Gaming

Fans of The Lord of the Rings games have been shouting from the top of the Misty Mountains for many years about remakes, re-releases, or even remasters, especially with iconic titles such as The Lord of the Rings War in The North, or the slew of EA produced titles based on the Peter Jackson movies, and, of course, the iconic Battle for Middle-Earth titles.

However, none have been announced or released, with the last LOTR title being The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and, well, we all know how that one played out. It's safe to say LOTR fans have been in a drought for a new good game based on the beloved world that Tolkien created, but maybe that is just around the corner, as a Reddit user noticed a new listing in the SteamDB database. The user wrote they "accidentally spotted" the listing "Slinky", which is in the "eulas" section under "name" - The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

It's possible the SteamDB listing "Slinky" is a codeword for the re-release of this title on Steam, as it was removed from the platform in 2018 along with every other relevant digital storefront, such as Xbox Marketplace and the PlayStation Store. The only way to play it is via a physical disc or an illegal download. It was removed from digital marketplaces over licensing issues with the Tolkien Estate.

A new report has revealed that Xbox is preparing to launch its Gaming Copilot AI on "current-generation consoles," citing a statement by Sonali Yadav, Xbox's product manager for gaming AI, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2026.

Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI assistant has been available in a beta version on PC and the ROG Ally since it was released last year. It is officially on its way to Xbox consoles, according to Yadav, who announced the news on a panel at GDC 2026. Presumably, Yadav is talking about the Xbox Series X|S, as those are the "current generation" of Xbox consoles.

For those who don't know exactly what Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI is, it's essentially an AI "sidekick" that provides real-time help, tips, and recommendations while the player is in-game. If you ask Microsoft, it describes Gaming Copilot AI as a personalized gaming companion that assists players in real time with gameplay, game discovery, and account management. An example of a player prompting the AI sidekick would be, "How do I beat this boss?"

Nintendo's new Pokemon spin-off game is a surprise mega-hit, selling over 2 million copies in less than a week. Investors have taken notice, and Nintendo's shares have surged enough to add billions of dollars to the company's market cap.

Nintendo's latest Pokemon game isn't a traditional release, but that didn't stop it from selling millions of copies. Pokopia is a big success for Nintendo, moving 2.2 million copies in just 4 days and sparking tons of new buzz around the Switch 2.

The game's unexpected sales results, coupled with the ongoing acclaim among fans, have caused Nintendo's share prices to surge, with Bloomberg noting that Nintendo has added $14 billion to the game-maker's market capitalization.

Despite launching in 2013, GTA 5 remains one of the most played games on PC, particularly its online component. For competitive players who take GTA Online seriously, high framerates aren't just nice to have. They're essential for responsive gunplay, smooth driving, and maintaining advantage in PvP encounters. Many serious players maintain multiple GTA accounts to test different optimization configurations and hardware setups without disrupting their main progression. The good news? You don't need a flagship GPU to hit 144 FPS. With proper optimization, mid-range hardware can deliver the performance serious players demand.

GTA 5 scales remarkably well across hardware generations. The game was designed during the Xbox 360 era, but has received continuous updates, optimizing it for modern systems. This means a balanced approach to settings yields better results than simply cranking everything to ultra.

The engine is more CPU-dependent than most modern titles, particularly in GTA Online, where player count, traffic density, and network synchronization tax your processor heavily. A Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel i5-12400 paired with an RTX 3060 or RX 6600 XT represents the sweet spot for 1080p 144 FPS gaming without breaking the bank.

Epic Games management reiterates that the V-Buck price increase is a result of Fortnite's rising costs, and assures fans that big investments are being made into new content updates and cosmetic bundles.

Epic is raising the prices of Fortnite's V-Bucks digital currency, effectively reducing the conversion rates for real-world money. As a result, gamers will soon pay the same amount of money to receive fewer V-Bucks (aka shrinkflation). Predictably, this move hasn't been popular, especially with key context points like the fact that Fortnite has made over $20 billion in revenue since 2017--which is more than some companies have made with decades' old franchises.

At GDC 2026, The Verge caught up with two Epic executives to ask about the price hike. The first, a director centered around Fortnite's growth named Andrew Balta, said that the decision was purely cost-oriented.

One of the creators of the iconic, cult-classic title, The Simpsons' Hit & Run, has said in an interview with People.com, never rule out the possibility of a remake, because "we know people love it".

The Simpsons Hit & Run was released in 2003, and once it was in gamers' hands, it quickly became a classic on the platforms it was released on: PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC. For those who didn't play it or are too young to have enjoyed it, it was essentially a G-rated version of Grand Theft Auto 3, set in Springfield, and players could explore the town and its people, meeting various Simpsons characters.

It was a semi-open map featuring many locations from the TV show, including the Nuclear Power Plant, Kwik-E-Mart, Moe's Tavern, and Evergreen Terrace. There were also numerous missions, such as delivering items under a time limit, chasing characters, escaping the police, and destroying objects. It was truly a blast for its time, especially if you were a Simpsons fan, and now The Simpsons Hit & Run writer, Matt Selman, has said in an interview, "never say never" at the idea of the title being revived.

The hope that the rumored Witcher 3 DLC is true has taken a bit of a hit after CD Projekt Red confirmed it has no "secret new DLC" for Cyberpunk 2077.

The rumors about a new Witcher 3 DLC have been swirling for quite some time, and CD Projekt Red hasn't responded to any of them, only leading to more speculation. The current rumors indicate the DLC will take players to an expansion of a region they are already familiar with, Velen, and that the new DLC aims to bridge the story gap between The Witcher 3 and the upcoming Witcher 4.

Industry insider NateTheHate wrote that the rumored DLC does exist, and a former Gry-Online journalist who reportedly has connections within the Polish gaming industry said during a livestream in February that the DLC exists, and the region is Velen, and not the Zerrikania region, which was previously rumored.

In a recent lengthy interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, former Blizzard developer Jeff Kaplan discussed his breaking point at the company, and how he was expected to make a specific amount of money with Overwatch or else 1,000 employees would be let go.

Kaplan was once one of the most recognizable faces of Blizzard Entertainment, originally hired as a World of Warcraft quest designer after sharing analytical posts about MMO design. Kaplan is now credited with shaping many of World of Warcraft's iconic original quests and its progression systems. Kaplan rose to become the game director for Blizzard's new MMO Titan, which was internally cancelled in 2013, and was instead tasked with creating a new title based on some of Titan's ideas. That game became Overwatch.

Overwatch launched in 2016 and won Game of the Year at the Game Awards in 2016. The title attracted tens of millions of players globally, and Kaplan was at the forefront, engaging with the community through developer updates and on social media. However, in 2021, Kaplan unexpectedly left Blizzard after nearly two decades at the company, and since Blizzard didn't provide an explanation for his departure, the reason remained a matter of speculation.

In a recent article with IGN, Playground Games has shone a light on the highly anticipated Forza Horizon 6, revealing interesting facts about the title, such as the biggest world the studio has ever created and the need to split into two teams to tackle it.

Playground Games production director Mike Bennett explained that the Horizon infrastructure enabled the developers to overcome challenges, such as the decision to include people within the world without influencing the driving experience. The workaround was to include people, but within walled-off areas that feature Horizon Festival branding.

That way, players get the immersion increase of seeing a populated city, but without the hindrance of inevitable collisions. Additionally, the developers revealed that, because Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, Tokyo had to be a focal point of the game, and Playground Games took that challenge very seriously, dedicating a team specifically to creating Tokyo's roads, foliage, terrain, and buildings.

PC gamers took a hit this week after rumors surfaced that Sony was pulling back from the PC market, and now Bluepoint Games' head of technology, Peter Dalton, has provided an explanation of the situation.

For those who don't know, Bluepoint Games was the studio that handled many of Sony's remakes and remasters. For example, Bluepoint was behind the renowned Shadow of the Colossus remake, as well as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, God of War Collection, Demon's Souls (PS5, 2020), and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Sony acquired the company in 2021, but this past February officially closed the developer, reportedly leading to the cancellation of a multiplayer God of War project slated for a 2025 release.

The studio's closure affected approximately 70 employees, and the former head of technology for Bluepoint has now commented on recent reports that Sony is pulling back from the PC market. These rumors, from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, sparked a lot of speculation, given that Sony has made billions from the PC market. Much of the speculation was based on Sony being scared of Project Helix, Microsoft's next-generation Xbox, which is slated to be a console/PC hybrid.

Microsoft is opening the floodgates regarding its next-generation Xbox console, Project Helix. The company has confirmed long-standing rumors that it will play both PC and console games, and will be powered by a custom AMD SoC built to leverage the latest DirectX and AMD FSR technologies.

"It delivers an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance and capability, integrates intelligence directly into the graphics and compute pipeline, and drives meaningful gains in efficiency, scale, and visual ambition," Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, recently said at GDC 2026. "The result is more realistic, immersive, and dynamic worlds for players."

Although that statement might not include technical details, further comments from Jason Ronald and Jack Huynh, SVP & GM of Computing & Graphics at AMD, have outlined the new 'FSR Diamond' technology that will make real-time path tracing possible on a home console. Technology, which until now has been limited to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 and GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs on PC.

Microsoft's Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program was a major win not only for the Xbox One and subsequent Xbox consoles, but also because it kick-started a new 'backwards compatible' era for all consoles by making older titles playable (and often with improved performance) on modern hardware. And even though the program was put on hold as we entered the Xbox Series X|S era, a console that played all Xbox One titles, it's set to make a comeback later this year.

At GDC 2026, Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, said that "as part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past." And since this confirmation arrived as part of a long-form discussion about the company's next-generation Project Helix console, which will also play PC games, it makes sense that this would be a PC-focused update rather than simply bringing more long-lost Xbox and Xbox 360 games to Xbox Series gamers.

"We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come," Jason Ronald also said. Again, as Project Helix is set to be a PC-console hybrid that will run an Xbox-optimized version of Windows 11 focused on gaming, the only way to ensure four generations of Xbox games are playable on Project Helix would be through a mix of emulation and native PC/Helix apps.

New reports say that another Microsoft-owned game dev team may have been working on a new Fallout project, but that game has apparently been cast into the phantom zone.

Veteran games journalist and former Giant Bomb alumni Jeff Gerstmann recently shared an interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit on his podcast show. According to Gerstmann's sources, there was some sort of Fallout project in the works at an internal studio at Xbox before being put on ice. It's unclear who was behind the project, and whether or not it was a traditional game or maybe some sort of new interactive experience for the cloud.

Last year, it was reported that there were multiple new Fallout games in development, and one of them turned out to be the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition that we predicted. The other is expected to be Fallout 3 remastered, which was recently outed by a McFarlane Toys product listing, yet Bethesda hasn't announced any concrete details, only confirming that it has hundreds of people working on Fallout, including Fallout 76.

NCSoft is moving away from MMORPGs, instead leaning towards casual mobile games as it faces harsh scrutiny over 2024's annual losses. The company is also making a pledge to ease the pay-to-win microtransactions in its online games.

South Korean MMORPG-maker NCSoft has announced ambitious earnings targets and the plan it will take to get there. NCSoft promises to make 5 trillion won (about $3.4 billion) in revenue "with a 15% return" by 2030, and to make it happen, the company is making big investments into mobile games while also trying to improve its relations with fans and players.

NCSoft is already taking action with a major ownership stake purchase in German mobile games company JustPlay, with the Korean group buying a 70% stake worth $202 million. NCSoft will use JustPlay's expertise to fuel its mobile strategies. It's also been reported that the Korean live service giant purchased a 67% stake in another mobile games company, the Singapore-based Indygo Group, for $104 million.

Nintendo's latest Pokemon game is a huge hit, selling over 2 million copies in just a few days' time.

Pokemon's new worldbuilder spin-off Pokopia is a certified best-seller, amassing 2.2 million copies in 4 days on the market. Numbers-tracker Pierre485 puts Pokopia's performance in context, noting that Super Mario Odyssey sold 2 million copies in 3 days, Pokemon Legends Z-A sold 2.9 million copies in 4 days, yet the record-holder is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, which amassed 10 million copies sold in 3 days.

"We are pleased to announce that global sales of Pokemon Pokopia for the Nintendo Switch 2 system have surpassed 2.2 million units (including 1 million units sold in Japan) in the first four days since its worldwide launch on March 5, 2026," Nintendo announced.

After lackluster sales and a confusing ad campaign, Microsoft now doubles down on Xbox consoles, saying that they are core, integral parts of the brand's DNA--in other words, consoles will "always be around."

Microsoft has made a clear commitment to support and invest in the Xbox ecosystem, and at GDC 2026, the company delivered much-needed clarification that showed a more cohesive plan for the future. The next generation of Xbox is centered around Project Helix, ambitious new hardware that's designed to play both Windows PC and Xbox console games in a single device--all powered by new, thoughtfully-designed silicon and performance-accelerating tools for developers.

During Xbox's keynote speech at GDC, Xbox hardware VP Jason Ronald reiterated the importance of consoles while also touching upon Microsoft's other focal points--handhelds and accessories.

Sony and LEGO are reportedly teaming up to release a set based on the original PlayStation console from 1994.

A new specialty PlayStation LEGO set has reportedly been unearthed by renowned leaker on Instagram. The set itself is modeled after the first PlayStation system released in the 90s and will come with at least one controller. PlayStation LEGO set leaked, coming in Holiday 2026 with $160 price tag

The design of the PS1 is somewhat straightforward, with the main contours coming from the controller, which may be the OG non-analog controllers and not the DualShock revisions released later.

As it lays out the future of Xbox gaming at GDC 2026, Microsoft also pledges to support four generations of games and content from previous consoles.

Microsoft unveiled tons of new details about its next-generation Project Helix console at this year's Game Developers Conference, including some technical information as well as assurances on the "future of play." Project Helix will play both Xbox console and Windows PC games in one device, Microsoft says.

The past is just as important to Xbox, though, and hardware VP Jason Ronald hints at "new ways to play" these yesteryear titles in a recent blog post. "We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come. As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past."

Renowned leaker KeplerL2, who gained notoriety in the GPU-watching community for posting early device IDs, memory configurations, die names, and accurate performance estimates, recently revealed in a forum post when Sony and Microsoft anticipate releasing next-generation consoles.

KeplerL2 has been a very strong leaker within the GPU community and has obtained most of the early information by scrubbing GPU drivers, which can include hardware identifiers for unannounced products. From this information, KeplerL2 can detail other aspects of the product, such as core counts, product segmentation, and more. KeplerL2's digital detective work and validated breadcrumb information have led multiple media outlets to dedicate coverage to advancements in the GPU space and to validate KeplerL2's predictions.

Now, KeplerL2 has taken to the neoGAF forums to share an update on the PS6, PS handheld, and the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Project Helix. KeplerL2 wrote that Sony and Microsoft are both currently on track to release their new consoles sometime throughout the holiday season in 2027. Additionally, the leaker revealed that Sony is also targeting this release window for the PS handheld.

It wasn't long ago that Microsoft rolled out "This is an Xbox" marketing to demonstrate its future vision for the Xbox brand: that every device is technically an Xbox.

The marketing campaign generated more confusion than intrigue, as Xbox fans wondered why they would ever get an actual Xbox if Xbox titles are available on every platform. Microsoft and the Xbox brand are still suffering from that brand hit today, and now we have discovered that Xbox is attempting to silently remove that marketing from the internet as Game Developer attempted to revisit the "This is Xbox" landing page on the Xbox Wire website, which is Microsoft's Xbox-focused news repository.

Game Developer discovered that the landing page only provided a 404 error message and a bland screen. Upon searching Xbox News Wire for "This is an Xbox" within its search, the only article that popped up was one regarding the ROG Xbox Ally. The removal of this press release is somewhat telling considering the recent reporting that the "This is an Xbox"marketing campaign was championed by outgoing Xbox president Sarah Bond, and was one of the reasons for her departure.