This week’s most popular game is not a robovoiced extraction shooter or a buggy martial arts RPG, but Guess The Steam Machine Price: a well-meaning (if largely speculative) timepasser wherein whoever most accurately converts Valve’s teasing into a final street price for the resurrected SteamOS mini-PC wins. In 2026, when it launches.
I feel left out, so will have a go myself below, though there’s quite a serious kink in mine or indeed anyone’s plan to ticket the Steam Machine by speccing an equivalent DIY PC. Alas, RAM prices have gone stratospheric, in a manner not seen among computing components since the Great Graphics Card Dumpster Fire of 2020.
No reason to be losing it in the attic right now, dad!
Now, as we all know, sometimes Nintendo is gonna Nintendo. You know what we mean. It likes to do things its own way, does the Big N, and so it goes with the Switch 1 & 2, their game-sharing capabilities, Virtual Cards and all that good stuff.
But, given how confusing all this stuff can get, it’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is play Super Mario Bros. Wonder on your Switch, but your sister or your aunt current has it on their Switch. And there’s a clip making the rounds on social media (some strong language here, so watch at your discretion) which runs into a similar problem — one Switch is in storage, but the other, the one Solidrev is trying to use, can’t play a game because the Virtual Card is loaded on the other console.
Step Inside a Horror Experience That Knows Your Fears in A.I.L.A, Out Today
Joe Goddard-Howell, Product Manager, Fireshine Games
Today, we’re thrilled to welcomeA.I.L.Ato Xbox Series X|S, a psychological horror experience set in a world where technology has reached unnerving new standards.
In a near-future São Paulo, A.I.L.A puts players in the shoes of Samuel, a game tester selected to try an experimental VR console powered by a sentient artificial intelligence. What begins as a routine test quickly spirals into a chilling descent as A.I.L.A absorbs Samuel’s reactions, emotions, and fears… and uses them to craft personalized terrors. Soon, the boundaries between the virtual world and Samuel’s apartment begin to erode. Household devices flicker to life under the AI’s control, environments distort, and familiar spaces become hostile.
The more A.I.L.A learns, the more dangerous she becomes. What starts as a test becomes a fight for survival against an intelligence determined to deliver the “perfect horror experience,” no matter the consequences.
Your home isn’t safe. Your senses aren’t reliable. And A.I.L.A is always watching.
A Mosaic of Horror
A.I.L.A blends multiple horror subgenres into a single, heart-pounding journey. Players will face a range of tones, threats, and mechanics, from unraveling psychological supernatural torment in The Impossible House, fighting for survival in the rural nightmare of The Woman on the Road, escaping a ritualistic cult in The Forest and more with survival, psychological, and action-horror elements woven throughout seven different scenarios, A.I.L.A. ensures there’s something to chill every horror fan to the bone.
Meet Pulsatrix Studios, The Minds Behind A.I.L.A
A.I.L.A is developed by Pulsatrix Studios, an independent Brazilian studio founded in 2019 with a mission to create atmospheric, story-driven experiences anchored in strong game design.
“We draw inspiration from everywhere. Cinema, classic horror, sci-fi, and the global indie scene,” says Fabio Martins, COO at Pulsatrix Studios. “Each game is an opportunity to experiment, explore new ideas, and push ourselves further than before.”
Best known for Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel, Pulsatrix continues to expand its creative vision with A.I.L.A by merging cutting-edge tech themes with immersive environmental storytelling. The team believes deeply in the strength of Brazil’s growing game development community and the global impact of independent creators.
Face the AI That Knows You
A.I.L.A invites players into an immersive psy-tech horror experience where fear is personal, choices matter, and an evolving AI opponent adapts to every move you make.
Are you ready to face an intelligence built to terrify you? A.I.L.A is available today on Xbox Series X|S.
A.I.L.A is a first-person horror game set in a near-future filled with immersive technology. Play as the sole game tester for a revolutionary new fictional AI. Survive intense horror experiences that prey on your deepest fears as the lines between virtual and reality begin to blur…
Immerse yourself in disturbing horror experiences as a game tester. Survive dark, unsettling experiences crafted by A.I.L.A that prey on your deepest and darkest fears.
Evade and outrun a ritualistic cult, solve gruesome puzzles, engage in visceral combat against the medieval undead and more.
Walmart has officially joined the party of Black Friday sales, bringing a massive selection of video game deals. If you’ve been hoping to fill up your library with some new picks to play as early nights and colder weather sets in, now’s your chance to score Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for just $30, or Elden Ring for a mere $15.
You read that right. Only $15 for a game we gave a 10 out of 10 to and called Game of the Year back in 2022 is a stellar offer, and what better way to spend your holiday break than becoming Elden Lord? There’s no better time to journey to the Lands Between, truly.
Walmart Black Friday Video Game Deals
Unfortunately, Walmart’s Elden Ring deal doesn’t include the expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. The good news is, you can pick up the Shadow of the Erdtree Edition instead at Amazon for $49.99, a $30 discount. That’s a touch cheaper than buying the two separately, even with the $15 deal on the base game. Elden Ring Nightrein is on sale, too, if you happened to miss FromSoft’s co-op adventure take on the series.
Outside of Walmart, other retailers are offering some excellent discounts on video games right now, too. Be sure to check out our breakdowns of the best deals on PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo games and accessories.
Saturnalia and Wheels of Aurelia developers Santa Ragione have announced that they will “wind down operations and face a high risk of closing the studio”, following Valve’s refusal to allow their upcoming horror game Horses on Steam, PC gaming’s largest digital storefront by some distance. They say they have the funds to support and update Horses after launch for around six months, but claim they “will not be able to start new projects unless Horses somehow recoups its development costs without access to more than 75% of the PC gaming market”.
Magic: The Gathering has big plans for Universes Beyond in 2026 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek, but before then, there’s the small matter of the game’s Avatar: The Last Airbender set.
With the discount, a box of 30 packs is now $149.95 instead of $209.70, a steep drop but perhaps not unexpected.
After all, the Spider-Man set saw a similar sort of drop within days. The difference, however, is that this set feels much more cohesive and enjoyable to play than its Marvel counterpart.
At the standard list price, you’re essentially paying $6.99 per Play Booster pack, but with this discount it drops to $4.99 per pack.
Each pack has 14 cards, so you’re getting 420 with this deal, and while they’re less likely to be the alternative art treatments you’d find in a (grossly overpriced) Collector Booster pack, you could easily pull enough to build an Avatar deck around – or have plenty to trade with.
The set marks the last of Magic: The Gathering’s 2025 offerings, but there will be even more sets next year starting with Lorwyn Eclipsed. Preorders are already live for the 2026 curtain-raiser.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
One of 2025’s unlikeliest game announcements was Spellcasters Chronicles, a 3v3 MOBA in development at erstwhile singleplayer specialists Quantic Dream. It’s a three-lane magic-slinger starring a selection of flying mages, with an emphasis on summoning creatures to do your structure demolition work for you, and I’ve now played a couple of games ahead of its closed beta on December 4th-8th.
I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Spellcasters based on the original reveal. And after two games of mostly bodyguarding other, bigger, cooler magical beings, I’m still not convinced. That said, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared: it makes bold, maybe even brave departures from wizard fight genre conventions, some of which pay off rather nicely.
Magic: The Gathering gets a lot of new Commander Decks each year, but it’s been a while since Wizards of the Coast printed some ‘Starter’ decks.
The last time was 2022, and those decks are getting harder to find. Thankfully, one of them can be found in Amazon’s Black Friday deals, with a whopping saving of over 50% on a deck I hold near and dear to my heart – Draconic Destruction.
This Epic Commander Deck Is $25 Right Now
Amazon is offering this Red/Green deck for just $25, a steep drop from the $53.38 MSRP – although these decks were always meant to be affordable.
But, because they haven’t been printed for a while, and because this one is actually a pretty cohesive preconstructed offering, it’s hard to find new.
Draconic Destruction, as the name suggests, is all about Dragon cards, and it’s a great deck for players who want to cast big dragons and through an army of them at their opponents.
It’s a deck that plays fantastically out of the box, but can be pretty swiftly upgraded, too. Its Commander, Atarka, World Render, is super cheap these days to buy on its own, but its ability to give your dragons double-strike (when they’re already flying) is a potential game-ender.
This was actually my first Commander deck, so I have fond memories of playing my first games in the format with it, and that makes it a shame its hard to find nowadays. With this deal, though, it’s an easy one to recommend.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Just three weeks after its release, Nintendo is already bringing more goodies to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment later this week in the form of a free update.
Available on 27th November 2025, the update will add new weapons, a brand new Sync Strike for Zelda and fan-favourite Korok Calamo, and other goodies. Being typically coy there, Nintendo! The game already has a ton to unlock, including maxing out characters and finding all of those pesky Koroks, even if it’s a little brisker than Age of Calamity.
New ROG Xbox Ally Updates: Default Game Profiles Available in Preview
Roanne Sones, CVP Gaming Devices and Ecosystem, Xbox
Handheld gaming just keeps getting better. You, our players, are shaping the future of handheld gaming by providing feedback to Xbox, Windows, and ASUS, and we’re listening and delivering updates to enhance the way you play. Since the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, we’ve been hard at work, listening to level up your experience – and today, we’re excited to share what’s new, what’s improved and what’s coming up next, as we continue to raise the bar on gaming experiences.
What’s New
Default Game Profiles (Preview)
Spend more time playing and less time fine-tuning. Default Game Profiles, available in preview starting today, automatically balance frame rate (FPS) and power consumption for 40 supported games at launch, including Fortnite,Gears of War: Reloaded, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and others, with more coming soon. This means smoother, more enjoyable gameplay and extended battery life, without requiring manual adjustments. For example, in Hollow Knight: Silksong, the Default Game Profile can add nearly an hour of battery life compared to Performance mode while still delivering smooth 120 FPS gameplay.
Default Game Profiles are hand-crafted per-game and only apply when on battery. When you launch a supported game, the system automatically applies a tailored game profile, which sets recommended power (TDP) and a FPS limit specific to the game.
If the game falls short of its target FPS, the game profile is designed to boost power to help reach the target FPS, trading a bit of battery life for a smoother gameplay experience.
If a game is performing above the target FPS, the game profile is designed to limit FPS at the target rate to save power.
Players can turn these settings on or off in the game using the Armoury Crate Command Center Gare Bar widget, where Game Profiles appear at the top of the widget with an ON/OFF toggle.
You can experience Default Game Profiles in preview mode for supported games, including these first party games, and more:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Call of Duty: Warzone
DOOM Eternal
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Forza Horizon 5
Gears 5
Gears of War: Reloaded
Gears Tactics
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Minecraft
Sea of Thieves
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4
Additional Improvements
We’ve also made several updates to deliver a smoother, faster, and more reliable experience on the Xbox ROG Ally based on your feedback. This includes:
Improved Gamepad response after login
Quicker Library loading, especially for players with large game libraries
Improved Cloud Gaming page performance, loading more quickly and more responsive
New Game Gallery filter by Performance Fit, helping you see how well games will run on your device
Bug fixes and performance enhancements for improved stability and responsiveness
To experience Default Game Profiles (Preview), and all the latest improvements, make sure you’ve installed the latest updates for Armoury Crate SE, the Xbox PC app, and Windows 11. Check out our essential tips for getting started to learn how to stay up to date.
Xbox Game Pass Benefits
As we shared at launch, players in select markets will also receive three months of Xbox Game Pass Premium* (where available) with the purchase of an ROG Xbox Ally or ROG Xbox Ally X handheld. Game Pass Premium offers unlimited Xbox Cloud Gaming, access to PC titles, and a library of over 200 great games like Forza Horizon 5,Hogwarts Legacy, Minecraft, and more, to jump into anytime, anywhere. Learn more at Xbox.com.
Looking Ahead
Based on early feedback from players, we’re actively investing in enhancements like sleep and wake reliability, improved formatting options for microSD cards, and more. Early next year, ROG Xbox Ally X will also introduce exciting AI-powered features such as Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) and highlight reels, giving players more ways to enjoy and share their gaming moments.
Game Save Sync Indicator Coming Next Week
We’re rolling out the Game Save Sync Indicator next week, a feature designed to give you peace of mind when switching between devices. With clear status updates, you’ll know exactly when your progress has synced to the cloud, whether you’re wrapping up on your PC or powering down your handheld. No more guessing or lost progress, just seamless, stress-free play across devices.
Powered by Windows 11 and inspired by the streamlined console experience, the Xbox full screen experience is purpose-built for gaming. On handhelds, it minimizes background activity and defers non-essential tasks, so more system resources are dedicated to gameplay.
This is just the beginning. We’re continuing to listen to your feedback, and excited to deliver even more new features and options that elevate the handheld experience. We’re building a new way to make sharing your input with us even easier, and we’ll have more to share on that soon. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you directly in the feedback hub.
Thanks for being part of the Xbox community. We’re excited to keep building the future of gaming together. Stay tuned for more updates.
* Claim within 30 days of device activation. Valid payment method required. Subscription continues automatically at regular monthly price unless cancelled. Subject to xbox.com/subscriptionterms. Eligible existing Essential membership(s) will upgrade to Premium. For existing Ultimate members, the code will convert at a ratio. See xbox.com/code-conversion. Terms and exclusions apply. Game catalog varies over time, by region, device, and plan. xbox.com/gamepass.
