Rockstar Games has finally confirmed that GTA 6 preorders begin June 25, and as part of the announcement, the game's website was updated with a new look at Vice City.

A new image shows a nighttime scene in Vice City, with boats cruising through the water. Based on the ferris wheel in the background, this looks like GTA 6's take on the port of Miami.

That also tracks with the dockyard and shipping containers that can be seen in the image. Multiple planes/helicopters can be seen cruising overhead as well. It's all very GTA.

A new look at Vice City.

If you visit the GTA 6 website, you can see an extended version of this video clip (below) that also shows people playing tennis on a lit court and a tall apartment building with construction going on.

To be sure, this is just one piece of Vice City's map, as the game will let players explore lots more of Vice City and the surrounding areas of Leonida, which is GTA 6's stand-in for Florida. Just how far into Florida people will be able to go is unknown, but some are hoping to see a GTA parody of Disney World.

For more, be sure to check out GameSpot's gallery of hundreds of images from GTA 6.

Although Rockstar has confirmed when GTA 6 preorders go live, the company did not say when specifically people can place an order or what the game will cost. It's also worth noting that June 25 is for digital preorders and preorders at "select" retailers. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

At long last, preorders for GTA 6 will begin on June 25, Rockstar Games has announced. Additionally, the game's official cover art has been revealed.

Crucially, Rockstar did not announce any pricing details for GTA 6, nor did the company list off the various editions of the game that will no doubt be available.

Behold, the GTA 6 cover art.

Rockstar also did not say exactly when preorders will begin on June 25. However, fans can wishlist GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to receive alerts. Additionally, Rockstar clarified that June 25 is when preorders for GTA 6 begin on digital stores and "select" retailers only.

• Wishlist GTA 6 on Xbox Series X|S
• Wishlist GTA 6 on PS5

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

An update to the official website also revealed a new glimpse of Vice City itself. You can check out our GTA 6 screenshots collection for an in-depth look at everything shown off so far.

Many are wondering if Rockstar and parent company Take-Two plan to charge something above $70 for the game's standard edition. A Bank of America stock analyst believes GTA 6 should be priced at $80 to help encourage other developers to raise prices as well.

Strauss Zelnick, the head of Take-Two, recently said it doesn't make sense that prices have not gone up very much for new game releases in the past decade.

Whatever it costs, GTA 6 is going to be 2026's biggest hit, with projections saying it could sell 40 million copies in its first year.

Following the announcement that GTA 6 preorders will begin soon, Take-Two's stock price jumped by more than 3.5%. This is likely due to excitement about Take-Two finally getting money in the bank from GTA 6 after so many years.

In other GTA news, everyone who owns GTA 5 digitally on PS4 or Xbox One can now get a free upgrade to the PS5 or Xbox Series X|S edition. The freebie offer comes just ahead of the release of GTA Online's next big update in July.

In just over a month, Marvel's most iconic superhero will be back in theaters in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But first, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will be getting a free update that adds Peter Parker's latest cinematic outfit to the in-game collection of costumes.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 developer Insomniac Games shared the news on social media that the "Fresh Start" suit will be available as a free update on July 28, just a few days before Brand New Day opens in theaters on July 31. The costume was briefly glimpsed at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, which featured Peter assuming a more comic-book-accurate outfit after meeting his counterparts from another world.

https://twitter.com/insomniacgames/status/2067328402399641920

There hasn't been any official word about Tom Holland reprising his role in Avengers: Doomsday later this year, but it seems like a pretty safe bet that Spider-Man will appear in some capacity. If he gets another outfit in that film, Spider-Man 2 could get another update.

While Marvel's Spider-Man 3 is in development, Insomniac is tackling another superhero later this year. Marvel's Wolverine will feature the X-Men's most popular mutant in a world where the team doesn't appear to have been formed. Many of the combat mechanics appear to have taken some of the aspects from Insomniac's earlier Spider-Man games, including team-up moves between Wolverine and Jean Grey.

Marvel's Wolverine will hit PlayStation 5 on September 15.

While some fans are still holding out hope for a financial savior to sweep in and save Nagoshi Studios' debut title, Gang of Dragon, more small details have emerged from print and social media this week that paint a very unpleasant picture of the studio's fate.

Things haven't been looking particularly rosy for the upstart Nagoshi Studios--headed by former Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi--for a while now. Following a reveal of their debut title, , at The Game Awards, things soon looked very shaky when it was revealed that their primary funder, Chinese giant NetEase, was pulling out of further commitments. Following the sudden vanishing (and reappearance) of their YouTube channel, followed by their website going offline, things have been pointing in a dire direction.

The first indication of further trouble comes from the 40th anniversary issue of storied Japanese video game magazine Famitsu. As reported by Automaton, the issue contains congratulatory messages from a variety of Japanese game creators, including Toshihiro Nagoshi. But what's notable is that Nagoshi, rather than being listed as attached to a studio--such as the one named after him--or freelance like the other featured individuals, is simply listed as "game creator."

Another indicator of the studio's health--or lack thereof--comes from popular social media deal-finder/news-breaker Wario64, who noticed something peculiar in the Twitter profile of studio co-founder and director Daisuke Sato.

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/2067338404103180591

With such a high-profile figure now listing his involvement with the studio as "ex-," combined with Nagoshi's lack of title in Famitsu, it's hardly a stretch to assume that Nagoshi Studio is either defunct or running on fumes and praying for a miracle. Either way, it's unlikely that Gang of Dragon will surface in the big-budget, AAA-game form that was originally envisioned, if it surfaces at all.

With the game industry as a whole undergoing a contraction and numerous storied studios being shuttered, Nagoshi Studios likely becoming another casualty is a depressing--but also unsurprising--outcome. Fans of the older-style Yakuza titles may have to look to Stranger than Heaven (which has seen blowback over casting choices) or Virtua Fighter Crossroads to attempt to scratch that itch.

While the older Call of Duty games have remained on Xbox through the console generations, PlayStation owners haven't seen the first two Black Ops games available on their hardware since the PlayStation 3 era. That's going to change this summer as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 make their modern debut on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

The Black Ops ports were rumored earlier this month, but they've now been confirmed by developer Treyarch for a July release via social media. Per the announcement, the ports were handled by Iron Galaxy. However, these are not remasters of the original games. In other words, don't expect dramatic visual upgrades.

https://twitter.com/Treyarch/status/2067321420032721282

Black Ops 1 was released in 2010 and it was followed by Black Ops 2 in 2012. Since then, Black Ops has been one of the most popular mini-franchises within the Call of Duty brand. There were even two games--Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7--released back to back in 2024 and 2025.

For this year's Call of Duty title, the Black Ops franchise is taking a break in favor of a new installment in the Modern Warfare games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is slated to hit Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and PC on October 23. However, there is an early-access option for preorders and pre-purchases for the MW4 standard digital edition or the Vault edition. Modern Warfare 4 is also adding a GTA-like wanted system to its DMZ.

After launching on Switch and Switch 2 earlier this year, Pokemon Champions has gone mobile this week with its official release on iOS and Android devices. It's a free-to-play title on mobile, and there's a valuable in-game freebie available for players on all platforms who join in now.

Starting from today, June 17, until Wednesday, September 2, Pokemon Champions players on both mobile and consoles will get Raichu and the Raichunite X and Raichunite Y stones by checking their in-game mailbox. With the Mega Stones, players have the option to evolve Raichu into more powerful forms, including Mega Raichu X and Mega Raichu Y.

The Pokemon Company International didn't specify whether the Raichunite X and Raichunite Y stones would be for sale after September 2. While the game itself is free, it does have in-game purchases in addition to free downloads. Players on Switch can also pick up their games on mobile through cross-play and vice versa.

For players who are new to Pokemon Champions, GameSpot has put together a beginner's guide to the game. GameSpot's Pokemon Champions Review on Switch 2 gave it a 7/10, and called it "one of the most thrilling competitive games" for players who are willing to put in the time and learn how to play.

In other Pokemon news, the cozy game Pokemon Pokopia is getting a free underwater expansion in August as well as paid DLC. Meanwhile, one thief's attempt to steal valuable Pokemon cards with a chainsaw ended very badly for him.

Dispatch players on Switch consoles can grab a new "HR Violations Pack" patch for the game--one that spices things up by removing some of the game's censorship. Available for US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand players, the patch enables an option to see "breasts, butts, and birds (AKA, obscene gestures)."

Developer AdHoc has also provided alternative options for censoring content in the game, as the Switch version originally used intrusive black bars. Players can now apply a mosaic filter instead, or if you're a John Cena fan, you can cover up characters with strategically placed jorts. According to the studio, certain "hard requirements" from Nintendo remain in effect, so seeing genitalia outright is still not happening, and certain erotic audio effects won't be heard.

So what exactly happened to Dispatch when it was first released on Switch consoles? According to an explanation AdHoc gave GameSpot, it was pressed for time, and it made use of a single Switch build that complied "with Nintendo's strictest regional rating," resulting in heavy-handed censorship in the game.

A closer look at Dispatch's new Switch censorship options

"Approaching launch and running out of time and resources, we were surprised to learn that our game would require some level of censoring in all regions, not just the few we were already planning for," AdHoc wrote. "In a difficult spot, we decided to use a single Switch build that complied with Nintendo's strictest regional rating. This led us to deliver a more censored version of Dispatch than Switch players were expecting."

AdHoc added many people wishlisted and preordered the game based on what they'd see in trailers, previews, and reviews of the game on its original PC and PS5 launch platforms, with the studio admitting that it should have informed Switch owners of the censored experience that they were going to get. "For that, we're truly sorry," AdHoc wrote. "But you stuck with us. And the good news is that the success you all brought Dispatch gave us the opportunity to make this right, so we invested development time into creating the Switch version you all should have gotten in the first place."

The new censorship options will also appear on other platforms, as well as on the Xbox version launching later in the summer. The Switch release of the critically acclaimed game was met with many complaints and requests for refunds once players discovered the censorship, and last year, AdHoc said that players had the right to be "pissed" when it announced that it was working on rectifying the situation.

Beyond that controversy, Dispatch emerged as one of last year's best games--even if it was snubbed during the awards season. Thanks to the positive reception, Dispatch Season 2 might already be in development.

Epic Games and Disney have announced that The Simpsons is being added to the Fortnite UEFN program, which means players will be able to make "fully authentic" games based on the iconic animated show.

This will include officially licensed characters and settings. Epic and Disney previously partnered to bring Star Wars assets to UEFN, and the things people have made have been astounding.

https://twitter.com/FNCreate/status/2067276639562842524

The tools go live later this year, so there is no word yet on any limitations that might exist. For Star Wars, Disney had several blockers, including prohibiting people from using Star Wars assets for political means.

In terms of what people will make with the UEFN tools, one near-certainty is that someone will try to remake 2003's The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Fans have been calling for some of remake or re-release of the game for years, after all.

As for a proper remake made outside of Fortnite, one of the producers of The Simpsons said it's possible.

Adding The Simpsons to UEFN makes a lot of sense. After all, last year's Fortnite x The Simpsons crossover was hugely popular, reaching 80 million unique players and pushing Fortnite to player populations not seen in a long time.

Disney Digital Entertainment boss Ray Gresko told Variety, "What we found with the Star Wars IP toolkit is that when you hand developers the assets--the characters, the worlds, the visual language--their passion for the content comes through in the surprising, creative, and engaging experiences they make."

He added: "We wanted to see what that looks like with Springfield and we can’t wait to see what creators do with it."

One of the big casualties of Microsoft's layoffs in 2025 was Project Blackbird, an action-RPG MMO from The Elder Scrolls Online team at ZeniMax. Described as Destiny 2 meets Cyberpunk 2077, the game was reportedly canceled in mid-2025. According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, it could have been the game to succeed Destiny 2--now that Bungie has wound down development on it--as he believes it could have been a huge hit if it had been released.

In a new video on his YouTube channel, Schreier spoke about the current state of Xbox and how he'd heard nothing but good things about Blackbird. "Destiny just died, and if Xbox had a game like Blackbird ready to go to kind of fill that void that Destiny has left, that could have been a hit. I've heard nothing but good things about that game. Granted, a big, very expensive project [that] spent a lot of time in development [and] was having struggles of its own, but everything I've heard about that game is so positive. It's really a shame that it was canceled, I think, because I think it could have helped fill a much-needed gap, for Xbox right now."

https://youtu.be/wfJ8qreLv8k

Currently, Xbox's next big games include Gears of War: E-Day from The Coalition and Clockwork Revolution from InXile Entertainment. Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler--who led development on the two Ori games that Xbox published--also recently gave his informed take on Xbox and how the company leans too heavily on legacy IP instead of nurturing the talent needed to create the next generation of blockbusters. "Xbox has struggled for a long time to identify, empower, and protect the key creative people and teams who could have kept the brand at the top," Mahler wrote in an online post.

As for why Microsoft killed Blackbird? That could be due purely to financial reasons, as Microsoft has focused more than ever on remaining profitable in recent years.

"You could be at the best studio in the world, and decisions happen that impact people. I didn't agree with what happened, but I understood the reasoning behind it. It is just financial," former The Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor said in a recent interview. "We're a number on a ledger, and if that number is large, it is ripe for analysis, shall we say, and that number was always large."

Ahead of GTA 6's release in November, Rockstar Games has announced that anyone who owns a digital copy of GTA 5 for PS4 or Xbox One will get a free upgrade to the PS5 or Xbox Series X|S version.

The native versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S normally cost $40. They include better graphics and faster loading times, among other things.

This starts on June 18, Rockstar said. The free upgrade offer is coming ahead of the release of GTA Online's next big update, The Kortz Center Heist, which releases in July.

The Kortz Center.

The Kortz Center Heist is a multi-stage heist where players will break into The Kortz Center and steal works of art. "Now the time has come to raid this prestigious gallery’s esteemed collection for personal gain," Rockstar said.

That's all Rockstar had to say about the upcoming expansion, but more information will be announced in the weeks ahead.

GTA 5 and GTA Online have been enormously successful, with GTA 5 passing 230 million copies sold and GTA Online staying strong with its ongoing updates.

GTA 6 releases on November 19, and Take-Two's top boss recently re-committed to that date and explained why the game is taking so long.

Almost six years after it was first released for the PS5 console, the DualSense controller is still one of the best peripherals for gaming thanks to its haptic feedback features. But on PC? Those features do work, but with a USB-C string attached, technically. Hope might finally be on the horizon, as one app is promising to make the full DualSense package work wirelessly on PC--for a price.

A new update to the third-party app DSX has unlocked wireless haptics and Bluetooth audio on PC--alongside several other features like custom profiles and a suite of customization options. Spotted by Digital Foundry, the beta version of the new patch essentially allows a DualSense to operate the same on PC as it would on PS5, by creating a "virtual" DualSense that receives signals from supported games. The feature is available to owners of the DSX Steam app and its DSX+ DLC, which is moderately priced at under $12 if you buy it in a bundle deal. Normally, the only way to unlock full DualSense features on PC is to connect it directly to your system via USB-C.

See on Steam

For now, it looks like this is the best option for anyone wanting to get the most out of games that support the unique features of the DualSense, including Sony's own PlayStation Studios ports. Bafflingly, Sony never once sought to capitalize on the PC market by releasing a dongle for the DualSense that could unlock the full functionality of the controller on that platform, although homebrew efforts have sought to fill that gap in the market.

The DualSense controller has remained largely the same since it was first released, with software updates further tweaking it over the years. A few years ago, Sony released the beefier DualSense Edge controller, an upgraded peripheral designed to offer a high-end experience to users. What does the future hold for controller technology?

Sony isn't ready to spill the beans just yet, but it is exploring several ideas--like a controller with buttons that can dynamically harden or soften depending on what's happening in your game.

Developer Mintrocket and movie production studio The Asylum have teamed up to create a live-action short film for Dave the Diver's soon-to-launch In the Jungle DLC. The Asylum is known for its work on the Sharknado series, as well as Meth Gator more recently, and the Dave the Diver short film is keeping with the over-the-top tone you'd expect.

The short film was written and directed by Anthony C. Ferrante. Steven Tulumello plays Dave the Diver, with Steve Falcone as Cobra, Kofi Baffour as Bancho, Von Antonio as Dr. Bacon, Vivian True as Muna, and G. Anthony Joseph as Chief Panutah.

Dave the Diver: In the Jungle launches on June 18.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkL-kZ8UsBc

In the Jungle is a $10 expansion that sees Dave and his team travel to the jungle to "investigate a mysterious phenomenon" and explore a new underwater ecosystem. The DLC promises more than 10 hours of new story and gameplay.

The summer of gaming is far from over, as following a week of showcases, the next big event is Gamescom in August. With the show drawing closer, more gaming companies are confirming that they'll be headed to Germany soon, including Xbox. Microsoft's gaming division will once again have a presence at the Koelnmesse, but it's pushing ahead with these plans while its future looks increasingly uncertain.

For now, Xbox says that its Gamescom presence will be headlined by Gears of War: E-Day, which will be playable on the Gamescom showfloor. Typically, Xbox also holds a dedicated Gamescom showcase after Geoff Keighley's Gamescom Opening Night Live event, dropping a new look at upcoming games. Since this takes place in the wake of the June Xbox Games Showcase, the broadcast is usually more of the same, with several Game Pass announcements mixed in.

Gamescom's stomping grounds of Cologne, Germany, is also the first stop on the Xbox FanFest event--a global tour that celebrates Xbox's 25th anniversary--this year. While the external messaging around Xbox has certainly been positive throughout 2026, recent reports indicate that there's some major turmoil happening behind the scenes.

https://bsky.app/profile/xbox.com/post/3moieyr267s2m

Some analysts are claiming that upcoming Xbox exclusives like Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are being sent out to die--something Xbox has disputed--and reports say that Microsoft is preparing to lay off staff and close multiple development studios soon. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has also alluded to upcoming changes at Xbox, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that Xbox needs to find a way to transform into a "sustainable" business for the company.

While Xbox hasn't confirmed yet which of its other upcoming games will be at Gamescom, things do look dire for the studios that are making them. Compulsion Games, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory are said to be facing potential closures, but there might be hope for them to spin off from Xbox.

The news looks especially bad for Ninja Theory, as the studio has just announced its new game, Senua. According to Stephen Totilo's Game File, Microsoft was already planning to split from Ninja Theory, and the decision to reveal Senua during the Xbox Games Showcase was made to draw investor interest.

Gabe Newell, the billionaire founder of Valve, has paid $70.8 million to buy a 20,000 square-foot seaside mega-mansion in Florida featuring seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, and an underground tunnel to the beach.

The home was listed for sale in 2025 with an asking price of $85 million. It officially sold for $70,851,054 on June 15, or about 16% under the asking price. You can see many photos of the humble abode on Zillow. A video you can see below (from five years ago) takes you through the home.

The Wall Street Journal said Newell was the purchaser of the home, which is right down the road from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

The previous owners were Cindy and Ron McMackin, who founded Pan-Pacific Mechanical. They bought the home in 2020 for about $39 million, so they certainly turned a nice profit on the sale to Newell.

"We found a great family, it seems, to buy that home from us," Ron McMackin told WSJ.

The home exists in the exclusive Manalapan community. Fellow billionaires Larry Ellison and David MacNeil also own homes in the community. Sean Hannity and Tony Robbins also live there. Billy Joel sold his Manalapan home in 2024 for $43 million.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD5-8y3vTBM

Newell's purchase of the Florida mansion came during a lawsuit against the company pertaining to monopoly concerns.

This was just the latest major purchase for Newell, as he owns a fleet of super-yachts as well. Valve is based in Bellevue, Washington, but Newell is known to do a lot of work from sea. Newell was visiting New Zealand when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and he had 48 hours to decide if he would stay or go--he stayed.

Newell is not the first gaming billionaire to spend big money on a home. Markus "Notch" Persson, who created Minecraft and sold it to Microsoft, paid $70 million for a Beverly Hills mansion in 2014, outbidding Beyonce and Jay-Z for it. Persson threw a housewarming party, and Selena Gomez dropped by.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Microsoft was planning to close, or spin out, Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and potential other studios as part of a round of layoffs and studio closures. Now, a report suggests that Microsoft knew it planned to close Ninja Theory before the studio announced its new Hellblade game, Senua, during the Xbox Games Showcase just ten days ago.

According to Stephen Totilo's Game File, Microsoft "had already planned to sunset or split" with Ninja Theory by the time Senua's trailer debuted, thinking that a newly announced game would "draw investor interest."

Totilo notes that it's unclear whether anyone in Ninja Theory's leadership team was involved with, or even aware of, that plan.

The report follows a bumper interview that Xbox Wire published about Senua, in which it said, "The original Hellblade famously ended with the line, 'There are more stories to tell.' Senua feels like Ninja Theory has expanded that to a philosophy of, 'There are new kinds of games to make.'"

Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews also noted that the gap between Hellblade 2 and Senua being small is deliberate. "It’s not about rushing something out the door--we would never do that--but we want to ship games."

https://youtu.be/H2eP2xtTEzw

It began with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's "reset" memo, which noted that Xbox has spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments, but that the annual revenue has declined almost half a billion in the same time. "Going forward, this cannot continue," Sharma said. That was followed immediately by Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan stepping down.

While Ninja Theory, Double Fine, and Compulsion are all reportedly in talks with Microsoft over potential buyouts, the studios will need investment to go independent if those negotiations are successful.

Alongside those imminent threats, it remains to be seen whether Ninja Theory would even be permitted to take its Hellblade franchise with it wherever it goes. When Microsoft closed Lionhead, there was investment interest, but those talks didn't amount to anything since Microsoft was unwilling to let the Fable name go.

It remains unclear what the future holds for the studios facing closure. There's a sliver of hope in the fact that Microsoft appears to be hoping for investors to buy the studios rather than shuttering them entirely, but only time will tell if that approach is successful.

Late last month, Kwalee Labs launched its first-person horror shooter Luna Abyss on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. But not even a day-one Game Pass release was apparently enough to save the jobs of the team that made Luna Abyss.

Kwalee Labs CEO and production director Hollie Emery announced on her LinkedIn page that she and the other eight members of Luna Abyss's development team were laid off earlier this week for undisclosed reasons.

"Unfortunately as of yesterday, the entire team has been made redundant; a decision that was completely outside of our control," wrote Emery. "As a result, the entire team are available for work as of today."

Emery also stated that she and the rest of her team were "enamoured by the love and support it received both by our industry and critically by journalists and media. Whilst we faced many challenges along the way, it has been the highlight of our careers--and we are incredibly proud that it has finally seen the light of day."

According GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, Luna Abyss had an 81% score and was largely received well by critics. While the title's Game Pass numbers aren't available, its peak concurrent players on Steam was 18,597 near launch. However, its most recent 24-hour peak was only 310 players, which marks a dramatic drop-off.

Luna Abyss puts players in control of Fawkes, a woman who has been imprisoned on a moon called Luna and tasked to excavate and explore the deep passages beneath the surface while monitored by her A.I. prison guard, Aylin. As Fawkes uncovers the secrets of Luna, she's forced to fight for her life against cosmic horrors that defy description.

Presumably Luna Abyss will remain available on its current platforms. The layoffs of Kwalee Labs' developers comes at a time when even prominent first-party studios at Xbox are currently negotiating with Microsoft to avoid being shut down. The final fate of those studios is currently unclear.

When the Baldur's Gate TV show was announced in 2025, people quickly became suspicious when it was confirmed that developer Larian has no involvement in it. Now, actor Samantha Béart--who plays Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3--has shared a positive-sounding update about the live-action series.

Béart told GamesRadar that Craig Mazin, who is heading up the Baldur's Gate TV series, reached out to personally express that he believes the "key cast of Baldur's Gate 3 should be meaningfully on-screen on the show as someone familiar or someone new."

Those comments don't tell us much in the way of specifics, but it sounds positive that Mazin wants the cast of the game to be involved in the show in some part. That wouldn't be unprecedented for Mazin, as he also hired actors from The Last of Us game to be in The Last of Us TV show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-GDJDUD6B4

Before this, Larian boss Swen Vincke said Mazin reached out to the studio and discussed how he is a huge fan of the game.

The Baldur's Gate TV show, which is being made for HBO where Mazin also has The Last of Us, will depict events that occur after the video game, and fan concerns stem from the fact that there are several possible endings that the show can pick up from.

Vincke addressed this as well, saying, “The endings of BG3 were created so they could serve as narrative soil for new adventures. There’s plenty of directions they could go. I’m eager to find out which ones Craig and his team will pick. He’s reached out for a chat, so we’ll have the opportunity to tell him our thoughts.”

That Larian would have no official, public involvement in the Baldur's Gate TV show is hardly a surprise given that the studio ended its partnership with Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast. 

Up next for Larian is a new Divinity game. The developers used generative AI in the early stages of development, angering fans. The final game won't have any generative AI content in it, however, Larian is promising.

The next game from Gareth Damian Martin, the lead developer for Citizen Sleeper and its sequel, is a drastic shift away from playing as a sentient android desperately trying to survive while managing resources and relationships. Called Signet City, the first-person fungalpunk RPG sees you play as a sentient spore who must spread itself through a city by secretly infecting new individuals. As a spore, you become the new guiding psyche of those you infect, acting as a voice that influences how they feel, so you can then shape how they act, and ultimately direct how events play out in the city. Even if it doesn't work like how they do mechanically, narratively, it sounds like you're playing as the sentient skills in Disco Elysium or Esoteric Ebb--you're an outside perspective doing its best to guide your host to what you think is the best outcome.

"As a parasite, each day you choose which host to drop into and then you have a limited number of actions that day," Martin told me. "And each host kind of comes with a part of the city that they live in, like a little hub. I think it's better to think of it as more something like Dishonored where you have these little chunks of the city--you don't have a whole city that you can walk around."

"The key thing is the parasite feeds on emotion. And the skill system, the RPG aspect of the game, is all based on emotion. So let's say as the parasite, you want to get to this specific area of a [certain] hub. So you load in as that character and you're like, 'Okay, there's this door in my way. I'm going to have to find a way to get through it. One way that I could get through it is [kicking] it down, but if I want to kick it down, I [can] get a modifier increase if my host is angry. So I'm going to take him into the pub and I'm going to get him in an argument with somebody who's in the pub and that will get [my host] more angry and now I can [more easily] kick down this door.'"

Like both Citizen Sleeper games, you're still rolling a six-sided die in Signet City, so any choice you make can still fail thanks to the cruelty of chance. Martin talked about how, in the kicking down the door example, you could injure your infected host in the attempt. And that might lead you to try solving the same problem but with a different host. And since no two hosts are the same, the manner by which you can help them out is different. To push someone into a state of adrenaline, you might need to have them discover political posters of a person or policy they don't support, for example, or take them to the top of a skyscraper if they're afraid of heights. 

"In a weird way, there's a little bit of Firewatch to it in the sense that when you're one of these characters, you're walking around the space and you're kind of discovering it," Martin said. "And then when you find something that the character can do or react to, you find it by looking and then you hold the left trigger to then bring up the UI that relates to that."

What I find most interesting about this is how this type of storytelling plays with the concept of perception. As someone who plays a lot of tabletop role-playing games, I'm engaging in make-believe with other adults several times a week. And during those sessions, players often switch up how they refer to themselves and the character they're playing as. I'll always use first-person "I," when talking about myself, but I'll also use it when I'm pretending to be my character. But not always, though. I'll also say that my character does something as if I were a narrator directing them. So while I'm almost always using first-person, I'll sometimes use third-person, and even second-person on very rare occasions. 

In that same respect, Signet City is a game told in first-, second-, and third-person. The camera view is first-person, but the game refers to the parasite as "you," and then the various hosts are talked about in third-person. But it's still just you, the player, behind it all. When I spoke to Martin about it, they said that the relationship of perspective was the exact concept they wanted to explore in Signet City.

"The parasite is influenced by observing tabletop play and how when you're playing a character in tabletop role-playing games, sometimes you're using your name, sometimes you use [your character's] name," Martin said. "Sometimes you're like, 'Oh, it would be really cool if this really bad thing happened to my character right now, because that would be really interesting.' And sometimes you're more in their head and you're more like, 'Oh God, I really don't want this to go bad. I'd really, really like [a good roll] to just make this go well.' And I think that is a really interesting space. I think video games don't really get into that--they don't think about the player [as a conflicting perspective] that much. Maybe in Baldur's Gate [3], you get a bit of that when you do a Dark Urge playthrough. But that, for me, is a really exciting part of tabletop games, so that's something that I'm trying to get into."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO4uKabqRQo

"It opens up the writing because I have to try and figure out, 'How do I write this?' So the game is in second-person and third-person simultaneously because [when] I write what it's like to be the parasite, [I use] 'you, you, you,' and then I write what the host is experiencing. So, 'Sid does this, Sid does that, Sid feels this.' And so that is a really exciting and interesting space to play. And so for me, I find it interesting to set myself those challenges and those structures. And a lot of it is really based on things I found interesting in Citizen Sleeper, but that that form couldn't necessarily contain. But if I change the form and I do something a bit more out there [with Signet City], I can find space to do it.

Where these perspectives ultimately collide and begin to grate against one another is where Signet City seems to be delving into punk, creating friction and counterculture within its urban setting via the clashing perspectives of the city at large and the more personal battles between the fungal parasite and individual hosts.

"I think there are connections absolutely to authoritarianism, but there are also connections to revolution and radical ideas," Martin said. "And I think that's what really excited me about beginning to work on this, was that a parasite can represent both of those things simultaneously and you can engage with the idea." 

"If you are the most powerful being in [the city], then ultimately that's what you're growing to be. What are you driving the city towards and what do you see your role in it being? Are you a shepherd or are you a master? Do you instigate or do you control? Do you destroy, or are you like, 'Yeah, f**k the humans. They've destroyed ecology, ecology's coming for them now. They should actually die.' These are the things that I think you can really get into with having a protagonist like [a fungal spore] and having a structure like this game."

We'll have to wait a bit longer to get a better understanding of how Signet City will look and play, as only an announcement trailer for the game has been revealed so far. In my conversation with Martin, they said they're about midway through development, so there's definitely no chance of the game releasing this year.

As we creep closer to another generation of PlayStation consoles, Sony is exploring potential additions to its controllers that could set it apart in a similar way to the DualSense with the PlayStation 5. According to a new patent, that could include buttons that harden, or soften, according to what is happening on screen.

The patent application, which was filed in November 2024 with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and published in May earlier this year (and found by Cheat Happens), details several different ways that buttons on a controller can have their physical properties changed. In one, the controller makes use a magneto-viscoelastic elastomer that alters how much force is required to push a button based on surrounding magnets. Another approach includes utilising fluid-filled membranes for the same effect, but you can probably imagine why this might not be a great idea for a controller's longevity.

One design showing a button harden around a player's finger.

The patent goes on to describe an alternative button effect where a player's finger can sink into it, before it hardens up around the finger afterwards. This is probably the strangest of the solutions, but could be used to simulate several scenarios where your character is stuck and requires more force to move or release. Whether you want your controller biting you is entirely subjective, however.

Experiments like these are what ultimately led to the current DualSense controller, which makes good use of adaptive triggers to simulate various context-sensitive actions, such as alternative fire modes in Saros or the tension of a web swing in Spider-Man 2.

With Sony expected to release a new PlayStation in either 2028 or 2029, patents such as these could give an indication of what might be included in the eventual DualSense successor. But, like several patents before it, its filing does not in any way mean that Sony will follow through with its designs.

Xbox's chief strategy officer has pushed back against claims that Microsoft could "reverse course" and alter its stance on exclusive games. At the same time, analyst Rhys Elliott of Anlinea Analytics tells GameSpot that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are being sent out to die on purpose.

Matthew Ball, who joined Xbox earlier this year, said the rumors saying Microsoft might "reverse course" are false. Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution "will stay exclusive," he said, adding that there are "no conversations and have been no conversations to 'reverse course.'"

Not only is Microsoft not changing its stance on exclusives, Ball reiterated that Microsoft plans to build on this and release "signature exclusives ... every year."

E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not timed exclusives for Xbox, but full exclusives, Microsoft has said. The company said the same thing about Starfield, though, and it later came to PlayStation 5.

"Sacrificial Lambs"

Elliott told GameSpot that Microsoft will never succeed in the console space and promising fans exclusive games to help drive console sales is not going to make a difference. Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are basically being sent out to die, he said.

"Console as we know it is over for Xbox--and has been for a while. There’s no turning that ship. But they still need to pretend to care until they’ve transitioned to pastures where they can return to growth (if they succeed)," he said.

"A Gears console exclusive does not shift meaningful numbers of Series X units. Exclusivity as a hardware-driver is over for them, because the install base it would drive simply isn't responsive enough to justify the cost of building hardware at a 5x component premium. And those games are on Steam anyway," he added.

Elliott went on to say that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are "sacrificial lambs for hearts-and-minds, not economics."

"Xbox is pulling some games off PlayStation while keeping them on Steam, so they’re still adding to Steam's value proposition while adding almost nothing to their own console's," he said.

Elliott went on to say it's plainly obvious that there was a PS5 edition of E-Day in the works, and lots of evidence suggests this is true. Meanwhile, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's reported decision to pull a Halo trailer from the recent PlayStation State of Play event was "symbolic, relationship-damaging, and revenue-negative" for Xbox, he said.

"I’m not sure how worth it the exclusivity change is in the long term--and I expect there to be some backtracking once the revenue numbers come in," Elliott added. "If the data is any guide, the titles that stay Xbox-first or Xbox-only will mostly be the ones a sliver of the PlayStation audience would have bought anyway. So nobody is really losing sleep over that math."

Going forward, Elliott said he expects Microsoft to take the same approach it has for years with regards to exclusive games, and that is that Microsoft will pick these on a case-by-case basis. "Which is a polite way of saying symbolic where it's cheap, abandoned where it's expensive," he said.

"The spreadsheet wins the argument it always wins"

Elliott went on to say that the "tell" from Microsoft that its exclusivity plan is not working will be if the company announces future multiplatform releases for PS5, messaged to players that it was actually a "case-by-case" decision. In reality, though, Elliott said this was "always a hearts-and-minds gesture with a shelf life."

Elliott said he expects this to happen at some point over the next year, after the numbers come in and show that the math just does not work.

"I'd expect any backtracking to land after a quarter or two of revenue numbers, once the cost of walking away from 90M-plus PS5 owners shows up in a report someone has to present. That's the moment the spreadsheet wins the argument it always wins," he said.

Pain ahead

According to reports, Microsoft is going to lay off staff and close, or spin off, multiple development studios soon due to Xbox's financial struggles of late.

Just recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about how Xbox has been struggling for some time and that it is imperative that Microsoft finds a way to “turn [Xbox] into a sustainable business.”

The way Microsoft is apparently going to do this is by making drastic cuts to "reset" the Xbox business. Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Arkane, and Ninja Theory are all currently said to be negotiating with Microsoft to decide their fates. Double Fine reacted to the reports with the sweat smile emoji.

https://twitter.com/DoubleFine/status/2066719196944478636

In a blog post announcing what's to come for Xbox in the next 100 days, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma alluded to major changes, and difficult ones.

"For some of you, these realities will be surprising and even frustrating to discover," she told staff. "We won’t succeed by hiding hard truths, nor will we succeed by doing the same thing and expecting different results."