The new look for Lara Croft--seen in the upcoming remake Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis--has gotten the internet talking, and arguing. But according to the game's development team, it wasn't attempting to appeal to any specific audience with her design.

Speaking to GameSpot at Summer Game Fest, game director Raul Siqueira and experience director Jeff Adams said the process for designing Lara was a lot more organic, and the team wasn't trying to necessarily balance her attractiveness with talent or ability.

"We try not to view it from either of those angles," Adams said. "We're not trying to make one camp happy and the other camp miserable. We don't think of it that way. We're just like, 'Hey, this is Lara. This is who she is and this is the icon that we've come to know. How do we bring her into the most fully focused version that she's ever been presented in?' She's Lara. She is the icon for a reason. So we just want to do justice to her."

Siqueria added that the character's personality plays a key role in her truly being Lara Croft, as well.

"The confidence, the wittiness ... the personality that she has is so important for us [and we're] making sure that we are doing that right. That's why we all love Alix [Wilton Regan] so much--she just nails it."

Crystal Dynamics' latest Tomb Raider game, a remake of the original, comes following the Survivor trilogy, which radically reinvented the series with a grittier story, more violent gameplay, and a new look for Lara. In those games, she was played by actor Camilla Luddington. Meanwhile, a Tomb Raider series is also in the works for Prime Video, and stars Game of Thrones alumna Sophie Turner.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis releases in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC.

Generative AI has been a very contentious issue over the last few years in the game industry, and as more and more developers make use of the technology, it's becoming more difficult to know just what was created by a human being. Next year's Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will indeed make use of generative AI, but Crystal Dynamics wants players to know there is one area it was not used: the design of Lara Croft herself.

Speaking to GameSpot at Summer Game Fest, experience director Jeff Adams clarified if generative AI was used in the creation of Lara.

"No. Lara is 100% human-crafted," Adams said.

This answer came shortly after our interview had initially concluded. We had already asked this question, but were initially told that team was not ready to discuss Lara's design. We were told the above in much-more-certain terms afterward.

Elsewhere, it sounds like AI is going to be used for concept art and placeholder assets--how this affects the human beings who would usually do this sort of work is not entirely clear.

"At Crystal Dynamics, we see AI as a tool that our teams can use to get to a right answer fast. What that might look like in practice, is, say in early-level development we have an idea for an in-game object but we're not sure if we want to task the team with building it at that time. We can use a generative AI tool to quickly visualize what that object would look like in the world. And if we're like, 'Hey, that works,' we'll then move it into ur traditional pipeline."

Adams added that once the final product is built, the team makes sure all final content is human-created. But the threat of job loss is certainly hanging over the heads of Crystal Dynamics employees, as several major layoffs have hit the studio over the last few years.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC in 2027.

A Halo trailer was supposed to air during the recent PlayStation State of Play event, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her team decided to yank it, according to a report. This potentially damaged the relationship between Xbox and PlayStation, sources told Bloomberg.

The story didn't have any further information about the Halo trailer, but it was likely a video for Halo: Campaign Evolved, which releases this July. Microsoft and Sony subsequently released a trailer for the game featuring footage captured on PlayStation 5 Pro. Fans are theorizing that this was the trailer meant for State of Play, but that is not confirmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn2m4Xhk2UE

In any event, Campaign Evolved represents the Halo franchise's debut on a PlayStation platform. It may also not be the last, as Microsoft previously said the future of Halo is on PlayStation and that Halo being on PlayStation is good for the brand and players.

Campaign Evolved is still coming to PS5 because Microsoft already committed to releasing it there, and the company has said it will honor existing agreements. However, it remains to be seen if Microsoft will release whatever Halo game comes next on PlayStation, now that Sharma is leading Xbox and has promised at least two "signature" Xbox console exclusives each year.

The Bloomberg report also backed up the claim that a PS5 edition of Gears of War: E-Day was in the works and planned for release until Sharma decided to cancel it. The report added that "many" Xbox employees were surprised.

These details came to light as part of a wider report detailing layoffs at Xbox that are expected to come in July. It's also been reported that Microsoft might close at least one Xbox studio, but it remains to be seen which one.

In a memo to staff, Sharma alluded to forthcoming changes to the Xbox studio system.

"We expanded our studio system when we needed a pipeline of content to meet multiple strategies across subscription, streaming, and devices. In the process, we have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content," she said.

These changes are coming as Sharma takes steps to "reset the business."

It's a good time to be a Resident Evil fan between the upcoming live-action movie and the recent Requiem game, but there's also Resident Evil: Veronica to look forward to. A remake of Code Veronica, the original game is admittedly dated in several areas, including the problematic portrayal of the original game's villain. Alfred Ashford. If you're looking to enter the remake with fresh eyes, consider this to be your spoiler warning before you carry on reading.

https://youtu.be/Nt6mVYnXaHk

In Code Veronica, players are menaced by Ashford during their imprisonment on Rockfort Island. Alfred happens to have two personalities, switching between himself and his sister, Alexia, during the campaign. When the Alexia personality takes over, she dresses the part, and at one point in the game, protagonist Claire Redfield refers to him as a "crossdressing freak" after learning the truth in the English localization of Code Veronica. The game also has several other unsavory implications with regard to Ashford's relationship and co-dependence on his sister. Again, nothing is ever confirmed, just heavily implied.

When asked about this, Resident Evil: Veronica producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi addressed how Capcom is aiming to dig deeper into the characters that appear, while also respecting their differences in this reimagining of Code Veronica. Hirabayashi added that the original tone of Code Veronica was to tap into the darkest themes of being human, and that tone will be very prominent in the Veronica remake.

While that isn't much of an answer, we did get more concrete responses to our other questions. Hirabayashi spilled the beans on why Capcom chose to remake Code Veronica and how the remake is being treated as a mainline game in the franchise. And in case you were wondering, yes, it is a third-person game from start to finish. Resident Evil: Veronica launches in 2027 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

Just like (well, not just like) the original 2000 game, Resident Evil: Veronica will be played from a third-person perspective.

The news was shared with GameSpot during a group Q&A session at Summer Game Fest, which is also where Capcom officially announced the game to the public.

The original Resident Evil: Code Veronica was also played in third-person--just like most of the older Resident Evil games--but it utilized the clunkier "tank" controls of the PlayStation originals.

For Resident Evil: Veronica, GameSpot was told the closest gameplay corollary would be the Resident Evil 2 remake. Both games feature Claire Redfield in a playable role, and because Veronica only takes place a few months after Resident Evil 2, Claire is still not a combat expert--there will be a big focus on resource management, in classic Resident Evil fashion.

Though it was not a numbered, mainline entry when the original version launched, Resident Evil: Veronica is being treated closer to one this time around. The one-word subtitle was chosen to evoke the recent games like Requiem and Village, and as longtime fans know, much of the franchise's main story continued in Code Veronica.

Resident Evil Veronica launches in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and PC.

If there are two internet gaming celebrities folks love to be parasocial about, it's gotta be Hideo Kojima and Geoff Keighley. For decades, the two have publicly shared what many thought to be an unbreakable bond. Despite their different backgrounds, ages, and positions in the industry--Kojima being the beloved game director behind both the Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding series, and Keighley, a long-time journalist and events-host-turned-founder of The Game Awards--their love of video games and entertainment seemingly served as the foundation for a long and fruitful relationship. Recently, however, internet onlookers had begun to suspect there was trouble in paradise.

Late last week, tweets began to circulate highlighting the fact that the pair had not been seen interacting since 2025's The Game Awards, during which Death Stranding 2 went home with zero awards despite securing seven nominations. As several of the clips and tweets circulating online reflect, this lack of (public) communication was not for lack of Keighley's trying; the host was frequently seen commenting on Kojima's posts only to be met with silence. Most recently, Keighley offered up a polite wave emoji on a recent photo Kojima shared standing next to actress Jodie Foster. Kojima, however, did not respond.

Fans of the duo began to refer to Kojima's "public shunning" of Keighley as indication that the pair were now "divorced." The cheeky jab at how close they once were--and how distant they now seemed--quickly gained traction and spawned videos like the following:

https://twitter.com/wiithteeth/status/2063039074416693442

In an act that further intensified the rumors that there was tension between the pair, Keighley took to X to respond to one of the posts highlighting Kojima repeatedly leaving him on read. The incident took place just two days after Summer Game Fest Live--Keighley's annual showcase that shines a spotlight upcoming games and has essentially replaced E3 as the industry's biggest summer event--and saw the host respond to the above video with a GIF of Kojima looking briefly disappointed before clapping.

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/2063303121636626641

For a moment, it seemed as if there might be some validity to the pair having undisclosed issued. Shortly after the "divorce rumors" began to intensify, Gene Park, a reporter for The Washington Post, shared a photo alongside Kojima with the caption, "plz don't show this to geoff keighley." Kojima then retweeted that post not once, but twice.

https://twitter.com/GenePark/status/2063433382374072739

Who was to blame for this falling out? Was is the developers behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game that took home the most Game Awards in the show's history and (theoretically) prevented Death Stranding 2 from securing even one award? Perhaps it was Miss Piggy, fans began to speculate. After all, the pair had grown quite close. (Sorry, Kermit).

https://twitter.com/Greggs_/status/2061471716086268152

However, after a long, speculative, and frankly hilarious week, Kojima and Keighley have finally put an end to the rumors. Last night, the pair shared multiple posts across social media of their dramatic reunion. By the looks of it, the two picked up right where they left off, and spent the evening enjoying flutes of champagne and each other's company.

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/2064594724087009650

Ever the artist, Kojima also shared a black-and-white video of the two embracing. The clip ends with the two turning to the camera and offering two enthusiastic thumbs ups, just to ensure that we all move on with our lives and stop being a bunch of chronically online little weirdos. Friendship is truly magical.

https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/2064605333151236242

Microsoft is reportedly planning major layoffs at its Xbox division next month--a move that comes shortly after new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma admitted its business "isn't particularly healthy."

According to sources speaking to Bloomberg, the layoffs will come sometime after June 30, which is when Microsoft's fiscal year ends. In an email sent to employees on Wednesday, Sharma emphasized that annual revenue had declined "nearly half a billion" over the last five years despite more than $20 million in investments across the Xbox brand, excluding Activision Blizzard King.

"We expanded our studio system when we needed a pipeline of content to meet multiple strategies across subscription, streaming, and devices," Sharma said. "In the process, we found ourselves overextended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content."

Sharma also emphasized that Microsoft is in a "hardware component crisis," facing issues that have plagued much of the tech industry as more and more hardware is used for AI.

"When I joined as CEO in February, the price we paid for console storage components was over 2x as high as we paid last fall," Sharma said. "These costs have since doubled again. And as we plan for the 2027 holiday season, we expect another significant increase, taking us over 5x the prices we paid only two years earlier."

It remains to be seen exactly how drastic the steps will be, but Sharma's words suggest studio closures aren't out of the realm of possibility. Microsoft drastically increased its number of studios under previous Xbox boss Phil Spencer, acquiring developers like Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory alongside the behemoths Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.

The upcoming layoffs, if accurate, are unfortunately not shocking. In late May, Sharma reportedly told staff that "hard choices" were coming as the Xbox brand attempts a resurgence.

One of the first things that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma did after ascending to her position was to unveil the next Xbox, Project Helix. Although Microsoft has yet to disclose pricing details, early estimates suggest that Project Helix may cost $900 or more. Now, Sharma has indicated that Xbox may have to embrace "radically different" plans to thrive in the future.

"I think what is needed for console, rather than just the most premium, high-performance console in the world ... we've reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford thousands of dollars to spend on a console," said Sharma during a recent live event hosted by Fortune. "So I think we will start to see radically different business models that we never expected start to come into orbit later this year."

Sharma has previously acknowledged some disappointing numbers from Xbox's most recent financial year, and she offered another frank assessment of the business during her on-stage conversation.

"It's hard to find examples of platforms out there that don't have exclusive services and content," noted Sharma. "And so this is a journey for us. Our business isn't particularly healthy, as you noted, and so we're starting by introducing one to two signature exclusives. And as the business is healthy, we will look to try and do more."

That ties into the decision to make Gears of War: E-Day an Xbox console exclusive. Clockwork Revolution has also been confirmed to only appear on Xbox and PC.

There's still a broader question of whether Xbox can be saved regardless of Sharma's new initiative. Microsoft's current console generation is lagging far behind Sony's PlayStation 5, and that means exclusives like E-Day may sell considerably fewer copies than cross-platform titles like Halo: Campaign Evolved and the eventual port of Forza Horizon 6.

Halo: Campaign Evolved introduces a special modifier that allows you to play the upcoming remake in third-person. That's a big shift, given the franchise is best known for its first-person perspective.

Campaign Evolved isn't third-person by default. Instead, players must toggle on one of the game's 42 gameplay-modifying Skulls to play in third-person. The specific Skull you need for third-person is called Perspective.

For anyone new to Halo, Skulls are collectibles that players can find during campaign missions that unlock modifiers. Exactly how to find the Perspective Skull, however, remains a mystery for now. Check out the new gameplay footage for the third-person mode below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUnTCVv9JU

The Halo series has featured limited third-person gameplay before, as games like Halo 3 allowed players to briefly enter third-person when driving vehicles and after ripping off chainguns.

Campaign Evolved includes 26 legacy Skulls from past Halo games, along with 16 new ones, one of which is Perspective. Another new one is called Floor Is Lava, and with this one, players take damage every time they touch the ground. The Speed Limit Skull, meanwhile, prevents players from sprinting. The original Halo: Combat Evolved didn't have sprint, so you can use this Skull for an OG experience.

You can see a list of all the legacy and new Skulls for Campaign Evolved below, as shared by Halo Studios.

Additionally, Halo Studios announced a new Campaign Remix feature for Campaign Evolved. This is a new mode that lets players replay completed missions with randomized enemies, different weapon pickups, and new visibility effects. Players need to collect any two Skulls to unlock Campaign Remix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZFVVcEM38c

The developers said at a group interview at Summer Game Fest attended by GameSpot that the Campaign Remix mode gives players yet another way to replay missions and experience them in new ways. "It really is a completely different way of playing the game, and really makes those missions feel very different," Halo Studios said.

GameSpot played some of the remade missions for Halo: Campaign Evolved at Summer Game Fest recently, and we came away pretty unimpressed.

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on July 28 for $50, and in addition to coming to the places you’d expect like Xbox and PC, it will also be available on PS5. People who pay more for the $70 premium edition can start playing on July 23.

There is no multiplayer support in Halo: Campaign Evolved, but another upcoming Halo game is rumored to be like Fortnite with a live-service multiplayer approach.

Preorders for Halo: Campaign Evolved are live now, for the game's standard and premium editions.

Preorder at Amazon

Legacy Skulls AngryEnemies fire their weapons faster and more frequentlyBlack EyeYour shields will only recharge when you melee enemiesBlindHUD and Weapons do not appear onscreenCatchEnemies throw and drop more grenadesEye PatchAll auto-aim is disabled for all weaponsFamineWeapons dropped by enemies contain half the ammoFogMotion Tracker is disabledForeignPlayers cannot use weapons from another factionIronDying in co-op resets you to your last checkpoint, dying while solo restarts the levelMythicEnemies have increased healthRecessionEvery shot expends twice the normal amount of ammoThat's Just... WrongEnemies have increased awareness of the playerThunderstormUpgrades the rank of most enemiesTough LuckEnemies always go berserk, constantly dive out of the way, and never run away from a fightBandanaInfinite ammo and grenadesBoomExplosion radius is increased by 2xGhostEnemies no longer flinch when taking fireGrunt Birthday PartyGrunt headshots produce legendary celebrationsGrunt FuneralGrunts die in a blaze of plasmaMalfunctionUpon respawn a random element of your HUD no longer appearsPiñataPunching enemies makes them drop inert grenadesCowbellPhysics mass of objects is reduced, making them more easily displacedThey Come BackFlood Combat Forms reanimated by Infection Forms are much more dangerousIWHBYDIt would have been your dialogueTiltEnhances both positive and negative damage multipliers. 
EX: Plasma does MORE damage against shields, but LESS damage against healthAcrophobiaThe Corps: Now issue rifles AND wings...  New Skulls Speed LimitTake your time, enjoy the sights! Disables sprintPopShooting Flood in their weak point causes them to explodeEndurance SpecUNSC vehicles cannot be damagedGive & TakeFiring your weapon drains your shield, but dealing damage to enemies recharges itStowed ReloadWeapons continue to reload while stowedHip FireAll weapon zoom functionality is disabledTemperamentalAllies will attack the player more quickly if the player kills a friendlyFloor is LavaTake continuous damage whenever touching the “ground” Magnified60-round magazines for the AR are now standard-issue Johnny Ammo SeedWhen reloading you lose the ammo remaining in the discarded clipLeadheadHeadshots no longer provide extra damage or instant killsEfficientEnemies killed while the player is at full health drop more ammoPerspectiveChanges the player camera to third-personAdaptationRandomizes the enemy factions present in the missionReloadRandomizes the pre-placed weapons for the missionArmisticeEnemy factions never fight one another

Gears of War: E-Day was reportedly planned for PlayStation 5, but Microsoft has opted to skip a Sony version. The decision was apparently not made at the last minute as some suspected. In any event, the developers at The Coalition are OK with the game skipping PS5, even if it means reaching fewer players, and presumably making less money, overall.

The Coalition studio creative director Matt Searcy told Eurogamer, that, "We never talked about" bringing E-Day to PS5 in the first place. That is true--the game was never even confirmed for PS5, but people suspected it would come to Sony's flagship console considering 2025's Gears of War Reloaded did and because Microsoft has been more receptive to launching its games on rival platforms in recent times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh5Swf5p4jo

However, after Asha Sharma was named Xbox CEO, things seemingly changed, as Sharma began to shift back to exclusives to help revive an Xbox brand that Microsoft said was languishing under the leadership of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond.

Searcy went on to say that E-Day as an Xbox-exclusive game "makes a ton of sense," going on to say it's "an honor, and exciting" to be an exclusive next to Clockwork Revolution.

The developer added that it would be "awesome" if more people got to play E-Day, "but for Xbox and PC, you've got what is out there."

Art director Aryan Hanbeck, meanwhile, said, "We're not too concerned about the size of the audience. We've shipped to audiences smaller before, and there are great shooters on Xbox already."

"Focus on the future"

In an interview with Game Informer, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty addressed the exclusivity issue as well. He was asked if Microsoft is doing a disservice to fans by bringing Reloaded to PS5, getting those fans excited about Gears of War, and then making E-Day exclusive to Xbox. Booty didn't respond directly but suggested that things changed when Sharma took over as Xbox CEO.

"We've had an opportunity with Asha coming in to really take a look at our strategy and, I'd say, put the focus on the future. I think that it's that focus out of which that decision came," he said.

Microsoft's policy around exclusives going forward is that big, multiplayer live-service games will continue to be released on a multiplatform basis (except E-Day, which does also have multiplayer), while games that were already announced--publicly or otherwise--for platforms beyond Xbox will still come to those systems. With respect to new games, however, Booty said Microsoft is going to be "really thoughtful about what we do" for future exclusives.

"I think, in general, you can look for us that when we put a date on something, we're going to put a platform on it. So that's going to be the approach. I think the thing that ties those two things together that you talked about is really a drive for that clarity," he said. "We want there to be a reason to believe and a reason to buy Xbox, and for there to be a reward for our loyal fans."

For her part, Sharma recently told Fortune, "It's hard to find examples of platforms out there that don't have exclusive services and content."

She added: "This is a journey for us. Our business isn't particularly healthy. We're starting by introducing 1-2 signature exclusives, and as the business is healthy, we'll look to try and do more."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hMSekk4XE

E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not timed-exclusives for Xbox, Microsoft has said, suggesting they may never come to PS5. That being said, Microsoft said Starfield was not a timed exclusive for Xbox, and then it came to PS5.

As for E-Day, the new Gears of War game releases in October, and a multiplayer beta is coming ahead of launch. After playing the game at Summer Game Fest, we found it to be bigger, bolder, and more ambitious than we expected.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced on June 10, 2018--that is now a full eight years ago. In the 2,920 days that have transpired, Bethesda has not released a single new image or trailer for it, or even discussed the game in an official capacity beyond small quotes here and there.

The game did not show up at the recent Xbox Games Showcase, prompting some people to wonder how it's coming together and when Bethesda may show it off again. Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty addressed this in an interview with Variety, saying one of the hard parts of his job is deciding what to show, and when, during high-profile showcases.

"You want to get them excited early, but we also know that we want to wait till the right moment. And when you decide to show it, you want it to be the best you’ve got," he said. "And also that when you show the game, you’re also giving them a promise of, hey, it’s coming soon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQcnDNd3P7Q

Booty was speaking generally here, but he also talked specifically about The Elder Scrolls 6. He said he has sat down with game director Todd Howard as he played it, and Booty remarked that the game "looks amazing" and is "coming along well."

As for when Bethesda may show the game again? The developer is waiting for the "right time," Booty said.

Howard has questioned whether it was the right call to announce The Elder Scrolls 6 so early. “I have asked myself that a lot,” he said. “I don’t know. I probably would’ve announced it more casually.”

He later said announcing The Elder Scrolls 6 in the way that Bethesda did was "not my preference," but it happened anyway.

He went on to joke: “Just pretend we didn’t announce it. It doesn’t exist. No one has heard a word.”

One of the reasons that The Elder Scrolls 6 might have been announced so early was for the purposes of recruiting staff to work on it. This is a common practice in gaming.

Sony has revealed the latest games coming to the Game Catalog for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers in June. Sony is also changing the release schedule for the new arrivals in the US, the UK, and Japan, as the first batch will go live on June 16, while others will arrive at a later date. In other regions across the globe, all of these games will be available starting June 16.

• Final Fantasy 16 (PS5) | June 16
• Sonic x Shadow: Generations (PS5, PS4) | June 10
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance (PS5, PS4) | June 23
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure (PS5) | June 23
• Farming Simulator 25 (PS5) | June 30
• Blades of Fire (PS5) | June 30
• Black Desert (PS5) | June 30
• Gitaroo Man (PS5, PS4) | June 16, PS Plus Premium required

This month's headliner is Final Fantasy 16. Released in 2023, this mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series was a darker and more mature spin on the franchise. Players step into the boots of Clive Rosfield, First Shield of Rosaria, and the guardian of his younger brother Joshua--who also happens to be the Dominant of the Eikon Phoenix--and the action-RPG gameplay combines staple Final Fantasy abilities with dynamic battlefield options. While it's not included, you can upgrade the adventure with two post-launch expansions.

Sonic X Shadow Generations combines a complete remaster of the classic hit Sonic Generations with a brand-new standalone campaign for Shadow the Hedgehog. It's a mix of classic Sonic the Hedgehog fun and edgy Shadow coolness, offering the best of both worlds. PS Plus subscribers can also download Kingdom Come: Deliverance this month, the original story-driven open-world RPG set in medieval Bohemia. A game about avenging the deaths of your parents and learning the way of the sword, the PS5 version features several graphical upgrades.

Fast-forwarding several centuries into the future, Life is Strange: Double Exposure sees the original protagonist of the franchise, Max Caulfield, step into the spotlight. The photographer-in-residence discovers a brutal homicide of a close friend at her university, and using her ability to rewind time, she searches for a way to stop the tragedy from happening.

Anyone looking to try their hand at agriculture can hop into a tractor for some fun in Farming Simulator 25, Blades of Fire is another dark fantasy adventure you can try out this month, and Pearl Abyss's original open-world MMORPG Black Desert is worth checking out if you're a fan of Crimson Desert.

Finally, PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can check out Gitaroo Man, a classic PlayStation 2 rhythm game with a hard-rocking soundtrack and a colorful art direction.

Don’t forget, all PS Plus members can claim three free games -- Grounded Fully Yoked Edition, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide 2.

While many are waiting to see if Rockstar Games decides to price GTA 6 at $80 or more, the video game market already has games at that price point, they've just gone more under the radar. Two more have been announced just this month but may have been missed amid the Summer Game Fest craze.

Back in June 2025, Nintendo was the first major company to ask $10 more than the standard $70 rate with Mario Kart World. It was included with a $500 bundle that also included a console, so the effective price of the game was lower, but it was $80 for anyone who bought the game alone. Now that Nintendo discontinued that bundle, everyone has to pay $80 for Mario Kart World. Nintendo said it charged $80 for the game because it has so much value.

Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida defended Nintendo's decision, saying people could not reasonably expect prices to stay the same despite rising development costs and larger scopes.

Mario Kart World.

The $80 price for Mario Kart World is for both the digital and physical editions. In March this year, Nintendo announced that it would begin a new pricing strategy whereby digital and physical games would cost different prices, beginning with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book in May. That game cost $60 digitally and $70 physically.

Explaining the price differences, Nintendo said this reflects the "different costs associated with producing and distributing each format," and it offers players choice, the company said. Nintendo also reminded everyone that individual retailers set their own prices--Walmart, for example, discounted the physical versions of Nintendo games already to match the digital prices.

More $80 games

So far in June, we've learned about two more games that will cost $80 when they release, and they're both also Switch 2 titles. Elden Ring for Switch 2 will be $80 when it launches in August with its Tarnished Edition physically and with a Game-Key Card; this is a physical cartridge with a download code. The Tarnished Edition includes the base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, four new armor sets, two new starting classes, and other digital items.

The new Fire Emblem game revealed during the Nintendo Direct will also be $80 for its physical edition (though we don't know yet if it's a Game-Key Card). The digital edition, meanwhile, costs $70 as part of Nintendo's new pricing strategy.

"They will pay"

Former Nintendo PR manager Kit Ellis said Nintendo is charging $80 for the game because it can. "Nintendo knows fans of that series are as die-hard as they come; they want the game physical and they will pay the premium." Ellis said he expects 2027's Xenoblade Genesis to also cost $80 for the same reason.

What comes next

It is not a stretch to believe that other publishers will start charging $80 or more for new releases. After all, there is already data that says people are ready and willing to pay $80 for games. Analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics said "the floodgates are now open.” He expects every publisher in video games that can raise prices to do so.

Microsoft, for its part, said in 2025 that it would begin charging $80 for its big new games in 2025, but the company canceled those plans and has never charged more than $70 for a big new release's standard edition. Sony, meanwhile, is holding steady at $70 as well for major new releases.

A Bank of America stock analyst recently said Rockstar should charge $80 for GTA 6 to help convince the industry at large to raise prices as well.

GTA 6.

Rockstar owner Take-Two was among the first to hike prices from $60 to $70, with the company pricing NBA 2K21 at $70 back in 2020, citing development budgets that have increased by as much as 300% in the past 10 years. The company later said it saw “no pushback” to the new $70 price being the new price for major releases at Take-Two and many other publishers.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said major new releases have actually come down in price over the years when you consider how inflation has affected pretty much everything else you buy these days. The $60 in 2013 dollars that GTA 5 cost at launch is now more than $85 in 2026 dollars, for example.

Games have held steady in the $60-$70 range for 10 years, and that “doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Zelnick said, with many theorizing that what Zelnick meant here was that GTA 6 could be priced higher. That would not be surprising, but some believe it won't go as high as $100 because Rockstar is keen to funnel people into the game to push them to whatever the developer has in store for the next evolution of GTA Online that is surely coming.

Experts have said games not going up in price is causing major issues for the AAA game market. No significant increases help explain why publishers push DLC and microtransactions so much to help cover the costs of ballooning budgets, according to experts and industry veterans. Things like deluxe editions of games, meanwhile, can sell for $80 or more, and the included items--like extra skins and digital weapons--are basically free to develop. Publishers could also look to product placement to help manage costs, and that's a future people generally do not want to see.

Prices should have gone up already

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden said in 2025 that the price of new games should have gone up with every new console generation for the past 20 years. That largely did not happen, and now the industry is worse off for it, he said.

"I think it's because everyone's afraid," he told GI.biz. "No one wants to be the first one to raise the price, because you're afraid to lose traffic. So what you do is you just end up eating into your operating income, your profit margin."

"There were more sports cars in the parking lot in the PS1 era than there were in the PS4 era, because if you're selling 20 million units at $60 for something that only cost you $10 million to make, that's different than selling 20 million units at $60 for something that cost you $160 million to make."

If more companies raise prices to $80 or more for new games, that doesn't mean developers will stop hawking things like microtransactions, DLC, and battle passes--these efforts will likely continue in concert with price hikes.

In life, products and services across all categories tend to get more expensive over time, and there is no reason to believe games would be any different. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics just announced today, June 10, that inflation in May rose to 4.2%, the highest level in three years.

It was up from 3.8% in April, and it's the third month in the row that the Consumer Price Index has gone up. The ongoing increases to inflation are stoking the theories that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in a bid to slow spending and bring down inflation. Inflation is going up, in part, due to the ongoing war in Iran that has sent oil and gas prices soaring.

Beyond the price of games, the price of gaming hardware continues to go up and up, due in part to the global macroeconomic environment. Microsoft and Sony have already raised console prices, and Nintendo will follow next with a Switch 2 price hike in September. Just recently, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Microsoft will need to come up "radically different" business models to help mitigate rising hardware prices against the backdrop of Project Helix.

“We’ve reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford 1000s of dollars to spend on a console generation. We'll see radically different business models that we never expected start to come into orbit later this year," she said, without elaborating further.

No one likes to pay more, but increasing costs are easier to stomach when people are getting paid more to offset, or mitigate, the increased costs of things they need and want. But that isn't always the case, either. In fact, the federal minimum wage in the US is still $7.25/hour, though dozens of states have their own minimum wages that are significantly higher. Beyond all of this, the upcoming SpaceX IPO and the millionaires to be minted out of it is only furthering the growing wealth-disparity issue in America. For now, people should expect to pay more for games, hardware, and everything else in life. Hooray?

Yesterday's Nintendo Direct certainly got Kingdom Hearts players talking--but it's not the kind of discourse Square Enix was probably hoping for after unveiling a new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer and announcing that native versions of the entire Kingdom Hearts trilogy are coming to Switch 2 on October 8. Instead, eagle-eyed players are focused on what appears to be AI-generated key art, which Square Enix shared on X shortly after the announcement of the Kingdom Hearts Collection [I-III]

As pointed out by artist and Kingdom Hearts fan Vexmyx, the image appears to show Donald with four fingers on one hand, but five fingers on the other--it's well known at this point that generative AI tools tend to struggle with hands and fingers, frequently generating images with subjects either missing digits, or having too many. As of his most recent appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3, Donald Duck has only four fingers, and knowing how protective Disney is when it comes to legacy characters like Donald and Goofy, it's hard to imagine they'd hire an artist who doesn't know how many fingers he has. Donald's feet are also shaped rather strangely, though that could just be a matter of perspective, as he's floating (flying?) through the air with one foot (flipper?) forward and the other behind him.

https://twitter.com/vexmyx/status/2064420981901230165?s=46

Other details, like one of the zippers on Donald's coat and the chain on Sora's beloved Keyblade, are also rather wonky and oddly uneven looking, as if drawn by someone who isn't quite sure how zippers or chain links work. But the fashion faux pas don't end with zippers--the treads on the soles of Sora's shoes are also off, sporting a close-but-not-quite-right pattern of raised squares, when his shoe treads have historically featured tiny, raised crown motifs that match the crown-shaped pendant around his neck. Goofy appears to be wearing steel-toed boots, but his right foot looks much longer than his left foot, and appears to be missing the steel toe.

Again, this could simply be a matter of perspective due to the way the characters are posed, but given how beloved the franchise is--and how strict Disney is about sticking to character designs--many Kingdom Hearts fans are wondering if the image was at least partially AI-generated.

"Either fully generated or AI-enhanced, I'm not sure," Vexmyx said, sharing an image highlighting parts of the image that feature the most obvious AI fingerprints. "But I'm disappointed. This is unacceptable if [the AI claims are] true, and needs to be addressed."

While human error might explain some of the strange aspects of the image, it certainly doesn't explain why the face of the franchise's iconic clocktower has hands that appear to curve and bend.

GameSpot has reached out to Square Enix for comment, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.

Popping Locust heads and active reloading has never looked better than in Gears of War: E-Day, but this prequel is also making some big changes to how you'll move through the campaign. Movement has received a massive overhaul in the prequel, as Marcus Fenix and the rest of his squad can get around all manner of obstacles to reposition themselves while in combat. The game technically has a jump button for getting over larger obstacles like display cabinets, but don't expect Gears of War: E-Day to turn the series into a platformer.

Speaking with GameSpot, The Coalition studio creative director Matt Searcy explained how Gears of War: E-Day fuses the traditional sticky cover-based systems established in previous games and evolves them to feel more organic. This was on full display in the Xbox Games Showcase, as the gameplay preview for Gears of War: E-Day showed Marcus Fenix moving between chest-high structures, mantling over taller structures, and using the environment to his advantage in surprising ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk2Uf2Th9aM

"How you move in, out, and along cover is a lot more natural," Searcy said. "We still kept cover like it was in Gears, and having that heaviness was important. But being able to move in and out, being able to transfer between different cover shapes more smoothly--you'll see us even interacting through car windows or through shelves--so there's a lot more organic sort of interaction with cover. It's such a core part of the game, we wanted to be able to expand it. You can slide under a car and blow up a guy, it's a really cool move."

"The mobility for us was more of a way to evolve the gameplay mechanics than a narrative device. Jumping in Gears, we will never be a platforming game. We don't have levels that are about jumping to get to somewhere. For us, we saw it as a way to add a new dimension to flanking. Just being able to climb onto that high mantle--which you can either do from cover or you can jump onto--and then, just jumping across to another place and flanking someone, it opens up all of our levels."

Gears of War: E-Day launches for PC and Xbox Series X|S on October 3--but there's no PS5 version--and an open beta kicks off in August.

• Gears of War: E-Day Standard Edition

  $70 | Releases October 6

  Preorder at Amazon
• Gears of War: E-Day Premium Edition

  $100 | Releases October 1

  Preorder at Best Buy

Fable isn't just offering a grand fantasy adventure for players to embark on, but also a chance to catch their breath between quests, thanks to a world populated with hundreds of distinct non-playable characters. Each NPC has a unique personality and goals, and according to Playground Games, each one can be romanced. In fact, it's possible to marry every single one--just not all at once, as Fable has a monogamous approach to love.

"There are over 1,000 handcrafted NPCs in the game, and you can get into a relationship with any of them--or all of them--indeed, if that's what you want to do. Might take you quite a while, but you could definitely do that," associate game director Craig Littler said to GameSpot. "One thing I would say, though, is that it really ties into the complex, nuanced morality system because yes, you could get into a relationship with anybody, but not at the same time, because you can't be all things to all people at the same time. One person might want you to be kind. Another might want you to be a murderer. That's just how it goes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJjIgntefE&pp=0gcJCTkLAYcqIYzv

"All 1,000 of them are handcrafted by our team," associate game director William Kennedy added. "The game design team put a bunch of effort into those goals, and as you saw in the demo, we had the ambitious Megan, and all of her goals revolved around having stuff. She wanted me to have a house. She wanted me to dress in fancy clothes. She wanted me to own my own home, and what the design team was doing with that handcrafting was making sure that each NPC was a cohesive character, that you could end up having different stories when you interact with them."

Originally scheduled to launch this year, Fable was recently delayed to February 23, 2027, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. Last week's Xbox Games Showcase revealed some new details for the game, like the new character Isabel (played by Hayley Atwell), a brief tease of the original Fable's villain, Jack of Blades, and the confirmation of the game's first story-driven expansion, Order of the Hero.

Fable is now arriving in February 2027, but with some extra months to fine-tune the fantasy adventure, Playground Games looks set to release an impressive entry in the classic franchise. Older Fable games from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios had lofty ambitions, but with Playground at the helm, the new title is taking the series in an unexpected direction: life-sims.

During Summer Game Fest, GameSpot got a closer look at Fable behind closed doors, with the game's developers showing off just how deep relationships are in the game. In one example, the player had to become a success story to woo their chosen romantic pursuit.

This involved dressing in fine clothes, starting a business, and ensuring that it was profitable, all to win the hand of a fair maiden. What makes this even more impressive is that the NPC chosen is one of hundreds who populate the game, and each one has a distinct personality.

https://youtu.be/Zzwz7KZNBzY

Is it possible to pursue a romance with every single one of them? Yes, says Playground Games, but not all at once because each NPC has their own idealized version of who their life-partner should be. "One person might want you to be kind. Another might want you to be a murderer. That's just how it goes," associate game director Craig Littler said to GameSpot. For more details on every new detail we just learned about the game, you can watch the video above.

Fable launches on February 23, 2027, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. During last week’s Xbox Games Showcase, we saw the reveal of Fable's first story-driven expansion, Order of the Hero, and our first look at the new character Isabel, played by Hayley Atwell.

Halo: Campaign Evolved primarily serves as a full remake of the original Halo's classic campaign mode, but the development team also added a handful of bonus prologue missions. Now, the development team has explained its philosophy for this additional content, and it largely comes down to the bro factor between the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson.

"As far as the new missions [go], we're really going for providing more context and backstory for Chief and Johnson's relationship," executive producer Damon Conn and creative director Max Szlagor said in an interview with GameSpot at Summer Game Fest. "You see them in [the original Halo] but you don't get a lot of context for who Johnson is and his history of being on missions with Chief."

Aside from providing more backstory for Johnson and Chief, the new missions also gave Halo Studios an opportunity to explore different environments, including a Covenant ship and--as you may notice from the brief gameplay trailers released thus far--space battles. These haven't been a major element of Halo games to date, though they were featured in Halo: Reach back in 2010.

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

Because of how the Halo timeline plays out, the prologue missions will not take place directly prior to Halo: Combat Evolved's story. Instead, they're set one year prior.

"So it sort of neatly helps you to understand some of these relationships and get this broader view into the universe, as well," the devs said.

The missions will be their own "self-contained story," but should serve as a bridge into the rest of the game.

"It's a story about Chief, and it kind of starts out as this smash-and-grab to get some intel, and it becomes something much bigger. And again, you get to explore the relationship between Chief and Johnson, the introduction of the Brutes and Prophets, the relationships between the Spartans and ODSTs--so there are a lot of different elements that kind of layer into there that are all kind of self-contained within that group of missions."

Though the missions are set prior to Halo: Combat Evolved and can be accessed via the game's main menu at any time, Halo Studios actually recommends playing them once you've already completed the campaign. They're going to be a little bit harder than the rest of the game, but if you're up to the challenge, there's nothing stopping you from playing them immediately.

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on July 28.

Resident Evil: Veronica--a full remake of the 2000 game Resident Evil: Code Veronica--was announced during Summer Game Fest Live earlier this month, but why was now the right time to remake the survival-horror classic? For Capcom, it came down to a mixture of technology and characters.

Speaking to GameSpot during Summer Game Fest, Capcom said that there is no set process in determining which game gets a remake next, but the pieces just seemed to line up because of which characters the recent games have focused on. Leon, for instance, has been the star or co-star of the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes, as well as Resident Evil: Requiem, in recent years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wAvJoWyfrM

Capcom wanted to explore a different character next, and chose Claire because of that. We'll also see Chris Redfield in Resident Evil: Veronica, who hasn't been the protagonist or co-protagonist in a Resident Evil game since 6 back in 2012. The development team is aiming to dig deeper into the characters' stories than it did in the original, as well, which should make it appealing to both longtime Code: Veronica fans and first-timers.

Alongside the characters, technological advancements played a key role in the decision to remake the game. The game will be played with the third-person perspective seen in the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes, which should make it much less frustrating than the original version. That game relied on the franchise's classic tank controls, which have not exactly aged well.

Resident Evil: Veronica launches in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Switch 2, and PC. The development team certainly has experience with the series, with much of the team having previously worked on the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes.

Resident Evil: Veronica was announced during Summer Game Fest to plenty of buzz and excitement, as it's arguably the classic Resident Evil game most in need of a remake. However, while it is indeed a reimagined version of a game from more than 26 years ago, there is one major way Capcom is treating it like a mainline, modern game.

During an interview with GameSpot, Capcom explained that, because the other modern mainline Resident Evil games have one-word subtitles, this should apply to a remake of Code Veronica.

Thus, the "Code" was dropped from the title, and going by that logic, it's likely any future mainline Resident Evil games will stick to this trend. So far, we're three for three over the last decade, with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil Requiem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JNv2CwmoRA

Resident Evil: Code Veronica released back in 2000, initially as a Dreamcast exclusive. Because it didn't launch on the original PlayStation--where Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3 first launched--it was decided to not give it a numbered title. This would make it appear to be a spin-off game to casual players, but there's a very good case to be made that Resident Evil: Code Veronica is the real sequel to Resident Evil 2, while 3 actually functions more as a side-story spin-off.

Resident Evil Veronica launches in 2027 for PS5, PlayStation X|S, Switch 2, and PC.