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Dark

The World of ‘Dark Crystal’ May Not Be as Finished as We Thought

by admin October 3, 2025

Jim Henson’s incredible fantasy film, The Dark Crystal, is returning to theaters next week, but that may not be the last time audiences see it on the big screen. Speaking to io9 about the Fathom re-release, filmmaker Brian Henson teased that even though Netflix’s prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is unlikely to come back, that isn’t necessarily the end of the franchise.

“I can’t really comment on development, but what I will say is we will continue to create within this universe,” Henson said. “We’ve looked at several potential tracks and a movie might be one of them… You still have a lot of moving parts in the world of Dark Crystal that can create drama and conflict that can generate another story in that world.”

So what exactly does that mean? Could we be getting a new Dark Crystal movie? As Henson said, he wouldn’t comment on development. But that there’s more story to be told in the world of The Dark Crystal is simultaneously obvious and unexpected.

It was back in 2019 when Netflix released its incredible prequel series, Age of Resistance. That series took everything fans knew and loved about the 1982 original and made it bigger, better, and more engrossing. It was clear the world of Thra was ripe for further explanation, especially when the story begged for a second season. Unfortunately, that second season is unlikely to happen, and Henson admitted he wasn’t surprised.

“Netflix [was] really great,” he said. “They allowed the money to be spent that was needed to really do it right, and [Age of Resistance] is a beautiful, beautiful piece. But… they’re a streamer. Their whole point is to get a whole bunch of subscribers that we wouldn’t otherwise get. So they knew by making Age of Resistance that we’re going to get all of the hardcore fantasy fans who weren’t subscribed to subscribe. Season two? It’s the same group. So I was disappointed but not at all surprised that they didn’t want to drop that much money again for another season.”

So who might drop money for more Dark Crystal, if not Netflix? Again, there’s no comment. But clearly, if you look at the rumors surrounding another big Henson fantasy film, Labyrinth, you see that there is certainly interest out there. Fingers crossed we get back to Thra sooner rather than later.

And, as we mentioned, you can go back next week. Fathom Events is rereleasing the film in 4K on October 12 and 13 with a special new introduction by Henson. Get tickets and showtimes here. Then, check back next week for more Dark Crystal.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

A Newly Discovered ‘Einstein’s Cross’ Reveals the Existence of a Giant Dark Matter Halo

by admin October 3, 2025

The gravitational lensing not only splits the light source, but magnifies it, allowing a detailed view of the light source behind the lens. Thanks to this, the team says that HerS-3 appears to be a bright starburst galaxy—a galaxy undergoing explosive star formation—and was formed at a time when star formation was at its peak throughout the universe. HerS-3 also has a tilted, rotating disk, from the center of which gas is gushing out at a furious rate, the team say.

“Thanks to this natural telescope, we can zoom into regions 10 times smaller than the Milky Way, almost 12 billion light-years away, and in the process infer hidden matter in the light-of-sight,” said Hugo Mesias, a coauthor of the paper, in a statement.

A Giant Dark Matter Halo Revealed

At first glance, the Einstein’s cross of HerS-3 appears to have been created solely by gravitational lensing generated by the four giant galaxies located between HerS-3 and Earth. However, using a precise model of gravitational lensing, the team found that the observable mass of these four giant galaxies is insufficient to explain the arrangement of the five images of the cross: their mass is simply not great enough to produce the visual effect seen.

“The only way to reproduce the remarkable configuration we observed was to add an invisible, massive component: a dark matter halo at the center of the galaxy group,” said lead author Pierre Cox, from the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris.

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

Esports

A legend is reborn and an new legacy begins in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

by admin September 26, 2025

During the RGG Summit 2025 livestream, SEG and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, a remake of the third game in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series alongside a new, never before seen story. Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties will launch on PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on February 1th, 2026.

Two Stories, One Package

Yakuza Kiwami 3 tells the story of Kazuma Kiryu and his adoptive daughter Haruka Sawamura who have planted roots in the tropical Japanese prefecture of Okinawa to run the Morning Glory Orphanage. But when both the government and the yakuza set their sights on beachfront property, Kiryu finds that to defend the things he cares about, he must fight and sacrifice. Can Kiryu rescue the orphanage and escape his past for good?

Rebuilt from the ground up, Yakuza Kiwami 3 evolves several aspects of the beloved title with new cutscenes and new side experiences to make Okinawa and Kamurocho even more exciting and entertaining. Additional highlights include:

Ultimate Brawler Experience – Players can now swap between two powerful fighting styles: “Dragon of Dojima: Kiwami,” a brawling action style overflowing with power and an unmatched sense of dominance featuring the largest number of attack techniques in the series’ history; and the new “Ryukyu Style,” a thrilling and technical weapon-based action style inspired by traditional Okinawan weapon arts that allows players to unleash a wide variety of combo techniques using eight different types of weapons. Both battle styles combine for the ultimate brawler experience!“Legendary Baddie, Bad Boy Dragon”– a team battle mode where players aim to build the ultimate biker gang and fight alongside the Ryukyu Gal Gang, a group of lady bikers out to protect the streets of Okinawa. Dark Ties is a brand-new story that features Yoshitaka Mine, one of Kiryu’s formidable foes from Yakuza 3 as the protagonist. This story depicts the events leading up to Yakuza 3, shedding light on Mine’s origins, his search for unwavering bonds, and the path that led him, once the head of a venture company, to be immersed in the world of the yakuza. Highlights include:All-New Experience – for the first time ever, fans can play as Mine. Battle foes with a stylish yet refined combat system centered around boxing, explore the streets of Kamurocho, and see the usually cool-headed Mine cut loose and have fun.“Dark Awakening” mode – unleash Mine’s inner darkness in battle, triggering a rampage with ruthless, relentless combos, and finishing foes with a decisive strike infused with the power of darkness.“Hell’s Arena” – an underground fight club where players can enjoy fights under a variety of unique rules. In “Survival Hell” mode, players will fight their way through an underground dungeon, enduring relentless assaults from numerous hunters, to reach the goal and clear the challenge.

Players who pre-order the game, physically or digitally, will receive the exclusive “Ryuku Gal Gang – Ichiban Legendary Lad” DLC as a bonus, adding Ichiban Kasuga to the Ryuku Gal Gang within the Legendary Baddie, Bad Boy Dragon mode. The Digital Deluxe Edition gives players access to the following:

DLC Legendary Outfit PackDLC Legendary Lads & Gals PackDLC Ryukyu Gal Gang Customization PackDLC Flip Phone Customization PackDLC Legendary BGM CD Set

A Digital Deluxe Upgrade will also be available for players who choose to purchase the Standard Edition. For more details, you can visit the official website here.

Also revealed during the RGG Direct 2025, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 will be released on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 13th, 2025. Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, currently available on Nintendo Switch 2, will make its way to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam. Outside of Yakuza, the studio teased their upcoming project, STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, as part of the Direct.

For more on Yakuza, Like a Dragon, and all things RGG, stay tuned to GamingTrend.

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September 26, 2025 0 comments

A screencap of the World of Warcraft: Midnight Gamescom 2025 Opening Night Live cinematic trailer. A dark-haired elf looks toward the viewer, her face covered in a violet hue.

Product Reviews

World of Warcraft: Midnight’s collector’s edition lets you own the Dark Heart, but please don’t use this void relic to resurrect an all-devouring shadow god

by admin September 24, 2025

World of Warcraft: Midnight is on the horizon, and you know what that means: the time to throw money at an ostentatious collector’s edition is almost upon us.

Conveniently, Blizzard has just revealed what Midnight’s fanciest edition contains, and while I’m not vibing with it as much as I did with The War Within’s, there’s some cool stuff in here.

Here’s what you’ll get:

Game access

3 days of Midnight early access
30 days of WoW game time

Physical items

Midnight hardcover art book
Midnight collector’s pin
Replica of the Dark Heart

Digital items

Housing items
Hopeflutter and Doomfeathers pets
Lightstrider Raiment and Voidstrider Raiment armour transmog sets
Voidlight Surger mount
Lightwing Dragonhawk and Voidwing Dragonhawk mounts

(Image credit: Blizzard)

It looks like there will be other bits and bobs, too, including 2000 Trader’s Tender, which you can splash out with on the trading post, and a boost to level 80. The digital items will also be available in the cheaper epic edition, so the draw of the collector’s edition is all the physical items.

WoW’s art books are always great, and I still have a few of them sitting on my shelf, but for this expansion the highlight is probably the Dark Heart replica. I wouldn’t mind owning one myself, but I don’t think it holds a candle to the mighty Gryphon Rider statue from The War Within’s 20th anniversary collector’s edition.

You’ll be able to preorder the collector’s edition from October 1 via the Blizzard Gear Store in the US, where it’ll set you back a not-insignificant $140. In Europe, meanwhile, you’ll be able to get it via regional retailers.

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September 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties drops in early 2026, as RGG pair remake with a new spin-off starring baddie Mine

by admin September 24, 2025

Like A Dragon/Yakuza devs RGG Studio have revealed Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, a remake of Yakuza 3 paired with a fresh spin-off adventure starring the beat-em-up’s baddie Yoshitaka Mine. They’ll be released as one package on February 12th, 2026, as announced at the latest RGG Summit showcase.

The showcase also saw the studio announce that Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut, originally released as a Switch 2 launch title, will arrive on PC December 8th. That revamp of the most 80s entry in the series offers some extra cutscenes and a Red Light Raid multiplayer mode all about battling hordes of goons.

Watch on YouTube

While a remastered version of Yakuza 3 did hit Steam back in 2021, Kiwami 3 is a more in-depth face-lift, in line with the Kiwami treatments the first two games in the series have gotten. That means a full remake, with RGG promising “more intense battles, added cutscenes that bring depth to the story, and minigames chock-full of replay value” in addition to retooled visuals.

Here’s a quick Steam page synopsis of Yakuza 3’s plot, in case you need a refresher: “Kazuma Kiryu has earned his retirement on the sandy beaches of Okinawa. But when a deadly power struggle arrives on his doorstep, he’ll have to walk the streets of Kamurocho to escape his past for good.”

The most newsworthy addition is definitely Dark Ties, a fresh spin-off adventure which puts you in the shoes of businessy Yakuza 3 antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. If you hop into Dark Ties from the remake’s main menu, you’ll get to see how he established himself in the underworld after crashing out of the corporate one, forming deep bonds with Tojo Clan chairman Daigo Dojima and more typical Yakuza villain Tsuyoshi Kanda in the process.

It’s been a few years since I played Yakuza 3, but I recall liking Mine as a change of pace from the brawnier brawlers Kiryu tends to have to wrest the clan away from, with his cold and calculating persona certainly being a lot different to direct predecessor and Yakuza 2 baddie Ryuji Goda. It’s certainly nice to see RGG doing more with one of the villains from the Yakuzas 3 to 5 range, given those poor lads are generally pretty forgettable compared to series cornerstones like Goda and Akira Nishkiyama.

There’s a deluxe edition of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties which comes with some extra goodies, while costing £69.99 in comparison to the base game’s £54.99/$59.99/€59.99. I’ve mainly mentioned it because one of the additions is called the ‘Legendary Lads Set’, which is a very good name. It also features some flip phone customisation, though there regrettably don’t look to be any embarrassing 2000s ringtones.

You can wishlist this refreshed street scum sweeper on Steam right now.

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September 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Perfect Dark reboot leak: fresh info suggests studio saw gap in the market with Metal Gear Solid and Bond absent

by admin September 22, 2025

The now-cancelled Perfect Dark reboot had an “eco sci-fi” aesthetic, an Adrenaline System, and may have been released episodically.

That’s according to internal documentation from a former developer on the project at The Initiative shared with mp1st, revealing new artwork and gameplay details.

The document highlighted an opportunity to capitalise on the secret agent genre, due to the absence of Metal Gear Solid and James Bond 007 during development. Ironically enough, both franchises have since returned.

Perfect Dark – Gameplay Reveal – Xbox Games Showcase 2024Watch on YouTube

This may somewhat point to why Perfect Dark was ultimately cancelled – perhaps this reboot of the N64 classic from Rare wasn’t able to differentiate itself enough.

Still, this newly unearthed documentation – which dates back to a period close to the game’s cancellation this year – hints as to what players could have expected. The creative vision for the reboot aimed to reimagine the franchise while retaining the core DNA of the N64 original, with the HBO series Westworld providing inspiration for giving a classic property fresh themes and concepts.

While several systems are briefly mentioned, only the Adrenaline System is detailed. This would’ve been a resource regenerated over time to provide various abilities like healing and increasing damage dealt, as well as slowing time to aim with precision. Killing multiple enemies in quick succession would have extended this effect.

Until April of this year, the studio was working on a vertical slice (a playable proof-of-concept) that belonged to “Season 1”, suggesting the game would have been released episodically.

Perfect Dark was properly revealed at last year’s Xbox Games Showcase, with in-game footage of protagonist Joanna Dark exploring a futuristic Cairo (above). Later, reports suggested this gameplay was fake, though a designer on the game responded it was in-engine despite “some fake stuff in it”.

The new documentation includes further artwork for the game, including an alternate design for Joanna, as well as various futuristic environments to show off its “eco sci-fi” aesthetic.

Perfect Dark was cancelled back in July, following layoffs across Microsoft. Rare’s Everwild was also cancelled.

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September 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Dying Light: The Beast is out, dark, Steam Deck Verified

by admin September 20, 2025

Parkoury zombie bludgeoner Dying Light: The Beast has, literally just this minute, gone on sale, which means the review embargo curtain has lifted on RPS to reveal… an empty chair with an IOU stuck to it.

This one is my bad, rather than because of any cheeky code withholding. I’d simply underestimated how many trillions of PC games were also out this week, and had to abandon my charge through The Beast to help keep the undermanned Treehouse on top of things elsewhere. Still, we’ll shortly be bringing you a full, likely much better appraisal from RPS veteran Dominic Tarason (thaaaaaanks Dominic), and in penance, I offer some initial impressions from my couple of hours with the game’s opening.

Firstly, Techland weren’t kidding about the nighttime. In response to complaints that the nocturnally inclined zombs of Dying Light 2: Stay Human weren’t sufficiently scary after the sun goes down, The Beast looks to put more horror back in the darkness. Successfully, in the mind of this wimp. Between the night’s pitch blackness, the keyring LED you call a torch, and the sprinting, lethally hench super-zeds that aren’t at all keen on sharing the game’s rooftops, any sort of freerunning you were flexing with during the daylight hours is effectively reduced to nervous shimmying through the void.

Yet it still feels like you’re supposed to be chased back to the safehouse by these burly Volatile bois now and then, in which case panic and near-blindness become enemies in themselves. Several attempts to survive my first night ended with my shinbones shooting up into my lungs, the stress of a pursuit having overwhelmed my ability to consider whether a roof-to-roof jump was actually doable before I hurled myself into the cobbles below. It’s not always “fun”, strictly speaking. But it is decent horror.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Techland

If anything, The Beast’s brighter hours could do with more of this urgency. The bread-and-butter meleeing benefits from some nicely heavy hittin’ sticks, but the actual swinging sensation is on the wrong side of sluggish, at least in these early stages. The first two bosses aren’t that exhilarating either: they require little in the way of sharp timing or last-gasp dodging, outside of a few repeating, heavily telegraphed attacks.

Visually and practically, they’re also just minor variations on the same ‘What if a ghoul was taller and shredded’ concept, which somewhat saps the excitement out of your stated mission of hunting and killing as many of these souped- up zeds as possible. Fleeting thrills can be had in the moments when you transform into a berzerking monsterman yourself, ripping off limbs and punching through chest cavities, but the time limit on this literal beast mode seems disappointingly stingy, considering how many regular shovel hits it takes to build up the gauge.

Again, mind, I’d only got two hours into what is supposedly a 20-hour-plus campaign. And I was similarly insta-fatigued by Borderlands 4, which apparently ain’t half bad once it gets rolling. Maybe I really should stick to hardware, in which case, I’ll note that Dying Light: The Beast has also been granted Verified status for the Steam Deck – justifiably so, as it repeatedly breached 60fps on my Steam Deck OLED when running in Performance mode. There is the slight hitch of an Epic Game Store pop-up asking on launch if you want to sync accounts, but it doesn’t throw up any serious non-Steam-app compatibility woes, and can be banished with a tap of the B button on subsequent boots.

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Wario grinning and dancing with a pair of JoyCons.

Gaming Gear

Nintendo reportedly gets even more obnoxious about patent law by taking a ‘mods aren’t real games’ stance against a Dark Souls 3 mod that could invalidate its Palworld lawsuit

by admin September 19, 2025

Last year, Nintendo initiated a patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, and in the months since the Pokemon publisher has seemingly decided to double down on moustache-twirling IP law villainy at every opportunity. The latest development in the Pocketpair proceedings might be Nintendo’s worst look yet, because the company has reportedly decided that modders’ ideas don’t count. Cool!

Thanks to the efforts of a Tokyo contributor who was able to review the case file for the ongoing Pocketpair lawsuit, videogame patent law site Games Fray (which broke last week’s Nintendo patent story) reports that part of Pocketpair’s defense against Nintendo’s lawsuit aims to invalidate Nintendo’s patent claims based on the existence of prior art in mods.

(Image credit: Pocketpair / Toasted Shoes / The Pokemon Company)

As IP attorney Kirk Sigmon told PC Gamer last September, demonstrable prior art—meaning preexisting work resembling the invention described in a patent’s claims—is bad news for patent holders, because it means they shouldn’t have been granted the patent in the first place. Sigmon said that courts in Japan have a strong history of siding with patent lawsuit defendants who could present examples of prior art.

By presenting mods like Pocket Souls for Dark Souls 3, which allowed the player to capture enemies in a method resembling Nintendo’s JP 2023-092953 patent claims, Pocketpair is hoping to demonstrate that Nintendo was granted a patent on ideas that had already been deployed in game design. If it’s successful, it could render Nintendo’s patent invalid.

According to Games Fray, however, Nintendo has argued in two separate pleadings that mods simply don’t qualify as prior art, because they aren’t real games.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

To evaluate this, let’s consider the conditions for patentability in Japanese patent law, as translated by Japan’s Ministry of Justice:

Article 29

(1) A person that invents an invention with industrial applicability may obtain a patent for that invention, unless the invention is as follows:
- (i) an invention that is public knowledge within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application;
- (ii) an invention that is publicly known to be worked within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application; or
- (iii) an invention that is described in a distributed publication or made available for public use over telecommunications lines within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application.
(2) A person may not obtain a patent if prior to the filing of the patent application, a person of ordinary skill in the art of the invention would have easily been able to make that invention based on an invention prescribed in one of the items of the preceding paragraph, notwithstanding the preceding paragraph.

Now, I’m not an expert, but I don’t see anything in there that says “Nintendo gets a pass if it doesn’t think creators of prior art deserve to have ideas.”

It’s an argument that doesn’t just insult the creativity of modders—it imperils them. If Nintendo’s rationale was accepted by the Tokyo District Court, it could create a world in which a developer of a “real” game might patent gameplay mechanics inspired by a mod and then hit that mod’s creator with a cease and desist for infringing on their own ideas.

Nintendo has already demonstrated it’s perfectly happy to hammer modders with legal action, having previously issued DMCA notices that drove Garry’s Mod to remove Nintendo-related items from Steam Workshop and forced Breath of Wild multiplayer modders to shut down development.

In a just world—which, considering Nintendo’s legal oeuvre, we probably shouldn’t take as a given—it’s a ploy that wouldn’t stand. We’ll have to wait and see.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Tether CEO Lists 3 Assets for ‘Dark Times,’ Bitcoin Mentioned

by admin September 9, 2025

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino issued an unconventional message this Tuesday, writing that “Bitcoin, Gold and Land are the hedge against incoming darker times.” This grim remark carries weight not just because of who said it but because the backdrop for global markets is now what may be called bright.

Fresh U.S. data shows employment for March 2025 was revised down by 911,000 jobs, a huge miss that reshapes the outlook for monetary policy.

What about Tether?

Tether, though, is quite well prepared, judging by Ardoino’s playbook. As of June 30, 2025, the company reported $162.57 billion in assets, dominated by $105.5 billion in U.S. Treasuries, but also holding $8.72 billion in precious metals and $8.93 billion in Bitcoin.

Free League releases OGL for Coriolis: The Great Dark

by admin September 7, 2025

Free League Publishing has released an open game license for their new TTRPG Coriolis: The Great Dark. This allows the community to create and publish their own material freely while using the system:

Free League Publishing today officially released an open game license for their new original sci-fi RPG Coriolis: The Great Dark, allowing community creators to publish material for the game freely, without paying royalties. The license text, and the special logo to be used for the third party publications, are available at the Free League website.”Our vision for Coriolis is for the game’s boundaries to be as vast and endless as space itself,” says lead designer Kosta Kostulas. “We can’t wait to see what stories and worlds the Coriolis community will build.”Free League previously has open game licenses for the award-winning Dragonbane fantasy RPG and the Year Zero Engine game rules system. Dozens of products have been successfully published under these licenses, some of which are listed here and here.

As with the previous third party licenses, the Coriolis: The Great Dark community content license is royalty-free and irrevocable, meaning that it can be updated, but creators will always be able to use any published version. At this point, the new license only covers Coriolis: The Great Dark, not the previous edition Coriolis – The Third Horizon.