PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for July – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, For the King II, CrossCode https://ift.tt/KABdEty
July PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup brings blockbuster thrills, high fantasy adventure and retro-inspired 2D RPG action to all PlayStation Plus members* from Tuesday July 7 until Monday August 3.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the games.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III – Cross-Gen Bundle | PS5, PS4
Call of Duty returns with an all-new campaign, modernized versions of classic Multiplayer maps and an open-world PvE Zombies experience. The campaign, a direct sequel to the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, sees Captain Price and Task Force 141 face off against ultranationalist war criminal Vladimir Makarov as he extends his grasp across the world. In Multiplayer, the 16 maps that launched with Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 return with upgraded graphics, new modes and innovative gameplay features. In Modern Warfare Zombies, team up with other squads for the first time ever as you work together to survive in the largest Zombies map yet.
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For the King II | PS5, PS4
Once beloved by her people, Queen Rosomon has turned against her subjects, casting them into servitude in the darkness of Fahrul’s mines whilst building alliances with sinister and malevolent forces. Gather your party in four player co-op or adventure alone through Fahrul as you risk everything to fight the tyrannical queen and bring an end to her oppressive reign. From the creators of For The King, the much-loved RPG that blends roguelite and tabletop gameplay comes a new chapter in Fahrul’s history, designed on an updated engine bringing innovation and gameplay refinement for returning heroes and new adventurers alike.
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CrossCode | PS5, PS4
This retro-inspired 2D action RPG might outright surprise you. CrossCode combines 16-bit style graphics with butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story. CrossCode is all about how it plays! Take the best out of two popular genres, find a good balance between them and make a great game. That’s what CrossCode does. You get the puzzles of old school Action Adventure dungeons and are rewarded with the great variety of equipment you know and love from RPGs. During the fast-paced battles you will use the tools you find on your journey to reveal and exploit the enemies’ weaknesses and at the same time will be able to choose equipment and skills for a more in-depth approach in fighting your enemies.
*PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day for more information.
Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles https://ift.tt/eGf3ZAV
As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.
This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.
We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store. We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans and we thank you for your continued support.
For important updates on PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita announced today, please click here.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced: PS5 Pro enhancements detailed https://ift.tt/VT2pGr3
Released first on the PlayStation 3 and as a launch title for the PlayStation 4, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has remained a defining entry in the series for more than a decade. When we first explored the idea of bringing Edward Kenway’s journey to modern hardware, it quickly became clear that a traditional remaster wouldn’t be enough to do it justice.
Instead, we rebuilt the game from the ground up on the latest version of the Anvil engine, modernizing nearly every system while preserving the spirit and identity of the original game. The result is an experience tailored for modern PlayStation hardware, with 60 FPS options, HDR support, Dolby Atmos, DualSense haptic feedback, and plenty of other improvements. You can find the list of graphics modes available at launch for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro below.
With all these new features and graphics options, we’ve been able to take full advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware and deliver the best experience possible for players when the game launches on July 9.
In this article, we’d like to take a closer look at some of the technologies that bring this new version of the Caribbean to life.
A more reactive Caribbean with ray tracing
In Resynced, our goal was to make the world feel more alive, more dynamic, and more responsive to the player’s journey.
A major part of that comes from our updated lighting system, now fully dynamic and powered by hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
Instead of relying on precomputed lighting, the world reacts in real time to changes in time of day, weather, and environment. Interiors respond more accurately to outdoor light sources, and weather conditions dramatically reshape the mood of the world.
Ray-traced diffuse lighting allows light to bounce across surfaces, creating natural color bleeding and more consistent shading throughout environments. Meanwhile, Ray-Traced Specular Reflections enhance surfaces like wet wood, metal, and ocean spray, helping the Caribbean feel more physically grounded and reactive.
To ensure a consistent experience, Ray-Traced Global Illumination is enabled in all graphics modes on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro. Ray-Traced Specular Reflections are available in Balanced and Fidelity modes on PS5, and across all graphics modes on PS5 Pro.
Continuous detail with micropolygon geometry
One of the key visual improvements in Black Flag Resynced comes from how we handle geometry at scale.
Traditional rendering pipelines rely on discrete levels of detail, switching between simplified models as the player moves through the world. While effective, this approach can sometimes introduce noticeable visual popping.
With our Micropolygon geometry pipeline, we take a different approach. Instead of switching between fixed models, geometry is continuously refined based on distance, visibility, and camera perspective. This continuous level of detail is enabled by the PlayStation 5’s ultra-high-speed SSD, which allows Anvil to instantly stream, virtualize, and render tiny geometric clusters.
This lets environments and assets scale smoothly from close-up detail to distant silhouettes without noticeable transitions.
PlayStation 5 Pro enhancements
The PlayStation 5 Pro includes all the features of the base PlayStation 5 but adds significantly more GPU power and enhanced ray‑tracing performance, giving additional headroom for higher fidelity and more stable performance.
Across all graphics modes, players on PS5 Pro benefit from extended ray tracing support, including both Ray-Traced Global Illumination and Ray-Traced Specular Reflections.
This enables richer lighting and reflection quality while maintaining higher performance targets across Performance, Balanced, and Fidelity modes.
We’ve also expanded our strand-based hair on PS5 Pro. Rather than relying solely on traditional hair cards, the engine can simulate and render individual strands for more natural motion and response to wind. All of this allows us to get a very realistic hair render for our characters.
On PS5 Pro, strand-based hair is available for Edward in all modes. In Fidelity mode, nearby crowd characters also benefit from strand simulation during gameplay, while cinematics use strand-based hair for all characters regardless of mode.
In addition, Black Flag Resynced supports the latest version of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), helping deliver better image quality and improved reconstruction, reducing the visual gap between performance and fidelity modes.
A living world driven by Anvil’s Atmos
Black Flag Resynced simulates weather in real time through Atmos, the systemic weather simulation framework in our Anvil engine.
Rather than treating weather as a set of isolated effects, Atmos continuously simulates variables such as temperature, humidity, wind, and vapor density. These systems evolve over time and influence one another, producing more coherent and dynamic weather.
This same simulation extends into gameplay and environmental interaction. Wind affects not only cloud movement and storms at sea, but also vegetation, cloth, particles, sails, and character hair.
The result is a world that doesn’t just look alive but feels physically connected as well.
A richer ocean
The ocean has always been at the heart of Black Flag, and modernizing its rendering was a key focus for this project.
Black Flag Resynced introduces a fully modernized water system, based on a physically based rendering pipeline. New tessellation technique, volumetric foam generation, and dynamic bubble systems add more details to the water surface. These updates allow the sea to respond more naturally to wind conditions, weather, and ship movement.
The sea now plays an even greater role in shaping both the mood and moment-to-moment experience of navigation and combat.
Prepare for a more immersive experience
When rebuilding Assassin’s Creed Black Flag on the latest version of Anvil, our goal wasn’t only to modernize technology. We wanted to strengthen the sense of immersion, adventure, and discovery that made Edward Kenway’s journey so memorable in the first place. PlayStation 5 hardware has given us the opportunity to push that experience further than ever before, from the way the world looks and sounds, to how it feels.
Whether you’re returning to relive a favorite adventure, or setting sail with Edward for the first time, we’re excited to welcome you to the Caribbean when Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on July 9 for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro.
The wait is almost over. To celebrate, we’re taking a closer look at pre-orders, incentive previews, plus a sneak peek at a brand-new stage.
Enter the Spirit Wilds
We’re excited to reveal Spirit Wilds, a brand-new stage coming to Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game.
One of the most mysterious corners of the Avatar universe, Spirit Wilds provides a visually striking battleground for elemental clashes. Launch opponents skyward with airbending or control space with earthbending in this new arena with a beautiful backdrop for every fight. Peep the exclusive Spirit Wilds video reveal and match video below.
At launch, players will have access to 12 playable characters, a roster of support characters, eight unique stages, and multiple ways to play. Whether you’re looking to jump online, sharpen your skills in Training Mode, or experience the game’s original story, there are no shortages of ways to begin your journey.
Pre-order details
Players who pre-order either the Standard Edition or Deluxe Edition will receive a collection of exclusive bonuses:
Gold color variants for Aang, Korra, Zuko, Katara, Toph, and Sokka
Samurai Appa Support Character Skin
Voting rights for a Year 1 Pass character
Access to the Closed Beta running July 2-5
The Samurai Appa skin gives Aang’s faithful flying companion a tough new look when selected as a support character.
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Pre-ordering also unlocks exclusive gold variants for Aang, Korra, Toph, Zuko, Katara and Sokka, giving players striking golden outfits that ensure they look their sharpest while bending.
Perhaps most exciting of all, pre-ordering grants players the opportunity to help shape the future of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game. Players will be able to vote on one of the characters joining the Year 1 Pass roster.
Choose your edition
Standard edition vs Deluxe edition
Year 1 Pass
Join us in the Closed Beta
Players who pre-order either edition of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will receive access to the Closed Beta from July 2 through July 5.
The Beta will feature Aang, Korra, Katara, Toph, Zuko, Sokka, and Azula, giving players an early opportunity to experience the game’s fast-paced combat and support character system.
Pre-orders are available now on the PlayStation Store, and we’re excited to continue sharing additional updates and surprises as we get closer to launch. Thanks for all your support, and we’re stoked to see you in the Beta.
Did you get a chance to check out the final team trailer revealed today, Sunday, June 28 at EVO 2026 —the “Samurai Outriders”? If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to watch it below.
Fifth and final team revealed: Samurai Outriders
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Ghost Rider (voiced by Giancarlo Sabogal), who had already been revealed, is now joined by Blade (voiced by Imari Williams), Loki (voiced by Jason Spisak), and Deadpool (voiced by Nolan North) to form a new team.
Not the Midnight Sons—but the Samurai Outriders. Were you expecting this lineup?
The Samurai Outriders are a group of dark heroes. As you might expect, they don’t start out as a cohesive unit… in fact, they’re quite the opposite.
As they face threats to the world, how each of them—and the team as a whole—grows and evolves is something you can look forward to experiencing in Episode Mode.
New Stage: Asgard
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We’re also excited to reveal a new stage: Asgard.
Asgard is known in the Marvel Universe as the “Realm of the Gods,” said to sit at the pinnacle of the Nine Realms. It is a land that combines advanced magic with science and technology, ruled by King Odin, and home to Thor Odinson and Loki.
In this title, Asgard appears as a battle stage composed of five areas: the Observatory, Bifrost Bridge, Throne Room, Treasure Vault, and Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
New playable characters
Blade
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Blade, whose real name is Eric Brooks, was born as a human-vampire hybrid after his mother was attacked by a vampire during pregnancy. Seeking revenge against the monsters who killed his mother, he became a vampire hunter, fighting against evil blood-sucking creatures.
In this title, Blade has completed his training in Japan, gaining even greater physical and mental strength. He wields the demon-slaying sword Muramasa, a weapon capable of slicing through gods.
Muramasa is normally kept sealed with its power restrained, but when Blade releases that power, the blade turns red and reveals its true potential.
He specializes in an aggressive combat style, skillfully handling a variety of deadly tools including Muramasa, machine guns, and glaives.
One of his unique abilities, Heartstopper, throws a stake that pins the opponent in place and allows Blade to close the distance at incredible speed. When it hits, Muramasa glows red, enhancing the performance of his sword-based skills.
Closing in instantly and delivering powerful slashes, Blade truly lives up to the name of a hunter.
Loki
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Loki Laufeyson, the adoptive brother of Thor, is known as the “God of Mischief” and the “God of Lies.” Though raised in Asgard by Odin, he is actually the son of Laufey, king of the Frost Giants.
Originally a villain, Loki is attempting to turn over a new leaf and become a hero in this title. As part of the Samurai Outriders, he makes full use of his powers of deception.
His combat style excels at trickery, with many skills incorporating feints and counters using illusions. He also uses projectiles based on ice and magic, combined with clever use of erratic movements to constantly confuse opponents.
True to his mischievous nature, he can dish out frustrating and deceptive attacks—but if his tricks are exposed, he may be punished heavily. Loki is a uniquely unpredictable character who takes advantage of his opponent’s bad habits.
Deadpool
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Wade Wilson, a Canadian mercenary, grew up in a troubled household and eventually left home. After receiving extensive military training, he served in special forces but was later diagnosed with cancer.
As part of the Weapon X Program, he was injected with a healing serum derived from Wolverine’s blood. While it saved his life and granted him superhuman regeneration, it also left his body severely scarred and his mind unstable.
Deadpool’s combat style reflects his reckless nature, enabled by his powerful healing factor. He uses guns, grenades, and swords, along with high-risk techniques that involve taking damage himself.
In this title, Deadpool has somehow obtained a game strategy guide from beyond the fourth wall, granting him access to a variety of unique attacks from fighting games of legend. Filled with a love for hype and excitement, he enters the arena with an outrageous arsenal of crowd-pleasing moves.
These trailers take a closer look at each character’s battle mechanics, including default color options, normal move animations, skills, super moves, ultimate abilities, and assist types.
If you want to learn how a character plays—or just want to see their moves in action—these videos are a great place to start. We recommend checking them out when you find a character you’d like to try.
More trailers will be released soon, so stay tuned!
Upcoming events
With launch fast approaching, the development team is entering the final stretch!
We will be holding a global Open Beta* on PS5 and PC from July 24-26 (PT). In this beta, Blade will be available as a playable character. We will be sharing more details soon, so please stay tuned.
*Account for PlayStation required to participate in the Open Beta.
Share of the Week: Saros – Arjun Devraj https://ift.tt/it4KQMY
Last week, we tasked you with capturing portraits of Arjun Devraj in Saros’ newly released Photo Mode using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:
l2.focusshares Arjun’s profile against a moody red background
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme, or be inspired by other great games featuring Photo Mode. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Sparks SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on July 1, 2026
Next week, share sparks, fireworks, and twinkling lights from the game of your choice. Use #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer hands-on report https://ift.tt/gvBwCsQ
Even back in the 1977 original film, Star Wars has always been a universe full of vehicles that move at incredible speeds. While its spaceships are famously fast — just ask anyone about the Millennium Falcon’s record-breaking Kessel Run — its land vehicles might be more impressive as they tear through forests and canyons at breakneck, often deadly pace.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer continues a video game tradition of capturing that speed by putting you behind the controls of landspeeders, speeder bikes, and podracers. I played about an hour of Galactic Racer at Summer Game Fest and came away excited for a game that expands on the Star Wars universe, and goes fast doing it.
Set after the fall of the Empire, Galactic Racer places you on the Outer Rim, where lawlessness has allowed for the rise of an unsanctioned racing circuit called the Galactic League. You play a helmeted human called Shade, who is recruited by the League’s creator, Darius Pax, to defeat the circuit’s reigning champion. Turns out, Shade also has a history with the champ, Kestar Bool, and so you jump into the circuit for a personal vendetta as much as a love of speed and a need for credits. The story portions of Galactic Racer show glimpses of the larger galaxy, beyond the usual battles between good and evil.
The SGF demo focused mostly on the campaign mode, and the portion I played centered on racing the more stable and reliable speeders, rather than the barely-held-together podracers (though podracers appear in the game too). Speeders come in three types: the car-like landspeeders, the fast and fragile speeder bikes, and the agile skim speeders. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its own specific abilities that can help you win races.
Landspeeders are bigger and heavier than the other options, allowing them to take more of a beating than other vehicles if you bounce them off walls or other racers. They also have the ability to drift around turns to help you keep your racing line clean.
Speeder bikes are faster than landspeeders, but much easier to wreck. They have an ability called Kinetic Burst, which gives a quick blast of speed that helps you re-orient your bike to handle tight turns.
Skim speeders are a little more like starships than speeders, and are the most graceful of the three types. They offer the most maneuverability thanks to the Knife Edge ability that lets you flip them on on their sides for tighter turns.
All your speeders also come equipped with an Afterburner you can activate with X, which can give you a quick speed boost to overtake racers or extend a lead, and a powerful booster called a Ramjet, activated by pressing and holding R3. The Ramjet can boost for a long period to greatly increase your speed, but as you use it, a heat meter slowly fills on your screen.
If it heats up too much, your speeder runs the risk of exploding, but if you release the Ramjet early, you’ll have to wait for it to charge back up completely before you can use it again. You can also unlock and equip special abilities, such as shields to protect you from impacts or weapons to use against other racers, that can be activated by hitting L1.
Events are scattered across different, famous Star Wars planets, which brings a lot of character to each race. For example, courses on Jakku take you through the graveyards of crashed Imperial ships, while Lantaana’s tracks mix dense jungles and fiery volcanoes.
In the campaign, the circuit takes on a roguelite structure — while you race across each planet in a specific order, which specific events you face on each planet is randomized. You’re presented with three different “paths” at the start of a run, which show you what kinds of events you’ll face so you’ll have some idea of what to expect.
Events include standard races, Field Tests that require you to hit a certain time with a new vehicle, Eliminators that remove the bottom competitors over the course of a race until only the top three remain, and Mystery Encounters that seem like they could be anything from a race to a story-driving conversation. Never quite knowing what you’ll face next helps Galactic Racer maintain the sense of being an up-and-coming racer who might be a little out of their depth.
You’ll have to hone your racing skills and strengthen your speeder on each run in order to stay competitive, and you can earn and buy upgrades that power up your vehicle, as well as some that persist between runs.
The races I played were satisfyingly tough — there are canyon walls and hunks of debris everywhere, and you’ll need to react quickly, as wrecks can be devastating. Crash too many times, and you’re bounced from the circuit, forced to restart your run from the beginning. If you’re skilled and devious, though, you can wreck your opponents in spectacular fashion by forcing them into walls or obstacles, giving Galactic Racer a bit of a Burnout: Takedown feel.
In addition to the campaign, Galactic Racer includes a multiplayer mode, a Scenarios mode that includes longer-term challenges focused on specific characters, and an Arcade mode for quick races. I also tried the Arcade mode, jumping into a podrace as the villainous Sebulba from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and running a treacherous track on Tatooine.
Podracers feel very speedy in Galactic Racer. The tradeoff is that they’re much more unstable than speeders, and just about any impact blows them apart. That made racing as Sebulba — whose podracer spits fire to take out other racers when you hit L1 — an exciting but tough proposition. His racer is incredibly fast and maneuverable, and great at taking down other racers, but you also need to be careful in managing your speed and making tight turns to avoid clipping the rocky canyon walls of Tatooine.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer looks to be both a deep and interesting look at a specific pocket of the Star Wars galaxy, with all the speed Star Wars fans expect. You can jump into your speeder’s cockpit yourself when Galactic Racer hits PlayStation 5 on October 6.
