Gaming - Page 39

Announced and shadow-dropped during Sony's recent State of Play broadcast, God of War: Sons of Sparta from Mega Cat Studios and Santa Monica Studio is a new 2D action platformer that serves as an origin story for series protagonist Kratos. Set during his youth, the story will present a tale of "duty, honor, and brotherhood," narrated by original voice actor TC Carson, as Kratos finds his place among the Spartans.

With an old-school, pixelated art style, detailed environments, and impressive animation, the game also features Kratos' brother, Deimos. As this is a 2D side-scroller set in the God of War universe, the game will be as much about combat as it will be exploration and platforming. Kratos wields a spear and shield in the game and can also wield the Gifts of Olympus while encountering enemies, mythical creatures, and bosses.

A 2D God of War spin-off has been rumored for a while, with Sony choosing to go the surprise shadow-drop route for its release, making it available now on PS5 for $29.99 USD. Unfortunately, there's no PC version. Sony didn't stop there as it had another major God of War-related announcement to make during its recent State of Play broadcast.

Konami has announced a new official 2D Castlevania game that continues decades after the events of Castlevania III Dracula's Curse.

Dead Cells developer Motion Twin is helming the development of a new Castlevania sidescroller. It's called Belmont's Curse, and it takes place 20+ years after Dracula's Curse, the old-school NES classic.

"Set 23 years after Castlevania Dracula's Curse - follow a young Belmont's journey in an all new 2D Action-Exploration title from KONAMI, Evil Empire and Motion Twin, will be released in 2026!"

Bungie has announced an open stress test for Marathon that begins later this month, allowing the devs to gauge critical data and feedback before official release.

Marathon is launching on March 5, and to prep for the big day, Bungie is holding open server tests for the game across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The test will be open to everyone, however you'll still need to have an active online subscription in order to play--multiplayer access isn't free for all platforms.

"Marathon's Server Slam, our open preview weekend*, runs from February 26 at 10 AM PT to March 2 at 10 AM PT," Bungie said in the announcement.

The next Dead or Alive game is now in the works at Koei Tecmo as more games companies look to revivify classic franchises.

Koei Tecmo delivered a big surprise during today's State of Play live stream: Dead or Alive 7 is officially in development.

"The dawn of a new chapter awaits," the publisher said in the stream, showcasing next-gen renditions of Dead or Alive's Hayabusa and Kasumi battling it out. "The development of a new Dead or Alive game has started. We'll have more exciting content soon so please hang tight for further updates," Dead or Alive series producer Yosuke Hayashi said in the broadcast.

As per tradition, Death Stranding 2 is the latest PlayStation 5 game coming to PC.

Death Stranding 2 is officially coming to Steam on March 19, 2026, Kojima Productions today announced in Sony's new State of Play event. The Steam page is now live with pre-orders currently available.

The DS2 PC port was developed by Nixxes, in conjunction with Kojima Productions, and leverages the power of the PC platform to deliver higher-end performance like uncapped frame rates and frame generation improvements.

Assassin's Creed is doing some heavy lifting at Ubisoft, contributing greatly to the company's Holiday 2025 results.

Ubisoft's latest earnings results are in, and the news is good: The publisher raked in roughly $1.3 billion in net bookings (+18%) throughout its Q3 Holiday 2025 period, beating its own estimates.

The growth during the period was attributed in strong part to the Assassin's Creed franchise, which Ubisoft says has overperformed for the second quarter in a row--the first being the prior Q2 period.

Helldivers, a game that was directly inspired by satirical 90s film Starship Troopers, is getting its own film adaptation--and Jason Momoa is set to star.

In an interesting turn of events, Sony is making a new film based on its mega-popular Helldivers franchise. Deadline reports that Jason Momoa will star in the new Helldivers movie, and that the picture will debut on November 10, 2027.

"Jason Momoa will star in PlayStation Productions' and Sony Pictures' film adaptation of the global hit gaming franchise HELLDIVERS, with Justin Lin directing. Coming exclusively to theatres in 2027," Sony Pictures officially confirmed on Twitter.

Gamers with an Amazon Fire TV stick can now use GeForce Now, with NVIDIA having launched an app for the platform.

As VideoCardz reports, though, there's a catch in terms of the support for Fire TV sticks, and you'll need a 4K Max 1st-gen stick, or a 4K Max or Plus 2nd-gen device. More models will be covered down the line, though.

A notable limitation also lies in the maximum quality available on the Fire TV, which tops out at 1080p resolution (60 frames per second). There's no HDR support here, either, so those with 4K HDR TVs - a whole lot of people now - aren't going to be getting nearly the best image quality (with the top tier).

Blizzard just released the first new major Diablo 2 expansion in 25 years, and more content could be on the way...but it really depends on whether or not Reign of the Warlock is purchased and played by a portion of D2 fans.

Yesterday, Blizzard surprised everyone by releasing a new Diablo 2 expansion that adds a brand new character--the Warlock. The new expansion is called Reign of the Warlock, sells for $25, and makes some major quality-of-life improvements to the game--these changes are so dramatic that the new expansion is essentially a kind of "director's cut" of D2R, mimicking the format seen in games like Death Stranding.

While Reign of the Warlock is still brand new, Blizzard hints that it could make even more Diablo 2 expansions...but it's up to gamers whether or not that happens. This is ultimately true for all products in the interactive space--if something sells really well, companies usually want more of it.

HP has just stepped into a new adventure with its new OMEN gaming laptop subscription, a new laptop rental program that offers gaming laptops for as low as $50 per month.

In a recent video from LinusTechTips, HP has launched its new "OMEN Gaming Subscription" business: a new monthly plan that lets you scoop up a gaming laptop (and any required accessories like a mouse, keyboard, headset, display, and more) for a monthly cost. It starts off at $50 per month for an HP Victus 15 gaming laptop that's powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD.

HP will auto-renew the subscription each month unless the user cancels it, with the company stating that you can cancel your subscription within the first 30 days and get a full refund if you return the products within 10 days of receiving the prepaid return label.

The industry believes that Microsoft could launch its new next-gen Xbox PC sometime next year, but new reports say that nothing has been locked into place just yet.

AMD CEO Lisa Su recently confirmed the new SoC design for the next-gen Xbox PC is "progressing well," and based on the current pace of development, the new Xbox chip could be readily available in time for mass production to allow for a console release in 2027. This led to speculation that the new system, which is expected to be a Windows 11 PC that masquerades as a console, could indeed launch next year.

Nothing has been confirmed or announced by Microsoft, and while Microsoft has been co-engineering the new AI-enabled Xbox chip closely with AMD with advanced new features (technical details here), info about launches are handled by marketing and not another company's CEO. In any case, new reports from Windows Central suggest that Microsoft isn't yet ready to lock in a 2027 launch for the new Xbox PC.

Diablo 2 fans, rejoice! Blizzard hasn't forgotten about the game--they were just waiting for the big 30-year franchise anniversary to give players what they want.

Diablo 2 is a game about managing restrictions, and some of these will test the patience of newer gamers. When Diablo 2 Resurrected released in 2021, fans started asking for very specific quality-of-life improvements: Stash tabs so users could store up more items, loot filters to break up the monotony of finding useless gear, and even the ability to stack materials.

Blizzard is now introducing these major changes in a new paid update for Diablo 2 Resurrected. Announced in the big 30th anniversary Diablo stream, the new D2 expansion is called Reign of the Warlock, and for $25 it brings a new playable class and some of the most beneficial, player-positive changes to the game--things that Diablo 2 players have been wanting for decades.

Diablo 2 now has a new class for the first time in 25 years: The Warlock.

The Warlock class is coming to Diablo 2 Resurrected as part of the new Reign of the Warlock update, a major content drop that will expand the game with new skills and abilities. The expansion is out now, and it costs $25.

"Diablo 2 has an incredible legacy, and with Reign of the Warlock, Resurrected is stepping into its next era," said game director Brent Gibson.

Based on the impressive footage and depth shown in its recent gameplay deep dives, Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert has quickly become one of 2026's most highly anticipated games for fans of single-player open-world adventure and RPG titles. With elements of Skyrim, The Witcher, The Legend of Zelda, and the studio's own Black Desert MMO, Crimson Desert is promising to deliver a sprawling and massive open-world game when it launches on March 20, 2026.

And with that, Crimson Desert is the latest game to join AMD's Game Bundle program for Ryzen and Radeon. From February 10 through April 25, 2026, if you purchase an eligible Ryzen 9000 Series GPU, Radeon RX 9000 Series GPU, or laptop with an eligible Ryzen processor, you get a free copy of the game.

That said, there are some limitations on the GPU front: Crimson Desert is limited to the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT, so Radeon RX 9060 XT buyers are out of luck.

Out at the end of the month, Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem is arguably the first major AAA release of the year, and one of the biggest in a stacked year that also includes a little game called GTA 6. Releasing on PC and consoles, Resident Evil Requiem is described as the most immersive entry in the series to date, with players taking on the role of two characters, fan-favorite Leon S. Kennedy and newcomer FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft.

The PC version is set to be the definitive one at launch, especially for those with a high-end GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics card. In addition to enhanced, higher-fidelity visuals, the PC version is launching with Path Tracing or Full Ray Tracing modes. With ray-traced lighting, shadows, and other effects, there's also NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation support to boost performance, smoothness, and image fidelity.

And with that, NVIDIA has announced the new Resident Evil Requiem GeForce RTX 50 Series Bundle, giving away a free copy of Resident Evil Requiem Standard Edition on Steam with eligible purchases of GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards, desktop systems, and laptops.

New Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro mentions that new movies could premiere within Fortnite, adding a new layer of digital engagement to the interactive cultural blender.

If Disney's vision goes according to plan, it might help transform Fortnite into a movie theater. Reports from Puck News indicate that Disney's newly-appointed CEO could greenlight premiering new films within the Fortnite game itself. Epic did this first by showing Quentin Tarantino's new Kill Bill short, Yuki's Revenge, as part of its big Fortnite After Dark collaboration.

As per Puck News sources, D'Amaro reportedly said this about Fortnite: "That is gonna be another example where Disney will show up as one. It's not just gonna be one character. It could be a new film premiering there, it could be the place that you decide to book your next cruise vacation. You could participate in the Super Bowl in some way there."

Mewgenics, the latest game from Binding of Isaac dev Edmund McMillen is a hit upon launch, where it has become the #1 best-seller on Valve's PC gaming storefront.

On the heels of mega-successes like Vampire Survivors, Megabonk, and Silksong, the indie world has a new sensation: the supremely weird and unhinged turn-based RTS where you selectively breed cats to get new stats and fight in Final Fantasy Tactics-like combat.

It's called Mewgenics, and it's currently the top-selling game on Steam. Word-of-mouth is spreading fast, and talk of Mewgenics--as well as live streams, screenshots, and clips--are being shared everywhere that gamers gather. The game has done so well that Mewgenics co-developer Tyler Glaiel recently confirmed that he and McMillen recouped their dev budget in just a few hours after launch.

Control Resonant, Remedy's new Devil May Cry-like action game, wasn't made with generative AI tech.

With thousands upon thousands of developers being laid off as companies simultaneously grasp AI in a bid to save costs, artificial intelligence has become a hot-button topic in the games industry. That seems to go double for generative AI, which can be used to create interactive worlds without the need for a game developer--like Google's new Genie or Microsoft's MUSE.

Not everyone is using AI to make games, and that includes Remedy. In a recent call with investors, Remedy's interim CEO was asked about AI's disruptions in gaming, and whether or not the studio will use it while crafting new projects.

Remedy's live service shooter FBC Firebreak failed to gain traction, but that doesn't mean the devs are ready to pull the plug.

Good news for fans of Remedy's bizarre co-op shooter: FBC Firebreak could be kept online indefinitely. In a recent Q&A with investors, Remedy interim CEO Markus Maki said that the group might just keep Firebreak's servers up and running--even if the game slips into maintenance mode while Remedy focuses on other games.

More importantly than wants, though, is the reality of cost and Maki says that it would actually be pretty cheap to keep FBC Firebreak online.

If you can't wait for The Witcher 4, well, you'll have to I'm afraid, but you might be able to keep yourself entertained for a spell with a new mod for The Witcher 3 that acts as a prelude to the incoming next instalment.

PC GamesN highlighted the 'Dawn over Kovir' mod (via TechRadar) which lets you take control of Ciri as she's becoming a Witcher.

The maker of the mod, Alexander Fandera-Maslov, explained that it took some 800 hours to create this add-on. It's apparently inspired by the cinematic reveal trailer for The Witcher 4 (and the content therein may "overlap or be enhanced by the new Ciri game", we're told).