Pokémon

Pokémon Go creator Niantic is making a Transformers game

Niantic is expanding from cute critters to giant robots. Today, the game developer announced its next project: a location-based augmented reality game called Transformers: Heavy Metal. The game is expected to launch globally this year, with a soft launch in select countries “soon.” Niantic says that it has partnered with Seattle-based studio Very Very Spaceship,… Read more

This year’s Pokémon Go Fest is also a music festival

Pokémon Go Fest is just a few weeks away, and this year, the annual event is also going to be a music festival, developer Niantic announced on Thursday. During the event, you’ll pick one of two Pikachu — Pikachu Rock Star or Pikachu Pop Star, which you can see in the image at the top… Read more

Open-world RPG Pokémon Legends: Arceus is launching January 28th, 2022

Possibly the most ambitious Pokémon game to date will be available early next year. Today Nintendo announced that Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be launching on the Nintendo Switch on January 28th, 2022. The game was first announced in February. Legends looks to be a big change for Pokémon, a franchise that’s become known for its… Read more

Walmart confirms it is indeed still selling Pokémon cards

Contrary to published reports, Walmart confirmed in an email to The Verge on Friday that it has not suspended the sale of any trading cards, including the Pokémon cards that Target recently took off its shelves. There have been reports on social media of people seeing signs at Walmart stores indicating that the retailer would… Read more

Katy Perry’s new music video stars her BFF Pikachu

Katy Perry’s latest video features an electric rat. The pop star released her new video for the single “Electric,” which is a surprisingly charming coming-of-age story about growing up with Pikachu as a best friend. It features a young Perry and her Pichu struggling early on in her career, while the current version of the… Read more

Xbox is partnering with the studio behind the world’s biggest mobile games

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios is teaming up with Tencent’s TiMi Studios, developer of the wildly successful mobile hits Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings. According to a Google Translated version of the announcement from TiMi, the two companies have formed a “strategic partnership” to create “game content,” but it’s unclear exactly what that… Read more

Target will stop selling Pokémon cards in stores

Target has decided that it’s had enough: the company has officially confirmed to Bleeding Cool that it will halt the sales of Pokémon cards throughout the US, starting Friday, May 14th. The retailer cities “an abundance of caution” for the safety of both guests and store employees and notes that it will still be selling… Read more

The Nintendo Switch can’t be stopped

Nintendo Switch sales were up 44 percent percent from January to March compared to the same pandemic-impaired quarter from a year earlier. Today’s numbers bring total Switch sales to 28.83 million for the fiscal year, up 37 percent compared to the 21 million Switch consoles the company shipped the year prior, and beating the company’s… Read more

Cowboy’s improved C4 electric bike launches alongside first step-through model

Cowboy, maker of some of our favorite pedal-assisted electric bikes, is back with two new models for 2021. The Cowboy 4 is a complete overhaul to last year’s Cowboy 3 while the Cowboy 4 ST features the company’s first step-through frame. Both bikes benefit from a new powertrain with 50 percent more torque than last… Read more

Today I learned that card grading companies are drowning in Pokémon cards

A report from Vice has opened my eyes to just how big the Pokémon trading card collecting market is getting — apparently to the point where card rating companies have waitlists that range from six to ten months, with one company claiming it’s receiving over 500,000 cards to grade per week. The card graders, who… Read more

New Pokémon Snap is a supremely chill safari on the Nintendo Switch

Virtual worlds have long been a place to escape. That was true before the pandemic, but lockdowns and stay-at-home orders across the world certainly accelerated the phenomenon. I spent an embarrassing amount of time last year gardening in Animal Crossing and going to concerts in Fortnite. They were great distractions, but never really gave that… Read more

Pokémon Go Fest is back this July as a global event

The annual Pokémon Go Fest is back again this summer, scheduled for July 17th and 18th. Last year’s event was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of taking place in person in select cities around the globe. It sounds like this year’s fest will once again happen virtually; developer Niantic describes the event… Read more

Fujifilm is releasing a Nintendo-themed Instax printer

Fujifilm and Nintendo have announced a new collaboration. The camera company is releasing a new Switch-themed version of its Instax Mini Link photo printer, as well as a new app that’s designed to let you edit Switch screenshots and print them out onto Fujifilm’s Polaroid-style Instax film, or add Nintendo characters to your photos. You… Read more

The Tamagotchi Pix has a built-in camera for taking pictures with your pet

Today, Bandai is announcing the Tamagotchi Pix: a combination of its classic Tamagotchi pet-rearing toy line with a new built-in camera for taking pictures with your digital pet. The Pix is shaped like a hatching egg, with the top part of the “broken shell” working as a shutter button. Using the camera, you can insert… Read more

Kyndryl is IBM’s wacky new name for its dry IT spinoff

Meet Kyndryl — which, despite the name, is not a new legendary pokémon or a futuristic fake pharmaceutical from Cyberpunk 2077. No, Kyndryl is the new name for IBM’s legacy IT infrastructure business, which the company is spinning off into a new company to allow the main company to focus on its newer (and more… Read more