Pre-orders open next week.
In some surprising news, the excellent Sonic-style platformer Freedom Planet 2 will be getting a Limited Run Games physical release for the Switch.
This game originally launched on the eShop earlier this year and received a 9 out of 10 from us here at Nintendo Life. The physical launch will include a standard edition for $39.99 USD (or your regional equivalent) and a deluxe edition for $69.99 USD.
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Smile, Juliet.
The Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP developer Dragami Games has not only continued to address various issues with multiple patches but it’s also adding additional content to the game.
With this in mind, Dragami Games company CEO Yoshima Yasuda has now announced the team will be adding a photo mode “soon”. Nothing else was detailed, but typically these modes allow you to take shots of the main character and sometimes even change the outfits and camera settings.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Celebrate the history of Tetris.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Tetris this year, Nintendo has added Tetris (NES) and Tetris DX (Game Boy Color) to the Switch Online service this week.
As part of this, Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov has also shared a special message – thanking fans for being part of the Tetris legacy for all of this time:
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Driving simulation specialist studio Kunos Simulazioni has today revealed that the upcoming Assetto Corsa EVO will feature a large, open-world map that “faithfully recreates the iconic Eifel region surrounding the legendary Nürburgring.” The confirmation comes via Kunos’ official website.
According to Kunos, the map will make its way into Assetto Corsa EVO in mid-2025, at an unspecified point during summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The open world will be released in stages, and will eventually cover 1600 square kilometers. New features and content will be added as the map expands. Kunos explains the map is fully laser-scanned, and will boast “unmatched detail.”
Local businesses based around the Nürburgring are also set to feature, so players will be able to rent cars and upgrade and customise their vehicles at actual outets. As part of today’s news, Kunos has opened an invitation to all local businesses in the vicinity of the Nürburgring to contact the studio for the opportunity to be featured in Assetto Corsa EVO.
Assetto Corsa EVO will initially become available on PC in Early Access from January 16, 2025. Console versions are also expected eventually, but not until the game exits its Early Access period.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
Sony has confirmed its interest in aquiring FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa.
The PlayStation manufacturer cleared the air regarding reports that it was looking to pick up the gaming and anime mega company in a recent interview with Yahoo Japan. It’s acknowledgement of what could be a bombshell moment for entertainment fans everywhere, but until a deal is finalized, it is probably best to keep expectations for a potential buyout at a minimum.
“It is true that we have made an initial statement of intent,” Sony said regarding its interest in Kadokawa (translated via DeepL). “We would appreciate it if you would allow us to refrain from further comment.”
Rumors that Sony may soon acquire Kadokawa first emerged from a Reuters report last month. It stated that talks between the two companies were ongoing, with one of its sources adding that, should negotiations proceed in a positive direction, a deal could be signed soon. Today’s confirmation from Sony suggests that talks remain active, though it’s unclear where things sit now.
Kadokawa oversees a number of entities that could no doubt benefit Sony in the long run. One that many gaming fans have their eye on is FromSoftware, which helped launch gaming into the 2010s with its critically acclaimed Dark Souls series. The developer also found tremendous success with 2022’s George R. R. Martin collaboration project, Elden Ring, with its follow-up DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, launching earlier this year. Kadokawa also owns other gaming studios such as Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa), Acquire (Octopath Traveler), Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker), and more.
While some experts believe that bringing the media company under Sony’s wing may prove to be difficult, Ampere Analysis research director Piers Harding-Rolls previously explained to IGN that news of the company’s interest shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It already owns about 14% of FromSoftware thanks to a deal made in 2022.
“At the time, Sony mentioned a broader interest in cross-media development of anime and games IP to support its other media businesses,” Harding-Rolls said. “So, in that sense any deal for the parent company Kadokawa, which also operates extensively in manga and anime, is a natural extension of this earlier deal. These other areas align nicely with Sony’s anime businesses.”
There’s no telling when or if the deal will proceed for now. While we wait for any updates, you can read about why FromSoftware isn’t currently interested in making Elden Ring 2. You can also learn about the ransomware attack that hit the game developer earlier this year.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
Amazon has dropped the price on the new Xbox Series X All-Digital Edition. It’s normally $449.99, but you can get it right now for $398, about $52 off. This is the same deal we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday with one exception: Best Buy had it very briefly for $374.99. However, that deal is long gone, and this is the best deal you’ll find currently for a fully powered Xbox Series X. If you’re intending this to be a gift, Amazon expects it to be delivered well before December 25.
The Xbox Series X All-Digital Edition console was released on October 15, 2024. Unlike the Xbox Series S, the All-Digital Edition is just as powerful as the original Series X, just without the disc drive (very much like the PS5 Digital). It comes in Robot White and has the same 1TB storage as the original Series X.
The All-Digital Edition is the right console for you if you plan on signing up for Xbox Game Pass, which is an outstanding membership service that gives you access to a library of hundreds of Xbox titles, including AAA games that are often available immediately on launch day.
Speaking of Xbox Game Pass, Woot! currently has an excellent deal on it: Get three months of the Game Pass Ultimate Membership, which usually costs $19.99 monthly, for only $28.99 after you apply coupon code “GAMEPASS“. This sale ends on December 13. Besides the previously mentioned library access, other Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perks include access via PC, exclusive membership discounts, Xbox Cloud Gaming, a bonus EA Play subscription, extra in-game content and rewards, and more.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Creation is an act of kindness. One person sloughs off a piece of themselves, shapes it, wraps it, and sends it out into the world in the hope that it might mean something to someone else. Other people do this for us all the time and mostly we don’t even notice. The work is unseen and unremarked upon even as, through repetition, we come to depend upon it. Until, one day, that light that they shine can’t be seen. Maybe you left home, or maybe they did, but now it’s your turn to perform such acts of kindness. To carry the tradition forward for others – and for yourself.
Friends, it’s time to play Skeal.
Infamous evolutionary flop Spore, for all its flaws, still had a lot of magic to it. It was fun to design your weird creatures, to watch them try to walk, and – in principle – to turn your humble creations into a spacefaring species.
Curiosmos is a very different game, but it has a little of the same appeal. It’s a galactic playground in which you smash meteors together to make planets, then tinker with the ecosystems of those planets to make life and watch that life evolve. All while a hungry black hole lingers nearby, eager to consume everything you have created. There’s an explanatory video below.
Hyper Light Breaker is a prequel to the excellent topdown action-RPG from 2016, Hyper Light Drifter. The differences are myriad, given that Breaker is also 3D, open world, co-op and a roguelite. It also now has a release date for its launch into Steam Early Access: January 14th, 2025.
You’re gonna have to sleep sometime (we recommend the second half).
Here’s the thing about The Thing: Remastered; it’s still very much 2002’s The Thing. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how much you like your The Thing.
2002’s The Thing, you see, which was developed by Computer Artworks and based on the intensely sexy Kurt Russell movie, The Thing — itself based on a novella that isn’t called The Thing — is a real mixed bag of a game, truth be told. It sets its stall out impressively, digging into the creeping fear and slowly rising paranoia of the classic movie, giving you some light squad control and an intriguing fear/trust system, whilst presenting its tale in environs that, whilst certainly now aged, still absolutely nail the vibe of the thing (didn’t even mean that one). But! It also falls apart quite badly for the second stretch of its slight running time.
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