Entertainment & Media

LOS ANGELES – September 03, 2026 -- Bandai Namco Entertainment announced a major camera overhaul for DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA during a "SQUADRA Talk" livestream, shifting the free-to-play team fighter from a top-down view to a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective by year's end.

The change, dubbed the Year-End Overhaul, aims to bring players closer to the action while simplifying win conditions. Chief Producer TOSHI and Producer KEN said the redesign builds on player feedback collected since launch, with strategic teamwork remaining central to the 4v4 battles.

Erfurt, Germany -- September 01, 2026 -- Families looking for new children's programming this fall can find a fresh batch of shows from Germany's public children's channel KiKA, starting with a 50th-anniversary re-release of "Die Biene Maja" now streaming on kika.de. The lineup for September 2026 also includes the new preschool series "Karlchen" launching September 2, the desert adventure film "Prinzen der Wüste" arriving September 6, a live AI-education event called "Check die KI" on September 15, and new episodes of "Rabbit Academy - Die Häschenschule" from September 16. All titles are available on kika.de, the KiKA app, and the Kikaninchen app.

Cologne, Germany -- September 01, 2026 -- Huawei closed out five days of hands-on gaming at Gamescom 2026, drawing players from around the world to its AppGallery and GameCenter booth in Hall 7, Stand B.031, from August 26 to 30. Visitors tried titles including World of Tanks Blitz, Asphalt Legends and MapleStory R: Evolution, took on stage challenges, and collected stamps around the booth for a raffle. The event capped a week built around live gameplay, community contests and giveaways tied to Huawei's game ecosystem.

MIAMI -- August 30, 2026 -- House of Horror Haunted Carnival opens its 25th season on Thursday, Sept. 24, at a new home inside Tropical Park in Miami, running through Sunday, Nov. 1. The anniversary lineup replaces every haunted house from prior years and adds Howie's Blind Terror, billed as the only haunted dark roller coaster of its kind in the United States. A single ticket, priced from $39.99 online, now covers all five haunted attractions, unlimited carnival rides, outdoor scare zones and a new family zone, with free parking included.

"Celebrating 25 years of House of Horror is an incredible milestone, but this season is really about what comes next," said Tony Albelo, president of Loud And Live Events, the company that produces the event.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 28, 2026 -- James Malcolm Band's "Is It Never Too Late" advanced to the Finals of American Songwriter's 3rd Annual Road Ready Talent Contest, the publication announced Aug. 27, 2026. The South Florida band, led by singer Malcolm Philip Flavell, moved past an earlier Semi-Finalist round and now stands one selection away from a live performance slot in Nashville this October. American Songwriter will select three finalists for that Nashville show. The recognition adds to a breakout year for the Davie, Florida-based act.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 28, 2026 -- Ten of the best young songwriters competing on Germany's "Dein Song" spent last week filming at a new songwriting camp in Frankfurt am Main, part of the ZDF and KiKA competition's 19th season. The camp followed a casting round held in Wiesbaden in late July 2026. Contestants reworked their compositions and performed a semi-final round for the judging panel. The 16-part documentary series and finale are set to air in February 2027 on KiKA, kika.de, the KiKA app, ZDF streaming and the ZDFtivi app.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 28, 2026 -- Seven new animated short films from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia went live on the ARD Mediathek streaming platform today, the result of the "Key Frames 2026" funding program run by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM). Regional filmmakers and production companies completed the films within a few months. MDR has scheduled a televised premiere for October 30 during its MDR Kurzfilmnacht broadcast.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – June 24, 2026 – Peugeot has just announced it is becoming the Official Automotive Partner of the Venice International Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the world, with the deal covering the 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions. The 83rd Mostra runs from September 2 to 12, 2026, and Peugeot will be right at the centre of it — fleet of vehicles on the Lido, a concept car in front of the Palazzo del Cinema, and the Lion badge on the red carpet itself. For a brand that has spent years building its credentials in cinema, this is arguably the biggest cultural partnership it has landed yet.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – June 15, 2025 – Panache Digital Games has released a free playable prologue for 1666: Amsterdam, the long-awaited dark narrative action-adventure from Patrice Désilets — the creative mind behind Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Available now on both Steam and Epic Games Store, the prologue gives players their first real taste of a project that has been more than 16 years in the making, and it arrives at a moment when the appetite for story-driven, atmosphere-first games has never been stronger. This is a game about secrets, power, and human conflict — and the prologue is where it all begins.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- June 2, 2026 -- Indie studio pixelcoven has announced HOMEWAVE, a casual cozy game that recreates the warm, slightly chaotic feeling of early internet culture inside a fully playable virtual operating system -- and an open playtest is live right now on Steam for anyone who wants to jump in early. Players decorate digital roomboxes, take on freelance interior design gigs, and explore a built-in network of forums, blogs, and messengers populated by quirky, story-rich characters. With a release window of Q3 2026 and a charming 2D aesthetic that leans hard into old-school internet nostalgia, HOMEWAVE is shaping up to be one of the more original cozy game releases of the year.