The update, which launched yesterday, adds the new League Cup, known in-game as the Egg Cup. It throws 56 teams into a knockout competition across seven matches during the course of a season, giving players another route to silverware beyond simply grinding their way through the divisions.

Naturally, because this is football, losing is not just losing. Drop out of the cup, and rival teams will waste no time in taunting you for it. Win, however, and you get the only thing that really matters in football management: bragging rights over people who thought they were better than you.

The update also arrives just in time for World Cup fever, with the big tournament having kicked off yesterday, with five new World Championship matches being added to NUTMEG!. These include scenarios inspired by famous international fixtures, such as England vs Argentina in 1986 (we wuz robbed), alongside fantasy “what if” clashes, including England vs Argentina in 1990.

For players who already think they know better than every manager on Match of the Day, the update also adds Gaffer Mode. This ramps up the challenge by tightening the financial side of the game, making broadcast matches longer and more difficult, and generally adding more obstacles for players trying to guide their club to glory.

There is also a new delegated XI selection clipboard, which gives players more control over team selection in delegated matches. Rather than leaving everything up to fate, you can now assemble your preferred lineup for each match and then still blame someone else when it all goes wrong. That is proper football heritage.

What is Nutmeg?

NUTMEG! launched on Steam in March 2026 and casts players as the manager of a football club during the 1980s and 1990s. Instead of a straight management sim, though, it wraps its league climb in deckbuilding mechanics, with training sessions, transfers, tactics, sponsorship deals, ticket prices, salaries, media duties, and fast-paced card battles all feeding into the season.

Players can scout youth talent, sign legendary players, refine tactics through training, and decide whether they want to be a loyal one-club hero or a journeyman manager bouncing from job to job in search of the next big chance.

The free NUTMEG! League Cup update is available now on Steam and currently has 40% off as part of the Football Fiesta sale.

The post It’s coming home – Nutmeg gets free League Cup update with Gaffer Mode and World Championship matches appeared first on The Escapist.

Xbox Network appears to be having a bad one today, with players reporting widespread connection problems, failed game launches, and login issues across console and PC.

Reports began surfacing on Friday, June 12, with users saying their consoles were connected to the internet but unable to reach Xbox services properly. Some players are being told there is a “temporary network problem,” while others say they cannot launch games, connect to online services, or get past the usual Xbox Network checks.

Downdetector is currently showing a spike in reports for Xbox Network, formerly Xbox Live, with server connection listed as the biggest issue, followed by game launch and login problems. That tracks with what players are saying across social media and support channels, where the general mood is somewhere between “is it my internet?” and “nope, it is definitely not my internet.”

As ever with these things, the official Xbox status page is the one worth watching for confirmation and updates from Microsoft. At the time of writing, some third-party status trackers are flagging the issue as a major outage, particularly around sign-in, but these situations can move quickly. If Xbox Support posts a formal update, we will update this story accordingly.

The problem is especially irritating because Xbox’s modern ecosystem leans heavily on being online even when players are not necessarily trying to play a multiplayer game. Game Pass access, cloud saves, ownership checks, online profiles, backward compatibility, and multiplayer all rely on Xbox Network behaving itself. When it does not, even a short outage can make the whole console feel like an expensive green paperweight.

There is not much players can do until the service settles down. Restarting the console, checking your home network, or power-cycling the router may help rule out local problems, but if Xbox Network itself is struggling, repeated restarts are unlikely to magically fix it. Microsoft’s own advice for service outage messages is to check the Xbox status page and wait for the affected services to recover.

The outage comes during a busy period for Xbox, following the company’s summer showcase and a fresh wave of Game Pass activity. That does not make the timing suspicious, necessarily, but it does mean more players are likely to notice when the pipes start rattling.

For now, if your Xbox is insisting it is offline while the rest of your house is happily streaming, browsing, and arguing with smart speakers, you are probably not alone. Keep an eye on Xbox Support and the official Xbox status page before performing open-heart surgery on your router.

The Escapist has contacted Microsoft for comment.

The post Xbox Network appears to be down as players report connection issues worldwide – here’s what we know so far appeared first on The Escapist.

Marsupilami 2 – Salsa Palombia has captured me and I keep playing the 30 minutes or so I have been treated to.

Growing up playing platformers on Sega, Nintendo and even the Amiga, Marsupilami 2 reminded me instantly of those good old days. In fact, it probably reminds me of the great Amiga platformers the most and I am really looking forward to seeing the other levels.

Marsupilami 2 – Salsa Palombia is the follow-up to 2021’s Marsupilami: Hoobadventure, once again putting the elastic-tailed jungle hero into a bright, family-friendly 2D platforming setup. This time, the action takes place across Palombia, where a strange melody has swept through the jungle and sent the local animals into a dancing frenzy. Behind the chaos is the Mummy Queen, who has returned from the Underworld with a cursed concert and apparently very little interest in personal space or wildlife welfare.

The big mechanical hook this time is the ability to play as three different Marsupilamis, each with their own move set. Twister can glide through the air, Hope has a spinning leap, and Punch uses heavier bounce attacks to smash through obstacles. The game lets players swap between them to chain moves together, reach new areas, and, hopefully, keep the platforming moving at the kind of pace the series’ springy tail-based chaos deserves.

Salsa Palombia is being pitched as a 2.9D platformer rather than a straight 2D sequel, with four worlds to explore, ranging from the jungle and city to snowy mountains and the Underworld. Alongside the main adventure, there is local two-player co-op, speed-focused Flow Mode challenges, time trials, and competitive Battle Dojos, which should give it a little more to do than simply hopping from left to right until the credits roll.

There is a strong “modern Saturday morning cartoon platformer” energy to the whole thing, which makes sense given the licence. Marsupilami has always been about big colours, big expressions, and that ridiculous prehensile tail, so the promise here is not grim reinvention. It is a cheerful-looking platformer built around character swapping, co-op, and momentum, with enough extra challenge rooms and bonus content to keep younger players and nostalgic adults occupied.

At a glance: Marsupilami 2 – Salsa Palombia launches on September 3, 2026 for PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC. It supports 1-2 players locally, is developed by Ocellus Studio, published by Microids, and currently has a Steam demo and I highly suggest you check it out.

The post Marsupilami 2 – Salsa Palombia hands on playtest – quality platform fun, just like the good old days appeared first on The Escapist.

At the time, when we looked at it last, the discussion focused largely on artificial intelligence, robotics, and whether players fully understood how data gathered through optional augmented reality features could ultimately be used.

Now the story has resurfaced following renewed attention on a partnership between Niantic Spatial and defense technology company Vantor, raising fresh questions about the long-term applications of technology that was developed using player-contributed scans.

Importantly (and indeed legally!), there is no public evidence that Pokémon GO scan data is being directly deployed in military drones or weapons systems. However, Niantic Spatial’s Visual Positioning System (VPS), which the company has said was trained using billions of scans collected through its products and platforms, is now being integrated into navigation technology designed to operate in GPS-denied environments.

A quick recap of the original controversy

The discussion began after Niantic executives revealed that more than 30 billion images had been used to help build what the company describes as a large-scale spatial model of the world.

Many of those images came from optional AR scanning features found in Pokémon GO and other Niantic products. Players could scan real-world locations, landmarks, and PokéStops in exchange for in-game rewards, helping create increasingly detailed three-dimensional representations of physical spaces.

Niantic Spatial has repeatedly stated that this data is used to improve its Visual Positioning System, a technology that allows devices to determine their location by analyzing visual surroundings rather than relying exclusively on satellite navigation.

At the time, the primary focus was on AI training, robotics, and augmented reality. Critics questioned whether players appreciated the scale of the data collection effort and the breadth of potential future applications.

Since this, Niantic has now told Kotaku – “Now as part of Scopely, Pokémon GO data is not shared with Niantic Spatial,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Kotaku. “AR Scans collected through Pokémon GO were submitted voluntarily by players who opted into the feature and were subject to the applicable Terms of Service and Privacy Policy at the time. The discontinuation of AR scanning and the end of data sharing with Niantic Spatial were part of the transition planning associated with Pokémon GO‘s move to Scopely.” 

Why are we talking about this again?

Attention has now shifted to a partnership announced between Niantic Spatial and Vantor, a company that develops geospatial intelligence and positioning technologies.

According to the companies, the partnership combines Niantic Spatial’s ground-based Visual Positioning System with Vantor’s aerial navigation capabilities. The goal is to create systems capable of maintaining accurate positioning when GPS signals are unavailable, degraded, jammed, or spoofed.

Such technology has a wide range of potential uses, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, industrial systems, drones, and mixed-reality applications. It also includes potential military uses obviously.

It is these potential defense and military applications that have attracted the most attention online.

While some commentary has characterized the development as Pokémon GO players helping train military drones, that interpretation goes further than the publicly available evidence supports.

The Drone XL website does state however, “Vantor is not a startup dabbling in defense. Rebranded from Maxar Intelligence on October 1, 2025, it is a prime contractor to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, holding a follow-on award worth $70 million under the agency’s Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery program, which serves more than 400,000 U.S. government users. This is a company built around national security imagery, now adding GPS-independent navigation to its catalog.”

What has been publicly disclosed is that Niantic Spatial’s VPS technology was developed using large volumes of player-contributed scan data, and that the company has since entered into a partnership focused on navigation technology that may be used in defense-related environments. There is currently no public evidence that current Pokémon GO scan data itself is being directly loaded into military systems.

Is there a legal issue?

Based on publicly available information, the debate appears to be more ethical than legal.

AR scanning in Pokémon GO was an optional feature and Niantic disclosed that submitted scans could be used to improve mapping, positioning, and related technologies.

That certainly does not necessarily mean every player understood the full range of potential downstream applications years later, but it also removes the possibility of unauthorized data collection or a privacy breach. Of course, how many children playing Pokémon Go don’t actually read and understand the T&Cs is an argument for another day.

Instead, the controversy centers on a broader question that is becoming increasingly common in the AI era: should consumers be told more clearly when data they contribute to entertainment products could eventually help develop technologies used in entirely different industries?

Understanding the difference between Niantic and Niantic Spatial

One source of confusion in discussions surrounding the story is that Pokémon GO and the navigation technology are no longer housed within exactly the same company structure.

Niantic remains the company best known for developing Pokémon GO and other location-based games.

Niantic Spatial is a separate company created from Niantic’s geospatial technology division. It focuses on mapping, AI, spatial computing, and visual positioning technologies rather than game development.

The recent Vantor partnership was announced by Niantic Spatial, not by the Pokémon GO development team itself.

However, the connection is certainly topical because Niantic Spatial has publicly acknowledged that its spatial mapping technologies were trained using billions of scans and images gathered through Niantic’s consumer products and platforms, so it is not like there are zero links between the two entities.

As AI and mapping technologies continue to evolve, the debate is likely to move beyond Pokémon GO itself and toward a larger discussion about how consumer-generated data is repurposed long after it is first collected.

And soon after that, it won’t matter anyway because we are all just pawns in the game.

The post Pokémon GO scan controversy resurfaces after Niantic Spatial defense partnership appeared first on The Escapist.

It’s that time of the season again where Battlefield Labs invites roll out, and the content gets leaked onto Bilibili. This time, the leaks focus on the new map, Tsuru Reef, the large naval theme map coming in Battlefield 6 Season 4. The new leaks show off some of the gameplay on the map, alongside some new weapons and other features.

It’s not the first time this has happened, with the exact same thing happening when Chinese social media leaked the M16 and Golmud changes.

Battlefield 6 leaks show off Reef gameplay and the VSS

Based on the leaks on Bilibili, now shared to Reddit and other social media, highlights some of the changes coming to the game. One of the big features is the VSS, a sniper rifle. It’s a soviet era weapon, with specialist subsonic rounds. While its profile often makes it a quiet sniper in real life, the weapon is often depicted as a stealth sniper weapon, often in dedicated sniper teams or marksman type roles in combat. Based on the leaked gameplay, it looks like its filling that role, but sits in the sniper category of the weapons menu.

We can’t really tell the stats with a limited window showing some mods to the gun in Labs, placing it around 35 damage per round, 20 round magazine, though that’s an attachment, and around 800 ROF rating. So, it places it as quite the mobile sniper that’s capable of pelting enemies, at least in that configuration.

It seems like it’s best used in more forward aggression type Recon playstyles. The ones that take advantage of the more aggressive motion sensor tracking, claymore placing and controlling staples. The leaked attachments also show an ACOG on the gun, indicating they want it in that 2-4x magnification for closer range marksman, helping to suit that playstyle. Alternatively, it looks like it’s a good option for open playlist assaults with a spawn beacon, to play that more aggro sniper role of old.

Tsuru Reef clues dotted in the leaks too

There’s also some footage of the new map. Not quite much is seen, but it does show some of the wave physics. It also shows off one naval boat, which looks like BF4’s Paracel Storm’s RHIB Boat. We do get a hint of what the map looks like too, with each team controlling an island either side of the map. From there, there’s icons of two boats at least, which then sail off in opposing directions to the four main islands to occupy the map.

There’s one on the left and right, with small waterways coming off from the main islands, with one in the north and south, wedged between those islands. There are a few other smaller islands too. Each team looks like they have three close conquest flags to capture using naval boats, with the larger middle section of the North and South Islands having another three, rather evenly spaced out. So, it looks like it will be one of those maps with a huge inflexion point in the middle for deep fighting, while boats pincer and flank around to steal cap conquest points across the various landscapes that come with it.

Given the small canals and waterways separate the island, getting around could take a while, or be quicker with a cost of players wanting to defend those waterways too. Looks like it could be quite the interesting map to be fair.

In addition, the main islands also seem to have vehicle spawns on them too. Some of the more island ones have more boats to capture, helping those flanking and steal cap playstyles. The more island ones also seem to have fast attack vehicle spawns, there also seems to be gun emplacements dotted around too from what we can see. Though, they are not confirmed in the footage.

Other footage that appears also suggests there’s home base chopper spawns too, and even jets that can fly in. There’s also a much more armored and slower patrol bot too as featured in the footage above. It’s a full combined arms map kinda deal. The choppers will be even more direct fast attack vehicles for getting on that main island and locking it down, or fast disrupting the more distant islands. Either way, the tactics available with the freedom certainly looks interesting.

The post Battlefield 6 leaks reveal Tsuru Reef gameplay, new VSS sniper as Bilibili leaks continue appeared first on The Escapist.

CD Projekt Red recently announced The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Past, a surprise third expansion for the 2015 RPG. It will arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in 2027, with Geralt returning for a brand-new adventure.

The expansion had previously been planned for 2026, but CD Projekt Red has now pushed it into next year.

The good news is that fans will not have to wait until 2027 to see more of it. Songs of the Past is set to appear at Gamescom 2026, where CD Projekt Red is expected to show the expansion in guided presentation form rather than as a playable public demo.

Songs of the Past is being co-developed with Fool’s Theory, the Polish studio also working on The Witcher remake. That is a sensible pairing, not least because Fool’s Theory includes developers with previous Witcher experience, which should help ease the fear that this is just a nostalgic add-on being assembled from old swords and half-remembered tavern songs.

CD Projekt Red has described Songs of the Past as a full expansion rather than a small DLC drop. That is why expectations for Songs of the Past are going to be absurdly high. The Witcher 3 is not just another old RPG being dragged back for a bit of anniversary content. It is one of the defining games of the last decade, and its expansions helped set the standard for what premium story content could be.

There is also the wider Witcher context. CD Projekt Red is already deep into the next major Witcher game, which will shift the spotlight toward Ciri. That makes Songs of the Past feel like a bridge between eras, even if the studio has not fully explained how, or whether, the new expansion will connect to the future of the series.

For now, all we know is that Geralt is coming back, the expansion is bigger than a simple content update, and more details are expected later this year. After nearly a decade away from The Witcher 3’s expansion scene, that is more than enough to get people sharpening their silver swords again.

The post The Witcher 3’s new expansion will miss 2026, but Geralt is heading to Gamescom appeared first on The Escapist.

Bandai Namco has confirmed that the Switch 2 version of FromSoftware’s open-world RPG will launch on August 28, bringing both the original Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion to Nintendo’s latest console. That means Switch 2 owners are not just getting the Lands Between, but also the Realm of Shadow.

The Tarnished Edition bundles in the base game, the acclaimed Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and some new extras. These include two new starting classes, additional character armor, and the ability to customize Torrent, your loyal Spectral Steed. Finally, horse fashion. It’s always been the real endgame.

Existing Elden Ring players are not being left out completely, either. The new Tarnished Edition content will also be made available to purchase separately for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. So, if you have already conquered the Lands Between on another platform and still feel like you have unfinished business, FromSoftware is politely opening the door again and ushering you through once more.

Originally released in 2022, Elden Ring became one of the most celebrated games of the last decade, combining FromSoftware’s brutally rewarding action RPG design with a vast dark fantasy world shaped by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Bandai Namco says the game has sold more than 30 million units worldwide and received more than 400 Game of the Year nominations.

There is still the big question of how Elden Ring will actually run on Switch 2, because this is not exactly a modest game. The Lands Between are huge and complicated. But if the port lands well, Tarnished Edition could become one of the most important third-party releases on Nintendo’s new hardware.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition launches for Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2026. Digital pre-orders are available now. At least it will arrive before the movie’s 2028 release.

The post Elden Ring Tarnished Edition preorders are live for Switch 2, so hide your summer plans appeared first on The Escapist.

The new simulator has been built to celebrate Aston Martin’s Valkyries competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and only 24 examples will be made worldwide. Buyers can choose between #007 and #009 race-inspired liveries, finished in Aston Martin Podium Green with either yellow or red accents. Subtle, then.

The Aston Martin racing sim is basically a hypercar for your games room

The AMR-C01-R Hypercar Edition has been developed with Curv founder Darren Turner, Aston Martin’s high-performance test driver and a three-time Le Mans class winner. The idea is to replicate the driving position and overall feel of sitting in a Valkyrie Hypercar, which is handy if you have always wanted to experience elite endurance racing without leaving the west wing.

The sim uses a carbon-fiber monocoque and has been hand-built to order in the UK. It also features Aston Martin’s signature grille at the front, because even your sim rig apparently needs to look like it could judge the rest of your furniture.

Inside, the setup includes a curved 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G95C display with a 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and HDR10+ gaming support. It is powered by a high-end PC packing an Nvidia RTX 50 Series graphics card, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and a 2TB SSD. Assetto Corsa comes pre-installed, though the rig is also compatible with other PC racing sim software.

The steering wheel is probably nicer than your real one

Naturally, the steering wheel is not just some off-the-shelf plastic circle of misery. It is inspired by the Valkyrie itself, made from aluminum and carbon fiber, and includes an integrated 5-inch display, magnetic paddle shifters, dual clutch paddles, silicone grips, and adjustable lighting for the buttons and rotary dials.

There is also an electronically adjustable sliding pedal box with 200mm of travel, embedded speakers, and a Sennheiser headset for extra immersion.

None of this is remotely necessary for most people, well, everybody, obviously. But that is also sort of the point. This is not really aimed at someone trying to shave a tenth off their lap time in F1 26 while balancing a wheel stand wedged against the sofa. This is for collectors, racing obsessives, and anyone whose “gaming room” probably has better square footage than most city apartments.

The AMR-C01-R Hypercar Edition is available to order now. Just remember: at £58,750 plus taxes, crashing at Turn 1 will probably be as expensive as doing it in the real thing.

The post Aston Martin’s new racing sim costs more than your actual car appeared first on The Escapist.

Bandai Namco has announced One Piece: Grand Gourmet, a new restaurant management sim based on Eiichiro Oda’s long-running manga and anime series. Instead of another fighting game, musou spin-off, or pirate action adventure, this one puts players alongside Sanji and the Straw Hat Crew as they attempt to build the greatest floating restaurant on the seas.

Developed by Kairosoft, the studio best known for its compact and dangerously moreish management sims, One Piece: Grand Gourmet looks like a much gentler take on the franchise. There will still be plenty of familiar faces, however, with Bandai Namco promising more than 400 characters from across the One Piece universe.

Here is everything we know so far about One Piece: Grand Gourmet, including its release date, platforms, gameplay, characters, and what you will actually be doing aboard the Baratie Number Two.

What is One Piece: Grand Gourmet?

One Piece: Grand Gourmet is a restaurant management sim set in the world of One Piece.

Players join the Straw Hat Crew aboard the Baratie Number Two, a floating restaurant that starts small but can apparently be transformed into the finest dining destination on the ocean. The basic loop appears to involve gathering ingredients, coming up with recipes, creating set menus, decorating the restaurant, and attracting characters from across the One Piece world as both staff and customers.

Rather than presenting the series in its usual anime style, Grand Gourmet uses a spritely pixel-art look. Bandai Namco says this is the first time more than 400 One Piece characters have appeared in this kind of pixel style in a game.

It is a very different pitch from the likes of One Piece: Pirate Warriors or One Piece Odyssey, but honestly, it also makes a lot of sense. If any anime has enough weird food, strange locations, and massive personalities to support a restaurant sim, it is probably One Piece.

One Piece: Grand Gourmet release date

One Piece: Grand Gourmet is officially scheduled to launch on October 23, 2026.

Bandai Namco lists that date for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC via Steam, iOS, and Android. The Steam page currently shows October 22, 2026, but that is likely down to regional unlock timing rather than a different global release plan.

Unless Bandai Namco updates the date later, October 23 is the one to go with.

One Piece: Grand Gourmet platforms

One Piece: Grand Gourmet is coming to:

• Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Switch 2
• PC via Steam
• iOS
• Android

That means it will arrive on both current Nintendo platforms, PC, and mobile. There is no PlayStation or Xbox version announced at the time of writing.

The Steam page also lists the PC version as a single-player game with Steam achievements, Steam Cloud support, and Family Sharing. Full PC system requirements have not been detailed yet, with the minimum and recommended specs still marked as TBA.

Who is developing One Piece: Grand Gourmet?

One Piece: Grand Gourmet is being developed by Kairosoft and published by Bandai Namco.

That developer name should immediately make sense to anyone who has ever fallen into the black hole of games like Game Dev Story, Hot Springs Story, Dungeon Village, or one of Kairosoft’s many other cosy management sims. The studio has built its name around small-scale simulation games that are easy to understand, filled with cute pixel art, and usually far harder to stop playing than they first appear.

That makes Kairosoft a pretty natural fit for this kind of One Piece game. Grand Gourmet does not look like it is trying to be a huge open-world pirate adventure. Instead, it seems to be leaning into a focused management loop, then stuffing it full of One Piece characters, locations, dishes, and fan-service interactions.

What do you do in One Piece: Grand Gourmet?

The main aim in One Piece: Grand Gourmet is to build and run a floating restaurant.

Players will work with Sanji to create dishes, pick ingredients, arrange meals into set menus, and keep customers happy. As the restaurant grows, new recipes and opportunities will open up, with players heading out to find more ingredients and ideas.

Bandai Namco has already named a few dishes, including Water-Water Meat BBQ and Sea King Penne Gorgonzola. There will also be special creations inspired by Devil Fruit powers, which should give the game plenty of room to get extremely silly with its menu.

The restaurant itself can also be decorated and customised. Bandai Namco says there will be more than 200 furniture, building, and decorative items, with themes inspired by familiar One Piece locations such as Whole Cake Island and Egghead.

The decoration does not appear to be purely cosmetic either. If certain characters like the look of the restaurant, they may become regular customers.

How many One Piece characters are in Grand Gourmet?

Bandai Namco says One Piece: Grand Gourmet will feature more than 400 characters from the manga and anime.

That includes the Straw Hat Crew, but the wording suggests the roster will stretch far beyond Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, and Jinbe. The game will include friends, foes, and other familiar faces from across the wider One Piece world.

Characters can appear as staff and customers, and Bandai Namco says players will be able to experience character events and special interactions that are not found anywhere else.

That could be one of the game’s biggest hooks. A restaurant sim is one thing, but a restaurant sim where hundreds of One Piece characters wander in, react to the décor, ask for bizarre food, and potentially unlock unique scenes is a much stronger pitch for fans.

Can you customise the restaurant?

Yes. Restaurant customisation seems to be a major part of One Piece: Grand Gourmet.

Players will be able to choose from more than 200 decorative items to create their own version of the Baratie Number Two. Confirmed themes include dessert-style Whole Cake Island decorations and futuristic Egghead items, which suggests the game will draw from a broad slice of the One Piece timeline and setting.

The customisation system also appears to feed into progression. Bandai Namco says that if a character likes the design, they may become a regular, so players may need to think about who they want to attract, not just what looks nice.

One Piece: Grand Gourmet trailer

Yes. Bandai Namco released an announcement trailer for One Piece: Grand Gourmet alongside the reveal.

The trailer shows the game’s pixel-art style, restaurant-building premise, character appearances, and the general management sim setup. It also gives a first look at how the Baratie Number Two can grow from a small floating eatery into something much grander.

At the moment, Bandai Namco has not shown an extended gameplay deep dive, so there is still more to learn about progression, difficulty, recipe systems, and how involved the day-to-day restaurant management will actually be.

Is One Piece: Grand Gourmet available to pre-order?

Pre-orders are live on Steam, where the game is currently listed ahead of release.

Bandai Namco’s announcement also points players toward pre-orders, but availability may vary by platform and region. Mobile pricing has not been confirmed yet, and it is not currently clear whether the iOS and Android versions will use the same pricing model as the PC and console versions.

For now, the safest answer is that One Piece: Grand Gourmet is available to wishlist or pre-purchase on some storefronts, with more platform-specific details likely to follow before launch.

What we still do not know

There are still a few unanswered questions around One Piece: Grand Gourmet.

Bandai Namco has not yet confirmed the full list of characters, although we know there will be over 400, the exact differences between the Switch and Switch 2 versions, or whether the mobile versions will have any platform-specific changes. We also do not yet know how deep the restaurant systems will go, whether there will be post-launch DLC, or how progression is structured beyond cooking, decorating, and unlocking more recipes.

There is also no confirmation of PlayStation or Xbox versions, so for now this is a Nintendo, PC, and mobile release only.

When is One Piece: Grand Gourmet out?

One Piece: Grand Gourmet launches on October 23, 2026, for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC via Steam, iOS, and Android.

The post Everything we know about One Piece: Grand Gourmet appeared first on The Escapist.

Bungie’s Monument of Triumph update has launched, and its first day appears to have given Destiny 2 its biggest Steam surge in a long time. According to SteamDB figures, the game hit a 24-hour peak of 167,867 players on Steam following the release of the update, making it the strongest spike the shooter has seen since The Final Shape. Back in February Lloyd reported fans were nervous about what the future held for Destiny 2, and well, today, that has all come home to roost.

That number is especially notable because Monument of Triumph is not a new expansion in the traditional sense. It is Destiny 2’s final live-service content update, designed as a kind of farewell lap for the long-running MMO shooter before Bungie moves away from regular active development.

Still, the update seems to have landed exactly where it needed to for lapsed players. Monument of Triumph brings back a lot of the things fans have been asking for, including the return of Sparrow Racing League, a refreshed Pantheon, new rewards, and major changes to the way Destiny 2 presents its activities. You can read about all the changes on the Bungie site.

Bringing players back

The update also winds back one of the game’s more unpopular recent decisions. The Portal, which had become a major sticking point for players, has effectively been pushed aside, with the Director returning as the main way Guardians navigate Destiny 2’s universe.

There is also a new progression structure built around the Monument of Triumph itself in the Tower. Players can complete objectives, earn Legendary Marks, and exchange them for a large selection of rewards, including armor ornaments, accessories, weapon engrams, and other cosmetic items.

For returning players, that gives Monument of Triumph the feel of both a museum piece and a proper loot chase. It is not just a goodbye screen with some fireworks; it is a substantial reason to log back in, revisit old activities, and see what Bungie has changed before Destiny 2 settles into its long-term future.

Launch day was not entirely smooth, with players reportedly running into Weasel errors as the update rolled out. That is hardly surprising given the scale of the returning crowd, although it does mean plenty of Guardians spent the first few hours fighting the servers before they could fight anything else.

Even so, the early response suggests that there is still a lot of appetite for Destiny when Bungie gives players the right reasons to come back. SteamDB also listed Destiny 2 near the top of Steam’s best-seller chart after the update launched, underlining how much attention Monument of Triumph has generated.

It is a bittersweet moment for Destiny 2. A player spike like this shows the pull the game still has, but it also arrives just as its active live-service era is coming to an end. For now, though, Guardians are back in serious numbers, and Destiny 2 is getting one last moment in the sun.

The post Destiny 2’s final update brings a huge number of Guardians back with the aptly-named Monument of Triumph appeared first on The Escapist.

The rollout, announced on June 9, spans slots, crash games, and live casino, with the new content timed to coincide with the global football tournament taking place across the USA, Canada, and Mexico from June 11.

Leading the lineup is Fidget Football from On Air Entertainment, a foosball-inspired live casino title built around a table-top pitch and 22 motorised spinners that move the ball during play. The game also features a live commentator and football-style betting markets, including match winner, both teams to score, and over/under goals.

Games Global said the release is intended to give operators a way to capture tournament excitement across multiple casino verticals and maintain player engagement during one of the busiest betting periods of the year.

The live casino release will be joined by Kick Crash from Buck Stakes Entertainment, a stadium-set crash game in which players must cash out before a footballer takes a shot at goal.

Games Global is also adding several football-themed slot titles to the rollout. Nailed It! Games’ Goal Bonanza features expanding wilds and jackpots, while Gameburger Studios’ Goal Strike Fan Frenzy uses the studio’s Drum and Epic Strike mechanics. Neko Games’ Golazo Tiger Mystery Link&Win adds bingo-style elements, with Games Global positioning the title as having particular appeal for Latin American audiences.

Dave Reynolds, Director of Games Strategy and Partner Management at Games Global, said football would be “at the centre of the summer” and that the company had worked across its studio network to create a portfolio spanning multiple formats.

The company said the suite reflects its focus on timely content built around major global events.

The post Games Global launches football-themed casino games ahead of World Cup appeared first on The Escapist.

Parasol Corp is clearly hoping plenty of people feel the same way as me, as Cozy Game Restoration now has a release date and will launch on Steam on September 24, 2026.

The Australia-based developer revealed the date during Frosty Games Fest, alongside a new release date trailer showing off the game’s gently nostalgic restoration loop. Better still, the first public demo is now live, and will also be part of the June Steam Next Fest, giving players a proper hands-on look ahead of launch.

Cozy Game Restoration has already passed 225,000 wishlists on Steam, which is a massive number for a quiet little game about cleaning plastic rectangles. Then again, it is also not hard to see the appeal. This is the kind of premise that gets into your brain immediately if you have ever owned a drawer full of old carts, battered cases, sticky labels, or mystery games from second-hand shops.

The setup is simple. Players receive mystery parcels containing forgotten retro game cartridges, then set about restoring them. That means peeling away tape, removing stickers, cleaning dust and grime, clearing ink and adhesive residue, and generally turning something that looks ready for the bin back into a collectable worth putting on a shelf.

There are no timers and no fail states. Cozy Game Restoration is very much aiming at the satisfying, tactile end of the sim market, where the reward is not a high score but the quiet little brain tickle of making something messy look nice again. It sits somewhere between restoration video, cozy collection game, and retro gaming nostalgia trap, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

‘Cos you’re filthy

The cartridges themselves are procedurally dirtied, so each one should arrive with different conditions, imperfections, and visual problems. Some might have cracked shells, others might have clean labels, scuffed plastic, pen marks, discoloration, or stubborn residue that needs a bit more attention. The idea is that every restoration feels slightly different rather than simply repeating the same wipe-and-polish routine.

Across the full game, players will be working to complete a collection of 108 distinct titles inspired by games from the 1980s to the early 2000s. There will also be rare regional variants, unique artwork, different shell types, collection-based quests, and decorations and cosmetics for the player’s collection room.

Parasol Corp is also using Cozy Game Restoration to nod toward the wider indie scene, with collectible cartridges inspired by real games from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. Deep Field Games has already given permission for Abiotic Factor to appear as a collectible cartridge, with more collaborations to be announced closer to release.

“Cozy Game Restoration is a love letter to the games that were with us growing up and the moments we experienced around them with friends and family,” said Parasol Corp founder Adam Stormhardt. “It’s wonderful to know so many people resonate with restoring and collecting battered old retro games, and I’m excited to finally be able to point to a date on the calendar when it’ll be ready. Being able to feature games from fellow Australian and New Zealand developers as collectible cartridges makes the project even more special.”

Cozy Game Restoration launches on Steam on September 24, 2026. The demo is available now and will be featured during Steam Next Fest, which runs from June 15-22.

The post Quarter of a million wishlists show I am not alone in wanting to restore my old game cartridges appeared first on The Escapist.