Author: Game Infliction

Sonic the Hedgehog is having a great year with plenty to look forward to. The third Sonic movie is coming out in December, Knuckles is getting his own show on Paramount+, and Sonic is sharing the spotlight with Shadow in Sonic x Shadow Generations. In the last few years, the Blue Blur has become such a popular video game character in the multimedia landscape that Sega has produced toys to introduce the next generation of fans to the franchise. Older fans can add those toys and plushies to their collection for the sake of nostalgia or for sharing their love of Sonic with their children.

Either way, we prepared a list of the best Sonic toys to help prepare fans for the upcoming Sonic games and movies — not to mention introduce your kids to the franchise’s lore. Here are the best Sonic toys you can buy right now.

Sonic LEGO Sets

LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic’s Speed Sphere Challenge

Sonic’s Speed Sphere Challenge LEGO set is a fun set for Sonic fans of all ages, especially for kids. It allows them to use their imagination and act out Sonic’s adventures in Green Hill, whether they’ve played the games or watched the movies and TV shows, provided that the parents reading this guide introduced them to Sonic Prime or Sonic X on Netflix.

This set comes with the speed sphere and launcher to send Sonic spinning and knocking every obstacle, plus the Motobug, and save the Flicky. It also has some accessories for roleplay, such as the DJ set so that kids can imagine Sonic is spinning records at Coachella, and a beach umbrella and chair set to allow Sonic to kick back and enjoy his chili dog and Chaos Cola. This set came in a Sonic Superstars VIP kit for content creators, but you can get it for just $35.

More Sonic LEGO Sets

Sonic Plushies

Shadow the Hedgehog 12-inch Great Eastern Entertainment Plush

The Shadow the Hedgehog plushie from Great Eastern Entertainment would make a perfect addition to any Sonic fan’s plushie collection. Since Shadow is going to be in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, you can actually take him to the movie with you no matter how old you are, societal judgment be damned. Just ask the girl who took the same Shadow plush to prom.

The plushie is designed with great accuracy to Shadow’s character model, from the detailed rocket holes in the soles of his air shoes to curves of this spiky hair. It comes with a yellow string that makes it look like a carnival game prize, but you can cut it off if you so choose. Either way, it’s worth the money — $27, to be exact. Fair warning: Some people who bought the GE Shadow plushie from Amazon reported that they received the bootleg version in their reviews, so please be careful.

More Sonic Plushies

Sonic Action Figures

Sonic The Hedgehog 4″ Articulated Action Figure from Jakks Pacific

Jakks Pacific has been releasing a great deal of high-quality Sonic action figures in the last few years, and this Sonic articulated action figure is no exception. This one come with the Invincibility item box that you can place anywhere on your play set as you build out the world of Sonic according to your vision or that of your child’s.

There are other Sonic figures from Jakks Pacific that come with their own accessories, like Amy Rose, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and even Big the Cat. But you can add this to your Sonic figure collection for only $19, giving your wallet a break from the other expensive figures.

More Sonic Action Figures

Sonic R/C Cars

Team Sonic Racing 2.4GHz Radio Control Toy Car with Turbo Boost

Wanna see Team Sonic Racing play out in real life? You and your kids can do just that with the Team Sonic Racing R/C car by NKOK. The R/C is faithfully designed after Sonic’s race car in the game Team Sonic Racing, and has a beautifully detailed Sonic seated behind the wheel. It’s equipped with a 2.4 GHz control frequency that allows you to drive it at a wide enough distance, the ability to race up to 16 other RCs at once, and Turbo Boost to give an extra boost of speed.

The most charming part of the R/C is that it has working headlights, allowing you to drive it in dim-light areas (as long as you don’t drive it in total darkness). That’s everything you need to ensure you have a good race for just $27.

More Sonic R/C Cars

Knuckles Toy

Knuckles the Echidna Cable Guy Device Holder from Exquisite Gaming

In honor of the Knuckles show streaming on Paramount+, we’re presenting you the Knuckles the Echidna Cable Guy Device Holder, courtesy of Exquisite Gaming. You can set him on your desk and let him hold your phone while you’re working so he can bear the load of the constant text, email, and social media notifications that come your way.

Knuckles can also hold your gaming controller, TV remote, and even your Nintendo Switch — yes, even the OLED model — without falling over the side thanks to its sturdy base. You can take the load off your desk and TV stand and give it all to Knuckles for just $25.

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

Escape from Tarkov players are in an uproar over a new $250 upgrade called The Unheard Edition, with many deeming the pack “pay-to-win” and “selfish.”

The Unheard Edition of BattleState Games’ popular extraction shooter includes exclusive access to a laundry list of content, including an exclusive PvE co-op mode where progress doesn’t reset. Although the price tag without tax is steep as is, what many find offensive are the extra bonuses that the pack includes. Some notable features include expanded PMC pockets and increased Fence standing, which give buyers an edge by, for example, making NPCs less aggressive depending on player distance.

“This isn’t just perks like ‘increased stash space’ or ‘larger secure pouch,’” one Reddit user said. “This is blatant ‘you get a giant head start in front of everyone else.’

“Any other good extraction shooters out there?” they add.

Pay-to-win is a term most multiplayer fans hope they never hear when their favorite game is being described. It suggests that Escape From Tarkov rewards players for simply spending money while punishing those who don’t, but The Unheard Edition is causing a stir for more reasons than one.

Perhaps the most controversial action might be that many players were previously led to believe they would receive all future Escape From Tarkov content for free. The now-unlisted Edge of Darkness Edition, which provided a list of other goodies for $140, previously promised that buyers would receive “free access to all subsequent DLCs.”

It’s because of this that players were livid to find that The Unheard Edition is asking for hundreds of dollars to enjoy that new PvE co-op mode. It is worth noting that some are reporting that they are only being asked to pay an additional $100 for the new pack if they already own Edge of Darkness.

Many others seem to share the same sentiment, as official Escape from Tarkov social media channels are now plagued with memes and complaints from users upset with The Unheard Edition. Its Discord is in especially bad shape. While BattleState’s moderation team quickly moved to temporarily shut down most channels, the few that remain are filled with thousands of copy-and-pasted messages from players calling BattleState’s actions “selfish,” “unacceptable,” and “disrespectful.”

“This cannot be tolerated,” part of the repeated post says.

escape from tarkov discord server rn pic.twitter.com/GFY0t7gYIz

— Verrial (@Verrial_) April 25, 2024

BattleState isn’t taking the backlash too well either. The developer’s responses began simply enough, with Lead Community Manager appl3z0r sharing an explanation for disgruntled players on Discord (via Forbes).

“It ain’t DLC, its unique feature of the new edition added,” they said when describing the PvE mode.

They continued in a separate message: “DLC means additional downloadable content. PvE is a feature and a gamemode. Just because you all want it to become a DLC it wouldn’t mean it is one. It’s featured game mode for the new edition of the game.”

BattleState extended this explanation on X/Twitter, telling fans that it will keep them “updated on new features exclusive for EOD owners.” Things got more complicated when the official X/Twitter account for Arena Breakout: Infinite got involved. Many have compared the Tencent-made game to Escape From Tarkov, and BattleState didn’t appreciate it when the account began to take shots after the backlash began.

Have a nice 20 minute adventure in the blatant plagiarist game. In and out pic.twitter.com/DZe3A0I8Z4

— Battlestate Games (@bstategames) April 25, 2024

With the Discord shut down and BattleState firing back at other publishers on X/Twitter, many have flocked to Reddit to air their frustrations. A pinned post on the subreddit proclaims that “the gates are open,” giving users free reign to post and complain about The Unheard Edition as they please.

“Let’s start this off right – we (the mod team) are just as livid about this situation as you are,” the post says.

The Reddit page contains hundreds of popular posts from today, including accusations that The Unheard Edition’s free unique weapon isn’t so unique. Another post details an initiative that seeks to proceed with a lawsuit against BattleState.

The Escape From Tarkov woes stem from an update that BattleState published today. In addition to pulling back the curtain on The Unheard Edition, it revealed a number of changes and improvements for the experience.

IGN has reached out to BattleState for comment.

For more on Escape from Tarkov, be sure to check out why we called the shooter “brutal” in 2018.

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.

Microsoft’s gaming revenue climbed significantly year over year, according to its Q3 earnings report. But the massive jump in takings is deceptive — most of it is just reflective of the addition of Activision Blizzard (and King!).

For the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Microsoft reported gaming revenue up 51% year-over-year, or $1.8 billion, to a total of $5.45 billion. It’s a record Q3 for the segment, but it comes with a caveat. 55 points of that net impact were from the Activision Blizzard acquisition, meaning that Xbox content and services revenue not related to Activision Blizzard was actually down 4% year-over-year. We saw a similar situation last quarter, too, and will almost certainly see it again in the next two.

Xbox content and services revenue is in a similar boat. It’s up 62% year-over-year, but with 61 points of net impact from Activision Blizzard, meaning it’s only up 1%. And hardware revenue, which wasn’t touched by the acquisition, is down 31% due to fewer consoles sold.

There are a number of other nuggets in Microsoft’s 10-Q that highlight how Activision Blizzard is impacting the gaming division and the company as a whole. Operating expenses, for instance, were up $1.3 billion or 41% year-over-year for the More Personal Computing division (of which Gaming is a part) last quarter, 43 points of which came from the acquisition. And research and development expenses in particular are up – $669 million, to be precise. That’s up 10% year-over-year for the More Personal Computing last quarter, 9 points of which were from Activision Blizzard. Sales and marketing expenses, too, were up meaningfully from the acquisition, as were general and administrative expenses.

It’s expensive to buy another big company, even beyond the $69 billion Microsoft paid for it in the first place. The real value of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft will ultimately remain to be seen in the coming years, when we can look at gaming revenue in future quarters compared to this one, and see if Xbox was able to capitalize on its expensive purchase.

We’ll update this article with any interesting learnings from today’s earnings call. Meanwhile, earlier today, Blizzard announced it would not be holding BlizzCon in 2024, a decision that comes not long after a series of Xbox-wide cost-cutting measures that led to the layoffs of 1,900 people.

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

In its weekly This Week in Destiny blog post, Bungie announced today it would be reversing one of its most controversial Destiny 2 decisions: the one that “sunset” older weapons by giving them a power limit.

The news comes just as Bungie prepares for the final chapter in Destiny 2’s Light and Darkness saga, which began way back in 2014.

“As we close out the Light and Darkness saga, we want to rally all Guardians (active, returning, and new) to help fight the Witness, and there is no better way to play Destiny than with your fireteam,” the blog post reads. “As we pursued this goal, it became apparent that Power limits were fundamentally incompatible with Fireteam Power.”

Over three years ago, Bungie announced they’d be making older weapons in Destiny 2 essentially irrelevant by giving them a maximum power that would reduce their effectiveness over time. The move was controversial, as many saw it as invalidating their previous accomplishments (which sometimes included hours of grinding), while others saw it as the only way to combat power creep.

At the time, Bungie actually referenced power creep as the reason for the change, with players simply becoming too powerful over the course of such a long-running game, making it made it difficult to design future content since players were able to steamroll through it.

But the move was unpopular enough that Bungie later stopped sunsetting weapons, and haven’t done so again in the years since, instead favoring the strategy of heavily nerfing and tweaking old weapons players still use to try and balance the sandbox in real time.

When Bungie announced sunsetting originally, it made a major point to assure players that old, sunset weapons would never be un-sunset, so players could safely dismantle all of their most powerful legacy weapons without fear. Today’s news is a complete upheaval of those assurances, which Bungie addessed, writing, “We understand that many old Power limited items have been dismantled by this point, and we regret that we have no recovery mechanism for these. Going forward, we intend to reintroduce sources for most or all of these, updated to modern Destiny sandbox standards with added properties such as Origin Traits and buildcrafting perks (as we have started to do with the BRAVE arsenal in Destiny 2: Into the Light).”

The reversal has already been met with mixed reactions. Some in the Destiny community who were paranoid enough to hold onto their weapons are overjoyed to see this arbitrary power barrier removed, while others feel betrayed by yet another reversal of something the community was repeatedly told would never happen.

Bungie has also released a slew of videos showing off Destiny 2: The Final Shape, including footage of the upcoming Dread enemy faction.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.

Bethesda unleashed Fallout 4’s next-gen update today and, as feared, it’s broken one of its most important mods.

Many mods have been impacted by the update, including the all-too-useful Fallout 4 Script Extender (F4SE). As explained on its Nexus Mods page, F4SE is a foundational modding resource that extends scripting capabilities without permanent side effects. A wide variety of mods rely on the project to work at all, so without it, modifying Fallout 4 gets a lot more complicated.

“The 2024-04-25 Fallout 4 update (1.10.980 and later) has broken F4SE and the rest of the native code modding scene similarly to Skyrim’s ‘Anniversary Edition’ patch,” F4SE developer ianpatt said in a post. “I am working on an update and cannot currently offer a timeline for its availability, nor whether there will be any critical technical issues that would block an update. Do not email with questions.”

Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is finally on PC after 10 years of waiting – but there’s a catch.

As spotted by DSOGaming, this all-encompassing version of the franchise reboot, which originally released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014, can officially be downloaded on PC, but only through the Microsoft Store. Like most similar releases for other games, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition packs in all previously released DLC, including Tomb of the Lost Adventurer, single-player outfits, and a collection of multiplayer goodies, as well as a suite of graphical enhancements.

However, places like Steam and the Epic Games Store still only have access to the Game of the Year version of the experience, which includes add-on content without the visual improvements.

“The cinematic action-adventure that forced Lara Croft to grow from an inexperienced young woman into a hardened survivor has been re-built for next-gen consoles, featuring an obsessively detailed Lara and a stunningly lifelike world,” a description for Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition says. “Lara must endure high-octane combat, customize her weapons and gear, and overcome grueling environments to survive her first adventure and uncover the island’s deadly secret.”

It’s unclear why what is widely regarded to be considered to be the best version of the Tomb Raider reboot is only available on Microsoft’s digital storefront on PC. Crystal Dynamics’ original Tomb Raider reboot launched for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 at the tail end of the console generation in 2013. The Definitive Edition arrived only one year later but left out PC.

IGN has reached out to Crystal Dynamics for comment.

For more Tomb Raider, be sure to check out the latest update for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, which removed some pinup pictures of Lara without explanation. You can also read up on our 9.1 review of Tomb Raider’s 2013 refresh, where we said, “A new beginning for Lara Croft that does justice to one of gaming’s most iconic characters.”

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.