Games news

• A video game can change the brain, may improve empathy in middle schoolers

  09-08-2018 23:50
  A fantastical scenario involving a space-exploring robot crashing on a distant planet is the premise of a video game developed for middle schoolers by researchers to study whether video games can boost kids' empathy, and to understand how learning such skills can change neural connections in the brain.
  
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• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis isn't classic Lara Croft, but it manages to dodge the worst excesses of modern action game hand-holding

  02-09-2026 15:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis has an unenviable task before it. Reimagining a 30-year-old game for a modern audience is no mean feat, but in a genre that has moved on so far and with a heroine who has become such an icon, the line that must be threaded between the new and the old is a veritable tightrope. Too far one way and you'll recreate a now-outdated experience in too much veracity to warrant its existence. Too far the other way and you risk excising what made Tomb Raider interesting, lum
  
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• Lego Skylines' blend of city building and Lego click-clack needs to be heard to be believed

  02-09-2026 15:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  The second Lego Skylines was announced, I could hear it. That click-clack of speed-building Lego sets has become synonymous with cozy joy for kids and grown-ups alike, particularly on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Lego Skylines takes the kind of setup you see in the dad's basement in The Lego Movie and takes it city-wide, putting industrial-scale creation in your hands for a fraction of the cost (and floor space). However, just because it's a Lego game doesn't mean it's a city builder for kids. I've
  
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• As it arrives on Disney Plus, I still think releasing The Mandalorian and Grogu in theaters was the right move for Star Wars

  02-09-2026 14:30 via gamesradar.com
  
  The Mandalorian and Grogu are coming home. Four months after the Star Wars film brought the saga back to the big screen for the first time in seven years, the Razor Crest is touching down on Disney Plus this September 2. The film arrived a lengthy three years after its (less well-received) third season and didn't quite set the box office on fire. It scored a reasonably low 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many have questioned the wisdom of turning a streaming show into a theatrical movie – or c
  
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• Nvidia says it's only targeting "photorealistic" games with DLSS 5, but am I the only one who thinks "realistic" visuals are worse?

  02-09-2026 14:21 via gamesradar.com
  
  Back in the 2010s, it felt like we were witnessing a race to the most "realistic" graphics possible. As consumer hardware and game dev tools got more powerful, the piss filter faded into obscurity as lens flare, more detailed textures, and a push to make the most of next-gen gaming PCs came to the fore. We saw an influx of video games striving for a hyper-realistic look back in those days, that were inevitably followed by even better-looking remasters of themselves as time went on. For a while t
  
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• Plain is the name of the game for the Orzly Carrying Case, but this impressive Switch 2 accessory is proof that looks can be deceiving

  02-09-2026 14:12 via gamesradar.com
  
  Orzly has been knocking out cases since the original Nintendo Switch was all we knew. For years, the brand has provided options for those who want more color variety, plenty of game and accessory storage, and a way to protect and carry their pricey Ninty tech without spending more than they have to. When the new generation of Ninty tech arrived, naturally so did a new Orzly case, and I was eager to see if it would take the best Nintendo Switch 2 case crown. While the brand hasn't rocked the boat
  
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• Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance shows off the new Boost mechanic, and every Devil May Cry fan is thinking the same thing

  02-09-2026 14:03 via gamesradar.com
  
  Capcom has released some more footage of Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance's new Boost Bracer mechanic, and Devil May Cry fans are all thinking the same thing. The Capcom Showcase later this month surely has to show more of Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance, given that – outside of Mega Man: Dual Override and the Dragon's Dogma 2 DLC – Capcom's major releases for this year are all out. Ahead of it (and Tokyo Game Show) the devs are releasing some short videos showcasing the new mechanics
  
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• Former Dragon Age lead says Baldur's Gate 3 studio Larian is taking a "risk" by making Divinity right after its 2023 RPG hit, but he applauds the devs for it

  02-09-2026 13:57 via gamesradar.com
  
  Mark Darrah, a former longtime developer at BioWare who served as executive producer on Dragon Age Origins, 2, and Inquisition, has some words of wisdom for the Baldur's Gate 3 devs Larian Studios. He believes the company's taking a bit of a risk with Divinity, but it's avoiding mistakes his former employer made in the process."The question I would have for Larian is did their core shift with Baldur's Gate 3?" he says on The Examined Game podcast. "Did they take a big step, with meaning to or no
  
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• Yet another faux CRT TV just hit Kickstarter, but I'm not convinced it'll actually help you "relive the glory days of console gaming"

  02-09-2026 13:47 via gamesradar.com
  
  After being shunned for plasma and LCD in the 2000s, CRT TVs are once again desirable. The only issue is that while retro gamers have spent the past decade hunting down working tubes and keeping them in the home, there's now a shortage after that initial household cathode ray cull. Yes, that means there's a big old gap in the market now that tube sets are all the rage again, so I'm not surprised there's now a faux Sony PVM on Kickstarter.Here's the thing: while the TRAVELLER-ULW10 by Unico looks
  
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• Fields Of Mistria 1.0 – All Monsters And Drops

  02-09-2026 13:21 via gamespot.com
  
  All of Fields Of Mistria's combat takes place in The Mines, just up from The Narrows. There's a lot more to mining than fighting enemies--check out our Fields Of Mistria mining guide for more details--but some of the best resource drops can only be found after defeating a monster. You'll also need some of these monster-specific resources to advance further into The Mines as the story progresses, so make sure you keep one of everything back at the farm until you're sure you don't need it, as hunt
  
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• New Lego Harry Potter sets based on the HBO series are coming "so, so soon"

  02-09-2026 13:09 via gamesradar.com
  
  Fans have long suspected it, but it's now official that new Lego Harry Potter sets based on the upcoming HBO series are brewing. Revealed via the Back to Hogwarts livestream that went up in time for September 1 (AKA the day Hogwarts students traditionally return to school in the books and movies), the toy-maker confirmed that it was indeed working on a series of Lego Harry Potter sets inspired by the HBO show. While we don't know what those will be just yet, the teaser did give us our first look
  
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• Cronos: Lazarus finally lets me become the monster in Bloober Team's sci-fi survival horror

  02-09-2026 13:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  There's a moment within many survival horror games where the player goes from terrorized to terrorizer. From 2019's Resident Evil 2 to last year's Silent Hill f, the process of prey becoming predator is a satisfying transition that refreshes the gameplay experience and improves replayability. Cronos: Lazarus is a DLC seemingly built upon this premise, and the result is an action-focused experience that I'm desperate to dive back into. Cronos: The New Dawn – Bloober Team's time-bending sci-
  
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• Square Enix Shares Jumped On Buyout Rumors, But The Company Says It’s Not Happening

  02-09-2026 12:54 via gamespot.com
  
  Following a report that Square Enix was potentially exploring going private, the company behind hit franchises like Final Fantasy has released a statement denying the claims. Japanese business magazine Sentaku originally reported that Square Enix was exploring this possibility and that foreign investment funds were rumored to be interested in a deal, which saw Square Enix's stock rise by 7%."The September issue of the monthly magazine Sentaku carried a report regarding the possibility of Sq
  
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• New Tides of Annihilation star isn't aiming to copy Baldur's Gate 3 actor Jennifer English, director says: "Both of them have their own unique style"

  02-09-2026 12:53 via gamesradar.com
  
  Upcoming action game Tides of Annihilation hit an unfortunate road bump in July, when it was revealed Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Jennifer English had to abdicate the lead role due to her health. Resident Evil Requiem star Angela Sant'Albano is now voicing Gwendolyn, but studio Eclipse Glow Games wasn't looking for the same kind of performance from the newer performer."We believe both of them have their own unique style, and we respect and we appreciate their different
  
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• Dragon's Dogma 2 update finally gives the RPG the performance boost it desperately needed, and it's so good that it's even lowered the PC system requirements

  02-09-2026 12:48 via gamesradar.com
  
  Dragon's Dogma 2 has finally got its long-awaited performance patch, and players are over the moon about how the game runs. Dragon's Dogma 2 is a great game, one of the best open-world games in my eyes, and was my game of the year back in 2024. Despite that, it garnered a lot of criticism over many of its aspects, namely some of the punishing mechanics and friction it imposed on the player with the limited fast travel and Dragonsplague – a disease that could wipe out an entire village of N
  
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• Mario Kart 8 gets major Switch 2 update, leaving Mario Kart World in the dust and further solidifying the 12-year-old racing game as Nintendo's favorite child

  02-09-2026 12:27 via gamesradar.com
  
  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's upgraded take on the 2014 Wii U game, just got a new update for the Switch 2… while Mario Kart World, its more recent entry in the racing game series, sits stagnant.As per Nintendo's official patch notes, Version 4.0.0 is here for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with plenty for Switch 2 players to look forward to.
  First and foremost are "clearer visuals," as the update finally adds "support for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs" – something I'
  
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• The best gaming tech we've reviewed in August 2026

  02-09-2026 12:23 via gamesradar.com
  
  1234Shop the collectionShop the collection1LEVELHIKETime Breaker Light Gun$129.99$157.622CorsairCorsair HS35 V3$79.993ELOELO Vagabond $97.994JSAUX GAMING6-In-1 Gaming Dock for Switch 2$59.99Another month of 2026 down, and this summer's tech has hit everything from retro light guns to mid-range CPUs that perform more like flagships. We've been thoroughly ignoring the sun this month, swapping hot weather for controllers, headsets, Switch 2 docks, microphones, SSDs and more. Our top tech this month
  
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• Persona 4 Revival makes some dialogue more "modern," but "the characters are all the same people," lead says: "We haven't changed any parts of their personalities"

  02-09-2026 02:20 via gamesradar.com
  
  Much has been said about Persona 4 Revival's faithfulness to the beloved original JRPG from 2008, including its themes which some would say are more relevant than ever, but this isn't just a new coat of paint. For instance, the entire English voice cast has been replaced because Atlus struggled to wrangle the original crew, and now we're learning that some of the OG dialogue has been re-written to be clearer and more modern."When we looked back at older scripts that we wrote for older games, we
  
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• Sony To Pay Out Nearly $8 Million In Class-Action Settlement Over Game Prices

  02-09-2026 01:15 via gamespot.com
  Sony is set to pay out nearly $8 million to PlayStation customers as part of a settlement regarding digital game prices. The settlement (via IGN) comes after Sony's motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied, and settlement class members across a more-than-four-year period are potentially eligible for a payment.
  The lawsuit, originally filed back in 2024, alleged that Sony established a monopoly over PlayStation Store prices by making publishers "cede control over the final price to Sony" and that
  
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• Skyrim and Fallout made Bethesda devs feel "safe" from mass layoffs before Xbox ended decades-long careers in two-minute meetings

  01-09-2026 23:52 via gamesradar.com
  
  Bethesda is among the many game studios affected by the ongoing mass layoffs at Xbox, which are set to cut 3,200 jobs by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. At least 1,600 employees have already been let go, including Skyrim and Fallout veterans with decades-long careers like Christiane Meister and Ray Lederer. It apparently was a rude awakening for staff at the storied studio, who'd hoped their work on such legendary franchises would insulate them from Microsoft's cost-cutting."There was an impend
  
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• The GTA 6 extended look was Netflix's most-watched title for the week with 31.1 million views

  01-09-2026 23:46 via gamesradar.com
  
  We finally have some official viewership numbers coming out of Netflix's GTA 6 extended look, and wouldn't you know it, it was absolutely massive.Rockstar took an unconventional approach in revealing its most in-depth GTA 6 trailer so far by making it exclusive to Netflix for a few hours before unleashing it elsewhere online. Temporarily locking the showcase behind a paid subscription was a potentially risky move, but it seems to have paid off in a big way, with Netflix reporting 31.1 million vi
  
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• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation boss is "very much aware" you hate Chadley for being a socially inept doofus, but he will soon have "a very integral part" in the story anyway

  01-09-2026 22:57 via gamesradar.com
  
  Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi knows exactly what you were thinking as you played the existing two installments of the remake trilogy: get this robot pee pee pants Chadley off my screen now and forever, I banish thee. But you're going to have to try to adopt a more positive mindset. The unhelpful assistant humanoid Chadley is returning for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, due in 2027, and Hamaguchi teases that the golden-haired nuisance might be more critical to your story than e
  
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• Wishlist Dragon’s Dogma 2 Dark Arisen And You Could Win A Steam Deck OLED

  01-09-2026 22:51 via gamespot.com
  
  When Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched back in 2024, it quickly became one of my favorite RPGs of all time. I still look back on it with fondness, and time hasn’t changed my opinion. The chaos of climbing a beast that should crush you with a gentle push of a finger and stabbing away at its weak points alongside your party cannot be beaten. It’s one of the most satisfying combat mechanics in gaming. The impressive-looking Dark Arisen expansion promises to bring improvements alongside a
  
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• New Street Fighter trailer brings action, camp, and some of the game's most iconic moves to life

  01-09-2026 22:19 via gamesradar.com
  
  A new Street Fighter trailer has arrived, and while it's a bit less action-comedy in tone than the first, it sure as heck brings the drama and some of the coolest fighting moves from the video games to life.The brief clip, which can be viewed above, leans heavily into Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken's (Noah Centineo) tumultuous relationship and begins with an all-out fight. It's Chun-Li (Callina Liang) who encourages Ryu to enter the World Warrior Tournament, and it's all with the intent of taking dow
  
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• CD Projekt "never thought about" charging The Witcher 3 owners for the remaster: "This is the CDPR way"

  01-09-2026 22:19 via gamesradar.com
  
  The Witcher 3 Remastered launches later this month as a free update for all existing owners of the RPG. It's a meaty update with a load of improvements, including freshly revamped combat. CD Projekt Red might even have been forgiven for treating it as an all-new game and charging existing Witcher 3 owners for the privilege of paying for it. But joint CEO Michał Nowakowski says that possibility was never even on the table."I don't think it was ever a thought we even had," Nowakowski tells Th
  
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• Resident Evil Movie Popcorn Bucket Is Gross But Fitting

  01-09-2026 22:04 via gamespot.com
  
  Like most big movies these days, the upcoming Resident Evil movie from Weapons director Zach Cregger will have its own dedicated popcorn bucket, and now it's been revealed, at least for one theater chain.People who see Resident Evil at a Regal theater will be able to buy a popcorn bucket themed after an organ-transport bag like the one Austin Abrams' character has in the movie. The popcorn bucket can hold a large order of popcorn and the fine print states that it does not come with a beating hea
  
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• GTA 6’s Extended Look Trailer Seemingly Paid Off For Netflix With Massive Viewership

  01-09-2026 21:45 via gamespot.com
  
  Netflix has confirmed that GTA 6's recent "extended look" trailer was the streamer's most-viewed title overall last week, drawing 31.1 million views.The trailer was labeled an "English-language film" by Netflix, and it was No. 1 by that designation in 87 of 93 regions globally that Netflix's tracks (via Variety).The GTA 6 trailer was well ahead of the No. 2 title last week, which was the movie The Whisper Man, which had 23.2 million viewers.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPpqZwUwl0
  Netflix's v
  
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• The Witcher 3 DLC, Warlock, and open-world anime RPG Ananta gained the most Steam wishlists of everything we saw at Gamescom 2026

  01-09-2026 21:33 via gamesradar.com
  
  There was a peculiar vibe throughout Gamescom 2026's Opening Night Live showcase, pronounced by the fact that its biggest reveal, the dramatic climax of the whole event, was an update for an 11-year-old game. The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, DLC taking place after the events of the original game and the Blood and Wine expansion, was announced back in May but we got our first proper look at it during this year's Gamescom, and if you felt like it was the highlight of the show, some newly revealed
  
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• Fortnitemares Is A Spooky Dream Come True At Universal’s Horror Nights

  01-09-2026 21:24 via gamespot.com
  
  While Halloween is drawing nearer, the clock is ticking before Epic Games reveals this year's Fortnitemares event, which will carry Fortnite through spooky season with haunting new skins, bosses, weapons, and points of interest on the map. Until that drops, though, there is another way to get your Fortnitemares fix if you happen to be visiting Universal Studios in Orlando or Hollywood.This year's Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) event has continued the recent trend of gaming properties having a maj
  
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• Releasing Cyberpunk 2077 In Its Poor State “Was For Sure Wrong,” CD Projekt Admits

  01-09-2026 21:08 via gamespot.com
  
  CD Projekt Red's RPG Cyberpunk 2077 infamously launched in December 2020 in such a poor technical state that Sony took the rare move to remove it from the PlayStation Store. Thousands of people refunded the game. CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski has now reflected on this, saying it "was for sure wrong" to launch the game in that state, but he pushed back against the theory that the studio did so to appease investors who wanted to see financial returns.Speaking to The Game Busines
  
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