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IKEA and Xbox have unveiled the full nine-piece YXSTABY collection at Gamescom 2026, and it is exactly as fun and slightly absurd as you would expect. The collection will hit stores and IKEA's online store on October 1.

The star of the collection is the thumbstick stool. IKEA designer David Wahl built it using the original CAD files for the Xbox controller, giving it the same textured, tessellated surface as the real thing. Except now, it is keeping your butt in place instead of your thumb. The curved base lets the stool tilt and pivot in all directions, which Wahl says means it "tilts with you while you play."

Beyond the stool, the rest of the collection is surprisingly practical. The collection includes a D-pad cushion and a stainless-steel tray modelled after the faceted D-pad on Xbox Elite controllers. The TV stand uses an easel-style design on castors, with rear storage for controllers and cables. A lounge chair also comes with a mesh pocket under the seat for stashing a gamepad when you are done.

Ananta, the free-to-play open-world RPG frequently described online as "anime Grand Theft Auto," finally has a release date. Publisher NetEase and developer Naked Rain confirmed during Gamescom's Opening Night Live show that the game will launch worldwide on January 15, 2027, for PC, PlayStation 5, and mobile.

A new trailer shown at the event offered the clearest look yet at the game's scope, showcasing open-world driving, cycling, skateboarding, flying, stealth, and melee combat across sprawling city environments. It also featured a large cast of characters and at least one very unexpected UFO.

Players take on the role of Captain, a member of a struggling peacekeeping organisation called the ACD, who must restore the group's standing while also searching for a missing father. The game leans heavily into internet culture as a core mechanic, tasking players with building fame and influence through story missions, side quests, bounties, and taking selfies with NPCs.

ASUS has confirmed pricing and a release date for the ROG Xbox Ally X20, its OLED-equipped upgrade to last year's Xbox Ally X, which we first saw at Computex back in June. Pre-orders are open now through ASUS and Best Buy, with units shipping October 15 for $1,299.99.

The obvious and biggest upgrade is a new 7.4-inch Nebula HDR OLED panel, up from the 7-inch LCD on the standard Ally X. Resolution remains 1080p and the refresh rate stays at 120Hz, but peak HDR brightness jumps to 1,400 nits, while OLED brings the usual deep blacks and higher contrast.

Alongside the display, ASUS has swapped in TMR joysticks for better accuracy and drift resistance. It has also added a mechanical D-pad toggle that lets you switch between a 4-way and 8-way layout depending on what you are playing. The X20 also gets a translucent black chassis with gold trim, but everything else carries over from the standard model.

Some of Bungie's old guard wants to return to the Halo franchise, including Master Chief creator Marcus Lehto.

Halo is core to Xbox's DNA, and this year Microsoft celebrated 25 years of the franchise with a new remaster of the first Halo game. The shooter, Halo Campaign Evolved, has had a mixed reception. It's the first Halo to ever cross over to PlayStation, but it lacks core features like theater, multiplayer, or even Firefight--a mode that the second version of Halo CE, Halo Campaign Evolved Anniversary, shipped with.

Old-school Bungie dev Marcus Lehto tried out the new Halo remake, and while he did have some complaints, overall he approved of Campaign Evolved. "Lots of discussion about my thoughts on Halo lately. I genuinely enjoyed Campaign Evolved and think there's a lot of great work in it. I may disagree with some decisions, but I'm rooting for the team and for Halo," Lehto said on Twitter.

Raspberry Pi has published a step-by-step guide for building your own cyberdeck, or a computer in a briefcase. Written by maker Brian Corteil, it walks through building a complete portable computer inside a rugged, weatherproof Pelican-style case.

"The case defines the cyberdeck," Corteil explains, noting that previous builds have used everything from old pocket computers and briefcases to mint tins, wooden boxes, and prop replicas.

Raspberry Pi's cyberdeck is built around a Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, paired with a 7-inch Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, a low-profile Rii RK302 Bluetooth keyboard, a 128GB Raspberry Pi flash drive, speakers, a USB audio system, and a battery. An optional Raspberry Pi RTC battery keeps the system clock running even when the device is powered off.

AMD quietly released a low-profile version of the RX 9060 XT late last year, but since its release, there has been little to no information on the card's performance, until now. ETA Prime grabbed an RX 9060 XT 16GB LP Vastarmor graphics card and benchmarked the card in several games. On average, the low-profile card was 7% slower on average than its full-fat 16GB counterpart.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad and Time Spy, the RX 9060 XT LP was 6% slower in Steel Nomad and 8% slower in Time Spy compared to the vanilla RX 9060 XT 16GB. In Time Spy, the RX 9060 XT LP achieved 3,583 points in Steel Nomad and 15,057 points in Time Spy. The RX 9060 XT 16GB achieved 3,820 points in Steel Nomad and 16,333 points in Time Spy.

In games, the RX 9060 XT LP reportedly achieved around 88 FPS at 1440p ultra settings in Forza Horizon 6, 76 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p ultra settings, 70 FPS in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered at 1440p very high settings, 105 FPS in Doom: The Dark Ages at 1440p ultra settings with FSR in Quality mode, and 58 FPS in Crimson Desert at 1440p ultra settings.

Apple has quietly updated its Magic Keyboard lineup with a subtle design change. Several keys that previously used text labels now display glyphs instead, bringing the standalone keyboards in line with the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro keyboards that received the same treatment earlier this year.

The affected keys on all updated models are Tab, Caps Lock, Shift, Return, and Delete. On the full-size models with a numeric keypad, the change goes further, with Home, Page Up, Page Down, End, Clear, and Enter also swapping text labels for symbols.

Four models have been updated: the standard Magic Keyboard at $99, the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID at $149, and the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad in white at $179 and black at $199. The one model left untouched is the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad without Touch ID.

The global games market will make a record $213.9 billion in 2026, analyst firm Newzoo predicts, with GTA 6 helping consoles beat PC throughout the year.

According to the latest numbers from Newzoo, the video games industry is expected to generate nearly $214 billion in revenue throughout this year. That's an all-time record high for gaming, representing a +6.1% year-over-year increase from the $201 billion earned in 2025.

Rockstar's GTA 6 will do the heavy lifting for the console sector, which is expected to make $46.9 billion, representing 22% of total spending. PC will be close behind at $45.9 billion, driven primarily by microtransactions. Newzoo also believes GTA 6 will help boost full game sales, which makes sense, considering the game should break entertainment records in terms of unit purchases and launch earnings.

Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad says microtransactions and DLC now account for 75% of everything gamers spend on game software each year, dwarfing what people pay for the games themselves.

According to Ahmad, the video game software sector grosses about $195 billion annually, and only 25% of that comes from new game purchases and subscription services combined. The remaining three-quarters comes from in-game spending, whether that's cosmetics, battle passes, loot boxes, or paid expansions.

PC gaming microtransactions alone made up 58% of PC revenue back in 2024, according to earlier industry data, so a 75% figure across the whole software market suggests the shift toward live service monetization has only accelerated since then. That makes sense, given the popularity of microtransactions and how effective they have been over the past decade in gaming.

A Redditor's dead 4TB Crucial X9 portable SSD turned into a warranty battle after Micron initially refused to replace it, offering only the original $199.99 purchase price back instead. The same drive now sells for well over $500, so the refund would have left the customer roughly $300 short of buying a replacement.

According to the original post on r/pcmasterrace from user CarefulMeasurement99, Crucial approved the RMA but then said it had no replacement units in stock for that model, so a refund was the only option on the table. This technique has been used frequently by Crucial recently, and even SK Hynix was spotted using the "oops, no replacement" method to avoid honoring warranties.

The customer pushed back, refused the refund, and asked for a 1:1 replacement or an equivalent alternative instead, while also mentioning the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and noting the case was gaining traction online.

AMD's latest Adrenalin Edition 26.8.1 driver appears to be causing crashes in Apex Legends for players running the Radeon RX 9070 XT. The game's developer has confirmed it is investigating the issue.

The acknowledgement came from the official Japanese Apex Legends community account on X, which advised affected players to roll back to the previous Adrenalin Edition 26.7.1 driver as a workaround.

The crashes are being reported as fatal errors, with the message reading, "The application's device failed due to badly formed commands sent by the application." While rolling back to 26.7.1 has resolved the issue for some players, others are reporting instability on that version as well, so there is no guarantee it will fix the problem.

AMD's Technical Information Portal now lists Olympic Ridge, the codename for its upcoming Zen 6 desktop CPUs, as compatible with the existing AM5 socket. The listing was spotted by hardware tracker InstLatX64, who has a solid history of catching these identifier changes before AMD makes them official.

Olympic Ridge is expected to replace the current Ryzen 9000 series as AMD's standard desktop lineup, reportedly scaling up to 24 cores across chiplets built with up to 12 Zen 6 cores each. The same documentation also lists Medusa1, a new APU family, as supporting both AM5 and the FP10 mobile platform, while a smaller Medusa2 APU is limited to FP10 only. Medusa1 is expected to replace the Ryzen 8000G desktop APUs.

This matches what AMD has already said publicly. At Computex, the company confirmed that AM5 support would extend through 2029, framing it as a way to give buyers confidence to upgrade without forcing a full platform change. Olympic Ridge landing on AM5 is that commitment starting to take a real shape.

A Redditor says they placed a preorder for ASUS's ROG 20th Anniversary Bundle on day one, paid $10,349.96, and never got the hardware. ASUS generated shipping tracking around the expected August 7 delivery date, then canceled it the next day and sent the package back without explanation.

After several rounds of contacting support, the customer learned the package had been sent back to ASUS rather than being delivered. Reordering the same four components now costs $10,849.96, exactly $500 more than before. So ASUS canceled the buyer's pre-paid order and took the package back, only over $500.

The bundle includes the ROG Crosshair X870E motherboard, ROG Ryujin 360 liquid cooler, ROG Thor 3000W Titanium III power supply, and the ROG Astral RTX 5090 graphics card, all in matching 20th Anniversary trim. We covered the launch of the full ROG Edition 20 lineup when ASUS first brought it to the US as a hard bundle rather than as separate purchases.

GTA 6 will have San Andreas-style RPG systems that affect player appearance, including weight and muscle tone, the devs at Rockstar revealed to Dazed in a new interview.

With the recent leaks spreading far and wide, and the big Netflix premiere tomorrow, new official details on GTA 6 are starting to spread on the internet.

These tidbits are straight from sanctioned GTA 6 media previews, and the info confirms that Jason and Lucia's appearance will be affected by diet and exercise, with body weight and overall muscularity being influenced by in-game food and exercise (in the second GTA 6 trailer, we see Jason bench press weights, hinting that this would be an in-game activity). It's unclear how involved this system will be on a stat-level basis.

Snoop Dogg is gracefully walking into the world of assassinations as the new elusive target in Hitman: World of Assassination.

The mission, titled The Herbalist, a nod to Snoop Dogg's close association with marijuana, is set to drop on August 27th and will be available to all players, both via the free demo and for existing owners of the World of Assassination bundle.

The mission sees Agent 47 targeting Dr. Cyrus Cane, a flamboyant entrepreneur behind the upcoming cookie brand Morsizzles. Snoop Dogg lends his voice and likeness to the role, with his son Cordell making a guest appearance as well. "It's definitely an honor to step into a franchise as legendary as HITMAN," Snoop said in a statement, adding that "bringing my son Cordell along for the ride? That's awesome."

Hot off the heels of Gamescom, NVIDIA has released a new Game Ready driver, featuring support for Star Wars Zero Company, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. NVIDIA announced the update today in a blog post, version 616.56, that also features 7 fixed gaming bugs for gaming and non-gaming-related issues.

DOOM: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle received a fix for a problem where both games' frame rates may exceed V-Sync when using DLSS Frame Generation on its 3x setting or higher. A Texture flickering bug was fixed in Outer Worlds that specifically occurs after updating from R595 to R610 drivers (likely without clean installing drivers).

For non-gaming-related fixes, NVIDIA fixed an issue with ASUS' Armory Crate where the app's "GameVisual" color profiles were not getting applied when using R590 drivers. Chief Architect received a driver crash fix on RTX 40 series GPUs using driver 610.47, and Claude Desktop received a fix for incorrectly being identified as a 3D app in the GPU driver. Tycho Tracker received a fix for being unable to create individual OpenCL buffers greater than 2GB, and finally, driver 616.56 fixes an issue where driver crashes can occur with 32-bit DirectX 12 apps.

The special edition 25th anniversary Xbox Series X console will come with a high-end price when it launches on November 13.

Xbox is turning 25 years old this November, and to celebrate, Microsoft is releasing a premium 25th anniversary Xbox Series X with a translucent green body that channels the OG Xbox's vibe and aesthetic. The Xbox Series X25 will cost $899, Microsoft today confirmed, and also comes with a copy of Halo Campaign Evolved.

Spec-wise, the Xbox Series X25 is identical in performance to existing Xbox Series X consoles, and the X25 comes with a 1TB SSD for game and content storage. Microsoft says that Xbox enthusiasts will get first dibs at pre-orders, highlighting the company's shift towards serving its core playerbase, and pre-orders for the X25 will open tomorrow for everyone else. Users are directed to the Xbox store to pre-order.

The surreal, uncanny trailer for Humankind 2 that debuted at Gamescom 2026 sparked immediate speculation online, with many people believing the footage was AI-generated.

The trailer, which premiered at the Gamescom 2026 Opening Ceremony, features an eerie, first-person view of various historical periods across time and space, all looking down the barrel of the camera directly at the viewer. The odd choice of camera angle and generally off-putting visuals led many to suspect AI. However, it isn't.

The studio confirmed the trailer was filmed at Sofia's Nu Boyana Film Studios using real actors, custom props, and blue-screen compositing. Amplitude did not clarify whether it used generative AI in post-production, but the studio said it would soon share behind-the-scenes photos.

Metro 2039's new gameplay trailer shows a level of graphical quality that may challenge even the most powerful current-gen graphics cards.

The latest footage showcased at Gamescom 2026 unveils a substantial visual leap forward for the series, and honestly, it shows what can be achieved graphically in gaming in general. The trailer shows intense graphical details in lighting, textures, shadows, reflections, and environments. 4A, the developers of the Metro series, aren't strangers to releasing graphically demanding games, as Metro Last Light was notoriously heavy to run, and Exodus was no different.

That said, Metro 2039 is a console game, so it will be able to run on average PC hardware. However, the question is what will be required to completely max the game out graphically? The game's outdoor environments, in particular, are bordering on photorealistic, which is the kind of fidelity that is heavy on the GPU. Digital Foundry's early look into the footage noted a 30fps target with dynamic resolution scaling, suggesting the game is graphically heavy, and that optimization will be critical.

X has launched a legal assault on Nitter, the open-source project that lets users read X posts without logging into an X account. The letter has now forced Nitter to take its site offline.

The move marks a return to a familiar tactic for X, which previously tried to block the service through API restrictions in 2024. This time, the company is using cease-and-desist letters to demand that Nitter instances and its code repository be shut down. Furthermore, X claims that Nitter violated its terms of service by circumventing X's Application Programming Interface.

Nitter's creator, known as Zedeus, is seeking legal advice and told TechCrunch that Nitter is offline and that development has stopped, presumably until the legal matter is resolved.