Kotaku Saturday, December 20, 2025 6:45 PM
As holiday shopping peaks, Nord Security's identity theft protection drops to $4.49 monthly. The post NordProtect Online Identity Service Covers Up to $10K in Scam Losses, Now Going for Peanuts appeared first on Kotaku. |
PCGamesN Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:00 PM With the sequel just around the corner, immersive WW2 shooter, Hell Let Loose, is currently available at 68% off from Fanatical. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, December 20, 2025 5:57 PM  Every game has its limitations, there is only so many actions you can take, narrative threads to unspool, buttons to press. What about a game that you can only play one round of every day? A game where you "take up the sword against an NPC or another girl-esque thing irl and fight until one of you is holding the lifeless, bloodstained hand of the other." This is the description of a tiny, visceral Yuri Game Jam game called Everyday Sororicide. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, December 20, 2025 4:33 PM  The thing about Big Business these days is that when you get Big Numbers, that normally leads to Bigger Business, right up to the point the well has not only dried up, but turned to dust. So, when you have a game like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, now winner of many Geoff Keighleys and seller of many copies, you might assume that developer Sandfall Interactive would increase the size of their operations. Apparently, you would be wrong! |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, December 20, 2025 2:01 PM  The end of a very short era is here! I guess, if you care about the life cycles of tech products made by multi-billion dollar companies. It appears that the days of the original LCD model of the Steam Deck is coming to an end, as a quiet notice from Valve suggests their focus will be with the slightly newer, shinier OLED line of handheld gaming devices. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, December 20, 2025 1:01 PM  I've always found PowerWash Simulator's Big Brand Collabs slightly odd, if a touch humorous. They don't always make much sense to me, like the SpongeBob one, though I will admit that the Shrek one does feel like a good fit, even if I am loath to look at intellectual property. And now here we are with its sequel, PowerWash Simulator 2, with its first bit of DLC freshly announced, sending prospective powerwashers off to a distant land called Ooo from the seminal Adventure Time. |
Twinfinite Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:59 PM  |
Twinfinite Saturday, December 20, 2025 2:54 PM  |
Siliconera Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:00 PM
As a slice-of-life manga (and soon anime series on Crunchyroll), sometimes it feels like each volume of Wash It All Away can have different sorts of focuses as we watch Wakana Kinme go about her life. Sometimes, it's about establishing Atami and its residents. Wakana's relationships with people can come up. There can even be teases about her past. With volume 5 of the Wash It All Away manga, it instead feels like the focus this time is on different kinds of artistry and craftmanship, whether it be Wakana's cleaning techniques or more traditional forms of art.
Editor's Note: There are spoilers for situations in the fifth volume of the Wash It All Away manga below.
Basically, much of volume 5 of Wash It All Away is dealing with Wakana Kinme and new friend and Atami resident Remy Shiira. Remy is a foreigner who's moved back to the region, but her grandparents lived in Japan. She's an artist, with us seeing her both paint and open a pottery studio in the town. So the initial connections between her and Wakana form due to a mutual appreciation for each others' talents.
Things start with the two young women appreciating different forms of talent. Wakana happens upon Remy when the latter is painting near a tent. She's watching her work on landscapes and, initially, it seems like Remy is a visitor who doesn't know the language. When Remy camping leads to a small issue, Wakana offers Kinme Cleaning's backyard as a temporary spot and notices that Remy's clothing and fabrics got damaged when she cleaned them on her own. As she uses color theory to repair one item that faded, it catches Remy's attention. The two then bond over that.
From there, we get a closer look at pottery. Remy's Japanese grandfather was a potter and passed the joy of the creative process down to her. When Wakana comes to the new studio, we see Remy teach her the coil building method to create her own bowl. That's when we also learn Remy's grandparents had a holiday home there. When the two later go sightseeing together at Atami castle, this leads them to explore exhibits tied to that same sort of art.
But most interesting is how Wakana's own talents as craftsperson come into play at the end of the fifth volume of Wash It All Away. In the fourth volume, we see her find a stuffed animal that had been brought in for cleaning by someone with the last name of Mutsu. However, while Wakana is able clean the plush rabbit, she's never able to find its original home. At the end of this volume, that story gets a proper resolution. But before that even happens, we see how intelligent and aware Wakana is as an artisan. She recognizes how important all elements of a finished, cleaned product is, including things like familiar scents. So it's almost like aromatherapy is put into play when she puts on a finishing touch that helps that lil' buddy get home.
Throughout Wash It All Away, the manga seems to establish how detailed the cleaning process is, and volume 5 sort of compares Wakana Kinme to an artist with the care she puts into her work. We see her flat out use artistic techniques to deal with fading at one point. Then, after watching her learn about pottery and the methods to put together a detailed and aesthetically pleasing piece, we get to see her use the power of certain scents to create the same sort of ambiance around a completed cleaning assignment.
Volume 5 of Wash It All Away is available now, and Square Enix will eventually release volume 6.
The post Wash It All Away 5 Gets Into Various Kinds of Craftmanship appeared first on Siliconera. |
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 4:51 PM
ARK Survival Ascended's Lost Colony DLC has added a few unique creatures and items, and nothing tops the elusive Vulpite Crystals.
This is arguably one of the most essential items to find if you're looking to evolve your Veilwyn. Unlike other creatures, the Veilwyn has different evolutions. The Pristine Vulpite is required if you want to evolve your Veilwyn to a Solwyn. Incidentally, you also get the Vulpite from a Solwyn.
If all of this sounds confusing, this guide will clear all your doubts.
How to get Pristine Vulpite in ARK Survival Ascended
To get a Pristine Vulpite crystal, you'll need your own Veilwyn. The Veilwyn also has to be marked as your companion.
The next step is to find a wild Solwyn (with the Veilwyn as your companion). When you approach the Solwyn, you'll see an emote icon on top of it (right below the curiosity level). You'll need to perform the same emote from the emote wheel. Once you do that, you'll notice that the curiosity will increase.
You aim to take the curiosity of the wild Solwyn to 100%. This will take some time, and you'll want to avoid selecting the wrong emoticons. Doing so will put a cooldown, and you'll need to begin from the start. Hence, selecting the correct emojis is necessary.
Thankfully, there are just three emojis to pick from. Hence, there's not much chance of you picking the wrong option. Once the curiosity level reaches 100%, you'll get a Vulpite Crystal.
You can repeat this process to gain more Pristine Vulpite Crystals if you want. The crystal will be directly available in your inventory.
You can then use it to evolve your own Veilwyn into a Solwyn directly. If you find the instructions and requirements too hard, you can always use console commands if they're allowed on your servers.
The post How to get Vulpite Crystals in ARK Survival Ascended Lost Colony DLC appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:56 PM
BitLife's Bad Santa challenge is making a return for the first time in five years. While some challenges are full of happiness and excitement, this event has your character experiencing all sides of the holiday season, including stress, sadness, and mischief.
The Bad Santa challenge has six objectives to complete:
Table of contents
BitLife Bad Santa challenge guide
BitLife's Bad Santa challenge doesn't require any paid expansion packs or Bitizenship to complete. If you didn't finish its 2020 version, you now have another chance to tackle its objectives for free without having to make any job pack or premium pass purchases.
Be a male
The BitLife Bad Santa challenge's first task requires you to have a male character. It doesn't matter where he's born, as long as his starting gender is set to Male. It's up to you whether you continue from a pre-existing save or start fresh.
While you're not required to have any job packs for this challenge, having the Mafia pack's Criminal special talent will help you later on. Aside from this, you'll mostly be relying on your own efforts and some luck later on.
Become Santa
Your next job is to become Santa himself. To do this, age up your character until you unlock part-time jobs before heading into the Occupation menu. Search the part-time job menu until you find a Mall Santa position open.
If your character is young, there's a chance he won't get the job right away. In this case, keep aging up and applying for the job until you succeed in knocking out this objective.
Be depressed
Throughout your character's life, you'll need to do everything in your power to make them depressed. Here are some ideas for doing this:
Once your character reaches zero percent happiness, they'll become depressed, letting you complete this next task.
Burgle 10 homes
The next part of BitLife's Bad Santa challenge requires you to burgle ten houses. To do this, head into Activities, Crime, and choose Burgle. Here, you'll find a maze minigame that'll net you rewards depending on your performance.
During this minigame, you'll navigate hallways from a top-down point of view. Your goal is to avoid whoever is in the house, collect items, and escape without having the cops appear and thwart your plans. Completing this minigame ten times will finish this task, leading into the second half of our character's criminal arc.
Shoplift 10 items
Our character's crime spree isn't over yet. Our next goal is to shoplift, which you can do by heading back into the Crime menu and picking Shoplift. The easiest way to complete this is to pick low-value items so that, even if your character is caught, the consequences won't be too severe.
Tell a child that Santa isn't real
The final task of BitLife's Bad Santa challenge is to tell a child that Santa isn't real. During your character's life, there's a chance you'll find a random event that'll enable you to do this. If you don't encounter this event, you can create a new character and try again, use the Time Machine to go back in time, or refresh your save by closing and reopening the BitLife app.
Completing all six tasks will wrap up the Bad Santa challenge, rewarding you with a cosmetic prize. If you're looking to finish a past challenge, be sure to check out how to complete the BitLife Baby challenge, or click the tags below to explore more BitLife guides.
The post How to complete the Bad Santa challenge in BitLife appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:24 PM
Continuing down its AI-focused path, Nvidia is now introducing a new, open-source AI solution trained to play games on its own. Trained on thousands of hours of gaming content, this new AI initially came to be as a robotics implementation, but is now being branched out.
The AI is called NitroGen, and was first shown off by Nvidia's Director of Robotics, Jim Fan. He showed the solution in action: the "autonomous agent" as this "player" is called played The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Cuphead, Rocket League, and Blasphemous, among other titles, doing so quite capably, even if it's in a primitive state of development.
The agent was trained on countless hours of gameplay, specifically videos where players put up their gamepads or control schemes that showed, in real time, what keys they were pressing, allowing the machine to learn motor controls and other aspects of real-time gameplay.
This makes sense given that the agent was initially meant for robotics, i.e., to enable AI-controlled robots to perform motor functions and other "human" actions, but it's now branched out into purely software applications.
The fact that this is an open-source solution and generally available to anyone (including for the sake of creating forks and unique takes) makes me dread the future of online gaming.
Let's take a second to consider what the widespread use of a capable autonomous AI would do: make bots appear in just about every single game, ruin your matches far more than bots already do, make it nearly impossible to discern low- and mid-level players from robots, and generally make online competitive gaming a hellscape.
And not only that. With the introduction of autonomous gameplay agents, we can almost say farewell to original gaming content on YouTube and other platforms. You'll have ChatGPT or a related LLM generating a video script, an AI voice reading it out, and an AI playing the game in the background. The same goes for streaming and any other form of video content, which is already saturated by AI to an incredible degree.
We are ushering in our own demise, especially in these two areas. Bots pose a major problem in video games already, with organizations using them to farm cases in CS2, flooding the game with millions of fake players and decimating the game's casual side. With these new capabilities, we can expect the bots to flow into competitive and other modes, being used to boost accounts, level them, or even derank them with utmost efficiency.
I genuinely cannot think of a single good use for this new AI, save for maybe applying it in a Soulslike game to make the enemies more capable and challenging, though I don't know how that'd work any better than the systems FromSoftware had already invented for its games.
You cannot tell me bosses can get much better than Bayle, Sister Friede, Lady Maria, and so many others, which were made without any use of AI, and definitely without Nvidia's NitroGen.
The post Nvidia's new open-source AI is made to play games on its own—and I just know it'll butcher online gaming appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:10 PM
The ARK Survival Ascended Lost Colony DLC has its own share of creatures and items to find in the new region, and you can ease the process with the help of console commands.
To use the console commands, you'll have to ensure that your server allows them in the first place. You'll also need to own the DLC as the commands won't have any effects otherwise.
While the guide is a work-in-progress, I have listed down every console command verified to be working as part of the DLC.
Table of contents
Complete list of Lost Colony DLC console commands for ARK Survival Ascended
The console commands related to the Lost Colony DLC work in the same fashion as they do for the base game. The only difference is that you need to own the Lost Colony DLC to be able to use the commands as intended.
Trait codes
For traits, you have to add _L (for Lesser) and _M (for Moderate) to the code that works for the Greater variant.
All Lost Colony DLC Saddle Codes in ARK Survival Ascended
Here are the full GFI codes for the new saddles that can be used to get new mounts.
All Lost Colony DLC Creature Summon Codes in ARK Survival Ascended
The following codes will help you spawn the wild versions of creatures added by the Lost Colony DLC.
The post All ARK Survival Ascended Lost Colony DLC console commands appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 2:46 PM
Recently, we've been getting reports that Riot Games is working on a new version of League of Legends, supposedly called League Next, i.e., League of Legends 2. It's a massive overhaul of the game, but now that others have done it (and poorly), is that really the best path to take?
League of Legends has been around since 2009. By all accounts, it's an old game, despite Riot's best efforts to maintain it and bring it up to snuff with current technology. However, they've generally made it worse. I've played League since 2012 and dropped it in early 2024 for good.
I was there to see all the "advancements" and upgrades to the game, the good and the bad, and witnessed, in real time, how the game regressed technologically, primarily due to its archaic and unsustainable engine.
I also remember the first graphical upgrade (and apparently the last) Riot Gave to League of Legends back in 2014, which everyone welcomed with open arms. So much has changed in the game, including the map, mechanics, champions, art style, and just about everything else, but it never rejected its own name, League of Legends.
It was never once called League of Legends 2 or League Next or anything in-between, clutching to its established, recognizable identity while at the same time refining and changing what it entailed. Now, we're getting reports (thanks Bloomberg) of a massive overhaul to League that'll change its name and, undoubtedly, its identity, because it's almost certain an engine change is going to be part of this update.
But the precedent for that is less than great. Overwatch 2 basically re-released the first game, cut out some of its coolest features, underdelivered on all the promises that justified the existence of Overwatch 2, and ended up being just a worse, free-to-play Overwatch 1.
Counter-Strike 2 did the same. Valve wanted to bring CS:GO to the Source 2 engine, promised all these cool network features that'd solve the tickrate problem once and for all, and led us to expect great things. However, what we got was the same game with worse networking and the outright deletion of many great CS:GO features, including 128 tick servers, loads of casual game modes, map-based factions, and so on and so forth.
Each time a game, especially a live-service game, pursued this radical overhaul and change and rejected its core identity in the process, something was lost. And I thus expect this League Next thing to end up a disaster, so long as it is pursued in the same manner as these examples above.
I'm not the only one to think like this. Overwatch 2 and esports reporter Rod Breslau said no live-service games should be changing their names and identities whenever a substantial update happens.
"It's my belief all forever online games should remain named only the title franchise through all new releases, updates, and iterations," if for no reason than for the sake of "aesthetics." These games are by no means "2." Overwatch 2 is Overwatch 1; Counter-Strike 2 is CS:GO. Nothing in these games stands out that much to be called a different title altogether, as the name would imply, which is, to some extent, misleading.
League of Legends should remain as it is and not give up what makes it recognizable and unique. Sure, it's rough around the edges and deserving of some technical changes (even radical ones), but that does not mean Riot is making a whole new game that needs a new name, new identity, a new style.
We'll see what this could mean, as the overhaul is reportedly set to release sometime in 2027. I just hope it turns out well, unlike other examples.
The post After disastrous 'Overwatch 2' and 'Counter-Strike 2' releases, do we really want a 'League of Legends 2?' appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 1:51 PM
The Stay Frosty Evolution is now live in FC 26, allowing you to create amazing chains in Ultimate Team.
While the evolution doesn't offer any overall rating upgrades, it includes stat boosts, playstyles, and more. Let's review the best options for this free evolution, based on the requirements and available upgrades.
Table of contents
FC 26 Stay Frosty requirements
Here are the requirements for Stay Frosty Evolution in FC 26.
FC 26 Stay Frosty Evolution upgrades
The Stay Frosty Evolution has two levels of upgrades. To obtain the boosts, you'll need to complete specific tasks.
Level 1 upgrades
Level 2 upgrades
Level 1 upgrade requirements
Level 2 upgrade requirements
Best players for Stay Frosty Evolution in FC 26
You can include a wide variety of items in this evolution.
These are arguably some of the best options you can include in this evolution. Since the cards won't go above the overall rating of 85, you can add the upgraded versions to more evolutions. That will further improve the stats and allow you to use them in competitive matches for a longer period.
The post Best players for FC 26 Stay Frosty Evolution appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, December 20, 2025 1:22 PM
The Passing Perfectionist Evolution is now live in FC 26, and you can improve a card of your choice in Ultimate Team.
The latest evolution is available for 35,000 coins and includes some fantastic upgrades. This guide will help you figure out the best candidates for the evolution based on the requirements and offered upgrades.
Table of contents
FC 26 Passing Perfectionist Evolution requirements
Here are the requirements for Passing Perfectionist Evolution in FC 26.
FC 26 Passing Perfectionist Evolution upgrades
The Passing Perfectionist Evolution has three levels of upgrades. To obtain the boosts, you'll need to complete specific tasks.
Level 1 upgrades
Level 2 upgrades
Level 3 upgrades
Level 1 upgrade requirements
Level 2 upgrade requirements
Level 3 upgrade requirements
Best players for Passing Perfectionist Evolution in FC 26
You can include a wide variety of items in this evolution. Cards have been included based on the upgrades on offer.
These are arguably some of the best options you can include in this evolution. This evolution is geared towards adding new playstyles, without raising the overall rating. This leaves plenty of room for you to include the upgraded cards in more evolutions.
The post Best players for FC 26 Passing Perfectionist Evolution appeared first on Destructoid. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Saturday, December 20, 2025 3:07 PM Bandai Namco acquired Limbic Entertainment in 2022. The post Bandai Namco Officially Divests Limbic Entertainment appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Saturday, December 20, 2025 2:58 PM Along with studio details. The post DAVE THE DIVER DLC 'In the Jungle' DLC Gets New Details appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Saturday, December 20, 2025 2:47 PM In a recent interview. The post Hideo Kojima Says The OD "Knock" Trailer Should be Watched "A Hundred Times" appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
iDev Games Feed Saturday, December 20, 2025 5:07 PM Fydos.io is a multiplayer browser game focused on survival, progression, and exploration. Players collect resources, fight enemies, level up stats, and unlock n... |