Pokémon TCG Art Contest Disqualifies Select Entrants Following Accusations Of AI-Generated Submissions

“We’re committed to upholding the integrity of the Pokémon TCG”.

If you keep up with developments in The Pokémon Trading Card Game scene, you might have heard about a recent ‘Illustration Contest’ where select entrants were accused of submitting AI-generated work.

This has caused quite a stir within the community and now The Pokémon Company has come forward with an official statement explaining how it’s committed to “upholding the integrity” of this contest, and entrants in violation of the rules have been immediately disqualified.

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‘The Zelda Effect’ Causes Game Sales To Drop This May (Europe)

Sales are down 17% compared to last year.

GSD, via GamesIndustry.biz, has shared the latest sales data for the video game market across Europe in May 2024, and it looks to have been a quiet month. So quiet, in fact, that the entire top ten failed to sell as many copies as May 2023’s highly-anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Across physical and digital data from the major European markets (excluding Nintendo which doesn’t share digital figures), Game sales dropped 17% in May 2024, compared to the same period last year. That’s still 11.6 million game sales.

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Review: Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (Switch) – Super Single-Player, But Multiplayer’s A Mess

Rumble bumbled.

The Super Monkey Ball franchise has experienced its fair share of peaks and troughs over the years. The first two GameCube titles knocked it out of the park, providing a plethora of content from the addictive maze-like main stages to the incredible minigames. Since then, however, the series has seemingly been unable to reach the same heights, either content to take one step forward and two steps back, or otherwise completely fumbling the (monkey) ball altogether.

After Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania instilled a smidgen of confidence with its commendable restoration of Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2, Sega is back with a brand-new entry in the form of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. However, in keeping with franchise tradition, it’s yet another game that just can’t quite hit the home run, combining a solid single-player experience with a bunch of multiplayer modes that, frankly, aren’t worth the price of admission or the time investment.

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Retailer GAME Reportedly Ending In-Store Sales Of Physical Games And Hardware

Wait… what..?

A new report from Gfinity eSports has suggested that retailer GAME will soon be ending in-store sales of physical games and hardware.

According to sources close to GAME, the firm will instead operate a ‘pre-order only’ policy regarding its in-store stock. This means that if you want to head into your local GAME store to pick up the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom or Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, you’ll need to ensure you’ve either pre-ordered a copy first or purchased online for delivery to the store.

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Sega Won’t Be Airing A ‘Sonic Central’ Broadcast This Month

Sonic turned 33 this week.

Sega has been hosting a special broadcast titled ‘Sonic Central’ around the time of the blue blur’s birthday since 2021, but this year the anniversary celebrations are a little different.

Sonic brand social media and community manager Katie Chrzanowski explained during a surprise live stream this week how a Sonic Central broadcast wouldn’t be happening this year in June. There’s no need to worry though, as Sega hasn’t forgotten about these events:

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Return In A New Roguelike Action Game Next Month

Cowabunga, dude!

At Nintendo’s Indie World showcase in April, publisher and developer Super Evil Megacorp announced it would be releasing the roguelike action title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate on the Switch in July. As we get closer to next month, it’s now been confirmed this former Apple Arcade exclusive will be launching on 17th July 2024.

As part of this announcement, a brand-new trailer has been shared on the official Nintendo YouTube channel. Pre-orders are also live on the eShop, with the game priced at $29.99 / £26.99 (or your regional equivalent). In case you missed our first story, Splintered Fate allows you take control of the four turtles, take down bosses, explore iconic locations, unlock temporary upgrades and permanent ones, and enjoy 4-player co-op where “no two runs are the same”.

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Poll: Box Art Brawl – Duel: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Primed for battle.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Before we get cracking with this week’s battle, let’s see how things panned out last time. We looked at Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for the N64 and golly gosh, was it a close one. It seemed many of you weren’t too keen on either design, but ultimately, it was the western variant that won the day with 51% of the vote.

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Soapbox: ‘Switch 2’ Is Nintendo’s Chance To Adopt The PC Feature It’s Desperate To Take For A Spin

No need to reinvent the wheel.

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Francisco considers a little Joy-Con addition that could help set the upcoming “Switch successor” apart…


Nintendo can’t resist an enticing hardware innovation. Think of the Game & Watch’s D-pad, the SNES’s nifty shoulder buttons, or the Wii’s revolutionary motion controls; and we’ve barely scratched the surface of its long legacy of pioneering video game controllers. Despite its efforts, one hardware feature has evaded Nintendo for decades.

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Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (22nd June)

Getting primed.

Summer’s here, everyone! Except if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case, Winter’s here, everyone!

After a quiet month or so, it’s been a busy week in Nintendo land thanks to the June Direct which delivered above and beyond what many of us expected to see three months into Switch’s eighth year, with its successor waiting in the wings for its formal introduction.

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