When we put together our top 20 games of last year, we specifically called out Civilization 7, Avowed, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Grand Theft Auto 6 as big franchise games we were already looking forward to for 2025. While one of those games has been delayed into 2026, the three others made this year’s list of Ars’ favorite games as expected. They join a handful of other highly anticipated sequels, ranging from big-budget blockbusters to long-gestating indies, on the “expected” side of this year’s list.

But the games that really stood out for me in 2025 were the ones that seemed to come out of nowhere. Those range from hard-to-categorize roguelike puzzle games to a gonzo, punishing mountainous walking simulation, the best Geometry Wars clone in years, and a touching look at the difficulties of adolescence through the surprisingly effective lens of mini-games.

As we look toward 2026, there are plenty of other big-budget projects that the industry is busy preparing for (the delayed Grand Theft Auto VI chief among them). If next year is anything like this year, though, we can look forward to plenty more games that no one saw coming suddenly vaulting into view as new classics.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Ubisoft Quebec; Windows, MaxOS, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, iPad

When I was younger, I wanted—and expected—virtually every game I played to blow me away with something I’d not seen before. It was easier to hit that bar in the ’90s, when both the design and technology of games were moving at an incredible pace.

Now, as someone who still games in his 40s, I’m excited to see that when it happens, but I don’t expect it, Now, I increasingly appreciate games that act as a sort of comfort food, and I value some games as much for their familiarity as I do their originality.

That’s what Assassin’s Creed Shadows is all about (as I wrote when it first came out). It follows a well-trodden formula, but it’s a beautifully polished version of that formula. Its world is grand and escapist, its audio and graphics presentation is immersive, and it makes room for many different playstyles and skill levels.

If your idea of a good time is “be a badass, but don’t think too hard about it,” Shadows is one of the best Assassin’s Creed titles in the franchise’s long history. It doesn’t reinvent any wheels, but after nearly two decades of Assassin’s Creed, it doesn’t really need to; the new setting and story are enough to separate it, while the gameplay remains familiar.

-Samuel Axon

Avowed

Obsidian Entertainment; Windows, Xbox Series X|S

No game this year has made me feel as hated as Avowed. As an envoy for the far-off Aedryan empire, your role in Avowed is basically to be hated, either overtly or subtly, by almost everyone you encounter in the wild, semi-colonized world of the Living Lands. The low-level hum of hatred and mistrust from the citizens permeates everything you do in the game, which is an unsettling feeling in a genre usually characterized by the moral certitude of heroes fighting world-ending evil.

Role-playing aside, Avowed is helpfully carried by its strong action-packed combat system, characterized as it is by thrilling moment-to-moment positional jockeying and the juggling of magic spells, ranged weapons, and powerful close-range melee attacks. The game’s quest system also does a good job of letting players balance this combat difficulty for themselves—if a goal is listed with three skull symbols on your menu, you’d best put it off until you’ve leveled up a little bit more.

I can take or leave the mystical mumbo-jumbo-filled subplot surrounding your status as a “godlike” being that can converse with spirits. Aside from that, though, I’ve never had so much fun being hated.

-Kyle Orland

Baby Steps

Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy; Windows, PS5

The term “walking simulator” often gets thrown around in some game criticism circles as a derisive term for a title that’s about nothing more than walking around and looking at stuff. While Baby Steps might technically fit into that “walking simulator” model, stereotyping it in that way does this incredibly inventive game a disservice.

It starts with the walking itself, which requires meticulous, rhythmic manipulation of both shoulder buttons and both analog sticks just to stay upright. Super Mario 64, this ain’t. But what starts as a struggle to take just a few short steps quickly becomes almost habitual, much like learning to walk in real life.

The game then starts throwing new challenges at your feet. Slippery surfaces. Narrow stairways with tiny footholds. Overhangs that block your ridiculously useless, floppy upper body. The game’s relentless mountain is designed such that a single missed step can ruin huge chunks of progress, in the proud tradition of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.

This all might sound needlessly cruel and frustrating, but trust me, it’s worth sticking with to the end. That’s in part for the feeling of accomplishment when you do finally make it past that latest seemingly impossible wall, and partly to experience an absolutely gonzo story that deals directly and effectively with ideas of masculinity, perseverance, and society itself. You’ll never be so glad to take that final step.

-Kyle Orland

Ball x Pit

Kenny Sun; Windows, MacOS, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2

The idea of bouncing a ball against a block is one of the most tried-and-true in all of gaming, from the basic version in the ancient Breakout to the number-filled angles of Holedown. But perhaps no game has made this basic concept as compulsively addictive as Ball x Pit.

Here, the brick-breaking genre is crossed with the almost as storied shoot-em-up, with the balls serving as your weapons and the blocks as enemies that march slowly but relentlessly from the top of the screen to the bottom. The key to destroying those blocks all in time is bouncing your growing arsenal of new balls at just the right angles to maximize their damage-dealing impact and catching them again so you can throw them once more that much faster.

Like so many roguelikes before it, Ball x Pit uses randomization as the core of its compulsive loop, letting you choose from a wide selection of new abilities and ball-based attacks as you slowly level up. But Ball x Pit goes further than most in letting you fuse and combine those balls into unique combinations that take dozens of runs to fully uncover and combine effectively.

Add in a deep system of semi-permanent upgrades (with its own intriguing “bounce balls around a city builder” mini game) and a deep range of more difficult settings and enemies to slowly unlock, and you have a game whose addictive pull will last much longer than you might expect from the simple premise.

-Kyle Orland

Blue Prince

Dogubomb; Windows, MacOS, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

Usually, when formulating a list like this, you can compare a title to an existing game or genre as a shorthand to explain what’s going on to newcomers. That’s nearly impossible with Blue Prince, a game that combines a lot of concepts to defy easy comparison to games that have come before it.

At its core, Blue Prince is about solving the mysteries of a house that you build while exploring it, drafting the next room from a selection of three options every time you open a new door. Your initial goal, if you can call it that, is to discover and access the mysterious “Room 46” that apparently exists somewhere on the 45-room grid. And while the houseplan you’re building resets with every in-game day, the knowledge you gain from exploring those rooms stays with you, letting you make incremental progress on a wide variety of puzzles and mysteries as you rebuild the mansion from scratch again and again.

What starts as a few simple and relatively straightforward puzzles quickly unfolds fractally into a complex constellation of conundrums, revealed slowly through scraps of paper, in-game books, inventory items, interactive machinery, and incidental background elements. Figuring out the more intricate mysteries of the mansion requires careful observation and, often, filling a real-life mad scientist’s notepad with detailed notes that look incomprehensible to an outsider. All the while, you have to manage each day’s limited resources and luck-of-the-draw room drafting to simply find the right rooms to make the requisite progress.

Getting to that storied Room 46 is enough to roll the credits on Blue Prince, and it serves as an engaging enough puzzle adventure in its own right. But that whole process could be considered a mere tutorial for a simply massive endgame, which is full of riddles that will perplex even the most experienced puzzlers while slowly building a surprisingly deep story of political intrigue and spycraft through some masterful environmental storytelling.

Some of those extreme late-game puzzles might be too arcane for their own good, honestly, and will send many players scrambling for a convenient guide or wiki for some hints. But even after playing for over 100 hours over two playthroughs, I’m pretty sure I’m still not done exploring all that Blue Prince has to offer.

-Kyle Orland

Civilization VII

Firaxis; Windows, MacOS, Linux, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S, Switch 2

This one will be controversial: I love Civilization VII.

Civilization VII launched as a bit of a mess. There were bugs and UI shortcomings aplenty. Most (but not all) of those have been addressed in the months since, but they’re not the main reason this is a tricky pick.

The studio behind the Civilization franchise, Firaxis, has long said it has a “33/33/33″ approach to sequels in the series, wherein 33 percent of the game should be familiar systems, 33 percent should be remixes or improvements of familiar systems, and 33 percent should be entirely new systems.

Critics of Civilization VII say Firaxis broke that 33/33/33 rule by overweighting the last 33 percent, mainly to chase innovations in the 4X genre by other games (like Humankind). I don’t disagree, but I also welcome it.

Credit is due to the team at Firaxis for ingeniously solving some longstanding design problems in the franchise, like using the new age transitions to curb snowballing and to expunge systems that become a lot less fun in the late game than they are in the beginning. Judged on its own terms, Civilization VII is a deep, addictive, and fun strategy game that I’ve spent more than 100 hours playing this year.

My favorite Civ game remains Civilization IV, but that game still runs fine on modern systems, is infinitely replayable out of the box, and enjoys robust modding support. I simply didn’t need more of the same from this particular franchise; to me, VII coexists with IV and others on my hard drive—very different flavors of the same idea.

-Samuel Axon

CloverPit

Panik Arcade; Windows, Xbox Series X|S

I’m not sure I like what my minor CloverPit obsession says about me. When I fell into a deep Balatro hole last year, I could at least delude myself into thinking there was some level of skill in deciding which jokers to buy and sell, which cards to add or prune from my deck, and which cards to hold and discard. In the end, though, I was as beholden to the gods of random number generation as any other Balatro player.

Cloverpit makes the surrender to the vagaries of luck all the more apparent, replacing the video-poker-like systems of Balatro with a “dumb” slot machine whose handle you’re forced to pull over and over again. Sure, there are still decisions to make, mostly regarding which lucky charms you purchase from a vending machine on the other side of the room. And there is some skill involved in learning and exploiting lucky charm synergies to extract the highest expected value from those slot machine pulls.

Once you’ve figured out those basic strategies, though, CloverPit mostly devolves into a series of rerolls waiting for the right items to show up in the shop in the right order. Thankfully, the game hides plenty of arcane secrets beneath its charming PS1-style spooky-horror presentation, slowly revealing new items and abilities that hint that something deeper than just accumulating money might be the game’s true end goal.

It’s this creepy vibe and these slowly unfolding secrets that have compelled me to pour dozens of hours into what is, in the end, just a fancy slot machine simulator. God help me.

-Kyle Orland

Consume Me

Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson; Windows, MacOS

Jenny is your average suburban Asian-American teenager, struggling to balance academic achievement, chores, an overbearing mother, romantic entanglements, and a healthy body image. What sounds like the premise for a cliché young adult novel actually serves to set up a compelling interactive narrative disguised as a mere mini-game collection.

Consume Me brilliantly integrates the conflicting demands placed on Jenny’s time and attention into the gameplay itself. Creating a balanced meal, for instance, becomes a literal test of balancing vaguely Tetris-shaped pieces of food on a tray, satisfying your hunger and caloric limits at the same time. Chores take up time but give you money you can spend on energy drinks that let you squeeze in more activities by staying up late (but can lead to debilitating headaches). A closet full of outfits becomes an array of power-ups to your time, energy, or focus.

It takes almost preternatural resource management skills and mini-game execution to satisfy all the expectations being placed on you, which is kind of the meta-narrative point. No matter how well you do, Jenny’s story develops in a way that serves as a touching semi-autobiographical look at the life of co-creator Jenny Jiao Hsia. That biography is made all the more sympathetic here for an interactive presentation that’s more engaging than any young adult novel could be.

-Kyle Orland

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Kojima Productions; PS5

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach should not be fun. Much like its predecessor, the latest release from famed game designer Hideo Kojima is about delivering packages—at least on the surface. Yet the process of planning your routes, managing inventory, and exploring an unfathomably strange post-apocalyptic world remains a winning formula.

The game again follows Sam Porter Bridges (played by Norman Reedus) on his quest to reconnect the world as humanity faces possible extinction. And yes, that means acting like a post-apocalyptic Amazon Prime. Standing in the way of an on-time delivery are violent raiders, dangerous terrain, and angry, disembodied spirits known as Beached Things.

It’s common to hear Death Stranding described as a walking simulator, and there is indeed a lot of walking, but the sequel introduces numerous quality-of-life improvements that make it more approachable. Death Stranding 2 has a robust fast-travel mechanic and better vehicles to save you from unnecessary marches, and the inventory management system is less clunky. That’s important in a game that asks you to traverse an entire continent to deliver cargo.

Beyond the core gameplay loop of stacking heavy boxes on your back, Death Stranding 2 has all the Kojima vibes you could want. There are plenty of quirky gameplay mechanics and long cutscenes that add depth to the characters and keep the story moving. The world of Death Stranding has been designed from the ground up around the designer’s flights of fancy, and it works—even the really weird stuff almost makes sense!

Along the way, Death Stranding 2 has a lot to say about grief, healing, and the value of human connection. The game’s most poignant cutscenes are made all the more memorable by an incredible soundtrack, and we cannot oversell the strength of the mocap performances.

It may take 100 hours or more to experience everything the game has to offer, but it’s well worth your time.

-Ryan Whitwam

Donkey Kong Bananza

Nintendo EPD; Switch 2

Since the days of Donkey Kong Country, I’ve always felt that Mario’s original ape antagonist wasn’t really up for anchoring a Mario-level platform franchise. Donkey Kong Bananza is the first game to really make me doubt that take.

Bonanza is a great showcase for the new, more powerful hardware on the Switch 2, with endlessly destructible environments that send some impressive-looking shiny shrapnel flying when they’re torn apart. It can’t be understated how cathartic it is to pound tunnels up, down, and through pretty much every floor, ceiling, and wall you see, mashing the world itself to suit your needs.

Bonanza also does a good job aping Super Mario Odyssey’s tendency to fill practically every square inch of space with collectible doodads and a wide variety of challenges. This is not a game where you need to spend a lot of time aimlessly wandering for the next thing to do—there’s pretty much always something interesting around the next corner until the extreme end game.

Sure, the camera angles and frame rate might suffer a bit during the more chaotic bits. But it’s hard to care when you’re having this much fun just punching your way through Bananza’s imaginative, colorful, and malleable world.

-Kyle Orland

Doom: The Dark Ages

Id Software; Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

For a series that has always been about dodging, Doom: The Dark Ages is much more about standing your ground. The game’s key verbs involve raising your shield to block incoming attacks or, ideally, parrying them back in the direction they came.

It’s a real “zig instead of zag” moment for the storied Doom series, and it does take some getting used to. Overall, though, I had a great time mixing in turtle-style blocking with the habitual pattern of circling-strafing around huge groups of enemies in massive arenas and quickly switching between multiple weapons to deal with them as efficiently as possible. While I missed the focus on extreme verticality of the last two Doom games, I appreciate the new game’s more open-world design, which gives completionist players a good excuse to explore every square inch of these massive environments for extra challenges and hidden collectibles.

The only real problem with Doom: The Dark Ages comes when the game occasionally transitions to a slow-paced mech-style demon battle or awkward flying dragon section, sometimes for entire levels at a time. Those variations aside, I came away very satisfied with the minor change in focus for a storied shooter series.

-Kyle Orland

Dragonsweeper

Daniel Benmergui; Javascript

Anyone who has read my book-length treatise on Minesweeper knows I’m a sucker for games that involve hidden threats within a grid of revealed numbers. But not all variations on this theme are created equal. Dragonsweeper stands out from the crowd by incorporating a simple but arcane world of RPG-style enemies and items into its logical puzzles.

Instead of simply counting the number of nearby mines, each number revealed on the Dragonsweeper grid reflects the total health of the surrounding enemies, both seen and unseen. Attacking those enemies means enduring predictable counterattacks that deplete your limited health bar, which you can grow through gradual leveling until you’re strong enough to kill the game’s titular dragon, taunting you from the center of the field.

Altogether, it adds an intriguing new layer to the logical deduction, forcing you to carefully manage your moves to maximize the impact of your attacks and the limited health-restoring items scattered throughout the field. And while finishing one run isn’t too much of a challenge, completing the game’s optional achievements and putting together a “perfect” game score is enough to keep puzzle lovers coming back for hours and hours of compelling logical deduction.

-Kyle Orland

Elden Ring: Nightreign

FromSoftware; Windows, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S

At first blush, Nightreign feels like a twisted perversion of everything that has made FromSoft’s Souls series so compelling for so many years. What was a slow-paced, deliberate open-world RPG has become a game about quickly sprinting across a quickly contracting map, leveling up as quickly as possible before taking on punishing bosses. A moody solitary experience has become one that practically requires a group of three players working together. It’s like an Elden Ring-themed amusement park that seems to miss the point of the original.

Whatever. It still works!

Let the purists belly ache about how it’s not really Elden Ring. They’re right, but they’re missing the point. Nightreign condenses the general vibe of the Elden Ring world into something very different but no less enjoyable. What’s more, it packs that vibe into a tight experience that can be easily squeezed into a 45-minute sprint rather than requiring dozens of hours of deep exploration.

That makes it the perfect excuse to get together with a few like-minded Elden Ring-loving friends, throw on a headset, and just tear through the Lands Between together for the better part of an evening. As Elden Ring theme parks go, you could do a lot worse.

-Kyle Orland

Ghost of Yotei

Sucker Punch Productions; PS5

Ghost of Yotei from Sucker Punch Productions starts as a revenge tale, featuring hard-as-nails Atsu on the hunt for the outlaws who murdered her family. While there is plenty of revenge to be had in the lands surrounding Mount Yotei, the people Atsu meets and the stories they have to tell make this more than a two-dimensional quest for blood.

The game takes place on the northern Japanese island of Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido) several centuries after the developer’s last samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima. It has a lot in common with that title, but Ghost of Yotei was built for the PS5 and features a massive explorable world and stunning visuals. It’s easy to get sidetracked from your quest just exploring Ezo and tinkering with the game’s photo mode.

The land of Ezo avoids some of the missteps seen in other open-world games. While it’s expansive and rich with points of interest, exploring it is not tedious. There are no vacuous fetch quests or mindless collecting (or loading screens, for that matter). Even when you think you know what you’re going to find at a location, you may be surprised. The interesting side quests and random encounters compel you to keep exploring Ezo.

Ghost of Yotei’s combat is just as razor-sharp as its exploration. It features multiple weapon types, each with unlockable abilities and affinities that make them ideal for taking on certain foes. Brute force will only get you so far, though. You need quick reactions to parry enemy attacks and strike back—it’s challenging and rewarding but not frustrating.

It’s impossible to play Ghost of Yotei without becoming invested in the journey, and a big part of that is thanks to the phenomenal voice work of Erika Ishii as Atsu. Some of the game’s pivotal moments will haunt you, but luckily, the developer has just added a New Game+ mode so you can relive them all again.

-Ryan Whitwam

Hades 2

Supergiant Games; Windows, MacOS, Switch, Switch 2

There’s a moment in the second section of Hades 2 where you start to hear a haunting melody floating through the background. That music gets louder and louder until you reach the game’s second major boss, a trio of sirens that go through a full rock-opera showtune number as you dodge their bullet-hell attacks and look for openings to go in for the kill. That three-part musical presentation slowly dwindles to a solo as you finally dispatch the sirens one by one, restoring a surprisingly melancholy silence once more.

It’s this and other musical moments casually and effortlessly woven through Hades 2 that will stick with me the most. But the game stands on its own beyond the musicality, expanding the original game’s roguelike action with a compelling new spell system that lets you briefly capture or slow enemies in a binding circle. This small addition adds a new sense of depth to the moment-to-moment positional dance that was already so compelling in the original Hades.

Hades 2 also benefits greatly from the introduction of Melinoe, a compelling new protagonist who gets fleshed out through her relationship with the usual rogue’s gallery of gods and demigods. Come for her quest of self-discovery, stay for the moments of musical surprise.

-Kyle Orland

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Team Cherry; Windows, MacOS, Linux, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2

Piece of cake.

Credit: Team Cherry

A quickie sequel in the year or two after Hollow Knight’s out-of-nowhere success in 2017 might have been able to get away with just being a more-of-the-same glorified expansion pack. But after over eight years of overwhelming anticipation from fans, Silksong had to really be something special to live up to its promise.

Luckily, it is. Silksong is a beautiful expansion of the bug-scale underground universe created in the first game. Every new room is a work of painterly beauty, with multiple layers of detailed 2D art drawing you further into its intricate and convincing fallen world.

The sprawling map seems to extend forever in every direction, circling back around and in on itself with plenty of optional alleyways in which to get lost searching for rare power-ups. And while the game is a punishingly hard take on action platforming, there’s usually a way around the most difficult reflex tests for players willing to explore and think a bit outside the box.

Even players who hit a wall and never make it through the sprawling tunnels of Silksong’s labyrinthine underground will still find plenty of memorable moments in whatever portion of the game they do experience.

-Kyle Orland

The King Is Watching

Hypnohead; Windows

A lot of good resource tiles there, but the king can only look at six at a time.

Credit: Hypnohead / Steam

In a real-time-strategy genre that can often feel too bloated and complex for its own good, The King Is Watching is a streamlined breath of fresh air. Since the entire game takes place on a single screen, there’s no need to constantly pan and zoom your camera around a sprawling map. Instead, you can stay laser-focused on your 5×5 grid of production space and on which portion of it is actively productive under the king’s limited gaze at any particular moment.

Arranging tiles to maximize that production of basic resources and military units quickly becomes an all-consuming juggling act, requiring constant moment-to-moment decisions that can quickly cascade through a run. I’m also a big fan of the game’s self-selecting difficulty system, which asks you to choose how many enemies you think you can take in coming waves, doling out better rewards for players who are willing to push themselves to the limit of their current capabilities.

The bite-size serving of a single King Is Watching run ensures that even failure doesn’t feel too crushing. And success brings with it just enough in the way of semi-permanent ability expansions to encourage another run where you can reach even greater heights of production and protection.

-Kyle Orland

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Warhorse Studios; Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a slog that I had to will myself to complete. It was sometimes a broken and janky game, but despite its warts, I saw the potential for something special. And that’s what its sequel, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, has delivered.

While it’s still a slow burn, the overall experience has been greatly refined, the initial challenge has been smoothed out, and I’ve rarely been more immersed in an RPG’s storytelling. There’s no filler, as every story beat and side quest offers a memorable tale that further paints the setting and characters of medieval Bohemia.

Unlike most RPGs, there’s no magic to be had, which is a big part of the game’s charm. As Henry of Skalitz, you are of meager social standing, and many characters you speak to will be quick to remind you of it. While Henry is a bit better off than his humble beginnings in the first game, you’re no demigod that can win a large battle single-handedly. In fact, you’ll probably lose fairly often in the early goings if more than one person is attacking you.

Almost every fight is a slow dance once you’re in a full suit of armor, and your patience and timing will be the key to winning over the stats of your equipment. But therein lies the beauty of KC:D II: Every battle you pick, whether physical or verbal, carries some weight to your experience and shapes Bohemia for better or worse.

-Jacob May

Mario Kart World

Nintendo; Switch 2

After the incredible success of Mario Kart 8 and its various downloadable content packs on the Switch, Nintendo could have easily done a prettier “more of the same” sequel as the launch-window showcase for the Switch 2. Instead, the company took a huge gamble in trying to transform Mario Kart’s usual distinct tracks into a vast, interconnected open world.

This conceit works best in “Free Roam” mode, where you can explore the outskirts of the standard tracks and the wide open spaces in between for hundreds of mini-challenges that test your driving speed and precision. Add in dozens of collectible medallions and outfits hidden in hard-to-reach corners, and the mode serves as a great excuse to explore every nook and cranny of a surprisingly detailed and fleshed-out world map.

I was also a big fan of Knockout Mode, which slowly whittles a frankly overwhelming field of 24 initial racers to a single winner through a series of endurance rally race checkpoints. These help make up for a series of perplexing changes that hamper the tried-and-true Battle Mode formula and long straightaway sections that feel more than a little bit stifling in the standard Grand Prix mode. Still, Free Roam mode had me happily whiling away dozens of hours with my new Switch 2 this year.

-Kyle Orland

Sektori

Kimmo Lahtinen; Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

For decades now, I’ve been looking for a twin-stick shooter that fully captures the compulsive thrill of the Geometry Wars franchise. Sektori, a late-breaking addition to this year’s top games list, is the first game I can say does so without qualification.

Like Geometry Wars, Sektori has you weaving through a field filled with simple shapes that quickly fill your personal space with ruthless efficiency. But Sektori advances that basic premise with an elegant “strike” system that lets you dash through encroaching enemies and away from danger with the tap of a shoulder button. Advanced players can get a free, instant strike refill by dashing into an upgrade token, and stringing those strikes together creates an excellent risk-vs-reward system of survival versus scoring.

Sektori also features an excellent Gradius-style upgrade system that forces you to decide on the fly whether to take basic power-ups or save up tokens for more powerful weaponry and/or protection further down the line. And just when the basic gameplay threatens to start feeling stale, the game throws in a wide variety of bosses and new modes that mix things up just enough to keep you twitching away.

Throw in an amazing soundtrack and polished presentation that makes even the most crowded screens instantly comprehensible, and you have a game I can see myself coming back to for years—until my reflexes are just too shot to keep up with the frenetic pace anymore.

-Kyle Orland

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Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Saturday 27 December 2025 at 4:10 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

One trend we have seen in recent years is that Apple is slowly drifting away from concentrated launches to releasing new products throughout the year. In the past, most of Apple's launches happened around WWDC or in September alongside the latest iPhone.

Let's talk about what Apple launched in 2025. It has been a big year for the company, and alongside various expected products, we saw Apple unwrapping its home-baked wireless chips for the iPhone to replace third-party ones.

Here's a roundup of everything that Apple launched in 2025:

January

• Apple Fitness+ features: Apple kicked off 2025 with some updates for Fitness+, bringing new programs for pickleball, strength, yoga, and breath meditation. It collaborated with Strava to offer enhanced integration, showing rich details for Fitness+ workouts, such as episode image, music genre, trainer name, and metrics.
• 2025 Black Unity Collection: The Cupertino giant unveiled a new Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop with a matching watch face, and iPhone/iPad wallpapers to honor Black History Month.
• New Apple Stores: January was particularly dry for Apple, as it didn't plan any hardware or major software launches at the start of the year. However, the company opened two new retail stores: Apple Miami Worldcenter and Apple MixC Hefei in China.

February

• iPhone 16e: Apple launched the iPhone 16e ($599) and marked the end of the Lightning connector on its smartphones. It also said goodbye to the 'SE' branding, which had long represented iPhones in the budget segment. iPhone 16e lacks MagSafe but features the first Apple-designed cellular modem, Apple C1.
• Massive investment in the US: Apple announced a $500 billion mega-investment over the next four years to boost R&D, server manufacturing, Apple TV production, and other initiatives on American soil.
• Apple Invites: It's a new app from Apple that lets iPhone users create custom invitations for friends and family, contribute to Shared Albums, and engage with Apple Music Playlists. Apple Invites supports iPhones running iOS 18 and later, but only iCloud+ subscribers can create new invitations through the app.
• Apple TV for Android: While some might still fear the Apple walled garden, enough holes have developed in it. One of the latest ones is the Apple TV app for Android devices, which lets you stream Apple Original movies, TV shows, MLS, and Friday Night Baseball games.
• Apple Health Study: Apple partnered with Brigham and Women’s Hospital on a new study analyzing how technology products like iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch can improve people's physical and mental well-being.
• Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro: Apple's suite of generative AI features hasn't been the biggest spark on the market. But the company is pushing Apple Intelligence across its lineup, bringing it to the $3,499 Vision Pro headset. The rollout of Apple Intelligence occurred in March with the release of visionOS 2.4.
• News+ Food: The new Food section in Apple News+ lets you access thousands of recipes, restaurant reviews, and kitchen tips from top publishers and content curated by Apple News editors. Following the February announcement, the section was rolled out to iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April.

March

• New Mac Studio, M3 Ultra: Apple unveiled the new Mac Studio at the start of the month, loaded with its freshly-baked M3 Ultra chip, which delivers up to 2.6x the performance of M1 Ultra. The desktop computer features Thunderbolt 5 and supports up to 512 GB of Unified Memory.
• M4 MacBook Air: Apple also refreshed MacBook Air with the M4 chip and lowered the starting price tag to $999 for the 13-inch variant. The lightweight laptop offers 16GB Unified Memory in the base model and a new 12MP Center Stage camera.
• M3 iPad Air: It's called Air, but it's no longer Apple's lightest. Apple updated the iPad Air this year with the M3 chip, delivering up to 2x faster performance than the M1 iPad Air and supporting hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
• 11th Gen iPad: Apple's $349 budget iPad also got a refresh with the A16 chip and 128GB base storage, which is double that of the iPad 10.
• Lossless Audio to AirPods Max: Apple also pushed a software update in March to add lossless audio and ultra-low-latency audio to AirPods Max. You can enjoy the top-tier lossless audio for listening, gaming, livestreaming, and music production when the AirPods Max are connected via USB-C cable.
• Apple Music: DJ with Apple Music lets you use songs from Apple Music to prepare and play sets on supported DJ software and hardware. Its sibling, Apple Music Classical, got a new web player that lets users play songs directly in a web browser.
• What else? Apart from this, the company released a new Apple Immersive Video for Vision Pro, featuring iconic songs from the popular band Metallica. The immersive concert experience was filmed during Metallica's M72 World Tour, featuring complete performances of Whiplash, One, and Enter Sandman.

April

• Apple Watch turns 10: The Cupertino giant is so old that many of its active products are now a few decades in age. Apple Watch turned 10 this year, following its original launch on April 24, 2015. Those who closed all their rings on April 24 this year got a special 'Global Close Your Rings Day' limited-edition award and animated stickers for Messages.
• Reduced Greenhouse Emissions: In line with its goal of becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2030, Apple announced a 60% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2015 levels. Interestingly, Apple removed the "carbon neutral" label from some of its products later in the year, after facing legal trouble in the EU.
• Apple Maps Web: Apple Maps for Web became generally available for everyone after exiting its testing phase in April.
• Dolby Atmos for Windows: The Apple Music Windows app was updated to support Dolby Atmos almost four years after it was added to iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

May

• Accessibility features: Apple announced a platter of new accessibility features for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other devices. Building on Eye Tracking, Apple introduced Head Tracking, Accessibility Nutrition Labels, a new Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, alongside updates to Vehicle Motion Cues and other existing features.
• New features in Apple Maps: The home-baked mapping app was updated to show insights, ratings, and reviews from industry expert sources, allowing users to find MICHELIN-starred restaurants, hotels, and golf courses.
• CarPlay Ultra: Apple finally debuted its long-awaited automobile upgrade through Aston Martin. CarPlay Ultra integrates deeply with the car's system and takes over all driver screens, offering dynamic options for the speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, temperature, and other features.
• Videos on CarPlay: Apple officially made it possible to watch videos on your car's infotainment screen by announcing AirPlay support for CarPlay (added in iOS 26). For obvious reasons, the feature only plays videos when the vehicle is parked.
• Self-Service for iPad: Apple runs self-repair programs for several products, and the iPad was added to the list in May. This means you can get repair manuals, genuine Apple parts, Apple Diagnostics troubleshooting sessions, and rental toolkits for your supported model directly from the company.
• Sound Therapy: Apple partnered with Universal Music Group to publish Apple Music playlists that help people Relax, Sleep, and Focus. In Apple's own words, the Sound Therapy collection "leverages cognitive science" and adds "subtle auditory beats to well-known curated tracks."
• Viral Chart playlist: It's another specialized Apple Music playlist launched in the same month. The Shazam-based 'Viral Chart' playlist (updated daily) features trending songs from social media platforms, streaming services, and other sources.
• New Logic Pro features: Apple updated Logic Pro for Mac and iPad with new features for beat-making and production, including greater audio fidelity for the Stem Splitter and Flash Capture, which can retrieve and restore recordings a creator may have forgotten to record.
• 2025 Pride Collection: Apple launched a new Pride Edition Sport Band for Apple Watch, paired with a Pride Harmony watch face and an iPhone/iPad wallpaper.
• App Store numbers: Apple saved over $9 billion from fraudulent transactions on the App Store over the past five years. It also revealed that the App Store ecosystem in the US has tripled from $142 billion (2019) to $406 billion (2024).

June

• New Software: At WWDC 25, Apple showcased its collection of the latest software upgrades for 2025. One common thread is the new Liquid Glass design language, Apple's biggest visual update in years, and reminiscent of the good old Windows Vista.
• Version 26: The company renamed all of its operating systems to version 26 to further streamline its ecosystem: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.
• New Apps: This year, we got to see some brand new Apple apps: Preview, Apple Games, and Image Playground.
• AirPods features: Apple's wireless earbuds also gained several new features, including the ability to serve as a camera remote for your iPhone/iPad and to record studio-quality audio.
• Apple Intelligence features: The AI suite was updated with the new Live Translation feature across Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls. Visual Intelligence can now access a user's iPhone screen to answer questions.
• Apple Music turns 10: Apple's music streaming service is now ten years old, and the company celebrated the occasion by launching a 15,000-square-foot studio space in Los Angeles for artists and creators.
• Child safety features: Apple has made it easier to manage child accounts, shows updated age ratings on the App Store, and allows parents to share their kids' ages with apps to get age-appropriate content.

July

• AppleCare One: Similar to Apple One, AppleCare One provides "one-stop support and service" for all Apple products you own for a single monthly payment. It covers up to three devices for $19.99/mo, and you can add more devices for $5.99/mo each.
• Apple sues popular leaker: Apple sued Jon Prosser for allegedly gaining access to development builds of iOS 26 (then known as iOS 19). Prosser uploaded several videos to his YouTube channel discussing the unreleased software update.
• More legal battles: The iPhone maker won a lawsuit claiming that it misled customers about iCloud+ storage plans. It also sued a former Vision Pro engineer for allegedly stealing trade secrets before joining Snap.
• Emoji Game: Apple News+ got a new puzzle called Emoji Game that challenges you to complete short phrases using emojis.
• 81 Emmy Nominations: Apple's original content catalog may not be as big as that of Netflix or Prime Video, but it managed to score 81 Emmy nominations for Severance, The Studio, Shrinking, and other shows.
• New recycling facility: As part of its $500 billion mega-investment in the US, Apple set up a new $500 million recycling facility in Mountain Pass, California, to process rare-earth elements in partnership with MP Materials.
• Manufacturing Academy: Apple also announced a new Manufacturing Academy in Detroit, offering free training and support to American businesses and manufacturers. It focuses on using machine learning, deep learning, automation, and other technologies for the manufacturing industry.
• Online store expansion: Apple Store's website and app launched in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in July. The company started offering direct support in Arabic for the first time.
• Jeff Williams' departure: Apple announced a major transition in its senior ranks as Jeff Williams prepared to retire. The company appointed Sabih Khan as the new Chief Operating Officer, while Williams shifted his focus to design and Health initiatives until retirement in November 2025.

August

• $600 billion investment in the US: Apple added $100 billion to its massive $500 billion investment package announced earlier in 2025. The company also partnered with Corning to manufacture 100% of the iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass sold worldwide in the US.
• Update on Blood Oxygen sensor: Apple released a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 in the US, after the company was banned from selling specific models due to a patent dispute with Masimo.
• Apple Cinemas dragged to court: The Cupertino giant sued a US-based movie theater chain operating as "Apple Cinemas" over alleged trademark infringement and wanting to "capitalize on the highly-regarded Apple brand."
• New Apple store: Apple is spreading its presence in one of the world's largest smartphone markets. It opened a new Apple Hebbal retail store in Bengaluru, which is known as India's Silicon Valley.

September

• iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max: September is one of Apple's biggest months every year when the Cupertino giant refreshes its mobile device lineup. In 2025, we saw the new iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max, which can cost up to a whopping $2,000.
• iPhone Air: It's a new member of Apple's family and the thinnest iPhone to date. Apple's senior executives were very confident the device would not bend and embarrass the company as the iPhone 6 did.
• AirPods Pro 3: Another highlight of this year's iPhone event was the AirPods Pro 3, featuring new sensors onboard to track your heart rate during workouts. While these foam-infused earbuds are almost impossible to repair, Apple won't charge more than it did for previous models to fix them.
  Read our detailed specs comparison to find out how the AirPods Pro 3 compare against AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 1.
• Apple Watch Ultra 3, SE 3, Series 11: Apple finally refreshed the Ultra and SE Apple Watches after a long dry season. While the Apple Watch Ultra 3 doesn't require cell towers for two-way communication, the Apple Watch SE 3 has added a wrist temperature sensor, like its pricier siblings.
• iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26: Apple released the respective software updates for different platforms announced at WWDC 2025, alongside a new Apple Sports widget for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
  Read our detailed guides on iOS 26 and 33 small and useful features in the latest iPhone update.
• Final Cut Camera 2.0: A major update to last year's Final Cut Camera app lets iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max users enjoy advanced video editing features like ProRes RAW and genlock.
• New immersive films: Apple announced new Vision Pro immersive video content featuring MotoGP's Tour De Force, Audi's Audi F1 Project, and titles from Red Bull, BBC, and HYBE.
• Apple Music import tool: Apple's home-baked music transfer tool went live. It lets you import your song collection from Spotify, YouTube Music, and other services to Apple Music.
• 2017 MBP goes obsolete: Apple added several old products to its vintage/obsolete lists ahead of the iPhone 17 launch, including the 256GB iPhone 8 Plus and the 2017 MacBook Pro 15-inch.
• New Apple Stores: In September, the company set up new bases in Mumbai with Apple Koregaon Park and Apple Ginza in Tokyo.
• What else? Apple also opened the Foundation Models Framework to third-party developers. The company criticized the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) by claiming that it reduces choice for EU users by making iOS look more like Android.

October

• M5 iPad Pro: The focus shifted to bigger screens in October with the launch of the M5 iPad Pro. Paired with faster storage, the upgraded chip delivers up to 3.5x the AI performance compared to the M4 iPad Pro. The cherry on top is the new N1 wireless chip designed by Apple.
• M5 Chip: The newest Apple Silicon is based on its third-generation 3nm technology, featuring a 10-core GPU architecture with a Neural Accelerator in each core to achieve 4x peak GPU compute compared to M4.
• M5 14-inch MacBook Pro: Apple unveiled a refreshed 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M5 chip, delivering up to 3.5x the AI performance and 1.6x faster graphics than M4.
• Upgraded Vision Pro, Dual Knit Band: The M5 chip also made its way to Apple's pricey spatial computing headset, along with the rumored Dual Knit Band for added comfort and NBA games in Apple's immersive video format.
• Don't call it Apple TV+: Apple renamed its streaming service from Apple TV+ to Apple TV. While it surprised and confused many users, it makes things simple for Apple, according to services chief Eddy Cue. The company also entered into a five-year partnership with Formula 1 to live-stream races on Apple TV.
• Long live Apple Clips: It's not all about launches. Apple pulled the plug on a lesser-known video editing app called Clips.

November

• Digital ID: iPhone users living in the US can create a Digital ID in Apple Wallet using their passport to get verified at airports and other places. However, privacy groups have warned of "unprecedented tracking" and "surveillance."
• iPhone Pocket: Apple unveiled a new iPhone accessory that looks more like a sling bag. iPhone Pocket can be used to carry an iPhone and other small items.
• 3D printed Apple Watch cases: Apple has started using 3D printing technology for Apple Watch cases. This year's Apple Watch Ultra 3 and titanium Series 11 cases are 3D-printed using 100% recycled aerospace-grade titanium powder.
• 2025 App Store Awards, Most Popular Podcasts: Apple published the list of the most popular apps and games on the App Store (winners announced in December), alongside the top podcasts charts of 2025. American rapper Tyler, The Creator, became Apple Music's Artist of the Year.

December

• Long Live iPhone SE: Apple added the original iPhone SE to its list of obsolete devices. This means the good old compact iPhone won't receive any hardware support or software updates from Apple.

• John Giannandrea to retire: Apple announced in early December that Giannandrea will step down from his role as SVP Machine Learning and AI Strategy, serving as a company advisor until retirement in Spring 2026. His team has been behind Apple's machine learning research and foundation models.

• New General Counsel: While the iPhone-maker is looking for Tim Cook's successor, it announced that Jennifer Newstead will take over as Apple's General Counsel in March 2026, following the retirement of Kate Adams. Newstead is a former legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State and former Chief Legal Officer at Meta.

• App Store changes in Japan: It seems the ripple effect of EU laws is reaching other countries. Apple announced several big changes, including support for alternative app stores and billing systems.

• More Ads in App Store: Apple is set to introduce additional ad slots within App Store search results starting in 2026. While beneficial for those buying ad placements, it could push organic results further down the list.

• Apple Fitness+ expansion: Apple started the year with Fitness+ and is ending the year with the same. In its largest expansion since the service launched, Fitness+ arrived in 28 new markets, including Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Taiwan.

   

So, these were all the new products and news related to Apple in 2025. There were some fun moments too, when we saw Google mocking Apple for its delayed AI features and Apple's dig at Microsoft by making fun of the infamous BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

That said, Apple is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone and iPad in the coming years. The company might ditch the SIM tray and Face ID in favor of a side-mounted Touch ID for its foldable. Moreover, delayed Siri upgrades have postponed Apple's rumored Smart Home Hub. Let's wait to see what Apple has in store for 2026.

Note: This list is not exhaustive and may not include minor updates.

What's your favorite Apple product from 2025? Tell us in the comments.

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Posted Saturday 27 December 2025 at 4:08 am AEST (my time).

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As spotted in a Telegram group, Google says that it's already rolling out a feature that lets you change your email address, and it's not just for your custom emails.

Up until now, Google has allowed you to switch between different aliases for your emails, but you couldn't change your “@gmail.com” address.

Google wants to fix this behaviour and give you greater control over your emails.

"The email address associated with your Google Account is the address you use to sign in to Google services. This email address helps you and others identify your account," Google explained. 

"If you’d like, you can change your Google Account email address that ends in gmail.com to a new email address that ends in gmail.com."

Google hasn't announced the feature officially yet, but it's fair to assume that it's actually rolling out, given there's a support document.

Limited rollout

This support document only appears in Hindi (Indian language), so it's possible it's being tested in India before wider rollout.

If you have access to the feature, you'll find it in the Settings, and the Settings page will include a link to the above support.

Gmail alternatives, such as Outlook and Proton, have always allowed users to switch between different aliases, and now it's Google's turn.

If you change your @gmail.com address, the original address will not stop working, and you'll likely have two @gmail.com addresses (aliases).

We don't know when Gmail's address change feature will roll out to everyone.

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Posted Friday 26 December 2025 at 3:30 am AEST (my time).

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been receiving early briefings for CES 2026, which will be held in Las Vegas in early January.

The good news is that there will be a bigger presence of PCs (Windows laptops, desktops, etc.) this year, with some truly exciting innovations from all the major companies. I can’t wait to share some of that information once the embargoes lift — despite the criticism Windows gets these days, Microsoft’s partners are working hard and creating some outstanding creations.

The bad news is, I can’t help but notice how different the tech space is in 2025 compared to 2015. More specifically, the era of “fans” seems to be over, replaced with disappointment, cynicism, and just fatigue over the non-stop onslaught of services, not to mention the dreaded AI buzzword.

Don’t get me wrong, tech fans had a negative side to it, too, but the reason fans existed is that they were passionate about the product, resulting in them acting more like ambassadors for the product than consumers.

Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

It appears that no month can come by without another round of issues in the latest Patch Tuesday updates. This time, Microsoft confirmed that KB5071546, the December 2025 Security Update for Windows 10, Server 2019, and Server 2016, breaks Message Queuing (MSMQ). However, this bug was quickly resolved with the out-of-band KB5074976 update. On the bright side for Windows Server, however, Microsoft implemented native NVMe support for significant performance improvements.

Speaking of December 2025 updates, KB5072033 for Windows 11 versions 25H2 and 24H2 made Appxsvc run at startup, which could potentially cause problems with resource consumption, just like the Delivery Optimization service. We are not done with issues, though, as Google also reported a security issue, which Microsoft failed to patch in Windows 11.

Microsoft also published a support document that outlined various aspects of PC gaming, particularly hardware requirements and recommendations that will help you achieve optimal performance on your rig.

Finally, we have a recap of everything that Microsoft added to the Microsoft Store in 2025, including new features, performance improvements, and more.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Some updates are available for owners of certain LG TVs, but those updates are not welcome. Users report that recent software updates introduced a Microsoft Copilot app on the home screen, which cannot be uninstalled or removed. Yikes. Speaking of Copilot, here is an overview of all the new features that Microsoft added to Microsoft 365 Copilot in November and December 2025.

This week's Microsoft 365 updates include a new feature for PowerPoint that helps with complex presentations and a useful tool for OneNote that improves typing flexibility.

Mozilla has a new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. He offered some insights into the future of Firefox and how the company plans to implement AI as it strives to become the "world's most trusted software company."

If you feel jaded by AI and you wish to make Windows 11 as AI-free as possible, try this new third-party script that promises to clean your system of everything that Microsoft tries to shove down our throats so hard.

Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• NVIDIA 591.59 WHQL with a bunch of bug fixes in existing games, HDR, and more.

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

Steven Parker reviewed the GMKtec M7 Ultra, a mini PC with plenty of DDR5 memory, storage, and modern ports, all for just $470, which is a hell of an offer, given the current situation with RAM and storage prices.

Robbie Khan reviewed the FiiO JT7. These affordable and well-specced planar magnetic headphones sound great, cost little, and provide good comfort when wearing, and their small price completely justifies a few small cons.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

It is the end of the year, and every service is giving its users a recap (even app launchers now do that). Steam is no exception, and you can now generate your annual replay to check the gaming highlights of the year.

Microsoft released an update for the Xbox Wireless Headset, which introduced better audio with Bluetooth LE support, shared audio, a battery indicator, and more.

Valve had some important updates this week. For one, the company discontinued the entry-level Steam Deck with an LCD display. As such, the console now costs $549 instead of $399. The 32-bit Steam client for Windows has also been discontinued, and it will stop receiving updates on January 1, 2026.

GSC Game World released a big new update for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Called Stories Untold, the update brings a brand-new storyline with new quests, locations, characters, and more. The update arrived on all supported platforms on December 16, and you can get it now for free if you have the base game.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is another game that is getting a big expansion. Team Cherry announced the Sea of Sorrow expansion that is coming sometime in 2026. It will be a free update with new areas to explore, fresh bosses to beat, and more.

NVIDIA announced new games for the GeForce NOW streaming service. The latest additions include Fallout: New Vegas, Piner, For the King II, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, and more.

Finally, here is the latest Weekend PC Game Deals issue with plenty of holiday discounts, specials, freebies, and more. Steam is currently running its annual Winter Sale, so there are a lot of games with big discounts.

Other gaming news includes the following:

• Bungie announced the release date and price for Marathon.

• Larian's Divinity: Original Sin 2 is now playable natively on current-gen consoles.

• Winter is coming to Arc Raiders, making survival even harder for the next few weeks.

• Star Citizen Alpha 4.5 update is live with fresh engineering gameplay and VR support.

• Valve introduces a frog bard hero to DOTA 2 with a Guitar Hero-like ultimate.

   

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Posted Monday 22 December 2025 at 4:04 am AEST (my time).

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Paul's Hardware (1.54m subscribers)

December 21, 2025

Video length: 12m 05s

0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - December 21, 2025

1:37 Nvidia rumored to cut GPU supply 30-40% in early 2026

3:17 RAM Crisis Continues - Manufacturers Weigh In

5:46 Beware RAM Scams - “New” DDR5 kit hid DDR1 sticks and a fake weight plate 

TECH BRIEFS

7:37 AMD officially confirms fresh next-gen Zen 6 CPU details

8:14 AMD called to revive 5800X3D; 9850X3D appears at retailers with early pricing

9:24 Bad timing - Mini-ITX motherboard launches with four full-sized RAM slots

10:20 YouTube Shuts Down Channels Using AI To Create Fake Movie Trailers ► LINKS Nvidia rumored to cut GPU supply 30-40% in early 2026

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Clearly, this has not held true. Microsoft has also made it difficult to move old hardware to Windows 11, thanks to its rigid TPM 2.0 security chip requirement, which many older desktops and laptops lack. This has left quite a few Windows 10 users without an upgrade path to Microsoft's latest OS on their hardware, and Linux is picking up the slack, with distros like Zorin showing the numbers to prove it.

Microsoft's loss is Linux's gain

Among the many Linux distributions, from Fedora to Ubuntu, Zorin (based on Ubuntu) very much aims to be a replacement for Windows, and has been for many, many years. From its Windows 11-like taskbar to its very familiar-looking start menu, Zorin is built to make the transition from Windows to Linux as painless as possible.

In a world where many Windows 10 users are looking to jump ship to an OS that respects their privacy, not to mention their hardware (no matter its age), Zorin is likely one of the first distros a Linux-curious Windows user will look at. Given that Zorin has already crossed a million downloads, with 78% of those on Windows machines, one can assume that a good portion of those are users who have permanently switched from Microsoft to Linux. It would appear that the year of the mainstream Linux desktop may be upon us, and poetically, it's Microsoft's doing.

Some users argue that Microsoft limited Windows 11 by requiring TPM 2.0 to make more hardware sales, rather than for user safety. Sure, the security benefits of TPM, like Secure Boot, are good for preventing malicious software from loading at startup. However, when the choice is to either replace your perfectly functioning hardware so you can run Windows 11, or switch to a Linux distro; for many, the choice was seemingly pretty easy. This is especially true when no OS is truly secure to begin with.

Thank Valve for improving gaming on Linux machines

Thanks to Valve's push with the Steam Deck, a handheld gaming device that runs on Linux rather than Windows, Linux has become that much more viable. Not only has GPU driver support come a long way, thanks to Valve's push into Linux gaming (just look at AMD as a perfect example), but even AAA games like "Cyberpunk 2077" and "Baldur's Gate 3" have been developed with the Steam Deck and Linux in mind. Gaming on Linux is now that much more comparable to gaming on Windows, rounding out the OS as a full-time alternative. No longer can one claim there is a lack of games on Linux to hold them back from switching.

This is all thanks to WINE, a Windows emulator Valve forked into Proton, which is the meat of how Windows games run so well on Linux. Of course, WINE has its own usefulness, especially in distros like Zorin that aim to close the gap between Linux and Windows. So, for the same reason games work so well on Linux these days, it's also why you can run many of your favorite Windows apps directly in Linux. Zorin even takes this to the extreme with a user-friendly app called "Windows App Support" that can easily install .exe or .msi files as if they are native applications.

Web apps have closed the gap

Linux distros like Zorin have grown exponentially in popularity by targeting Windows users, and web apps have easily filled the gaps where native and WINE apps fall short. Linux is famous for not offering native applications like Photoshop, which comes down to Adobe refusing to make a Linux version, likely thanks to its low user count. The same goes for apps like Microsoft Office. The good news is that a lot of these job-dependent applications now offer web apps, which is why distros like Zorin include the ability to install progressive web apps out of the box, rather than relying on Chrome's built-in functionality. 

This way, you can run Zorin, which looks a lot like Windows, and add apps like Microsoft Office, Google Drive, Grammarly, and any other online services as a web app. That's the beauty of Linux (thanks to a feature from ChromeOS, which is built on top of Linux), rather than a corporation and its software controlling you. You instead control the OS, from what apps it uses, to what games it can play, all while mimicking a familiar user interface.

At the end of the day, it's easy to see why so many Windows users are checking out Linux distros like Zorin. When the choice is between spending a bunch of money to replace perfectly functional hardware, or simply moving to a new OS, many will opt for the latter. Now that Linux has finally caught up to the big boys in terms of drivers, games, and apps, there is little reason not to make the switch.

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Blizzard Entertainment president Johanna Faries wants the game developer to put out a couple of big launches every year, while focusing on its existing roster of franchises. 

That's according to an interview with Bloomberg, where Faries discussed the studio's work under Xbox and how planning is happening for the next few years. Faries stepped into her role in January 2024, joining from the Activision side of Activision Blizzard King, where she formerly managed the Call of Duty franchise. 

Faries notes that she is thinking in "five-year terms," and that she wants Blizzard to continue expanding its lineup of games across established worlds. 

"We have iconic IP and in many ways it still has a lot of room to scale, so let’s focus in on the cards we have to play. It doesn’t mean we won’t go into new places and territories, but for right now, let’s home in on all the iconic stature that we have in the tank for Blizzard," she says. "That’s number one."Faries also wants the teams to have a "reliable cadences of launches" that can see Blizzard putting out a big launch or two every year.

"Our fans are hungry. They want to get involved. They want to feel reliability as well. They want us have a sense of what’s right around the corner. Let’s look at it as a portfolio, and let’s make sure that every — let’s say calendar year — there are at least one to two really big things that Blizzard is pumping out.

"When asked about the 30% margin that is reportedly being imposed on Xbox by Microsoft, Faries doesn't give specific details, but notes that while Blizzard is being held to high standards, she considers it a credit to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and president of game content and studios Matt Booty. 

"They want to see Blizzard thrive, and I think they trust in the talent that we have here to be able to write our future," she says. "I think we have our house very in order. I feel very confident about what’s coming up."

Blizzard already has two big launches set for the first half of 2026

Online fury erupted this week after an LG TV owner claimed that a firmware update installed unremovable generative AI software on their smart TV.

The controversy began on Saturday, when a Reddit user posted about the sudden appearance of a Microsoft Copilot icon on their device (something Windows users are all too familiar with). The Reddit user claimed that a “new software update installed Copilot” onto their LG TV and that it couldn’t be deleted.

“Pre-installed crap is universally dogshit. If I wanted it, I’d have installed it myself eventually. The whole reason it’s bundled is because no one would choose it… Burn your television,” another Reddit user responded in the thread, which has 36,000 upvotes as of this writing.

Some news outlets covered the move this week, reporting that LG customers were upset by an “unremovable Microsoft Copilot installation” and that other LG TV owners could expect to get it the next time they update their device.

LG has since admitted that it used a webOS update to force Copilot onto some of its TVs. However, the firmware update didn’t install the Copilot application but rather a shortcut to the Copilot web app, which opens in the TV’s integrated web browser, LG spokesperson Chris De Maria told The Verge. De Maria added that “features such as microphone input are activated only with the customer’s explicit consent.”

LG’s spokesperson said the company added the “shortcut icon to enhance customer accessibility and convenience.” LG, like other companies, has failed to prove why people need their non-computing devices, such as computer mice or earbuds, to provide instant access to third-party chatbots.

For those annoyed about the web app shortcut, De Maria said today that LG “will take steps to allow users to delete the shortcut icon if they wish.” He didn’t provide more details.

Unremovable AI is already invading TVs

Even with LG’s concession, it may become more difficult to avoid chatbots on TVs.

LG says it will let people delete the Copilot icon from their TVs soon, but it still has plans to weave the service throughout webOS. The Copilot web app rollout seems to have been a taste of LG’s bigger plans to add Copilot to some of its 2025 OLED TVs. In a January announcement, LG said Copilot will help users find stuff to watch by “allowing users to efficiently find and organize complex information using contextual cues.” LG also said Copilot would “proactively” identify potential user problems and offer “timely, effective solutions.”

Some TVs from LG’s biggest rival, Samsung, have included Copilot since August. Owners of supporting 2025 TVs can speak to Copilot using their remote’s microphone. They can also access Copilot via the Tizen OS homescreen’s Apps tab or through the TVs’ Click to Search feature, which lets users press a dedicated remote button to search for content while watching live TV or Samsung TV Plus. Users can also ask the TV to make AI-generated wallpapers or provide real-time subtitle translations.

Copilot similarly rolled out automatically onto supporting Samsung TVs. Users can avoid Copilot by not using the above features, and they may be able to remove the Copilot icon from their TV’s Apps section.

But Copilot will still be integrated into Tizen OS, and Samsung appears eager to push chatbots into TVs, including by launching Perplexity’s first TV app. Amazon, which released Fire TVs with Alexa+ this year, is also exploring putting chatbots into TVs.

After the backlash LG faced this week, companies may reconsider installing AI apps on people’s smart TVs. A better use of large language models in TVs may be as behind-the-scenes tools to improve TV watching. People generally don’t buy smart TVs to make it easier to access chatbots.

But this development is still troubling for anyone who doesn’t want an AI chatbot in their TV at all.

Some people don’t want chatbots in their TVs

Subtle integrations of generative AI that make it easier for people to do things like figure out the name of “that movie” may have practical use, but there are reasons to be wary of chatbot-wielding TVs.

Chatbots add another layer of complexity to understanding how a TV tracks user activity. With a chatbot involved, smart TV owners will be subject to complicated smart TV privacy policies and terms of service, as well as the similarly verbose rules of third-party AI companies. This will make it harder for people to understand what data they’re sharing with companies, and there’s already serious concern about the boundaries smart TVs are pushing to track users, including without consent.

Chatbots can also contribute to smart TV bloatware. Unwanted fluff, like games, shopping shortcuts, and flashy ads, already disrupts people who just want to watch TV.

LG’s Copilot web app is worthy of some grousing, but not necessarily because of the icon that users will eventually be able to delete. The more pressing issue is the TV industry’s shift toward monetizing software with user tracking and ads.

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to check out our guide to breaking free from smart TV ads and tracking.

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Posted Saturday 20 December 2025 at 12:42 pm AEST (my time).

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The first few months of 2025 were full of graphics card reviews where we generally came away impressed with performance and completely at a loss on availability and pricing. The testing in these reviews is useful regardless, but when it came to extra buying advice, the best we could do was to compare Nvidia’s imaginary pricing to AMD’s imaginary pricing and wait for availability to improve.

Now, as the year winds down, we’re facing price spikes for memory and storage that are unlike anything I’ve seen in two decades of pricing out PC parts. Pricing for most RAM kits has increased dramatically since this summer, driven by overwhelming demand for these parts in AI data centers. Depending on what you’re building, it’s now very possible that the memory could be the single most expensive component you buy; things are even worse now than they were the last time we compared prices a few weeks ago.

Some SSDs are getting to the point where they’re twice as expensive as they were this summer (for this comparison, I’ve swapped the newer WD Blue SN5100 pricing in for the SN5000, since the drive is both newer and slightly cheaper as of this writing). Some RAM kits, meanwhile, are around four times as expensive as they were in August. Yeesh.

And as bad as things are, the outlook for the immediate future isn’t great. Memory manufacturer Micron—which is pulling its Crucial-branded RAM and storage products from the market entirely in part because of these shortages—predicted in a recent earnings call that supply constraints would “persist beyond calendar 2026.” Kingston executives believe prices will continue to rise through next year. PR representatives at GPU manufacturer Sapphire believe prices will “stabilize,” albeit at a higher level than people might like.

I didn’t know it when I was writing the last update to our system guide in mid-August, but it turns out that I was writing it during 2025’s PC Building Equinox, the all-too-narrow stretch of time where 1080p and 1440p GPUs had fallen to more-or-less MSRP but RAM and storage prices hadn’t yet spiked.

All in all, it has been yet another annus horribilis for gaming-PC builders, and at this point it seems like the 2020s will just end up being a bad decade for PC building. Not only have we had to deal with everything from pandemic-fueled shortages to tariffs to the current AI-related crunch, but we’ve also been given pretty underwhelming upgrades for both GPUs and CPUs.

It should be a golden age for the gaming PC

It’s really too bad that building or buying a gaming PC is such an annoying and expensive proposition, because in a lot of ways there has never been a better time to be a PC gamer.

It used to be that PC ports of popular console games would come years later or never at all, but these days PC players get games at around the same time as console players, too. Sony, of all companies, has become much better about releasing its games to PC players. And Microsoft seems to be signaling more and more convergence between the Xbox and the PC, to the extent that it is communicating any kind of coherent Xbox strategy at all. The console wars are cooling down, and the PC has been one of the main beneficiaries.

That wider game availability is also coming at a time when PC software is getting more flexible and interesting. Traditional Windows-based gaming builds still dominate, of course, and Windows remains the path of least resistance for PC buyers and builders. But Valve’s work on SteamOS and the Proton compatibility software has brought a wide swath of PC games to Linux, and SteamOS itself is enabling a simpler and more console-like PC gaming experience for handheld PCs as well as TV-connected desktop computers. And that work is now boomeranging back around to Windows, which is gradually rolling out its own pared-down gamepad-centric frontend.

If you’ve already got a decent gaming PC, you’re feeling pretty good about all of this—as long as the games you want to play don’t have Mario or Pikachu in them, your PC is all you really need. It’s also not a completely awful time to be upgrading a build you already have, as long as you already have at least 16GB of RAM—if you’re thinking about a GPU upgrade, doing it now before the RAM price spikes can start impacting graphics card pricing is probably a smart move.

If you don’t already have a decent gaming PC and you can buy a whole PlayStation 5 for the cost of some 32GB DDR5 RAM kits, well, it’s hard to look past the downsides no matter how good the upsides are. But it doesn’t mean we can’t try.

What if you want to buy something anyway?

Say those upsides are still appealing to you, and you want to build something today. How should you approach this terrible, volatile RAM market?

I won’t do a full update to August’s system guide right now, both because it feels futile to try and recommend individual RAM kits or SSD with prices and stock levels being as volatile as they are, and because aside from RAM and storage I actually wouldn’t change any of these recommendations all that much (with the caveat that Intel’s Core i5-13400F seems to be getting harder to find; consider an i5-12400F or i5-12600KF instead). So, starting from those builds, here’s the advice I would try to give to PC-curious friends:

DDR4 is faring better than DDR5. Prices for all kinds of RAM have gone up recently, but DDR4 pricing hasn’t gotten quite as bad as DDR5 pricing. That’s of no help to you if you’re trying to build something around a newer Ryzen chip and a socket AM5 motherboard, since those parts require DDR5. But if you’re trying to build a more budget-focused system around one of Intel’s 12th-, 13th-, or 14th-generation CPUs, a decent name brand 32GB DDR4-3200 kit comes in around half the price of a similar 32GB DDR5-6000 kit. Pricing isn’t great, but it’s still possible to build something respectable for under $1,000.

Newegg bundles might help. I’m normally not wild about these kinds of component bundles; even if they appear to be a good deal, they’re often a way for Newegg or other retailers to get rid of things they don’t want by pairing them with things people do want. You also have to deal with less flexibility—you can’t always pick exactly the parts you’d want under ideal circumstances. But if you’re already buying a CPU and a motherboard, it might be worth digging through the available deals just to see if you can get a good price on something workable.

Don’t overbuy (or consider under-buying). Under normal circumstances, anyone advising you on a PC build should be recommending matched pairs of RAM sticks with reasonable speeds and ample capacities (DDR4-3200 remains a good sweet spot, as does DDR5-6000 or DDR5-6400). Matched sticks are capable of dual-channel operation, boosting memory bandwidth and squeezing a bit more performance out of your system. And getting 32GB of RAM means comfortably running any game currently in existence, with a good amount of room to grow.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. Slower DDR5 speeds like DDR5-5200 can come in a fair bit cheaper than DDR5-6000 or DDR5-6400, in exchange for a tiny speed hit that’s going to be hard to notice outside of benchmarks. You might even consider buying a single 16GB stick of DDR5, and buying it a partner at some point later when prices have calmed down a bit. You’ll leave a tiny bit of performance on the table, and a small handful of games want more than 16GB of system RAM. But you’ll have something that boots, and the GPU is still going to determine how well most games run.

Don’t forget that non-binary DDR5 exists. DDR5 sticks come in some in-betweener capacities that weren’t possible with DDR4, which means that companies sell it in 24GB and 48GB sticks, not just 16/32/64. And these kits can be a very slightly better deal than the binary memory kits right now; this 48GB Crucial DDR5-6000 kit is going for $470 right now, or $9.79 per gigabyte, compared to about $340 for a similar 32GB kit ($10.63 per GB) or $640 for a 64GB kit ($10 per GB). It’s not much, but if you truly do need a lot of RAM, it’s worth looking into.

Consider pre-built systems. A quick glance at Dell’s Alienware lineup and Lenovo’s Legion lineup makes it clear that these towers still aren’t particularly price-competitive with similarly specced self-built PCs. This was true before there was a RAM shortage, and it’s true now. But for certain kinds of PCs, particularly budget PCs, it can still make more sense to buy than to build.

For example, when I wrote about the self-built “Steam Machine” I’ve been using for a few months now, I mentioned some Ryzen-based mini desktops on Amazon. I later tested this one from Aoostar as part of a wider-ranging SteamOS-vs-Windows performance comparison. Whether you’re comfortable with these no-name mini PCs is something you’ll have to decide for yourself, but that’s a fully functional PC with 32GB of DDR5, a 1TB SSD, a workable integrated GPU, and a Windows license for $500. You’d spend nearly $500 just to buy the RAM kit and the SSD with today’s component prices; for basic 1080p gaming you could do a lot worse.

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Posted Friday 19 December 2025 at 12:22 pm AEST (my time).

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Obsidian is starting to look like one of the best purchases Xbox has ever made, with a run of releases that has been consistently strong. In 2025 alone, the studio has delivered not one, not two, but three genuinely great games.

It kicked the year off with Avowed, a game I am literally downloading as I write this. That was followed by Grounded 2, an Early Access sequel that builds confidently on everything that made the original special.

Obsidian also closed out the year with The Outer Worlds 2, a sequel that is bigger, more ambitious, and more refined in just about every way compared to the first game.

Whether you are invested in one of these games or all three, Obsidian clearly has something planned for you in 2026. With updates already outlined across its entire lineup, it is worth digging into what fans can expect next year.

Avowed in 2026

The memory manufacturer says the global DRAM market is currently experiencing significant volatility, with shortages affecting the entire supply chain. High-volume demand for memory from AI data centres and related infrastructure has placed additional pressure on available supply, driving costs higher across the industry.

As a result, G.SKILL confirms that its own procurement and sourcing costs have increased substantially. The company notes that its pricing reflects higher DRAM IC costs from upstream suppliers and remains subject to change depending on market conditions. Buyers are advised to be mindful of current pricing when making purchasing decisions.

G.SKILL’s comments align closely with wider trends playing out across the memory industry. The ongoing AI boom has pushed memory manufacturers to prioritise enterprise-grade products such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), often at the expense of consumer DRAM, contributing to tighter supply and higher prices. This shift has already had visible consequences. Micron, one of the world’s three largest memory-chip manufacturers alongside Samsung and SK hynix, recently announced its decision to exit the Crucial consumer business, citing surging AI-driven demand from data centres.

The knock-on effects are now being felt beyond the enthusiast PC market. Smartphone manufacturers are apparently preparing to cut memory configurations in 2026 devices to offset rising costs, while PC makers have begun warning of potential price increases as DRAM takes up a growing share of system costs.

Against this backdrop of sustained shortages and rising costs, G.SKILL’s statement offers little new insight. Notably absent is any indication of when pricing might stabilise or begin to ease. G.SKILL does not outline a timeline for potential relief, nor does it comment on whether it has secured sufficient DRAM supply for the months ahead. The company also stops short of clarifying how much control it has over final retail pricing, particularly during periods of shortage when reseller mark-ups can fluctuate significantly.

For now, consumers and system builders are left with little guidance on when, or if, DDR5 memory prices will return to more favourable levels. You can find the statement here on G.SKILL's official site.

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Posted Friday 19 December 2025 at 2:43 am AEST (my time).

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Starships in the game now feature components that maintain various systems, ranging from flight power to quantum drives and weapons. To easily keep track of what is functioning optimally, an engineering terminal can be used to get an overview of everything. It features an interactive 3D schematic of the ship that shows health indicators, atmospheric conditions, door states, hull integrity at each location, and more details.

Once a problem is identified, players can track down blown fuses for replacement, repair or replace damaged components of the ship, fight raging fires before they spread to more rooms using extinguishers and room venting, and even stop power plants from self-destructing from taking too much damage.

Speaking of power plants, ships now have a finite power supply budget for all their systems, and players have to decide what needs more juice at what moment. This can include things like powering up shield capacitors to regenerate them faster or boosting the weapon capacitor to increase their fire rate. Even a preset system is present for players to share their power configurations.

"The Engineering Gameplay package represents a fundamental evolution in how players interact with their ships," explains Cloud Imperium Games. "Many ships now feature a living, interconnected system of components that can be monitored, managed, repaired, and replaced during flight. This change includes wide sweeping changes to ship hull and shield health and performance."

Considering the breadth of the additions, the studio has published an in-depth guide about engineering gameplay over here.

The massive update has also brought in virtual reality support as an experimental feature with dedicated graphics settings for the demanding play style. The studio warns that VR-specific performance issues and bugs may be found when playing in this mode and that not all VR headsets are supported right now.

The Star Citizen Alpha 4.5: Dawn of Engineering update is now available for all backers in the Live channel. Find the complete changelog here. The crowdfunded title recently breezed past the $900 million raised milestone and now has one billion in its sights.

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Posted Friday 19 December 2025 at 2:42 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of November): 5,412

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The active shift code is:

JHXTB-RFWH3-C6335-TBBJB-JWWBH

Redeeming the code adds three Golden Keys directly to the selected platform. The keys themselves do not expire, even after the redemption window closes, which makes it useful to claim them now and save them for a later playthrough.

Golden Keys are one of the most reliable ways to obtain high-quality loot in Borderlands 4. They are spent at Golden Chests and frequently drop rare and Legendary items, making them especially useful when leveling a new Vault Hunter or gearing up after a break from the game.

How to redeem the Borderlands 4 shift code

Redeeming the code only takes a minute if your account is already linked.

1. Open the SHiFT website and sign in to your SHiFT account.

    

2. Open the Gaming Platforms section and confirm your platform account is linked.

    

3. Go to the Rewards section.

    

4. Enter the code JHXTB-RFWH3-C6335-TBBJB-JWWBH under Code Redemption.

    

5. Select the platform you want the keys delivered to.

    

Once redeemed, the Golden Keys will appear in-game the next time you log in.

Other active Borderlands 4 SHiFT codes

In addition to the three-key code, several other SHiFT codes are currently active and can still be redeemed:

• T9RJB-BFKRR-3RBTW-B33TB-KCZB9 – 1 Golden Key

• JS63J-JSCWJ-CFTBW-3TJ3J-WJS5R – Break Free Pack

• JZ6BJ-SBR5J-WF3BK-BT3BB-TX9HB – Amon’s Cult Classic Skin

• TZXT3-XJXCB-CXBJW-BTTJT-9SK6B – Rafa’s Savings Savior Skin

• J96JT-BCXKT-C6JJ5-JTJBB-BZTXJ – Harlowe’s Maliwannabee Skin

• BZ6JJ-CB6CT-WXJJW-3TT3B-56FZ5 – Vex’s Mass Market Appeal Skin

• 3S6BB-ZXT93-KRT3W-BT3T3-JW6TZ – Gourd Your Loins Head and Hex Appeal Skin

   

Codes can be redeemed even if you are not actively playing. Many players collect SHiFT rewards over time and use the accumulated keys during future playthroughs.

The three-key code expires on December 23, after which it can no longer be redeemed, even though previously claimed keys remain valid indefinitely.

Resources:

https://gamerant.com/borderlands-4-shift-code-golden-keys-december-23/

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Posted Friday 19 December 2025 at 2:41 am AEST (my time).

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I hope you managed to find the right GPU at the right price in 2025, because a new report suggests that NVIDIA plans to significantly cut production of its RTX 50-series graphics cards in 2026.

The cause? You guessed it — AI and its unending thirst for memory and storage, which is causing a global shortage.

This news began on China's tech forum Bobantang and was picked up by Benchlife and eventually OC3D. The report alleges that NVIDIA plans to "adjust GPU production capacity of GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards in 2026 to cope with memory shortages." Just how much of a reduction? Compared to the first half of 2025, supply could be reduced by anywhere from 30-40%.

That's not an insignificant reduction, and I can't see how the ramifications won't be felt throughout the tech industry.

It's not just GDDR7 memory — the stuff that goes into RTX 5000 cards — causing issues, either. The report suggests that all memory types are being squeezed enough to cause a shift in production.

According to Benchlife, "a number of AIC partners and component suppliers have also mentioned" that the RTX 5070 Ti and the RTX 5060 Ti, each with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, will be the first to see a cut to production.

If true, that's some terrible news for PC gamers. GPUs with 8GB of VRAM are on the edge of being "not enough" to play demanding modern titles, and the 16GB GPU options drying up will make it more difficult to get the performance you desire without spending huge money on an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090.

RAM prices are already high, and things are about to get worse. That's assuming a recent rumor regarding Samsung DDR5 modules proves accurate.

Leaker Jukan shared on X that Samsung has raised the contract price of DDR5 to $19.50. That price relates to 16GB DDR5 modules with the cost being measured per 2GB memory chip. The rumored new cost is more than double what it was previously.

Jukan's figure comes courtesy of Taiwanese outlet Technowvoice.

The report covers the cost of RAM in the supply chain. While it's reasonable to expect the cost of DDR5 RAM doubling on the manufacturing side of things would affect consumer pricing, we may not see a directly proportional increase.

There are a variety of factors that determine pricing in the industry, but it's safe to assume that if the rumor proves accurate, consumer prices will go up.

Now, Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, has revealed several new features that are coming soon to ChatGPT. While ChatGPT is widely used for long, meaningful conversations, users still turn to Google Search for many simple, everyday queries. These upcoming features are designed to address those use cases, targeting users who rely on Google Search for quick information such as local businesses, sports updates, and more.

Currently, when users research products or restaurants on ChatGPT, they typically receive a long, text-based response. While these answers are often more informative than a standard Google Search result, visual context can make the information even more useful. To address this, ChatGPT will now display relevant images alongside responses, with clear source attribution.

Going forward, ChatGPT will also visually highlight important people, places, and products within answers. Users will be able to tap on these elements to access more information without needing to ask a follow-up question. In addition, users can highlight any word or phrase in a response to instantly explore it further, allowing them to go deeper without losing context within the conversation thread.

Many people rely on Google Search for quick tasks such as unit conversions, currency exchange, and time zone calculations. ChatGPT is now introducing similar visual utilities for these use cases, enabling users to easily adjust conversion values. Another common use case is checking live sports scores. Instead of returning plain text, ChatGPT will present scores through a new visual experience.

OpenAI is rolling out a growing set of these utilities in ChatGPT and plans to expand them further in the coming months.

OpenAI is also working on enhancing the writing experience within ChatGPT. With these improvements, users will be able to edit text inline or switch to a full-screen editor depending on their needs. When drafting longer content such as reports, ChatGPT will offer options to download the document as a PDF or Word file. For emails and messages, users will be able to open drafts directly in their email or messaging apps from within ChatGPT.

In October, OpenAI announced a new generation of apps that users can interact with directly inside the ChatGPT experience. Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow were among the first partners. OpenAI has now revealed that several additional apps, including Adobe, Airtable, Clay, Lovable, OpenTable, Replit, and Salesforce, will be coming soon to ChatGPT.

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Posted Thursday 18 December 2025 at 4:34 am AEST (my time).

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On Tuesday, X Corporation, formerly known as Twitter, sued “Operation Bluebird,” the new startup that is seeking to reclaim the allegedly abandoned Twitter trademark and relaunch a new social media network under that name.

In its 43-page lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Delaware, X Corporation alleges trademark infringement, adding that despite Bluebird’s “purported plan, it cannot bring Twitter ‘back’—Twitter never left and continues to be exclusively owned by X Corp.”

One of Bluebird’s leaders, Michael Peroff, told Ars in an email that Operation Bluebird was “fully expecting” a lawsuit from X Corporation and that “we planned for it.”

Stephen Coates, also of Operation Bluebird (and who formerly served as Twitter’s general counsel), reiterated to Ars that X “legally abandoned the TWITTER mark.”

“Our cancellation petition is based on well-established trademark law and we believe we will be successful,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “They said goodbye. We say hello.”

Neither X Corporation, nor its attorneys, nor CEO Elon Musk immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.

“Twitter is one of the world’s most recognized brands, and it belongs to X Corp,” X Corp’s lawsuit continues. “Simply put, a rebrand is not an abandonment of trademark rights.”

Josh Gerben, a Washington, DC-based trademark attorney who has been closely following this case, told Ars that proving that X Corporation has “abandoned” the trademark is a “huge uphill battle—they’re going to have to climb the equivalent of Mt. Everest.”

Operation Bluebird would also have to overcome the “residual goodwill”—the broad-scale brand recognition that most people still associate the name and brand “Twitter” with the X Corporation.

“It’s not like there’s been a trademark case like this before,” Gerben added, noting the rarity of a situation where a company so strongly dissociated itself from such a strong brand.

As Ars previously reported, Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. He eventually changed the company name and brand identity from Twitter to X. That decision, Operation Bluebird says, created an opening for the Twitter name to be formally abandoned.

In July 2023, Musk himself tweeted that “we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand, and gradually, all the birds.”

That was when Peroff, a Chicago-area attorney specializing in trademark and IP law, saw an opportunity not only to claim the name Twitter but also to use the iconic illustrated logo that was affectionately referred to internally as “Larry Bird.”

Peroff and others began formally organizing Operation Bluebird, a way to bring back Twitter in name, services, and format, catering in particular to commercial brands.

“There certainly are alternatives,” Peroff said last week. “I don’t know that any of them at this point in time are at the scale that would make a difference in the national conversation, whereas a new Twitter really could.”

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Posted Thursday 18 December 2025 at 4:33 am AEST (my time).

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However, not all AI applications require Gemini 3 Pro–level intelligence. Moreover, the model’s cost and latency make it unsuitable for a wide range of use cases. To address this, Google today announced Gemini 3 Flash (preview), a lightweight version of its flagship model that delivers strong performance at a significantly lower price point.

Google positions Gemini 3 Flash as a low-latency model optimized for real-time and high-throughput inference, while offering multimodal and reasoning capabilities comparable to Gemini 3 Pro. The model supports text, vision, audio, and video inputs.

Gemini 3 Flash is priced at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2 per million output tokens. In cached mode, input tokens cost just $0.075 per million. Overall, Gemini 3 Flash is approximately 85% cheaper than its flagship counterpart while still delivering strong performance for its class. For example, Gemini 3 Flash scores 90.4% on GPQA Diamond and 33.7% on Humanity’s Last Exam, outperforming several significantly larger frontier models.

Here's how Gemini 3 Flash performs in key AI benchmarks:

Gemini 3 Flash is now available in the Gemini API via Google AI Studio, Google Antigravity, Gemini CLI, Android Studio for developers and to enterprises via Vertex AI.

Just last week, OpenAI responded to the Gemini 3 Pro model with the launch of the new GPT-5.2 series. The GPT-5.2 models perform marginally better than Gemini 3 Pro on most AI benchmarks and are priced at a similar level for developers. With the launch of the cost-effective Gemini 3 Flash, Google now offers an affordable alternative for developers. In response, OpenAI is likely to introduce a GPT-5.2 Mini model in the coming weeks, targeting a comparable price-to-performance ratio.

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Posted Thursday 18 December 2025 at 4:31 am AEST (my time).

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Apple doesn’t like to talk about its upcoming products before it’s ready, but sometimes the company’s software does the talking for it. So far this week we’ve had a couple of software-related leaks that have outed products Apple is currently testing—one a pre-release build of iOS 26, and the other some leaked files from a kernel debug kit (both via MacRumors).

Most of the new devices referenced in these leaks are straightforward updates to products that already exist: a new Apple TV, a HomePod mini 2, new AirTags and AirPods, an M4 iPad Air, a 12th-generation iPad to replace the current A16 version, next-generation iPhones (including the 17e, 18, and the rumored foldable model), a new Studio Display model, some new smart home products we’ve already heard about elsewhere, and M5 updates for the MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and the other MacBook Pros. There’s also yet another reference to the lower-cost MacBook that Apple is apparently planning to replace the M1 MacBook Air it still sells via Walmart for $599.

For power users, though, the most interesting revelation might be that Apple is working on a higher-end Apple Silicon iMac powered by an M5 Max chip. The kernel debug kit references an iMac with the internal identifier J833c, based on a platform identified as H17C—and H17C is apparently based on the M5 Max, rather than a lower-end M5 chip. (For those who don’t have Apple’s branding memorized, “Max” is associated with Apple’s second-fastest chips; the M5 Max would be faster than the M5 or M5 Pro, but slower than the rumored M5 Ultra.)

This device could be the long-awaited, occasionally-rumored-but-never-launched replacement to Apple’s 27-inch iMac, which was discontinued in 2022 with no direct replacement. An M5 Max chip would also make this machine the closest thing we’ve seen to a direct replacement for the iMac Pro, a 27-inch iMac variant that was launched in late 2017 but likewise discontinued without an update or replacement.

The current M4 Max chip includes 14 or 16 CPU cores, 32 or 40 GPU cores, and between 36GB and 128GB of unified memory, specs we’d expect an M5 Max to match or beat. And because the Max chips already fit into the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, it should be no problem to fit one into an all-in-one desktop PC.

The only Intel Mac with no replacement

For most of the Intel era, the 27-inch iMac was Apple’s main workhorse desktop, situated in between the underpowered Mac mini and the expensive, oft-ignored Mac Pro. It used high-end multi-core CPUs and midrange dedicated GPUs, and combined them with a high-end color-accurate 5K screen that was good enough for all kinds of professional photo and video editing and design work.

But the Apple Silicon era saw the iMac revert to its roots as a less-powerful, colorful, consumer-friendly system aimed at less-demanding users. The current Apple M4 iMac is pleasant to use and plenty fast for everyday computing tasks, but it can’t stack up to desktops like the M4 Pro Mac mini or the Mac Studio.

For several years, rumors persisted that Apple was working on an upgraded iMac—Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in 2023 that a 32-inch version of the iMac could possibly launch at some point in 2024 or 2025. That timeline ended up being optimistic, but the presence of an M5 Max in this testing model suggests that a 2026 launch could be a real possibility.

Apple offers products that can replace a 27-inch iMac in its lineup today—either a Mac mini or Mac Studio, connected to a 27-inch 5K Studio Display or the 32-inch 6K Pro Display XDR. But that combination can’t replace an iMac for the people who enjoy the all-in-one’s clean look or its lack of cable clutter, and both of those aging standalone displays are missing support for the kinds of technologies offered in modern high-end screens, including mini LED or OLED panels or ProMotion refresh rates.

That this iMac and these other devices are present in these internal software builds doesn’t mean that they’re things Apple intends to release—just that Apple is testing some version of them in its headquarters somewhere, and that work has progressed to the point where Apple is supporting them with internal software releases. They could see the light of day soon, or years from now, or never at all. But for anyone who’s still keeping hope alive about a 27-inch iMac replacement, this is another piece of kindling you can use to try and keep that fire burning.

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Posted Wednesday 17 December 2025 at 5:22 am AEST (my time).

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The new quest will take players into the Malachite region found in the west, investigating reports of a mysterious and dangerous signal interfering with personal digital assistants.

"You may hear their emergency transmission almost anywhere in the Zone," says the developer, explaining how to kick off the new questline. "Pay close attention to the Red Forest Region on your map, and from here on, your intuition, rationality and choices will lead you down the rabbit hole to see how deep it is."

Fairy Tale Pioneer Camp and the Old Mine in Red Forest are the new locations players can visit in their journeys, which are "worth your time" exploring, according to the studio. Several existing spots on the map, like Car Dump, Army Warehouses, City Boiler Room, Rail Depot, and Volkhov SAM, are now said to be inhabited by Stalkers too.

Moreover, depending on the choices players make as they spend time on the new questline, a brand-new hub area can appear on the map. This will occur in the Burnt Forest area, adding a technician, trader, medic, and guide for players, while also making it a rest and stash access location.

Lastly, the GP37V2 is incoming as a brand-new rifle to Stalkers. This is a modified version of the GP37 rifle featuring a pre-installed suppressor, a scope, and multiple firing modes. The weapon is described as being made for players who favor tactical playstyles.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Stories Untold update containing all these features and more will be available tomorrow, December 16, across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

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Posted Tuesday 16 December 2025 at 1:07 pm AEST (my time).

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The issue was posted to r/mildlyinfuriating by the Redditor defjam16. After a TV software update, Copilot appeared on the TV and could not be deleted when the user tried. Responding in the comments, defjam16 said their main issue was that it wasn't installed with explicit permission, and they worried about whether the app had unknown access to the microphone and other services.

Like many readers of Neowin, multiple people responding to the thread were in strong disagreement with Microsoft's decision to push Copilot into other Microsoft services such as M365, Notepad, and OneNote. One user described it as a prettier version of a search engine that guesses at answers. Some Reddit users cynically speculated that Microsoft has spent so much on AI that it is now forcing it on users because they are finding it hard to find a viable business model for it, and the strategy is to put it everywhere, whether you like it or not.

Other users also reported similar issues with other brands of televisions, such as Samsung TV continuously redownloading the Xbox app or reactivating apps like Rakuten and Samsung TV Plus, even if the user has disabled or deleted them.

Going back to Copilot appearing, users did suggest some workarounds that could work if you are experiencing the same issue. The most commonly recommended advice was to disconnect the smart TV from the internet entirely and use a separate dedicated streaming device like a gaming console or Apple TV 4K. This prevents the TV from collecting and selling data, avoiding mandatory updates that install new bloatware, and often leads to better performance since dedicated external hardware is used for processing.

While some people may like the presence of Copilot, the fact that it cannot be disabled is annoying people, too, with some suggesting that they won't be buying an LG TV again in the future due to shenanigans like this.

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Posted Tuesday 16 December 2025 at 4:04 am AEST (my time).

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ExplainingComputers (1.15m subscribers)

December 15, 2025

Video length: 16m 13s

The evolution of instruction set architectures (ISAs) and companies in the CPU marketplace.

CORRECTION: please note that in the table at 14:10, all market valuations are in US dollars. The "£" symbol in front of the Intel valuation is a typo. My apologies.

00:00 Titles & Intro

01:22 The Intel Age

03:49 Beyond the Fab

07:01 CPU Market Segments

08:48 The Arm Cloud

12:09 The Future

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Posted Monday 15 December 2025 at 12:43 pm AEST (my time).

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In this guide, the company has listed minimum and recommended CPU and GPU specs similar to how many game studios and developers publish before a title's release. Alongside that, Microsoft has also shared its memory recommendations. Storage and motherboard choices have also received some focus.

First up, we start with the processor and graphics cards. The company explains in brief how these components help, like for example, the CPU is responsible for handling game physics, logic, draw calls, among others, while the GPU is primarily there for processing all the graphics. It can also immensely help with GPU-based physics like PhysX as we showed recently.

Here are the official CPU and GPU minimum and recommended specs for gaming on Windows 11 in 2026:

Entry-level gaming (1080p, medium settings)

• CPU: At least a modern quad-core like AMD Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel Core i5-12400
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super or AMD Radeon RX 6600

Mid-range gaming (1440p, high settings)

• CPU: 6-core or better, such as AMD Ryzen 5 7600 or Intel Core i5-13600K
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti / 4060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

High-end/4K gaming

• CPU: 8-core or better, like AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D or Intel Core i7-13700K
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

While Microsoft's list tries to be helpful, and it indeed is in the case of its GPU recommendations for the most part, the CPU advice is imprecise. That is because the higher the resolution, the greater the load there is on the graphics card, and hence the paired processor actually gets more time to stay up with it.

The opposite is true in the case of lower resolutions as the GPU is now under far less stress which means the processor gets much less time to keep up, and hence faces the bigger load at lower resolutions. You can check out this dedicated article I wrote before to understand how this works. You can check out our CPU guide for a better idea.

Microsoft also mentions the importance of the Windows 11 Game Mode as it says that the "setting that automatically prioritizes gaming tasks" and "reduces background activity, allocates more CPU and GPU power to the game you’re running, and helps maintain steadier frame rates."

Here, the guide also contains a helpful tip which suggests that users should not over-spend their budget on a 240 fps-capable GPU or CPU if in case their monitor is only capable of say 144 Hz as the extra frames will be wasted anyway. Another such useful tip is when it talks about the benefits of proper cable management in the case as it can help with better airflow.

Speaking of monitors, here is Microsoft's guidance on how to purchase the ideal monitor for your gaming needs depending on factors like refresh rate, response times, and panel type. It explains:

Refresh rate (Hz): How many times the screen updates per second.

• 144 Hz is a solid baseline for smooth play.
• 165 Hz–240 Hz benefits competitive shooters or fast-action games.

Response time (ms): The time a pixel takes to change color.

• 1 ms–3 ms is ideal for gaming, reducing ghosting and motion blur during fast action.

Panel types:

• IPS: Excellent color accuracy and wide viewing angles—great all-round choice.
• VA: Deeper contrast and richer blacks, though slightly slower response than IPS.
• OLED: Superb contrast and near-instant response, with true blacks and vibrant colors, but can cost more.

While the tech giant does not mention it, we feel having adaptive sync is also a very important thing for a gaming PC.

Next, Microsoft talks about RAM and storage recommendations and here it notes that 16GB of RAM should be "plenty for most games" while 32GB is "ideal for serious players who run the most demanding titles or use heavy mods." Unfortunately, with memory being so expensive, the second option is probably too costly for most. Also, 16GB memory is already the baseline requirement for Copilot+ AI PCs.

Microsoft also suggests going for a 1TB SSD if users want to keep a large game library, but in all honesty, seeing how large game sizes are nowadays, if you wish to keep playing locally, then 1TB is probably a bare minimum for a modern gaming PC.

Microsoft also mentions another benefit of an NVMe SSD which is the ability to use DirectStorage in supported game titles. The company explains that "DirectStorage is a Windows technology that lets your graphics card pull game data straight from an NVMe SSD instead of routing everything through the CPU first", which can result in "much faster load times and seamless transitions in large, detailed game worlds."

Microsoft's guide contains more helpful recommendations and tips. You can check it out here on the company's official site.

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Posted Monday 15 December 2025 at 3:27 am AEST (my time).

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Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

The December 2025 Patch Tuesday updates are now available. Windows 11 received KB5072033, while Windows 10 received KB5071546 for those in the Extended Security Updates program. Also, Microsoft released new recovery and dynamic updates, plus a fresh version of the Media Creation Tool app.

Unexpectedly, Microsoft removed a mandatory clean-install requirement for Windows 11. Smart App Control used to be a must, but now, users are free to turn it off without affecting their device compatibility.

There is a lot of rumbling on how Windows 11 bottlenecks modern gaming devices, particularly handheld consoles, and Microsoft promises that it is not turning a blind eye to those complaints. The company says 2026 will bring a lot of gaming improvements to handhelds and traditional PCs.

Also, Microsoft is improving the personalization aspect of its operating system with a new Themes section in the Microsoft Store, where you can download various wallpaper packs paired with matching accent colors.

Here on Neowin, we often report on tweakers and third-party apps for Windows customization. One of the most famous ones, Winaero Tweaker, was recently under fire for allegedly "injecting hardcoded, legacy binary garbage." The maker of the app addressed the issue in a new update and explained what was going on.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Excel for the web received a new feature for those who use AI. The recently announced Agent Mode for Copilot is now generally available. Also, you can now use the COPILOT() function to describe what you need to achieve using natural language, and Copilot will write formulas for you.

Speaking of Office, if you ever wondered what the difference between Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 is, you can check out a useful comparison table that Microsoft posted this week.

Mozilla released a big update for Firefox this week. Version 146.0 landed with a new backup tool for Windows 10 users, a dedicated GPU process for macOS, and removal of Direct2D support. There are plenty of other changes, which you can check out here.

There was some big news from Opera, too. Opera Neon, the company's first agentic browser, is now publicly available. This $19.99/mo browser can do a lot of AI stuff, and if you feel like using something that is on the bleeding edge, you may want to try it out now.

Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting:

• Microsoft wants you to generate AI slop for performance reviews this year.

• Google brings Windows apps to Galaxy XR with new 'PC Connect' feature.

• Microsoft confirms "major 2026 update" to remove several Planner features, add new ones.

• Microsoft Teams for personal users gets a crucial feature and native screen recording on macOS.

• Microsoft commits billions to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in Canada and India.

• SSMS 22.1 is now out, and destructive database commands powered by AI are coming soon.

• Windows Admin Center 2511 is now available with High Availability and major fixes.

• Microsoft brings Windows Admin Center support to Arm-based Copilot+ PCs.

   

Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• Intel released new Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers with Windows 11 25H2 support.
• AMD 25.12.1 WHQL driver with the new FSR Redstone and more.
• AMD released a new chipset driver with Windows 11 25H2 support and changes for supported Ryzen processors.

• Microsoft fixed keyboard bugs, screen flickering, and crashes in Surface Pro 10.

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

This week, Steven Parker reviewed the AGM G3 Pro, a rugged 5G phone with wireless charging, a massive 10,000 mAh battery, a thermal camera, and a random digital pet on the screen. This one is a tough phone, but look out for some quirks and a bit of a steep price tag.

Robbie Khan reviewed the Vantrue Nexus N4 Pro S, a three-channel dash cam with great image quality, plenty of features, good build quality, and easy installation. It is not the cheapest dash cam, so check out the complete review here.

Additionally, Steven Parker published two hands-on reviews, one about the Maono PD200W hybrid podcasting mic and one about the T-Create EXPERT P34F Find My External SSD with Find My support.

Finally, check out our in-depth review of what the lack of PhysX support does to gaming performance on modern rigs.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting a new crossover update. This time, the simulator is collaborating with Stranger Things. Like in the Jurassic Park expansion, players will be able to visit the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana, to discover 40 points of interest. By the way, an interview revealed that Sony asked Microsoft to bring MSFS to PlayStation 5.

Age of Empires fans received a treat from Microsoft, as the company unveiled a massive 2026 expansion for the game and a roadmap that details it.

Microsoft expanded the collection of special editions of its Xbox Wireless Controllers. The latest release comes in two variants for Fallout fans: Fallout Pip-Boy and Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – Fallout Pip-Boy. Both gamepads are now available for preorder.

Nvidia announced new games for GeForce NOW subscribers. The latest games include Skate Story, Dome Keeper, Death Howl, Everdream Village, Monster Hunter Stories, Monster Hunter Stories 2, and more.

Like always, we have our weekly Weekend PC Game Deals article with plenty of various gaming discounts, including the latest freebie from the Epic Games Store.

Other gaming news includes the following:

• Xbox showcase confirmed for January, featuring Forza Horizon and Fable developer.

• Skyrim is now available on the Nintendo Switch 2, but with a lot of issues.

• Activision announced changes to the Call of Duty release strategy.

• Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic RPG announced, developed by Casey Hudson's new studio.

• Divinity announced as the next game of Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian.

• Control sequel announced by Remedy brings a new protagonist and setting.

• Warhammer 40K is the next Total War setting, coming to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

• Two new Tomb Raider games are incoming, including a remake of the original 1996 adventure.

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Posted Monday 15 December 2025 at 3:24 am AEST (my time).

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