Gaming - Page 8

Fans of BioWare RPGs, like the original Mass Effect trilogy and the iconic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, will probably know the name, Casey Hudson. The veteran game designer and director led development of these classic titles and is currently leading a new studio, Arcanaut Studios, to create a Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) spiritual successor, Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic.

With the new studio partnered with Lucasfilm Games, with an additional $100 million in funding from NetEase veteran Simon Zhu, the studio co-founder and Fate of the Old Republic game director recently sat down with Bloomberg to discuss the project. And during the discussion, he conveyed his feelings on the role of generative AI in game development. As the headline says, yeah, he's not a fan.

"I just find AI to be creatively soulless," Casey Hudson tells Bloomberg. "It's hard to imagine where it's actually helpful in the process. I'm just really unimpressed with it." Although this doesn't call out a specific use case for generative AI in game development, the discussion naturally went in that direction, as Arcanaut Studios is a relatively small studio developing a massive AAA-style Star Wars RPG.

Valve has kicked off a beta test that brings a major overhaul to the Steam Community Market. The company explains that current market tools cannot keep pace with growth and that the platform now offers items from over 13,000 games and in-game items from over 700 projects. The update is designed to accommodate that growth and make it easier to buy and sell in-game items and other digital goods.

For those new to Steam, the Community Market allows users to buy and sell in-game and community items with other users, depositing funds into their Steam wallet that can be spent on games, weapon skins, soundtracks, digital gift cards, and more.

Since the community market is very familiar to CS2 fans, these players will be among the first to notice the changes. Valve said that it used Counter-Strike items to experiment and build out the new item integration, though it says it "looks forward to other games leveraging these same new features."

After months of nothing but bad news, Assassin's Creed Hexe seems to be making a comeback with some positive rumors. The game has been in developmental turmoil, first losing two directors in two months, and then parting ways with 50 developers in one go. Information around Assassin's Creed Hexe has been very scarce ever since its announcement, but it seems like that is about to change.

A new leak by a known Ubisoft insider, "Rogue," has surfaced, outlining various new Assassin's Creed Hexe features, story points, and gameplay details. According to Rogue, a number of voice lines from the game have leaked, which give us an idea of what to expect from Hexe's story. It is according to these voice lines that we now know that the legendary assassin, Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, will make an appearance in Assassin's Creed Hexe.

This is huge news, especially given the kind of fandom Ezio has garnered over the years. The leak goes on to say that the main protagonist of the game, Anika, is a descendant of Ezio's sister, Claudia Auditore. Anika was previously referred to internally as Elsa, but that was just a placeholder name. There is a leaked Anika dialogue that says, "They call me a witch," so we know our protagonist is probably going to get in trouble for it.

Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki tells investors that PlayStation console prices could be adjusted if hardware manufacturing costs increase, but the company has enough console supply to meet demand throughout the remainder of the year.

In a recent earnings call, Sony management briefly discusses the PS5's volatile pricing situation that, in part, led to Q4'25 delivering the lowest quarterly shipments off Sony's ninth console generation.

The company's CEO was quite frank on the realities of the hardware market, indicating that the PS5 could get more price hikes if component scarcity keeps squeezing the market.

Valve has sneaked in a smart easter egg with the Steam Controller, one that'll only be discovered by the clumsier people out there - or those who aren't afraid to chuck the controller about a bit.

VideoCardz flagged up a thread on Reddit where the original poster threw their controller onto a bed - and was surprised to hear it scream.

As Redditor RF3D19 observed: "If you drop the controller while in Steam Big Picture mode (on a pillow or a bed, we're not psychopaths here), it will occasionally play the Wilhelm scream with the haptic motors. Do whatever you want with this information, I just feel like I needed to share this asap."

Sony's PlayStation 6 is on the horizon. Still, with the memory and storage crisis set to affect all consumer technology for the foreseeable future, the company's executives are unsure of the next-gen console's launch timing. This uncertainty could pave the way for concessions on the hardware side, as costs for the PS6's custom next-gen AMD hardware continue to rise.

Renowned insider and leaker, KeplerL2, who has previously leaked specs for the upcoming PlayStation 6 console, notes that a reasonable cutback could see Sony drop the planned 30 or 32GB of GDDR7 memory to 24GB of VRAM on a slower 128-bit bus. According to KeplerL2 (via NeoGAF), this move would save the company around $60 in BOM costs per PlayStation 6 console and would be a "reasonable" choice, as it wouldn't require reworking the PS6's custom AMD SoC beyond disabling a single memory controller.

24GB of VRAM still represents notably more capacity than the PlayStation 5's 16GB of unified memory. It would allow more complex rendering, such as ray tracing and path tracing, to run without bottlenecks. The other bonus for going the 24GB route, as KeplerL2 notes, is "a yield boost for the SoC by being able to harvest MC (memory controller) defects."

PS5 sales are dwindling as Sony faces turbulence midway through the PS5 generation, caused by a perfect storm of inflation and increasing supply costs.

Following two back-to-back price hikes, the PlayStation 5 isn't doing so well on the shipment level. Sony's latest FY25 earnings report shows that the company only shipped 1.5 million PS5 consoles in Q4'25, which happens to be the lowest-ever quarter in the company's ninth console generation.

The PS5 is also being lapped by its predecessor, at least in unit shipments. The end of Holiday 2025 marked the PS5's 22nd quarter on the market and when aligned with the PS4, we see that the PS4 is ahead by 3.3 million.

After the disastrous Forza Horizon 6 leak just a couple of days ago, it looks like another big game has leaked before its official launch date. RespawnFirst has reported that Unknown Worlds' Subnautica 2 has leaked online 48 hours before its Early Access date. Unfortunately, the leak has already spread, and the game has appeared on websites of ill repute ahead of launch.

The Early Access date for Subnautica 2 was set to be May 14th, 2024, but the leak has now made the game playable for pirates worldwide. This situation is quite similar to the Forza Horizon 6 leak we reported earlier, but it is not quite as bad. At least Subnautica 2 was only 48 hours away from officially launching, but Horizon 6 was leaked 10 days before it was meant to be officially available.

This wave of game leaks has led to immense speculation online. Gamers on social media platforms like X and Reddit are arguing over security concerns and whether Steam should be held accountable for these leaks. Others are blaming the pre-load mechanisms, but that seems less likely. Perhaps the most likely source of these leaks is review copies given in advance to game reviewers and media outlets.

Big news in the fighting game world as previous Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada joins a once strong rival, SNK.

In December 2025, Katsuhiro Harada announced he was leaving Bandai Namco and the Tekken franchise. The update was a big blow to the Tekken community, as Harada is seen as an irreplaceable force in the fighting game world. Now it's been revealed that Harada didn't actually retire--he just changed sides.

Today, Harada reveals VS Studio, a new subsidiary of SNK that will focus on new games, including--you guessed it--fighting titles. After all, SNK is best known for titles like King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. According to a press release, VS Studio has the tagline "beyond tradition, crafted to perfection," and the VS in the group's name has multiple meanings--versus, video game software, visionary standard, volition shift, and vanguard spirit.

Forza Horizon 6 on PC is not only about choosing the highest visual settings and jumping into the next race. A smooth setup matters, but players also need a clear plan for progression, credits, upgrades, and the garage they want to build over time.

That is where many players get slowed down. The game can look great, but the experience still feels limited if the player does not have the right cars, enough credits, or a progression path that matches how they actually play. A good PC experience should cover both sides: how the game runs and how the player moves forward inside it.

PC players usually think about performance first. Frame rate, visual quality, ray tracing, upscaling, controls, and display settings can all change how a racing game feels. Forza's official PC breakdown highlights the PC version of Forza Horizon 6, including ray-traced reflections, ray-traced global illumination, ultrawide support, advanced upscaling options, live settings previews, and benchmark tools.

Discord Nitro is now the cheapest version of Xbox Game Pass, offering a "Starter Edition" that gives subscribers access to over 50 PC and console games.

The integration, confirmed by both Microsoft and Discord, is rolling out to Nitro subscribers in waves and is available on the $9.99/month Nitro plan. This move adds a competitive edge to the $14.99 Game Pass Core and $19.99 Game Pass Ultimate tiers, which offer broader access and features like cloud streaming and multiplayer on consoles.

The Starter Edition, while more limited in scope, includes a curated selection of games and is directly integrated into Discord's "Now Playing" status system. Subscribers can launch Game Pass games directly from the platform, likely through the Xbox app, and take advantage of exclusive discounts on gaming peripherals from brands like Logitech G, SteelSeries, and KontrolFreak.

SEGA has officially cancelled its unique ideas for a new kind of game genre--the mighty live service Super Game.

It's an end of an era for SEGA, or at least a conceptual end. I've been reporting on SEGA's interesting-sounding new Super Game idea for years now, and while the publisher never really explained the idea properly, it was nonetheless interesting. SEGA spoke of a new kind of living game genre where titles continually evolved over time, moving both strong game sales and monetization along the way.

Now SEGA has clarified some things in its latest FY26 earnings report. Due to the immediacy of its current business, which still requires the company to release new games that sell millions of copies every year, the Super Game initiative has been cancelled altogether. SEGA was prepared to spend around 100 billion yen ($634 million) across 5 years to fund its first Super Game, with the plan to release multiple Super Games by 2030.

Pearl Abyss's latest Q1'26 results give an indication of how much money a publisher collects after a successful multi-million AAA product launch.

According to the latest figures, Crimson Desert generated nearly $200 million for South Korean developer Pearl Abyss in less than a month after launch.

The figures show that Crimson Desert, which is now recognized as an official new IP from the studio, made around 266.5 billion Korean won (roughly $179 million) in revenue in the Q1 period. As a result of the game's huge success, Pearl Abyss's revenue was up 420% to a staggering 328.5 billion Korean won (about $220 million). This effectively means that Crimson Desert accounted for 81.3% of all revenue for the period.

Valve is preparing to launch four versions of the Steam Machine, with a reservation system to prevent scalper markups.

Code in the latest Steam update hints at four distinct models and two Steam Frame packages, according to data mined by the Steam Machine subreddit. The four models remain unnamed, but previous leaks suggest they could include 512GB and 2TB storage variants, which, with the now four versions, could simply mean a Steam Machine bundle with and without a Steam Controller. Valve engineers confirmed that it intends to release at least two variants, though the memory crisis could have forced adjustments.

The reservation system mirrors the one used for the Steam Controller, which sold out instantly and was heavily resold at inflated prices. This move signals a more controlled launch strategy, with Valve likely aiming to avoid the chaos that followed the Steam Controller's release.

A 155 GB unencrypted build of Forza Horizon 6 was leaked online before its scheduled release, and Playground Games has confirmed that the source was not a Steam employee or technical error but a reviewer, influencer, or industry insider.

The leak, which surfaced online nearly a week before the game's planned debut, came after an unencrypted Steam build was uploaded, allowing the files to be freely accessed and shared. Reports from Reddit and cracking forums indicated that the files included thousands of assets, effectively giving early access to the game's full content.

The incident raises serious concerns about how unreleased game builds are handled within the industry. Playground Games, known for its meticulous development and release strategies, now faces the challenge of mitigating the impact of the leak on both consumer excitement and competitive integrity.

In the 1980s, the idea of the home or personal computer was still relatively new or niche, which is why affordable options that connected to a standard TV found success. Two of the biggest names from the era, the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum, found success in the US and Europe, respectively, and were also home to what we know as computer games.

Games for these systems would go on to influence and even lead to the creation of some of the most well-respected designers and development studios in gaming history. And to celebrate the gaming legacy of these computers, Blaze Entertainment and Retro Games Ltd have partnered to create two portable retro gaming handheld consoles focused on classic Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum gaming.

Dubbed the THEC64 Handheld and The Spectrum Handheld, both devices flip open to reveal a 4.3-inch display with an 800x480 resolution. Certainly low-res by modern standards, but this is still a lot more pixels than these early home computers were pushing out. Each handheld comes pre-installed with 25 classic games to highlight this era of early gaming.

Blizzard may finally be cooking up World of Warcraft Classic Plus, a long-rumored version of the original MMO with modern updates.

The studio recently invited top streamers like Sodapoppin and Esfand to its California HQ under NDA, fueling speculation that something major is in the works. Blizzard hasn't officially confirmed the project, but the secrecy and targeted invite list point to a new take on the classic experience, as all the streamers it invited are known for streaming Blizzard's current Classic version of World of Warcraft.

WoW Classic Plus would diverge from the original game's timeline, offering a mix of nostalgia and updated systems. Essentially, WoW would be getting the Old School Runescape, which, for those who don't know, happened after RuneScape's developers rolled out the Evolution of Combat update, which completely overhauled RuneScape's combat mechanics, resulting in a mass exodus of players.

PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 is pushing back against a wave of AI-generated code submissions to its open-source GitHub project. The team has updated its guidelines and now requires contributors to fully understand and own the code they submit, even if AI was used during the research process.

The new rules arrived just a day after the team posted on the social media platform X, pushing back against the barrage of AI pull requests hitting the project. RPCS3 reported having to revert multiple "slop PRs" that slipped through and caused major regressions in the emulator, requiring significant extra work from the team to fix.

The updated guidelines do not ban AI-generated code outright but require contributors to disclose any use of AI and take full responsibility for what they submit. All communications with the RPCS3 team must be handled by a human contributor, and pull requests that do not disclose AI use may be closed without review.

PureDark has released a new paid upscaler mod that brings NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation support to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - a title now more than a decade old. The mod is available through PureDark's Patreon and is aimed at RTX 50-series GPU owners looking to take advantage of NVIDIA's latest DLSS technologies.

Released back in 2015, CD Projekt's The Witcher 3 predates DLSS entirely, as NVIDIA first introduced the technology in 2019. However, the game's 2022 next-gen update added support for DLSS Super Resolution, Frame Generation, Reflex, ray-traced global illumination, FSR 2, and Ultra+ settings. However, the game doesn't officially support NVIDIA's latest DLSS 4.5 technology, which launched early this year.

DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation works differently from fixed MFG modes. Instead of a fixed frame multiplier, NVIDIA says it automatically adjusts the generation multiplier based on target frame rate, display refresh rate, or GPU load.

The launch date of the much-anticipated Forza Horizon 6 is approaching quickly, but we may have a disaster on our hands just 10 days before the release. The game recently went gold, and we even know its file size as it is available to preload. The 6th iteration of the beloved Horizon series is slated to launch on May 19th, 2026, but apparently, the full game leaked on Steam days before it was meant to be available.

Yes, that's right. The full Forza Horizon 6 game was leaked on Steam, and multiple users on social media stumbled upon the entire game files on SteamDB. The news quickly spread on social media and Reddit and was later corroborated by major gaming news outlets like Insider Gaming. What's even more baffling is that the game files were uploaded without encryption, meaning the full game is available to download from sites I'd rather not mention.

If that wasn't enough, the source of the leak wasn't a hacker or an unethical group trying to play the game before release. No, the entire 155GB repository of Forza Horizon 6 was uploaded (without encryption, mind you) by Playground Games itself, per Insider Gaming. Someone is definitely getting fired somewhere because of this blunder. Of course, Playground Games denies any wrongdoing leading to the leak, so it's still up in the air as to who leaked it.