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Sony's latest push into mobile territory is MLB The Show Mobile, just announced and soft launched in the Philippines. Developed in-house at San Diego Studio — developer of the main MLB The Show series — you can get a sense of the free-to-play game in the below trailer: The official website describes MLB The Show Mobile as "a new standalone experience built from the ground up to deliver realistic baseball gameplay on mobile devices". Built for both iOS and Android, the game is currently only available in the Philippines, but it'll come to more territories in future. The game will feature current and legacy players, as well as all real stadiums. You'll be able to bat, pitch, and field using touch controls, and you'll gradually build your dream team by collecting player cards. You can then earn XP and upgrade your players to make them more valuable. For Sony's mobile plans, this seems like a no-brainer — bringing one of its popular franchises to a whole new audience. Hopefully the global rollout won't be too far away so everyone can get to grips with this new take on MLB The Show. What are your thoughts on MLB The Show Mobile? Is this something you'd like to play? Tell us in the comments section below.

We're still a week away from the last major gaming showcase of 2025 in the form of The Game Awards, but this Thursday's PC Gaming Show sounds well worth watching - even from an Xbox perspective. The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted showcase is said to be "powered by Xbox Game Pass", which basically means Game Pass is the big partner here. The focus of the event is to highlight the 25 most wanted games of the moment, but we also know we're getting "new trailers, announcements and behind the scenes looks at over 50 games". Here's a list of stuff that's already been confirmed for the showcase: A new trailer from Team 17 for the soon the be released 4-player co-op shooter, Rogue Point A behind the scenes look at High On Life 2, the latest intergalactic action-adventure from Squanch Games releasing February 13 A new trailer for Cairn, the beautiful survival-climber from the creators of Furi and Haven Tripwire Interactive will be unveiling a new trailer for first-person shooter Killing Floor 3 Soulmask will debut a new gameplay trailer for its ancient Egypt DLC 'Shifting Sands' which adds more powerful Gods-themed masks and takes us out of the jungle and into the desert with flying ships A new trailer for open world adventure Witchspire from Envar Games A brand-new trailer for space flight sim, Remnant Protocol Plus announcements from developers such as Dotemu, Lightbulb Crew and Playstack. Nothing has been spelled out in terms of whether we'll be getting any Xbox Game Pass reveals at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted event, but the close partnership suggests it's pretty likely. At the very least, we can see from the list above that High on Life 2 will be there - a title that's already confirmed to release on Game Pass in February 2026. If you're interested in finding out for yourself, you'll be able to watch the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted event via the video above at 12pm PST / 3pm EST / 8pm GMT / 9pm CET on Thursday, December 4th. We'll be watching it as well, and we'll have a roundup of everything that was shared - including any potential Xbox Game Pass reveals!

We were delighted to see Ustwo Games' gorgeous mobile puzzler, Monument Valley 3, make the jump to Switch earlier this year, and today the dev has given us even more story chapters to sink our teeth into — for free! The 'Garden of Life' expansion is now available on Switch, bolting four additional chapters onto the end of the main game, packed with even more of the series' signature perspective-bending puzzles. There are even some hidden optional puzzles to find in the bonus levels, for those after even more. The expansion drop accompanies the news that MV3 is now back on mobile, so you can check out all the extra content wherever you please. If the above trailer didn't do enough to sell you on the new freebie, here's a statement on what you can expect from the expansion by lead designer Emily Brown, and a handful of screenshots: Images: Ustwo Games You'll find Monument Valley 3 and the previous two series entries on the Switch eShop right now. Those who want to experience the full trilogy from start to finish can even pick up the collection in physical form from iam8bit.

Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition now has a confirmed release date on PS5 — and it's soon! Publisher Limited Run Games announced this one all the way back in June of last year, so it's nice to see that it hasn't somehow been forgotten. It launches in just a couple of weeks, on the 15th December. This is obviously a follow up to Tomba! Special Edition, which dropped for PS5 and PS4 in August 2024. However, we should note that the PS4 version of Tomba! 2's Special Edition has been cancelled. Much like its enhanced predecessor, the sequel will feature modern quality of life features, like the ability to save anywhere and a rewind function. It'll also boast a museum mode full of artwork form the original release. Tomba! 2 is widely regarded to be an improved sequel. A sprinkling of new mechanics, more ambitious level design, and a shift to full 3D graphics earned it some really strong review scores back in 1999, when it first launched for the PS1. Will you be leaping into Tomba! 2 this month? Pick up some pigs in the comments section below.

The latest Xbox Game Studios title making the leap to PS5 is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, a highly acclaimed aviation sim landing on the console on 8th December, 2025. Aspiring pilots may be interested to know what's expected of them with regards to Trophies, and fortunately, the list has made its way online prior to release. Over on PSNProfiles, the full rundown of digital trinkets is available for your perusal, and it looks like a fairly manageable to-do list, albeit time-consuming. One Trophy requires that you spend 50 cumulative hours in the air, for example, which sounds like a lot, but it's probably quite achievable if you partake in all the game's missions and activities. To get the platinum, you'll need to complete training and earn your private pilot licence, take a whole bunch of photographs, complete 100 weekly challenges, and perform various flying feats. These include 30 successful seaplane landings, 50 successful landings at heliports, performing touch-and-go manoeuvres, and visiting several landmarks via hot air balloon. It's certainly going to keep you busy if you want that plat, then, but we feel like the people interested in Flight Sim are probably gonna play it enough regardless. Are you onboard for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024? Will you be aiming to collect all the Trophies? Tell us in the comments section below.

Some very brief — but new — clips from Resident Evil Requiem have been made public by way of a Japanese television show about the series. In the footage, we see protagonist Grace shooting a zombie on a staircase, only for it to attack her and reveal there is a second undead man nearby. Based on the decor, this scene looks to be taken from the hotel location that shall play an important part in the campaign. Catch the new gameplay below: The footage falls in line with virtually everything else we've seen of Resident Evil Requiem up until now, which is to say not a lot. The game is out for PS5 on 27th February 2026, meaning it's already only three months away. In a surprising move — as all recent Resident Evil titles have received one — it's been said Requiem won't be getting a demo prior to launch. Is Resident Evil Requiem one of your most anticipated games for 2026? Let us know in the comments below.

In the absence of Dino Crisis, TeamKill Media's upcoming shooter Code Violet looks set to fill the void. The PS5 exclusive sci-fi action horror title has been on the radar all year, and was expected to launch back in November. Unfortunately, it hasn't hit its launch plans, and has been delayed to 10th January 2026. However, with this delay comes some good news: Code Violet has now gone gold, meaning the game is effectively finished, and the remaining time will presumably be spent squashing last-minute bugs. All this news comes via a lengthy statement posted on the studio's social accounts: In a nutshell, the team ran into some issues relating to "unlocking entitlements" for the game's deluxe and pre-order editions, and to circumvent all that, it's decided to simply release one standard edition of the game. This version will include "all the bonus outfits, items, and perks", so those who wanted the deluxe editions won't be missing out. That said, anybody who pre-ordered the deluxe edition will be receiving full refunds. TeamKill Media is working to get Code Violet back up on the PS Store for pre-ordering. It sounds like we'll be seeing more gameplay and trailers of the game in the lead-up to its launch in the new year. It's been a bit of a bumpy road to release, then, but despite the delay, this seems like a net positive outcome. Hopefully the game can deliver a good experience that's worth the wait. Are you looking forward to Code Violet? Tell us in the comments section below.

Back in the summer, Xbox developer Obsidian reassured fans that Avowed's Fall 2025 update was still on track - but plans have since changed, and this update has now morphed into a bigger content drop set to arrive in February 2026. To mark the game's one-year anniversary next Feb., Obsidian says that it's delivering "our biggest update yet" for Avowed - featuring "everything originally planned for fall, plus additional features". We'll throw the team's updated roadmap down below: As you can see in the above image, this 2026 anniversary update will bring New Game+, photo mode, a new weapon type, new character presets and more - and that list is set to grow now that the team is taking a little more time in bringing its next update to players across Xbox, PC and Game Pass next year. As for what's coming after this update, well, we don't know much about the longer-term future of Avowed right now - but it sounds like the team could be working towards a sequel at some point! That's by no means confirmed just yet, but it was discussed recently by a former Obsidian developer.

In 2020, Square Enix released an interesting 'stopgap' in the Octopath Traveler series called Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. This free-to-play mobile game took the gacha approach to design, regularly launching new units and storylines to interact with as the years rolled by. The company wrapped up that initial version in January this year, but it decided to design a new standalone version for consoles: Octopath Traveler 0. Not quite a straight port of the original nor a brand new game, this fresh release converts a previously more fractured game into a cohesive traditional JRPG that features no online elements or microtransactions and feels more in line with what you’d expect from a proper numbered entry. And while it’s not the true successor to Octopath Traveler II, OT0 nonetheless stands tall as another great entry in the series. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) The narrative here is arguably the most interesting aspect, as it somewhat bucks the series trend of offering various disconnected narratives following each of the primary protagonists. For one thing, there’s now technically only one protagonist (your self-insert MC) and everyone else is merely an incidental addition to the plot. And while there’s still a nonlinear, chapter-based system that allows you to pursue the main story at your leisure, each chapter is now focused on a specific antagonist. Even though intraparty interaction is still kept to a minimum, the storyline is nonetheless significantly more streamlined and in line with what you’d expect out of a typical JRPG. You begin as a resident of the cosy, friendly town of Wishvale, which is very quickly pillaged and razed to the ground by a nasty group of villains. After reconnecting with another survivor, you set out on a campaign of vengeance several years later, hunting key leaders of the attack, setting up the first arc of the overarching narrative. What I really liked about this storytelling approach is how much more personal and interesting it made the rogues' gallery of villains. Not only do the ensuing chapters explore some of the antagonists' moral greyness, but there are some genuinely surprising and dark plot twists that add to the satisfaction when you finally get a chance to punch these people in the mouth. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) I was always a fan of the way the first two games handled their braided narratives, but choosing to centre the narrative this time on one protagonist and various villains that have made their life hell is an interesting and ultimately worthwhile change. That all said, the length of the campaign is a long haul. Given that this is based on a live-service gacha that grew quite a bit, there are literally years of storylines to experience—the developers themselves flagged that it should take you roughly 100 hours to clear, and that’s not including the mountain of optional side content. I wouldn’t say that this tremendous length is necessarily a mark against Octopath Traveler 0, but just be aware that the pacing and quality can vary over that time, as any narrative of that size can get unwieldy in some places. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Gameplay otherwise follows the standard formula of previous games, wherein you explore a sizeable open world, pick up quests, fight in turn-based battles, explore dungeons, and utilise Path Actions to interact with the various NPCs you come across. Initially, you only have two party members, but as you discover and explore new towns, you eventually grow the party to just over 30. All of which is to say, this is exactly how you’d expect a new Octopath entry to play, and while I would have liked to see more innovation on the gameplay side of things, it’s tough to argue that the team didn’t stick the landing with the execution of their gameplay loop. Combat remains largely the same, with a key difference being that you now have eight active party members instead of four. Only four of them are active during a given round, but when a party member’s turn comes, they can tag out to let their backline partner take an action instead. The backline is more than just a reserve in case someone gets knocked down, too, as all characters in the rear at the end of every round also gain HP and SP. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Though the eight-character setup doesn’t massively change the overall flow of combat that we’re well familiar with by now, I really appreciated the additional strategic depth offered by the extra members. You effectively build BP (Boost Points) twice as fast now, which can lead to some crazy combos if you plan out your team right, and there’s a lot more to think through as you consider the various skills and abilities of each member and plan in advance how you’ll place them in the overall formation. Do you put two healer characters together to maximise your healing output? Or do you pair one with a DPS character who will need to get cycled to the back to recover? The previous two games regularly asked you similar teambuilding questions, but here that more strategic approach is present to a much higher degree. On the other hand, individual character progression has been kneecapped a bit, and I'm not as much a fan of how it’s been implemented. The ability to multiclass in previous games kept character-building interesting throughout the whole experience as you constantly unlocked new class types and found new ways to combine different class abilities to lead to some units that truly 'broke' the game. Here, there are no second classes; you can only progress a character along their default assigned class. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) There is some variation introduced by equipping Battle Skills and Support Skills gained from NPCs, granting boons like the ability to utilise wind attacks or increased healing output. However, these feel more limited than giving a character access to all the abilities that come along with a new class, and it leads to characters feeling pigeon-holed into the clear roles they’re designed to fulfil. There’s something to be said about having a roster of bespoke characters who become simply more of what they already are at the beginning, but I’ve always viewed the Octopath Traveler games as encouraging you to find ways to make party members overpowered by building them far beyond their initial loadouts and here that definitely feels reined in. Given that there’s technically only the one protagonist in this game, the Path Action system has been adapted. Now your protagonist can do all the actions (such as stealing, inquiring, or haggling) and the success rate is determined by how much you’ve grown their wealth, power, or fame stats by completing various quests and side quests. Which stat gets checked depends on what the character you’re talking to values most, and this also affects what path actions are available to use on them. Overall, this doesn't feel like a significant change, but I appreciated how it gave you reason to regularly return to towns, as many NPCs are clearly way above the levels you’re at when you initially meet them. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Perhaps the headlining new feature is the addition of townbuilding elements while you slowly rebuild Wishvale to its former glory. Simply talking to your carpenter friend, Stia, or interacting with a workbench will turn the overgrown ruins of the once-quaint town into a grid where you can place new buildings, paths, and decorations according to your liking. Some of these buildings have a more functional passive value, too, such as how the pub allows you to bring food and prep dishes to give yourself an edge in battle for a certain number of turns. As you find new towns, some NPCs will have the 'Invite' Path Action, which lets you invite them to Wishvale to contribute to the community. Every NPC has some sort of passive ability that can affect things like crop production speed or JP (Job Points) gain in battle, and housing them in your town lets you build these up over time. Plus, inviting more residents causes the overall town level to increase, unlocking new structures to build, and lets you place more homes where you’d like. I appreciated how the townbuilding managed to feel both instrumental and optional to the game’s progression. Though there are plot reasons for why you have to build up the town to a certain point, it’s something that you can otherwise choose to ignore if you’d rather just stay on the road and keep pushing on to the next quest. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) On the other hand, there’s plenty to dig into here if you want to get in the weeds of building the most picturesque town possible as you regularly return to reap the rewards. And while there are concrete gameplay benefits from investing in and interacting with your town, they aren’t so enormous that you’re handicapping yourself if you choose to only return to Wishvale when necessary. As far as visuals are concerned, this entry falls neatly between the fidelity of the previous two mainline games. It's clear that it was built with many reused assets from the first Octopath Traveler, but there are some details and flourishes present that will remind you more of the second game. The Switch 2 version runs quite well, too, and seeing the action unfold at 60fps makes everything appear that much nicer. It definitely feels like a slight step down if you’re playing this right after putting a lot of time into Octopath Traveler 2, but overall the HD-2D art style here still holds up exceptionally well and looks gorgeous in motion. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Much like how the visuals feel like a blend of the previous two games, the soundtrack offers a variety of tracks and remixes from its predecessors, with some new tracks thrown in there to accompany the new content. Though it’s a bit disappointing that we didn’t get a new full-fledged soundtrack for this release, the new music feels right in line with the previous tracks, which are just as excellent as they were when we heard them for the first time. ConclusionIn many ways, Octopath Traveler 0 feels like a ‘victory lap’ for the beloved series, remixing various elements that you’re familiar with from the past games while introducing some interesting new ones to spice things up a bit. Importantly, this prequel does not feel like a proper Octopath Traveler 3, but that doesn’t mean that it isn't still an incredibly good time and a much better JRPG than most genre peers. Even if it's a retread in some ways, though, an absolutely monstrous amount of content, interesting new gameplay elements, gorgeous visuals, and compelling storytelling all come together to make Octopath Traveler 0 a must-buy.

How on earth is it that time of year again already? It feels as though we can still sense the tight elastic of our tiny Kirby swimming trunks digging into our fresh summer sunburn, and yet here comes Rolling Stone with its Best of 2025 list, because it's nearly Christmas. Brace for impact! Yes, Rolling Stone has dropped its 25 favourite gaming experiences of the year and, whilst the number one spot is absolutely no surprise (congratulations to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33), we've been tickled pink to see that good old Donkey Kong has managed to secure a number three spot via all that wrecking shop he did in Bananza. The big man has smashed his way onto a prestigious podium there, so well done, Mr. Kong. And nice tie! Elsewhere on the list, some 10 spaces down in fact, you'll spot another Switch 2-shaped mention in the form of Mario Kart World. Honestly, we probably wouldn't have expected that DK would outdo Master Mascot Mario in this way if you'd told us in the summer, but we'd tend to agree on the placement rolling (no pun intended) the great ape's way here. What else has delighted us in making the cut? Well, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy dropping into a very nice 7th place is great, as that really was one of the year's big highlights on Switch, alongside the wonderful Absolum, BALL x PIT, and, of course, Hades 2, which has pulled off a blinder by snatching the number 2 spot. Images: Nintendo Life / Marvellous, Nintendo Life / Devolver Digital, Nintendo Life / Dotemu, Nintendo Life / Fellow Traveller Oh, and look at Silksong, all the way down (if you can be all the way down on a top 25 list) at number 12. That isn't perhaps where we'd have expected to see such a massively well-reviewed game, but personal taste is a wondrous and mysterious thing, innit! With a total of 11 of these games available on Switch consoles, it's still a very strong showing for Nintendo gamers - and hopefully we'll see Switch ports of some of these soon! Here's the full listing for your perusal, but check out the full article for details and reasoning: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hades II Donkey Kong: Bananza Dispatch Ghost of Yōtei Blue Prince The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy Death Stranding 2: On The Beach BALL x PIT Arc Raiders South of Midnight Hollow Knight: Silksong Mario Kart World SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance Battlefield 6 Ninja Gaiden 4 Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Absolum despelote The Séance of Blake Manor Split Fiction Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector Rematch Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Silent Hill: F See anything you disagree with making the cut? Think something is too highly/lowly-rated, or even missing entirely? Let us know!

Eight years on from its big reveal, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally arrives on Switch 1 & 2 tomorrow. To make sure that things are in tip-top condition, Nintendo has today released the launch day update, boosting things up to ver. 1.1.0 and adding a bunch of day-one features to boot. This update adds in amiibo functionality, some sweet cinematic controller rumble, an easily accessible upgrade path to the Switch 2 Edition in the opening menu, some gallery tweaks, and then the usual adjustments and fixes. At the time of writing, the patch notes have only been shared on the Japanese Nintendo Support website. We have included those below (via Google Translate), and we will sub-in the official English translation as soon as it is available. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Ver. 1.1.0 (3rd Dec 2025)You can now use amiibo on the "amiibo" page in the pause menu. Controller now vibrates during cinematics. [Switch 2]: When you start up Metroid Prime 4 Beyond on Nintendo Switch 2, a "Switch 2 Edition" option will now appear in the menu after the title screen. Selecting this option will take you to the Upgrade Path page on the Nintendo eShop. The rating information for the rating system "ClassInd (Brazil)" has been updated from "12" to "14". The condition for unlocking some movies in the "Gallery" has been changed from "achieving 100% item recovery rate" to "clearing the game." In "Hard Mode," the difficulty of some enemies has been adjusted. Additionally, we have made some adjustments and fixes to improve your gameplay experience. "After 18 years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond manages to replicate that magical sense of discovery from the GameCube original while pushing the series in some incredible new directions," we wrote in our 9/10 review, describing Samus' latest adventure as "quite possibly the boldest, most well-realised Metroid game to date". Just one more sleep to go!

11th March 2025 marked the 30th anniversary of Chrono Trigger. Square Enix marked the occasion by announcing that "various projects" would be coming our way over the next year, but so far, those projects have been limited to character popularity polls and planned orchestral concerts. Importantly, that's not the remake that we all want to see and have been chatting about for years. But we're still not ready to completely throw out all hope just yet. You see, in the latest episode of the 'KosoKoso Hōsō Kyoku' talk show livestream (translated by Automaton), Dragon Quest creator and Chrono Trigger supervisor Yuji Horii attempted to keep his lips sealed about where the series is heading — but in saying nothing, has he actually said everything? "I can't talk about that," Horii-san told the interviewer when asked whether the smaller anniversary events might be "foreshadowing" bigger developments down the line. He jokingly added clarifying statements like, "Wait, if I say that, you'll figure it out!," "Don't ask!," and "I'll get in trouble!" before the panel decided to move on with the show. Hmmm. It's far from anything concrete, and there's every chance that Horii-san was genuinely just trying to get himself out of a sticky situation, but we can't help feeling that the whole thing is a little suspicious. Hey, perhaps it's just wishful thinking on our end. Back in May, it seemed like Horii-san might have let the news of an upcoming remake slip during a panel at Napoli Comicon. However, it later turned out that it was just the translator bringing up the series, not Yuji Horii himself. D'oh. At the time of writing, the best way to officially play Chrono Trigger remains the wonderful 2008 DS port, which'll set you back a pretty penny if you try to pick it up on the resale market today. It has arrived on mobile and Windows in the years since, but come on, we all want to see it on Switch (2), right?

Believe it or not, the holiday season is almost upon us. Of course, many stores have been setting up the Christmas cheer for months now (this writer was seeing bedecked trees in shop windows back in October), but, as of today, the Nintendo Museum is finally following suit. As shared in a post on the museum's official X account, the lights will be on every night from 4pm JST until close (7pm), and they'll be sticking around in the grounds until the not particularly festive date of 27th April 2026. While it is far from the kind of display we might expect from Disney Land — or, perhaps more accurately, Super Nintendo World — there's enough Mushroom Kingdom flair here that our nerdy Christmas spirits are sufficiently warmed. Nintendo has only revealed the two photos of the display at the time of writing (one above and one below), but look! It's cute! Alongside the lights, the Nintendo Museum has also plonked a Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary plaque next to the warp pipe photo op, which feels like... a very Nintendo way of marking the occasion.