4 Day-One Xbox Game Pass Games Confirmed for 2026

Four new games – Kiln, Forza Horizon 6, Beast of Reincarnation, and Fable – will be added to Game Pass Ultimate. This is the premium subscription tier that gives members access to games on their release day. Players who buy the games directly will benefit from Xbox Play Anywhere features like cross-saves and shared progress. Importantly, all four games will also be available on PlayStation 5 and PC, despite being featured in the Xbox presentation.

23 Years Ago, One of the World’s Biggest Fighting Series Released Their Oddest Game Ever

Instead of fighting, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball moved popular characters to a tropical island for a volleyball game combined with a life simulation. While the game itself was a well-made sports title, it became much more known for its focus on the female characters in bikinis. In retrospect, Xtreme Beach Volleyball stands out as a particularly unusual installment in the Dead or Alive series, even though it achieved some moderate success for Team Ninja.

7 Best Musical Episodes in Non-Musical TV Shows

It’s become less common for TV shows to include musical episodes. This is largely because the industry has shifted from shows with many episodes per season to shorter, more focused seasons designed for binge-watching. Traditionally, longer seasons allowed show creators the freedom to try things like musical episodes without disrupting the main storyline. Now, streaming services prioritize a fast-paced, consistent plot, and don’t see standalone episodes as a worthwhile use of time within a shorter season. This is unfortunate, because the best musical episodes demonstrate how taking creative risks can actually make a good show even better.

Forza Horizon 6’s Japan is “Less About” Accuracy, “More About the Feel of It,” Says Design Director

The goal isn’t to perfectly recreate a location, but to capture its unique atmosphere. As Torben Ellert, Design Director, explained to Xbox Wire, it’s about the feeling of a place. For example, when thinking about driving in Tokyo, what truly makes it feel like Tokyo? It’s the progression – seeing the city from afar on highways, then moving through residential areas, and finally being surrounded by skyscrapers in the downtown core.

A Netflix Exclusive Series is Leaving Next Month (And Its Future is a Mystery)

The popular anime series Fate first gained recognition with Fate/stay night and has expanded significantly since its start as a visual novel in 2004. It now includes multiple video games and anime adaptations. Fate/Apocrypha was originally a Netflix exclusive, arriving on the platform in 2017. However, it will be removed from Netflix on February 8th, leaving fans unsure where they’ll be able to watch it next. Currently, only episodes 13 through 25 are available on Netflix, and the first twelve episodes are not. If you’re interested in watching Fate/Apocrypha, you only have a few days left to do so on Netflix.

Sega Insider Drops Tease of Next Sonic Game

During a social media exchange, someone directly asked gaming news source Nate the Hate to reveal details about the next 3D Sonic game. While he didn’t share specifics, Nate responded by asking if the user enjoyed Sonic Frontiers. This led many fans to believe the next game will likely be Sonic Frontiers 2, or at least share similar gameplay and features with the original Frontiers.

Lord of the Rings’ Recasting Is Bad News for the New Movie, and This $393M Bomb Proves It

Recasting a popular actor in a major film series is always a gamble, and often upsets dedicated fans. With Aragorn, this is especially tricky because Viggo Mortensen has been very open about how much he cares about the original Lord of the Rings story and how it’s presented. He’s said he’d only come back if the script was excellent – and so far, that hasn’t happened, which confirms fans’ disappointment with the latest movie. This situation is worrying because it could repeat the mistakes of the young Han Solo movie from 2018, where Alden Ehrenreich took over the role and the film wasn’t well-received.