Announced today during Minecraft Live, Mojang is adding the first new dimension to the blocky sandbox game in more than a decade and a half.

The Sift is an ethereal-looking fourth dimension that was first marketed for Minecraft Dungeons 2, and it's now been confirmed that it's coming to the base game in 2027.

The Sift is a major new addition for Minecraft, marking the first new dimension since 2011's The End, where players go to fight the Ender Dragon in the end game. Speaking to GameSpot, Minecraft Dungeons 2 creative director Mans Olson explained that the team wanted to make sure that The Sift felt distinct from the Nether and The End rather than becoming another hostile environment.

"We wanted to make sure that it was different. That it doesn't feel like the ones that already exist in the game," he confirmed.

Unlike the Nether and The End, where the environments feel immediately hostile thanks to dangerous environmental hazards and angry mobs, the developers wanted it to feel like somewhere players could potentially live.

"We thought of it more as a, kind of, different Overworld ... it's this idea that it should be a place where you could see yourself living, a place that's a bit peaceful, sometimes maybe even serene," Olson explained. "We already have two dimensions that clearly scream, 'I'm evil!'"

That doesn't mean that The Sift will necessarily always be completely safe. In Minecraft Dungeons 2, the dimension is under threat from the Illagers, leaving its ecosystem in danger.

https://youtu.be/1tINxp9ZPZA

"We wanted to make sure that, although it is dangerous, it doesn't feel as hostile or as imposing as the Nether and The End," Olson said. "But rather just be an ecosystem of its own, to be rich and lush and vibrant, and provide a new color palette that's pretty different from what we've seen already."

The Sift was originally created because Minecraft Dungeons 2 needed a new dimension for its story, but the developers have been working closely with the vanilla Minecraft team throughout its development.

"When we do something new, we always look at, like, is there something there that we can reuse, or modify, or change that will suit the purpose? If there isn't, the new thing that we do, could it be added to [vanilla] Minecraft?" explained Olson. "That doesn't mean that it will or that it has to, but we want to make sure that everything could theoretically fit in there."

In terms of visuals, The Sift is a vibrant landscape made of red and orange stone, green vegetation, sculk-like elements, and pools of a hazardous liquid called icor. You'll enter the dimension either through mysterious rifts that are opening across the Overworld, in the case of Minecraft Dungeons 2, or via Ancient City portals, which seem the more likely access point for Minecraft, where players control their experience more closely.

While there are multiple new mobs in The Sift in Minecraft Dungeons 2, it's not yet been confirmed which of those will be making an appearance in Minecraft. There are Sifters, Singers, Neesters, and Sprouts to name just a few.

The Sift will first appear in Minecraft Dungeons 2, which launches September 29. It will then make its way into vanilla Minecraft in 2027.

Minecraft's next game drop will add a new underground environment to the sandbox game, along with a new hostile mob, and items that bring frosty mechanics to exploration and combat.

Announced during Minecraft Live on September 26, the upcoming game drop is expected to follow the usual drop cadence of once per quarter, releasing in December 2026. Its biggest addition is ice caves--a rare underground extension of Minecraft's existing cold biomes.

Ice caves are a new underground biome coming to Minecraft.

Ice caves will add more environmental variety to cold areas, giving you another reason to venture underground when exploring snowy regions. The caves will also contain ice crystals, which can be collected and used for decoration. Ice crystals can be placed vertically or horizontally, and they'll also produce light, giving you another way to illuminate your creations.

However, ice caves aren't entirely peaceful. A new hostile mob in the form of the Frozen Zombie will lurk underground, bringing new combat mechanics with it. Frozen Zombies can apply a stacking freezing effect with their melee attacks. If you take too many hits you'll eventually freeze, making getting surrounded by Frozen Zombies especially dangerous. They can also throw ice balls, which deal damage and knock players back.

Being hit with an ice ball will give you the Frozen effect.

To create a Frozen Zombie, a regular Zombie will need to be exposed to powdered snow. Fortunately, when killed the Frozen Zombie will drop ice balls. Although if you're not coming across any, you can also craft ice balls.

Frozen Zombies are a new variant of the existing Zombie mob.

The ice balls can be used as weapons to deal damage and knock enemies back in the same way you would be if you were hit by one. They can also be used to brew a new potion that applies a freezing effect.

While Minecraft's next update hasn't yet got a name, you can expect it to be released around late December 2026. Following that, Mojang also announced that the first new Minecraft dimension in 15 years will be released in 2027.

After Xbox laid off 1,600 employees over the summer, Microsoft's gaming division followed up with more layoffs and studio closures this week. In the wake of these events, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is taking a look at the bright side and praising Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's actions as a necessary step.

"There's some amount of streamlining the team is doing, and Asha is doing, which is great to see," said Nadella during his appearance on the Sources Podcast. He also noted that he feels "fantastic about the IP we have right now. If I look at the studios, the IP portfolio we have, and our ability to then take that and produce great games going forward, I feel fantastic."

"We have to invent the right sustainable business model that allows us to deliver gaming to more and more people," added Nadella.

Regarding AI, Nadella questioned why Western consumers are so skeptical about the technology compared to other parts of the world.

"I think we've not given [AI] breathing space," said Nadella. "In fact ... I was reading the Gallup poll on AI and it's not good in the West. What's also very interesting … it's not a uniform thing around the world. And in fact that's the thing we should ask: 'What did we get wrong in the West that these other countries may not have?' Why are people in Nigeria more optimistic about AI than in the United States?' And I think we should reflect on it and my belief here is the industry [has] to earn the trust [and] show the benefits to both consumers and enterprises and the communities. And then ... we'll be fine. But without it, just any amount of just celebrating technology for technologies sake is not working."

Prominent AI skeptic Ed Zitron has blamed Xbox's precarious position on "catastrophic mismanagement" by Microsoft and AI bets that didn't pan out. Even after the most recent layoffs, there are indications that more job cuts are coming to Xbox.

Diablo 4 players are decking themselves out in full sets of Mythic Unique gear as part of Season 15, resulting in characters that are more powerful than ever before. Whether that was Blizzard's goal, or this is simply a mistake of some kind, is currently up for debate.

It's about as big of a change from one season to the next that Diablo 4 has ever experienced. Back in Season 14, Blizzard added the "crafted" item tag to Mythic Uniques made via the Horadric Cube, Blacksmith, or Jeweler, with a limit of only one crafted Mythic being equippable at a time. Even if you had the Resplendent Sparks resource needed to make more Mythics, you couldn't use them. Instead, you had to rely on good old-fashioned luck to find natural Mythic drops without the crafted tag.

The changes weren't popular, so Blizzard walked it back mid-season, and has made further improvements as part of the latest season, Hell's Legacy. Mythics made by the Blacksmith or Jeweler are no longer considered "crafted," while ones made via the cube still are. Once again, players could have several Mythics of your own creation equipped at once, much like the previous seasons.

However, for players with more sparks than they know what to do with, there is technically a way to get around the "crafted" tag.

It takes combining three of the same Mythic Unique (not exactly an easy task) in the cube using the Recycle Uniques recipe, resulting in a new version of that same item. While the item will have all new stat rolls, the key here is that this recycled Mythic Unique won't have the "crafted" tag, letting players equip as many of them as they can create.

The result is players running around with full sets of Mythic gear, something we've never seen before in Diablo 4. This would be a huge problem and could completely break the game in many ways, if it weren't harder to do than it sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9IHlOYCrbg

Considering it costs 15 Resplendent Sparks to just create one Mythic Unique this way, it's definitely a huge time investment. To do this trick with all 12 gear slots would cost an enormous 180 Sparks, something that seems nearly impossible for an average player and would require an ungodly amount of grinding and farming. That hasn't stopped some of the game's most dedicated content creators from doing exactly that, however, as highlighted by Wudijo. 

Whether the ability to create non-crafted Mythic Uniques this way is an intentional choice on Blizzard's part or an oversight remains to be seen. Diablo 4's next update is slated for September 29, but the 3.2.2 patch notes make no mention of this trick and instead are mostly bug fixes.

Overall, Season 15 seems to have been well-received by players after the largely unpopular Season 14. The season finally added Diablo to Diablo 4, as players relive past Prime Evil encounters from previous Diablo games and rub shoulders with none other than the legendary Deckard Cain. 

Diablo 4 won't receive new expansions going forward, but it is set to receive a new class, the Amazon, in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, Blizzard is hard at work on Diablo 5, set to release in 2029, and has already revealed three of its playable classes.

No news is good news, they say. They also say that some news, however little, is good news, too, and girl, do we have some news: Ubisoft's struggling action-adventure game Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still alive despite remaining in development hell.

Ubisoft Bordeaux's lead writer and associate narrative director Rik Godwin took to Bluesky on September 22 to provide a brief update on the game.

"Odd sort of non-announcement but for the past few months I've been working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 in a support/consultant role," Godwin, who was a writer on Assassin's Creed Shadows, said. "I am allowed to say this, I checked."

It makes sense that Ubisoft Bordeaux would assist with Beyond Good & Evil 2. According to IGN, Ubisoft Montpellier, which is leading the project's development, is just south of the Bordeaux studio. And although Ubisoft Bordeaux was the lead developer on both 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage and Shadows' 2025 expansion Claws of Awaji, that studio typically operates in a support role for Ubisoft's myriad other teams.

This minor update comes nearly 10 years after Ubisoft re-revealed Beyond Good & Evil 2 at E3 2017, and nearly 20 years after Ubisoft announced the action-adventure sequel all the way back in May 2008. There have been some rumblings of progress, with Ubisoft posting hints that development was ongoing in November 2025 and January 2026. However, whatever progress that has been made has been slow at best and invisible at worst.

Although there's no release date at the moment, Ubisoft has continued to swear that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be released in due time. Just don't expect it anytime soon, and at this rate, maybe don't expect it in this current console generation.

After suing a former Reddit moderator in October 2025 for pirating Switch games, a Washington court has ordered the individual in question to pay Nintendo $4.5 million in damages.

According to a September 25 TorrentFreak report, US District Judge Lauren King ordered former r/SwitchPirates moderator James "Archbox" Williams to cough up $4.5 million in damages to Nintendo after the company accused him of operating several pirate shops to illegally decrypt and distribute Switch games to the public.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a Washington federal court in June 2024, stated that Williams had been running this racket since at least 2019, using "circumvention device" software to bypass the company's systems and gain access to over 30 Nintendo Switch games. This includes titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Williams reportedly ignored the complaint at the time, which prompted Nintendo to seek the statutory maximum of $150,000 per title in October 2025. And just this week, Judge King agreed with Nintendo's request, stating that Williams was aware of the case, as he both hired a lawyer to object to a Google subpoena and continued posting on Reddit but opted to not respond to the company's lawsuit.

In one screenshot saved by TorrentFreak, Williams called himself a "pirate" in a Reddit thread, clarifying that he--and others like him--won't "give Nintendo $50 for a game" when there are "months of releases unavailable anywhere."

It's a bit like that I Think You Should Leave skit, where Tim Robinson, in a hot dog suit, drives a hot-dog-shaped car through a suiting store and is "looking for the guy who did this." Both Judge King and Nintendo know the guy who did it, and they want him to pay a lot for his actions.

"The last factor also weighs heavily in favor of the statutory maximum penalty because NOA's complaint contains well-supported and extensive allegations that Williams knew the videogames were copyrighted but willfully undertook his copying and distribution efforts anyway," Judge King concluded in the suit. "Williams' egregious infringement activities merit substantial punishment here."

In addition to the $4.5 million in damages, Williams has also been ordered to cease all illegal distributions of Switch games through a permanent injunction. This includes barring him from encouraging others to download pirated games or bypass Nintendo's systems to do so, disabling his myriad pirate shops, and deactivating his social media accounts. According to TorrentFreak, much of this has already happened, as Williams' Discord, Instagram, Reddit, Telegram, TikTok, and X accounts are gone. Further, some of the pirate shops Williams ran were taken offline after Nintendo sent a cease-and-desist letter in March 2024.

For Nintendo, this is another win against thieves who think they can get away with pirating the company's games. According to the lawsuit, the company wanted to both stop Williams' infringing activities and use him as an example of what happens when you go up against the ever-litigious Mario maker. Be careful. Those white gloves might serve you papers.

Castlevania celebrated its 40th anniversary this week--an impressive milestone in video games and a terrifying pair of numbers for anyone who was born in 1987. Konami marked the occasion with a new video paying tribute to the original whip-slinging hero of the 1986 Famicom game, as well as all of the other influential entries in the Castlevania series over the last four decades. It's a cute little retrospective, and it might also be teasing something else from Konami, if our tinfoil-hat-speculation is right.

https://youtu.be/U9hmHw0JFUc

Right near the end of the video, Castlevania's first protagonist, Simon Belmont, takes a quick stroll past a series of non-ruined portraits in Dracula's castle. Eagle-eyed observers will note that these feature cover art from three of the 3D-era games--Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness, and Lords of Shadow. The fourth one is for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, which launches in October 2026. Could Konami be teeing up a new compilation that bundles together the PS2 and Xbox 360/PS3-era 3D Castlevania games?

Portraits of ruin? Nah, just some really good games.

The company isn't saying anything, and there's a good chance that the games were chosen purely because they still have some of the best cover art in the franchise. They're pretty neat, artistically! But a Castlevania collection isn't uncommon, as Konami has released a few of these in the past. The Castlevania Anniversary Collection from 2019 collected eight games spanning the first 10 years of the series, and the Castlevania: Dominus Collection bundled all three DS-era games alongside the 1988 Haunted Castle arcade game.

What Konami did confirm is that it will hold sales for select Castlevania titles, new vinyl record soundtracks for classic games are available to preorder, and Castlevania on mobile is also free for a limited time through the iOS and Android stores.

For Castlevania fans, next month's release of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse marks a major moment for the series. Following the release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 in 2014, the video game series went on hiatus, aside from the two compilations released. The Castlevania animated adaptations released for Netflix proved that there was still an appetite for the IP, and last year, it was announced that the developer of The Rogue Prince of Persia--Evil Empire--was reviving castlevania for PC and console.

So far, Belmont's Curse looks like a return to the series' roots, as it follows Rose Belmont through the ruined streets of Paris on her quest to stop Dracula. The game will let you turn tough bosses into powerful allies, and a demo for it will go live on October 1 ahead of its October 15 release date. Beyond that, there's hope that we could see more Castlevania in the future, as Konami's decision to outsource development to studios like Bloober Team and Screen Burn has led to several excellent new entries that have redefined what Silent Hill can be.

It looks like it's repeating this approach with Castlevania, and a compilation of the cult-classic 3D games sandwiched between new releases would be a fun way to kickstart a Castlevania renaissance.

A Pile Of Secrets: The Hidden Gems Of The Castlevania Series View Images

I never knew I could be so enamored by clouds. There were times in my youth–typically sitting on a train or in the back of a car–when I would absentmindedly stare out the window at interesting cloud formations. Nowadays, phones, laptops, and handheld consoles tend to distract me from the world passing by, but in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, clouds are its ever-present pièce de résistance. 

For all the high-tech jets, explosive action, and melodrama at the game's core, it's the bountiful sky and its stunning portraits of a version of our planet at varying altitudes that truly grab the eye. Flying through a rain cloud as it douses the cockpit window with droplets of water never gets old, and simply cruising through the air is almost tranquil at times. 

Yet Ace Combat 8's clouds aren't mere window dressing. From gauging your altitude by the density of the clouds around you to using them as cover to break a missile lock, Ace Combat 8 uses this technology to push the series forward in tangible ways that go beyond aesthetics.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is one of the best examples of a game singlehandedly reviving a dormant series–and earning back its goodwill after the disappointment of Assault Horizon–so Ace Combat 8 didn't have to change all that much to keep the good times rolling. It stays true to the series' arcadey dogfighting roots while implementing a number of incremental improvements, making for a slightly more dynamic and intense experience as you go from sustaining heavy G-forces to unleashing a barrage of missiles. 

The story is more prominent and also personal this time around, too, strictly focusing on the members of a single squadron amid a major conflict. Set in Ace Combat's fictional war-torn world of Strangereal, the story begins as the Republic of Sotoa invades the Federation of Central Usea (FCU), quickly occupying much of the nation and scattering its military forces.

Outmanned and outgunned, the FCU relies on propaganda to keep morale alive. This is where the eponymous Wings of Theve comes into play: a legendary fighter pilot known for taking down dozens of enemy aircraft in the fight against the invading Sotoa forces. 

Except none of the pilot’s legend is true. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5irVTl0mD8

War propaganda is nothing new, of course, but this immediately reminded me of Ukraine's Ghost of Kyiv. This mythical flying ace was alleged to have shot down six Russian planes over the capital city of Kyiv back in February 2022. The Ghost's exploits quickly spread like wildfire in the media and online, but two months later, the Ukrainian air force revealed it was simply propaganda to boost morale.

It's easy to see how this might've influenced developer Bandai Namco Aces when creating Wings of Theve. But this is also an Ace Combat game, so it doesn't take long for things to get weird. Top Gun has always heavily influenced the series, so just imagine a scenario where Top Gun: Maverick opens with Tom Cruise crashing and dying, then passing his spirit on to a new pilot who adopts the Maverick callsign. 

For the rest of the movie, Tom Cruise exists as a dead guy in the new, silent protagonist's head, passing on sage wisdom and sharing his jaded thoughts on the war with a melancholy similar to the most recent Wolfenstein's B.J. Blazkowicz. Oh, and Top Gun is an anime now, too.

That is Ace Combat in a nutshell. A dead pilot narrating from inside your head might sound odd if you've never played the series before, but this kind of left-field choice is par for the course. Okay, maybe it has never gone quite this far--the Johnny Silverhand gimmick suits Cyberpunk much better--but it still fits the eccentric tone. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and the story wouldn't change all that much if it were removed entirely, yet I can't help feeling oddly gleeful that it even exists. 

Unfortunately, the basic premise doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. The pilot killed in the opening was the propagandized Wings of Theve, alleged to have shot down multiple enemies despite not opening fire on a single foe. Their famed callsign is now yours, but because this is a video game, it doesn't take long to turn fiction into fact. The Wings of Theve isn't an idea anymore; it's a real pilot who's gunning down enemies and turning the tide of war almost single-handedly, so anything interesting that might've derived from the propaganda angle is disappointingly absent.

Similarly, Ace Combat 8 lays the groundwork to comment on modern warfare in the age of social media, AI, and the mass sharing of disinformation, but all of these themes are ultimately window dressing. Social media is bad when the bad guys use it but good when the good guys do--this is the kind of social commentary you can expect.

Nuanced discussions aren't on the menu; instead, Ace Combat 8 basks in melodrama, with writing full of bold ideological statements and rousing speeches about borders, heroism, and the big blue sky. In the wrong hands, it could feel ham-fisted, but there's also a wide-eyed earnestness at play that's both endearing and optimistic. 

The new first-person perspective in cutscenes regularly features moments where you need to hit A to salute, shake hands, and so on, which veers into "Press F to pay respects" territory. Yet without Call of Duty's self-seriousness, it works in a campy sort of way. 

Humanizing touches also help the cast's pronounced personalities shine through, from Tasha Severskaya, a pink-haired civilian who's the squad's best pilot but hasn't yet pulled the trigger, to her wingman William Coster, who stays mostly silent until a mission where he learns one of the pilots you're trying to rescue used to be in his favorite rock band.

Ace Combat 8 does a good job building up your squad by delving into their unique character arcs through cutscenes and radio chatter during missions. The story has issues and is fairly by-the-numbers, but its bombast is entertaining enough, especially when it indulges in absurdity in a way only Ace Combat can. 

Where else would you face off against an ominous land battleship equipped with a railgun that can wipe out entire city blocks in an instant? Or regularly run into an evil squadron of enemy pilots that plays ominous music over the radio whenever they show up; music that gradually evolves each time they appear, eventually culminating in a pulse-racing dogfight set to some of the best video game music you'll likely ever hear.

Again, this is par for the course, whether it's a sweeping orchestral piece, a prolonged Spanish Guitar solo, or an up-tempo J-rock track. Ace Combat 8 lives up to the series' reputation for phenomenal music, adding another indispensable layer to the game's thrilling combat.

Flying through a rain cloud as it douses the cockpit window with droplets of water never gets old, and simply cruising through the air is almost tranquil at times.

Piloting its assortment of real and fictional jets is surprisingly simple, letting you get into the swing of things relatively quickly. Ace Combat 8 still has that classic arcadey Ace Combat style, but the planes feel slightly heavier than before--like there's more heft beneath the joystick--adding to the satisfying sensation that hits when you accelerate at full tilt and break through the sound barrier. 

The unmistakable crack of a sonic boom, accompanied by the distinctive vapor cone that engulfs your jet and then dissipates just as quickly as it arrives, is always exciting to pull off. Combine this with the way you can execute high-G turns, either to attempt to stay on the enemy's tail or dodge incoming missiles, and the act of soaring through the air is enjoyable in and of itself. 

Blowing up enemy aircraft is its own kind of reward, of course. Tougher enemies ensure that it's challenging to simply stay on their tail and achieve a missile lock-on, using tricks you would expect human pilots to use, such as dashing through clouds to break line-of-sight, launching flares, and pulling off cobra maneuvers to turn the hunter into the hunted. Some larger aircraft also have multiple lock-on targets, letting you pick whether you want to focus on, say, taking out their anti-aircraft guns first or destroying their propellers to send them tumbling out of the sky.   

Between knocking down buildings in the path of the aforementioned land battleship and shooting down suicidal drones to prevent them from destroying a space elevator, there's also plenty of variety from one mission to the next. After 30 years of Ace Combat, it feels like Bandai Namco Aces picked a few of their favorite scenarios from the series' past, while sprinkling in some new sortie types as well. 

One mission, for instance, has you flying an unarmed aircraft through a valley while avoiding detection from enemy radar. Others have you establish airspace dominance, follow contrails to locate massive stealth bombers, and take out coastal ground forces to protect your naval fleet's advance. There's a plethora of blood-pumping moments, although it does stumble into some pacing issues as well.

With 30 levels in total, Ace Combat 8 seems stretched at times. Some missions feel like filler, slightly nudging the story forward while tasking you with fairly basic objectives as though you're simply painting by numbers. They're not intrinsically bad, but these missions typically follow some of Ace Combat 8's more dramatic endeavors. 

I understand potentially wanting to break these levels up with more relaxed sorties to help you catch your breath, but it has the adverse effect of stalling the game's momentum. Fortunately, this isn't a problem as the campaign ramps up toward a particularly histrionic conclusion, yet I can't help but feel like it could've been a more tightly paced experience if a few missions were cut.

That said, I must commend some of these levels for being more open-ended, giving you the freedom to pick and choose your targets, which ties into Ace Combat 8's deeper pre-flight options. 

Before each mission, you can select your plane, its armaments, and a number of parts geared toward enhancing your mobility, weaponry, and other miscellaneous stats. You unlock all of this through an extensive Aircraft Tree, giving you new jets, weapons, and upgrades to play around with throughout the entirety of the game.

Some jets are tailored more for speed and dogfighting, while others excel at wiping out ground targets with bombs and land-based missile strikes. You can further improve these aspects with upgrade parts that enhance maneuverability, shorten air-to-air missile lock-on time, expand your bomb payload, and more. This isn't a rigid, universal system like before, either; each aircraft has a specific capacity for each upgrade type, making some of the more expensive jets feel much more powerful.

You can also outfit each squadmate with specific aircraft and weaponry, maybe balancing land-based attacks with air support, or fully favoring one or the other. However, I never noticed much difference in practice. The return of squad commands is more palpable, letting you order your squadmates to utilize their special weaponry when heavy targets appear, encourage them to be more aggressive, or demand that they fall back and support you. 

If you'd prefer having actual humans by your side, Ace Combat 8 also features the series' most exhaustive multiplayer suite so far. There are 100-player lobbies where you can customize your pilot avatar and wander around, visit the arcade to play Pac-Man, or head to a supply shop to obtain loot crates, among other distractions. 

There's also a battle pass--called the Ace Pass--with both free and premium tiers that unlock upgrades, consumables, and cosmetics for both your avatar and aircraft. We were only given a short multiplayer session to try out before launch, so it remains to be seen whether any pay-to-win aspects are at play. 

You can purchase new aircraft with an in-game currency earned by completing matches, but you're also limited by your rank, so you can't just buy the best jets right away. This seems like a good solution, but it depends on what's available if you're willing to spend real money.

Ace Combat 8's multiplayer rests on two main pillars: Co-op Assault and Co-op Warfare, which let you jump into PvE or PvP matches, respectively. Co-op Assault challenges teams of two to four players to complete a shared objective, rewarding victory to the team with the highest score. 

Co-op Warfare is similar, only you can destroy players on the other team as well, racking up points by taking out computer-controlled units and real players alike. Once again, the highest score wins, but escalating scores also raise the threat level, adding a score multiplier to each kill. The higher the threat, the bigger the swings, making for some intense matches.  

Additionally, limited-time modes occasionally pop up in lobbies. Scramble lets a team of four go head-to-head against powerful computer-controlled squads, while Emergency Sorties task eight players with defeating iconic super-weapons from previous Ace Combat games. Special PvP events also crop up from time to time, featuring four-on-four deathmatches and eight-player free-for-alls. 

Dogfights against human players are inherently fascinating, because even the best enemy AI can't possibly compare with the human mind. There's also plenty here if you'd prefer to team up with friends; the only question marks I have are centered on the battle pass and whether there are any other ways of spending real money to potentially gain an advantage. All of this remains to be seen.

Even if the multiplayer favors those with expendable cash, Ace Combat 8's single-player adventure is still worth the price of admission alone. The story could've been stronger--more introspective--but is entertaining regardless, and while there are some pacing issues with filler missions and some uneven momentum, much of the game is excellent, providing the series' signature blend of melodrama, stirring music, and thrilling aerial combat. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve picks up where Ace Combat 7 left off, underlining that the series is well and truly back to its best

Several years have passed since the last new Gears of War game was released, but at long last, that drought is almost over. Gears of War: E-Day will be one of the early highlights of October, and if you're looking to rev your Lancer up and turn back the Locust tide, you can start playing really soon. Like other big upcoming games, you'll also have the option to preload Gears of War: E-Day, so you can jump right into the fray on launch day. Here's a closer look at the timing for this new chapter in the series.

Gears of War: E-Day install size

According to the official PC requirements for Gears of War: E-Day, the game will require 115GB of storage capacity on that platform. Xbox Series X|S install sizes are typically on par with PC, so overall, you'll want to make sure you have at least 100GB of free space available on your machine. That's a pretty noticeable increase in size, as the previous game, Gears 5, required a chunky 80GB of space when it was first released back in 2019.

One other thing to note is that if you're planning to play on PC, the game requires a solid-state drive to be installed on. This is a mandatory requirement for the game to run optimally.

Gears of War: E-Day preloading times

Preloading will kick off on September 29 at the following times:

• 11 AM ET
• 10 AM CT
• 9 AM MT
• 4 PM BST
• 5 PM CEST
• 3 PM UTC
• 5 PM SAST
• 1 AM AEST (September 30)

Gears of War: E-Day early access global launch times

If you purchase the Premium or Collector's Edition of Gears of War: E-Day, you'll get a five-day headstart to play the game, starting October 1.  Early access will kick off at these times across the globe:

• 11 AM ET
• 10 AM CT
• 9 AM MT
• 4 PM BST
• 5 PM CEST
• 3 PM UTC
• 5 PM SAST
• 1 AM AEST (October 2)

Saw: Genesis was set to be the next asymmetrical multiplayer horror game to debut, but its 2026 early-access launch has been pushed to 2027, developer Bloober Team announced. 

The horror-focused studio said it needs more time to get Saw: Genesis to a place the team is satisfied with.

It's an interesting admission, since some teams use Steam Early Access for exactly that purpose: to get the game in good shape. But in the increasingly competitive and crowded space of licensed multiplayer horror games, a bad first impression may be more damaging than a reverse bear trap strapped to your face.

We've seen a lot of games like this since Dead by Daylight kicked off a wave of them in 2016, but my appetite remains insatiable because no two are really quite alike. It's exciting to see how studios transpose different horror movies' signature elements into interactive experiences, but when I checked out Saw: Genesis at Summer Game Fest, I came away underwhelmed. 

The 3v1 gameplay loop wasn't easy to follow in my hands-off demo. It's set about a century before the movies, with one person playing as a Jigsaw-like "Judge" who runs three others through his maze of torture devices and traps, trying to kill them all before any of them can escape the end of his trials. 

The team of three may have brief windows of opportunity to attack the Judge, though a really skilled Judge may never even give them a chance, lurking in corridors the victims can't access, slinking out to activate his next hellish device. Things like complex puzzles for the victims and best practices for the Judge were really hard to follow. Some understanding would come with more experience, no doubt, but the first impression was rough enough to make me think it'll scare off players for being so unintuitive right away.

Animations and visuals were lacking, too. I figured those issues could and likely would be polished over time, but if the core experience is unclear or convoluted, Saw: Genesis may struggle to compete for players' time, especially since its closest comparison is Red Barrels' already successful Outlast Trials. The delay feels warranted.

I've been rewatching the Saw series lately, and it's reminded me that these movies aren't very good. Many of the 10 of them are plainly bad. Even the first one, which I'd long remembered as a milestone in low-budget horror, now feels like it has too many plot contrivances and nu-metal music-video editing choices for my liking. 

And yet, I'm totally on board with Saw: Genesis if it works as a game. I don't have any reverence for the '80s B-movie Killer Klowns From Outer Space, but I had a blast with Illfonic's adaptation.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Saw: Genesis changes shape between now and the next time we hear about it. Even though it's horror season and a Saw: Genesis launch would've made sense on the calendar--"If it's Halloween, it must be Saw," I was always told--I like the idea of Bloober Team pushing it out a few months to try to clean it up. This is a studio that told me it's done making "shitty games," and while that's not a guarantee, Bloober Team surely hopes to follow through. 

Anyone looking for a creepy adventure to play in November will want to check out Saraab: Beyond the Veil. Solo developer Lubna Ahmed has announced a November 3 release date for the game on PC via Steam and Itch.io, and a demo will be available for it during the October edition of Steam Next Fest.

An Arabian folklore-inspired horror visual-novel game, Saraab follows Elham, a schoolgirl whose brother has suddenly been kidnapped. Rescuing your sibling means confronting your own inner demons, who have been externalized as monsters born of Elham's own psyche. To overcome them, she'll have to unlock the powers of her bloodline and uncover the truth of who she truly is.

"I'm incredibly excited to bring this story to players and share a world shaped by authentic cultural themes, folklore, and emotional experiences that are rarely explored in games," Ahmed said in a press statement. "I hope players everywhere can connect with the game's story and characters, because ultimately, it's a story about the human heart."

Horror is the crux of Saraab, but healing also plays a vital role in moving the story forward. As Elham comes to terms with her destiny and beliefs, she'll gain the ability to change reality based on the choices she makes along the way. Saraab's narrative is complemented by hand-drawn, anime-inspired art and an emotional soundtrack, and you can expect branching storylines, gameplay focused around Elham and her shadow, and a story about confronting the past to reclaim the future.

If you're keen to try it out, the demo will be available starting October 19.

Madden, the David O. Russell-directed John Madden biopic starring Nic Cage, got its first full-length trailer today, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what to make of this movie. Based on the two minutes seen in the trailer, it could either be a subversive comedic delight or The Room 2, but with even more footballs and fewer tuxedos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzh7HzLXXpk

The trailer, which shows some of John Madden's time as the head coach of the Raiders before shifting to broadcasting, gives us a very good look at the makeup and prosthetics that turned Nic Cage into the most famous NFL broadcaster of all time. Does he look like John Madden? No, but he does look like Nic Cage wearing John Madden's face as his own, so perhaps this is a secret sequel to Face/Off.

Madden's name is borderline synonymous with football video games today, and we get a brief look at how the game-development process began. This includes John Mulaney as EA founder Trip Hawkins, and we see how Madden was not interested in the original prototype, as it didn't feature 11 players on a team.

David O. Russell hasn't exactly been on a winning streak the last several years, with Amsterdam losing a whole bunch of money. Perhaps viewers' morbid curiosity to see Nic Cage hamming it up as John Madden will improve its performance, but it's getting a Prime Video release on November 18 rather than a theatrical one. How often Madden will mention Brett Favre remans unclear. Alongside Cage and Mulaney, the film stars Christian Bale, Shane Gillis, Kathryn Hahn, and Marshawn Lynch in an Urkel outfit.

Zelda fans have had no shortage of new games to play in recent years, but it appears that one game--starring the franchise's iconic villain--was also in the works at one point. Rather than having Nintendo internally develop the game, however, the project was in the works at Ubisoft.

In a September 24 report, Insider Gaming says that Ubisoft Milan was working on a Zelda spin-off with the internal name "Goliath," which was set to star a new protagonist. During the early period of development, this was changed to have longtime big bad Ganondorf be the playable character. Outside of the Super Smash Bros. series, this would be a first and would presumably be quite different from other Zelda games.

However, the report says that Nintendo "rejected the prototype" back in late 2023, and the team--including Davide Soliani, who directed the Mario + Rabbids games--opted to leave Ubisoft and form their own studio, Day 4 Night, which is currently developing Bradley the Badger. This occurred despite Ubisoft's attempts to pitch Nintendo on a different IP in its place, with both Star Fox and Mario mentioned, but it wasn't meant to be.

It isn't the first time a Zelda spin-off has been canceled, apparently, with Retro Studios' Sheik-focused Project X reportedly getting canned during the Wii's lifespan.

We won't have to wait too much longer to play the next game in the Zelda series, of course. The Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time is out on November 5, giving a whole new generation the chance to play what many consider to be the greatest game in the entire series, and possibly of all time.

Punks are taking over Steam starting on October 9 with the Punk Games Showcase, a week-long, curated digital festival celebrating games made with and expressing a punk spirit. 

Over 400 games were submitted for consideration, and the final list includes over 100, with the intention of filtering out any that included generative AI, among other factors. Many featured games have already been released, while others are still to come. A few of them are even out this month or during the event.

I'm still digging through the lengthy list of games that will be featured, but a few that have my heart include:

• Too Many Fucking Nazis: A fast-paced first-person shooter about creatively destroying Nazis. You can also flip them off before you blow them up, naturally.
• Punk Juice: Join a band, go thrifting, play dead-end gigs, and get mad at code-locked bathrooms.
• Wax Heads: Work in a struggling record store, slacking off with your buddies while tending to customers and listening to music.
• Club Soko: Turn the mosh pit into a puzzle as you navigate around security, crowd-killers, and those people who stand at the edge of the pit and then get mad at others about it.
• Enter the Moshpit: A "cynical" 2D adventure game in the vein of Monkey Island where you'll explore the Italian underground music scene.
• Tonight We Riot: A 2D "crowd-based brawler" where you play protestors resisting tyranny in the streets, developed by a worker-owned indie team.
• 10 Second Mixtape: A music game where you create songs, then upload them for others around the world to remix and perform.
• Tetherpunk: Kitbash a spaceship from scrap parts taken from the corporate overlords who ruined your world, then use that ship to destroy what they've created.

Some of the many games to be featured in the Punk Games Showcase.

Brad Smith of studio Miracle Tea, the creators of Club Soko, has been involved in itch.io's Hardcore Punk Jam since 2018, and is organizing the Steam showcase that will run alongside the game jam's latest edition.

Smith said the showcase has a few simple goals: to highlight games that "feature this style of music, are about the subculture, or are from creators who understand this scene, and it shows significantly in their games." He also hopes the showcase will influence Valve to add a "punk" categorization label on Steam, so developers can tag their games accordingly and players can find them more easily.

I caught up with Smith for more insight into the upcoming showcase and the movement to uplift games that wear their punk roots. 

GameSpot: How did you choose participants for the Punk Game Showcase?

Brad Smith: With 443 games submitted, it was tough to curate, but I did my best. I basically had to create arbitrary categories to help lock in a decision, which looked like: Does this game have punk music, or is it about punk culture? Does this game align with the general vibes of this showcase in its aesthetics, tone, or intent? Does this game/developer have design intentions that feel genuine? 

Often the deciding factor would come down to what people wrote in their application, a lot of which was deeply moving and relatable to read. It helps if devs have collaborated with punk musicians or are also in punk bands, which many of the selected are! Also, released games that were self-published get special treatment in the showcase, as to me that isn't too different from punk musicians folding the sleeves of their own albums or starting a label, like how Dischord Records did, you know?

Were there certain qualifications teams had to meet? 

Haha, not really; maybe the only qualification is to go out and buy a punk record, or attend a show (just kidding)! I realize how silly and gatekeepy this whole thing might come across as labeling what game is punk in a "real recognize real" manner is so subjective and broad. 

Ultimately, I just want to celebrate the underground and see more games from true creative people who aren't solely motivated to make money in this industry or that simply feature aggressive hardcore punk music. I always felt like certain depictions of punk culture in video games seemed oversimplified, disingenuous, or compromised in some way. What I've learned from this music, its community, and attending hardcore shows felt so much deeper in that sense; it's almost become sacred to me, which might sound weird.

On the flip side, was there anything disqualifying, like generative AI usage or certain themes?

Yeah, I consulted with an illustrator Camille Carpentier, from the Belgian scene who has a good eye for spotting AI-generated art. We did our best to curate and filter that stuff out in our spare time but there was a lot! Hopefully nothing slipped through the cracks. 

I think some people saw the word "punk" and submitted their cyberpunk- or steampunk-style games, which is far from what all of this is about. Submissions from studios with known questionable ethics toward their employees or shady business practices get binned off too, by the way.

What are some of your favorite punk games, from this showcase or just in general?

I have a real soft spot for CRUST SHMUP; it's free and feels like the game equivalent of Napalm Death's 1987 record Scum. Its crusty style influenced how I ended up doing some of the graphics for the event Steam page, too. 

A game releasing soon that's worth checking out is Beat, Heart, Beat, which has cool grungy Midwest emo vibes. Others to keep an eye on in the future are 4MECHEROS, Urine Nation, CHILDREN OF SATURN, and Creatures Like Us. 

The one game that's not in the showcase that deserves to be would be VILE: Exhumed, [which] Cara [Cadaver] entered in the Hardcore Punk Jam back in 2022, and I've been a fan of her work since. Also, shoutout to Teenage Blob, which is an older favorite of mine!

You're hoping to get a Punk label on Steam eventually. What's that process look like?

Yup, that's the plan! I can see why some people think labels are a bit silly, as I do feel like the term "indie" has lost a lot of its original meaning these days. But I figured it makes sense to have an intention behind organizing all of this and to try to help represent these kinds of games differently to the wider industry. 

I'm currently unsure what that process will look like with Valve, to be honest, but I'd love to be able to easily find more games like this on Steam. It already exists on itch.io! Maybe with a few more emails and as new moshing/stage-diving games with aggressive music emerge into the world, the tag will get added.

My plan is to continue running Hardcore Punk Game Jams where submitted entries are guaranteed a spot in any future Punk Game Showcases on Steam until this happens!

The Punk Games Showcase will be featured on Steam from October 9-16, with the Hardcore Punk Jam kicking off at the same time on itch.io. You can follow the Punk Game Devs community on Bluesky and Instagram to learn more.

Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has officially announced that fans of the popular extraction shooter will soon have a more cooperative-focused way to enjoy exploring topside, as a long-awaited PvE mode will be available to test from October 13-20.

The announcement comes three months after news that Embark was testing a unique PvE map condition on Chinese beta servers. This time around, though, players won't be forced to seek a specific map condition to get their PvE fix. Instead, a new toggle will be available during the week-long test, allowing the choice between standard matchmaking and the PvE mode.

Solos, duos, and trios will all share the same lobbies in PvE mode, as they no longer pose any threat to each other. However, Embark has stated that some major map conditions, such as Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate, and Frigate, will remain only available in standard matchmaking.

In a press release, Embark has clarified that there is no guarantee a permanent PvE mode will come to Arc Raiders.

"It’s possible that this will not work," the release says. "This test is not a promise that there will be a PvE mode in the future, but take this as an indication that we are seriously considering it. We don’t yet know how the potential future version of this setting might look. It’s plausible that any future version could look very different from what you experience in the beta test."

However, I'd be quite shocked if the new mode doesn't land well, given that a substantial portion of the player base has expressed interest in a strictly PvE option. In the press release, Embark states that 37% of players are cooperative-only raiders, meaning they actively avoid PvP encounters whenever possible. And of those players, 70% have expressed a desire for fewer hostile encounters with other raiders. Even more shockingly, 40% of PvP players say the same.

All of this comes as player numbers have steadily dwindled in recent months, at least partially due to Embark's decision to turn to bi-yearly updates for Arc Raiders. The resulting content drought has been concerning over the past six months, but the addition of a PvE mode a handful of days after the game's upcoming Frozen Trail update could be the kick in the pants it needs to recapture those lovely early days.

Ailing extraction shooter Marathon added PvE modes to its lineup back in July, which briefly boosted player counts. However, it has since continued struggling to maintain a significant player base in the time since. Arc Raiders' overall mainstream appeal may yet help to keep it from the same fate, but there's no doubt that a lot is riding on these upcoming changes.

The Arc Raiders PvE test will run from October 13-20. Until then, you can dive into the Frozen Trail update on October 8, which will contain a smorgasbord of new quests, a fresh map to explore, extra weapon customization options, and a wide variety of quality-of-life changes. So, keep an eye on our comprehensive Arc Raiders guides hub for all of your needs when the update lands.

Bungie has big plans to revive not only Destiny 2, but to also evolve its extraction shooter, Marathon. Following its launch in March 2026, the studio says that it has been reviewing feedback around Marathon, and it revealed how it plans to evolve the experience as it heads toward a big update in March 2027.

One of Bungie's major points of focus is a Marathon experience that is more than just an extraction shooter. "PvEvP will remain an important part of Marathon, but it will become one point in a connected set of survival experiences," Bungie wrote in a blog post. "More approachable entry points will help new and returning players understand Marathon’s systems and build confidence before taking on its highest-stakes challenges. At the same time, experienced players will have more opportunities to test their mastery and pursue deeper challenges."

https://youtu.be/YaLvrG6-kkM

Bungie says it's building out connected PvE, PvP, and PvEvP experiences, as well as options for solo players and crews. A Nightfall Refresh is coming in October and the Symbiosis expansion will add more ways to play in December. Bungie will connect all these pieces together in a big March 2027 update. This will also include deeper progression systems for players, a refactored Cradle, a new onboarding experience, more narrative beats to discover, new enemies to battle, and an entirely new zone to explore.

There'll be plenty of new content along the way, but it sounds like March 2027 will be Bungie's chance to show what Marathon is truly capable of. This isn't the first time the developer has successfully turned things around; after numbers began to dip, Destiny surged back to life in 2015 with the critically acclaimed Taken King expansion. Destiny 2's audience also quickly nosedived after launch, but Bungie's focus on structural updates to the game and the Forsaken expansion that arrived a year later helped to turn things around. You might be noticing a pattern here.

All of those changes and updates to Marathon do sound positive, as Bungie is aiming to cater to multiple audiences. Again, this is something the studio achieved with Destiny 2, as players were spoilt for choice with various PvE, PvP, and PvPvE modes introduced across the game's seasonal and expansion model. The challenge isn't just to draw new and lapsed players back to Marathon, but to keep them around for the long run.

Bungie added that as it builds towards the big December and March updates, it plans to continue making meaningful quality-of-life improvements and running focused experiments to fine-tune the game. Beyond March 2027, Bungie says that it'll have a stronger foundation to continue building Marathon on from this point.

The last couple of months have been rough for Bungie, as mass layoffs hit the studio, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler announced his departure, and multiple projects were canceled.

Control Resonant has officially launched, and Remedy Entertainment has also paired it with a fresh patch to make it a little less brutal. Hotfix 1.3.3 is primarily focused on adjusting enemy health pools and Dylan's overall strength, and once it's installed, you can expect the parautilitarian to have an easier time making enemies falter.

"We strongly believe these changes will improve the gameplay feel and flow while still providing a challenge," developer Remedy Entertainment wrote in the hotfix notes. "Depending on player progression, enemies can feel too tanky during the early hours of the game."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cK_KUK2p4Q

Applying a "Falter" status to the enemy Hiss in Control Resonant is a crucial part of the overall gameplay loop, as it sets them up for an instant-kill finisher. Once the hotfix is active, the base health and required Falter level for enemies will be reduced, while Aberrant strength and maximum Ability strength will be increased.

Remedy says that it also wants to encourage buildcrafting and experimentation in the game, so it's permanently reducing the cost of respeccing and increasing the stock of the Reset Items across all vendors in the game. The first Resonant boss fight (The Artist) will also drop two Reset Items instead of one.

This should make the game a little easier to play on its default difficulty level, but if you'd prefer to breeze through Control Resonant, you can use Assist Mode to toggle various gameplay options. You can essentially make Control Resonant a walk in the park by making Dylan immortal and capable of dishing out one-hit kills, which is good news for anyone who wants to focus primarily on the story and the delightfully weird world of Control Resonant.

Lastly, Remedy will also update a couple of English UI texts to better explain Build Power and Aberrant Strength. These changes will only be present in English for now, but the tweaks will be available for other languages in due time.

“Alongside the stellar art direction and a surprisingly touching story, Control Resonant’s gameplay loop feels more mainstream than anything this team has made since Max Payne,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s Control Resonant review.

RGG Studio's Stranger Than Heaven is certainly living up to its title, as the decision to resurrect the late rapper Tupac Shakur as a character in the game was perceived as odd when it was first announced at Summer Game Fest. In a new update on the game, RGG Studio revealed more details about the game's cast, including a brief description of how it revived Shakur using traditional research methods. The main takeaway is that the Yakuza and Like a Dragon developer managed to avoid making the casting more controversial by confirming that no artificial intelligence technology was used.

"RGG Studio is treating this integration with the utmost respect for his legacy, crafting every aspect in close collaboration and without the use of AI, including his character design based on archival footage and photographs," the studio wrote. More details on the character who uses Shakur's likeness, Amaru, will be shared at a later date.

The likeness of Tupac Shakur was used for the character Amaru.

According to RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama, it was Snoop Dogg himself who suggested Tupac for the role. The rapper also appears in Stranger Than Heaven, where his official character description notes that he plays the globe-trotting merchant Orpheus, who has an "open mind" about the legality of his wares. In the game, Orpheus discovers that the protagonist, Daito, has stowed away aboard his ship, and he mentors him in the harsh life that awaits him on his way to 1915 Japan.

The rest of the game's cast also features a varied and talented selection of performers from across the globe, including musicians Tori Kelly and Satoshi Fujihara, Shogun actor Tokuma Nishioka, and famed voice actor Akio Otsuka. You can expect to encounter all of them throughout the game's story, which covers 50 years of history.

Stranger Than Heaven cast

• Makoto Daito (Portrayed by Yu Shirota)
• Yu Shinjo (Portrayed by Dean Fujioka)
• Orpheus (Portrayed by Snoop Dogg)
• Heigo Yashima (Portrayed by Akio Otsuka)
• Tae Matsumoto (Portrayed by Moeka Hoshi）
• Suzy Day (Portrayed by Tori Kelly）
• Kiyoshi Otsuru (Portrayed by Tokuma Nishioka）
• Takashi (Portrayed by Satoshi Fujihara）
• The Veiled Stranger (Portrayed by Cordell Broadus）
• Keiko Shirai (Portrayed by Ado）
• Genzo Iwaki (Portrayed by Bunta Sugawara/Voiced by Takashi Ukaji）
• Tadashi Hataoka (Portrayed by Takashi Ukaji）
• Takeo Godai (Portrayed by Takaya Kuroda）
• Suekichi (Portrayed by Kouhei Tsuji）
• Tetsuya Hama (Portrayed by Yasukaze Motomiya）
• Amaru (Portrayed by Tupac）
• Kimura (Portrayed by Daisuke Shiba）

Tupac Shakur isn't the only famous face to have been used in a video game lately, as Capcom's Onimusha: Way of the Sword used the likeness and mannerisms of the late actor Toshiro Mifune. As Yokoyama explained, this has become commonplace in Japan and isn't generally frowned upon. "In Japan, there isn’t really so much sensitivity over this issue because this is something that’s kind of part and parcel of the Japanese gaming culture for 20-plus years. There’s been a lot of people who have modeled their characters after actors alive and passed away," Yokoyama said to GameSpot earlier this year.

Stranger Than Heaven launches on January 15, 2027, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. The game will also be available day-one through Xbox Game Pass.

Rockstar Games has officially confirmed a $400 Grand Theft Auto 6 collector's edition, which doesn't include the game. The developer says The Goodtime State: Vice City Collection is inspired by Leonida’s hit TV show, Macca the Gator, and it's now available to preorder. It'll launch on November 19, the same day as GTA 6.

Here's a closer look at what $400 gets you:

The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection contents

• Six-inch figure of Macca the Gator with stash compartment 
• Matte black GTA 6 Oakley Frogskins sunglasses with Prizm Sapphire lenses  
• New Era 9FORTY A-Frame snapback hat with Vice City Leonida embellishments  
• Macca the Gator magnetic mirror
• Vice City swizzle spoon
• Vice City razor blade keychain
• Leonida Keys crossbody bag
• Chunkee the Manatee shot glass
• Leonida Keys enamel pin set in a custom metal tin 
• Premium stickers in a stash bag  
• Double-sided souvenir poster showcasing the full Leonida landscape 

It's a pretty solid selection of swag, but is it worth $400? Immediate reactions online have been very critical to the price that Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive are charging for this box of collectibles, but as people online have pointed out, this collector's edition will likely sell out fast--and there are already eBay listings for it. Scalpers pounced on the GTA 6 DualSense controllers when they were first announced, and on eBay, they're currently selling them at a premium.

It's also not too surprising to see a collector's edition that doesn't include the video game it's based on, as several big games have opted to sell standalone merchandise bundles. Marathon, Diablo 4, and Borderlands 4 are a few notable examples, and in the case of GTA 6, Take-Two Interactive won't have to risk preorder cancellations. According to a third-party research company, GTA 6 has already generated over $400 million in revenue from preorders alone.

Xbox Achievements have remained mostly the same since they were first introduced decades ago, but it looks like they're set to evolve slightly with the introduction of "Mythic" Achievements. Similar to PlayStation's platinum trophies, it looks like players will have to earn every Achievement in a game before they're awarded one of these. How do you know if you've earned this rare level of kudos on your PC or Xbox? Don't worry, unlocking a Mythic Achievement will result in your system rewarding you with a lot of digital fanfare.

As spotted by Klobrille, unlocking a Mythic Achievement will trigger a lengthy animation and sound effect, running almost 15 seconds in total:

https://twitter.com/klobrille/status/2102548362914365594

On the surface, it looks like adding a Mythic Achievement to your shelf is a sign that you've truly done everything there is to do in a game, so sitting back and enjoying the lengthy applause from your Xbox after you've poured hours into it makes sense.

According to TrueAchievements, Mythic Achievements are worth zero Gamerscore and are tracked separately from your usual Achievements. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had teased the rollout of these new awards back in August, but it looks like they're rolling out during another bleak week at Xbox.

As part of ongoing cuts, hundreds of people have been laid off across Xbox Game Studios, studio consolidation has resulted in various developers being grouped under new arms of Xbox, and things are not looking good for Ninja Theory. Undead Labs has also found a new owner--that has not been officially revealed yet--but the move away from Xbox has resulted in downsizing at the State of Decay 3 developer.