Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a FLASHBANG COMING RIGHT AT YOUR FACE – QUICK, LOOK AWAY oh wait it’s just a bird after all. That’s not just me hallucinating after one too many cups of Joe – it’s a description of recent events in Valve’s bomb-fiddling FPS Counter-Strike 2, where players keep mistaking the avian decorations on certain maps for bouncing balls of death.
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian might just have patched sex speedruns out of the game.
Larian’s sprawling Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game has spawned a vociferous Sex% speedrun category in which players try to bed a companion in the quickest time possible. The current world record, set by speedrunner Mae just two weeks ago, comes in at under two minutes, and uses the established strategy of gaining enough early approval with Githyanki fighter Lae’zel that she agrees to spend the night.
Lae’zel is (was!) the perfect companion for this strategy because she was relatively easy to impress right at the start of the game by bullying a Tiefling in Silvanus’ Grove, and area players could leapfrog huge swathes of Baldur’s Gate 3’s opening section to get to in just a minute (check out our Lae’zel romance guide for more).
But the enormously long patch notes for Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 4 revealed a key change that makes Lae’zel harder to charm: “For Lae’zel to decide to romance you, you no longer only need to gain high enough approval from her. You must also have proven yourself worthy through your actions.”
As the Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunning community scrambles to work out what these “worthy” actions are, observers have said the Sex% category may never be the same again, and may even split off into categories specific to certain companions (fastest to bear sex seems inevitable). “Sex% speedruns in shambles,” declared redditor Monk-Ey.
It’s early days in terms of reaction, but record-holder Mae has already had a bit of fun in a YouTube video. “Rest in peace to the funniest category ever (we’ll probably make a new leaderboard for Patch 4).” Then, in a community post, Mae said: “It is with immeasurable disappointment that I announce that Sex% speedruns have been patched out of Baldur’s Gate 3… it’s been real, boys.”
In IGN’s review of Baldur’s Gate 3, which returned a 10/10, we said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”
For more, check out IGN’s comprehensive Baldur’s Gate 3 walkthrough.
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.
My Patches at Sandrock.
Developer Pathea Games has launched an extensive patch for My Time at Sandrock following its launch on the Switch on November 2nd, 2023.
Our review of the game covered a number of technical issues at launch, and while we’ve been informed that this patch won’t solve everything we noted, it will at least go toward fixing many glaring problems.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
I have a confession to make, readers. I’m mildly obsessed with Starfield‘s cuboid food brand Chunks. In all honesty, I’m kinda obsessed with Starfield’s food in a more general sense, and I have almost as many screenshots of its tube-like meal boxes, stale toast slices, vacuum-packed sachets of rice balls, steak slabs and spiced worms – and, of course, Chunks – as I do its planets and NPCs. I’m weirdly fascinated by what Bethesda think our future meals will look like when we eventually start travelling across the stars, and not just because I like ragging on their somewhat plastic-looking textures and marvelling at how everything from orange juice to beer and wine comes in kid’s size cartons with a little straw on the side.
Chunks are my favourite food of the lot, though. These cubes of faintly glistening organic matter are bite-sized monstrosities that are quite possibly some of the most unholy things I’ve ever seen. How this became the dominating foodstuff across the known galaxy is a mystery worthy of its own sidequest, because let’s be honest, I’m all for eating wonky fruit and vegetables, but would you truly go to shop, sit down at a table and order an apple that’s been squeezed into a perfect cube? Or a cube with yellow skin that professes to call itself grilled chicken? I would probably try them once for curiosity’s sake (it’s the food of the future, of course I want to know what that tastes like!), but it’s also exactly the kind of thing I’d swear off immediately because nope, nuh uh, I just can’t even contemplate it anymore. And then it dawned on me: this is exactly how I feel about Starfield as a whole.
Payday 3’s long-delayed first patch is finally here, with developer Starbreeze addressing what it calls a “massive” number of issues with the cooperative heist shooter.
Patch notes for update 1.01 were released on Steam (though the update is available on all platforms) and highlight several changes that look to address Payday 3’s disastrous launch.
“After some instability, we’re finally up and running as things should be,” Starbreeze said in the notes, which arrived around six weeks after Payday 3 launched. “Heisters heisting, civilians screaming, and cops floundering. We’ve got a lot more cooking, keep letting us know when you find bugs and sending us your suggestions.”
Alongside adding preorder and edition specific items for all players, the 1.01 update lets players turns the camera during the full tased effect, adds a fix for the Cleanin’ It Out achievement not popping properly, updates aim assist on PlayStation 5, and more.
The full, very extensive list of patch notes can be read below.
Payday 3’s launch was plagued with server issues that forced Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren to apologise. “We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario — we should be able to do better,” he said.
Almost a month after its launch and Starbreeze apologised again for its lack of communication, and then just a week later said sorry one more time for not delivering the promised patch and again going quiet.
Starbreeze boasted PayDay 3 had 3.1 million players as of October 2, but this number has dwindled, at least on Steam, as more players are currently playing Payday 2 than its highly anticipated sequel. According to SteamDB, Payday 3 has a 24-hour peak of 2,801 players, while 10-year old Payday 2 has a 24-hour peak of 33,470.
General
Balance
For this patch, we wanted to primarily address minor fixes.
We are aware that Last Man Standing and Armor Up are performing a bit too well, so we plan to give them a few tweaks that keep them effective, but require a bit more setup compared to the benefits they offer. This will be in the next big patch. Outside of these two skills, we don’t expect any big nerfs coming to skills in the next patch, but given players are still getting used to the game, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the meta.
We are also aware that armor is considered the most desirable resource compared to ammo and health. We are happy with how armor itself works, but we want to put in a few more ways for players to restore it in the game. We also think health is underperforming right now, but addressing that will be a gradual change over the first year of updates, rather than one sweeping update.
Skills
Weapons
Enemies
Technical
UI
Audio
Visuals
Heist
Known Issues
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Unlock some special goodies.
WarioWare: Move It! isn’t the only Nintendo release today. In case you missed it, Nintendo is also launching two brand new amiibo today based on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Following on from the release of Link back in May, today sees the arrival of Princess Zelda and Ganondorf. As previously revealed, these amiibo will both unlock two new paraglider fabrics for Link’s paraglider in Tears of the Kingdom.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Here’s what the critics think.
Square Enix’s legendary game Super Mario RPG returns later this month on the Nintendo Switch, and ahead of the November 17th release, the final round of previews have gone live.
If you haven’t already seen our own “hands on” of this upcoming Switch title, here on Nintendo Life, the good news is it’s shaping up to be something pretty special. In fact, it might just be the most faithful remake we’ve ever played.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
“What is going on in their head?” a commonly asked question when it comes to our feathered pigeon friends and their slightly hypnotic, moderately creepy, and always incessant head bobbing. After years of extensive research on the topic an answer has finally been found, and that answer is music (and probably also bread, but mostly music).
Headbangers Rhythm Royale lets you experience the pigeon-verse first hand. Transporting you – feathers and all – to a world fit to burst with music, melodies, and a medley of chaotic mini-games that will test your memory, rhythm, reflexes, reaction time, and (obviously) your ability to rap on command.
With 23 musical minigames to test your pigeon prowess against, there’s loafs of content to sink your beak into. The mini games will pit you against 29 other player-controlled pigeons, with each round whittling the flock down more and more until just one, the Master Headbanger, reigns victorious.
Peeking into the psyche of a pigeon makes for an exhilarating experience – you’ll need to showcase your im-peck-able memory skills in Yes Commander; master the piano with a slingshot in First Piano Shooter; and be the first to blast off into the solar system in To The Sky to name just a few of the joys that await.
With the free in-game pigeon pass, your efforts on and off the dancefloor will be generously rewarded, by collecting delicious breadcrumbs, (please take our word for it and don’t try and eat them), and in game XP, earned through collecting powerups in game, and acing the bonus rounds sprinkled between mini games, you’ll level up, unlocking unique customisation to help you prune your pigeon to perfection.
With your wings piled high with your hard-earned breadcrumbs, your next stop is sure to be the pigeon store – outfits, hats, glasses, voices, taunts, and more are on the menu, and the mixture of full outfits and individual items, makes for thousands of unique pigeon designs. Want to see T-rex arms on a pigeon? You got it. Or how about an Elvis pigeon? We’ll take one of those, thank you, thank you very much. Castle costume? Your princess can’t be in another castle if you are the castle.
It’s time for you to pigeon dive headfirst into the world of Headbangers Rhythm Royale as it is out now on Xbox Consoles via Xbox Game Pass. Dress up your pigeon, take to the dancefloor, and put your best foot forward as you battle to be the Master Headbanger.
Team17
Included in the preorder is a stylish Sombrero in Green.
About this game:
Have you ever looked at a Pigeon and thought, “what is going on in your head?”
Well, think no more! Headbangers puts you and 29 others into the eye of the Pigeon while you battle it out in rhythmic challenges to find out who is the ultimate Master Headbanger.
Compete against each other in mind- bending musical minigames, screw over your competitors with powerups, and collect Crumbs to customise your very own Pigeon!
Gameplay Features:
Minigames:
Grab your friends and battle through minigame madness through online cross platform multiplayer. With 23 minigames across 4 rounds, each Headbangers level contains a new challenge with a stimulating and unique musical twist! Each round escalates in difficulty, progressing musical frenzy until the final round– keep as cool as a coo-cumber and get that bread!
Minigames will test your memory, rhythm, reflexes, reaction time and most importantly… your rap ability! Simple controls paired with engaging gameplay, means this musical party is available for all!
Customisation:
Design your Pigeon from hundreds of unique items, including outfits, hats, glasses, voices, taunts and more. For every game you play, you earn Crumbs which can be spent in the Shop to purchase full costumes, costume items, taunts, sounds and more! Your Pigeon is your common canvas to mix and match items, allowing players to create and craft your ultimate Pigeon masterpiece, just like the famous painters Pigecasso and Michelangelcrow.
Found yourself at the top of the leader board? Besting your friends? Be sure to spend those hard-earned Crumbs on some in game taunts to rub your wins in your fellow Pigeon’s faces, making your victories so much sweeter!
Progression:
Complete challenges to unlock customisation for your pigeon and progress through the in-game battle pass. Collecting Crumbs and XP through in game powerups, extra bonus rounds, and completing rounds will help you be the most stylish bird in the flock!
Cross play + Multiplayer:
Play with up to 30 Pigeons on any platform. No matter your friend’s device of choice to play on, you can flock together, battling it out to see who is crowned the Master Headbanger!
The post Headbangers Rhythm Royale is Available Day One with Game Pass appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is a multi-platform release, but that isn’t stopping Xbox from giving it the full first-party treatment. Xbox users booting up their console today were greeted with a large splash screen prompting them to buy it now that the new campaign is out, and some of them aren’t too happy about it.
“This is dumb. I don’t play Call of Duty; I never bought Call of Duty. I shouldn’t turn on my Xbox and the literal first thing I see be add [sic] for a game, or anything for that matter,” one user wrote.
Some users pointed out at that Starfield also received the splash screen treatment when it launched back in September, and that it was ultimately relatively brief. Others, however, expressed hope that such splash screens wouldn’t be the norm going forward, calling them intrusive.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal if it’s an event or 1p release but I can see why people wouldn’t like it tbh,” another user wrote.
When we tested it for ourselves, the prompt to buy Call of Duty appeared immediately with no button presses other than switching the machine on. IGN has reached out to Xbox for comment.
The splash screen wasn’t the only big promotion that Modern Warfare III received on Xbox. A dynamic background featuring Captain Price is also available for download.
Xbox’s Call of Duty marketing push follows its official acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which saw Microsoft acquire the publisher for $69 billion. PlayStation’s Call of Duty marketing deal won’t expire until 2024, but that isn’t keeping Xbox for advertising Call of Duty, which is among the crown jewels of its new acquisition.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is releasing in stages, with early access to the campaign kicking off today, November 2, for those who have pre-ordered the game. It will pick up the story from Modern Warfare II while introducing new elements such as Open Combat Missions. Multiplayer will be available November 10.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
“Star Ocean” is a fantastic name, evoking a sense of adventure, 16-bit blue skies, the majesty of space. “The Second Story R” is a terrible subtitle, evoking WhatsApp messages where I accidentally press ‘send’ too soon. Combined they produce Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a beautiful-seeming 2.5D remake of a Square Enix PlayStation JRPG. It’s out on Steam now and there’s a demo.
