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Out on 3 June, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has had preorders for its physical copies (though Game-Key Cards) drop at retailers like Amazon and Argos. Although the epic follow-up to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been out on PS5 and PC since early 2024 and 2025 respectively, but is finally coming to the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S next month.
Among various preorder bonuses for the Switch 2 preorder, however, (including a reversible alternate box art inlay) is a very unique and limited in-box pre-order bonus: a Zack Fair Magic: The Gathering card.
This borderless version of the card, with variant art done by Tetsuya Nomura himself, has specifically been spotted among FF7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 pre-orders on Amazon UK and Argos — both for £43.99, after Amazon cut its initial £49.99 price.
On the other hand, Argos’ listing also comes with added in-game pre-order bonuses along with the Zack Fair card: a Posh Chocobo Summon Materia, a Shinra Bangle Mk. II item, and Midgar Bangle Mk. II item. However, Amazon doesn’t seem to have those listed in its promo art — only the Zack Fair card and reversible inlay.
If you can’t wait to start playing on Switch 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s demo is available on the Nintendo eShop, where your save data will carry over to the full game. Plus, if you have save data from the FF7 Remake Intergrade’s main story, you’ll also unlock free Leviathan Summoning Materia.
If you also have save data for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s INTERmission DLC, you’ll additionally earn the Summoning Materia for Ramuh.
Will you be checking out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 or Xbox? Or are you waiting for news on Part 3? Let us know!
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers.
The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are indestructible.
“Almost all trees in the game are smashable to ensure that traversing the world map is both fun and rewarding,” Ellert explains. “However, several tree types are not — for example, the cherry blossom trees — because they’re an iconic element of Japanese culture. Certain temples or other cultural elements are also excluded so that players aren’t tempted to drive through shrines or locations of cultural importance.”
Cherry blossoms are historically and culturally important in Japan, often appearing as a key symbol in Japanese literature, art, and poetry. Their pink blossoms are a sign of rebirth and the coming of spring, but also a reminder of how fleeting life is. In ancient times, farmers made offerings and held feasts underneath the cherry trees in the hope that the spirits of the fields would bring a good harvest. In the 800s, the emperor and nobles also kicked off a tradition of holding parties to admire the cherry blossoms. These traditions have evolved into modern day hanami — cherry blossom viewing parties where people have picnics under the trees and enjoy the blossoms.
Cherry blossom trees in real life can be easily damaged. Tampering with or shaking the branches of cherry blossom trees in public parks is punishable by fines in Japan. Furthermore, some of the countries’ oldest trees are over 1,000 years old and protected as natural treasures by the government (like Uozumi Zakura in Gifu). Consideration for their cultural importance explains why UK studio Playground Games decided to make cherry trees invincible in Forza Horizon 6.
As for shrines and temples, last year, Assassins Creed Shadows received heavy pre-release backlash in Japan due to a preview that showed that players could smash up shrines. Ubisoft addressed this in a day-one patch that made shrine objects indestructible and prevented unarmed NPCs from bleeding when attacked (thus preventing bloodshed on sacred grounds). Forza Horizon 6’s devs have opted to be culturally sensitive regarding what the player can do to religious and cultural sites.
“Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” Ellert told The Guardian. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.” The team conducted in-depth research for the game, right down to the smallest details, hiring experts including cultural consultant and former Porsche ambassador Kyoko Yamashita to advise on their depiction of Japan and its racing scene. “Because it’s a culture we see a lot, there’s a temptation to think you know it better than you do, which is why we tried really hard to get people to course correct us if we were drifting,” added Ellert.
While those who pre-ordered the premium edition of Forza Horizon 6 are already burning rubber, the game officially releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19. While you wait, check out IGN's Forza Horizon 6 review.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger. If you're unfamiliar with the tale of Poop Slinger, it's a pretty interesting one. The PS4 game was released in 2018 on PSN with a physical release in 2019. The physical release was handled by Limited Rare Games, not to be confused with the more established and well-known games distributor Limited Run Games. However, as you might imagine, there wasn't a ton of demand for a game called Poop Slinger, especially when it was available digitally.
As a result, few copies were made, and even fewer were sold. Although it was estimated there were fewer than 100 copies in circulation, Sony requires a minimum of 1,000 copies to be manufactured for physical PlayStation games. Still, no one knew where the remaining 900 or so were. Due to its rarity, it became a hot item online, and copies have been listed for upwards of $1,000 on sites like eBay.
Last week, things got more interesting. Those "missing" copies started showing up at independent gaming stores across the country. YouTuber and game store owner cakehoarder claimed that 39 stores had received six sealed copies each, for a total of 234 copies released into the wild.
Still, no one actually knows where these games came from. The return address was for another game store, which was reportedly just as confused as those who received the package. It has been theorized that someone stumbled upon excess stock of Poop Slinger in a warehouse or a storage unit and opted to give it away. Others have suggested the developer or someone involved with the game may have decided to offload extra copies they had stashed somewhere.
In 2019, VG247 reported that Limited Rare Games would have to shut its doors due to the failure of Poop Slinger, and creditors would take the unsold copies to repay the loan. However, it's unclear what the creditors did with those copies. Perhaps they were sold at an auction, or they've just been sitting on them.
However, to make things even more baffling, Limited Rare Games is back. The socials for the company and its website are operational, and it even addressed the matter with a bizarre video. The company posted a video of a content creator known as Hard Rock Nick talking about the price of an undisclosed item. He talks about the stress of the fluctuating price, but it's unclear if he's referring to Poop Slinger or something else, like crypto. Hard Rock Nick died in 2024, so this isn't a video that Limited Rare Games commissioned in response to the game's reappearance.
— LimitedRareGames.com 🤜🏻🦄🌈 (@ltdraregames) May 16, 2026The whole situation only provokes more questions than answers. Who sent out these copies? What is the end goal? It'll be interesting to see if this story develops further or if the chronicles of Poop Slinger remain an unsolved mystery. If you're interested in playing Poop Slinger yourself, it's available on PSN for $4.99.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
Looking for some new board games to play, or maybe a puzzle to piece together this summer? Target's dropped a 'Buy One, Get One 50% Off' deal on a selection of board games, card games, and puzzles that's well worth checking out if you're shopping around.
Target ‘Buy One, Get One 50% Off’ Select Puzzles, Board, and Card GamesThis offer lasts until May 25, so there's not long to take advantage of it, but it's stacked with some great picks. Above, you can find some of our favorite options included with this deal - Codenames, Catan, and a fun 100-Piece KPop Demon Hunters puzzle of Rumi from Buffalo Games, to name a few - but to see everything available, check out the full sale page here.
We think very highly of some of these picks as well, like Codenames. This board game sits on our list of the best board games to play in 2026, as it "changed the face of party games forever." Catan is another that's one of our top picks as a strategy board game and one of the best classic board games to have in your collection.
The puzzles certainly deserve a shoutout as well. The delightful Rumi KPop Demon Hunters puzzle comes from Buffalo Games, which is one of our favorite jigsaw puzzle brands. The Magic Puzzle Company is another one of our favorites which also has a couple of puzzles featured in the sale, like the Awakened Artifacts puzzle above.
Again, this is a limited-time offer that only runs until May 25. So if some of these options have caught your eye, this is your chance to save on some new items for your shelves. It's certainly not the only opportunity you'll have to save, though. As we get closer to summer sale events, we're keeping an eye out for even more board game and puzzle deals, too.
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Sign up for our IGN Deals NewsletterSet IGN as a preferred source in GoogleFollow us on social mediaIGN Deals on XIGN Deals on InstagramIGN Deals on FacebookIGN Deals on TiktokHannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Sony has announced price increases for its subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus is Sony’s monthly subscription service for PS4 and PS5 consoles that grants access to online multiplayer, monthly downloadable games, and exclusive PlayStation Store discounts.
Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions, Sony said in its announcement, blaming "ongoing market conditions." Prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions.
The monthly subscription goes up by $1, and the three-month subscription increases by $3. This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses, Sony added.
The news comes amid price rises across the video game industry, particularly for hardware. Sony itself raised the price of PS5 consoles back in March, blaming “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.” Earlier this month, Sony said it had yet to decide when to launch the PlayStation 6, nor how much it would cost, as memory shortages fueled by the AI boom continue to hit hard.
As you'd expect, PlayStation fans have reacted negatively to the news, with some saying PlayStation Plus shouldn't be required for online gaming in the first place, and that these new price rises make gaming on PlayStation even costlier. Others have hit out at Sony blaming the price rises on "ongoing market conditions," pointing out Microsoft just cut the price of Xbox Game Pass.
Blaming market conditions is insane. It should be free to play online games without paywalls in 2026
— ben (@videotech) May 18, 2026First you guys increased PS5 prices and now you increase online subscription prices
what the hell?
It's worth noting that this PlayStation Plus price hike comes six months before the planned release of GTA 6, which is expected to draw a huge number of newcomers into the current generation of consoles. An active PlayStation Plus subscription is required to play GTA Online, and there's no suggestion that will change when GTA 6 comes out. Perhaps Sony is getting its price hike in now, mindful that it will gain a flood of new PlayStation Plus subscribers who are only interested in playing GTA 6 online when it comes out.
Sony has forecast annual sales at its gaming business down 6% to 4.42 trillion yen (approx. $28 billion) for the current financial year due to lower hardware sales, with the PS5 now more expensive than ever and approaching its sixth birthday. However, Sony expects gaming profit to rise 30% due to higher first-party software sales, and the absence of a huge impairment loss it recorded against struggling Marathon developer Bungie. Insomniac’s Wolverine game is due out this financial year, and will surely make a significant contribution to Sony’s performance.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Primary Portal Games
World of Warcraft
Sturmgrenadier is more organised, more active, and more structured than most guilds you would come across in WoW. We believe this gives us a distinct advantage in being the best guild we can be for our members, because everyone knows where they stand, and are treated equally. Players with negative attitudes will not be tolerated. That means that there is no epeen measuring, no belittling of other players, and no trolling.
EVE
EVE Online is Sturmgrenadier’s longest-played game, with over 16 years of continuous influence throughout New Eden. Traditional hallmarks of our gaming syndicate; organization and leadership, have propelled our in-game history to include participation in many of the defining moments of EvE gameplay.
New World
New World is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing video game by Amazon Game Studios set to release in May 2020. Set in the mid-1600s, players colonize a fictional land modeled after British America in the Atlantic Ocean. Players scavenge resources, craft items, and fight other players.
Coming Soon!
Game is in early Alpha/Beta.
Join us and get involved early!
Other Games we PLay
