Get them with your Platinum Points.
To celebrate the holiday season this year, Nintendo has released special Super Mario icons you can redeem right now with My Nintendo Platinum Points.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Get them with your Platinum Points.
To celebrate the holiday season this year, Nintendo has released special Super Mario icons you can redeem right now with My Nintendo Platinum Points.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
A new Pixel Update has reportedly fixed a bug.
In case you missed it, you can connect regular webcams and even camera phones with the Switch 2 to access GameChat and other features.
One phone that was apparently having some issues functioning in USB webcam mode when connected to the Switch 2 was the Google Pixel. According to the website Android Authority, this bug has now been resolved. As of the ‘November 2025’ update for this phone, the webcam feature on Switch 2 is now working.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com

I’ve always loved The Lord of the Rings. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m fanatical about it, though. I already own copies of the books and the movies, so I’m not usually swayed by the endless barrage of Lord of the Rings gifts the internet seems to throw my way. I do really like the look of this Battle for Middle-Earth Chess set, however. I’ve seen a lot of really cool chess sets in my day, but this one appears to be surprisingly well done for how affordable it is. I don’t even play that much chess and I’ve found myself adding it to my Christmas wishlist this year.
This chess set is made by The Noble Collection, which I do actually have some experience with already. They create all kinds of gifts for various popular fandoms like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. You might be most familiar with its collection of Harry Potter wands, which the company first began releasing back in 2004. The Noble Collection is generally known for making high quality products at affordable prices, including a variety of chess sets like this one. There’s even a high-end $500 version of this same thing that is absolutely glorious, though that is way out of my price range.
If you’re on the hunt for more Lord of the Rings gifts like this one, we have found quite a few. There’s the deluxe illustrated version of the books, Lord of the Rings puzzles, board games, and even a LEGO book nook available.

Battlefield Studios has published the Battlefield 6 update 1.1.3.0 patch notes ahead of next week’s Winter Offensive update, revealing a detailed list of audio improvements, soldier visibility tweaks, a range of map adjustments, and more.
Patch notes for the third major Season 1 update were published in a post on the EA shooter series’ website today. The full breakdown follows up on promises made by BF Studios’ outline from earlier this week and touches on every notable change coming to Battlefield 6 and REDSEC when Winter Offensive reaches its December 9 release date.
Though today’s patch notes cover everything from audio to Sector sizes, players may be happy to see the studio continuing to adjust an issue that has wormed its way to the front of online discussion since launch: hit registration. BF Studios says the 1.1.3.0 changes should result in more predictable bullet impact and easier-to-read damage feedback thanks to tweaks to quick aim, pre-zoom firing, and close-quarters gunfights.
Other elements the Battlefield 6 developers took aim at with the Winter Offensive update include better weapon handling, improved character highlights and animations for visibility, gadget reliability, and refined gameplay for vehicle-savvy players. Launch players will also notice relatively extensive changes to Sectors and vehicles across seven Breakthrough maps: Manhattan Bridge, Mirak Valley, New Sobek City, Operation Firestorm, Liberation Peak, Siege of Cairo, and Empire State.
It may be some time before players get a handle on whether many of these changes correct the balance of the average Battlefield 6 multiplayer match. Those audio tweaks, however, will likely be noticeable from the get-go, with the hope being that infantry noise is clearer and easier to read at different distances.
“We’ve also continued addressing performance and memory issues that could cause sounds, such as footsteps or vehicle audio, to drop out or fail to play, especially during large-scale Battle Royale matches,” BF Studios says in the update 1.1.3.0 patch notes. “To get ahead of this as we add more audio content to the game, we’ve adjusted the memory priorities for most sounds in the game and optimized how some larger audio assets load. In practical terms, this means that important combat, movement, and vehicle sounds should play more consistently even under heavy load.
“These changes are part of an ongoing effort to improve the overall stability of the soundscape. While this isn’t a complete overhaul, and there may still be edge cases depending on hardware and match conditions, it’s a big step toward more reliable and predictable sound across the game.”
Each change arrives in addition to new weapons, limited-time winter events, and more new content that players have been told to expect since launch. Highlights include the Ice Lock Empire State map, the Ice Lock multiplayer and Gauntlet modes, the Ice Climbing Axe melee weapon, Portal updates, and a mini–Winter Offensive-themed battle pass bonus path. It’s the latest in the run of Battlefield 6 Season 1 chapter updates, which saw Rogue Ops bring Blackwell Fields and battle royale to the experience October 28, while California Resistance added Eastwood November 18.
Plans for Season 2 remain under wraps for now. In the meantime, you can read up on another recent change that saw BF Studios unveil another round of challenge and progression tweaks. You can also learn about why some players both loved and hated the new The 323 cosmetic pack.
Finally, you can check out the full Winter Offensive patch notes below.
Update 1.1.3.0 delivers a broad range of fixes and refinements across Battlefield 6, improving soldier clarity, weapon reliability, vehicle behaviour, audio consistency, and overall gameplay flow. This update also includes several quality-of-life improvements across UI, HUD, and controller aiming options, along with map-specific updates designed to stabilise objective play and reduce round-end matchmaking frustration.
We also made improvements to reduce cases where player settings could be reset when updating the game to the newest version. While this behaviour should now occur less frequently, we are still seeing isolated instances and expect to fully resolve the issue in an upcoming update.
As always, thank you for continuing to share your feedback which helps us refine and evolve the Battlefield 6 experience.
With this update, we’ve made a wide range of audio improvements, including a dedicated tuning pass on footsteps to make movement clearer, easier to locate, and more readable at different distances.
We’ve also continued addressing performance and memory issues that could cause sounds, such as footsteps or vehicle audio, to drop out or fail to play, especially during large-scale Battle Royale matches. To get ahead of this as we add more audio content to the game, we’ve adjusted the memory priorities for most sounds in the game and optimized how some larger audio assets load. In practical terms, this means that important combat, movement, and vehicle sounds should play more consistently even under heavy load.
These changes are part of an ongoing effort to improve the overall stability of the soundscape. While this isn’t a complete overhaul, and there may still be edge cases depending on hardware and match conditions, it’s a big step toward more reliable and predictable sound across the game.
LWCMS Portable Mortar
Supply Pouch
Following feedback since launch, several Breakthrough layouts have been updated to address attacker–defender win/loss imbalance and improve overall flow, vehicle balance, and capture-zone clarity across multiple maps.
Manhattan Bridge
Mirak Valley
New Sobek City
Operation Firestorm
Liberation Peak
Siege of Cairo
Empire State
Footsteps
Battle Royale
Gauntlet
Battle Royale
Gauntlet
This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Manual override.
Bar a few exceptions, the days of opening your boxed copy of a new game and eagerly flipping through the instruction booklet are behind us. But it looks like Nintendo isn’t ready to give up on the nostalgia just yet, as it has released a printable ‘databook’ for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, that just makes our hearts sing (thanks for the heads up, @ninpatentswatch).
The booklet is only available on the Japanese Nintendo website at the time of writing — with all of the text in Japanese, natch — but it scratches such a retro itch for us that we’re amazed the big N doesn’t do something similar for all its releases.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com

It’s after 5pm on a Friday, but no force on this Earth can stop me hurrying back to my desk to report on a large financial transaction. Also, we should have written this up earlier, but we were busy deciding which are the objectively correct 100 best PC games.
I’m not… sure we put any Warner Bros games in that list. I’ve just done a CTRL-F for “Batman” and got zero results. I know, WTF – Arkham Asylum is amazing. Mark needs to stop driving things and think about capes for a change. I’m sure Warner Bros aren’t too bothered about this gross oversight right now, though. Netflix have just revealed plans to buy their entertainment business for $82.7 billion in stock and cash.

Significant story spoilers for Horses follow. Also, here is some possibly appropriate music.
Premium experience at an affordable price.
Cosmox Gaming offers up a lot of arcade controllers, including the modular Hautepad X at a more premium price and the remarkably affordable Hautepad C16.
Now, the company has launched the M-Ultra Gen2, an aluminium-built leverless that sits somewhere in-between the two. If the C-16 is primarily aimed at beginners and the X is for the more hardcore enthusiasts, then the M-Ultra Gen2 is, theoretically, for everybody. It’s quite possibly Cosmox’s best controller yet.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Last week, we asked you to share snow-filled views from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here’s this week’s snowy highlights:
SheikhSadi80 shares Atsu riding out to a shrine on a snowy hill in Ghost of Yōtei
rorottino shares Sam snowboarding on a carrier in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.
RhodWulfLeon shares Kratos on the ice with a wolf in God of War Ragnarök.
secondcapture shares a student riding a Hippogriff over snowy grounds in Hogwarts Legacy.
treeblazah shares Aloy overlooking a snowy vista in Horizon Forbidden West.
discophotomode shares a glamorous snow-themed outfit from Infinity Nikki.
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme, or be inspired by other great games featuring Photo Mode. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Zoomed Out
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on December 10, 2025
Next week, zoom all the way out and share panoramic shots using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

XD released Sword of Convallaria, a tactical RPG for iOS, Android, and PC to audiences in the west in August ’24 (around a year after the game’s East Asian launch). Heavily influenced by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, the game has captivated fans with its meticulously crafted war story and highly strategic battles, all played out to a beautiful soundtrack.
Just over a year following its release, a truly major collaboration between Sword of Convallaria: For This World of Peace and CD PROJEKT RED’s open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been fully realised and delivered to gamers. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, and Ciri now appear in Sword of Convallaria as playable characters; allowing players to enjoy collaborative stories and quests surrounding the Lord of the Forest from another world.
Bartosz Sztybor, Franchise Creative Director at CD PROJEKT RED, explained his take on the collaboration and how it came together: “At CD PROJEKT RED, storytelling is at the heart of everything we do, and we take a hands-on approach even when collaborating with external partners. For our partnership with Sword of Convallaria, our Franchise Creative team worked closely with developer XD International to craft a story that captures the essence of The Witcher universe, both for the anime trailer and the collaboration quest. Working with a partner who shares our passion for The Witcher is always a privilege, and we’re thrilled with the results of what we’ve created together. We’re looking forward to sharing the fruits of this partnership with the community, and can’t wait to see their response!”
CD PROJEKT RED’s Satoru Homma, Japan Country Manager, offered further insight into their partnership with XD Games: “For the collaboration between Sword of Convallaria and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I was responsible for project management on behalf of CD PROJEKT RED. I am personally a huge fan of Sword of Convallaria, and I had a strong desire to see The Witcher 3’s characters — rendered in beautiful pixel art — playable within a tactical RPG. With the deep love and understanding Sword of Convallaria’s team holds for The Witcher 3, and under the thorough supervision of our in-house lore specialists, we were able to deliver grounded and authentic storytelling in the collaboration quest. I sincerely hope that The Witcher 3 players who may be unfamiliar with the tactical RPG genre will take the time to enjoy this content, which is infused with a deep appreciation for the world and its characters.
Director of Sword of Convallaria, Guo Lei (of XD Games)spoke about this collaboration in more detail — as well as the circumstances that led to it becoming a reality.
Inspired by Tactics Ogre, which he played in high school, Guo always wanted to become a game creator. He is also a fan of The Witcher 3, and his favourite characters are Geralt and Yennefer.
Guo on Sword of Convallaria passing the first anniversary of its western release and how he feels looking back on the past year:
Sword of Convallaria got off to a successful start, but there was a period when we were searching for the right direction to go in. However, thanks to the support of our fans, we were able to turn things around and successfully celebrate our first anniversary. From now on, we will continue to develop the game with confidence and enjoyment for the fans who have high expectations for it.
Regarding the game’s content, the Global version saw the release of Iria, and the story of her stepping into the world that lies beyond was depicted on the first anniversary. In the future, Sword of Convallaria will enter its 2.0 story arc, taking players on adventures beyond Iria, and develop a story in which the player protects peace. We hope you will look forward to it.
— On how the The Witcher 3 collaboration came about:
Guo: From the beginning, our team had already been acquainted with the CDPR China team. During one of these casual conversations, we mentioned that it would be exciting if we could one day work on something together based on Sword of Convallaria and The Witcher 3.
Later, we had the opportunity to meet the CDPR Japan team in person at Tokyo Game Show 2024. During our discussions there, I showed them my personal love for The Witcher 3 and the interest in exploring whether we might create something together. They encouraged us to submit a formal proposal, which set the collaboration into motion. The Witcher 3 is a game that boasts worldwide popularity, so I was over the moon when he positively considered our proposal for a collaboration. After considerable effort, the collaboration was officially approved. From that point onward, both teams dedicated nearly a full year to development, ultimately bringing this collaboration to life in the form you see today.
What it was about The Witcher 3 that particularly appealed to him:
First of all, it’s the sense of immersion that comes with being so realistic. You get the feeling that you’re immersed in the world, something you can’t experience in other games. Also, it’s the story element. What’s great about it is that it depicts so many stories that you can empathise with. It’s very unique in that you make painful choices that change the outcome of the story. I was overwhelmed by how the fascinating characters play an active role in the story.
How the story was designed, its core themes, and the creative collaboration behind it
We wanted to create the worldview of The Witcher 3 within the world of Sword of Convallaria. However, it goes against Geralt’s beliefs to get involved in conflicts between nations, and in fact, if we were to depict an epic story involving The Witcher 3, we felt that it would be quite a high hurdle to figure out how to resolve it. For this reason, we decided to aim for a down-to-earth story.
The story revolves around the Leshen from The Witcher 3 appearing and causing trouble, and Geralt and his friends teaming up with the Leader to defeat it. Behind the scenes, the story also depicts the malice of people. For example, when a problem occurs, people assume that it is the work of those from a different background to themselves and blame them. The theme of the story poses a question of morality, as Geralt and Yennefer intervene to try to resolve this.
In The Witcher 3, Geralt and Yennefer are portrayed as unusual people who present differently from the average person. Naturally, they have differing personalities and ways of conducting themselves. We made it a priority to carefully express the various facets of these characters in the collaborative story.
We made sure to communicate closely with CD PROJEKT RED. We created shared documents, edited those documents, and received feedback, all of which allowed us to proceed with development meticulously and efficiently. This resulted in a fun development experience unlike any other.
How they approached reimagining The Witcher 3 characters into the pixel-based world of Sword of Convallaria:
The Witcher 3 has a realistic 3D visual style, but when translating that into pixel art, our first priority was to think about how to express the movement in a way that would satisfy players.
However, the designers also love The Witcher 3, so they had fun designing it with care, for example, to make it clear the difference between a silver sword and a steel sword. As a result, I got the impression that the visuals went smoothly.
The regions that were main target for the collaboration:
Worldwide. Sword of Convallaria is available in four languages: Chinese, Japanese, English, and Korean. As with The Witcher 3, we have a global perspective and want game fans around the world to enjoy Sword of Convallaria Sword IP. Therefore, every region is important to us.
If I had to say, we’re particularly interested in English-speaking countries. We see the English-speaking world as a region where we still want to gain more fans for Sword of Convallaria. It goes without saying that The Witcher 3 has already gained many English-speaking fans, so we hope that this collaboration will help us further appeal to the English-speaking world.
Aspects that particularly stood out for him during this collaboration:
I think this was a true collaboration. The fact that both parties were working together in the same direction was a feeling I’d never had before, and it was a lot of fun. It was a wonderful experience for us. So, this time, we were able to communicate directly with CDPR, and not only was it very efficient, but we also felt that everyone gained something from this project.
The part of the collaboration that symbolised its success, or made him especially proud to be a part of it:
What’s necessary when collaborating with other artists is love for the work. I think that only when we have a strong love for the work can we create something that satisfies our collaborators. We ourselves had always wanted to collaborate with The Witcher 3, but it was thanks to CDPR that we were able to make it happen. We are truly happy. We have also prepared skins for Geralt, Yennefer, and Triss. We have created skins based on the scenes that moved us the most while we were playing The Witcher 3. Geralt usually wears armor, but for this skin we created one that realistically expresses the love between father and daughter when Ciri visits Geralt.
As for Triss, in The Witcher 3, Triss and Geralt attend a dance party. However, the two of them aren’t very interested in the dance party, so they sneak out midway through and enjoy a date in the garden. We recreated that atmosphere with the skin.
Each skin was created with love, so I hope all players will check them out.
His message to the Sword of Convallaria players who are looking forward to the collaboration:
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of our fans. It is thanks to you all that Sword of Convallaria has grown so much over the past year or so, and that we have been able to safely reach our first anniversary. Thank you so much! Thanks to everyone’s support, we were able to collaborate with The Witcher 3. How will Geralt and his friends play a role in the world of Sword of Convallaria? We hope that not only the Leaders but also fans of The Witcher 3 will enjoy the event.
©XD Inc.
The Witcher® is a trademark of CD Projekt S.A. The Witcher game ©CD Projekt S.A. All rights reserved. The Witcher game is based on a novel by Andrzej Sapkowski. All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.