NewsFeeder

Light up, Super Star. Believe it or not, the holiday season is almost upon us. Of course, many stores have been setting up the Christmas cheer for months now (this writer was seeing bedecked trees in shop windows back in October), but, as of today, the Nintendo Museum is finally following suit. As shared in a post on the museum's official X account, the lights will be on every night from 4pm JST until close (7pm), and they'll be sticking around in the grounds until the not particularly festive d...

Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games is at a "make-or-break" moment in the studio's history, and needs Mina the Hollower to do well.

Get your 'caps here.

One of the iPhone’s many accessibility features is something Apple calls "Magnifier," which uses the smartphone's cameras to magnify and identify objects in the world around you. For Global Accessibility Awareness Day in May this year, Apple brought Magnifier to the Mac, opening up even more places the assistive tool can be used, like classroom or work environments where you might already have a MacBook pulled out. Magnifier requires macOS 26 Tahoe and can work with a built-in webcam, a connecte...

Square Enix's new HD-2D RPG starring YOU. It's been a busy period for gaming recently, and Square Enix is back this week another role-playing release. Following on from the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake in October, we've now got Octopath Traveler 0, which this time puts you in the shoes of your very own custom character. This game is releasing on the Switch and Switch 2 on 4th December, and ahead of our own review going live later today, the very first critic review has now been shared online...

Try it out now on Switch and mobile. In July, The Pokémon Company and Wonderfy released the puzzle title Pokémon Friends on Switch and mobile devices. Today, the game has received an update for both platforms, bumping it up to Version 1.1.0. It contains not only a bunch of bug fixes but also adds new puzzles, plush, furniture and wallpapers to encourage even more customisation.

Go on, tell us! We've finally made it, folks! This week marks the long-awaited arrival of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. After years of development, delays, and even a restart, Samus Aran's next 3D outing is officially here for the Switch and Switch 2. The critic reviews have also gone live ahead of the big release, and admittedly, the aggregate score has got a lot of people talking online. Prime 4 is currently sitting on 81/100 based on 74 critic reviews. At the time of writing, it's got the same "to...

It's definitely not God of War.

Cosy. Chinese dev Seed Lab has officially announced that its upcoming cosy life sim, Starsand Island, is getting a Switch 2 version alongside the Switch 1 release when it launches next year. Scheduled for release in the nebulous "early 2026" and coming to all the usual platforms, that list also now includes Nintendo's latest console, where the devs will be offering two modes depending on your preference: Quality Mode, "targeting 45FPS in 1080p", and Performance Mode, delivering "60FPS in 1080p" ...

Download this update on Switch 2 today. Mario Kart World is this week racing ahead with a brand new update, bumping the new entry in the series up to Version 1.4.0. This latest update for the Switch 2 exclusive adds a bunch of general changes and also fixes a lot of issues. So, here's the full rundown via Nintendo's official support page:

Following an update for NieR:Automata. After ongoing requests from players, NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition finally got a compatibility update for the Switch 2 in November. With this game now functioning as it should on Nintendo's new hardware, another Square Enix title has now received a compatibility update.

The other investors have tiny stakes, and the PIF has stakes in them.

Digimon's kitchen sink approach to monster designs and mechanics combine to create a Digiworld so much more fun than logging on IRL.

Artificial intelligence is showing up everywhere in Google's services these days, whether or not people want them and sometimes in places where they really don't make a lick of sense. The latest trial from Google appears to be giving articles the AI treatment in Google Discover. The Verge noticed that some articles were being displayed in Google Discover with AI-generated headlines different from the ones in the original posts. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, some of these headlines ar...

OpenAI is deprioritizing work on advertising as it focuses on improving the quality of ChatGPT, reports The Information. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a "code red" on Monday, and told employees that the company needs to improve ChatGPT so it doesn't fall behind competitors like Google and Anthropic. Altman said that OpenAI needs to work on personalization for each user, image generation, and model behavior like speed and reliability. Google debuted Gemini 3 Pro in November, and it outperforms C...

Prepare yourself for a surprisingly packed DLC launching this week.

Ryu Ga Gotoku won't create a foreign protagonist whose story is set overseas.

Not everyone believes it, though.

The event is nearly upon us!

Germany is evaluating Apple's proposed changes to address antitrust concerns over App Tracking Transparency (ATT), reports Reuters. Apple plans to tweak the text and formatting of the ATT consent prompt, while aiming to preserve the main privacy benefits of the feature. Apple will add neutral consent prompts for its own services and for third-party apps, aligning the wording, content, and visual design of the messages. Apple also plans to simplify the consent process to make it easier for develo...

You can tell a lot about a company by what they're willing to sue over. Take Instacart, which just filed a lawsuit against New York City. Its beef? The company doesn't like five new city laws, set to take effect in January. They would require Instacart to pay workers more and give customers a tipping option of at least 10 percent. Reuters reports that Instacart's suit targets Local Law 124, which mandates that grocery delivery workers receive the same minimum pay as restaurant delivery workers. ...

Here's what you need to do to complete every checklist square in Kirby Air Riders' City Trial mode.

The final season of Stranger Things is already drawing big viewership numbers, setting a record — but not beating Squid Game's record.

Apple is not going to be able to escape a class-action antitrust lawsuit over anticompetitive App Store fees in the Netherlands, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) said today. The decision could see Apple facing millions of euros in damages, and it sets a precedent for similar lawsuits in other European countries (via Reuters). Apple could ultimately have to pay up to an estimated 637 million euros to address the damage suffered by 14 million iPhone and iPad users in the Netherlands. The laws...

The Sims 4 is getting two new Kits inspired by SpongeBob SquarePants which include some of the yellow sponge's most iconic possessions.

Routine review: Grounded, tactile horror with a story left unfortunately adrift

Horses is out today, but you won't find it on the two biggest PC gaming storefronts.

Due to issues related to the Burning Springs update, Bethesda's Fallout 76 servers are offline.

The post Hela: A Co-Op Adventure for Every Kind of Player appeared first on Xbox Wire.

ExpressVPN, one of the best VPNs, is launching two brand-new features that sound confusingly like things it already does. Users on Android, Mac and iOS (but apparently not Windows, Linux or smart TVs) can now use Fastest Location to automatically pick the VPN server with the fastest download speed and lowest latency. Mac users are also getting an overhauled ExpressVPN app designed to work natively with MacOS. If you've used ExpressVPN before, your first reaction probably went something like "Wai...

All active The Forge codes to redeem for extra rerolls.

Apple today released new firmware for the iPhone Air's MagSafe battery accessory. The firmware has a version number of 8B25, up from the prior 8A351 version. In the Settings app, the new firmware is listed as 99.0 while the prior firmware is 91.0. This is the second firmware update that Apple has provided to ‌iPhone Air‌ users since the battery was released in September. Apple does not provide details on what's included in firmware updates for accessories, but the new firmware likely provides ef...

Best footie feet forward. Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road has had another update to bring it up to version 1.4 following the recent 1.3 patch. This new patch brings all of the tweaks and additions made to other versions of the game (which we reckon is really very good, actually) to Switch 1 and 2, so there's total parity across all versions.

Apple has announced it will be donating undisclosed amounts to relief efforts in Asia following multiple disasters, including a building fire in Hong Kong and a series of severe storms and flooding across Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. "Heartbroken by the devastating fire in Hong Kong," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a social media post last week. "Everyone affected is in our thoughts and we are thankful for the first responders. Apple is donating to relief efforts on the ground." "S...