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Netflix has launched Codenames Party, a new addition to its mobile party game collection that lets people join via QR code scan and play using their phones without extra hardware. The release includes the classic team-based Codenames mode, a Case Studies variant using pre-made word and clue sets, and a new team-free Party Mode where each player creates a clue for their own set of eight words.
Google announced a partnership with actor Henry Cavill, who has been using one of the company's new Googlebook laptops for personal projects ahead of their public launch. Starting this November, Google says it will work with Cavill to develop a video game built using the device, and has set up a landing page for updates on the project.
Google is partnering with actor Henry Cavill to create a video game showcasing its new Googlebook laptops, which run Android rather than ChromeOS. The companies are targeting a November release, though Google has not disclosed the game's genre or other creative partners involved.
The Interim Computer Museum has taken on a new restoration of Galaxy Game, the 1971 Stanford coin-op version of Spacewar! built by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck on a PDP-11/20. The project, prompted by Pitts along with Josh Dersch and Robert Schmuck, has already rebuilt the machine's power supply and gotten the PDP-11 running again, with work now shifting to refurbishing its HP 1300A electrostatic X-Y displays.
Microsoft has restructured Xbox Game Pass into four tiers—Essential ($9.99/month), Premium ($14.99/month), PC Game Pass ($13.99/month) and Ultimate ($22.99/month)—each offering different game libraries and features. Throughout 2026, Microsoft adjusted subscription prices and altered cloud gaming access, including new streaming limits, changing what subscribers get at each price point.
Microsoft has begun testing Xbox Mythic Achievements, a new badge awarded when a player unlocks every original achievement in a game, mirroring Sony's Platinum trophy system. The company says Mythic status is being retroactively applied to eligible games already completed, including Xbox 360 titles, and profiles will get a new tab and progress bar to track them.
Design engineer Hugo Duprez has released Destroy Any Website, a free browser game where a stickman armed with weapons like a shotgun, rocket launcher and flamethrower demolishes any webpage entered by URL. Players use simple keyboard and mouse controls to blow apart text and interface elements until a destruction meter reaches 100%, with a multiplayer mode allowing groups to race toward a kill target. The game, published under Duprez's Sprite Fusion label, also showcases the company's pixel-art generator.
AYANEO has officially released the KONKR Pocket BLOCK, a Game Boy-style vertical Android handheld first shown in May. It comes in 2GB/32GB and 3GB/64GB configurations priced at $89 and $109 respectively, though AYANEO is currently offering promotional pricing of $79 and $99. The device features a 3.33-inch 960x720 LCD, a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, a 3,500mAh battery, Android 12, and no analog sticks, with shipping starting late October in three color options.
A developer released an updated build of ProsperoEden, an alpha emulator ported from Eden (itself derived from Yuzu) that runs Nintendo Switch games natively on jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles. User reports on GitHub cite 60fps in Cuphead and Hollow Knight, and 40-50fps in titles like Horizon Chase Turbo, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Metroid Dread. The update improves OpenGL rendering, game loading, and adds per-game handheld or docked mode plus DualSense controller support.
Simon Sapin, a Factorio player, describes using matrix math to plan factory production and has released a free online calculator tool to model the game's Quality system introduced in the Space Age expansion. The tool helps players calculate probabilities and outcomes when using quality modules to upgrade items through the game's five tiers, from normal to legendary.
An effort to build a version of the Monopoly board game entirely in the United States ran into production problems, including trays that cracked during manufacturing and higher-than-expected costs. Sourcing dice domestically also proved difficult, complicating the push to keep the whole supply chain onshore.
A Show HN project called PacBench evaluates how well different AI models and their supporting harnesses can recreate the classic game Pac-Man from a single prompt: 'Create a Pac-Man game in a single html page.' The benchmark measures how closely each model's generated code approximates a functioning Pac-Man game.