Hell(o), bellowing caped stooges of Super Earth! It’s time for another Helldivers 2 patch. This one makes some heroic adjustments to the shooter‘s generally inoffensive microtransaction system, targetting a technical issue whereby Super Credits and Premium Warbonds would not show up after purchase. Huzzah! Developers Arrowhead have also nuked a rather barmy Helldivers 2 glitch that allowed for unlimited stratagem use with no cooldowns following an AFK kick.
Pedal to the metal.
Publisher and developer Outerminds has unveiled an all-new trailer for the upcoming retro-inspired metroidvania Turbo Kid and it is looking rather awesome.
Based on the 2015 award-winning indie film of the same name (for which you can find the trailer here), Turbo Kid will see you exploring an apocalyptic wasteland, armed with a series of increasingly powerful weapons and your trusty BMX.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been getting some tremendous reviews, even getting a 9/10 from us at IGN, and plenty of critical acclaim elsewhere as well. The game is finally out on February 29, so there’s only a limited window remaining in which to secure the best deal on your preorder for the game, and so you can play at launch with everyone else. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorders are currently down to just £51.96 in the UK (see here), all you need to do is use code LEAP20 at checkout to secure the offer.
This is a tremendous deal, and guaranteed to arrive on launch day February 29. But, as it’s also over £18 off the RRP, it’s already gone out of stock once and since come back, so we’d recommend securing your order ASAP to avoid disappointment. If you order today, the game will likely still turn up tomorrow as The Game Collection has a great track record with last-minute orders.
There’s plenty more on offer in the LEAP20 sale at eBay as well, with hundreds of trusted sellers discounting tech, video games, homeware, and more. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is also on sale right now, down to just £23.96 with LEAP20 as well.
Other great deals in the eBay sale right now include Helldivers 2 for £30.28, Dragon’s Dogma 2 for £50.36, and Steam Deck (LCD model) for £375. These deals will expire at 11:59 PM on February 29, so don’t delay if you’re looking to secure the offer.
In our review of Rebirth, we said: “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion, both as a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges and an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long.” If you’re in the US, check out our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorder guide here instead.
It was also recently announced at the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth State of Play that a demo is now available to download via the PlayStation Store. It will let fans play as Cloud and Sephiroth in a sequence from the early part of the game among other content. This is a great opportunity to try the game out before you commit to purchasing via the deal we mentioned above.
There’s also a new relationship system, called Bonds of Friendship, that has been added to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As explained in the system’s tutorial, “the strength of these bonds can alter portions of the story.” One of those story moments is the Gold Saucer date, and you’ll be able to see how your potential partner feels about you via a variety of emoji-like faces.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Against The Storm is a roguelite city builder that features lizards and beavers, as they attempt to survive in a universe where it doesn’t stop raining. We gave it a Bestest Best badge when it launched into 1.0, and since then the developers promised more major updates. Patch 1.2 is the latest of the bunch, and when it arrives next week it’s bringing with it a “consumption/production” window, upgrades to the Blight Post, and lots of balance changes.
The Helldivers 2 community was left in tatters after fan-favorite planet Malevelon Creek, dubbed ‘Space Vietnam’ by players, finally fell to the Automatons.
The community reacted in horror overnight as they discovered Malevelon Creek with the dreaded ‘0% Liberated’ flag, and, even more devastating, a ‘Planet Lost’ retreat order. This made the planet inaccessible, and players have even reported getting booted from its surface mid-mission.
Malevelon Creek is widely thought of as Helldivers 2’s best planet. It sees players go up against Automatons — Terminator-style killer robots – in an atmospheric environment clearly inspired by iconic imagery from Vietnam war movies. Its eternally twilight forest biome is creepy, awe-inspiring, and, if you’re doing well, more than a little heroic.
But overnight, Malevelon Creek fell in a surprise twist in the ongoing meta narrative that makes up Helldivers 2’s Galactic War. Here, Super Earth and the alien enemy wrestle for control over entire sectors of the galaxy as players battle to complete operations (sets of missions) and positively contribute to each planet’s liberation status.
Here’s a snippet of the reaction to the fall of Malevelon Creek:
We’ve lost Malevelon Creek.
The Automatons won.. pic.twitter.com/xut96CP7Pg
— 『ʀᴀᴢᴏʀ』 (@Razor_VRC) February 27, 2024
we lost malevelon creek pic.twitter.com/nGGmPzd9vi
— Sara (@Sarapocalypse) February 28, 2024
// For Immediate Public Release
// 2/27/2024
[Unknown] on Malevelon Creek, having missed the last Pelican out after the planet fell, requesting the remaining Destroyers in the system glass his grid square before warping out.
We will return. pic.twitter.com/pJvLAd5qq8
— Shadz (@Shadzey1) February 28, 2024
Malevelon Creek fell… it was all for nothing… pic.twitter.com/YJxvE6jFZS
— B0l (@Bolverk15) February 28, 2024
Meanwhile, on what’s left of Malevelon Creek… pic.twitter.com/32p3ZKTMB8
— Chillton 🪶 (@The_Chillton) February 28, 2024
malevelon creek fell less than an hour ago o7 pic.twitter.com/G7OzP8n4re
— sen (@tailsinge) February 27, 2024
⚡️BREAKING: HELLDIVERS EVACUATED THE EMBASSY ON MALEVELON CREEK, TOTAL HELLDIVER PULLOUT ANNOUNCED ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/NLw0JovKwf
— Winters 🐺👻|| VIdiot (@Thee_marked_one) February 28, 2024
It truly is the saddest of days #HelldiversII #HELLDIVER2 pic.twitter.com/IUf8sRkugu
— Helldivers Alerts (@HelldiversAlert) February 28, 2024
However, as of this morning, the fightback has begun. IGN has verified a tiny percentage pushback on Malevelon Creek as players work to wrestle control away from the Automatons. Malevelon Creek is playable once again.
Helldivers 2’s galactic war is a single, ongoing meta narrative fans have had fun role-playing with since the game’s explosive launch. Currently there are no rewards directly tied to the liberation of sectors, so it’s all just a bit of fun. And it’s not entirely clear that players truly control this narrative through their actions, with developer Arrowhead ultimately pulling the strings as the live-service develops. Still, perhaps more than any previously lost planet, the fall of Malevelon Creek really hurt.
Now Arrowhead appears to have sorted out Helldivers 2’s server issues, it has time to return to its original post-launch plan, so hopefully we’ll get an idea of what to expect in terms of new content soon. If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s comprehensive Helldivers 2 guide.
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.
Celebrating Pokémon Day 2024.
We’ve got some good news for Pokémon fans and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate amiibo collectors. In celebration of Pokémon Day 2024, Nintendo has restocked its official online stores with select Pokémon amiibo.
The Pokémon included in this restock are Pikachu, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, Mewtwo, Lucario, Greninja and Incineroar. They will set you back $15.99 USD (or the regional equivalent) and stock may vary between regions. This new batch of Pokémon amiibo are currently available in locations like the US and Australia.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It wants the emulator shut down.
Nintendo has always had an incredibly strong stance against video game piracy and it’s now taking legal action against the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu.
As highlighted by Stephen Totilo of Game File, the Japanese video game giant known for hits like Super Mario and Zelda accuses the Yuzu creators of “unlawfully” circumventing Nintendo software encryption and facilitating piracy. The Yuzu team allegedly accessed Switch games from a hacked unit and made copies of games, which Nintendo believes is a DMCA and copyright violation.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Deck Nine, the studio behind Life Is Strange entries Before the Storm and True Colors, as well as The Expanse: A Telltale Series, laid off 20% of its staff today.
The studio announced the news in a statement on X/Twitter today, writing, “Like many others in the games industry right now, Deck Nine has been affected by the game industry’s worsening market conditions.”
“These people are amazing, talented, and awesome developers,” the statement adds. “They have made a huge impact during their time at Deck Nine Games and we did not take this decision lightly. Please hire these people if you can, they’re amazing.”
— Deck Nine Games (@DeckNineGames) February 27, 2024
Deck Nine didn’t specify how many people that 20% equates to, but IGN understands that the studio employed roughly between 100 and 130 staffers prior to today’s layoffs.
A number of the laid-off staffers were quick to post about the news on social media. Elizabeth Ballou, who served as a Narrative Designer at Deck Nine, wrote that all workers affected by the layoffs would be getting only two weeks of severance pay, regardless of time spent at the company.
we are all getting 2 weeks of severance, including people who have worked at the studio for 7+ years.
— elizabeth ballou (@lizbetballou) February 27, 2024
Deck Nine previously went through another round of layoffs last May which, according to a statement sent to GameDeveloper.com, affected 30 people. As mentioned, the studio is best known for its work on its work on the Life Is Strange series, including 2022’s Remastered Collection, as well as The Expanse title it co-developed with Telltale Games.
As Deck Nine’s statement notes, it’s unfortunately only the latest in a long list of layoffs to hit the games industry over the past year. Just earlier today, Sony announced layoffs at PlayStation that will affect 900 staff members, or about 8% of its global workforce. Microsoft, meanwhile, is laying off a shocking 1,900 people from its video game workforce, it was revealed earlier this year. An estimated 10,000 game workers lost their jobs in 2023 alone, and this year has continued to be relentless in the industry.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
SteelSeries make some of my favourite gaming headsets – and RPS’ favourite wireless gaming headset, which today is discounted to under £100 versus its normal price of £175. That’s a good price for the Arctis 7+, a comfortable and great-sounding headset that works not only on PC but also on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S – that’s all the consoles!
One of the big announcements from this year’s Pokémon Presents was a new, mobile Pokémon Trading Card Game, which comes as a big surprise, given Pokémon already has a game where you can collect cards and play online called Pokémon Trading Card Game Live.
Unlike the newly announced Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, TCG Live was released in 2023 on desktop and mobile, but its lackluster quality has earned it both a 2.8/5 star rating on Apple’s App Store (as of this writing) and the ire of Pokémon card players everywhere. But while Pokémon TCG Pocket does look attractive — with its gorgeous, immersive card art, and slick animations — it’s actually not the game the Pokémon TCG community needs right now. What we need is a functional digital client that fully captures the real-life tabletop game and not a watered down App Store game version emulating Marvel Snap.
Exhaustingly, up until 2023, the main way to play Pokémon TCG digitally was through an official client, Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, which was serviceable but showing many signs of its advanced age. (In hindsight, we didn’t know how good we had it.) Fans were initially excited when a replacement was finally announced in the form of Pokémon TCG Live, but it was so riddled with issues that it had us begging for the 12-year-old client back. It’s been a real Mankey’s Paw situation!
The digital card game space has evolved dramatically over the years, with Marvel Snap in particular setting a new standard that other developers appear eager to chase. Between Snap’s many awards and millions of dollars in revenue, it’s easy to see why. From the announcement trailer, Pokémon TCG Pocket seems to have been built in the same mold, a “free-to-start” game where you collect cards and challenge other players to quick and breezy battles. Given the Pokémon TCG is one of the most popular tabletop card games in the world, it seemed inevitable The Pokémon Company would get in on this trend, but it seems to have come at the expense of it’s pre-existing Pokémon TCG app that allows you to play the full game, or at least that’s how this competitive Pokémon TCG player sees it.
While we don’t know for sure whether Pocket was developed at the expense of Live, it would certainly explain the lack of polish to the latter. That kind of bad optics comes at a time when the competitive Pokémon TCG landscape is already dealing with a host of other issues. Top among them, the increasing popularity of the game has far outgrown its current capacity, leading to major tournaments selling out in minutes and leaving many players rightfully frustrated. If only there were a quality digital version capable of hosting tournaments online to help alleviate the issue…
Having a fully developed, high quality Pokémon TCG client is important for reasons beyond just being able to play the game online. It’s how many new players first discover the game, pro players rely on it to practice, and content creators stake their wellbeing on it because it’s how they showcase the game on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. But when the only option available is as underwhelming as Live, it only serves to drive people away to other, better online card games such as Magic: The Gathering Arena or Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh!, that’s a card game that has the best of both worlds. A flashy version of the full game in Master Duel and a simpler version in Duel Links. What Yu-Gi-Oh! has that Pokémon doesn’t is one of their games doesn’t completely eclipse the other in quality. They’re two different yet equally valid ways to enjoy the game.
Not all reactions to Pokémon TCG Pocket from the competitive Pokémon TCG scene have been negative. Pokémon TCG tournament caster and YouTuber Frosted Caribou posted on social media, “This app could be our TCG savior,” and later responded to a comment with, “Competitive players are sometimes way too quick to dismiss anything that isn’t ‘true TCG.’ If they supported bridging the gap between collectors and players more there are huge opportunities to grow the game and create fun and healthy playgroups for so many more people.”
That’s a fair point. At first glance, Pokémon TCG Pocket does seem like it’ll have a strong appeal to fans who aren’t necessarily looking to go pro, and it’s easy to see it has great potential to grow the casual, collector side of the hobby. Even if Pocket doesn’t let you play using all of the rules like with Live, its quality can still entice new players and act as a starting point before they dive into the full card game.
To be clear, I’m not knocking Pokémon TCG Pocket. Aside from issues with the “free-to-start” model, it looks like a fun, accessible way to enjoy the Pokémon TCG. It has an impressive amount of cool features, all executed with sky-high production value. It’s clear to see that it was made by people who love Pokémon cards, and that they put a generous amount of time, passion, and effort into it – and probably a Wailord-sized pile of money.
All Pokémon TCG players want is to be able to say the same thing about Pokémon TCG Live.
