Nintendo showed off a new limited-time Donkey Kong event for Switch Online subscribers on Switch 2 at today's Nintendo Direct. Called DK Challenge, the experience sees players completing tasks across Donkey Kong games, ranging from Donkey Kong Country to even Donkey Kong Bananza (if you own the Switch 2 exclusive).

DK Challenge is accessed through the Nintendo Switch Online app on the Switch 2 Home Screen. From there, tasks are available to complete: There's a mine-cart challenge in Donkey Kong Country, for example. By successfully finishing one of these mini-sessions, the game will reward you with challenge cards.

There are apparently easy challenges to get a feel for games, like Donkey Kong 3. But Nintendo noted there are harder tasks titled Developer Challenges to check out, too.

Later today will see DK Challenge go live, with the event running through September 1. It's only available on Switch 2. That wasn't the only Donkey Kong news either, as Nintendo revealed a Mario-inspired update for Donkey Kong Bananza.

Every Nintendo Switch 2 Exclusive (So Far) View Images

As part of today's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, the latest entry in its series that has so far included Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resorts, Wii Sports Club, and Nintendo Switch Sports.

The new game has 12 sports in all, including an unexpected one: thumb-wrestling. The game launches on October 22, exclusively for Switch 2. You can check out the game's announcement trailer below.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/2064355768648843405

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort takes players to Wuhu Island, where they can participate in 12 different sports. These include:

• Boxing
• Table Tennis
• Archery
• Tennis
• Volleyball
• Bowling
• Basketball
• Golf
• Thumb Wrestling
• Skateboarding
• Power Cruising
• Prop Plane
• Jump Rope

The game's October 22 release date is not long after Nintendo raises the price of the Switch 2 to $500 starting in September.

If you weren't already overwhelmed by the choice of game releases coming this September, the latest Nintendo Direct has just confirmed that Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Orbitals will be releasing in the busiest month in the gaming calendar.

The new entry in the turn-based tactical RPG series, with an Ancient Roman-like theme, releases September 17. The retro-anime co-op adventure releases on September 3.

Also confirmed to come to Switch 2 in the Nintendo Direct is Onimusha: Way of the Sword, releasing on September 25. This means, as with Capcom's other new releases in 2026--Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata--it will be launch simultaneously with other announced platforms.

This adds to an exceptionally busy month for new releases, which already include The Blood of Dawnwalker, Halloween, Marvel's Wolverine, Dune Awakening, Silent Hill: Townfall, and more. It's also a month that sees more ports coming to Switch 2, including Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight and Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age.

Nintendo and Intelligent Systems showed more of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave during the latest Nintendo Direct, ensuring turn-based-tactics fans will continue having an absolutely grand time when it launches as a Switch 2 exclusive on September 17.

Players will be able to choose between four different main characters, each with a unique storyline. Each hero will be seeking to win The Heroic Games for their own reasons, as whoever emerges victorious will be granted one wish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl5_C4sc5zk

The latest trailer highlighted each hero. Kai, a young boy, seeks to win the games in order to save his father. Meanwhile, Dietrich, a mysterious swordsman, joins the games in search of strong opponents. Theodora is a queen of an entire kingdom, and seeks to fulfill her homeland's dream. Leda, a muscian, joins the games seeking revenge.

Each hero will have their own special techinques to deploy, and ones that are said to be capable of turning the tide of battle. Between official Heroic Games matches, players will have free time to spend. That time can be spent gearing up and improving their forces through training, recruiting new warriors, and venturing outside of the main city's walls to battle monsters and gain XP.

The Fire Emblem series has been extremely active on Nintendo Switch, including two mainline games and multiple spin-offs. The latest game, Fire Emblem Engage, offered a more streamlined story than its predecessor Three Houses, with a return to classic Fire Emblem combat and a simpler story. We will continue to wait for Nintendo to do the right thing and bring the Radiant games to Switch.

For more news, be sure to check out our round up of all the biggest Nintendo Direct announcements.

The upcoming film adaptation of Helldivers has lost its leading man, with Jason Momoa exiting the project.

Deadline reports that Momoa, who joined the production in February, departed from the movie, but the reason for his withdrawal is not clear. Regardless, the film is still in production and set for a November 2027 premiere.

Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions are said to be searching for a new star. While it's understandable that any major studio would want a big-name actor in the lead, Helldivers might be better suited for an ensemble cast, as one of the key elements of the games is the expendability of every Helldiver in the never-ending battle for managed democracy.

Regardless, Momoa would have been a boon for a Helldivers adaptation; he has video game adaptation cred with A Minecraft Movie and the upcoming Street Fighter film, in which he portrays Blanka--inspired casting, to say the least. With production on A Minecraft Movie Squared firing up, it's possible that schedule conflicts emerged for Momoa.

The Helldivers movie has Fast & Furious director Justin Lin at the helm, and although his reported lack of experience playing video games sparked some concern, his track record with action movies should largely quell any worries.

50 Video Game Movies In The Works: How Many Of Them Will Actually Come Out? View Images

An Xbox marketing boss has denied that Gears of War: E-Day skipping PlayStation 5 was a last-minute decision despite fans discovering what they believe is overwhelming evidence that it was.

After it was discovered that Microsoft hastily removed a recent video showing a PS5 logo for Gears of War: E-Day (see below), marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said it is "not true" that Microsoft canceled a PS5 edition of the game at the last minute.

"We just limited the knowledge of this news to a very small internal group. Intention was to share this news first with our players and everyone watching showcase," he said.

"It is not true that it was a last-minute decision" to have E-Day be an Xbox console exclusive, he added.

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/2064094012600889582

Asked when Microsoft made the call to not bring E-Day to PS5, Greenberg said he became aware of it "roughly a month in advance," but he didn't clarify any further.

On the night before the Xbox Games Showcase, reporter Jeff Grubb said Microsoft had been working on a PS5 edition of E-Day but canceled it.

“Gears of War: E-Day was going to be on PS5–it’s not anymore. That just happened. That’s a decision that just got made," Grubb said on June 6.

After the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7 where E-Day was announced as a console exclusive on Xbox, Grubb said there is a "basically finished version of Gears for PlayStation sitting on a drive." Retailer listings for a PS5 edition of the game were also discovered, though these can be unreliable.

People also thought that E-Day was going to release on PS5 because Microsoft brought Gears of War: Reloaded to PS5 in 2025. It was the first Gears game ever on a PlayStation platform.

This may not have been the first time that Microsoft told one of its teams to stop working on a version of a game for Sony's console. Redfall director Harvey Smith said in an interview in 2023, following Microsoft's buyout of Bethesda, that Microsoft told him "No PS5." At the time, Microsoft said it had not "pulled" any games from PlayStation, but it did not deny what Smith had said or that it had canceled a Redfall PS5 edition.

E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are two of Microsoft's upcoming Xbox console exclusives, and more are coming as part of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's efforts to "reset" the Xbox business and convince people to buy an Xbox.

E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not timed exclusives for Xbox on console, Microsoft has said, suggesting they will never come to PS5. At the same time, Greenberg said in 2021 that Starfield was not a timed exclusive on Xbox ... and then it came to PS5, so it was indeed a timed exclusive.

During the Microsoft vs. FTC court case to help get Microsoft's blockbuster deal for Activision Blizzard across the line, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed why he is so against exclusives on consoles.

"If it was up to me I would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define especially as a low-share player in the console market. The dominant player there [Sony] has defined market competition using exclusives, so that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world."

Things are different now.

Microsoft is taking a case-by-case approach to exclusivity, as Halo: Campaign Evolved and the Fable reboot are still coming to PS5, and other games will as well.

Under Xbox's previous leadership, including Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, Microsoft began to release more of its games across competing platforms in an effort to reach more people, and make more money. The plan seemed to have worked, at least in some cases, as Forza Horizon 5 alone made more than $300 million on PS5.

Xbox's new chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, recently discussed how Xbox--as a brand and a business--"languished" under Spencer and Bond.

Xbox's chief strategy officer Matthew Ball has confirmed that Xbox Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers after the massive price hike for the service in 2025.

Speaking at The Game Business Live today, Ball said, "We shed millions of subscribers over the span of a few months" following the hike from $20 to $30 that was announced in October 2025.

Ball went on to say that Microsoft "corrected that offering" by lowering the price down to $23/month for Game Pass Ultimate as one of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's first big moves. He also called out Microsoft's decision to stop releasing new Call of Duty games into the Game Pass library as an effort that resonated with users.

At $23/month, Game Pass Ultimate is still more expensive than it was this time last year, Ball pointed out, but "the value has changed."

Microsoft does not disclose Game Pass subscriber numbers, so we don't know how many people it had, then lost, then potentially regained since the price cut was announced in April 2026.

In 2024, Microsoft announced that Game Pass had 34 million members--that number included Xbox Live Gold accounts that were converted to Game Pass Core. This tier is now called Game Pass Essential.

Also during Ball's talk, he discussed how Xbox--as a brand and a business-languished under the leadership of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond. Sharma has pledged to "reset" the Xbox business going forward and revitalize the brand, and part of that effort is a push toward exclusive games. But Microsoft's messaging about Xbox exclusives has been messy, prompting many longtime fans to say it's actually more of the same from the Spencer/Bond days.

At the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft announced that Gears of War: E-Day (October 2026) would be a console exclusive on Xbox and that Clockwork Revolution (2027) would be a console exclusive on Xbox as well. Beyond those, Ball has promised a "reliable pipeline" of console exclusives in the future.

Beyond exclusive games, Microsoft remains focused on hardware and, despite rising component costs, the company is going ahead with its plan for a next-generation console in Project Helix.

At Summer Game Fest today, Xbox's new chief strategy officer Matthew Ball spoke about some of the company's big moves recently, including its strategy on exclusives and what's next for the company in the hardware space with Project Helix. He made these comments at The Game Business Live.

"Reliable pipeline" of exclusives

On the subject of exclusives, Ball said, "Everyone in the industry understands that exclusives are important," and Microsoft is no different. The first two console exclusives that Microsoft announced at the Xbox Games Showcase were Gears of War: E-Day this October and Clockwork Revolution in 2027.

Ball said Xbox players can expect a "reliable pipeline" of Xbox-exclusives that "validates their historical investment" in the Xbox platform and keeps them there.

Microsoft's major live-service multiplayer games, like Call of Duty, will continue to be multiplatform releases going forward, he said. Additionally, titles that were previously announced for non-Xbox platforms will still come to those platforms because of previously agreed-upon plans, Ball said.

The 25th anniversary Xbox console

The messaging from Microsoft around exclusives under the leadership of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been muddy, and Ball said Microsoft has more work to do to communicate its strategy around exclusives to fans and partners.

Also in the interview, Ball talked about the Xbox hardware business, pushing back against the idea that it's a dying market for Microsoft. "We have no desire to move away from the console business," he said.

"We are making an investment in our platform, the console platform that is going to be strengthened by these exclusives," he added.

Ball went on to acknowledge that certain Xbox exclusives will sell fewer units than they might otherwise if they were multiplatform, but that is a short-term issue, and making these changes will help Xbox's console business grow in the future, he claimed.

A Project Helix rethink

Microsoft is making these statements about Xbox and hardware during a time when the AI craze is driving up component prices so much that people are very worried about what the new console, Project Helix, might cost when it releases. "The crisis is not yet getting better," Ball said, admitting that he previously underestimated how bad things might get.

"The window in which we and others are gonna have to work through is getting longer, and that is going to constrain the category," he said.

Today, demand for Xbox consoles is outstripping supply, Ball said. "We are producing them as quickly as possible. These is a severe limitation to how quickly we can do that, but it's not a question of appetite," he said. "That is a prilvege as a company. It is a challenge for us to figure out."

How will this all impact Project Helix? Ball said, "We are working very hard to rethink everything that we can about Helix, which is a console we are committed to shipping."

"We are very cognizant of the ways in which we need the change as a company to make sure it is affordable, to make sure that it's flexible," he added. "We are working hard to rethinking what that console model can look like, not in an exclusionary way, but in an additive way, so that as we take a look at this crisis, which may have acute effects for 2-2.5 years."

"We are working very hard to figure out the best way to navigate it or a way that works for everyone, that does not ask too much from players, but also does detract from the other investments that we need to make as a country," he added. "We also have tens of millions of people who we ask to spend $500 which is still an incredible sum of money. Those people that we asked to buy a console years ago, we still have an obligation to them to meet their expectations and to have them feel rewarded for which platform they chose."

"Is it fixable?"

Also during the interview, Ball recalled his first conversations after joining Xbox and how Sharma asked him straight up about Xbox, "Is it fixable?"

Ball said he's a "strategic optimist" and believes it's "incredibly defeatist to think there is any scenario that you can't do better; that you can't improve."

"I joined because I believed I could contribute to that," he said. "I joined because of what she told me she wanted to achieve, I believed was right and achievable. And then I had conversations with [Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella] and others at the company to validate, where do you want to go? When do you wanna go? How are we gonna do this? Do you think we can do this? Do you want us to do that?"

"All of that bolstered my confidence from the original disposition of strategic optimism. If we can turn this company around and grow it, do better by our players, and we need to do that, and we are; we languished for several years."

Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers after price hike

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Also during the talk, Ball discussed how Xbox Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers in the period of a few months after the dramatic 50% price hike was announced in October 2025. Microsoft slashed the price of Game Pass Ultimate down to $23/month (from $30/month) after Sharma became Xbox CEO, but Ball said the price is still higher than where it was this time last year ($20/month). The value of the offering has now changed, he said, referring to how new Call of Duty titles are no longer included on day one, and the changes to Game Pass this year are so far "resonating" with users, he said.

So many game publishers are trying to get their titles out of the shadow of Grand Theft Auto 6, leading to a comically crowded September this year. But Atari isn't blinking, releasing--of all things--a collection of classic Barbie games exactly a week before Rockstar's behemoth.

Developed by Digital Eclipse, Barbie Rewind is a compilation of 16 Barbie games released between 1991 and 2007. It's out on November 12 on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and both Nintendo Switch platforms. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is presumably shaking in his boots.

The full list of included titles hasn't been revealed yet, but one of the announced games is the previously unreleased Barbie: Vacation Adventure, giving the collection a sort of Star Fox 2 moment.

https://youtu.be/Z1DFzLE90tA?si=L95XvX6cOBs2r_GL

Barbie Rewind isn't the only Atari release on GTA 6's month--the company is also putting out a remastered version of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee on all modern platforms on November 3, 16 days before GTA launches.

Remasters and retro compilations are relatively low-key releases compared to modern blockbuster games, so it's doubtful that Atari wants the attention that other big game companies fear losing to GTA 6. On the other hand, Barbie Rewind's close proximity to Rockstar's blockbuster makes for some hilarious counterprogramming, and it would be amusing to see fans and Atari itself try to capitalize on this, similar to the Barbenheimer phenomenon in 2023.

We know for certain that Devolver Digital plans to deliberately release a game on the same day as GTA 6, though such plans are unclear, other than the publisher still seems committed to this stunt. We'll see what it has to add to Grand Theft Barbie: Destroy All Monsters, or whatever people decide to call November.

The Not-E3 Guide To Summer Game Fest Showcases View Images

Hellblade and Senua developer, Ninja Theory, has revealed that it has cancelled Project Mara, its experimental photorealistic horror title that was revealed in 2020.

In an interview on Xbox Wire, Ninja Theory Studio Head Dom Matthews explained that Senua, the studio's third title in the series, requires all of the studio's effort, with Project Mara suffering as a result.

"I suspect some people might ask what’s happened to Project Mara [a previously announced horror title] – I took the decision to not work on that any further," Matthews explained. "These decisions are never easy, but I did so to take the opportunity to have all of the talent and expertise in the studio, all 85 creatives, working together to realize the potential of what Senua can be."

https://youtu.be/91LAY9B6lUc?si=jmjz_0Cu3823X3dt

When it was announced Project Mara was pitched as a revolutionary "real-world and grounded exploration of mental terror", that would be "a showcase of what could become a new storytelling medium.”

Senua, which was announced at the Xbox Showcase at Summer Game Fest, is a departure from the slow-paced Hellblade titles. Described as an "out-and-out action-adventure game" by Matthews, the title will still star Senua as she continues to battle her psychosis.

Sega's newly announced Crazy Taxi: World Tour game is among those made in part with generative AI, and now the franchise's original creator, Kenji Kanno, has defended his studio's use of the controversial technology.

He told Kotaku, via a translator, that the game's artists would use generative AI to generate ideas, and then they would "draw the actual thing."

"So actual creators, everything from programming to assets, everything is made by an actual human. It’s only used as a reference for them to look at and then they would actually create the actual thing that would go into the game," he said.

Kanno went on to say he anticipates that generative AI will become more of a "hot topic" in the future than it already is today in the gaming landscape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAWx3-pcZso

World Tour's use of generative AI was first discovered by way of the game's AI disclosure on Steam. It states that generative AI "support tools" were used during the game's development, and that, "No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game." The game's publisher, Sega, said it uses generative AI technologies as a "support tool" for developers with the aim of allowing them to "focus on more creative tasks."

A spokesperson for Sega told Game Informer that the developers used generative AI to create "background assets" in World Tour, and that AI assets were still reviewed by the development team.

Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, who is the director of research and insights at Niko Partners for the Asia and MENA markets, said the use of genAI technologies is "more accepted" in Asian markets.

"They're going to see massive backlash in Western markets," Ahmad said of developers based in Asia.

He added: "The real question of course is whether there will be a material impact on sales." So far, Ahmad said he has not observed much evidence about a negative impact on sales for games where genAI use is disclosed. He cited examples like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Arc Raiders, and Call of Duty.

"But it does come down to how it's used," Ahmad said. He has also talked about how AI usage is very commonplace across the entire games industry.

World Tour is the first entry in the main, non-mobile game series since 2002's Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller. The Unreal Engine-made game has players racing around the world to hunt down the villains who stole the iconic yellow taxi. The game is set for release in 2027 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

For more, check out GameSpot's further coverage:

• Crazy Taxi Is Back And It's Coming With... Lore?

In 2024, developer Wrong Organ's first-person horror title Mouthwashing was an indie smash. Now, Wrong Organ's follow-up game, Carcass Clad, has been revealed, and aside from fitting into the horror genre, it appears to be a completely different experience. Instead of the struggle to survive of Mouthwashing, Carcass Clad will place players in control of a small crew controlling a tank in a war-torn city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7g8F8_pkSI

This is a three-player co-op game that gives players the option of picking between the commander, Kanerva, the gunner, Erkki, and the driver, Taisto. Collectively, they control a small tank called the Yksiö, and each player is called upon to handle their station in order for the team to survive its trek through the hostile territory in the city called Vhorgorod.

The name of Carcass Clad comes from the bizarre way that enemy forces use the half-dead bodies of "divine livestock" as armor for their war machines. For now, it's not entirely clear how or why that makes them formidable foes.

While speaking to Game Informer, technical and tank designer Dave van Egdom indicated that most of the game will take place in the Yksiö. However, the team is considering options that may open up the city for further exploration.

"As of right now, players will spend most of their time inside the Yksiö," said van Egdom. "We are still exploring if there are moments in the game where the crew can leave the vehicle, though this is very subject to change."

Carcass Clad will be released on PC and it's currently available for wishlisting on Steam.

After years in the shadows, concerns cropped up over the weekend when Marvel's Blade wasn't featured in the Xbox Games Showcase. The superhero game from Arkane Lyon was originally announced in 2023, but barely anything has been revealed since then. That led to speculation the title was canceled. However, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb clarified that that's not the case on X. 

Grubb explained that he was speculating about the Blade game on a recent livestream, which led to online publications running stories about the Marvel title possibly getting canned. "Sounds like there are reasons we haven't seen it, but those reasons are not because there are problems with the game. Not dead," said Grubb.

https://twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status/2063975206289621373

Blade is a third-person action game set in Paris. When Arkane revealed the title at The Game Awards in 2023, studio director Dinga Bakaba let people know on social media that they wouldn't discuss Blade for a while. That said, it's understandable people might have expected just a few nuggets of news over a two-and-a-half-year timeframe. 

There was concept art shared shortly after Blade was first introduced to the world. The images teased vampires taking over the French capital, with only the Daywalker standing in their way. 

While Blade didn't show up at the Xbox Games Showcase, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, and Fable all did--with each getting release dates within the next nine months. In fact, Gears of War: E-Day will be an Xbox console exclusive. 

Announced, Delayed, Disappeared: The Games Still In Limbo View Images

Amazon Games has been trying to make a The Lord of the Rings game for years, but nothing has materialized. The company isn't giving up, but it's still early days for what it might do with a Middle-earth game.

Amazon was working on two different versions of a The Lord of the Rings MMO, but neither panned out. Amazon Games boss Jeff Gattis told IGN, that, "The true answer is we're still looking at a number of different things."

He admitted this is "not the most satisfying answer," but it's where the company is at currently.

"I looked at a project a couple of weeks ago that I thought was quite compelling that perhaps we can go forward with. But evaluating different concepts is trying to figure out what game we want to make, what's the right one for our audience, what's the right one for the broader audience. And my hope is that we'll get there," he said.

A scene from The Two Towers

One of Amazon's planned The Lord of the Rings MMOs was being made in partnership with the Chinese company Leyou. When that company got acquired by Tencent, the deal for the game fell apart. Amazon later made a deal with The Lord of the Rings rights-owner Embracer for another MMO, but this game didn't get off the ground either.

In May this year, Gattis said Amazon remained intent on finding a "compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world."

It remains to be seen what that could be. While Amazon's plans for a The Lord of the Rings MMO are still up in the air, another company, Warhorse Studios, recently announced plans to make a "deeply immersive" Middle-earth open-world game. Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics is said to be working on a new The Lord of the Rings game as well.

Amazon has not had a ton of ongoing success in the gaming world, but Gattis said the company is not giving up.

"We've got a ton in development right now. We almost just wish this stuff could come faster so that I could have proof points to tell you instead of just saying, ‘Trust me, we've got stuff coming.' But all in due time," he explained, adding that Amazon in general remains "committed" to the AAA space.

Amazon might not have a The Lord of the Rings game yet, but the company is behind the TV series The Rings of Power, which comes back for its third season this November. Amazon is also behind the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst games coming in 2027, as the publisher.

What's more, Amazon will take over from IO as the publisher of the next James Bond game, should one be made.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie continues to soar at the box office, despite already being available to watch at home, and now it's crossed a major milestone. The animated movie from Illumination, Universal, and Nintendo has exceeded $1 billion worldwide.

It's made $429 million from North America and $571.5 million from international markets for a global total of just over $1 billion. The movie was released on April 1 and is now the first movie in 2026 to pass $1 billion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuCejewteF8

The next closest to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the Michael Jackson film Michael, which has earned $888 million globally. Rounding out the top five highest-grossing movies worldwide this year are Project Hail Mary ($680 million), The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($664 million), and Pegasus 3 ($656 million).

2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie made over $1 billion as well, ending its run with $1.36 billion globally and ranking as the No. 2 movie worldwide that year, only trailing Barbie ($1.44 billion). The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the highest-grossing video game movie of all time, followed by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at No. 2 and A Minecraft Movie at No. 3.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is expected to be among the highest-grossing movies of 2026, but some are expecting Toy Story 5 (June 19) to surpass it. Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 passed $1 billion, and expectations are sky high for Toy Story 5, especially after it was confirmed that Taylor Swift wrote a new song for it, no doubt inspiring her legions of fans to go see it.

Other movies for 2026 that are expected to put up gigantic numbers at the box office include Minions & Monsters, the live-action Moana, The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Dune 3.

Given the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it's expected Nintendo and Universal will make another animated movie--and it could arrive in 2029. Beyond animated movies, Nintendo partnered with Sony on a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie that's coming in April 2027. Nintendo is pushing so heavily into filmmaking in part because there are only so many people the company can reach through games.

While you can still go see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in theaters, you can also now buy and rent it at home digitally, or preorder the physical version on Blu-ray.

R

Rent The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at Amazon

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will eventually be available on a subscription streaming platform, and it should be Peacock given that Universal owns it. A streaming date hasn't been announced yet, but it could come in August if the precedent set with 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie holds. That movie was released theatrically in April, came to PVOD in May, and then arrived on Peacock in August.

The NES, SNES, and Game Boy Nintendo Switch Online apps all received mysterious updates (to versions 9.0.0, 6.0.0, and 4.0.0, respectively), and a prolific dataminer has claimed that these patches are meant to add challenges.

These challenges aren't accessible yet, but according to LuigiBlood on Bluesky (as spotted by Nintendo Everything), they will be similar to what players saw in the 2013 Wii U game NES Remix.

https://bsky.app/profile/luigiblood.bsky.social/post/3mnr4xhpypc2w

For the many who skipped out on the Wii U, NES Remix contained quick excerpts of classic NES games, challenging players to complete parts of titles like Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda with specific objectives or constraints.

NES Remix also contained more outlandish "remixes" of classic games (e.g., completing a level of Donkey Kong as Link), but LuigiBlood doesn't believe that the Nintendo Switch Online challenges will have anything of the sort.

As of now, there are 84 NES games, 77 SNES games, and 43 Game Boy games on the NSO service in the North American and PAL regions. According to LuigiBlood, these challenges will only be for specific games and will be accessible through the NSO app on the Switch home menu. Any possible rewards that would come with these challenges are unknown at this point.

An announcement of such a feature for Nintendo Classics would be perfectly suited for a Nintendo Direct, and it just so happens that the company confirmed that a presentation will stream on Tuesday, June 9.

Every NES And SNES Game On Nintendo Switch Online View Images

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is full of Easter eggs, but one of its most obscure will put a smile on the face of anyone who grew up in the Commodore 64 era of computers. As spotted by the eagle-eyed Cabel Sasser, a quick jaunt to the Batcave during one of the early missions will see Batman use a very vintage computer to input some clues as he tracks down the Red Hood gang. In a brief moment, the CRT screen flashes with some code, which just so happens to work on a Commodore 64 PC.

Input that code on a C64 (or an emulator), and you'll get a menu that features the Batman logo bouncing around the screen like a DVD screensaver. Some of you might be wondering just where you can pick up a Commodore 64, but fortunately, there's an online alternative (thanks, Andy Baio).

https://bsky.app/profile/cabel.panic.com/post/3mnpxqsbwok2i

The Commodore 64 emulator works just fine--we had to really dig deep to figure out how it works--and you can view the Easter egg on your PC. Just click the three vertical dots icon in the bottom right, paste the copied GitHub text from your clipboard in, and hit enter.

This is one deep cut of an Easter egg, as Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a celebration of the Caped Crusader across pop culture. The most obvious ones are drawn from the live-action movies, while unlockable costumes pay homage to his various incarnations across film, TV, comic books, and video games. Other nods to Batman are littered across Gotham, including a touching tribute to the late Kevin Conroy, the voice actor behind the cowl.

If you haven't checked it out yet, the game recently launched for PC and console. "Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight combines a nostalgia-rich story, hilarious writing, and Arkham Lite combat to bring licensed Lego games into the modern era," Steve Watts wrote in GameSpot's review.

• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Standard Edition

  $70 | Releases May 29, 2026

  See at Amazon
• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Deluxe Edition

  $90 | Releases May 26, 2026

  See at Amazon

A new Nintendo Direct livestream has been announced for June 9, making an already busy month of gaming showcases even busier. You can tune in at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET to watch it.

As usual, Nintendo isn't sharing too many details on this livestream. Looking ahead, the second half of 2026 has a few big games on the way, including Star Fox and various third-party releases.

Nintendo says the livestream will run for roughly 50 minutes, and it'll highlight upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch games. After the broadcast ends, there'll be a new Nintendo Treehouse livestream immediately after, showcasing gameplay of select titles featured in the Direct.

On the rumor front, Nintendo will reportedly reveal a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and for retro gaming fans, the NES, SNES, and Game Boy games on Switch 2 are said to be getting new "challenges" for players to pursue.

Nintendo has held a June Direct showcase every year since 2012, and it's not breaking that run in 2026. The content of each broadcast varies, as some years have been game-specific livestreams--like last year's Donkey Kong Bananza showcase--while older June Directs tied into E3 week and provided a broader overview of what to expect from Nintendo for the rest of the year.

This month also marks the first anniversary of the Switch 2 console, which is Nintendo's fastest-selling console of all time and has reached 19.86 million sales as of March 31, 2026.

The original Switch isn't doing too badly either and is Nintendo's best-selling console of all time with 155.92 million consoles sold.

If the debut trailer for NetEase's new AAA action title, Blood Message, didn't blow you away during Summer Game Fest, then the follow-up video may make a better impression. Developer 24 Entertainment Lin'an has shared an extended look at Blood Message's gameplay that reveals a greater cinematic flare for action that the initial footage failed to convey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSe_O_U5Gr0

The game takes place in Asia sometime in the ninth century during the Shazhou uprising. Players control Pei Changguan, a messenger who is sent on a mission to relay the news of the rebellion to Chang'an, the capital city of the Tang Empire.

For this level, Pei Changguan is joined by his brother, Arrati, as they discover atrocities committed by Tubo soldiers who are desperately looking for a letter with vital intel. Changguan and his brother are able to dispatch a handful of the hostile forces with stealth attacks and QTEs. But some of the fights become epic sword battles.

While a few of the enemies appear to hold back, it's refreshing that there are times when they attack players from multiple directions at once. The level appears to be heavily scripted, but the way the action unfolds should remind players of Uncharted and The Last of Us.

Pei Changguan's son, Ning, is also an important character in this game, although he's completely missing in this video. As shown at the end of the clip, Ning has made a choice that may greatly complicate his father's mission. The Tubo soldiers have seen Changguan and his brother, and they may be marked for death.

Blood Message will be released on PC and consoles, but it doesn't currently have a release date.

It's been a long time since Gears of War creator and original designer Cliff Bleszinski was guiding the franchise, but he eagerly watched the premiere of new footage of the latest game, Gears of War: E-Day, during the Xbox Games Showcase. And like a proud father, Bleszinski shared his enthusiastic response to what he saw.

"Loved the struggle with that one Locust, but it's weird how the other ones (not the 'naked' ones) went down so easy," wrote Bleszinski on X. "The tough one didn't seem to be drastically armored different to show that it's a badass. Great rescue and reveal, though."

Bleszinski also weighed in on the origin of the chainsaw lancer in E-Day.

"Thinking about 'em going with a straight up chainsaw pre-lancer," noted Bleszinski. "Gameplay wise-if they're going to go 'one hand chainsaw, one hand gun' mode and someone at some point saying 'why not put the saw on the f***in' gun already!?'"

The relative ease with which some of the Locusts were dispatched was something that Bleszinski took issue with, as he believes "Locust should have thick skin and armor and the game feedback loop should evolve to show that." But he seemed very pleased with other aspects of the game.

"Yes, there's that sweet destruction I was hoping for," said Bleszinski. "The longer glimpse of what the Coalition has been up to is exciting. Super low cover is a nice touch too ... Reavers and Seeders look GREAT. Love the legs on the Reavers and their wall climbing."

Following the presentation, Bleszinski summed up his thoughts.

"So yeah, E-day looks great, amazing feature set, great tech improvements-and, most importantly-looks like it has heart. On top of all sorts of insane violence and destruction."

Bleszinski announced his retirement from game development in 2018. However, he recently shared his ideas for a game he calls Hollow Point, which he described as “John Wick meets Carrie by way of Lovecraft Country.”

As for Gears of War: E-Day, it will be an Xbox console exclusive. It will be released on Xbox Series X|S and PC on October 6.