Ahead of Pokémon Sword and Shield’s upcoming expansions, both games are on sale on Amazon for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to play yet.
Pokémon Sword and Shield are $49 each, with free one-day shipping to eligible Amazon Prime members. This deal only applies to physical versions, however, so those looking to get a digital code will pay the standard $60. Because Nintendo’s games go on sale so infrequently, it might be wise to bite the bullet and order the cartridge to take advantage of the deal.
Both Sword and Shield feature lengthy stories filled with new monsters to catch, gym leaders to battle, and areas to explore, as well as an endgame section that unlocks after defeating the Galar Region’s champion. As with all mainline Pokémon games, several Pokémon are exclusive to one version or the other and can be traded between the two to get a complete collection.
This generation’s releases also mark the first traditional Pokémon games playable on a home console, as previous titles launched on handheld-only systems. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! came out in 2018, but were streamlined remakes of Pokémon Yellow that ditched wild battles in favor of catching mechanics lifted from Pokémon Go rather than fully realized mainline games. It also contains integration with Go, and players can take their Pokémon on a walk with the Poké Ball Plus accessory.
Though the new game buzz surrounding Sword and Shield died down since the late 2019 launch, it’s sure to pick back up when the Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra expansion packs debut. Coming in June and this fall, respectively, the DLC adds more Pokémon, characters, stories, and brand-new areas not included in the base game. Some of the additional Pokémon are classics that were missing from the original release, including Venosaur. An Expansion Pass containing both DLC items is available for $30.
The new Pokémon Home service launches later this month, allowing players to access an online bank that lets them transfer monsters between the different Switch games, trade them more efficiently, and receive extra “battle points” and mystery gifts. It costs $3 a month or $16 for the year.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.