One of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming world has been confirmed: Rockstar Games is re-releasing three more Grand Theft Auto games. The bundle includes Grand Theft Auto III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas.

The clunkily named Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC later this year. The bundle will also land on iOS and Android in the first half of 2022.

Rockstar says the revamped games will have upgraded visuals and "modern gameplay enhancements" while retaining the look and feel of the originals. More details about the changes will be revealed in the coming weeks. Although all three games are classics, their visuals perhaps don't hold up too well in 2021. Updated graphics might make them worth revisiting, while some fans will appreciate being able to play them on Switch.

Meanwhile, Rockstar will remove the original versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas from digital storefronts starting next week. You'll still be able to download the games if you bought them previously.

Elsewhere, the publisher plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of GTA III later this month (sorry, it is that old). Some special events and commemorative gear are coming to GTA Online this fall.

The PS2-era games aren't the only GTA titles that Rockstar is reworking. An expanded and enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto V is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in March.

Sebastian Bernard, the lead developer and designer for hit indie game Dead Cells, has created a new game that will have you fighting fires, solving mysteries and saving cats. Yes, you'll play a firefighter in Bernard's new 2D action-adventure game entitled Nuclear Blaze — one who gets air-dropped into a secret military facility that went up in flames for unknown reasons. 

In the complex, you'll have to use your firehose wisely to deal with the wildfire spreading uncontrollably throughout each section. You'll also have to deal with backdrafts, exploding walls and complex sprinkler systems. But you won't just be trying to put out a blazing inferno in the game: You also have to rescue survivors (cats included) and investigate every nook and cranny to find hidden secrets that would help you figure out the site's true nature, as well as solve the mystery behind the fire.

Bernard developed Nuclear Blaze under his own company called Deepnight Games. In the developer's website, Bernard described himself as a "former associate" of Motion Twin, which was the studio behind Dead Cells. He also said that he wanted to create a game his 3-year-old could play, which is why the title has a "Kid mode" with simpler level designs, rules and gameplay. 

Nuclear Blaze will be available for download on Steam on October 18th. You can watch a short trailer below to get an idea of how you'll be fighting fires and solving mysteries as a 2D firefighter.

Sony is bringing some major games to PlayStation Now this month, and they don't get much bigger than The Last of Us Part II. The latest entry in Naughty Dog's don't-call-them-zombies, post-apocalypse saga arrived in June 2020 and if it weren't for Hades, it might have swept all of the 2020 game of the year awards. The Last of Us Part II is excellent, but don't go into it expecting a relaxing day at the beach.

Also hitting PS Now is Fallout 76, a multiplayer entry in Microsoft-owned Bethesda's Fallout series. The rest of this month's additions are Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Desperados III, Amnesia: Collection, Yet Another Zombie Defense and Victor Vran: Overkill Edition.

All of these games will hit PS Now on October 5th. The Last of Us Part II, which you'll be able to play on PC through the service, will be available to subscribers until January 3rd. 

If you're not interested in signing up for PS Now but still want to check out TLOU2, the game's currently on sale on the PlayStation Store. Sony has discounted hundreds of other titles as part of the Blockbuster Games sale, including Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Days Gone and God of War.

When 343 Industries set out to create Halo Infinite, it says one of its goals was to make the game more accessible to as many people as possible. As part of Microsoft’s recent Xbox Accessibility Showcase, the studio detailed the lengths it went to make that vision a reality. The included accessibility options that will come with Halo Infinite don’t look as comprehensive as they were in The Last of Us Part II, but they come close.

For example, in addition to the usual UI and subtitle options you find in many other games, Halo Infinite will include a feature called Linear Navigation. You can enable it to move through the user interface without the need to see how controls are positioned on the screen. Another new enhancement called Movement Assisted Steering allows you to use additional controls to steer vehicles if the traditional look-to-steer mechanic isn’t doing it for you.

Outside of those, there are options that allow you to tweak the colors of friendlies and enemies beyond the usual red and blue. Another setting lets players enable menu narration, and adjust the reading speed of the feature. It’s also possible to enable text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools to make party chat more accessible. The included options probably won't cover every accessibility need, but they should help make Halo Infinite playable for a much broader group of people when the game comes out on December 8th. 

During the same showcase, Microsoft announced it adding introducing accessibility tags to the Microsoft Store on Xbox. At launch, there will be 20 of these tags, with the company planning to add more with time. Each one will denote a specific accessibility feature. 

Some of the currently available tags include “Narrated Game Menus,” “Input Remapping” and Single Stick Gameplay.” Each one comes with specific implementation requirements. For instance, in the case of a developer that wants to point to the subtitle support in their title, they’ll need to allow players to resize them by up to 200 percent. Members of the Xbox Accessibility Insiders League (XAIL) will see the tags appear in the Microsoft Store starting today. In the coming months, the feature will roll out to Xbox.com, the Xbox app on PC and Xbox Game Pass apps.

Only a few months after we got our first look at Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Square Enix announced a release date at Tokyo Game Show. It will hit PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC on March 18th.

Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an attempt to bring a Dark Souls-style feel to the Final Fantasy universe. It's an action RPG from Nioh developer Team Ninja that by all accounts will be pretty difficult, which fits in with the Souls-like vibe.

A new trailer gives some hints at the story and a peek at some of the beings you'll encounter, including a pirate with an enormous ax and a multi-headed monster. The visuals still look a bit rough, but at least Team Ninja and Square Enix have a few months to polish things up.

Meanwhile, Square Enix has released a second demo. It's an expansion of the first timed trial that was available in June, only this time you can play with your friends on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. There are more enemies to test your mettle against, new areas to explore and additional playstyles and jobs to check out. The demo is available until October 11th at 10:59AM ET.

Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has a free upgrade path from PS4 and Xbox One to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S respectively. Along with the base game, you can preorder a Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes extra missions and a digital artbook and mini soundtrack. Preordering either version will net you a few in-game goodies, and you'll have early access to the whole game 72 hours before the official launch.

Microsoft is preparing to complete a large piece of its cloud gaming puzzle when it brings the option to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S sometime this holiday season. Starting today, though, a random group of Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha Insiders can try cloud gaming on their consoles. The test will expand to more Insiders and members of other preview rings in the coming weeks.

If you have access, you can try cloud gaming by looking for the cloud icon on titles in the Xbox Game Pass library. To see a full list of games you can stream, go to My Games & Apps, then Full Library and Xbox Game Pass, and change the filter to Cloud Gaming. At the outset, you'll be able to play more than 100 games without having to download them — as long as you have a sturdy enough internet connection.

Microsoft highlighted some known issues in a blog post, such as not being able to play base games that are part of a bundle (Halo: The Master Chief Collection, for instance). You also can't make any in-game purchases while playing a cloud gaming title, but you can do so through the Store on your console or the web. Meanwhile, if you have installed a game on an external drive that isn't connected to your Xbox, you won't be able to play it over the cloud. That seems like an annoying bug but hey, that's what beta tests are for.

Don't fret too much if you don't have access just yet. Console cloud gaming should be available for all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers within the next few months, perhaps just in time to play Halo Infinite. Xbox One owners will also be able to play some Series X/S games on their console.

Disco Elysium finally has a launch date for the Nintendo Switch over a year after its developer ZA/UM confirmed that it's heading to the console. The Final Cut version of the critically acclaimed title will be available from the Nintendo eShop on October 12th, with a physical release to follow next year. ZA/UM says the version heading to Switch isn't a port, but rather a "painstaking reassembly" of the game, with its redesigned user interface and font-scaling options.

The Final Cut version of the the game first became available for PCs, Stadia and PlayStation earlier this year. It doesn't just come with fresh playable content, but also full voice acting for the detective RPG. The hit indie open-world RPG is plot-heavy and features gameplay mechanics that focuses on dialogue and your choices. In the game, you'll take on the role of a detective trying to solve a murder case while suffering from drug and alcohol-induced amnesia. 

Disco Elysium was originally released for Windows in 2019 and has won multiple awards since then. Last year, ZA/UM and production house Dj2 Entertainment revealed that they're working to turn it into a TV series, though those plans will most likely take a while to solidify. For now, you can pre-order a digital copy of the game for Switch for £35 / US$40 / €40. You can also pre-order a physical collector's edition shipping in the second quarter of 2022 for the Switch or the PS5 for $250. The game is also expected to be available on the Xbox in the future, but ZA/UM has yet to announce a release date for platform.

Netflix may be getting into video games sooner than expected. Without much fanfare, the company has been quietly working on a free Oculus Quest game called Eden Unearthed. Spotted by UploadVR, the game is available through the App Lab, which means it hasn’t gone through the full Oculus review process. The listing says the game was both developed and published by Netflix, but provides few other hints about its origins.

What we can say is that it was almost certainly envisioned as a tie-in for the Eden anime series the company released back in May. What’s interesting here is that there are two separate versions of the app with different release dates listed. The v0.7 release came out on April 20th, while the v0.8 was released in August. That fact, along with the App Lab listing, would appear to suggest Netflix is still working on the game.

At the moment, it’s hard to say whether Eden Unearthed represents the kind of video game release we can expect from Netflix moving forward. In July, the company hired former Oculus and EA executive Mike Verdu to help it build out a gaming team. At the time, Bloomberg reported the company’s plan was to offer games alongside its traditional video offerings within the next year. We’ve reached out to Netflix for more information on the Eden Unearthed.

Valve didn't wait long to hold its second Steam Next Fest. The Vergereports the games extravaganza (formerly the Steam Game Festival) is now slated to take place October 1st through October 7th. You'll see a range of upcoming games, including livestreams and chats, but the highlight may be the demos. Most notably, IGNsays you'll get to try No Man's Sky creator Hello Games' Steam release of The Last Campfire.

Other game demos will include Ludomotion's Unexplored 2, The Artistocrats' Starship Troopers — Terran Command and Andrew Shouldice's action adventure Tunic.

Steam Next Fest, like Summer Game Fest and other virtual events, is a substitute for real-world gaming conferences and expos that can't happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This gives independent creators an opportunity to promote and refine games that might otherwise get little attention compared to blockbuster titles. It also helps Valve, of course — you may be more likely to buy these games and otherwise view Steam as a go-to source for indie releases.

One year after releasing a full remake of cult classic Destroy All Humans!, THQ Nordic plans to modernize its 2006 sequel as well. During its recent publisher showcase, the company announced Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed (yes, that’s the actual name of the game). It’s coming out “soon” on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Developer Black Forest Games is remaking the PlayStation 2 and Xbox title completely from scratch in Unreal Engine 4. The studio says the new game will feature local two-player split-screen co-op, and a “much larger” open world for players to explore. The 2006 original was game in the series developed by Pandemic Studios before the developer was acquired by EA in 2007 and subsequently shut down in 2009.