Gaming Newsroom

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has grown so valuable that Japanese crime syndicates are reportedly using it to launder money. The former head of a crime syndicate told Shunkan Gendai Online, translated by Automaton, that his organization used Pokémon cards as a means of transporting stolen money abroad. The cards being so small, literally the size of a regular playing card, but holding so much value allowed them to be easily bought, transported, and sold abroad, the crime leader said. Some Pokémon cards are indeed incredibly valuable. The record holder sold for more than $5 million but even some cards in regular packs are worth hundreds of dollars or more. The crime syndic…

While Sony’s dormant first-person shooter franchise Killzone seems dead in the water in terms of brand new games, it looks set to live on via a crossover with Helldivers 2. The gritty first-person shooter franchise saw five games released from 2004 to 2013 for a range of PlayStation consoles as Sony took on Xbox's Halo, culminating in PlayStation 4 launch title Killzone Shadow Fall. But fans haven’t heard a peep out of Killzone ever since (save a T-shirt in The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered), with the last decade and seemingly beyond devoted to developer Guerrilla Games' smash hit Horizon franchise. Based on recent comments from one developer, however, we perhaps now know…

Yakuza / Like a Dragon developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio appears to be teasing a Snoop Dogg appearance in its mysterious new game Project Century. RGG Studio posted a photo of Snoop wearing the distinctive jacket worn by the protagonist in the Project Century trailer. At the same time, studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama posted a photo of himself in the jacket, mirroring the pose of Snoop. The Snoop photo has the teasing caption "...yet," while Yokoyama's, in Japanese, said: "please wait a bit, yeah?" It's not the tease RGG Studio fans were expecting of Project Century, which appears to be a new series potentially connected to Yakuza / Like a Dragon but set in 1915, given it …

One of the big criticisms Starfield players have with the game is the over-abundance of loading screens. When Bethesda’s sci-fi epic launched last year, fans were surprised by just how often you’d trigger loading, from on-foot traversal to simply heading into city buildings. Players said Starfield’s loading broke immersion and added frustrating pauses to gameplay, and modders have worked to remove as much of it as possible over the past year. The city of Neon was a particular focus of loading complaints. This cyberpunk-style urban area would often trigger a loading screen just for opening doors, some near to each other, which made questing annoying. But did it have to be …

2024 will likely be remembered as a transitional year for Nintendo. Last year saw heavy hitters like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder while next year is all about the Nintendo Switch 2, leaving this year in kind of an awkward middle ground. Even so, Switch owners still had a ton of great games to play during the aging console’s eighth year on the market as Nintendo somehow managed to publish a game every single month, while third-party and indie developers continued to support Switch with awesome series revivals and clever new ideas. While many fans were begging to turn the page to the next generation, Nintendo proved Switch still had…

Tekken chief Katsuhiro Harada is now also the executive producer of Shadow Labyrinth, the surprise Pac-Man spin-off first revealed in one of the episodes of Amazon’s anthology animated series Secret Level before a reveal trailer for the video game itself at The Game Awards 2024. All of which begs the question: could The Swordsman, the main character from Shadow Labyrinth, appear in Tekken as a guest character? In many ways it would make sense, given both Tekken and Pac-Man are owned by Bandai Namco, and The Swordsman is an actual humanoid fighter who wields a sword. But what does Harada himself think? IGN put that question to the man himself in a recent interview, and his…

The Mythical Island Themed Booster arrives in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket today and players are once again questioning if the pack carousel actually matters, but developer Creatures Inc. still isn't giving a straight answer. Looking to simulate the experience of opening a real booster pack, when players must profusely focus on a booster box of packs to determine which holds the shinies, Pokémon TCG Pocket gives players a carousel of packs to spin through before picking the correct one. These packs can be spun around, moved up and down, and analysed for bent corners and crinkles (which spawned an all but defunct conspiracy theory among some players), but many have the…

CD Projekt has announced a concert tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The concert tour "an innovative blend of-edge visuals and gameplay" that plays the original soundtrack performed by a orchestra. It commences anniversary concerts in Poland and, Massachusetts in May 2025, before a of in the fourth quarter of 2025 and then the U.S. in the first of 2026. CD Projekt new U.S. hub is Boston, which explains why initial anniversary concert takes place there. Tickets will be for purchase soon, according to CD Projekt. The full scope of concert series — as well as ticket information — will be unveiled over time, with more details to be through the of…

While Baldur's Gate 3 arrived in 2023 as seemingly the perfect Dungeons & Dragons adaptation from tabletop to video game, its predecessor Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is being shut down and removed from storefronts just three years after it launched. The game's Steam page was updated to announce servers will be taken offline and the game removed from sale on February 24, 2025. "We will be shutting down the Dark Alliance servers on February 24, 2025 and it will no longer be available to purchase starting that day," reads the note from developer Invoke Studios. "The base game and all DLC are still available to play in offline single-player by anyone who current…

The popular internet series, Skibidi Toilet, could be coming to Fortnite soon as a skin. Earlier today rumors began to appear that cosmetics for the Skibidi Toilet meme began to appear online. Leaker SpushFNBR reported on X that a skin for "Plugerman" with a Lego-style Skidbidi backpack, a separate Skibidi Toilet backpack, and a Plungerman Plunger pickaxe will all drop on Fortnite. Now, Epic Games has seemingly confirmed the leak in a series of emojis including a toilet, plunger, and camcorder with the date "12.18.2024" 🚽🪠📹 12.18.2024 — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 17, 2024 Skibidi Toilet is from an animated web series created by Alexey Gerasimov for YouTube. Utilizi…

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has requested fans refrain from creating inappropriate mods when the role-playing is released on PC on January . Huchi informed the Epic Games Store that, while the team does not plan to add official support to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, similar Baldur's Gate3 developer Larian Studios, it supports the creation of mods, provided they are appropriate. "While the has no plans for official in-game mod support, we respect the creativity of the modding community and welcome their," Hamaguchi stated. "However, we ask modders not to create or install anything offensive or inappropriate." Mods allow players to create custom content fo…

Masayuki Kato, the founder and former president of Ys and Legend of Heroes developer Nihon Falcom, died on Sunday, December 15 at the age of 78, according to an announcement from the company today. Kato got his start as a computer technician working in the auto industry, but fell in love with personal computers and their capacity for games and entertainment. He founded Nihon Falcom in 1981 originally to publish games for Japanese personal computers in partnership with Apple, making Nihon one of the oldest video game companies still in existance today. He named his company after the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars, but with a "com" at the end for computers. The founder of …

The battle for democracy in Helldivers 2 made it one of the biggest games of 2024. Many fans found the gameplay and multiplayer nature of the game fun, enthralled by the fast action and triumphant soundtrack. For the first time ever, you can take home the sound of freedom with the Helldivers 2 Original Soundtrack Vinyl, which is available to pre-order now at IGN Store. Pre-Order the Helldivers 2 Original Game Soundtrack Vinyl Now on IGN Store!This vinyl is the ultimate collector's item for any Helldivers fan. Composed by Wilbert Roget, II with additional music by Ross Tregenza, the Helldivers 2 soundtrack is the perfect soundtrack to listen to in the fight for freedom. A …

Today, Best Buy and Target are matching the lowest prices I saw for Xbox Series X|S wireless controllers on Black Friday. Right now you can get one in either Carbon Black or Robot White for only $34.99. Best of all, your order will arrive by December 25. These controllers are compatible with Xbox Series X and S and PC. Xbox Controllers for $34.99 Aesthetics aside, these Xbox wireless controllers are identical to the one that's bundled with the Xbox Series X and S console. Standard features include textured grips, hybrid D-pad, button mapping with the Xbox app, a 3.5mm audio jack that works with any wired headset, and a Share button to upload screenshots and video. The con…

If you're shopping for last minute video games for the holidays, surprisingly you're not too late. There are plenty of deals on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch video games that can still be delivered to you before December 25. Many (but not all) of these deals are actually as good as the ones we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They're mostly limited to retailers that have nearby retail locations like Best Buy and Target, but you should still be able to choose delivery and receive it with time to spare. Nintendo Switch Video Game Deals (Arrives by 12/25)PS5 and Xbox Video Game Deals (Arrives by 12/25) Super Mario RPGSuper Mario RPG is a remake of the 1996…

Bethesda and MachineGames have just released a new update for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that appears to have dramatically improved the lighting effects on Xbox consoles. In a blog post, MachineGames announced the release of Update 2 for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that among other things includes general gameplay and bug fixes. However, an Xbox-specific fix seems to have added big improvements to how Global Illumination appears in game. Here are two images MachineGames released highligthing the before and after differences of the udpate. As you can see from the Before and After pictures, the update appears to have removed some of the washed out look of the…

It’s December 1994. The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th Street, Pulp Fiction, and Forrest Gump are duking it out at the global box office. Boyz II Men’s On Bended Knee is about to (temporarily) cede the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 to Here Comes the Hotstepper by lyrical gangster Ini Kamoze. In video games, the original PlayStation has just launched in Japan. But forget the PlayStation for a moment, because December 1994 also marked the arrival of another interactive icon: The Need for Speed, on the ill-fated 3DO home game console. The 3DO, despite being lauded as Time Magazine’s 1993 Product of the Year, was ultimately a flop. There was no '3DO II'. The Need fo…