Technology

The best PS5 games from 2025

Published

2 months ago

December 28, 2025

In this new era of console… inclusivity? driven by Sony and mostly Microsoft bringing their exclusives to other platforms, it’s getting harder to highlight games that make a singular console shine. Indeed, the top-performing games year after year on both PlayStation and Xbox are multiplatform releases, and often the best games of the year, like 2025 GOTY winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, similarly launch on most everything. (Once again, like in all things, Nintendo is the exception.)

But while lists like this will probably disappear as we get deeper into the era of everything being an Xbox, Sony still seems committed to high-quality exclusives. Here are its best of 2025.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

As software exclusivity goes the way of Sega’s console business, console makers have other ways to attract consumers to their part of the video game ecosystem. For Microsoft, it’s Game Pass; for Sony in 2025, it’s the PlayStation Portal. This year, Sony launched an update for the Portal that enables cloud streaming and making the device a must-have for PlayStation households. For $200, roughly half the price of a PS5, you essentially get a second one, able to play select games without the need to stream them from the console. The list of streamable games isn’t comprehensive, but there are over 2,000 of them, and the ability to play them on the go is a literal game changer.

Get into a discussion with true Final Fantasy sickos about the top 10 games in the franchise, and you better have a lot of time and earplugs on your hands as everyone debates entries two through 10 — because No. 1, invariably, is Final Fantasy Tactics. Having finally played the game for the first time, taking advantage of the remaster Square Enix released this year, I get it. The best video games are often timeless while also able to speak to a specific moment, and Tactics’ story is and does exactly that.

But more than narrative, Tactics’ brilliance is also in its expansive job system that grants players a facsimile of godhood that’s so much fun to wield. The arithmetician class has the ability to cast any learned spell in the game instantly and without requiring mana. To offset the class’s ruinously slow speed, pair it with white mage to create the most diabolical unit in the history of strategy RPGs. Ramza Beoulve is just a guy trying to save the world, and FFT made me believe he can because I made his ragtag band of misfits into walking nuclear weapons.

Sucker Punch’s sequel to Ghost of Tsushima plays things relatively safe. It doesn’t change things up dramatically but instead polishes the experience. Which means the experience isn’t all that different from its predecessor — that means lush landscapes to explore, lots of combat techniques to learn, and, uh, plenty of hot springs to bathe in — but everything feels more finely tuned this time around. That’s especially true of the game’s tale of revenge, which is both more gripping than the original and also gives the open-world experience some much-needed structure.

The original Death Stranding was so weird that half of the fun was just wrapping your head around the experience. I’m not sure I really understood it until I was almost done (if at all). The sequel is still plenty weird, but because it builds off of the previous game, it’s also much easier to understand from the get-go. It’s still a delivery simulator where you trek across a postapocalyptic landscape to get goods and people where they’re needed. But now the setting has shifted to Australia, which means there are new environmental elements to deal with — hello, sandstorms — along with a whole new cast of weirdo characters to meet, played by everyone from Elle Fanning to George Miller.

But don’t worry; the story is still as inscrutable as ever.

Bennett Foddy sure made you feel the “walking” part of this elaborate walking simulator. In Baby Steps, your job is to walk, and you do that by controlling every move involved in taking a step, down to the fine motor details. What results is a hilarious examination of human psychology, emotional maturity, and a newfound appreciation for just how hard it is to ambulate a body with nothing more than DualSense trigger buttons.

When Lumines Arise was first announced, I made the mistake of asking, “Oh, is it a series or something?”, unfamiliar with Lumines’ days as a PSP powerhouse. My elders have never let me live that down, so I thought I’d see for myself what the game is.

Lumines Arise is Evil Dr. Tetris Effect Mean Bean Machine. Mean Bean Machine in that the game is played by globbing together matching blocks in two-by-two configurations. It’s part Tetris Effect because the game has an incredible synth / pop-house soundtrack that’s synced to the action, creating a full-body puzzle-playing experience. And evil in that the game is hard as shit. My skills as a Tetris player, limited though they are, just do not transfer to Lumines Arise. But! There is a flow state I can reach. Throughout playing, the shapes of the blocks will change from blocks, to eggs, to clocks, whatever, and I’ve found some patterns are easier to group than others. It’s interesting and fun to figure out what shapes make the game easier for me and which ones are impossible to configure.

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Ash Parrish

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Technology

Slay the Spire II is even better with a friend

Published

2 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Slay the Spire II is even better with a friend

Slay the Spire II launched in early access last week, and it’s already an excellent sequel to one of the best roguelikes of all time. In many ways, it’s very similar to its predecessor. Like Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong, Slay the Spire II mostly iterates on an already superb foundation. But it does add online co-op with up to four players. While multiplayer changes the familiar rhythms of Slay the Spire just a bit, it’s still a great way to tackle the arduous climb up the spire.

A round of Slay the Spire II plays essentially the same as the original: In each run, you navigate three different acts across a winding map, slowly making a build by crafting your deck and picking up various perk-giving relics, and fighting enemies, elites, and bosses along the way. Slay the Spire II retains the deliberate, turn-based style of play, meaning that when it’s your turn, you have as much time as you want to decide what to do. Since you can see exactly what your enemies are planning for their next turn, there’s a lot of strategy in deciding how much damage to do and how much defense you might need to set up. Multiplayer adds a slight twist: When it’s your turn, everyone can play simultaneously. That opens up all sorts of new opportunities for planning, but it also requires communication to make sure everyone is using their cards effectively.

My multiplayer partner was my wife, the biggest Slay the Spire fan I know, and on our second run we got a thrilling victory. I played the new Necrobinder character, a necromancer, while she played as the returning Silent, which can make decks built around flurries of shivs. Over the course of the run, we accidentally settled into a strategy where I focused on applying the Vulnerable status to as many enemies as possible before my wife would rain down shivs upon our foes.

Slay the Spire II doesn’t encourage teamwork only in battles. At a campfire rest stop, you can choose to mend a friend’s health to help them out. (Some of the new enemies are tough, so I’m glad this is an option.) You each get a vote on which path to take next on the map. Everyone can draw on the map, too — as I learned many times after seeing the doodles my wife made when I would spend too long in the shop.

Since we had to communicate so much, our winning run took about an hour and a half, slower than how fast I could blast through runs in the first game. When we finally defeated the Act 3 boss, though, it was even more satisfying than most of my solo wins because we did it together. My one complaint is that co-op requires you to each play online on your own copy of the game, and that, because there’s no couch co-op, we each had to play on separate devices even though we were sitting on the couch right next to each other.

Those are annoying tradeoffs, but multiplayer is such a fun addition to Slay the Spire that I don’t mind. I can’t wait to try another multiplayer run and see what challenges — and doodles — are in store for me.

Technology

Android fixes 129 security flaws in major phone update

Published

2 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Android fixes 129 security flaws in major phone update

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Most people never think about Android security updates until a headline like this appears. Suddenly, your phone, the device you use for messages, banking, photos and work, becomes part of a global cybersecurity story.

That is exactly what happened this week. Google released its latest Android security updates, and they fix a massive 129 vulnerabilities. Even more concerning, one of them is already being exploited by attackers.

The flaw targets a component connected to Qualcomm graphics hardware, and researchers say it has already been used in limited targeted attacks. If you use an Android phone, this is the kind of update you want installed as soon as possible.

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GOOGLE DISMANTLES 9M-DEVICE ANDROID HIJACK NETWORK

Google’s March Android security update fixes 129 vulnerabilities, including a zero-day flaw already exploited in targeted attacks. (Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Android security flaw already targeted by attackers

One vulnerability in particular has security researchers paying close attention. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-21385. Google says there are signs it is already being used in targeted attacks. That makes it a zero-day vulnerability.

In simple terms, attackers discovered the flaw before many devices received a fix. According to Qualcomm, the problem is tied to the graphics processing component inside many of its chipsets. Specifically, the issue involves something called an integer overflow. That technical term means a calculation error can cause memory corruption inside the system. Once that happens, attackers may gain a foothold on the device.

Qualcomm says the flaw impacts 235 different chipsets, which means a large number of Android phones could be affected. Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered the issue and reported it through coordinated disclosure practices. Qualcomm then worked with device makers to release patches.

Why the Android security vulnerability is dangerous

Several of the patched vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute code remotely or gain elevated privileges on a device. One issue inside the Android System component is especially concerning. Google says it could allow remote code execution without any user interaction.

That means an attacker may exploit the flaw without the victim tapping a link or installing an app. In cybersecurity terms, that type of vulnerability ranks among the most dangerous.

The March Android bulletin addresses ten critical flaws across the System, Framework and Kernel components. These parts sit at the core of Android, so any weakness there can ripple across millions of devices.

ANDROID MALWARE HIDDEN IN FAKE ANTIVIRUS APP

Android users are urged to install the latest security patch as manufacturers roll out updates across devices. (Barrington Coombs/PA Images via Getty Images)

Why some Android phones get security updates faster

Google released two patch levels for this update:

2026-03-01 security patch level
2026-03-05 security patch level

The second update includes everything in the first, plus fixes for additional hardware components and third-party software. Google Pixel devices typically receive updates immediately. However, many Android users must wait longer.

Phone manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus often test the patches before releasing them for specific models. Carriers may also delay updates while they verify compatibility. As a result, some users receive security patches quickly while others wait weeks.

How to protect your Android phone from security threats

Security vulnerabilities are a reality in modern software. The good news is that there are several simple steps that can greatly reduce your risk.

1) Install Android updates quickly

Check for updates regularly and install them as soon as they appear. On most devices, go to Settings, tap Security and privacy or Software update, then select Check for updates and install the latest version if one is available. Security updates often fix vulnerabilities that attackers may already be trying to exploit.

2) Avoid apps from unknown sources

Only download apps from trusted stores like Google Play. Third-party app stores pose a higher risk of malware.

3) Keep Google Play Protect enabled

Google Play Protect, which is built-in malware protection for Android devices, scans apps for malicious behavior and warns you if something suspicious appears. It also automatically removes known malware. However, it is important to note that Google Play Protect may not be enough. Historically, it isn’t 100% foolproof at removing all known malware from Android devices. Therefore, we recommend strong antivirus software because it adds another layer of protection by using deeper threat detection, real-time monitoring and broader malware databases that can catch suspicious apps or files that Google Play Protect may overlook. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com

4) Use strong device security

Set a strong passcode on your phone and turn on fingerprint or face unlock if your device supports it. This helps keep strangers out of your phone if it is lost or stolen.

5) Be cautious with suspicious links

Many attacks still start with phishing messages. Avoid tapping unknown links in texts, emails, or social media messages.

YOUR PHONE SHARES DATA AT NIGHT: HERE’S HOW TO STOP IT

A critical Android zero-day tied to Qualcomm chipsets could allow attackers to gain a foothold on affected devices. (Donato Fasano/Getty Images)

The bigger picture behind Android security updates

This Android update also highlights how modern mobile security works behind the scenes. Google’s Threat Analysis Group frequently discovers vulnerabilities that may already be used in real-world attacks. Those findings trigger coordinated responses involving chip manufacturers, phone makers and security researchers. In this case, Qualcomm received the report in December and provided fixes to device makers in early 2026.

By the time the public bulletin arrived, patches were already moving through the Android ecosystem. The process may look slow from the outside. In reality, it involves dozens of companies working together to prevent widespread exploitation.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Security updates rarely feel exciting. Yet they play a critical role in protecting billions of smartphones around the world. This latest Android update proves that point clearly. A zero-day flaw tied to Qualcomm graphics hardware was already being targeted before many users even knew it existed. Installing updates quickly remains one of the simplest ways to protect your device and your personal data. Most of the time, the update only takes a few minutes. Those few minutes can block attacks that might otherwise compromise your phone. So the next time your Android device prompts you to install a security patch, the better question may be this:

When your phone asks for a security update, do you install it immediately or tap remind me later? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Apple smart home display rumors now point to a fall launch with iOS 27

Published

14 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Apple smart home display rumors now point to a fall launch with iOS 27

The rumored “HomePod with a screen” we’ve heard so much about was reportedly lined up for launch in 2025, and then this spring, and now, according to the latest updates, it’s on the shelf until this fall. Leaker Kosutami posted as much on X last week, and today, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman followed up with similar information, saying its robot arm-equipped cousin is now planned for launch in 2027.

That was supposed to be ready by now, but it is now predicted to arrive later this year, along with the iPhone 18 Pro plus 2027 updates for iOS, macOS, and all the rest. He describes a silver aluminum-cased device with a 7-inch screen and USB-C power port running a version of tvOS 27, while new versions of the HomePod speaker and Apple TV 4K box are also waiting in the wings for that Siri update, and a smart home sensor is in the works, too.