If the Xbox Game Pass backlog wasn’t already terrifying enough, Microsoft has just added another batch of games to the pile. The latest wave stretches from September 16 through October 6, with big names including Dune: Awakening, Ninja Gaiden 4, Minecraft Dungeons II, and Gears of War: E-Day.
Things kick off on September 16 with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Planet of Lana II, Routine and Ultimate Sheep Raccoon. The following day brings Kernel Hearts and Ninja Gaiden 4, giving subscribers everything from roguelike action to some good old-fashioned ninja violence.
Then comes Dune: Awakening on September 22. Funcom’s open-world survival game is making its Xbox debut as part of Game Pass, bringing its version of Arrakis to Xbox Series X|S, PC, cloud, and supported handhelds. Well Dweller, a dark-fantasy Metroidvania, also arrives that day. Mad King Redemption follows on September 23, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 joins the Premium tier on September 25, alongside Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
The real fireworks arrive at the end of the month. Minecraft Dungeons II launches September 29, bringing a new adventure, tougher enemies, new gear customisation and up to four-player co-op. It will be available day one with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Then there’s Keeper on October 2, followed by the big one: Gears of War: E-Day on October 6. The prequel takes players back to Emergence Day, 14 years before the original Gears of War, while also bringing campaign co-op, the new Horde Siege PvE mode, and Versus multiplayer. It’s a day-one Game Pass release.
So yes, Game Pass subscribers officially have another problem: too many games and absolutely not enough hours in the day. Between surviving Arrakis, crawling through Minecraft dungeons, and chainsawing Locusts, the next few weeks are looking dangerously good for the backlog.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”