Category: IGN

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok and its composer Stephanie Economou have won the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.

This first award for the video game music category comes at the 65th Grammys, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok and Economou won over Austin Wintory and Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Bear McCreary and Call of Duty: Vanguard, Richard Jacques and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Christopher Tin and Old World.

If you have yet to hear any of the music from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok or just want to listen again, here is a preview of the main theme from Ubisoft and a link to the full album on Spotify.

A main theme worthy of the All-Father himself. ? @stepheconomou @ubisoftmusic

?Stream the full album now: https://t.co/VtC4u8PbK5 #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/oAPv7AcqkN

— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) February 5, 2023

“I just want to recognize all of the people who fought tirelessly to bring this category of video game music into existence,” Economou said after she accepted the Grammy. “Thank you for acknowledging and validating the power of game music. This is truly such an honor, thank you.”

While this was the first time the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media category was included in the Grammys, it isn’t the first time a video game has been nominated or won. In 2011, Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu was the first song to be nominated and win a Grammy and it did so in the category of Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.

In 2012, Austin Wintry and Journey were nominated for the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media but lost out to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ work on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

In our review of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok, we said, “A fantastical setting and solid story can’t disguise the fact that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok has us running through the same motions as the main game a year and a half later.”

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

In a hilarious fake trailer, Saturday Night Live has cast The Last of Us’ Pedro Pascal in HBO’s Mario Kart and tasks him with taking Princess Peach to Rainbow Road.

The trailer, which you can check out below, is roughly three minutes long and also features appearances by Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, and Luigi.

HBO’s adapting another iconic game pic.twitter.com/YtsIswwSBb

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 5, 2023

In this world, it’s been 10 years since Mushroom Kingdom fell and the only thing left is “hope.” Pascal’s Mario, who introduces himself with the iconic line, “It’s a-me, Mario,” is asked to take Princess Peach to Rainbow Road in an attempt to save humanity, and he’s given a kart to do so.

Instead of Clickers, our heroes have to face off against Goombas, but luckily they have shotguns with red shell ammo to keep them safe. We even see Mario eating a mushroom and, when Princess Peach asks why he’s eating poision, he responds with, “It makes me feel big, okay?! I need to feel big, because Bowser is out there, and he’s the main bad guy.”

The trailer is full of other Easter Eggs, the death of a major character we won’t spoil here, and even more.

One of the funniest bits also notes that this new series is from the “master storytellers behind Mario Kart 1-8.” As everyone knows, we all flock to the Mario Kart franchise because of its riveting tales.

Pascal’s appearance on Saturday Night Live arrives in the middle of The Last of Us’ first season. We gave the latest episode a rare 10/10, saying, “A masterfully told love story set in a world designed to leave them unwritten, episode 3 of HBO’s The Last of Us is a sensational hour of television.”

For more, check out our breakdown of the real version of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, why we said this third episode is adaptation at its finest, and the latest on Pascal’s return as Din Djarin alongside Grogu in Season 3 of The Mandalorian.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Activision Blizzard has been charged $35 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “failing to maintain disclosure controls related to complaints of workplace misconduct and violating whistleblower protection rule.”

The SEC shared the news in a press release, stating Activision Blizzard agreed to pay the $35 million to settle its violations, and the charges stemmed from issues dating back to 2016.

“According to the SEC’s order, between 2018 and 2021, Activision Blizzard was aware that its ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees was a particularly important risk in its business, but it lacked controls and procedures among its separate business units to collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct,” The SEC wrote.

Between 2016 and 2021, the SEC stated Activision Blizzard also “executed separation agreements in the ordinary course of its business that violated a Commission whistleblower protection rule by requiring former employees to provide notice to the company if they received a request for information from the Commission’s staff.”

As a result, Activison Blizzard was said to have violated Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(a) and 21F-17(a). The company did not admit or deny the SEC’s finding, instead it just “agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a $35 million penalty.”

“The SEC’s order finds that Activision Blizzard failed to implement necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints about workplace misconduct, which left it without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. “Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”

The SEC confirmed it was investigating how Activision Blizzard handled allegations of sexual misconduct and workplace discrimination in September of 2021. The SEC’s search followed the two-year investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that led to a lawsuit against the company for fostering a “frat boy” culture in which female employees were allegedly subjected to unequal pay and sexual harassment.

This settlment also comes at a time when there is extra scrutiny regarding the $68.7 billion deal that would merge Xbox and Activision Blizzard. Most recently, the merger spurred a formal antitrust warning from the European Union.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games has announced it will be changing the game’s February 23 release date to an early access release date to prevent further delays and to allow fans to jump in and help the studio reach the finish line.

Endnight Games revealed its plan for the Sons of the Forest’s release and development going forward via a post on Steam, and shared it very much wants the community’s help as it did for the original game.

“It’s been a long journey since we first started ‘Sons of The Forest’ development and it’s grown into the biggest most complex game we have ever made,” the post reads. “There is still so much more we want to add; items, new mechanics, gameplay balance and more. We didn’t want to delay again so have instead decided to involve the community in the continued development of this project and keep our February 23rd release date but instead release in Early Access.

“‘The Forest’ turned out to be a massive success, due mostly to the awesome community and the suggestions, feedback, and bug reports the players shared with us,” the post continues. “We are really excited and hope that players want to come on this new journey with us to make this the ultimate survival horror simulator.”

After its initial announcement in 2019, Sons of the Forest, which is a follow-up to 2014’s The Forest, was delayed twice in 2022 to accommodate for the game’s large scope.

We previewed Sons of the Forest in January 2023 and praised its vast improvements to its predecessor’s gameplay, which include sophisticated AI enemies and an impressively responsive ecosystem.

“Sons of the Forest appears to evolve and build on every aspect of its predecessor with a focused goal of realism and developing a flexible ecosystem, and it feels like the building blocks are there to create something truly special,” IGN’s Dale Driver wrote. “But its killer feature is the addition of impressively sophisticated and smarter AI enemies and companions that could not only provide a huge leap forward for the series, but the survival game genre as a whole.”

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

The regular person with no unique or weird features, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week’s reset. If you’re looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he’s got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We’ve rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Located Today?

Xûr’s location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on February 3 through February 4. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you’ll find the retail monster who inspires us all.

Remedy Entertainment and Smilegate announced that they will be shutting down CrossfireX on May 18, 2023. This announcement comes right before the game’s one-year anniversary as it was released on Xbox Series and Xbox One back on February 10, 2022.

“Since the launch of the game, we have worked tirelessly to bring it to a point where we can all be proud, and throughout it all we have had the honor and pleasure of supporting our players,” CrossfireX’s development team said in a statement.

It continued: “Coming to this decision was not easy, however, we can proudly say that our players have been amazingly active, passionate, and enthusiastic in working with us to create a game that would be fun and enjoyable by all. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing CrossfireX and being a part of this journey with us.

It is with deepest regret that we must inform you of our decision to terminate our service for CrossfireX. We want to thank each and every one of our players for playing and being a part of this journey with us. For full details, please visit: https://t.co/Kx03nYOmLA pic.twitter.com/Gl790Tn38T

— CrossfireX (@PlayCrossfireX) February 3, 2023

Sales for the game on the Xbox Store have already been disabled, and there will be no new content added to the game, including maps, modes, and camos. Additionally, purchases made within the last 14 days as of February 3, 2023, are eligible for a refund.

In the meantime, players can continue to enjoy the game until its shutdown in May. The in-game store will continue to be open, but the option to purchase premium currency will be disabled. Players can still spend their remaining currency.

CrossfireX is the latest live-service game to announce shutdowns this week—Rumbleverse and Knockout City, Crimesight, and Apex Legends Mobile are going offline later this year too.

In IGN’s CrossfireX single-player and multiplayer reviews, we said, “CrossfireX’s pair of single-player shooter campaigns are sloppy, soulless, and mercifully brief,” as well as “CrossfireX’s multiplayer modes aren’t worth the price you’ll pay…and it’s free-to-play.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Update: 02/03/2022: It Takes Two has now sold more than ten million copies, doubling its five million record set this time last year.

Announced on developer Hazelight Studios’ Twitter (below), the team said “our minds are officially blown” as they celebrated the impressive number.

“Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game,” it added. “We never dared to dream of so many fans. Thank you for all the love.”

Our minds are officially blown.#ItTakesTwo has sold over 10 (TEN!) MILLION ??

Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game – we never dared to dream of so many fans!
Thank you for all the love. ? pic.twitter.com/GzF1UL7ZUn

— Hazelight Studios (@HazelightGames) February 3, 2023

Original Story: 02/07/2022: It Takes Two has sold five million copies, including two million since October, developer Hazelight Studios has announced.

The developer tweeted (below) that “our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game.”

Hazelight previously announced on October 13 that the award-winning co-op game had passed three million units sold, showing that It Takes Two had a strong holiday period performance with at least two million sales.

5… that’s FIVE million copies of #ItTakesTwo sold! ???

Our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game! ?

— Hazelight Studios (@HazelightGames) February 4, 2022

It Takes Two won several categories at The Game Awards 2021 including overall game of the year, best multiplayer game, and best family game. It was among the nominees for IGN’s game of the year but in the end fell to Forza Horizon 5.

We called the game “amazing”, saying “It Takes Two is a spectacular co-op adventure that lays down a path of great gameplay ideas and uses it to play a giddy game of hopscotch.”

Several famous faces from the gaming industry have also praised the game. Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki said it was a standout of 2021 alongside executives at Naughty Dog who also said it was their game of the year.

It Takes Two’s success has led it beyond the gaming sphere, as Hazelight Studios has partnered with dj2 Entertainment to create adaptations for film and television.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Cardy, Dale, and Mat dream up what they think should be the next big video game TV show following The Last of Us as they pick the game, director, cast, and much more for their big-budget projects. Before that, though, there’s time for a little Dead Space catch-up, impressions of Knock at the Cabin, Knockout City sadness, and the bizarre thing that is Infinite Seinfeld.

Got a game for us to play or just want to tell us the weirdest thing you’ve eaten for breakfast? Why not email us: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 682: Creating the Next Best Video Game TV Show

• IGN UK Podcast 681: Shadow Drop It Like It’s Hot
• IGN UK Podcast #680: Dead Space and Other Games We Want Remade
• IGN UK Podcast 679: The Last of Us is Very Good
• IGN UK Podcast #678: Wot We Did Over Christmas
• IGN UK Podcast 677: The Big 2023 Preview

Welp. Nintendo won’t be on the floor at E3 2023. Neither will Xbox. Sony… well, we knew Sony and the ESA haven’t been hitching horses for a while now. So that means the “Big 3” are no-shows at what we had all hoped was going to be a triumphant, perhaps even jubilant, return of the most legendary gaming show of them all. I’m not going to write about “Is E3 even relevant?” or “do we still need a show like E3?” Those pieces have already been written, often by people much more talented and wise than I. Instead, I just want to say, as a fan of video gaming, how I am truly bummed out to see E3 once again falling to the wayside. Some of the greatest E3 moments of all time come from Nintendo, and while they stopped doing live conferences in 2012, their E3-timed Directs have been some of the most memorable parts of E3 without technically being part of E3.

While Nintendo wasn’t doing live press conferences, its presence on the showfloor was always massive and one of the places you absolutely, positively had to visit if you were among those lucky enough to attend E3. Usually Nintendo would have a Treehouse live event immediately following its Direct, and we’d be treated to several hours of live gameplay of games we only just learned about. It was all so exciting and fun, and this year it’s gone.

Will we get a Direct during the E3 window? I’m kind of thinking we won’t. I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but Nintendo’s biggest game in half a decade drops at the start of May and anything they’re holding for the holiday season wouldn’t really benefit from a June reveal. So not only is Nintendo not going to have a physical presence at the LA Convention center, but I don’t think we’re going to see a Direct during E3, either.

I do feel safe in saying Nintendo has had more memorable E3 moments than anyone else. It was a Nintendo E3 moment that birthed one of the most enduring online memes with the “Reaction Guys.” (related: it was a previous Nintendo E3 uh… moment… that spawned the first half of that meme).

E3 2005: A Nintendo Revolution

While not quite as legendary as the previous year’s E3 presentation, 2005 saw the first, official reveal of the “Nintendo Revolution,” which would go on to become the Nintendo Wii. Watching Satoru Iwata casually reveal the prototype, which he was hiding in his jacket, is just one of those magical Nintendo moments. But the crowd really gets going when Iwata announces Virtual Console and the promise we’d have the opportunity to play games from every Nintendo console. “The idea of a single device transporting us back to the first Excitebike, Earthbound, or Punch-Out!! should make us all feel young again.”

E3 2014: Robot Chicken and Smash

Watching this presentation again is so weird. If I’d never seen it before, and someone were to describe it to me, I’d think they were making it up. It’s this beautiful, absurd fever dream put together by Robot Chicken and features a choreographed fight sequence between Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime leading to the reveal of the new Super Smash Bros. I’d forgotten how awesome this was. Go and watch it again. You’ll see.

E3 2018: Every Fighter… Ever

The presentation itself lacked the memorable moments between segments, and watching it again, this is a pretty by-the-books E3 Direct. It’s pretty much indistinguishable from any other Nintendo Direct. However, E3 2018 saw the announcement that every fighter ever to have appeared in Super Smash Bros was coming to Ultimate. It didn’t seem possible, and yet not only did they come through with the promise, they added EVEN MORE as the years went on. This E3 holds a special place in my heart, since it’s the one and only E3 I’ve been to, and I was within grabbing distance of Shigeru Miyamoto. Grabbing Mr. Miyamoto is frowned upon both by IGN and Nintendo, so I had to compose myself. I also feel like, while Nintendo had an incredible 2017 with the release of the Switch and Breath of the Wild, 2018 was the year the Switch absolutely cemented its place in popular culture, and I think Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had a lot to do with that.

E3 2015: Nintendo Muppets

Not technically Muppets, I know, but they were created by The Jim Henson company. The melding of two titans of creativity gave us one of the best and bittersweet Nintendo digital E3 presentations of them all, as it would be Satoru Iwata’s final showing as Nintendo’s president. It was also 2015, when things were looking pretty awful for Nintendo as a company. The Wii U never caught on, and is largely considered a failure as a console, and the first game featured, Star Fox Zero, is… well, it had some interesting ideas. But the whole presentation is just so full of heart, it captures the feeling we Nintendo fans hold inside of us better than any other presentation.

E3 2004: Pretty Much Everything About It

I mentioned it earlier, but the Reaction Guys meme was birthed at this Nintendo E3 press conference. The first photo in the meme was taken in 2003, when Nintendo announced Pacman vs. for GameCube. But I’ll get to that second photo in a bit, because, man. Where even to start? I guess at the beginning. Logical enough. The whole thing kicked off with someone most of us didn’t recognize, an imposing figure by the name of Reggie Fils-Aime. “My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking ass, I’m about taking names, and we’re about making games.” Legend! The reveal of the biggest President in gaming was a pretty interesting way to start things off, but then we got the reveal of the Nintendo DS during the same presentation. It wasn’t quite the Earth-shattering moment of other console reveals, but in hindsight, maybe everyone should have clapped a little louder.

The most incredible Nintendo E3 moment of all time happens at the end of the presentation. It’s important to point out, E3 2004 was still very much a business-focused event, and a fair portion of the presentation included sales figures and bar graphs. Iwata came out after the DS presentation and talked at length about Nintendo’s successes and how the DS was going to change things up, once again, but then he mentioned Nintendo’s next console. There’s an audible gasp from the crowd when he says “home console,” by the way. He goes on to confirm Nintendo is working on a new console, one that will “create a gaming revolution.” It was our first hint at the Nintendo Revolution, and man was it exciting.

At the very end, Reggie thanked the crowd and casually offered a look at just one more world players could soon visit. As the trailer rolled, it seemed both new and somehow familiar, but as the camera spun around a realistic Link riding Epona, all doubt was removed and the crowd went bananas. That was the source of the second part of the “Reaction Guys” meme, and you can feel it from watching footage taken with the crowd in place. The conference hall just explodes with joyous energy, with people screaming out in disbelief at what they’re seeing in front of their eyes. Seriously, if you’ve never watched video of the reveal taken from the crowd’s perspective, I highly recommend doing so. Even if you aren’t a fan of Zelda, or Twilight Princess, the energy is just so pure and real, it’s impossible not to smile. And then Miyamoto comes out with a Hylian shield and Master Sword!

Even if Nintendo does an E3-timed Direct this year, without the following excitement from those who get to experience Nintendo’s offerings on the show floor, I think we’re all worse off. It’s a huge blow for fans who’ve dreamed their whole lives, as I did, of getting their hands on games announced only hours before. I’m hoping the return of E3 as an in-person event is merely experiencing growing pains and the blowback from negative economic conditions. For Nintendo fans, I really hope Nintendo returns to E3, and I hope everyone gets to experience the magic in-person at least once.

Of course there are a lot more Nintendo moments to love and share. What are yours?

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

As I am writing this, the wikipedia article “List of World War II video games” includes over 1000 entries. But the prequel to end all prequels, World War I, doesn’t even have 200 games to speak of. The Great War: Western Front might, in fact, be the first World War I RTS worth mentioning in the modern era. It’s not especially pretty, but neither was the Battle of the Somme. And the ways it models early 20th Century warfare feel surprisingly authentic without dragging everything down to a snail’s pace.

When I think about World War I, particularly the Western Front, I immediately think of trench warfare. And, indeed, that is a key component of how The Great War’s battles play out. Each engagement begins with a set-up phase where both sides can place and upgrade trenches, position artillery and machine gun nests, and deploy troops along the line. This draws from a common pool of supplies that are also used once the clock starts to order bombardments and call in reinforcements.

The interesting trade-off here is that troops are cheaper to deploy in the set-up phase, but placing them early means they might take damage from the enemy’s strategic-level siege artillery before battle is even joined. There’s also the important consideration of how many supplies to spend on set-up and how many to hold in reserve to use throughout the battle. When I tried to really turtle up as hard as I could from the start, I often found that I would run out of shells for my artillery long before I had achieved a convincing breakthrough and have no choice but to call a ceasefire.

And appropriately enough, that is how a lot of engagements will end – with the attacking side deciding they can’t make any more progress with the resources they have and settling for a stalemate. Each territory on The Great War’s strategic map has a certain number of stars that must be removed to capture it, and removing a star requires a decisive “Great Victory” from one side or the other. So you will most likely be fighting a lot of battles where the outcome is inconclusive. But every little win does sway the course of the campaign.

Play the Fife Lonely

Territory is important, and taking the enemy capital is one way to win as either the Allies or the Central Powers. But each side also has a resource called National Will that represents how willing the home countries are to keep up the fight. If you keep taking horrifying casualties in every battle, even if you’re gaining ground, you may bleed National Will faster than your opponents do. And if either side runs out, they lose the campaign. Thus, it might be wiser to wait for the enemy to come to you in most cases, since the attacking side will generally suffer heavier losses.

And make no mistake, a head-on assault with infantry is universally a bad idea. I watched entire regiments melt in the course of seconds, even up against conscripts manning a trench when we had vastly superior numbers. Thus, most battles (at least until you unlock tanks much further down the tech tree) will revolve around smart use of artillery. Smoke shells and rolling barrages can provide cover for advancing troops. Targeted bombardments and airburst shells can soften up a trench before you attack. Even light artillery can lay down suppressing fire to stop a trench from being able to effectively fire back as you approach.

And once you get a foothold in your opponent’s trench network, it’s a much more straightforward fight. Bloody, hand-to-hand combat will favor the side with better training or simply more numbers, wrapping up the final phase of the battle as you make your way through the maze of ditches and bunkers to capture victory points and, if you’re lucky, the enemy’s command staff. Even a partial victory or a stalemate can serve a larger, strategic objective, though. Attacking from multiple sides, for instance, will leave the enemy fatigued. So a smaller, probing attack followed up by a larger assault from the next province over can be quite effective.

Green Fields of France

I didn’t make it far enough in the campaign to really get a feel for how it all comes together in the long run. It seems like the supply system will be key, since simply being able to keep up artillery bombardment longer than the enemy was often the decisive factor in my handful of battles. I did get to check out a scenario set much later in the war, though, in the spring of 1918. And the advancements in technology make a big difference.

Fully upgraded trenches unlocked later in the war can’t simply be cleared out using standard artillery anymore. Dealing any significant damage at long range comes to rely on more expensive airburst shells and gas attacks. Observation balloons can grant vision over great swathes of the battlefield, but are vulnerable to aircraft attacks, meaning you’ll need to protect them with your own flying aces. And of course, once tanks come into play, everything changes. They can’t take ground on their own, and just parking them in front of a trench will leave them extremely vulnerable to grenades. But they serve as great cover for infantry and make frontal, combined arms assaults quite viable.

From what I’ve seen so far, The Great War: Western Front is shaping up to be a very competent World War I RTS with an eye toward authenticity and a campaign that revolves around making the most of even the smallest victories. You’ll be able to check out the demo I played as part of Steam Next Fest starting next week.