Category: Video Games

Where to Preorder Spider-Man 2 PS5 Console Bundle

Preorders for the Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle, DualSense controller are now available in the US, with stock still available at the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. All retailers have sold out of the incredibly popular Spider-Man 2 PS5 console covers, with Insomniac also suggesting that it’s unlikely there will be no further stock allocations made available before release. Stay tuned for more developments, and make sure you’re following @IGNDeals for immediate updates.

Preorder at Amazon

Preorder at Walmart

Preorder at Best Buy

Preorder at Target

Preorder at PS Direct

Preorder at GameStop

Where to Preorder Spider-Man 2 Bundle and Accessories in the UK

GAME will be the only other UK retailer with preorders available for the DualSense and PS5 console covers (now sold out), so this is your best chance of securing them. Amazon now has the Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle available to preorder for £569.99. For new UK developments follow @IGNUKDeals on Twitter.

Our Tips for Securing Your Preorder

Trust us, we’ve gone through this kind of thing before. With stock being limited, you’re going to want to be prepared as possible going into this preorder. For starters, make sure you’re logged into PS Direct or any other retailers you might need to utilize (i.e. Amazon, Best Buy, etc).

Make sure you have your payment information and shipping details updated and readily available right now, do not wait until you are at checkout. Furthermore, ensure you have a stable internet connection to avoid any technical glitches during the process, and set a reminder for the time the preorders are live (10 AM local, or 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET in the US).

It goes without saying that you should be on the respective websites well in advance of these times. Remember, demand is expected to be incredibly high, so act swiftly to secure your Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle and accessories before they sell out. And finally, make sure you’re following @IGNDeals / @IGNUKDeals on Twitter for immediate updates throughout the day.

Where Can I Preorder the Spider-Man 2 PS5 Bundle?

That’s an easy one. PS Direct (UK, US, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Portugal) will definitely have the bundle, DualSense Controller, and console covers available to preorder on July 28 (with all three officially launching on September 1).

Otherwise, Sony has also confirmed that other retailers will be holding the items for preorder as well. In the US, this is Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, and Target. We’ll be updating this page on July 28 with quick links to the preorder page, so bookmark it ASAP to stay in the know (or follow @IGNDeals on Twitter).

When Can I Preorder the Spider-Man 2 PS5 Bundle?

Today, Friday July 28, is the confirmed preorder start date at PS Direct and other retailers for the Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle, controller, and faceplates. It is also now confirmed that it will be the same start time as the recent Spider-Man 2 preorders: 10 AM local time or 7 AM PT in the US.

Can I Just Preorder the Spider-Man 2 DualSense or Faceplates?

Yes! Good news if you don’t want to buy an entirely new PS5, as the console covers (both for the regular PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition) and the DualSense will be sold separately. A great consumer-friendly move from Sony here, as there’s plenty of different options for gamers to choose from.

How Much Does the Spider-Man 2 PS5 Bundle Cost?

Sony hasn’t confirmed a price for the console bundle nor the Spidey-themed accessories in the US. But, it shouldn’t be hard to figure it out by look at the UK listings. We’re expecting the DualSense to be around $80/£70, the faceplates $65/£55, and the console bundle to be around $600/£560.

Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle and accessories preorders have started for those in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with the US next in line to begin placing orders. Preorder stock has been limited in other regions, with the popular Spider-Man 2 DualSense controllers and PS5 console covers now unavailable in the UK at the time of writing.

Keep an eye on @IGNDeals or @IGNUKDeals on Twitter where we’ll be immediately notifying you when preorders go live. Stock is also expected to be quite limited, so it’s essential to act quickly if you want to secure your preorder. PSA: PS5 consoles are also on sale today in the UK.

We’ve got more info on the rest of the Spider-Man 2 panel here, alongside everything else announced at SDCC. Otherwise, make sure to check out our full Spider-Man 2 PS5 preorder guide with info on all the different editions available, including the brand new Collector’s Edition featuring a statue of Venom. Finally, we’ve also collected all the best PS5 deals available right now, which will certainly save you some extra cash while still enjoying your favorite hobby this summer.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Game Scoop’s Game of the Year ’90s Edition

As some of you may know, IGN was founded in 1996 and we began handing out our Game of the Year awards in 2001, leaving years of top games uncrowned. We decided to remedy this as part of ’90s Week, and this week’s Game Scoop decided to go year-by-year through the decade to crown a Game of the Year for each year, starting with 1990.

Since IGN wasn’t around at the beginning of the 1990s, we had to be a bit freeform with the science behind our judgment. Some games were awarded based on their historical importance, while others were simply our favorite games to come out that year. Some games, as you’ll see later on, qualified because of both. And while Game Scoop won’t pretend to speak for the entire IGN team, here are our picks for GOTY 90s edition.

1990 – TIE – Final Fantasy and Secret of Monkey Island

The year saw the beginnings of one of the most beloved and important RPG franchises of all time, but also one of the crowning achievements of the narrative-based, point-and-click genre. As such, we gave our Game of the Year in 1990 to both the first Final Fantasy and LucasArts’ Secret of Monkey Island.

1991 – Super Mario World

Was there ever any doubt that Game of the Year 1991 would go to one of the best Mario games of all time, one of the best SNES games of all time, and maybe even one of the best games of all time? Super Mario World was the home console game of 1991 and remains a joy to play decades later. That said, we did have a hard time choosing it over other iconic games such as Sonic the Hedghehog and more importantly Street Fighter 2, which would change the fighting game genre forever.

1992 – The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

A seminal moment for 2D Zelda games, Link to the Past beat out games like Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D for the timeless qualities that define all the best Zelda games. You’ll find our early 90s picks to be dominated by Nintendo thanks to their classic games like Link to the Past.

1993 – DOOM

Not only did DOOM revolutionize the shooter genre, it defined a generation and changed the popular perception of video games at large. While the panic among parents seems quaint by today’s standards, DOOM codified and distilled Generation X into its most primal, satisfying id with this iconic shooter.

1994 – Super Metroid

If you hear me praise a 90s Nintendo game for being timeless, it’s because the era saw many games that continue on today thanks to their lasting influence and pure fun. Super Metroid is a visually gorgeous game that still holds up today thanks to its sophisticated gameplay and deep exploration. It remains a speedrunner’s favorite as one of the main events of the annual Games Done Quick, and is replayed annually by Game Scoop panelist Justin Davis. Super Metroid isn’t just the best game of 1994, but maybe the most enduring from the ’90s.

1995 – Warcraft 2

Remember when game studios would follow up a game with an even better sequel a year later? Blizzard released Warcraft 2 a year after the first Warcraft, cementing the series’ status as a foundational pillar for one of the most beloved gaming companies of all time. Warcraft 2 improved everything over its predecessor, and set the stage for an even better Warcraft game in the early 2000s, before the series changed gaming forever with the MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

1996 – TIE – Super Mario 64 and Quake

Both Super Mario 64 and Quake revolutionized 3D gaming, dragging the medium from its 2D form into the polygon era. Super Mario 64 was unlike anything else before it and showcased how 3D could transform what was previously a 2D genre. But while Mario’s influence is undisputed, it’s the Quake revolution that we’re still feeling today thanks to the game’s real-time 3D rendering on one of the medium’s most popular genres: the first-person shooter.

1997 – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Runner-Up: Diablo

Our Game Scoop panel chose Symphony of the Night for one very simple reason: it is still an amazing game. While 1997 saw the release of some very good games, including Final Fantasy 7, with the hindsight of time and numerous new games in the series, only one stands the test of time in terms of quality and fun, and it’s not Square Enix’s 3D masterpiece but Konami’s side-scrolling gothic adventure.

1998 – TIE – Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid

It’s hard to overstate just how important Half-Life’s blend of epic sci-fi storytelling and state-of-the-art physics was to games, but also just how mind-blowing it all was when it was first released in 1998. However, go back and play Metal Gear Solid (or play it for the first time) and you’ll be surprised just how modern Hideo Kojima’s 3D opus is in 2023. Not only is the first Metal Gear Solid still fun to play, but the themes it discusses, such as nuclear proliferation and genetic enhancements, are still relevant over two decades later.

1999 – Soulcalibur

Rounding out the ’90s might be a surprise for some, but remains a personal favorite of the Omega Cops. Bandai Namco’s Soulcalibur wasn’t just an excellent fighting game, but a breath of fresh air compared to the relatively serious fighting game offerings like Street Fighter and Tekken. Getting a ring out remains hugely satisfying when playing against friends, and there’s still no character selection as wild and varied as the ones in Soulcalibur.

These are Game Scoop’s picks for the Game of the Year for each year of the ’90s! Let us know in the comments how you feel about our picks or let us know which you’d choose in their place.

Video: What Would A ‘Master Mode’ In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Be Like?

Horrifying, that’s what.

If you purchased the additional DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, then you’ll know that the game supports a ‘Master Mode’ option, enabling players to experience the story with a number of bum-chafingly difficult alterations, including enemy types, regenerating health, and more.

Sadly, Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t feature this option (yet..!), but that hasn’t stopped our intrepid video producers Alex, Zion, and Felix from speculating what such a mode might be like in the sequel, particularly with those dastardly Gloomy Hands.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Report: Ex-NFL Player Blake Martinez Banned From Reselling Pokémon Cards On Whatnot

“We have decided to permanently remove the seller from our platform”.

On the heels of a meteoric rise, a notable Pokémon and sports trading card re-seller is suddenly grappling with a potentially similar meteoric fall.

The streaming trading card resale company Blake’s Breaks, which is helmed by ex-NFL player Blake Martinez, has been embroiled in controversy over the last week following a series of accusations from customers and fellow card game streamers. Several online allege that Blake’s Breaks practises rampant scamming techniques, including theft from customer orders, sleight of hand, and trading card pack manipulation.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

2D Retro-Inspired Fighter Pocket Bravery “Coming Soon” To Switch

Drawing inspiration from the classics.

At EVO last year, Statera Studio lifted the lid on its new 2D pixel-themed fighter Pocket Bravery – drawing inspiration from series such as Street Fighter and King of Fighters, as well as the Neo Geo Pocket Color generation.

While there’s still no concrete release date, publisher PQube has now confirmed it’s “coming soon” to all consoles including the Nintendo Switch. Alongside this announcement was a new trailer for the game, which you can check out above.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Arc System Works Announces Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes For Nintendo Switch

Arriving in 2024.

EVO 2023 is taking place this weekend and to celebrate the special occasion Arc System Works and developer French-Bread have announced Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes is coming to multiple platforms including the Switch in Early 2024.

This “dramatic stylish 2D fighting action” sequel will include rollback netcode and supports 1-2 players local and 1-9 players online. It’s playable at EVO 2023 at the Arc System Works booth. Here’s the official announcement on social media:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Plankton Revealed as Next Nick All-Stars Brawl 2 Character With a Full Breakdown by Smash Pro

Plankton from SpongeBob Squarepants has been revealed as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2‘s newest fighter.

Plankton joins the likes of Squidward Tentacles and Jimmy Neutron as new fighters alongside a slew of characters returning from the 2021 original, including SpongeBob Squarepants, April O’Neil from the Ninja Turtles, and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Plankton’s reveal trailer features Mr. Krabs’ rival piloting a mech suit before putting a beating on his opponents using ketchup-based attacks, his wife Karen (who also happens to be a computer), and lasers. You can still see — and hear — the aquatic microorganism as he barks threats and steers his mech using its antennae. Plankton’s inclusion in the game lends further cadence to a supposed leak that predicted his inclusion in the game as one of its new combatants.

Set to release sometime later this year, this sequel promises to fix some of the original’s biggest issues, like the game’s lack of voice acting and relatively shallow mechanics compared to other titans of the genre like Super Smash Bros., Rivals of Aether, and Multiversus.

As part of EVO’s Industry Showcase, publisher Game Mill Entertainment and developers Ludosity and Fairplay Labs also teamed up with Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma to break down some of the new mechanics that are being added to the upcoming platform fighter. The breakdown revealed some groundbreaking new mechanics, including overhauls to All-Star Brawl’s shielding and dodging mechanics, as well as the new Slime meter.

Hearkening back to Nickelodeon’s iconic green goo, characters are able to build up their slime meter by attacking their opponents or taking damage before using it to augment any number of moves. Players can use Slime to extend dodges, escape combos, strengthen special attacks, or unleash a super move.

While the game doesn’t currently have a firm release date, we’re likely to hear more about it in the coming weeks, since it’s supposed to come out later this year.

Charlie Wacholz is a freelance writer at IGN.

Hades Diehard Accomplishes Run Most Considered To Be Impossible

Nearly three years since Hades was released, crowned IGN’s own Game of the Year in 2020, and after thousands of hours played by individual members of its hardcore community, no one had beaten the toughest challenge the game had to offer: a “Max Heat Run.”

Many Hades players are unlikely to ever interact with its Pact of Punishment system at all, which only becomes available after the player’s first successful run. It allows players to self-impose additional difficulty to an already challenging roguelite by selecting things like giving all enemies more health and removing reward choices found at the end of most encounters. And by electing to turn up the system’s “Heat Gauge” in specific ways, additional rewards can be unlocked, extending the longevity for those who are looking for excuses to continue hanging out with Zagreus and friends.

A “Max Heat Run,” with the Heat Gauge turned up as high as it will go, was quite literally never designed to be beaten, and considered unthinkable by even the most seasoned veterans. Unthinkable, that is, until this week, when expert Hades player and content creator AngeL1C decided to give it a try and had unfathomably good luck (combined with some truly unbelievable skills).

“Is It Reasonable? Absolutely Not”

AngeL1C, who’s largely considered one of the best Hades players in the world, explained to IGN exactly why her feat seemed so far fetched until just recently:

“Hades’ pact system allows you to personalize the way you want the game to become harder. Pairing certain ones together can lead to extremely difficult runs even at low difficulty totals, so naturally when you turn everything up you’re asking for a bad time.”

By “turn everything up,” AngeL1C is referring to runs where the player turns on every single one of the Pact of Punishment’s disadvantages to a maximum of 64 Heat. Given that players can earn more than enough rewards to collect everything Hades has to offer without ever approaching anywhere close to maximum Heat, players have no incentive to put themselves through that kind of pain. But that hasn’t stopped the small, but passionate “High Heat” community from sharing tips and swapping war stories in their Discord server.

“The developers never balanced this system past heat 40. You are absolutely not supposed to be able to come close to beating this, EVER,” AngeL1C explained. “Everything from more challenging bosses, there being different forms and new phases entirely, to your entire ability to heal (aside from max health hearts) being removed entirely. Other examples such as the mirror of night being disabled (where you spend darkness points to become stronger) and 100% more damage afflicted to you meant that the window for success is extremely small.”

In fact, that window was so small that many in the community assumed it could never be done. A little over a week ago, a popular Hades content creator called Haelian posted a 15-minute video titled “Why No One Has Beaten the Max Heat in Hades or Probably Ever Will.” In the video, Haelian breaks down in excruciating detail, precisely why that accomplishment is so darn difficult.

It largely comes down to math. Because a max Heat run throws so much difficulty at you, a very specific loadout is required to even stand a chance at overcoming it, and because several of the Heat disadvantages relate to limited your reward options, you basically have to get extremely lucky.

Haelian provides the exact numbers in his video, saying, “With only some of the factors calculated in, the odds of getting a run that is even plausible is about 0.0147% or 1-in-6,802 attempts. Even if you only use the 45 seconds to reset in chamber one, as an example, that’s one plausible run every 85 hours worth of attempts. Is it possible? Yes. Is it reasonable? Absolutely not.”

For precisely this reason, most of the High Heat community has turned to mods that control against some of the random variables, including AngeL1C.

“The main effort of modding was to remove so-called “toxic RNG” in order to make skill expression more prevalent,” she explained. “First boon blessing and hammer are fixed, minibosses are standardized (the worst options taken out, like the barge of death, Asterius in elysium, and the tiny vermin). You have a visual indication of where the fountain room is on exits, and getting the satyr sack is guaranteed in 2 chambers. With all that, it still took me a huge amount of time to clear even with those.”

Obviously, if skilled players can control against random variables and save themselves countless lost hours hoping the stars will align, there’s little reason to even try to achieve an unmodded, unseeded Max Heat Run, which made the feat seem all the more unlikely. That is, until just eight days after Haelian posted his video, when AngeL1C, who had herself contributed footage and helped gather information for that video, decided to try her hand at it.

More Like Max Beat

After only 20 minutes of trying to get the perfect series of drops, Angel1C’s “God run” came together. Astonishingly, she beat it just 30 minutes later. The video documenting that most unlikely of runs was posted on her YouTube channel, which at the time of this writing is approaching 300K views in the one day since it was published, and contains some insane nail biting moments where it looked like she would fall prey to the many, many ways such a demanding run could fail.

“I had the timer encroaching, no acorn charges (your 5-hit shield for boss fights), low health (essentially anything kills you in one hit). I got hit down to less than 30 health before barely managing to clear,” AngeL1C explained. “My only regret is turning off my microphone in the recording software. You have no idea how hard I popped off.”

Shortly after AngeL1C’s video went live, Haelian posted a reaction to her unbelievable feat in utter shock.

“Of course, it had to be exactly one week after I made a video saying no one would ever do it,” Haelian said with a laugh. “I honestly thought this would never happen, cause I didn’t think you’d have someone out there with the known capability to be able to do it who was going to even bother to attempt it.”

For AngeL1C’s part, she seemed giddy when she told IGN about her future Hades plans. “This feels like completion to me. I have other goals, but they are all far minor and I really doubt I’ll have the motivation to grind them out.”

Instead, it seems like she’ll focus on some of her other speedrunning passions like Metal Gear Rising and Furi, the latter of which she recently snagged the 25th spot on the leaderboard for.

But Hades will always have a place in her heart, especially as she awaits the upcoming sequel that she’s eager to check out. “Honestly, my love for this game knows no bounds. I really just appreciate almost everything about it.”

Travis Northup is a freelance writer at IGN.

Former President Barack Obama Is a Captain Falcon Main in Smash Bros.

We’ve known for years that former United States president Barack Obama is the closest thing we’ve had thus far to a gamer in the White House. But recently, we got a critical piece of information about his gamer profile: Obama is a Captain Falcon main in Super Smash Bros.

This news comes thanks to Smash Bros. community organizer Cody Daniels, who met Obama in 2015 through the Make-a-Wish foundation. The two played some friendly rounds of Super Smash Bros. 64, Daniels’ game of choice, and Obama signed a Smash Bros. 64 cartridge for him and took a photo.

Then last week, Daniels appeared on Hustler Casino’s Max Pain Monday poker stream alongside competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee player Daniel ‘Tafokints’ Lee to raise money for Make-a-Wish. The two bantered about Smash several times during the stream, and at one point, Daniels was asked about his rounds of Smash Bros. with the former president. The section where Daniels explains his Smash Bros. bout with the former president starts at the timestamp linked here.

Daniels explains that while he “took it easy” on Obama and played as Ness (Daniels typically plays Fox and Pikachu), Obama “wasn’t as bad as you would think” at the game. He invited the others at the table to guess who Obama played as, and eventually revealed that Obama picked F-Zero’s Captain Falcon.

Okay, sure, I buy that. Captain Falcon kind of gives off patriotic, superhero vibes.

It’s unclear precisely how much Smash Bros. experience Obama was bringing into that match. He did notably bring a Nintendo Wii with him to the White House (which he used primarily for Wii Sports), and presided during the first-ever White House game jam and a livestreamed gaming marathon to promote Obamacare.

We’ve reached out to PR for the former president to ask if he has played Tears of the Kingdom yet, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.