Month: September 2026

Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer moved to clarify his position on crunch today after taking criticism for saying the studio wouldn’t hire people who “constantly tweet anti-crunch messaging.” In a follow-up statement, Brammer said he’s “not pro crunch” but “pro hard work.” The clarification comes as Bulkhead says Wardogs sold 3 million copies in 18 days, and as the studio faces heavier scrutiny.

Brammer said Wardogs required two extra hours a week, Monday through Thursday, for four weeks on a four-day schedule. He added that overtime should be compensated, and argued that this wasn’t the “EA Spouse era” of months of weekend work and 10-hour days.

Steam Download

In games labor debates, “crunch” usually means compulsory or extended overtime, often in the range of 65- to 80-hour workweeks. Researchers and labor advocates tie it to burnout, mental strain, staff turnover, and weaker work quality. Critics also argue that even more limited overtime can be a warning sign when every release starts to depend on it.

Brammer also pushed back on the idea that crunch automatically points to bad management. He said new IP and late technical issues aren’t always solved by delaying a game, especially when studios are also trying to manage launches, updates, and public backlash. If you follow labor issues in games, this story is one to watch, given the union drives, the first multi-department game union in 2023, CWA-backed QA organizing, and the layoffs across 2023 and 2024 that have kept this argument front and center.

Wardogs is on sale now.

Google DeepMind made WeatherNext Cyclones, its hurricane forecasting model, open source in 2025. That release comes with new evidence published in Nature: in a 2025 paper, DeepMind researchers report that WeatherNext Cyclones can provide about one extra day of accurate warning on a hurricane’s track, intensity, and wind structure.

In tests on storms from 2023 through 2025, run with the U.S. National Hurricane Center and other specialists, DeepMind says WeatherNext Cyclones reached state-of-the-art performance. That includes intensity forecasting, which is the tougher problem because it depends on fine-scale thermodynamics near a storm’s center. The researchers say the improvement is on the order of about 10 years of progress in traditional forecasting.

If you depend on hurricane forecasts, WeatherNext Cyclones looks most useful as an added layer, not something to replace existing guidance outright. DeepMind says that during the model’s first Atlantic season in 2025, it picked up Hurricane Melissa’s rapid intensification and likely landfall in Jamaica with about 80% confidence five days out, then nearly 100% confidence three days before landfall. That kind of lead time gives people more room to evacuate, protect infrastructure, and support emergency response.

You can download the open-source WeatherNext Cyclones model from Google DeepMind. The company says it runs in under a minute on a single Google TPU after being trained on nearly 20TB of atmospheric data and almost 5,000 storms, though the strongest public real-world evidence so far still comes from the Atlantic and North Pacific.

Sony looks set to skip CES 2027, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. If that happens, it ends a nearly unbroken run at the event that stretches back to the very first CES in 1967. It also fits the version of Sony we have now: less a booth-driven electronics brand, more a company built around gaming, film, music, anime, and global IP.

If you follow CES, that matters. Sony’s absence would feel symbolic, and its role at the show had already narrowed to projects like Afeela, the now-canceled EV tie-up with Honda. The company had already started moving away from TVs, stereos, and other legacy gadgets, and toward entertainment and IP.

Gaming is driving a lot of that shift. Sony said its Game & Network Services segment brought in 4.69 trillion yen in fiscal 2025, about $31 billion. It also said PlayStation Network reached 132 million monthly active users in December 2025. With that kind of direct reach through showcases, partner events, and digital platforms, CES simply matters less to Sony than it used to.

The rest of the business is moving in the same direction. Sony reported that music revenue rose 21 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Sony Pictures got a lift from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, reported as a record-setting hit in 2026. And earlier that same year, Sony reportedly moved to spin off or sell Bravia TVs to TCL.

Look at where Sony is growing and the pattern is pretty clear. CES will still be a major event, but Sony now looks more like a PlayStation, film, music, anime, and global-IP company than a booth-led electronics brand. Panasonic, too, is reportedly dropping a dedicated CES 2027 booth.

If you’re tracking Sony’s next announcements, you’ll probably want to watch Sony’s own channels, not the CES show floor.

ZOTAC India is under scrutiny over a warranty dispute tied to a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge graphics card. A buyer says the company refused warranty service on a card purchased on June 27, 2025, even though it was registered within days. At the heart of the complaint is a basic question: when does ZOTAC India say warranty coverage actually starts for products sold at retail in India?

GPU-Z Download

The buyer says ZOTAC India counted the warranty from the distributor’s import or invoice date, not from the date the card was bought at retail. If that’s how the company applies the policy, a large chunk of the multi-year warranty could be gone before the customer even purchases the card. That’s why the wording of ZOTAC India’s policy is getting attention. It says the warranty starts from the product’s “original date of purchase or distributor Import/Invoice date,” even though RTX 30-series cards from ZOTAC are usually sold with 3 years of coverage, plus as much as 2 extra years through registration.

For buyers, the bigger worry is that this may not be a one-off case. Similar complaints from India point to older inventory being sold much later, and in some cases to sellers described as unauthorized. Consumer-rights advocates say the warranty clock should begin when the customer actually buys the product. If a claim is denied because of an import date the buyer was never told about, they argue it could face a challenge under India’s Consumer Protection Act, 2019, especially as regulators press for clearer rules.

For now, the dispute centers on a GPU sold through retail in India, and neither ZOTAC India nor the seller has publicly clarified the case.

Wardogs is off to a massive start. Bulkhead’s tactical shooter has now sold 3 million copies in Steam Early Access a little more than two weeks after its September 10, 2026 launch. The studio says Wardogs moved 1.25 million copies in its first 24 hours and hit 2 million in five days. Even with numbers like that, Bulkhead is trying to keep expectations in check, telling players that “this hype won’t last forever” while it works to turn a huge launch rush into something that actually sticks.

Steam Download

On Steam, Wardogs has climbed to No. 4 on the Top Sellers chart, sitting behind Counter-Strike 2, EA Sports FC 27, and Ace Combat 8. It has also reportedly reached a peak of 428,666 concurrent players. A few things have helped it break through: the 100-player format, destructible battlefields, three-team matches, a cash economy, and the fact that there are no Early Access microtransactions right now. Bulkhead had previously said it needed around 400,000 sales for the game to be sustainable, a mark it reportedly cleared through pre-orders alone, so Wardogs is already landing as a far bigger success than Battalion 1944.

If you’re in the mood for a tactical FPS and you can tolerate server instability, queues, cheating, DDoS problems, plus mixed reactions to progression, balance, and repetition, Wardogs is probably worth picking up. More is coming soon, too: Season 02 arrives on October 15 with new content and rain.

You can buy Wardogs now on Steam Early Access for PC. What you still can’t do is play Wardogs on SteamOS or other Linux handhelds.

Discord Download

CD Projekt Red has put a date on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Edition: September 29, 2026. The studio says current owners will get the upgrade for free. This package bundles Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, and CD Projekt Red is framing it as more than a touch-up of the 2022 update. It’s supposed to be a bigger rework, with changes to visuals, gameplay, and performance, plus a rebuilt skill tree and monster AI that should act a little less predictably.

Steam Download

If you already own The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, this sounds like an easy download to claim. On Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, it should show up automatically. Battle.net only sells the updated version. On consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players get the upgrade free, while PlayStation 4 misses out on the remastered features. Nintendo Switch 2 owners have a split setup: digital buyers can pre-order it for free now, and physical owners can claim it at launch, which also makes this the first native Switch 2 version.

The timing makes sense. CD Projekt Red says the game had sold 65 million copies by May 2026, with 5 million of those coming in the previous year alone, so there’s still plenty of life in it. This free remaster also helps carry the series into what’s next: Songs of the Past in 2027, The Witcher 4 in 2028, and a new book from Andrzej Sapkowski. Some players are still arguing over the visual changes, and others are holding off until there’s more clarity on Nintendo Switch 2 specs.

You’ll be able to pick up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Edition on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, Battle.net, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo eShop.

GOG Galaxy Download

Toho’s Godzilla Minus Zero has now received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association as part of the film’s US rollout, giving the 70-year 38-film Godzilla franchise its first adults-only classification.

The Motion Picture Association says the rating is for “some violent content/bloody images.” Director Takashi Yamazaki has said trimming that material wasn’t an option, even if that means viewers under 17 in the US need a parent or guardian. That makes this feel less like a marketing gimmick and more like a sign of how directly the film wants to show the physical and emotional horror of a Godzilla attack from a human point of view. In Japan, Godzilla Minus Zero has reportedly been given a G.

Set about two years after Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla Minus Zero follows the Shikishima family as Japan recovers from the war and from Godzilla’s destruction. It builds on a 2023 hit that earned about $116 million worldwide on a $10–15 million budget, became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film, and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

If you follow Godzilla regularly, this darker sequel sounds like one to watch, especially after the rave first reactions out of its New York Film Festival premiere and a reported Rotten Tomatoes score near 95%. That points to a gamble that may actually work, and maybe even change what you expect from kaiju movies.

Godzilla Minus Zero has already premiered at the New York Film Festival, with the new US and Japanese ratings now part of the rollout.

Microsoft’s data center project has hit a new point of conflict: local church groups are publicly asking for community compensation equal to 1%, and Microsoft still hasn’t responded.

The church groups don’t want a small grant attached to the project. They want funding tied to the full cost of the development, which could mean tens of millions of dollars for neighborhoods expected to take on added pressure from roads, utilities, housing, public services, and years of construction.

The dispute gets at the larger data center boom. These projects can bring jobs and tax revenue, but they also raise land-use issues, heavy power demand, water consumption, and longer-term worries, and residents want to know what communities receive in return.

The faith-based groups say they aren’t trying to block tech investment. They’re pushing for a formal community-benefits agreement as truck traffic, noise, dust, and future strain on electricity grids and water systems start building long before much of the economic upside is felt.

If you live near a planned data center, this is something to keep an eye on, because Microsoft’s next move could become a benchmark for rivals , developers, and local governments.

The issue isn’t likely to fade anytime soon. As Microsoft’s data center project moves through local approvals, community groups will likely keep pressing for a clearer answer.

Logitech G announced the Yeti 2 today, a new USB microphone aimed at gamers, streamers, and creators. The company says it’s the first major update to the Blue Yeti since Logitech bought Blue Microphones in 2018. The original Blue Yeti launched back in 2009 and went on to become one of the best-known entry-level mics in streaming.

OBS Studio Download

Logitech G says the Yeti 2 keeps the familiar desk-mounted design and onboard controls. The big additions are on-device noise reduction, which is meant to cut keyboard and fan noise without extra software, and a 3D proximity sensor that tracks your position and automatically adjusts gain, EQ, and pickup pattern as you move.

The company also says the Yeti 2 gets a 1.3-inch color LED screen for settings and reactive retro avatars. Other changes include a redesigned three-capsule array, 24-bit/48kHz recording, USB-C, and a 3.5mm jack for direct monitoring.

If you’re looking for a plug-and-play mic, this one at least looks priced to compete. Logitech G has it at $159.99 in the US, £139.99 in the UK, €159.99 in Europe, and AU$249.95 in Australia. That puts it below rivals such as the SteelSeries Alias and Shure MV7+, and it comes across as a real modernization instead of a straight reissue, even if early reactions suggest the automatic adjustments are going over better than the mixed response to the noise reduction.

The Yeti 2 is available from Logitech G.