Fiddly parkour is the secret sauce that makes every moment of Deadlock compelling

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: running away is the best feeling in videogames. More specifically, being chased is the best feeling in videogames, a sentiment I’d happen to share with my golden retriever if you replaced the word “videogames” with “the universe”. He is a purer being, but he’ll also never know the joy of executing a rail-dismount into a dashing corner-jump escape in Deadlock, and for this he deserves our pity.

It’s easy to miss if you haven’t played for at least a few hours, but Deadlock packs one of the most engaging movement systems this side of Tribes Ascend.

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Xbox Confirms It’s Looking Into A Potential Handheld Device

Don’t expect anything soon, though.

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has confirmed that the firm is looking into potentially producing a handheld device for its Xbox platform.

In speaking with Bloomberg (thanks, Pure Xbox), the executive stated that the “expectation is that we would do something” in the handheld space, but was also seemingly keen to set expectations. He said that the company is producing prototypes and considering what it might do with a portable device, but he has also requested that his teams look at the current market and apply its learnings.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Brace Yourself: The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 1 Update Is 40 GB

Black Ops 6 Season 1 launches today, November 14, and with it comes a mammoth update that has become a Call of Duty trademark.

The Season 1 update, which brings Call of Duty up to version 1.061.000, is available to download now and weighs in at a gargantuan 40.422 GB on PS5 and 38.724 GB on PS4.

This is an enforced update for Call of Duty, the all-encompassing app that houses Black Ops 6, Warzone, and prior Call of Duty games. You need to download the 40 GB update for the base game even if you don’t have Black Ops 6.

Season 1, which goes live at 9am Pacific / 5pm UK time, makes a number of significant changes to Black Ops 6, adding new Multiplayer maps, skins, a battle pass, and big balance changes. Activision published the Season 1 patch notes overnight. New updates are also coming for the Black Ops 6 campaign and Modern Warfare 3, if you have those downloaded.

Call of Duty, with its various evolving modes like Multiplayer and Zombies alongside yearly releases on top of separate games like Warzone, is not only messy but takes up a big slice of your storage. For this year’s game, Activision made a number of changes designed to streamline the Call of Duty interface, offering more direct access to games and more control over downloads.

Taking on Zombies mode? We’ve got Essential Zombies Tips and Tricks to help you get started, plus a guide on How to Exfil. Both Zombies maps are full of easter eggs and secrets; here’s everything we’ve found in both Terminus and Liberty Falls, including How to Pack-a-Punch in Liberty Falls and How to Get the Meteor Easter Egg in Terminus.

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.

Classic shooters Unreal and Unreal Tournament are now free and preserved on the Internet Archive

Epic Games has given the OK for their 1998 shooter Unreal to be hosted on the Internet Archive, essentially making the classic sci-fi alien blaster free, and preserving it for the future. They’ve also given the same permission for Unreal Tournament to be hosted there too, making free the multiplayer muckabout that spawned speedier and speedier sequels throughout the early 2000s (not to mention the origin of one of the most memorable multiplayer FPS maps of all time, Facing Worlds).

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Mortal Kombat 1 Dev NetherRealm Is Using Ghostface to Secretly Bring Back Two Obscure Characters — and Fans Have Already Worked Out Their True Identities

Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm fully unveiled Ghostface overnight, showing off the DLC guest character’s signature hunting knife, crawling skills, and ability to phone in a fellow Ghostface partner to help finish off victims.

But what the developers failed to reveal is which Mortal Kombat characters they’re quietly bringing back to the series via the Scream villain’s various versions that are available in-game.

During a Kombat Kast, NetherRealm confirmed there are actually three versions of Ghostface: the main Ghostface is the villain from the Scream films, as you’d expect, but the identities of the other two are secrets NetherRealm challenged players to work out for themselves.

As reported by EventHubs, NetherRealm confirmed that the other two Ghostface versions are Black Dragon characters called, at least for now, The Enforcer and The Assassin. Black Dragon is Mortal Kombat’s mercenary clan headed up at various points (the timeline is pretty complicated!) by fan-favorites Kabal and Kano. The lore justification here is Ghostface has been transported to Lui Kang’s timeline without his partners from the movies, so recruits two members of the Black Dragon clan to help him out.

So, Ghostface is actually three characters in one. You can switch to temporarily playing as The Enforcer or The Assassin by holding a button during certain moves. You can tell them apart by their knives, if you look closely. You get 12 seconds to play as an alternative Ghostface before you revert back to the OG, or your opponent lands a hit and triggers the OG to come running back in.

Players have analyzed The Enforcer and The Assassin’s unique movesets for hints at the Black Dragon characters’ true identities. Already, there are two outstanding suggestions.

Warning! Spoilers for the identity of Ghostface in Mortal Kombat 1 follow.

Mortal Kombat fans have identified moves that are directly related to Kobra (Enforcer) and Kira (Assassin), two human Black Dragon members who each made their debut in 2004’s Mortal Kombat: Deception. We also see Assassin do Kano’s famous roll attack, but Kira does this move as well in both Deception and 2006’s Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. As you can see from the movesets, this one looks nailed on.

Reaction to this revelation has been positive, not only because it’s a clever way of bringing back two rather obscure Mortal Kombat characters that perhaps would never have seen the light of day otherwise, but also because it leaves the door open for other, perhaps more wanted characters to appear as Kameos or even fleshed out DLC characters with a potential, but so far unannounced Kombat Pack 3.

As for Ghostface, the OG version is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, who has voiced the character throughout the Scream franchise. Ghostface joins the Mortal Kombat 1 roster on November 19 as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion owners, followed by wide availability for purchase on November 26. Up next is Conan the Barbarian and T-1000 Terminator.

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.

Blizzard just quietly released Warcraft 1 and 2 remasters, and they look like Zynga games made by a blind duck

Well, that was quick. After artwork leaked last week for what looked very much like a remaster of classic real-time strategy Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness, Blizzard sneakily dropped both that and a remaster of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans last night. They’re bundled together with Warcraft III: Reforged – itself with a new patch – in a ‘Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest’, which also includes the older versions of the first two games. The chest is available on Battle.net, where it’ll set you back £34.99 / $39.99. If you’re just after the older titles, they’re £9 / $10 and £12.59 / $15 respectively.

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Pokémon TCG Pocket Adds Anticipated Feature Early 2025, But There’s A Catch…

Trading arrives but it will be “gradually” expanded upon.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has got off to a flying start on mobile devices, but one feature trainers have been unable to access at launch is trading.

It was previously mentioned trading would not be available on release, and now in an update, The Pokémon Company has confirmed it will arrive early next year in January 2025.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox Chief On Bringing Games To Other Platforms, Says There Are No “Red Lines”

But it’s reportedly too early to make a call on Halo.

Last month, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella spoke about how Xbox was extending its gaming content to other platforms including the Nintendo Switch.

It’s unsurprisingly reignited a lot of debate about how far Xbox could go with this new strategy, and now Phil Spencer has elaborated on this during a recent interview with Bloomberg – mentioning how he doesn’t really “see sort of red lines” stopping certain franchises from making the jump to other platforms.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Eiji Aonuma Explains Why Zelda’s Gameplay Takes Priority Over Story

The producer thinks it would be “kind of difficult” to reverse.

Legend of Zelda’s longtime producer Eiji Aonuma has recently been doing the press rounds to promote the new entry Echoes of Wisdom, but he’s also been discussing the design philosophy of the Zelda series in general.

Speaking to Washington Post reporter Gene Park recently, Aonuma shared one rather interesting fact, mentioning how his teams always prioritise the gameplay with stories then used as a vessel. Here’s exactly what he had to say:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Pokémon TCG Pocket Roadmap Includes Trading by January and More Booster Packs Before the End of the Year

The developers behind Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket have teased some of the updates players can expect to receive in the coming months, including additional booster packs, trading, and other new features.

The team detailed their strategy in a post published on its official X/Twitter account. It’s a message that thanks fans for trying out Pokémon TCG Pocket since its launch a few weeks ago, and more importantly, it tells players what they can expect if they stick around. Update plans not only include new cards but even new, mysterious features that have yet to be announced.

Pokémon TCG Pocket will receive at least one “major update” in the near future, with the team saying that the plans is to release new booster packs before the end of the year. Those who have picked up the Pokémon mobile game so far have been treated to three packs – Genetic Apex Mewtwo, Charizard, and Pikachu – with three pools of cards to choose from. It’s unclear exactly how many more packs will release in the next few months or which creatures they will feature.

How and when the card roster will grow remains a mystery, but one feature that has been on everyone’s minds is currently slated to arrive early next year: trading. The ability to trade cards with other players is a Social Hub menu option that’s been grayed out since launch, and in January, Pokémon TCG Pocket will finally make it available to use. It’s worth noting that today’s message clarifies that only “certain cards” will be available to trade at release, with the team promising to “expand the selection of cards that are able to be traded” over time.

While the message keeps more than a few details hidden, rest assured that more features will come to Pokémon TCG Pocket down the line. “Also, we have other new features in development outside of the trade feature introduced here,” the message says. “We plan to announce more details about the update as the dates for the addition of these features are finalized, so please look forward to it.”

This mobile version of everyone’s favorite pocket monster trading card game has taken the world by storm since it launched late last month. Developer Creatures Inc. announced Pokémon TCG Pocket managed to surpass 30 million downloads last Friday – just more than one week after launch. Although release dates for expansion sets have not been officially revealed, a datamine from earlier this week suggested that more cards may be due to arrive in December and January.

Pokémon TCG Pocket will no doubt evolve over time, so while we wait to see how its collection of creatures will grow, be sure to read up on why some players think its coin toss mechanic needs some work. You can also check out why the developers are playing coy when it comes to the importance of pack choice and which card IGN readers think is best.

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.