Marvel's new series Zodiac has been announced, and fans already have a theory that it's linked to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This comes after Phil Coulson star Clark Gregg shared the announcement to his Instagram account, sparking rumors.

This was coupled with Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum's comments on the new "spy thriller" at Marvel's New York Comic Con panel. "For anyone who knows the comics, if you look closely at this title design, you’ll see a few clues about where we’re going," he told audiences. "I can’t tell you anything else about it yet because it’s a secret. We're going to start casting it in a couple weeks"

Eagle-eyed fans have been pouring over the logo and think they've spotted the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the A. "This is definitely the SHIELD logo on the A right? Right?? AoS revival???," one user wrote on Reddit, while another replied: "With how other shows and movies have been bringing people back I wouldn't be surprised if they incorporated at least one character."

The last time we saw Coulson was in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finale back in 2020. After his character was killed in The Avengers, he returned in the final season of that show as an android. It's not clear how he would be linked to this new series but as we know by now pretty much anything is possible in the MCU.

In the comics, Zodiac is a criminal organization where each member is named after a Zodiac sign. The most prolific is Scorpio, who is actually the brother of Nick Fury. There's lots of interesting directions Marvel could be going with this one, and it seems we'll find out more when the casting begins.

For more on the MCU, check out our guide to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as our breakdown of the Marvel timeline

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes a lot of flak for the amount of mini-games it has that distract you from the main objective. Queen's Blood, Fort Condor, Chocobo Racing, Galactic Survivors, Pirate's Rampage, Queen's Blood... oh, god, Queen's Blood. (I suck at Queen's Blood because I lack the attention span to learn.)

Anyway, I don't much care for all of Final Fantasy Rebirth's mini-games, but I'm not upset that they exist. Even in the rare occasion I'm forced to interact with them, it's usually a nice, brief break from the main quest that makes me slow down and appreciate the depth of the game's world. That's just me, and there are plenty of JRPG fans who are vocally against the amount of mini-games in Rebirth, and indeed, the conversation has grown loud enough that it's officially become capital-D Discourse. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi, who also helmed Rebirth, isn't having any of it.

"I often see debates about whether it's better to have more minigames or fewer," says Hamaguchi in the latest issue of Edge Magazine. "However, I don't think that discussion really gets to the heart of the matter. What I consider first is what kind of gaming experience is best suited to a particular title. In that sense, the overarching policy that 'the FF7 remakes would offer a gaming experience as rich in minigames as the original' was my decision as director, and I believe that responsibility is mine to bear."

Not only is Hamaguchi taking direct ownership of the decision to stay true to the spirit of the original game with a ton of goofy mini-games, he's also saying people who focus on the amount of mini-games are missing the whole point. It's about quality and quantity, he seems to suggest.

"I believe we should continuously improve aspects such as whether the game is easy to engage with and whether players can enjoy it without unnecessary stress," says Hamaguchi. "We prioritised ensuring that players engage with the minigames because they want to, rather than feeling like they're being made to play them. I believe that how we can deliver that gaming experience is more important than whether to increase or reduce the number of minigames."

The mini-games in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are definitely, for the most part, thoroughly fleshed out compared to their 1997 counterparts, but for the most part they're entirely optional. Or at least, the ones that require a lot of concentration or skill aren't necessary to the critical path, from what I remember. I don't know, I think I'm picking up what Hamaguchi is putting down here. When there are bigger issues to discuss like Square Enix's "inevitable" embrace of multiplatform availability and the lack of a true physical disc version of Revelation, whether or not there are too many mini-games seems pretty inconsequential.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation lead explains that making each game in the RPG trilogy a "complete experience" was "non-negotiable" from the beginning

We're days away from reuniting with everyone's favorite synthezoid, or a version of him, in VisionQuest, and the hype is building, with social media reactions appearing online.

The first episode was shown today at New York Comic Con, and fans are liking what they see so far. @sagesurge said, "They showed the first epsiode of Vision Quest and it was interesting. It's incredibly smart, stylish, funny, and full of philosophy. I'm just waiting for James Spader to go FULL Ultron." @arkh4m also added that "We just saw the premiere for Vision Quest. And I really liked it, fascinating premiere. White Vision trying to get in touch with the emotions of Vision and from WandaVision. Great connector to the other two."

@demetherself wrote, "VisionQuest is a worthy successor to WandaVision, and it feels like a love letter to Wanda Maximoff at times. It tackles the themes of love, grief, generational trauma, and identity. The relationship between Tommy and Vision will leave you wanting more from this family. James Spader is a delight, and Emily Hampshire is a surprisingly entertaining addition."

"The WandaVision trilogy comes to a near-perfect conclusion with #VisionQuest," adds @Elphaba_Anne. "Terry Matalas does a masterful job showing a deep love for and understanding of many projects that paved the way while still making the story his own, executing a distinct creative vision (pun intended)."

@JoBlo also gave the show the kind of praise worth getting giddy about, revealing that "VisionQuest is a full circle moment for the #MCU. Paul Bettany is great in a long-overdue return as Vision, while James Spader steals the show as Ultron. Heartfelt, innovative, and the most fun Marvel Television has been in quite some time."

It's great to see that so many returning MCU stars in this mysterious show are getting the flowers they deserve. @TheDecider assured that we're in for a treat, writing, "The series delivers a genuine love letter to WandaVision fans, moving the story into something deeper & more mature that serves as a perfect closer to the trilogy. Paul Bettany shines in every episode, while James Spader’s Ultron is exactly what the show needs."

We'll see how they all get their wires crossed when VisionQuest arrives on Disney+ on October 14. To keep up to date with Marvel news, check out our New York Comic Con Marvel panel live blog.

Fans of the Man Without Fear had their worst ones realized last month when it was announced that Daredevil: Born Again season 3 would end after its third season. It comes as no surprise, then, that Charlie Cox hanging up his horns as Matthew Murdock for what might be the final time was a topic of discussion at today's Marvel Television panel at NYCC, along with some new footage for the vigilante's swansong.

The last time we saw the hero of Hell's Kitchen, he was thrown behind bars after confessing he was Daredevil to bring down Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) at the end of Daredevil: Born Again season 2. At the New York Comic Con, we got a glimpse of how he's handling things in some exciting new footage. Would you believe it? Matthew Murdock is punching people. Again.

The footage begins with the worst-kept secret in the MCU as Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and the former(?) Iron Fist, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) walk into a government building. We then see Matt (Cox) in prison, while elsewhere Wilson Bethel's Bullseye sets off a bomb in the big house, too.

The footage ends with Matt making his own makeshift Daredevil outfit from an orange prison jumpsuit, echoing the look he wore in Chip Zdarsky's comic run. As he gets to work on his new get-up, a voiceover from Matt can be heard, accepting his sentencing. "I made a choice to pay for my so-called crimes of stopping a madman from turning the city into his own personal kingdom," he says. "And if that is the bargain, I will pay for that choice every time."

Of course, the excitement is bittersweet, since this could be the last time we see Cox do time as Matt Murdock, even if he joked about the recent news. During the panel, host Brandon Davis mentioned it was the final season, and Cox jokingly pretended to hear the news for the first time. "What, what?" He then added, "All I'll say is that I imagine the 'Save Daredevil' campaign will be gearing up for reality. You don't want to invite the wrath of the 'Save Daredevil' people."

We'll have to find out how the final dance with the devil arrives on Disney+ next year. For more, here's every other Marvel update from the Marvel TV New York Comic-Con panel.

If you're still feeling starved for Spidey-related action after the record-breaking Spider-Man: Brand New Day, worry not. NYCC has confirmed when to expect season 2 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and who he'll face.

As the brand-new poster below reveals, Spidey will be back in action on Disney Plus on January 13, 2027. He'll also be going another round with the symbiotes and get a fancy, fresh suit for his troubles. Of course, it won't stay on him for long, since it's a living parasite that ends up finding a far more troubled host.

The poor fella in question is Mr. Eddie Brock, who will eventually become Venom and will be voiced by longtime Spidey vocal artist Josh Keaton, who voiced the webslinger in The Spectacular Spider-Man and Electro in the 2018 Spider-Man game. With such a legendary foe, Spidey will need extra webbing, which, in this case, will come from Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Gwen, who is also set to make an appearance, although there's still no confirmation on who will be voicing her.

Beyond Peter's close encounter with the symbiote kind, there's a lot more going on that will be picked up from last season. When we last left our hero (voiced by Hudson Thames), he'd survived a scrap with the alien with help from Doctor Strange (Robin Atkin Downes). Some villains were behind bars, and more heroic allies, including Daredevil (voiced by Charlie Cox and set to return in season 2), were keeping an eye on Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo). Perhaps the biggest shock of the season finale, though, was the appearance of Richard Parker, Peter's father, whose reunion with his secretly superheroic son sparked a lot of questions.

It certainly looks like there'll be a lot of action, but we'll have to wait until January 2027 to see more when (deep breath) Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 returns to Disney+. For all other Marvel news, check out our New York Comic Con panel live blog.

The Marvel Television panel at NYCC today is drawing a lot of moaning and groaning, but in the best way possible. Shuffling back onto screens in animated form for a second season is Marvel Zombies, but it's been revealed it won't be a follow-up to the original What If...? spin-off.

Instead, we're getting not one, not two, but three downright rotten specials set in the undead universe, just scheduled for the next three years. Kicking off in Halloween 2027, we'll be seeing how Bucky Barnes handles the flesh-munching horde in Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier. Then, in 2028, the undead army will go up against Moon Knight in Marvel Zombies: The Fist of Khonshu, followed by Marvel Zombies: The Last Guardian in 2029.

Two of those specials raise interesting questions about both the MCU behind the scenes and the universe itself. Our last encounter with the Marvel Zombies saw Kamala Khan team up with Blade Knight, the legendary vampire hunter who had been assigned to be the Fist of Khonshu. While Mahershala Ali didn't voice the character, his likeness was used, raising the question of whether his face will reappear in the upcoming chapter, even though the Blade movie is well and truly dead. Alternatively, it could mean Oscar Isaac might return as Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and Jake Lockley.

On the upcoming animations, Winderbaum revealed, "Brian Andrews, the director of Marvel Zombies, who's also directed some of my favorite episodes of What If, is back for three more Marvel Zombies." Regarding the Winter Soldier, Marvel Television head hinted that it has "some real big surprises" in it. "I won't tell you who The Last Guardian is, but it's very, very exciting. We're about halfway through Animatics. It's like a gory, blood-splattery, but also quite beautiful show that I cannot believe Disney Plus lets us make."

Could Chris Pratt reprise his role as Star-Lord, or could another of those intergalactic a-holes face the music as humans get munched instead? Well, if there's any chance to include Michael Jackson's Thriller in the MCU, it's this.

For every other bit of Marvel news from NYCC, check out our Marvel TV and animation live blog now.

Astral Ascent, the highly acclaimed indie action roguelite from 2023, has received the rare blessing that is a crossover with Sandfall Interactive's 2025 GOTY sweep, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Of course, by rare I mean singular, as there's yet to be any actual game content featuring characters or world elements from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 until now.

Announced in a Steam blog, Astral Ascent's Expedition 33: For Those Who Come After update is live now and free for all players, with the only requirement being completion of the main quest on base difficulty. Once you've got the update downloaded, you'll want to pop a seat at the new Campfire room, because you'll find some of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's best characters waiting there as special, themed summons.

Gustave is a support-type companion who heals you and gives you attack buffs, but he also has "a devastating" attack that charges up every time he's summoned. Maelle fights alongside you using a stance determined by your HP, shifting from attack to defense and unleashing a "powerful attack" that unlocks when she maintains the same stance for a while. Sciel is a card-based battler with mana regen, a basic strike attack, and a "powerful attack," each triggered under different conditions.

Meanwhile, Lune is an elemental spellcaster who syncs up with your own spell-using habits, and as is starting to become a pattern, she gets her own "powerful spell" when you summon her "enough times." Verso ranks up every time you hit an enemy and drops a rank with every hit you take, starting with an attack penalty and then building to a "massive attack bonus" as he ranks up. Finally, Monocco draws a random card from a set of five and unleashes a "powerful monster summon" based on the card he pulls.

There are also three new Expedition 33-themed rooms in Astral Ascent's crossover update: the aforementioned Campfire, the Lumière, where you square off with Petank and the Mimes with Lumière in the background, and the Gestral Village, where you face off against Golgra. Developer Hibernian Workshop says these rooms appear randomly before the final boss of each run, and you'll have the chance to pick between the Expedition 33-themed bosses or the usual Andromeda Bar, "but choose fast, it won't come back this run," warns the dev.

"We've wanted to do this for a long time. Getting to work with Sandfall Interactive on this crossover has been one of the best experiences we've had making Astral Ascent," the Astral Ascent team says in a statement. "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game we fell in love with, like so many of you did, and this update is our way of paying tribute to it. Our biggest challenge was translating this world into our own pixel art, staying true to what makes these places feel alive while making them ours."

Speaking of crossovers, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 "broke" T-Pain with its "too sad" intro: "It gets worse? Absolutely not"

Marvel might be cutting shows left and right, but it's now been confirmed that a brand new one is on the horizon, and it's the long-rumored spy series, Zodiac. As predicted, the show was announced at the NYCC Marvel Television panel today, and executive producer Brad Winderbaum had little to say, naturally keeping what's in store top secret. "It's a spy thriller. We start shooting in London this spring," he revealed.

Naturally, no matter how covert this new show might be operating, Winderbaum is prepared for some info to slip through the cracks. "I'm sure there's going to be lots of spoilers because we're going to start casting it in the next couple of weeks, and it is amazing. And if you're a fan of the comics, there is a lot hidden in that logo."

Eagle-eyed fans might notice the SHIELD logo in the 'A,' while the 'O' strangely resembles parts of Tony Stark's arc reactor. It's hard to say what that could mean, though. In the comics, the most prominent Zodiac was a masked villain who debuted in the 2009 Dark Reign event, causing chaos for Norman Osborn and later going toe-to-toe with Moon Knight. It's hard to say whether that character will connect to the upcoming show, but since Zodiac used heavy surveillance to mess with the Fist of Khonshu, he might fit into a story about spies and hidden-camera work.

Expect more news on this in the coming months as names are pulled from the hat. For any other Marvel news, keep an eye on our New York Comic Con Marvel panel live blog.

Arc Raiders' Frozen Trail update wasn't exactly a make-or-break moment for a game that's already a massive commercial success, but it was a big bet by developer Embark Studios, which committed to releasing larger updates after long periods of relative inactivity. Based on early numbers following Frozen Trail's launch, that gamble is paying off.

As we so often have to, we're working off of Steam numbers for a multiplatform game, so we can only approximate trends here. But SteamDB shows a pretty clear spike for Arc Raiders.

As of October 8, the game has seen a 24-hour Steam peak of 131,388 concurrent players, which is the type of excitement Arc Raiders hasn't seen since April. It hasn't been above 100,000 CCU since May, even, and it has spent several months in the 30,000 to 50,000 range as Embark focused on cutting through the noise with one big knife rather than the dozen small razors it rolled out post-launch.

Obviously, Frozen Trail isn't the only driving factor here. I spoke to executive producer Aleksander Grøndal about the concerted push around this launch, and he said the studio does see it almost as a relaunch in some ways. Nominally, it's a 2.0 moment for the game. To roll out the red carpet, Embark has also given players until October 12 to play the game for free, and it's currently on sale for 50% off to boot.

Sales and giveaways consistently push a lot of players toward games, so Frozen Trail has definitely had some help rocketing Arc Raiders up the Steam charts. This turnout doesn't even touch Arc Raiders' surprisingly explosive launch – nor did anyone really expect it to match those absurd numbers – but it's a pretty strong response, especially since this was a Thursday update. Come Friday night and into the weekend, we may see that 24-hour peak climb higher.

In our chat, Grøndal also examined the discourse around Arc Raiders' player count, which has become a mainstay of many discussions for live service games. "Of course, it's not something that you look at and go, 'Oh, that feels great,'" he says. "That's not what I'm saying. But at the same time, you have to stick to your guns a bit when you make a decision. This is what we're going to do, and you have to believe that's the right approach. And, of course, we hope that works out."

I'd also point you to our discussion with Palworld liaison and Pocketpair comms lead John Buckley, who (fairly) argued that many players misinterpret Steam player numbers. These figures can be useful and interesting as an expression of player appetite, but it can also be easy to overrate them.

Arc Raiders Frozen Trail patch notes are full of sentences that players have dreamed of for a year: "You can now open the map while downed."

Crimson Desert's critic reviews may have been harsher than its user reviews because normal players not working on a deadline had more time to venture off the golden path and enjoy the game's rich world and systems, according to Lybee Park, CEO of developer Pearl Abyss' Europe branch.

Park spoke to The Game Business about Crimson Desert's reception, focusing on the launch period back when it was a different, meaningfully worse game that has since received approximately eight bazillion updates.

Interviewer Christopher Dring says "the critical reception was a little bit more mixed, right? It wasn't terrible, but it was a little bit lower." Crimson Desert's critical reception was, indeed, not terrible: it sits at 77 on Metacritic against an 8.7 user score. On Steam, Crimson Desert Enhanced, an improved version of the game that's replaced the old one less than a year after launch, has 83% positive lifetime user reviews and, as it happens, 77% positive recent reviews. (Our Crimson Desert Review awarded the game 4 out of 5 stars.)

It's not unusual for critical and user reviews to differ, and this is far from the biggest gap I've seen for a game. If you look at some of the best-rated releases of 2026, a lot of them have slightly lower user scores than critic scores, with exceptions like Resident Evil Requiem, which just has even more glowing user scores. Fewer still show score gaps larger than one point – one being Mixtape, a game which was trendy to hate online but still found a very receptive audience of confirmed buyers on stores like Steam, where reviews put it at 87% positive to Metacritic's 5.9 user score, or on the PlayStation Store, where it has 4.6 out of 5 stars.

When a critic may play dozens of times more games per year than the average gamer (who, surveys have found, only buys two or three new games annually), it's easy for tastes and expectations to shift and vary. Park speculates on where Crimson Desert's review gap may have come from.

"I can have my personal opinion, right?" she begins. "I do believe both parties have fair points, especially for critics. They had to play the build that is not the exact same version of the launched game. And, also, they had limited time, and usually the classical approach when they review the game is following the main quest line."

The main quest is not where Crimson Desert is at its strongest, Park implies. The other folks at Pearl Abyss clearly agree: the central story was deemed so erratic that it was actually directly patched with the release of the Enhanced version. We regularly see post-launch updates targeting game balance, resource economies, quality-of-life issues, UI navigation, performance, bugs, and many other elements, but games rarely rewrite their stories in this way.

"But Crimson Desert, our unique charm is spread all over our in-game world," Park adds. "All those tiny details that are hidden, all [the] freedom you can actually explore even further, beyond the common expectations. All of those unique bits and interesting, new, fresh bits, I don't think critics had a fair chance to explore and experience while it was the reviewing period."

I don't do nearly as many reviews as some game journalists, but I've been at this for 13 years so I have done a few dozen, and I can tell you that I don't play review games the same way I play my for-fun games. That's usually because I don't have time to. Thank the stars I didn't play Unicorn Overlord for review. Could I have spent 240 hours slow-rolling and savoring a 45-hour strategy RPG if I was on a deadline? Of course not, and my experience with the game would've been changed as a result.

But reviewers will generally work to see as much of a game as they can beyond just rolling credits. Especially with a sprawling open-world experience like Crimson Desert, there will be a need and a drive to poke around, though that drive can vary as much as opinions. I don't know anybody who reviewed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by sprinting straight to Ganon as soon as they possibly could, unless that was for an experiment after they beat the game the conventional way.

And it is important to note, as Park does, that day-one patches can instantly render reviews somewhat outdated. I've had serious frustrations with games resolved by a patch within days or hours of my review going live. Yet reviewers can only criticize the game in their hands, not an imagined, better version of it. Even if players never encounter the same issues, reviewers are still right to criticize those if they run into them.

Really, the words hanging over this are "the reviewing period" – the time between the delivery of review keys and the opening of review embargoes. This is one place where you will find dramatic differences. How much time you get for a review can vary hugely between games, and the less time you have to play a game, even assuming days or weeks of inordinately long play sessions, the less realistic your experience can be. A lot of media outlets have gotten better about giving reviewers more time to play at a healthy pace which also allows for a more authentic experience, but there's still undeniably incentive to be ready for embargo.

We can fully dissect the levers of online criticism some other time. My point is, Pearl Abyss set the reviewing period for Crimson Desert. I don't wholly agree with Park's assessment that Crimson Desert's critical scores may have been lower because critics only saw the rainbow and not the pot of gold at the end. (I think Crimson Desert's reception was fair, and I think a game's ability to encourage and reward exploration is an important factor.) But I definitely agree that longer review periods are better for everyone.

Crimson Desert DLC Charting the Unknown delayed 2 weeks as Pearl Abyss seeks "a more polished and stable gameplay experience."

A live-action Cyberpunk 2077 movie is now in development, and CD Projekt Red is co-producing it.

The film is in development at Paramount Pictures, with the video game studio co-producing alongside Lorenzo di Bonaventura, according to a new report from Deadline. di Bonaventura is best known for producing the live-action Transformers and GI Joe films. No additional details about the film or its plot have been reported.

CD Projekt Red also co-produced the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series, which was released to wide acclaim in 2022. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 is set to land via Netflix on October 20 with a whole new cast of characters, who'll hopefully face a bit less tragedy than their predecessors. A new Cyberpunk game is also in development, though very few details have been revealed about it, either.

While Cyberpunk 2077 brought the setting to a much broader, more mainstream audience, the video game is itself an adaptation of Mike Pondsmith's tabletop role-playing game, simply titled Cyberpunk. Pondsmith explained in a 2017 interview with Eurogamer that CD Projekt Red has the rights to develop new Cyberpunk stories from the year 2077 in the fictional timeline onward, while he continues to work in the earlier eras on the tabletop game.

For Paramount's part, it's found success with several video game adaptations over the years, including the Sonic the Hedgehog films. It's also distributing the upcoming Street Fighter movie.

The list of the best video game movies is actually getting pretty competitive these days, and hopefully Cyberpunk 2077 will be a worthy contender in that space. Check out our list of all the big upcoming video game movies for more in the meantime.

A number of high-profile game studios are closely associated with crunch culture, and The Last of Us maker Naughty Dog is undoubtedly one of them. I feel confident saying that not only because the studio's reputation for crunch has been well-established through many years of trustworthy reporting, but because Naughty Dog representatives have confirmed as much explicitly. As recently as December 2025, reports circulated claiming Naughty Dog employees had been forced into mandatory overtime to complete a demo for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and in April, former Naughty Dog senior game designer Benson Russell suggested employees accepted crunch as "what it takes to make games at our level."

Echoing Russell's sentiment to some degree, Matt Radford, who was a VFX artist on Uncharted 4 and the Last of Us, tells Kiwi Talkz there's a misconception online about Naughty Dog's crunch culture. Radford says the claims of crunch coming from news articles are generally "all true" but may miss details, as it's also "why we wanted to be there, too."

"You would feel like, 'Oh my god, we are gonna work 100-plus hours a week, this is possible,' and yet we all kind of went there to push, to try and work at the highest level," he says. "So, it's always complicated. It's not as cut and dry as sometimes the news articles make it out, where it's like, 'evil corporation demands horrific working hours from their employees.' It was more like a lot of really motivated people getting together and using a little bit of peer pressure to push everyone around them to make their best work. And yeah, it took a lot of hours."

Radford then waxes philosophically about the nature of crunch and wonders "is there a correlation between art and suffering," concluding, "I feel personally that what I experienced is great art has come from suffering."

His tone throughout is defensive of Naughty Dog's working conditions, but also admissive. "There was definitely some grueling times, but the results do speak for themselves, and ultimately I think Naughty Dog's secret is the people, and it's the way that everyone there is driven. That is why the games are great."

While I fully trust there are and were Naughty Dog employees happy to put in the time and energy to work exorbitant hours for love of the craft, overtime pay, or both, Radford's insights aren't entirely exonerating. He admits to there being some degree of pressure, albeit from peers, being pushed on workers who may or may not have felt the same way about overtime. Crunch, after all, is more complex than the presence of overtime; it's about how much overtime, how it's compensated, how it's offered or enforced, what happens if it's turned down, and why it's relied on as a production catch-up.

In other words, if someone does actually want to work 100 hours a week for whatever reason, there should be reassurance from management that the same isn't expected of anyone who wants the freedom to work fair and reasonable hours, and I can't conclude that was the case at Naughty Dog based purely on what Radford is saying here.

The Last of Us 2's Troy Baker says the ending's devastating final conversation between Joel and Ellie was originally supposed to be at the start of the game

Now that spooky season is officially upon us, there's never been a better time to kick back and watch some new streaming hits. Horror maestro Mike Flanagan is starting things off nicely too with a new adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie for Prime Video. Set in the modern day, this reimagines the horror heroine as a teenager struggling in a world of social media. Nothing scarier, right?

Elsewhere, we've got several new TV shows to sink our teeth into as well, including The Last Airbender sequel Avatar: Seven Havens on Paramount Plus. Netflix has also got a brand-new supernatural thriller to keep you hooked with Below.

We've also got two new movies to enjoy as well: John Cena's Mattel action-comedy streaming on Apple TV and Ben Affleck's new thriller hitting Netflix. For more on those and everything you need to know about watching them, read on for our ultimate streaming guide.

Carrie

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Prime Video

The classic tale gets a new spin in Prime Video's Carrie. Created by Mike Flanagan, the new eight-part drama tells the story of Carrie White, a sheltered young girl who has spent most of her life at home with her controlling mother and father. When she ends up at high school, she's thrown to the wolves when she's caught up in a cycle of bullying centered around social media. However, when Carrie is pushed to her limits, she realizes that she might have some powers of her own to fight back with.

Stephen King is a big fan of the new adaptation, and our Carrie review calls it a timely exploration in a new horror setting. For more, you can also check out our guides to the Carrie ending explained and whether it sets up Carrie season 2.

While you're on Prime Video, check out our selection of the best Prime Video shows to enjoy as well.

Below

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix

Josh Hartnett might be making headlines for his role in Verity, which has just hit theaters, but he's also got a new Netflix show to enjoy as well. Something's in the water in this chilling new series set in Newfoundland. Hartnett plays a sailor dealing with a mysterious iceberg that's rolled into the nearby waters as sightings of a terrifying monster begin to take over the town. Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton also stars in this limited series, which is a perfect choice if you're up for some scares.

You can also check out our selection of the best Netflix shows for what else to watch.

Avatar: Seven Havens

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Paramount Plus

Return to the world of Avatar with new animated series Avatar: Seven Havens. From creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the show is set in the same world as Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It follows a young Earthbender called Pavi who discovers she is the new Avatar. Searching for answers and trying to come to terms with her powers, she's joined by her long-lost twin Nisha as the pair try to save the Seven Havens.

The first three episodes are available to stream now, with three new episodes releasing each week on Paramount Plus.

For more, here are the best shows on Paramount Plus to add to your watchlist.

Matchbox: The Movie

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Apple TV

Mattel is returning with another feature-length story following the success of Barbie. This time it's Matchbox vehicle toys that are the focal point in the new movie directed by stunt legend Sam Hargrave. It stars John Cena as spy and former soldier Sean Walker, who lands himself in a sticky situation when the CIA thinks he and his friends stole a nuclear weapon.

The connection to Mattel? The group used to play Matchbox toys together. Expect mad stunts in the new Apple TV movie, which also stars Jessica Biel and Teyonah Parris. If you're in the mood for some fun escapism this weekend, look no further.

We've also compiled a guide to the best Apple TV movies for what else to stream.

Animals

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, Animals is a new thriller movie that sees a couple deal with a horrific situation when their son is kidnapped. He plays a LA mayoral candidate in the new film opposite Kerry Washington as his wife. Gillian Anderson's Dayle Burton is the mastermind behind the crime as she blackmails the couple to come up with a ransom payment in time to save their son. Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher, and Adriana Paz all also star in the twisty drama.

If that's not what you're after, here's our guide to the best Netflix movies also available right now.

For what else is coming out this year, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies you need to know about.

The big Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update is finally here, dropping a truckload of wintry content on players and, importantly, unloading the biggest patch notes since the start of the game. We're all going to be busy with the new map, skills, guns, gadgets, and Arc for a good while, but the 2.0 Frozen Trail update is full of tiny yet exciting changes, many of which have been requested by players for nearly a full year.

You can read the full patch notes here. I want to focus on some easily missed lines that punch above their weight. Here's an easy crowd pleaser: "Max Stash Size increased by 2 new levels (328 Max without Expedition bonuses)." With tons of new items coming into the game, I wouldn't be surprised if Embark is all but forced to further increase stash size in the future.

This may be a contentious change because it's technically a nerf to a popular strategy, but the Queen and Matriarch have had their loot reallocated once again. "Moved higher tier loot from the armor pieces of the legs to the legs pieces for Queen and Matriarch," developer Embark says.

In other words, you can't just prune leg armor to plunder easy cores any longer. Instead, you'll seemingly have to sever legs entirely or stick around for the kill, which, really, is probably how it always should've worked. Destroying legs at the joint should be more rewarding than simply peeling them, but until now you'd get literally nothing from the leg frame. My inner loot goblin isn't happy, but this just makes sense to me. However, I still think a dead Queen or Matriarch should drop way more loot than a reactor that only one person gets to loot. We'll see how it plays out.

Another point of contention will be the handling of the Anvil hand cannon, which has been pushed to blue rarity as it was "outperforming weapons both within and above its own level of rarity." Once again, this makes sense to me. With an Anvil, a Renegade, and enough ammo, you can kill a machine god.

I'm a bigger fan of the little animations that Embark's added with Frozen Trail. "Added animations to show the player interacting with their map and inventory," the patch notes read. Additionally, there's now a "mouth animation for when players are talking in proximity chat." Other "contextual" character animations include "brushing dust after sliding" and heaving "when running out of breath for a while." Anything that makes my raider feel more like a fallible container of meat struggling in a cyborg apocalypse is welcome.

Here's Embark finally tackling something that always bothered me: "Adjusted how character sounds are occluded by walls and obstacles for more natural audio positioning." My hope is that this will improve Arc Raiders' directional audio, which could get wonky in firefights in some buildings.

The gameplay section of the patch is where the real gold lies. We've got "more contextual Ping information for ARC and various objects." When looting, you can "drop loot to the ground directly from containers." While crawling around, "you can now open the map while downed." If your backpack looks fabulous but has an extremely visible light source, you can now toggle it off to "go full stealth mode."

One of the new movement changes could interact with the updated skill tree, which pushes agility more heavily, in interesting ways: "Added Scrambling. Sprinting at steep slopes will allow you to scramble up them for a short time." Sandwiched between added wall run and mantling maneuvers, this might actually make a noticeable difference.

Embark mentions the dynamic loot zones it's testing in new map Pendola Pass, designed to make scavenging less repetitive match over match by changing loot hotspots. The exciting part here is what executive producer Aleksander Grøndal told me in a recent interview: assuming initial feedback and implementation for dynamic loot zones goes well, "it will be fairly straightforward for us to go back and reapply that to the existing maps as well." Even as a map event, I'd love to see old zones find a little more variety.

Arc Raiders lead says Steam player count discourse doesn't feel great, but Embark "accepted the fact that we would have less players."

A lot of change is going on in the annals of Xbox right now. The games division of Microsoft is in the midst of 3,200 layoffs and a complete restructuring, and that includes in senior management. Mojang, the company overseeing Minecraft, now has a new boss, but their background isn't strictly in game development.

Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, has announced that Maria Angelidou-Smith is taking on the role of Mojang CEO, replacing Kayleen Walters, who's now president of XP. That's apparently another wing of Xbox dedicated to how "how people experience our franchises beyond the games themselves" - in other words, TV and movie adaptations and licensing agreements and what not.

Considering the success of A Minecraft Movie, and the fact she's a named producer on the sequel, it makes sense for Walters to move into that role. It's mentioned Minecraft garnered over 250 licensees in her time there.

Angelidou-Smith is no stranger to positions like this, but more in social media than video games. From 2014 to 2022, she was with Meta, looking after various aspects of Facebook, firstly in app monetization, and then in the realm of Facebook Groups, Dating and the like.

Then, after stints in other industries, she took on the job of chief product officer at Reddit in November of last year. And now she's in charge of Minecraft.

"Mojang already has an exceptional game development team that knows Minecraft and its players deeply," Sharma writes in an internal memo shared by The Hollywood Reporter. "We wanted someone who has built products for communities at enormous scale, who is deeply technical, and who understands how creators, product, technology and monetization come together."

Sharma says Angelidou-Smith's "first order of business" is "to learn from the teams and communities that make Minecraft so special."

If you're somewhat cynical of this move, I don't blame you. This certainly looks like Microsoft's targeted someone who's more concerned about user retention, advertising, and monetization than community moderation and access.

Minecraft is a juggernaut that's resisted many of the more concerning practices you can find in something like Roblox. There's no explicit suggestion Microsoft wants to push that direction, but this changeover leaves the possibility open. We'll see what the future holds.

Former Halo art director claps back at founding Xbox member for implying 343 Industries had a "laziness" problem: "It isn't accurate"

World of Warcraft: Forever won't be emulating the retail or Classic versions of Blizzard's beloved MMO when it comes to PvP – it's got its own way of approaching it.

The studio outlines as much in a new post about how PvP works in WoW: Forever over on its official website, and it's somehow easier than it was back in the early 2000s but also… a tad grindy?

Blizzard first describes it bringing "a refreshed sense of purpose to every match-up" with an approach that "gives players more reasons to take part throughout the season while preserving the spirit of competition that defined PvP in the original World of Warcraft."

The developers explain that they "wanted to keep the design pillar of 'Approachable and Familiar' firmly in view: simplifying the original Honor System while staying true to its roots" – so, how does it work?

Well, there are two parts to World of Warcraft: Forever PvP: Honor and Rank Points. Honor is a form of currency you earn by taking part in PvP content, with Blizzard promising to ensure that "acquisition rates are more consistent across the board."

You gain Rank Points from specific PvP activities, like battlegrounds and certain quests. This system is similar to the original World of Warcraft's own, as you'll be working toward titles like Grand Marshal or High Warlord (depending on which faction you've chosen, of course).

There's a catch, however: "Ranks have a weekly cap, retaining the foundation of the original system while making the journey more accessible." That makes it easier, sure, but it also feeds into a weekly grind – and as a Final Fantasy 14 player myself, I'm all too familiar with (and not really a fan of) weekly grinds.

There are more layers to this, too, with Blizzard going on to detail how seasons function: "During a PvP season, players can progress through the ranks and earn Honor. Each season also includes a journey with weekly tasks to complete." Sigh. Yes, weekly.

"Successfully completing those tasks grants Honor and Rank Points, and three tasks each season also grant a Legacy Point," the devs continue. "Completing these tasks is part of the seasonal journey, and because they are tied to the Legacy System, they remain available to complete in future seasons."

In other words, it's definitely a bit simpler to get where you want in PvP rank-wise, but I'll feel more inclined to be consistent. You know, whether I want to be or not – and I'm evidently not alone.

A comment sees a fan saying, "Please don't do the weeklies thing." Another adds, "One of the things I'm trying to avoid is weekly checkboxes I feel I need to hit. Just having X item cost Y Honor and Z rank is enough." A separate response reads, "Please don't do that system. It's unhealthy at all. Having to farm every freaking week without taking any break is not fun."

Overall, though, it's admittedly certainly an accessible PvP system. Blizzard seems to know it as well, concluding, "With more ways to make progress each week and meaningful goals to pursue throughout the season, PvP in World of Warcraft: Forever gives players a clear path to jump in, compete, and keep building toward what comes next."

Fingers crossed it all plays out smoothly come the MMO's November 4 release.

To make World of Warcraft: Forever's controversial Skyborne less "jarring" to look at, Blizzard is going back to 2004

Star Wars: Galactic Racer studio lead Matt Webster says the new roguelite racer is way more complex than other racers by the same team.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is out now, and finally brings the series back to racing after a 24 year gap since the PS2's Racer Revenge. And perhaps more crucially, it's developed by the team at Fuse Games, which was born from multiple members of Criterion Games, making Galactic Racer as much of a homage to Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer as it is to Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge.

And while working with a well known and mostly family-friendly IP like Star Wars could've led the devs to perhaps tone things down a little, Galactic Racer is pretty tough. You're moving at super high speeds and even brushing a wall can cause your speeder to blow up. And in the game's campaign, you only have three chances to blow up before you're eliminated and need to restart a run.

Talking to GamesRadar+ guides editor Will Sawyer – who also wrote our Star Wars: Galactic Racer review – Fuse Games CEO Webster spoke about the complexity of the racer, saying, "One of the things that's really interesting for me is that modern gamers can manage a greater amount of cognitive load."

He explains, "We are asking way more out of players in this game than I think we've ever done in a racing game with multiple boost things, pressing more than one face button at a time, switching up the abilities, and thinking strategically and tactically at the same time whilst traveling at 700 kilometers an hour and your eyes are on stalks. It's quite amazing."

Naturally, Galactic Racer has gone down a treat with many, becoming one of the highest-rated Star Wars games ever, and that's undoubtedly down to the racing pedigree of Fuse Games… and Ben Quadinaros, obviously.

Star Wars Galactic Racer introduces "the best Glup Shitto ever," an annoying little dude who'll blow up your vehicle for fun, and fans love him: "George Lucas would shed a tear."

We've known retro console maker Retro Games Ltd had something in mind for the Atari 800XL since trademark applications surfaced back in May. Those plans are now official, as the company just announced a remake of the '80s microcomputer with HDMI output, a physical cartridge slot, and a full-sized keyboard.

As someone with a sizable collection of 8-bit Atari cartridges, I'm already pretty hyped for THE 800XL. In a press release, PLAION describes the machine as "a faithful recreation of its best-selling 8-bit computer," which makes sense given that's what Retro Games Ltd is all about. That said, it's not quite as affordable as the Atari 400 Mini from two years ago, as the full-sized sibling will set you back $219.99 / £199.99.

That price tag is a bit yikes, especially since the Amiga 1200 remake will come in at $189.99 / £169.99. Those prices are absolutely creeping up, and I suspect the difference is the inclusion of a cartridge slot alongside 25 built-in games. I also suspect that the build quality and feel of this microcomputer will have to be a step up from previous efforts to hit the right authentic, high-end executive office notes, but I can't help but feel like this should have been a 600XL remake.

I'm going by teaser renders alone, but THE 800XL looks like it's slightly smaller than the real deal. The funny thing with that is that if they do shrink the main body in any way, you'll end up with something closer to the Atari 600XL, which released at the same time and was a smaller version with 16 KB RAM instead of 64 KB. That stopped it from running later XE games out of the box, but in the year of our lord 2026, that's not really relevant when you're using emulation.

What I'm really getting at is the slightly smaller 600XL design would have been my preference, and using the same emulation as the Atari 400 Mini would have allowed for compatibility with the entire 8-bit library anyway. Still, I get why it's specifically going for the 800XL branding, even if it's slightly odd that it's not wearing the Atari name this time around.

I love the fact it's packing a cartridge slot, but those metal 8-bit carts aren't that easy to find. I have quite a few that I use with the OG Atari 600XL, but if you're looking to run games off of a cassette tape, you're once again out of luck. This is something FPGA rivals like the Commodore 64 Ultimate cover nicely with full hardware replication, but emulation-based systems seem to always fall short (cough cough, The Spectrum, cough cough).

In any case, I welcome THE 800XL with open arms, even if its price tag is a little lofty. I love the idea of being able to badger more people to pick up games like Carnival Massacre, and it feels like this remake will hit all the unique '80s design notes while maintaining a chunk of the original hardware functionality. That doesn't mean I won't be setting high expectations for the microcomputer if/when I eventually get my hands on one for testing, as it's got a lot to prove for over $200.

• Atari consoles at Amazon
• Retro consoles at Amazon

Swing by the best retro handhelds if you'd rather take '80s microcomputer classics on the go.

In what will be music to the ears of Street Fighter fans worldwide, the director of the upcoming, hard-hitting movie adaptation says everyone on the cast arrived with a serious working knowledge of Capcom's iconic fighting franchise.

"Everybody that's in the movie is a fan of the game," Kitao Sakurai tells GamesRadar+. "There was nobody that I cast that was like, 'what's Street Fighter? What are we doing here? Everybody came to the movie out of a love for the franchise and for the game, and with a very deep understanding of like the canon and the lore.

To that end, Sakurai reveals he would use Ryu actor Andrew Koji as his own built-in loremaster on-set.

"Andrew Koji is a huge gamer and oftentimes I would lean on him for canon stuff."

Sakurai adds, "[Chun-Li actor] Callina [Liang] is a legit gamer. She's younger, so she grew up more on Street Fighter 6 – everybody has different sort of connections to the game, but everybody definitely is coming from a place of loving the game."

That passion for authenticity and harkening back to Street Fighter's quarter-draining '90s heyday in arcades even extends to Sakurai aiming to ape the feel, tone, and texture of the decade during the movie's runtime.

"I wanted to, more than anything, make a movie that felt like it was like a '90s movie. If we could go back in time and make a game-accurate version of Street Fighter in the '90s, what would that be like?"

If you believe the cast, there were also more than a few rounds of Street Fighter taking place on consoles on-set. The victor? Apparently, Andrew Schulz – who plays Dan in the Street Fighter movie – proved his capabilities more than once. Let's hope they've saved some moves for the camera.

Street Fighter hits cinemas on October 16. For more, we have a guide to upcoming video game movies and new PS5 games.