Key Note Gaming

If you had vivid fantasies about using your Pikachu, or your Chansey, Porygon2, or Dusclops in Pokémon Champions, The Pokémon Company just dashed them today with the news that not every Pokémon would be available in Pokémon Champions at launch, with the game specifically excluding any monster that's not considered a "final evolution." And that... kinda sounds like they mean Pikachu, too? This comes from producer Masaaki Hoshino speaking to a roundtable of journalists, as reported by HypeBeast . In the roundtable, Hoshino said, "At launch, only final evolutions will be available... After we introduce a lot of the final evolutions, we might consider earlier evolutions as well. For now, this approach is more accessible for new players." Hoshino's reasoning makes some sense, as new players might roll up into challenging battles using unevolved Pokémon without realizing how much of a disadvantage they are at. At the same time, this actually takes away a meani...

Fortnite staff who survived yesterday's mass cull of workers say they're unable to comprehend the impact on the game's future this year "and beyond." Yesterday, Epic Games announced it was making 1,000 team members redundant . In a statement, Epic boss Tim Sweeney blamed the job losses on the company "spending significantly more than we're making" amid a downturn in interest in Fortnite — despite it remaining one of the most popular games in the world. In the hours that followed, numerous veteran Epic Games employees took to social media to confirm they were among those impacted. This includes senior and long-standing members such as design director Christopher Pope, principle engineer Evan Kinney, and lead writer Nik Blahunka — all of whom had worked on Fortnite's gameplay, live events and story for years. Vitaliy Naymushin, a character art director who designed some of Fortnite's earliest characters including its default mascot Jones...

NetEase Games has pulled from decades of comic book history to pack Marvel Rivals with 48 playable heroes – but will it ever slow down? We caught up with creative director Guangyun “GuangGuang” Chen and executive producer Danny Koo to learn more about the trajectory of their ongoing superhero hero shooter at GDC. While opening up about how NetEase plans to maintain its one-hero-per-month live-service strategy , the pair touched on whether players could soon see an original character created just for Marvel Rivals. The short answer? Probably not, or at least not anytime soon. “We have so many right now,” Koo said. “It's not the time.” Koo reiterated previous confirmation that the studio has permission to create original characters should the opportunity arise. So, while a NetEase-made hero isn’t off the table, don’t expect them to swoop into Season 8. Meanwhile, the team is preparing to kick off its first real collaboration with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Path to ...

Maybe I'm just making incorrect assumptions here, but in my head, only a very, very small number of people at this time know what's going to happen in Avengers: Doomsday . The film, planned to hit theaters on December 18 of this year, is expected to be a dramatic conclusion to Phase Six of the MCU and features just about every Marvel hero we've seen in the MCU so far that isn't dead (and seemingly at least one who we thought was? Maybe?). Naturally, then, everyone is wildly speculating about what's going to happen in Doomsday, but the only people that know are those working very, very closely on the film itself... ...and also, to an extent, the Marvel Rivals developers. Speaking to IGN at the Game Developers Conference, the Marvel Rivals devs admitted to me that yes, they do actually know some of what's going to happen in Avengers: Doomsday. At least as much as they need to in order to conduct their "Path to Doomsday" series of events. Announced...

As players work their way through Crimson Desert , they’re discovering more and more unexpected things they can do in the open world. We’ve seen players learn they can tag team to an extent, cook meat with light from their sword, and even catapult themselves across the map with the power of trees. But this next find… well, I don’t think anyone saw this one coming. Warning! Spoilers… and maybe a NSFW tag for Crimson Desert to follow: Anyone who’s played Crimson Desert will know it’s packed with animals large and small. Many animals you can actually pick up (one early quest tasks you with lugging a sheep across town). Enter StaffProfessional68, who had a thought about the animals I doubt many others would have. In the clip below, we see StaffProfessional68 pick up a raccoon and then submerge it in water. After a dozen seconds, the raccoon dies, letting the player skin it for resources (a small bone, two lean meat, and three thin hides, if you were wondering). Yes, Crimson Desert a...

Switch 2 owners, check out this super low price on a first party Switch 2 exclusive game. Kirby Air Riders , which is normally $69.99 and has yet to be seen on sale for less than $65, can be yours for just $39.37 with free delivery after coupon code: " USAS06 ". This is an import edition, but it will play fine on any US-based console since all Switch 2 games are region-free/unlocked. According to the page, tariff fees are already included as long as you choose "AliExpress Standard Shipping" . Don't choose another service like UPS or FedEx or you'll be dinged with import fees on delivery. Kirby Air Riders (Nintendo Switch 2) for $39.37 On the surface, Kirby Air Riders is a kart racer similar to Mario Kart World but with a different cast of characters including Kirby, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. However, they're actually quite different. While both are racing games, Mario Kart World focuses more on the racing mechanics whereas Kirby Air...