Dungeons & Dragons players will finally be able to drink potions as a Bonus Action in One D&D, meaning the popular homebrew and Baldur's Gate 3 mechanic is becoming an official rule in the next iteration of the game.

As reported by Comic Book, a video from D&D game designers Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins walked fans through some changes to the Player's Handbook, which will be refreshed for the first time in more than a decade in 2024, including the long-requested ability to have a cheeky heal as a Bonus Action.

Crawford specifically said that health potions can be used as a Bonus Action in One D&D — which arrives beginning September 17, 2024 with the Player's Handbook but won't launch fully until the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual arrive on November 12, 2024 and February 18, 2025 respectively — but it's unclear if the rule change will apply to other potions too.

As a health potion can theoretically be drank at the same speed as any other kind of potion, however, it would certainly make sense for the Bonus Action rule to affect all of the magic smoothies. The current 5th Edition of D&D forces players to use a potion as a full Action, meaning players miss a turn of doing potentially more interesting things if they need to heal.

Using potions as a Bonus Action has long been a popular mechanic in players' homebrew or home rules though, and even Baldur's Gate 3, the hit D&D video game which follows most of 5th Edition's rules, let players drink them as a Bonus Action.

The release of the updated rules, meaning the transition from 5th Edition to One D&D, comes alongside the tabletop role-playing game's 50th anniversary. Publisher Wizards of the Coast announced the biggest miniature booster set ever to celebrate, and has been slowly but surely sharing tidbits of information about the new set of core rulebooks.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Star Wars star Diego Luna has revealed more characters from Rogue One will show up in Andor Season 2.

As reported by Popverse, the Cassian Andor actor said at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 that, as the series grows closer to the events of Rogue One, fans will see more characters from that film show up.

Andor is, of course, a prequel series to Rogue One, which itself is a prequel to Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope. Season 2 will end just three days before the beginning of Rogue One, thus completing the stories of Cassian and his allies.

"I can tell you, Rogue One is coming, so there will be characters there that you will recognize, There will be cool stuff," Luna said.

"For those who love Rogue One, this season is going to be very special. And it’s going to be fascinating to go straight to Rogue One after watching this second season, because you will see Rogue One from a different perspective. I promise you that."

Luna didn't reveal anything more about the incoming episodes, which were pushed out of 2024 by Disney seemingly due to delays caused by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, but he did promise they would be as involved as Season 1's.

"[Showrunner] Tony Gilroy is a fantastic writer, and he created amazing characters that we got to meet in Andor Season 1," Luna said

"It’s going to be a very rich second season, because all those stories matter today. It is a true ensemble piece. It got very complicated in Seaason 1, and everything has to get resolved. Every story matters."

In our 9/10 review of Season 1's opening episodes, IGN said: "Andor is off to a fantastic start thanks to its compelling performances, corporate thriller undertones, and considered filmmaking."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment has apologized after using the explosion from the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in key art for the World War 2 massively multiplayer online game.

A forum post from community manager magazine2 said Gaijin "accidentally" used the explosion as it was part of a reference pack used by its artists. The explosion, which killed all seven crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger when the spacecraft broke apart 73 seconds after take-off, had a fairly distinct shape and was thus recognized by War Thunder players when used in the key art.

"Hey guys, we have accidentally used the explosion from the Challenger disaster in one of our key art images," magazine2 said. "Please accept our sincere apologies for this. The picture was part of an aerial explosion reference pack used by our artists and the context was lost.

"We’ll be altering this artwork as soon as we can and will take measures to ensure that this doesn’t repeat again in the future." Gaijin didn't say what these changes would be and the image is still available on official channels.

This isn't the first time controversy pertaining to real world events has surrounded War Thunder, though it's usually in hot water due to real military documents leaking through its forums.

Documents related to the M2A2 Bradley Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle were posted on the forums in December 2023, for example, and while not legally classified, still contained in-depth details the military considers sensitive.

Another instance saw an image of the DTC10-125 Tungsten Penetrator alongside a technical document detailing its specifications appear in June 2022. That followed others on War Thunder's forums that revealed classified information on British Challenger 2 and French Leclerc main battle tanks.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Square Enix has asked Final Fantasy 14 players not to spoil the highly anticipated Dawntrail expansion upon its early access launch on June 28, 2024.

A blog post from Square Enix outlined the early access period, which begins at 2am Pacific / 5am Eastern / 10am UK and is available to anyone who preorders Dawntrail, but closed with a message asking players to be considerate to those waiting for the full launch.

"During the early access period, there will be no restrictions on what content you can discuss, post, or stream while following the Material Usage License Agreement," Square Enix said, making clear spoilers will be out in the wild.

"However, we ask that early access users please be considerate and do their best to avoid posting spoiler-related content as there are those players who may start at the official launch or play at their own pace."

The expansion officially launches July 2, 2024, but as it includes a major extension of the Final Fantasy 14 story, a whole new map, the Viper and Pictomancer jobs, plenty of raids and dungeons, and more, it will likely be much later before many players can experience everything.

Dawntrail promises to add a difficulty spike to the long-running MMO too, while a major graphical overhaul will refresh the entire Final Fantasy 14 experience. In March, chief developer Yoshi-P joked that Square Enix had hoped to release the early access a week earlier, but… “Elden Ring DLC.”

That was a reference to Shadow of the Erdtree, which came out on June 21. "We figured everybody would be interested in playing the Elden Ring DLC... I'll give you one week!"

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Redfall's one year anniversary came and went on May 2, 2024 with no word from publisher Bethesda despite the widely panned game receiving no updates in six months and owners of the $100 edition still awaiting additional content.

As reported by Kotaku, fans who bought the $100 Bite Back Edition of Redfall, despite the base game being available day one at no additional cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, were hoping for an announcement regarding their missing downloadable content as an anniversary celebration.

No mention came from developer Arkane, Bethesda, or larger owner Xbox, however, leaving November 2023's patch notes as the last communication on this missing content. "We’re continuing development of The Hero Pass and we’re excited to share more about Redfall’s new heroes and other updates later next year," Arkane said at the time. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will receive its final update this month as developer ArtPlay finally adds all the additional features promised in its Kickstarter Campaign from 2015.

ArtPlay shared its final development roadmap for Bloodstained on its website which confirmed the update would arrive May 9, 2024 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, while the Nintendo Switch version would arrive May 16. "This will be the final update to the game," Artplay said.

Bringing Bloodstained to version 1.5, the update is headlined by the additions of Chaos Mode and Versus Mode but also includes four cosmetic packs for protagonist Miriam, one of which is free while the other three can be purchased.

Chaos Mode is akin to rush mode in other games where players, either alone or with an online or local companion, fight through a series of randomized enemies which will grow stronger unless certain challenges are complete.

Versus Mode pits two players directly against each other as both work to defeat enemies, power up their tools, and acquire special attacks to use against their opponent. Each must survive as long as possible, with whoever dies last being crowned the winner.

ArtPlay said that, once this update has been released, its only remaining task is to ship physical PC versions of the game, nine years after backers paid for them. The developer assured that these players received their digital editions upon launch in 2019, of course, but were still awaiting their full Kickstarter backers' reward.

Coming from former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi and pitched as a spiritual successor, Bloodstained quickly smashed past its Kickstarter goal and received more than $5.5 million in total funding. This made it the most successful video game Kickstarter ever at the time.

ArtPlay confirmed a full sequel to Bloodstained was in early development as of June 2021, but little has been said about it in the near three years since.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo has issued a takedown request for more than 8,500 copies of code of Switch emulator Yuzu, which was shut down in March 2024 as its owners paid out $2.4 million in a lawsuit settlement.

As reported by PC Gamer, developer platform GitHub saw 8,535 repositories of Yuzu code removed after Nintendo issued the takedown request on April 29.

Users of the website had uploaded copies of the code after Yuzu was shut down, essentially allowing continued free access to Nintendo Switch games using software that "is primarily designed to and unlawfully circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under the DMCA," according to Nintendo.

"The reported repositories offer and provide access to the Yuzu emulator or code based on the Yuzu emulator," the claim said. "Yuzu illegally circumvents Nintendo’s technological protection measures and runs illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games."

This echoed wording Nintendo used when it sued Yuzu creator Tropic Haze, when it also said the $70 game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo's premiere video game release of 2023, had been pirated one million times before it was even released.

Nintendo has consistently taken legal action to protect its copyrighted content. Game file sharing website RomUniverse was ordered to pay $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo in 2021, while a similar case saw it receive more than $12 million in damages in 2018. It also blocked GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin from releasing on PC game platform Steam.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's official mod support is now available in early access and alongside its arrival came a subtle challenge to kiss the Crones of Crookback Bog from one CD Projekt Red developer.

As reported by GamesRadar, The Witcher 3 REDkit arrived on Steam on April 16 as the first official mod editor for the nine year-old game, letting players create custom content with CD Projekt Red's official tools. The Witcher 3 quest designer (now Cyberpunk 2077 sequel's associate game director) Paweł Sasko posted on X/Twitter to celebrate, telling fans they can no longer complain about not having certain options in the beloved role-playing game because they can now make it all themselves.

One specific feature mentioned by Sasko, which will likely now trigger a race between those currently modding The Witcher 3 with REDkit, is the ability to romance the Crones of Crookbag Bog. While protagonist Geralt of Rivia can become close with myriad characters throughout the game, the putrid pseudo demons, unsurprisingly, were not an option in that realm.

A developer at Avalanche Software has taken to X/Twitter to "set expectation" for the incoming Hogwarts Legacy update.

Community manager Chandler Wood told fans of the game that Avalanche's original wording was "very intentional" when it promised "additional updates and features" back in January 2024.

"We are thrilled that you are all excited for the free update to Hogwarts Legacy this summer," Wood said. "We love seeing all the guesses and hopes for what will be part of this update, and while we are not ready to talk about it yet, I do want to set some expectations for what we are working on.

Hi everyone! We are thrilled that you are all excited for the free update to Hogwarts Legacy this summer. We love seeing all the guesses and hopes for what will be part of this update, and while we are not ready to talk about it yet, I do want to set some expectations for...(1/2)

— Chandler Wood (@FinchStrife) March 7, 2024

"Our original wording of 'additional updates and features for the game' was very intentional. This update is a small way of showing appreciation to our players for the amazing reception to the game."

It's still very hard to determine what the new content might be, as implementing "additional updates and features" could essentially mean anything, but Wood is seemingly trying to let Hogwarts Legacy fans know that a major expansion or anything too complex or vast isn't on the way.

Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC players will at least be getting a new mission, however, as content previously exclusive to PlayStation is arriving alongside the extra content coming to all platforms. This includes the Haunted Hogsmeade quest which, upon completion, grants access to the Hogsmeade Shop as well as the Shopkeeper cosmetic set.

Hogwarts Legacy was the bestselling game in the U.S. in 2023 and sold 22 million copies worldwide. Its success has been mixed with controversy due to its connection to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling though, who has been outspoken in her anti-transgender views.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "In almost every way, Hogwarts Legacy is the Harry Potter role-playing game [we've] always wanted to play."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Hulk star Mark Ruffalo has said the Marvel Cinematic Universe had more "mystique" before the Disney+ streaming expansion, and also explained why he probably won't get a solo film.

Speaking to GQ, Ruffalo commented on the MCU's expansion into TV shows, which saw it balloon from 12 hours and 24 minutes in Phase 1 to 54 hours and 40 minutes in Phase 4.

"I think the expansion into streaming was really exciting, but the thing about Marvel movies is you had to wait three years and that created a mystique,” Ruffalo said. "These corrections could be really positive things," Ruffalo said. "Will it be what it was? I don’t know."

Practically every film and show connects to another part of the MCU, leaving some elements unclear or unfinished for those who struggle to keep up with every minute. Disney has similarly struggling to keep fans engaged recently, as latest release The Marvels had the MCU's worst box office performance so far despite positive reviews.

Bringing back original characters has been touted as one possible route back to success for the MCU, but Ruffalo thinks his character of Hulk, who last appeared in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law but arrived in the second ever film, isn't a likely candidate.

"I’d love to do a standalone Hulk, I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen," he said. "It’s very expensive if you did a whole movie, which is why they use the Hulk so sparingly. I priced myself out."

The MCU will only see one film released in 2024: Deadpool & Wolverine, the film known as Deadpool 3 until recently. It premieres on July 26 with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman both returning as the titular characters.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Disney is officially expanding the story of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace in a comic celebrating the film's 25th anniversary.

Revealed on writer Greg Pak's website, the comic is a one-off arriving in May but no specific release date was offered. May 19, The Phantom Menace's actual anniversary, is a likely candidate though, or perhaps Star Wars day: May 4.

"Big news! I’m writing a huge anniversary special for The Phantom Menace, drawn by Will Sliny, in stores this May," Pak said. "If you’ve been enjoying my Darth Vader series, you absolutely don’t want to miss this deep dive into the heart and soul of young Anakin."

Square Enix has revealed what's included in the update to the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo made available today, February 21.

The Dawn of the New Era in Junon update adds a section which appears much later in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth compared to the first part of the demo, which takes place in the game's opening chapter.

Players follow Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Red XIII as they arrive in the outskirts of Junon, a city from the original Final Fantasy 7 which acts as a fortified stronghold atop an underwater reactor.

"Set several hours into the main storyline, this special preview made specifically for the demo features a small piece of the massive in-game world that players can freely explore," Square Enix said. "Sniff out treasures with a trusty chocobo steed, craft valuable items with the new Item Transmuter, bravely embark on thrilling Combat Assignment missions, and more."

The update also brings "minor graphical fixes" and other adjustments to the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo (that will arrive in the main game too). These changes were announced on February 14 after players raised concerns over the quality of the PlayStation 5 exclusive. IGN's own performance review said the Performance Mode comes with a "drastic clarity and detail reduction" compared to its Graphics Mode counterpart.

Square Enix hasn't been shy about sharing details of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth so far, releasing huge dumps of information on several occasions. It's highlighted characters like Cait Sith and Vincent, plus iconic returning locations like Gold Saucer and Junon. The game will feature brand new locations not in the original Final Fantasy 7, too.

Square Enix has added new playable characters, plus a card game akin to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Gwent, and impressive fast travel. An ESRB rating has otherwise teased deep cleavage, pools of blood, and a clue to Aerith's fate (which fans have been debating fiercely online).

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The director of much-loved 1992 point-and-click adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis doesn't think using Nazis over and over again is a good idea.

Speaking to Time Extension, Hal Barwood said using Nazis in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was a "tremendous mistake" but didn't comment on their appearance in upcoming video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

"I think as the Jones universe became formulaic to the people who were involved with it in film especially," Barwood said, "but also in games, they just thought that Nazis were an inherent part of that world. I didn’t think so at all.

"I just think it was a tremendous mistake to have Nazis in Dial of Destiny and I just thought that resurrecting and rehashing that material was not a good idea."

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis does have Nazis in it, but Barwood was disappointed to see LucasArts continue to go down that route.

"They just couldn’t think of something that didn’t involve the Nazis and the franchise was lying heavy on their shoulders," he said. "They just thought they should go and do what had already been done. That’s a creative lapse, which I’m sorry to have been aware of. I wish it hadn’t happened."

Indiana Jones has been long dormant from the video game space but is making its return with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which arrives sometime in 2024 from MachineGames. It's a first-person game starring Troy Baker as Indy and is set in 1937, between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Spoiler Warning: The following article features major spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 and potentially for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which likely recreates several aspects of the original.

Final Fantasy 7 features one of the most iconic video game moments of all time, a moment set to be remade in some form in the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Fans are once again debating the discussion of spoilers around this moment as Rebirth's January 29 release date looms, prompted by the New York Times after it featured the spoiler on its homepage and sent it to users via a push notification.

Here's a final spoiler warning if you don't want to know anything about Final Fantasy 7 or potentially its second remake in Rebirth.

Aeirth is killed by Sephiroth towards the middle of Final Fantasy 7, and based on marketing from publisher Square Enix, this moment will seemingly end Rebirth. That's not to say Aerith will die in the new game, because various multiverse shenanigans featured in part one, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, suggest Square Enix isn't sticking to the script completely.

This makes spoiler discussions particularly complicated surrounding Aerith's death. Final Fantasy 7 arrived in 1997, meaning its 27 years old, and many fans think spoilers are therefore absolutely fine. But Rebirth isn't even out yet, prompting others to think spoilers are borderline criminal.

"On the one hand it's kind of wild to just put a spoiler on people's phones like that," Reddit user silverinferno3 said of the New York Times notification. "It was absolutely wild to hear my phone buzz and read: 'Will the creators kill Aerith again?'

"On the other, it's basically the 'Vader is Luke's father' of video game spoilers. There's always gonna be someone who hasn't heard of it but at this point the Remake project kinda leans in on you knowing the plot beats of the original anyways, but it would still suck to have the freakin' New York Times spoil you of all things."

Coolnametag chimed in too: "From my point of view, if something is more than a decade old then you can't really blame people for talking about 'spoilery' plot points in public.

"The original Final Fantasy 7 is so old that people who were born when it released are already paying taxes and one of the pulls from the remakes is finding out what is different and what stays the same in the story. So no, i wouldnt count this as a spoiler."

"The game's old enough to rent a car," said Psamtik on ResetEra, where users discussed the NYT article. "Besides, I'd hate to think of how many subversions and swerves in Remake would've flown over the heads of people who weren't familiar with the original." DanGo added: "I've never played a Final Fantasy in my life and I've known this for decades."

While the ending of Rebirth is obviously under wraps, Square Enix hasn't been shy about sharing other details so far, releasing huge dumps of information on several occasions. It's highlighted characters like Cait Sith and Vincent, plus iconic returning locations like Gold Saucer and Junon. The game will feature brand new locations not in the original Final Fantasy 7, too.

Square Enix has also added new playable characters, plus a card game akin to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Gwent, and impressive fast travel. An ESRB rating has otherwise teased deep cleavage, pools of blood, and even a clue to Aerith's fate.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Fantasy role playing game Tales of Arise has sold three million copies ahead of arriving on the PlayStation Plus Games Catalog and Xbox Game Pass.

Publisher Bandai Namco announced the milestone on X/Twitter, sharing new artwork for the game in celebration. "Over three million of you have shown your support for Tales of Arise," it said. "Thank you for heling to keep the flame alive."

Tales of Arise launched in September 2021, meaning it's sold three million copies in two years and five months.

Over 3 Million of you have shown your support for #TalesOfArise. Thank you for helping to keep the flame alive! pic.twitter.com/rbbsBtGBIB

— Tales of Series (@TalesofSeries) February 21, 2024

The number of players is likely on the verge of another rise, however, as Tales of Arise launched on both PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium and Xbox Game Pass on February 20.

Tales of Arise is the latest entry in the beloved RPG franchise, telling the story of a young man wielding the Blazing Sword and an untouchable girl fighting their oppressors. Players can explore the world of Dahna, where a mix of natural environments change in appearance based on the time of day.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "With an excellent story and cast and a reinvigorated combat system, Tales of Arise is the shot in the arm the long-running Tales RPG series needed to recapture its best moments."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

British actor and comedian Ewen MacIntosh, best known for playing "Big Keith" in The Office UK, has died aged 50.

As reported by the BBC, MacIntosh's cause of death has not been confirmed but his friend, Ed Scott, said in a tribute message: "Thanks to the incredible care and love provided by the wonderful medical staff and especially the nurses who all loved him when he brought a smile to their days."

He added: "He may have had a famous face known by millions as Keith from The Office but the person inside is what I will most remember. Ewen was so full of empathy, kindness, and integrity and above all a really good man."

Extremely sad news. The very funny and very lovely Ewen Macintosh, known to many as 'Big Keith' from The Office, has passed away. An absolute original. RIP. pic.twitter.com/Hhd3zkRVMs

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) February 21, 2024

Fellow star of The Office UK Ricky Gervais was among several others posting tributes to the late actor online. "Extremely sad news," he said. "The very funny and very lovely Ewen MacIntosh, known to many as Big Keith from The Office, has passed away. An absolute original. RIP."

MacIntosh's character in The Office, which ran from 2001 to 2003, was known for being a particularly dull and despondent employee in an office full of them. Perhaps his most iconic scene saw him answer an employee self appraisal form, being asked for answers by Gervais's David Brent.

"To what extent do you believe that you have the skills and knowledge to perform your job effectively?," he asked. "Not at all, to some extent, very much so, don't know; what would you tick?"

After a long pause while he chews gum, Keith replies: "Don't know." More questions are asked, and though Keith asks for the options again, his response is always: "Don't know."

Image Credit: Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.