Category: Gaming

After an illustrious career spanning more than 60 years, Michael Caine is ready to bid goodbye. The 90-year-old actor confirming that he intends to retire in the wake of the real of The Great Escaper, which will be his final film.

Caine, who has been frequent collaborator with director Christopher Nolan, feels he has nothing else to accomplish.

“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now,” Caine told BBC Radio 4’s Today show. “I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and it’s got incredible reviews. The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men…And I thought, well I might as well leave with all this — what have I got to do to beat this?”

Caine bids farewell to an illustrious career

Caine has been hinting for sometime now that he plans to retire. He previously told the Telegraph, “I am bloody 90 now, and I can’t walk properly and all that. I sort of am retired already.”

Caine’s career stretches back to 1956’s A Hill in Korea, and in the years that followed would include The Italian Job, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Children of Men and numerous Christopher Nolan films. Caine famously played Alfred Pennyworth in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, lending the role a fatherly gravitas as Bruce Wayne’s mentor and conscience. Caine didn’t appear in Oppenheimer, ending an eight-year streak of appearances in Nolan’s films.

Arguably his greatest role is 1975’s The Man Who Would Be King, where he co-starred alongside Sean Connery as an ex-soldier on a journey to Kafiristan. Caine has been nominated for an Oscar six times, his first win being for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters. He also won Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1999’s The Cider House Rules.

Caine’s final movie is The Great Escaper, a biographical drama based on the true story of an 89-year-old British World War II veteran. It released in the United Kingdom on October 6.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

A new Grand Theft Auto Game may be on the horizon, and no, we’re not talking about Grand Theft Auto 6. Instead, it sounds like streaming giant Netflix wants a taste of the GTA pie, and is reportedly trying to get a Grand Theft Auto game of some kind onto its Netflix Games service.

This comes from a report in the Wall Street Journal today covering the company’s ongoing efforts to make a meal out of its library of original IP in the games space after acquiring a number of game development studios. The report claims that the company has “discussed plans” to release a Grand Theft Auto game on its service through a licensing deal with publisher Take-Two Interactive.

What kind of game it would be, or who would develop it, remains to be seen.

Any GTA spin-off would likely be a mobile game

As things now stand, any GTA spin-off that ended up on Netflix would inevitably be a mobile game, as currently the only way to play Netflix’s portfolio is through its mobile app. The report suggests that Netflix hopes to eventually expand its library to include games that can be streamed from TV or PC.

According to one analyst speaking to the WSJ, Netflix has spent about $1 billion on games so far. And it seems to be aiming to hire more game executives to oversee a foray into AAA titles. But there’s currently no good way to tell exactly how well that investment is paying off for the company, or whether it ever will. Rather than standalone purchases, the games are tied into Netflix subscriptions, which we’ll get an updated figure on during the company’s earnings on Wednesday. But there’s no way of knowing if games are convincing people to subscribe.

They don’t seem to be providing an especially strong draw for existing subscribers, though. As of September 20 these games have been downloaded 70.5 million times total. That may sound like a lot, but it’s a far cry from some of the massive numbers pulled in by the world’s biggest mobile games. For instance, Honkai: Star Rail managed over 20 million downloads by itself on its launch day alone earlier this year. And Apptopia estimates that fewer than 1% of Netflix subscribers play its games on a daily basis – perhaps unsurprising given that much of its catalog, including its most prestige titles like Oxenfree, Immortality, Spiritfarer, and others, are available elsewhere.

We previously wrote about Netflix’s big video game push earlier this year, but it sounds like the landscape hasn’t changed much since then. While a big Grand Theft Auto release could potentially turn the tide, it’s also possible that an imminent Grand Theft Auto 6 release elsewhere would drastically overshadow whatever Netflix cooks up, rather than neatly tie onto it.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

As Spider-Man 2 swings onto PS5 in the third Insomniac game, the shackles are off on the technological baseline now that there’s no PS4 version to support. Traversal speed is more than twice the previous maximum, with you able to literally fly around New York like a spider bat. Miles and Peter can now catapult themselves, cannonball style, through the skies like Sonic, and yet it never causes issues on the PS5’s blistering memory and SSD speeds, allowing it to stream in even higher traffic, building, and pedestrian density. Water has been a key improvement over the prior games, with full geometric surface bodies now morphing and wrapping around boats and characters and playing a bigger role in the city interaction, your traversal, and even some key action scenes.

Ray tracing is not only improved, with reflection quality and materials increased over the previous remasters, but they are also integral to the art design and are enabled in both performance and fidelity modes. Those same water bodies now use a mix of ray tracing and cube maps rather than the old SSR solution, amplifying water quality significantly. Many of the updates we saw in the remaster are here, such as the AI-generated muscle deformation system which significantly improves suit animations and provides more human shapes and tension; also, that’s a key aspect for Venom’s morphing powers. This remains a consistently impressive effect as it’s incorporated into combat skills throughout your play.

Two Is Better Than One – Modes of Play
With PS4 out of the equation we see two modes: Fidelity is the default and remains the showcase with its capped 30fps frame rate and dynamic resolution scaling, often being close to 4K, with the low point being a counted 3200x1800p. Character models, facial animation, and emotional nuance are all improved – an evolution of the previous games, not a revolution – but when your baseline looks this good you are not in dire need of one. Insomniac’s own hair spline technology has been improved far more though, with Peter, Mary Jane, and Miles hair having more bounce and body than a Baywatch episode. MJ is the star of the show though, with her hair volume and physics being amongst the best. She has several wardrobe changes throughout the story, and yet clipping is almost non-existent. Complemented by more RT reflections than a cutlery drawer, the physics-based rendering (PBR) materials still balance the line between the Uncanny Valley well. This makes the 30fps cap a much easier pill to swallow, aided by an improved per-pixel motion blur.

Fear not 60fps fans: all of that remains in effect in the Performance mode, with no need for a non-RT performance mode anymore. We see similar reductions as before, with the resolution ceiling now at 2560x1440p, which it can hit often (more so in the real-time cutscenes) and a new low of 1920x1080p, but it is often at the higher end of this range. Like Fidelity mode, Performance uses Insomniac’s temporal injection tech to reconstruct and clean the image up to that maximum when it dips below. In addition, RT reflections, although present, use a lower bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) range & quality along with less surfaces reflecting or at least a higher roughness cutoff. Shadows, ambient occlusion, and hair quality are also reduced a little, as are texture in places – likely as a result of resolution. But these are minor sacrifices to make when compared to doubling the performance, with the same high-octane action, blistering travel, and wild spectacle. Performance mode is pretty much locked at 60fps, aside from similar hiccups in our tests and a decline to the mid 50s during the bigger moments, but those are often brief and rare.

Unlocking The Potential
As before, Insomniac have not stopped here: 120Hz screen owners are offered a 40fps fidelity mode, halving the gap between 30 and 60, with 25ms frame time being exactly in the middle. It loses none of the quality but gains even higher performance. Variable rate refresh (VRR) screens are also catered to, pushing the Fidelity mode to a new maximum of 50fps, with a more aggressive dynamic resolution. Scale employed sacrificing a slightly lower base for sometimes 66% higher frame rates, although often 40+ is the readout.

Performance mode is not left in the gutter, either – it includes a slightly wider dynamic resolution range that can now hit 1792x1008p, though lower is always possible. The benefit is that framerate can now hit 100fps. It is often closer to 70fps in action, but the extra fluidity and response it offers with such a minor cut over the 60fps capped mode gives us a peak into the full potential of the PS5 lurking behind that mode. A full 120fps is not possible here – we’re largely CPU limited during gameplay I would suspect, as cutscenes tend to push into the highest rates. However, the increased response on a VRR screen can be a welcome bonus for many and remains a great benchmarking mode to see the PS5’s first-party potential.

Performance in Fidelity – and even 40fps Fidelity mode – is largely a locked affair aside from small dips in cutscene switches and some minor stutter between shots. The unlocked mode is great, but a VRR screen is required as the variable rate improves input latency, and due to the 60 to 70fps range it is a small but noticeable boost on player control and fluidity.

Building on the Amazing
Some rougher edges do remain. Alpha effects can have mixed results and quality, specifically in smoke. Ray traced geometry is largely great, but some obvious low triangle count and bugs can crop up within the BVH proxy objects, and incidental buildings and textures can vary in quality, although the speed at which all of this hurtles past makes them a minor blemish.

Meanwhile, the density of the city has increased while world detail is less progressive. The updates to the core engine technology are iterative rather than transformative. Polygon count has not significantly increased, with a big reliance on normal maps and textures for details. The visual aspects and quantity have increased, however, it can still have a cross-generational look on some nondescript objects, such as fruit, books, pillows, NPCs, etc with the low poly count objects being apparent. In the city there’s a strong and understandable reliance on 2D imposters for trees, buildings, cars and other elements that can crop up from time to time. Performance mode is where level-of-detail transitions from these imposters to 3D building, trees and even grass at close range can fade into existence more obviously. Some of the excellent animation and facial expression can look a little odd on occasion, with head movement and mouth sync being one area I noticed in a few sections, but this is edging heavily into the nitpicking area.

As a major game for the PS5, Spider-Man 2 builds on the amazing base that prior games delivered and manages to exceed the Remaster and Miles by offering excellent enhancements in key areas, such as a slick & seamless fast-travel system, and over double the traversal speed of the previous PS5 game. That, along with dramatically improved water, hair, lighting, and art all impressed me throughout my play.

Summary

Spider-Man 2 is, on paper, the perfect sequel. It takes all of the elements that made the first games so much fun and builds and improves on them. Bigger battles, improved ray tracing, wider story choices, more flamboyant combat, dual characters, improved visuals, staggeringly fast and dense city travel are all excellent. The sheer wow factor it delivers will impress, but some of the shine is dulled by comparison to Insomniacs own previous success and work on the remasters of the original and Miles Morales for PS5. Going from the original PS4 or even PS4 Pro Spider-Man games to this is a night-and-day difference in almost all areas, with the most noticeable being seamless loading, ray tracing, AI muscle deformation, vast performance increases and visuals that push the PS5 hard. But from the PlayStation 5 updates, the leap is smaller, if still impressive. None of this diminishes the excellent, varied and amazing game within, but just how amazing that is depends on when you last slipped into the tights of New York’s favourite web head.

Fortnite maker Epic Games has launched a back catalog program to incentivize game developers and publishers to make their old games available on Epic Games Store.

According to a blog post published on Monday, the company said the program, dubbed Now on Epic, was launched to make it easier for Epic Game Store users to discover back catalog games, and to better compete with Steam. Mainly, it will allow participating developers and publishers the opportunity to increase their net revenue from user spending from 88% to 100% for any eligible back catalog games they offer up on Epic Games Store.

Titles that are eligible for the Now on Epic program will enjoy the 100% revenue boost for the first six months of their release on Epic Games Store. After that, they’ll get a 88%/12% revenue split.

Game developers who participate in Now on Epic must commit to releasing at least three games before October 31, 2023, and have them currently live on another third-party PC store or included in a third-party subscription service, such as Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. If they don’t have three games that meet the criteria, they must bring over all the games they have already released that are live.

Developers who would rather wait to enroll in the Now on Epic program have until December 31, 2024 to do so. When they do, all eligible games must be on the Epic Games Store by June 30, 2025.

Epic Games Store first launched in 2018 and built its library through generous incentives and exclusive deals with developers. It has struggled to compete with Steam, though, which remains the platform of choice despite issues of its own.

The launch of Now on Epic comes nearly three weeks after the company shed 830 employees, about 16% of its workforce, in the latest round of layoffs, despite the continued success of Fortnite. The employees affected by the layoffs included those from Mediatonic, the studio behind Fall Guys.

“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators,” Sweeney wrote in a note to employees during the layoffs. “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

I grew up in arcades, dumping quarter after quarter into machines like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and especially Tekken Tag Tournament – the first fighting game my arcade crew and I ever truly fell in love with. Arcades were special; you could make friends, fight rivals, learn new tricks, and build a community. Unsurprisingly, much of the Tekken 8 team, including producers Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray, feel the same way. Arcade Quest, the newest single-player mode in Tekken 8, is separate from the main story, but looks to teach new players the ins and outs of Tekken 8 and introduce players new and old to arcade culture.

For people like me, it’ll be like going home; for people who didn’t get a chance to be a part of the arcade scene, it will hopefully let them see what it’s all about while learning skills that will help them throughout their Tekken journey. Murray described Arcade Quest like this when I sat down with him: “It’s like a different story mode, almost. And you use the avatars, the same ones that you use in the Tekken Fight Lounge. You start off knowing nothing and you have a mentor in the local arcade. There’s different arcades you visit along the way. In your home arcade you start off in, Max, your mentor, is like ‘Okay, you don’t know how to play fighting games. Here’s how to block. Why don’t you try it out? Good job.’ Or ‘Hey, this is how to do a basic combo,’ and it teaches the basics of the game, then the basics of the new mechanics like Heat, and then combos, how to throw escape, all these different things that you’ll want to know.”

Arcade Quest is utterly charming. You start off in Gong, your local arcade, which has just gotten some Tekken 8 machines. Max offers to sit down and teach you the basics, starting with things like Heat and some of the core moves for your character. This part of Arcade Quest seems to function like a traditional fighting game tutorial. You can watch demos to get an idea of how the thing you’re learning looks, and then practice it yourself as much as you like. Normally, after you complete a lesson, you’re thrown straight into the next one. That style can make it a little overwhelming for players new to fighting games. Even if you’re an experienced player, it can be hard to remember everything you’ve learned when it’s all thrown at you at once. But that’s not how Arcade Quest works, something Murray is quick to point out.

“It’s not just thrown at you in one piece. Max will teach you a little bit, then you face some kind of rival on that local arcade. And you use that knowledge. And as you’re playing that match, like a typical Tekken match, Max pops up on-screen occasionally and will be like, ‘Hey, you did exactly what you were supposed to!’ or, ‘Hey, you know, better luck next time,’ etc.”

It’s like having your own personal coach walking you through the process of learning Tekken, and then you get to put those methods into practice a little bit at a time. This is how most players learn fighting games in real life, so it’s nice to see that Arcade Quest adopts that style. Plus, you get real-time feedback mid-match from Max.

But it’s not just you and Max. There’s also several other characters you’ll meet along the way. Beat, like your created character, is also new to Tekken, but excited to learn. Prim loves how Tekken 8’s customization lets you show off your style. And Nick is a competitive player who thinks he might be able to farm rank points off of newbies like you. That’s just a few examples. Winning matches against other players will allow you to rank up, and completing challenges in specific matches will unlock new customization options and cash you can spend to buy more customization options. In another thoughtful touch, you’ll also level up your characters separately, so if you start out as, say, King, but decide you’d also like to use Arcade Quest to learn Jin, you can do that. Just keep in mind that story matches, designated by an ‘!,’ will always follow your highest-ranked character.

Players will also be rewarded for exploring the arcade and spending time speaking to and fighting with other characters, according to Murray. “There’s different stories as you talk to the NPCs in the arcade, and maybe little tidbits of arcade culture, like, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t hit the machine, because this other guy got kicked out for doing that.’ You know, it’s little stuff like that, that you’ll come to appreciate if you’ve been to an arcade before.”

As you climb the ranks, you’ll earn more customization options, money to spend, and lessons from Max. But, as Murray notes, there’s much more to it. “As you progress, [Max] teaches you more things, and you get better as a player. But you also visit these different arcades, which are unique and have a different look to them. Different NPCs, depending on the person you defeat, might give you customization items that you unlock for your avatar, as well. And it mirrors the Tekken World Tour as well. You’ll start off in a local arcade competition, but then it kind of steps up to a tournament. Maybe you even saw that scene of Harada and myself commentating. So it’s a cool little side story that also teaches you the game at your own pace, because it’s one-player content.”

We don’t know exactly how long Arcade Quest will be just yet, but Murray told me the mode would take “at least a few hours” to complete. It also makes use of Tekken 8’s impressive Ghosts, so the opponents you’ll be playing will fight like real people. In a fun twist, you’ll also be able to fight the Ghosts of Murray, long-time Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada, and Kohei “Nakatsu” Ikeda, a former Tekken pro and Tekken 8’s game director, in Arcade Quest, and Murray teased that you might get something cool if you beat them.

In addition to being a fun single-player mode, Arcade Quest is an acknowledgment of how successful Tekken 7 was and how many people will be first-time players or returning after a long hiatus in 8. One of the core goals of Arcade Quest is to teach those people how to play Tekken without boring them with tutorials. That starts by giving them information on their character’s most important moves and then teaching them the process for implementing what they’ve learned. The goal is to get players to what Murray referred to as the “chess match,” the most fun part of fighting games where you’re trying to outplay and outthink your opponent, faster.

Tekken 8 screens

Arcade Quest looks like a combination of everything you could want from a new single-player mode in Tekken: an atmosphere that harkens back to the glory days of arcades, a well-structured setup that will help you learn the game, plenty of character and avatar customization to unlock, a fun story to follow, exciting fights to seek out, and plenty of replayability. Arcade Quest seems to have a little something for everyone, from old-head Tekken fans to first-timers, and I can’t wait to finally get my hands on it.

The developer and publisher of Cities: Skylines 2 have admitted the game’s performance isn’t up to scratch, but insisted they will launch the hotly anticipated city builder on PC as planned on October 24.

Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox issued a joint statement to fans left concerned after Cities: Skylines 2’s minimum and recommended specs were raised.

“Cities: Skylines 2 is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements,” Colossal Order said. “With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted.”

While it’s highly unusual for a developer to issue a warning about an upcoming game’s performance, Colossal Order said it took the decision because “we’ve always believed in transparency”.

Even with these potential performance issues in mind, Colossal Order said it will release Cities: Skylines 2 next week, hitting the current release date. “We still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward,” the developer said. “We are proud of the unique gameplay and features in Cities: Skylines 2, and we genuinely believe that it offers a great experience that you will enjoy.”

Colossal Order said it will “continually improve” the game over the coming months, “but we also want to manage expectations on performance for the coming release.”

“Our ambition is for Cities: Skylines 2 to be enjoyed by as many players as possible, and we’re committed to ensuring it reaches its full potential.”

In an additional note to press, Colossal Order further explained its position. “Colossal Order and Paradox are 100% aware Cities: Skylines 2 requires high-end hardware for high-end performance, and they want to ensure that players are also aware of this. They are going to keep working on performance as more feedback is received from players worldwide, but the game is not being delayed, and so players should keep the recommended specs in mind.”

In an FAQ, Paradox and Colossal Order admitted some PC gamers will experience performance issues. “It all depends on your PC configuration,” the pair said. “Some will experience issues, some will not. It also depends on how high your graphic settings are compared to your hardware.”

Last month, Paradox and Colossal Order delayed the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S version of Cities: Skylines 2 from the planned October launch to some point during spring 2024, and issued refunds to those who had pre-ordered.

Meanwhile, Paradox said modding will become available in Cities: Skylines 2 shortly after the PC launch. When the game launches on console, console players will be able to use asset mods, too, which means Cities: Skylines 2 will be one of the rare video games that allows cross-platform mods.

However, Cities: Skylines 2 will not support other platforms such as Steam Workshop. “We have decided to have Paradox Mods as our platform, as it allows us to have cross-platform modding compatibility,” the FAQ reads. “We also wanted mods to be more easily accessible in game, which we are able to do with Paradox Mods.”

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.

Battlefield 2042 enjoyed a huge surge in players over the weekend sparked by the game going free-to-play as well as meaningful improvements made over the last two years.

DICE’s first-person shooter launched in October 2021 and became one of the worst-reviewed games on Steam, with players pointing to myriad bugs and performance issues, controversial gameplay changes, and a lack of expected features.

The player count quickly declined after strong launch day concurrents and, at one point, more people were playing 2018’s Battlefield 5 than the more recent Battlefield 2042. Things got so bad that EA boss Andrew Wilson was forced to admit to investors that Battlefield 2042 “did not meet expectations”.

DICE has stuck with the game though, issuing a number of improvements and continuing seasonal updates. This culminated with a free weekend across all platforms, which saw a peak of 102,009 concurrent players on Steam (Microsoft and Sony do not publish concurrent player numbers).

That’s just a couple of thousand concurrent players off Battlefield 2042’s all-time peak of 105,397 which it saw at launch. The free weekend was clearly targeted to go up against rival shooter Modern Warfare 3’s open beta, so its success is even more impressive given the stiff competition. At the time of this article’s publication, over 55,000 were playing Battlefield 2042 on Steam, making it the 12th most-popular game on the platform.

Publisher EA has signalled a bright future for Battlefield despite 2042’s failures. Ridgeline Games is a new Seattle-based studio creating the franchise’s first single-player campaign since Battlefield 5 (Battlefield 2042 does not have a campaign mode of any kind). DICE is handling multiplayer, as you’d expect. Meanwhile, Ripple Effect, an evolution of Battlefield’s DICE LA, is making a “completely different” Battlefield experience.

In August, Wilson said the next Battlefield game will be a “reimagination” of the series “as a truly connected ecosystem”. He also said EA plans to “bring Battlefield back in an entirely new way in the future”.

Until then, perhaps Battlefield 2042’s second life is worth jumping into.

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.

Turbochargers work by sucking in air from the atmosphere, compressing and cooling it, and subsequently blowing it into the cylinders to help your engine burn fuel at a faster rate. Unlike turbochargers, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged doesn’t suck or blow, but it is pretty damn cool. This palm-sized sequel shines with graphics that range from excellent to outright remarkable, an inspired selection of life-sized environments where stools loom large like skyscrapers and skateboards are as big as sailboats, and accessible and drift-heavy handling with a couple of new twists. However, while it’s certainly a slight step forward from the excellent 2021 original, it has introduced a couple of annoying quirks – like creases in the cardboard of a Super Treasure Hunt blister pack.

Just like Milestone’s first Hot Wheels Unleashed two years ago, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is still the antithesis to the tossed-together, toy-licensed turds today’s parents toiled through during our own childhoods. Beneath the corporate branding, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 really does remain an indubitably groovy arcade racer with highly imaginative tracks and some of the most brilliant-looking vehicles in the genre.

The car models are still absolutely amazing renditions of real-life Hot Wheels, which appear essentially photorealistic on-screen. Rotating them around in the menus and photo mode they look like genuine toys placed under a microscope; seriously, it really cannot be stressed enough just how unflinchingly faithful Milestone’s models are to actual Hot Wheels miniatures. The texture differences between plastic and metal. The faint knit lines left on injection-moulded parts. The subtle accumulations of extra paint on tapered spoilers. The difference in finishes between a glossy hard plastic tyre and a rubber Real Riders wheel. The stamped text beneath each chassis featuring the model name and production year.

Better still, the way they carry their imperfections makes them look even more credible, from the child-sized fingerprints that reveal themselves on certain surfaces under the right light, to the scratches and gouges they get from both the gladiatorial racing and going end over end on gravel.

Of course, returning players will know Hot Wheels Unleashed already looked this good. More crucially, it still feels good, too. Like all its truly great high-speed peers, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2’s arcade-typical brake-to-drift handling is easy to pick up but tricky to totally master. This depth comes via the particularly nuanced layer of in-air controls that let you adjust direction and boost through the sky like a die-cast cruise missile, which has now been augmented with double-jump and lateral dash abilities. However, this time around it also comes from the distinctly different feel of the cars in each of the six different classes.

Class War

As you’d probably expect, these new classes – Rocket, Balanced, Swift, Drifter, Off-Road, and Heavy Duty – each carry certain advantages and disadvantages. The additional bulk of Heavy Duty vehicles makes them better to battle with, but they quickly straighten out of low-angle drifts when they lose too much momentum. Off-Road vehicles can ride over rough terrain like grass and dirt without hassle, but they aren’t going to be the best models to take to tight time trials. I will say the differences between Rocket and Balanced, Swift and Drifter, and Off-Road and Heavy Duty aren’t always especially pronounced – so it actually tended to feel a little more like three classes than six to me.

The new upgrade and perk system makes things a little malleable – so it’s possible to blur the lines between classes by, say, pumping up boost stats in a Drift car at the expense of some of its handling points. You can also now change the boost mode from single, uninterruptible shots to a bar that can be drained at any pace you want (which is essential if you want a car you can hold in a drift without constantly slamming into the side walls under uncontrollable acceleration).

Regardless, I did find myself giving greater consideration to what car I was bringing to each event than I did in the original. It’s a smart way to encourage us to engage with more of the cars in our virtual garage than previously (I have to admit that, while playing the original Hot Wheels Unleashed, I pretty much raced the Back to the Future DeLorean in virtually every event once I’d unlocked it). It mostly works, too – but only when Milestone adheres to it.

Unfortunately, one of my biggest frustrations with Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 has been the instances when it forces us to take on events in vehicle classes that are ill-equipped for the job. This happens throughout the main story mode, where it was only really a minor annoyance, but it became a severe irritation trying to clear the salvo of bonus events that unlocked after I’d hit 100% completion. Hitting huge drift totals in Off-Road or Heavy Duty vehicles is just a pain. They’re simply just not as fun to drift in as the other classes, because they’re a lot worse at it. I’m guessing the argument here is that it’s a challenge, but something being challenging doesn’t automatically make it fun. Certainly not when it’s like having a drawer full of steak knives but being forced to cut your meat with the edge of a spoon.

It also didn’t really help that reaching the end of the story mode left me mostly confused, anyhow. It’s just odd being told I’ve reached 100% completion, finished both objectives in every event, and unlocking nothing but… more events. I don’t have a problem with more events, but how about some cars at that point? Six billion cars built since 1968 and we can’t get a couple of curios for finishing? Hot Wheels Unleashed seems surprisingly stingy with unlockable cars considering how many decades of them there are to choose from, though I did appreciate the time it takes for the car sales showroom to refresh its random line-up dropping from four hours of play to 45 minutes. You can even refresh it immediately for a nominal amount of in-game credits; you can get several refreshes with the credits earned from a single event. The default range still leans extremely heavily towards mostly recent models, though – or, at best, recent re-issues of older castings. It really feels like there ought to be more relics from the ’80s and ’90s in here, especially considering this is something designed for generations of Hot Wheels fans to enjoy together.

Age Appropriate

This huge spike in difficulty after the career mode is ostensibly done makes me wonder whether Milestone has slightly lost track of the spectrum of its audience here. For instance, the cutscenes in the story mode itself are pitched super young, but my nine-year-old bounced off these punishing “Extreme” endgame events faster than he does from the trampoline when his older brother starts doing backflips. I’m largely fed up with them, too.

Fortunately, even if the core single player mode eventually becomes a chore, there’s still plenty to love about the fantastic selection of new environments. My son digs everything about the new dinosaur museum, which is a multi-level map filled with enormous prehistoric displays. I’m a huge fan of both the Arcade and Gas Station locations, which have the best lighting and reflections. There’s also Mini Golf Course and Backyard, which is actually a bit of a misnomer considering how much great racing space there is inside the home as well. Unfortunately, shortcut hunting has been a bit unsatisfying this time around, and I haven’t yet found any as creatively cheesy as I did in the original. My suspicion is that since the new double jump has made it easy to leave the track, it may have seen Milestone pump up the amount of checkpoints to counteract its potential abuse? It’s a bit of a cursed monkey paw situation, as the jump mechanic has introduced deliberate gaps in tracks – which is a concept I like – but they seem to have come at a cost.

Some of that shortcut magic may be able to reappear via the phenomenal track builder. However, as much as I still love the freedom of the track builder to warp and position track at will (and not just rely on pre-set pieces), it’s disappointing the old environments weren’t also included. I’m not sure why they couldn’t have been left in for a super-sized library of locations. Sure, the new jump ability has complicated short cuts, but it adds a fresh new perspective on track building we could’ve taken to the original levels.

Two-player split-screen returns, and with more event types this time it’s been even more fun in our household than before. Waypoint has been a particular hit, especially when dad gets caught short sandbagging and accidentally missing the final checkpoint, meaning I need to publically bear the humiliation of losing to somebody less than a quarter of my age.

Minecraft Live returned for 2023 and brought with it some big announcements, including a new Star Wars DLC that takes players from padawan to Jedi knight, Planet Earth III DLC, a ton of new features in mid-2024’s Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21, and more!

We’re here to break down all the biggest announcements in one place to ensure you don’t miss a thing!

Minecraft’s Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC Will Take Players From Padawan to Jedi Knight

On November 7, the Minecraft Marketplace will be home to the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC that will take players from “padawan to Jedi knight and showcase a variety of gameplay features including lightsaber combat and using Force powers.”

Iconic Star Wars characters will also be showing up throughout the adventure, including Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Coleman Kcaj, Saesee Tiin, and Plo Koon.

Planet Earth III DLC Will Be Released in 2024 From Minecraft Education and BBC Earth

In celebration of the upcoming Planet Earth III series this fall, Minecraft will be presenting its own Planet Earth III DLC from Minecraft Education and BBC Earth in 2024. Much like its Frozen Planet II DLC, this content will “immerse players in the wonders of the natural world with the overarching message that everything in nature is connected and we therefore need to take care of our planet so it can take care of us.”

Minecraft Legends to Receive Some Exciting New Updates, Including New Lost Legends

Minecraft Legends principal design director Craig Leigh shared some exciting updates coming to Minecraft Legends, and they include new Lost Legends like Creeper Clash in time for Halloween and Snow vs Snout in December.

Minecraft Legends’ December update was also teased, and it will see the addition of frogs, a new piglin unit and structure, and new witch allies who can throw potions.

Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21 Will Add a Ton of New Features in Mid-2024

Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21 will arrive in mid-2024 and will add a bevy of new features, including automated crafting, combat trial chambers, copper bulbs, a trial spawner, and the Breeze.

The Crafter is the name of the automated crafting system and it will be of “particular interest for redstone engineers.”

The combat trial chambers will be procedurally generated structures undergound and will present new and unique challenges for players to overcome. The Breeze will appear in these trials and they move by jumping and shooting wind energy projectiles that explode. Also, it will explode immediately if they run into a player.

The copper bulb is a new light-emitting block that will oxidize overtime, and the more oxidized it is the dimmer it becomes.

Lastly, the Trial Spawner will not spawn any additional mobs for a while after it has spawned a specified number of mobs. These spawners will also reward players by ejecting its loot.

Winner of the 2023 Mob Vote Is the Armadillo

The Minecraft community had the chance to choose either an armadillo, penguin, or crab for the for the 2023 Mob Vote, and the armadillio won with a 42.3% win percentage. Crab came in second with 32.5% and penguin came in last with 25.2%.

Minecraft’s 15th Anniversary Celebration Will Kick Off in 2024

While no specific details were shared, it was confirmed that 2024 will see the kick off of Minecraft’s 15th Anniversary Celebration.

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.

The big Minecraft Live event took place on Sunday, October 15, and it delivered some major news about the future of the popular sandbox game. Here’s everything you need to know.

300 million in sales

Minecraft has now surpassed 300 million copies sold, which Microsoft says makes it the best-selling video game of all time. This is up from 238 million in 2021. Tetris might have something to say about Microsoft’s claim that Minecraft is the best-selling game, considering Tetris has sold more than 500 million copies. But 300 million copies sold for Minecraft is still a huge number.

“As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks,” Minecraft CVP Helen Chiang said. “Our incredible community has built Minecraft into what it is today and what it will become in the future. We can’t wait to share new Minecraft content and experiences in the years ahead.”

Star Wars DLC

Coming to the Minecraft Marketplace on November 7 is the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi DLC. A trailer released during the event showed lightsaber combat and Force powers. Some iconic Star Wars characters will appear in the DLC as well.

Planet Earth III DLC

The new TV series Planet Earth III is debuting this fall, and to celebrate that, Minecraft Education is working with the BBC on DLC for the Minecraft Marketplace in 2024. The companies previously worked together on Frozen Planet II DLC for Minecraft. The message for the new Planet Earth DLC in Minecraft is that we are all connected and must work together to take care of the planet.

Minecraft Legends

During Minecraft Live, Minecraft Legends principal design director Craig Leigh ran through some of the community-requested changes for the game. These include “the ability to pet animals, custom campaign and PVP modes, controls and UI shown on screen, pillars of light for waypoints, and improved path finding.”

Additionally, the next Lost Legend for Legends, “Creeper Clash,” is coming to the game on October 19 for Halloween. Another one, “Snow vs. Snout,” is launching in December. What’s more, frogs are coming to Legends in December, so that’s great.

“It’s been a busy year for the Minecraft Legends team! After a successful launch in April, we turned to our fantastic community to understand what they were enjoying, what needed to be improved, and what we could add to make the game better,” Leigh said. “Over the last 6 months the team have focused on greatly improving key systems and adding brand new features. We’re excited to see the community’s reaction to the new content announced at Minecraft Live.”

15th Anniversary Plans

Minecraft celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2024, and Mojang’s Lydia Winters announced that there will be “exciting” plans in store to mark the occasion. Keep checking back for more.

“As we mark our 15th year, we at Minecraft want to express our gratitude to our passionate Minecraft community,” Mojang’s Kayleen Walters said. “It is our community’s creativity and dedication that has helped shape this world into something extraordinary. As we kick off this milestone year, we eagerly look forward to honoring and celebrating your contributions, stories and adventures. Thank you for 15 amazing years of crafting, building and exploring together. Stay tuned for more updates and surprises in 2024!”

Minecraft Vanilla Update 1.21

A number of features are coming to the OG Minecraft in mid-2024, including “The Crafter.” This allows players to conduct automatic crafting, a first for Minecraft vanilla. Also new for Minecraft vanilla in 2024 are trial chambers, which are procedurally generated underground structures for players to tackle, as well as light-emitting blocks called Copper Bulbs. What’s more, Minecraft vanilla is adding “The Breeze,” which is the game’s newest hostile mob.

“The Breeze moves by jumping and shoots projectiles of wind energy that explode on impact, like how Blazes shoot fireballs,” Mojang said. If it collides with a player or entity, it explodes immediately. These explosions cover a blast radius of a few cubic blocks, deal a small amount of damage, and knock back all entities in the area.”

“We’re excited to see our community’s reaction to the new features announced at Minecraft Live. This update is a precious mix of exciting adventures, combat trials and tinkering–we believe it adds something delightful for lots of different kinds of play styles! Long-term we want to evolve Minecraft for every play style and we’re looking forward to continue creating update 1.21 together with our community,” game director Agnes Larsson said.