The Esports Awards is officially coming back for 2026, with the annual ceremony set to take place in North America later this year. Exact dates and a venue haven’t been locked in yet, but the organisers have confirmed that fan-favourite categories, community voting, and the Esports Awards Golf Invitational will all return.

What We Know So Far

The announcement confirms the broad strokes: the 2026 ceremony will be held somewhere in North America, with specifics on the venue, date, nominees, and voting to follow in the coming months. Fans are being pointed to the Esports Awards’ X account as the primary channel for updates.

“The Esports Awards continues to shine a spotlight on the very best in esports and gaming, and we’re pleased to return for 2026,” said Michael Ashford, CEO of the Esports Awards. “Following the success of the Decade Awards and our 10th anniversary celebrations, we look forward to recognising the individuals, teams and moments that defined the past year in esports.”

Returning Categories

The confirmed categories for 2026 include some of the show’s biggest draws:

• Esports Game of the Year
• Esports Personality of the Year
• Streamer of the Year
• Esports Team of the Year

Winners will be decided through a combination of community voting and input from the Esports Awards Panel, a group made up of industry veterans, broadcasters, creators, and players. That dual approach is meant to keep things balanced between public sentiment and expert credibility.

The Golf Invitational Is Back Too

Alongside the main ceremony, the Esports Awards Golf Invitational will return for another year. The event brings together industry leaders, creators, and competitors for a day of networking and competition ahead of the awards show itself. It’s become a fixture of the broader Esports Awards weekend, giving the business side of the industry a more casual setting to connect.

Read More: Esports Awards 2025 Full Winners List Featuring Faker, ZywOo, xQc, and League of Legends

Read More: Pokemon TCG Pocket Will Not Be an Esport, Confirms Pokemon Company

Last Year’s Milestone Edition

The 2025 ceremony was a landmark one, marking the Esports Awards’ 10th anniversary at the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas. It honoured some of the scene’s biggest names, with Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, iShowSpeed, and Animesh “Thug” Agarwal among the winners. Six new inductees were also welcomed into the Lifetime Achievement in Esports: Class of 2025 award.

League of Legends took home Esports Game of the Year following a standout stretch of League Worlds events, while Team Vitality claimed Esports Team of the Year off the back of a dominant Counter-Strike run. Mercules picked up Esports Breakthrough Player of the Year after leading OpTic Texas to COD Champs and the top spot at the Esports World Cup, and Riot Games earned Esports Publisher of the Year.

Earlier in the year, the Esports Awards also hosted a one-off Decade Awards ceremony, presented by Trevor “Quickshot” Henry, Jessica “JessGOAT” Bolden, and Barney Banks. That event pulled in 36.25 million live views globally, underlining the growing reach of the awards brand.

Looking Ahead

With the 2025 edition setting new benchmarks in viewership and engagement, the pressure is on for the 2026 show to match or surpass those numbers. The North American setting keeps the ceremony in a region with strong esports infrastructure and audience reach, though exactly where it lands remains to be seen. More details on nominees, voting windows, and the event venue are expected over the coming months.

The post Esports Awards 2026 Confirmed for North America Later This Year appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Hamzah “Hera” El-Baher has taken the crown at Red Bull Wololo: Londinium, defeating teammate Kai “Liereyy” Kallinger 5-3 in the Grand Final to secure Team Vitality’s first ever LAN trophy in Age of Empires II. The victory, which took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall, extends Hera’s remarkable run to 16 consecutive S-Tier tournament wins.

Back to reclaim his crown 👑

Last years Red Bull Wololo winner and the current King of AoE2@Hera_Aoe 🦁 pic.twitter.com/o38PYrJCwJ

— Red Bull Gaming (@redbullgaming) April 6, 2026

Team Vitality Dominate The Grand Final

Red Bull Wololo: Londinium wrapped up on 7 April with one of the most anticipated Grand Finals in recent Age of Empires II history, pitting two Team Vitality players against each other in a best-of-nine showdown. Hera came out on top with a convincing 5-3 scoreline, taking home US$50,000 in prize money, while Liereyy earned US$30,000 for his second-place finish.

The result meant Team Vitality were guaranteed the trophy regardless of the outcome, but Hera’s win carries particular weight. It marks his second consecutive title of 2026, following his triumph at T90 Titans League 5: Platinum League earlier in the year, and cements his status as the most dominant force in competitive AoE2 right now.

Fellow Team Vitality teammate Hernan “Hearttt” Pizarro rounded out an impressive showing for the organisation with a fifth-to-sixth place finish. Onimaru Esports’ The Viper and Wonders’ Sebastian claimed third-to-fourth place.

Red Bull Wololo: Londinium Prize Distribution

A Historic Venue For A Historic Win

Red Bull Wololo is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious tournament series in Age of Empires II esports, and the Londinium edition leaned into that reputation by hosting the event at the Royal Albert Hall, one of London’s most iconic venues. The tournament ran from 1 to 6 April, featuring a best-of-five round robin group stage before moving into single-elimination playoffs with rounds of six. The semi-finals were played in a best-of-seven format, building to the best-of-nine Grand Final in front of a sold-out crowd.

Read More: Team Vitality Enters Age Of Empires II With Hera, Liereyy, And Hearttt

Read More: Team Vitality Enter Trackmania With 2x World Champion Pac

Team Vitality’s Ambitions In Age Of Empires II

Danny Engels, Corporate Director of Global Operations at Team Vitality, framed the win as validation of the organisation’s push into Age of Empires II. Engels noted the team entered the tournament as clear favourites and were determined not to leave empty-handed, calling the first and second place finishes “exceptional results” and expressing pride in performing in front of the AoE2 community at such an iconic venue.

The organisation is not slowing down, either. Team Vitality will co-host their own major Age of Empires II LAN tournament alongside event organiser BEING Esports later this year. The Garrison 2026 is set to welcome up to 1,000 spectators in Hamburg, Germany from 25 to 29 November, adding another significant stop to what is becoming an increasingly active AoE2 esports calendar.

For Hera, the question now is whether anyone can break the streak. Sixteen consecutive S-Tier wins is a staggering run of form by any esports standard, and with Team Vitality investing heavily in the scene, the gap between him and the competition does not appear to be closing any time soon.

The post Hera Wins Red Bull Wololo Londinium, Clinches Team Vitality First AoE2 LAN Trophy appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Traysia, a mostly forgotten 1992 Sega Genesis JRPG developed by the now-defunct Telenet Japan, is making a surprise comeback on modern platforms. Publishers Ratalaika Games and Shinyuden have confirmed the game will launch on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on April 24, 2026.

A Deep Cut From The Mega Drive Library

For those unfamiliar, Traysia (known as Minato no Traysia in Japan) is a traditional fantasy RPG that follows a young adventurer named Roy as he leaves his hometown to explore the world. The game’s story is told across five scenarios, blending classic party-based RPG mechanics with a romance narrative centred on Traysia, a girl who waits for Roy’s return in their home port town of Johanna.

The game originally launched on the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 in Japan before receiving a North American localisation from Renovation Products for the Genesis. To put it kindly, it was not well received. The Japanese magazine Famitsu scored it just 13 out of 40, while Beep! Mega Drive Magazine gave it 5.25 out of 10. The North American release fared roughly the same, and UK publication Sega Pro singled out the game’s poor graphics and shallow gameplay in an import review from 1993. German outlet Video Games compared it unfavourably to far stronger Mega Drive RPGs of the era, including the Phantasy Star series and Shining in the Darkness.

Not Its First Revival

Despite that underwhelming reception, Traysia has quietly experienced a second life in recent years. The game appeared in Evercade’s Renovation Collection 1 back in 2022, and then received a brand new physical cartridge release in 2025 courtesy of Shinyuden, Ratalaika Games, and Edia. That physical re-release featured a redone English translation along with an all-new Spanish language option.

The upcoming digital release appears to be based on that 2025 version. The Steam page lists Spanish as an available language alongside English and Japanese, which strongly suggests it carries over the updated localisation work rather than shipping with the original, rougher translation.

Read More: Final Fantasy 7 New Version Coming To Steam, 2013 Edition Delisted

Modern Quality-Of-Life Features

As with most retro re-releases from Ratalaika, this version of Traysia comes bundled with a set of emulation-based convenience features designed to smooth out the rougher edges of a 30-plus-year-old game.

• Rewind and Turbo functions let players undo mistakes or speed through slower sections at will.
• Save states allow saving and loading at any point, removing reliance on the original save system.
• Screen filters offer visual options including retro-style monitor effects and a black-and-white mode.
• Cheats such as infinite lives and invulnerability are available for those who just want to experience the story.
• A gallery features artwork from the original game’s manual and box design.
• A jukebox provides access to all 21 music tracks composed by Shinobu Ogawa, who also worked on the Valis series. The soundtrack is widely considered one of the game’s few genuine highlights.

Pricing And Availability

Traysia launches across all platforms on April 24, 2026. A price has not yet been announced, and the PlayStation Store page has yet to go live at the time of writing. The game is already available to wishlist on Steam for those keen to grab it on PC at launch.

Whether Traysia deserves a second chance is genuinely debatable, but the quality-of-life additions and updated translation at least give curious players a far more accessible way to find out for themselves. For retro RPG enthusiasts and Mega Drive collectors, it is an interesting curiosity if nothing else.

The post Traysia, the Obscure 1992 Sega Genesis RPG, Is Getting a Modern Re-Release This Month appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nintendo is running a limited-time promotion that knocks $20 off when you buy a Nintendo Switch 2 alongside Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2. The offer runs from 12 April to 9 May 2026 and is available at participating retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Walmart, both online and in-store at select locations.

What The Nintendo Switch 2 Bundle Deal Includes

The promotion is straightforward: purchase a Nintendo Switch 2 console and a copy of Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 at the same time, and you save $20 on the total. The discount applies to both the physical and digital versions of the game package, which bundles both Galaxy titles together. That brings the combined cost down from roughly US$520 to US$500 before tax.

It is worth noting that this is not a traditional hardware bundle with the game packed in the box. You need to buy the console and the game together in a single transaction at a participating retailer for the discount to apply. Nintendo has posted full terms on its retail offers page for anyone who wants the fine print.

What’s New With Super Mario Galaxy On Switch 2

Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 is not just a straight port of the Wii originals. The collection includes enhanced resolution, improved UI, additional Storybook Chapters, and a new Assist Mode designed to make the games more accessible. A free update on Nintendo Switch 2 also unlocks 4K resolution support and Joy-Con 2 mouse controls for a second player, giving the co-op experience a notable upgrade.

For anyone unfamiliar, the first Super Mario Galaxy follows Mario on a journey across the cosmos to recover stolen Power Stars from Bowser, with Rosalina lending a hand along the way. The sequel adds Yoshi to the mix as Mario travels through space aboard a starship shaped like his own head. Both games are widely regarded as some of the best 3D Mario adventures ever made, and they hold up remarkably well on modern hardware.

Read More: Mario Kart World Hori Racing Wheel For Switch 2 Revealed

Why Nintendo Is Doing This Now

The timing is clearly tied to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is currently in theatres. The film has had a mixed critical reception, but it is doing exactly what Nintendo likely hoped: putting the Galaxy brand back in the spotlight and introducing the games to a new audience. Rather than launching a brand-new Mario title to coincide with the movie, Nintendo appears to be banking on nostalgia and the strength of the Galaxy games themselves to drive console sales.

It is also worth remembering that Nintendo very rarely discounts its own hardware or first-party software. Any price reduction on a current-generation console, even a modest $20, is unusual for the company. For anyone who has been on the fence about picking up a Switch 2, particularly families with kids who enjoyed the movie, this is one of the few concrete incentives Nintendo has offered so far.

The Switch 2’s Growing Library

Beyond the Galaxy games, the Nintendo Switch 2 is building a solid lineup heading into the back half of 2026. Pokémon Pokopia has already generated significant buzz, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is due within weeks, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is expected to be a major technical showcase for the console. The platform is still early in its life cycle, but the release calendar is filling out quickly.

If you have been waiting for a reason to jump in, the $20 saving is modest but the timing is arguably ideal. You get two of Mario’s best adventures running in 4K on new hardware, with a growing catalogue of exclusives on the horizon. The deal is live from 12 April and runs through 9 May, so there is a decent window to take advantage of it.

The post Nintendo Switch 2 Gets a Rare $20 Deal With Super Mario Galaxy Bundle appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The full lineup for the IEM Cologne Major 2026 is now locked in. Valve has published the official VRS ranking that determines every invite and stage placement for the upcoming German Major, ending weeks of uncertainty for teams sitting near the qualification cutoff.

The ranking was finalised on 6 April following the conclusion of several local LANs, including Urban Riga Open Season 4 and HLC Belgrade PRO, which gave borderline teams their last shot at accumulating enough points to secure a spot.

How The Stages Break Down

The IEM Cologne Major uses a three-stage format, with higher-ranked teams entering at later stages. Stage 3 teams skip the opening rounds entirely, while Stage 1 squads face the longest road to the playoffs. Here is the full breakdown, including each team’s VRS points.

Stage 3

Stage 2

Stage 1

For the first time in 10 years, 32 teams have been assembled for a Counter-Strike Major in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. 🇩🇪

YOUR #IEM COLOGNE MAJOR 2026 INVITED TEAMS ARE CONFIRMED 👇 pic.twitter.com/A2c451Av6T

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 7, 2026

Local LANs Decided The Final Spots

The two weeks leading up to the 6 April deadline were chaotic. Teams like BIG, HEROIC, SINNERS, and Gaimin Gladiators were far from guaranteed a place and entered local LANs across multiple regions as a last-ditch effort to collect enough VRS points.

All four managed to earn their invites. SINNERS, in particular, confirmed their spot after results at HLC Belgrade PRO, while BIG secured enough points to stay above the cutoff despite the tight margins involved.

Read More: IEM Rio 2026 Groups and Opening Matchups Revealed Ahead of April Showdown

Notable Teams That Missed Out

Not everyone made it through. FaZe are the biggest name absent from the participant list, having narrowly missed qualification after falling short at HLC Belgrade. Alliance, BESTIA, Passion UA, K27, Gentle Mates, and SemperFi were also among the teams that came close but ultimately failed to accumulate enough points before the deadline.

For FaZe especially, this is a significant blow. The organisation has been a fixture at CS Majors for years, and their absence will be one of the headline talking points heading into Cologne.

VRS Ranking Also Shapes Other Events

Beyond the Major itself, the finalised VRS ranking will also determine invitations for other upcoming tournaments, including LORGAR Rankings Season 1 (US$50,000 prize pool) and Stake Ranked Episode 2 (US$100,000). Teams that secured strong placements on the ladder benefit from more than just a Cologne invite.

With all 32 teams now confirmed and stage placements settled, the focus shifts entirely to preparation. The biggest question heading into Cologne is whether any Stage 1 team can fight through the full gauntlet and challenge the top seeds starting from Stage 3.

The post IEM Cologne Major 2026 Teams Confirmed After VRS Ranking Finalised appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A team of University of Waterloo engineering students (Justin Wu, Lucas Jin, Owen Li, Thomas Lenh) has released Vit, a free, open-source tool that brings Git-style version control (GitHub, if you’re more familiar with it) to video editing. Instead of passing project files back and forth on hard drives or waiting for one editor to finish before the next can start, Vit lets editors, colourists, and sound designers work on the same timeline in parallel using branches, then merge their changes together at the end, just like software developers do with code.

we just built git for video editing. pic.twitter.com/ldSvzDkATE

— Lucas Jin (@lucashjin) March 25, 2026

What Vit Actually Does

Vit works by serialising your DaVinci Resolve timeline into lightweight JSON metadata files. It does not version your raw footage or media. Instead, it tracks the creative decisions: clip placements, colour grades, audio levels, effects, transitions, and markers. Git handles all the versioning under the hood, and your team shares changes through a standard GitHub repository, so there is no new infrastructure or accounts required.

The clever part is how Vit splits the timeline data across domain-specific files. Each role on a production team owns a different file, which means Git can merge them without conflicts in most cases.

Domain File Breakdown

Because different people edit different files, parallel work rarely creates merge conflicts. When cross-domain issues do arise, such as one branch deleting a clip while another colour-grades it, Vit includes an AI-powered semantic merge system that analyses the conflict and proposes a resolution.

The Problem Vit Solves

Professional video production has long been a sequential process. The editor finishes a cut, hands it off to the colourist, who finishes and hands it off to the sound designer. Everyone waits their turn. As Vit creator put it on X, “video editing is very sequential” and new AI video editing tools do not solve this because they do not integrate with pre-existing software.

Software developers solved this exact workflow bottleneck decades ago with Git and GitHub. Video editors, until now, had no equivalent. The only comparable tools on the market have been enterprise-grade solutions costing thousands per month, as one Product Hunt commenter noted. Vit is free, open-source under the MIT licence, and built entirely on top of Git and GitHub, so teams can start using it with tools they likely already have.

Read More: Nintendo Issues DMCA Notices To Switch Emulators On GitHub In Latest Crackdown

Read More: Nintendo Tells Robbed Pokemon Card Store To Change Name As The Trainer Court

How To Set Up Vit: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Vit requires Python 3.8 or later, Git, and optionally DaVinci Resolve for the in-editor integration. Here is how to get everything running from scratch.

Installing Vit

On macOS or Linux, a one-line install handles everything:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LucasHJin/vit/main/install.sh | bash

Alternatively, you can install manually by cloning the GitHub repo and running pip install. If you want the optional Qt-based GUI panel inside Resolve, install with the qt extra using pip install ".[qt]". After installation, run vit install-resolve to symlink the plugin scripts into DaVinci Resolve.

Starting A New Project (Lead Editor)

Before anything else, create an empty GitHub repository with no README or licence file. This repo is how your team shares timeline changes. Your footage needs to be shared separately through whatever method your team already uses, whether that is a shared drive, Dropbox, or a local server. Vit only tracks edit decisions, not raw video.

In your terminal, initialise the project and connect it to your GitHub remote:

vit init my-project

cd my-project

vit collab setup

When prompted, paste your empty repo URL. Then open DaVinci Resolve, load your project and timeline, and open the Vit Panel from Workspace, then Scripts, then Vit Panel. Hit Save Version to create the first snapshot. Vit serialises the timeline to JSON and commits it. Send the clone URL that your terminal prints to your collaborators.

Joining An Existing Project (Collaborators)

Collaborators clone the project from GitHub using the URL provided by the lead editor:

vit clone https://github.com/yourname/your-repo.git

cd your-repo

vit checkout main

Open Resolve, run the Vit Panel, choose Switch Branch, select your footage folder, and relink any offline clips. Then create your own branch with vit branch your-name. From this point forward, everything happens inside the panel.

The Daily Workflow

Once the project is set up, the day-to-day workflow happens entirely within the DaVinci Resolve panel. Pull to fetch the latest changes from the team. Switch Branch to restore the timeline to your branch. Edit in Resolve as you normally would. When you are ready, hit Save Version to serialise and commit your changes, then Push to share your work with the team.

Merging Work Together

When it is time to combine everyone’s work, the lead editor pulls all the latest commits, switches to the main branch, and uses the Merge function in the panel to select which branch to bring in. The panel shows a diff summary and, if a Gemini API key is configured, uses AI to recommend a merge strategy. For complex cross-domain conflicts, Vit offers a full AI-assisted resolution flow through the CLI using vit merge <branch>.

AI-Powered Features Under The Hood

Vit uses the Gemini API to handle tasks that go beyond what plain Git can manage. The standout feature is semantic merge resolution. When a merge creates cross-domain conflicts, the AI analyses the base, ours, and theirs states across all domain files and produces structured per-domain decisions with confidence levels. For ambiguous merges where the AI is not confident, it presents options to the user before committing anything.

Beyond merging, Vit can auto-generate descriptive commit messages from the timeline diff using video editing terminology, produce natural-language summaries of recent commit history for the team, and auto-categorise commits as audio, video, or colour changes. All AI features are optional and degrade gracefully. Vit works fully without a Gemini API key; you just lose the smart merge and suggestion capabilities.

Early Reception And What Comes Next

The project has already gained significant traction since launching. Lucas Jin’s announcement on X has pulled in over two million views, and the tool has attracted 171 followers on Product Hunt. Owen Li described the team’s motivation simply: professional video production is broken because editors, colourists, and sound designers work sequentially, and software developers solved this thirty years ago with Git while video editors had nothing.

The team is not currently accepting external pull requests, but the project is MIT-licensed and available on GitHub for anyone to fork and build on independently. For production teams looking to move away from sequential editing workflows, Vit offers a genuinely practical solution that slots directly into DaVinci Resolve without requiring expensive subscriptions or new infrastructure beyond a free GitHub account.

The post Vit is GitHub for Video Editors, and It Finally Makes Collaborative Video Editing Work appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Sailor Piece is one of the grindiest One Piece inspired games on Roblox right now, with thousands of levels to push through and a progression system that rewards patience and smart resource use. Codes make a real difference here, especially for rerolls and currency. Below is the full list of every active Sailor Piece code for April 2026, what they unlock, how to redeem them, and what to know about level requirements before you dive in.

What Is Sailor Piece And Why Codes Matter

Sailor Piece is a bandit beating action RPG on Roblox developed by Shadowrise Devs. You start as a weak sailor, grind through waves of enemies across different islands, collect Devil Fruits for supernatural abilities, unlock three forms of Haki, and slowly build toward becoming an overpowered fighter. Think anime progression meets open world island hopping, with PvP thrown in for good measure.

Codes matter because they hand you Beli (the main currency), Gems, Clan Rerolls, Race Rerolls, Trait Rerolls, Haki Colour Rerolls, Passive Shards, and even Secret Chests. Rerolls are especially valuable since your race, clan, and trait directly affect your combat bonuses. Getting a strong combination early can save hours of grinding later. The catch is that every Sailor Piece code requires a minimum character level before you can redeem it, so levelling up quickly is part of the strategy.

All Working Sailor Piece Codes April 2026

Below is the full list of active Sailor Piece codes as of 6th April 2026. All codes have been confirmed working at the time of writing. Every code has a level requirement, so check the table before attempting to redeem. Two of the newest codes also need to be claimed in a new or private server.

Sailor Piece codes expire faster than most Roblox games, so redeem everything as soon as you hit the required level. The milestone and like celebration codes tend to stick around longer, while update specific codes can disappear with the next patch.

How To Redeem Sailor Piece Codes

Redeeming codes in Sailor Piece is straightforward, but the level gates are steep. The majority of active codes currently require level 10,000, with a handful accessible from level 2,000 or level 6,000. Two of the newest codes (600KLIKESTY and 400MVISITSWOAHH) must also be redeemed in a new or private server, so keep that in mind before joining a public lobby to claim them.

Once you meet the level requirement, open Sailor Piece on Roblox and click the Settings button on the left side of your screen, below your Health and XP bars.

Scroll down to the bottom of the Settings window to find the Codes section. Type or paste your code into the text box labelled “A Secret Code…” and hit Redeem.

If successful, the game will confirm what you received.

Why Sailor Piece Codes Might Not Work

The most common reason a Sailor Piece code fails is that your character level is too low. Unlike most Roblox code systems, every active Sailor Piece code has a specific level requirement before it can be redeemed. If you try a code below the threshold, you will see an error message telling you the required level.

Beyond level requirements, the usual issues apply. Codes are case sensitive, so a single wrong character will cause a failure. Copy and paste directly from the table above rather than typing manually. If a code worked for others but not for you, check whether you have already redeemed it on your account, as each code can only be used once. For codes that require a new or private server, joining an existing public server will block redemption even if your level is high enough.

How To Get More Sailor Piece Codes

The developers at Shadowrise Devs share new codes through the official Sailor Piece Discord server, usually in the game announcements channel. Codes also get posted alongside update notes on the game’s Trello board, though that is not updated as consistently.

New codes typically drop around major updates, concurrent user milestones, or as apologies when updates get delayed. There is no fixed schedule, so checking in after every patch is the most reliable approach. Bookmarking a regularly updated codes page is the path of least resistance if you prefer not to monitor Discord channels manually.

What To Spend Your Rewards On

If you have just redeemed a stack of rerolls, prioritise Race Rerolls first. Your race affects passive combat bonuses and can meaningfully change how your build scales at higher levels. Once you are happy with your race, use Clan Rerolls and Trait Rerolls to fine tune your stats further. Save your Beli for weapon upgrades and island progression, and hold onto Gems for premium purchases that become available as you push past level 2,000.

The post Roblox Sailor Piece Redeem Codes April 2026 – All Working Codes For Free Gems, Rerolls, And Secret Chests appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Rockstar Games is running a new Twitch Drops campaign for GTA Online, giving players the chance to pick up GTA$1,000,000 and the Winter Highway Patrol Outfit just for watching streams. The event ties into the returning Neighbourhood Watch Event and runs from 2 April to 15 April 2026, so there’s a limited window to get everything claimed.

Here’s the full breakdown of what’s on offer, how to set it up, and what you need to know before the campaign wraps up.

All GTA Online Twitch Drops Rewards

The rewards are split across four watch time milestones. Hit each one, and you unlock the next tier. The total haul adds up to GTA$1,000,000 in cash plus an exclusive outfit.

The Winter Highway Patrol Outfit is the standout here, since Twitch Drops rewards tend to be exclusive and don’t usually return to the game later. The GTA$ rewards are nothing to sneeze at either, particularly for newer players looking to fund businesses or vehicles.

How To Link Your Rockstar Games And Twitch Accounts

Before any of this works, you need your Rockstar Games account linked to Twitch. Without this step, watching streams won’t count toward any rewards. Here’s how to get it sorted:

1. Sign in to your Rockstar Games account at the Social Club website.
2. Click your profile avatar in the top-right corner.
3. Select Account, then go to Settings.
4. Find the Linked Accounts section.
5. Under Twitch, select Link Account.
6. Log in to Twitch and select Authorize.

Once that’s done, your accounts are connected and you’re eligible to earn rewards. You’ll also need a GTA Online character that has completed the online tutorial, so brand-new accounts may need a bit of setup first.

How To Find Drops-Enabled Streams

Not every GTA Online stream on Twitch will count. You need to find channels with the Drops Enabled tag, which appears at the top of the Twitch chat window when a streamer is participating in the campaign.

The quickest way to find eligible streams is to head to the GTA V category on Twitch and filter by the “DropsEnabled” tag under Live Channels. From there, pick any participating stream and let it run. It works perfectly fine in the background if you’re not planning to actively watch.

Read More: GTA 6 Marketing Starts Summer 2026 as Take Two Confirms No More Delays, November Release Locked

Read More: GTA 6 Publisher Take-Two Lays Off AI Team Head Despite Publicly Backing Generative AI

How To Claim Your Rewards

This is the step a lot of people miss. Rewards are not delivered automatically. Once you hit a watch time milestone, you need to visit your Twitch Drops Inventory and manually click Claim Now for each reward. If you forget to claim before 15 April, unclaimed drops will expire and you’ll miss out.

After claiming, rewards are delivered to your GTA Online account within 72 hours. Don’t panic if they don’t appear immediately, as there can be a delay before they show up in-game.

Supported Platforms

The Twitch Drops campaign supports all current GTA Online platforms, including PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC through the Rockstar Games Launcher, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. The Xbox PC app is also supported.

Don’t Sleep On The Deadline

With the campaign running until 15 April 2026, there’s still time to rack up the full eight hours of watch time and grab everything. The total commitment is manageable, especially since you can leave streams running in the background across multiple sessions. Just make sure your accounts are linked before you start watching, and remember to manually claim each reward from the Twitch Drops Inventory before the event ends.

The post GTA Online Twitch Drops – How to Earn Up to $1 Million and a Free Outfit in GTA Online appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

McDonald’s has officially launched its collaboration with Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film KPop Demon Hunters, bringing two themed meals, a new McFlurry flavour, and collectible photocards to participating restaurants worldwide. The partnership, which kicked off on 31 March 2026, is being billed as the chain’s “first-ever duelling adult meals,” pitting fans of the fictional girl group HUNTR/X against the villainous Saja Boys.

The collaboration also comes with an animated short featuring the film’s characters, exclusive content unlocked through the McDonald’s app, and South Korean-inspired flavours designed to connect fans to the world of the movie. With KPop Demon Hunters fresh off two Academy Award wins, including Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for “Golden,” the timing is hard to argue with.

What’s In The HUNTR/X Meal

The HUNTR/X Meal is the lunch and dinner option, built around a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, a medium soft drink, and three limited-time additions. The standout is the Ramyeon McShaker Fries, a soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning packet you shake onto fries inside a McShaker bag. The seasoning is a nod to ramyeon, the South Korean comfort food staple, and is said to be inspired by Rumi, Mira and Zoey’s go-to snack in the film.

Two new dipping sauces round out the meal. Hunter Sauce is a sweet chili blend with garlic and pepper, while Demon Sauce is a purple-tinted mustard sauce with heat and tang, coloured to match the demon patterns from the movie.

What’s In The Saja Boys Breakfast Meal

Breakfast fans get the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, which leans into the boy band villains’ fiery energy. The centrepiece is the Spicy Saja McMuffin, a Sausage McMuffin with Egg topped with a peppery Spicy Saja Sauce inspired by the demon Gwi-Ma. It comes with a hash brown and a small soft drink, playfully labelled “Soda Pop” in keeping with the film’s musical references.

The Derpy McFlurry

Sitting outside the rivalry entirely is the Derpy McFlurry, a standalone menu item named after the lovable supernatural tiger from the film. It blends vanilla soft serve with blackberry popping pearls (essentially boba) and a wild berry sauce. It’s available à la carte, so you don’t need to pick a side to try it.

Image Credit: McDonald’s

Collectible Photocards And Exclusive Content

Every Saja Boys Breakfast Meal and HUNTR/X Meal comes with a collectible card pack containing an exclusive photocard for either HUNTR/X or the Saja Boys, plus a Derpy access card..

Image Credit: Netflix, McDonald’s

By scanning the QR code on the Derpy card and entering the unique code on the McDonald’s app before 26 April, fans unlock first access to exclusive content, including a special reveal of the group that wins the “Battle for the Fans” campaign.

Read More: KPop Demon Hunters 2 Confirmed By Netflix As Directors Return

Read More: Faker Teams Up With McDonald’s Korea for Holiday Lucky Burger Charity Campaign

An Animated Short To Bridge The Gap

Alongside the meal launch, McDonald’s and Netflix released a new animated short starring Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. The short sees the trio taking a break from demon hunting to try the themed meals, with voice actor EJAE (who plays Rumi) singing the McDonald’s jingle at the end. It’s a lightweight, playful piece that keeps the franchise visible while fans wait for a sequel, which is officially in development but still a long way off due to the realities of animation production timelines.

Producer Michelle Wong has said she’d like the sequel to explore Mira and Zoey’s backgrounds more deeply, as well as the relationship between Derpy and Sussie. Director and screenwriter Maggie Chang has acknowledged the wait will be significant, noting that animation simply takes a long time. Netflix reportedly has broader plans for the franchise beyond a second film, with a potential TV series, world tours, and even a live-action adaptation said to be in consideration.

What Early Reviews Are Saying

Social media reactions have been mixed but generally positive. Several reviewers noted that the Ramyeon McShaker Fries genuinely taste like ramen seasoning, though some found them on the salty side. The Hunter Sauce has drawn comments about its sweetness, while the Demon Sauce has picked up fans who describe it as a spicy honey mustard. The Spicy Saja McMuffin has earned praise from those who’ve tried the breakfast option.

The Derpy McFlurry has had a warmer reception for its berry flavour, though opinions on the popping boba vary. Influencer Elliott Norris gave the collaboration a broadly favourable assessment, singling out the Demon Sauce and the Ramyeon fries as highlights. Meanwhile, at least one reviewer on Threads rated the overall meal a “5/10 at best,” though other users pushed back, calling the individual items stronger than the package score suggests.

Availability And How To Order

Both meals are available now at participating McDonald’s locations. The HUNTR/X Meal is served during standard lunch and dinner hours, while the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal is a morning-only offering. The Derpy McFlurry is available all day, separately from the meals. McDonald’s is also offering McDelivery for those who prefer to order from home. The collectible photocards and Derpy access cards are included with every meal purchase while supplies last, with the app content deadline set for 26 April 2026.

The post McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunters Meals Are Here, and Fans Are Already Picking Sides appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Fortnite’s brainrot skins for Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Ballerina Cappuccina are about to hit the Item Shop, and the community has already made its feelings very clear. Before the skins have even gone on sale, Ballerina Cappuccina has been voted the lowest-rated cosmetic in the entire history of Fortnite on community tracking site Fortnite.gg, sitting at just 6.78% (67, ironic) positive ratings out of 2,619 votes. Tung Tung Tung Sahur fares slightly better at 17.66% from 2,587 votes, but that still places it firmly among the most disliked skins the game has ever seen.

The skins, which were added to the game’s files with the v40.10 update on 1 April and decrypted by dataminers shortly after, are expected to go live in the Item Shop on 3 April at 8 PM ET. But the backlash was already in full swing long before anyone could actually buy them.

The Lowest-Rated Skin in Fortnite History

Ballerina Cappuccina’s 6.78% approval rating is not just low. It is, according to Fortnite.gg’s ranking data, the worst score any skin has ever received on the site, sitting below thousands of other cosmetics including skins that were deliberately review-bombed for unrelated reasons. In a darkly funny coincidence, that rating percentage mirrors the 67 meme that has become inseparable from the brainrot trend itself.

Tung Tung Tung Sahur lands higher at 17.66%, but “less hated” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

Both characters are part of the so-called “Italian Brainrot” meme trend that exploded across TikTok in 2025, featuring AI-generated anthropomorphic characters with text-to-speech narration.

Tung Tung Tung Sahur, also known as Triple T, is an anthropomorphic wooden plank wielding a baseball bat, while Ballerina Cappuccina is a humanoid coffee cup in a tutu. Despite the Italian label, the Tung Tung Tung Sahur meme actually originated in Indonesia, referencing the rhythmic drumbeat used to wake people for sahur, the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan.

A Community Already on Fire

The negative reception is not happening in a vacuum. Fortnite’s playerbase was already frustrated with Epic Games over a series of recent decisions that have eroded goodwill heading into Chapter 7 Season 2. The company laid off over 1,000 employees, including the designer behind Fortnite’s most recognisable character, Jonesy. Fans were further angered when reports emerged that one of the laid-off employees was terminally ill and lost their life insurance as a result.

Epic also increased V-Bucks prices, and reports surfaced that the company was paying millions of dollars for creator maps like Steal a Brainrot while cutting staff. Branded collaborations that would normally generate excitement were instead reframed by fans as wasteful spending. “They did not deserve that much money, that money could have been used on better things,” Fortnite influencer SypherPK said during a late March livestream, referring to monetised user-created maps.

Read More: Tim Sweeney Responds As Epic Free Games Boost Steam Sales And Ignite Storefront Debate

Read More: Addicted Gamer Sues Fortnite and Minecraft Over Video Game Addiction

Why AI-Generated Skins Hit a Nerve

The brainrot characters are not from a traditional entertainment franchise. They are memes built almost entirely with generative AI, and that distinction matters to a large portion of the Fortnite community. While the actual Fortnite skins themselves were modelled by Epic’s artists, the source material is AI-generated, and for fans who just watched over a thousand human developers lose their jobs, the optics are grim.

“One thousand people lost their jobs for this,” reads one popular Reddit post featuring a brainrot character holding up the 6-7 meme.

Commenters acknowledged that Epic likely planned these collaborations well in advance, but the critique was never meant to be literal. For these fans, releasing AI-born characters while reducing the human workforce felt like a statement about where Epic’s priorities lie, intentional or not.

Criticism of Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has also intensified, with fans pointing to the billions spent on legal battles against Apple and Google, which included deliberately getting Fortnite removed from the iOS App Store for four years.

Fans Vow to Hunt Brainrot Players In-Game

The community response has gone beyond negative ratings. Across Reddit and social media, players are pledging to target and eliminate anyone wearing the brainrot skins in matches. In a season themed around picking sides in a factional war, fans say they are setting rivalries aside to unite against what they are calling “Team Brainrot.” Others are urging each other not to spend V-Bucks on the skins at all, with some threatening to drop the game entirely.

Whether that translates into a real impact on Epic’s bottom line is another question. According to Fortnite.gg, April’s peak player count is currently sitting at roughly half of what it was at the same point last year. The month is still young, and Epic has updates in the pipeline including a Toy Story collaboration and the long-awaited Arenas mode arriving on 9 April. But if brainrot skins were divisive enough to push frustrated players over the edge, it may take more than upcoming crossovers to bring them back.

What the Brainrot Set Includes

The full Brainrot cosmetic set consists of seven items, based on dataminer decryptions from the v40.10 update files. Each skin can be purchased individually or as part of a discounted bundle. Epic has not confirmed official pricing, but estimates based on standard bundle discount structures suggest the following:

Some outlets have speculated that Epic could price the set lower than usual given that the characters are not tied to a major intellectual property. The skins also come with meme-inspired emotes, including the 6-7 gesture.

Brainrot’s Popularity Versus Its Reception

The irony of the backlash is that brainrot content is demonstrably popular within Fortnite itself. The Steal the Brainrot creative map is one of the most-played user-created experiences in the game, consistently pulling hundreds of thousands of players. That engagement is almost certainly why Epic pursued the collaboration in the first place.

But there is a gap between enjoying brainrot memes in a free creative map and paying 1,500 V-Bucks for an AI-derived skin during a period of mass layoffs and price increases. For the most vocal portion of Fortnite’s community, the brainrot skins have become a symbol of everything they feel has gone wrong with Epic’s direction, regardless of whether the collaboration was planned months ago. Whether the silent majority votes differently with their wallets when the skins actually go live remains to be seen.

The post Fortnite Brainrot Ballerina Cappucina and Tung Tung Tung Sahur Skins Arrive to Record-Low Ratings and a Full-Blown Fan Revolt appeared first on Shane the Gamer.