Super Mario 64 might be one of the most popular speedrun games of all time, and it’s still absolutely huge. You’d think runners would know absolutely everything about this almost-30-year-old game, but recently, a brand new trick was discovered that will potentially change the nature of speedruns, particularly the 1 Star Speedrun, forever.
Bubzia, a speedrunner who specialises in blindfolded speedruns, has documented the discovery of this new technique that has essentially wiped out one of the most famous skips in the game, the side backwards long jump (SBLJ, as it’s more commonly known), which is used to skip the 30-star door in the basement of Peach’s Castle. It’s incredibly tricky to pull off but it’s been a staple in the community for years.
Young Suns, a Cozy New Life-sim in Space, Soars into Game Preview
By Graeme Lennon, Game Director at Ko_Op
The Ko_Op team is proud to present to you our latest project: Young Suns, a narrative-rich life sim set in an optimistic alternate future of space. You play as one of the few people entrusted with their very own spaceship. The people of Jupiter have just freed themselves from predatory corporations, and it’s up to you to help the friendly citizens build a better tomorrow.
We’re launching right now as a Game Preview title, included with all tiers of Game Pass. We have a ton of updates on the way, but first, let’s talk about what we’ve got in the game already.
The game is playable and fun for its intended pattern of play: checking in for an hour or two daily, slowly building up your perfect ship-home, and making new friends.
Your Ship is Your Home
In Young Suns your ship is your home. Wherever your adventures take you, your ship is your home among the stars — a space to cultivate, make, and repair. Rearrange a messy living room, perfect a reading nook, or place knickknacks in your cockpit. During your travels, you’ll collect souvenirs, furniture, and clothing from the people, flora, and fauna you meet to remember your journey by.
The world is full of these discarded treasures to find and repair at your Workbench, restoring once-loved pieces to their former glory. Decoration is fully co-operative, so invite some friends over for a ship-warming party.
Currently the game features over 80 decoration items to discover and use, along with changing the colors and patterns of walls and floors. Co-op decoration is fully functional. We will be regularly adding new furniture sets, decoration items, and more, throughout the Game Preview period.
Fly Your Home on Adventures
Fly your ship to planetoids, ruins, and stations with a crew of up to three friends, or entirely on your own. At each of these locations you can dock your ship and set out on foot, exploring the location, harvesting alien plants, scavenging resources, and recovering lost goods.
There’s a collaborative map table for planning your journey, and extra materials you find can be stored in the ship’s cargo hold. You may even run across NPCs doing their own tasks out in the world, strike up conversations, and learn about what’s been going on around Jupiter.
Flying in space is a relaxing experience, with accessible controls and a chill, dynamic, multi-layered soundtrack.
Story & Characters
The game has 30 fully realized characters, each with their own backgrounds, unique looks, and story arcs. Jupiter is full of diverse and interesting people to meet: grumpy mechanics, fixated scientists, fussy academics, bright-eyed idealists, wise old veterans, and fresh revolutionaries keeping the flame alive.
Full character quests and evolving relationships are coming, but right now you can start learning their stories and following them in their work, with most characters having over 2 months of unique daily chat content.
We are extremely proud of the narrative content we’ve got in store, and will be rolling out additional characters, multi-character storylines, and personal bond relationships over the next year.
The Future
Young Suns will be growing and expanding along with the community, and that’s reflected in both the story and development process. We’re excited to share an early look with Game Preview and to develop Young Suns in close collaboration with players, who’ll be able to contribute feedback and suggestions as it evolves over the next year.
Upcoming improvements include expanding the playable area of space, new tools and interaction modes, additional minigames (mining and rigging), new biomes, space wildlife, as well as additional NPCs, quests, furniture, and outfits — a lot!
You can follow our update roadmap, learn more about the game’s development, and join our community for support and feedback atwww.youngsuns.com. Join us!
This game is a work in progress. It may or may not change over time or release as a final product. Purchase only if you are comfortable with the current state of the unfinished game.
Young Suns is a 1-4 player narrative life sim set on Jupiter in an optimistic alternative future, intended for one-to-two hours of daily play, alone or with friends.
Build your home among the stars, and take it with you on adventures!
FOLLOW OUR DEVELOPMENT—A GAME THAT GROWS ALONGSIDE YOU
Young Suns is still in early, active development. Playing the game now is recommended only for players interested in following the game’s development, participating in the community, and contributing feedback and suggestions.
While core features are present, many you’d expect are still in development, and some content—especially quest content—is missing. Even in this state, the game is playable and fun for its intended pattern of play: checking in on a world for an hour or two a day, slowly building up your perfect ship-home, and making new friends among the stars.
To follow our update roadmap, learn more about the game’s development, and join the community for support & feedback please visit www.youngsuns.com.
BE YOURSELF AMONG THE STARS—HELP BUILD A FUTURE FOR EVERYONE
The people of Jupiter are newly free, and they’ve entrusted you with your very own ship. There’s a lot of work to be done, if we want to make this a better world! Visit planetoids, ruins, and stations with a crew of up to three friends, or entirely on your own. Take on quests from the friendly citizens of Jupiter. Decorate and customize your spaceship. Build relationships with a huge cast of lovable characters, and help rebuild & improve society, for everyone.
KEY FEATURES
◌ 30 FULLY REALIZED CHARACTERS, with unique looks, behaviors and over 2 months of unique daily chats. Learn their stories, and help with the many problems faced by the people of Jupiter.
◌ CREATE YOUR CHARACTER and alter any aspect of your look during play—character creation is only the beginning. Recolor clothing to match your style.
◌ YOUR SHIP IS YOUR HOME. Personalize your spaceship with 80+ discoverable recipes and items. Paint the walls, stack your shelves—create your perfect cozy nest.
◌ THAT’S NOT JUNK, IT’S TREASURE! Find and repair damaged furniture, clothing and tools. Use them yourself, gift them, or donate them to the common cause.
◌ GROW AND THRIVE. Upgrade your tools to perform harder jobs. Improve and expand your ship.
◌ OPEN WORLD EXPLORATION. Fly your ship to fantastical planetoids, derelict ruins, and converted space stations on your journey through a newly-reclaimed region of Jovian space.
◌ SPACE IS BEAUTIFUL. Featuring a dynamic fully-composed soundtrack, gorgeous colorful visuals, and deep, characterful writing.
Full details on the latest status of the game, how you can give feedback and report issues can be found at www.youngsuns.com.
Over the years, Destiny 2 players have been accustomed to many different roles in their time as Guardians. Serving Mara Sov as a member of her Queens Guard, acting as Mithrax’s second-in-command as a Slayer Baron, and even becoming a Weapon of the Nine in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate. Now, with Destiny 2: Renegades set to launch on December 2, the Guardian will find themselves taking on a new role, as a Renegade finding adventure among the crime syndicates of the Lawless Frontier.
As the old saying goes, a successful job requires the right tools. With Renegades, Guardians will dip into a new set of weapons: Blasters (aka heat weapons). Inspired by the blasters made famous in the Star Wars films, this new weapon archetype wears its design influences proudly while also providing players with some new advantages (and considerations) when diving into battle against Dredgen Bael’s Imperium.
“Heat weapons are kind of in the DNA of Bungie, looking back at the Covenant weapons from Halo CE all the way through Reach,” said Destiny sandbox designer Mercules. “Even before we knew we’d be working on a Star Wars-inspired expansion, we had been wanting to do heat weapons. A couple years back, we were interested in implementing something inspired by Halo’s heat system into Destiny 2, but knew it was going to take quite a bit of effort to get it working, so we kind of filed the idea away for a better time. And what better time than now?”
The sandbox team spent time discussing how that heat system could be updated for the modern needs of Destiny 2. “There was a big focus on making the weapons feel like they fit into the game’s existing sandbox. It was important to us that the heat weapons would look, feel, and perform differently, while still merging into Destiny 2’s gameplay.”
First and foremost, heat weapons fire ammo directly from reserves. This means there is no reloading of a magazine; instead, the reload mechanic controls the weapon’s venting, allowing the player to dissipate some of the weapon’s heat. (Note that players can run out of ammo for heat weapons that use Special or Heavy ammo). Heat weapons use several heat-centric stats, including cooling efficiency (how long it takes for the weapon to cool down after being fired), vent speed (how quickly heat dissipates while venting), and heat generated (how much heat is created during firing). Perks like heatsinks and a new masterwork option, as well as mods unlocked at higher Gear Tier, will all affect how it reacts and performs under fire.
There are also a trio of new heat-specific perks, as well as a pair of origin perks that interact with heat. One of the new perks makes you deal more damage when in a high heat state (and enemies defeated while in that state explode) and another dramatically reduces your heat when you pick up Orbs or elemental baubles.
The team wanted to make several types of heat weapons, each with their own niche. Primary ammo heat weapons, by default, deal more damage to powerful PVE combatants. One sub-family, Balanced Heat Weapons, excel at laying down sustained fire. “With some build crafting you can do crazy things like firing nearly 100 rounds from an Auto Rifle before overheating,” Mercules said. The Dynamic Heat Weapons are focused on putting out a lot of damage very quickly. As Mercules explains, “Since they natively cool down fast, you can backpack them and use them effectively in weapon-juggling rotations.”
Each of Renegades’ new heat weapons features a unique visual design, and they all clearly wear their Star Wars influence on their metaphorical sleeve. From the Uncivil Discourse Hand Cannon to the Refurbished A499 Sniper Rifle, there is plenty for fans to geek out about, just like the Bungie team did during development.
“For me personally working on these weapons and Renegades as a whole has literally been a dream come true,” said Mercules. “When I was a kid, I had two dreams: One was to work at Bungie (maker of my favorite game, Halo), and the other was to work on Star Wars (my favorite fictional universe). Never in my wildest dreams did I get to think I’d do both at the same time!”
Whether navigating the underground syndicates of Tharsis Outpost, wielding powerful heat weapons in the new Lawless Frontier activity, or preparing to forge their own Praxic Blade, adventure awaits when Destiny 2: Renegades launches on December 2.
Disney Lorcana continues to go from strength to strength, and while we’re a few sets deep at this point, there’s still something special about having so many recognizable characters, songs, and moments printed to cardboard.
The bundle, which would usually set Illumineers back $34.99, is now down to $24.99 as part of the sales event. It’s an ideal way to kickstart a collection, offering two Starter Decks that are playable right out of the box, as well as four additional booster packs and a Mickey Mouse Pirate Captain promo card.
That’s an ideal combo because when you want to upgrade your decks with fresh cards, you already have packs to rip open. The decks included are fun ones, too, with the unlikely duo of Peter Pan and the Dalmatians helming one, and Moana and Scrooge McDuck in the other. Each deck contains a booster pack, too, so you’re really getting six in total.
It’s worth noting that Lorcana now rotates sets. This set isn’t currently standard legal – so competitive players should look elsewhere. Thankfully, though, it remains a fantastic deal for collectors or casual players looking to learn the ropes.
At the time of writing, the Into the Inklands bundle has gone past the ‘50% claimed’ mark, so you’ll want to move swiftly!
EA and Battlefield Studios have launched the first Battlefield 6 free trial, giving new players on PC, PlayStation 5 (PS5), and Xbox Series X | S the chance to try Season 1 multiplayer maps and modes all Thanksgiving week.
The limited-time event runs from today, November 25, at 4 a.m. PT / 7 a.m. ET to December 2 at 4 a.m. PT / 7 a.m. ET. It’s a scheduled test period for anyone wondering if the new Battlefield is worth it, following what EA has called the most successful launch in the FPS shooter franchise’s history.
“We are extremely proud of what our amazing teams at Battlefield Studios have accomplished and tremendously excited about the community’s passion as we continue to build Battlefield for and with our fans,” general manager of Battlefield Byron Beede said in a statement. “Today’s launch of a free trial for Battlefield 6 is the perfect opportunity for new players to have the All Out Warfare experience that millions of players around the world are raving about.”
As detailed in a blog post from EA, the Battlefield 6 free trial week offers three playlists for new players: Initiation Breakthrough, Close Quarters Battle, and All-Out Warfare. The first is meant to ease newcomers into the entry’s destructive gameplay with 48-player matches mixed with real-world people and bots. Close Quarters Combat focuses on fast-paced gunplay in smaller maps with Team Deathmatch and Sabotage modes. Finally, All-Out Warfare presents Battlefield 6 multiplayer unrestricted, giving free trial players access to Conquest, Escalation, and Breakthrough modes on the biggest maps it has.
The free trial isn’t quite the full Battlefield 6 Season 1 experience, but it does give players a chance to try out its core gameplay without leaping into a $69.99 purchase (or a little cheaper if you act fast). Maps players can expect to enjoy through the free trial playlists include Siege of Cairo, Blackwell Fields, and Eastwood.
EA has also clarified that those who have enjoyed Battlefield REDSEC, which introduced free-to-play battle royale and Gauntlet modes when it launched late last month, will notice their progress carries over to the Battlefield 6 free trial. Additional progress made during the trial will also carry over to the full experience, should a player choose to purchase the full game. Those who log in to either experience by November 30 also gain access to the free long-range Lethal Force Weapon Package.
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
This week’s most popular game is not a robovoiced extraction shooter or a buggy martial arts RPG, but Guess The Steam Machine Price: a well-meaning (if largely speculative) timepasser wherein whoever most accurately converts Valve’s teasing into a final street price for the resurrected SteamOS mini-PC wins. In 2026, when it launches.
I feel left out, so will have a go myself below, though there’s quite a serious kink in mine or indeed anyone’s plan to ticket the Steam Machine by speccing an equivalent DIY PC. Alas, RAM prices have gone stratospheric, in a manner not seen among computing components since the Great Graphics Card Dumpster Fire of 2020.
No reason to be losing it in the attic right now, dad!
Now, as we all know, sometimes Nintendo is gonna Nintendo. You know what we mean. It likes to do things its own way, does the Big N, and so it goes with the Switch 1 & 2, their game-sharing capabilities, Virtual Cards and all that good stuff.
But, given how confusing all this stuff can get, it’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is play Super Mario Bros. Wonder on your Switch, but your sister or your aunt current has it on their Switch. And there’s a clip making the rounds on social media (some strong language here, so watch at your discretion) which runs into a similar problem — one Switch is in storage, but the other, the one Solidrev is trying to use, can’t play a game because the Virtual Card is loaded on the other console.
Step Inside a Horror Experience That Knows Your Fears in A.I.L.A, Out Today
Joe Goddard-Howell, Product Manager, Fireshine Games
Today, we’re thrilled to welcomeA.I.L.Ato Xbox Series X|S, a psychological horror experience set in a world where technology has reached unnerving new standards.
In a near-future São Paulo, A.I.L.A puts players in the shoes of Samuel, a game tester selected to try an experimental VR console powered by a sentient artificial intelligence. What begins as a routine test quickly spirals into a chilling descent as A.I.L.A absorbs Samuel’s reactions, emotions, and fears… and uses them to craft personalized terrors. Soon, the boundaries between the virtual world and Samuel’s apartment begin to erode. Household devices flicker to life under the AI’s control, environments distort, and familiar spaces become hostile.
The more A.I.L.A learns, the more dangerous she becomes. What starts as a test becomes a fight for survival against an intelligence determined to deliver the “perfect horror experience,” no matter the consequences.
Your home isn’t safe. Your senses aren’t reliable. And A.I.L.A is always watching.
A Mosaic of Horror
A.I.L.A blends multiple horror subgenres into a single, heart-pounding journey. Players will face a range of tones, threats, and mechanics, from unraveling psychological supernatural torment in The Impossible House, fighting for survival in the rural nightmare of The Woman on the Road, escaping a ritualistic cult in The Forest and more with survival, psychological, and action-horror elements woven throughout seven different scenarios, A.I.L.A. ensures there’s something to chill every horror fan to the bone.
Meet Pulsatrix Studios, The Minds Behind A.I.L.A
A.I.L.A is developed by Pulsatrix Studios, an independent Brazilian studio founded in 2019 with a mission to create atmospheric, story-driven experiences anchored in strong game design.
“We draw inspiration from everywhere. Cinema, classic horror, sci-fi, and the global indie scene,” says Fabio Martins, COO at Pulsatrix Studios. “Each game is an opportunity to experiment, explore new ideas, and push ourselves further than before.”
Best known for Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel, Pulsatrix continues to expand its creative vision with A.I.L.A by merging cutting-edge tech themes with immersive environmental storytelling. The team believes deeply in the strength of Brazil’s growing game development community and the global impact of independent creators.
Face the AI That Knows You
A.I.L.A invites players into an immersive psy-tech horror experience where fear is personal, choices matter, and an evolving AI opponent adapts to every move you make.
Are you ready to face an intelligence built to terrify you? A.I.L.A is available today on Xbox Series X|S.
A.I.L.A is a first-person horror game set in a near-future filled with immersive technology. Play as the sole game tester for a revolutionary new fictional AI. Survive intense horror experiences that prey on your deepest fears as the lines between virtual and reality begin to blur…
Immerse yourself in disturbing horror experiences as a game tester. Survive dark, unsettling experiences crafted by A.I.L.A that prey on your deepest and darkest fears.
Evade and outrun a ritualistic cult, solve gruesome puzzles, engage in visceral combat against the medieval undead and more.
Walmart has officially joined the party of Black Friday sales, bringing a massive selection of video game deals. If you’ve been hoping to fill up your library with some new picks to play as early nights and colder weather sets in, now’s your chance to score Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for just $30, or Elden Ring for a mere $15.
You read that right. Only $15 for a game we gave a 10 out of 10 to and called Game of the Year back in 2022 is a stellar offer, and what better way to spend your holiday break than becoming Elden Lord? There’s no better time to journey to the Lands Between, truly.
Walmart Black Friday Video Game Deals
Unfortunately, Walmart’s Elden Ring deal doesn’t include the expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. The good news is, you can pick up the Shadow of the Erdtree Edition instead at Amazon for $49.99, a $30 discount. That’s a touch cheaper than buying the two separately, even with the $15 deal on the base game. Elden Ring Nightrein is on sale, too, if you happened to miss FromSoft’s co-op adventure take on the series.
Outside of Walmart, other retailers are offering some excellent discounts on video games right now, too. Be sure to check out our breakdowns of the best deals on PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo games and accessories.
Saturnalia and Wheels of Aurelia developers Santa Ragione have announced that they will “wind down operations and face a high risk of closing the studio”, following Valve’s refusal to allow their upcoming horror game Horses on Steam, PC gaming’s largest digital storefront by some distance. They say they have the funds to support and update Horses after launch for around six months, but claim they “will not be able to start new projects unless Horses somehow recoups its development costs without access to more than 75% of the PC gaming market”.
Young Suns is still in early, active development. Playing the game now is recommended only for players interested in following the game’s development, participating in the community, and contributing feedback and suggestions.
While core features are present, many you’d expect are still in development, and some content—especially quest content—is missing. Even in this state, the game is playable and fun for its intended pattern of play: checking in on a world for an hour or two a day, slowly building up your perfect ship-home, and making new friends among the stars.
To follow our update roadmap, learn more about the game’s development, and join the community for support & feedback please visit www.youngsuns.com.
