Pokémon & Nintendo

Pokémon Go Fest 2026 has officially arrived globally, bringing rotating habitats, Zeraora Special Research, and absolutely massive Mega Mewtwo Raids! The 10th-anniversary celebrations are in full swing, highlighted by a real-life Mewtwo takeover in Times Square to recreate the iconic 2016 reveal trailer. However, players are actively criticizing an exclusive NYC event that handed out guaranteed "hundo" (100% IV) Mewtwo, feeling that it favors a select few over the global community.

Over in the core series, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is shaking up its repetitive Ranked Battle seasons with a brand-new July ruleset that encourages players to take to the skies. You'll want to train up your Flying-type Pokémon because this special new ruleset is poised to completely change the competitive meta!

On the hardware and accessories front, a new leak has given us our very first look at an upcoming Donkey Kong Arcade Set for LEGO, and it looks absolutely fantastic. Meanwhile, the Atelier Yumia Switch 2 update (which launched alongside the game's paid upgrade last month) adds highly requested performance settings to significantly improve frame rates across both Switch versions.

In patch news, Square Enix is bringing a highly requested update to The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales that will finally let players remove the game's incessant voice support, with the patch currently live on Steam and coming soon to Switch 2. Finally, TCG collectors are furious at GameStop's Australian outlets after a brutal bait-and-switch pricing scam on the Pokémon TCG 30th-anniversary stock.

Fortnite

Fortnite is dialing up the flash with the upcoming "Holofoil Hours" event, serving as the new Power Hour for Chapter 7, Season 3. This limited-time window will be your absolute best chance to grab the shiny new Holofoil Sprites, so get your drop timings ready and mark your calendars!

Call of Duty

The new Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 port is live, and fans are thrilled to discover that it fully preserves the classic emblem editor—though nobody is surprised that players are already using the tools to create inappropriate swastikas. The digital launch is so highly demanded that it actually splintered the PlayStation community's "No Disc, No Buy" boycott overnight. Meanwhile, the EU officially declared it is "powerless" to stop Sony from killing physical game discs, stating that companies are entirely free to offer games and services in the manner they see fit.

Indie Games

Award-winning developer Robert Yang is currently battling strict digital storefront censorship to launch Radiator Forever, a completely free, ongoing re-master collection of his experimental gay games on Steam and Itch.io. Yang noted that "compliance-in-advance is never enough to appease a zealous censor," shining a light on the ongoing challenges of bringing queer indie games to major platforms.

Speaking of Valve's platform, an indie developer is publicly defending their criticism of Steam refund abuse amid a nasty review bombing campaign targeting their game. The dev rightly pointed out that it is incredibly wrong for players to refund a game after completing it and genuinely having fun with it.

Steam & PC

While Xbox and PlayStation might be floundering, Valve's Steam is reportedly having another record-breaking year. The PC storefront generated an absolutely staggering $11.1 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026 alone, proving once again that PC gaming is stronger than ever.

Valve's highly anticipated Steam Frame looks set for an imminent launch, with an entirely new "Great on Frame" category being spotted in the platform's backend code. We might be looking at a massive hardware reveal any day now!

In other PC hardware news, custom E-Ink faceplates are officially coming to the newly released Steam Machine, though surprisingly not from Valve themselves. Meanwhile, Ubisoft is trying to calm fans by insisting that the standard edition of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is the full, complete experience without needing to shell out for expensive day-one DLCs.

Gaming Roundup

Over in the life-simulation space, Disney Dreamlight Valley just dropped its massive Honeyglow Woods update. Players can now dive into new blueprints, craft recipes like the Toasted Picnic Sandwich, and tackle a sprawling multi-part questline featuring Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Toby Fox's Deltarune continues to mystify players in Chapter 5, hiding an incredibly sinister secret encounter with a mysterious, pink-and-yellow-eyed feline entity known only as FRIEND. You'll need to explore every shadow to trigger this rare and deeply unsettling dialogue!

Finally, Rhythm Heaven Groove fans are absolutely losing their minds over the game's secret Beatspell Finale. If you haven't experienced this incredible musical surprise yet, prepare for one of the catchiest, most surprising endgames in Nintendo history!