Bandwagon Nerds News Report (11/7/2026): EA Revives the Classics, Dragon Age Talent Joins The Expanse & Good Boy Director Returns

EA restores Road Rash and Wing Commander, David Gaider joins The Expanse RPG, and Good Boy director Ben Leonberg takes on Look Out.

Sometimes the most interesting gaming announcement involves opening a storage room. EA’s restoration of classic PC games has brought Road Rash and Wing Commander back into the conversation, along with a reminder that preserving gaming history requires people to find, organize and rescue the materials before they disappear.

Elsewhere, Dragon Age veteran David Gaider has revealed his involvement in The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, the director behind Good Boy has another unsettling assignment, and a Ratchet & Clank mobile spinoff is closing before reaching a worldwide launch. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is also preparing another theatrical voyage, while the weekend’s streaming choices offer espionage and an aggressively unpromising version of adulthood.

It’s the Bandwagon Nerds News Report for November 7, 2026!

EA Brings Road Rash, Wing Commander and More PC Classics Back

EA has released 25 classic PC games on Steam, including seven restored Anniversary Editions drawn from Road Rash and the Wing Commander universe. The broader collection also includes Ultima games, Theme Hospital, both Crusader titles and other reminders of an era when computer-game boxes could occupy a meaningful percentage of your bedroom.

The seven restoration projects include Road Rash, the first four numbered Wing Commander games, Wing Commander Prophecy and Privateer 2: The Darkening. The remaining releases are faithful ports rather than receiving the same Anniversary Edition treatment, an important distinction for anyone deciding which versions to revisit.

The story behind the releases is almost as interesting as the lineup. EA senior producer Jim Vessella discovered a physical-media vault at the company’s Redwood Shores campus in 2022, beginning a preservation effort involving thousands of archival assets.

According to Vessella’s account, the work ultimately digitized approximately 6,000 media assets and preserved an estimated 2,500 hours of historical footage by April 2026. Among those materials were master recordings that could support the restoration of the games’ full-motion-video sequences.

That matters because the tiny, heavily compressed cinematics many players remember were often a limitation of the delivery format. Recovering better source material provides an opportunity to revisit what was actually filmed, rather than endlessly processing an already compromised copy.

The project also incorporates work from the Wing Commander community, whose patches and technical expertise helped keep these games playable. It is encouraging to see that effort acknowledged within an official release instead of remaining something players have to assemble themselves.

Road Rash supplies the loudest nostalgia hit. Its Anniversary Edition includes a relicensed soundtrack featuring Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Therapy?, Paw, Hammerbox and Swervedriver, with an option to hear the music during races.

The game also adds modern conveniences including controller support, cloud saves, windowed play and performance improvements up to 60 frames per second. Optional enhanced cinematics are available alongside the restoration work.

Special pricing runs through November 19 on Steam and GOG. Existing owners of eligible Wing Commander games on GOG or the EA App also receive the corresponding Anniversary Edition upgrades on their respective platforms at no additional cost.

The appeal extends beyond getting another chance to punch someone off a motorcycle. These releases make a significant part of PC gaming history easier to experience, while the restoration account explains how much work can hide behind the simple words “available now.”

Good Boy Director Ben Leonberg Takes on Look Out

Ben Leonberg, whose Good Boy built a supernatural horror story around a dog’s perspective, will direct and co-write an adaptation of the horror novella Look Out for Republic Pictures. Alex Cannon, who collaborated with Leonberg on Good Boy, will co-write the screenplay.

The source material comes from writer Dan Baillie and artist Tim Bradstreet. It was published in May 2025 through the Future of Fear partnership between Artists Writers and Artisans and Vertigo Entertainment.

The novella follows Oscar, a man recovering from a divorce who accepts a job at a remote forest lookout. Once there, he discovers written rules that supposedly explain how to survive his assignment.

Film-specific plot details remain undisclosed, so that premise describes the source material rather than a confirmed scene-by-scene blueprint for the adaptation. Roy Lee and Andrew Childs will produce for Vertigo Entertainment, with Zach Studin producing for AWA.

The setup has immediate appeal because a fire lookout is already a strange combination of responsibility and isolation. You are supposed to notice danger early, but noticing something does not necessarily mean anyone can reach you.

Adding rules creates another useful source of tension. Every instruction suggests an unseen history, and every ambiguous phrase gives the character an opportunity to make the wrong interpretation.

Leonberg’s experience with Good Boy makes his handling of perspective worth watching. A remote lookout story can become especially unsettling when the audience is restricted to what one increasingly frightened person can see, hear and reasonably explain.

The challenge will be making those rules feel connected to a compelling character and environment. A list of ominous instructions can attract attention quickly, but a feature needs consequences that remain interesting after the initial mystery has been established.

There is plenty of room for that here. A man seeking distance from his problems discovering that isolation has its own problems is a fairly reliable beginning for a terrible weekend.

Dragon Age Veteran David Gaider Is Working on The Expanse RPG

David Gaider has revealed that he has been collaborating with Owlcat Games on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. The veteran writer said his involvement concerns specific aspects of the game’s narrative, while he continues his work at Summerfall Studios.

That wording matters. The announcement establishes Gaider’s participation, but it does not identify him as the game’s overall lead writer or explain exactly which characters, quests or narrative systems he has worked on.

For RPG fans, his name nevertheless carries considerable weight. Gaider’s credits include leading the writing on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Inquisition, alongside earlier work on games such as Baldur’s Gate II and Neverwinter Nights.

Osiris Reborn represents an interesting direction for Owlcat, whose reputation has largely been built through expansive isometric RPGs. The Expanse project moves toward cinematic presentation and third-person combat while retaining role-playing elements.

That combination invites obvious interest from players who enjoy character relationships, consequential conversations and the occasional interruption involving someone shooting at the spaceship. The Expanse is particularly well suited to stories where personal loyalty and political allegiance become difficult to separate.

Its factions work best when they have understandable interests and competing interpretations of the same crisis. A strong adaptation needs characters who live within those pressures, rather than simply explaining the setting while waiting for the next action sequence.

Gaider’s involvement is an encouraging creative detail, although the finished writing will have to demonstrate what the collaboration contributes. A recognizable résumé can establish interest; it cannot substitute for the characters players actually meet.

Owlcat has also shown changes to the male protagonist following beta feedback, introducing Blythe Melin as the character’s new voice. The studio has publicly demonstrated the revised performance, giving players something more concrete to assess than a general promise that feedback has been heard.

The game remains scheduled for spring 2027. Between its narrative collaboration and the visible iteration on its protagonist, there are now additional reasons to follow how this particular voyage develops.

Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble Is Shutting Down

Development has ended on Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble, the mobile multiplayer spinoff that had been available through regional soft launches. Its planned worldwide arrival will not happen.

The official announcement establishes two major remaining dates. The game will be removed from Apple’s App Store and Google Play on November 21, with its servers scheduled to shut down permanently on May 1, 2027.

Existing players can continue playing during that remaining service period. Once the servers close, however, the game will no longer load, and player data will be deleted.

The team has also removed in-app purchases and made the Super Pass free. Qwark Pass seasons will continue during the wind-down, allowing players to earn and use rewards before service ends.

Those practical details matter more immediately than any speculation about the decision. Players who already have access need to know that the store removal and the actual shutdown are separate events, with several months between them.

The official FAQ also states that Ranger Rumble’s closure has no impact on other Ratchet & Clank games or PlayStation services. The announcement concerns this specific mobile project.

There is still something dispiriting about a game reaching its shutdown announcement while many interested fans are waiting for their first opportunity to play. Regional testing can produce useful information, but it also creates an unusual situation in which a recognizable franchise’s new release remains largely theoretical for much of its audience.

The closure also sits awkwardly beside the week’s preservation news. Some developers are working to make decades-old games accessible again, while an online game can approach the end of its playable life before achieving a full launch.

Those are different development circumstances, but they lead to the same basic question for players: how long will the thing they enjoy remain available? Ranger Rumble now has an explicit answer, and its remaining community has until May to make the most of it.

The Odyssey Returns to Theaters in December

Universal will bring Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey back to more than 1,000 screens across the United States and Canada beginning December 11. The rerelease includes multiple formats, with IMAX and IMAX 70mm among the options.

The studio’s announcement puts the film at approximately $1.80 billion worldwide, including $626 million domestically and $1.175 billion internationally. Universal identifies it as both the studio’s and Nolan’s highest-grossing film.

Originally released July 17, the adaptation stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with an ensemble including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron. Its large-format presentation has remained a central part of the movie’s identity.

For anyone who missed their preferred screening format, the December engagement provides another opportunity. Specific theater participation will determine how useful that opportunity is locally, especially for the comparatively limited number of IMAX 70mm venues.

The broader appeal of a rerelease is straightforward: audiences get another chance to make the film an event. A familiar movie can still justify a ticket when the presentation offers something they particularly want to experience.

There is also something appropriate about The Odyssey repeatedly returning to theaters. A story built around a prolonged journey home was probably never going to make one uncomplicated trip through the release calendar.

Battlefield 6 Pushes Platoons Beyond Its December Plans

Battlefield’s development team has delayed the Platoons feature and B-81 Cavalry after determining that neither was ready under its internal quality standards. The team plans to share more about its wider 2027 roadmap after the holidays.

The change affects two anticipated additions rather than canceling the entire December update. Season 5 Phase 3 remains scheduled for December 8, with a new Operation, changes to Blackwell Fields and New Sobek City, and a winter event still included in the announced plans.

Platoons had been part of the published December roadmap, making the revision especially relevant to players who organize their time around larger communities. No replacement release date has been supplied.

Social features can look less dramatic than a new map or vehicle in a trailer. For regular players, however, having reliable tools to find familiar people and maintain a group can be central to whether a multiplayer game becomes a lasting habit.

That makes the delay frustrating even if holding unfinished systems is the sensible development choice. Players can understand the reason and still be disappointed by the revised timetable.

The next useful update will be one that explains what the team is ready to deliver and when. Until then, the December content remains on the calendar, while these two additions remain outside it.

What to Watch This Weekend: Black Doves and It Gets Worse

Netflix’s Black Doves returned for its second season on November 5, giving anyone who enjoys compromised identities and dangerous friendships a fresh weekend option. Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw remain the central attraction for a series whose spy business becomes especially interesting when it collides with personal loyalties.

The basic appeal is the relationship between a covert operative maintaining a double life and the hitman friend drawn into her dangerous world. If you are starting from the beginning, the first season provides the foundation for the latest batch of episodes.

For a considerably different kind of trouble, It Gets Worse arrived November 6 with all six episodes available on Paramount+’s Premium Plan in the United States. The A24-produced comedy was created by and stars Leo Reich.

The series follows three university friends confronting disappointing jobs, unsatisfying romantic lives and the realization that adulthood has not become the experience they expected. Emily Fairn and Olive Gray join the cast, with guest appearances including Andrew Scott and Lena Dunham.

The Premium Plan requirement is worth checking before adding it to the evening’s schedule. International availability and release arrangements vary, so the U.S. streaming information should not be assumed to apply everywhere.

Between the two shows, the weekend offers people struggling to keep their secrets and people struggling to get their lives started. Neither group seems positioned for a particularly relaxing time, which is generally useful for those of us watching from the couch.

The week’s most satisfying development may still be the least glamorous one: people sorting through old tapes until something valuable could be recovered. EA’s restoration project demonstrates how much entertainment history depends on the patience of individuals willing to do that work.

New adaptations, ambitious RPGs and returning television series give fans plenty to anticipate. Keeping earlier work available gives those new stories a history that people can still experience for themselves.

This report includes information from: Electronic Arts, Steam, Saving Content, Variety, Bloody Disgusting, Dread Central, PC Gamer, GamingBolt, Push Square, the official Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble website, NBCUniversal, official Battlefield community announcements, Netflix Tudum, What’s on Netflix and Paramount Press Express.