We eight scribes from RPS are,
Bearing jokes, we wrote in the past,
Christmas crackers, god we’re knackered,
After twelve months of graft.
O, reader of wonder, loved the most,
Why not subscribe to Supporters posts?
January leading, still proceeding,
See you once we’ve munched our roasts.
But first, time to enjoy your lovely joke!
Welcome to Snoozaland.
At last, after assuring fan’s that Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time‘s free DLC would be out “around Christmas”, Level-5 has delivered the goods right on time.
Version 2.0.0 is available to download now on Switch 1 & 2 and it includes The Sinister Broker Bazario’s Schemes, an open-world roguelike DLC expansion that adds a new area to the game, Snoozaland. This is available from Chapter 3 onwards in-game.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Beyond the humongous stage, tense in-game stand-offs and hard-fought Winner Winner Chicken Dinners of PUBG United 2025 (the combined Global Championships for both PUBG MOBILE and PUBG) fans and players in the host city of Bangkok were reminded that PUBG MOBILE is more than a game; it’s also a platform where creators, artists and players can bring their ideas to life, contribute to the game’s creative ecosystem and receive recognition and rewards for their hard work.
For aspiring creators, WOW and PDP are more than platforms, they’re launchpads for ambition and imagination. This month, creators from around the world gathered at the PMGC in Bangkok, where 16 standout creators were celebrated on a global stage at the PUBG MOBILE Creative Vision Awards 2025, which recognises contributions across World of Wonder (WOW), PUBG MOBILE’s in-game creation platform, and the Ptopia Design Project (PDP), the platform of the game’s global design contests. If you’re interested in becoming a creator yourself, there’s good reason, thanks to the incentives from the WOW $10 million dollar prize pools and more across PDP contests – and with modern creator tools, a supportive community and a focus on accessibility, there’s virtually nothing to stop you.
Who better to learn from than the winner creators themselves; here’s what they have to say about their creative process, and how PUBG MOBILE provides them with creative freedom.
With over 5.4 million maps created and over 8.5 million peak daily players, WOW’s mobile UGC creation platform is undeniably huge, but that continued support had to start from somewhere. For creators of all kinds, it’s almost always making the first step that is the hardest. Whatever your motivation, with PUBG MOBILE, the gap between initial idea and active creation is designed to be small.
For Kuwait based ناايل؟, Creator of the Year for Best Story, it was “curiosity” and being “drawn to the feeling of turning a simple idea into something players can enjoy” that first sparked his interest in creating in WOW. Taking inspiration from his culture, environment and personal stories, it was the tools within WOW that enabled him to turn “complex ideas into clear systems without needing prior coding experience.” Paired with a design principle to create experiences that are clear and easy for players to understand, ناايل؟ has now been recognised as one of WOW’s top creators – an experience that is sure to boost his confidence as a creator.
Speaking on how creating for WOW has impacted him he said: “Seeing players enjoy my work made me realize that I have real creative potential. It also encouraged me to take creation more seriously and to keep improving my skills on a higher, more professional level.” His recommendation for players looking to create for PUBG MOBILE in WOW? Start simple, build small ideas first, explore the tools, and most crucially “experiment and learn from mistakes.”
Every creator needs to have an element of curiosity to get started, but for Creator of the Year: Best Scene Designer winner CaiCai, it was wanting to create triathlon challenges for their teammates where they could try, fail and laugh together, that sparked an interest in creating in WOW.
CaiCai’s background in design and architecture may have given the Australian creator an edge when it came to shaping and building maps, but its WOW’s suite of visual programming, AI supports and open logic tools that not only made the process possible, but also easy. Visual programming “expands the creative possibilities and greatly enhances interaction and flexibility within my maps” they said, noting also how “it removes many limits and truly empowers creators.”
It’s a sentiment that is also shared by Egyptian creator and winner of Creator of the Year for Best Stage Design Y O Y O, who praises the tools for their ease of use, saying, “the mix of visual programming, AI support, and open logic tools lets me build ideas exactly the way I imagine them. Instead of spending hours trying to translate an idea into code, I can see everything laid out clearly and make changes instantly.”
MURSHAD, who won Creator Of The Year for Best Creative Gameplay, similarly notes how WOW can turn ordinary players’ imagination into playable worlds through the platform’s accessible tools: “visual programming and AI support have made map creation much easier for me by allowing me to design and implement complex mechanics visually, without having to write extensive code. This makes the entire process more intuitive and efficient, enabling me to create better and more intricate maps with ease.”
NexusSPIKE, winner of the Popular Creator Award Winner for Arena – Themed Maps, echoes a similar ethos for aspiring creators, highlighting the importance of patience and originality in map design: “I would advise new creators to take their time in learning how to build maps. I would also advise creators to make original maps. While copying maps may seem like a quick way to get plays, it is not a sustainable practice.”
PDP empowers designers from around the world to create outfit, weapon and vehicle designs to be added to PUBG MOBILE. With over 13 diverse contests, a prize pool totalling $1,000,000, and 1,366 PDP winners in 2025 alone, there’s plenty of opportunities for creators to submit their designs and receive recognition, whether they’re professional designers or amateur artists.
For PDP creators such as Ariestrada, winner of the Best Outfit Design Silver Award, the open-themed contests are a chance to flex his creative muscles and create designs that players actually want. Ariestrada’s success started with winning an Outstanding Award in PDP in 2023 – since then he’s also received double awards, Silver and Bronze, in the first Ultimate Set Design contest, followed by a Gold Award in the third Ultimate Set Design Contest, plus two Best Design Awards and a Judges’ Choice Award in the PDP Fashion Icon contest.
How has he created so many winning ideas? For him it’s all about “keep[ing] an eye on trends outside the game and mix[ing] them with something unique to create something fresh.” His experience with the game has also been a crucial component. “I’ve played PUBG MOBILE a lot and followed their tournaments, which has helped me understand what works well in the game, what players want.” Based in Bali, Ariestrada also utilises PDP to bring elements of their traditional culture into their ideas whilst also leaning into their knowledge of PUBG MOBILE as “ players love sleek designs because they feel “light and fast,” so I always adapt to that style”.
What sets PUBG MOBILE’s WOW and PDP creative systems apart are their focus on giving creators financial incentives, rewarding creators and growing its community. Together, all of this works to ensure the imagination of players fuels PUBG MOBILE’s evolution, while still providing real-world rewards for contributors.
WOW creator ناايل؟ feels that the community visibility, contest rewards and financial incentives have “had a significant impact as a creator. They made me feel that my work has real value, pushed me to keep improving, and encouraged me to pursue bigger and more creative ideas.” Understandably, the feeling of seeing your work in-game and recognised by the community means a lot for ناايل؟ who says it gives a “strong motivation to keep growing”, while fellow creator CaiCai highlights how the financial rewards are encouraging “because they make me realise that creating isn’t just a hobby—it’s something that could potentially grow into a professional path”.
For this class of creators recognised at PMGC 2025 it was a chance to acknowledge the hard work and dedication they’ve given to their respective creative outlets – but creativity is an infinite resource, and there is always another project, map, or design to be working on. So what’s next for them, what do they hope to achieve and how do they plan on evolving as creators?
CaiCai has the noble goal of becoming a “more well-rounded creator with stronger gameplay design skills” by experimenting “with more detailed mechanisms and dynamic elements to make maps feel more alive.” Discussing what he wants design next, ناايل؟ is set on exploring “ideas that feel unique and push WOW’s tools to their limits” with a particular interest in more experimental styles “and unique gameplay concepts that haven’t been done before.”
PDP creator Ariestrada reflected on the importance of the community and how learning from “amazing artists” has helped him improve and grow. As for what he’ll explore next in PDP, he remarks “we already have many anime-themed outfits, and I’d love to create more anime styles with PDP, but with our own twist to it.”
For those looking to start their creative journey, PDP creator Mranderson, winner of the Best Creative Silver Award, only has words of encouragement. He began his creative journey as a traditional illustrator, but over time discovered a deeper passion for gaming as a world where he could merge his artistic talents with interactive storytelling. Through this fusion of art and gaming, his work has reached tens of millions of players across the globe, earning him widespread recognition and respect within the community. “Participating in PDP allowed me to fulfill a major dream in my life—seeing my creations featured in one of the world’s top tactical battle royale games, and experiencing the profound emotion of wearing outfits designed by myself in the game,” he reflects.
For all aspiring creators, he has a clear message: “I simply say: give it a try, seize this opportunity to be part of this incredible design project and this wonderful family of artists and friends from all over the world. And, why not, with your results in each competition, your consistency and dedication, you might even be invited at the end of the year to the PDP awards ceremony, which has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
Download PUBG MOBILE and try WOW and PDP for free via the App Store and Google Play Store. Also make sure you follow the WOW social channels on Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube, PDP social channels on Instagram, X, and TikTok, and PUBG MOBILE social channels on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube to stay up to date and learn more about WOW and PDP’s creator programmes, contests and toolsets.
For the past month we have been shouting about the games we consider to be the best games of 2025. As is tradition, our choices for the RPS Advent Calendar haven’t appeared in an order from least good to best – to us, they’re all special.
However, that’s not true of the game behind door number 24. When the team’s votes were counted, it was a close thing, with only five points in it, but there was a winner.
RPS’s favourite game of 2025 is Hades 2.
Now, perhaps someone would like to explain why we didn’t give Supergiant’s roguelite wonder a Bestest Best sticker?
With a new entry due in 2026.
Publisher Spike Chunsoft has announced that the Danganronpa series has now shipped over 10 million copies worldwide.
Beginning on 25th November, 2010 with the Japanese release of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on the PSP, the series has since spawned three mainline entries on multiple platforms (including localised ports of the original) and two spin-off titles.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
For years Grand Theft Auto fans have wondered whether Rockstar might take the franchise out of its traditional America setting into cities in other countries. But according to one former developer, that’s never going to happen — and fans just need to accept it.
In an interview with Gameshub, former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij, who worked at the company from 1995 to 2009, said there were “ideas” about post-Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City GTA games set in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul, but it was GTA: Tokyo that “almost actually happened.”
According to Vermeij, who left Rockstar just after finishing GTA 4, another studio in Japan was going to take Rockstar’s code and develop GTA: Tokyo (Vermeij didn’t say which studio). “But then that didn’t happen in the end.”
Why? It sounds like Rockstar came to the realization that American cities are the natural and best setting for GTA, and given it takes so long to release new games in the series, going international is too big of a risk.
“People love having these wild ideas but then when you’ve got billions of dollars riding on it it’s too easy to go let’s do what we know again, and also America is basically the epicenter of Western culture, so everybody knows the cities, even people who haven’t been there,” Vermeij said. “They have a mental image of the cities.
“I think it’s unlikely it’s going to be in Bogota next time, especially since there’s just more and more money involved as the project gets bigger. It doesn’t make sense to set it in some left-field location for novelty. GTA: Toronto? It just wouldn’t work.”
GTA 6 is of course set to return to Vice City, the GTA series’ fictionalized take on Miami, Florida. But then what? Will Rockstar ever take GTA international and set it across mainland Europe or in London?
“It’s just not realistic,” Vermeij countered. “I would love it, and if games still took a year to make then yeah sure, you can have a little fun, but you’re not going to get that when there’s a GTA every 12 years.
“You’re not going to set it in a new location. You don’t really need to either because the technology changes so much. Nobody is going to say that they’re not going to play GTA 6 because they’ve already played Vice City. That doesn’t make sense. It’s completely different.
“They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll go back to LA or maybe Las Vegas. I’m afraid we’re stuck in this loop of about five American cities. Let’s just get used to it.”
Vermeij’s comments here echo those of Rockstar co-founder and former boss Dan Houser, who recently explained why the Grand Theft Auto series won’t leave the United States in terms of its setting.
Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Houser said that — GTA London apart — Grand Theft Auto remained firmly rooted in the United States because it leans so heavily on Americana.
“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1. I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.
“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”
Indeed, such is GTA’s relationship with America, built up over the course of its many video games, that a University of Tennessee history professor will teach a GTA college history class early in 2026. Professor Tore Olsson recently told IGN: “Video games are great at conjuring fictional worlds, but they also impact players’ thinking about real-world times and places. And just as Red Dead Redemption 2 has shaped folks’ perception of the nineteenth-century American West or Ghost of Tsushima has informed their vision of feudal Japan, millions of people around the globe imagine contemporary America through the lens of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Just think of how many GTA veterans have recognized landmarks in Los Angeles and New York thanks to their hours in Los Santos and Liberty City!”
Houser’s position on GTA is similar to that of the creators of post-apocalyptic role-playing game series Fallout, which has also remained in the United States. Last year, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard ruled out leaving the U.S. behind for a future Fallout video game, saying he’s a big fan of the “Americana naivete” that informs so much of Fallout’s tone.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
CD Projekt has said huge discounts on Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition displayed on the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop this week were a mistake, but it will honor any sales made at the discounted prices.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 went on sale with a whopping 75% off in the U.S. earlier this week, making the normally $69.99 game just $17.49. Making this deal all the more eye-catching is the fact the Ultimate Edition includes the DLC expansion Phantom Liberty. This DLC normally costs around $30 (or around $21 with a discount), which meant the base game plus the DLC was cheaper than the DLC itself if you bought it with the discount. As you’d expect, plenty of people bought the game at that price. “I couldn’t believe it lmfao,” one fan said. “I bought as soon as I saw the price. I had been waiting for it to go on sale but was amazed at the discount.” Said another: “I was on the fence for a few hours, and would have skipped it if it was $20. So they got money out of people like me who weren’t super interested. Bought it on PC years ago and barely started it. Hoping the switch 2 edition/cross save gets me to finish the game.”
Now, CD Projekt has corrected the discount so Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition costs $39.99 (a 42% discount). The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, meanwhile, now costs $14.99 with a 75% discount properly applied.
CD Projekt issued the following statement on social media:
The discounts for Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition displayed on Nintendo Switch 2 eShop in the Americas on December 22, 2025 were incorrect.
The situation is a result of an error we made when submitting the discount. We have corrected the error and new discounts have now been applied.
Purchases made at the previous discount rate are unaffected by this change.
As you’d expect, CD Projekt’s statement is going down well with fans of the company and its games, and in particular with those who jumped on the discount error before it was corrected. “At that price it’s basically a no-brainer impulse buy. Props to CDPR for honoring it though, lot of companies would’ve just cancelled the orders and blamed a ‘system error.’ Makes me want to support them more,” said one fan.
If you’re jumping into Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time this Christmas, check out our huge guide. Similarly, if you’re getting to grips with The Witcher 3, we’ve got a sweeping guide to help.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
After a bug almost cancelled Christmas!
Although it seems to be the end of the road for the development of Kirby Air Riders, in-game events will still be taking place over the next year.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Nintendo is feeling jolly.
When the Switch 2 was announced, many Nintendo fans were already calling for themes to be added to the HOME Menu.
While there have been no developments on this front, there is something else that at least some fans are excited about. From the system HOME Menu, if you navigate to the ‘Nintendo Switch Online’ icon, you’ll be presented with a “Happy Holidays” theme featuring Mario and the rest of the crew.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Following the recent Switch 2 game upgrade.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 originally sailed onto the Switch in 2020 and last month got a Switch 2 Edition upgrade.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
