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Pete Hines departs Bethesda, citing inability to protect studio culture
Pete Hines, longtime Bethesda VP of marketing and PR, left the studio in 2023 after Microsoft’s 2020 acquisition. He stayed to help during the transition but felt powerless to shield Bethesda’s efficient development culture as Microsoft restructured the Xbox studio hierarchy, prompting his exit after Starfield’s launch.
Also developing:
By the numbers: PlayVS acquires LeagueSpot to expand global reach
A fan‑made sorcerer subclass called Spelljack has been released on Nexus Mods for Baldur's Gate 3. The subclass lets players reactively steal enemy spells, convert them into sorcery points, and even silence casters. It introduces new abilities at levels 1, 2, 11, and 15, with optional uncapped‑level mods needed for full progression. The mod expands tactical options for sorcerers who struggle against powerful magic users.
There are many requests to get into the compiler beta. And sometimes I am very busy, so it's a while before I add new people (this time, it's been 5 weeks). Just as a public service announcement though, on a day...
Alec’s Request is a Greymane faction quest in Crimson Desert that becomes available after completing Chapter 3 and unlocking the Greymane camp. Players must locate the marked shallow‑water area, catch a Leopard Perch—either with a fishing rod or by hand—and return...
Rising AI compute demand is crowding out RAM and GPU capacity for consumer gamers, prompting price spikes and postponements for Nvidia's next‑gen graphics cards and Valve's upcoming Steam Machine. The squeeze is also forcing PC OEMs to look beyond traditional...
Analysts argue that Nintendo fans should not expect a Super Smash Bros. movie after the release of the Super Mario Galaxy film. Shigeru Miyamoto’s comments and Hollywood’s cautious approach to game adaptations underline a strategic focus on selective, fan‑approved projects...
BitLife lets players join school clubs that can affect career outcomes, but the activity list is randomly generated for each character. The Anime Club, a niche extracurricular, appears in middle school, secondary school, and university menus only occasionally. To secure...
Glenn Israel, a former 343 Industries art director, posted on LinkedIn alleging a coordinated harassment campaign at Halo Studios, including blacklisting, fraud, and cronyism. He claims senior executives and HR deliberately ignored his complaints and threatened retaliation, ultimately forcing his...
Grand Theft Auto 5 will exit Xbox Game Pass on April 15, 2026, joining several other titles slated for removal. The game has been added and removed from the service multiple times since 2020, with its current run—starting in April 2025—being the longest...
A previously unseen cutscene from FromSoftware’s 2022 title Elden Ring has been extracted from the game’s files, revealing Miquella planting the Haligtree and delivering a poetic monologue. YouTuber data‑miner Lance McDonald reverse‑engineered the hidden sequence, which was originally meant to...
FromSoftware dataminer Lance McDonald uncovered a deleted base‑game cutscene featuring DLC antagonist Miquella the Kind. The footage shows Miquella planting and blood‑watering a Haligtree sapling inside a reworked version of Malenia’s boss arena, accompanied by cryptic dialogue. The scene appears...
Vegas Climax 6 returned to Las Vegas, featuring SNK’s Fatal Fury, King of Fighters 15, and Samurai Shodown qualifiers alongside side events for Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and 2XKO. The tournament attracted roughly 150 competitors, with ONIC|NYChrisG winning Street Fighter 6 and Falcons|Ghirlanda taking the...
Square Enix will broadcast the second "Letter from the Producer" live on April 17 at 4:00 a.m. PDT, detailing Final Fantasy 14’s Patch 7.5 series titled “Trail to the Heavens.” The upcoming patch adds the final FFXI‑themed alliance raid, the Beastmaster limited‑time job, expanded housing...
Stephen Tailby recounts earning the Platinum trophy for Superhot: Mind Control Delete, noting the sequel’s expanded roguelike mechanics over its predecessor. He highlights a notoriously long real‑time timer trophy that originally required eight hours of idle gameplay before a patch...
Epic Games introduced a Shoulder Ride emote in Fortnite’s April Fools update for Chapter 7 Season 2, letting players literally sit on each other’s shoulders. The feature is activated via the Social Interactions tab and shows a blue arrow above the emote‑user, after...
Shanty Town, an indie cozy town‑builder, debuted at PAX East, offering players a relaxed, level‑based experience with extensive customization. The game lets users stack buildings, swap colors, and design communities at their own pace, without traditional win‑or‑lose pressure. It shares...
Next Level Games once explored adding Zelda’s hero Link to the Wii title Mario Strikers Charged, but Nintendo’s tepid reaction led the idea to be dropped. The developer disclosed the proposal in a recent interview, confirming that the crossover never...
Valve is reportedly adding an FPS estimator to the Steam client, leveraging crowd‑sourced frame‑rate data from users. The tool would let shoppers input their CPU, GPU and memory to view projected performance for any game before purchase. It builds on...
🚁🏚️ Okay so I asked @cursor_ai to add FBX scenery of a city in ruins, which is a bit of a cheat code because the city is not generated by AI But instantly it looks like a real drone sim...
Everquest 2’s annual Beast’r Eggstravaganza Easter event returns for a single week, running from April 4 through April 9. Players can hunt eight newly placed Beast’r Eggs across both classic city zones and advanced locations, then turn them in to Eggschanger Merchants for...
Did You Know Gaming released a new video that dives into obscure facts and Easter eggs across the Mario franchise, covering titles such as Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, and Mario Party 4. The channel mined rare interviews and archival material...
FIFA 26’s new Showdown SBC pits Gonzalo Garcia against Josip Stanisic, with the winner of the Real Madrid‑Bayern Munich Champions League tie determining which player receives a future upgrade. Both challenges require Team of the Week players and high‑rated squads,...
Leaked TikTok footage posted by user THROX shows a fenced‑off English countryside set that appears to be a near‑exact replica of Elden Ring’s Church of Marika, along with other recognizable props. The clips, which surfaced on April 3‑4, suggest that Alex...
Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy movie hit theaters this week, prompting a deep‑dive on the GoNintendo Podcast 1,021. The hosts deliver a largely spoiler‑free critique, weighing the film’s storytelling, visual effects, and its role in expanding the Mario brand beyond games. They also unpack...
Some live Red Bull Aur Race style fun right now in #DCSWorld with the new @StrikeFtrLeague - an attempt to turn virtual flight simming into slick E-Sports with world's best DCS pilots #avgeek https://t.co/cTd1VRewNv
Facepunch Studios rolled out the Rust "Spring Clean" April 2026 update, introducing a Water Wheel that can generate up to 30 power for early‑game renewable energy. The patch also nerfs the shield meta by limiting its large hitbox to moments...
EA Sports has launched the El Tiburon Evolution for FC 26, allowing players to spend 65,000 in‑game coins to upgrade a chosen centre‑back card. The evolution targets CB items and adds five upgrade tiers that boost overall rating, defensive attributes, and...
Spirit Crossing’s latest patch adds rank‑5 Friendship quests, a timed Dance Party that rewards Beacon Energy, and customizable Foot Race tournaments. The update also revamps equipment upgrades with a four‑tier system—Basic to Exquisite—and introduces Trusty or Lucky enhancements at the...
This seems very helpful, vibe game starter packs by @chongdashu so you don't need to start from scratch #vibejam
NVIDIA unveiled Neural Texture Compression (NTC), an AI‑driven method that slashes GPU VRAM usage by up to seven times. In a GTC 2026 demo, the technology compressed a 6.5 GB texture set to just 970 MB while preserving visual fidelity. NTC replaces traditional...
HypnosisSoft announced Hyakki Fantasia Mini‑Game Selection Vol. 1 for the Nintendo Switch, launching on April 15, 2026. The sequel expands the original’s anime‑styled world with five distinct mini‑games centered on yokai themes. Players collect Magic Stones as rewards, which unlock story fragments spanning...
The Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless controller for Nintendo Switch 2, featuring a Mario‑and‑Luigi skin, launched on March 30 2026 and retails for $64.99 (≈$70 in the UK). It boasts customizable RGB lighting with four modes, a 40‑hour battery that falls to about 12 hours when...
The upcoming Linux 7.0‑rc7 kernel adds native support for the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro and Betop KP50B/C gaming controllers via the XPad driver, covering both wired and 2.4 GHz wireless modes. The Wolverine V3 Pro, a high‑end controller priced around $199, uses...
A developer posted a new browser‑based game on Hacker News that lets players construct a graphics processor from the ground up, starting with individual transistors and advancing through logic gates, ALU design, and full GPU architecture. The game is organized...
Kemco announced Akuma Rise, a new JR‑style role‑playing game developed by Exe Create, will launch on Nintendo Switch on May 7 2026. The title will be sold for $19.99 through the Switch eShop. Set in the demon realm of Adribune, the story...
Compile Heart revealed the first hour of gameplay for Villion: Code, the upcoming school‑RPG from Megami Tensei co‑creator Kouji Okada. The title is slated for a June 25 2026 launch on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 in Japan. Set on a floating university island...
Take‑Two Interactive has let go of Luke Dicken, its Head of Artificial Intelligence, and an unspecified portion of his team. The move comes weeks after CEO Strauss Zelnick publicly pledged to "actively embrace" generative AI, raising questions about the publisher’s...
NetherRealm Studios has listed temporary Quality Assurance tester positions for its upcoming, as‑yet‑unnamed project, indicating the game has entered the testing phase. The hiring follows Ed Boon’s earlier comments that the studio works on multiple titles simultaneously and comes after...
The Phase 9 update for eFootball 2026 adds a Show Time version of French striker Serhou Guirassy, a centre‑forward designed as a classic poacher. The card boasts a 90‑plus finishing rating, strong kicking power and the exclusive Bullet Header skill that triggers...
Final Fantasy 14’s new variant dungeon, The Merchant’s Tale, has been hailed for its striking visuals and inventive boss encounters, while the added advanced difficulty delivers a satisfying mid‑core challenge. However, the reward structure falls short, re‑using legacy items and offering...
Ukrainian CS:GO squad B8 clinched a spot at the IEM Cologne Major after winning the Parken Challenger Championship, a rare triumph in a season marked by inconsistent tier‑one results. Captain Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi stressed that the team would be content...
Street Fighter 6 received its most significant balance overhaul in almost a year with the Alex update, prompting analysts to reassess character rankings. Prominent content creators Tyrant and Javits Arias each shared their personal top‑5 lists, revealing strong consensus on the...
Lynn Vision secured a place in the Yuqilin Pinnacle of Battle Season 3 final after two consecutive forfeit victories, first over Rare Atom and then over TYLOO, who withdrew due to a clash with the XSE GangKui Cup finals. The walkover...
Mother 3, the 2006 Game Boy Advance sequel to EarthBound, remains unreleased outside Japan despite its sharp anti‑capitalist storyline. The game portrays a utopian village turned consumerist nightmare after the arrival of the Pigmasks, mirroring modern concerns about wealth inequality. A fan‑driven English...
KLab Games has unveiled My Hero Academia UNITED SURVIVAL, a new mobile title tied to the anime’s 10th‑anniversary celebrations. A teaser and Bones‑produced key visual showcase iconic heroes like Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki, but reveal no gameplay or genre details. The announcement...
House Flipper, the popular home‑renovation simulator with over ten million players, is being offered for free on Steam until April 6, 2024. The giveaway precedes the launch of the House Flipper Remastered Collection, slated for Q2 2026, which bundles the original game...
Bungie has nerfed Marathon’s Biotoxic Disinjector, a powerful end‑game weapon, by cutting its damage 35 % after widespread community backlash. The gun’s grenade launcher could near‑one‑shot opponents and stick to surfaces, giving top players an outsized advantage in the Cryo Archive...
Microsoft expanded its Xbox Game Pass Stream Your Own Game catalog in April 2026, adding 50 new titles. The update includes a mix of AAA releases, indie titles, and classic Xbox 360 games such as Banjo‑Kazooie and Perfect Dark. Subscribers with...
Embark Studios' Flashpoint update revamps Scrappy, turning the rooster from a simple material collector into a strategic loot source. By feeding Scrappy specific items, players can now obtain rare Matriarch and Queen Reactors, dramatically easing the grind for high‑tier gear....
The A.V. Club launched The Playfield, a weekly column where writers and guests discuss the games they’re playing, starting with contributor Dia Lacina. The debut installment reviews three titles: Square Enix’s visual‑novel sequel Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, Sony’s enduring baseball simulation MLB The Show 26,...
Wright Flyer Studios and Studio Prisma announced that *Another Eden Begins* will launch in Japan on September 17 for Nintendo Switch 2, the original Switch, and PC via Steam. The Switch 2 version will be sold as a physical game card, with...
