To compete with Google’s Gemini 3, OpenAI released GPT-5.2, a new model with significant improvements in areas like coding, video, and image generation. OpenAI also recently updated ChatGPT’s image creation feature, making it four times faster, more accurate, and more imaginative.
You can now use Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat directly within our AI chat. This is a big step for Adobe, letting you easily control and use Photoshop’s tools just by typing what you want.
The year started strong with the release of Avowed, which I’m actually downloading right now! Then came Grounded 2, an early access game that successfully expands on what players loved about the first one.
Owlcat Games just released a new gameplay trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, giving players a look at how the game works. This comes with the launch of the Alpha Test, which was slightly delayed from December 16th to December 18th, 2025, to allow for some final improvements.
It’s noteworthy that Avalanche Studios, the developers of the cancelled Xbox game Contraband, have seemingly updated Just Cause 3, a game released nearly a decade ago.
I expected testing to be simple: launch each game on both Steam and the Xbox app, adjust the graphics settings, and find the lowest power usage that still delivered a smooth 60 frames per second. Unfortunately, it turned out to be much more complicated than I thought.
The update originally launched in July, but wasn’t available to all users initially. Now, it seems to be reaching more people. Windows Latest noticed the new feature within the Link to Windows app after installing the update released on December 8, 2025.
While Gears of War: E-Day is a major upcoming Xbox game, it’s just one of many planned for release in 2026. Several teams at Xbox Game Studios are currently developing new titles.
Halo Studios is working on Halo: Campaign Evolved, a significantly expanded remake of the original Halo game that will also be available on PlayStation for the first time.
Playground Games has two projects in development: Forza Horizon 6, an open-world racing game designed for the Japanese market, and a complete reboot of the Fable role-playing series, which hasn’t seen a new installment in years.
Beyond these new games, Xbox also plans to release updates and downloadable content for titles launched in 2025, such as The Outer Worlds 2 from Obsidian Entertainment.
Patch notes highlighted a problem in the Coerthas Western Highlands where enemies were appearing incorrectly, prompting players to investigate the Heavensward zone. It turned out these were unusually weak, level 1 versions of the Steinbock creatures – a type of antelope/deer enemy – and they didn’t display names.
The confusion started after a Bloomberg interview with Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian Studios, seemed to indicate the company was heavily investing in generative AI. However, Vincke and Larian’s publishing director, Michael Douse, quickly clarified that they aren’t actively ‘pushing’ AI technology. Instead, they’re simply offering it as an optional tool for developers who might want to create reference images for the studio’s concept artists. They also emphasized that no AI-generated content will appear in the Divinity game itself.