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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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"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."

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Pokemon Lego Sets

Check out the first Lego Pokemon sets

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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.

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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.

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Three decades is a heck of a long time for any video game franchise to be around, but when it comes to Pokemon, that series of pocket monster video games has been a multi-generational blockbuster. So what's next for Pokemon? That's something we're hoping to discover in today's Pokemon Presents livestream.

How to watch Pokemon Presents

As always, you can catch the Pokemon Presents livestream through the official Nintendo YouTube channel.

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Pokemon Presents start time

The Pokemon Presents livestream will kick off on February 27 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.

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Racoon City. A midwestern city in the United States and the headquarters for the former global pharmaceutical company, Umbrella. In the face of the zombie outbreak in 1998, the government approved a sterilization operation, a missile strike on the city in an attempt to quickly bring the situation under control - but this was swiftly covered up. Grace Ashcroft. An intelligence analyst for the FBI who demonstrates intense focus and insight in deductive reasoning and analysis. Her mother's death shook her to the soul, making her an introvert who immerses herself in work. So she heads to the abandoned hotel alone to investigate this mysterious death. Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth title in the mainline Resident Evil series. Prepare to escape death in a heart-stopping experience that will chill you to your core. Experience the series' classic survival horror through combat, investigations, puzzles, and resource management. Gameplay allows you to freely switch between first and third-person views to face the horrors in a way that suits your playstyle.