Quick Hits

• ARC Raiders' "biggest update yet" premieres next week. Embark Studios teased its first major content patch in many months today — full details are still under wraps, but the premiere is officially on the calendar. (Destructoid)
• Metroid Ravenous Special Edition pre-orders are being cancelled at UK retailer Very. Reports say a wave of £99.99 special edition orders are getting axed — if you pre-ordered, check your inbox. (Nintendo Life)
• Capcom is setting Switch 2 expectations: Monster Hunter Wilds will target 30fps on the system, and a Monster Hunter World port sounds like a no-go — "We'd have to completely remake the game," the company says. (Nintendo Life)
• Steam Frame demand is outpacing reservations: over 35,000 people say they signed up, and less than half have one reserved, per PC Gamer. (PC Gamer)
• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave fans have caused an online banana shortage at Walmart. Yes, really — Kotaku explains. (Kotaku)

Pokémon & Nintendo

Nintendo's victory lap continues: bolstered by Switch 2 sales — the fastest-selling video game hardware device in US history — and the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake reveal, Nintendo of America's COO promises "This is just the beginning" (Eurogamer).

Pokémon's 30th anniversary is in full swing. All Nippon Airways unveiled the Green Pokémon Jet, a themed airliner complete with Pokémon cups and napkins (GameSpot), Kotaku ranked all 34 gorgeous Pikachu cards in the anniversary TCG set, and IGN counted down the 10 best First Partner Pokémon TCG cards of all time.

On the Capcom front, Monster Hunter Wilds' Switch 2 resolution and performance targets are confirmed — a 30fps frame rate target (Nintendo Life) — while Dragon's Dogma 2 arrives on Switch 2 in October using frame generation for the "equivalent" of 60fps (Nintendo Life).

Elsewhere: Valheim finally hits 1.0 on Switch 2, though Nintendo Life's review flags performance and crossplay hiccups; The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered's Update 1.1 is now live with a stack of fixes; and Shujinkou's v1.1.0 update boosts Switch 1 and 2 performance with uncapped frame rates. In rougher news, Level-5 issued another apology — "We deeply apologize for causing distrust" — amid mounting backlash over its generative AI stance, and Nintendo has reportedly refreshed the Super Mario logo after the series' 40th anniversary.

Arc Raiders

Raiders, assemble: Embark Studios is teasing ARC Raiders' "biggest update yet," with a premiere set for next week. It's the first major content patch in many months, and while the studio hasn't revealed the full extent of what's coming, the tease alone should light up the community (Destructoid).

Indie Games

• The best story of the day: a player who spent less than an hour with Refractive Entertainment's action-RPG Luminary accused the team of using an AI voice — and the dev revealed the game's only voiced character was actually his wife (GameSpot).
• Keep Driving, the tractor-battling teenage road trip RPG beloved by RPS staff, gets official mod support via Steam Workshop later this month (RPS).
• Reviews worth your time: Rock Paper Shotgun calls Control Resonant a "superbly strange action-RPG" that makes you feel "tiny and godly at once," and Roman Sands RE:Build a wild blend of "resort sim, engineering horror and alchemic ritual." Over on Switch 2, Woodo — a "cosy colouring book" from three-person studio Tiny Monks Tales — earns raves as pure relaxation.
• Resident Evil film bonus: Destructoid argues Zach Cregger's movie accidentally adapted a darling indie game, while PC Gamer says the film should focus on survival horror roots over strict lore accuracy.

Steam & PC

• Heads up, PC players: under the EU Kids Act's current draft, even single-player games using Steam might require age verification, according to an MEP's senior policy adviser (RPS).
• Deal alert: Resident Evil Village Gold Edition has hit its lowest-ever Steam price at $14.99 — that's the full game plus all DLC (GameSpot).
• The Blood of Dawnwalker cost just $40 million to develop, per IGN — a striking success story from Warsaw's Rebel Wolves.
• Denuvo is suing a prolific anonymous cracker for bypassing its DRM on 26 games — despite not knowing their real identity (RPS).

Gaming Roundup

• Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is everywhere: GameSpot reveals you can skip a massive chunk of the 100+ hour game and breaks down Casual vs Classic mode; Kotaku declares guns "peak" Fire Emblem storytelling; and VGC has quest guides for The Missing Granddaughter and the Sweet, Pepper, and Bitter Leaves hunts.
• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi warns the Remake trilogy's finale will need around 200GB of storage when it launches next year — start clearing space now (IGN).
• Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes recreated Sony's iconic PS4 game-sharing meme — fittingly, this time without a physical game (Eurogamer).
• The Helldivers movie may have found its new lead: Reacher's Alan Ritchson will replace Jason Momoa, per Deadline (GameSpot).
• Former Naughty Dog dev Bruce Straley has apologized to Santa Monica Studio for his comments about God of War: Laufey (GameSpot).
• Astartes II — the most anticipated Warhammer 40,000 animation ever — has a new trailer and confirmed key details (IGN), and Backrooms director Kane Parsons was spotted at Valve's offices again, stoking Portal movie speculation (Destructoid).

Quiet day for Fortnite and Call of Duty news — so whatever you're playing this weekend (Nintendo Life's Friday thread is live!), may your raids be lucrative and your pre-orders uncancelled.