Forza Horizon 6's Community Is Fed Up With Playground Games, and the Studio Has Finally Responded

Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games has finally addressed its player community after months of constructive feedback about the game has been met with nothing but radio silence from the renowned British studio.

"Hey Horizon Community," the post on the studio's social channels begins, "We're reading all your comments about Forza Horizon 6, and we realize that we haven't been talking with you as much as we could be. While we continue to deliver regular content and fixes into the game, we want you to know we hear your feedback about our post-launch updates and we're looking into future changes to both in-game content and the ways we communicate with you. Stay tuned!"

Forza Horizon 6 got rave reviews upon its release – including a 10 out of 10 from IGN – but Playground's lack of communication with its players has frustrated the community. As detailed in videos from Forza Horizon content creators STEVIO2175, AR12Gaming, HokiHoshi, and Ericship 111, players are upset at the live service game's complete absence of communication from Playground as well as some features from previous Forza games that are missing from the newest Horizon.

"It just feels like the community engagement between the developers and us is just nonexistent," STEVIO2175 said in his excellent and thorough 19-minute video on the subject from late August. Players are feeling like they have to spend their time in the Horizon Festival playlists in order to get access to the new cars – many of which are recycled from previous Horizon games – rather than play in whatever modes and ways they want.

Playground's Forza Monthly show that directly interfaces with the community has also been absent, leading some in the Forza space to wonder if it's a side effect of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's big "reset" and subsequent layoffs. The lack of in-game voice chat in Horizon 6 is also on the community's list of constructive criticisms – a particularly curious omission from FH6 given that the previous entry in the Forza series, 2023's Forza Motorsport, has voice chat to this day. "Voice chat alone could make FH6 Japan ten times better," STEVIO2175 said. "But the thing that bothers me most at the end of the day," he added, "is that the devs have not responded at all. No communication, no public responses, nothing."

More to the point, STEVIO2175 said he believes that most players don't feel like this game has replayability past single player. "Until the socialization and community features get added, if they ever do, player interest is going to continue to drop," STEVIO2175 said. "And I hope they figure this all out before PS5 hopefully still gets this game."

On that note, Microsoft and Playground still have not announced a release date for the PlayStation 5 version of Forza Horizon 6 despite it being October now and the last the companies said, it'd ship on PS5 this year. That looks increasingly unlikely by the day, but perhaps it's for the best if Playground needs to iron out all of its communication and content roadmap criticisms from the community before launching on another platform.

A second team at Playground is also in the stretch run of development on the Fable reboot, which is due to be released on Xbox, PC, and PS5 on February 23, 2027. It's fair to wonder if Fable has been pulling resources away from Forza Horizon 6 as the former team makes its final sprint to the finish line. We finally got to play Fable at Gamescom in August and were quite pleased by the combat.

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Classic Board Games Are Dropping to All-Time Low Prices Ahead of Amazon's Prime Day Sale

Amazon’s October version of Prime Day technically kicks off tomorrow, but the retailer has already dropped hefty discounts on tons of classic board games. One of the best deals brings the latest version of Catan back to its lowest-ever price, but you'll find plenty more discounts from big publishers like Asmodee and Hasbro. In other words, now's a great time to bulk up your tabletop collection and plan some fall game nights.

We're Tracking the Best Board Game Deals at Amazon This Week

Note: Most of these deals are exclusive to Prime members. You can sign up for that here. Some discounts are also lightning deals, meaning they will only be available for as long as stock lasts.

Starting at the top, the latest version of Settlers of Catan, one of the most iconic strategy games of all time, has dropped to its lowest price of the year with a 40% discount. This resource management game is pretty accessible to any experience level, making it an easy choice for casual game nights. Other classic board games like Ticket to Ride have dropped to their lowest price since the previous Prime Day.

For more veteran tabletop players, we’d recommend something like Pandemic, which features longer co-op campaigns. If you’re just looking for something quick and cheap, you can get classic Candy Land or the quick-playing Monopoly Deal card game for under $15.

Themed Editions Also on Sale

Amazon is also dropping deals on specific themed editions of board games. These are typically based on more casual and family-friendly versions of classic games, like the Bluey version of Monopoly Jr, offering the incentive of a franchise tie-in to bring your family to the game night table.

Some of these themes also offer a little something extra for the adults, like the Duel for Middle-Earth board game we consider one of the best Lord of the Rings games money can buy. Though according to our reviewer, Matt Thrower, it’s only really worth it if you don’t already own the original 7 Wonders Duel game.

Should You Wait for Lower Prices?

Board games that are already on sale are unlikely to see lower prices during Prime Big Deal Day proper. However, I do think we’ll see new discounts on heavy-hitters like Wingspan that are currently missing from this list. We’ve also yet to see solid deals on trading card games and tabletop franchises like Warhammer.

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Rockstar Traveled Across Florida With Gang Members and Cops for GTA 6 Research

Love Magazine recently got an exclusive interview with Rockstar Games ahead of GTA 6’s release next month. While the interview focuses primarily on the love story between dual protagonists Jason and Lucia, there’s some interesting insight into the studio’s process for creating the most impressive virtual worlds ever made.

For its rendition of Florida, team members spent lots of time embedding with the culture and exploring the landscape of Miami and its surrounding areas. These research trips start small as the leads scout out the most interesting locations and stories, and more team members come on subsequent trips to dive deeper into the culture, stories, and people.

“Every game we make starts with research trips. It’s where to get to explore both the place and our ideas as a group,” head of development Aaron Garbut said. “To begin, a small group of us spent some time traveling from Miami through some of the surrounding towns and through the Florida Keys down to Key West. This is one of the best parts of the entire project: a car full of friends, driving for days on end, talking about what we want to make and being immersed in the locations and our ideas.”

Garbut takes a camera and a phone and records everything that happens. During one shoot, a handful of Rockstar devs spent the day flying low and fast over mangrove inlets in the everglades, before ending the day hovering over a stadium with a live Beyonce concert playing. “I think we made the local news that day,” Garbut said.

“We do go in-depth, we hang with locals and we hear lots of stories and learn as much as we can. We travel around with cops and with gang members. Everyone is lovely. Some people are equally scary. We experience the underside as well; although the people who showed us around were among the nicest we’ve met, the stories, the places, the details could be terrifying. We try to build a world that is believable and varied, with depth, so that is the research we need.

“Miami itself is really those extremes — lovely people, incredible wealth, incredible poverty, excess, craziness, the hustle, and showing it all off. That’s our research trips — experiencing those extremes so that we can bring them into our world, and it all finds its way into the game in surprising ways.”

Some of those surprising ways could be pedestrian dialogue or radio shows and advertisements, which Rockstar said it doesn’t treat as secondary content. Everything is important when creating a world you want players to spend hundreds of hours exploring.

Rockstar’s approach to a GTA game set in the modern day is to deliberately avoid recreating real-world viral moments, since long development timelines mean these kinds of references can date a game — ask Borderlands. Instead, GTA 6’s satire focuses on modern culture, conspiracy theories, and “the strange ways people react to events.”

Last week, local team the Miami Heat announced a special match, during which the Heat will wear a GTA 6 uniform in a themed arena. We've got extensive coverage of GTA 6 across IGN. Check out IGN's interview with Rockstar Games, our GTA 6 preview, and word of the first confirmed GTA 6 voice actor.

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Blindfolded Tekken 8 Player Achieves One of the Game’s Top Ranks from Beginner

Professional Tekken 8 player SuperBrine is going viral after reaching God of Destruction using Alisa while completely blindfolded with a sleep mask.

SuperBrine has been streaming his run on Twitch in the form of seven separate broadcasts, starting in June 2026. The final stream from this series, broadcast in early October, has become a hot topic within the fighting game community, as he was able to reach one of the game’s top ranks from Beginner while obscuring his vision with a sleep mask.

It’s an impressive feat no matter how you swing it, standing as a testament to SuperBrine’s skill as a player and Tekken 8’s laudable sound design — but, perhaps unsurprisingly, his blindfolded run from Beginner to God of Destruction has sparked no end of debate about the game's difficulty and Alisa’s ease of use as a character.

HERE WE ARE...

First person ever to get From BEGINNER to GoD rank 100% Blindfolded on LIVE stream

This took me alot of effort and time, but hell yea worth it.

my whole run from the beginning to the end is SAVED in my twitch highlights.

a new youtube video incoming

#TEKKEN8 https://t.co/JhEpwWijjw

— SuperBrine (@SuperBrineTK) October 4, 2026

I got the chance to sit down with SuperBrine to discuss his self-imposed challenge and find out if it was legit or not. He confirmed that there was no way he was able to see through the sleep mask (which are typically made out of thick material with dense cushions on the eyes), and reiterated that he’d streamed his entire run live on Twitch for all to see, so there was no way for him to cheat.

As for the ‘why’ of it all, SuperBrine said he wanted to prove that he could do something impossible, and is hopeful the challenge will help boost his visibility as a pro player. He also admitted that this undertaking was not, in any way, meant as a criticism of Tekken 8 as a game, despite the discourse surrounding his efforts on social media.

“My primary goal was simply to take on a challenge that most people will consider impossible and prove that I can do it,” he said. “I want to clarify that I didn't do this to criticize the game or suggest that it's poorly designed in any way. It's actually the exact opposite. I genuinely love this game, and I thrive on pushing my own personal limits through these kinds of extreme challenges. I am deeply passionate about it, and since my long-term plan is to pursue competing as my professional career, these kinds of challenges will directly support my career."

Outside of being unable to see, SuperBrine revealed that the hardest part of this challenge was that his eyes began to burn from being closed so long beneath the sleep mask. This, on top of being mentally drained from putting so much effort into the task, forced him to take frequent breaks.

“The physical toll was actually surprising. …Mentally, it required extreme patience, without it, completing this run simply wouldn't be possible,” he said.

Even a top player would have difficulty on ranked if blindfolded, so how did SuperBrine manage to pull it off? He told me that he relied on his foundational skills as a fighting game player and a keen sense of how people play on different ranks, as well as Tekken 8's helpful sound cues.

“It comes down to a massive amount of foundational experience. Playing on multiple smurf accounts over time gave me an exact read on the game knowledge players have at different ranks. Because of that, I knew precisely which strings and flowcharts would work and which wouldn't. Beyond that, precise hearing is crucial. You would be able to instantly differentiate specific sounds knowing whether a move resulted in a wall splat or not, if it was a hit or a block, and if you landed a counter hit versus a normal hit. Ultimately, it’s all about paying attention to the audio and knowing exactly the type of player you are facing," he explained.

For those who believe that Tekken 8 is so easy that anyone can pick up a blindfold and a controller and get to God of Destruction, SuperBrine invites you to try it; but it’s not that simple, because if it was, anyone would be able to do it.

“People are free to have their own opinions on it. There will always be positive and negative ones, and I respect that. But turning this into a criticism of Tekken 8 will not help the future of the game. You can't reach God of Destruction blindfolded just by picking a specific character and hoping for the best. It takes thousands of hours of game knowledge, knowing what kind of players you will face and what level of game knowledge they have, and relying entirely on audio cues. If it was just a flaw in the game or an easy character, someone else would have done it already,” he said.

SuperBrine chose to give himself this challenge; there are many other fighting game players who have reached top ranks and even become pros in spite of having actual disabilities. For instance, the late great BrolyLegs was a top Street Fighter player who could duke it out with the best of them using only his mouth to move his controller. And BlindWarriorSven, a blind Street Fighter 6 player who lost his eyesight at six years old due to cancer, won a livestreamed set at Evo 2-1 with E. Honda thanks the game’s impressive accessibility features that allowed him to 'hear' where his opponent was at on-screen.

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The Best Deals Today: Star Wars Zero Company, AirPods Pro 3, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Star Wars Zero Company, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Shuten Order, MLB The Show 26, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, October 4, below.

Star Wars Zero Company for $47.97

Star Wars Zero Company is one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year, and you can save $12 off a physical copy today at Amazon. In our 9/10 review, we wrote, "Star Wars Zero Company is an excellent tactical game that does a fantastic job of slathering on the same cinematic look and feel we saw in Respawn's Star Wars Jedi games, incorporating strong characters and a storyline that's refreshingly centered on non-Force users and a non-traditional villain."

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $39.99

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the first entry in the beloved Trails series, and last year's remake brought new life to the original game. With 2nd Chapter out now, today is a great time to dive into this wonderful RPG series.

AirPods Pro 3 for $179.99

AirPods Pro 3 are a fantastic upgrade over the 2nd generation, bringing a built-in heart rate sensor, redesigned eartips for better noise cancellation, and improved sound quality. Right now, you can score a pair for only $179 at Amazon. I've had a pair since launch and have been incredibly happy with them, especially coming from the original AirPods Pro.

Shuten Order for $49.99

Amazon has Nintendo Switch 2 copies of Shuten Order on sale today for $49.99, which is the lowest price we've seen to date. If you're unfamiliar, Shuten Order comes from DMM Games, Neilo, and Tookuo Games as a game that offers five different gameplay styles, such as a visual novel, stealth action, and more. Nintendo Switch copies are also on sale for $39.99.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for $49.99

Metroid Prime 4 was the Nintendo Switch 2's big December game last year, and you can score a physical Switch 2 copy at Woot this weekend for $49.99. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an excellent, if relatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid name in its best moments."

LEGO Star Wars AT-AT for $51.99

Amazon has the LEGO Star Wars AT-AT set on sale for $51.99 right now. This 525-piece set features not only the AT-AT, but also the Rebel Alliance Snowspeeder as it attempts to take down the giant machine. LEGO has continued to rise in price over the years, so this 20% discount is certainly worth a look.

Save $10 off Ocarina of Time Remake Physical Copies

Similar to previous Nintendo Switch 2 physical releases, Amazon has The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time available for $59.99 right now. This deal will end on release date, which is quickly approaching with us now in October. If you've yet to experience this masterpiece or are diving back into Hyrule, the Ocarina of Time remake is sure to be one of the most talked-about games of 2026.

Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection for $29.99

Amazon has PS5 copies of Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection on sale for $29.99 today, which saves you $10 off this collection of seven games. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "The Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is the best way to play as the most underrated version of the Blue Bomber."

MLB The Show 26 for $29.99

If you're like me, this is the time where baseball truly gets exciting with October finally here. There's no better way to engage with the sport outside of watching it than with MLB The Show, and Amazon has copies of MLB The Show 26 available right now for $29.99. This is the lowest we've seen MLB The Show 26 all Summer, so now is a great time to pick up a copy as we head into the postseason.

Kirby Air Riders for $48.99

Kirby Air Riders was one of the biggest Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives in 2025, and today, you can score a physical copy for $48.99 at Amazon. There is plenty to do here, regardless of whether you are looking for single player or multiplayer content. Even if you feel like you already have your kart-racer fill with Mario Kart, Kirby Air Riders offers a unique and fun challenge that's quite different from anything else on the system.

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Gears of War: E-Day Devs 'Proud to Be One of Xbox's Main Titles' Amid Newfound Focus on Exclusivity

The Gears of War: E-Day developers at The Coalition say they are "proud to be one of Xbox's main titles" as Microsoft refocuses on exclusivity.

Studio art director Aryan Hanbeck and creative director Matt Searcy opened up about The Coalition's place in the Xbox portfolio during an interview with gaming news content creator Destin Lergarie (via MP1st). Searcy said he and the rest of the team were "proud" when asked how they feel about Gears of War: E-Day's status as an Xbox exclusive.

"Well, we feel great because Gears has such a long, storied… It's part of Xbox's DNA. It's woven into it," he said. "At The Coalition, we feel pretty honored to have Gears and be the ones bringing that legacy forward. We know how much it means to people. We know how much it means to us."

Gears of War: E-Day is firmly a console exclusive, but there was a lot of confusion surrounding which platforms Gears of War: E-Day would be available on as recently as four months ago. The once-Xbox-exclusive franchise made its debut on PlayStation consoles when original remaster, Gears of War: Reloaded, released in August 2025. Many took its presence on PS5 as a sign not only that the series would continue to come to Sony's console but also that the days of exclusive titles may nearly be behind us – and for a while, that seemed to be the case.

Leaked listings and rumors were officially shut down at the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 when Xbox CEO Asha Sharma proudly declared that Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago's Emergence Day prequel story would only be coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC. It was a shock decision that arrived as the Microsoft gaming entity kicked off a broader push for more exclusive games. Perhaps even more shocking at the time were the announcements that immediately followed, including the company's promise to never release Xbox exclusive titles on rival platforms.

After leaked splash art fanned rumors that Xbox hastily decided to cancel a Gears of War: E-Day PS5 port, the company said it did not make any "last-minute" decisions when it comes to its platform choice. While Searcy said it brought The Coalition joy to see their new game leading Microsoft's renewed interest in exclusive titles, making sure they made a great game was what came first.

"I think this is true of most game devs: You're just passionate about your craft," he said. "We're all gamers first and foremost. We love making games. We love making Gears. So, from our perspective, we just wanted to make the best goddamn Gears game we could. We wanted it to be a technical and art showpiece, and I think getting to see Asha on-stage say, 'To return to Xbox, we're returning to Gears,' yeah, that's a really cool moment.

He continued: "We know how much Xbox means to a lot of people. We're proud to be one of Xbox's main titles – I think it's been that way for a long time – and it's pretty cool to show up now and fill that role again."

Gears of War: E-Day launched in early access for Premium Edition players on PC and Xbox Series X/S October 1, 2026. Its full launch will follow this week, October 6. IGN's early review, which covered only the campaign mode, returned a 9/10. The game's story director was laid off just one week before it made its way to players' hands a few days ago. Now, more developers at The Coalition is bracing for additional layoffs.

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The Best Deals Today: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Shuten Order, MLB The Show 26, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Shuten Order, MLB The Show 26, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, October 3, below.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $39.99

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the first entry in the beloved Trails series, and last year's remake brought new life to the original game. With 2nd Chapter out now, today is a great time to dive into this wonderful RPG series.

Shuten Order for $49.99

Amazon has Nintendo Switch 2 copies of Shuten Order on sale today for $49.99, which is the lowest price we've seen to date. If you're unfamiliar, Shuten Order comes from DMM Games, Neilo, and Tookuo Games as a game that offers five different gameplay styles, such as a visual novel, stealth action, and more. Nintendo Switch copies are also on sale for $39.99.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for $49.99

Metroid Prime 4 was the Nintendo Switch 2's big December game last year, and you can score a physical Switch 2 copy at Woot this weekend for $49.99. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an excellent, if relatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid name in its best moments."

LEGO Star Wars AT-AT for $51.99

Amazon has the LEGO Star Wars AT-AT set on sale for $51.99 right now. This 525-piece set features not only the AT-AT, but also the Rebel Alliance Snowspeeder as it attempts to take down the giant machine. LEGO has continued to rise in price over the years, so this 20% discount is certainly worth a look.

Save $10 off Ocarina of Time Remake Physical Copies

Similar to previous Nintendo Switch 2 physical releases, Amazon has The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time available for $59.99 right now. This deal will end on release date, which is quickly approaching with us now in October. If you've yet to experience this masterpiece or are diving back into Hyrule, the Ocarina of Time remake is sure to be one of the most talked-about games of 2026.

Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection for $29.99

Amazon has PS5 copies of Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection on sale for $29.99 today, which saves you $10 off this collection of seven games. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "The Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is the best way to play as the most underrated version of the Blue Bomber."

MLB The Show 26 for $29.99

If you're like me, this is the time where baseball truly gets exciting with October finally here. There's no better way to engage with the sport outside of watching it than with MLB The Show, and Amazon has copies of MLB The Show 26 available right now for $29.99. This is the lowest we've seen MLB The Show 26 all Summer, so now is a great time to pick up a copy as we head into the postseason.

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