Switch game cases are pretty unnecessary. If you have a clamshell case for your handheld, you likely already have some game storage at hand. Even then, it's probably not advisable to take a large chunk of your library with you on the go, as you never know what could happen to them.

As unnecessary an accessory as the elago Switch Game Case is, that didn't stop the $14.99 (Amazon) gadget from grabbing my attention. It's shaped like the classic Game Boy, so instantly I was swayed by the nostalgia factor. Yet it's the fact that storing your games in it allows its key art to appear as if you were playing the modern titles on this '90s device that drove me to add it to my online shopping basket.

By default, the elago Switch Game Case includes a cardboard insert that mimics the classic handheld's LCD. It's basically a bit of paper with the brand's logo printed on it to appear like the Nintendo text that scrolls down the screen when you turn on the real thing. It's a simple feature, but a detail that I nevertheless appreciate as someone who grew up on the DMG-01 device.

It's this simple insert that you're intended to replace with your own games. Swapping them in place will have their stickered art appear as though a cut-out window of the tiny, silicone Game Boy, which is exactly what I did. I took Pokopia Pokopia, Donkey Kong Bananza, and the Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 collection on the original Switch and gently placed them through the little slots, and the resulting effect was ridiculously cute.

In the case of the Switch 2 cartridges, you do see some red peaking through, but it's not distracting enough to be a genuine issue. In the case of Pokopia, the game's cartridge art fits almost perfectly on the replicated screen (bar the cut-off Nintendo logo) and looks absolutely adorable. I also tested out Donkey Kong Bananza, which looked even better, as the framing of DK and Pauline is better aligned with the cut-out window of the case.

As cute as it looks, I'd be very hesitant to actually store my games this way, as elago intends this to be a keychain that dangles off your backpack, or even your jeans. Neither Pokemon Pokopia nor Donkey Kong Bananza were very cheap, and they wouldn't be cheap to replace if they were to fall off my jeans while out in public, so I instead keep this as a display piece for my desk. It's honestly what I'd recommend for anyone else privy to this neat Game Boy-inspired accessory.

Yet, it's still a unique take on Switch game cases, which can often just be boring, hard plastic accessories with some art stuck on top. Elago also went all out to make this tiny gadget full of detail, as the tiny d-pad, pink-red buttons, and the volume wheel are all 3-dimensional, though they naturally aren't actually functional.

If you're a fan of retro handhelds and want a funky way to store some of your new Switch 2 pickups, this is a neat piece to add to your desk, or add to your bag if you're brave enough. Despite its low cost, it's a surprisingly detailed and well-made accessory that has me hoping elago will give the Switch 2 more attention in the future.

• View all Nintendo Switch game cases at Amazon

New to Switch 2? Check out our guides to the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers, the best Nintendo Switch headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch 2 cameras.

Beloved developer and online icon Hideo Kojima has become as much a character to fans as his creations - and now that's literally the case with a brand-new Nendoroid figure.

The Good Smile Company has built up a reputation for making high-quality, stylized display figures that look like chibi artwork come to life (AKA some of the best toys around, because c'mon), and now they've applied that style to Kojima himself. It's actually a bit eerie how well they've captured the famed game designer, down to his intense stare and knowing smile.

Available to pre-order as we speak, the Hideo Kojima Nendoroid figure is $38.99 from Good Smile and is due to ship around this time next year. (The amount of time toy production can take is wild, man.) Besides the extensive articulation expected from the range that allows you to pose the toy however you want, this mini Kojima comes with a host of alternate looks and a couple of accessories – there's a serious face, smiling face, thinking face, thumbs up, glasses, sunglasses, and a Ludens Duck. He's also wearing a Kojima Productions t-shirt, which is cool.

Personally speaking, I'm a big fan of Nendoroids – to the point that I've made it my life's mission to get the Wind Waker version of Link, because it's truly magnificent. There's just so much character to them; you'd need a heart of pure, frigid ice not to be brought a smattering of joy by looking at them. Plus, they feel incredibly premium despite being quite affordable on the whole. Trust me, that's not always the case in the collectibles market; you're frequently paying through the nose for the privilege.

What do you think of the Kojima Nendoroid? Will you be adding it to your shelf, so he can peer pensively at you while you play OD or other upcoming Kojima games?

• See the Nendoroid figure range at Amazon

For more cool replicas, be sure not to miss the best Lego sets.

CD Projekt Red has confirmed more about its quartet of main Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 characters, but datamined leaks suggest an unseen fifth major player in Night City has surprising links to two of those already announced.

As revealed on the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 website, Weak Kingsley is described as a "washed-up cyberpunk legend" who is "forced to live without chrome in a world that's passed him by."

The new synopsis also confirms family, obsession, and legacy are major themes in play here – which makes this next leak all the more intriguing.

Smets205 on Reddit has uncovered a fifth character card on the Edgerunners site.

Meet Avida, a "jazz singer and corpo insider" who is apparently "Weak's old flame." The plot thickens from there with the reveal she has a "fragile" daughter: Talia, the pink-haired Maelstrom member who forms part of Edgerunners season 2's main crew.

Old flame? A daughter? It's possible Weak Kingsley is hiding plenty of secrets – while the 'fragile' and 'weak' connection means there's almost certainly some hidden family drama brewing up in Night City's streets between the chrome-less protagonist and his ex-lover. A clip on the site, shown below, also shows a tense interaction between Weak and Talia.

All told, it sets up an extra layer of tragedy to what is surely going to be another depressing story told in NC.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2, a standalone 10-episode story, is set for release on Netflix this fall.

For more, check out our picks for the new anime you should be watching right now. Need to fill out your watchlist? Our collection of best Netflix anime will ensure you have plenty to watch.

There's no denying that Supergirl is currently flopping at the box office, but following yesterday's initial results, the DCU movie's opening weekend take has been confirmed, and it's actually doing worse than we first thought.

On Monday, June 29, many outlets reported that Supergirl had earned $38 million in the US over opening weekend. However, now it looks like the superhero film only scraped $37.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

That means that Milly Alcock's first outing as Kara Zor-El is not only doing worse than Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Morbius, which is widely known as one of the worst superhero movies ever, but also DC's Joker 2. Officially titled Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel opened to $37.6 million and scored a measly 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.

This is a pretty hard knock for James Gunn's new DC, as Supergirl is just the second movie in DCU Chapter One. But, the team still seems confident in their overall plan. On June 28, DC Studios co-head Peter Safran made a statement, telling The New York Times, "While Supergirl didn’t meet our box office expectations, it's just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in."

It is not clear why Supergirl is flopping so hard. Yes, it is true that the movie has opened to mixed reviews, and is not as widely loved as last year's Superman, which opened to $125 million domestically and went on to gross over $618 million worldwide. But the film's mediocre 56% score on RT is not the worst in the world. However, many fans are complaining about the lacklustre storyline and one questionable needle drop.

If Supergirl continues to underperform in this way, it will prove to be a loss for the studio. The movie cost around $170 million to make and perhaps tens of millions more to market, which means that the film will have to see a pretty steep incline in ticket sales over the coming weeks. But at this point, that seems unlikely.

Supergirl is out in theaters now. For more, check out our Supergirl review and our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows.

Before creator Tony Gilroy got involved and turned Andor into a thrillingly rich, thematically nuanced masterpiece, the Star Wars show was initially in the hands of Disney animation boss Jared Bush, and a new art book has revealed the Zootopia director's original take on the material.

As spotted by Cinelinx, new coffee table book The Art of Star Wars: Andor contains Bush's original pitch for the Star Wars show, taken from his 2018 series bible, and it reveals a radically different version of Andor that never was.

“The fledgling Rebellion experiences a crippling setback when an Imperial mole hidden within its ranks decimates a series of rebel bases. Cassian Andor, a young intelligence operative, is one of the few who survive, only to be falsely accused of being the mole himself. Out in the cold, Cassian discovers the only way to clear his name and find the mole is to infiltrate an Imperial planet which holds the key to uncovering the mole's identity.”

While this concept for the show retains the core idea of Andor being an espionage-powered story set in a galaxy far, far away, Bush's Andor would have been very different from the two-season show we got under Gilroy's stewardship. Instead of a simple mole hunt, Gilroy shaped Andor into a show about political oppression and resistance that mirrored real-world events to an almost eerie degree.

Andor was originally revealed in November 2018 after roughly a year of development. Initially, The Americans' executive producer Stephen Schiff was brought on board as showrunner, after Bush contributed a pilot script and series bible. Gilroy, who reportedly oversaw Rogue One's extensive reshoots, later shared his own vision for Andor with Kathleen Kennedy by penning a letter to the former head of Lucasfilm. Kennedy was evidently impressed, as Gilroy officially came on board in 2019.

The two-season show ran from 2022 to 2025 and is widely considered one of the high points of the Disney era of Star Wars. We even named Andor season 2 the best show of 2025. Gilroy provided some insights into the beloved show in our season 2 post-mortem, and even dispelled a fan theory around one of the finale's most ambiguous moments.

As for Bush, Andor may have slipped through his fingers, but the filmmaker had a pretty good 2025 too – he was the director of the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of the year, Zootopia 2, after becoming the chief creative officer of Disney Animation in late 2024.

Andor is streaming in full on Disney Plus. For more, check out our list of the best Disney Plus shows, or look ahead with our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.

Guillaume Broche, creative director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, says Kingdom Hearts 2 is one of the best action RPGs ever created.

Speaking to Konbini on its Jeux Video Club series (below), Broche singles out Kingdom Hearts 2 as one of his "top five games of all time," adding: "You have to admit that Square Enix has managed to create something truly exceptional."

He points to the gameplay in the series, "especially in the second game," which he considers "one of the best action RPG's ever created," while shouting out the late-game combos and fusions you can acquire throughout the adventure.

"There's really something about that gameplay that I've been looking for ever since Kingdom Hearts 2," he says, adding: "You could spend 150 hours in the late game."

Obviously, there have been games in the series since then, and Broche notes "Kingdom Hearts 3 isn't bad, but it didn't manage to recapture everything it did in terms of gameplay, which was exceptional." He doesn't say if he's played the litany of other titles that are all somehow canon, so maybe Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage would hit the mark for Broche.

For as much as a breath of fresh air Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was seen as for many, it's very much a game that proudly wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Of course, the game is heavily inspired by Final Fantasy in more ways than you can count, while Verso's gameplay heavily leans on Devil May Cry – a game which Broche previously uploaded challenge runs of before developing his own game – with the ranking system and pretty much every one of his moves being ripped straight from Vergil. With the blend of action and RPG mechanics, it's not a shocker to hear that Broche is pretty keen on Kingdom Hearts too.

"It's a pure skill issue": Clair Obscur Expedition 33 head says the RPG's notorious volleyball minigame is "easy," then proves it on stage.

Hide your rigs, as the RTX 3060 is back for revenge. Yes, it looks like Nvidia is making good on supposed plans to resurrect its 2021 Ampere card, and it's now sitting at German retailers with a €333.64 price tag. Hang onto your PC gaming butts, as if we keep falling through time at this rate, the 3DFX Voodoo may end up back on store shelves (Am I even joking at this stage?)

In a report highlighting "new" RTX 3060 availability in Germany, Hardwareluxx shares various links starting at 333.64 euros. That will get you an Asus GeForce Dual OC V2 that looks almost like the brand's RTX 5060 graphics card at Amazon for $340.24, featuring dual fans and a 2.5-slot shroud design. Yes, that means German gaming PC builders are paying more for the Ampere GPU from two generations ago since it works out at around $380.

Of course, that's for the 12GB version, but I honestly don't want to hear anyone trying to cut the RTX 3060 some slack here. Yes, it's technically less than what many cards with more than 8GB VRAM are going for in 2026, a year where you can have nothing and like it if you're looking to play your little PC backlog. But we can't just keep saying "I guess that's ok" while AI datacentres continue to smother the gaming realm in the name of nonsense.

In case it wasn't clear, I don't think you should buy an RTX 3060 if it hits your region or you're already in Germany. Extra VRAM is handy for higher-resolution textures and those releases that require much extra memory (usually as an early launch bug), but ultimately, the latest GPUs will boost fps in the way you'd expect from a card that's two generations newer.

I'm not particularly happy about having to pay around $50 more on average for an 8GB RTX 5060 either, but I'm sure bringing back the RTX 3060 isn't the right call. This is a tactic Nvidia has tried on numerous occasions, having dug up its RTX 2060 12GB back in 2021 when the 30-series was actually relevant. Rather than laying down over $300 on a card that should be history, it might be better to simply weather the storm, but I do feel for anyone on an extremely tight budget who is now stuck behind a bigger financial barrier than ever,

If you need me, I'll be in my attic with my freshly built Windows 98 rig trying to get it running games using 3DFX's Glide API. Just don't tell them I also have a Windows XP machine with DDR1 RAM, as that might give someone bright ideas.

• Graphics cards at Amazon
• Gaming PCs at Amazon

Looking to escape outside with your Steam games? You can do just that with the best gaming handhelds, with shiny new APUs and full PC compatibility.

I never really saw Mickey Mouse as a gearhead, but the new Disney F1 collection proves that he's ready to get onto the track. Or at the very least, boot up a session of Mario Kart. (He'd be a menace with red shells, I can tell.)

Because the company's mascot doesn't do things by halves, there's a fleet of goodies included in the Disney F1 merch collection; Mickey's racing our way with more than a pitstop's worth of hats, shirts, pins, and plushies. Seeing as there's much of it, and I spend a lot of time hunting down the best toys or collectibles (particularly Disney gear), I've rounded up my favorite bits here. I'm a big fan of the Velocity Mickey Mouse Crossbody Bag at the Disney Store and its accompanying baseball cap, for instance. While the price is a little higher than I'd like (something that's true of the range in general, but to be expected from such a high-profile crossover), the shimmering material is beautiful with its reflective shades of orange and blue. Actually, it reminds me of the rainbow-esque, iridescent look oil or gasoline can have in certain lights.

Anyway, there are plenty of other goodies with a similarly enchanting design on the Disney Store, including Disney Store UK - and I say that as someone who's not even the biggest fan of F1. In much the same way, the F1 store is crammed with gear that's genuinely taken me aback with how nice it looks; it doesn't just feel as though Mickey's been slapped on a bomber jacket. A lot of care seems to have gone into the collection, which is what I like to see from crossovers like this.

Looking for other collectibles? Don't miss the best Pokemon merch, or the best Lego sets around.

Persona 4 Revival is still underway as a remake of one of the best JRPGs to date (no, I'm not biased at all) – but just how true it is to Persona 4 Golden remains a bit of a mystery.

Although we do know that Atlus is remaking Golden specifically, there have been a few signs here and there pointing to differences between the 2012 banger I spent way too much time playing on the PlayStation Vita and Persona 4 Revival. For instance, we've previously seen cut dialogue lines come to light – and, of course, changes in characters' voices, like Yukiko's and, perhaps most notably, Chie's actor, too.

The discussion dominating the community right now has to do with yet another supposed step away from Persona 4 Golden: the Beauty Pageant and swimsuit contest.

If you've played the original revamp from Atlus, you might recall that October 30 – in-game, that is – is the date of the Beauty Pageant event. There are two phases, casual and swimwear. Now, the change in Revival, as per new screenshots from Atlus, has to do with Rise's outfit.

Persona 4 dancing outfits confirmed for P4R through a new screenshot atlus posted from r/PERSoNA

As pointed out over on Reddit, she appears to be wearing her Persona 4: Dancing All Night idol outfit during the Beauty Pageant. This would likely be a replacement for her "casual" wear – unless the swimsuit portion is different as well – in which she usually wears a simple dress in Persona 4 Golden. As you can imagine, the community has thoughts on this… to say the least.

"What if they make Persona 4 Revival an all-in-one," reads one comment. I'm not so sure they'd include its spin-offs instead of references like the outfit, but as a fan responds, that would be "cool as hell."

Another person writes, "Given there is a sprite, I'm thinking this is canon in game, and they are reworking that whole segment. Just a thought, though, who knows. It also could be an additional part of the school festival. I'm sure people will be normal about this." So am I, anon. So am I.

Somebody else says, "Looks like they're changing the swimsuit contest from the school festival event into maybe a dance contest, which is honestly probably for the best imo." I wouldn't be so quick to suggest that.

Over on Twitter, an eagle-eyed Persona modder instead shares in my own sentiment here: "It's likely Rise wears her P4D outfit in the Casualwear portion of the event." Honestly, I really think this is the most probable case.

I can't see Atlus changing it entirely, and we do see Rise's swimsuit in other new pictures. Fans are also sharing those – although it does seem like her beach-ready outfit has a new pattern.

As far as I'm concerned, though, I'll be happy with whatever ends up truly ringing true here. While I don't believe the Beauty Pageant will see drastic changes or that we'll see spin-off games integrated into Revival, I'd be thrilled either way.

Here's hoping we learn more about Persona 4 Revival as we near its February 18, 2027, release date… or, you know, Persona 6 while we're at it.

Searching for more to look forward to? Browse through our roundup of the best new games coming this year and beyond to wishlist.

It's been reported this week that the world's three biggest RAM manufacturers, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix, are all being sued for purported price fixing. The lawsuit claims that the trio has been lessening supply in order to profit collectively from the current AI-induced memory pricing nightmare (y'know, RAMageddon). What's flown under the radar, however, is that the best RAM for gaming could already be doomed to stay price-hiked for another five years thanks to a new business model from Micron.

In a Q3 earnings call, Micron's CEO, chairman, and president, Sanjay Mehrotra, detailed how the company was going to proceed in the current climate. "Even as we expect industry supply to improve gradually in 2028, we currently do not have line of sight as to when memory supply will be able to catch up with increasing demand," he explained.

Then he revealed that Micron has signed "strategic customer agreements" with its partnered RAM suppliers, ensuring a price bracketing system that will span the next five years.

"Micron has been a pioneer in our industry in creating a new class of strategic customer agreements, or SCAs, with very robust terms. We are pleased to announce that we have completed 16 SCAs with customers across the data center, consumer and auto market segments. These SCAs accelerate the transformation of our business model, enhance partnership in technology and innovation, and provide customers with contracted supply assurance."

An SCA will mean that businesses that utilize Micron's manufactured RAM (any consumer brand that sells RAM under its own name, but uses Micron's wafers) will need to pay pre-determined fixed prices based on current market trends, or established price bands based on Q2 prices from this year (ie, when RAM has been at record-breaking highs).

I suspect these agreements have been made out of fear from Micron's "customers" that RAM could continue to climb, as the latest research points to prices rising another 40-50% in Q3 2026. If that continues to be the case, agreements that lock in a fixed pricing bracket could be alluring for brands in the memory space, but guarantee prices remain high on consumer fronts.

"For our SCAs with price bands, the floor price enables a very robust gross margin for Micron, well above our peak quarterly margins in any past cycle," said the CEO.

Micron exited the consumer space in February by shuttering the Crucial brand and has since announced record-breaking profits from AI data fab manufacturing contracts. These are the main cause of the RAM shortages we've seen in 2026, but construction partnerships were only slated to last until ~2028, when we all expected prices to potentially level out a bit. With Micron's new SCAs, we could be looking at locked prices until 2030.

"Fourteen of the 16 SCAs that we have signed have a cumulative revenue at minimum price per our contracts of approximately $100 billion over the remaining agreement term," Sanjay announced. "They also strengthen our long-term financial performance, margins and free cash flow expectations, with higher visibility and improved stability in our business performance.

"Under the SCAs we have signed so far, we project to receive cash deposits and related financial commitments of $22 billion. This further demonstrates customer commitment to this new business model."

It's unclear how, if at all, the class action lawsuits against the big three RAM suppliers will impact these agreements, since they seem almost like a paper trail that points to an attempt to keep prices high instead of waiting to see how the market could level out.

More specifically, the new lawsuit being filed in California claims that the big three have illegally coordinated a restricted supply of DDR3 and DDR4 RAM in order to ensure profit from record-high DDR5 prices (Garciaguirre et al v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al)

Back in 2005, during a separate price-fixing lawsuit, the three companies were found guilty, with Samsung and SK Hynix both pleading guilty and paying fines as a result. Meanwhile, the story goes that Micron avoided fines by providing information to prosecutors. The modern-day lawsuit is the third major memory price-fixing scandal in 30 years, as it happened again in the 2010s.

It's unclear whether or not Samsung and SK Hynix have also begun to spin up SCAs with their customers, but we know from Micron's earnings call that its agreeing partners span from automotive to consumer, to data fabs, and the SCAs run through 2030. Micron suspects that when completed, approximately half or more of its overall revenue will be under SCAs from all areas of the market.

For more on computing markets, check out the best gaming PC, the best CPU for gaming, and the best graphics card.

Persona is the latest video game making the leap to live-action, with Netflix on board to adapt the beloved RPG series. And fans already have the perfect Joker in mind.

According to a report from Variety, Star Trek: Picard's Christopher Monfette is attached to write. Monfette has worked on a variety of genre shows and is a credited writer and co-producer on Marvel's upcoming VisionQuest. Stranger Things' Shawn Levy is also on board as a producer as part of his production company, 21 Laps. On the Sega side, Sonic the Hedgehog's Toru Nakahara is reportedly attached to produce.

Details beyond that are thin on the ground as, per Variety, Netflix declined to comment or confirm the veracity of the news. We don't even have a sense of which entry in the long-running series this show is likely to adapt. But it's further evidence of how much Netflix values video game adaptations in the wake of The Witcher, Castlevania, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2, Arcane, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, Devil May Cry, and many more.

While each mainline Persona entry deals with a new set of characters, there are some throughlines across the series – most notably, each stars a set of Japanese high school students who navigate the minutiae of school life by day, and fight their way through deadly dungeons by night, adopting a range of colorful personas to do battle.

The next game in the series, Persona 6, was announced only last month at Summer Game Fest, but with little more than a teaser to go off, it's unlikely Netflix's adaptation will be drawing from that. Far more likely is that Netflix's live-action Persona will take its cues from Persona 5 – as it features a number of the most beloved characters across any Shin Megami Tensei game. It's also the most successful entry in the series to date, with almost 14 million copies sold when Persona 5 Royal and the 2022 remaster are taken into account.

Naturally, Persona fans have plenty of thoughts about the news, not all of them positive. While some point to Netflix's track record of live-action adaptations as an ill omen for Persona, plenty are excited about the proposition of Joker and co. making the transition to live action. One common bit of fan-casting: Tom Holland as Joker. Though given the Spider-Man star has recently graduated to working with the likes of Christopher Nolan on The Odyssey, and that he has a long-gestating Fred Astaire biopic coming up, the chances of him starring in a Netflix video game adaptation seem relatively slim.

Whoever eventually signs up, it's certainly an exciting time to be a Persona fan, as Persona 6 seems to have some unexpected horror vibes. A Sega leaker has also hinted that the highly anticipated game could be released as early as next year.

Netflix's live-action Persona series does not currently have a release date. For more, dive into our list of upcoming video game movies and shows, or fill out your watchlist with our ranking of the best shows on Netflix.

It sounds as though Zach Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil movie will be a thrill ride from start to finish, just like the video game series it is based on.

"It feels like one gigantic sequence. Things pop off about five minutes in and it basically stays like that until the end," said Cregger to Empire. "What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge... I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet."

However, even though the upcoming movie is set in the second game, 1998's Resident Evil 2, the feature will focus on a brand new character. Rather than following highly capable rookie cop Leon through the zombie-ridden Raccoon City, the movie will focus on a medical courier named Bryan out on delivery who suddenly gets caught up in the outbreak. Bryan is played by Austin Abrams, who previously collaborated with Cregger on the 2025 horror hit Weapons.

But, unlike Leon, Bryan is not your run-of-the-mill hero. "The concept here is that we’re following an idiot. Not that he’s stupid, but he’s not your typical game character, with no combat skills whatsoever and completely inept at survival," added Cregger. "Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor."

When we caught up with Cregger on the set of Resident Evil, the director told GamesRadar+, "I don't think that me telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world, because the games do that all the time... I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline."

But Cregger's adaptation will stray away from the game in more ways than one. In the Resident Evil trailer, we saw Raccoon City covered in snow. The winter setting contradicts the game, which takes place in a heatwave during September.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming video game movies and upcoming horror movies heading our way.

Did you know that CD Projekt is, in fact, a company that's distinct from CD Projekt Red? I did, but that's only because my days are often occupied with polite but firm emails from PR representatives who are quite particular about these sorts of minutiae. Thankfully, the company has recognized that this state of affairs is extremely confusing, and is unifying its name to make things more consistent.

CD Projekt (without the Red) was founded back in 1994 as a distributor bringing foreign video games to the Polish market. CD Projekt Red was founded in 2002, and that name represents the development studio responsible for The Witcher and Cyberpunk games. Over time, the two names became basically synonymous in the minds of players, and while CD Projekt Red was technically a subsidiary of the broader CD Projekt, the company had a heck of a time getting anyone to recognize the difference.

Now, as part of an effort "ensure full brand consistency and facilitate the identification of the Company with its products on the global market," the whole thing is going to be known as CD Projekt Red. The announcement was buried in one of the company's recent reports, but was soon noted by Polish financial site Bankier.pl (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz).

I choose to believe that we – that is, the general gaming world – have bullied the whole of CD Projekt into appending that "Red" by resolutely refusing to recognize the company and its development house as separate entities. Remember when CDPR insisted that The Witcher 4 was not called The Witcher 4, up until the very moment it was confirmed to be called The Witcher 4? Same principle. This is the power of refusing to accept corporate brand guidelines as a restriction on actual language.

Here are all the upcoming CD Projekt Red games you need to know about.

Pray you never have to hear John Romero wish you well. The legendary Doom designer has been politely – but brutally – correcting the record on video game history for years, and this time he's here to tell us all about the reality of computer game piracy. The short version? He'd prefer that you paid developers for their games, but piracy didn't kill the beloved studios of the '90s.

Earlier this week, Sandy Petersen – another id Software veteran who worked on the original Doom – asserted on Twitter that "70-90% of Doom's players pirated it," arguing that, without the resulting lost sales, "We would literally have had so much more for our workspace and upcoming projects." If those pirates had instead purchased the game, "Quake may not have gutted id Software." He concludes that "Damn pirates are the guys who killed game companies. like Atari, Amiga, Cinemaware, 3D Realms (Duke Nukem!)"

At least, that's Petersen's version of events. It's important to note that the original Doom used a distribution model that'll be utterly foreign to modern gamers: shareware. The whole first chapter of the game was distributed for free, and players could choose to register – paying the purchase price – to unlock the rest of the campaign. This is where Romero, in the tradition he's built over the past half-decade, hopes that Sandy is doing well.

"By the mid-90s, DOOM had something like 20 million shareware installs and more than 2 million paid copies sold," Romero says on Twitter. "Those 20 million people were not 'pirates' by default. A huge number of them were playing the free episode exactly as intended. That doesn’t excuse people pirating the registered game. However, it’s important not to collapse legal shareware distribution, unpaid reach, and actual piracy into one number."

It seems Romero is suggesting that Petersen's assertion about a "70-90%" piracy rate for Doom actually includes the shareware copies of the game, which… Yes. Shareware copies were, by definition, not pirated ones.

"I also don’t think piracy is what 'gutted' id – id is still around and still making games," Romero continues. "Piracy may have cost money, but it wasn’t the reason Quake was hard or why people eventually went different ways. So yes: pay developers. Buy the games you love. Support the people who make them. But history is messier than 'pirates killed the companies.' Sometimes the same free distribution that looked like lost sales was also the thing that made the game impossible to ignore."

Game developers deserve to be paid for their work, but the notion that "one pirated copy equals one lost sale" has always been a false dichotomy. Certainly, some pirates download games instead of paying for them, but many more of them never would've bought the game in the first place. The shareware distribution model recognized that fact by giving potential players a generous portion of a game and expecting that they'd love it enough to pay for more.

That's roughly how Valve boss Gabe Newell saw the issue of piracy in 2009, when he argued that "people are happy to pay money" for "a great product delivered on their terms." I think Doom certainly qualified in the '90s, and here in the '20s, the fact that Doom games are now being sold on Steam despite easily pirated versions existing all over the internet suggests that both Newell and Romero are onto something.

Who am I to argue with the forefather of the best FPS games out there?

Despite her character's fate in season 1, Krysten Ritter is set to return in Dexter: Resurrection season 2.

Per a press release, Ritter is set to return as a guest star in season 2 after her "fan-favorite character, the vivacious and voracious Lady Vengeance (Mia Lapierre), met her demise while in prison." The nature of her demise has been a massive debate amongst fans, as the season finale gives us a teeny tiny detail that she may have faked her death.

When Dexter is trapped in Prater's creepy serial killer archive in episode 10, he opens Mia's file. The file in question lists her status as "active," leading fans to believe the whole bribing a prison guard to kill her and make it look like a suicide didn't actually happen, and that Prater's (former) assistant Charley may have helped her get away.

Uma Thurman is indeed set to return as Charley, with Brian Cox joining the cast as The New York Ripper and Dan Stevens as The Five Borough Killer. Whether Ritter is returning as Mia, or rejoining as a new character entirely, remains to be seen.

Star Michael C. Hall announced back in October that Dexter: Resurrection would indeed return, despite the cancellation of prequel series Dexter: Original Sin and the still-in-pre-production spin-off based on the flagship show's Trinity Killer.

Dexter: Resurrection season 2 does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2025 and beyond.

To put it mildly, longtime Dragon Age narrative lead David Gaider, who's long since left Bioware to become a co-founder of Malys and Stray Gods maker Summerfall Studios, is not impressed by generative AI. To put it less mildly, he reckons the technology is a "virulent plague" among games.

Speaking with GamesRadar+ as part of a larger report unpacking why so many game developers don't want to use generative AI, Gaider examines the proposed benefits of the tech alongside its observable effects.

"I think the fact that generative AI is frequently trained on data regardless of whether creators or owners have agreed to have their data pillaged in this manner opens up any use of it to all sorts of future legal issues - even if one chooses to ignore the moral implications, which one really shouldn't," Gaider begins.

It's often unclear exactly what materials AI models were trained on, but given the track records of many of the biggest companies in the space, you can safely assume that a significant chunk of that material was scraped without permission. Gaider says, "'If we're not allowed to steal whatever we need, then the AI won't work as well!' isn't a very compelling argument."

He examines one commonly supported use case for gen AI in games: the "concepting or iterating phases," where there may be no plans for AI-made assets to be included in the final game. But he sees risks even with sparing or early use. We've already seen plenty of games mistakenly ship with placeholder AI assets. "All you'd need is one lazy developer or one temp asset that's been forgotten or was placed by someone who's since left the team and you'd have an issue on your hands," Gaider says.

"Honestly, what does it help with?" he wonders. "Does it make the work more efficient? Does it improve the work? It wouldn't be so bad if generative AI was seen more as an assistant, doing the drudgery while leaving more important tasks for the worker, but we seem to be seeing more and more of the reverse: the AI is set to do the important work and the worker is around to 'clean up'.

"In all my time as a narrative designer I've never once encountered a situation where editing an inferior product took less time than simply throwing it out and redoing it would have or resulted in anything better than mediocre. And while there's potential for AI handling the drudgery, I also think we have to be very careful about not eliminating every task which is useful for training juniors. How are we going to train up the next generation of devs if we eliminate every entry-level task?"

Gaider struggles to find an angle on gen AI that doesn't render "the entire thing problematic." He sees "some potential" for it as a "useful development tool" in theory, but not in the technology we have today. "It's not ready for prime time. There's just a lot of executives who really, really want it to be," he says.

So, he doesn't want to use gen AI at all. While he hopes there's potential in it, he stresses that "generative AI is terrible at iteration" because you can't "tell it to adjust minor things and get a consistent result," which is kind of the whole point of iteration.

"It would be frustrating as hell," he continues. "I can't even imagine using it for bigger tasks like programming. How does one bug fix 'vibe coding'? What's the point of creating prototypes with AI when the result is that nobody on the team has actually learned anything about how to make the final product? Why use AI to create concepts which are inevitably going to be soulless and contain errors and which aren't going to be something your own artists can replicate? Why have systems that nobody on your team really knows how they work? I could go on and on."

And he does, indeed, go on. Gaider echoes many developers who don't wholly reject the idea of supporting development with new technology in this space, but do wholeheartedly reject gen AI as we know it today. Asked how he wants to see gen AI treated in the games industry, Gaider minces no words.

"Until some regulation is in place? Until we can be confident that it's only trained on legally sourced data? Until the people making decisions regarding its use finally realize that it's not the source of cheap labour replacement they want it to be, and don't cut off their teams at the kneecaps to force it on them while expecting unrealistic results? It should be treated like the virulent plague it is."

As Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney blasts Valve over Steam AI disclosures, dev makes those disclosures even more noticeable and hides AI-aided games in search results.

Supergirl screenwriter Ana Nogueira appears to have misinterpreted the ending of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, resulting in a very different fate for a major villain.

Warning: Major spoilers for Supergirl below!

"The ending between Kara and Krem was always in it, from the pitch, truly from the very beginning," Nogueira told Variety. "Because the comic ends with Ruthye killing him, but in the far, far future. We knew we weren’t gonna be able to do that kind of time jump, and I find it’s quite a dark ending of the comic. He essentially has changed, and she kills him anyway, because she still just has this anger, and you understand there’s this element of deserve, right?

"So, we wanted to craft a villain who would deserve this, but we also wanted Kara to really care about preserving Ruthye’s innocence, and to feel like she could take on [killing him], that she could be the one to bring justice to this man, and do it without burdening this child. It’s different for Supergirl, and I think it will feel different for audiences."

The new DC movie is based on the eight-issue limited comic series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. At the end of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #8, Ruthye appears to hit Krem over the head with her cane and leave him there alive.

Woman of Tomorrow writer Tom King confirmed this in a 2024 podcast, stating, "This is not supposed to be ambiguous. He’s supposed to be alive at the end. That’s why he grabs his head. Ruthye does not forgive him, still f***ing hates him, bops him on the head, and walks away" (via ComicBookMovie). You can check out the panel below.

The new movie, which marks the second feature-length entry in the rebooted DCU, currently sits at a 54% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, though the audience score is at a much higher 76%. Milly Alcock will appear again as Kara Zor-El in the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, which is set to hit theaters in 2027.

Supergirl is in theaters now. For more, check out our spoiler-filled breakdown of the Supergirl ending, plus a rundown of all the major differences between the DCU movie and the Woman of Tomorrow comic. You can also read our Supergirl review or see our guide on how to watch the DC movies in order.

"This is life changing for our team," developer Little Legendary recently wrote on Twitter, and it makes perfect sense. The indie studio obliterated its Kickstarter goal for pretty Metroidvania SHADE Protocol in a single day.

Little Legendary wanted to hit its $240,000 Kickstarter stretch goal earlier this month after having already ground its base goal of $40,000 into invisible specks of dust. The developer was hoping to recruit Dark Souls singer Emi Evans, best known for her work as the main vocalist for the Nier series – and suddenly, it seemed like it could after donations flooded in with a spoonful of help from Evans herself, who shared her potential involvement with the game project on Twitter.

Ultimately, "We hit 150K+ wishlists, 10K followers on Steam, and surpassed $230K on Kickstarter all in the same day," said Little Legendary in a Twitter post earlier this month, "...and THEN Emi Evans, vocalist for NieR Automata and Dark Souls amongst many other games, shares that she's a stretch goal for our game." The studio exclaimed, "Don't wake me up please!"

As of writing, SHADE Protocol can comfortably add Evans to its cast. The game has $275,420 donations and counting, nearly seven times Little Legendary's original base goal. In fact, the music for SHADE Protocol – whose Steam page describes it as a fantasy where "music, code, and combat collide" – should now be able to feature both Evans and veteran Mega Man composer / stretch goal number three Matsumae Manami. SHADE Protocol's Kickstarter also confirms the game soundtrack will feature live musicians, who were part of stretch goal five, and the game will create an explorable biome devs are calling the Codesong, or goal seven, "the foundation of all reality, a place where music and code flow and dance together as one."

It's a good sign that Little Legendary is being so deliberate in choosing its music and the environments where it plays – it seems that blood-fortifying, adventurous music is integral to SHADE Protocol's story encouraging preservation of what's left of humanity in a technological collapse. In the game, layers will guide the black tea party dress-wearing android Zura through a lost civilization where there are at least many lovely pink trees. You'll use "Instruments" to defend yourself, which Little Legendary says in SHADE Protocol's Steam description are "powerful code-based weaponry inspired by music, each serving a unique role in battle and exploration."

It seems like SHADE Protocol could be a unique approach to what another developer might turn into another cyberpunk rhythm game, or another post-apocalypse. I'm eager for something new. After discovering its smash success Kickstarter, I'm hoping to experience SHADE Protocol for myself – and clearly, other people are, too.

These are the 25 best Metroidvania games you can already play in 2026.

CD Projekt Red has revealed two profiles for Weak Kingsley and D, two of the recently announced characters for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2.

Weak and D were announced ahead of the trailer that dropped today, with CD Projekt Red social media manager Marcin Lukasewski pointing out that Weak is much older than the other edgerunners (which, according to Lukasewski, increases his relatability.

CD Projekt Red released brief character bios through YouTuber Danny Motta and Twitch streamer Gigguk, which you can see below.

"Once known as 'King,' a veteran edgerunner at the top of his game. Weak now lives in the shadow of his former glory," the first bio shares, followed by new images of the character.

"A Snake Nation netrunner with sharp technical skills and a sharper hunger for revenge, D hunts the killer who wiped out his clan," reads the second.

We don't have a plot synopsis for the new Edgerunners season, only confirmation that it'll feature a "different crew and new standalone story set in Night City," with a count of 10 episodes. We do, however, finally have that new trailer, which sees our boy D enacting what appears to be some bloody revenge, as well as another new protagonist named Roman Carrax, an aspiring filmmaker who sets out to document real stories in Night City.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 is set to hit Netflix in Fall 2026. For more, check out our picks for the best anime you should be watching right now, or, check out our list of new anime shows.

PC and mobile accessory and case maker dbrand was forced to cancel and refund all sales of its Steam Machine Companion Cube case after realizing and publicly admitting that it never got permission from Valve to make the dang thing.

In a Reddit post you'll be redirected to from the Companion Cube case's now-defunct listing page, dbrand confirms the product "was eviscerated from our website" and won't be coming back.

The Portal-inspired case began as a joke posted on the heels of the Steam Machine reveal, dbrand says, but a wave of real consumer interest sparked some hasty development and, "in the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could."

"We're going to regret that decision for a very long time," dbrand says.

Across seven months, dbrand says "more than a thousand hours went into engineering" the case, with 44 sets of injection molding tools created. "By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didn't matter," the company says. "This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization. Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it."

Dbrand even took pre-orders for the case beginning June 22. It became "the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history," but those pre-orders will be refunded today, as this was what finally triggered alarms and action at Valve.

"Shortly after, Valve's legal team reached out," dbrand adds. "They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout."

Dbrand did try to salvage the work put into all this by finally asking Valve for permission, but the company "said no." Dbrand admits that, "given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer." It also stresses that "Valve didn't do anything wrong here," and concludes by saying, "We should've asked first."

Rarely do companies publicly take eggs to the face so willingly, especially companies this established. But I suppose it is also rare for experienced manufacturers to forget about licensing for seven months.

Journalists often have to dig to get even modest acknowledgements of blame from large companies. In this case, a Reddit user responded to dbrand's statement and said, "You guys are fucking stupid, you know that?" The company replied, "Yes."

On Steam Machine, Valve engineers say "the cheaper the better," but a price drop is unlikely "any time soon."