Category: IGN

There’s an incredible sale on Switch games right now for those in the UK, with games like Super Mario Bros Wonder, Super Mario RPG, Princess Peach Showtime, and more on sale for a limited time only. Yes, Switch players, your time has finally come. We’re delighted to highlight some excellent deals on Switch games in the excellent eBay FRESH20 sale. If you want to snap up any of these games, then you just need to head over to eBay vendor The Game Collection (TCG) and use the code ‘FRESH20’ at checkout to apply the magical wonderful 20% off. Quids in — check out our favourites in the sale just below.

We highly suggest using this method to buy any games you want right now, as TCG is a trusted UK online retailer. In fact, they’ve been one of our top recommended retailers so far in 2024. It’s not often we see so many Switch games discounted at once, so you’ve gotta move fast if you want to snap up as many as you can. The LEAP20 promo code is also only running until the end of the day on February 29, so there’s a very limited window to secure these discounts.

Wondering if the FRESH20 sale has anything else in store for you? Well, yes it does, it has absolutely loads to choose from. For starters, preorders for Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth are discounted again, currently down to £50.36. If you’re feeling a full-on binge of the famous series, then grab yourself Final Fantasy 16 for £26.56 while you’re at it as well.

You’ll also be able to pick up an Amazon Fire Stick 4K Ultra HD for just £35.95, down from £44.94. We love these eBay sales events, and this one is running for the next two days, so make sure to keep an eye out for our coverage, and follow us on Twitter @IGNUKDeals to stay up to date with all the latest in deal-dom.

Joe O’Neill-Parker is a freelance writer and audio producer. He is the owner of O’Neill Multimedia. He writes commerce, sports, and audio-related tech articles for IGN.

Not long ago, Madame Web and Anyone but You star Sydney Sweeney revealed in an IGN interview that, like many of us, she grew up playing a Simpsons video game – but she didn’t reveal which one it was.

Luckily, for the sake of journalism, we’ve followed up and found out that the Simpsons game in question was, in fact, The Simpsons: Road Rage.

It all started a few weeks ago, when Sweeney mentioned at a press junket for Madame Web that she grew up with a brother who plays video games all the time. When asked what her favorite game was, she said, “we would play The Simpsons game,” while miming a steering wheel. She also mentioned playing Super Mario Bros. games on her Nintendo DS when her co-star Isabela Merced brought it up.

@ign Sydney Sweeney & Isabela Merced loved Mario growing up! #videogames #sydneysweeney #isabelamerced #dina #thelastofus #madameweb #marvel #sony #spiderman #movie #film #movies #mario #nintendo #nintendods #ds #thesimpsons #roadrage #hitandrun #thesimpsonshitandrun #thesimpsonsroadrage #supermario #ign #interview #gaming #letsplay #gamingontiktok ♬ original sound – IGN

Fans were quick to speculate on just what the Simpsons game could be. As Gamespot noted, given that Sweeney’s 26 years old, pure timing would place 2001’s Road Rage and its spiritual sequel Hit & Run as the obvious candidates. Other sites simply assumed Sweeney meant Hit & Run (and, to be fair, so did I).

Luckily, we caught up with Sweeney to chat about her upcoming horror film Immaculate and got the chance to set the record straight.

“I want to say it was the racing game,” she said. With the help of my colleague Jeffrey Vega, she eventually remembered that it was Road Rage.

“Road Rage! Because it was old, it was on the Xbox,” she said. And what character did she play as?

“I always liked Homer,” she said.

Well, there you have it.

Sydney Sweeney clarifies The Simpsons video game she loved growing up: It was The Simpsons: Road Rage!

More: https://t.co/0UAdhEhna6 pic.twitter.com/ozPHUmyFwj

— IGN (@IGN) March 18, 2024

Sweeney’s one of many fans with fond memories of The Simpsons’ car-based game adaptations, although it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a sequel to 2003’s Hit & Run anytime soon. Last year, Hit & Run’s developers revealed in an interview on the MinnMax YouTube channel that a follow-up was in the works, but never came to fruition for whatever reason.

“It was just a really bizarre decision,” executive producer John Melchior said of the sequel being tabled. “I’ll never understand it. Most people on the production level never understood it.”

Sweeney will next be seen in Immaculate, a horror film that she stars in and produced. It debuted at the SXSW Film Festival last week, and will hit theaters on March 22.

Thumbnail credit: Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Amazon is currently offering Amazon Prime members a Romoss 40,000mAh USB Type-C Power Bank with 18W of USB Power Delivery for only $23.99 after you clip a 50% off coupon on the product page. Non-Prime members can get it for $29.99. That’s an excellent price for a pretty massive 40,000mAh power bank that’s also equipped with a USB Type-C output with 18W of Power Delivery, which is the ideal wattage for charging your Nintendo Switch gaming handheld.

Romoss 40,000mAh USB Type-C Power Bank for $23.99

Amazon Prime members only ($29.99 for non-Prime members)

The Romoss 40,000mAh power bank has a larger capacity than most portable battery backups we’ve seen. The tradeoff is its size; it’s a pretty hefty device, measuring in at 6.7 x 3.2 x 1.7 inches and weighing in at 2 pounds. It’s important to note that the Romoss can’t be brought onto the plane as carry-on. The maximum cutoff is 27,000mAh and 100Wh, whereas this powerbank is 40,000mAh and 148Wh. A smaller 10K mAh power bank might be a better choice as a daily driver or airplane travel, however the extra battery capacity is useful for when you don’t have access to a power outlet for longer periods of time.

There are four total ports: one USB Type-A input, one USB Type-C input/output, and two USB Type-A outputs. The maximum amount of Power Delivery is 18W via USB Type-C, which also happens to be the max charging speed for the Nintendo Switch. The Steam Deck, on the other hand, supports a max of 38W and the ASUS ROG Ally even higher at 65W. If you want the most efficient charging for those gaming systems, there are better (and more expensive) options. If you’re not in a rush, though, this power bank can still charge up all three without a problem, it will just take a little onger.

It’s important to note that technically, the Romoss can’t be brought onto the plane as carry-on. The maximum cutoff is 27,000mAh and 100Wh, whereas this powerbank is 40,000mAh and 148Wh.

For more options, check out our picks for the best powerbanks of 2024.

Capcom’s highly anticipated role-playing game Dragon’s Dogma 2 launches March 22, 2024 but spoilers have already leaked online.

As reported by Eurogamer, the now fairly common occurence of major games leaking before their release date has happened again with Dragon’s Dogma 2, where players have seemingly received physical copies ahead of launch.

Regardless of how they obtained the copies, these players have streamed them online, uploaded videos to YouTube, and shared clips and other content on social media. While Capcom has issued takedown notices for some of these, the nature of the internet means they’ve already spread like wildfire.

Those looking forward to the RPG may therefore want to mute keywords on X/Twitter and avoid online discourse surrounding Dragon’s Dogma 2 for fear of spoiling the game too early. We won’t share what information has leaked online for obvious reasons, but it goes without saying myriad story details have surfaced.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes place in a parallel universe which “mirrors the world setting of the original game”. Players can explore the human kingdom of Vermund and the beastren kingdom of Battahl and ultimately take on a big evil dragon.

The myriad non-player characters of Dragon’s Dogma 2 also appear endlessly complex, as beyond some pawns being completely customisable as mentioned, NPCs can form different bonds with the player character and may even fight each other for the player’s love.

Those looking to kill time until it comes out proper can check out the game’s character creator, which Capcom released early. Players have used it to make some incredible recreations of other iconic characters (and some absolute monsters), with all data transferrable to the main game.

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

Amazon is currently offering the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum PCIe 4.0 NVME solid state drive (SSD) for only $139.99 shipped. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen for a 2TB PS5-compatible SSD from a reputable brand. It also happens to be one of the fastest PCI-E 4.0 SSDs on the market right now. This is an outstanding candidate for your PS5 or gaming PC rig.

SK Hynix P41 Platinum 2TB M.2 SSD for $139.99

SK Hynix might not be a brand that the consumer recognizes as much as Samsung or Western Digital, but make no mistake that they are a major player in the flash memory market. SK Hynix is a South Korean DRAM manufacturer and is the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker and the world’s third-largest semiconductor company. They supply components for brands you’ve heard of, like Corsair and G.Skill.

The Platinum P41 is SK Hynix’s highest end SSD. It boasts sustained read speeds of 7,000MB/s and sustained write speeds of 6,500MB/s. It also boasts random read speeds of 1.4 million IOPS and random write speeds of 1.3 million IOPS. In terms of reliability and stability, the SSDs have been tested and validated through 1,000 hours of stress testing with MTBF reaching 1.5 million hours or up to 1,200TB written. SK Hynix backs it all up with a 5 year warranty. Unlike most other SSDs, both the chips and the controller are manufactured in-house. The P41 Platinum uses an Aries controller with 176-layer TLC NAND flash chips.

Of course, in terms of real world performance, the vast majority of users won’t be able to tell apart the speeds between the highest end PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. Some of these SSDs include the SK Hynix P41 Platinum, the Samsung 990 Pro, and the WD Black SN850X. Therefore, it all comes down to the price. At its current price point, the P41 Platinum isn’t just one of the fastest drives on the market, it’s also cheaper than any competitor that can come close to its performance.

A great PS5 SSD, but you’ll need to get a heatsink

The SK Hynix P41 Platinum does not come equipped with a heatsink. That’s because this SSD is catered to PC gamers looking to add storage to their desktop computer. Many motherboards come equipped with built-in SSD coolers and will only accept bare SSDs. It’s generally harder to remove a heatsink than to apply a new one. If you plan to use this for your PS5, rest assured that’ it is 100% compatible (in fact, it’s overkill). Although some people have gotten away with an SSD with no heatsink, we recommend you install one for peace of mind. You can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10.

Microsoft has created another custom Xbox Series X, this time theming after Fallout in celebration of the upcoming Amazon show.

Revealed in a post on X/Twitter, below, the console will be given away to one lucky fan who follows Xbox and retweets the post. The prize includes more than just the custom Xbox Series X, however, as it also bundles in a controller (which can actually be bought) and a custom vault to keep the hardware in.

This is a seemingly working safe with various bits of Fallout branding on it. It’s marked as Vault 33, which is the same bunker where the Fallout TV show’s protagonist comes from. Interestingly, it also has “Fort Knox” written on it, which is only mentioned in Bethesda’s game universe in Fallout 76.

Vault Boy would approve.

Follow & RT with #FalloutXboxSweepstakes for a chance to win a custom @falloutonprime Xbox Series X, controller, & Fort Knox vault

Ages 18+. US only. Ends 4/14/24. Rules: https://t.co/O0lUIODPKj

Congratulations! Watch #Fallout on Prime Video April 11. pic.twitter.com/cYj23Fi304

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 18, 2024

The entire first season of Fallout hits Amazon Prime Video on April 11, 2024 and is set to be a “non interactive version” of Fallout 5 according to showrunner Jonathan Nolan. That being said, the lead on the Fallout video game series, Todd Howard, said he told writers what elements they couldn’t use because they actually will be in Fallout 5.

This isn’t the first custom console or controller Xbox has created. Last week, Microsoft revealed a bizarre Final Fantasy 14 Xbox Series X that doesn’t actually work. Earlier in February it revealed a Dune: Part 2 special edition with a floating gamepad. Other Xbox Series X and S generation highlights include red and blue fluffy Sonic the Hedgehog gamepads, one made out of actual Jade, and even an edible gamepad.

Its more regular line of controllers include the sexy Gold Shadow, cosmic Stellar Shift, dusty Stormcloud Vapor, and even an Earth Day one made partly from recycled CDs, water jugs, and other Xbox controller parts.

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

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has issued hotfix 22 across PC, PlayStation 5, Mac, and, crucially, Xbox, bringing players on Microsoft’s console up to date.

The sprawling Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game had lagged behind by a number of hotfixes on Xbox Series X and S as a result of an Xbox exclusive crash bug, but now with the release of hotfix 22, Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox has hotfixes 20 and 21, too.

Alongside this release, issues with Xbox cross-saves should now be resolved, Larian said. “Thank you again for your patience while we worked to fix the issue, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused,” the developer added.

Hotfix #22, meanwhile, resolves further crashes and blockers, and, as Larian put it, makes Minthara “pinky promise to stop repeating her thoughts about Gale in Act III.” What’s that about? As Larian explained in the patch notes: “We’ve also fixed an issue where a legacy dialogue flow had been enabled unintentionally while carrying out fixes for Minthara, which meant that some players had been able to view dialogue where Minthara would seemingly end a relationship with Dark Urge players if they had resisted their urges and made a certain choice in Act III.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix 22 patch notes:

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

• Fixed a crash caused by the game trying to access the duration of a condition on a character with no conditions set.
• Fixed conditions sometimes trying to get their duration from the source entity instead of the target entity.
• Fixed some potential internal crashes on Xbox when suspending the game (e.g. when suspending the console or loading another game), causing it to reboot when you went back to it.

UI

• Improved the messaging for syncing and cross-saving by indicating when a cross-save sync has failed and adding an option to try again. Also prevented the saving and cross-saving messages from appearing for secondary local players.
• Voice chat will no longer overlap the minimap on split-screen.
• Fixed the ‘Another Player Is Joining’ pop-up not triggering while the host has a panel open on Xbox, potentially preventing the client from joining.

SCRIPTING

• Fixed an issue where legacy dialogue had been enabled unintentionally as part of another line of fixes, in which Minthara would seemingly end a relationship with Dark Urge players who had rejected Bhaal.
• Made Minthara promise to stop repeating her thoughts about Gale in Act III.
• Fixed a bug causing you to get perpetually stuck in a dangerous area if you triggered hostilities in the Emerald Grove and then left while it was still a dangerous area.
• Fixed a rare issue where dialogues would end suddenly when you went to kiss your romantic partner.
• Fixed a bug causing you to get stuck in combat with the enemies on top of Moonrise Towers if you found a way to sneak into the Mind Flayer Colony.

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.

A veteran Star Wars: Battlefront modder has dug further into the recently released Classic Collection and uncovered more evidence that the controversial release used their mod despite developer Aspyr promising it wouldn’t.

Last month, IGN reported on concern from the Star Wars: Battlefront community sparked by the Classic Collection’s debut trailer, which suggested the game used a mod that brought a previously Xbox-exclusive Battlefront 2 DLC to the PC original.

The original, Pandemic-developed Battlefront 2 that launched in 2005 had a DLC pack exclusive to the original Xbox version that added two new heroes (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress), as well as four maps. Both Kit and Asajj had unique animations and moves no other characters had.

In 2021, modder iamashaymin brought the DLC to PC, reskinning two existing characters to look like Kit and Asajj (Ki Adi Mundi for Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura for Asajj Ventress). In the mod, Asajj does not hold her unique Linksabers (fiber cord-linked twin red lightsabers added especially for her in the DLC) in one hand, but instead wields two separate lightsabers, one in each hand, like Aayla does in the original game. Similarly, Kit fights like Mundi.

At the time, developer Aspyr insisted the release of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection “does not include any code or content that is taken from uncredited sources”, telling IGN it “mistakenly” included “content that is not in the product” after capturing placeholder footage for the trailer last fall.

However, following Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection’s catastrophic release, which has resulted in an ‘overwhelmingly negative’ user review rating on Steam, iamashaymin said there was evidence to suggest the game did indeed launch with their mod, or at least portions of their mod, before updates stripped them out, in a revelation that has sparked criticism of Aspyr. iamashaymin called it ‘a terrible gut punch.’

To back up this claim, here’s a screenshot of that bubble effect taken in 2020 (It is hard to make out in the video since it is in motion, but trust that it is the same.) pic.twitter.com/PT1w0wNLzn

— iamashaymin (@iamashaymin) March 16, 2024

And now, Battlefront modders have dug into the Nintendo Switch version of the Classic Collection, which iamashaymin told IGN launched using “further modified versions of my mod’s heroes before being replaced again in a patch.” Aspyr has yet to respond to IGN’s request for comment.

“We actually managed to dump, archive, and datamine this version of the build and can confirm some files are the same as my original mod, specifically regarding the heroes’ projectiles,” iamashaymin said.

“What’s odd about this is that they are using the right animations but the weapon’s data file, force bubble projectile, and player models for both Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress are from the PC mod,” iamashaymin continued.

“Some of the files were only modified in my mod slightly in order to work on PC but still differ from the official models in some noticeable ways and the force bubble effect is a completely different projectile I had to create myself.

“I’ve never had issues with them using my mod, but now that they responded by saying what they did, shipping these files in multiple versions of the game and not crediting the source is an issue. Not because I demand credit but just on the credibility of Aspyr. How can fans trust a company which doesn’t seem to value the fans’ passion?”

Hot on the heels of Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, modders including iamashaymin set out to fix the game. Aspry has issued a statement addressing the botched launch, saying it had experienced “critical errors” with its network infrastructure. This resulted in “incredibly high” ping, matchmaking errors, crashes, and servers not appearing in the browser.

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.

The first stage of Cities: Skylines 2‘s long-awaited in-game modding support launches on March 25 alongside its first post-launch asset pack, called Beach Properties.

Colossal Order’s troubled city-builder sequel launched in October 2023 on PC via Steam and immediately ran into a number of issues. Player sentiment turned a ‘mixed’ Steam user review rating into ‘mostly negative’ for recent reviews, with the first Cities Skylines game currently enjoying more players than its sequel. Last month, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen admitted the lack of modding support was the developer’s “biggest regret”.

Now, nearly six months after launch, Cities: Skylines 2’s first stage of mod support approaches, and is set to let players build, share, and play with mods through a simple in-game interface. Here’s the detail, from Colossal Order:

Starting on March 25, players will be able to access mods through the Cities: Skylines 2 Modding Beta. Upon release, an in-game editor will be available that allows for players to create or implement Map or Code mods. Using the Paradox Mods platform, also integrated into the Cities: Skylines 2 experience, creations can be played locally and shared globally.

The platform also allows players to discover and curate other available mods, organize their preferred mods into one-click Playsets, and more. Asset modding tools and other options will be made available later this year.

“Modding is part of the lifeblood of Cities: Skylines, and starting our Modding Beta is going to be a transformative step for Cities: Skylines 2,” said Hallikainen. “The creativity and feedback from our players are what makes this community what it is. We can’t wait to see how everyone puts these tools to use, and work alongside them to make sure everyone is empowered to make the cities of their dreams.”

The Beach Properties DLC, meanwhile, will be available on PC for $9.99/£8.49/€9.99, or as part of the Cities: Skylines 2 Waterfronts Expansion Pass or Ultimate Edition. In addition to Beach Properties, a new in-game Radio, the Deluxe Relax Station will be released on March 25, featuring a new host and a full hour of new music. Deluxe Relax Station will be available for $4.99/£4.49/€4.99 or as part of the Cities: Skylines 2 Waterfronts Expansion Pass or Ultimate Edition.

Cities: Skylines 2’s problems began before its launch even arrived. Colossal Order warned players the game would release with performance issues a week before it came out. Since then, players have been met with lower framerates and interesting dental glitches as the developer worked to create a better experience. In IGN’s Cities: Skylines 2 review, which returned a 6/10, we said: “Cities: Skylines 2 is an ambitious sequel that might have bitten off more than it can chew – be prepared to do a lot of terraforming if you don’t want your metropolis to look like a nightmare.” The console version does not have a release date.

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.