Pokémon & Nintendo

• Pokémon TCG's 30th Celebration is nearly here! The Pokémon Company has officially revealed the massive product lineup for the 30th Celebration set, which is set to begin its rollout on September 16th. Start saving your pennies now, because these booster packs are going to fly off the shelves.
• Speaking of the TCG, Nintendo's president recently addressed the widespread card scalping issues and shortages that have plagued the community. He assured fans that The Pokémon Company will "take measures" to respond to the problem, though many trainers feel the situation is currently worse than ever despite an astonishing 10 billion cards being printed.
• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition is officially heading to the Switch 2 this September! Square Enix has revealed that the port will feature dedicated "Performance" and "Quality" modes, letting players choose exactly how they want to experience this massive JRPG on the go.
• Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently shared some heartwarming words about connecting players with the company's legendary history via Nintendo Switch Online. In a newly translated shareholders meeting, he confirmed the firm will "continue exploring a variety of possibilities" to keep classic gaming alive.
• If you're a fighting game fan, you absolutely need to check out the Snack Box Micro Arcade Controller for Switch 1 & 2. This incredibly tiny, no-nonsense leverless controller from Junkfood Arcades is being praised as a mighty and delightful way to play your favorite brawlers.
• Sega has shared a sneak peek of "Memories and Beyond," a new animated short-form series celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog's 35th anniversary! Revealed at Anime Expo, this new animation looks like a fantastic love letter to long-time fans of the blue blur.

Fortnite

• Epic Games has officially reached a lawsuit settlement with a former contractor who was also outed as a notorious Fortnite leaker. While the exact terms of the deal remain under wraps, it marks the end of a messy legal battle over unauthorized game leaks.
• In broader Epic Games news, CEO Tim Sweeney made some bold claims this week, arguing that AI could have made Destiny a profitable venture. He suggested that artificial intelligence could have been the key to generating the massive amount of content that Destiny players constantly demand.

Indie Games

• Kotaku is celebrating the 250th Indie-Penance Day with two massive lists highlighting incredible new games to wishlist right now! Between the two roundups, they feature 20 extraordinary hidden gems spanning across RPGs, deckbuilders, roguelites, and 4X strategy games.
• The latest massive PC gaming hit out of China is an indie game that has spent the last eight years quietly growing into a genre-defying masterpiece. If you're looking for a deep, hand-crafted experience that feels completely unlike anything you've ever played before, this needs to be on your radar immediately.

Steam & PC

• In a hilarious turn of events, Counter-Strike 2 might be the biggest game on Steam, but Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is currently breaking player count records after going standalone again! It’s an incredible nostalgia trip that proves the community still heavily prefers the classic Global Offensive experience.
• Sony’s PC porting strategy is under fire again, as the upcoming fighter Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is currently blocked in 132 countries on Steam. Unsurprisingly, these are the exact same 132 countries that were infamously blocked from purchasing Helldivers 2, leaving fans heavily questioning Sony's commitment to the global PC market.
• Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is setting sail for its July 9th release date, and it’s already secured a massive treasure: full Steam Deck and Steam Machine verification! If you're looking for smooth handheld sailing and nautical stabbing, this remake has you completely covered.
• The incredibly popular early access title Slay the Spire 2 just dropped a major update adding 15 powerful new multiplayer cards! This patch spans all five of the game's classes and makes life significantly easier the first time you install a mod, vastly improving the co-op experience.
• Valve's upcoming Steam Machine hardware apparently has its very own "Red Ring of Death." History doesn't always repeat itself, but it often rhymes, and one unlucky Steam Machine owner already discovered a familiar fatal error alert.

Gaming Roundup

• A wildly lucky player just swiped a colossal discount on Grand Theft Auto 6, paying only $2 for their pre-order thanks to a forgotten Best Buy gift card! With GTA 6 shaping up to be the biggest entertainment launch in history, securing a copy for the price of a cup of coffee is the ultimate gamer win.
• Leaked store listings suggest that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is getting a "Story Expansion Pass" alongside a heap of DLC to help wrap up the epic remake trilogy. While an ending might be on the horizon, it sounds like Square Enix is planning to stretch out the grand finale for quite a while longer.
• Cyberpunk 2077 has officially crushed another massive milestone, cementing its place in the top 20 best-selling games of all time. It’s a stunning redemption arc for a game that had a notoriously rocky launch but continued to grow and sell like absolute hotcakes.
• In slightly more somber industry news, the grueling development cycle of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League got so incredibly bad that it almost turned its devs away from the gaming industry for good. Devs opened up about the intense crunch, with one stating, "I could feel myself coming apart at the seams."
• In a bizarre move, Professor Layton studio Level-5 is offering "significant" pay raises to its employees—but there's a catch. CEO Akihiro Hino revealed that staff can only get the bonus money if they can correctly answer quizzes about the company's own video games!
• Need for speed? If you're struggling to find the Festival Loop speed zone in Forza Horizon 6, PC Gamer has put out a handy guide to help you three-star that tricky section. This is incredibly helpful for daily players looking to max out their Horizon Festival accolades.