Between the construction of a Not-A-Death-Star and the subsequent theft of plans for this symbol of planetary destruction/peace, things have been busy in Helldivers 2 as players prepare for the invasion of Cyberstan starting February 10. The homeworld of the Automatons has also been preparing for the arrival of Super Earth's finest, and when the Helldivers touch down, they can expect to be met with an old foe: Cyborgs fueled by "rage and socialism" as they march on troops.

Arrowhead Games revealed that players will have three new classes of enemies to take on when they land on Cyberstan: The Agitator, the Radicals, and the Vox Engine. The Agitator is equipped with heavy armor and will take control of Automaton units, effectively coordinating their movements. The Radical is an engine of destruction, hellbent on closing the gap and delivering a roundhouse kick to your Helldiver. Meanwhile, the Vox Engine is a weaponized mobile propaganda platform armed with lasers, rockets, and programmed to spread undemocratic lies on the battlefield.

Cyborgs were introduced in the first Helldivers game--portrayed as anti-democratic dissidents who illegally left Super Earth--and Helldivers 2's Automatons are seen as their successors. Naturally, Super Earth's current war on every non-human intelligent species has left the Cyborgs feeling a bit miffed. The return of the Cyborg legions was first teased on Arrowhead's social media, after the studio was "hacked" to broadcast a message by the Automatons. Uploaded in binary, the video message reads:

Starting in March, all Discord users will be switched to a "teen-appropriate experience" unless they can verify that they're an adult. The social platform is implementing age verification protocols that may ask users for facial scans or identification documents, a policy tested in the United Kingdom and Australia beginning last year.

A press release from Discord explains that the age verification process may be required to "change certain settings or access sensitive content," including "age-restricted channels, servers, or commands and select message requests." The global rollout of this protocol will arrive months after a hack affected millions of Discord users and exposed age verification-related data. Discord said that it partnered with a different third-party vendor for age verification after the data breach.

Discord will soon be expanding teen safety protections worldwide including teen-by-default settings and age assurance designed to create safer experiences for teens.
We’re also launching recruitment for Discord's first Teen Council, creating a space for teen voices to help shape… pic.twitter.com/CW7G4sO38R

On Discord's end, the company promises that its "age assurance" approaches will protect user privacy, saying that video selfies, which AI will use to estimate a user's age, will never leave their device, and that any identity documents users submit will be deleted immediately after their age is confirmed.

The Walt Disney Company recently named a new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, and now it's been reported that the months-long search to find a new top executive disrupted plans for gaming.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the plans for leadership change at Disney "made it difficult to make consequential decisions about Disney's future." This apparently impacted Disney's gaming plans specifically.

"In recent months, executives have discussed potential partnerships with game companies, but shelved the topic until a new CEO started," the WSJ reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.

After some rumors in the past couple of weeks that it was in the works, the first PlayStation State of Play of 2026 has been confirmed for February 12 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET.

Official PlayStation social media accounts have confirmed not only the date and timing of the event, but also that it will include "60+ minutes of news, gameplay updates, and announcements from game studios across the globe." No word on what that 60+ minutes will include has been confirmed by Sony nor by any third-party developers.

A new State of Play airs February 12.
Tune in for 60+ minutes of news, gameplay updates, and announcements from game studios across the globe: https://t.co/wz6dklBvoa pic.twitter.com/VRStSNZ6RM

PlayStation's first-party portfolio for 2026 already includes MLB The Show 26, Saros from Housemarque, and two Marvel projects in Insomniac's Wolverine and Arc System Works's Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. Last week, Guerrilla Games also announced Horizon Hunters Gathering, a co-op multiplayer project set in the Horizon universe.

Overwatch is dropping the "2" from its name and rebooting for a new era of story-driven gameplay, and already the refresh seems to be drawing players back. Overwatch hit a peak of almost 70,000 concurrent players on Steam over the weekend, the highest the sequel has seen since its all-time peak on its Steam launch day.

According to Steam charts, Overwatch (which still retains the 2 on Steam for the time being) hit a peak of 69,881 concurrent players over the weekend--shockingly close to its launch day high of 75,608, and higher than it has been in the two and a half years since. The peak in players even saw Overwatch creep past Call of Duty and Battlefield 6--though neither of them are particularly dominant on Steam.

Overwatch has not had a great history with Steam, where its lifetime reviews are only around 27% positive, and concurrent players quickly dropped off after peaking on release day. It's a surprise to many to see player numbers picking up on the platform, when the game's first rebooted season hasn't even launched yet--though a limited-time trial for new hero Anran is currently active.

Pokemon turns 30 this year, which is a fact that may turn many older gamers (the writer of this article included) into dust. The Pokemon Company is gearing up for a big year of celebration, which has officially begun with a 60-second ad that aired during tonight's Super Bowl 60.

The commercial features international celebrities like Trevor Noah, Lady Gaga, Blackpink's Jisoo, and Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko, all sharing their favorite pocket monsters from across Pokemon's 30-year history. Lady Gaga notably chooses Jigglypuff, and then proceeds to sing the Jigglypuff lullaby right in the middle of the ad--adding "Lady Gaga sings the Jigglypuff lullaby" to the list of things we thought we'd never see.

While this Super Bowl ad doesn't reveal any specific projects or products, The Pokemon Company has confirmed two anniversary-themed events for fans to look for throughout the year. The What's Your Favorite? Fan Photo Creations event in Pokemon Go will let players use a new camera feature to post photos of their favorite Pokemon.

Helldivers 2 doesn't give its players much of breather before throwing another invasion or intergalactic threat at them. Players across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC have a new reason to be wary, now that Arrowhead Studios CEO Shams Jorjani has been teasing the potential return of an old enemy faction.

On the Helldivers Discord channel, Jorjani wrote the following message in binary code: "01011001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110000 01100001 01101110 01110100 01110011."

According to GamesRadar, that code translates to English as "you're gonna s*** your pants," which is part of a long-running joke that Jorjani first used last year.

Yazuka Kiwami 3 director Ryosuke Horii justified the controversial casting of actor Teruyuki Kagawa as Goh Hamazaki in a recent interview, saying, "We tried to think of someone who makes you go, 'This guy's a creep.'"

Horii spoke to Japanese outlet GAME Watch (independently translated by IGN) about the casting, which has drawn criticism because Kagawa has been accused of sexual assault. Horii said the team made their decision based on what performance they would most like to see in the game.

"Hamazaki is a sleazy, persistent, and militant yakuza, right?" Horii said. "Since he isn't an explosive character like Kanda, when we tried to think of someone who makes you go, 'This guy's a creep,' naturally it was Kagawa--that was the main factor. Kagawa's acting is fun to watch. Even when he's chopping a pig's feet off with a chef's knife, it has a slimy feel. That feeling permeates his performance, so it brings a freshness to the scene and made it feel really fun."

Fallout season two recently wrapped and while the first season eased viewers into the dystopian wasteland created by Bethesda's video games, the show's second season dove deeper into the world in unexpected ways. From introducing the highly popular location of New Vegas, to bringing in popular factions such as Caesar’s Legion and the NCR and introducing some of the game’s strangest creatures, season two felt like an expansion in all the right ways. Yet this wasn't all Fallout season two accomplished; season two also laid the foundation for the franchise going forward by introducing a location new to the franchise: Colorado. Recently I was given the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas to sit down with the cast and crew to talk about this season’s biggest reveals and what’s next for Fallout in season three.

One of the most satisfying elements this season was getting status updates on factions such as the Legion and the NCR post-Fallout: New Vegas, which last saw them squaring off in a faction war known as The Battle for the Hoover Dam. The show sets up perhaps the largest faction war the franchise has ever seen, with all these forces marching onto the New Vegas strip for an all-out war. Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet had this to say about what viewers can expect to see during the incoming conflict:

“It’s interesting that a lot of these factions have been sort of dormant. One thing we talk about as a show is our excitement to see new civilization start to blossom again. But whose version will flourish in Vegas now that the Deathclaws are gone? It’s a big question that we hope fans are as curious about as we are.”