An important piece of gaming history has been preserved today, as a leaker has released the ROM files for Project Dream, a canceled proof-of-concept for a Rare-developed pirate RPG that would eventually become the basis for the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series. You can check out a video of the alpha footage below, and if you do, you'll probably find it hard to believe that this game was originally intended to release on the 16-bit Super Nintendo. The sole character model and jungle environments look more advanced than anything that released on the SNES, and it was only a prototype for the full game, which was canceled and reworked by Rare in 1997 after 16 months in development, largely due to technical problems. To be clear, Rare itself hasn't been shy to talk about or even show footage of Project Dream, but this is the first time it's been made widely available online. The leaker, who only says they obtained the prototype "from someone who got it from someone, who got it from somewhere," says in a manifesto-style writeup that they chose now to release everything to help offset all of the evils of the world. "With the current state of the industry and Microsoft's current heartless gutting and mismanagement of Rare and other companies it controls, plus with how long it's been, I feel it's more important to make sure this is properly preserved, and the ROM dissected by people with far more knowledge on how to do such things," says the leaker. "I hope by releasing this, that it also inspires other people to release what they have as well. I know the Twelve Tales Conker 64 prototype is out there somewhere, but sadly, this is the only thing that I have." [Hidden Content] It's hard to get much more explicit than that, but the uploader, who goes by FvckAsha&Phil online – an apparent reference to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her predecessor, Phil Spencer – goes even further to explain why Project Dream is surfacing online now of all times. "There is little joy left in the industry, as it relentlessly marches towards AI, layoffs, l anti-preservation and ownership tactics, and, in Microsoft’s case, the support and approval of literal genocide in Gaza. "Let's get the last beautiful things hiding on our hard drives out there for everyone. That's all we have left," says the leaker, imploring readers to "Please delete Microsoft and Sony from your lives, install Linux, boycott Switch Game Key Cards and buy Nintendo Switch 2 titles that still come with the full game on the cartridge. "Your dollar is the only thing that counts in our late stage capitalist hellscape." Rare was heavily impacted by Microsoft's unprecedented downsizing that began in July with the gutting of 1,600 jobs and which will result in a further 1,600 redundancies by the end of the company's 2027 fiscal year. Rare's would-be next game, Everwild, was canceled in the blitz after six years of development. This is amid a seemingly endless era of downsizing in the games industry that saw an estimated 45,000 cut jobs between 2022 and 2025. We'll never know if Project Dream would've joined the ranks of the best SNES games of all time. [/url]View the full article
While we're only a few months away from the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the upcoming indie shooter Wardogs has been taking the FPS community by storm. With the closed beta having reached over 100,000 active players and 500,000 downloads, Wardogs is going to make yet another major splash when it officially launches on September 10th. View the full article
The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes: Homescreen - Big Picture Mode Added a new 'Big Art Mode' option for the home screen. This can be enabled in Settings > Home. Added Personal Calendar to the Recommended tab on the home screen [carousel][/carousel] Screensaver - Big Picture Mode Added a new screensaver feature, accessible in Settings > Customization. There are two screensavers available: The default is a game art slideshow that can be configured to show artwork from recently played games and your recent in-game screenshots. A retro inspired bouncing logo screensaver Big Picture mode can also load custom screensavers. Similar to startup movies, they can be placed in the config\\uioverrides\\screensavers directory in your Steam install directory (e.g. C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam or ~/.steam/root). You can use the bouncing logo screensaver as an example to get started. [carousel][/carousel] General Improved Steam Client startup performance Fixed a case where after server maintenance some users might fail to auto-reconnect to Steam Fixed bug where being prompted to refresh credentials more than once could trigger an immediate restart On Windows, using the systray menu to exit while the Steam window is minimized will no longer flash the window visible briefly Dialogs that appear for serious error conditions now stay above the main window Game Recording Fixed some cases where playback would jump to an unexpected point in the timeline when reaching the end of a play session or clip Decreased performance impact of game recording for some D3D12 games on Windows In-Game Overlay Fixed frame rate hitches in D3D11 and D3D12 games when taking screenshots on Windows Fixed rendering the overlay and using other overlay related features (screenshots, game recording, etc.) in Vulkan games that create multiple windows. Big Picture Mode Added explicit warning text to power menu confirmation dialogs when proceeding will shut down an active game Updated default artwork when an app does not have library or hero artwork Reorganized the idle timer settings when on battery and AC power Steam Input Improved CPU performance at runtime and in configuration loading Added information about which configurations are compatible in the configurator browser when using a game that requires Steam Input API Fixed the controller support widget showing "This game doesn't support controllers" for unreleased games that don't have controller support information yet Fixed controllers not using the desktop configuration on the desktop UI login window Added the missing settings for adjusting emulated joystick adaptive centering on trackpad Linux Improved download speeds on high latency connections. The "Select compatibility tool" dropdown is now always visible. The recommended compatibility tool, or steam runtime for native games, now shows at the top of the list as the "Default" option. Compatibility tool aliases, e.g. "Proton Stable", can now be selected from this dropdown. The SteamOS compatibility dialogs will now show in desktopUI when installing games not verified for that HW On Desktop Linux we will now show the SteamOS unsupported dialog when installing games that are known to not work with Proton Improve distro information collection for hardware survey, preferring data from /etc/os-release. SteamRT3 Experimental Beta Fixed "Add a Non-Steam Game" showing an invalid list of applications. Fixed the "Run Steam when my computer starts" toggle. Remote Play A PIN is no longer required to download an app to a remote device. A PIN is still required to Install and Stream from a remote device. Adding Download Complete notification for a remote download if you initiated the download on your current device. View the full article
We have just shipped an updated Steam Client to the Preview/Beta channel. Homescreen Added a new 'Big Art Mode' option for the home screen. This can be enabled in Settings > Home. Added Personal Calendar to the Recommended tab on the home screen [carousel][/carousel] Screensavers Added a new screensaver feature, accessible in Settings > Customization. There are two screensavers available: The default is a game art slideshow that can be configured to show artwork from recently played games and your recent in-game screenshots. A retro inspired bouncing logo screensaver Big Picture mode can also load custom screensavers. Similar to startup movies, they can be placed at ~/.steam/root/config/uioverrides/screensavers/. You can use the bouncing logo screensaver as an example to get started. [carousel][/carousel] General Added notification about the current user when waking from sleep, if there have been multiple recent users. The notification can be activated to switch users and dismisses immediately on any other input. This notification can be toggled from the Notification Settings. Added confirmation step to "exit VR" and "switch to desktop mode" power menu actions, and removed it from "sleep". Added explicit warning text to power menu confirmation dialogs when proceeding will shut down an active game. Added confirmation dialog/user switching ability when waking from sleep would require kicking an active session elsewhere. The SteamOS compatibility dialogs will now show in desktopUI when installing games not verified for that HW. The 'System Report' dialog is now more responsive when displaying and uploading the gathered system report. Added "Default to Desktop Mode" toggle to System settings. Fixed a case where Windows games would show as 'Not Compatible' in the library view until a manual Proton version was selected for this app. Improved download speeds on high latency connections. The "Select compatibility tool" dropdown is now always visible. The recommended compatibility tool, or steam runtime for native games, now shows at the top of the list as the "Default" option. Compatibility tool aliases, e.g. "Proton Stable", can now be selected from this dropdown. Updated default artwork when an app does not have library or hero artwork. Reorganized the idle timer settings when on battery and AC power Game Recording Fixed some cases where playback would jump to an unexpected point in the timeline when reaching the end of a play session or clip Decreased performance impact of game recording for some D3D12 games on Windows Steam Input Improved CPU performance at runtime and in configuration loading Added information about which configurations are compatible in the configurator browser when using a game that requires Steam Input API Fixed the controller support widget showing "This game doesn't support controllers" for unreleased games that don't have controller support information yet Fixed controllers not using the desktop configuration on the desktop UI login window Added the missing settings for adjusting emulated joystick adaptive centering on trackpad SteamRT3 Experimental Beta Fixed the Performance Overlay slider. Fixed "Add a Non-Steam Game" showing an invalid list of applications. Fixed the "Run Steam when my computer starts" toggle. Remote Play A PIN is no longer required to download an app to a remote device. A PIN is still required to Install and Stream from a remote device. Adding Download Complete notification for a remote download if you initiated the download on your current device. In-Game Overlay Fixed frame rate hitches in D3D11 and D3D12 games when taking screenshots on Windows Fixed rendering the overlay and using other overlay related features (screenshots, game recording, etc.) in Vulkan games that create multiple windows. View the full article
A hacker using an ‘Evil’ Tung Tung Tung Sahur skin has been banned after wreaking havoc in Valorant lobbies and decimating entire teams. Cheaters are a never-ending issue in online multiplayer games, but some are more memorable than others. A recent hacking incident has produced possibly one of the most memorable cheaters of all — or at least, one of the most visually disturbing. As pointed out by Dexerto, a hacker using an ‘Evil’ Tung Tung Tung Sahur skin has sparked backlash within the Valorant community, and it’s not hard to see why. The skin, modeled after the viral brainrot meme Tung Tung Tung Sahur, has transformed the character into a deranged-looking, evil version of himself. (I choose to believe that Evil Tung Tung Tung Sahur is the ‘Evil Ryu’ to Tung Tung Tung Sahur’s normal form.) Evil Tung activities | #VALORANT [Hidden Content] — Valorant Tactic (@valorantactic) September 9, 2026 Footage of the hacker went viral on social media, showing the cheater in third-person from what appears to be their own perspective. We can see the outlines of enemies through walls as Evil Tung walks backwards, shooting his gun at nothing — only for his opponents to drop like flies in a blink. This video showed that the cheater seemed to have enabled wallhacks and auto-targeting, but it’s uncertain if they were using any other methods to decimate these lobbies. It took the Valorant community by storm, prompting popular analyst ‘vladk0r’ to post it as a jab against Riot's kernel-level anti-cheat system, Vanguard. “Imagine losing to a team with this s**t only for them being banned later after [a] few rounds of the bracket, and not being able to do anything with this, ‘cause they got DQ’d much later after your match, so Riot can't revert the results,” he wrote. “Proof that kernel-level anti-cheat compromises user privacy and security for nothing,” another player argued. “Cheaters own and control the hardware the game runs on, they always find a way eventually. You don't need more privilege in a client-side AC, you need server-side AC and behavioural analysis.” “Kernel-level anti-cheat really thought it could stop Tung Tung Tung Cheat-Hur,” another joked. Thankfully, Valorant lobbies weren’t plagued for much longer; Riot’s anti-cheat director Phillip Koskinas responded to the issue in a tweet confirming that the cheater had been banned, along with their Riot ID, the name of their cheat (which Koskinas dubbed ‘lowskill vibeslop’), and how many games they’d played. “We can detect anything with time, but VAL is a free to play game. Agree that we have to improve pre-emptive posture for open qualifiers,” he wrote, adding that it was “pointless” to hide the hacker’s Riot ID. Riot ID: FaeL o Anacondo#br1 Banned: 2026-09-03 Games Played: 3 Cheat Name: "Sysinfo" (lowskill vibeslop) Hiding the Riot ID: Pointless We can detect anything with time, but VAL is a free to play game. Agree that we have to improve pre-emptive posture for open qualifiers. [Hidden Content] — Phillip Koskinas (@deteccphilippe) September 9, 2026 This dastardly, if disturbingly creative, cheater finally got what was coming to them after ruining games for so many players. Evil Tung Tung Tung Sahur’s wrath has ended. View the full article
I have never played an Ace Combat game. I am such a complete newbie that when I went to try it at a hands-on event for Bandai Namco's upcoming Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, I managed to fail the first tutorial mission on the lowest difficulty. But by the end of our play session, I had successfully completed a full sortie. View the full article
Gamescom 2026 brought over 70 appointments to CGMagazine, and one of the most noticeable this year was Nodusfall. Though the original announcement took place at gamescom ONL, I had already agreed to a HoYoverse offsite appointment with very little information, aside from the promise of something new. I love a good gamble, so I said yes immediately. After seeing the Nodusfall trailer, I knew that was the game I had agreed to, but I still had so many questions about it. So I hopped on a short bus ride to see what all the fuss was about, and I truly had a great time with the game, though HoYoverse is still keeping so much under wraps. Only time will tell more about Nodusfall. For now, I can talk about my short playthrough with the game. My three teammates and I sat down to play Nodusfall, each taking on a different role. In the game, you play as Weavers, and though we don’t know a lot about what this means yet, HoYoverse shared that they are “forging bonds with powerful ... Read moreView the full article
2026 is shaping up to be a massive year for Star Trek, and as the franchise's 60th anniversary celebrations continue, we're in for even more exciting news. So far, fans have already seen the debut of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, the return of Strange New Worlds for Season 4, and the release of Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, bringing one of the franchise's most beloved crews back for a new adventure. View the full article
With Red Dead Redemption 2 being the most critically acclaimed western game of all time, it’s hard not to think of it whenever a game about cowboys appears online. Sure, reaching Rockstar’s level of detail and character work is borderline impossible, but with tales about outlaws in the Wild West being so iconic, the genre will continue to be explored anyway. Fortunately, the upcoming Steam game Westlanders seems to be a lot to satisfy those who feel like the Western genre peaked with RDR2. View the full article
The brands are at it again but this time I'm inclined to let it slide, because it's so nonsensical (which is a nice way of saying dumb) that I can't help but be charmed. Ikea, the Swedish furniture-and-stuff giant, has released a mod for Skyrim called Kallax Storageborn: A new companion who is also a shelf, who is also voiced by Matt Berry... Read more.View the full article
When Arthur Morgan contracts tuberculosis near the beginning of Red Dead Redemption 2, you're supposed to feel sad. Arthur's a good guy with a troubled past, and he's the hero of the story. Him getting a death sentence right at the start of his journey is all bad news, but from here on out I'll only be able to react to his increasingly labored coughing fits with disgust, because now I know actor Roger Clark was actually hacking up a phlegm-filled lung in real life while recording some of those scenes. Asked by YouTuber and games journalist Cade Onder if Arthur Morgan's coughing fits were taxing on the actor's throat, Clark says those scenes were "not as bad as you'd think" because they were spread out over five years and "if ever there was a really bad coughing scene, we'd always save it for the end of the day." That's good, but it turns out there was some serious method acting going on beyond the scenes that will forever alter how I react to Arthur Morgan's illness. "In five years, there's plenty of colds and there was a lot of data that we got that was pretty damn genuine," Clark says, confirming that he would purposefully record dialogue when he was sick with colds, lending an authenticity to those coughs that only a real-life viral infection could bring. "I'd be like, 'hey, I got a cold, let me get in there," and they're like, 'OK' ... nice, good bit of phlegm." Grossness aside, I have to say I admire Clark's work ethic. When I'm down and out, all I want to do is lay in bed and watch Seinfeld reruns, but Clark's first instinct is to think about making Arthur Morgan sound as convincingly sick as he possibly can. That commitment paid off in an incredibly absorbing performance, even if I'll be playing Red Dead Redemption 2 while wearing a medical mask from now on. GTA 5 left Rockstar feeling "slightly nervous" about Red Dead Redemption 2 as devs worried fans "were going to be bored" by only having one protagonist to play as [/url]View the full article
The fighting game community is in the middle of a fierce debate over the amount of guest characters coming to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. On September 9, SNK announced two more guest characters coming to City of the Wolves: Manjiro "Mikey" Sano and Ken "Draken" Ryuguji from Tokyo Revengers. These popular shonen anime protagonists mark the latest in a string of guest characters for the game, which include Chun-Li and Ken from Street Fighter, pro footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, music artist Salvatore Ganacci, and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. That’s a lot of guest characters for a game that’s only a little more than a year old — and while Ken and Chun-Li make sense given Capcom and SNK’s wealth of crossovers over the years, five guest characters from totally unrelated franchises feels a bit excessive to some players (myself included). There’s a trend sweeping through popular fighting games lately where non-fighting game characters are being included in major titles like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and of course, City of the Wolves. For example, Final Fantasy 7’s Tifa Lockhart is coming to Street Fighter 6 next year, while Baki’s Yujiro Hanma is set to make a splash in Tekken 8 in 2027. While these one-off characters aren’t ruffling too many feathers within the fighting game community (Tekken is a franchise known for including one or two oddball guests), the sheer amount of guest characters in CotW is raising eyebrows — especially given the fact that they don’t come from other fighting games. “Lmfaoo, adding anything bruh. Kenshiro was dope, but what the f**k is this,” one player wrote on X. “Funniest fighting game roster of all time bro,” another said. “Love these two, but how did they get in over Baki, or hell, even Tokita Ohma?” another asked, referencing popular martial arts anime Kengan Ashura (which, funnily enough, celebrated a collaboration with Street Fighter 6 not long ago). It’s worth noting that fighting games in general are no stranger to guest characters from totally different worlds; the Mortal Kombat franchise is perhaps the best example of this, having added characters like Robocop, Omni-Man, Homelander, the Terminator, Alien's Xenomorph, and many other similar fighters to its rosters over the years. However, the argument can be made that these additions followed a general theme in keeping with the Mortal Kombat vibe and universe, whereas City of the Wolves’ guests are all over the place (in fact, it’s the first time a real-life athlete has been put in a mainline fighting game — and what is Ronaldo doing in South Town, anyway?). Whatever the case may be, SNK clearly sees a path forward with these guest characters, and I’m honestly intrigued where they’ll take the franchise next. Either way, the sheer amount of characters they’re adding to CotW per season is laudable… though not everyone is hyped for each fighter they’re putting out. (Speaking of which, can we get some more ladies on the roster?) View the full article
Onimusha: Way of the Sword dropped last week, and we’re of the opinion that it’s a 10/10 masterpiece. If you’ve already jumped into the action or are generally curious about the story side of things, it's worth checking out the official companion webcomic. The story serves as a direct prequel to Way of the Sword, and is free to read for anyone with a Webtoon account. The entire Onimusha series takes place in an alternate version of Japan’s feudal era. In the game’s canon timeline, Way of the Sword picks up over two decades after the previous mainline release, Dawn of Dreams, bringing the world of Genma into the Edo *******. The companion webcomic, subtitled "Fated Rivalry," picks up pretty soon before the main events of Way of the Sword. The story follows Miyamoto Musashi's rival, Sasaki Ganryu, who discovers an Oni Gauntlet on his vengeance-driven quest to become powerful enough to take down Musashi. The prequel is being produced by Laurel Pursuit, a US-based studio that’s previously distributed the Dungeon Crawler Carl graphic novel as well as original webcomics like Defiance of the Fall. The Ominusha webcomic specifically features work from Webtoon creators jjolee, hilluhri, and BAEKSSE. The first chapter was released this past Saturday and has amassed just over 20,000 clicks so far. Future chapters will continue to become available on Saturdays, though it’s unclear how long the full prequel webcomic will end up being. Here’s the full description of the comic, which is free to read with a Webtoon account: When you live by the way of the sword, there’s only room for one at the top. Sasaki Ganryu has one goal: to become the strongest swordsman in the world. When a duel with the wandering samurai Miyamoto Musashi ends in humiliating defeat, Ganryu is consumed by rage. What follows is a bloody quest to reclaim his honor that leads him down a path of madness and obsession. On his journey, he receives a mysterious artifact known as “The Oni Gauntlet”, that gives him a power no mortal blade could ever match. Hunting down ever-stronger foes has set him on a collision course to face off again against the only man who has ever bested him in battle. A prologue to the latest game in Capcom’s iconic samurai action series: Onimusha: Way of the Sword. [/url] This isn’t the first time Onimusha has extended beyond the gaming realm. A film based on the action series was pitched all the way back in the early 2000s, but was eventually canceled. What did eventually come to fruition was an anime adaptation, released on Netflix in 2023. Most fans don’t consider that story canon to the games. The webcomic, in contrast, flows pretty much seamlessly into Way of the Sword while staying faithful to events from previous games in the series. View the full article
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy has re-emerged, five years after its release, with a new Switch 2 version... and some fans hope it could lead to a sequel. During today's Nintendo Direct, fans were surprised to learn that Eidos Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy game is coming back. It's getting a new "Encore Edition," exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2, which not only brings the game to a new platform, but also adds new content like special outfits for the cosmic heroes. This news came as a bit of a shock, since the game missed sales expectations despite having great reviews, so fans assumed that we'd never see this iteration of the Guardians ever again. Now, this new release has some hoping that the Guardians may live on. Over on social media, excited fans are pleading to Marvel and Eidos Montreal to produce a sequel. Maybe a Switch 2 version could be used to test the waters, but it's hard to say. Either way, it's great to see such a beloved game finding its way back into the market, and hopefully, it can create some demand for another entry in the series. "Don’t sleep on this game, Switch players. It’s fu**ing dope," said one fan. "Do yourself a favor and pick this up! It’s a GREAT game! I hate the fact that this gem got overlooked (and Midnight Suns as well btw)," noted another. "Can we just get a sequel? The people have been asking for years," asked another fan. "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy 2, please," another pleaded. These are far from the only people asking for a sequel or begging new players to check it out; the comments under the announcement posts from Marvel Games and the game's official account are flooded with similar responses. Guardians of the Galaxy has seemingly had legs over the years. A year after its release, the team behind the game announced it had reached 8 million players, partially thanks to the game's inclusion on services like Xbox Game Pass. It's unclear how many people have played it since then, but it's frequently deeply discounted, so the numbers have likely only grown a fair bit in the last four years. Eidos Montreal also stated that it had no regrets over the game, despite it not being a big seller. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Encore Edition will hit Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. Whether it gets overshadowed by the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remains to be seen, but hopefully it can find a new audience on the platform. View the full article
Privacy Notice: We utilize cookies to optimize your browsing experience and analyze website traffic. By consenting, you acknowledge and agree to our Cookie Policy, ensuring your privacy preferences are respected.
An important piece of gaming history has been preserved today, as a leaker has released the ROM files for Project Dream, a canceled proof-of-concept for a Rare-developed pirate RPG that would eventually become the basis for the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series. You can check out a video of the alpha footage below, and if you do, you'll probably find it hard to believe that this game was originally intended to release on the 16-bit Super Nintendo. The sole character model and jungle environments look more advanced than anything that released on the SNES, and it was only a prototype for the full game, which was canceled and reworked by Rare in 1997 after 16 months in development, largely due to technical problems. To be clear, Rare itself hasn't been shy to talk about or even show footage of Project Dream, but this is the first time it's been made widely available online. The leaker, who only says they obtained the prototype "from someone who got it from someone, who got it from somewhere," says in a manifesto-style writeup that they chose now to release everything to help offset all of the evils of the world. "With the current state of the industry and Microsoft's current heartless gutting and mismanagement of Rare and other companies it controls, plus with how long it's been, I feel it's more important to make sure this is properly preserved, and the ROM dissected by people with far more knowledge on how to do such things," says the leaker. "I hope by releasing this, that it also inspires other people to release what they have as well. I know the Twelve Tales Conker 64 prototype is out there somewhere, but sadly, this is the only thing that I have." [Hidden Content] It's hard to get much more explicit than that, but the uploader, who goes by FvckAsha&Phil online – an apparent reference to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her predecessor, Phil Spencer – goes even further to explain why Project Dream is surfacing online now of all times. "There is little joy left in the industry, as it relentlessly marches towards AI, layoffs, l anti-preservation and ownership tactics, and, in Microsoft’s case, the support and approval of literal genocide in Gaza. "Let's get the last beautiful things hiding on our hard drives out there for everyone. That's all we have left," says the leaker, imploring readers to "Please delete Microsoft and Sony from your lives, install Linux, boycott Switch Game Key Cards and buy Nintendo Switch 2 titles that still come with the full game on the cartridge. "Your dollar is the only thing that counts in our late stage capitalist hellscape." Rare was heavily impacted by Microsoft's unprecedented downsizing that began in July with the gutting of 1,600 jobs and which will result in a further 1,600 redundancies by the end of the company's 2027 fiscal year. Rare's would-be next game, Everwild, was canceled in the blitz after six years of development. This is amid a seemingly endless era of downsizing in the games industry that saw an estimated 45,000 cut jobs between 2022 and 2025. We'll never know if Project Dream would've joined the ranks of the best SNES games of all time. [/url]View the full article