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Summary Often, successful live services launch to a huge playerbase, which will see a sudden drop off shortly after release. Then, it all becomes about clinging onto those hardcore fans who login every day, or maybe trying out new events that bring back those who fell off. However, inMarvel Rivals' case, it looks like the launch period hype isn’t dying down. Over onSteam, the shooter is still pulling in huge figures, only seeing a roughly ten percent drop off since it launches exactly one month ago....

Marvel Rivalsis white hot right now, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. It hit a peak of 480,000 players on Steam the weekend after it launched andhas managed to maintain an average of 400,000+ every day for a full month. It’s sitting comfortably in the Top 5 categories on Twitch, and in-game clips are still dominating social media.When Season 1 kicks off this Friday, Rivals will likely kick into a whole new gear....

Despite the fact that my friends never watch theTikToksI send them and insist on usingInstagramReels instead, I love TikTok and I’mnevermoving to Meta’s rip-off. I hate Meta on principle. If you ever see me on Threads, I’m being held hostage, please send help. I only still use Instagram because I’ve been locked on the platform since I was a teenager. It’s too late for me to get out of that one, unfortunately....

Summary If you were hoping for more in-MultiverseMagic: the Gatheringsets, you may be out of luck. Responding to a fan, head MTG designer Mark Rosewater appears to suggest that all of theplanned in-Multiverse sets for 2026have already been announced, making the rest of the sets Universes Beyond crossovers. If true, this means that the only non-crossover sets in 2026 will be Return to Lorwyn and Return to Arcavios. The rest of the sets have not been revealed, but Rosewater’s comments seemingly suggest that they will all be crossovers....

Update 15:20 GMT:Developer Dreamate has since confirmed that generative AI was used to “create some base images” in the game. The full statement can be found at the end of this article. When I was shownNew Arc Lineat Gamescom this year,I was blown away. It ticks all of the boxes for the kind of CRPG that I end up putting a daft amount of hours into - a fully customisable character, companions, a ridiculous amount of stats, and turn-based combat....

Summary WhilePokemon Trading Card Game Pocket’sbattling meta is still figuring itself out following the release of the Mythical Island expansion, two decks have become stalwarts of the game—Gyarados ex and Mewtwo ex. These two decks dominate the battling scene and, thus, are two of the most common decks encountered in the game’s competitive modes. With the decks appearing so regularly, it’s only natural that players are looking for the best counters, and new research has found that there are only four decks that can stand up to bothGyarados exandMewtwo ex....

Summary Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket’sbattle mode has begun to heat up with the introduction of theLapras ex event. Players are quickly figuring out the meta, which began as mostlyMewtwo exandPikachu exdecks, and aresharing the best countersas they look to rack up wins for some (rather underwhelming) rewards. One deck, which has been shared onReddit, that hasn’t had much time in the spotlight is an Aerodactyl deck has the potential to finish a game without knocking any opposition Pokemon out....

Summary When you dive intoAtlyss, one of the first big decisions you’ll face is choosing your class. You’ll choose from different races, each with unique abilities—Imps, Humans, and Kubolds, to name a few. But, it’s your class that determines how you’ll approach combat, exploration, and teamwork. Fighters thrive on raw power, Mystics harness magic, and Bandits rely on agility and stealth. The Novice class, while basic, gives you a glimpse of your potential....

Summary One eagle-eyedSilent Hill 2 Remakefan has spotted a fun little Easter Egg to the reprintedMTGcard Masahiro Ito did the art for. For context,the recently released Duskmourn: House of Horrors set included a reprinted Damnation,designed by Ito himself. It depicts an ungainly, fleshy moth abomination known as Valgavoth, perfectly in keeping with Ito’s unsettling art style. As Reddit user Deus-Ex-MJ points out, in the Silent Hill 2 remake, you can find a book in the Woodside Apartments titled “The New Damnation”....

Summary Like it or not, when two blockbusters are released in cinemas on the same weekend, people are going to compare how they perform at the box office. The latest, and perhaps most fierce, example of that isSonic 3and Mufasa: The Lion King both hitting theaters the weekend before Christmas. Disney massaged its numbers on launch weekend to make it look like it outperformed the Blue Blur, and in week two, the studio has been accused of outright lying about its figures....

Summary Sonic the Hedgehog 3is in cinemas now and has had quite the opening weekend, making almost twice as much as Mufasa at the domestic box office and earning back more than half its budget already. As much of a hit as it has been so far, Sonic fans do still have some questions about it, chief among them being how Gerald Robotnik is still alive, and so active, despite being more than 100 years old....

Summary A newNintendo Wiibuild of Free Radical’s cancelledStar Wars Battlefront 3from 2008 has been discovered by the Free Radical Archive, who has shared gameplay footage of the threequel that could (and should) have been. Despite being one of the most all-time popularStar Warsspin-offs,the Battlefront games seem to have some pretty awful luck. The rebooted version of the series from EA and Dicenever managed to get the success it deserved after rocky launches, while the beloved original trilogyhad its third and most ambitious entry cancelled before it ever saw the light of day....

I liked a lot of games this year. While not as full to the brim as 2023, there were still a lot of excellent options out there, whatever your genre persuasion. I liked enough that when I put togethermy top ten, I needed to save space for another four honourable mentions.Stellar Bladewas not amongst that 14, and yet of all the games that came out over the past 12 months, it’s the one I’m most interested in what it does next....