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Jennifer Hale, one of the most iconic voice actors and best known for playing Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect trilogy and Naomi Hunter and Emma Emmerich in the Metal Gear Solid series, has spoken about her experience in playing Bayonetta in Bayonetta 3. Hale, who took over the role from Hellena Taylor for the third entry in the series, told GAMINGbible (via IGN) that she "got thrown under the bus by that whole thing." "I was unable to speak on my own behalf because I was under not one but two NDAs. Eventually, I was allowed to make a statement, which I appreciated, and I was able to present the facts,” Hale continues. Following PlatinumGames' announcement of the new voice actor, Taylor urged fans to boycott the game due to a pay dispute. She claimed that the studio offered her only $4,000 "to do the whole game...as a flat rate". Fans rallied around Taylor initially, before reports emerged that Taylor had been offered that rate for between four to five sessions. Hale says that “There were some things said [that were] presented as facts, but were false. I would have never taken a role otherwise. Before I accepted the audition, I checked everything thoroughly, and I trust the director." Bayonetta 3 made a number of changes to the game beyond just the titular character's voice — Images: Nintendo "Thankfully, playing Bayonetta was so much fun, and the community was so welcoming to me, especially after the fiasco had passed and the facts came out." Following Hale's initial statement, PlatnumGames came out in support of the actor, stating "We give our full support to Jennifer Hale as the new Bayonetta, and align with everything in her statement." Fortunately, the controversy died down following those additional reports and Platinum's own involvement, and the experience hasn't put Hale off of the idea of returning to the role: "It was not fun getting thrown under the bus like I had, but I was happy to come out on the other side.” While the drama has largely subsided, earlier this year, series creator Hideki Kamiya shared his thoughts on the ordeal: "Man, that was seriously lame."

Ahead of its PS5 version launching tomorrow, the Trophy list for Red Dead Redemption has gone live, sharing what is an identical list to the PS4 edition. Exophase has the complete list of 52 Trophies, which is mostly focused on the base game, with some Trophies for the Undead Nightmare expansion to go along with it. As this is the same list as the PS4 version, we can pull on the Trophy guides published for that edition to confirm we're looking at a very achievable Platinum Trophy on PS5. PSN Profiles lists just one missable Trophy, which requires you to "complete 20 story missions without switching to a new horse at a hitching post". The advice is to never hitch your horse after earning one from the Bonnie mission, and never use horse deeds or let your horse die. There are certain situations involving this Trophy you'll want to be aware of, though, so check the site for all the details. Anyone who owns the PS4 version of Red Dead Redemption gets a free upgrade, and the PS5 edition is also launching straight into PS Plus Extra tomorrow, 2nd December. It's not known yet if the PS5 version will also be folded into the GTA+ subscription service. Will you try to earn the Red Dead Redemption PS5 Platinum Trophy? Let us know in the comments below.

The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is reportedly sticking to its plan to release not one, not two, but three new games within a six year period. To be clear, the company's referring to the new trilogy, which starts with The Witcher 4. The Ciri-led adventure doesn't have a release date (or even a release window) yet, but the idea is that once it's out, you won't have to wait too long for The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6. "As we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period," co-CEO Michal Nowakowski reiterated during a recent financial call. Nowakowski suggests that the (much) shorter development cycle will be, in part, thanks to the studio's move to Unreal Engine 5: "We've been using Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4 for four years now, and we're very happy with what we've achieved." But it's hard not to be cynical, isn't it? CD Projekt Red is, rather infamously, a company that has a history of lengthy development and release delays. And on top of that, its two biggest hits — The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 — required significant post-launch support to get them in good shape. It's difficult to envision a future where we get three new Witcher titles in the space of six years, then — even if Unreal Engine 5 turns out to be the developer's holy grail. In truth, we think Nowakowski is just bigging the company up for the sake of its shareholders here, but it'll still be interesting to see what the next decade or so brings for CDPR as a whole. Can you ever see Ciri's whole trilogy releasing in such a timeframe? Show us some Geralt-style cynicism in the comments section below.

With awards season just a few weeks away, Sony's official PlayStation Blog has opened all of its Game of the Year 2025 deliberations to the public, allowing PS5, PS4 fans to vote for their favourite titles released this year. Voting across 19 categories is live now until midnight on Tuesday, 9th December, giving you a full week to consider your picks and then submit them. You can do so through the link, with the following categories available: Best New Character Best Story Best Graphical Showcase Best Art Direction Best Audio Design Best Soundtrack Best Accessibility Features Best Use of DualSense Best Rerelease (Remaster) Best Multiplayer Experience Best Ongoing Game Best Expansion Best Sports Game Best Independent Game Best PSVR2 Game Best PS4 Game Best PS5 Game Studio of the Year Most Anticipated Game of 2026 and Beyond While each category does list a handful of titles to vote for, there's also the option to input your own entry, even if it's not present. Therefore, there isn't really a definitive list of nominees; PlayStation is accepting anything. The results will be revealed in a few weeks, with the winners receiving the same accolades as our category GOTY articles: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Trophies. Of course, our own Game of the Year deliberations will begin around Christmas time, and the likes of Ghost of Yotei and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have already picked up a few awards. We suspect they shall be strong contenders for other outlets and the PlayStation Blog awards, too. What are you voting for? Let us know in the comments below.

If even one of the biggest games in the world, with all the money it generates on a daily basis, is now embracing AI tools for art production, how much hope is there left? Following the end of the Zero Hour live event this weekend and the beginning of Season 7, Fortnite players have started pointing out parts of the map and in-game items that look suspiciously AI-generated. The game's main Reddit page (via Eurogamer) has now been taken over by posts debating the suspected images and items, with some accusing them of being AI and others pulling up artist defences. The two main examples people are pointing to are in-game posters. The first can be seen below, which features an animal relaxing in a hammock, with its legs dangling over the side. Its right foot has five toes, but its left foot has four. Then, an advertisement for a piece of jewelry in-game has been accused of having the trademark "AI smudge": Further, a new emote in the game uses an AI-generated song from a K-pop artist. There were accusations surrounding a new Spray that looked to have used the infamous Studio Ghibli AI filter, but the artist has come out and denied the claims. The game's Reddit page is now running a poll to gather the community's thoughts on the potential use of AI in Fortnite. So far, following more than 2,000 votes, 84% of the community thinks AI "doesn't belong in Fortnite or other video games". This follows on from the use of AI in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, where it appears AI was used to generate certain Calling Cards and art assets. At the time, Activision said it uses "a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players". Epic Games founder (the developer behind Fortnite) Tim Sweeney seems in favour of the use of AI in video game development, as he's spoken publicly about storefronts dropping the sort of AI disclaimers you currently see on Steam. "The AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation. It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production," he claimed last week. What do you make of this situation? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

If you enjoyed building simple (or complex) vehicles to solve puzzles in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, then you’ll absolutely love what PS5 open world Where Winds Meet is cooking. The game, which launched globally last month, is getting a massive update in China which will see it incorporate mechanics where you can build simple cars, boats, and aircrafts. It works similarly to Nintendo’s flagship franchise, where you combine components to construct your makeshift machines. For example, a plank of wood paired with four wheels and an engine will give you a basic car. Add steering to give yourself more manoeuvrability. You’ll be able to save builds and share them with other players, while the blueprint for a helicopter-type aircraft known as the Flying Chicken will serve as the mode’s tutorial, and will be given to all players for free. We must stress that Where Winds Meet has been available in China for over a year now, so the global servers you’re likely to be playing on are many months behind. That means you shouldn’t expect this feature to roll out globally for quite some time. The good news is that dev Everstone Studios should have ample time to test out the feature and refine it, meaning we should hopefully get a more polished version of the system when it eventually releases overseas. As an aside, the mobile edition of Where Winds Meet is scheduled to release on 12th December will full crossplay across all platforms. Pre-load is available on iOS and Android now. Furthermore, the wuxia outing has now attracted nine million players across all platforms in just two weeks, making it another incredible success story.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been a pretty steady Steam performer since it was introduced to the platform back in 2019; especially over the last three or four years where it regularly hits about 10k concurrent players at peak times. Over this past weekend though, the collection peaked a little higher than usual; hitting a Steam player count not seen since late 2021. Yep, over the weekend, Halo: MCC surpassed 12k players on Steam for the first time since December 2021. To be specific, the title brought in 12,306 players on Sunday, November 30th - in what's turned out to be the game's most popular day on the platform in almost four years. The game is currently discounted pretty heavily as part of the Steam Black Friday sale, which may have contributed to this. Of course, this isn't a huge increase on the norm, but it is interesting to see the game hit this 3-4 year high over the weekend. Halo Infinite recently got its final major update, so maybe some of those players are moving over to MCC now? Maybe it simply had a small bump from that Black Friday sale we mentioned? Either way, the collection enjoyed a successful weekend it seems. If you'd like to take a look at what's included in said final Halo Infinite update, we'll chuck a link to that news down below, alongside last year's feature on how Halo: MCC has turned things around massively since 2014. It's been quite the decade for Xbox's big Halo collection!

At the end of last week, the developers beyond the critically panned MindsEye released Update 6 for the game, adding "enhanced gameplay" alongside a Free Starter Pack that means anyone can now try it for free on multiple platforms. Specifically, the MindsEye Free Starter Pack features the Robin Hood campaign mission along with 14 ARCADIA missions, and it'll be updated regularly with new ways to play. To access it on Xbox, you'll need to find the MindsEye page on the Xbox Store and then look for the "free trial" button. MindsEye (Xbox Store) In terms of Update 6, you can see some Xbox Series X footage below which shows how the game unfortunately still runs at 30FPS even to this day, but remains a good-looking title and is certainly less buggy than it was at launch. And you know what? I personally quite like MindsEye. There's fun to be had here with the free trial at least, and it's dropped to as low as £10 at some retailers here in the UK, while it's also half price in the Xbox Black Friday Sale 2025. I'm not saying you definitely should buy it, but I also don't think it's as bad as everyone says!

It's been quite an underwhelming Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 from a console perspective for Xbox fans, with just a few small discounts scattered around for the two systems, but that's still managed to make some people happy! Over on the Xbox subreddit, there are a few people showing off their new Series X and Series S purchases, although it's unclear what specific deals they've taken advantage of here. As mentioned last week, many of the Black Friday deals were in the UK, although we spotted a handful (including refurbished models) in the US. Here's a look at two of those posts from over the weekend: Beyond consoles, we've also seen a lot of deals for Xbox controllers over the past few days, both directly on the Microsoft Store and at other retailers. As a result, it seems a fair few people have been picking up some new pads! Xbox Design Lab seems to have been popular as well, especially thanks to its free engraving offer. And of course, there are other deals dotted around for things like Xbox Expansion Cards (although nothing too impressive there) and physical games, as well as the big digital Xbox Black Friday Sale 2025 that ends later this week. So, have you been grabbing anything in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales for 2025? Is it just games for you, or perhaps a controller or even a console? We'd love to hear about your purchases down in the comments.

Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft’s flagship series, has delivered two decades of time-hopping adventure. Over the years, it has spawned a glut of expansions and spin-offs, building a franchise with a legion of faithful fans. Moving away from the Hitman-like structure of working through a target list, the series reinvented itself and shifted into gigantic open-world sandboxes filled with light RPG elements and enough quests to keep you busy until the next instalment arrived. Shadows, which launched on other platforms in March, landed at a moment of truth for the franchise. Mirage received a lukewarm reception, and confidence in Ubisoft’s output has been fading. Finally unsheathing the long-requested feudal Japanese setting felt like a Hail Mary, and for the most part, it works. This is one of the most engrossing worlds the series has created, supported by two engaging and wildly different protagonists who are a joy to play as. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) This instalment also marks the first time the new(est) mainline title has been released on a Nintendo console since Black Flag on Wii U back in the bygone age of 2013. It’s a huge game, a technical powerhouse, competing with Cyberpunk for the opportunity to make your Switch 2 really sweat. It’s worth noting early on that performance and general visual presentation are solid, with some caveats, but more on that later. Taking place at the tail end of the Sengoku period, Shadows tracks two parallel journeys across the Kansai region of Japan. Though shaped by the machinations of Nobunaga Oda, a pivotal figure in Japanese history, the story is a familiar revenge tale. Driven to recover a mysterious family heirloom and avenge her father, Naoe hunts down the Onryo, a masked clan of villains. Meanwhile, the Mozambican slave turned samurai Yasuke serves under Nobunaga and struggles through a life of self-discovery and moral conflict. Their paths eventually cross, and the two become allies, hunting down the corrupting forces spreading across the land and taking down the Onryo one mask at a time. The Animus element has been pushed far into the background of the series of late, although there is still an overarching mystery involving an omniscient voice, who occasionally reminded me that I was controlling someone who was, in turn, controlling Naoe and Yasuke. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) The hook that separates Shadows from other titles in the series is the stark mechanical differences between its dual heroes. Naoe is your traditional assassin type, athletic, sneaky, and equipped with the traditional hidden blade. Sneaking through shadows (light sources can be snuffed out for better stealth), clambering across rooftops and utilising tools to escape combat, this is Naoe’s bread and butter. Yasuke, on the other hand, is essentially a walking brick wall. He’s an armour-clad brute who smashes through gates, dominates groups of enemies in a fight and has the loudest methods of offence. Unlike Syndicate, the series' last stab at swappable protagonists, these characters never have parity. They remain two distinct playstyles and expansive upgrade trees only broaden the gulf between them. Given his size, Yasuke is incapable of most stealth and traversal options, comically falling through tightropes and crashing to the ground during leaps of faith. Conversely, Naoe doesn't last long in fights with multiple enemies, favouring hidden blade kills and misdirection. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Some quests are meant for either Yasuke or Naoe, and long stretches of the story lock you into one specific character. For the most part, though, you are free to cycle between them. This contrast adds a sense of variety and choice that the series hasn't really had before. It’s engaging to look at an enemy outpost and decide on the sneaky approach or the one-man army raid. Combat is also pleasingly versatile, with both protagonists having several main weapon and projectile choices. Highlights include Naoe’s Kusarigama moveset and Yasuke’s Teppo build (long guns and explosives). Outside of weaponry, there’s a mountain of gear to be collected, upgraded and cosmetic-swapped. There is, of course, a microtransaction store for ever more elaborate gear, but this can be ignored. Establishing a rhythm with both characters is easy because you’re going to spend a lot of time with them. Modern Assassin's Creed games are overflowing with activities scattered across their expansive maps. You get a titanic main quest that can easily take 80 to 100 hours to finish, along with hundreds of side quests, including Animus quests that refresh endlessly. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) There are many more organisations to dismantle outside the Onryo, new ones popping up on your objective board almost constantly. If you want to dive deep into a single game for a couple of hundred hours, Shadows is built for that kind of time sink. Still, it all feels a bit stretched. Many quests boil down to long treks across the map to speak with an NPC, followed by another trek back to the quest giver so you can start the next errand. There are plenty of activities that try to break up the repetition, including a painting minigame with cute animals and a fun but shallow base-building mechanic, also with cute animals. Even so, I still find myself longing for the simplicity of Altair and Ezio’s adventures. But what of performance? How does this, a uniquely tailored current-gen experience, play on Switch 2? The short answer is mostly good. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Ubisoft has been uncharacteristically transparent about how Shadows has been tuned to run on Nintendo’s hardware. Much like the exemplary port of Cyberpunk 2077, Shadows uses DLSS for upscaling and VRR to maintain stable frames in undocked mode. Visual sacrifices have been made to the game's detailing to preserve stability. Players familiar with other versions will notice the difference, yet it remains an impressive-looking game. Some of the character models can look a bit waxen in dialogue scenes and occasionally texture issues blight the environment, but these issues aren't too frequent. Busy population centres like Osaka can cause the frame rate to dip below its 30fps target, and that becomes far more noticeable when undocked. You spend a lot of time moving through areas packed with NPCs, so this lack of stability stands out. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Combat with multiple enemies, which is a staple of playing as Yasuke, holds up better even when smoke and explosions fill the screen. Sneaking around as Naoe relies on the spatial awareness that a smooth camera provides, and that is never an issue here. For the most part, Shadows is an admirable port of a graphical powerhouse. I cast my mind back to 2017, when I played DOOM on Switch and was astonished at how well it had been optimised for the underpowered console. Shadows on Switch 2 feels like a colossal achievement, only slightly reduced by moments when it strains under the pressure of the handheld console's capabilities. This technical ambition is most evident when taking in the rich design of the open world. Racing through the Kansai countryside while the wind kicks up leaves and ground clutter around your horse feels richly atmospheric. The amount of colour and detail on display is staggering at times. Seasonal changes add to the natural splendour even more, creating ever-shifting biomes. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Touch controls are included, but only for menus and the base builder, and mouse controls are sadly missing. There is a useful Ubisoft Connect feature that lets you carry your progression across consoles. The Switch 2 version comes with all patched-in content that is already available on other systems. The Claws of Awaji expansion is not bundled, although it will be available to purchase separately in February. ConclusionOutside of the technical ups and downs of its transition to Switch 2, Assassin's Creed Shadows remains a thoroughly enjoyable refresh for the series. Taking its most captivating open world to date and offering two distinct playstyles, it goes a long way toward appeasing current franchise fans while nurturing a new generation of assassins, presenting a huge, intricately crafted depiction of feudal Japan and giving you enjoyable dual protagonists to usher you through it. Shadows isn't a perfect port, then, but it’s still a colossal achievement and one of the best-looking games on Nintendo’s console.

Limited Run Games announced Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition way back in June 2024, and while a good chunk of time has passed us by since then (including a rather buggy release of its platforming predecessor), the release date is almost upon us! Tomba 2 will arrive on the Switch eShop on 15th December for $19.99 (or your regional equivalent), marking the first time that the 3D PlayStation platformer has been available on Nintendo systems. For those who didn't try this one out in the early 2000s, Tomba 2 took the same jungle platforming precedent as the first game in the series, but moved things into the wonderful world of 3D. With the now-chiselled Tomba given an extra dimension to play with, the game packed in new weapons and power-up costumes on top of a huge number of fresh missions and events. This Switch 'Special Edition' throws in a museum gallery mode, and the chance to rewind and save at any time, so while the polygonal visuals remain, there are at least some ways to get around the game's less favourable nostalgic elements. Here's a rundown of the new release's key features and a handful of screenshots: Images: Limited Run Games While the original Tomba would go on to be a perfectly acceptable slice of throwback platforming on Switch, it launched in such a state that some of us found it essentially unplayable on the hybrid console. Let's hope that things get off to a smoother start with its sequel.

Has it really been eight entire years? Yes, it really actually has, so sit up and pay attention at the back. Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which as every Xenoblade nerd worth their salt knows is actually the third game released in the series, dropped into existence on this very day back in 2017, and it's a bit good. We gave it a well-deserved 9/10 in our review, so it's a bona fide banger as officially ordained by the bona fide banger squad™. To celebrate this eighth birthday (they get big so quickly these days), Monolith Soft has been sharing a lovely bit of artwork over on its social media. Which is great. For reference, here's the Google translation: Yes, happy birthday. Very good. Now pulls out ice-cream machine gun make with the Switch 2 version, wiseguys. Come on. Open your jackets, show us the goods. Where is it? Unfortunately, it seems this writer's dream of an all-new, 60fps, 4K, enhanced-graphics, 100%-more-volumetrics-version of XC2 especially for Switch 2 might have to wait just a little bit longer. Unless they drop it later today (there's still time!). Indeed, as much as we're just having a bit of birthday banter, it has been something that's been asked for repeatedly and rather loudly from franchise fans since Nintendo's new console dropped. With so many games getting boosts from the Switch 2, you may have hoped this epic action-RPG might have brute-forced itself into a better situation, even without an official upgrade. However, unlike Disaster Report 4, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and a whole bunch of other games that got nice free boosts on the Switch 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, whilst a little more stable in its 30fps now, still suffers from issues and hasn't benefited in any meaningful way. It's still a gorgeous, absolutely must-play thing, make no mistake, but it feels like it could be more. This is a series, too, that really does tend to sing extra-specially loudly when it's unshackled from any technical limitations. We've all seen how improved the first game and Xenoblade Chronicles X have been in their revamped, Definitive forms. So it stands to reason that we're all chomping at the bit to see Alrest and the Driver of the Aegis looking and feeling their best in a Switch 2 upgrade of some sort. Anyway, in the meantime, happy 8th birthday, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Enjoy your day. Just don't come down here dressed like that for your 10th.