthand.”

Mention of bias in the studio’s statement sparked speculation that the company was referring back to comments made by its co-CEO Mark Gerhard, who suggested there had been a “concerted effort” to “trash the game and the studio” with negative social media posts from paid accounts or bots.

IGN subsequently put this claim to Hakan Abrak, boss of Hitman developer IO Interactive, the company which is publishing MindsEye. His response: “I don’t know. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that. I just think the game should speak for itself on June the 10th.”

Physical copies of MindsEye also needed a “major” update for “key improvements to ensure MindsEye plays as we intended and to meet all the characters at their best.”

And just days before MindsEye’s launch, Build a Rocket Boy’s Chief Legal Officer and Chief Financial Officer confirmed they had left the company, sparking concern from the studio’s fledgling community.

Steam concurrents do not tell the whole story, of course. MindsEye launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S as well as PC, so its true concurrent player count will be higher than that reported on Valve’s platform.

MindsEye carries a $59.99 price tag. At launch, there is a “tightly crafted linear story campaign,” and what’s called “single-player free roam,” but there are also a number of missions: a horde mode mission called “Destruction Site Shootout,” and two combat missions (“Honor Amongst Thieves” and “Friendly Fire”). Also at launch are six races, six checkpoint races, and three drone races. If you get the premium pass, you get an extra horde mode mission and an exotic cosmetics pack.

Following launch, Build A Rocket Boy said it will deliver a “constant stream” of fresh premium content monthly, “ensuring MindsEye is a living, ever-expanding player experience.” This includes new missions, challenges, and game assets. “The continuous stream of studio-developed content, combined with the very best of the community’s own beautiful creations, means that MindsEye will continue to surprise and delight its players for decades to come,” Build A Rocket Boy added.

Build A Rocket Boy also confirmed its 2025 roadmap of content. In the summer there will be community updates, new missions, in the fall new single-player modes, multiplayer, and new missions, and in the winter free roam updates and new missions. Premium pass owners get extra missions and new packs throughout.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Games Workshop Forced to Pull Its Own Website, Warhammer.com, Offline After Scalpers Descended Upon Pre-Orders for a Special Edition Horus Heresy Book

Games Workshop was forced to pull its own website, Warhammer.com, offline after scalpers caused chaos during the launch of pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book.

The Warhammer maker launched pre-orders for the hotly anticipated special edition of Siege of Terra: End of Ruin, a new anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.

Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is a hugely exciting release for 40K lore fans, but its special edition is even more enticing. It features a leather-effect cover with gold foil details, gilt page edges, and a metal emblem of a ruined Imperial eagle.

Games Workshop had signaled the special edition would be available “strictly while stocks last,” and that it would go on sale at 10am UK time on June 10. It also told fans it planned to use a queue system “to ensure fair distribution.”

Unfortunately, this queue system caused chaos, with fans desperate to pre-order the book unable to make progress. Amid frantic messages of complaint across social media, Discords, and subreddits, Warhammer.com suddenly… stopped. It was offline, and no-one knew why.

And so, it begins
byu/Jello429 inWarhammer40k

Anger grew as those who had carved out time to be there for the pre-order launch were left empty handed. Eventually, Games Workshop issued a statement on the debacle — a rare event in itself — to say it had brought Warhammer.com offline itself because it had noticed scalpers were bypassing its systems.

“Scalpers attempted to use bots to bypass our normal safeguards,” Games Workshop said. “Our eagle-eyed Tech Priests caught this happening in real-time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline.”

The upshot is that Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is currently unavailable on Warhammer.com, in its place is a page asking for an email for a notification. Games Workshop said the special edition is still coming, “we’re just absolutely determined that real fans get it.”

“All erroneous orders are being purged,” Games Workshop continued. “This is our number one priority. Please forgive us for a delay as we sort it all out.”

The statement has gone some way to calm angry fans who had hoped for a smoother launch of the special edition. Some are calling Games Workshop’s actions here a “small victory” over the scalpers, although there is a healthy dose of skepticism about the company’s efforts to truly combat the bots. Some are calling on Games Workshop to use a raffle system, as other companies do for their high-profile products, or, even better, force interested customers to pass a Horus Heresy test to prove their worth.

In truth, Games Workshop has suffered pre-order problems for years now, and special edition book launches are often plagued by scalpers who go on to sell the products at hugely inflated prices. All eyes are on Games Workshop to see how it handles pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition when they’re eventually re-launched.

And let’s remember that Games Workshop is no minnow. In fact, the Nottingham, UK company is doing so well that it’s handing out £20 million (approx. $27 million) to its staff as a bonus.

Games Workshop’s main business is the sale of miniatures fans assemble and paint for use in tabletop wargames, such as Warhammer 40,000. But it is increasingly an IP business, with huge revenue from smash hit video games such as last year’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and animations, such as Amazon’s Warhammer 40,000 Secret Level episode. Games Workshop and Amazon recently finalized a deal for Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe, which will involve the creation of films and television series. Space Marine 3 is also in development.

Image credit: Games Workshop.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Mad Metal is a wonderfully janky Mad Max-like with a big robot eye that says you need some milk

One minute you’re flicking through Steam’s Next Fest demos, and finding one that looks to be included despite having come out in May. The next, you’re desperately firing missiles into the rear end of giant monster truck, a sole red light glaring out from its metallic behind, as though it’s mega-pissed that it seems to have gotten stuck in a cluster of trees. Given that, it should be easy prey for the ordnance strapped to the bonnet of my very Mad Max-ish muscle car coated in enough sheets of metal to fence off several allotments.

This is Mad Metal, though, an indie game whose murderous enemy cars have minds of their own and move more like automotive animals than simple machines.

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