Key Note Gaming

Katsuhiro Harada, former director of the Tekken series, opened up about a hilarious misunderstanding he had with his international fans after revealing Leroy Smith for Tekken 7 . Leroy Smith is genuinely one of the coolest characters to ever join the Tekken universe. The Wing Chun practitioner was an instant hit when he was first revealed in Tekken 7, even inspiring cosplays from celebrities like T-Pain . In fact, the ‘Grandmaster of Drip’ was so well-received that Black American fans started ‘inviting Harada to the cookout,’ leaving the Japanese game director extremely confused. Harada opened up about the humorous exchange in response to a fan on X, who shared a clip from 1985 cult classic The Last Dragon, arguing that Tekken must’ve been inspired by the martial arts movie and Black culture. In his reply, Harada revealed that after Leroy was announced in 2019, he received a message from the American fan community: “Can we invite you to the cookout for making an awesome character like ...

Magic: The Gathering’s 2026 has been wild so far, and that’s before we head back to Middle-earth and into a Star Trek set soon. So far we’ve returned to fan-favorite plane Lorwyn, met up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, learned some new spells at Strixhaven, and assembled the Avengers, and there are a whole bunch of desirable cards already. Using data from TCGplayer , these are 2026’s most valuable cards so far - do you have any in your collection? Thanos, The Mad Titan - Borderless - $240 The first card from the Marvel Super Heroes set on this list, Thanos, the Mad Titan’s borderless, comic cover style card is around $240. It’s a 4/4, but powers up using the set’s new mechanic to wipe half the battlefield, just like his infamous snap. Super Shredder - Showcase Fracture Foil - $314 The first TMNT card here, Super Shredder is a two-cost 1/1 with Menace, and it gets bigger as cards leave the battlefield. The Showcase Fracture Foil is north of $300 right now. Bloom Tender - Sho...

NARUTO Mythos TCG is coming to the United States, and fans will get their first opportunity to experience the game at San Diego Comic-Con. The game will be exclusively distributed in the U.S. by Zvezdar, a hobby and trading card game distributor that is expanding its operations into the American market. It will be on hand at San Diego Comic-Con, where there will be booths that will let you try the game out for yourself for free, get two special promo cards, and have the first chance to buy booster boxes before the game’s official North American launch. The first official card set, Konoha Shidō, will have pre-release events in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean starting on August 29. The main Comic-Con booth will be in the Marriott hotel, where you can play a hands-on demo and face off against other players to familiarize yourself with the game, its cards, and how it all works. The game is built around assigning character cards to mission cards and activating unique effects. Bu...

Veteran game director and self-confessed movie buff Hideo Kojima revealed that he’d like to pass away in a movie theater, just as the film itself is about to start. The 62-year-old made the comment at a film festival in Rome earlier this month, and recently shared a clip of the moment on his official X account . “I’ve always thought that when I die, I would like to die in a movie theater,” Kojima said in Japanese, as translated by IGN. He goes on to explain that “I love the bit before the movie starts the most. Enter the movie theater, the lights go off and commercials and trailers play, yeah? I’d like to die just before the movie starts.” Kojima delivered this declaration in a serious tone but with a hint of a smile. The Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator is, after all, a prolific cinemaphile, proclaiming on his X account profile that 70% of his body is made up of movies. This isn't the first time Kojima has spoken about his own death. Last year, hot on the heels of reve...

Fans have been waiting a long time for a new Injustice game, but it looks like they’ll have to wait a little longer after DC revealed a totally different fighting game… on mobile. DCKO is an upcoming free-to-play mobile fighting game developed by Drop Fake, Inc., an independent game studio based in British Columbia. Featuring characters from DC Comics, this title is a 2v2 tag fighter with collectible and RPG elements where players can level up their fighters, unlock new stats, and boost their abilities by spending in-game currency. It's scheduled for release in 2027. It couldn’t be any more different from NetherRealm’s Injustice games, and that’s what has the fighting game community in knots after DCKO’s announcement trailer released on July 20, 2026. “DC, this isn't the time for you to play games and release an Injustice clone. You know what we want,” one commenter wrote on YouTube. “Should have been the next NetherRealm game,” another said on X . Others can’t help but refer...

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV developer King Art Games has released the CGI cinematic trailer for the Necron faction, and it’s got aura written all over it. This latest trailer shows off the powerful Necron Chronomancer Thothmek, who, like most Necrons who wake after their 60 million year slumber, seems pretty grumpy at the state of the galaxy. Thothmek explains that he’s setting out to reclaim Kronus, which was a Necron Tomb World long before the Space Marines, Orks, and Adeptus Mechanics stepped foot on it. This is the third of King Art Games’ four in-game CGI narrative trailers for upcoming real-time strategy game Dawn of War IV, and while it perhaps doesn’t beat the wonderful Orks CGI trailer (“CRASH FASTER!”), for me it’s a step up from the disappointing Adeptus Mechanicus CGI trailer , which painted the normally deadly Necrons as worse shots than Star Wars Stormtroopers. This new trailer, though, makes the Necrons look as imposing and dreadful as they should. I particularly l...

Activision and Infinity Ward have confirmed dates for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta tests across PC, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox devices. The team behind this year's first-person shooter installment revealed its playtest plans with a blog post on their website . Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 players who pre-ordered on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S can dive in first when beta early access runs from August 21 – 25, with Nintendo Switch 2 joining the mix when the open beta takes place between August 28 – September 1. It's all set to truly kick off immediately after the Call of Duty Next presentation comes to an end August 21. A brief description for this year's event promises "live gameplay, an in-depth briefing on the lineup of content coming to Modern Warfare 4's Multiplayer, developer insights, and new reveals ahead of the beta." Exactly which weapons, Operators, maps, and modes will be featured in the beta have yet to be revealed, bu...

Inde Navarrette is going viral for her reaction after a fan gifted the Obsession star a sealed copy of Modern Warfare 2. The internet’s obsession (ha, get it?) with Inde Navarrette is reaching a fever pitch, especially after it was discovered that she’s a massive gamer who even has her own Twitch channel . Clips from her streams have gone viral across social media, earning her admiration from the gaming community — one member of which parted ways with an extremely valuable copy of Modern Warfare 2 just to show their appreciation for the actress. Over the weekend, fans gathered at the Javits Center in New York for Fanatics Fest, where Navarrette participated in a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 panel alongside Kevin Durant. As she walked out of the venue, she spotted a fan holding out a sealed copy of Modern Warfare 2 still in its display case. “Oh my god!” Navarrette gasped, excitedly snatching the game out of the fan’s hands. “This is the 2009 version!” “One recently sold for $1,000,” ...

Bethesda chief Todd Howard has issued a rare post on Reddit, telling gamers that the developer is "constantly listening” to fans on the website. And so, unsurprisingly, fans have responded with requests. Howard posted in the r/games subreddit in the wake of Bethesda's announcement of its roadmap of releases over the coming years . With The Elder Scrolls 6 taking up Bethesda Game Studios’ attention, Howard confirmed Fallout 5 is now in pre-production , New Vegas developer Obsidian is working on a new Fallout game, Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters are in the works, and Starfield is still alive . That announcement itself followed a significant round of layoffs across Xbox, which hit Bethesda and its various studios hard as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma continues her “reset” of Microsoft’s gaming business. That reset involves doubling down on Xbox’s core franchises, and for Bethesda that means more The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, more quickly . Howard then took the unusual step...

The director of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has told fans to keep playing — even when GTA 6 launches. Of course, the hugely-anticipated GTA 6 arrives on November 19, and is expected to gobble up gaming time and attention away from pretty much every major release — so much so that many other developers are steering well clear and launching their games en masse in September and early October. But what about post-launch support for games that have already released, such as Resynced? Asked about the contents of future updates for the newly-launched remake, game director Richard Knight played coy, though mentioned the upcoming New Game Plus mode that publisher Ubisoft previously confirmed. What might follow that remains to be seen. Still, the suggestion that support will continue through GTA 6's November release date is interesting to consider. "I mean, I can't say anything officially, but you know, it doesn't feel like a crazy bet," Knight said, speakin...

Have you ever wanted to fall asleep to the sound of Call of Duty players screaming through a $5 mic and into your ear? No? Well, Call of Duty Ambience is here anyway. Erected by app-maker Mike Wing, Call of Duty Ambience is a new website that, for some reason, allows you to tap back into multiplayer lobbies like it's 2010 all over again. Fit with an Xbox 360 theme, cringy gamertags, and other classic visuals, the site allows anyone to log in and get some shuteye while strangers argue in the background. Three Call of Duty games are supported at the moment: Modern Warfare 2 , Black Ops , and Black Ops 2 . If you ever played a few games of team deathmatch for any of these first-person shooter classics, you should immediately feel right at home. most people fall asleep to white noise i fall asleep to grown men arguing in cod lobbies so i made a website that plays Call of Duty voice chat 24/7 pic.twitter.com/tu0q1rxtFO — mike wing (@immike_wing) July 16, 2026 "Most people fa...

The internet has fallen in love with a viral raccoon named Jimothy, and so has the gaming industry. In case you've somehow dodged this adorable little friend on social media, Jimothy is a small raccoon in Seattle who has scurried his way through X/Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and just about every other online platform you can think of. His unique size, seemingly caused by what many believe is a rare condition called Short Spine Syndrome, has made him hard to miss, and almost impossible to forget. Locals seem to have taken notice of this specific masked critter before, but it wasn't until Instagram user Kiana Hall captured a video that he became the latest internet-famous animal. She told The Seattle Times that she came up with his name because he simply "looked like a Jimothy." The millions of social media impressions, hundreds of fan edits, and countless stories he's racked up since came naturally. Jimothy with his family as a baby pic.twitter.com/H9MHr00txI ...

Executives at Xbox have once again attempted to clarify the company's approach to exclusives, promising that " Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles" it's planning. Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball and chief content officer Matt Booty tried to further explain how Microsoft is handling exclusives during a conversation with GamesRadar . Their clarification arrived amid the company's renewed interest in the strategy, which kicked off just last month with confirmation that two of its biggest first-party games would not come to PlayStation consoles. "I can assure you, Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles we're planning," Ball promised. "To grow a platform like ours, you have to have exclusive games and services. These are not going to be the only two titles." Microsoft shocked the industry at its Xbox Games Showcase last month when it declared The Coalition's Gears of...

Insomniac Games attempted to drum up excitement when it published a new cinematic trailer for Marvel's Wolverine yesterday, but it soon became flooded with negative comments from fans who haven't forgiven Sony after it announced plans to cease production of physical discs for PlayStation games . The "Ain't No Hero" trailer has amassed more than 1 million views on YouTube and nearly 5,000 comments since its debut. Despite coming with a first look at Lady Deathstrike and a tease for a team-up between Logan and Sabretooth, viewers are mostly using the opportunity to take their frustrations out on just about anything the Sony gaming branch publishes. As spotted by Eurogamer , many of the comments on its YouTube page both directly and indirectly reference the company's decision to do away with physical discs for games starting in 2028. The comment section of the video site has long served as a reliable place for fans to voice their frustrations, but in this case...

A Red Bull athlete has broken a world record while recreating the iconic "Leap of Faith" from Assassin’s Creed. Professional freerunner, stuntwoman, and Red Bull athlete Lilou Ruel jumped a feet-tingling 18.2 meters into a huge stack of hay, breaking the world record for highest haystack jump. For reference, that’s about as tall as a six-story building, so we can understand why Ruel started screaming as she got close to the ground in Red Bull’s viral video capturing the moment. Luckily, she landed in the hay unharmed, warranting an excited celebration from her friends for successfully completing the heart-stopping stunt. "Thank you, Red Bull, for giving me wings for a few seconds," she joked on Instagram . "I do think we can go way higher, should we try?" This isn’t the first time a Red Bull athlete has broken the world record for the highest Leap of Faith; in May 2026, Dominic Tommasso fell 18.1 meters into a haystack while dressed as Edward Kenway fro...

Ubisoft has confirmed plans to bring New Game Plus to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced as its remake crosses 3 million copies sold. The update puts the sales up 1 million copies one week after announcing it had managed to reach 2 million copies sold in just 24 hours . It's yet another sign that Ubisoft is happy with its July 9 launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S, even after laying off some members of the development team just days later. As mentioned in IGN's previous coverage, Ubisoft has typically only shares player numbers – not sales – when new Assassin's Creed games arrive. That's suddenly changed for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, suggesting the publisher is pleased as punch by how things have gone thus far. Whether it will continue to be so forthcoming about these figures remains to be seen. Yo Ho Ho! More than 3 million copies sold across the seas... 🏴‍☠️ Special thanks to all of you for playing and sharing tall tales about your Cari...

The hacker behind the massive GTA 6 leak in September 2022 has been released from indefinite imprisonment at a secure hospital and is now awaiting a retrial. Arion Kurtaj, a member of the notorious worldwide hacking group named Lapsus$, is waiting for his day in court once again after he was deemed unfit to stand trial in December 2023 due to a medical diagnosis of “acute autism.” After a jury determined that he had committed the hacks, Kurtaj was sentenced to imprisonment at a secure hospital, either for life or until he was deemed medically fit to stand trial again. That time has finally come, as BBC correspondent Joe Tidy confirmed on Bluesky that Kurtaj is now awaiting a retrial in “normal prison,” set to take place in November 2026 — the same month GTA 6 is expected to release. Thus far, nothing else is known about the case, nor how Kurtaj is being retried despite committing the hacking during a period of time when his mental state was so severe that it required hospitalization...

PlayStation and Insomniac Games have unleashed a new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine , revealing more about the PS5 game as Logan meets up with Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike. The "Ain't No Hero" trailer sees its titular clawed hero grumbling through a voiceover about how his long life has made everything begin to "blur together," showing him tearing through cronies in the rain and snow while clinging to a photograph. It looks like the picture in question features both Wolverine and Jean Grey, but the two X-Men aren't the only ones who show up for the new footage. First to make a cameo is Sabretooth, who barrels through a group of goons as he charges to Wolverine's rescue. It's a team-up tease that precedes what seems to be our first real look at Marvel villain and X-Men regular, Lady Deathstrike. Fans had long hoped to see the clawed character make an appearance in Marvel's Wolverine, with today's trailer finally confirming that she'...