Author: Game Infliction

Pools brings liminal terror to PS5 and PS VR2 on Nov 25

This November 25, our liminal-spaces fever dream game Pools is coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2. To say we’re excited is an understatement of the year; we’re actually buzzing about the prospect of seeing our game coming out in a few days of this post being published. Apart from seeing our game appear on a console that a lot of us have grown up with, what really excites us is seeing how people will react to the PlayStation 5 and PS VR2 specific features that we implemented. That is something we’re really excited for, and I thought that it would be a pretty cool thing to tell you more about in this very post. So, what makes the PS5 and PS VR2 versions of Pools special? Come with me and I’ll show you.

Immersive DualSense controller features

We wanted to make the experience in Pools as real and immersive as it can possibly be (short of somehow making a chlorine smell come from the DualSense controller). To give you a feeling of immersion, we made the most of the DualSense controller haptic feedback. First, we wanted to give each surface that you walk on its own “feeling”. You can feel subtle vibrations on each footstep you’ll take, and every surface has its own haptic feel and intensity. In some places, your footsteps will feel light and normal, while in some you will feel resistance. Walking in water also creates different types of feedback depending on your depth and movement speed. It might sound like a small thing, but it really helps you to be “there”, almost smelling that chlorine in the pools.

Controller haptics are also used to accentuate unique locations and events in the game. For example, at one point you may come across a seemingly bottomless pit from which you can hear a distant snarl-like sound emanating. You will feel the echoing sound through your controller speaker, while the haptic effect intensity scales naturally based on distance to that pit. While creating these types of haptic moments, we were aware that some of you may want to adjust them to suit your tastes. So haptic intensity can be adjusted or toggled on/off in the settings menu according to your personal taste.

Making the most of the PS VR2 

When we started our plans on bringing Pools to PS5, we decided early on that the PS VR2 mode had to make the most of the features. Once again, we have this cool hardware that can suck you into the world of our game just that little bit more – let’s make full use of it! The PS VR2 version is a new custom version of the game, tailored directly for the hardware. It takes full advantage of eye-tracked foveated rendering, so that we can give you maximum visual quality and performance. This is a really great feature as it allows us to make Pools look as real as it can be, while keeping a great performance at the same time – at least 90 FPS without reprojection. It’s all about making the game look good and play good.

Now, although it might seem a bit banal to say this, we are extremely proud of the PS VR2 version. Between you and me, we had to rebuild most of the visual aspects of the game from the ground up in order to achieve our target performance. Pretty much, we wanted the foveated rendering to work as best as it could, and in order to do that, we needed to create a custom solution for our water visuals. So we locked ourselves in, got deep into the code, and we’ve learned a ton on shader programming. It was a lot of hard work, but we’re really proud of what we achieved. The whole studio hopes that when you submerge, walk in, or just gaze at the water effects, you’ll think “hey, that looks nice”. If you do, it’s all been worth it to us.

Thanks so much for spending a bit of time with us and seeing our thought process on how we can make the Pools experience as immersive as it can be on PlayStation 5 and PS VR2. Also, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll only need to buy the game once, and you’ll get access to both modes. 

Pools is coming out in just a few days, on November 25, and you can play the demo right now on PlayStation Store. We hope to see you there. 

Fans Believe Homer Simpsons’ Nipples Point to Fortnite Policy Change

This week, Fortnite players got their first glimpse at something never seen in the game before: nipples. Specifically, Homer Simpsons’ nipples. And big ones too, at that.

Yes, an upcoming Fortnite model will feature a giant-sized version of Homer wearing just his underpants, with everything else (including his nipples) on show. Why is this such a big deal to Fortnite’s faithful? Well, it’s because the game has refused to depict any kind of areola previously.

While never publicly stated, Fortnite developer Epic Games has seemingly mandated that its battle royale should be nipple-less. The apparent rule was first discussed among fans all the way back in 2019, when the game’s high-profile Travis Scott concert (and his purchasable in-game skin) both showed the rapper with a smooth, nip-free chest.

Since then, numerous Fortnite-original characters and a whole parade of other famous figures have appeared in the game shirtless, but also nipple-less. A non-exhaustive list includes God of War’s Kratos, Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Aang, WWE’s John Cena, Dragonball Z’s Goku, and Marvel superheroes such as Drax and The Hulk.

What happened to his nipples.
byu/1234ppt inFortNiteBR

IGN has often asked Epic Games if it would like to comment on the lack of nipples in Fortnite, but has never received an official, on-the-record response.

Curiously, we’ve noted that Fortnite’s nipple-free decree also extends to Fortnite’s third-party modes. Earlier this year, Philips launched Body Royale, a promotional mode designed to highlight its latest OneBlade shaver. On Philips’ website, photos for the product depict its use across all types of body hair, by male models who definitely have nipples in real life.

But within Fortnite, in Body Royale, the action plays out against the backdrop of an in-game model who is distinctly nipple-less. Did Philips have to remove the nipples at Epic Games’ request, in order to get this experience in the game? (Philips has also not responded to IGN’s requests for comment.)

Now, Homer Simpson looks set to change all of that. But why? Is there something about Homer’s design that allows his nipples — nothing more than a pair of black dots — on his animated body? It seems unlikely — other cel-shaded characters have still been nipple-less before.

Does The Simpsons come with its own set of brand rules that require nipples and supercede Epic Games’ own? Or perhaps there’s something specific here about the fact that nearly-naked Homer’s in-game appearance has to match up with the same design shown in The Simpsons’ accompanying Fortnite crossover Disney+ shorts.

Alternatively, fans say, this could all point to something of a wider policy change within Epic Games. As Fortnite shifts to its new Chapter Seven era and collaborates with Quentin Tarantino, perhaps now is the time to ease this particular restriction. After nipples, what’s next? If Epic Games ever acknowledges this, we’ll let you know.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake will release in March 2026, according to the latest whispers

If Ubisoft’s rumoured Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake were an actual ghost ship, we’d be long past the point of snatching glimpses of the vessel through unnaturally dense fog at two bells during the morning watch. We’d be long past the point of spotting a spectral Jolly Roger between stormy crests, its deathshead wreathed in St. Elmo’s Fire. The damn ghost ship is square abreast of us now, the hollow-cheeked revenant of Edward Kenway dangling from the rigging.

People keep pointing at the ghost ship and screaming, but Captain Ubisoft has his eyes firmly on the horizon. “Steady as she goes, lads!” he trills, as hordes of translucent pirates pour over the rail. “Steady as she goes till some hypothetical future time when we might announce a thing, maybe!”

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‘Spring Looks Really Good’ — 007 First Light Dev Sounds Pretty Happy With the GTA 6 Delay

If there’s a big winner in the wake of the delay of Grand Theft Auto 6 from May 26, 2026 to November 19, 2026, it’s 007 First Light.

In September last year IO Interactive, the Danish developer of the Hitman games, had slapped James Bond action adventure 007 First Light with a March 27, 2026 release date — just two months ahead of the release of GTA 6 before Rockstar announced its delay to November.

Two months would be, under normal circumstances, plenty of room for two video games to breathe, but this is GTA 6 we’re talking about. It looks set to become not only the biggest video game launch of all time, but the biggest… anything launch of all time. You could see a situation where the wider gaming public might save their hard-earned cash for GTA 6, even if they quite like the look of the promising 007 First Light — especially with speculation that Rockstar could end up charging even more than $70 for it.

And so, two months was certainly close enough for 007 to be caught up in the gravitational pull of Rockstar’s behemoth, so massive an impact it will surely have on the video game space. Not even James Bond in a souped-up Aston Martin would have much of a chance of breaking free.

And it sounds like the developers at IO Interactive knew that all too well. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, CEO Hakan Abrak was asked about GTA 6 kindly getting out of 007’s way.

“It would be a lie not to say that obviously spring looks really good,” he replied. “I want to say in the same breath that GTA 6 is a welcome thing for the industry. I do believe a lot of gamers who maybe haven’t played for a while will get into things again, and generally for the industry as a whole, I think that will be amazing.”

Abrak’s comments about the positive impact of GTA 6 echo those of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who has suggested the game’s release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S (sorry PC gamers, no launch for you… for now) will spark a surge in console sales. Such is the might of GTA 6 that it will no doubt convince an army of gamers to finally upgrade from the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One to the current-gen, or push PC gamers over the edge so they can get in on the fun at launch.

And let’s not forget Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, which was set to come out in the same week as GTA 6. Yes, GTA 6 will probably hit all forms of entertainment hard as the world dives into the next iteration of Vice City. The Force be damned.

But while there are winners in all this, there are losers, too — something we at IGN have looked into following the GTA 6 delay. Microsoft has a raft of games due out next year that may end up hit hard by GTA 6, such as the next Fable, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War E-Day, and even 2026’s Call of Duty. But Sony is probably shifting nervously at the prospect of Insomniac’s PlayStation 5 exclusive, Marvel’s Wolverine, getting absorbed by the GTA 6 effect, too.

All the while, James Bond himself is off having a celebratory vodka martini, “shaken, not stirred” of course. With GTA 6 out the picture, the world famous secret agent has a clear run to success.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Fallout 4’s anniversary update “didn’t quite land with the impact many hoped for”, so Nexus Mods have assembled their own

It’s fair to say Fallout 4‘s anniversary update’s earned some stick due to effect it had on PC mods, just like the RPG’s next-gen update did before it. Lots of works needed updating, and while that happened pretty quickly in a number of cases, there was still disruption for some additions that generally feel a lot more necessary over on console.

Enter modding platform Nexus Mods, who’ve decided to follow-up the update by putting together their own “anniversary collection” of Fallout 4 mods from the works they host, with hopes it’ll serve as a free alternative aimed at celebrating ten years of the RPG being modded.

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Everyone’s Playing Shooters Right Now, New Data Shows — While Pokémon Legends: Z-A ‘Underperformed’ Compared to Arceus

Everyone’s playing shooters these days, at least according to some new data from Newzoo shared with IGN.

Newzoo, whose revenue estimates cover digital full-game purchases, including but not limited to DLC, subscriptions, and microtransactions, has revealed the top 20 PC and console games for the month of October, both by revenue and MAUs (monthly active users), combined across the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. And boy, there are a lot of shooters on that list! Battlefield 6, in its debut month, is at the top of the revenue charts and the third in monthly active users. While Battlefield’s dominance has been well documented already, it’s nonetheless an impressive feat given that Battlefield was only out for one week in October.

It is worth noting that while the suite of Call of Duty games were 9th on the revenue chart, they came in at the second spot for MAUs, ahead of Battlefield. Again, though, Battlefield only had a week compared to Call of Duty’s full month, so the real test will be looking at November’s data when Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will face off against Battlefield. MAUs are a bit of a better comparison metric for Call of Duty, given its precense on Xbox Game Pass.

Breakout extraction shooter Arc Raiders debuted at No. 7 for revenue and No. 18 in MAUs, similarly hampered somewhat by the fact that it was only out for two days in the reporting period of October, so we should see a clearer picture of its success in November as well.

These new games are joined by a lot of the usual suspects: Counter-Strike 2 at No. 8 in revenue and No. 9 in MAUs, Fortnite at No. 3 in revenue and No. 1 in MAUs, and just on the MAU chart: GTA 5 at No. 7, Helldivers 2 at No. 16, Borderlands 4 at No. 17, Apex Legends at No. 19, and Overwatch at No. 20. Those are just shooters; Roblox, Minecraft, Valorant, League of Legends, and annual sports titles remain strong. It’s as challenging as ever for new games to crack the dominance of the handful of live service giants that consume so much of audience time, attention, and money.

There was a bit of a face-off this month in monster RPGs, with Pokémon Legends: Z-A coming in at No. 5 in revenue and No. 15 in MAUs, and Digimon Story Time Stranger at No. 13 in revenue. It was never in doubt that Pokémon would win that battle, but Newzoo noted that Z-A “underperformed compared to Legends: Arceus,” which may suggest some hesitance around its move to a real-time, action-based combat system, or perhaps caution after the state of Scarlet and Violet’s launch. It’s worth noting that Pokémon Legends: Z-A launched as a cross-gen title, both on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo’s official sales figures show Pokémon Legends: Z-A sold almost 6 million copies in its opening week. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which debuted on October 16, sold 5.8 million units worldwide, with around half of those bought for Switch 2. This means the first Pokémon game to feature real-time Pokémon battles is the fifth best-selling game of the franchise in terms of first week sales. By comparison, that’s more than Pokémon X/Y and Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee managed in their first weeks, but not as much as Pokémon Scarlet / Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Pokémon Sword / Shield managed.

IGN’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A review returned an 8/10. We said: “Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokémon’s 3D era, with a fun setting to explore, a well-written story, and a total battle system overhaul that works surprisingly well.”

Top 20 PC and Console Games by Revenue for October 2025

(Data covers U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)

  1. Battlefield 6/Redsec (NEW)
  2. EA Sports FC 26
  3. Fortnite
  4. Ghost of Yotei (NEW)
  5. Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NEW)
  6. NBA 2K 26
  7. Arc Raiders (NEW)
  8. Counter-Strike 2 & GO
  9. Call of Duty: MW2/MW3/WZ/BO6
  10. EA Sports Madden NFL 26
  11. The Sims 4
  12. Minecraft
  13. Digimon Story Time Stranger (NEW)
  14. Valorant
  15. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (NEW)
  16. Roblox
  17. League of Legends
  18. Jurassic World Evolution 3 (NEW)
  19. World of Warcraft
  20. Marvel Rivals

Top 20 PC and Console Games by MAU for October 2025

(Data covers U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)

  1. Fortnite
  2. Call of Duty: MW2/MW3/WZ/BO6
  3. Battlefield 6/Redsec (NEW)
  4. Roblox
  5. Minecraft
  6. skate.
  7. Grand Theft Auto V
  8. Rocket League
  9. Counter-Strike 2 & GO
  10. EA Sports FC 26
  11. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X
  12. Marvel Rivals
  13. NBA 2K26
  14. EA Sports FC 25
  15. Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NEW)
  16. Helldivers 2
  17. Borderlands 4
  18. Arc Raiders (NEW)
  19. Apex Legends
  20. Overwatch 1 & 2

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Kirby Air Riders Players Are Creating ‘Micro Bikini’ Machines, But Nintendo’s Having None Of It

Cheeky!

Players in Kirby Air Riders have recently taken to creating new machines designed to look like Chef Kawasaki wearing a micro bikini. Because of course..!

As covered by Automaton (thanks, VGC), player-created machines have been flooding the game’s Machine Marketplace, which lets users purchase new vehicles in exchange for coins earned in races. The more popular a vehicle is, the more its price will increase.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Remake Release Date Reportedly Leaked

Ubisoft’s highly-anticipated Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake will launch in just a few months’ time, a fresh report has claimed.

This morning, Ubisoft revealed its latest financial results and laid out a slate of upcoming games set to arrive before the end of its current financial year, on March 31, 2026.

One title due for launch remained “unannounced” in Ubisoft’s official presentation, but a new Insider Gaming report has now stated that this not-so-mysterious project is the new version of Black Flag, which is scheduled to arrive during the week of March 23, 2026.

Despite years of internal leaks, fan speculation and even hints from the game’s lead actor, Ubisoft is still to officially confirm its Black Flag remake exists. But players have been tracking its progress for a while now, and think they have a pretty good idea of how it will play.

Alongside visual and gameplay upgrades to bring the game closer to Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ level of fidelity and more RPG-like focus, a recent report detailed plans for the game to feature all-new content and missions for its pirate hero Edward Kenway. At the same time, however, Black Flag’s modern day gameplay sections have apparently been excised — something that many fans aren’t happy about.

It’s believed that work on this new Black Flag remake has been spearheaded by Ubisoft Singapore, which previously launched the long-delayed Skull and Bones — a game that began life as an offshoot of Black Flag’s maritime gameplay.

Ubisoft is going all-in on Assassin’s Creed, its biggest franchise, with this year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows followed by a recent Saudi Arabia-funded free update to 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Alongside its Black Flag remake, next year is expected to bring a second major Shadows expansion. Beyond that, Ubisoft has already announced that a multiplayer Assassin’s Creed game and its next big blockbuster, the witchcraft-themed Assassin’s Creed Hexe, are also in the works.

This morning, Ubisoft said its latest positive financial results had been driven in part by a “strong performance” for its Assassin’s Creed franchise. But while the company noted that Mirage had now passed 10 million sales, there was no new figure provided for how well this year’s Shadows has sold.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Good news, people who wish Little Nightmares were more like Zelda – Tarsier’s Reanimal will release in February 2026

Similar to Nic (RPS in peace), I am both beguiled and maybe just a little riled by how much Tarsier’s Reanimal looks like the studio’s previous Little Nightmares games. Once again, it’s a game about small children in sinister headgear travelling through a collapsed and raggedy storybook world of ogres and abductors. Still, Tarsier have a magnetic capacity for icky monster designs – shout out to Spider Sheep in the trailer there, who absolutely won’t be getting an eye-popping animated Marvel spin-off – and Reanimal is something of a departure once you peel back the layers of suppurating flesh.

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Ubisoft Says Assassin’s Creed Franchise ‘Exceeded Expectations,’ Driving Positive Financial Results — But While Mirage Gets a Sales Update, Shadows Does Not

Ubisoft has celebrated a fresh set of financial results that it says has been driven by a “strong performance” for its Assassin’s Creed franchise. But while there’s an update on sales figures for 2023’s Mirage, there’s no new figure for how this year’s Shadows has sold.

The French publisher’s latest earnings report, published this morning, covers the company’s performance over the first half of the current year: April through September. Last week, Ubisoft delayed the publication of these results at the last minute, prompting speculation that something had gone wrong with the company’s big Tencent deal — though there’s no suggestion of that today.

Ubisoft has framed the results in a positive light, with net bookings for the past quarter “above expectations” and up 39% year-on-year. “The outperformance was driven by stronger-than-expected partnerships,” Ubisoft noted, “and was supported by a robust back-catalog, both highlighting the strength of the Group’s brands.”

One back catalogue game seemingly doing very well is Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the series’ return to a smaller, city-based adventure that launched a couple of years ago. Today, Ubisoft announced a new 10 million sales milestone for the title, and said its recent Saudi Arabia-funded free update had received “very positive” feedback from fans.

But on the sales performance of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the franchise’s blockbuster feudal Japan entry launched in March, Ubisoft was less clear. Without providing a new sales total, Ubisoft simply said the game had “benefited” from the launch of its New Game+ mode and recent Claws of Awaji expansion, which seems obvious. The company then pointed to the game’s upcoming Switch 2 launch as an oppurtunity for it to “reach a broader audience.” Back in July, Ubisoft said Shadows had surpassed 5 million players, and that its performance had been in line with expectations.

Outside of Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft noted that Rainbow Six Siege’s cheating issues were continuing to temporarily impact “activity and player spending versus expectations,” following the game’s previous move to an essentially free-to-play model.

Ubisoft still expects to finalize its $1.16 billion deal with Chinese conglomerate Tencent in the near future, company boss Yves Guillemot said, noting that “all conditions precedent have been satisfied.” The transaction will secure funding for Vantage Studios, Ubisoft’s new self-contained subsidiary in charge of its biggest brands, including Assassin’s Creed.

Guillemot revealed that more of these companies, termed Creative Houses, will be detailed in January — a point at which the Tencent deal should presumably be sorted. After this, the future shape of the company should become clear, following years of internal turmoil.

“These Creative Houses will be autonomous, efficient, focused and accountable business units, each with its own leadership, creative vision and strategic roadmap,” Guillemot concluded. “This Group-wide transformation reflects our ambition to renew how we create and operate in order to deliver great games for our players and lasting value for our partners and shareholders.”

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social