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Leaker Posts Extended Gameplay From GTA 6 Prologue Just Hours After Rockstar Warns Fans to Expect Story Spoilers https://www.ign.com/articles/leaker-posts-extended-gameplay-from-gta-6-prologue-just-hours-after-rockstar-warns-fans-to-expect-story-spoilers Extended gameplay footage revealing Grand Theft Auto 6's story prologue has been posted online, in a significant escalation of the past week's continued leaks.

lowers latency by only rendering frames as your CPU delivers them to your graphics card. Turn it on, there’s no reason not to. Shadow Quality: If you’re GPU bound and struggling to get frames, Shadows are generally the first thing I cut. This will change how accurate shadows are, and even on low, they look halfway decent here (again, Unreal has a problem with scalability). Mid-Range PC: High, Handheld: LowGlobal Illumination: This changes the quality of indirect lighting. This is another setting that mostly just affects your graphics card, so lower it if you’re GPU bound and looking for better performance. But if your graphics card isn’t even sitting at 100% utilization most of the time, this probably isn’t what’s causing your performance woes. Keep in mind though, that the High and Ultra settings here are using ray tracing, so going from medium to high will hit your GPU hard. Mid-Range PC: Medium; Handheld: LowReflections: Just like with GI, reflections are mostly a GPU-bound thing and Bit Reactor is using ray tracing here too. Just by virtue of this being a science-fiction game, there are a lot of reflective surfaces, so this can be pretty impactful to your performance, especially on a weaker GPU. Unless you have a high-end card, I’d keep this at medium. Mid-Range PC: Medium; Handheld: LowPost Processing: I have a love-hate relationship with post-processing effects, and I’m not super happy that Bit Reactor rolled all of them into one setting. This will change everything from motion blur to bloom. This honestly won’t affect your performance that much, but if you hate motion blur, it might be worth turning this down just to save yourself a headache. Mid-Range PC: Your Choice; Handheld: Your ChoiceTextures: This changes the resolution that textures are rendered at. This will mostly hit VRAM, so adjust accordingly. My tip would be to have a performance monitor up during one mission to see how much VRAM you’re using, and only lower this if you’re at the upper limit. Or, just turn it on Ultra if you have 10GB or more, and turn it to medium or low if you have less than 8GB. Effect Quality: This will change how detailed visual effects are. This will affect everything from explosions to debris to lasers shooting through the sky. This is something that will hit your CPU, so if you’re being bottlenecked there, this is one of the settings you should cut. Mid-Range PC: High; Handheld: LowShading Quality: In this game, shading quality is essentially the same as mesh quality. It’ll change how detailed objects in the world are. Just like with textures, this is something I’d lower if you’re running out of VRAM. Mid-Range PC: High; Handheld: LowView Distance: This is kind of a funny setting to even have in this game. This just changes how far out you can see details on objects from. But because of how small most of the arenas are, this is purely an aesthetic choice, and so I’m obliged to turn this down before most of the other settings. Mid-Range PC: Medium; Handheld: LowHidden Objects Detail: This changes how detailed objects that are currently hidden are. This will hit your CPU, so it’s something you should turn down if you are bottlenecked. Mid-Range PC: Simplified; Handheld: SimplifiedEnvironment Geometry Detail: This is just a toggle that’ll change the geometry of models in the scene. Bit Reactor’s tooltip claims that newer GPUs won’t really see a performance benefit from turning it off, so I’d just leave it on unless you have an older PC – think more than 5years old. Mid-range PC: On; Handheld: OffJackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

I’ve been an XCom fan for years, and while we haven’t got a new one in a while, Star Wars Zero Company (https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-zero-company-review)seems like the perfect substitute. It’s in the Star Wars universe, which is awesome, and putting it in the middle of the Clone Wars makes it the perfect setting for a tactical game like this. And while I’ve been having a blast with it so far, it’s plagued with a lot of the same performance issues as Halo Campaign Evolved (https://www.ign.com/articles/halo-campaign-evolved-pc-settings) had about a month ago. At the time of writing, my time with Zero Company has been a bit of a nightmare, filled with crashes and frame drops. I’m sure that, over time, the game will be patched to be a bit more stable, but right now, it doesn’t exactly play nice with low-to-mid-range hardware. I’ve even had some issues on an incredibly powerful RTX 5090 (https://www.ign.com/tech/nvidia-rtx-5090) gaming PC (https://www.ign.com/articles/best-gaming-pc). Star Wars Zero Company PC SettingsWhile you can tune Zero Company to run a bit smoother most of the time, there are still issues with frame drops, particularly in cutscenes. Even if you get the game to run at a steady 60fps, there will be times when the game will run into hitches. One of the best ways around that is to have a PC with a decent processor. When I tried to run the game on something like the Lenovo Legion Go 2, the CPU would be pinned at around 50–60% usage, while the GPU sat at 70–80%, which is just leaving performance on the table. Nvidia Reflex and AMD FSR Anti-Lag help a bit there, but most of the time you’re going to be limited by your CPU. Even on a desktop with a Ryzen 7 9850X3D (https://www.ign.com/articles/amd-ryzen-7-9850x3d-review) and an RTX 5090, the game will occasionally spike CPU usage up to 50%, typically at the beginning of a mission. Games using Unreal Engine 5 are hard to tune, but you can eke out some extra performance if you know where to cut. I’ll go through all the settings and what they change here, so you can tweak the game to your own specific PC. For example, if you have a weak CPU, you’re probably going to want to lower things like hidden objects and effect quality first. Windowing Mode: This will change how the window is displayed when you’re playing the game. There are only three options. Fullscreen will make your computer only render the game, which could cause problems if you try to alt-tab. Borderless Window is what I like to call ‘fake fullscreen’ because it takes up your entire display while still rendering the Windows desktop beneath it. Then, Windowed mode just puts the game in a standard Window, where you can see the task bar. I’d choose Fullscreen if you’re on a single-monitor setup, and Borderless if you have multiple monitors or you alt-tab frequently. Anti-Aliasing and Upscaling: Back in the day, there was a genuine debate over which type of upscaling folks should use, but these days, I’d just pick depending on who makes your graphics card. AMD users should use FSR, Nvidia users should use DLSS, and XeSS for Intel GPUs. This is a game where I’d recommend pretty much everyone to use some kind of upscaling to maximize performance. Upscaling Quality: This changes the scale at which the game will be upscaled. Luckily, each GPU vendor uses the same scale, so I’d pick one depending on your native resolution. My rule of thumb is Performance for 4K, Balanced for 1440p, and Quality for 1080p. Frame Generation: This uses AI to generate new frames and sandwiches them between natively rendered frames, which increases your frame rate. This does come at the cost of latency, but in a turn-based game like Star Wars Zero Company, that really doesn’t matter that much. Turn it on if you want a smoother image. Nvidia Reflex/AMD Anti-Lag/XeSS LL: This setting will change depending on your GPU vendor but the underlying technology is similar across the board. These zero out your rendering queue, which

Star Wars Zero Company PC Settings Guide https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-zero-company-pc-settings-guide

Crazy Taxi: World Tour Has the YA YA YA YA YAs but Stumbles With the “World” Part of World Tour – Gamescom 2026 https://www.ign.com/articles/crazy-taxi-world-tour-has-the-ya-ya-ya-ya-yas-but-stumbles-with-the-world-part-of-world-tour-gamescom-2026 Crazy Taxi: World Tour is an almost refreshingly uncomplicated palette cleanser free of skill trees, crafting systems, and the other chaff that seems to be in every game you play nowadays. I just hope they manage to make the levels worthy of the “World Tour” moniker this new ride has.

Exclusive: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Deluxe Edition - Mayhem Collection DLC Trailer Reveals the Joker and Harley Quinn Story Mission and More https://www.ign.com/articles/exclusive-lego-batman-legacy-of-the-dark-knight-deluxe-edition-mayhem-collection-dlc-trailer-reveals-the-joker-and-harley-quinn-story-mission-and-more During our IGN gamescom Studio livestream, we were able to exclusively reveal the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Deluxe Edition - Mayhem Collection DLC trailer, which features an exciting look at the new story mission starring Harley Quinn and the Joker, the Mayhem Mode, and the Sinister Pack.

Star Wars Zero Company Review https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-zero-company-review An excellent tactical game with the same cinematic feel as the Star Wars Jedi games.

We’ve Seen The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past in Action, and It’s Looking Like Another Blood & Wine | gamescom 2026 https://www.ign.com/articles/weve-seen-the-witcher-3-songs-of-the-past-in-action-and-its-looking-like-another-blood-wine-gamescom-2026 We've seen The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past in action - learn about everything we saw on Geralt's new quest to find his missing bard in a cursed garden of thorns.

Rockstar Games Finally Addresses Extraordinary and 'Heartbreaking' GTA 6 Leaks, Warns Players That 'Some Spoilers' May Now Impact 'The Intended Game Experience' https://www.ign.com/articles/rockstar-games-finally-addresses-extraordinary-gta-6-leaks-warns-players-that-some-spoilers-may-now-impact-the-intended-game-experience Rockstar Games has finally addressed the past week's extraordinary spate of Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks.

Mega Man: Dual Override Feels Like a Perfect Entry Point Into the Series https://www.ign.com/articles/mega-man-dual-override-preview We played Mega Man: Dual Override, which is shaping up to be a perfect entry point into the series.

Fable: After Watching a Full Quest, I Couldn’t Be More Excited to Play It | gamescom 2026 https://www.ign.com/articles/fable-after-watching-a-full-quest-i-couldnt-be-more-excited-to-play-it-gamescom-2026 Beer, swearing, and aggressive strangers. I feel at home. After watching a full quest from Fable, I couldn't be more excited to play it. Our preview:

A Legendary Star Wars Vending Machine Is At The Center Of A Major Conspiracy https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-legendary-star-wars-vending-machine-is-at-the-center-of-a-major-conspiracy/ More than 27 years ago, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace released in theaters, ushering in a new wave of fandom for one of the most important media franchises of all time. Since the film's release, one relic has been a constant: the Pepsi vending machine on Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh. It has remained and kept stocked with drinks ever since then, but it appears that has finally changed as part of some bizarre prank or heist. Below, you can see what the vending machine looks like--or looked like, depending on its fate. The graphics have faded over time but it's still drawing in thirsty customers with its giant Pepsi bottle on the front alongside some pod-racing action. https://twitter.com/connortonight/status/1278154371121983488 This week, however, the machine went missing. It was replaced with a pretty hilarious decoy, featuring a very poorly drawn recreation of the original machine's artwork. https://twitter.com/ztwhite23/status/2092476623371055439 Visitors have noticed (https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/questions-speculation-swirl-around-popular-star-wars-vending-machine-pittsburgh/HRUDAJPLY5BI7PPXS56IEU6RSU/) that the new machine has 10 buttons, while the original only had nine. It's been speculated that influencer Braeden Days (https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1v2y4d6/uh_anybody_else/?share_id=qqvFXBVaz6dMuz4zx3F68&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1) may have swiped it, as he has threatened to do so in the past. It's possible the locals or the Pittsburgh Fire Department had something to do with it, as well, as it's located just outside a fire station. The new artwork has been compared (https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1vy8oxl/mt_washington_star_wars_vending_machine_painted/) to the infamous 2012 Jesus-painting restoration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez_and_Gim%C3%A9nez)), though it will be a lot easier to laugh at if the original machine makes a return. For more Star Wars action, you can check out Star Wars Zero Company (https://www.metacritic.com/game/star-wars-zero-company/) beginning August 27. This will be followed by Star Wars: Galactic Racer on October 6.

Following Xbox Breakup, State Of Decay 3 Will Return With A Closed Beta Playtest https://www.gamespot.com/articles/following-xbox-breakup-state-of-decay-3-will-return-with-a-closed-beta-playtest/ While Microsoft reportedly sold developer Undead Labs to a mystery buyer (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/state-of-decay-and-hellblade-devs-are-being-sold-but-buyers-remain-mysterious-for-now/), the Washington-based studio is keeping its zombie survival game State of Decay 3 (https://www.gamespot.com/games/state-of-decay-3/) alive and well. And now, it plans to host another playtest sometime later this year. In an August 26 Xbox Wire post (https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/state-of-decay-3-closed-beta-playtests/), Undead Labs' community manager, Bruce Dugan, announced that the upcoming zombie survival sim will begin a closed beta playtest "before the end of 2026." An exact date for when this beta will start wasn't confirmed, but you can register for it now (https://playtest.stateofdecay.com/). In the post, Undead Labs' creative director, Kevin Patzelt, said that the closed beta will open to "more players over time." "This is our largest map ever, and with untethered multiplayer, we really need to take the opportunities to stress-test and fine-tune [this experience]," Patzelt said. "If you don't get access right away, rest assured there will be more opportunities throughout the year for players familiar and brand new to the series." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stwoU4ZdDYU This closed beta, whenever it begins, comes after Undead Labs hosted an alpha test (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/state-of-decay-3-is-back-from-the-dead-and-you-might-be-able-to-play-it-soon/1100-6539213/) back in May. That alpha came with four-player co-op, new base-building and resource strategies, and plenty of combat. This beta will lean on what Undead Labs learned from the alpha, with Dugan highlighting key takeaways like "engaging combat against multiple freaks, the improvements to the world’s lighting, SFX, weather and overall visuals, cosmetic changes like varied clothing options and additions of glasses and beards, and smoother and more reactive character movement." All of this comes just a couple of months after Microsoft began breaking up with a handful of the developers it acquired as part of its massive "reset" (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-after-the-layoffs-studios-left-and-what-theyre-making/) that saw several studios get sold, tons of employees get laid off, and some games get canceled. While many weren't spared, some were able to save themselves (like Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions) or were bought up by someone--or something--else, like Undead Labs and Hellblade (https://www.gamespot.com/?game_franchise=hellblade) developer Ninja Theory. Announced in 2020, State of Decay 3 is the third entry in the long-running zombie survival franchise. Though no date has been nailed down just yet, the game is currently slated for a 2027 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Xbox's new disc-to-digital program has been officially announced. Microsoft said "most" Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games will support the new feature. Here's how it works, in Microsoft's own words: "Players can claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console and launching the game. Once the entitlement is claimed, you can experience the benefits of digital, including Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming where supported, while your physical disc continues to work exactly as it always has." Reporter Tom Warren, who originally broke the news of this program, said (https://www.theverge.com/tech/984936/xbox-disc-to-digital-feature-official?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Ijc1ZHVBMkZjaE0iLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTg0OTM2L3hib3gtZGlzYy10by1kaWdpdGFsLWZlYXR1cmUtb2ZmaWNpYWwiLCJleHAiOjE3ODgxODY2OTAsImlhdCI6MTc4Nzc1NDY5MH0.Y4t18UIJuFTT4nSf0HBe5DvMWP0KNxjbGHC2QKxdoTw&utm_medium=gift-link) the entitlement is "tied to the specific disc, and it will move from account to account if you swap the physical game with a friend or log in to a different Xbox profile and try to play a disc-based game." To boil it down, here's how the disc-to-digital program works, based on that report and what Xbox boss Jason Ronald said during a Gamescom livestream event: Insert a supported disc and you get a license for a digital copy of the game, which works as if you had bought it digitally: play without a disc in and access Play Anywhere and cloud versions if they're offered for that game. Your disc will still work, but if you give that disc to someone else, you lose that digital license This all requires an Xbox with a disc drive--Series S owners are left out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ANSUtDfr5A "Thousands" of games will support this new feature, and more will be added over time. "While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come," Microsoft said. People in the Xbox Insider program can begin testing this new feature on August 31. It will be made available to everyone else later. For what it's worth, Microsoft's original pitch for the Xbox One offered something similar (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/microsoft-confirms-required-24-hour-check-in-for-xbox-one/1100-6409419/), but fans revolted and Microsoft quickly changed course. The announcement of the disc-to-digital program comes not long after Sony announced that it would end support for physical PlayStation game discs in 2028 (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstations-disc-based-game-sales-have-dropped-dramatically-in-recent-years/). It's expected that Microsoft will stop supporting game discs, too, with its upcoming Project Helix console. Analyst Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners said the disc-to-digital program from Xbox is a "nod towards the transition to an all-digital future." Xbox game sales are more than 90% digital today, he said, which is an even higher percentage that PlayStation. https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/2092627673033957480

Xbox’s Disc-To-Digital Program Officially Announced, And It Sounds Pretty Great https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xboxs-disc-to-digital-program-officially-announced-and-it-sounds-pretty-great/ Microsoft has officially announced a new Xbox feature that lets you digitize your physical game discs. In a blog post (https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/your-discs-now-also-digital/), Microsoft revealed a new system that allows players to "bring the benefits of digital to physical discs," with the aim of giving people more flexibility. This disc-to-digital program was leaked a while back (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/next-gen-xbox-may-not-have-disc-drive-disc-to-digital-feature-coming-reports-say/).

Crazy Taxi: World Tour Hands-On Preview https://www.gamespot.com/videos/crazy-taxi-world-tour-hands-on-preview/ Crazy Taxi: World Tour is, you guessed it, crazy. From driving around Easter Bunnies, to doing tricks for aliens, Crazy Taxi: World Tour is shaping up to be an absurd romp.

The Witcher 3’s Remaster Didn’t Leak, And That Made The Reveal “Hit Different,” Dev Says https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-witcher-3s-remaster-didnt-leak-and-that-made-the-reveal-hit-different-dev-says/ One of the big surprises from Gamescom's Opening Night Live event (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamescom-opening-night-live-2026-all-the-biggest-announcements-games-and-trailers/) this week was the announcement of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-witcher-3-remastered-is-adding-dozens-of-upgrades-and-it-might-be-free-for-you/). Everyone was expecting news about The Witcher 3's Songs of the Past expansion, but no almost no one had The Witcher 3 Remastered on their bingo card. Marcin Momot, the global community and social media director for CD Projekt Red, said on social media that he is "so happy" the remaster did not leak. "Reveals just hit different when they don't leak," he said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGk17XQ7IrQ Many people have called on CD Projekt Red over the years to release a remastered version of the 2015 game, but it never happened until now (though CD Projekt Red did update the game significantly over the years). The game's remastered version launches on September 29, setting the stage for the improvements to be baked into the Songs of the Past expansion in 2027. Among the enhancements is perhaps the most notable update to the game since 2015: the ability to pet the dog (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-3-songs-of-the-past-expansion-fixes-a-major-issue-with-the-original-game/). https://twitter.com/marcin360/status/2092347434135412900?s=46 With more than 65 million copies sold (https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/top-10-best-selling-video-games-of-all-time/2900-4814/), The Witcher 3 is one of the top 10 best-selling video games of all time (https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/top-10-best-selling-video-games-of-all-time/2900-4814/). A new trilogy, spanning The Witcher 4, 5, and 6, will begin in 2028 with the launch of The Witcher 4 (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-4-release-window-narrowed-down-to-2028/). The game shifts the focus to Ciri, instead of Geralt. In addition to The Witcher 3 Remastered and the new The Witcher trilogy, CD Projekt Red is working on Cyberpunk 2 (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cyberpunk-2-is-probably-further-away-than-you-hope/1100-6531896/), a The Witcher multiplayer game (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mysterious-witcher-game-project-sirius-undergoes-more-changes-report/), and a game made in partnership with Scopely (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/witcher-devs-new-game-with-saudi-arabias-scopely/).

Exterminauts Season Pass Won’t Make You Pay If You’re Willing To Play https://www.gamespot.com/articles/exterminauts-season-pass-wont-make-you-pay-if-youre-willing-to-play/ Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive is venturing into new live-service territory with the upcoming release of Exterminauts (https://www.gamespot.com/games/exterminauts/), a new third-person shooter that merges the blue-collar energy of Ghostbusters with Starship Troopers. The game is already drawing comparisons to Helldivers 2, and while these are two distinctly different experiences, Behaviour Interactive is taking a page from Arrowhead's book with how it'll give players the opportunity to unlock Battle Passes by simply playing the game--or buying it with cash to support the studio, if you're pressed for time. "We should be launching with our live content, I think, about a month after [the game's] launch," creative director Vincent Regimbald said to GameSpot at Gamescom (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamescom-opening-night-live-2026-all-the-biggest-announcements-games-and-trailers/). "You're not going to be stuck too long without new content. We'll also announce it ahead of time, so people will know it's coming up. We're going to have some short Warbond-like Battle Passes that are going to be about six weeks long, so the cycle is going to be fairly quick, and payment is purely optional. The in-game currency you'll be able to find, earn, and obtain through daily objectives [and] weekly objectives." Regimbald added that the Battle Passes will offer new cosmetics and weapons, but generally, these will be obtainable through regular play. Helldivers 2 uses a system where players can find caches of the game's premium currency in each map, but earning enough of it to purchase the new Warbond does require you to commit a substantial number of hours to the game each month. Mods in Exterminauts can also be earned through this route, and Regimbald said that these will shake up the default performance of weapons, unlocking wild options for players when they experiment with them.  https://youtu.be/0M9Yp1aGkRw "What they can do is give elemental damage to your shots, offer an instant reload, or give you extra critical damage on your weapon," Regimbald explained. "Sometimes there are combinations with the gadgets that you've been using or the special weapons that you've been using. We think that players will be able to skew their build in a very particular direction depending on the mods that they select. "There's also what we're calling the emblems and the badges. These are passive abilities that you can put on your character, so they can give you essentially what would look like a character class or playstyle class. You can be much more focused on gadgets, healing, or ice damage, for example. These things will affect your gameplay around that. To give you an example, if you do take the ice-focused emblem, if you freeze enemies and shoot at them, they'll blow up and cause area-of-effect damage. There are combos that you can start to create with the mods, combined with the emblems." In our own hands-on time with Exterminauts (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/move-over-helldivers-i-have-a-new-favorite-three-player-pve-extraction-shooter/), we found that the use of mods is a nice incentive to get players to stick around for another run or two. The game isn't anything revolutionary, but its lighthearted combat and chaotic co-op could make it worth keeping an eye on. Exterminauts launches in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamescom-opening-night-live-2026-all-the-biggest-announcements-games-and-trailers/