Category: Video Games

Helldivers 2 Players Are Looking For Hidden Messages Amid Black Hole Disaster

Easter eggs and secret messages are old hat for many ongoing games, and Helldivers 2 is no stranger to them either. So it’s little surprise that amid an ongoing, calamitous conflict with the Illuminate, players are poring over the messages for hidden details.

If you’re not caught up with the running narrative in Helldivers 2, here’s a quick catch-up: developer Arrowhead has the Illuminate back and pushing the lines of galactic warfare as the latest threat to Super Earth. The eerie foe is using a massive black hole to slowly consume entire planets, pushing it to Angel’s Venture and, now, Moradesh.

Ironically, the black hole was initially created on Meridian by Super Earth, in an effort to wipe out a Terminid Super Colony. Arrowhead’s got a particular penchant for “yes, and”-ing the outcomes of the galactic campaigns. The slow build to right now, with the Illuminate pretty much pushing a black hole slowly towards Super Earth, is the latest in a long line of dominoes.

So, now we’re here: Moradesh is evacuating, and Helldivers are anticipating the next step of this cataclysmic campaign. Yet some are digging into the evacuation orders, trying to suss out a hidden meaning from the messages Arrowhead is broadcasting.

Reddit user Pinglyadya shared an image of what looks like an egg, hidden in the Moradesh videos. In the comments, they go further, breaking down the potential morse code strings into dots and dashes, surmising that it all results in a few different codes: “045a5, 06efbc, e1b5f0 then 21232. We don’t know what this is the code to but have fun.”

Hidden Messages in Moradesh Videos
byu/pinglyadya inHelldivers

The “06EFBC” code caught attention in another thread, as it could correspond with the hex code for a shade of teal called Last Straw. Sounds ominous! Nothing concrete has surfaced beyond that, but at least a few fans are convinced there’s something hidden in these messages.

It wouldn’t be the first time players have gone diving for secrets in Arrowhead’s updates. With the Meridian Singularity slowly approaching Super Earth, though, I do wonder whether Helldivers have time to spare for this.

Arrowhead has, since the destruction of Moradesh, issued a new Major Order for players, tasking them with defending planets so Super Earth can construct a Penrose Energy Siphon and effect a “one-time reduction” in Dark Energy Accumulation.

Hopefully, this can put a stop to the giant tear in space that’s slowly encroaching on everything the Helldivers hold dear. And, possibly, put a few more secret messages out into the ether.

This is all part of Helldivers 2’s ongoing, community driven Galactic War, which has captured the attention of the game’s community for over a year now. The Illuminate invaded in December with an initial alien force that added new enemies to fight against as well as brand new Super Earth colonies to fight on. These colonies introduced Helldivers 2’s first urban environments, with city streets packed with innocent civilians mind-controlled by the Illuminate. The Voteless, as they’re called by Super Earth, are little more than zombies who want nothing more than to team players limb from limb.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Electro Bop Boxing League is a swanky atompunk autobattler with a wonderful sense of fun

I don’t much enjoy sports sims, but sometimes an imaginative spin on a sport will sneak past my guard. Electro Bop Boxing League has spins aplenty. You probably could have stopped at robot boxers, Developer Dob. You didn’t have to give it a swaggering electro swing soundtrack as well. Special moves depicted as old-timey computer punched cards? Soldering limbs back on between rounds with a Repair-o-Gun? Little eggheads in lab coats clinging to the back of my gymrat C3PO as he pounds some would-be Megatron to shrapnel? Referee counts presented as a rebooting sequence? Developer Dob, you are spoiling us!

Read more

New Tides Of Annihilation trailer is a buttery montage of bossfights

In my hectic pursuit of a scoop, I have spent a non-zero amount of today peering at a smudgy image of a London bus sign from a Tides Of Annihilation trailer, trying to work out whether the new gooner-baiting Arthurian slasher has screwed up its portrayal of Britain’s public transport network. If it had, you’d best believe that’d be a headline. I’d have broken the internet with it. “Never mind turning the Dread Knight Mordred into a waifu,” I’d have written, hissing like a kettle. “Those absolute tourists at Eclipse Glow Games have made a mockery of the sacred N19 route from Finsbury Park to Clapham Junction.”

Read more

Nintendo’s MAR10 Day eShop Sale Welcomes A Handful Of Sweet Savings (North America)

Let’s-a save!

Nintendo’s MAR10 Day eShop sale is wrapping up in North America this weekend (16th March). So, if there are any titles starring Mario & friends that you have been meaning to check out, this is your friendly reminder to get in there and make the most of the savings while they’re still around!

It wouldn’t be MAR10 Day without an eShop sale and today, Nintendo of America has kicked off just that.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

How Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match is Helping Neurodivergent Children in Brazil

Summary

  • Hanoi Studios presented Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match in an inclusive support institution in Santo Andre, Brazil.
  • How inclusive games bring benefits to neurodivergent individuals.
  • Creator Luis Otavio shares the desire to bring this initiative to a wider range of educational institutes in Brazil.

On February 8, 2025, Luis Otavio, co-founder of the Brazilian indie game publisher Hanoi Studios and developer of Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match, visited Centro de Apoio e Reforço Escolar (CARE), an inclusive support institution in Santo Andre, SP, Brazil. The studio introduced both the Board Game and the ID@Xbox Play Anywhere versions of Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match, as a support tool for the development of neurodivergent children.

Fernanda Mombelli, neuropsychopedagogue and owner of the institution, emphasized the importance of early identification of a child’s special needs. She also highlighted the key skills and educational stimuli that inclusive games provide for neurodivergent students.

As a new release in the genre, Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match helps develop attention, concentration, memory, focus, and planning skills, functions in which neurodivergent individuals often face greater challenges.

HP Solid Match laptop image

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match is designed to offer a welcoming challenge to players, where the number of moves per level is not enforced, allowing for experimentation and problem-solving at your own pace. Check out what pedagogue and physical educator Alan Nobre had to say about this initiative:

“In early childhood education, we don’t aim for high performance. We want this to be the happiest moment of a child’s life, because we believe that a happy child learns more, develops more and that’s our main goal.”

Take a deeper look at how inclusive games benefit neurodivergent individuals.

A student with ADHD, anxiety disorder, stuttering, and socialization difficulties played the game, and Fernanda Mombelli documented and observed their engagement and learning process:

“Initially, with minimal guidance, the student quickly understood the objective of the game and demonstrated rapid progress through the early stages. However, upon reaching the intermediate stages, they encountered more complex challenges, which led to visible signs of anxiety, including stuttering. The game was paused, and the student was instructed to take a deep breath, observe, and click on each piece to explore the available paths before making a decision. With this structured approach, they gradually overcame their difficulties and continued progressing through the intermediate stages.

HP Solid Match alt laptop image

Additionally, when engaging with the board game version in cooperative mode alongside two educators, they expressed great enthusiasm, stating that they loved the game and wanted to play more frequently during the sessions. This response not only highlighted their enjoyment of the activity but also indicated significant progress in their socialization skills, attention, concentration, and sense of belonging. It was a truly rewarding moment for all of us.”

HP Solid Match board game

What does the future of inclusive games look like for Luis?

“I want to develop more games with inclusion in mind and make this initiative reach a wider range of educational institutes in Brazil”.

If you’re looking for more resources and tips for family gaming, visit xbox.com/family. You can learn more about what Xbox offers for families, including information about privacy and access to privacy tools, the Xbox Family Settings app and Community Standards.

Play Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match on Xbox and PC today! The game is available as an Xbox Play Anywhere game with cross save and Smart Delivery.


Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match
Xbox Play Anywhere

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match

Hanoi Studios

☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★

$4.99
Get it now

A new game concept inspired by the classic Tower of Hanoi. Assemble towers stacking pieces of the same color on a hexagonal board with a mysterious and relaxing atmosphere.

Use the rules of the famous Tower of Hanoi puzzle,
where a larger piece cannot be on top of a smaller one.

Unlock blocked hexagonal cells by building a tower of the same color,
to open new paths and advance in the resolution of the Level.

The post How Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match is Helping Neurodivergent Children in Brazil appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Share of the Week: Monster Hunter Wilds

Last week, we asked you to join the hunt and share rapturous moments from Monster Hunter Wilds using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

shimo_ps shares their hunter and Palico sitting atop their Seikret.

Tomkat_XII shares a view of the desert.

youhaveawhat shares a forest view.

laya_photo shares Gemma in front of a forge fire

KAMIgion__Ujean shares an action-filled moment fighting a monster in the desert

Lny_Trpr_EE7 shares a Palico chilling with a frog on its head

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME: Monster Hunter Wilds – Monsters
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on March 19, 2025 

Next week, the hunt continues. Capture highlights of your favorite monster quarry in Monster Hunter Wilds using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake Developer Insists ‘Everything We Have Talked About Is Still in Development’

Saber Interactive has insisted all its previously announced games are still in development, despite the radio silence around high-profile titles such as the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake.

Hot on the heels of the announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3, Saber Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits tweeted to reassure the studio’s fans that everything it’s announced is still in the works.

“Saber Interactive is one of the largest independent developers in the world,” Willits said. “We are working on numerous games across many different genres. Everything that we have talked about is still in development. We will share information on upcoming games when we have something cool to share.”

The most obvious subject of Willits’ statement is the KOTOR remake, which remains one of gaming’s most elusive projects. Announced in 2021, the long-awaited remake has changed hands multiple times, seemingly stopped development and restarted again, and after four years has failed to materialize.

In April 2024, Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch confirmed the company took KOTOR with it during its split from Embracer Group, and that the game was still in active development.

“It’s clear and it’s obvious that we’re working on this,” he said at the time. “It’s been in the press numerous times. What I will say is that the game is alive and well, and we’re dedicated to making sure we exceed consumer expectations.”

Willits’ statement, which comes nearly 12 months later, reaffirms Karch’s quote. But still, even now, we have seen nothing of the KOTOR remake beyond its initial announcement video.

Saber also has other games in the works, including a number due out this year. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando and Jurassic Park Survival are still down for 2025, but neither has a release date. Saber is also working on a brand new Turok game and an untitled Avatar: The Last Airbender title.

Now, you can add Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 to the list. Be sure to check out IGN’s article on which chapters and enemy factions Space Marine 3 could feature for more.

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.

Morrowind-inspired indie RPG Ardenfall releases in early access this year

“Ardenfall is almost cheeky in how close it is to a classic ‘thesda game,” Alice Bell wrote of the demo to this open-world RPG back in the Aliceful year of 2023. She also asked me about my own propensity for game discovery in my staff writer interview, to which I replied she knew I was OK at it because she nicked the idea for the Ardenfall article from a comment I left. Good taste, Alice, and good taste, me: Ardenfall is great fun. It’s had a demo kicking around since 2022, and now it’s set for an early access release this year. You’ll find a steamin’ hot tray-tray* below.

Read more

Pokémon Fans Wildly Speculate On Why Legends: Z-A Has an E10+ Rating

We recently saw a good look at Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the next entry in Game Freak’s Legends series set to take place in X and Y’s Lumiose City. It’s also apparently garnered an E10+ rating from the ESRB, and fans are both curious and wildly, sometimes jokingly, speculating about what’s going to happen in this new entry.

Attentive fans noticed that on the Nintendo Switch store page, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has earned an E10+ age rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, listing ‘Fantasy Violence.’ While it might not normally draw feverish speculation for most other series, it’s an oddity for Pokémon, whose mainline games have consistently been ‘E for Everyone.’

The rating has, of course, drawn wild speculation, some serious and some less-than-serious. It is genuinely entertaining to think about what strange choices Game Freak could possibly have made to bump up the rating, whether that be dialogue about Pokémon killing people or trying to add a gunplay mechanic. As several Redditors (jokingly) suggest, maybe the hordes come back, but it involves a group of Scrafty jumping you in one of Lumiose’s alleys.

“Ohhhh boy, Game Freak is taking off the little kiddie gloves,” Reddit user RynnHamHam said. “This ain’t your kindergartener’s Pokémon game.”

Several gags have also been made about AZ, a character with quite a history set to appear in Pokémon Legends: Z-A and who plays a central role in some of the darker elements of Pokémon X and Y’s story and the history of the Kalos region.

As for more plausible speculation, there are a few theories, including a few more “craps” than usual, or the appearance of a Game Center-style minigame. Even the darker elements of Lumiose could be more front-and-center.

My personal take is that this probably lies in the ‘Fantasy Violence’ the ESRB highlighted. While the rating is an oddity for your typical Pokémon game, it does line up with the pocket monster fighting game Pokkén Tournament DX, which also received an E10+ and noted ‘Fantasy Violence.’ The real-time elements showcased for Pokémon Legends: Z-A could have elicited the slightly stronger rating, as the monsters more clearly make contact.

There’s no listing, as of this writing, for Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the ESRB site, so we can’t learn much more at this time. Still, it’s fun to speculate a bit, at least until we know more about Z-A’s ultimate plans and how it will earn that bump-up in the E range.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is slated for a late 2025 launch on Nintendo Switch.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield on designing Vanguard Exiles so you could play with dice if your computer died

What can we learn about games by comparing the thrill of a nailgun kill in Quake to the elation of triple word score in online Scrabble? For Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering and KeyForge, it’s actually quite a bit.

Taking place over progressive rounds in which you’ll pick and assign your force to capture victory points over an expanding tileset, Vanguard Exiles exists because Garfield is “smitten” with autobattlers, a love he traces back to an “epiphany” he had in the 90s thinking about the different roles a computer could play in both natively digital games and what he calls “paper games”.

“Yet they were both games,” Garfield tells me over call, “I was playing them both digitally. The computer is vital. It serves a really good purpose, and yet, when you play [an autobattler], it feels like you’re playing a paper game. You can sit back, think about your moves and understand really everything about the game before you execute, which is not the standard in a lot of digital games.”

Read more