Hobbyists are using AI coding tools to rapidly reverse-engineer classic games like Halo, Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros., porting them to new platforms such as web browsers, phones and mixed-reality headsets. These 'decomp' and 'recomp' projects, which traditionally took years of manual work, are now appearing at a much faster pace, with one creator, Sotraidis, saying AI let him produce far more projects far more quickly than he could have alone.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-23
State Sen. John Kane has introduced the Protect Our Games Act in Pennsylvania, which would require video game publishers to give 60 days' notice before cutting off access to a title. Companies would then have to offer offline play, a server-independent patch, or a refund based on the game's highest price over the past year, capped at no less than 25% of its original cost.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-28
Xbox's new disc-to-digital feature, which converts physical game discs into digital copies by inserting them into a console, stems from a plan Microsoft made ahead of the Xbox One's 2013 launch to embed unique identifiers on discs. Sources say Microsoft was already exploring broader digital ownership concepts back in 2011, including gifting, recycling and swapping physical games for digital versions, though most of these ideas were shelved after backlash over the Xbox One's always-online requirement.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-17
The RPCS3 team has released an update letting users boot original PS3 game discs directly through the emulator, expanding a feature previously limited to Windows into a cross-platform option for Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS. Developers digant73 and Megamouse contributed the code changes, and install times for disc-based games have also been improved.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-07
GoKawiil