Quick Hits

• The Pokémon TCG turns 30 today with its first-ever global simultaneous release — and per Kotaku, the prettiest cards are showing up five times more frequently than in recent sets, demolishing resale prices. The flip side, per Nintendo Life: scalpers are "killing the hobby for everyone."
• Mads Mikkelsen is coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Activision's new campaign trailer reveals him as a currently unnamed antagonist who snarls, "I'm gonna make you cry for mercy."
• Rhythm Heaven Groove has surpassed 1 million boxed units sold in Japan and shows no signs of slowing — it's once again topping the Famitsu charts.
• Valve says the Steam Frame is "just the start" of plans to get Steam games running on compatibility-challenged ARM PCs, per Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Mega Staraptor swoops into Pokémon Go this weekend for the latest Super Mega Raid Day — GameSpot has the weaknesses, counters, and best moveset ready.

Pokémon & Nintendo

The big one: the Pokémon TCG's 30th Celebration set is officially here, marking the first global simultaneous release in the TCG's history, and it's absolute chaos out there. Kotaku reports the set boasts incredible pull rates — the prettiest cards appearing roughly five times more often than in recent years' sets — which is actively demolishing resale prices. IGN has already catalogued the 10 most valuable cards so far as the secondary market goes wild. But it's not all confetti: Nintendo Life spoke with collectors who say demand and scalpers have left them deflated — "to say I'm really deflated about this hobby right now is an understatement" — with scalpers described as "killing the hobby for everyone."

If you'd rather catch creatures than cards, Pawprint Studio's open-world creature-catching RPG Aniimo has launched in the colorful world of Idyll, and GameSpot has rounded up all the active codes for free Glimmer and Credits. Meanwhile, in Pokémon Go, Mega Staraptor arrives in Gyms this weekend for a limited-time Super Mega Raid Day — bring Rock, Electric, and Ice types (GameSpot has the full counter guide).

On the Nintendo side, it's been a week since that Ocarina of Time deep dive Direct, and Nintendo Life is still buzzing — their new side-by-side feature compares the classic Zelda visuals against the remake's new art (Goggles of Truth and all). Elsewhere: Rhythm Heaven Groove just keeps going, crossing 1 million boxed units in Japan; Nintendo Life went hands-on with Stellar Blade on Switch 2 and found Eve "hasn't lost much of her gloss"; Netmarble's Ni no Kuni crafting adventure Bloomwalker is officially heading to Switch after its Xbox Tokyo Games Show appearance; and Cold Iron Studios has delayed Aliens: Fire Team Elite 2 on Switch 2 into early 2027 — a genuine last-minute slip.

Finally, GameSpot's preview of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave calls the first hour "wild," describing an intertwining epic set in an Age of Antiquity resembling Ancient Greece… that's also somehow a guns-blazing, shiny-metal futuristic sci-fi story. Sold. And a quick nod to the r/Pokemon community celebrating the anniversary with fan art, fresh tattoos, and a big overworld update to fan-made Pokémon Aura.

Call of Duty

That Mads Mikkelsen reveal is the headline: Activision's new Modern Warfare 4 campaign trailer introduces the Danish star as an unnamed antagonist promising to make you "cry for mercy." Between this casting and a playable build coming to PAX Australia, the Modern Warfare 4 hype machine is fully spun up.

Indie Games

Two Steam stories that pair uncomfortably well: Kotaku reports that the Ghostrunner team is pricing its Napoleon-era soulslike Valor Mortis at just $40, explaining that "the fall is stacked and there's high demand for your time and money." And in a related headache, Kotaku also warns that the proliferation of copycat games on Steam is making discovering original titles "like finding a needle in a haystack" — a problem they say is only getting worse. Brutal timing for anyone launching an original game this season.

Steam & PC

Valve hardware news! Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Valve has confirmed the Steam Frame — the RAM shortage-ravaged standalone VR headset that runs flat Steam games entirely on its own — is just the beginning of plans to get Steam games running smoothly on compatibility-challenged ARM PCs. "We're trying to make it easier," Valve says. In slightly more mysterious Valve news, PC Gamer spotted Backrooms director and avowed Portal superfan Kane Parsons visiting Valve HQ for the second time this year. Draw your own conclusions.

Also worth your time: IO's 007 First Light just got its biggest update yet and is at its lowest price ever, per GameSpot — a nice entry point given GoldenEye's towering legacy. And if you're near Melbourne next month, PAX Australia will have pre-release playable builds of Total War: Warhammer 40,000, Alien: Isolation 2, and Modern Warfare 4.

Gaming Roundup

Eurogamer has a fascinating piece on why Japanese studios are suffering fewer layoffs than their Western counterparts: one expert credits smaller teams and executive pay that doesn't hit $30 million — a sharp contrast to a grim year that included new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's tenure announcement of 3,200 layoffs and four studio departures. And in the story of the day, GameSpot notes that scientists have discovered an entire new species of cat — published in Current Biology — in the time since Grand Theft Auto 6 started development in 2015. Science moves faster than Rockstar, folks.