← all stories

4

1h ago

Dragon Quest Monsters 4 Ties In With Zannen na Ikimono Jiten for Monster Ecology Posts

Takahashi Shoten's Zannen na Ikimono Jiten series and Dragon Quest Monsters 4: Bianca and Flora of the Withered Tree Kingdom are collaborating. Under the title Zannen na Mamono Jiten, posts introducing the slightly disappointing ecology of the game's monsters began October 23 on the official Dragon Quest PR X account. The book series has surpassed 5.55 million cumulative copies in print. The game releases December 3 on Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and December 4 on Steam.

2h ago

Fujimi Adds Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Container Models to Train-NEXT and Car NEXT Lines

Fujimi Model is adding three Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) container items. A 1/150 scale finished 40ft reefer container in the Train-NEXT Series uses a new mold and ships as a two-piece painted set with the MOL logo, alligator mark and two container numbers printed. A 1/24 scale 20ft dry container kit comes in gray and green. The reefer is scheduled for January 20, 2027 at 2,530 yen; the kits are January 26, 2027 at 4,290 yen each.

10h ago

Fallout 4 Mod Dynamic Bottle Liquids Gives Nuka-Cola a Liquid Look

A PC mod called Dynamic Bottle Liquids is out on Nexus Mods for Fallout 4. It replaces the vanilla drink items, including Nuka-Cola, so bottles show liquid inside instead of a flat colored surface. The glass and liquid refract the scenery behind them, air moves when a bottle is shaken or tilted, and carbonated drinks form bubbles. The mod takes its cues from Half-Life: Alyx, but Fallout 4 VR is unsupported.

20h ago

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launches With 12 New 6v6 Maps And 12-Plus Modes

Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on October 23, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. The game is set around a global conflict centered on the Korean Peninsula and is developed by Infinity Ward. Multiplayer ships with 12 new 6v6 maps, including Cacé in an abandoned wine warehouse, Coal in a ruined Soviet-era coal facility, and Lotus in a Korean fishing village hit by an amphibious assault. The small map Shipment returns on October 27. Three 32v32 Ground War maps are included: Imjin Farmland, Wolves Stadium, and Forest. Players can access more than 12 multiplayer modes, among them Inflation, Hijack, Collateral, and Combat Outpost. The new Kill Block battlefield reconfigures its combat area across over 500 layout patterns between and during rounds. The PS5 packaged version and download Standard Edition cost 9,800 yen; the download Vault Edition costs 13,200 yen.

22h ago

Nijisanji Opens 2434 HOODIE vol.1 Sales on October 23

ANYCOLOR will sell the 2434 HOODIE vol.1 goods line at the Nijisanji Official Store from October 23, 2026 at 19:00. Seven livers take part: Riko Shiga, Nana Tamanoi, Kisara, Momone Kozue, Runrun, Lulu Suzuhara, and Debbie Debbie Devil. The lineup is four items: a pullover hoodie at 8,500 yen, a tote bag at 3,800 yen, socks at 2,500 yen, and an acrylic charm at 2,000 yen, each in seven types. Nanami Yuki drew the illustrations, and shipping follows late October.

22h ago

Researcher Recreates Super Mario 64 Tablet Text as Eternal Star

A researcher who goes by mochi64 rebuilt the 32 by 32 pixel stone tablet in Super Mario 64's castle courtyard by re-rendering candidate inscriptions and scoring them against the game's image. "Eternal Star" ranked first among 1,237,405 candidates, and a search of 17,700 common English words produced "We hope so" as the second line. Nintendo has not confirmed the reading.

23h ago

G PLANTS And STUTS Team For Red Bull 64 Bars Episode

Rapper G PLANTS and producer STUTS collaborated on a Red Bull 64 Bars video, released October 22 at 19:00 on the Red Bull Mike YouTube channel. STUTS produced the beat sampling Tom Misch's "The Journey." The track comes out digitally as G PLANTS's single "GET GLUE 64 Bars" on October 23, with lyrics by G PLANTS and production by STUTS.

23h ago

Boltgun 2 Opens At 81 On PC, 80 On PS5

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 launched October 15, 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. At the time of writing, its Metascore is 81 on PC across 25 reviews and 80 on PS5 across 11. Critics describe a retro-style FPS with two playable characters, treated as a refined follow-up that widens enemy and weapon variety but stays close to its predecessor.

1d ago

Squadron 42 Localization Thread Divides CIG Forum Regulars

A post on Cloud Imperium Games' official forums argues that Squadron 42 should not spend resources on translation, saying money and staff should go to Star Citizen instead. The Steam page lists subtitles and interface support for 10 languages including Japanese, with English voice only. CIG has told overseas media it will prioritize subtitles over multilingual dubbing at launch because of its cast. Replies split between calling the post arrogant and agreeing that release should come first. Squadron 42 is scheduled for PC via Steam in the second quarter of 2027.

1d ago

Hasegawa to Sell Border Model's 1/35 Dauntless Pre-Painted Kit From December 2026

Border Model's 1/35 SBD-3/4 Dauntless Full Interior kit uses completely new molds and ships with pre-painted parts and etched details, including the rear machine gun, so no painting is required. Hasegawa distributes it in Japan from December 2026 onward at 15,070 yen. A separate 7,590 yen pack adds a display stand, a propeller rotation gimmick powered by Type-C, and two resin pilot figures; the main body is not included.

1d ago

HJ64 Opens Amazon Pre-Orders for 1/64 Trueno AE86 and Subaru WRX S4 Models

Hobby Japan's HJ64 mini car brand has opened Amazon.co.jp pre-orders on 1/64 scale models, including the Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT APEX (AE86) 2 Door Late Model in a JDM STYLE Carbon Bonnet version and three body colors, plus the Subaru S210 in three colors and the Subaru WRX S4 STI SPORT R EX (VB) with a separate rear spoiler. Each Trueno is priced at 4,180 yen and scheduled for release on February 28, 2027.

1d ago

Bethesda-Approved Fallout 4 Mod FEVer Dreams Adds 1,100 New Lines

Bethesda has released the officially approved Fallout 4 mod FEVer Dreams, made by Kinggath Creations. It is set in the restarted military research base Camp Jefferson. Players begin with no weapons, poisoned and hallucinating from an FEV strain, and must gather gear, solve puzzles and fight through a secret facility to find a cure. Courtenay Taylor and Brian T. Delaney return, each with over 1,100 new lines.

2d ago

Fallout Shelter Adds A Baby Deathclaw As Fallout 4 Gets Three New Creations

On the second day of Fallout Day Celebrations 2026, running October 19 to 23, Bethesda announced a Baby Deathclaw companion coming to Fallout Shelter in late 2026, part of the World Pets Initiative across multiple Fallout titles. Daily login rewards and an in-game store discount are running this week. Fallout 4 gets three Creations: FEVer Dreams launched today, Command Override launches October 21 North American time, and Fathomless is set for 2027.

2d ago

Persona Anime Pop-Up Store Brings CloverWorks Art to Kyoto and Shibuya

A Persona Series The Animation POP UP STORE will run at Aniplex Official Store in Kyoto IP Bookstore from October 30 to November 11, and at SHIBUYA TSUTAYA IP Bookstore from December 1 to January 4, 2027. The store covers the theatrical film Persona 3 and the TV anime Persona 4, Persona 4 The Golden, and Persona 5, with goods built on CloverWorks original illustrations of six characters.

3d ago

Prime 1 Studio Opens Pre-Orders For 1/4 Scale Ryu Hayabusa Statue From NINJA GAIDEN 4

Prime 1 Studio is taking pre-orders from Tuesday, October 20, 2026 on an Ultimate Premium Masterline statue of Ryu Hayabusa from NINJA GAIDEN 4. The 1/4 scale polystone piece stands about 70cm tall, 57cm wide and 61cm deep, weighs about 9.46kg, and costs 272,690 yen including tax, with release scheduled between March and June 2028. A DX Edition adds hands holding the Snakebone Gate for a display tied to the downloadable content "Two Super Ninjas."

3d ago

Mochi64's Analysis Reads Peach's Castle Inscription As 'Eternal Star'

YouTuber mochi64 recreated the tiny 32x32-pixel pedestal inscription from Super Mario 64 in 1990s-era fonts and compared pixel differences against the original. The upper line matched best with "Eternal Star" and the lower line with "We hope so." Among roughly 470 period fonts, Adobe's 1990 Palatino Bold Italic gave the closest match. Mochi64 notes Nintendo has not confirmed the reading and wants outside verification.

3d ago

Nijisanji Opens Y4T4 Half Anniversary Goods Sales on Oct 21

ANYCOLOR will start selling Y4T4 Half Anniversary goods at the Nijisanji Official Store on October 21, 2026 at 19:00. The eight-member team Rei7, Otora, Mikogami Kotone, Tsukahara Daichi, Chisato Ayumu, Kuri Eita, Kokonami Iruka, and Reyon appears across 11 product types, from 350-yen random collection cards to a 4,800-yen T-shirt. Per-person purchase caps apply to every item.

3d ago

Kuzuha Joins FF14 Fan Festival 2026 Day 2 Naoki's Room Guest List

Square Enix's official Final Fantasy XIV account announced on October 19 that VTuber Kuzuha will appear at FF14 Fan Festival 2026, set for October 31 and November 1 at Makuhari Messe. Kuzuha is one of the guests on Naoki's Room, the Day 2 stage hosted by producer Naoki Yoshida and Toshio Murouchi. The posted guest list for Naoki's Room also includes k4sen, SHAKA, Karubi Akami, Clutch_Fi, Nekomugi Tororo, Obo, Uruka, Tonakaito, Sasatikk and Tatsuomi Hamada. The announcement said scheduling had been worked out, leaving the impression the booking was settled late. The event is billed as the largest FF14 Fan Festival yet, run with AEON Mall Makuhari New City and Toyosuna Park, and the venue program covers activities, food menus, a piano concert and a special live performance alongside the guest stages.

3d ago

AION 2 Tops This Week's Steam Sales Chart in Japan

NC's cross-world MMORPG AION 2 took 1st place in this week's Steam sales ranking for Japan, surveyed October 19, 2026 at 13:00. Apex Legends is 2nd and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is 3rd. New entries include Japanese Ramen Simulator at 4th in early access and Final Fantasy Resonance at 5th, with Tales of Eternia Remaster at 10th.

4d ago

HG Gundam ZERO Tops Amazon Hobby New Arrivals Ranking

Bandai Spirits' HG 1/144 Gundam ZERO, the plastic model of the title machine from the latest Gundam work Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO, ranks first in an Amazon Hobby category new-arrivals chart compiled by Dengeki Hobby Web. Tamiya's Magnum Saber and Sonic Saber place third and follow in the ten-item list, while Hot Wheels' Car Culture Deutschland Design series and the Yotsuba&! Original Art Calendar 2027 hold their places from the prior week.

4d ago

E Ink Announces Kaleido 4 Color ePaper With Doubled Gamut, 18fps Video

E Ink announced Kaleido 4 on October 15, 2026, a color e-paper platform with twice the color gamut volume and 50 percent improved contrast over the previous generation, plus 15 percent higher white reflectance. It supports video playback at up to 18fps. The first device to use it is Hanvon's M10C II e-note, which pairs a new front light with the T2000 timing controller. Japanese release and pricing are unknown.

4d ago

Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Pulls 91 Percent Very Positive on Steam

Early campaign access for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 opened October 17 for pre-order customers ahead of the October 23 release. About 3,000 Steam user reviews had collected a 91 percent approval rating at the time of writing, a Very Positive rating. GameSpot scored the campaign 7/10, Insider Gaming 9/10 and GamesBeat 4.5/5. SteamDB places the approval rating second only to the original Black Ops among the series' entries.

4d ago

HP Japan Announces OmniBook 5 14 Laptop With Up To 42 Hours Of Battery Life

HP Japan announced the HP OmniBook 5 14, a personal laptop aimed at students and young professionals. It runs an Intel Core 5 processor with NPU functionality, carries a 14-inch 2K OLED touch display at up to 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, weighs about 1.16kg, and is 11.7mm at its thinnest point. HP rates battery life at up to 42 hours during local video playback. It comes in four colors.

4d ago

DeepSeek Releases DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 Under MIT License

DeepSeek released the open model DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on October 17, 2026, positioned as an updated, faster version of DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash. On the DeepSWE v1.1 coding agent benchmark it scores above GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude Fable 5 while keeping cost low, and it recorded the highest scores on multiple tests. Peak pricing is $0.3 per million input tokens and $1.2 per million output tokens, halved off-peak.

4d ago

Bandai Opens Pre-Orders for Two HG Gundam ZZ Kits

Premium Bandai began taking pre-orders on October 19 at 11:00 for two HG 1/144 kits from Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: the Döven Wolf and the Dreissen, each priced at 2,640 yen with tax included. The Döven Wolf reproduces its original appearance and includes gimmicks for connecting to the Mega Launcher and deploying its incoms. The Dreissen gets updated weapon designs and heavy mobile suit proportions, with the arm's three-barrel cannon reproduced through interchangeable parts.

4d ago

RTA in Japan Winter 2026 Announces 90 Accepted Games

RTA in Japan announced on October 18 the accepted and backup games for its winter event, which will run from December 25 to 31 at Bellsalle Iidabashi First in Tokyo. The lineup spans 90 titles, from recent releases such as Hollow Knight: Silksong, Silent Hill f, Donkey Kong Bananza and Kirby Air Riders to older games including Doom 64, Clock Tower 2, Shadowgate and Tengai Makyou ZERO. Nintendo titles are back in number after a summer 2025 event with no Nintendo games accepted, with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess HD, Pokemon Sword and Metroid Prime Remastered on the list. The unusual categories carry the attention: Super Mario 64 gets a blindfolded 9-star run, Donkey Kong 64 gets a 0.0% low-percentage attempt, The Legend of Zelda 1 gets a swordless first quest, Resident Evil Village gets a VR mode run without glitches, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii gets a four-runner race. The detailed schedule is set for October 25.

4d ago

FREEing Opens Preorders for 1/4 Scale Rias Gremory Cat Suit Figure

FREEing's High School DxD HERO Rias Gremory Cat Suit Ver. 1/4 scale figure is up for preorder at AmiAmi at 39,600 yen with tax included, scheduled for release in April 2027. The figure stands about 440mm tall, is made of plastic, and comes with a dedicated base. The front zipper of the jet-black suit is open, exposing Rias's skin from abdomen to chest.

5d ago

Final Fantasy Resonance And Modern Warfare 4 Lead A Crowded Release Week

Final Fantasy Resonance and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 headline the week of October 19 to 25, 2026, according to the release calendars published by 4Gamer.net, Game Spark and Inside. Final Fantasy Resonance arrives Thursday, October 22 on Steam, PS Store, Xbox Store and My Nintendo Store for 7,678 yen, with the Steam version following on October 23. The HD-2D RPG follows Rain, a knight of the Kingdom of Granshelt, and Fina, a girl without memories, as they pursue an armored man called Vaelius of the Eternal Dark. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches Friday, October 23 on the same four storefronts for 9,800 yen and sets its campaign on the Korean Peninsula after a large-scale North Korean invasion, cutting between young South Korean soldiers and Captain Price. Stupid Never Dies, an action RPG built on devouring enemies and implanting gears, also ships October 22 on Steam and PS Store for 7,690 yen.

5d ago

Kitsunejiro Uru Enters LTK Final Season As UltraLMTM Talent

The final season of League The k4sen, k4sen's League of Legends tournament, opened on October 15. Kitsunejiro Uru, who calls herself a "God" and joined k4sen's UltraLMTM brand on October 6, lines up in the NEXT tier against top laners SHAKA, Kanou, and Tachibana Hinano, all streamers past 1 million YouTube subscribers. Sixty players across four teams compete on combined results from three tiers.

6d ago

Weekly Steam Square Lists Planet Zoo 2, Boltgun 2 Among This Week's Releases

The weekly Steam roundup covers this week's releases and announcements on Valve's storefront. Planet Zoo 2 adds fully aquatic species and flying animals for the first time in the series, with aquariums and aviaries. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 lets players pick between Space Marine Malum Caedo and Battle Sister Naila Baylas. The list also carries over the hill, Enshrouded, Valor Mortis, Beyond These Stars, Ratatan, and Chained Beasts.

6d ago

Rain98 Demo Hits Steam With a Heroine Who Wants to End the World

C#4R4CT3R, a game label based in Shibuya, Tokyo, released the Steam demo for Rain98 on October 17, 2026. The psycho-suspense adventure is set in 1998 Tokyo, where a young man who time-slips from the present day shares a one-room apartment with Amahara Reina, a heroine who says she is Angolmois, the Great King of Terror from Nostradamus's prophecy. Reina wants to destroy the world in July 1999, and needs heat, the stirring of her heart, to do it. The player earns Angel Seals by interacting with her, pastes 100 of them into an Angel Passport, and completes the ritual. The demo covers the story's first two chapters. It adds playable content beyond the build shown at Tokyo Game Show 2026. A hands-on event ran at UKIYO GAME BAR & CAFE in Yurakucho, where a collaboration cocktail called Melancholy Blue was served. The full version is scheduled for release in 2026 on PC via Steam.

Oct 16

Switch 2 Resident Evil 4 Runs Mostly In The 50fps Range

Resident Evil 4 launched on Nintendo Switch 2 on October 16, 2026, and comparison videos are now circulating. ElAnalistaDeBits compared the Switch 2 and PS5 versions in docked and handheld mode, both listed at upscaled 1080p and up to 60fps versus the PS5's upscaled 2160p. Digital Foundry's own analysis reports the Switch 2 version sits closer to the PS4 version visually, with thinner vegetation and fewer shadow and reflection effects.

Oct 16

Activision CMO Calls 'CoD Tax' the Cost of a Long-Running Series

Activision Chief Marketing Officer Tyler Bahl said on the October 15 episode of 'The Game Business' that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is 'being subjected to a Call of Duty tax,' a phrase he used to describe low attention and high expectations placed on the series. Bahl noted more than 20 years have passed since the first CoD in 2003 and said 4,500 staff work on the game. Modern Warfare 4 releases October 23.

Oct 16

Guns of Eschaton Sets December Release for PC, PS5, Xbox

Publisher 4Divinity and developer Eschatology Entertainment announced on October 16, 2026 that the Soulslike FPS Guns of Eschaton will launch on December 8, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game supports Japanese in-game text. It is set in a fictional 19th-century American West where the occult, mythology, and supernatural beings mix. Players take the role of a gunslinger who has lost everything and travels across a country swallowed by an apocalyptic vortex called The Burning. Combat mixes shooting with parries and occult abilities. Limited ammunition, enemy behavior patterns, and attack timing matter. An in-game Codex lists enemy weaknesses. More than 20 weapon types appear, and revolver cylinders and bullets can be customized round by round. Builds combine firearms, talismans, armor, and three Communion Paths. A trailer appeared at the online event Galaxies Showcase. A demo is available on Steam, and the game will take part in Steam Next Fest beginning October 19. The late Viktor Antonov, known for Half-Life 2, was art director.

Oct 15

Capcom Launches Resident Evil RE:2, RE:3, RE:4 On Switch 2 With 1,000 Yen Discount

Capcom released the Nintendo Switch 2 download versions of three Resident Evil remake titles on October 16, 2026: Resident Evil RE:2 Z Version Deluxe Edition, Resident Evil RE:3 Z Version, and Resident Evil RE:4 Gold Edition. Each is priced 1,000 yen below its regular price through November 7, 2026. That puts RE:2 at 2,990 yen, RE:3 at 1,990 yen, and RE:4 at 3,990 yen, all tax included. Regular download prices are 3,990 yen, 2,990 yen, and 4,990 yen respectively. Physical versions of all three arrive on January 29, 2027 at the regular prices. The three titles are rebuilt on Capcom's RE ENGINE. RE:2 follows Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield in Raccoon City, RE:3 follows S.T.A.R.S. survivor Jill Valentine, and RE:4 follows Leon as a government agent. A release campaign to win Nintendo Prepaid Cards runs from October 16 to October 29, 2026.

Oct 15

REJECT Opens Made-To-Order Sales For Orisaki Moshu 4th Anniversary Goods

REJECT Inc. is selling Orisaki Moshu 4th Anniversary Goods through its official online store on a made-to-order basis. The lineup includes a complete set at 16,000 yen with a handwritten autograph postcard, a sweatshirt in black or white at 12,000 yen, an acrylic stand at 2,000 yen, image tarot cards at 1,000 yen, and a Devil's Contract Voice at 1,000 yen. Orders run from October 15 to October 31, 2026.

Oct 15

Boltgun 2 Launches For PC And Consoles With Two Playable Characters

Auroch Digital and Big Fan Games have released Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S at 3,150 yen. The sequel continues from the end of the first game and adds a second playable character, Battle Sister Nyla Veyras, alongside the returning Ultramarine Malum Caedo. New enemies, weapons, and music by Mick Gordon are included.

Oct 15

k4sen's League The k4sen Finale Opens Its Regular Stage

k4sen hosts the final season of League The k4sen, a League of Legends community tournament, with Regular Stage Day 1 on October 15 at 18:00. Sixty streamers are split into four teams of 15, each roster carrying five NEXT, five CORE and five MASTERS players. Kuzuha and Kanae of ChroNoiR, the full Gemagema group, and newcomers Kanae, Stunmi and Jasper are among the participants.

Oct 15

Happy Kuji Chibi Maruko-chan Set Celebrates 40 Years With 9 Prize Ranks

Sunny Side Up will release a Happy Kuji line for Chibi Maruko-chan on Saturday, November 7, 2026, marking 40 years since the original manga began serialization. Each draw costs 850 yen including tax, and the lineup has nine prize ranks plus a Last Prize. The Special Prize is a roughly 21cm figure of Maruko's cluttered room from the chapter "Today Is Home Visit Day" in volume 10, down to her expression and the onomatopoeia behind her. The A Prize is a 10-type Figure Collection, roughly 5.5 to 8.7cm tall, with characters on pedestals bearing their dialogue. The Last Prize reproduces the cover of manga volume 1 as a figure about 17.5cm tall. Middle ranks include tote bags with title-page art, melamine cups and plates, rubber mascot keyholders, flat pouches, mini towels, a can collection, and sticker sets themed around Class 3-4.

Oct 15

Bandai Spirits Opens Preorders for HG Murasame Kai from Gundam SEED Freedom Zero

Bandai Spirits Hobby Division opened product pages on October 15 for the HG 1/144 Murasame Kai (Initial Production Type) from the film Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM ZERO. The kit is priced at 2,970 yen with tax included and is scheduled for release in December 2026. It recreates the mobile suit's dark blue coloring through molded colors, uses the SEED Action System for posing, includes a newly sculpted mock battle rifle, and can switch to MA form by swapping some parts. Accessories cover a mock battle rifle, beam saber, beam rifle, shield, a set of MA transformation parts, two booster tank parts, and a sticker. Reservations open at stores and online starting October 15. The same product page rollout also listed the HG 1/144 Infinite Justice Gundam and Booster Unit, the HG 1/144 Gouf Ignited Custom, and the HG 1/144 Strike Freedom Gundam SEED FREEDOM ZERO Ver., which carry release windows between January 2027 and April 2027.

Oct 15

Gaming Factory Announces JDM: Ph4ntom Driver Yokai Racing Spin-Off

Gaming Factory announced the open-world racing game JDM: Ph4ntom Driver on October 15, with a Steam store page going live the same day. The PC game is set in Gunkon Prefecture, a spirit-world version of the fictional Guntama Prefecture from JDM: Japanese Drift Master, where oni and yokai have overrun the land. Players use modified cars as weapons, ramming enemies at high speed or drifting to swing the rear end, since the vehicles carry no swords or guns. A supernatural power called Hakai adds a score element. The single-player campaign tells its story through hand-drawn manga cutscenes and a conversation system, and a multiplayer mode is planned. The release date and price are undecided, and Japanese is supported. The project began as an expansion for JDM: Japanese Drift Master but became a standalone spin-off after the team changed the game's fundamental mechanics.

Oct 15

4 Penny Coffins Launches On Steam October 27

Other Ocean Interactive announced on October 15 that 4 Penny Coffins, its in-development werewolf-style game, will launch on Steam on October 27. One player becomes the murderer Ripper while the rest are the investigation side. Up to eight players are supported, and a solo mode is included. Rounds run through incident, investigation, and trial phases, each ending in a verdict.

Oct 14

Shield Hero Season 4 Leads A Week Of Anime And Manga Releases

North American anime and manga releases for October 11-17 include the first Blu-ray volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4 from Crunchyroll at US$74.98, Sentai Filmworks' Non Non Biyori Blu-ray at US$89.98, and AnimEigo's Master of Martial Hearts Blu-ray at US$24.95, all dated October 13. The print manga side adds new volumes from Viz Media, Seven Seas, Kodansha USA, Square Enix Manga, Yen Press, J-Novel Club, Vertical, Alien Books, Titan, and Kana, among them Chainsaw Man volume 22, Case Closed volume 100, and first volumes of Badducks, GalaXic Baseball League, and Are You a Landmine, Chihara-san?.

Oct 14

Liquid AI Releases LFM2.5-24B-A2B for Local Agent Workloads

Liquid AI released LFM2.5-24B-A2B, a 24 billion parameter mixture-of-experts model with 245 million active parameters, pretrained on 33 trillion tokens and further trained for agent workflows. The company reports it scored higher than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B, Gemma-4-26B-A4B-it, and Nemotron-3.5-Lightning (30B-A3B) on agent benchmarks including AutomationBench and BFCLv4. Inference support already exists in llama.cpp, MLX, vLLM, SGLang, and ONNX, and the model is downloadable from Hugging Face as an open model.

Oct 14

Google Releases Gemini 4 Argon To Pro And Ultra Subscribers

Google opened general availability of its Gemini 4 Argon AI model on October 13, 2026. The model, announced on September 30, 2026, had been limited to a small set of users including trusted cybersecurity personnel before this release. It is now available to Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers through the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search, and an API is offered to developers. Google says the model is built for multi-step coding and research and for work in finance, law, cybersecurity, and science, with the ability to read large volumes of documents and code. The third-party organization Artificial Analysis scored Gemini 4 Argon 53 on its Intelligence Index v4.3.2, a value on par with Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1 and OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra. ASCII.jp notes that strong benchmark scores do not guarantee the model can do real work.

Oct 13

Apple Announces $299 HomeView Smart Display

Apple announced its first smart display, the Apple HomeView, on October 13, 2026. The device pairs a 7-inch display with a dome-shaped base connected by a stainless steel hinge, and a woofer sits inside the base. It ships in Silver, Starlight, Rose Pink, and Space Gray, priced at $299. The HomeView launches November 13 in the United States and seven other English-speaking markets: Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Africa. ASCII.jp reports no Japanese release date is set. Siri AI anchors the software. The HomeView recognizes up to six family members and builds a personalized home screen for each. Paired with an Apple Intelligence iPhone or iPad, it pulls calendar entries, messages, and Apple Music playlists onto the screen, and Siri AI conversations continue across Apple devices. Two full-range drivers sit on the display side, with a woofer and passive radiator in the base; computational audio runs on an A18 chip.

Oct 13

Hunter x Hunter Stage Play Reveals Chimera Ant Cast And 2027 Dates

The stage play "'HUNTER×HUNTER' THE STAGE 4 Part 1" released its main visual and full cast for the Chimera Ant arc. Rento Nishiyama plays Gon and Niina Akutsu plays Killua, with Ryūji Satō as Meruem and Yumi Wakatsuki as Neferpitou. The Tokyo run is January 23 to February 7, 2027; Kyoto runs February 13 to 21, 2027.

Oct 13

Resident Evil RE:4 On Switch 2 Needs 29GB, A Third Of The Steam Install

Capcom has posted storage requirements for three Resident Evil RE titles headed to Nintendo Switch 2 on October 16. Resident Evil RE:4 Gold Edition is listed at 29.0GB, against 87.79GB for the Xbox version and 85.38GB on Steam with DLC. Resident Evil RE:2 Z Version Deluxe Edition is 14.0GB and Resident Evil RE:3 Z Version is 12.9GB. The packaged release on January 29, 2027 uses a key card.

Oct 13

Brazilian Boomer Shooter BDD4 Arrives On PC With Japanese Support

Joeveno, the indie developer behind the Brazil-set boomer shooter series, brought BDD4 to Brasil Game Show 2026 with a booth walled in blue plastic tarp. The game launched on PC on September 16, 2026, costs 655 yen, and supports Japanese. The series draws on pirated, Brazil-modified games Joeveno played as a child, and he has also ported BDD3 to the PlayStation 2.

Oct 13

EA Announces Wing Commander III 30th Anniversary Edition

At the Portland Retro Gaming Expo on October 11, 2026, Electronic Arts producer Jim Vessella announced a remaster of Wing Commander III. Titled Wing Commander III 30th Anniversary Edition, it uses 600 master FMV tapes as source, upscales that footage, adds community expansion patches, 60fps gameplay and controller support, and is planned for Steam, GOG and the EA app.