Halo Infinite is still getting new content. Wizardry was purchased by Atari, but only some of it. World War 2 strategy nerds rejoice as Ruse comes back to Steam. It’s Kotaku‘s Checkpoint news roundup for May 7, 2026, where some of us have regressed to our old high school ways and refuse to fill our car’s gas tank more than three gallons at a time. Unfortunately, every time I return to the pump, the price is somehow even higher than before. At least the criminally underrated Hell Is Us is coming to Switch 2.
PC gamer gets roasted for not cleaning the recycling bin
Someone on the PC gaming subreddit somehow managed to amass 300GB of junk in their recycling bin (via PC Gamer). That is almost two entire Call of Duty installs. “Decided to empty my recycling bin after almost a decade…” Illuminated-Autocrat wrote in a thread. I’m still wrapping my head around how big the hard drive they bought in 2016 must have been for them to not notice.
“Bro I empty my bin whenever I delete a single file as lightweight as few Kilobytes and you had the sheer will of holding back that urge for a decade? Holy,” one commenter wrote in disbelief. “Just forgot about it,” Illuminated responded. “Gradually upgraded my storage from 500 GB to 4 TB over the years so the bin grew with it. Free storage upgrade I guess.”
That’s one way to dodge the PC gaming RAM crisis. Consider this a friendly PSA to go and dump out those digital recycling bins right this second. Also upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 while you’re at it. Just kidding, I’m not doing that either.
Pragmata has sold over 2 million copies since launch
Capcom patted itself on the back for the game’s success in a new press release. “Through marketing initiatives such as the early release of a playable demo, Capcom worked to expand brand awareness for the title prior to launch,” it wrote. “In addition to its unique gameplay system, the game’s emotionally driven narrative—depicting the growing bond between a human and an android girl—has attracted attention, earning high acclaim from players worldwide shortly after release, resulting in Pragmata achieving ongoing sales growth.”
Dueling Wizardry claims
Atari just announced it has acquired the rights to the first five Wizardry role-playing games and their “underlying IP.” Drecom, the Japanese company who bought the franchise IP in 2020, issued a “clarification” regarding “certain media reports” to point out that it still owns the rest of the games, including Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, and Wizardry 8.
Halo Infinite adds a surprise new PvE mode
It’s called Firefight: Gauntlet and is designed to be exceptionally difficult. “This deviously difficult PvE mode introduces upgradeable attributes, elimination objectives, and auto-scaled difficulty settings to a boss-filled Firefight experience designed to challenge even the toughest Spartans,” reads the description. Most post-launch support for the game has ended, which is a shame because it was getting very good.
The Father of Dragon Quest likes AI
Discussing Slimey, the AI chatbot/support character coming to the online game Dragon Quest X, series creator Yuji Horii said, “With regular AI, people can feel embarrassed about treating it like a friend, but if it’s a game character, the barrier is lower, and people may find it easier to talk to about various topics,” according to a new report by Toyo Keizai and translated by Automaton. “I think it’s wonderful that [Slimey] can also listen to people’s concerns with empathy and even talk about things unrelated to the game itself,” he added. “I’d like to explore ways for AI characters to accompany players as supporting companions while they play, which could then expand into other series too.”
WW2 RTS Ruse has come back to Steam
The game released in 2010 to generally positive reviews, but publisher Ubisoft later removed it from Valve’s storefront due to expiring licenses. The studio behind the original release, strategy game maker Eugen Systems, has now brought it back.
“While we developed and launched Ruse in 2010, the game didn’t officially belong to us,” Eugen wrote in an announcement. “Sidelined due to distribution constraints, we could do nothing in the subsequent years to help the players who contacted us for assistance or tried to obtain the game. Recently, we received the opportunity to return Ruse to our catalog. This allowed us to re-release this pillar of the RTS genre, with some added extras!”
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is out this summer
The sequel to the 2021 squad-based third-person PvE shooter was revealed today with a trailer and it’s not far away. Set to arrive by September, the upcoming sci-fi horror game adds a fourth player to the mix and will launch with a dedicated horde mode.
Paranormal Activity: Threshold has been canceled
Director Brian Clarke put out a statement saying Paranormal Activity IP holder Paramount had refused to allow extra development time. With no other option than to rush out an unfinished product, Clarke said he and publisher DreadXP decided to “amicably” part ways with the studio and abandon the project.
The Video Game Hall of Fame inductees for 2026 are…
Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA International Soccer, and Silent Hill beat out Frogger, Galaga, League of Legends, Mega Man, PaRappa the Rapper, RuneScape, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and Tokimeki Memorial for this year’s Hall of Fame class at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
