ENDED This live page has ended. It covered the biggest gaming news on October 18, 2026. Follow today’s updates on our latest live page.
Table of Contents
Key stories so far
- Kingshot Gift Codes (October 2026) and How to Redeem Them
- Bloober Team CEO wants to keep making physical editions 'for as long as possible'
- New Switch 2 Games This Week (Oct 19-25): Prices and Sizes
- God of War Laufey Release Date, Price, Editions and Collector Box
- Modern Warfare 4 Steam Reviews: 92% Very Positive Before Launch
- Steam Next Fest October 2026: Dates, Times and 10 Demos to Try
Live updates
Kingshot Gift Codes (October 2026) and How to Redeem Them
Active Kingshot gift codes checked Oct 18: KS1017, VIP1017, IG200KS, Kingshot888 and VIP777, plus disputed and expired codes and how to redeem on any phone.
Bloober Team CEO wants to keep making physical editions 'for as long as possible'
Bloober Team chief Piotr Babieno, whose studio made the Silent Hill 2 remake and is remaking the original Silent Hill, told GamesRadar+ that the studio wants to keep releasing retail copies of its games for as long as it can. He acknowledged that digital distribution is easier, cheaper and more profitable, but said collecting builds an emotional bond between players and studios. Broken Mirror Games director Tymon Smektala, whose Onyx: The Dark Group is a Switch 2 exclusive, said he shares that view as long as platform holders allow it.
Source: GamesRadar+
New Switch 2 Games This Week (Oct 19-25): Prices and Sizes
Switch Sports Resort, Final Fantasy Resonance, Peak and Cult of the Lamb hit Switch 2 on Oct 22, then ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet. Prices, sizes, upgrade paths.
God of War Laufey Release Date, Price, Editions and Collector Box
God of War Laufey launches Feb 16, 2027 on PS5 at $69.99, or $79.99 for Digital Deluxe. The $149.99 Collector Box is PS Direct only and has no game.
Modern Warfare 4 Steam Reviews: 92% Very Positive Before Launch
MW4 is Very Positive on Steam: 2,897 of 3,156 user reviews (92%) recommend the campaign-only early access, ahead of every Call of Duty since Black Ops.
Steam Next Fest October 2026: Dates, Times and 10 Demos to Try
Steam Next Fest runs Oct 19 to Oct 26, 17:00 UTC. Start time by time zone, how free demos work, 10 confirmed demos to try and this week's best PC deals.
Street Fighter Movie Box Office: $31M No. 1 Debut, $51M Worldwide
Capcom's Street Fighter film won its opening weekend with an estimated $31M in the US, below Resident Evil's $60.2M and Mortal Kombat II's $38.5M debuts.
Rumor check: Xbox job ad for physical game launches revives Helix disc talk
Microsoft is hiring an Xbox Games Supply Strategist in Redmond who will "coordinate the launch of physical Xbox games across all platforms", according to a listing posted on LinkedIn around October 15. The ad covers supply and sales planning for boxed games and never mentions Project Helix or a disc drive, and "all platforms" could simply mean physical releases of Xbox titles on other consoles. Destructoid, which credits Windows Central's Jez Corden with spotting it, reads the role as a sign Xbox isn't abandoning physical media, but Microsoft hasn't commented and leakers have claimed Helix won't support discs.
Source: Microsoft job listing (LinkedIn)
MM2 Halloween 2026: Start Time, End Date and What's Confirmed
Murder Mystery 2's Halloween 2026 event starts Oct 18 at 19:00 UTC (12 p.m. PT) and ends Nov 16. Start times by time zone, what's confirmed and first steps.
Tim Sweeney says AI can now take over the routine coding he once typed by hand
In a long post on X early on October 18, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote that about 70% of his time building Unreal Engine 1 went on routine typing and refactoring, work he says AI can now handle, and called today's models a kind of "insta-Carmack" that can also solve hard technical problems. He argued that what matters is the finished game or engine, and that anything letting developers try more ideas faster "is a win for everyone." The post follows his October 12 announcement of a "huge pivot" at Epic to "retool for maximum AI acceleration", and Polygon notes that plenty of replies pushed back.
Source: Tim Sweeney on X
12 Trending Puzzle Games on iPhone and Android, Led by Meowdoku
Meowdoku!, Block Out!, Magic Sort! and 9 more puzzle games topping Apple's free chart, with ratings, downloads, ads and ad-removal prices checked Oct 18.
Valorant Hush Revealed: New Duelist From China and Her Abilities
Riot's new Valorant agent Hush is a telekinetic Duelist from Guangdong who joins in Season 26 Act VI. Her five abilities, reported Oct 27 date and trailer.
Forsaken Helperbot Guide: How to Get It, Abilities and Skins
Helperbot joined Forsaken on Oct 16. It costs 650 Player Points; here's what Inspire, Pulse and Radar do, its stats, skins, milestones and how to play it.
Developer is building a playable, Earth-sized open world from real map data
Developer Charlie Chapman revealed on X on October 15 a project he describes as GTA crossed with the original Apple Maps: a custom C++ engine that streams OpenMapTiles and other public-domain map data to render the whole planet as an explorable world, running on Apple platforms through a Metal renderer (with Vulkan support). For now it is a sandbox rather than a game, with Earth-scale procedural weather including tornadoes and hurricanes, procedurally generated interiors for every building, vehicles, skateboarding, snowboarding and a photo mode. Chapman says much of the daily work is done by Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 running on three Macs; there is no release date or price, and no word on whether it will ever ship.
Source: Charlie Chapman on X
Team Vitality's V.Hive Looted in Paris Protests, Trophies Stolen
Team Vitality says its V.Hive venue in Paris was looted on Oct 17 during nationwide protests: windows smashed, trophies and PCs stolen, no one hurt, now closed.
Risk of Rain 2 Acolyte: How to Unlock Her and the Secret Boss
Every step of A Broken Ritual: get the N'tormat, find a Shrine of Descent, beat the Anima Harvester, then pick a healing item the Fallen Acolyte will accept.
Leaving Xbox Game Pass October 2026: 8 Games Go on Oct 31
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Deep Rock Galactic, Wartales and five more leave Xbox Game Pass on October 31. Dates, tiers and prices before they go.
Pokémon GO Minior Showers: Oct 19-24 Times, Cores and Bonuses
Minior debuts in Pokémon GO's Orionids Minior Shower, Oct 19-24. Hunt 5-9 p.m. local for more spawns and extra Stardust; no Shiny yet, first core unknown.
Edgerunners 2 Release Date: Oct 20 on Netflix, Cast and Songs
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 hits Netflix October 20 with 10 episodes, a new cast led by Weak and D, and The Cure on the opening theme. Cyberpunk 2077 is 70% off.
Upcoming Cozy Games 2026: 13 Release Dates Through Winter
ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet lands Oct 23, Hello Kitty Party Land and Danchi Days Oct 29, Loftia Nov 3: dates, prices, platforms and demos for 13 cozy games.
Fortnite Admin Panel Codes: All 55 Lobby Hacks (October 2026)
Every Fortnite Override Lobby Hack code sorted by reward, including the new Yeat codes: Sprites, 80,000 XP, 52,000 Sprite Dust, Gizmos and how to redeem them.
The Mortuary Assistant film director Jeremiah Kipp has died
Jeremiah Kipp, who directed this year's film adaptation of the 2022 indie horror game The Mortuary Assistant, has died, according to his partner Lindsay Katt, as reported by Kotaku; the Long Island International Film Expo confirmed the news. The game's publisher DreadXP, which also worked with Kipp on Shudder's Slapface, posted its condolences. Kotaku's report gives no age or cause of death, and cites Deadline as saying he had just finished shooting a new horror feature, Faceless.
Source: Kotaku
Analogue Super Nt+ and Mega Sg+: $219.99, Preorders Oct 19
Analogue's Super Nt+ and Mega Sg+ cost $219.99 each, open for preorder October 19 at 8am PDT and ship in December, adding wireless pads and USB-C.
Planet Zoo 2 Beginner Guide: Aquariums, Money and Accreditation
Start Planet Zoo 2 right: the first buildings, easy starter animals, how to fill an aquarium and set salinity, early money tips and how accreditation works.
Minior makes its Pokémon GO debut in Orionids-timed showers starting October 19
Minior arrives in Pokémon GO during the first Minior Shower, which runs from October 19 at 5:00 p.m. to October 24 at 11:59 p.m. local time, timed to the real Orionids meteor shower. The Pokémon GO team says it appears in the wild in Meteor Form, with better encounter odds and shooting stars in the sky from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. each day and extra Stardust for every catch. Each of six showers through August 2027 debuts a new core color, with the Leonids next on November 14-19.
Source: Pokémon GO
Rumor: leaker claims memory alone now costs Sony over $680 per PS6
Hardware leaker Kepler_L2 now claims RAM and SSD storage alone cost more than $680 per PS6, in NeoGAF posts relayed by Push Square. The same leaker put the console's bill of materials at about $760 in March and around $960 in July, blaming memory prices pushed up by AI data center demand. Sony has not announced PS6 pricing or confirmed any of these figures, so treat them as rumor.
Source: Push Square
Digital Foundry doubts GTA 6's launch trailer uses Sony's new QSSR upscaler
In a new video breakdown, Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter said he doesn't think the PS5-captured GTA 6 launch trailer uses QSSR, the refined version of the PS5 Pro's PSSR upscaler that Sony is bringing to the base PS5 (so far only in Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei). He estimated QSSR would take about 4ms of a 30fps game's 33ms frame budget, and noted the trailer may use older footage. GTA 6 launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S; Rockstar hasn't said whether it will support QSSR.
Source: Push Square
