Flash News

Another PC gaming storefront is preparing to switch off the lights. Legacy Games will close its store on 31 December 2026, with download access continuing until 28 February 2027, when its servers and website shut down. For anyone with a collection sitting in their account, it is time to check that library.

Legacy says games already downloaded and installed will remain playable through its launcher after the shutdown. However, downloading and installing will be disabled once the February deadline passes: uninstall a game afterwards, and you will no longer be able to download it again from Legacy.

Players should also redeem outstanding Amazon Luna giveaways and download codes supplied with physical discs before the end of 2026. Points and rewards expire on 31 December, when Hero Club memberships also end. Legacy recommends installing everything you want to keep while the service remains available.

That “I’ll download it someday” collection now has a deadline.

Mark Hamill, Kilrathi fighters and a PC trying its best to be a cinema: Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger captured a particular moment in gaming history. Now, the 1994 space-combat classic is preparing for another mission, with an anniversary edition revealed during EA producer Jim Vessella’s presentation at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

The restoration comes out of Vessella’s work digitising EA’s video archives. Reports from the presentation describe the recovery of more than 600 source tapes, with original footage helping make a new release possible. For a game remembered as much for its filmed performances as its dogfights, recovering that material is a substantial discovery.

The original release featured Mark Hamill as Christopher Blair, alongside Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies. Its cinematic ambitions were squeezed into the storage and playback limitations of the time, leaving players with heavily compressed video. Returning to the surviving source material gives the restoration a much better starting point.

A presentation slide shared by Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation identifies the project as a 30th Anniversary Edition. It lists original-source and upscaled FMVs, a community enhancement patch, gameplay at up to 60 frames per second, controller support, and planned availability through Steam, GOG and the EA app.

The slide also mentions “Kilrathi Saga Integration”, although the wording does not establish whether the earlier games or their expansions will be included. Release timing and pricing remain unconfirmed in the material shared so far. Despite the anniversary branding, the original game’s thirtieth birthday was in 2024.

For those who remember watching Hollywood actors appear between missions on a home PC, the appeal is easy to understand. There was something wonderfully ambitious about Wing Commander III. Giving those performances room to breathe again could make returning to the cockpit particularly worthwhile.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has asked the U.S. Trade Representative to include “voices38” in its 2026 Notorious Markets list, according to TorrentFreak. The industry group alleges that the anonymous operation’s work bypassing Denuvo protection supplies the wider game-piracy ecosystem, enabling repackers and download sites to distribute playable unauthorised copies.

The unusual part is the target: an anonymous cracking operation without a conventional website. ESA argues that a listing could help coordinate efforts to identify its operator and disrupt distribution accounts and donation channels. The request follows Denuvo’s separate lawsuit against voices38.

This remains an industry recommendation: the USTR has yet to decide which nominations will appear in the final list. The development highlights growing pressure on the people producing cracks, alongside the services distributing them.

LHX: Attack Chopper is taking flight in the browser with a graphics upgrade. Developer kznsq has shared a project that runs Electronic Arts’ 1990 helicopter simulator unmodified inside a JavaScript PC emulator, while handing its 3D rendering to the GPU.

The project offers two visual approaches: an accurate mode that redraws the original graphics at full resolution, and an enhanced mode featuring real satellite terrain, modern models, lighting and shadows. The original game remains underneath, with a new rendering layer giving its battlefields a different look.

For anyone who remembers scanning those sparse polygon landscapes for targets, it is an intriguing way to revisit an old cockpit—and see how far a visual overhaul can take a classic.

Time to polish that armour: Moonstone AGA has been announced, bringing an enhanced version of Moonstone: A Hard Day’s Knight to AGA-equipped Amigas. The project aims to imagine how the game could have looked and sounded on the A1200 while preserving the original’s character.

Planned features include enhanced graphics and audio, instant switching between the original OCS and new AGA presentation during gameplay, hard drive installation, save support, and numerous bug fixes and gameplay corrections. The developers say the current alpha runs at full speed on an A1200 without an accelerator.

The team is aiming for a late 2026 release, although no firm date has been announced. This is a free, non-commercial fan project; the developers say they are seeking contact with original creator Rob Anderson and have not secured official approval. Knights keen to return to the adventure can follow the announcement for the trailer and further updates.

Atari’s brown-and-cream computing days are returning. Announced on 8 October, THE 800XL recreates the 1983 home computer with a full-size mechanical keyboard, built-in Atari BASIC and a working cartridge slot. Designed by Retro Games Ltd. and manufactured and distributed by PLAION REPLAI, it is available to preorder for £199.99 / €219.99 / US$219.99, with shipping scheduled for 23 April 2027.

The machine includes 25 games, among them Boulder Dash, M.U.L.E. and Yoomp!, plus USB loading for additional software. HDMI output, four USB-A ports, save states and a 30-second rewind bring modern conveniences, while an updated THECXSTICK joystick comes in the box. With BASIC supporting writing, saving and loading programs, there is also an invitation to spend an evening making something yourself.

The death of a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia has prompted quarantine measures and medical monitoring of her contacts. Russian authorities attribute her death to pneumonia of an undetermined cause and say they found no evidence of an accident involving pathogens. Reports suggesting pneumonic plague remain unconfirmed. The World Health Organization says the risk to the general public appears low, based on the information available.

For anyone following the developing story, Something Big’s Russia Plague Tracker brings together a timeline, map and linked sources, distinguishing confirmed information from disputed claims. Its latest update lists one death with an unconfirmed cause and no confirmed plague cases linked to the incident. It also reports that contacts tested negative for plague, with 60% having completed observation by 5 October.

The central question remains unanswered: what caused the worker’s fatal illness? Until that is established, claims of a confirmed plague outbreak go beyond the available evidence.

Voice-intelligence company Modulate has raised $25 million to expand its fraud-detection and audio-analysis technology. The round was led by Future Ventures, with Hyperplane and Lakestar also participating, bringing Modulate’s total funding to $60 million.

Its Velma platform analyses audio directly using more than 100 specialised models, looking beyond transcripts to identify synthetic speech, intent, emotion, tone and suspicious conversational behaviour. The technology is intended for applications including deepfake detection, call-centre fraud prevention, AI-agent supervision and online safety.

Modulate plans to use the investment to develop additional models, APIs and deployment options while expanding its engineering team and partner network. As cloned voices become increasingly convincing, real-time detection could become an important security layer for financial approvals, customer-service calls and executive communications.

DOOM has found another unusual home: the Vectrex. Jason Kopp, aka Arcade Jason, has brought the classic shooter to the console through his UVMC2 cartridge, with gameplay footage showing E1M2 rendered in glowing vector outlines.

The cartridge’s modern processor does the heavy lifting, while the Vectrex provides its distinctive display and controls. The result gives familiar DOOM corridors a striking new look.

Creating a Game Boy RPG could soon become easier with RPGSoup, a reusable GB Studio plug-in inspired by SaGa and other classic JRPGs. Developer Cooby_Pls is building a framework that lets creators define characters, items, equipment, spells, enemies and animations while it handles the underlying systems.

Still in development, RPGSoup is planned as a free release, accompanied by a complete sample RPG demonstrating its features. The aim is to give developers a foundation they can add to existing projects and build upon.