Dynamaxing, Pokémon Sword & Shield’s new signature mechanic, has been banned for ruining the competitive integrity of the game by one of its most hardcore competitive communities. Competitive Pokémon mostly exists in two worlds, each with its own values and customs. Smogon, the group that banned Dynamaxing, is the largest, unofficial hub for competitive Pokémon singles competition. Yet, while some competitive Pokémon players disliked these previous mechanics for various reasons, no one ever move

The Super Bowl is drawing near, and to celebrate, Epic is bringing back Fortnite’s NFL skins. For a limited time, starting on Jan. 30, the NFL outfit will be available in the Fortnite in-game shop, and can be turned into any of the 32 NFL team uniforms once it’s purchased. Epic isn’t just limiting this year’s Fortnite Super Bowl festivities to in-game content. There will also be a Fortnite tournament featuring duo teams made up of Fortnite pros and NFL stars. As for Super Bowl LIV itself, the bi

The solution, it says, is to “shake things up” with “surprise guests, amazing stage experiences, access to insiders and experiential zones.” The statement mirrors a plan that leaked out in September 2019 to recast the industry event as a “fan, media, and influencer festival.” Most notable was the release of the personal information of thousands of influencers and members of the international press who attended last year’s E3. “We rebuilt the E3 website with enhanced and layered security measures

If all you soft-hands city folk want to see how real workin’ people play a video game, Farming Simulator 19 is the latest free game available through the Epic Games Store. In Farming Simulator 19, players may develop and expand their back 40 in a variety of American and European settings. Farming Simulator 19 likewise has dozens of official licensing partners, mainly on the combines, tractors, pickers, and other vehicles that maintain your spread. Farming Simulator 19 is available from now until

Valve’s Steam platform appears to be having a partial outage. Users are currently having difficulty reaching the Store and Community pages. The outage arrives just days after the end of Steam’s Lunar New Year Sale, which concluded on Jan. 27. One high-profile launch is Days of War, a World War II-themed multiplayer shooter which is scheduled to go live at 1:00 p.m. EST. Meanwhile, the entire Community portal is still offline and the store itself is returning a 503 error.

Revenant is the latest character to join Apex Legends, and in the game’s season 4 launch trailer, Respawn Entertainment shows us the origins of the terrifying assassin. The trailer starts out with a calm and collected hitman preparing for his day before receiving a new contract. The guards that stand around the target are apparently no match for Revenant as he takes them out with ease. While we don’t know anything for sure, it certainly seems like these smoldering and smoky states could be previ

There’s one major difference: Overwatch’s Experimental game mode will be available on all platforms, not just the PC version where players are able take part in PTR matches. Changes introduced in Experimental are not guaranteed to transition to the standard live version of Overwatch’s quick play and competitive modes. Blizzard is also implementing a new system called Hero Pools to Overwatch’s competitive mode with the game’s upcoming season. Hero Pools will disable certain heroes in competitive

Here’s what you need to know before these indie films make their way to theaters, streaming services, and the cinematic zeitgeist. (In a particularly low moment, he snarls at Kyo, “I send flowers, and other people send pigs to eat them!”) There are elements of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique in Nine Days, in the swoony way Will’s favorite charge on Earth lives for music, and in her ultimate fate. Nine Days’ unconventional setting and premise are a minor thrill all on their ow

After Slay the Spire taught me how to build a deck, I was ready to tackle Riot’s Legends of Runeterra card game head-on. Like any card game, Legends of Runeterra takes time to learn, and even longer to remember all the different cards. But Legends of Runeterra’s draft mode, Expeditions, makes for the perfect learning experience. In the Expeditions game mode, I pick out random different cards until I have a complete deck and two Champions (powerful cards you build synergies around). Because of Ex

If you wanted to catch up on the adventures of Jean-Luc Picard but don’t know if you want to shell out $5.99 a month for CBS All Access, fret not. For about a week — that is, until Wednesday, Feb. 5 — the first episode of Star Trek: Picard is free to watch on the CBS website. Star Trek: Picard premiered on CBS All Access on Jan. 23 and picks up 14 years after Capt. Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was typically episodic in nature, Picard is set to be more serialized. Also, Patrick St

Nintendo has sold more than 52 million Switch consoles since the systems’s launch in March 2017. Nintendo announced the sales milestone in the company’s quarterly financial results (PDF), boasting of strong Switch sales boosted by the Nintendo Switch Lite (released in September) and the launch of the console in China. Nintendo’s Switch sales milestone also puts it ahead of lifetime Xbox One console sales, according to analysts. Also worth pointing out that according to our estimates the Nintendo

The Outer Worlds will launch on Nintendo Switch on March 6, Obsidian Entertainment announced today. Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of publisher Private Division, told investors in November that The Outer Worlds would launch on Switch early this year. Related The 50 best games of 2019Though comparatively brief for an Obsidian role-playing game, The Outer Worlds is still a critical success, earning multiple nominations at the Game Critics Awards (where it won Best Original Game) and The

Overwatch League owner Blizzard Entertainment has canceled league matches in China through March, citing concerns over the novel coronavirus in the region. The announcement comes after multiple other esports events, including the start of two League of Legends leagues, were halted. “We hope fans have a safe and happy Lunar New Year, and we remain incredibly excited to play Overwatch league matches in China later this season.” The Overwatch League is scheduled to kick off on Feb. 8 in New York an

Netflix is quickly becoming the Disney of anime and manga, aggressively remaking classic series into live-action form. On Wednesday, the streaming service announced a live-action adaptation of popular manga and anime One Piece. This comes after a 2018 announcement that Netflix would distribute a live-action adaptation of popular manga and anime Cowboy Bebop, which came after a frankly bad (and whitewashed!) Netflix adaptation of popular manga and anime Death Note. The One Piece live-action serie

The company that offered real-life go-kart tours of Tokyo, with drivers dressed up like Mario Kart characters, has lost in court to Nintendo again, and this time must pay five times the original judgment against it. Kotaku this morning noted that the company has since rebranded itself as Street Kart Akihabara, and provides its customers superhero-themed costumes. “Street Kart is in no way a reflection of Nintendo, the game ‘Mario Kart’. The original 10 million yen judgment (about $90,000) increa

Bungie and Twitch are partnering up to give players Exotic and Legendary Destiny 2 gear through Twitch Prime Loot, according to an apparent leak of Bungie’s plans. Starting Wednesday, Jan. 29, players can link their Twitch accounts to their Bungie accounts and claim bonus gear for being a Prime subscriber. The loot itself seems geared toward newer players, with most weapons and cosmetic items coming from the first year of Destiny 2 content. According to Tassi, the first month’s loot is:The Suros

PlayStation Plus subscribers will get access to three games (or five, depending on your count) in February: BioShock: The Collection, The Sims 4, and Firewall Zero Hour. Those PlayStation 4 games will be available as part of PlayStation Plus starting Tuesday, Feb. 4. BioShock: The Collection includes the single-player content from the original BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, and all single-player add-on content from those games. The game’s new season starts on Feb. 4, the same day i

Dwarf Fortress, the elaborate colony simulation nearly two decades in the making, has a brand-new version available today. But, perhaps most important of all, it will finally allow you to pet the dog in its roguelike Adventure mode. The centerpiece of this new version of the game, referred to as the version 0.47.01, is the addition of villains in Fortress mode. That addition allows for the potential to play Dwarf Fortress as a kind of Japanese-style role-playing game. This latest version of Dwar

Tecmo Bowl — the original arcade version of the game, not the one most remember from the Nintendo Entertainment System — is coming to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 tomorrow, just in time for Super Bowl LIV. The arcade version of Tecmo Bowl, which launched in 1987, pit two generic teams against each other, the Wildcats and the Bulldogs. The Tecmo Bowl most are familiar with was the 1989 NES cartridge, which had nine players on each side, but featured 12 teams stocked with real-life NFL player

The latest patch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sees Infinity Ward switching up the game’s weekly rotating playlist once again. The patch also provides a couple of major balance changes, including a nerf to the game’s newest weapon. Another playlist change in this patch adds a new version of Gunfight where players can use Custom Classes. The biggest change in the patch came for the recently-added Crossbow, which was destroying Support Helos a little too quickly. For a full look at all the chan