Gamespot

Disney Dreamlight Valley has been a bit festive for about two weeks thanks to its winter update, which brought a variety of new holiday-themed recipes to craft and items to unlock in the Festive Star Path. But it's time to kick things into full gear with the Gift of Giving Event, which runs from December 18 to December 31.

This exciting time in the valley promises plenty of gifts to unlock and a fresh set of holiday Dreamlight tasks to knock out. Read on for everything you need to know about the Gift of Giving event.

The Castle Christmas tree

During the event, you can visit the castle to find a Christmas tree has appeared, and you'll have gifts to unwrap beginning on December 25. Don't worry, though--if you don't play on Christmas day, you can always come by any day through December 31 to snag them. What you can expect to get out of each of your gifts is listed below.

Marvel Snap picked up the Best Mobile win at The Game Awards last week, and this week is thanking players for the accolade with a handful of freebies. All players will be gifted 1000 credits, as well as a Mystery Variant, just for logging in to the game.

Players can find the current rewards in their in-game mail the next time they log in. Marvel Snap added that an extra freebie consisting of a GOTY Card Back and Title will also be gifted early next year.

Marvel Snap isn't the first game to gift free in-game items after award wins--Genshin Impact is well-known for giving out premium in-game items after wins, which likely contributes to its dominance over two years of The Game Awards' Player's Voice category.

Genshin Impact was one of the other mobile titles that newcomer Marvel Snap beat in the mobile category, along with Apex Legends Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Tower of Fantasy. The Marvel Universe card battler released on mobile and PC in October 2022, impressing critics with its unique, elegant take on the digital card collecting genre.

As you navigate your way through Elden Ring's massive open world, you may find yourself wanting to blend various playstyles. That's entirely possible thanks to tons of cool spells that can be used in tandem with your melee weapons to dish out the hurt on your foes. Gravity Well is one such sorcery that blends exceptionally well into melee-centric builds, and we'll tell you where you can find it in this guide.

Gravity Well explained

Gravity Well is a sorcery that requires 17 Intelligence to cast. Using it will cause you to pull your enemies towards you, allowing you to follow up with some quick melee damage.

Gravity Well's item description reads:

One of the glintstone sorceries that manipulates gravitational forces. Fires a projectile of condensed gravitational force. Those struck by it will be pulled toward the caster. Charging enhances potency. A gravitational technique studied by the young Radahn. His master was an Alabaster Lord with skin of stone.

Where to find Gravity Well

Gravity Well can be obtained by defeating the Monolith Guardian enemy [1] in Raya Lucaria Academy in Liurnia of the Lakes. You'll first need to access the academy, though, but that can be easily handled by snagging a key nearby.

Overwatch 2's Season 2 dropped on December 6, and following the release, Activision Blizzard made some further tweaks and balance changes to the hero roster.

Ramattra, the new Omnic Tank added in Season 2, has been buffed. His Nemesis form is more effective, with increased movement speed and armor bonus. His Omnic form's Void barrier has a reduced cooldown time.

Doomfist's abilities have also been slightly adjusted. His Rocket Punch ability has been incrementally nerfed. Cooldown lasts one second longer, and takes more juice to power-up. In the December 6 update, the devs buffed him so players can use him more effectively as a brawler-slash-interrupter tank. That may have been too much, so his abilities have been dialed back down a notch in the December 15 update.

The Epic Games Store’s annual holiday sale is now live, giving PC gamers a great way to load up on free and discounted games from now until January 5.

There are hundreds of PC games from the Epic Games Store catalog sale including big AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 for $30 (normally $60) and Red Ded Redemption 2 for $19.79 (normally $60), and games from smaller studios like Weird West or The Pathless, both of which are just $20 each (normally $40).

Bungie has addressed rumors that secrets would cease to be part of Destiny 2. A new statement claims that not only will secrets continue to be a part of the game, they will come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

In the most recent This Week At Bungie, assistant game director Robbie Stevens addressed rumors that secrets will stop being developed. Stevens wrote, "the people working on Destiny 2 believe that secrets are an important part of this franchise, and we’re dedicated to delivering secret experiences, both small and large, throughout the coming year."

The statement goes on to address a Reddit AMA thread concerning the difficulty of encrypting game content. Statements made in the AMA were interpreted to mean that secrets will exit the game. Stevens' clarifies that this is false. He emphasizes that encryption is a real challenge, but it's something that every live game deals with.

The statement also clarifies that while secrets can include missions and puzzles, these are the most difficult kinds of secrets to create. Stevens wrote, "although we’re intentionally hiding things for you to discover in every release, not every secret can be something as big as a mission or puzzle." The section concludes with a survey of secrets from the past year of Destiny 2, as well as a promise that more secrets of a variety of shapes and sizes are on the way.

Vampire Survivors, the bullet-hell rogue-like that is one of GameSpot's best games of the year, just got its first paid DLC, Legacy of Moonspell. Inspired by Japanese monster hunters, the Legacy of Moonspell includes a brand-new map, Mt. Moonspell, in addition to eight new characters and 13 new weapons and evolutions. Here's everything included in the new Legacy of Moonspell DLC for Vampire Survivors.

New map Mt. Moonspell

The DLC only includes one map, Mt. Moonspell. This map takes place in a snowy mountain region where feudal Japanese buildings are scattered throughout. Mt. Moonspell is the largest map in the game, with a developer sharing an image showing that Dairy Plant is a fraction of the size of Mt. Moonspell. The map includes an abandoned castle, snow covered mountain, and a yokai-infested village. There are also a few unique boss battles throughout the map, although the only one related to an unlock is the Orochimario, a purple dragon that unlocks the hyper version of the map upon defeat. Orochimario does not appear to have a specific location, instead showing up late into a run.

Following the launch of the big Season 1 Reloaded update, Activision is hosting a double XP weekend for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.

Season 1 Reloaded added more operators and the new Chimera assault rifle to multiplayer and battle royale, and now players can enjoy an easier time leveling up with an extended double XP weekend event. The double XP and double weapon XP rates are active across all platforms. The event will run from December 15-19 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

Activision is also offering a free Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer trial during this time for those who don't already own the game. The multiplayer trial will also last until December 19 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. The free access weekend includes the maps of Farm 18, El Asilo, and Shipment with a mix of four game modes: Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Domination, and Kill Confirmed.

Shipment returns in Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer with a new stormy setting on a cargo ship. Players familiar with the classic map will notice a few differences to the Modern Warfare 2 version, and a breakdown of the Shipment map changes can be found here. Additionally, a holiday-themed variant of Shipment will arrive in Modern Warfare 2 on December 21, sticking around until January 4.

Humble Bundle's Sid Meier's Ultimate Collection features the latest Civilization game, Civilization 6, complete editions of past Civilization games, and more. You can get the Sid Meier bundle for just $15, and it contains 20 selected items that normally would be $471 in total.

There are no payment tiers with different selection of games, as seen in some other Humble Bundles. $15 is the minimum to get everything in the Sid Meier bundle, and if you choose to pay more, you'll still get the same number of games.

The bundle not only has the base Civilization 6 games, but also comes with eight Civilization 6 DLCs. The newest DLC, Leader Pass, is not included in the bundle. The Leader Pass features various head-of-states from several civilizations, and was first announced in November.

As always, you can choose to give more. The Sid Meier bundle specifically supports Trees, People, Water, an organization devoted to helping communities protect and conserve their natural resources.

Though you can technically use them to deal damage, most shields in Elden Ring are, well, meant for doing things shields tend to do, like blocking and parrying. In the case of the Coil Shield, though, there's a very special skill attached that can be a lot of fun for poison-based builds--and it looks cool to boot. If that sounds fun to you, read on to find out where you can pick it up.

The Coil Shield explained

The Coil Shield is a small shield that requires 10 Strength and 10 Dexterity to wield. Its unique weapon skill is Viper Bite, which can be activated to deal a bit of damage and inflict poison buildup on enemies, making it a truly unique shield.

The Coil Shield's item description reads:

Armament designed for gladitorial combat. rises above its peers as a particularly showy specimen. The sculpted bronze snake is a poisonous breed, boosting the weilder's resistance to poison.

Where to find the Coil Shield

The Coil Shield can be found inside Volcano Cave, which is embedded in the side of Mt. Gelmir northeast of the Ninth Mt. Gelmir Campsite. Once inside, you'll need to proceed past the Site of Grace within and fight the first pack of Demi-Humans and then head through the right path with a torch.

The Callisto Protocol didn't have the smoothest launch, suffering from some performance issues in certain scenarios. A new patch is out now on console that includes bug fixes and improvements, along with a new graphics feature on Xbox Series X.

People playing on Microsoft's beefiest console will now see ray-traced reflections. Even more improvements are coming, too. "We are working daily on optimizations for all platforms and are listening to your feedback," developer Striking Distance said on Twitter. "Thanks for your patience."

Studio head Glen Schofield commented on the patch, too, saying the developer is "listening, fixing, tweaking, and updating." The full patch notes do not seem to have been made available, but we'll add them here if they are.

This was The Callisto Protocol's second patch this week, following an earlier update that included improvements for PC performance. Players on PC should now see fewer instances of stuttering, with more optimizations in the work to improvement the experience further.

NPD's monthly report for November is here, which means we now know what games sold the best last month. Though the data doesn't have a lot of surprises, there's one name in the top 5 that might give you pause: Sonic Frontiers.

Yes, while everyone's favorite hedgehog hasn't starred in many acclaimed games lately, the "open-zone" Sonic Frontiers has sold a lot of copies, and it garnered a fairly positive critical reception, as well. However, number one is definitely no surprise--Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become one of the best-selling games in the franchise ever, which is no mean feat. It even passed Elden Ring to become the top-selling paid game of 2022 in the US, though it's only been out for a little more than a month.

God of War Ragnarok comes in at number two, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at number three, Sonic Frontiers at number four, and Madden NFL 23 at five. FIFA 23, NBA 2K23, Gotham Knights, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Mario Party Superstars round out the top 10, in that order. The only other new game on the list is Tactics Ogre Reborn, coming in at number 17. Elden Ring is number 11. It's worth noting that Pokemon only includes physical sales, as well as Mario Party.

Given that NPD predicted Elden Ring as the top-selling premium game of 2022, the emergence of Modern Warfare 2 as the new number one is quite an achievement. Number three on the year is Madden NFL 23, four is Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and God of War: Ragnarok is five.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic players will soon benefit from a 50% XP boost starting on December 13.

The event, called Joyous Journeys, increases all XP gains, whether it's from killing monsters or turning in quests, up to the expansion's max level of 80. A similar event ran prior to Wrath of the Lich King Classic's September 26 release, allowing players to speed-level new characters or level-up the expansion's new Death Knight class prior to the expansion's launch.

This latest event will last until January 16, 2023, giving players over a month of increased XP gains. As Blizzard notes, the event is a "great time to finish leveling a character, create a new one, or invite friends to join you in your adventures." Unlike modern WoW, where hitting max level in a new expansion can take mere hours, leveling in WoW Classic is a much longer process often measured in days of playtime as opposed to an afternoon.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic's launch didn't go smoothly at first, with massive server queues forcing many players to wait for hours before getting to log in for the first week or two of the expansion. Those issues have largely been resolved now that Wrath of the Lich King Classic has been live for over two months.

Splatoon 3 entered Chill Season, the first major update, on December 1. And with it comes a modified Salmon Run called Big Run, scheduled to start on December 9 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET. The limited event will run over the weekend and end on Sunday, December 11 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET.

Big Run will feature waves of Salmonids invading the amusement park Wahoo World stage, and players will need to team up against the invaders. This is the very first Big Run, and it will be a recurring event.

All players who fight in Wahoo World will get a locker decoration, as well as increased Catalog Points and Bonus Rewards. Final rewards will be based on the player's rankings, so those who score more will earn more. Players' points will be tallied after Big Run ends.

Chill Season also saw the arrival of two new maps, Brinewater Springs--a hot spring location--and Flounder Heights, an apartment complex. New weapons are also joining players' arsenal, including 10 weapons from past Splatoon games.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, which just recently concluded its first-ever Twitch drop promotion, is now giving away even more free goodies for watching WoW-content on the streaming platform.

To celebrate the upcoming "Race to World First," in which top guilds from around the world will compete to be the first to complete Dragonflight's new Vault of the Incarnates raid, Blizzard is offering an in-game mount, pet, and toy that can be earned simply through watching WoW on Twitch.

From now until December 13, players will be able to claim the Cenarion Hatchling pet by watching four hours of WoW: Dragonflight content on Twitch. Another four hours watched will award the Swift Windsteed mount. Players will need to have linked their Battle.net account with their Twitch account to begin earning the drops, and the Cenarion Hatchling will need to be claimed before progress towards unlocking the Swift Windsteed can be earned.

Paragon: The Overprime, a sort-of sequel to Epic Games' canceled third-person MOBA Paragon, is now available in early access form. It has arrived just a week after another Paragon successor, titled Predecessor, launched in early access.

The free-to-play Paragon: The Overprime comes from Korean developer and publisher Netmarble and features Paragon's roster of characters and assets, along with new, original additions and gameplay elements. It's available both on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Thanks to better availability of the PlayStation 5, sales of consoles in the US during November jumped significantly. The NPD Group reported that hardware sales during November jumped by 45% to $1.3 billion during November.

This uptick in sales was attributed primarily to a "significant increase in PS5 volume" compared to November 2021, the NPD said. The PS5 was November 2022's best-selling console platform for unit and dollar sales, and the Switch was No. 2 during the month by both metrics.

For the year 2022 so far, the Switch has sold the most units and the PS5 led the way for overall dollar sales due in part to its higher price point compared to the Switch.

The NPD Group said nothing about how the Xbox platform performed during November 2022. The system surely did solid numbers, too, given the aggressive price discount of the Series S for Black Friday that dropped the price to just $250 (or less, depending on where you're shopping).

The PS5, as well as the Switch and Xbox Series X|S consoles, have been increasingly easier to find lately at brick-and-mortar and online stores alike. The systems were especially hard to find in 2021 and the beginning of 2022, but thankfully stock situations have improved.

On the games front, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was November's best-selling game in the US and has now surpassed Elden Ring to become 2022's best-selling game overall.

CD Projekt Red has announced that Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, will stop receiving report by the end of 2024, with the studio's plans shifting to something it's calling Project Gwentfinity.

Speaking with IGN, the studio laid out some of its short- and long-term plans for its Witcher spin-off game. In 2023 Gwent will have three expansions in April, July, and September that'll release 72 cards total ahead of more esports tournaments. Monthly balance changes are still expected to be made, and two more esports tournaments are planned. However, the majority of the team will be moving onto a new project, with only a few team members staying behind to support Gwent until its sunsetted in 2024.

As support winds down, the team will move to a reimagined version of the game which it's calling Project Gwentfinity--its name perhaps suggesting that the team views this successor to be better suited as a live-service. Project Gwentfinity will have a seasonal progression system that'll reward players for having a creative deck, and it will also have a new balancing feature that allows the community to vote on what changes will be made. Few other details have yet been revealed, and it's likely the team will be heads-down for a while before we hear much more about it.

The team's communications manager kicked off Gwent's farewell tour on Twitter over the weekend, inviting the game's community to make the new year "as epic as possible."

CD Projekt Red is bringing official mod integration and additional modding tools alongside The Witcher 3's new-gen PC update.

In a post on the official CD Projekt Red forums, a developer representative outlines plans for modding compatibility. It has been six years since the last major PC update, so it's inevitable that a new update will change basic files in such a way that renders some mods unusable. In this post, CD Projekt Red linked a list of the Witcher 3's most popular mods to show whether or not they are compatible with the upcoming patch. For example, compatible mods include the All Quest Objectives On Map and the Over 9000 Weight Limit mod. Incompatible mods include Always Full Exp and Slots Slots Slots.

Keep in mind that this is a list based on CD Projekt Red's own testing efforts. The particularities of your setup or installed mods, changes made to the patch after the list was compiled, or future updates might change compatibility for you. A team of modding experts will also help modders fix compatibility issues after the patch's launch.

Alongside the update, a new version of the Witcher 3 modding command line tool, called Modkit, will release. It will fix various pre-existing bugs and be adapted for the new version of the game. Wolvenkit, an all-in-one tool for editing and creating Witcher 3 mods, will also receive a new update.

Marvel's Midnight Suns combines the turn-based tactics of XCOM with deck building and Marvel superheroes. When you aren't battling the forces of Lilith, you will need to build bonds with your teammates and invest in upgrades. While you don't need to worry about losing units in the heat of battle, there are a ton of systems to invest in. The Marvel license is likely to bring new fans to this sort of tactical experience, so if you're new to the genre, or even the heroes, here are some tips to help you get started in Marvel's Midnight Suns.

Learn and maximize different types of moves

One of the most important aspects of combat in Marvel's Midnight Suns is maximizing your cards and moves to take out the most enemies each turn. For most turns you will have three card plays you can do, along with two redraws, and one move. As you get different bonuses and upgrades, this might not always be the case, but it's the standard. Each card will list what it does, the type of card it is, and how much damage it does, if it does damage.

There are effects like Quick, which refunds a card play if you knock out an enemy with it, or Knockback, which sends an enemy flying in a direction on hit. Maximizing quick cards will allow you to play more cards than you typically could. Another important aspect is the Heroism counter. Heroism is represented by an orange number, when it's in the bottom corner of the card, playing it generates heroism while if it's on the top it generates heroism. More powerful abilities cost heroism and it can be used to perform environmental attacks. It's important to make sure you're actively building heroism, there are even missions where you need heroism to complete the objective.

Developer FuturLab no longer plans to pull back the curtain on a content update for PowerWash Simulator tomorrow. Originally, the team was going to provide information on December 6 for an upcoming free mini-story expansion for the first-person cleaning game. The update will reportedly add five new levels to the title, including never-before-seen vehicles.

The official PowerWash Simulator Twitter account offered details on the delay. "We are sorry, but we can no longer announce the next batch of content as planned tomorrow," FuturLab said. "It is still coming, but at the moment, we can't share what it is or its release date due to several development factors."

One of those factors is continued expansion on the team, according to FuturLab. The developer added that launches for new versions of PowerWash Simulator--PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch--will be shared early next year. This should come out alongside content update announcements.

PowerWash Simulator is currently available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One (as well as Game Pass). Recently, one funny bug popped up on the Xbox versions. Basically, the developer recommended PowerWash Simulator players stop staring at the sun.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's free new-gen update is coming later in December, and it'll add improved visuals, a new quest, and a photo mode to the game. However, it'll also fix one of the most memetic oversights in the original game.

In the Witcher 3 quest Destination: Skellige, Geralt's love interest Yennefer gives you a key to her room at the inn. That key is marked as a "common item" in your inventory, which led to an onslaught of memes and jokes about how "common" the item was, and what that means about Yennefer's affections. Given Geralt's own dalliances across the series, however, perhaps these jokes are a bit ill-considered.

During our hands-on with the game, we noticed that the key has been changed to a "relic," the description the game uses for its rarest tier of items. We have confirmed with CD Projekt Red that this change has been made. The observation became such a meme that one modder created a small file that changes the key to a relic worth 100,000 coins. Hopefully "nico46646" will be happy now. No word on if you can still accidentally sell the key to merchants, though.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt new-gen update comes out on PS5 and Xbox Series X on December 14.

If you’re looking to load up your new Steam Deck with some new games to play over the holidays, Fanatical’s Play On The Go 3 bundle gets you up to 8 PC games for just $10. And yes, they’re all Steam Deck-verified. The bundle is part of Fanatical's Bundlefestive promotion, which will bring new game bundles every day this week.

The build-your-own bundle comes in three tiers: three games for $5, five games for $7, or--for the best value--eight games for $10. Customers customize their game selection from a pool of 22 possible titles, and there’s plenty of variety to choose from.

Overwatch 2's next hero should be a little easier to earn from the battle pass. Shared by Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller on Twitter, Ramattra, the new tank arriving in Season 2, should be slightly easier to unlock for players who don't purchase the battle pass.

In Overwatch 2 Season 1, players who didn't buy the battle pass and didn't own the original Overwatch had to reach tier 55 of 80 in the battle pass before they could access the new healer, Kiriko. To make this a bit less of a grind, Ramattra will be available at tier 45 of the battle pass instead of 55, and some of the weekly challenges are being adjusted to make them easier to complete.

While some players still want the original Overwatch system of new heroes being instantly unlocked for everyone, this should make it quicker for players to access the new hero. Anyone purchasing the Season 2 battle pass will have instant access to Ramattra, who won't be available in competitive play for the first two weeks of the season, which is standard for new heroes. The battle pass costs 1,000 Coins, roughly $10 USD.

Ramattra, the new tank hero, joins Overwatch 2 with Season 2 launches on December 6, bringing a new battle pass, map, and cosmetic items. Ramattra is a tank that can switch forms, with his Omnic form creating barriers for his teammates while attacking at long range. Once charged, he can switch to his Nemesis form, which gives him more powerful offensive abilities, making him a deadly force.

Stranger Things and Violent Night star David Harbour would love to be a part of whatever's next for God of War.

In an interview with Video Games FN about his general affection for video games and an upcoming role in a horror game with Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, he was asked what other video game projects he would like to be involved in. He said, “I really like what those guys in the God of War universe are doing with my buddy Richard Schiff as Odin. They sort of mess around with that genre too, and they're always surprising in terms of these gods and they wind up becoming--Thor is a big old jerk and Odin being this kind of older intellectual." He concluded by saying, "I'd be interested in possibly doing some of that.”

David Harbour is far from alone for his admiration for the most recent God of War, as it is now the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation game ever. As the game wrapped up the franchise's Norse saga, if David Harbour were to be a part of the next game, it would presumably involve a new mythological framework.

In addition to the aforementioned horror game, David Harbour is already involved in a PlayStation project. He will star in the Gran Turismo movie alongside Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, and Darren Barnet. God of War will also have an adaptation via an Amazon streaming show.

Feel like an adventure? Then you should check out Fanatical’s new Epic Quest bundle, which includes four adventure-focused PC games for just $4--a massive discount from the $84.96 total these titles would cost separately.

The bundle includes Supraland, a first-person adventure game with a metroidvania world design and 3D platforming elements. The game’s description calls out Zelda, Metroid, Portal, and “old-school” shooters as major inspirations.

Destiny 2's PvP activities like the Crucible continue to be some of its most popular modes, but everybody knows that getting killed by an invisible Void Hunter is rarely fun. As such, Bungie plans to add an interesting wrinkle to this ability to give players a fighting chance against it.

Destiny 2's 6.3.0.1 update, scheduled for the week of December 13, will reduce the radar range of Void Hunters using their invisibility power. This will mean that those hunters who are currently invisible will only be able to use their mid-range and close-range radar capabilities, rather than the long-range "gutter" which extends from the 24 meter mark to 64 meters.

Functionally, this means that invisible players will have less ability to detect their opponents at range, especially those opponents who are actively running away from them. In a blog post announcing the change, Bungie notes that this shift will have a "significant impact" on how invisible players approach engagements. The company also says it has a minimum impact on PvE activities, which just makes sense.

Other changes announced in this blog post include new gear for Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner, balance changes to weapons like the Linear Fusion Rifles, and a poll to see which hypothetical Arbalest ornament will make the final game. Destiny 2 Season 19 begins tomorrow.

God of War Ragnarok got a new update today, December 5, and it adds a photo mode to the popular PlayStation exclusive. Just like the 2018 God of War, Ragnarok launched without a photo mode, opting to add it later on as a free update for all players.

Ragnarok's photo mode gives players a number of options to create picture-perfect creations. For example, players can put facial expressions on characters like Kratos, Atreus, Freya, Brok, Sindri, Angrboda, Thor, and Thrúd. The photo mode can hide main or side characters, too.

What's more, things like field of view, focal length, depth of field, and f-stop can be manipulated. In addition, the photo mode includes film grain and exposure settings to tinker with. There is also the ability to apply borders, logos, and vignettes to any photo.

You can read more about Ragnarok's photo mode on the PlayStation Blog. The blog post also includes some handy tips from developer Tim Ward to help take the best possible photos. There is no word on any other changes or fixes that might be included in the Ragnarok photo mode update.

With Ragnarok's photo mode out now, fans might be wondering what other post-launch content may be coming to the game. Unfortunately, there might not be anything, as developer Santa Monica Studio has said it has no plans for DLC.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to the well-regarded Fallen Order, is coming early next year. EA announced in a press release and revealed on Twitter that a gameplay trailer of Survivor will premiere at The Game Awards on December 8.

Taking place five years after the events of Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor follows castoff Jedi Cal Kestis as he continues to evade the clutches of the Empire. Based on the previous game, it will feature a Sekiro-inspired combat system, enhanced force powers, and plenty of fan-service.

Jingle Jam, one of the biggest gaming charity events of the year, has already raised over £2 million. The event runs from December 1 to December 14, so there's still plenty of time to get involved. If you donate above a certain amount, you'll even get some digital goodies.

This year's Jingle Jam is donating to a variety of charities including the British Red Cross, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Dogs for Autism, The Grand Appeal, Huntington's Disease Association, Kidscape, and Mermaids.

The main channel, The Yogscast, will be streaming throughout the 14 days and you can view their schedule on the Jingle Jam website. You can also tune into affiliated community fundraising streams via Jingle Jam's Tiltify page. There, you can see what fundraisers are affiliated with which group. You can even set up your own fundraiser using your Tiltify account and a Jingle Jam-provided toolkit.

Jingle Jam has also partnered with GameSpot sister site Fanatical for the biggest yet Jingle Jam game collection. If you donate more than £35 to the fundraiser of your choice, you'll receive over 85 Steam keys for various games including: Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Tenderfoot Tactics, Troy: A Total War Saga, and You Suck At Parking.

The charity event started back in 2011, when Lewis and Simon of The Yogscast encouraged fans to donate to Oxfam, rather than send them Christmas presents. In the eleven years since then, Jingle Jam has raised over £20 million for various charities.

It's Tuesday, December 6, and we're back with another edition of our Wordle guides. Today's answer is difficult for a couple of reasons, the first being that it technically has two meanings. One of those meanings is actually a common name, so it could throw players off when they're thinking of words to guess. The word also has an uncommon spelling, which usually makes players' lives difficult.

If you haven't started the December 6 Wordle yet, you can check out our list of recommended starting words to give yourself an advantage before you've begun. However, if you're already a few guesses deep and you're on this guide, then you're likely looking for a lifeline so your streak doesn't end. Fortunately, we're here to provide that lifeline and offer some hints that should allow players to easier guess the answer. Below, players will see two hints for today's Wordle in addition to the full answer that's located further down in the guide.

Today's Wordle Answer - December 6, 2022

We'll begin with two hints that directly relate to the Wordle answer but won't immediately give the word away.

Microsoft will increase the upfront cost of its first-party games to $70 starting in 2023. This will impact upcoming games such as Starfield, Redfall, and Forza Motorsport.

According to IGN, Xbox's exclusives will cost $70 at launch but didn't elaborate on regional pricing for other countries. "This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles," says Microsoft in a statement to IGN. "As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.”

Back in October, Xbox's Phil Spencer said that certain Xbox products and services would increase in price, but not until after the holidays. It looks like that is taking effect almost right away in January.

While the price of Xbox's games will increase, console prices and Game Pass subscriptions have not yet. Back in August, Spencer mentioned that Microsoft had no intention of raising prices on consoles even though Sony did for the PlayStation 5 in countries outside of the United States. However, Spencer also noted that plans can always change as Microsoft continues to evaluate the market.

Companies like Sony, Activision, and Electronic Arts have already been selling their PS5 and Xbox Series games for $70 since the beginning of the current generation. Now, Microsoft is the latest to do so as well.

Disney Dreamlight Valley's December 6 update will come packing new characters, an expanded story, and holiday-themed content--but Gameloft has announced that a variety of bug fixes and fan-requested features are also debuting with the patch.

Gameloft took to Twitter Monday to share that Dreamlight Valley's second free content update since entering Early Access in September will be titled Missions in Uncharted Space. The patch notes are looking very promising for fans who have been struggling with performance issues--especially those playing the game on the rough Nintendo Switch version, which is known for framerate problems and repeated crashing.

Missions in Uncharted Space will optimize game stability across all versions of the game, with special attention paid to the Nintendo Switch experience. The update will also bring an overall decrease in loading screens and a reduced installation size, while fixes for many of the game's bugged quests will be addressed, hopefully granting stuck players the chance to finally finish leveling up their Disney pals.

Fortnite is is certainly known for adding interesting new mechanics to shake up the game, but Chapter 4 has brought perhaps the largest change to the popular battle royale experience in years. This time around, we haven't just received an exciting new map and some fresh weapons--Epic has introduced game-changing Reality Augments that function like perks for your character. This new system can completely change the flow of a match, so you'll want to know everything you can about which Augments to get and how they work. Don't worry--we've got you covered here.

Fortnite Augments list

Throughout each match, you'll be given the choice between two random Augments that can help give you a leg up on your competition. The longer you survive, the more Augments you'll be offered. These will last until the end of the match, but they do not carry over into the next game. If you don't like the randomized Augment, you can reroll for a chance at one you do want--but be aware that you only get one free reroll. If you want to keep rerolling, you'll have to spend 100 gold bars each time.

Like other collections in the game, Augments have their own tab where you can see which ones you've discovered so far. Epic is almost certain to add more Augments in the weeks and months to come, so make sure to check back in the future to see which ones you may not have found yet.

Here is every Augment currently available:

Fortnite Chapter 4 has arrived, and maybe more exciting than anything else is its new map. The new Fortnite map has some touchstones of past maps, like various biomes, a mountain range, and a wintry section that will no doubt be the focal point of the forthcoming winter event. Here's a breakdown of everything we've learned about the new Fortnite Chapter 4 map.

New POIs

It's a whole new island this season, so naturally there's a lot more to see than just a few new landing spots. Still, a few locales might look familiar if you've been playing Fortnite for a while. The Citadel is a medieval village somewhat like where Geralt of Rivia might pass through--which is perfect since he's in the Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass.

To the northeast is a snowy section that includes drops such as Brutal Bastion and Lonely Labs. Whose labs? It's hard to say for now, but we'll be investigating it this week, no doubt. Frenzy Fields marks the lush green space of the map, though such visuals extend to Slappy Shores and, to an extent, Faulty Splits, as well.

Fortnite Chapter 4 is here, and in its inaugural season, a new slate of weapons has arrived for you to scavenge and, with a bit of luck, carry to victory. While some items in this season's loot pool return from past seasons and chapters, each new chapter of Fortnite has also introduced wholly new items and guns never before seen. Chapter 4 continues that tradition. Here's a breakdown of all new Fortnite guns and items in Chapter 4 Season 1, plus a look at what else has been vaulted or unvaulted.

Fortnite Chapter 4 weapons

Fortnite adds a ton of new weapons to the game with the launch of Chapter 4. Here you'll find images and details for all of them, but first let's get you familiar with their names. Brand-new weapons making their debut to Fortnite include:

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 has arrived. Coming after the shortest chapter in Fortnite history at just one year long, Chapter 4 may signal a new way forward for Epic's battle royale where players get a major overhaul every December going forward. In Fortnite Chapter 4, a totally new map has arrived, though it's not without some allusions to past landing spots, like always. New Fortnite weapons are here too, as is another new battle pass and totally new mechanics such as motorcycles and a perks system called Augments. Consider this your all-in-one explainer on what's new and unusual in Fortnite Chapter 4.

These guides will be quickly filled in as Fortnite downtime ends, so bookmark it and spend your launch day with us. Happy Chapter 4, loopers!

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass

The Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass contains another eight characters, V-Bucks, and dozens of other cosmetics to earn as you play through the season. Fortnite loves a crossover, and this season is no different with The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia making his debut on the island, as is the Doomslayer from Doom. We're actively capturing images of every battle pass reward in the game, and you can find a full rundown here.

Fortnite Chapter 4 is just hours away. Though Epic hasn't publicly stated when Fortnite's servers will be back up, some historical precedence and reasonable deductions give us a pretty clear window of time. The short answer: You won't be waiting long. For a more detailed answer, keep reading. Here's when you can play Fortnite again.

When will Fortnite servers be back up?

Fortnite is currently in scheduled downtime following the Chapter 3 finale. This means Chapter 4 is upon us and with it will come new weapons, a whole new island, and a new battle pass, among other things. But none of that matters until the Fortnite servers are letting players back into the game. Epic likes to keep this a surprise, but recent history suggests Fortnite will be playable again sometime around 4 AM - 7 AM PT / 7 AM - 10 AM ET tomorrow, December 4. This three-hour window is our best guess based on having covered several seasons of Fortnite by now, and as always, the actual time is subject to change for a number of reasons.

For one, downtime is needed to apply the game's latest patch, and patches can be delayed. Even if Epic is shooting for the earliest possible time to launch Chapter 4, things can get in the way of that plan. It's also worth noting that for the last year, new seasons (and the launch of Chapter 3) featured a queue system that slowed players' ability to get into the game past the main menu. You should absolutely expect--and plan for--a queue when you first boot up Fortnite tomorrow. A new chapter launch is about as big as it gets in Fortnite, so it's going to be a very busy day for Epic and all Fortnite players.

Fortnite Chapter 3 has come to an end, and as usual, the existential threats proved real, as The Herald made swift work of the loopers' most recent island. If you missed the Chapter 3 finale Fortnite event, we're breaking it all down for you right here. It'll be a few hours before Chapter 4 begins, so use that time to get caught up on the story and join us as we await the discovery of strange new terrain coming in a short while.

Fortnite event recap

The Fortnite Chapter 3 finale event kicked off with a cinematic. With the Chrome continuing to spread across the island, a band of resistance fighters taking up arms atop the Reality Tree fired an onslaught at The Herald to try and halt her march across their home. It briefly looked hopeful, as a bevy of rockets splattered the mysterious villain into chromey little bits, but she quickly undid that hopefulness when she merged into the Chrome tidal wave and re-formed as a gigantic version of herself.

Kaiju-like in size, The Herald needed only to swat away the resistance like gnats at a barbecue. The heroes floated away as chromified victims of her unceasing march, and soon thereafter--remarkably soon, I'll add--the island was destroyed. Before players could even lift a finger to assist, it seemed The Herald had won.

But The Paradigm planned for all contingencies and using the help of the player and other loopers, she quickly got to work on stitching together some semblance of a safe zone, as part of a plan she called Zero Fusion. First she needed to heal and restore the Zero Point, which players were able to do themselves across a long series of puzzles and mini-games. Locating Zero Point fragments, completing time trials, and even finishing bounty missions by snowballing "enemies" in their lobby all contributed to restoring the life-giving force at the center of the makeshift world, and little by little, the heroes re-tooled the Zero Point back to working order.

If you are a huge fan of Charizard, one of the most recognizable Pokemon (and dragons, for that matter), you may have been disappointed to hear the fan-favorite flying/fire type Pokemon isn't readily available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Fret not, however! There is still a way to get Charizard (although it is quite difficult), so read on and we'll walk you through everything you need to catch the fiery Gen 1 starter.

Charizard event times

Keep in mind this is a limited-time event. The times it will be available are as follows:

• Dec. 1-4, 2022
• Dec. 15-18, 2022

Beat the game

First, you'll need to beat the game, and roll credits. In order to do that, you'll have to complete the three story threads, and all the post-thread events.

Here is everything you need to do to beat the game:

Complete Victory Road

For Nemona, beat every gym, then complete the Champion Assessment and beat the Elite Four and Geeta.

Complete the Path Of Legends

For Arven, find and defeat every Titan, feeding the Herba Mystica to Miraidon / Koraidon, powering it up and gaining new movement options in the open world.

Complete Starfall Street

For Cassiopeia, defeat every Team Star leader, then confront Cassiopeia themselves.

Complete The Way Home

After completing the original three storylines, meet up with Arven and travel to Area Zero and clear it, which will roll credits.

Complete the post-game

After you've completed the game, you'll be prompted to join a new tournament, but Geeta will need help with something first.