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Uranium market breaks with tradition as live pricing feed goes online

by admin September 16, 2025

Uranium’s spot market, once a black box for traders and institutions, has entered the real-time era. Uranium.io’s newly launched pricing oracle aggregates data from equities, funds, and physical markets to provide near-instant updates every 60 seconds.

Summary

Uranium.io launches first live uranium pricing oracle, delivering spot data every 60 seconds from equities, funds, and physical markets.
The system aims to bring transparency and support institutional adoption in a sector long constrained by opaque pricing.
Survey data shows 97% of investors would consider uranium if access were simplified, underscoring rising demand.

According to a press release shared with crypto.news on September 16, the team behind the tokenized uranium platform Uranium.io has launched what it claims is the sector’s first live pricing oracle.

The new feed, available at price.uranium.io, leverages proprietary algorithms to aggregate and analyze data from a basket of uranium-linked assets, including mining equities, physical spot markets, and commodity funds, to generate a composite spot price that refreshes every minute.

Built on the Etherlink blockchain, the same infrastructure that powers its xU3O8 token, the system is designed to tackle what has long been the market’s core weakness: a near-total lack of transparent, real-time pricing.

Bridging the data gap for institutional adoption

Per the statement, the newly launched system is accessible via API, offering both a live-streaming feed and a historical data archive, which are critical for different use cases within finance.

The team behind the solution said the feed is aimed at “financial institutions, trading firms, research organizations, and other market participants,” indicating a clear focus on serving professional, rather than retail, users.

Notably, the launch is timed to capitalize on an ongoing shift in institutional sentiment. Recent survey data from a report cited in the release, which polled more than 600 investors globally, reveals a market primed for entry but held back by structural barriers. A striking 97% of institutional investors stated they would consider allocating capital to uranium if access were simplified.

Additionally, 63% view uranium as a misunderstood or under-allocated commodity, and 74% now classify nuclear energy as ESG-compliant, challenging traditional perceptions. The primary hurdles remain regulatory clarity, cited by 78% of respondents, followed by operational complexity and a lack of accessible investment vehicles.

Arthur Breitman, co-founder of Tezos, sees broader implications for how price discovery in uranium could evolve and suggests the oracle could address one of the most persistent infrastructure gaps holding back adoption. He argues that true price discovery for uranium occurs beyond the physical spot market, playing out across a “wide array of economically related assets.”

Breitman believes the oracle initiates a “virtuous circle” by synthesizing this broader market intelligence and injecting this intelligence back into the uranium ecosystem, which could subsequently improve overall market liquidity and lead to more accurate price discovery.

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September 16, 2025 0 comments

Esports

The Elder Scrolls Online heads on the aftermath of Microsoft’s cuts and the future of the long-running MMO

by admin September 15, 2025

There have been some tumultuous times recently at ZeniMax Online Studios, makers of The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO).

As part of Microsoft’s sweeping cuts in early July, a long-in-development MMO codenamed Blackbird was cancelled. Shortly afterwards, ZeniMax president Matt Firor announced his departure after 18 years as head of the studio.

Rich Lambert, studio game director, ZeniMax Online Studios

Replacing him – or at least part of his role – is Rich Lambert, who was formerly game director on ESO. Lambert’s new title is studio game director, while Jo Burba has taken on the title of studio head. “He’s focused on the operational side of things,” explains Lambert, “and I’m focused on a lot of studio-level things and future planning.”

It perhaps says something about Firor’s importance to the studio that it has taken two people to fill his vacant seat. “He wore a lot of different hats,” acknowledges Lambert.

Stepping up into Lambert’s old role is Nick Giacomini, who started off as a senior product manager at ZeniMax in 2019. “Am I nervous? Absolutely,” says Giacomini. “But I’m very excited.”

“This wasn’t something that I was seeking out,” he adds. But he says he is “incredibly honoured” to take on the role, and judging by his all-encompassing enthusiasm for MMOs, he’s the perfect person to steer the future of ESO.

Nick Giacomini, game director, ZeniMax Online Studios

“I’ve been playing [MMOs] for about 20 years, almost every single day,” he gushes. “I can count on my own two hands the number of days I haven’t logged into an MMO, so that’s thousands of hours in multiple games.”

Securing a job at ZeniMax in 2019 was like a dream for him. “I remember jumping up and down with my wife, [going] ‘I can’t believe this is happening!'”

But Lambert has warned his successor that being the public face of a popular MMO also has a negative side. It means dealing with a lot of criticism from players, some of it personal. “You have to have really thick skin for that stuff,” he says.

“Nick and I were actually talking about this the other day, where he asked me, ‘How do you deal with all of the hate? […] How do you not let that get to you?’

“Because it’s a personal attack, right? They’re personally attacking you, and it’s really hard to deal with that and work through that. And I just told him, people generally don’t complain unless they’re passionate. And so try to find that nugget.

“And if there’s no nugget and it’s just pure vitriol, then just kind of push it away and try to focus on the positives.”

Saying goodbye

But the more immediate concern has been dealing with the aftermath of Microsoft’s cuts, which reportedly saw ZeniMax employees being locked out of Slack and left in limbo.

“It was super emotional, it was awful,” recalls Lambert, who says that he had personally worked with some of the people affected for 10 or 15 years.

“But then after, you pick yourself up off the floor and […] you realize that we have this responsibility to our community, to the game, to everybody else that is still there to move forward. That’s really hard, but that’s the goal, to continue to move forward and keep ESO going.”

Giacomini emphasises the point: “We have a commitment to our players to try to deliver the best product and experiences that we can for them. And so yes, it’s been challenging, but we’re facing forward.”

Image credit: ZeniMax Online Studios

There was also the sudden departure of studio founder Matt Firor to process. “I’ve been working with Matt for almost 20 years, and it was a shock to all of us,” says Lambert. “But he’s his own man. He’s his own person. He gets to do that, and you respect him, right? He’s been in the industry a long, long, long time.”

Still, the show must go on. “I think the thing that you kind of rally around as a team, especially on something like ESO, is we’re more than one person. The game is more than one person. Yes, Matt is the founder of the studio, and I was the number two person on there, but I don’t build everything. Nick doesn’t build [everything], Matt doesn’t build everything.

“We have this village of super-talented, super-passionate people, and we get to represent them, but we don’t do it all.”

Fast forward

In terms of where ESO is going, Lambert says it’s in “a bit of a transition year.”

Historically, the game has issued updates as ‘chapters’ – big swathes of content that take around 18 months to build. The trouble with that, says Lambert, is that “most of the team’s efforts are focused on building the chapter,” which means that any issues raised by players in the meantime get pushed back in the schedule until the team has time to address them.

Now, ESO is switching over to a ‘season’ model, where the goal is to have “smaller, more bite-sized things out quicker,” explains Lambert. And rather than players waiting perhaps 18 or 24 months for requested features to be implemented, the hope is to get that down to six or nine months, he says.

The ultimate goal with the season model is to put out more frequent, meaningful updates to players, Lambert says, adding that the chapter model had started to feel a little too formulaic. “We’re kind of too predictable, and we want to shake that up and be a little bit more reactive.”

Image credit: ZeniMax Online Studios

It also, perhaps, ties in to the industry-wide ambition to make things a bit more quickly: a response to the lead times for ever-more-detailed modern games becoming ever longer. But Lambert emphasises that games, by their nature, are just “really hard” to make.

“It takes a long time to build art, because you’ve got to model it out and you’ve got to rig it and skin it, all these things. It takes time to code things out. It takes time when we’re building stories: you’re writing words on a paper and then you put that in-engine, and then you have to send it out to be voiceovered and localized.” In short, he says, it’s “really, really complicated.”

What about AI, that purported saviour? What kinds of uses is ZeniMax finding for that?

“I mean, obviously we’ve looked into it. Microsoft has got their big push for AI. But we don’t really use a lot of it right now. I use a lot of it for meeting summaries and whatnot, because it just makes my life easier. It helps organise my inbox and stuff like that. But we don’t have a ton of it right now.”

Ambitions

In terms of the future of ZeniMax Online Studios, Lambert has lofty goals.

“I want us to be the most successful studio in our entire organization,” he says. “That’s a big thing to say because we’ve got Bethesda Game Studios, we’ve got MachineGames, and id – the list goes on. But I want us to be that group that everybody looks at, like we do with [Bethesda Game Studios].

“You look at Todd Howard’s group and […] it’s, like, five Game of the Years in a row, and this massive legacy and all that. That’s what I want us to do.”

Presumably, does that mean Lambert has ambitions for the studio beyond just ESO, then? “I want to make more games,” he replies. “I’m not done yet, and the team continues to want to make more games as well.

“I have lots of ideas. Hopefully we’ll be able to share those at some point.”

So it certainly seems like ZeniMax Online Studios won’t always be a single-game studio – and Lambert definitely doesn’t want to pin everything on a single game.

“I don’t think you can ride one thing into forever. I mean, obviously we want ESO to be successful, we want it to be that 30-year MMO, and commit to it,” he says. “But if you put all your eggs in one basket, there’s issues.”

Image credit: ZeniMax Online Studios

Still, there’s that perennial problem for studios with long-running live-service games – the worry that any new release will only end up competing with and potentially taking players from your existing title. But Lambert points out that this is something ZeniMax Media deals with all the time.

“When you look at our entire portfolio, we have that across the board, right?” he says. “There’s Fallout 76 and ESO, and they coexist, right? We’re also under the entire Microsoft portfolio, so World of Warcraft is [being made by] a sister studio now.”

Amid all the drama of the long-running Microsoft/Activision Blizzard acquisition saga, when much of the attention was on what would happen to Call of Duty, it’s easy to forget that it also resulted in two rival fantasy MMORPGs being united under the same parent.

Giacomini says ZeniMax now works together with Blizzard – “We communicate with each other, we learn from each other” – and he adds that internal competition is something they need to be aware of for any new game, giving the example of Bethesda releasing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered earlier this year.

“We looked at it, and we’re like, ‘Ooh, what’s that going to do for us? Does that have the potential to hurt us?’ But in fact, it resulted in a lot of new players trying ESO for the first time, and a lot of players who have lapsed coming back to the game.”

Innovation versus inertia

ESO came out in 2014 and recently celebrated its first decade. But being the steward of such a long-running game poses all sorts of problems.

For a start, there are the technical aspects. “We used to be cutting edge in 2014,” says Giacomini. “Maybe less so now. And so that’s something that we’re constantly evaluating.”

He points out that the studio recently reworked the game’s starter zones, home to some of ESO’s oldest content, as well as adding new onboarding for lapsed players, “because as we’ve continued to add to the game, it’s introduced a tremendous amount of complexity as well.”

Lambert adds that ESO’s water tech has gone through four iterations since the game’s debut, and there have been a whole host of other technical improvements over the past decade, too. “When we started building the game in 2007, cross play wasn’t a thing,” he points out.

Image credit: ZeniMax Online Studios

But if ZeniMax has ambitions to keep ESO going for 30 years or more, there’s also the inescapable issue of the human aging process. As ESO’s loyal, long-term audience gets older, and perhaps has less time to play games, how does ZeniMax plan to persuade a younger audience to come in?

“There’s no solution, exactly,” says Giacomini. “A lot of it comes down to the players in the community, of course, and doing right by them, trying to give them what they want and need from us.”

He notes that player expectations change, just as technology changes, “and so staying on top of that while staying true to the roots is also a big part of it. Games need to be willing to change and evolve.”

But of course, any changes to suit new players or emerging trends could also risk alienating veteran players who want to keep things as they are.

“One hundred percent,” agrees Lambert. “And we’ve gone through this over the years. At the launch, we tried to walk this line between MMO and Elder Scrolls, and we were in this weird spot where we didn’t do either one particularly well.

“And so when we decided that we were going to do Elder Scrolls first and then do MMO kind of second, that upset some folks. But it just made everything better overall.” He adds that the game has changed considerably from launch, notably dropping the subscription model early on.

“I think the other really important part in all of this is respecting players,” he continues.

“That’s the most valuable thing that players can give us, is their time”

Rich Lambert, ZeniMax Online Studios

It’s a tall order: a balance between making sure there’s enough content and mechanics to ensure dedicated, daily players can be satisfied engaging in marathon game bouts, yet also ensuring that players who can only engage for a handful of hours here and there still come away satisfied at having made meaningful progress, without being bamboozled by complexity.

“That’s the most valuable thing that players can give us, is their time. And as you say, as you start to get older, you start to have less of that.”

In other words, time comes for us all, in the end. “I used to be able to stay up for 30 hours straight and play games,” remembers Lambert. “Now? Five hours, I’m exhausted, I’m ready to go to bed.”

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Z-A’s DLC And Online Sub Sparks Backlash

by admin September 15, 2025

There were plenty of really exciting announcements about Pokémon Legends: Z-A during last week’s Nintendo Direct, with fans especially thrilled that several Pokémon who probably should’ve gotten Mega Evolutions a decade ago would finally get them in the upcoming RPG. The Kalos starters and the big mouse himself, Raichu, are all getting these beefed-up transformations in Legends: Z-A after they were each snubbed when X and Y first introduced the mechanic back in 2013. However, the excitement has quickly been replaced with annoyance, as each of these new forms has both paid and skill-based gates put on them, and the base game isn’t even out yet.

Let’s start with the most straightforward one. Mega Raichu X and Y are part of Legends: Z-A’s $30 Mega Dimension DLC. This is a post-game story expansion that will introduce both Raichu Mega forms and involve Hoopa, the dimension-jumping mythical Pokémon, who is apparently opening up new dimensional rifts throughout Lumiose City. Paid DLC for Pokémon games isn’t new, as both Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet had them, but they weren’t announced until some time after the games launched.

There has been some misinformation spreading, suggesting that Mega Dimension is a day-one DLC and that the new story content is ready to go and is being deliberately separated from the main game to squeeze out an extra $30 from fans, but that’s not entirely accurate. Mega Dimension is listed on the eShop as having the same October 16 release date as Legends: Z-A, but this is because buying the DLC grants you immediate access to a set of costumes, while the story content, and Mega Raichu X and Y, will be out “by February 28th, 2026.” Nevertheless, Mega Dimension raises the cost of Legends: Z-A’s set of new Mega Evolutions to $100 total if you’re buying the game on Nintendo Switch 2, as the game itself is $70.

“Paid DLC for a 70$ game that’s not even out yet.. Are you fucking kidding me…Silksong is 20 dollars btw,” a user on Reddit wrote in response to the announcement.

“I missed when Pokémon was a full game,” another user replied. “Well into the era of scam DLCs they made full games. Even Legends Arceus is [a] post-pandemic full game. Sad to see them doing this shit, and this direction has me reconsidering a purchase of Z-A.”

DLC isn’t new, though, so there’s some precedent for Mega Raichu and any others added in Mega Dimensions that might be unveiled between now and launch to be gated behind a paywall. The Kalos starter Mega Evolutions, however, are adding a new wrinkle to completing the Pokedex that is gated behind both an additional cost and a gameplay skill check. In order to get Mega Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja, you’ll have to rise up the ranks in online battles, and that means you not only have to play online, but you have to win against other players. The first rub of this is that it’s another pay gate, as you’ll have to pay for an online subscription to play against other trainers through the internet. It will require at least a few months of subscribing to get all three, as each is being given out as a seasonal reward, though we don’t know how long each season will last yet. A Nintendo Online membership costs at least $3.99 a month, so you likely won’t be able to get all the Mega Evolutions the game has to offer without also spending at least $12 on a subscription.

After you’ve paid to play online, you’ll actually have to defeat other players, meaning that if you’re not a skilled competitive player who is looking to get sweaty in ranked matches, you could very well not get the Mega Stones you’re paying for. This also means you won’t be able to have any of these forms on your team during your first playthrough, which is a real bummer for folks who want to have these guys by their side as they see Legends: Z-A’s story through.

I’m actually pissed the Kalos Starters Megas are locked behind Ranked Matches. I HAVE TO WAIT HOW FUCKING LONG FOR MEGA CHESNAUGHT.

— Aegis (B-Day 9/17) (@ArtsyAegis) September 12, 2025

Man, I can’t even use Mega Delphox on my first playthrough. pic.twitter.com/v8f2ROiI6B

— PearlEnthusiast (@palkiaorigin) September 12, 2025

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/OVYGyCCAEl

— Out of Context Pokémon (@OoCPokemon) September 12, 2025

Today’s news got me feeling like pic.twitter.com/sibPdmKmjf

— Comikage Kira 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦🇵🇸 (@BurnerBoi42069) September 12, 2025

When you lay it all out, completing the Mega Pokedex in Legends: Z-A will cost, at minimum, $112 on the Switch 2. If you’re playing the game on the original Switch, that total will be 10 dollars lower as the game itself only costs $60 on older hardware. But wowza, that’s a lot of money to be asking for when the game isn’t even out yet. That’s nearly the price of two full-priced games, which is typically what The Pokémon Company asks for when it puts out each new pair of games each generation. Maybe this is the company’s way of making up for taking a year off from a mainline RPG or DLC in 2024, or perhaps The Pokémon Company has the type of greed they talk about in the Bible. One way or another, completing Legends: Z-A just got much more expensive after one Nintendo Direct, and that’s not the vibe Game Freak or The Pokémon Company probably wants with the game just a month away from launch on October 16.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

49ers vs. Saints Livestream: How to Watch NFL Week 2 Online Today

by admin September 15, 2025

When to watch San Francisco 49ers vs. New Orleans Saints

Sunday, Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. ET).

Where to watch

The 49ers-Saints game will air on Fox, with Kevin Kugler and Daryl Johnston on the call.

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The 49ers started the season with a win, but lost quarterback Brock Purdy in the process. With Purdy unlikely to play, backup Mac Jones is in line to start in New Orleans. Second-year QB Spencer Rattler is the Saints’ starter, and helped keep them in the game last week before a late rally came up short in Arizona. Rattler started six games last year for New Orleans and is still looking for his first NFL win.

The 49ers and Saints kick off at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on Fox. Here’s how you can watch or stream it live, even if the game isn’t available on your local Fox channel.

The game will be shown on TV in the San Francisco and New Orleans areas (according to 506 Sports) and on live TV streaming services, but there may be cases where you’re blocked because of an internet location glitch. But there’s an option that doesn’t require subscribing to something like NFL Sunday Ticket or NFL Plus or searching the internet for a sketchy website: You can use a virtual private network.

Here’s how you can watch the game from anywhere in the US with a VPN.

Read more: How to Watch NFL Games Without Cable in 2025

Mac Jones is set to make his 50th career start on Sunday as he fills in for the 49ers’ first-choice QB Brock Purdy.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

How to watch the 49ers vs. Saints game online from anywhere using a VPN

If you find yourself unable to view the game locally due to incorrectly applied blackout restrictions, you may need a different way to watch the game and that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, plus it’s a great idea for when you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US and Canada, as long as you’ve got a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

James Martin/CNET

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ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. Prices start at $3.49 a month on a two-year plan for the service’s Basic tier.

Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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How to watch 49ers vs. Saints in the US

Sunday’s 49ers vs. Saints game is on Fox. The good news for football fans is that Fox is available on all five major live TV streaming services, but not every service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries Fox in your area. You can also stream games broadcast on Fox with the new Fox One streaming app.

Fox

Fox’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service launched in August. Fox One costs $20 a month or $200 a year and lets NFL fans watch their local Sunday afternoon games on Fox. You’ll also get access to Fox’s complete TV portfolio, including sports-related channels such as Fox Sports, B1G, FS1, FS2 and local Fox stations.

Sling’s new skinny bundle costs $20 and includes local Fox, ABC and NBC stations in select markets. It does not, however, offer CBS in any of its plans. It’s also worth noting that Sling Select charges an extra fee of $5 or $10 in select markets for Fox in addition to the $20 base fee.

Sling also offers a Day Pass for $5 or a Weekend Pass for $10. If you also wanted to get ESPN in addition to the local networks, you would need to get the $61-a-month Sling Orange and Blue plan. Read our Sling TV review.

Fubo

Fubo’s main package costs $85 per month, but it has a new skinny bundle that includes most of the channels you need for the NFL. This new Fubo Sports plan costs $56 per month ($46 for the first month) and includes Fox along with ABC and CBS (but not NBC) in addition to ESPN and NFL Network. It also includes access to ESPN’s new streaming app. Click here to see which local channels you get in your region with Fubo. Read our Fubo review.

Sarah Tew/CNET

For $83 a month, you’ll get all the major football channels with YouTube TV, including Fox. You can also add RedZone for an extra $11 per month. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV’s welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.

YouTube TV is also the exclusive home to NFL Sunday Ticket. But note that Sunday Ticket doesn’t include local games. You can only watch Sunday afternoon games that aren’t being broadcast on CBS or Fox in your area. If you want to watch all the football on Sundays you’ll need Sunday Ticket plus a YouTube TV subscription (or just get Sunday Ticket and then use an antenna for local games).

To get the full experience of your local games, NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL RedZone, you’ll need the YouTube TV base plan ($83 per month), Sunday Ticket ($276 for returning subscribers or $480 for new subscribers for the season) and the Sports Plus add-on ($11 per month).

DirecTV

All the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.

An over-the-air antenna connected to your TV provides another option for Fox. The best part about antennas is that there are no streaming or monthly fees required, although you will need to make sure you have good reception.

Quick tips for streaming the 49ers vs. Saints game using a VPN

With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — experience and success may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Somehow, Virtual Boy Is Returning And Joining Nintendo Switch Online

by admin September 14, 2025

Nintendo has a rich history of beloved consoles, from the Super Nintendo to the 3DS, that have filled generations of children with joy. They also released a console called the Virtual Boy. To call this console before its time is an understatement; the Virtual Boy is a retro attempt at virtual reality that left many complaining about strained necks and headaches. Despite that, Nintendo is honoring its legacy and bringing the lineup to the Switch Online Expansion pack for Switch 1 and 2.

The new collection comes with a physical Virtual Boy that you slot your Switch 1 or 2 into. after setting it on a table in front of you, you’ll press your head against it to see the screen. If you don’t want the big plastic Virtual Boy sitting on your table, Nintendo is also releasing a cardboard model, presumably for cheaper than the big one, and in the style of the Labo VR it experimented with a while ago.

The collection will eventually have 14 games, but in Nintendo fashion, they’ll be drip-fed to us slowly over time. The first batch launches early next year, on February 17.

Are you excited for the Virtual Boy to come back? Let us know in the comments!

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

GTA Online 2025 roadmap: Leaks, DLC, and upcoming events

by admin September 2, 2025

GTA 6 may be drawing closer and closer, but GTA Online is still going strong with new missions, cars and activities hitting the streets of Los Santos on a regular basis. 2025 has been a great year for GTA Online, but there are even more events, modes, and leaked DLC updates to look forward to in the coming months.

The Money Fronts DLC gave us a lot of cool new toys to play with, but Rockstar also left some fun tidbits in the game’s files that point to even bigger additions for GTA Online’s winter 2025 update.

GTA Online Winter 2025 update

Mansions are the big selling point of the next GTA Online update. Slated for winter 2025, this GTA Online DLC will expand the housing scene with huge new properties that are worth more than just bragging rights.

New houses may not seem like the most exciting thing, but the upcoming mansions are going to be much more valuable than the high-end apartments in the game today—and I’m not just talking about the price tag. Since GTA Online winter updates always fall in the first half of December, you can expect to close the deal on your new mansion sometime before Christmas.

Mansion locations and features

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Data in the GTA Online files suggests that mansion owners can host parties and install custom arcade cabinets, among other things. Think of them like an expanded version of the Diamond Casino penthouse. Things are still subject to change, but considering Rockstar literally left files named “MANSION_TEASER” for dataminers to find, it feels like they wanted us to know at least a little bit of this info.

They’ll be brand-new buildings too, so we won’t just be moving into existing properties that we’ve been driving by for years. Leaks place the mansions on the expensive northern side of Los Santos, far away enough to avoid the hustle and bustle of the city streets but still close enough to have a nice view of the skyline.

Here’s the two locations for the upcoming property with construction props that are going to be a teaser in the future, it seems these will be entirely new buildings https://t.co/SByxYjS2oM pic.twitter.com/nAbImr0J7b June 17, 2025

It also seems like these mansions will be purchased from a new vendor instead of the usual Dynasty 8 real estate. Datamined files mention “Prix Luxury Real Estate,” so the mansions could mark the beginning of a new series of luxury properties for players to blow their cash on.

There may be a small teaser update before the mansions actually come to the game, since the files also mention an “exclusive discount” and that Prix Luxury Real Estate “will be in contact again when properties become available.”

GTA Online 2025 holiday events

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Before we get mansions, there are the usual holiday events to look forward to. Halloween and Christmas are the big two to watch, and Rockstar has a history of adding a bunch of free stuff for these two holidays.

GTA Online Halloween 2025

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

GTA Online’s 2025 Halloween event will bring back all of the spooky festivities from previous years, with bonus RP and GTA$ rewards on certain Halloween-themed playlists and a few new clothing items to earn. Ghosts will also haunt the streets of Los Santos once more, and paranormal investigators can make some extra cash for snapping pictures of the wandering spirits.

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Plus, Rockstar has added some new things to the game lately that hint at an even bigger Halloween celebration. Zombies have invaded Cayo Perico in the latest Survival playlist, for example, and there’s no way Rockstar doesn’t repurpose the undead hordes for other Halloween content.

At the very least, there’ll probably be bonus rewards for Cayo Perico Zombie Survival when the time comes.

GTA Online Christmas 2025

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Christmas is coming back in GTA Online this December, but the snowy season doesn’t seem as exciting as the spooky season this year.

You can still expect to see all the usual festivities in GTA Online’s Christmas event, including holiday-themed outfits, free winter weaponry like snowballs and firework launchers, and festive weapon skins.

Previous holiday events like the Weasel Plaza Shootout will return as well so you can unlock their rewards if you missed out last year. On top of that, snowmen will be scattered across the map and The Yeti will rise from hibernation once more. Keep your head on a swivel too, because The Gooch will also return to terrorize the streets of Los Santos yet again.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot of info about GTA Online’s Christmas update this year. Last year’s holiday event added some highly-anticipated vehicles like police cars, so hopefully Rockstar continues that trend this year. Even if Rockstar deems the GTA Online community to be naughty instead of nice, there will still be snowfall in San Andreas at the very least.

GTA Online age verification

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Age verification has been creeping up in a bunch of online games lately, and GTA Online is next on the list according to datamined info.

References to age verification in GTA Online have been found in the game’s files, so it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have to give Rockstar some of your personal info to keep playing the game. It might seem a bit strange considering GTA Online is rated M, but just think about how many kids you hear screaming in freemode lobbies.

A preview of age assurance in-game. This is not active yet.#GTAOnline https://t.co/yw5yq1KWwB pic.twitter.com/AtcgVYvwSc August 5, 2025

It appears that there will be multiple levels to age verification. Some age groups won’t be able to access GTA Online at all, while others can play with restricted text chat or disabled phone messages. This update is coming sooner rather than later, but it’ll come out on a region-by-region basis depending on local laws.

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September 2, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

NetEase shut down studio of Fallout and Star Wars alumni who were making an online sci-fi action game

by admin September 1, 2025

NetEase have shut down T-Minus Zero Entertainment, a studio founded in 2023 by former BioWare developer and Star Wars: The Old Republic executive producer Rich Vogel.

The studio had been working on an online multiplayer sci-fi action game, with contributions from a number of ex-BioWare and Bethesda staff including Fallout 76 design lead Mark Tucker and senior producer Scott Malone. However, that project and T-Minus Zero Entertainment’s on-going existence are not a good fit for “current market conditions”.

Vogel announced the end of NetEase’s partnership with T-Minus in a LinkedIn post on 26th August. Game Developer have now obtained confirmation that the studio has been closed down, in the absence of other funding.

“Every journey has its twists and turns, and ours with NetEase is coming to an end,” Vogel writes in the LinkedIn statement. “We deeply appreciate NetEase for providing us with both ample runway and support – from helping us find potential investors to giving us the time and budget to develop our game into a fully playable hands-on demo. It has generated a lot of interest. However, despite this progress, current market conditions have prevented us from securing the funding we need at this time.”

Vogel goes on to celebrate his team’s “dedication and passion” adding that “now may not be the best time to seek funding given today’s climate, but our playable demo proves our potential to develop something fresh and exciting that will resonate with players for years.”

As Game Developer report, senior NetEase staff have commented on the post to praise the bygone studio’s work, with former NetEase president of global investments and partnerships Simon Zhu commenting that the prototype “delivers [the] great fantasy of fighting against 15th floor kaiju to protect the city you care about” while NetEase head of brand/publishing for North America & Europe Cisco Maldonado called it a “super great concept and [in my opinion] a solid market fit”.

Approached for comment, a NetEase spokesperson told Game Developer that “this decision was made with careful consideration, as we have been inspired by our partnership with the studio and their bold vision. However, we have had to reassess our business priorities and are now working closely with the studio to provide support and explore next steps.”

NetEase have been cutting staff and projects recently, after investing in several studios founded by big names in the triple-A business. Last November, they called time on Worlds Untold, a studio founded by former Mass Effect writer Mac Walters. In January this year, they did likewise for Jar Of Sparks, the studio founded by former Halo Infinite head of design Jerry Hook. In February, they trimmed down the Marvel Rivals development team and made layoffs at Liquid Swords, the studio founded by Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg.

Best of luck to all the former T-Minus Zero Entertainment employees now looking for a safe port.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Vampire Survivors’ free-roaming online mode is available to play in beta now, and there’s an official boardgame coming too

by admin August 31, 2025

Vampire Survivors’ long-anticipated online mode is finally here, sort of. Developer Poncle announced at the end of this week that online multiplayer has been implemented in the game’s beta branch.

Vampire Survivors has of course had multiplayer functionality for several years. But playing with pals was previously limited to local co-op. Getting Vampire Survivors to work online has proved quite the challenge, as broken down by the online mode’s developer Coherence in a fascinating blog from April. For example, each of Vampire Survivors’ multitudinous enemies rely on local physics interactions, making it very tricky to make those interactions concurrent across a network.

Online mode brings a few important differences to both regular solo play and local co-op. For starters, players are free to roam around the environment as they please when playing online, rather than being restricted to the screen area as is the case with local play. Moreover, players all level up simultaneously, meaning everyone needs to hit the XP cap before levelling can commence. And if you want to play any of the expansions in online co-op, you’ll all need to own said expansion before that is possible.

Alongside the online mode’s beta rollout, Poncle also revealed that a Vampire Survivors boardgame is in the works, just in case you want a turn-based version of Vampire Survivors that takes up a load of physical space. Poncle says it has “spent a long time making sure the board game ‘feels’ as much like Vampire Survivors as possible” with features including run-based play where you unlock new stuff, a built-in levelling system and key playable characters from the original game.

(Image credit: Poncle)

Finally, Poncle provided a sneak peek of Vampire Survivors’ next major update, which will introduce two new stages, two new weapons (plus evolutions), a “party mode” that enables solo players to be accompanied by friendly NPCs, and two new playable characters (spoilers follow). One of these rolls a dice every 30 seconds to provide various random bonuses, while the other causes “explosive props” to appear while moving around.

If you want to play Vampire Survivors online, you’ll first need to switch to the appropriate branch within Vampire Survivors’ properties menu on Steam. Fortunately, it’s a pretty straightforward process explained by Poncle in its announcement.

Best handheld PC 2025

All our current recommendations

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August 31, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Forget the Free Version, Avast Slashes 60% Off Its Two Suites That Secure Your Entire Online Life

by admin August 31, 2025

A computer is not just a bright new device: it’s also an entrance to your entire digital life. But with that entrance comes the threat of dark unseen dangers: hackers, scams, and viruses just waiting to leap at the most inconvenient time. And with Labor Day weekend and back-to-school season already upon us, there’s no better time to lock down your digital life with strong protection that works behind the scenes.

Right now, Avast is offering a fantastic deal with up to 60% off its security products, making it easier than ever to secure your devices without stretching your budget. Avast Premium Security is available for just $31.20 for the first year ($2,60 a month) for one device. But if you’re looking to protect the whole family or all your gadgets, their 10-device plan wraps your laptops, phones and tablets under one simple subscription.

See at Avast Premium Security

Protects Your Digital Life

So, just what does Avast Premium Security do, then? It’s a lot more than your average antivirus: It prevents viruses, malware, and ransomware from causing harm. It also catches phishing scams that want you to give up sensitive information. And it blocks remote access attacks and keeps would-be digital hijackers at bay. Whether you’re buying online, streaming, banking, or just browsing, Avast Premium Security operates behind the scenes keeping everything private and secure.

If you desire the ultimate peace of mind, Avast Ultimate is where it’s at – and it’s currently on sale at $3.67 per month (60% off). You get all Premium Security features, plus Avast SecureLine VPN which keeps your internet connection safe and your identity hidden (just the thing when you’re browsing public Wi-Fi). And then there’s Cleanup Premium which streamlines and optimizes your PC by deleting junk files and speeds things up.

See at Avast Ultimate

So the choice between Premium Security and Ultimate ultimately comes down to what you’re looking for: For superb malware, ransomware, and phishing protection, Premium Security is sufficient. But if you also want extra privacy, advanced device cleaning, and VPN protection, Ultimate offers those extras in one powerful bundle. No matter your choice, Avast is a security leader you can trust and protects hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. Those days of the “free antivirus” are over—it’s an entire suite of tools for today’s world of connectivity.

See at Avast.com

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August 31, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Valve now require UK Steam users to verify their ages with a credit card, thanks to the Online Safety Act

by admin August 30, 2025

Are you from the UK and partial to risque adult Steam games, such as Amarillo’s Butt Slapper – the Dark Souls of Butt Slapping – or the timelessly iconic MILFs of Sunville? Bad! Naughty! GO DIRECTLY TO BED. Unless you have a valid credit card. Steam have begun rolling out a requirement for all UK-based users to verify their ages, if they wish to access store pages for games rated mature. According to reports, debit cards are acceptable too.

The regulation follows the passing of the UK’s Online Safety Act, which now requires a host of online platforms to impose age verification systems, so as to protect younger people from pornography (among other things). I will offer no further comment on the OSA at this stage – it’s after 2pm on Friday, which is far too late in the week to have Opinions – but I’m relieved to discover that I can still google images of donkey willies on a work PC. Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale has a fuller write-up, if you’re interested.

Valve have a Steam blog up, which explains the process for age verification and the need for a credit card in particular.

“In the UK, Ofcom is the independent regulator for online safety. Ofcom’s guidance on the OSA states that one highly effective age assurance measure is credit card checks,” it reads. “This is because, in the UK, an individual must be at least 18 years of age to obtain a credit card, therefore credit card issuers are obliged to verify the age of an applicant before providing them with a credit card.

“Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons,” the post continues.

According to the Redditors who spotted all this earlier today (ta, VGC), debit cards appear to be acceptable at least for the time being. Which is good, because I don’t have a credit card, and I’d sure hate to be unable to buy *googles random adult games again* “Ideology In Friction”? I didn’t know Althusser made a porno.

Valve have had a busy few months in terms of adult-rated controversy. As you’re hopefully very well aware, given that we wouldn’t shut up about it, they’ve changed Steam’s regulations to give banks and credit card networks a say on the definition of acceptable NSFW games. A bunch of games have been delisted as a consequence. In connection to all that, Paypal recently pulled support for Steam purchases in certain countries at the behest of one of their acquiring banks.

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August 30, 2025 0 comments