#Report

Control: Resonant Gets Day-One 1.3.3 Hotfix Buffing Stun and Combat

Remedy has deployed a 1.3.3 launch hotfix for Control: Resonant, addressing enemy health pools feeling too high, the number of hits needed to Falter (stun) enemies, and Dylan's combat strength early on. Base health and Falter thresholds for most enemies, including the Dancer and Deserter bosses, were reduced, while maximum Aberrant and Ability Strength stats were increased on a curve with larger gains toward the end. Respec costs were lowered, "Reset Items" stock increased across all vendors, and the first boss now drops two Reset Items instead of one.

The Blood of Dawnwalker's time limit was once stricter, loosened over fear of player pushback

Rebel Wolves game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirmed that The Blood of Dawnwalker originally had a stricter time limit that made the game harder to beat, but it was rebalanced before release over fear of player complaints. Players have 30 in-game days and nights to save their character's family, with 16 time segments per day consumed by quests and skill upgrades. The first major patch arrives in early October, addressing combat, difficulty, performance, and traversal.

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies VR Announced for 2027 on Meta Platforms

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies VR, a virtual reality version of the fifth mainline Ace Attorney game, is coming to Meta platforms in 2027. It is being developed by Amata K.K., not Capcom, and lets players pick up evidence, examine environments in first person, and use gestures and voice commands to yell "Objection!" during cross-examinations. The store page lists Meta Quest 3S, Quest 3, Quest Pro, Quest 2, and Quest, though the developer's description omits the original Quest.

Rockstar reveals a £350 GTA 6 collector's box that doesn't include the game

Rockstar Games has announced a limited Goodtime State Vice City collection for Grand Theft Auto 6 priced at £349, which does not include a copy of the game and is available to pre-order now. The set includes a Macca the Gator figure, Oakley Frogskins sunglasses, a Leonida Keys crossbody bag, a New Era 9FORTY snapback hat, and other items, three of which — a magnetic mirror, razor blade keychain, and swizzle spoon — carry a suggestive combination.

Tim Schafer on Double Fine's Xbox split: "I assume someone is being greedy somewhere"

Double Fine founder Tim Schafer told the BBC that the studio split with Xbox because Microsoft is moving toward "fewer, larger IPs," while Double Fine wanted to keep making many small ones. He said he remains pro Game Pass and has no regrets about the Xbox partnership, but called the industry's four-year downturn baffling and said "I assume someone is being greedy somewhere."

MobyGames Lets Developers Claim Games They Weren't Credited For

Atari-owned MobyGames has launched MobyGames Professional, a paid tier currently in beta with a 1.0 release planned for autumn, allowing developers to claim their game credit pages and build portfolio pages. Product manager Reece Denzel told GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom that thousands of developers have claimed their pages, with a human-driven verification process to confirm identities while the existing credit verification method remains unchanged. The service also includes a jobs database that matches industry openings to developers based on their work history, genres, and platforms.

Xbox's Platinum Trophy equivalent seems to leak, with a 15-second unlock sound

The Xbox PC App has reportedly been updated with a new Xbox Mythic Achievement, featuring a starred and laurelled symbol and a 15-second unlock sound, spotted by Xbox-watcher Klobrille. TrueAchievements says Mythic Achievements are worth zero Gamerscore and appear retroactive, but Microsoft has not officially confirmed the feature or whether it works like PlayStation's Platinum Trophy.

After Eighteen Years of Jaggedy Bowling, a New Mod Bestows GTA 4 With DLSS and FSR Support

ChunkLeChuck's DLSS IV mod adds DLSS, DLAA, and FSR support to 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, improving the base game's infamously jagged and shimmering anti-aliasing while remaining HDR compatible. The mod appears to use FSR 3, so it isn't as sharp as Nvidia's tech but should work on any functional GPU from any manufacturer. Warcaco's RTX Remix mod had previously brought DLSS alongside high-rez textures and path tracing, while DLSS IV looks like a lighter, quicker fix.

Player discovers game-changing pair of pants in World of Warcraft: Forever

A player has discovered the Smelting Pants in World of Warcraft: Forever, a rare drop that boosts Stamina and Spirit and cuts smelting time for copper, tin, bronze, and silver by 25 percent. No gear with profession boosts like this exists in Classic WoW, signaling a game-changing intent from Blizzard. The game's full release is set for 4th November.

Don't expect regular Destiny 2 updates to return, despite the surprise "unvaulting" of game additions

After announcing the end of Destiny 2 development and laying off almost the entire team, Bungie said earlier this week it is working on "unvaulting" campaigns, raids and destinations that were previously removed, and these will be free for everyone. According to a Forbes report by Paul Tassi citing sources inside Bungie, the live service seasons and seasonal events that ran alongside that content will not return, and no more patches are planned during the unvaulting except for major bug fixes. Tassi could not say when the unvaulting will arrive, guessing "sometime next year," and confirmed it does not mean Bungie is returning to regular Destiny 2 development.

Love and Deepspace Hits No. 2 on the Charts: Is "Unbeatable" Papergames Back?

On September 22, Papergames' Love and Deepspace launched the limited five-star Memory UP wish event "If Midnight Is Sleepless," after which the game reached No. 2 on the iOS game revenue chart in China and No. 6 overall, per Qimai data. It also hit No. 4 on Japan's iOS game revenue chart, No. 2 in Taiwan, and No. 15 in South Korea. The update also permanently added interactive outfits for all male leads to the Moonlight Shop, the game's first outfit supporting two-way zipper interaction.

Data Analysis: How to Predict a Game's Final Performance Using Steam Demo Concurrent Players?

GamesDiscover compared data from over 2,500 Steam games and found that, by median, a game's peak concurrent players is 3.01 times its demo CCU. The sample covers 2,569 games launched between January 2024 and August 2026 with demo CCU above 50, where the top 20–30% of demos convert at 6.24x and the bottom 20–30% at just 1.29x.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation Will Have Four Performance Modes On PS5 Pro

Final Fantasy VII Revelation will offer four graphics modes on PS5 Pro: Quality, Performance – Sharp, Performance – Soft, and a mode using PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution for 4K image quality and 60 FPS gameplay. Director Naoki Hamaguchi said the modes differ in hair, environmental detailing, and shading. The game launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC on April 8, 2027.

Lord of the Rings Games Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War Finally Come to Switch 2

The acclaimed Lord of the Rings games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are finally coming to Switch 2 on 30th September, with all previously released DLC included. Aspyr handled the conversions, and both games are available in a new bundle that can be pre-ordered for 50 percent off, with the bundle priced at £62.99 / $70 without the discount.

Blizzard to take "a somewhat different approach" to level-scaling in Diablo 5, suggesting more influence from Diablo 2 than Diablo 4

Blizzard game director Joe Shely said at a BlizzCon roundtable that Diablo 5 will take "a somewhat different approach" to level-scaling, leaning closer to Diablo 2 than Diablo 4. Shely said automatic scaling can get in the way of the feeling of power, though the team has not fully discussed the system yet. Blizzard has also said Diablo 5's itemisation and loot are inspired by Diablo 2, and the game isn't due for release until spring 2029.

Sensor Tower: PC and PlayStation unit sales in Japan rise 13% to 21m during H1 2026, led by Resident Evil Requiem

PC and PlayStation unit sales in Japan rose 13% year-on-year to 21 million in the first half of 2026, led by Resident Evil Requiem, according to Sensor Tower. Capcom was the top publisher by units sold, and Resident Evil Requiem had its strongest first-month performance on Steam with an estimated 2.6 million units sold. Mobile in-app purchase revenue in Japan declined 5.1% year-on-year to ¥1.56 trillion, with eFootball the highest-grossing mobile game from January to July 2026.

Stellar Blade is a success now but once came close to the brink: "We could only pay salaries for about three months"

Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim said the company once had only about three months of salaries left during Stellar Blade's development, as investors called the project too risky and said it obviously would not break even. The game went on to sell millions of copies on PS5 and broke 1m sales within three days on PC. Shift Up is now working on the sequel Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, which has no release date yet.

Microsoft patent wants to record your face and feed it to a generative AI to redesign your game

A new Microsoft patent describes recording players' facial expressions, mutterings and growls and feeding them to a generative AI that would redesign the game being played. US patent 20260183672A1, titled Generative Narrative Game Experience With Player Feedback, covers prompting AI with text, images and audio to create NPCs, dialogue, items, objectives and sidequests, then analysing player actions and reactions to generate new content. The document describes how the tech would work if built, not a technology Microsoft has already made.

2026 Japan Games Market Insight Report: Japan Mobile Game IAP Revenue Tops $10 Billion

From August 2025 to July 2026, Japan's mobile game in-app purchase (IAP) revenue exceeded $10 billion (1.56 trillion yen), down 5.1% year-on-year and second in Asia only to China's iOS market. Downloads reached 585 million, ranking 9th globally. eFootball became Japan's top-grossing mobile game from January to July 2026, with record revenue in July.

Stuntboost, a Tech Deck Skateboarding Platformer About Flipping on Cardboard Constructs in Your Bedroom, Is Out Now

Stuntboost, a first-person skateboarding platformer played like a miniature Tech Deck board on cardboard courses in your bedroom, is out now on Steam. It splits into tracks with cardboard half pipes and notebook platforms, a timer at the top of the map, and online leaderboards with ghosts of other players. You can collect VHS tapes and also ride scooters and a car that seems to be the Toyota AE86 from Initial D.

Packed Lair, out today, is a Tetris-adjacent base builder about cramming an empire into a tiny evil lair

Packed Lair launches today on Steam, blending base building, auto battling, roguelikes and Tetris as you play an evil lord cramming an empire into a cramped lair. Buildings placed on a grid boost army count or HP when adjacent, and coins dug between battles unlock more space, with buildings drafted three at a time. A free demo is available on Steam now.

JSAUX's Prebuilt Steam Machine Faceplate Screens Arrive, Cheaper Than Valve's DIY Inkterface Build

JSAUX's Steam Machine E-Ink and Pixel Matrix faceplates are now on sale for $100 and $90 respectively, undercutting the $104.50 component cost of building a panel via Valve's open-source Inkterface project. Both offer performance monitoring, clock, weather, calendar and photo frame modes switchable in SteamOS quick settings, with companion software due via Steam from early October. The E-Ink panel refreshes only once per minute, while the Pixel Matrix trades detail for colour and retro charm.

The PC/Console market hit $30 billion last year across Playstation, Xbox, and Steam.

Francesca Baerald Gathers Her Hand-Painted Game Fantasy Maps Into an Oversized A3 Art Book

Artist and cartographer Francesca Baerald, known for maps in Dragon Age, Warcraft, Octopath Traveler, Diablo and Dungeons & Dragons, is crowdfunding an oversized A3 art book called Unbound - The Cartography Art Book. It features more than 250 maps from her work in video games, tabletop RPGs, board games and graphic novels, and has already raised over four times its £20k Kickstarter goal. The Standard Edition costs €150, with copies shipping next summer.

How Nex Playground is beating expectations during a hardware crisis

Nex Playground has expanded beyond the United States to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with UK sales velocity beating internal weekly and monthly targets. Nex also secured $150 million in equity and debt financing and now makes hardware in Mexico as well as China to shorten lead times. The company says its subscription-driven model kept it profitable last year and is likely to do so again this year.

This September, "Ji Fou" Became a New Shorthand for Game for Peace Players

Game for Peace's "Chicken Eating Festival" turned Chongqing's Guanyinqiao area into a "Chicken Eating pain city" in September, covering over 3,500 square meters of the circular plaza and nearby commercial streets with themed elements. Players adopted "Ji Fou" as a new greeting on social media, with related topics hitting 38 trending lists across platforms as of September 22. The event also featured a Zhang Xue motorcycle collaboration, a giant cyber Level 3 helmet, and an all-star "Ji Fou" gathering.

Sony appears to be testing PlayStation Store wallet credit offers on certain game purchases

Sony appears to be testing a PlayStation rewards programme that gives wallet credit when buying certain games on the PlayStation Store. A Reddit user said they received $10 in PS Store wallet credit after buying The Blood of Dawnwalker, whose Standard and Eclipse editions showed an offer ending 29th September, and other users reported similar messages on recent releases. It is unclear why the offer appears for some players but not others.

PM Studios mourns PlayStation disc production ending, sees promise in AA market

Sony has announced it will end disc production for PlayStation in January 2028, a decision PM Studios CEO Michael Yum calls "sad and devastating." PM Studios, which handled physical publishing for Black Myth: Wukong, will keep supporting physical releases through code-in-a-box and premium collector editions while investing more in digital titles and AA games, including funding Telltale's The Wolf Among Us 2.

Breaking Benjamin Singer Says Mid-Gig Fallout 4 Mod Promo Was Unplanned, Caused by Broken Drum and His Love of VR

Breaking Benjamin singer Benjamin Burnley said his mid-gig promotion of a Fallout 4 first-person mod he made was not planned, but ad-libbing to fill time while his drummer's broken snare drum head was replaced. Burnley, who makes mods as Killemloud, said he mainly worked on VR ports before True First Person, which he made because setting up VR on tour is hard and he dislikes being forced out of first person. He also said he really enjoys playing Fallout 4 and Skyrim in VR.

Microsoft files patent for a machine learning system that would "train" itself on your playtime to work out when you'll be least annoyed by in-game ads

Microsoft has filed a patent for an in-game advertising system that could use machine learning to read player activity and determine when ads would be least disruptive. The patent, "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access," was filed in April and published by the USPTO on 3rd September. It describes pausing play to show ads at moments like safe locations or after events such as completing a level or defeating an NPC, and possibly letting players earn credits to delay the next ad.

This week in PC games: Control: Resonant, Silent Hill: Townfall, and the history of Western philosophy as a pinball table

This week's PC releases include Control: Resonant, Silent Hill: Townfall from Stories Untold developer Screen Burn, and Fallosophy, a pinball table combining all of Western philosophy into one extremely tall table. Also out are Wadjet Eye's vampire nightclub RPG Nighthawks, Alien Breed: 35th Anniversary Collection, and Scorched Sun, a first-person turn-based game set in an ominous monastery.

Behind the Scenes of the "Baize Cup"

The third "Baize Cup," a Delta Force streamer tournament hosted by streamer Baize and MCN Juxing Zhimei, held its finals at the Qujiang WE E-sports Center in Xi'an, marking the event's first offline venue. Baize became Delta Force's first content creator to surpass 10 million followers in just over a year. He said viewership for streamer-run tournaments has relatively declined, and repeated content in both events and daily streams is creating pressure.

The Sunday Papers: LARP Safety Protocols, a School-Wide Band of Blades Game, and Generative AI Controversies

Rock Paper Shotgun's The Sunday Papers rounds up pieces including Chloe Mashiter on safety protocols in live-action role-playing games, and Thomas Manuel on a 30-60 player Band of Blades game that spanned an entire school. It also links to Futurism's report on Brown Brothers Media using generative AI to transform journalism outlets, and 404 Media's coverage of unredacted court filings featuring Microsoft and OpenAI executives' remarks on generative AI.

The Video Games And More You Should Play This Weekend – September 18, 2026

Game Informer rounds up the games worth playing this weekend, including this week's releases Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Marvel's Wolverine, plus Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, RuneScape: Dragonwilds, and Aniimo. The Crazy Taxi-inspired Truck-kun is Supporting Me From Another World?! is now available on Switch 2. At BlizzCon, Blizzard announced World of Warcraft: Forever, expanding vanilla WoW with new zones, raids, and 1,000 new quests.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots: Part 4 - Rosemary's Return | Super Replay

Game Informer's Super Replay continues Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with Part 4, "Rosemary's Return," as two editors play the game via the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. One editor experiences Guns of the Patriots for the first time, while the other revisits it after more than a decade. The stream airs weekly on Twitch and YouTube for two hours until the credits roll.

In the absence of a new Deus Ex, indie imsim Tokyo Walled City may scratch that stealth 'n' stolen passwords itch

Indie studio Grim Ronin has revealed Tokyo Walled City at TGS 2026, a stealth action retro-cyberpunk immersive sim with survival horror and RPG elements. Players take on the role of a knifey, parkouring mercenary trapped in a walled-off district of a cyberized capital, with movement directly inspired by Dishonored 2. There is no release date yet, but the Steam page says it is headed for early access.

Tractor-battling teenage road trip RPG Keep Driving is getting official mod support via Steam Workshop later this month

Road trip RPG Keep Driving is getting official mod support via Steam Workshop on September 28th, developer YCJY Games announced. The studio said it will initially release as a beta update, requiring players to opt into a specific Steam branch, and that the game's console debut is also near.

Strauss Zelnick Says a Well-Known Franchise Like GTA Still Needs Marketing: "You Always Have to Go Out and Create Enthusiasm"

Take-Two president Strauss Zelnick said even a well-known franchise like GTA still needs marketing, because "you always have to go out and create enthusiasm." He pointed to the Barbie movie as an example of a globally recognized IP that was still marketed heavily. He noted Rockstar's campaign so far has included a soundtrack album, a Dazed cover story, and an exclusive 27-minute Netflix preview that drew 31.1 million views in four days.

Baldur's Gate 3 Act Two Expansion Mod Out Now in Beta, Adds a New Region

The Baldur's Gate 3 custom campaign mod Act Two Expansion is now out in beta, adding a new region between the RPG's second and third acts after nearly two years of work by modder SquallyDaBeanz. The new region, The Chionthar Wilds, is similar in scope to act one's Wilderness and offers quests, dungeons, and fights for parties between levels eight and ten. The modder warns the beta is unevenly polished and can softlock before Act 3, recommending frequent saves and a way to cheat to Act 3.

Saber Interactive exec says North American studios should get their heads out of their own geography

Saber Interactive chief creative officer Tim Willits said traditional legacy developers make a mistake by employing 200 people in places like Texas, California and New York before they have a vertical slice. He argued big studios should take work-for-hire, remasters and small side projects to keep reliable income, as Saber does alongside titles like Space Marine 2.