Author: Game Infliction

Starfield players are a creative bunch, and when they’re not filling spaceships full of potatoes or building New Atlantis in Lego, they’re using the robust character creator to recreate a bunch of famous faces.

These include Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, somehow more than one character from Shrek, and many more, with players taking to social media to share their creations. You can view them all in the slideshow below.

“You know, I’m something of an industrialist myself,” reads a post from strider390 on Reddit, who posted a screenshot of his Industrialist Willem Dafoe-looking character while referencing the classic Spider-Man meme. SoullessVoid created Starman himself, David Bowie, while CheesyWales made one of the creators of Starfield: Bethesda’s development chief Todd Howard.

Pulling characters from films and TV shows is also incredibly popular. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul’s Mike Ehrmantraut comes from Eroynss alongside the caption: “Put your ship away Waltuh.” The Soprano’s Tony Soprano also makes an appearance thanks to fohfu, who titled their post: “Woke up this morning, got some gabagool.”

A somewhat terrifying looking Shrek was created by Bimbocsavar, while the ogre’s nemesis Lord Farquaad comes courtesy of OleiferousOwl, who aptly names their creation “Lord Starquad”.

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’s Large Marge was created by tylo, House’s Gregory House was created by pitersios, Amos Burton from The Expanse was created by bingbongjimmerjammer, and Don Ramón from El Chavo del Ocho was created by HeySoloSoyYo.

Players also recreated some famous space crafts using the game’s expansive ship creator, including some from Star Wars, Star Trek, and more. There are also some in-built Easter Eggs, including at least two to Starfield’s most famous line.

Starfield is off to a hot start, technically topping sales charts even before it officially launched. When its release date finally came around on September 6, however, Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed more than one million people were playing Starfield concurrently.

Plenty of wild and wacky stories are emerging too, such as Bethesda killing off all the poor labradors in Starfield’s universe and players desperately trying to recreate the game on PlayStation.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”

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

Nintendo development legend Shigeru Miyamoto has issued a video message thanking the former voice of Mario Charles Martinet.

Last month, Nintendo announced that Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario who has played the character since 1996, is “stepping back from recording character voices for our games” and will now serve as a “Mario Ambassador”. Nintendo later confirmed Martinet does not voice Mario in upcoming Switch exclusive Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

In the special video message issued today, September 7, Miyamoto recalled when Martinet made his debut as the voice of Mario in 1996’s seminal 3D platformer, Super Mario 64, his penchant for calling the Nintendo legend “papa!”, as well as the many trips the pair had taken together promoting Mario and Nintendo across the globe.

Miyamoto said he was “deeply grateful” for Martinet’s work bringing Nintendo characters to life for nearly 30 years. “Charles-san, thank you very much,” Miyamoto said.

Here’s a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet regarding the change of Mario’s voice actor, announced on 8/21. pic.twitter.com/4mOpD2Cx3a

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 7, 2023

Over the weekend, Charles Martinet discussed his new role as “Mario Ambassador” for Nintendo, saying: “I don’t know what that is yet.”

Speaking during a Q&A panel at GalaxyCon Austin 2023, Martinet said: “I am now a Mario Ambassador. I don’t know what that is yet. I’m not retired as it were, but I’m an ambassador. As we step forward into the future, I will learn, we’ll all learn exactly what that is.”

In the video message, Miyamoto said Martinet will continue to travel the world promoting Mario at events, performing Nintendo voices for fans, and signing autographs.

As for who’s replacing Martinet as the voice of Mario, Nintendo has yet to say. In a recent interview with IGN, Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser said the company will leave it to the credits of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

“I think people have recognized this when they see Super Mario Bros. Wonder, they’ll hear a different voice and we’ll let that play out and that’ll be within the credits, and people will learn who the new person is at that point in time, but we don’t plan to make any announcement in advance of that,” Bowser said.

Also in the video message, Miyamoto reveals more than Mario’s voice has changed for Super Mario Bros. Wonder. “The voices of some Mario characters have become new,” Miyamoto said, “so please check them out.” Martinet voiced a number of Mario characters, including Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi.

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.

When it comes to game night, it’s always a great idea to have a variety of board games around for people to choose from. Unfortunately, building that collection of games can oftentimes cost you more than you’d expect. Have no fear, though, as we’re here to help you out with a variety of deals on board games that are worth picking up. This doesn’t just cater to events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, either. We try to find deals on the best board games all throughout the year, so you can buy your favorites without breaking the bank.

TL;DR – The Best Board Game Deals

Below, you can find a selection of the best board game deals at the moment. Amazon Prime Day may be done and over with for the year, but there are still plenty of sales worth taking advantage of.

The Best Board Game Deals

Board Games: Budget to Best

For when board games aren’t on sale, it’s nice to know you still have options that don’t cost you tons of money. Here, we’ll point you in the direction of more affordable options that are still worth the investment for your next game night.

When Is the Best Time to Find Board Game Deals?

Board games go on sale at sites like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and even GameStop fairly regularly — you can generally find special discounts every month or two. In addition, they absolutely get big discounts during major sale events like Amazon’s Prime Day and Black Friday.

While Prime Day is primarily an Amazon shopping holiday, other retailers always put on competing sales events at the same time. Those are great times to look for board game deals.

As for Black Friday, it’s not just a one-day event: you can often find deals on board games the whole week of Black Friday, as well as on Cyber Monday and throughout that whole following week. Keep in mind that stock runs out (particularly at Amazon), so if you see a good price on a board game you want during one of these major sale events, grab it before it’s gone.

How to Know if it’s Really a Good Board Game Deal

At online board game retailers like Amazon and Walmart, prices are always in flux, to say the least. Many of the board games in the board game section will be discounted to some degree from their MSRP. But there are a few ways to know when a board game is on sale for a notable discount.

For one, you can check Amazon’s daily deals page, where you’ll occasionally find an actual sale on various board games. Sometimes these are from one company, sometimes they’re on the whole category of board games. Target also periodically runs sales on board games, so check their deal page, too.

If you’re looking at a board game and are wondering if the sale price is good, copy the URL and paste it into the search field at camelcamelcamel. That’s an Amazon price tracker that shows you price history. Better yet, it works for any item, not just board games.

Finally, you can follow IGN Deals on Twitter, where we’ll always tweet any notable board game deals we come across.

How Do You Know if a Board Game Is Any Good?

IGN reviews board games fairly regularly, so you can always search to see if we’ve reviewed a game you’re considering picking up. Other websites do, too. We also have a whole lot of board game roundups, ranging from the best classic board games and the best cooperative board games to the best horror board games.

Outside of IGN, the best board game resource around (for my money) is Board Game Geek. It maintains a database of every board and card game you’d want to know about, with all kinds of news, stats, and user reviews all gathered together in one place.

Nintendo reportedly revealed Switch 2 behind closed doors at gamescom 2023 last month, showing off the power of its upcoming next-gen console.

According to Eurogamer, the Switch 2 was shown running a ‘souped up’ version of Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, although there’s apparently no suggestion the game will be re-released.

Meanwhile, VGC reported Nintendo showed off Epic’s The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo running on hardware with the specs Nintendo is targeting for its future console. The site said this demo ran using Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology alongside ray tracing, with visuals ‘comparable’ to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.

Nintendo is reportedly set to release its next-gen console during the second half of 2024, with development kits now with partner studios.

Apparently this new next-gen console can be used in portable mode, like the Nintendo Switch, and has an LCD screen as opposed to an OLED screen in order to keep costs down. It also comes with a cartridge slot for physical games. However, the crucial question of backwards compatibility with Nintendo Switch games remains unclear. Nintendo has yet to comment on the reports.

In May, Nintendo said it’s the long-rumoured Switch successor wouldn’t release until April 2024 at the earliest. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explained during an investors presentation that the company isn’t considering new hardware in the 2023/24 financial year, which ends March 31, 2024.

This comes despite a decline in Switch sales. The console sold close to 18 million units in the last financial year, down from 23 million sold the year before and 28 million the year before that. Nintendo isn’t looking to rush a new console out to tackle this decline though, as it has forecast another drop for the coming year.

“Sustaining the Switch’s sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year,” said Furukawa during the presentation. “Our goal of selling 15 million units this fiscal year is a bit of a stretch, but we will do our best to bolster demand going into the holiday season so that we can achieve the goal.”

Rumours surrounding a new console have been circulating for years. The new console was said to offer boosted graphics akin to the PlayStation 4 and its Pro model, but there is no official information regarding the next piece of Nintendo hardware yet.

This week, Nintendo said it had moved on to a brand new The Legend of Zelda game, ruling out Tears of the Kingdom DLC. It seems likely this new Zelda game will launch on Nintendo’s next console. But will Nintendo re-release Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2?

Meanwhile, Nintendo has announced a raft of games for Switch due out between now and the end of its fiscal year. These include Detective Pikachu Returns, the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. Wonder, WarioWare: Move It!, a Super Mario RPG remake, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet DLC, a visually enhanced version of Nintendo 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and an untitled Princess Peach game. Nintendo still lists the MIA Metroid Prime 4 as a Nintendo Switch 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.