It was announced in February 2026 that Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the indie studios behind the massively successful Dead Cell franchise, is working with Konami on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. Ahead of the game's October 15 launch, Konami just announced in a Tokyo Game Show livestream that it would be releasing a demo for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse on October 1.

The demo will be available on all platforms on which the game is planned to launch—that is to say PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, and the demo will allow players buying the game on the same platform they played the demo on to keep their progress if they buy the full game. The demo will run at 60 FPS on PC and full-size consoles, but only 30 FPS on the Switch, and content and features will be restricted in the demo version. The full livestream with the demo details is available below (in Japanese).

In a new interview with IGN, Hideo Kojima says PlayStation ended its involvement in PHYSINT during a Zoom call in June. He says Sony gave no reason, though he also admits he didn't ask many questions during the meeting, and that Sony hasn't been in touch since. Kojima stressed the two are "not in a dispute" after roughly 30 years together, but added that he would have liked to hear the decision a little earlier. His studio then spent three months looking for a new partner before landing at Xbox, which it was already working with on OD. Apparently, the interview was conducted before Bloomberg's report on the split came out.

That report cited unnamed sources claiming PHYSINT was behind schedule and heading over budget, and that the Death Stranding games missed PlayStation's revenue expectations. Kojima Productions has since called the claims unverifiable and said it is healthy and profitable. Asked whether PHYSINT could still come to a Sony platform, Kojima said he doesn't know and that it's a question for Xbox. He added that he thought Xbox wanted to reach as many players as possible, but he wasn't sure and said more would be announced later. It looks like the game's platforms are still undecided.

The RPCS3 team says it found a workaround for an NVIDIA driver bug that was holding back performance in the popular PlayStation 3 emulator on GeForce cards. Contributor "Yahfz" reportedly tracked the issue down, and the fix apparently boosts frame rates by up to 37% depending on the game and GPU, while also cutting VRAM usage in some titles. AMD GPUs are not affected, since RPCS3 says the bug is specific to NVIDIA's drivers. RPCS3 also said it has tried reaching NVIDIA through developer forums about this and other driver bugs, without much luck, and is hoping for a more direct line of communication going forward.

The numbers RPCS3 posted on X are pretty striking. A Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with an RTX 5070 reportedly saw Gran Turismo 5 jump from 107 FPS to 147 FPS, a 37% gain, while VRAM usage dropped from 7.1 GB to 4.8 GB. Other pairings showed smaller gains: a Core i9-13900K with an RTX 3080 gained around 20% in one Red Dead Redemption test scene, and even an aging GTX 1060 with an i7-7700HQ reportedly saw roughly 10-20% improvements in Saints Row titles. Actual gains will apparently vary a lot by game and hardware, so it's probably worth tempering expectations a bit until more testing rolls in. Nonetheless, it looks like NVIDIA users emulating PS3 games get a solid free performance bump, though a proper fix from NVIDIA's side would still be the better long-term outcome.

The PlayStation 2's last big hardware secret has finally been cracked open after 26 years. Canadian retro hardware enthusiast DiscoStarslayer has successfully reverse-engineered the CXP102064 MechaCon chip, the security chip inside the original PS2 that governs the console's optical drive and its anti-piracy protections. It took four years of chemical decapping, optical dumping, and reading silicon circuitry under a microscope before an exploit turned up that finally let the chip's data be pulled out through software. DiscoStarslayer shared the milestone on X, crediting a collaborator named Libby with finding the actual exploit that unlocked the chip's contents.

The MechaCon also shows up in a handful of PS2-based arcade boards, including Namco's System 246 and System 256 and Konami's Python 1, so the reverse-engineering work could matter well beyond the console itself. With the chip's inner workings now documented, PS2 emulation projects and homebrew development should get noticeably easier going forward. Moreover, there's a decent chance this eventually enables a proper optical drive emulator (ODE) for the console, something fans have wanted for years.

PS5 emulator KytyPS5 has added another PlayStation 5 exclusive to its compatibility list, with Astro's Playroom now booting into gameplay. YouTuber Unreal Gaming shared footage of the pack-in platformer running on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 4080, the same rig used in KytyPS5's earlier tests. Astro's Playroom ships pre-installed on every PS5 and serves as an interactive intro to the DualSense controller, so getting it running is a solid emulation milestone, even if performance is still lagging. Apparently the game drops below 30 FPS fairly often, though the clip shows no crashes, which puts it slightly ahead of some other recent KytyPS5 tests.

The emulator has previously gotten the PS5 build of GTA 5 running at up to 60 FPS, and separately showed rapid progress with Demon's Souls Remake. Both titles, however, along with Astro Bot, have their own performance and crashing issues. Given that PS5 emulation is still in its early days, performance across these titles will probably keep climbing. Hardware demands remain steep either way. A Ryzen 7 9800X3D has become something of a baseline for these PS5 emulation runs, given how CPU-bound the process is. Still, the pace with which these updates are coming out suggests development isn't slowing down.

When we introduced Pulse Elite in 2024, our first wireless headset featuring planar magnetic drivers and PlayStation Link connectivity, we saw positive feedback from players who enjoyed the greater precision, clarity, and level of detail it brought to their games and entertainment. Today, we're excited to share a first look at our refreshed lineup of PS5 audio products: PlayStation Pulse Wireless Headset and Pulse Edge Wireless Headset.

Superior sound quality remains at the heart of the new headset lineup, with custom studio-inspired planar magnetic drivers that deliver exceptional sound separation and spatial accuracy. This makes it easy for players to pinpoint directional cues, such as footsteps or reloads in competitive first-person shooters. Larger planar drivers have been added to PlayStation Pulse and Pulse Edge headsets, creating fuller, deeper bass, while keeping the clean sounds players have enjoyed from Pulse Elite.

Andy Nguyen, the developer behind the PS5 Linux project that released earlier in 2026, has officially declared that he will be stepping away from the PS5 modding scene before the release of support for Linux on the PS5 Pro that was under development.

In an emotionally charged message on X, the developer said that his work is "all down the sink," thanks to changes in the PS5 modding community heralded by LLM coding assistants. He explains that the modding scene is now "just a bunch of noobs using LLMs and writing hacks they don't even understand," going on to say that "slop kiddies" found the last remaining Hypervisor bug in the PlayStation 5 Pro and reported it to Sony.

Following previous reports that Kojima Productions had split from PlayStation on the production and publication of Physint, with the studio eventually landing at Xbox for the upcoming stealth action game, new insider reports claim that there were behind-the-scenes issues that pushed PlayStation to cancel Physint.

According to notorious insider, Jason Schreier, at Bloomberg, insiders at PlayStation say that the game was behind schedule and projected to be over budget. Kojima Productions had allegedly already missed deadlines during the game's development. The journalist explains that another major factor was the commercial performance of Kojima's Death Stranding games, which apparently did not meet PlayStation's expectations. The report also confirmed that, as TechPowerUp theorized in our previous reporting on the Physint drama, there was no platform exclusivity guarantee for Sony.

Data shared by analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics suggests physical discs still account for a meaningful share of revenue for PlayStation's biggest exclusives, even as Sony winds down disc production starting in 2028. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 pulled in $1.2 billion overall, with 35% of that coming from discs. Ghost of Yotei sits close behind at nearly 40% of its $400 million in revenue coming from discs. Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, and Death Stranding 2 all land in a similar 32% to 47% range. Helldivers 2 is the clear outlier, with physical copies covering just 8.3% of its $235 million in revenue, but that's to be expected from a multiplayer game.

As the numbers suggest, Sony's big-name exclusives still have a sizeable audience that leans towards physical discs. Meanwhile, Sony seems to be getting more careful about its bets. Concord's cancellation reportedly cost over $300 million, and titles like Marathon, Saros, Marvel Tokon, and Lego Horizon Adventures all landed softer than hoped. Marvel's Wolverine, one of the studio's biggest remaining tentpoles, just settled at 78 on Metacritic after its review embargo lifted, matching last year's Days Gone Remaster and falling short of prestige expectations.

Physint is an upcoming stealth action game by Kojima Productions and written by Hideo Kojima, originally slated to be published by PlayStation. It was originally announced at a 2024 PlayStation State of Play, but as of a recent announcement on the Kojima Productions site, Physint will now be published in partnership with Xbox.

As explained in a follow-up post by Hideo Kojima on X, PlayStation had decided to cancel Physint in mid-June 2026, although no reason was publicly disclosed for the cancellation. Following Sony pulling out of the project, Kojima Productions searched for a new publishing partner for three months, ultimately landing on Xbox, citing that the two companies "share a common vision for the future."

Valheim launched into Steam Early Access in February 2021 and quickly garnered attention, launching with over 500,000 peak concurrent players on Steam and still counting over 20,000 daily concurrent players at the time of writing. Now, over five years after the Early Access launch, the open-world survival-craft game is finally launching out of Early Access, with a slew of new content and a new biome in-tow.

Aside from new content, including weapons, new traversal options, a new dungeon type, and a new mount, among others, Valheim 1.0 also sees the game get an official Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 launch, and it makes cross-play available for all platforms. The update officially launches on September 9 on all platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

It has long been thought that there would be a long delay between the console and PC launches of Grand Theft Auto VI—GTA V launched to consoles a whole two years ahead of the PC port—however, the unprecedented times facing the PC and console hardware markets may be enough to pressure Rockstar into moving the PC launch of GTA VI ahead, according to recent rumors.

In a recent appearance on the VGC Podcast, Andy Robinson mentioned during a discussion about the ongoing gaming hardware situation that he thinks "they'll push the PC version up," referring to GTA VI. He went on to say that "There's a bit of noise about that. That perhaps the PC version might arrive sooner than some people might expect, just because of everything that's going on," suggesting high demand—some of which is induced by GTA VI itself—may drive Rockstar Games to release the PC port sooner.

RPCS3, the popular open-source PlayStation 3 emulator, now lets you play games straight off a physical Blu-ray disc, without dumping to a hard drive or SSD. The team announced the change on X, calling it "plug and play," and noted it works with games released as far back as 20 years ago without needing to reach out to any servers. A compatible Blu-ray drive is still required, and RPCS3 keeps a running list of supported models from LG, ASUS, Samsung, Lite-On, Sony, HP, Plextor, and BenQ on its site. The feature started out Windows-only but has since been extended to Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD as well, and package installations run from the disc drive are apparently faster now.

PS4 and PS5 owners running Linux can reportedly even launch PS3 games directly from a disc through RPCS3. Credit for the work goes to contributors digant73 and Megamouse, according to the RPCS3 team. Sony is ending physical disc production for new PlayStation games starting January 2028, so RPCS3 pulling in the opposite direction seems rather intentional. The project also added Steam library integration a while back, letting emulated games launch like any other title in your library to further reduce friction. This new update is another step towards increasing convenience, and it's definitely a nice little boost for owners of PS3 physical media.

At the latest PlayStation State of Play, Sony and Konami announced an upcoming action game, Rhapsody in Scarlet, set in an alternate 1920s New York filled with magic, monsters, and mayhem. The game was announced via the State of Play and a post on the PlayStation Blog, but it will not be a PlayStation exclusive, although an official launch date has not yet been set. Rhapsody in Scarlet will be a single-player, third-person game, and it looks to be launching on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series X|S consoles.

In Rhapsody in Scarlet, players step into the shoes of Ellie, a young mage with who has come to New York to pursue a jazz career before getting entwined in a mysterious mafia plot involving magic and conspiracy that could result in the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Konami says that its goal with Rhapsody in Scarlet was to offer a unique twist on the action game genre.

Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. today announced the GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT is coming this March, introducing a brand-new timeline in the Gundam saga, where humanity fights for survival against an unknown threat in a fast-paced, narrative-driven action game. In the game, developed by Bandai Namco Studios Inc., players fight epic battles across the solar system in a powerful new Mobile Suit. GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT will launch on March 5, 2027, with preorders available now for PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC via Steam, and is available for preorder now in Standard, Launch, Deluxe, and Collector's Editions.

The new trailer reveals more of the world and story of GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT, with new gameplay footage showcasing customized Mobile Suits, newly introduced characters, and a mysterious black Mobile Suit with glowing red eyes. Players take control of the Gundam Helix as ace pilot RE-X, joined by Vii, a Haro unit that serves as a general-purpose intelligent assist unit built specifically for the Gundam Helix. Together, they stand against the Apocalypse.

Sony has filed its response to a proposed class action lawsuit over how the PlayStation Store discloses its digital licensing terms. The company's stance is that no reasonable buyer expects to actually own a digital game. The suit, Heycock v. Sony Corporation of America, was filed on June 18 by four PlayStation owners in the Northern District of California. It alleges that Sony's checkout violates AB 2426, a California law requiring clear disclosure when a digital purchase only grants a license. Sony's August 21 response argues that "reasonable consumers would not be misled" into believing they own their games, since buyers agree to the Software Product License Agreement (SPLA) before purchase, which states plainly that "the software is licensed to you, not sold."

To support the point that digital ownership "is not plausible," Sony's lawyers cite two of the plaintiffs' own purchase histories: Jason Mendoza bought Resident Evil Requiem on February 14, 2026, and Edward Heycock bought the same digital copy for $69.99 just 11 days later. If ownership was genuinely transferred at purchase, Sony argues that Heycock's transaction couldn't have occurred, since Mendoza would already own it. Judge Vince Chhabria is set to hear both the arbitration motion and Sony's fallback dismissal argument on October 1 in San Francisco. Sony has confirmed it will stop producing physical PlayStation discs for new releases starting January 2028, leaving digital licenses as the only option for future titles.

ProbablyMonsters, an independent video game company creating original AA games with AAA sensibilities, today launched Crimson Moon on PC via Steam and Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for $19.99 USD. A $29.99 USD Deluxe Edition is also available and includes an exclusive armor set, weapon cosmetic, and upcoming game expansion.

Crimson Moon is a gothic high renaissance action-adventure RPG built around intense, replayable missions that blend brutal precision with deep character progression. Players take on the role of the Nephilim, powerful human-angel hybrids bound to a dark prophecy and charged with reclaiming the besieged city of Gildenarch from a horde of demons, undead, vampires, and Hellgrowth abominations.

JSAUX GAMING today officially launched two products from VOIDJOY, its controller-focused sub-brand: the VOIDJOY SkyLark S1 Pro Portable Controller and the VOIDJOY Elite Extender for Switch Pro Controller.

The launch expands JSAUX GAMING's product portfolio into gaming control hardware and accessories, offering new options for portable and console gaming setups. The VOIDJOY lineup will be showcased at IFA 2026 in Berlin from September 4 to 8 at booth H7.2b-117.

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders jumped sharply after Rockstar's extended gameplay look aired on Netflix, according to new estimates from Sensor Tower. The analytics firm says pre-orders rose 436% on August 27, the day of the showcase, compared to the day before. That momentum carried into August 28, pushing the two-day increase to 572% against the prior 30-day average. PlayStation 5 accounted for the bulk of the surge, with PS5 pre-orders up 606% on the 27th alone, while Xbox Series X|S pre-orders rose a comparatively modest 127%. PS5 has led Xbox in GTA 6 pre-orders since Sensor Tower began tracking reservations in June, shortly after Rockstar officially opened pre-orders for the game.

Sensor Tower's cumulative estimate now stands at roughly 4.86 million pre-orders worldwide, worth close to $476 million, with PlayStation buyers accounting for about 77% of that total. Take-Two has not confirmed exact figures, though CEO Strauss Zelnick has previously said demand for the $100 Ultimate Edition has outpaced the standard $80 version. Rockstar has kept a tight grip on gameplay reveals since GTA 6's earlier trailers, so a 26-minute showcase was always going to move the needle. Sensor Tower's own analysts have also suggested the current Ultimate Edition divide is unlikely to hold once mass-market buyers start pre-ordering closer to release, which could shift these percentages again before launch.

PS5 Pro consoles have all but vanished from major US retailers in the wake of GTA 6's extended Netflix reveal, with third-party sellers on Amazon and Walmart charging as much as $1,300 for units that normally go for $899. PlayStation Direct remains the lone major US retailer still selling at MSRP, while Best Buy and Target have sold through their stock entirely. eBay listings for new consoles have reportedly hit as high as $1,200, though there's no telling how many buyers are actually paying these scalper prices.

GTA 6 is confirmed to include PS5 Pro enhancements, though Rockstar hasn't detailed what those improvements actually are. Given how CPU-bound the console is, it's unlikely the Pro pushes GTA 6 past 30 FPS, so buyers chasing the "best" experience may be paying a hefty premium for a smaller gain than they expect. Sony is expected to restock retailers ahead of GTA 6's November 19 launch. For now, anyone not in a rush is probably better off waiting than paying a $400+ markup on a console that may not even hit a stable 40 or 60 FPS in the game.

We recently reported that Xbox's disc-to-digital entitlement program and the new CEO's refusal to address questions about Helix's disc drive suggested that the gaming giant was moving towards a new all-digital future, starting with Project Helix. However, a competing rumor—via Eurogamer Spain—appears to be taking shape, claiming that there is internal chatter at Xbox about Helix being "100% physical."

The same report from Eurogamer claims that this rumor has placed pressure on Sony, who has already seen massive player backlash over its decision to end physical media production, to postpone its shift to all-digital consoles. The rumor claims that PlayStation has "realized it is leaving an opening for other market players to shift their strategy," by announcing the end to physical media early, with Microsoft being mentioned as one of the key "market players." The suggestion is that the December 31, 2028 deadline for an all-digital PlayStation ecosystem would be pushed back by "one or two years."

As expected, there has been a lot of chatter online about The Witcher 4 since it was announced that the game was in full development at CD Projekt Red. Now, as per an interview Game Developer, CD Projekt Red's Michał Nowakowski has revealed what he meant when he said that the studio had learned from the launch of Cyberpunk 2077: The Witcher 4 already runs on all of the target systems—PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.

Michał Nowakowski, co-CEO of CD Projekt RedYou come to the studio, you launch Witcher 4 right now. You can launch it on PC. You can launch it on PS5. You can launch it on Xbox Series X, and it's going to run...

It's been known for a while that Wizards of the Coast has been working on a new game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, and at Gamescom Opening Night Live, it revealed Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, a single-player, third-person RPG under development at Invoke Studios. The game follows Kaatri, a warrior who makes a pact with Tasha, The Witch Queen, in order to find someone she loves.

The pact the player makes with Tasha allows her to perceive raw magic throughout the world and access it and a new set of forbidden magic, spells, and weapons. As players embark on their journey, they will discover and develop those magical abilities, facing deception and peril along the way. In the eight-minute gameplay reveal shown off at Gamescom, we got a look at Kaatri's new supernatural abilities, which serve her just as well in combat as they do in traversing and exploring the world of Darkon and solving puzzles as she goes.

Publisher Kalypso Media and Realmforge Studios, acclaimed developers of the Dungeons series, have today announced their new title Rise of the Spellbaker, set in a world full of magic, fairy tales, and the delightful smells of freshly baked goods.

Coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and PlayStation 5 in 2027, Rise of the Spellbaker follows a Witch who finds herself the sole survivor of an unknown plague. With only her loyal cat familiar by her side, she must set forth into the corrupted land and fight back the insatiable Rot by awakening the powerful magic of spellbaking from forgotten recipes.

Yesterday, during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, Ubisoft announced Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake, a modern reimagining of the critically acclaimed turn-based strategy classic. Developed by Ubisoft China studios in Chengdu and Shanghai, the game will launch in 2027 on Ubisoft+, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation and PC through Ubisoft Connect, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake offers endless hours of epic adventure, elevating the original's timeless gameplay to modern standards and delivering its iconic blend of turn-based strategy, RPG hero progression, and tactical grid combat. Building on that foundation, the remake introduces a range of quality-of-life improvements and new features, such as enhanced planning and decision-making tools, making for a more intuitive experience while staying faithful to the original.