Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment may finally be in the position to make a Fallout: New Vegas remaster or even a sequel, as rumours mount about their current plans.

Although it’s now taken as read that all Xbox games will also be released on PlayStation 5, Microsoft has never clarified that that’s their policy and prominent titles such as Fable are still technically Xbox exclusives.

It’s very probable that Fable will be announced as coming to PlayStation 5 in the Developer Direct this month, but Microsoft has implied that Forza Horizon 6 won’t arrive on Sony’s console until after the Xbox version.

However, that’s likely to be simply because the game wasn’t initially planned to be on PlayStation 5, so it’ll take a bit longer to make that version. That’s what happened with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle and Obsidian’s Avowed… which has now been confirmed to be coming to PlayStation 5 on February 17.

Action role-player Avowed was originally released on Xbox Series X/S and PC on February 18, 2025 but didn’t make much of an impact at the time. We didn’t think much of it but to accompany the PlayStation 5 launch all versions will be getting new content, including a New Game+ mode, new character races, new weapon types, and a photo mode.

Rather than wait for the Developer Direct at the end of the month, the news was announced at the New Game Plus showcase, where Obsidian described the so-called anniversary update as a ‘more rounded experience’ than the original game.

Apart from Grounded 2, which is still in early access, it’s currently unknown what else Obsidian is working on at the moment, and although there’ve been recent rumours of a Fallout: New Vegas remaster, there’s been nothing to suggest Obsidian themselves are making it – although presumably they’ll be involved to some degree.

Windows Central’s Jez Corden has suggested that Obsidian currently has four new projects on the go right now, although he claims not know if any of them are Fallout related.

Assuming one of them is Grounded 2 that still leaves three that are currently unknown (or possibly two, if the PlayStation 5 version of Avowed also counts). Obsidian has talked about wanting to do both a New Vegas remaster and a full sequel but have previously said that they just don’t have the time.

If their schedules have now cleared this would seem the obvious time to get back into the franchise, especially as the ongoing success of the Fallout TV show has not been supported by any new game releases. It’s been over a decade now since Fallout 4 and there seems little hope of a new mainline entry this decade.

What the other games could be is a complete mystery, but Corden suggests that some of the projects are quite small scale. Unlike most Microsoft first party studios, Obsidian has been allowed to experiment with smaller projects, such as Grounded and Pentiment, and while they’re not big sellers they have been critically acclaimed.

It seems very likely that Obsidian is working on at least one new title of a similar scale but with four new projects in development it would be surprising if at least one of them wasn’t a triple-A title.

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The Thursday letters page wonders if Arc Raiders can continue to outsell Battlefield 6, as one reader wonders what the Final Fantasy 7 trilogy collector’s edition will be like.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Summer dreamin’
I am also resigned to Nintendo’s next big announcements being underwhelming. I’m not sure we’ll even get much this year, since they’ve actually revealed quite a bit already, even if nobody’s that excited about Mario Tennis and that weird Yoshi game they wouldn’t explain.

Add Splatoon and Fire Emblem to that and I don’t think you can really hope for a major annoucement until the summer. Of course, you can’t guarantee anything with Nintendo, but with the Switch 2 selling well and plenty of games on their cards they’re really in no rush.

Still, as a fan, I can’t help but try to imagine what they’ll announce next. I do think it could be a new Zelda. It’s three years now since Tears Of The Kingdom, and they announced that a long time before it came out. Add in the 40th anniversary and I think there’s actually a reasonable chance of a teaser trailer this year. Just to keep the pot boiling, so to speak.

I also notice that that online game they were playtesting a few years ago still hasn’t been announced. I don’t think it’s ever been clear what it is, but a new IP would be a nice thing to hear about right now.
Onibee

Three-way fight
Interesting to see how well Arc Raiders is still doing and that it’s ahead of Battlefield 6, even if that’s also done well. It does seem to me that the hype for Battlefield has cooled pretty quickly though. Redsec didn’t seem to catch on at all and it’s definitely Arc Raiders that was the biggest shooter of last year, with Battelfield second and Call Of Duty a distant third.

I’ll be interested to see how this evolves over the course of the year. Will Arc Raiders be a flash in the pan? Is the race close enough that Battlefield 6 could overtake it? What will happen to this year’s Call Of Duty? Even if it’s good, will there be too much damage to the name that it’s still a flop?

I gotta admit, when it comes to Call Of Duty I am a bit of a hater, so I’d be very happy to see it knocked down a peg or three.
Josh

Radioactive bugs
For me the problem with a Fallout remaster, whether it’s 3 or New Vegas, is that Oblivion is still in an absolute state, with no sign of it being properly fixed, and I’d bet large sums of money that any future game will be as well. Bethesda are just incapable of making a game that’s not a janky mess. Which is really annoying when otherwise they’re really good.

Nothing’s going to stop them from releasing Fallout remasters, not with the Amazon show being so popular, but please just wait for it to be finished first. The amount of time we’ve been waiting for New Vegas in particular, it’s just ridiculous to put it out and it’s a buggy mess that needs six months of updates to work properly.
Focus

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Deluxe celebration
I wonder what Square Enix will do once all three Final Fantasy 7 remake games are out? Obviously, they’ll try and bundle them up into one purchase but how much would they charge for it? Surely not £180 or anything close to it, and yet if it was much cheaper it’s going to really upset anyone that bought the originals at full price.

A part of me can’t help but hope they go whole hog though, with a collector’s edition that includes new content and characters and comes in some kind of crazy box with a statue and merch.

And before you peg me for a money wasting loony, I would say that I’d never usually buy that sort of thing. But I love Final Fantasy 7 and the first two remakes have been fantastic, so I’d really like to celebrate the end of it all in style. Somehow, I feel that Square Enix will be happy to take my money.
Coyotemac

Expensive year
40% of the world’s DRAM (RAM) output being bought Is frightening. Apparently, that will double the price of what remains and that’s how much will it cost now, as less is available; as the year goes on the price can only increase.

I can’t see, on a practical level, how the next gen consoles are not delayed but because the problem is that it’s needed for AI, the need for RAM will only increase. Just crazy times.
TWO MACKS

Technical limitations
I think the worst game I ever bought was Donkey Kong on Atari 2600. It was about £30, which was a lot back then! I saved up and sent my cheque/postal order to a mail order company, then had to endure the two week wait until it arrived. I was bitterly disappointed.

It only had two of the screens, the arcade version had four. Graphics and gameplay were pretty awful too. I should have read a review first but had to have it, as it might have taken magazines up to two months to review it! I listened to a podcast recently, where they interviewed the programmer. Turns out he had a 4K cartridge to fit it all into, which is a tiny amount of memory!

If the software company had given him 8K, he could have fit all four levels in, but more memory meant less profit for them. Also, he had to make it in about two months so they could get the game on the shelves ready for Christmas. I now understand how it turned out like it did.
Tim Keeling
PS: I’ve played Mario Kart World for 270 hours so far! That’s mainly on online Battle Mode, which is crazy addictive!

Eternal regret
RE: Badgerman. The worst game I ever bought was Eternal Darkness for the GameCube.

Despite the good reviews I really disliked it due to the instant high difficulty, confusing storyline, and frustrating gameplay. There is nothing worse than developers making your character limp and shuffle around when you are low on health, as you just become an even easier target for enemies!

The game was exchanged soon after, using GAME’s useful exchange or refund policy back in the day.
Adams6legend

Interestingly bad
It’s questionable whether it counts as the worst game I’ve ever bought, as it was hardly the main reason I bought the collection, but I recently played Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero on the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, and if anything N64 Magazine were being generous awarding it 9%.

Pretty much every decision was baffling. It’s a platform game where you press up to jump and left trigger to turn around. As you move forward your character is positioned about 80% of the way along the screen, so you can’t see what’s ahead.

Half the traps are unavoidable unless you’ve been hit by them already and memorised where they are, and there are points where the necessary way forward looks identical to one of several instant kill holes in the same area. Also, despite starring Sub-Zero, most of the bosses are completely immune to ice attacks.

At least the live action cut scenes were entertainingly camp. I also played Special Forces but that was just incredibly boring rather than even interestingly bad.
TGN Professor

GC: We’d say that counts, especially as it is genuinely one of the worst games ever.

Inbox also-rans
That Detroit: Become Human story is really weird. I get that the game’s cheap, but £3.40 isn’t nothing. Did people really not have anything better to spend their money on than that?
Joffers

I was ready to call that Red Dead Redemption 2 ‘mystery’ a stupid fan conspiracy but that is actually pretty wild. Strange it’s not been noticed before. I definitely didn’t know there was similar stuff in GTA 5 as well.
Gordo

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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MORE: Games Inbox: What’s the worst video game you ever bought?

MORE: Games Inbox: When is the first Nintendo Direct of 2026?

MORE: Games Inbox: What video games will you play over Christmas?

A Fallout TV show countdown has sparked new game speculation, but don’t expect a shadow drop of the rumoured Fallout 3 remaster.

One of the worst kept secrets in gaming is a remaster of Fallout 3, which was first outed three years ago in leaked Microsoft documents.

Last year’s launch of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was also leaked in the same documents, has only reaffirmed its existence. While we have no idea of when the remaster will be officially announced, some are pinning their hopes on a mysterious countdown which has popped up on a Fallout TV show promotional site.

The website, created by Amazon, sports the same classic green-tinted look as the game’s menus, and features several widgets you can interact with to explore locations or solve cryptic puzzles on terminals.

In the top right-hand corner though, there is a locked widget with a countdown to February 4, 2026. This is when the finale of Fallout season two is set to drop, leading some people to (optimistically) believe it could be tied to some sort of new game announcement.

Reliable insider NateTheHate responded to some of the speculation on X, reaffirming thatthe Fallout 3 remaster does exist, but that he is ‘not certain of a reveal window for it’.

According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, the countdown isn’t for a new Fallout game or remaster. However, he also states a new version of Fallout 3 ‘in the vein of Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered’ is on the way, ‘as well as Fallout: New Vegas on top’.

Corden further claims developer Obsidian, the creators of Fallout: New Vegas, has four projects in the works, ‘some big some small’. However, it’s unclear if any of them are Fallout related (the only one we do know about is Grounded 2, which debuted in early access last year).

This isn’t the first time Corden has talked about a Fallout: New Vegas remaster. He claimed it was on the way in November last year, but if a Fallout 3 remaster is coming too, it’s unclear if Fallout: New Vegas will be bundled with it at the same time, or arrive at a later date.

Corden uses the terms remaster and remake interchangeably, but nothing so far, from him or any other sources, suggests anything beyond the scope of Oblivion Remastered.

A remaster, or remake, of Fallout: New Vegas, widely regarded as one of the best games in the series, has been discussed at Obsidian for years. We’ll have to wait and see if it will come to fruition, but considering the success of Amazon’s Fallout show, it seems more likely than ever.

But if the timer’s not for a game, what could the Amazon countdown relate to? The Fallout show has already been renewed for a third season, but considering the website is filled with 3D tours of specific locales, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something related to an as-yet unseen location in the show.

We’re set to learn more about Microsoft’s slate for this year at it’s next planned Developer Direct, which is expected to air in late January.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer previously stated that Forza Horizon 6, Fable, and Gears Of War: E-Day are all set to come out in 2026, to mark Xbox’s 25th anniversary, but so far nobody at Microsoft or Bethesda has said anything substantial about Fallout remasters.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's first event pass is set to hit this afternoon to coincide with the Season One Reloaded update, and its Fallout TV show theme has players quite excited and impressed with what it offers.

Yes, the premium track of the pass costs 1,100 CoD Points (about $10), but even the free rewards are pretty awesome. Players can unlock a total of 10 items simply by playing the game without putting in any investment.

The free track of the event pass includes two Vault Dweller operator skins, a Vault Boy weapon charm, Vault-Tec weapon camo, and the new Sturmwolf 45 SMG. So, if you're even remotely interested in BO7 at this point, it'll definitely be worth playing to unlock everything.

But the premium track is also quite nice, especially for the price compared to other store bundles that clock in at around $20 or more. It has operators and skins for both The Ghoul and Maximus, three weapon blueprints and other cosmetics. And CoD fans are genuinely digging what they see so far.

"That one is ACTUALLY worth spending the money on the premium track... nice!" said one player on X/Twitter, while another remarked that it's "100 times better than any of the garbage BO6 event passes we had." A lot of the same sentiment can be seen across multiple social media channels.

CoD Points are given as part of the battle pass each season on top of being able to purchase them with real money, so if you play BO7, this seems like about as good a value as you'll find. While many others and I rightfully scoff at the pricing of some bundles (the Lucy MacLean Fallout bundle is not included in any of the freebies or event pass), this event seems like it's worthwhile if you're a CoD player in 2026.

The Fallout collab is also introducing multiple limited-time modes and even a reskin of Nuketown called Vault Town, where the iconic location is decked out in Vault-Tec scenery. But personally, I'm most looking forward to the Zombies mode, where you can fight the Bethesda franchise's terrifying Deathclaws.

I have some CoD Points accrued in my account that I'll probably be using for this event pass, but even if I end up deciding against that, the free rewards will have me in the game for the first time in weeks. Oh, and Fallout season two is currently airing on Prime Video and is quite good, too, so the vibes around everything in this update (at least so far) are positive.

The post CoD players have a lot of praise for Black Ops 7’s Fallout event: ‘Actually worth spending the money on’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Is a new remaster of an all-time classic Fallout game just a few weeks away? Probably not, but that's not stopping some from clinging to a dream.

I'm all for baseless speculation, hopium, and copium (Bloodborne 2 is real), but there's actually at least some reason to believe a big announcement for Fallout is coming within the next few weeks. And it's all thanks to season two of the Fallout show on Prime Video.

I'm actually a few episodes behind on this season, so I've been avoiding discussing it, but gamers online have been quick to point out that the website for the show currently has a countdown running, and it's a mystery what lies at its end.

The countdown, shown above in the top right of the image, ends right about when the season two finale arrives on Feb. 4. But we know that it's coming, as all episodes for the season along with their titles and air dates have been announced. Why would it need a countdown? This must mean that something else is coming, surely, and people like me and some others are starting to convince ourselves it's a long-awaited and rumored Fallout 3 remaster.

And you know what? I'm in. Screw it. It's early January, the game releases are slow to start out the year (as always), and I am once again choosing the hype. I blame Bethesda, too, because the company literally just shadow-dropped a long-awaited remaster last year with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, so why not? Let's do it.

Fallout season two is currently taking place in New Vegas, so it's also entirely possible that that game could be the one getting the treatment. Personally, I'm partial to Fallout 3 as it was my first title in the series and my favorite thus far. But imagine if it's somehow both 3 and New Vegas at the same time? Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves, but it is fun to dream.

Based back in reality now for a second, I realize this is probably not what's going to happen. At least not yet. I don't know what the countdown will end with, but I want to get absolutely merked by Super Mutants with the Washington Monument in view again, so I'm huffing the hopium, and I hope you all join me.

The post Gamers are theorizing another Bethesda remaster shadow drop like Oblivion is coming very soon, and I’m buying into the hype appeared first on Destructoid.

From the rotting landscape of a post-apocalyptic world to the satirical take on capitalism, and the countless mutants that get in your way, there are plenty of good reasons that the Fallout games remain some of the best RPGs to play on PC. Whether you're looking to take on the Mad Max-style world of Fallout New Vegas or dive into the first iteration of the modern games with Fallout 3, they're all at the lowest price they've ever been, and it's perfect timing with the latest season of the show.

Read the full story on PCGamesN: As the Amazon series hits its stride, these excellent Fallout games are cheaper than ever

OK, I'll admit it: I actually quite like the newly revealed Fallout crossover in Black Ops 7. I'm not proud of it, given my past criticisms of Call of Duty's bizarre, totally unrelated collabs. Sure, seeing Ella Purnell call in a UAV or The Ghoul wall-bouncing with a rocket launcher is jarring, but as a fan of Fallout (the games and the Amazon series) they're pretty cool skins. However, I'm not sure liking it is the same as supporting it. I think some elements work well here, but on the whole, seeing Pip-Boys and blue jumpsuits in Black Ops 7 before Season 1 has even wrapped does absolutely nothing to support CoD's mission to be more "authentic."

Read the full story on PCGamesN: While Black Ops 7's Fallout crossover looks the part, it does nothing but hurt CoD's quest to become more "authentic"

As excitement builds for the next season of Fallout on Prime Video, Samsung has partnered with Amazon, Bethesda Softworks and Xbox to create a centralized hub for fans ahead of the show’s second season.

The collaboration brings the TV series and the video games together on one platform, letting users watch the first season for free, stream the new season, and play the latest Fallout 76 expansion directly on Samsung devices. For fans of the franchise, this creates a central place to explore all things Fallout and experience it ahead of Season 2’s arrival on Prime Video later this month.

To launch the partnership, Samsung TV Plus will stream the entire first season of Prime Video’s Fallout without a subscription. From Dec. 3 to Dec. 25, owners of supported Samsung TVs, Galaxy devices and smart monitors can watch the Kilter Films production through the ad-supported service. This limited-time offer gives newcomers a chance to catch up on the post-apocalyptic drama before the second season arrives on Prime Video later this month.

The timing aligns with the December 17 premiere of Fallout Season Two. According to the release, this new chapter will pick up after the first season’s finale, moving the story from the California wasteland to the city of New Vegas. To support the launch, Samsung and Prime Video are rolling out a joint marketing campaign that includes digital billboards in Times Square.

“Prime Video is committed to finding creative and groundbreaking approaches to bring our content to audiences worldwide,” said Emily Aldis, Global Head of Distribution and Partnerships for Prime Video. She noted that the partnership helps enhance viewing through “seamless integration of the Prime Video app on Samsung Smart TVs.”

On the gaming side, the collaboration highlights the release of Fallout 76: Burning Springs. This expansion is available to play instantly through the Xbox app on the Samsung Gaming Hub, which does not require console hardware. The update introduces a crossover event featuring the Ghoul, the character made famous in the TV series by actor Walton Goggins. Goggins also provides the voice for the character in the game, bridging the gap between the live-action series and the interactive world.

Todd Howard, game director at Bethesda, emphasized the connection between the two mediums. “When Jonah and I first discussed bringing Fallout to the screen, it was always about portraying the world of the games accurately, while also bringing new stories to life in that world,” Howard said. “Now, with ‘the Ghoul’ coming to Fallout 76, it shows how connected all these stories are.”

There is no question that Season 2 of Fallout is shaping up to be an exciting release for fans, and from the look of things, everyone wants in on the action. If you have a supported Samsung TV, will you be diving in and giving Season 1 a second look? Either way, Fallout Season 2 will begin streaming on Dec. 17, so mark your calendars and get ready to return to the wasteland.

The Friday letters page is starting to believe that Half-Life 3 is real, as one reader lays out who he thinks should win The Game Awards 2025.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Less for more
Seeing the reaction to Steam Machine being closer to PC in price than console, and how desperate people are for the current Black Friday savings on PlayStation 5, I think it’s fair to say that consoles, and video game hardware in general, has got too expensive for the average person.

We all complain about the cost of games but at least there’s ways round that in terms of sales and buying physical. With a console you’re stuck with an up front cost you can rarely do much about, except maybe at one time of the year.

But why have they got so expensive? As the prices have gone up the leap in graphical improvement has gone down, so it seems like you’re getting even less for your money than you were already. Unfortunately, the answers all seem to be very technical and dull.

Partly it’s because of Trump’s tariffs and AI needing more and more horsepower, as another reader said recently. But it’s also the fact that although the leap is small, getting better graphics still requires more expensive components and the level of complexity nowadays is so far beyond 20 or so years ago it’s really pointless to try and compare.

None of which helps anyone trying not to bankrupt themselves this Christmas. As others have said, we don’t need a next gen and I’d much rather spend £500+ on games than the barely improved hardware needed to run them.
Trepsils

Regular comment
It seems we’re never far away from someone else writing in to complain about Bethesda and I can’t believe this time it’s going to be me. But that story about the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition being a complete disaster… I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Bethesda are so technically incompetent they can’t even re-release a 10-year-old game as a quick cash grab without breaking the entire game. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just pride and arrogance that makes them like this. They think to actually improve their graphics, or do something about their bugs, is admitting they were wrong all along but nobody cares about that, just make the game work from the start!

Nintendo spent a year polishing Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and it sounds like Rockstar are doing the same with GTA 6. How long does Bethesda take polishing their games? A whole afternoon?

And like one of those comments said in your story, just stop re-releasing and remastering old games. Stop wasting your time and make something new! It’s 14 years since Skyrim (the anniversary was just the other day) and you’ve barely moved forward an inch since then.
Gemu

High-end purchase
The only unsubsidised home console I’ve ever known was the 3DO. Which was very expensive, especially in the USA. Lacking the monetisation model of a console it had to be sold to make profit day one.

Steam’s and Microsoft’s next machines both sound like they’ll be pricey and not designed as mass market machines.

That doesn’t mean they won’t provide value and find a worthwhile audience. I’m still very interested to see how they turn out. But they don’t sound like direct competition to a console.
Simundo

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Kirby always sucks
One would like to know: will you be reviewing Neon Inferno and R-Type Delta: HD Boosted?

Also, your Kirby Air Riders review… just, ugh. Just kidding. If you feel that the pink cuddly one sucks big time air of joylessness, then in the spirit of subjectivity, I say right on. The maelstrom of malcontent in the comments section was pretty amusing but predictable though.

I’m still looking forward to Sakurai-san’s latest endeavour eventually though, because I quite enjoyed the demo and you could just feel the love and ardour that’s gone into each of its polygonal pores. Just have too many racers on my gaming circuit at the moment with Mario Kart World, Fast Fusion, and Gran Turismo 7 on PlayStation VR2. Sick set of racers, those!
Galvanized Gamer

GC: Yes, to Neon Inferno but we’re not sure about R-Type Delta as we haven’t been able to get hold of the publisher. Also, that’s quite a lot of shade you’re throwing at Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Fair-weather friends
Microsoft owning Rare is likely the problem with Nintendo putting N64 Diddy Kong Racing on Switch.

Now Microsoft have gone to releasing their own games on different platforms I was wondering if this means they might greenlight Diddy on Switch?

Even better a sequel.
Goldenlay

GC: Microsoft is always bragging that they get on well with Nintendo, so in theory they shouldn’t have any problem with it or any of Rare’s older games.

Spoiler: they didn’t
RE Bosley. I really don’t think Valve are going to choose the Xbox Partner Preview to unveil Half-Life 3.

I think it’s actually real this time, but I don’t think they need to bury the hatchet with Microsoft to gain traction or publicity and the upcoming Game Awards seems like a more natural fit, if they tie it to an event at all.

Revealing the game at the Xbox show would also mean it will be coming to consoles, and I must say I think the game might be a timed PC/Steam Machine exclusive (if it is coming to Xbox, etc. they’d have to make the previous games available on modern consoles too, surely?).

If Valve are serious about the Steam Machine, I can’t think of a better exclusive to coax players to it. It could even be a pack-in game.

A realise I’m getting ahead of myself, as the game might not even exist, but despite all he false flags over the years it really feels like this time Half-Life 3 is really going to happen.
ANON

GC: We think you’re probably right, including it being PC-only. When it will be unveiled is very hard to predict though. The Game Awards seems possible but just suddenly dropping a trailer out of nowhere, like they did with the Steam Machine, is probably more likely.

Gyro-mite
One thing that makes me excited for the new Steam Controller is the potential to make gyro aiming more mainstream and natively supported by more games.

Gyro aiming has been a revelation ever since I first tried it on my Wii U with Splatoon. It beats even mouse and keyboard for accurate and intuitive aiming. Only why does the controller have to be this ugly?
Ali K

GC: We agree, Splatoon’s aiming is excellent and we don’t know why the DualSense doesn’t offer the same options, as it can do it if the developer wants.

Award favourites
Regarding the 2025 Game Awards and the fact that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 seems likely to be the winner, with so many reviewers giving full marks it seems inevitable! But it’s seemingly well-deserved, though I have not played it myself yet. I would have possibly liked to have seen Silent Hill f given a chance but quite satisfied that the audio design award would be a nice win for the game. Best narrative and performance would be a worthy win also, as Silent Hill f definitely was a very atmospheric and character driven story.

I would also like Indiana Jones And The Great Circle to have a win also, as for me I never really would have thought to have got such a high quality movie favourite from this franchise. It’s literally like having another film in the franchise but being able to be immersed in the game itself, instead of just watching it instead.

I did say Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would possibly win but I’m not going to discount Death Stranding 2 and the ever impressive Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Both games are so well designed from every angle possible, with story and gameplay design depth inside two very large worlds that are so varied and beautiful to explore, with the very finest of acting.

For me, I’d like to see Hollow Knight: Silksong get the best art direction due to my love of the indie style artwork, which these games do so well in showcasing. Along with Death Stranding 2, Silksong also should be a major contender for best score and music also.

I am glad Donkey Kong Bonanza has been recognised for the best family game, as the game was way better to play than I originally envisioned but definitely up against another well received Mario Kart game, which makes this category interesting.

Another three notable games for me are Hades 2 and Blue Prince for the best independent game award and No Man’s Sky for best ongoing game.

Definitely looking forward to the show, with some of the best games of recent years. 2025 has delivered and excelled in my opinion and given 2026 a hard task indeed, to get the better of a great year for our favourite hobby.
Alucard

Inbox also-rans
That Xbox showcase was pretty good, like you said. What a difference not having to see Phil Spencer’s grinning mug makes!
Boltz

If a Steam Machine is going to be as expensive as a gaming PC, or even just close to it, why wouldn’t you buy that instead. That’s the reason Steam Machines flopped last time and I’m not sure Valve has really learnt its lesson.
Shaggy

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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The Anniversary Edition of Fallout 4 has brought with it the usual problems, with fans complaining of corrupted saves and broken mods.

Bethesda has a long history of making things worse with its patches, with fans often pleading with them to stop updating their games. Before the launch of Starfield, fans were already getting ready to fix it themselves and following last year’s next gen update for Fallout 4 the two most popular mods were to get rid of the update.

The Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition was only released 10 days ago and features very little new content, but it’s been so disruptive to fan communities that they’ve been marking the decade old game down on Steam, to the point where its recent review rating is now Mostly Negative.

Overall, the rating is still Very Positive, and it’d take a lot more negative reviews to make a dent in that verdict, but it’s clear the would-be celebration of Fallout 4 has not been a happy one.

The Anniversary Edition is mostly all existing content, including the six official expansions, over 150 pieces of Creative Clube content, and fan-made Creations. There’s a very small amount of new extras, to celebrate the anniversary, but that seems to have been enough that some people now can’t even launch the game and are being told they don’t own it.

Fallout 4’s Steam score has fluctuated a lot over the years, going down when a new patch is released and then rising back up once it’s fixed, but this is the lowest it’s been in over eight years.

Apart from trouble accessing the game, the main complaint is a familiar one: the update has stopped existing mods from working. This has been a consistent problem over the years, and caused a lot of problems for Fallout London, but somehow Bethesda never seem to anticipate it.

‘Anniversary Edition has bricked my game. Unrecoverable crashes, corrupted saves, all the stuff we’ve come to expect from Bethesda. I uninstalled after nearly 700 hours in this game since this ‘update’ broke all my saves. Probably not going to play it again,’ says MordTheReaper on Steam.

‘For the love of all things holy, Bethesda, stop updating games that are over a decade old. We saw this with Skyrim where you morons decided to cram an anniversary edition update down everyone’s throats in 2021, breaking everyone’s mods that required things like SKSE [Skyrim Script Extender], and you did the same thing again with this game last year and then you did it again this year,’ opines shinra33459 ‘NO. MORE. UPDATES. There is no need to update a game that came out in 2015 except for a cash grab.’

‘Modders built the soul of this game. Bethesda keeps trying to sell it back to us,’ adds SkinnyFish. ‘Sell the franchise to someone who cares,’ suggests an angry RipandTearer.

It’s clear that fans now expect this sort of fallout (we’re not sure whether to pretend that pun was intended or not) from every update, no matter which game it is. But this one seems particularly bad, especially compared to how little has actually changed.

As well PC, the Anniversary Edition is also available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is also planned for sometime next year, which will the first appearance of the game on a Nintendo system.

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• Category: Accessories

November 24, 2025

Level Up Your Look: Xbox and Crocs Launch Exclusive Gaming-Inspired Classic Clogs

• Marcos WaltenbergGM, Xbox Global Partnerships

Game-mode: enabled. Xbox and Crocs have teamed up to release an exclusive collection. 

Ready up with this controller-meets-clog design that reimagines the iconic Xbox controller with fixed buttons and joysticks into the perfect shoe for couch co-op and kicking back – complete with cushioned footbeds adorned with Player Left and Player Right, which give expert-level comfort to support your next session. 

Available on the Crocs website starting tomorrow, the limited-edition Xbox collection includes a 5-pack of Xbox + Jibbitz charms featuring fan-favorite characters and icons from Halo, Fallout, DOOM, World of Warcraft, and Sea of Thieves. 

No matter how you choose to play, or where your holiday plans take you – the iconic Xbox controller-inspired clog will be with you along every step of the fun. 

The post Level Up Your Look: Xbox and Crocs Launch Exclusive Gaming-Inspired Classic Clogs appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Since its release in 2011, Fallout: New Vegas (FNV) has had no shortage of mods—initially to keep the game from crashing and allow the player to move faster than a snail. Soon, however, the modding market quickly branched out into a vast array of weapon mods, companion mods, sex mods, weapon companion mods, weapon companion sex mods, and most notably, quest mods. The Nexus page for FNV has over a thousand quest mods, among them mods allowing the player to build their own casino in Primm, rebuild the Enclave (but as good guys), or travel to places like California, Utah, or Oregon to spread their ideals.

Many of these mods are ambitious undertakings, with some taking years to build. However, a second category of ambitious quest mods exists in which modmakers make several mods over the years, each with its own story, but also telling an overarching narrative. Though the most prominent such modmaker is Someguy3000, other such modmakers include Rikkurikku, CellblockPsycho, and Th3Overseer, whose six-mod series has racked up nearly 400,000 downloads—and who, in a virtually unprecedented move, is now adapting those very same mods into novels.

Th3Overseer got into the Fallout series in 2009 with Fallout 3, and loved it so much he preordered Fallout: New Vegas as soon as possible, which was a terrible error as FNV at launch was virtually unplayable. Time went on, however, and he discovered YouTuber Alchestbreach, who both played and made his own mods and showcased them on his YouTube channel. Galvanized by Alchestbreach, he decided to give modmaking a shot, and after a few smaller mods, produced the quest mod “The Initiation,” which expanded the Great Khans’ quest line. “[The Initiation] was atrocious in hindsight, but proved I could make these things,” says Th3Overseer. “The Initiation sucks, and I regret everything. Baby’s first mod, and all that.” Despite its professed shortcomings, the mod has garnered over 2,000 endorsements and nearly 40,000 downloads on Nexus.

Following The Initiation, Th3Overseer began creating a follow up: His next mod, “Eliza,” features a fully-voiced companion of the same name. Eliza, admits Th3Overseer, “genuinely is two mods that are sloppily tied together. One was a western storyline with the Khans and a wacky new companion character, and the other was a thing about criminals and espionage.” He welded them together and got the idea while he was making it to tell an overarching narrative across his mods.

Although he was dissatisfied with the fusion in the mod, “Eliza” remains the favorite of prominent New Vegas YouTuber Mike Burnfire. Burnfire likes Eliza because, in his eyes, “She's a memorable traveling companion that confidently asserts herself without becoming overbearing or obnoxious, which can be a tough line to walk.”

The story of The Initiation continues in Eliza and then into the next mod in the series, Headhunting. During Headhunting, the Courier (the hero of New Vegas) tracks down bounties on people all across the wastelands, from disc jockeys to bridge sellers to ransom-seeking kidnappers. The Courier even has a massive shootout with a sprawling family of inbred moonshine-swigging hillbillies.

Eventually, the skeleton of the series' story arc was formed, with most of the plot driven by two dueling antagonists: Senator Burke, a corrupt New California Republic senator who represents the worst aspects of the Old World; and Sheridan, a notorious psychopathic raider leader who represents the worst aspects of the New World. Sheridan’s associates provide violent, overpowered targets for the Courier to fight across the series, while Burke’s associates try to hamper the Courier politically and send assassins after them when all else fails.

Another recurring organization is the Office of Mojave Affairs, a shady NCR agency working in the background with enigmatic motives and loyalties. The plot line of the series would see the Courier working to take down Burke and Sheridan, taking lots of drugs and making lots of money along the way.

"The North Road" came next, where the Courier roams a devastated part of Nevada north of New Vegas to capture or kill a child molester, in a plot line Th3Overseer says was inspired by Sin City. It was followed by "The Depths of Depravity," in which the Courier confronts some of the most evil and corrupt aspects of the NCR. True Detective season one was a major inspiration for Depths; however, as with The North Road, its story quickly became its own unique and fulfilled plot line. “The High Desert” is the unintended conclusion to the series, in which the Courier helps set up a saloon in Primm, goes on a drug trip in a commune of kooky characters, and works for a lesbian pirate.

The series was well-received by the community. Aside from the thousands of downloads and endorsements, other prominent YouTubers like Ramblelime have spoken of their fondness for the mods. “[Th3Overseer’s] mods improve over time and build on each other,” Ramblelime says. He views that as one of their strengths, together with how the mods fill out the world of New Vegas. He added, “My favorite is The Depths of Depravity…it’s a fascinatingly gritty mystery; a mod has never been able to give me that pit-in-my-stomach feeling before or since.” Ramblelime even made a retrospective video essay analyzing the series, speaking to its strengths and weaknesses.

Despite having five or six more mods planned, the series was discontinued after The High Desert. In 2021, Th3Overseer was already taking a break from FNV to focus on other projects. Then Nexus Mods, the massive modding website that hosted all his mods, announced a series of sweeping changes to their policies. Most notably, Nexus removed the right for mod authors to delete their own files from the website, something Th3Overseer publicly protested as unethical. Nexus removed his announcement, accused him of spreading misinformation, banned him from posting images on the site, and threatened to terminate his account if he ever criticized Nexus’s staff again.

Th3Overseer was incensed, deciding to semi-retire from modmaking and not to release any of his future quest mods on Nexus again. He has released a series of humorous mods, such as adding Dr. Gregory House to the Lucky 38; anime girls to Red Rock Canyon, the Pip-Boy, and the Powder Gangers; and Sonic the Hedgehog to a set of armor. He's also made a few serious quality-of-life mods. None of these mods has been released on Nexus.

In 2022, as it became evident he was unlikely to work on any more such mods in the near future, Th3Overseer released an outline of his future unmade mods, explaining how the Courier would wipe out Sheridan’s gang and deal with the Burke family. He answered various questions on his Discord and other social media about his various plans as well as other unresolved plot threads, but for the time, it looked like that would be the end of the Overseer series.

In 2025, however, things changed. Th3Overseer (just barely) makes ends meet doing various freelance writing gigs and is currently trying his hand at his own low-fantasy series. In the midst of his writing career, an idea came to him: Modmaking had many sloggish elements, and he admits he was never as competent as other modders. The Initiation, in particular, is a coding mess, as he freely admits. Modding also pays very poorly (which is to say not at all). Nevertheless, he wanted to finish the story he was telling and satisfy the fans, and the result is The Sunset Frontier.

The Sunset Frontier is Th3Overseer’s solution, a planned series of novels under the pen name J. Marshall, meant to retell the events of the mod series and eventually draw it out to its originally planned conclusion. The first novel, released on Amazon in September, titled Headhunting, largely adapts the plot of the bounty-hunting mod by the same name. Rather than have the Courier, the protagonist of Fallout: New Vegas, be the main character, Eliza is instead the heroine.

Although all Fallout intellectual property belongs to Bethesda, it was easy enough for Th3Overseer to lift his story lines into a new setting. Though Las Vegas is briefly teased at the start of the story, Eliza ultimately settles in the novel’s new main setting in the ruins of Barstow, California. The New California Republic (NCR) becomes the Western Government Coalition (WCG); Caesar’s Legion becomes the American Restoration Authority; the Fiends and the Great Khans become the Wreckers and the Kestrels. All original characters, such as Burke, Eliza, Sheridan, and so on, retain their names. A few gags are present for longtime fans of the mods, among them references to the prevalence of oldies tunes blaring across the wasteland’s airwaves, as well as the platoons of Legion hit squads that regularly ambush the vilified Courier outside the offices of Tully Headhunting.

The ease of the transition has been a pleasant surprise for Th3Overseer. The sole other main change was realism. “I made a decision very early on that I wanted the adaptations to hew to realism far closer than anything in the game settings would allow.” Though he likes learning things, he admits, “There’s still a lot more moving parts here [as opposed to] the mods, where I can just shrug and go: ‘Yeah, but the vanilla game doesn't care that much about making up fictional landmarks and hand-waving logistical details, so...’” This means no ghouls or other irradiated mutant monsters exist in Barstow that are easily found in the Mojave Wasteland; humans are the real monsters, after all.

Due to differences in storytelling between video games and books, Th3Overseer has a few advantages. The order of events can be more strictly controlled than in a video game, or shuffled around, and a greater sense of progression follows as a result. Headhunting takes place before the events of Eliza’s gang initiation, as told in the Eliza mod. The events of the Eliza mod take place before the events of Headhunting, for various story-related reasons. Other changes can be made based on how Th3Overseer’s writing has matured. Eliza, Th3Overseer felt, was obnoxious in her initial incarnation. With a second crack at things, he can fill out her character better.

As of right now, Th3Overseer plans to conclude the series eight years in the making. “Unless I hit some big financial emergency where I must drop everything and devote myself entirely to some horrible job, yes, I intend to finish the book series even if it doesn’t, in and of itself, pay my bills. It's a step in my desired path of being an author.” Eliza is the planned protagonist for most of the series, but other fan favorites from the mods, like depraved junkie Todd and traumatized hitwoman Charlie, are also intended to be point-of-view characters.

Scant literature exists that analyzes story mods in video games, despite their prevalence and popularity. Technically, all story mods are fanfiction, even if they do not contradict canon, and there is a history stretching back two decades now of authors creating successful book series based on their fanfiction. Tremaire by Naomi Novik began as Master and Commander fanfiction; Cassandra Claire's The Mortal Instruments series began as Harry Potter fanfiction; and Tamsyn Muir's breakout hit The Locked Tomb is theorized to have begun as Homestuck fanfiction.

Th3Overseer concedes the point about story mods and fanfiction, but says that "Mods are more technical than fanfiction, but the basic idea is more or less the same. It's unauthorized, third-party writing set in an existing IP that the author doesn't have official permission to use." There are degrees to it, he argues. "A quest mod that purports to give the player the untold early-life story of Fantastic, a vanilla NPC, is very deep in 'fanfiction territory,' whereas my own content, while originally utilizing the setting of FNV, was able to be very cleanly divorced from the Fallout IP and made into its own thing." In any case, Th3Overseer is travelling uncharted waters in the field of video games and literature.

Plenty of novels set in video game franchises exist; some of them are actually good. But a modder adapting their stories for another medium—and even making (some) money off of it—is an unprecedented move. The degree to which the series will become popular is currently unclear; it may only stay in the circle of Th3Overseer's dedicated fans and their immediate friends.

But perhaps one day Th3Overseer may be cited as one of the first transformational authors of the third millennium in a postmodern world. Or maybe he'll win the lottery like Oliver Swanick and ride into the sunset to bury some treasure in Lake Ivanpah before even publishing book two. Whatever the case, his fans can look forward to a true conclusion to the series and the ultimate confrontation with Sheridan and the Burke family.

Amazon had dropped a new trailer for season two of Fallout, based on the Bethesda franchise of the same name.  We get to see more Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) as they travel to  New Vegas, plus our first look at two of the new additions to the cast,  Macaulay Culkin and Kumail Nanjiani.

The Fallout Season 2 trailer also reveals Moisés Arias returns as Lucy’s brother Norm and it will be interesting to see where his story goes, as at the end of Season 1, he discovered the real purpose of the Vaults.
Fan favourite Mr. House will join the show, played by Justin Theroux, Barb Howard, the Ghouls wife from his previous life, is also shown a long with other returning characters such as Woody Thomas (Zach Cherry) and Lucy’s dad, Overseer Hank MacLean who is played by Kyle MacLachlan.

Amazon previously announced that Season 2 of Fallout will drop an episode a week, rather than all at once, which is how Season One arrived. The second season, which was commissioned just a week after the first had aired.

The logline for season two does not reveal anything,  “The new season will pick up in the aftermath of season one’s epic finale and take audiences along for a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas.”

If you missed the first series, then we highly recommend it. You can check out my review here. Season 3 has already been commissioned, so the story will continue. The Fallout television series is canon within the franchise so Fallout 5, whenever that gets round to being made, may incorporate characters and locations from the show.

“Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time,” said  Jonathon Nolan during the show’s 2020 announcement. “Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios.”

The first episode of Fallout Season 2 will be released on Amazon Prime video on 17th December 2025, with a new episode following on the same day for the next seven weeks.

Source: YouTube

Much like its predecessor, PowerWash Simulator 2 once again has us reveling in the simple pleasure of making clean what once was dirty. It’s not the most complicated game ever made, but it’s amusing, cathartic, fun to play with friends, and nice to enjoy with a YouTube playlist. The game also gives us lots of new locales to explore and vehicles and objects to clean, which I’m hoping will only grow with post-release updates.