Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, eat your heart out.
If you had a Nintendo 64 growing up, we bet you had Mario Kart 64. This was many people’s first Mario Kart game, and the rest is history.
Of course, you can play it on the Switch thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Alongside Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Super Circuit (both on NSO too) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, that’s four different Mario Kart games on one system.
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Luffy’s actor says he’s missed a lot of GameCube hits.
Ahead of Netflix’s live-action One Piece premiere later this month, Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy (Monkey D. Luffy) has spoken about how Nintendo games have influenced his career.
He loves series like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda – referring to Link and Mario as his “two heroes” growing up while calling the Wii title Super Mario Galaxy “one of the best pieces of art”. Unfortunately, he feels like he’s missing out on some parts of Nintendo’s history – with the 19-year-old actor revealing how he would “really love” a GameCube to experience a number of “iconic” games on this platform including Wind Waker:
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“Stricter checks” have reportedly caught out a lot of trainers.
As you might have already seen, the Pokémon World Championships is taking place this weekend in Yokohama, Japan. While it’s the same format to previous years, it seems there’s actually been a bit of drama in the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet competition.
In a story on Kotaku, it’s mentioned how a bunch of “stricter checks” have caught a number of professional players off guard – ultimately ending their chance to become 2023’s video game Pokémon master. Anyone using hacked versions of Pokémon to create their own perfect party and skip training has been busted by the tournament organisers.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Starfield is the first new IP from renowned developer Bethesda Game Studios since The Elder Scrolls debuted in 1994. That alone comes with lofty expectations, not to mention that the space-set RPG has become a critical release for Xbox following the disappointment of Redfall and the sparse first-party Xbox Series X|S lineup before it.
From its all-new setting to its familiar Bethesda RPG mechanics, there’s a lot to unpack within Starfield as we approach its September 6 release. So we’ve put together this comprehensive overview of everything we know about Starfield, including the latest information on platforms, price, gameplay, story, map size, game length, DLC, and more.
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Starfield is coming out on September 6 for Xbox Series X|S and PC (via Microsoft Store and Steam). It’ll be available through Game Pass at launch. Those who purchase the Premium Edition, Premium Edition Upgrade, or Constellation Edition can access the game five days early (beginning September 1).
The standard edition of Starfield costs $70 USD, the Digital Premium Edition costs $100, and the Constellation Edition costs $300 (Jump to Starfield Special Editions and Accessories). The most affordable way to play early is by subscribing to Game Pass ($11 USD/month) and purchasing the Premium Edition Upgrade for $35.
Starfield is being released as an exclusive game for Xbox, so the title will not be released on PS5 at launch. We don’t yet know if Starfield will eventually make its way over to Playstation, but it seems as unlikely as Halo coming to Sony consoles.
Starifled will run at 4K/30 FPS on Xbox Series X and 1440p/30 FPS on Xbox Series X. Bethesda chose to lock both consoles at 30 FPS for consistency. As director Todd Howard told IGN:
“We do lock it at 30 [FPS] because we want that fidelity, we want all that stuff. We don’t want to sacrifice any of it. Fortunately in this one, we’ve got it running great. It’s often running way above that. Sometimes it’s 60. But on the consoles, we do lock it because we prefer the consistency. Right? Where you’re not even thinking about it. And we don’t ever want to sacrifice that experience that makes our games feel really, really special. So it feels great. We’re really happy with how it feels even in the heat of battle. And we need that headroom because in our games, really anything can happen.”
The most-recent substantial Starfield trailer was shown on June 11 during the Xbox Games Showcase. The story-focused trailer opens with narration: “Humanity has always hunted for knowledge in the unknown. The wonder is, not that the field of stars is so vast, but that we have measured it” — an altered quote from 19th-century writer Anatole France’s The Garden of Epicurus.
Watch the three-minute trailer for yourself below:
Starfield maintains the core of a Bethesda RPG experience: “Who would you want to be and what would you want to do?” Fallout explores those questions in a post-apocalyptic setting, Elder Scrolls in fantasy, and now Starfield in space.
Starfield undoubtedly does a lot new, though Howard said players of past Bethesda RPGs should feel at home. “I think the minute-to-minute, obviously on the ground, it has similarities to Elder Scrolls and Fallout and the things that we’ve made and how it feels in your hands or some certain mechanics,” he said.
Howard likened Starfield to “Skyrim in space,” while Bethesda’s Ashely Chang called it a Han Solo simulator: “Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff.”
As with Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, Starfield can be played from either a first- or third-person perspective, though Howard noted “first-person for us is still our prime way of playing.”
As seen in various gameplay videos, Starfield’s combat is faster-paced than Fallout. On top of refined shooting and movement mechanics, Starfield’s weaponry offers a deep set of customization options that can alter stats, appearance, and/or functionality.
Players will also be able to utilize a jetpack during combat and traversal. Governed by a “boost” meter, the jetpack allows players to attack from above, maneuver across terrain, and drop from heights without taking fall damage.
Bethesda also closed out its Starfield Direct (clip begins at 41:35) by teasing another combat option: something akin to the Force from Star Wars. The playable character is seen holding out their hand and raising enemies off the ground.
Engaging with different gameplay mechanics and completing related challenges will improve a character’s skills. (Security can be increased by picking locks, for example.) Skills are divided into five categories: physical, social, combat, science, and tech.
The second half of Starfield’s gameplay occurs in space. Your interstellar traversal will be interrupted by ship battles, which Bethesda designed to feel “exciting and dangerous.” The strategy of ship battles revolves around Starfield’s power allocation system, which allows you to disperse power between your ship’s subsystems, such as its engine, shield, and grav drive. The space combat systems were inspired by FTL and Mechwarrior, according to Todd Howard.
Dogfighting, however, isn’t the only option: Players can dock with other ships, steal them, or disable them. After claiming a ship, it can be made yours and accessed at any spaceport.
The transition from space to ground combat won’t be seamless, according to Howard: “People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality.”
Branching and consequential dialogue has been a staple of Bethesda RPGs, and that trend continues in Starfield.
“We’ve gone back to kind of a classic Bethesda-style dialogue [system]”, said Todd Howard. “You’re looking at the character and how they emote, you have a series of choices there.”
Starfield includes over 250,000 lines of dialogue — more than twice the total in Fallout 4 and more than quadruple the total in Skyrim. Unlike Fallout 4, the main character will be silent.
Starfield also features an updated version of a dialogue minigame from Oblivion. Details on the new system are sparse, though IGN’s Matt Purslow described the Oblivion system for the unfamiliar:
If you need a memory refresher, Oblivion featured a mini-game during some dialogue sequences that was used to persuade an NPC. It used a wheel cut into pie-like segments that represented actions such as admire, joke, boast, and coerce. Over a series of rounds, you were able to manipulate a character’s disposition, something made easier through high speechcraft stats or by using a bribe. It’s not clear what elements of this system are reflected in Starfield’s version, but it certainly seems there will be a way to engage in conversations beyond just picking dialogue options.
Base building returns from Fallout 4, as Starfield players will be able to construct outposts on the planets they visit. Outposts can serve as home bases for your crewmembers and companions, a place to harvest resources, a cargo link between other outposts, and a place to build crafting and research stations. Of course, you can also simply build homes or compounds among the stars for your pleasure.
Set up your home amongst the stars.
🔧 Assign Crew and Companions
🔧 Set up Extractors to harvest resources
🔧 Establish cargo links to move resources between outposts
🔧 Add crafting and research stations#Starfield pic.twitter.com/A67JsnC700— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) June 11, 2023
Ships, too, can be customized. Customization options range from aesthetic (paint color) to practical (engine, grav drive, weapons, etc.). The latter will alter your ship’s stats, such as speed, jump range, and cargo capacity.
It looks to be an extensive customization system, judging by the HMS Liberty Optimus ship shown off by Bethesda:
Starfield features Bethesda’s “most in-depth and diverse character creation system yet.” The character creator includes 40 preset templates and many options for face and body customizations from there.
The character creator will also prompt players to choose a background, which comes with three relevant skills. For example, a Diplomat will start with the Persuasion, Diplomacy, and Bargaining. Other backgrounds include Beast Hunter, Bouncer, Cyber Runner, Explorer, Gangster, and Homesteader.
The final step of creating a character includes choosing (or foregoing) 1-3 optional traits that include a pro and a con. For example, an Introvert will have increased endurance when alone but decreased endurance when with a human companion. Kid Stuff, meanwhile, allows you to visit your parents’ home, though they’ll automatically take 10% of all the money you earn.
Starfield has over 100 star systems with over 1,000 planets (10% of which host life). While much of what you find across the galaxy is procedurally generated, Starfield also includes more handcrafted content than any previous BGS game, according to Todd Howard.
Starfield has four main cities. The most notable is New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies and the biggest settlement Bethesda has ever built. Other major cities include the pleasure city of Neon and the Freestar Collective capital Akila City. Bethesda has also revealed Cydonia, a United Colonies mining hub on Mars, and The Key, home of the Crimson Fleet.
Starfield’s main quest will take 30-40 hours to complete — roughly 20% longer than previous Bethesda Game Studios titles, according to Todd Howard. The game director called the main quest “a small fraction [of] what’s in the game.”
Starfield’s narrative is centered around exploration and discovery. Here’s the official story synopsis from Bethesda:
The year is 2330. Humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you will join Constellation – the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy – and navigate the vast expanse of the Settled Systems.
The open-world RPG will include at least one of Bethesda’s signature “step-out moments,” such as exiting Vault 101 in Fallout 3.
You can join multiple factions in Starfield. In addition to Constellation, which players will join as part of the main quest, four of Starfield’s major factions have been revealed to be joinable. Here are brief descriptions of each from lead quest designer Will Shen:
Like in previous Bethesda RPGs, Starfield allows you to recruit companions and crew members to assist you on your adventure. These companions can travel with you or be assigned duties on a ship or outpost.
According to Todd Howard, there are four main companions (all of whom are from the Constellation faction) with individual questlines and romance options. Three of those characters have been confirmed: Constellation leader Sarah Morgan, Constellation pilot Sam Coe, and Constellation engineer Barrett.
Other recruitable crew members include the robot VASCO, the returning Adoring Fan, shotgun specialist Marika Boros, and outpost engineer Heller.
Yes, like previous BGS games, Starfield will receive premium DLC/expansions. In fact, Bethesda has already announced the first story expansion, Shattered Space. It’s included with the Premium and Constellation Editions.
Todd Howard told IGN Bethesda is “going to be doing a lot of add-on content for Starfield.” He added, “Our plan is to do things of varying sizes, and we’ve done a lot of that in our previous games. So despite the size of the game, there are still things we want to add as far as features in the future or stories and things like that. Hopefully, it’s going to continue for a long time that way.”
Starfield is the first Bethesda game built in its upgraded Creation 2 Engine.
“We have more people doing engine work now, by a factor of five, probably than we’ve ever had,” Todd Howard said in 2020. “So the overhaul in our engine is the largest we’ve probably ever had, maybe larger than Morrowind to Oblivion.”
Howard called Creation 2 a “significant, significant overhaul,” noting how the revamped engine will improve rendering, animation, pathing, and procedural generation, among other things.
The new engine has purportedly led to the fewest number of bugs in a Bethesda game, according to Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty, though it’s safest to take this statement with a grain of salt until Starfield is released.
“We have an awful lot of people internally playing Starfield, working with Todd and the team,” said Booty. “I see bug counts and just by the numbers if it shipped today, Starfield would already have the fewest bugs of any Bethesda game ever shipped.”
Starfield will have “full mod support,” according to Todd Howard. “Our modding community has been with us for 20 years,” he said. “We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it.”
Howard said he and the development team believe Starfield “is going to be a dream” for the modding community given its breadth of content.
Below is all of the information on Starfield preorders, including special editions.
Includes:
Includes:
*Adds Premium content to base game purchase
Physical version
Includes:
Digital version
Includes:
Physical items
Digital Items
Wireless Controller
Wireless Headset
Seagate Hard Drive (2TB, 4TB, 8TB)
Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.
Earlier today, there was a flurry of confusion about the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and whether or not it will release on PS4 and Xbox One as well as current-gen platforms. Well, CoD fans who don’t have a PS5 or Xbox Series console yet can calm down, because yes, it’s coming to the previous gen too.
The confusion arose because of a Twitter user and content creator TheGamingRevolution noting that on the official Xbox page for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, only Xbox Series X and S were listed – no Xbox One. The user went on to point out a YouTube video from PlayStation’s official account seemingly confirming both PS5 and PS4 releases, leaving it unclear exactly what was going on. Was one of the two platform holders making an error? Was the game coming to PS4 but not Xbox One?
Fortunately, there’s no cause for alarm. The official Xbox website has since been updated to include both Xbox Series X and S, and Xbox One, and IGN has independently confirmed that neither Xbox nor PlayStation’s listings are erroneous. A Call of Duty: Warzone reveal event is planned for August 17 that should solidify this further, but in the meantime, past-gen console gamers shouldn’t fear being left behind.
The confusion around platforms today was understandable given the news cycle around Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in general lately. The game has been notoriously leaky in the months leading up to its reveal and release date of November 10, 2023, so much so that Activision finally leaned into the humor of it all. Hopefully that August 17 event will clear the air on enough to sate everyone ahead of November.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Earlier today, reports started to emerge that the existence of Borderlands 4 had been leaked by an actress adding the game to her resume, but Genvid Entertainment has since clarified the situation.
Fans noticed that the online resume for actress Angie Jho Lee had a listing for “Borderlands 4” under her “voice over” section, along with the role of “Aiyumi.” However, in a statement, Genvid clarified that Jho Lee is actually appearing in Borderlands EchoVision Live, a recently announced interactive streaming series.
“Actor Angie Jho Lee is a voice actor on Genvid Entertainment’s upcoming interactive streaming series, Borderlands EchoVision Live, which was announced at San Diego Comic-Con last month,” reads the statement. “While the series takes place within the Borderlands universe and is made in partnership with Gearbox Entertainment, it is not a Borderlands game. We reached out to Angie and asked her to make this change on her personal account to reflect the accurate role with the interactive series.”
As the statement notes, Jho Lee’s resume has since been updated to specify Borderlands EchoVision Live.
Further fueling the rumors was a LinkedIn page for someone named Nadia Danova, who listed “Borderlands 4” under her “Experience” section. That LinkedIn page, however, has since been scrubbed from the site, and it was a little dubious to begin with. According to GamesRadar, while the LinkedIn page was still live, it said she was working on the game while she was a developer with MoGi Group in 2021, and she listed that she left MoGi in May of 2021.
It’s worth noting, however, that that doesn’t mean Borderlands 4 isn’t eventually coming, nor has it been refuted by either today’s Genvid statement or by Gearbox – it just hasn’t been confirmed yet by today’s rumors. Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford tweeted in 2021 that they’re “working on the big one,” implying a fourth entry in the main Borderlands series.
“I am told of rumors that Gearbox is ‘assisting’ or ‘co-developing’ another Borderlands game (or a new spin-off game). These rumors are NOT accurate,” he wrote at the time. “Gearbox is lead dev of any future games in the Borderlands franchise (or any Borderlands adjacent games) with no co-development.”
He continued in a follow-up tweet: “More: We are definitely working on some amazing stuff that, I hope, will surprise and delight you. Plug: if anyone out there has Skills-To-Pay-Bills and wants to get in on some Borderlands action, we’re working on the big one :),” with a link to Gearbox’s careers page.
More: We are definitely working on some amazing stuff that, I hope, will surprise and delight you. Plug: if anyone out there has Skills-To-Pay-Bills and wants to get in on some Borderlands action, we’re working on the big one 🙂 https://t.co/Pp5iTUBwAt https://t.co/ExjXEbU30R
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 6, 2021
There’s still plenty else that’s happening within Borderlands as well. What seems to be a new all-in-one collection, The Borderlands Compilation: Pandora’s Box, was seemingly leaked by the South Africa ratings board last month, and Eli Roth’s Borderlands film finally got an Aug. 9, 2024, release date.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
After an initial tease at its showcase last year, publisher THQ Nordic has revealed South Park: Snow Day, a new 3D co-op multiplayer game coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S next year.
South Park: Snow Day focuses on Cartman and the crew as they celebrate not having school for the day, thanks to inclement weather. While not much is known about the game, it appears to be fantasy-inspired as Cartman is shown wearing his Grand Wizard King costume while other children in the trailer are shown wearing fantasy-inspired outfits.
South Park: Snow Day is developed by Question Games, a studio whose previous projects include 2015’s The Magic Circle, a fantasy puzzle game, and The Blackout Club, a first-person co-op horror game released in 2019.
This is the most recent South Park game made for consoles, following the 2017 release of South Park: The Fractured but Whole, a 2D turn-based RPG by Ubisoft. While the most recent game based on the South Park IP was the free-to-play RTS title South Park: Phone Destroyer, released in 2017 for Android and iOS.
South Park: Snow Day was one of a handful of games THQ Nordic announced at its digital showcase today. For more information on the event, check out our Everything Announced roundup.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Airhead is one of those platformers I really want to like. Freshly announced at tonight’s THQ Nordic Showcase, I’ve been playing an early, hour-long demo build of it this week, and while there are certainly things to admire here, I’m not overly convinced it’s going to be one for the ages. Its colourful visuals and contrasting colour palette cast its deep caverns and sun-drenched mountains in a beautiful, but eerie kind of light, and its strange, scuttling creatures put me in the mind of the night horrors from Dredge and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. But its central premise of you being a headless body carting round an inflatable head to presumably escape to goodness knows where isn’t quite the breath of fresh air I hoped it would be.
“It’s a Snow Day”.
THQ Nordic has announced a brand new South Park game which is coming to Switch in 2024.
South Park: Snow Day! is a 3D co-op title which sees Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny team up to celebrate “the most magical of days in a young child’s life” — a snow day. A teaser trailer was shown off today during the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase 2023 presentation.
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