What's happening: Amazon expands Luna with free tier for Prime members
Amazon has refreshed its Luna cloud‑gaming service by offering a free Luna Standard subscription to all Prime members. The bundle now includes high‑profile titles such as Hogwarts Legacy, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Alan Wake 2 and Just Shapes & Beats. Users can play on compatible devices using a controller or a phone as a remote.
Also developing:

Return to Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle, two iconic 1980s Macintosh platformers, are receiving a definitive‑edition bundle on Steam. The release, overseen by series co‑creator Mark Stephen Pierce’s studio Ludit Holdings, features fully remastered visuals and audio, refined controls, and an additional 50 brand‑new rooms. It supports gamepad and keyboard input, includes save and replay functions, and will launch on March 3, 2026 with native Linux compatibility. The launch targets both nostalgic fans and new players seeking classic precision platforming on modern hardware.

Sony announced its Helldivers feature film starring Jason Momoa, slated for a November 10, 2027 premiere. The sci‑fi shooter adaptation will be directed by Justin Lin, the veteran behind the Fast & Furious franchise. The movie follows the launch of Helldivers II in...

Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games unveiled a new "Love Story" trailer for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, timed for Valentine’s Day. The teaser highlights a fresh narrative centered on protagonist Aidan and the Genesis Configuration puzzle box. The game promises...

Microsoft withdrew a DMCA takedown notice it had filed against the voxel sandbox Allumeria, which was accused of using Minecraft gameplay and assets. Valve initially removed Allumeria’s Steam page in response, but restored it after Microsoft’s claim was withdrawn. The...

JabhiM, one of the 48 qualifiers for Capcom Cup 12, released a personal match‑up chart for Terry Bogard ahead of the tournament. The chart highlights Terry’s strong positions against JP, Ken, Marisa, Mai, Elena, C. Viper and A.K.I., while flagging tougher battles...

Stranger Land: The Beginning is an indie, web‑based stealth platformer released by developer AyoXixx using the Phaser framework. Players guide a yellow cubic avatar through neon‑lit futuristic levels, activating portals while evading drones and security systems. The game features a...

Ubisoft has launched the "Eye of the Beast" season for its troubled open‑world pirate title Skull and Bones, introducing a multi‑phase Kraken boss and a new Corvette support vessel. The update also revives the Founding Event to celebrate the game’s...

Riot Games’ new fighting game 2XKO launched in January 2026 and quickly climbed PlayStation’s free‑to‑play download charts, ranking third in the United States and Canada and tenth in Europe. The title outperformed heavyweight titles such as Fortnite, Roblox, Marvel Rivals,...

Japanese indie studio Grasshopper Manufacture announced during a Grasshopper Direct video that it plans to release an unannounced title later in 2026, following the February launch of *ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN*. Founder Goichi Suda emphasized the project is “almost...

Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent marks the first video‑game adaptation of the modern classic board game Descent. The title offers eight distinct adventurers and twenty story‑driven dungeons, with turn‑based combat that stresses positioning, elevation and line of sight. It supports up...

Invincible Vs introduces two new playable Viltrumites, Anissa and Lucan, expanding its roster to four characters from the franchise. Lucan is designed as a grappler with unblockable moves and super‑armor, while Anissa focuses on high‑speed rush‑down and counter‑attack options. The...

Indie studios IronEqual and STRAFTAT have launched a playable demo for VHOLUME, a first‑person parkour adventure inspired by Mirror’s Edge. The demo is now available on Steam for PC, though the full game’s launch date remains unannounced. Set in a...
International esports tournament operator BLAST has renewed its partnership with ASUS Republic of Gamers for the 2026 season of its Counter‑Strike 2 series. Under the agreement, ASUS ROG will provide official monitors, PCs, laptops, keyboards and mice for six BLAST Premier...

Unknown Worlds released a new dev vlog for Subnautica 2 showcasing a dive elevator and confirming that multiplayer will be optional. Every feature has been built with co‑op capability, but no part of the game will require other players. The dive...
Savvy Games Group announced a Memorandum of Understanding with Stockholm‑based visual‑effects studio NMBRS at the D.I.C.E. conference, aiming to boost esports and game development in Saudi Arabia. NMBRS will establish a Riyadh presence, bringing VFX expertise from titles such as...

Besiege, the physics‑based building game, announced its first major expansion, The Broken Beyond, targeting a Q2 2026 release. The expansion transports players to space, featuring a new campaign, specialized propulsion blocks, and a fresh fuel system. It adds orbital gravity mechanics,...

Embark Studios has launched the Shared Watch PvE event in Arc Raiders, running through February 24. Players earn merits and rewards by damaging or destroying the game’s Arc bots, while PvP kills provide no benefits. The update also reintroduces the Cold...

Playsport Games announced it has reclaimed the rights to the 2016 title Motorsport Manager from SEGA and is already rolling out a patch. The update fixes a persistent black‑screen boot issue by moving the game to Unity 5.5.6f1, with a beta...

Developer JSLegendDev rebuilt his Sonic infinite runner using Phaser 4 Release Candidate 5, fixing performance problems that plagued the original version. The step‑by‑step tutorial walks readers through Vite project setup, sprite animation, arcade physics, collision handling, combo scoring, sound integration,...

Supermassive Games announced that its next Dark Pictures entry, Directive 8020, will launch on May 12, 2026. The sci‑fi horror title introduces a "Turning Points" system that lets players rewind pivotal choices, while retaining a traditional Survivor Mode with permanent death. The...

The Khronos Group marked its 25th anniversary by launching a series of celebratory videos that showcase its flagship open standards such as OpenGL, Vulkan, OpenXR, glTF and OpenCL. The consortium, led by President Neil Trevett, highlighted how its member‑driven model has...
![[Industry News] Bastion Brings Exceptional Service, International Reach to North American Games Companies with Launch of Bastion America](/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/Rebekah_Nicodemus_4.jpg)
Bastion, the award‑winning video‑games communications agency, has opened Bastion America, a US‑based arm designed to deliver the same high‑caliber strategic, media and community services to North American developers. The new division is led by Rebekah Nicodemus, a former Amazon Games...

Build A Rocket Boy installed Teramind monitoring software on staff PCs without prior notice, prompting employees to notice slower performance and later sign an updated IT privacy policy. The rollout coincided with executives alleging a coordinated external campaign to sabotage...

Wishful's Planet of Lana II will launch on March 5 2026, with a Steam demo hitting the platform on February 11. The demo showcases the sequel’s expanded hand‑painted visuals, larger puzzles, and new mechanics such as Mui’s ability to control wildlife thralls, including an...

Cygames released a detailed guide for Ilsa, the newest DLC fighter in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, ahead of her in‑game debut later today. The guide reveals a unique nine‑bullet resource system that fuels her attacks and follow‑ups, with a dedicated reload...

GE‑Proton 10‑30 has been released, bringing community‑maintained patches that improve compatibility for Arknights Endfield, EA titles, and winewayland systray handling. The update also introduces experimental support for compiling Proton on aarch64/ARM platforms, though it requires an unreleased umu‑launcher build. Users are advised...
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut described his IEM Kraków 2026 Grand Final as flawless, leading Vitality to a decisive victory over FURIA and securing a rare back‑to‑back IEM title. He highlighted his peak hybrid AWP performance, noting how it opened strategic options for his...
![[Industry News] Hitoshi Sakimoto Invites You to Join Him for Game Music Festival 2026](/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/featured.jpg)
Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto announced a 40th‑anniversary concert, “The Colors of Harmony,” in London on 13 June 2026 as part of the Game Music Festival. The event will showcase orchestral versions of his scores for Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and...
![[Industry News] Aether & Iron, Narrative RPG, Coming to PC March 31](/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/aether.png)
Seismic Squirrel announced that its narrative‑driven RPG *Aether & Iron* will launch on PC via Steam on March 31, 2026. The game places players in an alternate‑1930s New York where aether enables vertical cityscapes and anti‑gravity tech. Players control Gia, a...

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will launch with a roster of 20 fighters, confirming the size of the initial character pool. So far only eight heroes—Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, Doctor Doom, Star‑Lord, Ms. Marvel, Spider‑Man and Ghost Rider—have been officially named, leaving...

Ayaneo unveiled the Next II, a 13‑inch Windows gaming handheld that tips the scales at 3.14 pounds, dwarfing rivals like the Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go. The device packs a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor with a Radeon 8060S GPU, delivering performance comparable to...

Bandai Namco released Tekken 8 Version 2.09 on February 9, accompanied by the Season 3 Pass priced at $35. The patch introduces new DLC, a Qipao costume pack, and a five‑week 2nd‑anniversary campaign, but it does not alter character balance. Server maintenance runs from 1:30 p.m. PT...
Riot Games announced it is laying off roughly 80 employees from its 2XKO fighting‑game team, representing about half of the development staff. The cuts come just weeks after the game’s 1.0 launch on PC and consoles, with the company citing...
Amazon has announced Callum Vinson as Atreus for its live‑action God of War series, joining Ryan Hurst as Kratos. Vinson, known for roles in Chucky and The Night Agent, brings youthful credibility to the ten‑year‑old son central to the 2018...

Former Rockstar QA tester Alex Kane’s studio Pawsmonaut Games is set to release Aethus, a sci‑fi survival title that blends Satisfactory‑style automation with a narrative‑driven third‑person perspective. Players explore layered underground caves, build holographic bases, and uncover a megacorp’s dark...

Team Ninja released a weekend patch for Nioh 3 that eliminates a rare bug which corrupted player save files when exiting at shrine checkpoints. The update also addresses several stability issues, including multiplayer map fall‑throughs, crashes when selecting “Become A Visitor,”...

Iter-8 is a new indie title that blends upward mining with tower‑defence mechanics, tasking players with excavating a brutalist monolith while fending off waves of red‑eyed monsters. Resources harvested in the mines fund upgrades for both the drilling equipment and...

Arrowhead Games announced the Machinery of Oppression update for Helldivers 2, arriving on February 10, 2026. The patch introduces three new cyborg enemy classes—Agitators, Radicals, and the Vox Engine—who fight alongside the Automaton faction on the newly contested planet Cyberstan. Existing gameplay is...

Writer Michael Roberts replaces his smartphone with a Nintendo Game Boy Advance to combat doomscrolling, playing Pokémon FireRed, a 30‑year‑old remake. Within weeks he reports a three‑hour weekly reduction in screen time and finds the retro game’s low‑stakes, nostalgic design more...

Void War, an indie space‑strategy game likened to FTL meets Warhammer 40,000, was temporarily pulled from Steam after Games Workshop issued a DMCA takedown over shoulder‑pad artwork that resembled the publisher’s Space Marine design. The developers, Tundra Interactive, confirmed the claim’s...

Epic Games reaffirmed that the horror title Horses breaches its Inappropriate Content and Hateful or Abusive Content policies, resulting in an adult‑only (AO) rating that the Epic Store does not support. Santa Ragione contends Epic’s statements about the game’s content are...

The PlayStation Gameplay Chart for the week ending February 8 2026, compiled from over 2.9 million active accounts, places Fortnite at #1, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Roblox. Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K26 and EA SPORTS FC 26 round out the top five, showing...

Mesa 25.3.5 was released, delivering a series of bug fixes that target Intel and AMD drivers, as well as RDNA 3/4 graphics cards. The update resolves crashes in MPEG‑2 transcoding with Vulkan, a static‑linking regression, and shader integer I/O errors. Additional...

Vulkan‑based translation layer D7VK has released version 1.3, extending support to Direct3D 5 while retaining D3D6 and D3D7 compatibility. The update introduces optional FSAA emulation, refined logging prefixes, and several bug fixes that resolve rendering glitches and texture‑loading issues in classic...

People Playground’s Steam Workshop was compromised in early February 2026 when a malicious mod called “FPS++” acted as a worm, deleting user data and spamming workshop items. The malware erased configurations, maps, and stats while preserving playtime, leaving achievements unrecoverable....

Director Ryosuke Horii defended the casting of actor Teruyuki Kagawa as Goh Hamazaki in the upcoming Yakuza Kiwami 3 remake, despite 2022 sexual‑assault allegations against Kagawa. Horii said Kagawa’s “slimy” performance fit the character’s creepiness, and recasting would have been “safer”...

Valve has updated Steam Early Access listings to allow developers to display a planned full release date, mirroring the functionality of Coming Soon pages. The change aims to reduce confusion for potential buyers and give studios a clear way to...
![[Industry News] Yodo1 Unveils IPVerse to Eliminate High-Stakes Guesswork in Global Game Licensing](/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/IPVerse-Logo.jpeg)
Yodo1 Games has launched IPVerse, a free data‑intelligence platform that consolidates global IP and licensing information for in‑game collaborations. The service draws from over 80,000 events, 20,000 brands and 15,000 games, offering AI‑driven matching, popularity indices and regional insights, including...

Arc Raiders continues its rotating map‑condition system, a core design choice affirmed by CEO Patrick Söderlund. The studio says the schedule creates tension, encourages players to move between maps, and will remain largely unchanged. While new conditions will be added,...

Ubisoft announced the cancellation of the long‑awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake as part of a sweeping restructuring that threatens up to 200 jobs at its Paris headquarters. Jordan Mechner, the original game’s creator, posted a blog...