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As the Xbox Series X|S generation continues and another one is on the horizon, it's being reported this week that a subsidiary of manufacturing company Foxconn is planning to expand its Xbox production over in Vietnam. This report comes from Reuters, which mentions that Fushan Technology, which is part of Foxconn, is trying to obtain a permit to produce up to 4.8 million "Xbox gaming devices, parts of the consoles and other unspecified electromagnetic devices" per-year, according to a company document." "Foxconn subsidiary seeks approval to produce annually 4.8 million Xbox consoles, parts and other devices" Nothing specific has been shared about what Foxconn / Fushan Technology might be working on, and Foxconn has apparently declined to comment, but we'd speculate that it's probably Xbox Series X|S consoles, Xbox Cloud Gaming servers, various accessories like controllers, and other bits and pieces along those lines - at least until the next console generation arrives. Interestingly, the report also mentions that China's Luxshare-ICT is planning to produce up to 4.5 million gaming consoles at a Vietnam-based factory from next year. We're assuming the rapid expansion in Vietnam is related to mitigating tariff impacts amid ongoing trade disputes, although who knows how that'll all pan out in the long run. What we do know is that Xbox is clearly still committed to making all kinds of devices and parts going forward - regardless of what they might be used for! View full article

Last month, Ubisoft confirmed that its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was set to launch before April 2026, which led to rumours of the game potentially showing up at The Game Awards next week ahead of a reported January release. Well, the team has now confirmed that sadly, the title won't be showing up at TGA 2025. In a social media response this week, the Prince of Persia team says it's "sorry to disappoint", but "The Sands of Time won't be at TGA this year". We'll share this online exchange down below: Now, as far as we're aware, this Sands of Time remake is officially set to launch in Ubisoft's current fiscal year, despite this TGA no-show. The company recently revealed that two more of its titles are to launch by April '26, including this Prince of Persia title. Anyway, we suppose we'll have to wait and see exactly when and where Ubisoft deems it the perfect time to re-re-reveal this PoP project, but we can confirm that The Game Awards on December 11th won't be that time and place. View full article

December has gotten off to quite the start, hasn't it? With so many new games launching on Switch 2, we're sure that you're keen to find out how each and every one of them runs on the fresh hardware and, as ever, the tech experts over at Digital Foundry are here to do just that. This time, it's Assassin's Creed Shadows' Switch 2 port that's being put under the microscope. The above video sets a baseline of the Xbox Series S version and compares the technical flair of the new Nintendo hybrid from there. So, what does DF make of it? Visually, the Switch 2 has some obvious cutbacks from the Series S edition. Without SSR, the handheld version is lacking most water reflection and movement, and you'll notice some decrease in foliage at a middle distance. Textures also come in at a decreased resolution, and, ironically, the titular shadows don't hold up as well as they do elsewhere — though, at half the storage size of the Series S release, this is hardly surprising. All that said, DF describes the Switch 2 edition as "a pretty handsome rendition of the game", one that comes in very close to the Series S. In terms of image quality, the game utilises DLSS technology to help along the docked mode's typical 648p resolution, and produces a much better image than that number would suggest in the process. This is, of course, reduced in handheld play, where DF counted resolutions as low as 400p, but it all remains "pretty respectable" in action and is even considered "more reliable in portable play than when docked". The game mostly sticks to its 30fps target in typical play, though its frame pacing is rather poor, and there are occasional dips in particularly taxing locations or cutscenes. View full article

IO Interactive is in our good books big time off the back of all the premium-grade assassinating they've let us do across the globe as Agent 47. Now the team has taken up the mantle (the obvious next step for those paying attention) of James Bond himself, with 007: First Light. And ahead of the game's 27th March 2026 release date, IO has dropped the very first in a series of dev diary deep dives aimed at exploring this latest Bond adventure alongside interested players. What an absolute high this dev team has been on with the majestic Hitman: World of Assassination, and it looks like it'll continue here. We've already seen bits and pieces of the game, and we know it's a reimagining of the Bond origin story, featuring a young 007. But this first episode, which you can watch in full above, concentrates on gameplay, as the series as a whole looks to cover the design philosophy and creative processes. Images: IO Interactive It's interesting stuff, so make sure to check it out for all the new gameplay footage, and discussions about the game's blend of mechanics, which it seems will - in part at least - run with some Hitman aspects, developing on stuff such as questioning and observing, and blending into your surroundings. Oh boy, we can't wait. One example mentioned in the video is "enforcers", meaning NPCs who see through you because they "know" everyone who works in a particular building or area. So this then introduces a new puzzle style to work with. We also get some tantalising chat about how the devs want to balance thing to give players freedom to approach any situation the way they want as Bond, whilst also making it so the execution of any given plan you hatch can go wildly wrong and need re-tuning on the fly. All the good stuff we hoped we'd hear them speak about when approaching James Bond in their signature style, basically. Andreas Krogh, the gameplay director on 007: First Light also mentions new techniques they've come up with by "marrying" Bond's style with their take on stealth. So you have some new deescalation options, such as bluffing. Here we see that Bond can smooth talk his way out of a scenario where the only option for 47 would be to pan somebody in the head or run away. Images: IO Interactive Thomas Pulluelo, the game's level designer, also pops up to show how the rather nice looking environs on display are designed so that players can see opportunities more easily and naturally. So hopefully fewer shiny pipes and yellow footholds, and more feeling like you did it all yourself. Nice. There's are some fantastic sequences (so do make sure to check out the full vid) that show off the amazingly brutal action and combat we can expect in March of next year. This young Bond does some vicious CQC, he charges down foes and gets stuck in like a proper trained killer. Expect plenty of quick switching between fist fights, shooting with fancy guns, stealth action and lots of crashing of expensive cars and then reloading the game. Now, speaking of cars, where did we put the keys to our motor? It's been leaking oil slicks and randomly firing machine gun bullets out of its hood again. Honestly, Q's been right off their game recently. If you're looking forward to 007: First Light, make sure you check out Push Square's preview from back in September; they might be more excited than us! Images: IO Interactive Looking forward to 007: First Light? Think IO's style suits 007 down to the ground like we do? Let us know! View full article

Metroid has rarely been able to play with the Nintendo big boys as far as sales are concerned, so it's no surprise that Samus merch drops have been a fair bit rarer than those seen for Zelda and Mario. But, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally here, Nintendo is changing that... in Japan, at least. Yes, a new wave of Metroid merch is now available exclusively at the Nintendo Stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and the Okinawa pop-up. Just to really rub salt in the wound, it's also available on the My Nintendo Store, exclusively in Japan. sigh Back to looking longingly at plane tickets, it is. Update: Well, it looks like Nintendo has answered our wishes! Although it appeared that the merch outlined below was exclusive to Japan, many of the items have just cropped up on the UK My Nintendo Store, too. Time to beef up those Christmas stockings! Simply put, the new range is awesome. There's a super cute Baby Metroid keychain, a Morph Ball zip-up pouch, a 'gadget case' for all your wires and charging banks, and even glasses so you can 'cheers' Prime 4 in style. Images: Nintendo The real winners, mind you, are the Metroid ice cube tray (not available on the EU store) — because why have cube-shaped ice, when it could look like a tiny alien? — and the Arm Cannon pillow, which, yes, you can actually wear. Images: Nintendo The full collection ranges in price from 2,420 yen / £12.99 for the keychain, up to 6,600 yen / £37.99 for the Arm Cannon pillow. And if the above has got you in the mood for even more merch, the squishy Metroid amiibo is now back in stock on the UK My Nintendo Store for £12.99. Those unable to get their hands on any of the above can still take joy in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which arrives on Switch and Switch 2 today, instead. We called Samus' latest adventure "one of the very best Metroid games of all time" in our review, and today, the wait is finally over! View full article

While floppy disks may not have been the best storage medium when it comes to longevity and memory, there's undoubtedly something very nostalgic about them – if you grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, at least. Industry vets Andrew and Rob Hewson are aiming to tap into that rose-tinted feeling with Hyper Sentinel Fusion, a successor to Hyper Sentinel. It's described as "Uridium and Paradroid combined with extraction shooter and roguelite elements in an explosive fusion of gameplay styles." Launching on Kickstarter soon, Hyper Sentinel Fusion is an arcade shooter which will ship on a floppy disk – only this one isn't going to work in your PC, Amiga or ST. "Slide open that floppy shutter to uncover a secret USB stash, loaded with this new exciting retro game for the modern era (DRM-free) for PC & Mac, and crammed with bonus goodies—just like finding hidden cheat codes of the past," says the Kickstarter pre-launch page. A demo is available on Steam as we speak, and digital versions of Hyper Sentinel Fusion are expected to launch on PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. View full article

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:30am]: My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's Electronic Gaming Monthly documentary, Pixels to Pages - The Story of Electronic Gaming Monthly, is now available to watch online for free. The 1-hour 16-minute-long documentary was released yesterday, across both My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's YouTube channels, and features interviews with former Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor-In-Chief Ed Semrad, the late EGM editor Martin Alessi, and the one-time managing editor Ken Williams, among others who were involved in the creation of the landmark magazine. Images: Game Sack/My Life In Gaming Frank Cifaldi from the Video Game History Foundation also makes an appearance, too, giving some valuable context about what made EGM stand out from other video game publications of the time. Some of the major topics discussed in the documentary include how EGM was originally started and its early association with the U.S. National Video Game Team, how Ed took the best video game screenshots at events (often leading to the magazine containing images of games that never saw the light of day), and its approach to reviews (including the origins and identity of the Review Crew's Sushi-X). If you're interested, you can watch the documentary below: Original Story: Founded back in 1988, Electronic Gaming Monthly (or 'EGM' to its friends) was one of the world's most famous video game magazines. From its first full issue in 1989 to its closure in 2014, EGM covered all of the important events in the world of video gaming, charting the NES's dominance to the arrival of 16-bit successors and the 32-bit wave that pushed the industry forward in the 1990s. By the time issue 264 arrived on shelves in 2014, the magazine had seen consoles such as the PS2, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii come and go. An internet-only relaunch took place in 2019, but at the time of writing, the last article posted on EGMNow.com is from the start of last year. While EGM is no longer in active production either as a physical magazine or a website, it remains a beloved part of video game history for many people – as was evidenced by the 2024 Kickstarter for The Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, a retrospective book which will celebrate EGM's legacy. It turns out that's not the only celebration we're going to be getting – the host of retro YouTube channel Game Sack has announced that he is directing and editing a documentary on the magazine in collaboration with fellow channel, My Life In Gaming. Game Sack's Joe Redifer has confirmed that the production will not be funded through a crowdfunding drive. There's also no release date in place, but he says it will hopefully be "soon." View full article

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:15am]: Splatter World is now playable in English, thanks to the efforts of the fan translation community. "Splatterworld is several things," says Aeon Genesis, the entity behind the translation. "First, it is a cutesy RPG spinoff of Namco's Splatterhouse property. It's a sequel to the Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti cutesy platformer on the Famicom, which was never released outside of Japan. It's a parody of horror films and loves to poke fun at them. It's also a prototype. The game was never commercially released, and was only made available online on Halloween night this year (2025). Naturally, I jumped right on it." Images: Aeon Genesis Aeon Genesis adds: Original Story: Namco's Splatterhouse series began life in the arcades before transitioning to consoles with its direct sequels (both on Sega Genesis / Mega Drive) and its Japan-only spin-off, Splatterhouse - Wanpaku Graffiti. That cute Famicom title was intended to get an RPG sequel of its own, named Splatter World, which was intended to launch in March of 1993 but was ultimately cancelled. It's not known why this happened, but promotional materials were being distributed to Japanese retailers at the close of 1992, so the game was clearly very close to being finished. Splatter World has been a highly sought-after title for some time, and we experienced a Halloween miracle at the end of last week when the game was dumped and released online. As reported by the Splatterhouse fan site West Manison, the ROM was uploaded to 4chan. It currently only works on the emulator FCEUX, which is apparently due to its use of an obscure Namco mapper. However, it's surely only a matter of time before hackers make it compatible with other emulators. View full article

Fans have been crying out for a new Banjo-Kazooie game ever since Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released in 2008. But apart from a strange audience-controlled interactive demo at SXSW in 2015, the occasional merch drop, and a playable cameo in Smash back in 2019, there hasn't really been much to look forward to when it comes to official news regarding the bird and the bear. Instead, it has mostly fallen to the Banjo fan community to keep the series's legacy alive, with developers creating spiritual successors, ROM hacks, and fan games to offer players that classic platforming experience that they've been so desperately missing. With that in mind, we wanted to tell you about the latest of these projects that recently crossed our radar: Banjo Kazooie: Mumbomania. This is an amazing new fan game built inside Media Molecule's Dreams for the PS4 and PS5 by the creator of Trip's Voyage, @Eupholace, in addition to @Piece_of_Craft and @duckenomics, which lets you revisit an expanded version of one of Banjo-Kazooie's most iconic levels: the pirate-themed Treasure Trove Cove. According to Eupholace, the one-level fangame reportedly took 14 months and 800+ hours to build, and features 30 jiggys to collect, as opposed to the 10 which were featured in the original game. There are also a bunch of brand new transformations included as well to discover, letting you transform from a fish to a cannon to a big rock monster to get around the level. Even better, these transformations are now instantaneous and won't require you to constantly backtrack to Mumbo's shack, with the witch doctor following closely behind the player at all times. Since its release yesterday, former Rare staff have responded to the announcement. The Banjo-Kazooie, Tooie, and Nuts & Bolts composer Grant Kirkhope responded to the trailer, for instance, with an eyes emoji, later adding, "I almost shed a tear." Steve Mayles, the "chief scribbler", art director and character designer, on Banjo Kazooie and artist on Tooie and Nuts & Bolts, meanwhile, told Eupholace, "I can see you had a lot of fun making this!" If you want to check out the game, you'll need a copy of Dreams and a PS4/PS5. Once Dreams is downloaded, no additional cost is necessary. You just need to search for the game in the list of publicly available creations. View full article

An interesting datapoint from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella reveals the PS5 was outsold by an unexpected US-based rival in the run up to Black Friday last week. While the Switch 2 being top-selling hardware SKU for the week ending 22nd November won’t come as a massive surprise, the NEX Playground Interactive Gaming System coming second is a bit of a shock. If you’ve never heard of this product, it’s effectively a standalone reimagining of the Kinect – or the EyeToy, if you remember the classic PS2 peripheral. Primarily aimed at families and kids, the NEX Playground allows you to enjoy a variety of minigames on your TV using your body as the controller. Options include a simple platformer, kart racer, and more. Piscatella is breaking up SKUs in this chart, so it’s possible the PS5 performed better overall when you combine all of its different SKUs, including Disc and Digital options as well as the PS5 Pro. We’d also, obviously, have expected it to perform better during Thanksgiving week, as the console was discounted and appeared to sell out on Black Friday weekend. But it’s still quite interesting to see a product like the NEX Playground seemingly come out of nowhere and perform so well. At $249 it’s not cheap either – although we’re assuming it was on sale in order to achieve these kinds of numbers. Nevertheless, we told you it was an unexpected rival. Bet you didn’t guess it before you clicked on the article, eh? Have any of you got one of these? View full article

Every game is getting in its final update of the year before the holiday period gets underway, and Sega has today rolled out a major patch for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. On the Nintendo front, this marks the arrival of the Switch 2 Edition as well as the Upgrade Pack for existing Switch owners. Apart from this, there's a lot of new content in this update. This includes new gadgets, an increase to the world match rating, additional friend settings, anti-cheat measure improvements and much more. Here's the full rundown of patch Ver 1.2.0, according to Sega's official website: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Ver.1.2.0 (3rd December 2025)Thank you all for playing Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Today, we’re releasing patch Ver.1.2.0! Please update your game to the latest version to access the online modes, including World Match, and downloadable content. PS5/PS4: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Nintendo Switch/ Nintendo Switch2: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Xbox XS/One: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Steam: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Epic: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Content Update SummaryAdded new event mode “Legend Competition” Increased maximum World Match rating from 9,999 to 99,999 Added multi-round options to Friend Match Added 2 collaboration tracks to the Jukebox Added 12 collaboration decals Added 6 new gadgets Gadget balance changes Anti-Cheat measures Other adjustments and bug fixes Legend CompetitionA new mode “Legend Competition” has been added. This mode will occur regularly, with the first competition being held from December 4, 2025 through December 21, 2025. World Match RatingWe’ve increased the maximum rating from 9,999 to 99,999. Friend Match SettingsYou can now set races to have multiple rounds in Custom Matches in Free Race! No more going back to the lobby after each race! Jukebox TracksNo.1 - Crazy Raccoon Hongami Precious Moment - Inugami Kroone, Tomoya Ohtani Collaboration DecalsREJ Assemble REJ Chilidog REJ ALWAYS CHASING REJ SUPERCHAOSMODE REJ LOGO CR AKAMI KARUBI CR RAS CR VANILLA CR RION CR AMATSUKI CR JASPER CR x SONIC Gadget Additions and Adjustments in Ver. 1.2.0Since launch, we’ve observed two common strategies emerge in online matches: Using drift-type gadgets to maintain top positions. Staying in 9th – 12th place and using item control gadgets to get powerful items late in the race and quickly jump to top positions. Both strategies made it very difficult for those in 4th – 8th place to make a comeback. Therefore, in Ver.1.2.0, we’ve added and strengthened support-type and item-type gadgets to make it easier to make comebacks from 4th – 8th place. We will continue monitoring online gadget usage and win rates to adjust balance going forward. New GadgetsWe’ve added 6 gadgets!* Item Control Type Lucky Pair Double Down Support Type Ring Mercy Damage Mercy Item Mercy Strong Finish *Gadgets can be obtained once your Gadget Plate reaches "Silver Plate" or higher. The following gadgets which were previously distributed as Festival rewards can now be purchased with Donpa Tickets from the gadget customization screen**: Boost Character Kit Power Character Kit Handling Character Kit Comeback Kit Sea Dog Kit **These can be purchased if your gadget plate is “Master Plate” or higher Gadget AdjustmentsQuick Recovery Further reduced downtime after taking a hit. Previously, Quick Recovery provided a large benefit when hit, but losing rings often led to lower final positions. The gadget has been adjusted to allow more mid-position endurance. Acceleration Machine Kit Recovery timing further reduced to align with Quick Recovery’s adjustments. Wisp Chance UP Reduced the influence on item probability. Previously, Wisp Chance UP made it too easy to collect powerful items before the race’s end and aim for top positions. We’ve dialed this back a bit. Invincible Start Vehicles now flash just before the effect ends to make timing clearer. Other AdjustmentsAdjusted the appearance of Silver and Blaze’s AI skins and the color of Race Park rivals “Team Dimension,” as they could be mistaken for Invincible state. For the eagle-eyed, the new color scheme is based on the “Turquoise Blue” aura Silver the Hedgehog emits when activating his abilities! Improved machine handling after collisions with other machines in water areas. Improved directional input detection to make it easier to use items in the intended direction while drifting. Adjusted race communication to prioritize syncing information that affects race progression, improving correct reflection of Invincibility such as Ultimate Charge activation. Strengthened anti-cheat measures for races and race results in online play such as Global Match on PC. Concerning Anti-Cheat Measures Bug FixesFixed Festival announcements showing old information before events began. Fixed a bug where auto-acceleration failed to activate for several seconds after manual input. Improved smoothness and visibility of left/right movement in item warning display. Fixed a bug where Charge Dash would not activate when passing through Transform Rings in mid-air drift state using Dash type. Fixed a bug where attacks from the “King Bomb Boo” item could be avoided using Charge Jump or Handle Assist. Fixed a bug where “King Bomb Boo” item attacks in mid-air could cause fire pillar direction to be incorrect. Fixed a bug where using the “Laser” item caused Dash type machine appearance to break at certain times. Fixed a bug where using the “Boost” item obtained during Boost Frenzy at the exact end of Frenzy could make the item unusable. Fixed a bug where using the “Tornado” item during Boost Frenzy could make items unusable until Frenzy ended. Adjusted Dash Gate placement in Dash Gate Frenzy on certain courses where more gates than intended were placed. Fixed a bug in course “Wonder Museum” where machines could get stuck in the Tornado. Fixed a bug in course “Sky Road” or “Minecraft World” where using “Slicer” or “Homing Punch” when crossing Travel Rings or End Portals could cause incorrect tracking. Fixed a bug in course “Steampunk City” where colliding from the side with ground where trains run could cause machines to sink into the ground. Fixed a bug in course “White Cave” where using “Drill” in cave areas could cause machines to sink into the ground. Fixed several other gameplay-related bugs. View full article

If you're looking for a reason to jump back into Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Sega has this week released the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game digitally. It's available for $69.99 or your regional equivalent, and will be released in physical form on this platform in "early 2026". If you're an existing owner of the Switch release and don't want to miss out, there's the Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack, which is also available. It's normally priced at $10.00 but you'll get an introductory discount (bringing it down to just $5.00) if you purchase it by 11th December 2025. Sega also notes how the Werehog DLC Pack is available to download for free for the first two weeks of the digital version's availability (until 17th December 2025). You can also carry over all of your content and progress in the Switch release to the Switch 2 Edition of the game. As previously revealed, the Switch 2 version of the game includes improved performance and resolution. Alongside the Switch 2 Edition and Switch upgrade, Sega has also released a major patch for this title today. View full article