Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I don’t hate Christmas. Nor am I a Christian. I admit that, in my house, the holiday has slipped into a somewhat gothic reflection of a dust-choked tradition that we like to call Cryptmas, but that doesn’t mean I’m not one for taking part in the festivities. And what better way to get in the mood for roast chestnuts and big, beardy blokes sneezing their way down my chimney than a yuletide gaming session? At least, that’s what I had in mind before my “Best Christmas Games” research hit a distinctly glittery wall.Seriously, why are there no good Christmas games out there? Take a look for yourself – there are countless YouTube videos outlining the so-called best Christmas games, but not a single one captures the true essence of what I want from a Christmas game… that is if you can call most of them Christmas games to begin with.Backlog burning merrily Festive fun If it ’tisn’t the season in gaming, how about watching one of the best Ch…

Paradox Interactive chief creative officer Henrik Fåhraeus says the canceled life sim Life By You wasn’t actually better than The Sims 4 in any major way.Life By You was positioned as a direct competitor to The Sims 4 before it was canceled in June 2024. However, in a new interview with Game File (paywalled), Fåhraeus admits it failed to deliver.”An early access game needs, I think, needs to be really, really polished and fun, what’s there, at least,” Fåhraeus says. “You can have a lot of missing stuff in the late game and be very thin on content. But it needs to be a really good experience. And I don’t think this could have been that for the foreseeable future.”I also don’t think that it was actually clearly better than Sims 4 in any of its main areas.”As if it needs to be said, that’s an incredibly damning statement from the top of a game’s publisher positioned to compete with The Sims 4. And believe it or not, it’s debatable whether this is the most damning thing w…

FC 25 Season 1 Ladder Players work a little differently to how they did in FC 24, thanks to the new game-wide Season Pass. XP can be earned in any EA FC 25 mode, earning rewards across the game – but most of the best ones are still found in Ultimate Team. And yes, that includes a new batch of Ladder Players specifically for that mode. Find out how to get them all in your FC 25 Ladder Players guide. How do I get FC 24 Season 1 Ladder Players? As in previous games, you earn FC 25 Season 1 Ladder Players by gradually building up SP – the FC version of XP – with a reward granted at every increments of 1,000. To gradually unlock them, go to the Objectives tab in FC 25 and tick off as many tasks you can find offering SP. Note that you can now do it across the game, rather than just in Ultimate Team. For Season 1, playing Rush matches is the main way to score SP – hence it being called Total Rush.Who are the best FC 25 Season 1 Ladder Players? There are ten FC 2…