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It's 7 am on a Friday, you know what that means. It's time for another Insert Coin drop. The video game clothing store has already added Cyberpunk and Witcher lines to its website in 2024, and last week it gave The Last Of Us fans the chance to round out their Joel look by releasing a jacket that looks just like the one the complicated protagonist wears in Part 2. Today's drop is also headlined by a jacket, but the first Shenmue item at Insert Coin is quite a bit different from the brown Joel jacket added to its storefront last week.

Thank your own personal deity—possibly C-3PO as worshipped by Ewoks—it's Friday! Obviously, the two biggest headliners are those freebies—LEGO Star Wars III and Tomb Raider [2013]. Whip up a free (and easily ditched) Amazon Prime Gaming subscription to have and to hold them forever in your GOG library. I recently replayed Lara's reboot as part of the ongoing gaming education of my eldest. Still stands up as a well-Crofted action adventure.

PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida and Greg Rice will present the headlining keynote at the Develop: Brighton gaming expo in July, it's been confirmed. A conference designed for game developers, the two indie experts will host the «Supporting Indies and Creativity in Game Development» keynote in Brighton, UK on 11th July 2024.

Let's remove the mystery from the headline. Three Mass Effect games are going for next to nothing right now on PC, and you need to jettison your modern perspective misgivings and take a chance on them. Forget the hot mess that was Mass Effect Andromeda. Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2—and, to a lesser extent, Mass Effect 3—were genre-defining RPGs. The remaster process has made 'em much easier on the optical implants. The writing, world-building, and companion NPC bonds you'll forge, meanwhile, all remain timeless.

New week, new videogames! When will it end, etc. There aren't many obvious headliners out in the next few days, but there are a lot of tantalisingly bleak games. Let's see here, we've got a survival shooter that's essentially set in Black Mesa, a sardonical adventure about questing Russian Orthodox nuns, a game about running the company that starts the zombie apocalypse, and a cosy village grower with an atypical emphasis on disease and death. Lovely!

Just yesterday, we learned that Billie Eilish would be headlining Season 3 of Fortnite Festival, the free-to-play music mode which has slowly but surely cornered the periphery market. With the update now live, there were a few welcome extra additions. For starters, guitar controller support for Harmonix's previous effort, Rock Band 4, is now available, meaning those dusty old axes can finally be put to good use.

Epic Games has announced that FortniteFestival season 3 will feature pop star Billie Eilish.

Stand by for a missive from RPS corporate parent ReedPop. Transmission begins! Ah, it's about gaming events. So, Reedpop's EGX expo and MCM Comic Con are joining forces. They'll both take place side-by-side in the ExCel London this year, on 25th-27th October.

Star Wars Outlaws has been in the headlines recently for some less-than-ideal reasons. Still, one thing we are genuinely looking forward to is the inclusion of Sabacc, the blackjack/poker hybrid popular among rogues like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Strangely, despite the rules being first revealed in 1989, its inclusion will mark the first time Sabacc has ever graced a video game.

We rather liked Toy Trains when we reviewed it earlier in the year — a cute, if slight, experience all about putting together little tracks to deliver materials around each level. It won't be quite so small soon, though, as a massive free update is set to seriously scale things up.

Today is the day for April 2024's PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium game refreshes to come into effect, with 14 PS5, PS4 and Classic titles landing across the two tiers. The games are available now in the UK and Europe, and availability in the USA will be rolled out later on in the day. Day one title Dave the Diver headlines today's update, but there's actually even more to come. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU joins the service on 23rd April 2024 and then Animal Well is coming on 9th May 2024. Starting today, you can play the following:

We learned that SteamWorld Heist would finally be getting a sequel during the April 2024 Indie World showcase.

A new Helldivers 2 patch is live now, confirming that it's not just you - a whole bunch of weapons don't really work as intended.

Social network X has expanded access to its xAI's Grok chatbot, making it available to Premium tier subscribers following an announcement by Elon Musk last month. According to the company's support page, only Premium and Premium+ users in select regions will be able to interact with the chatbot.

Earlier this year, The Elder Scrolls Online announced that it had made more than $2 billion in customer spend, and its studio director says that figure got highlighted partly to help shine a light on that game's ongoing success.

Social media platform X is expanding access to xAI's Grok chatbot, now offering it to Premium tier subscribers. Following Elon Musk's recent announcement regarding the broader availability of the service to paid users, the company has outlined that only Premium and Premium+ subscribers will have the privilege of engaging with the chatbot in specific regions.

Insert Coin teased a collaboration with CD Projekt Red last month and followed up on that by releasing a line of merch dedicated to The Witcher. Part two of the collab promised a Cyberpunk 2077 range, and that range is now live and available to buy. Insert Coin's Cyberpunk merch includes hoodies, t-shirts, and enamel pins, and you can check it all out, and place your pre-orders, below.

Well, BAFTA was clearly looking for headlines with this news, and boy has it got them! The British Academy of Film and Television Arts recently hosted a poll asking people to vote for the most iconic video game character of all time — and the results are, to be frank, shockingly inept (but obviously quite interesting).

Palworld's first Raid boss has just gone live, and players are warning others from initiating the fight too close to base, lest they be torn to shreds by Bellanoir.

After months of speculation, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro has been launched in India. It is a successor to the Motorola Edge 40 Pro that launched last year. The standout features of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro include a 144Hz display, a silicon vegan leather finish and an AI-powered ProGrade camera. From features to price, know all about the Motorola Edge 50 Pro.

Of the many gaming subscriptions out there, the $11.99 per month Humble Choice is one of the good ones. That’s partially because Choice lets you keep and play PC games you received through the service, even if you choose to unsubscribe later on (unlike Xbox and PlayStation’s respective subscriptions). There are other benefits that I’ll explain below, but I won’t bury the lede any further.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Eidos-Montréal’s 2018 sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider, headlines Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass lineup in April. It’s backed by a solid, well-rounded lineup including the likes of Botany Manor, Lil Gator Game, Superhot: Mind Control Delete, Lego 2K Drive, and EA Sports PGA Tour. There’s a little something for everyone!

I seriously wanted the headline to be, "Own every Fallout game for less than $23" -- but that's technically a lie and we don't do clickbait here at IGN, right? In reality, you're missing out on some obscure titles (sorry) like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel on the PS2, but this is the best we've got and it's still pretty damn good for what you're getting.

Fisher Price has been shrinking characters from popular culture down to size for its Little People Collector's Sets for years. The residents of Halloween Town and the cast of Stranger Things are just two examples of characters who have their very own sets. Now Master Chief and a few other famous faces from Halo will be joining them as a Little People set based on Xbox's flagship series has been revealed and will launch this summer.

Sony has successfully won a patent infringement lawsuit in which it was being sued for $500m, after a US District Court judge ruled in the PlayStation company's favour.

Apple has been recently making headlines for holding talks with companies like Google and OpenAI to use their AI services in its devices. Recently, the company also invested in several AI startups for iOS 18. Now, Apple is reported to have partnered with a Chinese tech giant company named Baidu to take advantage of their AI services. Apple is now currently in a race to introduce advanced generative AI services to compete with brands such as Samsung and Google. Know more about Apple's move to introduce AI features to upcoming devices.

HoYoverse, with its absurd gacha-fuelled riches, has taken to releasing more and more animated shorts to promote its game’s updates. This latest five-minute Honkai: Star Rail clip delves a little deeper into the relationship between Black Swan and Acheron, the latter of whom will headline the v2.1 update which is launching next week.

TinyCorp, the company that has recently made headlines due to its AI venture, has ultimately decided to part ways with AMD due to the firmware constraints they are witnessing and now utilizing NVIDIA and Intel hardware.

At this point, there’s a pretty good chance Microsoft’s going to port its Forza Horizon franchise to PS5 – but until that day arrives, The Crew Motorfest remains a welcome alternative. And with its third full season of content available now, publisher Ubisoft has announced the title’s first-ever free weekend, scheduled to get underway from 14th March through 18th March.

SEGA purchased Rovio a little while ago now, so it’s a surprise it’s taken this long for Sonic the Hedgehog and Angry Birds to meet. But as of right now, the two franchises have clashed in five smartphone games, through until 21st March. This includes Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Dream Blast, Angry Birds Friends, Sonic Dash, and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.

World of Warcraft players are finally getting the pirate-themed content they've been craving for months, but it's arriving as a 60-player battle royale mode.

Microsoft has revealed the titles they’ll be adding to Xbox Game Pass on PC and consoles in late March and very-early April, and it’s a pretty packed lineup. The headliner is Diablo IV, one of the first major Acti-Blizz games to jump to Game Pass following Microsoft’s acquisition of the publisher. Other notable additions include The Quarry, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2, and the new-release indie game Open Roads.

After weeks of anticipation, Realme has launched its latest smartphone, the Realme Narzo 70 Pro 5G. The company calls it its “most premium Narzo” smartphone ever. One of the standout features of the new Realme Narzo 70 Pro 5G is its Sony IMX890 OIS Camera, which Realme claims is the first in its segment in India. From features to price, know all about the Realme Narzo 70 Pro 5G.

Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley’s annual summer event full of new game reveals and trailers will return for its fifth edition on June 7.

One of the things we learned in the massive Insomniac leak in late 2023 was that the studio had been working on a multiplayer game set in the Spider-Man universe, Spider-Man: The Great Web. Amongst the chaotic discussion over ethical news coverage and the headline reveals of an upcoming Venom game and a major leak of Wolverine development footage, the multiplayer game didn't gain too much traction. But now a trailer for the game seems to have leaked, and it appears to be further along in development than we thought

PlayStation Japan, as you’ll already know, loves a good montage trailer. And this latest clip – which has a bit of a road trip vibe to it – is a bit of a banger, spotlighting upcoming console exclusives like Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. There’s also space to feature titles like Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Unicorn Overlord, Sand Land, and more.

It's taken a good few months, but the highly anticipated New Game+ patch for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is upon us. This is a meaty update that goes far beyond the headline act, boasting additional accessibility options, and even the ability to replay individual story missions.

The books in DC Comics’ Black Label imprint are defined by top-of-their-game writers and artists telling standalone stories too big for continuity at a high production value. And Zatanna: Bring Down the House, coming this summer from Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodríguez, checks all of those boxes with a big marker.

With Helldivers 2's servers having finally reached some level of stability, the developers at Arrowhead Game Studios can turn their attention to other matters, like clarifying what does and does not actually harm the ongoing, intergalactic war effort. Today's bugbear? Farmers — those players who efficiently join for quick missions, acquire resources, and leave before the operation is complete, repeating the process ad infinitum.

Microsoft has revealed the titles they’ll be adding to Xbox Game Pass on PC and consoles in early-to-mid March, and there’s a decent array of stuff to choose from. The headliner is Sony’s own MLB The Show 24, and as in the past couple years, Xbox owners actually get a better deal on the game (it won’t be on PS Plus on Day 1). Those who buy the Digital Deluxe Add-on can even get in on the MLB The Show 24 early access period via Game Pass. Subscribers can also look forward to a few more solid options, includng Control Ultimate Edition, No More Heroes 3, a little SpongeBob SquarePants action, and more.

Before we begin, big thanks to Crepuscular Fluffle designer Merlijn Eskens for answering the last column's call for a sheep picture so I had an excuse to use this column's headline. It is very much appreciated.

In a post on the official PlayStation Blog, the monthly PlayStation Plus games for March have been revealed. Headlining the additions is developer Slowcap’s stylish and gritty beat-em-up Sifu. For racing fans, EA Sports F1 23 is one of the other games being added in March. Hello Neighbor 2 and Destiny 2: Witch Queen are the other two titles joining the lineup. All four games are are being added for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Persona 3 Reload is seemingly getting the additional content from Persona 3 FES after all, with a datamine and end of game tease certainly suggesting as such.

Four new games will be added to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation Plus lineup come March 5: EA Sports F1 23, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Sifu, and Hello Neighbor 2. All four games will be available to PS Plus subscribers from March 5 to April 1.

Feb. 27 marks the anniversary of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green’s 1996 release date in Japan, and to celebrate, the Pokémon Company is broadcasting its next Pokémon Presents. What’s next in the world of Pokémon? Let’s find out.

When headlines recently proclaimed that artificial intelligence can be used to create a “death calculator” that predicts the day you'll die, it sounded like something from a terrifying science fiction story. The reaction showed how readily people believe that AI has magical fortune-telling powers.

Epic Games has detailed the collaboration between Lady Gaga and Fortnite Festival, which arrives as part of Season 2 on February 22.

Over the last few years, Fortnite has played host to a swathe of musicians, from rappers like Eminem to pop stars like Ariana Grande and the rockers of Weezer. These artists, as well as the likes of Marshmello and Travis Scott, have appeared either in the game’s soundtrack or as hosts of virtual concerts; in what could easily turn into a Black Mirror episode should theiravatars abruptly decide they want out.

Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 is live now, with patch notes promising everything from improved kissing animations to party management.

Embracer Group has released its fiscal report for Q3 2023, and while much of it is operational information for shareholders, it does provide some insight into where they are in regard to the vicious restructuring that has resulted in a tremendous number of lost jobs.

Hello Games is once again back with a massive No Man's Sky update called OMEGA. The headline feature is the addition of the titular Expedition (due to run for four weeks), which the studio said has been created from scratch to be the ideal introduction to newcomers. The over 25 free updates released to date might feel overwhelming from the outside, but this Expedition will guide new users through the basics of base building, trading, space combat, lore, and more, thanks to a series of milestones and quick missions. At the same time, the OMEGA Expedition features some of the best rewards available through Expeditions, such as a particularly cool starship.

An internal Xbox meeting is continuing to generate headlines, as a new report on the event suggests that Microsoft's gaming division aims to make "every screen" an Xbox.

Last month’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog additions were decent. But this month, PlayStation really brought the goods if you’re an RPG fan. While the headliner for the month is the newest Need for Speed title, Need for Speed Unbound, the true gems in my opinion are the addition of Tales of Arise, The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

There are now fewer people playing Palworld than there were at the height of the game's popularity, and one of the devs behind the unlikely survival game hit says that's perfectly fine.

PlayStation Plus will have a whole bunch of new games to play in February — among them are The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, Need for Speed Unbound, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. These games (and others) will become accessible to subscribers across three different tiers on Feb. 20.

The Finals devs are continuing their war against the FPS's controversial 'nuke', with yet another patch aimed at countering the strategy.

The main games lineup for Evo 2024 has been revealed, and to the surprise of no one, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 are the headline acts. Those heavy hitters will be joined by Guilty Gear Strive, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Under Night In-Birth 2 [Sys:Celes], Mortal Kombat 1, King of Fighters XV, and Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike (the latter being Evo's 'retro' pick for 2024).

PlayStation’s previous State of Play featured an…interesting trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. However, the headline coming out of the event was Kojima’s announcement of a return to the genre he arguably created: action espionage.

Baldur's Gate 3 is getting some better kissing animations for improved smooching next week.

There’s been a few notable headlines today based around Microsoft. If you caught the news earlier this morning, you discovered that Microsoft cut an astonishing 1,900 jobs in their gaming division. This came shortly after the finalization of Microsoft’s acquisitions. For nearly $70 billion, Microsoft managed to pull in Activision Blizzard. After a long battle with regulators, Microsoft was able to finalize the deal, and it left some wondering what these teams might be working on. However, it looks like quite a few individuals are now finding themselves without their jobs under the Xbox banner.

Diablo 4 Season of the Construct is upon us, and the response to the new content has not been especially positive so far. One of the most common points of criticism so far is the addition of traps, which many players are finding downright annoying.

The Finals update 1.5.5 has just dropped, and it's focused on bringing the powerful Medium class closer in line with its Light and Heavy companions.

The first Palworld roadmap is here, with developer Pocketpair promising improvements, but only after it's addressed the mass of bug reports it's facing after its smash-hit success.

Palworld now has a Pokémon mod from the same creator who hit the headlines recently for adding famous Disney characters to Mortal Kombat.

We're so used to writing headlines like, 'Elden Ring player beats toughest boss in the game with their feet while upside down', but today we're changing things up and looking at the Fallout 4 community.

It's been almost two years since Master Chief got some, and nothing has been the same since. We live in a world where Mr. Halo himself has got laid, a very different characterisation than we get in the games. It made headlines, it shocked the world. Now, it turns out that we weren't the only ones who felt that it was a little ridiculous.

The Xbox Developer Direct countdown is on as we're now less than 24 hours away from the first games showcase of 2024. As such, you might wonder how to watch the Xbox games showcase and when it starts in your region. 

With the debate around the future of video game subscriptions heating up, one high-profile developer has come out strongly on the side of the traditional method of selling games.

Multiplayer FPS The Finals is getting a fat update on Wednesday, January 17 that'll add a new and "experimental" limited-time solo game mode, new outfits, quality of life fixes, and more.

Sony shared its upcoming PlayStation Plus free games for January on Wednesday. Headlining this month’s batch are Capcom’s 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake and the Borderlands spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can claim the 14 new games on January 16.

Time for another week desperately shovelling quotes, release dates and trailers into the Maw, our weekly news liveblog and also, an abyssal abomination poised to guzzle the waking world and all forms of existence, unless we can satisfy its hunger for headlines. The year is starting to pick up, with a few intriguing titles slated to drop this week in addition to the widely acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, out 18th Jan, which Katharine has called "a deep and challenging Metroid-like with some of the best platforming this side of Moon's Ori games".

From regenerative braking to the quiet hum of battery-powered cruising, electric vehicles are upending many a fundamental when it comes to the traditional driving experience. Slide into the cockpit of a contemporary EV, though, and you'll notice another bit of hardware getting an unexpected rethink: the humble interior light. Gone is the jaundiced bulb that blinks on when a car door is opened, the one your parents warned had to stay off while the vehicle was in motion. In its stead? A veritable LED disco. Today the interior of nearly every battery-powered car is veined with lights in the dashboard, door frames, foot wells and ceiling. 

The Galaxy S24 series is going official in a matter of days, and we are very excited about what Samsung has to offer. Over the past couple of months, all the rumors have slowly turned into leaks, and it is only a matter of time before we see these things materializing. A new leak reveals how Samsung is capitalizing on AI but also not forgetting its roots, so you are definitely going to get a great overall experience in terms of performance.

Squishmallows are the must-have toy in the plush world and have been for a while, and they don't have a rival. That might be about to change. Famous for letting its customers create and customize their own soft toys, Build-A-Bear has launched a new line of plushes similar to Squishmallows, but with their own Build-A-Bear twist. They're called Skoosherz, and the first five are available right now for less in preparation for Nation Hug Day later this month.

All Xbox owners can play EA Sports FC 24 for free this weekend.

Acer has announced a slew of new gaming monitors for CES, including a 57-inch dual-4K monster. Other models include 34-inch and 39-inch OLEDs, plus a 34-inch mini-LED panel.

Nvidia really cannot keep a secret, can it? Yes, in a surprise to absolutely no-one, CES brings us the new GeForce RTX 40-series Super cards. The Ada Lovelace architecture refresh has been rumoured for a long while now, and here it is, either offering a little more performance for either the same sticker price, or in one particular case a fairly significant decrease.

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