Category: Video Games

The Epic Games Store will give away three classic Fallout games for free later this year after pulling them from the next week’s offerings.

Speaking to IGN, an Epic Games Store spokesperson confirmed Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel will still be part of the storefront’s free giveaways in 2024, but just won’t arrive next week as originally announced.

Epic advertised the three games as being available to download for free for anyone with an account from February 22 to 29 before quietly pulling the announcement with no explanation, and didn’t offer a reason to IGN when asked either. Super Meat Boy Forever replaced the three Fallout games as next week’s freebie.

The original Fallout, not developed by current franchise owner Bethesda but Interplay Productions, launched in 1997 and laid the groundwork for what would become one of gaming’s most iconic franchises. Players would explore a wasteland littered with wild and wacky characters and engage in turn-based role-playing combat to defeat all manner of mutants.

Fallout 2 is perhaps the most beloved of the pre-Bethesda games, offering a similar game to the original but improving systems across the board. “With its great storyline, huge game world, and well written scripts, Fallout 2 gave [us] many, many hours of totally absorbing gameplay,”
IGN said in our review

Finally, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel takes that beloved world and applies tactical, squad-based combat. “Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel does just about everything right. The only problem is that there’s too much of it,” we said in our review.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

As Helldivers 2 continues its struggle to cope with the influx of players, the boss of its developer has cautioned against buying the game right now.

Yesterday, February 19, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios said it would release updates on PlayStation 5 and PC this week that aim to tackle the “most serious problems” the game is currently facing, including login, matchmaking, and server load. The first of these fixes arrives today, February 20, but Arrowhead warned players “no single update will solve all the issues.”

Helldivers 2’s explosive launch has seen an astonishing peak concurrent player count of 411,359 on Steam. That’s high enough to pass the all-time Steam concurrent peaks of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5, Bethesda’s Starfield, and Bungie’s Destiny 2. But the influx of players has caused significant server issues, with a dreaded black screen affecting PC players specifically, and “servers at capacity” message plaguing the game across both PC and PS5.

There’s evidence to suggest players are losing patience with the game, too. On Steam, Helldivers 2 now has a ‘mixed’ user review rating after an initial positive reception. Pretty much all the negative reviews revolve around the server issues.

Now, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has responded to one user on Twitter / X who said they wanted to buy Helldivers 2 but can’t afford it right now, to recommend they hold off until these server problems are sorted out.

“If you have no cash, get it later,” Pilestedt said. “While we made a really fun game it’s worth waiting until the servers can support the capacity.

“I mean, as a CEO I of course want the game to be as profitable as possible, but if you spent yr last $ and got stuck in server queues I’d be 💔”

Pilestedt’s comment appears to have gone down well with the Helldivers community, with redditor LittleBlueCubes saying “honesty is the best policy”.

This week, IGN reported on how the Helldivers 2 community had called for Arrowhead to add an away from keyboard (AFK) auto kick feature to the game after some players admitted leaving it on all day and theoretically at least blocking others from getting in. Pilestedt has suggested Arrowhead is working on a fix.

In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its “combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn’t nickel and dime you.”

For more, check out how Helldivers 2 has sparked renewed interest in Starship Troopers, and if you’re playing, our 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.

SSD prices are trending upwards for 2024, which makes this deal even more amazing. Right now Amazon (or more specifically, Amazon Japan) is offering this massive Verbatim 4TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive (SSD) for only $178.14. Even better though, it even includes a slim PS5-compatible heatsink. This would have been an outstanding deal even during Black Friday.

Verbatim 4TB SSD (PS5-Compatible) with Heatsink $173.66

The Verbatim Vi7000 meets all the requirements for your PS5 SSD upgrade. It supports transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. It also includes a robust looking aluminum heatsink that fits right into the slim PS5 drive bay.

The PS5 is an outstanding gaming console, but the 1TB SSD is a real bottleneck. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, can exceed 200GB alone. NBA 2K23 weighs in at 150GB and even older games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space. Future games like Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly demand even more space.

Nintendo has announced its first Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase of 2024, and it is set to take place on February 21, 2024, at 6am PT/9am ET and feature “around 25 mins of info focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.”

No further information was given on what this Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase will contain, but we won’t have too wait too long to find out what secrets it may hold as Nintendo will drop the Direct on-demand via YouTube in just a couple of days.

A #NintendoDirect: Partner Showcase is coming! Watch on-demand via YouTube on 2/21 at 6am PT for around 25 mins of info focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.

Stay tuned here: https://t.co/ZIAs64iWbK pic.twitter.com/CTrAC02G4d

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 19, 2024

The most recent Nintendo Direct took place in September 2023. One of the most significant announcements from the event was that Nintendo revealed a remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong and a remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The last Direct also revealed release windows/dates for Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and Princess Peach: Showtime!

Nintendo’s February 2024 Direct presentation comes after both Xbox and PlayStation held its own showcases recently. Both provided sneak peeks and updates to games slated to release on its platforms in the coming year.

Many Nintendo fans are surely waiting for any news on the yet-to-be-announced-and-named Nintendo Switch 2, but reports have recently said it has been delayed into the “early months of 2025.”

Nintendo has revealed, however, that the Switch has passed 139.36 million units sold and that its software sales continue to be led by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s astonishing 60.58 million units stold.

For more, check out the best Switch deals right now and our picks for the best Switch games of all-time.

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.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has said it will be releasing updates on PS5 and PC this week that aim to tackle the “most serious problems” the game is currently facing, including login, matchmaking, and server load. The first of these fixes will arrive tomorrow, February 20, but Arrowhead wants us to remember that “no single update will solve all the issues.”

Arrowhead took to Discord to share the message, saying it has a plan to make “continuous improvements over the days and weeks to come” to ensure a smooth experience for all players.

“Hello there Helldivers,” Arrowhead wrote. “We have improvements rolling out this week focused on the most serious problems in the game: login, matchmaking, and server load. You will see one update for PC and PS5 tomorrow, though please keep in mind that no single update will solve all the issues. Rather, we will be making continuous improvements over the days and weeks to come.

“We’re all working hard to make sure that the game is a stable place to spread Managed Democracy to every planet in the galaxy. Thank you, as always.”

Helldivers 2 has been a massive success since its launch, and its Steam concurrent record of 409,367 was enough to pass the all-time Steam concurrents of games like Grant Theft Auto V, Starfield, Counter-Strike, and Destiny 2.

Unfortunately, this has led to all the issues mentioned above. To help with the server load, Arrowhead has limited concurrent players to around 450,000 to improve stability. Rest assured though, Helldivers, as Arrowhead is doing its part to fix all the problems out there so you all can get back to taking down more bugs and bots.

In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its “combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn’t nickel and dime you.”

For more, check out how Helldivers 2 players who refuse to log out to ensure they keep their spot in the servers are “ruining it for others” and how Helldivers 2’s director called renewed interest in Starship Troopers after the game’s success “incredible.”

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.