The free TV and movie streaming service Tubi has announced a young adult romance movie called Game On, and it will feature veteran gaming actor Nolan North (Uncharted, Assassin's Creed).

The film follows the talented gamer Casey, played by Sky Katz, who is trying to win her high school's first gaming tournament for the game Eon Rush. Her main competition is a boy she has a crush on named Theo (Case Walker). The twist is that Casey tries to "stay undercover and use their budding romance to study his moves and take him down from the inside."

The report from Variety did not specify, but it seems North plans Casey's father, a man who seeks to remind Casey "who she is beyond the headset." And in classic soap opera form, Casey's "carefully calculated plan begins to unravel as fake feelings turn real," according to the movie's official description.

Square Enix and Google have partnered to inject the tech giant's AI, Gemini, to help advise and guide players in the popular Japan-only MMO, Dragon Quest X.

Announced at a press event over the weekend, the partnership with see Square Enix turn one of the loveably blue slimes of the Dragon Quest universe into an AI-powered chat bot called Chatty Slimey. Players can converse with the bot through both voice and text, with the bot responding with generated voice lines that can help guide a player through different stages of the game and remark on their actions. Gemini is trained off data publicly available on the internet, although Google didn't specifically mention where this bot might get the required content for these responses.

Speaking to Japanese publication Sankei (via VGC) Square Enix's head of development, Takashi Anzai, said that the chat bot will make the game more inviting to new players. “New players won’t feel lonely wondering where to start playing; it will become their own personal companion," he concluded.

Electronic Arts has announced that Battlefield Hardline--the 2015 FPS entry in the series focused on police and heists, not traditional military warfare--will shut down on console this June.

The game will be removed from the PS4 and Xbox One storefronts on May 22, and that's also when people won't be able to buy any more in-game content. The game's servers, meanwhile, will close on June 22.

Hardline's single-player campaign will remain playable after the server shutdown date for anyone who owns the game currently or buys it before it's removed in May. Physical copies of the game will also remain playable offline.

Stephen "Votesaxon07" McCullagh, a YouTuber who primarily engages with science fiction entertainment (like Battlebots toys and Star Wars sets), was convicted of murdering his 32-year-old girlfriend who was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy in December 2022.

According to the BBC, McCullagh--who was on trial for more than four weeks--appeared in a Belfast court in Northern Ireland on March 23. After just over two hours of deliberations, the jurors returned to deliver a guilty verdict, with McCullagh facing a potential life sentence, according to the presiding judge.

During the trial, the jurors learned exactly how McCullagh committed the crime. On December 18, 2022, he went "live" with a six-hour Grand Theft Auto broadcast. However, the livestream was a ruse, and McCullagh--who reportedly admitted in a written statement to police--used the pre-recorded livestream to show up at his then-girlfriend Natalie McNally's Lurgan house in disguise to beat, strangle, and stab her before taking a cab home to call 999 on December 19.

Diablo 4's Season of Slaughter brought new, bloody challenges to Blizzard's ARPG, among them one so difficult that many players couldn't "reasonably" complete it.

As detailed in Diablo 4's most recent patch notes, an update going live on March 24 will make it so the season's Bloodsoaked Sigils are "significantly" less difficult. Blizzard explained its logic in a developer's note.

"We've received feedback that many players cannot reasonably complete Bloodsoaked Sigils after unlocking them," Blizzard writes. "By lowering the difficulty significantly, we hope to guarantee that all players who have earned access to Bloodsoaked content have a better chance of success."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has clarified that he is also not a fan of AI slop, but that DLSS 5 is not aiming to turn games into it. Instead, it's a tool that developers can, or cannot, choose to use for development.

Appearing on Lex Fridman's latest podcast episode, Huang was asked about DLSS 5 and the criticism of it, a week after Nvidia announced the new AI-powered tool at GTC. Huang stated that he now understood where the criticism stemmed from, just a few days after proclaiming all critics of DLSS 5 as "completely wrong."

"I think their perspective makes sense, and I can see where they're coming from, because I don't love AI slop myself. You know, all of the AI-generated content increasingly looks similar, and they're all beautiful, and I can...so I can...I'm empathetic to what they're thinking," Huang stated.

High on Life 2 for Nintendo Switch 2 has been delayed. The game was originally set to launch on April 20--a date with the same humorous association as the game's title--but it's now coming out in July. The franchise is called High on Life in the first place because the plot involves aliens coming to Earth and using humans as a recreational drug, so 4/20 would have been very fitting for a release date.

Developer Squanch Games said in a statement that it aims to release the "highest quality experiences," and to that end, it's delaying the Switch 2 version to July 1, 2026. "The additional elbow grease towards production will ultimately allow the studio to better meet not only our high standards for gaming, but yours as well," the studio said.

Digital preorders will be canceled, while physical preorders are intact through this change, Squanch said. "We appreciate your patience and continued support!" the studio added.

Call of Duty is set to deliver a new batch of content with Season 3 of Black Ops 7 and Warzone. Season 3 includes a new battle pass, more multiplayer content, and map changes for Warzone's Avalon. The season will likely include a new Zombies map as well. Here we'll highlight all the announcements and rumors for Call of Duty Season 3 so far.

• Call of Duty Season 3 start times
• What to expect from Season 3

Season 3 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone arrives on April 2. Call of Duty updates usually go live at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST across all platforms.

A new season of Call of Duty means a new battle pass packed with cosmetics, more DLC weapons to unlock, new maps, and additional game modes. A season generally includes limited-time events, and while the specifics aren't confirmed yet, Call of Duty typically has events this time of year that are themed around the upcoming Easter holiday.

Capcom's 2024 open-world RPG Dragon's Dogma 2 could be set to follow in the footsteps of its predeccesor with a major expansion, with the game's community convinced a recent piece of artwork celebrating the game's second anniversary is holding a number of clues.

A post on March 22 from the official Dragon's Dogma account on X states it had prepared a "special celebratory artwork" for the game's anniversary, one depicting a party in a tavern. That's not exactly out of the ordinary, but upon closer inspection, fans think there is good reason to believe an expansion could be on the way.

Hail, Arisen! The 2nd anniversary of Dragon's Dogma 2 is upon us. To celebrate the milestone, we've prepared this special celebratory artwork.

Thank you for your support!#DragonsDogma2 #DD2 #2YearDD2 pic.twitter.com/xV6tkzxBeQ

As pointed out by user PaiDuck on the Dragon's Dogma 2 subreddit (via Restart), the artwork sports a number of teases. A letter prominently shown on the table translates to "Sightings of griffins flying in from the northern region of Organ have been confirmed."

Pokemon Pokopia was created to give players the opportunity to build a comfortable home for their Pokemon, but some fans are already pushing the game's ability to craft and create to another level. At least two players have come up with different methods of creating calculators in Pokopia through a virtual electrical system.

A player going by Tarnow0530 on X (via IGN) has shared a look at their in-game calculator in Pokopia. It's a very simple calculator that can only do single-digit addition, but it works.

次はぽこあポケモンで電卓作った
1桁の足し算できる#ぽこあポケモン #ぽこポケ #電卓の日 https://t.co/rQlnRRTdBO pic.twitter.com/7PVPufJmxE

Tarnow0530 went on to show the work behind the calculator with a picture of its circuit diagram. They also acknowledged using the pulse circuit designed by kyuphd as the building block for this creation, which is powered by lasers, doors, and gates lined up in an intricate pattern.

Crimson Desert has a lot of skills, tools, and abilities that let you interact with the world in unconventional and unexpected ways. Players are learning this for themselves and have discovered that one of the game's earliest skill unlocks has multiple use cases that developer Pearl Abyss doesn't outright tutorialize.

Blinding Flash is an ability you unlock super early in the game--like, within the first hour or two of entering Pywell. Pressing your lantern and normal attack buttons (L1+R1 on PlayStation 5; LB+RB on Xbox Series X|S) reflects light from your weapon's steel. Doing this does several actions, including revealing points of interest (like fast-travel locations, collectibles, and Abyss Artifacts for unlocking skills) in the world, blinding enemies in combat, and illuminating weak spots on bad guys. This ability has a plethora of other uses as well, many of which the game doesn't explicitly explain to you.

While you can use Blinding Flash to solve puzzles by burning vines blocking your path and eradicate your foes with the OP BFF (Blinding Flash Finisher, a skill that unleashes several heavy attacks after blinding enemies), a redditor named Jec1027 discovered that you can use the ability to cook meat on the fly. Meanwhile, redditor kakanuikid learned that if you're near explosive barrels, Blinding Flash sets them on fire. Redditor CETQ found the move is a great way to get past enemies hiding behind shields. And redditors Accurate_Capital_930 and Lopsided_Cow_3057 figured in separate posts that the move works wonders at stunning bosses.

The Sims 4 has collaborated with popular music-streaming YouTube channel Lofi Girl to create an album of lo-fi remixes of various songs from the game's soundtrack. The playlist is available to stream for free now on YouTube and Spotify.

"Enjoy your favorite Sims classics, remixed into lo-fi vibes with @LofiGirl x The Sims," the official Sims 4 account shared in an X post announcing the collaboration. "From building to studying, it’s the perfect soundtrack. Available now on all streaming platforms."

Publisher Electronic arts first teased the collaboration via a video posted to X on Sunday. The animated short depicted Lofi Girl wearing pajamas and standing in front of her dresser with The Sims' iconic green diamond-shaped "Plumbob" floating over her head. She jumps into the air and spins around, rapidly changing into her standard orange hoodie and green jacket--the same movements Sims perform to change outfits in-game.

After hundreds of giveaways, the Epic Games Store can still deliver a few surprises with its weekly free games. Some weeks might see under-the-radar indies like Turnip Boy Robs a Bank given away through the Free Games program, while other drops have included GOTY winners like Deathloop. How does Epic decide on a game for the Free Games program? There are several factors at play, like aiming to highlight games which the public may have overlooked and helping a studio to raise its profile, Epic says.

"It's multiple factors. We showcase big flagship titles for our tentpole moments--like the Mega Sale and the start/end of the Holiday Sale--that have broad appeal and get our entire audience excited," Kyle Billings, director of strategy and business operations at the Epic Games Store, said to GameSpot. "We also showcase games that weren’t visible to a wide audience, or help studios find a new audience ahead of an upcoming release. Those titles might not have broad appeal, but the Free Games Program gives them another shot with players who might have missed them before."

So far, Epic's Free Games program has attracted a wide variety of publishers, and Billings added that participating in the giveaways has had a positive impact on the studios that took part. "Developers see the value of player discovery on the Epic Game Store: participating titles have seen a 40% lift in Steam CCU while free on the Epic Games Store, and 77% of them set all-time peak CCU records on PC in that window. There are valid reasons why a developer might choose not to participate in the Program, but for studios, participation usually comes down to timing and the lifecycle management for their games."

2019's Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare, is currently putting up big numbers on Steam, even outperforming the combined totals of Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone. This isn't a totally random event, however, as the game is currently marked down to just $6.

On Steam, 2019's Modern Warfare had a peak concurrent-player count of 60,662 players in the past 24 hours. This compares to 50,325 for "Call of Duty" on Steam. That's the name of the multi-game launcher that includes Black Ops 7, Black Ops 6, and Warzone.

Black Ops 6 is also on sale right now for $28, while Black Ops 7 is discounted to $38.50. These are solid discounts, but not as steep as the discount for Modern Warfare.

With Crimson Desert finally out, players are running around the world of Pywell in the hopes of unlocking every available mount--of which there are plenty. Unfortunately, while they'll all be permanent additions to your mount selection, they aren't forever rideable, and fans are begging developer Pear Abyss to change this.

Light spoilers for Crimson Desert below.

Pearl Abyss' massive open world reportedly takes up to two real-world hours to cross on horseback. But as you progress further into the game, you tame several speedier and tougher options like a bear, raptor, and wolf. You can unlock the coveted dragon, but as IGN noted in a March 21 guide, you have to reach Chapter 11 (of 12) before you gain access to a guaranteed dragon unlock.

Marvel's Wolverine slashes its way onto PS5 consoles later this year, but why are there no preorders for it yet? Despite a feature-packed gameplay trailer and a deep dive that went behind the scenes on the game last year, developer Insomniac Games might be waiting to show off more of its next Marvel game ahead of its release on September 16.

Insomniac Games previously committed to showing more Wolverine gameplay this spring. Responding to a comment about that promise on X, Insomniac emphasized that the season has only just begun. "During Spring 2026," Insomniac wrote in one response, applying the rule of being technically correct--the best kind of correct. As for the question of preorders? "We want to show you more of the game first," Insomniac wrote.

At the time of writing, that leaves Insomniac 90 days to show something off before the deadline of the summer solstice on June 21. Considering that Marvel's Wolverine is one of Sony's tentpole games, it wouldn't be unlikely to see it headline a new State of Play, and the company generally holds several of them throughout the year.

Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss recently addressed the game's underwhelming visuals on PlayStation 5 with an easy fix. Unfortunately, the graphics issues players are running into now aren't so easily fixed, as they're the result of generative AI, something Pearl Abyss confirmed in a recent apology posted to X.

"During development, some 2D visual props were created as part of early-stage iteration using experimental AI generative tools," the game's developer shared. "These assets helped us rapidly explore tone and atmosphere in the earlier phases of production. However, our intention has always been for any such assets to be replaced, following final work and review by our art and development teams, with work that aligned with our quality standards and creative direction."

Pearl Abyss noted that "some of these assets were unintentionally included in the final release" of Crimson Desert, which certainly explains the prevalence of horses with too many limbs and humans with warped faces.

The latest update for Crimson Desert, Version 1.00.03, is now rolling out, bringing a huge range of gameplay improvements, bug fixes, and quality-of-life changes shaped by player feedback. The patch is currently available on Steam, with other platforms to follow. PlayStation 5 users are expected to receive the update later today, while Xbox players can expect it on March 26.

One of the biggest criticisms of the game has been its clunky and convoluted controls. This patch aims to fix a slew of those. In a statement accompanying the update, the developers emphasized their ongoing commitment to refining the player experience: "However, this is not the end of our control improvements; we will continue to improve both controller and keyboard/mouse controls moving forward."

In addition to control fixes, the developers appear to be making the game more accessible by adjusting difficulty--especially in boss fights and combat. Updates include reducing the health and attack power of certain enemies, lowering stamina consumption when blocking, and easing ambush encounters near the Reed Devil boss stage. Specific bosses, such as Kearush the Slayer, have had their attack patterns adjusted, while successful parries now build stun gauges more quickly. Visibility of boss weaknesses has been improved, and several bugs affecting combat have been resolved, including issues with fire arrows not igniting enemies, bosses behaving erratically, or weaknesses not applying correctly.

A report revealed who will portray Abby's main companions in Season 3 of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, but the casting of one of these characters is raising questions and debates.

Per Deadline, Michelle Mao will play Yara, and Kyriana Kratter is set to portray her younger brother, Lev. As in the game, Lev will be depicted in the television show as a 13-year-old transgender boy. Kratter, who is 15 and played breakout character KB in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, is understood to be cisgender.

While there is no doubt about Kratter's acting skills, the casting decision has attracted criticism online. Naughty Dog cast transgender actor Ian Alexander as Lev in The Last of Us Part II, but HBO and the show's production team did not cast a trans actor in the role despite holding what Deadline described as an "inclusive casting call" with "young actors of different backgrounds auditioning." Naughty Dog boss and previous co-showrunner of the HBO show, Neil Druckmann, is not involved in the production of Season 3.

New information has come to light about projects from Sony's Firesprite studio that never materialized, including a Breaking Bad video game.

MP1st reported that Firesprite was working on a Breaking Bad VR game for PlayStation VR in 2017 and 2018. The game was said to be more akin to an "experience," similar to 2017's Stranger Things: The VR Experience.

According to the report, the Breaking Bad game would have taken players to famous places from the TV show, including Walter White's backyard with its pool where many notable story moments from the series took place. Another location would have been the New Mexico desert, where Walt and Jesse took part in many wicked deeds, including cooking meth and killing people.