Category: Video Games

Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles launches tomorrow – cheat codes and modernized controls revealed

First off, we want to thank the incredible Star Wars community for the overwhelming support and excitement following our announcement. We can’t wait to bring this beloved classic back into your hands. With Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles launching tomorrow, we want to ensure you’re fully prepared to jump back into the galaxy far, far away.


Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles launches tomorrow – cheat codes and modernized controls revealed

Ain’t cheating? Ain’t trying

We’ve got plenty of cheat codes to spice up your adventure, whether you’re looking for a challenge or just some lighthearted fun. Here’s how to activate them across all platforms.

Jedi on Jedi crime

  • What it does: Engage in player-versus-player combat during the campaign.  
  • Where to enter: During two-player gameplay.
  • How to activate: Hold R2, press Square + Triangle + Circle, then Cross   

Activate Radar Map

  • What it does: Reveals enemy locations.  
  • Where to enter: Pause the game.  
  • How to activate: Up, Down, Up, L1, R1, L1  

Return to the last checkpoint

  • What it does: After losing all lives on a level, continue the game and enter the same level. Pause the game and input the cheat code.
  • Where to enter: Pause the game.  
  • How to activate: L1, R1, L1, L1, R1, R1, L1, R1, R1, L1

Summon an Ultimate Saber

  • What it does: Unlocks a powerful lightsaber in Survival Challenge mode.  
  • How to unlock: Beat 100 enemies in Survival Challenge mode.  

Go big or go big head mode

  • What it does: Enlargens the player’s head.  
  • Where to enter: During gameplay.  
  • How to activate: R1 + D-Pad Down + Triangle  

Big foot mode 

  • What it does: Makes the player’s head, feet, and weapon large.  
  • Where to enter: During gameplay.  
  • How to activate: R1 + D-Pad Down + Cross  

Fun-size mode

  • What it does: Shrinks the player’s character.  
  • Where to enter: During gameplay.  
  • How to activate: R1 + D-Pad Down + R2  

Unlock the Loader Droid

  • What it does: Unlocks the Loader Droid as a playable character.  
  • Where to enter: In character select during the campaign.  
  • How to activate: R1 + L1 + Square  

Modern and classic controls: A guide for every Jedi

Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned Jedi returning for another adventure, mastering the controls and unlocking fun cheats will help you conquer the Dark Side with ease. Here’s a detailed look at the modern and classic control schemes followed by the cheat codes you can activate across all platforms.

Modern controls (recommended for new players) 

  • Jump: Cross 
  • Attack 1: Square
  • Attack 2: Triangle  
  • Attack 3: Circle 
  • HUD Toggle: View Button 
  • Lock Target: R1 
  • Block: L1 
  • Defense Ability: L1 + L2
  • Short Range Attack: L2 + Cross  
  • Long Range Attack: L2 + Triangle  
  • Use Item: L2 + Square  

The modern control layout offers a more intuitive experience for new players, helping them quickly grasp movement and combat mechanics.

Classic controls (for returning jedi masters)

  • Jump: Circle 
  • Attack 1: Cross 
  • Attack 2: Square 
  • Attack 3: Triangle 
  • HUD Toggle: View Button
  • Lock Target: R1
  • Block: L1
  • Defense Ability: L1 + L2  
  • Short Range Attack: L1 + Cross  
  • Long Range Attack: L1 + Triangle  
  • Use Item: L1 + Square  

Seasoned players will return with ease after 25 years –  letting them dive back in with the same controls they knew and loved from the original release.

These cheats and control options ensure every player—whether new or returning—has an experience tailored to their playstyle. Choose your control scheme, enter some cheat codes, and dive into an unforgettable adventure in Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles starting January 23 on PS5 and PS4.

Additionally, the Star Wars: Prequel Pack, including Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Star Wars Republic Commando, Star Wars Episode I Racer, and Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles launches tomorrow.. Play four action-packed Star Wars games in one pack!

May the Force be with you, always. See you in the battle!

PC and PS5 Action RPG Phantom Blade Zero Gets Slick Trailer But Still No Release Date

Highly anticipated action role-playing game Phantom Blade Zero, which doesn’t look to dissimilar to Black Myth: Wukong, has received a slick new trailer but still no release date.

The Year of the Snake Gameplay Trailer, below, shows Phantom Blade Zero’s protagonist in a boss battle against Chief Disciple’s Fallen Hope, a puppet-themed baddie who fights with a squad of marionettes before moving to strings itself.

Fans hoping for a concrete launch date for Phantom Blade Zero are out of luck, however, as Chinese developer S-Game still hasn’t revealed when players can get their hands on the game beyond a vague 2025 release window.

The studio told Eurogamer Phantom Blade Zero is a “polished title” though, evidenced by the demos shown last year. It’s currently in the process of pushing “the boundaries even further” using Unreal Engine 5, brought on by a “significant” increase in budget.

The Year of the Snake gameplay trailer closed by showing off some snake-themed weapons. Weapon Number 13 is called the Soft Snake Sword and has a flexible metallic blade which can rapidly cut through foes, while Weapon Number 27 is the White Serpent and Crimson Viper big sword and short sword combo.

Despite comparisons to Black Myth: Wukong, which arrived in 2024 to incredible success, Phantom Blade Zero leans more into the pure action game genre than a From Software-inspired Souslike.

It was announced in May 2023 but S-Game hasn’t said too much about it since. This will likely change as its 2025 release date on PC and PlayStation 5 approaches, though fans will just have to wait patiently for this to be announced.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review: imperfect, uneven, unfocused, unmissable


This review contains some story spoilers for the original FF7 and subsequently some elements of Rebirth, but doesn’t spoil how Rebirth ultimately reinterprets these elements.

I argued with myself for several weeks in university about whether to go to a seminar discussing T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock. The poem meant enough to me that I didn’t want to dissect it with a class. I wanted to keep for myself. I went in the end, and though I hesitated, I talked because I had things to say. It didn’t kill the poem for me, but it does have a slightly awkward gait now, having never quite recovered from the incisions.

I now have to etherise Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Cait Sith is splayed upon a table. It’s all scalpels, forceps, and oversized novelty dice. It’s a strange way to treat art you love. The feeling I remember most from Rebirth on release is how grateful I felt to be alive to play it. Acute, active awareness of my own mortality with thoughts like “it would be properly shit if I died right now because I’d really like to see how this pans out”. A personal ‘never kill yourself‘ moment months before the meme gave voice, as the best often do, to an obscure and precious feeling.

An RPG where your character sometimes knocks on doors before opening them? What a time to be alive.

Read more

CD Projekt’s Decision to Go With Ciri as Protagonist for The Witcher 4 ‘A Really Interesting Move for All Kinds of Reasons,’ Geralt Actor Says

Doug Cockle, the voice actor behind The Witcher protagonist Geralt, has backed CD Projekt’s decision to focus on Ciri for The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 4, revealed at The Game Awards 2024 with a debut trailer, is the first in a new trilogy of Witcher games set after the events of The Witcher 3. But rather than star Geralt as protagonist, Ciri is the main character this time around.

Speaking exclusively to IGN ahead of the reveal, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga said Ciri was “the very organic, logical choice.”

“It was always about her, starting from Saga when you read it in the books. She’s an amazing, layered character. And of course, as a protagonist we said goodbye to Geralt previously. So this is a continuation. I guess for all of us it’s like she was meant to be. That was always her.”

Game director Sebastian Kalemba added that because Ciri is younger than Geralt, players will have more freedom to define her character in a way they couldn’t with Geralt. This also affords the developers more space to explore her character.

While both Mitręga and Kalemba acknowledged a potential backlash from some corners of the internet at Ciri’s role as protagonist in The Witcher 4, they insisted Ciri was always going to be the game’s main character.

“There was an intention behind this choice,” Kalemba said. “It was far from roulette. It wasn’t random. I remember we had discussions nine years ago, we were talking about who’s next? The very, very instant answer was Ciri. There are many reasons behind that. We’ve already mentioned a few. But she really deserves a stage and we want players to really experience her story because she has so much to tell, so much to prove. The amount of challenges that are in front of her give us so much amazing energy and fuel to create an epic saga that we had no choice but to go with it. We all felt that this is the way. I believe this is the super right choice.”

Now, speaking to IGN as part of a wider interview on Netflix’s upcoming animated film, The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep, Cockle backed CD Projekt’s decision, even though it sees Geralt take a back seat.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “I think it’s a really good move. I mean, I always thought that continuing the Saga, but shifting to Ciri would be a really, really interesting move for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because of things that happen in the books, which I don’t want to give away because people, I want people to go read. So yeah, I think it’s really exciting. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see what they’ve done.”

If you’ve watched The Witcher 4’s debut trailer, you’ll have heard a line of dialogue that sounded very much like it was coming from previous protagonist Geralt: “Time for a new saga. See you on the path.”

IGN has confirmed that Geralt is indeed in The Witcher 4, and that is indeed the voice of Cockle. CD Projekt told IGN: “Geralt will appear in the game, but we don’t want to spoil his role precisely. You’ll have to wait to learn more for now.”

So, how can Geralt appear in The Witcher 4 after The witcher 3 left the character in semi-retirement at his vineyard in Toussaint? In an interview with IGN ahead of the reveal of The Witcher 4, CD Projekt franchise and lore designers Cian Maher and Marcin Batylda explained how the already established timeline of events makes it make sense.

“I mean Geralt will probably be around for a long time to the extent that in Season of Storms, the prequel novel that takes place actually before Geralt attends that banquet we mentioned earlier on, there is an epilogue in that book,” Maher explained.

“It takes place in a place called Magpie Forest in 1373, 101 years after The Witcher 3. And in that epilogue there is a certain white-haired witcher hunting a monster who remains unnamed, but who behaves in a certain way and obviously he has white hair. So by which I mean I think we can expect Geralt to be around for a long time. The capacity in which he does is, we’ll see, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Cockle, though, is keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of the extent of his role on The Witcher 4, even saying he’s still waiting to find out more himself.

“Well, we know that Witcher 4 is going to focus on Ciri, so whatever role Geralt has in the game, it won’t be a main protagonist kind of thing,” he said. “But beyond what we know from the trailer, I don’t know anything.”

Cockle’s been in the news recently for having his fun in interviews, saying last month that he “got slapped” by CD Projekt for previously confirming Geralt was set to appear in The Witcher 4 but not as the main character.

IGN asked Cockle if he’s now back in CD Projekt’s good books. It turns out, he never left.

“Yeah, I was never really out of their good books,” he said. “All developers are like this. They want to keep their surprises and I actually didn’t know anything, so I was just making guesses at things and stuff like that. And probably one of their requests was to just to stop guessing, Doug, you might be right. You might not be right. It doesn’t matter if you are talking me, Doug, who plays Geralt, whatever you say is going to be taken as something.

“So it was a very, very light slap on the wrist. It wasn’t really a big deal. But yeah, we’ve all seen the trailer now, so we know something of what’s coming.”

We’ve got plenty more exclusive content on The Witcher 4, including a trailer breakdown and an interview with CD Projekt where the developer explains why The Witcher 4 will avoid a Cyberpunk 2077-style launch disaster.

You can find Doug Cockle on Instagram (@dougcockle), Cameo (DougCockle), and X (DCockle).

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.

Sega Launches Account System With Benefits and Rewards, Opens With Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Sega has launched its own account system akin to the Nintendo Account or Ubisoft Connect that will “maximize” its online services and offer various benefits, kicking off with a free costume for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

The aptly named Sega Account was revealed on its new website and is described as “an online profile that gives you access to a host of benefits when playing Sega and Atlus titles and using their online services.

“By creating a Sega Account, you’ll receive the latest news about Sega and Atlus games, events, and promotions. Additionally, your Sega Account grants you access to exclusive bonuses and the ability to link accounts on various gaming platforms.”

The first of these benefits is the Kazuma Kiryu Special Outfit in Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which lets protagonist Goro Majima dress up as his friend, rival, and longtime Yakuza series lead. This is the same outfit Sega is giving away for signing up to email notifications, but it’s unclear if that has now changed.

Those with a Sega Account between January 22 and March 7 will receive the outfit, distributed via a code between February 17 and March 7. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii itself arrives on February 21, brought forward from its original February 28 date to avoid a clash with Monster Hunter Wilds.

Sega didn’t announce what future benefits fans could expect, but it will presumably include its other flagship franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Persona. It could also tie into a Game Pass style subscription service Sega is currently considering.

As reported by the BBC, the company is currently “evaluating some opportunities” in the subscription service space and, just like PlayStation launched its Game Pass rival on the back of its established PlayStation Plus service, Sega could be setting the foundations for a similar move in the future.

Fans are also speculating a connection with the impending Sega “Super Game,” expected to release by the end of March 2026. While practically nothing is known about this project, Sega described it as a “large scale global title” that many fans are expecting to be an accumulation of various games akin to what Call of Duty has done with its titles or what Ubisoft is working on with Assassin’s Creed Infinity: essentially a hub for myriad other games.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Random: This Retro Gaming Handheld Sure Looks Familiar

Switch who?

‘Retro gaming company’ Sjgam has just revealed its latest handheld, the ‘M20 Pro’, and while it appears to be far from the best emulation device money can buy, its design looks… familiar. Let’s not beat about the bush here: it’s a Switch (thanks for the heads up, Notebookcheck).

According to the Sjgam website, the M20 Pro boasts a seven-inch display (1024 x 600 pixels), runs on the Linux-based EmuELEC 4.3 operating system to support over 30 emulators and comes with a dock for TV output. Notebookcheck claims that while the handheld’s Rockchip RK3566 CPU and Mali-G52 GPU make for a decent budget combination, the pairing may struggle with more intense emulators like PSP and N64 — sorry, Banjo.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Mortal Kombat 1 Dev Chief Ed Boon Teases T-1000 Fatality and ‘Future DLC’

Mortal Kombat 1 development chief Ed Boon has taken to social media to reveal a glimpse at upcoming guest character T-1000 Terminator’s Fatality, and tease “future DLC.”

To mark the release of guest character Conan the Barbarian, Boon tweeted to say Mortal Kombat 1 has now sold over five million copies, up from the four million previously reported. Boon then tweeted a short clip showing one of the T-1000’s Fatalities, which Terminator 2 fans are sure to get a kick out of.

We see the T-1000 drive a smashed up truck straight into his hapless opponent, rekindling memories of the iconic chase scene in Terminator 2 where the T-1000 drives the same truck in pursuit of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and Edward Furlong’s John Connor.

But it’s Boon’s comment accompanying the clip that set tongues wagging within the Mortal Kombat community: “With Conan getting into player’s hands, we are excited to keep trucking forward with future DLC!”

While the line “keep trucking forward with future DLC” may relate to the upcoming release of the T-1000, some are hoping it’s a tease that more DLC characters are set to hit the game once the current set is rounded out.

T-1000 Terminator is the final DLC character set to be added to the gory fighting game as part of the Khaos Reigns expansion, and follows playable fighters Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, and Conan the Barbarian. Fans have wondered for some time now whether developer NetherRealm plans a third set of DLC characters, or a Kombat Pack 3, amid questions about Mortal Kombat 1’s sales success.

Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has indicated, however, that it still believes in the Mortal Kombat franchise. In November, CEO David Zaslav said that on the games side of things, the company plans to double down on just four titles, one of which is Mortal Kombat.

In September, Boon said NetherRealm had decided on its next game three years prior, but promised to support Mortal Kombat 1 “for a long time to come.”

Most fans of the studio’s work expect it to release a third game in its DC fighting game franchise, Injustice, although neither NetherRealm nor Warner Bros. has yet to confirm that. The first game in the series, Injustice: Gods Among Us, launched in 2013, with its sequel, Injustice 2, coming out in 2017. NetherRealm released Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019 and for a time it seemed like the studio would alternate between Mortal Kombat and Injustice games, but it went on to release another Mortal Kombat, the soft reboot that is Mortal Kombat 1, in 2023 instead.

In an interview with IGN in June 2023, Boon spoke in vague terms about this decision. “There were a number of factors, some of which I can talk about, some of which I probably shouldn’t,” Boon said.

Two reasons Boon was willing to discuss were the unfortunate onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the team’s choice to switch to a newer version of the Unreal game engine (Mortal Kombat 11 runs on Unreal Engine 3, whereas Mortal Kombat 1 runs on Unreal Engine 4).

“But we did go to a new graphics engine, Unreal,” Boon said. “We really wanted to be careful with COVID and all that stuff and everybody staying safe. So there were a bunch of variables involved that eventually we realized, ‘Okay, let’s do another Mortal Kombat game and hopefully we’ll get back to the Injustice games.’ “

Just to be sure, we wanted to confirm with him directly that the door was not closed on the Injustice franchise.

“Not at all,” Boon answered.

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.

Doom: The Dark Ages release date tipped to make a royal mess of May

In the UK, May has hitherto been a month of innocent delight and sacred observance, with no less than two bank holidays. On May Day – a festival of ancient origins that shares a date with International Workers’ Day – the youths of the village garb themselves in daisies, erect huge candy-striped maypoles, and dance around them in an effort to get all entangled and possibly end up kissing. NO MORE. For May is now the month of DOOM. It marks the coming of a new Dark Age.

Which is to say, it’s when we’ll get to play id Software’s cacodemon-booping FPS Doom: The Dark Ages, going by a leaked release date ahead of tomorrow’s Xbox Developer Direct.

Read more

Get froggin’ and demagogue’n in manufactured dissent simulator Vox Regis

“Your grace, the act of assigning blame is often as satisfying as resolving the issue itself,” opens brilliant little browser strategy Vox Regis by Sheepolution. From your tower, you gaze down at four factions, each with their own members and complaints. If any one faction gets too large, they’ll rebel against you. Luckily, you’re very good at speeches, which you can use to blame all the realm’s ills on other people. “It was the lion faction! They raised taxes!” you shout and point with one hand, holding a big bag emblazoned “taxes I done stole from the people” with the other. It worked! Now, the members from the other factions that are personally annoyed about taxes will come cull the lion faction down to a more manageable size. Bloody love a bit of politics, me!

Read more