Today we’re taking a look at NZXT’s new F-Series X performance fans – the F120X, F240X, and the F360X. NZXT claims these are their most advanced fans yet, with LCP construction, ultra-tight tolerances, and a magnetic-levitation hybrid bearing designed to push serious airflow while keeping noise under control. We break down the design, the performance numbers, and of course whether these premium fans are actually worth the upgrade for your next build. Let’s dive in.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:52 The latest NZXT fans & pricing
02:10 Tech details on the coolers
02:38 A closer look at the fans
06:50 Do they look good?
07:07 Accessories
08:04 Test System
09:02 Smoke Visualisation Airflow Test
10:15 Thermal and Noise Performance
16:06 James thoughts – Are NZXT onto a winner?

Features:

• LCP construction and optimised blade design for strong airflow & pressure — All three fans are equipped with liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) for blades and frame, for improved rigidity at high speed which helps resist flexing and vibration. Minimal blade-to-frame gap (“ultra-tight tip-to-frame clearance”), reduces turbulence and air leakage, resulting in optimal airflow and static pressure.
• Custom Hybrid bearing for quiet and durable operation — “Custom Hybrid Bearing” includes magnetic levitation to keep the rotor stable at higher RPM, combined with fluid-dynamic lubrication to help reduce friction and wear. The aim is to provide smooth, long-lasting, quiet rotation.
• Advanced 3-phase, 6-pole motor for precise, efficient cooling — The motor design enables more precise speed control for steady and efficient cooling across different speeds for lower noise and consistent performance.
• Polished design with subtle RGB and easy install — Featuring brushed-aluminium accents, subtle RGB lighting and a clean aesthetic. You can control fan speeds and lighting via motherboard software or, with NZXT Control Hub and NZXT CAM software. The single-frame models (F240X and F360X) have an all-in-one frame that reduces screws and cables for clean and simple installation.

Specifications (F360X):

• Dimensions: 360 x 120 x 30mm
• Weight: 750g
• Speed (PWM): 3,100 ± 310 RPM
• Airflow: 0 CFM per fan
• Static Pressure: 53 mmH2O per fan
• Noise: 0 dBA per fan
• Bearing type: NZXT Magnetic Levitation Stabiliser & Fluid Dynamic Bearing
• Motor type: 3-phase, 6-pole
• Rate Voltage: 12V (Fan) / 5V (RGB)
• Rated Current: 60A (Fan) / 0.52A (RGB)
• Input Power: 8W
• Connector: 4-pin PWM and 5V ARGB
• Material (Blade & Frame): Liquid-crystal polymer (LCP), rubber
• Vibration damping / Mount: Rubber corner mounts
• Warranty: 5 Years

Test System Specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
• Motherboard: ASRock X870E Taichi
• Graphics card: MSI RTX 5080 Gaming Trio White
• RAM: 64GB (2 x 32GB Modules) G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000
• Storage: 1TB Corsair MP600 Elite PCIE Gen4 M.2 SSD
• Power Supply: Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Edition
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360
• Chassis: Lian Li Lancool III
• Operating System: Windows 11 24H2

Testing Methodology

Our testing focuses on the thermal performance of each fan under three conditions: 100% PWM, 1400 RPM, and 40 dBA noise-normalised operation. All tests are conducted with a manual CPU overclock, locking the all-core frequency and VCORE to ensure consistent load across runs.

Baseline Measurement:

• Ambient temperature is recorded.
• The system is left idle for 10 minutes.
• CPU and GPU temperatures are logged using HWINFO, while case temperatures are monitored with thermocouples placed at three positions:

T1: Behind the front intake fan

T2: In front of the rear exhaust

T3: Above the AIO exhaust

Load Testing:

A combined CPU/GPU stress test is run for 30 minutes using 3DMark Speed Way stress test and Cinebench simultaneously.

Temperature charts show the average CPU/GPU delta over the final 10 minutes of the test, along with the thermocouple readings at the end of the session.

Noise Testing:

Noise levels are measured with a decibel meter placed 30 cm from the front of the system.

Airflow Visualisation:

Smoke tests are filmed with all fans running at 1400 RPM to illustrate airflow patterns across the case and cooling components.

This methodology ensures a consistent, real-world comparison of each fan’s thermal efficiency, noise performance, and airflow characteristics.

Test Results:

System Noise: 100% PWM

1400RPM Normalised

Case Temperatures: 100% PWM

1400RPM Normalised

40dBA Noise Normalised

CPU & GPU Temperature: 100% PWM

1400RPM Normalised

40dBA Noise Normalised

We found the NZXT F120/240/360X fans listed at Scan. An F120X costs £39.98 while the F360X is priced at £99.98.

Pros:

• Solid airflow and cooling, close to competitor performance.
• Clean looks with all in one frame and minimal cables.
• Very wide PWM speed range with high max speed for extreme cooling.

Cons:

• Quite expensive.
• Loud at max speed.
• Performance drops off a little at lower RPM.
• No reverse blade versions.

KitGuru says: If your build prioritises aesthetics over absolute thermal performance, then these fans might be a good fit for you. They will still provide solid cooling too, just not chart-topping, but they are very expensive and loud at max speed.

The post NZXT F-Series X Fan Review: F120X/F240X/F360X first appeared on KitGuru.

Welcome to the last entry of UploadVR's Best of VR Awards for 2025.

The year's almost over and we're once again celebrating this year's best releases across the VR and wider XR industry, highlighting some exceptional releases across software and hardware alike. Just like we always do, each category features one clear winner and varying numbers of honorable mentions. Excluding our specific early access categories, all of our winners are currently in full release.

Like last year, we've split the awards across multiple rounds. Our first round covered platform favorites for Quest, PC VR, PlayStation VR2, and Apple Vision Pro, joined by our favorite exploratory experience. It's here where we recognized Ghost Town, Roboquest VR, Arken Age, Gears & Goo, and The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up.

Round two is where we focused on achievements across mixed reality, hand tracking, and early access releases. Our winners across these categories were Jigsaw Night, Laser Dance, Forefront, Little Critters, and Figmin XR.

Which leaves us with some of our biggest picks still to come, the moment we've all been waiting for. Here are UploadVR's Best of VR Awards 2025.

---

Best Virtual Place 2025

A small number of software packages in virtual reality have grown so large and diverse that calling them games doesn't really apply anymore. They are places, vast, with interconnected systems that make spending significant time there a delight for many. VRChat and No Man's Sky come to mind as candidates for this category in future years, and both were considered to inaugurate this award category at UploadVR.

Walkabout Mini Golf is UploadVR's Best Virtual Place 2025.

In 2025, Walkabout grew from a game to a place as mini golf became secondary to the best place where people congregate in virtual reality.

The artists at Mighty Coconut entered the year realizing Elvis as a course to play on and ended it with the best physical illustration of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ever made. In between, Walkabout's creative director and mastermind Lucas Martell took golfers to the seat of the gods at Mount Olympus, face-to-face with dinos at Raptor Cliff's, sneaking into a Mother Goose-inspired theme park at Forgotten Fairyland, and up close with Neko Atsume kitties all over a tiny Tokyo. While Walkabout's courses always had secrets, like hidden balls and skeletons, now they've started adding playable activities like slingshots and chess. Designers continue rooting around the backstage areas as they add the foundations for future activities and new secrets to discover in places players have been hundreds of times.

The design team spent days together in December roughing out courses that will open starting in 2027. From release in 2020 for standalone VR headsets, we see other developers following the precedents set by Walkabout – guest mode for paid add-ons, private rooms by default, and support for a single controller.

Whether you're looking to introduce yourself to virtual reality or get lost in there for days, Walkabout Mini Golf is the right onboarding experience for most people and a great place to be.

---

Best VR Developer

We've seen some impressive work from VR developers this year. Mighty Coconut keeps releasing regular DLC courses for Walkabout Mini Golf, Flat2VR Studios continues to deliver impressive VR adaptations like Roboquest VR, while nDreams Elevation and Fireproof Games both showed strong VR-focused gameplay design across Reach and Ghost Town respectively.

This time, our Best VR Developer award goes to VitruviusVR for its work on Arken Age. We previously discussed what we loved about Arken Age when giving it our Best PlayStation VR2 Game of the Year award, praising its exemplary approach to VR-first gameplay design. However, it's a testament to the studio's strength that it did so while leveraging the strengths of each platform so effectively. For that reason, we're giving them this year's award.

---

Best New Hardware

This year saw Meta break its three-year streak of new VR headset releases, Apple upgrade its “spatial computer” with a new chip and strap, Samsung launch the first product running Google's Android XR, and Bigscreen refine its ultralight headset with improved and adjustable lenses.

Bigscreen and Apple deserve mentioning here, even though they aren't our winners.

Beyond 2's lenses fix a crucial flaw of the original to make it a viable optical experience for far more people, but the device still requires SteamVR Tracking base stations, an expensive technology that Valve itself is abandoning.

Meanwhile, the M5 Vision Pro's Dual Knit Band is a truly innovative approach to headset ergonomics, combining the benefits of a comfortable soft strap and counterbalance in one design, plus the ability to tighten both bands with a single dial. But other than this, it's a minimum-effort upgrade.

Our winner this year is Meta Neural Band included with Meta Ray-Ban Display. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is not a completely new input technology, but Meta Neural Band brings it to a sleek, lightweight, and flexible wristband with all-day battery life and IPX4 water resistance.

Meta Neural Band makes it practical and comfortable to control a smart glasses HUD without needing to constantly use voice commands, wear a giant ring, or wave your hands around. And for this, it wins our Best Hardware Award for 2025.

---

Best New Multiplayer Game

Social gameplay remains one of VR's most appealing strengths, and this year continued providing strong contenders. While Breachers would have been in contention if it wasn't in early access, plenty of multiplayer games either launched or finally reached full release.

For racing fans, VRacer Hoverbike entered full release and reached new platforms. Pixel Dungeon was an early highlight, Glassbreakers took us back to the world of Moss, and Titan Isles is a highly compelling co-op adventure. Then we have Deadly Delivery, Table Troopers, Elements Divided, GRIM, and Rogue Piñatas.

Ultimately, our winner for VR Multiplayer Game of the Year 2025 is Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked. Resolution Games brought back 2021's hit in style, and we considered it a “mostly natural crossover and a fitting evolution” on Demeo. If you can't commit to a real-life tabletop campaign, this is an excellent option that flatscreen players can also join in on.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked Review

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a mostly natural crossover and a fitting evolution for the VR tabletop RPG.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

---

VR Game Of The Year 2025

And so, we now move onto one of our biggest categories. Our previous awards looked at games for individual platforms across Quest, PC VR, PlayStation VR2, and Apple Vision Pro. This is what we believe stands out as the absolute best of the best across all four.

2025's been another year when the releases seemingly never end, and that's been especially true these last few months. Hotel Infinity, Roboquest VR, Marvel’s Deadpool VR, Demeo x D&D, Ghost Town, Reach, Arken Age, Lumines Arise, there's a lot to choose from, but we can ultimately only crown one title.

Same as our best PlayStation VR2 game, our winner for VR Game of the Year 2025 is Arken Age. Ghost Town and Roboquest VR have their own individual strengths on Quest and PC VR, yet Arken Age graced each of its platforms with some of the best VR focused design we've seen in 2025.

“Arken Age delivers clever VR-first gameplay design for a great sci-fi adventure,” we said at the time, praising its vibrant presentation and rewarding combat. As mentioned before, our appreciation for VitruviusVR's action-adventure has only grown since launch, and it's a strong choice no matter your headset.

Arken Age Review: Satisfying Sci-Fi Adventure With Great VR Design

Arken Age delivers a satisfying sci-fi adventure with clever VR-oriented design, and it’s out now on PlayStation VR2 and Steam.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

---

Most Anticipated Game Of 2026

So then, what's next? 2025's brought a strong line-up across Quest, PC VR, and PS VR2, and we've seen plenty of promising VR and MR games on the way in 2026.

Some games are already in early access and are currently scheduled or likely to receive full releases next year. That includes Unseen Diplomacy 2, Into The Radius 2, Bootstrap Island, Laser Dance, Pocket Lands, and Forefront.

Several VR adaptations of existing series are on the way too, like Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections, The Boys: Trigger Warning, Little Nightmares VR, and Orcs Must Die! By The Blade. Then we have Guardians Planetfall, Knights of Fiona, Automa, Aces of Thunder, and Remnant Protocol. Many potential contenders, but what's our top pick?

Our Most Anticipated Game of 2026 goes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, an action-adventure that supports single-player and up to four-player co-op. We've already had a brief look at what's to come, and we can't wait to see how Cortopia Studios adapts the iconic series on Quest 3 and PC VR.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City Hands-On At Home In The Sewers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City makes you want to live in the sewers.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

MR Clean could be the PowerWash Simulator of mixed reality, and it's heading to Quest 3/3S next year.

Developed by PotamWorks (Smash Drums), MR Clean is a roomscale mixed reality cleaning game designed around hand tracking controls, where you clear virtual dirt off your walls, floors, and furniture. This also comes with a 'Virtual Objects Mode' where you clean detailed 3D models piece by piece, alongside a two-player 'Party Mode' you can play locally.

0:00

/0:54

1×

It's originally inspired by a mixed reality experiment created in Smash Drums, where you can splatter your room with virtual paint.

“While the painting mechanic became a natural fit for Smash Drums, and one of its more iconic environments, the cleaning phase ultimately didn’t align with a game built around chaos and rock ’n’ roll,” states PotamWorks, who revived the idea for the Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition 2025.

Collaborative content and themed challenges are also planned for the upcoming game. Crossovers have already been confirmed with Red Matter 2, Ancient Dungeon, Deisim, Smash Drums, “and over 15 other fan-favorite experiences.” Finally, PotamWorks states MR Clean will also be compatible with the Quest's Travel Mode.

MR Clean is heading to Quest 3/3S in Q1 2026.

Our second round of UploadVR's Best of 2025 awards is now live.

We kicked things off earlier today with our favorite games this year across individual platforms: Quest, PC VR, PlayStation VR2, and Apple Vision Pro. This also discussed our top immersive entertainment titles outside of gaming, looking to more film-adjacent experiences.

Now, we're focusing on mixed reality apps and games as developers continue to embrace this approach. We're also diving into the best uses of hand tracking across the year, alongside dedicated early access categories for both mixed reality and VR games. While most of our categories are only applicable for full releases, Best Hand Tracking also factors in early access launches.

So then, onto round two. Here are our favorite hand tracking, mixed reality, and early access experiences in 2025.

---

Best Hand Tracking Game

Demeo x D&D is a great game but fundamentally similar to the same experience we've already had in Demeo, and Dimensional Double Shift unlocks the fun of Job Simulator in multiplayer after it left open beta. Hidden Memories of the Gardens Between, Banners & Bastions, Little Critters, and Pocket Lands all caught our eye this year.

There's one game, though, that stands out in 2025 – Jigsaw Night. You can grab the pieces whether they are close or far away and easily hand them to friends. At any time you can also pick up a controller and use it for more precise grabbing of faraway objects. This robust support, alongside other features like LIV integration, colocation, and puzzling with your own photos, means that solo developer Steve Lukas' project is an absolute delight to spend time in and a strong reason to bring just your headset with you.

---

Best Early Access Mixed Reality Game

We've seen some intriguing first looks at mixed reality games in early access this year. Pocket Lands has been a recent favorite where you create Minecraft-esque worlds, while Loop One: Done is an MR automation game where you record loops with drones and robots. We'd also note Super RC, Jigsaw Night, Galactic Traffic Control, and Healer.

This time around, Laser Dance takes our award for the Best Early Access Mixed Reality Game of 2025. Thomas Van Bouwel delivered what we called “the first essential mixed reality game” and a go-to party game in our review. Offering an instantly relatable premise that feels ripped out of a spy film, it's one of the first experiences anyone should try when putting on a headset.

Laser Dance Early Access Review: The Mixed Reality Game Quest 3 Needs

Laser Dance in early access is the first essential mixed reality game.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

---

Best Early Access VR Game

Whether it's to gather community feedback or bring in crucial funding, more developers continue choosing early access launches across Quest and Steam, and 2025 has plenty of picks.

This year brought us a sequel to one of VR's earliest roomscale hits with Unseen Diplomacy 2, Another Axiom followed up on Gorilla Tag with Orion Drift, and Final Fury continues showing promise. Rounding this out is Boxing Underdog, The Pirate: Republic of Nassau, How to God, ZIX, and Out of Sight VR.

For 2025, Forefront is UploadVR's Best Early Access VR Game of the Year. Triangle Factory's latest game following Breachers provides a 32-player shooter comparable to EA's Battlefield series. “Combat is exciting and tense, its VR gunplay is tactile and satisfying, and its environments are dynamic and engaging,” we said at the time, and we'll continue watching its next moves.

Forefront Hands-On: The Battlefield Multiplayer Experience In VR

Forefront in early access brings excitingly tense, large-scale multiplayer warfare reminiscent of Battlefield to VR.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

---

Best Mixed Reality Game

As mixed reality continues to find its footing, we're continuing to see intriguing projects emerge from across the board. What we're seeing today feels like an early look at what we can expect in the years ahead. We're focused on games where mixed reality is the clear focus, and not an optional extra in otherwise fully immersive games.

On Quest 3, Star Wars: Beyond Victory took us back to a galaxy far, far away once again. We explored new worlds in Mythic Realms, raised a fluffy companion in Stay: Forever Home, while both Banners & Bastions and Table Troopers delivered strong tabletop style thrills. Other titles include Project AEROES, BEATABLE, Crystal Commanders, and Detective VR.

This year, our winner for Best Mixed Reality Game is Little Critters by Purple Yonder. Following the studio's work on Little Cities, we found an innovative take on the tower defense genre that puts you front and center in the fight. Its compelling gameplay has real impact, there's great strategic depth, and Little Critters keeps us coming back for more.

Little Critters Is A Tower Defense Game That Hits Home

Little Critters delivers a frenetic, accessible tower defense game in mixed reality today on Quest 3 and 3S.

UploadVRJosh Petersel

---

Best Mixed Reality App - Figmin XR

Apps like Pencil continue to show promise building out from innovative ideas – you can learn to draw Walkabout Mini Golf characters with a good old-fashioned pencil in hand and a headset on your head, and that's pretty cool.

Our award for best mixed reality app of 2025, though, goes to the gradually improving spatial playground Figmin XR. The app won last year too, and this year solo developer Javier Davalos essentially brought Tilt Brush to iPhone with the launch of Figmin XR there. Last year, we were able to get a pretty impressive colocation experience going in Figmin XR from Quest to Vision Pro.

This year, I single-handedly logged in with iPhone to the same virtual room as my headset. I could hold a digital object with my finger pressed to the iPhone and carry it around without even looking at it. Capturing mixed reality videos of Figmin playgrounds from iPhone could be a big use of this integration, or to let a friend or family member see into a spatial creation when they aren't in a headset.

How Figmin XR’s Colocation Works And Why Other Apps Need To Emulate It

How to use Figmin XR’s “scene center” menu to colocate headsets from Apple, Meta and others.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

Maingear, a well-respected boutique PC builder, has taken note of the ongoing RAM crisis and is attempting to offer a potential solution, beyond simply raising prices. Its solution is a new "BYO RAM", or "Bring Your Own RAM" program, which accepts a user's shipment of DDR5 RAM with an order of a custom PC. Maingear will take the RAM, install

GamesIndustry.biz does a yearly analyst roundtable, gathering predictions for what the next year will bring to the industry. This year's post paints a picture of an industry stuck in cautious recovery mode, with growth returning slowly, platform boundaries continuing to blur, and a handful of massive releases and technologies threatening to

One of the most influential names in the FPS genre, Vince Zampella, passed away at the age of 55 on Sunday, December 21st, in a tragic car accident with one other unidentified person. Vince Zampella worked on the Medal of Honor series, which spawned Call of Duty, which spawned Battlefield and eventually Respawn's own Titanfall. Between corporate

There was some significant controversy this summer when some customers complained of Gigabyte's GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs leaking the "server-grade thermal gel" that the board vendor touts on its product pages. Gigabyte acknowledged that some early-run cards used too much goop and that the quantity was adjusted on later models, but now it

The Glorious Model O3 Wireless debuts a swappable battery system, allowing for no charging downtime at all. It also feature the latest BAMF 3.0 sensor, an ambidextrous design, optical main button switches, 8000 Hz wireless polling, and rich RGB lighting.

Gigabyte has introduced the product page for its GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Windforce OC V2, a revision to the original GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Windforce OC that apparently doesn't use the “server-grade thermal conductive gel” that has been criticised by many users for leaking. This marks a departure from the cooling strategy the company heavily promoted at the start of the year.

The saga began earlier in 2025 when early adopters of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 50 and Radeon RX 9000 series cards reported a viscous material oozing from beneath their heatsinks. This phenomenon was particularly prevalent in systems with vertical GPU mounts, where gravity caused the non-solid gel to drip away from the components, such as VRAM and MOSFETs. At the time, Gigabyte issued a formal statement defending the choice, claiming the leakage was a purely cosmetic result of over-application during early production runs. The manufacturer maintained that the substance could withstand temperatures up to 150°C and would not impact the reliability or longevity of the hardware.

Image credit: Uniko's Hardware

Despite that, the release of the RTX 5070 Ti Windforce OC V2 suggests a rethink behind the scenes. As spotted by Uniko's Hardware (via VideoCardz), the updated specifications and product imagery reveal that standard thermal pads have replaced the thermal gel. Gigabyte has not provided a formal reason for the swap, but given the reports, most would assume the gel would be the leading cause.

However, the thermal interface isn't the only aspect of the card to see a refresh in this second iteration. The Windforce OC V2 features a significantly altered physical footprint compared to the original SFF-focused design it replaces. The new shroud is approximately 43mm shorter, using a triple-fan array of smaller 80mm fans. Moreover, the PCB layout appears to have been modified, with relocated screw positions and the removal of the dual-BIOS switch found on the first generation. The backplate has also been redesigned with new visuals.

KitGuru says: There is more to this revision than the replacement of thermal materials, but that is the big one. New buyers will no longer have to worry about potential leakage. 

The post Gigabyte quietly swaps out thermal gel in RTX 5070 Ti Windforce V2 first appeared on KitGuru.

Square Enix has announced that the Octopath Traveler franchise has officially surpassed the six-million-unit sales milestone globally. This figure represents a significant jump from the five million units recorded in December 2024, suggesting that the series’s expansion to new platforms and the recent launch of a new entry have boosted its commercial momentum.

The original Octopath Traveler, which first debuted on the Nintendo Switch in 2018 before migrating to PC, Xbox, and eventually PlayStation 4 and 5, remains the primary driver of these figures. To date, the first game has sold over 3 million units. Its sequel, Octopath Traveler II, has contributed over one million units since its early 2023 launch.

The most recent growth in the series’ figures can be attributed to the release of Octopath Traveler 0 on December 4th. Serving as a prequel to the original and a clean version (no microtransactions) of the mobile title Champions of the Continent, this latest entry launched on day one across nearly all current hardware, including the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

With the series now established across almost every modern ecosystem, Square Enix is celebrating the milestone with various digital storefront discounts (up to 60%) on the first two titles.

KitGuru says: Did you play any Octopath Traveler games? Do you think Square Enix should keep investing in this series?

The post Square Enix confirms Octopath Traveler series has cleared 6 million sales first appeared on KitGuru.

Games industry veteran and Respawn Entertainment founder, Vince Zampella, has passed away. Zampella had been a leader at Infinity Ward before forming his new studio, Respawn Entertainment, and then joining EA. 

According to NBC Los Angeles, authorities have confirmed that Zampella's vehicle had been involved in a crash in the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday afternoon. A Ferrari struck a concrete barrier and then burst into flames.

As a co-founder of Infinity Ward, Zampella was one of the minds behind the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. Following a high-profile departure from Activision, Zampella co-founded Respawn Entertainment, where he continued to innovate with the release of Titanfall and its sequel.

Beyond shooters, Zampella’s leadership at Respawn oversaw the development of the critically acclaimed Star Wars Jedi games. Most recently, he had also been aiding the direction of the Battlefield series, including Battlefield 6.

The post Respawn founder Vince Zampella has passed away first appeared on KitGuru.

Hogwarts Legacy was the bestselling game of 2023 and it is still charting even today. Given that success, it should come as no surprise that a sequel is being developed, but while the first game was purely single-player focused, Hogwarts Legacy 2 could lean towards multiplayer. 

As spotted by Game Rant, Avalanche Studios is now hiring for a Senior Software Engineer. Specifically, the studio is seeking candidates with “online multiplayer RPG” experience, giving us a hint at the direction they are going in with Hogwarts Legacy 2.

It is unclear if they are thinking MMO-style gameplay, where you'll see other human players in all corners of the game, or if they are thinking co-op gameplay, where up to four player characters are roaming the world together, but outside of that, you won't run into other players.

Hogwarts Legacy garnered its popularity as a single-player experience, so this sounds like a massively risky change. Still, titles like Baldur's Gate 3 have proven that you can still have deep and meaningful RPG gameplay with multiple players, so maybe it will work out.

KitGuru Says: It sounds like Hogwarts Legacy 2 is being built to capture the imaginations of the shareholders and not the gamers who made the first one such a huge success. 

The post Hogwarts Legacy 2 may end up being a multiplayer game first appeared on KitGuru.

2025 is nearly over, and this year's seen us explore many new locations across VR and mixed reality. Today, we're highlighting some of our favorites.

Like last year, we're splitting the UploadVR editorial team's top picks for 2025's best titles across three articles. This first one looks toward the best games across four platforms: Apple Vision Pro, PC VR, PlayStation VR2, and Meta Quest. We're also discussing our top immersive entertainment experiences beyond gaming, too.

The next article will focus on mixed reality apps and games, alongside a focus on this year's best uses of hand tracking. Because only fully released games normally count, tomorrow will also include our early access categories.

Finally, our last article features our biggest awards for 2025. In line with last year, this includes the Best VR Game Of The Year across any platform, Best VR Hardware, Best Developer, Best Multiplayer, Best Virtual Place, and Most Anticipated VR Game for 2026.

So, let's begin with the first round for our best of 2025 awards.

---

Best Exploratory Experience

2025's been another eye-opener in how filmmakers use immersive tech to deliver compelling narratives. On Apple Vision Pro in particular, Apple Immersive Video saw projects like the Metallica concert experience, Bono: Stories of Surrender, MotoGP Tour De Force, and D-Day: The Camera Soldier.

Some experiences touch upon heavier themes: The Reality of Hope used VRChat to cover a life-saving friendship, Reflections of Little Red Dot examined Singapore's history, while Soul Paint encourages introspection. Other notable projects include Touching The Sky, Alien Perspective, and Black Cats & Chequered Flags.

This year's award goes to The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up, a free-roaming VR experience based on a Taiwanese short story. While you can't influence what happens, most scenes are fully explorable as you witness the narrative unfold. It feels like walking into a movie, going that extra immersive mile while backing that up with a compelling narrative.

The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up Feels Like Walking Into A Movie

The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up adapts the Taiwanese short story into a free-roaming VR experience.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

---

Favorite New Apple Vision Pro Game

Apple developers only started supporting tracked controllers near the end of 2025 as games like Pickle Pro started supporting the input method. Big name title Glassbreakers made its way to Apple Vision Pro in 2025, alongside the winner of Apple's own selection for best of the year, puzzler Porta Nubi.

Gears & Goo from Resolution Games is our winner for Best New Apple Vision Pro Game. Resolution's developers adapted tower defense to Apple's gaze and pinch interface with a challenging multi-hour campaign, and we'd love to see more Gears & Goo in the future.

Gears & Goo Reimagines Tower Defense For Hand & Eye Tracking On Apple Vision Pro

Gears & Goo is out now on Apple Arcade for Vision Pro, and it’s a must-play for subscribers and strategy fans.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

---

Favorite New Quest Game

Even without a new Quest headset launch, this year certainly hasn't lacked for games across Meta's standalone ecosystem.

Many of 2025's best Quest games left it late. Alongside big names like Marvel’s Deadpool VR and Thief VR, these last few months also saw Glassbreakers, Arken Age, Hotel Infinity, Reach, Of Lies and Rain, Demeo x D&D, Titan Isles, and Memoreum arrive. Still, Alien: Rogue Incursion, Pixel Dungeon, and GORN 2 ensured the rest of the year had its fill too.

There can only be one winner, and Ghost Town is 2025's Quest Game of the Year. Fireproof Games delivered what we considered to be an “utterly engrossing supernatural VR adventure” with strong gameplay design and some of the best visuals we've seen yet on Quest 3.

It's a highly worthy follow-up to Fireproof's previous hit, The Room VR: A Dark Matter, and we'd dearly love to see more of this world in the future.

Ghost Town Review: An Utterly Engrossing Supernatural VR Adventure

Ghost Town is a brilliant supernatural puzzle adventure from The Room VR studio that you won’t want to miss.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

---

Favorite New PC VR Game

All eyes might be on Valve with next year's Steam Frame launch, but 2025's still seen some great PC VR releases. Leading a handful of exclusives were Vertigo 2: Into The Aether, BattleGroupVR2, and Lushfoil Photography Sim.

They were joined by multiplatform hits like Of Lies and Rain, Lumines Arise, Demeo x D&D, Arken Age, Reach, Thief VR, Ghost Town, and The Midnight Walk. That's before mentioning slightly older games coming to PC VR like Vendetta Forever, Zero Caliber 2, and Dungeons of Eternity.

For 2025, Roboquest VR is our PC VR Game of the Year. Flat2VR Studios' exhilarating conversion of RyseUp Studios' 2023 FPS roguelite feels like it was natively designed for the platform, and we called it “an instant classic” in our review.

Roboquest VR Review: An Instant Classic

Roboquest VR takes an already exhilarating FPS roguelite and delivers a near-flawless VR adaptation.

UploadVRJames Galizio

---

Favorite New PlayStation VR2 Game

It's another year when PlayStation VR2 relied on third party publishers - Climate Station aside - and the hits continued coming. 2025 provided a strong library like Hitman, Maestro, Of Lies and Rain, Demeo x D&D, Reach, Lumines Arise, UNDERDOGS, and Roboquest VR. We're also not forgetting Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate, which has gradually improved with updates.

For 2025, Arken Age is our PlayStation VR2 Game of the Year. VitruviusVR delivered a strong sci-fi action-adventure with tactile VR-first gameplay design. While it's also a solid PC VR and Quest 3 game, Arken Age benefits from Sony's headset with strong haptic feedback and PS5 Pro enhancements. Our appreciation's grown since launch and if you love action titles, it's an essential buy.

Arken Age Review: Satisfying Sci-Fi Adventure With Great VR Design

Arken Age delivers a satisfying sci-fi adventure with clever VR-oriented design, and it’s out now on PlayStation VR2 and Steam.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Two intelligence services from at least two NATO nations have raised alarms over a potential "weapon of fear" currently under development by Russia. This anti-satellite system is reportedly being developed to target Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation, which has become a critical backbone for Ukrainian military communications and battlefield

Are you still shopping for a holiday gift? First and foremost, check out our staff picks of ho-ho-hot tech selections, then have a gander at our roundup of last minute stocking stuffer deals. Of course, it's a bit late in the game with Christmas now just two days away, but if you're shopping for yourself (or are okay with printing a picture

Astronomers have finally captured a black hole twisting the very fabric of spacetime. This phenomenon, known as frame-dragging or Lense-Thirring precession, confirms a cornerstone of Einstein’s general theory of relativity by showing that massive, rotating objects don’t just spin in situ—they drag it along with them like a spoon stirring honey

Nintendo confirmed in a roundabout way that it is discontinuing its Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle after an internal GameStop memo stating as much was leaked on X. However, it's not all bad news. If you're quick, you can still find the bundle in stock, and at a great discount to boot. More on that in a moment. CONFIRMED: the Switch

It has been almost three months since EA's Board of Directors announced that it had received a $55B buyout offer. Last night, EA took the next step towards closing the deal, with shareholders officially voting to approve the buyout.

As first spotted by Stephen Totilo, EA's shareholders have now voted in favour of the acquisition proposal. Now, the next step will be getting the acquisition approved by government regulators, which depending on the level of scrutiny, can either take several months, or years. A recent example of this taking longer than expected was the Microsoft – Activision merger, with the deal's agreed upon closing date having to be extended a couple of times due to continued meetings with regulators.

The EA deal will see a consortium of private investors banding together to pay out $55 billion to shareholders in exchange for 100% control over the company. Once the deal is completed, EA will no longer be a publicly traded company and it will be delisted from the stock exchange. This also means that things like earning reports don't have to be publicly published.

The buyout is expected to be completed before the end of 2026.

KitGuru Says: There will be a lot of debt accrued with this deal, so there will no doubt be some major changes at EA once the dust settles here. Expect more multiplayer, more microtransactions and fewer true single-player projects

The post EA shareholders approve $55 billion buyout first appeared on KitGuru.

Back in 2023 as part of its effort to get the acquisition of Activision approved, Microsoft signed legally binding agreements with a number of rival game companies to ensure continued equal access to Call of Duty across all major platforms. Microsoft has made good on those promises for the most part, but we've yet to see COD return to Nintendo consoles. According to new reports, that could change within the next few months. 

According to Windows Central's Jez Corden, Microsoft has been working on the Nintendo Switch version for Call of Duty for a long time now, and the first release should be launching “in a few months”.

If this is accurate, then that would make Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 the first COD title since Call of Duty Ghosts to release on a Nintendo console. We also anticipate that Call of Duty will only be coming to the newer Switch 2 system and not the original Switch console.

Prior to this rumour, fans expected this year's Call of Duty to skip Nintendo's platform again. Microsoft has not yet made any official announcements, but there will be an Xbox Games Showcase in January, so we may get an announcement then. Hopefully future titles, like COD 2026, release on the Switch 2 at the same time as other platforms.

KitGuru Says: The Switch 2 has limited internal storage space, so hopefully the developers will be looking at ways to optimise the install size of the game. 

The post Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 might be coming to Nintendo Switch after all first appeared on KitGuru.

Star Citizen is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious projects currently in development, with the space sim having raised hundreds of millions in funding since its initial announcement back in 2012. Well over a decade since its reveal and a solid 8 years on from its Early Access launch, Star Citizen continues to receive new levels of support from fans – with 2025 said to have been their best year yet, raising over $150 million.

As part of Star Citizen’s 2025 recap, the team at Robert Space Industries looked back at all the progress which has been made over the past 12 months.

While Star Citizen still has a ways to go, 2025 saw many welcome additions introduced, including almost 100 new locations, two-dozen ships and multiple live events across 11 ‘major’ updates.

By far the most interesting revelation however is the fact that in 2025 alone, Star Citizen raised over $152 million in funding.

For context, this represents a 35% increase over their previous best year funding-wise and brings the total amount raised so far to a whopping $926 million – all of which is said to be going “directly to the game's development.”

When all is said and done, it is very possible that Star Citizen will be the most expensive game ever made. While video game budgets are typically kept hidden, we do know that Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War cost over $700 million to develop.

With GTA VI being the only other game to potentially rival Star Citizen’s budget, it will be interesting to see how the space sim progresses over the coming years and how much it will have raised in total by the time the game finally releases.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the game? Will it ever hit 1.0? Have you contributed any money to the project? Let us know down below.

The post Star Citizen had its biggest year ever funding-wise as project nears $1 Billion first appeared on KitGuru.

Starting off as a bit of a mixed bag of a developer, Bloober Team have slowly but surely proven themselves in the horror genre, with their most recent original release ‘Cronos: The New Dawn’ receiving high praise from players while exceeding half a million copies sold since its launch back in September. While intended to be a rather daunting experience, the developers at Bloober Team have confirmed that Cronos will be getting a new easier difficulty mode early next year.

Making the announcement via a humorous skit published to their YouTube channel, Bloober Team confirmed that Cronos: The New Dawn will be getting an easier difficulty option in the form of the Temporal Diver Mode.

Arriving in early 2026, the developers explained their mentality behind the upcoming addition, stating:

“Hey there travellers. Cronos: The New Dawn was a game developed to challenge the players. But we’ve heard your voices, and we know that some of us want to explore the story behind the game in your own pace. So right now, we are working on a new difficulty setting that will be introduced in early 2026. Such is our calling.”

For the uninitiated, Cronos: The New Dawn is a 3rd person horror experience in which players must “survive the brutal wastelands of the future, fight nightmarish merging creatures and jump back in time to harvest souls as you seek to uncover the origins of the apocalypse that wiped out humanity.”

Being a survival horror game, Cronos is understandably not the easiest of experiences. That said, it is encouraging to see a new option being added which should allow more people to check out the game while not taking away from other players’ personal stories. It will be interesting to see whether anything else is added alongside the new difficulty mode.

KitGuru says: Have you played Cronos: The New Dawn yet? What do you think? Would you have appreciated an easier mode? Let us know down below.

The post Cronos: The New Dawn to get ‘Temporal Diver’ difficulty mode in early 2026  first appeared on KitGuru.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to 3rd-party support so far. While some publishers have released impressive ports, others have seemingly done the bare minimum to get the game running on Nintendo’s latest and greatest. One title which seemed to come out of the oven a bit too hot was Persona 3 Reload – being limited to just 30fps. Thanks to further optimisations however, a new update for the Switch 2 version now allows it to run at 60fps (in docked mode at least).

As shared by the publication rpgsite, ATLUS have released a new patch for Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2. Though the list of changes is rather light, patch 1.03 brings with it support for 60fps via a new performance mode alongside improved frame rate stability across the board.

While a relatively uncommon practice so far, this new performance mode is being limited to those playing in docked mode – meaning you will still have to make do with 30fps in handheld.

Given the Switch 2’s 120hz screen, it would have been nice if ATLUS were able to get the handheld version to hit 40fps at the very least. Regardless, having a performance mode option is welcome to see, even if it is limited to docked mode.

KitGuru says: Are you bothered by Persona 3 Reload’s framerate on Switch 2? Is 30fps acceptable for a turn-based game? Should the handheld and docked modes have more parity with one another? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 updated with 60fps performance mode when docked first appeared on KitGuru.

For Day 23 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar, we have teamed up with Arctic to give one lucky reader a massive cooling upgrade. One winner today will receive the panoramic Arctic Xtender VG case, as well as a massive Liquid Freezer III Pro 420mm AIO liquid cooler.

The winner won't have to worry about space. The Arctic Xtender VG chassis actually has space for two 420mm liquid cooling radiators. The Liquid Freezer Pro 3 will pair well with high-end CPUs, bringing temperatures down to a minimum.

How to Enter:

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is head over to our competition announcement post on Facebook, HERE. In the comments, leave an answer to the following question – What CPU cooler are you currently using? 

This competition is open worldwide.

The winner will be picked randomly shortly after 11AM GMT December 24th, and a new competition will be announced for Day 24. The chosen winner has 48 hours to respond, if we do not hear from them, a new winner will be picked.

Terms and Conditions: This competition is open worldwide, starting at 11AM GMT on December 23rd and ending at 10:59AM GMT on December 24th. Due to the busy Christmas season, prize deliveries could take longer than usual, and some prizes may not ship until January. In compliance with GDPR, we will not collect or store any personal information as part of this competition. Once the winner has been contacted and their prize received, personal details will be deleted from our email servers. Your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to all who enter, we'll be back tomorrow morning to announce a winner and turn the calendar over to Day 24!

The post KitGuru Advent Calendar Day 23: Win an Arctic hardware bundle! first appeared on KitGuru.