The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 open beta was supposed to end today, September 1, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, but Activision is extending it.

The beta is now set to wrap up at 10 PM PT / 1 AM ET (September 2), meaning it's been extended by a full 12 hours. Not only that, but Activision is offering double progression XP and double weapon XP now until the beta closes down.

This is great news for anyone grinding through the levels to claim the MW4 open beta's various rewards. Players who make it all the way to the level cap of 30 get a special weapon blueprint, and now there are 12 more hours to grind for it, or likely less if you're at work, school, eating, sleeping, gardening, etc.

After the beta wraps up, the next time people will be able to play MW4 multiplayer is when the game launches on October 23. The game's single-player campaign, meanwhile, unlocks a week before that for people who preorder.

MW4 is in development for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC. The game is coming to a Nintendo platform for the first time since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts. Additionally, MW4 is skipping last-gen consoles for the first time since Ghosts.

The MW4 launch comes 34 days before GTA 6 arrives on November 19.

The latest batch of removals from Xbox Game Pass have been announced, and some heavyhitters are leaving soon. After The Witcher 3 was removed in August, another CD Projekt Red game, Cyberpunk 2077, is leaving the service on September 15.

There are nine other games leaving Game Pass that day, including Dead Cells, Frostpunk 2, Spiritfarer, Train Sim World 5, and more. You can see the full list below.

Cyberpunk 2077 was added to Game Pass in March this year, so it may have had a six-month deal, given that it's leaving this month.

In terms of new additions for September, Game Pass is adding Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage, and RuneScape: Dragonwild this month, just to name a few.

Cyberpunk 2077 is leaving Game Pass soon. Game Pass removals for September 15

• Commandos: Origins (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Cricket 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (Cloud and Console)
• Dead Cells (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Deep Rock Galactic Survivor (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Frostpunk 2 (PC)
• Mullet Madjack (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Spiritfarer (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Superliminal (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Train Sim World 5 (Cloud, Console, and PC)

It's the start of a new month, and right on cue, Microsoft has revealed the first wave of games coming to Xbox Game Pass in September. The upcoming batch isn't too massive, but it does include a day-one release that competitive gamers will want to check out, along with more titles for Xbox Game Pass Premium. Inversely, Game Pass will be losing some pretty big titles this month, with Cyberpunk 2077 leading the wave of departures.

Kicking things off today is Shelldiver, an incremental game about a turtle fishing for jellyfish and then selling its catch at its adorable little store. On September 3, Speedrunners 2 launches as a day-one game. This competitive co-op platformer now supports up to eight players online, and you'll need to outrun and outjump your rivals to win each match. I hope you have good memorization skills for the challenging levels!

On September 4, Game Pass Premium subscribers can grab Dice a Million for some roguelike deck-building fun, and one of the big highlights in September is the inclusion of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on September 8. While new Call of Duty games won't be added to Game Pass on day-one, you can grab this 2020 first-person shooter and enjoy a tightly paced Cold War-era story centered around hunting down a Soviet agent who is looking to destabilize the world.

Another roguelike deck builder joins Game Pass on September 10 in the form of the medieval-themed The Royal Writ, but if you'd prefer to bang knuckles, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage is a pretty fun brawler featuring Sega's fighting game royalty, and it's available the same day. Rounding things out for the first half of September is RuneScape: Dragonwilds, a co-operative survival adventure.

Xbox Game Pass September Wave 1 Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_olnx7uGo September 1

Shelldiver (Cloud, Console, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

September 3

Speedrunners 2: King of Speed (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

September 4

Dice a Million (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

September 8

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (Cloud, Console, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

September 10

The Royal Writ (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

September 15

RuneScape: Dragonwilds (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC), Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie releases this month, and tickets are now on sale. If you don't want to pay full price, and you meet a certain requirement, you can get a ticket for a whole lot less than normal.

T-Mobile members in the US can score a ticket to Resident Evil for just $5 through Atom Tickets. As relayed by Wario64, subscribers can visit the T-Life mobile app on September 15 to get a discounted ticket.

That is three days before the Resident Evil movie arrives on September 18, though Thursday night screenings on September 17 are also taking place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c

The Resident Evil movie stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, an "idiot" medical courier who takes a job that brings him to Raccoon City where all hell breaks loose in a story akin to The Lord of the Rings.

The new Resident Evil movie is poised for a record-breaking debut at the box office, but that isn't saying too much since the other movies didn't do so great.

Cregger is coming off the biggest movie he's ever made in Weapons, and he has plans to follow it up with a spin-off focusing on Aunt Gladys.

If you've played a Grand Theft Auto game before, then you are probably familiar with the series' sprinting mechanic. Rather than clicking the left analog stick like in most other games, you have to either hold or mash a face button. It's annoying, less intuitive, and feels like a relic of the past, and luckily, Rockstar apparently agrees: Grand Theft Auto 6 is doing away with it.

As shared by the Italian YouTuber MikeShowSha, you will now click the analog stick in order to sprint. It's a welcome change for muscle memory if nothing else, as anything other than clicking the analog stick feels odd in 2026. We've occasionally seen other game series, like Halo, adjust control schemes over time to fit more modern standards, though usually the option for the old-style controls is available in these cases.

Of course, this change is certainly the reason it took 13 years for Grand Theft Auto 6 to arrive. Other, less-important changes include a map that is three times bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2, a new Criminal Profile system, throwable dog poop, and a physical-fitness system.

Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives November 19 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5, and it's expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history. With the change to how you sprint, it just might get there.

GTA 6 is one of the most-anticipated entertainment releases ever, and many experts agree that it's sure to be a fast success. However, Rockstar North boss Rob Nelson said the studio is "nervous" about the game's upcoming release and living up to 13 years worth of hype and expectations.

"I try not to think about it," Nelson told IGN. "You’re aware of it, of course. But I think we just have to try and make something that we feel is innovating on what we've done previously, evolving it while still making it feel familiar."

Nelson went on to say that external pressure on Rockstar to deliver a great game with GTA 6 does not compare to "the pressure we put on ourselves as a team."

"Everyone wants things to be perfect. We are nervous! Nervous, of course, but also excited to see how people respond to this video and then ultimately the game," he said. "It is definitely a step forward in all respects for us--the size of the world, and how deep it feels. It’s a bit of a shock when you get in there, and you see the density of the traffic, the density of population, and the fidelity of their responses to you."

Part of the reason why GTA 6 took so long to come to market is because Rockstar is "creating perfection," according to Rockstar owner Take-Two.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick explained that Rockstar prioritized polish over rushing the game to release. “We’re seeking perfection,” he said. “When we feel we’ve optimized creatively, that’s the time to release.”

“There’s inherent tension, potentially, between getting something to market and creating perfection,” Zelnick added. “But this company errs on the side of perfection.”

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. A report said the game might make enough money from preorders alone–amounting to an estimated $2 billion by launch–to pay for the game’s entire production budget.

As Sony marches towards its all-digital future, the company is now arguing in a class-action lawsuit that it doesn't mislead customers into purchasing digital licenses for games, instead of actual ownership of the product.

In a filing in California's Northern District Court made last month (and spotted by Game File), Sony claims that "reasonable consumers would not be misled" when shopping on its storefront. The court overseeing the case against Sony is currently evaluating whether it should proceed to arbitration, as plaintiffs argue that Sony doesn't properly disclose the nature of digital purchases on its platforms.

California law requires a warning label that clearly communicates to consumers of digital goods that the products they're purchasing are, in fact, digital licenses. For PlayStation games, Sony says that its terms and services disclaimer--the wall of text that accompanies a sale--lays out the nature of a purchase. The disclaimer isn't found anywhere during the purchase process; instead, Sony leaves a paragraph of text above the "confirm purchase" button. Users then need to navigate through the terms of service menus and read through the text, which includes the following line in the PlayStation 5 System Software Licence Agreement:

Always read the fine print.

"If you are in North America, South America, or Central America, all games and other software made available for use with your PS5 system are licensed to you, not sold, pursuant to the Software Product License Agreement."

"In the digital age, it is not plausible to allege that reasonable consumers believed they were obtaining 'ownership' of a digital game," Sony's lawyers wrote in the company's defense (via Aftermath).

While Sony is correct that it does have disclaimers, this paints a worrying picture for the future of console games when there are no physical options available. Sony will stop producing game discs as of January 2028, and with its next-gen PlayStation console rumored to have no disc drive, the PlayStation Store will be the only game in town for accessing PS6 titles.

What's next for Double Fine following its split from Microsoft and Xbox? A whole lot, as the Psychonauts developer has multiple projects that it wants fans to vote on--including Brutal Legend 2, if you have a spare $100 million lying around.

The studio is currently seeking a more modest $400,000 on Kickstarter to fund its next project--with only a single stretch goal of $100 million--and at the time of writing, has secured $288,000 in pledges. Double Fine will be hosting its own two-week game jam called Amnesia Fortnight--not to be confused with the horror game series--and members of the studio will pitch ideas and prototype them during this period.

Company events like this led to the creation of games like Costume Quest, Iron Brigade, and Stacking, and once it's over, four of them will be chosen by Kickstarter supporters to be further developed. From that point, a single game will ultimately be chosen to be Double Fine's next project and help keep the lights on. The studio added that smaller games like these are designed to be a fun project for its team to work on, and it's still seeking funding for its next large-scale game.

So far, the Kickstarter includes the following games being prototyped, and you can click on each title to watch the pitch video.

• Architactics
• Astro Slam Intergalactic Pro Wrestling
• Bard Crawl
• Brouroboros
• Centauride
• Cosmic Bonsai
• Dragons, Gels, and Bear-Owls, Oh My!
• Echo
• Emergency Foley Artist
• Fermi's Playground
• Friendslap
• Golem Hero
• Insolation
• Lesbian Sled Death
• Lucid Gardening
• Mochimochi Line Dancer
• Muscle Madness
• Plot Armor
• Quokk 'n Roll
• Reluctance
• R.U.N
• Super Power Performance Evaluation
• Tonight We Feast
• Tractor Takedown
• Uprise
• Virtual Pet Manifesto

But if you want Brutal Legend 2 to be made? The studio has confirmed that for roughly 20% the price of Valve co-founder Gabe Newell's recent superyacht purchase, it'll finally continue the story of Eddie Riggs.

The odds of Double Fine getting a cool $100 million in pledges within a month are probably unlikely, as even the biggest video game Kickstarter success stories haven't come close to that figure. Shenmue 3 raised $6.3 million, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night secured $5.5 million in pledges, and Double Fine locked in $3.45 million for Broken Age, as a few examples.

The only exception here is Star Citizen, which has earned over $1 billion in crowdfunding over 14 years--but the full game still has no release date. Brutal Legend 2's high price tag could also be due to the costs of securing licenses for all the music, as the original game featured a greatest-hits selection of rock and heavy metal when it was first released.

Sadly, even if the sequel is made, several icons won't be returning, as in the years since Brutal Legend first hit the scene, Ozzy Osborne, Lemmy Kilmister, and Tim Curry have all passed away.

After its departure from Microsoft, Double Fine carried out a sweeping round of layoffs, affecting 23 people. "As a small, tightly knit team, these actions are not taken lightly,” studio head Tim Schafer said, adding that people were let go so as to ensure the survival of the studio.

Rockstar Games has confirmed more details about GTA 6, including how the developer cut a feature because it was deemed too realistic. Another feature that borrows from real life is staying, however.

Rockstar's Rob Nelson told Famitsu, as translated by GamesRadar, that Jason and Lucia were initially able to buy groceries and restock their fridge. However, Nelson said Rockstar decided to cut this feature because it didn't align with the studio's ideas for balancing "realism and ease of play."

"At one point during development, we were experimenting with a system that would allow you to buy groceries to restock the fridge," he said. "We had specifications for stores with groceries that you could buy and take home, and the fridge could be replenished. However, because this would have complicated the mechanics, we had to simplify it."

Presumably, this system would have tied into GTA 6's new gameplay feature where you can gain weight based on how much you eat. Players can also hit the gym to bulk up, and their physical appearance and stamina profiles will be directly related.

Fuel up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPpqZwUwl0

While you will not need to restock your fridge, GTA 6 players will need to refuel their cars with gas or recharge them if they're an EV. YouTuber TGG, who visited Rockstar and saw the game in action, said players can pull up to a gas station to refuel. It's not very expensive, he said, and should take only about 10 seconds to complete the refueling process, which also has its own animation. Additionally, TGG confirmed that players can repair their cars at gas stations.

TGG added that Nelson suggested to him that Rockstar is aware that the refueling/recharging system in GTA 6 might be divisive. However, Rockstar is sticking with it, and it will require players to think strategically. For example, if players are preparing for a robbery--which is one of the ways you can make money in the game--they'll want to ensure their car is fueled up beforehand to help with the getaway.

In GTA 5, cars have unlimited fuel by default, though if players puncture their gas tank, the fuel will go to zero and the car will stop working. There are mods for the PC edition of GTA 5 that add a more realistic refueling system to the game.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The expensive-to-produce open-world crime game is coming to market with enormous hype and expectations, but Rockstar and parent company Take-Two might not be sweating things too much. A report said the game might make enough money from preorders alone--amounting to an estimated $2 billion by launch--to pay for the game's entire production budget.

GTA 6's base edition costs $80, while there is a $100 Ultimate Edition that includes a lot of exclusive in-game content.

CD Projekt Red recently confirmed that the long-awaited RPG The Witcher 4 is targeting a release in 2028, and that timing has led many to wonder if the Polish developer will offer the game on a disc. After all, Sony is ending support for physical PlayStation discs in 2028 and Microsoft is expected to ditch discs, too.

CD Projekt joint CEO Michał Nowakowski told The Game Business that the studio has "no influence" on what companies like Sony and Microsoft choose to do with regards to supporting discs.

"The discs for the first parties, including PlayStation, have to be manufactured in their own factories. So, if they stop manufacturing indeed by 2028, then yes [we won’t have a disc]," he said.

At the same time, Nowakowski stressed that CD Projekt Red is a company that is highly fond of giving people "access to tangible collectible things." Given that, the executive teased that The Witcher 4 will, "for sure," have some kind of "box."

"We’re nerds ourselves, and we like that. We always supported that. So, whatever is the case, we’re going to be for sure having a box. We’re going to have a box that’s going to have some feelies in it," he said. "Something you’re going to be wanting to open up and enjoy. But we have no influence actually on what’s the case here."

The Witcher 4 kicks off a new trilogy of The Witcher games, spanning The Witcher 4, 5, and 6. These games are planned to all be released within a six-year window, so the entire trilogy could be here by the end of 2034.

In addition to these three new The Witcher games, CD Projekt is working on The Witcher 3 Remastered and a new expansion for the game called Songs of the Past. Additionally, the team is developing Cyberpunk 2, a The Witcher multiplayer game, and a game made in partnership with Scopely.

Murals might look like a stylish take on the Hades roguelike formula at first glance, but Disney Illusion Island developer Dlala Studios isn't aiming to copy Supermassive's homework. Instead, the studio is looking to put its own spin on the genre, as it fuses dark fairy tales and hews closer to the action-first approach of modern-day Doom and Diablo. One other big difference in Murals is that it'll offer a customizable approach to difficulty, as Dlala Studios says it wants to prioritize player fun over punishing runs--unless you're into that kind of thing.

"There are difficulty selectors, and you can kind of tweak some of the individual settings," Dlala CEO, Aj Grand-Scrutton, said to GameSpot. "We've kind of got some of the high-level ones you'd imagine: enemy damage, enemy health. We've also got stuff that affects the player's health. Something that [design director] Grant Allen was really keen on in Disney Illusion Island, we tried to make it as welcoming as possible.

"And whilst this is obviously a slightly more core genre, we tried to do the same here. When we're building, we don't care about player deaths. Our goal isn't to kill the player; it's to make sure they have fun. We try to make it as customizable as we can so everyone can get through. Even if you're a button-masher, that's a legitimate tactic in our rules."

https://youtu.be/D42nkf8EHMk

Grand-Scrutton added that the moment-to-moment gameplay of roguelikes like Hades inspired the fast, frantic combat in Murals, but the goal was to capture a "persistent, linear" experience within the fairy tale worlds that players will explore. As mentioned above, Doom and Diablo also helped inspire the game's design, and Allen added that an indie game called Blazing Beaks also served as an influence.

"For me, it was kind of like looking at those games and understanding the experimentation that they had," Allen added. "But obviously, it's very finite how long you have those for in those games. It was more like looking at our game as more like a child's science kit."

Revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live, Murals will see players trek through hand-painted fairy tales that have gone spectacularly wrong. For example, Sleeping Beauty is an insomniac, and Rapunzel's own hair is trying to murder her. As the amnesiac protagonist, it's up to you to defeat distorted legends from lore and take down the enigmatic Creator. Murals will launch for PC in 2027.

Most upcoming games have looked to steer clear of the behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto 6 and avoid the month of November entirely. The upcoming remaster of 2002's Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee is a notable exception, and as it turns out, the developers didn't think about GTA 6 at all when choosing its release date.

In an interview with IGN, senior designer at developer Pipeworks Simon Strange revealed GTA's looming release of November 16 wasn't a factor when choosing Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee: Remastered's November 3 release date. 

Like others online, the development team got a kick out of kaiju fans celebrating the fact that the King of the Monsters (and Barbie) were the only two pop culture icons brave enough to face off against developer Rockstar's open-world juggernaut.

"Honestly, [it] wasn't even in our heads at all when we were picking the release date," Strange said. "That's not my business. I make the video games. I'm not too worried about when they come out. If Atari had come to us and said, 'Wow, we can't because we think it's going to affect the sales with GTA', we would've had that discussion. But no one ever said anything."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDD_Q9rSiQ

As Strange points out, November 3 is a special date for the Godzilla fandom. It was on that same day in 1954 that the original Gojira film was released and is regarded as Godzilla's official birthday. Strange said the upcoming remaster arriving on the same day was "respectful," and that at the end of the day, Godzilla fans would show up no matter when it was released.

"I wasn't looking at the calendar and being worried in any way, or thinking about what other games are coming out because the Godzilla fans are very excited for it," Strange said. "They'd buy it on any day that it came out, and putting it out on Godzilla's birthday, that's just respectful."

While Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee: Remastered and Barbie Rewind, a collection of classic Barbie games, are both releasing in close proximity to GTA 6, there is one game brave enough to release on the exact same day. Publisher Devolver Digital recently revealed Volvy's Adventure: Reslimed, a "remaster" of a nonexistent remake that will release on Steam November 16.

For those eagerly awaiting GTA 6, Rockstar recently posted a lengthy gameplay presentation that revealed tons of new details.

Fear not, Control fans: Control Resonant will be packed with lore despite the combat-heavy trailers we've seen so far, according to developer Remedy. The lack of focus on story in promotional footage, says Remedy senior communications manager Miika Huttunen, is no reflection of the game's content, but instead a deliberate decision by the team to have the narrative side of the game on lockdown until release. In short: You'll get your fill, you just have to wait.

The sneak peeks we've had of the game so far have been mainly combat-focused, a result of combat being something that doesn't need to be revealed gradually to the player. "There's lots of weird stuff to come," says Huttunen, "plenty of twists and turns and surprises… things to discover. We're asking fans to trust us--we're Remedy. And I hope that, because we're Remedy, we get the benefit of the doubt." 

Dialogue with NPCs, collectibles, and environmental clues will all give fans a new story to piece together.

Lore-related collectibles, like FBC documents and written materials from pre-Hiss-invasion times, are scattered liberally throughout the game. It pays to explore and take your time finding secrets, as the world of Control Resonant is no less carefully crafted than its predecessor, and the story is far from an afterthought. Besides the written word, you'll also find countless places where you can open shortcuts, unpack subtle environmental clues, and have interactions with NPCs who help to expand your understanding of the world.

Huttunen also revealed that Control Resonant will reward players' decisions in dialogue through subtle changes in how other characters react to them, side quest variations, and a slow build of their own personality. The main story will be largely linear and have one distinct ending--though if Remedy's track record is anything to go by, one that players won't see coming. 

The combat we've been shown looks excellent, but there will be plenty of lore, too.

The brief chunk of gameplay we saw at Gamescom already had enough to get fans of the original game wondering how the hell things got so bad, as test-subject-turned-paranatural-protagonist Dylan was shown actively seeking out and consuming the stupefying Mold. Manhattan is unrecognizable, requiring gravity shifts to traverse streets that now point directly up into the sky or curve around to form an unnatural ceiling, and enemies of various grotesque flavors roam free. 

Dylan himself is as much of an enigma as the world around him. You're revealing the story of the wider city--past, present, and future--but also coaxing Dylan's story out one puzzle piece at a time. 

Fights in the demo were fluid and flexible. Using the Aberrant, a shapeshifting melee weapon, Dylan quickly adapted to waves of enemies, building up a Falter gauge to deliver fatal blows, and dashing nimbly between the legs of shambling Mold creatures. It's satisfying, fast-paced, and rewards the aggressive strategist's approach. Using the paranatural abilities to your advantage means your weapon feels like an extension of you, especially as Dylan gains health only by killing enemies. Resonant's combat focuses on aggression, as we previously learned there won't be a parry mechanic.

Before this place got covered in mold it probably looked alright.

In between these bouts--either after a victory, or voluntarily during quieter periods--Dylan can retreat to The Gap. This is a sort of liminal space where you can practice moves in a low-stakes arena of enemy types (useful for learning weaknesses), change his loadout, use new Artifacts for boosts, and upgrade his abilities. It's a peaceful reprieve, but once you return to the real world, there's a penalty: everything has been refreshed and strengthened, designed to level up with you. 

Between the snippets of conversation shown in the demo, the strange and immensely detailed setting, seamless combat against intelligent foes, and a load of new lore to uncover, it seems like Control Resonant might be exactly as good as fans were hoping.

Fans eager to see what Nintendo is cooking up for the 2026 holiday season might not have to wait long, as new evidence is making a September 10 Nintendo Direct look likely. 

That evidence in question is Just Dance: Decades of Hits. A recent leak saw gameplay from the upcoming Ubisoft title circulate online, leading to an official statement from the game's official X account. Far from simply acknowledging the leak, Ubisoft actually told players when they can expect a proper, official look at the game--September 10.

"We're committed to sharing the complete picture with you on September 10, and we sincerely thank you for your patience and continued support in the meantime," Ubisoft's statement reads.

https://twitter.com/justdancegame/status/2093013175197130759?s=20

As highlighted by Nintendo Everything, Just Dance titles frequently appear during Nintendo Directs, with last year's Just Dance 2026 Edition announced during a summer presentation. Nintendo also has a history of premiering a Nintendo Direct ahead of the Tokyo Game Show, which kicks off on September 17 this year.

The September 10 date then is looking promising, especially when combined with Nintendo's previous history. We recently explained why a September Nintendo Direct is likely to happen; there has been an early-to-mid September Nintendo Direct almost every year for the past decade (with a late August direct in 2024 being the one exception).

We'll know if the September 10 date is real by September 9 at the latest, as Nintendo has a history of announcing a Direct with around 24 hours notice. 

Even without taking into account whatever surprises Nintendo is potentially saving for the end of the year or the first half of 2026, the house of Mario already has two exclusive games fans are expecting more details and release dates for--The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and From Software's The Duskbloods. 

Both are slated to release in 2026 but don't yet have official release dates. In Zelda's case, we know almost nothing about the remake aside from a short teaser that lacked any gameplay, leading to fans wildly speculating on every aspect of information revealed so far. It seems safe to assume Nintendo's next Direct will give fans a more in-depth look. 

Those eagerly anticipating The Duskbloods got a chance to go hands-on with From Software's latest multiplayer experiment in a recent network test--one that reportedly saw more interest than Elden Ring Nightreign and left us eager to play more. 

In addition to the two games above, Nintendo may also look to celebrate The Legend of Zelda's 40th anniversary. A recent leak showed a special Zelda-themed Switch 2, which could be officially announced at a potential September 10 Nintendo Direct.

The Halo franchise remains synonymous with the Xbox brand, but many might agree that it has seen better days. Xbox's new CEO, Asha Sharma, has now commented on Halo's future, saying in an interview that Halo remains a "very key franchise" for Xbox and that Microsoft is taking a long-term view about reviving it.

"The thing that I am learning about great games is that they have a long history and heritage and we can take a long-term view. I am confident that Halo is a very important part of our portfolio. It is a very key franchise. It represents a very key memory structure and way that people want to play," she told the BBC. "I am focused on that. We'll have more news to share on Halo going forward."

The latest entry in the Halo series was this past July's Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remaster of the 2001 original game released this year to celebrate the game's 25th anniversary. The game, which represented Halo's debut on PlayStation, was generally well-received, but apparently had a slow start for sales.

Industry analyst Rhys Elliott lamented the slowing sales and diminishing profile of Halo as a franchise in general after the series peaked, in his eyes, with Halo 3 and Halo: Reach years ago.

“One can’t help wondering what could have been if Halo had kept the trajectory it had around Halo 3 and Reach. A remake of the game that started it all landing this softly on a new platform makes me pretty sad, as a Halo fan,” he wrote.

There are more Halo games in development, including one that’s been described as “like Fortnite” with regards to its live-service approach. Remakes of Halo 2 and Halo 3 are said to be in the works as well.

Developer Halo Studios has said future Halo games will also be on PlayStation, but those comments came before Sharma became Xbox CEO and pledged to release more exclusive games for Xbox.

Halo co-creator on how to "make a great Halo again"

Halo's co-creator and the designer of Master Chief, Marcus Lehto, said online recently that a "big concern" he foresees about reviving Halo is how much it might cost. He said Microsoft making a "fully featured Halo" game would likely cost between $600 million-$800 million, and take four or more years to make. Lehto, who hasn't worked on Halo in a long time, said he does not anticipate Microsoft spending that much or taking that much time.

In another post, Lehto said a large corporation like Microsoft is a "terribly inefficient machine." He added that a "smaller indie team driven by seasoned devs, filled with a good mix of newer hungry talent as well, and minimal management layers is probably the only viable way to make a great Halo again."

Finally, Lehto revealed that Halo 3's budget was about $40 million for development, with as much as $30 million spent on marketing. He said Halo: Reach, meanwhile, cost about $120 million, though he did not clarify if this was inclusive of both development and marketing expenses.

We're only a few months away from the November launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, and following the recent preview of the game on Netflix, fans have even more questions about Rockstar's highly anticipated game--namely, just how big is the download going to be? We already know that you can preload the game a week before launch, but is that because you'll need multiple days to download all the files?

GTA 6 fans are currently speculating just how big the install is going to be, with the majority of people taking part in a ResetEra poll guessing that it'll clock in between 100GB to 250GB. That's a fairly generous margin--and highly likely--given the history of Rockstar's previous games and the current state of game-install sizes. Considering that GTA 6 is a download-only game--physical copies are just a code in a box--you're going to want to make some space available on your PS5 or Xbox Series X|S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPpqZwUwl0

For example, Red Dead Redemption 2 requires approximately 105GB to 150GB, depending on your platform, and was released in 2018. Video games have only gotten bigger and even more detailed since then, leveraging the power of modern hardware to create detailed worlds. High-resolution graphic textures and detailed character models only add to the install-size bloat, with some games even offering options to reduce that digital footprint by selectively installing parts of the experience.

Call of Duty was a prime example, as the game typically offers an option to install it piecemeal. Modern Call of Duty games used to be up to 150GB in size, and once you started slotting in extra content like the Call of Duty HQ unified launcher, shared texture packs for older titles, Call of Duty: Warzone, and carry-forward content, the install size neared 300GB. Fortunately, things started to change with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, as the developers made big changes to the installation process.

Other game developers have also made an effort to better optimize their titles, as Marvel Rivals is now considerably smaller on PC and consoles, so there's hope that Rockstar Games has used some technical wizardry to make the download more manageable--after all, with the rising price of memory, not everyone has the budget to give their console a quick SSD upgrade just for a single game.

Three US Democratic senators condemned both Discord and Roblox, saying that the voice-chat and game-creation platforms "deserve their day in court" instead of hiding behind private arbitration methods as it relates to child safety.

According to an August 31 Bloomberg report, Democratic senators Dick Durbin (Illinois), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), and Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) have filed an amicus brief on August 28 urging the courts to keep the myriad lawsuits Discord and Roblox are facing public.

"Instead of hiding behind the veil of arbitration, Roblox and Discord can be held accountable for their misconduct: misleading parents into thinking their platforms are safe and failing to protect children from sexual abuse," the senators wrote collectively. "Such a requirement would contradict the very concern animating the EFAA in the first place: Companies enforce arbitration to silence and deny justice to survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment."

Arbitration is a way for lawsuits to get settled privately and outside of a regular courtroom. This would mean that, if Discord and Roblox compelled their victims into arbitration, whatever the aftermath of the lawsuits were would likely be sealed and unknown to the public. These senators don't want that to happen, specifically because of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act Congress enacted in 2022, which blocks companies facing sexual abuse lawsuits from entering arbitration.

The amicus brief (which is a document filed by someone who wants to give the courts extra information) was filed in a case involving a 13-year-old boy who reportedly met a predator on Roblox and was groomed, coerced, and blackmailed into sending lewd materials over Discord. This is just one of the hundreds of lawsuits both platforms are currently battling.

GameSpot has reached out to Discord and Roblox for comment and will update this story should we get a response back.

While Roblox has been at the center of a congressional investigation and has had several politicians set their sights on the platform, parent company Roblox Corporation has made changes to make the platform safer for children. This includes paying $12 million to do things like adding facial recognition and age-verification systems. The company's co-founder and CEO, David Baszucki, has responded to a lot of the complaints and criticism, but his comments didn't go over well, signalling that maybe Roblox can't make anyone happy right now.

Out of nowhere, Sony has announced that free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) is now on PlayStation 5, allowing people to watch movies and TV shows for free, in exchange for watching ads.

FAST programming is growing in popularity, and some of the current market leaders include Roku, Tubi, and Pluto, among others. FAST content was already on PS5 through dedicated apps for some of those services, but now Sony is launching its own FAST channel. For its part, Microsoft offers some FAST channels apps like Tubi and Pluto on Xbox as well.

Available on PS5 in the US, the new "Live TV on PS5" comes from Sony's own Sony Pictures Television. There are more than 100 live channels, as well as on-demand programming spanning news, sports, movies, TV shows, and anime.

Here's how to access it on your PS5:

1. Go to the Media tab:
2. Select the Live TV on PS5 icon. 
3. Select “Sign In With My PlayStation Account” to connect your PlayStation account and start watching.

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

Some of the content available includes movies from MovieSphere, 50 Cent Action, FilmRise Free Movies, Sony One Horror Hits, and Cinevault. Some of the TV shows people can watch include The Walking Dead, Community, Unsolved Mysteries, and Hell's Kitchen. Anime programming available on the service includes Naruto, Sailor Moon, and Death Note, as well as some Crunchyroll channels. For sports fans, programming from Fox Sports, Nascar, NBC Sports Now, and UFC are available. There are also news and weather channels, along with "creator" content like Hot Ones and The Ringer programming.

Live TV on PS5 will be updated over time with more channels and content, while Sony said it’s looking to expand it to Canada and other regions later.

FAST is a growing segment of the entertainment landscape. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney and Netflix are also mulling plans for FAST content as well.

Before this, Sony operated the paid live TV service PlayStation Vue, but the company shut it down in 2020 due in part to how expensive it was to operate.

Developer Cold Symmetry continues to tinker with Mortal Shell 2, recently dropping a massive update that makes some substantial changes to its latest souls-like action-RPG. Alongside buffing certain weapons and fixing some glitches, the team has also addressed the game's greedy economy by making a few finite resources more plentiful around the world.

Released on August 29, Mortal Shell 2's Week 1 Update makes some of the game's heaviest weapons stronger to compensate for their slowness. For example, the Obsidian Hammer hits way harder, and The Great Martyr's Blade had its damage output increased to make up for this change missing in the last patch. Overall, Cold Symmetry said that heavier weapons deal way more damage and poise now.

The headlining feature, though, is the overhaul to the economy. Before this patch, Glimpses (a currency used to upgrade your shells) and Tarcores (a currency used to upgrade your Tarstones) were incredibly limited in the world. With this new patch, however, both currencies are much more plentiful in the game.

To start, Tarcores are easier to collect now through a new set of items known as Fragile Tarstones. These pieces of equipment break after their durability depletes and, once broken, they yield Tarcores so you can upgrade your favorite Tarstones to their max levels more reliably.

Glimpses are the same. There's a similar Glimpse Stone that, once shattered, gifts you some Glimpses to max out whatever shell you're maining or interested in. Although Mini-Beacons no longer reward you with Glimpses, you can get some by interacting with the Gloom Siphon at the Marrow Keep after collecting Ova. And while you couldn't refund Glimpses once you invested them into a shell before, a new Mether's Severance item acts as a respec feature, which now lets you refund any Glimpses you poured into any shell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFBxlvKuHMg&pp=0gcJCSsdAYcqIYzv

Further, the shopkeeper Merrick also sells Glimpse Stones and Tarcores, so you can max level your favorite shells and Tarstones in a single playthrough.

This is such a fundamental and welcome change that makes the economy much more forgiving. Before this patch, experimentation was almost discouraged because of how limited Glimpses and Tarcores were, making a New Game+ almost mandatory if you actually wanted to see the full potential of the shells. Now, with this change, you can flip-flop between shells or just max them all out without having to run through the game again. The same is true of Tarcores, too, so that's cool.

There are a handful of other tweaks in this patch as well. A few bosses have been addressed, some glitches have been ironed out, ripostes deal more damage, and enemies don't chase you forever anymore.

The caveat? The Week 1 Update is currently only available on PC. Cold Symmetry said that because console patch certification takes longer, there's no date for when this update will hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. However, the team aims to "get it to consoles" as soon as they can.

You can check the full Week 1 Update patch notes below. Be warned, though, it's long.

Full Mortal Shell 2 Week 1 Update Patch Notes New Items

• Fragile Tarstones - A new class of Tarstone which breaks after losing durability. When breaking, they also yield a tarcore.
• Glimpse Stone - Wears down as you defeat enemies, then breaks into Glimpses
• Egon's Stone - Revive at the entrance of a dungeon at the cost of its durability, and when it breaks it prevents Gloom loss for that death.
• Justicar’s Stone and Gloombound Stone are now fragile, have increased passive effects and added on break effects. Fragile Tarstones are not unique and can be found multiple times during a playthrough. Existing copies of Jusicar’s and Gloombound have been converted to Fragile.
• Certain enemies now drop the new fragile Tarstones, several dungeons now reward them, and Merrick has taken an interest in selling them.

Economy

• Glimpses and Tarcores are no longer finite resources, allowing all shells and Tarstones to be upgraded in a single playthrough.
• Mether's Severance is a shell respec item which can be given to Zhirelle, the shell keeper. In exchange she will sever your bond with a Shell, resetting it and granting you all spent glimpses back.
• Tarstones now yield more tarcores when broken. If your save already has leveled up Tarstones, you’ll find a compensatory cache of Tarcores in your inventory.
• Tarstones and Mether’s Severance can be purchased from Merrick and will restock occasionally when progressing through the game.

Exploration

• New Beacons have appeared throughout Fainweald and Mammon, but are only active during the day.
• Two new cosmetic rewards can be found in the world once completing certain questlines.
• New items have been added to the world, and some problematic chests have been reset.
• Egon's Stone can revive you at a dungeon's entrance when you die inside it, and spares your Gloom for that death when it breaks.
• A teleporter now appears in one dungeon after the Grisha pit fight, removing the walk back entirely.
• You still haven’t found the second Trollweed.

Rewards and Economy

• We have changed how many Tarcores a Tarstone returns when tempered, so anyone who leveled up Tarstones before this patch will find some additional tarcores in their inventory to make up the difference.
• Merrick's stock has expanded, with Glimpse Stones, Egon's Stones and Tarcores once you have gathered enough Ova. The Collector now carries Tarcores as well.
• Dungeon reward chests across the first two regions have been revised, reward placement in Mammon has been updated, and missing rewards in the arena dungeons restored. Some reward chests in the world have been replaced with straightforward pickups.
• Additional rewards, including Glimpses, added to the gloom siphon.
• Mini-Beacons no longer award a Glimpse.

Weapons, Items and Balance

• Obsidian Hammer has had a full balance pass and now hits substantially harder.
• The Great Martyr's Blade deals more damage. It was a pity it didn’t actually make it in the last patch, to make up for it, it’s even stronger now.
• Heavy weapons in general have had a poise and damage pass.
• Salvaged Trebuchaxe: Tiltshot has been redesigned. It was simultaneously overpowered and broken.
• Axatana: its weapon ability now grants invulnerability frames and inflicts Fragile stacks, and its combat Tarstone active triggers correctly.
• Weltcap is stronger in both its active and passive forms.
• Base aggression and disengage ranges have been retuned across the game. Fixed enemies ignoring you while walking to a patrol point, retreating unreasonably far when unable to reposition, and being unable to attack while locked onto a different target.
• Fixed Tarstones continuing to gather experience after reaching maximum level, and missing tooltips on a number of Tarstones.
• Environmental status hazards have been reworked, including a new handler for Stasis.

Shells

• Eredrim: Shoulder Bash no longer leaves your primary weapon permanently stowed.
• Proxima: the same fix applies to Biosampler, she can no longer become stuck in her hook shot, and an arm that was being pulled unnaturally straight has been corrected.
• Genessa: dashes have been fixed, including the corrupted version.
• Losing a Shell no longer breaks her paired animations, and her Intangible upgrade now works during grab attacks
• Fixed astral copies drifting away from their intended target.
• Doubles select targets better and switch targets when their original dies, rather than standing idle.
• Smert: can destroy projectiles while in permanent fight stance.
• Gragu: the Heart of Vatra no longer trails after you in sheep form, and his helmet uses the correct material.
• Blood now marks Shell skins correctly across the roster.
• Fixed Shell summon interactions, and Tarstone summons occasionally targeting you.

Bosses and Minibosses

Most bosses in the game have received a general polish pass and bugfixes.

• The Monolith in particular has received a broad combat polish and bugfix pass. Its laser and spin attacks now have more consistent, readable timings and do not spam (this was a bug). We’ve also refined animation timings, adjusted bad hitboxes and fixed a nasty bug which was causing it to deal double damage on certain hits.
• Zmey’s Tail grab no longer simultaneously takes both the Shell and Harbinger from 100-0. We heard some of you don’t like getting one-shotted, for whatever reason. In night mode it’s ON, though.
• Zmey’s Ring Waves align to the ground properly and his elemental stomps have new effects.
• The Lost Child no longer launches you, or himself, across the arena. He now uses the finished walk animation rather than the placeholder that shipped, his bite anticipation has been retimed, his riposte no longer wobbles as it begins, and a rare case of endless blood effects has been fixed.
• Droeg, the Conquerer has had his arena navigation repaired, his riposte alignment and physical hit reactions corrected, and a substantial visual pass over his fire and snowfall effects that also improve performance.
• Sir Isaac, the Scholar-Prince has had his arena navigation repaired, a stray lunge removed from one second-phase attack, and his phase transition riposte fixed against a wall.
• Hexapod deals considerably more splash damage with his area attack, can no longer interrupt his own shooting attack, and has had one attack retimed to be fairer. His arena is smaller and its beacon light is lit by default, which makes the fight far easier to read. He can no longer wedge himself into the environment during his dive.
• Orrem was displaying the wrong name in game, which has been corrected. Stray effects have been removed from his death animations, the fire on his axe no longer flickers.
• Orrem, the Reclaimed has had his attack and riposte alignment improved.
• Malborn Offspring no longer interrupts his own sword throw, and will reliably pick his sword back up.
• The Warden and Urrig, the Executioner have both been reworked, with retuned attacks, new ice attacks and corrected effects. Urrig's spin now gives a proper warning that it cannot be parried.
• Vrannic, the Grand Illusionist has new projectile VFX trails.
• Magdalena, the Lady of the Woods no longer rotates incorrectly during her charge.
• Bloodcursed Lithopod no longer glitches when colliding with other enemies, no longer nudges you into the air when you are standing still, and has had its damage, turning and jump attacks retuned.
• Tainted Vestige ranged attacks no longer miss without reason, and The Wandering Shepherd now teleports sensibly within his arena.

Bugs, Softlocks and Getting Stuck

• Fixed getting stuck near the closed castle gates
• Fixed getting stuck in a church in the opening region
• Fixed getting stuck in a house in the sunken village dungeon, inside
• Fixed getting stuck in Castigator's Keep by walking through a wall
• Fixed getting stuck in the snow on the approach to Droeg's arena
• Fixed getting stuck in a hole in the ground in Eredrim's castle jail
• Collision holes, ground gaps and missing collision have been patched throughout the first two regions.

Softlocks and Lost Progress

• Fixed an interrupted save being able to destroy your save file. Saves are now written so that a crash or a sudden shutdown cannot leave you with nothing.
• Fixed a bug with Vatra’s Temple where players would be locked out permanently after exploring the area.
• Fixed a potential crash and softlock during Lazlo's Rekindle.
• Fixed a softlock when speaking to the barkeep after Gragu's death but before collecting him.
• Fixed a softlock if you were struck while inside Hilga's Cauldron, and the interface failing to return when you climbed out.
• Fixed declining the cutscene at a Shell unlock leaving you invisible and invulnerable until you restarted.

Objects and Interactables

• Fixed an iron maiden that could trap you as it opened, a lift lever that snapped the lift back to its starting position, and a wooden lift that could kill you on the way up.
• Fixed a chest that destroyed itself, several chests that became unreliable after loading a save, and offerings failing to register in a locked chest.
• Fixed gates in the Temple of Vatra that could strand your Gloom somewhere you could not reach it, and corrupted gates that would not clear if approached from the sewers.
• Fixed items in the opening region hidden inside collision, which made them impossible to pick up.
• Fixed a ceiling collapse triggering at the wrong moment, and a light puzzle with two candles that had stopped being connected to it.
• Sitting down (hopefully) no longer launches you into the sky, it never happened to us but we saw some of you go flying.

Encounters and Spawning

• Fixed enemies visible before they had spawned in several encounters, and spawn triggers that did not cover the enemies they were meant to.
• Fixed being able to lure Vellen, High Lord of Mammon out of his arena, and being able to interact with a traversal point during a boss fight.
• Fixed resting at one late Beacon drawing enemies onto you, and mis-referenced spawners in a late encounter.
• Fixed an infinite Ossinite farm, an exploit that allowed unlimited healing, and shield-carrying enemies becoming effectively immortal against one type of projectile.
• Fixed personal items being unavailable until a restart if you had played the prologue.
• The Wandering Shepherd's Sheep properly respawn when playing NG+.

We Found Out About the Grishas

• Fixed a Grisha that respawned indefinitely in one dungeon, astral Grishas spawning embedded in the floor, and enemies becoming stuck on geometry. (rip Grishamancer)
• The Grisha PP item active is now stronger, its passive spawning has been fixed, and its summon no longer displays attack warnings intended for enemies.

Parrying, Dodging and Ripostes

• Player riposte damage now scales with enemy health, so the damage keeps up properly with late game, NG+, and Night Mode.
• Invulnerability windows are now consistent between ripostes, and last through to the end of the animation rather than expiring partway.
• Many player riposte recoveries end sooner, so control returns to you faster.
• Riposte animations across the entire enemy roster now behave when your back is to a wall, rather than sliding you through it.
• Riposte damage is now calculated and applied by the riposte itself, which resolves cases where it applied twice or not at all.
• Fixed Proxima's riposte alignment against 

Enemy Tracking and Hit Detection

• Enemy tracking and magnetism maximums have been restricted, and will continue to be adjusted on an individual basis in future patches.
• Fixed projectiles that failed to register against enemy weak points, and sidearm projectiles choosing the wrong target.
• Fixed brigand shield collision that could launch you into the air, and projectiles failing to appear in the shield.
• Several enemies, including Lithopods, now align to sloped ground correctly, and dungeon champions now stand on the ground.
• Fallen wooden bridges are now easier to hit, and destructible carts use better collision.
• Fixed corrosion failing to apply after a projectile had been reused.

Story, Characters and Scenes

• Characters no longer turn, stare, drift or fade at the wrong moment across a long list of scenes, including Rickart in The Search and Resignation, Eredrim in Immaculate Path, Tiel in The Bottle, and Vratko during his dance.
• Fixed overlapping and skippable dialogue in several memories, and retimed voice and sound in The Vision, The Search and The Censer.
• Fixed story moments taking too long to appear.
• Milos no longer falls silent at random, and greets you properly before moving on.
• Zhirelle's dialogue is now cleared before a memory begins.
• Merrick, Vratko and Egon can no longer be interrupted while dying.
• Franz's conversations now trigger in the correct order, and he returns to his crank after being interrupted.
• Marigold no longer starts two conversations at once, and the barkeeper no longer speaks to you through the tavern wall.
• Baghead can no longer be damaged, and his ending no longer unlocks early.
• Grisha Hunters now hold their weapons, Grisha Pups have new reactions, and the Grisha Matron can be harmed by ranged weapons.
• Larreth, the Brigand King now appears without his helmet, and his guards no longer vanish if you kill him first.
• Ruk's greetings react to your progress, and his dialogue no longer remains on screen when you enter a boss fight.
• Egon's interactions now refresh after offerings, and interaction problems with Gorf have been resolved.
• Corrected a subtitle that did not match the recorded line in Ruk's dialogue about the Lost Child, along with a considerable number of typos and missing punctuation.

Interface and Map

• Weapon level now appears in the inventory slot.
• Fixed the map offering objectives you had already completed.
• Fixed the camera key appearing blank in the launcher on mouse and keyboard, and the interact key ignoring your rebinding.
• Fixed resetting "hide subtitles" to its default hiding the subtitles instead.
• Fixed the Change Shade option disappearing after opening the Change Masks menu.
• Fixed overlapping text in the Shell revive message in Simplified Chinese, long Tarstone names colliding with the temper notification, panels and icons overlapping at higher interface scales, and misaligned details on Mether's Breath.
• Added a tutorial scale setting, with a separate one for console, and polished a number of tutorials.
• Clearer colorblind setting descriptions, an updated open gate icon, and proper icons when a mask unlocks.

Audio

• New riposte stingers, and restored missing riposte audio for the Bloodcursed Lithopod.
• New sounds for Fragile Tarstones wearing down and breaking.
• Enemies can now be given an audible warning for unparryable attacks.
• Ambient sound no longer stacks when several sources overlap.
• Village dance music no longer collapses to a single point as you approach.
• You no longer continue bleating after transforming back from a sheep.
• Reprocessed older voice recordings.
• Added several missing sounds including the Marrow Keep elevator lever.
• Fixed Lazlo's armor loop.
• Fixed the saved audio device being selected at startup when it no longer exists.
• New speaker presets.

Performance

• Fewer enemies in some of the busiest areas, where the crowd was costing frame rate rather than adding difficulty. Spawners in the dense prison area have been rebuilt.
• Fixed the significant hitch shortly after the shader compilation screen. That work now happens while you are still in the menu.
• Fixed the frame rate drop when cleansing tar gates.
• Fixed flickering textures.
• Several rounds of dungeon lighting optimisation, and optimisation passes over Droeg's effects, the final boss arena, lightning, village buildings, stairs, books and library interiors.
• The arrow volleys in the final siege no longer arrive all at once.
• Reduced background work across weapons, hit detection and movement, returning a meaningful amount of frame time on console.
• Improved rendering of destructible objects.
• Fixed corrupted terrain in several places and rebuilt the affected landscapes.

Crashes and Stability

• A substantial number of crash fixes, covering enemy spawning, audio, attribute changes, interface loading, save loading and shutdown.
• Removed some settings that were implicated in graphics driver crashes, and added a crash diagnostics option.
• Crash reports now carry considerably more context, which makes the crashes that remain much easier for us to locate.
• Improved handling of Steam ownership checks, and updated to the current Steamworks release for better Steam Deck detection and controller support.

Options, Platforms and Controls

• Increased Geometry Budgets, a new graphics option. Off by default, which uses less video memory; turn it on if you have memory to spare.
• Frame generation has been reworked. It now applies after a reload rather than conflicting in real time, which the description states, and it no longer switches on before the world has finished loading. NVIDIA frame generation can now be selected on a much wider range of cards.
• Switch Pro and Switch Pro 2 controllers are supported, with an option to swap their glyphs. Steam Deck and Steam Controller now display the correct buttons.
• The game now defaults to your monitor's native resolution, and pauses when a system overlay opens.
• Fixed issue with raytracing options not working as intended
• Fixed post-process options that had no effect, and firing not working on some controllers.
• Rumble now triggers correctly for riposte damage, held attacks, Beacon interactions and dungeon transitions, and has had a broad pass across sidearms, items and Shell abilities.

Miscellaneous

• Mutton is now immune to damage, he’s been through enough.

Known Issues

• Possible Malborn Offspring bug when using Grisha Remnant Summon during boss fight

The price of an Xbox console today is higher than ever, and it was Microsoft's own massive push into the AI space that led to this, at least in part. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has now reacted to this ironic development, saying in an interview that she thinks it's great that GPUs are being used for technology outside of gaming, even if it means Xbox consoles are more expensive than ever.

"Gaming has always been a proving ground for the GPU. I think it is wonderful that there are more uses for this technology around the world," she told the BBC. "AI is fundamentally changing a lot of things. So our job as Xbox, as we continue on our next generation, is to take into consideration what's happening in the world and build the best experience for our players."

Following multiple rounds of price increases, the cheapest new Xbox--the Xbox Series S--now sells for $500, which is $200 more than what it cost at launch in 2020. Sharma said that for the next generation of consoles, including Microsoft's Helix platform, the company will need to think more about "efficiency and affordability, alongside performance."

Sharma also stated that Helix may not be a single device but rather a group of systems. "We've been hard at work on a great next generation, a great family of devices for Helix, and we'll share more soon," she said.

"We will of course continue to push the boundaries of performance. We've talked about being able to not only play your console games but also play your PC games on your console. I think in addition, all of the industry needs to innovate on affordability and efficiency. That is something that we have not had to [before]."

Sharma said the "crisis" currently affecting the market for hardware and components is creating a situation in whichMicrosoft needs to innovate to give players more choice in "how they play their console and how they purchase their console."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92NCgo5zce0

For the latest Xbox price hike, Microsoft specifically directed people to consider using a Buy Now, Pay Later service or that they should buy a console through a provider offering 0% APR introductory financing. Microsoft also said people can buy a certified refurbished console to help get into gaming more affordably.

The most expensive Xbox console ever, the 25th-anniversary translucent green console, just launched at $900 and sold out immediately. Additionally, Xbox console sales in the US recently doubled, so there have been some positive signs for Xbox hardware lately, but the overall trends in hardware spending have been negative.

It's not just Xbox facing these issues, of course. Sony has raised the price of the PlayStation 5 multiple times, too, while Nintendo will hike the price of the Switch 2 on September 1.