Title: AI-Generated Image Found In Spider-Man: Brand New Day Art Book As Film Crosses $2 Billion At The Box Office Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:30:27 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/spider-man-brand-new-day-ai-concept-art-book-marvel-2000726642 This comes four months after the news that Disney laid of over 1,000 employees at Marvel Studios, many of whom worked in the concept art department

Title: GTA 6 Leaker Continues Taunting With Fresh Footage Of Hyper-Realistic Streets Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:02:02 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/gta-6-leaker-continues-taunting-with-fresh-footage-of-hyper-realistic-streets-2000726645 Seriously, those puddles

Title: Archive Of Our Own Isn’t Worried About The Wattpad User Exodus And You Shouldn’t Be Either Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:45:49 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/archive-of-our-own-wattpad-smut-ban-fanfiction-2000726632 'Users do not need to worry that anyone’s works will be taken down due to a baseless report or a mass-reporting campaign, if one were to occur'

Title: Roblox Claims A Dead Kid ‘Waived All Rights’ Because She Clicked ‘Agree’ At 8 Years Old Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:15:26 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/roblox-legal-court-case-audree-heine-terms-conditions-dismissal-2000726607 The corporation claims a child waived all rights because she clicked 'agree' at 8 years old

Title: Take-Two Subpoenas Trove Of Records From Microsoft And Discord As It Hunts For GTA 6 Leaker Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:44:20 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/take-two-subpoenas-microsoft-and-discord-records-related-to-spread-of-gta-6-leaks-2000726633 The hunt is on to find out who's behind an unprecedented spree of GTA 6 leaks

Title: Monopoly Go x The Simpsons crossover is almost here Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:41:21 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/monopoly-go-the-simpsons-crossover-details Monopoly Go players have been looking forward to a major crossover event for what felt like months, and though most of the details ended up leaking, nothing actually beats official information. Read more

Title: Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.3 will take us deeper into the World in Canvas and make Mortenax Blade playable Date: Fri, 22 May 2026 13:43:44 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/honkai-star-rail-version-4-3-all-details HoYoverse has today delivered full details on the next major update for Honkai: Star Rail. Version 4.3, dubbed The Lethe Below the Living, will be available for all players on June 1. The upcoming update adds a new chapter to the Planarcadia arc, and introduce a new playable character. Read more

Title: Forza Horizon 6 explodes on Steam even before it's officially out Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 11:00:02 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/forza-horizon-6-steam-numbers-big-launch Steam is abuzz this week with a couple of long-anticipated launches, but in Forza Horizon 6’s case, at least, the game isn’t even out for what will be most of its players. The anticipated sequel in the open-world driving game series doesn’t officially launch until May 19, but owners of its most expensive version - the Premium Edition - can play it right now. Read more

Title: Mystic Messenger's most loyal players are getting banned in droves for seemingly playing the game too much Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 10:02:10 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/mystic-messenger-ban-wave-thousands-of-hourglasses-anniversary Mystic Messenger, arguably one of the best dating sims around, has been dormant for about seven years. Despite not receiving new content or any meaningful updates in all that time, the game remains popular with its core fans, many of whom just woke up to some shocking news about their accounts. Read more

Title: Forza Horizon 6 review - The driving game for everyone still can’t seem to escape its car-collecting legacy Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 12:00:03 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/forza-horizon-6-review There is this idea that, for a long-running series to remain as consistently popular as Forza Horizon has been, it needs to diminish itself somewhat with each new entry, gradually losing more and more of its edge in a bid to appeal to the widest possible audience. Read more

Title: Nintendo’s War On Switch Emulators Continues With 400 More GitHub Takedowns Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:17:40 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendos-war-on-switch-emulators-continues-with-400-more-github-takedowns/ Nintendo is doing what Nintendo does: issuing DMCA takedown notices to anyone who illegally offers access to any of the company's games. That's exactly what happened earlier this week, as Nintendo wiped out over 400 Switch emulators from GitHub. According to an August 21 TorrentFreak report, the Mario maker sent the proprietary developer platform seven DMCA takedown notices targeting Nintendo Switch emulator repositories. This includes Suyu (the Yuzu successor that became popular after Yuzu shut down in March 2024), the Android emulator Skyline, and a few lingering Yuzu forks. In total, some 401 repositories were nuked off GitHub, with 311 of them being Suyu. Now that they're removed, if you attempt to visit the repository on GitHub, you'll receive either a 404 error or a pop-up notification that it's been taken down. In the DMCA pop-up notification, Nintendo states that the targeted repositories "offer, link to, or otherwise provide access to Nintendo Switch emulators." The company said these emulators violate Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), which act as digital locks controlled by copyright owners to prevent copying data illegally. "Specifically, these Nintendo Switch emulators illegally circumvent Nintendo's TPMs in order to run illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games," the notice reads. "Nintendo Switch games are encrypted using proprietary cryptographic keys (prod.keys) which protect against unauthorized access to and copying of the copyrighted games. During operation, the emulators at the reported repositories necessarily use unauthorized copies of these cryptographic keys to decrypt unauthorized copies of Nintendo Switch games, or ROMs, at or immediately before runtime without Nintendo's authorization." With Nintendo summoning the Eye of Mario on 401 repositories earlier this week, and over 8,500 repositories in May 2024, this brings the company's repository death count to almost 9,000 on GitHub alone. And with Nintendo filing a lawsuit against Yuzu creator Tropic Haze in February 2024, which resulted in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom being pirated over one million times before it launched, the company's war on emulators continues.

Title: Grand Theft Auto 6 Leaks Are Fueling A Crypto Pump-And-Dump Scheme Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:01:07 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-6-leaks-are-fueling-a-crypto-pump-and-dump-scheme/ As Grand Theft Auto 6 continues to leak via small snippets of gameplay, you might be wondering why each video is plastered with watermarks for a meme coin? It turns out while you're enjoying the early look at Rockstar's latest project, others are literally profiting off of the virality. Each of the leaked gameplay videos have advertised a meme coin called CYBERLEEK, named after the supposed leaker and hosted on the Solana blockchain. This coin seemingly appeared on August 16, just two days before the first gameplay leak occurred. It didn't take long for the price of the coin to skyrocket afterwards, as viewers curious enough to go looking started accumulating vast amounts of it. In the space of a day, the price of the coin increased by more than 5,000%, allowing some early holders to quickly cash out before most were able to react. It's a textbook pump-and-dump scheme that is ongoing, with the price still swinging wildly with new drops of gameplay and new buyers being lured in. It's not uncommon for memecoins to be promoted by exploiting trending topics on X. https://youtu.be/mwgi4ECJwic The extent of this scheme is, however, probably smaller than you might imagine. According to tracking on CoinMarketCap, several buyers have made some modest profit, with the largest coming in at over $22,000 (a 2,000% profit over what was invested). There are similarly large losses as well, with several instances of duped buyers who have lost nearly $10,000 each. This pales in comparison to far wider-reaching meme coins. Take MELANIA, a coin marketed by Melania Trump, which has profits and losses in the several millions as just one example of how quickly thousands of people are willing to bet on short-term investments, Still, it shows an entirely different intent behind these leaks that contradicts the front-facing consumer-friendly goals of the group behind them. There are still a handful of accounts, holding the large majority of CYBERLEEK, that haven't made any sales. Perhaps they're just waiting for things to get really out of hand before walking away with their profits. Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 12, with its first gameplay showcase debuting on Netflix on August 27.

Title: “Friendslop” Sounds Like An Insult. What Do Developers Think? Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/friendslop-sounds-like-an-insult-what-do-developers-think/ There's an ongoing divide about the word "friendslop." The genre descriptor, born of games like Lethal Company, Peak, and many others in recent years, can be used in both positive and negative contexts, which can make it confusing. Personally, I was trying to reserve the "-slop" suffix for things made by generative AI, but the term has broken containment and is now used widely in conversations about co-op games of a particular type: light on mechanics, welcoming to a wide array of skill levels, and heavy on the opportunity for social hijinks and proximity chat-based laughs, friendslop games aren't going anywhere.  But should we be calling them that? Do the teams making such games find it demeaning? I recently spoke to a handful of studios making games in this vein, and for the most part, they actually seemed okay with it. However, the sentiments they shared with me often had an air of acceptance rather than excitement. "Once the kids are using it, I think you have to just go with it," Developer Mike Boxleiter told me earlier this summer when I first demoed Lazy River, his co-op game about building a raft to survive a water park overrun by zombified patrons. The "kids," I took him to mean, are Gen Z, and perhaps more specifically, TikTok users. Once they've adopted the term and are using it as broadly as they are, there's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. "It's been hitting me a little harder because we put out a trailer, and it blew up a little bit. And a lot of people got really negative about 'friendslop,' like using it really pejoratively." The duo at Beck & Branch Games, Michel Strömbeck and Nikolai Nyqvist, recently put out Grain Rot, a REPO-inspired co-op game that reimagines the experience with base-building. Strömbeck and Nyqvist told me that while they don't use "friendslop" internally, they understand what players mean by it: "games with a low barrier to entry, a tight replayable loop, and chaos that turns into fun with friends." It doesn't seem they take offense from the term, but it's notable that neither do they use it. Kaleb Alfadda, Blake Reible, and Jon Reilly of Scythe, the team behind Happy's Humble Burger Cult, told me they "don't necessarily avoid" friendslop as a term. On the contrary, they've "come to embrace it," because it usually--though they admit not always--means a "'multiplayer game focused on one fun concept,' rather than 'a garbage game.'” Similarly, Bandit Trap's Michael Balm said his team at Picomy is "not opposed" to the label and knows it caught on because it's an "easy way to describe a certain style of social multiplayer game." But the questionable suffix gives Balm pause. "The only part we're a little hesitant about is the word 'slop,' because it can suggest these games are simple or low effort," Balm said. "In reality, many of them are incredibly well crafted to create fun, chaotic moments between friends. We wanted [Bandit Trap] to be easy to jump into, but we also put a lot of care into the art, mechanics, balance, and all the little details that help create those memorable moments with friends." For Koro Games, the team behind Friendly Steps, the term presents a shortcut to find new players. Developer Vlad Koro told me via email, "We’re used to and enjoy making larger-scale games, and for us, the emergence of friendslop is an opportunity to expand our audience." Yet not everyone is as eager to accept the term, even if it does have its perks. Dwarven Brothers, the studio behind We Are So Cooked, told me that the team has avoided it for the most part. "We like to associate our game with 'friendlike' to give it a more positive-sounding tone," the two-person studio told me, "but we cater to the friendslop genre by using this descriptor sparingly." Of the seven teams I spoke to, I'd categorize only one of them as enthusiastic. Ukraine's Oleksandr Mikulonok, Nikita Vakhnichenko, Diana Lynnyk, and Rostyslav Mykhailyk, of RetroStyle Games and Last Pirates: Die Together, told me they "love" the term, believing whatever derogatory intent that it might have been created with has been wiped away as it's been reclaimed by the community.  Perhaps friendslop's greatest success story so far, Peak. "It started as a jab and the community wore it as a badge, same as roguelike or boomer shooter before it. We use it internally all the time: Our whole competitive research is basically a list of games that steal your evening with friends. If players call Last Pirates friendslop, they got exactly what we promised. Better to be top-shelf slop than forgettable polish." Whether teams love it, avoid it, or have simply accepted it, it's unlikely to go away. Just ask folks who take issue with genre labels like souls-like, metroidvania, walking sim, or JRPG. Despite their efforts, these terms have persisted, embedding themselves in gaming culture as shorthands for a type of experience players may be seeking or have enjoyed before. Like Exorcist Hotline's Hexateam told me, "The name is secondary as long as it gets the point across: it being a fun game to play with friends, with a lot of shitposting. We use [friendslop] because it’s easy." It started as a jab and the community wore it as a badge While "friendslop" isn't yet a sortable label on platforms like Steam, the number of games in this vein currently being developed is too numerous to count easily, and, arguably, developers working in this space could benefit from such a label on storefronts. Is discoverability more important than what sounds to some ears like an insult?  If there was going to be a new term to replace this one--my colleague Claire Lewis suggests "bro-op," for what it's worth--it would likely have to happen very soon, before friendslop is all but cemented in gaming lexicon for decades to come. And if developers making these games are perhaps conflicted but overall content to accept it, then it's very likely here to stay.

Title: Marvel Snap Is Finally Getting A Draft Mode, And It’s Unlike Any You’ve Played Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/marvel-snap-is-finally-getting-a-draft-mode-and-its-unlike-any-youve-played/ Marvel Snap has been a huge debut success for Second Dinner, the studio created by Blizzard alumni. But if one feature has been missing since launch, it's that mainstay of card games: a draft mode. Snap is finally preparing to launch its own spin on Draft with a new mode coming Monday, August 24, and GameSpot got an exclusive first look. Draft will be a Limited Time Game Mode (LTGM) at launch, similar to other modes like Grand Arena, Team Clash, and Sanctum Showdown. That means you'll have tickets to play, as well as a reward track for participating in the mode. And while it's more recognizable within the standard rules of Snap than some of those other modes, it also carves out its own space with some unique twists on the regular rules of a Draft mode.  When you begin Draft mode, you pick a Starter for your deck--three cards that synergize together from a variety of recognizable archetypes like Ramp, Swarm, Move, Destroy, Control, and Ongoing. Then you build the rest of your deck with individual card picks, categorized into those archetypes. Second Dinner noted that Marvel Snap is an unusually synergistic game, so it needed to make sure players could draft a deck that works well together. That's the purpose of categorizing cards into these specific card pools. Cards have also now been given a rarity status, like Rare or Legendary, to help steer how often it will come up as an option in the card selection.  First you'll select a three-card starter set with an archetype During the initial draft phase, you'll immediately notice that cards here are sometimes a little different than you recognize. For one, they may be given enhanced stats, making them more powerful than their standard incarnations. You can also have duplicates in Draft mode, so having a card in your deck doesn't necessarily mean you won't see it as an option anymore. Finally, some cards may be given Augments, powerful upgrades like Quickdraw Discount that reduces the card's cost by 2 on the turn it's drawn; Amplify, which doubles a card's Ongoing effect; or Superstar, which guarantees the card starts in your opening hand. You draft until you've made a deck of 10 cards and then you start battling. You'll play until you either win five matches or lose two, but you do have the option to use one Respawn Token per Draft round. As you play matches, you'll get the option to add more cards to your deck (up to 12) or to enhance your current cards with more Augments, further empowering you to take on more challenges. I had a chance to go hands-on with the Draft mode, building decks and battling it out with bots and likely Second Dinner employees, since I wasn't yet in a live environment. And while I've never been too enamored with Draft modes in other card games, this one caught and kept my interest thanks to the smart ways Second Dinner has iterated on the concept. When building you may see Augmented cards, like this powered-up Juggernaut The new type categories make a huge difference in building a synergistic deck. Giving you a Starter pack with three cards really helped steer me towards a particular play style, and then it was easy to maintain that with subsequent draft selections. Not every choice was a perfect fit--naturally in a Draft mode you need some randomness and things won't always line up--but choosing an archetype as my Starter created a North Star for me to follow for the rest of my selections. The new rarity ratings had a similar steering effect, as sometimes I would break from my deck type to take advantage of a powerful Legendary card, trusting that its sheer quality would still make it worthwhile. Plus, if a card didn't fit exactly into my deck, I could always bank the chance of outfitting it with a great Augment that would make it work. Or I could use Augments to turn my already-powerful cards into destructive powerhouses.  Like any card game, Marvel Snap's Draft mode sings when it lets you create unexpected combos that feel powerful and even game-breaking. I'm traditionally a Destroy player in Marvel Snap, so I gravitated toward that for some of my Draft matches. I had drafted a Bucky Barnes, which drops a Winter Soldier when it gets destroyed. But then I got the opportunity to augment Bucky with Regeneration, giving him the Wolverine-like ability to revive and bounce to a different location with +2 power. I cackled at this wombo-combo as I repeatedly destroyed Bucky, leaving behind a Winter Soldier and respawning him elsewhere to do it again. After a few hours of hands-on time, I don't think I've really scratched the surface of these surprising scenarios.  For more insight on Marvel Snap's new Draft mode and how the studio iterated on a classic card game type, I spoke with Second Dinner's Sam Stoddard. That is one big Wolverine GameSpot: The two big pillars of Marvel Snap are Ranked Mode and Conquest, plus rotating LTGMs. In the foundational stages, when you were first conceptualizing having a Draft mode, why did you go the LTGM route instead of trying to make it a third pillar?  Stoddard: Part of the reason why it's taken so long to get Draft into Snap is that if you were to design a game where it was basically impossible to do a Draft mode, Snap would be pretty high up on the list. Like, it's just got a lot of things that are working against how you would normally do a Draft mode.  Snap has a much lower number of cards, you have very small decks, so even the amount of variance you get isn't super high, as well as the synergy is very high. There's all these things that were really working against it, and it's part of why it took so long to eventually get to a place where we were really happy with what we had as an offering.  And so part of the LTGM thing is that we have a lot of known unknowns right now. I enjoy the mode a lot, but I designed it. I've talked to a lot of other people who enjoy it, but we definitely need to really stress test it with a much larger group of people.  The thing that we cannot do is change two-thirds of the cards every time we run the draft. There just aren't enough cards in Snap to do that. But we can do things like change which Augments exist or change what decision nodes you get. You know, some of the core rules of what you're doing.  Between matches you can Augment your cards with extra powers And so all those are options for what we can do, and we really want to make sure that basically whatever we're offering for this mode, it is as fun as possible and it's not something that's going to become stale very quickly. And that's the one of the major things that we're going to find out, I believe, when we launch it. How long are people able to play this and able to reasonably get a lot of enjoyment out of it, be able to play new games, try different things? There's a lot of things we're just going to learn over time. So based on how this LTGM goes, both with this initial rollout and subsequent versions, is there a chance it becomes permanent? Is that something that you're keeping an eye on?  It's definitely something we're keeping an eye on. There are a lot of discussions about that. I'm not sure exactly where we're going to land on it. Certainly, there are goals to make sure that Snap as a whole has a lot going on with it, and that we have everything that we need, but I think we're just basically going to figure out over time what the right spot for this is. We'll find out over time what the right exact cadence for the mode is. Marvel Snap is a very synergistic game, more than even most other card games. And so, when making a Draft mode, you need to make sure that people can actually build a deck that functions, and isn't just like a bunch of random stuff that doesn't really work together. Yeah, this is another big problem when we were designing it, was that that is the main problem, "Oh, I got a Colleen Wing. Okay, well is that any good?" Well, if I don't get at least like three discard enablers or discard rewards, then no, that card is just not worth it.  As we were looking at it and trying a lot of stuff out with the mode, that was always the problem. The question I always had was, "Okay, how do you beat something like Black Panther / Arnim Zola?" Like, you got a two-card combo that puts a bunch of power in two lanes. How do you beat that? In the regular game, well, I have different synergies or my deck's trying to do something slightly different.  If it's just based on, well, you don't really have a lot of synergy in my deck, it's more based on how strong cards are individually, then where you're really going to struggle. And just, frankly, Snap just doesn't have a lot of cards that are super strong by themselves. They really mostly rely very heavily on synergy.  Augments offer big boosts from a selection of your cards So when I was designing, some of it is we have the ability to add Augments to thing make it so that you can take a card that doesn't necessarily fit into your destroy deck and put an Augment on it that ties into destroy and now, all of a sudden, it does fit in your deck.  I always refer to it like aim assist, right? You play a shooter on a controller, and obviously, you don't have the same level of fidelity as you would on a mouse and keyboard. And so there's there's a certain amount of aim assist that you put on, so it's like, you know, you don't necessarily want it to be like, "Oh, it's I can move between my different lock-ons." That's not really fun.  What you really want to do is something where I start going down a strategy and it's going to be more likely to feed me cards that are going to play into my strategy and give me some options to pivot, rather than, "Okay, well you that first pick standard destroy card, and then like I just saw no other destroy cards for the rest of my deck, and now I just my deck's not very fun." If synergy is the secret sauce of Marvel Snap, that can also get way out of hand if you let people over-synergize. Another thing that Marvel Snap does that makes it difficult for Draft is we don't have hard rarities. You know, inherently in the game, we've got different "Series" of cards, but that's not really the same thing as card rarity as most games do. So, it was actually kind of nice. We got to just invent the rarities for cards. And so we got to say, "Oh, well, this card is a Common, this card is a Rare, this card is an Epic, this card is a Legendary."  And so some of it is that we get to move stuff around in rarities. So, if we're saying, "Well, destroy is just too strong right now," we can always move something like Carnage or Venom and go, "Well, instead of being, you know, a Common, now this is going to go up to Rare." Or take one of the, "Oh, well this card that was a low rarity just shows up less frequently, and we pick some other card that maybe isn't quite as strong and move it down in rarity so we can kind of try to power balance things that way."  We don't necessarily want every strategy to be equally strong. Some strategies are going to be more consistent. Swarm is a good example of a deck where, as I'm laying out all the stuff, it's like, "Well, how many cards do we have that, you know, are destroy enablers?" It's like, "Well, there's like, 10 or something. There aren't that many." Well, how many cards do we call, you know, swarm enablers? Well, that's every card in 1-cost cards, so there's 150 or something. And so there definitely was a lot of, "Okay, we need to move some stuff around and figure out, some decks are going to be more consistent than others, some decks are going to be a little more, power-spiky, sometimes the strategy's going to play really heavily into one synergy, sometimes it's going to do different things."  Play until you win 5 or lose 2, with one optional revive It's actually one of the reasons why discard is not in. We found a lot of spots where many of the other decks like Move or Destroy, they could make sense pretty easily. Like if you have like one or two move cards in the deck, that can still work. Or like, "Oh, there's some combos and stuff I can do with it," where discard is very much, "Okay, if you're not really pretty all-in on discard, then all of these cards are not very good."  You could potentially have more than one copy of a card, which is not a thing you can normally do in Snap. How did that come about?  Designing the mode, that was always one of the most important things to me, was being able to play multiples of the same card. One is that there are a lot of it evens out a lot of the synergy across different decks, where some decks are going to be more reliant on a small package of like, you know, enablers and payoff cards. And letting you play duplicates means that you don't have to have like the same three or four individual enablers and payoffs in the same deck.  You can have the move deck that is much more based around, "I'm going to play two Kravens, so I'm going to bounce cards between those two locations to get them large." Or I've got, you know, Multiple Man or something like that. That lets you have a lot more variety between the individual games because there are all these duplicate versions of cards. For a Draft mode to function, you also need the low roll. "Oh, none of these really work for my synergy. I guess I just pick the one that seems like it's least bad." That's part of how this mode has to function. How did you try to make sure that that element was in there, but didn't feel so bad that it is off-putting? Some of that is the Augments and giving you opportunities to upgrade cards in ways where you can take something that maybe wasn't very exciting and it becomes exciting.  One of the other key tenets for me on this was, Marvel Snap does a lot of really interesting things for the whole CCG genre. It really tried to turn a lot of things on its head, and a lot of that is the average game length in Snap is just very, very short. That's intentional. It's intentional that it's a very mobile-first, bite-sized experience.  If you play a lot of other draft games, a full draft run, that might take hours. And especially on a mobile, you know, for a mobile game, that's not necessarily a thing we want to sign people up for.  Augmenting can also just mean enhancing your stats So my goal was, obviously, we'll let you play one game at a time and you can, come back later and finish your draft. But also that the entire time it takes to kind of go all the way in a run should be like under half an hour. And so that also helps out with some of the low rolls. Trying to make sure that the actual experience is fast and fun enough that you are willing to take those risks because, you know, even if it goes poorly, you're only out a minimal amount of time and you can jump back in and try again. That was really important. I also need to ask, obviously, about the Augments. That's a huge element that can almost feel game-breaking. When did that come into the flavor of this mode? I'm someone who is a drafter at heart for most card games, so I definitely had in mind, "Okay, one of the things I want to do at some point is figure out how we get drafting in." And, I knew it was going to be really difficult because obviously it's not like the people [at Second Dinner] had not figured out that draft should exist, so obviously it was going to be a challenging design problem.  And when I first got that ability to really start prototyping it, it was with just duplicates and, you know, that was really it. And so like as we were testing it, it's like, "Okay, there's something fun here, but it's not actually enough." Like the only way we'd really make this work would be if we have so few cards that you can reliably expect to get duplicates, and then it's like, "Well, how many times can you really draft the three-four deck before that kind of gets old?" And so okay, we're not really quite there yet. Augments came out of an idea partially just because one of the things that is challenging about getting Draft in Snap is that when you do a draft, part of the fun is you get to make a lot of decisions. If it was like a Smash Up game, "Choose deck A and deck B, mash them together, and you've got a deck." Well, that might be a fun experience, but it's not a draft.  Card rarities determine how often you'll get a particular card And as we were testing out drafting, part of the issue was, you weren't getting enough decisions to make it really feel like drafting. It was like you got to make a couple decisions, but it wasn't enough. And Augments became a way of, "Hey, what if we added in the ability to kind of like upgrade or change your cards?" That goes a long way to giving you more decision space.  And also, again, goes into the the eventual goal as a live service--that we're able to do some changes and and have it come back and have it feel different, being able to change what Augments exist goes a long way to, "Oh, things feel very different this way because, now there are more Augments focused on some different strategies." Or "Now some of the Augments are more about reducing costs or more about something different," and that goes a long way to having each [iteration] run it at different times and each of those runs feel pretty unique without having to reinvent a card pool--which is, again, difficult because there's a small card pool. Behind the scenes, how will that cadence of updating and planning for the next version of the Draft LTGM work? We have not fully figured that out yet. Everyone is very, very excited about the mode, but we obviously are looking to see how the audience reacts. Whenever I'm designing anything, audience feedback is incredibly important. I don't want to be the like "the kids are wrong" guy where it's like, "Oh, you know, we we believe in this, and we release it, and people are kind of meh, and so we're just going to keep releasing it the same way until until like they realize how good it is."  There's a lot we're going to learn. The number of draft games that we played internally is going to be dwarfed by the number of draft games that happen in the first hour that it's live. So, we will learn a lot. We're going to learn a lot about how much choosing different strategies plays out. We're going to get a lot of data that way.  Definitely a thing that we will be trying to figure out from all that data is what that cadence looks like. It's not going to be too long before it comes back because we definitely have a lot of things that we want to try out. Prizes await you for a good run in Draft Long term, I think we're just going to have to figure out some of this. How fresh does it stay for the time that it's up? What do we need to do between instances to make sure that it is remaining fresh, and that we've got a lot of new stuff to do?  We want to make sure that we don't hit a point where it always gets stale because we just don't have enough stuff going on. So, we're definitely going to figure out what happens with our initial run, and as we do subsequent ones, figure out what we change between runs, how much does this add on to it.  Draft has probably been one of the most requested modes in Marvel Snap. And Draft is sort of a standard mainstay of card games, but the way you're implementing it is really surprising. I don't know what I was expecting from Draft, but there are more wrinkles in this than I had anticipated. So, when you're looking at what the demands have been from the fan base, how do you make sure you deliver while also packing in like a bunch of surprising wrinkles that I don't think people are going to see coming? That's been a huge point of discussion between us, internally. "Does this hit your expectation for drafting in Snap?" And certainly, we've had versions of this previously where it felt like, "This does not live up to what my expectations would be because it's like, whether it's just not very fun, or some versions where we've tried different configurations like, "Well, what if you started by drafting, three cards and then you got a bunch of two-card picks?"  And it was like, "Well, I"m just not making enough picks. It doesn't feel like a draft format. It feels much more like a mashup thing." Certainly some people are going to want a more traditional draft experience, whether it's, "I want to play more games at a time," or "I want to play more directly against another person."  I'm sure that there will be people where this does not necessarily hit exactly what they are or exactly looking for. The general hope is that this mode is fun and, much in the way that Snap took a lot of things that core CCGs did and turned them on their heads and, there are trade-offs that we made to make it this really fun mobile experience that is very different from other CCGs.  If you take all the things that Snap has done that are unique and really think about [Draft] in the same way, what can we do that really makes this unique in a way that lives up to Snap's DNA of the game?

Title: In An Unaffordable World, The Future Is Friendslop Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/in-an-unaffordable-world-the-future-is-friendslop/ Gaming has never been more expensive. We're here to investigate why, and help you play more while spending less. Welcome to GameSpot Cheap Week. You don't need me to tell you things are getting more expensive. Unless you're incredibly wealthy, you're already feeling the pinch. The world is less affordable, from groceries to gas to rent to, yeah, even video games.  For the first time, consoles aren't getting cheaper over a generation: They're skyrocketing in price. While the price of games themselves stagnated for a long time, they're now moving rather quickly, with $70 and even $80 games becoming the new normal, and that's before you launch the games to find season passes, cosmetics shops, and other add-ons meant to entice you to spend further. There are a lot of reasons this is happening, but if you add it all up, it's simply more expensive to play games right now.  But in one corner of the gaming landscape, a certain trend feels future-proofed for our unaffordable world. Friendslop, the sometimes-derogatory, sometimes-favorable term for a particular type of co-op game, is still rising in popularity since the pandemic. Games such as Lethal Company, Among Us, and Peak have dominated social media over the last half-decade, and they're inspiring a wave of games like them that are broadly approachable, relatively affordable, and highly social.  For GameSpot's Cheap Week, I spoke to a handful of teams making games that one could call friendslop, to find out how studios are viewing the opportunity--and sometimes unseen obstacles--of creating social games for players on a budget. Among other qualifying traits, it's their price that's defining what this genre is even becoming. Friendslop games ought to be priced in the "impulse range," RetroStyle Games, the team behind the REPO-inspired (and butt-obsessed) Last Pirates: Die Together, told me via email. The impulse range speaks to comments made by Peak co-creator Nick Kaman, who believes that, psychologically, a game priced at $8 is still $5, but at $10 people start to question whether they ought to buy it. Many friendslop games are priced to match this thinking, and it's part of what's helped the genre grow so rapidly. "[Kaman] is right," RetroStyle said, "and in co-op, it's even stronger, because nobody does that math alone. Four copies for less than one AAA deluxe skin feels like a joke you can afford. Under $10, the purchase is an impulse; over $10, the group chat starts scheduling a discussion. I think we’ve all been there, where you just gift whole four-packs just to end the debate. That's the zone this genre lives in." The same rationale is on the minds of the developers at Hexateam for Exorcist Hotline, a co-op game that combines Phasmophobia-like ghost-hunting with friendslop elements.  Bandit Trap Lethal Company Headliners "It’s become clear that players don’t treat prices below $10 as investments that need to pay off, but rather as cheap entertainment," the studio said in an email. "In a market where having multiple players is key, making it easy to convince friends to buy the game you like is key. And when your game costs less than a night in a pub, it becomes easier." One reason friendslop games can be sold for cheap is that they're often mechanically simple. Games like REPO and Headliners have outsold major releases we heard about for years while they were in production, and those friendslop frontrunners did it with little to no pre-release marketing and with just a fraction of the time and money spent to get them to the finish line. While AAA game budgets and schedules balloon beyond comprehension, it's often a friendslop game's simplicity that carries it to such enormously successful heights, which feel even greater when you didn't need to sell a AAA-level number of copies for the project to make financial sense. "The Peak lifting-people-up mechanic is so fucking genius. That makes the game," Lazy River's Mike Boxleiter told me over a Zoom call. "You can bounce your friends, and you can throw them stuff, I guess. And outside of that, it's just the mechanic of lifting people up. Like that's the shoot-dodge from Max Payne: the thing that you do over and over again that makes the experience sing for whatever reason."  The more I spoke to teams in this realm, the clearer it became how they all look up to Peak as, though not the genre's progenitor, perhaps its greatest success story so far. "[Peak co-developers] Aggrocrab and the Landfall roster understand better than almost anyone that a simple, fun concept can be more important than any other factor," the team behind the demonic cooking sim Happy's Humble Burger Cult told me. Boxleiter said his team is intentionally seeking a deeper experience for Lazy River, a game about building a defensible raft and fighting off zombified patrons with pool noodles to survive in a water park, but he admits, if you're seeking a more mainstream audience, Peak's way of leaving no players behind due to skill level is key. Players understand the setup right away, and as they're met with more friction over time, it's not due to mechanical complexity or scope. Often, it's due to your friend nudging you off a mountain because they thought it'd be funny. "I think with friendslop, it's all about being able to touch each other and fuck with each other or help each other in physical ways," Boxleiter told me.  It's true; physics-based mishaps are nearly definitional at this stage in the genre's lifespan, with more examples coming out all the time, such as the upcoming game from Dwarven Brothers, We Are So Cooked, in which players must work together to dispose of a dead body without getting caught, or Koro Games' Friendly Steps, in which players try to stumble home after a night of heavy drinking. It's in these mechanics where some unpredictability--some jank--is a feature, not a bug. And as it's so welcome in this space, the time to polish a game can be reduced. You don't have to nail the physics of carrying a corpse through a crowded hotel or picking up your piss-drunk pal from the pavement. Players want it to be messy, because messy is funny. All of these components help future-proof the genre for our ongoing affordability crisis. Developers enjoy shortened timelines and less overhead, and can ultimately sell their highly social, often laugh-out-loud funny games for cheaper, because you're likely selling them in groups at a time. When done well, you're giving players memorable nights with their pals from the comfort of their homes in a world that feels like it costs $100 just to walk out your front door sometimes.  Friendly Steps We Are So Cooked Lazy River And because of the viral nature of these games, it's not only more realistic to think you might recoup what you spend on making a game; the biggest winners wind up being massive and open up new avenues for their creators, like how Innersloth's enormous success with Among Us led to Outersloth, its burgeoning publishing label. But for all the key components that make friendslop the wave of the future, there's one aspect that's maybe less cited but will become even more relevant in years to come: hardware specs.  With the intentional jank and limited mechanics often comes a stylized, usually cartoonish look and simplified art direction to friendslop games. This tends to mean a game isn't so demanding on your hardware because it's not full of high-end, photorealistic visuals, which is well-timed, since few players can afford new, more powerful devices right now. Many players will be priced out of upgrading their PCs for a while. I've wondered if manufacturers of the next generation of consoles are either quietly delaying their creations to a possibly cheaper future, or racing them out sooner to avoid needing to increase their prices even more. The longer we get into the affordability crisis, the more I expect lower-spec machines like the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch to become developers' target specs. People who own them may be more mindful of playing games that run on their lower-spec devices--or, as the We Are So Cooked team comically put it, on "non-NASA-supplied hardware." In turn, devs will need to plan for those platforms ahead of time, not try to make them run well on those platforms later. Essentially, low-spec machines may become the primary target, not the afterthought where a team then makes technical concessions other platforms didn't require. But friendslop games don't ask much of your platform. They're lower-spec by design, and so just as they appeal to players of all skill levels, are extremely affordable, and work wonders as memory-making machines for you and your buddies, they're also more broadly playable. The lowest-spec player in your group isn't left behind.  Grain Rot Last Pirates: Die Together Happy's Humble Burger Cult "If you want your game to be accessible, you have to be realistic and look at the hardware people are actually playing on," Beck and Branch Games, the team behind the highly wishlisted and newly released Grain Rot, told me. "On consoles, this has always been straightforward because you know the exact specs everyone is using. On PC, the best resource is the Steam Hardware Survey. By analyzing that data alongside the game we want to make, it’s all about finding a balance between fidelity and system requirements." Picomy co-founder and creative director Michael Balm explained how his team approached this problem for Bandit Trap, a 3v1 PvP game with friendslop leanings that basically plays like the movie Home Alone. "Because we started as a mobile-game developer, we still carry that mindset of being careful with performance and avoiding overly demanding technology. We do think it's important to make games that are accessible to as many players as possible, especially as people keep their hardware for longer." Still, friendslop isn't just the trend today because those games are cheap fun and they run on potatoes. As Koro Games' Vlad Koro put it, they're a response to something else, too."In our team discussions, we realized that these games serve another crucial purpose: They are a shelter from modern 'tryhard' live-service titles," Koro said. "Players are exhausted from competitive, stressful, high-stakes games where a single mistake leads to toxic teammates yelling at you. Modern gamers need a place to just hang out with friends without the extra anxiety, to laugh at funny physics, and to unwind after a hard day."  In Koro's eyes, games like his and others in this realm are not only a reaction to poor affordability, but also "loneliness and burnout." Like any trend in gaming, the supply runs the risk of outpacing the demand. There are so many friendslop games now that the teams I spoke to for this story, plus the several hugely successful games I mentioned throughout, are merely a small fraction of the many friendslop games that have released or are in production. As I was writing this feature, I have had two more examples hit my inbox today alone, and though Steam doesn't (yet) have a friendslop label, you can see dozens of them are on the way with just a few minutes of browsing. Peak found enormous success, but replicating that requires a lot more than a similar look and feel. While players are drawn to the genre because its games are cheap, disposable fun, developers know the stakes are different for them.  "Survivorship bias makes people think all kinds of new trends are 'life hacks' or easy money--this is simply not true," Hexateam told me. "For every successful friendslop game that earns millions, there are 10 friendslop games that no one has ever heard about." As the Dwarven Brothers put it, when it comes to game design, there's a moment and then there's a loop, and understanding the difference so you can create the latter can be a challenge.  "It's easy to make something chaotic once," the team said. "It's much harder to make that chaos readable, replayable, and consistently funny without becoming repetitive or frustrating." Boxleiter said the current friendslop trend is reminiscent of the early "gold rush" on iOS.  "Anytime you have a new format pop up, and a lot of games come out quickly that do really well, [people think] there was an underserved niche," he said. "But once you start getting it more mature, you're going to have a lot of people who are chasing that niche and aren't hitting quality targets or not making something interesting enough. [...] There's going to be some heartbreak for teams who thought that it was going to be an easy route to success. I've been there before." For more on my talk with studios working in the "friendslop" world, read what they think of the questionable genre label itself.

Title: Avengers: Endgame Re-release New Footage Runtime Officially Revealed Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:13:37 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/avengers-endgame-encore-extra-footage-runtime-doomsday/ Before fans fill theaters — not IMAX ones though — this December to see Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel is rereleasing Avengers: Endgame. The re-release of the 2019 Infinity Saga finale is coming back to theaters with new footage to tie it into Doomsday. Now we know exactly how long Avengers: Endgame Encore will be.

Title: Ms. Marvel Is Returning for Official Avengers: Doomsday Release Coming Aug. 27 Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:11:27 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/avengers-doomsday-official-podcast-iman-vellani-ms-marvel/ With Avengers: Doomsday only four months away, Marvel and Disney are ramping up their promotional efforts for the first Avengers flick in seven years. Doctor Doom is invading Marvel video games, while Marvel Comics is revisiting the precursor to the 2015 Secret Wars event comic, which Doomsday (and, presumably, Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027) takes inspiration from.

Title: GTA 6 Leaks: Take-Two Goes After Microsoft, Discord in New Legal Action Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:31:02 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/gta-6-leaks-microsoft-discord-subpoenas-rockstar-games/ Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive is officially going after the leaker behind gameplay clips of Rockstar Games' upcoming open-world game. On Thursday, Take-Two Interactive issued subpoenas in federal court to Microsoft and Discord in an attempt to obtain information about Cyberleek, the hacker behind the recent GTA 6 leaks.

Title: What time does The Duskbloods network test start in your time zone? Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:50:14 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/duskbloods-network-test-sign-up-schedule-dates-times/ TheDuskbloods network test will take place between Friday, Aug. 21 and Sunday, Aug. 23, offering the perfect opportunity for those eager to have a taste of FromSoftware's new game and see what it's all about. There will be five four-hour test sessions throughout the weekend. As this network test will see players from around the world, some sessions will be more suited to your time zone, while others would require you to either wake up early or sleep late.

Title: Duskbloods Network Test on Switch 2 Is Already a Flop Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:42:55 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/duskbloods-fromsoftware-first-network-test-closed-server-issues/ After weeks of waiting, players around the world were excited to finally get their hands on FromSoftware's The Duskbloods today. Well, that didn't happen. The first of several planned network test sessions has already been closed after it was plagued by server issues that kept players from logging in.

Title: Bring the Fire: Play Games on GeForce NOW With New Firefox Browser Support Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:00:24 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-firefox/ It’s a new way into the cloud.  GeForce NOW welcomes Firefox support to the cloud, opening up another way to jump into high-performance PC gaming straight from the browser, starting today. Whether on a school laptop or everyday PC, it’s now even easier to play supported PC games without downloading a dedicated app. Plus, discover 12 new games streaming from the GeForce NOW library this week, led by Gallipoli.  No Downloads. Just Firefox. This cloud is on fire with new ways to play on Firefox. GeForce NOW is now supported on Firefox, expanding access across even more devices.  Members can outfox big downloads and jump into high-performance PC gaming directly from the browser — no waiting on lengthy game installs or updates. The experience delivers GeForce RTX-powered performance at up to 1440p and 120 frames per second for GeForce NOW Ultimate members.  Simply download the latest version of Firefox, head to play.geforcenow.com and start playing. The cloud handles the heavy lifting, so games are ready to play without taking up valuable storage space on the device. Firefox joins Chrome, Edge and Opera in supporting GeForce NOW on Windows browsers. Deploy the Games Land on the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula in BlackMill Games’ Gallipoli, the latest entry in the WW1 Game Series. Fight as soldiers of the British and Ottoman Empires in intense 25v25 objective-based battles across coastal shores, deserts and urban battlefields, with 10 historical classes and over 50 authentic weapons and equipment options. Teamwork is key in its grounded, one-shot-one-kill combat. Take command as an Officer, provide cover as a Heavy Machine Gunner or Sniper, keep the squad going as a Stretcher Bearer and more while navigating challenging campaigns. Head to the frontlines from the cloud with no lengthy game downloads or installs taking up local storage space. Play directly in the newly supported Firefox browser, or take the action across PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, handhelds and more with GeForce NOW cloud saves. In addition, members can look for the following games streaming throughout the week: Stars Reach (New release on Steam, Aug. 18) The Sinking City 2 (New release on Steam, Aug. 18) Gallipoli (New release on Steam, Aug. 20) DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain (Steam) Escape the Backroom (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Hell Is Us (Xbox, available on Game Pass) High on Life (Steam) High on Life 2 (Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass) Parcel Simulator (Steam) Starvester (Steam) The Thaumaturge (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (Epic Games Store) Dates listed above reflect when games are released on their respective stores. GeForce NOW availability may vary, as games are onboarded after release and added throughout the week. Keep an eye on GeForce NOW channels and GFN Thursdays for availability updates on announced titles. To try GeForce NOW in Firefox, start with a GeForce NOW day pass and experience premium cloud gaming directly from the browser. If members later upgrade to a Performance or Ultimate membership, the cost of the day pass can be applied toward the first membership purchase. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: Class Is in Session: GeForce NOW Levels Up Linux, Chromebooks and More Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:00:33 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-linux-native-app/ GeForce NOW is giving cloud gaming an extra-credit upgrade just in time for back-to-school season. The native Linux app for GeForce NOW is officially out of beta. GeForce NOW is also delivering new cloud optimizations that make Frame Generation feel even more responsive while streaming. On top of that, Performance members will see higher frame rates in demanding games thanks to a CPU performance adjustment.  Plus, learn how GeForce NOW can add high-performance GeForce RTX gaming to the Chromebooks students already rely on for school – and how eligible new owners can take advantage of Chromebook Fast Pass. It all adds up to more ways to move from assignments to adventures across nearly any device. The only homework left is to decide what to play. This week, nine new games join the GeForce NOW library. The Cloud Gets Extra Credit GeForce NOW keeps getting better. The native Linux app for GeForce NOW has officially graduated from beta. Built on months of community feedback, the release focuses on performance, stability and polish while continuing to support Ubuntu 24.04 and later. A new Flatpack repository makes getting started and receiving future updates even easier. Visit the download page for more information and instructions. The cloud handles the rendering, so Linux gamers can tap into the latest GeForce RTX performance while staying on their preferred setup — without local hardware upgrades, compatibility headaches or complicated workarounds. Smooth gameplay makes the grade. GeForce NOW has also optimized DLSS Frame Generation in the cloud, reducing latency and making games feel more responsive. The improvements are especially noticeable when streaming at 60 or 120 frames per second in 1440p and 4K, helping every mouse movement and camera pan feel more immediate. Performance members will also enjoy additional server software optimizations to improve frame rates in select CPU-intensive games, helping demanding titles run more smoothly while delivering an even better gameplay experience. The cloud-side upgrade happens automatically, with nothing for members to install or configure, and at no additional cost. From Class Mode to Game Mode Class dismissed. Game on. Chromebooks already in backpacks can double as a PC gaming powerhouse, with GeForce NOW giving everyday school setups extra credit.  Chromebooks handling lectures, group projects and browser tabs can transform into high-performance GeForce RTX gaming PCs in just a few clicks. When class is out, open a supported browser or app and stream more than 2,000 supported PC games from existing libraries, with the cloud handling the heavy lifting. The same flexibility extends to Macs, Surface devices, everyday laptops, Steam Deck and mobile devices. Plus, eligible new Chromebook and Chromebook+ owners can claim a year of GeForce NOW at no cost with Chromebook Fast Pass, with priority access and no ads.  Study. Stream PC games. Same device.  Ready for the Weekend Follow the chain of command, streaming from the cloud. In addition, members can look for the following new games streaming this week: Car Wash Simulator (New release on Steam, Aug. 10) Pax Autocratica (New release on Steam, Aug. 10) Clawed (New release on Steam, Aug. 13) Hell Let Loose: Vietnam (New release on Steam, Aug. 13) Sandustry (New release on Steam and Xbox, Aug. 13) Cat Mail Co. (Steam) Misery (Steam) Monster Hunter Wilds Prologue Demo (Steam) Pratfall (Steam) To cap things off, a creator known as “Madelyn” recently shared how GeForce now makes cloud gaming affordable and accessible across nearly all her devices, calling it “a game changer” in her video: What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: GeForce NOW Shakes Up August With 26 New Games Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:00:11 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-august-2026-games-list/ August is here, bringing 26 new games for GeForce NOW members.  Command the seas in World of Warships: Legends and discover what’s next in the GeForce NOW library, starting with the eight newly added games this week.  In addition, GeForce NOW is at the QuakeCon gaming conference this week in Grapevine, Texas, with hands-on experiences awaiting attendees. Return to QuakeCon  Visit the NVIDIA booth at QuakeCon to experience GeForce RTX 5080-powered Ultimate cloud gaming in action, with demos showcasing stunning visuals at up to 5K 120 frames per second on an ultrawide display, as well as seamless gameplay on the Lenovo Legion Go S handheld device. Conference attendees can see how thousands of PC games, including fan-favorite Bethesda titles, can move effortlessly across laptops, Macs, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs and more — letting members pick up where they left off on nearly any supported screen. Gamers not at the show can try out Ultimate cloud gaming in action with a day pass and jump into Bethesda titles from any device. All Games on Deck Sail the seas from nearly any screen. World of Warships: Legends drops anchor on GeForce NOW this week, bringing free-to-play naval combat. Captains can command destroyers, cruisers and battleships across massive multiplayer battles while exploring the latest update, featuring the Pacific Hammer Campaign, a new line of U.S. destroyers and more. Chart a course straight into the latest content across devices today without any installs needed, and check out all the games available this week: Big Walk (New release on Steam Aug. 4) Beacon Pines (Free on Epic Games Store Aug. 6) Sovereign Tower (New release on Steam Aug. 6) Expeditions: Samurai (New release on Steam Aug. 7) The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store) The Incident at Galley House (Steam) Machine Party (Steam) World of Warships: Legends (Steam) And look forward to the games coming throughout the month: Pax Autocratica (New release on Steam Aug. 10) Car Wash Simulator (New release on Steam Aug. 10) Clawed (New release on Steam Aug. 13) Hell Let Loose: Vietnam (New release on Steam Aug. 13) Sandustry (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass, Aug. 13) The Sinking City 2 (New release on Steam Aug. 18) Mortal Shell II (New release on Steam Aug. 20) Gallipoli (New release on Steam, Aug. 20) Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 (New release on Steam Aug. 25) Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass, Aug. 27) Breathedge 2 (New release on Steam Aug. 30) World of Warships: Legends (Steam) High on Life (Steam) High on Life 2 (Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass) Paradise Killer (Steam) Misery (Steam) Pratfall (Steam) Starvester (Steam) Extra Joy From July In addition to the dozen games announced last month, 15 more joined the GeForce NOW library.  Breath of Fire IV (Steam) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Ubisoft Connect) CloverPit (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Dinoblade (Steam) Dino Crisis (Steam) Dino Crisis 2 (Steam) Esports Manager 2026 (Steam) Funnel Runners (Steam) Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok Demo (Steam) Halo: Campaign Evolved (Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass) Mistfall Hunter (Steam) Onimusha: Way of the Sword DEMO (Steam) Pathogenic (Steam) Sudden Attack Zero Point (Steam) The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian (Steam) Mistfall Hunter didn’t make it this month. Stay tuned to GFN Thursday for the latest updates. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below. Share a game screenshot or clip that perfectly sums up your day so far. — NVIDIA GeForce NOW (@NVIDIAGFN) August 4, 2026

Title: Best in Class: Stream PC Games and Study on the Same Laptop With GeForce NOW Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:00:20 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-back-to-school-2026/ Back to school means balancing assignments, deadlines and downtime. GeForce NOW makes it easy to have it all. With cloud gaming, everyday laptops used for class can also become GeForce RTX-powered gaming setups.  When it’s time to switch from studying to gaming, members can jump into Halo: Campaign Evolved, as GeForce NOW is bringing one of the gaming world’s most celebrated titles to nearly any device through the cloud, alongside eight total games joining the GeForce NOW library this week. From A+ to AAA Gaming  This back-to-school season, the easiest upgrade isn’t replacing laptops in backpacks. It’s unlocking even more from these same laptops, from creating to gaming. With a GeForce NOW membership, Chromebooks, Macs and Surface devices can become GeForce RTX-powered gaming PCs in the cloud. The GeForce NOW library features thousands of supported PC games, letting members stream titles they already own from digital stores like Steam, Xbox PC Game Pass and Epic Games Store in just a few clicks. The cloud keeps games up to date and ready to play, making it easy to jump into a match between classes, after homework or whenever there’s free time. Time spent waiting on downloads, patches and installs becomes time spent in game instead. The Ultimate membership enables best-in-class experiences by delivering 5080-class performance in the cloud with NVIDIA DLSS, ray tracing and NVIDIA Reflex technologies for responsive, visually rich gameplay — all on the hardware gamers already own. A creator known as “Menguiny” recently put this to the test after picking up a MacBook Neo. GeForce NOW turned the laptop — usually the creator’s go-to for editing videos and everyday work — into a top-notch gaming machine, too. Another creator, “TechWithSeong” highlighted that same versatility GeForce NOW offers. Rather than juggling separate devices for work and gaming, he used GeForce NOW Ultimate to stream supported PC games across the devices he already owns — from a MacBook used for editing to gaming on the go with handheld devices. Gamers can start with a day pass and experience all the premium benefits without a monthly commitment. Plus, the cost of a day pass can be applied toward a first membership purchase — it’s like earning a little extra credit along the way. Everyone, at Their Stations Needlers never looked so sharp. Experience the Master Chief’s iconic journey on GeForce NOW in Halo: Campaign Evolved — a modernized remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign — rebuilt with high-definition visuals, updated cinematics and refined gameplay. Whether discovering Halo for the first time or returning after 25 years to finish the fight, it’s as the Master Chief says: “We’re just getting started.” Crash-land on the mysterious ringworld alongside Cortana and uncover great secrets while battling overwhelming Covenant forces. Fight through the rebuilt campaign, then continue the adventure with three brand-new missions featuring the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson. Expanded weapons, iconic vehicles, hijackable Wraith tanks and optional Skull modifiers offer even more ways to play. Suit up across PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs and more with GeForce NOW Ultimate, powered by GeForce RTX 5080-class performance in the cloud. Experience Halo with NVIDIA DLSS, ray tracing and NVIDIA Reflex technologies delivering higher frame rates and ultralow latency that keep every firefight feeling responsive and worthy of a Spartan. From solo gaming to online co-op modes, GeForce NOW cloud saves let members log in and pick up exactly where they left off across supported devices — no lengthy downloads, extra storage space or expensive hardware upgrades required. The only thing left to carry is the mission. Let’s Play Today In addition, members can stream the following games this week: Halo: Campaign Evolved (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass July 28) Mistfall Hunter (New release on Steam July 29) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (New release on Ubisoft Connect July 30) Sudden Attack Zero Point (New release on Steam, July 30) The Ranchers (New release on Steam, available July 30) Corsair Cove (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass July 31) Funnel Runners (Steam) Pathogenic (Steam) What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below. Which game lore are you so familiar with that you can give a school presentation on it? — NVIDIA GeForce NOW (@NVIDIAGFN) July 29, 2026

Title: GeForce NOW Sets Sail With ‘Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame’ Joining the Cloud Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:00:16 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-path-of-exile-allflame/ Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventures, all ready to play without waiting for downloads. Set sail in Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame and charge in Battlefield 6 Season 4 both launching major content for members this week. Then revisit Capcom legends like Breath of Fire IV, Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2, jump into Halo: Campaign Evolved Advanced Access and discover nine titles arriving on GeForce NOW. The Curse Calls Prepare to brave the unforgiving waters of Wraeclast. Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame launches Friday, July 24, sending Exiles into the perilous Frozen Seas. Guided by formidable corsair captain Valerie and her cursed navigator Vesper, gamers must piece together scattered treasure charts, board the legendary vessel — the Sovereign — and chart a course into the abyss. Descend into the depths using Allflame Lanterns to uncover valuable relics while surviving the dangers lurking beneath the waves. The update introduces sweeping changes, including a complete rework of sockets and links. The Scion also gains the all-new Luminary Ascendancy, the Mercenaries of Trarthus return alongside mysterious Atlas Anomalies, and the preexisting Abyss, Legion and Talisman mechanics receive revitalized gameplay and exclusive rewards. GeForce NOW members can dive in the moment it launches across their devices, no downloads needed. Learn more about the latest additions on the Path of Exile website. Rise Through the Ranks The next operation begins. Battlefield 6 takes the fight further with Season 4, bringing new battlegrounds, expanded progression and new ways to play.  Take to the land, air and sea with the massive Tsuru Reef and the return of the fan-favorite Wake Island, coming in phase two. Both feature aircraft carriers with operational flight decks, new naval vehicles and a dynamic wave system that helps move every match. The update also introduces Custom Lobbies and Spectator Mode, delivering more ways to play. From large-scale multiplayer battles to intense vehicle combat, GeForce NOW lets members deploy across nearly any device. Ultimate members can stream with GeForce RTX 5080-powered performance across PCs, Macs, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs and more. Whether returning to the frontlines or enlisting for the first time, members can leap into the latest Battlefield update the moment it arrives on GeForce NOW — without waiting for patches. Dragons and Dinosaurs — on Any Device Classic adventures, now in the cloud. Three iconic Capcom adventures arrive on GeForce NOW this week, ready for longtime fans to revisit and new players to discover. Journey through the rich fantasy world of Breath of Fire IV, a role-playing game following the intertwining stories of Ryu and Fou-Lu. Master an array of skills and magic to unlock strategic victories in battle and go head to head with unique enemies using powerful Dragon Transformations.  Raw instinct takes over in Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2, the survival-horror series that combines pulse-pounding action, resource management and thrilling dinosaur encounters. Pursued by a relentless prehistoric terror, players fight to survive from the facility to the world of the Cretaceous Period. Whether reliving unforgettable moments or discovering these legendary titles for the first time, gamers on GeForce NOW can experience gaming history on supported devices like Chromebooks, Fire TV and Steam Deck — no legacy hardware required. Spartans — Start Early Spartans don’t have to wait. Players who prepurchase the Premium Edition of Halo: Campaign Evolved can suit up for Advanced Access before the game’s global launch on Tuesday, July 28.  Start the weekend with all the new games arriving on GeForce NOW: ZeroSpace (New release on Steam, available July 20) The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian (New release on Steam, available July 20) The Planet Crafter (New release on Xbox, available on Game Pass July 21) Carnival Hunt (New release on Steam, available July 23) Dinoblade (New release on Steam, available on July 23) Breath of Fire IV (Steam) CloverPit (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Dino Crisis (Steam) Dino Crisis 2 (Steam) The last word goes to the Community Corner. One GeForce NOW member recently shared they found themselves back on GeForce NOW Ultimate because they missed the flexibility of gaming across devices like Steam Deck. Their post sparked a discussion about why members tap into cloud gaming, whether as a backup, a travel companion or their primary way to play. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: Tails of Iron 2: Blood & Brine – Free Expansion Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:00:01 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/21/tails-of-iron-2-blood-brine-free-expansion/ Today, Blood and Brine, the free expansion for Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter, arrives on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. This new post-game adventure sends Arlo away from the frozen North to Hardshell Brook, a coastal region packed with 11 quests, 10 new bosses, nine armour sets, new music, and a fishing system with 32 aquatic creatures to discover. You’ll need to finish the main campaign before you can set sail. Play Video Cast off for Hardshell Brook After everything Arlo has survived across the Ratdom, his next problem sounds almost relaxing: help two shipwrecked sailors build an aquarium. Jaimie and Sam have washed ashore after losing their vessel, and their plan is to fill a new attraction with rare sea life, draw in visitors, and earn enough to repair their ship. That means somebody has to do the fishing. Hardshell Brook gives Arlo a very different landscape to explore, with sunlit docks, open water and plenty of unfamiliar faces. You’ll cast your line in different fishing spots and hunt down 32 creatures for the aquarium, gradually turning an empty collection into something much stranger. Fishing gives the adventure a quieter rhythm between battles, but we haven’t forgotten what kind of world this is. Some things under the surface are much happier trying to eat Arlo than being displayed behind glass. And as the aquarium grows, so do the questions around Jaimie and Sam. Their story about what happened at sea might not be quite as simple as it first appears. A rougher kind of seaside break Hardshell Brook may look warmer than the snow-covered Wastes, but it is definitely not safer. Across the expansion’s 11 quests, Arlo will encounter new enemies on land and beneath the waves, along with 10 boss fights designed around fresh attack patterns and hazards. We also wanted to make the coast feel different in combat, so Blood and Brine introduces ship arena battles that take fights out onto the water. One moment you might be exploring the harbour or checking a fishing spot; the next, you’re on deck dealing with something enormous that has decided your boat looks like lunch. There are nine new armour sets to collect as well, giving you more options to prepare for these encounters and, just as importantly, more ways to make Arlo look suitably battle-worn for a trip to the seaside. Indie heroes enter the Ratdom One of our favourite parts of making Blood and Brine has been working with other independent studios. We’ve always loved seeing how different indie teams build memorable characters and worlds, so we wanted to bring a few of those familiar designs into our hand-drawn medieval setting. The expansion includes crossover armour inspired by Blasphemous, Cult of the Lamb, Dave the Diver, Death’s Door, Moonlighter, and Beyond Galaxyland. Rather than simply dropping those costumes into the game, our artists redrew and adapted each set so it feels at home on Arlo and inside the Ratdom. Seeing recognisable heroes reinterpreted as armour for a very determined rat has been a lot of fun, and we’re hugely grateful to every team who let us play with their designs. A thank you to everyone who joined Arlo’s journey Blood and Brine started as another adventure for Arlo, but it grew into a much bigger addition than we first expected: a new region, new quests and bosses, new music, a new fishing mechanic, and a small celebration of the indie games we admire. More than anything, it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who has supported Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter. We hope returning players enjoy discovering what is waiting along the shores of Hardshell Brook, and that anyone who has not yet finished Arlo’s original campaign has one more reason to sharpen their blade. Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter – Blood and Brine is available today as a free expansion on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Complete the main campaign, ready your fishing rod, and prepare to set sail. The waters of the Ratdom are anything but peaceful. To celebrate the launch, Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is 60% off on PS5 and PS4 from August 12–26 as part of PlayStation’s Ready, Set, Play promotion.

Title: Code Vein II Mask of Idris DLC launches September 9 Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:00:56 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/20/code-vein-ii-mask-of-idris-dlc-launches-september-9/ Earlier this year, Code Vein II invited players into a post-apocalyptic action RPG where they fight alongside unique partners, wield powerful blood-based abilities, and battle fierce enemies to prevent the world’s destruction. Today, we’re excited to announce that the Mask of Idris DLC launches on September 9, 2026. This all new DLC introduces a history-altering story separate from the main campaign, taking players on a new adventure alongside two new partners. As you progress through the DLC, you’ll unlock new weapons and Formae to help overcome formidable new bosses. Launching alongside the DLC is a free update for all players, introducing additional features to further enhance the gameplay experience. However, today, we’ll take a closer look at everything coming in the Mask of Idris DLC. (SPOILER WARNING: The trailer content includes story details from the base game) Play Video Please note that certain play conditions must be met before you can access the Mask of Idris DLC. For full details on the required conditions, please visit our official Bandai Namco channels. Once you’ve met the requirements, you’ll embark on a new adventure that transcends time and space to uncover a history-altering story in The Forsaken World. The Forsaken World Throughout Code Vein II, history has been altered countless times, leaving behind scattered pockets of alternate space worlds known as Temporal Rifts. These spaces preserve residual traces of branching paths of history created by the past intervention of the great hero Idris. Though they were meant to disappear over time, the Temporal Rift continued to expand, eventually becoming what is now known as The Forsaken World. At its center lies the Spindle of Pathos, a colossal, swirling force that draws in emotions from across time and space. As its influence continues to grow, it now threatens to consume the world the protagonists are fighting to protect. It is here that your journey begins as you battle to save the world from its impending fate. As you venture into the Forsaken World, you’ll be joined by a new partner, Liv Voda, and Lou Magmell, a familiar face with a different story to tell. Together, you’ll confront powerful new threats and uncover the mysteries hidden in this fractured realm. Liv Voda – The alluring guardian of time and space​ Liv Voda is the original guardian of The Temporal Rift, and half-sister of Valentin Voda. She had abandoned her duties out of boredom and ​ been away from the frontier region for many years. ​ She has a combative personality, and her hair and eyes glow brightly when her emotions run high.​ Liv’s preferred combat style is aggressive attacks with a focus on melee combat. Her weapon of choice is the Halberd. She gracefully dances across the battlefield, relentlessly assailing enemies with continuous attacks from her Formae Chariot Rave and nimble evasive steps. Her Linkage Trait makes enemies more susceptible to staggering from weapon attacks. This trait, combined with her support Formae Mad Blood Dance (which boosts both her own and the protagonist’s attack power, with its effect extending upon each successful hit), forms a powerful synergy. Overwhelm your foes with coordinated teamwork. Lou MagMell – A lonely girl in the Forsaken World​ Lou Magmell is not the same Revenant girl the protagonist encounters in the main story but a different individual who entered the Forsaken World after experiencing a separate tragedy. The truth behind her past will gradually unfold as the story progresses. Despite her own hardships, she joins the protagonists in their fight to halt the expansion of the Forsaken World. New weapons and formae To prepare players for the challenges ahead, the Mask of Idris DLC introduces a collection of new weapons that broaden your combat options. Whether you prefer swift strikes or devastating power, these additions provide new ways to customize your fighting style. Grave Knocker is a martial arts Formae compatible with all weapon types, allowing players to unleash a powerful aerial kick that creates shockwaves to stagger surrounding enemies. Upon landing, a second shockwave expands, making it an effective ability for controlling groups of enemies. Sword of Karma: Idris summons a great sword imbued with the flames of Pathos, allowing players to unleash a series of powerful strikes and extended combo options. With its long reach and devastating final blow that sends flames of Pathos forward, this Formae provides both offensive power and flexibility in combat. Prepare to journey into the Forsaken World with the Mask of Idris DLC, featuring a new story, powerful allies, new weapons, and challenging battles. Whether you’re a returning player or discovering Code Vein II for the first time, experience this new adventure when the DLC launches on September 9.

Title: A field guide to Gran Turismo 7’s 1.71 update, out today Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:00:46 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/19/a-field-guide-to-gran-turismo-7s-1-71-update-out-today/ Gran Turismo 7’s 1.71 update roars onto PS5 today*, bringing with it new cars, as well as introducing  three new World Circuits, while Whistler added as featured Curation in Scapes.  Play Video Each of the four cars in this update offers a different kind of driving experience. Whether you are chasing style, discovery, precision, or something new, this update is built to be explored your way. To help you decide which one to drive first, check out the below guide, detailing what makes each one special and shows you exactly how to jump in. 1.71 update – Car Field Guide  Each car fits into a simple category:  Street Icon Sleeper Pick Pure Driver Next Gen Performance Pick what feels right, start simple, and explore from there. New Cars*** ’97 Toyota Chaser Tourer V *Can be purchased from Used CarsCategory: Street Icon View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Street Icons are all about presence, style, and cultural impact. These are the cars players connect with and make their own. The Chaser has instant attitude. Its stance and silhouette give it a natural presence, while its roots in tuner culture and the world of drifting give this Toyota a ton of street cred. This is the kind of car that quickly becomes a favorite because it reflects how players choose to drive, customize, and express themselves. How to experience it in GT7 Start here: Take it to Tokyo Expressway and run a clean lapThen try this: Add a livery in GT Auto and head to the Tuning Shop to start modifying the ChaserLevel up: Capture a replay or Scapes photo that shows your version of the car ’97 Toyota Mark II Tourer V *Can be purchased from Used CarsCategory: Sleeper Pick View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Sleeper Picks are understated at first glance, but reward players who spend time with them. Not to be confused with the Chaser, the Mark II carries quiet confidence. It may not demand attention immediately, but it connects with players who enjoy discovering something a little deeper. It represents a side of car culture where reputation is built through feel, knowledge, and performance rather than appearance alone. How to experience it in GT7 Start here: Take it to Tokyo Expressway or another urban track and get a feel for itThen try this: Compare it to other road cars from a similar eraLevel up: Tune and test different setups to find what suits your style If you enjoy finding hidden favorites that reward time and attention, this is your car. ’08 Caterham Seven Superlight R500 *Can be purchased from Brand CentralCategory: Pure Driver View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Pure Driver cars strip everything back and focus entirely on the connection between driver and road. The Caterham delivers one of the most direct driving experiences in GT7. Lightweight and responsive, it puts every input in your hands with no distractions. It is less about power and more about precision, making every corner and braking moment feel earned. How to experience it in GT7 Start here: Run a Time Trial on a technical track like Deep Forest RacewayThen try this: Focus on improving lap consistency over multiple runsLevel up: Refine braking, cornering, and racing lines to shave off time If you want to feel every input and improve with every lap, this is where to start. ’25 Hyundai IONIQ 6 N *Can be purchased from Brand CentralCategory: Next Gen Performance View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Next Gen Performance cars represent the evolution of speed, technology, and driving feel. The IONIQ 6 N brings a modern edge to the update. It reflects where performance is heading and invites players to experience something different from traditional expectations. It feels fresh, responsive, and part of a new chapter in driving. How to experience it in GT7 Start here: Take it to a fast circuit like High-Speed RingThen try this: Run a custom race against modern performance carsLevel up: Compare its performance across tracks and refine your driving approach If you want to experience where performance is going next, start here.Want to learn more about August Update 1.71? Then head over to gran-turismo.com.Haven’t purchased Gran Turismo 7 yet but want to get a feel for it? Download My First GT on the PlayStation store for free and hop into the game! Play Video And in case you missed it this past weekend, the Gran Turismo World Series – GT’s live event – was a blast in Tokyo! If you want to catch the excitement in person for the next round in Singapore, tickets are on sale right now: gran-turismo.com/GTWS *Gran Turismo 7 1.71 update will be available for free for Gran Turismo 7 players beginning today at 11:00pm PDT / August 20 at 7:00am BST / 3:00pm JST**. **Internet connection required for update.  ***Credits (paid or via game progression) required to purchase vehicles.

Title: Inside the brutal puzzles of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival  Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:15:07 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/19/inside-the-brutal-puzzles-of-clive-barkers-hellraiser-revival/ It’s dark. The walls are oppressively grey, spikey and close. And there’s a disturbing noise of chattering teeth that sounds like it’s coming from, well, everywhere. Then, I see him. Flesh warped, eyeless sockets sunken, mouth wide, teeth full. The Chatterer – the source of the ever-present and unnerving noise. Player character, Aidan, runs away, but seconds later Chatterer remerges in front of him in a crackle of electricity. Aidan tries another path of escape and Chatterer again fizzles into view. Down a seething red, fleshy corridor and the chattering figure zaps in front of him again. But there is a way to escape, you just need to know how. Play Video This is just part of my introduction to Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, a first-person survival horror hitting PlayStation 5 on October 8. And while this is a fairly straightforward puzzle element that I’m being shown, there are far more elaborate and equally disturbing ones that Assistant Game Director Vid Rajin is eager to walk me – or more accurately in this case, run – through. A labyrinth of terror Although Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival features a number of firearms and weapons, that’s not the purpose of the demonstration I’m immersed in. The focus is very much on how the game aims to test your nerve through its reality warping environments and the mysteries they hold, all encased with the gruesome tension the series is famous for. In fact, Hellraiser is a franchise which doesn’t necessarily lend itself to combative action, given its psychological and deeply disturbing investigation of the lines between pleasure and pain. To translate that into a game was one of the challenges faced by the teams at Mad Head Games and Saber Interactive, aiming to give the puzzles an appropriate edge. “We use the Genesis Configuration – a puzzle box – at the centre of things,” explains Vid. “Mysterious puzzle boxes are literally key to everything in Clive Barker’s universe, so it writes itself in terms of helping to craft puzzles and how to manipulate the world. We have a background in adventure games and hidden object puzzle titles, so we took our experience from those, but we want to make sure we have a narrative purpose for puzzles wherever we can.” The earlier example of our encounter with Chatterer is a clear sign of that bleeding of narrative and puzzles, as is another environmental teaser where Aidan is wandering through his house near the start of the game. At first it appears normal – but twisted little elements, such as photos on a wall being crooked or distorted soon become clear. And trying to escape the various rooms only leads to them repeating. The only way to solve this tormenting loop? By turning back instead of trying to move forward, which changes the entire setting. “The labyrinth Aidan is trapped in is intertwined with the real world,” says Vid. “So in the case of the looping rooms, the environment is almost trying to tell Aidan something, to get him to change his perspective, and make the player figure out another approach to what they might have been doing.” Controlling the Genesis Configuration Learning lessons is a fundamental part of any horror story, which makes Vid’s point fit smartly into the game, aping one of the mainstay themes of the genre no matter the medium – you learn or you die. Be it reversing your course to escape the looping room or outmanoeuvring Chatterer by discovering which corridor he doesn’t teleport in front of you in, understanding the importance of finding unconventional routes is crucial. Hints are offered by the labyrinth itself, although for some of the more traditional puzzles, like opening a safe via a sliding picture lock, clues can be something far less intimidating, such as discovering a diagram on a desk. But a chunk of progressing through Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is through using the Genesis Configuration itself. While it can channel power for offensive abilities like setting enemies on fire, Vid reveals how it’s essential for overcoming many of the present environmental puzzles.  Some puzzles have clear binary solutions. One example is using the Genesis Configuration to rotate a giant wheel, which in turn would realign the narrow walkways Aidan found himself on within a spike-laden room to plot a safe route through. Another demoed its transformative properties: we stood in a courtyard hub, with three main gates. Each one could only be opened by retrieving a statue’s missing item – such as an appropriately macabre tongue or hand – and then changing the Genesis Configuration into the correct shape to act as a key. But there are others which have multiple ways of solving them. What those are, the studio remain tight-lipped, keen for players to discover themselves.  And while many revolve around traversal, the labyrinth itself, and all the horror that await within, there are a few incidental and familiar parts for survival horror fans. “We have classic lock pick mechanism puzzles as well [such as]safe combinations which reward you with useful items, like crafting resources, ammo, some nice upgrades, or even like a new weapon,” says Vid. “And you have to manage your inventory in a similar way to the Resident Evil games.” Inspiration outside of hell Between these types of traditional survival horror puzzles and more surreal, M.C. Escher inspired interiors that help fashion the environment, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is shaping up to be something fans will appreciate. The development team – fans themselves – also had the advantage of Clive Barker himself advising from its initial conception and Doug Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead from many of the movies, to help keep them on track. “They were a huge help, especially in giving us small details,” says Vid. “The pressure to make something to honor the franchise is always there, but it’s been alleviated by the positive response from the fans so far.” Prepare for oblivion With a campaign that Vid suggests could take over 12 hours to complete, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival aims to deliver a sharp experience that captures the visceral and psychological intensity of its source material. And if you own a PS5 Pro, you can expect higher graphic settings and PSSR sSupport to hone in on the horror. Can your chattering nerves handle a piercing face to face with Pinhead and his cenobites? Find out on October 8 when Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival launches on PS5, available for pre-order now.

Title: (For Southeast Asia) Pulse Elevate wireless speakers launch November 12, 2026 Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2026 01:33:26 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/08/18/20260818-speaker/ Update (August 19, 2026): Pulse Elevate wireless speakers in Midnight Black and White will launch starting on November 12, 2026,* with a recommended retail price (RRP) of  SGD 319 / MYR 1,099 / THB 8,499 / PHP 14,709 / VND 6,999,000. Pre-orders for Pulse Elevate speakers will be available starting from September 2, 2026 in local retailers.. With Pulse Elevate wireless speakers, experience lifelike audio for desktop gaming and on the go – read more about Pulse Elevate wireless speakers here. *Availability may vary by market and retailer. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image We’re excited to share a first look at the Pulse Elevate wireless speakers – the newest addition to our lineup of PlayStation audio accessories  – which we revealed earlier today during State of Play. Pulse Elevate builds upon the immersive next-level gaming audio experience we introduced to players with Pulse Elite wireless headset and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds, combining powerful technologies like planar magnetic drivers and PlayStation Link into new form factors for players to experience with their favorite games. As the first wireless speakers developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Pulse Elevate fits seamlessly in a PS5, PC, or Mac desktop gaming setup and can be enjoyed on the go with a PlayStation Portal remote player or smartphone. The wireless speakers feature exceptionally lifelike audio, ultra-low latency and lossless PlayStation Link wireless connectivity. Play Video Here’s an overview of the speakers’ key features: Lifelike desktop audio: Each speaker features studio-inspired planar magnetic drivers for lifelike sound across the entire audible spectrum. This means players can hear games exactly how developers intended – whether they’re playing on PS5, PC, Mac or PlayStation Portal.On the PS5 console, the driver technology further enhances immersion in PS5 games that support Tempest 3D AudioTech by positioning audio cues with incredible accuracy. The speakers also feature built-in woofers that deliver rich bass tones for a fuller soundscape. Built-in mic with AI-enhanced noise rejection: Pulse Elevate seamlessly introduces a high-quality voice chat experience into a desktop gaming setup with a microphone integrated within the right speaker. With AI-enhanced noise rejection technology, the mic also helps identify and remove unwanted background noise for crystal-clear voice communication, providing a new level of headset-free voice chat for desktop gaming. PlayStation Link ultra-low latency and multi-device connectivity: Pulse Elevate is powered by PlayStation Link technology for ultra-low latency and lossless connectivity to deliver sound as it happens on compatible devices including PS5, PC, Mac, and PlayStation Portal remote player. The speakers are also compatible with Bluetooth devices, so players can listen simultaneously via a PlayStation Link-connected device for in-game audio and a separate Bluetooth-enabled device for music, voice chat, and more. Pulse Elevate wireless speakers will feature a PlayStation Link USB adapter that is compatible with USB-C ports. Built for both desktop gaming and portability: With the built-in rechargeable battery, players can take Pulse Elevate on the go when gaming with a PlayStation Portal remote player via PlayStation Link, or with a mobile device or smartphone via Bluetooth. The included charging docks make it easy to jump back into a desktop gaming setup.  Highly customizable audio: Pulse Elevate speakers feature built-in volume controls and are designed to be easily adjusted for the ideal horizontal and vertical orientation in a player’s desktop setup. Players can further personalize their audio experience on PS5 or PC* with the option to adjust EQ, sidetone, volume, and mic mute settings directly via system menus. Pulse Elevate wireless speakers will launch in 2026 and will be available in both Midnight Black and White.** What games are you looking forward to trying with our new speakers? Stay tuned for more information on launch date and availability in the coming months. *PC options available post launch. **White available while supplies last from direct.playstation.com (where available) and select retailers. Availability may vary by country.

Title: GTA 6 leaker hunt is on, as Rockstar owners Take-Two file subpoenas asking Microsoft and Discord for records Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:45:04 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/gta-6-leaker-hunt-is-on-as-rockstar-owners-take-two-file-subpoenas-asking-microsoft-and-discord-for-records Well, the chase has begun. Rockstar parent company Take-Two are after the identity of the hacker or hackers behind this week's GTA 6 leak. Having spent a number of days swatting clips with takedowns, while the leakers dumped more and more across the net, Take-Two have filed multiple subpoenas in federal district court asking Microsoft and Discord to share records related to accounts which have been involved in posting and sharing the leaks. Read more

Title: "The lines between redemption and revenge will blur", promises Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2's latest trailer as the series locks in a late October release Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-lines-between-redemption-and-revenge-will-blur-promises-cyberpunk-edgerunners-2s-latest-trailer-as-the-series-locks-in-a-late-october-release Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, the second series of the anime CD Projekt Red and Netflix grafted onto the former's cyberverse following Cyberpunk 2077's release, will premiere on October 20th. Having previously revealed the four new Night City dwellers its plot will be following, the show's creators have now put out another trailer teasing the tale of "revenge and redemption" in store. Read more

Title: Among Shadows is a Nightreign-style dark fantasy RPG with a touch of Among Us that makes me think wistfully of Dark Souls at its most treacherous Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:42:55 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/among-shadows-is-a-nightreign-style-dark-fantasy-rpg-with-a-touch-of-among-us-that-makes-me-think-wistfully-of-dark-souls-at-its-most-treacherous Among Shadows is the kind of videogame genre arithmetic that often proves less than the sum of its parts, but I'm cautiously enthused by its talk of disease, betrayal and Elden Ring: Nightreign-flavoured swordwizarding. The gist: this is a fantasy action-RPG with an Among Us-style social deduction element. You are a member of the Order of the Secret Fire, sent into a supernaturally blighted region to track down sources of corruption, while looting gear and levelling yourself up. Read more

Title: “We’re going to take things slow": South of Midnight devs now own the rights to all their games again, after quitting Xbox, and are working on a new game Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:25:45 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/were-going-to-take-things-slow-south-of-midnight-devs-now-own-the-rights-to-all-their-games-again-after-quitting-xbox-and-are-working-on-a-new-game We Happy Few and South of Midnight developers Compulsion Games have announced that they are fully broken up with Microsoft and Xbox, after completing a management buyout. They now once again own the rights to all their own original intellectual properties. Amongst other things, this means that you can buy South of Midnight – summarised by Brendy (RPS in peace) as "a beautiful folkloric tale" and a "plain and unambitious" action-adventure – while still taking part in the BDS boycott against Microsoft's Israeli military connections. When you buy the Steam version of South of Midnight, all your money (after Valve's revenue cut) will go to Compulsion. Read more

Title: PSA: In the latest GTA 6 leak's aftermath, it's not a good idea to download files with names like totallylegitgta6leakedbuild.exe Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:31:41 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/psa-in-the-latest-gta-6-leaks-aftermath-its-not-a-good-idea-to-download-files-with-names-like-totallylegitgta6leakedbuildexe While scammers and other ne'er-do-wells leaning into the allure of playing GTA 6 as part of their efforts to spread malware isn't anything new - cybersecurity companies have been issuing warnings about it for months - there appears to have been an uptick in such behaviour following the latest GTA 6 leak. With speculation rampant as to what exactly the hackers known as Cyberleek may have access to, now is not the time to be downloading any files claiming to be GTA 6. Read more