Ever since the hat was invented by Valve Corporation in 2009, mankind has grappled with questions of fairness, worthiness, and pride – at least as they pertain to microtransations in free-to-play games. Shooty battle royale Apex Legends is the latest to posit an answer, that being “the Battle Pass should cost more money”.
No stone left unturned.
It has been a little over a year since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom landed on Switch and for many of us, the adventure is over. Sure, we might drop into Hyrule to mop up a couple more quest, do some more exploring or get lost in the wonder of it all, but, generally speaking, we’re done.
The same cannot be said for speedrunner and content creator SmallAnt. After announcing that he had reached the hallowed 100% completion rate within the first two weeks of the game’s launch, you might think that the streamer would also be finished with Link’s latest adventure. You would be wrong.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Unicorn Overlord is now available for just $34.99 on PS5 in the early Prime Day sales. This discount is currently exclusive to the PlayStation version, but further discounts from other retailers across all platforms should follow soon. This is one of the top video game deals currently available during the summer sales at retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target. It’s also the lowest price we’ve seen for the PS5 version since its release.
IGN awarded Unicorn Overlord an “Amazing” 9/10. You can read our review to understand why it’s considered one of the best console strategy games in recent history. Here’s reviewer Eric Zalewski’s final verdict:
“Reflecting on the incredibly diverse and remarkably creative world I explored across my 45-hour journey, any issues I had with Unicorn Overlord ended up feeling like nothing more than nitpicks. The tactical combat system is unique and complex while also being easy to understand, expertly blending mechanics from many of its peers with smart new additions of its own.”
“The interesting terrain across the continent of Fevrith makes every fight feel unique, with some of the best map gimmicks I’ve seen in any strategy RPG. Because the campaign is told through the eyes of a diverse and creative cast, its trope-filled fantasy story is elevated in a way that a more traditional storytelling style wouldn’t manage. The shorter, more personal stories work wonderfully to support a loop of exploration and liberation that had me begging to see one more tale told, one more town rebuilt, and one more battle fought.”
These aren’t the only deals Amazon’s got going on at the moment. With Prime Day on the horizon (July 16 and 17, to be exact), there are quite a few discounts to check out. Some of our favorite early Prime Day deals include this excellent offer on Audible Premium Plus, where you can get 3 months of the service for free, and Kindle Unlimited is also offering 3 months of its service for free.
To learn more about what you can expect from the massive savings event this year, head to our Amazon Prime Day roundup for additional information on when the sales begin, what we expect to see, and what competing events will be going on around the same time.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
The studio-killing fallout of Embracer’s acquisition frenzy continues to fall like ash on the industry. The publishing giant has reportedly closed Piranha Bytes, the studio known for cult RPGs like Gothic, Risen, and Elex, according to a worker who spoke to Polish games site CD-Action. The studio’s existence had been under threat since early this year, after being targeted in Embracer’s purgatorial studio massacre. At that time the German studio were hopeful to avoid being closed down, insisting “don’t write us off yet!” Unfortunately, it looks like those who worked at the studio have since been laid off.
The First Descendant, a free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter from Korean games company Nexon, is blowing up across PC and console with big player numbers on Steam specifically. But as players debate the rights and wrongs of its ultra aggressive monetization, another controversy has hit the game.
Forbes reported that The First Descendant “is using barely-changed” Destiny 2 icons, and pointed to the remarkable similarities between icons used by developer Bungie for its veteran looter shooter and those used by Nexon for its new looter shooter challenger.
Certainly, the similarities are hard to ignore. One Bungie icon artist tweeted to say it “feels like a great day to mention that Bungie icon artists are a super-crew of talented folks with original ideas and sharp instincts.” But what’s actually happened here?
‘The First Descendant’ Is Using Barely-Changed ‘Destiny 2’ Icons via @forbes https://t.co/rGdbfKNfJX pic.twitter.com/gGKfoTkLk9
— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) July 7, 2024
While Nexon is under pressure to explain itself (IGN has asked for comment but has yet to hear a response), fans have unearthed evidence to suggest the root of the problem can be found in an icon database that seems to misunderstand the concepts of personal and commercial use of assets.
Iconduck bills itself as a “free and open-source” database of hundreds of thousands of icons, illustrations, emojis, logos, and flags, and includes a number of Destiny icons Nexon may have lifted for use in The First Descendant.
As spotted by PC Gamer, Iconduck has a Destiny Icons set that includes 204 icons, all open sourced with a Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal license. “All icons can be used for personal and commercial purposes,” Iconduck claims.
This icon set was designed by Tom Chapman, who made the Bray.tech websites among others for Destiny 2. In a tweet, Chapman said most of the icons in the set were “ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers.”
“Most of the remainder are designed by Bungie and recreated by me or whoever contributed them to that repo,” Chapman added, before casting doubt on Iconduck itself: “I’ve come to hate open source… I don’t want @iamiconduck to use my work like this.”
It’s worth pointing out that Iconduck also makes available icons from the Pokémon franchise, including Pikachu and Poké Balls, Marvel Avengers icons, famous Batman icons, and plenty more images you’d imagine Iconduck wouldn’t have the rights to make available for people to use for commercial purposes.
There are many other icon databases that include similar sets and make similar claims of their use. Nexon may well have used icons from one of these websites, such as Iconduck, and tweaked them slightly for The First Descendant, but the company has yet to explain its process. If it did, Nexon would then face pressure to explain why it did. Again, IGN has asked for comment.
The First Descendant rekindles memories of Palworld, Pocketpair’s controversial ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival and crafting game that has been accused of “ripping off” ‘Pokémon, but has also been compared gameplay wise to all sorts of titles in the survival and crafting genre.
Generally speaking, The First Descendant is a mash-up of mechanics from various looter shooters already in the market. There’s more than a whiff of Destiny about The First Descendant’s design, systems, and mechanics, but then there’s also a lot of Warframe about it, too. Check out IGN’s The First Descendant review in progress to find out what we think of the game so far.
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.
“A new culinary adventure awaits”.
You’ve probably cooked all sorts of delights (and not-so-tasty dishes) in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and if you’re interested in applying these skills to the real world, then this new “unofficial” cookbook based on The Legend of Zelda series might be for you.
This is the ‘2nd Unofficial Legend Of Zelda Cookbook‘ by Aimee Wood, which is described as an “expansion pack sequel with 90+ unofficial new recipes”. It’s a 200+ page expansion, with more than nine new chapters and there’ll even be collector’s editions.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It’s arriving in “Winter 2024” locally.
Following an announcement in May about Taito Milestones 3 coming to the West in “Winter 2024“, Taito has now shared an update about the collection’s Japanese release. It will be arriving later this year on 28th November and comes with a total of 10 titles:
“The release date for the Nintendo Switch software “Taito Milestone 3” has been set for Thursday, November 28, 2024. We are also pleased to announce that the game will include a total of 10 titles, including “Dead Connection,” which will be ported for the first time.”
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
SSD prices are trending upwards for 2024, but there are still some excellent deals to be found if you’re vigilant. Ahead of Prime Day, Amazon is current offering the PS5 compatible TEAMGROUP 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for only $104.99. You’ll need to supply your own heatsink, but you can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10. All of the other best PS5 SSDs cost $140 or more.
The PS5 is an outstanding gaming console, but the 1TB SSD is a real bottleneck. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, can exceed 200GB alone. NBA 2K23 weighs in at 150GB and even older games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space. Future games like Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly demand even more space. The advantage of a PS5 console over the Xbox Series X is that the SSD slot is not proprietary; you can install most third party PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs as long as they are fast enough. Slower drives WILL work, but they may bottleneck the original SSD.
Although TEAMGROUP isn’t as well known of a brand as SanDisk or Samsung, this brand has been around for a while and is a legitimate manufacturer of flash-based storage. This particular model has plenty of good reviews on Amazon. This particular SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 upgrade. This is a PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD with an M.2 2280 form factor and transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. It also makes an excellent boot drive for your gaming PC, especially with its 2TB storage capacity.
Willing to pay more for another brand? Check out all of the best PS5 SSD deals today.
The “fan-favorite shmup/RPG” returns in 2025.
WayForward shared some surprise news at its Anime Expo panel this year, revealing the Game Boy Advance sci-fi adventure title Sigma Star Saga will be making a return on “modern platforms” in 2025.
This 2005/06 “fan-favorite shmup/RPG” will also be made available as a Game Boy Advance “repro cart” next year. This title, originally licensed by Bandai Namco, will be powered by the Limited Run Games’ Carbon Engine. Further details including platforms and a specific release date will be made available in the future.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Looking to upgrade the storage capacity of your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or ASUS ROG Ally? Well right now Walmart is offering a SanDisk Ultra 512GB Micro SDXC Card for only $24.99. Walmart+ members get free shipping, otherwise you need to get your order total to $35. Currently this is the least expensive 512GB Micro SDXC card we’ve seen from a legit brand. It’s part of Walmart’s larger sale that competes with Amazon Prime Day. SanDisk is owned by Western Digital and is the most popular memory card brand for the Nintendo Switch console.
Don’t have a Walmart+ membership? It’s currently 50% off.
If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity is. The Switch and Switch OLED have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage, respectively, some of it reserved for the OS. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom uses up 16GB and Breath of the Wild about 13.5GB. If bought digitally, those two games alone would take up all of your internal storage on the OG Switch console. There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.
The SanDIsk Ultra Micro SDXC card is compatible with virtually any device that accepts the Micro SDXC card standard. That includes the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and the ASUS ROG Ally. It has a U1 A1 speed rating with up to 120MBps read speeds. There are faster cards out there, but the Nintendo Switch can’t take advantage of such speeds. An SD card adapter is also included in the packaging.
Check out all of the best Nintendo Switch deals for sales on other games and accessories.
