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Final Fantasy 16 has a lot of side quests—76, to be exact—but as our FF16 review pointed out, not all of them are necessarily impressive. So, which FF16 side quests are worth doing? You can check out the complete list of Final Fantasy 16 side quests and their rewards to decide on your own which to do, but to make it easy, we've put together a comprehensive list of all the essentials, whether you're looking for unique rewards or quality story beats. Essential FF16 Side Quests Worth Doing These side quests all reward you with essential upgrades for your journey across Valisthea, including better potions, weapon crafting designs, and even a mount. They're actually marked for you in-game—just look for green markers with the plus sign instead of the usual exclamation point. We won't spoil their exact rewards here, but if you're curious, you can check out the complete guides. The White-Winged Wonder Blacksmith's Blues The Root of the Problem Weird Scien

Take-Two Interactive announced plans to acquire Zynga in 2022 , but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed Microsoft seriously considered buying the mobile game giant prior to that. During his cross examination at today's Microsoft FTC trial , Spencer talked about struggles in the mobile game business, saying Xbox has "no strategy to win organically in mobile gaming". Spencer insisted mobile gamers don't want traditional Xbox console experiences, and console gamers aren't asking for that dedicated experience on mobile. Spencer revealed that Microsoft tried to acquire Zynga to solve this problem, but the developer was acquired by Take-Two instead for $12.7 billion. At the time, it was the largest game company acquisition in history. Spencer admitted Microsoft spent "quite a bit of time" working on a potential Zynga acquisition, but it turned out Microsoft wanted something even bigger to get started in the mobile business. "... We needed to have som

Final Fantasy 16's intro is as intense and dramatic as a game can be, but fans able to pay extra attention amid the chaos may have noticed similarities to the original Final Fantasy game. That's because the opening is directly inspired by the 1987 classic according to Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida, with its music, a key scene, and even the title card's timing all reminiscent of the original's. Industry insider Genki translated on Twitter (below) comments from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who noticed the opening of Final Fantasy 16 features the same intro music as the original Final Fantasy that released on NES. Sakaguchi says FF16 opens with the Final Fantasy Prelude music just like FF1! Yoshi-P said the opening of FF16 was inspired by FF1, which is his favorite FF game. He said the title screen showing up 2 hours into FF16 was an idea taken from the original Final Fantasy game! #FF16 https://t.co/xaI8ipnbmQ pic.twitter.com/fy3Kwys3jQ —

Diablo 4 players have unearthed a number of secret post-credits endings that tease the return of one of the series’ most famous villains and perhaps a new big bad. Diablo 4 spoilers follow. It turns out Blizzard’s action role-playing game has a secret ending that pops up after the credits have rolled, although it does not always appear, and there are in fact multiple endings that may or may not trigger following repeated completions of the campaign at various difficulties. Jamir Blanco, cinematic character and creature artist at Blizzard, took to Twitter to confirm the secret endings are legit. Sounds like some people are finally starting to realize there’s a post-credit cutscene in our game... 🤫😈 — Jamir Blanco (@jamirblanco) June 21, 2023 WowHead reports four different jumpscare post-credits endings have been found so far, each showing an unnamed demonic entity. These endings are only a second long, so it’s hard to make definitive statements about what they show, but curr

Horizon: Forbidden West players have discovered an in-game tribute to the late Lance Reddick, who played Sylens in the series and passed away in March. As reported by Push Square , Reddit user Sfalj shared a screenshot of a memorial that players can visit in the Burning Shores expansion for Horizon: Forbidden West. As seen in the image (above), the memorial has Reddick's name floating in lights on a cliff overlooking the Hollywood sign. It can be found on the first island players visit, in the north east corner. It's unclear when the tribute was added to Horizon: Forbidden West, with many players adamant it wasn't there when they first played through the expansion. As it was only noticed recently, it's possible Guerrilla Games added it in the 1.26 update that was released on June 20. Reddick, who was also known for his roles in John Wick, Destiny, The Wire, and more, passed away suddenly from natural causes on March 17 . The entertainment and video game industri

Warning: full spoilers follow for the events of Final Fantasy 16. As you’d expect of a game in this series, the final hours of Final Fantasy 16 go to some wild places. This is a game that features massive monsters beating the heck out of each other, after all, and so naturally the finale had to go super size. If you’ve completed the game and want a detailed breakdown of what it all means, or don’t plan on playing it and want to skip straight to the end, then you’re in the right place. We’re about to reveal everything that happens in the last few hours of Final Fantasy 16, so prepare yourself for the biggest spoilers. Ultima’s Plan Long ago, the god Ultima and his kin created magic. It allowed them to flourish, but it also came at a price: the world-destroying Blight. The gods were powerless to stop it, and so sixteen survivors fled to a new world: Valisthea. But the Blight followed them to this new land, and so the gods realised there was only one option: to build a whole new wor

The PC version of Final Fantasy 16 is officially in development but publisher Square Enix isn't ready to give a release date just yet. As reported by PC Gamer , Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida said on a launch celebration stream that the PC version of the game still needs to be optimised, but finishing the PlayStation 5 version has taken priority. "We will be sharing more about the PC version when the time is right," he said. "Please look forward to it." "We will be sharing more about the PC version when the time is right. Please look forward to it." While these comments seem vague in themselves, this is the first time Yoshida has actually acknowledged that the PC version is being developed at Square Enix and will definitely be released, in what's been a long, arduous, and bizarre series of mixed messaging for the game. The original reveal trailer for Final Fantasy 16 claimed blatantly the game is "also available on PC" , a

A few months ago, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority hinged its block of the Microsoft-Activision merger on cloud gaming , momentarily seeming to put to bed worries that Call of Duty exclusivity might kill the deal. But as the FTC met Microsoft in a US court today over a potential pause on the impending acquisition , all the Call of Duty fears have been dredged right back up again. And it's partially thanks to the no-longer-secret inner workings of a previous deal: Xbox's 2021 acquisition of Zenimax. Growing Up to Be Just Like Zenimax The FTC had already dropped several hints that it was preparing to make an example of Zenimax, most notably in a recent filing calling the merger "powerful evidence" against the much larger absorption of Activision. But its precise arguments around this weren't laid bare until today, when FTC counsel brought up Bethesda head of global publishing Pete Hines to answer questions about the earlier merger. Hines was on

In what has proven to be a lively first day of testimony at Xbox's Activision Blizzard trial , Xbox vice president Sarah Bond dropped yet another bombshell, claiming that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick demanded a greater revenue share to put Call of Duty on Microsoft's platforms. According to Bond, Kotick made it clear “if we did not move beyond standard revenue share that he intended to not place Call of Duty on Xbox.” Ultimately, Bond said, Xbox decided to meet Activision Blizzard's demands. "Time was limited. We had players whose expectations we wanted to meet, so we ultimately made a decision that it was the best thing for the business.” Bond's comments were in response to questions from Microsoft counsel, in which she claimed that Call of Duty wasn't a must-have game. However, her comments were contradicted in part by Xbox's decision to pay Activision Blizzard more money to keep Call of Duty on their platforms, as the Federal Trade Commissi

Sony has said it won't share plans for the PlayStation 6 with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of the company goes through . As reported by Eurogamer , PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — which is currently battling against Microsoft's deal in court — that it couldn't give "immensely sensitive" information about its next console to a company owned by Xbox. Sony "simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information", Ryan said, raising concerns its game development process would be interrupted as it "could no longer share confidential details about its next console". While Sony won't publicly announce the PS6 until around a year or so before its launch, it has discussions and shares hardware with developers ahead of time so they can prepare games for the new system. This allows for the likes of Call of Duty

Submarine-based horror game Iron Lung has seen a sales spike following OceanGate's Titan submersible going missing, something the developer has said "feels so wrong". Developer David Szymanski shared a graph showing a spike in sales of Iron Lung that began on June 19, when the media began reporting on the missing submersible. "This feels so wrong," Szymanski said in the tweet. "I made Iron Lung the most nightmarish thing I could think of, and knowing real people are in that situation right now is pretty horrific, even if it was their own bad decisions," they added. This feels so wrong pic.twitter.com/SMAKC6sOfH — David Szymanski (@DUSKdev) June 21, 2023 Iron Lung is described as a "short horror game where you pilot a tiny submarine through an ocean of blood on an alien moon". The OceanGate submersible, which was on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage, failed to make its scheduled return to the surface on June 19, with searches begi

Quake 2 Remastered appears to be in the works after a rating for the unannounced shooter was spotted online. Gematsu spotted the Quake 2 Remastered listing on the reliably leaky Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea. At the time of publication, the listing is still live , and confirms a release on PC. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment. The listing describes Quake 2 Remastered as: “An FPS game that wages war against the hostile alien race, Strogg, who plans to invade the earth.” It includes “excessive expression of violence”, and “blood and body damage are frequently expressed in the process of fighting using weapons”. The listing comes just weeks before QuakeCon 2023 kicks off August 10. As Gematsu pointed out, in 2021 the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea rated the remastered version of the original Quake ahead of its official announcement at QuakeCon 2021 . Quake Remastered released for PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, so it seems likely Qu

BioWare has reassured Star Wars: The Old Republic players that the game isn't going into "maintenance mode" despite its shift to a third-party developer. Executive producer Keith Kanneg took to The Old Republic's forums to provide an update on the long-running MMORPG's move to Broadsword Online Games, saying that, for players, "not much is changing at all." In response to the question, "is the game going into maintenance mode?", a common ask among The Old Republic's player-base, Kanneg said: "Absolutely not. "As I’ve said before, we are working on future plans including more story and modernization initiatives for the game. We’ve upgraded the game to 64-bit, and are working on moving the servers to the cloud, and there are more content and tech updates on the way. "Moving to a third-party studio would allow us a lot of creative freedom, and we're very much looking forward to the opportunities that will be open to u

Big Ant Studios and NACON have today confirmed that Cricket 24 will be released on October 5, 2023. Described by the studio as “the culmination of a decade of cricket video game development,” Cricket 24 will be available on PS5 and PS4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, as well as PC. Announced in April , Cricket 24 was initially scheduled to arrive at the crease in time for this year’s Ashes series – which has already commenced. It’s not all bad news, though; it’s also been confirmed Pakistan is joining the roster of officially included cricketing nations – just in time for the Pakistan tour of Australia this 2023-24 summer. Pakistan join Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand, and Ireland in Cricket 24, although more nations appear set to be announced over the coming months. Cricket 24 will also feature the Pakistan Super League alongside other previously confirmed official tournaments, including The Ashes, the BBL and WBBL, The Hundred, and the Caribbean Premier League. An uns

It's now June 21 and there have been over 20 gaming showcases this summer (since PlayStation kicked things off on May 24 with their showcase) including a Final Fantasy XVI pre-launch celebration and Final Fantasy 7 announcement from Summer Game Fest. Even though Sony, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Capcom and other big companies have officially wrapped up their game events for the summer, IGN is excited to announce another exciting livestream still to come: a Final Fantasy 16 Summer of Gaming Preview. So, if you're a Final Fantasy fan, keep reading! Assuming you're caught up on all the gaming showcases thus far, this is one of the final streams airing from IGN Summer of Gaming after extensive gaming coverage across May and June 2023. In case you need to catch up on exclusive clips and gameplay first from Final Fantasy 16, check out our first-look videos from the game including hunt battles (a closer look into two different Notorious Mark battles), FF16 Boss Fights gameplay, an

IGN's Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Interactive Map is now complete! Our experts have been adding armor locations , shrine locations , Korok Seed locations , Skyview Towers and Great Fairies and much more for weeks -- and now we're finished (until TOTK DLC is released!). See the full Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Interactive Map with all updates! Here are some helpful filters to aid you in your search. Click on the below links and you will ONLY see one type of map marker. See all 1000 Korok Seed locations on the map: Yes, there are 1000 Koroks now, and we have locations and mini guides for every one. See all 152 Shrine locations on the map : Can't find a Shrine right below your feet? Check out our maps and guides here. We've got the Light Root locations here as well. See all 151 Cave locations on the map : Looking for Bubbul Gems? Look no further! See all 135 Armor locations on the map : Armor can seriously boost your stats, and it's hard to find! Her

A remake of Final Fantasy 6 is a hot topic within the walls of Square Enix as many members of its development teams are eager to make it. Final Fantasy 6 director Yoshinori Kitase, who's now a vice president, member of the board, and executive officer at Square Enix, discussed the possibility of a remake during a video on the publisher's YouTube channel. "I think Final Fantasy 6 Remake would be difficult," Kitase said, as translated by Genki on Twitter (below) and verified by IGN. "There are many Final Fantasy 6 fans inside the company and they often ask me: 'when are we making six?'" "Final Fantasy 7 Remake is not yet finished so I am not able to think about it, but for Final Fantasy 6, there are many Final Fantasy 6 fans inside the company and they often ask me: 'when are we making six?' " The difficulty behind remaking Final Fantasy 6 was elaborated on by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who said the original gam

Halo Infinite has scrapped its story-driven seasonal cutscenes. The news comes after significant lay-offs at developer 343 Industries earlier this year. In a tweet, below, community director Brian Jarrard explained 343 made the "trade-off" to make further gameplay improvements instead of new story content for Halo Infinite. "As we've refined our top priorities and shifted resources internally this year, we had to make the decision to forego seasonal narrative cutscenes to make room for the team to continue focusing on highly requested features, content, and improvements for Halo Infinite," he said. PSA: As we've refined our top priorities and shifted resources internally this year, we had to make the decision to forego seasonal narrative cutscenes to make room for the team to continue focusing on highly requested features, content, and improvements for Halo Infinite. These… — Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) June 19, 2023 "These trade-offs are never ea

A Nintendo Direct will be held at 7am PT / 3pm UK on June 21, Nintendo has announced. The livestream lasts roughly 40 minutes, and focuses "mainly" on Nintendo Switch games coming out this year, including new details on Pikmin 4, Nintendo said. Tune in on June 21 at 7:00 a.m. PT for a #NintendoDirect livestream featuring roughly 40 minutes of information focused mainly on Nintendo Switch titles launching this year, including new details on Pikmin 4. Watch it live here: https://t.co/utzePnKjGc pic.twitter.com/ro5jotd6rD — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 20, 2023 This is the third Nintendo Direct we are getting this year and the second focused primarily on games coming to Nintendo Switch. In February , the first Nintendo Direct of the year provided us with information of games that were coming out in the first half of the year, such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While the March 2023 Nintendo Direct focused on the Super Mario Bros. movie .

Clive's Invictus sword from Final Fantasy 16 can now be viewed in real life at the Tower of London. To promote the launch of the game on June 22, Square Enix teamed up with the Tower of London and the Royal Armouries — the museum housing the UK's national collection of arms and armour — to display the sword for one month. In a very specific world first, the display marks the first time a sword from a video game has been displayed in the company of armour once owned by kings, and can be viewed from June 20 to July 19. Clive's sword stands out, of course, as Final Fantasy weapons have always been known to be a bit over-the-top, though it's perhaps not completely out of place as the 16th entry does take inspiration from medieval Britain. Final Fantasy 16 officially takes place in Valisthea, a fictional world made up of six realms. Players can already get a taste of one of these in a demo , which also introduces a new feature called Active Time Lore that players have

I remember happily collecting cows and raising a child in the now two-decade-old Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life , but now I realize how tedious it was after playing the 2023 remake. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is about building a family as much as a farm, but both the farming and socializing fall short in comparison to modern farming sims. This could be a charming adventure with a literal lifetime of activities to do thanks to its aging process and speedy day-to-day gameplay. Developer Marvelous even added same-sex marriage and new bachelors to help spice up the dating pool. However, those additions don’t do enough to cancel out the bland backdrops, forgettable characters, and a few quirks that make it feel more dated than it should. Your story, as so many of these do, starts with taking over your father’s farm in Forgotten Valley – however, this adventure quickly becomes about more than just planting crops. A Wonderful Life makes it clear early on that your relationships wit