Gaming News

Doom Soundtrack Inducted Into the National Recording Registry

The soundtrack of the original 1993 Doom has been inducted into the National Recording Registry. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, "with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections." Founded over two hundred years ago, it sits as the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The latest inductees, of which there are 25, have been dubbed as "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Bobby Prince's "adrenaline-fueled" score is the third piece of video game history to be immortalized this...

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Microsoft Launches Xbox Player Voice to Gather Feedback, Fans Immediately Demand a Return to Exclusives

Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives. Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity. Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making...

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First F1 25: 2026 Season DLC Details Coming This Week

EA has confirmed the first details for F1 25’s 2026 Season Pack update will be made available this Wednesday, May 20. The reveal trailer for the upcoming DLC will be released at 4pm UK time, May 20 (11am EDT/8am PDT, and 1am AEST on May 21). For the time being, EA has revealed the “cover” athletes for the update: seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, former F3 and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, and veteran driver Valtteri Bottas, winner of 10 F1 Grands Prix and current owner of the greatest F1 moustache this side of Nigel Mansell. The presence of Bortoleto and Bottas would be no accident, since they represent the two new teams on the 2026 grid: Audi and Cadillac. EA confirmed in late 2025 that there would be no standalone F1 game...

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Save 49% Off This Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank with Built-In AC Plug and USB Cable

Here's a great deal on a power bank that stands out from the rest. As part of its Memorial Day Sale, Amazon is currently offering an Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank with foldable plug and built-in USB cable for just $18.30 after an automatic 49% off discount is applied in cart. This power bank will extend the life of your Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, or Apple iPhone and you don't need to bring along a power brick or USB cable like you would with any other power bank. Save 49% Off the Iniu 10,000mAh 45W Power Bank Normally you would need to take along at least three items with you to keep your Switch 2 charged up on the road: a power bank when there's no outlet available, a wall charger when there is one available (and also to charge the...

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Forza Horizon 6 Features a Cheeky Pokémon Easter Egg

Forza Horizon 6 managed to slip in a sly reference to Pokémon. Xbox and Playground Games' beloved racing franchise has returned, and it's arguably better than ever. Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, a long-requested setting amongst fans. Not only is Japan a beautiful location for any game, but it has a very strong and thriving car culture. After years of fleshing out the franchise, Playground finally felt comfortable in taking on the setting and making the biggest Forza game yet. As a result, Forza embraces Japan in all kinds of different ways. Of course, there's an emphasis on drifting in the game, there are cherry blossom trees that are so culturally significant they can't be destroyed, and there are all kinds of references...

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Amazon Has Dropped Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Switch 2 Preorders in Price To Match Argos — Still With Free MTG Card

Out on 3 June, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has had preorders for its physical copies (though Game-Key Cards) drop at retailers like Amazon and Argos. Although the epic follow-up to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been out on PS5 and PC since early 2024 and 2025 respectively, but is finally coming to the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S next month. Among various preorder bonuses for the Switch 2 preorder, however, (including a reversible alternate box art inlay) is a very unique and limited in-box pre-order bonus: a Zack Fair Magic: The Gathering card. This borderless version of the card, with variant art done by Tetsuya Nomura himself, has specifically been spotted among FF7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 pre-orders on...

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Confused Retailers Receive Mysterious Shipments Containing One of the PS4's Rarest Games, Poop Slinger

A bunch of mom-and-pop video game stores have received mysterious shipments of one of the PS4's rarest games, Poop Slinger. If you're unfamiliar with the tale of Poop Slinger, it's a pretty interesting one. The PS4 game was released in 2018 on PSN with a physical release in 2019. The physical release was handled by Limited Rare Games, not to be confused with the more established and well-known games distributor Limited Run Games. However, as you might imagine, there wasn't a ton of demand for a game called Poop Slinger, especially when it was available digitally. As a result, few copies were made, and even fewer were sold. Although it was estimated there were fewer than 100 copies in circulation, Sony requires a minimum of 1,000 copies...

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Batman Games Begin: The Origins of the Dark Knight in Video Games

Batman was created more than 80 years ago and has starred in video games for 40 of them – nearly half of his existence. But despite a long and varied existence in the comics, ranging from the world’s greatest detective to a hero willing to fight gods and aliens, the dozens of Dark Knight games across the console generations have rarely strayed far from the basics. No matter what decade it is, no matter what hardware you’re playing on, odds are that in any given Batman title you’ll be gliding off gargoyles, firing grappling hooks, and flinging Batarangs at guys in straightjackets. This year sees one of gaming’s more unusual approaches to Batman – the version made of plastic bricks – return in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and...

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LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Early Access and Full Release Times Confirmed

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight sees you rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold, action-packed adventure with hard-hitting combat, an open-world Gotham City, and the signature LEGO charm that fans know and love. It draws on everything in the world of Batman: the movies, the 1960's TV show, and of course the comics, including the LEGO Batman version of the Batsuit from Gotham by Gaslight, the beloved steampunk-themed Elsewords comic from 1989. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PC players will be able to log in from 10am PT on May 22, and console players can expect a rolling midnight launch. Those who've paid for the deluxe...

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Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Review

Parody, when done correctly, can be one of the sharpest, funniest ways to show your love for something. That task comes a little bit easier, and all the more richer, when the target in your sights is a man who dresses up as a bat and demands to be taken seriously all too often. Lego series developer TT Games is no stranger to this world, having jumped into Gotham on more than one occasion in the past and delivered consistently fun pastiches of some of pop culture's most beloved characters for two decades now. In Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, it's back at the top of its game, built lovingly brick-by-brick with fun always foremost in mind, especially in an open world that eclipses its linear levels. A top-tier Lego game with...

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Subnautica 2 Dev Gives Players Hope Amid the Game's First Hot Topic Following Launch

Fresh from its huge early access launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure game Subnautica 2 has sparked a significant debate among fans: to kill or not to kill the fish. Currently, you can’t kill any fish in Subnautica 2, and there is no weaponry to do so, and some players don’t like that at all. While you can sort of deter fish to go away by using a flare, you can’t actively kill fish while out in the deep — despite the fact they can not only pursue you, but damage you. It’s worth noting that you can kill small fish in a roundabout way, but gathering them up as a resource and turning them into all sorts of useful things back at your base. But there’s no direct killing of any fish while out and about, making everything you...

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Take-Two Boss Says Borderlands' Last-Minute Art Style Change Cost $50 Million, but Without It the Game Would Have Flopped

Borderlands’ well-documented 11th hour art style change cost Take-Two an extra $50 million in development costs and delayed the game by a year, but without it the now successful franchise would have flopped straight out the gate. That’s according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who in a sweeping interview with David Senra about his career said his approval of the last minute switch and associated extra cost was “a non-obvious decision” that no-one else would have made, but his trust in the developers was rewarded with a new hit franchise. “We had not turned around the company yet, and we had very limited capital,” Zelnick began, speaking of Take-Two as it was after he had taken over the company in 2007. At the time, Borderlands was...

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Terraria Marks 15 Years and 70 Million Players With a Promise to Continue Updates Beyond 1.4.6 and Crossplay Patch

Terraria developer Re-Logic has confirmed that updates will continue "beyond" the 1.4.6 update and the upcoming crossplay patch, and will share "other plans and ideas [...] when the time is right." Addressing fans on its 15th anniversary in an update on Steam, the studio reflected on the staggering milestone of 70 million sales, 39.6 million of which were sold on PC, 10.7 million on console, and 19.7 million on mobile. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an average daily player count of around half a million players, and a peak of 1.4 million. As part of the celebrations, Terraria is getting a 15th anniversary collector's edition — what, exactly, it includes remains a mystery — and Terraria Design Works, a book that takes a retrospective...

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Mixtape Publisher Refutes Claim That Expired Music Licenses Will Cause the Game to Be Delisted

Coming-of-age video game Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road. Creative director Johnny Galvatron kept concerns about the game's future from spinning out of control during a recent interview with Kotaku. Despite featuring a full playlist of tracks from recognizable groups throughout its foot-tapping story, he said that the team paid extra to maintain licenses for each track in perpetuity. Annapurna followed up the interview with its own statement in an X/Twitter post. It said, "We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted...

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Save 50% Off the Logitech G923 Racing Wheel, Just in Time for the Forza Horizon 6 Release

Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox comes out next week (the PS5 edition comes later). This is the perfect excuse for you to finally upgrade from a controller to a bona fide racing wheel. For a limited time, Amazon Resale is offering a used "Like New" Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PC and Xbox for just $184.79 with free shipping after an extra 20% discount that's automatically applied. It normally retails for $350 new, although it's currently on sale for $280. Amazon Resale (formerly Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. All Resale items get the same 30-day return policy as buying new. 50% Off Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing...

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Don't Buy a Marked-Up Steam Deck When Cheaper Options Exist

The Steam Deck has now been sold out for a few months, and it's not clear if or when Valve is going to get more stock in. While it's possible that at least some of the 'game console' shipments the company has been getting in could be handhelds, it's possible that Valve just waits until its eventual Steam Deck 2 to ship more handhelds, especially with the Steam Machine seemingly around the corner. That doesn't change the fact that the Steam Deck, even four years after launch, is still one of the best handheld gaming PCs on the market. It's understanable if folks want to pick it up, especially because for a lot of people, 'Steam Deck' is synonymous with 'handheld PC'. As the Steam Deck has been out of stock, however, the prices have...

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NFL's Los Angeles Chargers Reveal 2026 Schedule Using Halo

NFL teams have been coming up with creative ways to announce their season schedules in recent years, from using memes to parodies to celebrities. For 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers have turned to Halo in order to tell everyone who they'll be playing in the upcoming season. The team posted a six-minute video, whose introduction notes that the Chargers got permission from Microsoft and that they didn't use any actual gameplay footage. It's modeled after a multiplayer setup screen, with each week's opponent listed as if it was a multiplayer map. They appear to have even hired Halo multiplayer announcer Jeff Steitzer (or a fantastic soundalike) to do callouts for each week, such as "Beast Mode" for the Seahawks matchup in Week 4, complete...

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Best Buy Is Offering Great Discounts on a Selection of Switch and Switch 2 Games Right Now

Best Buy has dropped some great deals on select games for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 recently. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment for Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for Switch, and Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 for Switch are just a few that caught our eye, but you can see even more of our favorites on sale at the retailer right now below. There's quite a range of discounts here as well. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment for Switch 2, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for Switch, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for Switch 2 are all between 29% to 33% off at the moment, but the other three from the list above are actually all 50% off. What better time to grab them? It's also worth noting that the deal prices for...

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Forza Horizon 6 Is Only Officially Playable Now to Those Who Bought Its Pricier Premium Edition, but It's Still Putting Up Big Numbers on Steam

Forza Horizon 6 has already reached an impressive player count on Steam despite its official launch still being days away. Although publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer Playground Games won't officially pull their latest open-world racing game out of the garage until next week, those who own the pricier Premium Edition have already started taking advantage of early access, which launched for PC (Xbox App, Steam) and Xbox Series X and S today, May 15. Despite the bundle's $119.99 cost, the Steam version has already reached an impressive peak of 172,093 users (via SteamDB) and is hovering around 160,000 players as of this article's publication. That puts Forza Horizon 6 head-and-shoulders above the Steam launch for Forza Horizon 5...

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Forza Horizon 6 Dev Explains Why Shrines, Temples, and Cherry Blossom Trees Are Indestructible

Forza Horizon 6 finally brings the racing series to Japan. Players can cruise around a highly detailed, stylized and condensed version of the country, taking in everything from downtown Tokyo, famous landmarks, and scenic country roads in all seasons as they test their mettle against other racers. The game also rewards you with experience points for letting out that road rage by smashing your car into other vehicles or your surroundings. However, The Japan Times’ recent interview with design director Torben Ellert revealed that while you can destroy most things in Forza 6 by crashing into them (whether on purpose or because you understeered on a hairpin bend), culturally important things like shrines, temples, and cherry trees are...

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Lego 2K Drive Set to be Delisted Next Week With Multiplayer Shutdown Scheduled for 2027

Publisher 2K has announced its brick racing game Lego 2K Drive will be delisted from digital storefronts on PC and console starting May 19, 2026. A message alerting players to the delisting was published on the game's Steam page and shared online today. The same text can be found on the Xbox and PlayStation Store pages. Players will be able to purchase Lego 2K Drive digitally until it is removed from online shops, this Tuesday. Although it will remain available to play and redownload after this date, 2K added that multiplayer servers will also go offline starting May 31, 2027. All online services tied to the game will be unavailable from then on. Developer Visual Concepts launched Lego 2K Drive May 19, 2023, for PC, Nintendo Switch...

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The Complete History of James Bond Games

James Bond: the ultimate spy. The secret agent that other secret agents check under the bed for at night, although that’s probably less to do with their concerns about his martial arts prowess and more about his penchant for sexual congress. Hey, honey, whose Aston Martin is that in the driveway? And why is it beeping? At any rate, conceived by WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming as a cocktail of the many killer elite commandos and secret agents he met during his time in the service, the iconic James Bond has clearly come a long way from his literary beginnings in 1953. Bond quickly migrated from the pages of Fleming’s novels to radio plays, comic books, and – of course – a film series that’s lasted over 60 years...

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Subnautica 2 User Outs Themselves as Having Pirated the Game After Contacting the Developer for Support

The owner of a leaked copy of Subnautica 2 appears to have accidentally revealed themselves — after contacting the game's developer for support. Hit underwater adventure Subnautica 2 launched this week in early access, though after illegitimate and unfinished copies of the game began circulating online. At the time, developer Unknown Worlds acknowledged in a statement to IGN that leaked copies were now being downloaded, though cautioned that these were "incomplete development versions" that "do not reflect the content or gameplay experience being prepared for the official release." It's unclear exactly what issue the leaked copy owner contacted Unknown Worlds about, but it seems clear enough that they were trying to play an...

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Subnautica 2 Dev Reveals Early Access Roadmap, Teases New Region, New Vehicle, and Next Chapter of the Story

Fresh from its huge launch, underwater survival and crafting adventure Subnautica 2 now has an early access roadmap detailing the updates players can expect to see over the next few months. Unknown Worlds said it’s working towards a “big drop” that will expand the world with biomes, creatures, resources, tools, vehicles, and the next chapter of the story. But in the meantime, improvements will be added to the game. The first update will include quality-of-life fixes that Unknown Worlds said “should help adjust and address some areas that need a little tweaking to make your Subnautica 2 experience even better.” The second update, meanwhile, will focus on improving the co-op experience. Unknown Worlds stressed that the roadmap is...

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Forza Horizon 6’s First Festival Playlist Rewards Revealed, Begins May 21

With Forza Horizon 6 available now to those who’ve purchased the more expensive premium editions – and May 19 for the standard edition – developer Playground Games has outlined the first batch of free reward cars that will become available for players when the Festival Playlist functionality is switched on come May 21. Series 1, dubbed ‘Welcome to Japan’, will run from May 21 to June 18 and make 10 new cars available to collect, listed below. 1999 Toyota Altezza RS200 Z EDITION (earn 20 points during the Summer Season) 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR (earn 40 points during the Summer Season) 1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (earn 20 points during the Autumn Season) 1991 Honda CR-X SiR (earn 40 points during the Autumn Season)...

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Director James Ohlen Discusses BioWare Exit After EA Killed New Republic Reboot

James Ohlen, the former director of BioWare MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, has discussed his exit from the storied RPG maker in 2018 — after an attempt to reboot the game that ended up squashed by publisher EA. Ohlen was a BioWare veteran of 22 years, with a string of high profile credits on BioWare classics such as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In more recent times, Ohlen led Archetype Entertainment, a studio staffed by several former BioWare veterans making big budget Mass Effect-like Exodus, a huge project starring Matthew McConaughey that will be eight years in the making by the time of its release in 2027. Last year, Ohlen also moved on from Archetype — and now, he's given a...

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Subnautica 2 Is Already Making Waves, Selling 2 Million Copies in Just 12 Hours

Subnautica 2 has sold 2 million copies within 12 hours of its early access launch, developer Unknown Worlds has announced. It’s a huge start for the underwater survival and crafting adventure game after a turbulent road to release. Peak concurrent players across all platforms Subnautica 2 launched on (PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and Xbox Series X and S), exceeded 651,000, with Steam alone reaching a peak of more than 467,000 concurrent players. That’s nearly nine times the all-time peak concurrent player count of the original Subnautica, which launched in 2018, Unknown Worlds said. Subnautica 2 was the most wishlisted game on Steam ahead of launch, and had enormous momentum off the back of 18.5 million sales across the...

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Crimson Desert Gets Yet Another Major Patch, Adds Blinding Flash Finisher for Unarmed Combat So You Can Live Out Your Batman Fantasies

Pearl Abyss has released a new major patch for Crimson Desert — the second this week alone — that makes yet more significant changes to the game. There’s a lot to dig into with update 1.07.00, which adds more bosses for rematches and makes various bug fixes (patch notes, courtesy of the Crimson Desert website, are below). But perhaps the highlight here is the addition of Blinding Flash Finisher for unarmed combat with Kliff. For the uninitiated, Blinding Flash Finisher is an essential combat skill that lets you do big damage to stunned enemies while time is slowed down. But, even better, if you hold the button down until Kliff finishes the slow-mo combo, he ends it with a hit that sends a shockwave out in all directions. This is great...

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Everything You Need To Know About LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Though there has been no shortage of LEGO Batman games over the years, none have been quite as anticipated as LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and with good reason. With stunning visuals, a massive open world, and Batman Arkham-style combat and stealth mechanics, this is already shaping up to be the best Batman game in years. It might even be the best LEGO game in years, too. From the release date through to gameplay and story details, PC specifications, pre-order bonuses, and more, here is everything you need to know about LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Release Date LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has been officially confirmed to launch on May 22, 2026. The game will...

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Marathon Reveals New PVE Mode and Big Plans for the Future

Marathon is attempting to broaden its playerbase with new offerings, such as a PVE-only mode. Depending on who you ask, Marathon has struck a chord with a dedicated playerbase, but may not have the wide appeal. It seems Bungie is acutely aware of the fact that it may need to expand its audience to make it more approachable and is planning on doing so. In a massive new blog post, Bungie laid out its plans for the future of Marathon. Among the many details in it, arguably the biggest takeaway content-wise is the introduction of a brand-new PVE mode being introduced in Season 2. It's an experimental mode that won't have player-on-player combat to instead emphasize working together to complete objectives, fight UESC bots, and make progress...

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