RAN x Crypto is a next-generation private server experience built for RAN Online fans - reimagined for the Web3 age. It fuses nostalgic gameplay with modern blockchain features like NFT character ownership, automated top-ups, and real-time player rewards. RXC is more than a game - it’s a SocialFi ecosystem that empowers players to truly own their progress, participate in governance, and earn while playing.

Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers - Neon Purple/Orange

$39 (was $80) | MSRP is $90

See at Walmart

If you're lucky, you can snag a pair of Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers for only $39 at Walmart. This absolutely wild deal isn't available in all regions across the US. If you're eligible for the deal, you can click that magical "Add to cart" button and complete your purchase like normal.

We would not be surprised if Walmart updates the price soon. Unless the retailer is trying to clear this particular Joy-Con model from its inventory, the massive price cut may have been a mistake.

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Valkyrie Profile is celebrating its 25-year anniversary today, August 29, 2025. Below, we look back at why the RPG went overlooked at the time, and what makes it still stand out as special today.

It's not hard to see why Valkyrie Profile wound up overlooked in its initial North American release. Japanese publisher Enix had only recently revived its US branch, likely due to both the surge of popularity of JRPGs in the post-Final Fantasy 7 era and the success Sony had licensing and releasing Star Ocean: The Second Story globally. But it was going to be an uphill struggle to get a new PS1 RPG any traction, even one made by Star Ocean 2 developer Tri-Ace. The Dreamcast was already out, the US launch of the PS2 was less than two months away, and Squaresoft had dropped Chrono Cross, a follow-up to the beloved Chrono Trigger, a couple of weeks earlier.

It was my freshman year of college, the weekend just before my birthday, and I wanted a new RPG to keep me occupied between classes. I had two choices: Valkyrie Profile or Chrono Cross. After having a delightful experience with Star Ocean 2 the summer before, my gut was telling me that Valkyrie Profile was the one I should pick.

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Borderlands 4 is just days away from launching, and to kick off the next era of the looter-shooter, developer Gearbox has released a new live-action trailer urging people to "quit" Earth and head to Kairos. Sure, Kairos is a planet ruled by an all-powerful dictator who enforces his whims on the population with invasive behavior-altering technology that has a high likelihood of killing you if it's removed, but compared to everything else happening right now--*frantically waves arms*--that's not a dealbreaker.

The gap between Borderlands 4 being officially announced and its arrival on PC and console has been relatively short. Gearbox first showed off the game--after hinting at it for months--during the 2024 edition of Gamescom Opening Night Live, teasing a new world for Vault Hunters to explore and even more loot to grab as they fight against the sinister forces in control of Kairos.

The last few months have seen Gearbox reveal a substantial number of details about the game, including detailed looks at the four Vault Hunters players will have the option of playing as. There's the science-powered Harlowe, walking Tediore weapons advert Rafa, not-so-gentle giant Amon, and the Siren Vex for this new adventure.

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HoYoverse will soon enough be adding yet another genre to its growing list of gacha games, this time in the form of a new game called Honkai: Nexus Anima. This one might interest Pokemon fans as it is a creator collector, though it looks like it'll differ from the Nintendo series in a few key ways. And, if it takes your fancy, you can even sign up to take part in its first Nexus Bond Test.

First up are some of the big differences. For starters, the combat system is completely different. Where Pokemon sees you pitting your pocket monsters generally 1v1, each of them with four moves to choose, Honkai: Nexus Anima's main combat system looks closer to an auto battler like Auto Chess or Teamfight Tactics.

You also seemingly get to play as Anima--this game's titular equivalent to Pokemon--in varying ways. That includes a racing minigame, a minigame where you shoot at beach balls, and another where you … destroy an office building! There appears to be a range of customization options for your player character, but you can also seemingly play as different characters too. And like in more recent Pokemon games, you can ride different Anima to get around the game's world.

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Konami has released the first update for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater on all platforms. The patch notes mainly detail fixes for crashing issues that occur in specific situations for the stealth game, though there is a silly bug addressed that sees Snake floating in midair.

Metal Gear Solid Delta players could previously see Snake hovering above the ground sometimes by "transitioning from a roll into a crawl." Overall, the update for the game brings it up to version 1.1.2. The patch actually rolled out yesterday, August 28, on Steam, while it's going live today on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Earlier this week, The Boss voice actress Lori Alan marked the launch of Metal Gear Solid Delta by dressing up as the character she first helped bring to life in 2004's PS2 classic. The new game utilizes the original's voice recordings (except in a few spots), something that Snake voice actor David Hayter wished he could have changed. Meanwhile, the developers behind Metal Gear Solid Delta hope series creator Hideo Kojima sees how "respectful" it is.

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Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star Crossed World occupies a strange space in the spate of Switch 2 upgrades. Its upgrades to the original game are relatively modest, offering small performance improvements to a game that already ran well in the first place. But its new content is among the most expansive, consisting of a new mini-campaign that threads itself through original stages and culminates in even tougher challenges than in the main game. It doesn't revitalize the experience in the same way that the Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom upgrades do on Switch 2. Instead, it adds even more of what made the original so great.

When you start up your existing save in Star-Crossed World, you'll be greeted by a new island centered on an ominous dark heart, the Fallen Star Volcano. Helpless Starry creatures have been scattered throughout the world, and at the same time, star crystals have fallen that transformed stages and enemies, so being the helpful demigod that he is, Kirby volunteers to rescue the Starries.

Functionally, this means revisiting stages from the original Forgotten Land that have been given new crystalized variants. Those alternative stages coexist along the originals, so they can be selected separately. There are usually two crystal stages per world, making this new campaign about one-third the size of the original campaign. And while pieces of the stages will be recognizable, they mostly feel extremely different. You access new parts of stages by activating crystal touchpoints, which make new crystalline paths to follow.

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Long-term binge gaming and internet gaming disorder are still relatively new phenomena that aren't fully understood yet. However, a recently released study examined the effects of binge gaming on both boys and girls, and the results demonstrated that males have a greater chance of developing the addiction-like symptoms of IGD if they play games for five hours or longer at a time.

PLOS recently shared a 2022 Hong Kong-based study that was compiled using male and female schoolchildren. For the purposes of this report, smartphone gaming and PC gaming were both counted towards the length of a binge session.

The study was comprised of 2,000 students from primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, with a median age of 12 years old. According to the findings, 38% of boys self-reported binge gaming, while only 24% of girls did the same. The results also suggested that male players who engaged in binge gaming were more likely than females to experience IGD, depression, stress, poor sleep quality and "lower educational self-efficacy."

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8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller - Wuchang Edition

$50 (was $65)

Get deal at Amazon See all Ultimate 2 models

8BitDo's officially licensed Wuchang: Fallen Feathers controller is on sale for a limited time at Amazon. Normally $65, the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller: Wuchang Edition is up for grabs for just $50. This is one of Amazon's deals with limited quantities; at the time of writing on August 29, over 10% of units had been claimed. This special-edition Ultimate 2 is typically more expensive than the standard color options, but this deal actually makes it the cheapest Ultimate 2 Controller you can buy right now.

8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller - Wuchang Edition $50 (was $65)

The Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Edition of 8BitDo's flagship Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller looks pretty awesome. It's important to note that this version of the Ultimate 2 is a 2.4GHz wireless controller for PC and Mac. It also has Android support via Bluetooth. PS5 and Xbox Series X users will not be able to use this controller to play the game--unless you play it via remote play on your PC or Android device.

The Ultimate 2 launched earlier this year with an MSRP of $60, so this special-edition model only costs five bucks more than one of the standard variants.

We've tested the Ultimate 2 and the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth--which has Switch 2 and Switch support--and it's better than many controllers that cost two or three times its price.

The Ultimate 2 has TMR electromagnetic analog sticks--smoother and more reliable than Hall Effect sensors--two remappable back buttons, two extra remappable bumpers, trigger locks, and RGB lighting rings.

It also has 6-axis motion controls, rumble, and a turbo button. With 8BitDo's Ultimate Software V2, you can create three custom profiles to cycle through on the fly, adjust stick and trigger sensitivity, create dead zones, and more.

The Ultimate 2 comes with a matching charging dock. In this case, the character art continues from the controller to the dock, making it a pretty cool display piece.

This isn't the first official collaboration with a big new release. Last year, 8BitDo collaborated with Game Science on a Black Myth: Wukong Ultimate 2C Controller. The 2C is 8BitDo's budget PC controller, so this new collaboration is more exciting. That said, 8BitDo's Wukong-themed controller is still worth checking out, especially since you get the wireless model for only $23.79 (was $35) and the wired edition for $12 right now.

Key Features

• PC and Mac: 2.4GHz Wireless (USB-C dongle)
• Android: Bluetooth
• TMR electromagnetic analog sticks
• Hall Effect triggers with adjustable stop point
• 2 remappable back triggers
• 2 extra remappable shoulder buttons
• Tactile bumpers
• RGB lighting rings
• 1,000Hz polling rate for 2.4GHz and wired
• 6-axis motion controls
• Rumble
• Turbo button
• 1,000mAh battery
• Includes matching USB-C charging dock

Customize with 8BitDo Ultimate Software V2

• Remap inputs
• Set up three custom profiles
• Set up dead zones
• Adjust motion control sensitivity
• Adjust stick sensitivity
• Adjust trigger sensitivity
• Adjust rumble intensity
• Adjust lighting effects

Get deal at Amazon See all Ultimate 2 models

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After an 11-year journey and a transition from solo development to an entire team, Lost Soul Aside is finally here and it's … not doing so hot. It only launched today and it's already sitting at a Mixed rating on Steam, with even positive reviews having their fair share of complaints. These include poor audio mixing and English dubbing, a bland story, and an odd checkpoint system, but also some annoying performance issues in certain places. While the official Lost Soul Aside X account hasn't addressed all of those complaints, it did share a statement on the matter.

As it stands, some cutscenes in the prologue are pre-rendered as 4K, 30-frames-per-second videos, which in some cases are causing stuttering during playback. The Lost Soul Team apologised for this, noting that it is "actively working on optimizations, and future updates will address this to deliver a smoother gameplay experience. Thank you for your continued support and patience!"

Lost Soul Aside initially started development as a project inspired by Final Fantasy--namely Final Fantasy 15--from solo developer Yang Bing, but in 2017 he formed Ultizero Games with support from Sony. The action game was delayed multiple times over the years, and was even supposed to launch in May of this year, before eventually arriving today.

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This week, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced that more than 450 developers of Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo team have voted to unionize under the CWA. The successful outcome of this effort means workers will now be represented by CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, California; Local 1118 in Albany, New York; and Local 6215 in Austin, Texas.

The newly formed union will represent a wide range of jobs across Blizzard, including designers, engineers, artists, and support staff. Microsoft, Blizzard's parent company, has officially recognized the union. This unionization campaign is not an isolated event at Blizzard, as earlier this month, the studio's Story and Franchise Development team also voted to unionize.

"With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I've witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us," said Diablo producer and organizing committee member Kelly Yeo (via Game Developer). "This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear."

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Pokemon Legends: Z-A launches for Switch consoles soon, and to celebrate, the Pokemon Company has announced a special event for the game that will feature live lucha libre wrestling. Also known as the best form of wrestling by people of quality, the event will kick off on September 25 at Arena Mexico in Mexico City.

The Pokemon Company says the showcase will feature four exhibition matches, with one of the confirmed performers being Mistico--who performed in the WWE during the early 2010s under the ring name of Sin Cara. The Pokemon Company added that tickets for the event will go on sale soon, but if you can't make it, the matches will be streamed via the official Pokemon and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre YouTube channels.

The announcement was made shortly after the reveal of a brand-new Mega Evolution for Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Fittingly, the Pokemon getting the power-up in the game is Hawlucha, a Luchador-themed Pokemon with unique high-flying moves in its arsenal. Hawlucha's Mega Evolution doubles down on its wrestling inspiration, giving it ornate plumage and making it look ready for a main event match at the next Wrestlemania.

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Microsoft wants to ensure it's easier to return to recently played games no matter what device you pick up. Your Xbox play history should now start syncing across consoles, PC, and eventually the ROG Xbox Ally, thanks to an August update rolling out now.

In other words, if you start playing Gears of War: Reloaded on your Xbox Series X|S, but then decide to move to your PC another day, the cover-based shooter should be ready to roll from your play history. Cloud-enabled games should also start appearing in your recently played list, according to Microsoft. That includes if you checked out a Game Pass title via the cloud or actually own it, such as an original Xbox game like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

This cross-device play history will obviously be a boon for the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds when they launch this October. Picking up where you left off in a game on the portable device while on the go is one of the system's main selling points, though that title will have to be compatible with the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. While still in preview, Xbox is making it easier to track your owned games, too.

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High on Life launched on the original Nintendo Switch earlier this year, but now the game is getting a bit of a console upgrade. As announced by developer Squanch Games, High on Life is now available on the Nintendo Switch 2, and it comes with several small but welcome improvements. That isn't even mentioning the very agreeable upgrade path.

First of all, you can use the Joy-Con 2's mouse controls if you like playing your first-person shooters as if you're on a PC--a nifty use of the feature we'll surely see in other FPS releases further down the line. There's also improved VFX and texture quality, a higher frame rate, and an enhanced resolution while docked that brings the game up to 1080p and 30 frames per second.

The good news for those of you who already own the game on the original Switch and have also picked up a Switch 2 is that you can upgrade the game completely for free. Or, if you're buying it for the first time, it'll set you back $40 digitally.

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The second incarnation of Final Fantasy 14 debuted in 2013, and it's proven to be far more resilient than the version that arrived in 2010. However, there's been discontent in the FF14 community lately over the removal of a popular mod, which led to the game's subsequent review-bombing on Steam. Now, director Naoki Yoshida has addressed the mod controversy with an appeal to players.

Yoshida's complete remarks were posted on FF14's official site, and he requested that excerpts from his statement not be used by media outlets. But since his response was nearly 2,000 words, a concise recap is unavoidable. The issue started when Square Enix's lawyers sent a letter to modder DarkArchon regarding Mare Synchronos, a mod that allowed players' customized avatars to be visible outside of their own game. Once Mare Synchronos was removed at Square Enix's request, some fans shared their fury in the form of negative Steam reviews.

Although Yoshida notes that he tolerates mods and has admiration for some fan-made creations, he's against mods that violate the game's intent or design in a negative manner. As a potential example, Yoshida noted that Square Enix could face legal consequences in some countries over nude character mods on display in the game. He also cited customized appearances that mimic paid content from from the game as an example of devaluing the services and collectibles that Square Enix sells to provide the revenue the game needs to remain financially viable.

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Nintendo has a friendly public image thanks to its line of family-friendly games, but Cronos: The New Dawn developer Bloober Team wants to start a second golden age of horror on Switch 2. During the GameCube era, Nintendo's console was home to numerous cult-classic horror games, and Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno wants to see more spine-tingling games released for Nintendo hardware.

"I'm trying to make my personal dreams come true," Babieno said to The Game Business. "I am a huge Nintendo fan. I grew up with Nintendo consoles. The most important horrors, like Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 4--were available on Nintendo GameCube. It was a golden time for Nintendo fans. In some ways, we would like to be the ones to open a new chapter for Nintendo right now. We have some plans. We are not able to share our vision for the future yet. But definitely Nintendo fans could take a look at Bloober Team."

Babieno added that Luigi's Mansion could be a good indicator of what fans can expect from the studio, as it gave players a cozy horror experience. The CEO says that there is a "huge possibility to repeat such an idea" in the future.

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Madden NFL 26 has only been out for two weeks, but EA has already prepared the first update for this year's edition. Most of the changes address bugs or other issues that have come up since the game officially launched on August 14. It's also introducing Nike Rivalries, a new feature that will bring "community pride" to some of the most famous rivalries in the league.

According to EA, Nike Rivalries is part of a new four-year deal between Nike and the NFL that will "celebrate football's most storied rivalries" with customized uniforms that represent their respective cities. Each iteration of Nike Rivalries will focus on teams from two different divisions, and this year's subjects are the AFC East and NFC West.

Players from the NFC West and AFC East show off their custom looks in Nike Rivalries.

EA also announced that the Madden NFL 26 update will introduce a customized playbook that was created in collaboration with retired quarterback Kurt Benkert. The playbook is called Benkert's Dimes, and it's available in Play Now when selecting playbooks.

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Earlier in 2025, Square Enix executives shared their desire to "reboot" the company over the next three years. However, not every game will make it out to the other side of that time frame. Two mobile games from Square Enix's top franchises are set to be shut down in Japan at the end of October.

The impending ends of Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest of the Stars were confirmed in Square Enix's social media posts (via GamesIndustry.Biz). Both titles originally launched in 2015, although Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius was shut down outside of Japan last year and Dragon Quest of the Stars was closed internationally in 2021. Now, both games are getting delisted on October 31. In-app purchases for each title have also been suspended.

Before the final shutdown goes into effect, Dragon Quest of the Stars will reach its 10th anniversary on October 15, followed by Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius on October 22.

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