Key Note Gaming

A man in Pasadena, California, has been arrested after he hid inside a closed Best Buy ahead of a Pokémon card drop. As reported by NBC Los Angeles , 45-year-old Patrick Keys managed to hide inside a Pasedena Best Buy location after it had closed and was seen walking around the store by employees monitoring the camera feed. Employees called the police, and Keys was arrested on suspicion of burglary. Police say there were no signs of a forced entry, suggesting he found somewhere to hide when the store closed for the night. Fans will often line up outside retailers for hours in hopes of getting cards ahead of new drops and restocks, either to collect or resell for profit. Witnesses who had been lined up outside the Best Buy speculated that Keys may have been hiding inside the store so he could have an advantage in snagging Pokémon cards. From what we can tell, there has not been a new card drop since the Mega Evolution — Ascended Heroes bundles came out April 24, meaning Keys hid out f...

Subnautica 2 finally has a concrete release date for its early access, and it’s very soon. Subnautica 2 will enter early access on PC and Xbox Series X|S on May 14, 2026, at 8am PT. The game will cost $29.99, making for a very accessible price point in a crowded month for games. The deep-sea game will be released right before the highly anticipated releases of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight and 007 First Light, but each game targets different audiences. “We’re excited for players to experience Subnautica 2, beginning May 14!” said Ted Gill, CEO of Unknown Worlds, in a press release about the date reveal. “Our team cannot wait to hear your feedback as the game evolves throughout Early Access.” Subnautica 2 has had a long and bumpy road to release. The first game was a surprise hit that inspired the team to take a lot of the core ideas and expand upon them for a sequel that also features co-op multiplayer. It has been in the works since 2022 and was targeting a 2025 release date...

The CEO of Monument Valley developer Ustwo Games, Maria Sayans, has outlined the studio needs to lower development costs, and to do so it will rely on contractors in the future rather than hiring full-time staff. Sayans explained the plan in an interview with Game Developer at London Games Fest. In the wake of Netflix dropping the Monument Valley games from its service and deals with major companies drying up, Ustwo has a plan to focus on building “meaningful single player experiences” for PC and consoles. It’s a plan already in motion, with Ustwo recently porting several of its games to platforms like Steam and Switch without publisher support. However, Sayans explained that they’ve subsequently learned that lower development budgets are going to be crucial. “We saw a lot of potential for the Monument Valley IP to be maybe reset and reinvented for PC and consoles, but what became clear was that our development budgets were too high for us to achieve a safer break even if we wer...

Tony Hawk once modded his friend’s PlayStation 1 in order to get feedback on early builds of the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. This is according to the Birdman himself, who told the story during a panel at iicon (a new conference for video game industry professionals) about the lasting legacy of the THPS series. Back in 1998, Hawk was working with Neversoft on early versions of the soon-to-be legendary skateboarding game, which at the time was borne out of a modified version of the failed Bruce Willis-branded game Apocalypse. “Every week they would burn a CD for me, and I played it on my modified PlayStation 1,” Hawk said. “I would make comments, and then the next week I get a disc in the mail with all the updates.” “I was really excited about it, but I was also kind of isolated in my excitement because I was the only real skater working on it, and so – I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, 20 plus years later – but I started making copies of the burns and sending them to ska...

Steel City Interactive, the team behind Undisputed , has announced that it will be ceasing support for the boxing game ahead of a sequel. Undisputed was released back in 2024 after spending nearly two years in early access. It was the first licensed boxing game since EA’s Fight Night, and was an earnest attempt to make something from next to nothing. The team was eventually able to attract real boxers and major boxing organizations to help make the game more authentic. Undisputed received mixed reviews from critics, including IGN ( we gave it a 6 ), but many see the potential in Steel City’s vision. As a result, the studio has announced via a YouTube video that it will be ending post-launch support for Undisputed to focus its efforts on a sequel. Not much has been revealed about the sequel, but Steel City’s CEO, Ash Habib, stated the developer has recruited renowned talent from Rockstar Games, 2K, and EA Sports. Ultimately, the decision to end support for the first game came dow...

Invincible VS , the superhero 3v3 tag fighting game set in the Invincible universe, is coming to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 on April 30. Developer Quarter Up has now confirmed the exact global release times, so you know when Invincible VS goes live in your timezone. The fighting game sees you battle to the death as a team of fan-favorite characters from the hugely popular Prime Video animated series, including Mark Grayson (Invincible), Thula, Bulletproof, Atom Eve, Rex Splode, and Omni-Man. Those who participated in the beta received the Coalition of Planets Omni-Man skin as a thank you for taking part. There's a story mode, too, that acts as a bonus, playable episode of the animated series set between later episodes of Season 3. Here's the official blurb: Designed to match the length and quality of a full Invincible episode, players will have the chance to dive deeper into the entire character roster, and completing the Story Mode will reward them with a variety of exc...

Colourful, quirky, and completely chaotic, Above Land: Rhapsody basically takes the three-player co-op carnage of Elden Ring Nightreign and injects it with some hilariously over-the-top weapons and special moves that seem straight out of a Yakuza street brawl. At a recent BiliBili: First Look event in Shanghai, I spent a few hours hacking and slashing away at monsters in a land above the clouds, in this frenetic roguelite that marries breathtaking bursts of action and tower defense elements with a deep sense of combat customisation. Yet what really stood out for me was the creative combination of weaponry at my disposal. I mean, when was the last time you played an action RPG that allowed you to cut down goblins with a giant broadsword in one hand, and perform slam-dunking finishing moves with a basketball dribbled with the other? Just why do you have access to an eclectic arsenal of weapons that seem to be stripped out of the pages of a tweenager’s sketchbook? Well, that probably h...

Introducing Above Land: Rhapsody, an absolutely wild sci-fi fantasy action-RPG roguelite with tower defense elements set above the clouds that you can play in three-player co-op where weapons include bows and arrows, swords, and chairs. Yes, chairs. And basketballs. You'll see what we mean in the trailer, which you can watch above. Above Land: Rhapsody is being developed by Flying Amateurs and puts you into a cloud-based civilization on floating islands on the backs of giant mythical creatures known as Kun. The team describes Above Land's setup as such: "Players enter chapters from a comic book left behind by the player's mother, complete each map's challenge, bring back Stars, repair the stranded Invincible Bebe, and unlock later chapters. The journey moves between a ruined present and a lost "Yesterday" when humans and ancient giant Kun lived in harmony." Each chapter is a different, visually unique map. You'll be able to dual-wield weapon...

Speaking at iicon today, a new conference for video game executives , Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the much-debated question of how much Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost. He declined to confirm the game’s price, but hinted away from the potentially super-premium price point that has been floated in the past. “Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.” He went on to mention that game pricing has actually gotten cheaper over the years, a reference to the fact that major game releases have been priced at $60 or at most $70 for more than a decade, as compared to greater rates of inflation seen in the wider economy. “If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole...

Hot on the heels of promising action and communication after players had delivered “fair” and “painful” criticism , Arrowhead has released yet another patch for Helldivers 2 , this time making significant balance changes and adding two new biomes. Helldivers 2 Machinery of Oppression update 6.2.2 (patch notes, courtesy of Steam , are below), goes live alongside the new Exo Experts Warbond, which comes with new exosuit designs well-suited for close combat and fire-based offense. Patch highlights include two new biomes, one new enemy variant, a major Exo Suit rebalance, an enemy rebalance, sidearm and stratagem rebalances, and — always fitting for Helldivers 2 — bug fixes. Of the big fixes, a few stand out: Enthusiastic Mirth emote sound has been fixed, laughter is once again permitted on the battlefield. We have restocked the fireworks for the celebration when players have completed the tutorial (good job, you have earned them) One of the new biomes is a lush forest planet — a ...

Playground Games design director Torben Ellert has answered an assortment of questions about next month’s Forza Horizon 6 in a community-oriented Q&A hosted on the official Forza Discord server. The questions covered a broad range of topics, from the new touge battles to multiplayer elements. Touge battles are one-on-one events at five preset mountain passes around the map. In single-player mode each has a specific opponent who you’ll find parked near the start of the route. Touge battles are not linked to festival progression, and we’ll be able to race them at any time while in single player. There will also be an online championship, which will effectively be a constant supply of one-on-one battles, rotating around the five routes. The Festival Playlist will be available as soon as you earn your way into the Horizon Festival (which should only take around an hour from the start), but it’s been confirmed that cars from elapsed Festival Playlists will be made available after t...

Despite the rising prices of graphics cards and DDR5 RAM, there are still good deals to be found on prebuilt gaming PCs. B&H Photo is offering one such excellent deal this week. The CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Liquid gaming PC with RTX 5070 GPU is on sale for $1399 with free shipping. This is a well-equipped prebuilt that pairs the GPU with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and a generous amount of RAM and storage. I saw it on sale about a week ago, but it sold out within the day. As of this article, it's available for "special order" with an estimate shipping date of 1-2 weeks. For a limited time, get a digital download code for Capcom's recently released Pragmata on Steam while supplies last. This promotion ends on May 12. Full details and redemption instructions are on Nvidia.com . CyperPowerPC RTX 5070 Gaming PC for Just $1,399 The CyberPowerPC Liquid Gamer Supreme gaming PC is equipped with a liquid-cooled AMD Ryzen 7 8700F CPU, GeForce RTX 5070 12GB GPU, 32...

Arrowhead Games said it has heard the "fair" but "painful to read" criticisms from the Helldivers 2 community and has made the promise to take action with more frequent communication in the future. Johan Pilestedt, who previously served as studio CEO before switching his role to chief creative officer in May 2024, got in touch with fans of the PlayStation shooter with a Reddit AMA during the weekend. He said his goal was to address the "hate, misinformation, and disappointment" within the growing r/HelldiversUnfiltered subreddit and then spent time replying to some of the most common complaints from the community. Although it's unclear if the Helldivers 2 AMA itself did anything to ease the tension, what was clear was that it had opened the floodgates for disappointed players to air their frustrations. After the event concluded, the Arrowhead developer signed off with a lengthy message in an attempt to provide comfort to those who feared the stu...

The Pokémon Company technical director Masaaki Hoshino has acknowledged continued fan scrutiny of the series' visuals, seen most recently in criticism for Pokémon Champions . Hoshino is a veteran of the Pokémon series, who worked on Pokémon Yellow before a long stint at Japanese fighting game developer Bandai Namco. This then led to him returning to work on Pokémon as producer on its more traditional fighting game spinoff Pokkén Tournament, developed by Bandai Namco, before its MOBA spinoff Pokémon Unite, and finally Champions itself. Champions launched earlier this month to a wave of feedback that expressed disappointment for the game's relatively basic feature set and small Pokédex roster . And, yet again, there was criticism of the game's visuals — as there has been for various mainline Pokémon game entries over the past decade. "Yes, as a Pokémon fan, I naturally understand the various discussions currently taking place within the fan community," Hoshino...

Blast Blade from Silent Bark games is a 3D platform fighter that puts you behind the wits and weapons of warriors and magic users. You and up to four contenders face off in one of many dynamic arenas, but unlike traditional fighting games, there are no hit point bars for you to chip away at. The only way to win is to build up your opponents’ damage percentage until they’re vulnerable enough to be blasted out of the ring and over the horizon by a powerful attack. Blast Blade's mechanics are simple and easy to grasp. There’s no need to memorize complex character moves that require on-the-dime execution. You can move freely on the land and in the air, which lets you dodge your foes' hard-hitting attacks while taking advantage of openings to get your own hits. As you pummel your opponents, you build up an Ultimate gauge. Once it’s full, you can unleash a massive attack that sends them flying. One strategic hit is all it can take to turn the tables when you’re inches from defeat....

Epic Games has confirmed it will refund D4vd cosmetics to any Fortnite player who makes a request via player support, with further changes to come. 21-year-old U.S. singer D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, was charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl, Celeste Rivas Hernandez. It is alleged that he killed her on or around April 23, 2025, after she threatened to report their relationship. Burke pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, and mutilating a dead body. Fortnite players had for some time called on Epic Games to remove D4vd emotes and jamtracks from the game, with some saying they would rather not own the items. The D4vd items include the Feel It and Trophy Drop emotes, and the What Are You Waiting For and Locked and Loaded Jam Tracks. Today, after players reported success in getting a refund from Epic via player support, a tweet from the Fortnite Status account confirmed the news, and noted that further changes we...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Apple AirTags, 4K Movies, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, April 26, below. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined for $49.99 Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is one of the biggest RPG releases of the year so far, and this weekend you can score a copy on any platform for $49.99! This is a great entry point if you've never played a Dragon Quest adventure before, or if you're keen to explore more of the series after the HD-2D Erdrick Trilogy Remakes! Refurbished Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV for $1049.99 Woot has a great deal on this Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV, with refurbished units available for $1049.99. Sony's Bravia line is well respected and usually more expensive, making this TV well worth a look if you're in the market for a new one. If you're aiming for the best picture quality and rich colors, you cannot do better than OLED, and these units are often still like new. Fin...

Ubisoft’s mysterious Assassin’s Creed Hexe project seems to be going through a rough patch, as game director Benoit Richer has announced his departure. An update on the latest for the history-hopping stealth franchise came from a LinkedIn post published by the former Ubisoft Montreal developer. In his message, he stated that he left to join Quebec-based indie studio Servo Games as co-founder and game director. This is the second major departure for the Assassin’s Creed game, which is in development with the Hexe codename, this year. The last saw creative director Clint Hocking exit the project in February, with Assassin’s Creed head of content Jean Guesdon filling the role in his place. Richer first joined Ubisoft Montreal back in 2000 as a level designer for games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2 before leaving the company for the first time in 2008. He eventually found his way to WB Games Montreal in 2010, where he served as game director on Batman: Arkham Origins, before returning ...

Publisher Sega and developer Creative Assembly have posted what appears to be a teaser trailer for Alien: Isolation 2 . A mysterious video titled “A False Sense of Security” was posted by the franchise’s official YouTube account today, April 26, which also happens to be Alien Day. It’s little more than an atmospheric teaser that features a rainy, outdoor location and a familiar emergency phone save station. The teaser trailer doesn’t outright confirm that it is for the long-awaited Alien: Isolation 2, but given that Creative Assembly announced it was working on a follow-up back in late 2024, fans are already expecting an impending announcement. The only text included in the video’s description says, "A feeling of being safer than one really is." pic.twitter.com/1FIsqfnWON — Alien: Isolation (@AlienIsolation) April 26, 2026 Alien: Isolation originally released for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One all the way back in October 2014. It’s since be...

Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the upcoming arcade racing game featuring podracers, speeder bikes, landspeeders, and more fast rides from the Star Wars universe will apparently be released on October 6. The release date was posted to Steam and quickly removed, but not before eagle-eyed storefront watcher Wario64 spotted it. "STAR WARS: Galactic Racer will release on Oct 6, 2026 according to Steam. Deluxe Edition contents revealed (Steelbook included with physical purchase)," Wario64 noted in their post. A check of the Galactic Racer Steam page an hour later showed a generic "2026" release date. Galactic Racer was announced at the 2025 Game Awards, and it's being developed by Fuse Games, a team comprised of a number of former Burnout and Need for Speed developers founded in 2023. It was last seen at Sony's State of Play broadcast back in February. Regardless of whether or not the October 6 release date holds, we've still got new Star Wars to look f...