September, particularly its last week, is packed with big releases, and Capcom has seemingly recognized this by adjusting the release date for Onimusha: Way of the Sword. The game was set to launch on September 25, but has been moved up to release during the first week of the month.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword will now launch on September 4 – 21 days earlier than planned. Although the game still rubs shoulders with The Blood of Dawnwalker, which arrives on September 3, that’s probably better than when it was launching one day after Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall.
We’ve played Onimusha: Way of the Sword on two occasions and have been impressed with its modernized take on the series’ signature swordplay. You can read our first hands-on preview from last August here and our most recent impressions from Summer Game Fest 2026 here. When the game launches on September 4, it will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
Mario Kart World is getting an update today that adds two new routes for its elimination competition mode, Knockout Tour. The update also adds the function to place stickers on photos taken in Photo Mode.
Knockout Tour’s new routes are Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally. The former connects Wario Shipyard and Bower’s Castle, while the latter connects Salty Salty Speedway and Whistlestop Summit. These new routes will only become available after completing at least one Knockout Tour rally, and Nintendo states more Knockout Tour routes will arrive in future updates.
Additionally, Photo Mode now lets you place collected stickers to add an extra flair to your snapshots. Check them out in action in the trailer below.
In addition to announcing plans to end the production of physical discs for new PlayStation-released games in January 2028, Sony is also planning to shut down two digital storefronts. The PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita will be closed in select markets starting later this year and continuing into 2027.
Once the PS3 and Vita stores are closed, owners of those platforms will no longer be able to make new digital purchases. Sony has provided the following timeline for when the PS3 and Vita stores will be closed:
Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting August 2026.
Additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting late 2026.
In all other countries, PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.
Sony writes in its PlayStation Blog post, “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming. PS3 and PS Vita represent an important era in our PlayStation history, so this was not an easy decision for us to make. As we continue to expand the PlayStation experience on newer devices that most of our users are playing on today, we need to focus more resources on delivering the best gaming experiences on these platforms as we look ahead towards the future.”
The PlayStation 3 was the first platform to host the PlayStation Store, which first launched in 2006. This marks the end of a 20-year run of the storefront on that platform. It’s also the first time Sony has closed a digital storefront for its legacy platforms, a move that Nintendo and Xbox have already executed for the Wii U/3DS and Xbox 360 stores, respectively, in recent years.
Sony has announced plans to end production of physical discs for new games starting in January 2028. Following that date, new PlayStation games will only be available to purchase digitally on the PlayStation Store and at retailers.
In a short PlayStation Blog post, Sony states that it is making this move in response to “shifting trends in consumer preference” favoring digital media, which the company says “significantly outpaces physical discs.” The transition will have no impact on physical games already released or scheduled for release before January 2028.
Here is Sony’s full message:
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.
Though entertainment media has trended in this direction for years, it’s still surreal to see one of the three major console manufacturers and publishers finally make the full transition to digital games. What do you think of this seismic announcement? Let us know in the comments.
Few deny the impressive and surprisingly consistent creativity Nintendo has delivered for more than 40 years, but even within that ecosystem of fun ideas, Rhythm Heaven stands out. The series represents a wonderful and wildly unique collection of concepts that are not beholden to Nintendo’s history and make me happy, proud, anxious, and angry all in equal measure. Groove is not my favorite in the series, but it stands tall alongside the rest to earn permanent placement on my Switch hard drive.
If you’re unfamiliar, Rhythm Heaven (and Groove is no exception) is a collection of individual rhythm minigames that sound and play differently but are all based on tapping only one button (but occasionally two) in time with infectious music and charming visuals. Sometimes you’re a frog launching fellow frogs into the air with a lilypad trampoline. Sometimes you have to bounce fruit across your arms by flexing your muscles. All the games are weird, they all have little stories, and they’re all memorable in one way or another.
Groove’s collection is great. I genuinely don’t think there is a single game among its more than 100 single and multiplayer games that I actively dislike. But there also weren’t any I immediately flagged as new, all-time favorites. The larger collection meets, but does not exceed, my expectations for strange and memorable games and music, which I am more than happy with.
Beatspell is the most unique new mode that functions a bit like an action game, even if it is pitched as a turn-based RPG. As you earn medals and complete games, you get the opportunity to make more progress in Beatspell, which involves using specific rhythms to execute offensive and defensive spells against enemies. It has an optional story to read, which I appreciate, as Rhythm Heaven historically does not care about context (and it doesn’t need to). I like making choices about which spells to acquire, as it is a factor of weakness consideration, but also, which rhythms you are good at executing. Playing Beatspell without having to make progress in the main game would have been nice, but I do see the value in spreading it out over the larger experience. It prevents you from losing yourself to one musical game for too long, which can be exhausting, as all the games require extreme focus.
Taking breaks and jumping around is the best way to play, and another way the game smartly encourages that is by randomly, periodically picking a game that you are allowed to attempt to get a Perfect score on. Even if you have a perfect run, you won’t get the special badge unless you get it perfect during these specific moments. I don’t mind the opportunity to perfect a game popping up without warning – it makes your attempts special and scary. But it can be annoying to have to wait to try to get the badge on Slice N Dice Kitchen, for example, when you’ve really got the hang of it and happen to be in the mood to play it.
And speaking of Perfect attempts, I struggled to play Rhythm Heaven Groove on a TV. A dedicated character warns you in that cute Nintendo way that TV or wireless headphone play may cause difficult-to-perceive delays and highlights settings that attempt to address those issues, but it just wasn’t enough for me. My Really Goods and Just OKs changed to Awesomes and Superbs the moment I switched to handheld and wired headphones. It is a frustrating technical limitation, but one that can thankfully be overcome as long as you don’t mind playing outside the dock.
The other unexpected downside of Groove is that its menus are oddly underwhelming. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter because the games are fun and the music is great; that’s the important part. But I was surprised at how unfinished the UI feels, especially when compared to the bombastic presentation of Rhythm Heaven Megamix on 3DS.
Beatspell is Groove’s most novel element, and it’s an exciting mode that I would be eager to play as a potential standalone game in the future. The core rhythm minigames don’t offer quite the same level of bizarre surprise as previous games in the series, but they are all still very good, and I absolutely see myself returning to them in the future when I am craving that unique, rewarding rhythm gameplay.
