Two new indie titles are drawing attention this week: Worming from Home, a $10 remote-work life simulator where players control a worm navigating office tasks and social interactions, and Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia, a $30 mascot platformer from Ocellus Studio and Microids that lets players swap between three characters with different abilities across multiple platforms including Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Arduview, a fully see-through handheld gaming device built on the open-source Arduboy platform, has begun shipping to early backers and is now preparing a Kickstarter campaign. Created by Babson College student Louis Huang, the device features a transparent OLED screen, circuit board, and shell, running on an ATmega32u4 microcontroller with just 2.5KB of RAM. It weighs about 50 grams, charges via USB-C, and plays hundreds of community-made 8-bit games without any app store or Wi-Fi connectivity.
The Tetris Company publicly denied any involvement in Build the Wall, an immigration-themed browser game released by the White House that closely mimics Tetris's falling-block mechanics. Instead of clearing lines, players stack bricks to grow a wall meant to block a 'zombie horde' near the Southern Border, evoking Trump's long-standing border wall policy. The company said it never licensed its brand for the game and is reviewing possible copyright infringement.
Director Na Hong-jin, known for 'The Wailing,' is releasing a new science-fiction action film titled 'Hope' in theaters on September 9. The cast includes 'Squid Game' star Hoyeon alongside Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. Na has described wanting to approach the alien-themed story from a cosmic, wide-lens perspective rather than a conventional genre angle.
George R.R. Martin used his personal blog to endorse a theatrical production titled 'The Mad King,' calling his experience watching it 'a splendid time.' He also confirmed the play will soon transfer its run to London.
The White House released a set of browser-based arcade games with names like 'Build the Wall' and 'Rio Run' that closely mimic well-known titles such as Tetris, Snake and Flappy Bird, using immigration-themed imagery including depictions of migrants as 'aliens' fleeing toward the U.S. border. Tetris Company confirmed it had no role in creating the game modeled on its puzzle mechanics and said it is reviewing the situation, while other referenced companies including Sega, Nintendo, Xbox and Flappy Bird's creators have not commented.
Nvidia pushed an update through its App that appeared aimed at disabling unofficial mods enabling DLSS Multi-Frame Generation on RTX 40-series GPUs, a feature officially reserved for the newer RTX 50 Blackwell cards. Modders quickly found workarounds, restoring the feature across several games including Resident Evil 9 and Forza Horizon 6 within hours of the update landing.
Lululemon reported a 4% revenue decline and 9% drop in comparable sales for its second fiscal quarter, sending shares down over 20%. Interim CEO Meghan Frank pointed to negative social media chatter and slower-than-expected demand for core products like leggings, ahead of incoming CEO Heidi O'Neill's start next week. Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm Zscaler topped fourth-quarter expectations with revenue up 25% year-over-year, though its stock has lagged industry peers despite rising AI-related security demand.
Starting in November, Xbox will limit how many hours Game Pass subscribers can stream games via its cloud service before requiring extra purchases. Ultimate subscribers get 15 hours monthly, Premium users get 10, and Essential tier members get just five, after which additional playtime must be bought.
Microsoft is partnering with TCL to add its Xbox app to select smart TVs in the coming months, enabling access to Xbox Cloud Gaming without a console. The rollout coincides with a new pay-as-you-go cloud gaming option launching in November, which lets users stream games without an active Game Pass subscription.
Microsoft announced it will end unlimited Xbox Cloud Gaming access, replacing it with monthly hour caps tied to subscription level: 15 hours for Ultimate, 10 for Premium, and 5 for Essential, beginning in November. The company says rising cloud gaming costs are driving the change, and about 4% of subscribers will be affected, with an option to buy extra hours—also available to non-subscribers.
Microsoft will impose monthly streaming time limits on Xbox Cloud Gaming beginning in November, with Game Pass Essential, Premium, and Ultimate subscribers getting 5, 10, and 15 hours respectively. Both subscribers and non-subscribers will be able to purchase extra streaming hours, though exact pricing hasn't been announced. Microsoft says only about 4% of subscribers will be affected, attributing the change to rising infrastructure costs.
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