ChatGPT reportedly wants to put sponsored ads in your AI psychosis sessions. The League of Legends fighting game is almost out. And Pluribus’ Rhea Seehorn once starred in a Magic: The Gathering tutorial CD-ROM from Best Buy. It’s the last Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture, for 2025. We’ll see you on the other side where more great gaming debates await like whether the myth of the “solo dev” should be retired for good or is still a useful descriptor. 2026 feels like the year we’ll finally get to the bottom of this, and so much more!
Rhea Seehorn on her early role in the Magic the Gathering video game 🧙♀️ pic.twitter.com/0knL13ppkc
— 𝙧𝙝𝙚𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙣 (@rheangelseehorn) December 30, 2025
ChatGPT results could soon be manipulated by “sponsored” bots
That’s according to a new report from The Information which points to conversations among some employees at OpenAI about how to inject ads into the popular bot querying platform. A hypothetical example includes asking for recommended ibuprofen dosages for headaches and being recommended an Advil ad instead. Basically, the shitty version of Google, except you have to pay a subscription to access it.
“As ChatGPT becomes more capable and widely used, we’re looking at ways to continue offering more intelligence to everyone,” a spokesperson for OpenAI told The Information this month. “As part of this, we’re exploring what ads in our product could look like. People have a trusted relationship with ChatGPT, and any approach would be designed to respect that trust.”
The League of Legends fighting game arrives next month
A console release date of January 20 for 2XKO was briefly leaked after a new trailer for the game went up on YouTube early. Launched in early access on PC back in October, the full launch will see Riot Games’ free-to-play fighter arrive on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well.
River City Ransom: Underground is about to disappear
The 2017 beat ’em up is set to be delisted from Steam at any moment now. The store page has already lost all of its images and gameplay footage. “Due to the expiration of a licensing agreement, this game will be removed from sale on Steam,” the developer shared in a new update. “The delisting process is currently underway. If you already own the game, nothing changes — it will remain available in your Steam Library, and you can continue to download and play as usual.”
The Kunio-kun franchise is currently owned and overseen by Arc Systems.
Atlus isn’t rushing the next Metaphor: Refantazio
“When we initially set out to create this game, we had the ambitions of hoping to cultivate this game into one of our brands within Atlus, like a pillar,” director Katsura Hashino recently told Game Informer. “With that being said, just because we had a certain level of success, we don’t want to just jump on that and quickly put out something as a sequel.”
He went on, “We want to really give it some thought and make sure that if we are able to continue on in this series, we’re putting together something that is building on the values that we were able to infuse into this game, and something that would be worthwhile for the fans that would be waiting for it.”
Geoff Keighley shares how the Mega Man reveal at The Game Awards 2025 came together
“A few weeks later, I was at Capcom HQ in Osaka,” he wrote on Instagram. “The lights dimmed, the Mega Man theme played, and through the door walked Minamitani-san in a full Mega Man outfit, alongside Izumi-san, dressed as Dr. Wily. It was classic Capcom.
Keighley continued, “We talked about their vision for the next Mega Man, and then they handed me a controller to play a very early ROM and give feedback. That’s when we began discussing how to reveal it to the world.”
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