And just like that the Nintendo Switch was set to have its biggest year since launch. The pieces moved into place slowly (and might not hold), but on paper at least, the portable console’s 2022 is set to be bookended by  Pokémon Legends: Arceus  and  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 , with a whole lot more between. It’s 2017 all over again, but bigger. That year saw the Switch launch with  BOTW  and then follow-up with  Splatoon 2  and  Mario Odyssey  in the months that followed.  It seemed like an accident , in part because  BOTW  was supposed to come to Wii U years earlier, and one unlikely to be repeated. And yet, as the Switch hits the  middle of its hardware lifecycle , that seems to be what’s happening. The Nintendo release calendar has a way of sneaking up on you. That’s what happened last fall when a seemingly sleepy season for Switch  ended up holding its own against the competition , thanks to a steady stream of breakouts from  Metroid Dread  to  Pokémon Brilliant

  George R.R. Martin is credited as a key voice behind  Elden Ring , helping game director Hidetaka Miyazaki conceive the otherworldly fantasy setting of From Software’s latest blockbuster video game. But thirty hours into the adventure, I haven’t noticed many particular storylines or environments that echo Martin’s most popular work of fantasy,  Game of Thrones . In fact, the only connection is a borderline blatant nod to the hit book series turned prestige TV phenomenon. [ Ed. note:  This story contains minor spoilers for a weapon in  Elden Ring .] As far as references go, the sword, rewarded upon pummeling a minor boss, is an awesome one. Dubbed the Grafted Blade Greatsword, the blade converts  Game of Throne ’s singular throne made from dozens of swords into a singular sword made from dozens of swords. The weapon isn’t especially challenging to retrieve (you’ll probably be powerful enough to beat the necessary foes after 10-20 hours) but once you pluck the blade from the maw of evi

  Smithing Stones are extremely important materials in  Elden Ring , allowing players to upgrade their weapons and shields. In the earliest stages of the game, fans will need to use Smithing Stone [1] and Smithing Stone [2] to power up their gear, though they may be uncertain about where they can find these materials. Fortunately,  Elden Ring 's Smithing Stone [1] and [2] are not exceedingly rare, and this guide will detail the easiest way to obtain them in large quantities. Elden Ring: How to Buy Smithing Stone 1 & 2 Players that are interested in obtaining an abundance of Smithing Stone [1] and [2] should consider simply buying these materials. Indeed, it is possible to use Runes to purchase an unlimited number of these two types of Stones, which makes it very easy to put a few preliminary upgrades on numerous  weapons in  Elden Ring . Fans will not be able to buy Smithing Stone [1] and [2] straightaway, though, as they must first fulfill a couple of prerequisites. The first

  It’s exactly 26 years since the first  Pokémon  games released in Japan and the developers of the series lived up to the hype of this year’s international Pokémon Day by offering up a ton of updates on current games and one major surprise reveal: new mainline entries  Pokémon Scarle t and  Violet  are coming to Nintendo Switch in late 2022. When the latest Pokémon Presents livesetream was announced just a couple days ago, fans assumed their  might be news about future DLC  for  Pokémon Legends: Arceus . Instead we got much, much more. Here’s a quick rundown of everything that was announced and one thing that wasn’t: The  mobile game  will see its Pokédex expanded to include Gen 7 additions from  Sun  and  Moon . Those include starters like Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio, and nearly 80 others. The  gacha game  will get a new boss-rush mode where you can battle Victory Road trainers back-to-back. It’s also adding a bunch of new sync pairs over the next month including May and Latias and S

  Multiple rumors have surfaced regarding the  Call of Duty  franchise recently, as leakers have speculated that the series may make many interesting changes in the future. The latest  Call of Duty  rumor relates to the possibility of a new standalone experience of one of the series' most beloved modes. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, and leaker Tom Henderson,  there will allegedly be no new mainline  Call of Duty  game arriving in 2023 . Some have speculated that this is the result of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, as  Call of Duty: Vanguard  did not do as well as the company expected it to. Microsoft may have encouraged the alleged delay as a means to get the series back on track, however, it seems as though a different kind of  Call of Duty  could come about in 2023. Leakers Tom Henderson, RalphsValve, and CODMW2Informer have allegedly received insider information regarding the possibility of a surprising change for the franchise. This change is sp

  The  long wait  is over:  Elden Ring  has finally arrived. FromSoftware's latest opus has received overwhelmingly  positive reviews , but there are some notable issues with the RPG. For one thing, there's a problem with game save data on  PlayStation 5  that's worth keeping in mind. Publisher Bandai Namco  said  that if your console switches off unexpectedly while you're playing  Elden Ring  or you put the PS5 in rest mode, "saved data may not be saved correctly." It's working on a fix for the issue, but for now it's best for PS5 players to save their progress manually "by exiting the game regularly." Bandai Namco said your data will be saved properly when you open the menu with the Option button and select Quit Game. For the time being, it's probably best for PS5 players to exit and restart the game after completing a major event (the bosses already seem tough enough without having to beat them twice) or visiting a site of Lost Grace c

  Valve  just released a new feature  that lets you sign into Steam and check to see how many of the games in your library will run on the new Steam Deck handheld. I’ve ended up with a  lot  of games over my time in this job, from all kinds of genres and eras, so figured running the test on them might be a useful real-world indication of how things are shaping up ahead of the device’s release. As of today (February 24, 2022 in Australia), I have 810 proper, actual games in my Steam library. That sounds like too many video games, but I’ve been doing this job for 15 years, which has involved a ton of companies/people sending me games to check out for impressions/reviews. They add up over time. It’s not like I’ve bankrupted myself in the name of grand strategy games and roguelikes. Because of the number of games involved, but also the variety—most of these are games I’ve had to check out professionally, not the ones I’d be into personally—I was interested to see just how many of those are