Online News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

If you're looking for a new Pokemon plush, the first place you'll likely head is the Pokemon Center. That makes a lot of sense, and nine times out of ten, that's exactly where I'd point you. However, as is the case with most plushes, if you want your soft toy to have a personal touch, then Build-A-Bear is your best bet. Its ongoing partnership with Build-A-Bear means trainers can get personalized plushes based on their favorite Pokemon, and the store's Dragonite bundle, which proved incredibly popular when released, is now back in stock.

While the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 are excellent consoles, especially for those who don’t want to invest in a gaming PC, you tend to lose out on a lot if you don’t have one of Sony’s online subscriptions. You see, a PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) subscription offers, is access to online multiplayer, and without it, you can’t connect to online servers and play with other folks, which is a bit frustrating. Luckily, a PS Plus membership does offer some additional features, such as free games every month and access to some older PS games, all of which depend on which of the three tiers you subscribe to: Essential, Extra, and Premium.

Sony and Shift Up have published an online comic book for Stellar Blade that appears to serve as a quick prequel to the events of the main game. Available to read through this link, it sees protagonist Eve and another character called Tachy sparring together, and then speaking of an upcoming mission to reclaim Earth. This is what you shall be doing in Stellar Blade once it hits PS5 on Friday.

A new Unreal Engine 5.4 comparison video was shared online today, highlighting the differences in reflections quality over the previous version of the engine.

Shepherding your online tabletop group for a game night is going to get a little bit easier. Popular virtual tabletop tool Roll20 is coming to Discord, integrating right into the chat and voice platform. So, instead of running Roll20 separately in a browser with some other voice client, you can start the activity from right inside Discord itself.

The Entertainment Software Association, the big trade organization for the video game industry in the US, says it's fully opposed to a proposed copyright exemption that would allow gaming scholars to access online libraries of preserved games.

blends classic mechanics and new additions to create something fun for both new and old fans of the long-running franchise. From Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio — the same developer behind the series — and SEGA, the upcoming platformer is the first completely original mainline entry in several years following multiple remaster releases. recently got an hour of hands-on time with the title that gave a glimpse into its handling, storyline, and biggest changes.

Nintendo has added two more games to Switch Online’s Nintendo 64 library.

Nintendo has rolled out a fix in its latest system update for the Nintendo Switch that addresses the console's inability to detect wireless access points (Wi-Fi) when setting up a new network connection.

Grand Theft Auto V voice actor Steven Ogg has said developer Rockstar Games originally planned to make a story expansion focused on Trevor, though it was seemingly canceled as a result of GTA Online becoming so popular.

Fifteen years since Pokémon SoulSilver hit store shelves, fans worldwide are still obsessed with what is undoubtedly one of the best games in the Pokémon series.

Last year, Grand Theft Auto 5's source code was stolen and uploaded online, and within the data, players found a cancelled Agent Trevor single-player DLC that would've taken him to space. It's unclear when and why the expansion was scrapped, but actor Steven Ogg has since shed light on the project.

Today, CCP Games announced EVE Online: Equinox, the next expansion of the sci-fi sandbox MMO, slated for release on June 11.

It’s been 13 years since PlayStation fans last got their hands on a digital racquet in the TopSpin series. In that time, we’ve jumped two console generations, and the industry has seen a massive shift towards the live service model. Put together, what does that mean for the series’ return in TopSpin 2K25? Good things, apparently, as Hangar 13 has cooked up a fun, flashy, and addictive tennis title that you’ll enjoy coming to grips with and love mastering.

The highly anticipated Splinter Cell remake may feature one of the best ray-tracing implementations to date, according to some online rumors circulating today.

A few hours have passed since Huawei officially announced the Pura 70 series of flagships, which boast the upgraded Kirin 9010 chipset, along with improvements in various areas. As you would expect, in the blink of an eye, the premium Pura 70 Pro and the Pura 70 Ultra sold out in just one minute when sales went live on the Chinese phone maker’s online store. This might showcase evidence that the latest models will ship in droves and that Huawei’s competition has much to worry about.

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A tipline set up 26 years ago to combat online child exploitation has not lived up to its potential and needs technological and other improvements to help law enforcement go after abusers and rescue victims, a new report from the Stanford Internet Observatory has found.

The Watch Dogs is "dead and buried", as Ubisoft canceled multiple projects based on the franchise, according to online rumors.

This morning, the Embracer Group announced a major transformation of the company, which will be split into three separate publicly listed companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The existing Embracer Group listing on Nasdaq Stockholm will be renamed to Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, and shares of Asmodee Group and Coffee Stain & Friends will be distributed as dividends to shareholders of Embracer Group. The listing and distribution of Asmodee Group shares is expected to occur within 12 months, and Coffee Stain & Friends shares during calendar year 2025.

With the rise of cyber threats, iPhone users are facing a new challenge: password reset attacks, also known as "MFA bombing." This scam inundated Apple devices with multiple password reset prompts, aiming to deceive users into compromising their accounts. Here's how to protect yourself against these attacks.

Fallout 76’s online multiplayer nature firmly separates it from other games in the series.

The first video game console I ever owned was an original Xbox that came bundled with two games: NCAA Football 2005 and Top Spin. My appreciation for both Madden and tennis games can be traced back to those being two of my first-ever console gaming experiences.

After a thirteen year hiatus, the TopSpin series is back with TopSpin 2K25, and with the weighty moment-to-moment gameplay still at its core, it’s a tennis game revival that doesn’t disappoint.

In a recent revelation at the Black Hat Asia conference, security researchers unveiled a cunning cybercrime scheme exploiting Apple Store Online's 'Someone else will pick it up' feature. This exploit has reportedly netted criminals over $400,000 in just two years.

LittleBigPlanet 3’s servers have been offline since January, leaving players unable to access player-created levels stored in the game’s archive. On Friday, developer Sumo Digital and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the servers will stay offline indefinitely “due to ongoing technical issues.”

LittleBigPlanet 3's PlayStation 4 servers have gone offline «indefinitely», erasing millions of user-created levels.

Mobile data plans can be tricky, and sometimes, even those unlimited ones aren't truly limitless. This inconvenience underscores the importance of having some entertaining mobile games that don't rely on a strong internet connection or gobble up data.

Obsidian Entertainment's survival action-adventure game, has finally arrived on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch after years as a PC and Xbox exclusive title. 's story heavily resembles that of the classic 1989 movie,, and sees a quirky scientist, Wendell Tully, accidentally shrinking a group of kids and looking for a way to "" them using "". Players assume control of the four shrunken children, Pete, Max, Willow, and Hoops, as they have to survive their own backyard as spiders and other normally small creatures now tower over them and pose a much greater threat than before.

It's always sad to see a well-liked game completely shut down, especially when it was still being enjoyed by a handful of dedicated fans. That's exactly what happened with The Crew, an open world racing game that was released all the way back in 2015. Being a completely online title, once developer Ubisoft pulled the plug on the game's servers at the end of last month, it became completely unplayable for all owners.

NVIDIA's early engineering sample of the RTX 2070, known as the GeForce GTX 2070, has been spotted and features lower cores than the original variant.

Since 2011, Minecraft player KurtJMac has been documenting his journey to the sandbox game's legendary glitched outer reaches through an online video series called Far Lands or Bust. This week, KurtJMac achieved the last big milestone before the end, passing through the boundary that marks the final floating point error boundary.

LittleBigPlanet 3’s servers will remain offline permanently, Sony has confirmed. The servers first went down earlier this year as a temporary measure, due to technical issues. However, Sony has stated that due to the ongoing difficulties the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers will remain offline forever. This now means that there are now no LittleBigPlanet games online, which means players can no longer access the millions of levels that have been created over the years.

Last week, Square Enix revealed the benchmark trailer for Final Fantasy 14’s upcoming expansion, Dawntrail. While Dawntrail’s showcase of new in-game areas, enemies, and combat garnered positive feedback online, the lifeless eyes of its character creator left a lot to be desired, fans said. In response to the negative feedback, Director Naoki Yoshida has promised a graphical update that will fix its character creator’s soulless eyes.

It's a bad time to enjoy platformers built on community level creations, as LittleBigPlanet 3 servers have shut down just a week after support for Wii U servers and Super Mario Maker were killed. But while Nintendo fans got to say goodbye to their game, the death of LittleBigPlanet came as a sudden shock.

LittleBigPlanet 3's servers are officially being taken offline "indefinitely", meaning that players will no longer have access to millions of user-created levels. R.I.P. to all the shark survival levels that made up my childhood, I'll miss you more than you know.

Samsung has expanded its Galaxy F15 smartphone lineup in India by introducing a new variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. This latest addition joins the existing 4GB and 6GB RAM versions already available in the market.

The Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset has just received another staggering — and permanent — price drop.

Rockstar Games has announced it's joining EA in raising the price of its GTA+ subscription service, from £4.99 / $5.99 per month to £6.99 / $7.99. Representing a 40 per cent increase in the UK, new users will immediately be charged the new price while existing members will begin paying extra from 11th June 2024. Since GTA+ only offers users monthly memberships, there's no way to save a bit of money with a 12-month commitment to the service.

If, like us, you’ve been watching the new Fallout show on Amazon Prime, then you’ve likely turned to PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium to download or stream one of Bethesda’s iconic RPGs. For us, we skirted the much-beloved Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3, instead venturing off into West Virginia in Fallout 76. Notoriously panned upon its initial launch, Todd Howard’s “Fallout with friends” is a different beast six years on. But does that mean the game is any good? And is it worth playing in 2024?

Rare is bringing back a Sea of Thieves fan-favorite feature because the game's leads came across an online petition with just 70 signatures at the time of writing.

For 20 years, World of Warcraft has dominated the online role-playing games space by providing its fanbase with frequent updates to gameplay and content, such as the popular Wrath of the Lich King and the imminent The War Within expansions.

Merchandise created for last year’s collaboration between The Pokémon Company and the Van Gogh Museum is now available to buy online.

The Hades 2 technical test has only been live for a day, and it already seems to have confirmed a long-running fan theory about who the Narrator is. 

For nearly two years, Microsoft's unprecedented $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard stayed in the news, mostly due to the Windows and Xbox company's battle with certain regulators (chiefly the US FTC and the UK CMA). That came to an end, even though the FTC is still trying to unmake the deal, on October 13, when Microsoft announced the closure of the acquisition.

Over the past couple of months, a streamer known as Silithur has somehow been beating Elden Ring with nothing but a single button and Morse code, adding his run to the ever-growing list of strange and wonderful items the game has been completed with. He garnered attention back in February, by rather comprehensively beating Margit, and he's been gaining fans on his long and arduous trek to the Elden Beast.

As per recent media reports, Vivo is rumoured to introduce the Vivo V30e in India, possibly hitting the shelves as early as August. This new addition is expected to join the lineup alongside the recently launched Vivo V30 and V30 Pro models.

If you've been online at all since the Fallout show aired, you'll have seen a wave of angry New Vegas fans claiming the series contradicts the game and that Todd Howard and Bethesda are working to erase Obsidian's work in some machiavellian conspiracy. With the backlash mounting, Howard himself has come forward to clear the air.

Ghost of Tsushima is the first PlayStation-made game to utilize PS features like Trophies and Friends lists on PC.

Helldivers 2 is a live service game, and that title comes with a lot of expectations. It seems like every constantly updated online game has to have a series of crossovers these days, whether it be Fortnite teaming up with Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sonic teaming up with Monster Hunter, or Final Fantasy 14 crossing over with itself. Helldivers 2 is an anomaly in the live service space though, and its opinions on crossovers are no exception.

Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that it will be making changes to Helldivers 2's flame system soon.

PlayStation and Puma have announced a new collaboration.

WhatsApp is gearing up to introduce a new feature that will display recent online contacts, allowing users to easily initiate chats with those they've recently interacted with. This new functionality, spotted in beta testing, aims to enhance user communication by highlighting contacts who are currently active or have been online recently.

Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that Helldivers 2 won't ever get a transmog feature. 

A new Fallout 4 NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 mod comparison shared online this week highlights how the new Preset E introduced in the upscaler's latest version can lead to better quality than the often superior DLAA in certain scenarios.

Skins and outfits are fundamental to Fortnite. From Spider-Man to Ariana Grande, the online shooter has had a raft of options for players to suit up with.

IIIT Hyderabad, renowned for its research-driven education initiatives, is set to debut its Online Master of Science in Information Technology (eMSIT) on Coursera, a prominent online learning platform. This initiative marks the first time an Indian university has offered a master's degree programme on Coursera. The eMSIT programme is designed to integrate industry micro-credentials, facilitating students' progression based on their prior learning experiences.

With the launch of Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road on the public test realm (PTR), Bethesda has released the full 42 pages - yes, 42 flippin' pages - of patch notes for the 5.3 GB expansion.

With Top Spin 2K25 now exceedingly close to its April 26 launch date, we were able to pry a few tidbits about the long-awaited fifth installment in the tennis franchise from Game Director Remi Ercolani. In our interview, we received confirmation that, unfortunately, online doubles will not be available at launch.

The PlayStation 5 Pro has yet to be officially unveiled, but it may release as soon as September 2024, judging from a report shared online today.

Cliff Bleszinski’ LawBreakers appears to be making a comeback, thanks to a group of modders who have been working hard to restore the game's online features.

LawBreakers was a game that might have made a bit of a splash initially but died out quickly. If you don’t recall, this FPS hero shooter came out in 2017. The game didn’t live on very long, as it was shut down just a year later. But you might have another chance to enjoy this game with players online. That’s all due to a small team working to bring this game back up through makeshift servers. 

In the hours leading up to several gaming news events — like an indie event or a Nintendo Direct — you can see the rumblings of people online discussing a game called Hollow Knight: Silksong. Some share digital summoning circles constructed with emojis and dedicate them to the game in the hopes it will make an appearance at a showcase; others simply express their excitement by sharing memes prior to the event. During a digital event itself, you’ll see viewers spam the live chat with messages like “SKONG [with four airhorn emojis],” or “WHERE SILKSONG????!!??” Sometimes, the phrase “Silksong” will even trend online before one of these events because so many people are sharing their excitement.

In a recent disclosure, X, owned by Elon Musk, unveiled its monthly compliance report, shedding light on its stringent actions against policy violators in India. Between February 26 and March 25, the company took a decisive stance, banning over 213,000 accounts across the nation. These suspensions primarily stemmed from infringements related to the promotion of child sexual exploitation, dissemination of non-consensual nudity, and endorsements of terrorism on the platform.

In today's digital age, the Indian Railways has stepped up its game by introducing an enhanced Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) app. This innovation brings convenience to the fingertips of passengers, allowing them to book train tickets with ease and flexibility.

The full patch notes for the Final Fantasy XVI 1.31 patch going live later this week were shared online, detailing balance changes, quality of life improvements, and more.

Final Fantasy 14 players are logging into the MMO to find that their characters have gotten a makeover, thanks to the Dawntrail benchmark. This optional update lets you see if your system is able to run the upcoming expansion but also lets you preview some of the graphical overhauls that are coming alongside Dawntrail.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the latest addition to the award-winning franchise that most of us have been playing for well over a decade. Beyond the enhanced graphics, refined mechanics, and new gameplay features, one of the biggest draws to the COD world has always been online multiplayer. Not only does multiplayer return for MW3, but there’s more to love about the competitive space than ever before.

Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard, has suggested that games have a tipping feature. He says he developed this idea after playing games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Baldur's Gate 3, and Elden Ring, and feels that devs deserve more than the standard $60 or $70 price tag.

Google One users received disappointing news today as Google announced the discontinuation of its VPN feature in the coming months. Introduced back in October 2020, the VPN by Google One aimed to provide an extra layer of online protection for Android users, promising peace of mind regarding data safety. Despite its initial promise, Google revealed that usage of the VPN feature was significantly lower than anticipated, leading to its discontinuation.

A new selection of retro games hit the Nintendo Switch Online library today, and while it's not the biggest group of names this time around, there is one notable addition in the form of a Mario game that had never previously been released outside of Japan.

Following the latest big update, several new items have been introduced to , including the Ability Glasses. The update has added many new items, providing big changes to gameplay. New items such as the Ability Glasses and the Ring of Mercy make it even easier to catch high-level Pals. To get the Ability Glasses, you will first have to make sure that you reach Level 34 in order to craft it.

Believe it or not, it has been over a decade since the last GTA game. While tons of people are still dumping hundreds of hours into GTA Online, everyone has been (not so) patiently waiting for Rockstar to finally confirm that a new entry is in the works. Despite many leaks and rumors, the team held strong until late 2023. Now that the game is finally confirmed, we have a lot more solid ground to cover in terms of what Grand Theft Auto 6 will be. This is going to be the biggest game of the generation, if not all time, so let’s hotwire a car and pull off a heist to get all the information about GTA 6 there is.

A version of this review ran in March 2024 in conjunction with the movie’s original coverage embargo. It has been updated and republished for the theatrical release.

Grand Theft Auto V has continued to bring in players regularly, allowing the game to live on for a long time. That might have played a big role in why it took so long before the staff started getting ready for its successor installment’s launch. But while the dough kept coming in for the online component of Grand Theft Auto V, it presented the idea of rolling out a subscription service with GTA+.

25 years ago, Nintendo began to promote an action-adventure game called Riqa, but that game quickly disappeared from the public eye and vanished into obscurity. But now, the game is back and playable thanks to one of the original devs at the defunct UK developer Bits Studios.

Nearly two years after the rumor shared by Jason Schreier, developer Hangar 13 (Mafia III, Mafia Definitive Edition) is almost ready to release Top Spin 2K25, the first new entry in the beloved tennis franchise since 2011's Top Spin 4.