Key Note Gaming

After a long hiatus from Civilization 7 following my original review – after which I wasn't exactly in love with it – I decided to give it another go with the big 1.4 Test of Time update, and more specifically the 1.4.1 patch that came out in late June 2026. Firaxis has made pretty big changes across the board, including some much-needed quality-of-life improvements here. But I don't know if I agree with the overall philosophy of making it more like older, existing Civ games. In May, Take-Two' Strauss Zelnick told Game File that Civilization 7 had been a "bridge too far" for existing fans of the series. That's definitely the guiding star the Test of Time update was based on. And man, from my perspective, that was completely the wrong message to take from the negative feedback to Civ 7's launch. There's a quote I keep coming back to from No Man's Sky developer Sean Murray that goes, "Players are normally almost always right about problems … [b...

While Daigo Umehara isn’t dissatisfied with the current state of Street Fighter 6, he says the game’s “random” style makes it difficult to determine the best player in modern tournament settings. Evo 2026 is in the books, with Saul ‘MenaRD’ Mena once again claiming victory on the biggest stage in all of fighting games. It’s hard to argue against his current status as the most dominant Street Fighter 6 player, with two Capcom Cup championships and four Evo victories to his name… but Daigo Umehara isn’t sure a true ‘GOAT’ of the game has yet been crowned. We got the chance to sit down with ‘The Beast’ of fighting games during Sunday finals, who revealed his surprising take on the divisive nature of Street Fighter 6’s balance as it stands at the tail end of Season 3. Right now, the Western fighting game community (FGC) is vocally outspoken regarding Street Fighter 6’s Drive Rush mechanic, arguing that the tool is too overpowered and hard to ‘check’ even at the best of times — something ...

With all of the excitement surrounding the new upcoming fighting games like Marvel Tokon , Avatar Legends , and Virtua Fighter Crossroads , as well as all of the buzz surrounding Tifa and Yujiro Hanma joining Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 respectively, it's easy to feel like Guilty Gear Strive has fallen a bit into the background. But the reality is that Strive is still going strong after six years, especially after the Guilty Gear Strive 2.0 patch completely revitalized the meta with the removal of a core system mechanic and a roster wide rebalancing patch. At Evo this year, I got to do my yearly catch up with Guilty Gear Strive Producer Ken Miyauchi, to chat about what's still to come in the world of Strive, how he feels about the current state of the game, and what players can expect when Robo Ky releases later this week. IGN: I asked you last year if you could share any details about Robo-Ky and Jam. Obviously it was a little bit too early back then and Jam is already at...

The first Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 teaser is here, and fans have already found some of the locations the new season pulled from Cyberpunk 2077 . Netflix, CD Projekt Red, and Studio Trigger returned with a minute-and-a-half teaser for Season 2 of its anime adaptation today. As if there was ever any doubt, it's a brutal trailer, using Rico Nasty's "You Can't Run From Me" to show how characters like Weak Kingsley, D, Roman Carax, and Talia Yang will tear back into Night City. Despite offering such a small slice of the 10 episodes set to premiere this fall, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 has already given fans a lot to sink their teeth into. Watchers have been so starved for updates that some Cyberpunk 2077 players have already loaded back into Night City to find where some of the show's scenes will take place. New crew. New story. Same Night City. Get ready to jack back in. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is coming Fall, 2026. pic.twitter.com/27OTFA31pi — Cyberpunk: Edg...

You certainly could make a case for MenaRD being the best Street Fighter 6 player in the world right now. His win at Sunday's Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas brings him up to four total Evo wins, with two back-to-back wins at Evo in Las Vegas (2025-2026) and two back-to-back wins at Evo Japan (2024-2025). And while his Blanka looked dominant throughout the tournament, one of the more interesting stories that came out of the Street Fighter 6 top eight was the fact that in his most crucial matches, Mena opted against using the character that he's most well known for. In Winners Semis, Mena started off by using M. Bison, going 2-2 with Shigematsu's Blanka. After swapping to Blanka for the mirror match in the deciding game, Mena won a hard fought game that ended up going to the final round, sending Shigematsu down to the losers bracket. Shigematsu wouldn't be denied his runback however, as he ended up fighting his way through Dogura, Craime, and Kilzyou to reach...

Unionized Xbox employees are pushing back against the company's looming layoffs and have outlined various demands. Earlier today, the CWA (Communications Workers of America) held a press conference in which various unionized Xbox employees spoke out against Microsoft . The conference was held ahead of reported layoffs at Xbox, which insiders have stated will be a "bloodbath." It's also a painful reminder of last year's layoffs at Microsoft, where 9,000 people lost their jobs across the entire company (not just Xbox) and resulted in multiple projects being cancelled, including the long-awaited reboot of Perfect Dark. The studio behind that game, The Initative, was also shuttered without having ever released a game. The upcoming layoffs reportedly puts more studios, such as Double Fine and Ninja Theory , at risk of closure. South of Midnight developer Complusion Games is also reportedly at risk of shutting down, despite winning a Peabody Award earlier this year. ...

SNK told us how they managed to pull off one of Kenshiro's most iconic moves without sacrificing their Teen ESRB rating. Kenshiro is the latest guest character from an anime to make a splash in a mainline fighting game, punching his way into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves this June. We got the chance to sit down with producer Shinya Tamaki and director Hayato Konya ahead of his release at Evo 2026, who explained the difficulties they faced in translating Hoktuo No Ken’s comparatively gory fighting style into Fatal Fury’s decidedly less grisly hand-to-hand combat. Part of this problem necessitated finding a balance between Kenshiro’s status as a Bruce Lee-inspired martial artist and the use of his special technique, the Hokuto Shinken, which sees him press opponents’ pressure points, causing them to explode seconds later. It’s arguably the most iconic thing about the show, and despite how bloody it is, it’s something the team wanted to make sure they included in the game. To fix t...

The 2026 Summer of Gaming is upon us, and that naturally means wallet pain - in a good way. So what should you be earning your bucks for over the next 12 months? Thankfully, this year’s game announcements and reveals have delivered big-time for every major platfom. Friends, we’re eating good . This is our pick of the biggest and best titles coming to PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2. New release? Earn when you want stuff. Deliver with Uber Eats . Final Fantasy VII Revelation It’s hard to believe that the third and final installment of Square Enix’s brilliantly remastered Final Fantasy VII series is nearly here. Anticipation for this reveal (or Revelation , as it were) was understandably high, but even the most ardent fan couldn’t be disappointed with Final Fantasy VII: Revelation. Revelations will finally allow players to traverse the entire world map in Cid’s Highwind, creating the interconnected planet that has been teasing us since Rebirth. The massive and monstrous roaming ...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, the Criterion Collection Blu-ray Sale, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, June 28, below. Save on Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is the ultimate version of the first chapter in the Final Fantasy VII remake series, following Cloud Strife and the party from the very beginning through the escape from Midgar. You can score Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for $29.99 on the Nintendo Switch 2 and $19.99 on the PlayStation 5. If you want to prepare for Final Fantasy VII Revelation next year, this is where to start your journey. 50% Off Criterion Collection Sale Barnes & Noble is having its 50% Criterion Collection sale right now, so this weekend is one of the best times of the year to pick up some new 4K Blu-rays. Oftentimes, these 4K transfers are overseen by the original Director, and there's always p...

Netflix has revealed first character details and a fall release window for its anime sequel series, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 . Netflix, CD Projekt Red, and Studio Trigger took to X/Twitter to roll out information about the new cast of characters coming to Season 2 of the Cyberpunk 2077 anime spin-off. It came with the promise of a fall 2026 release window, narrowing down its premiere timeline as fans await a more specific release date. Meanwhile, the announcement came with a sneak peek at four new characters: Weak Kingsley , D , Roman Carax , and Talia Yang . The new gang graces the cover of the first Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 poster, which you can see below. Netflix published information about the four new Night City names across social media and in collaboration with various content creators. As shared via Crunchyroll , Weak Kingsley is described as a veteran Edgerunner who "now lives in the shadow of his former glory." D is a Snack Nation Netrunner looking for revenge as h...

Rockstar Games fans seem to be paying eBay scalpers extra for pre-order copies of GTA 6 – even if there isn't much of a reason to. Listings for pricier versions of Rockstar's new Grand Theft Auto game have already started popping up on the auction website after pre-orders went live for all on June 25. While the retail price for the standard edition is currently locked in at $80, some scalpers have managed to successfully flip their pre-ordered copy for around $90 , with some going for even more . It's something that usually wouldn't come as much of a surprise in the gaming space, especially considering this particular release is one fans have anticipated for more than 13 years. What many already know, however, is that there isn't actually anything stopping players from pre-ordering GTA 6 without an inflated price. Much to the dismay of physical game collectors everywhere, GTA 6 will only be available as a digital title after Rockstar announced it was ditching dis...

Street Fighter 6 is now three years old and still going strong, with more than 2,000 entrants at this year's Evo in Vegas, a fresh batch of new faces on the horizon in the upcoming fourth character pass (including the much anticipated figthing game debut of Tifa from Final Fantasy 7), and a lively online competitive scene. To talk about the current state of the game, along with its plans for the future, IGN sat down with Director Takayuki Nakayama and Producer Shuhei Matsumoto at Evo 2026, where we covered topics ranging from the significance of Yasmine's inclusion as the first Filipino character in Street Fighter history, the future of single player content now that regular World Tour updates have ceased, and a little tease of what players can expect out of Arjun, Tifa, and Bosch's playstyles. IGN: So, to start, you all previously confirmed that there will be no future World Tour updates, at least at this point, but also indicated that Street Fighter 6 is aiming for a 10-y...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on Nioh 3, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, AirPods Pro 3, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, June 27, below. Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake for $38.99 Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a very ambitious pair of remakes, breathing new life into these classics. Dragon Quest II especially saw huge additions to its story, making this the definitive version of the game. Amazon has discounted copies of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake down to $39.99, which is one of the best prices we've seen since release. In our 9/10 review , we wrote, "Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake beautifully concludes this trilogy, recapturing the retro magic of the originals while giving them a modern facelift." Nioh 3 for $49.99 Nioh 3 released in early February, and you can save $20 off a PS5 copy today at Amazon. In our 9/10 review , we wrote, "Nioh 3 delivers best-in-class combat that revitalizes the esta...

Viral social media posts and articles claiming a physical disc copy of GTA 6 is in the works are incorrect. Various articles and social media accounts reported that GTA 6 would launch on an actual disc by the end of this year after an image featuring comments from Rockstar Support went viral, garnering millions of views. The support email said: “You will be able to acquire a physical copy during the following months.” While the email is legitimate, it does not indicate a disc version is in the works. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the support email was a genuine response to a ticket filed to Rockstar Support asking for a disc version of GTA 6, and that while the response was poorly worded, it did not announce any change in policy, nor confirm a disc release was in the works. THR said “a source with knowledge” of Rockstar’s GTA 6 launch strategy told it there are “no plans” for GTA 6 discs to be printed, “not at launch, and not months after.” When Rockstar Support mentioned a ...