Universal Studios Japan has announced Resident Evil Biohazard Requiem – The Dive for Halloween 2026. It’s a new live attraction tied directly to Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, and it brings Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft into the park’s seasonal lineup.
The park says guests will walk through an immersive survival-horror maze built around the Wrenwood Hotel, one of Resident Evil Requiem’s key locations. That setup feels right for the series: claustrophobic tension, jump scares, and the kind of environmental storytelling Resident Evil usually does best.
Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft are the two playable leads in Capcom’s ninth mainline Resident Evil game. Leon leans toward the action side of things. Grace, an FBI technical analyst and the adopted daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak’s Alyssa Ashcroft, handles the slower survival-horror sections.
If you’ve been following Resident Evil Requiem, there’s a lot here to like. The game launched on February 27, 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, and Switch 2. It sold 5 million copies in five days, then hit 8 million by July, pulled in strong reviews for its tone, story, and atmosphere, and helped set up Capcom’s bigger plans, including a 2027 Code: Veronica remake and reported Resident Evil Requiem story DLC.
Universal Studios Japan says the attraction will run from September 11, 2026 through December 27, 2026 as part of the park’s Halloween lineup.
Spider-Man 4 now has an official title: Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios also confirmed a July 2026 theatrical release. The title gives away quite a bit. It points back to Peter Parker’s clean-slate ending in Spider-Man: No Way Home and to Marvel’s 2008 Brand New Day comics, which reset Peter after One More Day. That makes a more street-level story feel likely, with Peter trying to rebuild his life. It also helps explain why fans keep circling back to Mister Negative, and, to a lesser extent, Menace and Overdrive, as possible fits for the movie.
The Mephisto theories are making the rounds again too, mainly because Marvel’s Brand New Day comic era grew out of Peter Parker’s deal with Mephisto. Still, that probably reads as a stretch. The safer bet is selective inspiration, not a straight adaptation of one of the most divisive periods in Spider-Man comics.
If you’ve been keeping up with MCU Spider-Man, this is the update: Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters in July 2026.
SEGA has announced a closed network test for its new Crazy Taxi installment, called Crazy Taxi: World Tour, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It will take place from September 11 to September 13, and you’ll be able to sign up for it from August 31 at 11:59 PM until September 1 at 2:59 PM. Being a closed test, there’ll be a selection of players, but they haven’t indicated how that selection will work.
During this network test, only two online game modes will be available to try: Pickup Race and Cops ‘N’ Cabbies, both in ranked mode and in custom matches. The former will consist of matches where up to six players will compete to drop off the most passengers in order to get as much money as possible. The latter will be two teams of three players who’ll have to compete against each other to claim victory. With two maps, four cars and six cars available, it will be a small sample of what’s still to come.
Because one thing SEGA has stressed is that this isn’t the game’s full content. Although they’re focusing on the online capabilities of this new Crazy Taxi, it will also have a campaign mode as well as different online modes. But since it’s a closed network test, they’ll stick to the online modes to test the servers’ capabilities.
With a release set for 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC, this will be the first time we’ll be able to try this new Crazy Taxi. But SEGA has a lot to prove because fans aren’t at all happy about the announced use of AI to design and develop the game, as well as the not-too-well-received changes to the game’s physics. So we’ll have to see whether, in the end, this revival of the Dreamcast arcade classic ends up being a success or, as many fear, a real fiasco.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day could well be the best Spider-Man movie to date, or so the warm reception it has had among critics seems to suggest. Because first impressions are starting to emerge on social media and they can only be described as absolutely spectacular.
A movie poised to sweep
Erik Davis, of Fandango, says on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, that “it feels deeper, more thoughtful and more mature than the previous trilogy”, and that “that maturity extends beyond the story into the action, with Cretton designing some of my favorite Spider-Man fight sequences of the Holland era”. Journalist and television host Brandon Pope said that “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ may be the most Marvel Marvel movie ever to marvel. Destin Daniel Cretton pays tribute to Spider-Man’s most beloved media —especially Raimi’s— to create something moving and exciting. Hulk and Punisher deliver”.
There is also praise for the work of its actors. Film critic Peter Howell states that “Tom Holland finally nails Spidey/Peter Parker’s sarcasm, angst and romantic entanglements just as Stan Lee originally conceived the character”. Kevin Verma of Nexus Point adds that “Tom Holland has never been better and the Spidey and Punisher pairing is pure gold. Destin Daniel Cretton outdoes himself, but the script is the real superhero: thrilling, moving, and with impeccable character development”.
With impressions this positive, it feels like we could be looking at one of the best Spider-Man movies to date. And we won’t have to wait long to find out. After all, Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released next July 31. That’s when we’ll find out whether all this superlative praise is justified or whether, quite simply, they’ve got caught up in the excitement of seeing our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man once again.
Well, not that much of a surprise because we’d spent years hearing rumors, but you never expect them to become reality: Ryan Gosling took the stage at Marvel’s panel to present his new movie: Ghost Rider.
Taking up Nicolas Cage’s mantle in the movies (though not on television), the star of Project Salvation has been accused of cashing in on Marvel’s clout… except for one small detail.
I Want Your Soul!
As it turns out, it was Gosling himself who called Kevin Feige’s office to pitch his take on the character, who debuted in 1972 and is still around to this day.
Feige himself put it with this approach: “I’m going to let Ryan reveal whatever he wants to reveal and whenever he wants to do it, and what he wanted to reveal today is… that he’s going to play Ghost Rider. He’s a huge comics fan; he came to us with a specific vision based on a few comics in particular“.
Apparently this is a project that originated entirely with the actor, even though the script is by Jonathan Trooper, writer of the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter.
Feige made that clear: “It was Gosling who had the vision. It was Gosling who made the pitch that won Shawn over, the one they brought to us and sold us on, the one they presented on stage today”.
This movie will be part of Feige’s new approach to prioritizing quality over quantity to avoid overwhelming audiences: “We always try to focus on quality, but when there’s too much, people get overwhelmed. We don’t want that”.
We’ll see whether Marvel, this way, has a future after Secret Wars.
In Spain, some excellent video games are made. We have cases as recent as Denshattack! and not so recent as Blasphemous, but what has been proven again and again is that it isn’t an exception. There is talent in the country and when it’s cared for and cultivated it can produce absolutely excellent games. And while each one is its own thing, showing that diversity is also another of the qualities the country stands out for, that also opens the door to another important thing: surprises.
One of those surprises is a game that has now entered early access. With a roadmap that promises a year of updates before its full release, it already offers a first act that, for many others, would be a complete game. And a very substantial one. Because Prelude: Dark Pain isn’t content with being a good game: it aspires to be a game we talk about not only now, but also among the GOTY candidates at its launch after early access.
Prelude: Dark Pain takes place in the world of Estátera, a territory ravaged by Dark Pain. To make things worse, The Order of the Dark Crusade rules with an iron fist, making life miserable for the people who have to fight every day for their survival against the creatures of Pain through the rifts that are appearing between different realities. But that doesn’t mean no one is willing to fight it.
A few peoples, like the Blue Mallas or the Van Rigmar, are determined to fight them, and among them, some exceptional people have risen up to face the threats facing the world. People like Soren, Maya or Tammais will do everything possible to make a better future. Or at least keep everything from getting worse.
If this is the premise, it’s also what dictates what we’ll find in the game. With exquisite art that recalls a cross between Darkest Dungeon and a Mike Mignola comic andTactical RPG mechanics that rival those in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles or Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, the game wears its influences in plain sight. But there’s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary. Because as obvious as its influences are, so too is how well it has managed to channel them into something of its own and, above all, of enormous quality.
A world driven by its characters
The biggest distinguishing feature of Prelude: Dark Pain with respect to other TRPGs is that each of the characters has their own set of abilities and personality. There are no classes here, but rather each character is their own class. With two skill branches available, having to equip the abilities that seem most useful for each battle, there aren’t two characters who feel the same. And that’s where the game gains personality.
Playing with Soren is different from playing with Maya which is different from playing with Tammais or Urza or Gala. While each of them has a specific role, their strengths, their abilities and attributes can be seen in their personality and their character. It’s easy to pick favorites, preferring to bring some over others both for who they are and for what they do.
This adds a replayability component, but it also bears on the game’s biggest draw: its narrative. With an interesting story and fascinating characters, Prelude: Dark Pain is a game that really shines in its character relationships. Showing how that uniqueness of theirs carries over both into its gameplay and into the narrative of the game itself.
Available on Steam in early access, the plan is for it to come out complete after one more year of development. But priced at €19.50 at launch, with a 10% discount bringing it down to €17.55 and offering 20 to 30 hours of gameplay, not counting the replayability factor, there are few reasons not to dive in headfirst.
Double Fine has announced the layoff of twenty-three employees in a statement written by Tim Schafer himself, head of the studio. In this statement he says that “as a small, close-knit team, these actions aren’t taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would make us consider such a painful decision. Our transition to an independent studio also means being a sustainable size”.
A catastrophe they’re not alone in
These layoffs come after Double Fine was one of the five studios that secured their independence from Xbox to avoid being shut down. Although they managed to regain the rights to their games and become fully independent again they still had to make staff cuts to ensure its long-term survival.
The other studios affected by these cuts are Compulsion Games, developers of South of Midnight and We Happy Few; Ninja Theory, developers of Hellblade and Bleeding Edge; and Undead Labs, developers of State of Decay. In their case, though, they were bought by companies whose identities still haven’t been disclosed. Similarly, Arkane Studios, developers of cult titles like Dishonored and Deathloop, is currently in talks in France and it is unknown whether it will be allowed to become independent or sold to another company.
It had been Marvel’s best-kept secret: Who would Sadie Sink play in the new Spider-Man movie? The actress herself has had to dance around the question in interviews, Tom Holland hasn’t said a peep, she wasn’t even introduced at the last Comic-Con. Everything was ready for tomorrow’s European premiere, and at last they’d done it: keep a secret to the very end. And then…
Watch out! Spoilers! Don’t keep reading if you don’t want the movie spoiled!
On the red carpet at the premiere, Steve Lacy, a composer and singer who has a song on the official soundtrack, Oh Yeah?, answered a question that seemed simple enough at first: “Who’s your favorite character?”. Little did anyone expect that she was going to spill absolutely everything just like that, out of nowhere. A year and a bit of mystery, down the drain.
“Jean. I like Jean. She’s the villain, but there’s a reason for her madness. I like her, I like her character”. Of course, everyone fell silent: this woman had not only revealed who Sink was playing, but her secret role in this fourth installment. If I were her, I’d be getting ready to say goodbye to having any more songs in a Marvel movie. Who does that.
It’s worth remembering that at Comic-Con Kevin Feige resisted the urge to introduce his own X-Men team, although the rumors say we’ll have to circle the dates for D23 in red, from August 14 to 16, when the real surprises are expected… and now he might as well introduce Sink as the new Jean Grey. These things happen, Kevin.
When Ted Lasso finished its run on Apple TV+ with season 3, everyone agreed that it was a perfect ending and it didn’t need to go on any further. However, shortly afterward, Jason Sudeikis said he’d come up with a way to continue it and that he was eager to do it (after a hefty paycheck, of course), so that’s where we are now, celebrating, in some way, season 4 of the series. It is what it is.
The new season will premiere on August 5 and will see the coach’s return, this time managing a second-division women’s football team. He won’t be alone, though: alongside him will be Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift, among a handful of new faces who will carry on the series’ legacy. And that’s saying something.
After all, it’s one of the platform’s most popular series, with 25 billion minutes watched, and Lasso himself even appeared at the World Cup final, which gives you an idea of its success and its place in pop culture. After 13 Emmys and 61 nominations, including awards for Goldstein and Sudeikis, how could they resist bringing it back for another multi-season run?
The comments on this first trailer leave no doubt:“It’s the show we need, not the one we deserve”; “My mental health is ready”; “That hug is the one the world needs”… Ted Lasso is back, and this time it doesn’t look like it’s going to pull another fake-out in season 3: it’s here to stay.
We all know him. Skull on his chest, mean as hell, pistol at the ready and willing to finish off anyone who crosses his path, Punisher has been one of Marvel’s flagships since his debut in 1974, in the pages of issue 174 of The Amazing Spider-Man. Since then, Frank Castle has done everything, from becoming an exterminating angel to being a vengeful Frankenstein. What not everyone knows, though, is that his origin isn’t in the police or in a crazed version of superheroes, but in a gigantic saga of novels.
Only five years before the antihero’s creation, novelist Don Pendleton started writing mass-market paperbacks that came out every so often about a character named Mack Bolan. Back then, these kinds of novels, easy to write (and to read), that barely went through any editing, but that you could buy anywhere cheaply and that ended up selling in huge numbers, were famous all across the United States, in all sorts of genres: western, crime, action, romance… I mean, by the mid-70s everyone knew The Executioner.
To give you an idea: from its debut in 1969 to its end in 2020, the whole saga had sold around 200 million copies. And that total was spread across a lot of books, because The Executioner alone grew to 464 titles (which from 1983 onward became monthly), and on top of that, it also ran Super Bolan titles alongside it, extra-long novels with 178 published. But there’s more: 5 spin-offs that added up to 469 more novels, a magazine that lasted 4 issues and the odd comic. And the list goes on.
In total, 1111 novels in 51 years, which works out to a little over 21 books a year. I mean, you have to be a huge fan to know The Executioner’s entire body of work. Curiously, it almost got made into a film but the idea came to nothing. It did, however, take shape in the character of the Punisher. After all, Bolan was a tough guy who killed 90 enemies in the Vietnam War, but who also showed compassion for Vietnamese civilians who needed support. A bit like Frank Castle, if Castle gave a damn about anyone else.
Besides, both of them have military pasts marked by trauma, they fight crime and they have trouble keeping the people they love alive. Well, Bolan not so much these days, because he sleeps with someone different in every novel. Castle isn’t so sure about that, and his family’s death was what awakened his murderous fury and his desire to do good, even if it’s in his twisted way. So yes, Marvel took an already successful character and turned him into one of its own heroes. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time, of course, because if there was one thing Stan Lee and his team had in abundance, it was gall… and knowing the ins and outs of copyright.
