Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick and Sony's top boss, Hiroki Totoki, commented on the future of gaming today at the Paley International Summit. Naturally, the topic of AI came up, and Totoki believes AI technologies will not replace humans in game development, in part because of the creativity required.

"Creativity is for humans, not AI,” Totoki said, as reported by IGN. “How to use the technology profile is important. Of course, I encourage my people to use AI in a certain manner, but at [the] same time we try to keep the rights and rights holders and creators and artists.”

For his part, Zelnick said it's his belief that AI itself will not replace a developer, but instead, people who don't embrace AI might be replaced by people who do.

"I’m fond of saying AI is a collection of datasets, compute, and large language models. That’s what it is. And datasets, by definition, are backward-looking. That’s all they are. And creativity, at its best, is forward-looking," he said.

Zelnick said ideas that are "completely unexpected" don't come from algorithms--they come from creative people making surprising, original choices. To make his point, Zelnick said when he was an executive at Fox, he oversaw the release of Home Alone, a movie that no one expected to be a success.

"It turned out to be the highest-grossing comedy of all time. So if hits are unexpected, data sets aren’t gonna get you there, no matter how fluent they are," he said.

Both PlayStation and Take-Two have embraced AI, with PlayStation heavily leveraging the technology in its game-development processes. As for Take-Two, the publisher is utilizing the technology for its workflows, but there is no AI in GTA 6.

There has been significant pushback for AI in game development from developers and players alike, with many expressing concerns about job security, legal issues, and simply the further "enshi**ification" of everything they love.

It's now been a full decade since Nintendo announced the first Switch, which is almost hard to believe, given how fresh that reveal trailer still feels in our heads. Heaps of hype and a lack of information from Nintendo about its Wii U successor, codenamed "NX," led to the company's fanbase becoming increasingly restless.

Reports and rumors pointed to the NX as a console-handheld hybrid, but Nintendo didn't fully unveil the Switch until October 20, 2016 (an announcement preluded by a photo of Mario being a creep). The three-and-a-half-minute video made it clear how Nintendo wanted players to interact with the Switch, showing several scenarios where people take their games on the go.

Rewatching that trailer today, it's amusing to look back at how Nintendo foresaw the social impact of the Switch. Some moments from the trailer manifested in reality, while others were hilariously exaggerated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS-1tDfLxRQ

You have a guy taking his dog (and his copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) out on a walk, a traveler playing Skyrim on a plane and putting the game on his television upon his arrival home, and professional Splatoon players practicing before their big moment on stage.

And then, there's "Nintendo Karen." The most-talked-about moment in the trailer centered on a woman playing Super Mario Odyssey before being prompted to join friends for a rooftop party (a typical gathering of millennials, as people would joke back then), during which she breaks out the Switch, pulls out that dinky little kickstand, and plays a game with a friend as onlookers holding red Solo cups watch with indifference. Fans branded this commercial character as "Karen" and debated the social implications of bringing a Switch to such a function.

The Nintendo Switch reveal trailer remains a striking piece of marketing, with its upbeat vibe and extra emphasis on the Switch's branding (much needed, after the Wii U's marketing failures). In the years since the Switch's release, I’ve seen Switches out in the wild, just as Nintendo imagined, though I've yet to go to a rooftop party like the one Karen attended.

While the Switch 2 continues to sell well, there's a notion that its reveal was a bit cold and lacking in fanfare compared to the original Switch. Even so, Nintendo still hasn't lost its charm and quirk, even though the company will probably never use that hilarious picture of Mario behind the curtain ever again.

Right on schedule, the second wave of games coming to Xbox Game Pass has been revealed. After the first batch, which included Gears of War: E-Day, Battlefield 6, and more, the rest of the month will add games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and The Seance of Blake Manor to the subscription service. We've also gotten a sneak peek at what's coming in November, so there's plenty to play over the next couple of weeks.

As a reminder, several games are also leaving Xbox Game Pass this month, including a pair of Double Fine classics and one massive Star Wars Lego game.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is the headline act in this new wave of arrivals, right on time for anyone looking to experience the saga from its first chapter. The Intergrade version includes the original game and its Yuffie-centric expansion, but you'll have to wait until October 29 to embark on the Unknown Journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHoR2I9PrE

Before then, you can grab the Game Preview edition of Sandustry on PC starting October 21. A game about exploration and automation, it's a tempting download for anyone who enjoys assembly-line video games. You can also get Dodo Duckie on October 22, a reality-bending odyssey where you'll get to outsmart aliens and solve puzzles while wielding duck powers, and October 26 will see the MMO-lite action RPG Scramble Knights Online make its day-one debut on Game Pass.

The Séance of Blake Manor was one of GameSpot's favorite games of 2025, and you can check out this supernatural detective mystery for yourself when it's added to the Game Pass library on October 27. Starting October 29, you can explore Midgar in the aforementioned Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, play classic Plants vs. Zombies in HD, and the horror-parkour game Terrible Lizards is another day-one release to round out the month.

Looking ahead, November will kick off with Pit of Goblin, an online horror co-op adventure in which you play as a scrappy goblin.

Xbox Game Pass October Wave 2 Games October 21

• Sandustry (PC via Game Preview) - Now with Game Pass Premium; joining Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass

October 22

• Dodo Duckie (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

October 26

• Scramble Knights Online (Game Preview for Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

October 27

• The Séance of Blake Manor (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

October 29

• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
• Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (Cloud, Console, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Terrible Lizards (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass

November 3

• Pit of Goblin (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass

Earlier this year, a new trading card game based on the hit Cyberpunk franchise hit Kickstarter and became the highest-funded game in Kickstarter's entire history. With the launch set now out in the wild, WeirdCo is ready to announce the game's first expansion, Edgerunners: Burn Bright, which is scheduled to launch in Spring 2027.

Edgerunners: Burn Bright will introduce multiple characters, locations, and moments from the popular Netflix anime into the card game, along with new mechanics which will be revealed closer to the set's release date. The set will also introduce a new chase rarity, though WeirdCo did not share further details.

We have an exclusive reveal of the artwork for one of the characters joining the Cyberpunk TCG through the Edgerunners: Burn Bright set, as well as his trusty firearm. Here's the artwork for Zhou, Maine's Answer!

Zhou, Maine's Answer

Zhou, or the L-69 Zhuo, is the two-handed shotgun wielded by Maine, the leader of the crew David Martinez joins in the first season of Edgerunners. While we don't know what Zhou's abilities are yet, we expect it will be a powerful Gear card that will enhance whoever it's equipped to. Perhaps it will even give an additional bonus to Maine himself, but we won't know for sure until we see what the card can do..

The Cyberpunk TCG's second expansion, Edgerunners: Burn Bright, launches Spring 2027 in both local game stores and big-box retailers.

Netflix has undertaken efforts over the years to increase its footprint in the world of video games, but it's been a bumpy road, and new data suggests that the company is falling short of its targets.

According to a Netflix memo seen by The Wall Street Journal, only 3.5% of Netflix's subscribers play games monthly. That's 10% behind Netflix's 2026 target for "reach and engagement" for games, the memo said. In 2022, it was reported that fewer than 1% of Netflix subscribers played games on Netflix.

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

Getting deeper into games is part of Netflix's effort to increase engagement, and it's not the only measure that Netflix has undertaken. The company has also expanded to live sports and podcasts.

Netflix's priorities for gaming have bounced around over the years. At one point in time, Netflix was planning to create AAA games and hired big-name talent. However, Netflix later backtracked, and today the company focuses more on mobile and social games.

Recently, co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked if Netflix will abandon gaming entirely in the future, and he doesn't think the company will, at least not soon. Sarandos said gaming is appealing to Netflix because, for example, someone who just finished a Netflix show can stay engaged with the brand through Netflix's tie-in games connected to those franchises. Beyond tie-in games for Netflix properties like Stranger Things and Love is Blind, Netflix commissions new games like Unhinged and The Conjuring: Unspoken.

The streaming giant also made a big play in gaming this year by hosting the GTA 6 Extended Look trailer, and it worked to get people to sign up for Netflix and watch on the platform. Netflix previously worked with Take-Two to bring GTA games to the platform. Red Dead Redemption from Take-Two's Rockstar division remains available to play on Netflix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lsV9I2NDO8

These new details about Netflix's efforts in gaming come amidst a big shakeup at the company--a number of top executives were let go, or left, earlier this week ahead of Netflix's latest earnings report today, October 20. Netflix's stock price is down 23% this year and 43% over the past 12 months, and investors called on management to make changes to help the stock go back up.

Beyond the executive departures, Netflix laid off 1,000+ people recently, which worked out to about 6% of the company's total workforce; this was the largest round of layoffs in Netflix's history.

While a whole bunch of new games are being added to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog this month, it looks like Sony is making room for them by removing several titles over the next few weeks. We don’t know exactly when they will be gone, but you can expect 11 games to be removed over the next couple of weeks, including two of Rockstar's biggest open-world adventures: Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5.

We've known for a while that GTA 5 was on its way out, but it looks like Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive are making sure there are no distractions for the November 19 launch of GTA 6. It's worth noting that both games have been in and out of the PS Plus Game Catalog, so they'll probably be added back at some point in the future. GTA 5 rotated back into the library in November 2025, while Red Dead Redemption 2 returned to the PS Plus Extra and Premium Game Catalog in May.

Those are the biggest upcoming exits of the month, and the next noteworthy game packing its bags is The Talos Principle 2. A head-scratcher of an adventure, it's a great option for anyone looking to test their cerebral muscles while facing several existential crises about the nature of the human condition. Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is also a recommended last-minute game to check out, as it combines tower-defense fun with quirky animations. Do you like Terry Gilliam's Monty Python cartoons? Then you'll get a kick out of this.

Here's a closer look at everything else that's leaving soon:

PlayStation Plus Game Catalog games leaving soon Time is running out.

• Cricket 24: International Edition
• Earth Defense 4: The Shadow of New Despair
• Football Manager 26
• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Hotshot Racing: Big Boss Bundle
• Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
• Rapala Fishing: Pro Series
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break
• The Talos Principle 2
• Yet Another Zombie Defense HD

As a reminder, all PlayStation Plus subscribers can grab three freebies right now–F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2–but you'll need to grab them before November 2.

Grand Theft Auto 6 doesn't just look visually impressive; it also has a killer sound thanks to French electronic music duo Justice. Composing the soundtrack for any game is no easy feat, but with GTA 6 generating an unprecedented amount of hype, the team of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are well aware of the expectations that have been placed on them.

"Yeah, we are aware of the hype of the game, of course, and the fact that people have been waiting for such a long time," Augé said in an interview with the BBC 1 radio show (via NINE1NINE). "On the other hand, we are aware, and we see this colossus approaching, and at the same time we see it a bit from the outside. So it was a good way for us also not to let these thoughts come into our minds and not intrude on our minds."

As for the overall sound of GTA 6'S soundtrack, Justice says that it pulled from various sources to create a unique "flavor" built around several instruments. While there's a subtle '80s influence in what has been heard so far, Justice says that there's far more to the score than just retro vibes.

https://youtu.be/QHbDjL_euB0

"We never really put words on it. 'Oh, we need to make an '80s track,' Augé said. "We knew what we needed to do, and it happened to have this kind of flavor. But at the same time, the sounds are futuristic. Like the guitar, it's not even a guitar; it's a synth, because no guitar could have this type of sound that is very phasey and a bit futuristic."

To get an idea of what GTA 6's score will sound like, listen to the game's first single, Flower in a Hurricane. Featuring Tame Impala, SZA, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, the track has already earned 2.8 million plays on YouTube in less than a week, and Justice said they got to work with a dream team of performers to make it a reality.

"These are people we've always wanted to work with," de Rosnay said. "We didn't think from the beginning that they would necessarily match together, but it came very naturally, and things happened gradually, and all of a sudden we had made a record with all of them."

https://youtu.be/JWxoRY7AFSw

Beyond the original soundtrack by Justice, GTA 6 will also offer the "next evolution of in-game radio, and more" through several radio stations and podcasts. The official GTA 6 album will have 34 songs written specifically for the game, including new music from Keith Richards and Travis Scott.

For more news, check out all the records we think GTA 6 will break when it launches on November 19, and see who's voicing who in the game.

Fortnite's spooky season content is rolling out, and that includes the character Nikki from one of 2026's biggest movies, Obsession.

Inde Navarrette's character from the Curry Barker movie is coming to Fortnite on October 21. As expected, Nikki's "No, no, no!" line from the movie is coming to Fortnite as an emote, but not in the way you might expect. Instead of Nikki voicing the line, she holds out cue cards with the words on them. Check out the video below to see how the emote looks in the game.

https://twitter.com/ShiinaBR/status/2112529674547208371

Additionally, Nikki in Fortnite can change her face to replicate the character's iconic frown from the movie. The DLC bundle also includes a One-Wish Willow as a pickaxe and a broken wine bottle for a weapon, referencing how Nikki violently bashes a bottle on her own face in the movie.

https://twitter.com/FireMonkey/status/2112531113021440218

Obsession was released in May this year and made more than $500 million worldwide against a reported budget of just $750,000, making it one of the most commercially successful movies ever released.

https://twitter.com/ShiinaBR/status/2112530763162009865

Navarrette, who is a fan of PS2 Shrek games, is a big gamer and has been offered roles. Those gaming roles remain a mystery, but Navarrette is going to play Rogue in the new X-Men movie.

Activision recently released ports of 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops and 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on PlayStation, and they were massive hits. According to a report, the games combined to sell more than 11 million copies on PS4 and PS5. Developer Gavin Goslin, who worked on these games at Treyarch, has reflected on the massive success of these ports and why it feels "bittersweet."

Posting on LinkedIn, Goslin said it's amazing to see these games continue to perform well in 2026. It's also a bit sad because the "suits" at Activision are raking in all the money, not the original developers, he said.

"I poured my life into those games, spending countless, brutal hours in crunch alongside an incredibly talented team to make sure they were perfect. Seeing our blood, sweat, and tears still dominating the charts in 2026 is amazing, but it's hard to watch the suits rake in giant financial windfalls from our old code while the actual creators don't see a dime of it," he said (via VGC). "If executives are getting massive bonuses off the longevity of these classics, that wealth needs to be shared retroactively. Legacy revenue should mean legacy rewards for the devs who survived the crunch to build them."

As Goslin mentioned here, the re-releases are not remakes or remasters--instead, they are ports with no new features or significant updates, and that's exactly what fans had been clamoring for.

People wanted the games in their original state, and that's what they got. There was significant pent-up demand, too. Before the ports, the only way to play them on PlayStation was to find an old PS3 and go from there, since they were never made available via backwards compatibility on PS4 or PS5.

Activision marketing boss Tyler Bahl told The Game Business that, "The Black Ops ports were huge successes. We thought they would do well, we didn’t think they would do that well."

Bahl went on to say pent-up demand helped make those ports so successful, and Activision is trying to take learnings from that and apply those lessons to MW4 and future Call of Duty games.

The next Call of Duty release is Modern Warfare 4, which arrives on October 23. After that, Activision has teased that a new sub-franchise is coming.

If Nintendo Switch Sports Resort's sole mission is to make you look and feel stupid and have a ton of fun with friends and family, then Nintendo has accomplished that mission with flying colors (and flailing arms). Considering Nintendo's other outings with its motion-controlled sports games, that shouldn't come as a surprise--nor should the feeling of a sore arm the next morning: a feeling that I consider nostalgic at this point.

Switch Sports Resort delivers the best showcase of sports and modes, making it feel like a complete experience and the most cohesive package in the series to date.

For the nostalgic-driven players, it's easy to notice which sports from previous games aren't included among the 12 here, like Chambara, Badminton, and Disc Golf. But in place of those missing games are what I consider to be the greatest hits of the series, joined by welcome additions like the tension-fest competition of Thumb Wrestling.

Of those 12 events, there are three "Leisure Sports" (game modes that don't require the player to be standing or exerting the use of a limb to flail), which include Prop Plane, Skateboarding, and Power Cruising. With the exception of Thumb Wrestling, the other eight more traditional sports will require you standing up in front of your TV, Joy-Cons in hand, and using physical gestures to mimic the act of playing the sport. You'll swing your whole arm for Tennis as if wielding a racket; raise your arm back and then swing forward to bowl; or, in the case of Archery, hold a Joy-Con in each hand, raising one arm forward and pulling back with the other to simulate drawing a bow--it all still feels awesome, just as it has since the original game. The Switch 2's HD Rumble is used well to enhance the experience with better feedback. In archery, for example, the controllers simulate the tension of the bowstring.

Like playing actual sports, your enjoyment mileage will vary. If I'm not good at a real-life sport, then clearly something is wrong with the sport and its in-game version. This was the case while playing Switch Sports Resort's rendition of Table Tennis against friends. I was terrible at it and therefore I blamed the game. However, someone I was playing with was doing well and seemed skilled in what they were doing. While I refused to believe that I'm the problem and that it isn't a skill issue, that experience proved to me that it is, indeed, a skill issue, and I just suck at Table Tennis. And it's fine!

This scenario captures the essence of playing this game with friends: the natural banter that comes with the playful competition in sports. Because while this particular player was able to beat me at Table Tennis, I absolutely destroyed them at regular ol' Tennis--a legacy sport in the series, and one I've loved since the original 2006 game. "Friendly" competition or showboating skills aside, each sport achieves what matters most: They're all fun to play.

Some sports are easier to engage with than others. Tennis, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing are the most pick-up-and-play friendly, but that doesn't dismiss the depth of skill that can be learned and applied. Golf takes advantage of the Joy-Con's position, so newcomers will need to pay attention to the angle of your swing, while experienced players will naturally consider how much the Joy-Con is tilted. In both cases, it feels intuitive. Golf remains one of the more chill sports to give your arms a bit of a rest and offers a wide variety of courses with varying difficulties.

Among the don't-fix-what-ain't-broke sports is bowling, which returns with a mode that features obstacles to bowl around and simultaneous bowl, so you and your friends don't have to wait to take turns. 100 Pin Bowling from the original Wii Sports Resort returns too, and, as before, few things are as satisfying as getting a 100-pin strike on your first frame.

I sorely missed Boxing in Switch Sports, and now my arms are sore from its return--I love it. Boxing can feel like you're just swinging wildly until your opponent is down, but Resort makes the addition of a stamina gauge (despite having my own real-life stamina gauge) for added strategy, incentivizing you to be more deliberate and methodical in your approach with your dodges, blocks, and left-and-right hooks. I can't say I was either deliberate or methodical in the matches I played because I was having too much fun just punching the air with all my might. Did I lose? Yes, and I don't care. 

Each sport offers its own distinct use of the Joy-Con, with sports like Volleyball and Basketball featuring a rotation of more complex movesets rather than the usual swinging and punching. As a result, these sports' tutorials are more cumbersome. When playing with a group of people, this can be a speed bump for the uninitiated, but it's worth having a little patience for the end result.

The complexities of Volleyball and Basketball are largely in the extra steps when learning about positioning for you and your teammates. Volleyball plays more like a choreographed dance as you change positions from passing, to setting up a shot, to blocking an incoming ball, all of which require the physical motion of raising your arms at just the right time. Basketball involves a few extra moves depending on your position. It took my friends and I a moment to fully grasp how to play it, but once I locked in with my teammate--leaning on communication and fighting off the urge to run in for a shot--a careful passing took place that, when done skillfully, felt satisfying. (It also helps that we won.)

Thankfully, both Volleyball and Basketball offer pick-up-and-play modes, which alleviate the more cumbersome nature of learning all the moves. For this, Basketball features several modes that focus on just shooting hoops against opponents, and Volleyball narrows down gameplay to a rhythm game where you are tasked with timing your ball bumps on a beat. They're both fun bite-sized helpings of each sport, with Basketball's Five-Streak Battle being a standout thanks to its tension to land five consecutive shots while three other opponents shoot for hoops simultaneously.

As is the case with playing any real-life sport, it's par for the course to get a little worn out while playing, and that's where Sports Resort's Leisure Sports come in. Leisure Sports are a standout, with each sport offering a much-appreciated change-up from the usual arm flailing. In Prop Plane, you control a plane by holding the Joy-Con like how you'd hold a paper plane, guiding it around the game's open world; Skateboarding takes advantage of the Joy-Con's mouse features, sliding it back on the surface to simulate pushing a skateboard; and Power Cruising has you control a jet ski by holding a Joy-Con in each hand, steering as if they were handlebars and twisting the right one to trigger a boost (with an optional solo Joy-Con control scheme, too). Each of these sports triggered a deep sense of nostalgia in me, being reminiscent of playing with toys as a kid, with the Joy-Cons becoming an extension of that feeling. In this case, the game itself simulates my imagination and it's just pure joy.

Each Leisure Sport has its own chill sightseeing mode that allows you to explore the Resort's island from land, water, and air, but, on the opposite end, they also have competitive modes. Competing in each one is very fun in its own right, and this is especially true for Skateboarding and Power Cruising, both of which have whispers of Mario Kart-style intro sequences. There's a wide array of courses that increase in difficulty and introduce speed boosts, tight turns, and some genuinely thrilling course-specific moments, like skateboarding down a mountain on a narrow path, neck-and-neck with my opponent, for example. They're so fun that it feels like a glaring misstep to not include the ability to compete against CPUs in this format. Compounding the problem, none of the Leisure Sports can be played online, which isn't the case for the other nine sports. 

Although Leisure Sports stumbles in their lack of CPU opponents, the other sports avoid the same pitfall with Island Crown, an in-game tournament-like mode where you can move up the ranks as you take on increasingly difficult CPU opponents. Three sports that are part of Island Crown can be played in co-op (Tennis, Volleyball, and Basketball), should you want to involve friends. Island Crown also showcases a large part of Resort's distinct personality, with each sport featuring its own ultimate opponent who you're moving up the ranks to take on. They’re colored with their own quips and share tips as you push through match after match. Ranking number one and taking down these pretty-faced athletes rewards you more accessories and items to customize your avatar with.

If you played Switch Sports, you'll be familiar with Resort's avatars and range of customization. They haven't evolved much from that game, nor did they need to. I mean, hey, I never thought it needed to evolve past the original Wii's Miis, and thankfully Nintendo continues to support them in this game too. So my dead-eyed Mii can still face-off against the new pretty-faced avatars. Additionally, there's an option to make all the CPU opponents Miis, which are populated from both Miis you've created on your console to randomly generated ones. The moment I realized this option was available, I changed it. Long live Miis.

The novelty of motion controls may be gone as motion-based functionality has been part of every Nintendo console for the last 20 years. What prevails, however, is the unabashed fun that ensues when gathering folks together to move and act silly in the name of virtual sports. Beyond that, Resort still manages to spark imagination with its Leisure Sports and showcases that there's still wonder in motion-controlled games, like when performing plane tricks with nothing but the motion of your hand.

As someone who played the original Wii Sports when it first released, and was awed by the rudimentary real-life movements being mimicked on screen, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort allowed me to feel that all over again as an adult. And it's a feeling best felt surrounded by friends. Whether you're a jaded 36-year-old man with no children (like me), a parent, a grandparent, or a kid, it's hard to imagine even the most calloused-hearted person not having fun with the game. Get your family together, get your friends, heck--invite your neighbors over, break out the party essentials, and have fun.

If Nintendo Switch Sports Resort's sole mission is to make you look and feel stupid and have a ton of fun with friends and family, then Nintendo has accomplished that mission with flying colors (and flailing arms). Considering Nintendo's other outings with its motion-controlled sports games, that shouldn't come as a surprise--nor should the feeling of a sore arm the next morning: a feeling that I consider nostalgic at this point.

Switch Sports Resort delivers the best showcase of sports and modes, making it feel like a complete experience and the most cohesive package in the series to date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tX12iFeM88

For the nostalgic-driven players, it's easy to notice which sports from previous games aren't included among the 12 here, like Chambara, Badminton, and Disc Golf. But in place of those missing games are what I consider to be the greatest hits of the series, joined by welcome additions like the tension-fest competition of Thumb Wrestling.

Of those 12 events, there are three "Leisure Sports" (game modes that don't require the player to be standing or exerting the use of a limb to flail), which include Prop Plane, Skateboarding, and Power Cruising. With the exception of Thumb Wrestling, the other eight more traditional sports will require you standing up in front of your TV, Joy-Cons in hand, and using physical gestures to mimic the act of playing the sport. You'll swing your whole arm for Tennis as if wielding a racket; raise your arm back and then swing forward to bowl; or, in the case of Archery, hold a Joy-Con in each hand, raising one arm forward and pulling back with the other to simulate drawing a bow--it all still feels awesome, just as it has since the original game. The Switch 2's HD Rumble is used well to enhance the experience with better feedback. In archery, for example, the controllers simulate the tension of the bowstring.

Like playing actual sports, your enjoyment mileage will vary. If I'm not good at a real-life sport, then clearly something is wrong with the sport and its in-game version. This was the case while playing Switch Sports Resort's rendition of Table Tennis against friends. I was terrible at it and therefore I blamed the game. However, someone I was playing with was doing well and seemed skilled in what they were doing. While I refused to believe that I'm the problem and that it isn't a skill issue, that experience proved to me that it is, indeed, a skill issue, and I just suck at Table Tennis. And it's fine!

This scenario captures the essence of playing this game with friends: the natural banter that comes with the playful competition in sports. Because while this particular player was able to beat me at Table Tennis, I absolutely destroyed them at regular ol' Tennis--a legacy sport in the series, and one I've loved since the original 2006 game. "Friendly" competition or showboating skills aside, each sport achieves what matters most: They're all fun to play.

Some sports are easier to engage with than others. Tennis, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing are the most pick-up-and-play friendly, but that doesn't dismiss the depth of skill that can be learned and applied. Golf takes advantage of the Joy-Con's position, so newcomers will need to pay attention to the angle of your swing, while experienced players will naturally consider how much the Joy-Con is tilted. In both cases, it feels intuitive. Golf remains one of the more chill sports to give your arms a bit of a rest and offers a wide variety of courses with varying difficulties.

Among the don't-fix-what-ain't-broke sports is bowling, which returns with a mode that features obstacles to bowl around and simultaneous bowl, so you and your friends don't have to wait to take turns. 100 Pin Bowling from the original Wii Sports Resort returns too, and, as before, few things are as satisfying as getting a 100-pin strike on your first frame.

I sorely missed Boxing in Switch Sports, and now my arms are sore from its return--I love it. Boxing can feel like you're just swinging wildly until your opponent is down, but Resort makes the addition of a stamina gauge (despite having my own real-life stamina gauge) for added strategy, incentivizing you to be more deliberate and methodical in your approach with your dodges, blocks, and left-and-right hooks. I can't say I was either deliberate or methodical in the matches I played because I was having too much fun just punching the air with all my might. Did I lose? Yes, and I don't care. 

Each sport offers its own distinct use of the Joy-Con, with sports like Volleyball and Basketball featuring a rotation of more complex movesets rather than the usual swinging and punching. As a result, these sports' tutorials are more cumbersome. When playing with a group of people, this can be a speed bump for the uninitiated, but it's worth having a little patience for the end result.

The complexities of Volleyball and Basketball are largely in the extra steps when learning about positioning for you and your teammates. Volleyball plays more like a choreographed dance as you change positions from passing, to setting up a shot, to blocking an incoming ball, all of which require the physical motion of raising your arms at just the right time. Basketball involves a few extra moves depending on your position. It took my friends and I a moment to fully grasp how to play it, but once I locked in with my teammate--leaning on communication and fighting off the urge to run in for a shot--a careful passing took place that, when done skillfully, felt satisfying. (It also helps that we won.)

Thankfully, both Volleyball and Basketball offer pick-up-and-play modes, which alleviate the more cumbersome nature of learning all the moves. For this, Basketball features several modes that focus on just shooting hoops against opponents, and Volleyball narrows down gameplay to a rhythm game where you are tasked with timing your ball bumps on a beat. They're both fun bite-sized helpings of each sport, with Basketball's Five-Streak Battle being a standout thanks to its tension to land five consecutive shots while three other opponents shoot for hoops simultaneously.

As is the case with playing any real-life sport, it's par for the course to get a little worn out while playing, and that's where Sports Resort's Leisure Sports come in. Leisure Sports are a standout, with each sport offering a much-appreciated change-up from the usual arm flailing. In Prop Plane, you control a plane by holding the Joy-Con like how you'd hold a paper plane, guiding it around the game's open world; Skateboarding takes advantage of the Joy-Con's mouse features, sliding it back on the surface to simulate pushing a skateboard; and Power Cruising has you control a jet ski by holding a Joy-Con in each hand, steering as if they were handlebars and twisting the right one to trigger a boost (with an optional solo Joy-Con control scheme, too). Each of these sports triggered a deep sense of nostalgia in me, being reminiscent of playing with toys as a kid, with the Joy-Cons becoming an extension of that feeling. In this case, the game itself simulates my imagination and it's just pure joy.

Each Leisure Sport has its own chill sightseeing mode that allows you to explore the Resort's island from land, water, and air, but, on the opposite end, they also have competitive modes. Competing in each one is very fun in its own right, and this is especially true for Skateboarding and Power Cruising, both of which have whispers of Mario Kart-style intro sequences. There's a wide array of courses that increase in difficulty and introduce speed boosts, tight turns, and some genuinely thrilling course-specific moments, like skateboarding down a mountain on a narrow path, neck-and-neck with my opponent, for example. They're so fun that it feels like a glaring misstep to not include the ability to compete against CPUs in this format. Compounding the problem, none of the Leisure Sports can be played online, which isn't the case for the other nine sports. 

Although Leisure Sports stumbles in their lack of CPU opponents, the other sports avoid the same pitfall with Island Crown, an in-game tournament-like mode where you can move up the ranks as you take on increasingly difficult CPU opponents. Three sports that are part of Island Crown can be played in co-op (Tennis, Volleyball, and Basketball), should you want to involve friends. Island Crown also showcases a large part of Resort's distinct personality, with each sport featuring its own ultimate opponent who you're moving up the ranks to take on. They’re colored with their own quips and share tips as you push through match after match. Ranking number one and taking down these pretty-faced athletes rewards you more accessories and items to customize your avatar with.

If you played Switch Sports, you'll be familiar with Resort's avatars and range of customization. They haven't evolved much from that game, nor did they need to. I mean, hey, I never thought it needed to evolve past the original Wii's Miis, and thankfully Nintendo continues to support them in this game too. So my dead-eyed Mii can still face-off against the new pretty-faced avatars. Additionally, there's an option to make all the CPU opponents Miis, which are populated from both Miis you've created on your console to randomly generated ones. The moment I realized this option was available, I changed it. Long live Miis.

The novelty of motion controls may be gone as motion-based functionality has been part of every Nintendo console for the last 20 years. What prevails, however, is the unabashed fun that ensues when gathering folks together to move and act silly in the name of virtual sports. Beyond that, Resort still manages to spark imagination with its Leisure Sports and showcases that there's still wonder in motion-controlled games, like when performing plane tricks with nothing but the motion of your hand.

As someone who played the original Wii Sports when it first released, and was awed by the rudimentary real-life movements being mimicked on screen, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort allowed me to feel that all over again as an adult. And it's a feeling best felt surrounded by friends. Whether you're a jaded 36-year-old man with no children (like me), a parent, a grandparent, or a kid, it's hard to imagine even the most calloused-hearted person not having fun with the game. Get your family together, get your friends, heck--invite your neighbors over, break out the party essentials, and have fun.

It's not often that a live-service game gets any sort of attention after the servers have shut down, but there was something special about Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius. It was more than just a mediocre gacha-based RPG with Final Fantasy branding slapped on it--it featured a fully original story with unique characters, a fully fleshed-out setting, and plenty of that unmistakable Final Fantasy flavor. So when Square-Enix announced Final Fantasy Resonance--a full-fledged single-player remake of part of Brave Exvius's story--there was excitement. Former Brave Exvius players could revisit the setting they loved, and those who hadn't played could enjoy the story without all of the gacha baggage.

Retooling a live-service, gacha-monetized game into a single-player experience is no easy task, however, but Square-Enix clearly felt that the legacy of Brave Exvius was worth the effort. And while Final Fantasy Resonance succeeds admirably in retelling the saga of Rain and the battle against the Veritas, it does have a handful of shortcomings that keep it from becoming the next great Final Fantasy epic.

Resonance brings us to the world of Lapis, where adopted brothers Rain and Laswell are doing routine tasks for the Grandshelt Knights. Things quickly escalate, however: The pair encounter a mysterious armor-clad warrior, who's powerful enough to shatter the kingdom's Earth crystal before setting the kingdom's castle ablaze. One near-death encounter and mysterious-young-girl rescue later, Rain and Laswell learn that more armored sentinels are seeking to destroy the remaining crystals that maintain the world to settle a long-simmering grudge. Thus begins a grand adventure with twists, turns, mysteries, revelations, and an ever-growing party of traveling companions--the classic FF formula we've come to love. For the most part, it hews close to the original narrative of Brave Exvius, with some detours and extra exposition along the way. 

In many ways, Final Fantasy Resonance feels engineered as a callback to the olden days of the series. Story- and progression-wise, Resonance feels more in line with the 16-bit Final Fantasy games: mostly linear with some side trekking you can do if you feel so inclined. The narrative pacing is brisk, though it does take time to savor individual character arcs, like Rain and Lasswell’s rivalry, Nichol’s sense of familial duty, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Rain’s father, Raegen. There are some fun little additions, too, like side quests that offer additional insights into the characters and setting, and on-field conversations you can trigger where characters banter about themselves.Places you visit offer hidden trinkets and treasures if you’re willing to poke around suspicious nooks and take side roads, making exploration satisfying. The HD-2D graphics also feature frequent callbacks to pixel-based Final Fantasy titles that eagle-eyed nostalgia fiends will find delightful. The soundtrack is excellent, offering new versions of classic Final Fantasy songs as well as its own set of defining music leitmotifs. With its presentation, it's easy to imagine Resonance as some sort of lost "middle step" between the pixel and polygon eras of FF.

For the most part, the game is a visual treat: Detailed sprites have fluid animations, and environments are packed with artistic flourishes (the water city Olderion and its surroundings are a personal favorite). The cinematic sequences also attempt to do action and camerawork in ways not yet seen in Square-Enix's HD-2D games. When it works, it looks great, but there are also times when odd-looking compositing of the pixel art over the background or an awkward animation takes you out of the moment. Still, it's hard not to respect the effort, even if there is a lot of reuse of Brave Exvius assets throughout.

So how does Resonance differ from the mobile game it's based on? For starters, the gacha-related element of the game has been completely eliminated. The concept of Visions--characters' spirits who aid the heroes with their unique abilities--still exists, with most of them derived from classic Final Fantasy titles. In Brave Exvius, these Visions were obtained and powered up through gacha — randomized rewards obtained by spending in-game currency (which can also be bought with real money)., but in Resonance you obtain them by visiting shrines hidden throughout the world, then power them up using Magicite items. There's a mix of both familiar faces and original characters in the Visions, though I found it disappointing that only the "main" characters in each FF game (and one beloved villain) got Visions when Brave Exvius was filled with fan favorites.

While Resonance succeeds admirably in retelling the saga of Rain, it does have a handful of shortcomings that keep it from becoming the next great Final Fantasy epic

While Visions were separate units in Brave Exvius, here they act as sort of a modular skillset, able to be equipped and exchanged throughout your party as needed to augment a character's default skills. Every Vision's skill loadout is unique, and by increasing their Mastery Rank through battle, characters can learn and equip individual Vision abilities, even if they aren't using that Vision. For example, when fully mastered, Terra's Vision grants a passive skill that allows characters to break the 9999-damage cap, while Zidane gives his wielder the Steal command. These can be set in a character's ability menu once learned. This system allows for fun character customization, letting you mold characters to your tastes--though one issue is that characters who join the party later have less to work with, simply because they join without any innate Vision skills.

Combat is the other area where Resonance deviates from its Brave Exvius roots. The often chaotic hybrid of turn-based, menu-driven, and tap-to-act combat that the mobile game offered has been completely replaced with a turn-based battle that feels like a hybrid of Persona, Octopath Traveler, and Final Fantasy XIII. 

Enemies have two meters attached to them: a health meter and a stagger meter. Smacking a foe with weaponry or magic depletes health, but it also reduces their stagger bar. The amount of stagger damage you do varies depending on your stats, various buffs, what sort of techniques were used, and so on. Enemies also generally have one (or more) weaknesses, and hitting that weakness deals both increased health damage and significantly boosted stagger damage.

Staggering enemies is important, because not only does it cancel all of their upcoming actions for that round of combat, it also greatly lowers their defense, leaving them open to a world of hurt from your highest-level techniques. The character who triggered the stagger also gets a bonus action at the end of the combat round. If you manage to put all the enemies onfield into stagger, you get the Sweeping Stagger status, which gives your entire party bonus turns, as well as lets you use the ultimate technique of one of the Visions your team has equipped to finish the round. If any enemy managed to survive the round, their stagger meter resets, and the cycle begins again. The benefits of staggering enemies are immense, making it essential to figure out how best to put enemies into stagger (almost always through hitting weaknesses) while keeping your own team safe from their attacks.

It's an interesting combat setup, which is why it's so frustrating when battles become slow-paced slogs. Even sped up, you'll run into fights that take their sweet time, since enemies frequently have high HP--more or less requiring you to stagger them to deal any real damage. (There's no auto-battle option, either.) I understand wanting players to engage with the mechanics, but combined with battles being unavoidable random encounters, it means you're often stuck just menuing through to hit all the weaknesses and hoping it's enough for the Sweeping Stagger so you can summon a Vision to wipe the board clean and move on. 

Compounding this issue is that a decent chunk of encounters simply aren't very interesting. Fights with interesting gimmicks that force you to change up the base strategy of "target stagger bar, heal when needed, then use high-cost high-damage skills during stagger, repeat" are rare, and many of them tend to be optional or late-game encounters. Those encounters are great, and they show the kind of strategic challenge that the combat system is capable of delivering. More often, though, Resonance would rather give you damage-sponge enemies that require little more strategy than patiently poking their weakness over and over again--which means that unknowingly entering certain fights without those skills is a recipe for tedium, since you can't swap Visions or party members mid-fight. (At least you can reload a save from combat.)

But for Resonance's faults, the game otherwise delivered exactly what I wanted--a way for everyone to experience the story, characters, and world of Brave Exvius once again. I can only hope that this is the first step in Square-Enix reviving some of its shuttered mobile games in ways that keep them playable for the future--especially since there's still a lot of story from Brave Exvius that goes beyond the events of this game. As both a remake and a standalone experience, Final Fantasy Resonance shines more than it stumbles.

GTA 6 launches in November, and everyone expects it to be a giant, record-breaking release. But just how big will the release be? Early signs are pointing to an enormous, unprecedented launch, and new data backs that up.

Sensor Tower compiled preorder data for some of the biggest games released over the past six years, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), Diablo 4 (2023), Hogwarts Legacy (2023), and Marvel's Spider-Man (2023).

The analysis firm found, as reported by GI.biz, that GTA 6 is beating all of them, and by a very healthy margin. MW2 was the biggest of the bunch in terms of digital preorders, and Sensor Tower said GTA 6 preorders are pacing 148% ahead of MW2's over a comparable period of time before release. This is for digital games only in the US, so it's not a complete picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klc0fQmAL6k

Sensor Tower's GTA 6 sales tracker says the game has sold more than 6.45 million copies thus far, generating more than $630 million so far. The company previously said it expects the bulk of preorders to come in the final week before launch, and that total prepurchases could reach 25 million. That would work out to more than $2 billion in revenue, before the game even releases.

According to Sensor Tower's data, the majority of preorders for GTA 6 so far are on PS5 (74%), compared to 26% on Xbox Series X|S. This split is no surprise, given that the PS5 has sold much better than the Xbox Series X|S. For its part, Xbox says it is very happy with GTA 6 preorder numbers.

GTA 6 is a single-player game, but Rockstar is expected to eventually release the next iteration of GTA Online, and it's expected to be a huge moneymaker.

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a PC version potentially following in early 2027.

As Cyberpunk 2077's sixth anniversary approaches, developer CD Projekt Red has announced Update 2.5, timed to coincide with the second season of the anime spin-off series, Cyberpunk Edgerunners. The update will include "new items and features" inspired by the second season of the anime, and it'll go live on October 22 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

"We're talking cyberware customization, a new dual-wielding playstyle, and more," CD Projekt Red wrote in a social media post. Fans can tune in on Wednesday for a livestream preview of Update 2.5 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. Cyberpunk 2 associate game director Pawel Sasko posted that he's "so f***ing hyped" to show people what the studio has been working on, suggesting that there'll be some substantial content to look forward to.

https://twitter.com/CyberpunkGame/status/2112499101312942227

The latest update is just one of several that CD Projekt Red has released since Cyberpunk 2077 first launched. While that initial launch was soured by various game-breaking issues that did serious reputational damage to the developer, subsequent patches improved the game tremendously and got it chromed up for a Night City jaunt. Since then, CD Projekt Red has expanded the game with several free updates, released the critically acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion, and a PS5 Pro patch has made the game look better than ever on Sony's beefy console.

An Edgerunners update also makes sense, given just how important the anime is to Cyberpunk 2077. Alongside the performance updates, the anime was a huge hit when it first debuted in 2022 and is credited with reviving interest in Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red celebrated with an update that added Edgerunners-inspired cosmetics to the game that same year. Cyberpunk 2077 has continued to be a huge earner for the company, with CD Projekt Red noting that the game had passed 40 million copies sold as of July 3, 2026.

Development on its sequel, Cyberpunk 2, continues, and game director Gabe Amatangelo recently shared how his vision for the project continues to evolve. While that sequel won't be out for a while, you can enjoy the new season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners right now. For more on the anime, check out how it has punk rock sensibilities, how it mirrors the first season, and the one cameo Death Stranding fans should keep an eye out for.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season Two once again sees Studio Trigger handle animation duties, and this time, the anime powerhouse has gotten even wilder with its depiction of Night City and its residents. While the first season was bold in its visual direction, director Kai Ikarashi has pushed it even further, using more abstract shapes and experimental animation techniques to capture the look and feel of a cutting-edge dystopia.

What does that lead to? A new season that showrunner Bartosz Sztybor calls a shift from Michael Bay-directed movies to Martin Scorsese-inspired (absolute) cinema.

"I think the difference for me is—and I think I once made this reference—visually, the first season was very Michael Bay, while this second season is more like Martin Scorsese," Sztybor said to GameSpot. "He uses shapes and light differently. Even if the backgrounds are the same real places from the game, and Studio Trigger was sometimes using the same assets, the way he recreates them is different. It fits the vibe of the story, which is also very different. It's not this huge emotional thing, but rather something indie, more punkish, and more realistic. For example, the violence in season two feels more striking and real to me personally—more shocking, even if it's not as over-the-top as in season one."

Ikarashi and Studio Trigger's visual direction for this new season allows for a range of Cyberpunk topics. From cyber-psychosis (where heavily augmented people violently lose their grip on reality) to an all-powerful AI program sharing space with your mind, the result is a series that doesn't look like a stereotypical anime series. Ikarashi has made a name for himself as a key animator on several anime series that have reflected his abstract tastes, like the critically acclaimed Bocchi the Rock, Mob Psycho 100, and Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, so if you're familiar with his work, you'll have an idea of what to expect in the new Edgerunners series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOwI_kMZ_2o

This theme of experimentation also extends to the character Roman, a young cinephile who serves as the point-of-view character in Edgerunners. Always armed with an analogue camera, a large chunk of the show is seen through the low-resolution 4:3 lens of his device. Sztybor added that Roman became a pivotal part of the story after he discovered that both he and Ikarashi were cinephiles.

"It was super funny because when I was pitching the story to Studio Trigger, Roman wasn't in the story," Sztybor explained. "While working on the storyline and getting to know Kai Ikarashi better, we discovered that we are both cinephiles and love cinema. We had so many characters and realized we needed a POV character through whom we could see all the others—a connection between them. We thought, 'Okay, we love cinema; let me create a cinephile this season.' Going back to that constant dialogue between two seasons as a mirror: one of the themes of season one was losing innocence. We thought Roman could reference this theme by being a glimpse of innocence in a terrible city. That's why he loves retro things and is against braindances—he wants to maintain that innocence as long as he can."

Roman isn't the only cinephile in Night City, as eagle-eyed fans can also spot Hideo Kojima making a cameo in the series. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 consists of 10 episodes, and it'll be available starting October 20.

Amid all the violence and cool cyborg technology, the first season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a tragic love story at its core. But in the second season? It might be more punk-rock, following a new cast of characters around Night City, but according to showrunner Bartosz Sztybor, emotional themes of love and parenthood are the connective tissue between seasons.

"Honestly, from my perspective, all the themes, emotions, and questions are almost the same as with season one," Sztybor said to GameSpot. "I really like to treat both seasons as connected, as mirrors of each other—two pieces of something bigger that have a constant dialogue with each other. It's still a tale about sacrifices and what you will do for love. In season one, we saw the relationship between David and his mother in the first episode, and how the things she told him shaped him. Even in the last episode, he mentions his mom. Season one had this parent-child relationship from the kid's point of view. In the second season, we also have a parent-child relationship, but from the parent's perspective. A lot of those things are connected, but the cast and the choices are different, so the outcomes may also be different. It's like walking into the same river, but choosing a different path."

The new season features an overarching storyline split among four characters, each bringing a unique viewpoint to everything happening around them. King is a former Night City legend who has had to downgrade his tech to avoid falling victim to cyber-psychosis; D is a Nomad netrunner out for revenge; and Roman is a young cinephile with barely any cybernetic enhancements. The young Talia, a Maelstrom gang member who has heavily modified her body, becomes the group's focal point as they find themselves drawn into a web of intrigue revolving around illegal technology, warring corporations, and even a lingering plot thread from the first season of Edgerunners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOwI_kMZ_2o

"It was in the first pitch that Talia was the main point of conflict for everyone, and we slowly built things around her," Sztybor added. I knew King would be her father and an old Edgerunner wanting to rebuild that relationship. Then we thought she needed to be connected to Maelstrom, super-chromed, and special in a way that connects her to [the AI superweapon] Capri and then to D. It was a puzzle from the start. I knew from the moment I thought about Edgerunners 2 that I wanted it to be like Tarantino's Pulp Fiction—a few characters who eventually connect.  What they share is that they don't fit the system and are unhappy with who they are, except Roman, who has that glimpse of hope."

Could there be a third season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners? Sztybor is taking things one day at a time, but one thing is for sure: if it enters production, you can expect more threads from the wider Cyberpunk 2077 universe to be woven into it. "I don't know if there will be a perfect story," Sztybor said about a potential third season." Of course, there are a lot of stories to tell. I love worldbuilding and connecting characters, places, or elements from comic books and the game."

"In Edgerunners 2, there's Sal Bigelow, a character who was shown earlier in the Cyberpunk: Big City Dreams comic book. The main goal is to show that this world is alive, and all these characters have their stories, agendas, and very often sad endings. To answer your question about season three: let's see, but there are definitely more stories to tell in this world."

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 is now out on Netflix with 10 new episodes. For more on the show, check out how its anime talent radically changed Edgerunners' style, and yes, there is a quick Hideo Kojima cameo hiding in the middle of the season.

World of Warcraft: Forever is riding high thanks to its popular beta and upcoming launch, but retail WoW's Midnight expansion feels like it's in a state of crisis by comparison.

The two different versions of WoW couldn't be in more different places. Forever seems to be extremely popular, with Blizzard developers commenting how its beta is breaking records. Blizzard itself has also been more communicative regarding Forever than ever before, with weekly podcasts diving into community topics, forum posts addressing various issues, and frequent updates addressing balance problems and bugs.

Midnight seems to be in the opposite corner. Its latest content update, patch 12.1.5, went live October 13. In addition to new story quests that continue the expansion's main narrative, it added a new single-boss raid and a long-teased mega delve (officially called a labyrinth) that gives solo-focused players an almost raid-like experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phxy5Gat_Gs

Unfortunately, the patch was released in a bug-riddled state. The Kindo'jan labyrinth, arguably the patch's biggest feature, saw players running into issue after issue. Some players complained about not earning credit for boss kills and being unable to collect rewards. One particularly nasty bug had players falling through the floor of the labyrinth's final boss arena, making it so the labyrinth couldn't be completed. Other players cited issues with delve companion Valeera dying too quickly or failing to do proper boss mechanics.

Many of the most glaring bugs (like falling through the floor) were fixed in a hotfix deployed on October 16, but labyrinths still have a major issue: no save points. When Blizzard first detailed labyrinths, it implied players would be able to start one, make some progress, and come back to finish it at a later time. Blizzard's exact wording was that players would be able to "venture through them in a single epic session or tackle them piece by piece over time, progressing at your own pace." 

That currently isn't true, as the labyrinth has no checkpoints and must be completed in a single session. Labyrinths taking at least an hour or so to complete, combined with various bugs preventing progress and no way to save and come back to them later, is making for an incredibly frustrating experience. It's unclear if the lack of checkpoints is a bug, an unannounced change on Blizzard's part, or just some kind of oversight, but it's not a great debut for Midnight's newest feature.

Story spoilers for WoW: Midnight patch 12.1.5 below.

Bugs and issues surrounding labyrinths are just one part of why patch 12.1.5 has proven unpopular. The patch is also catching flak for its story, specifically how it killed off a major character unceremoniously. Liadrin, a blood elf paladin and one of the main characters players have interacted with over the course of Midnight, dies facing off against Kithix, the resurrected Old God general that serves at the patch's new raid encounter. 

However, she doesn't die in any kind of epic or heroic way. Instead, judging from the post-raid cinematic, she dies from what seems to be exhaustion, having wielded the power of the light too strongly in the battle against Kithix. After Kithix's defeat, Liadrin utters "Darkness will never prevail" before crumpling to the ground and dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9SH-vKAy1Y

WoW is not a stranger to having major characters die. It famously happened with Varyian Wrynn, the leader of the Alliance, during the start of the game's Legion expansion. But unlike Varyian's epic death, Liadrin's feels anticlimactic. The fact that it occurs during a .5 patch that feels disconnected to the game's larger narrative makes the story beat feel unnecessary. 

Adding salt to the wound is that her death looks to be in service of a recurring and unpopular trend in recent WoW storylines where old rivalries and feuds between factions are easily reconciled. In Liadrin's case, her death brings together the blood elves and the Amani trolls, though Blizzard does make a point in a post-raid quest to emphasise the two groups are not allies despite now being at peace. Blizzard may have said its putting the "war" back in Warcraft during BlizzCon 2026, but all of its recent story beats have seen ancient enemies coming together and cooperating, and Liadrin's death only serves to reinforce that.

This isn't the first time a .5 patch has been met with negative reception from WoW's players. It was only back in April that Blizzard released patch 12.0.5 in an extremely buggy state. Player outcry saw Blizzard go as far to issue a public apology, stating it was "taking lessons learned from this launch to help ensure this doesn't happen again," and that "we will do better." Flash forward six months later, and it doesn't seem like much has changed.

That puts Midnight in a weird place overall. Blizzard barely talked about modern WoW at this year's BlizzCon. It teased Midnight's final content patch that will see players finally confront Xal'atath once and for all, but didn't share more details about what to expect from the game's next expansion, The Last Titan, despite it being slated to release next year. 

Instead, Blizzard put almost all its emphasis on WoW: Forever, a new, WoW Classic-inspired version of Blizzard's MMORPG that adds new content and visual upgrades to the old-school version of Azeroth. In an interview with GameSpot, Blizzard shared more details on what to expect from WoW: Forever's future and its endgame. WoW: Forever launches November 4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 releases this week, and with gaming consoles and capable PC rigs now more expensive than ever, you might be wondering if there is another way to play.

Thankfully, there is, but there are a few things you need to know before jumping in.

How to play MW4 without a console or PC

With Game Pass:

Modern Warfare 4 is not included with Xbox Game Pass this year, but if you're a subscriber you can leverage the "stream your own game" program to play it that way, after purchasing it outright.

This isn't locked away to any specific tier of Game Pass, either. You can subscribe to Game Pass Essential, Premium, or Ultimate to stream MW4.

MW4 launches on October 23.

With GeForce Now:

Nvidia's streaming service, GeForce Now, will be another way to play Modern Warfare 4 without any expensive hardware like a new console or high-end PC. Or at least we think so. Nvidia hasn't outright confirmed this, but people are playing the campaign early access via GeForce Now, so it stands to reason that it will be officially supported at launch for everyone.

After buying the game outright, you'll be able to stream MW4 on GeForce Now by subscribing to one of the platform's membership tiers.

GeForce Now has multiple tiers, including a free ad-supported membership. There are also $10/month and $20/month tiers with no ads and higher-fidelity experiences. There are also day passes available.

For more, check out the GeForce Now website.

Pros and cons of streaming

Before subscribing to Game Pass or GeForce Now, people should know that playing a twitch shooter like Modern Warfare 4 over the internet might not always be the perfect experience. After all, a cloud service works best with a strong and stable connection, and that's not always a guarantee. However, many people report good experiences, and as always, your mileage may vary.

Something else to consider is that, starting in November, Microsoft will implement caps on how many hours people can stream via Game Pass before they must pay more to keep playing.

The benefits of streaming are pretty obvious: You don't need any expensive hardware. This is because a game is streamed on high-end hardware and beamed to your screen, whatever that may be. You will still need a controller or a keyboard and mouse setup, but you might have those things already, and if you don't, they cost significantly less than a new console or a powerful PC.

Why are consoles and PCs so expensive today?

The Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles were released in 2020, but today, six years later, they are more expensive than ever. Historically, console prices come down instead of going up. So what's driving the price increases? The AI-fueled demand for components and memory is to blame, as is the war in Iran that's driving up oil prices. There are numerous other macroeconomic factors at play, too, including tariffs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FatSqS3VYY

Companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo want to keep making money in this environment. Instead of eating the costs (while they make huge profits and collect tariff refunds), they are charging people more to maintain their margins.

The Switch 2 is among the cheapest ways to play MW4 this year, with that console starting at $500 (up from $450 at launch). The PS5 now starts at $600 (up from $400 at launch) and the latest Xbox consoles are more expensive, too. The Series S now goes for $500 (was $300) and Series X for $750 ($500 at launch). In short, you're in for major sticker shock if you're buying a new console.

For PC players, it's more expensive than ever to build a capable rig, but your price will vary depending on the setup you want, preconfigured or made yourself.

For more, check out GameSpot's Modern Warfare 4 campaign review, and keep checking back for more coverage on DMZ and multiplayer when the game goes live on October 23.

British actor Rahul Kohli (Saros, Midnight Mass) has a pitch for a new L.A. Noire game, and it sounds pretty great. Speaking to BAFTA Games, Kohli said he would like to see the franchise return with a spinoff that takes players through different time periods, as a cop, as they investigate different crimes.

One such setting could be Victorian England, with a storyline focused on hunting down Jack the Ripper, Kohli said. Another could take players to the '80s in California as they pursue the Night Stalker, the actor added.

"We could jump around and be a cop in different times. I would be down for that," Kohli said. "I loved it. I adored L.A. Noire."

Mad Men's Aaron Staton as Cole Phelps in L.A. Noire.

In particular, Kohli said he was a big fan of developer Team Bondi's facial-capture system which created lifelike expressions in the game, down to granular details like how a person’s eyebrows might move.

In a game where players had to read people's facial expressions, this was a big deal, and one can only imagine how much further the technology could go today. However, Kohli said he wants a new L.A. Noire game with the same tech and the same engine.

"I want that. I don't want an improvement to it. That was part of the charm," he said.

https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/2112216181440745623

L.A. Noire was released in 2011. It never got a sequel, and its developer, Team Bondi, later disbanded. A virtual reality game, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, was released in 2017.

Earlier this year, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said the company was looking at future projects in all of its franchises, and that includes L.A. Noire.

Back in 2012, Rockstar said a sequel to L.A. Noire was a “possibility.” At the time, the developer said, “We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually. We have so many games we want to make, and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.”

Recently, a rumor emerged that a new L.A. Noire game is now in the works, and it will have players collecting clues to try to find the Zodiac Killer.

Saros is a phenomenal sci-fi shooter, and it currently stands as my favorite game of 2026. If you've been waiting for the right time to play it--or to play it again--then developer Housemarque has some good news. The new Zenith update is now available for free, adding a boss rush and difficulty options that should appeal to both newcomers and seasoned veterans.

First up, the boss rush. Dubbed "Overlord Rush," the mode comes with its own dedicated leaderboards and tasks you with taking out a series of the game's bosses. Rather than starting on the first boss and fighting uninterrupted to the very end, they're divided into separate "sets" that each contain three fights. Overlord Rush is available via the Primary robot in the main hub area.

https://youtu.be/X3SsUZ1SFy4

The new settings and difficulty modifiers, meanwhile, allow you to both reduce and increase the game's challenge, customizing it to fit your preferences. The "Slow Game Speed" setting lets you slow down the entire game so you have more time to react to projectiles, and you can tweak exactly how much it slows down and even if you want it to turn on automatically when combat starts. An "Auto-fire" setting also eliminates the need to actually pull the trigger when you aim, which can be handy when you're primarily focused on dodging incoming attacks. You can think of it almost like a Vampire Survivors-style tool.

Carcosan Modifiers were already in the game at launch, giving you the choice to make the game easier or harder--or a mix of both in different parts of the game--but a whole bunch more were added with Zenith. New Protection modifiers include a "Corruption Melee Enhancement," as outlined on the PlayStation Blog, which gives your melee attacks more power if you acquire Corruption, which is typically not a good thing to have.

Trial Modifiers, meanwhile, make the game more challenging, and when combined with the new ultra-hard endgame Eclipse Layers, you'll be able to put all your skills to the test.

Saros is available exclusively on PS5. In our Saros review, Richard Wakeling called it an "incredible game that does more than just refine what worked before."