Gaming - Page 103

After getting to see an early version of this at CES earlier this year, we're glad to see that My Arcade is finally ready to launch its Atari Gamestation Go gaming handheld. Now, unlike the recent string of PC gaming handhelds running Windows 11 or SteamOS, the Atari Gamestation Go is more of a device for retro gaming fans, as it comes pre-loaded with over 200 games, covering a range of classic Atari hardware and arcade cabinets.

It also includes the Atari: Recharged modernized re-releases and re-imaginings covering classic hits like Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, and Missile Command. As it presents faithful on-the-go recreations of Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and Arcade games, the Gamestation Go includes an integrated paddle, trak-ball (or trackball), and number pad alongside classic gamepad buttons and controls.

Although hardware specs for the handheld aren't listed on the product page, we do know that it features a high-resolution 7-inch display and built-in WiFi for updating the games and software. The only drawback we can see is that the battery life is rated at 4-5 hours of playtime, which is lower than expected for a handheld primarily designed to play games from the 1980s.

The PC gaming handheld market has been steadily expanding in recent times. With the majority of units sporting similar AMD specs, it's often up to things like the display and form factor to help differentiate one model from the next. With its large 10.95-inch display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate, and its detachable Hall technology controller, the DigiEra HoloMax certainly has the look of a formidable tablet-handheld hybrid.

However, it's the promise of being the "world's first glasses-free 3D handheld gaming PC" that has helped it stand out from the pack at this year's IFA conference. Reminiscent of the Nintendo 3DS handheld, the DigiEra HoloMax enables you to play games in stereoscopic 3D without the need for glasses.

It achieves this thanks to its AstraDepth 3D technology, which is described as an autostereoscopic 2D to 3D engine that "instantly" transforms any game, photo, or video content into 3D. The process also incorporates a bit of AI, utilizing eye-tracking to ensure you receive the optimal 3D gaming experience, regardless of whether you're turning or tilting your head.

Hollow Knight Silksong is currently the best-selling game on both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2's digital storefronts.

Silksong may end up being one of the best-selling indie games of the year. Team Cherry's new metroidvania has topped the best-sellers charts of multiple storefronts--at launch, it was #1 on Steam, and now it's also the top-seller on the Nintendo eShop.

Both versions of Silksong--the Switch and Switch 2 variants--are the #1 best-sellers on their respective platforms. This trend bodes very well for game sales, considering the original Switch has an installed base of over 150 million (the Switch 2 is currently at 6 million).

Bethesda Game Studios once again teases Starfield's second expansion, this time in a marketing promo with an actual logo.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Starfield is getting a second expansion. Last year, Todd Howard confirmed that a second DLC was on the way, and just last week, Starfield producer Tim Lamb also re-confirmed that a "new DLC story" is in the works. There's just one thing missing: The details. After the controversial reception of Starfield's first expansion Shattered Space, Bethesda needs to make a strong effort to win back fans.

From the sound of the expansion, Terran Armada, and the very retro look of the logo itself, it's possible that Starfield's second expansion is space-themed and will incorporate a lot of the features that fans have been asking for vis-à-vis inter-planetary travel. Fans may be able to expect new levels of ship customization, but this remains speculative.

Another former higher-up Xbox executive speaks out about the risk of subscriptions, especially those like Xbox Game Pass that launch high-value products into a Netflix-for-gaming business model.

Just a bit ago, ex-Bethesda VP Pete Hines criticized subscriptions like Game Pass for not properly valuing games and compensating developers. Now former Xbox Game Studios VP Shannon Loftis echoes this sentiment, saying that the Game Pass subscription model has caused tensions within internal teams. The reason? Game Pass is volatile and the service adds another layer of uncertainty to an already risk-fraught industry.

"As a longtime first-party Xbox developer, I can attest that Pete is correct. While GP can claim a few victories with games that otherwise would have sunk beneath the waves (Human Fall Flat, e.g.), the majority of game adoption on GP comes at the expense of retail revenue, unless the game is engineered from the ground up for post-release monetization. I could (and may someday) write pages on the weird inner tensions this creates," Loftis said on LinkedIn.

Subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass have changed Microsoft's games business and the industry at large. All of the major Big 3 platform-holders have their own subscription offering, but Xbox is unique in its approach: its content is not a catalog bin like the competing Switch Online and PlayStation Plus. Microsoft launches all of its biggest first-party games day one on Game Pass, which can lower both the launch and long-term sales of a game product.

This replacement effect is called "cannibalization," where users will subscribe to Game Pass for $20 instead of buying a game at $70. The game is a one-off purchase, but Game Pass is recurring and can be worth a lot more than $70 over time. That's the gamble Microsoft is taking--the idea is to make Game Pass have enough value to keep users subscribed, and hope that subscriptions become the default way to access games. Why? Subscriptions mean you never own anything, and Microsoft has made its business on perpetually leasing software to consumers.

Cannibalization has caused disruption and tensions with game developers. It appears the problem is that game devs don't have a sure-fire way to properly attach a monetary value to their games, leading to layoffs and studio closures when things go badly. We're now seeing more former game industry figures talk about these disruptions, with ex Bethesda VP Pete Hines adding his voice to the mix.

MachineGames wants to make a third Wolfenstein game, and after the success of Indiana Jones, it could be in the works. But everything remains unclear now that Microsoft is ultimately calling the shots.

The modern Wolfenstein games were always supposed to be a trilogy, but the franchise spawned into a web of content that included two full games, standalone DLC, and even a co-op shooter with microtransactions. Now the devs at MachineGames want to finish BJ Blazkowicz's story and wrap up the trilogy with Wolfenstein 3.

In a recent NoClip documentary on the making of Wolfenstein, MachineGames studio head Jerk Gustafsson says that he "hopes" that his team isn't done with Wolfenstein yet, possibly indicating the third game has yet to be greenlit internally by Microsoft.

Activision and Paramount recently confirmed work was being done on a live-action Call of Duty movie, and now reports have surfaced that Activision turned down esteemed director Steven Spielberg to direct it.

The news comes from outlet Puck, which wrote that Steven Spielberg is a longtime fan of the Call of Duty franchise, and really wanted to direct it as he is a longtime fan of gaming, and Call of Duty, in particular. However, Puck reports that three sources have informed the publication that Activision turned down Spielberg after the famed director wanted full control over the production and marketing for the movie, along with the final cut.

According to Puck, that "spooked the team from Activision," and instead the Microsoft-owned company went with David Ellison's pitch that gave them much more control over the process, which ended up being the now solidified deal with Paramount.

The developers behind first-party PlayStation game Days Gone are planning another shot at a live service game, or a project with some sort of multiplayer element, new job listings indicate.

Sony Bend is hiring a creative director for a new unspecified game, and based on the requirements, it sounds like it'll be a live service game. The studio requires that candidates have experience with how multiplayer games are developed and designed.

Reports indicate that the Bend, Oregon-based studio was already working on a live service game for Sony, but this project was cancelled, leading to heavy layoffs at the group. It's unclear how this creative director job listing fits into the current plans, or whether or not the listing is old and no longer valid.

Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura tells fans not to worry about the upcoming sequels in their favorite franchises--the games are in good hands, and everything is going according to plan.

It's been 3 years since Kingdom Hearts IV was revealed with a triumphant CGI trailer. But fans shouldn't be concerned--game director Tetsuya Nomura and his team are making great strides KH4, and publisher Square Enix already has plans on when it'll reveal more footage and gameplay details.

Nomura says the same about Final Fantasy 7 Remake part 3, the final chapter in the multi-generational FF7R trilogy that started in 2019. Things are going smoothly, at least according to Nomura, perhaps reflective of Square Enix's new disciplined approach to games development and cross-platform releases.

Silksong's opening performance may turn into a case study in indie game success, especially with how fast it accumulated over 500K players.

Hollow Knight Silksong is out now, and it's so popular that it crashed multiple stores on release. Now it's setting new player milestones on Steam and breaking its previous records, achieving over 560K peak players on the platform. The numbers are eye-opening to say the least--to put Silksong's performance into perspective, it had more than double No Man's Sky's all-time peak player count.

One of the things that stood out with Silksong was just how fast that it managed to achieve this player count. I watched the game's player counter grow in real time; in little over two hours, I saw Silksong go from 108,879 players to 535,213, which used to be the previous peak (the game has now beaten this by tens of thousands of users). This means that the game tacked on an additional 426,334 players in just a few hours, increasing its player count by nearly five-fold.

A team of three developers released Hollow Knight: Silksong yesterday and in less than 24 hours the game has attracted more than half a million players.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is developed by Team Cherry, an Adelaide, Australia, based team that consists of three individuals. Notably, Silksong was the most wishlisted game on Steam, and when it was confirmed at Gamescom 2025 the title was being released in 2025, fans of the franchise that exploded in popularity during the pandemic were elated, as Team Cherry had radio silence on the project for many years.

Now that Silksong is out, the franchise has reached record-breaking numbers, with the new release beating the all-time concurrent player count for the original Hollow Knight game in just 15 minutes. Using data from SteamDB, Silksong has managed to pull 562,814 concurrent players for a new all-time peak record, which was set just 3 hours ago at the time of reporting.

Lenovo's Legion Go 2 has been officially announced, and while it's much bigger in size, it comes with a much bigger price tag - $400 more than the original. But now it also comes with the new Xbox full-screen experience.

The Verge has reported that Lenovo spokesperson Jeff Witt has informed the publication that the Legion Go 2 will be the first handheld outside of the ASUS ROG Ally that's now confirmed to get the new Xbox full-screen experience. The spokesperson said users will be able to switch the Legion Go 2 to Xbox full screen in the spring of 2026, which is only months after the product launches in October this year.

The Legion Go 2 will be the first console to receive Microsoft's highly anticipated Xbox full-screen experience after ASUS launches its new Xbox ROG Ally's on October 16. For those who don't know, the Xbox full-screen experience is running over the top of a cut-down version of Windows 11. What happens when one of these devices is booted up is that the user is presented with a normal Windows 11 login screen, and once logged in, the desktop disappears and the Xbox app opens, hiding the traditional Windows desktop.

The release of the Nintendo Switch 2 introduced a hotly debated feature, the Game Key card. Instead of getting the entire game on the cartridge, the buyer would receive a download code.

For collectors and anyone who enjoys the plug-and-play nature of physical game cards, Game Key cards were the antithesis, and, unfortunately for these users, many studios jumped at the opportunity to use Game Key cards. Notably, Nintendo still provides the option of physical game cards with the entire game on the card itself, meaning no download is required. These cards can hold up to 64GB of storage, which falls short of some bigger games.

However, the size of the physical card may not be the deciding factor, as a Ubisoft developer has explained that performance was the deal breaker between Ubisoft going with a physical card release or the Game Key card with a download for the release of Star Wars Outlaws on September 4. In a social media post, audio architect Rob Bantin said the Snowdrop engine "relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments," and that "the Switch 2 cards simply didn't give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for."

NBA 2K26 is launching this week, and 2K Sports has taken the opportunity to tease that it's "going back to school," with a new experience.

In a new X post, 2K has confirmed that it's currently working on a "college basketball experience" that will feature "more than 100 programs across the country, from powerhouses to Cinderella stories". Notably, EA originally had a proposal for an exclusive game with the College Licensing Company (CLC), which was approved, and would have included all Division 1 men's and women's college basketball programs. The title was planned for release in 2028, but schools didn't agree to the exclusivity.

Then reports began popping up that 2K was pursuing licensing, with 2K's owner, Take-Two Interactive, changing its plans from making college teams a DLC in NBA 2K to making an entire game. As of now, UCLA has signed an agreement with 2K, and now it appears 2K is on the hunt to get more schools on board for the upcoming title. As for when it will release, reports indicate that a college basketball video game could be released as soon as 2027, but that will depend on how many schools sign on.

Battlefield 6 developers have showcased the Assault Ladder, which was a big moment from the Battlefield 6 trailer, but wasn't available for use during the open beta weekends.

The Assault Ladder was one of those "wow" moments from the Battlefield 6 trailer as it showcased a group of soldiers scaling up a few stories on the outside of the building and then busting through a window in slow motion. The moment was highlighted by several viewers, but when the open beta weekend rolled around, the mechanic wasn't available within the Assault class. Why? Well, Battlefield developers simply wanted to save it for the full release of the game.

On the official Battlefield X account, a video has been posted showcasing how players can use the Assault Ladder, and I can already say, this mechanic is going to make the Assault class even stronger, as players are now capable of reaching high ground by simply placing down the ladder and sprinting up it.

Half-Life 3 is still heavily under development, with Valve reportedly pushing into optimization, changes to gameplay mechanics, new features, and more.

In a new video by Valve leaker Tyler McVicker, we have an update on Valve's codename "HLX" project which is said to be the elusive, and heavily-anticipated Half-Life 3. McVicker provided some information on every update made for HLX inside of the latest update to Counter-Strike 2.

There have reportedly been no major changes to Half-Life 3 so far, but a considerable amount of work has been done on the project, with the expansion of the vehicle system, a new particle system made specifically for HLX that would handle liquids, a friction system, and a new system that would work out when an enemy part gets destroyed.

NVIDIA hasn't slowed down with progress on its cloud gaming service GeForce NOW, with its RTX 5080 upgrade dropping on September 10 supporting up to 5K @ 120FPS.

The new RTX 5080 upgrade for GeForce NOW will support 5K resolutions at both 60FPS and 120FPS, as well as 1440p @ 240FPS and 1080p @ 360FPS. NVIDIA is opening up the ray tracing floodgates on GeForce NOW with gamers able to turn on full ray-tracing support in games with Neural Rendering and Multi-Frame Generation, all at the same $19.99 per month cost of GeForce NOW Ultimate.

NVIDIA said: "On Wednesday, September 10, NVIDIA Blackwell RTX is coming to GeForce NOW. To celebrate, next week's GeForce Now announcements will come a day earlier to usher in the Blackwell era of GeForce Now".

Grand Theft Auto 6 is a "AAAAA" game and nothing will come close to it says the co-founder of Devolver Digital, it's bigger than anything else in terms of scope and scale, and the cultural impact that GTA 6 will have when it releases in 2026.

In a new interview with IGN and Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie, we find out how hyped Nigel is for GTA 6, where he said: "I mean, there are AAA games and then there's AAAA games and I'd argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game; it's just bigger than anything else both in the scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands".

Ubisoft called Skull & Bones a "AAAA" game which saw many-a-meme and jokes made about it, but Lowrie's new comments on GTA 6 are quite interesting. Lowrie discussed GTA 6 against the backdrop of Devolver Digital considering if it would delay some of its games to get out of Rockstar's way for GTA 6 when it due out in 2025. He said that GTA 6 is "blinding" when it comes to the calendar, but the developer hasn't delayed any of its games... so far.

Ghost of Yotei's new gameplay footage gives a quick glimpse at the brutal two-handed odachi greatsword in action.

The fearsome odachi is one of the weapons that Atsu will wield in her bloody quest for revenge in Ghost of Yotei. Although colossal in size, the odachi is lethal and graceful in Atsu's well-trained hands as she delivers a whirling dance of death and dismemberment. The footage shows multiple dodges as well as a block-parry that delivers a lethal slice, highlighting the weapon's versatility and surprising speed.

Combat with the odachi looks fluid, punishing, and satisfying, delivering a mix of high-damage attacks and strikes with quick slices and a lot of block range. There's a whirlwind spinning attack where Atsu charges up power for a devastating kill strike, and some multi-step combo attacks. We even get to see Atsu do a pre-emptive attack into the enemies, leaping off her horse and in an explosive pommel strike.