Category: IGN

This Prime Day deal is still available. Amazon is currently offering Amazon Prime members the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum PCIe 4.0 NVME solid state drive (SSD) for only $127.99 shipped. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen for a 2TB PS5-compatible SSD from a reputable brand. It also happens to be one of the fastest PCI-E 4.0 SSDs on the market right now. This is an outstanding candidate for your PS5 or gaming PC rig.

SK Hynix P41 Platinum 2TB M.2 SSD for $127.99

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

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

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

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

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

Looking for more options? Check out the best M.2 SSDs of 2204.

The best Prime Day power bank deal is still available. Amazon is offering Amazon Prime members the powerful and high capacity Anker Prime 27,650mAh USB Power Bank for only $119.99, a hefty 33% price drop from its original $180 MSRP. This is the successor to the Anker 737 that we deemed the best Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally charger. Note only does it carry a significant battery capacity, it also boasts an absolutely massive 250W of USB power delivery to charge even the most power hungry MacBooks, iPhones, and handheld gaming consoles (simultaneously, in most cases).

Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank for $119.99

with 250W of USB Type-C Power Delivery

The Anker Prime is a hefy power bank, measuring 6.4″x2″x2.2″ and weighing in at 1.5 pounds. This is a heavier duty power bank designed to charge more power hungry devices like laptops, (multiple) portable gaming systems, and (multiple) phones. It has two USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port. Each USB Type C port supports up to 140W of Power Delivery, which is the max charging rate of a new 2024 MacBook Pro 16″ laptop. If you want to use both USB Type-C ports simultaneously, one will charge at 140W and the other at 100W. The USB Type-A port also boasts up to 65W of charging, although that drops to 18W if you’re using both USB Type-C ports at the same time.

The 27,650mAh battery capacity is more than you’ll ever need on your itinerary. It can charge a Nintendo Switch OLED about 6 times, iPhone 15 Pro Max about 6 times, Steam Deck about 5 times, and an ASUS ROG Ally about 10 times. What also makes the Anker Prime unique compared to most other power banks is the LCD digital readout. It displays a lot of useful real-time information like remaining battery capacity, power input, and power output from each port.

Regarding bringing the Anker Prime on airplanes, this power bank outputs 99.54Wh, which meets the TSA requirements for carry-on baggage. Power banks need to be under 100Wh, which means this is the absolutely highest capacity you can bring on board without needing special clearance.

The Anker Prime is an excellent Steam Deck / ASUS ROG Ally charger

Both the ROG Ally and Steam Deck suffer from a short battery life when gaming on the go. For instance, when playing most games at 60 FPS, you’re likely looking at four hours of battery life for the Steam Deck and maybe half that on the ASUS ROG Ally, which is equipped with a measly 2600mAh battery. During our Steam Deck review, we even found games like God of War or Spider-Man could potentially tap out in under 2 hours. At the end of the day, you’ll never get the full potential out of your Steam Deck or ROG Ally if you’re not equipped with a decent portable charger.

The Anker Prime is an outstanding charger for the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally portable gaming handhelds. The Steam Deck supports up to 38W, the ASUS ROG Ally up to 65W, and the Nintendo Switch up to 18W of power delivery, That means technically you could charge all three gaming consoles at the same time across all three ports. If you’re traveling with a family with multiple Nintendo Switches or Steam Decks, this option will be a lot more convenient than bringing multiple power banks.

It doesn’t take all that much to get me to dive back into Blizzard’s stellar ARPG, Diablo 4, which has had a fantastic run of seasonal content and updates in the year since it made its devilish debut. But after an extensive hands-on with its upcoming character class, the Spiritborn, I might be kissing my free time goodbye altogether. This jack of all trades impressively mixes up the Diablo ecosystem with its most customizable and varied class yet, opens up a whole new unexplored aspect of Diablo lore, and most importantly, lets you summon a giant spectral gorilla to Hulk-smash demons into pink giblets. By the end of my time exploring Vessel of Hatred’s spooky jungles and dark dungeons, I was ready to forsake my roguish ways and declare myself a Spiritborn main, and that’s no small feat.

A quick housekeeping note: my time playing Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred was focused almost exclusively on the Spiritborn character class. After choosing my preferred Spiritborn warrior, I was dropped right into the action in the new region of Nahantu to craft my build and dismember everything in sight. Though all of the following things are in there, I didn’t see any story, meet any NPCs (aside from vendors), or get to check out the new hireable mercenaries feature. That said, my access to the Spiritborn class and all it offers was pretty exhaustive, so I’ll be focusing on that. Let’s dive in!

The Spiritborn are an entirely new class to the Diablo series, complete with their own lore that’s tied up in the ancient civilization of Nahantu – as seen in the Act 3 jungles of Diablo II – and the ethereal spirits with which they commune. Unlike the other Diablo IV classes, where you dive quite deep into a specific fantasy like tanking with the Barbarian or doing mad DPS with the Rogue, the Spiritborn is much more customizable and varied, thanks to the four guardian spirits you can choose to build into. Those four spirits are: the eagle, which focuses on mobility, evasion, and lightning damage; the gorilla, which is all about survivability and physical damage; the jaguar, which is the king of DPS, attack speed, and fire damage; and my personal favorite, the centipede, which uses poison, debuffs, and lifesteal to control the battlefield and feed off your foes’ misfortune.

Each of those spirit guardians is represented by a massive ghostly avatar that imbues you with power and occasionally takes to the battlefield itself to lay waste to your enemies, like how the centipede bursts onto the scene to start spitting giant globs of venom at everything in sight, or the eagle, which swoops in to zap your foes into dust. The skills and abilities that correspond with each of these spirits appear on the Spiritborn skill tree as color-coded nodes, so you can easily identify which you might want to focus on depending on your chosen spectral BFF.

These four distinct styles, and the divergent builds you can create from them as a result, make the Spiritborn feel like four new classes in one. For example, a slow-moving, extremely resilient gorilla build will feel very different from a jaguar build where you’re teleporting around the map. But although you’ll need to choose one of them to be your primary patron, one of the most defining characteristics of the character class is the ability to hybridize your build with some of the powers offered by other guardian animals. So, for example, if your jaguar build is feeling a bit squishy, you can reach across the aisle to your gorilla spirit and add a few of his tanky abilities to your repertoire, making yourself significantly more durable.

That’s a whole new ball game from the much more specific fantasies the other character classes offer, and at first I was worried that would make it feel like a jack of all trades and master of none. But the longer I played, the less I was concerned about the class feeling underpowered, as I went deep into a centipede-eagle (centipeagle?) build that had me filling the battlefield with life-sapping poison, then dashing out of reach when things got too hot. “You would think that it would have some kind of identity crisis, but if you play the build it doesn’t – it works,” Diablo IV Game Director Brent Gibson told me. “And I think the team has done a great job at picking the right things inside of each of the lanes that make it so unique and distinct without trying to turn it into giant cream corn.” From what I’ve played so far, I tend to agree.

After trying out half a dozen different builds, I’m very much sold on this extremely unorthodox class, and I really got a kick out of how different each of the spirits felt and how flexible the class was in allowing me to take on different roles depending on my current need or flight of fancy. It remains to be seen if any of these builds will be able to compete with the five existing and much more focused classes, but so far I’m really encouraged by what I saw, and have a feeling I’ll be running as a Spiritborn exclusively when I tackle Vessel of Hatred later this year.

Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road holds a special place in the hearts of many, and it also happens to hover over very specific parts of our planet.

X/Twitter account @MarioBrothBlog highlighted the placement of the racing series’ most iconic track in a series of posts. Those who have put in some time into the Nintendo spinoff franchise might have noticed that Earth can be seen below some versions of Rainbow Road in-game. Mario Broth offers an in-depth analysis of the size and location of both the Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart Wii iterations of Rainbow Road, revealing that they both cast shadows over very different parts of the planet.

Mario Kart Wii’s and Mario Kart 8’s Rainbow Roads are both depicted as floating above the Earth. By examining the skyboxes, we can map their real-world locations. The Wii Rainbow Road is over Canada, while the Mario Kart 8 Rainbow Road is over the Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/MUoHwhYiOL

— Supper Mario Broth (@MarioBrothBlog) July 18, 2024

Mario Kart Wii’s Rainbow Road is massive, covering a large portion of Canada and even a sliver of Greenland. Quebec and Nunavut get the most coverage, with the starting line placed just above the former. Mario Kart 8, meanwhile, seems to be positioned above the Mediterranean Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, centered between Sardinia, Sicily, and Tunisia. It’s also much smaller than its Nintendo Wii counterpart. Mario Broth notes that the Booster Course Pass re-release of the Wii track uses this same skybox, putting it in same place.

But wait, there’s more! X user @SB2749 was able to track down a 3D model of the Mario Kart Tour version of Wii Rainbow Road, which comes with a few small changes. Notably, the gargantuan course hovers above Southeast Asia instead of Canada in the mobile entry, swallowing more than half of Japan with one sharp turn.

Addendum: reader @SB2749 has provided the location of the Mario Kart Tour version of the Wii Rainbow Road track, which is in yet another location, covering Japan, China and Southeast Asia: https://t.co/2xD73iMtYR

— Supper Mario Broth (@MarioBrothBlog) July 18, 2024

Nintendo likely didn’t intend for any version of its Rainbow Road to be built to scale, but it’s still fun to imagine you might catch a glimpse of Mario and co. if you break out a telescope. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s Mario Kart series is currently between releases. The last numbered entry arrived on the Wii U in 2014, though Nintendo’s managed to make the most of that experience with a Deluxe re-release for the Switch in 2017. A long list of DLC additions have since arrived over the course of the last few years via the Booster Course Pass, which wrapped up with its final wave of content late last year.

There’s no word on when another installment will appear. However, fans are patiently awaiting any news regarding Nintendo’s Switch successor. It’s not expected to launch anytime before April 2025. You can see what little we know about the mysterious device here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

IGN can reveal new gameplay footage for Stormind Games and Saber Interactive’s upcoming horror game A Quite Place: The Road Ahead.

In the new footage you can view below, we can view roughly 10 minutes of new gameplay footage. As we saw in the previous two trailers and those familiar with the horror movie franchise, it is based on the fact that A Quite Place: The Road Ahead emphasizes moving in silence to avoid being killed by a hostile alien creature. Even the smallest sounds, like a rat scurrying and kicking an empty can, will alter nearby enemies.

Based on the gameplay footage, this is an early section of the game. The start of the footage reveals that it has been 119 days since the world went quiet. Towards the end of the footage, we can see the alien creature appear close to the character, with the HUD showcasing when the enemy is too close to the player.

More interestingly, the HUD for A Quiet Place: Day One is relatively minimal, akin to horror games like Visage. Imagery appears when the character switches between holding a flashlight or a sound detection device. In addition to remaining discrete as you traverse the world, we learned the playable character is asthmatic, requiring players to ensure the character ensures any possibility of having breathing difficulties with a status bar of her lungs.

A Quite Place video game was announced in 2021 with the project’s original developers, a collaborative effort between iLLOGIKA and EP1T0ME. The game was supposed to be released in 2022, but news on it was scarce following its initial announcement. That would change three years later when publisher Saber Interactive announced the game’s official title, revealing that Stgormind Games was assigned development duties with a target release window of 2024.

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

Nexon has released another big patch for The First Descendant and in the process made some important changes to the game.

The headline here is a change to the icons that were found to be similar to those in rival looter shooter Destiny 2. Nexon had confirmed plans to change these icons in response, and with the release of patch 1.0.3 across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, it’s done just that.

“The First Descendant has been developed with deep affection and respect for various looter shooters, and we take feedback regarding other similar games very seriously,” Nexon insisted in the update 1.0.3 patch notes, below.

“Through this hotfix, we are trying to reflect the unique identity of The First Descendant. We will continue to improve the game for the fans of the genre.”

It’s also worth noting that this patch adds “away from keyboard (AFK)” to the player report menu in response to the prevalence of AFK farming and players going AFK during co-op missions. In the patch notes, Nexon said it’s taking a “cautious approach” to how it handles The First Descendant’s AFK problem, and once again called on the community to show restraint as it works out what to do.

“We have been keeping a close eye on recent trends regarding AFK, and we agree that AFK hinders the game play for other players,” Nexon said. “However, we believe that a cautious approach is required in this matter. This is because AFK judgment mechanisms can sometimes be bypassed with simple shooting or moving actions, and the AFK kick system can be exploited for other purposes.

“First, we are trying to learn the patterns of AFK players with AFK reports. Through this, we plan to collect the information necessary to separate AFK players in matchmaking and prepare an appropriate measure in the future.

“We are considering ways to resolve the AFK issue so that everyone can enjoy the game together. We ask you to respect other players in the meantime, and if you have an idea on this matter, please let us know.”

Nexon said it will skip next week’s patch in favor of releasing the game’s fifth week update on August 1. This adds the new Descendant Luna and Ultimate Valby, new intercept battles, new ultimate weapons, modules, external components, and skins.

Nexon’s free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter has enjoyed enormous popularity with over 10 million players in just 10 days. But it has been heavily criticized for its ultra aggressive monetization, which includes the cost of Ultimate versions of its playable characters. This week, IGN reported on one player who spent an eye-watering 200 hours to unlock every Ultimate Descendant currently available in the game without paying money.

The First Descendant Update 1.0.3 Patch Notes

Content Improvements
(1) UI/UX
– An option has been added to turn off other players’ effects (projectile explosion).
– In order to improve the visibility, the explosion effect and the duration of ‘Vestigial Organ’ have been reduced.

# Director’s Comment
As Gley’s infinite launcher build became popular, we took temporary measures to address an issue where the explosion effect was disrupting gameplay severely. Currently, we only provide the option to disable other players’ projectile explosion effects, but we are planning to enhance this feature for other effects as well.

– A system message has been added to make it easier to check the DBNO status of allies, and an extra measure has been added to the party member UI.
– Reduced the research completion visual effect duration for materials frequently used in research.
– ‘Away from keyboard (AFK)’ has been added to the player report menu.

# Director’s Comment
We have been keeping a close eye on recent trends regarding AFK, and we agree that AFK hinders the game play for other players. However, we believe that a cautious approach is required in this matter. This is because AFK judgment mechanisms can sometimes be bypassed with simple shooting or moving actions, and the AFK kick system can be exploited for other purposes.

First, we are trying to learn the patterns of AFK players with AFK reports. Through this, we plan to collect the information necessary to separate AFK players in matchmaking and prepare an appropriate measure in the future.

We are considering ways to resolve the AFK issue so that everyone can enjoy the game together. We ask you to respect other players in the meantime, and if you have an idea on this matter, please let us know.

– The UI has been updated so that major rewards obtained from quests that have already been cleared are checked in the quest list.
– A function has been added to view acquisition information directly in the target section of Library.
– Fixed an issue of scrolling to the top when moving from the target item of Library to the corresponding item list.
– Added Firearm types and Rounds types to the Library Weapon List.
– Fixed an issue where a player who joined the Void Fusion Reactor could use the Reconstructing Device even if there were no Void Shard after completing the mission.
– When completing a Void Fragment mission obtaining two types of Void Shard, the amount obtained has increased by approximately 1.5 times.
– Void Fusion Reactor mission tooltip has been updated to display the number of Void Shards.
– Added Linked Amorphous Material to Void Fusion Reactor mission tooltip.
– Void Shard attribute will now be displayed on the map directly.

# Director’s Comment
We discovered and fixed an issue where a party member’s ‘Abort Mission’ system was being exploited to repeatedly play the Void Fusion Reactor without consuming any Shards. While addressing this glitch, we also considered why players might resort to using it. We realized that the transition from Shard farming to actual Void Fusion Reactor missions was quite inconvenient and tedious. Therefore, we not only fixed the bug but also increased the amount of Void Shards obtained and improved the farming process to make it more convenient. Please wait a little longer, as we will significantly improve the Fragment farming routes in the upcoming Week 5 update scheduled for August 1st.

The Dev Team will continue to learn and grow from your playing experiences. We will always listen to your valuable feedback and strive to provide a better gaming environment.
– The number of Attached Items that can be registered has been updated to 1,000 each for weapons, reactors, and external components.

(2) Descendants
– ‘Thrill Bomb’ and ‘Lightning Emission’ with the Ultimate Bunny ‘High-Voltage’ module will now target nearby targets rather than random targets.
– ‘Allergy’ of ‘Reconstruction Serum’ of Yujin now applies to Colossus as well.
– Ultimate Bunny ‘Electric Charge’, ‘High-Voltage’ and Bunny ‘Electric Condense’ sound effects have been changed.
– ‘Use Bunny’s Skills to inflict Electrocution on enemies’ has been removed from the 2nd and 3rd stage evolution conditions of the bunny Evolving Skin ‘Speedy Awakened One’.

(3) Infiltration Operation
– You can now view mission results through the ESC menu after completing an Infiltration Operation.
– The time limit for destroying the Ironheart has been removed in the Infiltration Operation ‘Fortress – Heart of the Fortress’.
– The location of the supply droid in the Infiltration Operation ‘Fortress – Quarantine Zone’ has been moved to the battle zone, making it easier to supply bullets.

(4) Mission
– The position of immunity spheres of Named Monsters will not change anymore as the monsters move or rotate.
– The sequential sphere type of the Named Immunity of ‘Alternate Hand of Nazeistra’ that appears in White-night Gulch ‘Eye of Truth’ has been updated.

(5) Field
– The drop quantity on Hard difficulty has been increased by approximately 1.5.

(6) Miscellaneous
– The stack limit for consumable items has been increased from 1 million to 100 million.
– Updated some icon images.

# Director’s Comment
The First Descendant has been developed with deep affection and respect for various looter shooters, and we take feedback regarding other similar games very seriously. Through this hotfix, we are trying to reflect the unique identity of ‘The First Descendant’. We will continue to improve the game for the fans of the genre.

Optimization Improvements
– Fixed the memory leak that occurred intermittently in windowed mode.
– Fixed the memory leak when using Frame Generation.
– Fixed the issue of temporary frame drops when opening inventory with DLSS Frame Generation.
– Fixed an issue where frame limit was not restored even if additional options were changed to Off when DLSS Frame Generation or FSR Frame Generation is enabled.

Bug Fixes
(1) UI/UX
– [Russian][Spanish][Portuguese] Fixed an issue where the material quantity text was cut off in Weapon Transmission.
– Fixed an issue where the top menu remained when Scroll Map > Top Library through Acquisition Information, and then moving to the screen with ESC.
– Fixed an issue where a black screen was briefly displayed when starting Special Operation.
– Symbol effects have been added for ‘Code Analyzer’, ‘Code Breaker’, and ‘Core Material’ dropped.
– Fixed an issue where account names starting with ‘#’ were not visible.

(2) Descendants
– Fixed an issue where the Descendant couldn’t be changed after completing the exclusive dungeon of the quest ‘To Bunny, Our Beloved Daughter’ in the Bunny quests.
– Fixed an issue where Bunny’s Lightning Emission was used even if there was no moving distance when rolling over a box or wall.

# Director’s Comment
We love how Bunny runs fast, unleashes electric energy to take down her enemies. Bunny is a Descendant who gains her power in proportion to the distance she travels. However, rolling around in a corner and using her skills was not what we expected from her, so we decided to fix this.

Additionally, we are detecting the use of various macros and unauthorized programs through our monitoring system, including the rolling in place macro. We are currently taking actions against macros and unauthorized programs, and will continue to strive to create a more enjoyable gaming environment for everyone.

– Fixed an issue where sound effect was not played intermittently when landing on the floor with Kyle’s ‘Superconductivity Thrusters’.
– Fixed an issue where the charging motion was repeated with Kyle’s ‘Repulsion Dash’.

(3) Modules
– Fixed an issue where the ‘Arche Acceleration’ module did not increase the speed and distance of projectiles.
– Fixed an issue where Ajax’s ‘Body Enhancement’ module did not reflect the max shield in the current shield after moving to the map.
– Fixed an issue where the Firearm ATK of the ‘Shoot Focus’ module was applied as a sum operation and not as a multiplication operation.
– Fixed an issue where the module list scroll was reset to the top after Module Enhancement.

(4) Mission
– Fixed an issue where monsters would not spawn if the first monsters spawned upon entering the Vulgus Strategic Outpost were immediately killed.
– Fixed an issue where the next quest could not be started under certain circumstances.
– Fixed an issue where the sphere would tremble when it was far away during the Named Monster’s sphere gimmick.
– Fixed an issue that prevented field change by removing the shield created during the ‘Upper Hatchery’ mission in the White-night Gulch Hatchery.
– Fixed an issue where monsters would spawn even without an actual battle in the White-night Gulch ‘Fortress Outskirts’.

# Director’s Comment
The Fortress Outskirts have become a popular farming area, with many monsters pouring in from the beginning of launch. We love the ‘run and kill’ play and believe running, shooting, and bursting are the fundamental aspects of a looter shooter. However, using the terrain to exploit and gather monsters without any action was not what we intended. If everyone simply stood still and hunted, the game’s enjoyment would quickly diminish. Therefore, we decided to make a change.

We maintained the spawn rate by keeping the 4 Vulgus Resource Storages active simultaneously, but monsters will not increase when players are idle. Run, shoot, and create some explosions! Many more monsters will continue to appear.

(5) Field
– Fixed an issue where ‘Code Analyzer’ was intermittently required when working with the Encrypted Vault in the Hard difficulty.
– Fixed an issue where falling while using a grappling hook in a certain section of the prologue caused you to spawn at the next location with the Mission Unfinished status.

(6) Void Intercept Battle
– Fixed an issue where the Removal did not happen intermittently and the grappling hook was maintained during a battle.

(7) Miscellaneous
– Fixed an issue where items were not collected when purchasing multiple items of the same product.

# Director’s Additional Comment
Thanks to the love and interest that you have shown us, we feel the brimming energy of the community. Hotfix 1.0.3 includes many fixes, which we hope will improve your gaming experience.

Recently, we saw a video in the community where the Colossus was defeated more quickly through module switching. If we had a bit more time, we would have liked to include a fix for this in Hotfix 1.0.3, but unfortunately, it didn’t make it into this update.

The Dev Team does not want module switching to become another strategy. This method makes combat tedious and does not fit well with the run-and-gun playstyle. The Dev Team wants skills, weapons, modules, and external components to be part of the strategy. We hope that in-depth build research will progress, but strategies requiring inconvenient control are not what the development team aims for.

Last but not least, we are planning to skip the patch next week for the upcoming 5th week update on August 1st. Please look forward to the new Descendant Luna and Ultimate Valby, new intercept battles, new ultimate weapons, modules, external components, and skins on August 1st.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Helldivers 2’s next warbond may have leaked from an unlikely source: PlayStation itself.

Arrowhead’s explosive PlayStation 5 and PC co-op shooter releases new warbonds — essentially battle passes — regularly, and each adds new weapons, armor, and gear under a theme.

Helldivers 2 players reported receiving a PlayStation notification for the current warbond, called Viper Commandos, but the text relates to an unreleased warbond called Freedom’s Flame. According to this text, Freedom’s Flame includes “fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns.”

Clearly, this new warbond revolves around fire damage, so expect the new weapons to tap into that part of the game. The hope is that Freedom’s Flame adds fire resistant armor, which should help particularly on planets such as Hellmire, which feature fire tornados as an environmental hazard. The perhaps unreleastic hope is the warbond also adds a flamethrower turret or flamethrower drone.

Arrowhead has yet to indicate when Helldivers 2’s next warbond will launch, but it has slowed down the pace of new content drops in order to ensure it gets them right, so there may be a bit of a wait.

Amazon’s major annual sale, Prime Day, is running right now. That means you can save a ton of cash on all sorts of items, ranging from furniture to Fritos. Among the deals are a whole lot of discounts on all things Xbox. We’re talking a great deal on a refurbished Xbox Series X, as well as great sales on controllers and games.

Xbox is in a somewhat weird spot lately. While Microsoft owns heavy-hitting game publishers like Bethesda and Activision (the maker of Call of Duty!) its hardware is trailing far behind both PS5 and Nintendo Switch (to say nothing of the Switch successor). But Microsoft isn’t resting on its laurels. It’s making big moves, like letting people play Xbox without an Xbox. And more and more of its attention seems to be on Xbox Game Pass going forward. Still, these deals are worth taking a look at.

Xbox Series X (Renewed) for $369.99

If you’re a fan of college football, chances are you’re excited for Friday. For the first time in over a decade, a new college football video game is coming out. EA Sports College Football 25 will feature all 134 FBS teams with player names featured for the first time ever. If you’ve yet to pre-order the big game, Best Buy has one of the onl deals available right now.

You can score a free $5 Best Buy gift card when you pre-order either the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X version of College Football 25. This is perfect to use on your next game, a new controller, or even digital currency that you can use in College Football 25. Be sure to take advantage of this offer while it’s available, as Best Buy only has this promo available for pre-orders. This offer will expire on Friday with the game’s release.

Pre-Order College Football 25 at Best Buy to Score a Free $5 Gift Card

EA Sports College Football 25 is the first college football game from EA since NCAA 14 in 2013. EA was ordered to stop creating college football games after a lawsuit between the company and former college football players arose over name, image, and likeness (NIL). This prevented any new games until 2021, when the NCAA created rules to compensate players based on NIL. Three years later, College Football 25 is here, with player names available in game for the very first time.

Many of the older modes have returned to College Football 25, including Dynasty, Team Builder, and Road to Glory. Of course, dozens of new features have been added, including Stadium Pulse, which creates challenging road environments in college football’s biggest stadiums. Over 10,000 athletes have opted into the NIL program for the game, with roster updates periodically planned as more players transfer or opt into the game.

While this Best Buy deal is great for console owners, Amazon has an ongoing promotion where you can save $30 off a new PlayStation 5 by purchasing the College Football 25 game. Simply add both to your cart from this link and you can save on a new console!

Looking for more deals? Be sure to take a look at our picks from Prime Day and the best deals from Best Buy’s Black Friday in July sale.