Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Riot Games is laying off half of the 2XKO development team
Another day, another wave of gaming layoffs. Today it's Riot Games with the announcement that it's cutting jobs on its pair-based fighting game 2XKO. For context, a representative from Riot confirmed to Game Developer that about 80 people are being cut, or roughly half of 2XKO's global development team.
"As we expanded from PC to console, we saw consistent trends in how players were engaging with 2XKO," according to the blog post from executive producer Tom Cannon. "The game has resonated with a passionate core audience, but overall momentum hasn’t reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term."
The console launch for 2XKO happened last month. Cannon said the company's plans for its 2026 competitive season have not altered with the layoffs. He added that Riot will attempt to place the impacted people at new positions within the company where possible.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/7fWH6Atfrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/7fWH6At
DOJ may face investigation for pressuring Apple, Google to remove apps for tracking ICE agents
House Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has asked the US Department of Justice to turn over all its communications with both Apple and Google regarding the companies' decisions to remove apps that shared information about sightings of US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers. Several apps that allowed people to share information about where they had seen ICE members were removed from both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store in October. Politico reported that Raskin has contacted Attorney General Pam Bondi on the issue and also questioned the agency's use of force against protestors as it executes the immigration policy set by President Donald Trump.
"The coercion and censorship campaign, which ultimately targets the users of ICE-monitoring applications, is a clear effort to silence this Administration’s critics and suppress any evidence that would expose the Administration’s lies, including its Orwellian attempts to cover up the murders of Renee and Alex," Raskin wrote to Bondi. He refers to Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both fatally shot by ICE agents. In the two separate incidents, claims made by federal leaders about the victims and the circumstances of their deaths were contradicted by eyewitnesses or camera footage, echoing violent interactions and lies about them that occurred while ICE conducted raids in Chicago several months ago.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/WzO6PLpfrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/WzO6PLp
Tuesday, 10 February 2026
Black Myth: Wukong Sequel Releases Six-Minute Short Film To Celebrate Year Of The Horse
Created in Black Myth: Zhong Kui's engine, this is the most remarkable chef work
from Kotaku https://ift.tt/LpPwjXy
PS5, PS4 Getting Beloved Square Enix PS1 Action Game Soon
A 2001 Square Enix PS1 action adventure game is headed to PS5 and PS4 later this month, publisher Limited Run Games has announced. Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix, originally developed by now-defunct Kronos Digital Entertainment, is being ported by Sony partner Implicit Conversions.
PS1 game Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix landing on PS5, PS4 in February 2026
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix will release on modern platforms for the first time on February 27. Implicit Conversions has added new features, including Save States, Rewind, Widescreen mode, Trophies, and CRT filters for those who want to transport themselves back to 2001.
Fear Effect 2 is set in Hong Kong in the year 2048.
“Set two years before the events of Fear Effect, dive into a sprawling adventure that takes you from futuristic cityscapes to the lost tomb of China’s first emperor, and discover the origins of mercenaries Hana Tsu-Vachel, Royce Glas, Deke Decourt, and the enigmatic Rain Qin, in a story that blends high-tech espionage with ancient Chinese mythology and the supernatural,” an official overview reads.
A price for the game has not been announced, and its PS Store page isn’t live yet.
Fear Effect 2 originally launched to positive reviews and holds a Metacritic score of 84/100.
The post PS5, PS4 Getting Beloved Square Enix PS1 Action Game Soon appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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PS Store Drops Free Demos for Intriguing New PS5 Games
The PS Store has dropped a fresh batch of free demos for upcoming PS5 games, and there are several that players should check out. Unfortunately, like the rest of the store, the demos section is also filled with shovelware at times, which results in players overlooking games that deserve some attention. The following demos are worth trying, and don’t require PS Plus.
Check out these free demos for new PS5 games without PS Plus
For fans of retro games, The Curse of Tethria is a retro-inspired action game that blends several genres into one package. “Explore dungeons, fight monsters and discover more tools to help you in this 3D action adventure game,” an official overview reads.
The Curse of Tethria’s demo allows players to check out the start of the game through first dungeon. Save data can be carried over.
Next, we have Voltline, developed by a small indie dev. It’s a neat puzzle game with neon aesthetics that has us playing with electricity (not for real, I must add).
“Voltline is a relaxing puzzle game where you guide electricity through intricate networks by tapping the right points,” states Voltline’s description. “Each tap sparks a satisfying chain reaction, letting the current spread across the grid.”
Last but not least, we have Ultimate General: Civil War, a tactical real-time strategy war game.
“Fight in the American Civil War campaign (1861-1865) – from small engagements to massive battles that can last several days over hundreds of square miles of terrain,” an overview reads.
Let us know if you enjoyed any of these demos.
The post PS Store Drops Free Demos for Intriguing New PS5 Games appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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