GoKawiil
Tech News
Sony has announced that Mafia: The Old Country, Horizon Forbidden West and Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 are joining the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium catalogs. Most titles arrive October 20, with Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 following on October 27. PlayStation Plus plans start at $11 a month and include access to a rotating library of games.
Microsoft has released the Xbox Nano controller, its smallest ever at just over 5 inches long and 3.5 ounces, making it lighter and more compact than most smartphones. The controller retains all 18 standard gameplay inputs and a customizable Action Button, and supports both Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity via a rechargeable battery. It costs $50 and is available for preorder in the US now, with other markets like the UK, Canada and Australia getting it in November.
Microsoft has introduced the Xbox Nano Controller, a smaller version of its standard gamepad measuring just over five inches and weighing 3.5 ounces. It features a rechargeable battery, a programmable action button, and Bluetooth support for use with Xbox consoles, PCs, mobile devices, and smart TVs. Pre-orders are open now, with shipping in the US starting November 4 at $50, followed by availability in 35 more countries next month.
Xbox has pointed to recent community projects, including jailbroken PlayStation 5 units and a browser port of Halo, as evidence of consumer interest in modding. The company suggests this trend could become a relevant use case for its Project Helix initiative, though specific product plans were not detailed.
Microsoft has officially unveiled the Xbox Nano, a smaller, lighter controller aimed at younger players or those with smaller hands who want portable gameplay. Priced at $49.99, it measures just over five inches, includes a rechargeable battery, Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, and a customizable Action Button. It's available for pre-order now and ships in November.
According to GamesBeat, Rockstar plans to launch Grand Theft Auto VI on PC in the first quarter of 2027, roughly three months after its November 19, 2026 console debut. Rockstar has not officially confirmed a PC version. The report follows Microsoft's announcement that it secured exclusive cloud-streaming rights to the game.
Citing sources, GamesBeat reports that Rockstar Games plans to launch Grand Theft Auto 6 on PC in the first quarter of 2027, a few months after its November 19 debut on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. That gap would be far shorter than the roughly 19 months between GTA 5's 2013 console launch and its 2015 PC release.
A GamesBeat report citing unnamed sources says Grand Theft Auto VI could arrive on PC within the first three months of 2027. The console version launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no official PC date yet confirmed by Rockstar Games.
Microsoft is forming a new internal group called Xbox Labs, led by Scott (a games executive), tasked with turning emerging AI techniques—like decompiling and rebuilding games for new hardware, porting PC titles to browsers via WebAssembly and WebGPU, and remixing one game's code into another—into experiences for players and developers. The initiative follows recent community experiments that rapidly ported and transformed major titles using AI tools.
A hobbyist describes using a Matrix CoolRunner Rev D 'glitcher' modchip, bought in 2017, to exploit the Xbox 360's hardware boot process rather than its software. The console's 1BL bootloader is embedded directly in the CPU silicon and verifies Microsoft-signed code at each stage, making conventional software hacks largely ineffective. The author explains that after years of work, the weak point exploited was a fundamental hardware timing flaw rather than any cryptographic key.
Brazilian developer RafaelNGP, using Claude to help build the project, released a homebrew app called PSBox Cloud Gaming on GitHub that lets Xbox Cloud Gaming run natively on a jailbroken PS5, with up to four DualSense controllers mapped as Xbox controllers. The tool supports 1080p60 streaming upscaled to 4K via the PS5's GPU, and after a Reddit request, Rafael added support for local Xbox Remote Play as well.
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella reported that US Xbox retail sales have fallen 33% year-to-date, an all-time low for the platform, while PS5 sales dropped 25%, the weakest showing since 2013. Both Microsoft and Sony have raised console prices multiple times over the past two years, with the Xbox Series X now reaching $799.99 and the PS5 Pro priced at $899.99.