The Joy-Con 2's mouse controls may lead to some innovative titles on Nintendo Switch 2, including the recently released Drag x Drive. This 3-on-3 wheelchair basketball game relies on the mouse controls for for movement, and the most comfortable way to play is by using your legs as a surface. However, not all pants are created equal, and that's why GameSpot is sharing our test play results with several different pairs of pants.

In the interest of full disclosure, we did try playing Drag x Drive on bare legs. It's a smooth experience, but also unnecessarily painful. Perhaps some players won't mind that sensation. Regardless, we found that the material of the pants is actually very important for both comfort and consistent controls.

The worst performers were ribbed yoga pants, cargo pants, and men's dress pants. The common denominator among those picks were controller drift and lack of control. Standard dress pants worked well, but they weren't very comfortable.

There have been some wild characters introduced in the Overwatch canon, both in the original game and its sequel, Overwatch 2. Earlier this week, Blizzard shared an early look at the title's next hero, Wuyang. According to Overwatch 2 lead concept artist Daryl Tan, Wuyang is emblematic of the game's shift away from "oddball" characters in favor of aspirational heroes.

During an interview with Polygon, Tan and senior narrative designer Joshi Zhang explained that the creative team is focused on introducing characters who reflect their own personal experiences while also connecting to a larger audience.

"We always will approach making Overwatch heroes… aspirational in some sense," said Tan. "They're aspirational in their physique, in their expertise at what they do, and just being really cool heroes that we can look up to."

The developers behind Skate seem to get that skating is a style thing as much it is a lifestyle. The board itself doesn't make the skater cool, but the bevy of customization options that'll be present at Skate's early access launch certainly will.

According to the latest update from its developers, customization will be a crucial part of the experience, and it's the first thing players will do upon booting up the game. At that point, players will be able to fine tune many aspects of their avatar, such as their body shape, height, as well as tons of aspects of their face, and more.

The way that your characters moves when they're off the board--a setting that the developers are calling Locomotion--is also customizable, and you can even select gestures, which can be done both on-and-off-board.

The second weekend of the Battlefield 6 open beta is now in full swing, and Battlefield Studios isn't wasting time when it comes to making some adjustments to the game's Rush mode.

As announced by the official Battlefield Comms account on X, MCOM timers on Rush have been reduced from 45 to 30 seconds to "better balance between attacking and defending players." Additionally, respawn timers have been adjusted on both Rush and Breakthrough so that defender respawns are now fixed at 12 seconds, having previously been between 6-12 seconds. One other change on Breakthrough makes it so fewer players are needed on an objective in order to speed up the capture time.

Balance Changes to Breakthrough and Rush
We’ve just made some balancing changes: In Breakthrough, it now takes fewer players on an objective to speed up capture. Also, defender respawn timers in both Breakthrough and Rush are now fixed at 12 seconds instead of the previous 6-12…

Those changes should help attackers on Rush and Breakthrough claim more sectors, but so far Battlefield Studios hasn't addressed the main elephant in the room when it comes to Rush--its small 12v12 size and a complete lack of vehicles.

Developer Pearl Abyss has shared a new gameplay video for Crimson Desert, giving players a taste of what to expect for the open-world game at Gamescom and PAX West later this month. The demo is pretty action-packed: The protagonist Greymane Kliff is seen flying over terrain as a bird, utilizing lightning attacks to light up enemies, and even battling two bosses.

In the roughly 13-minute video (seen below), Kliff is apparently looking for one of his best buds, Greymane Oongka. This leads Crimson Desert's protagonist into a large-scale battle outside a castle, as a rebellion has been sparked by a turncoat called Cassius Morten. Kliff ends up firing cannons at the Drunk Black Bears enemies and then engaging in close-quarters combat--showing off elemental attacks like fire and ice, in addition to lightning. There's even a large foe to take on that wields an axe.

In the depths of the castle resides another boss, this time the traitor Morten. The well-armored opponent has a mace and shield to face off against Kliff. But in this gameplay video, the protagonist ends up using Morten's shield against him to end the fight. Pearl Abyss notes that Morten can be toppled in multiple ways, though.

Online collaborative pixel art platform Wplace has had many users drawing images from video games, but it's also being used as a platform for video game-related protests.

Heavily inspired by r/place on Reddit, users can paint any location of the world map with pixels of any color, which has inspired some people to air their grievances through pixel art. As reported by Eurogamer, the location of Riot Games' headquarters in Santa Monica has been targeted with a large art piece accompanied with the message "#SaveHytale" and the Hytale logo.

Riot Games is the owner of the studio Hypixel, which announced the cancellation of the Minecraft-inspired sandbox game in June after a decade of development. The developer had also announced the winding down of operations.

Diablo 4 Season 10 will introduce a new, more powerful type of Unique item called Chaos Armor that will take an existing Unique and convert it into a different armor slot, opening up even more build possibilities.

Blizzard revealed the new item type in a blog post ahead of Diablo 4 Season 10's upcoming PTR playtest, where it also dove into details on how the game is shaking up its Infernal Hordes endgame activity.

A Chaos Armor Unique item will always appear at maximum power and have at least one greater affix, often making them stronger than the normal version of that Unique. But the fact that they are stronger isn't the biggest change. Normally, Uniques are just that: unique. Each Unique has only ever been available for one armor slot. If you found a Fists of Fate, that item is specifically for the glove slot. If you found a Razorplate, that is specifically a piece of chest armor.

Battlefield 6 features a return to the series' classic class system, offering four options in multiplayer to choose from: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. Each class offers its own set of unique abilities, passive buffs, and a signature weapon category. While Battlefield 6 allows you to use any weapon on any class (unless you opt for a Weapon Locked playlist), the way some elements of your loadout interact with your chosen class can make a huge difference in battle.

If the class system is a little confusing for you or you're just looking to pick the best one and hop into a match, we have you covered. Below, you can see a brief overview of each class in Battlefield 6 and which one we think is the best.

Every class in Battlefield 6 has several elements that make it different from another class. No matter which one you run, though, you'll have access to a signature weapon category and ability, unique gadgets, and a Field Spec that comes with different levels and an active class ability. You can unlock the different levels of your Field Spec by earning XP throughout a match, as each level is unlocked the more XP you earn. Then, the active class ability is unlocked after you've reached a certain XP threshold, letting you press a button that appears on the right side of your HUD.

Blackbird Interactive has announced that it has bought back the rights of Hardspace: Shipbreaker from publisher Focus Interactive.

The sci-fi simulation game, notable for its themes of labor exploitation, initially released in early access in 2020 before launching in 2022 on PC and console.

In a Steam post addressed to its community, the developer shared that an agreement had been reached with its former publishing partner to reacquire full ownership of the Hardspace IP.

Grinding Gear Games has released an announcement teaser trailer for Path of Exile 2's next content update, The Third Edict, confirming just when you'll be able to play it. There's not much to go off in the trailer, showing the inside of a large, cylindrical tower covered in runes as a figure appears to be performing some kind of ritual. A voiceover also ominously describes the need for some kind of weapon, saying, "This weapon is our only chance to save humanity. We must invoke The Third Edict."

According to a Steam post announcing the new update, it will be available 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on August 29. Ahead of that, next week there will be a livestream taking place also at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on August 20 that promises to properly reveal The Third Edict.

That will be followed by a live Q&A session with directors Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts, alongside the patch notes for the update. You'll be able to check that out on the game's official Twitch channel, and Twitch Drops will be enabled for the livestream too--Grinding Gear Games notes that the reward will be announced soon, and co-streaming is welcome.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out later this year, and according to a report, it looks like there'll be a comfortable gap between its release and the arrival of EA's Battlefield 6. According to French website Dealabs, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will launch on November 14. If that date is accurate, then Black Ops 7 will be launching during a relaxed window in the gaming calendar, as November is a fairly light month--for now--when it comes to new releases.

This is par for the course with Call of Duty, as it typically launches between mid-October and mid-November each year. Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 has an October 10 release date, creating a small buffer between the two military-shooter games.

Dealabs also reports that Black Ops 7 will not be available for Switch 2 when it launches and it "remains uncertain" if Activision will port the game to the new Nintendo console, despite Microsoft committing to bring the series to Nintendo hardware. The game will also reportedly have a physical launch for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.

Battlefield 6 has a solid selection of attachments for each of its various guns, allowing you to customize your loadout in a way that works best for you. And if you're one for sticking to the backlines and sniping with the Recon class, you're probably interested in expanding your toolkit to include anything at all that improves your chances of hitting targets far away from you. That's where the Range Finder comes in.

The Range Finder can be unlocked for the sniper rifle's Right Accessory slot, and it may very well be among the best choices you can select for taking long-range shots. Here's how to use it and what you need to know about how it works.

To use the Range Finder, you'll first need to unlock it by reaching the necessary rank for the sniper rifle you're using. For instance, you'll need to be Rank 4 with the M2010 ESR to gain access to the Range Finger. Once you've unlocked the ability to use the Range Finder, equip it to your Right Accessory slot.

Mafia: The Old Country keeps things focused with its recreation of 1900s Sicily, but for fans looking to break free from the linear nature of its design, a new Free Ride mode will be added to the game in the coming months. This will be a free update, and developer Hangar 13 says it will add "new activities" and gameplay content. More details on it will be shared at a later date.

This will likely be similar to the Free Ride mode found in Mafia: Definitive Edition, which gave players more activities to pursue within that game's open-world structure. Mafia: The Old Country does offer a free-roam mode that can be accessed via the Chapter Replay menu, but when compared to the bustling levels of the main story campaign, the world does feel empty in comparison. It is worth checking out if you're a completionist, as you can hunt down collectibles and fully upgrade Enzo's arsenal along the way.

Hangar 13 shared a few more details on the game, as it says that in its first week, more than 600 million shots have been fired, 185 enemies have been taken down, 17 million bandages have been used to patch Enzo up, and players have "earned" a total of 10 billion Dinari from their sessions. And they say that (video game) crime doesn't pay.

A new update has arrived in GTA 5, predominantly relevant to GTA Online, but there is a new feature for the base game too. PC players with the necessary Nvidia hardware may be able to start playing with higher frame rates after installing the new patch.

As detailed over on Rockstar's website, players with the PC Enhanced edition of the game that have the latest Nvidia driver update installed can now make use of DLSS 4 in both GTA 5 and GTA Online. Enabling DLSS 4 with this newly added support allows for both Multi Frame Generation and Frame Generation. It's worth noting that both of these options will only work on Nividia's newer 40- and 50-Series GPUs. This is also only for the Enhanced version of the game, but the post from Rockstar does note that anyone who owns either GTA 5 or Online can still upgrade to it for free, as long as you meet the minimum system requirements.

The bulk of the rest of new additions in this update are just for GTA Online, mostly focused on vehicles as a part of the game's Drift Week. With this update, you'll be able to pick up the Declasse Drift Walton L35 (Off-Road) for free through the in-game Southern San Andreas Super Autos website. Alternatively, you can pick it up at the Premium Deluxe Motorsport’s showroom with a small upcharge for some "select modifications." The car is only available to pick up for a short while though, until August 27, so your best bet is grabbing it immediately.

Although handhelds are getting more powerful chips, they still lag behind the hardware that can be found in desktop and laptop PCs. However, one modder has created their own handheld system based on high-end laptop hardware.

Billibilli creator Qingchen DIY (via Videocardz) has a built a portable device that has a huge 12.5-inch 4K IPS display panel. In their video, the custom handheld is shown to be running on Windows 11, while the system settings shows that it contains an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU as well as an Intel Core i9-149000HX CPU. It also contains 64GB of DDR5-5600 memory and 2TB of storage.

It appears that this was a laptop that has been converted into a gaming handheld, with a light green shell containing the usual thumbsticks and face buttons, as well as a number of ports and a cooling vent at the top.

Chrono Trigger celebrated the 30-year anniversary of its US release this week. Below, we explore how its innovative New Game Plus feature set it apart as an all-time classic.

I spent almost an entire summer vacation repeatedly replaying Chrono Trigger. At the peak of the dog days, when I was content to stay indoors with the air conditioning (and my parents were content to let me), I was completing a full playthrough every few days. This was a welcome proposition thanks to New Game Plus, which still stands as a major part of Chrono Trigger's legacy and a critical, irremovable piece of its brilliant design.

Chrono Trigger was not the first game to feature an optional way to continue playing after beating the game. Other games, like The Legend of Zelda, featured second quests or post-credits challenges. But Chrono Trigger did coin the term New Game Plus, and it popularized the idea as it's currently understood. As opposed to an extra challenge for those who had mastered the game, Chrono Trigger's NG+ allowed you to start the game again with all of your experience, skills, and any items or equipment that wasn't critical to the plot. Rather than challenge you to complete a second quest with your newfound mastery, it rewarded you by making the game easier and faster--a breezy romp through a story you already knew and probably loved.

Pocketpair had to make two quick fixes for its hit game Palworld this week, and PS5 users may notice that the game is now taking longer than normal to load.

Palworld version v0.6.5 only targeted two bug fixes. The first was an issue on PlayStation 5 where players' save data could become unstable while engaging in multiplayer. The second fix was the elimination of mission pop ups when fans were hosting in single-player or co-op modes.

However, Pocketpair had to immediately release hotfix v0.6.5.77643 because PlayStation 5 users were reporting that the v0.6.5 update made the game freeze. The hotfix may have addressed that issue, but Pocketpair has warned fans that it may now take "longer than usual" to start. Pocketpair notes that a fix for this issue will be released in a future patch. The devs also noted that other PS5 technical issues will be addressed as well.

Sea of Thieves Season 17 has officially begun, tasking pirates with seeking out members of a mysterious new faction, the Smugglers' League. The smugglers have coin to trade for certain treasures--but some of it is risky cargo to haul across the high seas.

To start your dealings with the League, you'll first have to find them, tracking down one of the well-hidden and booby-trapped Smugglers' Hideouts scattered across the map. While the League has interest in more standard treasures including fine art and fine rum, their main focus is on explosive Black Powder Barrels--a risky cargo to be carrying on your ship.

Once players have tracked down a Hideout, they'll be able to pick up Smugglers' Route Runs, delivering often-dangerous cargo from one point to another. Smugglers' Runs can also be picked up from a message in a bottle bearing the Smugglers' mark.

Blizzard has released a tantalizing teaser trailer for World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion Midnight, ahead of its official reveal at Gamescom next week. The brief clip shows the gathering Void Storm threatening Azeroth--and our world, too.

"The shadows descend and Azeroth stands on the brink of its darkest hour," the teaser description reads. The video itself shows darkness gathering over Azeroth, cutting between clips of the growing Void Storm and a closeup of Xal'atath. Warning that the Void is coming, the teaser cuts to real-world footage, showing the Void Storm over the iconic Cologne Cathedral--near to where Gamescom will take place next week.

Other than brief teasers, Blizzard hasn't shared many details about Midnight--though we do know that the expansion will once again offer a paid early-access period. While the player housing update is also due out soon. Blizzard has suggested that the highly anticipated feature will be dropping before Midnight launches in full.

The Diablo 4 Public Test Realm (PTR) is returning soon to preview the new content and changes inbound for Season 10, including an Infernal Hordes revamp, a new boss, and a new unique armor type, Chaos Armor. The Season 10 PTR will be available from August 19 to August 26 for PC players.

Where Season 9 brought a revamp to Nightmare dungeons with Horadric Strongrooms and Escalating Nightmares, Infernal Hordes is next on the list for a refresh. The Season 10 PTR will introduce new Chaos Monsters that provide shrine-like buffs when defeated, as well as optional Chaos Waves that will dramatically up the difficulty of a wave in return for a higher Aether reward.

The Fell Council is also getting a rework--one member of the Council will be designated as Council Speaker each time you fight them, gaining enhanced abilities along with the title promotion. Players will also have the option of ignoring the Fell Council altogether and opting into a brand-new boss fight with Vizjerei Warlord Bartuc--formerly the Warlord of Blood, now the Warlord of Chaos. Players will have to spend Aether to fight Bartuc, but the punishing boss fight promises increased rewards if the party successfully defeats him.