Original PlayStation 3 discs can now be played through RPCS3 across all four supported desktop operating systems, without first copying the entire Blu-ray. However, “plug and play” still comes with a few conditions.
RPCS3 now lets users play original PlayStation 3 discs directly from compatible Blu-ray drives on Linux, macOS and FreeBSD, expanding a feature previously available on Windows.
Physical PlayStation 3 collections have gained another way to stay in use. RPCS3 has expanded its support for playing games directly from compatible Blu-ray drives to Linux, macOS and FreeBSD, joining the existing Windows implementation. With the necessary setup in place, the emulator can read and decrypt a game from its original disc rather than requiring a complete copy on a hard drive or SSD first.
The RPCS3 team publicised the development on 6 September 2026, crediting contributors digant73 and Megamouse. For anyone with a shelf of PS3 games, the appeal is straightforward: the physical copy becomes something to insert and play on a computer, not simply the starting point for a disc-dumping process.
What has actually changed
There is an important distinction behind the headlines: direct disc playback is not entirely new to RPCS3. The Windows implementation was merged into the project on 29 April 2026, allowing compatible Blu-ray drives to be added through the emulator’s game-management interface.
The newer change extends that capability to the remaining supported operating systems. The corresponding contribution, pull request #19233, was merged on 31 August 2026, several days before the public announcement. Its implementation supports physical Blu-ray drives as well as virtual drives containing mounted disc images.
A separate improvement by Megamouse, also merged on 31 August, addresses slow package installation from optical media. It changes those installations to use a single thread, resolving a reported problem caused by concurrent file reads. This is an installation improvement, not a claim that games themselves will suddenly run at higher frame rates.
“Plug and play” still needs the right hardware, and a key
The first requirement is a Blu-ray drive capable of reading PS3 game discs. Merely having a drive that plays Blu-ray films is not enough to establish compatibility. RPCS3 maintains a list of known working models, and the team notes that only certain drives, notably those using particular MediaTek chipsets, can read the discs correctly. Checking the exact drive model is therefore more useful than assuming any external Blu-ray reader will do.
The second requirement is a matching disc decryption key. In a follow-up to its announcement, RPCS3 explained that users must place the key in the emulator’s data/redump directory. Once it is available, the emulator can read and decrypt the disc as it runs. The implementation searches that directory for a suitable key.
That qualification matters. Inserting a disc into an otherwise unprepared installation is not the same experience as inserting it into an original PS3. The normal emulator setup still applies, including installing PlayStation 3 system software through RPCS3’s built-in firmware installer.
“Plug and play” is best understood here as a simpler way to use physical games after the prerequisites have been satisfied, rather than a promise of completely configuration-free playback.
Direct disc access does not guarantee perfect emulation
Reading the original Blu-ray changes how RPCS3 accesses a game; it does not remove the need to check whether that game runs well in the emulator. RPCS3’s compatibility database distinguishes between titles that can be completed with playable performance and no game-breaking glitches, and those that still have significant limitations. The relevant game’s status remains worth checking before treating a computer as a replacement for the console.
Nor does skipping a full disc copy mean eliminating local storage requirements. RPCS3 still uses storage for emulator data, caches and console user data, while games that install content from disc may still need to do so. The saving is avoiding a separate, complete copy of the Blu-ray—not making every part of the experience storage-free.
A practical improvement for physical collections
For collectors, the strongest argument is convenience. Direct playback removes a preparatory step between choosing a game and trying it, while allowing the original disc to remain the source of the game data. The team’s announcement also emphasises the preservation value of accessing older physical releases without relying on servers to supply the game itself.
It is not a complete answer to game preservation: the compatible drive, decryption key and emulator all remain part of the equation. But it is a useful improvement in how an existing collection can be enjoyed.
The significant development is not that Windows users have suddenly gained a brand-new feature. It is that direct PS3 disc playback is no longer confined to Windows, bringing the same approach to Linux, macOS and FreeBSD users. For people who still enjoy taking a game from its case and putting it in a drive, that is a welcome change.
Stolen financial and accounting data can be used to create highly convincing phishing and payment-redirection scams.
An attack on Contabilità in Cloud exposed personal information, IBANs and, according to TeamSystem’s notification, accounting records. Passwords reportedly survived. The information needed to construct convincing payment fraud may not have.
Cybersecurity — 4 September 2026
When an IBAN is stolen, the first reassurance normally offered is that an IBAN is not a banking password. That is correct, but it risks missing the real significance of the TeamSystem data breach. The problem is not simply that criminals may now possess bank-account coordinates. According to the notification sent by TeamSystem to affected customers, the attackers may also have obtained the context surrounding those accounts: names, contact details, transaction descriptions, amounts and counterparties. That combination could allow criminals to produce fraudulent emails, invoices and telephone calls containing enough genuine information to appear legitimate.
What happened to TeamSystem
TeamSystem says it detected what it described as a sophisticated security incident during the afternoon of 24 August 2026. The incident involved unauthorised access to systems associated with Contabilità in Cloud, its cloud accounting service, followed by the exfiltration of data stored in the software.
The company informed affected customers by email on 26 August, approximately two days after detecting the incident. The story subsequently became public through social-media posts and reporting by Sky TG24, Adnkronos, Fanpage, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and specialist cybersecurity publications.
The confirmed scope is important. Public reporting identifies Contabilità in Cloud as the affected service. It does not establish that every TeamSystem product, every company system or every TeamSystem customer was compromised.
TeamSystem says on its website that more than three million customers use its products. That number illustrates the company’s importance in the Italian business-software market, but it must not be confused with the number of customers affected by this breach, which has not been disclosed.
What information was taken
The customer notification, as reproduced publicly and reported by several outlets, identifies four principal categories of exposed information:
personal and identifying information;
contact details, including email addresses and telephone numbers;
banking coordinates, including IBANs;
accounting transactions recorded in the platform, potentially including descriptions, amounts and counterparties.
TeamSystem reportedly said that, based on the investigation available at the time of the notification, customers’ login credentials did not appear to have been compromised. That reduces the immediate risk of criminals entering accounts with stolen passwords, but it does not eliminate the risk created by information already removed from the platform. There is also a discrepancy worth highlighting.
Sky TG24 and Adnkronos, reporting comments from Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency, listed personal details, contact information and IBANs as the affected categories. The TeamSystem customer notification reproduced elsewhere also included the contents of accounting transactions.
Those descriptions do not entirely match. Until TeamSystem publishes a comprehensive public technical update, customers should rely principally on the individual notification they received and on the data they actually stored in the service. Exposure may differ from one customer environment to another.
An IBAN alone is not the biggest problem
Knowing an IBAN does not normally allow someone to log into a bank account or authorise a payment. Customers should therefore not interpret the breach as meaning that criminals can automatically withdraw money from their accounts. The greater danger is informed impersonation.
Imagine that an attacker knows that Company A regularly pays Supplier B, understands the approximate value and timing of those payments and has the email address and telephone number of the person handling the account.
The attacker can then contact Company A while pretending to be Supplier B. The message might refer to a genuine commercial relationship, quote a realistic amount and announce that the supplier has changed bank account. The next legitimate payment is then redirected to an account controlled by the criminal.
No bank account needs to be technically hacked. The victim voluntarily authorises the transfer because the request appears consistent with information that only a trusted party should possess.
This is commonly described as invoice-redirection fraud, supplier impersonation, IBAN swapping or a form of business email compromise. The National Cybersecurity Agency specifically warned about phishing and financial fraud involving fraudulent changes to payment coordinates.
The transaction data potentially makes these attacks more convincing. A generic phishing email may contain obvious errors. A message that names a real supplier, refers to a genuine service and requests an amount resembling previous payments is much harder for an accounts department to dismiss immediately.
The unanswered questions
More than a week after the incident was detected, several fundamental details remain absent from the public record.
TeamSystem has not publicly disclosed:
how the attackers initially entered the environment;
whether they exploited a software vulnerability, compromised an account or entered through a third party;
when the unauthorised access actually began;
how long the intruders remained inside the environment;
the number of customers, records or individuals affected;
the total quantity of information exfiltrated;
whether the affected information was encrypted at rest;
whether every Contabilità in Cloud environment was exposed or only a limited subset;
who carried out the attack.
The date of 24 August represents the reported detection date. It should not automatically be interpreted as the date on which the intrusion began. Determining how long the attackers had access will be essential when assessing the true scale of the incident.
The reports reviewed for this article also do not identify a verified ransomware claim, named threat actor or public ransom demand. Until supporting evidence appears, attributing the incident to a particular criminal group would be speculation.
The public communication is not good enough
Sending a direct notification to affected customers within approximately two days of detection was necessary and useful. Direct communication is more important than a polished press release when organisations need immediate information about their own data. However, direct email should not be the end of the communication process.
As of 4 September, TeamSystem has not published a clearly visible incident page, public security advisory or press release explaining what happened, which products are affected, what customers should do, what has been contained and when further updates will be provided.
The breach became publicly documented because recipients and cybersecurity researchers shared the customer notification. Punto Informatico also reported that no official notice was available on TeamSystem’s corporate website.
There may be further information inside authenticated customer portals or in subsequent private correspondence. That does not replace a stable public source that customers, suppliers, accountants, banks and other potentially involved organisations can consult and verify.
The absence is particularly awkward because TeamSystem’s homepage currently tells prospective customers that they can rely on the “total security” of their data. No cloud provider can realistically guarantee total security. The credible promise is not that an incident can never occur, but that it will be detected, contained, explained and communicated transparently when it does.
What affected businesses should do now
Changing a TeamSystem password is a reasonable precaution, particularly when the same password has been used elsewhere, but password changes do not address the principal risk identified in this incident. TeamSystem says login credentials currently do not appear to have been taken. The most important protections concern payments and identity verification.
Businesses using Contabilità in Cloud should warn their finance teams, accountants and employees responsible for supplier payments that genuine commercial information may now be used in fraudulent requests.
Any request to change a supplier’s bank details should be verified through a previously known and independent channel. Staff should call a trusted telephone number already held in company records, not a number contained in the email requesting the change.
Changes to payment information and unusual transfers should require approval from at least two people. This is particularly important when a request is described as urgent, confidential or linked to the TeamSystem incident.
Unexpected emails, telephone calls or messages claiming to come from TeamSystem, a bank, an accountant or a supplier should be treated cautiously. A legitimate security process should not require customers to disclose passwords, one-time codes or payment authorisations, or to install remote-access software following an unsolicited contact.
Businesses should also monitor the bank accounts and IBANs entered in the platform. Suspicious payments or attempted fraud should be reported immediately to the relevant bank and authorities. The longer a fraudulent transfer remains undisputed, the more difficult recovery may become.
Independent telephone verification, separation of payment responsibilities and dual authorisation are more reliable controls than simply expecting every employee to recognise a professionally constructed phishing email.
Customers may have their own GDPR responsibilities
The notification reportedly refers to Article 33(2) of the GDPR. That provision applies when a data processor becomes aware of a personal-data breach and must inform the relevant data controller.
This distinction matters because TeamSystem may be processing information on behalf of businesses, accountants and professional firms that remain controllers of the personal data entered into the software.
According to the Italian Data Protection Authority, a controller must notify a breach to the authority without undue delay and, where possible, within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, unless the breach is unlikely to create a risk to people’s rights and freedoms. Where the risk is high, affected individuals may also need to be informed directly.
That does not mean every TeamSystem customer automatically has identical notification obligations. Each organisation needs to determine what information it stored, whose information was involved, what risks have arisen and whether its own regulator, customers, employees or suppliers must be notified.
The breach is not only TeamSystem’s problem
TeamSystem must explain how the intrusion occurred, establish the full affected population and provide continuing information to its customers. But the consequences will not remain contained inside TeamSystem’s systems.
The stolen records may describe relationships between businesses, customers, suppliers, accountants and banks. That means an organisation that has never purchased a TeamSystem product could still receive a convincing fraudulent message because its details appeared as a customer, supplier or counterparty in somebody else’s accounting records. This is why describing the incident simply as the theft of a collection of IBANs understates the danger.
An IBAN is a coordinate. An IBAN connected to a real identity, a genuine supplier, a plausible amount and an established payment relationship is a ready-made story. Criminals do not always need to break into a bank account when they possess enough accurate information to persuade somebody else to send them the money.
TeamSystem’s investigation will eventually need to explain the technical failure. In the meantime, customers should assume that the greatest immediate risk will arrive through apparently normal business communication, and may look far more credible than ordinary phishing.
Mirari is preparing a new production run of 100 Proto2 PowerPC boards, designed for AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS and PPC Linux.
The Mirari, a new community-driven PowerPC mainboard designed with AmigaOS 4.x and MorphOS in mind, is moving closer to wider availability. The board combines the PowerPC platform with more modern hardware features including NVMe storage, USB 3, PCIe and U-Boot 2024, while also supporting PPC Linux.
In its latest update, dated 17 August 2026, the Mirari team confirmed that preparations are underway for a new run of 100 Proto2 boards. Most of the CPUs have already been secured, with assembly planned locally in the Netherlands so the team can oversee testing and quality assurance. Boards will then be allocated according to the order in which people originally registered their interest.
Anyone interested in getting hold of a Mirari can register through the official interest form, while development updates, specifications and videos can be found on the main Mirari website.
THEC64 Handheld brings Commodore-inspired portable gaming to a clamshell system with 25 built-in games, launching on 15 October 2026.
THEC64 Handheld, a new portable system inspired by Commodore’s legendary 8-bit computer, is now available to pre-order from Amazon UK. At the time of writing, it is listed for £104.95, with its release scheduled for 15 October 2026 and Amazon’s Pre-order Price Guarantee included.
The clamshell handheld features a 4.3-inch 840×480 IPS display, traditional gaming controls, four remappable function buttons and 25 built-in C64 games. Highlights include A Pig Quest, Sam’s Journey, Super Boulder Dash, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid, Galencia and Steel Ranger. Additional games can be loaded through microSD, while a rear USB-A port supports an external keyboard or joystick.
An official announcement was issued by Blaze Entertainment and HyperMegaTech, with the product licensed by Retro Games Ltd. The official recommended price is £109.99, making Amazon’s current pre-order price slightly cheaper.
Disclosure: This article is not sponsored. I do not receive any commission, payment or other benefit from the links above or from any of the companies mentioned.
AmiGmail gives classic Amiga systems direct access to Gmail through a native ReAction interface using IMAP, SMTP and AmiSSL.
AmiGmail, a new native Gmail client for classic Amiga systems, has arrived on Aminet. Developed by Andreas “Andiweli” Stürmer, the application uses the AmigaOS ReAction interface and connects directly to Gmail through IMAP and SMTP over AmiSSL/TLS. Messages remain on Gmail’s servers and are accessed live, rather than being downloaded into a local offline database.
The client supports Gmail’s Inbox, Sent, All Mail, Trash, Spam and Drafts folders, together with expandable nested labels. Users can compose and reply to messages, edit drafts, move or delete emails, mark messages as read or unread, sort message lists and send or save file attachments. It also supports clickable URLs, mailto: integration and automatic Inbox checks at startup or every five minutes.
AmiGmail can continue checking for mail while iconified on Workbench and optionally play a notification sound when new messages arrive. More recent additions include a local contacts manager with CSV and VCF importing, allowing recipients to be selected directly while composing or replying to an email.
Version 1.7, uploaded to Aminet on 17 August 2026, fixes notification sounds for the first new email received after restarting the application. It also increases the Workbench icon stack to 100,000 bytes to avoid stability problems. Development is moving quickly, however: version 1.8 was released through GitHub on 18 August, adding Reply All, message forwarding, email signatures, a startup splash screen and notification sounds bundled directly inside the archive.
Running AmiGmail requires AmigaOS 3.2 or later, a 68020 processor or better, ReAction, a working TCP/IP stack and AmiSSL 5.x. Gmail two-step verification must be enabled so that the application can connect using a dedicated App Password instead of the account’s normal password. Stored account information is protected using PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 key derivation and AES-256-GCM encryption.
There are some deliberate limitations. AmiGmail supports only one Gmail account, cannot be used with other email providers, does not offer an offline message cache and uses plain-text composition rather than an HTML editor. The interface is available in English and German.
Even with those restrictions, AmiGmail provides a surprisingly capable and genuinely native way to access modern Gmail services from a real Amiga. The project is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence and is not affiliated with Google.
School’s nearly out—and an evil computer wants to take over the world. Escape from 8-Bit High, developed by Duck Made Of Wood and published by Dionous Games, is scheduled to launch on Steam on 29 September 2026, mixing classic point-and-click adventuring with arcade-inspired musical battles.
When a mysterious cassette awakens the sinister Pomodore 64, rock trio Blueberry Finn must save Cloudydale from an invasion of pixel-era villains. Players can switch freely between bandmates Hank, Duck and Alex, following interconnected adventures through a monster-infested school, outer space and the depths beneath the Earth. Choices shape the story—and can even change the main villain between playthroughs.
The developer promises 8–10 hours of gameplay, full voice acting, four unlockable arcade mini-games and new songs to discover. Hotspot highlighting and an objectives journal should help keep the puzzles moving. A free demo is already available on Steam, alongside the wishlist option.
h4x (@c0ner0ne) reports successfully decrypting firmware for the Uniden SDS100E radio scanner—a potential step towards deeper examination of its internal software. The announcement concerns firmware decryption, not the cracking of encrypted radio communications, and does not by itself demonstrate new scanning capabilities or a ready-to-install custom firmware.
Commodore wants its revival to mean more than another familiar logo on a box. Speaking to FRVR, chief strategy officer Jim Squires stressed that preserving hardware matters alongside saving old software. With ageing C64s increasingly being cannibalised for spare parts, the Commodore 64 Ultimate is intended to help keep the platform alive through an FPGA recreation of the original machine.
That approach extends to accessories: the revived TAC-2 joystick preserves the classic design while introducing a stronger steel shaft.
Squires also credited the homebrew and demoscene communities that never stopped developing for Commodore machines. The stated ambition is to preserve how these systems feel and play—not simply cash in on their name. Less souvenir, more working computer.
Who needs a graphics card when you have a microcontroller and a stubborn refusal to accept its limitations? CubeCoders’ Jet Megatextures Demo adapts James D. Lambert’s Nintendo 64 chapel demo for the ESP32-S3, rendering everything in software using the Jet engine. A 90-second camera tour explores stained-glass windows and detailed stonework, with optional controls for looking around freely.
The trick is making simple geometry look expensive: 325 triangles, 18 textured materials and a 5.01 MiB texture pack. The colourful lighting is baked into the artwork rather than calculated dynamically, while a cache reuses filtered texture samples to reduce rendering work. The complete reduced texture pack fits in memory, so this is not a demonstration of streaming a world larger than RAM.
The tested setup uses a 240 MHz ESP32-S3 with 8 MiB PSRAM and 16 MiB flash, driving a 480×320 display through half-width rendering and alternating fields. Source code, converted assets and build instructions are available on GitHub. Tiny hardware, thoroughly oversized ambition.
A rumor that the complete Avengers: Doomsday has leaked in 2160p began circulating on X on September 20, three months before the film’s December 18 theatrical opening.
Fan accounts and scoopers said a “reputable P2P uploader” possessed a 4K screener. Several posts added that the file had no audio. Cosmic Book News and ComicBookMovie both reported the claim and stressed it was unconfirmed. Marvel Studios has issued no statement.
An image said to show Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, flanked by damaged Sentinels against a burning Earth, circulated alongside the rumor and reportedly passed some AI-detection checks. That still does not prove a finished feature exists online.
Trade and fan coverage notes the film only recently finished reshoots and is expected to remain in post-production into November, which makes a completed, theatrical-ready 4K copy circulating now unlikely. Earlier Doomsday clips that appeared in June were later hit with copyright takedowns.
History is cited as a warning: when a workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked in 2009, the uploader later went to federal prison.
Official new Doomsday footage is already scheduled to appear in theatres with Avengers: Endgame Encore beginning September 25. The studio’s silence so far should not be read as confirmation that a full movie is out there.
Treat the 4K leak story as rumour until a verifiable source, file details, or a studio response appears.
Eye of the Beholder is getting a rather unusual second life. BtD, an experimental engine created by Moon Bunny, reimplements the 1991 dungeon crawler as a true 3D first-person experience with smooth, continuous movement instead of the original game's grid-based steps and 90-degree turns.
This isn't simply a remake with prettier graphics. BtD reads the original DOS Eye of the Beholder data files, retaining the game's dungeons, puzzles, scripts and underlying content while interpreting them inside a modern Unity-based engine. No original game assets are distributed with the project, so you'll need a legitimate DOS copy of Eye of the Beholder to use it.
The developer says considerable effort has gone into keeping the original logic intact, including writing a virtual machine capable of processing the game's original level scripts. Enemies have received some modernisation too, including pathfinding better suited to unrestricted 3D movement.
BtD originally entered open beta in May 2026, and the project has recently started attracting fresh attention after footage of it resurfaced online. If you've ever wondered what Eye of the Beholder might have felt like had Westwood's dungeon been freed from its invisible grid, this is probably about as close as we're going to get.
Apparently, nobody told the Game Boy Advance that Skyrim was out of its league. Solo developer blast_away has unveiled SkyGBA, a homebrew project that recreates Skyrim’s map as a GBA ROM. Before anyone starts planning another hundred-hour adventure, this is a map tech demo—not a full port of the game.
The project uses a custom 3D engine running in the GBA’s Mode 4, turning the landscape into a decidedly low-resolution handheld experiment. The trailer’s description specifies that the footage was captured using mGBA through RetroArch, so it should not be mistaken for a demonstration filmed on original hardware.
In the announcement’s comments, the developer says a downloadable ROM is planned, with a link to be added to the YouTube comments; joining Discord will not be necessary. That is a promised release, rather than a confirmed download available now.
The complete engine source is less likely to follow: its creator wants to use it for an original game, although some code snippets may be shared. For now, consider this a wonderfully unreasonable sightseeing trip rather than Skyrim: Pocket Edition.
Apparently blackjack was getting far too comfortable with modern hardware.
Deck of Time is a new humorous card game created for MS-DOS, combining blackjack with a deliberately 1990s PC aesthetic and enough weirdness to ensure nobody mistakes it for serious casino software. The game was created by RubenRetro for the second MS-DOS Club DOS Game Programming Contest, whose theme this year is time travel.
Underneath the jokes is a genuinely old-school DOS game. Deck of Time is written in C, uses Allegro 4.2.3, requires only a 386 or faster, 4 MB of RAM and VGA graphics, and will run under MS-DOS 5.0 or later. In other words, your forgotten beige box in the attic may finally have an important job again.
The game takes the familiar blackjack formula and wraps it in a much less familiar presentation involving time-themed nonsense, an intimidating dealer and multiple outcomes. There is even an intentionally retro-style age check, because apparently getting into a DOS blackjack game in 2026 should involve proving that you survived enough of the 1990s to understand the references.
Deck of Time was published on 11 September 2026 and received an update on 16 September. A downloadable DOS version is available, along with a Windows x86 build, but you can also play the whole thing directly in a modern browser through itch.io.
So yes: we have reached the point where people are developing completely new blackjack games for MS-DOS again.
Somebody has looked at Windows 3.1, looked at Quake, and decided that these two pieces of 1990s technology needed to spend more time together.
The result is quakegeneric-Win31, an open-source project that brings id Software’s legendary 1996 shooter to Microsoft’s decidedly pre-Windows 95 environment.
And this isn’t simply the DOS version of Quake being launched underneath Windows. The project uses WinG, Microsoft’s old high-performance graphics API for Windows 3.x, to get Quake running as a Windows 3.1 application.
The requirements are surprisingly serious for something sharing a desktop with Program Manager. You’ll need an FPU-equipped processor, with a Pentium or better recommended, at least 16 MB of available RAM, WinG installed, and a display mode supporting 32,768 colours or more.
It is also considerably more functional than you might expect. Sound output is supported in mono or stereo, saving and loading work, and there is proper mouse control. The supplied configuration even provides WASD movement and mouse-look, although right-click is reserved for grabbing and releasing the mouse cursor.
The developer has tested the port with Windows 3.1 inside DOSBox-X and with the FM TOWNS version of Windows 3.1 running under the Tsugaru emulator. There are still some quirks, particularly under DOSBox-X, so testing on real period hardware is actively encouraged.
Is there any practical reason to play Quake this way?
Absolutely not.
Which is precisely why we’re delighted that it exists.
Apple unveils the iPhone Duo. PARKSIDE looks at the price, looks at two iPhones and thinks: hold my screwdriver.
The power-tool brand posted its own interpretation of Apple’s new foldable on social media: two iPhones, a hinge, four screws and a healthy dose of cordless screwdriver.
No aerospace-grade titanium, no hinge engineered for years in some secret Cupertino laboratory and, most importantly, no €2,369 starting price, climbing all the way to €3,869 for the 2 TB version.
PARKSIDE instead appears to suggest a far more democratic DIY approach: buy two phones and destroy them yourself.
Before anyone rushes to Lidl to try it: no, this is not a tutorial. PARKSIDE’s image was generated using AI, and apparently no innocent iPhones were actually drilled during the making of the joke.
Shame, really. For a few seconds, the internet had finally found a convincing use for artificial intelligence.
Still, it says something when faced with an Apple phone costing nearly four thousand euros, the most reassuring piece of technology in the picture is a PARKSIDE cordless screwdriver.
One of Apple’s strangest unfinished chapters has just become much easier to explore. Michael Steil has managed to get Copland D11E4, the final publicly available build of Apple’s abandoned next-generation operating system, running inside an improved version of the DingusPPC emulator — directly in a web browser.
Copland was Apple’s ambitious mid-1990s attempt to replace System 7 with a considerably more modern architecture, including a microkernel, virtual memory and pre-emptive multitasking. The project was eventually cancelled, with Apple instead acquiring NeXT and following the technological path that would ultimately lead to Mac OS X.
The browser version uses WebAssembly and, according to Steil, a modern computer can emulate the system at roughly the speed of the original hardware. Getting D11E4 running required 11 patches to DingusPPC. Once booted, you can actually poke around Copland and try surviving software such as GXSlidemaster and Eric’s Solitaire.
It is unstable, unfinished and occasionally drops straight into a debugger — which, frankly, makes it an even more authentic visit to one of computing history’s most fascinating dead ends.
The Master System isn’t done saving the universe. Razing Core, released by Bad Computer on 8 September, is a new vertical shoot ’em up for the Sega Master System and Mark III, sending the spaceship Horizon into battle against an invading alien armada.
There are seven stages across the solar system, upgradeable primary, secondary and Core weapons, plus a Burst Charge attack with five charge levels. Screen-filling bosses and multiple mid-bosses provide the opposition, while boss checkpoints and unlimited continues offer some breathing room between explosions. Mega Drive controllers are also supported, giving the three attacks their own buttons.
The game is available on itch.io from US$7.99, with a printable illustrated manual and a free first-stage demo. It comes as a Master System ROM for compatible emulators, FPGA systems or original hardware with a suitable flash cartridge, and is designed for 60 Hz play. A physical edition is planned for 2027.
One caveat for EverDrive X7 owners: the developer reports that using save states can reset the game in some areas, with a fix planned for the next update.
An elusive piece of PlayStation 2 hardware has finally surrendered its firmware. DiscoStarslayer has announced a breakthrough in dumping early PS2 MechaCon security controllers, following four years of reverse engineering. The research progressed from physically exposing the silicon and optically reading its memory to a software-based extraction method, with fellow researcher Libby credited for discovering the crucial exploit.
MechaCon does more than control the disc drive: it also handles security functions including MagicGate memory-card authentication and the decryption of protected executables. Access to its firmware gives researchers valuable material for investigating vulnerabilities and developing more faithful, low-level emulation of the console.
The important distinction is that this is a research and preservation milestone, not a newly released universal jailbreak. Research contributor uyjulian also cautions that the dumps alone do not provide enough information to build an optical-drive emulator. Better understanding of Sony’s hardware is the immediate win; new modifications and practical applications still require further work.
Mirror Shift 1.0, released on 9 September 2026, brings two-player online Reversi to the ZX Spectrum 48K, Spectrum Next and SpectraNext cartridge, alongside Windows, macOS and Linux. Created by M. Ignacio Monge Garcia, the game supports cross-platform matches: a classic Spectrum can challenge a modern desktop, another Spectrum or one of its newer relatives.
Players connect through direct TCP or MQTT, with the latter allowing both opponents to join a shared server and room without requiring an incoming connection to the host. There are legal-move hints, in-game chat, clocks, rematches and requests to undo a move, plus saved games that can be resumed with both players’ approval. Customisable boards and disc sets add some visual variety, while the Next edition benefits from full-colour tiles and hardware sprites.
The game is open source under GPL-2.0, with ready-to-run packages and source code available on GitHub. One practical detail for original Spectrum owners: the Classic version requires divMMC/esxDOS storage and a supported ESP-AT networking interface. Your rubber-keyed machine can join the match, but it needs a little help getting online.
Pararena has landed on Playdate, bringing John Calhoun’s Macintosh hoverboard game to a new handheld audience. Released on 14 September 2026, this independent port by Konstantin Popov adapts the original artwork for Playdate’s screen. It follows the release of the source code for Pararena 2.0, originally published by Casady & Greene, under the MIT licence.
The premise is wonderfully odd: two hoverboard riders chase a ball around a bowl-shaped arena, trying to throw it into their respective goals. Gravity complicates the steering, while boosting, braking and knocking your opponent aside keep things lively. Holding the ball too long or throwing it out earns a foul, with three fouls awarding your rival a point.
The port includes six computer opponents, five leagues, quick matches, a tournament and a practice mode, alongside instant replays, statistics and records.
Pararena for Playdate is available on itch.io for US$2.50 or more.
Until 20 September 2026, a US$4 Macintosh Classics for Playdate bundle also includes Popov’s port of Continuum, Brian and Randy Wilson’s gravity-driven space game. Two opportunities to revisit Macintosh gaming without clearing desk space for an old beige computer.
Indie developer Manuel Schenk has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Magic Cauldron: Forgotten Island, a new turn-based adventure that mixes deckbuilding and card-based combat with elements of traditional point-and-click adventures. The campaign launched on 12 September and is seeking €3,000 in funding, with the game planned for Windows, macOS and Linux. At the time of writing, the campaign has already attracted its first backers and is scheduled to run until 3 October 2026.
Set once again in Schenk's wonderfully odd Magic Cauldron universe, Forgotten Island swaps the more conventional adventure-game structure of earlier entries for turn-based exploration and deckbuilding battles, while retaining the series' humour and eccentric fantasy setting. The developer describes it as a combination of a deck-builder, turn-based combat and classic point-and-click adventure elements.
Schenk has been steadily experimenting with different takes on retro-style adventure games for several years. His previous releases include the comic point-and-click adventures Nelson and the Magic Cauldron from 2018 and Nelson and the Magic Cauldron: The Journey from 2022, as well as the excellent-looking pixel-art sci-fi adventure Orbital Cargo Division from 2023. More recently he expanded the Magic Cauldron setting with the retro-inspired dungeon crawlers Magic Cauldron: Dungeons and Dungeons II.
It is an interesting change of direction for a developer whose work has so far been strongly rooted in classic adventure gaming, and one that still seems determined to keep plenty of the humour and old-school flavour of his earlier games.
The Sega Master System has another homebrew to explore: Oriflame, an arcade puzzle game from ArtOfAltair, published on itch.io on 7 September 2026. Inspired by Adventures of Lolo and classic arcade design, it challenges players to climb 50 floors of the Tower of Hope, solving puzzles, confronting enemies and lighting fires to reach the summit and restore its beacon.
This is not simply a modern game wearing an 8-bit disguise: Oriflame is a genuine Master System ROM, playable through an emulator or on the original console using a compatible flash cartridge. The developer describes a “gameplay first” approach, deliberately working within the hardware’s strengths and limitations. It is an independent production, with no involvement from Sega.
Available for US$9 or more, the download includes the game, an instruction manual containing controls, rules and passwords for every level, plus soundtrack files in VGM and MP3 formats.
South Park is becoming “South America” — in a satirical swipe at Donald Trump’s geographic renaming campaign. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced the change ahead of the show’s 29th season, with promotional artwork covering “Park” on the familiar town sign with an “America” sticker.
The statement sarcastically credits the “bravery and patriotism” of Apple and Google, which adopted “Lake America” for Lake Ontario on their US maps following Trump’s renaming order. The creators also take a shot at their own parent company, thanking Paramount while describing it as “a Skydance Capitulation”.
Season 29 premieres on 16 September 2026 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central, with next-day streaming on Paramount+ in the US, Canada and Australia. Five further episodes are scheduled fortnightly through 25 November.
Whether “South America” will stick permanently remains unclear: the announcement is another satirical provocation, rather than confirmation of a lasting replacement for the original title.
ZuckOff, an app developed by Pawel Szydlowski, can flag nearby camera-equipped smart glasses by recognising their Bluetooth signals. Supported devices include Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and Snap Spectacles, giving users a way to spot hardware that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The app examines manufacturer identifiers and other broadcast information, explains why a device was flagged and uses signal strength to estimate proximity. However, it cannot indicate the direction of the glasses or pinpoint their wearer.
On iPhone, basic scanning is free, while ZuckOff Pro adds background monitoring, notifications, widgets and extended detection history. According to the developer, logs remain on the phone unless users explicitly export them or submit a hardware report.
The crucial limitation: detecting glasses does not mean someone is recording. ZuckOff identifies nearby devices, not what their cameras are doing. Conversely, glasses that stop broadcasting may go undetected, so an empty scan is not a guarantee that nobody is filming. It is an awareness tool, not a recording detector.
Sony’s original grey PlayStation is getting the LEGO treatment. Revealed on 3 September 2026, LEGO PlayStation (72306) is a 1,911-piece, near-life-size recreation of the console, complete with a brick-built version of its original controller. Designed for builders aged 18 and over, it is a display model rather than a working games machine.
The nostalgic details go beyond the familiar shape: the controller plugs into the front, while mechanical Open and Power buttons add something to fiddle with. Hidden inside are two removable dioramas celebrating Gran Turismo and Ape Escape, featuring a miniature racing circuit with tiny cars and a scene incorporating the monkeys’ distinctive helmets. Both can stay concealed or be displayed separately.
The set costs £139.99 / €159.99 / $179.99, with LEGO Insiders early access starting on 1 October 2026 and general availability from 4 October. The finished console measures approximately 26 × 19 × 6 cm—a manageable slice of PlayStation nostalgia for the shelf. The startup sound, unfortunately, is yours to provide.
Amazon has introduced visual dubbing on Prime Video, using artificial intelligence and visual effects to modify actors’ mouth movements so they match translated dialogue. Crucially, the voices remain human-dubbed: this feature changes the picture rather than replacing voice actors with synthetic speech.
The technology is now available worldwide for the English-dubbed versions of Maxton Hall seasons 1 and 2. It will also feature in the third and final season, scheduled to premiere on 9 December 2026. The aim is to reduce the distracting mismatch between spoken words and the actors’ lips when watching a translated production.
Amazon plans to extend visual dubbing to more titles and says the process operates under creative oversight to preserve the creators’ artistic vision. However, its announcement does not identify the next productions or provide a timetable for additional languages.
Buried Magic: A Story about the Unseen is seeking support on Kickstarter, promising a spooky, hand-drawn point-and-click adventure from Playful Bunny Interactive. The campaign is led by creator Annika Veigel and combines a witchcraft-school setting with traditional adventure-game puzzle solving.
Players follow Ruby, a young witch student investigating strange disappearances in Hollowmoor, where the centuries-old Trinity Academy of Witchcraft sits at the centre of the mystery. Accompanied by her tiny house-spider companion, Mifi, Ruby must explore unsettling locations and uncover the secrets hidden within her school.
The developer highlights hand-drawn graphics and animation, object-based puzzles, and dynamic interactions and responses. The emphasis is on exploration and piecing together the mystery, giving the project a distinctly traditional point-and-click flavour beneath its supernatural setting.
The campaign has a €3,000 funding target and runs until 16 October 2026, with funding dependent on reaching that goal.
The game is available to wishlist on Steam, where a Windows release is currently planned for May 2027; that remains a development target rather than a guaranteed launch date.
Developer GammaCorrection has shared a preview of Jacob’s Elevator, a homebrew game in development for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the accompanying Reddit discussion, the creator confirmed that the project is being programmed in assembly language.
There is a touch of oddball humour, too: when a commenter compared a tree character to Zelda’s Deku Tree, the developer clarified that this is the “Wise Mystical Tree”, a distinct character.
The finished game is planned as a free release on itch.io, with the option to play directly in a web browser. For now, however, this is a development preview rather than a launch: the announcement gives no release date, and Jacob’s Elevator is not yet listed on the developer’s itch.io profile.
Developer Costélinha (GuilhermeJuventino) has released Car Go Vroom!!!, a new homebrew racing game for the original Nintendo Game Boy. The small 2D racer is written in Assembly using RGBDS and challenges players to dodge oncoming cars while pushing for higher scores.
The finished ROM was published on 5 September 2026, with the complete source code also available publicly on GitHub. The project had previously been shown in development posts dating back to 2025.
Unico is preparing the Traveller ULW10, a compact LCD monitor designed specifically for retro gaming, combining a classic 4:3 format and CRT/PVM-inspired styling with modern display technology.
The ULW10 is built around an approximately 10-inch screen and supports RGBs and VGA for older hardware alongside HDMI for modern systems. Unico is positioning it as a convenient modern alternative for players who want the proportions and feel of classic gaming displays without relying on ageing CRT hardware. A Kickstarter campaign is currently being prepared.
Homebrew developer LackofTrack has released version 1.00 of an unofficial Super Mario Bros. port for the Sega Master System, turning an earlier proof of concept into a complete game.
The port aims to closely reproduce the original NES/Famicom gameplay while also offering an enhanced graphics mode inspired by Super Mario All-Stars. An optional FM soundtrack is available for compatible Master System hardware equipped with a YM2413 chip.
The project was originally developed for the 2026 SMS Power coding competition and is now available as a full release.
REASSEMBLER has released the first public playable demo of Aonic, an ambitious attempt to bring the original Sonic the Hedgehog experience to the Commodore Amiga. The current build recreates Green Hill Zone Act 1 and targets PAL Amigas with the AGA chipset and just 2 MB of Chip RAM, making a stock Amiga 1200 the project’s main reference system.
Rather than simply creating a Sonic-inspired platformer, Aonic adapts code, game logic and data from the original Mega Drive version while heavily reworking the rendering system for the very different Amiga hardware. The aim is to preserve Sonic’s familiar physics, momentum and speed as closely as possible.
The demo became publicly available on itch.io on 31 August 2026 under a name-your-own-price model and remains a work in progress. REASSEMBLER has also discussed eventually investigating an Amiga 500 version, although finishing the AGA release comes first.
GOG-Games.to, the unofficial piracy website specialising in DRM-free PC games, scheduled its closure for 6 September 2026, following a 90-day notice issued in June. The announcement said new game additions and updates would cease, with the website subsequently going offline.
The operator described the closure as a personal decision, rather than the result of legal pressure. According to the notice, approximately €700 in remaining Monero donations would be passed to the file-sharing community Torrminatorr, alongside a thank-you to everyone who had supported the site.
Despite the similar name, GOG-Games.to is not affiliated with GOG.com. The legitimate DRM-free games store remains online: this announcement concerns the separate piracy website, not the official GOG service or its customers’ game libraries.
Babylonian Twins creator Rabah Shihab has revealed how he used Anthropic’s Claude to bring his 1993 Amiga puzzle-platformer into Godot. The project tackled both the original Motorola 68000 assembly and the C++ engine developed for its 2010 mobile remake.
According to Shihab, the AI analysed 72,758 lines of Amiga assembly, recovered undocumented level formats and helped rebuild the original game binaries. But this was no flawless, one-click conversion: bugs involving enemies, doors and jumping still required human playtesting and corrections.
For Amiga fans, there is an immediate bonus: the complete original game—not just the previously available demo—is now free on itch.io, supplied as two ADF disk images for emulators or compatible Amiga hardware. The modern Definitive Edition is already available on iOS and Android, while Steam offers a free demo ahead of the full release.
Limited Run Games and Cyan Worlds are bringing the modern remakes of Myst and Riven to physical media. Standard editions are planned for PlayStation 5 and Xbox One/Xbox Series, alongside retro-inspired Big Box Editions for PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC via Steam. The new versions retain the surreal worlds and puzzle-driven exploration of the CD-ROM classics while rebuilding them with modern visuals, lighting and full movement. Pre-order dates and prices have not yet been announced, with all editions currently listed as coming soon.
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