WWE 2K26 Preview

Tick tock, pro wrestling fans. Tick tock! We are only a few days out from the early access release of WWE 2K26, and we've got a slew of new superstars, updated features, and new game modes coming at us!

With the help of The SmackDown Hotel, we've got a roundup of what's new, who's in, who's out, and what we're looking forward to in this year's installment, so let's not waste another second and just jump right in with the roster breakdown.

Who's out?

Legends/Other

• Bruno Sammartino
• George "The Animal" Steele
• Harley Race
• Headshrinker Fatu
• Headshrinker Samu
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts
• Jalen Brunson
• KSI
• Peter Maivia
• Ricky Steamboat
• Shaquille O'Neal
• Tyrese Haliburton

No longer with the company

• Akam
• Andrade
• Ashante Thee Adonis
• Baron Corbin
• Blair Davenport
• Braun Strowman
• Carlito
• Carmella
• Cedric Alexander
• Cora Jade
• Dakota Kai
• Duke Hudson
• Eddy Thorpe
• Elektra Lopez
• Gigi Dolin
• Giovanni Vinci
• Indi Hartwell
• Isla Dawn
• Jakara Jackson
• Joe Koffey
• Karl Anderson
• Karrion Kross
• Katana Chance
• Kayden Carter
• Luke Gallows
• Mark Coffey
• Oro Mensah
• Paul Ellering
• Rezar
• Scarlett
• Shayna Baszler
• Shotzi
• Sonya DeVille
• Tamina
• Tegan Nox
• Valhalla
• Wes Lee
• Wolfgang

Notable missing Main Roster superstars

• Bravo Americano
• Brie Bella
• Danhausen
• Matt Cardona
• Rayo Americano
• Royce Keys

Notable missing NXT superstars

• Adriana Rizzo
• Arianna Grace
• DarkState (Cutler James, Dion Lennox, Osiris Griffin, Saquon Shugars)
• Kendal Grey
• Lainey Reid
• Luca Crusifino
• Vanity Project (Brad Baylor, Jackson Drake, Ricky Smokes)

Who's in? (* = DLC)

Main roster

• AJ Lee
• JC Mateo
• Rey Fenix
• Rusev
• Talla Tonga

NXT

• Blake Monroe
• Hank Walker
• Izzi Dame
• Jazmyn Nyx
• Joe Hendry
• Karmen Petrovic
• Myles Borne
• Ricky Saints
• Tank Ledger
• Tavion Heights
• Wren Sinclair
• Yoshiki Inamura
• Zaria

Lucha Libre AAA

• El Hijo Del Vikingo*
• Flammer*
• Lady Shani*
• Mr. Iguana*
• Pagano*
• Psycho Clown*

Legends/Other

• Ax*
• Crush*
• Jelly Roll*
• Smash*
• Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley

Managers/Non-playable Characters

• Booker T (commentator)
• Wade Barrett (Commentator)

By the numbers

As was the case last year, The SmackDown Hotel says that this will be the largest roster in the history of WWE video games, with "over 400 playable characters." Of course, this also comes with the yearly caveat that "AJ Lee" and "AJ Lee '15" count as two different playable characters, and we're getting (as far as I can see, so far) - nine different versions of CM Punk, so let's not get too excited.

Roster take-aways

My first reaction is, dang, look how many people got cut this year! That feels like a ton. But other than that, uh, hey - we're getting AAA stars, so Mr. Iguana should be interesting! I'm just learning right now that the feature that previously granted all superstars and unlockables immediately may not be in 2K26, and many of the wrestlers on the roster will need to be obtained through the new "ringside pass" system, which I think I'm going to hate... but more on that later.

AJ Lee is back, Adam Pierce and Nick Aldis are playable this year, we're getting both versions of El Grande Americano... There is a character named "Bronze Breakker"? Man, that's hilarious.

I also see that they're counting a bunch of "MyRise" characters as official members of the roster, which is lame because I will never use any of them.

What else is new?

• Interactive superstar entrances
• Manual gestures, taunts, and pyro sequences
• Start of Match Actions
• Play to the crowd, offer a handshake, trade blows, surprise attack, chain wrestling
• New match types
• Dumpster Match
• I Quit Match
• Inferno Match
• Three Stages of Hell
• Showcase Mode: CM Punk
• New weapons
• Shopping cart
• Thumbtacks
• Stackable tables
• Championship pedestal
• Upgrades to GM Mode
• Intergender matches
• 5-, 6- and 8-wrestler matches
• Handicap matches
• Default 50-week seasons
• Double booking
• "Invasion" promos
• Three new GMs
• Upgrades to Universe Mode
• WWE Draft
• Universe wizard tool
• The Island
• New storyline and environment
• Faction system
• MyFaction Mode
• Intergender lineups and matches
• Ringside Pass
• Now, you don't just have to pay for DLC expansions - you have to grind out the characters you bought, too! (This sounds terrible.)

WWE 2K Q&A with A-Town

• Who will you play with first?
• Depends. Who will be available to play with and who will I have to play for hours to unlock? Joe Hendry is a fun pre-order bonus, though. Might have to check him out. Maybe a tag match between Chad Gabe and the original El Grande Americano vs. Ludwig Kaiser and El Grande Americano. I love LA Knight and Penta, too. Heck, maybe it will be Chelsea Green. She's hilarious.
• Who won't you play with at all?
• Any of the MyRise characters. Pretty much everybody from the Bloodline that isn't currently on the main roster. Most wrestlers from NXT.
• What is your go-to match type?
• Extreme Rules, baby! Anything with no DQ.
• What is your favorite game mode?
• I like GM Mode. I wish that I played it more instead of having to grind out MyFaction and play through MyRise. Having to play through MyRise multiple times last year was not my favorite chore.
• Is there anything you wish you could change or improve about these games?
• Dude, I hated ambulance and casket matches in 2K25. I would literally have to beat my opponent within an inch of their life before I could close the door on them. It was horrible and I will not likely ever willingly choose to play either of those match types ever again.
• There were some really weird trophies last year - particularly in GM Mode. I wish that I could just play this game the way I wanted to play it instead of having to do these random things like having Kyle Slickman win the main event of WrestleMania.
• I've begged about it for years now, but I want the "Statistics" feature to count all of my matches, not just the ones where I'm in Play Mode vs the computer. Count my MyFaction wins and everything else, too. We live in the modern age. I'm not asking for much.
• I still have gripes about GM Mode like I did last year. The penalties for having two powerhouses fight each other are stupid. You shouldn't have to use exclusively cruiserweights against Drew McIntyre or Brock Lesnar. The other thing that drove me nuts about GM Mode was that when you tell the computer to book a show for you, it would put the most random matches together. I wish it was a bit more intelligent with its decision making.
• I don't like The Island. I played that thing as briefly as I had to last year, but I fear that it's going to continue to be a big part of these games moving forward, and I just don't care whatsoever about the online aspect of these games. Just let me enjoy myself without having to get online with strangers.
• Make up a new tag team that does not currently exist.
• The way that Danhausen debuted at Elimination Chamber over the weekend was about as weird as I could possibly have ever fathomed, but I went down the rabbit hole and watched some clips and I think I want to like him. His first appearance on Raw cost Dominik Mysterio the Intercontinental championship, so that was lovely. If Danhausen teamed up with R-Truth and Mr. Iguana, that would be comedy gold. Maybe even an odd couple tag team of Danhausen and The Miz? But Danhausen isn't in the game this year (yet), so I'll come up with something else...
• I mean, it's got to be Tiffany Stratton and Blake Monroe, right? Give Blake the call-up after WrestleMania and give them a shot.
• Give us brand new champions for every single main roster belt:
• RAW:
• Men's Title: Finn Balor
• Women's Title: Naomi was going to be great before she got pregnant
• Men's IC: Penta literally just won it tonight, but if you had asked me 24 hours ago, I might have said him.
• Women's IC: Nikki Bella
• Men's Tag: LA Knight and Sheamus
• SmackDown:
• Men's Title: Randy Orton
• Women's Title: Break up the Judgment Day and move Raquel Rodriguez to SmackDown
• Men's US: Joe Hendry after a main roster call-up
• Women's US: I pledge allegiance to Chelsea Green
• Men's Tag: Shinsuke Nakamura and Kevin Owens would be fun if they could stay healthy
• Inter-brand Women's Tag Team Champions: Bayley and Lyra Valkyria
• Who are you looking forward to beating up?
• Always Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan. Triple H probably deserves a beating for some of his odd booking decisions, too.

The Bottom Line

The race to cross the finish line for WWE 2K25 was absolutely brutal. Some of the matches I had to play in order to beat all of the World Tour locations were completely insane. I hated it. Having to play and simulate literally 17 seasons of GM Mode with CM Punk as the GM of NXT Mutiny just to finally win the main event of Backlash was moronic. Hated it.

But I'll be danged if I'm not looking forward to this Thursday night when I can boot up some WWE 2K26. I'm getting the Monday Night Wars edition, so I might have to relive a bit of the old WCW glory days for a bit.

Honestly, the new game looks good. It looks fun. I mean, is it just a shiny new roster update? Maybe! But it's about time we got real versions of some of these new characters. I think I'll just basically need to get in and download community creations of Matt Cardona and Danhausen, but then we'll be good to go!

Another year, another 11 months of WWE action on the PlayStation. Can't wait for the weekend.

*****

The road to WrestleMania is upon us! Hit us up in the comments section to let us know if you're still clinging onto dear life or if WWE has priced you out completely! While you're at it, check us out on Twitter (here and here) or chat with us on Facebook.

Ready to rumble yet again.

Until next time.

Nintendo Year in Review 2025

It's the final Year in Review post for 2025 - and this time, it's Nintendo's year in review, which they actually put out in January instead of December, so it should account for my entire year's worth of stats. And the good news is that I played a considerable amount more Nintendo than I did last year, but then again, I did set the bar remarkably low.

2025 brought with it the Nintendo Switch 2, which took a second to obtain (including the delivery person driving aimlessly around my complex for a couple minutes and deciding "Maybe we'll let somebody else try tomorrow") but ended up being a great time.

Let's take a look at my highlights from last year's time spent playing Nintendo.

Gameplay Totals

I matched last year's total of 16 games but nearly tripled my hours played. That's a decent job of bouncing back, if you ask me.

Top Games

1. Pokémon Violet - 19 hours
2. Mario Kart World - 19 hours
3. Fitness Boxing 3 - 15 hours

"Pokémon Violet" coming out on top came as a bit of a surprise until I remembered that I told myself that I could only purchase the new "Pokémon Legends: Z-A" if I beat "Violet" first. Challenge accepted and completed.

I'm not necessarily a big "Mario Kart" guy - I enjoy it, but I'm not hardcore like some people - but "Mario Kart World" was fun and is a great game to play with the family. I spent a lot of time trying to track down all of the costumes for each character. I'm still a couple short, though, which irritates me.

Another year of "Fitness Boxing." This one is a Top Games mainstay because it's the only game that I play on a near-weekly basis. I'm bad and miss a week from time to time, but it's a nice way of getting some extra movement in.

Gaming Trends

A decent balance of game types. I accept.

Monthly Breakdown

As you can see, I got the Switch 2 in July. October was the month in which I challenged myself to beat "Pokémon Violet."

Favorite Game

My Nintendo game of the year is Mario Kart World. I really had fun with it, especially playing with my oldest son. There is a decent amount of stuff to do, from tracking down alternative outfits to collecting things in the open world, not to mention racing for glory across its handful of official cups. I also like the new ability to adjust races to start on one course and transition into another. Thanks to its extreme replayability factor, a lot more Mario Kart lies ahead for me and my family in 2026.

Top Games of All Time

One really cool feature in this year's Nintendo Year in Review was the ability to look back at previous years. Nintendo even provided a full breakdown of my top games over the past eight years, when I first bought the Switch 1.

Here are my top 20 games of all time:

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 217 hours
2. Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 61 hours
3. Mario Golf: Super Rush - 50 hours
4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 45 hours
5. Pokémon Shield - 41 hours
6. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope - 40 hours
7. New Pokémon Snap - 40 hours
8. Pokémon Violet - 34 hours
9. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond - 33 hours
10. Pokémon Legends: Arceus - 30 hours
11. Super Mario Odyssey - 29 hours
12. Luigi's Mansion 3 - 21 hours
13. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 - 20 hours
14. Metroid Dread - 20 hours
15. Mario Kart World - 19 hours
16. Fitness Boxing 3 - 16 hours
17. Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu - 15 hours
18. Mario Tennis Aces - 15 hours
19. Pokemon Legends: Z-A - 13 hours
20. Donkey Kong Bananza - 13 hours

Past Years Comparison

• 2025
• Games played: 16
• Hours played: 103
• Top games: "Pokémon Violet," "Mario Kart World," "Fitness Boxing 3"
• Game of the year: "Mario Kart World"
• 2024
• Games played: 16
• Hours played: 38
• Top games: "Fitness Boxing 2," "Sid Meier's Civilization VI," "Super Mario Party Jamboree"
• Game of the year: "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate"
• 2023
• Games played: 23
• Hours played: 169
• Top games: "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," "Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope," "Metroid Dread"
• Game of the year: "Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope"
• 2022
• Hours played: 140
• Top games: "Pokémon Legends: Arceus," "Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope," "Pokémon Brilliant Diamond"
  
• 2021
• Hours played: 189
• Top games: "New Pokemon Snap," "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," "Mario Golf: Super Rush"
• 2020
• Hours played: 235
• Top games: "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," "Mario Tennis Aces," "Pokémon Shield"
• 2019
• Hours played: 56
• Top games: "Pokémon Shield," "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3," "Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu"
• 2018
• Hours played: ~85
• Top games: "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," "Super Mario Odyssey," "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild"

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a decent and fun year of Nintendo for me. Granted, the Switch is not my primary console and it is often dominated by my oldest child, but I like to get in some time every now and again. I've got a bit of a backlog right now, with games like "Donkey Kong Bananaza" and "Pokémon Legends: Z-A" just sitting there, waiting to be played, so hopefully I'll be able to continue chipping away in 2026!

*****

We finally did it! That's the end of our 2025 Year in Review posts! What were your top Nintendo games of 2025? Any recommendations for the upcoming year? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter (here and here) or on Facebook.

Until next time!

Playstation Wrap-Up 2025

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to one of my most-anticipated blog posts of the year: the Playstation Wrap-Up for 2025!

However, let's just go ahead and get this out of the way right now - this was a disappointing year for Playstation's yearly recap. Typically, they're really good about continuing to update the stats through December 31, but this year, despite the website being up through January 8, I didn't see an update to my numbers after December 23. This really rubbed me the wrong way this year, in particular, because I was on paternity leave during all of December, so I know that I got short-changed. This means that my numbers this year are not completely accurate and, most likely, quite different than what they actually wound up being.

But with that in mind, we'll jump in and break down my top games from last year, with a bit of an asterisk on top of it all. Let's take a look and see what topped the Playstation charts for 2025!

Total Hours:

Playstation said that I played 961 hours this year, but I know that to be lower than whatever the final number ended up being. I presume that I probably played another 10 or 15 hours (maybe more) in the final eight days of the year, especially considering that I wasn't working at the time.

The screenshots above also don't indicate that I spent a dozen hours or so playing the Playstation 3, cleaning up trophies on Skyrim and some old NCAA football games that my brother played on my profile back during my college years. (Also, if I did play "a dozen hours or so" on the PS3, the numbers in the Wrap-Up wouldn't add up. I'm skeptical.)

Ultimately, I don't know what my total number of hours for 2025 ended up being, so we'll just call it "961+ hours," for the sake of my final stats.

I wish that they would have given me the stats for my controller usage because I've been using a new purple controller pretty much exclusively for months, so I really must have loved that black controller in the first half of the year.

Top Five Games:

1. Assassin's Creed Shadows: Ah, yes. "Assassin's Creed Shadows." After getting some real burnout from "Assassin's Creed Valhalla," I was hesitant to pick up the next big, open world installment in the franchise, especially after having played the significantly smaller "Mirage," but I had a great time sneaking around Japan as Naoe and Yasuke. I learned to rely on Naoe for exploration and Yasuke for butt-kicking but truly enjoyed playing with both characters, which I had been a little hesitant about. I, sadly, didn't spend nearly as much time cultivating my ninja hideout as I thought I would, when I first heard that that was going to be a thing, but that was still a fun aspect of the game. My mind was constantly blown when I thought for the thirtieth time, "There's no way that this villain board can get any bigger," and then watched in amazement as a new sub-faction of thugs appeared in my objective map. I picked up the "Claws of Awaji" DLC but only played that for about an hour around Christmastime, so my total number of hours played actually should have been 95, not 94, but who's counting, right? Thanks to Assassin's Creed for pumping out a game that never felt too big and never made me bored. Good stuff.
2. Star Wars Outlaws: I hadn't heard a single good thing about "Star Wars Outlaws," but I love Star Wars and I wanted to give it a shot anyway. I really liked it! I don't know if I was just late enough to the game that the developers had fixed all the stuff that players complained about, but I didn't really have many issues with it. No Force usage, no lightsabers, sure, but the thing about Star Wars is that there is room for so many stories to be told that don't directly involve the Skywalker family. I really liked Kay Vess and her little space puppy. I had fun sneaking around and trying to avoid detection. I enjoyed the reputation system revolving around the biggest crime syndicates in the galaxy far, far away. I was secretly hoping that "Outlaws" would be one of my top games and was really glad to see that it was. I also picked up and completed all of the DLC missions, so if you were ever wondering what it would be like to play Lando Calrissian in Sabaac, have I got some stories for you!
3. Disney Dreamlight Valley: Sixty-eight hours of "Dreamlight Valley" is going to look weak next year, I tell you! With the final days of my paternity leave in early January, I put in WORK on DLV, but those stats will have to wait until the end of 2026 to manifest themselves. The most impressive thing I can say about "Dreamlight Valley" is that it remains one of my top games despite already having earned the platinum trophy. Almost 70 more hours of this game and not a single trophy to show for it? That's just wild.
4. WWE 2K25: Yep, back at it with the pro wrestling. "2K25" was a solid entry in the series with a more up-to-date roster at the time of its release than some of the other recent WWE games, and the game modes are fun enough to merit several dozen hours of play time. However, I dislike how much 2K wants us to play the "career" mode each year. It's my least favorite thing to do with each installment, and it seems like 2K is just doubling down on it every year, as if we think the cheesy original storylines are fun. Less of that in the future, please! But I did appreciate some improvements to GM Mode and (shockingly) the decreased load time required to boot up MyFaction mode. Thank you!!
5. Blue Prince: Talk about an original game! If a puzzle and an escape room had a baby, it would be "Blue Prince." It was free for Playstation+ members and I had heard some online rumblings about it being a noteworthy release, so I figured I'd try it out. The fact that I spent 56 hours on it speaks volumes to how deep I got into it. I HAD A PHYSICAL NOTEBOOK TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAD DISCOVERED. Trial and error, trial and error, and some great successes along the way. I'm too weak of an individual to try to beat the game on its intimidating harder difficulties, but I mostly enjoyed my time in that weird old mansion, and this game will probably wind up as one of my more memorable gaming experiences for years to come.

Honorable mention: "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," which was my #5 game when Playstation Wrap-Up first kicked off but got booted from the leaderboard by "WWE 2K25" a few days later.

Games Played:

Aside from my top five games of the year, here are a few other games that I loved in 2025:

• NHL 25, NHL 26 - New year, new hockey game. The Mammoth have arrived!
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - I'm not brave enough to go for the platinum, but a very good game with a lot of stuff to do along the way.
• Astro Bot - The continuous addition of free DLC speed run levels was a lot of fun and occasionally very stressful.
• Backyard Baseball '97 - Not as good as it was on PC when I was a kid, but a nice shot of nostalgia nevertheless.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 - THPS 4 takes me way back! I had never played THPS 3, but I always love a good shred session.
• Split Fiction - More on this later, but a really innovated and exciting game.
• The Outer Worlds 2 - One of the funniest games in recent memory. It got pushed to the backburner toward the end of the year, but I look forward to hopping back in very soon!
• Anno 1800 - I can't believe it but I finally beat the story. Good heavens, this was one of the hardest games I have ever played and I don't think anything in the world could convince me to try for the platinum.
• Sunderfolk - This was a really cool local co-op game where you and some friends can use your phones as controllers. I would have played it more often if I felt more comfortable asking my married guy friends if they could come over to play video games. Those parental responsibilities will get you, man!
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - This game basically took over at the end of the year - not soon enough to crack my top five but there's a small chance that the time I've spent playing it in January could get it high up on my list for 2026. I bought it on sale after it won Game of the Year and a ton of other awards and loved the unique, original story. (It definitely had some outbursts of profanity that caught me off guard with my wife and kids in the room, so be aware of that, but it was a very fun late-night game for dad.) The combat system was incredibly difficult to learn and master but provided some of the most thrilling moments when I finally figured out the timing and beat some hard bosses. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this in my recap for next year, so... stay tuned for that, I guess.

Trophies Earned:

Although Playstation said I earned 751 trophies in 2025, it didn't account for an additional 18 trophies earned after December 23, so my actual total for the year would have actually been 769. That's the fewest trophies that I've earned in a year since I started keeping track of my stats back in 2020, but paternity leave with three kids is way different than paternity leave with one kid - especially since the older two boys are smart enough to vote me off of the big TV from time to time.

Here's a list of all of the games for which I either got the platinum trophy or reached 100% completion in 2025:

1. Sonic Frontiers - January 4
2. Epic Mickey Rebrushed - January 14
3. WWE 2K24 - February 2
4. No Man's Sky - February 10
5. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions - February 17
6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - March 9
7. Star Wars Outlaws - March 27
8. Hello Neighbor 2 - April 30
9. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - June 17
10. LEGO Movie: The Videogame - July 2
11. MLB 14 The Show - July 13
12. Disco Elysium - August 1
13. Split Fiction - August 16
14. Assassin's Creed Mirage - August 20
15. NCAA Football 11 - August 25
16. Stick It To the Man, 100% - November 5
17. Endling: Extinction is Forever - November 6
18. Assassin's Creed Shadows - November 7

Thoughts on that list:

• I played "Sonic Frontiers" mainly because my oldest son accidentally earned a trophy on my profile and I therefore felt the need to finish the game for the sake of my completion percentage. Same thing with the "LEGO Movie" game. Probably wouldn't have played either of those if it weren't for my son "helping me out." Whoops!
• I had played "Epic Mickey 2" but never the original, so I was happy when they remastered it; that was a fun game.
• "No Man's Sky" certainly deserves some credit for how much better the game has become over the years - it's basically a totally different game than what it was when it was first released about 10 years ago.
• Getting the platinum trophy for "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2" was incredibly tedious. I love that game, but I did not love that trophy list. Sheesh.
• "Hello Neighbor 2" and "Endling: Extinction is Forever" were two games that, if I'm being honest, I only played because I Googled how long it would take to get the platinum trophies and I wanted to boost my stats.
• Speaking of boosting my stats, I spent a decent amount of time cleaning up games on my old Playstation 3. I got the platinum trophies for "MLB 14 The Show" and "NCAA Football 11" but also cleaned up the original "Skyrim" (even though I made it further on the PS4 version of the game) and a "Call of Duty" game that I had never actually played. NCAA and CoD were played on my profile by two of my brothers way back when I was in college and the completion level was not good. They're looking much better now.
• "Stick it to the Man" was a free PS4 game for Playstation+ members years and years ago. I played it but didn't complete it, and I finally got around to just knocking it out so I never have to think about it again.
• "Indiana Jones" was a lot of fun. I'm a product of the '80s and love Indy, so I loved the game. I had a couple of gripes about it - one of the areas was very dark and difficult to navigate, and the collectibles were such a pain. Holy cow, I think I was missing a collectible that took me about an hour and a half to find. Horrendous. Other than that, though, really enjoyable.
• I had heard great things about "Disco Elysium." It was a very interesting game that took me a while to complete. I don't believe that I would recommend it to most of my family, friends and associates.
• I got the platinum trophy for "Split Fiction" after playing the entire game with my oldest son, who is five years old. I do not believe that the game was intended for such young players. I was so proud of him. It was extremely frustrating at times and probably took two or three times longer to beat than it would have if I had played with, say, my wife (with whom I had originally planned on playing), but the fact that I beat it with a child was a fantastic accomplishment.
• "Assassin's Creed Mirage" was great. In fact, it's probably one of my top three or four AC games of all time. I enjoyed the series reverting back to the old stealth system, the simplified controls, and the much, much, much smaller map. It only took me about 35 hours to beat, including the free DLC update that came out toward the end of the year, and I'd recommend any AC fans who were on the fence about "Mirage" to give it a chance.

In the past, Playstation has given us a monthly breakdown of top games, hours logged and play sessions, but they didn't do that again this year. Instead, they gave us some trophy milestones to sort of journal our stats throughout the year. Here's what they had for me:

...except this wasn't my latest trophy - just proof that Playstation gave up on me after December 23, frowny face emoji.

Yearly Comparison:

• 2025
• Hours played: 961+
• Top games: Assassin's Creed Shadows, Star Wars Outlaws, Disney Dreamlight Valley, WWE 2K25, Blue Prince
• Trophies earned: 769
• Platinum trophies: 16
• 2024
• Hours played: 1,091
• Top games: Baldur's Gate III, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, WWE 2K24, Star Wars Battlefront II
• Trophies earned: 845
• Platinum trophies: 15
• 2023
• Hours played: 1,212
• Top games: Disney Dreamlight Valley, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel's Midnight Suns, NBA 2K23, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Trophies earned: 911
• Platinum trophies: 20
• 2022
• Hours played: 1,308
• Top games: WWE 2K22, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Gotham Knights, Ghost of Tsushima, Stardew Valley
• Trophies earned: 968
• Platinum trophies: 18
• 2021
• Hours played: 1,203
• Top games: MLB The Show 21, NBA 2K21, Marvel's Avengers, Watch Dogs Legion, Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Trophies earned: 1,091
• Platinum trophies: 14
• 2020
• Hours played: 2,419 (holy crap, COVID!)
• Top games: MLB The Show 20, Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 Remix, NBA 2K20
• Trophies earned: 1,410
• Platinum trophies: 15

Final Thoughts:

So, in the end, the combination of having growing kids and playing really long games resulted in a year with fewer hours and trophies, but that's ok. Games like "Assassin's Creed Shadows," "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33," "Disco Elysium," "Anno 1800," hockey games and even "The Outer Worlds 2" all have stretches where trophies are few and far between, not to mention the 68 hours I put into earning no trophies on "Dreamlight Valley." But I had a great time playing and, perhaps, even a few less regrets about the games I've played than in past years, so that's a win, ultimately. I'll be back next year, probably even bigger and better, so I look forward to the exciting games, stories and platinum trophies that lie just beyond the horizon.

Mainly, I'm just disappointed in Playstation for not continuing to update my stats through the end of the year like they have in the past. Come on, guys. That was just lazy. Do you not really love me, after all we've been through??

Anyway, feel free to let me know what your top games were by leaving a comment below, following us on Twitter (here and here) or finding me on Facebook or some other method of communication.

Until next time!

FanX Flashback - Baldur's Gate III Panel Highlights [FanX 2024]

One of the most popular panels from FanX 2024 involved the cast of the Dungeons & Dragons video game "Baldur's Gate III." The panel featured the ultra-popular Neil Newbon (Astarion), Devora Wilde (Lae'zel), Jennifer English (Shadowheart) and Aliona Baranova (Corinna the Squirrel, performance director).

These folks were a real delight to have at the convention. In fact, one of the best interactions on the official FanX Twitter account involved a misunderstanding regarding Baranova's character in the game, as you can see in the following screenshots:

Despite the squirrel confusion, we parted from the convention on friendly terms.

Keep reading for a transcription of some of our favorite questions - or, if you've got the time, click here to watch the panel in its entirety on the FanX YouTube channel.

What was it like to act out their characters’ vulnerable moments in the game?

Neil Newbon: I think, as an actor, … you have to play the character’s truth. It’s a fictional truth, but it’s real for you and your work. So, I think the most important thing is that you have to honor them, even though some of us have (in Astarion’s voice) problematic characters, sometimes. (Audience cheers, Newbon resumes normal voice) But what we don’t do is judge, uh, because that’s the audience, the players, the audience’s role, is to make their own decisions about how the story goes and how they feel about it. So, from my point of view, these vulnerable moments are gifts because we get to play these stories that have been so well written by all the writers at Larian [Studios]. This game is a masterpiece that’s made by Larian. We get to honor and jump into their shoes – sometimes, very nice shoes (audience laughs) – of these characters and get to connect with the audience through our work as storytellers. I know it’s the same for everybody, but from my point of view, it was a perfect job. It was a perfect job. I got to meet friends, as well, which is good.

What is the most important part of building a character through their voice?

Jennifer English: For me, it’s about… I’m going to nerd out now. […] I love acting so much, so I kind of approach roles like a detective and I Sherlock Holmes the [expletive] out of it. Aliona actually bought me a pipe – not to smoke – but to just sit there with my scripts.

Newbon: You have a “thinking pipe”?

English: I have a “thinking pipe”!

Newbon: Do you do this [mimics sucking on a pipe]? “I like it!”

English: I genuinely do that. I don’t think I’ve ever revealed that to anyone, other than Aliona, before. You’re welcome.

Aliona Baranova: It blows bubbles.

English: Yeah, it’s a bubble pipe. I’m sophisticated. And I go through the script like a detective and try and find as much as I can. Like, I look at how the character speaks, I look at what questions they ask, I look at all the context I possibly can, get all the clues the writer gives me, and, um, yeah, I have far too much fun doing it, and that’s how I approach the character. Nerd!

On developing the Githyanki dialect for her character, Lae’zel:

Devora Wilde: [It took] a lot of practice. I think, when we started, it was the Early Access portion of the game, so there was just […] short phrases. And then, as the game went on and we went into Acts 2 and 3, the phrases got longer, and then we got into sentences that would kind of be running over one line and into the next like, and I’d be like, (laughs) “Ok…” Luckily, good directors – (she glances at Baranova) – very, very important, because, at the beginning, I had no idea, really, what I was saying, obviously, so I needed to know the meaning. Also, the way the Githyanki is spelled is not the way that it’s said, so I needed to read off the phonetics. I also needed to know what I was saying. But, by the end, I had gotten quite used to it and I sometimes had to even correct people because they were like, “This Githyanki word means this,” and I said, “No, no, no, my friend. I’m the expert on the Githyanki language, so…” The directors had a Githyanki glossary that they would look up all the words in, and it was a lot of fun.

Newbon: I would love Githyanki as a language, like Klingon, to eventually be a thing you learn at university. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Wilde: I think it’s a lovely language! – might be biased, but…

(A fan shouts out, “Duolingo!”)

Wilde: Duolingo! I love that!

Which character class and race would they want to be in the Baldur’s Gate universe?

Newbon: Rich! (Audience laughs)

English: I will answer properly. I think I would have to be, um – I change my mind a lot – I’m probably a barbarian, actually. Aliona will confirm. Yeah.

Baranova: Yes.

Wilde: Probably a bard! (Audience cheers) Because I am one in real life.

Baranova: Same answer.

Wilde: Aww, don’t do that!

Baranova: That is my answer! I “rizzed” Jen! I “rizzed” Shadowheart! I’m clearly a bard!

[Editor's note: English and Baranova are dating in real life.]

How has your perception of your character changed since you got the role?

Baranova: As a squirrel, I’ll answer that. (Audience laughs) I discovered how deep and profound Corinna the Squirrel really was to the game. Yeah, thank you, thank you. It really moved a lot of people. I’ll stop, I’ll stop. I’ll let them answer.

Wilde: You answer properly, Jen.

English: I will answer properly. So, Shadowheart, at the beginning – I don’t know if any of you played Early Access, but she was a little spiky. Um, she was a bit of a [expletive], and I think the writing really changed.

Newbon: Did it? (Audience laughs)

English: Hey, if she’s a [expletive] to you, you’re not playing it properly. Learn boundaries, people! Learn boundaries. And now, I love her and she’s the best and you can all shut up.

Wilde: I’ve always loved Lae’zel, from the very moment I set my eyes on her little, lovely, bumpy spots and her little – what was it? – “chewable ears.” (Laughs) And her “boop-able” nose. (Laughs) So, I don’t think that my perception has changed. If anything, I was very surprised by people’s perception of Lae’zel because I have loved her. As Neil said, you never judge your character, so I never thought she was rude or standoffish or a [expletive] or anything like that. And then, when the game came out and people were like, “Oh, Lae’zel’s really mean to me,” I was just like, “Oh, that’s kind of a ‘you problem,’ really, isn’t it?” (All laugh) And I still stand by that.

What was their favorite line in the game?

Wilde, to Baranova: We know what yours is. (Imitates squirrel noises)

Baranova: Perfect.

Newbon: Am I wrong in thinking your squirrel had a line, (in deep voice) “Look at these nuts!” (Resumes normal voice) Is that weird? That wasn’t your character.

Baranova: I wish. Not that original.

Wilde: I have a soft spot for, “That large, fleshy nose of yours looks like a mistake.”

Newbon: I don’t really have a favorite. I’ve got too many of them. But I quite like, “Careful… I bite.”

English: “You didn’t pick that by hand, did you?? They’re deadly poisonous! Joking!”

Wilde: That’s my favorite line of yours, as well.

Baranova: I have a favorite Shadowheart line: when she says about the squirrel at the end – that got added to the epilogue as [an homage] – what was the line?

English: It was, like, “Oh, don’t mind her, she’s just protective.”

Baranova: Yeah. “I give her all the snacks she can… and a shoulder to perch on…”

Wilde: Aww.

Baranova: That was written for us, so yeah, that’s my one.

English: Good. Good choice.

If they could play any other companion or NPC, who would they choose?

Wilde: I always oscillate between – yeah, the squirrel. I always oscillate between Orin and Mizora. It’s a tough choice. Maybe today I’ll go with Mizora.

English: Love that. You just want to wear her outfit.

Wilde: Of course!

English: It’s so hard, because everyone does their… I’m going to steal Neil’s answer.

Newbon, excitedly: Steal, steal, steal! I’ve got a different one today!

English: Oh, have you? Neil’s always, like, (imitates Newbon’s voice) “Look, everyone did such a beautiful job, and we just have to thank Larian for casting everyone so perfectly.” (Resumes normal voice) It would be really hard to replace anyone. I think if I had more gravitas and just, generally, was a completely different person, then I fancy Dame Aylin, hard. But it’s one of those where you’re, like, “Do I want to be with her or do I want to be her? I don’t know.” We’ve all been there, haven’t we? We’ve all been there. (To Newbon) Go on, what’s your original answer?

Newbon: I actually did get the opportunity to help other people’s performances. I got to do almost all of the body doubling for Minsc and Gortash – not because I’m good or anything like that – it’s just more like because they physically couldn’t get to do their stuff in the performance capture, because we all did performance capture, so I got to stand in and help their performances – not to take away from Matt [Mercer] and Jason [Isaacs], who [are] amazing; their performances are incredible. I just helped, so I got a little taste of what it was like. But their work was so good, in both roles, that it was a privilege to be able to go, “Oh, wow. I get to support a little bit.” It was really cool.

Did they incorporate or fight against any Dungeons & Dragons stereotypes in their acting?

Newbon: (In Astarion’s voice) Guilty as charged – sometimes literally, darling! (Resumes normal voice) It works very well with [Astarion] because [senior writer] Stephen Rooney is a genius – a mad genius and a beautiful writer. He also understood, obviously, the tropes. It allowed me a lot of playtime because […] it’s totally morally gray, in many ways. And so, as a rogue – (to the audience) rogue for life! – as a rogue, you know, you get to play with the fringes of what is socially acceptable, right? I just saw every moment that was possible and just went with it.

Wilde: I played against the stereotypes by not having a single idea or clue about anything to do with D&D, let alone the classes and the other things. So, in many ways, I was just a little – as Jen would call it – a “little dum-dum,” just being (in high-pitched voice) “Oh, it’s a lovely character!” (Resumes normal voice) “I’m just going to go with exactly what’s written on the page because I know nothing beyond it.” […] Now, knowing a little tiny portion of the Githyanki history and all of that, I think I would have been so overwhelmed. It would have been too much for me. So, I just went into it completely, like, just with what was written on the page, and, as Neil said, the writers and [senior writer] Kevin VanOrd, who wrote Lae’zel and Wyll, by the way, and they’re so different, and the whole team, because it wasn’t just one person that did it; the writing was so stunning, you really didn’t need to think beyond anything that was written down.

Baranova: I want to add to that. It’s a really good thing that you did trust your instinct, because – a little known fact – the Githyanki race… whenever someone else recorded a Githyanki, the reference for how a Githyanki should be was just a video of Dev playing Lae’zel, so you are the Githyanki race.

English: Yeah, you are!

Were any of them into D&D before “Baldur’s Gate III”? And if not, did any of them start playing after?

English: No, because someone keeps saying, (in mocking tone, to Newbon) “Oh, I’ll host you! I’ll DM for you!” (Resumes normal voice) And then, does it happen? No!

Newbon: And thank you for the question! (Audience laughs)

From a narrative perspective, what do they find more interesting: rolling a Natural 1 or a Natural 20?

Newbon: Oh, Natural 1, man! Oh, dude – great things happen when you absolutely screw everything up.

English: Valid. But that’s what “save-scumming” (repeatedly reloading old save files after experiencing an unfavorable outcome or making a poor decision) is for.

*****

For the record, save-scumming is a completely legitimate way of dealing with trauma in "Baldur's Gate," so we're not here to judge.

Feel free to drop your favorite "Baldur's Gate" memories in the comments below. While you're at it, you can follow us on Twitter (here and here) or try to look us up on Facebook.

FanX 2025 is less than a week away! Who knows what glorious adventures await? In the meantime, take a look back at our old FanX posts!

Until next time.

WWE 2K25 Preview

We are mere hours away from early access for WWE 2K25! It's looking like we're in for another solid installment in the franchise, so I'm looking forward to logging on at 10 PM Mountain Time tonight for a little bit of late night gaming.

But before we get to that, let's break down the roster changes and some of the new features that we can expect from the new game!

Who's Out?

Legends/Other

• AJ Hawk
• Bad Bunny
• Beth Phoenix
• Big Boss Man
• Boston Connor
• Darius Butler
• Jerry Lawler
• Muhammad Ali
• Post Malone
• Robert Roode
• Ronda Rousey
• Sanga
• Shane McMahon
• Ted DiBiase
• Ty Schmit

No longer with the company

• Bobby Lashley
• Cameron Grimes
• Damon Kemp
• Dijak
• Drew Gulak
• Jinder Mahal
• MVP
• Ricochet
• SCRYPTS
• Veer Mahaan
• Xia Li

Current main roster superstars who didn't make the cut

• Shockingly, I think that the DLC pretty much covers all of the recent additions to the main roster!

Notable missing NXT superstars

• Hank Walker
• Jazmyn Nyx
• Karmen Petrovic
• Luca Crusifino
• Meiko Satomura
• Ricky Saints
• Tank Ledger
• Zaria

Who's in? (* = DLC)

Main roster

• Akam (no longer with company)
• Alex Shelley*
• Andrade
• Chris Sabin*
• Elektra Lopez (no longer with company)
• Erick Rowan*
• Finn Balor (Demon)
• Jacob Fatu
• Kiana James
• Naomi
  
• Penta*
• Rezar (no longer with company)
• Tama Tonga
• Tonga Loa

NXT

• Charlie Dempsey
• Eddy Thorpe
• Ethan Page
• Giulia*
• Jaida Parker
• Jakara Jackson
• Je'Von Evans
• Jordynne Grace*
• Kelani Jordan
• Lash Legend
• Lexis King
• Lola Vice
• Oba Femi
• Oro Mensah
• Shawn Spears
• Sol Ruca
• Stephanie Vaquer*
• Tatum Paxley

Legends/Other

• Abyss*
• Afa
• Alundra Blayze
• Billy Gunn*
• Bull Nakano
• D'Lo Brown*
• Great Khali*
• Headshrinker Fatu
• Headshrinker Samu
• Hunter Hearst Helmsley
• Islander Haku
• Islander Tama
• Jamal
• Jesse Ventura*
• Junk Yard Dog*
• Mark Henry*
• Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff*
• New Jack*
• Peter Maivia
• Road Dogg*
• Rocky Maivia
• Rosey
• Sid Justice*
• Sika
• Tito Santana*
• Victoria*

Managers/Non-playable Characters

• Afa
• Armando Estrada
• Ava
• Brother Love*
• Captain Lou Albano
• Mr. Fuji
  
• Nick Aldis
• Paul Ellering (no longer with company)

By the numbers

According to The Smackdown Hotel, this is the biggest roster ever for a WWE video game, boasting "383 characters," which is a bit inflated because of "persona" characters (alternate versions of wrestlers, like "Masked CM Punk") and throwback versions of wrestlers (like "Becky Lynch," "Becky Lynch '17" and "Becky Lynch '18," which they're counting as three different people). The website says that there are 69 new characters this year, which seems like a lot.

Roster take-aways

This actually feels pretty good. The only really significant wrestler that didn't make the base roster or DLC is NXT's Zaria, which is probably a lot more important to hardcore NXT watchers than it is to me. I'm sure that's nothing that a quick Community Creations download can't solve. The roster would have been looking really great about a month ago, before a handful of surprising releases, including Baron Corbin, the Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering, Blair Davenport, and (most shockingly) Sonya DeVille, among a few others. But their inclusion in the game doesn't feel nearly as egregious as what happened a few years back when the game launched with a significantly outdated roster on Day 1.

THANK GOODNESS that Pat McAfee's dumb friends aren't in the game anymore. Man, what a waste of DLC last year. I lowered the stats for all of those fools and beat them up so many times. They had such punchable faces. This year, we're getting a few surprise celebrity wrestlers and a couple yet-to-be-announced NBA stars, who I assume will be WWE superfans Tyrese Halliburton, Jalen Brunson and somebody else. Maybe Shaq or something? Not really excited about any of those, but maybe we'll get a few more punchable faces before all is said and done.

What else is new?

• The biggest addition this year is WWE 2K25's "The Island" mode, which is basically a wrestling version of NBA 2K's "The City," which I've never really cared for. It will be fun for people who like to play online against other people.
• Intergender matches. I have absolutely zero desire to beat up a woman with a male character, so the only time I can see myself doing an intergender match would be to have Rhea Ripley beat up Dominik Mysterio.
• New backstage areas. You can even fight on the old SmackDown! fist.
• Underground matches. Yeah, that weird gimmick from the COVID era that has shown up in NXT from time to time over the past few years will be in the game this year.
• "Bloodline Rules" matches. Just like on -the TV shows, I have absolutely no idea what that even means, unless there are, like, five scheduled run-ins per fighter. For real, though, what is the difference between "Bloodline Rules" and "No Holds Barred"?? Somebody explain this to me.
• I just confirmed it - it's a No-DQ match in which you can schedule up to three run-ins per side. Man, that's hilarious.
• New match types for Special Referee stipulations. You can now do a special ref in 30 different match types, as opposed to it only being for 1-on-1 matches, like last year. That's cool.
• New weapons! Trash can lid (my personal specialty!), safety cone, Undertaker urn, juggling pin, clown horn, clown shoe, "sugar rush," "Damian's Chair" and carnival hammer. I assume there is maybe some kind of amusement park tie-in for MyRise mode or something, because that's a lot of random clown crap.
• Showcase Mode: "Bloodline Dynasty." We'll get a full helping of Roman Reigns and family this year, which is not probably the most enticing option for me, personally, but whatever.
• New MyGM Mode features. You can play online now (I won't), there are new Premium Live Event features (PLEs are now shared across shows instead of each brand doing their own full show - I'm not sure that I like that, despite it being more similar to real life), nine new GM character options, and a few other things. Although the newly introduced mid-card women's titles are not an option (yet?), there is now a feature to have women's tag champions, which will be a nice improvement.

WWE 2K Q&A with A-Town

• Who will you play with first?
• I mean, heel John Cena is sounding pretty good right now, considering what happened at Elimination Chamber last weekend...
• I'm really looking forward to getting Penta and Jordynne Grace on DLC in the next few months.
• Who don't you want to play with at all?
• Probably 95% of NXT and the legends. Probably as few "Bloodline" characters as possible; I simply don't have any interest in playing with any Samoans that pre-date The Rock.
• What is your go-to match type?
• Last year, I probably played more standard 1-on-1 matches than anything, and I tried to take the action outside of the ring as little as possible. I just wanted to hit a couple special moves and pin or submit my opponents as quickly as possible.
• What is your favorite game mode?
• I really love GM Mode, but like I said last year, I wish there was more incentive to play that mode a lot. I thought that the WrestleMania showcase was really well-done last year (if not a bit too lengthy), but the replayability is extremely low for that mode.
• Is there anything you wish you could change or improve about these games?
• There absolutely needs to be about 150% fewer ladder matches this year. When I was playing MyFaction last year, it was like 66% ladder matches, and most of those were tag team matches, so they were truly aggravating. MyFaction was better last year than it probably ever has been, but it was such a chore to do those tasks that I never switched up my roster and I simply played it because I had to, not because I actually wanted to.
• I think they might have patched it eventually, but I remember when I first started playing 2K24, the ref would take their sweet time getting to the three-count. It was ridiculously slow. Like I said, I think it got better, but that was horrendous.
• They've got to got to got to fix the "Statistics" feature on these games. I have no idea what stats they're tracking, but I can tell you that they are completely inaccurate. Please, for the love, just track all of my play stats, regardless of what mode I'm in.
• I think that the logic used in GM Mode that penalizes you for putting, say, Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns in a match together is totally stupid. "The fans don't like to see this." Excuse me???? That's a great match. I get that it's not the same as Rey Mysterio fighting the Great Khali or something, but don't tell me that fans don't like two powerhouses going at it. That's crap.
• Make up a new tag team that does not currently exist:
• I mean... Drew McIntyre and Bronson Reed? They would absolutely WRECK. (I actually really liked Bronson teaming up with the New Bloodline for War Games. Thought he fit in well with them. Too bad he busted his ankle for the love of the game.)
• Give us brand new champions for every single main roster belt:
• RAW:
• Men's Title: CM Punk
• Women's Title: Move Jordynne Grace up to the main roster and give her the belt
• Men's IC: Chad Gable
• Women's IC: Dakota Kai is the obvious choice, but it should stay Lyra Valkyria
• Men's Tag: Heel New Day would get nuclear heat if they won
• SmackDown:
• Men's Title: Heel John Cena
• Women's Title: Jade Cargill
• Men's US: Jacob Fatu
• Women's US: I refuse to pick anyone other than Chelsea Green
• Men's Tag: Motor City Machine Guns shouldn't have lost the titles so quickly
• Inter-brand Women's Tag Team Champions: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
• Who are you most looking forward to beating up?
• Dominik Mysterio, Liv Morgan, Carmelo Hayes, maybe even Bianca Belair

The Bottom Line

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how things are shaping up. I was kind of surprised to see that we aren't swapping out any match types, so we are getting new stipulations and keeping the casket and ambulance matches from last year. The roster is solid, we're keeping the Judgment Day's old entrance theme (which was such a banger) and I can immediately change John Cena's alignment to "Crowd Reaction: Boo," which is still so crazy to think about. Let's get to it!

And now, if you've got a couple minutes, let us know what you're thinking about the current state of WWE in the comments section, on Twitter (here and here) or on Facebook, if you can find us.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Until next time.