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IGN

Interview: How Delta Force is Looking To “Blow Up” Mobile Shooter Market

April 21, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Delta Force made its return with a launch on PC last year, reigniting interest in the legendary tactical shooter franchise. Now, it is bringing its definitive free-to-play, modern, team-based tactical action to a whole new audience on mobile. Anticipation for the mobile release has been huge, with over 20 million players pre-registering across Android and iOS platforms ahead of launch on April 21st.

We spoke to Leo Yao, Head of Studio and Shadow Guo, Game Director at Team Jade about the development of Delta Force Mobile, the game’s content , graphics and optimization along with technical ambitions, and its play-to-win, not pay-to-win, philosophy.

Capturing epic battles on the small screen

Delta Force features realistic battlegrounds, class-based Operators, a deep weapons arsenal and multiple game modes; all designed to blend nostalgia from the original series with modern gameplay elements. Game modes cater to both solo-player and team-up experiences, including the world’s first 24v24 battlefield with vehicles and an extraction-based PvPvE mode. Parity of experience was a central part of the design ethos for this title.

“Our goal was to build a truly uncompromised AAA shooter experience for mobile players which feels just as thrilling and immersive as its PC counterpart,” said Guo. “We wanted to provide players with the opportunity to experience an array of modes and maps which they haven’t ever experienced before, promising tons of action and fun. That’s why we’re especially proud of introducing groundbreaking features like our world-first 24v24 large-scale battlefield, which pushes the boundaries of what mobile shooters can achieve.”

Keep the fight going, wherever you are

Delta Force Mobile was designed to both introduce the game to new, mobile-first audiences, while also giving PC players a way to bring the game anywhere. Integral to this is Delta Force’s cross progression with PC which includes support of Google Play Games on PC, allowing players to progress and play across both platforms. Synced content between PC and mobile currently includes 7 maps for Warfare, 4 maps for Operations, 10 Operators, 12 vehicles and 55 weapons sets, with more to come. Player’s individual progression, including their inventory will also be synced.

“We wanted to make sure that Delta Force provided players with exciting cross-platform experiences”, said Yao. “Whether players are jumping into a quick match on their phones during a commute or settling in for a longer session with friends on PC, we wanted to ensure the game is both accessible and fun for everyone. That’s why we focused on offering a wide range of engaging content across all platforms for the mobile launch.”

“No One Gets Left Behind”

The Delta Force motto rings true in their approach to device optimisation as well. The developers worked hard to make sure that its launch on mobile is optimal for players across the world with system requirements that are accessible.

“We wanted to make sure players wouldn’t have to worry about whether their phones could handle game play, so we have made sure system requirements are as accessible as possible. For example, an iPhone 7, which is around 10 years old, will be sufficient for players to experience everything Delta Force has to offer,” said Yao.

Delta Force brings its high-resolution visuals to mobile, complete with global illumination systems, so players feel truly immersed in the world that has been created. Central to its design are lifelike operators, detailed weapon cosmetics, vast and detailed maps, and distinctive in-game effects.

Fans of shooters demand high frames per second (FPS) for a great experience, which is why it was vital for the developers to ensure 120 native FPS through cutting edge technology like Vulkan and Metal when building the mobile version. The team has achieved around 50% higher efficiency than most industry leading mobile shooters, making Delta Force an industry leader in terms of performance. Coupled with low input-latency, the game has been built from the ground up to be one of the smoothest mobile shooters on the market.

Play To Win

Delta Force’s progression is based on a play-to-win system which allows new and ongoing players to earn exclusive rewards. On launch, mobile players are eligible for several different rewards by signing in and playing the game. There will be $500 worth of rewards to obtain across PC & mobile, including 148 weapon appearances, 21 vehicle appearances and 270+ other rewards.

“We are truly committed to a no-pay-to-win system, with the development of our game driven by our passionate players. We value giving back, and that’s why we provide in-game rewards. We want our players to enjoy progressing and getting rewarded for doing so. Delta Force will always be a community first game.”

Delta Force Mobile is available on IOS and Android now.
Delta Force is also available on PC, get the game now at: https://www.playdeltaforce.com/en/

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Review

April 21, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Man, It’s great to have Fatal Fury back.

The OG SNK fighting game series, and the one that went toe-to-toe with Street Fighter 2 back in the 90s, Fatal Fury has been dormant for more than 25 years. SNK has been quite active in that time with the King of Fighters series and even a Samurai Shodown revival, but those offer two very different styles of fighting game, leaving Street Fighter without its most comparable SNK competition for far too long. And that’s what Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves brings to the table: A more direct alternative to Street Fighter 6 — one that is similar in its gameplay structure, but without neutral skipping system mechanics, Drive Impacts, and throw loops. It’s missing a few modern-day fighting game features that should be standard at this point and its UI is lacking to say the least, but in all of the areas that matter most, City of the Wolves hits like a Buster Wolf to the face.

Like its 90s predecessors, City of the Wolves is a four-button fighter that gives you a light punch, heavy punch, light kick, and heavy kick. There’s also a close and far version of each of these buttons, with the close versions typically leading to bigger damage and better situations, while the far versions are used more for pokes and whiff punishes. One big thing that separates City of the Wolves from Street Fighter 6 and several other modern fighting games is that there are no universal ways to easily get in on an opponent. There are no shared high speed dash-ups that let you keep your turn even if they’re blocked, no universal vanishing teleports, and no projectile-invulnerable quick steps. Characters still have plenty of options to approach, but none that are shared among the whole cast, and all of which carry significant risk.

There are no shared high speed dash-ups that let you keep your turn even if they’re blocked.

While I personally don’t mind a good neutral skip, I still greatly enjoy that larger focus on the mental chess game of each of us trying to get a feel for how the other will try and approach, and reacting accordingly. It also makes the characters that do have the ability to cover ground very quickly and safely feel a lot more unique among the rest of the cast.

New to City of the Wolves is the Rev Meter, which works very similarly to how the Drive Meter functions in Street Fighter 6, only you’re actually building this meter up instead of depleting it. You begin every round at 0%, and you’ll increase that percentage by blocking enemy attacks or using special Rev techniques – those include EX special moves, a Rev Guard that adds substantial pushback to your guard and avoids chip damage, and armored attacks called Rev Blows. Once you hit 100%, you’ll overheat and the meter will slowly start to deplete, but until it gets back to zero (which takes a really long time) you can’t use any Rev techniques, and your guard gauge will deplete every time you block an attack. Once that’s gone, your guard will be broken and you’ll be open to a free combo from your foe.

It’s a great system that has me making very important meter management decisions on the fly. Since you can chain EX Special moves into each other in order to squeeze out more damage from a combo, that gauge can rise very high very quickly over the course of just a single combo. That pushed me to ask myself whether it was worth fully cashing out on a big combo and risk either overheating or being close to overheating, or whether I should end the combo early and save some of the gauge for the rest of the round.

Rev Blows are the only part of the equation I’m not fully on board with.

Rev Blows are the only part of the equation that I’m not fully on board with. These armored attacks may initially bring to mind Drive Impacts from Street Fighter 6, but there are some very important distinctions. Like Drive Impacts, they can be used to power through an enemy flurry to deliver a big attack of your own, but unlike Drive Impacts, they only result in a full combo if they hit as a counter, not just if they absorb an attack. Still, even without countering, they do a sizable chunk of damage, are safe on block, and only cost 17% of your Rev Meter, meaning they can be used pretty liberally without much consequence – that’s especially true if the other player doesn’t know how to deal with them, which would be understandable as City of the Wolves doesn’t tell you that in any of the in-game tutorials.

Of course, these hits are not unbeatable. Like Drive Impacts, the best way to counter them is with a Rev Blow of your own, which will turn the tide and give you a free combo opportunity. Unlike Drive Impacts, though, Rev Blows can only be used during SPG (Selective Potential Gear), which is a special buff that is only active while in your choice of either the start, middle, or end portion of your health bar.

You decide where you want your SPG buff to kick in before each fight, and there are advantages to each position – but if someone starts a match with their SPG at the beginning of their health bar, and I have it set anywhere else, I just straight up don’t have my best defense against this technique until I lose either half or the majority of my life. There are other defenses, like throws, supers, and dodge attacks, but none that really match the ease and reward of the attacker just throwing a Rev Blow out there. At higher levels, you’ll see people canceling their dodge attack with a feint and getting full combos off that, but the timing window for this is very tight, and it feels like there’s no good answer for this move at low-to-mid level play.

Outside of that one relatively small issue, however, the actual fighting in City of the Wolves is excellent. There’s a great flexibility in the combo design that lets you go for either reliable and easy damage just by stringing a couple of EX special moves together, with the option to end with a super, or a more execution heavy combo that incorporates techniques like special move braking and feints, both of which require fast fingers and much greater precision. That lets you weigh the potential of an increased reward against a much higher chance of dropping the combo however you want.

There’s a great balance of both offensive and defensive options.

There’s a great balance of both offensive and defensive options as well that make it hard to just fall into a rhythm of doing the same things over and over again. On wake up you can roll forward and backwards, there are a couple of frames of throw invulnerability to prevent throw loops, and well-timed just defenses or hyper defenses are rewarded with an opportunity to guard cancel and punish attacks that aren’t normally heavily punishable. It all just feels really good.

Between a Rock and a Bogard Place

The City of the Wolves roster is a respectable 17 strong at launch, and it is a mechanically diverse cast that covers most of the original Mark of the Wolves roster along with four newcomers. Two of those newcomers, Preecha and Vox Reaper, are excellent without any caveats. Preecha is an easy to pick-up-and-play Muay Thai scientist with flashy and satisfying combos and a well-rounded skill set; while Vox Reaper is just rushdown personified. He’s one of the few characters on the roster without a projectile, but he more than makes up for it with lightning fast speed, tricky divekicks, and by being one of the few characters with one of those aforementioned plus-on-block neutral skipping dashing attacks.

I have been spending the most time with Terry and Hokutomaru. Terry because of the familiarity I have with him from other games, and Hokutomaru for the sheer variety of approach options he has. He can double jump, teleport while in the air, and use Akuma-like air projectiles to both threaten from afar and alter his jump arc to bait out anti-airs.

Then there are the guest characters: Real-world soccer pro Cristiano Ronaldo and real-world DJ Salvatore Ganacci. To get the good out of the way first, they are at least cool characters mechanically. Ronaldo’s main gimmick is that all of his normal attacks are soccer techniques that can not only damage the opponent on their own, but also be used to hit a soccer ball that can be summoned with one of his special moves. This can lead to some truly wild set ups that force you to block the ball and then guess or predict where Ronaldo is going to hit you from.

Ronaldo and Ganacci are at least cool characters mechanically.

Salvatore on the other hand is largely a gag character, with moves taken directly from his music videos and performances as a DJ, but at least they’re very entertaining to look at. I still find myself chuckling when he looks dead into the camera as he pounds an enemy’s face to the beat, and while many of his moves are slow and awkward, he surprisingly hits extremely hard even without having to spend a ton of meter.

But here’s the thing: Very little was done to make these characters feel like they belong in Fatal Fury, especially Ronaldo. Salvatore at least has his own story in the Arcade and Episodes of South Town single-player modes, but Ronaldo is completely absent from both. Not to mention, their visual designs are boring and too ordinary to match the flash and flair of someone like B. Jenet or Kain. It’s hard not to feel like these characters would have been better suited as optional DLC like most guest characters tend to be, which would’ve freed up more spots for characters that actually belong in South Town.

Greetings From South Town

As far as the rest of the package goes, the single-player options in City of the Wolves are pretty fun, even if they are pretty basic. The first is the classic Arcade mode that works as you’d expect: Each character has an intro establishing who they are and what their goal is, a rival battle, and an ending. As far as Arcade modes go, it’s actually pretty solid, even if it is very ordinary. I’ve only beaten a handful of them, but each one has had some really nice character building moments and long awaited pay offs for anyone who’s been following Fatal Fury lore for a while.

The marquee single-player option is Episodes of South Town, which is an RPG-inspired mode that lets you play through a more substantial version of a character’s story by selecting battles on a map screen. You’ll gain experience with each battle that then lets you level up and become stronger, increasing your stats and giving you access to new skills and abilities as you progress. It’s a solid diversion that adds some very welcome light progression and RPG elements while giving each character’s story a more satisfying beginning, middle, and end than what Arcade mode offers.

Some of the battles in this mode have unique conditions too, such as having to fight multiple enemies in a gauntlet, enemies always being in SPG mode, or (in one of the more frustrating conditions) your opponent being immune to every attack with the exception of a 1/66 chance that you’ll land a one-hit kill. Outside of that last one, which is a miserable time, the additional conditions do a pretty good job of adding some variety to each match without overcomplicating them or taking away from what’s fun about the combat in the first place.

One area City of the Wolves could have used some extra attention is in its teaching tools. There is a passable tutorial that covers all of the mechanics, but it doesn’t do a great job of explaining the context or usage of many of its more advanced techniques. Defending against the aforementioned Rev Blow is one example, but it also doesn’t do a great job of explaining the uses of things like Feints or Brakes. In fact, the tutorial section for Brakes basically just tells you how to do them, explains that they can be used in combos, then says that it’s a lesson for another time – but it doesn’t actually have another lesson for it!

On the online side of things, the most important question to ask when it comes to a modern fighting game is “does it have rollback netcode?” The second most important question is then “is it good rollback netcode.” For City of the Wolves the answer to those two questions are “yes!” and “ehhhh.” For the most part, during my experience with both the betas and a handful of matches on the full game’s pre-launch servers, online felt pretty good. That said, the best netcodes are able to make a bad connection still feel playable, and that definitely wasn’t the case during the worst of what I saw. I had one match with eight frames of delay that felt like I was moving through sludge, and another where my button inputs just occasionally wouldn’t go through.

For the most part, online play felt pretty good.

Most of the usual suite of options are otherwise here and accounted for. There are ranked matches, casual matches, room matches, and a replay theater to watch both your own replays and public ones (though there’s no way to filter or search for replays featuring a specific character). Unfortunately, the UI to navigate through these menus is some of the worst I’ve seen in a fighting game, with the biggest offender being the room match menu that for some reason needs to be controlled with a slow moving mouse cursor and has the look of an excel document or powerpoint presentation. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal, and the lobby itself is functional in all of the ways I’d expect – but still, it’s surprising to see in a game that otherwise drips with style once you’re in a match.

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2: TV Show vs Game Comparison

April 21, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2.

If the first episode of The Last of Us season 2 was the scene setter, then episode 2 is the catalyst for everything that comes next. It features – SPOILERS! – the death of Joel Miller, and it takes place in pretty much the exact same way as it did in the game. The devil is in the details, though, and not everything about that scene is a 1:1 recreation. That’s where our TV show vs game comparison comes in.

We’ve taken the major scenes of episode 2 that are taken from the game and compared them against the original source material, analysing what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. You can see both versions in the video above, or read on below for our written explanations.

Joel’s Death

As the instigating incident of the game and the big main event of the season’s second episode, Joel’s death was naturally going to be a meticulously recreated sequence. Both the broad strokes and many of the small details are all here; Abby blasts his leg with a shotgun and then proceeds to lay into him with a golf club. Kaityn Dever delivers the “You don’t get to rush this” line exactly as her game counterpart did. When Ellie arrives on the scene, the direction largely follows in the footsteps of the original cutscene, using the same floor-level camera angles and high-pitched sound break as Abby deals the final blow.

Lurking between the many game-accurate details are several changes, though. First and foremost is that Joel is with Dina for this scene, not Tommy. Furthermore, Dina is drugged for the whole event, which means Ellie is the only Jackson resident to witness Joel’s murder. Abby’s behaviour is also slightly different; in the show she reveals to Joel who she is and why she’s about to kill him. In the game there’s no such scene, and we’re left to believe that Joel died without truly knowing why Abby hated him so much.

Oh, and then there’s the matter of Abby’s hole in… well, not quite one. The game depicts the blow that finally kills Joel as a horrible bit of blunt force trauma to the skull, using the actual head of the golf club. In the show, the club is broken in Abby’s assault, and so all that’s left is the sharp broken end. Abby uses this as a shiv, stabbing it into Joel’s neck.

Abby’s Flashback

Episode two features a sequence in which a young Abby searches the Fireflies’ hospital for her dad. It’s a recreation of the end of Tracking Lessons, the chapter of the game where the perspective shifts from Ellie to Abby. While the setting of this scene remains the same – the hospital corridor bathed in red emergency lighting – the actual events are rather different.

In the show, older Abby confronts her younger self, cementing that this is a dream sequence rather than a flashback. Abby tells herself not to look inside the operating room, as she’ll have to see her dead father. Younger Abby does go into the operating room, but the camera does not follow, and so we’re left with just the older Abby’s restrained tears to relay the horror found inside. In the game, since you are in control of Abby, you get to see the inside of the room and Abby’s reaction to finding her father.

This reframing of the scene is likely due to its shifted position; in the game, this is the moment you learn that Abby’s father was killed in Joel’s attack on the Fireflies, and so the raw emotion of seeing Abby cry on the operating room flaw is necessary to humanise a character who has been portrayed as a villain for the prior 10 or so hours. The show reveals Abby’s motive from the very start and moves this sequence to much earlier in the story, and so it serves a different purpose.

Ellie’s Awkward Morning

The most faithful scene recreation of episode two arrives when Jesse comes knocking at Ellie’s door to go out on patrol. What follows is an awkward exchange regarding Ellie and Dina’s kiss the previous night at the barn dance – Dina, of course, had only recently split up with Jesse. The dialogue here is a 95% match to the game’s script, and the camera work also does its best to recreate the conversation in exact detail.

The main difference here is context. In the game, the barn dance isn’t shown until right near the end of the campaign, and so when playing this sequence you’re using the information provided by the characters to piece together an event you’ve not witnessed. In the show, you know exactly what Jesse and Ellie are talking about, as you watched it happen in the previous episode.

Bigot Sandwiches

Similar to Ellie’s conversation with Jesse, her encounter with Seth the morning after the dance is largely a 1:1 replication of the same scene in the game. Seth has once again prepared steak sandwiches as an apology, and much of the dialogue around this awkward exchange is taken straight from the game’s script. The main difference here is that Jesse is now part of the scene, and he thanks Seth for the sandwiches rather than Maria. Additionally, the building itself is visually very different to that in the game, looking more like a canteen than a timber-constructed bar.

Eugene’s Weed Farm

The show sees Jesse and Ellie head out on a patrol that recreates the middle section of the game’s first chapter. Fans of the game will instantly notice a key difference, as Ellie’s discovery of Eugene’s weed farm actually takes place during the same patrol depicted in episode one where Ellie and Dina explore the supermarket. These events have been split up and changed, as it’s now Jesse, not Dina who accompanies Ellie. That means the show removes the sequence in which Ellie and Dina smoke weed and are implied to have sex.

Despite this, there are still several key elements of the sequence that are kept intact. Ellie still discovers Eugene’s Firefly pendant, as well as his once-impressive marijuana operation (which is far less well hidden in the show.) Among the belongings scattered about, Ellie finds Eugene’s bong gas mask, which can also be found in the game. Jesse, however, is much less impressed with Eugene’s ingenuity than Dina was.

Abby’s Escape

Abby’s fateful encounter with the infected horde plays out much like it does in the game’s first chapter. A chase sequence results in Abby becoming trapped behind a chainlink fence that begins to collapse under the weight of the clawing runners. If anything, this sequence is even nastier than it was in the game thanks to a shot of a hand being pushed through the fence, the wire cutting through the flesh. Aside from that, the broad direction of this scene is very close to the framing of the game, right up to the way Joel’s revolver appears from the side of the shot to blast the infected that pins Abby to the ground.

For more from The Last of Us, check out our spoiler-free season two review and our spoiler-filled review of the second episode. We’ve also asked the show’s creators about how canon can change, and what that means for the show’s biggest plot points.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

AU Deals: Save Hundreds Off a Wheel, 101 Bethesda Deals, 115 Capcom Bargains, and More!

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Whether you’re building a pile of shame, or you just love a good scroll through sweet savings, today’s discounts are stacked with some genuinely irresistible cuts. From blockbuster RPGs to creative indies and even a slice of motorsport hardware, there’s a little something for every kind of gamer. I say make your Monday bearable with a bargain.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I’m using a Flaming Crossbow to light a 25-candle cake for MediEvil 2. Sadly, this was the last entry in what should have been a much longer PS One franchise (the best the series got was a PSP reboot). Once again, we had to lose an eyeball and slip into the mouldy armour of Sir Dan Fortesque, a resurrected noob who dropped in the first arrow salvo of his battlefield debut. In this sequel, he was chopping heads and collecting crap with a ghost sidekick and a mummy love interest, all for the purposes of thwarting Jack the Ripper. No, really.

Aussie bdays for notable games

– MediEvil 2 (PS) 2000. eBay

– SOCOM 4 (PS3) 2011. eBay

– Conduit 2 (Wii) 2011. eBay

Contents

  • Nintendo
  • Xbox
  • PlayStation
  • PC
  • PC Gear
  • LEGO
  • Headphones
  • TVs

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

On Nintendo Switch, Cities: Skylines is going for the cost of a servo sausage roll, and it’s a steal. Meanwhile, Burnout Paradise Remastered delivers arcade mayhem and open-world crashes galore. It still holds up thanks to its seamless sense of speed and the underrated joy of the “Showtime” crash mode.

  • EA Sports FC 25 (-70%) – A$26
  • Sonic Frontiers (-53%) – A$47
  • Crash Team Racing NF (-65%) – A$24
  • Burnout Paradise Remastered (-84%) – A$6
  • Cities: Skylines (-90%) – A$6

Expiring Recent Deals

  • Bravely Default II (-37%) – A$50
  • Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (-50%) – A$39
  • Everybody 1-2-Switch! (-23%) – A$38
  • Golf Story (-83%) – A$3
  • Persona 5 Royal (-65%) – A$34
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (-67%) – A$26
  • Unicorn Overlord (-50%) – A$47

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

Switch Console Prices

How much to Switch it up?

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

Over on Xbox Series X, Mass Effect Legendary Ed. is a must-grab. BioWare reportedly rebuilt over 30,000 textures for this remaster, giving Commander Shepard’s space saga the polish it always deserved. Maybe pair that with Red Dead Redemption 2 at 75% off, where devs once spent weeks capturing real horse audio. Seriously.

  • Monster Hunter Wilds (-15%) – A$98
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (-75%) – A$22
  • RoboCop: Rogue City (-80%) – A$17
  • Monster Hunter Rise (-75%) – A$14
  • Mass Effect Legendary Ed. (-90%) – A$9

Xbox One

  • Ori and the Blind Forest: Def. (-80%) – A$5
  • Disco Elysium – The Final Cut (-70%) – A$17
  • Cris Tales (-95%) – A$3

Expiring Recent Deals

  • WWE 2K25 (-26%) – A$89
  • Persona 3 Reload (-45%) – A$59
  • Witcher 3 Complete (-54%) – A$37
  • Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater (-16%) – A$109
  • Split Fiction (-16%) – A$59
  • The Crew Motorfest (-52%) – A$48
  • Lego Marvel Super Heroes (-78%) – A$19

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

Xbox Console Prices

How many bucks for a ‘Box?

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

On PS5, Carrion flips the script by letting you play as the monster. It was, to my delight, born from a dev’s sketchbook obsession with John Carpenter’s The Thing. For a blockbuster vibe, Hogwarts Legacy: Del. Ed. lets you explore the wizarding world before Harry was even a twinkle in Rowling’s quill.

  • Logitech G923 Wheel (-44%) – A$360
  • Lords of the Fallen (-72%) – A$30
  • Carrion (-75%) – A$6
  • Hogwarts Legacy: Del. Ed. (-75%) – A$29
  • Lego Skywalker Saga Del. (-80%) – A$19

PS4

  • Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (-60%) – A$27
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (-60%) – A$27
  • Neo: The World Ends with You (-60%) – A$33

Expiring Recent Deals

  • Metal Gear Solid Δ (-16%) – A$109
  • Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Leg. (-44%) – A$101
  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows (-19%) – A$89
  • Judgment (-48%) – A$28
  • Stellar Blade (-40%) – A$74
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (-37%) – A$69
  • Kingdom Hearts All-in-One (-54%) – A$74
  • Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (-56%) – A$17

PS+ Monthly Freebies
Yours to keep from Apr 1 with this subscription

  • RoboCop: Rogue City | PS5
  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | PS4/5
  • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth HM | PS4

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

What you’ll pay to ‘Station.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

PC gamers should know that Prey is down to just three bucks. Arkane’s immersive sim hides a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet in the dev room; a nod to their own tabletop campaigns. And if you’ve never played Psychonauts, now’s the time. Tim Schafer wrote much of the hilarious script on post-it notes.

  • 101 Bethesda Deals Sale
  • 115 Capcom Deals Sale
  • RoboCop: Rogue City (-86%) – A$10
  • Prey (-90%) – A$3
  • Psychonauts (-91%) – A$1
  • Doom (-80%) – A$6

Expiring Recent Deals

  • Space Marine 2 (-39%) – A$59
  • Blue Prince (-16%) – A$36
  • Lords of the Fallen (-69%) – A$27
  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows (-17%) – A$82
  • Black Desert (-90%) – A$1

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

PC Hardware Prices

Slay your pile of shame.

Laptop Deals

  • Apple 2024 MacBook Air 15-inch (-12%) – A$2,197
  • Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 (-36%) – A$879
  • Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen7 (-27%) – A$1,018

Desktop Deals

  • HP OMEN 35L Gaming (-10%) – A$2,799
  • Lenovo ThinkCentre neo Ultra (-25%) – A$2,249
  • Lenovo ThinkCentre neo 50q (-35%) – A$629

Monitor Deals

  • LG 24MR400-B, 24″ (-30%) – A$97
  • Z-Edge 27″ 240Hz (-15%) – A$279
  • Samsung 57″ Odyssey Neo Curved (-22%) – A$2,499

Component Deals

  • MSI PRO B650M-A WiFi Motherboard (-41%) – A$229
  • AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (-7%) – A$876
  • Corsair Vengeance 32GB (-35%) – A$82
  • Kingston FURY Beast 16GB (-30%) – A$48

Storage Deals

  • Seagate One Touch Portable HDD (-24%) – A$228
  • Kingston 1TB USB 3.2 SSD (-17%) – A$115
  • SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO (-63%) – A$29
  • SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC (-53%) – A$9.90

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Legit LEGO Deals

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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.

The Last of Us: Season 2 Episode 2 Review

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

The following contains full spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2.

Let’s face it, this week’s The Last of Us is all about one thing: the death of Joel Miller. As such, it creates certain expectations: Abby killing Joel will leave as big an impact as possible – a crater in Ellie’s life that she can only fill with vengeance – and everything else in the episode will be geared toward making sure that happens. It’s the inciting moment for the rest of the story. The most crucial moment in the series (perhaps, outside of Joel’s fateful choice at the end of season 1). It’s therefore disappointing that for most parts of season 2 of The Last of Us’ second episode, it feels like an afterthought – a sideshow to an explosive, albeit exciting, battle sequence. Neither halves of this story are executed poorly – far from it, with both thrilling visual style and character-led substance – they just don’t fuse together into a satisfying whole.

Mark Mylod of Succession fame (and seemingly HBO’s go-to pair of hands when it comes to an episode ticking down to a father’s death) has a lot to juggle when directing this chapter. It’s partially an ode to The Lord of the Rings’ Helms Deep sequence (plus some Hardhome from Game of Thrones), and partially a cold, brutal examination of murder as a means of closure. The latter is the most crucial piece of the jigsaw, and for the first half of the episode, the tension is ratcheted up beautifully, culminating in a wonderfully claustrophobic sequence that sees Abby struggling through the snow under a wire fence buckling under stacks of infected. The pressure generated is suffocating, and a true display of the rabid relentlessness of the infected.

It’s preceded by a truly haunting image of her pursuers emerging from the ground and defrosting themselves like some incredibly angry frozen peas, as the camera pulls up to reveal the sheer scale of their numbers. It’s a clever representation of the layers of evil being exposed to us in this second season. The avalanche of human fungus makes us fear for Abby, a character we should show little sympathy towards, considering what brought her to Jackson – the irony of Joel rescuing her is not lost on anyone.

It’s therefore a shame that such tension in that scenario is then completely let out by a lengthy detour back into the town, the new target of the infected’s ire. It takes all of the emotional stakes out of the episode for a good chunk of time as the characters we’ve grown most attached to (Joel and Ellie included) find themselves outside the walls and away from the onslaught.

The battle, as a result, almost serves as a distraction from Joel’s death, which is overshadowed by the bombast.

Episode 2 is a budget-flexer, and whereas the first season was restrained in its infected approach, it’s enjoyable to see mayhem take hold and fire meet ice in a way only HBO knows how to pull off. There’s no doubting the skill at hand when it comes to the production design and performances that breathe life into it. The invasion is stunningly shot at times, with vast mountain faces beautifully photographed as characters dot them like ants and snarling Clickers rise from the snow in incredible detail. There’s no denying the spectacle that the battle itself delivers – the Bloater breach and subsequent flamethrower retaliation is a real standout piece of staging. But Tommy and his family aside, our ties to these characters are limited.

The battle, as a result, almost serves as a distraction from Joel’s death, which is overshadowed by the bombast. The fateful scene itself is well constructed, but just feels at odds with much of the episode. I should make it clear that I’m a huge fan of The Last of Us Part 2 and the bold decisions the game makes; when I first played the game, this turn packed a hell of a gut punch, shocking me with its stark violence and sudden nature. Maybe I’ve grown desensitized to its brutality after experiencing it several times, but I think my muted reaction to episode 2 is also due to a lack of calm before the storm. With some of our attention directed to what’s going on a few miles from the lodge that’s been commandeered by Abby and her WLF comrades, we’re ushered into the torture suddenly before the re-creation of the game’s swift, devastating shotgun blast to Joel’s knee.

Once we’re fully in the lodge, however, the scene mostly achieves its goals. The unsteady camera takes on the palpable unease as it floats around the room and Owen, Mel, Manny, and Nora share uncomfortable glances with each other. They’re in stark contrast to Abby, who is cold and menacing, and taken hold by an anger that instills fear in her closest allies. It’s a great showcase for Kaitlyn Dever’s range, which is fully on display as she slips into an almost sadistic mindset – the slow focus pull from her determined face to a nearby set of golf clubs almost met with a smile.

I am torn about the actual method of Joel’s departure, though. On the one hand, I like the finality of the mangled club shaft nestling into his neck and the way Abby leaves sitting there almost like a monument to her victory. It also offers some nice symmetry to when Joel finds himself impaled in season 1, but this time, there is nothing Ellie can do about it. And though it’s undoubtedly violent, some of the shock is dulled, falling short of the blunt punctuation delivered by Abby’s final swing in the game.

Of course, Pedro Pascal is no stranger to having his head pulped on HBO (the GoT parallels abound in this episode), and in depicting the death of the show’s antihero (or villain, depending on your viewpoint), he delivers a note-perfect performance. There’s an acceptance in his eyes that his time has come and an acknowledgment that he must pay for his decisions. It may be barely believable that Pascal is portraying a 60-year-old Joel here, but I completely bought into his softer portrayal of a character Troy Baker originally brought a gnarlier edge to. A word should also go out to Bella Ramsey who excels at conveying Ellie’s devastation. Her cries are heartfelt and genuine, but laced with an anger towards Abby that seemingly won’t soon dissipate.

So there is some shock in this sequence – and within the 15 minutes or so where it’s the sole focus of the episode – it’s just a shame then that so much of the runtime is dedicated to a story that arguably could have been told as a separate chapter. It’s breathtakingly rendered at times, but watching people we barely know fall prey to waves of infected takes us away from the episode’s emotional core all too often. (Give or take Tommy’s alleyway blowout with a Bloater.) This is a rare miss from a creative team that has historically weaved together its big moments with much less strain.

The Best Deals Today: 4K Middle-Earth Collection, Razer Huntsman V2 TKL, Garmin Instinct 2S Watch, and More

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for April 20 below:

Save 55% Off The 4K Middle-Earth 6-Film Collection

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is simply one of the greatest experiences you will ever have. I try my best to watch through the extended editions once each year, but the fun doesn’t stop there. There’s also The Hobbit trilogy, which is another incredible set of films. This weekend at Amazon, you can score all six films in beautiful 4K for only $94.68. Previously, both trilogies were priced just below this separately, so this is a great deal.

Razer Huntsman V2 TKL for $74.99

Best Buy has the Razer Huntsman V2 TKL Mechanical Keyboard for just $74.99 today. This keyboard features clicky optical switches that feel much lighter than most other mechanical switches out there, as you can get up to true 8000Hz polling rate for lower input latency. The Huntsman V2 TKL features doubleshot PBT caps, which are more durable and sturdy to ensure longer life. Another key offering of this keyboard is the detachable USB-C cable, so you won’t need to worry about wrapping your cable around when moving.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 for $30

You can score Capcom’s massive RPG for just $30 this weekend at Amazon. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating, “It is a retelling and reimplementation of all of those wonderful ideas from the 2012 cult-classic, including an awesome dynamic world and some of the best combat in the genre that integrates a subtle but amazingly complex physics system.”

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii for $49.99

The latest Like a Dragon game stars everyone’s favorite ex-yakuza, Goro Majima, on an adventure to sail the seas as a pirate. When Majima wakes up unable to remember anything about himself, he embarks on a quest to regain his memories, and of course, in true Like a Dragon fashion, things get crazy. This is the lowest we’ve seen this game so far, so be sure to pick up a copy while you can.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin for $19.99

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is arguably one of the most unique entries in the entire Final Fantasy series. Developed by the team behind Nioh, this action RPG is one you won’t forget anytime soon. There are references to numerous Final Fantasy games, with a significant link to a certain character. Oh, and expect plenty of Chaos.

Garmin Instinct 2S Watch for $179.99

You can score this Garmin Instinct 2S Watch for just $179.99 this weekend. The Instinct 2S is packed with features for any condition, such as water-rated for up to 100 meters and thermal/shock resistant with a fiber-reinforced case. One of the best features of any Garmin watch is the battery life, and the Instinct 2S is no exception, as it offers up to 21 days in smartwatch mode. You can even pair the 2S with your phone to track features like heart rate, Pulse Ox, respiration, and more.

Super Mario Party Jamboree for $44.99

With the recent reveal of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, it’s no question that you are going to want to save anywhere you can. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Super Mario Party Jamboree is set to cost $79.99, but you can upgrade from a Nintendo Switch copy for presumably $20. This weekend, save your cash and pick up a copy of Super Mario Party Jamboree from Woot for only $44.99.

Paradise Killer for $25

This weekend, you can save $15 off a physical PS4 copy of Paradise Killer. In our 9/10 review, we wrote, “Paradise Killer marries a beautifully repulsive world with a gratifyingly open-ended approach to detective work, but its real achievement is in how it ties everything you’ve learned together.”

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble for $19.99

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is the return to form many Monkey Ball fans have waited years for. You’ve got over 200 courses, tons of guest characters, and all sorts of modes—what’s not to love? In our 8/10 review, we wrote, “Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is a brilliant return to form. Monkey Ball has finally found its way home again with a set of 200 fantastic courses that range from delightfully charming to devilishly challenging, backed up by tight mechanics and predictable physics that put me in total control of my monkey’s fate.”

Score This Pokémon Movie Collection for $13.99

Amazon has the first three Pokémon movies available on sale for $13.99 total. This Blu-ray collection packs in Pokémon: The First Movie, Pokémon 2000: The Movie, and Pokémon 3: The Movie. If you’re a fan of the Pokémon anime or looking to enter the world of Pokémon for the first time, this collection is an excellent choice!

Save on LEGO Flowers

Finally, you can save on select LEGO Flowers this weekend ahead of Easter! If you’re on the hunt for a last-minute gift, these are a perfect choice for any family member, friend, or significant other.

Star Wars: Visions Gets a Volume 3 Release Date and a Spin-Off Series That Will Debut With a Ninth Jedi Story – Star Wars Celebration

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Star Wars Celebration not only revealed that Volume 3 of Star Wars: Visions will be released on October 29, 2025, but also that a new spin-off series is in the works that will debut with the next chapter of The Ninth Jedi story that began in Volume 1.

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 will feature nine short films from different Japanese anime studios, including Studio Trigger (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners), WIT Studio (Attack on Titan), David Production, Kamikaze Douga, ANIMA, Kinema citrus Co., Polygon Pictures, Production I.G., and Project Studio Q.

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 arrives October 29, 2025 only on @DisneyPlus. #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/9bGEu1DQZS

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 20, 2025

It was also confirmed that three of the episodes will be a continuation of stories from previous seasons, and those are Kamikaze Douga’s The Duel, Kinema citrus Co.’s The Village Bride, and Production I.G.’s The Ninth Jedi.

Speaking of The Ninth Jedi, writer and director Kenji Kamiyama stopped by Star Wars Celebration to share that Kara’s journey will be continued in this new spin-off series that will allow for longer stories from the larger Star Wars: Visions universe.

While we didn’t get many more details, we do know that Kara will appear alongside Juro in the upcoming ‘Child of Hope’ episode in Volume 3.

For more, check out our review of Star Wars: Visions Volume 1 and Volume 2, as well as the news that you’ll soon be caring for Grogu on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, our chat about the future of Disney Parks experiences, and all the biggest news from The Mandalorian & Grogu, Ahsoka, Andor panels.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

Fortnite Is Adding Darth Jar Jar and a Star Wars-Themed Battle Pass for Its Galactic Battle Season

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Fortnite is celebrating Star Wars in a big way as its next season – Galactic Battle – is arriving on May 2 and will feature not only a Star Wars-themed Battle Pass and a five-part saga with plenty of surprises, but also the arrival of Darth Jar Jar to the Battle Royale.

The surprising yet incredible news was shared during Star Wars Celebration, and we got a tease of even more of the Star Wars fun headed our way next month, including that Force Lightning will be joining the game as an in-game ability.

✔️ Star Wars Themed Battle Pass
✔️ Weekly Gameplay Content
✔️ Culminating in a Live End of Season Narrative Event
➡️ Fortnite Galactic Battle arrives May 2, 2025 pic.twitter.com/JmRStRA2Um

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 20, 2025

It was also confirmed that Emperor Palpatine and mashups like Wookiee Cuddle Team Leader will be part of the Battle Pass, new Item Shop offerings will include Mace Windu, players will be able to pilot and co-pilot X-Wings and TIE Fighters, there will be themed map locations, and much more.

As for the Star Wars saga we will be experiencing, each week will have a “different overarching theme,” and they are as follows;

  • Imperial Takeover – May 2, 2025
  • The Pull of the Force – May 8, 2025
  • Mandalorian Rising – May 22, 2025
  • Star Destroyer Bombardment – May 29, 2025
  • Death Star Sabotage – June 7, 2025

And yes, this saga will culminate in an in-game narrative live event that will “surely have players feeling like they’ve got the fate of the whole galaxy in their hands.”

For more from Star Wars Celebration, check out how The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Sigourney Weaver had Grogu steal her heart, our chat with Hayden Christensen about returning to Anakin, how and all the biggest news from The Mandalorian & Grogu, Ahsoka, Andor panels.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

Bringing Star Wars Experiences to Life With Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Live Entertainment – Star Wars Celebration

April 20, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Star Wars Celebration gave us a sneak peak at the future of Disney Parks experiences, and IGN had the chance to talk to Walt Disney Imagineering’s Asa Kalama and Disney Live Entertainment’s Michael Serna about The Mandalorian & Grogu-themed update headed to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, the impossibly adorable BDX droids headed to Disney Parks, and so much more.

Alongside revealing these exciting new experiences headed to Disney Parks around the world, Kalama and Serna also gave us a look into how they bring this Disney Magic to life and allow us to experience our favorite stories and characters in moments that will last with us for a lifetime.

The Mandalorian and Grogu-Themed Update to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Will Let Engineers Take Care of Grogu

One of the biggest reveals at Star Wars Celebration was that Engineers will be able to take care of Grogu aboard Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run when The Mandalorian and Grogu-themed update arrives on the attraction alongside the film on May 22, 2026.

While the storyline featured on the attraction will follow a “different path” than the film, it will put each crew member on a team with Mando and Grogu. The Engineer, however, appears to be the seat fans should be looking forward to sitting in as they will get to not only interact with Grogu, but also choose where in that galaxy far, far away we’ll be headed to.

“Throughout the mission, we’re going to be giving the engineers the opportunity to actually get to communicate with Grogu,” Kalama said. “So, we think it’s going to be a ton of fun. There may be times when Mando has to deboard the Razor Crest and Grogu, left to his own devices, might get a little happy on the control panel. So, we love the idea of there being these fun little vignettes and moments where you’re sort of on the comm with Grogu.”

As for the choose-your-own-adventure side of it, Kalama tells us there will be “sort of a critical moment in your adventure where you are strapped for time and have to make a lightning quick decision about which of our particular bounties we want to pursue. And that’s going to be the sort of inciting incident that allows us to decide which are the different destinations we go to.”

That choice looks to take players to Bespin, the Death Star wreckage above Endor, and the newly-announced location of Coruscant. And yes, all of this is wrapped around a new story where “Hondo Ohnaka catches wind of a deal on Tatooine between ex-Imperial officers and pirates, setting the stage for a high-stakes chase across the galaxy. Guests will team up with Mando and Grogu to track them down and claim a bounty in a dynamic, galaxy-spanning adventure.”

The BDX Droids Will Be Traveling From Disney Parks Around the World Right Into Your Heart

The wonderful BDX Droids that have been taking over the hearts and minds of Star Wars fans around the world will officially be headed to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disney, and we couldn’t be happier.

These droids, that will also appear in The Mandalorian & Grogu, have been under development for some time, and the goal was to bring new experiences to guests at Disney Parks that will immerse them more in the stories they love.

“The goal of the BDX Droids was to look at how we bring characters to life in our parks in different ways, and this is really technology merging with this piece of entertainment and a backstory we created specifically for the parks because these kind of originate with the parks,” Kalama said. “They’ve appeared in games and other places, but we created an original story just for us and we’ve sort of evolved that as we’ve moved on to sites all over the world.”

“And they have lot of fun childlike qualities and do all sorts of cute things that people would do,” Serna added. “So, we realized we kind of needed to identify each one of them with a personality. It made it much more interesting to engage with them and allowed us a lot of flexibility and a lot of ways to continue to expand that world. So, in the same way we love R2-D2 and other droids that we become connected to, we think you’ll become connected to certain colors of the BDX droids. Each color is really a unique personality.”

These BDX Droids are just one way the teams at Disney are evolving Disney Park’s experiences, and Kalama and Serna discussed how they are all thinking about making these interactions and moments we all cherish even better.

“The technology behind the animatronics is influencing how we’re looking at robotics and character experiences and these up close experiences that continue to inspire us,” Serna said. “So, we see those amazing animatronics in, for example, the Frozen attraction, and we start to think how we bring those out of an attraction and onto a street. I think you’re going to see a lot more of those kinds of things in our parks around the world, which means using technology in ways you’re not expecting when they are so close to you.”

“I think that idea of using technology in both unexpected ways and invisible ways is really important to sort of how we approach all of this stuff,” Kalama added. “I think we are very much in the business of creating that sense of suspension and disbelief, and oftentimes there’s no other way to bring a character to life than through robotics. But one of the things that’s incredibly unique to the work that we do, as compared to what you might see in an automotive factory, is we have to figure out how to bring character, emotion, and personality to life. That’s an entirely different technical challenge than just getting a robot to be able to balance on its own as a for instance. How do you get it to do that in a way that makes you feel something?”

From Peter Pan and Star Tours to Creating the Future

In a smiliar fashion to many of us, those like Kalama and Serna at Disney grew up loving Disney Parks and certain attractions that inspired them to one day be part of the team that creates new experiences they hope will do the same thing for a new generation.

We spent a few moments talking about our shared love of certain attractions and it was a surprising insight into how the future is crafted.

“As a little kid, riding Peter Pan was most exciting for me,” Serna said. “To fly in this vehicle… I think it really blew my mind. I had no idea how it worked. I just thought, “Oh my God, we’re flying!” And then, as I got a little older and became a huge Star Wars fan, Star Tours was really the ride that changed my life as far as what I thought theme parks can do. Peter Pan was an amazing story, but it was sort of something from the past. However, seeing something that I love from the Star Wars films represented that way… I mean, if you remember back then, we were in an era of no new Star Wars stuff and this was a new adventure and I couldn’t believe I was now in a Star Wars story myself.

“And so I think when we do our jobs well, we invite the entire family, regardless of how old you are right now, to feel truly transported and completely lost in a fantasy.”

“I think that inspires me every day when I think about the work we do. It’s not necessarily about what I want to do, but it’s mostly what 10-year-old Michael really wanted to do. That’s what I want to put out there for our guests. I feel like if 10-year-old Michael will love it, you’re probably going to love it too, whatever age you are.”

“I only had the opportunity to visit the park one time before I became a cast member, and I was probably eight years old and I was so obsessed with all things science fiction,” Kalama shared. “I literally refused to leave Tomorrowland. So, the first time I ever encountered any of the other lands was as an adult. But again, for me, as Michael said, I have one vivid memory and it was Star Tours. That was the attraction for me. I mean, the suspension of disbelief was through the roof and I fully believed that I was on a star speeder and that I had traveled through the galaxy. I think that sense of magic of disassociation with reality and entering into this complete fantasy world is powerful, not only for kids, but I think it’s just as important for adults. And so I think when we do our jobs well, we invite the entire family, regardless of how old you are right now, to feel truly transported and completely lost in a fantasy.”

And now, thanks to these rides, Kalama and Serna are helping craft the future of Disney Parks experiences. To end, we wanted to see what they were proud of in the work they’ve done so far, and they shared a couple great stories.

Serna helped bring to life Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga at Disneyland, which is a projection show at Galaxy’s Edge that let’s guests experience not only the fireworks with a Star Wars flair but also a special story even on nights when there aren’t any.

“That was actually about a two year process of looking at something that was happening in the parks daily, which was fireworks. People would sit in Batuu and watch the fireworks, but there was no music or anything. You were just sitting there in silence watching fireworks. So, we sort of looked at that as an opportunity to say, well, maybe we need to create something here and create it in the world of Star Wars.

“So, we worked really closely with Lucasfilm to sort of look at what would a fireworks type show be in Galaxy’s Edge. We created a character that was our storyteller. We created a droid that was part of the experience. We created a whole sort of performative piece around it and that actually led us to our next stage. There are some nights when there aren’t fireworks. What are you going to do those nights now? So, Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga is really looking at using the spires as a projection space and creating something immersive that we’ve never done in a theme park before. This is the idea of a storyteller who has traveled around the galaxy, who has heard the story of Anakin Skywalker, and has now created an experience for us to sort of learn that tale in a new way.”

For Kalama, it’s all about those little touches you may never know but add up to something spectacular.

“I think something that I hope is invisible to our fans, but something that they appreciate, is that there is just an obsessive level of attention to detail that we put into everything,” Kalama said. “The number of very serious conversations we’ve had around the type of screw head that we should put on a panel wall, because… well… Phillips doesn’t exist in the Star Wars timeline or the receipt paper that comes out of the printer when you make a purchase. We really go above and beyond to think about what are all of the small infinitesimal details that might not seem all that important on their own, but when they add up together they make the space feel truly authentic and immersive.”

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

Paul Rudd Hypes Nintendo Switch 2 With Playful Throwback to Infamous 90s SNES Commercial

April 19, 2025 Ogghy Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Nintendo has tapped actor Paul Rudd to hype up the Nintendo Switch 2 in a brand new commercial that pays corny-yet-adorable homage to a beloved 90s commercial he did for the Super Nintendo.

The original commercial, which aired in 1991, shows Rudd in a long black jacket, beaded necklace, and really, uh, interesting hairdo stomping up to a drive-in movie theater, SNES in hand. He hooks it up and begins playing a number of favorites on the big screen: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, F-Zero, Sim City, and others, while a crowd of interested onlookers forms around him. The commercial ends with the famous SNES slogan: “Now you’re playing with power.”

In the new Nintendo Switch 2 commercial, Rudd is 34 years older but somehow looks…kind of the same? He’s still got the coat, and the necklace, and the hair. But this time, he stomps into a living room and hooks up a Nintendo Switch 2 to play with comedians Joe Lo Truglio and Jordan Carlos, as well as a kid that calls him “Uncle Paul.” They play Mario Kart World using the system’s new GameChat feature, and the others tease Rudd about his get-up and wacky 90s ad attitude, which includes the commercial lampshading a fog machine and a fan blowing to make the atmosphere look as intense as it did in the 90s. The commercial concludes with Rudd voicing that instead of playing with power, “Now we’re playing together.” The whole thing is cheesy as heck, but goes along with the bit and acknowledges the goofiness of the original commercial to what amounts to a pretty cute effect.

IGN had the pleasure of sitting down with Rudd to talk to him about his experience shooting a follow-up Nintendo hardware commercial over 30 years after his first crack at it. During our chat, we learned that Rudd suspects he was wearing his own beaded necklace in the original commercial, and that he kept playing Mario Kart World on the set in between takes. Unfortunately, he says, they didn’t let him take a Nintendo Switch 2 home with him. You can watch our full interview right here:

Just this week, we got word that Nintendo Switch 2 preorders are back on for April 24 this time, and the price is still $450, though accessory prices have gone up due to the impact of tariffs in the United States. We’ve got everything you need to know about where and how to get one of those sweet, sweet pre-orders in our guide.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

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