Overwatch 2 is set to bring a plethora of changes and new additions, including a Galactic weapon variant players will be able to obtain.
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Overwatch 2’s new “out of this world” Galactic weapon variant finally revealed
Lies of P: Overture DLC – Release window, trailer, everything we know
The Lies of P: Overture DLC has finally been revealed and we’ve compiled all the information you need to know before it launches.
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Logan Paul calls out Lionel Messi for boxing match to settle Prime lawsuit dispute
Logan Paul wants to settle the Prime Hydration vs Mas+ legal battle with a boxing match against Lionel Messi.
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Saros: Release window, story, trailers & everything we know
The February PlayStation State of Play showcase wrapped up by revealing new Sony IP Saros. Here’s what we know about it.
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Rachel Reeves told to ‘work closer with business to fund infrastructure projects rather than stretch public finances’
RACHEL Reeves should work closer with business to fund infrastructure projects rather than stretch public finances, a pensions firm boss has said.
Andy Briggs, boss of FTSE 100 Phoenix Group, said there were tens of billions of pounds of private money ready to invest in the housebuilding drive and green energy push.
But he warned the Chancellor that there needed to be a clearer defined roadmap of projects to invest in.
Labour’s growth mission has set out targets for infrastructure projects including building 1.5 million homes, a third Heathrow runway, tripling the number of wind turbines and constructing nine reservoirs.
Ms Reeves ramped up public spending in the Budget to an average of £70billion a year, the biggest rise in spending for a quarter of a century to try and fund growth.
However, growth forecasts have been cut and firms have argued the extra tax-hikes stymie their growth.
Sir Rupert Soames, chairman of the CBI, will call on the Government today to help get the “flywheel of the economy turning” with concrete strategies and policies.
Yesterday, it emerged the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned Ms Reeves she will be forced to make spending cuts because lower economic growth will wipe out her fiscal headroom.
Meanwhile, firms such as Phoenix have voiced concern higher public spending leads to higher interest rates — which is ultimately damaging to economic prospects and their own valuations.
If global investors are nervous about the health of UK finances it will also make it harder to attract their cash.
Mr Briggs, part of the British Investment Taskforce, said Phoenix is “engaging with the Government and have been clear that we are keen to invest and a pipeline of investable assets is important”.
He added more needs to be done to smooth the path for private investors.
It is thought they could secure contracts with the Government that allows steady annual returns on their investment, rather than full government funding.
This would likely be done through the new National Wealth Fund, which could underwrite the process.
He said: “The Government is working with the private sector and building clear lines of communication with the regulators to create the appropriate funding structures for pension providers, and to help build the Britain of tomorrow.”
Burb’s coats of arms
BURBERRY is pinning revival hopes on typical wet British weather and star power to promote its new heritage trench coats.
The troubled fashion brand has called on a cast of famous British faces, including model Naomi Campbell, Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood and Top Boy actor Micheal Ward, for the campaign, called: “It’s always Burberry weather.”
Burberry boss Joshua Schulman signalled last month the firm would put trench coats front and centre again, and water down its attempts to flog £2,000 handbags.
Heineken revived by cider
DRINKERS have got the thirst for cider again, with Heineken toasting a 40 per cent rise in sales of its Inch’s brand.
The brewing giant yesterday announced an eight per cent increase in profits to £2.9billion while revealing it sold 1.6 per cent more beers around the world in 2024.
Heineken said the success of its Inch’s and Old Mout brands was down to more younger drinkers choosing cider.
The firm has also ploughed money into advertising and believes a revival is under way after the cider boom created by Magners and Bulmers 20 years ago went flat.
Heineken has also benefitted from the success of its Spanish lager brand Cruzcampo, which it said had been its most successful launch in the past decade.
It claims its Birra Moretti also became its most popular beer in the UK in the past year, as more drinkers choose European-style lagers.
Close to amount?
BRITISH motor finance giant Close Brothers has put aside £117.2million to cover possible compensation claims in a crisis dubbed PPI 2.0.
Major lenders could be on the hook for £44billion over deals with hidden commission payments following a court ruling in October.
A Supreme Court appeal is set for April.
Analysts said Close Brothers’ provision was lower than feared, suggesting it may sidestep having to raise more cash.
Thames Water is probed
WATER regulator Ofwat has launched a fresh investigation into Thames Water over concerns it will not complete more than 100 environmental schemes funded by customers.
The regulator said it will probe whether the delays mean England’s largest water firm has breached its licence.
It comes amid concerns Thames Water had been using millions of pounds it had pledged for clean-up projects, such as upgrading sewage systems, on staff bonuses and dividends for investors.
Thames Water is currently weighing up rescue bids while its bondholders battle it out in court over a refinancing that could stave off state-backed special administration.
Ofwat’s Lynn Parker said: “We take any indication that water firms are not meeting their legal obligations very seriously.”
A Thames Water spokesman said: “Customers will not pay twice for investment already funded through their bills.”
Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey hit with fresh sex abuse claim, court papers show
ACTOR Kevin Spacey is facing a fresh sex abuse claim, court papers show.
The allegation against the US double Oscar-winner was lodged in the High Court yesterday.
Ruari Cannon, who has waived his anonymity, is suing Spacey, 65, and two organisations connected to South London’s Old Vic Theatre, where the star was artistic director from 2003 to 2015.
No further details of the allegations are available.
In 2023, at Southwark crown court, Spacey was cleared of charges relating to alleged historic sex offences against four men.
One of the men, who cannot be identified, has since sued Spacey.
The House of Cards star has previously denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour and criminal wrongdoing.
Spacey won Oscars for The Usual Suspects in 1996 and American Beauty in 2000.
Previously, speaking to Piers Morgan on his Uncensored show, the House of Cards actor broke down while discussing his fall from grace.
As Piers asked where the star is now, Spacey said: “Well, it’s funny you asked that question, because this week, where I have been living in Baltimore, is being foreclosed on. My house is being sold at auction.”
He explained how he’s relocating back to Baltimore and having to keep his possessions in storage.”
He also told Piers he had no money left after paying his bills.
Kim Kardashian reveals ‘secret’ to a bigger booty with launch of her new sexy Skims collection
KIM Kardashian reckons she knows exactly how to make women’s bums just swell — as she launches a collection to expand their rears.
The reality TV star, 44, who has a famously voluptuous backside, dressed up as the Fairy Butt Mother — wearing a nude leotard, high heels and angel wings — in an online ad for her new Skims range.
Included in the Ultimate Butt collection are padded shorts for £78 plus £88 leggings, which claim to add two inches of volume.
A £131 bodysuit is described as a “boob job and butt lift in one”.
Kim posted on X: “Five years in the making, our ultimate butt-enhancing solutions will magically make your dream butt appear. (no squats required).”
This new collection is the next instalment of Kim’s meteoric rise in the business world.
Over the past two decades, she has gone from Paris Hilton’s stylist to a billionaire businesswoman, and Kim has reinvented her look more times than we can count.
She has experimented with pink and platinum blonde hair and has been accused of cultural appropriation for wearing braids.
But her risk-taking paid off as she has been given one of the most coveted spots in the industry — the cover of American Vogue — three times.
Kim co-founded the firm in September 2019.
Her then-husband, Kanye West, was credited as being her “Ghost Creative Director” and for creating the company logo.
Beloved fabrics and crafts retail chain closing 500 stores within months
Joann is shuttering 500 of its 800 locations across every US state.
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Games Inbox: What was the best February 2025 State of Play game?
The Thursday letters page is upset at the decline of GAME and physical releases, as one reader thinks Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is slightly overrated.
To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]
Healthy state
So that was actually a decent State of Play for once. The pacing was poor, because I was convinced it was going to be a boring one for at least half the time, but it had a good ending and while I’m not as big a fan of Returnal as GC is, those magic words ‘new single-player only IP’ were music to my ears.
I also liked that Chinese Dark Souls/Devil May Cry thing set in London, the stop motion horror game [The Midnight Walk – GC], the new Onimusha, and Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance. What does worry me though is that I think Saros was the only new Sony-made game, except for the Days Gone remaster.
So, we’re still only finding out what their developers are doing at a snail’s pace. But if that’s because they’ve all been moved off live service games and are now doing proper single-player games instead then that’s something I can live with.
I’d give the State of Play a B+, let’s see if we can keep the ball running and the next one’s good too. Although I guess it won’t be, because they seemed to say the next was going to be dedicated to Borderlands 4 only.
Cranston
Acceptable grab
Can’t help but agree with the reader who wants to see what the ‘real’ next game from FromSoftware is. This Elden Ring spin-off sounds like such a minor thing. I don’t want to call it a cash grab, because I love all their stuff, but I will be shocked if that’s not what it ends up being known as.
I don’t mind. I’m happy to give From cash even if it does seem a bit of a push. The mid-budget price tag certainly makes it clear, to me at least, that Nightreign is not a full game and just something they put out there as a quick money-maker. Someone suggested it probably started as DLC and that sounds believable.
It’s out in May though and so hopefully that leaves things clear for a reveal of something new at the Summer Game Fest in June, which I believe is where Elden Ring got its debut. I don’t really mind what the game is, but I’d be especially happy if it was something new and not a sequel or remake. Maybe the sci-fi Soulslike that people have been calling for, for years?
Limpton
Mostly great circle
Just reached the credits on Indiana Jones And The Great Circle on Xbox. I think they absolutely nailed the Indiana Jones aesthetic and feel, and the slapstick combat was fun. I appreciated the non-linear level design, particularly in the first couple of locations, which really felt worth exploring.
The side missions were also more inventive fare than you normally get in games these days and felt genuinely worthwhile. I experienced a few bugs, the worst being when the game crashed at the end of a cut scene that I had to rewatch it in its entirety (it was a lonnngggg one), but generally speaking it was all very slick.
Overall, I enjoyed it but I felt like the game dragged a bit in the final quarter, so I wasn’t quite as enamoured with it as some, probably an 8/10 for me (the very last fight, in particular, I thought was really naff.) Shout out to Tony Todd, very poignant ending given his recent passing.
Magnumstache
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So good I bought the company
For the first time in my life, I’ll be buying a game that’s actually going to make me money when I buy it.
I’m so convinced of GTA 6’s success that I bought shares in Take-Two Interactive a couple of weeks ago. It’s already turned out to be quite lucrative because following an earnings report from them late last week, I’m sitting on a 14% return. The share price jumped because their losses were not as much as expected(!).
Imagine the share price jump when the next trailer drops, let alone when GTA 6 comes out.
The returns I get when I eventually sell up won’t be life changing, but to think that the game I’m so excited to play is going to end up funding our next family holiday is pretty nuts.
Rangersingh (PSN ID)
Currently playing: the stock market
Limited release
I’m surprised at how little Alan Wake 2 has sold. 2 million seems to be very low for a game that got so many awards, and which seemed to be constantly in the news around the time it was released. Then I find out that not only did it not get a proper physical release but it’s not even on Steam – I didn’t realise that.
Did they not want the game to succeed? Was this some kind of secret tax write-off? On top of that I don’t remember any actual marketing for it at the time, so it seems like they spent all that time and money making it and then just sent it out to die.
Tacle
GC: It was published by Epic Games, so it’s not going to be on Steam for ‘a long time.’
Physically upset
My first reaction on reading the story about GAME scalping Pokémon cards is not the fact that they were doing something wrong but the fact that they still exist at all. I haven’t set foot in one for over a decade and haven’t seen one in the flesh in what must be two or three years.
I’m not particularly sad to see GAME go but it is a shame that it means that games are basically invisible in any physical shop nowadays. I think maybe John Lewis and some larger supermarkets carry them but I’m not sure and I haven’t noticed them myself in quite some time.
And before you say, ‘So what?’ the very obvious answer to that is that it means that physical games in general are going away and so Sony can suddenly cut access to all your games at a moment’s notice and not care at all that it happened or bother to give any compensation to ordinary people.
There’s no one set of people to blame here, especially as a lot of it is down on fans being too quick to embrace digital downloads, despite the obvious problem, but the end result is that we now have far less control over the things we buy.
Imagine if a GAME manager broke into your house and stole back the game you bought from them for a couple of days. That’s exactly what Sony did at the weekend and yet nothing will be done about it.
Campbell
A long shot
I wonder if the GTA 6 trailer will be shown off in the State of Play. Sony has done a few deals with them, like free GTA Online money and it’s getting to a point where a new trailer needs to drop.
Normally Sony will give a few hints what’s in their broadcast but this time, nothing. I wonder if today is the day the internet goes hot because GTA 6 Trailer 2 is shown in all its glory.
David
GC: You’ll know by the time you read this, but there were certainly no rumours of it beforehand.
Forgotten anniversary
So according to the This Day in Gaming section on the GameFAQs site, which I check every single day, Super Mario Bros. 3 is 35 years old.
I didn’t get to play it until 1995, via the Super Mario All-Stars pak on SNES.
I would later re-play it via the Game Boy Advance version.
It’s a shame Nintendo didn’t celebrate this milestone, though re-releasing this game that has already been released eight times wouldn’t be as special, so maybe they should have made some cool MyNintendo merchandise.
Or even better, and something I would absolutely love, is to re-release the Super Mario Bros. 3 LCD Watch.
I really wanted one as a kid but never got one, though I did play one.
Buying one off eBay is a no-no as a second-hand one will mean wearing others’ sweat!
Bleugh!
LeighDappa
GC: Super Mario Bros. 3 will be 37 years old on October 23. That’s the original Japanese release date and all Nintendo will care about.
Inbox also-rans
It would be just Sega’s luck if this Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds managed to come out at the same time as the new Mario Kart. Poor Sega, they never seem to catch a break.
Lambo
The rumours the Switch 2 can be played upside down brings back good memories of the Atari Lynx, which could flip the screen for left-handed people, if I recall correctly. Here’s hoping for Blue Thunder and Todd’s Adventures In Slime World ports to Switch 2…
Mark Matthews
Email your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
Leicester vs Arsenal: Latest team news, predicted lineup and injuries
Arsenal are reeling from another injury nightmare as they prepare to return to Premier League action against Leicester City this weekend.
Mikel Arteta and his squad have been out in Dubai for a mid-season training camp, hoping to replicate the huge impact the break had on his squad last season.
But they will return to the UK with another major headache following news that Kai Havertz has picked up a hamstring injury that could rule him out of the rest of the season.
It will leave Arteta without his first-choice front three with Bukayo Saka and Garbriel Martinelli not expected to return from injury until March.
Saka was with the group out in Dubai as he stepped up his recovery from a hamstring injury that required surgery in December.
Martinelli meanwhile was forced off in his side’s Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United. Havertz’s devastating injury completes a hat-trick of hamstring issues for the Arsenal front line.
Gabriel Jesus is also out for the rest of the campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
It leaves Arteta with the options of Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling in attack, with Ethan Nwaneri now likely to see out the season in a more advanced role.
One small positive for the Arsenal boss is Ben White is nearing his return to fitness.
The right-back has not featured since November after undergoing knee surgery but could be in contention to make his return against Leicester.
Predicted Arsenal XI to face Leicester
Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Nwaneri, Trossard, Sterling
Where to watch Leicester vs Arsenal? Kick-off time and TV channel
Leicester vs Arsenal kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday 15 February.
Live coverage is available on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Ultimate.