Wildlight's free-to-play shooter Highguard was not the success that the studio wanted to see, and now senior level designer Alex Graner has said he thinks the gameplay being so intense didn't help.

He said on the Quad Damage podcast that Highguard releasing as a 3v3-only game required "such a high intensity of communication" with teammates. "It doesn't leave much room for casualness. I think that was the biggest thing that turned a lot of players off Highguard," he said, as reported by Kotaku.

"3v3 duos is always the sweatiest version of anything like battle royale, objective modes, wingman, you know it, you name it," Graner added.

The Second Galactic War rages on in Helldivers 2, with more than 8.6 billion Helldivers giving their lives last year. Of that number, 177 million were from friendly fire.

That's just one of the staggering statistics revealed by developer Arrowhead Studios in a new infographic charting enemy casualties, friendly-fire incidents, most popular stratagems, and more data from the game's second year.

While billions of Helldivers died defending democracy, it was much worse for Super Earth's foes. According to Arrowhead, Helldivers 2 players killed nearly 280 billion enemies across the game's three factions. The bug-like Terminids made up the majority of those, with 121 billion of the bugs slain over the course of the last year. In return, the Terminids claimed 2.8 billion Helldivers.

Bungie's Marathon launches soon, and similar to its work on Destiny 2, the extraction shooter will be anchored by seasons that run for three months at a time. Each season is designed to contribute to the evolution of Marathon over time, but the main takeaway is that as soon as a new one begins, all players will have their progress reset to zero.

Bungie says that seasonal resets will include everyone's gear, contract progression, faction progression, and player level, but achievements and cosmetics--both earned and paid--will not be affected. Codex progression and liaison contract progression will also carry over, and Bungie says the reset is designed to make loot feel meaningful while keeping the game dangerous. "It's a way to say goodbye to the old, welcome the new, and kick off a journey from zero-to-hero with new ways to play, content to master, and things to discover," Bungie added.

Seasons will also be free for all players and won't require them to purchase expansions or DLC to access. As players complete contracts and progress through faction upgrades, they'll steadily increase their power and gain access to better gear from the armor, allowing them to craft their ideal build and recover easily from a bad run on Tau Ceti 4. Once a season starts to draw to a close, Bungie explained that this will create a sense of urgency as players decide to jump into battle with their best gear before they lose it.

Last fall, Prime Video announced that it's adapting Square Enix's Life Is Strange as a live-action TV series. Now, the two primary leading roles have been cast.

Tatum Grace Hopkins will portray Maxine "Max" Caulfield, while Maisy Stella will play her best friend, Chloe Price. Outside of her roles on Broadway--including The Queen of Versailles and For the Girls--Hopkins is virtually unknown in the entertainment industry. Life is Strange will be her first TV role ever.

Stella is better known as a musician, but she has an impressive acting resume as well. She had a co-starring role on ABC's Nashville for six seasons, and had a starring turn opposite Aubrey Plaza in the Prime Video original film My Old Ass. Her next films, Poetic License and Flowervale Street, are slated to debut later this year.

Steam Next Fest has wrapped up--for now--and out of the thousands of game demos that were available to try, Bungie's Marathon rose to the top of the list. According to Steam, it gathered the data and listed the games below by the number of unique players during Next Fest. While that metric does technically work, it does raise an eyebrow around the definition of a demo during Next Fest.

Bungie had labeled this preview of Marathon as a "Server Slam" test that was open to everyone for several days and was primarily designed to stress-test the game's online functionality while providing feedback to the studio. Does that count as a demo, let alone a Next Fest demo? That's debatable, given the origins of Next Fest, which sprang to life in 2019 as part of a week-long Steam Game Festival that was held in conjunction with The Game Awards.

The event originally promised a selection of time-limited game demos for upcoming games, with it eventually transforming into Steam Next Fest a few years later. The first Next Fest of the year has been criticized for being flooded with far too many demos, with users on the Steam Forums calling out developers for diluting the event with AI slop that drowns out legitimate efforts from other studios and publishers. To make things even more complicated, many of the Next Fest demos went live several days before the event kicked off--in an effort to gain some visibility--while other studios submitted older demos for Next Fest that had been active for several months already.

If you visited the internet in the past two weeks, you probably know about Punch the monkey, the adorable little guy who was abandoned by his mother and shoved by his zoomates, turning to a stuffed animal from IKEA for love and attention. He later found friends in his enclosure at the Ichikawa City Zoo, but the story isn't over yet. A video game based on Punch the monkey has now arrived.

Zoo Fighter, as it's called, is a free web game made by former Fortnite developer Marcus Brown, who developed the game under the name Richie Branson.

In the game, you play as Punch and tap the screen on mobile, or click your mouse on desktop, to swat away bullies. Knock out 100 and Punch gets to go to a sanctuary, instead of a zoo. And that's the point of the video game. "This game is a love letter to all animals doing a bid at the zoo. Animal sanctuaries are often better for primates than zoos because they put the animals' well-being first instead of public display," reads a line from the game's description.

Everyone loves a good shadowdrop, and Nintendo revealed not just one, but three of them in today's Indie World presentation. The biggest of the trio--and saved for last--was Blue Prince, which was one of GameSpot's 10 best games of 2025. The critically acclaimed puzzle game will be available later today on Switch 2, even featuring mouse controls on the system.

Joining Blue Prince on Switch 2 today are Rotwood and Minishoot Adventures. The former comes from Mark of the Ninja and Don't Starve developer Klei Entertainment. In fact, Rotwood is a console exclusive on Switch 2, previously being in Steam Early Access since 2024. The co-op brawler sees you battling enemies across seven different environments with weapons like a hammer and bow. Intriguingly, Rotwood was planned to release on Netflix at one time.

Meanwhile, Minishoot Adventures is the only title arriving on Switch 2 and the original Switch. One of GameSpot's favorite PC games from 2024, the twin-stick shooter sees players fighting through dungeons and rescuing cute friends. Minishoot Adventures basically marries together Geometry Wars with The Legend of Zelda to create a captivating experience.

A new Pokemon generation is on the horizon, now that Pokemon Winds and Waves has officially been revealed. The next mainline game--once again developed by Game Freak--will introduce the tenth generation of Pokemon, and while exact details are being kept under wraps for now, the reveal trailer showed off plenty of details. We've been busy connecting the poke-dots ahead of the game's release next year, and here's everything we know so far about Pokemon Winds and Waves.

• When will Pokemon Winds and Waves be released?
• Pokemon Winds and Waves platform

Nintendo has penciled in a 2027 release window for Pokemon Winds and Waves, which means that this new mainline entry will be skipping the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. Big Pokemon games typically launch in the second half of the year, but if you need something Poke-flavored to play right now, Pokemon Pokopia might be the surprise hit spin-off game to check out.

The new Pokemon game will be waving goodbye to the last-gen Switch console, as Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Winds and Waves will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. While the news might be disappointing to anyone who isn't ready to upgrade to the Switch 2 yet, the shift to Nintendo's new hardware might be for the best given the rough presentation of previous mainline games on the older console, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in particular looking sub-par when compared to other open-world games on the system.

As part of the Indie World showcase, Nintendo announced that Minishoot Adventures is releasing today, March 3, on Switch and Switch 2. Not long after, the developer announced it's actually widely available on PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X as well, and included in Xbox Game Pass. The unconventional mash-up is a blend of puzzle and exploration akin to a classic top-down Zelda game, with combat and movement that feels like a twin-stick shooter. It was one of our favorite under-the-radar hits when it first released on PC in 2024, and it's an absolutely perfect fit for the handheld Switch systems. Check below for our impressions of the original and why this one is a can't-miss.

The enduring popularity of The Legend of Zelda has led to no shortage of imitators. For those lamenting the lack of a new top-down 2D Zelda from Nintendo, Steam is rife with homages that approximate the feeling of delving into forests, caves, and dungeons armed only with a plucky attitude and your uncle's sword. Minishoot Adventures, the sophomore game from indie studio SoulGame, is different, but no less reverent as an homage. Rather than crib from Zelda in a very literal sense, this one reimagines and recaptures the same sensation of classic Zelda by recontextualizing it as a bullet hell shooter.

Instead of an elven tween, you're a sentient spaceship. Your allies and enemies, also spaceships. The world is open and free roaming with item gating, like classic Zelda and metroidvania games. Movement feels sharp and snappy immediately, like picking up a game of PixelJunk Shooter or Geometry Wars. It even has a series of dungeons with clever traps, environmental puzzles, game-changing powers, and tough boss battles.

Video game developers aren't waiting until the usual June-July window for livestreams, and next on the digital showcase block is Capcom. Kicking off on March 5 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET, the Capcom Spotlight will highlight several more of the company's upcoming releases, and it will run for 30 minutes.

With one of its biggest releases of the year, Resident Evil Requiem, now out and scaring up some positive review scores, Capcom will be shifting the spotlight to games like Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Pragmata, and Megaman Dual Override. Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection and Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition will also be shown off.

Pragmata is looking to be one of the more interesting games released in 2026, as this sci-fi adventure mixes shooting, deadly robots, and hacking together. Players take control of an astronaut and his android companion, and together the duo has to work their way through a research station in space while dealing with mutinous robots hellbent on stopping them. It'll launch soon on April 24 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. This new experience removes the custom weapon loadouts found in Warzone's other game modes, and it requires scavenging of ground loot and upgrade kits. Here's everything you need to know about weapon archetypes and how to upgrade them in Black Ops Royale.

• How to get guns in Black Ops Royale

There are no custom loadouts to buy or earn in Black Ops Royale. All players start with a pistol and a knife, and any additional weapons are obtained from ground loot, supply boxes, or activity rewards.

More details on Black Ops Royale's activities can be found here, including the high-tier loot areas called Cradle Breaches.

Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. While perks are available in this mode, they work much differently than traditional Warzone modes. In this guide, we'll discuss all available perks, how to find them, and when to use them.

• How perks work in Black Ops Royale

Black Ops Royale removes Warzone's custom loadouts and overhauls the perk system. All perks in this mode are looted during the match. Perks can be scavenged as ground loot, found in supply boxes, or earned as activity rewards.

Unlike Warzone's perks that are active until death, Black Ops Royale features Blackout's temporary consumable perks. The duration of each consumable perk varies, but they usually last around two-to-four minutes. This means you're not locked into three set perks, but instead, you can loot and choose perks based on specific situations.

Top Gun is marking its 40th anniversary this year, and to celebrate the iconic 1980s action flick, a new 40th Anniversary 4K Steelbook edition Blu-ray is releasing on May 5. The two-disc set comes with a premium Steelbook case featuring art from the movie on both the exterior and interior, along with a selection of special features. You can reserve your copy for $30 from Amazon.

If you're unfamiliar, Top Gun, originally released in 1986, follows Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a young, cocky, but talented Navy pilot, invited to the elite Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School, where he must learn to work with the rest of his new wing mates. Top Gun is considered one of the quintessential action movies of the 1980's, with multiple scenes and lines that have become enduring parts of pop culture. This new Steelbook Edition includes 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray versions of the original film. The Blu-ray disc also includes plenty of special features that take you behind the scenes of the movie's production and its 40-year legacy.

• The Legacy of Top Gun featurette
• On Your Six - Thirty Years of Top Gun featurette
• Danger Zone 6-Part Making of Documentary
• Interviews with Tom Cruise
• Multi-Angle Storyboards
• Best of the Best: Inside the Real Top Gun featurette
• Behind-the-Scenes featurette
• Survival Training featurette

If Top Gun isn't quite your bag, there are a handful of other upcoming Steelbook edition 4K Blu-rays to check out, including the upcoming 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Collector's Edition, which features incredible cover art. There's no release date yet, but you can preorder it from Amazon now for $55. For another classic, Carlito's Way 4K SteelBook is available to preorder on Amazon for $30 (was $35), before it comes out on April 7, and includes a handful of special features and new cover art. Check out a few more Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-rays in the list below.

Humble’s Owlcat and Beamdog bundle is a love letter to new and classic CRPGs. Digging deep into the games made by Owlcat Studios and Beamdog, this collection packs 12 PC games, including heavy-hitters like Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, and Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition. Like all Humble Bundles, the pricing is a little tricky. You can choose how much to pay, and the more you pay, the more games you get and the more money goes to charity--in this case, DonorsChoose, which helps provide materials and facilities for classrooms across America. The bundle starts at $5 for four games, or you can pick up the entire 12-item bundle, which includes $296 worth of games, for just $23.

It’s impossible to talk about this bundle without talking about Planescape: Torment. This is one of the most influential and ahead-of-its-time CRPGs ever made. It was a pioneer for the way it leaned heavily into dialogue and player choice, making your decisions have real weight and consequences. It’s a truly timeless experience, and if you’ve never played it or have been meaning to revisit it, this bundle is a good excuse.

A cluster of lab-grown human brain cells has apparently made the leap to successfully playing a very rudimentary video game without the benefit of eyes, ears, or any kind of sensory input. It's a far cry from playing something more complex, but it represents a major step forward for research.

According to UC Santa Cruz researchers (via Gadget Review), researchers successfully coached their brain organoids to solve a "cart-pole" problem, which is a lot like balancing a digital broomstick. AI systems are tested on the same basis, but the brain cells' success rate is said to have jumped from 4.5% to 46% after training them to perform using electronic signals as punishments when incorrect and rewards when the input was used correctly.

That may not sound like much compared to what AI can do, but it's considered a breakthrough that demonstrates the brain power that even these tiny organoids possess. This could potentially be harnessed in the future for even more complex tasks.

If your Steam backlog is looking a little shooter-heavy and needs a few more pitfalls and double-jumps, it’s a good time to check out Fanatical’s 3D Platformer Build Your Own Bundle. This collection includes platformers of all stripes, from indie darlings to big-name titles, and each one of them is proof that the best way to solve any problem is to jump right over it. The 3D Platformer Bundle includes 18 games to choose from--the more you add to your bundle, the bigger the discount you’ll see at checkout. For instance, if you add all 18 of these titles to your bundle, you’re snagging $339 of games for just $26.

One of the games included in this bundle is indie darling Anodyne 2. It’s an inventive hybrid 2D-3D game that drops you into a world infected by deadly nano particles, and it’s your job to shrink down into infected bodies and clear out the Nano Dust. It’s delightfully weird. While you’re exploring cities, wastelands, and the overworld, you run around in 3D. But when you jump inside people to clear out the Nano Dust, the game switches to a 2D adventure that differs from person to person based on their internal struggles.

Another game included in the bundle is Victorian-inspired Tin Hearts. Made by some of the people who brought you the first Fable game, Tin Hearts sees you guiding a small army of toy soldiers through elaborate environments inspired by the intricate visual language of the Victorian era. You’ll guide your toy soldiers through environments as simple as a drawing room, or as complex and perilous as a Rube Goldberg-like toy factory, full of hazards to reduce your adorable little guys into scrap metal.

World of Warcraft's latest expansion is just now rolling out globally after an early-access period for Epic Edition owners, but players think they've already found where Blizzard's MMORPG will go next.

Major WoW patch updates always add a new zone, and it seems one of Midnight's future patch areas, possibly for patch 12.1, is already in-game. As pointed out by user Aggnicia_MightyGnome on the WoW subreddit, players can briefly access an island shrouded in fog off the coast of the new Zul'Aman zone before being automatically teleported away. The zone is named Atal'Utek and even appears to have its own general chat channel, adding more evidence that it is indeed a full-fledged zone in waiting.

It's not the first mention of Atal'Utek. As reported by Icy Veins last year, datamined files from the Midnight alpha hinted at raid rewards from something titled "Ulatek." Atal'Utek and Ulatek are similar in nature, with some players believing Ulatek to be the raid from the new zone. In WoW lore, Ula'Tek is a serpent goddess worshiped by the Amani trolls, one that may possibly have some connection to the Void or the Old Gods. Screenshots taken from investigative players show the island to be home to various pools of poison and decay, something that could line up with a snake or serpent-themed deity.

The continued concern over RAM availability and its impact on component prices has led one research firm to predict that the entry-level PC market will disappear in as little as two years.

Gartner has suggested in its latest report that the ongoing RAM shortage due to AI data center demands is going to have a big impact on consumer electronics, with the firm predicting a 17% increase in PC prices and a 13% increase in smartphone prices compared to 2025. Given the low margins on many entry-level offerings, the firms predicts that by 2028 the sub-$500 PC will no longer exist.

The surge of RAM and DRAM pricing is predicted to increase further, peaking at 130% by the end of 2026. This will ultimately lead to consumers holding onto aging PCs for longer, with Gartner predicting that this could increase by nearly 20% for consumers that already have a modern system. This comes with concerns around security vulnerabilities over time, but is supported by the increasing cost of older DDR4 RAM as supply of DDR5 continues to dry up.

The fourth Sonic the Hedgehog movie is now in production, Oscar-nominated director Jeff Fowler has announced with a photo from the movie's set. The photo shows Fowler holding a hammer, and this appears to be reference to the character Amy Rose, who will be voiced by Kristen Bell.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is set for release in March 2027, so fans still have to wait a while to see it. Fowler directed the previous three Sonic movies and is coming back for the fourth.

The cast for Sonic 4 features Ben Schwartz returning to play Sonic, with Bell coming aboard as Rose. Dr. Robotnik actor Jim Carrey stated that he's "definitely open" to returning for another sequel, but it remains to be seen if he'll actually be in it. No other casting or story details are available.

Video games might look more impressive than ever, but retro-inspired titles with low-polygon counts and pixel-art aesthetics still have their charm. If you're a connoisseur of the classics, you'll want to check out this new Humble Bundle deal. The Cartridge Chaos bundle celebrates indie PC games with a retro feel, and for just $22 or more, you can grab a highlight reel of titles and support charity. All of these games can be redeemed on your Steam account.

Humble's deal offers four games from its curated list for just $10.35 if you want a smaller sample of games with an old-school feel. Proceeds from the sale go to NPower, a non-profit focused on empowering people through skills training and real-world experience.

Highlights include Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind, a brawler featuring Angel Grove's teenagers with attitude. With hand-drawn art, DinoZords, and plenty of Putty Squad troopers to knock out, it's a fun beat-'em-up, while Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is another side-scrolling action title that channels the golden age of classic 16-bit games. Corn Kidz 64 looks like it would fit right in on the N64 console with its blocky design, and there's even a Shantae game on the list for some charming platforming fun.