In the aftermath of reports claiming that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) deepened their reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology last year, No Azure for Apartheid have issued a statement demanding the company cut ties with the agency.
No Azure for Apartheid are the same worker-led group who’ve carried out protests against Microsoft’s dealings with the Israeli military, amid what Amnesty International and a UN enquiry have called a genocide in Gaza.
The nose to the right, the eyes to the left.
Hello, Mario! launches today on Switch eShop and phones in the West alongside other My Mario products, a new line from Nintendo specifically focused on infants and young children.
This free app came out in Japan in August last year, so we’re republishing Jim’s impressions of the cute little face-tugger. Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried it out yourself!
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
“I mean, look, I think everybody knows why we announced it that way then.” Stay calm, I’ve got to get my dinner first. “We know some things we’re doing.” Please stop trying to jump on the bench. “It’s going to be a while yet.” Some of these are things I often have to say to my cat when the clock ticks to within an hour of feeding time. Some of them are things Todd Howard has said about The Elder Scrolls 6 in his latest bout of interview chatter about the RPG. He’s confirmed it’s running on a new version of the Creation Engine, but will also be a return to Bethesda’s “classic style”.
The Pokémon Company International is supposedly set to reveal the fourth English Mega Evolution set soon, as leaked production schedules suggest that it will be called Chaos Rising – rumored to be the Western release of Japan’s Ninja Spinner set.
If true, Mega Greninja ex will be officially stepping into the spotlight for the next expansion. Here’s everything we know so far, including the release date, expected card lists, and when preorders should go live.
Supposedly, Pokémon TCG’s next Mega Evolution expansion, Chaos Rising, will release on May 22, 2026. According to the report at Pokébeach, this also means that pre-releases will take place from 9th to 17th May.
This means that if you attend a local tournament during this window, you can get an early access “Build & Battle Box”. This includes a 40-card ready-to-play deck and four Chaos Rising booster packs. This pre-release window would be the first time we’ll see Mega Greninja ex in the wild as well.
Serebii claims that Ninja Spinner has 83 cards in its main set. While it still doesn’t have an official card list in Japan, we can guess, based on previous sets, it’ll have about 40 secret rares, totalling about 120 cards.
We expect the Ninja Spinner card list to be officially revealed in the next few weeks, which will give us a hint as to what we can expect in the Western release.
We do know that the set includes all the Kalos starter Pokémon – Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie. Unsurprising, given its cover star!
A Japanese translation of Mega Greninja ex from Bulbapedia talks about a “Mortal Shuriken” ability – “Once per turn, if this Pokémon is Active, you can discard a Water Energy to place 6 damage counters on any 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon.”
This pairs perfectly with its “Ninja Spinner” attack (120+ damage). The card states: “You may return a Water Energy from this Pokémon to your hand to do 80 more damage.”
That’s a total of 260 damage, including the 60 from its ability. Very ninja-like of it.
I’m a little scared about the impact the rumored Supporter card AZ’s Tranquility will have on the meta. This card lets you switch your Active Pokémon and heal 80 damage – a potential life-saver for high-HP Mega Evolutions. It just so happens that Mega Greninja ex has 350 HP, making it one of the highest HP Pokémon cards ever released.
Early rumors from the Japanese printing suggest the artwork features Greninja riding its own water shuriken. Considering the popularity of Greninja and its ridiculous stats, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this chase card reach $500+ on the secondary market.
At the moment, preorders for Chaos Rising are not available, as we’re still waiting for an official announcement from The Pokémon Company.
But, once they are available, you’ll be able to find them in all your usual retailers – if you’re quick! We don’t expect these to stick around for long, especially at MSRP.
If you’re in the US, set your alerts for Pokémon Center US, Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Walmart. If you’re in the UK, keep your eyes on Pokémon Center UK, Smyths and Amazon.
There’s also dedicated TCG resellers like TCGPlayer or Magic Madhouse, but, as third party sellers, we can’t predict the prices we’ll see. We expect to learn more information about Chaos Rising in the next few weeks, so check back to see the latest updates, and follow IGN Deals for live stock information.
Before Chaos Rising lands on May 22, there’s plenty more for fans to get excited about. For starters, Pokémon’s 30th anniversary celebrations are on February 27, but you’ll be able to celebrate early as the commemorative Pokémon Day 2026 Collection dropped on January 30, alongside Ascended Heroes.
Announced back in December 2025, this is a very small release with one confirmed card: a unique stamped foil promo card of Pikachu looking cute as standard, along with a logo’d metallic coin, and a trio of TCG booster packs from different sets.
Available imagery seems to show the packs being a mixture of one Phantasmal Flames and two Mega Evolution, but we like to warn that the contents may always differ from unit to unit.
The Pokémon Day 2026 Collection is currently marked as “Coming Soon” at Best Buy, but it can be bought now at Amazon for around $37, or from around $27 on TCGplayer at current market rates.
Looking ahead, as Ascended Heroes has already set the foundation of what the Mega Evolution set’s expansions are going to look like, Perfect Order’s going to kick things up a notch.
Just announced earlier this year, and arriving on March 27, 2026, Perfect Order is going to be honing in on many of the Pokémon featured in the Legends: Z-A game.
Among the cards announced from the 120-card set so far, we know we’re going to be seeing many of the game’s starring Mega Pokémon; Mega Zygarde ex, Mega Starmie ex, and Mega Clefable ex; but also some surprising extra additions like Meowth ex.
For the moment, the only place to preorder Perfect Order is via TCGplayer and other resale markets.
For more on celebrating Pokémon’s 30th anniversary this year, I’d also highly recommend checking out the TIME magazine exclusive celebration covers, all of which feature in the top of the best seller Amazon charts this week, and can be bought for just $14.99 each.
Sara Heritage is a freelance contributor at IGN.
And there’s more on the way.
Bandai Namco’s fighting game Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO made its way across to the Switch and Switch 2 late last year, and this week, it receives a new update for these platforms.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Here are the full details.
Following the launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Switch 2 Edition last month, Nintendo has now released its second update for the title this year.
It addresses multiple issues and makes some adjustments on both the Switch and Switch 2. There are also some updates specific to the Switch 2 version of the game. This includes an issue with clouds that’s now been resolved, and also an update to the controller vibration intensity.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
A dino crisis.
Cast your minds back to the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase earlier this month. One of the most surprising games featured during the presentation was Tokyo Scramble, a stealth-horror hybrid where you have to escape from dinosaur-esque creatures. And you can do so alone or with the help of friends via GameChat and GameShare.
Not only was the announcement a surprise, but so was the release date — 11th February 2026, just less than a week after the Direct. Well, that’s cool! Plus, the game was developed by one of the co-devs of Ender Lilies and Ender Magnolia. Sounds interesting, right?
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Magic: The Gathering packs come in a few shapes and sizes (we covered the excellent Jumpstart Boosters for the Avatar: The Last Airbender set recently), but Collector Boosters are the most expensive.
Now, though, Amazon not only has Avatar Collector Boosters in stock, but it’s selling a box of 12 at a discount with a 16% saving off the list price.
That brings a Collector Booster box down to $384.62 from $455.88. It’s still super expensive, but it’s admittedly slightly easier to swallow.
It drops the price per pack from $37.99 to $32.05, which is a steep enough drop to almost pay for a whole Play Booster with the money you save – imagine that.
So, what’s the deal with Collector Boosters? Why does a box of 12 command a fee of over $450 when Play Boosters can be had much cheaper?
In truth, it’s because the most valuable cards from the Avatar: The Last Airbender set are much, much more likely to be found in Collector Boosters. They contain all manner of special art treatments, including those controversial ‘Source Material’ full-art cards (no, we still can’t love them either).
The cards remain functionally the same as buying Play Boosters, but as the name suggests, these ones are aimed at collectors of Avatar superfans. We don’t often give advice, but if you do buy them, please try and put them in a sleeve to keep them in the best condition possible!
For more on Magic: The Gathering, check out our early look at the Turtle Power Commander Precon, as well as a full preview of the upcoming TMNT set.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
There’s nothing better than a Magic: The Gathering Commander night with friends, and Wizards of the Coast keeps releasing plenty of preconstructed decks so you can jump right in with friends or start to build around a choice card.
They’re pretty regularly discounted, too, which is always appreciated, but right now Amazon has some fantastic deals on Lorwyn Eclipsed’s duo of decks and a huge bundle of Tarkir Dragonstorm decks, too. Here’s why they’re worth a look.
Kicking off with the latest set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, there are two decks available for the set.
Blight Curse is helmed by Auntie Ool, Cursewretch (or The Reaper, King No More), and leans into the -1/-1 counters archetype that we really don’t see too much of in precons. It’s a fantastic deck—possibly one of the best in recent memory—and has a few bucks knocked off the price to bring it to $45.49.
It’s joined by Dance of the Elements, which has an even better price. The five-color Elementals deck is all about making copies of big creatures and is helmed by Ashling, the Limitless (or Mass of Mysteries). It’s currently just $37.99, a 24% discount on a great precon.
Better yet, we recently pointed out that you can buy a bundle that includes two of each deck for around $80 off, and that’s still true. That means you and a friend can spend $60 each and each get both decks!
Onto Tarkir: Dragonstorm, then, and while the 2025 was somewhat overshadowed by Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy dropping right after, it remains a great set.
Its Commander decks had a wide range of reprint values, but they’re all fun to use. I own three of them myself and have had a blast playing with Sultai Arisen. Can’t pick? Good news – Amazon has a discount on a bundle of all five (that’s right, five) decks.
The bundle would cost $224.95, but is now $195, bringing each deck down to $39. While some are going for around that number, Temur Roar was particularly popular at launch and shot up in value. In fact, it’s still $60 on its own.
That deck is particularly good because it essentially drops a ton of Dragons on the board for big damage, but the others are fun, too.
Jeskai Striker is all about playing rapid spells, while Sultai Arisen has a graveyard recursion theme that helps keep opponents guessing.
Mardu Surge is focused on tokens and sacrifice, while Abzan Armor is a ‘toughness matters’ deck that turns colossal defenders into terrifying attackers.
You really can’t go wrong with any of them, and if you’re new to the format, Tarkir’s decks are relatively easy to pilot, too.
For more on Magic’s Commander format, check out why the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ precon, Turtle Power, looks to be so fun to play, and one crazy combo from the set already.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
I choose YOU.
27th February marks the anniversary of Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, but this year’s event is an extra special one: the Pokémon series is turning 30 years old.
Yes, that little RPG about catching cute and not-so-cute monsters and doing battle with your pals has been going for three entire decades. In that time, it’s evolved from mere gaming phenomenon that rejuvenated interest in Nintendo’s Game Boy seven years after it launched to the world’s biggest media property.
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