It's been nearly seven years since developer House House released its breakthrough title, Untitled Goose Game. The company's follow-up, a co-op puzzle-solving game called Big Walk, is out now, and it's already achieved an unexpected critical milestone on PlayStation Plus Essential.

As reported by GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, Big Walk has landed with a 94 score among reviewers. That makes it the most critically acclaimed game to ever be released on PS Plus Essential on day one. Last year's indie adventure-puzzle hit Blue Prince achieved nearly the same score, with a 92 on Metacritc, but it was released on PS Extra, not Essential..

GameSpot's Big Walk review calls it a game of the year contender and hails it as one of the best co-op games ever created. "Big Walk takes fundamental and timeless video game concepts–obstacles and incentives for clearing them–and, through an intensely focused co-op experience, shapes them into something singularly rewarding, supremely mysterious, and totally unforgettable," notes the review.

For anyone who is just getting started with the game, GameSpot has put together eight tips you need to know ahead of playing Big Walk. Players who have already dived into Big Walk should check out our guides on how to get shiny and how how to solve the 4166, 1899 puzzle.

Big Walk is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Mac.

The blockbuster buyout of Electronic Arts has been completed, with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund taking ownership of the gaming giant in the biggest leveraged buyout (LBO) in the history of commerce.

The $55 billion deal includes billions in debt for EA, which has prompted fears of massive cost-cutting with projected layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, however.

"This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition, and passion have made EA one of the world's leading interactive entertainment companies," said EA CEO Andrew Wilson in the official announcement. "We're entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition. Together, we'll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day."

"Entertainment and sports are key areas of strategic focus for PIF, and are among the fastest growing and evolving sectors around the world," added PIF Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments Turqi Alnowaiser. "Together, the Consortium is uniquely positioned to be a long-term partner to EA's management team in driving sustained growth and innovation for EA and the industry."

The PIF is buying EA alongside Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's private equity firm Affinity Partners and investment company Silver Lake. The company's co-CEO, Egon Durban, was previously on the board of directors at the gaming company Unity.

EA has gone private.

EA announced the buyout back in September 2025, but it didn't close until today, August 4, due to the regulatory approval process. It was due to close earlier, but after Europe approved it in July, that set the stage for it to finally do so.

PIF previously had a 9.9% stake in EA, and that's getting rolled into this deal. EA stockholders will get $210/share as part of the buyout, which represents a tidy 25% premium over the company's stock price on the last full day before the deal came to light and subsequently sent the price soaring. Now that the deal is done, EA is being removed from the public stock market. And with that, we'll have much less insight into how EA is operating from a financial perspective.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson will remain CEO of the company, but it remains to be seen how long he may stick around. He became CEO in 2013 and has overseen a period of massive growth for EA, as the stock was trading around $27 when he became CEO. His remuneration has grown as well, with the latest company filings revealing Wilson was paid $38 million in total compensation in the previous fiscal year. In that same year, EA laid off many developers, including people who worked on the successful FPS Battlefield 6.

Concerns

Developers at BioWare said they feared that the RPG studio could be one of the first EA-owned companies to see cuts under the new ownership. BioWare is known, in part, for making pro-diversity games featuring inclusive storytelling and characters. Longtime BioWare writer Patrick Weekes, who was laid off in 2025, speculated that EA’s new owners, including the PIF, might want to avoid “gay stuff” and politics that the PIF’s leadership does not agree with. Developers working on The Sims have expressed ongoing concerns as well.

Additionally, cosplayers raided EA’s California headquarters in protest of the deal.

EA's $55 billion sale is not the biggest-ever gaming acquisition, as that record belongs to Microsoft, which paid $75.4 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard.

The PIF already bought the mobile and social gaming giant Scopely (Monopoly Go) and Niantic's gaming division, including Pokemon Go, so this is just the latest massive move for the Kingdom.

Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis said EA may look to “cut excess spending and rationalize the company’s workforce” to help bring in more money to address the debt. A report from Financial Times said EA might look to further bolster AI tools and technologies to help cut development costs and drive profitability. To be sure, EA had said it was already doing this, as are other companies who are embracing AI in an attempt to reduce costs.

Mat Piscatella of Circana told GI.biz no one can say for sure what happens next for EA, but history may not be on EA’s side. “Leveraged buyouts have a certain history that generally hasn’t been great for the acquired companies,” he said.

EA's final earnings report

EA's latest earnings report, released on August 3, showed gains for revenue and profit in the April-June quarter. The company's net bookings of $1.35 billion increased $51 million year-over-year, but came in below analyst estimates.

EA said increased sales of extra content for Apex Legends helped with the increase in bookings, as did full game and microtransaction sales for Battlefield 6. However, these gains were partially offset by lower sales of Split Fiction, which released during the same quarter the previous year.

EA's earnings reports will no longer be made public now that the company has gone private. Some experts and industry veterans believe EA going private, and no longer needing to answer to public stakeholders, will lead to some benefits.

Fiona Sperry was the top boss at EA’s Criterion Games and is now the CEO of Three Fields Entertainment. She said in an interview with GI.biz that, “I’d be really excited about the opportunity that going private would entail.” Publicly traded companies answer to their shareholders and are known to push games out the door to meet a quarterly earnings deadline. In a private setup, a company like EA could–in theory–change how it releases games.

“However experienced you are, the reality of game development means that you’re often having to compromise your game to hit a date–a date you most often had to commit to long before you’ve finalized the design,” she said. “You have to design to the date rather than the other way round. And it’s really hard to do that when you’re trying to innovate.”

“EA has amazing creative teams and hopefully this will give them the chance to really utilise that creativity and take some risks. Don’t get me wrong–dates are important for focusing everyone–but sometimes you just need more time,” she added.

Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis said EA going private means the company is no longer beholden to the market at large and subject to everything that comes with being a publicly traded company. This, in turn, could allow EA to focus less on meeting quarterly financial targets and more on “long-term strategies and investments.” Of course, the investor consortium acquiring EA will surely have its own performance targets and demands that EA meets–not to mention the aforementioned debt to address–though the setup won’t be the same as when a company is available on the open market.

In recent years, the trading card game (TCG) environment has seen a boom of new games entering the market. There are still genre mainstays, like Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh!, which continue to receive support and feature a thriving secondhand market. However, new original IP TCGs like Flesh and Blood and Sorcery are making rounds at the local game store level and beyond.

But licensed IP TCGs, like One Piece and the upcoming Cyberpunk TCG, have also taken the tabletop world by storm. Riftbound, the League of Legends trading card game, is no exception. After releasing late last year (at least in English), Riot Games' popular TCG has developed quite a large fanbase, leading to a massive presence at Gen Con in Indianapolis. GameSpot's Jessica Cogswell was present during the show, and got the chance to sit down with Riftbound game director Dave Guskin, who explained that the Riftbound team is much smaller than you'd think.

With such a small team, you have to wonder what other games the team looked to for guidance. Resource systems, which are costs you'll typically pay to play or activate cards, are present in most TCGs. Guskin, who worked previously as a designer on Magic: The Gathering (and is also a big fan of the game), took inspiration from that game's mana system.

"[I'm] a big fan of Magic's [mana system]," he explains. "I actually thought, 'Okay, we're going to start with the resources in the deck. That's the appropriate amount of variance for game variety.' We tried it with players and they completely rejected it. They were like, 'This is horrible. I don't want to not play this game.'"

"So then I was like, 'Well, I'm not the right person to design this resource system,'" Guskin continued. "I recruited my two designers, Dave and Jon, who had joined shortly after the start, [and said], 'You've got to find a better resource system.' They tried like 10 or 12 different systems. Then they found one they liked, brought it to me, and were like, 'Okay, you're going to hate this,'" referring to Riftbound's Rune resource system.

"[They told me,] 'So what you do is you get rid of your own resources,'" Guskin explained. "And I was like, 'I hate it'. They're like, 'No, no, you've got to play it.' And as you saw, when you actually play it, you're like, 'Wow, this is actually pretty cool.' So that was all them--they were amazing at making that system. And now it's one of the things that TCG players of other games say they like the most about Riftbound."

In Riftbound, Runes operate similarly to Magic's lands in that you'll "tap" them (or exhaust, in this case) to pay a cards cost. But cards in Riftbound will often have two costs: Power and Energy. The Energy cost is represented by the top-most, colorless number in the upper left corner of a card, while the Power cost--which is also locationed in the upper left corner of the card but below Energy--is tied to one of Riftbound's six Domains (think Magic's colors). To pay a Power cost, you have to recycle a Rune of that Domain, which means placing it on the bottom of your 12-card Rune deck, referencing the two designers' "get rid of your own resources" pitch to Guskin.

Riftbound is nearing its one year mark since its English release, with its fourth expansion Vendetta having recently hit store shelves. This week also marks the game's biannual State of the Game updates, which details changes coming to organized play, upcoming products, and next year's roadmap.

Life is expensive these days. If you're looking to cut back on spending and want to do away with your PlayStation Plus membership, it's very easy to do so.

There are plenty of reasons why you might want to cancel PlayStation Plus, just like there are numerous reasons for cancelling Xbox Game Pass. Below you can find instructions on how to cancel PlayStation Plus, as shared by PlayStation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwBu7M023s How to cancel PlayStation Plus from the internet

• Sign in to Account Management.
• Select Subscription from the menu on the left of the screen. 
• Select Cancel Subscription next to PlayStation Plus.

How to cancel PlayStation Plus from your PS5

• Go to Settings > Users and Accounts.
• Select Account > Payment and Subscriptions > Subscriptions > PlayStation Plus.
• Select Cancel Subscription.

How to cancel PlayStation Plus from your PS4

• Go to PlayStation Plus > Manage Membership > Subscription.
• Select Cancel Subscription.

When you cancel PlayStation Plus, you'll retain member benefits until the end of the current billing cycle. However, after that, you'll lose access to the service's numerous perks including monthly games, online multiplayer, and online storage support, among other things.

August brings with it some pretty great additions to PlayStation Plus, including the critical darling Big Walk--which we called one of the best co-op games of all time--along with Dying Light 2 and Signalis.

Sony recently upset gamers by announcing that it will stop supporting physical game discs starting in January 2028. The data clearly shows that digital adoption is rising, but plenty of people still love physical discs. Sony continues to sell many millions of physical game discs annually, but experts believe Sony wants to exert more power and control over users and is ushering in an all-digital future on PlayStation leading into the PS6 era.

During last week's Gen Con, Riftbound, the League of Legends trading card game (TCG), boasted a massive presence. Fans were able to enter two different booths to get their hands on cards and exclusive merchandise, as well as meet some of the talent behind the game's creation and design.

GameSpot was onsite for the show, and had the opportunity to interview Riftbound Game Director Dave Guskin, during which we learned that the team behind the popular TCG is significantly smaller that you might think. At the end of our time with Guskin, the longtime designer reflected on how the game isn't even a year old yet (referring to its English release in October of last year), saying, "It's been so wonderful to have the community grow around the game, and see what people love. I always say, our team is quite small compared to the player base. So we rely on that partnership between development and community to figure out what's awesome, what's not, and how to fix it".

GameSpot's Jessica Cogswell, who conducted the interview, was intrigued by his mention of the team size. She went on to ask Guskin just how big the team actually is, and if Riftbound's creation was a concentrated effort or a case of a few team members with big ambitions. Gurskin confirmed it was the latter.

"A little over two years ago, I want to say it was just me, my boss, and one analyst," Guskin said. "And we were just pitching the game to executives. We were like, 'Just give us a chance.' And they were like, 'Okay, you can have two more people.' So then we made the systems and we tested with players [with just five people]."

As development ramped up, Guskin explained that Riot allowed a few more people to join the Riftbound team. Since then, the number has consistently grown, reaching what now feels like "huge growth," according to Guskin.

"But it's still like less than 50 people across all functions of Riftbound, which is sort of crazy," he said.

"I think we'll keep growing, which is awesome, but we've come at it from a very scrappy place. Like, 'Can make something really awesome for players, do it quickly, and do it without really having to do too much in the way of shooting for the moon, right?'" Guskin continued. "'Let's find something that we know players will love. Let's take stuff from Legends of Runeterra, from other strategy games at Riot, from the people who know how to make League of Legends champions in a different sort of game, and then get that out to players quickly, and then iterate.' So, I feel like it's been pretty crazy".

Riftbound recently released its fourth expansion, Vendetta. Its biannual State of the Game updates are also continuing to roll out until August 5, in which they've laid out changes coming to the game's rules and card templates, its roadmap for 2027, and more.

After launching in English late last year, Riftbound, Riot Games' League of Legends trading card game (TCG), has quickly grown into one of the most popular TCGs to date. The game had a big presence at this year's Gen Con, featuring not one but two large booths that fans could stop by to learn to play, meet some of their favorite creators, and buy convention-exclusive merch.

During the show, GameSpot had the opportunity to sit down with Riftbound game director Dave Guskin to chat about some of the game's history and where we go from here. Talking about League of Legend's massive roster, GameSpot's Jessica Cogswell was curious is if adding new Legends to Riftbound was an intimidating task when pulling from the source material's over 170-characters.

"No, it's so great! I love it," Guskin said. "I mean, the more things there are that players love and want to connect with, the better it is for us. I think for me, it's like, 'Man, how do we make sure we hit all of these so that the players who love a specific champion get to play that one.'' I think eventually we will hit all the champions in League of Legends. I think we'll probably revisit some, because we can find new ways to make a really cool Yasuo or a really cool Ahri that we didn't do before."

Revisiting older Champions in Riftbound is something the team has already done, with Master Yi making his second playable appearance in the TCG with the game's third set, Unleashed. That version of Master Yi sports the new XP mechanic that fans of League of Legends will be familiar with.

Guskin went on to discuss the team's process for selecting which characters will receive the cardboard treatment. When asked if they consider cards based on what people are playing the most in League of Legends, or if it's more centered around how well that character would work on as a card, he stated that both play a key role in the team's decision making.

"It's a combination of, 'People love this from League of Legends, the PC game. We should try to acknowledge that and see if we can build something that really feels right.' Like Zed, he's like constantly making shadow copies of himself, right? So we thought, let's make a deck, and see if that works. And it was like, 'Oh, that's great.'"

The team has a few fan-favorite Champions from League of Legends they want to add to Riftbound as soon as possible, Guskin confirmed, stating, "I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that there's some very popular champions we haven't done yet. I think there's like some cool relationships in the story that we can explore through sets. We just revealed--a couple days ago, I think--that our sixth set and our seventh set have a few champions that are beloved, like, Aurelion Sol."

For more Riftbound news, Riot is currently rolling out their second biannual State of the Game updates, detailing changes to come in the future, shifts in organized play, and giving us our first look at the set release roadmap for 2027.

The 2024 Borderlands movie had a cast full of big names, including multiple Oscar winners, and was based on a popular franchise with countless fans. But the film was a critical and commercial disaster. So what happened?

Director Eli Roth told Variety said that the film, which cost a mighty $120 million to produce, was pared back to something that did not line up with his original vision. He said he wants to make things that are "left of center" because this worked for him in the past. However, "As things grow bigger, studios just naturally become more risk averse," he said.

The report said studio executives wanted Borderlands to have a PG-13 rating, and asked for changes to get it. In the end, the finished version of Borderlands was "something that belonged to nobody," Roth said.

Cate Blanchett in Borderlands.

“It’s not a kids’ movie, but it’s trying to appeal to everybody. It’s for gamers, but it doesn’t have the violence the gamers want because it can’t be that extreme because it costs too much. You just wind up with a movie that’s neither fish nor fowl," he said.

Roth was not the only director on Borderlands, as Deadpool's Tim Miller came in for the reshoots.

The Borderlands movie starred Cate Blanchett as Lilith and Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap. The film also featured Kevin Hart (Roland), Edgar Ramirez (Atlas), Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina), Florian Munteanu (Kreig), Janina Gavankar (Knoxx), Jamie Lee Curtis (Tannis), and Olivier Richters (Krom).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjtVXWa3tWI

Roth previously directed Cabin Fever, Hostel, and Knock Knock, while he starred in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. His latest movie is Ice Cream Man, which tells a story of an ice cream truck driver who comes to town, selling kids ice cream that turns them into murderers. The movie, which releases on August 7, is not getting good reviews, but he says it represents the kind of movie he wants to make, unobstructed from studio influence.

He raised the movie's $5.5 million budget and is releasing Ice Cream Man via his own production company, The Horror Section. He said the movie only needs to make about $6 million-$8 million theatrically to turn a profit, in part because he expects it to make about as much when it's released at home.

“Novelists who write stories own the underlying rights, but filmmakers who write a screenplay don’t own the underlying rights, and that always felt like an imbalance to me,” Roth said. “Stephen King owns all of his creations. Why should I create something and then give away ownership?”

Marvel Rivals has consistently expanded its roster ever since it went live, and for Season 9.5: The Mystery of Thebes, a sinister underworld figure is being added to the live-service game. Voiced by WWE star Damian Priest--AKA Luis Berrios--The Hood is bringing some demonic energy to Marvel Rivals and some Chainsaw Man vibes.

https://youtu.be/YMweqIzyB7s

Stepping into the Vanguard role, The Hood balances mobster energy with demonic powerhouse skills. He can easily switch between his human and demon forms, as he lays down suppressing fire with his pistols, summons protective shields, and lob orbs of dark magic that debuff enemies. But it's his Ultimate Ability that might make anime fans do a double-take, as when he fully transforms into a demon, The Hood looks like he just stepped out of the pages of the Chainsaw Man manga, as he has a strong resemblance to the Gun Devil from that series.

As a fully-realized Gun Demon, The Hood essentially becomes a walking arsenal of guns that can easily pierce through the defenses of enemies. Here's what he looks like after he has transformed:

The Hood's Gun Demon transformation

And here's what the Gun Devil looks like, from Chainsaw Man:

The Gun Devil from Chainsaw Man

That's a pretty strong comparison, but I'm guessing that Marvel Rivals developer NetEase is paying homage to Chainsaw Man, which is a hugely popular manga and anime series. Mercifully, The Hood isn't nearly as powerful as the Gun Devil when he's in this state, as the demonic entity was essentially a force of ballistic nature with its wide array of powers, instantly killing everything around him within a vast range. One of its infamous feats includes firing a bullet through the heart of every living being within 1,000 meters, if they were born within nine specific months of the year--anyone born in April, July, or October was safe from its wrath.

In addition to that anime influence, Marvel Rivals Summer Festival kicks off on August 13 and will see a brand-new wave of swimsuit special costumes and cosmetics added to the game. NetEase has also announced that Marvel Rivals will be taking up less space when Season 9.5 launches, as a massive texture compression overhaul will see the game shrink by up to 40GB on PC, and it'll be 15GB smaller on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Marvel Rivals Characters: Every Superhero And Supervillain Revealed So Far View Images

Ahead of its launch in September, Nintendo broadcast a new deep dive on Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave today. So far, it looks like tried-and-trusted Fire Emblem with its mix of turn-based strategy and character buildcrafting, but the biggest surprise was the reveal of the ultimate weapon class in the game--that's right, the new Fire Emblem is packing heat.

Always bring a gun to a swordfight.

While they aren't explicitly referred to as guns, the livestream did describe gauntlets as weapons that "look like firearms" when you equip them. They certainly do have more firepower as well, as the brief snippet of footage showing one of these in action revealed a weapon capable of firing off lightning-empowered rounds. Are there concealed carry laws in the Dagdan Empire regarding gauntlets? These are the questions we're dying to know the answer to.

https://youtu.be/_RaZiSBaJfU

Normally, Fire Emblem games have focused on a mix of medieval weaponry and magic, with each weapon class being effective against certain types of classes and ineffective against others. This has created a delicate balance over the years, and that gameplay system has been retained for Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave. Archers are still a flying unit's worst nightmare, axe-wielding troops are slow but powerful, and mages are glass cannons in combat.

Other interesting details from the livestream include a story that focuses on multiple characters, who players can switch between at any time, and the reveal that the story doesn't stop after you win the tournament that these champions are competing in. It looks like the narrative kicks off properly several years after the contest ends.

Fortunately, you won't have to wait too much longer to play the new Fire Emblem, as it launches on September 17 for Switch 2.

Xbox Game Pass giveth, and it taketh away in August. Fortunately, not too many games are going to be exiting the subscription service in the first half of August, as only four titles are on their way out on August 15.

This month, you can say goodbye to Menace--which was available via Game Preview on PC,--Atlas Fallen, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and Firewatch. As a reminder, Game Pass subscribers can save 20% on these titles before they leave, so if you like what you've been playing, this is a little bit of a silver lining. Aliens: Fireteam Elite fans will also want to keep an eye out for the sequel to the gung-ho action game, which launches on August 25.

Game Pass removals for August 15

• Menace via Game Preview (PC)
• Atlas Fallen (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Firewatch (Cloud, Console, and PC)

There are usually two waves of removals every month with Xbox Game Pass, and July was a pretty big one. Last month saw a grand total of 20 games exit Game Pass--11 games in the first wave, and eight in the second--with several big names like Celeste, Whiskerwood, Sniper Elite: Resistance, and Crusader Kings 3 amongst the departures.

The good news is that several replacements are on the way, with August's first wave including Beast of Reincarnation as a headline act, while Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can try out Gears of War: E-Day early with the beta that starts on August 6.

For more recommendations, you can also check out GameSpot’s rundown of the best Xbox Game Pass games.

The Best Xbox Game Pass Games In 2026 View Images

In June, Netflix released an officially licensed FIFA World Cup game, and while it was not a critical success, Netflix management later singled it out as a successful release. Now, however, the studio behind the game, Refactor Games, has enacted a round of mass layoffs affecting the majority of the studio.

Cofounder Nathan Burba told GamesBeat that the studio has laid off 85% off its staff. This amounted to about 80 people, according to Insider Gaming. The studio's co-owner, Delphi Interactive, was said to have pulled funding after the launch of the game in June.

Affected developers were reportedly notified on Friday, July 31. The laid-off developers reportedly received no severance pay, though the last day was a payday.

Netflix continues to grow its games business.

The Netflix FIFA game, which is called FIFA World Cup Launch Edition, allows people to play on their TV or computer with up to four people. The game features all 48 teams, 1,238 players, and 16 stadiums from the tournament.

The game received poor review scores, with VGC saying it's a "woefully undercooked companion" to the World Cup.

During Netflix's latest earnings call, management said FIFA World Cup Launch Edition and the horror game Unhinged were two of company's "most successful" launches ever for cloud games on TV. Netflix did not share any specific datapoints that speak to their success, however.

Despite some initial stumbles, Netflix remains interested and invested in the gaming space for the long term, seeing it as a major growth-driver. Recently, Netflix reported that some of its gaming efforts have grown by 600%, while also informing investors that it's still early days.

August has just begun, and like clockwork, the first batch of games headed this month to Xbox Game Pass has been revealed. Here's a closer look at what you can expect to play in the first half of the month.

Xbox Game Pass August wave 1 games

Available today, you can jump into some old-school first-person spellcasting action with Heretic + Hexen. A re-release of the classic shooters, each game has been updated with several new features and enhancements.

While we weren't blown away by it, you can still check out the day-one release of Game Freak's Beast of Reincarnation, an action-RPG set in a harsh but beautiful post-apocalyptic world.

Starting August 6, things heat up with Monsters Are Coming (to Game Pass Premium), the return of PowerWash Simulator, and the early access launch of the Gears of War: E-Day beta. Remember, if you want in, you'll need to preorder the game or have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/PC Game Pass subscription. Otherwise, you'll need to wait until August 13 for the open beta to begin.

Once the dust has settled from those arrivals, you can check out Bounty Star and Date Everything when they hit Game Pass on August 11. Bounty Star is an over-the-shoulder 3D action game themed around combat and farming--and now available through Game Pass Premium--while Date Everything lives up to its name by allowing you to romance everything from your bed to your smoke alarm, who are fortunately all presented as anthropomorphic beings. Grounded 2 will also be available through Xbox Game Pass Premium as it continues its early access journey.

On August 12, the Game Pass Premium gates open for the brick-breaking and base-building fun of Ball X Pit; Cricket 26 tasks you with using your balls to break some wickets instead, and you don't want to miss out on the hand-crafted metroidvania Mio: Memories in Orbit when it arrives on August 13. It's worth noting that Ball X Pit and Mio: Memories in Orbit have been available through Xbox Game Pass for a while now, but they're being added to the lower tier of the subscription service this month.

There's also the day-one release of Sandustry to look forward to, and in a sneak peek at August's second wave of games, you can guide a fragile egg through a gauntlet of danger in Egging On.

There'll also be four games leaving Game Pass on August 15, so you only have a few days left to play titles like Aliens: Fireteam Elite and Firewatch.

August 4

Heretic + Hexen (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass 

Beast of Reincarnation (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

August 6

Gears of War: E-Day Open Beta – Early Access

Monsters are Coming! (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

August 11

Bounty Star (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass 

Date Everything! (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass 

August 12

Ball x Pit (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass 

August 13

Cricket 26 (Cloud, Console, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

Mio: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

Sandustry  via Game Preview (PC), Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

August 18

Egging On (Cloud Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

Xbox 360 games could be coming to PC, as a new report claims that Microsoft is aiming to bring classic titles from a bygone era to new platforms.

According to the document (via The Verge), Xbox 360 games will also be playable on "Xbox PCs," handheld gaming PCs, and Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Series X|S successor, Project Helix. This expanded backwards compatibility will tie into a larger roadmap for upcoming features. The report also claims that developers who make their Xbox 360 games compatible with PC will be allowed to set their own price and decide if they want their title to be available through Xbox Game Pass. This follows Microsoft's recent announcement of original Xbox games for PC, with the first four titles--Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Fuzion Frenzy, Conker: Live and Reloaded, and Crimson Skies: High Road--now available to download.

The feature will reportedly roll out between 2027 and 2028, and the report also mentioned a few more details on Microsoft's disc-to-digital program that could pave the way for an all-digital future. Players who insert a game disc into an Xbox console equipped with a disc drive will gain a digital license tied to their account, but if that disc "changes hands," the license will automatically transfer to the new account. Theoretically, this could mean that a player can still swap and trade their game disc, and once done, they'll lose access to their digital license.

The Verge added that the beta for the disc-to-digital program has been delayed to an unspecified time. Microsoft's approach is also massively different to how its rival Sony is approaching the idea of games being purely digital products, as the company announced that it will end production of physical game discs in January 2028. The backlash so far has been massive, and following a few weeks of radio silence, Sony cautiously addressed the overwhelmingly negative feedback it had received during an investors' call last week.

Meanwhile, Xbox faces several challenges of its own. Recent layoffs have hit several studios hard, while European consumers have been absolutely hammered by massive console price hikes. Driven by component shortages fueled by AI investment, Microsoft hasn't ruled out another price hike in 2027, either.

The 23 Best Xbox 360 Games Ever Made View Images

Riftbound, the League of Legends trading card game (TCG) from Riot Games, just saw the release of its fourth expansion Vendetta on July 31, the first set to achieve release parity among all of the game's available languages. We still have one more expansion to come in 2026, with Radiance dropping October 23, but today's State of the Game update detailed even more products players can get their hands on before year's end.

The biannual update also discussed the game's release roadmap for 2027, starting the the sixth set Legacy, launching January 29, which leads into the seventh set Reckoning in April. Sets 8 and 9 details are still under wraps, but the team did tease some details about each expansion's settings and themes.

2027 Release Roadmap Riftbound's 2027 set release dates.

The sixth set Legacy releases January 29, 2027 and is the game's largest set to date with 346 cards. It's also designed heavily around the draft format, which makes sense considering its larger-than-average amount of new cards. Legacy also sees the release of a second iteration of Proving Grounds, a collection of four preconstructed decks designed for new players. Compared to the first set (Origins)'s version of Proving Grounds, which had exclusive cards not found in the main set, Proving Grounds Second Edition features cards that can all be found in Legacy booster packs. Legacy brings 12 new playable Legends in to the fold, like Ashe, Garen, Heimerdinger, Illaoi, Karma, Lux, Tryndamere, and Vladimir.

On April 30, the seventh set, The Reckoning, comes out. Details on the 264-card set are still minimal, but the update article teases massive Champions and creatures are coming. The Reckoning introduces nine new playable Legends, including Aurelion Sol, Cho'Gath, Shyvana, Vayne, and Zilean.

Details for Sets 8 and 9 are virtually nonexistent, but the article confirms that Set 8 focuses on Bandle City, home of the Yordles, while Set 9 teases the importance of the Shadow Isles.

Many TCGs offer a wide variety of different products you can buy, from mainline booster packs to collector's sets, and Riftbound is no different. Radiance is the final mainline set of 2026, but there are still a handful of ancillary products players can buy that are filled with alternate art reprints of existing cards.

Secret Garden

Themed around Riftbound's third set Unleashed and the Legend card Ivern, Green Father, the Secret Garden kit is available only at select events, with last week's GenCon being the first. You can get your hands on this at the upcoming Regional Qualifier tournaments in Barcelone, Singapore, and Los Angeles, as well as at PAX West in Seattle the first weekend of September. You'll be able to get at other unannounced events as well. Here's what's inside of the $70 box:

• 3x Alt Art Cards
  • Alt-Art Ivern, Green Father
  • Alt-Art Lillia, Bashful Bloom
  • Alt-Art Ultrasoft Poro
• 5x Alt-Art Double Sided Tokens
• 2x Sleeves Pack
• 2x Full Art Postcards
• 3x Unleashed Boosters

Riftbound x T1 2025 Worlds Championship Collection

Similar to last year's Worlds Bundle, the T1 Worlds Champion Collection is a five-card alternate art collection of Champion cards you can use in game, each chosen by members of T1, that will cost $360. This also marks the first time Riftbound cards are getting serialized treatment, so demand is sure to be extremely high for the Signature Edition. These will be available to purchase from August 14 to August 17 through a drawing. The included cards and the T1 player who chose them are:

• Doran - Ambessa, The Wolf
• Faker - Galio, Indefatigable
• Gumayusi - Miss Fortune, Buccaneer
• Keria - Seraphine, Not Alone
• Oner - Xin Zhao, Vigilant

If you're after a more widely available product, the T1 Worlds Champion Player Bundle will run you $70 and includes the same five Champion cards with different art, as well as a collection of game accessories.

Gift of the Rift Bundle

This special box is designed to celebrate Riftbound's first year and includes booster packs of the TCG's first five expansions, seasonal accessories, and an alternate art Akali, Rogue Assassin Legend card. Akali is exclusive to the English-language version of the box, while Chinese printings contain an alternate Kennen, Heart of the Tempest Legend card. This comes out on December 4, 2026 and will be sold at mass retailers and at your local game store, but price hasn't been detailed quite yet. You'll receive:

• 16x Booster Packs (3x each of Origins, Spiritforged, Unleashed, and Vendetta, 4x of Radiance)
• 36x Runes - 6 of each Basic Runes with a Foil treatment
• 1x Alt Art Akali Promo 
• 100x sleeves of the Akali promo
• 1x 2000 card storage box 

Riftbound, Riot Games' League of Legends trading card game (TCG), recently celebrated its one-year anniversary on August 1 during GenCon. Since its launch late last year, the game's undergone dozens of changes, errata, rules updates, and even card bans. In its first of three State of the Game updates this week (and second overall this year), Riot broke down some of the biggest changes coming to Riftbound starting in January of 2027 with the release of the game's sixth set, Legacy.

Two State of the Game update articles were released today on Riot's site. One was an in-depth conversation with Riftbound brass Dave Guskin, Chengran Chai, and Nik Davidson, penned by the game's Editor-in-Chief Trick Jarrett, in which they discussed how they felt about the game one year in, and some of the biggest learnings the team has experienced in that time.

Regarding banning cards, Riftbound Game Director Dave Guskin explained that the team doesn't set out to ban cards, but will when absolutely necessary, citing the powerful "Miracle" package from Spiritforged. "I don’t regret making powerful things," he said. "We want you all to have cool stuff to experiment with! But as we learn the nuances of making Riftbound (which is something we are doing right alongside you all, our extremely intelligent players) we’ve learned there’s still room to grow in how we approach designing the six domains and gauging the true power of certain game mechanics."

Last week's release of Riftbound's fourth set, Vendetta, brought along three preemptive bans in an effort for the team to get ahead of the set's release and ensure it has a healthy competitive meta on day one. The team also confirmed that they will continue to monitor powerful strategies and infinite combos going forward.

The other article detailed new products still to come in 2026, and offered a glimpse at the first half of 2027's set releases. What's most interesting from this article is Riot's breakdown of some big changes coming when Legacy launches on January 29. A few of these changes have been desired by the community for months (myself included), and Riot is making it a priority to listen to players and build the game with them. Riftbound will "continue to be reactive to player feedback as it grows," the article read. Guskin went on to explain that the team "will always try to clearly communicate as we improve our process and learn lessons we apply to the game in the future. Building this game together with the community is vitally important to us".

One of the biggest changes coming to the TCG affects booster pack contents. Usually, packs of Riftbound contain 14 cards; seven commons, three uncommons, two rare or higher cards, a foil card of any rarity, and a token or Rune. Legend cards, which are required to build your decks and play the game, have occupied a Rare slot since launch. Riot has said in the past that their goal is to make these cards very easy to come by, and that's been the case, but occupying the Rare slot means players miss out on more, actual rare (read: hard to find) cards. Starting with Legacy, Legend cards will be taking up a common slot, leaving room for the promised two rare or better cards, and bringing the amount of commons in a pack from seven to six.

The next big change has to do with the card templates and text itself, offering a clearer explanation of how cards and how they resolve. Also starting with Legacy, Riftbound will be introducing an arrow icon to signify the effect a triggered ability has.

Next, cards with specific targets will have that word set to a gray background to make sure it's obvious which word on the card is the intended target of a spell or ability.

Finally, one of the biggest changes is all about what the term "play" actually means. Since the game came out, "play" has always referred to making a token appear, placing a card on the chain, finalizing a spell, or resolving an ability. The article explains that these aren't exhaustive enough, so changes are being made to clarify that definition of "play." To start, finalizing a spell or playing a card from your trash pile is unchanged. But moving forward, cards that make tokens will swap "play" out with "create," and cards that say "when you play me" will be changed to "when I enter," meaning their effects are triggered when they resolve in play.

Today's articles kick off the first of three days of Riftbound's State of the Game updates, so expect more news and announcements throughout the week.

The Palworld series is expanding. Garena has announced Palworld Online, a new MMORPG for mobile, which the developer is making under a licensing deal with Palworld developer Pocketpair.

Garena will develop and publish Palworld Online for iOS and Android. The game aims to reimagine the "depth, freedom, and scale" of the main game for mobile. Palworld Online will have new, original story elements, along with MMO features like a "seamless, interconnected open world," Garena said. The game has cooperative and competitive elements, just like the main game does.

A first look at Palworld Online.

Garena president Terry Zhao said the company is "working closely" with Pocketpair on Palworld Online.

As for its mobile-first design philosophies, Garena said the game features a "streamlined, touch-friendly interface" with the option for one-tap controls.

Palworld Online is scheduled for release in 2026, with more details to be announced later. So far, just a single screenshot (above) has been released.

As for the main game, Palworld just recently launched its long-awaited 1.0 edition, and it's helped the game see a big surge in players. The game had more than 500,000 peak concurrent users on Steam alone this past weekend.

Hold on tight to the graphics cards you have, because those sitting on retailer shelves are about to get a lot more expensive, irrespective of whether you prefer AMD or Nvidia.

Last week, Nvidia GPUs were confirmed to be getting a substantial price hike, with anything between 20% and 30% being reported. That gave AMD the perfect moment to communicate a price increase of its own, with market analyst Harukaze571 reporting that the company had been waiting for Nvidia to make the first move.

The report, via PC Gamer, suggests that AMD was planning its own GPU price hike, but was worried about its effect on current stock, the price sensitivity of consumers, and more. Unlike Nvidia, however, AMD's increase seems mild by comparison, with the company aiming for "at least 10%" but falling short of specifying an upper limit.  Harukaze5719 added that, "price positioning is expected to be similar to that of the Nvidia series graphics cards," with the increases set to start taking place this week.

This increases are, notably, applying to partners, who then have to figure out how much to pass onto consumers. But given the thin margins that GPUs are currently sold at, it is unlikely that many, if any, will be able to absorb any part of the cost.

The increases across the board are attributed to the ongoing demand for memory, which is a core component for GPUs that requires large quantities of high speed modules. Samsung, which supplies a lot of memory for applications including and beyond GPUs, has already increased prices this year, and plans to hike them by a further 20% this month too. The company is expected to continue doing so until 2028 at the earliest.

These are all causing massive knock-on effects across the industry. The Xbox Series X and Series S had its new, increased prices go into effect at the start of the month, with Nintendo soon to follow with its announced Switch 2 price hike. Sony was forced to increase the price of the PlayStation 5 earlier this year, with all three companies likely looking at the possibility of further increases in the further should memory prices continue rising.

When Baldur's Gate 3 launched in 2023, it didn't take long for modders to add new camera options, including a third-person view. Now, a new third-person mod is expanding the view of Baldur's Gate 3 and allowing veteran players a chance to revisit the game from a fresh perspective.

The true third-person mod was created and posted by Nexus mods user Relysia, who acknowledges that it builds upon the previously released native camera tweeks mod and retains its features. However, the new mod adds a way to toggle between an over-the-shoulder camera view and the normal view. Relysia also shared a video comparison between the earlier mod and the current one, as well as a broad overview of its features and options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lg-0Y00Ipw

As originally used in the game, the camera was locked and didn't allow players to look up or down when using close view. The true third-person camera mod offers more leeway for players to move the camera with the touch of a button. It also keeps the camera "locked tight on your character" and adjusts the FOV when the player is running or crouching while also accounting for different heights for each character.

During combat and turn-based sequences, the mod auto-switches to distant view before reverting to close view. Relysia notes that the mod works best with a controller, but it can also be used with a keyboard. There are some known issues and bugs that remain to be worked out, but the "fix stuck camera" button should be able to help players out if they find themselves trapped in a bad camera angle.

Last year, a group of modders announced their plan to recreate the original Baldur's Gate in Baldur's Gate 3. Remakes of Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 are rumored to be in the works, but they have yet to be confirmed by Wizards of the Coast. A Baldur's Gate TV series is also in development, but Baldur's Gate 4 may have more trouble coming to fruition. At least one developer passed on Baldur's Gate 4 after expressing a desire to avoid following up on the work created by Larian Studios.

Buying a new Xbox just got a lot more expensive in the US, Europe, and UK. The previously announced Xbox Series X|S price hikes are now in effect as of August 1, and people should expect to pay significantly more.

In the US, all 512GB Xbox models went up by $100, while the 1 TB systems are now $150 more expensive. All 2 TB models are discontinued. You can see all the new US prices below, and prices for other regions further down (via VGC).

• Xbox Series S 512GB - $500
• Xbox Series S 1TB - $600
• Xbox Series X 1TB digital edition - $750
• Xbox Series X 1TB with disc drive - $800

In Europe, the cheapest new Xbox--the 512GB Xbox Series S--is going up from €350 to €500. The system originally launched in 2020 at €300, so it's gone up by €200 since then. The 1TB Xbox Series S is now going for €600 (was €400).

Moving on to the Xbox Series X, the 1TB digital model is now €750 (was €550), while the 1TB disc version is a whopping €800 (was €600). That's the most expensive edition, and it works out to about $920 USD.

Xbox consoles are now more expensive globally.

The UK is seeing Xbox price hikes, too, where the cheapest Xbox--the 512GB Xbox Series S--is now going for £430 (was £300). The highest-end version, the 1TB disc version of the Xbox Series X, is now selling for £670 (was £500).

Microsoft previously raised prices in October 2025. The company said it hoped another increase would not be necessary, but "console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027."

A report from Windows Central said Microsoft was losing $150 per console sold.

Microsoft, along with Sony and Nintendo, are set to receive tariff refunds, and none of the companies have announced any plans to return any money to consumers who paid more.

Beyond the tariff-related impacts, the ongoing AI-fueled memory and component shortages are expected to continue, and another Xbox price hike could come in 2027.

In response to the new, higher prices for Xbox consoles, Microsoft rolled out new Buy Now, Pay Later and 0% APR financing options. Microsoft also sells certified refurbished Xbox consoles for lower prices.

As for other consoles, the PS5 got its latest price hike this past April, while the Switch 2 is getting a price increase in September.

Love and Deepspace just had its worst financial month to date, as the dating gacha sim's revenue has cratered. While it was pulling in around $30 - $60 million in revenue every month (per Sensor Data), July saw the game make a noticeably smaller amount of cash, to the tune of $10.3 million. That's a massive 73% drop when compared to June 2026 ($38 million), and the fall can all be traced back to the announcement--and subsequent cancellation--of Valko, who would have been the game's sixth love interest.

In comparison, top gacha games like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero--all produced by HoyoVerse--continue to dominate the revenue charts, with ZZZ in particular rocketing up from 15th place to third place in July.

You'd think that revealing an occasionally furry love interest wouldn't result in a fandom being ripped apart, but you'd be wrong. Valko proved to be a polarizing figure, as the ruggedly handsome tech CEO and werewolf clan leader has half the Love and Deepspace community baying for his blood, while the other half is actively boycotting and petitioning for developer Papergames to officially add him to the gacha Otome game.

Valko dissenters have cited concerns that a new character will take developer attention away from the game’s main story and established love interests, while those for Valko argue Eastern beauty standards led to his swift dismissal.

Things got even worse for Papergames, as it decided to pull its booth from one of the largest anime and gaming conventions in Asia, BilliBilli World 2026. The Chinese Government has also gotten involved, taking aim at Valko's promotional slogans that could be perceived as problematic and promoting home intrusions and sexual assault. "What’s wrong with letting a wolf into the house?" the text for Valko reads, after he was shown

"This kind of entertainment-driven, traffic-driven creative work disregards public order and morality, crosses legal boundaries, and may ultimately endanger public safety," a representative from the Ministry of Public Security News and Media wrote. Since then, characters and storylines were removed and are in the process of being re-certified, as the Chinese government holds considerable power over what it allows in and out of the country when it comes to entertainment.

The government is also treating Love and Deepspace as a warning to other game studios, saying that any content that "deliberately blurs the lines of illegality, glorifies dangerous behavior, or undermines public safety" will face removal. The writing might be on the wall for Papergames, as it looks like its community is ready to break up with Love and Deepspace.