Pokémon & Nintendo

It’s a massive week for Nintendo! Star Fox has officially blasted to the number one spot in the Japanese charts, proving there’s nothing wrong with its G-diffuser just one week after its highly successful Switch 2 launch. If you're looking for something new to play, the latest Nintendo eShop drop for North America landed on July 2nd, bringing heavy hitters like Tekken alongside indie gems like Gecko Gods and Mythmatch.

In other Nintendo news, the beloved PSVR classic Moss and Moss: Book II are officially jumping to Switch 1 and Switch 2 later this month, with pre-orders open right now. Additionally, Splatoon Raiders is getting a special in-store demo at Switch 2 kiosks across North America ahead of its launch later this July. Finally, an opinion piece is making the rounds arguing that Sector X is the absolute best stage in the new Star Fox—and honestly, it’s hard to disagree!

Over in the Pokémon community, fans are having a blast celebrating the franchise's massive scale and creativity. A fascinating deep dive into the anime reveals that Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre are practically the same size as Eternatus, making their in-game models look incredibly tiny by comparison. The community is also flexing its artistic muscles with an incredible custom Lolita outfit Snivy plush, a stunning Blastoise oil painting, and a dedicated fan who is on a quest to make every single Pokémon in PowerPoint (they are currently on monster number 214!). On the trading card front, the cyberpunk TCG Neuroscape is shaping up to be a surprisingly fun new entry into the genre.

Fortnite

Get ready to grind, because Fortnite’s Gold and Gummy Hours are heating up the first weekend in July! These limited-time daily events will allow you to boost your collection with some wild new power-ups, so make sure to check the exact timings so you don't miss out.

In Epic Games Store news, it looks like Final Fantasy 7 Revelation might be getting some substantial story DLC in the near future. Multiple listings for unannounced DLCs just leaked via the EGS database, sparking speculation across the community.

Call of Duty

A former Call of Duty frontman has officially launched a brand-new studio with an incredible, pro-consumer mission statement inspired by the "Stop Killing Games" movement. In a hugely surprising twist, the developer has pledged that if their new game bombs or shuts down, the entire project will go open source!

If you're looking for a fresh shooter experience while we wait for the next Call of Duty season, check out Empulse. This new early-access 6v6 arena shooter from 1047 Games—the studio behind Splitgate—is touting itself as a spiritual successor to Titanfall, and there are already guides dropping to help you dominate the competition.

Indie Games

In a move that has the industry cheering, the developers behind the Godot Engine—which is being used to make the highly anticipated Slay the Spire 2—are putting their foot down on artificial intelligence. The team has announced that the engine will now require all code to be "human-authored," citing that AI contributions have become a massive "shitshow" that is actively demoralizing to human developers.

Steam & PC

PC hardware discourse is heating up as the first wave of Valve’s long-awaited Steam Machines has finally arrived! However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows: while some early adopters are loving their new rigs, others are stuck staring at a massive waitlist, and the hardware has already encountered its first major fault, dubbed the "Red Line of Death."

If you're looking for weird and wonderful PC games to play this weekend, look no further. The hand-drawn alchemy autobattler Flask just dropped a new Steam demo, allowing you to build a gnarly squad of combat freaks out of weird meat and goblin blood. Meanwhile, the Seoul-set tactical MMO shooter Cinder City has officially halved its RAM requirements after initially demanding a staggering 64GB of memory.

Gaming Roundup

Hideo Kojima’s upcoming horror game OD is reportedly surviving Microsoft’s recent game culling for the second time, keeping hopes alive for the highly anticipated and terrifying experience. Raph Koster, the legendary creative lead on Star Wars Galaxies, is back with a new sandbox MMO called Stars Reach that promises unparalleled player agency, even allowing you to literally reroute a river into a desert to make it bloom. Finally, don't forget that Amazon Prime members are getting a massive drop of 12 free games this July, including superhero workplace dramas, turn-based RPGs, and escape room fun!