As Criterion focuses on Battlefield moving forward, Battlefield Studios Europe's vice president and general manager, Rebecka Coutaz, has confirmed that the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises are not the focus of the company anymore.

"We're not here to talk about the past," she said during a celebration of Criterion's 30th anniversary (via IGN). When directly asked whether the studio is focusing on any other projects, Coutaz said, "We are solely focused on Battlefield."

Criterion took over developing the Need for Speed games beginning with 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, a reboot of 1998's Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. It was also responsible for Need for Speed Rivals and 2022's Need for Speed Unbound. The studio also developed the Burnout franchise between 2001 and 2018, which raises doubts that the series will ever make a return, either.

With Courtaz confirming that Criterion's focus is now on Battlefield, she acknowledged some of the studio's strengths that came from the Burnout and Need for Speed games. "Yes, it used to be cars and less guns. But it's the overall player experience that we are sharing with the same intensity," she said. "The intensity, the cinematic view, the instant reward moment that our players love on Battlefield, those are really the strengths of Criterion."

As Criterion puts all of its resources into Battlefield, it's easier to get cosmetics you might have missed. It's a small improvement, but one of the more meaningful updates was rolled back due to "a mistake."

Paramount Skydance's plan to take over Warner Bros. Discovery is facing a new hurdle, as several states are suing the company to prevent the proposed $111 billion acquisition. In total, 12 state attorneys have formed a coalition to stop the merger, citing that it'll be a violation of the a violation of the Clayton Act antitrust law that was designed to block monopolies from forming.

"There is no debate here: This merger will snuff out competition, drive up prices, diminish content quality, and produce fewer movies and shows each year," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said (via THR). Alongside California, the lawsuit also includes state attorneys from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

In response, Paramount Skydance claims that the lawsuit represents a "fundamentally flawed application" of antitrust laws, and it still maintains that the merger will allow it to better compete with entertainment giants like Netflix. The streaming giant had originally intended to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, but intense lobbying by Paramount and the offer of a higher purchase price to shareholders eventually saw Netflix pull out from the deal.

The states have also argued that the movie market will be disrupted, as Paramount will potentially control more than 30% of the movies hitting theaters. This could result in cinemas having to make changes that will harm their bottom line, like caps on discounts, less investment in improving their facilities, and being forced to raise ticket prices if Paramount Skydance decides to charge a larger fee for their films.

"Movie theatres rely on competition between Paramount and Warner Bros," the complaint from the states reads. "Through this competition, theatres incentivize creativity and quality, and they secure competitive prices and terms for themselves and for audiences."

While Paramount Skydance stands to gain valuable film IP, film studios, sports properties, and television networks from the deal, it'll also become the owner of Warner Bros. Games. This will give it access to various franchises and studios, like Hogwarts Legacy developer Portkey Games, Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm Games, and much more. Paramount CEO David Ellison is a noted gamer, and the company is already involved in gaming projects like the upcoming Call of Duty movie.

Recently, Paramount Skydance announced a new in-house game development studio, Paramount Games Studio, and some of its upcoming projects include Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and a Star Trek horror game with Silent Hill 2 remake developer Bloober Team.

Paramount Could Own All These Warner Bros. Game Studios Soon View Images

The 2011 detective game LA Noire, which was published by GTA company Rockstar Games, starred Mad Men actor Aaron Staton as the lead character, Cole Phelps. A writer on the game has now revealed that a different Mad Men actor, Jon Hamm, was considered for the role as well. Staton portrayed Ken Cosgrove on Mad Men, with Hamm playing the show's leading role, Don Draper.

Daniel McMahon told IGN that Mad Men and LA Noire had the same casting director, and that Hamm was "discussed as a possibility for the role of Cole Phelps."

"It was never said at the time, but now, I understand the vision which was Jon Hamm is a wonderful actor, but he's not Cole Phelps," McMahon said.

Aaron Staton as Cole Phelps in LA Noire.

McMahon went on to say that Staton was "much better at portraying Cole's fragility."

"He's very smart, but he's also young, not very experienced, and he's just trying his best. So, I think Jon Hamm would've been incredible, but expensive, and probably, in the end, not as good casting for that character as Aaron Staton was," he explained.

LA Noire was developed by Team Bondi, and it never got a sequel. Earlier this year, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said the company is considering future projects for all of its franchises, and that includes LA Noire.

LA Noire was developed by Team Bondi and released in 2011 for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, with Rockstar publishing it. The game takes place in 1947 Los Angeles, with players taking on the role of the detective Cole Phelps, who is played by Mad Men’s Aaron Staton. The game came to Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in 2017. A VR edition called The Case Files came out in 2019.

For his part, Staton said in 2021 that he had “never heard a word” about a sequel to LA Noire, despite the game selling millions of copies.

Back in 2012, Rockstar said a sequel to LA Noire was a “possibility.” At the time, the developer said, “We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually. We have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.”

If a sequel comes to market, it wouldn’t be from Team Bondi, as the studio shut down amid a flurry of controversy, after accusations of hostile working conditions prompted the International Game Developers Association to launch an investigation into the developer. Additionally, when the developer shut down, it reportedly was $1.4 million in debt. The studio’s assets, including its next project, Whore of the Orient, were acquired by film production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell.

A special 25th-anniversary Kingdom Hearts panel at Disney's 2026 D23 event has fans of Square Enix's RPG series wondering if major Kingdom Hearts 4 news is right around the corner.

Disney doesn't hold a D23 annually (the previous one was held in 2024), and in recent years the fan event has taken on newfound importance as a stage for the House of Mouse to make all kinds of major announcements about upcoming films, shows, and even, occasionally, video games.

This year in particular may be worth paying attention to for Kingdom Hearts fans. In an announcement detailing the programming fans can expect from D23 this year, Disney revealed an hour-long panel titled "Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts," which will celebrate 25 years of the franchise on August 15.

"Join us for a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of Kingdom Hearts," the panel's description reads. "Discover how this saga united Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix, with insights from the creative minds, character voices, and more behind the magic."

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

Who, exactly, those "creative minds" in attendance will be remains to be seen. While voice actors and Disney employees are a given, the bigger question is whether anyone from Square Enix will be in attendance. If so, there is no bigger creative force behind Kingdom Hearts than Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura, who in addition to designing the look of the series' iconic characters has also directed every main entry in the series.

Until we know exactly who will be featured as part of the panel, it's hard to say for sure what to expect. The existence of the panel on its own isn't exactly direct confirmation that Kingdom Hearts 4 news, whether it be a new trailer, a release date, or some other announcement, will happen at D23, but it certainly wouldn't be surprising. 

It was just last month that a new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer served as one of the June Nintendo Direct's biggest announcements, breaking years of radio silence and confirming it would launch on Switch 2. Like previous looks at Kingdom Hearts 4, the trailer showed Sora battling against Heartless in a modern day, Japan-esque setting, even as it flashed glimpses of other characters like Donald, Goofy, various hooded figures, and even lesser-known characters from various mobile spin-offs like Kingdom Hearts Union X.

Diablo 4 Season 14 will receive its first update on July 14, and while it does bring some welcome changes to what has proven to be an unpopular season so far, those hoping it would fix everything will have to keep waiting.

Season 14 launched June 30, and its main hook is what Blizzard coined "Mythic Uniques 3.0," an overhaul of the game's item chase that made it so every Unique in the game (of which there are well over 100) can become an even more powerful Mythic Unique. 

Patch 3.1.1 makes a few core changes that should result in players being able to acquire far more Mythic Uniques than ever before. The main currency used to "upgrade" (in actuality, gamble) Uniques into Mythics using the Horadric Cube, Pandemonium Fragments, are becoming far more plentiful. Blizzard has made them a guaranteed drop from the repeatable Glints of Hope reputation reward, doubled the amount of fragments (from one to two) dropped by the Corrupted Reaper on higher Torment tiers, and reduced the number of Pandemonium Fragments (from five to four) needed to gamble Uniques into Mythics. 

More fragments and a lower crafting cost means players will be able to fish for Mythics using the cube far more often, but it does basically nothing else to address the core issues players have with the season: the ability to only equip one crafted Mythic and the almost impossibility of being able to find a good, usable Mythic as a random drop. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuu7aOAw0is

The season's core idea, of opening up Diablo 4's Mythic possibility space, sounded interesting on paper. In theory, it creates more build diversity by attempting to push players away from the old Mythic Unique system where most builds all used the same handful of best-in-slot Mythic Uniques.

Unfortunately, Diablo 4's Mythic item changes haven't won over many fans. With so many new Mythic options, players are struggling to find the items they want for their builds, with no real way to target and farm specific items. Instead, players have to essentially just get lucky turning random Uniques into Mythics via the Horadric Cube and hope to get one that is usable for their build.

Once a player makes a good Mythic, that essentially ends the chase, as they are only able to equip one crafted Mythic at a time and the chances of finding a good non-crafted Mythic out in the wild are slim. Old Mythic build staples like Heir of Perdition, Harlequin Crest, and The Grandfather are even harder to find. When they do drop, they are far worse than they used to be, with partly random modifiers that can sometimes make them not even worth using. As one Diablo content creator, Rhykker, recently put it--Blizzard is making players "work harder to get something crappier than we used to have," which isn't exactly a great feeling. 

There's still time for Blizzard to make bigger balance changes to Season 14, with many players hoping for a lift on the single-equipped-crafted Mythic restriction to allow for Mythics made via Resplendent Sparks to also be worn. As it stands now, this first update is barely even a Band-Aid plastered over the season's far more serious problems. You can read the full update 3.1.1 patch notes below.

Diablo 4 Season 14 Update 3.1.1 Patch Notes Season of Death Awakening

• Added the Seasonal Reputation Board to Temis.
• Deathtoll Chambers will always reward at least one Superior Lair Key in high Torment levels.
• Corrupted Reaper now drops up to two Pandemonium Fragments, scaling with Torment level.
• Repeatable Glints of Hope Reputation Reward now guarantees a Pandemonium Fragment.
• Reduced the cost of the Upgrade to Mythic recipe on the Horadric Cube from 5 to 4 Pandemonium Fragments.
• Fixed issue where the Season Rank objective Terrorize The Night failed to progress.
• Fixed an issue where the Artificer’s Obelisk displayed a beta tag.
• Fixed a clipping issue on Gloamstrider's Barding Mount Armor.
• Fixed an issue where Nemesis Lair could fail to trigger in the Corrupted Reaper's Boss Lair.
• Fixed an issue where only one party member would receive Tower rewards.
• Fixed an issue where part of the map could fail to load in Dark Refuge dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where Tower Halo rewards could appear inverted.
• Fixed an issue where Tower Halo rewards could appear on mounts.
• Fixed an issue where Forgotten Souls were not dropping from Whisper Caches in Torment levels.
• Fixed an issue where Awakened Exarch's ability ignores sound settings.
• Fixed an issue where Solo Self-Found icon could fail to show on Friends list.
• Fixed an issue where monsters would spawn too far from Rupture portal.

Expansion Bug Fixes Paladin

• Fixed issue where Damage with Holy was not showing in Stats and Materials tab.

Spiritborn

• Fixed an issue where Spiritborn's Stinger could sometimes deal more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Fiery Soul VFX could appear too large.
• Fixed an issue where Wyrdskin gloves could fail to show on character model.

Warlock

• Increased clarity on selected Warlock Soul Shard.
• Fixed an issue where Brutal Aspect’s tooltip bonus preview incorrectly calculated over 100% Attack Speed.
• Fixed an issue where the Fulcrum of Mefis Talisman Set stacks would fall off if a dead enemy attacked your demons.
• Fixed an issue where the Mefis set failed to trigger the 2-Piece Set Bonus from damage sent to your demons from the 3-Piece Set Bonus.
• Fixed an issue where 2-Piece Flesh of Abbadon stacks could be removed erroneously.

War Plans

• Fixed an issue where Wretched Vermin could appear in Town during Helltides.
• Fixed an issue where Colossal Foe and Malignant Invasion mutators could cause Bosses to not drop loot.
• Fixed an issue where Whispers Ambushes could fail to drop loot.
• Fixed an issue where Corrupted Reaper could fail to gain power from Mutators.
• Fixed an issue where Planar Tremors applied to Chaos Rift monsters.
• Fixed an issue where Marks of El'Druin could not be pinned in the Currency tab.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed issue where Invasion Portals could spawn on top of one another.
• Fixed issue where Rathma could get stuck during the quest A Blade's Weight.
• Added El'Druin, Sword of Justice to the Mythic Unique Cache from the Blacksmith.

Base Game Bug Fixes Barbarian

• Fixed an issue where Challenging Shout Bawl Variant could decay more than anticipated.

Druid

• Fixed an issue where Druid's toggled skills could sometimes gain more damage than intended from the Storm Shepherd's Call Talisman set.

Rogue

• Fixed an issue where Shadow Clone could cause additional Shrine effects, such as spawning additional Soul Eaters in the Deathtoll Chamber.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where Pangs of Duriel could spawn out of place during the Duriel fight.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing certain sources of Uniques from dropping as Mythic, including Lair Bosses.
• Increased the chance of naturally dropped Mythics being an Iconic Mythic.
• Fixed various incorrect wardrobe icons.
• Various performance and stability fixes.
• Various clipping and texture fixes.

Grand Theft Auto 5 has cemented itself as one of the best-selling games of all time with 230 million lifetime sales to date. Part of the success comes from the game being remastered for two new console generations, something that its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 4, has never enjoyed. Considering how older GTA games have often popped up with fresher coats of paint, it's odd to see GTA 4 stuck in purgatory, and the actor behind the bowling-obsessed character of Roman Bellic is as puzzled about it as you are.

"I would too, I'd love to see it, man. I don't know why they haven't done it," Jason Zumwalt said to Love It Film. Zumwalt suggested that the reason why a GTA 4 remaster has never been produced could be tied to Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contracts and Rockstar possibly being hesitant to revisit the game because of contractual obligations. According to Zumwalt, GTA 4 still has the best storyline in the franchise, as it combined a personal story with grounded storytelling to produce a unique narrative magic that GTA 5 couldn't recapture. Others might disagree, as to some, GTA 4 is considered to be a relic of a bygone age.

Rumors of a GTA 4 remaster have also periodically shown up over the years, but these have all been quick hits of copium that passed far too quickly. The last big report claimed that a GTA 4 port for current-gen consoles would hit the streets at the end of 2025, but that date came and went without a sign of a spruced-up Niko Bellic chasing down his idea of the American dream.

Fortunately, Grand Theft Auto 6 is still on track for its November 19 release on Xbox and PlayStation, and with preorders opening up recently, you can even start preloading the game closer to its launch. Will its story be as good as GTA 4's legendary narrative?

That remains to be seen, as Rockstar isn't spilling any beans on the campaign prior to launch. We do know that GTA 6 follows a modern-day "Bonnie and Clyde" criminal couple, Lucia and Jason Duva, as they aim to find a better life as and navigate the criminal underworld of Vice City.

GTA 6: 241 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

Sony will stop supporting physical game discs beginning in January 2028, and that news has not gone over well, even if it makes good business sense. Following that announcement, Sony's own Santa Monica Studio has confirmed that its high-profile upcoming game, God of War Laufey, will be available on a disc, and this is sparking some theories as to when it could release.

"We can confirm God of War Laufey will be available on disc," the developer said.

Given that Sony's plan to kill game discs begins in January 2028, people are taking this statement to mean Laufey will launch before then. That wouldn't be surprising, as reporter Jason Schreier has already said Laufey is targeting a release in February or March 2027.

Another big-name PS5 game, Marvel's Wolverine, will be released on a disc as well.

Laufey is the next big God of War game, but instead of telling another Kratos story, this one focuses on his wife, Faye. Joining Faye on her journey is a gelatinous cube played by Jack Quaid.

A lot of people have had a lot of things to say about Sony's decision to abandon physical game discs in the wake of increasing digital game sales. The decision to ditch discs is all about Sony making the most money possible. Sony has legions of fans who collectively continue to buy many millions of physical game discs every year, but your loyalty to Sony means nothing.

For what it's worth, people are theorizing that the next Xbox system, Project Helix, will back away from discs as well. That's not happening yet, however, as Microsoft just recently announced that Halo: Campaign Evolved will be on a disc for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Although Rockstar Games is not returning to its Bully franchise anytime soon--at least not that we know of--another game is coming out soon that will allow you to relive the horrors of high school.

Agefield High: Rock the School, from developer Refugium Games, is launching on August 12 via Steam, the studio has announced. The "raunchy 2000s-era comedy" game has players trying to become the "big man on campus."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qPYXGCQwHI&feature=youtu.be

Agefield High takes place in a small-town high school, and you play as Sam in his senior year. There are 30+ main missions focused on "humor, rebellion, and teenage drama," and players can explore the game's open world, including its school campus, town center, neighborhoods, and countryside.

In terms of leaning into its raunchiness, in one part of the trailer, a character says to Sam, "Just like in the movies, you sneak in, wait until she starts showering, then snap a quick photo." The trailer also shows that players will be able to fight jocks by punching and kicking them, mow the lawn, play guitar poorly, and run through a field to escape an angry cow (presumably after attempting to tip it over, as the youth are known to do).

The game also has multiple endings. Agefield High launches August 12 on Steam and will hit consoles later.

As for a new Bully game, Rockstar hasn't announced one, but the 2006 game has a cult following and many would like to see it come back in some form. Rockstar has said it didn't make a sequel to Bully due to bandwidth issues, among other things. Bully is included with GTA+, so anyone with a membership can play it at no extra cost.

Beast of Reincarnation looks set to kick off a busy August when it launches early in the month, and ahead of its arrival, we've gotten a fresh look at Game Freak's upcoming action-RPG. While Game Freak is well-known for its Pokemon games--including Pokemon Winds and Waves in 2027--Beast of Reincarnation is unlike anything that the developer--and several external teams--has made before. The studio has produced fan-favorite games like Pocket Card Jockey and Tembo the Badass Elephant between Pokemon releases, but with Beast of Reincarnation, it's mixing tactical gameplay with the sharp edge of Sekiro-influenced action.

The good news is that Beast of Reincarnation doesn't look like it'll be as brutally challenging as From Software's 2019 classic, as the windows for parries and counters are more forgiving, and you can always slow down time to command your companion, Koo, to lend a helping paw. That's not to say that the game won't have moments of difficulty, as senior video producer Jake Dekker described how one of the game's open-ended zones was home to a particularly challenging boss after he spent some time playing it recently. Remember, if you see a skull above an enemy's head, it's usually a good idea to cheese it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6i0BBtaokU

But beyond the Sekiro inspiration, players will also have access to powerful abilities that can give them an advantage in battle. From growing roots to crossing chasms to using her plant-based powers to get some serious airtime and instant kills, the protagonist Emma is a force to be reckoned with. Finding the right synergy between Emma's attacks and Koo's assists will be the key to success, and each character features their own upgradeable skill tree.

Beast of Reincarnation launches on August 4, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

The Octopath Traveler games established a new line of "HD-2D" games at Square Enix, and fans of the series can look forward to a new Switch 2 release of the first two entries in the series--with a catch. While Octopath Traveler and its sequel have been available on the original Switch for years now, there'll be no upgrade option for players to continue their journey on Switch 2, meaning no discount or transfer their saves across.

Both games are lengthy experiences, full of optional detours and challenging quests, so starting from scratch isn't a tempting proposition. Throw in the fact that they still look pretty great for their age thanks to the timeless HD-2D design, making it likely that current players could skip the Switch 2 editions.

https://youtu.be/CbWT5KUr3FU

While numerous Switch games offer upgrade packs for their Switch 2 editions--some free, others costing a few bucks--the lack of one for Octopath Traveler could make it a very hard sell for fans of the RPG series.

Some people online have labeled this as an anti-consumer move on Square Enix's part, as this move rules out the idea of purchasing a cheap secondhand copy of Octopath Traveler and grabbing the upgrade. It also doesn't allow for anyone who purchased the game previously--digitally or physically--to cheaply upgrade.

Square Enix has been in hot water in the past for offering zero upgrade paths for several of its HD-2D games. Octopath Traveler 0 and the physical versions of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake all required players to commit to one Switch platform to play them, choosing either a last-gen or a current-gen version.

If you are planning to get Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 for Switch 2--and you're jumping in for the first time--there are some nice technical upgrades in this version. The package will be available in both digital and physical editions, with improved frame rates and resolutions on Switch 2 when it launches on October 1.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced comes with loads of fun new features that weren't included in the original game, including feet pics.

Okay, okay, feet pics probably weren't Ubisoft's goal when it implemented a robust photo mode that automatically saves and uploads players' photos to the official Black Flag Resynced Photo Mode website. But this is the internet, so of course the end result is feet pics.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaosSW-SXOC/

Via the Black Flag Resynced Photo Mode website, players can see photos taken by other players along with information like when and where the photo was taken. Over the weekend, a photo of a female NPC's feet went viral and is now the second most-liked image on the Black Flag Resynced Photo Mode website. 

The photo was taken in Dry Tortuga--a small in-game naval fort--and has amassed over 57,000 likes since user xR0ckettManx uploaded it on July 9. The only image more popular than xR0ckettManx's foot-focused masterpiece is a scenic seascape photo of a burning ship. It has over 80,000 likes, and zero feet.

Black Flag Resynced has enjoyed one of the best launches of an Assassin's Creed game in years (though it's not clear whether or not feet pics played a part in that), and while some players are critical of the game's microtransactions, the general consensus seems to be that Edward Kenway's story still absolutely slaps.

Games Done Quick is best known for its feel-good moments like a dog hitting a walk-off home run in a baseball video game while raising money for charity. However, this year's Summer Games Done Quick charity stream ran into controversy after GDQ announced a sponsored stream with SNK only to cancel it shortly thereafter due to players angered over the latter's ties to Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, July 12, SGDQ announced it was partnering with SNK to stream a sponsored speedrun of Metal Slug in support of the franchise's 30th anniversary.

https://twitter.com/GamesDoneQuick/status/2076394968633975242

Under three hours later, GDQ reversed course and announced the cancellation of the stream citing "concerns from our community regarding this partnership, specifically the company’s majority ownership by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and the human rights concerns tied to the Saudi government."

In subsequent posts, GDQ apologized to the streaming host and speed runners and pledged that it wouldn't accept any future sponsorships from SNK. The organization also reiterated its support for human rights and inclusivity before promising to "review and strengthen our process for evaluating future sponsors and partners, including closer examination of companies' ownership, to make sure they're aligned with our values."

Saudi Arabia already has a deep footprint in the gaming realm, including the developer of Pokemon Go. However, the biggest Saudi deal is the still in-progress $55 billion buyout for control of EA, one of the biggest video game publishers in the world. Video game unions have come out against the EA sale, and Saudi Arabia's involvement has also drawn the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate over potential "foreign influence." Regardless, the EA buyout is likely to receive approval even though players continue to protest against it.

EA Sports has announced that it has removed the CFB 27 microtransaction system that people hated from the get-go. In a statement, EA said, "We will remove all paid progression options from Road to Glory and Online dynasty."

For anyone just catching up, CFB 27 launched with a microtransaction system that allowed players to pay real money to instantly improve their coach or athlete in the Online Dynasty and Road to Glory modes. Alternatively, players could grind for this, but the effort would be substantial.

CFB 27 has done away with its most controversial MTX options.

It's also notable because Online Dynasty and Road to Glory were two modes that were largely untouched by microtransactions until this year. People mobilized a boycott of the pay-to-level options, and the #CFBPlayDontPay hashtag trended on social media. People on Reddit also said they would skip the game because this new in-game-purchase scheme has rubbed them the wrong way. 

EA said an "unfortunate side effect" of the removal of paid progression in the two modes is that some people will be left with a College Point balance and this balance cannot be applied to Road to Glory or Online Dynasty because of the removal of the paid progression systems. Unspent College Points can be spent in Ultimate Team or other elements of the game, however.

EA communicated the change to players on the evening of July 10, with the removal of the paid progression system being implemented on the morning of July 11. EA encouraged people to spend the points while they could, but there was not much time to do so.

"Your feedback on Road to Glory and Dynasty is that we've missed the mark with the introduction of paid progression options. This was added independent of deeper mode progression with the aim to give players more choice, but what you've said is that they're not adding the value we intended," EA said.

Also in the statement, EA said it will attempt to provide "greater transparency and communication" with the live-service plans for next year's game, CFB 28.

"We love this game. We love this community. We love college football," EA said.

While the paid progression microtransactions are now gone from CFB 27, the game still has microtransactions for the popular Ultimate Team mode. EA sells points in bundles that range from $5 to $150.

EA has offered paid progression systems before, as multiple Battlefield games have offered plays "Shortcut" bundles that instantly unlock all weapons, gadgets, and vehicle upgrades without having to grind to unlock them.

EA is in the process of selling itself to a group of investors led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The $55 billion deal is structured as a leverage buyout (LBO), and it's the largest LBO in history for any market category. The deal comes with billions in debt, and many believe EA will make massive cuts to service the debt.

The first two Call of Duty: Black Ops games have launched on PS5 and PS4, but they're not exactly the remasters that fans were expecting. Both games feature a high price considering their age--$40 each--while their respective DLC packs are being sold as optional extras, an odd move considering how most remasters include that content to sweeten the deal. To make things worse, it looks like the technical presentation isn't much to write home about either, as the PlayStation ports feature barely any noticeable improvements at all.

According to Digital Foundry, Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 have been updated to run at 1080p on PS5 and PS4, and that's it. No option for a 4K resolution on PS5 or the opportunity to push the framerate to 120Hz, no improved shadows or lighting, and no quality-of-life updates like you'd find in modern Call of Duty games at all. In comparison, the original Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 games get the resolution bump for free on Xbox Series X|S through the console's backwards compatibility program, while PC gamers have been creating custom mods for years now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdEf79y7jw

As mentioned above, each remaster is being sold for $40, and their map packs cost $30 each. That's $70 per game, but it is worth mentioning that Activision is offering a discount to PlayStation Plus subscribers, dropping the price to $20 per game and $10 per map pack. Still, paying $60 per complete edition of a game is expensive, especially when they aren't that much of an improvement compared to the original titles.

"For a native PS5 title and a somewhat high-profile port, this is a deeply odd state of affairs. Even the game's obvious visual blemishes are preserved: shadow quality was necessarily poor back in the day, but why preserve that problem in the present day when so much more graphics horsepower is available?" Digital Foundry wrote.

Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was recently revealed and will be out later this year. Unlike the 2024 and 2025 games, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Modern Warfare 4 will not be available on Game Pass at launch, and Activision is busy reminding players in ads for the game. Modern Warfare 4 will launch for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2 on October 23.

The Outer Worlds 2 game director and 20-year Obsidian Entertainment veteran Brandon Adler has reacted to Microsoft's recent mass layoffs at Xbox and other notable changes, which included the reported cancellation of Avowed 2.

Adler, who is the current game director on an unannounced project at Obsidian, said it was an "extremely difficult week at Obsidian" after the layoffs were announced on July 6. "Not only have I had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers, but I've had to say goodbye to some of my best friends. I truly feel for every one of them. Know that if you are looking to hire one of these former Obsidian devs, you are hiring some of the best people around--both professionally and personally," he said.

Something that made recent days more challenging, Adler said, was how "a bunch of cold take artists" commented on "what Obsidian is what it isn't," he said.

Specifically, Adler said he takes issue with people commenting on how Obsidian "isn't who they used to be" or that the company's DNA has changed.

"Most of the time they are not just wrong, but spreading an enormous amount of misinformation," he said. "In most circumstances, the people in lead or director roles are the same people that worked on games like The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and New Vegas. Like, literally the same people. The through line from KotOR2 to our current games is pretty clear."

Obsidian is "of course not" the same as it was 20 years ago, Adler admitted, and that's because in life, "nothing stays the same." However, Adler maintains that "the DNA at Obsidian is the same was it always was."

The same studio DNA that led to popular and well-received games like Knights of the Old Republic, Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2, and South Park: The Stick of Truth remains intact, he said.

"I'm extremely proud of our history and I am also excited for who we have become," he said. "Just remember, when you are seeing people spouting off about Obsidian, running their mouths about who we are now vs. what we were then, you are listening to someone crow about something with zero insight into how a game is made and who contributed to our previous games."

Adler started at Obsidian in January 2006 after spending four years in the United States Air Force where he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as a senior airman. His first gig at Obsidian was a QA tester for Neverwinter Nights 2. He then became an associate producer on Alpha Protocol and later on New Vegas and The Stick of Truth.

He left Obsidian in March 2012 to join MEDL Mobile, where he worked on mobile games and apps. He returned to Obsidian in June 2013 to become lead producer on Pillars of Eternity. He was the gameplay design director on Avowed and then became game director on The Outer Worlds 2 with Leonard Boyarsky.

The layoffs at Obsidian reportedly went deep, with 25% of staff losing their jobs. A planned Avowed sequel was said to have been canceled, with Obsidian shifting focus instead to a new Fallout game from New Vegas director Josh Sawyer.

The annual TennoCon event was held on the weekend, and once again, developer Digital Extremes had plenty of announcements regarding its two games, Warframe and Soulframe. The highlight was an extended look at Warframe's Tau expansion, followed by a closer look at Soulframe's new narrative questline and player-requested content like mounts. In case you missed it, you can catch up on all the reveals from TennoCon 2026 below.

Warframe: Tau https://youtu.be/bRxDf7gu97g

The headliner for Tennocon this year was the new look at Warframe: Tau, the next major Narrative Chapter in the game. Players will get to explore a new Star Chart, the Tau System, and uncover the mystery of the Sentient ring city of Fornax. Amidst a constant downpour of black rain and infighting between criminal factions, a ruthless crime boss known as The Hunra reigns supreme and will need to be removed from the picture. The new expansion launches later this year.

New challenges require a new Warframe

As you'd expect, taking down a deadly network of smugglers and enforcers is no small feat, and players can equip a new Chimera Warframe, called Brysko. A sentient Warframe that looks like it came straight out of a hard-boiled detective mystery--and voiced by Critical Role's Matthew Mercer--Brysko's arsenal includes brass knuckle attacks, explosive playing cards, and an Exalted revolver magnum known as the Corecracker.

Warframe gets its first card minigame, Portau.

When you're not blasting gangsters, you can kick back with a round of Portau. Billed as a "sentient" card game, Portau blends the rules of poker with its own suite of Blooms, Cores, Moons, and Suns.

New enemies rise up

Alongside the new Environment of Fornax that features high-end casinos, grimy shipping docks, and dilapidated slums, players can also take on the Fornax Drowners. Similar to the Sentients encountered within the Origin System, they've evolved into a deadlier form, and they'll put your Warframes to the test.

Warframe is teaming up with Fortnite

From one free-to-play game to another, Fortnite players can now purchase the Excalibur outfit, an in-game cosmetic. If you've purchased certain eligible items, you'll also get the cosmetic skin as a freebie.

Updates aplenty in Warframe

Ahead of the launch of Tau, Warframe players can look forward to several updates. Iceblade of Narin adds a new story quest, location, an ice-elemental Warframe, and a customizable Orokin vessel for their journey to the Tau galaxy. The major update will also rework several Warframes and make them more powerful than ever thanks to a range of Deluxe and Prime variants, gameplay is also being overhauled, and there'll be new Nightwave missions to jump into. 

Soulframe recruits some Expedition 33 talent for its narrative. https://youtu.be/WiGRu3SQ-ZY

While the fantasy-themed world of Soulframe is still in its alpha stage of development, Digital Extremes did show off more of the game and the features that'll make it feel both distinct and complementary to Warframe. Set in a world of high fantasy, the new trailer showed off the creeping blight threatening the world of Soulframe, and Digital Extremes also teased the new Warsongs missions. This questline is out later this year, and it'll provide plenty of exposition and plot beats that set up the main campaign of Soulframe. The new arc also features the talents of actors Ben Starr as the new antagonist, Tempest Bayor, and Jennifer English as the player ally, Empress of Eidvel. If both of those names sound familiar, that's because the actors previously starred in Expedition 33.

Beyond Soulframe fleshing out its narrative even further, Digital Extremes will also continue to fine-tune the game with quality-of-life updates. Mounts are also coming to the game, alongside "Vegan Fishing" for some outdoor fun.

TennoCon 2027 already has a date

Next year's TennoCon event will be held roughly a year from now, July 16-17, 2027.

My Chemical Romance, the essential emo band of your teen years, played three headline shows at London's Wembley Stadium over the weekend, but one of them took a pause for vocalist Gerard Way to discuss Baldur's Gate 3.

Way noticed a fan's sign that read, "Have you ever played Baldur's Gate 3?" to which he responded, "No, I only ever played Baldur's Gate 1." He went on to add that he did play the Icewind Dale expansion, "But I just ran out of time."

https://www.tiktok.com/@katanaluciana/video/7661439271026396438?_r=1&_t=ZN-97yGCGsxQoA

Now, developer Larian Studios has responded to Way's revelation that he's not played the hit RPG. After initially posting on X, "What do you mean you haven't played the critically-acclaimed Dungeons and Dragons RPG, Baldur's Gate 3?" the studio went on to add, "There's a Baldur's Gate 3 code with your name on it if you fancy trying it."

https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/2076633525164355679?s=20

So far, Gerard Way hasn't acknowledged the response from Larian, but given that it's one of the few games that received a rare 10/10 score in GameSpot's review, we'd wager that he should probably find the time to get acquainted with Astarion and co.

In the kart-racing genre, Mario Kart's reigns supreme. But the social media team behind Garfield Kart: Furious Racing and Garfield Kart 2: All You Can Drift didn't miss a chance to dunk on Nintendo's decision to sunset Mario Kart Tour this fall.

On X, the official account for Garfield Kart declared its superiority to Mario Kart because it "will not randomly kill your game license."

https://twitter.com/GarfieldKartX/status/2074947859644809275

While the Garfield Kart games are far behind Mario Kart in terms of popularity, the title characters do share a connection on the big screen. Guardians of the Galaxy's Chris Pratt is the voice of Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its sequel, while also portraying Garfield in the most recent animated film. That's about as close as these two franchises will come to a crossover short of another Smash Bros. sequel that may seek lasagna-craving felines for its roster.

Mario Kart Tour will be shut down on September 29, seven years after Nintendo began its push into mobile. Most of Nintendo's other mobile games from that era have also shut down, with a few exceptions including Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Pikmin Bloom.

On consoles, Mario Kart World is currently the best-selling game on Switch 2, and it dropped a new update earlier this month. Two additional Knockout Tour routes were included in that update, with at least six more routes slated to be added in future updates.

Since news broke of Microsoft's recent round of mass layoffs--which affected 1,600 people immediately and will reach double that number over the next year--a number of reports have claimed that mass approvals of foreign-worker visas were behind the decision. Now, Microsoft communications lead Frank X. Shaw has refuted what he calls "bad information."

In a Twitter post, Shaw said that while there are Microsoft workers using H-1B visas, they are "not specific to Xbox and represent a small percentage of Microsoft's overall workforce. And the majority of the roles impacted were not American roles."

https://twitter.com/fxshaw/status/2075637298046374135

"Recent workforce changes were made to restructure the Xbox business because it is not healthy. They were not made to replace employees with foreign workers," Shaw said.

Shaw's comments come after multiple conservative news outlets pointed out that Microsoft was approved for more than 2,200 H-1B visas this year. Fox News was told by Microsoft prior to publishing its story that H-1B employees were also among those affected by the layoffs.

The recent Xbox layoffs are among the biggest we've ever seen in the gaming industry. Alongside losing roughly 20% of the Xbox workforce, Microsoft also made the decision to separate from five studios. Two of these--Double Fine and Compulsion Games--will return to operating as independent studios. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, meanwhile, are being sold to a currently unknown buyer, and Microsoft is currently reviewing options with Arkane for its sale or separation.

The studios that remain operational were still heavily impacted by the layoffs, however. Among the worst-hit, at least that we know of, was id Software, which lost roughly half its headcount just as it launched the latest Doom: The Dark Ages expansion.

Zeverland, the upcoming open-world zombie sim for PC, plays a lot like DayZ, but the team at Quantum Quirks has announced a major shift in the game's design following a closed alpha test. According to the studio, players wanted the PvPvE game to be an entirely cooperative PvE experience instead, so much so that the team is meeting the community's requests and turning Zeverland into exactly that. "You talked. We listened," the studio said on the Zeverland Steam page.

"We've decided to shift Zeverland from a pure [massive multiplayer online game] into a [buy-to-play], survival-crafting, co-op PvE game [...] After hearing from our community, we've confirmed: Zeverland is doubling down on cooperative PvE. Survive together. Build together. Explore together--not harm each other."

While such a change will fundamentally reshape the game's gameplay, Quantum Quirks isn't changing what most people call out when they first see Zeverland in action. The game's chibi-like art style is very eye-catching for a zombie survival sim, and it's not going anywhere. I've not seen a zombie game that looks like this before, though when I participated in the playtest recently, I came around to it quickly. While much of the game feels reminiscent of the games it's borrowing from, its standout aesthetic is a nice touch.

More than that, what I enjoyed most about my time with Zeverland is how much more forgiving it felt. As much as I love it, I've never quite gotten good at DayZ. I've never joined a particular server and really built on my progression for many hours at a time. I've always jumped into one that's open, messed about for some time, and probably eventually died from blood loss, starvation, or a player who wanted to loot my pockets. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJ2YPMt38E

My early impression of Zeverland is that it'll be a bit less grueling for newcomers. In addition to the game switching to PvE, my hands-on time revealed that bicycles are abundant for easier, faster travel, and even cars often worked right away--so long as they had gas.

Beyond that, it has many of the key qualities I look for in games like it. The world is huge and desolate. Combat is nerve-racking, demanding I carefully avoid even just some scratches from the undead. Looting is exciting and instructive; I was constantly finding new crafting recipes and items that suggested there is a lot to learn, just in an environment that is not immediately, unrelentingly hostile the way I'm used to.

It's not a zombie game for kids; don't get me wrong. You might think the aesthetic and the game's more welcoming early hours mean it's going for a younger audience, but I don't think it is. It's still checking many of the same gameplay boxes that a game like Project Zomboid or State of Decay also target. It's just that it feels like the on-ramp to learning how to play Zeverland won't be nearly as treacherous as some of its inspirations have proven to be. 

I never get tired of playing the best zombie games. I'd likely have sunk some hours into Zeverland even with its previous PvPvE focus to see if it belongs in that conversation, but I definitely prefer the game's North Star now being PvE, and I'm looking forward to diving back into the game when its renewed focus is ready to see for myself.