Category: IGN

Arch Manning, the popular quarterback from the University of Texas and nephew of NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning, has officially announced that he has opted to be featured in College Football 25.

In a new post on X/Twitter, Arch shared a promotional video alongside his uncle Eli with the caption reading, “I’m IN the game.”

I’m IN the game 🤘 #CFB25 @EASportsCollege #EAAthlete pic.twitter.com/mgndu7Khuz

— Arch Manning (@ArchManning) July 9, 2024

Eli also confirmed the news on his X/Twitter account, writing, “It’s a great way to focus on football.” Eli’s post refers to a report by Texas football journalist Anwar Richardson last March, who said that “multiple people” told him that Arch Manning would not opt into College Football 25, claiming that Arch Manning was “focused on playing football on the field.”

Despite Manning being one of the most popular student-athletes in college football, he is currently a backup for the Longhorns. Last season, Manning was third on the depth chart behind Maalik Murphy and Quinn Ewers, the latter of which is one of the cover athletes for College Football 25.

Apple Arcade is adding Vampire Survivors to its collection at no extra cost on August 1, 2024 — and it’s ad free.

Apple announced the addition of Vampire Survivors+ as a version with both premium expansions included at no extra cost. The complete removal of ads is perhaps what makes this version most appealing, however, giving it a leg up on the version of the gothic rogue-lite game already available on mobile.

“Mow thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn in Vampire Survivors, a gothic horror game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you,” reads the official synopsis.

Vampire Survivors became one of the biggest surprise hits of the last few years as what launched as a humble indie game on Steam blew up into and snowballed in popularity itself. Developer Poncle soon added layers of new content to the game, and the core experience now offers 50 playable characters and 80 weapons to play with. That’s before the two major expansions too, meaning Apple Arcade is about to add a ton of content at no additional cost, though the service is priced at $6.99 a month otherwise.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: “It may look extremely basic, but if you give Vampire Survivors’ clever one-stick shooter idea a chance to sink its teeth into you it might not let go for a while.”

Apple Arcade is also adding Temple Run: Legends on August 1, while Castle Crumble joins on August 29.

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

EA Sports has finally revealed College Ultimate Team, a game mode originally introduced in NCAA Football 14. In this mode, players can build their own dream team using real players from any of the 134 FBS schools past and present and create their dream team to compete against the AI or other players.

Which Ultimate Alumni are you adding to your Day 1 lineup?

Pre-order the Deluxe Edition of #CFB25 or the MVP Bundle to get one of these players on your Ultimate Team.

Learn more about CUT | 🔗: https://t.co/oaR0iJb3cU pic.twitter.com/PIqeuEqXSw

— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) July 9, 2024

College Ultimate Team (CUT) was first introduced in NCAA Football 14 as Ultimate Team and functions much like Madden Ultimate Team (MUT), as EA Sports revealed that current and past college football players will be available in CUT.

Some of them are currently in the NFL, like former UGA Tight End Brock Bowers, who was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders this year. This group also includes current NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes, Davante Adams, Christian McCaffrey, and Joe Burrow.

More interestingly, the blog post mentions two programs coming to CUT: ICYMI and Legends; the former program will feature players who contributed to iconic moments in past seasons and helped their team excel on the iron, while the latter focuses on legendary All-Americans and see how they fare against the current stars of collegiate football.

This announcement is part of EA Sports’ weeklong set of reveals for College Football 25 ahead of its release next week. Yesterday, the developer provided a new look at gameplay featuring two Play Now matches between college football content creator James “BordeauxYT” Bordeaux and cover athlete Donovan Edwards. Throughout the week, the developer will reveal the launch roster and the new additions to fan-favorite game mode Road to Glory on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

College Football 25 will be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on July 16 for those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle, or July 19 for everyone else. For more, check out the top 25 rated teams, the best offensive and defensive teams, and the toughest stadiums to play in. Check out our hands-on preview to hear IGN’s initial thoughts before the full release.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

An enterprising pair of Elden Ring players going by the name “Let Us Duo Her” have invented a new method for cheesing one of Elden Ring’s toughest bosses, using a simple combination of weapons and techniques introduced by the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella is without doubt one of the toughest bosses offered up by Elden Ring’s based game, featuring a range of lightning swift sword strokes and rot-infused attacks that work in concert to melt the player’s health bar while frustratingly regenerating her own. Now, a pair of players have taken to Reddit to reveal a new — and vaguely humiliating — method of cheesing the troublesome boss by harnessing the new hand-to-hand fighting style introduced by the new DLC.

As shown in a YouTube video, the pair, who have branded themselves “Let Us Duo Her”, were summoned into battle as co-operators while donning the Dane’s Footwork gear, which was equipped with the Dryleaf Whirlwind ash of war.

NEW Malenia Cheese (Let us duo her)#ELDENRING #EldenRingDLC
📹oRezyn pic.twitter.com/M0PCjdEKbM

— ELDEN RING Alerts (@EldenringAlerts) July 7, 2024

Upon entering the boss chamber, the Tarnished who had summoned the duo stood back as the unorthodox pair took it in turns to unleash kick upon kick against the boss, which locked her into a stun animation that went unbroken for the entire first stage of the fight. The ordinarily troublesome boss was then granted a brief reprieve following the mid-battle cutscene to unleash her fearsome Scarlet Aeonia attack, before being savagely kicked into oblivion by the scantily clad warriors.

“Inspired from ‘Let me solo her’, we adopted ‘Let us duo her’ to introduce the world to the Malenia cheese we discovered while playing around with the new DLC weapons,” explained oRezyn, who posted the footage. The build apparently needed no specialised talismans to stunlock Malenia, though oRezyn has warned that the stagger could have been interrupted if the summoning player had chosen to get involved.

Malenia’s Haligtree arena has borne witness to a slew of extraordinary challenge feats in the years following Elden Ring’s 2022 release, along with the rise of the community co-op hero “Let Me Solo Her”, who specialised in taking down the rot-infused demigod.

Of course the attention has long since shifted away from Malenia and towards the new cast of brutally difficult bosses introduced by the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Be sure to check out IGN’s comprehensive guides and walkthroughs to ensure that your Tarnished warrior is prepared to take on everything that the land of shadows has to offer.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Ubisoft has apologized after using a Japanese historical re-enactment group’s flag in concept art for Assassin’s Creed Shadows without permission.

As reported by Siliconera, Ubisoft Japan issued an apology on X/Twitter and admitted it used the flag in two pieces of art without permission. It also claimed to have apologized to the flag’s owner Sekigahara Teppo-tai, a historical re-enactment group made up of volunteers who perform to the public at festivals and other events.

Eagle-eyed fans noticed the identical recreation of the flag, which can be seen below, in a piece of concept art for the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed released alongside its full reveal. It was raised to a leading member of the Sekigahara Teppo-tai, X/Twitter user @matchlock_kage, who posted a photo of the real flag taken on October 27, 2019, and expressed concern at it being used by Ubisoft without permission.

Ubisoft has now apologized for using the flag, however, and said it will no longer use the associated artwork with one exception: the presumably already printed physical art book featured in the Collector’s Edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft has said it strived to make the world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows as “authentic as possible.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was fully revealed in May 2024 as a Japan-set entry where players take control of two protagonists: the stealthy shinobi Naoe and the action-orientated Yasuke, who’s a real figure from Japanese history.

IGN had a wealth of exclusive content on the reveal, and you can read about all the gameplay changes, story beats, and open-world assassinating coming with Shadows in our extensive interview with the development team.

If that’s not enough, check our analysis and explanation of where and when Shadows is set and 40 key details we’ve learned about the game. You can also watch our full breakdown of the cinematic trailer to discover all its hidden details, Easter eggs, and more.

Shadows launches November 12, 2024 for those buying the Gold, Ultimate, or Deluxe Editions, while the Standard Edition is available on November 15, 2024.

Image Credit: @matchlock_kage on X/Twitter

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

2023 and 2024 have shown that 2TB PS5 SSD upgrades are actually worth the price. In 2022, prices for 1TB PS5 SSDs averaged around $150, whereas 2TB SSDs hovered closer to $300. Now, we’re seeing 1TB SSDs trickle below the $70 price point and 2TB SSDs can drop to around $100 or sometimes even lower if there’s a good sale. It’s worth noting, though, that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid-state drive with at least a 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive.

TL;DR – The Best 2TB PS5 SSD Deals Right Now

Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD and not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (like this one for $9) and install it yourself. For our top recommended picks for 2024, check out our full breakdown for the Best PS5 SSDs.

TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for $110

As part of its early Prime Day deals, Amazon is offering the TEAMGROUP MP44Q 2TB SSD for just $109.99. It, unfortunately, does not have a heatsink so you’ll have to invest in one, but you can easily do that here for under $10. It also offers transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write.

acer Predator GM7000 2TB M.2 SSD for $139.99

With sequential read/write speeds up to 7400 MB/s and 6700 MB/s, this is an excellent SSD for your PS5. It currently has a nice little discount at Amazon, down to $139.99 from its MSRP of $169.99, but it does not come with a heatsink so you’ll have to invest in one.

WD_Black 2TB SN850X SSD for $149.99

Right now, Amazon has the WD_Black 2TB SN850X SSD available for just $149.99. Normally priced at $189.99, this 2TB SSD features speeds up to 7,300MB/s to ensure your games load as fast as possible. This model will work with PS5, but you will need to purchase a heatsink to go with it (which you can do here for just $9).

XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 2TB Internal SSD with Heatsink for $149.99

This is another 2TB SSD deal that’s well worth taking advantage of. This option from XPG has dropped 17% in price, from $179.99 to $149.99, and even features a built-in heatsink. It also has a read speed of 7400MB/s and a write speed of 6800MB/s.

Silicon Power 2TB XS70 SSD with Built-in PS5 Heatsink for $159.99

This SSD offers 2TB of storage, excellent read and write speeds (read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s and write speeds up to 6,800MB/s), and a built-in heatsink all at a fantastic price. It’s currently available for $159.99 on Amazon, 11% off its MSRP of $179.99, so well worth picking up for your PS5.

WD_BLACK PS5 4TB SSD for $309.99 at Amazon

This is a great deal for those looking to maximize their PS5’s storage. For a limited time only, this PS5 4TB SSD is available at Amazon for just $309.99 (see here). Normally, it has an MSRP of $699.99, but nowadays, this and many other 4TB SSDs have been sitting around $280-$300 recently. You’ll also have to grab a heatsink to go with it (which you can do here for $9).

2024 Crucial T705 2TB SSD for $294.99

This is the newest model from Crucial and it already has an excellent discount on Amazon. For a limited time, you can get 26% off this SSD, bringing it down to $294.99 from $399.99. It’s well worth the investment as well, as it offers crazy good sequential read/write speeds up to 14,500/12,700MB/s. If you feel the need for speed, this SSD will certainly get you there.

Crucial T500 2TB SSD with Heatsink for $169.99

Amazon is offering a nice deal at the moment on the Crucial T500 2TB SSD, which is discounted down to $169.99. This SSD has a heatsink all ready to go, so you can install it right away in your PS5, and even offers excellent read/write speeds of 7,400/7,000MB/s.

Samsung 990 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD for $179.99

The Samsung 990 Pro is an excellent SSD for your PS5. From a purely performance perspective, it’s overkill; the stock SSD in your PS5 will be the limiting factor. You’ll want to pick up a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive with a rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive and the 990 Pro is much faster. This one does not come with a heatsink, though, so you’ll need to invest in one.

What if the SSD Doesn’t Include a Heatsink?

Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for $9 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.

Budget to Best: PS5 SSDs

There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, in case you don’t need additional storage for your PS5 console.

How To Install a New PS5 SSD

It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Unicorn Overlord is now available for just $34.99 on PS5 in the early Prime Day sales. This discount is currently exclusive to the PlayStation version, but further discounts from other retailers across all platforms should follow soon. This is one of the top video game deals currently available during the summer sales at retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target. It’s also the lowest price we’ve seen for the PS5 version since its release.

IGN awarded Unicorn Overlord an “Amazing” 9/10. You can read our review to understand why it’s considered one of the best console strategy games in recent history. Here’s reviewer Eric Zalewski’s final verdict:

“Reflecting on the incredibly diverse and remarkably creative world I explored across my 45-hour journey, any issues I had with Unicorn Overlord ended up feeling like nothing more than nitpicks. The tactical combat system is unique and complex while also being easy to understand, expertly blending mechanics from many of its peers with smart new additions of its own.”

“The interesting terrain across the continent of Fevrith makes every fight feel unique, with some of the best map gimmicks I’ve seen in any strategy RPG. Because the campaign is told through the eyes of a diverse and creative cast, its trope-filled fantasy story is elevated in a way that a more traditional storytelling style wouldn’t manage. The shorter, more personal stories work wonderfully to support a loop of exploration and liberation that had me begging to see one more tale told, one more town rebuilt, and one more battle fought.”

These aren’t the only deals Amazon’s got going on at the moment. With Prime Day on the horizon (July 16 and 17, to be exact), there are quite a few discounts to check out. Some of our favorite early Prime Day deals include this excellent offer on Audible Premium Plus, where you can get 3 months of the service for free, and Kindle Unlimited is also offering 3 months of its service for free.

To learn more about what you can expect from the massive savings event this year, head to our Amazon Prime Day roundup for additional information on when the sales begin, what we expect to see, and what competing events will be going on around the same time.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

The First Descendant, a free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter from Korean games company Nexon, is blowing up across PC and console with big player numbers on Steam specifically. But as players debate the rights and wrongs of its ultra aggressive monetization, another controversy has hit the game.

Forbes reported that The First Descendant “is using barely-changed” Destiny 2 icons, and pointed to the remarkable similarities between icons used by developer Bungie for its veteran looter shooter and those used by Nexon for its new looter shooter challenger.

Certainly, the similarities are hard to ignore. One Bungie icon artist tweeted to say it “feels like a great day to mention that Bungie icon artists are a super-crew of talented folks with original ideas and sharp instincts.” But what’s actually happened here?

‘The First Descendant’ Is Using Barely-Changed ‘Destiny 2’ Icons via @forbes https://t.co/rGdbfKNfJX pic.twitter.com/gGKfoTkLk9

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) July 7, 2024

While Nexon is under pressure to explain itself (IGN has asked for comment but has yet to hear a response), fans have unearthed evidence to suggest the root of the problem can be found in an icon database that seems to misunderstand the concepts of personal and commercial use of assets.

Iconduck bills itself as a “free and open-source” database of hundreds of thousands of icons, illustrations, emojis, logos, and flags, and includes a number of Destiny icons Nexon may have lifted for use in The First Descendant.

As spotted by PC Gamer, Iconduck has a Destiny Icons set that includes 204 icons, all open sourced with a Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal license. “All icons can be used for personal and commercial purposes,” Iconduck claims.

This icon set was designed by Tom Chapman, who made the Bray.tech websites among others for Destiny 2. In a tweet, Chapman said most of the icons in the set were “ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers.”

“Most of the remainder are designed by Bungie and recreated by me or whoever contributed them to that repo,” Chapman added, before casting doubt on Iconduck itself: “I’ve come to hate open source… I don’t want @iamiconduck to use my work like this.”

It’s worth pointing out that Iconduck also makes available icons from the Pokémon franchise, including Pikachu and Poké Balls, Marvel Avengers icons, famous Batman icons, and plenty more images you’d imagine Iconduck wouldn’t have the rights to make available for people to use for commercial purposes.

There are many other icon databases that include similar sets and make similar claims of their use. Nexon may well have used icons from one of these websites, such as Iconduck, and tweaked them slightly for The First Descendant, but the company has yet to explain its process. If it did, Nexon would then face pressure to explain why it did. Again, IGN has asked for comment.

The First Descendant rekindles memories of Palworld, Pocketpair’s controversial ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival and crafting game that has been accused of “ripping off” ‘Pokémon, but has also been compared gameplay wise to all sorts of titles in the survival and crafting genre.

Generally speaking, The First Descendant is a mash-up of mechanics from various looter shooters already in the market. There’s more than a whiff of Destiny about The First Descendant’s design, systems, and mechanics, but then there’s also a lot of Warframe about it, too. Check out IGN’s The First Descendant review in progress to find out what we think of the game so far.

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.

SSD prices are trending upwards for 2024, but there are still some excellent deals to be found if you’re vigilant. Ahead of Prime Day, Amazon is current offering the PS5 compatible TEAMGROUP 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for only $104.99. You’ll need to supply your own heatsink, but you can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10. All of the other best PS5 SSDs cost $140 or more.

TEAMGROUP 2TB SSD (PS5-Compatible) for $104.99

The PS5 is an outstanding gaming console, but the 1TB SSD is a real bottleneck. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, can exceed 200GB alone. NBA 2K23 weighs in at 150GB and even older games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space. Future games like Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly demand even more space. The advantage of a PS5 console over the Xbox Series X is that the SSD slot is not proprietary; you can install most third party PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs as long as they are fast enough. Slower drives WILL work, but they may bottleneck the original SSD.

Although TEAMGROUP isn’t as well known of a brand as SanDisk or Samsung, this brand has been around for a while and is a legitimate manufacturer of flash-based storage. This particular model has plenty of good reviews on Amazon. This particular SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 upgrade. This is a PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD with an M.2 2280 form factor and transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. It also makes an excellent boot drive for your gaming PC, especially with its 2TB storage capacity.

Willing to pay more for another brand? Check out all of the best PS5 SSD deals today.

Looking to upgrade the storage capacity of your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or ASUS ROG Ally? Well right now Walmart is offering a SanDisk Ultra 512GB Micro SDXC Card for only $24.99. Walmart+ members get free shipping, otherwise you need to get your order total to $35. Currently this is the least expensive 512GB Micro SDXC card we’ve seen from a legit brand. It’s part of Walmart’s larger sale that competes with Amazon Prime Day. SanDisk is owned by Western Digital and is the most popular memory card brand for the Nintendo Switch console.

Don’t have a Walmart+ membership? It’s currently 50% off.

512GB SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC Card for $24.99

If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity is. The Switch and Switch OLED have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage, respectively, some of it reserved for the OS. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom uses up 16GB and Breath of the Wild about 13.5GB. If bought digitally, those two games alone would take up all of your internal storage on the OG Switch console. There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.

The SanDIsk Ultra Micro SDXC card is compatible with virtually any device that accepts the Micro SDXC card standard. That includes the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and the ASUS ROG Ally. It has a U1 A1 speed rating with up to 120MBps read speeds. There are faster cards out there, but the Nintendo Switch can’t take advantage of such speeds. An SD card adapter is also included in the packaging.

Check out all of the best Nintendo Switch deals for sales on other games and accessories.