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Latest Andru Edwards Videos
Valve Leaked Its Own Left 4 Dead 2 Trailer To Get Around The ESRB
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Video Games,
In October 2009, a few weeks before Left 4 Dead 2 shipped, a cinematic trailer for the game turned up online with nobody's name attached. Kotaku covered it on October 22 under the headline "Leaked Left 4 Dead 2 Trailer Full Of Joy, Gore." It was not much of a leak.
Chet Faliszek, a writer on both Left 4 Dead games, says Valve put it there on purpose because the ESRB would not clear it for release. "We leaked our trailer ahead of time, because they wouldn't let us release the trailer," he says in a YouTube video titled "Cutting Left 4 Dead Lines." "I'll just admit that. I think we can't get in trouble for that now. It's like 20 years ago."
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Gamescom Apologizes to the Indie Devs Whose Laptops Were Stolen, Promises a Security Review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Video Games,
Losing a laptop at a trade show is bad. Losing the only copy of the game you have been building for months, at the show where you were finally going to put it in front of people, is worse. That is close to what happened to several indie studios at Gamescom 2026, and for about a week the show's answer was to point at its own terms and conditions.
That answer has changed. In a statement posted to X, Gamescom said the criticism it took was justified, then said the part it skipped the first time around: "Our first response did not strike the right tone, and it did not show the people affected the empathy they deserved. We are sorry."
The Xbox Disaster Microsoft Never Recovered From (Video)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Video Games, Videos,
Microsoft spent a decade building Xbox into the console everyone's friends owned, then burned it down in about an hour. On May 21, 2013, Don Mattrick walked onto a stage in a white tent on Microsoft's Redmond campus and spent the first 30 minutes of the Xbox One reveal talking about TV. When a reporter asked what people without reliable internet were supposed to do with a console that phoned home every 24 hours, he told them to buy an Xbox 360. Xbox still hasn't recovered, and I think the reason has less to do with that stage than with what players were doing at home.
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NVIDIA Is Selling RTX 50 GPUs at MSRP at PAX West, If You Can Find the Right Guy
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: PC / Laptop, Video Games,
The cheapest way to buy a GeForce RTX 5090 at $1,999 this weekend involves a PAX West badge, a walk through the Seattle Convention Center, and watching one Nvidia employee's X account closely enough to know which hallway he is standing in.
Nvidia is selling RTX 50-series Founders Edition cards at list price, in person, at PAX West right now. That's the RTX 5090 at $1,999, the RTX 5080 at $999, and the RTX 5070 at $549, while supplies last. That last clause is doing a lot of work.
Marvel’s Wolverine Got Livestreamed Off a Retail Disc 10 Days Early
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Video Games,
Ten days before Marvel's Wolverine goes on sale, someone was already playing it on a livestream. The copy running on his console was a retail PS5 disc, the same one that ships to everybody who preordered.
Across September 4 and 5, a streamer going by blackmisk1 ran Insomniac's game on Twitch, TikTok and Kick, claiming to be the first person to play it. He got a long way in before the takedowns caught up. Twitch removed the channel for copyright violation, and the mirrors on the other platforms came down the same way.
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Zelda Gets a 40th Anniversary Direct Tuesday, Switch 2’s Winter Slate Lands Wednesday
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Handhelds, Video Games,
Nintendo is running two shows next week, and the first one belongs entirely to Link. The Legend of Zelda gets a half hour to itself on Tuesday morning, then the company comes back Wednesday to talk about what you can actually buy before the end of the year.
The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct airs Tuesday, September 8 at 7am PT / 10am ET and runs roughly 30 minutes. A general Nintendo Direct follows Wednesday, September 9 at the same time, running about 45 minutes and focused on Switch 2 games launching this winter. Both stream on Nintendo's YouTube and Twitch channels.
Nintendo’s Free Switch 2 Update Crams Eight Mario Kart Players Onto One Screen
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Video Games,
Picture your TV chopped into eight little rectangles, each one holding a friend, a kart, and a red shell with their name on it. That's now something you can do in your living room.
Nintendo pushed out a free Switch 2 update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with no real warning, and the big change is local split-screen for eight players, up from a cap of four. This is a game that shipped on Wii U in 2014 and again on Switch in 2017. Twelve years on, it's still growing new features.
Marvel’s Wolverine Gets One Last Look Before Launch, and Jin Sakai Sneaks Back In
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Video Games,
Most State of Play broadcasts live or die on one question. Is there anything here you'll still be thinking about tomorrow? Sony's September showcase had two answers, and both were games people have been circling on the calendar for a while. Marvel's Wolverine got its send-off before it lands on September 15, and Ghost of Yotei pulled off a reunion plenty of players have wanted since 2020.
Neither was a surprise announcement, exactly, and that's the point. This was the confident half of a State of Play, the part where a company shows finished things that are close enough to touch. If you own a PS5 and you were waiting for a reason to care about the next few weeks, this gave you two.
The Switch 2 Costs $500 Today, and $450 Is Probably Gone for Good
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Video Games,
Consoles are supposed to get cheaper as they get older. Starting today, the Nintendo Switch 2 costs $50 more than it did yesterday, and yesterday was the last day you can buy one at the price it shipped with.
Nintendo of America moved the standard Switch 2 from $449.99 to $499.99 on September 1, 2026. That is the plain box: console, two Joy-Con, no game. If you have been circling this purchase since launch, you have until stores close.
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Xbox Disc to Digital Is Live for Insiders, and Your Series S Can’t Play Along
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Video Games,
There is a shelf in a lot of living rooms that has turned into a problem. Fifty Xbox games, maybe two hundred, and a growing suspicion that the next console you buy won't have anywhere to put them. Microsoft's answer started reaching Xbox Insiders on Monday, and the pitch is refreshingly boring. Put the disc in, launch the game, keep the digital copy.
Xbox announced the feature on its blog on August 26 and filled in details during a Gamescom livestream with Jason Ronald. Insert a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X, start the game, and you claim a digital entitlement tied to that disc. The disc keeps working exactly as it always has. You just stop needing it in the tray.