Quick Hits

• Pokémon is going Disney. Announced during Pokémon XP this week, The Pokémon Company has signed a global streaming deal with Disney+ that includes the original animation and Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu, a stop-motion series from Aardman (Wallace & Gromit) set in Galar — first teaser is out now, full debut in 2027.
• Activision literally ambushed a notorious Call of Duty cheat maker at his house with legal papers — and filmed the whole thing. Elocarry's Call of Duty cheats have since been taken down.
• Gamescom turned bittersweet for indie devs: multiple laptops were stolen from booths overnight, including Mimic creator Ryan Laley's — and CD Projekt Red has stepped up to offer help.
• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Remastered details for Switch 2 are in: CD Projekt Red's livestream revealed resolution and frame rate targets, plus mouse and gyro controls.
• Pokémon's official X account was "temporarily compromised" ahead of the World Championships, promoting cryptocurrency before The Pokémon Company issued a statement.

Pokémon & Nintendo

The big one: Pokémon is heading to Disney+ in a global streaming deal unveiled at Pokémon XP, headlined by Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu — a stop-motion series from Aardman, the beloved studio behind Wallace & Gromit (Nintendo Life, VGC). Eurogamer and Kotaku both shared the first teaser trailer, confirming the series is set in the Galar region and calling the whole thing delightful — it launches in 2027 (Eurogamer, Kotaku).

Meanwhile, the World Championships and XP convention in person have been chaotic in the best and worst ways. Kotaku's reporter says the event is off to "an incredible start" — the 8-Bit Big Band concert is triggering serious FOMO (Kotaku). Less delightful: fans battled "Scalper Alley" for exclusive merch (Kotaku), and ex-World Champion Luca Ceribelli — along with Ruben Gianzini and Luca Lussignoli — was banned from the event itself (not just the Pokémon Center, as they were initially told) after cutting in a merch line. Ceribelli calls the decision "extremely unjust" (Kotaku).

Looking ahead, Pokémon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara hinted at smart device integrations and wearable technology as future targets during an XP panel (IGN).

On the Nintendo side: The Witcher III Remastered's Switch 2 resolution and frame rate were revealed via CDPR livestream, with mouse and gyro controls confirmed (Nintendo Life), and Nintendo Life has fresh Gamescom handheld gameplay footage (video here). Need more Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition? There's a full guide to the new weapons, armour sets, NPC invasions, and Spectral Steed Attire (Nintendo Life). Nintendo's US Blockbuster eShop sale covers 84 Switch 1 & 2 games (guide), and Nintendo Life's Summer Survey notes Switch 2 has sold 23.68 million units as of June 30th (feature).

Fortnite

Epic and Disney raised eyebrows with a Fortnite skin exclusively unlockable by riding Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run at Disneyland — and GameSpot argues it's actually totally fine (GameSpot). In Chapter 7, Season 4, this week's quests send you to the Pac-Man-themed Blinky, Pinky, and Pac-Man Islands (Destructoid), and Destructoid also has a map of all boss locations for the season (guide).

Call of Duty

The cheat wars got cinematic: Activision served legal papers to notorious cheat maker Elocarry at his own house — and got it all on video. His Call of Duty cheats have since been taken down (Kotaku, Destructoid).

Indie Games

Gamescom heartbreak: solo dev Ryan Laley (Mimic) posted a tearful video after laptops were stolen from booths overnight — at least two apparent thefts were reported — but the industry rallied, with CD Projekt Red among those offering support (Kotaku, IGN, GameSpot). Separately, Valve branded the PEGI 12-rated open-world boomer adventure Future? No Thanks! as adults-only on Steam — a move its developer calls "humiliating and surreal" as he takes the fight to top German regulators (Kotaku).

Steam & PC

Star Wars Zero Company is winning hearts — GameSpot's review says the XCOM-like actually made them care about the Clone Wars era and pushes the genre forward (GameSpot); if launch-day performance is wobbly, Destructoid has a settings guide for max FPS (guide). Rock Paper Shotgun flags Hillthorn, a spooky mountain-mystery card game with "an excellent demo" (RPS). IGN has a $170-off deal on the Lenovo Legion Go S (Ryzen Z2 Go) handheld (IGN), plus a deep dive on the ultralight gaming mouse arms race, where Logitech is betting on haptics and rapid triggers (IGN).

Gaming Roundup

Rockstar says it has to "be careful" what GTA 6 satirizes because "very specific political issues or memes will date fast" (PC Gamer). Fable's director Ralph Fulton feels "great" about its delay to February 2027 to dodge a "chaotic window" — which GameSpot notes everyone knows means GTA 6 (GameSpot). And IGN's NBA 2K27 review-in-progress finds the series once again teasing just enough hope for another year (IGN).