Author: Game Infliction

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead is giving all players free Killzone items starting today, December 19, in response to a backlash over pricing.

Part one of the Helldivers 2 and Killzone crossover includes a Killzone-themed armor set, assault rifle, banner, cape, and player title. If you want all the Killzone items you’ll have to hand over Super Credits to the value of nearly twice the cost of a premium Warbond, and nearly half the price of Helldivers 2 itself.

In a post on the Helldivers 2 Steam page, Arrowhead said it had talked to Killzone developer Guerrilla Games and is now gifting the items that were meant to be sold as part of the crossover’s second wave next week.

“As this was our first crossover offering, we’ve been listening to the response, and the feedback we’ve received from our community surveys is that crossover content is really high up on your wishlists,” Arrowhead said in its statement.

“At the same time, some of you are not happy with the prices of the items and we will revisit this.

“Many of you were also concerned that items wouldn’t be in rotation for long enough, and there was a bit of concern around how these items exist outside of our usual Warbond releases, which are always themed in our own universe.

“Because of all this, in partnership with our friends at Guerrilla (and as we’re in the season of holiday cheer), we’ve decided to offer a gift to all players.

“Firstly, we are gifting to everyone the planned second wave of the Helldivers x Killzone collaboration items today, free of charge. The distribution of those items will begin shortly, in two waves.”

Five Nights at Freddy’s tower defense Roblox experience Five Nights TD just dropped the first part of its Christmas Update, with more planned to roll out next week.

The festive update for the strategy spin on everyone’s favorite animatronic horror franchise delivers new units and games while dressing up the lobby with enough decorations to lift the spirits of any Grinch. This also means that the Christmas Event has arrived, giving players winter-y areas to explore and survive through.

Candy canes and Christmas trees aside, Five Nights TD’s new update comes with more than just a few jolly changes to the atmosphere to keep players entertained through December. Also included in the update are two new games and two new exclusive units. There are eight new units in total, as well as one new Apex. In addition to your usual list of bug fixes and gameplay changes, there’s also an Advent Calendar for players to enjoy in-game.

Following PlayStation and Xbox releasing their annual player wrap ups, Nintendo has now released its own in the Nintendo Switch Year in Review 2024.

The wrap up is now available on Nintendo’s website. “Revisit your 2024 on Nintendo Switch with your personalized Year in Review,” it reads.

Using their Nintendo account, players will receive a recap of their year including how many different games were played, how long they were played for, what the most played game of the year was, and a breakdown month by month.

Wrap up features gained traction first through the likes of music app Spotify before gaming brands like Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox got on board. PlayStation’s arrived earlier in December but was broken for a while, though once working even revealed players’ historical statistics in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

This will perhaps be Nintendo’s last year with just the current Switch in its yearly review, with the Nintendo Switch 2 due to be announced by the end of March 2025.

The new console is expected the following financial year, meaning by the end of March 2026, but Nintendo will perhaps look to capitalize on the holiday season and release it by the end of 2025.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Activision has confirmed it has recast some members of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 cast after fans noticed much-loved Zombies characters with new voices in-game.

The company issued a statement to Game Developer admitting characters in Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode were recast amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Zombies characters William Peck (Zeke Alton) and Samantha Maxis (Julie Nathanson) are currently voiced by new, unknown actors. Alton told Game Developer that he takes no issue with Activision’s actions with Peck, but expressed concern “for my brand as a performer.”

“Fans of the game have reached out to me because the lack of crediting [of the replacement actor] implies that it may still be me which unfairly represents my abilities as a performer,” Alton said.

SAG-AFTRA’s dispute with the video game industry revolves around the use of generative AI to replicate voice actor performances. Activision said: “We respect the personal choice of these performers. Out of respect for all parties, we won’t add new commentary about the ongoing negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. We look forward to a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible.”

The concern now is Activision may replace other voice actors in Black Ops 6, if it hasn’t done already. Fans are already on high alert after accusing Activision of using “AI slop” for in-game art. Activision has so far failed to comment on the likes of the six-fingered Zombie Santa.

SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors went on strike in July, accusing gaming companies of refusing to meet their demands on artificial intelligence. Negotiations over a new contract began in October 2022 and SAG-AFTRA members approved the strike last September. Check out IGN’s feature, What the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Actors Strike Means for Gamers, for more.

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.

Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World has released the game’s first major update, patch 1.1.

The update makes over 1,800 fixes and adjustments, GSC said, including the first iteration of A-Life fixes.

Stalker 2 launched late last month to a positive reception on Steam and one million sales. It’s a success for the Ukrainian studio, a miracle, really, considering the harrowing circumstances that followed Russian’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. But Stalker 2 suffers from well-documented bugs; chief among them A-Life 2.0.

A-Life was a key feature of the first Stalker game that governed AI behavior across the game world. At a high level, it is a system for simulating life in the Zone that works its magic seemingly independently of the player’s actions or whereabouts. It helps to create convincing AI and the emergent gameplay Stalker is famous for.

GSC had said A-Life 2.0 would make the Zone feel alive as never before, that it would fuel emergent gameplay on a scale previously thought impossible. Indeed for some fans, A-Life 2.0 was Stalker 2’s biggest selling point. But when Stalker 2 actually came out players discovered that A-Life 2.0 didn’t work properly, with some questioning whether it was even in the game at all.

In an interview with IGN, GSC explained what went wrong with Stalker 2’s A-Life 2.0, and vowed to fix the system. Patch 1.1, then, is the first step on that road.

A-Life fixes added with patch 1.1 include the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player’s back. Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often, and the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player is greatly extended.

Stalker 2 patch 1.1 A-Life fixes in full:

A-Life fixes

• Fixed the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player’s back.
• Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often.
• Greatly extended the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player.
• Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player’s visualization range).
  • In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time.
  • Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they’ve previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs.
• Improved A-Life NPCs navigation in Offline using GameGraph (global AI navigation map):
  • Fixed multiple issues where NPCs would fail to follow or find a path to their designated goals.
  • Fixed several issues with NPC being stuck in Online-Offline transition state,
• Enhanced A-Life NPCs’ motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.
• Fixed issues that could result in fewer A-life NPCs encountered than intended.
• Further contextual actions improvement to ensure seamless transitions between Offline and Online states for NPCs engaged in these actions.
• The groups exploring the Zone are now more diverse regarding possible factions and group sizes.
• Fixed issue that while roaming over the Zone, Human NPCs didn’t satisfy their communication needs and talks.

And some other development related improvements.

Elsewhere, there’s a long list of AI improvements, balance changes, and loads of other fixes Stalker 2 fans will benefit from. This patch fixes mainline missions, story progression and side missions, crashes, and many, many bugs. It also improves performance and optimization. The patch notes, posted to Steam, are well worth checking out if you’re playing.

GSC warned that patch 1.1 is a massive download, so players should brace themselves for that. “We understand that the size of the patch is huge and the process of downloading will take some time,” the developer said. “We would like to thank you for your understanding, and we will work on this aspect as well.”

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.