We’re on the cusp of a new console generation and naturally thoughts are turning to games we know are coming and games we know must be coming. News flash: Nintendo is making another one of those Mario games. They seem to go down well?
So far, only Mario Kart and Donkey Kong have been confirmed for brand new, Switch 2-specific instalments with World and Bananza, although Metroid Prime 4‘s cross-gen launch means that Samus fans will be bounty-hunting on Nintendo’s next machine. And we’ve got a confirmed Kirby ride, too, as well as a return trip to a Forgotten Land.
Today feels like a choose-your-own-adventure for deals. Lexar’s Amazon sale is throwing up to 54 percent discounts across SSDs, RAM, and memory cards, which is a polite way of saying it is a good time to stop hoarding files on a 2016 laptop. Humble Bundle is handing out a pile of id Software classics for less than the cost of lunch, and Pokémon TCG fans have a few new bundles to eye, assuming you are ok with the fact that card prices are quietly crashing behind the scenes.
TL;DR: Deals For Today
In my opinion, if you have been looking for an excuse to upgrade your storage, stack your gaming backlog even higher, or justify another Pokémon impulse buy, today’s list is a decent place to start. It is not Black Friday, but I will take a solid sale when it shows up.
id & Friends Humble Game Bundle
I think calling this a bundle is almost underselling it. You are getting DOOM, Wolfenstein, DOOM Eternal, and a coupon toward DOOM: The Dark Ages, just to name a few. It is a lot of chaos and a lot of catharsis for not a lot of money. Steam ratings are strong across the board if you care about that kind of thing, but honestly, DOOM 1993 still sells itself.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Surging Sparks Booster Bundle
Six booster packs in one bundle sounds good on paper, but in my opinion, the smarter move right now is to look at singles. Prices for this set are dropping fast, and if you are chasing specific cards, buying them outright is probably cheaper and less soul crushing than another box full of commons.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade Elite Trainer Box
Greninja ex SIR, that is all. In all seriousness, this is a brilliant set that’s often overlooked. Whilst the price is a little over MSRP, it’s worth getting just for the booster packs included. Plus the promo, sleeves and dice look great in this particular ETB. Following the trend, Twilight Masquerade single cards are also crashing in price, so make sure to check if you can just buy the cards you’re after for less.
Twilight Masquerade Single Cards
Surging Sparks Single Cards
Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates Collection Pikachu V Box
kachu gets a lot of oversized cardboard love in this box with a promo card, a giant version, and four Shining Fates booster packs. It is a decent pickup if you like opening packs, but single card prices are slipping hard right now. I think it makes more sense to hunt down the exact cards you want unless you are feeling reckless.
Shining Fates Single Cards
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered Dark Brotherhood Medallion
In my opinion, this is one of those collectibles that you either want immediately or not at all. It is an officially licensed Dark Brotherhood medallion, limited to 5000 pieces, finished in black and gold, and somehow still cheaper than most novelty keychains. Ships later this year, assuming you survive the wait
Pokémon TCG Paldean Fates Booster Bundle
Paldean Fates brings back shiny Pokémon in a big way, and this bundle gives you six booster packs to chase them. I want to be excited about it, but again, single card prices for Paldean Fates are not holding up well. If you just want a shiny Charizard ex SIR without the suspense, the singles market is sitting there quietly judging your pack opening addiction.
Paldean Fates Single Cards
Pokemon TCG: Azure Legends Tin – 5 Packs
I like a good tin, especially one with five booster packs packed inside, but getting a random Kyogre, Xerneas, or Dialga promo card feels a little like gambling with slightly better odds. It is a solid pickup for the price if you do not mind leaving your promo fate to the RNG gods. If you are only after one specific chase card though outside of the included two Surging Sparks boosters, it might save your blood pressure to just buy it separately.
Surging Sparks Single Cards
Lexar Sale
Lexar is finally giving some breathing room on pricing with this Amazon sale, and the Armor 700 is a standout. You are getting 4TB of rugged storage with serious transfer speeds for about 100 dollars off the typical price. It is water resistant, dust resistant, and a lot more durable than whatever junk is sitting at the bottom of your backpack right now.
Pokémon Game Sale
Woot is offering a solid spread of Pokémon games today, and I want at least three of them. Brilliant Diamond, Legends: Arceus, Let’s Go, Eevee!, and a few others are sitting between $39.99 and $44.99, which feels right for anyone catching up before Switch 2 changes the landscape again. In my opinion, it is a smart time to grab them while prices are behaving themselves. Everything here is fully playable now and will likely get performance bumps once Nintendo’s next system arrives.
MSI Desktops & Components Sale
MSI’s factory-reconditioned gaming desktops are quietly one of the best parts of today’s sale. Machines like the AEGIS R 13NUE-448US are going for $1,129.99, and RTX 4060 GPUs are under $300. I want to be responsible, but this pricing makes it harder than it should be. If you have been thinking about rebuilding your setup, this is exactly the kind of deal you hope not to miss.
The Legend of Zelda Master Sword Proplica
The Master Sword Proplica from Tamashii Nations is $200 at the IGN Store, and it feels like one of those collectibles you either get immediately or spend months regretting. It plays eight songs from across Zelda games, has sound effects, vibrates when you swing it, and looks good enough to make it feel slightly less ridiculous to own. Slightly.
Samsung Pro Plus 512GB MicroSDXC + Reader
Amazon has the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD card with a USB reader for $29.99. I think it is a good fit if you are adding games to your Switch, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or anything else still using microSD storage. It is fast enough for quick transfers, big enough for most libraries, and cheap enough that you do not have to think too hard about it. Just know it is not built for Switch 2, in case you’re planning ahead.
Play for Miracles Bundle
Humble’s Play for Miracles Bundle is giving away 31 games for $20, which is more titles than I will realistically finish this year. That said, games like Terraforming Mars and Survival: Fountain of Youth are strong enough that even grabbing two or three makes the bundle worth it. Plus, the money goes to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, which makes ignoring the other 28 games feel slightly less irresponsible.
The 8BitDo Retro 87 Mechanical Keyboard is down to $99.99 at Amazon. I think it is one of the best-looking keyboards out right now if you want something that works and does not scream “boring office equipment.” It has Kailh Jellyfish X switches, a top-mount design, fast response, and Xbox-inspired styling that actually looks good on a gaming desk. I probably do not need another keyboard. I am thinking about it anyway.
8BitDo Retro R8 Mouse (Xbox Edition)
Amazon also has the 8BitDo Retro R8 Wireless Mouse on sale for $58.68. It feels like the natural companion to the Retro 87 Keyboard, but it also stands fine on its own. It packs a PAW 3395 sensor, programmable buttons, a 4K polling rate, and a charging dock that doubles as a signal booster. I want one for a low-key gaming setup that does not look like it is held together with RGB lighting and prayer.
Skatebird, Baba Is You, and Electric Zine Maker are three of the 237 games you can grab on Itch right now for $16 as part of Crips for eSims for Gaza Bundle. Why, that’s a $822 saving! I mean, it’s technically not a saving if you weren’t going to buy anything anyway, but it’s for a good cause. Here’s the collective in their own words:
“Crips for eSims for Gaza is an international collective of disabled people who have come together in support of Palestinans, helping Gazans regain internet access via eSims (electric sim cards) connected to surrounding networks in Israel and Egypt,” reads their Itch page. “We recognize that everyone in Gaza is now in some way disabled due to the massive number of deaths, traumatic injuries, life-threatening illnesses and near complete destruction of medical facilities”.
Even a casual glance at the magnificent form of one of Elden Ring‘s best-known players, Let Me Solo Her, is enough to humble the strongest Tarnished, but even he struggled with one of FromSoftware’s most formidable foes, Bloodborne‘s Orphan of Kos.
In a new video, Let Me Solo Her explained that after finally giving in and picking up a PS5 in order to access the Elden Ring Nightreign playtest, he was finally able to play fan-favorite Bloodborne… and even he, a FromSoft veteran, had issues with some of Bloodborne’s most infamous boss encounters.
After coming to terms with the drop in framerate — Elden Ring is 60 frames per second (fps); Bloodborne is 30 fps — the heavy atmosphere, and dying to the werewolf in the clinic (we’ve all done it), Let Me Solo Her took us through his entire Bloodborne journey, including its DLC.
“Finally, I met the Orphan of Kos. Every Soulsborne game that has a DLC always has that final boss where they feel so overwhelmingly powerful,” he said. “We had Promised Consort Radahn for Elden Ring, Slave Knight Gael for Dark Souls 3, and Manus, Father of the Abyss for Dark Souls 1. And Orphan of Kos was that boss for Bloodborne.
“This boss took me more tries than any previous boss fights, and even had me exploring Chalice Dungeons to farm Blood Vials and bullets off stream, just to replenish them,” Let Me Solo Her added (thanks, GamesRadar+). “He’s definitely the hardest boss in Bloodborne for me.”
Also bumping up against Bloodborne’s toughest bosses and struggling to find a strat that works? Check out IGN’s Bloodborne walkthrough, which covers all main areas of the game, as well as optional areas, boss battles, shortcuts, secret items, and more… including tips on how to put the Orphan of Kos down for good.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
SpreadCheat is the most fun I’ve had in some time with a game that I completely avoided engaging with in any meaningful way. I solved every one of its simple spreadsheet puzzles by randomly clicking and dragging numbers until something worked, and I had a great time doing it. This is likely because this seems like the intended experience: Office Space your way through with minimal effort, then eat pizza with your bolshy wet wipe of a boss. Have a Steam demo.
As the wait goes on for more Grand Theft Auto 6 news following 2023’s Trailer 1, one former Rockstar developer has said he wouldn’t release any more trailers before the game’s release date.
Rockstar released GTA 6 Trailer 1 to record-breaking viewership in December 2023, but it hasn’t released a single asset since. The year-and-a-half wait for more information has fueled increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories about when Rockstar will release GTA 6 Trailer 2.
But former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij, who worked on the series up to 2008’s Grand Theft Auto 4 before leaving the company nine months after launch, said if it were up to him he wouldn’t release any more trailers for GTA 6.
“If it was my call I wouldn’t release any additional trailers,” he tweeted. “There is more than enough hype around VI and the element of surprise is going to make the release only bigger as an event.”
Then, in response to one user who wondered whether Rockstar might announce the GTA 6 release date and nothing else, Vermeij replied: “It would be a boss move.”
Would Rockstar actually do something like that, though? By naming the first GTA 6 trailer as GTA 6 Trailer 1, the suggestion is that more numbered trailers will follow. Plans change, of course. Perhaps this one will come right down to the wire, and Rockstar would rather focus on getting GTA 6 out the door this year than on a trailer it knows will be analyzed to within an inch of its life.
Vermeij revealed that Rockstar decided to delay GTA 4 in July 2007, just three months before its original October 16, 2007 release date, and suggested “decision day” for GTA 6 will be similar.
“Only at that time did it become clear we were going to miss the deadline,” Vermeij explained. “I’m guessing decision-day for VI will be similar. Fingers crossed for Take2’s August earnings report.”
In an interview with Bloomberg in March, Zelnick was asked straight up: why is GTA 6’s release date such a carefully held secret?
“The anticipation for that title may be the greatest anticipation I’ve ever seen for an entertainment property,” Zelnick replied. “And I’ve been around the block a few times and I’ve been in every entertainment business there is.
“We want to maintain the anticipation and the excitement. And we do have competitors who will describe their release schedule for years in advance. And we found that the better thing to do is to provide marketing materials relatively close to the release window in order to create that excitement on the one hand and balance the excitement with unmet anticipation. We don’t always get it exactly right, but that’s what we are trying to do.”
Mike York, who worked as an animator at Rockstar New England for six years helping to build Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 before leaving the company in 2017, said on his YouTube channel that Rockstar is playing up to the conspiracy theories, deliberately avoiding saying anything about the game or when Trailer 2 will be released in order to fuel even more speculation within the community.
“They’re reaching and pulling and trying to come up with these really cool theories to decipher when the next trailer will be,” he said of fans.
“Specifically Rockstar, they’re very secretive about what they do, and this is a really cool tactic because it creates allure and it creates mystery and it creates people talking about it without them having to do anything. The more they’re silent the better it is, because the more people will be antsy and want to talk about it and have this feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen.”
York went on to say that Rockstar is likely resisting pressure from its army of fans to announce the GTA 6 Trailer 2 release date for this exact reason.
“They could easily release the trailer date and be like, ‘Hey this is when the trailer’s coming out,’ but they don’t do it. And they don’t do it on purpose because it’s a really, really good marketing tactic. If you think about it, it creates these really cool theories.
“This brings the fans together. This is a really cool way to get fans to talk about your game when you’re not releasing anything yet, in-between the times.
“All these theories are great. They only create hype, they create talk, they create mystery behind the games.”
Zelnick’s quote also suggests that GTA 6 Trailer 2, assuming it exists, won’t be released until we’re closer to the game’s actual release date in fall 2025, assuming it’s not delayed. If that’s true, it may be some time before we get another look at the 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.
Nvidia have released the latest in an unusually frequent series of GeForce driver hotfixes, with the vast majority of identified issues affecting the newest RTX 50 graphics cards specifically. GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 576.26 targets various crashing and flickering problems with, among others, Black Myth: Wukong, Forza Horizon 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2 – though it’s the growing regularity of these patch jobs that’s more disquieting than any particular instance of game breakage.
Brace Yourself Games’ long-awaited follow-up to Crypt of the NecroDancer, Rift of the NecroDancer, was every bit as cheesy as you would hope to see from a Guitar Hero-style rhythm puzzle adventure game (rolls off the tongue, eh?), and its upcoming DLC is going to get things even cheesier.
The beloved Wario Land-inspired indie Pizza Tower will soon be bringing the sauce to Rift of the Necrodancer, with an upcoming DLC pack containing a handful of tracks from Peppino’s high-octane platforming perils. This one arrives on Switch on 21st May (5th May on Steam), so make sure that you work up an appetite in the next few weeks.
We still don’t have confirmation that the game based on Akira Toriyama’s fan-favorite anime and manga series is coming to Switch 2, but a now-deleted tweet from the Saudi General Authority of Media Regulation, spotted by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit, proves otherwise.
“Experience the fighting action in the latest game Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. Available on Nintendo Switch 2, featuring 3D battles and storylines that change based on your choices,” the tweet said before it was taken down, confirming it had secured a 12+ rating.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero takes the legendary gameplay of the Budokai Tenkaichi series and raises it to whole new levels, boasting “an incredible number “of playable characters, each with signature abilities, transformations, and techniques.
We gave it 7/10 in the IGN Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero review, saying: “Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a final flash from the past, sometimes to a fault, but the feeling of traveling back to a simpler time when games didn’t have to be balanced or competitive to be fun is still a good one.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky
A few years ago I found an old hardback tome of Solitaire rulesets on a garden wall. It was a bright, unambiguously pleasant day and I remember thinking ‘oh, that’s the wotsit that inspired those regency thingamajigs‘. So I took it home and tried my hand at a few variations, then forgot about the book entirely. After reading about Occlude, I can only wish my discovery had been more ominous, more foreboding. Why couldn’t I have found the book in a secret cellar, its hastily painted-over entrance given away by the motion of air through a dream-catcher? Why couldn’t it have been thrust upon me by a desperate man with hypnotic tattoos, pushed into my hands with a precautionary mutter to ‘Ware The Onyx Triangle?’
This is the ambience cultivated by Occlude, a “single-player cosmic horror card game for the terminally curious”, in which Solitaire is the basis for seven rituals involving Tarot cards, which steadily unlock access to an archive of fragmentary lore. Here’s a trailer.
