March 9 at 18:08.

On March 4 Valve quietly restored access to the classic version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, returning an older build of the shooter to the Steam catalog. The move surprised many fans in a pleasant way: players no longer have to tinker with Steam properties to dig up the legacy experience, they can simply launch the game and spend a few nostalgic hours in a familiar world.

Streamer Oleg Bocharov, known as stray228, reported that he was blocked in Dota 2 matchmaking and placed into low priority. According to his message on his personal Telegram channel, the penalty lasted four hours and forced him to stop his session. He criticized the game’s disciplinary system for the restriction.

On March 9 at 13:45, Aurora Gaming claimed their second victory in the PGL Wallachia Season 7 competition, overcoming Tundra Esports in their latest match.

The developers of World of Tanks have published the technical characteristics of the ARL Projet F, a new vehicle that will be added to the game in the second season of the Project "Orbit" event. The data were released via the game's official social channels and confirm that the machine will appear as a Tier XI vehicle.

Tournament organizer PGL has published its schedule for the main Counter-Strike 2 LAN championships planned for the 2027–2028 cycle. The announcement, made on the company’s official channels, outlines the scope and financial commitments for the upcoming seasons and sets expectations for teams, players and fans alike.

Slay the Spire 2, the card-based roguelike from American developer Mega Crit, has vaulted to a new level of popularity shortly after entering early access. The game’s launch attracted massive attention and quickly became one of the most-played titles on Steam.

09.03 at 00:55 — Larl commented on his team’s recent match against Falcons, offering a concise assessment of what went wrong during the series.

Elijah Wood, the actor who portrayed Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, addressed persistent rumors about his potential involvement in the forthcoming film centered on Gollum. He spoke about the matter in an interview with the Sunday Times, offering cautious optimism without confirming anything officially.

Netflix has announced the opening and ending musical themes for the second part of the third season of the anime Beastars.

The new horror film The Bride! opened very weakly at the box office, bringing in just $13.6 million during its first weekend against a reported production budget of $90 million, according to Variety.

South American side 9z captured their second LAN title within a fortnight by defeating North American upstarts Marsborne in the grand final of BetBoom Circuit X Pantanal Cuiabá 2026. The victory completed a strong run for 9z at the Brazilian event and earned the team the $14,000 first-place prize.

Team Spirit midlaner Denis “Larl” Sigitov summed up his squad’s win against Team Falcons in the group stage of PGL Wallachia Season 7. The player’s analysis of the three-game series was shared via the club’s social channels following the match.

Commentator Daria Morozova, known by her handle Eiritel, evaluated Team Spirit's drafting choices at the PGL Wallachia Season 7 Dota 2 tournament and highlighted a notable shift in the squad's approach to picks.

Xreal has stopped production of the Neo dock, an accessory designed to connect the Nintendo Switch to the company’s augmented-reality glasses. The peripheral was announced but never reached retail. The company says all preorders will be canceled; customers will receive full refunds of $100 plus a $30 store credit toward other Xreal products, according to reporting on the situation.

Timestamp — March 9, 00:55. Larl spoke about his team’s game against Falcons following the match.

Twenty-nine-year-old British actor Leo Woodall, known for his roles in The White Lotus and the recent Bridget Jones project, is reportedly being considered to play Aragorn in the upcoming film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, according to industry outlet Knight Edge Media.

Newly released photographs from the set of Jumanji 3 have appeared online. The images were published by the British Sony Pictures account on the social network X and show the production underway on set.

HLTV.org has released an updated ranking of the most promising young players on the professional CS2 scene. The March 2026 version of the list was published on the site as part of their regular coverage of emerging talent in Counter-Strike 2.

Natus Vincere secured a 2–0 victory over B8 Esports in a second group stage match of ESL Pro League Season 23 in Counter-Strike 2. The encounter ended 16:14 on Mirage and 13:7 on Inferno, giving NAVI a clean series win.

Milan Kozomara, known by his tag MiLAN, has spoken about his adaptation to the Team Spirit Dota 2 roster and outlined the areas he is focusing on with the squad. In comments provided to the organization he described how the first days with the team have gone and what he aims to improve during his trial period as coach.

In the second round of the group stage of PGL Wallachia Season 7 for Dota 2, Team Spirit will face Team Falcons. The encounter is scheduled for March 8 with a planned start time of 20:00 Moscow time (MSK).

Streamer and content creator Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov publicly assessed the recent performances of Tundra Esports’ Dota 2 player known as 33 (Shapira). Kuznetsov said that while 33 handles standard, familiar tasks exceptionally well, he can struggle when the game deviates from routine patterns. The streamer’s remarks were reported by the esports outlet Taverna.gg.

Project Helix, the code name for Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, is expected to be dramatically more powerful than the current Series X and Series S family. Insider reporting from Moore’s Law Is Dead and several market analysts indicate that the new hardware will represent a substantial leap in raw performance, and that Microsoft will price the system higher than the present-generation models.

Published on March 8 at 13:14, the brief report confirms that Team Liquid claimed a win over Vici Gaming, marking their second match victory in a row at the PGL Wallachia Season 7 tournament.

Rapper Oleg Kizaru Nechiporenko has admitted that, as a child, he dreamed of becoming a professional esports player. He spoke about his longstanding interest in Counter‑Strike during a conversation on ZLOYn alongside Alexander "s1mple" Kostylev; the remarks were later reproduced by the portal Taverna.gg.

On March 8, Aurora Gaming will take on Heroic in the second round of the group stage at PGL Wallachia Season 7, the Dota 2 tournament taking place in Bucharest. Bookmakers’ experts at BetBoom list the side led by Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov as the pre-match favorite.

On March 8 at 09:35, Team Spirit will meet G2 Esports in a pivotal encounter that will decide which squad advances to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 23.

March 8, 2026 — Alexey Razin. Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR who sold that business to Facebook, has been balancing defense work with a long‑standing personal interest in classic gaming. After founding Anduril Industries and guiding its work on military systems, including unmanned combat platforms for the Pentagon, Luckey has returned attention to a hobby that dates back to his youth: restoring and reimagining retro video games and consoles.

Day two of ESL Pro League Season 23 Stage 2 concluded with several surprises as established names stumbled and a handful of teams put themselves one win away from the playoffs. The most headline-grabbing developments saw FaZe and FURIA drop into the 0-2 pool after defeats, while MOUZ, G2, The MongolZ and Spirit secured perfect 2-0 starts.

Published on 08 March at 00:42.

OpenAI will not launch the intended adult mode for ChatGPT in the first quarter of 2026, as the company had originally planned. This delay was reported by a major tech outlet that cited informed sources close to the matter.

Russian esports athlete Roman RAMZES666 Kushnaryov has stated that he has not officially ended his professional playing career. In a recent public statement he made clear that retirement has not been fully decided and that a return to competition, while unlikely, remains a possibility.

On 08.03 at 00:42 the pairings for the second round of the group stage at PGL Wallachia Season 7 were confirmed: Spirit will take on Falcons, while NAVI will play against PARIVISION.

08.03 at 00:42 — The matchups for the second round of the group stage at PGL Wallachia Season 7 have been confirmed: Spirit will face Falcons, and NAVI will take on PARIVISION.

Team Falcons' offlaner Ammar Assaf, known as ATF, commented on his squad's 2:0 victory over Team Nemesis at PGL Wallachia Season 7 and confidently asserted that the team cannot lose when he is playing.

OG announced the temporary addition of Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro to their active roster. The French rifler joins on loan from 3DMAX and takes the spot vacated by Timur 'FL4MUS' Marev, who has been transferred to OG's inactive list. The move is the Danish organization's first roster change of the year as it seeks to arrest a steep decline in the Valve Ranking System (VRS).

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The organizers of the Gran Turismo World Series 2026 have announced the cancellation of the season’s opening event. The decision was communicated via the championship’s social media channels and affects the first tournament that had been planned for early in the season.

Valve has published approximate release windows for three of its upcoming hardware devices — the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame and the Steam Controller — saying that their launches are still planned for 2026.