Category: Video Games

Baldur’s Gate 3 deserves better than these awful WizKids miniatures that look like they’d melt on a mildly temperate afternoon

Look. Having basically sold both of my best standing legs to buy more Kingdom Death Monster expansions, I can’t bemoan anyone spending silly amounts of money on whatever plastic tat makes them happy. But I love Baldur’s Gate 3, and it makes me sad to see all the wonderful art, writing, and acting that went into its characters reduced to $6 miniatures that look like their limbs would melt if I rubbed them between my thumb and forefinger.

As spotted by PC Gamer, WizKids have recently opened pre-orders for a set of greasy pre-painted fetishes based on Larian’s RPG. WizKids, of course, being the maker of supermarket-discount-aisle-ass toys but, ah, they’ve got a base on them so we can pretend they’re proper models and charge you accordingly. Moaning about toys now, are we Nic? Is this what the profession has been reduced to? And to that I say: videogames are toys anyway, they’re just slightly better at hiding it. Also, several of them are worth owning.

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Amid Nintendo’s Pokémon Lawsuit, Palworld Dev Pocketpair Signs Deal for Mobile Version

Palworld developer Pocketpair has signed a deal with PUBG company Krafton to develop a mobile version of the hit game.

Krafton, fresh from acquiring Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks from Microsoft, has now inked a licensing agreement with Pocketpair to expand the Palworld intellectual property to mobile devices, Gematsu reported.

Krafton’s subsidiary PUBG Studios will develop the mobile version of Palworld, which reimagines and adapts the core gameplay elements for mobile. No release window was mentioned.

PUBG Studios is the development arm behind the phenomenally successful battle royale as well as its equally successful mobile versions. Indeed, PUBG Mobile has had over one billion players since launching in March 2018.

The announcement of Palworld mobile comes hot on the heels of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s joint lawsuit against Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement, and the subsequent launch of Palworld on PlayStation 5 everywhere except Japan, where the lawsuit was filed.

Pocketpair has insisted it has no idea which patents it’s accused of infringing, but experts have pointed to a “killer patent” that revolves around the mechanic of catching Pokémon itself. Last week, one patent expert said the lawsuit shows “just how seriously Nintendo views the threat of Palworld.”

After Palworld’s huge launch earlier this year on PC and Xbox, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of “ripping off” Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have gone down the patent route.

It is worth noting that Palworld does include a mechanic that involves throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at monsters out in a field to capture them, similar to the mechanic seen in the 2022 Nintendo Switch exclusive Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and this may prove the key to the lawsuit.

Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC earlier this year, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld’s launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated.

Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP.

While the Pokémon games are mostly at home on consoles, Nintendo has launched a number of spin-offs aimed at other devices, including mobile. Pokémon GO has seen enormous success since launching in 2016, generating billions of dollars in revenue. There’s also Pokémon Unite, a MOBA released for mobile and Nintendo Switch, and Pokémon Sleep, a sleep-tracking game that rewards the user with Pokémon depending on the quality of their sleep.

Indeed, a new Pokémon mobile game is right around the corner: Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, a mobile version of the Pokemon TCG, launches October 30, 2024.

Pocketpair has said it will begrudgingly investigate the patent infringement claims while continuing to update Palworld despite the lawsuit, and apologized to players left concerned about the future of the game.

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.

Hi-Rez Studios lay off unknown number of workers to give Smite 2 “a sustainable future”

Smite 2 developers Hi-Rez Studios have laid off an unspecified number of workers, as part of what they call a “internal reorganization and reprioritization”. The layoffs would ultimately benefit Smite 2, claimed the company’s boss, who added that the cuts “disproportionally affect” those working on cosmetic skins and game “system features”, as well as people in marketing and publishing roles.

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Round Up: The Latest Previews Are In For Super Mario Party Jamboree

The party is just getting started.

Super Mario Party Jamboree lands on the Switch later this month and another lot of impressions are now rolling in.

So far think everything is pointing towards this new entry being quite the get-together. It’s certainly looking to be the biggest and most feature-packed version of Mario Party to date.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is on Sale

If you thought it was too early for this game to go on sale, guess again. Woot! (owned by Amazon) is offering The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom for Nintendo Switch for only $51.99. This is a good deal only if you’re an Amazon Prime member because you get free shipping. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay an additional $6 for shipping, which makes it just a few dollars cheaper than buying it elsewhere.

This is a physical copy and includes a 90-day Woot! warranty. Woot! mentions that copies may or may not be imported, but all Nintendo Switch games are region-free so you’ll be able to play the game regardless. Also, you won’t have to worry about language either, since that setting is determined by your Switch console.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Check out our The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review and see why this game earned an “Amazing” 9/10 score. In it, writer Tom Marks states “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is far greater than a gimmicky spinoff led by Zelda instead of Link. Its echo summoning is a clever concept used to combine the expertly crafted dungeons, puzzle rooms, and item progression you’d expect from a classic-style 2D Zelda with the borderline unhinged freedom provided by Tears of the Kingdom. This experiment doesn’t produce an entirely perfect result, with a little bit of clunky menu management and combat that simply isn’t quite as compelling, but it’s an impressively successful one all the same. Echoes of Wisdom is also a glowing proof of concept for how a modern 3D Zelda could recapture some of what fans like me miss about the series before Breath of the Wild without sacrificing the intoxicating creativity it introduced. Creating echoes aside, if this is the future of Zelda, I can’t wait to see more.”

For more discounts on games, check out the best Nintendo Switch deals today.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Director Stepping Back from Sequel After Cancer Diagnosis

Castlevania veteran Shutaro Ida has announced that he will be stepping back from work on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 2 following his recent cancer diagnosis.

The game developer, who worked on a long list of entries in Konami’s Castlevania series and more recently directed 2019’s Bloodstained, announced the news in a post on X/Twitter. He says he’ll be offloading some of his responsibilities with the rest of the team at developer ArtPlay now that he has begun his cancer battle.

“I, SHUTARO, also known as Curry Boy and Curry Sage, have been diagnosed with cancer and have begun my battle with the disease. I have already started talking about the sequel to Bloodstained, and have ideas for the game and such. From now on, the responsibility [for game direction] will be shared. Thank you for your support,” Ida wrote in a post translated by X and verified by IGN.

Ida has been instrumental in the Bloodstained universe and had planned on continuing it with a sequel. Bloodstained 2 was originally announced back in 2021, though no additional details about its progress have arrived since then. At the time, publisher 505 Games touted the action RPG as a success that managed to reach “generally favorable” reviews from both critics and fans on Metacritic.

Longtime Castlevania producer and ArtPlay president Koji Igarashi re-posted Iida’s remarks. While acknowledging Iida’s contributions to the series and gaming as a whole, he assures fans that the rest of the team will push through until Ida is able to work with them again.

“Up until now, the DS [Castlevania] series and Bloodstained have essentially been produced primarily by Director SHUTARO. It can truly be called his work. It is a great blow to have him step away from the project, but we will do our best not to be defeated by it. I hope that you will recover quickly enough to work with us again.”

Ida led the charge on Bloodstained and made a game that we ranked as the fourth best Metroidvania of all-time. In our 8.8/10 review, we said, “The wait was worth it. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a whole new castle to crash full of unexpected monsters and mysteries in the vein of classic Castlevania.”

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.

Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx Seemingly Ceases Development Following Pressure From Nintendo

It looks like popular Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx is no more.

One of its developers, riperiperi, announced the news on its Discord server today, saying that lead developer gdkchan “was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he’s in control of.”

“While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it’s safe to say what the outcome is,” riperiperi continues. The message, which you can read below, was also posted on Ryujinx’s X/Twitter account.

It also came just hours after some users raised concerns, noticing that Ryujinx’s Github page currently leads to a 404 message. Others pointed out Ryujinx’s download page also wasn’t loading, sparking more concern for the emulation project. Amid the speculation, one of the Discord’s mods assured fans that an announcement was coming, asking them to not spread misinformation in the meantime.

As it says on its website, Ryujinx is an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator written in C# for Windows, Linux and macOS. It began as a single-developer project in 2017, collecting a small team of developers along the way.

Today’s news is only the latest in Nintendo’s ongoing crackdown on emulators following its lawsuit against Tropic Haze, creators of the popular Switch emulator Yuzu. Tropic Haze paid $2.4 million in damages in the settlement, and Yuzu was shut down entirely. Nintendo claimed that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was pirated 1 million times before its release in the lawsuit, and issued a takedown notice for more than 8,500 copies of code of Yuzu in May.

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.