Quick Hits

• Valve’s worst-kept secret, Deadlock, just received a massive overhaul and officially added a ranked mode, signaling major steps toward the game's eventual full release.
• The highly successful PS5 port of classic Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is currently being terrorized by a terrifying hacker who is doing far more damage than standard aimbotting or wall-hacking.
• After securing over 500,000 downloads on Steam, Mortal Shell 2 has surprise-launched a playable beta on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
• Fortnite Chapter 7, Season 3 just introduced the John Wick Sprite into the game as part of the mysterious new Springfield Reloaded update.

Pokémon & Nintendo

• Suspicions are swirling among The Legend of Zelda fans that the highly anticipated Ocarina of Time remake will launch in mid-November, putting it just a week before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 based on emerging theories.
• Pokémon Go is closing out its Forever Forward season this August with a massive slate of content, featuring new Raid Bosses, Spotlight Hours, and exciting Pokémon debuts.
• In case you missed it, Pokémon animation is heading to Disney+ as part of a massive August lineup that also includes new Star Wars and X-Men projects.
• It’s been a reasonably quiet week for Nintendo, but fans are gearing up for the weekend with various "Poké Preparations" ahead of the new month.
• Splatoon 3 is bringing back its Summer Nights event next month to cure your Splatfest cravings while everyone remains deep into the Splatoon Raiders sauce.
• Nintendo is steadily rolling out character introductions for Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave ahead of its September 17 launch.
• The hyper-addictive Balatro-meets-slot-machine indie hit CloverPit, which sold over a million copies on PC, is bringing its highly-rated gameplay loop to Switch next month.
• In hardware news, the anime-inspired dystopian racer Screamer has been rated for the Switch 2 in Germany, hinting at an upcoming console port.
• Ahead of a service update next week that adds two previously unreleased titles to the Nintendo Classics service, Nintendo is offering a limited-time discount on a Virtual Boy cardboard model in select locations.

Fortnite

• The John Wick Sprite is no longer just a rumor! You can now find and acquire it in Fortnite Chapter 7, Season 3 following the launch of the Springfield Reloaded update.
• Dungeons & Dragons is going full Fortnite with crossover meta content. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast kicked off Gen Con 2026 by announcing their "Universes Beyond" initiative, bringing massive multimedia crossovers to the tabletop space.

Call of Duty

• The incredibly successful PS5 port of classic Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is currently in jeopardy. A terrifying hacker is running rampant on the servers, terrorizing the player base with exploits far beyond standard cheats, and everyone is terrified of encountering them.
• Following in the footsteps of Activision's lucrative Call of Duty strategy, Konami has announced plans to give its biggest franchises annual release schedules moving forward.

Indie Games & Steam/PC

• In a heartwarming show of solidarity, game developers have organized an Itch.io bundle of over 100 indie games. The Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle will be on sale for the next two weeks, with all proceeds going to support laid-off colleagues.
• Valve’s popular 6v6 shooter Deadlock continues its slow march toward an official full release (and actual announcement!) by finally implementing a highly anticipated ranked mode.
• After securing over 500,000 beta downloads on Steam and completely selling out its physical Revered Edition on PS5, Mortal Shell 2 has surprise-launched a beta on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
• Fans of the extraction brawler Mistfall Hunter will be thrilled to know that following its successful July 29 release, developer Bellring Games immediately dropped an update making the game's best class even stronger.
• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls doesn't officially launch until August, but if you're itching to play, you should know that the fighting game's biggest secrets are already leaking online.
• If you haven't played it yet, Ghostwire: Tokyo is currently available in a bundle with two other games for just $5, offering a stylish, spell-weaving alternative to traditional FPS action.
• Silent Hill producers recently discussed why shaking up the series' formula is necessary to win over modern players, noting that "at best, only about half of the original users will return with a remake."

Gaming Roundup

• Gears of War: E-Day is turning heads with a first look at its chaotic new 12-player Horde Siege mode, featuring free unlockables that represent the next evolution of the franchise's addictive wave-based co-op.
• Following Microsoft's record-breaking single-day market cap swing, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has publicly outlined her official plan to turn around the struggling Xbox division.
• Remakes continue to be the backbone of Capcom's financial success, with the publisher confirming that the revenue generated from Resident Evil remakes provides the "financial resources" needed to fund new games and standalone ideas like Pragmata.
• World of Warcraft is officially making the jump to tabletop, getting a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation that will let fans grind Renown in a proper pencil-and-paper RPG experience.
• Genshin Impact is sticking to its reliable six-week schedule, meaning fans won't have to wait long for the next livestream detailing Version 6.7 and the massive 7.0 update.
• In movie news, filming for Alex Garland's Elden Ring movie has reportedly wrapped after just six months of production, according to a quickly deleted Instagram post.
• A deeply disturbing AI use case was highlighted today, where Google Earth let a user turn their hometown into a realistic warzone using simple AI prompts, showcasing terrifying disinformation possibilities.