gaming

Pokémon YouTuber Bird Keeper Toby has garnered quite a name for himself as a Shiny Pokémon TCG fan and possibly the biggest collector yet. Already a Pokémon avid collector, he thought he would try pursuing one of every monster color variant in existence. Through many years of searching, he is now down to one last card to complete his collection, but it will set him back as much as $30,000 USD. Shinies were first introduced digitally in Pokémon Gold and Silver offering even rare characters for players to catch. These specific versions have various unique color editions and 1/8000 chance of ever showing up. Aside from its digital existence, the physical trading card game has seen collectors try their best to chase after the rarest and most expensive Shiny Pokémon. Bird Keeper Toby took to In...

Over in Japan, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable games resold by collectors have seen a major spike in price recently. As per an article on Livedoor News, the jump in pricing is due to the perception of the two software games being considered as retro items despite both handhelds being released back in 2004. Particular third-party games have been marked with a higher value for resale, while games straight from Nintendo and Sony aren’t as competitive due to a large release of first-party hits. “Gal” games which allow players to interact with pretty girls as well as those with titles that are hard to come by due to initial lack of interest and production have been recently sought after by collectors as well as games that are Japanese text-heavy and created for the local market. Kouenji Jo...

Blizzard Entertainment has just released the official date for its Open Beta test. Planned for the Early Access weekend, gamers who pre-ordered Diablo II: Resurrected or the Diablo Prime Evil Collection for any of the consoles — Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 — including PC will have early access to the game on August 13, 10:00 a.m. PDT. Public Open Beta weekend will take place a week later on August 20, 10:00 a.m. PDT. All players will be able to join in on the action with cross-progression between platforms. Even though it’s the Open Beta, there’s still plenty of action for fans as, on top of the Barbarian, Amazon, and Sorceress classes, the Paladin and Druid will also be added to the mix of characters, and up to eight friends will be able to get in on the mu...

Niantic, the developer behind Pokémon Go, has acquired a 3D scanning app called Scaniverse, the company shared today. The purchase comes as part of the game developer’s plan to expand into augmented reality hardware and software. Niantic’s vision for its AR experiences includes a “dynamic spatial map of the world rendered from 3D scanned locations,” said Kjell Bronder, AR Group Product Manager, in the announcement. The developer has already begun crowdsourcing images from notable Wayspots — in-game sites of interaction for Pokémon Go players — including the Gandhi sculpture in San Francisco and Maneki-Neko shrine in the Gotokuji Temple in Tokyo. Scaniverse enables users to document, edit and share 3D content via a smartphone. The app’s addition to Niantic will contribute to making its “mul...

Xbox announced their upcoming Gamescom live stream. Usually, the yearly Gamescom event would occur in Cologne, Germany. However, this year Gamescom will be a completely virtual experience that will be available for fans all around the world. From the Xbox Stream, the gaming company will provide detailed updates about previously revealed Xbox Game Studios titles. Additionally, Xbox is set to discuss forthcoming gaming titles that are slated to arrive this holiday season, forthcoming releases to the Xbox Game Pass monthly subscription service and more. To continue the social experience that is typically present at Gamescom, Xbox will be hosting a special edition FanFest, allowing fans to connect with each other from around the globe and share in the news from the upcoming event. More details...

Ethereum-based NFT game Axie Infinity has hit a record $1.1 billion USD in sales, setting a new record for the highest-grossing NFT project ever. The game recently made headlines by helping rural Filipino communities weather unemployment during the pandemic through its play-to-earn model. The active user base for Axie Infinity has grown exponentially from just over 108,000 daily active users in June to more than a million daily active users today. Data from DappRadar indicates sales of nearly $780 million in the last 30 days alone, with more than 1.4 million individual transactions. Axie Infinity is inspired by Pokémon and plays like a regular monster-battler in which every Axie has certain stats that determine their ability in combat. However, the cost of entry is higher than most games a...

Pokémon Go has responded to user concerns following its recent announcement that the game would be rolling back some features introduced during the pandemic — specifically, an update that allowed players to interact with in-game objects from an increased social distance. Game developers had increased the range in which players, called Trainers in the game, can interact with Gyms, Pokéstops and other Pokémon. The distance was widened from 40 meters (131 feet) to 80 meters (262 feet) to encourage social distancing, though developers announced the removal of this feature last week. Game players recently penned an open letter to Niantic encouraging them to reconsider the decision. Published to Twitter by a user named @LeekDuck, the letter asks developers to reinstate the increased social dista...

Krafton has officially changed the name of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, commonly known as PUBG, to PUBG: Battlegrounds — its full name now technically PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Battlegrounds. According to reports, the name change was done under the radar in July. “Krafton is actively expanding the PUBG brand through a variety of new experiences set in its universe,” the publisher told PC Gamer. “Rebranding PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to PUBG: Battlegrounds is the first step in us realizing this vision. Additional titles in the franchise will carry the PUBG name, as you see with our upcoming game, PUBG: New State.” Sources add that New State will be a mobile game set in the future, while horror title The Callisto Protocol will be connected to the franchise. Further details of ...

Microsoft is now publicly testing a night mode for Xbox, finally bringing a feature that’s long been on smartphones to the console world. According to reports, the new night mode will help you dim your screen as well as the power button on the console and the lights on your controller. You’ll also be able to turn on blue light filtering and disable HDR to reduce stunningly bright scenes, all of which help to reduce the strain on your eyes, especially when playing in low-light environments. You’ll be able to toggle these features on and off manually but also set automatic timers so they kick in at a specified time automatically. The feature is now being tested by those in the Alpha Skip-Ahead group, but it’ll probably getter a wider release once the features have been finetuned. Elsewhere i...