Remember Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood? Maybe you don’t for various reasons, but the DS game was the first ever Sonic the Hedgehog RPG — and the last.
However, in a recent interview with Good Vibes Gaming, Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka spoke about his desire to make an RPG starring Sonic, admitting that he has asked himself “Why haven’t we done a Sonic RPG in all this time?”. It seems like Iizuka-san might have forgotten about Sonic Chronicles, but we’ll let him off — it was developed by BioWare, after all.
More than Meets the Eye – Exploring the Art of Optimus Prime in the Overwatch 2 x TRANSFORMERS Collab
Kaedi Peacecraft, Community Specialist, Blizzard
Overwatch 2 teams up for another exciting collaboration, teaming up with the iconic TRANSFORMERS franchise. Featuring four all-new Legendary skins for some of Overwatch 2’s heroes. Now you can fight in an epic battle of AUTOBOTS vs DECEPTICONS, as Optimus Prime x Reinhardt, Bumblebee x Bastion, and Arcee x Illari take on the menacing Megatron x Ramattra.
It’s time to roll out and log onto Overwatch 2 on Xbox, where you can pick up Optimus Prime Reinhardt and other Transformers favorites in the in-game shop or the Microsoft Store. You can even collect all four skins in the action-packed Transformers Mega Bundle. Play for free and earn cool Autobot and Decepticon-themed player icons, name cards, and titles as you battle in your favorite Overwatch 2 game modes. But hurry – this unique collaboration event ends on July 22.
To celebrate the collaboration, we had Blizzard Korea Studio’s Bobby Kim share what it was like to create the concept art and design for Optimus Prime Reinhardt, and how it felt to bring both worlds together.
How exciting was it to make Optimus Prime x Reinhardt for the new Overwatch 2 x TRANSFORMERS collab?
Bobby Kim: It’s the TRANSFORMERS series after all! TRANSFORMERS is one of the best action robot franchises out there, and it gets people’s hearts racing, so I knew this was a project I wanted to take on.
TRANSFORMERS and Overwatch are such a great combination. Optimus Prime is the leader of the AUTOBOTS, and after seeing his fearlessness when charging at DECEPTICONS, I thought he was a perfect fit for Reinhardt. I also couldn’t wait to incorporate Optimus Prime’s silhouette into Reinhardt.
What was the important thing about Optimus Prime you wanted to make sure was included in the design?
Bobby Kim: When developing the skin, I tried to integrate the sturdy, truck-like design that Optimus Prime is known for, such as the front windshield and the exhaust on the skin’s shoulders, to make him look more like a speeding truck when he charges. I also tried using sharper, angular parts throughout the skin, which I think captured the iconic look of Optimus Prime.
Are there any fun features about the skin that players should look out for?
Bobby Kim: One of the aspects I love about this skin are the windshield wipers. The technical artist did a remarkable job of bringing my vision to life. The skin is also filled with other mechanical parts that move which add a touch of realism. I can’t wait for our players to put this skin on and charge into battle, experiencing these fun little features.
What are some of your favorite TRANSFORMERS experiences that you want to share?
Bobby Kim: I remember watching the TRANSFORMERS series on TV with my eyes wide open as a kid. The robots inspired a lot of kids to let their imaginations run wild. To my eyes, every car on the road looked like it could convert at any time, and I still sometimes daydream about it all these years later. While I didn’t have the chance to own one of the toys back then, being part of this collaboration feels like the coolest gift I could give my childhood self.
Overall, this collaboration was a fantastic experience. Bringing Optimus Prime and other TRANSFORMERS characters including Megatron, Bumblebee and Arcee to the world of Overwatch has been a dream come true.
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl featuring new heroes and maps, different ways to play, and unique cosmetics! Lead the charge, ambush your enemies, or aid your allies as one of Overwatch’s 40 distinct heroes. Team up with friends, take them into battle across 25+ futuristic maps inspired by real-world locations, and master multiple unique game modes.
Overwatch 2 – Season 11: Super Mega Ultrawatch
Join Ultrawatch for an action-packed season! Suit up as Legendary Ultrawatch heroes to battle the forces of evil led by the fallen Mythic Calamity Empress Ashe and her sidekick B.O.B, then claim and customize Mythic Ashe’s diabolical dark mage style for your own or pick up the upcoming Mythic Bound Demon Reinhardt Weapon Skin. Celebrate as Overwatch hits 100 million players, marked by the long-requested return of Pink Mercy alongside a new Rose Gold Mercy Bundle, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Continue the celebration by unlocking the Aztec Sombra Bundle through challenges and enjoy a fun Community Crafted mode curated by beloved streamers. Play for free and earn 600 coins, 1500 credits, plus the Butterfly Symmetra and Lifeguard Lucio skins.
Arch Manning, the popular quarterback from the University of Texas and nephew of NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning, has officially announced that he has opted to be featured in College Football 25.
In a new post on X/Twitter, Arch shared a promotional video alongside his uncle Eli with the caption reading, “I’m IN the game.”
Eli also confirmed the news on his X/Twitter account, writing, “It’s a great way to focus on football.” Eli’s post refers to a report by Texas football journalist Anwar Richardson last March, who said that “multiple people” told him that Arch Manning would not opt into College Football 25, claiming that Arch Manning was “focused on playing football on the field.”
Despite Manning being one of the most popular student-athletes in college football, he is currently a backup for the Longhorns. Last season, Manning was third on the depth chart behind Maalik Murphy and Quinn Ewers, the latter of which is one of the cover athletes for College Football 25.
The news comes a day before EA Sports will reveal the list of more than 11,000 student-athletes that are set to appear in College Football 25 when the game releases next week. Manning is one of over 14,000 active D1 FBS football players who have provided EA Sports consent to use their name, image, and likeness (NIL) in College Football 25. Regardless of those who will not make the launch roster, each student-athlete who opted in to appear in the game will receive $600, plus a copy of College Football 25.
College Football 25 will be released on July 19. For more, check out the deep dives to College Football 25’s Dynasty mode, College Ultimate Team, and the top-rated teams. Check out our hands-on preview to hear IGN’s initial thoughts before the full release.
Blogroll Credit: Tim Warner / Getty Images
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Gavin ponders what ‘success’ looks like for systems with impossibly popular predecessors…
Looking back at Nintendo’s home console hardware sales over the past four decades, the line plotted by lifetime figures for each system shows a steady decline for the first two decades before a couple of huge electrocardiogram-style peaks bringing us to today.
Hey everyone! I’m Shaun “Unconkable” Rivera, game director on 2XKO. 2XKO is our new free-to-play, team-based fighting game featuring champions from League of Legends, releasing in 2025. Fight solo or with a friend in intense 2v2 battles, and master powerful abilities, assists, and combos to outplay enemies.
Our team is led by Evo founders Tom and Tony Cannon here at Riot Games—the studio behind League of Legends and Valorant—and is composed of developers who have deep connections with the fighting game community, including former professional players, creators, and tournament organizers.
2XKO is currently in development. We’ve just revealed a new champion and announced Alpha Lab, the game’s first at-home playtest. Sign up for a chance to play starting August 8.
Meet Braum, the Heart of the Freljord
2XKO’s newest playable character is Braum, a beloved hero blessed with mighty biceps and an even bigger heart. He joins the previously announced roster of re-imagined League of Legends champions, which includes Ahri, Yasuo, Ekko, Darius, and Illaoi.
Since 2v2 combat and playing with your friends is at the core of 2XKO gameplay, the team was eager to design a champion who would thrive as a support character. Braum’s protective abilities make any duo partner shine.
Stand behind me
Early concept art of Braum with his shield
Braum’s design is centered around his massive shield, which was once the unbreakable door to an ancient treasure vault. With it, he protects allies from incoming damage. Braum excels at disrupting opponents and blocking their attacks, making space for his team to land devastating combos.
Defense is key to Braum’s gameplay design, but he still has strong offensive options. He gains a unique buff called Unbreakable when he lands certain abilities, which coats Braum’s shield in ice and makes his special moves deal more damage.
His kit also introduces a unique freeze mechanic to 2XKO. By activating the magic of his shield, Braum can gain extra armor and stop opponents cold.
Fluffs of fury
Early concept art of Braum’s beloved poros
Braum’s warm and infectious personality has fostered his friendship with poros—magical creatures who hail from the frozen Freljord, Braum’s home region.
Braum’s little friends are ready to assist him however they can, whether it’s by flying through the air to stop fleeing enemies, or by coming together to form a massive ball of fluff that deals tons of damage.
Sign up for 2XKO Alpha Lab
For a deeper dive into Braum’s kit and more information on his gameplay, be sure to check out his Champion Introduction dropping tomorrow, July 10 on the 2XKO YouTube channel.
To try Braum and 2XKO on PlayStation 5, register for a chance to be part of Alpha Lab—our first at-home playtest—starting August 8 in select regions. Those who are selected to participate will receive an invite code for a friend. Sign up and get more details on the Alpha Lab website.
2XKO will also be playable at Evo 2024. Follow our social channels for the latest news and live coverage of the event.
Thanks for reading. We’re excited to hear what you think of 2XKO.
Apple Arcade is adding Vampire Survivors to its collection at no extra cost on August 1, 2024 — and it’s ad free.
Apple announced the addition of Vampire Survivors+ as a version with both premium expansions included at no extra cost. The complete removal of ads is perhaps what makes this version most appealing, however, giving it a leg up on the version of the gothic rogue-lite game already available on mobile.
“Mow thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn in Vampire Survivors, a gothic horror game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you,” reads the official synopsis.
Vampire Survivors became one of the biggest surprise hits of the last few years as what launched as a humble indie game on Steam blew up into and snowballed in popularity itself. Developer Poncle soon added layers of new content to the game, and the core experience now offers 50 playable characters and 80 weapons to play with. That’s before the two major expansions too, meaning Apple Arcade is about to add a ton of content at no additional cost, though the service is priced at $6.99 a month otherwise.
In our 7/10 review, IGN said: “It may look extremely basic, but if you give Vampire Survivors’ clever one-stick shooter idea a chance to sink its teeth into you it might not let go for a while.”
Apple Arcade is also adding Temple Run: Legends on August 1, while Castle Crumble joins on August 29.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Prolific fantasy author and number one Ranni stan (“I’ll pick the ending where my character gets a waifu”) Brandon Sanderson has been thinking a lot about how to apply Elden Ring and the Souls games’ signature storytelling approach to novels. During a recent playthrough on his YouTube channel, he was asked if he thinks there’s a way to replicate Souls-like descriptions in books. “I’ve wondered that. I really have,” Sanderson replies.
EA Sports has finally revealed College Ultimate Team, a game mode originally introduced in NCAA Football 14. In this mode, players can build their own dream team using real players from any of the 134 FBS schools past and present and create their dream team to compete against the AI or other players.
Which Ultimate Alumni are you adding to your Day 1 lineup?
Pre-order the Deluxe Edition of #CFB25 or the MVP Bundle to get one of these players on your Ultimate Team.
College Ultimate Team (CUT) was first introduced in NCAA Football 14 as Ultimate Team and functions much like Madden Ultimate Team (MUT), as EA Sports revealed that current and past college football players will be available in CUT.
Some of them are currently in the NFL, like former UGA Tight End Brock Bowers, who was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders this year. This group also includes current NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes, Davante Adams, Christian McCaffrey, and Joe Burrow.
More interestingly, the blog post mentions two programs coming to CUT: ICYMI and Legends; the former program will feature players who contributed to iconic moments in past seasons and helped their team excel on the iron, while the latter focuses on legendary All-Americans and see how they fare against the current stars of collegiate football.
This announcement is part of EA Sports’ weeklong set of reveals for College Football 25 ahead of its release next week. Yesterday, the developer provided a new look at gameplay featuring two Play Now matches between college football content creator James “BordeauxYT” Bordeaux and cover athlete Donovan Edwards. Throughout the week, the developer will reveal the launch roster and the new additions to fan-favorite game mode Road to Glory on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
College Football 25 will be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on July 16 for those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle, or July 19 for everyone else. For more, check out the top 25 rated teams, the best offensive and defensive teams, and the toughest stadiums to play in. Check out our hands-on preview to hear IGN’s initial thoughts before the full release.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
An enterprising pair of Elden Ring players going by the name “Let Us Duo Her” have invented a new method for cheesing one of Elden Ring’s toughest bosses, using a simple combination of weapons and techniques introduced by the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella is without doubt one of the toughest bosses offered up by Elden Ring’s based game, featuring a range of lightning swift sword strokes and rot-infused attacks that work in concert to melt the player’s health bar while frustratingly regenerating her own. Now, a pair of players have taken to Reddit to reveal a new — and vaguely humiliating — method of cheesing the troublesome boss by harnessing the new hand-to-hand fighting style introduced by the new DLC.
As shown in a YouTube video, the pair, who have branded themselves “Let Us Duo Her”, were summoned into battle as co-operators while donning the Dane’s Footwork gear, which was equipped with the Dryleaf Whirlwind ash of war.
— ELDEN RING Alerts (@EldenringAlerts) July 7, 2024
Upon entering the boss chamber, the Tarnished who had summoned the duo stood back as the unorthodox pair took it in turns to unleash kick upon kick against the boss, which locked her into a stun animation that went unbroken for the entire first stage of the fight. The ordinarily troublesome boss was then granted a brief reprieve following the mid-battle cutscene to unleash her fearsome Scarlet Aeonia attack, before being savagely kicked into oblivion by the scantily clad warriors.
“Inspired from ‘Let me solo her’, we adopted ‘Let us duo her’ to introduce the world to the Malenia cheese we discovered while playing around with the new DLC weapons,” explained oRezyn, who posted the footage. The build apparently needed no specialised talismans to stunlock Malenia, though oRezyn has warned that the stagger could have been interrupted if the summoning player had chosen to get involved.
Malenia’s Haligtree arena has borne witness to a slew of extraordinary challenge feats in the years following Elden Ring’s 2022 release, along with the rise of the community co-op hero “Let Me Solo Her”, who specialised in taking down the rot-infused demigod.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
That was…slightly cheeky of me. The Tomoe you play in parry-ful action adventure Bloodless is not the same Tomoe that was conspicuously absent from undeniable influence Sekiro. They might be based on the same historical figure, but that’s simply Sek-ulation. However! You can make your mind up yourself for zero money, since Bloodless has a free demo on Steam. Trazzer below.
