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There are quite a few things we expect and hope to see from the upcoming Pokémon Presents. On Friday, The Pokémon Company International announced a Pokémon Presents live stream for August 8th, 2023. While the details are sparse, it’s pretty obvious what the presentation will definitely have during its 35-minute show. In addition to the obvious things, there are quite a few wishlist items that fans of the series would hope to see. I recommend that you temper your expectations because we’re likely not going to get any announcements for a new mainline game in the series. However, there are probably going to be some good surprises and treats for those that are fans of the franchise. We could go into detail on non-gaming stuff, like the trading card game or the anime. We could do an entire article like this on just the TCG, for instance. But, we’ll only be focusing this article mostly on the video game and digital-related aspects of the presentation. Don’t worry, we do talk about other things too. As always, take anything we say with a grain of salt. Since it hasn’t happened yet, this is all speculation. Most Likely: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC details The presentation is 35 minutes long. If it doesn’t have anything about the quickly-upcoming downloadable content for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, I’ll eat my hat. The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC comes in two parts: The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. The Teal Mask, marked for Fall 2023, focuses on a Japanese-style village with a rich history and tons of real-world parallels. Aside from the Pokémon already shown off in previous trailers and promo materials, it’s highly likely that we will see even more announcements as it draws super close to release. The Indigo Disk is set for Winter 2023 currently and takes place at a different academy on the water with a ton of biomes. We’ll definitely get a full release date for the first part and, at the least, a month for the second part. We Hope: Classic Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch Online is just a must Nintendo Switch Online has been doing some great things with the Pokémon games of yesteryear. When the Nintendo 64 side of it was announced, they were quick to mention Pokémon Snap. Several months ago, we also saw the original Pokémon Stadium hit the platform as well, plus hints of seeing Stadium 2 in the future. But, do you know what is notably absent from the Game Boy section of Nintendo Switch Online? Anything Pokémon. The first two generations made their way to the Nintendo 3DS via Virtual Console back in 2016. Now that Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games are available on the Switch, it’ll be a great time to bring in all of the same games and the third-generation games as well. The Virtual Console versions allowed Pokémon Bank to transfer from the classics to modern games. Pokémon HOME could get the same mentality. I’m just saying. This is money left on the table right now. Most Likely: Pokémon Concierge is a claymation show with a great game premise I know that I said we wouldn’t talk much about non-video game things. But, I wanted to include this because of the adorable claymation style that’s going into Pokémon Concierge. The upcoming Netflix series focuses on a hotel run in the Pokémon world called the Pokémon Resort. Haru, the character we follow in the story, deals with guests and their partner Pokémon. The Netflix show is definitely on the radar to make an appearance during the Pokémon Presents presentation. However, I may be just theorizing here. But, this would make for a really cute hotel management sim game premise as well. There’s always a chance it could happen. At the least, we’ll likely get a short trailer for the show. We Hope: Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness remake, port, or sequel, please It’s crazy to me that The Pokémon Company hasn’t at least ported Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness at some point. This Nintendo Gamecube title has more than enough of a cult fanbase that it should have made some sort of modern appearance. But, alas, nothing! I’d love to see Pokémon go all in and announce a port or remaster of the original game, maybe also Pokémon Colosseum, and then tease a sequel. For those of you that missed out on this RPG, it follows a completely separate adventure from the mainline titles of its time. Being a spiritual successor to the Stadium games itself, the story focused more on battling than the grand adventure of the other main titles. Make it happen, TPCi! Most Likely: Detective Pikachu Returns could get a new trailer or details About a month ago or so, we got a trailer for Detective Pikachu Returns. This follow-up to the 2016 Nintendo 3DS game is likely to make another appearance. There could be another trailer or just more information about the game. We already have a release date known for October 6th, 2023. But, this could be a story or gameplay trailer. We Hope: A Detective Pikachu follow-up movie could be teased 2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu film was a fantastically done movie with top-tier actors and well-made CGI that brought the fandom that many of us have had for decades into the real world. Soon after, rumors of a follow-up movie quickly came… and went. It’s been four years. Isn’t it about time that we heard some muffled details for another theatrically released Pokémon movie? If you saw the film, you likely know how it ends. A future movie could be taken in a direction to classic regions like Red and Blue’s Kanto or beyond. I know I’m not talking into an echo chamber when I say that I want to see Red and Giovanni square off in live action. Most Likely: Pokémon World Championships is only a few days after the presentation The Pokémon World Championships (known by the fans as “Worlds”) is coming to Yokohama, Japan from August 11th to 13th. It’s a big deal. They’re going all out for it. If you’re unaware, Pokémon is very competitive, both in video games and with their trading card game. The fact that this presentation is mere days before Worlds is highly sus. We could get announcements for games during the event itself, or just a tease for a future TCG set. But, putting this presentation so close to it sets off all the alarms in my head that it’s related to Worlds. We Hope: Pokémon Trading Card Game RPG like the old Game Boy Games Speaking of Game Boy games earlier, the Pokemon Trading Card Game was a Game Boy Color game that allowed players to use the first handful of sets of the TCG in an RPG. In Japan, there was even a follow-up title that never got a western release. I’d like to see the original game and the sequel make their way to our Nintendo Switch Online platform. But, I also want to see a new sequel. Sure, we have the mobile title Pokémon TCG Live for those wanting to play digitally against others around the world. But, we want a story-focused RPG as well. Most Likely: Pokémon mobile game news is always mentioned in these streams As always, Pokémon GO is likely going to get a little detailing during the Pokémon Presents. It could be as simple as showing off details for a future in-game event, announcing some sort of GO Fest, or teasing new Pokémon coming to the game. It is about time that we start seeing more Generation 9 Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet. It’s probable that we will on August 8th. In addition, it’s likely that we will see an appearance of the recently released Pokémon Sleep app and Pokémon TCG Live. It’s plausible that we may see TCG Live finally get a Switch version teased or released in preparation for the Pokémon World Championships a few days later. Whatever it is, tune in to the Official Pokémon YouTube channel on August 8th. The presentation is 35 minutes and starts at 6AM PST.

That’s a really weird BINGO that I just got and can’t explain. Anyone my age remembers the movie Holes. You know the movie, with Shia LeBeouf as Stanley Yelnats IV. Well, the other main kid in that movie, Zero, is making headlines this week. Khleo Thomas, best known as Hector “Zero” Zeroni in the film adaptation of Holes, won a Mortal Kombat 11 tournament at DreamCon. While that’s generally pretty mundane to hear, what he was wearing is what caught everyone’s attention. At DreamCon, hosted in Austin, TX over the past weekend, as well as basically any convention out there, cosplay is pretty normal to see. Thomas, while kicking everyone’s asses in MK11, was wearing a full Powerline costume. Powerline, for those that are uncultured, is the musical artist from 1993’s A Goofy Movie. He’s an anthropomorphized dog person, like Goofy and Max from the same movie, that takes from iconic singers like Prince and Michael Jackson. If you have not seen this movie, it’s on Disney+ and it’s one of the most “stand out” Disney animated movies of all time. Holes, for those that are also uncultured, is a fantastic 2003 movie about a kid discovering his family’s past. Shia’s Stanley meets Thomas’ Zero at the juvenile prison camp that the majority of the movie takes place in and befriends him. Thomas, according to an email exchange with Kotaku, won the tournament using his main, Sub-Zero. He’s been using Sub-Zero since he originally played Mortal Kombat 2 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Alaskan-born actor may be making the headline here for this ridiculous BINGO card. But, he’s actually a pretty popular streamer on YouTube, Twitch, and Tiktok as well. He’s even been in a video game before. While not prominent, he was credited as the voice of Kai Donaldson, the Nike Rep in NBS 2K19. While it isn’t a lot, it counts! In any case, congratulations to Khleo on winning the tournament at DreamCon! All I know is that I’m going to be listening to “I 2 I” and “Stand Out” in my head all day today whether I want to or not.

The Banjo-Kazooie secrets are nothing new. But, this proves that the unreleased feature can be done! Once in a while, news focuses briefly on the past. Sometimes, you’ll get some legend trying to speedrun a classic for a new world record, or maybe just a new secret is found in some retro video game. Banjo-Kazooie is a 1998 Nintendo 64 game developed by Rare. It follows the adventures of a bear named Banjo, and Kazooie, his bird companion that rides along in Banjo’s backpack. After the success of Super Mario 64, a lot of games modeled themselves after the 3D adventure platformer. There was a quirk that original Nintendo 64 hardware could take advantage of called Stop N’ Swop. Stop N’ Swop required a player to very quickly swap over to a different physical game cartridge utilizing the very short-term memory left over in the console when it’s turned off. If it had been properly implemented in games, it would allow players to unlock extra content hidden in that game. Banjo-Kazooie, and its sequel Banjo-Tooie, were both planned to use this feature. Rare programmed in the extra content. But, the feature was ultimately scrapped due to fear of damaging the console or cartridges. They also had fears that later hardware would fix the quirk. That did eventually become true as later models only offered one full second of memory still loaded instead of multiple. Modder Skawo realized that, sure, the secrets have all been found. The feature had a version of it in the later Xbox 360 releases. But, it really hadn’t been properly done on the original Nintendo 64 hardware. In order for it to work, Skawo needed to make a modded The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time cartridge, play it for enough time for the memory to load in, and then swap it with the Banjo-Kazooie cart. Skawo shows all of the footage in the video, proving that it can be done. The Zelda cart even offers additional details and dialog on how this trick can work. It’s always great to see little details like this being found and being capable of working. Not only does it help with knowledge and preservation, but we could eventually see speedrunners doing “%any Stop N Swop” runs.

We were looking at an interesting infographic about the most complained about games on Twitter for modern games. Looking at it closely, you can see the reasoning behind a lot of the ire. Some of the entries, like Halo Infinite or Angry Birds, come down to complaints with the developers more than the games themselves. Guidestrats But, there has to be other reasons behind it all. It got us thinking about all the reasons why games might be complained about. One glaring reason is them being frustrating to play. Then, we thought hard about what would be the most frustrating games of all time. Sure, some of these games are modern. But, there are a lot of games in the history of gaming that induce the kind of primal rage that could break a computer or console. Here are our top 10 most notoriously frustrating games of all time. They’re all doozies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) Let’s start back in a simpler age, back when the Nintendo Entertainment System was the king of the market. It was also during the era where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were everywhere. This game, albeit trying to capitalize on the lighthearted cartoon where turtles love pizza and most of the bad guys were robot ninjas, held a dark secret. Looking at the box art for the game should have been our first clue. The turtles in the art weren’t your loveable scamps from Saturday morning. They were the gritty, violent, trained assassins from the comics. It should have been our first clue that this game wasn’t going to be easy. This game wasn’t for kids, even if it was marketed toward them. The game, back when it was released, was a commercial success. But, looking back at it, it’s hard to play. Levels can get downright brutal, if you’re off by a single pixel in your movement. This game naturally made this list. You can play it on the TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection right now, on every major console and PC. Good luck. Dark Souls FromSoftware knows how to make a game very well. They also know how to make you want to punch a wall. Coming hot off their already-difficult Armored Core games back in 2011, Dark Souls amps the difficulty to 11. Notoriously known for being both a well-made game, and one of the hardest games in the modern era, Dark Souls had to be on this list. While the entire series of Dark Souls games is difficult, it spawned its own genre of games, known as “Soulsbourne” type games. It shares the name with Bloodborne, another game made by FromSoftware. This genre included games like Elden Ring, made also by, you guessed it, FromSoftware. There might be a connection here. Dark Souls has become the standard of “difficult games”, becoming the generic term for it. If something is difficult to do, someone may say that it’s “the Dark souls of” whatever genre they’re talking about. You can play the remake of the original Dark Souls on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Cuphead Cuphead is the Dark Souls of platformer games. There is no denying it. This charming platformer game brings the aesthetic of 1930s and 40s cartoons into a rich, glorious game. It’s beautifully made and is a fan favorite among modern gamers that pays homage to classic Disney and Looney Tunes. Why’s it on the list? If you’ve played it, you already know that answer. It’s hard. Like, stupidly hard. Cuss at your screen until you’re blue in the face hard. The game gives you three difficulties: Simple, Regular, and Expert. Players can unlock Expert after beating the game once on either available difficulty. Each difficulty level affects the amount of phases that bosses have. Simple, obviously, gives the least amount, and so on. Just because you remove as many phases as possible doesn’t make the game easy, though. The bosses are still incredibly difficult on any level. It’s just a matter of how long it takes to defeat them and if they have different phases of attacks. Needless to say, though, if you like difficult games, you need to play this one. It’s widely available on every major platform and PC. Ninja Gaiden for NES The Nintendo Entertainment System was notoriously known for pretty difficult games. The phrase “Nintendo Hard” was coined to explain that this was a common occurance. Ninja Gaiden is part of the reason. Players play as the ninja Ryu Hayabusa looking for revenge on those that murdered his father. Using weapons of a ninja, players go through the story in this 2D platformer designed with the intent to give you anxiety and rage. This was an era of games that players had to memorize, pixel by pixel, exactly what they needed to do in a game. While the game as a whole is frustrating (those damn birds), the difficulty kicks in during the last couple “Acts”. The bosses get harder. The precision is absolutely necessary. The thoughts of murder enter your head as you play. It’s a great time. This game can be found on the Nintendo Switch, as a direct download Arcade Archives: NINJA GAIDEN. Superman 64 Superman 64 had to make this list. If you know, you know. This game was meant to tie in with the Superman cartoon of the early 1990s. What it did was fail to capture a single aspect of what makes Superman the “Man of Steel”. This game is rough on the best of days. The graphics are blocky and stiff. The game plays like crap. It’s just all-around bad. The game went through development hell, being delayed until 1999. But, it needed a lot more time in the oven to bake. After 14 levels of gameplay, the game is basically impossible to beat without cheating. The game has flying levels, for instance, that require players to fly through rings in the sky. Seems normal, by gaming standards. But, the controls are so janky and the camera is so disruptive that it makes flying through the rings the same difficulty level as flying a real jet plane as a civilian. If you want a rage-inducing game, you may have found the king of them here. There is currently no way to legally play this outside of the Nintendo 64. We doubt there are plans for it. QWOP QWOP is a weird game. The original version was browser-based and a little niche. It slowly became the meme that it is today through sheer force of will. QWOP was made by the brilliant Bennett Foddy, which you will absolutely see on this list again. He makes games that make you want to scream into the void. QWOP tasks you with just moving your legs. You’re a track and field runner and you must make it to the end of the 100m dash. That’s it. Easy peasy, right? It made this list for a reason. You have to use the letters QW and OP on your keyboard to try to figure out how to move your thighs and calves. In theory, it should be a cakewalk. In reality, it’s one of the most frustrating experiences on this list. And that includes Superman 64. You can play this directly on Bennett Foddy’s site. Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy We told you this name would show up again. Bennett Foddy makes experimental games and is truly a great artist. Getting Over It feels like a spiritual successor to QWOP, if only in difficulty alone. When you fail, Foddy will enchant you with his optimism and good graces, as well as little anecdotes. And trust me, you will fail. You will hear what he has to say. The aesthetic changes drastically from the other game by Foddy. You are a man in a big pot, wielding a pickaxe. Unlike QWOP, you have no legs at all that you can use. You get by with your pickaxe. Climbing mountains and garbage, all the way up to outer space, if you can make it. The average player can’t. But, you can. We believe in you. Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy is available on all major platforms and PC. Super Meat Boy Super Meat Boy is one of the faces of indie platformers. It’s an instant classic about being a person made of meat, saving your girlfriend from an evil fetus. We never said indie games weren’t weird. One thing that Super Meat does have is difficulty. This fast-paced platformer requires players to make split second decisions and jumps, while the stage forces you to keep moving. You mess up, you start over. Many lists out there put this game in the short list for “most difficult games”. It deserves it. This isn’t a game that suffers from bad design or gameplay. But, it does require fast fingers and impeccable reaction times. Super Meat Boy can be found on Steam and various platforms over the years. Geometry Dash Geometry Dash is, to say the least, hard. Similar to Super Meat Boy above, it requires precision reaction times and a quick trigger finger. You play as a yellow box hopping over shapes and spikes. You avoid pitfalls and anything in your way. Platforms are very small and you’re constantly moving. This game is infuriating to play because it starts you over at the very beginning when you die. You will die a lot. You will see the beginning a lot. It’s easy to find on Google to play or on Steam, even if it came out in 2013. We gave it a try while writing this article and it’s still just as hard a decade later. Maybe our fingers are getting old. Battletoads Battletoads comes from the same era as Ninja Gaiden and TMNT, on the NES. It’s certified Nintendo Hard. Even casual gamers know the horrors of that Turbo Tunnel level. What if we said that that level was only the third level of the game out of twelve? You can’t get past the early parts of the game easily. Most people have never even seen the fourth level due to 1980s rage quitting. It’s ok. We owned the game too. It’s not easy. There is currently no way to legally play this outside of the NES. Speaking of frustration, it can be frustrating trying to sift through all of the news that comes out of games. If you missed any recent news, you can always check out our weekly roundup of This Week in Video Games. We compile the juiciest news just for you.

John Romero is a legend in the video game industry. Back in the 1990s, his name became synonymous with heavy metal music, innovative gameplay, and big friggin’ guns turning demons on Mars into soup. Without John Romero, the first-person shooter genre may not have become so dominating. DOOM is where it all started. But, that was the 90s. This is 2023. Image: Doom Guy: Life in First Person, by John Romero This week, Romero published his autobiography, Doom Guy: Life in First Person. He opted to do a Reddit AMA to promote the book. During the AMA, he did let spill a couple of extra details that we didn’t know about. During the AMA, u/smolgote asked, “If given the opportunity, would you remake/reboot Daikatana into the kick ass FPS you once envisioned?” John responded in kind and explained that it was not currently in the cards. But, he isn’t against the idea of it, if anyone else wanted to take up the task. “Thanks for the Daikatana question,” he said. “I feel that Daikatana, if remade, could be an exciting game, moreso than the original. Personally, I would consult but not do the remake myself as I'm very busy with other games.” Another user, u/Poopyman80, asked, “Is there some way we can convince you to make a modern death match game in the old gameplay style?” John responded with a bombshell. “I've been working on an FPS for a while now. I can't say anything about it, however. There's a major publisher behind it.” In the same question and response, Daikatana was also mentioned, where Romero simply stated that he “would not remake Daikatana [him]self, but [he] support[s] a remake.” Only time will tell what Romero’s new big FPS game will be. Knowing that it’s being handled by a “major publisher” is promising, though. We’re just glad it isn’t Daikatana related. You can read the entire AMA with John Romero over on Reddit. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: I bring the Smoke: Mortal Kombat 1 shows off Smoke, Rain, and more Xbox gets a long-awaited feature: Voice reporting Toxic Destiny 2 “fan” owes half a million dollars to Bungie over harassment Xbox Live Gold to be retired in September, replaced with Game Pass Core

Reports suggest that the next Nintendo Switch could be in the second half of 2024 This past week, we reported on a known Nintendo partner that is making chips for a new video game console in 2024. We just didn’t have clarification if the chips were actually for a Nintendo product or not. I mean, we all knew that Nintendo was obviously going to work on their next generation of consoles at some point. Considering that the Nintendo Switch is now 6 years old (no, seriously, stop it), it’s about time for a new lineup with more features and power. VGC has the scoop this time, having multiple resources to confirm. The Nintendo Switch successor is definitely probably allegedly coming during the second half of 2024, according to the rumor. Eurogamer confirms this rumor lines up with their own findings as well. According to the sources, developer kits for the upcoming console have been sent out to multiple partners and developers. As far as what’s reported, the new console will have similar flavors to the current Nintendo Switch. It’ll be portable, have an LCD screen, and run cartridges. It’s currently unclear if the cartridge slot will be backward compatible with the current Switch. However, it’s highly likely. Prior to the complete change-over back to cartridges this past generation, backward compatibility was pretty common in Nintendo consoles during the 2000s. The Wii U was compatible with Wii games and Wii consoles could play GameCube games. Additionally, back in June, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa spoke about the eventual transition that consumers will have to deal with. He said he wanted to ease that move “smoothly”. It was in relation to Nintendo accounts. Prior consoles all had different accounts that connected to each other. Nintendo seems to be looking to unify everything going forward, just like its competitors at Microsoft and Sony. Not only is the Switch 2 clearly on their mind, but also how the future console could handle older transactions. Your account is used for your avatar and details, obviously but also for your digital store purchases. If you bought a game digitally, it shows up. This “smooth transition” mentioned by Furukawa could be alluding that Switch games may work on its successor. Take everything, obviously, with a grain of salt until there is any official confirmation.

SteamDB pulled some interesting information about the future of Steam Decks. The call is coming from inside the house! Valve hasn’t shared any plans publicly to start selling recertified refurbished Steam Decks. That didn’t stop SteamDB from finding listings of such that were accidentally been made public for a few minutes though. According to the “leaked” listings, they were all marked as “Certified Refurbished” and came in three flavors. Those that already know the main Steam Deck options will not be surprised that the listings were for the 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB models. They were originally spotted on August 7th. Pretty quickly, the names were all changed to “Unknown App”, and eventually just were removed completely. Pavel Djundik, the creator of SteamDB, listed the found information, including the alleged pricing. Images are shown over on Wario64 as well. The store pages, linked below, now send you to Steam’s main storefront. Steam Deck 64 GB - Certified Refurbished - $319.00 Steam Deck 256 GB - Certified Refurbished - $419.00 Steam Deck 512 GB - Certified Refurbished - $519.00 As you can see, the items are lower in price than their pristine, in-box counterparts. Each refurb is dropped by $80. Depending on how many units they have, this could allow for additional sales and discounts on them in the future. The Steam Deck, for the console gamers in our audience, is a stand-alone, portable, Steam-capable piece of hardware made by Valve. While resembling a Nintendo Switch, it only offers users the ability to play software and games directly from Steam. It’s become incredibly popular among PC players since it was released last year for on-the-go travel and gameplay. While it definitely isn’t a competitor to Nintendo’s flagship system, it does have competition. The Asus ROG Ally, for instance, has been recently encroaching on its territory with a solid piece of hardware. So, offering a much cheaper option of the Steam Deck could turn the tide in this tug-of-war it’s engaged in with Asus and others. “Why buy the more expensive piece of equipment,” says the imaginary executive in our head, “when you can get the actual Steam Deck for mere pennies?” While nothing is technically confirmed, the original leak did come from Valve and Steam itself. So, take it with some grains of salt until they reveal this officially.

A ton of news from The Pokémon Company today in a 35 minute presentation. Earlier this past week, we reported on an upcoming Pokémon Presents for today. They dropped the video this morning on their official YouTube and it had a bunch of great new tidbits for Pokémon fans to chew on. While a few of our initial predictions were incorrect, there were some great surprises during the presentation. And yes, we did get some of our predictions right. As expected, they started with some great information and news for those headed to Yokohama, Japan this week to attend the Pokémon World Championships. They’re even including a Pokémon Cruise for players to go play and trade on a big boat. Knowing that the original games’ Vermillion City is based, loosely, on Yokohama, that means that including this cruise is likely a reference to the original S.S. Anne cruise ship in Vermillion. During the presentation, there were some details about various cartoons and anime coming soon. While there were no additional details about Pokémon Concierge, we did see three separate animations shown. Coinciding with the Pokémon Worlds event, Path to the Peak is coming to YouTube on August 11th and focuses on a character battling with Pokémon and playing the trading card game. The main anime, Pokémon Horizons, showed off some future story shots and left no additional details. Additionally, for those interested in more lore about the current Scarlet and Violet video games, Pokémon Paldean Winds, an original anime series, is coming to YouTube on Sept 6th, 2023. It follows students in the academy from the games, similar to previous OVA series that have hit YouTube for the previous generation of games. As we predicted, the Pokémon Presents had a huge focus on mobile games Pokémon GO got some fantastic news. As we predicted last week, Pokémon GO is finally getting Pokémon from the Paldea version, AKA from Scarlet and Violet, starting in September. If it’s anything like previous drops, it’ll be a slow drip to get them all out. They announced multiple GO Fests in London, Osaka, and New York City. A Global Pokémon GO Fest will take place from August 26th to 27th and feature Mega Diancie for the first time. You can also find Mega Rayquaza this way. Pokémon Unite is celebrating its 2nd-anniversary event right now. It includes a new game mode called Panic Parade. Mewtwo recently joined to be playable and includes their Mega Mewtwo X form. However, an event starting on August 17th will allow players to obtain their Mega Mewtwo Y form. Pokémon Masters EX is getting Nemona and Pawmot from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, starting today. They will be a special paring called a “spirit pair” that has additional functionality. Victor and Spectrier will be dropping for players that complete an event starting August 16th. You can also login right now to claim 3000 gems for free in celebration. Pokémon Cafe Remix is next to get some news. They’re adding Tatsugiri, the Pokémon that looks like sushi. It will be available in all three forms for new recipes in the game. However, players must choose only one of the three forms to join your staff. Logging in now will grant you a Summer Fun Jigglypuff for free. Additionally, the Paldea starters have returned and are possible to get again to join your staff. Players that log in now get a free 11x Express Delivery until August 30th. Pokémon Sleep recently came out. But, they’re adding a special monthly event that happens every full moon called the Good Sleep Day event for those that have trouble sleeping on full moons. Snorlax will get double his sleep power those nights. Some games for Nintendo Switch were mentioned in the presentation Detective Pikachu Returns, as we predicted, came with a full story trailer. Since the first game is now like 7 years old, it’s a re-introduction trailer to show off the various characters from the game, some of the mechanics of gameplay, and locations that you’ll frequent. The game will be out on October 6th, 2023. We already had indications that Pokémon Stadium 2 was joining the Nintendo 64 section of Nintendo Switch Online. But, confirmation and release for today are both fantastic. Speaking of Nintendo Switch Online, we got a small detail correct in our predictions. While we’re still waiting on the majority of classic Pokémon games to join the library, they did bring us the excellent Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color. It’s also coming out today. The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and the upcoming DLC got a ton of new details and trailers Starting off with the current generation of mainline games, Scarlet and Violet, they announced a new “Get Mew and Mewtwo” event. Players can get Mew right now with code “GETY0URMEW” in the games, which will have a randomized Tera-type. Train your little pink cat Pokémon up to help you battle against Mewtwo in the upcoming event. Mewtwo with the “Mightiest Mark” will be a special Tera Raid Battle event taking place from September 1st to 17th. There will be additional various Tera Raid Battle events to lead up to the Mewtwo one. For those unaware, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is the upcoming DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It’ll come in two parts, which seem to tell a story together. The first one, The Teal Mask, takes place in a Japan-inspired town and focuses on the mystery of the Pokémon in the Teal Mask. The Indigo Disk is a story about a new academy built on the water with four different biomes built into it. Both come together to tell the story of a hidden treasure of Area Zero. What that means currently is still a mystery. Today’s presentation focused on new details, such as characters, some new Pokémon types, and some new functions and features. They showed off some new Pokémon. Dipplin, for instance, is a convergent Pokémon of Applin. We also met Archaludon, a new evolution of Duraludon. It’s great to see Pokémon from the Sword and Shield games getting some love. They showed off some new characters, such as the siblings from Blueberry Academy, Carmine and Kieran. We also got to see the BB League, an “Elite Four” of sorts for the DLC. Their names are Lacey, Crispin, Amarys, and Drayton. You’ll be able to earn mochi from a new minigame that works similarly to the classic “super training” from older games. For those that take a lot of photos, a Roto-Stick (AKA a selfie stick) is being added as well. Oh, and you’ll now eventually be able to unlock the ability to make Miraidon or Koraidon able to fly. During the DLC, players were shown a new League Club. This includes a Club room that you can decorate. In the club room, you can change your pokéball throwing style animation and invite trainers from the Paldea region to come be “Special instructors” at Blueberry. The release date for The Teal Mask is now confirmed to be September 13th, 2023. The Indigo Disk didn’t get an exact date yet, but it is still coming this Winter 2023.

The Pokémon Presents will be around 35 minutes long. Lots of information! We’re getting another Pokémon Presents, this time on August 8th, 2023. It’ll be dropped onto the official The Pokémon Company YouTube at 2 PM UK / 9 AM EST / 6 AM PT. The presentation will last around 35 minutes. It’s currently unclear exactly what will be presented during the video. However, fans of the franchise can likely glean some sort of idea based on prior Pokémon Presents videos and the timing. Pokémon is likely going to not offer any new mainline games during the Pokémon Presents. They’re in the middle of the promotional cycle for the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet DLC. The games, in recent generations, have gone away from entirely full-bodied “enhanced” versions immediately after the release of the originals. If you’re unfamiliar with the idea, think of it like when Pokémon Yellow Edition came out after Red and Blue or when Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon came out after Sun and Moon. And so on. Nowadays, players get to keep their original save files and head to new areas unlocked from the DLC pass. Part one, due out this Fall 2023, is titled The Teal Mask. Not long after that one, during Winter 2023, we are getting The Indigo Disk DLC. The Pokémon Presents will likely have a harder focus on both of those parts of the downloadable content. But, that doesn’t mean the entire presentation has to focus on only them for 35 minutes. This year, the Pokémon World Championships will take place from August 11th to August 13th in Yokohama, Japan. This presentation is happening just ahead of the big competition. For those unaware, Pokémon is a highly competitive space. Between battling with digital Pokémon in the mainline Pokémon games and Pokémon GO to cardboard-based games with the Pokémon Trading Card Game, people take it seriously. It’s very possible that the Pokémon Presents may tease things that will be fully revealed during Worlds. It’s also possible that we will see other games during the video, such as the upcoming Detective Pikachu Returns. Some people are hoping that the classic Game Boy Pokémon games could make their way onto Nintendo Switch Online since other Game Boy games were recently added as well.

If you’re an avid Google or Android user, you may have recently gotten invited by Google to try out the Beta for their Google Play Games on PC. Let’s break down everything you need to know before you jump in and start playing games on your desktop or laptop. Image: Arthur Collins / GameCrate What is Google Play Games and the PC beta? Google Play is Google’s service that allows you to download games and apps to your Android devices. It’s their version of Apple’s App Store. When you download anything, it goes through Google Play. You also find books, video, and music through the Play Store. Google Play Games is specifically the section for Games. Pretty simple. They’re looking at getting your favorite mobile games onto your PC now. If you play a lot of mobile games, this is big news for those that want to play on a much bigger screen. The beta has been going for a while now. But, they’re slowly adding countries to the list, near weekly at this point. The options of games that work on PC currently are slim, at the moment. Games are likely to be added with time. But, out of the dozens of games that we’ve played previously, only four were available for us to play. Luckily, two that we play avidly are available. All of them run really smoothly for being heavier games. We’d argue that they run even better than on our Google Pixel 6a phone. How do I get into the Google Play Games beta? It’s great that Google is offering this to their fans. But, maybe you didn’t get an invite. How do you get in? The good news is that you just have to go to the official site for it, and Download the Beta from there. Seriously, that’s it. The next part is the trickier part: installation. They have minimum requirements. But, most games are going to need a little bit closer to the “recommended” settings. Here’s an easy list to see if your computer can handle it. Here’s the minimum requirements to run Google Play Games beta on your PC: OS: Windows 10 (v2004) Storage: Solid state drive (SSD) with 10 GB of available storage space Memory: 8 GB of RAM Graphics: IntelⓇ UHD Graphics 630 GPU or comparable Processor: 4 CPU physical cores If you’re looking at utilizing the power of your PC a bit more, Google agrees with you. While these settings will get the games open, they might be a tad sluggish and make it more difficult for you to play. Image: Arthur Collins / GameCrate The recommended settings are nearly the same. But, it amps the processor need up to 8 CPU physical cores and, as you expect, a higher grade graphics card. They use a Gaming-class GPU, like the Nvidia GeForce MX450, as their example. You also need to be the admin account on your Windows computer and make sure that your SSD is your primary drive. Additionally, it’s going to require “hardware virtualization” to be turned on. Image: Arthur Collins / GameCrate Some users don’t have to do a thing to their PC. It might already be turned on for you. The Google Play Games installation will include Hypervisor. You’ll need to download and install it. You’re done and ready to play. On the other hand, if you’re running a PC that doesn’t have virtualization turned on, it will tell you before you even install the program. This happens sometimes for those that upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11, for instance. But, it can happen in other cases as well. Turn on Hardware Virtualization for Google Play Games beta Start by checking to see if your PC even offers Hardware Virtualization. This part is easy. Just CTRL+ALT+DEL and check to see if it’s on or off in your Task Manager. If it doesn’t show up at all, your computer likely can’t do it. You’re probably out of luck, sadly. If it’s on, you’re good to go. If not, you’re gonna need to head into your BIOS. Before you do, hit CTRL+R to open the “Run” program. Type “systeminfo”, hit enter, and look at your details for the computer. Here, you can also see if hardware virtualization is available for you at all. Next, you’re going to your BIOS. Yea, we’re diving into the depths of your PC here. Restart your computer and as the opening logos turn on, you’ll have to hit your BIOS key. Every PC is a little different. But, it’s usually something like DELETE, F2, F3, etc. It usually tells you on the screen when you reboot. Hit it quickly when it comes up on the screen before Windows itself boots up. Once you’re in, you need to hunt down the section that configures your CPU. For us, it was in the “Advanced” section, so don’t forget to check there if you can’t find it. You need to now find the acceleration section. The next part depends on your PC. You’ll have to figure out which option is your version of Virtualization. It might be simply named “Hardware Virtualization”. Some PCs might call it something else, such as Hyper-V, Vanderpool, SVM, AMD-V, Intel Virtualization Technology, or VT-X. If you need more information, you can find it on Virtual Metric. In any case, once you get it on, make sure you save your settings before you exit. How can I install games on Google Play Games beta? Once you download the Google Play Games beta, it’s going to have to log into your Google account. It seamlessly remembers your stats and Google Play settings from your normal Android devices, as long as you log in with the same account. Image: Arthur Collins / GameCrate It will also remember any games that it currently offers that you’ve played before. You simply have to click on a game you want to install and hit the “Install” button. It pops up a phone-shaped window with the game and you’re mobile gaming on a computer. As of writing, there aren't a ton of games available just yet. But, more will come with time. One of our top picks for licensed gacha games is on the list though: Dragon Ball Legends. So, there’s that. While you’re at it, check out our analysis of console gaming vs. PC gaming in 2023. There are a lot of details that people just don’t think about.

As of March 27th, 2023, the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U are gone forever. It was bound to happen eventually. Nothing lasts until the end of time. But, it was gone just too soon. But, what can you do about it? Is it a dead system? We looked quite a while and came up with a pretty concise list of options for 3DS owners now. You’d be surprised how much you can actually still do with it. Here’s 5 things you can do with your Nintendo 3DS now that the eShop is closed. It makes a great paperweight or a moderate Switch stand Let’s get the jokes out of the way. We’re just going to come out and say it, a New Nintendo 3DS makes a pretty good Nintendo Switch stand, if left alone. We didn’t expect it to work so well, but here we are. Just don’t touch it or it’ll slide. If you open your 3DS at just the right angle, you can lean your Switch against it. Is it worth the money to buy a 3DS just to use as a stand? No, absolutely not. Likewise, any 3DS or 2DS will absolutely hold your papers in a windy room pretty well as a paperweight. Fan going too hard in your office? Your 3DS has you covered. One thing that it fails at pretty badly is being a doorstop. It’s too light, sadly. You could also use it as a weapon or a really crappy frisbee, if you throw it, but it isn’t really designed for that. Access the eShop for prior purchases. Since the eShop is closed, that means you can’t add funds to your account. But, you might have had your system for a while. You likely have a handful of apps and games that you’ve downloaded or purchased over time. The good news here is that you can still get them. If you head on over to the eShop, you can goto the Menu. From there, click “Settings / Other”. Then, look for “Redownloadable Software” on that list. You’ll be able to download anything from this list. Maybe there’s an old demo you want to try again or software you forgot you bought. We found Steeldiver Sub Wars and Flipnote Studio 3D hidden away in this manner and they both work! So, if nothing else, you can grab your old games for now. Download new themes If you head over to your HOME menu settings, you can see that you have access to all of your previously downloaded themes. You can swap between them, if you took advantage of grabbing any when the eShop was still around. There were tons of free options, or maybe you spent a couple bucks on a cool theme that wasn’t free. We don’t judge. We did both. But, what about now? You can still head to the “Theme Shop”. It’s a little emptier than it was prior to the closure. But, Nintendo didn’t leave you entirely high and dry. You can download two free themes right now: “Dots & Stripes: Yellow & White” and “Stars: Gold & Black” are the only two themes in the theme shop. There’s nothing special about them. But, they do allow you to give yourself a little extra customizability in a dead system with no new content going forward. If nothing else, add a little color to your paperweight’s HOME screen. Use the internet Here’s a little known fact: There’s a fully capable internet browser on the Nintendo 3DS systems. More accurately, the original 3DS consoles have basic lookup functionality that aren’t fully compliant to the modern web, but can suffice in a pinch. However, the “New” 3DS and 2DS systems run HTML5. After trying both an original 2DS and a New 3DS, it’s like night and day. You have access to go to any website and watch videos directly through the browser. Do with that info what you want. You can play it. It’s still a console. Many years ago, back in the before times, there was a time that people physically walked into a Blockbuster to rent a movie instead of streaming it. Back then, your video game consoles didn’t utilize the internet at all. You’d put a game into the system, turn on the console, and play it. There were no updates. There was no ”always on” internet connection. You didn’t have the option to jump to Netflix or Prime Video. You didn’t even have a chat option to talk to other people. You just played games. It was a simpler time. In fact, one of the predecessors to the 3DS, the Nintendo DS, didn’t even have a special eShop to download content. You had to go down to Gamestop or Best Buy and purchase a physical game. While you likely won’t find many 3DS games brand new in your local game shop anymore, there’s a plethora of available games you can hunt down and get. The 3DS does allow for both 3DS and DS games in the systems after all. You might be a fan of Pokémon, where an absolute ton of games are available for both systems. Or, you might like niche licensed games. Try out one of the older Animal Crossing games. Or you can grab from a long list of indie and third party titles spanning across nearly two decades. Seriously, the DS came out in 2004 and every game works on the 3DS. You’re not lacking in content and never were. If you like fun lists about gaming, you should check out our take on the top 10 most frustrating games of all time. Unfortunately, none of them are available to play on your 3DS now that the eShop is closed.

The yearly event also goes by the name Pokémon Worlds. For those unaware, Pokémon is big. The franchise, originally appearing in Japan in 1996, has remained one of the biggest franchises of all time. As such, they do host major events every year. The Pokémon World Championships (known also as simply “Worlds”) is a yearly tradition at this point, aside from a short break during the pandemic. Players earn their points during the main season at local, regional, and national tournaments to make their way to Worlds. This year, Worlds is being hosted in Yokohama, Japan. Players and fans from all over the globe have all made their way to Japan for this big event. Prizes this year total around $1 million. Unfortunately, not everyone can take a trip to Japan right now to go watch the big video game, trading card game, and mobile game event. So, as always, the Pokémon World Championships will be available to watch on Twitch. The streams will be split between four different accounts, one each for the specific game being played. Info is directly given by The Pokémon Company’s own website. How to watch the Pokémon VGC (Video Game Championships) Pokémon VGC stream: Twitch.tv/Pokemon Thursday, August 10: 5:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. PDT — Day 1 Swiss Friday, August 11: 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. PDT — Day 2 Swiss, Top 8, and Top 4 Saturday, August 12: 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. PDT — Final matches for all three Pokémon VGC age divisions on Twitch.tv/Pokemon How to watch the Pokémon Trading Card Game Championships Pokémon TCG stream: Twitch.tv/PokemonTCG Thursday, August 10: 5:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. PDT — Day 1 Swiss Friday, August 11: 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. PDT — Day 2 Swiss, Top 8, and Top 4 Saturday, August 12: 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. PDT — Final matches for all three Pokémon TCG age divisions on Twitch.tv/Pokemon How to watch the Pokémon GO Championships Pokémon GO stream: Twitch.tv/PokemonGO Thursday, August 10: 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. PDT — Bracket Stage Friday, August 11: 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. PDT — Bracket Stage until Top 2 Saturday, August 12: 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. PDT — Grand Finals How to watch the Pokémon UNITE Championships Pokémon UNITE stream: Twitch.tv/PokemonUNITE Thursday, August 10: 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. PDT — Group Play Friday, August 11: 5:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. PDT — Bracket Play Where to watch the Pokémon World Championships 2023 Closing Ceremonies Pokémon Closing Ceremonies stream: Twitch.tv/Pokemon Sunday, August 13: 1:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. PDT While you’re here, you should check out our big news round-up from earlier this week’s Pokémon Presents stream. There was quite a bit of information and was easy to miss all of the good bits.