Key Note Gaming

Nintendo is developing an all-new Super Smash Bros and Nintendogs, a notable leaker has claimed. The details come from Malo932, who recently stated that Nintendo would hold two Direct presentations this week (correct), and who previously stated that a classic Star Fox , Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, and new Switch Sports would all be announced and launched this year (all correct too). Word of a new Smash Bros. game is enormously exciting to the fighting game series' huge fanbase, though perhaps not a huge surprise considering how well Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold on Nintendo Switch (at 38 million copies, it is the console's third-best selling game, behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons). But one notable detail here is more surprising — that this is a new game, rather than a souped-up version of Ultimate. How the company plans to beat the Switch's hugely ambitious installment remains to be seen. A fresh Nintendogs is another surprise, more than ...

League of Legends developer Riot Games is still bashing away on its MMO, which co-founder Mark Merrill recently described as the studio’s “grail quest.” Riot announced its MMO five years ago , in August 2021. Since then it’s seen a number of changes and various high-profile developers exit the project. But speaking to Kinda Funny Games’ Greg Miller at PAX , Merrill insisted it’s still in the works. “We know what players’ hopes and dreams are,” he said. “It’s just on us as a team, and can we succeed in the execution?” Merrill said Riot jokingly calls the MMO the “grail” because “f**k it, many a brave knight are gonna die on the grail quest. But f**k it, it’s the grail, so let’s go.” “That’s the mindset that we really try to cultivate. And that is hard to do at scale,” he continued. “But I think we’re doing a reasonable job. And I think the future’s incredibly bright.” It’s fair to say Merrill’s comments were met with a healthy dose of skepticism, particularly from fighting game fans. R...

People are always asking, “When is the next Nintendo Direct??” And for the next few days, the appropriate answer is, “Which one?” That’s because Nintendo is going big this September with two Nintendo Direct showcases airing on back-to-back days . Outside of game-specific presentations like the Splatoon Raiders and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Directs, these will be the first Nintendo Directs since the big June 2026 showcase that gave us our first glimpse at The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake . We’re expecting to see a lot more of that on Tuesday, as the first show is The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct, followed by a general Nintendo Direct and a Nintendo Treehouse: Live stream on Wednesday. IGN will host live watch parties for each presentation; here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the September 2026 Nintendo Directs. When Does the Zelda 40th Anniversary Nintendo Direct Start? Nintendo is getting things started with The Legend of Zelda on Tuesday, Se...

Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek has a confession to make: Valve intentionally leaked its own Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. The Half-Life and Portal veteran spilled the beans on the studio's past unconventional marketing tactics in a new video uploaded to his YouTube channel (via Ars Technica ). Based on his recounting of the Left 4 Dead 2 incident, Valve "leaked our trailer ahead of time because" the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) "wouldn't let us release the trailer." So, why are we just hearing about this now? Well, it's been a few years since any of this would have mattered. "I think we can't get in trouble for that now. It was like 20 years ago," Faliszek said. "It's funny seeing leaked stuff now because, yeah, I don't think you can look for 'leaked Left 4 Dead 2 trailer' because it's just going to be lost." Leaks can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes companies are hacked and have their co...

Insomniac Games has cleared the air after a new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine had fans confusing Lady Deathstrike for Psylocke. If you thought the launch trailer for the PlayStation 5-exclusive video game would come and go without controversy, I've got bad news. Despite coming in at a little less than a minute and a half long, Marvel's Wolverine managed to kick up a storm of confusion online after fans spotted what they believed was a new character wielding a familiar-looking purple energy sword. In comments across YouTube, Instagram, X/Twitter, and other social media platforms, you don't have to look too hard to find watchers questioning if the sneering villain featured in the launch trailer was Psylocke. Psylocke is an energy-wielding mutant who's been known to show up across various X-Men stories in the past, so when a glowing sword showed up in Marvel's Wolverine, many believed it to be a grand character reveal. Well, it's not, and Insomniac has done i...

Official Tetris pages have responded after the Trump administration launched a clone video game called 'Build the Wall.' The Tetris Company joined the backlash after Donald Trump's White House published its Arcade.Gov website today. Amongst a line of games on offer, which includes a Flappy Bird clone called 'Flappy Bill' and a Snake clone called 'Rio Run,' is Build the Wall. A description for the game follows: "Protect the border from the coming horde." It's a message that Tetris wants absolutely nothing to do with. "At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them," it said. "To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we're grateful to have you in our community." Tetris continued, confirming that it had nothing to do with the Trump administration's Build the Wall game. It also added, "We take copyright infringement very seriously." The Tetris Compan...

Rockstar Games has published a heavily censored version of the Grand Theft Auto 6 extended look reveal for China. As shared by @videotech on X/Twitter , the studio behind the game that is convincing publishers to steer clear of November published its 27-minute gameplay reveal on Chinese social media platform Bilibili last week – but some things are just a bit different from other uploads (via Kotaku ). It doesn't take long to realize that large portions of the GTA 6 trailer have been blurred out, including dancing, drug-related content, and sexual content. Considering this is a Grand Theft Auto game, there's quite a bit you can't see. Footage of protagonists Jason and Lucia at a nightclub, for example, basically turns the screen into a giant purple blur. A later scene blurs out Jason's hand when he's smoking, while brief shots of the beach censor some of the crowd. While most corpses seem unblurred, footage showing close-ups of bloodied dead bodies has also been ...