World of Warcraft Forever is off to a monumental start, with more players wandering Azeroth than ever before. And at least one death metal guitarist can't put it down long enough to watch his opener play.

Death metal band Archspire posted a video to Instagram, overlaid with text that reads, "POV World of Warcraft Forever comes out the same day as the show," as the camera shows a Steam Deck with an undead Warlock running around with his voidwalker. The caption carries on the bit, saying, "When your set starts at 9:00 but you just zoned into Undercity to pick up your Voidwalker quest so you can pet-tank your way through Fenris Isle."

I get the appeal, some of the quests in Fenris Isle are absolutely brutal if you don't have anyone else in your party, so getting a purple blob that can tank it for you really is exciting. It doesn't hurt that WoW Forever runs incredibly on a handheld, either.

WoW Forever's newfound controller support and lightweight system requirements make it a natural match for handheld gaming PCs. I've tested the game on both the Xbox Ally X and the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, and both have been able to handle the game at pretty high settings without dipping below 60 fps. I haven't played the game on the Steam Deck quite yet, but at least from Archspire's Instagram post, it seems to be running just fine.

Archspire's guitarist is also not the only Death Metaller who loves WoW. IGN interviewed Cannibal Corpse way back in 2008, and when we asked George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher about his love for the game, he told us, "It is true, I am obsessed with WOW! I have 70 level 70 characters. I play HORDE side ONLY. I hate the Alliance with a passion!"

Corpsegrinder also told us a story about how he was inundated with messages from fans, saying, "I did another interview where I said my Rogue's name and the server I played on, and then I started getting tells in game. A LOT OF TELLS. I was getting bombarded even when I was raiding, so I transferred him off the server and changed his name. I loved talking to people who were into Cannibal Corpse, but it was getting so I logged in and couldn't play, because all I did was exchange tells with people."

A lot has changed since 2008, but WoW Forever is looking to recapture some of that old-school WoW magic. And just based on how many people are playing the game, Blizzard seems to have pulled it off, even though they've run into some hurdles with gold rewards and dungeon experience.

A now-deleted listing for ‘Mega Man Legends — New Media’ was spotted on a ‘What’s Shooting’ page for ACTRA Toronto, hinting that a new game, film, or TV series in the franchise's 'Legends' series is in the works.

Although it’s since been deleted, several publications were able to screenshot the listing before it was taken down. The project’s start date was listed as September 14, 2026, with an end date of December 1, 2026. Casting was listed as “in-house.”

ACTRA Toronto’s What’s Shooting page is a public database that compiles ongoing projects that are registered with Canada’s performers’ union, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists. The Mega Man project’s ‘New Media’ label is especially intriguing, as this doesn’t necessarily denote that a new game is being made; rather, it’s vague enough to encompass any manner of projects, including movies or TV shows.

A Mega Man Legends movie isn’t out of the question, especially given Capcom’s recent foray into the world of Hollywood films. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil adaptation was wildly successful, and hopes are high for a sequel to Legendary’s Street Fighter flick. In fact, Capcom has been working toward a screen adaptation of Mega Man for some time; the developer confirmed that a movie was being made in 2018, which was initially being handled by 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios).

Things were quiet for the next few years until 2020, when Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who were set to write and direct this movie, confirmed that it was still very much in production.

“We are super excited about it. I think we’re going to have some big news about it soon. I can’t say all that much right now, but it’s a project very near and dear to our hearts and we’re psyched,” Joost said at the time.

In 2021, Netflix announced that it was making a live action film based on Capcom’s legacy 2D platformer, which appeared to be unrelated to 20th Century’s Mega Man project. For now, it’s unclear if this newest listing is involved with either of those productions, and the slim information that's been provided is making fans' imaginations run wild.

Of course, most players are keen for a Mega Man Legends remake, or at least another title in that particular series. The first Mega Man Legends game was released all the way back in 1998; a sequel came out in 2000, and a spin-off title, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, launched in 1999. With Dual Override coming in 2027, and Capcom expressing an interest in reviving its older IP, it’s certainly possible that there’s already another Mega Man title in the works — and remakes of legacy games are proving to be a real hit right now, after all.

For now, Mega Man fans can check out our interview with Dual Override’s Director Shinya Ikuta, Producer Hiroyuki Minamitani, Art Director Yuji Ishihara, and Art Director Shinsuke Komaki, where we asked them all about the game and what players can expect when it finally releases.

Final Fantasy XIV players are paying tribute to the bassist of the game’s official band, mourning him and celebrating his legacy with virtual, in-game funerals across servers worldwide.

Eikichi Iwai was the bass guitarist for The Primals, a band formed specifically to make some of the music in Square Enix’s extremely popular MMORPG. While they aren’t the only ones responsible for some of the game’s iconic tunes, they’re certainly some of the most notable, and they’ve become a firm fixture in the Final Fantasy fanbase over the years.

Iwai’s death was officially announced on November 11, 2026 by his own rock band, Chirinuruwowa, and the Final Fantasy XIV development team, the latter of which penned a public letter to fans informing them of the news.

“As announced earlier today, we are deeply saddened to share the news of the sudden passing of bassist Eikichi Iwai,” the statement reads. “Having witnessed his truly unforgettable performance on stage at the recent FINAL FANTASY XIV Fan Festival in Japan, the sudden news of his passing has come as a profound shock. The members of THE PRIMALS and the entire FFXIV Development and Operations teams are overcome with deep sorrow.

“As we reflect on all that Eikichi-san has left behind, our thoughts are with him, and we offer our heartfelt condolences.”

Chirinuruwowa published a similar statement on social media. “We regret to inform you that our bassist, Iwaieikichi, has passed away suddenly,” the group wrote. “The sudden news of his passing has left all of us in the band and on the staff struggling to come to terms with it, and we are deeply saddened.” The band also informed fans that all upcoming performances in their Endless Loop 2026 -Public- tour have been cancelled.

Iwai's death sent shockwaves throughout the FFXIV playerbase. In acknowledgement of his legacy as a performer and paying tribute to his contributions to the game, these players gathered together within their respective servers to hold virtual funerals in some of the MMORPG’s fantastical locales.

For example, players on the European server Omega formed a circle around Limsa Lominsa’s Aetheryte Plaza, lighting campfires in remembrance of the bassist. And in the Sephirot, Materia DC server, players hung out for more than seven hours at Ultima Thule, calmly sitting in its field of flowers.

Fans, content creators, and fellow members of the games industry have shared their own fond memories of the game and the impact Iwai's music had on their lives.

@FF_XIV_EN A small memorial for Eikichi Iwai on Omega (Chaos). Thank you for everything, Iwai-san. Your final performance at Tokyo Fan Fest was incredible Chaos DC・オメガでイワイエイキチさんを偲ぶ小さな集まりを開きます。 イワイさん、ありがとう。東京ファンフェスでの最後の演奏最高でした https://t.co/2204TnVxIU

— Lorenzo (@_kefka_) November 11, 2026

Somehow some people are still here 7 hours later (I've just been doing other stuff)

I'll just leave my character here overnight as I'm going to sleep if anyone wants to continue the memorial feel free to come here at Ultima Thule, Sephirot, Materia DC

#THEPRIMALS #ffxiv https://t.co/l0YB7Ny45Q

— Veridis (@VeridisArpegius) November 11, 2026

イワイエイキチさん

いつも素晴らしいエネルギッシュなLIVEをありがとうございました

イフリート鯖のイフリートの祭壇 (X35.2 Y19.8)の追悼の場からお悔やみ申し上げます

#FF14

#THEPRIMALS https://t.co/Mi2oJtMiS5

— おーびー (@IMPAWD) November 11, 2026

“This one truly hurts… Words just can't describe the shock and grief I'm feeling right now,” YouTuber and game composer Alex Moukala wrote. “FFXIV fans lost an absolute icon. Many bass players around the world lost a hero. And those who knew Eikichi-san personally lost an incredibly kind friend. Rest in peace, Eikichi-san.”

“Eikichi-san was an absolute legend. This is so sudden and devastating. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. May he rest in peace,” another fan said.

Iwai was 57 years old at the time of his death. He joined The Primals in 2014 and has been performing with the band ever since. The group held a concert at a Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in Tokyo, Japan on November 1, and further performances were planned for Chirinuruwowa — concerts that have since been canceled in the wake of this tragic news.

Image Credit: EllyRedacted, Twitter/X

The Witcher 3 is getting a new expansion more than 11 years after it first released, and due to a health issue experienced by Geralt's Polish voice actor, CD Projekt Red will be using an AI tool to modify his voice.

Jacek Rozenek, who voiced Geralt in The Witcher 3's Polish dub, will be returning to voice Geralt in Songs of the Past. Rozenek notably suffered a stroke back in 2019 that affected his voice. Thanks to modern technology, CD Projekt Red is able to use an AI voice modulator, Respeecher, to alter the actor's voice to match his 2014 lines, as noted by Game File.

According to the post, Rozenek's stroke left him unable to even speak for a while, and he only gained his voice back after a ton of rigorous training. He was able to return for a couple of quests in the Next-Gen update that came out back in 2022, but told Game File that he "was so exhausted after this recording." Still, CD Projekt Red wanted him to return for the new expansion, so it had to think outside the box.

The main problem was that, after everything Rozenek went through, his voice was noticably different than it was in 2014 when he recorded the bulk of Geralt's lines for the original game. Rozenek's voice is now much lower pitched than it used to be, which would make any new lines sound odd when played next to the older ones that are supposed to take place in the same time period. Hence, the need for Respeecher.

Respeecher's model was trained on all of Rozenek's lines from the original game, but it sounds like this was doing a lot more than just running his voice through a quick filter. When asked about the process, Respeecher synthetic speech artist Dmytro Vasylets told Game File that "getting there took dozens of hours, training models, going through the details with the CDPR team, and dealing with AI artifacts that never fully disappear."

CDPR got Rozenek's blessing to use the tool, who told Game File, "I have great trust… for the creators of this game," and that, "when it comes to the dynamics of the voice, when it comes to the acting aspects, I feel very good, really very good."

Still, CDPR is aware of the optics of using AI anywhere near a voice actor, and it stressed to Game File that this was a special case. CD Projekt Red localization producer Mikołaj Szwed told the publication that the company wouldn't be using any AI tools to alter someone's voice without the express permission of that voice actor.

Even for The Witcher 4, which Rozenek is expected to return for, the tool won't be needed, due to Geralt being older and more grizzled, so a deeper voice won't be so jarring.

But while this seems like a good use of AI, the technology is still extremely controversial in gaming. Last year, the Indie Game Awards stripped the Game of the Year award from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after AI-generated placeholder textures were found in the game. Players have also found AI-generated art in Crimson Desert, though it's since been patched out.

Rockstar Games appears to have released new footage from GTA 6, which also recreates the studio's real-life viral marketing in-game.

A new Instagram post from the account "Only in Dade" began to raise eyebrows earlier today, as it appeared to contain legitimate footage of GTA 6. The footage shows someone driving down Ocean Drive, recording a bunch of flashy cars lined up while people wander past. A second person on the sidewalk recorded the exact same video from a different perspective. Some fans think that the two people recording are Jason and Lucia, respectively, though the footage isn't clear enough to be able to confidently make that determination.

Many were wondering if this was AI footage or a render until Rockstar Games reposted it on its Instagram story and liked the video, indicating this is likely real in-game footage. The studio is very careful and calculated with what it chooses to post and interact with, so it isn't going around liking random AI-generated clips of its upcoming game.

However, what's even more interesting is that this footage directly recreates a real-life video from last month. Rockstar teamed up with West Coast Customs to bring cars from GTA 6 to real life and spent October parading them around the city of Miami. As a result, there were tons of videos and social media posts about these vehicles, and one has now seemingly been recreated in GTA 6. You can see the same people, including a person on a motorized scooter and a man taking pictures in front of one of the cars, all replicated in the GTA 6 footage above.

It's clear that Rockstar's marketing strategy has gotten extremely creative, and it's a bit of a flex to produce something that has many wondering if the visuals are too good to be true. Rockstar also pulled off a similar stunt a couple of weeks ago when it debuted a tiny bit of new gameplay during an episode of South Park. The footage wasn't advertised ahead of time, so people also thought that it might be AI-generated gameplay until Rockstar's name was discovered in the credits.

The hype for GTA 6 is currently at its peak, releasing in just one week. The launch represents the end of a 13-year journey for many fans, as Rockstar hasn't made a new GTA game since 2013. There was, of course, Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, which certainly helped tide some fans over... but that was still nearly a decade ago at this point.

Pre-loading has officially begun so fans can prepare for their trip to Vice City next week. Rockstar has also released new trailers, screenshots, and other marketing beats, which have created a flury of speculation over what may or may not be in the game. Thankfully, we won't have to wait much longer to find out.

Frost hasn't yet replaced New England's morning dew, but cold air is starting to settle in. Days feel short, and the sun sets before I've signed off from work for the day. I complain all summer about the heat, then want it back just as it starts to fade: Long, meandering days that are full of potential. It feels fitting – and maybe a bit ironic – that as soon as my mind (and maybe yours) starts wandering back to summer, Kyoto-based studio Denkiworks released its homage to summer in rural Japan with Tanuki: Pon's Summer. It's a game that feels just as warm as the summer depicted, and a nice reprieve from the looming cold.

Tanuki: Pon's Summer is set in an idyllic Japanese countryside that's centered around an aging shrine. Pon, the tanuki tasked with tending to it, let the shrine's grounds crumble while he ate chips and played video games. Tanuki gods bully Pon into getting his act together and fixing the shrine before a big festival. But that'll cost money, and money comes from a job. Pon's skills are limited, but he does have a BMX bike. To the post office it is! You play through a month of Pon's summer, delivering the island's mail to earn money to fix the shrine, and days are all marked on a calendar. Along the way, it so perfectly captures the lazy opportunity of summer in its moment-to-moment about a relaxed town.

The island is not big, but it's quite dense with several distinct, lively parts of town and Pon must figure out how to get around efficiently on his bike. (You can walk; Pon can't jump on foot, but can on his bike, so walking for even short distances is not effective.) Conveniently, the island is bike-friendly, especially BMX bike-friendly with the makings of a skatepark. So, delivering mail is not just a thing you do – it's the draw.

Each day, Pon picks up the mail from the post office, stacking them in a basket through a Tetris-like minigame that feels like a welcome ritual each in-game day. Then, he heads out. Tanuki: Pon's Summer is open-world in the sense that you can make deliveries in any order, but the storyline is linear. Some of the packages are simple dropoffs, but others have an activity or a storyline attached to them and to the people of the island. Among them are rival sushi and yakitori chefs, a creatively-stifled photographer, and a tough guy with a soft spot. All of these characters are delightfully weird, and their stories follow suit.

Those rival chefs, for instance, have some longstanding beef between each other, and aren't initially very nice to Pon, either. They know him as a lazy tanuki who let the shrine crumble, and throughout Pon's month as a mailman, their attitudes toward each other (and Pon!) soften. Pon's adventure, too, helps reunite an estranged father and daughter, who are both artisan makers. Tanuki: Pon's Summer may have Pon in the name, but it's hardly Pon's story that's being told. It's a charming one that's more focused on the relationships between people on the island and the community they make together.

Crucially, each of these island residents needs help with something, which is where Tanuki: Pon's Summer's minigames come in. And there are a lot, like skewering meat and veggies to make yakitori, stacking pieces of sushi to order, sanding logs, serving shaved ice and foamy beer, checking out customers at the convenience store, playing the drums for a local musician, hitting home runs at the local baseball field. Minigames like these (and a bunch others) mimic that sort of delight of childhood summers in which anything seemed possible. They're the sorts of small adventures that break up drifting days in the summer heat.

But not all of these minigames are as joyous, though. Several of them feel like a monotonous drag where Pon sands down logs at a snail's pace or another that forces Pon to cut down far too many bamboo stalks. Sure, we had to do chores on a summer break, but I resented some of the minigames for taking me away from the excitement of riding Pon's bike around town and many of the other things I'd have rather been doing.

You could put all sorts of descriptors on it, whether that's a mail delivery simulator, a BMX freestyle game, or a cooking game. And oftentimes, this approach brought a lot of whimsy and a steady variety from moment to moment. But there were a bit too many where I wanted Tanuki: Pon's Summer to let me get back to the thing I liked most about the game: Riding around on Pon's bike.

The core of Tanuki: Pon's Summer is getting from place to place on his bike while making an extreme sport out of it. He bunny hops over small cliffs, grinds down handrails, and pulls off tricks over gaps and soars over sunny rooftops. Tricks are simple enough to pull off by directional stick movements and button inputs while in air, but stringing them together for combos is a bit more tricky. Optional challenges dotted around the island offer a chance to test your skill, but otherwise the game doesn't ask Pon to prove himself, aside from the occasional request where a resident asks Pon to do some tricks, under a time limit, to reach a certain number of points. (All tricks amass points, which typically don't mean anything. It pops up on screen even if you're doing a barspin into a wheelie on your way to just deliver a model kit.) It doesn't necessarily need to ask, because the BMX freestyle itself is a blast. On deliveries, I longed for long stretches of road to see how far I could make Pon wheelie. I used helpfully placed ramps to look for new routes and bounced from roof top to roof top just to show off.

The worst of Tanuki: Pon's Summer's minigames either lingered for too long or felt dull compared to the fun of his bike. Although they are relatively short, those select minigames (emphasis on mini) dragged in a way that broke up the momentum I'd have from riding around town and doing tricks on my way to the next delivery. Most of them don't repeat – Pon is asked once, for instance, to balance and roll boulders through a tricky maze or to pour the perfect beers from a bar's tap. Once Pon's done, he's done. He's moved on to the next task, and whoever asked for his help won't ask him to do that particular chore again, but they may ask for some other sort of help.

The last piece of Tanuki: Pon's Summer to talk about is the shrine decor, which is entirely optional. People who enjoyed decorating their Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands may be drawn to this in particular. Slowly, more of the shrine opens up big, empty swaths of land you can decorate – up to you whether or not it's worthwhile. Pon collects decor and furniture from the quests he's set upon by islanders, but he can also purchase stuff from the kitsune lingering around. His overarching goal is about getting the shrine together for the big festival, but the decorating simulator felt extraneous for me. There's no real parameters here to guide the direction or to make the feature feel consequential in any way – it's just something to do. Again, it felt like a slower piece of the game that took me away from the parts I liked best.

Playing through Tanuki: Pon's Summer took about 10 hours. Most of this time was following the storyline, doing challenges, and messing around on the bike, but some of this time was redoing days lost from game-breaking pre-release bugs. The autosave feature is not so generous, and it'd be smart to make frequent use of the manual save feature in case bugs persist past the launch window.

Roblox mascot horror hit Dandy's World is finally leaving Alpha, with developer BlushCrunch Studio announcing that its massive 1.0 update will arrive on November 20, 2026, bringing a brand-new game mode, more than 10 new floors, and a hefty lump of lore for fans.

For the uninitiated, Dandy's World is a co-op survival horror game in which players take control of adorable characters known as Toons and work together to survive increasingly dangerous floors of the abandoned Gardenview Center. Naturally, there's a catch: the building is crawling with monstrous creatures called Twisteds, and surviving means completing objectives while avoiding a particularly unpleasant fate.

Since launching in Alpha more than two years ago, Dandy's World has become one of Roblox's breakout horror hits, racking up over 7 billion lifetime plays and building an enormous community around its cast of more than 40 playable Toons. Now, BlushCrunch Studio is giving the game a mega update.

The headline addition in the 1.0 update is Dandy's World's first-ever new game mode, offering a more challenging alternative to the familiar survival experience. This includes an entirely new path through Gardenview Center, with more than 10 additional floors taking players into the building's deepest and darkest areas.

There are also new gameplay systems to contend with, including a card system and a new coordinator NPC whose decision-making algorithm reacts and adapts to how players approach each run. Exactly how these systems will work remains to be seen, but they should introduce some interesting new wrinkles to the game's cooperative survival formula.

"Even though this 1.0 update brings us out of Alpha, this is just the beginning for Dandy's World. We have so much more planned for next year, on Roblox and beyond," said Joe Jurbala, president of BlushCrunch Studio.

For fans who are more interested in uncovering the mysteries of Gardenview than simply surviving them, the update also includes over 10,000 words of new lore and dialogue. It'll explore the origins of the Gardenview Center and the events leading up to the mysterious Malfunction Incident, potentially answering some of the questions that have kept the game's fans theorizing like conspiracy theorists.

And BlushCrunch isn't stopping at the game itself. On November 19, the day before the update launches, the studio will release the full theme song for the fictional Dandy's World animated series across music streaming platforms. Fans are also getting a fully animated music video introducing a brand-new character, alongside the return of Dandy's World's annual month-long Christmas event.

The most recent GTA 6 trailer has many people wondering if an iconic character from a previous game in the franchise is making a return.

In the latest GTA 6 trailer, released yesterday to announce pre-loads, a character in a blue tank top and bulky black glasses is seen saying, "Oh, it is so on now." This is seemingly the first time we've seen this mystery character in GTA 6, and there may be a reason for that. Some fans believe this is an older and slightly chubbier Tony Prince (AKA Gay Tony). The character made his debut in GTA 4 and appeared in both DLCs, but was the focus of The Ballad of Gay Tony expansion. In that story, players filled the shoes of Luis, Tony's right-hand man. Tony Prince was a prominent nightclub owner in Liberty City, but he has since bounced around.

Why does this guy actually kinda look and sound like Tony? I’m losing my mind, similar glasses, beard and very similar voice.

There’s no way he let himself go and moved to the keys right? https://t.co/NH1Ltr7I93

— TGG (@TGGonYT) November 11, 2026

Tony moved to Los Santos years later and returned in a GTA Online update, giving missions to the player as part of the game's nightclub operations. Now, some fans believe he may have moved to Vice City/Leonida, though he may have fallen on hard times. He looks more out of shape, he's missing his high-end sense of style, minus the glasses, and he doesn't appear to be living it up in a highrise apartment or anything like that.

The character has the same style of beard, glasses, and has a similar voice to Tony, but it's hard to say if it really is him. It could be someone who somewhat resembles him, but the speculation is driving some fans mad. GTA 6 will lean pretty heavily on Vice City's nightlife, with clubbing being prominently featured in the trailers released by Rockstar (including the pre-load ad). One of the in-game clubs, known as Jack of Hearts, is also expected to be a haven for celebrities and real-life musicans. Travis Scott namedropped it in his song, RHYNO, which will be featured in the game, and a screenshot revealed Kodak Black will hang out there as an NPC.

Naturally, it would make tons of sense for GTA's nightclub king to be part of the festivities in Vice City. We'll ultimately just have to wait and see, but thankfully, we are only days away from finding out. We have just a week left until GTA 6 launches, and it looks like it's going to make a big splash. The game is currently the most pre-ordered game in the history of the Xbox and PlayStation digital stores, suggesting all kinds of sales records will be broken next weekend.

The Ocarina of Time Remake is taking over social media as players share their experiences traversing through the well-worn paths of Hyrule three decades after the first game was released — but it’s got a few new features that are sending fans into a tizzy.

For one, the new Ocarina remake has an option that lets players use the Nintendo Switch 2’s built-in microphone to hum, whistle, sing, or play an actual instrument to produce the tunes that Link plays on his Ocarina, rather than pushing corresponding buttons on the console’s controller. This feature isn’t exactly fine-tuned, as players have uploaded oodles of videos showing themselves singing completely different songs that somehow seem to work.

One of these humorous videos has gone viral on social media, leaving players totally shocked that it actually gets the intended result. On Twitter/X, a user named ‘Rubix’ discovered that a well-known meme from Family Guy is close enough to Epona’s Song that it actually summons Link’s trusty steed.

As it turns out, saying, “Petah, the horse is here,” in the voice of Lois Griffin while the game is in microphone mode gets recognized as Epona’s Song, allowing you to successfully call your pony. It’s worth noting that the console matches a specific song to the tune of whatever you’re singing or humming (or, in this case, saying in a nasally Long Island accent), provided it’s a close enough match — and apparently, this famous line was a dead ringer for Epona’s Song.

It’s not just a one-off, either; one half of the content creator duo 'BungleDungle' also tried this trick and was left totally stunned after it worked for him, too.

For those out of the loop, this meme comes from Season 7, Episode 8 of Family Guy, which aired in 2009. In the episode, Peter buys a brain-damaged racehorse at an auction. In the specific scene being referenced, the horse peeks its head into the dining room as the Griffin family is having dinner, prompting Lois to say, “Petah, the horse is here.”

IT ACTUALLY DID https://t.co/ejF1c6rtys

— BungleDungle_YT - TheOnePhun211🇨🇦🇮🇹🇵🇭 (@BungleDungle_YT) November 11, 2026

It’s a fairly innocuous line that has become an in-joke for Family Guy fans over the years, eventually evolving into a meme that continues to live on nearly 20 years later.

Other hilarious clips from players saying wild things into their Nintendo Switch 2’s microphones have also gone viral, like this video from streamer Lythero saying “Mark Zuckerberg” into the mic in a vague approximation of the Song of Passing that actually got recognized as the short ditty, turning night to day.

So you can sing songs to your controller and it's the best streamer gag

https://t.co/qIU0Oai1C0 https://t.co/bPxqzecs9U

— Lythero 🎮 (@Lythero) November 9, 2026

The Ocarina of Time remake has been a standout success for Nintendo, selling over five million copies in just four days. It’s also garnered rave reviews from both fans and critics alike, with IGN’s Logan Plant scoring the game a glowing 9 out of 10, praising it for “skillfully melding the world and dungeon design of classic Zeldas with the movement and presentation of its more recent games, creating both a beautiful retelling of a legend and a rich adventure that stands on its own.”

Rockstar isn't ruling out a GTA set outside the United States, but don't hold your breath: the studio says there are plenty more stories to tell in America.

In an interview with The Guardian, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson was asked whether or not the developer would ever make a GTA game set outside of America. His response was simple: "Never say never." However, Nelson continued his response by stating, "There’s still so much to do in America."

The GTA series has largely rotated between three locations for the last 25 years: Liberty City (New York), Vice City (Miami), and San Andreas (California). We got a brief glimpse at the Midwest of GTA in GTA 5, when the game's story opened in a snowy state called North Yankton. But that's about as much as we've gotten outside of the coastal cities that GTA rotates through. It's unclear what else Rockstar wants to do with GTA, specifically the American setting.

GTA has flirted with going overseas before, as Rockstar came close to making one set in Japan in the early to mid-2000s. The first GTA also had an expansion set in London, and GTA 5 seemingly had scrapped DLC that would've at least partially taken place in Paris. Ex-GTA writer and creative director Dan Houser also stated last year that he doesn't think GTA would work as well outside of America.

"I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else," said Houser. "You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider's perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn't really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”

Maybe one day it will happen, but it does seem like Rockstar's interests with GTA are rooted in American culture.

GTA 6 will, of course, take us back to Vice City next week when it launches on November 19. It is expected to have one of the biggest launches in history, with it already being the most preordered game in the history of Xbox and PlayStation's digital stores. Players are able to preload the game right now, and they absolutely should, as the game is a whopping 210 GBs.

If there's one thing that's true about any version of World of Warcraft, it's that Blizzard loves hiding convoluted quest chains behind mundane objects, the first of which has been found in WoW Forever.

If you've started a Skyborne character in Forever, you've probably completed a quest that rewarded you with an 'Ancient Heirloom' ring with no stats, and wondered why it even exists. Well, it turns out that it kicks off a whole hidden quest chain if you know where to look.

This secret was discovered by the WoW Secret Finding and Collections Discord, and it involves getting that ring, finding a sword hilt that only shows up when you're using a specific torch, then finding a blade with a random location and then finding and cleansing a 'Befouled Water Globe.' The community has put together a guide on Wowhead of the known steps so far, but there's a catch – it doesn't seem like anyone has actually finished the little scavenger hunt yet.

As of this morning, folks in the WoW Secret Finding Discord are still actively trying to see what gets unlocked at the end of this convoluted chain, but for now, the community is calling it the "Dawn Waker Secret" and seems to believe it revolves around a couple of swords: Eluvi'ana and Eluvi'tor.

As part of the process, you'll end up with a sword that you need to cleanse, and to do that, you'll need to clear the Capital Gardens section of Dire Maul and talk to Prince Tortheldrin, whose dialog hints that "such knowledge is reserved by those honored in my royal court." And, in classic WoW fashion, this probably means a lengthy rep grind is needed.

According to admin Miko in the WoW Secret Finding Discord, "Our most recent discoveries hint us that the rewards for this chain will involve the swords of Eluvi'ana and Eluvi'tor. The most recent step points us to a rep grind with the Shendralar Faction, as Prince Tortheldrin in Dire Maul tells us that only those Honored with his court are worthy enough to obtain the knowledge about these blades."

Depending on how long it takes players to actually get Honored with the Shendralar faction, it might be a while before the final reward is actually revealed. But there are hundreds of players in this Discord channel working on the secret, so it's only a matter of time.

We're still in the early days of WoW Forever, after all, and it's been a massively successful launch. And as more players start to get to max level, more secrets are sure to pop up in the world. After all, while World of Warcraft takes a lot of queues from Classic WoW, the developers have added a ton of content, so who knows how many secrets have been buried in the corners of Azeroth?

Bethesda has issued an official response to fans expecting a major announcement for The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel at some point today.

In a post from the company's official account on reddit, Bethesda said it had seen the growing speculation among its fans that today, November 11, would bring more details on Sentinel, hot on the heels of the game's subtitle and logo reveal just last week.

Alas, today will not be when we find out more about the game, Bethesda has now said — pouring cold water on hopes that we would see more of the Hammerfell-set role-player anytime soon.

Despite being announced eight years ago, Sentinel is reportedly still two years away from launch — at least. We don't even know which platforms it will launch on (could it be an Xbox Helix launch title?) or whether it will be an Xbox console exclusive. Of course, that hasn't stopped Bethesda already beginning to sell Sentinel merch.

"Hey everyone, wanted to pop in to say that we aren't going to have any big announcements tomorrow," Bethesda wrote overnight (tomorrow meaning today, November 11). "We're excited you're excited but we will not be sharing anything new on Sentinel for some time."

Response to that statement is unsurprisingly a little mixed, with some fans commenting that they appreciate the clarity from Bethesda, while others joking that it will be another eight years before we see anything more of the game.

Of course, November 11 is an important date in the minds of The Elder Scrolls fans. It is the original release date for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, all the way back in 2011 (memorably, on 11/11/11). 15 years on, you can see why some had hoped Bethesda might have more to say today — but alas that is not set to be the case.

For those wanting to read more Sentinel today, however, IGN has you covered. We've got a deep dive on what Sentinel actually means based on The Elder Scrolls lore, and why Sentinel's in-universe quote teaser is sparking particular timeline speculation. We also have a roundup of former Bethesda design director Bruce Nesmith's wishes for Sentinel, whenever the long-awaited game does finally arrive.

For the longest time in World of Warcraft, when you finished a quest at max level, the experience you would earn would get converted to gold. But in WoW Forever, Blizzard killed off that conversion, and has now added a fix.

The experience-to-gold conversion for quests completed at high level has been a part of WoW for nearly 20 years, to the point where a lot of players rely on it to build up some cash when they hit max level, especially in the Classic versions of the game. But, when WoW Forever launched last week, that conversion was missing, and now that players are starting to hit level 60, they're starting to feel that loss of gold.

Thankfully, Blizzard community manager Kaivax has posted on the WoW forum to say a hotfix will go live "in the next 24 hours or so" to help high level players earn a little bit of gold. Rather than converting experience to gold, Blizzard will buff the gold rewarded for high level quests, regardless of what level you are.

According to Kaivax: "We’re preparing a hotfix that will add additional gold rewards to most quests with a quest level of level 48 or higher, including adding gold to quests above level 48 that never previously rewarded gold at all. The idea here is that you should feel good about doing quests at the appropriate level to progress your character, and you should feel adequately rewarded with gold for doing so."

But why change that experience-gold conversion in the first place? Well, according to Kaivax, that conversion "created an incentive for players to hold a full quest log worth of completed quests to hand in after hitting level 60 for maximum gold returns. Under those conditions, the optimal way for players to level to 60 was to simply grind creatures for XP and not hand in quests at all, which is not a design we want to retain in WoW: Forever."

Kaivax's post was in a thread where players were complaining about not being able to earn gold from quests. The original post was from Faze, who said four days ago that "the change to not give additional gold in exchange for EXP at 60 needs to be reverted. Quests are basically useless at 60 if they don’t have a reward. This was one of the easy ways to make gold to afford spells and mounts. This is a horrible design and change. It feels good to complete quests and now this just feels BAD at 60. Change this back ASAP."

Before Kaivax posted, nearly 100 replies deep, there were a ton of players who were essentially saying that they'd stop playing the game over this. Player Glôwstick said, "This is a deal breaker for me, wont be playing any more until this is reverted," while Rackjaw commented, "WoW Forever devs seem to be obsessed with 'fixing' things that aren’t broken."

However, players seem to have changed their tune immediately after Kaivax's response. Danni said: "Nice change. Quests giving consistent gold whether you do them at 59 or 60 makes sense, and doesn’t punish people for handing them in 'too soon.'"

There are some players that are skeptical about the change. For instance, Jalesanda posted: "I will withhold putting the pitch forks away for now until we see how much gold this is, and how it compares. But it’s put down, for now."

This change really does highlight the philosophy that the WoW Forever team is taking with the new game mode, though. While there are players who probably want a 1:1 copy of Classic, Forever will make changes as long as they stay within the 'spirit' of the game. That's why, for instance, the devs held the line on group tagging, but had no problem adding some quests like the beloved 'Kyle's Gone Missing' or changing how dungeon experience is earned.

And as more players start to reach max level, the initial design of WoW Forever is going to be pushed to its limits, and we'll just have to see the extent of changes that Blizzard is going to be willing to make. Right now, WoW Forever is kind of like a blank canvass, and while I've been given some hints of where the game might go in the future, I can't wait to see the unique path Forever takes. And this experience to gold conversion change is really just the first of many changes I'm sure we're going to see.

Every few months, some YouTube channel will upload a video essay asking why we continue to play Skyrim more than a decade after release. Virtually all of them come to the same conclusion: at this point, what keeps us coming back for more isn’t the gameplay, or the story, or the seemingly never-ending wait for The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel, but the coziness of its setting.

At a glance, this makes perfect sense. After all, many of us no longer play Skyrim to progress the narrative or complete quests, but simply to spend time in its world. And yet, if you really think about it, it’s also kind of strange. Many cozy games are devoid of danger or pressure, and sport a warm, colorful, often cartoonish look. Skyrim, on the other hand, is dark fantasy 101, its lands frozen over and filled with scary, pointy things that can and will kill you if given the chance.

Sure, some use mods that remove enemies, shake up mechanics, and even clear up the weather, making the game look and feel more similar to cozy favorites like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. However, I don’t think I’m alone when I say that – to me – the base game already feels incredibly cozy as it is, dragons and all. For many years I’ve wondered why. And this month, in honor of Skyrim’s 15th anniversary, I took a stab at finding answers.

While researching, it quickly became clear that most of the common reasons for Skyrim’s coziness do not hold up to scrutiny. Yes, the game’s awe-inspiring landscapes and Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack definitely play a role, but I believe it’s only a supporting one. Otherwise, why would I feel a similar kind of coziness playing games like Bioshock or Batman: Arkham City, which look and sound completely different?

“Nostalgia,” you might say, and many do. But that doesn’t quite cut it either. While the world of Skyrim has indeed become like an old friend, and booting up the game reminds me of the carefree teenage years that coincided with my initial playthrough, the coziness I feel today is – for the most part – the same coziness I remember feeling back then.

The nostalgia factor connects to another, and in my opinion equally insufficient explanation: player competence. The more we play a game, the better we get, and the easier, less threatening, and therefore cozier said game should become. Again, not my experience. For me, playing with a heavily underleveled character, so that even the most ordinary enemy encounter becomes an existential threat, actually makes the game feel more cozy, not less. Strange right?

Not really, it turns out. While early reports on the design of cozy games connected coziness to an absence of danger, today we understand the relationship to be a bit more complicated. In an article about the rise of “dark” cozy games like Dredge and Cult of the Lamb, which play around with mechanics that scare, stress, or unsettle, Polish media scholar Agata Waszkiewicz argued that danger and coziness don’t necessarily cancel each other out. Quite the contrary, designers can in fact use one to amplify the other.

“Coziness is a tricky concept to define,” Waszkiewicz tells IGN, “so we often do it by juxtaposing it with something that clearly is not cozy. There’s a reason everyone always talks about being wrapped up in a blanket, drinking tea or hot cocoa, while it is pouring outside. That contrast between outside and inside makes coziness more pronounced and easier to grasp.”

“A cabin feels warm because of the blizzard,” agrees Rachel Kowert, a research psychologist who specializes in games and mental health. The psychology of cozy games make her think of something called Prospect-Refuge theory, which basically argues that people are evolutionarily “drawn to spaces where we can see out over the world while also being sheltered from it.”

FromSoftware games have clear equivalents of prospect-refuge points in the forms of bonfires, lamps, and sites of grace: locations that shield players from enemies, even when they’re standing right beside you, while also allowing you to level up, replenish resources, and prepare for the journey ahead. Our prehistoric ancestors would have surely been able to relate.

Skyrim may not have bonfires, but its world likewise contains plenty of places where players are in proximity to yet safe from threats. Think of when you’re passing over one of the province’s many mountaintops and see a dragon flying overhead, or a giant herding his mammoths down below. For me, these are precisely the moments when the game’s world strikes me as most peaceful, and Soule’s soundtrack most relaxing.

Mark Teare, an effects artist who has since left Bethesda and is now working on a cozy game of his own, can think of another reason for why Skyrim evokes such strong feelings of coziness in players: ants. Yes, there are ants in this game, and Teare is the one who put them there, despite Bethesda’s initial protests.

“My boss saw them and was like, ‘No one is ever going to see them. Why are we wasting time on this?’” he tells IGN. “But for me they were a big deal, precisely because they were so small. Once you notice them, the world just feels so much bigger. You wonder: how many other things am I walking by and not even seeing?”

This rationale touches on a number of things that are integral to cozy game design, including presence and connection. Cozy games often encourage players to slow down and appreciate things that in other types of games they might overlook or take for granted. Details like Teare’s insects also create a sense of intimacy. Not with other players, but with the developers: “These little details didn’t need to be there, but their presence shows players that we cared, and they feel that.”

Soule once said a very similar thing, stating in an old interview that he wanted the game’s music to be a constant companion. His goal wasn’t to feed into the game’s power fantasy, but make the player “not feel alone” and “like there’s meaning to what they’re doing.” Whether you’re an expert on Elder Scrolls lore or not, his ethereal soundtrack gives you a sense that some or other god is watching over you, and that – despite the chaos of civil war and the coming of Alduin – everything in this world is fundamentally in harmony.

Speaking to Teare, I stumbled upon my third and perhaps most compelling explanation for Skyrim’s coziness: the fact that Bethesda didn’t intend for the game to feel cozy at all. “I was down in the trenches, so I’m not sure what the big, big plans were,” he says, “but I don’t remember any discussion or mandate or anything, and none of us were actively thinking about coziness while working.”

During our conversation, Teare brought up ASMR – a sensation closely related to coziness, and hugely influential to his ongoing projects. While there are lots of successful ASMR content creators out there, many aficionados will tell you that the most potent ASMR is created unintentionally. “When someone is trying hard, it feels manufactured,” says Teare. In his opinion, the best “ASMRtists” are “really good actors” that make what they’re doing seem natural even though it’s not.

You could make a similar argument about coziness, and I think mine is pretty solid. Research on cozy game design often mentions words like the Danish hygge and Dutch gezelligheid, both of which are frequently translated into English as coziness. As a Dutch person, I can say with authority that gezelligheid isn’t something you can just force into existence. Like at a great party where everyone gets along with everyone, true gezelligheid happens when the stars align, and everything feels alright in the world – all without you having to do anything…kind of like when you’re playing Skyrim, right?

As Waszkiewicz said, coziness is tricky to define. Not only because what constitutes as cozy differs from person to person, but also because no two games are cozy in the exact same way. I’m not trying to have the final word on this subject. My only goal was to try to articulate what makes Skyrim cozy to me, and what sets this coziness apart from other games. If you feel differently, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear.

Tim Brinkhof is a freelance writer specializing in art and history. After studying journalism at NYU, he has gone on to write for Vox, Vulture, Slate, Polygon, GQ, Esquire and more.

Tekken development legend Katsuhiro Harada had some strong comments for Microsoft's lower-powered Xbox Series S console, dubbing it a "weaker child" with "awkwardly lower performance."

A number of video game developers have struggled with the Xbox Series S while following Microsoft's feature parity rules across Xbox Series consoles. Baldur's Gate 3 famously came to Xbox a few months late and required the help of Microsoft's engineers to get the game's split-screen co-op working on Series S. More recently, the developer of breakout shooter Wardogs admitted that the limitations of the Xbox Series S had stopped it from adding certain things to the game.

Indeed, one of the questions facing Microsoft ever since the release of the Xbox Series S back in 2020 is whether it would be willing to allow developers and publishers to release a game on Xbox Series X only, leaving Xbox Series S behind. As it stands, Xbox mandates that video games launch on both or none at all, and that there should be main feature parity between each version.

In a roundtable discussion held at the Console Game Developers Conference in Korea, Harada slammed the Series S and attempted to encourage Cyberpunk 2077 associate game director Paweł Sasko to join in the pile-on, too.

"There's something I really want to say while I have the floor," Harada began (thanks, Inven Global), "since a senior Xbox official is actually in attendance here today, I wish hardware like the Xbox Series S wouldn't be released (laughs)."

Throughout his years in charge of Tekken, Harada has become known as a colorful character happy to express his opinions freely. And, to be fair, it sounds like Harada made the comment knowing he was being rather cheeky. But the developer then continued to explain his position further — and have Sasko back him up, following reports that CD Projekt struggled with Cyberpunk 2077's Series S version.

"I want to ask director Paweł personally," Harada continued. "Honestly, weren't you upset inside because of Series S?"

"It constantly throws challenges at us and forces us to optimize our code very cleanly," Sasko responded, appearing to tiptoe around the subject.

"You just used a very polite and elegant way to say 'Xbox Series S sucks,' right?" Harada ploughed on. "Low memory is an issue, but the hardest part is that it's a device so similar to Series X while having awkwardly lower performance. When porting to Switch 2, developers can shift their mindset to 'Switch 2 is a distinct device for Nintendo fans!' But with Xbox, after delivering your absolute best output, it feels like having to do extra work for a slightly weaker child."

Gosh. Tell us what you really think, Harada!

"Furthermore," he continued further, "in markets like the U.S., there are more Series S users than Series X users, so we can't just cut corners. Yet after launch, Series S users direct their complaints at us developers rather than Microsoft, asking 'Why is texture resolution lower only on Series S?'"

While Harada's comments will likely not come as a shock to many developers who have been tasked with releasing games across the Xbox Series family this generation, it is rare to hear someone of Harada's prominence discussing the Series S' drawbacks out loud.

In response — and in a continued attempt to not say anything that would get him in trouble — Sasko acknowledged that such Series S drawbacks were real, but that the console also offered a lot of positives. Its more affordable price point meant that developers could get their games played by a wider audience, Sasko offered, while opimtization breakthroughs initially made for Series S had also benefited Cyberpunk 2077 across all platforms.

Acknowledging Sasko's more positive take, Harada concluded that he was now worried Microsoft would "feel reassured and release a successor like 'Helix S' for the next-gen Xbox as well (laughs)."

Will Xbox release a lower-powered Helix console? It's unclear. After earlier reports that suggested the new console was reportedly targeting a holiday 2027 launch, more recent estimates have pointed to a 2028 launch for the machine — at an eyewatering $1,200 - $1,800 price point. Maybe that will make Harada reconsider?

The future of Mass Effect could be secured with a key learning from the beloved Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a former BioWare veteran has suggested.

In the days since EA announced it was shutting down its storied RPG game studio and killing its in-development Mass Effect Universe project, discussion has turned to the costs behind creating another AAA-budget entry in BioWare's space opera series, following a report that EA decided to invest in Star Wars instead.

Last week, BioWare co-founder Trent Oster suggested that EA would likely have been on the hook for at least $200 million in development costs to finish Mass Effect Universe at a level that fans expected.

"Rough ballpark (based on contemporaries) is $200m+," Oster wrote on X/Twitter. "That is a big number to commit up front. There has to be a bigger plan in place for the IP to make the math work." (To be fair, there is still that Mass Effect TV series in the works. And there certainly won't be any bigger plan in place for the IP if its flagship next game is cancelled.)

Now, Mass Effect lead programmer Christina Norman has said the game could be made for around $50 million — a figure that is five times the budget spent by the makers of Clair Obscur.

Highlighting a report on the French-made RPG's overall budget, which was pegged at less than $10 million, Norman wrote on X/Twitter that this was "a good example of why I think another Mass Effect game could be made for well under 200 million.

"I mean 5x the budget of Claire obscure expedition 33 should be more than enough," she continued. "You can always spend more but clever small teams can get it done."

Norman spent more than six years at BioWare working on the original Mass Effect trilogy, firstly as a lead programmer responsible for creating the franchise's conversation system, before moving on to become lead designer for Mass Effect 2 and 3, working to improve the series' gameplay.

In the years since, Norman served stints at Riot Games and her own co-founded startup, before becoming a full-time machine learning engineering consultant focused on LLM-directed character conversations. Still, there's no suggestion that LLM technology would be needed to turn in Mass Effect Universe on a smaller budget.

Even Oster has said he believed a new Mass Effect could be made for "cheaper" than $200m, though it "wouldn’t be what the team described in the Universe concept," he wrote in a follow-up post. Alas, Oster also highlighted another big blocker to a new Mass Effect being made — that EA still owns the franchise's rights, and may never want to give them up, even if it's not actively using them. "The big push would be getting the IP free," he concluded. "The fans deserve more."

Last week's annual N7 Day celebration of the Mass Effect franchise featured the Normandy's cast and crew teaming up for a video message asking fans to help save Mass Effect. This followed an array of footage and details for the canceled Mass Effect Universe appearing online, and a petition for EA to reconsider its decision which has gained more than 325,000 signatures. A Canadian politician also started a government petition to save BioWare just last week.

Nintendo has defended its decision to scrub the secret appearance of Mario characters from its The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

Hidden away inside Hyrule Castle, the game's original 1998 version included a wall of portraits that featured Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Yoshi artwork taken from Super Mario 64.

Visit the same area in Nintendo's newly-launched Switch 2 version, however, and all references to the Mushroom Kingdom have been removed. On a similar note, a selection of Zelda: Twilight Princess artwork has also been cut, having been snuck in when Ocarina of Time was re-released on 3DS.

Now, Nintendo has addressed its choice to remove these Easter eggs — and said that what was once a more "carefree" approach within Nintendo to referencing other games has been reconsidered.

"Certainly, at the time, when we put those there, I don't think anybody thought it was too big a deal," legendary Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma told Game Informer. "Maybe there was a more carefree or comfortable approach to that sort of thing.

"But looking at it now... given the overall way that we're creating this world and giving the player that form of expression, if they look up and they think, 'Why is Yoshi there?' We don't want that moment to interrupt their experience of the world in that way. So we're feeling a little bit differently about it this time."

While some fans might feel like it's a shame to see this more carefree attitude to Easter eggs is gone, it's fair to point out that Mario 64 Easter eggs (or Skyward Sword ones, for that matter) would make less sense today. Mario 64 was launched on the same platform as Ocarina of Time, of course, while Skyward Sword was released contemporaneously with the game's 3DS port. (Maybe Switch 2 just needs a new Mario game to actually arrive?)

"I do remember at the time the designers on the 3DS version were really interested in placing Easter Eggs like that throughout the game," Aonuma continued, "and the timing of the release of Skyward Sword was such that it was perfect to go ahead and include that... [But] you don't want to interrupt the player's experience by seeing something that's unrelated to what they're currently doing in the game. So for that reason, we decided not to go that way."

"No hard feelings there," commented Skyward Sword director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who returned as a producer for this remake.

And one Mario reference does still survive via Talon — a character who is an obvious nod to Mario with his bushy moustache, plus red and blue overalls. Check out his necklace, and you'll see his golden Bowser charm remains intact, all these years later.

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has previously discussed the idea of the company's different franchises crossing over, and said that he wasn't a fan — except when it is Pikmin, which he wants to include wherever possible.

Earlier today, Nintendo revealed that Ocarina of Time had already shifted 5.2 million copies and become the Switch 2's fastest-selling game so far. Meanwhile, players have been having fun in-game by performing everything from Linkin Park to the Titanic theme on ocarina.

You can read our review of the game here, or check out our look at the Biggest Changes from the original 1998 game. Be sure to check out our expanding Ocarina of Time Remake Walkthrough for comprehensive guides on each main quest area and dungeon, plus where to get Early Heart Pieces, Early Gold Skulltulas, and Early Item Bag Expansions. If you’re looking for more, don’t miss our complete guides to All Pieces of Heart, All Gold Skulltulas, and All Empty Bottles!

The much anticipated remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched on November 5, and one feature has fast become a big hit: the fact that you can now play any tune you like on Link’s ocarina. Now, social media has become awash with players sharing the results.

People are tackling tunes from other video game series like Final Fantasy, anime such as Dragon Ball Z, and film scores including Titanic and The Lord of the Rings. Users often put a pun in the post, usually involving Link or Hyrule.

Over on X, @StevenxTCG got Link to play Linkin Park’s ‘In the End’ on the ocarina. The post proved unexpectedly popular, prompting him to follow up with a guide on how to play it yourself. On a more upbeat note, another poster responded with ‘Macarena of Time,’ their take on the '90s dance craze.

Okay, you guys wanted the notes so here they are. I also made a video so you can follow along lol

L - A - A - R - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - R



L - A - A - R - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - R

L - A - A - R - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - UP+L - R - L (hold) https://t.co/BIY5vhPSPx

— Steven 💎 (@StevenxTCG) November 7, 2026

I see your Link-in Park and raise you Macarena of Time https://t.co/tOquHvAKFa

— chefspin (@chef_spin) November 8, 2026

Themes from other games also proved popular. @KOPPE_lunix posted their rendition of the emotional tearjerker ‘To Zanarkand’ from Final Fantasy 10 and also shared some guidance on how to play. Video game lecturer Dr. T. Wade Langer (aka ProfNoctis) posted a duet of Link and Cloud playing Final Fantasy 7’s main theme, adding that “I want music minigames in every game now.” Another popular choice was Kingdom Hearts’ Dearly Beloved.

時オカのオカリナで

♪ザナルカンドにて/ファイナルファンタジー10 https://t.co/5TEPMNHh1Q

— Koppe@いなかモン (@KOPPE_lunix) November 8, 2026

Main theme of FF7, as performed by my favorites. https://t.co/zel7RWX0cG

— ProfNoctis (@ProfNoctis) November 7, 2026

Link plays Dearly Beloved in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ✨ https://t.co/CYM5kyG3N0

— KHWorld (@KHWorldWeb) November 7, 2026

More recent games also got some love, with players having a go at everything from Death Stranding’s BB’s theme to Kirby Air Riders’ main theme song Starlit Journey.

エアライダー https://t.co/0jfe0STvNI

— 五本木 葵 (@Gohongi_04) November 7, 2026

I played BB's theme from Death Stranding on the ocarina in Ocarina of Time

#OcarinaOfTime #DEATHSTRANDING https://t.co/UdVPNZThdd

— Jaymire (@set71374) November 8, 2026

Other users tried their hand at movie soundtracks. The main theme from Titanic was a popular choice, as were The Lord of The Rings movies. Naturally, Howard Shore’s ‘Concerning Hobbits’ from The Fellowship of the Ring became ‘Concerning Hylians.’

My Magnum Opus

Concerning Hylians https://t.co/h8V5Kpxkhv

— Il Seven lI (@MGylseth) November 7, 2026

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Titanic https://t.co/cji4tJti8q

— VideoArtGame (@VideoArtGame) November 7, 2026

Among Japanese players, store and supermarket jingles seem to be particularly popular, probably because their simple melodies are suited to the ocarina. One user tackled ‘Yobikomi-kun,’ a catchy ditty well-known to anyone who has spent time wandering supermarket aisles in Japan. Even discount store Don Quijote (where you can buy all manner of normal and bizarre things) got a rendition of its earworm jingle for the ‘Hyrule branch.’

呼び込みリンクくん

#NintendoSwitch2

#ゼルダの伝説 #時のオカリナ https://t.co/s2zHxJphHY

— あっちぇれらんど (@accelerando_xx) November 6, 2026

ドン・キホーテ　ハイラル店

#NintendoSwitch2

#ゼルダの伝説 #時のオカリナ https://t.co/VAs5MvOpTN

— 2KADA. (@_2KADA) November 8, 2026

Some users also tried playing Japan’s national anthem, prompting comments and jokes about how Link must be part of the Hojo samurai clan, because their crest closely resembles the triangles of the Triforce in Zelda.

生まれがどうにも怪しい時の勇者

#時のオカリナ https://t.co/M87OjkcsXh

— なぁーづる (@nazuru_1816wind) November 7, 2026

Perhaps predicting this trend, Nintendo also released an official Playable Ocarina. This physical replica of Link’s musical instrument comes with the added bonus that it can also be used with the game. If you play a melody towards the Switch 2’s microphone, Link in the game will play along with you.

Of course, playing songs on Link’s ocarina is also a game mechanic. By finding and learning songs, Link can do all manner of useful things like fast travel and solve puzzles. Check out our guide if you are struggling to find any of the 13 in-game songs.

Nintendo has announced Ocarina of Time has sold an impressive 5.2 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling Switch 2 game after just four days on sale. You can read our review of the game here, or check out our look at the Biggest Changes from the original 1998 game. Be sure to check out our expanding Ocarina of Time Remake Walkthrough for comprehensive guides on each main quest area and dungeon, plus where to get Early Heart Pieces, Early Gold Skulltulas, and Early Item Bag Expansions. If you’re looking for more, don’t miss our complete guides to All Pieces of Heart, All Gold Skulltulas, and All Empty Bottles!

Released in summer this year for Switch 2, after its unsurprising but still cool shadow drop last year for other systems, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has been surprisingly difficult to track down for Switch 2, at least for the physical edition release.

Most retailers are entirely out of stock of the game right now, in-store and online, and the scarcity has even been driving up the price for buying the game second-hand or from a third-party seller.

Take a look at eBay right now, and most copies of the Switch 2 Deluxe Edition (the only version that is available for the console) are listed for $80 or more. That's $20 over the MSRP.

But fortune favors the brave, or the patient, among us. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Deluxe Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 is back in stock and available to purchase again online.

Amazon has listed the game as being "discounted" from $89.97 because of scarcity over the past few months. Listed at $59.99, the intended MSRP, there's no telling how long stock is expected to last. So, if you've been holding out and waiting to pick up the game, now is the time to buy.

Even now, Amazon looks to be the only major retailer in the US to have the game in stock, with Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and GameStop showing the game as unavailable at the time of publication.

So what's the deal with the Switch 2 edition being so elusive and sought after? Well, for starters, the entire game is included on the Switch 2 edition's cart. No downloads required; you can plug in and play from the start.

That's especially good news for those who haven't extended their Switch 2's memory by purchasing additional storage via a microSD Express card, and don't want to have too many games installed via downloads at once.

This is also yet another case of the game's scarcity feeding the appetite for it. It's hard to come by; therefore, the desire to buy it increases across the board for gamers who are a little too prone to FOMO.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered also has plenty of extra goodies included. Alongside the base game, you'll get:

• Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine story expansions
• Additional downloadable content: Fighter’s Stronghold, Spell Tomes, Vile Lair, Mehrune’s Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard’s Tower, The Orrery and the Horse Armor Pack
• Unique digital Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon Armors, Weapons and Horse Armor Sets

What Is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered?

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is, as its name states, a remaster of 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It's an open-world RPG that writer Travis Northup called "an awesome nostalgic adventure that recaptures most of what I loved about the 2006 original, while sanding down many of its roughest edges" in IGN's review.

Northup continues on to say it's "a fantastic open-world RPG that’s aged quite well, with questlines and stories that are better than I remembered, modernizations (like the slightly improved leveling system) that remove some of the friction of the original, and loads of opportunities to make this adventure whatever you want it to be via the plentiful freedom afforded to you."

Just like Northup, I personally loved my time revisiting the game, and would highly recommend anyone who loves open world RPGs. I originally played on my Xbox Series X, but I'm seriously debating picking it up for Switch 2 to play on the go as well.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has broken sales records for Nintendo, and become the fastest-selling Switch 2 game over its first four days of availability.

Nintendo has already shifted 5.2 million copies of its newly-launched Zelda remake, the company announced today in a celebratory press release.

That means Zelda is selling faster than other notable Switch 2 arrivals such as Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Pokopia and even Mario Kart World, which launched alongside the console last year. (Nintendo sold 3.5 million Switch 2 consoles over its first four days, with roughly 80% of those consoles sold in a bundle with Mario Kart World, at least in the U.S.)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is Nintendo's big Switch 2 game for the holidays, so the firm will likely be pleased by its strong launch. It is one of the few other titles (hello, Barbie!) braving a November release, just a few weeks clear of this year (and decade)'s hugely-hyped arrival of Grand Theft Auto 6. But perhaps the firm has been wise to bet on Ocarina of Time's legendary status and broad audience being distinct enough to survive GTA's gravitational pull.

Originally released for the N64 back in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remains one of the highest-rated and most beloved games of all time. You can read our review of the remake here, or check out our look at the Biggest Changes from the original 1998 game. Be sure to check out our expanding Ocarina of Time Remake Walkthrough for comprehensive guides on each main quest area and dungeon, plus where to get Early Heart Pieces, Early Gold Skulltulas, and Early Item Bag Expansions. If you’re looking for more, don’t miss our complete guides to All Pieces of Heart, All Gold Skulltulas, and All Empty Bottles!