Category: IGN

While Cal Kestis was part of a crew in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – exploring the galaxy in the Stinger Mantis ship with his mentor, Cere Junda; its captain, Greez, and (eventually) his former bitter enemy turned bestie, Nightsister Merrin – once he was boots on the ground planetside, it was largely a fairly lonely adventure. Outside, of course, of the companionship of the ever adorable BD-1.

That changes in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor thanks to the addition of Bode Akuna, a new character in Jedi Survivor, played by Noshir Dalal, who can be seen in the reveal trailer lending a hand to Cal both in a cutscene and in gameplay where he executes a cool tandem finisher on a Scout Trooper. But Bode’s presence as a companion character goes far beyond just cool finishing moves. It’s actually part of a system that Respawn has dubbed “Character-in-Gameplay.”

Characters-in-Gameplay is a term used internally at Respawn to differentiate between NPCs that accompany Cal in actual gameplay segments from characters that stayed behind at specific narrative hubs. As Senior Game Designer Jason Zhu explains it: “There was a desire for NPCs to be used as guides in the levels, and while talking it through, one thing led to another until people started wondering, ‘Why don’t we have NPC’s travel and fight alongside Cal?’”

The team then evaluated whether implementing such a system was feasible with the tech they had, and ultimately decided that it was worth the time and effort to create a system that allowed for companions to join Cal in battle. There was even a precedent already set back in Fallen Order – the boss battle against Malicos where Merrin supports you throughout the battle. That served as the jumping off point, and the character-in-gameplay system is largely an expansion of what players saw during that boss battle.

When he’s accompanying Cal, Bode will actively participate in the fight. He can attack and kill enemies on his own, draw the attention of some enemies to take pressure off the player, and you can command him to help you out by doing some sort of special move on a single target to disrupt them.

To give a specific example, Narrative Technical Designer Joanna Robb said, “When you see a good opportunity, you can give Bode the signal to perform the attack, and he’ll use his jetpack to ram the enemy with a brutal dropkick, and then he quickly follows it up by slamming down a shock grenade to stun other nearby enemies. It’s a great way to send a tough enemy flying, taking them out of the fight briefly, or you could run them down with a sprint attack to get a quick hit in.”

Robb goes on to say that there are also a lot of custom behaviors for Bode that help make him a dependable ally. Bode will respond to your own abilities and attacks with a technique of his own. If you force push an enemy, Bode will fire a charged shot that deals a ton of damage. You can even force grab a Probe Droid, toss it at a group of Stormtroopers, and Bode’s shot will essentially detonate the droid causing a big explosion that takes out the group of enemies all at once.

“We don’t necessarily tutorialize all of these behaviors, they are just designed to give you these emergent moments that are totally your own, but feel almost choreographed like you’re in one of the movies,” said Robb.

Outside of combat, Bode will follow you through the world, using his jetpack to reach places that Cal’s force powers typically allow him to reach via double jumps, wall runs, and so on. Robb said that one of the coolest parts about making an AI companion that can travel such complex spaces is how it pushed the team to develop a new Motion Matching animation system for Bode.

“He needs to be able to think very quickly about where he should go and how to get there, and the Motion Matching system allows the animations to drive his movement, which makes him much more responsive and dynamic than our other AI characters. It really makes him feel like he’s on the same level as Cal as a character with agency in the world, not just a combatant who happens to be on your side,” explained Robb.

Don’t expect Cal to always have someone covering his six, though. According to both Robb and Zhu, the prevalence of companion characters is really driven by the story. If you’re spending time exploring all of a planet’s side content, Bode will stick around on the Mantis. Robb added that, “There’s a nice rhythm to it. When the plot is reaching a peak, the companion will give extra momentum to both the narrative and gameplay.”

As far as whether or not there will be more companion characters than just Bode, Robb did say that Bode will be the first character that Cal would team up with, but rather than talk about characters that would be joining Cal as a combat companion, she preferred to rule one out.

“I’m sure many fans of the first game are dying to know if everyone’s favorite member of the Mantis crew, the stowaway bogling that Cal adopts, will also be a Character-In-Gameplay, and I regret to say that they will not,” said Robb.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

The detractors of Xbox Game Pass are running out of goalposts to move. One of the last remaining legitimate gripes against Microsoft’s game-subscription service is that it’s been more like basic cable rather than HBO. In other words, plenty of good stuff, but very little content that’s truly top-shelf. But just two months into 2023, that argument seems toast too. Take a look at the roll that Xbox Game Pass has gotten started, and how long it’s set to keep going:

• Hi-Fi Rush (January 25) – Many pixels’ worth of well-deserved digital ink have been spilled writing about Tango Gameworks’s viral, shadow-dropped hit. Microsoft didn’t just release a first-party game out of nowhere, it released a much-needed amazing first-party game out of nowhere. IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, and fellow critics agreed, with a Metacritic rating of 88 on Xbox and 89 on PC.

• Just four weeks later, Atomic Heart (February 21) hit Game Pass as it earned an 8 out of 10 from IGN. This highly anticipated first-person shooter has captivated gamers for a few years now, and its release did not disappoint. It’s a third-party game available on PlayStation, sure, but it’ll cost you $70 over there.

• Those two have started the year strong for the service, but fast-forward a mere 10 days (March 3) and Game Pass keeps another potential $70 in your pocket when Team Ninja’s promising new Soulslike, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, marks another big third-party game doing the day-one thing for subscribers.

• Still in March (on the 28th), Sony’s own first-party baseball sim, MLB The Show 23, won’t cost Game Pass subscribers another dime for the third consecutive year. This is extra cool for an annual sports game, where many players don’t purchase it every year. Game Pass subscribers don’t have to worry about that.

• We move to April (specifically April 18), when Minecraft Legends will see the light of day on all major platforms – but only Xbox gamers can just download it from Game Pass without swiping their credit card for an additional charge. Another dub.

• Meanwhile, May will be only a day old when Redfall, the next major game from the decorated developers at Arkane Austin (makers of Dishonored 1 and 2 along with Prey) hits Xbox Game Pass on May 2.

These are merely the top-shelf highlights. I’m leaving out Game Preview stuff like Valheim (March 14), leftovers like Ghostwire: Tokyo (which should hit Xbox Game Pass on or shortly after March 25, when its year-long exclusivity deal with PlayStation should expire), and enjoyable single-A fare like Cities Skylines Remastered and Shadow Warrior 3 Definitive Edition (both of which hit Game Pass last week).

Finally, if Starfield does make it out by the end of June – which I know many gamers doubt at this point, given the relative radio silence from Bethesda, but I still believe it’s in play – then Xbox Game Pass will have delivered quality and quantity, big games and small, across a wide variety of genres in the first half of 2023. It’ll do that even without Starfield, really, but obviously The Next Game From the Makers of Fallout and Elder Scrolls would put quite a bow on the first six months of the year. Xbox Game Pass is unquestionably riding the hottest streak yet since its birth in 2017, and the big winner is us.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

PS5 consoles are now regularly available in the UK, so here’s where you can pick one up. Our personal pick is definitely from Amazon as you can get free next-day delivery if you’re a Prime member. There’s plenty of other new deals to check out today as well, including a wonderful discount on the PS5 DualSense Charging Station. It’s down to just £19.99 at Amazon, which is £5 off the original RRP of £25. There’s also an awesome limited-time 50% discount on Keeper Password Managers, £60 off eufy RoboVac vacuums, and a whole lot more as well. See all the other great discounts just below, and make sure you’re following @IGNUKDeals on Twitter for even more UK deal updates.

TL;DR – Best UK Deals Right Now

Best PS5 Console Deals in the UK

PS5 availability has massively improved in the UK, with the likes of PlayStation Direct, Very, GAME, and Amazon now having the console in stock consistently. If you haven’t yet secured the console, 2023 is the year to finally upgrade to the latest consoles, ready to play the best games.

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Amazing Password Manager Deal from Keeper (AD)

With Keeper, you can store all of your passwords, credit card info, and other sensitive data in one secure, encrypted digital vault. Plus, they use top-notch encryption technology to keep your stuff safe and have added bonus features like password generation, password sharing, and two-factor authentication.

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DualSense Charging Station is £19.99 Right Now (Save £5)

This is the perfect deal for anyone who purchased an additional DualSense Controller over Black Friday and Christmas sales last year. Now you can charge both your shiny controllers at the same time – result!

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Best Random Deals I Love Right Now

These are the best random-ish deals that I want to highlight, but can’t necessarily fit anywhere else. A favourite of mine today is definitely the unisex hoodie blanket, down to just £12.99. This is a great price considering you’re looking at £20-30 anywhere else for a similar quality blanket. My top tip for when you buy one, wash it immediately on its own, once it’s dry it’ll be 10/10 comfort.

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AD: Avast One Individual Down to £23.99/Year (was £79.99/Year)

With Avast One Individual, you’ll get all the features you need to stay safe online, including advanced antivirus protection, a powerful firewall, and cutting-edge anti-phishing technology. Plus, you’ll get real-time alerts to keep you informed of potential threats and the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your digital life is protected by one of the world’s most trusted names in cybersecurity.

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Perfect PS5 2TB SSD with Heatsink for £150

This is a very good deal on PS5 SSDs, especially as you don’t need to further invest in a separate heatsink for the Samsung 980 PRO. Plus, you can max out your PS5 storage with another 2TB of additional space to store all the very best PS5 games in 2023. Or, check out the superb Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB SSD with Heatsink deal for £149.99, which is back for limited time only.

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Where to Preorder Link Tears of the Kingdom amiibo

Preorders are now live for the Link Tears of the Kingdom amiibo in the UK. This listing isn’t from a third-party seller or anything, this is direct from Amazon who currently has it listed for just under £30. Sure, this is going to be a widely popular amiibo, but I’d be surprised if the price inflation isn’t corrected before May 12. Plus, Amazon has a preorder price guarantee, so you’ll pay the lowest price on the listing even if you order now at £29.54.

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Check Out This Awesome Sale on Nintendo Switch Games

There are some great deals here to check out, with some of my personal favourite Switch games included just below as well. Sonic Frontiers for £32 is a great deal and one of my top games from 2022, and LEGO Star Wars is absolutely one of the best portable games on the market at the moment. I’ve left all the relevant links, just below.

More Video Game Deals to Check Out

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Switch OLED Pokemon Limited Edition In Stock

The limited edition OLED Model features art inspired by Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet with the legendary Koraidon and Miraidon pictured on the system dock. Availability for the Pokemon-themed Switch has been quite sparse since release, so being able to snag one at RRP is fantastic and well worth considering if you missed it during the initial preorder phase last year.

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The Last of Us Part II Is On Sale Right Now

Here’s a great deal for those who are loving the latest HBO hit, The Last of Us. Yes, this is based on the game as many of us know, and many of us might also know that there’s a sequel to that game. The Last of Us Part 2 is a critically acclaimed darling (with a few controversies thrown in), and it can be picked up for just £8.39 if you’re a PS Plus member right now (down from £34.99).

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Where to Preorder The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the UK

The best Tears of the Kingdom (or Breath of the Wild 2 as many of us called it for years) preorder deal in the UK is still at Hit for £49.85, or ShopTo for the same price. In case you’re wondering, both ShopTo and Hit are 100% legit UK retailers. We’ve linked out to both of them before, and have had no complaints! I’ll leave all the relevant links down below for Tears of the Kingdom preorders.

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

State of Play is back! Sony has announced its State of Play broadcast is happening this Thursday, February 23rd and that it will be showing off upcoming PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2 games. This guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including when it starts, a list of places you can stream State of Play live, and the biggest PlayStation announcements from last year.

PlayStation State of Play 2023 Start Time

The State of Play stream will take place Feb 23 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm UK (and 7am AEST on February 24) and will run for approximately 15 minutes.

Where to Watch the PlayStation State of Play Broadcast

If you’re interested in watching the State of Play broadcast yourself, we host the stream here and across our many channels like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch the February PlayStation State of Play tomorrow:

• IGN.com (homepage)
• IGN’s Facebook Channel
• IGN’s Twitter
• IGN’s Twitch Channel
• IGN’s Youtube Channel
• IGN’s TikTok
• IGN’s iOS App
• IGN’s Android App
• IGN’s PlayStation 4 App
• IGN’s Xbox One App
• Roku
• IGN App for Android TV
• IGN for Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• IGN 1 on Samsung TV Plus
• Pluto TV
• Plex Live TV

What to Expect

We expect this upcoming State of Play to be filled with new info on titles such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the next game from Rocksteady Studios, plus details on five new VR titles set to release later this year. We’ll have to tune in to find out what else Sony has in store as they tend to reserve their own announcements for events like this, especially in light of Sony likely not being part of E3 2023.

The most recent State of Play showcase took place in September 2022, where announcements included: Tekken 8 officially revealed, a new trailer drop for God of War: Ragnarok, Like a Dragon: Ishin revealed for the west, and many more highlights. You can see everything announced from September 2022’s State of Play, or, if you want all the details from prior showcases, we have a list of the biggest State of Play announcements since the State of Play’s inception in 2019 too.

Highlights from State of Play 2022 Showcase

Microsoft makes 10-year deals to bring Call of Duty to other platforms with not one but TWO different companies in an effort to get regulators to approve the Activision-Blizzard acquisition. We discuss how Microsoft might be nearing the endgame of this corporate chess match. Plus: we’re stoked for the Diablo 4 beta, Ubisoft makes a puzzling statement about attending E3, and more!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

It’s been a little over a year since Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard. Since then, what looked to be another blockbuster acquisition appears far more uncertain as regulators in multiple countries scrutinize a deal that could potentially upend the video game industry.

While legal experts have maintained that the Activision Blizzard acquisition doesn’t constitute a monopoly (more on that later), it still marks a seismic shift in the video game landscape – and warrants an appropriate level of examination. But how did another day in the increasing mergers-focused industry become such a regulatory landmine? Read on for a full breakdown of how we got here.

January 18, 2022 – Microsoft Announces It Will Acquire Activision Blizzard.

Xbox announced via its official Xbox Wire site that it would acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. All Activision Blizzard studios which include Blizzard but also Call of Duty developers like Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer would report to Xbox head Phil Spencer. The main thrust of the deal is that Xbox announced it would work to bring as many Activision Blizzard games as it can into the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

The deal was not immediate and Xbox did not provide a timeline for when the acquisition would be completed, but the news easily eclipsed Xbox’s last major acquisition, a purchase of ZeniMax Media in 2020, for what seems now like a paltry $7.5 billion.

April 1, 2022 – U.S. Senators Raise Concerns Over Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Several months after the announcement of the acquisition, four United States senators including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. This letter outlined concerns that the deal could disenfranchise current Activision Blizzard employees following allegations of sexual misconduct and other hostile workplace practices.

August 24, 2022 – Xbox Launches Website Outlining Benefits of the Acquisition

To spell out the benefits of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard to the public, Microsoft launched a website that highlighted its “vision for gaming,” and the positives of what could become the biggest deal in video game history.

According to Xbox, the acquisition will mean more games on more devices, more choices for how to purchase games, and variety for mobile gamers. Xbox also claims that developers will have easier access to customers, a fairer marketplace, and greater flexibility in payment systems.

September 1, 2022 – Call of Duty Will Still Launch on PlayStation on the Same Day, Also Game Pass

Spencer made a point to say that new Call of Duty games would still be released on PlayStation on the same day as it launches elsewhere, even if the goal is to eventually debut new Call of Duty, as well as Overwatch and Diablo, on Xbox Game Pass.

In another blog post, Spencer confirmed that PlayStation gamers will receive the new Call of Duty on the same launch day as any other platform, including presumably Xbox Game Pass where first-party Xbox games are released day-and-date as retail.

September 7, 2022 – PlayStation’s Jim Ryan Calls Xbox’s Call of Duty Promise ‘Inadequate on Many Levels’

The first of a series of responses, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan called the promise of bringing Call of Duty to PlayStation after the acquisition “inadequate.”

In a statement to Gamesindustry.biz, Ryan said that the publicly stated promise to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement is not appealing to PlayStation. “After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers.”

October 12, 2022 – Following Concerns Raised by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Xbox Says PlayStation Is Too Big to Fail

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns over Xbox’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In response, Xbox said the concerns were unsupported and claimed PlayStation was too big to fail.

“The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible,” Xbox said in a statement. In addition, Xbox said that even if every Call of Duty player on PlayStation switched to Xbox, “the PlayStation gamer base remaining would be significantly larger than Xbox.”

October 31, 2022 – Phil Spencer: Call of Duty Will Continue to Ship on PlayStation ‘As Long as There’s a PlayStation to Ship To’

In ongoing commitments to keeping Call of Duty multiplatform, Phil Spencer said the intent was not to take Call of Duty away from PlayStation gamers and that as long as there is a PlayStation to ship to, Xbox will ship Call of Duty to Sony’s console.

Speaking on the Same Brain YouTube channel, Spencer cited Minecraft, a game that Xbox continued to ship to other platforms even after acquiring developer Mojang.

November 11, 2022 – Xbox Offers PlayStation a 10-year Deal to Keep Call of Duty on the Platform

It was reported by The New York Times that Xbox offered Sony a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. While PlayStation did not comment on the offer, this marks a seven-year increase over the current three-year deal in place to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.

This deal will also come to mirror a similar arrangement made with Nintendo that we will discuss in more detail further down.

December 8, 2022 – The Federal Trade Commission Sues to Block Xbox’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition

In the largest rebuke yet, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

In a press release, the FTC said that Xbox could “harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or ‘degrading’ rivals’ access to its popular content.” The FTC cited the acquisition of ZeniMax Media as one example of this, and how games like Redfall and Starfield will not be appearing on rival consoles.

In an internal memo, current Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told employees that while the lawsuit “sounds alarming,” the expectation is that the deal will proceed as planned.

December 12, 2022 – Phil Spencer Says Sony Wants to Grow ‘By Making Xbox Smaller’

In a slight departure of tone, Spencer struck back at PlayStation’s attempts to block the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard by saying PlayStation wants to “protect their dominance” by “making Xbox smaller.”

Spencer appeared on the Second Request podcast calling Sony the only “major opposer” to the deal. “They have a very different view of the industry than we do. They don’t ship their games day and date on PC, [and] they don’t put their games in the subscription when they launch their games,” he said.

While Spencer previously spent months talking about how Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation, this was met with Jim Ryan calling these overtures “inadequate.” By hitting back on PlayStation’s dominance, Spencer marked a change in tone as the battle over the acquisition continued to intensify.

January 5, 2023 – UK CMA Extends Investigation into Xbox’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Citing the complexity of the case, the CMA announced it would extend its investigation into the acquisition by up to eight weeks to process the amount of evidence it has gathered. Plus, the CMA must also go through the responses it acquired from the public after reaching out for opinions about the acquisition.

The extension means that the final submission date for the CMA’s report on whether Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is negative for the industry is now April 26 instead of its original deadline of March 1. However, the CMA also said the report could be completed anytime before that date.

January 30, 2023 – The Last of Us’ Success on HBO Proves Sony’s Merger Opposition Is Baseless

While not an official statement, Activision Blizzard CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey tweeted at the official FTC Twitter account citing the success of HBO’s adaptation of Sony’s The Last of Us on HBO as proof that Sony’s opposition to the acquisition is baseless.

“Sony has an unrivaled warchest of IP, not just in gaming but TV, movies, and music — which can be developed into games, or can market existing games,” Meservey said. “It’s no wonder they also continue to dominate as the market leader for consoles. In gaming, Sony is ‘the first of us’ – and they will be just fine without the FTC’s protection.”

Meservey cited the record-breaking viewership for HBO’s The Last of Us, which is also produced by PlayStation Productions and Sony Pictures Television, as examples of Sony’s wide net.

February 3, 2023 – The European Union Issues Antitrust Warning to Microsoft

According to Politico, EU representatives issued a formal warning to Microsoft over its acquisition plans, claiming that Microsoft could be “incentivized” to keep Call of Duty away from rival consoles.

In response, Microsoft said it is “listening carefully to the European Commission’s concerns and are confident we can address them.”

With the EU, the UK, and the US seemingly critical of the acquisition, scrutiny from the world’s top market regulators has only intensified as the deal tries to find a way forward.

February 8, 2023 – Xbox’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Could Harm Gamers, CMA Says

The UK’s CMA published a provisional report of its investigation that raised several concerns about Xbox’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. This included risk of higher prices for games, fewer choices, and less innovation for UK gamers.

One particular area of concern is cloud gaming. According to the CMA, Microsoft accounts for 60% to 70% of current cloud gaming offerings and making Call of Duty an exclusive could “alter the future of gaming.”

The CMA also said that making games exclusive to Xbox “could substantially reduce the competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK,” and “could result in all gamers seeing higher prices, reduced range, lower quality, and worse service in gaming consoles over time[.]”

February 21, 2023 – Xbox Signs 10-Year Deal to Bring Call of Duty to Nintendo, Nvidia

Microsoft president Brad Smith confirmed that the company signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo device owners “the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity.” This deal is meant to highlight that Xbox’s acquisition would not silo Call of Duty to the Xbox ecosystem, and what better way than bringing Call of Duty to a platform the series has aggressively ignored in the past?

In particular, the promise to deliver Call of Duty games to Nintendo gamers with full content parity feels especially ambitious given Nintendo’s hardware performance issues.

On the same day, Microsoft announced a 10-year deal to bring all of its PC games to Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service, including Activision Blizzard titles. This is a direct response to the UK CMA’s concerns regarding cloud gaming as Nvidia is a major rival in the service.

With the agreement, Nvidia dropped its concerns over the acquisition, clearing away at least one major tech company from opposing the deal.

With months before the UK CMA’s final report and still plenty of hurdles left, we will likely have many more episodes before we see any conclusion to Microsoft’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Here’s some good news for any crossover fans of both Magic: The Gathering and The Lord of the Rings. A new LotR-themed MTG card set is up for preorder. It’s called The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, and you can preorder the cards in a number of configurations, including Commander decks, set boosters, jumpstart boosters, collector boosters, and more (see on Amazon). They’re all set to release June 23. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s take a look at what’s available.

Collector Booster Packs – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

Collector Booster packs are pricy, but they come with the best cards of any packs. Each Collector Booster pack includes 15 cards, with 5-7 Rare or higher rarity cards, plus 8-10 Foils.

Set Booster Packs – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

Set Booster packs are meant to be fun to open, with a wider variety of cards on offer. Each Set Booster pack comes with 12 cards, including 1 Foil and 1 Art card. These packs also include between 1 and 4 cards of Rare or higher rarity.

Draft Booster Packs – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

Draft Booster packs are designed for people who want to play a match with new cards quickly. The idea is that everyone opens 3 packs and passes them around to draft cards for a deck. Then you add some Land cards and play. Each Draft Booster pack comes with at least 1 Rare or Mythic Rare card. You also have a one-in-three chance of getting a Traditional Foil card in a pack.

Jumpstart Booster Packs – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

Jumpstart Booster packs are particularly cool for people who just want to hop into a game without any fuss. To do so, just open two Jumpstart packs, shuffle them together, and you have an instant randomized deck you can play with. This includes the proper mix of spells, creatures, and lands for a well balanced deck. Each pack contains one thematic Rare card exclusive to these Jumpstart packs, one Rare or Mythic Rare from the main LotR set, and two shiny foil Land cards.

Commander Decks – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

Four new Commander decks are also available to preorder. These are meant to be played in multiplayer free-for-all Commander matches. You can buy them individually or in a 4-pack that gives you all of them at once. Also as usual with MTG preorders, the Commander deck box art is not yet available, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Each Commander Deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample pack containing 2 special treatment cards from the main LotR set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare, plus 1 Traditional Foil.

Starter Kit – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

I suspect this Lord of the Rings-themed Magic set will bring in lots of new (and long-lapsed) players. If that’s you, this is the bundle to pick up. It comes with two ready-to-play decks of 60 cards each (including 1 foil Mythic Rare card and 4 Rare cards), a How-to-Play guide, two boxes for deck storage, and codes to unlock both decks to play online in MTG Arena.

Bundles – MTG Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

These bundles offer an assortment of items from the Lord of the Rings MTG set. You get 8 Set Booster packs, 4 Traditional Foil alternate-art cards, 40 Land cards (including 20 foils), plus a “spindown” life counter, a card storage box, and two reference cards.

The gift edition of the bundle includes the same as the standard one, plus one Collector Booster. The price difference is less than a Collector Booster pack, so you might as well pick up the gift edition if you’re going for a bundle.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.

Amazon Games has announced that its MMORPG New World is switching to a seasonal model and will be getting a free and premium Season Pass as a result.

The seasonal model will come into effect on March 28 and Amazon has promised it will allow for more frequent content drops with the likes of new features, gameplay experiences, and more. Seasons will last three months and Amazon said players can expect further unique additions to New World as each one rolls in.

The Season Pass will work more like a Battle Pass from the likes of Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone, in which players will gain levels and rewards by completing certain tasks in-game. Players can stay on the free track if they like, but upgrading to the premium version will grant more rewards per level including cosmetics, Marks of Fortune, Boost Tokens, and more.

This premium track can be purchased using New World’s in-game credit and will cost 20,000 Marks of Fortune, with $19.99 getting players 23,000 Marks of Fortune in the shop. Amazon made clear that all of the premium track content can be earned through normal gameplay except for the cosmetics, meaning this won’t be a pay-to-win feature.

As for what’s coming in Season 1 overall, which is called Fellowship and Fire, players can enjoy new story content, a new Expedition, a new Heartgem Ability called Fire Storm, the addition of Gear Set Storage, and a new server region.

The story will focus on The Silver Crows, an elite group of mercenaries tasked with helping Skye the Speardaughter confront a powerful warlock and the Varangian horde. The Expedition, meanwhile, is called the Empyrean Forge and is a new Level 60+ mission set in the Great Cleave.

In our 6/10 review of the base game, IGN said: “New World is a very pretty survival-MMORPG hybrid that saves its best moments for the endgame – but you have to be willing to grind like hell to get to them.”

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

Elden Ring has officially sold over 20 million copies in less than a year according to Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware.

The announcement came just days before Elden Ring’s one year launch anniversary on February 25 in a tweet from the game’s official account (below), and an accompanying statement on Bandai Namco’s website. “Our heartfelt thanks for your support and companionship on this journey,” the post said.

We last heard of Elden Ring sales figures in June last year when it had sold 16.6 million units, but the holiday push and perhaps the slew of Game of the Year awards pushed it over the 20 million figure.

Our heartfelt thanks for your support and companionship on this journey.#ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/S8eqiNk0Uv

— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) February 22, 2023

The figure also comes without any major expansion as no story DLC has yet been announced for Elden Ring, though the game’s creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has hinted that more content could make its way to the Lands Between, teasing that “we have several more things we want to do”.

In the meantime, Souls fans have been flexing their skill by completing no hit playthroughs, impressive speedruns, and even by beating two Malenias at once using a dance pad and a controller at the same time.

IGN awarded it a 10/10, stating that Elden Ring was FromSoftware’s “largest and most ambitious game yet” whose visually and mechanically impressive boss fights and satisfying exploration and combat made it a title that truly moved the genre forward.

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

There are generally two types of Kirby games: the standard platformers where Kirby copies enemy abilities across easy-to-complete stages, and the more unique adventures that break wildly from that formula. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land has been solidly in the former camp since its original release on Wii in 2011, making its Deluxe rerelease on Switch recognizable in more ways than one. Strong platforming fundamentals, creative late-game level design, and some worthwhile new content still make it worth revisiting, but it’s a more appealing package for newcomers than those who have already gone on the original adventure.

Like those aforementioned traditional Kirby platformers, the first few worlds in Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe are so remarkably unchallenging that they strip away any sense of resistance and, frankly, fun to be had. Flashy Super Abilities, which allow Kirby to do things like roll enemies up into a giant snowball or slash a massive sword across the screen, often start as almost automated sections that require very little player input. It’s important to have games that welcome newcomers, but it takes at least a couple of hours before this adventure begins to feel even remotely interesting, regardless of if you’re playing solo or with friends.

However, once you reach that latter half of the campaign, Return to Dream Land begins to reveal what it’s really about. The platforming stages start relying upon Kirby’s copy abilities more heavily, like using the Water ability to skim across fiery blocks, or the Jump ability to soar to new heights by letting him leap vertically and knock enemies out of his way. And it does all of this while throwing increasingly difficult challenges in your path, whether those are (often repetitive) mini bosses fighting you on screens with pitfalls and other dangers in the way, or platforming challenges that have you escaping a wall of death with creative obstacles to scurry around.

The final stretch of Return to Dream Land, in particular, feels like the original developers were able to let loose with a relatively challenging (but never frustrating) conclusion that’s filled with creative levels and enemies alike. The finale in particular is a wild ride, standing tall with surprising twists and genuine challenge. In all, it took me about six hours to float through the main story of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and over half of that runtime felt well worth the journey.

Then there’s the multiplayer of it all. Up to three friends can hop in and out locally at any point. They’ll play as either Meta Knight, King Dedede, or Bandana Waddle Dee, who essentially take on one distinct copy ability apiece (Sword, Hammer, and Spear, respectively) and can stack on top of each other or be carried across stages. Playing with this many players blunts some of the finer details of the level design, as it quickly becomes a chaotic game of trying to quickly clear enemies and get to the goal first – a section where you are supposed to time your movements to avoid boulders can quickly just become… run through the boulders and hope someone gets to the other side. Boss patterns can also essentially be ignored as each character pummels the enemy to oblivion. Stages in general feel designed specifically around single-player, but still work with a bigger group if that’s how you choose to play.

However, like similar multiplayer platformers, there’s plenty of fun to be had just goofing around levels with a few friends. The multiplayer is probably best served as a sort of “guardian mode” where you can have a less experienced player tag along and play with you, giving Return to Dream Land yet another way to welcome newcomers.

A Welcome Return

So that’s the original Return to Dream Land, but what the heck is new to this Deluxe version? The most obvious improvement is the graphical overhaul – outside of 2022’s Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this is easily the best Kirby has ever looked, with character models, environments, cutscenes, and everything else looking remarkably improved over the 2011 Wii original. It’s also filled to the brim with charm and small details, like cowboy Kirby walking with a bit of a strut when he’s using the Whip ability.

Then there are a few additions to the adventure itself. Three new abilities have been added for Kirby to wreak havoc with: Sand, Mecha, and Festival. Sand allows Kirby to form flurries into objects like sand castles and fists to smack opponents around with. The Mecha ability lets Kirby fly around the screen quickly, shoot off lasers, drop deadly mines, and fire rockets at foes above – it’s probably the most powerful copy ability in Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and my personal favorite. They’ve also brought the Festival ability over from Star Allies, which turns enemies on screen into point stars and health-recovering food items. They fit in so well that had I not known any better, I would have just assumed they were always in the original release as well.

In line with Return to Dream Land being an entry-level platformer, Deluxe also adds an easy mode called Helper Magolor. This character from another planet tosses Kirby helpful items (including health-doubling potions) and saves him when he falls into bottomless pits. While most people probably won’t need this mode turned on, it’s a great option for new or young gamers to help get their feet wet.

Magalor Magic

Speaking of Magolor, he’s the star of Deluxe’s single biggest addition – Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler. In this roughly two-hour mini adventure, you control an interplanetary character, who begins by being stripped of all of his powers, á la Metroid. But through collecting magic points across brand-new stages, you can purchase increasingly powerful abilities, like bombs you can gleefully rain down upon your enemies.

This mode starts a bit slow, with Magolor being intentionally sluggish and relatively weak, but by the end of the journey he can become a downright powerhouse. The stages themselves are about the same quality as what’s seen in the main game, with challenge levels available to unlock if you’ve already purchased their corresponding abilities. Kirby’s signature ability to copy powers is missed in this mode, but it’s fun to get a taste of what a Kirby-style platformer that unfolds with more progression would play like.

True to its name, the Magolor Epilogue can only be played after the main story is finished. Narratively this makes sense, though let’s be honest: nothing in a Kirby game’s story is particularly groundbreaking, and not letting returning players jump right into it feels a little unnecessary. Along those lines, Deluxe includes the original’s Extra Mode, which is a much more difficult version of the main story that gives Kirby less health, adds more enemies to deal with, gives bosses more challenging forms, and more. However, it also cannot be accessed until after the main mode is finished, which seems silly for a Deluxe version that plays almost identically to the original.

There’s also Arena Mode, which similarly unlocks following the main story as a boss rush of sorts to further test your skills. While those certainly pad out the overall play time, I would have preferred access to them right off the bat. New to the package is Merry Magoland, a theme park filled with “sub-games” that put you against other players. In the original Wii version, Magolor’s ship (the Lor Starcutter) housed several of these minigames, but now they also exist in this colorful area, and there are two new minigames to play around with in addition to the original eight.

The minigames themselves are well-made but relatively shallow, reminding me of the time I spent playing Pokemon Stadium’s minigames with my friends as a kid. They range from the star-throwing Ninja Dojo, where you try to hit moving targets either using button presses or motion-controlled throws with their Joy-Con, to the classic Samurai Kirby, a dueling minigame where each player attempts to slice as quickly as possible when prompted. They can all be played through in about half an hour and don’t add a huge amount of value to the package, but earning cosmetic masks through Magoland and playing with them in the main game can be a fun diversion.