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Amazon Is Running a Buy 2, Get 1 50% Off Sale

Amazon is running another of its excellent buy one, get one 50% off deals. Now I will admit, I was thrown a bit by the “Buy 2, Get 1 50% Off” phrasing, but according to the sale page, that just means if you buy two items, one of them will be half-priced. Specifically, the lower-priced of the two items you buy. But holy crap is there a lot to choose from, including new release games like Dead Space and board games galore.

Amazon Buy One Get One Half Off Sale

This is but a tiny sliver of what’s available on the sale. Note: the items change quite frequently, so if I were you and I saw something I liked, I’d scoop it up.

Also, if you’ve never had an Audible subscription before, you can get 3 months of Audible Plus Premium for free right now. That’s a bonus. Amazon seems to really be going hard with the sales today.

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

Nintendo Direct February 2023: How to Watch and What to Expect

Nintendo fans, rejoice! A brand-new Nintendo Direct is on its way and it will be here tomorrow, February 8, with roughly 40 minutes of updates focused mostly on Switch games planned for release in the first half of 2023.

IGN is carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the show, including when it starts, a list of places you can watch it with us, and what you can expect to see from the Nintendo Direct.

Nintendo Direct February 2023 Start Time

February 2023’s Nintendo Direct will take place on Wednesday, February 8, and will start at 2pm PT/5pm ET/10pm GMT. If you live in Australia, that translates to 9am AEDT on Thursday, February 9.

Where to Watch the Nintendo Direct February 2023

If you’re interested in watching the latest Nintendo Direct, we’ll be hosting the stream here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch the show with us:

What to Expect at the Nintendo Direct February 2023

As with most of its full Nintendo Directs, Nintendo has not revealed which games we can expect to be featured in the show besides saying the Direct is “mostly focused on #NintendoSwitch games launching in the first half of 2023.”

What it did reveal, however, is that the Nintendo Direct will last roughly 40 minutes. So, what can we expect in those 40 minutes? Well, a good bet would be The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This incredibly anticipated sequel to 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is set to be released on May 12, 2023, and we still don’t know all that much about it.

This would be the perfect time to show us more gameplay, reveal a bit more about the story, or even share with the world any special collector’s editions or themed Switch consoles that may be planned for this momentous launch.

We also know that Pikmin 4 is scheduled for 2023, so we may get an update on this new entry in the franchise that first began on GameCube in 2001. Another big question mark is Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp, which was originally supposed to be released on April 8, 2022.

There’s also the Metroid-shaped elephant in the room we have to discuss, as Metroid Prime 4 is still somewhere out on the horizon and the biggest news we’ve heard in some time is that its development was restarted back in 2019. Furthermore, there have been rumors that a Metroid Prime Trilogy for Switch has been in the works, but that also has yet to show its face.

It may be time to learn more about Nintendo Switch Online, as well, as a report back in 2021 said Game Boy and Game Boy Color games were on their way to the service.

Another good bet may be DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which was just confirmed to have sold more than 18 million units, and an appearance of some sort from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Speaking of Mario, it’s been quite some time since we’ve been treated to a brand-new, mainline Mario adventure, and this could be the best time to tease our favorite plumber’s next adventure. Could it be Super Mario Odyssey 2 with a The Super Mario Bros. Movie Kingdom? Maybe a new 2D adventure we’ll be playing this holiday? The options are limitless.

We’re also still very much waiting for these supposed ports of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but it may not be the right time with Tears of the Kingdom right around the corner. One can hope though!

Oh! We have to mention Hollow Knight: Silksong and Mother 3, because those two titles are always some of the most requested to show up in Nintendo Directs!

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.

Azul Board Game Review

Azul is named after azuleijos, the brightly coloured geometric tiles sported by beautiful buildings across North Africa and Portugal; the Portuguese learned to make them from the Moors. The board game has become a celebrated design in its own right, popular enough to launch several sequels which use the same core mechanics and the same beautiful printed plastic tiles. We’re revisiting the original to try and find out what makes this game about decorating palace walls quite so compelling.

What’s in the Box

Like many other abstracts, Azul is a little short on the components front, but what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. Underneath the rules sheet, you’ll find four colorful, clear, sturdy playboards, one for each player. There are also a number of cardboard discs and some classic wooden cubes.

The most impressive eye candy is the piles of plastic tiles and the big cloth drawstring bag you keep them in. They’re an absolute delight: smooth and chunky, bright and colorful and some are embossed with intricate geometric designs. The game has them on display for full effect and they’re really satisfying to handle and rummage around in when you pull them from the bag.

Rules and how it Plays

Again, like many other abstracts Azul is a fairly simple game to get to grips with, although its slight oddity may prove a bit of a stumbling block. Each player gets a play board and a number of card circles, called factories, each of which starts with four tiles drawn at random from the bag. On your turn, you choose one of the factories, take all tiles of one matching color from it, and then place the rest in the centre of the table. After the first turn, this central offering is treated like another factory from which players can select tiles.

The tiles you’ve chosen go in one of the five rows of your playboard. You can put them in any row, which holds from one to five tiles, so long as a row doesn’t hold more than one color at once. If you do end up with tiles you can’t find on your play board then they “fall” to the bottom and smash, costing you penalty points.

This continues until all the tiles have been taken. Then from any rows that are full, you’re allowed to take a tile and transfer it to the same row on your wall, a grid of color-coded squares, on the matching colored space. That row can no longer hold tiles of that color. You’ll then score points depending on how many tiles are adjacent to the one that you’ve placed. After one player has completed a whole row of tiles, it’s time for final scoring where you get fat bonuses for having completed rows, columns or diagonals of the same color.

From this description, you might imagine Azul to be a somewhat humdrum affair, the kind of mediocre abstract that amuses for a few sessions before being forgotten. But it has a great deal more to it than the pretty face of its toothsome tiles. At first, it’s tempting to look at Azul purely from the perspective of filing lines efficiently: if there’s a trio of tiles, it makes sense to fit them into your three-long space. But because scoring each placement is based on adjacency, that’s a quick way to lose.

Instead, you’ll start to try and pick colours that fill rows and columns. And then you’re in the teeth of a dilemma because, of course, the need to fill lines efficiently is still a thing. If you don’t take that trio of tiles, then someone else might. So you begin to glance around at the boards of other players, frantically trying to second guess who’s going to pip you to the post on a pick you want, and how much following players might benefit if you leave particularly sweet groups for them and when you reach this point the game becomes really interesting.

Consider: unless you’re picking from the center, every pick you make radically changes the tiles on offer to other players because your discards end up in the middle. That might accidentally create a very valuable group for someone else. It might also spoil another player’s choices because they wanted a specific amount to fit onto their board and now there are too many, so if they take it they’ll smash the excess and take penalty points. Best of all, you might actually be laying a trap for following players because the restrictions caused by what they’ve already placed could force them into take a whole pile of tiles they can’t fit, merely to merrily smash on their floor alongside the tinkling amusement of their opponents.

All this to think about on every turn and we haven’t even reached trying to complete rows, columns and colors for bonus points. There really is a whole lot to Azul and what’s particularly joyous about it is how your choices impact those of your fellow players, often very strongly, without a whiff of zero-sum interaction where what makes one player stronger makes another weaker. The game is well-balanced, deep and, unless you can calculate all the probabilities a dozen moves ahead, often quite exciting as you wait to see what the other players leave you.

The game is well-balanced and deep.

Against this, there is a certain degree of repetition to consider. From a thematic standpoint, this is essentially a game about tiling walls, hardly the most thrilling and dramatic subject matter for a clash of minds. There aren’t a lot of moving parts to Azul which, even though it makes the relative depth of strategy all the more impressive, doesn’t give you the variety many players want to sustain interest over a prolonged period of plays. Those who can maintain focus on a single game, however, will find a lot to reward them.

Where to Buy

Azul has earned a spot on our list of the best family board games. For more roundups, check out the best roll and write games, and the best deck-building games.

Atari Is Releasing a $1,000 Boxset for Its 50th Anniversary and It’s Only Making 100 of Them

Atari is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style with a $999.99 collectible boxset that features 10 Atari 2600 cartridges with reimagined artwork, acrylic toppers that light up when inserted into the console, and more. Oh, and there will only be 100 of them available worldwide.

As detailed by Atari, these cartridges — which hold Adventure, Missile Command, Warlords, Super Breakout, Crystal Castles, Haunted House, Yars’ Revenge, Centipede, Asteroids, and Gravitar — also feature a remastered version of their original key art.

Also included are cardstock posters, instructional manuals with bonus material, hard enamel pins, patches, certificates of authenticity, and a digital copy of each game that can be played on the Atari VCS. If that wasn’t enough, when you put all 10 cartridges together, they display the Atari 50th Anniversary logo, making it a perfect item for any collector’s shelf.

The collection is currently in pre-production and Atari notes that any artwork is subject to change. Pre-orders are now open, and those who wish to secure one will have to wait three to four months to get their product. It’s also important to note that once the pre-order window closes, all orders will be considered final and will not be able to be canceled.

This is only one way Atari is celebrating this big milestone, as it previously released Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, and we fell in love with it.

In our Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration review, we said that it “offers a completely new, very fun way to explore several decades of Atari arcade machines, consoles, handhelds, and PCs.”

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.

Daily Deals: 50% Off Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Up to 15% Off Hogwarts Legacy, $50 Off Apple AirPods Pro, and More

Today’s daily deals include several Apple devices, including the newest Apple AirPods Pro, and several of the newest Apple iPads. You can also save on the Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope game for the Nintendo Switch, the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game for all platforms, a fantastic ASUS ROG Scar Strix RTX 3080 gaming laptop, and more.

PlayStation 5 Finally In Stock on Amazon

Amazon is finally letting you buy a PS5 console without an invite. The PS5 God of War Bundle (Disc Edition) is currently the only model available without requiring an invitation. That means Amazon now joins the ranks of Walmart, Best Buy, and Target who have already had PS5 consoles in stock. For Amazon Prime cardholders, that’s great news because now you can get 5% Amazon cashback on this deal. If you’re an Amazon Prime member and you don’t have the Prime card, you’re missing out. The Price card has no annual fee and gives you 5% cashback on all Amazon purchases.

Out February 10: Preorder Hogwarts Legacy, Get a $10 Best Buy Gift Card

The highly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy game, an open world adventure that takes place in the Wizarding World in the late 1800s, has an imminent release date of February 10. Right now the only way to get a discount on the console version is at Best Buy. If you preorder the standard edition on either Xbox or PlayStation, you get a bonus $10 Best Buy digital gift card. Check out our review for our impression of the game.

Hogwarts Legacy for PC for $50.59

Green Man Gaming has the best deal on the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game for PC. Pick up the Standard Edition for only $50.99 or the Deluxe Edition for only $59.49. That’s a 15% discount on one of the most anticipated games of 2023. It’s out this coming Friday but anyone who gets the Deluxe edition can start playing now!

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope for Switch for $29.99

This is the first time we’ve ever seen the price drop this low. Amazon has the Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope game for the Nintendo Switch for only $29.99, a massive 50% price drop. If you liked the first Mario + Rabbods game, I think you will love Sparks of Hope. I personally played and enjoyed Kingdom Battle, but Sparks of Hope is, in my opinion, a much more polished game. Mario + Rabbids is an XCOM-like turn based tactical strategy game that’s different from your standard Mario fare. It’s also a lot more challenging than the cute creature outfits might suggest.

2nd Gen Apple AirPods Pro for $199

The 2nd gen Apple AirPods Pro truly wireless noise cancelling earbuds is back down to Black Friday pricing. Amazon currently has it for $199, a price drop of $50. The Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best sounding “truly wireless” earbuds you’ll find, especially at this price point. “Truly wireless” earbuds have no wires whatsoever, even to each other. In addition to the excellent sound quality, the AirPods Pro is the only AirPods earbuds with active noise cancelling technology.

New 2022 Apple iPad (10.9″, WiFi, 64GB) for $399

This is the first time we’ve seen a discount on the 2022 Apple iPad, which was released at the end of October 2022. It’s normally $449 but Amazon has the Pink color only for $399, undoubtedly a Valentine’s Day focused price drop. The new iPad has a host of upgrades from previous models, including a newer A14 Bionic chip, larger 10.9″ screen size, and the universal USB Type-C port now replacing the proprietary Lightning port.

2022 Apple iPad Air (10.9″, Wi-Fi, 64GB) for $499.99

Back down to the best price we saw during Black Friday. The 2022 Apple iPad Air was released in March of 2022 with a $599 MSRP. It represents a healthy upgrade to the 10.2-inch iPad in nearly all aspects. It boasts a larger screen size (10.9″ vs 10.2″) with both True Tone and P3 wide color. It has the same powerful Apple M1 chip found in the 2021 iPad Pro. Despite the more powerful hardware, the iPad Air is roughly the same size as the 10.2-inch iPad (thanks to the slimmer bezel) and weighs a bit less as well. Charging is done through the universal USB Type-C connector.

2021 Apple iPad Mini (8.3″, Wi-Fi, 64GB) for $399.99

This is easily the best price for the still current 2021 Apple iPad Mini. Don’t be fooled by it’s smaller footprint; it boasts superior hardware to the standard sized Apple iPad. The iPad Mini features an 8.3″ Liquid Retina display with True Tone and Wide Color, the capable A15 Bionic processor, USB Type-C port for fast charging, and Apple Pencil 2 compatiblity. If you’re looking for a powerful iPad that’s easiest to carry around, the iPad Mini is your pick.

GeForce RTX 4090 Starting at $1649.99

Here are two RTX 4090s at or close to MSRP! The stock RTX 4090 normally sells for $1599.99. However, both the MSI Gaming X Trio and the PNY XLR8 come overclocked right out of the box, which accounts for the small surcharge. Everybody knows by now that the RTX 4090 is the undisputed king of the hill. It’s significantly more powerful than any other NVIDIA card out there. It’s laughably more powerful than any AMD card, thanks to its support for DLSS 3.0 and it’s marvelous domination of ray tracing tech.

ASUS ROG Scar Strix 15″ AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX RTX 3080 Gaming Laptop for $1669.99

Amazon is offering a fantastic deal on this ASUS ROG Scar Strix gaming laptop. It features an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, RTX 3080 GPU 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The GeForce RTX 3080 provides plenty of muscle on the GPU front. It’s the most powerful mobile GPU available. Compared to desktop variants, it’s roughly comparable to the RTX 3060.

55″ TCL 4-Series 4K Roku TV for $268

Here’s a 55″ TCL 4K TV with the excellent Roku smart TV interface at an excellent price. The TCL 4-series is a no frills TV with a limited set of features but, more importantly, still offers good 4K image quality. It also fares well in gaming at 4K thanks to its low input lag. The Roku smart interface is intuitive to use and every bit as good as a Google TV or Fire TV.

BOGO 50% Off at Target Includes New Releases Like Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol, and Forspoken

Target’s Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off deal on select video games is back, and there are some great choices up for grabs. This time around, the offer includes a trio of very recent games: the Dead Space remake, Square Enix’s Forspoken, and The Callisto Protocol. If you want to grab two of these three recent releases, you can do so through this deal to save a good chunk of change. Plus, other 2022 games like Sonic Frontiers, Elden Ring, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, and more are also included.

The Best Deals of the Week

These deals are definitely worth your attention.

Anker MagGo 621 5,000mAh Magnetic Battery for iPhone for $34.99

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If you don’t want to plunk down $100 for an official Apple MagSafe battery, then Anker has the next best thing. The Anker MagGo 621 boasts a 5,000mAh battery capacity and is MagSafe compatible. The magnets are strong enough to stick directly to your iPhone or a MagSafe case. The iPhone 14 has an internal 3300mAh battery and the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 4300mAh battery, so the Anker MagGo should easily give either phone at least an extra full charge worth of battery life.

New 2022 Apple MacBook Pro with M2 Chip for $1396

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A 2022 Apple MacBook Pro laptop featuring the brand new Apple M2 chip in on sale today. Amazon has a 13″ model for $1396, a substantial 18% price drop from its $1699 MSRP. The new M2 chip is about 20% more powerful than the previous generation M1 chip, which was already faster than any other CPU found on previous Apple MacBook laptops. The M2 chip is also extremely power efficient, with this laptop boasting up to 20 hours of battery life on a single charge. In addition to the new M2 CPU, this laptop features a gorgeous 13″ Retina display with P3 wide color, 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Is on Sale for $29.99

Here’s a great deal on an excellent game that many Switch owners slept on when it first came out. The colorful, turn-based strategy game Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is on sale at Amazon for $29.99 right now. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on this game. Also, it’s unclear how long the sale will last, so grab it if you’ve had your eye on it.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope Deal

This Nintendo Switch exclusive is a sequel to the 2017 game Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. But instead of doing a copy-paste job, Ubisoft brings a bunch of major changes and improvements to this crossover sequel. The overworld is expanded and sprinkled with puzzles. Battles are more dynamic this time around, thanks in large part to new movement mechanisms that let you cross the map quickly, giving you tons of leeway in your battle strategy.

Also mixing things up is the addition of Sparks, critters you collect and equip in order to broaden your characters’ ability sets. Sparks let you do everything from adding elemental charges to your attacks to reviving fallen teammates. You can equip two Sparks to each character, creating clever and powerful combos, if you play your cards right.

In our Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope review, critic Dan Stapleton scored it 9/10, writing:

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope takes the excellent tactical combat ideas of Kingdom Battle and runs absolutely wild with them. Its goofy characters still have the ability to bounce off of each other, but they’re now free of the rigid grid and wonderfully customizable thanks to the mix-and-match Sparks that give them new and reliably interesting powers. Between fights you get to catch your breath in the large and brilliantly colorful open worlds, solving its light puzzles and being puzzled yourself by its oddball story. It’s extremely gratifying to play an ambitious sequel that fixes all of the main issues I had with the original, and then some.

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

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon – The First Preview

After three games of air juggles, pistol dances, hair-centric finishing moves, and universal acclaim from both critics and fans, PlatinumGames is dramatically remodeling the established Bayonetta formula. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is arriving only five months after the release of the erstwhile Bayonetta 3, and it brazenly trades in its third-person, button-mashing precepts for what is, essentially, a straight-up Zelda facsimile in the Super Nintendo tradition. The camera has been yanked back to an isometric vantage point, the levels are deliberately balanced between doses of environmental puzzle solving, tricky combat, and light platforming, and the sweatless, stylish tone of the mother series has been replaced with a somber tale about a vulnerable girl in an uncaring world. It is, in other words, the last thing you’d expect from a game bearing the Bayonetta name. That will undoubtedly turn off some fans of the franchise, but personally, I already can’t wait to play more.

Platinum starts subverting your expectations from the moment you get your hands on Bayonetta Origins. The game is played by piloting two distinct characters, by using a detached Joy-Con in each hand. On your left, you have Cereza — a younger, softer Bayonetta — who is just becoming accustomed to her nascent magical powers. (No, she is not yet brandishing firearms, nor is she dressed in stilettos and corsets.) On the right, we have the Lost Demon — known as Cheshire — who has possessed the patchwork cat doll owned by Cereza, and is able to deal massive payloads of damage with brute strength. You’re going to be navigating the world with both of these characters using each joystick, which brings to mind Josef Fares’ lowkey 2013 adventure Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. PlatinumGames has drummed up a number of clever navigational puzzles that require tight collaboration between the partnership to overcome. A carnivorous plant in the way? Perhaps Cereza can call on the spirits to bind it to the ground, while Cheshire uproots it from the earth. Does our prodigal demon need to reach a cliffside that’s just out of his grasp? Shrink him down to doll size and chuck him up there. Then he can morph back into his monstrous scale and get down to business.

It took me the length of the introductory level I played to become truly comfortable with this esoteric control scheme — the learning curve is going to be pretty steep, even for seasoned gamers. It gets especially hairy in combat, where you’ll be navigating two distinct move sets simultaneously, as you attempt to nullify all of the restless imps that want you dead. Cheshire handles the bulk of the offense by swinging his massive body around the arena, while Cereza plays more of a support role with her spellbook and a selection of stat-boosting items mapped to her D-pad. All of this is a far cry from the breezy 1,000-hit combos you might remember from other PlatinumGames titles, but I found myself enjoying some of Bayonetta Origins’ more tactical principles. The studio hasn’t lost any of its sublime mechanical fluidity, even as it has slowed down the pace.

The game is played by piloting two distinct characters, by using a detached Joy-Con in each hand.

Bayonetta Origins’ world also trades in the urban streets and moonlit cathedrals of the established canon for a fey, verdant forest — very Brothers Grimm — and a story that literally unfolds through a children’s picture book. It looks gorgeous on the Switch, wielding lots of deep blues and soft greens, which helped me immerse myself in the idea that the eight-foot-tall librarian I previously controlled in other Bayonetta games — the woman who cackles as she eats people with her hair — was nowhere to be found in this realm. Cereza is a teenager on the absolute precipice of her journey, and Origins matches those circumstances with an ethereal wistfulness. Yes, even Amazonians have to start somewhere.

It remains to be seen if Bayonetta Origins marks the beginning of a divergence with the overarching Bayonetta timeline, or if it’s simply a one-shot Platinum was cooking up as Bayonetta 3 approached its street date. Regardless, it’s nice to know that we’ll still be getting new games in this universe from a variety of different perspectives. Sometimes Bayonetta is carving up the forces of Hell on top of an 18-wheeler, other times she’s wandering through an enchanted woodland with a raggedy cat doll who also happens to be her guardian angel. Witches contain multitudes.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Sell 18 Million Units

Update 02/07/2023: Nintendo has revealed that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have now sold through more than 18 million units, with more than 20 million units sold to retailers.

As revealed in Nintendo’s latest earnings report, 18.2 million customers bought a copy of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet by the end of December 2022, up eight million from the previously announced ten million units sold as of November 23.

In terms of units sold through to retailers, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sitting at 20.61 million units puts it straight onto the Nintendo Switch’s top ten best selling games list. Currently in seventh place, it sits behind Super Mario Odyssey, Pokémon Sword and Shield, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Cross: New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in first, which sits at 52 million units.

Original Story 11/23/2022: Not only has Pokemon Scarlet and Violet sold an impressive 10 million combined units within the first three days of launch, they also account for “the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform” within that time frame.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launched globally on November 18, 2022, and these sales figures from Nintendo include both packaged and downloadable versions.

The newest entries in the legendary Pokemon franchise mark the second outing of the mainline franchise following Pokemon Sword and Shield. For comparison, Sword and Shield sold over six million units in their first week, which was a record for the fastest-selling Switch title at the time.

The Switch has seen plenty of Pokemon titles since 2017, including Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

These sales numbers were reached despite some glaring technical issues plaguing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. That being said, the game surrounding these bugs appears to be something special.

In our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet review in progress, we said, “After a few years of experimentation on the Switch, Game Freak has finally stumbled upon an open world formula that successfully reinvents how Pokémon is played, while remaining true to the nostalgic childhood vision of exploration, adventure, and cute monster collecting.”

“It is, in almost every way, the transformation I’ve been waiting for – but the grievously poor performance that has come along with it significantly mars this otherwise exciting design evolution.”

For more, check out our full Pokemon Scarlet and Violet wiki, which includes all the details on the new starters, version differences and exclusives, the new pokemon, our full walkthrough, and things to do first.

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.

Dwarf Fortress Sells 600,000 Copies in Two Months

Dwarf Fortress has sold over 600,000 copies in its first two months on the market according to a new post from publisher Kitfox Games on Medium.

“In the first two months, which ended yesterday, we’ve now sold exactly 606,342 copies of Dwarf Fortress, almost exactly 5,000 of which are from itch.io,” wrote Kitfox Games co-founder Tanya X Short on behalf of the development team.

Prior to release, Kitfox Games posted the projections of an analyst who used the Steam wishlist numbers of previous titles to forecast that Dwarf Fortress would sell around 160,000 units in its first two months. According to Short, that same number of games were sold within 24 hours of its December 6 launch.

The success of Dwarf Fortress reportedly netted the game’s original creators, Zach and Tarn Adams, a healthy January paycheck of $7 million – a figure which dwarfs December’s pre-release earnings of $15,635.

Kitfox Games also posted the Steam traffic stats for Dwarf Fortress, revealing that the store page received a staggering 26.81 million visits in the first two months following its release.

Dwarf Fortress’s Steam release brought much needed graphics, UI and control improvements to the beloved cult classic from 2006, making it accessible to a new generation of gamer, and the game currently has a 95% positive score from 17,478 user reviews on Steam.

In our review of Dwarf Fortress IGN described the game as “infinitely explorable in its complexity and equally as rewarding in the depth you’ll find there, this is the quintessential world simulation and building management game”.

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

Hogwarts Legacy: Harry Potter Movies vs Game Comparison

Check out our Hogwarts Legacy vs Harry Potter movies comparison. Hogwarts Legacy lets us walk around the iconic magical school from the Harry Potter series, but just how accurate are its ancient passageways and sprawling towers compared to the movies? From Hogwarts’ familiar grounds to the quaint Hogsmeade Village, and even the depths of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, we’ve visited various locations from the Harry Potter films and compared them with the new action RPG. We also ran into some familiar magical creatures along the way!

For more on the Wizarding World, check out our Hogwarts Legacy review, or the first 25 minutes of the game.

Emma Matthews is IGN’s Junior Syndication Editor.