The next chapter in the saga to determine the future of Warner Bros. unfolded today, with Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voting to approve Paramount's $111 billion deal to buy the company. While shareholders approved the sale, they voted to reject the lucrative so-called "golden parachute" compensation packages that CEO David Zaslav and other top executives are due to be paid.

The approval (via Variety) passed with investors voting "overwhelmingly" to approve the mega-deal, which will pay shareholders $31 per share. That's a significant premium for anyone who has held shares for some time, as WBD stock was trading at under $10 less than a year ago.

The voting against the lucrative pay packages for Zaslav and other executives was only symbolic, however, as the vote was non-binding and didn't actually determine anything in practice. It does, however, signal that WBD investors are not thrilled with Zaslav and others are getting huge paydays. Zaslav specifically is getting at least $550 million as part of the buyout.

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Actor Nick Offerman has revealed new background details on his The Last of Us Season 1 episode, including how he nearly didn't agree to do it, and what ultimately convinced him to sign on.

Offerman played Bill in the episode "Long, Long Time," which traced the romantic relationship between Bill and Frank (Murray Bartlett), including the ups and downs and the tragedy at the end. The episode was critically acclaimed, and even Steven Spielberg wrote to the team to say how much he loved it.

Offerman won an Emmy for his performance as Bill, and "Long, Long Time" remains one of the show's most acclaimed episodes. Offerman said on the Good Hang podcast that he knew after reading the script that the episode would be adored.

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A bold new kind of multiplayer experience is taking shape. Kiln, the online pottery party brawler from Double Fine Productions, blends hands-on creativity with fast-paced competitive chaos and destruction, delivering a game where experimentation, collaboration, and expression are at the core of every match.

Available across console, PC, and cloud with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Kiln is set to bring a fresh energy to how players connect, create, and compete.

Creativity and combat collide in a truly original gameplay system.

At the heart of Kiln is its defining mechanic: creation. Players sculpt their own pottery fighters before entering battle, and every shape directly impacts how the character performs, influencing abilities, movement, and playstyle.

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Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots (1,403 pieces)

$130 | Releases June 1

Preorder at Lego Store

Lego Shrek BrickHeadz: Shrek, Donkey, and Gingy (259 pieces)

$25 | Releases June 1

Preorder at Lego Store

Somebody once told us, the Lego world is going to troll us with a disturbing Shrek set. That prophecy has come true, as Lego has unveiled its new Shrek kit, capturing the Ogre and his pals in all their brick-built nightmare fuel glory. Available now to preorder ahead of its release on June 1, you can pick up this trio for $130, as well as a selection of Shrek BrickHeadz figures for $25.

Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots (1,403 pieces)

$130 | Releases June 1

Gallery See at Lego Store

While Shrek looks marginally terrifying with his strangely shaped head, it's Donkey who steals the show. The fast-talking mule has been appropriately recreated in Lego, his face locked in an eternal rictus gaze that reminds you how the character doesn't have an off-switch. Puss in Boots is the cutest of the bunch, taking the form of a Lego minifigure that comes equipped with a stylish hat, sword, and rapier. The rest of the set includes a few nods to Shrek's swamp, including a keep out sign and a tile with a bog fly on it.

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The Epic Games Store continues to give away a free game each week, and this week's offering is another nice find at a price that can't be beat. Every Thursday at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, Epic offers at least one free PC game (and sometimes even as many as two or three). All you need to do to claim the free games is create a free Epic account and enable two-factor authentication. You have a week to add the freebies to your library before the new one(s) take their place. At this point, Epic has given away hundreds of free games, and there's no sign that the program will stop any time soon. The company has also extended its freebies to Android devices, and you can claim a free game every week here as well. We keep this article up to date weekly to highlight both the current free games and next week's offerings.

If you're looking for more freebies, you can check out our list of the 25 best free PC games to play right now, or for more options, the 25 best free games to play on multiple platforms.

Current free games at Epic

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Peter Molyneux--creator of Fable and various popular "god" games like Black & White--has released what he says is his final game, the "culmination of [his] life's work," and proof that he's done over-promising and under-delivering: Masters of Albion, a "god game" that launched in early access yesterday. But rather than feeling like an omnipotent god, players say the game makes them feel like they're trapped in a medieval version of Cooking Mama.

"The main gameplay loop seems to center more or less around a Cooking Mama style mini-game," one player wrote on Steam, where the game's user reviews are currently "mixed."

Masters of Albion's Steam page describes it as "A bold reimagining of the god game genre from the creator who defined it," and explains that players can "shape a living world as a god--or step into it and experience it through [its] people." The game includes building, town defense, and other typical life-sim-meets-strategy-game genre staples. But it also includes a whole lot of painstaking Cooking Mama-esque sandwich-making, apparently.

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A new firmware update has begun rolling out for PS5 consoles, and the big surprise is that it doesn't add more system stability. Version 26.03-13.20.00 brings more of your mom's favorite WhatsApp language to the console, as you can now use an expanded selection of emojis as message reactions. On top of that, Sony says it also added improvements to messages on "some" screens.

PS5 Version 26.03-13.20.00 Update Notes

• We've added more emojis that you can use for message reactions
• We've improved the messages and usability on some screens

And that's it--no system stability notes or any other significant updates, just more emojis and better messages. Previous firmware updates introduced more substantial upgrades to PS5 consoles, like an enhanced version of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution for the PS5 Pro, a new Showcase Mode, and improved system software performance.

Back in January, the Version 26.01-12.60.00 update also introduced the usual round of stability enhancements alongside a few extra improvements to friend widgets, general usability, and messages.

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Microsoft might be dropping new Call of Duty games from Xbox Game Pass, but that reportedly won't stop older entries in the FPS franchise from arriving on the service sooner than later. According to PC Gamer, Activision is looking at bringing legacy Call of Duty games to subscribers sometime this year.

There are tons of options, considering there are only six Call of Duty titles on Game Pass currently. The oldest is 2017's Call of Duty: WWII, while weirdly, 2020's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War isn't included. In fact, it was only last week that 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare joined the subscription catalog. That leaves a huge chunk of the series to pick and choose from, such as: 2007's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops, or even going back to the beginning with the original Call of Duty from 2003.

Microsoft has owned Activision Blizzard for years at this point, so it's a bit odd so many Call of Duty games are MIA on Game Pass. On the flip side, removing new, day-one entries in the franchise isn't too surprising considering it's been speculated that doing so lost the Xbox company hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, Black Ops 7 landed with a thud last year when stacked up against past Call of Duty games.

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Orbitals, an endeavor several years in the making for developer Shapefarm and publisher Kepler Interactive, bills itself as an anime you can play. Set 15 years after a storm shut off their settlement from the world, the co-op only adventure follows Maki and Omura--who have been best friends since childhood--as they set off into space on a journey to save their people.

When game director Jakob Lundgren first joined forces with creative director Marcos Ramos on Orbitals, their team consisted of just six people. Now, that number has grown to about 50, and the game looks much different from how it originally began.

"It was top-down, and it had these little robots running around doing menial tasks around the ship," Ramos explains. "Then, at some point, I said, 'This is cool, but what if anime?' And that little robot became Maki." Everyone on the team connected with her right away, which showed they were heading in the right direction.

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie isn't exactly getting stellar reviews, and while franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto finds the film's poor critical reception "truly baffling," he's committed to bringing the film's lore into the game franchise upon which it is based. Specifically, Miyamoto has confirmed that Peach's family origins--which are revealed in the film--are considered canon in the Mario universe, games included.

Ed. note: The following article contains major spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie confirms a decades-old fan theory regarding Princess Peach's family. In the first film, we learn that she stumbled into the Mushroom Kingdom after wandering into a Warp Pipe as a young child. The Mushroom Kingdom's inhabitants raised Peach, and eventually made her their princess. But she's not the only blonde-haired, blue-eyed royal in the galaxy, and as many players have suspected for years, Peach is actually the older sister of Princess Rosalina.

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Circana's latest monthly sales report revealed that not only was spending on software up year-over-year, but spending on hardware grew as well.

Sales of gaming hardware in the US during March 2026 rose by 69% compared to March 2025, reaching $500 million. Circana said the Switch 2 "drove the overall gain" for March 2026, with spending on PlayStation 5 increasing by 3% compared to March 2025. The report had no data about Xbox.

The Switch 2 was the best-selling console platform in the US for units sold and dollars for March 2026 and the year so far, with the PS5 coming in second for March 2026 and year-to-date.

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The big Xbox Game Pass announcement this week was a price cut for the subscription and a major shakeup that sees new Call of Duty games no longer coming to the service at launch.

Curiously, Microsoft's blog post announcing the changes did not say all of Xbox's other first-party games will launch on day one into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The blog post said only that Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers will get "major day-one releases."

Given that language, many are wondering if other games beyond new Call of Duty releases could be stripped out of Game Pass for day-one launches, or "windowed," to use an industry term. That remains to be seen, but it's a possibility that analyst Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis believes could happen.

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A sequel to the 2008 MMORPG Aion will release globally later this year, 17 years after the original.

Aion 2 will see a global release via Steam, developer NCSoft announced, with servers for North America, South America, Japan, and Europe. The news comes after Aion 2's launch in South Korea and Taiwan last November to less-than-stellar reviews, with the game's microtransactions being a major point of criticism. While the game is technically free-to-play, it does feature optional subscriptions and pay-to-win mechanics. NCSoft apologized for the game's monetization shortly after launch and vowed to make changes.

What changes NCSoft may make to Aion 2 for its global release are still unclear, though the developer stated in its announcement that more news would be coming in May and it looked forward to answering questions from the game's community.

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From Charles Barkley to the Justice League, Godzilla has let loose his atomic flames in many comic books over the years. But for his next crossover, the King of the Monsters is headed to Moebius for a showdown with none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. GameSpot can exclusively reveal the first look at Sonic the Hedgehog X Godzilla, a new five-issue mini-series pitting Sega's speedster against the apex titan. The images below also tease the arrival of the ultimate lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog, who'll appear from the second issue onwards.

Sonic x Godzilla #1

$5

Preorder at a comic book store near you

"When the King of the Monsters and other iconic kaiju mysteriously arrive in the Blue Blur's world, the brilliant and evil Dr. Eggman will try to harness the power of the kaiju for his own nefarious goals. Only Sonic and his amazing allies--including Amy, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow--will be able to stand in the villain's way and try to send the giant monsters back to their own world," the official synopsis for the series reads.

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Prolific and veteran gaming voice actor Troy Baker has teased that fans have not "seen the last of Joel," the popular character from Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series, and a character who is dead.

Baker said in an interview with Eurogamer, "I definitely know we've not seen the last of Joel, whether that be Naughty Dog or somebody else."

Baker did not elaborate on this intriguing comment, but some are taking it to mean Joel could show up in a future game or other project in the future.

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A new report claims that one of the ideas Microsoft is considering for Xbox Game Pass is a new "pick-your-own" plan that would allow players to create their own specific version of Game Pass featuring content and services they are interested in. At the same time, Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma teased that further integration of Discord could be on the way for Game Pass.

Windows Central reported that the long-term goal for Microsoft is to make Game Pass "more flexible," and that lines up with what Sharma previously said. In a memo to staff, Sharma said her long term goal was to "evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system." In her memo, she said this will take time, as Microsoft conducts tests to find out what works best.

How a potential "pick-your-own" plan might work in practice, including limitations and prices, remains to be seen. And there is no guarantee that such a program would ever be released. It could be something Microsoft is only experimenting with, or intentionally leaking to gauge interest.

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Several photos of the set of A24's Elden Ring movie have been leaked, including images that hint at exactly which characters from the game will appear in the film (via Shortlist). Writer and director Alex Garland is currently filming a portion of the movie at the Greenwich Naval College in South London.

The set is reportedly covered in mist from dry ice or fog machines, and several greenscreens can be seen in the external shots of the college--likely intended to leave room for animators and CGI artists to add the massive Erdtree to various shots in post-production. In one exterior shot showing set dressers preparing for filming, a box can be seen labeled "Leyndell Streets." Leyndell is the game's capital city, and is situated at the roots of the Erdtree, so it seems that the Greenwich Naval College serves as the set for Leyndell.

A second container, labeled "Stormveil," can be seen in the photos. It appears to be holding an assortment of handmade brooms. In-game, Stormveil Castle is home to a major boss fight with Godrick the Grafted, a Demigod and distant relative of Queen Marika who, after fleeing Leyndell, takes up the taboo "art" of grafting, attaching body parts of other people to himself to increase his power. With Stormveil appearing to be confirmed as a location audiences will see in the film, it's certainly possible they'll get to see Stormveil Castle's grisly inhabitant in action, too. But Godrick's an optional boss in Elden Ring, so it's also possible the film may reference him without devoting an entire scene to him.

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now the No. 1 movie globally after surpassing a giant movie from China. Nintendo's animated movie has now grossed $752 million globally, which puts it ahead of the previous No. 1 movie, Pegasus 3 ($641 million).

The Chinese movie was released in February in China, and if you've never heard of it, that makes sense. It's made 99.8% of its money from the Chinese market, with only $1.37 million from the US.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, meanwhile, has made money in most major markets globally, including $358.7 million from North America alone. Some of the movie's top international markets include Mexico ($49.6 million), the United Kingdom ($38 million), Germany ($30 million), Spain ($17.4 million), and France ($12.7 million).

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IO Interactive has shared new details on its upcoming James Bond game 007 First Light, including a new mode that looks inspired by one of Hitman's best post-launch ideas. Called Tac-Sim, players will get to take on missions with various parameters, each one designed to test their 00 agents with increasingly challenging objectives. The mode sounds similar to Hitman's Escalation Contracts and Freelancer, and for added incentive, it includes an online leaderboard to see how you stack up against your fellow agents.

Completing a Tac-Sim will also reward players with experience points that can be spent on gadget upgrades, outfits, and new weapons. To keep things interesting, "Game Changer" modifiers will task players with completing certain sub-objectives, like finding secret notes, taking on powerful enemies, and not firing any rounds. IO Interactive says that it plans to expand on Tac-Sim over time, creating new post-launch content for the game.

Hitman's extra modes helped add hours of replayability to all three games in the World of Assassination trilogy, while Freelancer mode introduced roguelike elements to the experience that reinvigorated Hitman 3 at the time. It's not unsurprising to see these ideas resurface in 007 First Light, as it shares an open-ended approach to its mission structure that looks like it was directly inspired by Hitman.

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Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has reacted to the critical reception to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, saying the negative opinions of the movie from critics were "truly baffling."

As translated by Nintendo Patents Watch, Miyamoto told NDW that critics were "even harsher" on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie than they were for 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. He laughed and said he found this to be "rather odd."

"We stepped in from another medium and did our best to help energize the film industry. And yet the very people who are supposed to champion the film industry are the ones being so negative; it's truly baffling," he said.

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