The Xbox disc-to-digital program is now officially available to all Xbox One and Xbox Series X users after an initial rollout to Xbox Insiders. Inserting a supported disc while signed in grants a digital license, and an Xbox One console can be used to claim Xbox Series X games. Square Enix and Ubisoft do not appear to support the program yet, and lending the disc to a friend transfers the digital license to them.
Nintendo announced a Nintendo Switch 2 physical edition of Pokémon Legends: Z-A that bundles the base game and the Mega Dimension DLC on one card, plus a Mystery Gift code for 100 Ultra Balls, releasing Oct. 29. A press release says the Switch 2 Edition remains playable on the original Nintendo Switch, but with the same content as the Switch version and without features that use Switch 2 specs. Nintendo did not announce a price; the digital base game and DLC retail for $99.99.
Stranger Than Heaven released an era gameplay in-depth look trailer set in 1929 Kure, Hiroshima, and confirmed a January 15, 2027 release. It is described as a fifty-year action-adventure saga about men with nowhere to go, using extreme violence to survive and musical talent to thrive as a showman across five cities and eras of modern Japan.
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden advised new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to "pick a lane," calling her decision Xbox's "Dreamcast moment." He framed the choice as either competing with PlayStation as a platform or exiting hardware to focus on software as the world's biggest game publisher. Xbox is mid-restructure, with nearly 2,000 staff laid off, multiple studios exiting or facing closure, and various games canceled.
IGN rounds up the best, worst, and weirdest games based on the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, spanning shooters, racers, and ecology simulators. The 1999 Episode I: The Phantom Menace game sold well on PC and PlayStation but suffered from an unpleasant high camera angle, while 2005's Lego Star Wars, with 6.1 million copies sold, is the most commercially successful Prequel Trilogy game.
TAITO announced Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back! - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Stardrop Mountain, which will launch worldwide on February 25, 2027. Physical edition pre-orders are open via global publisher Clear River Games. The release adds the Stardrop Mountain expansion with new stages and villain Invaduh, includes the original 1986 arcade Bubble Bobble, supports up to four-player local co-op, and runs at 1920x1080 on Switch 2 with a Camera Play feature.
Publisher SOEDESCO and developer Senscape announced that the supernatural horror adventure game ASYLUM will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, and Switch on October 30. The game first launched for PC via Steam and GOG on March 13, 2025. Players take on the role of an ex-patient suffering bizarre visions in the Hanwell Mental Institute.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is reportedly showing vastly different performance on PS5 Pro depending on the player, with some reporting stable frame rates and others complaining of dropped frames, bad frame pacing, screen tearing, and broken visuals. The remaster is available as a free update for existing owners, and testing visual options, telemetry settings, old saves, and TV 120Hz settings has not replicated the issues. The cause remains unknown.
Sony has announced the PS Plus Essential lineup for October 2026: F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. The games can be claimed from Tuesday 6th October until 2nd November, with all three available on PS5 and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 also on PS4.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced the October 2026 Monthly Games lineup for PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers, available from October 6. The lineup includes Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 for PS5 and PS4, plus F1 25 and Hunt: Showdown 1896 for PS5.
Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert's first expansion, Charting the Unknown, by two weeks from its original mid-October window to October 29th, citing a need for additional development time to deliver a more polished and stable gameplay experience. The expansion's Steam page promises an ominous presence in the desert, a dangerous political conflict, ship sailing, deep ocean diving, house building and relationship forging, and also carries a generative AI content disclosure notice stating that AI is used in a supplementary capacity for some 2D prop assets.
End of Abyss has an OpenCritic average of 73 with 50% recommended across 8 reviews. The sci-fi survival horror metroidvania on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox drew praise for its atmosphere and exploration but criticism for technical glitches and map issues.
Invoke Studios showed a Gamescom demo of Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons in which protagonist Kaatri, who gains magic through a pact with the witch Tasha, uses spells like Tasha's Leash and Black Tentacles together for combat and puzzle-solving. General manager Dominique Guay said the world is meant to react to the player's magic rather than live entirely without them, and that Darkon is smaller than worlds like Crimson Desert's but dense enough that a new location is about a minute away. Guay also said Kaatri is a written character with a fixed main narrative, unlike Baldur's Gate 3's dialogue-driven role-playing, and that the game launches next year.
The free Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered upgrade has split players, with some complaining the new lighting makes the game too bright and washed out and asking CD Projekt Red for a way to roll back. PC players can turn off a Bloom setting to help, but console players have no such option, and AMD users, Switch 2 handheld players and older Xbox Series S owners are also reporting graphical glitches, blurry visuals and performance drops. Plenty of players, however, say the game looks much better now.
Sony has officially added a requirement for buying the PS5 Pro, the more powerful version of the PS5. Demand is high, console prices are steeper than ever partly due to rising RAM and component costs, and scalpers are reselling the PS5 Pro at astronomical prices.
Push Square reviewed End of Abyss, a sci-fi horror metroidvania from Section 9 Interactive, with the author reaching the credits in roughly 13 hours. The review praises its large, layered map and tense twin-stick combat while noting minimal guidance and a map-marking quirk, and reports audio issues, invisible barriers and getting stuck in the environment during play. It ran at 60 frames per second on both PS5 and PS5 Pro with no performance options, and the author hopes the bugs are fixed in a day-one patch.
Former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida said in an interview with The Verge that Sony should keep the PS5 generation going as long as possible, because people are very happy using PS5 and Switch 2. He pointed to rising component costs and said neither players nor developers are strongly demanding more powerful hardware. He added that Xbox, with Series X|S falling behind and the company going through changes, may be more incentivised to release its next console.
SEGA and RGG Studio have released a new gameplay video for the 50-year action adventure saga STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, introducing its 1929 Kure, Hiroshima era, one of the game's five cities and eras. The game is due out for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store on January 15, 2027, and will also be available via Game Pass.
Publisher Blumhouse Games and developer Perfect Garbage announced that Grave Seasons, a narrative-focused farming simulation horror game, will launch on March 9, 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC via Steam, and will also be available via Game Pass. The game currently has over 750,000 wishlists on Steam. Players farm in the town of Ashenridge while investigating a series of murders, gathering clues, crafting protective items, and identifying the next victim, with relationships and choices affecting how the story unfolds.
Owners of a Switch 1 physical copy of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt can use it to download the full Switch 2 remaster for free, and the cartridge is not needed to play once the download finishes. The method works on as many systems as you like, unlike a Game-Key Card. CD Projekt Red had promised the remaster to everyone who owned the base game.
Publisher Joystick Ventures and developer Summitsphere announced that side-scrolling action platformer ANTONBLAST will launch for PS5 and PS4 on October 1, and it is available now in regions where it is already October 1. The game first launched for PC via Steam on December 3, 2024, followed by Switch on December 13, 2024.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered adds an armor appearance transmog feature officially called Reforge, unlocked by completing the Master Armorers questline from the blacksmith at Crow's Perch, which is recommended for level 24 and requires defeating an Ice Troll and an Archgriffin. After completion, the new forgemaster Yoana lets you pick one piece of gear for its stats and another for its appearance, paying a small fee per altered piece, and Reforge can only be used by returning to Yoana.
Star Fox for Switch 2 received a surprise 1.2.0 update that adds Katina, Sector X and Venom to battle mode, plus 4-player split-screen on a single Switch 2. The patch also stops lobbies from disbanding after the host leaves, adds new battle items, and makes boss damage feedback clearer in the campaign. The digital version currently costs $50 and its story mode runs under two hours.
Rockstar has confirmed GTA 6 will feature 170 species, including 60 birds, more than 30 land mammals, and a variety of fish and reptiles, plus at least one visitable zoo. IGN has compiled around 50 animals confirmed so far from trailers, the Extended Look, and released screenshots — less than a third of the final total, with Rockstar keeping the rest under wraps.
After The Witcher 3 Remastered launched, the game hit a peak of 120,975 concurrent players on Steam, beating its previous record of 103,329 set in January 2020. The game is also available on GOG, the Epic Games Store, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S, and the Remastered Edition is a free upgrade for existing owners. The numbers came during a busy release month that included Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Control Resonant, Marvel's Wolverine, and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered launched on Sept. 29 and became the best-reviewed new release of the year. It is free to anyone who owns a digital copy of The Witcher 3, and Switch 2 players can claim it even without a digital copy thanks to a loophole.
Capcom producer Genki Sunano told Kotaku that the Switch 2 version of Monster Hunter Wilds was built around delivering a natural Wilds experience rather than a scaled-down port, describing it as a painstaking and at times seemingly endless process. The version launches on 5th December with all free DLC updates including new monsters and local co-op support, and runs at a solid 30FPS in handheld mode even during taxing multiplayer hunts. Capcom plans to apply what it learned to performance improvements for existing platforms ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance in 2027.
Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert expansion, Charting the Unknown, has been officially delayed, so players will have to wait longer to play the DLC. The article notes Crimson Desert is one of 2026's biggest games and has sold over six million copies.
Control Resonant director Mikael Kasurinen confirmed the game deliberately avoids yellow paint and similar guidance markers, saying player autonomy matters more than pointing players where to go. He added that yellow can be used if it fits the game's world thematically, but it must not feel like the game is deciding for the player. The decision stands out given Resonant's map is larger than the original Control's office-building setting.
PS Store's Autumn Adventures sale runs until 7th October 2026, and Push Square has picked over 40 PS5 and PS4 games worth buying from the thousands discounted. Every game listed scored at least 7/10 from Push Square and is at its lowest price, with some hitting new all-time lows. The list includes Baldur's Gate 3, Celeste, Dave the Diver, and Castlevania Dominus Collection.
The PS5 vapourware title Abandoned appears to be making a return, as its PS Store page was recently updated with new key art showing the title "Abandoned Prologue" and a release date of 2027. The description lists three versions: Realtime Experience, Prologue chapter, and Base game. Developer Blue Box Game Studios originally surfaced the project in 2021 before it fell into obscurity.
Alinea Analytics claims daily active players in Resident Evil 2 rose 48% in the week after Zach Cregger's new Resident Evil film released, from 78,000 to roughly 116,000, while the Resident Evil 4 remake gained 24% and Resident Evil 3 added 25%. On PS5, the outlet says Resident Evil 2 sales almost doubled during a sale and Resident Evil 4 purchases spiked 77%, predicting an 11% and 14% sales increase respectively from the film's impact. The stats are not official and Capcom also heavily discounted many Resident Evil titles around the movie's release.
Push Square reviewed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on PS5, finding no game-changing additions but noticeably smoother movement for Geralt and Roach, reworked enemy behaviour, an overhauled skill tree, and redone lighting and environmental assets. On PS5 Pro the ray tracing mode runs at 60fps and the performance mode is uncapped, while base PS5 locks ray tracing to 30fps, and the autosave stutter remains unfixed. The remaster also adds dynamic meditation, transmog, accessibility options, and console mod support via mod.io, though transmog only unlocks later in the game.
A SteamDB page for "Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation 3 Network Test Version" has been registered, though Bandai Namco has yet to announce Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation 3 itself, let alone a network test. The predecessor, Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation 2, is a free-to-play multiplayer battle action game available on PS5, PS4, and PC via Steam. Bandai Namco plans to hold a live stream around the end of October celebrating the 40th anniversary of Gundam games.
PS5 pre-orders for God of War Laufey are now live, priced at $69.99 for the Standard Edition and $79.99 for the Digital Deluxe Edition, ahead of its 16th February 2027 release. Both editions share the same pre-order bonuses, including the Last Wish Armor Set, the Phranque Golden Leaves cosmetic and an in-game resource pack. Santa Monica Studio also detailed Faye's Serpent Bow controls and her customizable sword, bow and Catalysts.
A new Pokémon TCG set is reportedly coming to McDonald's Happy Meals in the US from 5th November to 9th December, with 15 cards in the collection. Each Happy Meal bonus is said to include a four-card pack with three normal cards and one holo. McDonald's hasn't officially revealed the promotion yet.
Xbox has announced that "Mythic Achievements" are now available for Xbox Insiders, granted for completing all original achievements for a game. They do not add new challenges or Gamerscore, and have also been added to certain older games including Xbox 360 titles. A new Gaming tab on profiles and a progress bar in each game's achievement list show progress toward Mythic status.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve launches on 2nd October, 2026, and pre-ordering it also grants a digital re-release of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. The bonus is limited to pre-orders, and only the first run of physical copies will include a redemption code. The article says the restriction is largely due to expired licences for the real-world fighter jets featured in Ace Combat Zero.
Coffee Stain Publishing and developer Coffee Stain North have announced Goat Simulator 3 DLC "Ticket to Dizzyworld," launching on November 19. The third major expansion is set in a new carnival sandbox with amusement rides, bumper cars, a first-goat perspective, and player-made rollercoasters, plus collectible Dizzy Tokens that can be traded for rewards. Goat Simulator 3 is available now on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android.