Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's cartoon band, the Gorillaz, has taken a stand against generative AI with its new project, a short animated film that serves as a hand-crafted homage to the golden era of 2D animation. Released in time for the band's new album of the same name, The Mountain reimagines the group through the lens of a '60s-era animated film, complete with all the imperfections that made those movies look and feel special. Co-director Max Taylor says the project evolved into a "love letter to craftsmanship" during a time of "AI overload".

Taylor added that animation studio The Line utilized a hybrid analog-digital workflow, mixing real materials, practical effects, and period-accurate limitations over contemporary shortcuts.

"If particular visuals couldn't be achieved in that era, then we didn't do them. We processed our digital pencil work to mimic photocopy degradation. We scanned real paintings at high resolution and finished the details digitally. It was about capturing the tactile quality that only real materials give you," Taylor said (via Catsuka). "In a time of AI overload, this is our love letter to craftsmanship. We're chasing the feel of pencil on paper. Paint on board. And all the imperfections that come with it."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Beneath the cold, hard exterior of EVE Online lies plenty of stories from players that will warm your heart. Recently, I became aware of Arrowspeed Bounty, also known as Jennifer--a 70-year-old veteran player who has risen through the game’s political ranks to hold an important position on the Council of Stellar Management, or CSM.

Arrowspeed Bounty was first introduced to EVE Online thanks to some of her gaming friends. After playing the tutorial, she began to join those friends in mining activities but noted that it was "still trial and error" in the early days, especially when figuring out the game’s currency and how to mitigate losing ships. "While it wasn’t the end of the world when that happened, it was still disheartening as the real mission was flying to different places to find the specific parts needed to replace them," she notes.

After finding her feet in EVE Online, Arrowspeed Bounty joined a small corporation--a community similar to a guild or a clan that allows for collaborative play and contribution to large goals or advanced content. However, greater collaboration doesn't always make for an easier experience, and Arrowspeed Bounty was quickly forced to learn a new part of EVE Online: Decorum. "As a newcomer to the game, it was expected that I’d learn about undocumented and social protocols by breaking them myself--accidentally, of course,"

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Honkai Star Rail 4.0’s livestream reveal at the beginning of February concerned players, including me. A reduction in the number of events--being replaced with more minigames--the absence of an impressively produced music-video-style trailer, the already disappointing 3.X phase of the game, and the version being split across two worlds--Planarcadia and Astropolis--led to the reveal feeling a little underwhelming. However, having spent some time in 4.0 now, I can swallow my pride and say my apprehensions were for nothing. This update is the most fun I’ve had in Honkai Star Rail for a long time.

Planarcadia as a world leans into the lighthearted side of Honkai Star Rail. HSR has long mixed serious narratives with funnier ones, but the previous setting of Amphoreus was mostly the former. Planarcadia is immediately charming, funny, and drew me in from the off. It’s a sprawling city with multiple different areas full of advanced technology, but doesn’t resemble 2.0's Penacony despite also being a city setting.

Different new characters caught my eye and added to the humorous aspect of the narrative, too. Caustide--a large boss with open-neck purple shirt, fur-lined jacket, oversized shades, and pink quiff hairstyle--is the perfect depiction of a mobster villain, only he’s a chicken. The “Narrator” is a tiny cross-eyed monkey who banters with the other characters in an endearing yet still comical manner.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Thirty years ago, Pokemon was a much smaller and stranger world. As Pokemon’s 30th anniversary approaches, the contrast between the original 151 and today’s sprawling National Pokedex shows just how dramatically the series’ creature design has evolved.

When Pokemon Red and Blue first launched, the Kanto region’s lineup was relatively restrained. There was only one Ghost-type evolutionary line--Gastly and its evolutions--and just one fully evolved Dragon-type in Dragonite. Early Pokemon tended to be grounded in animals, simple fantasy archetypes, or straightforward elemental ideas.

Over time, that philosophy shifted. Ghost-types expanded beyond haunted towers and into possessed chandeliers, sandcastles, and household objects. The introduction of the Fairy-type in 2013 reshaped both competitive balance and visual identity, adding a new category that blended folklore with bright, whimsical designs. Dark-types became more nuanced as well, evolving from basic counters to Psychic-types into some of the franchise’s most intricate creations.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The games industry seems to have run a-fowl of a strange trend as of late, with multiple upcoming AAA titles featuring belligerent chickens. This flock of games includes the Fable reboot, Krafton's Project Windless, and the recently announced Pokemon Winds and Pokemon Waves.

Chickens have long been a staple in the Fable series, with the classic RPGs allowing players to kick them as a gag. The first game even featured a chicken-kicking competition for the particularly sadistic. Punting any chickens in the upcoming Fable reboot from Playground Games can actually factor into the title's complex morality system.

And the game, which releases in late 2026, also features a new Cockatrice enemy type, a giant fire-breathing chicken that almost looks like it's getting back at you for all those years of chicken-kicking.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

It's official: Pokemon Winds and Waves will not be released on Nintendo Switch.

The website for the new games outright confirms this, stating that they "will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 in a simultaneous worldwide release in 2027." This will mark the first time that a mainline Pokemon game will be released exclusively for Nintendo's latest system, as every title released since Pokemon Sword and Shield in 2018 has been on Nintendo Switch.

This might be frustrating to those who don't want to invest $450 or more in a new system to play the latest Pokemon game, but I believe Nintendo Switch 2 exclusivity was the right decision for Pokemon Winds and Waves.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Nintendo is a highly successful, world-renowned company, with a big stable of iconic franchises. But like any company in entertainment, Nintendo faces its own set of challenges, too. One of these, according to Dr. Serkan Toto of research group Kantan Games, is that Nintendo needs to keep coming up with new ideas, or else it runs the risk of becoming "stale."

"The one risk is that at some point in time, people could grow tired of the same IPs that Nintendo produces games around," Toto told CNBC.

He said Nintendo's top franchises are Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon, and beyond those, Nintendo also has a "treasure trove of IPs." But in 2036, or 2046, will people still care about those big three?

Continue Reading at GameSpot

If you haven't heard, today is Pokemon Day, and it's also Pokemon's 30th birthday. Earlier today, The Pokemon Company broadcast its annual Pokemon Presents livestream with news and updates, and nestled among the reveal of the next generation of Pokemon games and other updates was the Game Boy Jukebox, a curious replica of the original Game Boy handheld that only plays music. GameSpot recently went hands-on with the device at New York Toy Fair, and it evokes the spirit of the 1990s in more ways than one.

The Game Boy Jukebox comes bundled with 45 replica cartridges, each representing either Pokemon Red or Blue. Each has the label for the corresponding game on one side, and an image of a scene from those original Pokemon games on the other. Each cartridge, when placed into the Game Boy, plays the music of the scene depicted in the in-game image through the speakers of the replica Game Boy.

For example, one cartridge shows Red riding his bike. When you place the cartridge in the replica Game Boy's cartridge slot--with the in-game image facing the "screen" so it looks like that scene is playing on the device--and "turn on" the Game Boy, you'll hear the familiar Game Boy start-up sound, followed by the bike-riding theme from Pokemon Red and Blue.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Switch 2 is set to see its first GameCube Pokemon title sooner than later. Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness will arrive on the system in March, which is just days away, for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. Unless a surprise happens before then, it will be the ninth GameCube title for the service.

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company revealed the release window for Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness on Switch 2 at today's Pokemon Presents celebrating the 30th anniversary for the franchise. However, it's been known since April 2025 that Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness was slated for Expansion Pack members at some point. That's because Nintendo announced the title as part of an initial wave of GameCube releases for Switch 2 then--alongside Pokemon Colosseum, which still hasn't come out yet.

Every GameCube Game Coming To Switch 2's Switch Online LibrarySee More

Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness originally launched on GameCube in 2005. Shadow Lugia is the featured Pokemon on the game's cover, with Shadow Pokemon in general being a major part of the RPG. We here at GameSpot listed it as one of the best Pokemon spin-offs. Additionally, it's intriguing Nintendo is releasing this game before Pokemon Colosseum on Switch 2, since it's the successor to that title.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The Pokemon Company has revealed that the two dressed-up Pikachus that we see toward the start of Pokemon Winds and Waves' reveal trailer actually have names.

In the first minute or so of the Pokemon Winds and Waves trailer, a trainer and their Pikachu are reminiscing about previous regions. They then answer their door and are greeted by two Pikcahus who look dressed for vacation. While this might've just seemed like a cute way to introduce us to this tropical region, these Pikachus will play a bigger role in the games and are actually named Mr. Windychu and Ms. Wavychu.

Yes, those Pikachu have names. Mr. Winydchu is the one wearing sunglasses and a shirt, while Ms. Wavychu is the one wearing a floral top and skirt. "The latest video featured the appearance of some Pikachu with a brand-new look," the website for Pokemon Winds and Waves teases. "Just how could these Pikachu be involved in your adventure? Look forward to future announcements."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Prime Video's God of War TV show is now in production, and to celebrate, the company released a first-look image of Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson in costume as Kratos and Atreus, respectively.

The TV show, which has already been ordered for two seasons, tells the father-son story of Kratos and Atreus as they go on an adventure to spread the ashes of Faye, their wife and mother. "Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human," reads a line from the show's description.

In addition to Hurst and Vinson, the God of War TV show stars Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Max Parker as Heimdall, Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Alastair Duncan as Memir, and Ed Skrein as Baldur.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The newly revealed Pokemon Winds and Pokemon Waves will set a new record for the monster-catching series, releasing after the longest wait between Pokemon generations. Announced at the Pokemon Presents presentation, Game Freak's tenth-generation Pokemon game won't arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 until 2027.

That'll be five years since Pokemon Scarlet and Violet landed on the Switch. Previously, the widest gap between generations was four years long.

• Red/Green/Blue (1996) to Gold/Silver (1999): Three years
• Gold/Silver (1999) to Ruby/Sapphire (2002): Three years
• Ruby/Sapphire (2002) to Diamond/Pearl (2006): Four years
• Diamond/Pearl (2006) to Black/White (2010): Four years
• Black/White (2010) to X/Y (2013): Three years
• X/Y (2013) to Sun/Moon (2016): Three years
• Sun/Moon (2016) to Sword/Shield (2019): Three years
• Sword/Shield (2019) to Scarlet/Violet (2022): Three years
• Scarlet/Violet (2022) to Winds/Waves (2027): Five years

All things considered, the mainline Pokemon games have been coming out at a fairly consistent pace. Three to five years between new entries isn't so bad compared to other major gaming franchises, many of which have been subject to longer development cycles. We're looking at you, Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A new report sheds more light on the situation surrounding the free-to-play shooter Highguard, which launched to big numbers but quickly cratered, with developer Widlight laying off staff and leaving people to wonder if the studio would eventually pull the plug entirely on the game. The biggest takeaway from the report is that former staff said "hubris" was to blame, in part, for the game's downfall.

Bloomberg reported that Highguard was tested "extensively" with internal and external players, and the feedback was reported to have been "mostly positive." However, there were some road bumps, too, including a general sense that it was a "complicated game to learn" and was more fun with voice chat enabled. People inside Wildlight reportedly asked management if the team could open the game up to an audience of public testers, similar to how Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 handled pre-release community testing, but Wildlight management reportedly "nixed" those plans.

The idea from the top, the report claimed, was that the studio wanted to shadowdrop Highguard like Apex Legends, a game that many of the staff on Highguard also worked on. That was reported to have been the plan until The Game Awards host and organizer Geoff Keighley played an early version of the game and agreed to give Wildlight a prime spot at The Game Awards for $0.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

In addition to reprising his role as The Ghoul in Fallout Season 2, last year marked Walton Goggins' in-game debut as his character in Fallout 76's Burning Springs expansion. When it came time to lend his voice to the game, Goggins looked to a member of his own family for inspiration.

During a discussion shared by Deadline, Goggins noted that voice work calls upon different acting muscles than he would have used on-camera. That's why he looked to his son, Augustus Goggins, for a way to approach his performance.

"I don't think about my facial expressions or my voice," said Goggins. "I don't really think about anything when I'm working in front of a camera ... Whenever you're in a booth, you have to, in some ways, do what you do organically with your body [to] your voice. I just chose to imagine the person playing the game, in the sense that, my son is a gamer. And I thought about speaking to him and what he would like to hear. I know how he cackles, I know how he feels whenever he's communicating with someone or a voice in a game that plays. So, I just thought about him to be quite honest."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Patricia Summersett, who voices Zelda in The Legend of Zelda series, has commented on the upcoming live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. She does not appear to be involved but said in an interview with IGN that she is "curious to see what the iteration is," and that's a question many fans are wondering as well.

Is the game going to adapt the story of any game in particular like some film adaptations do? Or take more of the approach that The Super Mario Bros. Movie did with how it doesn't adapt any specific game but instead carries forward the same characters, theme, and tone of the games?

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Marathon's pre-release server slam is running throughout this weekend, giving gamers their first proper chance to try Bungie's extraction shooter. Whilst getting a feel for the gameplay, some players also discovered that the phrase "Arc Raiders" was censored from Marathon's in-game chat.

Clips showing the censorship started circulating online, as picked up by Kotaku. Streamer Lirik posted a clip testing the chat censor, finding that Arc Raiders appeared to be the only major shooter that was banned from discussion in Marathon. While posting "arc," "raiders," or even "arcraiders" was allowed, the game would blank out "Arc Raiders" as a phrase, even with spaces or double spaces between the letters. Kotaku also tested the chat filter in-game, confirming what had been posted by streamers and content creators.

In response to a similar clip on X, the Marathon dev team account soon posted a screenshot showing Arc Raiders uncensored in chat, reversing the word filter. The dev team's screenshot reads "Arc Raiders is awesome. 2 cakes!" referring to a popular meme about comparison in art--however the screenshot was posted without any explanation of why Arc Raiders was censored in chat to begin with.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

With the Pokemon franchise turning 30 years old today, now is the perfect time to get stuck into the hit pocket monster franchise. Fortunately, Amazon’s Woot store is offering massive discounts on several Pokemon games for Switch and Switch 2 consoles as part of its Video Games For All sale, allowing you to save big on these popular titles. While the games are already discounted, all you have to do is use the promo code LEVEL20 when you check out to get the price slashed even more.

Woot Video Games For All sale

The biggest bargain here is for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, as the Switch edition has been discounted to $36 (was $60). Released last year, Pokemon Legends: Z-A sees the series return to the Parisian-inspired streets of Lumiose City for a grand tournament, and it also offers a completely different battle system to learn and master. If you're on Switch 2, you can upgrade it for an extra $10, so this makes for a nice savings overall.

It's worth noting that this version features Spanish art on the cover and as the game's primary language, but you can set it to English in the menu settings. Its predecessor, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, is also another highly recommended game that puts a few interesting twists on the traditional turn-based gameplay of Pokemon.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Sony has announced that it'll be rolling out an upgraded version of its PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) upscaling technology for its PS5 Pro console. PS5 Pro lead systems engineer Mark Cerny says that it has been working on a "different" approach to not only the neural network but also the overall PSSR algorithm, and the update will roll out in the coming weeks.

To give PS5 Pro owners an idea of what to expect, Capcom's Masaru Ijuin revealed how the recently released Resident Evil Requiem will benefit from the upgraded PSSR. Resident Evil Requiem uses an upgraded version of RE Engine, and through it, each strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, Ijuin explained. This allows hair to not only move realistically in response to body motion and wind, but light also changes depending on how it passes through the digital follicles.

Gallery

"The upgraded PSSR has allowed us to elevate our expressiveness by successfully processing these details and textural particularities, which are traditionally difficult to upscale because of their intricacy," Ijuin said on the PS Blog. "We hope you will experience this unprecedented level of horror and visual fidelity, and the new gameplay feel it delivers."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Pokemon Lego Sets

Check out the first Lego Pokemon sets

See at Lego Store

Lego has unveiled three Pokemon building sets themed around Kanto region legends from Generation 1. All three models are part of Lego's display series for collectors and experienced builders, and they're all available to order now.

The most affordable model in the lineup is a 587-piece posable Eevee figure for $60. From there, the price jumps to $200 for Pikachu and Poke Ball, a 2,050-piece dynamic model with a buildable lightning bolt stand. For Pokemon fans with disposable income, check out the massive 6,836-piece Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise diorama. Priced at $650, the model comes with three large buildable figures and a modular stand themed around each Pokemon.

If you purchase the Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise Lego set, you'll get an exclusive freebie while supplies last: the Kanto Region Badge Collection. The 312-piece set includes replicas of the eight badges from Pokemon Red/Blue inside a clamshell case. Lego Insiders will also have the chance to get a 233-piece Mini Pokemon Center at launch.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The next set of mainline pocket monster games--Pokemon Winds and Waves--have been officially revealed during today's Pokemon Presents livestream, and they will launch worldwide in 2027 exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2.

The announcement trailer for the tenth generation of Pokemon games unveiled multiple biomes in the new unnamed region, including tropical beaches with palm trees, rugged cliffsides with massive windmills, and more. The trailer also teased underwater exploration, which would be a first for a mainline Pokemon game.

We also got to meet the starter Pokemon for this new generation: Grass-type Browt, Fire-type Pombon, and Water-type Gecqua. Browt is a small bird with pronounced eyebrows, Pombon is a small dog with a large tuft of hair around its face, and Gecqua is a blue gecko with large (and adorable) eyes.

Continue Reading at GameSpot