If you don’t live near a beach, you might not know roundnet, the clever twist on volleyball invented by Jeff Knurek in 1989. The game simmered for years, then exploded when Spikeball was founded. It took over college quads, grew into a pro circuit, and now it’s coming for a new arena: your Xbox.
Spikeball Smash is now available globally and offers an authentic take on the popular leisure sport. Featuring 2v2 local and online multiplayer, Spikeball is as competitive and intense as you choose to make it.
What is Spikeball?
Imagine volleyball, but the net is flat to the ground inside a 36-inch ring. Your team gets three alternating touches to return the ball to the net. Rally until the ball drops and a point is scored. First to 21 wins.
After a serve, there are no “sides,” since the net is round. So unlike volleyball or tennis or any other “game with a net,” players move around 360 degrees in controlled chaos. There’s no real out of bounds, so huge smashes can send defenders sprinting and diving for last-second saves.
Why Bring Spikeball to Xbox?
We love the rush of the real thing, but we wanted a way to play anytime and with anyone from anywhere. Queue up online, drop into a quick match with cross play, or set up couch games for your friends. Turn up the music, chase the rally, and run it back.
Spikeball Smash is out now worldwide for $4.99 USD. It delivers an authentic take on the sport with 2v2 local multiplayer and full online cross play. Bad weather or absent friends won’t stop you from enjoying Spikeball Smash.
What Comes Next
This is the starting line. We priced Spikeball Smash low for two reasons:
We want to make it easy for anyone to jump in during the holidays.
We have more on the way and early players get added benefits.
Our focus now is on giving you more reasons to keep playing and more rewards for your time. We’ll share those details soon.
Spikeball Smash brings the party to your room. Tap into the real-life energy of Spikeball solo or with up to four players. Feel the sand between your toes as you serve from the beach or listen to the cheers from the party as you dominate in the quad. Play to win with authentic Spikeball rules.
Dive for a last-second save, get back to the net for the setup, and crush the winning smash. The competition is fierce, but the controls are simple. Easy to learn, deep enough to master. Play it casual with friends or climb in ranked play. There’s no wrong way to approach Spikeball Smash.
Play for fun. Play for bragging rights. Play loud.
With the so many different reasons to celebrate Star Wars sprinkled throughout the year, there’s never a wrong time to shop for Star Wars merch. If you’re a fan of the franchise or know someone else that is, we’re here to make your Star Wars gift shopping a lot easier in 2025.
We’ve assembled a list of some of the best Star Wars gifts we’ve found online, from books and Blu-rays to video games, shirts, and LEGO gift sets. So, without further ado, here are some of the best ways to bring a galaxy far, far away into your home.
Top Star Wars Gift Ideas for 2025
Star Wars Gifts for Gamers
There’s an absolute ton of great Star Wars video games available right now on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC, whether that’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor or LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. But if you’re looking to get a friend or family member the most recent major Star Wars game on the market, you’ll want to look into Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws. Offering a sprawling open-world adventure with hours of content, It’s a gift that’s sure to give any Star Wars fan plenty to do over the holiday break. There are also quite a few great Star Wars games for the Nintendo Switch if you’re looking to play there.
Best Gifts for Fans of the Books
When it comes to Star Wars novels, there are plenty of great choices out there, both from the current canon continuity and the non-canon Star Wars Legends books timeline. If you’re buying for a current fan wanting to keep up with the latest Star Wars lore though, there’s no better place to look than the High Republic series, which has been a key focus for Disney as they establish the latest new notch on the franchise’s timeline. If you’re gifting for a reader who’s new to the High Republic era, check out the High Republic: Light of the Jedi trilogy boxed set, which contains all three novels from the first phase of the series. If you don’t mind placing a preorder, there’s also a Revenge of the Sith deluxe edition coming out in October that’s worth checking out as well as Star Wars: The Last Order which explores a post-Rise of the Skywalker universe.
For Comic Book Fans
Classic recommendations for Star Wars comics include the following (as found in our best Star Wars comics shopping list).
Gifts for Fans of the Movies and TV Shows
Want to grab the cinephiles in your life a shiny new Star Wars collection? There are a lot of good options out there, with the most premium of the bunch being the Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Complete Collection. This absolute unit of a boxset comes with all nine movies in Blu-ray format as well as 26 hours of bonus content and special features. In short, it’s the collection to end all collections, and a great pick-up for any diehard fans of the Star Wars movies.
You can also pick up more recent seasons of the live-action Star Wars TV shows in 4K and Blu-ray. With Andor season 2 now available on Disney+ right now, picking up the first season in 4K is an excellent option.
Gifts for Adult LEGO Fans
When it comes to buying a Star Wars LEGO set, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice, with this last year alone bringing us incredibly popular builds like Jabba’s Barge and the TIE Interceptor. However, if you’re looking for a fun set to pick up without breaking into the much pricier line of UCS builds that LEGO dropped last year a great option is the Imperial Star Destroyer play set. Retailing at $159.99, it offers a full star destroyer with a buildable interior, as well as the very first official Cal Kestis mini-figure, making it a great choice for young and veteran LEGO fans alike.
The brick-built Star Wars Logo set looks great on shelves and home office setups, while the Grogu and Hover Pram set has been constantly on sale during Amazon’s Black Friday sales.
Star Wars Gifts For Board Game Fans
For those on the hunt for a fun Star Wars board game, you can’t go wrong with Star Wars: Outer Rim. Casting you and three other players as intergalactic outlaws, your mission is to venture across the galaxy and strategically build your reputation by smuggling cargo, hunting bounties and meeting various iconic Star Wars characters. If you reckon your friends or family would jump at the chance to become a legendary scoundrel, Outer Rim is a safe bet. But it’s far from the only option on offer, with other great board games like Star Wars Rebellion and Star Wars Imperial Assault sure to bring hours of intergalactic entertainment.
Gifts for Puzzlers
If you or someone you know just so happens to be a chronic puzzler on top of being a Star Wars fan, there are quite a few options. Our overall top pick for the best Star Wars puzzle for adults is this 2,000-piece jigsaw we’ve featured above. It depicts numerous different characters from episodes 1-6 along with a variety of machines, ships, and the Death Star looming in the background. It is a pretty big puzzle, however, so you may want to be sure whoever you’re giving it to has a decent puzzle table or board that can hold it.
Alongside this puzzle, there are quite a few other options. There are even model kits that act as 3D puzzles you can check out,
Apparel and Accessory Gifts
If you’re looking for clothing-related gifts, Star Wars has a nigh-on endless range of wearable merch that make for great presents. Whether you’re searching for Star-Wars-inspired Hawaiian shirts, tees sporting iconic poster graphics or a funny festive jumper that will stand out from the crowd, here are some of our favorites.
Gifts For The Home
Much like with shirts, Star Wars has plenty of novelty homeware that make for great gifts. Whether you’re on the hunt for a Darth Vader Waffle Maker or an R2-D2 lava lamp, we’ve assembled some fun kitchenware, lights, mugs, and other homeware that are sure to put a smile on any Star Wars fan’s face.
Gifts for Toy Collectors
There are a lot of different Star Wars toys you can buy. There are lightsaber replicas, plushies, and even Nerf blasters. But if you’re a collector of Star Wars toys, then you’re probably most interested in Star Wars action figures. Our overall top pick is from the Black Series line of toys, but there are quite a few other great options from other brands to check out as well. There are even new Jedi: Survivor figures that were just recently announced for fans of the video game series.
The Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution – Phantasmal Flames set was just released on Nov. 11, 2025, and with it, an elusive Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection. As a huge Charizard fan, I had to have it, even with its pretty high $119.99 USD MSRP (or a lothigher on resale sites!)
I’ve always collected Pokémon trading cards, but I only just started playing using the official format in the last two years. A few decks have crossed my playmats, but variations of a Charizard ex deck have continued to be my main.
I knew I’d need the Phantasmal Flames’ Mega Charizard X ex and Oricorio ex cards to experiment with new deck builds, so that was a good enough excuse as any to try and grab this collection… even if I might try and get the non promo-art versions to play with instead.
Click through the slide show above to see everything included in the Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection, plus some of the cards I pulled from the booster packs.
Here’s a complete list of what’s included in the Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection:
1 foil full-art promo card featuring Mega Charizard X ex
1 foil full-art promo card featuring Oricorio ex
65 card sleeves featuring Mega Charizard X
1 playmat featuring Mega Charizard X
1 deck box featuring Mega Charizard X
1 metal coin featuring Mega Charizard X
6 damage-counter dice
18 Pokémon TCG booster packs:
2 Surging Sparks TCG booster packs
4 Journey Together TCG booster packs
4 Destined Rivals TCG booster packs
4 Mega Evolution TCG booster packs
4 Phantasmal Flames TCG booster packs
A code card for Pokémon TCG Live
I pulled a few playables from the Phantasmal Flames and Mega Evolution booster packs (still searching for more Lillie’s Determinations), but I didn’t get any Phantasmal Flames “chase” cards, like any of the rare cards listed on this Phantasmal Flames most expensive cards list.
My favorite random pull is absolutely the Destined Rivals illustration rare Team Rocket’s Houndoom, another one of my favorite Pokémon of all time. Fire and Dark-type Pokémon are my favorites, so I’m stoked for the Charizard X and Houndoom cards and Charizard-themed TCG accessories, what can I say.
The playmat included in this set features nice stitching around the edges that many other official playmats lack, too, so I see it lasting quite a while, and the Mega Charizard X coin is beautiful.
This should go without saying, but I don’t think this collection is worth it unless you aim to use the exclusive TCG accessories that come with it.
I would have preferred some variety between the playmat, deck box, and card sleeves, but at least the art they chose for the set is sick.
The coin brilliantly shines in an array of rainbow colors, and it makes for a neat easter egg balanced on top of my Charizard figure by First 4 Figures.
Though this absolutely is not new as far as Pokémon TCG collections go, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the dated array of included booster packs. I would have loved to see more Phantasmal Flames, and even Mega Evolution, booster packs.
But maybe I’m just salty about this because one Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection was the only Phantasmal Flames product my partner and I could purchase between the two of us. I’m lucky I was also sent a press copy of this particular collection so I didn’t have to share! For reference, we succeeded in buying one at The Pokémon Center website, but failed everywhere else for everything else.
But, that’s an entirely different conversation. Even with the $119.99 price tag, I’m happy with the Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection as both a huge fan of Charizard and the TCG.
Best Phantasmal Flames Cards Chase Cards
According to marketplaces like TCGPlayer, certain Phantasmal Flames cards have already skyrocketed further in price, and, following up from our Mega Evolution round-up, we’ve ranked the ten most expensive cards so far just above. From aggressive Mega attackers to powerful evolution support, Phantasmal Flames brings a fiery mix of competitive threats and high-demand pulls.
Casey DeFreitas is the Deputy Editor of Guides at IGN and loves all things Pokémon. Catch her on all socials as @ShinyCaseyD
Can a ship be a horse archer? This is one of the many maritime musings Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord‘s devs had to grapple with when putting together the flotilla of vessels which make up its naval warfare-themed War Sails expansion.
Ahead of War Sails’ release on November 26th, I chatted to a couple of its developers. Naturally, I was keen to hear about what the process of assembling the expansion’s armada. A particular challenge as each of Calradia’s historically-inspired nations has access to unique ships.
While we’ve all become accustomed to using fancy analogue controllers these days, there’s still a large sector of the market which loves a good, old-fashioned eight-way digital arcade experience – and to that end, accessory company iMP has produced the Gaming Mini Arcade Pro for Switch and Switch 2.
On the surface, this looks like a bartop arcade cabinet, but in reality, it’s a cradle for your Switch console that allows you to use authentic arcade-style controls with games that benefit from digital input – such as old-school titles, shmups and fighting games.
The Full Screen Experience is available for Xbox Insiders Starting today!
Cassie Chou, Senior Technical Program Manager
Today the full screen experience (FSE) is generally available on Windows 11 handhelds currently in market, bringing performance optimizations and the ability to boot directly into Xbox for a smoother, more seamless way to play. Designed to minimize friction and get players into their games faster, this update helps deliver a console-like experience on handheld devices. For more information on how to set up, check out the full screen experience support page.
In addition to handhelds, the Xbox full screen experience is now available in preview for more Windows 11 PC form factors, such as laptops, desktops, and tablets, tailored for the PC experience.
The Xbox full screen experience introduces a controller-navigable UI that brings an immersive, console-like experience to Windows 11 PC form factors. Designed for controller-first navigation, it provides a gaming-first, full-screen environment where players can easily browse and launch titles from across their game libraries- including most popular PC storefronts. A powerful Task Switcher enables quick movement between games and apps, delivering a seamless experience.
How to Get Access to the PC Preview: Join Xbox Insider and Windows Insider Program
Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub, accessible via keyboard shortcut (WIN + F) or via the Xbox PC App (by selecting “Report a Problem”). Be sure to submit your Feedback under Gaming and Xbox > Gaming Full Screen Experience.
How to Get Xbox Insider Support and Share Your Feedback
We want to thank all the Xbox Insiders for the feedback you share with us. If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please join our community on the Xbox Insider subreddit, where official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help. We recommend adding to threads with the same topic before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can! We’re grateful to our Insider community for the helpful feedback you provide, it continues to shape the future of Xbox.
For more information on the Xbox Insider Program, follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider and keep an eye on this blog for all the latest news.
For more information: follow us on X/Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.
Last week, we asked to venture off the main path and share moments from a side quest using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here’s this week’s highlights:
jobolts_shares a moment fishing in Red Dead Redemption 2
shovoiceactorshares Alan Wake 2 side character Alex Casey
AlifGreatshares Astro Bot finding a spot to take a scenic framed photo
RhodWulfLeonshares Cal speaking to a shopkeep in Star Wars Jedi Survivor
clarkimoooshares Atsu embarking on the Spider Lily General side quest in Ghost of Yōtei
Yu_games727shares the titular Stray finding one of the hidden napping spots
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: Harvest SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on November 26, 2025
Next week, we’re ready to feast! Share moments gathering food and having a feast in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Seasons of Solitude is a soulful balance of survival game and turn-based strategy about an exiled prehistoric tribesman who is trying not to trash his own habitat. It’s the work of Estonian developers Ninjarithm Studio, and is based on Estonian myths.
There’s a demo on Steam, which I’ve spent barely any time with, but this seems Interesting – Interesting enough that I wanted to get a write-up in front of you before the weekend. Please disregard the rapid-fire editing of the trailer below: it works as an overview of the mechanics, but doesn’t really convey the sleepy pensiveness of the actual game.
Recently, IGN teamed up with Nintendo Life to rank the Top 100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time. But this celebration wasn’t just about what we think: we also wanted to know what your list would be, too. This was calculated through our Face Off tool, which pits two games against each other until you’ve run through all of the permutations, and then places the games in order of their win percentage. So, following a face-off in which thousands of you voted — with your number one pick being involved in 21,405 duels — we’ve got a Top 25 based on the IGN audience’s opinion.
The games that appear in this list actually aren’t too different from the ones that make up our own top positions, albeit with quite a different order. You favour Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series over most others. So much, in fact, that the top 10 is dominated entirely by these two Miyamoto creations.
What follows is the Top 25 as voted by IGN readers, with a handy comparison below that shows your picks alongside the IGN and Nintendo Life’s list.
25. Mario Kart 64 – 59.0% Win Rate
24. Super Mario Bros. – 59.2% Win Rate
23. Pokemon Yellow (Red/Blue) – 59.4% Win Rate
22. Donkey Kong Bananza – 61.2% Win Rate
21. Chrono Trigger – 61.2% Win Rate
20. GoldenEye 007 – 61.9% Win Rate
19. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – 62.7% Win Rate
18. Super Metroid – 62.7% Win Rate
17. Super Smash Bros. Melee – 63.4% Win Rate
16. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 65.3% Win Rate
15. Metroid Prime (+ Remastered) – 65.6% Win Rate
14. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 66.1% Win Rate
13. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 66.1% Win Rate
12. Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 66.8% Win Rate
11. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 66.9% Win Rate
10. Super Mario. Bros 3 – 67.9% Win Rate
9. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 68.4% Win Rate
8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 69.0% Win Rate
7. Super Mario Galaxy – 69.6% Win Rate
6. Super Mario World – 70.5% Win Rate
5. Super Mario 64 – 70.5% Win Rate
4. Super Mario Odyssey – 71.3% Win Rate
3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 73.2% Win Rate
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 77.1% Win Rate
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – 77.5% Win Rate
So, that’s what you voted as the 25 best Nintendo games ever, but how does it compare to IGN and Nintendo Life’s version? Well, there are a few notable differences. The IGN readers picked Mario Kart 64 as number 25 — a game that didn’t even make our Top 100 as one of our two Mario Kart entries. On the flip side, we had Tetris placed at 5, but it was all the way down at 33 in the public vote.
You can check out the table below to get a direct comparison between the top 25s. Which do you ultimately agree with more? Let us know in the comments below!
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
Krafton have revealed PUBG spin-off Black Budget, just in time for alpha testing of the extraction shooter to kick off next month. As you might expect given the genre, this latest work from PUBG Studios is all about getting out of the bad vibe zone in good time, after shooting some baddies in said zone. Oh, sorry, tactically shooting some baddies in the bad vibe zone.
