The XP Drop 🕹 Friday May 9, 2025
Wake up! A new GTA VI trailer is here! Plus: Nintendo Switch 2 stock, lawsuits aplenty, and what we've been playing this week
☀️ Happy Friday and welcome to The XP Drop newsletter! It’s our first ever edition for everything you need to know about gaming ☀️
🗣 The Patch Notes
🚨 ICYMI
🛒 Stock Check
💸 This week’s releases
📽 Clip of the Week
👾 RETROspective
🗣 The Patch Notes
Hold onto your chairs - the new GTA VI trailer has dropped
Rockstar Games is continuing to tease us with a brand new trailer showing off more information about the game’s protagonists and story.
TechRadar ran a great live analysis about the GTA VI trailer, including everything we need to know about Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos as well as other main characters.
"Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive."
If you want a quick recap of what happened, you can read TechRadar’s analysis right here.
🃏 Did you know… Nintendo started as a playing card company way back in 1889? We’ve come a long way from Hanafuda… 🃏
🚨 ICYMI
📈 Microsoft announced a hike in the prices of Xbox consoles and controllers, meaning a rise of £50 for the Xbox Series S and £20 for the Series X. Christopher Dring of the excellent The Game Business newsletter explains all:
🌨 The controversial Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal looks to finally be cleared of legal trouble, after US courts rejected an appeal. Eurogamer has more here.
🐨 In other legal news, Palworld developers Pocketpair have been ‘forced’ into patching the game under pressure from Nintendo. The Express details how the changes affect gameplay.
🚀 Revenge of the Savage Planet has arrived on various platforms and has been met with largely favourable reviews. PC Gamer explains what makes this “witty take on sci-fi and co-op” so fun.
⚙ Gears of War is getting remastered - and rather surprisingly, the former Xbox exclusive title will make its PS5 debut. Push Square have all the details on an August release.
💳 May 2025 is just over a week old, which means updates to the PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass line-ups. The Express handily explains what to look out for on Sony’s system, while Mirror Gaming covers what to expect on Xbox.
🆕 The upcoming Microsoft and Asus handheld console appears to have been leaked. The Verge has more on the Switch 2 rival.
🏖 YouTuber Skill Up has spent four days playing Death Stranding 2: On The Beach in Tokyo. Check out a spoiler-free insight here.
Have we missed a story? Let us know here
🛒 Stock Check
Each week, we will keep you informed about stock for the biggest consoles and games that you might struggle to obtain.
This week, we're keeping an eye on the Nintendo Switch 2, which appears to be sold out everywhere right now. However, you might be able to grab one by going in-store. Currys and Smyths Toys have been taking in-store pre-orders for the console at specific sites - so if you're desperate, you'll want to make sure you act fast.
Online-wise, we saw a small restock on The Game Collection and John Lewis. Make sure you keep an eye on the sites.
💸 This week’s releases
👿 Doom: The Dark Ages (Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC) - 15 May
🃏 Into the Restless Ruins (Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC) - 15 May
🕹 Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, PC) - 16 May
🎮 What we’re playing this week
Chris has been starting to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and it’s fair to say, he loves it.
“I’ve been playing Expedition 33 for the past week - and it’s fair to say it’s everything I’ve wanted from an RPG. If you want a great immersive RPG, get on this banger of a game right now!”
Like many who sought refuge in Verdansk during lockdown, Liam has returned to Call of Duty: Warzone - here are his thoughts:
“It’s so good to be back in Verdansk - it really feels like I’m back in 2020. But Warzone has a huge cheater problem and I just hope the new patch doesn’t kill the game off for good.”
📽 Clip of the Week
However you think this Skyrim clip from Reddit user u/tucnaaacek is going to go, we promise that you are wrong:
👾 RETROspective
Gran Turismo, 1997.
This week (May 8), Gran Turismo was released in Europe after previously releasing in Japan back on December 23, 1997.
Gran Turismo was hailed as one of the best PlayStation games on the platform and sold almost 11 million copies worldwide. Many have deemed it one of the best video games of all time.
The game took five years to develop and had a budget of $5million. When it comes to racing sims, Gran Turismo was the daddy that paved the way for many games after it.
Here’s to that 1997 classic!
Thanks for reading The XP Drop 001, if you enjoyed it please consider forwarding it to a friend.
Have a great weekend,
Chris and Liam