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Holy PokemolyPokemon TCG Pocket smashes past the 30 million download mark in a week, so yeah, we're very much doing the Pokemon Go thing againI'd give it about a week before one of your elderly relatives is showing you the Bulbasaur they've just pulled.Image credit: The Pokemon Company News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Nov. 8, 2024 Are you coming to terms with a crippling addiction to trying to get your hands on rare critters? Well, you're either someone that should probably be kept away from animal shelters, or you've been playing Pokemon TCG Pocket, along with everyone else that's contributed to it smashing past the 30 million download mark.Yep, as the game's official account has announced via a Tweet, the game about collecting cards and then doing a thing with them has surpassed that impressive total in just its first week of existence, putting it firmly on what looks like it'll be a Pokemon Go-esque trajectory in terms of becoming an uber-popular thing it's physically impossible to avoid.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "T-t-t-thirty million?! How many packs have been opened, then?," reads the post, "On behalf of everyone working on the game and me, thank you for all your support! Seriously. If you haven't downloaded it, try it and let us know what you think".I'll tell you what I think, Pokefolks, I think at least three of my coworkers have essentially had their lives stolen by you so far, so if you could at least go easy on their fraying minds and give them some nice cards, that'd be nice. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Anyway, impact on VG247 staffers' lives aside, to put this in a bit of context, Pokemon Go hit 30 million users by the end of its first month, and of course has made a crap tonne of money over the course of its lifespan, even if 2016's halcyon days of headlines like 'Pokemon Go players waterbombed by residents in a Sydney suburb, police called' (hey, he still works here!) are long gone.We already know TCG Pocket's raking in fat stacks so far, to use the proper business terms, so odds are some suits are sitting in a building today toasting each other and thinking about buying another Bentley, this time with a wrap that looks a bit like this.Anyway, so we feel less bad about what we've done to Connor and Kelsey by encouraging them to get even more into TCG Pocket than they already were, please do consult our huge array of helpful guides to things like getting started and assembling the best decks, as well as staying tuned for coverage of all the cool things TCG Pocket's community is doing.

Pro PositionHere are the six most surprising things Ive learned about the PS5 Pro so farIve had the PS5 Pro for a few days now, and if youre curious about Sonys expensive new hardware ahead of buying, maybe I can help answer some questions.Image credit: VG247 Article by Dom Peppiatt Editor-in-chief Published on Nov. 8, 2024 So, youve probably seen the reviews for the PlayStation 5 Pro. Ive not had my unit long enough to give a full, critical breakdown yet, but I have had enough time with the expensive new bit of kit to figure out my early feelings on it. And its all quite easy to sum up: Sony is weird.There are so many things about this console that I like - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth plays like a dream and feels nearly like a whole new game, for one - but then there are some baffling elements in the design decisions that leave me wondering if this whole mid-gen refresh was a last-minute decision, rather than a cromulent business strategy thats been properly thought through and executed.Ive attempted to line up my biggest surprises in a list below, and Ive even wrangled a little early days summary of my experience with the console for you at the bottom of the page (skip to that if youre after a TL;DR, basically).To see this content please enable targeting cookies. PlayStations data transfer solution for console-to-console setups is still atrocious Forget 'plug in and play'. | Image credit: VG247The last time I experienced exporting data from one PlayStation console to another was with the PS4 to the PS4 Pro. I decided not to do it for the PS4 Pro to PS5 because, honestly, my experience the first time was so bad, I opted to just rinse my internet connection and download everything fresh onto my retail PS5.This time, though, I just wanted to pick up and play - export my existing PS5 settings, sava data, and games, and get going as soon as possible. No dice. After plugging in both consoles, attaching them via wired connection to my router, and jumping through the weird UI that Sony lobs at you in order to get started, I spent a good 45 minutes troubleshooting why my base PS5 wouldnt start transferring data. It seemed to be because my DualSense wasnt fully up to date (yes, really).Once that peculiar wrinkle was ironed out, I began to transfer my files from one machine to the other. Any hope I had of using my Pro on day one evaporated instantly as it told me Id need about 20 hours to move under 600GB of data. Why? I have a fibre optic internet connection, operating on a wired LAN setup, and I know I can hit close to 100MB/s down when Im plugged in (80MB/s on WiFi).I know PS Store downloads are chronic - especially compared to how quickly I got, say, Black Ops 6 running on my Series X. But I was stunned to see itd take the better part of a day to move games like this. Im surprised its gotten no better since the PS4 days; in fact, I think it may be worse.There is no way to tell which games are PS5 Pro enhanced from library I don't have this model, but the base, white, machine. | Image credit: PlayStationRight, I could be in the wrong here, but there appears to be no way to immediately identify which games in my library have Pro enhancements. For a console with the sole selling point of your games will run better here, this is baffling. There are over 50 games that have benefited from updates, so far: tell me what they are!? Even the Xbox Series X/S has a nice little label on games in the library that are X Enhanced. Its a very, very low bar.Now, I work in the industry, so Ive been internalising which games are getting performance-boosting patches and when theyre arriving (because, no, not all of them have made it for the PS5 Pro release date - isnt that right, Gran Turismo 7?) The layman wont be aware of this; I expect people will just want to boot up their console and play, and there is no way to determine what games have been given a bit of spit and polish from your own catalogue, which is especially puzzling since many games will run better without the need of a patch, but Pro patches are required to make the most of the console's power.Ive had to resort to using the Store. Go figure. Browsing the special tabs in the PS Store app tells me which games will be juiced up on the new hardware, but theres no clear, obvious indication of that in your own collection. Myself and three other members of VG247 have been crawling to find something that helps you identify this, but to no avail. This is an easy fix, sure, but its a very surprising oversight. You may even remember that, at the PS5's launch, there was also no way to tell which version (native/back compat) you had installed, and it looks like Sony hasn't learned.Front USB slots are both USB-C, with no USB-AThe standard PS5 console - both disc-less and with a disc drive - has a USB-C and a USB-A port on the front. This is handy for headset adapters, whacking in a thumb drive to transfer screens, adding flash drives, or charging your devices.The PS5 Pro has only USB-C on the front. This isnt a bad thing, per se, and the DualSense in the box comes with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable (rather than the A-to-C one in the vanilla PS5 box), but its worth considering if you dont like having to fart around behind the device in order to get a thumb drive in.Oh, and just to make things a little more confusing, one of the C ports supports the slower HighSpeed standard (rather than SuperSpeed 10GB/S). So changing away from USB-A, at all, just feels ill-advised?It works better with the PS Portal than base PS5 Now you're thinking with Portals. | Image credit: PlayStation/VG247This one is more anecdotal since Ive not had time to run tests. But youve seen, above, how good my internet connection is (thanks, London). Previously, using the PS Portal in my office - directly above the router, and where the PS5 is plugged in - was a crapshoot. Sometimes itd be flawless, sometimes itd artefact horribly, sometimes the connection would drop altogether. No idea why; I have done everything in Sonys FAQs to address it, but the Portal was temperamental, at the best of times.Last night, I got about two hours of solid Elden Ring play out of the portal with absolutely no buffering, loss of quality, lag, or tearing. What? Is this down to the Pros use of Wi-Fi 7? Not likely to matter in my case, as the Pro is hard wired. Im not complaining! I will be using my Portal way more, now, if this is the upside.It still doesnt auto-detect a wired connectionIncidentally, though, dont expect the PS5 Pro to know when its got an ethernet cable jammed into its rear end. Another frankly baffling bit of product design, the Pro - like the vanilla 5 before it - cant auto-detect when its running on a wired connection. If youre swapping from WiFi to wired (which I do, since I need my PS5 in my office a fair amount), you need to manually go in and flick that switch yourself. Bear that in mind if youre wondering why the download speeds are more dismal than usual.The vertical stand isnt as premium a bit of kit as youd expect for 25Small complaint, but hey, its worth saying. Its a meme at this point that everything about the PS5 Pro is sold separately, but given the machine is already 265% more expensive than a PS5 Slim, consumers are allowed to be a little miffed at the fact they need to shell out more just to use the console as directed by the manufacturer. After unboxing and attaching the base, I have to say its not as secure or robust as youd expect; you manually screw it into the bottom of the console, and it still feels like theres a bit of flex and give. It stands up, fine, but I feel like itd snap under a small amount of pressure.Like I said, I move my console from room to room almost weekly, and a stand like this feeling this cheap it doesnt fill me with confidence, really.For a machine with a 700 price tag, Im a bit surprised with the hurdles and challenges Ive faced in setting it up and using it in the first few days Ive owned it. I am au fait with consoles and tech - I do this all day, every day - so Ive managed to figure out and address a lot of these problems myself. But I think the average consumer will be a bit blindsided by it all, to be honest. Were a long way from being able to simply get something working out of the box.That said, Ive had a great time with the software side of things so far. I cant get over Rebirth. Even Elden Ring just seems nicer to play. I booted up Bloodborne again, and lost a few hours to it, ogling everything and enjoying the rapid load times. I will 100% be using my Portal more, now, thanks to whatever wizardry has allowed that to talk to the machine better.It still sucks that small, but important, features have been locked behind a 700 paywall. I am looking forward to running Monster Hunter Wilds on this machine - I imagine the performance boost itll offer Capcoms RE Engine will be meaningful (and Im sour I didnt get to try the most recent beta on the Pro).I do think Im going to enjoy using this machine as the early day kinks are ironed out, I just wish Sony would invest the same thought and intentionality into its UI and software design as it does its hardware.Stay tuned for more PS5 Pro coverage from us soon, including a breakdown of just how impressive that 8K display capability really is.

Humble ChoiceClobber, climb, conduct, and more in October! Octobers Humble Choice games are here, and this months mix features beat em ups, trains, aliens, and lots more!Journey with guns in hand through the unknown in Remnant II. Steal waves of hearts with style in Persona 5 Strikers. Discover train simulators, unique RPGs, and a whole lot more with your membership this month!Get October ChoiceYour Games to Own Forever in OctoberCheck out all 8 of the games that are yours to own forever when youre a Humble Choice member this month!REMNANT IIRemnant II expands and improves upon the IPs core mechanics and philosophies in every imaginable way, creating a fully realized sequel. You and up to two allies battle through procedurally generated levels filled with challenging enemies in this souls-like looter-shooter. Imagine Dark Souls with firearmsgunplay is tight and perfectly balanced, with weapons that feel satisfying and devastating to use. Play as a nameless survivor tasked with saving the world. Optimize your characters build with unique archetypes that can be blended and customized to your specifications. Persona 5 StrikersReconnect with the Phantom Thieves on summer vacation for a bombastic action-RPG brawler experience in Persona 5 Strikers. This spiritual sequel to 2016s Persona 5 was co-developed by Omega Studios, creators of the iconic Dynasty Warriors seriesimagine gameplay that perfectly blends the two franchises. Expect expertly crafted combat, stunning visuals, and an addictive soundtrack. Persona 5 Strikers simplifies certain mechanics, like the series iconic calendar system and turn-based combat, while retaining familiar elements like elemental weaknesses and perfectly written dialogue. Fans of fast-paced action and gorgeous graphics will love this title.Jack MoveColorful, bold, and incredibly funexperience a fresh take on the cyberpunk aesthetic as Noa, a young hacktivist on a mission to save her genius father from an evil mega-corporation in Jack Move. This 1980s-inspired JRPG beauty sports Hi-Bit pixelated visuals and soundtrack that pulls you in and wont let go. Classic mechanics like a turn-based battle system are paired with complex and bombastic special attacks known as Jack Moves! Use Jack Moves alongside your customizable Cyber Deck to defeat enemies and rescue your dad. Gamers who appreciate retro vibes with modern flair will love this title.Dome KeeperDome Keeper is a gripping rogue-like survival game that seamlessly combines mining and tower defense mechanics to create the perfect risk-versus-reward gameplay loop. Your goal is to mine deep beneath the protection of your dome on an alien planet, collecting increasingly rare and valuable materials to improve your chances of survival. Customize your gameplay experience with various difficulty levels, map sizes, run modifiers, and more for endless replay value. Will you risk your safety for the reward of more resources? The choice is yours as you fend off waves of enemies.JusantSometimes you just need a calming game to help relax, and Jusant fits the bill. Adapt to ascend in this action-adventure puzzle game centered around unique climbing mechanics. Uncover the secrets and history of a mystical tower as you master your techniques and the terrain. Youll navigate puzzles and obstacles with help from the cutest companion everthe Ballast. The vibes are on par with the gameplay as you unwind to Jusants soothing soundtrack and explore the artistic soft-polygon world that asks you to rethink your relationship with nature. Start your ascent today!Station to StationChoo choo! All aboard the fun train in Station to Station. Unwind and experience the soothing power of locomotives in this voxel-art style railway-builder simulator. Bring life to an already vibrant world by establishing train connections that expand and connect friends and communities. Choose your playstyle and become the conductor of your own adventure. At your own pace for your peacerelax or challenge yourself in Station to Station.Remnant RecordsPlay as the new recruit of a paranormal detective agency tasked with solving the mysteries of the undead in Remnant Records. In this 1-4 player title, you collect clues, form hypotheses to help free the souls of various ghosts and aberrations. A successful exorcism depends on your ability to correctly identify each case, and if you fail horrors await! Choose your role in the investigation, customize your detective character with unique skins and costumes, and moreexplore the chilling world of Remnant Records today.McPixel 3Youre here to save the day for the most partMcPixel 3 thrives in its own brand of chaos and delivers a truly outlandish gaming experience. A pixel-adventure title like nothing else, play through 100 levels where youre handsomely rewarded for trying the most insane and unconventional solutions to your pixelated heros problems. The level variety in McPixel 3 is absolutely bonkers. This genre-bending title mixes platforming, rail-shooting, action, RPGs, and more with inventive environments and perfectly chaotic minigames to form the perfect band of mayhem.Octobers Featured Charity: Crisis Text LineCrisis Text Line offers free, 24/7, confidential mental health support via text in English and Spanish. Since its launch in 2013, it has facilitated over 14M conversations globally. If you or someone you know needs support, text HUMBLE to 741741 to reach a live volunteer Crisis Counselor.Thanks for your incredible support, and we hope you enjoy October Choice!Get October Choice

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)With the belt-scrolling beat 'em up undergoing something of a renaissance of late, it feels like a new title enters the fray every other week. While some efforts utilise IPs like Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to garner attention, others are rekindling the genres magic with original ideas. Enter Nuala Studio with Vengeance Hunters, a fledgling project thats notable for its development platform, the Neo Geo, a 34-year-old piece of arcade hardware.Vengeance Hunters doesnt shy away from cliche. Its introduction pans over a brooding city skyline while describing a dystopian future under threat from High rolling suitmen. Captains of industry. Bastards of the upper crust. Vaguely political, then. Enter three protagonists, the awkwardly titled Candy, Golem, and Loony; an athletic female, a bulky robot, and a brawny part-cyborg male, respectively.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)One thing you cant fail to be impressed by is Vengeance Hunter's graphics. Nuala Studios artists really put in the work here. The backgrounds are full of detail, with superb colour casting and palette blends forming the games far-flung reaches. You roam through forestry, wastelands, city streets and your obligatory (and arguably less interesting) corporate headquarters. Tonally it feels like an '80s cartoon with bite, something along the lines of COPS or Bravestarr: adult enough with its vibe, occasionally bursting with blood, while maintaining its traditional arcade game roots.It looks good in motion, too, with large, well-animated sprites that traverse the screen in unique and interesting ways. Audio-wise its good enough, heavily synthy, evoking a pseudo-'80s sci-fi feel - but it lacks a certain edge and authenticity. It sounds like it wants to be Streets of Rage in places, but its softer and more ambient, less impactful or memorable.The combat system features some clever nuance, and while not as combo-heavy as something like Winkysoft's Guardians (1995), there are several unique elements that draw from more modern ideas. Each character has a weak and hard attack, a jump and a signature move that can be used infinitely. Pressing both attack buttons dually engages a traditional breakout move, paid with a portion of your life bar.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)However and we like this idea a lot rather than outright losing your health, the portion you gamble on the breakout is greyed out. Should you successfully then lay into your opponents without interruption, you can beat that grey back to a stable yellow. Its a smart and effective way to manage an old staple of the genre, and brings with it greater strategic dimensions.The combo system is flexible, too. In fact, there are juggle opportunities that, should you have the reflex, resemble certain advanced fighting games, allowing you to hop into the air on repeat to tag hits before following up with either a standing hard attack or signature move. Candy is the weakest of the three characters. Compared to Golem and Loony shes just not as interesting, and underpowered. Loony has the advantage of a projectile signature move, able to shoot his robotic arm across the screen, leveraging his relatively slow speed by keeping encroaching enemies at bay.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Golem, the robot, is the best for our money, sporting both muscle power and speed, with a signature move that allows you to grab enemies on both ground and in the air, and swing them forward or pile-drive them backwards. There are also charged special moves that can be added to strings or juggles, and each character can double-tap forward to dash and attack.On the whole, Vengeance Hunters is a good project with some depth. We like the fact that the bosses have distinct patterns, and there are secret sub-sections and story variations depending on who you play as. At one point you hop on a bike and go driving through the desert wastelands, avoiding toxic barrels and squid-like creatures; while elsewhere, you challenge a boss in a virtual one-on-one fighting game on an arcade cabinet. These novel touches do well to break up the repetition and encourage replayability.Despite the solid positives, though, there are a few areas we take issue with. The difficulty is well-balanced, fairly challenging on defaults, and encourages learning and experimentation. But, at the same time, there are aspects that get a little trying. For some reason, there are tons of things blowing up in the game: barrels, bombs, bombs inside boxes, pipe bombs, and even enemies. Things seem to be blowing up all over the place, and honestly a little too regularly. You can learn to avoid these incendiary dangers, but, since you can't pick the bombs up, it gets frustrating when you keep getting either knocked out of your flow by an explosion or having to break off your attacks to evade one.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Additionally, there are secondary weapons to wield, but theyre weird. Rather than your regular swords and pipes, they come in the form of cannons that hover over your characters head and fire isometrically. That means you need to be stood slightly above and diagonally to catch enemies with them. They're hardly impossible to make good use of, but its one of those ideas that may have seemed better on paper, since theyre not particularly satisfying to use. Compared to the whopping great rifles available in something like Capcoms The Punisher, they dont do much to enhance the gameplay.Crucially, the combat, while arranged in such a way that experimentation pays off, falls just shy of those solid connections in many '90s arcade games of the same mould. It works, but the feedback isnt quite on the same level. Combo manufacturing feels good, but there's something missing from the overall weight.One of the oddest omissions, though, is not being able to grab anyone. We feel like grabs are an integral part of belt scrollers as they allow you to crowd herd, and while one could argue that Vengeance Hunters is going its own way, the absence still feels odd. This is particularly evident when playing as Golem, who is probably the most enjoyable character in the game largely due to the fact that he has a grab as his signature move.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)There are five quite drawn-out stages to work through, but learning them and their accompanying boss encounters will take some time. It might seem odd that you start the game in a rainforest fighting Amazonian zombies especially after the futuristic city skyline of the opening story but at least its interesting. Some of the later locations aren't quite as original. Finally, local co-op is available for two players, but theres no online here.

Ship shape.Another week with a sliver of official 'Switch 2' news? Gosh, Nintendo, you really do know how to spoil us!Yes, accompanying Nintendo's quarterly financial report this week, company president Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that the Switch successor will be backwards compatible and the Nintendo Switch Online service will carry over too. It ain't much, but it's something.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX filed 23 lawsuits Friday against Anthony Scaramucci (pictured above), his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, and other organizations including Crypto.com and the Mark Zuckerberg-backed lobbying group Fwd.us.These lawsuits are an attempt to claw back money for FTXs creditors following the companys collapse. FTX claims that the money targeted in these suits was part of a campaign of influence-buying by founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, conducted as the company was struggling to meet its own cashflow needs.The lawsuit claims, These investments conveyed little to no benefit to Debtors, and instead served only to prop up Bankman-Frieds standing in the worlds of politics and traditional finance, which he then attempted to leverage as potential sources of equity investment in FTX to fill the hole in the balance sheet and, therefore, keep his scheme afloat.Since the company went bankrupt, FTX executives have been convicted of crimes including fraud and money laundering. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is currently appealing his conviction.In the case of SkyBridge and Scaramucci (a financier who briefly served as White House Communications Director under Donald Trump), FTX announced that it was acquiring a 30% stake in SkyBridge in September 2022, just a few months before FTX went bankrupt and Bankman-Fried was arrested.According to the lawsuit, FTX also paid $12 million to sponsor Scaramuccis SALT conferences and invested $10 million in the SkyBridge Coin Fund. In return, FTX claims Scaramucci took Bankman-Fried on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. and the Middle East to pitch potential investors, with Scaramucci so invested in the success of Bankman-Frieds fundraising efforts that he lent Bankman-Fried his own suit and tie in advance of their meetings so that Bankman-Fried wouldnt show up to important meetings in his trademark shorts and a t-shirt.The Fwd.us lawsuit, meanwhile, describes payments from FTXs corporate sibling Alameda Research to Fwd.us as part of an integrated plan by the FTX Insiders to siphon money from FTX Group creditors and enhance their own personal reputations at the expense of creditors.SkyBridge and Fwd.us did not immediately respond to TechCrunchs request for comment.

In BriefPosted:3:26 PM PST November 9, 2024Image Credits:OpenAIOpenAI reportedly developing new strategies to deal with AI improvement slowdownOpenAIs next flagship model might not represent as big a leap forward as its predecessors, according to a new report in The Information.Employees who tested the new model, code-named Orion, reportedly found that even though its performance exceeds OpenAIs existing models, there was less improvement than theyd seen in the jump from GPT-3 to GPT-4.In other words, the rate of improvement seems to be slowing down. In fact, Orion might not be reliably better than previous models in some areas, such as coding.In response, OpenAI has created a foundations team to figure out how the company can continue to improve its models in the face of a dwindling supply of new training data. These new strategies reportedly include training Orion on synthetic data produced by AI models, as well as doing more improve models during the post-training process.OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In response to previous reports about plans for its flagship model, the company said, We dont have plans to release a model code-named Orion this year.Topics

Simon Kinberg will write and produce alongside Kathleen Kennedy; set after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the trilogy moves past the Skywalker Saga and will follow a new set of characters.