The Dark Pictures Anthology is up to its fifth horror story in the ongoing series. Supermassive creative director Will Doyle told me The Dark Pictures will go on "as long as people keep buying them," adding that the team has a list of nearly 40 horror subgenres it's interested in tackling in the future. But the next one, Directive 8020, is set on a spaceship, and though I expected it to play like Alien or Event Horizon, it's actually much closer to The Thing.

"Since we made [2015's] Until Dawn, we've had people saying to us, 'Make The Thing, make The Thing!' It fits our mechanics really well. We have multiple characters that you control. We have multiplayer components, you're playing different characters. And we have choices. So that kind of 'Who do you trust?' element just fits the mechanics of the games we make."

Doyle's right; it's a great fit. In the game's multiplayer mode, each player is assigned a character or multiple characters. These characters thus become your wards, in a sense. And it's always tough when you lose your character, yet your friends are able to press on with theirs. Typically, every one of these playable characters can live or die, so there's long been a fun social element baked into The Dark Pictures: Who can get their people out still breathing?

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Obviously, it's personal preference, but Nintendo GameCube has one of the most smile-inducing system startup sequences with its purple cubes rolling around to a catchy tune. Thankfully, Switch 2 owners can experience this delightful moment every time they open the GameCube app with one simple trick: holding the left stick in any direction.

The GameCube library is new to the Nintendo Classics collection with the introduction of Switch 2, though accessing it does require subscribing to the premium Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier ($50 annually for an individual, $80 for a family). As such, the regular bootup for the app just showcases the purple GameCube controller overlaid on a red background, similar to the Nintendo 64 or NES apps.

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Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser has spoken up to assure people that the Switch 2 should be in stock through the holiday. Appearing on CBS Mornings, Bowser said Nintendo has a "steady supply of manufacturing" for the Switch 2 that should continue to make its way to retailers.

"We believe we'll be able to meet that demand all the way through the summer... and on into the holiday period," Bowser said.

The Switch 2's initial preorders sold through, and the console is still not in regular supply for anyone who wants one. You can consult GameSpot's Switch 2 buying guide to help secure a console for yourself.

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The Complete History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set

$106 (was $250)

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The Complete History of Middle-earth is on sale for a better price than we saw during last fall's Black Friday and Prime Big Deal Days sales at Amazon. You can get the entire 12-volume series in an enormous three-book, 5,440-page hardcover box set for $106 (was $250). Alternatively, all four of the 2024 hardcover box sets compiling The History of Middle-earth and The Silmarillion are eligible for Amazon's B1G1 50% off book sale this week. Plus, each of those decorative box sets is up for grabs for roughly 50% off on their own.

All History of Middle-earth Deals The Complete History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set $106 (was $250)

Published in 2020 with an MSRP of $250, The Complete History of Middle-earth is remarkably readable and well-made. Each volume comes with a dust jacket and the books are stored inside of a high-quality custom display case emblazoned with a Tolkien logo.

Based on Tolkien's legendarium--a massive collection of backstories, lore, and notes covering Middle-earth throughout thousands of years--The History of Middle-earth was originally published from 1983-1996. Christopher Tolkien, the author's son and literary executor, compiled, edited, and added to the legendarium to create 12 distinct books.

The Complete History of Middle-earth contains all 12 volumes in their original publication chronology:

1. Book of Lost Tales, Part I
2. Book of Lost Tales, Part II
3. The Lays of Beleriand
4. The Shaping of Middle-earth
5. The Lost Road and Other Writings
6. The Return of the Shadow
7. The Treason of Isengard
8. The War of the Ring
9. Sauron Defeated
10. Morgoth's Ring
11. The War of the Jewels
12. The Peoples of Middle-earth

At 5,440 pages across three books, it's probably safe to say that these would be the largest books on most fans' bookshelves. Each of the three volumes was also published individually on the same day as the box set, but at current prices, you'd spend more for two of them than you would for the box set.

• The Complete History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set (3 Books, 12 Volumes) -- $106 ($250)
  • Part 1 - Vol. 1-5 in Hardcover (1,920 pages) -- $64 ($80)
  • Part 2 - Vol. 6-9 in Hardcover (2,032 pages) -- $44.58 ($80)
  • Part 3 - Vol. 10-12 (1,488 pages) -- $53.85 ($80)

See at Amazon The History of Middle-earth Box Sets (2024) - B1G1 50% Off

Get all four box sets for $191.57 ($475)

• The History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set 1 (4 Books) -- $64.69 ($125) | B1G1 50% off
• The History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set 2 (3 Books) -- $56.24 ($100) | B1G1 50% off
• The History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set 3 (4 Books) -- $65.83 ($125) | B1G1 50% off
• The History of Middle-earth Hardcover Box Set 4 (4 Books) -- $65.85 ($125) | B1G1 50% off

History of Middle-earth 2024 Box Sets

Though The Complete History of Middle-earth is the most economical way to read all 12 volumes in physical format, the 2024 box sets are certainly worth a look, too. These gorgeous sets include splashy, fully illustrated dust jackets and display cases. If you prefer a more traditional look, the other side of the reversible dust jackets feature the original graphics with solid-color backgrounds.

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There are numerous ways to improve your skills and success in Mario Kart World, and not everything is totally obvious. As an example, it's been discovered that Mario Kart World brings back a feature from Mario Kart DS that allows players to get an edge they might have overlooked or been unaware of.

Clips on social media reveal that holding Boo item allows players to drive offroad without a speed penalty. Normally, it only makes sense to drive offroad if you have a mushroom to speed you up, but using Boo effectively helps you drive as if you have a mushroom. Beyond this, the Boo item makes players temporarily invisible and steals items from other players.

PSA for Mario Kart World ft. new Boo mechanics (just like DS days) pic.twitter.com/YEp20DGMPd

— Bear (@BearUNLV) June 6, 2025

What's more, it's been discovered that you can aim green shells left or right by moving the camera so your racer is looking in the desired direction. This is balanced out somewhat by virtue how players need to look away from where they are driving, making it a risk-reward tactic.

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Dying Light: The Beast was once going to be an expansion to the main game, but it grew to be so big that developer Techland eventually spun it off into a standalone experience. It's not Dying Light 3, but the team told me it feels The Beast is the best version of what the Dying Light series has been since it debuted a decade ago. I played 30 minutes of The Beast during Summer Game Fest Play Days 2025, and though its story still seems to be a comic-booky saga I struggle to get invested in, I'm definitely on board for some of what's it's bringing--and bringing back--to the series.

My demo started just before nightfall, and if you know Dying Light, you know it's not so easy to survive when the sun goes down. The new map in The Beast features a lot of forest area, which I really liked playing in. A developer told me the game is meant to be scarier than before, and the signature parkour gameplay has actually been dialed back a little bit to match The Beast protagonist Kyle Crane's canon abilities. He can't jump quite as far as Dying Light 2: Stay Human's Aiden Caldwell, which grounds the game a bit, even as so much of it remains over-the-top.

Crane is a fan-favorite protagonist from the first game and returns to this one on a revenge mission, chasing down the man who ruined his life. The story in these games resonates with a great number of its fans, but I've not counted myself among them. I don't expect The Beast to change that, but the series has always achieved its core gameplay goals, and that aspect seems well in place once more.

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Earlier this month, Hitman developer IO Interactive officially unveiled 007 First Light, the first James Bond game for consoles since 007 Legends in 2012. The first trailer for the game revealed a new origin story for Bond and the action that goes with it. However, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak recently stressed that 007 First Light is going to be about more than just James Bond shooting his way out of trouble.

"We don't want to make a game where it's only about shooting and running," Abrak told IGN. "It's also about delivering that fantasy for a Bond where he can traverse in social spaces and speak to people and figure out in creative ways how to solve the obstacles in front of him. So there's a lot that we know from from Hitman: World of Assassination that we brought into that, but James Bond is a very different experience than Hitman."

Abrak went on to explain that IO's game engine was modified to allow the team to create the "spectacular action set pieces" that James Bond is known for. That includes hand-to-hand combat as well as driving sequences, which are a staple of almost of every Bond film and video game.

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The Call of Duty series is an annual franchise, and Activision's 20-year streak of releasing new Call of Duty games every year continues in 2025 with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The game was formally announced during the Xbox Games Showcase, and it's coming this year.

In this post, we're rounding up everything we know, and what's been rumored, about Black Ops 7. It's a notable release in part because this is the first time ever that Activision is releasing Black Ops games in back to back years.

Table of Contents [hide]

• What is Call of Duty 2025?

What is Call of Duty 2025?

This year's Call of Duty game is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, Black Ops 7 takes place in the year 2035 and is a sequel to both Black Ops 6 (set in the '90s) and Black Ops 2 (set in 2025). You can check out the cinematic announcement trailer below.

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Nintendo has delayed its live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto--who created Zelda--said in a statement that the delay comes down to "production reasons." The film is slipping from March 26, 2027 to May 7, 2027.

"For production reasons, we are changing the release date of the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda to May 7, 2027. It will be some weeks later than the release timing we originally announced, and we will take the extra time to make the film as good as it can be. Thank you for your patience," Miyamoto said.

No specific reason for the delay beyond "production reasons" was disclosed. Hollywood movies get delayed all the time, so this is not all that surprising, and the shift is not all that long as delays go.

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The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Box Set (Hardcover)

$94.69 (was $225) with coupon

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The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Box Set (Paperback)

$97.23 (was $160) | Eligible for B1G1 50% off

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Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most beloved comic strips of all time. If you grew up stealing the comics section of the newspaper from your parents to read the humorous and insightful adventures of Calvin and his stuffed Tiger, make sure to check out Amazon's deal this week on The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. The three-volume hardcover box set has dropped to $94.69, which is substantially cheaper than its $225 MSRP. To get the full discount, you need to click the coupon box on the store page below the price to slash an additional $31.56 from your total at checkout. This is the lowest price of the year for this wonderful collection of comics.

The hardcover edition is actually slightly cheaper than the paperback box set right now, but the $97.23 (was $160) paperback collection is eligible for Amazon's B1G1 50% off book sale this week.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Box Set (Hardcover) $94.69 (was $225) with coupon

The premium hardcover box set features three volumes compiling every single comic strip from Calvin and Hobbes' run. All told, you're getting 1,440 pages of comic strips, some in color, others in black-and-white. The included slipcase features one of the illustrations that is most-associated with Calvin and Hobbes.

I've owned this box set for years and can attest to its quality. The comic strips are printed on thick art paper, and the bindings have held up well. Fair warning, though: The premium materials make these books quite heavy. With all three books in the slipcase, you've got yourself 22 pounds worth of comic strips, so each book weighs roughly 7.3 pounds.

See at Amazon The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Box Set (Paperback) $97.23 (was $160) | Eligible for B1G1 50% off

The paperback version of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is on sale for $65.33. Amazon's listing shows $67.61, but you can save an extra couple bucks by clicking the coupon on the store page.

The paperback version has 1,456 pages, but the complete run is spread across four volumes instead of three. If you're buying the collection for a younger reader, this is probably the better option. While the full box set is still a hefty 17.75 pounds, each book is roughly 4.3 pounds. And with over 100 fewer pages per volume, these are easier to hold for kids and adults with smaller hands.

The slipcase features a different, but also well-known, illustration of Calvin and Hobbes dancing merrily.

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Calvin and Hobbes, at least according to Amazon, is recommended for kids ages 12 and up. Based on the titles of the books above, it makes sense. I read Calvin and Hobbes when I was much younger, and many adult fans probably did as well. It's not so much the content that is inappropriate for early readers, it's that much of what makes Calvin and Hobbes so great is its wit. The cleverness and social commentary can fly right past younger readers. I gained a greater appreciation for Calvin and Hobbes when I read it as an adult.

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Konami has announced that it'll be holding its own summer showcase, Konami Direct, and this will kick off on June 12 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube, and it'll provide new information on upcoming games like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Silent Hill F. Konami says that other titles will also be included in the stream, and it's currently planned to run for 37 minutes.

The last couple of years have seen Konami bounce back into the spotlight following several relatively quiet years. Recently, Konami has published compilations of classic Metal Gear Solid games, the critically acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Studio, and Suikoden remasters, with big projects planned for 2025 and beyond.

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The Outer Worlds was exclusively played from a first-person perspective. But the upcoming sequel, The Outer Worlds 2, will allow players to choose between playing in first-person or switching to a third-person perspective. During the Xbox Games Showcase at Summer Game Fest, Obsidian Entertainment showed off The Outer Worlds 2's new third-person option.

"We're all about letting people play the game their way," explained Matt Singh, the gameplay director at Obsidian. "There are some players who prefer to be immersed in a first-person view taking in all the details, but there are others who really prefer to take the world in from a third-person perspective. Why not allow both? Well, now you can swap between the two, letting you enjoy the experience in whatever way you like."

The Outer Worlds 2 is a standalone sequel that will cast the player as an Earth Directorate agent who has been sent to the Arcadia colonies to determine the source of the rifts that may drag multiple factions into a rebellion against the Protectorate. There are a handful of new companion characters that the player can recruit, as well as refined traits and faults that both help and hinder the main character during their quest.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was announced during the Xbox Games Showcase, revealing a cinematic trailer to showcase the return of David Mason, who has received a slight makeover to look like actor Milo Ventimiglia. Additionally, an exclusive from Variety has revealed two more major cast members who will star in the upcoming Black Ops game.

Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, Black Ops 7 is set in the year 2035, which is more than four decades after the events of Black Ops 6. Originally introduced in Black Ops 2, David Mason returns in Black Ops 7 to lead a team against "a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else." David will look a bit different to fans, as he is now more recognizable as his new voice and motion-capture actor, Milo Ventimiglia, who is known for his roles in This Is Us and Gilmore Girls.

Activision marketing chief Tyler Bahl described the casting of Ventimiglia to Variety as being as the right fit for "an iconic character from the franchise and one of the fan favorites" from Black Ops 2.

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Activision's announcement of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not mention a release on Nintendo platforms, but the company remains committed to bringing the shooter series to Switch. That's according to sources speaking to Kotaku. The site reported that "both sides are still working on it." However, it remains to be seen what's causing the holdup or if Call of Duty could appear on Switch, Switch 2, or both.

The game's confirmed platforms are PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. Given that Black Ops 7 will support last-gen systems, some wondered why Switch was again left out.

In 2023, amid the FTC vs. Microsoft court case, Microsoft said it had signed a "binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players." The statement said Microsoft would launch Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms "the same day as Xbox, with full features and content parity."

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Activision says it's changing things up this year with respect to how it markets and promotes the year's new Call of Duty game, which is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Activision marketing chief Tyler Bahl told Variety that by early June, Activision normally would have already "teased everything that's coming out" for a new Call of Duty game. But with Black Ops 7, Activision is intentionally holding back information to create a Beyonce-like effect, he said, referencing the singer Beyonce's surprise-release of her self-titled album in 2013.

"I think in a lot of ways we're setting this up more like a Beyonce album dropping; nobody's going to know about it, or nobody's going to see it coming," Bahl said.

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It's been nearly two decades since Neverwinter Nights 2 was released, but the classic RPG from 2006 is getting a comeback. Aspyr has revealed Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is heading to consoles and PC this summer, and the new remaster already has a trailer.

Aspyr actually developed the original Mac port for Neverwinter Nights 2 that was released in 2008 before going on to remaster several other older titles. The new edition of Neverwinter Nights 2 features enhanced graphics and textures with updated camera controls and gameplay mechanics. It has full controller support, and the PC version is Steam Deck compatible. Steam Workshop access is also enabled.

All three of the original DLC expansions--Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate--are included in the Enhanced Edition. Additionally, Aspyr is offering a bundle on Steam that includes both Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition and Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition.

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Ahead of its release on August 26, a Gears of War: Reloaded multiplayer beta kicks off this weekend, running for two weekends in total. While you can get access to the beta by preordering the game, there are other ways to play that you may not be aware of.

Players on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam, or Playstation 5 can preorder the game to guarantee access to the multiplayer beta, which starts on June 13. However, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass members, and those who already own Gears of War: Ultimate Edition can also get involved in the action.

Gears of War: Reloaded is a remaster of the first Gears of War game from November 2006. The remaster includes all of the original and post-launch content from the first iteration of the game, as well as a litany of technical achievements that weren't possible upon its original release almost 20 years ago. It's been fully optimized for current-gen gaming platforms, and this multiplayer beta is the first opportunity for you to get your hands on it.

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When Nintendo unveiled the Switch 2 earlier this year, one of the big reveals was for GameChat, the console's video and voice chat hub. For the first time, Nintendo users have a program that gives players live captions and text-to-speech options. However, the latter might be a little too good, as it can apparently transcribe curse words as well.

Switch 2 owner David Howe confirmed Switch 2's ability to bring bad words from speech to text (via Eurogamer).

CONFIRMED: you can say f**k in game chat speech-to-text

[image or embed]

— David Howe (@monolithfiji.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 9:30 AM

It's surprising that the issue wasn't addressed by launch, and given Nintendo's family-friendly reputation, we wouldn't be shocked if a future update limits or eliminates the ability to make the Switch 2 transcribe those words.

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You will soon be able to take control of future Schedule 1 updates, as developer TVGS has announced that the community voting system is ready. The first vote will take place "this week" according to the Schedule 1 patch notes on Steam for update v0.3.6.

As soon as the voting period opens, you will see a prompt in the game's main menu. TVGS has previously said that you can choose between adding the cartel to the game, a police update, or adding shrooms to the list of manufacturable products.

The news of the voting system rollout came in the patch notes for update v0.3.6--which sees employee beds replaced with lockers--had previously been tested in the beta version of the game. Where employees used to require beds in order to be assigned to work in your property, they now only need a locker, which has a much smaller footprint.

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D&D Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition Box Set (Hardcover)

$51.65 (was $125) with coupon

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D&D Art & Arcana: A Visual History (Hardcover)

$19.60 (was $50) with coupon

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D&D fans can save big on a really cool special-edition book box set at Amazon. Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition is available for only $51.65 (was $125). To get the full $73-plus discount, you need to click the coupon box on the store page to slash an additional $10.05 from the price. Alternatively, you can get the standard hardcover edition for only $19.60 (was $50).

D&D Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition Box Set (Hardcover) $51.65 (was $125) with coupon

Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History is a 448-page, full-color art book detailing the artistic evolution of the tabletop RPG. It includes concept sketches, official illustrations, photographs, and other material from D&D's many rulebooks, adventure modules, novels, magazines, and more.

In total, the book contains more than 700 original pieces of art and more than 40 interviews with artists and game designers who have worked on the storied tabletop game over the years.

The Special Edition includes an eye-catching display box with exclusive artwork. Inside the book-like box, you'll find the actual hardcover as well as 10 art prints, and a pamphlet of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax's classic Tomb of Horrors adventure module, all within a clamshell case featuring original designs by D&D artist Hydro74.

See at Amazon D&D Art & Arcana: A Visual History (Hardcover) $19.60 (was $50) with coupon

The standard hardcover version of Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana doesn't come with any of the extras, but you're still getting a 448-page tome filled with all of the original artwork and interviews found in the Special Edition.

Make sure to click the coupon box to get the full discount.

See at Amazon Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast released an updated Monster Manual for D&D's tabletop game. The Monster Manual joined the updated Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, both of which received new editions for the first time in a decade.

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