Gaming - Page 2

The Steam Deck modding scene keeps finding new ways to surprise us. A Reddit user going by PhyFawkes has apparently pulled the internals out of a Steam Deck and rebuilt them inside a shell roughly the size of an original Game Boy. It looks a bit chonky, and it also looks like it mostly works, which is honestly the fun part of these community builds.

Called the SteamBoy, the build reuses genuine LCD Steam Deck parts, including the motherboard, battery, speakers, and button hardware, all squeezed into a smaller vertical chassis. Because the new shell is so much tighter than Valve's own design, the cooling fan had to shrink down too, and a different display panel was fitted in place of the stock screen. It's a neat bit of engineering just to get everything to physically fit together in the first place.

That screen seems to be the current holdup, however. Early coverage of the project suggests the display doesn't actually function yet. The builder reportedly thinks a custom adapter and some BIOS tweaks will be needed before the system properly recognizes the panel. So for now, this is very much a proof of concept rather than a finished handheld, but there's a demo video floating around showing it running output through a TV instead of its own screen.

Developed by Raven Software, working alongside id Software, Quake 4 was released back in 2005. Running on the id Tech 4 engine, it's widely viewed as something of a departure for the franchise, as it focused on being a cinematic first-person sci-fi shooter rather than being predominantly known for its multiplayer mode.

And with the game launching on the then brand-new Xbox 360 console, PC gamers also saw it as more of a console game than something born from the legacy of Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3. The game received mixed reviews, with additional reporting noting that it failed to meet Activision's sales targets. An expansion, called Quake 4: Awakening, was in development at Ritual Entertainment and was canceled sometime in 2018.

Until now, Quake 4: Awakening was one of those games that was lost to time, and something fans have simply wondered about. In a pretty stunning turn of events, a veteran game developer named Justin Marshall found a copy of Quake 4: Awakening on the hard drive of a second-hand PC he randomly bought.

"In FY26 Blizzard ended the year as the top-performing studio in Xbox's studios division, and this past year has marked our third highest fiscal for top-line revenue in Blizzard's history," Blizzard President Johanna Faries writes in a leaked email sent to staff, obtained by Windows Central. With Blizzard's big in-person community event Blizzcon 2026 returning next month in Anaheim, it sounds like the studio is firing on all cylinders.

According to the Windows Central report, the home of Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 4 operates as a "limited-integration entity" within Microsoft and Xbox. This means its various teams and leadership are still functioning as a single studio and succeeding, while other Xbox teams and franchises, including Activision and Call of Duty, have been struggling.

With Xbox's latest financial report showing both hardware and overall revenue declining year-over-year by double-digits, it has been a different story for Blizzard. "FY25 and FY26 were our first back-to-back years of growth since FY17," Johanna Faries added. "Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred and Overwatch drove exceptional performance in particular, with Overwatch delivering its strongest quarter since 2022."

Video game publishers could save over $10 per $70 game with Sony's decision to phase out disc production.

The games industry is in turmoil as AI eats into the chip market, stalling growth and leading to absurdly-inflated hardware prices. In a bid to shave costs and boost profits, Sony made a decision that will affect the entire industry itself; physical game discs will stop being produced for new titles starting January 2028. It's the end of an era and the beginning of a digital future primed for profit, and stability, amid the tech sector's tumult.

New reports from GameFile have attached a monetary figure to Sony's controversial decision. Sources tell GameFile that publishers pay roughly 15% to even 20% of a game's MSRP to Sony and Microsoft to produce the physical game discs that are sold by retailers. For a $70 game, that's $10.50, and for an $80 game like, say, Grand Theft Auto 6, that's $12. This math seems to illustrate a clear reason why Rockstar and Take-Two chose to not ship GTA 6 on discs.

Microsoft appears to be preparing a limited-edition Xbox controller themed around Gears of War: E-Day. The controller, reportedly called the Storm King, was leaked by Dealabs writer billbil-kun, who has a strong track record with hardware leaks and claims an official announcement is expected within the next two weeks.

The controller features a cracked black-and-red design intended to resemble fractured volcanic rock. The left stick remains black, while the central section, including the D-Pad, Xbox button, View, Menu, and Share buttons, is finished in blood red and surrounded by the Crimson Omen, the iconic Gears of War logo featuring a cog and skull.

The right stick and X button also use the red finish, while the A, B, and Y buttons remain black, giving the controller a contrasting two-tone look. Billbil-kun described the design as "beautiful" and said it "blew us away," although the final product will have to speak for itself once Microsoft officially reveals it.

John Romero has a piracy story that most game developers would never tell publicly, and it says a lot about how id Software thought about getting Doom into as many hands as possible. Speaking at a QuakeCon 2026 panel, the id Software co-founder explained how the studio not only tolerated pirates distributing Doom in Taiwan, it actively reached out to them and cut a deal.

Doom was released in 1993 using a shareware model. The entire first episode was free to copy and share, while the remaining two episodes required ordering the full game directly from id Software. The model was designed to spread the game as widely as possible, and it worked, but it also meant unofficial sellers began packaging the free shareware episode and selling it as their own product.

"You would go to the store and you would see 10 different boxes that all had the same shareware Doom in it," Romero said. "It was awesome. We were totally happy with that." Taiwan was a particularly active market for this kind of distribution, and rather than trying to shut it down, id Software saw an opportunity.

Support for GTA Online will continue following the launch of GTA 6, Take-Two Interactive management reiterates.

GTA 6 might be the most anticipated game in recent memory, but there's just one problem: It's a singleplayer-only game. GTA Online pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross revenue. Without a live service component, GTA 6 will rely on raw sales (at least at launch), which adds weight to the game's $80 and $100 pricing.

To keep the recurrent consumer spending, well, recurring, Rockstar will keep supplying GTA Online with new content. How this will happen remains a mystery--will GTA Online shift from GTA V's locale of Los Santos in the Pacific to Leonida in the Atlantic? Will GTA 6 remain an offline, singleplayer-only game in perpetuity? Take-Two's executives won't say, but company CEO Strauss Zelnick does confirm the online mode will continue.

The logistics of buying new games on discs, especially big titles like GTA 6, just don't make sense for consumers, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says.

Take-Two's latest Q1'FY27 earnings call offers further evidence of gaming's continued shift towards digital access. In the call, company CEO Strauss Zelnick commented on Sony's decision to cease disc production for new games released after 2028.

Zelnick was specifically asked if Sony's decision to phase out disc production would have any impact on Take-Two's gross margin. The question implies that TTWO could benefit from the cost reduction that comes from moving to discs to code-in-box software delivery, and while this wasn't really addressed, Zelnick did say that buying big games in disc format just isn't sensible for consumers any more.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has a pretty optimistic take on the industry's hardware pricing problem. However, the gaming world has been skeptical of his solution for years. His idea? More game streaming.

During Take-Two's latest earnings call, which was mostly about how well GTA 6 is expected to perform, Zelnick also fielded a question about rising console and PC hardware costs. He admitted the price hikes aren't great for the industry, since fewer working machines means fewer potential customers. He doesn't think it will matter much longer, though, because he's betting on streaming to widen the install base.

Zelnick also said he expects low-latency streaming to become commercially viable within three years. His logic is quite straightforward. If a phone, tablet, or basic laptop can stream a AAA game without lag, you no longer need a $600 PS5 or a gaming PC stacked with pricey memory to play the biggest titles. Apparently, that alone could multiply the effective install base several times over, according to Zelnick.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes that Grand Theft Auto 6's $80 and $100 editions are appropriately priced.

GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated games of all time, and Take-Two and Rockstar intend to fully capitalize on this with priced-inflated editions--one at $80, and the ultimate edition at $100. By virtue of its size, GTA 6 is expected to help normalize higher prices for higher-profile games. The move has been somewhat controversial among enthusiasts; however, data indicates that gamers on PlayStation are not only ready and willing to buy higher-priced editions of games, but it appears that most gamers are also willing to spend $100 for GTA 6.

In Take-Two's latest Q1'FY27 earnings call, company CEO Strauss Zelnick says that he believes Rockstar Games made the right choice with GTA 6's pricing, going on to say that the studio could have charged different prices given the hype of the game itself.

GTA 6 has been pre-ordered so many times that Take-Two is cautiously tallying up the numbers, with the publisher potentially growing wary of the figures.

GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated video games of all time, so it's no surprise that millions of people have pre-ordered the game. While Take-Two and Rockstar haven't revealed exact numbers (analysts estimate GTA 6 pre-orders have made around $260 million), publisher CEO Strauss Zelnick did comment on scale.

"I can say that the level of pre-orders is unprecedented and astonishing, and we're very grateful for that," Zelnick said in a recent interview with Variety.

Minecraft is officially coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on October 27, giving one of the best-selling games of all time a native version built for Nintendo's newer hardware. The game has been playable on Switch 2 through backward compatibility since launch, but this is a proper port optimised specifically for the console.

The headline addition is Vibrant Visuals, which will be enabled by default on Switch 2. The graphical upgrade brings enhanced lighting, volumetric fog, improved water reflections, directional lighting, and more detailed shadows, all while keeping the blocky style intact.

The Nintendo-exclusive Super Mario Mash-Up pack is also getting the Vibrant Visuals treatment, which is a nice touch for a piece of content that has always been unique to the platform. It is worth noting that Vibrant Visuals will not be available in split-screen play or with certain Marketplace Worlds and content.

Sony is now placing warning stickers on PS5 console boxes informing buyers that physical game discs are on their way out. YouTuber Behind the Games was among the first to share an image of the label, which was provided by a trusted source, with a video following shortly after.

The same warning text has since been spotted on European Amazon listings for the PS5, suggesting Sony added it to comply with consumer protection laws in those regions.

The sticker reads: "From January 2028, newly released games on PlayStation will be available for purchase on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital format only. Discs for games released before January 2028 can continue to be played on this console." The wording matches what Sony published in its July 1 blog post announcing the end of physical disc production. The same text is now appearing on Sony's official PS5 product and purchasing pages.

QuakeCon 2026 is currently live right now, and the iconic franchise is celebrating 30 years of pixelated FPS chaos in style.

id Software and MachineGames today released a new free content update for Quake that adds fresh playable content to the game on all platforms. It's part of Quake's new Dawn of the Machine episode, which offers a sizable campaign across 19 playable maps littered with new enemy variants and weapon types.

The update also introduces a kind of roguelite gametype for Quake, allowing users to replay levels in an endless loop with "persistent health and ammo upgrades" spread across the maps. This feels like another instance of Xbox and Microsoft simultaneously exploring new business models while also celebrating the anniversaries of key franchises, and we could see this concept of new content for old games continue moving forward.

Activision's latest Call of Duty ports have sold multi-million copies on PlayStation, showing Microsoft's willingness to use nostalgia where it counts.

Microsoft and Activision made a surprise move in July by releasing two decades-old Call of Duty games on PlayStation. Both Black Ops I and II were launched on modern PlayStation consoles for the first time, in the middle of a hot summer month, for an affordable $20-40 price. This was the first time these games have been playable on PlayStation since the PS3 era, and the potent combination of nostalgia and pent-up demand led to an explosion of sales and engagement.

Predictably, this led to massive sales; PS Store rankings showed high positioning for the Black Ops duo, and new estimates from Alinea Analytics indicate the games could have made over $400 million in sales on PS4 and PS5.

EA is now officially a private company, and the $55 billion leveraged buyout is complete as the group now prepares for major cost-cutting.

Electronic Arts is now private for the first time since the entertainment group's founding in 1982. After months of regulatory scrutiny from worldwide trade commissions, the deal was given the greenlight, seeing three major investors taking control of EA: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, who principally funded the deal with 93% of backing, as well as firms Affinity Partners and Silver Lake.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson will stay onboard to lead the publisher into the future of gaming, which seems to be quite lean. The publisher rounded out its previous fiscal year with $8 billion net bookings, the highest in company history, driven by half a billion dollars in microtransaction deferrals.

New GTA 6 footage will premiere on Netflix, a paid subscription, on Thursday, August 27 at 3PM EST, Rockstar Games has announced. Rockstar confirms that a free stream will go live six hours later at 9PM.

Take-Two Interactive's Rockstar Games has teamed up with streaming titan Netflix to introduce what could be a new model for multimedia synergy. New footage for the most anticipated game of all time, GTA 6, will be shown on Netflix later this month. Reports indicate that the preview, which is officially called an "extended look," could in fact be quite lengthy--there's evidence the footage could last around 30 minutes.

"Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will premiere on Netflix Thursday, August 27 at 3 p.m. ET and will also launch on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel and the Grand Theft Auto VI site at 9 p.m. ET on August 27."

If you thought the GTA 6 launch date was locked in at this point, a former Rockstar employee has warned that we may not be out of the woods just yet in terms of another potential delay.

As Dexerto noticed, Indy100 fired over some questions (via Covers.com) to an animator who used to work at Rockstar. That ex-staffer, Mike York, was part of the team that made GTA 5 and said that he "would not be shocked at all" if GTA 6 experienced another delay.

Note that this isn't based on any inside source that York still has at Rockstar, or leaked info, and the animator made it clear that this is simply based on his previous experience at the developer.

The Gears of War: E-Day Open Beta kicks off this weekend, and with some players already gaining Early Access to the game, we now know that Gears of War: E-Day will ship with a built-in benchmark tool. The tool will also be available on PC for gamers jumping into the Open Beta, and we've also learned that the game includes a graphics setting above 'Ultra' called 'Ludicrous.'

Developer The Coalition built Gears of War: E-Day from the ground up to take full advantage of the latest Unreal Engine 5 engine, from advanced lighting to ray-tracing, destructible environments, and significantly more geometry and detail than any previous Gears game. This includes Unreal Engine's MegaLights, Lumen, and Nanite, and in terms of cutting-edge visuals, the 'Ludicrous' graphics mode is shaping up to be something more for the next-generation of PC gaming hardware.

And we say that because it basically brings the powerful GeForce RTX 5090 to its knees, with it unable to hit a steady 60 FPS in 4K even with upscaling. Per the benchmark results from a new video posted by Elegant Egotist, who got early access to the Open Beta on Steam, with the 'Ludicrous' setting, the GeForce RTX 5090, paired with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 CPU, only manages to hit an average frame rate of 44.5 FPS.

If you're playing the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 port on PS4 or PS5 (it was released last month), a recent update may incorrectly inform you that you've been banned, when this isn't the case.

Eurogamer spotted the issue as highlighted by the developer in a post on X, acknowledging that errant ban messages are being sent to gamers who are likely to end up very confused. The good news is that the 'ban' is easily lifted (at least for those who've been accidentally hit with the banishment stick).

If you see said ban message, all you have to do is ignore it and reconnect, and you'll be fine. However, if you can't reconnect, then Activision explains that your account is actually suspended due to "evidence of intentionally obtaining unauthorized Prestige levels or other violations".