IKEA and Xbox have launched YXSTABY, a nine-piece collection designed for gaming at home, co-developed by designers from both teams. The collection draws on the Xbox controller for inspiration, including a thumbstick stool built from the Xbox Wireless Controller's original 3D design files. It launches in IKEA stores today and online later this year, with availability varying by market.
Sony announced Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), a new performance tier of AI upscaling for PS5 built from its Project Amethyst AI graphics collaboration with AMD, using a streamlined neural network architecture and a hand-tuned PS5 implementation. The first titles to use it are Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yōtei, both patched today to offer QSSR as an additional graphics option on PS5. QSSR will be offered broadly to all PlayStation developers.
The Official Xbox Podcast sits down with teams from IKEA and Xbox to explain how their YXSTABY collaboration came together. The episode shows collection pieces including chairs, stools, controller display solutions and a D-PAD cushion, plus a TV stand with cable management. IKEA says it reached out to Xbox because gaming is a big part of life at home, and the two sides found their design approaches a natural fit.
Gears of War: E-Day begins Early Access on October 1 at 8:00 a.m. PT for Premium Edition players and Game Pass subscribers with the Premium Upgrade, with the full launch set for October 6 at 8:00 a.m. PT. The game is available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Steam, with cloud gaming through Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce NOW. Built by The Coalition in Unreal Engine 5, it includes an origin-story campaign, the 4-player Horde Siege PvE mode, and 4v4 Versus PvP, with two-player split-screen on console only.
Afterburner Studios announced its action-platformer Elta: Defy All Gods, launching February 2, 2027, with a free PS5 demo available today. The demo covers the game's opening, letting players retrieve the dragon-god they worship, fight corrupted enemies in melee, and explore the glacial world of Lerna. The studio describes the game as blending brawler combat, search-action exploration and dragon companion abilities, inspired by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, God of War and Hong Kong martial arts films, and made with Focus Entertainment.
Ubisoft's Free Play Days lineup brings FARCRY 6, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones, and The Crew Motorfest free for all Xbox members from Thursday, October 1 until Sunday, October 4, with no Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or Essential membership required. Players can purchase the games at a limited-time discount and keep their Gamerscore and achievements earned during the event, though discounts, percentages, and title availability may vary by title and region.
Telltale's The Wolf Among Us Remastered launches October 29 and is available to wishlist now. Game director Matt Saia said the story, directorial choices and overall art style were left untouched, while all character models and textures were rebuilt and every scene was relit. The remaster adds a Noir Mode with a pure black-and-white film look, handled differently from the Shadows Mode in Telltale's Batman series.
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles has released its biggest update yet alongside two new DLCs, Verne Bannerless and Medieval Houses, now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The update adds upgradable surveyors including the Behemoth, unrestricted curved walls, the ability to sail any ship, and an overhaul of wars and combat. Medieval Houses adds six timber-clad houses, while Verne Bannerless brings Verne and Piranha air units.
Ember Lab announced that Kena: Scars of Kosmora will launch in 2027 on PS5 (physical and digital) and PC (digital), pushed back to polish a larger game experience. The character-focused linear adventure has a broader and deeper scope than 2021's Bridge of Spirits, following Kena and her childhood friend Orfio to the island of Kosmora to uncover its four elements and Alchemystic Temples. Kena also gains a crystalline canine companion that serves as a mount and aids in combat and Alchemystic puzzles both mounted and on foot.
The Elder Scrolls Online is holding the High Seas of Tamriel event, where players can seek sunken treasures. The news was posted on Xbox Wire.
Section 9 Interactive, a small studio founded by three former Tarsier Studios members, announced that its sci-fi action adventure End of Abyss launches October 1 on Xbox Series X|S. Players take the role of young combat technician Cel, descending into an abandoned underground facility to upgrade gear, use a Scanner to explore branching paths, and fight monsters. The team said the game began as a top-down shooter prototype and shifted toward a slower action horror metroidvania focused on exploration and tension, with enemies prototyped in Unreal before their designs were finalized.
Why this: The studio explains how its top-down shooter prototype became an action horror metroidvania, showing how a small team settled on its art and enemy design.
Microsoft Jewel is available now as a standalone app for iOS and Android, the fifth mobile app from Microsoft Casual Games and its first new mobile launch in seven years. Players can earn XBOX Achievements on mobile and sync progress across the iOS, Android, and PC apps with a Microsoft account. XBOX Game Pass members get Premium benefits on PC, while Game Pass Ultimate members get them on both PC and mobile.
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for October are F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2, all available to PS Plus members from Tuesday, October 6 until Monday, November 2. F1 25 is the official game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship and adds a new multiplayer mode in F1 World, while Hunt: Showdown 1896 is an extraction shooter playable solo or with up to two teammates. Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 comes to PS5 and PS4 with four-player online co-op and two-player local split screen.
NBA The Run has launched Wave One – 2000s Legends, its first and biggest seasonal update since launching in June, free on Xbox Series X|S. It adds five historic NBA legends — Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Dirk Nowitzki — unlockable individually for 5,000 Cred or together as DLC for $9.99 in the Microsoft Store. The update also brings Drive Cam and Drive Flip Cam, 11 licensed Run Anthems tracks, Championship Belts, Practice Mode and Custom Matches, plus new courts, dunks and taunts.
Starting today, Xbox Insiders can get an early look at Mythic Achievements, earned by completing all original achievements for a game, with later DLC or update achievements not required. Mythic status has already been applied retroactively to eligible games players completed in the past, including Xbox 360 titles, and a new Gaming tab on profiles shows achievements and progress toward Mythic.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has a PC trailer along with tech updates and more. The news comes via Xbox Wire, with further details not yet disclosed.
Control Resonant launched last week on PlayStation 5, and Remedy's lead level designer, art director, and lead gameplay designer discussed the art direction and design behind its characters and environments. The game keeps dynamic destruction and reactive environments while presenting a movie-like retro "Strange York" version of New York. Boss fights are intended as skill checks, and areas like The Gap and the Sinkhole reflect Dylan's psyche and gravity-warped spaces.
God of War Laufey will launch on PlayStation 5 on February 16, 2027, with pre-orders opening September 29 on PlayStation Store and at participating retailers. Pre-order bonuses include the Last Wish Armor Set, the Phranque Golden Leaves cosmetic and an in-game resource pack, while the Digital Deluxe Edition adds the Dark Alchemy Armor Set, Blade, Bow Scales and Catalyst plus a digital mini artbook and soundtrack. Sony also detailed Faye's Serpent Bow, which offers a full-aim precision mode and a half-aim hip-fire mode, along with interchangeable Scales and unlockable skills.
Forest of Deceit, the social deduction party game from Ghost Camp and Thomas Mackinnon and narrated by Sylvester McCoy, has received a localisation update adding German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese and Italian. The 4-to-8-player game is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows PC, and supports Xbox Play Anywhere.
Xbox and Prince St. Pizza announced a collaboration for the launch of Gears of War: E-Day, with the limited-edition Emergence Pie available at Prince St. Pizza locations across the U.S. and Toronto, Canada through November 1. Each purchase of the pie or a slice comes with a code for an in-game pizza emblem, and a limited-edition pizza cutter modeled after the game's Prototype Lancer is on sale at shop.princestreetpizza.com. Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam.
Suri: The Seventh Note, in development for four years, launches on PS5 on October 30, 2026, with pre-orders now open. The game draws on Indian art and architecture, records 80 percent of its music with original analogue instruments, and sets a 480-millisecond gap between main beats to balance player input response with rhythm. A Standard Edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition are available, the latter including an exclusive Chandini Skin DLC and 3-day early access, with a 20 percent pre-order discount for PlayStation Plus members. The game is part of the PlayStation India Hero Project.
God of War Laufey will launch on PlayStation 5 on February 16, 2027, with pre-orders opening September 29 at 10:00am local time. Pre-order bonuses include the Last Wish Armor Set, the Phranque Golden Leaves appearance and an in-game resource pack, while the Digital Deluxe Edition adds Dark Alchemy gear, a digital mini artbook and the official digital soundtrack. The post also details Faye's Serpent Bow, which has a full-aim precision mode and a half-aim hip-fire mode, plus interchangeable Scales that change its look and playstyle.
Minecraft Dungeons II launches September 29 on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Cloud and other platforms. Mojang design director Laura De Llorens said on the Official XBOX Podcast that the sequel adds jumping, an interconnected world you can walk across, the new Sift dimension, armor split into four pieces, talismans and a reworked enchantment system. Multiplayer adapts when players join or leave and now mixes couch co-op with online play.
Mojang Studios announced at Minecraft LIVE that Minecraft Dungeons II launches September 29 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and will be included with Game Pass. The game introduces The Sift, Minecraft's first new dimension in over 14 years, with new biomes including Meadows and Carapace plus new mobs and block rules. Mojang also confirmed The Sift will come to Minecraft in 2027.
The Minecraft LIVE Fall 2026 recap has been published on Xbox Wire. It covers the official Minecraft livestream event.
Used Cars Simulator is out now on Xbox Series X|S for $19.99, currently $15.99. The game's five tips cover inspecting before repairing, keeping money moving, leaving the shed to explore, treating cars as physics toys, and deciding how much chaos your business can handle. Published by PlayWay S.A., it has players inspect, negotiate, repair, customize, and resell cars.
Official PlayStation Podcast Episode 548 recaps September's big releases and other recent titles the team is still playing, and highlights next week's lineup including Minecraft Dungeons II, Toem 2, Way of the Hunter 2, End of Abyss, Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered, Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. The episode also covers a Silent Hill: Townfall hands-on and the Lisa Limited Edition DualSense, which opens for pre-order on October 2.
This week's PlayStation Blog Share of the Week highlights Marvel's Wolverine, featuring player-submitted ferocious moments shared with #PSshare #PSBlog, including Wolverine's claws illuminated in the shadows and Wolverine taking on Omega Red. Next week's theme is Logan, asking for heroic portraits of Logan in Marvel's Wolverine, with submissions due by 11:59 PM PT on September 30, 2026.
Developer Project Aces has changed its storytelling approach for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, presenting most cutscenes in first person so players experience the war between the Federation of Central Usea and the invading Sotoans as a silent protagonist. Players inherit the call sign of ace pilot Jan "Rex" Cope and fight alongside Joker Flight, using the DualSense controller's D-Pad, right stick and buttons for small interactions and to issue squad orders. The game launches October 2 on PlayStation 5.
Feel Free Games announced that Luma Island is coming to PS5, and it can be wishlisted on PlayStation Store starting today. The game launched on PC in November 2024 and has drawn more than 800,000 players, with online co-op for up to 4 players and cross-platform play across PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It offers three difficulty modes — Cozy, Adventure and Hero — with no stamina bars or inventory limits.
Emeteria, a New Tales studio, announced that its fast-paced elemental action-adventure RPG Fading Echo launches today on PlayStation 5, with a demo also available today. Players control One, a young Legend who manipulates the water-like element Æther, shifts between fractured realities and combines elemental reactions to fight, explore and solve puzzles in the world of Corel. The single-player adventure also follows One's search for her past alongside a small group of allies.
PlayStation is releasing a DualSense wireless controller – Lisa Limited Edition designed with Lisa, featuring her bangs and eyes on the touch pad plus her signature stars and "LL" lettering in a Chroma Pearl colorway. It will be available in highly limited quantities at participating retailers in Southeast Asia from October 30 at a recommended retail price of SGD 115 / MYR 419 / IDR 1,549,000 / THB 2,890 / PHP 5,411 / VND 2,399,000, with pre-orders starting October 2 while supplies last. Her new EP, Press Play, arrives October 23.
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released and will be applied automatically when the game is restarted. It updates the Taxi Cabbed war paint, fixes sticker mip settings and incorrect wear textures, and updates or adds tournament medals. The koth_dryfield map fixes the teleporter prison exploit, broken RED hut geometry, and a flying RED roof, while improving balcony access and adding missing player clips.
An update for Team Fortress 2 has been released and will be applied automatically when the game is restarted. It fixes missing sound for the Circuit Breaker taunt, renames the "Northern Nights" Summer 2026 Unusual effect to "Polar Prism," and updates several cosmetics and maps. Map changes include improved outdoor lighting on koth_dusker and crash and spawn room fixes on cp_premuda.
Angels Fall First is now available on Steam with a 10% discount. The game combines flagship bridge command with tactical infantry firefights, plus boarding, pilotable capital ships, deep weapon customization and full Bot support. The offer ends July 18 at 10AM Pacific Time.
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released and will be applied automatically when the game is restarted. It fixes material and team color issues on several items and adjusts zipline dismount speed and delays on pl_redwood, while koth_camp_saxton received major optimization improvements.