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Welcome to the latest DF Direct Weekly - and while the year is drawing to a close, there still seems to be enough gaming and technology news to allow us to deliver a packed show. We kick off with discussion on Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - now dated for 'Fall' 2023 - while we also share our thoughts on the extent to which Death Stranding's content would work for its transition to cinema.

Candy Crush developer King is closing down its Crash Bandicoot mobile game, On the Run.

The US Federal Trade Commission has hit Fortnite maker Epic Games with a record-breaking penalty of $520m (£427m) over allegations it previously employed "lax privacy practices" for voice and text chat, and used design tricks to "dupe millions of players" into unintentional purchases.

EA has used its FIFA series to correctly predict the winner of the World Cup for fourth consecutive time.

Nostalgia as a concept is probably one of the most alluring things in art at the moment. Hollywood is desperate to cash in on the memories of those raised in the 80s with reboots, sequels, and the like. We're constantly inundated with reminders from the games industry of how good games used to be, with remakes that don't quite capture how we remember things being. So when a game like Sephonie comes around, and manages to take my fond recollections of all those 3D platformers I played as a kid while offering a more mature, contemplative idea regarding what nostalgia can be, you can absolutely guarantee it will end up being one of my favourites of the year.

Instead of listening to relatives this festive season, why not listen to me talk to some brilliant people from the world of games? Just pop a woolly hat on and they won't even see the earbuds. I know: you're welcome.

Square Enix officially unveiled its Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 over the weekend.

UPDATE 19/12/22: Further footage from Ubisoft's supposedly under-wraps Assassin's Creed Jade has been posted to YouTube, this time showing off a mixture of stealth and combat.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 players have reported several issues since the release of the game's mid-season update: "Season 1 Reloaded".

This year's UK Christmas boxed games chart is in and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's FIFA at number one.

35 years ago, Final Fantasy redefined RPGs when SquareSoft pushed the boundaries of 8-bit storytelling. Playing as the four Warriors of Light, you're tasked with rescuing Cornelia’s Princess Sarah, who’s been kidnapped by a former royal knight, Garland. What follows is a quest to save the world, restoring the elemental crystals' power by defeating the Four Fiends that drained them, and eventually defeating Chaos itself. Basic storytelling by today’s standards but, aging gameplay aside, Final Fantasy 1 remains iconic. There’s strength in its simplicity and it felt complete.

The next DLC pack for Civilization 6's Leader Pass, Great Commanders, is now available and includes Tokugawa (Japan), Nader Shah (Persia), and Suleiman the Magnificent (Ottoman Empire).

Sable is today's festive freebie at Epic Games Store.

Lost Ark's festive Wreck the Halls update is now live.

In a surprise update to mark the holidays, award-winning developer Tomas Sala has rolled out a free PC VR patch for The Falconeer.

Seasons greetings one and all! Welcome to the final ever instalment of my Top Ten PSVR games lists for Ian’s VR Corner. Since about 2018, I’ve been creating Christmas Top Ten lists for my favourite PSVR games of the year but this year's is going to be a bit different because this is the year that the PSVR died. Sort of.

It looks like Microsoft is considering introducing cheaper, ad-supported tiers of its Xbox Game Pass.

Sker Ritual Episode 2 is out now.

Techland has released a four-part video detailing "the creative process" behind Dying Light 2 Stay Human's soundtrack.

Ubisoft Massive is looking for playtesters to run through its super secretive Star Wars game.

Game of the Week goes out to all of our supporters as part of the Eurogamer Essentials newsletter. There's going to be a slight shake-up of the supporters program in the near future (don't worry - it's all good news) so stay tuned for more details, and thanks as ever for your support - it's much appreciated.

If you asked me to describe the Gran Turismo series in one word, it would never be 'cool'. Vast? Yes. Detailed? Definitely, but cool? Not really. When I want to play a 'cool' racing game, I head to the latest Forza Horizon or maybe even an old copy of Need for Speed Underground (cheesy cool, OK?). I didn't go into Gran Turismo 7 expecting to be wowed like this.

When you're Nintendo, creator of some of the most beloved games of all time that are just bursting with playful innovation, wonder, and creativity, you might expect that to be reflected in the building where the magic all happens. Sure, maybe it's not Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory or even Google's gimmicky offices that exude a cringey big-kid energy, but you wouldn't think Shigeru Miyamoto, or all the other creative minds of Nintendo EPD, would spend their day-to-day in a giant corporate concrete block, which another developer I spoke to jokingly referred to as, "the place where dreams go to die".

Today's festive freebie from Epic Games Store is Costume Quest 2.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is currently free to play right across all platforms.

Meta's VR consulting CTO, John Carmack, is leaving the company after "a decade in VR", accusing the firm of "self-sabotage".

With Warzone 2.0's servers now live for a few weeks, it's clear that PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S run the game brilliantly at 60fps - or even 120fps. But what of the older consoles, the millions of PS4s and Xbox Ones that remain in use? And what about the enhanced consoles, the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X? To find out if any of these last-gen options are competitive with the current-gen consoles and PC, in frame-rate or in settings, we returned to Al Mazrah for more testing.

Double Fine boss Tim Schafer has revealed he avoids "a grab bag of stereotypes" to make his games more inclusive and avoid "hurting people".

Games are good at moments of reflection - a very specific kind of reflection anyway. You might call it the "Well, That Didn't Work" Moment. In games we get do-overs, so when an approach isn't working, you get to rethink it. Rather than in real life, say, where I just try the same failed approach again but grumpier.

This feature contains spoilers for Kirby and the Forgotten Land.