Pokémon & Nintendo

Mega Raichu X and Y Make Their TV Debut in the Latest Pokémon Anime Episode The Pokémon Horizons anime just dropped a jaw-dropping moment — Mega Raichu X and Y are finally hitting TV screens for the first time. If you're not caught up, now is the time to fix that. These forms look absolutely stunning animated. (Kotaku)

The Pokémon TCG x LEGO Finalists Are Here and They're Breathtaking LEGO asked fans to design Pokémon Trading Card Game-inspired sets, and the final five are legitimately incredible. From dioramas to playable card displays, voting is open now — and I already want all of them on my shelf yesterday. (Kotaku)

Anti-Scalper Pokémon TCG Shop Management Game Lets You Punish Resellers You're A Scalper, Aren't You? is a vindictive new shop management sim where you catch and punish the scalpers flipping hard-to-find Pokémon TCG cards. This is the cathartic power fantasy the TCG community has been waiting for. (Rock Paper Shotgun)

Vote for Your Favorite Pokémon in the Pokémon x Target Collection Celebrating 30 years of Pokémon, the Target exclusive collection features over 100 items across apparel and more. Head over to IGN to vote for your favorite Pokémon featured in the lineup. (IGN)

Star Fox's Switch 2 Mouse Mode Controls Look Phenomenal New Star Fox Switch 2 gameplay footage puts the console's mouse-mode controls front and center, and honestly, it looks like a natural fit for precision barrel rolls. Peppy would be proud. (Nintendo Life)

Mina The Hollower Is Now Metacritic's Highest-Rated Game of 2026 Yacht Club Games' Mina The Hollower has claimed the top spot on Metacritic for 2026, and early sales data is looking strong too. In a year already packed with blockbusters, that's saying something. (Nintendo Life)

007 First Light's Switch 2 Release Date Is Still Missing in Action Despite Bond launching to record numbers on other platforms, the Switch 2 version of 007 First Light remains delayed with no new date in sight following its April delay. Frustrating for Nintendo-only players. (Nintendo Life)

Another Rayman Game Announcement Appears to Have Leaked via Xbox Store Listing Following reports of a remake, a new Rayman game listing has popped up on the Xbox store. Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot previously called the 30th Anniversary Edition the "first step in the brand's comeback." The limbless hero may be back in a big way. (Nintendo Life)

Resident Evil Requiem Gets a 20% Switch 2 eShop Discount Capcom is offering 20% off Resident Evil Requiem on the Switch 2 eShop in North America. If you've been waiting to take the horror on the go, this is a solid excuse. (Nintendo Life)

Last Chance to Grab Horizon Chase Turbo on the eShop The excellent arcade racer Horizon Chase Turbo is leaving the Nintendo eShop this weekend. If you haven't picked it up yet, the clock is ticking. (Nintendo Life)

Pictonico! Review: WarioWare In All But Name on Your Phone If you've been craving microgame madness on mobile, Pictonico! channels serious WarioWare energy with its frantic design. Wario may be absent, but the spirit is alive and well. (Nintendo Life)

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Creations Are Already Unhinged Players are pushing the customization in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream to its absolute limits with wild facepaint, clothing, and food designs for Miis. The creativity on display is genuinely mind-blowing. (GameSpot)

Call of Duty

Overwatch Poster Spotted in Modern Warfare 4 — Is a Collaboration Coming? An Overwatch poster featuring the new tank hero Hazard has been spotted inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, fueling speculation about a potential crossover. An Overwatch x CoD collab would be a wild timeline. (PC Gamer)

Modern Warfare 4 Promises More "Grounded" Cosmetics — We've Heard This Before Infinity Ward is pledging to keep Modern Warfare 4 cosmetics "authentic to what Modern Warfare is" after years of Nicki Minaj operators and crossover chaos. Color me skeptical, but I've heard this promise before. (PC Gamer) (Destructoid)

Modern Warfare 4's DMZ Map May Have Been Teased in Latest Documentary Call of Duty's behind-the-scenes doc "From The Ward" appears to include a brief tease of the upcoming DMZ map for Modern Warfare 4. Frame-by-frame analysts, get to work. (GameSpot)

Can You Tell Which Call of Duty Game These Screenshots Are From? Kotaku put together a surprisingly tough visual quiz challenging you to identify CoD games from screenshots alone. The line between Modern Warfare, WWII, and the futuristic entries is blurrier than you'd think. (Kotaku)

Arc Raiders

Arc Raiders Player Kills a Bastion in 16 Seconds Without a Deadline Weapon An Arc Raiders player has demonstrated an absolutely psychotic 16-second Bastion kill without using a Deadline weapon, and now the entire community is questioning their own skills. The optimization is real. (PC Gamer)

Arc Raiders Has One of the Most Supportive Communities in Gaming A heartfelt Reddit post highlights how Arc Raiders has cultivated an incredibly welcoming community for women players. The post describes it as the most supportive gaming community the player has experienced — a huge W for Embark Studios. (Reddit)

Indie Games

Slay the Spire 2 Review Bombed by Chinese Players Over Doormaker Controversy Top Chinese Slay the Spire 2 players have been review-bombing the game, and the reasoning involves the character Doormaker and "save loading" run mechanics. Kotaku breaks down the logic behind the backlash in a fascinating read. (Kotaku)

Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core Tips — Best Class and More Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is here as the long-awaited follow-up to one of the best co-op shooters ever made. GameSpot has a breakdown of the best classes and essential tips for new miners. Rock and Stone, forever. (GameSpot)

Cozy Paper Plane Letter-Delivery Game Is Pure Vibes A developer built a gorgeous atmospheric game where you fly a paper plane to deliver letters, created in Unity for a game jam. It's short, it's cozy, and the flight physics look genuinely satisfying. (Reddit)

Indie Dev Shows Off Minotaur Enemy Tossing Foes Around A solo developer shared a delightful clip of their minotaur enemy grabbing and hurling other enemies around the battlefield. The physics-based chaos looks like pure fun, and there's a free demo on Steam. (Reddit)

Steam & PC

Steam Deck Price Increases Have the Industry Asking Hard Questions Valve's steep price hikes for the Steam Deck OLED — over £200 in the UK for the 1TB model — have analysts declaring "this market is not behaving normally." All eyes are now on how the upcoming Steam Machine will be priced. (Eurogamer) (VGC Podcast)

Tim Sweeney Dunks on Gabe Newell's Steam Deck Prices While Flaunting a $500M Yacht Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called out Valve's Steam Deck price increase, only for the internet to immediately clap back about his own $500 million super yacht and Epic's 1,000+ layoffs. The gamer discourse writes itself. (Kotaku)

EVE Online x Google DeepMind AI Partnership Actually Landed With Players Against all odds, the generative AI integration between EVE Online and Google DeepMind has been received well by EVE's notoriously skeptical player base. The secret? Players have "the biggest bullshit detectors on the planet." (Rock Paper Shotgun)

007 First Light Sells 1.5 Million Copies in First 24 Hours on Steam James Bond's gaming return is a certified smash hit. 007 First Light moved 1.5 million copies on Steam alone within its first day, cementing it as one of the year's biggest launches. (Reddit)

Sleeping Dogs Still Pulls 600–1,000 Daily Concurrent Players After 14 Years Sleeping Dogs continues to maintain a loyal player base on Steam 14 years after release. The reminder that we never got a sequel still hurts every single time. (Reddit)

Steam Is Still Pushing Updates to the 10-Year-Old Steam Link Box Valve quietly shipped an update to the discontinued Steam Link hardware that actually fixed a bug. In an era of planned obsolescence, that kind of support deserves serious praise. (Reddit)

Steam Workshop UI Update Has Users Frustrated With Zoom and Alignment Issues The new Steam Workshop UI is catching heat for being too zoomed in and awkwardly centered. Some enterprising users are already sharing custom CSS fixes to right-align elements. (Reddit) (Reddit) (Reddit)

Iranian Gamer Thanks Valve for Steam During Internet Blackout A powerful post from an Iranian gamer thanking Valve for keeping Steam accessible during the country's government-imposed internet shutdown. A reminder that gaming platforms can be genuine lifelines. (Reddit)

Gaming Roundup

Fable Delayed to 2027 Xbox has pulled a classic Molyneux move and delayed the long-awaited Fable reboot into 2027. With an absolutely stacked fall lineup ahead, the reasoning makes sense — but after all these years, the wait stings. (Destructoid)

New Xbox Boss Admits Showing PS5 Logos During Showcase Was "A Miss" Xbox boss Asha Sharma has acknowledged the fan backlash over displaying competing platform logos during the Xbox Games Showcase, saying the team will stop doing so in the future. Glad they're listening, but yikes. (IGN)

The Witcher Dev's Scopely Mobile Game Won't Release Anytime Soon CD Projekt Red confirmed its mysterious mobile game collaboration with Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely is still in early stages and won't be releasing soon, per their latest earnings briefing. File this under "wait and see." (GameSpot)

007 First Light Impressions: An Emotional Rollercoaster and a Promising Trilogy Starter Early impressions of 007 First Light describe it as an emotional narrative experience that could be the prologue to a fantastic trilogy. The Bond franchise is in very good hands. (Destructoid)