Author: Dave Warren Hans Co

Riot Games has confirmed that 2XKO, its League of Legends fighting game, is nearing the end of the road. Active development is being wound down, one last content update is scheduled for December 2026, and support will stop after that. Players, though, will still be able to keep playing it on the platforms where it’s currently available.

Riot says the game simply costs far more to keep running than it brings in, and player retention never got to the point needed to justify a long-term future.

That tracks with the warning signs from earlier this year. Reports said Riot cut roughly half of the 2XKO team in February 2026, after the company had already laid off around 530 employees in 2024 and reportedly scrapped another fighting game project, codenamed Pool Party.

Player interest also dropped off fast. Twitch peak viewership reportedly fell from 137,166 in May 2026 to 4,647 in August, while Evo 2026 drew 1,080 entrants, putting 2XKO behind Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

If you’re still playing 2XKO, that final update may be worth checking out, since Riot plans to add Lux and Samira, unlock all characters for everyone, and refund money spent on or before August 20, 2026.

Some of you will see this as Riot not giving the 2v2 format enough time to find its footing. Others will look at 2XKO’s niche appeal, onboarding problems, and fading momentum and say this ending was pretty easy to see coming.

You’ll still be able to play 2XKO on its current platforms after the final update.

Amazon is about to make Prime Air much bigger. By the end of 2026, the company says its drone delivery service will reach nearly 500 U.S. cities, roughly six times its current footprint. For tens of millions of customers, Amazon is promising delivery in 30 minutes, or 30 to 60 minutes for small everyday orders.

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Right now, Prime Air operates from 11 sites across 10 metro areas in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas. Chicago, Syracuse, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Boise are next. If you already use Amazon for household goods, small electronics, or health and beauty items, this may be worth trying once Prime Air gets to your area. Amazon says it plans to launch flights from same-day sites and robotic fulfillment centers, adding to its van network rather than replacing it.

Amazon first showed off Prime Air in 2013 and later got FAA Part 135 certification. Now it’s moving into a market where Wing, Zipline, and Walmart are expanding too, and the big questions are still there: whether shoppers will use it often, whether the economics work at scale, and how communities will respond to concerns about noise, safety, privacy, and delivery jobs. Amazon says Prime Air will be available to customers through Amazon, priced at $2.99 for Prime orders under $50, free above $50, and $4.99 for non-Prime customers.

The Command Zone’s Game Knights, its long-running Commander gameplay show, has dropped its August 2026 episode, and it includes a moment that still feels a little unreal: Post Malone actually casting Magic: The Gathering’s real 001/001 The One Ring. Not a stand-in. The actual serialized card, the only copy printed in 2023’s The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set, showing up in a live game as one of the most expensive pieces of Magic memorabilia ever made.

And yes, it was the real one, not a proxy and not some publicity-piece version brought out for the camera. This is the same card Malone reportedly bought for around $2 million from Brook Trafton, the Canadian collector who pulled it, back in August 2023, in what became one of the biggest Magic sales on record. The table reaction covered the full range: disbelief, pure excitement, and at least one joke about insurance. The card, graded PSA Mint 9, came out of its slab and, from what viewers can see, made it through just fine.

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The price is the obvious part, but it’s not the only reason people loved this. The card had already broken out far beyond the usual trading-card crowd and become a pop-culture event on its own. Now add celebrity ownership, a clear chain of provenance, the visibility that comes with Malone having it, and the fact that he put it on camera in a game people will keep replaying, and the whole argument starts up again: is a collectible worth more sealed away and untouched, or after it picks up a story nobody can separate from it? Some market watchers think that kind of celebrity boost can mean another 25% to 40%.

If you keep up with Magic collectibles, this episode is easy to recommend for one reason more than any other: Malone plays like the game matters more to him than the asset does. That’s what sticks. The simplest version of the story is still the best one. The most famous card in Magic got played.

You can watch the episode on The Command Zone’s Game Knights.

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Actress Hayden Panettiere has died at 36. Her publicist and her father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed the news on August 16, 2026, after a career that made her a familiar name through Heroes, Nashville, Kingdom Hearts, and Until Dawn.

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Her publicist and Skip Panettiere confirmed her death on August 16, 2026. No cause has been released, and the investigation is still ongoing.

In a family statement, Skip Panettiere and Hayden Panettiere’s family said they were “deeply saddened,” called her “an incredible light and a force of nature,” and asked for privacy.

She’d been working since childhood, for more than three decades, moving from early TV into dramas, films, and games, and a lot of people knew her best as Claire Bennet and Juliette Barnes.

Gamers knew Hayden Panettiere as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts and as Samantha “Sam” Giddings in Supermassive’s 2015 Until Dawn, where she provided both the voice and the likeness.

If those were the roles that brought her into your life, this is a loss you’ll feel across TV, film, and games.

Hayden Panettiere’s death comes three months after the May 2026 release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, where she wrote about growing up in the industry, addiction, postpartum depression, and child stardom. It also follows the February 2023 death of her brother Jansen from an enlarged heart.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has a fresh story trailer out ahead of its August 27, 2026 release, and it gives a much better sense of what this game is actually digging into: Sophia’s past, the secrets buried on Minotaur Island, and how this prequel slots into the larger A Plague Tale story.

The trailer also clears up any doubt about where this sits in the series. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy isn’t some side entry. It’s the third A Plague Tale game, and it takes place long before A Plague Tale: Requiem, arriving at a moment when renewed interest has pushed more people back toward A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem.

Set 15 years before Requiem, the game follows Sophia as she flees Venice for Crete. From there, the story turns toward her origins, her connection to the Prima Macula, and the mysteries surrounding Minotaur Island, at least going by what the new trailer shows.

Asobo Studio is once again working with historian Roxane Chilà, which should help keep the historical side of the game grounded even while the trailer leans hard into myth, symbolism, and the supernatural.

Greek mythology has a bigger presence this time, especially the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. The trailer also suggests you’ll move back and forth between Sophia’s timeline and the ancient Minoan era, with actions in the past feeding into discoveries made in the present.

Combat looks more hands-on, too, with parries, dodges, and finishing moves showing up in the footage. And if you’ve been following this series, this one looks easy to keep an eye on for the world, the atmosphere, and the added emphasis on action.

You’ll be able to play Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy on Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It’ll also be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Remedy Entertainment says the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake has entered full production, which is the clearest update on the project we’ve had in quite a while. The studio has also said it’s still being developed as one game, not two separate releases. That tells you it’s well past the earliest planning stage, though you still shouldn’t expect a trailer, a release window, or a steady stream of updates anytime soon. Rockstar Games is funding and publishing it, and Rockstar also Controls the marketing and public messaging.

Remedy is building the game in its Northlight engine, the same tech behind Control and Alan Wake 2, so this looks like a lot more than a simple remaster. Expect the kind of lighting , detailed environments, and cinematic presentation that fit Max Payne’s comic-panel storytelling, bullet time, and bleak noir atmosphere. If you’ve been waiting for Max Payne to return, this update at least confirms the remake is real and moving forward, even if Rockstar Games’ habit of keeping things quiet, the focus on Grand Theft Auto VI, and the still-unanswered question of Max Payne’s voice after James McCaffrey’s death mean the silence could continue.

You can’t download the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake yet. Rockstar Games will handle trailers, platforms, and release details when it’s ready.

Google is rumored to unveil the Pixel 11 lineup at a Made by Google event on August 12, 2026. If the leaks are right, the story is pretty simple: higher prices, and upgrades that don’t seem all that dramatic next to the Pixel 10.

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The leaked pricing paints a clear picture. The 256GB Pixel 11 could start at $899, roughly $100 more than the Pixel 10. That same increase would put the Pixel 11 Pro at $1,099, the Pixel 11 Pro XL at $1,299, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold at $1,899. Every model may start at 256GB, which helps explain the bump, but that matters a lot less if you don’t need the extra storage and can pick up a discounted Pixel 10 instead.

What the rumors describe so far sounds more like a refresh than a reset. The Pixel 11 could get a Tensor G6, a 6.3-inch OLED display, a 4,985mAh battery, a new modem, and better on-device features. But leakers aren’t talking about a major overhaul. Some even claim the base Pixel 11 might lose the Pixel 10’s telephoto camera, while the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL could drop from 16GB of RAM to 12GB.

If you’re shopping for a new Pixel, the Pixel 10 still makes a lot of sense. It already gives you a strong camera system, clean software, and the day-to-day performance most people actually notice. Wait, and you may end up paying more for gains that feel pretty small.

You can buy the Pixel 10 now from Google and other retailers. The Pixel 11, at least for now, is still just a rumor and may not hit stores until later in August.

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Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 system software beta is a pretty focused update, but for PlayStation 5 Pro owners, the big change is easy to spot: Enhance PSSR Image Quality now comes on by default. Sony has also added a new switch that lets you turn Bluetooth off.

Back in March 2026, Sony introduced that image-quality setting as a manual toggle on PlayStation 5 Pro. In this beta, it turns on automatically, so games built for the original PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution can tap the newer Project Amethyst-era image reconstruction without you having to change anything or wait for a game patch. Sony says the newer version delivers a sharper, more stable image with less shimmering and flicker. It’s also, according to Sony, about 100 microseconds faster.

Some games already support the newer PSSR natively, including Resident Evil Requiem, Alan Wake II, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Silent Hill f.

The Bluetooth option is much more specific. It’s mainly there for tournament-style wired setups, and if you switch it off, you also lose rest mode and HDMI-CEC.

If you use a PlayStation 5 Pro regularly, this beta is probably worth downloading for the automatic visual bump alone. Most people, though, will want to keep Bluetooth on.

You can download the beta on PlayStation 5, while the PSSR change is limited to PlayStation 5 Pro.

Netflix has updated its Windows playback requirements, and the big change is this: Google Chrome 117 or later now supports Ultra HD 2160p streaming on compatible Windows 11 PCs.

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So yes, Chrome can finally sit at the same table as Microsoft Edge and the Netflix app for 4K playback on Windows. That’s a pretty big shift after years of Chrome being stuck at 1080p, and sometimes even 720p, mostly because Microsoft Edge had the upper hand with PlayReady DRM while Chrome relied on Widevine for protected 4K streams.

There’s still a checklist. You’ll need a fully updated Windows 11 PC, a Netflix Premium plan, playback quality set to Auto or High, and at least 15 Mbps of bandwidth. Your hardware also has to be supported, which means newer Nvidia, AMD, Intel, or AMD Ryzen gear, plus a 4K 60 Hz display. If you’re using an external screen, it needs HDCP 2.2, and every active monitor connected to the system has to meet those same standards. In some setups, Netflix also says you may need Microsoft’s HEVC Video Extensions. If you watch Netflix in Google Chrome regularly, this is an update worth installing. Edge and the Windows app still have a few extras, though, including HDR and often Dolby Atmos. And on macOS, Chrome is still limited to 1080p, so you’ll need Safari if you want Ultra HD there. You can download Google Chrome directly from Google, and if your setup calls for it, the HEVC extension is available in the Microsoft Store.

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