Much has already been written about Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 and its desperately troubled development, but it's still interesting to hear about the project from someone who was actually there, on the inside.

In a rather revealing interview with Cat Burton on YouTube, Dan Pinchbeck, the game's creative director, basically admits that significant doubts surrounded the title from the start — especially when it came to taking up the 'Bloodlines' name.

"We used to sit there and go and have these planning sessions of, ‘how do we get [the producers] to not call it Bloodlines 2?," Pinchbeck explains.

He continues, in particularly damning fashion: "That feels like the most important thing we do here is to come at this and say this isn’t Bloodlines 2. You can’t make Bloodlines 2. There’s not enough time. There’s not enough money’."

Indeed, it's a brutal recollection of what must have been a stressful situation for The Chinese Room — the studio that was handed the project after it had repeatedly failed to get off the ground elsewhere.

The bottom line here is that Pinchbeck — and presumably many others at The Chinese Room — knew that they couldn't replicate the magic of Bloodlines, which is now fondly remembered as a cult classic RPG.

And with that in mind, Pinchbeck recalls that his original pitch was to create a more linear experience.

"We can’t make Bloodlines 2, we can’t make Skyrim, but we can make Dishonored," he says.

Of course, looking back on Bloodlines 2 now, that line of thought makes a lot of sense. To be fair, the developer clearly understood its own limitations — but once the project adopted that all-important 'Bloodlines' name, the game's fate was sealed.

Pinchbeck, who co-founded The Chinese Room, left the company before Bloodlines 2 released.

"It felt like [The Chinese Room] had evolved into something that wasn’t the same thing that [co-founder Jessica Curry] and I started," he states.

Bloodlines 2 launched just over a month ago, and it was met with disappointing reviews from both critics and Vampire: The Masquerade fans. We called it "disastrously paced" and "a shambles" in our 4/10 review.

Did you ever have faith in Bloodlines 2? What do you make of Pinchbeck's comments? Don't forget to drain some blood in the comments section below.

It's no secret that Microsoft wants the ROG Xbox Ally to feel as comfortable for console users as possible, but that can be difficult when you're wielding a Windows 11 PC in your hands.

One of the problems is that games require tinkering in terms of power settings, frame rates, graphics and various other things that can affect the likes of performance and battery life. To counter this, Xbox has unveiled a new feature called "Default Game Profiles" that will support over 40 games at launch (it's starting in preview today).

The idea is that when you load up these games and you've got Default Game Profiles turned on, the Xbox Ally will automatically do all the hard work in the background to optimise for performance and battery life. These profiles have been hand-crafted for each game, and apparently can offer some significant benefits compared to manual tuning.

"For example, in Hollow Knight: Silksong, the Default Game Profile can add nearly an hour of battery life compared to Performance mode while still delivering smooth 120 FPS gameplay."

The full list of 40+ games has yet to be revealed, but Xbox has shared some of the first-party titles supporting it:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

• Call of Duty: Warzone

• DOOM Eternal

• DOOM: The Dark Ages

• Forza Horizon 5

• Gears 5

• Gears of War: Reloaded

• Gears Tactics

• Halo: The Master Chief Collection

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

• Minecraft

• Sea Of Thieves

• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

In our view, this is a fantastic move from Xbox to add even more optimisation to games on the Ally, and it should mean that even casual adopters who don't do any tweaking will be able to get the most out of these titles on the system.

Better yet, Team Xbox even says that the profiles are designed to boost power if the FPS falls below its intended target, while power will be limited if the frame rate is easily hitting its target. All of this is naturally only applicable when playing on battery, as it's not intended for plugged-in sessions.

We'll leave you with a little bit more information on Default Game Profiles below, which as mentioned are starting in preview today and should be rolling out to the public very soon.

"Spend more time playing and less time fine-tuning. Default Game Profiles, available in preview starting today, automatically balance frame rate (FPS) and power consumption for 40 supported games at launch, including Fortnite, Gears of War: Reloaded, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and others, with more coming soon. This means smoother, more enjoyable gameplay and extended battery life, without requiring manual adjustments."

Xbox developer Treyarch has fully detailed Black Ops 7 Season 01, and there's a lot of content coming to the game next week. A big batch of multiplayer maps, Zombies survival maps, weapons, operators and more are arriving for the Xbox Game Pass title on December 4th - alongside "significant improvements" to the game's battle pass system.

First off, let's take a look at that Season 01 content roadmap. Although the team shared a bunch of this information before the game launched, we now have the full S1 rundown - alongside new Warzone content and the addition of that release date of course. Here's the Black Ops 7 Season 01 roadmap:

Adding onto this, Treyarch says that it's "taken learnings from Black Ops 6’s Battle Pass" and has "made tuning adjustments for a more satisfying journey" overall. We're just going to throw the team's full quote on these changes down below because there's a lot to get stuck into - and the Battle Pass progression is being added to the game alongside Season 01.

"With Season 01 just around the corner, we’re excited to announce new changes to significantly improve the Battle Pass experience for all Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone players, starting on Dec. 4th:

1. The team has taken learnings from Black Ops 6’s Battle Pass completion times and made tuning adjustments for a more satisfying journey. The result: each season’s Battle Pass in Black Ops 7 will be more rewarding for the time you spend playing.
2. Earlier pages in the Black Ops 7 Battle Pass can now be completed faster with fewer tiers needed to unlock HVT content, while later pages will contain more rewards. This means players will earn high-value content sooner across all 100 tiers.
3. For the first time, we’re adding the ability to earn Battle Pass Tokens via Daily Challenges, which are now also available in Co-Op Campaign & Endgame. These can be earned on certain days during the season by completing your bonus Daily Challenge and can be used right away.

With these core changes to the Battle Pass system, along with the addition of Weekly Challenges and even more Weapon Camos to earn in Season 01, our top focus is ensuring your time is rewarded more than ever in a Black Ops game."

We can't complain at more significant battle pass content being unlocked earlier we suppose, even if that particular progression system does feel a little tired these days. We like the sound of unlocking tokens through challenges though - and in general, this should provide a more rewarding progression system overall.

We'll see how it all shakes out when Black Ops 7 Season 01 lands on December 4th; free for existing players including those on Game Pass Ultimate.

Just three weeks after its release, Nintendo is already bringing more goodies to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment later this week in the form of a free update.

Available on 27th November 2025, the update will add new weapons, a brand new Sync Strike for Zelda and fan-favourite Korok Calamo, and other goodies. Being typically coy there, Nintendo! The game already has a ton to unlock, including maxing out characters and finding all of those pesky Koroks, even if it's a little brisker than Age of Calamity.

Well, head over to the Japanese website and you'll see exactly what else we'll be getting — along with some extra challenges, new enemies, and more powerful materials, you'll also be able to team up with the Block Golem for another new Sync Strike.

A handful of new battles are also getting added on Thursday, including one which is apparently titled "A serious battle with Rauru". Hmmm.

Images: Nintendo

There are also some additional patch notes, which aim to fix functionality and a few bug fixes. We'll post the official translation when they're out there, but a couple of tweaks include adding tutorials that appear on the map are added to the list, previews of areas you can reclaim will show up, and a preview of the amount of health you can recover is now shown.

The previous Hyrule Warriors game also got a handful of updates and an Expansion Pass which brought with it an "expanded roster". So don't expect anything of that scale here.

Nintendo promised that it had free updates planned for the game after launch. And free stuff, whatever it is, we'll take. Especially as we really enjoyed this canon prequel to Tears of the Kingdom.

Are you still playing Age of Imprisonment? Looking forward to the new update later this week? Let us know in the comments.

Nintendo released its latest firmware update for Switch 2 last night, ushering in a handful of general improvements for the console. Alongside these tweaks, the update also appears to have coincided with some compatibility fixes, including one title we've been waiting to see up and running for a while: NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition (thanks for the heads up, My Nintendo News).

Square Enix and PlatinumGames' sci-fi ARPG has long been sitting in a pretty bad way on Switch 2, with many users reporting frequent crashes when trying to get it up and running on the new hardware. A glance at Nintendo's compatibility information site before today listed NieR: Automata as "Unsupported - Problems with game progression have been found", but that all seems to be in the rear-view as of system update 21.0.1.

As of 25th November 2025 (that's today), the game's listing has been updated as "supported" on Switch 2, with the note that "previously identified issues have been fixed".

It's a welcome change, because NieR: Automata ruled on Switch 1, and now we have the perfect excuse to dive in all over again. In our 9/10 review of the initial Switch release, we described Automata as "a top-notch port that has clearly been produced with respect and focus, often surpassing our expectations in both visuals and performance". Sigh as if we didn't already have enough backlog games to get through before the year is up...

If you've been paying attention to the recent trailers for Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Mega Dimension DLC, you'll no doubt know that doughnuts have a pretty big role to play in the dimension-hopping — what did you expect, it's Pokémon! The Pokémon Cafe's new menu looks set to bring these sweet treats into the real world, but it also might be teasing that a pair of legendary 'mon will make their return in the DLC.

Yep, we live in a world where Pokémon spoilers can come from anywhere, even doughnuts. But come on, take a look at the above two baked goods — currently appearing under the tentative titles of "Red Doughnut" and "Blue Doughnut" on the Pokémon Café's Pikachu Sweets website — and tell us that you don't see Gen III legendaries Groudon and Kyogre.

Images: The Pokémon Company

These two doughnuts will appear in Tokyo's Pikachu Sweets store from 10th December for 550 yen. The accompanying item description teases, "The doughnuts are inspired by the special doughnuts that appear in the paid add-on content, 'Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Mega Dimension'! They look like some kind of Pokémon...?" — huh, you don't say.

A 'Hoopa's Mischief Ruby Chocolate Frappe' will also join the menu on the same date. Its bright pink colouring, cream, and Cheerio topping makes the whole thing look a little too sweet in this writer's opinion, but there's no knocking its dedication to the DLC bit.

Image: The Pokémon Company

You'll be able to start your journey through Hyperspace Luminose when the Legends: Z-A DLC arrives on 10th December for £24.99 / $29.99. We've seen a handful of new Megas coming to the expansion so far, including Raichu, Baxcalibur, Chimecho and Zeraora. The final DLC news drop will come next week on 2nd December, so brace for even more newbies.

The Duskbloods, being that it's a FromSoftware joint and all that good stuff, is certainly high on our list of things we're very excited about arriving on Switch 2 in the near future. However, given that it's a multiplayer-typed deal in the same vein as the studio's divisive Elden Ring: Nightreign, we understand that there's a little more trepidation surrounding it, or at least that's how it's felt.

Solo FromSoftware efforts get a big thumbs up very quickly, it seems, but words like 'multiplayer' or even 'online' might make you feel it's not a full-fat adventure from the Dark Souls studio, perhaps. It's understandable. And yet, according to a new leak surrounding the game (as reported by Vice), The Duskbloods has been cooking longer and having more consideration put into it than any of FromSoft's work thus far.

The leak in question comes from a Chinese journalist who gained credibility after leaking correct Elden Ring info before it launched back in 2022. As translated by Ziostorm, they report that:

“From what I know, The Duskbloods was greenlit even earlier than the marketing period for Sekiro’s release. It is the FromSoftware title that has spent the longest time purely on gameplay prototyping and validation among all of their games so far. Although its PVE and PVP, it reportedly contains many innovative elements the team themselves are very proud of.”

They go on to claim that the game, which sees Hidetaka Miyazaki on directing duties, lest you forget, could be more influential than the likes of Sekiro (which launched in 2019) and its great big red mark that it paints on baddies for you. So it seems as though there may well be some big new mechanic at work here that we are yet to find out about as you get down and dirty as one of the game's vampire-flavoured Dusksworn combatants.

You can check out the full quote in Ziostorm's time-stamped video:

As to why it's been so quiet on the news front regarding the game thus far, the same leaker says that all Elden Ring Nightreign DLC will be wrapped up (something which occurs on 7th December) before FromSoftware turn their full attention to revving up their Duskblood engines. Oooh, we're quite excited, actually.

With no confirmed release date beyond "2026", plus not a whole lot of info about the PvPvE online adventure to sink our teeth into and the Switch 2 port of Elden Ring delayed into next year, let's hope we're in for a little pre-Xmas info drop. Or even just a tease. Come on, lads, give us something! Check out the reveal trailer below for a reminder.

Are you looking forward to The Duskbloods, or does the online aspect cool your desires in some regards? Make sure to let us know your thoughts on this one!

Following Embracer Group's and Free Radical Design's failed attempt at a TimeSplitters revival, things have been looking pretty bleak for the future of the beloved first-person shooter series, originally made famous on the PS2.

Not only has Free Radical Design once again been put to rest, but the studio's co-founder, Steve Ellis, has also commented publicly that he may now be done with the series for good, calling the recent revival attempt a "big letdown" and expressing sympathy for the younger members of the team who didn't get to "see through their first game."

Because of this, it doesn't look likely that an official continuation will happen anytime soon, but what we do have in its place is an ambitious new fan game for PC, called TimeSplitters Rewind, which should hopefully go some way to easing the pain.

TimeSplitters Rewind has been in development since 2013 and has been a rare source of optimism inside the community, especially of late. It is designed to be a greatest hits collection "of maps, modes, leagues, challenges, and story content across the original trilogy of TimeSplitters games" and has just been released in Early Access for the very first time, as of last Sunday (November 23rd).

As outlined in the trailer, which was released alongside the announcement, the early access version of the game contains the full campaign for TimeSplitters 1 (available to play in co-op), as well as 28 maps, 32 challenges, 96 characters, 41 weapons, and a ton of modes to work through, with the caveat being that, if you check it out now, you may encounter some bugs and missing features that are still to be implemented.

Amazingly, the game has all been created entirely for free, and even has the backing of Free Radical Design co-founder and TimeSplitters designer/director, David Doak, who is lending his support by boosting the project to his followers on Twitter/X.

You can download the game here, if you want to give it a try yourself.

We have some exciting news for N64 fans. Another build of Sammy Corporation and Racdym's cancelled Star Fox-style shoot 'em up Viewpoint 2064 has been dumped and preserved online.

This time by the YouTuber and video game preservationist Hard4Games.

Viewpoint 2064, as the name indicates, was a 3D follow-up to the Neo Geo top-down isometric shooter from Aicom and Sammy, which was also subsequently ported to the Sega Genesis, FM Towns, Sharp X68000, Sony PlayStation, and Windows computers.

It was in development in the late '90s and is believed to have been shown off at Nintendo SpaceWorld in 1999, as well as Tokyo Game Show, with the original plan being to release the title on November 11th, 1999. However, despite garnering some enthusiastic previews from members of the media, such as IGN64, who praised its "polygonal graphics", "lock-on system", and "impressive... boss battles", it would eventually end up missing this date, being delayed several more times throughout 2000, before quietly being cancelled in 2001.

Following that, it then pretty much faded into obscurity until a prototype cartridge of the game surfaced on eBay in 2015. This then led to a group of video game preservationists tracking down a copy of the game, which resulted in a dump by GamingAlexandria in 2020.

As noted by Hard4Games in his recent video going over the latest dump, the earlier version of the game dumped by GamingAlexandria in 2020 was incomplete, featuring issues with collision detection, a different UI from the advertised screenshots, missing boss fights, and a developer debug menu. This new build, however, appears to be final, fixing many of the above issues, and being referred to as a "Master" on the cart itself.

You can download the game here, but we highly recommend checking out Hard4Games' video for a full breakdown of the differences between the two builds.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is one of the games I remember most fondly when thinking about the Game Boy Advance. The console was still fresh and new back in 2001, and soon after launch it was playing host to a portable version of one of my favourite SNES games of all time. It felt too good to be true.

I still enjoy Super Circuit, even after almost a quarter of a century, so it amazes me now to hear that the game has been "fixed" by fans to make it even better.

As reported by Video Game Esoterica, Super Circuit is, in fact, hiding a dirty secret. While the game runs at 60fps, the track itself is rendering at half that frame rate. Thankfully, a new patch created by antimattur solves this issue.

"This patch modifies the map rendering code in mksc to update at 60fps," explains the developer. "This has no impact on performance as the map scaling parameters were already being updated at 60fps, but were only being read at 30fps."

You can grab the patch here, but you'll need to supply your own ROM.

If you thought seeing Super Mario 64 on PlayStation was weird, well, we're not through yet.

That's because Frogbull, the homebrew maverick behind demos of Metal Gear Solid and Crash Bandicoot on Sega Saturn and Metal Gear Solid 2 on Dreamcast, has just shared some incredible new footage of an "old project" he was once working on — a proof of concept of Insomniac's 1998 platformer Spyro the Dragon running on the N64.

According to Frogbull, the project has been around for quite some time and represented the first-ever steps he took into the world of N64 homebrew. However, it is now abandoned, with the developer stating in the video description that he has "learned that a very promising and advanced decompilation project has been started by Altro50", meaning that "an actual port" (his words, not ours) could one day end up coming to the console instead.

With his homemade attempt, therefore, no longer serving "much purpose", he's decided to share some of the footage from it online, posting an almost 4-minute-long video of what he was able to achieve.

This video sees Spyro exploring the opening Artisans area of the game, and is presented "as it is", which Frogbull states means it is "raw, full of missing textures, [and] animations that are implemented but not yet tied to actions (like gliding, charging, etc.)".

Nevertheless, it still looks impressive to us as a demo of what potentially could have been, giving us a brief window into what the original Spyro may have looked like, had Insomniac developed the game for other machines, as well.

If you want to find out more about how it was made, Frogbull has posted a behind-the-scenes breakdown on his Patreon, though this is currently locked behind a paywall.

Nintendo dropped a major Switch 2 and Switch firmware update earlier this month, and it's now followed this up with a much smaller patch.

Although this firmware update isn't a big one, it does appear to address some important issues. This includes an issue where a few Error Codes would repeatedly occur when attempting to perform a transfer between the Switch and Switch 2. There are also some fixes for connection issues.

Apart from this, is some general system improvements on both platforms. They're focused on making both devices super stable. Here's the full rundown, courtesy of Nintendo's official support pages:

Switch 2 Update Version 21.0.1 (Released November 24, 2025)

- Fixed an issue where Error Code: 2011-0301 or Error Code: 2168-0002 would repeatedly occur on a Nintendo Switch when attempting a system transfer using local communication from a Nintendo Switch system to a Nintendo Switch 2 system.

- Fixed an issue where sometimes, after waking up the system from Sleep Mode or turning off Airplane Mode, wireless controllers or Bluetooth audio devices were unable to connect.

- General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience.

Switch Update Ver. 21.0.1 (Released November 24, 2025)

- Fixed an issue where Error Code: 2011-0301 or Error Code: 2168-0002 would repeatedly occur on a Nintendo Switch when attempting a system transfer using local communication from a Nintendo Switch system to a Nintendo Switch 2 system.

- General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience.

If there is anything else revealed about this latest updates for the Switch 2 and Switch, we'll be sure to let you know.

Once again, this follows the rollout of Version 21.0.0 earlier this month, which included updates to the HOME Menu, GameChat, Game Card-related updates and more. Nintendo upgraded the Switch 2's controllers as well earlier this month.

If you've enjoyed the beats in Super Mario Party Jamboree and want to be able to listen to them wherever you go, the game's soundtrack has now been added to the Nintendo Music app.

This one is an absolutely huge soundtrack, featuring a whopping 296 tracks with a runtime of 6 hours and 30 minutes in total. Nintendo also notes how this includes music from the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV.

In case you missed it, Super Mario Party Jamboree got a major update in July for the Switch 2, adding Jamboree TV. This includes new minigames supporting the camera, Joy-Con mouse controls and more. You can find out more about this new content in our review:

Assassin's Creed Shadows is on its way to the Switch 2 this December, and ahead of the big release, Ubisoft has announced a new collab with the popular manga and anime series Attack on Titan.

Assassin's Creed Shadows x Attack on Titan event begins on 25th November 2025 and runs until 22nd December 2025, so it will still be live when the Switch 2 version is released. Here are the details via Ubisoft's official website:

With a kidnapped Titan-Shifter as their weapon, a mysterious, power-hungry faction has infiltrated feudal Japan, setting their sights on total domination.

But when an attempt to rescue the Shifter fails, the lone survivor (with a dark secret) recruits Naoe and Yasuke to help her stop the group from unleashing the terror of a Titan on Japan.

The quest giver is in the Yamashiro region, North of Hanazo Tower (the icon is displayed on the map). Note that the quest will not be within the objective board until the player interacts with the quest giver.

Unlock conditions: Unlock Yasuke as a playable character.

During the quest, players can find customization for their hideout (banners and a statue) and upon quest completion, players will earn a crystal katana for Naoe.

Alongside the story quest, there will also be an Attack on Titan Dual Pack. Inspired by the Attack on Titan universe, this pack will include outfits, weapons, trinkets, and a new mount. Available from the in-game store starting November 25th.

Images: Ubisoft

Ubisoft has also announced its free-to-play title Brawlhalla will be getting an Attack on Titan crossover on 3rd December 2025.

Assassin's Creed Shadows launches for Switch 2 on 2nd December 2025. Will you be checking it out on Nintendo's new hardware? What do you think about this crossover? Let us know in the comments.

A week out from the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the Switch 2 and Switch, the Entertainment Software Rating Board has shared its official rating summary of the game.

It once again highlights the title's 'T' for "Teen" rating, as the game features "animated blood and violence". Here's the official rundown. This same rating was originally spotted on Nintendo's US website in September. Here's the summary in full:

"Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is rated T for Teen by the ESRB with Animated Blood and Violence. Also includes In-Game Purchases. This is a first-person adventure game in which players assume the role of a space bounty hunter who must find a way home. Players explore a planet to uncover its mystery while engaging in combat against alien creatures and space pirates. Players use power beams, missiles, and elemental attacks to battle enemies in frenetic combat. Combat is highlighted by blaster effects, frequent explosions, and screen-shaking effects. A handful of alien creatures and boss characters emit blue/green blood when shot."

As previously mentioned, this age rating is consistent with the main Metroid Prime games before the fourth entry. And once again, here's ESRB's basic summary of this particular age rating, describing what a game under this classification may contain:

"Teen - content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language."

"In-game Purchases" are also specifically mentioned for the original Switch version of the game, which appears to be for the game's Upgrade Pack.

In other Metroid Prime 4 news, Nintendo has also recently revealed the eShop file sizes of the game on the Switch 2 and Switch. A demo for the game has also been spotted at Switch 2 kiosks over the past week.

It's a very interesting time for Japanese RPGs — and not just because Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sparked all sorts of arguments amongst genre enthusiasts.

Indeed, it feels like we've been hitting some serious highs with JRPGs of late, with critically acclaimed titles like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter making big waves recently.

It goes without saying that Metaphor developer Atlus remains at the forefront of this modern JRPG push — and that makes director Katsura Hashino's new comments all the more interesting.

Hashino, who's spearheaded the Persona series and the aforementioned Metaphor, believes that the genre is now on the cusp of evolution — something he calls "JRPG 3.0".

During a recent talk about artistry in media (as reported by 4Gamer and translated by GamesRadar), Hashino explained that he views the genre in three distinct stages: old school, classic JRPGs are "1.0", modern and current JRPGs are "2.0", and future JRPGs are "3.0".

He suggests that modern JRPGs are defined by being "higher quality due to how much more responsive they are to the player", setting them apart from older adventures. In other words, aspects like more accessible design and increasingly involved gameplay mechanics are now the norm.

But what about the "3.0" era? Well, Hashino says we're almost there, and he wants to be part of this new wave.

"There will be a greater dimension to these games and they'll change the genre's structure and presentation at a fundamental level," Hashino claims, without going into too much detail.

It's a fascinating subject, we think, especially since current JRPGs are already trying new things

For example, action-based mechanics seem to be seeping into the genre more and more; Metaphor and the latest Trails games both utilise action combat as a part of their overall battle systems, while the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series adopts a full-on hybrid between action and command combat.

While Hashino appears to be talking about evolution on a more general level, increasingly popular trends like action-based gameplay will contribute to how future JRPGs present themselves.

What do you think the future of JRPGs looks like? Is Hashino right? Are we about to behold the next step? Level up in the comments section below.

It's been an unusually rocky ride for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which has been widely panned and appears to be selling below the series' usual pace.

While Activision has yet to provide any official sales information itself (which is kinda telling on its own), some data has begun to emerge, including a weak UK launch and, now, a very weak Japanese launch.

As shared by Zuby_Tech on X, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has had the worst Japanese physical launch sales in the franchise's history:

According to the above table, the new game has sold 12,311 copies at Japanese retail, fewer than any other entry, dating all the way back to 2007's Call of Duty 3.

Now, Japan has never been a huge market for the series, and we should remember this is purely based on physical sales data. However, the sales figure is less than half of last year's Black Ops 6, and again, this trend downward is reflected in other markets.

Speculation about why the game is struggling comes down to other games capturing people's attention, like Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders, as well as a general lack of enthusiasm for the new CoD.

Whatever the case, it's another bump in the road for this year's game.

We just had a pretty chill weekend amidst Xbox 360 celebrating 20 years of age over the last few days, and while I was personally relaxing with YouTube on Sunday evening, I came across this awesome Digital Foundry video unboxing a brand-new launch Xbox 360 from 2005.

As you can see in the above video, hosts John and Rich get all nostalgic while getting stuck into an Xbox 360 Core model that had been left untouched for 20 years. Everything's here - from the original inserts and green packaging bags to the console itself and that gloriously pristine controller.

"November 22nd marks the 20th anniversary of Xbox 360 - the console that enjoyed unprecedented success for Microsoft, and is closely associated with the origins of Digital Foundry itself. To celebrate the occasion, Rich sourced an untouched Xbox 360 Core System, left in storage for 20 years. John is on unboxing duty, discovering the wonders that lie within that signature Xbox-green box, then hooking up the console to a CRT to re-live the 2005 launch "Blades" dashboard experience."

As the quote above notes, this of course means that the iconic 'Blades' dashboard is present and well; looking typically sleek and snappy as the team navigates this time machine back to 2005. Honestly, take us back - what a console and what a time to be gaming with Xbox!

John hooking the machine up to a classic CRT TV was also a nice touch and typically on-brand for the DF Retro host; once he'd stuck that in PAL-60 mode it was running a dream on there. It's also genuinely quite nice to see Rich grinning through the entire video as the nostalgia poured in - we felt similar just watching it to be honest!

The Xbox 360's 20th anniversary has now come and gone, and while Microsoft has been rather subdued with it, fans and the press have been lapping up the console's big birthday. That includes us at Pure Xbox of course - we'll link to some of our other recent 360 content down below.

Xbox's latest partnership has been revealed, and we've got some new shoes on the way!

Yes, the Xbox-Inspired "Crocs Classic Clog" will be going on sale from this Tuesday, November 25th. Xbox is only teasing a first look right now, which you can see in the social media video below:

The Xbox "Crocs Classic Clog" has already been revealed on the official Crocs website though, with lots of details being shared along with some all-important screenshots. Firstly, let's look at the description:

"The Xbox Classic Clog was designed to kick back and game. This clog-meets-controller style features fixed joysticks and buttons with a smooth matte finish and branded Xbox rivet."

• Fixed dimensional controller joysticks and buttons

• Branded Xbox rivet

• Incredibly light and fun to wear

• Water-friendly and buoyant; weighs only ounces

• Designed to enhance breathability

• Easy to clean and quick to dry

• Pivoting heel straps for a more secure fit

• Backstrap customizable with Jibbitz™ charms

• Iconic Crocs Comfort™: Lightweight. Flexible. 360-degree comfort.

Now, let's peek at those images! You might be surprised how these look from different angles - as mentioned, they're literally based on an Xbox controller complete with analog sticks, buttons and a d-pad. A unique style for sure!

We'll throw those (low-res for now) screenshots down below, along with a link to the Crocs website where you'll be able to pre-order them for $80 USD beginning on November 25th.

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Xbox Classic Clog

• $80.00

• Crocs

Liking the look of the Xbox Crocs? Tell us in the comments section down below.

Nintendo's weekly maintenance schedule has been released, and weirdly, the only console getting any love this week is the Nintendo 3DS.

Reported on by Nintendo Everything, the Nintendo 3DS's available network services will be down between 3pm PST to 4:30pm PST today, 24th November 2025.

Of course, that might sound a little confusing given that online servers for the 3DS and Wii U shut down over a year ago. But many people still play their 3DS's, and you can redownload games off of the eShop on the system.

So any maintenance that takes place today is likely just to iron out a few kinks Nintendo discovered. For when this takes place in your timezone, here's a handy list (expect it to run about 1hr 30mins)

• North America: 3pm PST / 4pm MST / 5pm CST / 6pm EST

• UK/Ire: 11pm GMT

• Europe: 12am (Tue) CET / 1am (Tue) EET

• Asia/Oceania: 8am (Tue) JST / 7am (Tue) AWST / 10am (Tue) AEDT

• Your Local Time: 4pm, Mon 24th Nov 2025 Mountain Standard Time

Image: Nintendo

Will that stop people worrying? Probably not, as evidenced on Reddit. Nintendo isn't going to just pull the plug without saying anything. Plus, the Big N performed maintenance on Nintendo Network ID as recently as October. The company is always doing something with older software.

Essentially, this is business as usual. You probably just won't be able to download 3DS games for a couple of hours.

Well, we're not sure anyone saw this crossover coming.

Just confirmed by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed Shadows' next collaboration will be with... Attack on Titan.

The super popular manga and anime property will be featured in a new quest, which seems to task Naoe and Yasuke with stopping a titan transformation. No, we're not making this up.

All we've got to go on right now is the above teaser trailer, but the quest itself goes live on the 25th November. That's tomorrow at the time of writing.

However, it's also worth noting that this is a limited time deal. The quest will only be available until the 15th December, 2025.

What's more, the cool Attack on Titan equipment seen in the promotional material actually seems to be part of a paid DLC pack that accompanies the update — which is rather disappointing.

What the heck do you make of this one? Aim for the back of the neck in the comments section below.

Developer Shift Up has revealed some of its own data about Stellar Blade, the Sony-published action game that launched on PC earlier this year.

The game, which features main character Eve on a quest to save the planet from monstrous forces, is reportedly the "best-selling PlayStation-exclusive launch IP in history", presumably meaning PC, and also presumably excluding Helldivers 2.

The above image is taken from an investor presentation. As it highlights, the action title reached a peak concurrent player count of over 192,000, which is an impressive feat for a single-player experience.

In addition, sales across both PC and PS5 put Stellar Blade at over 3 million copies. The figure will be higher, as this datapoint in the image only reflects the game's first five days on PC.

Stellar Blade has been a big hit, then, and has resonated very well with PC players. We can't imagine all the mod support has hurt its standings, either, but we probably shouldn't dwell on that for too long.

Anyway, it's fair to say Sony did well to snag this one.

As for what's next, the developer has said it plans to make a sequel, and is currently hiring for the next Stellar Blade.

When you think of landmark western RPGs of the modern era, it's likely that two games immediately come to mind: The Witcher 3, and Baldur's Gate 3.

It's obviously the latter that's had more impact in recent times, setting a new benchmark for choice-driven adventures — to the point where it's now being named as an inspiration for The Witcher 4. It's funny how these things work, isn't it?

"There was a lot of inspiration in what Baldur's Gate 3 did," CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski told PC Gamer.

However, as you'd expect, the Polish company isn't suddenly going to pivot towards making a Larian-style RPG — despite having a clear appreciation for Baldur's Gate 3 and what it was able to achieve.

"I think we're still sticking to what was in Witcher 3, Cyberpunk. But we don't want to just make another game like that, just with better graphics. We do want to innovate," Nowakowski continues.

He then digs a little deeper, commenting: "That's the kind of game [Larian] can make. But a lot of stuff with how they can interact with the world and what it does was, for sure, some inspiration to us."

We suppose it'll be interesting to see just how CDPR's next games evolve from what came before. The Witcher 3 was — and still is — widely praised for its role-playing potential, so if its successor can build on that, we'll be in for a treat.

What are your hopes and dreams for The Witcher 4 — and even the next Cyberpunk? Choose your dialogue options carefully in the comments section below.

Oblivion Remastered was a hit for Bethesda — despite its dodgy performance issues — and the publisher's keen to repeat the level of hype that was swirling when the remake launched back in April.

Basically, Bethesda's all-in on the idea of shadow dropping its games — that is, releasing them with no prior announcement and watching fans lose their minds.

According to Bethesda Game Studios director Tom Mustaine, it's company boss Todd Howard who's pushing for the continued shadow drop approach.

Mustaine told GamesRadar: "Todd Howard, the boss man, he's wanted to shadow drop things for a long time because it's so great to be able to say, 'Here's the thing, get it today.' It's very valuable."

Mustaine goes on to outline his own thoughts on sudden releases, commenting that "we all have short attention spans now [...] There's Grand Theft Auto, for example. I want that today, right? So it is an interesting strategy... I don't have any ideas of what would be next, but I hope [Oblivion Remastered's] not the last."

We agree with him in that it's certainly an interesting strategy — but we also don't think that a shadow drop guarantees success.

For example, in Oblivion's case, we can't just ignore the fact that the game was leaked numerous times up until said shadow drop. There was a marketing campaign going on — it was just driven by fans rather than the company.

Still, in an age where big budget projects can take half a decade to actually see the light of day, we're not against Bethesda's potential plans. At the very least, it's probably a more exciting alternative to having a game be announced years before its eventual launch.

What do you make of Bethesda's perspective? Are shadow drops the future? Keep your eyes peeled in the comments section below.

Microsoft has implemented multiple price increases for the Xbox Series X and S over the past few years, and a new report suggests this might not be the end for current-gen Xbox price hikes.

Coming from Moore's Law Is Dead on YouTube — a tech insider who we've covered here on the site before — Microsoft has apparently not accounted for potential RAM cost increases that are likely to come as a result of a new deal struck between OpenAI and several manufacturing partners. The YouTuber says that Sony, for example, has stockpiled RAM supplies at a lower cost, while Microsoft hasn't employed the same tactic.

And, with this OpenAI deal taking up to 40% of the world's supply of DRAM off the market for other buyers, this could cause issues for any company that needs to purchase it for manufacturing; such as Microsoft. At the time of posting no price increases have been announced by Xbox, but Moore's Law Is Dead says Series X|S prices "could go up soon, or supply could just entirely dry up". Microsoft "didn't plan ahead at all, apparently", the YouTuber claims.

We've thrown the video up above if you'd like a bit more context on the source and this big RAM debacle at large; they talk about Xbox roughly 17 minutes in. Also, down below is a quick pointer towards some Black Friday console sales if you're interested, and another topic we covered via Moore's Law Is Dead recently - one that goes into detail on some of Microsoft's potential next generation plans.