Latest Multi-platform Game News &amp; Updates

Cocoon - One Summer of Girlhood gives major Studio Ghibli vibes in latest trailer

The debut feature from studio Sasayuri feels like a spiritual successor to Grave of the Fireflies

007 First Light Almost Turned James Bond Into “Mr. Gadget”

007 First Light(https://www.gamespot.com/games/007-first-light/) strikes a key balance between keeping James Bond grounded while also placing him in believably outlandish sequences, but for longtime fans of the franchise, the lack of any over-the-top gadgets was sorely missed in the game. That's not to say that developer IO Interactive didn't consider giving Bond some extra black ops hardware during the development of the game, but these gadgets were cut back so that Bond's arsenal would more accurately reflect the world he was living in--which meant no alligator submarine, flamethrower bagpipes, or a boombox rocket launcher. "We had things in it that we thought were going to be cool, but when you play it, it turns out it's not cool, it just looks silly," senior combat designer Tom Marcham said to GameSpot. "There was definitely a point where it felt like he'd become Mr. Gadget, and we had to tune it back." Bond's gadgets in 007 First Light focus primarily on espionage and creating windows of opportunity, something Marcham said suited the close-quarters nature of the gameplay and Bond's character. "We didn't want to go into overly gamey stuff where he was always using tasers or sleep darts. It didn't seem to fit the character. So that led us down this route of having this close combat element," Marcham explained. That's not to say that IO Interactive isn't considering expanding on Bond's field kit, as the studio is always experimenting with ways to add another layer of replayability to 007 First Light. "I think we'll continue to expand with ways you can replay encounters and play about with the ruleset so that we can get more out of the campaign that we have," Marcham said. "We're still messing around with the gadget side of stuff. I think there's a whole world that you can explore with who Bond is and why he uses gadgets." One of the big hits of 2026(https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/007-first-light-review-youth-in-revolt/), 007 First Light sold 1.5 million units(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/007-first-light-put-up-massive-launch-day-sales-numbers/) in its first 24 hours. Similar to its work on the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy, IO Interactive has a year's worth of post-launch content lined up, including new challenges and upgrades, photo mode, new game plus mode, and a story expansion featuring the game's worst character(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/007-first-light-is-getting-a-new-story-mission-but-it-features-its-worst-character/), Lenny Kravitz's pirate king Bawma. For more on the making of 007 First Light, you can read our in-depth interview(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hack-and-bash-how-007-first-light-mixes-high-tech-gadgets-with-old-school-brawling/) with Marcham and explore how its soundtrack came together(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/007-first-lights-most-james-bond-detail-is-one-players-may-never-notice/).

EA exec explains how they want to pump games full of ads

An advertising executive at EA talked about how the company plans to expand its in-game ads and standardize this approach across the industry.

🎮 Home Depot's 12-foot Skeleton

Home Depot's 12-foot Skeleton is getting a big upgrade for Halloween 2026

The Tik Tok phenomenon Skelly the Skeleton is getting a new app that lets you record bespoke sounds and voices for your boney pal

Where to find the Italian Exotics Dealership in Forza Horizon 6

A guide explaining where to find the Italian Exotics Dealership in the Italian Exotics festival playlist in Forza Horizon 6.

🎮 Horizon

Halo TV Show Director Comes Aboard Odysseus TV Show As Nolan’s The Odyssey Hits Theaters

Amidst the hype around Christopher Nolan's new movie The Odyssey, a new TV show called Odysseus has been announced, with a Halo TV show director on board. Karl Gajdusek (Stranger Things) is the showrunner for Odysseus, while Roel Reiné, who directed episodes of the Halo TV show, is directing. The pilot was written by Sean Finegan, Scott Windhauser, Noah Lang, and Blake Hoss, according to Deadline(https://deadline.com/2026/07/odysseus-tv-series-stranger-things-exec-halo-director-1236984042/), which broke the news. Odysseus is described as "visceral and muscular," featuring blood, ships, and betrayal based on Homer's epic poem. "The emphasis on real history lets the story collide with the wider convulsions of the age leading up to the Bronze Age collapse breaking the known world apart into legend," reads a line from its description. Filming is aiming to begin in early 2027 in Greece and Armenia. The hope is to create an "expanded series universe" that could spawn other creations. There is no word yet on when the TV series will debut or where it will be available. Also unknown is who may star in the series. There was already a TV show called Odysseus, which ran for one season in 2013, but this new show is not connected to that one except by name and subject matter. As for The Odyssey, the movie comes to theaters on July 17, but previews begin today, July 16, at many theaters. It stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland playing Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, and Zendaya as Athena.

🎮 Halo

🖥 PC, Multi-platform

Skate Adds Its Biggest Event Yet: The Legendary X Games

With Skate(https://www.gamespot.com/games/skate/)'s fourth season approaching its midway point, developer Full Circle is pulling out all the stops for what's sure to be the skateboarding sim's biggest event thus far: bringing the iconic X Games to the shreddable world of San Vansterdam. In a lengthy July 16 post on the game's Steam store page(https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3354750/view/690889150314840176), Full Circle revealed that The Stadium--Skate's major dynamic location that dropped alongside Season 4--will get "transformed into the home of the X Games." It'll feature spots familiar to those who've watched X Games in the past, including the huge competition vert ramp, the street park, and the bowl section. The best part? It's completely free to access. No need for Rip Chips or the Premium Pass to skate in the X Games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObTAG2kzGIU Unfortunately, it's a limited-time event for now. You do get one full month to skate these various sections, as it runs from July 21 to August 25, but after that, something else may very well take over The Stadium. That said, there are a plethora of activities for you to participate in before the X Games month wraps up. You've got 10 unique challenges to tackle, with six inside The Stadium and another four in the surrounding streets. And there are four sets of limited-time X Games Club Tasks, which challenge you to land iconic tricks inspired by famous pro skaters from Los Angeles, New York, São Paulo, and Tokyo. On top of this, you can earn X Coins by completing various challenges and reaching high scores to buy exclusive X Games merch, from replica jerseys and shirts to boards and wheels. This news comes five months after Full Circle laid off an unspecified number of employees(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/skate-studio-lays-off-staff-as-game-enters-next-chapter/1100-6538430/) to prepare the free-to-play skate sim for its "next chapter." Full Circle isn't the only studio that suffered layoffs recently, as Xbox laid off 1,600 developers across several of its studios(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-layoffs-studio-closures-and-spin-offs-everything-announced-today/), Sony shut down Bluepoint Games(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-shuts-down-bluepoint-games-dev-behind-consistently-great-remakes/1100-6538292/), Riot Games let go of about 80 2XKO staff(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/2xko-developers-laid-off-by-riot-games-less-than-a-month-after-console-release/1100-6538046/), and more.

GTA 6 sales could hit $5.2 billion in first week — 5 times GTA 5

Rockstar Games is tipped to sell more than 50 million copies of Grand Theft Auto 6 at launch, according to new analysis of pre-order sales.

🎮 GTA🎮 Grand Theft Auto

Roblox will let people use AI to make games on their phone

Roblox is about to let people make games with AI right inside its mobile app, which could make a platform that's already filled with content of questionable quality feel even more overloaded. The company has embraced AI with open arms, including a preview of an ambitious take on AI world models similar to Google's Project &8230;

🎮 Roblox

TheNewsabout 1 month ago

New Netflix Game Brings Together The Streamer’s Most Popular Shows

Netflix has announced its latest video game, and it brings together a number of the streaming giant's popular franchises into a crossover minigolf experience. Netflix Minigolf, as it's called, is a couch co-op party game releasing on July 28 for all subscribers. The game combines elements of minigolf and pinball, with its 60+ levels taking place in settings from Netflix shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and Squid Game (via Variety(https://variety.com/2026/gaming/news/netflix-minigolf-game-stranger-things-squid-game-bridgerton-1236811963/)). It's developed by Next Games(https://www.nextgames.com/games), which is one of multiple gaming studios owned by Netflix. Next Games also developed Netflix Puzzled, Boggle Party, and Party Crashers, among others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9vtV3WZGhY You play as characters from the TV shows, and one of the twists is that you can collect "Pranks" that can be used to disrupt opponents. Like other Netflix games, your phone is the controller, and the game supports up to four players locally. The launch of Netflix Minigolf on July 28 is likely by design to help ride the golf wave on Netflix, as the streamer just launched a new golf show starring Will Ferrell called The Hawk on July 16. Netflix Minigolf is just the latest big game release from Netflix this year, following a World Cup game(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fifa-world-cup-game-coming-to-netflix-with-updates-based-on-how-the-tournament-goes/) and the horror game Unhinged(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/you-can-play-oxenfrees-devs-new-game-unhinged-in-30-minutes-and-it-rules/) from Fight Club director David Fincher and Weapons director Zach Cregger. "Play a story" Netflix Games has endured a rocky road in recent years as it set out to set a strategy. At one point, Netflix was invested in AAA games, and hired big names(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/netflix-shutters-aaa-game-studio-led-by-overwatch-and-halo-vets/1100-6527313/), but those plans fell apart. Today, Netflix is more focused on social and party games that people can play quickly and easily. Netflix Games' narrative executive Sean Krankel told The Game Business(https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/interview-netflix-wants-to-become) that, in the next couple of years, he wants people to see Netflix as "natural" destination to play games, as opposed to it being perceived like it is today, as "experimental." "I would love, in a year or two, for people to be going: ‘This is naturally the place that I would go to play a story’. And that ‘playing a story’ doesn’t sound weird," he said. "The ambitious thing here is that we create a new way of interacting with story and character that doesn’t feel like you have to be trepidatious or worried about trying it, or, ‘Am I going to be good at this?’" "The same way that somebody’ll go to Disneyland and jump on a ride or go into an escape room, and it just becomes a new form of entertainment. That’s where I’d love to see this go," he added.