Another week, another round of gaming news that’s juicier than a loot drop after a two-hour Destiny raid. Let’s get you caught up on everything that’s making the internet scream (and, as usual, argue about yellow paint).

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### Halo: The Console War’s Final Boss, Now With Extra Drama
What a time to be a Halo fan—and/or a console war veteran. Microsoft dropped the bombshell that Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PlayStation, ending Xbox exclusivity in the most dramatic fashion possible. The White House even got in on the action, tweeting a cringey AI image of Trump as Master Chief saluting a 40-star American flag (math is hard, I guess?). Homeland Security then tried to recruit for ICE using Halo imagery, causing the original Bungie devs to collectively facepalm so hard they left a crater in Reddit.

Oh, and speaking of original devs, Jaime Griesemer (the guy behind Halo’s iconic 30 seconds of fun) is not thrilled with the remake’s design changes: Warthogs steamrolling Hunters, dynamic crates, infinite sprint, and—brace yourself—the Needler now has an ammo counter. It’s like a dance remix that skips the intro and thumps the chorus. TL;DR: “I made it right and they are breaking it for no reason.” Ouch.

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### Battlefield 6: REDSEC Battle Royale Drops—And Immediately Gets Roasted
EA pulled a Fortnite and shadow-dropped Battlefield REDSEC, its new free-to-play battle royale mode, alongside Season 1 of Battlefield 6. The good: a massive new map (Fort Lyndon), destructible cover, vehicles galore, and some slick mission-based objectives. The bad: Steam reviews instantly tanked to “Mostly Negative” as base game players raged over forced BR challenges, battle pass XP, and the fact that REDSEC’s map is better than anything in the main game. Also, Blackwell Fields, the new multiplayer map, is already infamous for being an open sniper hellscape where you can get spawn-killed from the enemy HQ. GG, map design team?

Meanwhile, EA toned down the “Monster Energy” green skin after fans memed it into oblivion. “We won!” they cried. For now.

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### COD vs. Battlefield: The Shooter War That Never Dies
Not to be outdone, Activision launched another free Black Ops 6 MP/Zombies trial just as REDSEC went live, making it clear that the only rivalry more bitter than the console wars is the annual FPS publisher slap-fight. Also, both sides are still dunking on each other for “goofy” skins (looking at you, Nicki Minaj) and “gritty realism.”

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### FF7 Remake Part 3: Yellow Paint Discourse Strikes Again
Director Naoki Hamaguchi is doubling down: yellow paint is here to stay. “There is definitely a need for that kind of thing,” he says, which means the next time you see a bright yellow ledge, remember: it’s not lazy design, it’s accessibility, baby. Also, pacing won’t be cut, just “improved.”

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### Palworld vs. Pokémon: The Patent Battle Gets Spicy
Nintendo’s attempt to patent monster capturing mechanics just got smacked down by the Japan Patent Office for lacking originality—citing prior art from ARK, Monster Hunter, and even Pocketpair’s own Craftopia. While this doesn’t kill their lawsuit against Pocketpair’s Palworld, it does make Nintendo look like they’re trying to patent “collecting cool monsters in a video game.” Next up: “pressing A to jump.”

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### Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO? Looks Dead
After gutting 14,000 jobs and putting New World in maintenance mode, Amazon (allegedly) canned its Lord of the Rings MMO. A dev posted “y’all would have loved it,” which is about as comforting as hearing Half-Life 3 is still “in development.” Sorry, Tolkien fans—back to Mordor with you.

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### Deals, Remakes, and Everything Else
- **PS Plus November:** Stray is the headliner. Yes, you can finally be a cat for free (again).
- **Battle Arena Toshinden** is coming back for modern consoles. PS1 nostalgia is real.
- **Crash Bandicoot** is getting a Netflix animated series. Your childhood, rebooted.
- **Resident Evil Requiem** is up for preorder in a zillion editions, including a Switch 2 Pro Controller and the first ever Resident Evil amiibo. Lady Dimitrescu costume for Grace? Yes, please.
- **RuneScape** is letting players vote (rigged as heck) to nuke its most hated microtransactions. The poll is “Vote YES if you want this gone,” and the community is loving it.
- **Pokémon TCG**: White Flare, Mega Evolution, and Team Rocket tins are at market price on Amazon. Scalpers in shambles.
- **Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection** and **Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake** both landed this week, delivering classic vibes for the old-school crowd.
- **NVIDIA** dropped a truckload of AI, robotics, and supercomputing news at GTC Washington, D.C.—but let’s be real, you’re here for the games, not the data centers (unless you’re a dev, in which case: carry on).

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### Final Bosses
- Kojima says he never knew the Wachowskis wanted him to make a Matrix game, but “there could’ve been a way to make it work.” Multiverse of missed opportunities, folks.
- Arc Raiders launches directly between Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7—and the devs aren’t scared. Bold move. Let’s see if it pays off.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons gets a Switch 2 edition and a massive free update. Just when you thought you were out, Tom Nook pulls you back in.

That’s it for this week, gamers. See you in the trenches—and don’t forget to paint your ledges yellow.

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PixelPulse out. If you want deals, drama, and deep dives, follow VainSoftGames for the best gaming news this side of a Destiny loot cave.