Steam Hits Record Number of Concurrent Users, Again
Steam has set another new record for concurrent players over the weekend with a peak of 18.5 million users.
According to Steam's stats page, the record was set on January 7. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now the most played game on the platform with around three million peak concurrent players. It surpassed Dota 2, which comes in second with over 775,000 players, followed by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (over 630,000), Grand Theft Auto V (over 157,000), and Rainbow Six Siege (over 100,000).
Steam set a record last year with a little over 14 million users and in 2016 with over 12 million users. Dota 2 was the most played game for a few years, followed by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Grand Theft Auto V.
Supergirl: First Look at Mon-El’s New Costume
The CW has released a first look at Chris Wood as Mon-El in Supergirl.
The photo (below) shows off Mon-El in his Legion suit. Fans can watch Mon-El don his costume when the "Legion of Superheroes" episode premieres January 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Chris Wood as Mon-El.
The episode follows Mon-El recruiting one of the Legion members, Brainiac-5 (guest star Jesse Rath), to help bring back Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), who remains in a dreamlike state after her deadly encounter with Reign (Odette Annable).
Out This Week: Stephen King’s IT, Super Meat Boy on Nintendo Switch
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
PUBG Xbox One Patch Offers “Slightly” Better Frame Rate
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is receiving a new patch for its Xbox Game Preview version, offering what developer Bluehole calls "incremental" improvements, including to the frame rate.
The PUBG Development and Community Team posted the announcement along with other patch notes on the PUBG Forums.
Frame rates on both client and server sides have been increased slightly, and some VFX have received slight optimizations. A number of crash-inducing issues have also been addressed, as well as a UI issue that occurred when multiple players attempted to loot from the same object.
Nintendo Switch Beats Wii U Lifetime Sales in Japan
The Nintendo Switch has now sold more units in Japan than the Wii U did in its lifetime.
As reported by Famitsu (and spotted by Twitter's Nibel), the Switch's latest sales data puts it at 3,407,158 to the Wii U's 3,301,555.
The Switch has been available for just over 10 months - the Wii U has been on sale for a little over 5 years. Japanese buyers have preferred handheld experiences in recent years, which perhaps explains Switch's sales dominance over its predecessor.
The hybrid console has already proven itself to be a move in the right direction for Nintendo, and is expected to surpass Wii U's global lifetime sales this year. In December, Nintendo said Switch had topped 10 million units worldwide - Nintendo reports that Wii U sold 13.56 million.
Dragon Age Character’s Fake Novel Being Released For Real
If you're a seasoned player of Bioware's Dragon Age series, chances are you'll know the name Varric Tethras. An adventuring dwarf with a dry wit, he featured as a companion character in both Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, where he has some level of fame thanks to his novel, Hard in Hightown. Brilliantly, real-world publishers Dark Horse Books and Penguin Random House will be publishing the novel in its entirety for your reading pleasure.
As reported by GameInformer, the novel is written by Mark Kirby (referred to as Varric's "co-writer"), and is fully illustrated thanks to the work of artists Stefano Martino, Álvaro Sarraseca, Andres Ponce, and Ricardo German Ponce Torres, with a painted cover from E.M. Gist.
Get Xbox One X Console for £420
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Looking for the cheapest Xbox One X standalone deal? Snag £30 off when buying it at Simply Games. It's currently priced at £429.99 at Smyths Toys, which previously was the cheapest place to get it.
Sony Expects 130 More PSVR Games This Year
Following the success of its VR headset, Sony says it expects 130 games to be released for PSVR by the end of 2018.
In a statement to Nikkei (initially translated by Siliconera), Sony says PSVR's 2 million sales have helped bolster confidence in the product. There are currently 150 titles available for the platform - if all 130 games arrive that would be an 86% increase.
Halo TV Show “Still in Very Active Development”
Executives at Showtime say the network's long in-development Halo TV show is "still in very active development".
Asked by TV Guide, Showtime CEO David Nevins confirmed the news, adding that he'd seen scripts for the show. Perhaps tellingly, "still in very active development" is exactly the same quote Nevins gave IGN back in 2015.
President of programming Gary Levine told TV Guide that the project is "still moving forward and I'm encouraged by what we've seen so far
American Gods Looks to Lose Two Cast Members in Season 2
The television adaptation of hit Neil Gaiman book American Gods may lose two key cast members for its second season.
Gillian Anderson will not be returning to American Gods, according to the Los Angeles Times, and Variety reports Kristin Chenoweth is unsure if she will star in Season 2.
Gillian Anderson says she will not reprise her role as the powerful new god, Media, due to the departure of showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, who left the series over creative differences with producer FremantleMedia.