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Entertainment this week: Tahoe City Zombie Crawl, Steely Dead and more
Friday, October 23 2026 Business Walks – Incline Village. Description Tahoe Property Center October 19-23, the Tahoe Prosperity Center and partners from across the region will visit businesses around the Lake for the 2026 Tahoe...
HOMETOWN ENTERTAINMENT: Smith Mountain Lake Center to stage Zombie Prom at Westlake Cinema
Zombie Prom takes the stage at Westlake Cinema starting this week.
Behind the scenes at Nicolas Cage’s zombie shoot in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — Watching a farmer draw water from a Stillwater well would be a chore if the “farmer” wasn’t Nicolas Cage, one of the biggest stars to commit to a
Scientists reveal first 'zombie' star with 'ghostly green glow' -- and fascinating reason behind hue
Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.
San Francisco techie takes down zombie video game that let players kill homeless people: 'It showed poor judgment'
The creator said that he refunded all advertisers and made a donation to a drug treatment and recovery service equivalent to the revenue generated by the game.
Scientists discover the universe’s first known green star
Forget about spooky green zombies shuffling around on Halloween. The real sci-fi magic is happening hundreds of light-years away in deep space. Stellar scientists have just identified the universe’s very first known green star, proving that the cosmos is a whole lot more colorful than anyone previously imagined. Breaking the cosmic color rules For generations, […] Read the original article here: Scientists discover the universe’s first known green star
Tenderloin ‘zombie shooter’ game shut down by creator after backlash
The developer of a “zombie shooter” game set in the Tenderloin has shut it down after city officials and other San Francisco residents said it depicted homeless people as monsters to be killed.
KJ Apa reveals where he stands on “Riverdale ”zombie sequel appearance (exclusive)
“It’d be cool if we could do some cameos,” Apa says.
‘Thriller’ flash mob, Spooky Mad Science Expo take over Alexandria this weekend
Halloween festivities are starting to ramp up in Alexandria as October continues on. This weekend, the "Thriller" Zombie Flash Mob descends upon Old Town, retailers will host the new Sticker Treat sticker crawl, and the Spooky Mad Science Expo returns for an 11th year at Patrick Henry Recreation Center. The Ethiopian Fall Festival has also
SF leaders slam video game where players shoot Tenderloin ‘zombies’
San Francisco leaders condemned a new game that turns a digital version of the Tenderloin into a shooting gallery, with targets that critics say resemble homeless residents and people with...
SF AI Founder’s Zombie Shooter Game Turns Tenderloin Residents Into Targets
A local tech founder has created a multiplayer shooter game set in the Tenderloin, where players gun down zombie versions of neighborhood residents, drawing criticism for its portrayal of people dealing with homelessness and addiction.
Happening in Loveland this weekend: Fall events, festivals, benefits, art and entertainment
Here are plenty of fun events on the calendar in Loveland and Northern Colorado this weekend.
How This Zombie Foot is Helping Scientists Fight Stingray Strikes
Warm El Niño waters are driving an increase in stingray injuries. These labs are devoted to understanding what’s going on under the surface.
Find Halloween fun across New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s Halloween calendar is packed with trick-or-treating, zombie dancing, haunted trails and spooky shows, with events running through early November...
Scientists discover how harmful “zombie cells” hide from the immune system
Scientists have discovered a protein that may help harmful aging cells hide from the immune system, allowing them to accumulate and fuel age-related health problems. Blocking the protein in mice reduced these cells and inflammation while improving blood sugar regulation and strength, offering a promising new direction for anti-aging research.
Scientists Discover Groundbreaking Clues to Tissue Regrowth and “Immortality” in the Ocean
Sea cucumber tissue kept growing for more than three years after removal, surviving in seawater teeming with microbes. Like Thing, the disembodied hand in The Addams Family, a severed piece of sea cucumber tissue kept living without the body it came from, prompting scientists to describe the animal as a “real-life zombie.” Weeks after being
George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch is a slow-burn feminist occult drama
After inventing the modern zombie, Romero made a feminist film about a suffering house wife turning to witchcraft.
This weekend in Anchorage: The Zombie Half Marathon, AK Ski Swap and plenty of entertainment options
There is also a fundraiser and multiple musical options.
'Completely unexpected': Astronomers spy never-before-seen 'phoenix planet' rising from the ashes of a dead star
Astronomers have spotted a rare "second-generation" exoplanet closely orbiting the nearby white dwarf HS 0209+0832. An unusual mixture of heavy elements inside this zombie star suggests that "this system has given birth to a new world using the foundations of the old one."
Zombie Run takes place in Poland
POLAND, Ohio (WKBN)- Runners laced their shoes for the annual Zombie Run in Poland Township. Participants took part in a 2k run and walk through Poland Township Park. Awards were given to the top three men and women in each age group. It’s been taking place for nearly two decades, bringing the community together. “One […]
The political walking dead: Germany’s zombie chancellor
A string of poor election results has left Friedrich Merz with unprecedentedly low approval ratings
RADIAL ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES FREE "PARANORMAL CHRONICLES" STREAMING CHANNEL
Radial Entertainment's new free channel streams more than 500 hours of ghost hunts, hauntings and unexplained mysteries around the clock.
Modders are now merging entire games, from Minecraft in Elden Ring to Mario Kart in COD Zombies
Modders are moving beyond model swaps by combining gameplay systems from entirely different titles. AI agents, recompilation and matching decompilation projects are speeding up the work.
A giant cosmic 'fart' is making a wobbling zombie star repeatedly flash us, 'groundbreaking' observations reveal
A very strange binary star system keeps flashing Earth with X-ray flares. Scientists now understand why.
State Of Decay 3 Studio Announces It's Now Free From Xbox And Employee-Owned
The studio behind open-world zombie series State of Decay confirmed it has completed its separation from Microsoft
Investigators of Science registration now open for October
LA GRANDE – Local middle school students have a unique opportunity to learn about zombies…for ...Read More
Barbara Crampton Will Face THE KENTUCKY GOBLINS In New Festive Found-Footage Creature Feature
She's taken on zombies, killer robots, cursed puppets, and a whole lot more, but now genre icon and Fango fave Barbara Crampton will face her trickiest foe yet with a starring role in The Kentucky Gob...
Box Office: ‘Resident Evil’ Breaks Franchise Records With $60 Million Opening Weekend
“Weapons” director Zach Cregger has electrified the box office again, this time with his take on “Resident Evil.” His reboot of the ’90s zombie video game has collected $60 million in its opening week...
AMC will pay $120 million to settle 'Walking Dead' profits lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — AMC Global Media, the network behind the storied zombie franchise "The Walking Dead," has settled a yearslong profits lawsuit from the show's creator and producers. The New
15 discouraging hours with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and 10 brilliant ones with He Who Watches
In the last few weeks, while playing some video games that I might review, I emailed two cries for help. I sent the first to a rep for Capcom, confessing that the company’s samurai game Onimusha Way of the Sword (out today for PC and console) was crushing me. “Feels like I’m playing ‘hard’ mode, not ‘normal,’” I wrote. “And I don’t want to have to knock it down to “story”. I’m exploring, trying to level my gear, but these two-phase boss fights with no mid-fight checkpoints are brutal.” I wagered I was only about halfway through the game, if that. I wasn’t sure I could keep up with the steepening difficulty curve. Was I missing something? Then, on Monday, I took some photos of some puzzles that were baffling me in the mind-bending He Who Watches (out now on PC), wrote out lengthy descriptions of how I’d been trying to solve them and asked Bobby Vanden, the game’s solo developer, for a nudge in the right direction. I told Vanden I’d spent hours on these puzzles. “I’m stuck in triplicate,” I told him. Could he tell me if the solutions I was attempting were even on the right track? I didn’t mention that the puzzles—coupled with major time pressures from other work—were stressing me out so much that playing the game was giving me headaches. This double dose of panic was unusual. I’m used to managing a workload full of reporting and reviewing, used to a crowded schedule and the need to stay calm amid the bustle. But I was stressed about these games. No one was forcing me to review them, nor even play them. I’d simply found them interesting enough to start, hoped they’d be interesting enough to write about and I’d sunk hours into them assuming I’d made the right call. Suddenly, however, I felt trapped. I was emailing for a way out. Above: This guy took me about an hour to beat. The feedback I got from Capcom confirmed my fears. They didn’t say it, but I will: Onimusha Way of the Sword is not for me. It’s a brutally hard game in need of a normal difficulty level. It’s a game that spikes so severely during its abundant boss fights—yet offers such flawed ways to improve when outside of them—that it feels like a bait-and-switch. In the new Onimusha, you play as famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto, aided by a magical soul-absorbing gauntlet that is possessed by a lady who offers advice. (Way of the Sword is a continuation of Capcom’s long-dormant Onimusha series, but that set-up had me wondering if the company was cribbing from their ill-fated Bionic Commando reboot; read about “wife-arm” when you get a chance). Way of the Sword is partially set in 17th century Kyoto, an explorable city where Miyamoto can fight demons, help civilians and eventually rescue ghostly dogs. The city evolves over time, with new mini adventures and obtainable loot on offer, all feeding into systems that promise to upgrade your gear and sword-fighting skills. Upgrades, however, are so incremental as to be imperceptible, causing the exploration of Kyoto to feel like inconsequential busywork. From that hub, players can go on linear missions into forests and old temples, where they will encounter many of the game’s tough bosses. Combat in Way of the Sword is akin to many modern melee games. Players are asked to mix attacks with dodges and parries. They’re encouraged to deplete an enemy’s stamina bar in order to do greater damage to its health bar. The old Onimusha games’ signature move was the issen, a counter-attack so sudden it’s all but pre-emptive. You strike just as they begin to strike toward you, beating them to the cut. By definition, the issen is a high risk move, leaving you wide open to pain. It feels risky in the game, especially against bosses, who can maul you in just a few blows. A game might train you to perform an issen well by offering a variety of lesser enemies who are not as tough as the boss but get close. Or it might offer a toehold against bosses by saving or checkpointing the player’s progress when a boss’ first health bar has been destroyed and before the second health bar appears. It might offer the less skilled player a chance to over-level their character, should the player simply commit to playing through its optional sidequests. Way of the Sword does none of this. Fighting its trivially easy grunt enemies and then its ferociously adept bosses is like playing a game of chess where I’ve got a rook, while the opposing side is all pawns and five queens. Bosses simply don’t checkpoint. You may be able to clear a boss’ first phase without taking much damage. Good for you. Do it again, every time you fail the second phase. As for the the central Kyoto hub, I kept pace with all of its added side activities and never felt like I was overpowered. Bosses could still easily buckle me. The new Onimusha, I concluded, is just too discouraging to keep playing. The advice I got from Capcom had been well-intentioned. They reminded me of the game’s various systems. They alerted me to an optional assist that flashes recommended button inputs (basically: counter this move; dodge that move). It was a little helpful. So was dropping down to “story mode,” which I tried last night. Story mode turns on those button prompts by default. It makes countering and dodging way too easy, nearly automatic. I don’t consider myself a master of action games like these, but I’ve cleared the likes of God of War, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Jedi and others of sub-Sekiro difficulty and had a fun time doing so. Not here. Not yet. Unless they patch Onimusha: Way of the Sword and add a middle difficulty or just checkpoint the damn bosses when they’re between health bars, my streak of loving Capcom games released in 2026 will likely end at two. It’s a shame, because I was having a good time finding those ghostly dogs. And then there’s He Who Watches, a phenomenal first person puzzle game with Portal vibes, except instead of a portal gun you’ve got a magical bow that shoots one arrow that can activate switches or be used to drag blocks. The twist is an actual twist: you can also walk on walls and the ceiling, reorienting gravity as you do, thereby placing blocks onto those other surfaces. Walking on walls and ceilings to solve problems is really the best thing. Would that I could in reality. He Who Watches consists of locked-room challenges, each brief enough to only require about a minute to actually solving, though it will take five, 10, eventually 30 minutes to figure out said solutions. They are not obvious! It’s a game of layered mechanics and shocking solutions. For example, see if you can follow this: You can drag a block to a wall. Then you can walk on the wall, which now feels like the floor, and drag that block across the wall. Later, back on the floor, you might realize you can look up. The block is still on the wall, stuck to it. You can shoot your magic arrow to its underside. Doing so creates a tether, so that you can yank the block off the wall and carry it, as if it were a balloon, into the spot where you need it to be to solve the puzzle. Here, watch Vanden explain some of the game’s basics in this launch trailer: As with any great puzzle game, the solutions to He Who Watches’ puzzles elicit relief and amazement. Oh my god, that worked! I didn’t even think that could be possible! Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic. But, oh, does the game get hard. Its Steam reviews, mostly glowing, are full of players remarking how quickly He Who Watches made them sweat. Wrote one: “loving this one already although my brain is hurting!” Wrote another: “As you get further in the game it feels like you need an IQ level of at least 120+.” Vanden has shown some mercy. Each locked room puzzle includes an optional junior version of the puzzle, meant to teach you. Difficulty nevertheless ramps severely. By the time I was emailing Vanden for help, I was struggling to even clear one of the hint puzzles. When I messaged him, my stress was exacerbated by strange things I’d found in the game’s various hubs: suspicious passageways, odd blocks and some intriguing locked doors. These were hints of secrets, I realized, yet I sensed I needed to play further into the game to understand them. I was stuck, but I wanted to see the rest. Vanden offered to give me the exact solutions, to solve those three puzzles for me, but first he gave four nudges. Three were for the specific puzzles, but his best hint was for all and ultimately proved to be a terrific life lesson: go back a bit, he suggested. Do the puzzles right before those. They were teaching you something. Focus on what their lesson was. Don’t rush, in other words. Recognize what you’ve accomplished. Build off of that. I did so. I absorbed the lessons. I saw those three tough puzzles in a new light. I solved one the night after he wrote back, another the morning after. I left a third for another time. I didn’t need it and I wanted to plunge deeper into the game, closer to the moment when I was sure I could start unlocking those secret doors. My head stopped hurting, too. He Who Watches feels special. It’s got more challenges, and I’m undeterred. It’s also nice that its puzzles don’t have a surprise second health bar. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: In brief… 🎮 Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder of Helsinki-based Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun, Returnal) has stepped down from his studio, after a 31-year run, saying he’s “ taking a rare and well-deserved breather.” Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, and the studio released its newest game, Saros, earlier this year. Trend-watch: Sony-owned Insomniac saw its founder Ted Price retire in early 2025, after a 30-year run. Sony-owned Sucker Punch saw its co-founder Brian Fleming step down in late 2025, after a 28-year run. 👀 Savvy Games Group chief Brian Ward is stepping down from the Saudi-government-backed games conglomerate, Bloomberg reports. No word on a long-term successor yet, nor if this augurs any closer integration between Savvy and Electronic Arts. EA was purchased by a consortium led by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, in early August. 💿 Square Enix has denied a Japanese media report that the company was planning to go private. In very different Square Enix news, the company revealed that the physical version of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, the April 2027 finale of its radical remakes of FFVII, will include just one disc in its case, requiring a download for the rest. The first two FFVII remakes in the trilogy shipped on two discs apiece. While Square hasn’t commented on the reason why, a feature here in Game File last month broke down the processes and costs for physical games. The expense of a second disc comes out of the game publisher’s cut of each copy. Square could be saving in excess of a dollar a copy with this move. 🟥 Grand Theft Auto IV’s 26-minute ’‘extended look” gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix last week—and was exclusive to the platform for six hours—drew 31.1 million views in its first four days, the streamer announced. (Netflix calculates views as total viewed hours divided by runtime; excludes replays). Compared to YouTube: The version that later premiered on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel is sitting at 22.6 million views after seven days (YouTube’s more liberal counting system tallies anyone who viewed even just the first few second.) Compared to other Netflix mega-events: Last year, Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes, which debuted together, drew a record 59.6 million views in their first few days on Netflix. For more of a live event type of comparison, in 2024, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match drew 65 million concurrent streams as it happened; Netflix didn’t release live numbers for the GTA premiere. ☁️ Microsoft is changing the way it charges for cloud gaming, from an all-you-can-play offer for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, to caps for the subscription’s tiers (15 hours per month at the Ultimate tier), with the option to buy more hours in bulk beyond that. The company also said it will sell batches of cloud gaming time to non-Game Pass subscribers, details TBA. Microsoft does not release figures for cloud game usage, but said its changes would impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers. That implies a small portion of its subscribers exceed the 15-hour monthly mark. Cloud gaming offers the promise of playing games without the need for console or PC hardware, as the graphics, sound and controls are all transmitted via a streaming connection. Microsoft notes that its cloud gaming service can be used for a range of things, including Xbox One players using it to play newer-gen Xbox Series games via streaming; and people playing games via streaming, sans any console, “in markets where consoles are less available or affordable.” (That latter use case could even be relevant in Xbox’s home market soon, as console prices keep rising.) Take Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick recently told investors he expects game-streaming tech, which has been only lightly adopted by gamers for over a decade, to be widely used within three years. 🇺🇸 The Trump administration has published multiple agenda-driven web video games to the White House’s website. One called Build The Wall partially clones Tetris as it asks players to build a wall to stop a “zombie border siege.” While actual Tetris involves clearing lines and basically not building a wall, the Trump-backed game omits the line-clearing aspect (and omits the fun as well). On Instagram, Tetris’ official license holders reacted by stating: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community. P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall.’ P.P.S.: We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Item 3: The week ahead: Tuesday, September 8 Game releases: Mewgenics (consoles; already out on PC) is an engrossing tactical combat game (with cats). It is getting its console port right after the release of a Star Wars tactics game and ahead of the late September launch of a Fire Emblem–a bumper crop for the genre. Wanderburg (PC) is an auto-shooting game like Vampire Survivors, but you’re a castle on wheels Event: Nintendo airs a 30-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 40th Anniversary. A full unveiling of the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is expected. Will they also show footage from next year’s live action movie? Tease the next big 3D Zelda? Add Link to Mario Kart World? Shadow-drop a new Tingle game? Wednesday, September 9 Event: Nintendo again! On this day, they’re planning to air a 45-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on games heading to Switch 2 this winter. Followed by about an hour of gameplay demoed by the company’s Treehouse team. The September Nintendo Directs are always some of the year’s biggest. The 2025 edition included announcements of several major 2026 Switch/Switch 2 games: Pokémon Pokopia, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. Plus the return of the Virtual Boy. Friday, September 11 Game release: EA Sports NHL 27 (PlayStation, Xbox) is a hockey game. There are so few that an indie studio that had been making wacky sci-fi first-person shooters just announced that, hey, we’re going to fill a void and make a hockey game for PC.
Carla Jeffery’s family denies drugs played a part in Disney Channel star’s death
The “Zombies” star died at the age of 33 on Wednesday.
Carla Jeffery’s family denies drugs played a part in Disney star’s death
Carla Jeffery, known for Disney Channel’s ‘Zombies,’ died at the age of 33 on Wednesday; a cause of death was not immediately revealed.
Carla Jeffery, ‘Zombies’ and ‘Shake It Up’ actress, dies at 33
Carla Jeffery, the actress known for playing the bubbly cheerleader Bree in the Disney Channel’s hit ‘Zombies’ franchise, has died at 33.
“Zombie” Cells Reveal a Surprising New Driver of Chronic Inflammation
Dysfunctional mitochondria may drive age-related inflammation by helping switch on inflammatory genes, and blocking SLC25A1 reduced that activity. As people age, senescent cells accumulate in the body. These so-called “zombie” cells have stopped dividing but remain metabolically active, releasing inflammatory molecules that can contribute to persistent inflammation associated with frailty, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegeneration, and
‘Train to Busan’ director back with more zombies in ‘Colony’
“Colony” is a horrifying look at a bio-terrorist attack where a mad scientist unleashes his poison in a high rise with a shopping mall.
I've Played (Almost) Every Zombie Game, And This New One Still Feels Excitingly Fresh
No More Room in Hell 2 combines several of my favorite aspects of zombie horror into one package.
CDC’s new director is pressed to do something about its zombie programs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There’s just no one staffing it.
CDC’s new director is pressed to do something about its zombie programs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has several programs funded by Congress that lack staff to operate them.
People are injecting fat from dead bodies. It’s called ‘zombie filler’
People are injecting fat from corpses and calling it "zombie filler." Doctors say the GLP-1 boom is driving the trend.
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
Amazonian "Zombie-Ant" Fungus Just Got Even Weirder As Scientists Discover It’s Been Living A Secret Double Life Inside An Entirely Different Host
Once thought to be a parasitic fungus specific to ants, new data suggests the story is much bigger than that.
'Zombie cells,' inflammation, and other health issue
Dr. Marissa Schaffer with the Mayo Clinic discusses 'zombie cells' and how they cause inflammation and other health issues.
Scientists Discovered ‘Zombies’ With ‘Immortal’ Body Parts. This Could Redefine What We Think Life Is.
A “gray zone” form of living could help scientists answer long-held questions about regeneration, aging, and how tissues survive under tough conditions.
Zombie sea cucumbers and the future of tissue engineering | Investors Lab
It's pretty cool, but not exactly news, that lizards can regrow their tails and starfish can regenerate arms. However, the lost or discarded body parts typically decay and die within a few days or weeks. Not so for those of at least one kind of sea cucumber. Researchers have found that detached tissue from these marine invertebrates can remain alive independently for years. Their findings could have a real impact on how we understand tissue culture, regeneration and aging in medical science. Saugat Bolakhe takes us beneath the surface for SN.
Neill Blomkamp’s new zombie AI ‘film’ is just slop warmed over
AI text-to-video generators still can’t churn out quality films.
Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard
Fresh off a surprise appearance rapping about apps at WWDC.
As downtown Seattle offices empty, city faces years of ‘zombie’ towers
After the Great Recession, office vacancy peaked at 22%. Right now, it is at 27% and shows no sign of dipping.
Scientists Discover Strange Horn-Shaped 'Hyperparasite', a World First
It preys on 'zombie fungus'.
Zombie unicorns are haunting Silicon Valley
Years of frothy valuations have created a nightmare
State of Decay 3: Answering the Biggest Questions After the First Gameplay Reveal
Today at XBOX Games Showcase 2026, we got our first-ever look at gameplay for Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3 with their brand-new trailer, showing everything from open world exploration, multiplayer, settlement building, weapon crafting, and of course, some good old-fashioned zombie slaying.
Arizona Sunshine announced for Nintendo Switch 2
Today, Vertigo Games announced that it’s working on Arizona Sunshine for Nintendo Switch 2. Launch timing will be provided at a later date. Arizona Sunshine is a third-person zombie apocalypse shooter. Online play and multiplayer splitscreen modes will both be supported. Further details can be found in the following overview: Sharpen your machete, reload your shotgun, and bring your friends....
Stranger Than Heaven Resurrects Tupac Shakur
Stranger Than Heaven will feature the digital zombie of Tupac Shakur.
Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now
In this month’s picks, fatal fungi and killer calamari. Plus, lots of zombies (and a few podcasters).
Zombie Blairites still have British politics in their grip – it’s time to break free
Tony Blair’s departure as PM should have prompted a fresh start for Labour. But Starmer’s sad, backward-looking government remains in his thrall, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
Inside the fight against ‘zombie deer disease,’ scientists confront changing politics
A lab in Louisiana is a hub for chronic wasting disease research and detection. Outside, scientists face skepticism.
50 years on, Fela’s legendary ‘Zombie’ album still resonates in Nigeria
In 1976, Fela Kuti's song "Zombie" became a powerful protest against Nigeria's military rule.
Amputated parts of a sea cucumber stayed alive indefinitely. Researchers call it a real-life ‘zombie’
Severed fragments of a sea cucumber kept living and thriving instead of decaying, puzzling researchers.
Inside the fight against ‘zombie deer disease,’ scientists confront changing politics
Many states, including Louisiana, have adopted policies aimed at stopping healthy deer from coming into contact with infected deer and environments. But those efforts could soon be dialed back at the will of state legislators, worrying scientists who study the disease and its expansion.
A grad student’s wild idea sparks a major aging breakthrough
A casual conversation between graduate students helped spark a breakthrough in aging research at Mayo Clinic. Researchers discovered that tiny synthetic DNA molecules called aptamers can selectively attach to senescent “zombie cells,” which are linked to aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease. The method could eventually help scientists identify and target these cells in living tissue with far greater precision.
New drugs could wipe out the “zombie cells” linked to cancer and aging
Researchers found a new way to kill harmful “zombie” cells that linger after chemotherapy and help cancers become more aggressive. These senescent cells survive by relying on a protective protein called GPX4, even while sitting on the edge of a deadly iron-triggered collapse. New drugs remove that protection, causing the cells to self-destruct. In mice, the approach reduced tumor size and boosted survival, hinting at a promising new cancer therapy.
‘Brave Knight’: Animated Musical Pic Sets Five; Lookbook Entertainment Selling At Cannes
EXCLUSIVE: Sydney Agudong (Lilo & Stitch, Ripple), Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist), Meg Donnelly (Zombies, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series), Jordan Fisher (Had...
Resident Evil Requiem Leon Must Die Forever DLC, explained
Enjoy more hours of Leon S. Kennedy killing zombies
Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now
Among this month’s picks: a zombie road movie, an alien action movie and Gerard Butler in a postapocalyptic sequel.
Resident Evil Plans To Keep Favorites Like Leon Around
Leon could still be kicking zombie ass in his 70s
Do not open until July 4, 2276: U.S. buries a ‘zombie-proof’ time capsule
The durable stainless steel container will be buried in Philadelphia for the country's 250th birthday.
‘ShootAround,’ Zombie Webcomic, Becoming Live-Action Film From Lion Forge Entertainment and Webtoon Productions (EXCLUSIVE)
Lion Forge Entertainment and Webtoon Productions are teaming up to bring the zombie horror-comedy “ShootAround” to the big screen as a YA live-action film. Aiyana K. White, whose credits include “Seve...
'ShootAround,' Zombie Webcomic, Becoming Live-Action Film
'ShootAround,' a webcomic about a zombie attack, will be made into live-action feature from Lion Forge Entertainment and Webtoon Productions.
"It'll be something that makes you go Whoo-hoo!!" - Resident Evil Requiem director says "sharpen your tomahawks" as new minigame details emerge
Resident Evil Requiem's upcoming minigame is in the "final stages" of development, and will be based on the main game's combat.
Zombie politics is the new norm and Starmer’s dying premiership is the latest instalment
Distracted, listless and unambitious – the PM’s true form has finally emerged. But whatever comes next must end this ruinous cycle, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
24,000-year-old frozen ‘zombie worm’ thawed by scientists — then it shockingly started reproducing
Scientists revive ancient 24,000-year-old ‘zombie worm’ from Arctic ice
Scientists revived a 24,000-year-old microscopic organism frozen in Siberian permafrost, offering new insights into how life endures extreme conditions.
Zombie Magic, old LeBron, Wemby’s debut & more thoughts on every NBA Playoff series + Warriors drama & LaMelo’s future with Jason Timpf, Kelly Iko & Noa Dalzell
Scientists remove “zombie” cells and reverse liver damage in mice
A rogue set of “zombie” immune cells may be driving aging and fatty liver disease by flooding tissues with inflammation. Researchers found these cells accumulate with age and high cholesterol—and can make up most of the liver’s immune cells in older mice. When scientists removed them, liver damage was dramatically reversed, even without diet changes.
James Dainard on ‘Million Dollar Zombie Flips’ Season 2, lessons learned
Season 2 of A&E’s Seattle-set “Million Dollar Zombie Flips” premieres April 11.
State Of Decay 3's Announcement Trailer Wasn't Actually The Game
The trailer also featured things that won't be in the full game, like zombie deer.
State Of Decay 3 Proves Its Not Dead With New Alpha Playtest
The zombie survival sim is calling for fans to try out the sequel
Leaked GTA IV Dev Kit Reveals Unfinished Zombies Mode And More
Fans have already found loads of beta content via this newly leaked dev kit, including cut weapons and early cutscenes
He wants kids to love science and to see people who look like them who love it, too
Maynard Okereke, the “Hip Hop MD,” will be at San Diego’s Central Library on April 2 to share his book, “Zombie Spiders and Asteroid Blasters: 16 Incredible Ways that Scientists are Changing the World”
Carrie Anne Fleming, 'Supernatural' and 'iZombie' actress, dies at 51
Carrie Anne Fleming, who appeared on 3 episodes of 'Supernatural' as Bobby's wife Karen, has died. She was 51.
New Spider Mimics ‘The Last of Us’ Zombie Fungus Cordyceps
A newly discovered species of spider in the Ecuadorean Amazon mimics a pathogen, known as a zombie fungus, to protect itself.
Romeo Is a Dead Man review – a misfire from a storied gaming provocateur
After some dumb fun hacking at zombies, legendary developer Suda51’s first original game in a decade sadly only delivers a host of incoherent disappointments
Resident Evil Requiem - The Final Preview
Not only does combining Resident Evil 4 and 7 gameplay really work in Resident Evil Requiem, but with a host of new stalkers and talking zombies, there’s a lot more going on than just a merging of Resident Evil’s greatest hits.
From 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to A$AP Rocky: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Another visit to the UK’s putrid zombie aftermath, and the polymath rapper returns after eight years with a collb-packed blockbuster
PC Game Pass adds Quarantine Zone: The Last Check in surprise drop
Alongside the many games already confirmed for the service this month, PC Game Pass adds zombie sim Quarantine Zone: The Last Check today.
Zombie fungus, ‘living stones’ among favorite botany discoveries of 2025
Scientists document thousands of new plant and fungus species every year.
Collapse of ‘zombie’ UK firms forecast to fuel unemployment in 2026
Businesses being hit by rising cost of interest rates, energy costs and wages, says Resolution Foundation
Zombie bugs, singing seals and rule-breaking bears: Wild science of 2025
It's that time of year again – and my personal favorite corner of science to look back on – when we recap the many fascinating discoveries in the plant and animal kingdom that made headlines in 2025.
Zombie worms are missing and scientists are alarmed
When researchers lowered whale bones into the deep ocean, they expected zombie worms to quickly move in. Instead, after 10 years, none appeared — an unsettling result tied to low-oxygen waters in the region. These worms play a key role in breaking down whale remains and supporting deep-sea life. Their absence hints that climate-driven oxygen loss could unravel entire whale-fall ecosystems.
A grad student’s wild idea triggers a major aging breakthrough
Senescent “zombie” cells are linked to aging and multiple diseases, but spotting them in living tissue has been notoriously difficult. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have now taken an inventive leap by using aptamers—tiny, shape-shifting DNA molecules—to selectively tag these elusive cells. The project began as an offbeat conversation between two graduate students and quickly evolved into a collaborative, cross-lab effort that uncovered aptamers capable of binding to unique surface proteins on senescent cells.
Mounts of Mayhem challenges
Take on two challenges in the Mobs of Mayhem drop and earn dashing rewards! Defeat five mobs with a spear, or help the community spawn 75 million zombie horses! The challenges run from Friday Dec 12, 8:00 AM PT to Monday Dec 15, 10:00 AM PT.
Minecraft Game Drop 4 2025: Mounts of Mayhem
Dive into Mounts of Mayhem! Ride a nautilus, wrangle zombie horses, and unleash two new attacks with a speed-powered spear in Minecraft’s latest game drop.
Red Dead Redemption Out Now on Netflix, iOS, Android, PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2
Experience John Marston's journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico to hunt down the remaining members of the Van der Linde Gang in Red Dead Redemption along with his fight to stop a virulent zombie plague in Undead...