News and Reviews

As the gaming industry braces for the colossus that is Grand Theft Auto VI, a former Call of Duty executive has issued a stark warning: the upcoming title may not just dominate the charts—it could completely drain the life out of current free-to-play giants. Greg Reisdorf, the former Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games who led development on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer, believes the launch of GTA 6 represents an existential threat to mature-themed live-service games. Speaking to Esportsbets, Reisdorf painted a grim picture for titles like Call of Duty: Warzone, predicting that Rockstar’s latest entry could turn rival lobbies into "ghost towns" overnig…

The wait for the most anticipated video game of all time just got a little longer. While fans have been scouring the internet for every scrap of information regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, recent reports indicate a significant shift in the release timeline, along with intriguing new details about what the next generation of GTA Online might look like. Release Date Pushback to late 2026According to recent updates, Rockstar Games has delayed the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 to November 19, 2026. The studio cited the need for extra months to ensure the game reaches the "level of polish" fans expect. For players eagerly awaiting the new Online mode, this delay inevitably pushe…

As the gaming world waits with bated breath for Grand Theft Auto VI, developers and publishers are scrambling to clear their release schedules to avoid its shadow. But amidst the usual hype about graphics and map size, a new and intriguing rumor has emerged from an industry heavyweight: GTA 6 might be steering the franchise into the territory of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). The Source: A Titan of the MMO GenreThe insight comes from Rich Vogel, a seasoned veteran whose resume reads like a history book of the MMO genre. Vogel has worked on seminal titles such as Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and The Old Republic. In a recent interview with…

Rockstar Games has kicked off the holiday season in Los Santos with a massive multi-week event. Running from December 18th through January 7th, this "Christmas Special" update brings snow, new vehicles, rare collectibles, and a sack full of gifts for players. Here is the full rundown of everything arriving in GTA Online for the holidays. New VehiclesTwo high-end vehicles have hit the streets of Los Santos this week: Vapid FMJ MK V: Available at Legendary Motorsport for $3,074,500. (Free for GTA+ subscribers until early January). Progen Luiva: Available at Legendary Motorsport for $2,697,500. Both cars are also currently on display at the Luxury Autos Showroom in Rockford …

As the snow begins to fall and the holiday festivities kick off in Los Santos, Rockstar Games has dropped a nostalgic treat for veteran players and collectors alike. For a limited time during the Holiday Event (December 18, 2025 – January 7, 2026), GTA Online players can secure one of the rarest vanity items in the game: the iconic Liberty City License Plate. Here is everything you need to know about this exclusive drop and how to claim it for your collection. A Nod to the ClassicsThe Liberty City plate is a coveted cosmetic item featuring the "State of Liberty" text and the famous skyline of the metropolis that defined Grand Theft Auto III and GTA IV. Unlike standard cus…

Alongside the announcement that he's leaving Bandai Namco, legendary Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada has dropped a treat for fans in the form of a 60-minute music mix. The track, which at the time of writing is only available on SoundCloud, basically covers 30 years of Tekken history, mashing countless pieces of music together from across the series. If you've been playing Tekken since the beginning, then this truly will feel like an exercise in pure nostalgia. Harada says he edited the track himself; it even incorporates iconic sound effects and voice samples. "For 30 years I kept saying, 'I’ll do it someday,' and never once performed as a DJ at a tournament event," Har…

The next Tomb Raider game will be officially unveiled at The Game Awards later this week, Geoff Keighley has revealed. In a tweet ahead of the show, Keighley said on social media we'll get "a look at the future of one of gaming's most iconic franchises" this Thursday. "This is one you won't want to miss." For information on when you can tune in for the breaking news, refer to our When Is The Game Awards 2025 page. Across the show, there'll also be updates and trailers from Resident Evil Requiem, Exodus, that strange statue, and more. This next Tomb Raider game is expected to be a completely original entry that's its own standalone thing, and isn't tied to any of the previ…

We already know that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a technical showcase on Switch 2, and we're sure many of you have spent the weekend exploring Viewros on the new console over the weekend. But for those of you who are still clinging on to your Switch 1 and wondering whether Samus' brand new adventure holds up on the old system, fear not. Digital Foundry has taken a look at the Switch 1 release of Metroid Prime 4 and is pretty much in agreement with us on the surprising quality of the release. You can read their impressions on their shiny new website, or listen to the trio talk about the game on this week's DF Direct Weekly (up top). Leave it to Retro Studios, hey? The game …

Playtonic and PM Studios have today released a free Switch 2 demo for the throwback platforming remake Yooka-Replaylee, giving you a chance to try before you buy. You'll find the new demo on the Switch 2 eShop right now, and, you'll be pleased to hear, all the data carries over to the full game — so there's no time wasted if you choose to go all-in on the full release afterwards. The demo announcement kicks off Playtonic's 10-day countdown to the release of the Yooka-Replaylee physical, which launches on 18th December. This boxed release bundles in a map and some stickers alongside the pièce de résistance, the full game on a cartridge. View full article

The Analogue 3D is getting some transparent colour options ahead of its next restock. The options are: Gold Smoke Jungle Ice Watermelon Fire Grape Clear View full article

The Xbox Winter Demo Fest for 2025 (otherwise known as the Indie Selects Demo Fest) has now kicked off, allowing you to play over 20 games for free. It's not officially being promoted at the time of writing, but we've done some sleuthing and discovered these 20+ titles that are part of it — with 30+ set to be announced in total. With that in mind, we'll be updating this list as more demos become available over the next 24 hours. As of December 9th, you'll see a tab for the Xbox Demo Fest on your console's dashboard. Before then, you can use the links below, navigate to the "demos" section of the Xbox Store, or search for the ones you want to try manually. Let's take a loo…

Back in September, we learnt that Microsoft Flight Simulator was jetting off to PS5 this year - and now an interesting interview with an Xbox developer talks about the series' interesting journey to PlayStation platforms. Speaking with XDA, Microsoft's Flight Sim lead dev Jorg Neumann talked about the upcoming port and how it all started. Neumann says that he suggested moving the series over to PS5 after 2020's Microsoft Flight Simulator (an idea that MS shot down), before a Sony dev came back to him a little while later. Neumann says that shortly after this exchange, the team started to plan for PS5 - after finishing up the Xbox and PC versions of the 2024 release of co…

One of the most unique a beautiful games of the year — despelote — is all about the beautiful game itself and the communities it helps build, and it's coming to Switch on 11th December in North America for just $14.99. Japan will get it on 18th December, while the rest of the world will have to wait for kick-off on 13th January 2026. despelote isn't your typical soccer game where you're kicking about a ball to win matches; this is a slice-of-life narrative-driven experience which is all about the importance of soccer to Ecuador and, in particular to eight-year-old Julián, in the run up to the World Cup. In despelote, you'll dribble, pass, and shoot the ball around Quito, …

The fact that the Pokémon Trading Card Game has created its own mini-economy isn't new news – back when it launched in the late '90s, there were accusations that it was encouraging gambling amongst kids, with many schools banning the cards from their playgrounds. In more recent years, however, the market for collectable cards has risen to hitherto unseen levels of insanity, driven by the fact that the children who grew up with Pokémon in the '90s and 2000s are now adults and can invest heavily in picking up the rarest examples – and the high prices have predictably encouraged in opportuniustic scalpers moving in, drawn by the promise of turning small purchases into hundre…

Update [Mon 8th Dec 2025, 8:15am]: Paramount Skydance has launched a rival bid for "the entire company" of Warner Bros. Discovery — including streaming, TV networks and its gaming division — following Netflix's own agreement from last Friday (via BBC). Paramount is offering $30 per share directly to shareholders, stating that this is a "superior alternative" to Netflix's own. The mass media company values Warner Bros. Discovery at $108.4 billion. “We’re really here to finish what we started,” Paramount chief executive David Ellison told CNBC, telling the station that this offer was "anti-competitive" and that Netflix's is "a horrible deal for Hollywood." Both Netflix and …

The Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise is now officially 20 years old, and RGG Studio has produced a rather touching little video to celebrate. Said video shows the past 20 years of a man's life, as he goes from being an overwhelmed university student to a stressed out office worker. Granted, this doesn't sound very celebratory, but at each pivotal point in his life, he recalls words of wisdom from Kazuma Kiryu himself, and he finds the strength to push on. He's even got Kaz's chin scruff by the end of it. It may seem crazy to think that the series has been around for so long, but then we can't forget that it's only really caught on in the west over the last decade. It was …

Although Capcom has remained tightlipped on the prospect of Leon Kennedy cropping up in the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem, a good number of fans are adamant that the veteran character will indeed appear. However, a new listing over on GameStop drops some new information regarding the Deluxe Edition of the game which, if accurate, seems to hint at a completely different playable character: Rosemary Winters (thanks, IGN). Rose Winters is, if you remember, the protagonist in the Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil: Village, having previously appeared in the main game as, uh... a bunch of dismembered limbs. Look, it's a pretty wild story. The listing from GameStop specific…

It looks like Housemarque plans to open digital PS5 pre-orders for Saros in the very near future, as standard and Digital Deluxe editions of the game were rated in Taiwan earlier today. Of course, with The Game Awards set to take place later this week, it appears likely that the PS5 title will appear during the show with a new trailer and official pre-order details. It's already scheduled in for 20th March 2026, meaning that the release is only three months away now. In recent years, Digital Deluxe editions of games have moved away from the season pass model, and — Sony's special editions in particular — instead, they bundle the base game with additional outfits, weapons,…

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Sony announced Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake, a timed PS5 exclusive modernisation of the classic RPG. We first heard about this project way back in September 2021, but reported difficulties with development have significantly delayed its production. Now, rumour has it that it may finally be time for the game to make a reappearance. This comes from a leaker known as Kurakasis, who says a "big Star Wars game announcement is coming very soon", later clarifying that the game's title ends with "The Old Republic": Knights of the Old Republic Remake was originally in development at Aspyr, but duties were reportedly hande…

Hideo Kojima and his team have only ever made great games, but even he is unsure about how OD, the title he's making with Xbox, will turn out. In an interview with Ananweb (via Automaton), Kojima is asked about his upcoming projects now that Death Stranding 2 is out. He says that while the latest trailer may make it look like a traditional horror game, it's actually "something completely different". He continues: "I can't say what it is yet, and I don't know if it will work. We've made games that haven't been done before, like games where you can't be found or games where you have to make deliveries, but the system is the same as other games." In the case of OD, Kojima sa…

Even though 2023's Dead Space remake was a hit both critically and commercially, publisher EA apparently has "no plans" to develop another instalment in the series. And perhaps even more revealing, there's now talk of the company selling the horror IP off, in a bid to correct the debt that'll inevitably envelop EA when its acquisition deal closes next year. This is according to anonymous sources from within the publisher, as per Insider Gaming. Said sources are "hoping" that EA will want to move Dead Space on to a new owner. Indeed, it sounds like Dead Space could be one of numerous properties to be leveraged; it's described as being put "on ice", suggesting that the publ…

Just under two months since the ROG Xbox Ally first arrived, it's just received its first major discount! Xbox has officially reduced its price by $100 in the US until December 20th, although only at certain retailers. This brings the price of the standard ROG Xbox Ally down from $599 to $499 USD (or actually slightly lower in some cases) in time for Christmas, although keep in mind that supplies are limited and may not last until that Dec. 20 date. Here's a look at Xbox's marketing for this deal: A quick glance shows us that the ROG Xbox Ally is currently discounted at ASUS, Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart, but it's sold out on the Microsoft Store (and will likely disappear…

There's been an unfortunate narrative doing the rounds on social media this weekend about Xbox consoles, and it's all to do with some new Black Friday 2025 data that suggests the Series X and Series S sold poorly during BF week. Specifically, Mat Piscatella of the analysis group "Circana" took to Bluesky on Sunday to share how the PlayStation 5 dominated Black Friday week with 47% of gaming hardware sales in the US, followed by the Switch 2 at 24% and the little-known NEX Playground at 14%. The other 15% will have been shared by the Xbox Series X, Series S, Switch 1 and whatever else falls into the hardware category (not specified). To be honest, we had to look up the NEX…

Nightdive Studios is bringing its awesome System Shock remake to the Switch and Switch 2, and we can now exclusively reveal that it'll be available to play from 18th December 2025. Originally released in 2023, System Shock is a comprehensive yet faithful remake of the 1994 FPS from Looking Light Studios. Development was lengthy and somewhat troubled, with Nightdive striving to reboot the original with more modern design principles. In the end, however, to deliver on the promises of its initial Kickstarter campaign, the team chose to lean more towards a remake, keeping the core elements of the original intact while introducing a plethora of quality-of-life updates. Ultimat…

What do you do when you're surfing the old interwebs and happen upon a bunch of lovely gaming folk wondering if anyone has ever stuffed a Switch — in fully working order — into a Wii U GamePad (also still in complete working order)? Well, if it were us, we'd shut off our internet and go for a nice, long walk outside. Maybe we'd never come back. However, (and as reported by GoNintendo) retro gaming YouTuber and modder extraordinaire @KouzexMods accepted it as a challenge and decided it was time to take matters into their own hands. As you can see in the impressively detailed video up top, this was no half-hearted job either. Nope, this expert retro modder has gone all in, …