Stardew Valley just got better on Switch 2, Marvel Rivals is pitching a big 2026, and we finally have our first teaser trailer for Nicolas Cage as John Madden. It’s the latest edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture. While many were battling big game service outages over the holiday, from Arc Raiders to Steam, I was battling Minecraft for the original Switch, which I bought for my kids because of the Mario add-on but which keeps crashing on startup.
It’s something fans have apparently dealt with for years, but I’m still shocked that a mash-up of two of the biggest franchises in gaming on the second-most-popular console ever is in such poor shape. We ended up going analog instead and playing the board game Trouble, which devolved into hitting and shouting even more quickly than our normal Mario Kart World Grand Prixes. This Christmas left me with much to think about!
Stardew Valley gets surprise Switch 2 upgrade
The hit pixel art farm sim costs $15 on Switch 2 and the upgrade is free to everyone who already owns the game. You might be thinking, what is the point of a Switch 2 upgrade for a 2016 indie game? Well, this one adds mouse control support, local co-op support for four-player split-screen (up to eight online), and Game Share support so people can play on different Switches together locally even if they don’t own the game. ConcernedApe’s next game, Haunted Chocolatier, is due out in the next couple of years, but Stardew Valley has continued getting big updates in the meantime.
2026 will be the year Star Citizen crosses $1 billion in funding
PC Gamer reports that the sci-fi ship simulator has currently reached $927,641,376 in funding from over 6 million players. That puts it on track to cross the $1 billion threshold sometime next year. That’s more than most big blockbuster game development budgets put together, coming from a mix of crowdfunding and microtransactions. What we don’t still know, however, is when the game’s long-awaited single-player campaign will arrive. Director Chris Roberts recently projected that the game might hit 1.0 sometime in 2027 or 2028.
You can now wash in Red Dead Redemption 2‘s rivers
That’s thanks to a new mod from user Saul0097 (via TheGamer). The new mod lets you dip into any body of water in the sprawling open-world game and wash all the mud, sweat, and blood off your face and clothes. Another small step for modders, another big leap for immersion.
Marvel Rivals isn’t going anywhere
“2025 was more of a warm-up period for us,” executive producer Danny Koo told Den of Geek. “Next year, we’re going to have bigger plans. We’re not going to slow down. We’ve already planned more than a year ahead and I can’t wait for our players to see it.”
Ex-GTA dev doesn’t think Rockstar will get “greedy” with GTA 6 pricing
“I don’t think the price tag for GTA 6 will be $100,” former animator Mike York told Esports Insider. “I think it will come out at $70, around the flatline of normal releases. I don’t think Rockstar Games feel they need to release it at a higher cost. They’ll sell so many copies of the game that they won’t need to be greedy and charge $100.”
