Gaming

Sony's PlayStation executives have 'huge respect' for Nintendo and enjoy seeing the company do well, former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says.

In the FTC v Microsoft trial, the Federal Trade Commission isolated PlayStation and Xbox and took Nintendo out of its analysis. The rationale was simple: PlayStation and Xbox are more alike to each other than they are to Nintendo. This narrowing allowed regulators to better define a "relevant market" (in this case, high-powered games consoles), but on the surface it felt like a big mistake to remove Nintendo from the Big 3.

Apparently, Sony does something similar. Sony too removes Nintendo from its competitive analysis, but only for markets abroad. Domestically in Japan, Sony very much sees Nintendo as a competitor, but still feels that it's important to see Nintendo do well. As we've learned in our coverage of the FTC v Microsoft court case, all of the Big 3 are synergistically and mutually inter-connected in a kind of symbiosis with one another, and the aphorism "a rising tide lifts all boats" rings true here.

Blizzard is cooking up Overwatch 2 Season 7 next week with a bunch of new upgrades, maps, and more... all with a sleek 80s throwback aesthetic. Check out the trailer below:

Overwatch 2's upcoming Season 17 will let players choose between three randomized maps ahead of their matches, with the maps not selected by the vote itself, instead each of the votes will add a 1-in-10 chance that the map will be chosen in the end with a final roulette style decision. Your voting is hidden from other players, with leavers being penalized as soon as voting starts for anyone who dives out of the round early.

On the first day of Season 17, there will be new Mythic Skins for both D.Va and Reaper, with the D.Va Mythic Horang Hero Skin with four stages of evolving tiers, as well as Reaper's new Mythic Steel Death Weapon Skin, with both of the Mythic skins available in the Mythic Shop for 80 Mythic Prisms.

Red Dead Redemption actor Rob Wiethoff pulls back on his teasing comments about a big new announcement.

A bit ago, Rob Wiethoff, who played John Marston in Red Dead Redemption 2, shared his excitement for a big new reveal.

Wiethoff wouldn't say what it was, but fans connected the speculative dots and tied his comments to recent rumors. Reports and rumors indicate that Rockstar will release Red Dead Redemption 2 on Switch 2 sometime this year, and Wiethoff's comments could be leading up to that.

Microsoft is currently working to bring classic Xbox 360 titles and original Xbox titles to PC via emulation, according to a known Xbox leaker.

The information comes from Extas1s, who stated that a source who works directly at Microsoft informed him the company is currently working on what is referred to internally as "Xbox Classics," and these titles coming to PC wouldn't just be re-releases of the original game, either, as they would be brought to PC via a new advanced emulation platform designed to improve the original Xbox and Xbox 360 games.

According to the leaker, Microsoft's new emulation platform is intended to make the old console titles run with stability, but also improve the graphics and come with full integration on Game Pass. Additionally, the emulation platform integrates with PCs, current-gen Xbox consoles, the cloud, and portable devices such as the recently announced Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X handheld PC.

Some third-party publishers are reportedly disappointed with physical game sales on the Switch 2 while Cyberpunk 2077 soars as the top-selling third-party game on the platform.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a megaton success, selling 3.5 million units in its first four days, making it the fastest-selling system of all time and the best-selling video games console launch in history. But what about the games? Mario Kart World was unsurprisingly at #1, and it's a known trend that Nintendo platforms are utterly dominated by first-party games.

Data shows that Cyberpunk 2077 was high ranking in the US, and it was also the best-selling physical third-party game. Others, however, didn't do as well. New reports from The Game Business utilize analyst data to paint a clearer picture of how the Switch 2 did in terms of physical third-party software performance.

Playtesters of the new Battlefield game have informed Insider Gaming that the title has moved from its pre-alpha stage of development to Alpha, indicating significant progression has been made.

For those outside the Battlefield news loop, select playtesters in various regions have been experiencing "Battlefield Labs," the pre-alpha version of the new Battlefield game that is being built with significant community feedback. These playtesters have informed the publication that in-game watermarks and labelling have now switched from "Battlefield Labs" and "Pre-Alpha" to just "Alpha." This change comes amid a major update to the title, which reportedly came with files related to a Battle Royale mode.

Notably, the playtesters have said this mode isn't available to play yet, but the files being present within the game suggest it isn't far away from being playtested in Battlefield Labs. Moreover, images sent to Insider Gaming of the Battle Royale revealed two teams of four in a skirmish in what looks like an abandoned factory.

Capcom will show off new gruesome footage of its next Resident Evil game this Thursday, June 26, 2025.

While Capcom surprise revealed RE9 at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest weeks ago, the publisher is also doing its own event. The new Capcom Spotlight show goes live on Thursday, June 26 at 6PM EST and will highlight upcoming games like the hugely anticipated Resident Evil 9 Requiem, Capcom's new sci-fi IP Pragmata, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Street Fighter 6.

So what can we expect from the show? Weeks ago at SGF, Capcom showed off a Resident Evil 9 demo behind closed doors, and it's highly likely that fans will now get to see that same footage. It's also likely that a Capcom dev will be playing and/or narrating the experience, possibly even RE9 producer Jun Takeuchi.

AMD's Lisa Su comments on Microsoft's next-gen Xbox and how the two companies are building a fleet of gaming-oriented AI chips specifically for Xbox devices.

Two days ago, Microsoft confirmed it wasn't leaving the hardware market and announced plans for its next-gen Xbox console. The 10th generation Xbox will be powered by new special AI chips made by AMD in a sizable multi-year deal.

Now AMD CEO Lisa Su delivers updates on the partnership and what to expect from the next-gen Xbox, and from AMD, in the future. "Moving forward, AMD will go beyond building custom chips for Xbox consoles to designing a full roadmap of gaming-optimized chips combining the power of Ryzen and Radeon for consoles, handhelds, PCs and the cloud."

DOOM: The Dark Ages just got a significant update, adding Path Tracing and DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction to the game, which dramatically improves the visual fidelity with full ray-traced lighting. For more on the game's Path Tracing, check out our impressions from an early hands-on we posted the other day.

As part of this update, id Software has provided updated 'Path Tracing Hardware Requirements' for DOOM: The Dark Ages, which confirms that you'll need some serious hardware to run the game in this mode, and a GPU with at least 12GB of VRAM. For 1080p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 4070, for 1440p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 5080, and for 4K 60FPS, a GeForce RTX 5090.

This is the baseline level of performance. You can then enable Frame Generation or DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation on top of this to boost performance into 100+ FPS territory. Alongside Path Tracing support, the game also got a surprisingly in-depth and detailed Benchmark Mode.

Warner Bros. Discovery intends to split itself into two entities by mid-2026; one WBD Global Networks that will handle traditional cable programming of sports, news, and entertainment, and the second being WBD Streaming and Studios, which controls HBO, TV series, and movie production, along with the company's gaming division and assets.

Now, rumors are circulating that Sony is eyeing an acquisition of the second entity. If true, this would considerably bolster the company's services and IPs under its umbrella, and make Sony more competitive on the IP front with the likes of Microsoft. If such an acquisition went through, Sony would own some of the biggest properties in entertainment, such as the DC universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Mortal Kombat.

The news comes from the website SEScoops, which claims that sources have informed the publication of Sony's consideration to purchase WBD Streaming and Studios, contingent upon the separation of WBD's streaming, studio, and gaming assets from its cable networks.

The Nintendo Switch 2 can add another highly anticipated title to its growing library of third-party games, as Nintendo and IO Interactive have confirmed the release of 007 First Light in a new announcement trailer.

007 First Light has received a new announcement trailer posted to the Nintendo of America YouTube channel, where we see a young James Bond get himself into some trouble that I'm sure he is going to enjoy working his way out of in a not-so-graceful way.

For those who don't know, 007 First Light is being developed by Danish studio IO Interactive, famous for the Hitman franchise, and First Light will be a new origin story on 007 that focuses on narratively driven action that is not linked to any previous Bond media, meaning this a fresh new take on 007.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its Donkey Kong Bananza-dedicated Direct, where it gave a deep dive on the upcoming title, revealing aspects such as the villains of the story, Donkey Kong's abilities, and his companion that will be tagging along with him throughout the duration of the game.

The Donkey Kong Bananza Direct was mostly gameplay-focused. Nintendo revealed that players will journey to the center of the Earth with Donkey Kong and his companion, Pauline. In the upcoming title, Pauline is a child who was hidden inside a rock until DK discovered her. As players progress through the game, they will get deeper and deeper into the world, with each level being completely different from the last.

Donkey Kong Bananza takes aspects from other Nintendo titles, such as Breath of the Wild, with DK being able to climb on almost any terrain, participate in unique challenges, and take on bosses for rewards and upgrades. One of the biggest surprises of the Direct was Nintendo revealing that Donkey Kong is able to transform into different animals, such as a zebra and an ostrich. Each of these forms gives DK special perks and abilities, such as the ability to fly or run on water.

Microsoft is slated to fire thousands more employees after it just let go 6,000 people in May in an attempt to better position the company for success.

The news comes from a Bloomberg report that states Microsoft is now targeting its sales department for the culling of employees and will be looking to take on third-party firms, or outsourcing its sales requirements, following the departure of the new former staff.

The layoffs are expected to be announced in the coming weeks as the fiscal year ends, and the new layoffs come on the heels of Microsoft firing thousands of employees in May, with some higher-up positions at the company not being safe from the redundancies.

Valve has just kinda silently pushed out a pretty big upgrade to its in-game performance tools inside of the new June 17 Beta client update with Steam now offering a full Performance Monitor that tracks your FPS alongside CPU and GPU utilization, clock speeds, temps, and RAM usage.

The updated Steam FPS overlay now offers real-time graphs for each metric, or users can choice a pared-down display that only shows in-game FPS. The new overlay also flags when there are Frame Generation features like DLSS and FSR are active, separating true rendered frames from those that are created using AI upscaling technology.

For competitive and heavily detail-focused users, they'll enjoy knowing what their true FPS counts are, versus upscaled FPS, so they can tweak their settings based on actual performance. If the newly-updated Steam FPS overlay shows full GPU memory, then reducing your texture quality is something you'd normally do first... while if your CPU usage is maxed-out, you can make the appropriate tweaks to your in-game visual settings.

Beat Saber is officially dropping support for Sony's PSVR2 this month.

Despite major technological innovations, the PlayStation VR2 didn't make a substantial splash in gaming the way that Sony had hoped it would. Maybe it was the steep $549 price tag on top of having to already own a PS5, or maybe it was the games selection. Whatever the case, it looks like the PSVR2 is winding down both on a platform and partner level.

Today, Beat Games announced that Beat Saber on PSVR2 and the original PSVR will no longer receive new updates and content, and that multiplayer functionality is also being removed on January 21, 2026.

A new feature in Donkey Kong Bananza has fans speculating about a modern day Mario Paint game on Switch 2.

The Nintendo Switch 2 feels ripe for a Mario Paint sequel. The new upgraded console supports USB mice and its JoyCon controllers can be tilted sideways and converted into a makeshift mouse cursor, with built-in sensors simulating those of a computer mouse. It even supports the original Mario Paint mouse that released on the Super Nintendo in 1992.

Nintendo has been tight-lipped on any possibility of a Mario Paint on Switch 2, but we've now had a glimpse of what that might look like, at least on a conceptual level. The new Donkey Kong Bananza game on Switch 2 features an interesting new creation toolset called DK Artist mode, where gamers can paint, mold, and customize digital 3D creations in a kind of studio environment.

If you've taken the plunge with Nintendo Switch 2, you may have experienced the handheld disabling its rumble effect - and some gamers are complaining that this is happening to them surprisingly often.

IGN picked up on this, as well as plenty of Switch 2 owners on Reddit (like the above person) who are seeing the effect switched off with the following message displayed on-screen: "Rumble has been turned off due to prolonged use."

So, it seems that the idea is that if lots of rumble is coming through with a game, the Switch 2 will proactively turn off the effect - perhaps to save battery. After all, longevity is a priority with handhelds and rumbling the Joy-Con uses power.

WB Games gets restructured with new leadership and content focus while its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, plans to split in two parts.

Following an expensive multi-year merger, Warner Bros Discovery is breaking up, and that means big changes across all segments. WB Discovery will split into two groups: Global Networks and Streaming & Studios, and WB's games division will be nestled under the studios branch. So...how will all of this affect gaming?

WB Games will now focus on four core billion-dollar IPs: DC (primarily Batman and Superman), Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones. The entire video games unit is effectively being restructured and bifurcated to work on these franchises.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is receiving its Path Tracing update this week, and we got to check it out early, running on a GeForce RTX 5080 in 4K. Path Tracing, or Full Ray Tracing, uses cutting-edge technology to calculate realistic shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, global illumination, and more, covering everything related to in-game lighting.

DOOM: The Dark Ages already features ray-tracing on all platforms, with developer id Software leveraging the technology for global illumination and even hit detection. The Path Tracing update, which introduces DLSS Ray Reconstruction support, improves the game's fantastic visuals and lighting to deliver a seamless, more immersive cinematic action experience.

As seen in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it's the little details that make DOOM: The Dark Ages so impressive with Path Tracing enabled. From how light from objects interacts with each other to how weapons look more like a part of the world in first-person, especially when you see things like fire and ominous red lighting reflected on the Slayer's shotgun.

Until GTA 6 arrives on PlayStation and Xbox next year, GTA V will remain one of the most popular games on all platforms. Earlier this year, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded & Enhanced on PC, introducing several visual improvements to the game that first debuted on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Part of the visual overhaul included the addition of ray-tracing and support for AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution technologies.

However, the ray-tracing in the GTA V update was pretty basic. The reflections were console-like and lower quality than other RT-heavy PC games, and the ray-traced global illumination only covered a single 'bounce'. Tracing and calculating multiple light bounces is hardware-intensive, but it is something that modern GeForce RTX GPUs and AMD's new RDNA 4 line-up can handle.

As part of the game's GTAV Title Update 1.71 for the new GTA Online 'Money Fronts' update, the team at Rockstar is improving the Grand Theft Auto 5: Expanded & Enhanced's ray-traced effects.