Gaming - Page 98

Nintendo has stealth released Fire Emblem Shadows, a new real-time tactics strategy game for mobile that has an interesting mimic gimmick.

Nintendo's latest mobile game, Fire Emblem Shadows, seems like an innovative blend of genres and classic gaming sentiments, which reflects the company's more unusual and quality-oriented approach to smartphone games. It's a game where you fight enemies with a team of other characters in the Fire Emblem world, but there's a catch: One of the party members is a saboteur, and each round you only have 10 seconds make a decision to figure out who it is.

The result is an interesting if not sometimes confusing blend of tactical RPG combat with a gimmicky mechanic that's meant to be suspenseful, adding a fun social twist to gameplay. Fire Emblem Shadows is free-to-start and must be purchased in order to keep playing after a certain point. Nintendo had previously converted its last free-to-play game, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, into a paid mobile game. Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo's other mobile game in the series, is successful with over $1 billion earned since 2017.

PlayStation's iconic racing franchise breaks the 100 million sales mark, joining other series like Monster Hunter and Mortal Kombat.

During yesterday's State of Play event, Polyphony Digital confirmed that the legendary Gran Turismo series has sold more than 100 million copies. That's a feat that few video game franchises can pull off, either by raw popularity, longevity, or a combination of the two. One interesting point; Sony has sold 623.7 million pieces of console and handheld hardware that have Gran Turismo games, so 100 million sales represents a strong, dedicated player base throughout the generations.

Polyphony Digital CEO and series creator Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the news during the stream, and also announced the largest-ever update for Gran Turismo 7 called SPEC III.

It's come to light that one big-spender on Steam has bought over 40,000 games on Valve's platform.

That truly gargantuan collection of games has been amassed by someone in China, a certain SonixLegends, who has just received the Steam 'Game Collector' badge for buying over 40,000 games, and is the only person in the world (so far) to have done so.

Polygon (via Tom's Hardware) picked up on this achievement via SteamDB, and apparently this library is the result of 15 years of gaming, with an approximate toll on the gamer's wallet to the tune of $640,000. Yes, that's nearly two-thirds of a million dollars spent on Steam games, which is pretty mind-boggling.

Rockstar Games has been cooking up Project ROME (Rockstar Online Modding Engine) ready for GTA 6, with rumors swirling that the developer could unveil Project ROME real soon.

Project ROME will be the key to turning GTA 6 into the "next big metaverse" that will transform Grand Theft Auto 6 from being "just a game" into its own platform, allowing players to create their own custom experiences inside of the game. In a new post from "GTA 6 Countdown" on X, that's exactly what we're hearing.

The full post reads: "Rockstar Games is reportedly preparing to reveal Project ROME (Rockstar Online Modding Engine) soon. It aims to make GTA 6 the next big metaverse and transform it into a platform not just a game, allowing players to create their own custom experiences".

The 25-year-old PC classic Deus Ex is finally getting a remaster, but what was shown in the recently released trailer could be the most disappointing remaster I have seen in quite some time.

Deus Ex Remastered was announced at the recent PlayStation State of Play event, and when the original title was first released in 2000, it redefined what gaming could be as it combined first-person shooting, stealth, and RPG mechanics into a player-driven choice that few games before it had. Unfortunately, the Deus Ex Remaster appears not to be doing anything groundbreaking, as the improved graphics aren't particularly impressive.

In 2025, we have seen some incredible remasters hit the gaming market, with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered leading the pack in terms of popularity, offering a completely overhauled experience of a classic title. Followed by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, which took an extremely popular classic title and gave it a fresh coat of pixels, increasing the visual fidelity of the title immensely. Both of these games managed to retain the old-school feel of the original games, while also bringing the graphical levels up to those of a game released in the 2020s.

Sony just wrapped up its PlayStation State of Play event, where Electronic Arts showcased Battlefield 6's single-player campaign for the first time.

The above campaign trailer, released on the official PlayStation YouTube channel, introduces gamers to Dagger 13, an elite squad of Marine Raiders determined to stop Pax Armata, a private military corporation seeking to reshape global power. Battlefield 6's campaign will return to a singular narrative format, following the episodic structure of War Stories in Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V.

Players will be journeying across three continents in Battlefield 6's campaign, undertaking epic battles in tanks under the shadows of the Pyramids, all the way to firefights in the streets of Brooklyn. Notably, players will be assuming the role of members of Dagger 13, which includes the classes that are available to play in Battlefield 6's multiplayer mode.

Xbox has just wrapped up the Tokyo Game Show, where it confirmed that Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan and when it will launch.

Leaks that surfaced in late August claimed Xbox was planning to reveal the next Forza Horizon game at the Tokyo Games Show, which has now been officially confirmed by Xbox in a new teaser trailer. The leaks stated Forza Horizon 6 was based in Japan, hence its unveiling at the Tokyo Games Show.

Unfortunately, there aren't many details about the upcoming title, besides when it's scheduled to release, and even then, that isn't specific at all. Forza Horizon 6 is scheduled to release sometime in 2026 on Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC. The trailer is purely cinematic and doesn't actually showcase any vehicles at all, just a slow pan over the history of the series from Colorado, Australia, and the South of France before finally showcasing Mt. Fuji, an iconic landmark in Japan.

Insomniac steals Sony's State of Play with the first look at its new Wolverine game, showcasing some of the most visceral-looking cinematic combat in gaming.

Insomniac flexes their superhero mastery with the new Wolverine gameplay trailer, and like with Spider-Man, the studio is creating yet another ultra-authentic adaptation. As a fan, everything in the Wolverine trailer was quintessentially the bristly, cigar-smoking hellion--the savage brutality and tenacious attitude, the undercurrent of violence, everything matched.

Wolverine's gameplay looks fun and snappy, with Logan snapping onto enemies with a crazed leap into battle. Then it's just a whirling dance of slicing death, complete with a very bloody death animation. This is an ultra-mature game, and Insomniac went all out with the blood in Wolverine, developing new gore tech.

Xbox loses yet another exclusive as Microsoft Flight Simulator is confirmed for a PS5 release.

Flight Sim 2024 is officially coming to PS5 in December, Microsoft announced at Sony's State of Play. Microsoft's cross-platform position remains clear as Xbox continues to eliminate software exclusivity in a bid to sell more games, especially now that Sony's PS5 has reached 80.3 million sales.

"We unleashed the full power of the PS5 and PS5 Pro so aviation enthusiasts can now, for the first time on PlayStation, fly anywhere on the globe at any time of day or year, land at over 40,000 airports and runways and at over 60,000 helipads," said Flight Sim studio head Jorg Neumann.

Housemarque reveals the first-ever gameplay for its new game Saros at Sony's State of Play, confirming a March 2026 release date for the game.

Saros gameplay was revealed at State of Play, showcasing an evolution on Returnal's mechanics. Housemarque's latest project features a new permanent progression system, and the tagline is "Come Back Stronger," so it sounds like some of Returnal's more frustrating features have been revamped.

"This is one small part of the permanent-progression systems we have added in Saros, which will allow you to always come back stronger after each death. These systems include the ability to upgrade your Soltari advanced combat suit & abilities if you choose to do so," creative director Gregory Louden said.

Popular Everquest emulation server The Heroes' Journey (THJ) has been shut down following the judgment of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Back in June, Everquest developer Daybreak Games filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of The Heroes' Journey, a bit of software that emulates the classic MMORPG. In the lawsuit, Daybreak claimed that THJ creators were profiting from the unauthorized use of the Everquest intellectual property through a "thinly-disguised donation system."

Now the court has delivered its verdict. US District Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled in favor of Daybreak Games, revealing that THJ generated a whopping $100,000 in revenue per month from direct donations--proceeds that were made from another company's wholly-owned IP. Judge Bashant has ordered that all traces of THJ be removed and the defendants cease operations immediately.

Analyst firm Ampere Analysis implies that Game Pass has changed consumer habits--Xbox users play more games on average, but are less likely to play for longer periods of time.

Since 2017, there's a dynamic that's been happening among the Big 3: Nintendo and PlayStation preserve the status quo while Xbox disrupts the market with its all-you-can-play Game Pass subscription service. Over the past few years, we've seen Nintendo and PlayStation follow Game Pass with their own service, but with different aims in mind. Game Pass puts heavy emphasis on value to attract users, and the gambit has worked. Microsoft has apparently successfully changed how its own console users access and consume content.

According to findings from Ampere Analysis analyst Louise Wooldridge, Xbox gamers are playing more games on average than PlayStation or Steam users. The trend has been consistent for the past 3 years, Wooldridge notes.

We've caught a first impression of the GPD Win 5 and the seriously pricey handheld has proved to be seriously powerful to match its costly nature.

This comes to us courtesy of The Phawx on YouTube who has the flagship GPD Win 5, which has the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (top-tier Strix Halo) chip as its engine. (A lesser version of the GPD Win 5 runs with the Ryzen 385 SoC, but the YouTuber wasn't sent that model sadly).

As Tom's Hardware reports, The Phawx compared the Max+ 395-toting handheld to a rival with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 inside, and found there was a big difference in terms of performance, with the integrated Strix Halo GPU really flexing its muscles.

Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra speaks out on Microsoft's recent price hike, suggesting it's essentially a cash grab that passes the costs down to consumers.

No one's happy about raising console prices, especially Microsoft. Despite popular belief, the company does still want to grow its console presence--it's just not happening, and some of that can be attributed to the confusing 'This is an Xbox' marketing campaigns. Global economic volatility has forced everyone to raise prices, and Microsoft isn't immune: They announced the second Xbox console price hike of 2025, exposing a sticker-shock $800 price tag for the 2TB Galaxy Black Xbox Series X.

The move was incredibly unpopular, and some stores, like the world's third-largest retailer Costco, are removing Xbox products from their online and in-store inventory. It feels like bad news for Xbox, at least the traditional Xbox console environment, and everyone's taking notice--even former executives that worked closely with Microsoft's gaming brand.

Sony announced earlier in the week that it would be hosting a State of Play event, and now the event has been locked in with start times.

Sony's PlayStation State of Play will be broadcast to PlayStation's official social media channels and will begin on September 24 at various times around the world. It will be a live event, and viewers can expect new looks at anticipated third-party and indie titles, along with updates on other titles currently in development under PlayStation Studios' banner.

More specifically, Sony has confirmed the event will include an extended look at Saros, the new game from developer Housemarque, the creators of Returnal and Resogun. As for Saros, that title stars Rahul Kohli and will be a sci-fi action game that features a haunting story of a lost off-world colony under an ominous eclipse. According to game director Gregory Louden, players will be stepping into the shoes of Arjun Devraj, a powerful Soltari Enforcer.

One of the big parts of GTA 5 is the roleplaying gamers get up to, and if you were wondering if that will be available in GTA 6, it will be, as Rockstar has just confirmed it.

Rockstar Games took to its official social channels to announce that it will support the NoPixel team, the creators of the GTA 5 roleplay server running on the FiveM platform, which allows modded multiplayer servers. If you are completely out of the loop with GTA roleplaying, here's how it works.

Gamers join these roleplaying servers and step into the shoes of specific characters, such as criminals, thieves, etc, and roleplay as them in the GTA 5 world by carrying out the activities that the character would do. Police pull speeding players over.

Logitech has launched a new keyboard that is powered only by light. Yes, that is correct. A solar-powered keyboard that will convert solar or even artificial light, say from your overhead light in your bedroom, into charge.

The Signature Slim Solar Plus K980 is a $99.99 keyboard that doesn't feature any swappable batteries or even a USB port for faster charging; instead, it converts a minimum of 200 lux of illuminance into charge. Logitech says the battery within the K980 will last for up to 10 years, and once fully charged, the keyboard can be used in complete darkness for up to four months.

Besides the solar charging feature, the K980 is a very standard keyboard with a full-sized layout, directional keys, and a numpad. Additionally, the K980 comes with a function row that features multimedia controls, screen brightness, volume, and a mic mute key.

Unreal Engine 5.7 Preview is now available with production-ready Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG) with nearly twice the performance compared to UE5.5.

Epic Games says that it has added GPU parameter overrides, scaling improvements, and better multiplatform support, as well as FastGeo. There's a new PCG editor that introduces spline drawing, volume creation, and painting, while PCG Graphs are now capable of running in standalone mode.

The developer adds that there's a new Procedural Vegetation Editor inside of the new experimental plugin, which will allow developers direct creation and customization of Nanite-ready foliage inside of the Unreal Editor, and it will let users grow and shape trees, tweak leaves and branches, and export meshes without the need of third-party tools.

YouTube has announced it will be rolling back channels that were deleted over producing COVID-19 and election misinformation in 2020, with the video platform's owner, Alphabet, having sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, claiming the Biden administration pressured the company to remove user-generated COVID-19 and election content despite it not violating the platform's terms of service.

The letter states that the "political atmosphere" had forced the company's hand to initiate the bans on channels producing what at the time was being deemed misinformation, with Alphabet's lawyers writing, "It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content."

Notably, during 2020, YouTube rolled out a "medical misinformation policy" that banned content that contained conspiracy theories about the pandemic, which resulted in many channels being banned from the platform.

After reiterating that it will continue to compete in the discrete GPU market, hints have been dropped that Intel is working on its own version of Multi-Frame Generation.

It was only recently that NVIDIA and Intel announced a huge $5 billion deal that involves NVIDIA supplying RTX GPU chiplets for Intel to use on its CPUs, which caused many to think the end was near for Intel's Arc GPU line-up. However, that isn't the case. An Intel spokesperson said the company will continue to compete in the discrete GPU market.

Intel's Battlemage GPU is currently still in development, and to really compete with other GPUs on the market, the company will need to release its own form of multi-frame generation, or at least that is what recently changed driver files are suggesting.