Gaming

PSSR2 is set to be a really exciting upgrade for gamers with a PS5 Pro next year, going by the grapevine.

YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead covered the usual gamut of tech topics in his latest video, with a PSSR2 leak being the nugget that'll be of most interest to many gamers out there.

The source is a game developer who notes that Sony is aware that visual glitches are a real problem with PSSR upscaling on the PS5 Pro currently, and has provided a debugging app to game makers to help smooth over such bugs.

Netflix plans to acquire Warner Bros. in an $82 billion buyout, and that includes HBO, TV & film, and the interactive WB Games segment.

Netflix and Warner Bros. today announced a megaton multimedia combination: Netflix plans to buy Warner Bros.' newly-formed Studios & Streaming business for $82.7 billion. The deal would see Netflix becoming the new owner of WB's core business, including film and TV catalogs with HBO shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones as well as film rights to Harry Potter and the DC Universe. WB's Burbank-based studio is included, and so is the HBO Max service.

The WB Games division hasn't been discussed much in the press materials for the deal, however we've received confirmation that Warner Bros.' games studios, IP, and content will indeed be part of the transaction. This means that Netflix would effectively acquire WB Games, however Netflix has telegraphed that it plans to keep WB's multi-division hierarchy intact, with gaming continuing to operate as its own sub-segment.

As we head into the holiday season, NVIDIA's cloud-streaming GeForce NOW service, which lets you play with up to GeForce RTX 5080 levels of performance, is getting 30 new games this month. As GeForce NOW lets gamers play PC games they own or have access to via existing subscriptions, the list includes some classic Activision titles added to Ubisoft+ Premium, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

On top of this, GeForce NOW users can link their Battle.net accounts directly to the app for an automatic single sign-on for all devices and cloud gaming sessions, with auto-login support for Xbox, Epic Games, and Ubisoft. Back to the 30 new games, 10 of those have been added this week, and the list includes some new releases like MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0, and ROUTINE.

The GeForce RTX 5080-ready list, which includes games optimized for the new RTX 5080 pods, has also expanded to include Enshrouded and Fallout 76, which just got a major, and free, expansion this week called Burning Springs. And with that, NVIDIA is running a "Half-Price Holiday" sale until the end of the year, with 50% off the first month for Performance and Ultimate tier subscriptions.

SEGA is exploring the use of AI in game development to help optimize and streamline workflows, but the company may not be ready to commit to generative AI just yet.

Gen AI is here, and games companies are using it in the hopes of reducing costs. Ubisoft, for example, is gung-ho about the new tech, with CEO Yves Guillemot hailing it as the next major revolution after 3D graphics. EA is also using gen AI in its experimental ChatGPT-like prompts, and Microsoft has provided tools like inWorld's gen AI and its own in-house CoPilot to its game developers. Then we have Krafton, the owners of PUBG, saying that they are now an AI-first company.

SEGA, on the other hand, isn't fully committing to AI just yet...generative or otherwise. In a recent Q&A with investors, SEGA's leadership says AI could offer efficiencies but they also recognize that the technology faces staunch push-back from creatives. Their approach is one of caution, and rightly so, considering SEGA relies strongly on outsourced content production from third-party "work-for-hire" groups. Rocking the boat and antagonizing your workforce is never a good idea, and becomes a much worse prospect when those workers are fickle creatives.

Marathon's stolen art controversy has officially been settled ahead of the shooter's upcoming planned launch.

Back in May, Bungie was caught by serious allegations of art theft. Creator Antireal alleged that Marathon used artwork that they created way back in 2017, and Bungie later admitted to the wrongdoing. Now the issue has been solved amicably, potentially by a payout from Bungie and/or Sony themselves.

"The Marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction," Antireal wrote on Twitter.

The latest dev log for Judas reveals the game's core design philosophy, giving players a better idea on what to expect from the new reactive shooter.

It's been 12 years since BioShock Infinite released, and since then, franchise creator Ken Levine has been slowly putting together his vision for his next game, Judas. It wasn't so long ago that we didn't know anything about the project, but in recent years, Levine's new studio Ghost Story Games has been putting out some surprisingly substantial development logs that highlight things like themes, characters, and the main ethos of Judas.

The most recent log is no exception. In Judas' second update, Ghost Story says that they've created a more automated system for dynamic environments, one that can tailor-make specific areas based on the story and/or the decisions that players make. There's extensive discussion of Judas' main floating starship-city, The Mayflower, and how it'll be layered like an onion with tons of things to uncover and explore--all while changing over time.

SEGA investors pressure executives about the volatility of the games market, seeking clarification on risk. Management responds with a quick rundown of how transmedia can be used to help counter unsuccessful games.

The games industry is quite chaotic right now, and SEGA's shareholders have taken notice, offering up some tough questions for the top brass. In a recent Q&A, SEGA investors ask the company's executive management about the wild ups and downs with video game sales, especially those that have consistently reviewed well. Why isn't SEGA able to consistently sell more games?

The questions set forth to SEGA are somewhat biting, but rightly so, as these investors expect returns. Management provided an interesting response that widens the lens of SEGA's total business and how its non-interactive content can actually act as a safeguard against volatility.

Sony has announced that its PlayStation games division will help create and publish a new live service shooter from a well-known industry creative, but the game may not be coming to Xbox.

Sony is teaming up with JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Games label to launch a brand new four-player shooter. The game will be directed by original Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth, and while no exact details were revealed other than the game will be a co-op shooter with unforgettable gameplay, gamers might be able to expect the same kind of frenetic anything-can-happen action that was in the original Left 4 Dead from Valve and Turtle Rock.

"With the support of PlayStation, we hope to deliver a bold, innovative experience that is truly special for players. I could not be more excited that Mike Booth is at the creative helm, crafting a cooperative adventure that will lead to unforgettable moments with friends,"said Bad Robot Games CEO Anna Sweet.

Baseball fans will soon be able to steal home base on the go with MLB The Show Mobile.

In a bid to maximize revenues and to appease the rights-holders at MLB, Sony's San Diego studio is bringing its MLB The Show series to iOS and Android. The game is currently being soft launched and right now it's only available in the Philippines, and more geographies will be added. However, the devs say there's not a "set timeline for expansion."

Predictably, MLB The Show Mobile will have a paid in-game currency called Stubs. Users will be able to buy Stubs during the soft launch and purchases will roll over to the final release. The devs also say that "most progress and content will be reset" before the game's official fully-fledged launch.

Saudi Arabia's PIF will have a 93.7% stake in Electronic Arts following the proposed $55 billion buyout, the Wall Street Journal reports.

If the $55 billion leveraged buyout goes through, Saudi Arabia will effectively become the new owner of EA, one of the largest video games companies in the world that is responsible for several billion-dollar franchises, including FIFA/FC, Madden, Apex Legends, and Star Wars.

Three groups have joined forces to buy EA stock and take the company private. The consortium consists of Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the latter of which has been investing billions to buy up companies like Scopely. New filings from Brazilian antitrust regulator CADE reveals an ownership breakdown of EA if the deal is approved, with the Saudis taking nearly 94% of ownership of EA and funding most of the deal.

Skyblivion is not only one of the most ambitious mods currently in development, but it's a project that has been in development by a passionate team of Elder Scrolls fans for over a decade. The premise is simple: it's a built-from-the-ground-up remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the Skyrim engine, including revamped dungeons, combat, leveling, and a complete overhaul of the game's Cyrodiil location.

Unlike Bethesda's own The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered from earlier this year, which presented the same 2006 game with only minor changes to gameplay alongside a complete Unreal Engine 5-powered visual overhaul, Skyblivion is essentially a remake of the classic RPG for a modern audience. However, this week the team behind the ambitious project has confirmed that it won't be able to hit its planned 2025 release - and has been delayed to 2026.

"Unfortunately, as we're getting closer to the end of this year, it pains me to have to announce that our initial goal of releasing Skyblivion this year is no longer possible," project lead Rebelzize says in the delay announcement video. "Despite the game being in the best state it's ever been, we still have some last challenges to overcome that are going to require a little bit more time."

Yacht Club Games needs Mina the Hollower to sell 200,000 copies, and if that doesn't happen, the studio could face some tough choices like being acquired by another bigger company.

It's been three years since Yacht Club Games released their latest project, Shovel Knight Dig. It's also been that same amount of time since they announced Mina the Hollower, the next big release from the studio. Mina was supposed to launch in October, but Yacht Club delayed the project indefinitely in order to boost the game's chances at making better sales.

If Mina misses the mark, Yacht Club is in trouble. Studio founder Sean Velasco tells Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the new platformer is a "make or break" moment for the team. That's on top of the $1.2 million in funding raised by Kickstarter.

Arrowhead and Nixxes have massively reduced Helldivers 2's file size on PC from 154GB to just 23GB.

Helldivers 2 players on PC have some great news from the devs: Your install size is about to get a lot smaller. Arrowhead has released a new test build that shrinks the game's total file size by an astronomical -85%, dropping down to the low 20GBs in size. The studio says that this storage reduction was made possible by nixing all duplicated data within Helldivers 2's files.

Interestingly enough, this adjustment was expected to cause even longer loading times for users launching Helldivers 2 from hard disk drives--which Arrowhead notes is a small proportion of players. Apparently, the shrink only added a "few seconds in the worst cases" to mission load screens.

Original Halo co-creator and Bungie alumni Marcus Lehto takes fans back to the past to the early days of Halo CE, briefly touching on the design process for one of the most recognized protagonists in gaming history.

How do you create a media icon? By going through tons of iterations. That's the core message behind Marcus Lehto's advice to Kent State University students. Lehto went to Kent State before moving on to Bungie and creating Halo and the Master Chief, the latter of which he designed. That process was grueling, though, and didn't come easy.

"The creation of the Master Chief is something that I went through so many ringers to try to find the right look, the right feel, the right stature for such a character," Lehto told Kent State University in a recent alumni interview. "I built the Master Chief nine times before I finally got to the version that I liked for Halo Combat Evolved, the first installation of Halo."

Metal Gear Solid 4 is currently stuck on the PS3, and a big reason why it has never departed the platform may lie in the game's complex code.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has been a big success for Konami, selling 1 million copies on launch day. But what about other remakes? Fans have wanted a MGS4: Guns of the Patriots remake for over a decade now. The next best thing would be to port MGS4 over to other platforms and finally let Xbox and PC players try out the game.

Will Konami do it? The question might come down to how difficult it'll be to pull off, and from the sound of it, Konami had to implement some pretty unorthodox code in order to leverage the PS3's built-in Cell processor. This chip was a big reason why the PS3 failed to gain strong momentum, as devs had a hard time getting their games to play nicely with the PS3's complicated architecture.

Ubisoft is moving forward with its new Splinter Cell remake and has re-hired key talent to make sure the game is as authentic as possible.

The Splinter Cell remake was originally announced in 2021, however Ubisoft appeared to have stalled the project in recent years. Reports indicate the game has had a troubled and rocky development cycle--which makes sense, given Ubisoft's current financial situation, much of which is a result of the company's risky over-spending on investments during COVID-19. Ubisoft has since accelerated the project and has secured a game director for the Splinter Cell remake--in fact, it's the same game director that was attached to the project before.

"Today, I am very, very happy to announce that I'm rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake! It's a very special team and project to me," Grivel said on LinkedIn last week.

Two hard drives containing early beta builds of Fallout New Vegas have been discovered and compiled so that anyone with a modded Xbox 360 or a dev kit can play pre-release versions of Obsidian's beloved classic RPG.

YouTuber Games' Past has unearthed some surprising new prototype builds of New Vegas. The channel was able to recover two working prototypes for New Vegas--one from July, which is roughly a month before the game was gold mastered and feature complete, and the other from August 2010, after the game was finished. The prototypes are roughly 6GB in size, two gigabytes larger than the retail game. The August version comes with the added bonus of having console commands enabled in the Xbox 360 version.

The main differences between the pre-release and public versions are the lighting effects and model designs--the final game has complete lighting added to various areas. Discovery of New Vegas' PDB files could also lead to mods on the Xbox 360 version.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released for the Nintendo 64 back in 1998, but it's still one of those games that regularly pops up on various 'best of all time' lists. The reason for this is simple: it successfully translated the classic 2D Zelda action from the 16-bit era into a massive 3D game that laid the foundation for third-person action-adventure games that you can still see today.

This new The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "remake" is more of a reimagining of a specific section and area of the game, Gerudo's Fortress. Created by YouTube creator and artist RwanLink, it presents Ocarina of Time with a new look and feel that is more cartoon-like, blending The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's cel-shaded look from the GameCube with a bit of Breath of the Wild and the N64 original.

Built with Unreal Engine 5 in three months, with a whole month of that time spent on animation, it's an impressive and cinematic look at a potential The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake that we'd love to play. If you're a Zelda fan, the 4K gameplay and cinematic video of the project in action is well worth a look.

AYANEO has officially lifted the lid on its next flagship PC gaming handheld, the AYANEO NEXT II. And yes, this is a Strix Halo machine with the powerful and impressive Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor with 16 cores, 32 threads, and integrated Radeon 8060S graphics with 40 Compute Units and a 2.9 GHz clock speed.

The AYANEO NEXT II is also set to feature a massive (and custom) 9-inch OLED display with a QHD-style 2400x1504 resolution and the ability to switch between multiple refresh rates: 60, 90, 120, 144, and 165 Hz. The HDR-capable display also features a peak brightness of 1100 nits. And with a TDP of sustained 85W, this flagship handheld also features a 115Wh ultra-large battery.

Cooling-wise, the AYANEO NEXT II has two large dual fans on the rear, drawing in air with "high-efficiency" fins to help cool components, and hot air is exhausted through the top of the handheld. Spec-wise, it's a beast of a unit, and the sleek, minimalist design has several gamer-friendly touches worth highlighting.

A curious trademark for something called Control Resonant has popped up on the European trademark office database, and it could be Remedy's new Control sequel, or it could be a new TV show that propels the franchise into an expanded universe scenario.

Remedy Entertainment has big plans for its Control franchise. The first game was one of the most bizarre and artistic titles of 2019, selling 5 million units and re-establishing Remedy's reputation for action games. The group has since acquired full publishing and IP rights to Control and wants to expand the series with TV shows and films, so they signed a multi-year deal with Annapurna Interactive in 2024 to make that happen.

Control 2 has been in full production since August 2025, perhaps before, with former Remedy CEO Tero Virtala noting: "Control 2 development is on track towards meeting its next milestones. The focus is now on the gameplay, environments, and missions."