Gaming News — 2026-06-21#

Top Story#

RGG Studio is violently shaking up the Like a Dragon formula with its upcoming 2027 prequel, Stranger Than Heaven, swapping familiar combo-brawling for a fiercely challenging, four-button combat system. It’s exactly the kind of grounded, high-stakes overhaul the franchise’s aging fisticuffs has been crying out for.

News & Reviews#

Stranger Than Heaven’s Combat is Harder Than Hell · IGN RGG Studio’s Stranger Than Heaven completely overhauls the traditional street fighting mechanics, requiring players to independently puppeteer the protagonist’s left and right fists using the controller’s shoulder buttons. While the learning curve is admittedly steep, the realistic, weighty combat feels incredibly satisfying and forces you to earn your victories. Bafflingly, the 1915-1965 time-hopping game will also feature a resurrected, digital version of Tupac alongside Snoop Dogg for reasons currently unknown.

Super Yooka-Laylee Kart Revives the Diddy Kong Racing Spirit · IGN Ex-Rare developers at Playtonic are taking the wheel on the mascot racer genre with Super Yooka-Laylee Kart, a visually striking game featuring 3D models covered in pixel-art filters. The absolute standout feature here is the incredibly deep custom rulesets that allow players to create chaotic, custom race types—like making all racers invisible or stripping away stat differences for pure skill-based runs. Though the early driving mechanics felt a bit too slippery during a recent preview, the wild potential of these modifiers makes this a racer to watch.

Gundam: Rogue Orbit Aims to Make You Feel Like the Pilot · IGN For the first time ever, a new Gundam universe is launching as a video game first, putting a heavy emphasis on photorealistic graphics and high-stakes, life-or-death action. Developers at Bandai Namco Studios want players to feel intimately connected to every motion of the new Helix Mobile Suit in battles against massive, mysterious monsters. While action is the focus, the game will still deliver the intense human drama and difficult choices that define the beloved mecha franchise.

Pricey Call of Duty Ports Spark Fan Outrage · IGN The upcoming July ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 for PS4 and PS5 might cost a small fortune, as updated Xbox listings currently show the base games locked at $39.99 each without DLC. Since these releases are reportedly straightforward ports and not remasters, players are understandably furious at the prospect of paying roughly $140 to get both decade-old games alongside their season passes. Activision hasn’t officially confirmed the final PlayStation pricing yet, but the lack of communication is only fueling the community’s frustration.

Free Games & Deals#

It’s a fantastic weekend to upgrade your hardware and your backlog. For Nintendo fans, the physical The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 Edition is discounted by $20 down to $59.99, while PS5 players can grab the stellar open-world samurai combat of Nioh 3 for just $49.99. PC builders looking to escape bloated GPU prices should jump on the PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9070 XT, available for $689.99 and fully capable of maxing out 4K ray-traced gaming. If you need a screen for all this, the massive 77" Samsung S85F 4K OLED Smart TV has hit an insane all-time low of $1,098. Finally, you can scoop up the highly rated LADPED LP60 350W Electric Scooter for just $96.97 using promo code 18USAFFSS.

Also Worth Knowing#

Avengers: Doomsday ‘Leak’ Pulled Offline (IGN): A leaked, unfinished VFX clip allegedly showing an action-heavy X-Men and Avengers team-up against Doctor Doom was swiftly taken down by copyright owners over the weekend.
Sesame Street Movie Headed to Netflix (IGN): Netflix won a major bidding war against Universal to produce a feature-length Sesame Street film alongside production company Rideback.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 Drop to $169 (IGN): Apple’s newest noise-canceling earbuds, which feature built-in heart rate sensing and on-the-fly “Live Translation,” have hit a record-low price of $169 for Prime Day.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD on Switch 2 (IGN): You can pick up the phenomenal Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for $39.99 right now, which features a recent patch allowing the platformer to run in stunning 4K on the Nintendo Switch 2.