Palworld vs. Nintendo, Holodeck Tech, And More Of The Week’s Biggest News

It’s already been eight whole years since Final Fantasy XV, and its ending still gets us all choked up just thinking about it. Read on for all things Palworld and the highly unusual tale of mobile game Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live.

We’re about done with the first month of the year, and 2024’s biggest game is already here in the form of Palworld. The colloquially named “Pokémon with guns” open-world survival crafting title is dominating both Steam and Twitch in spite of the controversy it’s courted, particularly around similarities in monster design to Nintendo’s popular creature collector. But developer Pocketpair recently said the game passed legal reviews and isn’t infringing upon the Pokémon copyright. – Levi Winslow Read More

Brotherhood is a theme so overt in Final Fantasy XV that it’s the title of the game’s five-episode prequel anime. An outlier in a series that usually leverages expansive and diverse casts, FF15 instead focuses entirely on a road trip with four lads. Tehy spend most of their time cruising around in a convertible, sightseeing, discovering new recipes, and camping. Along the way, there’s a lot of groanworthy quips, awkward selfies, and good-natured cajoling. – Corey Plante Read More

The Palworld and Pokémon drama continues. After Pocketpair’s monster-taming survival game was accused of ripping models from Game Freak’s RPGs, an X (formerly Twitter) user has gone viral for comparing monsters between the two games. The comparisons were similar enough to convince fans that Palworld’s characters weren’t just look-alikes but could have been directly ripped from Pokémon games. However, there seems to be some misinformation floating around their comparisons. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Nintendo has taken action against the Palworld mod that would have made the “Pokémon With Guns” label much more literal. So if you were hoping to play Pocketpair’s monster-taming survival game as long-time Pokémon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum capturing and enslaving Game Freak’s monsters, you might want to temper your expectations, as the mod seems to be in a more dubious position. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

A new advanced treadmill-like floor invention from Disney could solve one of the biggest problems with VR: movement. But, it could also bring the world one step closer to making Star Trek-like holodecks a reality. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

Pokémon Concierge, the stop-motion animated series that launched on Netflix in December, is a total vibe. After spending time watching a lovely series about a Pokémon resort, I almost don’t want to go back to battling and training. I just want to hang out with all these little guys and take a neverending vacation. Unfortunately, that’s not the core of most Pokémon games, but it is nice to picture what a Pokémon Concierge video game could look like. Thankfully, we don’t have to imagine it, as some artists have already created a mock-up of it for the original Game Boy, though it’s unfortunately not a playable game. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

The Day Before is dead and gone, but those behind the studio responsible aren’t quite done complaining yet. Apparently, according to a new statement from developer Fntastic, it’s not the developers’ fault that the disastrous game has bit the dust. The blame lies with the “bloggers” and “content creators” who’ve “triggered a gold rush” by profiting off a hate campaign against the failed game. And Dr. Disrespect liked it, so why is anyone complaining at all? – Levi Winslow Read More

Today, Bushiroad International announced the global release date for Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live via Twitter. That same post announcing the news also revealed that the game will be shutting down in just a few months in what might be the most bizarre game announcement I’ve seen in a long time. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

Take a break from busting heads on Dondoko Island where you’re tasked with building a resort from the ground up

Australian-based Twitch streamer Boggles recently went viral after seemingly live-streaming a stunt that involved shoving metal forks into toasters and electrocuting himself. To be clear: Each time he did this it was fake, but that didn’t stop Twitch from banning the content creator for 30 days due to violating the site’s rules on self-harm. – Zack Zwiezen Read More