Gaming News · Issue #90 · 10 August 2026

TL;DR

• Hunt: Showdown 1896 relaunches August 15 on a new engine, and PS4 and Xbox One get cut, so move your account first.
• GTA 6 preorders are "unprecedented," Take-Two says, and it just raised its forecast ahead of the November 19 launch.
• Gamescom Opening Night Live lands August 25 with Metro 2039, Gears E-Day, and Fable on the floor.
• Oblivion Remastered hits Switch 2 on August 11 with every expansion on the cartridge.
• Rainbow Six Siege is adding kernel-level anti-cheat and a free Alpha Pack for turning on 2FA.

🎯 Extraction shooters

Hunt: Showdown Relaunches as 1896 on August 15 and Drops PS4 and Xbox One

Crytek is rebuilding its bounty hunter extraction shooter into Hunt: Showdown 1896 on August 15. The game moves to CryEngine 5.11 and gets a new UI, performance work, and a fresh map and biome, its first new map in three years. Servers go dark for 48 hours from August 13 at 7pm CEST to prepare. The upgrade ends support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, though those players can transfer their account and DLC to current-gen consoles for free.

Player impact: If you play on PS4 or Xbox One, move your account before the August 13 downtime or you lose access on the old box. Everyone else faces a two-day blackout, then a new map to learn.

Sources: Hunt: Showdown · Neowin

🔫 FPS

Rainbow Six Siege's Next Season Adds Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat and a Free Alpha Pack for 2FA

At its August 7 Community Checkpoint, Ubisoft detailed the anti-cheat coming in Siege's next season, Legend Division. The headline is R6 Shieldguard, a kernel-level anti-cheat (software that runs deep in the operating system to catch cheats) that Ubisoft calls its biggest since launch and plans to share across its games. Legend Division will also require two-step verification through an authenticator app to play, and anyone who enables it gets a free Alpha Pack, Siege's cosmetic loot box. Ubisoft is also targeting console players who spoof mouse and keyboard input.

Player impact: Cheaters in your ranked lobbies may finally thin out, but you will need an authenticator app to keep playing Siege. Set up 2FA early and grab the free Alpha Pack while you are at it.

Sources: Ubisoft

🔜 Coming soon

Gamescom Opening Night Live Locks In August 25 With Metro 2039 and Gears E-Day

Gamescom 2026 runs August 26 to 30 in Cologne, with Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live showcase the night before on August 25. Organisers have confirmed Metro 2039 and a Witcher 3 update, Songs of the Past, for the show. The playable floor lineup includes Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, Alien: Isolation 2, Persona 4 Revival, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Xbox is bringing 25 playable games and Nintendo returns with nine Switch 2 titles.

Player impact: This is the next big reveal stage before the fall release rush. If you are deciding what to wishlist or which betas to chase, the August 25 show sets the slate.

Sources: GamingBible · AllThings.how

🆓 Free to try

This Week's Prime Gaming Freebies: Right and Down and Hiveswap Friendsim

Prime Gaming's current free-to-keep offers include Right and Down, a roguelike dungeon crawler, and Hiveswap Friendsim, a visual novel set on an alien world. Both are claimable now on PC through the Prime Gaming section of Amazon's site, and once claimed they stay in your library for good. You need an active Amazon Prime subscription to claim them, and Prime rotates these offers through the month, so the current pair will swap out before August ends.

Player impact: Both are free to keep forever once you claim them with Prime, so grab them now even if you plan to play later. They rotate out as Prime refreshes its lineup this month.

Sources: GG.deals

🕹️ Console specifics

Oblivion Remastered Hits Switch 2 on August 11 With the Full Game on the Cartridge

Bethesda releases The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on Nintendo Switch 2 on August 11, the first time any Oblivion has shipped on a Nintendo console. It targets 900p handheld and 1080p docked at 30fps using DLSS upscaling. The physical cartridge holds the full game with no extra download, and every edition includes the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansions. The digital version costs $49.99 and the physical copy is $59.99.

Player impact: If you skipped Oblivion on PC or PS5 last year, this is a complete portable version with all the DLC on the card. Handheld RPG players get a real one this week.

Sources: Nintendo · gHacks

📦 Other

Take-Two Calls GTA 6 Preorders 'Unprecedented' as It Raises Its Forecast

Take-Two reported fiscal first-quarter earnings on August 7, and CEO Strauss Zelnick described Grand Theft Auto 6 preorders as an "exceptional" and "unprecedented" start since they opened June 25. The quarter posted $1.39 billion in net bookings, driven mainly by NBA 2K and GTA, and Take-Two raised its full-year forecast above its prior $8 billion estimate. The company did not share exact preorder numbers. GTA 6 launches November 19.

Player impact: No trailer dropped, but the money says demand is real. If you want a launch-window copy without scalper markup, watch for preorder allocations tightening as November 19 gets closer.

Sources: Variety · Push Square

Helldivers 2 Teases 'Face the Unknown' Reveal and a New Cultist Enemy for August 12

Arrowhead posted a teaser for a major Helldivers 2 update titled "Face the Unknown," with a full reveal set for August 12, the same day the paid Warhammer 40K "Castellan's Creed" warbond drops. The teaser points to Helldivers landing on Illuminate home planets for the first time and introduces a new enemy subfaction called the Cultists. Arrowhead has not confirmed a release date for the larger update, so treat the specifics as a tease until the August 12 stream.

Player impact: If you drifted away from Helldivers 2, a new front and a new enemy type could be the reason to redeploy. Watch the August 12 reveal before you buy the Warhammer warbond.

Sources: Xbox Wire · VGTimes

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