Last week, we got a sneak peek at some of the awesome merchandise available exclusively at the Nintendo Museum. Well, wouldn’t you know it, after just one day of being open to the public, the attraction has announced that it will be limiting sales on select items (thanks, VGC).
As detailed in a post from the official Nintendo Museum Twitter account, the Kyoto site will now be installing one-per-person sale limitations on its Game Hardware Keychain collections, select Hanafunda cards, lanyards and pass cases and the game Magnet Collection. The same limitations also apply to the controller cushions that we were particularly enamoured with last week.
Steven Spielberg’s love of video games is well-documented. There are numerous pictures of him posing next to classic arcade games like Donkey Kong, Missile Command, and Space Invaders, and he’s been involved in various video game-related projects over the years, including directing the film adaptation of Ready Player One.
But while many adults lose their passion for gaming as the grow older, Spielberg is apparently still at it. There’s just one thing: he doesn’t like controllers.
“He loves story games and I’m always trying to get him to play Uncharted because it’s Indiana Jones and I’m like, ‘Hey, you’d appreciate this.’ But he’s like, ‘I can’t do controllers. I can only do keyboard and mouse,'” said his son Max Spielberg, himself a game developer, in an interview with MinnMax.
His aversion is apparently strong enough that when Spielberg’s son showed off his game, a co-op roguelite published by Dreamhaven, he had to be the one demo it because his father wouldn’t pick up the controller. Hey, at least Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves has mouse and keyboard support on Steam, right?
It’s always a Call of Duty. He loves Call of Duty. He plays the story campaign
In any event, Max says that gaming is a big point of bonding between the two. “He loves gaming. He’s the one who got me into it. He plays games. He’s a big PC gamer. So that’s kind of our bonding point as well. He’s like, ‘Hey, what’s good? What Call of Duty should I be playing? Send me a list of the top five shooters and I’ll get them downloaded, then we can play them together when you come over to the house.”
He adds, “It’s always a Call of Duty. He loves Call of Duty. He plays the story campaign.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Max shares some more stories about Steven Spielberg’s connections with the games industry, including the time he received a Wii Sports demo from Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto. Steven Spielberg, for his part, is hard at work on his next movie, which is said to be about UFOs and is due to release in 2026.
Photo by Marc Piasecki/WireImage
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.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt modding community is embracing spooky season by releasing a slew of Halloween-themed mods for the beloved role-playing game.
October is now upon us and NexusMods users are getting ready for All Hallow’s Eve by turning the nine-year-old The Witcher 3 into a fall wonderland complete with pumpkin patches and black cats, with help from developer CD Projekt Red’s official modding tool REDkit.
Setting the scene is ShapranArt’s Fall Is Coming mod, which predictably turns the green trees of The Continent into hues of orange and brown. Farmers’ fields across Temeria and Redania will also sprout pumpkins instead of their usual crops.
NexusMods user lisembart97 has paid particular attention to the famous Inn at the Crossroads in their aptly titled Halloween at Crossroads Inn mod. It turns the iconic location, essentially where The Witcher 3 players begin their journey as protagonist Geralt after completing the White Orchard prologue, into a particularly spooky spot with carved pumpkins, black cats, and scattered bones.
Something similar has even reached the bright and sunny Toussaint, as even though this country doesn’t hold the same dark and dreary spookiness as Temeria, the Pumpkin Patch at Corvo Bianco mod from TrickArrant brings, well, a pumpkin patch to Geralt’s home of Corvo Bianco.
“Pumpkin patches have always been one of my favorite parts of Fall, so I made this mod to bring that signature fall experience into the game, complete with the obligatory flannel shirt,” TrickArrant wrote.
This all adds a wonderfully spooky atmosphere to The Witcher 3 but, beyond just taking it all in, NexusMods user dingchavez666 even brought players a Halloween themed quest. The Saovine in Skellige mod adds a quest of the same name that tasks Geralt with lighting the Saovine bonfire in Skellige ahead of their celebrations.
This being The Witcher 3, however, not everything is as simple as it seems. Geralt must fend off dangerous wraiths while doing so and even comes across a spirit wolf.
These mods are just a handful of the myriad players are creating, with content creation boosted by the release of the aforementioned REDkit. This gives modders access to official assets used by CD Projekt Red and therfore allows the creation of new characters, quests, locations, and more.
Age of Wonders 4 Has a New Chapter of Stories to Tell
Lennart SasStudio Manager, Triumph Studios
Summary
Age of Wonders 4 is launching a new expansion pass with four DLC packs.
The pass is available now, along with is first addition, Herald of Glory.
The new content will arrive over the next year for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
I’m Lennart Sas, co-founder and studio manager at Triumph Studios, and in case I haven’t gotten the chance to introduce my team to you over the last 20 years, we’re the folks behind the Age of Wonders series. For over 20 years, our games have brought you our iconic blend of role-playing and tactical strategy gaming, where creative empire creation, 4X strategy, and tactical turn-based combat come together into something we think is pretty special.
We’re especially proud of our latest iteration: Age of Wonders 4. Our community has reacted with so much love and positive feedback since our launch last year, and that community has grown tremendously thanks to what has turned out to be our biggest and most accessible game so far. But we’re only just beginning – Expansion Pass 2 has launched, letting you tell new stories over the course of the next year.
Everyone has an idea for a fantasy empire, which they’ve been able to bring to life in our worlds – whether it’s a rampaging horde of bloodthirsty, flame-slinging mole people, or a grand, pious army of angelic goblins. We’ve also heard a number of your stories of the unexpected: factions that started with a simple idea but, through your trials and tomes, evolved into something quite different! Inspired by that last point – evolution – I’m eager to share some of the ideas we’re adding to the game in our next wave of updates and expansions.
This week, we revealed the next wave of content coming to Age of Wonders 4 in our second Expansion Pass. It kicks off with Herald of Glory, a modest but exciting collection of new items for your Heroes – your in-game squad leaders and most powerful battlefield pieces – along with some new options for the factions those heroes are out to fight alongside.
That’s just to whet your appetite before we start adding even more stuff – more than you might expect! Make no mistake, we have more tomes of magic and more new faction cultures on the way, but our game has seen a lot of changes directly inspired by your feedback over the last year and a half. We’ve taken your suggestions to ensure we’re not just adding more stuff; we’re putting a lot of focus on making the existing stuff better.
Take the Ways of War expansion, which we also announced. We designed the content in Ways of War with an emphasis on players’ control over the story and theme of their empires, allowing them to shape the narrative of their rise to power. The new “Oathsworn” culture rewards players for sticking to their warrior code, whether that’s only challenging worthy adversaries, or even avoiding war whenever possible. At the same time, we’re adding new Intrigue events that involve assassinations, betrayals, and downright dishonorable foes to see how far our players are willing to stretch the limits of those codes.
We’re also adding more player choice in the updates we’ve made to the base game. The hero upgrade system has been completely revamped, adding new progression trees so you can make each character’s journey a better fit for both your personal stories and your strategic needs. This comes alongside the changes we’ve made over the last year such as the updated Mystic Culture schools, the item forge, new ascension options, and so much more.
There are already some details we’ve shared on more content yet to come to Age of Wonders 4. We’re adding Giant Kings, new handcrafted map regions, and the fulfillment of a prophecy that brings the Ancient Archons back to the realms – but I’m getting ahead of myself. The point is, Age of Wonders has always been about providing a broad array of choices so players can rule any fantasy empire they can dream up. Now, our focus is on making those choices deeper, more detailed, and richer.
If you haven’t tried an Age of Wonders game before now, I feel confident in telling you this is the best time yet. Check out Ways of War and our new expansion pass and see what’s waiting for you!
Purchase Age of Wonders 4: Premium Edition and gain access to Age of Wonders 4 and the Age of Wonders 4: Expansion Pass.
The Age of Wonders 4: Expansion Pass includes the Archmage Attire, the Dragon Dawn content pack (Release: June 20th 2023), the Empires & Ashes expansion (Release: November 7th 2023), the Primal Fury content pack (Release: February 27th 2024) and the Eldritch Realms expansion (Release: June 18th 2024).
Undisputed launches October 11 on PS5, and has been in development for nearly five years, starting as the humble Esports Boxing Club and then evolving into the first major boxing game in over a decade. With over 70 of the most prestigious prizefighters on the roster, including Canelo Álvarez, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Frazier, it was our priority to make sure that they not only looked amazing, but that they moved in their own, unique, signature ways too.
From scan to sculpt
How do you get the longest reigning super middleweight world champion, Joe Calzaghe, to look as authentic and life-like as possible? It all starts with the scanning process. We work with a variety of scanning studios all over the world to create the most accurate reference images for us to work from. The Steel City Interactive art team then use this to sculpt the in-game models, recreating every muscle, vein, hair, and bead of sweat.
For our boxing legends, we also have a de-aging process. Players want to experience these fighters in their prime, so we try to recreate exactly what they looked like at that time.
“One of the most challenging parts of bringing characters from the past to life is the de-aging process. Lots of things usually change with age: eye shape, lip volume, cheekbones, body fat, even ear size, but my aim is to get them back to their fighting shape, recreating the look of their greatest fights. First, I collect a lot of references from every possible angle to have an overview of what I want to achieve. Then, I check the model to understand what to keep and what to change according to the pictures and footage. I then work on the tone and symmetry, removing some fat, wrinkles, and imperfections from the body and face. After this, I sculpt the main muscles and tweak the facial features. Eventually I get to a point where the boxer is recognizable both from a distance and up close. When I’m happy with the result, I proceed to fix the textures as well.”
– Francesco Primiceri, 3D character artist at Steel City Interactiver
Motion capture
We also try to get as many fighters as possible into our motion capture suits, so we can record their unique footwork, punches, slips, dodges – and even taunts! When you play as Oleksandr Usyk, we want it to feel like you are Oleksandr Usyk, so our art and animation teams spend days processing the output from the motion capture and then applying that to our detailed character models.
British and Commonwealth Super-Lightweight Champion, Dalton Smith, was one of the fighters we worked closely with to capture his boxing style. He also helped mimic some of the fighters who are no longer with us, studying their movements then performing them so we can immortalize them in Undisputed.
“I am used to boxing in the ring or the gym, but throwing punches in a motion capture suit is a whole different ball game. I got suited up and spent a few days working with the team at Steel City Interactive to capture not only my own personal in-ring moves, but those of some of the old school boxers as well. You don’t realise how intense and detailed the process is until you’re throwing the same punches and performing the same blocks over and over again until it’s captured from every angle. Seeing the results in-game is incredible – my avatar really does look like me.”
– Dalton Smith, British and Commonwealth Super-Lightweight Champion
Styles (and stats) make fights
There’s a saying in boxing that ‘styles make fights’ and we think it’s really important that those styles are backed up with real life statistics too. There’s no point in having the undefeated legend of boxing, Rocky Marciano, in the game if we don’t also give him the punching power and stamina he was known for.
That’s why we work with CompuBox to define each fighter’s ratings, statistics and behaviours. When you’re playing as a boxer with a fantastic knockout ratio, like Deontay Wilder, his ability to land KO’s in the game is boosted. And this works the same for the AI version of them too; each fighter has their own skills and abilities – taken from their real-life fight records – that will change the outcome of the fight in a meaningful way. It’s your job to figure out how to counter that!
Rule the ring
Undisputed has the most expansive and authentic licensed fighter roster of any boxing game yet, and we’re excited for you to experience that.
You can pick up the Undisputed Deluxe WBC Edition on October 8 on PS5 and play three days early. Undisputed Standard Edition launches on October 11 on PS5.
With PS5 games getting bigger each year and SSD prices on the rise in 2024, we want to make sure you can find the best amount of storage for the lowest price possible. Here, we’ll point you in the direction of some of the greatest 2TB SSD deals we can find at the moment, like this incredible 2TB Seagate FireCuda 530R SSD (with heatsink) for $139.99!
It’s worth noting that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid-state drive with at least a 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive. We’ve gathered up SSDs that match or exceed these specs in the list below to make your search easier.
Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD and not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (like this one for $9) and install it yourself. For our top recommended picks for 2024, check out our full breakdown for the Best PS5 SSDs.
2TB Seagate FireCuda 530R PS5 SSD with Heatsink for $139.99
This SSD has just dropped a significant amount in price at Best Buy. The Seagate FireCuda 530R 2TB SSD is currently enjoying a 40% discount, bringing its price down to just $139.99. With a pre-installed heatsink, that’s a price worth taking advantage of. This SSD also offers read speeds up to 7,400MBps and write speeds up to 6,900MBps.
TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for $110
This is one of the best deals on a 2TB SSD at the moment: Amazon is offering the TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for just $109.99. It unfortunately does not have a heatsink so you’ll have to invest in one, but you can easily do that here for under $10. It also offers transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write.
Acer Predator GM7000 2TB M.2 SSD for $136.99
With sequential read/write speeds of up to 7400 MB/s and 6700 MB/s, this is an excellent SSD for your PS5. It currently has a fantastic discount at Amazon, down to $136.99 from its MSRP of $169.99, however it does not come with a heatsink so you’ll need to invest in one.
SAMSUNG 980 PRO 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $149.99
You can never go wrong with a Samsung SSD. The 2TB 980 PRO is currently marked down 35% to $149.99, which is an excellent deal! Featuring read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s, it’s a great fit for your PS5 and even comes with an integrated heatsink so you don’t need to worry about shelling out extra cash for a separate one.
WD_Black 2TB SN850X SSD for $151.99
Right now Amazon has the WD_Black 2TB SN850X SSD available for just $151.99. Normally priced at $189.99, this 2TB SSD features read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s to ensure your games load as fast as possible. This model will work with a PS5 but you will need to purchase a heatsink to go with it (which you can do here for just $9).
Seagate Game Drive 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $159.99
Currently marked down $100 from its MSRP at Best Buy is the Seagate Game Drive 2TB SSD, which is down to $159.99. This SSD features read and write speeds of 7300MB/s and 6900MB/S, respectively, and even comes fitted with a heatsink. That’s a deal well worth taking advantage of before it’s gone for good, so act fast to grab yourself some extra storage!
Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $168.99
This SSD earned a spot in our list of the best PS5 SSDs as the best high performance PS5 SSD. This is all thanks to read/write speeds up to 7300MB/s and 7000MB/s, respectively. Not to mention, it comes with a heatsink all ready to go. It’s currently enjoying a nice little discount down to $168.99 at Amazon, which is definitely worth taking advantage of.
2024 Crucial T705 2TB SSD for $294.99
This is the newest model from Crucial and it already has an excellent discount on Amazon. For a limited time you can get 26% off this SSD, bringing it down to $294.99 from $399.99. It’s well worth the investment as well as it offers crazy good sequential read/write speeds up to 14,500/12,700MB/s. If you feel the need for speed, this SSD will certainly get you there.
What if the SSD Doesn’t Include a Heatsink?
Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for $9 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.
Budget to Best: PS5 SSDs
There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, so they’re useful for more than just those who need additional storage for their PS5 console.
How To Install a New PS5 SSD
It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
Square Enix is temporarily suspending the auto-demolition of houses in Final Fantasy XIV in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which devastated several states in September.
The developer wrote in a post on Lodestone, “From all of us on the FFXIV development and management team, our hearts go out to those who were affected late last month by Hurricane Helene in North America. Due to the damages and other factors, we have decided to temporarily suspend the automatic demolition of estates.”
Housing demolition is an automatic process in Final Fantasy XIV, and will happen if you don’t set foot in your house for at least 45 days. The idea is to give other players a chance to claim the parcel of land, which is a hot commodity in Eorzea. Indeed, housing is one of Final Fantasy XIV’s most popular features.
According to Square Enix’s post, demolition was suspended in the Primal, Dynamis, Crystal, and Aether Data Center early on October 2. When auto-demolition starts up again, it will resume from the time remaining when the pause took place. Players with estates scheduled to be demolished can cancel it by entering their housing or building on their land.
It is our sincere hope that recovery is swift, and those of you who were affected will be able to rejoin us in FFXIV soon
Square Enix says that it will “monitor the situation in the coming days” and will inform players when demolition is ready to resume.
“It is our sincere hope that recovery is swift, and those of you who were affected will be able to rejoin us in FFXIV soon,” Square Enix says.
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.
One blemish on Throne and Liberty’s barnstorming release – one day in and it’s so far up the Steam charts it’s only visible by telescope – has been some unexpected Steam Deck trouble. Despite the fantasy MMORPG having worked fine on the Deck in previous betas, a celebrating Amazon employee must have drunkenly nudged the ‘Break game on Linux’ lever at the office launch party, as reports began trickling in of handheld players being kicked from servers. The cause: Easy Anti-Cheat, Throne and Liberty’s hacker thwarter of choice, declaring an error.
Fortunately, as of right now (October 2nd), all seems well again – I’ve got Throne and Liberty running on a Steam Deck OLED as I type this, and can mosey around next to fellow online players without issues. A lot of them are turning into wolves. Most of them, in fact. Maybe too many.
In case you haven’t heard, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, is returning home to Square Enix, so to speak, for the first time in 21 years, bringing Mistwalker’s one-time Apple Arcade-exclusive RPG Fantasian to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 (both physically and digitally) and to PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam (digitally) on December 5, 2024, in the form of Fantasian Neo Dimension.
To investigate more about his latest effort, which was first announced in 2018 and released three years later, Nintendo Life met up with Sakaguchi-san a few weeks ago (before the birth of his grandchild!) in Los Angeles to discuss his newest game’s second life, and whether it would be his final Fantasian.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Gets New Evil Endings, Mods and More on Xbox
Luke KarmaliPR & Communications Director, Larian Studios
Summary
13 new cinematic Evil Endings added, including one for each Origin Character.
Dynamic Split Screen revamps multiplayer gameplay, with the screen splitting and merging based on players’ distance from each other.
Mods officially available on console – check out five of the most popular game-changers to get you started.
After much anticipation, Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7 is now available on Xbox Series X|S, bringing with it fresh mutations, mutilations and multiplayer options to continue your adventures across The Sword Coast. With so much added, we thought it’d be helpful to break down what’s new, especially as some elements may be slightly less familiar than others!
Kicking things off are our brand new Evil Endings – there are 13 in total (what an auspicious number), all designed to reward those of you with the cast-iron stomachs needed to make some truly dastardly decisions across the course of your playthrough. You asked, we answered… just be careful what you wish for.
Alongside this, we’ve brought an updated version of our Dynamic Split Screen from Divinity: Original Sin 2 to Baldur’s Gate 3. No more shall your couch co-op sessions be littered with arguments over which direction to go in! This update means that, whenever you and your fellow party members want to go in different directions, the screen will split dynamically and remerge again when you’re back within range.
But the real meat of today’s update comes in the form of our new Mod Manager, which enables console players to embrace that special breed of mayhem usually reserved for PC players. That said, with so many mods available, we appreciate it can be a bit overwhelming. So, to get you started, here’s a rundown of five of our favorites that really show off the depth of the new toolkit:
The deities overseeing the lands of The Forgotten Realms are a fickle bunch, frequently putting the “god” in “god-awful”. So why not give your stalwart Paladin a few extra curveballs to deal with by pledging their allegiance to one of these reprobates? We promise it’ll add depth, flavor and new dialogue options – and we’d never break an oath to you!
There are a plethora of mods on offer that add visual customization options to your Baldur’s Gate 3 adventures. We’ve got mods for hair, mods for faces, and even dye packs and clothes packs. But when faced with so much choice, remember to spare a thought for the humble icosahedron – or D20 to me and you. Why not pair your latest run exploring Patch 7’s new Evil Endings with these beauties from elliegreenart? Go on – they’ll put the “die” back in your dice.
To paraphrase the great Lesley Gore: A big party? You can try if you want to! Yes, one of the most-demanded requests we’ve seen has finally been realized thanks to the noble work of Pixellbytes, who’s added functionality allowing you to wander The Sword Coast with a party of up to 16 adventurers. Couple of fun facts: that’s exactly 1.7 times the size of a certain famous fellowship of nine, and the mod even works in multiplayer. Okay, maybe only one of those is actually fun.
Despite the existing offering of 12 classes and 46 subclasses in Baldur’s Gate 3, we’re firm believers in a change being as good as a rest. Consider then, this alternate subclass for the Warlock from tepkunset. Inverting the original premise of a Warlock as being bound to a demon, the Celestial Warlock draws power from a resident of the Upper Planes, offering a very different gameplay and roleplaying experience. A star is born, indeed.
They say absolute power corrupts absolutely, so what better way to celebrate our new Evil Endings than by turning it up to 11, adding more fingers to the monkey’s paw and blowing more than just the bloody doors off? This mod from Dustbag lets you develop your characters beyond level 12 by adding levels 13-20 for all classes, enabling you to be the true terror you were always meant to be. Go get ‘em, tiger.
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. Forge a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you and your party will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms.
THE ULTIMATE D&D EXPERIENCE
Choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Adventure, loot, battle, and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Play alone or as a party of up to four in multiplayer – and select your companions carefully.
SEAMLESSLY SWITCH BETWEEN SINGLE AND MULTIPLAYER
Each character weaves their own story, alone or in a party. Combine your forces in combat and split your party to follow your own quests and agendas. Concoct the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when your friends least expect it. With split-screen co-op for up to two players on one Xbox, or as up to four players online, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an adventure made to be played alone, or shared with friends.
NO ADVENTURE WILL BE THE SAME
The Forgotten Realms are a vast, detailed, and diverse world, and there are secrets to be discovered all around you – verticality is a vital part of exploration. Sneak, dip, shove, climb, and jump as you journey from the depths of the Underdark to the glittering rooftops of the Upper City. How you survive, and the mark you leave on the world, is up to you.
A CINEMATIC STORYTELLING EPIC
Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before, as you venture through our biggest world yet. Romance, deceive, aid, obstruct, and grow alongside your friends thanks to Larian’s next-generation RPG engine.
NOTE – Local co-op is currently not supported on Xbox Series S.
Certain features of the game, including mods, may not be accessible by Xbox child accounts. At Xbox, a child means players under the age of 13, unless local laws specify differently.
