Author: Mark Conrad Pinton

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Discord says Take-Two’s GTA 6 subpoena hasn’t been served yet

Discord says Take-Two Interactive’s subpoena request tied to the Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) leak still hasn’t been formally served, even though Take-Two filed it on August 20, 2026. The request is already visible on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York docket, but Discord says it will look at the request’s validity and scope only if and when service actually happens. If you’re tracking the case closely, that distinction matters. Filing a request and serving it are not the same thing.

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Take-Two’s August 20, 2026 filing is aimed at identifying “CyberLeek.” It asks for records from Discord and Microsoft, and reports say X may be in the mix too. The move came after gameplay clips and a full map spread online, with footage and details showing carjacking, a six-star wanted system, nighttime driving, NPC behavior, and police chases.

Reports also say the leaker posted a manifesto and used the leak to promote cryptocurrency. Rockstar Games reportedly still had not figured out who the source was or how the material had been obtained. Separate reports said Rockstar told people the incident would not disrupt a planned Netflix extended look scheduled for later that week.

What the request asks for is broad: emails, registration details, last-login IP addresses, phone numbers, linked accounts, device IDs, Xbox data, OneDrive data, and a list of all members since June 1 from servers that include Ødyssey.gg, ! Odyssey, and DarkViperAU.

And that scope is where the argument will probably land, especially for Discord users. Critics say the request reaches too far. Discord could still challenge it. Microsoft says it’s cooperating. The deadline listed on the request is September 4, 2026.

Patreon rolls out creator recommendations update: smaller creators get more visibility

Patreon is rolling out a new recommendation system, and the big shift is pretty straightforward: it’s putting more weight on what users care about, not just on which creators are already the biggest. Patreon says the goal is to bring more emerging and niche creators into view without making recommendations feel less relevant.

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That gets at a problem both users and creators have dealt with for years. When an algorithm leans too hard on popularity, big followings, and long track records, smaller or newer accounts tend to disappear into the background. Patreon says people browsing memberships will now see more up-and-coming and niche creators. That matters because Patreon has usually been stronger at making money than at helping people find someone new. A lot of fans still come in from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, and newsletters, then sign up as paying members once they’re already hooked.

So if you use Patreon to find new creators, or you’re trying to build your own membership there, this is one to watch. A better balance could mean more useful suggestions, more room for specialized communities to get seen, and less automatic advantage for creators who are already doing well, all without turning Patreon into a random feed.

The rollout is happening on Patreon now, and users should start seeing a wider mix in their recommendations. At the same time, Patreon keeps moving toward the broader creator-platform model, one place for discovery, community, publishing, and monetization, while still making relevance the priority and keeping major creators central to the platform’s overall activity.

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Google rolls out new Search, Discover and News feed controls

Google says it has rolled out a new set of personalization features for 2026 across Google Search, Google Discover, and Google News. The update brings Preferred Sources, more flexible feedback in Google Discover, and custom audio briefings.

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In Google Search, there’s now a Preferred Sources option that lets you give trusted publishers a boost in Top Stories and other enhanced results, and publishers can add the button to their own sites as well. Google says the feature launched first in the U.S. and India, then expanded globally in supported languages on April 30, 2026. Selections climbed from 345,000 unique sources in May to 600,000 by August.

In Google Discover, you can now type in topics or paste links from each card’s menu to tell Google what you want more of, or less of. Google says that push began in January 2026 and reached all U.S. users in March. Google News on Android also adds daily audio briefings based on your interests, with clear source labels and links back to the full articles.

If you want more say over what shows up, this update looks worth a try. Still, the concerns are pretty familiar: filter bubbles, privacy, uneven availability outside the U.S., and whether smaller international or non-English publishers will benefit as much as the major brands.

You can access these features through Google Search, the Discover feed in the Google app on Android and iPhone, and Google News on Android, though Google says rollout details still vary by market.

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The Batman Part II adds Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent

New reports say The Batman Part II, Matt Reeves’ follow-up to The Batman, has cast Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent. That seems to put the earlier Victor Zsasz rumors to bed, since Stan had previously been linked to that role instead.

Those same reports also say Stan confirmed the casting himself. Bringing Harvey Dent into Reeves’ Gotham as district attorney, one of Batman’s best-known allies who later becomes an enemy, tracks with the grounded, corruption-heavy world the first film built, even if any eventual Two-Face arc is still just speculation from fans at this point.

And for people who’ve been watching this sequel closely, the other big piece of news is that it finally seems to be moving again. After slipping from October 2025 because of the 2023 Hollywood strikes and an extended writing process, The Batman Part II now appears to be back on course. Reeves is back to direct and co-write with Mattson Tomlin, filming is reportedly underway in Glasgow, Scotland, and there have already been Batmobile sightings around the area. Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis are all said to be returning, while Scarlett Johansson, Charles Dance, and Brian Tyree Henry have been reported in undisclosed and still unconfirmed roles. A few unverified rumors have even linked some of them to Harvey Dent’s family.

The Batman Part II is set to hit theaters on February 18, 2028.

Pokémon event gifts return on DS and 3DS: no clock changes needed

The Pokémon DNS trick is back in the conversation, mostly because fans never really let it die. After Nintendo shut down the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service in 2014 and official Mystery Gift access disappeared, players figured out they could still reach archived Mystery Gift events without touching the system clock. Point a Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS to a fan-run DNS or replacement server, and you can receive preserved distributions in Pokémon Diamond, Pokémon Pearl, Pokémon Platinum, Pokémon HeartGold, Pokémon SoulSilver, Pokémon Black, Pokémon White, Pokémon Black 2, and Pokémon White 2.

Depending on the fan-run server you’re using, you may be able to add event Pokémon and items like Mew, Celebi, and Arceus to your Pokédex. If you missed those promotions back then, it’s an easy workaround to at least try.

This isn’t the same thing as the modern time-travel tricks people use in Pokémon Sword and Shield or Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. In those games, changing the clock can affect raids or outbreaks, but it can’t bring expired online events back. Here, you’re connecting to preserved event data instead, even if some collectors still argue over whether that makes the results merely legal rather than truly legit. You set the workaround up on a Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS, but you’ll usually need older Wi‑Fi security like WEP or an open hotspot, which is part of why the trick still feels niche.

Rideshare Simulator updates its AI disclosure: how much AI it used

Rideshare Simulator’s Steam page has been updated with a much more detailed AI disclosure. That change follows former lead writer Stella Sacco’s August 11, 2026 statement that she had, in effect, been replaced by ChatGPT. The new disclosure says generative tools were used for voice generation, some of the in-game radio music, parts of localization, and passenger mission generation in the optional Free Ride mode.

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Saber Interactive still draws a line around the main campaign. The studio says the core story was made by people, not AI: human writers handled the main plot, the characters, and the dialogue. According to the disclosure, AI was used only for supplementary, procedural, or repeatable material.

Sacco’s August 11 statement also argued that the Steam page hadn’t clearly disclosed AI passenger voices under Valve’s transparency rules. The updated language on Steam doesn’t go so far as to confirm her account outright. Still, it says a lot more than Saber Interactive’s earlier denial did.

And that’s really where this story sits now: transparency. If you care about how Steam deals with AI disclosure, this update matters. Valve requires developers to tell players when generative systems are used to shape assets or in-game content, and critics say players weren’t clearly told that from the start.

The backlash picked up even more after Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch brushed Sacco aside, said she had been replaced by “someone more talented,” and added that he would’ve been happy to replace her with AI. At that point, this stopped looking like a dispute over one game’s credits and started feeding into the larger industry fight over how much automation game development is supposed to accept.

You can read the updated disclosure on Steam.

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Google TV Freeplay now gets 10,000 free movies and shows: US update adds on-demand library

Google TV Freeplay, Google’s free streaming section inside Google TV, just got a bigger upgrade in the US. It now includes more than 10,000 free on-demand movies and TV shows, added on top of the live channels that were already there.

That changes the feel of Freeplay quite a bit. Up to now, it leaned mostly on channels. Now there’s a much larger library you can watch without a subscription. Google says the catalog comes through partners such as A24 and Lionsgate, with movies and shows including Lady Bird, Seventeen Again, and Hell’s Kitchen. Google’s also splitting things more clearly with new “Live TV” and “Free movies & shows” tabs, so the two sections don’t blur together.

Google says Google TV now has more than 300 free live channels. Back in December 2025, that number was closer to 250. The update also fits with the broader shift Google started in 2024, when it moved from simply offering free channels to calling the service Google TV Freeplay, part of a bigger push into the FAST market.

If you already use Google TV and just want something free to watch without installing another app, this update makes the platform a lot more useful. Freeplay still trails the bigger free streaming players, though. Tubi says it has more than 40,000 titles, and Roku says The Roku Channel has 80,000.

It’s available now on Google TV devices in the United States. Google still hasn’t said anything about an international rollout.

The Witcher season 5 could slip to 2027: it’s no longer in Netflix’s 2026 promo

Several outlets are now saying Netflix’s The Witcher season 5 may have slipped out of 2026 and into 2027. What’s on Netflix reports that the final season no longer appears in Netflix’s public 2026 promotional materials. Netflix still hasn’t confirmed a new date, so for now, 2027 should be treated as a reported window, not an official one.

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Reports from outlets that cover the series also say seasons 4 and 5 were filmed back to back and wrapped in September 2025. That makes this look less like a filming problem and more like a post-production or scheduling delay. That matters because season 5 is supposed to wrap up the main Geralt story during the war.

If you’ve been keeping up with The Witcher, this news lands in a pretty shaky moment for the show. Season 4 reportedly had trouble with both critics and audiences, including a 59% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and a 19% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. Some viewers also said the lore had become hard to follow, and Liam Hemsworth replacing Henry Cavill is still a divisive change among fans.

The longer gap also adds pressure to the spin-offs, including The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep and The Rats: A Witcher Tale, especially after The Witcher: Blood Origin was poorly received.

Whenever it arrives, season 5 will be on Netflix.

Man on Fire is back: Denzel Washington’s thriller now looks like a streaming classic

Tony Scott’s 2004 Man on Fire is having an unexpected 2026 revival. Netflix’s new Man on Fire series premiered on April 30, climbed to No. 1 on Netflix, and racked up 11 million views in its first four days, according to Netflix.

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That spike is sending people back to Scott’s 2004 film, the same one critics tagged with a 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 47/100 on Metacritic. Audiences saw it differently then and still do now: it earned an A- CinemaScore, and it currently holds an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The bigger change is how the movie lands today. The old debate over it as a divisive mid-2000s thriller has cooled off, and what’s left feels a lot closer to a cult classic.

Denzel Washington’s John Creasy is still the movie’s emotional center, and if you’re finding Man on Fire through the new Netflix series, it’s well worth your time. It also was never a flop. The film made $130 million worldwide against a $60 million to $70 million budget, then pulled in another $123 million from DVD and VHS sales and rentals.

The things Tony Scott took heat for at the time, the cross-processing, the shifting frame rates, the hard cuts, the saturated color, now read more like an auteur’s signature than a liability. Nostalgia has helped too, especially after Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning reunited in The Equalizer 3.

The movie is adapted from A.J. Quinnell’s 1980 novel and came after the 1987 Scott Glenn version. If you want to watch it now, Tony Scott’s Man on Fire is streaming on services including Netflix and Starz, while the new Man on Fire series is on Netflix.

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Android 17 could bring custom lock screen clocks: Google tests them in Canary 2608

Google may be experimenting with custom Android lock screen clocks in the current Android Canary 2608 build. Buried in the software is a prompt-based tool that looks like it could generate one-off clock styles for Google Pixel phones, and it may even hint at something planned for Android 17.

You can’t actually use it yet, but the interface is there to see in the current Android Canary 2608 build.

Based on the newly uncovered menu in Android Canary 2608, you’d be able to type in a style prompt, hit an Ideas button if you want inspiration, or upload a reference image. The feature seems to be built around generating stylized numerals from 0 to 9, not redesigning the entire lock screen, which means you could create custom digital clocks with different materials, textures, and themes while still staying inside Android’s current clock system.

At the moment, it’s just a shell in the current Android Canary 2608 build. The backend isn’t live, and any attempt to use it ends with a “Service not connected” error. Google hasn’t said which devices or regions would get support, whether it would be limited to newer Pixel phones, what model is behind it, or if it would have any effect on battery life. If you use a Pixel and care about lock screen personalization, this one is worth keeping an eye on. Pixel phones already come with eight clock styles, Android 15 added deeper clock controls, and this lines up with Google’s bigger push into generative wallpapers and interface design, even if ideas that show up in Canary don’t always make it to release.