BREAKING (While typing this up) – XDefiant will be shutting down on June 3rd 2025. As of today, new downloads of the game will no longer be available. They will continue to release Season 3 in the near future. This comes as it has been announced that Ubisoft’s San Francisco office and Osaka office are being laid off. Half of the XDefiant developers are moving to other projects.
Xbox Game Pass gaming coming this month include but not limited to:
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – Console – December 4th
Forza Motorsport – Console – December 4th – Part of ‘Standard’
EA Sports WRC – Console, Cloud and PC – December 5th
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Cloud, Console and PC – December 5th.
Wildfrost – Cloud, Console and PC – December 10th.
Some Xbox Game Pass games are leaving, including but not limited to:
Forza Horizon 4 – December 15th
Rise of the Tomb Raider – December 15th
The Quarry – December 15th
Humankind – December 31st
LEGO 2K Drive – December 31st
Party Animals – December 31st
McPixel 3 – December 31st
From Software isn’t planning a sequel to Elden Ring
The NES version of Tetris is coming to Nintendo Switch Online on December 12th
GOG is planning to preserve Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2 as Blizzard is pulling the games from sales in favour of their recently released Remastered games.
Wolverine, Iron Fist, Black Widow, Cloak and Dagger, and Squirrel Girl will be added to Marvel Rivals when the game releases next week, bringing the total number of characters to 30.
Specs have been released for the PC version of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – The game will be available from Sunday night at midnight UK/Ireland time, with early access from Friday.
It’s that time of year when WWE breaks out the 2nd ring for WarGames. A staple of WCW’s The Great American Bash & Fall Brawl series from 1987 to 2000, it was brought back in 2017 with NXT TakeOver: WarGames before becoming a main roster event as part of WWE Survivor Series since 2022.
A WarGames match consists of 2 teams of 5 (sometimes of 4). One member of each team would be starting the match while the other 4 are in cages at the top of the ramp.
The competitors enter a cage that surrounds 2 wrestling rings.
WarGames cage and ring layout from WWE 2K23. This would have been what the NXT WarGames matches looked like, but the cages (on the right of the image) would be near the entrance ramp.
After 5 minutes, a member of the advantaged team (Which was determined on last night’s SmackDown) gets to enter next. Every 3 minutes after that, a member of the other team enters, alternating between the two until everyone is in the cage.
Once everyone is in, WarGames officially begins. The only way to win is by pinfall or submission. One person from either team just needs 1 pin or submission for the whole team to win. There are no disqualifications, so weapons are legal (and encouraged 😉)
As it has been since 2019, there are 2 WarGames matches, one for the men and one for the women.
Other than these 2 WarGames matches, there are also 3 championship matches, including the World Heavyweight Championship.
Non-Title Matches
Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn & CM Punk vs Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Bronson Reed in the Men’s WarGames match!
PREDICTION: This line is great. Old Bloodline vs New Bloodline with a sprinkle of Bronson Reed and CM Punk to spice it up. This should be a barn burner. Wouldn’t be surprised if there is some friction between Roman and Punk. Roman, Jimmy, Jey, Sami & Punk to win.
Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi, Iyo Sky & Bayley vs Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton & Candice LeRae in the Women’s WarGames match!
PREDICTION: This is the weaker of the two WarGames matches, as you have a very dominant women’s team in Rhea and co. There is descension within the other team as Liv and Nia are champions, while Tiffany is Miss Money in the Bank and desperately trying to cash in her contract on Nia Jax and take her title. Rhea & Co to win, with this setting up Rhea vs Liv for the title once more at a future event
Title Matches
LA Knight (C) vs Shinsuke Nakamura in a singles match for the United States Championship
PREDICTION: Shinsuke has only returned to TV in the last couple of weeks as he hasn’t been seen on TV since April in a loss to Sheamus, but it appears that he is a heel now and a new outfit that makes him look like a badass. I can see him winning the title, as I don’t see what else LA Knight can do with the title for now. Shinsuke to win and become champion.
Bron Breakker (C) vs Sheamus vs Ludwig Kaiser in a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship
PREDICTION: Sheamus is once again challenging for the title that has alluded him for so damn long. If he wins this, he becomes a grand slam champion. Bron has been on fire and to be honest, he doesn’t need a title to show off how good of a worker that he is. He needs to get into a good feud with someone instead of all of these matches that have been slapped together with no actual story. Ludwig could be a dark horse, though, I’d watch out for him. Sheamus to win and become champion.
Gunther (C) vs Damian Priest in a singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship
PREDICTION: Ludwig’s stable mate Gunther is defending the WHC once again against the former champion Damian Priest. Gunther took the title from Priest at SummerSlam and I don’t see the title changing hands again any time soon. Gunther to win and retain the title.
A new update is coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 which adds cross-play, 12 new subclasses and a photo mode. Testing for the patch begins in January.
PlayStation Plus Essential Games for December are: It Takes Two, Aliens: Dark Descent and Temtem. They will be available from December 3rd until January 6th.
PlayStation Plus Classic Catalog for December are: Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves and Jax & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy – These will be available from December 10th.
In the first week of Ranked Play for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, over 19,000 cheaters have been banned and is banning more players every hour. To gain access to Ranked play, you must have won at least 50 Multiplayer games.
Worlds Untold, a studio created by former Mass Effect writer Mac Walters, are “pausing operations” until someone can fun the studio. They are working on an unannounced AAA action-adventure game.
Balatro has made over $4 million on the mobile version since its release on September 26th.
The third ‘Kombat Pack’, story expansions and other DLC for Mortal Kombat 1 has been cancelled due to the low sales of the “Khaos Reigns” expansion.
ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron, Vectorman and Mercs from the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis has been added to the Nintendo Switch Online.
Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15th 2025 after 31 years at PlayStation. But he confirms on Twitter that he is not retiring from the industry.
Some CDPR news:
The Live-action Cyberpunk project is still in its conceptual phase, and it will be another year before they present it project to studios.
Cyberpunk 2077 has sold 30 million copies, with the expansion Phantom Liberty selling 8 million.
A new Cyberpunk animation project is in the work as CDPR have partnered with Netflix, but it is not clear that if they are using the same animation studio as Cyberpunk Edgerunners.
Development of the Cyberpunk 2077 game is being headed by CDPR’s new North American teams in Boston and Vancouver.
CDPR also announced that The Witcher 4 is in full-scale production. According to the CFO Piotr Nielubowicz, this project is the farthest along, and they have started their “most intensive phase of development”
Nintendo is closing the Switch eShop in China on March 31st, 2026. Players who have an active and associated WeChat account will receive up to 4 Nintendo Switch Games for free.
2K has removed its launcher from all PC games including Civilization V, Civilization VI, XCOM 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad, Mafia Trilogy Definitive Edition, Bioshock 1 Remastered,, Bioshock 2 Remastered,Bioshock Infinite, The Quarry and Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Steam Autumn Sale is now on. A lot of places have an Autumn/Black Friday sale on, so check sites like GoG, Humble Bundle, Fanatical, Amazon Prime Gaming, Gamesplanet, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop.
Dragon Quest III (3) HD-2D Remake has sold 821,000 physical copies across Nintendo Switch & PS5 in Japan making it the #1 best selling game in Japan this calendar year. It has been the countries biggest launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the biggest Square Enix launch since Dragon Quest XI (11) in 2017.
Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic is coming to the Nintendo Switch on December 5th featuring a port of Rollercoaster Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon which released on mobile in 2016 and PC in 2017.
The 42nd Golden Joystick Awards were held today. Here is some of the award winners.
Ultimate Game of the Year: Black Myth Wukong
Best Game Adaptation: Fallout
Streamers’ Choice Award: Chained Together
PC Game of the Year: Satisfactory
Console Game of the Year: Helldivers 2
Best Lead Performer: Cody Christian for Cloud in Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
Studio of the Year: Team Asobi (Astro Bot)
Best Indie Game: Balatro
Best Soundtrack: Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
Best Storytelling: Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
Most Anticipated: Grand Theft Auto VI (6)
CD Projekt Red has confirmed that they have no plans for patch for Cyberpunk 2077 for the PS5 Pro console.
In a upcoming patch, the ‘stealth’ part of quests in Star Wars: Outlaws are going to be removed.
Sony has sent a letters to Kadokawa with its intention to acquire From Software (Dark Souls, Elden RIng, Bloodborne) – No decision has been made at this time.
Square Enix in partnership with Lightspeed Studios (PUBG Mobile) have revealed that they are working on Final Fantasy XIV (14) Mobile. It will initially launch in Japan and will feature the first 9 classes that appear in the 2013 release of Final Fantasy XIV (14): A Realm Reborn – There is also speculation that the voice acting has been updated/replaced. No release date.
It has been confirmed that there won’t be any DLC for Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth as Square Enix wants to get Part 3 released ‘as soon as possible’
Late Sunday night edition (because I have been busy and lazy all week.)
The plot to the 3rd part of the Final Fantasy VII (7) remake has been completed, and the game has gone into full production.
The Game Awards has confirmed that expansion packs, DLC and remakes are eligible for the Game of the Year category “if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination”. The Game Awards air on Friday 13th December at 12:30am GMT.
Ratatan, the sequel to the 2007 PSP hit Patapon, has a new trailer with a release date of April 2025, and it comes to PS5/PS4/Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC.
The Splinter Cell movie, with Tom Hardy, is reportedly been cancelled as they “couldn’t get it right”
In a new documentary celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Half-Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode Three was 6 months into development but was dropped in favour of Left 4 Dead – With the new 20th Anniversary, there have been some game updates too: “Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog”
Job roles have appeared online hinting to a Starcraft shooter. The game was revealed in Jason Schreier’s book “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment” – Former head of Far Cry at Ubisoft, Dan Hay, is set to be leading the project.
Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, Joan in… Joan, Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse) is reportedly set to play Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider TV show.
Blizzard has announced and released Warcraft: Remastered, Warcraft II Remastered and Warcraft III Reforged as a Battle Chest which also includes a 2.0 patch for Warcraft III Reforged
According to Phil Spencer, there are no rules for which game from Xbox’s library gets released on PS5 or Switch.
LIVE: Backdoor evictees Martha, Sarah, Thomas and Baked Potato get to have their catwalk exit.
(We cut to the later end of yesterday) Housemates are brought to a room to have a formal dinner together. Each one stands up to give a small speech about their time in the house.
LIVE: Vote Frozen.
A dance floor was put into the sitting room and they danced.
They are talking about Lily and how they couldn’t live with her but enjoyable in small bits
Marcello and Ali are arguing about how Ali has conducted herself and how she viewed others and criticised others, including Ali. Marcello says that Ali is very hypercritical.
Ali argues that she just says what she is true
BB says “Goodnight” to the finalists as the lights are turned off.
LIVE: Apparently Marcello and Ali made up this morning.
LIVE: It’s time to find out who is 5th and 6th.
LIVE: The housemate finishing 6th is: Segun!
LIVE: The housemate finishing 5th is: Nathan!
LIVE: Voting re-open.
Ali, Emma, Hanah and Marcello are the final 4.
LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Nathan and Segun.
LIVE: Vote frozen.
LIVE: The housemate finishing 4th is: Hanah!
LIVE: Voting re-open.
LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Hanah.
LIVE: Vote frozen.
* LIVE: The housemate finishing 3rd is: Emma!
LIVE: Voting re-open.
LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Emma.
LIVE: Voting closed.
LIVE: Celebrity Big Brother will be coming back next year.
* LIVE: The winner of Big Brother 2024 is: Ali!
* LIVE: The runner-up of Big Brother 2024 is: Marcello!
