Pokémon & Nintendo

• Pokémon Pokopia Becomes a Surprise Juggernaut: The relaxing life-sim Pokémon Pokopia has officially sold over four million copies on the Switch 2! Developer Koei Tecmo originally aimed for it to be the best-selling spin-off in the franchise's history, and it looks like their grand ambitions are paying off beautifully.
• Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok Review: Cygames' deep RPG adventure has landed on the Switch 2, and while the story is reportedly a bit so-so, the gameplay loop is incredibly addictive. If you're looking for a new action-RPG to sink your teeth into on Nintendo's new console, this one is cleared for takeoff.
• Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Claims Number One: Yo ho ho! Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has successfully plundered the UK physical charts, storming straight to the number one spot following its July 9th release.
• LEGO Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet Leaked: A fresh leak has unveiled a massive, highly detailed $200 Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet LEGO set. The images show off a gorgeous display model that is reportedly dropping next month—start saving your coins!
• Persona 3 Turns 20: Atlus is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Persona 3 with a fantastic new video featuring nostalgic pixel art and awesome remixed music by DJ VaVa. It's the perfect vibes for a weekend nostalgia trip.
• Pokémon Fan Art Spotlight: The community is buzzing with incredible creativity today! Fans are sharing amazing original art, including a fierce custom Mega Weavile concept and a fascinating theory that Quaquaval was a test drive for a whole cascade of male flamboyant Birds-of-Paradise Pokémon in future gens.

Call of Duty

• Black Ops 1 & 2 Crossplay Confirmed: Great news for legacy CoD fans! Activision has officially clarified that the recently released Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 ports fully support crossplay between PS4 and PS5. This clears up a lot of online confusion and ensures you can squad up across console generations.

Indie Games

• Phoebe Bridgers Drops a Surprise Infinite Runner: Indie superstar Phoebe Bridgers has launched an unexpected itch.io page alongside her new RuneScape-inspired single! She's breaking her hiatus with a fun Subway Surfers-style micro game that you absolutely need to check out.
• Indie Dev Speaks Out on Steam Refunds: An indie developer is sparking debate by calling out Steam's "no questions asked" two-hour refund policy. The dev claims they had to refund 55,000 sales, arguing that the system is far too easy for players to abuse, even when leaving positive reviews.

Steam & PC

• Palworld 1.0 Dominates the Charts: Palworld has officially barged past Dota 2 on the Steam player charts following its massive 1.0 launch! While it didn't quite reach its insane 2.1 million concurrent player peak from early 2024, the launch is a massive win, and the team has even altered several designs to make them less Pokémon-like for this final release.
• Steam's Most Lucrative Year Ever: Valve's premier PC platform is having an absolute blockbuster 2026. Market analysts estimate Steam has raked in an eye-watering $11.1 billion in gross revenue so far, marking its biggest six months in history, largely fueled by expensive new blockbusters and surprise hits.
• Counter-Strike 2 Bomb Gets a Makeover: Valve continues to tinker with Counter-Strike 2, completely rewiring the C4 bomb. The new changes make the explosion look far more spectacular, but data miners suggest the blast radius might actually be slightly less deadly!

Gaming Roundup

• Summer Games Done Quick 2026 Raises Millions: The speedrunning community has done it again, raising a staggering $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders during SGDQ 2026. It's always incredible to see gamers come together for such an amazing cause!
• Vanillaware Artist's Six-Year Mountain Retreat: Artist Yoshio Nishimura literally moved into the mountains for six years to create Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle. This delightfully quirky new love letter to old-school RPGs like Deathtrap Dungeon is turning heads, and we can't wait to see more.