Garry Newman says s&box's launch failed, and Facepunch will drop its no-neck character

The rest of the day

18 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Take-Two stops a fan's GTA 5 Switch port

   A modder called Mojso has cancelled an unofficial version of Grand Theft Auto 5 for Nintendo's Switch, days before it was due out. [4] Mojso says Take-Two, which owns Rockstar, the studio behind GTA, sent a letter demanding a stop. [4] Rockstar had recently changed its rules for fans to ban moving its games to other machines. [4] On 20 September Mojso replied on social media, "Try me, Rockstar." [4] The group behind the port closed on 3 October. [4]

   Why it matters — Take-Two's letter came about a week after that challenge, and Mojso says he would most likely lose in court. [4] He says he cannot share the code either, because that could also bring a lawsuit. [4]

2. 03

   Warzone lets players hide other games' skins

   Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision's free battle game, will let players switch off character outfits, called skins, that come from other Call of Duty games. [5] It starts with the first season of Modern Warfare 4, which comes out on 23 October. [5] Since 2020 Warzone has collected hundreds of skins, including tie-ins with TV shows such as American Dad and The Boys. [5] The switch only changes what the person using it sees. [5]

   Why it matters — A big reason people buy a skin is that other players see it, Eurogamer notes, which is why few expected a switch like this. [5] Nobody in a match can tell who has turned the skins off. [5]

3. 04

   Blizzard leaves a Diablo 4 bug in place

   Blizzard will not fix the biggest bug in Diablo 4's current season, which lets players wear one more powerful charm than the game allows. [6] The bug comes from a new item called the Hellfire Torch. [6] Design director Dan Tanguay said many players had spent a lot of time earning it and building characters around it. [6] Blizzard also sent a rare crafting item to players as an apology for a launch delayed by server problems. [7]

   Why it matters — Changing a game in the middle of a season can wipe out hours players have already put in, so Blizzard waits. [6] Diablo 4 gets no more expansions as Blizzard moves to Diablo 5. [6]

4. 05

   Paradox bans modern leaders in profile pictures

   Paradox, the Swedish maker of the war strategy game Hearts of Iron 4, is banning profile pictures of political or military figures born after 1800 on its Discord chat server. [8] It follows a row after a moderator banned someone for using a photo of Ataturk, who founded modern Turkey. [8] Paradox games then got a wave of angry Steam reviews. [8] Game director Laszlo Pieper wrote that Paradox handled the matter poorly. [8]

   Why it matters — Pieper says a fixed date leaves moderators no room for judgement calls about any one figure. [8] He also says staff received open threats, and anyone banned for sending them will stay banned. [8]

5. 06

   Fans rebuild Super Mario Galaxy for PC

   A fan group called Luma's Workshop says it has fully decompiled Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo's 2007 game for the Wii. [9] Decompiling means working backwards from the finished game to rebuild its code, so it can run directly on a PC instead of in an emulator that pretends to be a Wii. [9] The group calls the project AstroCore and says a release is coming soon. [9] Its next target is Super Mario Galaxy 2. [9]

   Why it matters — Nintendo now sells Super Mario Galaxy on its own Switch, so a free PC version would sit beside a game it still sells. [9] Fans have already done the same with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. [9]

6. 07

   A Fortnite pro starts a fund for gaming PCs

   Cody Conrod, a 21-year-old Fortnite player known as Clix, launched a company on Thursday with a fund to help young players afford gaming computers. [10] He has more than 8 million followers on Twitch, the live-streaming site. [10] Last December he gave away five custom PCs every day. [10] Over the weekend his team came fourth at the Fortnite Global Championship in Belgium and won $120,000. [10]

   Why it matters — Computer parts are getting dearer because AI data centres are buying the same chips and memory. [10] Games researcher Joost van Dreunen says PCs under $500 are getting harder to find. [10]

7. 08

   Mighty Mike's father refunds AI T-shirts

   The father behind Mighty Mike Plays, a Minecraft YouTube channel, says he has refunded everyone who bought his AI-designed T-shirts. [11] He had said his son spent $118,000 of a company card on video ads and that it cost him his job. [11] In a new video he said a contract between two companies had ended instead, and that he owns about 12 companies. [11] He said using AI for the shirts was a mistake. [11]

   Why it matters — Millions of people watched a story the father now calls a simplified version of what happened. [11] He deleted his explanation video and posted it again on a new channel, Coffee Time with Dave. [11]

8. 09

   Dynasty Warriors 3 returns, and its producer wants new games

   Dynasty Warriors 3, an action game first released 25 years ago, came back on 1 October in a remade edition for Switch 2, PC, PS5 and Xbox. [12][13] Its producer, Tomohiko Sho, told the Japanese site 4Gamer that remaking it was almost like making it again. [12] He said he is in his fifties and would rather spend his remaining years on new games and sequels. [12] More remasters depend on how this one sells. [12]

   Why it matters — Sho said remaking his own game made him ask why he was doing it, and he may hand the next remaster to someone else on his team. [12] Steam reviews of this one are Very Positive so far. [12]

9. 10

   A museum asks Britain where its game history is

   The National Videogame Museum in Sheffield has started a UK-wide survey called Behind the Screens. [14] It asks studios, former staff and collectors what they hold, from design papers and artwork to old machines and company files. [14] Ukie, the UK games trade body, is a partner, and the BFI, Britain's film institute, pays for it. [14] The museum opened in 2018 and holds close to 5,000 objects. [14]

   Why it matters — John O'Shea, who co-runs the museum, says much of the UK's game history risks being lost unless someone works to keep it. [14] The results will guide how the country preserves it. [14]

10. 11

    Nintendo invites UK developers to an open session

    Nintendo staff will hold an open breakfast session for developers and publishers on 15 October at Game Republic New Horizons, a games event in Middlesbrough in England. [15] Developers do not need to already work with Nintendo to attend. [15] They can ask about publishing, tools and support. [15] The event runs from 14 to 16 October and opens with a talk by Ken Kutaragi, who led the making of Sony's first PlayStation. [15]

    Why it matters — Studios that have never shipped a game on a Nintendo console can ask Nintendo's own staff how to start. [15] The event also has talks from Housemarque, the PlayStation studio behind Saros, and from Bithell Games. [15]

11. 12

    Dressmaker climbs the Steam charts

    Dressmaker, a game where players design and sew clothes, has climbed Steam's best-seller charts. [16] Players sketch dresses, choose fabrics such as silk, lace and velvet, then cut and sew the parts together. [17] PC Gamer calls it one of the most popular cosy games of 2026. [17] Players are sharing dresses based on Van Gogh paintings and game characters. [17]

    Why it matters — A small game about one craft climbed the charts with no fighting in it at all. [16][17] Steam reviewers include boyfriends who bought it for a partner and got hooked themselves. [16]

12. 13

    Dark Souls 2 gets full co-op from a fan

    A modder called Yui has released an early version of a mod that lets up to six people play Dark Souls 2 together from start to finish. [18] Yui made the same kind of mod for Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring and Armored Core. [18] Dark Souls 2 does have co-op, but with limits that keep breaking up a session. [18] The mod is free and still has bugs, such as enemies falling out of step. [18]

    6 of 6

    players in one Dark Souls 2 game

    Why it matters — FromSoftware, the studio that made the game, never built this, and a fan did. [18] Dark Souls 2 was the last game in the trilogy without such a mod. [18]

13. 14

    Fans release 19 rooftop maps for Quake

    Quake fans released Quake Rooftops Jam on Friday, a free pack of 19 new maps for id Software's 1996 shooter. [19] Every map is built around rooftops, which the original game rarely showed. [19] It is one of many fan packs this year, Quake's 30th, which also brought an official new campaign. [19] Quake Champions, the online spin-off, has stopped getting live updates. [19]

    Why it matters — A 30-year-old game keeps getting new levels because its players make them. [19] The official online version has gone quiet while the fan maps keep coming. [19]

14. 15

    Lego makes Link and his horse Epona

    Lego and Nintendo will sell a 1,750-piece Lego set of Link riding his horse Epona from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. [20] It comes out in spring 2027, and its price is not yet known. [20] It marks Zelda's 40th anniversary and follows Nintendo's remake of the game, out on 5 November for Switch 2. [20] An earlier Ocarina set, The Final Battle, sold for $129.99. [20]

    The Final Battle1,003 pieces

    Link and Epona1,750 pieces

    Deku Tree2,500 pieces

    Why it matters — Ocarina of Time is now selling again, as a remake and as a run of Lego sets. [20] The bigger Deku Tree set sold out and is no longer made. [20]

15. 16

    Bayonetta outfits come to Stellar Blade

    Stellar Blade, an action game from the South Korean studio Shift Up, will get four outfits based on Bayonetta in its Switch 2 edition in November. [21] At the Tokyo Game Show, PlatinumGames boss Atsushi Inaba hinted he wants to do more with Bayonetta. [21] He did not confirm a new game. [21] Its creator, Hideki Kamiya, left PlatinumGames in 2023. [21]

    Why it matters — A crossover keeps a character in front of players while no new Bayonetta game has been announced. [21] Bayonetta's Japanese voice actress, Atsuko Tanaka, died in 2024. [21]

16. 17

    Cookie's Bustle fans invited 25 years on

    People who mailed in the registration card for Cookie's Bustle, a surreal 1999 Japanese PC game, were invited to a secret party in Tokyo on Friday. [22] A Tokyo technology firm, QualityTime Consulting, held it. [22] The invitation said the game's "long hibernation" was ending, but guests reported no new release. [22] In March the Video Game History Foundation stopped a man who had been getting videos of the game taken down. [22]

    Why it matters — Japanese PC games from the 1990s are hard to find today, and this one stayed known through a small group of devoted fans. [22] Who owns the game now is still unclear. [22]

17. 18

    A Tekken 8 player reaches a top rank blindfolded

    A professional Tekken 8 player called SuperBrine climbed from the lowest rank to God of Destruction, one of the highest, while wearing a sleep mask. [23] He played across seven live streams starting in June, with the last in early October. [23] His eyes burned from being closed so long, and he had to take frequent breaks. [23] He told IGN the challenge was not meant as criticism of the game. [23]

    Beginner rankJune

    ↓→

    God of DestructionOctober

    Why it matters — SuperBrine credits the game's sound cues, which tell a player a lot without looking. [23] SuperBrine says such challenges help his plan to compete for a living. [23]

18. 19

    A former NFL coach shows his Minecraft city

    Mike Tomlin, who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team until 2025, has shown a Minecraft city he has built since 2014. [24] He posted the first tour on YouTube on 30 September. [24] It has hotels, flats, pharmacies and sports grounds, built block by block. [24] He led the team for 19 seasons without a losing one. [24] His son Dino films the tours, and more are planned. [24]

    Why it matters — Tomlin had little history with video games until his children showed him Minecraft. [24] He says building helped him step away from the pressure of his job. [24]