Alix Wilton-Regan, the new Lara Croft actor for the upcoming Tomb Raider: Catalyst, has discussed how her version of the character may differ from previous incarnations.

Speaking on the Press X to Continue podcast, Wilton Regan said she is taking the "no Laras left behind" approach, which means she aims to adopt and embrace what came before, but also make her own stamp.

"I've looked at all of the performances. Obviously, I've got all the scripts, so I know where it's going, and, you know, I think all of the Laras that have previously come before will also be informing as we move into a new era of Tomb Raider, I would say," she explained, as reported by Eurogamer.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A small update arrived to Call of Duty on February 25, and the patch notes detail a few bug fixes for Black Ops 7 and some notable weapon tuning for Warzone. The weapon adjustments for battle royale include a nerf for the popular auto conversion for the M8A1 assault rifle, while a few other guns get improvements to make them more viable.

Recently, the M8A1 assault rifle has been a dominant force in Warzone with the addition of the Autostrike-X8 Conversion barrel. This attachment transformed the gun from a three-round burst rifle into a fully automatic powerhorse. The developer has now detailed a nerf to decrease the damage range for the M8A1 when using the Autostrike-X8 Conversion barrel as well as a slight decrease to the lower torso and leg multipliers. This should be a significant enough change to the gun's time-to-kill to entice players to switch to a different option in battle royale.

Additionally, other guns were buffed to better compete as long-range options in Warzone. The VS Recon sniper rifle had its bullet velocity increased from 720m/s to 745m/s, which should help it compete against the popular Hawker HX sniper rifle. The Warden marksman rifle received buffs to improve the aim-down-sight speed and bullet velocity, as well as a notable 25% increase to its reload speed and a 30% decrease in recoil.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Full Circle, the studio behind EA's new Skate game, has dismissed an unspecified number of employees. In a website post about the "next chapter" of the free-to-play early access title, the studio said that it is "transforming" as the game evolves.

"These shifts mean making changes to our team structure, and some roles will be impacted," Full Circle's post reads. "The teammates affected are talented colleagues and friends who helped build the foundation of Skate. Their creativity and dedication are deeply ingrained in what players experience today. This decision is not a reflection of their impact, and we’re committed to supporting them through this transition."

An important update from Full Circle: https://t.co/BO7FfXGvF2 pic.twitter.com/sqzMvQ5ljT

— skate. (@skate) February 25, 2026

The studio also thanked players for their "passion and trust." The layoffs come five days after Full Circle unveiled plans for Season 3 of Skate, which begins on March 10. Included in the season update is the Isle of Grom, but Full Circle attracted complaints by locking unlimited access to the map for premium pass subscribers.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The popular prediction market site Kalshi has announced that it took action against an editor working for YouTube star Mr. Beast, accusing him of insider trading and ordering him to pay a huge financial penalty.

In a blog post, Kalshi reiterated that it bans insider trading, and has recently closed a case against Artem Kaptur, an editor for Mr. Beast who is accused of trading "about $4,000" on streaming markets related to YouTube. The punishment? A two-year suspension from Kalshi and a financial penalty equal to five times the size of the offending trade. The statement says Kaptur must pay $20,397.58, plus a penalty of $15,000.

Kalshi said its disciplinary committee "found reasonable cause to conclude Kaptur traded while employed by or legally affiliated with a Source Agency for Mr. Beast contracts, and that he traded on material, non-public information he obtained because of this employment."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Since its debut in 1992, Konami's X-Men arcade game has only had a brief digital release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and mobile. Now, after 34 years, X-Men: The Arcade Game is getting its first-ever physical release for the upcoming Marvel Maximum Collection. And it's not the only classic Marvel game on the way, many of which have been unavailable for over three decades.

There will be a total of 13 Marvel games on this collection, which includes arcade games, home console, and handheld titles for the following selections:

• X-Men: The Arcade Game
• Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
• Captain America and the Avengers
• Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage
• Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety
• Silver Surfer

Game composer Chris Huelsbeck is contributing new music for this collection, which also has a few other upgrades. X-Men: The Arcade Game will have rollback netcode and six-player co-op, and all of the games will allow players to rewind the action and save at any time. There will also be cheat menus, a museum section, and other extras to be announced.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Pokemon turns 30 this year, and to celebrate this momentous anniversary, several big events are planned for Pokemon Day on Friday, February 27, 2026. The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are holding an official Pokemon Presents livestream that day to highlight upcoming Pokemon news, while other companies are holding their own events, including a day-long Pokemon Day 2026 eBay Live event featuring auctions, live-streamed segments, and more, starting at 8 am PT / 11 am ET on February 27.

Pokemon Day 2026 eBay Live: 30/30 Collection Auction

While there are numerous segments planned for the Pokemon Day eBay Live event, the biggest draw is eBay's 30/30 Collection Auction, which will give fans the chance to bid on a curated lineup of 30 pieces of classic and rare Pokemon merch, including several collectible cards from the Pokemon Trading Card Game, sealed copies of classic video games, and more. A few highlights include:

• Original Japanese holographic Charizard card from the 1996 Pokemon TCG base set
• Sealed, graded, collect-in-box copies of Pokemon Red and Blue Versions for Game Boy
• Rayquaza EX holographic card from the 2003 Pokemon TCG Dragon set
• A limited-edition Seiko SBPY162 Blastoise wristwatch (one of only 700 made)
• Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat 2023 Pokemon x Van Gogh SVP Black Star Promo Card #085

Those are just a few of the items in eBay's 30/30 Collection, so be sure to tune into the eBay Live event if you want to see them all. The auction segment starts at 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET. Each piece in the collection will be auctioned on eBay, with bidding starting at its original retail price. You can sign in with your eBay account ahead of the event to turn on notifications for when the 30/30 Collection auction--and all the Pokemon Day 2026 eBay Live streams--kicks off.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A Minecraft Movie was a huge hit at the box office last year, but it's no longer the highest-grossing 2025 movie in the US. The film was just recently surpassed by Disney's Zootopia 2 for the crown.

A Minecraft Movie earned $424,087,780 from the domestic box office. Zootopia 2 has now surpassed that, reaching $424.2 million. Both movies did better in the US than Avatar: Fire and Ash, which made $399.5 million at the domestic box office.

Globally, Zootopia is far bigger than A Minecraft Movie. Zootopia 2 made $1.85 billion worldwide, compared to $961.2 million globally for A Minecraft Movie.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

If you have the Xbox mobile app and you have notifications enabled, your phone may be blowing up today. Many people, including editors here at GameSpot, have received numerous "test" notifications from the Xbox app today, February 25.

The message states, "Mobile Test Message" as the header, with text that reads, "This is a dummy message sent via braze, please capture a screenshot once you receive it. This should take you to the recently added gallery."

Braze is the name of an AI-powered customer-engagement platform, so it seems Microsoft is working with this outfit on its mobile notifications. Obviously, this kind of spamming was not supposed to happen, as evidenced by the repeated notifications and the text of the messages.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the next Mortal Kombat movie, and the focus is on the film's new character, Johnny Cage. The Lord of the Rings and The Boys star Karl Urban plays Cage, a movie star who gets called in to fight in a new Mortal Kombat tournament.

In this story, Cage appears to be a has-been, as we see him sitting at a signing booth at a fan convention with no one coming to see him. Things change quickly, though, and Cage is called upon to fight Shao Kahn and save the world, basically.

Simon McQuoid returns as director, following 2021's Mortal Kombat. That film earned $84.5 million worldwide, but hopes are no doubt higher for the sequel given the first was released during the pandemic.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

In 2002, Paul W.S. Anderson's first Resident Evil movie had very little in common with the video games that spawned it. Now, over two decades later, Anderson has explained why he made the decision to create a new story around Milla Jovovich's Alice rather than adapt the original Resident Evil game.

"I didn't want to just do a slavish adaptation of one of the video games, because this was action horror, and in horror you can't give away all the secrets," related Anderson during an appearance on the Post Games podcast.

Anderson went on to argue that Resident Evil players would have gone into the film knowing who the traitor was from the start, as well as when each of the side characters was going to die.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Ubisoft has confirmed that Clint Hocking, a Ubisoft veteran who was most recently the creative director on Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, has left the company.

A spokesperson for Ubisoft told VGC that the company sincerely thanks Hocking for his "vision, creative contributions, and dedication over the years."

"We wish him the very best in his next chapter," Ubisoft added.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

PlayStation has revealed this month's batch of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers. All PS Plus members will be able to claim four freebies starting March 3--Slime Rancher 2, Monster Hunter Rise, PGA Tour 2K25, and The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Collection. If you haven't claimed February's PlayStation Plus free games yet, make sure to do so before next Tuesday.

Slime Rancher 2 expands on the gooey original game as it continues the adventures of protagonist Beatrix LeBeau on her journey to Rainbow Island. A land full of ancient technologies, secrets, and jiggling slimes to capture, players will get to build, ranch, and farm while exploring this new environment.

Monster Hunter Rise is considered to be one of the best entries in the series for both veterans and newcomers, thanks to its mix of new gameplay features, original monsters, and a story inspired by ancient Japanese folklore. You can play solo or in four-player co-op parties as you hunt down dangerous beasts, crafting new gear from their remains so that you can track deadlier creatures of legend.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Former Xbox executive Ed Fries has clarified his criticisms of Xbox Game Pass, saying he was worried that the service could become something akin to Spotify and dominate the gaming landscape. That has not happened, though, and deals with developers have tapered off of late, he said in a new interview.

"I've been an outspoken critic of Game Pass, but mostly I was worried about Game Pass growing into something like Spotify, and it doesn't seem like that's happening," he told GamesBeat.

Fries said he had concerns that Xbox Game Pass, if it became the dominant way to consume games, could negatively affect "the whole business" of games. However, it has not played out that way.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Bungie's new extraction shooter, Marathon, is almost ready for launch but the Destiny 2 developer has one final open-beta-style server slam to host. Starting on February 26 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET and finishing on March 2 at the same time, the Marathon server slam is an opportunity for players to get their hands on the game ahead of launch. It'll also allow Bungie to test its infrastructure before the full Marathon release date lands.

While Bungie has warned that there will "likely" be login queues, server down time, disconnections, error codes, and bugs, it's also said that the team will be on standby to address any issues that crop up. It's important to note that there will only be two of Tau Ceti's zones available during the server slam--Perimeter and Dire Marsh--and players can try out five of the six available Runner shells. When the full game releases there will be more zones, factions, contracts, gear, a ranked mode, and, Bungie says, "some secrets you'll have to experience yourself."

However, if you're wondering what the benefits are of playing Marathon during the server slam--other than getting to play the game before it's officially released--Bungie has made some rewards available for players, including console-specific exclusives. There are also Twitch Drops available for those that can't get into the action this weekend, but still want some goodies.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The leadership at Xbox was shaken up last week, as Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox president Sarah Bond have both left the company. Taking over the Xbox brand are new Xbox president Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty, and the duo has already outlined their plans for the future of Xbox--teasing new hardware announcements and a return to the "roots" of Xbox. At the same time, Sharma has addressed the shoes she'll be filling, as she thanked Spencer for leading Xbox for over a decade.

"Today Matt and I had the chance to recognize Phil Spencer," Sharma wrote in a social media post. "Over the past couple of months, we've talked nearly every day about everything from hardware and strategy to creators and culture--and plenty about our kids and dogs, too. Those conversations gave me a front row seat to what so many of you have known for decades. Phil is a remarkable leader, but even more than that, he's a deeply remarkable human being. When he took over Xbox in 2014, it was a pivotal moment. He pushed for backward compatibility because players asked for it. He helped bring Xbox One X to life. He created Game Pass."

"And through it all, he re-centered our decisions around players and creators. A lot of careers get summed up by milestones. Phil's impact shows up in stories. In the creators who felt safe taking risks, in the teams who did the best work of their lives because someone believed in them, and in players across generations who felt like Xbox was theirs. I'll always remember this day. I'm proud to be part of Team Xbox. Now our journey begins."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The open-world driving game from Maverick Games that was announced in 2024 will now move ahead without Amazon. The Game Business confirmed that Amazon is not going to publish the game, while its developers say everything is fine and the game will be revealed this year.

Maverick's founder and creative director Mike Brown said please do not send him and his team condolences about the news of Amazon dropping out. "We are as good as ever and are getting ready to share the game with you later this year," he wrote.

Brown was formerly the creative director for the Forza Horizon series. He started Maverick alongside Harinder Sangha, the former Sega Hardlight and Sumo Leamington boss.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The next chapter in the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill: Townfall, has been formally revealed by Konami following its initial announcement in 2022. This will make it the third Silent Hill game in three years following a 12-year gap between mainline titles.

Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f both played a major role in revitalizing the once dormant series. However, Silent Hill: Townfall has the potential to push the franchise even further by shaking up some of its conventions and control options. Judging from the early preview, the biggest change is the game’s shift from a third-person perspective to a first-person view throughout.

The survival-horror genre has greatly evolved since the original Silent Hill debuted on PlayStation in 1999. While Townfall will have some action, it appears that Konami is more focused on the horror and psychological aspects of the game rather than making an attempt to emulate Resident Evil’s action-oriented gameplay.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Excitement for a Switch 2 update to Xenoblade Chronicles X quickly turned into disappointment for some who purchased the upgrade, with a few vocal fans online sharing that they've requested refunds from Nintendo.

Players have expressed dismay over the image quality of the upgrade, which costs $5 for anyone who already owns the Switch 1 version of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. Observers pointed out "distracting flickering" and shimmering, with distorted environmental textures that almost resemble a watercolor painting.

Digital Foundry expressed bewilderment by the state of the upgrade, with editor John Linneman saying studio Monolith Soft made "very strange decisions" and questioning what upscaling techniques the developers used that led to the upgrade's "smeary" appearance. Linneman goes on to call the new version of Xenoblade Chronicles X "probably the worst Switch 2 Edition yet."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A new browser extension will make it much easier for you to spot games with AI-generated content in them on Steam.

As spotted by Kotaku, the "AI Warning For Steam" extension was released by seeeeew on both Firefox and Google Chrome. You can see the extension in action below on the Arc Raiders Steam page. Once you install this browser extension, it will make the AI-generated content disclosure warning a pop-up on the Steam page the moment it loads.

AI Warning For Steam

While it won't reveal that a game uses AI if the developers don't disclose it on the Steam page, it's still a useful extension. It offers a more immediate way to alert you if a game you're interested in uses AI, rather than having to dig for it on the store page. The Steam store page is even blurred behind the modal pop-up, so you don't even have to see the Steam page in question.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The Da Vinci Code: 20th-Anniversary Edition (4K Blu-ray)

$40 | Releases May 19

Preorder at Amazon

Nothing beats a good globe-trotting mystery, and 20 years ago, the always-reliable Tom Hanks was in top form for the live-action adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. With the film celebrating its platinum anniversary this year, preorders have gone live for a new limited-edition steelbook version of The Da Vinci Code, and you can preorder it now for $40 through Amazon. Out on May 19, this anniversary edition of the movie is a three-disc set that includes hours of behind-the-scenes special features.

The Da Vinci Code: 20th-Anniversary Edition

$40 | Releases May 19

Continue Reading at GameSpot