◆ Tony Hawk has announced that the as-yet untitled Tony Hawk console title that’s in-development will be coming out this year – on PlayStation 4 at least. “New console game this year, on the PlayStation 4,” Hawk said at CES.

◆ A total of 1980 games were successfully funded through Kickstarter in 2014, and a total of US$89.1m was pledged for said games.

◆ Clock Tower creator Hifumi Kouno is making a spiritual successor to that cult horror series. It’s called NightCry, and it’s in development for Vita and mobile.

◆ The multiplayer beta for Halo 5: Guardians is currently underway. Access is open to those who own The Master Chief Collection.

◆ Boyd Multerer, the man who created Xbox Live and XNA, is leaving Microsoft after 17 years of service. "Xbox was Great! Time to do something new," he tweeted.

◆ Sony has announced that PlayStation 4 sales have topped 18.5m worldwide as of January 4, and that there are currently 10.9m PlayStation Plus subscribers.

◆ Holy Super Mario 64 HD Fan Remake, Batman! More info here.

◆ From January 13, US-based PlayStation 4 owners will be able to subscribe to PlayStation Now and get instant and unlimited access to a catalogue of more than 100 games. One month costs US$20, while three will set Yanks back US$45. Games on offer include God of War: Ascension, Darksiders II, and XCOM: Enemy Within.

◆ British police have arrested a 22-year-old man connected to Lizard Squad, the hacking group that claimed responsibility for the DDOS attacks that took down Xbox Live and PlayStation Network over the holiday break. However, the arrest was for an unrelated incident involving PayPal fund thievery.

◆ Monument Valley developer Ustwo reckons only 40 percent of iOS installs of its marquee game are paid for (i.e. not pirated). On Android, that number sinks to a mere five percent (although Ustwo admits “a small number” of those free installs on Android are from an Amazon giveaway).

◆ Tekken 7 will allow both players of an online match to have their character appear to be on the left of the screen (or the right if they so desire).

◆ Thanks to some enterprising modders, Valve boss Gabe Newell is now a shopkeeper is Dota 2.

◆ Here are your January Games With Gold:
Dark Dreams Don’t Die (Xbox One, all month)
MX vs. ATV Alive (Xbox 360, Jan. 1-15)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Xbox 360, Jan. 16-31)

◆ Here are your PlayStation Plus games for this month, all of which will be available from January 8:
All platforms: The Swapper
PlayStation 4: Infamous First Light
Vita: Woah Dave!, Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition
PlayStation 3: Prototype 2, DuckTales: Remastered

◆ Last week 8chan attempted to “swat” GamerGate critic Grace Lynn, but those behind the plot sent the cops to the wrong address.

◆ Limbo is heading to PlayStation 4, according to a listing on the PEGI website.

◆ Devolver Digital CEO Fork Parker is hoping Sega will allow him to make a new Seaman game.

◆ There will be a third Five Nights at Freddy's title, series creator Scott Cawthon has confirmed. Two installments of the cult point-and-click survival horror game were released last year on mobile and PC.

◆ The Xbox One is back up to US$399 in the States, after spending a few months at US$349.

◆ Apparently you can easily kill Destiny boss Crota by having the host of your Fireteam disconnect from the game at the right time.

◆ If you are in the Steam beta (opt in on the Settings > Account page) you can now activate a frame rate counter in any game by going to Settings > In-Game and ticking the box beside “Show in-game frames/sec (FPS)”.

◆ Larian Studios is working on two new as-yet unannounced RPGs that will use the engine created for Divinity: Original Sin. "It means that whatever we fix in D:OS, will automatically be present in our new RPGs. It also means that we can spend most of our resources on developing new cool stuff without having to reinvent things that worked well already," said Larian Studios boss Swen Vincke.

◆ Portal guns have many uses:

And now, some older news snippets from the Holiday Season:

◆ Since its inception in 2010, Humble Bundle has raised US$50m for charity. “We owe our thanks to the generosity of the Humble Bundle community – to the content creators who entrust us with their works of art and to the consumers – for making this possible,” said co-founder John Graham.

◆ Thimbleweed Park – the point-and-click adventure title from Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island creators Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick – almost doubled its Kickstarter goal, raking in US$626,250.

◆ Work on Lords of the Fallen 2 has begun, executive producer Tomasz Gop told Eurgamer last month.

◆ The next game from Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread developer Bossa Studios is Worlds Adrift. Naturally, physics will play a huge role in the game, but its overall direction is otherwise unknown – even to the developers.

◆ Heavensward, the first expansion for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, will feature a new playable race called the Au Ra, two new jobs (Astrologian and Machinist, a healer and DPS character respectively), and a new raid in the mechanical fortress Alexander. Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu will be scoring the Heavensward theme song.

◆ Don Bradman Cricket is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in February to coincide with the Cricket World Cup.

◆ Speaking of for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, a 14-day free trial is now available for the MMO.

◆ An Evolve beta is happening exclusively on Xbox One from January 15-19.

◆ Twitchy puzzle title Kalimba, the latest game from the creators of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, is now available on Xbox One.

◆ Australian-based NBA 2K servers have gone live to support the player base in Australia and New Zealand.

◆ Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition is now available on Android devices for US$10.

◆ Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft is bringing competitive fighting title J-Stars Victory VS + to Western audiences on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Vita. The game features manga/ anime characters from over 30 different Shonen Jump franchises including One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z and more.

◆ One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is coming to Australia and New Zealand this year. Upon release, it will be available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Vita, and Windows PC.