Industry leaders in Japan recently gathered to honor Tomonobu Itagaki, the creator of Dead or Alive and the 3D Ninja Gaiden series, who passed away in October at age 58. The memorial venue was filled with heartfelt tributes, including copies of his games, artwork, swords, and pieces of his iconic clothing. Photos shared by attendees showed just how much he meant to the gaming community.

Itagaki was a major figure in Japanese game development. He founded Team Ninja in the late 1990s and helped shape modern action and fighting games. At the memorial, Koei Tecmo executive Yosuke Hayashi shared memories of meeting him in 2001. Hayashi recalled being assigned to Itagaki's team and being told there was no work for him.

早矢仕洋介氏弔辞
（コーエーテクモゲームス代表取締役社長執行役員CEO・コーエーテクモホールディングス取締役副社長）
『板垣伴信をヴァルハラに送る会』にて#itagaki https://t.co/HPmFpDXixg pic.twitter.com/az4Y2lTve0

— 勝田 晴美 (@katsuta_harumi) November 28, 2025

"I was assigned to your department as a game planner. You told me you had no work for me. That’s what you told me. Two weeks after I was assigned, I really had no work, haha. At the time, I lamented my bad luck, thinking it was the worst possible encounter," he said (via a Redditor translator).

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In the 21 years since World of Warcraft launched, one feature has been asked about and requested above all others: player housing. Despite being the premier MMORPG for over two decades, housing in WoW has always felt like a pipedream. Now, that dream is finally a reality, as an early-access version of player housing is launching December 2 for those who preorder WoW's eleventh expansion, Midnight.

It's been a long time coming. Housing as a feature was experimented with in WoW's earliest days but never came to fruition. In 2014, WoW's Warlords of Draenor expansion gave players a taste of what a full-fledged player housing system could be in the form of Garrisons. These large, base-like personal towns met nearly all of a player's needs in one location.

But Garrisons quickly became more of a lesson in what Blizzard shouldn't do when it came to player housing. Barely customizable, Garrisons were also extremely isolating. With access to so many amenities in one, private location, players didn't need to be out in the world or hanging out in one of WoW's capital cities. Garrisons whetted players appetites for housing, but whenever Blizzard was asked about when a proper housing system might arrive, it always replied that it wanted to do the feature justice and was waiting for the right moment to make it happen.

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Lego Jurassic World T Rex Fossil Set (577 pieces)

$25.10 (was $40)

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If you're looking for some last-minute Cyber Monday Lego deals, check out the Lego Jurassic World T Rex Skull set, which is down to $25.10 (was $40) at Amazon. That's just a few cents more than its best-ever price of $25--making this a great time to add it to your collection. More importantly, Lego will be retiring this T. rex set in the near future, and it's currently sold out at the Lego Store, so this is likely one of your last chances to pick it up. We've also listed several other Lego Jurassic World sets that are on sale for Cyber Monday below, so whether you're looking for something nostalgic or are just on a dinosaur kick from this summer's release of Jurassic World Rebirth, there's likely something that'll catch your eye.

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Arc Raiders players recently discovered an exploit that allowed them to loot locked rooms without needing a keycard. Naturally, the exploit quickly became popular--and frustrating for players who didn't use it--leading Embark Studios to apply a "hot" fix to this part of the game. If you now decide to cheese your way into one of these treasure rooms, you can now expect a toasty reception inside.

Using a keycard to access one of these rooms ties into the high-risk, high-reward nature of Arc Raiders, but the exploit essentially bypasses it. Players managed to break into the room, grab valuable gear without worrying about being ambushed, and pick the location clean. This meant that players who unlocked the room properly would find it stripped bare, leading to frustration within the Arc Raiders community.

To remedy this, Embark Studios made it so that the rooms automatically activate flamethrowers when you glitch into them. Players quickly found out that they would be caught inside this deathtrap, while other players with keycards would discover a room full of loot and a freshly cremated adventurer.

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Season 1 arrives to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone this week, and the first season of content adds plenty of new multiplayer maps. Activision has released a new Black Ops 7 video to showcase the four maps arriving with the launch of Season 1, including three brand-new maps and one remastered.

There are seven maps total for Season 1 of Black Ops 7. Four maps arrive with the season's launch on December 4, and three additional maps are included for a midseason update. As shown in the trailer above, Activision gives a flyover of each map, highlighting main points-of-interests for Fate, Utopia, Odysseus, and Black Ops 7's remaster of Standoff from Black Ops 2.

Utopia is a brand-new map set at a futuristic Guild research facility based in Australia. This is a medium-sized map for standard 6v6 modes.

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The Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks are happening again, but this time, the one currently circulating on the internet may actually be real--even if it doesn't include any new information or anything.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, hawkish Redditors noticed a demo reel posted by former Rockstar Games animator Benjamin Chue. The two-minute reel featured animations from games like GTA 5, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and, as spotted by IGN and VGC, three clips from what appears to be pre-alpha GTA 6 footage. The reel was quickly scrubbed off the internet, but Redditors found and posted mirrors of it. And as viewed by GameSpot, the clips do look like early GTA 6.

One clip shows a male character detach a "LomBike"--likely a parody of the IRL LimeBike rental service--from its docking station, turn it around, and sit on it. Seconds later, that same character returns the bike to its dock.

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Battlefield 6's testing program, Battlefield Labs, is back, this time for a short-notice test that will focus on improvements like better footstep audio and hit registration.

The official Battlefield Comms account laid out its plans for the December 2 test on X, writing that it will consist of a small, two hour window from 4-6 PM PT. The test will be a preview of what players can expect from a December 9 Battlefield 6 update and will be conducted on the Conquest and Escalation versions of the Eastwood and Operation Firestorm maps.

The test is to gather feedback on "combat improvements" like footstep audio updates that improve distance perception surface definition, and enemy audibility. Network and hit registration changes are also being tested that should result in "more consistent interactions and better responsiveness during close-quarters and higher-intestiy combat. Battlefield Studios also notes that there will be "broader adjustments across key combat systems."

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December 10 marks the fifth anniversary of Cyberpunk 2077, and developer CD Projekt is teasing something to mark the occasion. On its social media channels, the company posted a "Cyberpunk 2077 birthday and anniversary calendar" image alongside a cryptic message. "Secure comms channel established. Standby for incoming priority transmission," the message reads, with images of characters and dates accompanying it.

The tweet hints at something happening on December 10--the day Cyberpunk 2077 launched in 2020--and another on December 12 linked to Solomon Reed. On December 19, it looks like we'll hear from the songbird herself, Song So Mi.

SECURE COMMS CHANNEL ESTABLISHED.
STANDBY FOR INCOMING PRIORITY TRANSMISSION…
CYBERPUNK 2077 — 10.12
REED, SOLOMON — 12.12
SONG, SO MI — 29.12
END OF TRANSMISSION. pic.twitter.com/3PcagdOjlt

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 1, 2025

So what's CDPR Red teasing? The studio has supported Cyberpunk 2077 extensively since its rocky launch, rolling out major updates to improve the game's quality. These fixes eventually led to the release of the critically acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion--from which both Reed and Songbird originate--and since then, CDPR has added even more content to the game.

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In 2022, Jennifer Hale was confirmed as the new voice of Bayonetta in Bayonetta 3, following the departure of the character's original voice actress, Hellena Taylor. The recasting of Taylor and the subsequent controversy dogged Hale during the production of that game, and it's an experience she didn't enjoy despite her love for the character.

During an interview with GAMINGbible, Hale indicated that she would "love to play Bayonetta again," but she wasn't happy about the situation she found herself in.

"I definitely got thrown under the bus by that whole thing, and I was unable to speak on my own behalf because I was under not one but two NDAs," recalled Hale. "Eventually, I was allowed to make a statement, which I appreciated, and I was able to present the facts.

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Street Fighter 6 characters, such as Ryu and Chun-Li, are coming to Call of Duty Mobile later this month. The crossover will be a part of the shooter's Season 11: 6th Anniversary, with Street Fighter operators arriving December 11, per the game's official X account.

There is no official roster of Street Fighter 6 operators announced for Call of Duty Mobile yet, but the trailer for the crossover--seen below--showcases Ryu, Chun-Li, Akuma, Cammy, and Luke. Additionally, a weapon series based on the fighting game is planned to drop December 13 for Call of Duty Mobile.

This isn't the first time Call of Duty Mobile has seen a big crossover event. In October, the game got WWE operators like the Undertaker and Alexa Bliss with Season 9: Midnight Rumble. Even earlier this year, in July, the shooter featured a Gundam-themed season, and there was even an unexpected Nier: Automata collaboration.

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Tribute Games clearly believes in the power of nostalgia. Its last project, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, brought the heroes in a half shell back to their 2D side-scrolling roots, to critical acclaim, while the rest of the company's portfolio is marked with games steeped in a retro look and feel. Now, Tribute is trying it again with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a beat-'em-up featuring Marvel superheroes, and the results are similarly great, as Cosmic Invasion earns its place alongside the top retro brawlers of the modern era, thanks to both a solid roster of playable heroes and a few influences from other parts of Marvel's gaming history.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion drops its all-star cast of heroes into a galactic battle against Annihilus, who is using an army of parasitic bugs to take over the universe. Campaign mode plays out across over a dozen locations in the Marvel multiverse, including the Savage Land, Genosha, Wakanda, and more, with a rogues' gallery of villains leading up to the final battle with Annihilus. The campaign unfolds across 16 stages, each of them ending with a unique boss. Meanwhile, the Arcade mode streamlines the same story to 12 stages, with a few allowing you to choose between two locations.

A full run only took me about three hours to complete on Normal difficulty. Stages are mostly side-scrolling, and while a few curveballs with vertical sequences or unique stage hazards appear once in a while, the stage design doesn't stray far from a classic side-scroller. As such, eventually the sight of the same locations and enemies begins to wear thin, rendering the entire experience a bit shallow. There are unique collectibles to find and challenges to complete in each stage, as well as modifiers in Arcade mode--like increased health and speed for enemies, or super attacks costing health instead of focus--to add a bit of flair to each run, but each stage's fundamental structure, from visual designs to voice-acting cues, stays the same every time.

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The Tomb Raider TV series is finally happening, with Sophie Turner set to play the iconic gaming character. But who else will star in the Prime Video series?

A report from Variety said British actor Martin Bobb-Semple will be a series regular on the show, though his role was not confirmed. Bobb-Semple is perhaps best known for his recurring roles on All American: Homecoming and One of Us is Lying.

Production on the Tomb Raider show is set to begin in January 2026.

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World of Warcraft is getting player housing on December 2, and Blizzard has now released a step-by-step guide on what players will need to do to claim and customize their forever home in Azeroth.

Like most things in WoW, it all begins with a quest. Players who have preordered the game's Midnight expansion and log in after the release of the MMORPG's 11.2.7 patch will automatically receive a quest that will lead them straight into the housing tutorial. If players somehow lose the tutorial quest, they can easily start it again by clicking on the new housing icon in the game's micro menu.

The tutorial will show players around the neighborhood, the basics of decorating, and answer some common housing-related questions players may have. As noted in the video, housing is available almost immediately, even for entirely new players. After doing the first few quests in the tutorial zone Exile's Reach, new players will be given the option of continuing with the game's introductory zone or jumping straight into the housing tutorial.

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The Holiday 2025 shopping season is in full swing, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending expected to push to new heights. Video games are among the most sought-after products this year, but which games and systems do people in the US want the most?

A report from Adobe Analytics said video games and consoles are expected to be among the "key drivers of holiday spending" this year in the US, with seven products overall singled out. Ranked in no particular order, the top seven most sought-after gaming items for Holiday 2025 are:

• Nintendo Switch 2
• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series X
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Madden NFL 26
• NBA 2K26
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

Adobe's report is forecasting a total spend in the US of $253.4 billion (+5.3%) for Holiday 2025 shopping season (November 1-November 23), and that's just for online shopping.

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The Game Awards will be upon us soon, with the winners chosen by a mix of expert judges and fans. A large voting jury made up of game critics and media decides 90% of the results. The remaining 10% comes from fan votes, so while that doesn't decide everything, your votes can still make a difference when the results are announced live on December 11. What's more, the first round of Players' Voice nominees have been revealed. These are picked exclusively by the general public.

People can vote on The Game Awards website, and fans in China can vote on Bilibili. Voting stays open until December 10, at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET. Anyone who signs up can vote in all 29 award categories, including Game of the Year.

On the official The Game Awards website, the organization outlines why the primary award categories are not 100% chosen by the general public.

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Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle

$449 (was $500) | Cyber Monday Deal

See at Amazon See at Walmart

The Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart bundle is up for grabs for $449 (was $500) at Walmart and Amazon for Cyber Monday. Discounts on Nintendo consoles are rare in general, but it's genuinely shocking to see a deal on the Switch 2 less than six months after launch. The $51 discount will show up after you add the bundle to your cart at either retailer. Walmart is limiting customers to one console, while Amazon has a two-console limit.

Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $449 (was $500) | Cyber Monday Deal

The Mario Kart World console bundle is valued at $530, so you're essentially getting a copy of the Switch 2 exclusive for free. The bundle includes a voucher that can be redeemed on the Switch 2 eShop for the digital edition of Mario Kart World.

Here's what's included inside the box:

• Switch 2 with 7.9-inch LCD display
• Joy-Con 2: Left and Right
• Joy-Con 2 Straps
• Joy-Con 2 Grip
• Dock for TV Mode
• Ultra High-Speed HDMI Cable
• USB-C Cable
• 60W AC adapter
• Voucher for Mario Kart World

The Mario Kart bundle is selling for the same price as the Switch 2 console on its own. Nintendo previously stated the Mario Kart bundle would only be available until Fall 2025, so Amazon and Walmart might be clearing out their remaining units before the bundle disappears for good.

See at Amazon See at Walmart

One of the first accessories every new Switch 2 owner should buy is a carrying case. Since it's Cyber Monday, that means you can also save on Switch 2 cases, including a couple officially licensed options. For a case that's large enough for the console and dock, check out the RDS Industries Game Traveler Deluxe System Case for $25 (was $30). If you'd prefer a sleeker travel case, the PowerA Slim Case is on sale for $15 (was $20) at Amazon.

The Switch 2 has 256GB of flash storage, but you can expand the console's storage capacity with a microSD Express Card. Samsung's officially licensed 256GB microSD Express Card is on sale for $39 (was $60) for Cyber Monday at Walmart and Amazon.

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There's still no release date or window for The Witcher 4. But that's not stopping CD Projekt Red from stating again that a whole new trilogy might launch within a six-year timespan. That's been the plan for years, but the company reasserted this position during a recent financial call, according to Eurogamer.

CD Projekt co-CEO Michal Nowakowski was asked about the company utilizing Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4 and whether that could lead to shorter development cycles for future sequels. "In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time--as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between [The Witcher 4] and [The Witcher] 5, between [The Witcher] 5 and [The Witcher] 6 and so on," Nowakowski said.

Nowakowski's co-CEO at CD Projekt, Adam Kicinski, discussed this six-year timespan for the new Witcher trilogy in 2022--over three years ago. To be clear, the clock would start ticking on six years once The Witcher 4 launches, and that won't happen until 2027 at the earliest. If, for example, The Witcher 4 did come out then, that would mean CD Projekt aims for The Witcher 5 to hit in 2030 and The Witcher 6 in 2033.

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The debate over using generative AI art in media such as television show intros and background art in games has escalated over the past few years. A number of players have recently accused Epic Games of using generative AI for art in Fortnite, but things may be less easy to spot than some of them thought.

In the wake of Epic's CEO thinking that AI labeling should be done away with, fans pointed out a few alleged instances in Chapter 7. There's a poster for the Mile High Retreat, showing a Yeti napping in a hammock with the caption "relax faster, relax higher." Looking closer, though, the Yeti appears to have four toes on one foot and five toes on the other. Misnumbered digits are usually an indicator that something was AI-generated.

"So I'm pretty much done with Fortnite," one player posted on Bluesky. "There were statements made by Tim Sweeney saying that AI usage doesn't need to be disclosed, and then AI usage was found all over this current season, from art to sprays to in-game songs." They posted three more instances of AI usage; however, one of them was proven to have been done by a human artist.

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Several months have passed since the release of Silent Hill F, and thanks to online chatter, memes, and an active community, the survival-horror game is still trending. That's according to Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto and writer Ryukishi07, who recently spoke about how Silent Hill F continues to stay in the spotlight.

"Recently, discourse about games is being consumed at a rapid pace," Okamoto said to Dengeki Online (via Automaton), . "But games that do get talked about even months after release are the ones that are fun to theorize about and analyze, and they usually get a lot of character fan art. From my experience, titles which are able to show us that kind of hype tend to live on for longer."

Ryukishi07 added that games that resonate with players also tend to have more than just 15 minutes of fame. "That’s why protagonists of such games tend to be on the less-talkative side, so players can immerse themselves in the game," Ryukishi07 said, explaining that he hopes that Silent Hill F will show just how flexible the franchise is at expressing itself, rather than being a template for future games to follow.

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After spending seven years working on Hollow Knight: Silksong, Team Cherry's Hollow Knight follow-up is one of the most-successful games of 2025. As an encore, Team Cherry has confirmed that there will be DLC released for Silksong. Just don't expect it too soon.

"I don't really know what else people would necessarily want to hear other than what we're already saying," Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson told Bloomberg. "Yes, we're continuing to work on the game, we're pursuing the things that excite us ... I think what people might want to hear is: There will be new stuff coming in a reasonable timeframe and not seven years from now."

Gibson went on to explain that he and Team Cherry co-founder William Pellen "might have some vague ideas" for the DLC, but added that he didn't want to "overpromise" and underdeliver to the game's fans. He also teased the return of Steel Assassin Sharpe, an enemy character from the first game.

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