The Legend of Zelda timeline has gotten yet another confusing new update, shifting the events leading to Breath of the Wild by 9,900 years and directly contradicting established lore. It's such an about-face for the existing story that series fans are pretty sure it's just a mistake, but the new word comes straight from Nintendo of America, which is often treated as gospel.

The Zelda timeline splits into three different branches based on the end of Ocarina of Time, but those branches all converge in the misty history leading up to the events of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Earlier this year, Nintendo updated the Japanese version of the timeline and made clear that the founding of Hyrule depicted in flashback during Tears of the Kingdom shows the start of a new Hyrule, well after the one depicted in Ocarina of Time and other games has faded into history.

Now, Nintendo of America has updated the official English-language timeline to confirm the refounding – well, I say "confirm" but I'm sure it'll remain contentiously debated among the most dedicated purists. Either way, the update has made another curious tweak to the rest of the backstory.

Up until now, we've understood the timeline depicted in Tears of the Kingdom's flashbacks like this: Hyrule is (re)founded, Ganondorf appears to invade, and is sealed away as part of the Imprisoning War. Untold generations pass, and the evil entity known as Calamity Ganon eventually emerges and ravages the kingdom before being pushed back by Sheikah technology. 10,000 years pass from that Great Calamity, and that brings us to Breath of the Wild. Calamity Ganon reemerges, Link hibernates for 100 years, and the game begins.

According to the new timeline, the Imprisoning War happens, 9,900 years pass, and then the Great Calamity happens. Then it's just 100 years before Ganon reemerges – now referred to as "the second Great Calamity" – kicking off Link's century-long hibernation leading into Breath of the Wild.

In other words, the first Great Calamity, which was originally placed 10,000 years before Breath of the Wild, now takes place just a century or two before the game's events. This is despite the fact that Breath of the Wild is full of people trying to unlock the secrets of a pre-Calamity world that's long since faded into myth.

How are Zelda fans taking the sudden break in established lore? Well, you can read the Reddit threads for yourself, but I imagine you can already guess the tone of the responses. The Zelda timeline is notoriously convoluted, and while Nintendo has kept it up since at least 2003, Shigeru Miyamoto always maintained that it's "not that important to us."

Perhaps that's why Eiji Aonuma shut down attempts to add further nods to the timeline Ocarina of Time, and why a new official timeline update can so suddenly make an astronomical shift to established lore. Don't worry – regardless of how this detail shakes out, I'm sure the timeline will be broken in all-new ways soon enough.

Nintendo pulled back the horror from one of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake's most terrifying enemies: "Maybe we've gone a step too far."

"Physical" copies of GTA 6 started shipping out to early buyers this week, including several members of GamesRadar+ staff. As players start to worry that their codes may be stolen with a bizarre flashlight trick, we had to see if we could steal our own – and honestly, I wouldn't be too worried about the possibility.

Rockstar's approach to its code-in-box release of GTA 6 is slightly different from most publishers. Rather than including the game code printed on a slip of paper in the case, the code is printed inside the back cover art itself. Social media is starting to be washed over with reports that if you shine a very bright flashlight just right into the edge of a GTA 6 case, you can make out the code without even breaking the seal on the game.

I tried the trick with my own US copy of the PS5 physical edition, and it did not work. There's a strip of camouflage patterning underneath the code that renders it unreadable from the opposite side no matter how bright a light you shine at it. My colleague Catherine tried the trick with her UK PS5 copy, and same deal – the code is unreadable through that camo pattern.

There is a catch here: not every code-in-box copy of GTA 6 has the camo strip. I've combed through unboxing videos of the game, and while I can't find any examples of US copies without the protective camouflage, some copies with a PEGI rating only have a plain black strip in the background. This, it seems, is the one that could be vulnerable to the apparent flashlight trick.

However, I haven't managed to track down anybody reporting that they've fallen victim to a stolen code. Most retailers keep their games behind locked glass cases, so a prospective code thief would probably have to buy the game, hope that it's a black background version, get an unusually powerful flashlight, shine it in, and then convince the retailer to take the game back for a refund in order for anyone to fall afoul of the potential scam.

Is that a level of trouble anyone's willing to go to in order to play GTA 6 for free? Well, yeah, I guess so. But it's also not an issue unique to GTA's code-in-box release – I've had a few occasions where I've purchased a new, "sealed" copy of a traditional physical game only to find that someone had carefully snuck the disc out of the package and returned it to the retailer where I eventually bought it.

And, well, if you're that worried, you can just buy the game digitally. Yeah, I know, I'm the exact kind of sicko who bought the physical version to have a box on my shelf and a poster on my wall, but it's not as if there's a real difference between getting the box and just doing a digital GTA 6 pre-order. Now, if there was actually a map in the box, that might be a different story.

If you're looking for optimal sound quality, check out our guide to the best headsets for GTA 6.

Somehow, some way, the PS5 has been an extraordinary sales success despite launching in the middle of a global pandemic that caused massive supply chain issues and continuing on today amidst an unprecedented memory shortage and economic headwinds driving hardware prices sky high. Despite it all, people are buying PS5s, and many of them.

Sony confirmed just this week that PS5 has hit an incredible milestone of 100 million units sold in its six years on the market. That's not quite as fast as the PS2 or PS4, but it's a much more impressive achievement when you consider one crucial difference between the current-gen PlayStation and literally every other generation before it. Typically, games consoles decrease in price throughout their life cycles, but because of the disadvantages outlined above, the PS5 has only gotten more expensive, right alongside its competitors, the Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2.

So, even though the PS5 failed to hit 100 million units sold faster than its predecessors, it still reached the record for units sold without any sort of permanent price cut from Sony. And before you head to the comments section to point out that you got a PS5 at a discount for Black Friday one year, we're talking about official, permanent price decreases from Sony, not temporary sales from retailers. That is seriously impressive considering the economic difficulties not only Sony and other hardware manufacturers are grappling with today, but consumers as well.

You could almost, almost make the case for PS5 being the first console period to hit that sales milestone without a price cut, but for the mighty Nintendo Switch. The Switch hit 100 million units sold in December 2021, and Nintendo never lowered its price globally. There was a price cut in Europe in September 2021, notably just before the Switch reached 100 million units, but it doesn't feel fair disqualifying it from claiming Sony's title for a small, regional price decrease alone.

Resident Evil Requiem's physical PS5 sales were nearly twice as large as its total Xbox sales, analyst finds

Netflix has announced that Planeswalker, an animated series based on Magic: The Gathering, will debut in 2027. The first sneak peek doesn't show much, but it does suggest that the show is taking several pages from the streamer's wildly popular League of Legends series, Arcane.

The series "chronicles the fierce clash between formidable mages known as Planeswalkers. At the center of this struggle for power and survival burns Chandra, a volatile pyromancer hunted for her gifts and haunted by her past," according to the official synopsis.

"Confronted by an insidious force, Chandra and some of the most legendary Planeswalkers must harness their extraordinary abilities, navigate treacherous alliances, and battle their own inner demons to prevent a cataclysmic war that threatens to consume their very existence. As the line between victory and annihilation grows thinner, a single spark determines the fate of thousands of worlds."

The video above is filled with concept and previsualization clips, but there are a few seconds of what appears to be near-final animation and, well, it's tough to deny a clear Arcane influence here in the character design and animation style. The series is being created by animation studio Digic Pictures, which has previously made cutscenes for games including Assassin's Creed Shadows and Call of Duty: Vanguard, and led several episodes of Amazon's Secret Level series.

Terry Matalas, who served as showrunner for VisionQuest and seasons 2 and 3 of Star Trek: Picard, will be showrunner for Planeswalker. Cindy Appel, who wrote episodes for both those shows, serves as co-showrunner. Patrick Osborne is supervising director and executive producer.

Netflix has been trying to get a Magic: The Gathering series underway since at least 2019, when the streamer announced that the Russo brothers were attached to the project. Whatever vision they had for the series seemingly fell through, as it was five years before we heard about it again – this time, led by Matalas.

In the meantime, check out our guides to the best shows on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix to find out what you should be streaming today.

Grace Ashcroft, the freshly minted protagonist of Resident Evil Requiem, has all the makings of a great video game scream queen. She overcomes immense adversity even while suffering a severe anxiety condition and she's the new face of one of the most iconic franchises in horror gaming. Capcom has yet to outright confirm she'll return in future Resident Evil games, but the actor who portrays her seems to think she will.

Grace actor Angela Sant'Albano recently took home the Golden Joystick Award for Best Lead Performer, and with Resident Evil Requiem having won Ultimate Game of the Year, it was a big night for the actor. We caught up with her during the event, and she shared her hopes for the future of Grace Ashcroft.

"I would really love to see how her relationship with Leon blossoms," Sant'Albano tells us. "I think we have a beautiful mentorship, almost brotherly, sisterly relationship brewing. And I also want to know what happens with her and Emily." Sant'Albano says she's developed a close friendship with Emily actor Emma Rose, and she wants to see Grace take on "a more maternal role and see how she carries that forward."

Throughout the absolute nightmare that Grace endures through Resident Evil Requiem, she evolves from a state of anxiety-induced paralysis to having just enough confidence to shakily defend herself with a gun, and Sant'Albano is looking forward to seeing her reach her full potential, even if she'll never be an action hero like Leon Kennedy.

"I don't think she'll ever be a Leon character. She's never going to be badass, you know, doing roundhouse kicks," she says. "But I do think her courage and her self-esteem will grow the more that she trusts herself and forgives herself for a lot of the things that I think tie her down. So I think there's a long way to go with her."

Resident Evil Veronica, a remake of Code Veronica, is the next big Resident Evil game to come after Requiem, and I think it's safe to say we won't see any Grace Ashcroft. Capcom has yet to reveal the next mainline installment, but after Sant'Albano's win at the Golden Joysticks, I think I can speak for Resident Evil fans everywhere when I say she's a fan-favorite to return in later entries.

The Last of Us inspired Resident Evil 7's course correction because the devs "wanted the critical acclaim other games were garnering," ex-Capcom senior dev says

The CEO of the publishers behind GTA 6, Take-Two Interactive, isn't quite ready to go on his victory lap just yet, but he is once again enjoying what he thinks might be the most valuable entertainment IP in the world.

Speaking to David Rubenstein, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the size of of GTA 6's impending launch. In traditional fashion, Zelnick remained pretty humble, telling Rubenstein that "we never claim success before it occurs."

In this instance, he notes, Take-Two and Rockstar have had plenty of success together. "It's true that GTA 5 was a massive hit," he admits. "It sold in over 230 million units, and we believe the Grand Theft Auto franchise as a whole is probably the most valuable intellectual property in the entertainment business, of any type, because of its enormous reach to consumers worldwide."

Zelnick's argument is a potent one, but it's also a little hard to pin down. Off the top of my head, Pokémon and Marvel have certainly generated more money, but that's admittedly off the back of many hundreds more releases (and many more decades, in Marvel's case). Clearly, however, neither of those franchises can match the billions of dollars off a single launch that GTA 6 is set to make next week, or the other billions that the long tail of GTA Online is likely to secure. Pound-for-pound, GTA certainly sends those other heavyweights back to the corner, even if the 13-year gap between releases might be hurting a little.

Despite his quiet confidence in the brand, however, Zelnick is still refusing to count his chickens before they hatch. "The team at Rockstar has been working diligently to try to create something extraordinary with Grand Theft Auto 6," he says. "I believe they will, I'm very optimistic, but as for success, we'll have to wait until November 19 and beyond."

It's that time of year when all the retailers start early-launching their Black Friday deals. The last 24 hours have seen Nintendo, Walmart, Secretlab, and now Best Buy kicking off their Black Friday offerings, but not all are made equal. In fact, after scouring the shelves at Best Buy, we've only found one Xbox Series X controller that's at a low enough price to recommend, and it's the same price at Amazon.

Fret not, gamers, because it just so happens that it's the weekend before the arrival of GTA 6, and the Xbox gamepad in question is one I've already recommended this week in my roundup of the best controllers for GTA 6.

It might be the best of a weaker selection of deals at Best Buy, but it's one I'd still happily recommend to gamers for the second time in a week - whether they're returning to video games for the first time in years, or they're sprucing up their setup to mark the occasion.

You're getting a hell of a bargain with the RXU dropping to $150. It's got Hall effect thumbsticks (which have more precision than a standard controller and are immune to stick drift), six extra buttons for you to map, and a screen and menu system built into the gamepad itself.

It also comes in a carry case with weights you can add to the grips, thumbstick width adjustments, different thumbstick tops, a cable, a charging stand, and a wireless dongle. You're getting a lot for your money here - especially when more recent options like the SteelSeries Aeon Pro are trying to charge you $100 more than this for a very similar product.

Whether you go for Amazon or Best Buy is up to you. At Amazon, you can get the RXU in either its original black colorway or in its special Xbox 360 Anniversary variant for the same $149.99 price. At Best Buy, I'm only seeing the original black version at that price.

Why would I recommend it for GTA 6? Well, it's obviously going to only be useful for Xbox players at the moment until Rockstar remembers how big the PC gaming market is, so keep that in mind. But the RXU has a lot of premium feel to it, which goes hand-in-hand with a blockbuster game you're probably going to set aside a good chunk of time to play.

Of all the controllers I've reviewed, the RXU has the best-feeling microswitch buttons I've found. A super light actuation, a short travel distance, a really satisfying, almost mouse-like click, with the sort of membrane cushioning feel you'd enjoy if you're used to Xbox and PS5 controllers from the olden days. It's also perfect if you have larger hands since it's quite a chunky controller that offers crunchy feedback through its motors. And its triggers are well-shaped for all the driving you'll do around Vice City.

Want a faster response when you're shooting? The microswitch trigger stops will see to that.

For more, take a look at the best PS5 controllers, the best PC controllers, and the best TMR controllers. We're also rounding up the best headsets for GTA 6 as well.

Oftentimes in game development, you can't be sure how something will work until you ship. In the case of Skyrim, one of the leads was certain the level cap wouldn't be a problem, and then players made it clear he had the wrong idea.

Bruce Nesmith, lead designer on Skyrim and a former longtime developer at Bethesda, told the Examined Game podcast all about his logic. "When creating the system where all the different skills would go to 100, it implied, mathematically, a level limit of 81," he explains.

"I didn't think of that," he says. "Most of the games that Bethesda produces are designed to, you've played all the content roughly around level 50. That's what we shoot for."

He qualifies this with the caveat that that's a broad generalisation, because it depends on how the players approach the game. The amount of stealth or magic you use can impact things, but you'll likely still be in the ballpark of level 50 by the time you've seen the bulk of any given Bethesda release.

"So, 81, and what do I care?" Nesmith continues. "I was wrong. The players didn't want to finish playing their character at 81 and start a new one. They had a character they loved, why couldn't they keep playing?"

This seems like a by-product of creating something as wildly popular as Skyrim. Few games will ever be as widely enjoyed and played as The Elder Scrolls 5, and that means there are plenty of people who wish the whole experience was longer.

There was a course correction, as Nesmith points out, in the Dragonborn DLC, where you could reset skills by spending Dragon Souls. This was introduced in a free update with Legendary Mode afterward.

"It wasn't my favorite mechanic the way we did it," Nesmith states. "But it worked." That it did, and it didn't slow down the RPG's momentum at all. Whatever else Bethesda's planning for The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel, I doubt there'll be a level cap, because it sounds like the team learned their lesson.

"We don't want that scenario": Skyrim had to change a major Oblivion problem, but will Todd Howard's "elegant solution" make it to The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel?

Rebel Wolves has confirmed that The Blood of Dawnwalker is getting New Game+ as part of its 1.2 update next week.

Despite a number of nominations and bringing out one of the best vampire games of the modern era, The Blood of Dawnwalker didn't pick up any awards at the Golden Joystick Awards this week. It did come close, with a second place finish in PC Game of the Year and Best Storytelling, and a fifth place finish in Ultimate Game of the Year. The ex-CD Projekt Red devs at Rebel Wolves were happy with their performance, and clearly haven't let the narrow losses faze them, as the game's next major patch is coming very soon.

As announced by Rebel Wolves on Reddit, The Blood of Dawnwalker 1.2 update releases next week. This update will include balance changes with enemy health pools and ability use being tweaked as well as terrain adjustments to improve movement around the world. But the headline act of this new update is New Game+ finally arriving in the game.

"If you completed the Epilogue, you can dive right back into Vale Sangora with New Game+." the post reads. As part of this mode, the level cap is being raised to 100, with enemies balanced and scaled accordingly. On top of that, items will receive New Game+ versions with updated stats, too.

The average playthrough of The Blood of Dawnwalker is around 25 hours according to HowLongToBeat, so this new addition should help you get even more out of what is considered "short" by RPG standards.

6 things I need from The Blood of Dawnwalker's sequel.

Sony has announced a new batch of games to be added to its QSSR initiative which brings AI upscaling tech to the base PS5 console.

As one of the daft people who purchased a PS5 Pro despite it not exactly being a necessary purchase, I will admit I've enjoyed the benefits. Resident Evil Requiem and Death Stranding 2 looked absolutely gorgeous on the console, with the former being the first game to implement the PSSR 2 upscaling. But I didn't think the PS5 Pro was entirely worth the price of admission when I bought it a few months after launch (that pre-launch Monster Hunter Wilds performance was rough on the base PS5), but I especially don't think it is now that it costs just under a grand to get your hands on one.

Sony likely has noticed that too, which is why the introduction of Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR) – with Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei getting a boost – is a welcome one. And now Sony has announced the next batch of games getting the AI-guided upscaling tech. Over the next few weeks, the tech will be implemented in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Control Resonant, The Finals, Arc Raiders, No Man's Sky, and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.

"Having seen great results integrating QSSR in Marvel's Wolverine, our team decided to bring it to Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as well," Mike Fitzgerald, Insomniac Games' head of technology says, with Spider-Man getting the update today.

Meanwhile Remedy's senior graphics programmer Erik Jansson calls the tech "the same kind of leap on the PS5 that PSSR brought to PS5 Pro," saying that "QSSR gives Control Resonant a much more stable and detailed image."

Sony says that "developers are just getting started" with the tech, and that more games should be adding QSSR support "in the coming months.

PS6 doesn't need more power, ex-PlayStation boss says, because "true innovation" would be making a $300 console again.

It's a sad reality that several major games companies have either tried to use AI in development, or are actively doing so. Pearl Abyss, the studio behind this year's Crimson Desert, can now be counted among them, confirming the technology is being integrated across the business.

The publisher and developer revealed this in a recent Earnings Letter. "We are integrating AI technologies to enhance development productivity and overall quality," Pearl Abyss writes. "AI is being utilized across various stages of development – including the automation of repetitive tasks, content creation support, and test optimization – and we are expanding its implementation throughout our entire development pipeline."

It's worth remembering, Crimson Desert players dragged the game for having apparent generative-AI assets back in March. A subsequent update removed them, and Pearl Abyss issued an apology for allowing the game to ship with those elements still intact.

Apparently that episode hasn't deterred leadership from incorporating the technology into even more facets of the design process. "We view AI not as a substitute for human developers, but as a tool to elevate development efficiency and quality," Pearl Abyss adds. "We will continue to expand our application of AI to deliver higher-fidelity games to the market more expeditiously."

That much is good to hear, but my cynicism remains. The simple fact is AI is a poor substitute for creative iteration, and while it may speed up certain parts of game production, it's far too easy for audio, visual or mechanical elements to be among the corners that wound up cut as a result of the technology.

For the time-being, fanbases are fervently against generative assets in their games. Whether they be Call of Duty, Battlefield 6 or Crimson Desert, once AI is noticed, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Pearl Abyss confirms that the upcoming Pokemon-like creature-collecting game DokeV is being made using AI to an extent.

"AI serves strictly as a tool to support concept validation and pipeline productivity, while the core gameplay experience and actual content creation remain fully driven by our development team," the letter says. Not the most auspicious update, but we'll see what emerges when the project is on show.

Crimson Desert is among the "most technically ambitious games we’ve seen" in 10 years but is overshadowed by "the same safe, conventional AAA games," says Palworld lead.

When you're shopping for gaming chairs, it's notoriously difficult to try before you buy. That's especially true when a lot of the biggest brands around the world operate through strict online-only e-commerce storefronts. Secretlab is seeking to change that, however, and one of the company's Co-Founders has told me the long-awaited shift to physical retail has been partly due to feedback they've received from people trying the brand's gaming chairs at expos and conventions.

"One thing we’ve always known at the back of our minds is there’s a difference between seeing our products online and trying them out to have that utmost confidence before you buy," says Ian Ang, Co-Founder and CEO of Secretlab.

"We’ve heard this feedback repeatedly from the event pop-up booths (such as Comic-Con, World Championship) that we’ve had through the years."

Believe it or not, Secretlab is actually no stranger to in-person experiences with its products. The brand's own HQ in Singapore also acts as a drop-in storefront and pseudo-museum for all of its products. People can visit, ask questions, try products out, and even make a purchase in person.

"There are so many small product details that we obsess over (e.g. built-in desk controllers so you don't bump into them… shape of OTTO’s base to fit our chairs..). These are many small improvements to user experiences that we don’t market, but customers can feel the overall experience once they get to try them."

As a result, Secretlab is partnering with Best Buy, dropping its products into 15 physical storefronts around the US. In addition, Secretlab is opening its very own "Experience" store in LA. The news comes right as Secretlab's Black Friday sale is just kicking off.

At Best Buy shops around the US, customers can try out a Titan Evo, feel the difference in the NanoGen model's cushioning, or even decide for themselves if the new Secretlab Atlas will suit their setup more.

"We want to offer customers more opportunities to explore, test, and learn about our full suite of products in person whether it’s at our new Experience Store or at Best Buy", says Ang.

The company's Experience Store in LA (located at 8464 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood) will be the first named retail location in the company's history, and you can even book personal consultations in the shop to get a deeper look at the thinking and engineering behind each product.

"We’ll be bringing all upcoming new launch products into our LA Experience Store, and I think customers will be especially eager to check out special edition collection drops in person," Ang told me.

"The personalized consultation booking is another service that we want to give our customers who aren’t sure about how different product combinations feel before they make the final decision."

When I asked the Co-Founder if there were plans to move into other territories and markets with other physical retail sites, he said, "Physical retail is a whole different playing field, and the toughest part is probably making the unit economics work. It’s a new experience for all of us, but we’ll do our best to make it work."

I, for one, would love to see this sort of physical retail shift also extend to the UK and European markets. As a gaming chair reviewer, I know that if people had the chance to try them before they buy, they'd likely waste less money on a pricey option that just isn't right for them. And rumour-mill feedback about each brand wouldn't become so prevalent online.

"For now, we’re starting with 15 Best Buy stores," Ang said. "We do hope to bring our products to more outlets eventually. When the lease is up for our Experience Store at Melrose Avenue, we may potentially extend it or bring it to other locations, it’s too soon to tell."

Secretlab's LA storefront opens on November 18 with a special launch event where the first 50 visitors will receive an exclusive Prize Pass for a chance to win a Secretlab MAGNUS Evo desk.

Best Buy will start displaying dedicated Secretlab spaces in its stores as of November 18, with participating stores in California, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Washington, Idaho, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Want more shopping advice this Deals season? Check out the best Black Friday Switch 2 deals, the best Black Friday PS5 deals, and the best Black Friday Meta Quest deals.

While Cyberpunk 2077 protagonist V is yours to shape, CD Projekt Red intentionally takes the wheel for narrative effect and to undermine your choices. If that feels uncomfortable, that's because it's supposed to.

Over on the ol' global town square, one fan points out that V states their preference not to smoke fairly in the game. Later on, as V's consciousness begins to merge with rocker-boy Johnny Silverhand, V smokes. It's not because they've got into the habit, but because Silverhand has done so for ages and your mind isn't entirely your own anymore.

The observation caught the attention of a very impressed quest lead, Pawel Sasko.

"Great eye my choom, that was exactly the intent — to show how slowly Johnny’s personality blends with V, through small subtle actions, and from the first confrontation when he tried to kill V transform this relationship into deep and meaningful bond, braided empathy and regret," he says.

Not everyone is on board, though. Some have replied to Sasko to say an RPG is, well, an RPG – that should mean your V is yours to shape entirely. For Sasko, though, that's even more reason to take away the sort of control you'd expect from the genre.

"But that was the point, it was meant to feel a little uncomfortable, what is happening to you," he says. "The game deals with terminal illness, it's not a voluntary state, we are using RPG game mechanics to illustrate it."

Feelings aside, it's cool that Cyberpunk 2077's small flourishes are still being uncovered and picked apart many years after launch. We've had expansions, Edgerunners-themed updates, and plenty of patches in between, but Cyberpunk 2077 has remained fairly complete narratively for a while, and as we head towards Cyberpunk 2, what better to mull over than narrative beats? I'm sure CDPR would rather people talk about that over how the game launched; that's for sure.

Cyberpunk 2077 lead wanted the 2.5 update to be "more meaningful" than what CD Projekt Red did last time for Edgerunners.

We're heading toward Path of Exile 2 going 1.0, just two years after the action-RPG first launched in early access. Once this happens the game will be free-to-play, but given its success thus far, a senior developer at Baldur's Gate 3 company Larian Studios believes Grinding Gear Games is already well and truly in the green.

He mentions as much on Twitter, in discussions over how many players Path of Exile 2 will attract once there's no price to try it out. "Path of Exile 2 is so fucking genius because they're selling so many copies it won't even matter if nobody buys anything when it goes free," Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian, writes.

"It's so good in Early Access. It is so obviously much better than Diablo 4 1.0 in its EA state," he adds. "Those guys are the absolute best at what they do."

Those are big words when it comes to expansive action RPGs, but given the playerbase, I suspect plenty would agree. Path of Exile 2's peak concurrent player count is 578,562, and that's when charging for the game in early access.

The sky seems like the limit once the full 1.0 release is here. That's a healthy community, and those are positive numbers when you're a team hoping to grow the game over a number of years before putting it out into the world.

We don't have comparable stats for any of the Diablos because they're primarily on BattleNet, and there's no steamCharts equivalent for that. But Grinding Gear Games is clearly doing something right. Douse mentions he plays the second Path of Exile "every other evening," because World of Warcraft absorbs the rest of his time.

Another way the role-playing game is proving to be a thorn in Blizzard's side. We'll see just how much that changes come 1.0 on December 11.

Death metal band refuses to let touring get in the way of WoW Forever, starts playing it during shows thanks to the Steam Deck.

Demon Slayer may be rounding out its movie trilogy over the next few years, but Aniplex chairman Atsuhiro Iwakami is thinking much further afield.

Speaking to Bloomberg (via ScreenRant), Iwakami said he aims for Demon Slayer to endure as a franchise for up to another century, perhaps much in the same way Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel have enraptured audiences across the decades.

"With Demon Slayer, it is our intent to make this last 10 or 20, if not 50 to 100 years," Iwakami said. "We want to make sure we’re part of creating the type of franchise that can withstand decades."

Tanjiro's story may have already come to a close in the pages of the manga (and will be wrapped up in the third Demon Slayer Infinity Castle film, likely before 2030), but that doesn't mean it has to end there. With Hashira aplenty through the years – and a demon scourge not likely to go anywhere – the series feels rich for mining spin-offs and side stories in much the same way the likes of Dragon Ball has done since the 1980s.

In the more immediate term, the wait goes on for Demon Slayer Infinity Castle 2. Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini told GamesRadar+ in May that it is "actively in production." Since then, no announcement has been forthcoming – though December's Jump Festa event could be the destination for those hoping for a sequel release date.

Beyond that, who knows? But Demon Slayer could be around for a very, very long time to come.

For more, we have a guide to the rest of 2026's new anime, plus a look at how to watch Demon Slayer in order. Just to get a head start on the next few decades.

Walmart has launched its own early Black Friday deals this week, and Nintendo Switch 2 players are particularly well looked after. From record-low prices on some of the biggest titles to hit the system to accessories we've never seen cheaper before, there's plenty to dive into ahead of official holiday sales.

Early Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals have been cruising on the shelves for a couple of weeks, but things are really starting to heat up now. Walmart dropped its first roster of official Black Friday doorbusters just yesterday, while other retailers are using this weekend to get into the swing of things as well.

The Switch 2 certainly has a buzz already this year. Nintendo itself announced its holiday plans this week, and Legend of Zelda Nintendo Switch 2 stock remains incredibly difficult to find. Walmart's early Black Friday deals are suitably impressive, then, with record-breaking discounts on Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild (now $53.99) and Tears of the Kingdom (now $56.69).

I've scoured the entire sale this morning, hunting down the games and gadgets we've had hands-on experience with and recommend every day. These aren't just filler discounts, though; each one represents at least the best price of the year so far.

Walmart's early Black Friday deals at a glance

• See the full gaming sale at Walmart
• Switch: games from $10.99
• PS5: games from $8.99
• Xbox: accessories from $18.99
• Headsets: SteelSeries from $39
• Controllers: Turtle Beach from $29.99

Early Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals at Walmart

We're also getting you ready for this year's Black Friday PS5 deals, but you can also check out the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories we've tested so far, as well as the best Switch 2 gifts on the market this year.

An official The Legend of Zelda website has listed the 3DS title A Link Between Worlds as available on Nintendo Switch Online, leading to speculation that the handheld's library could be coming to the service.

The Legend of Zelda fans are in a pretty good place when it comes to the series on Switch. If you have a Switch 2, you have access to every mainline entry in the series barring Four Swords Adventures, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, A Link Between Worlds, and the somehow considered mainline Tri Force Heroes. And while Four Swords Adventures and Twilight Princess are on the cards thanks to the GameCube Nintendo Switch Online app, the handheld titles are generally seen as unlikely due to their dual screens.

However, on the Zelda Game History page on the Nintendo website, some have noticed an interesting disclaimer. You can click on each game to see a blurb about it, and with the games that are available to play on Nintendo Switch Online, there's a little mark showing this. Naturally this is present on the original NES game, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and the like, however, it's also present on The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS.

Obviously, there currently isn't a 3DS app available on Switch or Switch 2, and in theory, next in line would be the Wii, DS, and 3DS before we reach the Wii U – which already has all of its major titles on Switch – and then the Switch era itself. Theoretically, A Link Between Worlds would be easier to make work than the DS duology due to the second screen effectively being a menu screen.

However, I'm not sure I'd get my hopes up. Firstly, if the Game Boy Advance is exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack users, there's no way that the 3DS would be on the regular Nintendo Switch Online subscription. And as a user on Reddit points out, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages – which is already on Switch Online and specifically as part of the non-Expansion Pack subscription – is missing its "Playable with Nintendo Switch Online" label, so it's likely somehow been mixed up with A Link Between Worlds.

That being said, it does hammer home that Nintendo is currently letting one of the best Legend of Zelda games of all-time remain unplayable on modern hardware since the 3DS store was discontinued, so a 3DS Nintendo Switch Online would be appreciated, as many of the other comments on Reddit prove.

Check out our The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review.

The Legend of Zelda might be one of Nintendo's biggest series, but according to two of the company's former marketing leads, it was in "dire straits" before Breath of the Wild, which introduced a massive open-world overhaul that left the franchise's classic formula behind.

Last week saw the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Switch 2 remake, which is already an enormous success with 5.2 million copies sold in its first four days. Notably, although it's a remake rather than an entirely new game, it shows there's still a huge appetite for the classic Zelda formula – something that Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have been discussing in a new episode of their podcast below.

Ellis and Yang – former director of social media marketing and original content, and senior manager of creator relations and original content at Nintendo of America, respectively – have been chatting about whether the Ocarina of Time remake could open the door for more traditional Zelda games going forward, as opposed to the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom-style open-world games which have served as the series' most major releases in the last nine years. While Yang would be interested in a game that combines the classic Zelda-style dungeons with the open-world format, Ellis would "like to see a modern attempt on a classic Zelda game" with that aspect left out entirely.

However, this brings him to another point – what he calls "revisionist history" of the series' releases. He calls out fans who've suggested that "the Zelda team ripped these [classic-style games] away from us at the peak of their popularity," prompting Yang to jump in: "That's ridiculous. This series was in dire straits. They were selling, like, nothing."

Ellis recalls: "I remember, I was going to the focus groups. It was a really dark moment of like, the feedback is 'the fan base is dwindling, this is not bringing in new players.'" According to him, Nintendo had "so much data" showing that "the interest in the audience was getting smaller and smaller" with every new game. As a result, he says, "They had to do something dramatic like that."

Obviously, Breath of the Wild was an enormous success – per Nintendo's data, as of the end of September, the Switch 1 version had sold a whopping 34.28 million copies, with its sequel Tears of the Kingdom coming in with 22.9 million. They're both considered some of the best Zelda games of all time, and for good reason.

But, as Ellis and Yang discuss, the Ocarina of Time remake has already proven that folks enjoy the more traditional experiences, too. I don't think we were ever at risk of Zelda going totally open world – even since Breath of the Wild's launch, we've seen the Link's Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom, as well as Skyward Sword's HD remaster, giving us new top-down and 3D releases, respectively.

Like Ellis, though, I'd be keen to see a brand new, classic-style 3D Zelda game at some point. After all, not counting remakes, remasters, and ports, the last one was technically 2011's Skyward Sword – it's fair to say we're due for something fresh.

Despite GTA 6 being pitted against Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Take-Two boss has nothing but praise – Nintendo "should be proud" as the game is "terrific."

One of the developers behind the recent PS5 jailbreak efforts says that a dump of GTA 6 is unlikely to happen.

Over the last few months, efforts have accelerated in jailbreaking Sony's latest console, with people able to install emulators for PS2 and PS3 onto PS5 and a recent clip showing the hack working on new versions of the PS5 firmware emerging online. Naturally, the question has been how quickly is GTA 6 going to be pirated by players, with a pirate store featuring over 1,600 games emerging in recent weeks.

Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, doesn't seem too worried at least, saying "the monetization takes care of itself" in regards to modding and piracy, and adding that "every entertainment business that exists is subject to some element of piracy," but that he thinks it "will be manageable."

In a post on Twitter, jailbreak developer Echo Stretch says, "I've seen so many people asking whether they should update for GTA or stay on their current firmware." But from their angle, it isn't looking entirely hopeful. "Things aren't looking good for game dumping on 14.xx , so if you're holding out for a GTA dump, good luck. Don't say I didn't warn you."

They add: "This is GTA we're talking about. We've waited a long time for this game, so just buy it and enjoy it."

Of course, with something as big as GTA 6, I have no doubts that someone will attempt to find a way. This sole game probably has more people at the ready than any other, and given it took barely any time for Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake to be running on PC after launch, I have to imagine GTA will have a similar effort behind it.

Gearing up for Rockstar's big launch? Be sure to take a look at our recommendations for the best controllers and headsets to play GTA 6.

Despite its predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender famously releasing on Nickelodeon for years and catering to a younger audience, the sequel series Seven Havens apparently isn't made for kids.

During an Avatar: Seven Havens Reddit AMA, one fan asked if the team intended to make the show more accessible to a younger audience, to which executive producer and developer Sehaj Sethi replied, "Personally, I think this show really isn’t a kids show. The themes we cover are quite dark and mature. We always intended for this show to technically be accessible to a younger audience, but also be very interesting to older viewers."

The series, which is set around 225 years after The Last Airbender sequel The Legend of Korra, Seven Havens follows twin sisters Pavi and Nisha as they uncover their Avatar origins and protect the last cities that remain centuries after the infamous apocalypse caused by Korra. But even though the show centers around children Nisha and Pavi, Sethi says "we don’t hold back on making them face truly traumatic experiences."

We can see what Sethi means. The show's themes feel very current and quite upsetting. The sisters have to contend with living in a refuge in a war-torn land hit by sandstorms and tornadoes. In the midst of their already complicated lives, Pavi now has to deal with being the new Avatar when she has been taught all her life to hate Avatars due to Korra's actions.

When the show debuted on Paramount Plus, some fans were not too happy about Korra being vilanised. But the big swing seemed to pay off, as Seven Havens debuted to a perfect Rotten Tomatoes. In our Avatar: Seven Havens season 1 review, we call the animated installment "a strong new entry for the franchise, filled with intriguing plot elements and characters," but in part it is "let down by its animation." Seven Havens has already been renewed for season 2.

Avatar: Seven Havens is streaming now on Paramount Plus. For more, see our Avatar: Seven Havens season 1 ending explained, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.