René Madsen, better known by his handle TeSeS, a member of the Team Falcons CS2 roster, spoke about his individual form at the beginning of 2026 and explained what helped him lift his game. In comments given during the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 qualifying period, he outlined the adjustments he made during the recent break and how they affected his play.

Model known as Lera Himera produced a cosplay portraying Neytiri, a prominent character from the Avatar film franchise. The photographs of the shoot were published in the photographer Svetlana Bogacheva's group on the Russian social network VKontakte.

Falcons have confirmed that Maxim 'kyousuke' Lukin will not attend the BLAST Bounty Finals in Malta from January 22–25 after encountering unresolved visa complications. The organization said the issue prevents the Russian rifler from joining the squad at their first LAN of 2026, forcing the team to travel without him for the event in Malta.

Former Assassin's Creed director Marc-Alexis Côté has filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft, accusing the company of unfairly pressuring him to resign. The claim was reported by Radio Canada and centers on a dispute over Côté's role and the management of the Assassin's Creed franchise following internal restructuring.

Rockstar Games appears prepared to allow a single fan to play Grand Theft Auto VI before its official release, after a public appeal posted on LinkedIn. The message, written by Anthony Armstrong, drew attention when he described a personal situation involving a relative whose last wish is to experience the upcoming game prior to launch.

Alexander “Nix” Levin reflected on the starting conditions of his life and the motivation that eventually brought him recognition. He said he was born into a poor family and battled health problems from an early age, which meant he had to work on himself far harder than many people he knew.

Falcons have secured a place at the LAN Finals of BLAST Bounty Season 1 after defeating Monte 2-0 on 17 January 2026, capping a flawless qualifying run that began with a 2-0 victory over ECSTATIC in the opening round.

Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins has announced that he and his wife, Jessica, are expecting a child. The couple shared the news with their followers on social media, confirming they are preparing to become parents.

TikTok has released a new application called PineDrama, which is currently available to users in the United States and Brazil on both iOS and Android devices, according to a report from Business Insider.

On 18 January at 00:29, Team Falcons confirmed their advancement to the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 tournament by defeating Monte.

Genre: narrative adventure with puzzle elements. Publisher: HypeTrain Digital. Developer: Ice‑Pick Lodge. Minimum system requirements: Intel Core i3‑12100F 3.3 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz, 8 GB RAM, DirectX 11‑capable GPU with 2 GB VRAM (e.g. GeForce GTX 960 / Radeon R9 280), 25 GB free storage, internet connection, Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10 / 11. Recommended: Intel Core i7‑14700KF 3.4 GHz or AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz, 16 GB RAM, DirectX 12‑capable GPU with 8 GB VRAM (e.g. GeForce 2070 / Radeon RX 5700 XT), 25 GB on SSD. Release date: January 9, 2026. Age rating: 18+. Localization: text only. Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5.

The shooter Marvel Rivals attracted more than 200,000 players online at the same time following the launch of its sixth season, titled "Night at the Museum," which added Deadpool to the playable roster.

Italy's competition and market authority has opened an investigation into publisher Activision Blizzard, citing concerns about the company's monetization practices. The regulator published details of the probe on its official channels, saying it will examine whether certain commercial tactics harm consumers.

On January 17 at 22:24, GamerLegion defeated Aurora Gaming and secured qualification for the LAN stage of the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 tournament. The victory marks a decisive step for GamerLegion in this season’s competition and confirms their progression from the earlier rounds into the event’s on-site phase.

GamerLegion have secured their place in the LAN stage of BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 after a 2-1 victory over Aurora, guaranteeing the organisation at least a top-eight finish in their first major event of the year.

On January 17 at 19:24, Aurora Gaming eliminated AVULUS from the closed qualifier for ESL One Birmingham 2026. The result means Aurora Gaming advances deeper into the qualification bracket while AVULUS has been removed from contention in this particular qualifying event.

Streamer Ilya Davydov, known online as Maddyson, publicly addressed the Russian-speaking streaming and creator community with a request: stop discussing alleged view-count manipulation on Twitch. In a direct appeal, he said the continual focus on so-called 'viewbotting' is harmful and based on unproven assumptions.

According to reporting from TechRadar based on PCPartPicker data, the recent upward momentum in DDR5 RAM prices has stopped. After months of sharp increases, the market has shown no further rises in list prices in the most recent tracking period.

17 January 2026 [21:28] — Vladimir Fetisov. Italy's Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) has launched two formal investigations into Activision Blizzard, the game publisher now owned by Microsoft. The inquiries focus specifically on the company's mobile titles Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty: Mobile and probe whether their monetization techniques amount to misleading or unduly aggressive commercial practices.

Dmitry Belov, known in-game as Korb3n and manager of Team Spirit, admitted that he finds playing the carry position in Dota 2 boring. He said the routine of the role has begun to tire him after a recent stretch of matches.

Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov has confirmed the formation of a new Russian Counter‑Strike roster under the name TDK. The project reunites nafany with Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov and brings Konstantin “groove” Pikiner in as coach, assembling a team made up largely of players who were recently benched or between organisations.

Online personality and blogger Vitaly Zdorovetsky has returned to Russia after serving a nine-month sentence in a Philippine prison, according to a report by the local newspaper PhilStar.

Paseka Team’s roster was handed a technical defeat in the qualifying stage of FISSURE Universe: Episode 8 after the team’s carry player, Igor “iLTW” Filatov, was found to have registered for the qualifier using a Dota 2 account that had been permanently banned. The use of a banned account triggered the disqualification of the lineup from that match.

17 January — 15:03. The central question: can Virtus.pro make it into the decisive round of the open qualifiers for IEM Rio 2026?

On 17 January at 20:00 MSK Virtus.pro will face Nuclear TigeRES in the round of 1/8 of the global open qualifiers for IEM Rio 2026 in Counter-Strike 2. Bookmakers at BetBoom consider Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutsky's side to have a substantially higher chance of winning the encounter.

Battlestate Games is exploring the possibility of collaborations involving its shooter Escape from Tarkov. The company’s head, Nikita Buyanov, announced the idea on the social platform X, saying the studio is interested in joint projects but has not settled on any concrete plans yet.

On 16 January at 19:00 MSK Aurora Gaming will face GamerLegion in the second round of the online qualifiers for BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 in Counter-Strike 2. Betting experts at BetBoom named the lineup led by MAJ3R Kupeli as the favorite for this series.

Miroslav “zont1x” Plakhotya, a player for Team Spirit, spoke about his return to the squad after a break and his outlook with the refreshed roster. At the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 event he addressed the change of in-game leadership and expressed strong motivation to compete for trophies with the new lineup.

Several high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) have grown so expensive that, when measured by weight, they now cost more per gram than pure gold. The phenomenon was highlighted by users on Reddit and quantified in a compilation reported by Tom's Hardware, which compared retail prices and availability for specific SSD models.

On 16 January at 23:01 Aurora Gaming lost to Inner Circle in a match played as part of the closed qualification stage for ESL One Birmingham 2026. The result means Inner Circle moves forward in the qualification process while Aurora Gaming did not secure a spot from this bracket.

On January 16 at 22:58, BetBoom Team defeated 1win Team in the qualifying stage for ESL One Birmingham 2026.

Variety has reported additional casting news for the screen adaptation of God of War. The new announcements reveal who will take on several prominent roles in the forthcoming series based on the popular video game franchise.

On 16 January at 22:44 the pairings for the second stage of qualifying for BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 were published: Spirit will face Inner Circle, and Falcons will play against Monte. These matchups define the next round of the tournament’s qualifying bracket.

Vladimir Minenko, better known by his handle No[o]ne, spoke about the evolution of midlane play in Dota 2 and how it fits his personal strengths. He said he appreciates the way the central lane has changed, but also admitted that he felt more at ease during the period of his career associated with the so‑called 'golden' Virtus.pro lineup.

Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has not introduced any new measures to restrict the operation of the Telegram messenger within the country, the agency told Forbes in a comment.

On January 16 at 22:58, BetBoom Team defeated 1win Team in a qualifying match for ESL One Birmingham 2026. The brief notice reported the result of the encounter between the two sides.

On 16 January at 21:53, FURIA Esports secured a victory over 9INE, winning their matchup and advancing to the second stage of the closed qualifiers for BLAST Bounty Winter 2026.

The second round of the online stage for BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 has been drawn, setting up 16 teams to fight for eight places at the LAN finals.

On 16 January at 22:58, BetBoom Team defeated 1win Team in the qualifying rounds for ESL One Birmingham 2026. The match was part of the tournament’s selection process to determine which teams will fight for places at the main event in Birmingham next year.

On January 16 at 22:58, BetBoom Team defeated 1win Team in a qualifier match for ESL One Birmingham 2026. The result was reported immediately after the encounter and reflects the outcome of the qualification stage for the upcoming tournament.