Wuchang: Fallen Feathers launched last week, and while it's done well with critics, it's sitting at a mixed rating on Steam. Why? According to a number of player reviews, optimization issues. Earlier today, however, developer Leenzee put out a response to the game's issues, where it spoke about what it plans to do to solve the game's current problems.

"First and foremost, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone for their continued patience and understanding regarding the recent issues surrounding the launch of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers," wrote the developer. "Your experience and feedback is [a] valuable foundation for our team. We will provide a comprehensive explanation about the game content soon."

One of the issues the game has experienced so far is related to preorder bonuses, as an update released on July 25 did not properly distribute these bonuses to all players. As compensation for this, those who own the deluxe-edition of the game on Steam will be getting three extra sets of deluxe costumes and four weapons, and both standard- and deluxe-edition owners will get three headgear items on all platforms.

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell is a billionaire, but what does he attribute to his business success? Speaking to Zalkar Saliev on YouTube (via GamesRadar), Newell said it comes down to "luck" and "being surrounded by really great people."

Newell is reported to own a fleet of yachts, and he is known to work from one of his ships, taking breaks from time to time to go scuba diving. While Newell may be a billionaire, he said he is not one to "study the subject of billionaires and so on."

As for specific people that Newell credits with helping him along the way, he called out Neil Konzen, Doug Klunder, and Jeff Harbers, all of whom he worked with in the early days of Microsoft. Newell and Konzen worked on early versions of Microsoft Windows, while Klunder created Microsoft Excel. Harbers, meanwhile, developed early versions of Microsoft Office--he died in a plane crash in 2006.

Dead Space creator Glen Schofield has spoken about the state of the video game industry, revealing how "tough" times had led to him shelving an idea for a new breed of horror game that he had been working on with his daughter, Nicole. The veteran developer added that he might have directed his last game--The Callisto Protocol--as he had been unsuccessful in securing financial support for his new project after shopping the prototype to investors.

In a LinkedIn post, Schofield explained that he attempted to secure $17 million to finance the game's development, which would be used to recruit a small team of developers. While there was interest in the game, investors wanted to negotiate for a smaller budget, with some companies offering as little as $2 million. "So last month, we decided to walk away," Schofield wrote. "Some ideas are better left untouched than done cheap. We had a team of six here in the States and a full crew in the UK. Now, everyone’s looking for work. They're all talented folks--if you’re hiring, let me know."

Schofield added that after many years in the industry, he was focusing on his art and writing, but that he missed working with "great teams" in the AAA space. "[I] spent the last 15-20 years making big AAA titles with great teams. That's what I do. That's what I love. But with the industry on pause, AAA feels like it's a long ways away. So I'm back to my art. I miss it all--the team, the chaos, the joy of building something for fans. I’m still around, making art, writing stories and ideas, and still cheering the industry on. But maybe I’ve directed my last game," Schofield said.

The Friday the 13th films have been dead in the water for more than a decade due to an issue involving the rights to the series, also leading Friday the 13th: The Game's servers to shut down last year, leaving the game completely unplayable. Last year, though, after the rights issue had finally been resolved, the Jason Universe was announced as a multimedia effort supposedly including films, games, and more. Now, as announced at a panel held at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, it's been revealed that a new game is in the works.

This comes from Horror Inc. VP Robbie Barsamian (thanks, Bloody Disgusting), who said during the panel "I can tell you that a new sequel movie and new sequel game are at the top of our list. It’s where most of our energy’s going right now. And I can tell you finally we’re in a position to deliver on that." He went on to explain, "While we’re not officially announcing with our partners today, both are coming. They’re both in the works and they’re both coming."

Judging from these comments, it still sounds like pretty early days, so you probably shouldn't expect to hear anything concrete about it for a while yet.

Finding high-quality international snacks can be a challenge--most grocery stores leave much to be desired with their selections, so unless you happen to have a specialty shop nearby, you'll be pretty limited in what's available. TokyoTreat is arguably a better solution for most shoppers. The subscription box is designed to send you a unique, curated collection of Japanese candy and snacks on a monthly basis, and some of the packs even come with cool themes. The company is currently offering a bonus aptly named the "Kirby's Summer Surprise." Sign up now, and you'll get Japan-exclusive Kirby merch and snacks with your bundle. .

Getting the Kirby Bonus is easy. Just head over to the TokyoTreat website and sign up for one of plans. These are offered in four tiers, starting with a monthly plan for $37.50 per month, then increasing to $106.50 per three months (equal to $35.50 per month), $201 per six months (equal to $33.50 per month), and $390 annually (equal to $32.50 per month). Signing up for the three-month, six-month, or 12-month plans gets you a unique signup bonus. The most enticing of these is the bonus Kirby Kanagawa Set for the 12-month plan, which includes a limited-edition Kirby Bowl and Teacup set that you can normally only buy in Japan. All the plans and their bonuses are listed below. Note: The promo code should automatically apply when signing up, but if it doesn't, you can manually apply KIRBY25 at checkout to get the bonuses

• $37.50/Month -- No Bonus
• $106.50/Three Months -- Kirby Candy Tin
• $201/Six Months -- Kirby Yunomi Cup + Candy Tin bonus
• $390/Year -- Kirby Kanagawa Set bonus

Madden NFL 26 launches on August 14, but there is a way to play the game up to seven days early, beginning August 7--if you're willing to pay extra. The game's Deluxe and MVP bundles come with seven-day early access.

The Deluxe edition costs $100 and also comes with 4,600 Madden Points and other in-game items, while the MVP bundle costs $150 and includes both Madden NFL 26 and College Football 26, as well as numerous extra in-game items for both games. These bundles are available for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

This appears to be an updated preorder benefit, as EA previously announced a three-day early-access period for the Deluxe and MVP bundles. For more, be sure to check out GameSpot's Madden NFL 26 preorder guide.

Bella Ramsey has discussed the departure of Neil Druckmann from HBO's The Last of Us TV series, saying the show will aim to stay true to the spirit of the game despite Druckmann and the show parting ways.

"The world of The Last of Us is his creation, and so his voice and creative input. It doesn't just go away in Season 3 because he's not as actively involved. It will always be his creation," Ramsey told Variety. "And we're always in everything that we do, honoring the game and Neil's creation. He'll definitely be missed on set. But his spirit is the story."

Druckmann announced his departure from The Last of Us earlier this month, saying he was stepping aside to instead focus on writing and directing Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Druckmann said co-creating the TV series was a "career highlight," adding that he was honored to work alongside Craig Mazin on the series. For his part, Mazin is staying with The Last of Us for its upcoming third season, which may be the show's last.

After several years of development, the God of War TV series at Amazon is starting to gain momentum. This live-action adaptation of the iconic PlayStation IP won't be a remake of the games, but like other projects based on popular video game IP, you can expect it to cherry-pick the best elements from its source material and remix them into a new adventure.

At San Diego Comic-Con, series showrunner Ronald D. Moore spoke about how Sony Santa Monica's 2018 God of War game is serving as the primary inspiration for the series. "This world and this universe are really rich, and it's interesting, and it's really been fun to adapt," Moore said to Collider. "It's an adaptation, so it's an adaptation-slash-interpretation as you go into live-action, and it's been really fun to sort of go, 'Wow, there's a lot here we can play with. Okay, we want to keep the story. We want to keep the characters and the spirit of it'. There's all this stuff that you can keep turning to for inspiration."

Moore added that God of War game director Cory Barlog is also actively involved with the series, and he referred to the developer as having an impressive and encyclopedic knowledge for all things God of War-related. "I usually pride myself about, as a showrunner, I can hold the season in my head," Moore said. "I know what the 10 episodes are, and I can tell you about them. Cory can tell you the whole thing in every possible way--all the mythology, how it connects one to the other, what the puzzles were, why they did this, and what that artifact did. It's really impressive."

No, there's still no proper release date in sight for Hollow Knight: Silksong, but European players will soon get the opportunity to find out for themselves if the elusive Metroidvania is actually real or not. Xbox has released its lineup for games it will be showing off during this year's Gamescom, held between August 20-24, where it shared that attendees will be able to try out the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. While the handhelds will include games like Roblox and Sea of Thieves to try out, a demo for Hollow Knight: Silksong is the big one here that will likely draw in some big queues.

There's no more details about the demo outside of that, but if you do get to try it out, don't expect a particularly long one given how busy the event can be. Notably, it's also the first time it will be playable publicly since 2019. Silksong is also slated to be playable at Australia's National Museum of Screen Culture in September.

Xbox did also list out a number of other games, both first and third-party that will have demos at the event. Ninja Gaiden 4 will be getting its first public demo for one, and Grounded 2 (which is out tomorrow, July 29) will be available to try out as well.

After a few hours with Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake, it became clear to me that the oft-derided developer had made something special, and the conversation about the studio was about to change. After a few hours with Bloober Team's next game, the sci-fi horror Cronos: The New Dawn, questions about the studio's capabilities are virtually an afterthought for me. I'm no longer wondering if the team can set and achieve lofty goals. Cronos has impressed in the two hours I've played it so far, and though I still have questions and will reserve my final judgment for the full game later this year, it's clear the team has found its secret weapon in how it has designed Cronos' combat gameplay.

When I previously saw Cronos during a hands-off showing in June, I likened its "merge system" of combat encounters to Dead Space, only played almost in reverse. Rather than strategically "cut off their limbs," like the famous bloody wall scrawl once instructed Isaac Clarke to do, Cronos delivers its own desperate plea: "Don't let them merge!" Enemies can absorb their defeated comrades, creating towering monstrosities that may well combine multiple classes into something more threatening.

For example, if one of the stalking husks of biomass that has blade-like appendages merges with one of the others that spews toxic bile at you, well, now you've got yourself a third, worse thing, offering the most horrific of both worlds. Sometimes the stakes are heightened from the get-go, with no shortage of motionless husks lying around any momentary battlefield you might find yourself in, and it may cross your mind to first burn away those buffs with a flamethrower--and maybe with a nearby fuel recharger, you can even accomplish this at times.

The video game TV series Twisted Metal from Sony Pictures TV returns this week on Peacock, and according to showrunner MJ Smith, viewers can look forward to a "more cinematic" season.

Speaking at a roundtable interview with press at the show's set in Toronto, Smith discussed feedback from Season 1 and what he hopes to achieve with Season 2. He said the feedback from Season 1 was that the show was "doing something right," which he thought was no small achievement given the difficulties during production. The show premiered in July 2023 amid multiple Hollywood strikes, which meant neither Smith nor the show's cast--including big names like Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Will Arnett, and Samoa Joe--could promote it.

"I think considering that, it was really nice to see people get it and connect," Smith said. "And I think, looking at the feedback, my whole vibe coming into Season 2 is what we did was right. We did something right. Now, let's just make it bigger. Let's make the car action bigger. Let's make the comedy bigger. Let's make the sets feel even more lived in. Let's, like, really take it up a notch in terms of what we can do with the show and what the show's tone is."

One of the standout elements of Peacock's Twisted Metal TV series is the character Sweet Tooth. Portrayed physically by wrestler and actor Samoa Joe and voiced by comedian Will Arnett, Sweet Tooth is an "agent of chaos" in the show who shows up to turn things upside down in all manner of unexpected and violent ways. To Samoa Joe, Sweet Tooth's actions might be heinous, but his personality is a fit for Hollywood.

"Growing up in the entertainment industry ... I know people like Sweet Tooth," Samoa Joe told GameSpot during a visit to the Twisted Metal set in Toronto. "People who are, by hook or by crook, no matter what, [trying] to make it. That energy has always been kind of present around me. I've known these people my entire life, ... and I try to bring aspects of that mania to what he's doing, because, you know, it is something that I've seen so many people get lost in. It's interesting to portray that."

Twisted Metal star Stephanie Beatriz will carry scars from making the show forever--both literal scars, and personal heartbreak she was going through in Season 1.

During a roundtable interview at the Twisted Metal set in Toronto attended by GameSpot, Beatriz revealed that she has a "huge scar" on her left ankle from Season 1. She said she was moving across the front of a car too fast and one of the "big, huge spikes" got her good.

It "ate the shit out of my leg," Beatriz said. The scar that it left behind will be there forever. "I'll always remember this show."

Twisted Metal Season 2 debuts this week on Peacock, and while Season 1 contained a number of high-octane action set pieces, Season 2 goes even further. Stephanie Beatriz, who plays Quiet, said fans can expect "really insane" action befitting the Twisted Metal name for Season 2. She also teased a Season 2 heist episode in which she was naked for a day.

"Season one, we had ... maybe three big, big action episodes," Beatriz said in a roundtable interview attended by GameSpot during a trip to the Twisted Metal set in Toronto "And I would say there are maybe five or six action episodes [in Season 2]. The stunts are really insane. It's a lot of practical stunts this time around. It's a lot more time spent in cars and and it's a lot of time seeing Quiet as a driver."

Anthony Mackie returns to the world of vehicle combat in Season 2 of Twisted Metal, the streaming series adaptation of Sony's video game franchise, premiering this week on Peacock. His role as John Doe might give him a unique perspective on game adaptations: He said there is a "shortage" of new ideas in Hollywood. which is why some companies are leveraging established intellectual property with built-in audiences for the best chance at getting a return on investment.

"To be honest, I think there's a shortage of fresh and new ideas [in Hollywood]," Mackie told GameSpot during a trip to Twisted Metal's set ahead of Season 2. "I think there's so many people who are unwilling to go out on a limb and try something different and creative. So now it's just like, 'We need established IP.' So the IP part of it, I think, is a big sell.

"You know, people in this business, we don't want to see if something works. We want something with an already built-in audience. So if it doesn't work, we can go to our boss and say, 'Hey, it was justified,' so the Mouse [Disney] can't fire you. So it's kind of ... it's just what the business has turned into."

When it comes to video games, Twisted Metal and Captain America actor Anthony Mackie prefers the classics over newer titles.

During a visit to the Twisted Metal set in Toronto, Mackie told GameSpot he doesn't enjoy modern games that involve running and gunning. Instead, he goes for games like Ms. Pac Man and The Simpsons Arcade Game.

In fact, when GameSpot spoke to Mackie in August 2024, he'd recently bought an original Simpsons Arcade Game machine.

Two years after Season 1, the second season of Twisted Metal, Peacock and Sony Pictures' streaming series adapted from Sony's Twisted Metal video game series, debuts this week. A lot happened in Season 1, and the main characters John Doe (Anthony Mackie) and Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) are facing new challenges in Season 2. It puts a lot of focus on a vehicular-combat tournament--which will be known to people who played the games--organized by Anthony Carrigan's Calypso

GameSpot visited the Twisted Metal Season 2 set in Toronto and caught up with Mackie, Beatriz, and other members of the cast and crew to find out everything we could about what's on tap. Plenty of details remain under wraps for Season 2, but Mackie and Beatriz outlined some of what to expect. This story contains spoilers for Twisted Metal.

In Season 2, John successfully delivers the package from Raven (Neve Campbell), which earns him citizenship in New San Francisco. No longer is John getting his hands dirty and running dangerous missions--he's now in the safe and sterile confines of the city.

As announced yesterday during the Middle-earth: The Adventure Ahead panel at San Diego Comic Con, the survival crafting game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is getting a brand new expansion. This new expansion, titled Durin's Folk, is very light on details though. It's currently slated for release in Q4, 2025, and a Steam post explains that you'll "continue the fight to restore Moria with an expanded end-game story, exciting new game mechanics, plus many unrevealed secrets!"

A small teaser trailer was also released, showing off a big empty hallway with a massive door being opened by a group of dwarves. Various characters speak over the trailer too, with one notably saying "Khazad-dum is the home of Durin's Folk." For some context, Khazad-dum is another name for Moria, so it sounds like this end-game focused expansion might actually be living up to the base game's subtitles. Durin is also one of the seven fathers of the dwarves, the original group of dwarves that founded the dwarven race, for any non-Lord of the Rings loreheads out there.

Return to Moria didn't receive an outstanding reception when it launched back in 2023, averaging a critics' score of 59 on Metacritic, and a user score of 6.8. The game appears to be doing better on Steam these days, with a very positive rating across all of its reviews.

EA's upcoming Skate reboot was announced just over five years ago, but the long wait apparently hasn't diminished interest in the game. Over 1 million players have signed up for the latest Skate playtest, and that's a milestone for EA.

According to EA, the eye-popping represents the biggest playtest sign-up in the history of the company. Although sign-ups are currently closed, EA indicated that everyone who registered for the current playtest will get their invitation by the end of July.

The original Skate was released in 2007, but the series had been on ice since Skate 3 in 2010. In 2020, EA announced that a Skate reboot was in development. The new title isn't following the same single-player path as the original trilogy. Instead, Skate will be a free-to-play game with live-service elements. Developer Full Circle recently revealed that Skate will require a constant internet connection because it was developed as a multiplayer sandbox title.

Better Call Saul and Mr. Show actor Bob Odenkirk usually comes off as a mild-mannered person in real life, but in an interview, Odenkirk spoke about just how his character of Hutch Mansell from the Nobody movies would fight, maim, and kill Nintendo's mascot Mario.

"I'll kill Mario, I'll tear that mustache off his face, jam it down his throat, take his swimming goggles, rip them to pieces, and stab him with those. It's gonna be bloody," Odenkirk said to IGN during San Diego Comic-Con.

Other pop-culture icons that would face the wrath of Hutch include most of the Brady Bunch family and--rightfully--Alvin and the Chipmunks. "I will step on them and crush them under my foot," Odenkirk said about the cinematic vermin. You'll hear the bones and the gush inside their bodies. And you're going to cheer."