Pokémon TCG Pocket’s latest expansion just dropped, and it brings brand-new cards, even more Pokémon, and a pretty serious slip-up with regard to copyright law. Dubbed Wisdom of Sea and Sky, the expansion offers two different packs to pull from: a Ho-Oh themed pack, and a Lugia-themed pack. The controversy stems from illustrations; after datamining, fans pointed out that the Ho-Oh EX and the Lugia EX card art were seemingly plagiarized.
The original artist @lanjiujiu shared a post on X, and it’s easy to see the similarities even at a glance. Although this isn’t proof that assets were stolen (and Lanjiujiu made a statement asserting that), it was enough to raise eyebrows — and enough for Pokémon TCG Pocket to pull the art in favor of placeholders.
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The team released a statement addressing the concerns just after midnight this morning. “After internal review, we discovered that the card production team provided incorrect reference materials as official documents to the illustrator commissioned to create these cards. As a result, both cards have been replaced with a temporary placeholder that the team is actively working to replace with new artwork as soon as it’s ready.”
We’d like to share an update about the upcoming expansion in #PokemonTCGPocket. pic.twitter.com/W2GdG8Wv5n
That said, the situation isn’t totally clear. There are indications that the original artwork was a commission from the Pokémon Company, in which case it likely already owns the art. Another consideration is that the legal terms of use stipulate the Pokémon Company potentially has the right to use fan art without notifying the original creator.
The legal statement reads, “Distribution in any form and any channels now known or in the future of derivative works based on the copyrighted property trademarks, service marks, trade names and other proprietary property (Fan Art) of The Pokémon Company International, Inc., its affiliates and licensors (Pokémon) constitutes a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license from the Fan Art’s creator to Pokémon to use, transmit, copy, modify, and display Fan Art (and its derivatives) for any purpose. No further consideration or compensation of any kind will be given for any Fan Art.”
In other words, feel free to enjoy the game and its expansions, but be aware that any art you share might one day be used without credit to you.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.