Madden, the David O. Russell-directed John Madden biopic starring Nic Cage, got its first full-length trailer today, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what to make of this movie. Based on the two minutes seen in the trailer, it could either be a subversive comedic delight or The Room 2, but with even more footballs and fewer tuxedos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzh7HzLXXpk

The trailer, which shows some of John Madden's time as the head coach of the Raiders before shifting to broadcasting, gives us a very good look at the makeup and prosthetics that turned Nic Cage into the most famous NFL broadcaster of all time. Does he look like John Madden? No, but he does look like Nic Cage wearing John Madden's face as his own, so perhaps this is a secret sequel to Face/Off.

Madden's name is borderline synonymous with football video games today, and we get a brief look at how the game-development process began. This includes John Mulaney as EA founder Trip Hawkins, and we see how Madden was not interested in the original prototype, as it didn't feature 11 players on a team.

David O. Russell hasn't exactly been on a winning streak the last several years, with Amsterdam losing a whole bunch of money. Perhaps viewers' morbid curiosity to see Nic Cage hamming it up as John Madden will improve its performance, but it's getting a Prime Video release on November 18 rather than a theatrical one. How often Madden will mention Brett Favre remans unclear. Alongside Cage and Mulaney, the film stars Christian Bale, Shane Gillis, Kathryn Hahn, and Marshawn Lynch in an Urkel outfit.

Zelda fans have had no shortage of new games to play in recent years, but it appears that one game--starring the franchise's iconic villain--was also in the works at one point. Rather than having Nintendo internally develop the game, however, the project was in the works at Ubisoft.

In a September 24 report, Insider Gaming says that Ubisoft Milan was working on a Zelda spin-off with the internal name "Goliath," which was set to star a new protagonist. During the early period of development, this was changed to have longtime big bad Ganondorf be the playable character. Outside of the Super Smash Bros. series, this would be a first and would presumably be quite different from other Zelda games.

However, the report says that Nintendo "rejected the prototype" back in late 2023, and the team--including Davide Soliani, who directed the Mario + Rabbids games--opted to leave Ubisoft and form their own studio, Day 4 Night, which is currently developing Bradley the Badger. This occurred despite Ubisoft's attempts to pitch Nintendo on a different IP in its place, with both Star Fox and Mario mentioned, but it wasn't meant to be.

It isn't the first time a Zelda spin-off has been canceled, apparently, with Retro Studios' Sheik-focused Project X reportedly getting canned during the Wii's lifespan.

We won't have to wait too much longer to play the next game in the Zelda series, of course. The Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time is out on November 5, giving a whole new generation the chance to play what many consider to be the greatest game in the entire series, and possibly of all time.

Punks are taking over Steam starting on October 9 with the Punk Games Showcase, a week-long, curated digital festival celebrating games made with and expressing a punk spirit. 

Over 400 games were submitted for consideration, and the final list includes over 100, with the intention of filtering out any that included generative AI, among other factors. Many featured games have already been released, while others are still to come. A few of them are even out this month or during the event.

I'm still digging through the lengthy list of games that will be featured, but a few that have my heart include:

• Too Many Fucking Nazis: A fast-paced first-person shooter about creatively destroying Nazis. You can also flip them off before you blow them up, naturally.
• Punk Juice: Join a band, go thrifting, play dead-end gigs, and get mad at code-locked bathrooms.
• Wax Heads: Work in a struggling record store, slacking off with your buddies while tending to customers and listening to music.
• Club Soko: Turn the mosh pit into a puzzle as you navigate around security, crowd-killers, and those people who stand at the edge of the pit and then get mad at others about it.
• Enter the Moshpit: A "cynical" 2D adventure game in the vein of Monkey Island where you'll explore the Italian underground music scene.
• Tonight We Riot: A 2D "crowd-based brawler" where you play protestors resisting tyranny in the streets, developed by a worker-owned indie team.
• 10 Second Mixtape: A music game where you create songs, then upload them for others around the world to remix and perform.
• Tetherpunk: Kitbash a spaceship from scrap parts taken from the corporate overlords who ruined your world, then use that ship to destroy what they've created.

Some of the many games to be featured in the Punk Games Showcase.

Brad Smith of studio Miracle Tea, the creators of Club Soko, has been involved in itch.io's Hardcore Punk Jam since 2018, and is organizing the Steam showcase that will run alongside the game jam's latest edition.

Smith said the showcase has a few simple goals: to highlight games that "feature this style of music, are about the subculture, or are from creators who understand this scene, and it shows significantly in their games." He also hopes the showcase will influence Valve to add a "punk" categorization label on Steam, so developers can tag their games accordingly and players can find them more easily.

I caught up with Smith for more insight into the upcoming showcase and the movement to uplift games that wear their punk roots. 

GameSpot: How did you choose participants for the Punk Game Showcase?

Brad Smith: With 443 games submitted, it was tough to curate, but I did my best. I basically had to create arbitrary categories to help lock in a decision, which looked like: Does this game have punk music, or is it about punk culture? Does this game align with the general vibes of this showcase in its aesthetics, tone, or intent? Does this game/developer have design intentions that feel genuine? 

Often the deciding factor would come down to what people wrote in their application, a lot of which was deeply moving and relatable to read. It helps if devs have collaborated with punk musicians or are also in punk bands, which many of the selected are! Also, released games that were self-published get special treatment in the showcase, as to me that isn't too different from punk musicians folding the sleeves of their own albums or starting a label, like how Dischord Records did, you know?

Were there certain qualifications teams had to meet? 

Haha, not really; maybe the only qualification is to go out and buy a punk record, or attend a show (just kidding)! I realize how silly and gatekeepy this whole thing might come across as labeling what game is punk in a "real recognize real" manner is so subjective and broad. 

Ultimately, I just want to celebrate the underground and see more games from true creative people who aren't solely motivated to make money in this industry or that simply feature aggressive hardcore punk music. I always felt like certain depictions of punk culture in video games seemed oversimplified, disingenuous, or compromised in some way. What I've learned from this music, its community, and attending hardcore shows felt so much deeper in that sense; it's almost become sacred to me, which might sound weird.

On the flip side, was there anything disqualifying, like generative AI usage or certain themes?

Yeah, I consulted with an illustrator Camille Carpentier, from the Belgian scene who has a good eye for spotting AI-generated art. We did our best to curate and filter that stuff out in our spare time but there was a lot! Hopefully nothing slipped through the cracks. 

I think some people saw the word "punk" and submitted their cyberpunk- or steampunk-style games, which is far from what all of this is about. Submissions from studios with known questionable ethics toward their employees or shady business practices get binned off too, by the way.

What are some of your favorite punk games, from this showcase or just in general?

I have a real soft spot for CRUST SHMUP; it's free and feels like the game equivalent of Napalm Death's 1987 record Scum. Its crusty style influenced how I ended up doing some of the graphics for the event Steam page, too. 

A game releasing soon that's worth checking out is Beat, Heart, Beat, which has cool grungy Midwest emo vibes. Others to keep an eye on in the future are 4MECHEROS, Urine Nation, CHILDREN OF SATURN, and Creatures Like Us. 

The one game that's not in the showcase that deserves to be would be VILE: Exhumed, [which] Cara [Cadaver] entered in the Hardcore Punk Jam back in 2022, and I've been a fan of her work since. Also, shoutout to Teenage Blob, which is an older favorite of mine!

You're hoping to get a Punk label on Steam eventually. What's that process look like?

Yup, that's the plan! I can see why some people think labels are a bit silly, as I do feel like the term "indie" has lost a lot of its original meaning these days. But I figured it makes sense to have an intention behind organizing all of this and to try to help represent these kinds of games differently to the wider industry. 

I'm currently unsure what that process will look like with Valve, to be honest, but I'd love to be able to easily find more games like this on Steam. It already exists on itch.io! Maybe with a few more emails and as new moshing/stage-diving games with aggressive music emerge into the world, the tag will get added.

My plan is to continue running Hardcore Punk Game Jams where submitted entries are guaranteed a spot in any future Punk Game Showcases on Steam until this happens!

The Punk Games Showcase will be featured on Steam from October 9-16, with the Hardcore Punk Jam kicking off at the same time on itch.io. You can follow the Punk Game Devs community on Bluesky and Instagram to learn more.

Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has officially announced that fans of the popular extraction shooter will soon have a more cooperative-focused way to enjoy exploring topside, as a long-awaited PvE mode will be available to test from October 13-20.

The announcement comes three months after news that Embark was testing a unique PvE map condition on Chinese beta servers. This time around, though, players won't be forced to seek a specific map condition to get their PvE fix. Instead, a new toggle will be available during the week-long test, allowing the choice between standard matchmaking and the PvE mode.

Solos, duos, and trios will all share the same lobbies in PvE mode, as they no longer pose any threat to each other. However, Embark has stated that some major map conditions, such as Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate, and Frigate, will remain only available in standard matchmaking.

In a press release, Embark has clarified that there is no guarantee a permanent PvE mode will come to Arc Raiders.

"It’s possible that this will not work," the release says. "This test is not a promise that there will be a PvE mode in the future, but take this as an indication that we are seriously considering it. We don’t yet know how the potential future version of this setting might look. It’s plausible that any future version could look very different from what you experience in the beta test."

However, I'd be quite shocked if the new mode doesn't land well, given that a substantial portion of the player base has expressed interest in a strictly PvE option. In the press release, Embark states that 37% of players are cooperative-only raiders, meaning they actively avoid PvP encounters whenever possible. And of those players, 70% have expressed a desire for fewer hostile encounters with other raiders. Even more shockingly, 40% of PvP players say the same.

All of this comes as player numbers have steadily dwindled in recent months, at least partially due to Embark's decision to turn to bi-yearly updates for Arc Raiders. The resulting content drought has been concerning over the past six months, but the addition of a PvE mode a handful of days after the game's upcoming Frozen Trail update could be the kick in the pants it needs to recapture those lovely early days.

Ailing extraction shooter Marathon added PvE modes to its lineup back in July, which briefly boosted player counts. However, it has since continued struggling to maintain a significant player base in the time since. Arc Raiders' overall mainstream appeal may yet help to keep it from the same fate, but there's no doubt that a lot is riding on these upcoming changes.

The Arc Raiders PvE test will run from October 13-20. Until then, you can dive into the Frozen Trail update on October 8, which will contain a smorgasbord of new quests, a fresh map to explore, extra weapon customization options, and a wide variety of quality-of-life changes. So, keep an eye on our comprehensive Arc Raiders guides hub for all of your needs when the update lands.

Bungie has big plans to revive not only Destiny 2, but to also evolve its extraction shooter, Marathon. Following its launch in March 2026, the studio says that it has been reviewing feedback around Marathon, and it revealed how it plans to evolve the experience as it heads toward a big update in March 2027.

One of Bungie's major points of focus is a Marathon experience that is more than just an extraction shooter. "PvEvP will remain an important part of Marathon, but it will become one point in a connected set of survival experiences," Bungie wrote in a blog post. "More approachable entry points will help new and returning players understand Marathon’s systems and build confidence before taking on its highest-stakes challenges. At the same time, experienced players will have more opportunities to test their mastery and pursue deeper challenges."

https://youtu.be/YaLvrG6-kkM

Bungie says it's building out connected PvE, PvP, and PvEvP experiences, as well as options for solo players and crews. A Nightfall Refresh is coming in October and the Symbiosis expansion will add more ways to play in December. Bungie will connect all these pieces together in a big March 2027 update. This will also include deeper progression systems for players, a refactored Cradle, a new onboarding experience, more narrative beats to discover, new enemies to battle, and an entirely new zone to explore.

There'll be plenty of new content along the way, but it sounds like March 2027 will be Bungie's chance to show what Marathon is truly capable of. This isn't the first time the developer has successfully turned things around; after numbers began to dip, Destiny surged back to life in 2015 with the critically acclaimed Taken King expansion. Destiny 2's audience also quickly nosedived after launch, but Bungie's focus on structural updates to the game and the Forsaken expansion that arrived a year later helped to turn things around. You might be noticing a pattern here.

All of those changes and updates to Marathon do sound positive, as Bungie is aiming to cater to multiple audiences. Again, this is something the studio achieved with Destiny 2, as players were spoilt for choice with various PvE, PvP, and PvPvE modes introduced across the game's seasonal and expansion model. The challenge isn't just to draw new and lapsed players back to Marathon, but to keep them around for the long run.

Bungie added that as it builds towards the big December and March updates, it plans to continue making meaningful quality-of-life improvements and running focused experiments to fine-tune the game. Beyond March 2027, Bungie says that it'll have a stronger foundation to continue building Marathon on from this point.

The last couple of months have been rough for Bungie, as mass layoffs hit the studio, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler announced his departure, and multiple projects were canceled.

Control Resonant has officially launched, and Remedy Entertainment has also paired it with a fresh patch to make it a little less brutal. Hotfix 1.3.3 is primarily focused on adjusting enemy health pools and Dylan's overall strength, and once it's installed, you can expect the parautilitarian to have an easier time making enemies falter.

"We strongly believe these changes will improve the gameplay feel and flow while still providing a challenge," developer Remedy Entertainment wrote in the hotfix notes. "Depending on player progression, enemies can feel too tanky during the early hours of the game."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cK_KUK2p4Q

Applying a "Falter" status to the enemy Hiss in Control Resonant is a crucial part of the overall gameplay loop, as it sets them up for an instant-kill finisher. Once the hotfix is active, the base health and required Falter level for enemies will be reduced, while Aberrant strength and maximum Ability strength will be increased.

Remedy says that it also wants to encourage buildcrafting and experimentation in the game, so it's permanently reducing the cost of respeccing and increasing the stock of the Reset Items across all vendors in the game. The first Resonant boss fight (The Artist) will also drop two Reset Items instead of one.

This should make the game a little easier to play on its default difficulty level, but if you'd prefer to breeze through Control Resonant, you can use Assist Mode to toggle various gameplay options. You can essentially make Control Resonant a walk in the park by making Dylan immortal and capable of dishing out one-hit kills, which is good news for anyone who wants to focus primarily on the story and the delightfully weird world of Control Resonant.

Lastly, Remedy will also update a couple of English UI texts to better explain Build Power and Aberrant Strength. These changes will only be present in English for now, but the tweaks will be available for other languages in due time.

“Alongside the stellar art direction and a surprisingly touching story, Control Resonant’s gameplay loop feels more mainstream than anything this team has made since Max Payne,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s Control Resonant review.

RGG Studio's Stranger Than Heaven is certainly living up to its title, as the decision to resurrect the late rapper Tupac Shakur as a character in the game was perceived as odd when it was first announced at Summer Game Fest. In a new update on the game, RGG Studio revealed more details about the game's cast, including a brief description of how it revived Shakur using traditional research methods. The main takeaway is that the Yakuza and Like a Dragon developer managed to avoid making the casting more controversial by confirming that no artificial intelligence technology was used.

"RGG Studio is treating this integration with the utmost respect for his legacy, crafting every aspect in close collaboration and without the use of AI, including his character design based on archival footage and photographs," the studio wrote. More details on the character who uses Shakur's likeness, Amaru, will be shared at a later date.

The likeness of Tupac Shakur was used for the character Amaru.

According to RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama, it was Snoop Dogg himself who suggested Tupac for the role. The rapper also appears in Stranger Than Heaven, where his official character description notes that he plays the globe-trotting merchant Orpheus, who has an "open mind" about the legality of his wares. In the game, Orpheus discovers that the protagonist, Daito, has stowed away aboard his ship, and he mentors him in the harsh life that awaits him on his way to 1915 Japan.

The rest of the game's cast also features a varied and talented selection of performers from across the globe, including musicians Tori Kelly and Satoshi Fujihara, Shogun actor Tokuma Nishioka, and famed voice actor Akio Otsuka. You can expect to encounter all of them throughout the game's story, which covers 50 years of history.

Stranger Than Heaven cast

• Makoto Daito (Portrayed by Yu Shirota)
• Yu Shinjo (Portrayed by Dean Fujioka)
• Orpheus (Portrayed by Snoop Dogg)
• Heigo Yashima (Portrayed by Akio Otsuka)
• Tae Matsumoto (Portrayed by Moeka Hoshi）
• Suzy Day (Portrayed by Tori Kelly）
• Kiyoshi Otsuru (Portrayed by Tokuma Nishioka）
• Takashi (Portrayed by Satoshi Fujihara）
• The Veiled Stranger (Portrayed by Cordell Broadus）
• Keiko Shirai (Portrayed by Ado）
• Genzo Iwaki (Portrayed by Bunta Sugawara/Voiced by Takashi Ukaji）
• Tadashi Hataoka (Portrayed by Takashi Ukaji）
• Takeo Godai (Portrayed by Takaya Kuroda）
• Suekichi (Portrayed by Kouhei Tsuji）
• Tetsuya Hama (Portrayed by Yasukaze Motomiya）
• Amaru (Portrayed by Tupac）
• Kimura (Portrayed by Daisuke Shiba）

Tupac Shakur isn't the only famous face to have been used in a video game lately, as Capcom's Onimusha: Way of the Sword used the likeness and mannerisms of the late actor Toshiro Mifune. As Yokoyama explained, this has become commonplace in Japan and isn't generally frowned upon. "In Japan, there isn’t really so much sensitivity over this issue because this is something that’s kind of part and parcel of the Japanese gaming culture for 20-plus years. There’s been a lot of people who have modeled their characters after actors alive and passed away," Yokoyama said to GameSpot earlier this year.

Stranger Than Heaven launches on January 15, 2027, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. The game will also be available day-one through Xbox Game Pass.

Rockstar Games has officially confirmed a $400 Grand Theft Auto 6 collector's edition, which doesn't include the game. The developer says The Goodtime State: Vice City Collection is inspired by Leonida’s hit TV show, Macca the Gator, and it's now available to preorder. It'll launch on November 19, the same day as GTA 6.

Here's a closer look at what $400 gets you:

The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection contents

• Six-inch figure of Macca the Gator with stash compartment 
• Matte black GTA 6 Oakley Frogskins sunglasses with Prizm Sapphire lenses  
• New Era 9FORTY A-Frame snapback hat with Vice City Leonida embellishments  
• Macca the Gator magnetic mirror
• Vice City swizzle spoon
• Vice City razor blade keychain
• Leonida Keys crossbody bag
• Chunkee the Manatee shot glass
• Leonida Keys enamel pin set in a custom metal tin 
• Premium stickers in a stash bag  
• Double-sided souvenir poster showcasing the full Leonida landscape 

It's a pretty solid selection of swag, but is it worth $400? Immediate reactions online have been very critical to the price that Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive are charging for this box of collectibles, but as people online have pointed out, this collector's edition will likely sell out fast--and there are already eBay listings for it. Scalpers pounced on the GTA 6 DualSense controllers when they were first announced, and on eBay, they're currently selling them at a premium.

It's also not too surprising to see a collector's edition that doesn't include the video game it's based on, as several big games have opted to sell standalone merchandise bundles. Marathon, Diablo 4, and Borderlands 4 are a few notable examples, and in the case of GTA 6, Take-Two Interactive won't have to risk preorder cancellations. According to a third-party research company, GTA 6 has already generated over $400 million in revenue from preorders alone.

Xbox Achievements have remained mostly the same since they were first introduced decades ago, but it looks like they're set to evolve slightly with the introduction of "Mythic" Achievements. Similar to PlayStation's platinum trophies, it looks like players will have to earn every Achievement in a game before they're awarded one of these. How do you know if you've earned this rare level of kudos on your PC or Xbox? Don't worry, unlocking a Mythic Achievement will result in your system rewarding you with a lot of digital fanfare.

As spotted by Klobrille, unlocking a Mythic Achievement will trigger a lengthy animation and sound effect, running almost 15 seconds in total:

https://twitter.com/klobrille/status/2102548362914365594

On the surface, it looks like adding a Mythic Achievement to your shelf is a sign that you've truly done everything there is to do in a game, so sitting back and enjoying the lengthy applause from your Xbox after you've poured hours into it makes sense.

According to TrueAchievements, Mythic Achievements are worth zero Gamerscore and are tracked separately from your usual Achievements. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had teased the rollout of these new awards back in August, but it looks like they're rolling out during another bleak week at Xbox.

As part of ongoing cuts, hundreds of people have been laid off across Xbox Game Studios, studio consolidation has resulted in various developers being grouped under new arms of Xbox, and things are not looking good for Ninja Theory. Undead Labs has also found a new owner--that has not been officially revealed yet--but the move away from Xbox has resulted in downsizing at the State of Decay 3 developer.

For years, Meta has had one of the best entry-level virtual reality headsets with the Quest 3 and its slightly lower-specced successor, the Quest 3S. The VR hardware packs a punch, but if you're looking for an even lighter option, the company's new VR glasses could catch your attention. Essentially a Quest 3 that's designed to be easier to carry around, the Meta VR Glasses also come equipped with some impressive screens--and a massive price tag of $1,300 when they launch in Spring 2027.

According to Meta, the VR Glasses weigh just 100 grams, thanks to a pocket-sized puck that is tethered to the specs. This unit houses all the tech for running apps and games on the VR Glasses, and inside you'll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset, 128GB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a battery. The glasses feature 5K Micro OLED lenses, which can output 2412 x 2288 pixels per eye at a 120Hz refresh rate.

https://youtu.be/xyD_bmMy5nQ

Out of the box, these can access all apps and games from the Meta Quest catalog, and they support Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meta also says that they're "IMAX-Enhanced certified" as they support the Dolby Vision HDR format, and they can be used to watch 3D movies. When they arrive, users will have a library of 75 games that they can play using only their hands, or they can connect it to a gaming console or handheld as an alternate display option. These do not come with controllers by default, but you can buy Touch Plus controllers separately or pair an existing Quest 3/3S set with the glasses.

The other big feature touted by Meta are Holograms, avatars that use a photorealistic recreation of your visage. Similar to the Personas used in Apple Vision Pro headsets, you can use these to interact with people when you call other Meta VR Glasses owners. The catch here is that Holograms will be rendered as a flat stereoscopic video stream, but Meta says it plans to evolve these over time and eventually use them to replace the current cartoon-inspired avatar system.

The price tag will likely be the biggest obstacle for Meta, as at $1,300 it is more than double the cost of a 512GB Quest 3 headset and several times more expensive than a Quest 3S. The portability factor is a plus, but if you're looking for high-tech glasses that you can use specifically for watching movies or as a second screen for your consoles, then something like the Viture Beast and Pro 2 XR glasses are worth looking at. They may not be lightweight virtual reality devices, but they offer plenty of bang for your buck at a much lower price than the Meta VR Glasses.

But for pure VR gaming purposes, Meta's new VR Glasses could be a solid option, considering how the platform is already home to dozens of great games and upcoming ports, like High on Life. If you need a pricy option right now, there's also the Steam Frame, a VR headset from Valve that costs over $1,000 and has begun shipping out.

Discord has officially begun rolling out age-verification measures as of today. The company first announced age verification--and, subsequently, limits placed on accounts of those under 18--back in February of this year, but delayed a full implementation until just recently.

According to the official announcement blog post, this delay was done in order to include more age-assurance options, including several that do not rely on controversial biometric or digital ID systems, which have raised privacy concerns--especially after a well-publicized hack exposed tens of thousands of Discord users' personal IDs. Instead, they are using an algorithmic combination of factors to determine user age, including how long your account has existed, the servers you're in, the games you play, and other factors, detailed in a technical blog published alongside the announcement. (However, this model is not available in all territories, such as the UK and Austrialia--both of which have enacted strict social media bans and age verification laws.)

While Discord assures users that "More than 90% of you won’t be asked to confirm your age," the company also acknowledge that their model isn't flawless, and some accounts will need to verify their age to use a non-age-restricted Discord account. If users want to avoid uploading ID or video, they can use services like Apple Pay, Google Play, Google Wallet, or AgeKey, or enter a credit card number.

With any attempt at age verification comes controversy, however, and users of Discord were quick to notice that age verification was rolling out at the exact same time as sponsored ads for sports betting website FanDuel were appearing for American users. Obviously, it's illegal to use FanDuel if you're under 21 (or 18 in some jurisdictions), so it didn't take much for social media users to assume a connection between the two events.

We have reached out to Discord for comment on the sponsorship, as well as other potential age-restricted product or service sponsorships in the future. A Discord spokesperson responded, "We’re taking a deliberate, user-first approach to evolving our ads business to add genuine value that connects naturally with our users' sports, gaming and entertainment interests.”

According to Discord, this sponsorship was a limited test in the United States and that "Discord’s policies still prohibit ads for traditional real-money gaming, including casinos and sportsbooks." It was also noted that "Daily Fantasy Sports ads, and FanDuel brand ads on Discord are intended for adults, and we are using a range of age signals to help ensure they are age appropriate. We use age group signals to exclude teens from seeing inappropriate ads and to make sure they have the right settings."

In the meantime, if you don't want to see sports betting ads on your Discord, go to Settings, then Data and Privacy, and scroll down to Sponsored Content. Then go to Manage Sponsored Content and choose to disable "Real Money Gaming." This will hopefully continue to work in the future for other advertising categories you may want to disable, as well.

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 releases this November, and it's expected to take up a lot of time and attention, leading some to worry how other games may fare in its wake. Ubisoft's Joshua Mills, the creative director for Rainbow Six Siege, said it's unquestionable that "you're going to take a hit when that drops."

"All of us are going to play it," Mills told The Game Business.

So what can Ubisoft do for Siege when GTA 6 comes out? He said, "It's about being smart and with your expectations so you can keep the team and HQ aligned." He said if the developers working on Siege see the game's player numbers drop, "they can get anxious." However, he observed that the effect on player numbers from a big competitor release is "generally temporary."

Whatever the case, Mills said the "golden rule" that Ubisoft operates by is by serving "the players who stay like kings and queens."

"We don’t go on vacation just because a competitor is swelling the market. We double down and reward those spending their valuable time with us," he said.

Siege's fourth season (of year 11) will release around the time that GTA 6 comes out in November 2026. Mills teased that there are "some unannounced surprises" that Ubisoft is not disclosing yet, but he said they will "make a splash."

Why there is no Siege 2, at least not yet

Also in the interview, Mills discussed why Ubisoft made Siege X--a new and improved version of the game--instead of Siege 2.

He said "fundamentally rebuilding our entire system is a mountain of work." What Ubisoft came up with in Siege X represents nothing "even close to the level of scale" that the team would aim for with a possible full-on Siege sequel that would "rebuild the entire game."

"The need for doing it is not necessarily there with the cost of shutting the lights off. Because you can’t possibly run both at the same time," Mills said. "You would need the expertise of the team that’s running the game to rebuild it. It’d be really difficult to do.”

The Siege franchise is set to expand further in 2027 with the release of Rainbow Six Siege Tactics, a turn-based tactical game set in the Rainbow Six universe.

Let me sound like an old for a second.

I remember in the late '90s and early '00s, collecting Pokemon cards was a casual hobby. You'd go to your local brick-and-mortar store with the money you made from mowing the lawn or whatever, drop maybe $10 on a couple of packs, rip them open, then go to your middle school to trade cards with your friends. No one knew how to actually play the game; the cards just looked cool, and everyone wanted something. Me? I wanted a holographic Charizard, and I would've traded literally anything to get my hands on such a rarity.

It was so low-key back in the day. Saying that grosses me out, as I sound like a Boomer or Gen Xer, but it's true: Collecting Pokemon cards wasn't that serious, and we didn't put much stock in the cards, stuffing them in bags or pockets and watching them turn up in washing machines.

Now? Things are totally different. You can't just collect Pokemon cards as a hobbyist anymore. You've got to fight with scalpers looking to make a quick buck off nostalgia, as well as the kids who are either getting into the TCG for the first time or hoping to get something tradeable for their friends. (I don't decry the kids. They're not at fault.)

There have been plenty of incidents involving card collecting and violence lately. Robbers stole over $100,000 in rare cards from a California store in December 2025. A different set of robbers made off with nearly $120,000 in rare cards at gunpoint in New York in January 2026. Police broke up a chaotic Costco scene over Prismatic Evolutions in April 2026. And more recently, a Connecticut man was arrested for assaulting someone in a Target after being confronted for exceeding the store's limit for Pokemon card packs, while a 72-year-old Ohio man pleaded guilty to using a GPS tracker to stalk a woman stocking Pokemon cards.

https://twitter.com/POKESTREETZ/status/2096228338889081305

I get it--and I don't. The cards look cool, with fabulous designs on weighty cardstock. Sometimes there are alternate versions of the same card that have a fuller design, like a tiny piece of artwork, instead of just an illustration of the Pokemon that takes up a tiny rectangle. Collecting them for this reason, them being tiny pieces of artwork, makes sense.

I also understand the value of the cards, with many of them going for hundreds--if not thousands--of dollars on resale sites like eBay. It's a great way to make some money in this economy, especially if you have vintage cards that aren't being pressed and printed anymore.

But turning toward violence because you "gotta collect 'em all" or whatever is silly at best and petulant at worst. This is a children's hobby. That's what all of my friends did in middle school (even though we were all partial to Yu-Gi-Oh). I get that Pokemon is celebrating 30 years this year, but there's absolutely no reason to resort to violence--like shooting someone--over some illustrated cardstock. Besides, do these people even know how to play the Pokemon TCG? I didn't (still don't), and neither did my friends growing up.

That's perhaps my main takeaway from all of these chaotic and violent incidents. No one even knows how to play the game, so why are we taking collecting so seriously? The answer is obvious--money--but what we're robbing is kids' enjoyment of a hobby we barely understood ourselves. When you can only take one, you should only take one. Leave the rest for your son or daughter. They might be trying to trade their friends for that one card to complete their collection, and that's the real joy.

High on Life has been a big hit since it first launched in 2022, thanks to its bizarre sense of humor, motor-mouthed guns, and polished gameplay. But can it succeed as a virtual reality port? That's the question Flat2VR is aiming to answer, as the team behind several VR games is now working with Squanch Games to bring High on Life to Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets. 

While it's still early days for the project, I took the time to chat to High on Life VR game director Emily O'Neal and Eric Masher, co-founder and chief operating officer for Impact Reality and Flat2VR Studios, about this project and the challenges involved in adapting it for a new platform.

And yes, Knifey did make his way into the conversation.

https://youtu.be/U9Kcs-XALBA

So why VR? High on Life has been available on PC and console for several years now, but it is considered a smaller, niche platform--or so you'd think, as Masher explained that the VR user base has grown considerably over the years. "VR is a smaller market; it doesn't mean that it's a small market," Masher said. "You know, we're looking at numbers now of Quest headsets being in the 30-million to 40-million range. Those are not numbers to take lightly. A game like Gorilla Tag--which is a free-to-play game--has done over $100 million in revenue. We do see that audience that has been playing Gorilla Tag starting to grow up. They started when they were younger kids, and now they're getting older and have disposable income. What are they going to want to play next?"

"We want to bring them those high-quality games like High on Life, that [have] more teeth, more depth, and more playability as an actual game. We're not here just for a short snapshot in time; we're here to help grow this industry to where it will be in three to five years from now. Our job and our mission at Flat2VR is to bring the immersive, amazing games that you love playing right now on your console and PC, but bring it to another platform that makes a whole bunch of sense and that feels completely different but still the same.”

Bringing High on Life to VR isn't an easy task either, as you can't just press a "Convert to VR" button for a project of this scale. As O'Neal explained, the original game is massive, and the team is looking to make it run as smoothly as possible on a VR headset.

"There are a ton of animations and wildly different worlds, so even getting that much data to fit on a standalone platform is a big challenge," O'Neal explained. "You have to load it all in a decent amount of time and run it in real time, ideally at 72 frames per second. All of that optimization represents a cluster of problems our tech-art teams are chipping away at from many angles. A huge part of our technical challenge has been upgrading the game to a more modern version of Unreal Engine. Modernizing our toolsets allows us to perform the optimizations needed to get these massive, gorgeous, colorful worlds running on Meta Quest. That covers the core issue: the sheer scale of the game and optimizing it to fit on the headset while maintaining frame rate."

O'Neal added that the team wants players to poke and prod the Gatlian firearms they collect in the game, and they represent an incredible design challenge thanks to their expressive facial details and complex skeletons used to make them emote. "The Gatlians are without a doubt my favorite part of the game. When defining the mission statement for the VR adaptation, they are 100% the centerpiece. The core question we continually return to with every feature is: Do you feel like you're holding a living creature in your hand, and when they speak to you, do you feel like you're truly interacting with them? Because the Gatlians are the main characters, they are our highest priority."

"A huge part of that focus goes into the gunplay since they serve as your weapons. With any VR first-person shooter, how you handle reloading is vital--whether that's a realistic manual reload, a simple button press, bringing the weapon to your hip, or providing options for all of the above. While our design team has built reload mechanics many times before, designing them for the Gatlians has been uniquely fun because of their distinct body shapes and personalities. We look at the unique physical traits of each alien, considering not just function, but how players can fidget and interact with them while listening to in-game dialogue. Ultimately, the Gatlians are the defining feature of the VR port because they are in your hands the entire time."

Out of all the Gatlians, Knifey is arguably the breakout star of the High on Life arsenal. A sentient blade with an unmatched bloodthirst, O'Neal teased that the murder-happy melee tool is a big focus of the team. "Yes, Knifey is 100% getting the most treatment out of the whole cast," O'Neal said. "There's a huge gap between pressing a button to trigger a knife slash versus making that motion yourself, so some of the biggest new systems we're building are specifically for Knifey.

"His whole personality revolves around pure bloodlust—he's constantly begging you to use him and stab things—so we're leaning hard into that. We're building new VR-specific systems to capture that visceral feeling of stabbing Knifey into flesh. It's not a gory game and won't feel like one; we're maintaining the same comedy and humor with all of Knifey's interactions, but leaning into mechanics you can only achieve with a knife in VR. Most importantly, we want a Knifey-first strategy to be a genuinely viable way to play the entire game, so we're spending a lot of time with him."

One of the other challenges with virtual reality, especially games with a variety of fast-paced movement systems like High on Life, is the looming spectre of motion sickness. Some people don't suffer from it; others are ready to hurl chunks after a few minutes of Pistol Whip. But as Masher explained, the High on Life VR team is going all out on providing options that help players fine-tune the game to their tastes.

"We take comfort super seriously. The real power fantasy lies in the traversal abilities you get with the bounty suit, so we don't want to sacrifice or remove any of that from the game, but we do want it to be approachable to anyone who wants to play," Masher explained. "The first piece of that is performance: It has to be stable, responsive, and hit its target frame rate. That's the foundational element to ensure people don't get motion sick. Beyond that, we're going all out on options. As a team of people who love and play VR in our free time, we offer the full suite of accessibility settings you'd expect in a VR title--from snap turn and smooth turn to custom smooth turning speeds--so players can tune the experience to whatever feels comfortable for their body. The goal is to let players dial in their preferences to minimize the discomfort that can come from smooth movement and turning."

Masher also added that motion sickness was something we could hear much less about in the future, as, thanks to a generation of young users growing up with VR headsets, the immersive nature of games on that hardware was something they'd become accustomed to. "What's nice about motion sickness is that we're starting to see it become less prominent, especially with younger players. Years ago, VR was a niche hobby where you were probably 20 or 30 years old before putting on your first headset. That's no longer the case--kids are growing up in VR headsets now, with games like Gorilla Tag introducing kids as young as 10 or 11 to the platform.

"They know nothing but gaming inside a VR headset, so by the time they grow up, it's completely normal for them. It's almost like we're breeding motion sickness out of the audience. You're either susceptible or you're not, but if VR is all you've ever known, motion sickness just isn't an issue. So I'm hopeful it becomes a thing of the past. Plus, as Emily noted, hardware getting better and making higher frame rates easier to hit makes a massive difference."

High on Life VR doesn’t have a release date yet, but you can preorder it now through the Meta Horizon Store.

When Arc Raiders' next major update, Frozen Trail, goes live on October 8, it'll introduce lots of changes and additions, and while the update itself will be free, the new battle pass system that comes with it won't be--at least not entirely.

To date, Arc Raiders has featured three battle pass-like Raider Decks in the game. Players could complete dailies to unlock Creds that then got them rewards like new cosmetics and in-game items. With Frozen Trail, Embark Studios' new Reward Pass is replacing this system with one quite like it, only it'll also have a paid premium track for unlocking additional rewards.

Anyone who owns the game gets the Free Pass, naturally, while the paid track will cost 1,150 Raider Tokens, or about $10 USD. Thankfully, Embark is taking the opportunity to sort the rewards responsibly, with the Premium Pass offering only cosmetic items. Players will get gameplay-altering items, like new weapons and gear, exclusively through the Free Pass. This approach avoids any type of pay-to-win debacle.

Maybe the best feature of the newly priced Reward Pass is that if you buy access to the Premium Pass, you'll earn back more than you spent on it, pocketing 1,350 Raider Tokens for completing the pass, 200 of which are found in the Free Pass. Of course, your time isn't free either, but since Arc Raiders was my Game of the Year last year, I'm happy to see that sort of player-friendly exchange rate debut in Arc Raiders, especially after it recently left my other live-service favorite, Fortnite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMznEoW78dA

Along with the new Reward Pass, Frozen Trail seems poised to reset Arc Raiders in a major way, with the frosty Pendola Pass map adding a lot to both gameplay and lore, taking raiders where they've never dwelled before and stumbling upon several new Arc threats: the Bully, Skulker, and Hydra. 

The Frigate is a new airborne carrier and raid-like event that's designed to take several players most of a round to overcome through combat and puzzles. Aboard the Frigate, the Hydra awaits, capable of downing multiple players at a time and even respawning once it's defeated. 

Weapon amplification will give players new ways to customize their weapons, disrupting the meta and challenging players to try new loadouts, while stencils act like weapon skins, offering new cosmetic changes to guns. 

As for gameplay items, Frozen Trail adds the banjo and harmonica instruments, a camera, and a grappling hook, which is sure to be a new community favorite.

Of course, another big Arc Raiders update means more quests, and now they'll offer optional objectives for added rewards. Skill trees are also being overhauled to both add new skills and alter existing ones.

The update also adds Outposts, new customizable areas for raiders to call their own. As for an explorable Speranza, Embark's Aleksander Grondal said that it's still something the team is looking into, though no such addition will be available with the Frozen Trail launch.

"So that's been a question we have been asked a few times, and it's something that we have looked at and discussed a number of times," Grondal said during a roundtable interview. "And at the moment, there is none of that, but we could see a future where you could invite your friends into your Outposts, for instance, as something that we want to try. We see the need for a place to socialize and kind of hang out between the raids, but we really haven't settled on exactly how we want to execute against that need yet; it's something that is [at the] top of our list when we think about where to take Arc Raiders next."

Pendola Pass is said to be the game's most challenging map to date, which is notable given how tough Riven Tides is.

Grondal confirmed the team is still working on the idea of major updates roughly every six months, though the next big update following Frozen Trail doesn't have a set date yet. In May, Grondal told me that some on the team were "a little bit uncomfortable" about the pivot to a new roadmap. I asked him how the team is feeling now that Frozen Trail is nearly here. He explained that it brings up a mix of emotions.

"If you take a look at where we were when we did the monthly updates and where we are today, we feel a lot better about what we're putting out [and the] quality we're putting into the updates. So I think the team feels good about that. Of course, it's scary every time we do a big update. To me, the best way to describe it is that it almost feels like we're shipping the game again, because I get flashbacks to last year when we were in this very same position trying to make the game complete.

"So it becomes almost scarier in a way because the updates are larger and, of course, more complicated to execute. I think, overall, the team is pretty happy and excited to share what we've been working on basically since May of this year, and yeah, I'm also excited."

Frozen Trail comes to Arc Raiders on October 8 as a free update on all platforms. When it goes live, the new Frozen Trail Collector Set shop bundle will include a new outfit, weapon stencil, hairstyle, and 2,400 Raider Tokens, plus instant access to the Premium Pass.

Contrary to comic book science, you don't need to enroll in a shadowy Canadian black-ops program and undergo excruciating pain to get a set of Wolverine's signature claws. Instead, it's much easier--and less traumatic--to simply hire some blacksmiths to craft you a set, which is exactly what PlayStation did to celebrate the launch of Marvel's Wolverine. Choosing Fiedlero Knives for the job, PlayStation tasked the blacksmith with creating a custom set of Wolverine-inspired claws, and unsurprisingly, the end result looks downright lethal.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/2102782668060475678

They may not be made of indestructible adamantium, but these blades made short work of some fresh produce when tested. And best of all, you don't need a mutant healing factor to wield these--although it would be advisable, just in case you equip them and accidentally trip. Similar to the practical props used by Hugh Jackman, these claws are attached to a handle that makes the blades look like they're really coming out of your hands. Plenty of knock-offs are available online, including plastic versions that are slightly safer than the metal ones.

Marvel's Wolverine launched earlier this month, but the reception has been lukewarm at best. The game has been criticized for its restrictive level design, excessive hand-holding, and repetitive combat, but developer Insomniac Games is aiming to address these complaints. A new patch for the game recently went live, toning down the intrusive scent trails and audio cues that lead to collectibles within the various levels.

"At best, it’s a fun but forgettable experience that’ll entertain you for a few hours. At worst, it shows that just because you can make really good superhero games with one character, that doesn’t mean you can make really good superhero games with any character," Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot's Marvel's Wolverine review.

While that set of custom Wolverine claws aren't for sale, you can get your hands on a sixth-scale replica of the unstoppable mutant from Hot Toys. It comes with several sets of smaller claws to equip him with, as well as an impressive amount of accurate body hair on his beefy silicone arms.

Aspyr Media is on a mission to re-release more The Lord of the Rings games, and now the latest titles have been revealed.

The publisher announced on September 22--the shared birthday of Frodo and Bilbo--that Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's Game of the Year edition and Middle-earth: Shadow of War's definitive edition are coming to Switch 2 soon.

The games are releasing on Switch 2 in what's called the Middle-earth: Shadow Bundle, which releases on September 30 for $70. However, the bundle is half off--bringing it down to $35--through October 6 at 2:59 AM ET.

The Switch 2 is getting more The Lord of the Rings games.

Aspyr did not detail any technical specifics for the Switch 2 versions. They do come with a range of extra content from each game's DLC model, though, including story missions, skins, weapons, and gear sets.

Aspyr's first The Lord of the Rings re-release was the Legacy Edition of 2011's The Lord of the Rings: War in the North back in August. At the time, Aspyr said it planned to re-release even more older The Lord of the Rings games.

Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War were developed by Monolith Productions--people wanted a third game, but Warner Bros. Games shuttered the studio in 2025.

In addition to the re-releases of older games, brand-new The Lord of the Rings games are coming, including a “deeply immersive” RPG from Kingdom Come developer Warhorse.  Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics is said to be developing one as well.

Outside of the games, Warner Bros. recently released photos from the next The Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum, showing Elijah Wood once again dressed up in costume as Frodo. The movie releases in December 2027.

Star Wars Zero Company released in late August, and the game has evidently found an audience, as market-data firm Alinea Analytics estimates that the game has sold 1 million units.

Writing on Twitter, analyst Rhys Elliott shared the estimate, which heavily favors PC. Roughly 70% of sales were on PC--unsurprising given the turn-based-tactics genre--with PlayStation following at roughly 20% and Xbox at about 10%. Elliott called its performance thus far "respectable for the genre and during such a crowded period" that also saw the launch of games like Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Elliott also noted, however, that Zero Company's appeal is almost entirely to Western audiences, with less than 5% of the game's players being in Asia.

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

The news comes weeks after developer Bit Reactor furloughed a large portion of its staff, and it isn't yet clear when or if they will be able to resume their work at the studio. Having Zero Company perform well commercially would presumably make publisher EA more interested in a sequel, but it also comes at a very strange time for the company, which was just taken private as part of a deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

Regardless, Star Wars Zero Company is definitely worth playing if you're a fan of XCOM-style games. In our 8/10 Star Wars Zero Company review, Steve Watts said, "Developer Bit Reactor set higher ambitions than simply slapping a Star Wars skin on a template," praising its tweaks to the XCOM formula.

Zach Cregger, the director of the newly released Resident Evil movie, has revealed his top four favorite video games, and he made some solid choices.

Before he listed off his top four to Regal, Cregger said they came "off the top of my head," so if he had more time, he might have chosen other games. Or he may not have. In any event, here are the games that Cregger singled out as his four faves:

• The Binding Of Isaac
• Dark Souls 3
• Resident Evil 4
• The Last of Us 2

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xdpkc_h1kLM

People are saying that Cregger earned his "gamer cred" for these specific choices (via GamesRadar). His Dark Souls 3 pick was not surprising given Cregger was known to stream the game on Twitch over the years. It's also not surprising that he called out Resident Evil 4, as he borrowed from that game for his movie. In the same interview, Resident Evil actor Austin Abrams, who plays Bryan, said Cregger asked him to play Resident Evil 2, 4, and 7 to prepare for the movie.

Cregger received a lot of backlash from core fans of the Resident Evil series over the direcion he took the movie and how it didn't feature any stories or characters from the games. He said he was naive to think fans would embrace his ideas. Things seemed to work out for Cregger in the end, as Resident Evil scored fantastic reviews and had a gigantic opening weekend at the box office.

Steven Adams of the NBA's Houston Rockets has predicted that all the major professional sports leagues will experience a dip in quality this November because top athletes will be too focused on GTA 6.

Speaking to press, Adams said, "Look at the NFL, look at all the leagues, and watch them plummet. Just for the month of November, performance is gonna go down."

He went on to say things should get back to normal after athletes finish the game. "It should come back up though; most of the boys will get it done. Hopefully they finish the game," he said.

Adams went on to say that other aspects of professional sports leagues will suffer, too, including coaching and scouting efforts that he said will be "horrendous," but "just for November."

Adams is obviously not being totally serious here, but GTA 6 is indeed one of the most highly anticipated game releases ever, and a lot of people--including pro athletes--are going to play it. We'll have to check back in November to see if athletes playing the game had any adverse effect on stats, however.

Before this, an NFL player blamed his on-field struggles on video games, while NFL QB Kyler Murray is known for playing too much Call of Duty.

https://twitter.com/gta6_premium/status/2102476846902415849?s=46

Adams has previously discussed his interest in video games, singling out titles like Dota 2 and Smite as some of his favorites. "I'm more of a nerd," he told TMZ.

GTA 6 releases on November 19. The Rockets do not play that day, but there are four games that day across the NBA. November 19 is also a Week 11 Thursday Night Football day.