Free in-game t-shirt food item to redeem.
Update : With a little over a week left until Splatoon 3’s Zelda-themed Splatfest gets underway, Nintendo has today announced that team voting is now open.
The central square in Splatsville is once again home to the event’s pledge stand, where you can go to pick your team — but choose carefully, because this can’t be changed.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Age of Wonders 4 – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Triumph Studios’ award-winning strategy series has emerged into a new age, evolving the game’s iconic empire building, role-playing, and warfare to the next level. Explore new magical realms in Age of Wonders’ signature blend of 4X strategy and turn-based tactical combat. Control a faction that grows and changes as you expand your empire with each turn.
Moonrise Fall – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Put your detective skills to the test in this atmospheric exploration puzzle game about a boy who finds himself lost in a supernatural forest after losing both parents in a car crash. Armed with a clue-filled journal, a camera, and a lantern, he must unravel the mysteries of the forest and photograph the strange creatures that reside there.
Redfall – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass: The town of Redfall is under siege by a legion of vampires who have cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors, slay alone or squad up in open world FPS action.
Weeping Willow – May 2
Xbox One X Enhanced
A visual detective novel which takes place in the small medieval town of Weidendorf. After the mysterious disappearance of Baron Von Wolf, a young Baroness remains captive in her own home and begins to seriously fear for her life. This game describes itself as having a fascinating plot tied to intrigues, betrayals, and conspiracies.
Welcome to the cute and satisfying world of Color Pals, where brainteasing puzzles meet simple single-screen platforming fun. Enjoy 50 stages of hue-based trickery as you take the role of a colored cube and navigate 2D maze-like levels to reach a portal on the far side of the stage.
A puzzle game where epic adventures are just your 9 to 5. Part color-matching, part monster-slaying ridiculousness where you’re a stone grinder and it’s your job to mine grindstones from the creeps that lurk on the mountain. Complete over 250 levels of intricate puzzles and hazards, all in the hopes of saving up enough grindstones to take your family on a much-needed vacation.
Ravenlok – May 3
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere / Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass: Enter a world of wonder and danger in Ravenlok, an action-packed fairy tale adventure by Cococucumber. Follow your curiosity through a mystical mirror into a lost land of terrifying monsters and a malevolent queen. Wield your sword, unleash your spells, and fight your way through beastly bosses in lush, handcrafted environments.
You’ve been captured and sent to entertain aliens as a gladiator on a faraway planet called Tartarus. You will have to advance through randomly generated biomes with deadly traps and monsters blocking your path. Choose your opponents in the arenas, beat them for items and coins and you might be able to earn your freedom in this 2D hand-drawn roguelite platformer.
Mia and the Dragon Princess – May 4
Xbox Play Anywhere
A live-action, interactive buddy-action movie following Mia, a plucky barmaid whose life is thrown into chaos when a mysterious woman turns up at her workplace, on the run from a group of violent thugs and unable to speak English. Throughout the game, your interactions could increase your knowledge around the identity of the mysterious woman, but the way Mia deals with the rest of the group will also have an impact, so each choice needs to be carefully considered.
Swordbreaker: Origins – May 4
Xbox One X Enhanced
An illustrated text quest in the Swordbreaker universe. Strange events are taking place in the kingdom of Dorgan. People talk about mysterious strangers in the northern marshes; someone saw mysterious objects falling from the sky; others heard a strange hum from underground. And one can only guess how many unknown creatures are hidden in forest thickets and dark caves… All this attracts the young Swordbreaker to throw himself into the abyss of incredible adventures.
Titans Pinball – May 4
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere
Get ready for a pinball machine where you must beat mythologic creatures like cyclops, Medusa, the minotaur, and many more who are waiting for you inside the temple. Discover their secrets, including the minotaur’s maze, a place where only the bravest warriors dare to enter.
The Excrawlers – May 5
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
An action RPG rogue-like where you and other heroes will embark into dark atmospheric dungeons and realms full of monsters and madness and try to find your way out!
Gruta – May 5
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Uncover the mysterious truth as told through original hand-drawn cutscenes, completely without text. Use a sword and shield to combat sinister enemies while exploring these levels. Will you be able to reach the goal of confronting the monster and saving your family?
Hogwarts Legacy Xbox One Version – May 5
An open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books. Embark on a journey through familiar and new locations as you explore and discover magical beasts, customize your character, craft potions, master spell casting, upgrade talents, and become the wizard you want to be.
Sony has high hopes for the PS5 in the current financial year as it aims to break PlayStation records by selling 25 million units.
The company briefly mentioned its goals for next year during its latest earnings report, where it revealed the PS5 had now sold more than 38 million units thanks to its best year on the market so far.
The 19.1 million units it sold in financial year 2022-23 weren’t enough though. “We aim to continuously accelerate penetration of PS5 and aim for PS5 sell-in units for the current fiscal year to be 25 million units, the highest ever for any [PlayStation] console in history,” Sony said.
It would certainly be an impressive figure because, as mentioned, no PlayStation console in history has sold so many units in a single financial year, not even the PS2, which is the best selling console of all time with 159 million units sold.
The PS5 is certainly trending towards an incredibly strong year as its sales figures grew significantly as component shortages that plagued the video game industry waned. Sony recorded 7.1 million and 6.3 million sales in quarters three and four last year, compared to the 2.4 and 3.3 recorded in the two before that.
Especially compared to financial year 2021-22’s figures, where Sony sold 3.9 million and two million PS5’s in quarters three and four, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan’s comments that the stock shortage is essentially over seems accurate.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
EA and Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has been slammed with several negative reviews on Steam as users report performance issues.
Survivor, the galaxy-spanning sequel to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order, currently has a Mostly Negative rating on Steam with only 31% of 1,216 users recommending it.
“Game is extremely fun but performs terribly,” said Steam user Doctor TacoChocolate. “I’m using a 3090 FE and 5700x and getting a consistent 30 fps in some areas. Other areas give me a mostly consistent 45. This is at 1440p.”
Users have also taken to Reddit to voice their complaints, with Delicious_Pea_3706 saying “the concerning comments on performance for PC are true”. Running Survivor on an RTX 4090 and AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D saw it crash not only itself but the entire PC, they said.
“Running a 4090 with Epic Settings and Ray Tracing was getting me around 90 FPS, which is pretty good, but the frame stutters were way too frequent. I don’t want to imagine how bad it must be for mid range hardware.”
Other users reported crashes too, alongside graphical issues, and an “unexpected error” that saw the player bypass story elements without seeing them, forcing them to either continue in a broken game state or load a previous save and hope it worked the second time.
Other users have said that performance issues are mitigated once the player moves on from the first main area of the game, however. “After the first world it ran perfectly fine,” said Steam user bike._. Another user, Al Falsafchy, said: “story [and] combat compensates the lack of performance in the first area”.
There are also users experiencing no issues. “Currently three hours into the game and haven’t had any stuttering while playing on a 3070,” said gildner99 on Steam. “Not sure if I got lucky or what but I have been loving the game.”
Respawn released a day one patch for the game that appeared to address a lot of performance issues, though it also said that more are on the way in the coming weeks.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Tasting notes.
We all remember the pain of putting together a really top-notch dish in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, consuming it and seeing the full power of its wonderful effects, only to realise that we have immediately forgotten the recipe and will never be able to make such a tasty treat by mistake again. Fortunately, all that is about to change in Tears of the Kingdom.
Yes, it looks like recipes actually exist this time around! This was revealed on the official Zelda Twitter account, @ZeldaOfficialJP, which (via the built-in Google Translate function), stated that you will be able to “look back on the dishes you made in ‘Cooking Notes'”, where you will be able to find each recipe’s ingredients and effect properties.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Sony’s PlayStation 5 has just wrapped its best year on the market so far and has crossed 38 million units sold as a result.
Revealed in Sony’s latest financial earnings report, the PlayStation 5 sold 6.3 million units in the fourth quarter (Q4) of financial year 2022-23. This was more than three times stronger than its sales in Q4 the previous year, where it sold just two million units.
Having sold 32.1 million units as of the end of Q3, the PS5 has now reached 38.4 million units sold. Sony also sold nearly as many units in financial year 2022-23 as it had prior to that point, rounding out the year with 19.1 million PS5 consoles sold compared to the 19.3 million sold beforehand.
The 6.3 million fourth quarter wasn’t its strongest, however, as 7.1 million PS5 consoles were sold in Q3. This is a fairly regular trend, however, as Q3 includes the holiday period which usually leads to significant sales boosts for video game hardware.
The increase in sales overall is likely connected to the fact that PS5 consoles are now readily available as Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said in January that the stock shortage is essentially over.
The PS5 had encountered significant production issues due to component shortages that plagued the video game industry and beyond, forcing Sony to re-evaluate its sales forecast for the 2021-22 financial year.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
I quite enjoy the vwing-vwing lighstabering at the heart of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which is why it now pains me to have an extended moan about the PC version’s technical troubles.
Despite the odd glimmer of joy, like better-than-expected performance on its lowest system requirements, much about playing Jedi: Survivor on Windows suggests it could have used a little more time in the bacta tank. Sluggishness and stuttering are problems on higher-end graphics cards, even before adding the strain of ray tracing effects, and FSR upscaling often fails to deliver a significant performance boost.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has a complicated day one update situation that might mean users have to download a hefty patch whether you’re on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, or PC.
EA announced on Twitter (below) that it’s releasing a day one patch for Survivor that address some performance issues, but some PC players are reporting colossal file sizes. Even some players who pre-loaded the game on Steam are reporting a launch day update of up to 128 GB.
EA also released patches throughout the week before launch, meaning that, depending on when users pre-loaded, there might be some updates that were missed. IGN’s day one update on PC came in at 46.5 GB, for example, and while this is a lot less than some PC users’ experience, it’s still a hefty addition for those looking to enjoy the game on launch day.
Cal’s newest journey in a galaxy far, far away has begun and we’re excited for you to experience it!
Our first patch will arrive on launch day across all platforms. In the weeks ahead, we’ll deploy patches that will:
– Fix bugs
– Improve performance
– Add more accessibility… pic.twitter.com/pUtyoGopP5— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) April 26, 2023
Those who have pre-loaded the game on PS5 and Xbox Series should have the smoothest experience, as the day one patches here are only a few GB each (though there may also be a mid-week patch to download too that adds a few GB).
Buying Survivor on disc is a completely different story, however, as a significant download is required before users can start playing the game. This is because the file sizes of the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Survivor exceed the 100 GB that can be stored on the Blu-ray discs used for games.
The PS5 base install size is 147.9 GB while the Xbox Series X is 134 GB, with the remaining data being added to the game through a separate download. Essentially, it’s the same as when Red Dead Redemption 2 or Grand Theft Auto 5 came with an install disc and a play disc, except the install disc is now a download. This also means that, despite being a solely single player game, Survive cannot be played without an internet connection.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor shipping this week! https://t.co/p27lVlwrQl pic.twitter.com/0YY6rbsvSe
— Mighty Ape Games (@MightyApeGames) April 23, 2023
While this is advertised on the front of the box in some regions (like in the tweet above), it’s kept to the small print in others. “Internet connection required to download mandatory content updates required to play the game,” reads the terms and conditions on the back of the UK version. “Mandatory content updates require internet connection.”
This is reiterated in the game’s official FAQ, that states: “Players who purchase a physical copy of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will be required to connect to the internet to install a Day 1 patch but can play offline after that.”
It’s unclear how big this download is for disc players, but based purely on the math, it will be a minimum of 47.9 GB on PS5 and 34 GB on Xbox Series X. IGN understands it to be a substantial figure, but EA declined to comment when asked for a specific number.
As noted in the previously mentioned tweet from EA, these complicated day one updates won’t be the last of Survivor’s stream of patches. “In the weeks ahead, we’ll deploy patches that will: fix bugs, improve performance, [and] add more accessibility features,” it said
That being said, it should return to a more familiar (and simple) process after it’s all installed on day one. These patches should also be fairly small on console, though PC could be a different story. The PC version of The Last of Us Part 1 just received its seventh update in a month, for example, which came in at a pretty big 25 GB.
Once Survivor is all installed and players can finally start playing, however, they should have a pretty good time. IGN gave the game a 9/10 in our review, saying: “If Respawn makes a third game like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order, it’ll complete the best Star Wars trilogy in 30 years, hands down.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
“You can grab your regional version”.
Sonic Origins might not have had a physical option on release, but thankfully Sega is redeeming the blue blur’s retro collection with a hard copy of Sonic Origins Plus, arriving on Nintendo Switch this June.
In the lead up to this improved package featuring Amy, 12 Sonic games from the Game Gear and more, Sega has shown off the exclusive cover variants for different regions featuring Genesis and Mega Drive designs:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity. The Switch and Switch OLED have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage respectively. Some of that is reserved for the OS. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is out on May 12, takes up over 18GB of storage all by itself. Other must-have titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Sword or Shield tap out at 13.5GB each. There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.
These cards are all 100% compatible with any Nintendo Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite console. Some, like the Samsung EVO Select and Samsung EVO Plus are actually rated for higher speeds than the official Nintendo Switch branded memory card. That doesn’t really matter though; the Nintendo Switch can only support U1 speeds, so a U3 speed will just be throttled back down to U1 speeds.
The Switch isn’t the only gaming system that accepts these cards. If you’re a Steam Deck owner, you can also use this card, especially if you picked up the 64GB storage option.
For more deals, take a look at our daily deals for today.
