Author: Game Infliction

Sega Profits Boosted By Angry Birds Creator Acquisition

Video game sales are up while net sales are down.

Sega has released its Q1 financial report for the three months ending 30th June 2024, and while net sales are down 3.2% year-on-year, the company’s entertainment division (which includes video games) is up 34% (via GamesIndustry.biz).

A large part of this increase has been attributed to the developer’s acquisition of Rovio, the maker of the hugely popular Angry Birds franchise. Sega acquired the company back in August 2023, and it seems to have given it a bit of a boost this quarter, where it made 8.7 billion yen.

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Save Over 50% Off This Convenient Portable Nintendo Switch Dock Charger

The Switch dock isn’t very portable. It’s a little bulky and you’ll still need to bring along a wall charger. Fortunately, there’s a pretty awesome alternative. Right now Amazon is offering the Mirabox Portable 30W Nintendo Switch Dock Charger for only $17.99 after instant savings and 50% off coupon code “N9XORL7H“. This compact gadget charges your Nintendo Switch (at its maximum charging rate) and has an HDMI port for you to connect your Switch to a TV. It has all the functionality of your dock but in a much smaller size.

Mirabox Portable Nintendo Switch Dock Charger for $19.99

The Mirabox dock charger is clad in your choice of black, white, or the iconic Switch red and blue color scheme. It has three ports: a USB Type-C port, a USB Type-A port, and an HDMI port. The USB Type-C port supports Power Delivery up to 25W, which is enough juice to charge the Switch at its maximum rate of 18W. That basically means that the Switch will charge up even while you are playing games on it. The HDMI port connects your Switch to your TV. The Mirabox supports up to 1080p resolutions at 60Hz, which is good enough for the Nintendo Switch, since it doesn’t natively support 4K resolution or 120Hz refresh rate.

The biggest advantage of the Mirabox is that it is 1/10th the size of the Switch dock. That makes it much easier to stow this away in your bag without having to buy yet another larger Switch case. A USB Type-C cable is already included as well, so all you need to supply is your Nintendo Switch and an HDMI cable.

Get the 65W model for Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally

Note that there’s a 65W model that is $25.99 after you apply the same code “N9XORL7H“. This is overkill for the Nintendo Switch, however it’s the preferred model if you plan to use the charger dock with the ASUS ROG Ally, which accepts up to 65W, or the Steam Deck, which accepts up to 38W.

Check out more of the best Nintendo Switch deals today.

Larian Reveals Key Baldur’s Gate 3 Romance Stats, Including Who Chose Halsin’s Human Form and Who Picked the Bear

It’s been one year since Baldur’s Gate 3 launched, and now, developer Larian Studios has revealed how players chose to navigate their journey through its Dungeons & Dragons video game.

The studio unveiled a smorgasbord of stats in a lengthy X/Twitter thread. While it includes interesting data related to Baldur’s Gate 3’s soul-crushing permadeath Honour Mode and which characters fans favored over others, it also reveals that 1.9 million players were, at one point or another, turned into a wheel of cheese.

Another crucial stat update reveals that while everyone’s favorite dog, Scratch, was pet 120 million times, The Owlbear Cub and His Majesty the cat received only 41 million and 141,660 pet attempts, respectively. What matters most, though, is that we now know just how everyone chose to approach the game’s romance options.

Larian’s posts include a nice selection of romance-related figures. Baldur’s Gate 3 companions have been kissed more than 75 million times in total, with Shadowheart leading the pack at a whopping 27 million kisses. Astarion is, unsurprisingly, in second at 15 million smooches, with poor Minthara in last with 169,937. We also have a look at some stats about Halsin, Larian’s infamous Druid character. Of the 658,000 players who had sex with Halsin, 70% chose to sleep with him in his human form, while the other 30% chose his grizzly bear form.

In all of Baldur’s Gate 3, Astarion proved to be the most-played as Origin being at 1.21 million characters created with him to start. That’s a lot of High Elf Rogues running around, but Larian does clarify that 93% of players did choose to create their own custom character when beginning an adventure. Meanwhile, while 141,660 players managed to complete Honour Mode, a staggering 1,223,305 playthroughs ended in a loss.

As for some of the more important story moments achievable in Baldur’s Gate 3, 3.3 million users managed to kill the Netherbrain, while another 1.8 million chose to betray the mind-flayer emperor. Interestingly, only 34 players who chose Lae’zel as their Origin character also chose to kill themselves at the end of the game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game of near-infinite possibilities, and that’s one of the biggest reasons players fell in love with it last summer. Despite so much to offer at launch, Larian has continued to deliver more content in post-launch updates, with many speculating that Alfira may be added as a new companion when Patch 7 arrives soon.

While we wait for Larian to expand on the already massive world of Baldur’s Gate 3, be sure to read our 10/10 review. At the time of its launch in July 2023, we said, “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

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.

Review: Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid (Switch) – A Pleasant Vacation, If You’re Patient

A great vacation, or Natsu much?

In a world where problems and frustrations seem to be around every corner, you might find yourself wanting to escape from it all. Maybe you dream of taking in the Japanese countryside, strolling around in a field of sunflowers, catching some bugs, fishing, all without a worry in sight. Well, if that’s what you’re looking for, and you don’t mind muddy textures, a little funky translation, and blocky 3D models, then this is just the game for you.

Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid takes place in Japan right around the turn of the millennium. August 1999, to be exact. You play as 10-year-old Satoru, who’s traveling with his circus-owning parents, and since you’re only a kid, you aren’t performing and instead have all the free time in the world for the 31 days the circus is in town. Each day follows roughly the same structure. Wake up, eat breakfast, do morning stretches, and then you’re free to do what you please until 5pm, when dinner-munching commences, and afterward, you’ll also have some nightlife hours before you enter dreamland.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

SteamWorld Heist II: Upgrading Greatness

SteamWorld Heist II: Upgrading Greatness

SteamWorld Heist II Hero Image

It’s rare to see a new idea nailed on the first try, but 2015’s SteamWorld Heist very much managed it. In an age where squad-based tactical games like XCOM were hugely popular, Heist asked a bold design question – how do you do that, but in 2D? The result was an experiment gone very, very right – a tight-knit strategy experience that saw turn-based tactics given a freeform twist, where you controlled the precise angle of every gunshot, performing outrageous ricochet trickshots, striving to achieve perfectly executed spaceship heists, and desperately grabbing loads of collectible hats.

Sadly, the original Heist never made it to Xbox consoles, but I’m very happy to say that its sequel will arrive on your console or PC tomorrow, August 8. SteamWorld Heist II returns with a new design question – how do you make a sequel to something that felt so complete? The answer is to keep the core of the action intact, and make everything around it bigger and better. Relocating the action from outer space to the sea, SteamWorld Heist II offers a more explorable world, more player choice, and new ways to tinker with your squad, all set amid a new robot-pirate aesthetic.

SteamWorld Heist II Screenshot

Returning players will immediately notice how much more expansive this seems – where the first game saw you travelling down a broadly linear map of missions, you now control a dinky submarine, physically guiding your vessel across the seas, taking down enemy ships in miniature real-time battles, and choosing where you want to head next. Missions are plentiful, and come in many forms – some will see a whole squad having to survive for a set number of turns, others will have you pitting a single character against a gauntlet of challenges.

Each mission still offers reputation (a currency that effectively unlocks your progress through the game), but also offers bounty points, which can be spent on a series of rewards. In a single in-game day, each squad member can only take part in a single mission – and you quickly realise there’s an art to making sure you squeeze in every mission possible, before sailing to a local bar for a rest, and a chance to claim all your bounties.

SteamWorld Heist II Screenshot

It’s a small mechanical decision with major ramifications – as you build your ragtag group of robots (hiring new ones along the way), you don’t just need to think about which set of weapons and abilities will go best together, but also which smaller groups can complement one another to allow you to take on as many missions as possible.

This leads us to another of Heist II’s big changes – any robot can take on any class by simply equipping them with the requisite weapon, but they can also transfer abilities from classes they’ve already levelled up. It allows you to tinker with your strategies to a minute degree – aided by the fact that every new character comes with personal abilities that only they can use.

SteamWorld Heist II Screenshot

Once you begin digging into the possibilities at your metallic fingertips, you’ll realize there’s an enormous flexibility here. Personally, I’ve been a huge fan of turning a crew member with the ability to fire a giant laser that pierces multiple enemies into a Flanker, offering them bonus damage for hitting enemies from behind – there’s nothing better than travelling across the map to line up a perfect shot and taking out three enemies at once.

It’s another bold move from a bold series – SteamWorld games have come in many different forms in the decade and more they’ve been around – and its latest incarnation shows no lack of that same ambition. This is bigger, longer, and more open to your interpretation than any SteamWorld game before, but still shows the same spark of genius that powered the original Heist. If you didn’t play the original, now’s the time to take a dive into SteamWorld Heist II’s perfect blue seas.

SteamWorld Heist II comes to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC on August 8.

The post SteamWorld Heist II: Upgrading Greatness appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Choose your career path in Monster Jam Showdown

Hello to all Monster Jam fans out there! We know you’ve been waiting for a while, but the most action-packed motorsports event on four wheels will soon land on PlayStation in a whole new guise. I’m Federico Spada, Monster Jam Showdown Game Director, and I’m here to sweeten the wait by taking you through the discovery of career mode, our single-player campaign also known as the Showdown Tour. 

The Showdown Tour will be the pillar of your journey, with over 130 events combining speed and skills. From the outset, this variety has been an important element in terms of design. Developing a game with Monster Jam trucks is way different from working on any other racing title, as this is a one-of-a-kind discipline that expands the competition beyond pure racing. When we designed the Showdown Tour, our goal was to leverage this uniqueness to create the most tailored gaming experience and exalt the strengths of each player. To do that, we came up with a sandbox-like design where you will be free to enjoy the events you prefer without a given order.

You’ll compete in 8 different game modes and explore 3 original environments

To welcome different playstyles, we grouped the events into three categories: Stunt, Short, and Racing. Once a certain event has been played, you will unlock new events in the same category as the one just played. This way, you will constantly find new challenges akin to your preferences, but nonetheless, you’ll get plenty of variety as events from the same category will cover several game modes and take place in all three original environments we developed. 

Importantly, the locations of the Showdown Tour are wild and out of the ordinary, the perfect place to push your Monster Jam trucks to the limit and unleash their full power even beyond what you see in live events. Whether it’s a stadium, an open-air arena, or an actual circuit, the environment will put those mechanical beasts to the test, from the glaciers of Alaska to the scorching desert of Death Valley and the forests of Colorado. Following our free-progression approach, you’ll get to race these untamed landscapes from the very first minutes of play simply by navigating a map with all the events, which will gradually appear as you progress. For instance, after completing a Freestyle event in Colorado, you might find a new Freestyle contest in another region of the map as well as a different game mode, such as a Best Trick match. 

Showdown Events are epic boss battles that unlock new Monster Jam trucks and paint outs 

By earning victories in the same event category, you will collect medals which will grant you access to Showdown Events, which are special challenges that unlock higher-difficulty competitions within the same category. In Showdown Events, you will have to prove to be the worthy owner of some of the most iconic Monster Jam trucks by competing against their previous driver. If you succeed, you will become the official driver of that truck and it will be added to your collection. But beware – Showdown Events are not just simple 1v1 races; to win, you don’t just have to come first, but you also have to please the crowd by performing a spectacular run. That’s why you’ll see the layout of the circuits changing at every lap in these races and will find even more destructible objects or bigger ramps to boost your run.  

This design will leave you completely free to decide at any time whether to progress within the same category by playing the most difficult events or to test yourself in something different. In one case, you’ll maximize your skills in your favorite game modes and unlock the associated trucks. However, to fully complete your career and collect all 66 vehicles* and over 140 paint outs, you’ll have to master all categories. I’m sure both kids and adults will give their all to have each of the fan-favorite Monster Jam trucks in their private collections.  

You can think of the Showdown Tour as the elite Monster Jam competition. Only the best trucks can join this championship, which pushes both vehicles and drivers to the limit in a series of extreme and unconventional clashes that broaden the action of real-life Monster Jam events. By beating the best trucks on the planet, you will make your way to the victory of the Showdown Tour and eventually become the ultimate Champion of the toughest Monster Jam competition ever. 

If you do think you have what it takes, get ready to step on the gas and kick off your career as Monster Jam Showdown will release on PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 on August 29, 2024, with Early Access available from August 26, 2024.

*40 trucks will be included in the base game and 26 will be available through free or premium DLCs

UK video game voice actor’s union proposes new minimum rates and protections against AI and abusive NDAs

UK arts and entertainment union Equity have unveiled a raft of “best practice guidelines” for video game developers hiring voice actors, including some suggested minimum rates that are designed to address “systemic low pay” for performers. Other measures are designed to improve voice actor working conditions, and stop companies using their voices and likeness as fuel for generative AI tools without their consent. It’s both a praiseworthy endeavour and an interesting breakdown of the voice-actor’s trade.

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Former Assassin’s Creed and Warhammer Online dev announces new fantasy game based on Welsh myth

Former Ubisoft and Eidos-Montréal developer Stevan Anastasoff has announced Tales from the Mabinogion, a third-person narrative game based on ancient Welsh folklore that’s written primarily in the Welsh language. The game puts you in charge of a wandering monarch, who is embarked on quest to save the realm from a horrible fog. Find a trailer below. Yes, there are English subtitles.

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Fallout T-60 Power Armor Action Figure Collection Announced and It Looks Incredible

Holy smokes! Bethesda and Fallout have partnered with MEGA to announce the T-60 Power Armor Action Figure Collection. This new buildable set includes five different posable T-60 Power Armor figures to display, each with a unique paint job: Vault-Tec, Hot Rod Flames, Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, Military, and Rusted.

There are also accessories, including a Nuka Cola Dark and a Hot Rodder magazine. Finally, to finish it off, the whole set comes packaged in a crate-inspired box from Fallout 4, truly a collector’s dream. The MEGA Fallout T-60 Power Armor Action Figure Collection will cost $29.99, and release on November 20, 2024, but is available to preorder now at Amazon.

The set was first announced on X (formally Twitter), with the official Fallout account proclaiming: “You collected them in-game, and now they’re yours to build. Introducing the T-60 Power Armor Collection, featuring 5 buildable figures with unique paint jobs and matching accessories.”

Considering this costs just $30, we’re also expecting this set to be incredibly popular and will likely sell out immensely fast. If you want to ensure you don’t miss out, we’d recommended placing your preorder with Amazon ASAP.

You’re safe to do so, as Amazon doesn’t until the item ships, and protects your order against any price drops or increases with it’s preorder price guarantee. No matter what, you’ll pay the lowest price possible that’s listed at Amazon between now and the set shipping in November.

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

Random: Tears Of The Kingdom’s Unbreakable Master Sword Reclaimed With Very Complicated Glitch

Masterful.

Getting the Master Sword in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a highlight. No matter how you come across it — whether by following the Geoglyph sidequest or simply stumbling upon it by chance — it’s a magical moment, and gives you one of the best swords in the game. But what if we told you there was a way to make it even better…?

Fans have managed to find a way to make the Master Sword “unbreakable” via an extremely long and convoluted process of glitches, and YouTuber El Duende 05 has documented the steps in an hour-long video. Yes, an hour (thanks, ReadWrite!).

Read the full article on nintendolife.com