“The cool thing about bombs is that you can hide them in anything,” is probably my favourite Oppenheimer quote of all time, and in the case of Ian Hitman, it does raise an important question: with so many everyday objects equal to the rubber duck in its unthreatening aura, yet more inconspicuous, why choose to put an explosive in this one?
The simplest answer is that’s it’s a recurring bit of levity, a holdover easter egg, elevated to the status of key mission item in Hitman: Codename 47 before being given pride of place as an explosive in the World Of Assassination games. But to ascribe such unassuming purpose to the duck is to ignore its revelatory power. We must go deeper.
News on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair had gone quiet over the past few weeks, but a new statement from the latter studio has shed some more light on the complaint — specifically, the patents Nintendo claims have been infringed upon and the prescribed fine.
In a new post on the Pocketpair website titled ‘Report on Patent Infringement Lawsuit’, the studio reveals that Nintendo’s claim pertains to three specific patents (7545191, 7493117 and 7528390), all of which were applied for between February and July 2024.
Next Week on Xbox: New Games for November 11 to 15
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Farming Simulator 25 invites you to join the rewarding farm life. Whether you build your legacy single-handedly or cooperatively in multiplayer – you decide. New features include maps in North America, East Asia, and Central Europe; crops like rice, spinach, peas, and green beans; and new animals like goats, water buffalo, baby animals, and more.
The Rise of the Golden Idol follows a tenacious relic hunter on a quest to unearth the powerful artefact that – if legend is true – can reshape the world. Uncover the truth behind 15 strange cases of crime, death and depravity in the 1970s.
A turn-based strategy game inspired by ‘90s classics. Lead powerful magicians called Wielders and venture to lands unknown. Wage battles against armies that dare oppose you, hunt for powerful artifacts and expand your territory. The world is ripe for the taking – seize it!
Unrivaled after four decades, Tetris Forever celebrates the original, genre-inspiring puzzle game that escaped from behind the Iron Curtain, onto the world stage, and into our cultural consciousness. Celebrate 40 years of Tetris with 15+ games, a new game, and documentary videos.
Beautiful Sakure: Running Club is a continuation of Kaito’s journey, where he embarks on a new hobby. This visual novel delves into themes of love, friendship, and self-discovery. Kaito’s new passion for running leads him to join a local running club, where he reunites with familiar faces from his past and meets intriguing new characters.
Inspired by the classic Paperboy, Food Boy gets players to deliver pizzas in urban environments in an exciting arcade format. Make perfect deliveries and knock out furious customers to get the highest scores and unlock new cities and challenges!
Join Mona on her quest and experience the ultimate adventure! Venturing through portals, Mona will encounter werewolves, mermaids, dragons, and other fantastical beings on her way to face off against an unseen malevolent menace! With stunning visuals, captivating storytelling, humorous dialogues, and challenging puzzles, The Harmony Chronicles promises endless hours of immersive gameplay.
Step into the mystical, atmospheric world of Nephise: Ascension, where danger lurks beneath breathtaking beauty. As Nephise embarks on her most perilous journey yet, you’ll find yourself lost in the stunning landscapes of Dragon’s Valley, where ancient secrets await and survival hangs by a thread.
Get ready to dive into the ultimate extraction royale where PvP and PvE collide in an all-out battle for survival! Teardrop Island — once full of promise, now a dystopian warzone — needs a hero. Too bad it’s getting you. This isn’t just another shooter. This is the next evolution of cyberpunk warfare, imagined by visionary director Neill Blomkamp (“District 9,” “Elysium”), and it’s about to turn the genre upside down.
Songs of Silence is a fantasy strategy title which marries deep, tactical gameplay with fast-paced auto battles and an engaging, compelling narrative. Presented in a unique graphical style derived from the Art Nouveau movement, it’s a beautiful example of the evolution of a classic genre. The game features an extensive singleplayer, narrative-driven campaign, plus multiple competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes for endless replay value.
Top-down bullet hell shooter where you stop the clone army from taking over the world by one way: kill. them. all. Fight your way through hordes of powerful enemies, execute combat strategies with quick reflexes to take on the biggest of the baddies.
A relaxing puzzle escape game where you make your way through a variety of hand-crafted 3D dioramas, look for useful objects, find hidden clues and solve fun puzzles! Unravel this mysterious adventure about chaos, order and the surreal.
Forge, run, and fight as a team! In this frantic co-op game, you’ll have to work alongside your friends to craft legendary weapons and prepare the heroes for an epic battle. Coordinate, manage resources, and keep things under control as chaos unfolds!
A stunning reimagining of the beloved masterpiece and narrative beginning to The Erdrick Trilogy. Years ago, the great hero Ortega bid farewell to his wife and child as he set off on a quest to defeat the villainous Archfiend, Baramos – he failed. Now, Ortega’s only child is summoned by the king of Aliahan and entrusted with a mission of the highest import: to take on Ortega’s quest, vanquish Baramos, and save the world.
In Heretic’s Fork, your role will involve not only managing the current population of Hell but also implement innovative strategies to help streamline its operations, tasked with punishing sinners by using a state-of-the-art computer system developed by DeusVult Inc.
Brace yourselves– ININ is coming in guns blazin’ for the 2nd volume of Irem arcade classics! With iconic titles Air Duel, GunForce, and GunForce II, this is one action-packed collection you can’t miss.
Twinsen is back in this remake featuring a new stylish makeover and modernised gameplay. Faithful to the original game, Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest takes you on an epic journey on a small planet harbouring both magic and technology.
An updated version of Rage of the Dragons, originally released in 2002 for arcades. It was a unique and innovative game, mainly due to its highly praised visuals and technical aspects at the time. With beautiful scenery and animations, incredible moves and an acclaimed soundtrack, it’s a must-have for any fighting game lover.
A cute “clear the screen” modern arcade game that features co-op gameplay for up to four players. Recover the missing golden blender through 100 platform-jumping, puzzle-solving levels in story mode – consisting of handcrafted levels and a ton of fruity critters!
A story-driven cozy puzzle game, which might remind you of the warm times spent with your grandparents or loved ones on getting to know the many, sometimes unexpected stories from their lives.
VED – November 14 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Xbox Play Anywhere
A story-driven RPG featuring stunning hand-drawn art and animation combined with a unique teleporting system, turn-based combat mechanics and rogue-lite elements. Immerse yourself in a fantastical world with a rich storytelling experience, dozens of irreversible consequences and alternative endings, and gameplay that’s easy to learn but difficult to master!
A 3D device-hacking puzzle game in a cyberpunk setting. In the future, people no longer trust computer networks and prefer to use physical devices to store important information. You are a professional hacker of such Data Vaults. Use your wits and powers of observation to discover the secret hidden within the walls of this laboratory.
An action-packed roguelite where chess meets fast-paced combat. You play as the Black King, wielding a sword to fight your way through waves of White enemies in a single epic level, all while seeking to free your army from the enemy’s grasp.
Once in a generation, the gods come together to postpone the apocalypse. But this time, the god of communication started a bunch of heavenly fights and then went AWOL. With the sky splitting and the gods in disarray, who’s gonna join the Bizzyboys to help save the world?
A 2.5D platformer with logical puzzles that you should to solve. In the game, you control the robot DR12 that must get to the professor to save him from the evil robot who wants to escape from the lab. To get to the professor’s room, you need to solve logical puzzles.
A thrilling action roguelike mixed with a deck-builder set in an alternate-history Paris, where political unrest collides with cosmic terror. Take control of René, a Parisian caught in a deadly struggle among four factions while being manipulated by the mysterious Lady Bliss, an interdimensional being with her dark motives.
Madness is the repetition of the same action repeatedly, in the hope of a change. The challenge that Repit throws at your nerves is not everyone is ready to accept and only a few will be able to reach the end
Earth’s monuments are under attack, conventional human arsenal is ineffective against the extraterrestrial invaders. Fortunately, the sports club, armed with enhanced sports equipment, is ready to defend our planet alongside the ingenious Dr. McLabby!
The launch of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is fast approaching on November 14. We had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with the game’s producer, Masaaki Hayasaka, to chat about this stunning remake that brings back the iconic masterpiece in HD-2D.
Masaaki Hayasaka Producer, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
How HD-2D graphics draw out the full potential of this retro classic
PlayStation Blog:HD-2D has become much more popular since games like Octopath Traveler. What are some of the unique characteristics of this visual style?
In a nutshell, HD-2D is a visual style that combines pixelated characters with 3D backgrounds. Personally, I think this style works better in retro titles. When the original game first came out, players roamed the world while picturing how beautiful the landscapes must be. HD-2D actually brings that world to life.
Even though the game adopts HD-2D, it is still immediately recognizable as Dragon Quest III. What do you think are the most important aspects needed to achieve the iconic Dragon Quest-style?
The most obvious is the color palette. Dragon Quest games are characterized by rich, vivid colors, so we aimed to fully embrace that in the remake as well. If you compare the original game and the HD-2D remake side-by-side, the graphics will look completely different. Even so, the color palettes are similar so it shouldn’t feel far off from what OG players remember.
Built in tandem with Yuji Horii
What sort of discussions did you have with Yuji Horii (creator of the Dragon Quest franchise), during development?
We connected regularly from the early phases of planning till the very end of development. We exchanged a lot of details. We discussed everything from new features like the Monster Arena and additional narrative episodes, to the game balance of battles, and even the size of the character pixels.
Did you make any changes based on Yuji Horii’s recommendations?
He made a comment around the blurring of the game background, and I find that particularly memorable. Background blur in games is usually referred to as depth of field, which is a technique also used in photography. In HD-2D, depth of field is extremely important. We had previous experience working on HD-2D games, so we thought we’d already mastered the sense of implementing background blur. However, when we showed it to Horii-san, he said that the blur was far too intense, and it made him feel like there was something wrong with his eyes. He then asked us to dial back the intensity. We were quite shocked, in a good way, by his suggestion from a player’s point of view. However, as a result, this change made Dragon Quest III stand out from other HD-2D titles, so his recommendation was on point.
So, different games leverage HD-2D in various ways?
Absolutely. The only common thread between all HD-2D titles is that they place pixelated characters in a 3D world. Otherwise, every title is completely unique. For example, Octopath Traveler incorporates pixels in the background as well, but Dragon Quest III does not. The characters’ body proportions and pixel size also vary depending on the title. Dragon Quest III is the first-ever HD-2D title to integrate a world map where players can actually wander around.
Is the distance between towns the same as the original?
The layout of the buildings is exactly the same, but the scale of the map and distances have been changed. The most difficult part of the development process was scaling the map. If we had made the map as dense as the original, the game would have felt too compact in both volume and appearance. On the other hand, if we made the map too large, it would lose its perfect pacing and slow down the game. We spent a lot of time adjusting to find the ideal balance in terms of both look and feel. If you watch the teaser trailer that was released at the time of the announcement, you will notice that the scale is completely different from the finished version.
The passion behind the new character customization feature
In the remake, players can customize the appearance, like hair color, of party members. Why did you decide to add this new feature?
In the original, when you changed a character’s vocation from Martial Artist to a Mage, the young man suddenly turned into an old man and there was no way to alter it. I personally felt that was a bit strange. Character creators or customization is very common in modern games, so I thought players would find it a bit confusing if we kept it like the original. Character customization was intended to make the game feel more modern.
To tell you the truth, out of all the new features we added in the remake, I’m most passionate about the character customization. I proposed it to the development team, and even when they refused, saying it was unnecessary, I kept pushing that it was absolutely crucial [laughs]. I spent about three months working on it, so it would mean a lot to me if players spent some time creating their own distinct characters.
Even though you can change their appearance, the main colors for each vocation are the same as the original. How did you decide what to change and what to leave untouched?
I believed it was important to respect the vocation colors that Akira Toriyama originally designed. We didn’t change any of the main colors, so it’s easier for players to distinguish between each vocation at a glance. However, we wanted to give players the freedom to play around with hats and hairstyles as a fun new feature.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launched day one on Game Pass — the first Call of Duty game to do so following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
All eyes were on Black Ops 6’s impact on Game Pass, though. Growth in Microsoft’s subscription service has stalled in recent years, and the day one release of the latest entry in Activision’s phenomenally successful first-person shooter series was seen as a make or break moment for Game Pass.
Microsoft has yet to say exactly how many new subscribers Black Ops 6 brought through the door, although CEO Satya Nadella has confirmed that Game Pass set a record for new subs on launch day.
In an interview with the BBC, Treyarch associate creative director Miles Leslie, who has worked on Call of Duty for 16 years, said Black Ops 6’s release on Game Pass has helped convince players who were “on the fence” to give the game a shot.
“What we’ve seen is it’s allowed people that might have been on the fence, might have had some of that friction, might have been like, ‘I haven’t played in a while’ to actually come back and try the game,” he said.
That will be music to Microsoft’s ears, given it’s desperate to expand the Call of Duty audience in the long term. Analysts have suggested the company was willing to sacrifice Black Ops 6 launch sales on Xbox for a potential bigger overall player base, which it intends to monetize long-term with the release of battle passes and cosmetics.
“We’ve gotten to the point now where Black Ops and Call of Duty have been around so long – I’ve been working on it for 16 years,” Leslie added. “And really the challenge for us is how do you bring along the fans that love Call of Duty, but how do you create an environment where you can welcome new fans in?”
The trick now of course is to convince Game Pass players to stick around and keep paying that monthly subscription. To that end, Black Ops 6 Season 1 kicks off on November 14, and we’ve got all the details. Of course, this time next year fans will have another premium Call of Duty game to contend with, rumored to be a sequel to Black Ops 2.
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.
Palworld developers Pocketpair have finally revealed which patents Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are suing them about. It looks like they’re focusing on the act of throwing capsular items to catch or release monsters, together with the usage of monsters as mounts.
If you’ve somehow yet to encounter Palworld, it’s a bestselling survival game that takes hefty – some would say, scandalous – inspiration from Pokémon, with players poaching Pokésque critters using magic spheres, and deploying them as soldiers and minions.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has surpassed 30 million downloads in the nine days it’s been available, developer Creatures Inc. has announced.
Word of the milestone came via the Pokémon TCG Pocket X/Twitter, where the development team thanks players for their support. “Thirty million?! How many packs have been opened, then?,” it asked. “On behalf of everyone working on the game and me, thank you for all your support! Seriously.”
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived October 30 as a streamlined, digital version of the beloved trading card game. It has players opening packs, collecting cards, building decks, and battling others; a simple formula that immediately proved popular given it made $12 million in four days.
Creatures Inc. is keeping busy since launch as it has already added three events to the game: one focused on collecting, one focused on solo battles, and one focuses on player versus player battles.
In all honesty, Toads Of The Bayou could have been several notches less ribbet-ing than its Steam demo ended up being, because its stylised pixel fly-snatchers are just that good. There’s only one of the three characters available in the freebie (one of the others is a toad nun with a shotgun), but he’s got a little cutlass, a flintlock pistol, and a can-do attitude – at least when it comes to either stabbing or shooting things. The game itself is a little bit deckbuilder, a little bit Into The Breach: turn based strategy with perfect information and various tricks you can pull to make enemies hit each other instead of the thing you’re trying to protect. Indulge yourself on the gourmet tray-tray below.
With the launch of Nintendo Music, fans now have a legitimate opportunity to check out some of the very best soundtrack’s from Nintendo’s storied history. Yes, it’s a bit barebones at the moment, but we’ve no doubt it will be expanded upon significantly in the coming months and years.
It seems that The Big N is pretty keen on newcomers diving into its new app, too. According to a couple of accounts from Matthew Reynolds on Bluesky and user Jolemei96 on Reddit, Nintendo is actually hosting advertisements for Nintendo Music over on the streaming service Spotify.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket players can now participate in the Wonder Pick Event Part 2, which adds new rewards and missions to the game today, November 8.
This second half of the event, which offers players a free Wonder Pick with the chance of pulling either a Meowth or Chansey alongside event tickets and Wonder Hourglasses, runs until November 15. It’s unclear if there will be a Part 3 or if this will wrap up Pokémon TCG Pocket’s first Wonder Pick event.
The selection of missions is simpler than Part 1’s, with players not required to pull a certain number of Chansey or Meowth but instead just Wonder Pick a certain number of times and collect a certain number of Colorless cards.
As for the new goodies on offer, players can now use event tickets to unlock a variety of Meowth themed items including card sleeves, a playmat, coin, and icon. 50 Shinedust is also on offer, and event tickets from Part 1 can still be used.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October as a streamlined, digital version of the beloved trading card game. It has players opening packs, collecting cards, building decks, and battling others; a simple formula that’s already proved popular given it made $12 million in four days.
This isn’t quite a full competitive mode for Pokémon TCG Pocket but is certainly a step in that direction, and will be the first proper competitive test of which decks are best, with both Mewtwo ex and Charizard ex having dominated so far.
