The Verge’s entertainment section collects the latest news from the worlds of pop culture, music, movies, television, and video games. Whether you want to know what to watch on Netflix or how to make the most of your streaming service budget, the entertainment section acts a reliable source. There’s simply too much to read, watch, hear, and play. Let us be your tour guide.
The new paid Expansion Pass adds content in waves: first, some Three Houses-themed weapons that are available today, then new playable characters and outfits coming this holiday season, and finally new stories featuring four characters that will launch in 2027.
I reviewed the already-gigantic base game and loved it. The new content will be a perfect excuse for me to dive back in.
AI photos and videos of celebrities are racking up millions of views on social media.
Eight new releases including old-school horror, laid-back dressmaking, and the return of Castlevania.
The collection celebrating Xbox’s 25th anniversary includes games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, Minecraft Dungeons, and Gears of War: Reloaded. Microsoft says you can also play some of the free games on Xbox Series X/S with Xbox Play Anywhere.
[Windows Experience Blog]
The video platform has reportedly been in discussions with publishers in recent months. The feature could launch as soon as next year, and YouTube has considered bundling it with its $16-per-month Premium subscription. Still, after launching a music streaming service this feels like an obvious next step for YouTube to compete against Spotify.
[Wall Street Journal]
As spotted by Kotaku, some people are posting videos showing strange visual issues with the updated launcher that agents wrote code for. Right now, the launcher is in preview.
The classic mode just launched in July, but Riot Games says that most players have “gone back to other parts of League.” The mode is being shut down in January 2027, but Riot says it has a “goal” of bringing it back “likely as an event mode with adjustments and additions.”
007 First Light is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on March 18th, 2027. The very good James Bond game launched on other platforms in May, though shortly before that, developer IO Interactive said it would come to Switch 2 “later this summer,” so it’s a bit late.
The team at Puzzmo are celebrating their third anniversary, and as part of that they’re releasing a bunch of experimental games, including a version of solitaire where you can see other players around you. It’s sort of like reading in a library: you’re doing a solo activity, but in the comforting presence of like-minded folks.
[(not) solitaire]
A man named Mike Smith was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison, and a fine in excess of $8 million, for creating an AI system that faked billions of streams and earned him millions in royalties. Wired’s Kate Knibbs explains how Smith pulled it off, how he got caught, and what this case means for the internet’s growing slop problems.
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Apple has confirmed that its extremely stressful thriller Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is getting a second season, though there aren’t any details on when it might be streaming. Along with Margo’s Got Money Troubles, the series is part of a new trend of shows exploring platforms like OnlyFans from different perspectives.
The Greatest is an eight-episode series premiering November 4th that looks at the life of one of the greatest sportsmen to ever grace the Earth. Jaalen Best stars as Ali, and Michael B. Jordan is an executive producer.
RedLynx, which made the Trials games, is being closed down, while 70 jobs have been “impacted” at Ubisoft Singapore, which made Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, Eurogamer reports.
Ubisoft said in July that Resynced had sold 3.5 million copies, “exceeding annual expectations within its first 14 days.”
The hard-to-explain game, which was recipient of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at this year’s Independent Games Festival Awards, is launching October 29th on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Android, and iPhone. It initially released in April on Steam. It’s weird, but definitely worth checking out.
Steam Frame Hub reports that the Steam Frame kernel source code includes branches referencing a “Plano” device and says the headset will have a resolution of 3552 × 3840 per eye (higher than the Frame) and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip (same as the Frame). Valve watcher Brad Lynch speculates that it could be Valve “just trying to prototype headsets with this optical stack based on what’s already lying around.”
For what it’s worth, Valve released the Steam Deck OLED more than a year and half after the original Deck.
[Steam Frame Hub]
Read a chapter from Jason Jones’ An Oral History of Humanity’s Final Invention, one part of an ambitious multimedia plan.
The new on/off toggle, arriving by the end of the year, lets you exclude “AI-generated tracks, albums, and the related artists” from search results. Deezer also launched an AI music detection tool earlier this year, after a surge in AI song uploads on its platform.
Druski, a comedian and actor, will host on November 7th, according to Puck and Variety. He has more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube, 13.6 million followers on Instagram, and 15.6 million followers on TikTok.
Greta Gerwig’s take on The Magician’s Nephew looks promising, though it might have a bit too much CG for my taste. The film debuts February 12th in theaters and will stream starting April 2nd.
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The show will star Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as the leads, but a source tells Variety they will play new characters, not Dana Scully and Fox Mulder.
GamesBeat is reporting the timeline, citing “four industry sources familiar with the studio’s plans.” That would be much quicker than the PC launch for GTA V, which came out more than a year and a half after the game’s console release.
The actor, best known for playing Walter White’s son Walt Jr. on the hit AMC series, was also a passionate disability rights activist; he shared a cerebral palsy diagnosis with his most famous character.
An investigation into Mitte’s death is on-going.
As much as haters not might not be willing to admit it, the more we see of Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew movie, the more the looks like it might be a generational banger when it premieres on February 12th, 2027.
Publishing staffers told Wired that bots are being used to make cover art, emails, rejection letters, copy for back covers, and marketing materials, including AI-generated promotional videos. While the unhappy staffers have expressed legal, ethical, and environmental AI concerns to execs, these are reportedly being dismissed as “the cost of doing business.”
A four-episode Naruto x Ninkū crossover anime has been announced, supervised by both Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and Ninkū creator Koji Kiriyama. There’s no release date, but it’s “now in production,” and you can check out the teaser trailer below. Kishimoto says he’s also working on a new Naruto manga called Shadow Rising, with more details coming in December.
At Comic-Con this weekend, it was revealed that Peacock’s adaptation is set to begin filming in 2027. Very little is known about the show, but Universal Global Television’s Kelsey Balance said more details are coming “very soon, within the next few weeks.”
I’m pretty militant about keeping my unread count under control, but it’s hard to stay on top of things. As I’m writing this, I have 144 unread emails. That pales in comparison to my friend Abel’s 11,425, and my wife’s staggering 23,166. Where do you fall on the spectrum? Are you all in on inbox zero? Or have you just given up?
