Surely Google could afford to let Dreamcast users keep checking the weather on their 27-year-old consoles? Why are games still launching without difficulty settings, only to add them in later when enough people don’t play at launch? And what new sex jokes will Fortnite stumble into in 2026? It’s the latest edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of smaller gaming news and culture.
We are officially in the end-of-year holiday stretch and I can’t decide which of the 10 games I started and didn’t finish this year to go back to during the winter break lull. I just keep picking up new games instead. I just started Kingdoms of the Dump and it’s proving to be a lovely-looking comfort food old-school JRPG. What have you picked up so far during the winter 2025 Steam sale?
RIP PlanetWeb
Dreamcast players can no longer browse the World Wide Web. Its groundbreaking PlanetWeb browser capability has been killed by Google decades after it launched, according to Dreamcast Live. “Sad news guys. After over 25 years of support, Google has finally discontinued support for Dreamcast web browsers,” the account posted over the weekend.
It shared a screenshot of an error telling the user to update their browser “to a recent version.” “And for your information Google, I am on the latest web browser! PlanetWeb 3.0, yo!” Dreamcast Live replied. Sega was at the forefront of bringing the internet to game consoles, beginning in 1990 with Sega Meganet for the Genesis and continuing through to the launch of the Dreamcast in 1998 and the eventual release of Phantasy Star Online.
Chronos: The New Dawn is getting an easier mode
The immersive survival horror action game has a new update coming in early 2026. It’ll add Temporal Diver Mode, an easier difficulty option that will hopefully let more people experience one of this year’s bigger releases that didn’t get a ton of attention at launch (it launched a day after Hollow Knight: Silksong).
Fortnite accidentally gets too horny again
A new accolades trailer for Fortnite Chapter 7 seemed harmless enough. It included censored posts from random internet users saying things like “Fuck the Dark Voyager” and “Like a fucking fever dream.” But as TheGamer points out, the issue was with what the trailer didn’t censor: the user name of someone who goes by Jonesy Frotting. Frotting is slang for a particular type of dick-on-dick foreplay.
FORTNITE DELETED THE AD 💀 pic.twitter.com/l7PchA10kO
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) December 21, 2025
I guess it ended up being too risqué for Epic once people pointed it out. The trailer has since been removed from YouTube. This isn’t the first time this year that Fortnite had to backtrack on sexual innuendo. It posted and deleted the phrase “mother of rose toys” when Doja Cat had ostensibly taken over the Fortnite social accounts back in October.
Limited Run Games has reached a $2.7 million settlement over data surveillance
The money will go to customers whose data the boutique physical game publisher allegedly mishandled. At issue is whether Limited Run Games “disclosed its subscribers’ personally identifiable information (“PII”) to Meta Platforms, Inc. and/or other third parties, without consent and in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”).” The company admits no wrong-doing but a fraction of the money will be paid out to everyone who submits a claim.
Patapon 1+2 Replay just got a free new mode
The rhythm games have a boss rush now. It’s actually probably the ideal way for fans to re-experience the game. It’s currently $10 off on PSN and Steam.
ICYMI:
Watch this:
