Gran Turismo 4 Cheat Codes Discovered Nearly 20 Years After Release

Cheat codes have been found for Gran Turismo 4, which launched almost two decades ago in 2005 for PlayStation 2.

These cheat codes were discovered by Twitter user Nenkaai, but it’s unclear how they found them in the first place. These newly uncovered chat codes provide benefits for players when the corresponding buttons have been input into the game. However, they can only be used once 365 in-game days have passed in Gran Turismo 4:

  • Earn 10,000,000 Credits in the GT Mode screen: Select, Left, Right, Right, Down, Up, Up, Left, Down, Up, Right, Left, Down, L1, R1, Select
  • Pass any license in the License selection screen: Select, R1, Select, R1, Select, L2, L2, R2, R2, L1, Select, L1, Select
  • Earn a Gold rating at any specific license test in the License Test selection screen: Select, Select, R1, R2, L2, L2, Select, L1, R1, Select, R2, L1, Select
  • Earn a Gold rating at any event in the Event Course Selection screen: Select, L1, Up, Up, Select, R1, Down, Down, Select, L2, Select, R2, Select

Furthermore, the prizes that come with earning a gold rating in events are also unlocked as well and 24-hour races can be skipped over. The codes apparently even work in the 2006 motorcycle game Tourist Trophy, which uses the same game engine that Gran Turismo 4 does.

This is quite the find for such an old game to have new discoveries, as the franchise is one of the most influential ever in the racing genre. The latest entry, Gran Turismo 7, was released last year for PS4 and PS5, as well as PS VR2 through a free in-game update.

In IGN Gran Turismo 4 review, we said, “GT4 is the greatest ideation of GT3 that’s possible on the PS2. There’s no doubt that this game absolutely kills everything else around in terms of graphics, sound effects, and force feedback. The license tests, circuits, missions, hundreds of cars, and dozens of tracks all add up to what is still one hell of an addictive racing game.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Samba De Amigo: Party Central Welcomes Sonic To The Maraca Mayhem

Shake your speed shoes.

Samba de Amigo: Party Central will be getting Sonic the Hedgehog content when it launches exclusively on Switch this summer.

The blue blur will be joining the maraca-shaking monkey on the stage with two Sonic songs — ‘Escape from the City’ from Sonic Adventure 2 and ‘Fist Bump’ from Sonic Forces. There’s also a stage based on City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic will be shaking down.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Final Fantasy XIV’s Stormblood expansion free for a limited time, starting today 

You’ve saved Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn and resolved a centuries’ old conflict with the dragons in Heavensward… what’s next for the Warrior of Light?

It’s time to head to the Far East. It’s time for Stormblood. And from now until May 8, 2023, this massive expansion is completely free for players who own or buy the Final Fantasy XIV Online Starter Edition!

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood took the critically acclaimed MMORPG to the next level, with a compellingly dark new story full of twists, turns and quests a-plenty, new mechanics, new jobs to get to grips with and a whole new part of the world to explore. Let’s take a closer look.

What is Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood about?

After the events of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, it’s time to take the fight to the sinister Garlean Empire. You and your allies make plans to liberate the conquered city state of Ala Mhigo, and you head out to meet the resistance.

Of course, things don’t really go to plan and before long you’re confronted by a new enemy… one who might be even stronger than the fabled Warrior of Light.

Meanwhile, in the Far East nation of Doma, freedom fighters struggle to rekindle the fires of hope in their countrymen. Will you be the spark that ignites the flames of rebellion and pushes the Empire out once and for all?

The main campaign of Stormblood is a sprawling epic that’s full of political intrigue, surprising revelations, and thrilling action. 

What was added to Final Fantasy XIV in the Stormblood expansion?

Stormblood broadened the already vast world of the game with new regions that are quite unlike anything in the game before. Ala Mhigo and Doma are the lands of monks, and ninja and samurai respectively, with a beautiful aesthetic inspired by the Far East.

They provide a terrific setting for the game’s main scenario to unfold – plus plenty of additional quests mean that there’s always something new to discover amongst the regions’ vast and beautiful landscapes.

The expansion also includes two additional jobs. When it comes to combat, do you prefer melee or magic? Stormblood asks: why not have both? The Red Mage job added in the expansion hands you a rapier and a magicked crystal medium, letting you dive in and out of combat, assault enemies with red magic, and even link multiple spells for massive damage. It’s a highly mobile, highly entertaining DPS role that’s really fun to play with.

Of course, the second job added in the expansion is just as wild… you can be a Samurai! This is another DPS job all about mastering the arts of Sen and Kenki. With your katana in hand, you can cut a swathe through foes, to build your power and unleash it in the form of powerful combos.

There are also plenty of new dungeons, new tribes and primals to encounter, a particularly awesome raid series from the creators of Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics that sees you ‘Return to Ivalice’ and much, much more.

It’s a massive amount of content, and – to remind you – it’s completely free! For full details on eligibility and how to claim your copy of Stormblood, head over to our support centre.

If we’ve piqued your interest in Stormblood, the FFXIV team at Square Enix will be releasing a series of deeper dives over the next few weeks, including interviews with the developers. Be sure to follow the official FFXIV channels to hear more.

I hope you’re excited to experience this unforgettable chapter in the Final Fantasy XIV Online saga.

I’ll see you in Ala Mhigo!

Remnant 2 – The First Hands-On Preview | IGN First

In nearly every way, Remnant 2 feels like it’s shaping up to be a proper sequel to Gunfire Games’ underrated soulslike from 2019. Lovingly referred to as “Dark Souls with guns” by its community, Remnant: From The Ashes punched above its weight in many ways with just a handful of scrappy indie developers working on the project at the outset. Four years later, that team has the support of its new titanic parent company Embracer Group and has ballooned to over 60 people and counting, and in my time playing Remnant 2, the results of that doubling down were clear: this sequel seems like it’s going to absolutely rule. The gunplay is heads and tails above its predecessor, the buildcrafting is an RPG nerd’s dream, the enemies and bosses are relentless and badass, and the vastly improved procedural generation engine is one of the most ambitious things I’ve seen from a soulslike in a very long time.

The night before I got my hands on Remnant 2, I spent some time replaying the first game in my hotel room, and the thing that immediately struck me when booting up the sequel was just how much better it looks. Where From The Ashes was a bit drab aesthetically, Remnant 2 is absolutely bursting with color and detailed characters. Whether I was hanging around the rustic sanctuary of Ward 13 or running through Yaesha under the glow of an eerie crimson sun, the leap forward is no mere facelift – it’s a complete overhaul.

But more importantly, Remnant 2 feels much more on par with its third-person shooter peers than its predecessor in terms of both movement and combat. For starters, melee combat is not only a practical option compared to the first game’s wimpy slashing, but it actually feels good to get up close and beat someone down when bullets just won’t do. I used everything from shotguns to rifles, and even a crossbow, and each felt satisfying and ferocious (even if some felt a bit overpowered in the early version I played).

The number of enemies and dastardly ways they attack you also seems like a step up, just from the small number of biomes I was able to explore. Whether I was fighting giant, slippery lizards, floating tentacled aliens, or creepy root-infested cultists, there was always a new enemy waiting around every corner.

“The sequel’s killer feature though, is the ambitious improvements it aims to make to its procedurally generated levels.”

Boss fights have also been tuned up, especially when it comes to the first game’s irritating overuse of adds during them. Gunfire Games clearly heard the feedback from players loud and clear, and most bosses I took down either made light use of them or made them the primary obstacle while some other puzzle waited to be solved. For example, I fought one boss called the Mother Mind, a giant plant monster who bombarded me with explosive pollen, and faced only a few floating adds in between damage phases, while in another fight against an enemy called Legion, a dark deity who tried to drive my character insane, I fought off waves of adds while trying to figure out the trick to overcoming the boss’ maddening gaze.

Moving around has also been reworked, as jumping between gaps is now possible – and my prayers have been answered regarding the first game’s most annoying feature: the stamina meter. Now it only applies during combat, meaning you don’t have to worry about getting arbitrarily slowed down every few seconds when exploring the world. Jumping around and climbing makes exploration and engaging the bad guys a lot more interesting, since clever use of verticality and putting gaps between you and your enemy allow for some fun moments. Plus, now there’s dozens of exciting new ways to fall to your death – something I was apparently fond of doing.

The sequel’s killer feature though, is the ambitious improvements it aims to make to its procedurally generated levels. Where the first Remnant mixed up the layout of levels and which enemies would spawn, Remnant 2 takes it to an entirely new level by randomly generating practically every element of your adventure. In fact, even the tutorial will differ from player-to-player as the starting area is assigned randomly between a few different options. Beyond that, you can expect boss fights, side quests, NPCs and storylines to all differ from that of your friends, making each new playthrough feel like a significantly different experience.

Finally, there’s the numerous ways in which character buildcrafting has been improved. Instead of picking a base class and slapping on a few weapons and modifiers from there, Remnant 2 has a staggering number of options for you to choose from, like its fantastic multiclass system that lets you mix and match archetypes like the Gunslinger or the Handler to create a unique cocktail of perks and abilities. Beyond that, the number of trinkets and items you can use to customize your build has been expanded, including new ways to customize your Dragon Heart healing item that may prove to be a game changer for players.

I played quite a bit of Remnant: From The Ashes, but everything I’ve seen from its sequel points to Remnant 2 being my next addiction. Simply put, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Here’s hoping the finished product turns out as promising as my early peek at it suggested.

A decade later, the Lutece Twins are still the best thing in BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite that finally convinced me to take the plunge. And I can’t exactly complain: the series’ Rapture arc — made up of the first and second games, plus the prequel novel by none other than John “The Crow” Shirley — now makes up maybe 10% of my personality, having given me two of my favourite video games, my favourite video game tie-in book, and a front-running contender for my favourite video game locale all at once.

I just wish that, after all that prep I did for it, I’d actually liked BioShock Infinite a bit more.

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10 Years Later, BioShock Infinite Remains One of the Boldest AAA Shooters Ever Made

A decade ago director Ken Levine and his studio, Irrational Games, introduced us to the rotting society of Columbia with a choice: would you like to throw a baseball at an interracial couple, or instead hurl it at the bigoted announcer goading you on? Will you commit a hate crime, or stand against oppression? Regardless of the option you pick, the scenario plays out identically, with the ball left aside as protagonist Booker DeWitt uses a power tool to obliterate the face of a police officer. The sequence is both a bold introduction to BioShock Infinite’s exploration of America’s sordid relationship with race and an indication that such an exploration is going to be deeply flawed.

The mishandling of this moment telegraphs all of BioShock Infinite’s problems; that it will eventually descend into a situation that paints Black revolutionist Daisy Fitzroy as a monster no better than Columbia’s ultra-nationalist leader, Zachary Comstock. That you will spend the final half of the game gunning down the oppressed working classes. That its message will eventually be lost among its multiverse ambitions. And so BioShock Infinite doomed itself to live in the shadow of its greatest mistake.

It’s impossible to forgive those mistakes. But BioShock Infinite is not just the sum of its errors. On its tenth anniversary, it remains an admirably bold FPS that confronts topics of racism and classism in a manner that few AAA games have attempted since. While those explorations falter in the second half, Infinite’s first chapters tackle its themes with unflinching confidence in both its own convictions and its audience. It deplores the opinions of Columbia’s ruling class and industrial leaders, and uses deeply uncomfortable language and imagery to depict the rancid heart of this cloudbourne city. Ten years ago, such themes in a video game were considered topical. But in 2023, as multiple prominent battles over human rights are fought in the real world, the city’s approach to evangelical populism makes Columbia more haunting than it’s ever been.

Bioshock Infinite remains an admirably bold FPS that confronts topics of racism and classism in a manner that few AAA games have attempted since.

Many of Infinite’s victories are in worldbuilding, with the lore of Columbia depicted through museum exhibit-like scenes that play out dystopian vignettes. These are showing their age – hang about too long and the illusion is shattered when you realise these characters stand in place for eternity – but they remain powerful observations of society’s crimes. I still often think about the industrial district, where workers fight a bidding war over low-paying jobs in a prescient condemnation of the gig economy.

Sequences like these are the result of Irrational’s surprising pivot from the systemic design of the original BioShock to a heavily scripted approach, crafting what is essentially a steampunk Call of Duty campaign. And I don’t say that disparagingly; while Infinite’s precise direction abandons the mechanical ecosystem of Big Daddies and Little Sisters that made Rapture feel so organic, it replaces it with a focused and purposeful rollercoaster. This provides a fair share of Infinity Ward-ish dramatic setpieces, but just as frequently uses its iron grip to slow down the ride. The first half of the story is surprisingly light on shootouts, instead content to let its examinations of oppression breathe while Booker and his NPC companion, Elizabeth, soak up the horrors of the society around them.

Using a show-don’t-tell approach, Infinite’s messages require piecing together from the cues found in its satirical, hyper-nationalistic visual design and flawed characters. The best example can be found in the Hall of Heroes, a deeply ugly monument to Columbia’s involvement in two real-world events: the Boxer Rebellion – where the US aided in the violent quashing of an anti-colonial uprising in China – and the massacre of nearly 300 Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Booker had a direct hand in Wounded Knee, and has since come to regret it. But despite making him aware of his poor choices, Infinite refuses to redeem him. “If you take away all the parts of Booker DeWitt you tried to erase, what’s left?” asks Cornelius Slade, Booker’s former comrade-in-arms. The answer is a man who recognises the world’s injustices and his part in them, but who does nothing about it beyond severing his connection to those problems. DeWitt is a messy reflection of our society’s own failings, brushing aside responsibility despite there still being work to do.

The delicate balance of story and shooting is lost in the second half. As Daisy Fitzroy’s Vox Populi rebellion kicks off, so does Infinite’s transformation into a full-bore shooter. That causes its own problems, but also acts as a showcase for a surprisingly swift and satisfying combat system that remains terrific a decade later. Multi-tiered arenas are linked by the zipline-like Sky Rails, which inject a significant amount of motion into each fight. While most shooters of the early 2010s were still obsessively following the hunker-down model of Gears of War, BioShock Infinite wanted you to leap from floor to rail to balcony to rail again in a display of athletic violence. In hindsight, it recognised the importance of continual movement years before Doom 2016 and Titanfall 2 embraced the trend and made it their own.

That momentum is paired with weapons that still largely retain their punch, but the real ballistic spice is the combination of ordnance with supernatural powers. Infinite’s vigors lost the immersive sim qualities of BioShock’s plasmids – fire won’t melt ice here – but their recalibration as a purely offensive tool is still successful. Lifting a crowd with Bucking Bronco and blasting them from the air like flailing clay pigeons is still a treat, and discovering which combinations of vigors produce special effects means combat stays layered throughout the campaign. It takes longer than ideal to hit its full potential, but when it does it proves itself as quite a singular experience. While games like Deathloop take similar delight in combining guns and magic, Infinite’s strong array of powers and the way all eight can be used in combination has yet to be equally matched.

But, as previously mentioned, as BioShock Infinite reaches its combat highs it succumbs to its story lows. In the early hours, Booker explains to Elizabeth that there’s “precious need of folks like Daisy Fitzroy… ‘cause of folks like me.” It’s his most poignant revelation; a recognition that his former years as a Pinkerton union buster caused immeasurable pain for the working class. But by the time of the rebellion he considers Fitzroy no different to Comstock, and so too does Irrational; the Vox Populi become the aggressive defacto foe to be shot on sight. It’s a baffling turn around from Infinite’s strong first half.

By ratcheting up the action there’s no space for nuance, and so the whole thing comes across as a poor reading of Malcom X.

Thanks to Elizabeth’s obsession with Paris and Les Misérables, it’s clear that this was supposed to be an exploration of the French Revolution and the dangers of violent movements fuelled by hate. But by ratcheting up the action there’s no space for nuance, and so the whole thing comes across as a poor reading of Malcom X and the US civil rights movement rather than any kind of interesting dissection of classism. And before you know it, Infinite has moved on to its grand multiverse-hopping finale; a wonderfully dramatic conclusion that sadly leaves its more serious story threads as little more than frayed ends.

Nonetheless, I still love BioShock Infinite. It challenges the idea of what a sequel should be – narratively and mechanically – which positions it as more of a BioShock from another plane of the multiverse than it is a direct continuation of what came before it. But more than that, to play a AAA game that is transparently about something is a rare treat, and to play one with the depth of world design as Irrational’s work is even rarer. Ten years later it remains bold, compelling, and arguably incredibly foolish. And I hope that Ken Levine and his team at Ghost Story Games tries to do it all over again with their upcoming FPS, Judas. There is value in a mainstream shooter that tackles society’s ills, even if it takes a few attempts to get it right.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gameplay Presentation Coming Tomorrow From Eiji Aonuma

Upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is getting a ten minute gameplay presentation tomorrow from Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma.

Announced in a tweet from Nintendo of America (below), the presentation (which wasn’t explicitly called a Nintendo Direct) will take place on March 28 at 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 3pm UK (so midnight in AEST).

“Join The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma for roughly ten minutes of gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the tweet said, adding that it can be watched on Nintendo’s YouTube channel.

The presentation will be the first major, uninterrupted chunk of Tears of the Kingdom gameplay we’ve seen, with Nintendo previously only sharing shorter clips in various trailers.

While we’ve done our best to break these down and extract every piece of possible information, seeing an extended look at the gameplay alongside commentary from Aonuma will shine a whole new light on the highly anticipated Breath of the Wild sequel.

We already know that Tears of the Kingdom will have the largest file size of any first party Nintendo Switch game, include classic enemies from Ocarina of Time, and cost a heftier than usual $70 to match its scope, but the main reason fans are excited is because Breath of the Wild is considered one of the best games of all time.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is evocative, exhilarating, and a masterclass in open-world design.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Slay The Spire Downfall mod developers are making their own tabletop fantasy roguelike

Slay The Spire has remained an incredibly popular deckbuilding roguelike, so it naturally invited a healthy modding community that added fun stuff to the game – goofy googley eyes included. One of Slay The Spire’s most popular mods was called Downfall, a huge fan-made expansion that added tons of playable characters, a new mode, and more. Those developers – Table 9 Studio – are now back with their own not-modded game: an auto-battling, fantasy Chess roguelike called Tales & Tactics.

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