Pokemon/Palworld Ripoff, Valve vs NY State, PlayStation Dynamic Pricing + more!

Duration: 09:21

Timestamps:

0:00 it ain't chores when you're a samurai

0:15 Pickmon shamelessly copies Pokemon, Palworld

2:04 Valve responds to NY State loot box lawsuit

3:44 Sony tests dynamic pricing on the Playstation Store

5:19 QUICK BITS INTRO

5:25 Microsoft GDC Keynote

6:12 Fallout 3 Remaster leak

6:51 Star Wars: First Assault playable on PC

7:31 Jeff Kaplan reveals why he left Blizzard

8:24 Wikipedia is now a gacha game

NEWS SOURCES:

MAINS

POOR MAN’S PICK-ME

‘Pickmon’ puts Pokemon knockoff Palworld to shame by knocking off Pokemon EVEN HARDER. Developer PocketGame (a totally original name compared to Palworld’s Pocket Pair, has created a shameless Frankenstein of stolen aesthetics.

https://tinyurl.com/2e9h94y5

Editor: Flash the PC Gamer headline and the highlighted “Checkmate, Nintendo” quote.

The blatant plagiarism goes way beyond a sleep-paralysis Pikachu.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4358270/Pickmon/

Cover art featuring obvious ripoffs of Charizard, Lucario, others

But it doesn’t even stop at Pokemon, The trailer immediately opens with Breath of the Wild Link hang-gliding

0:00, link jumping off and hang gliding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK2hEntK-bQ

0:39 literally just Pikachu with a tuft of hair

Interestingly, that alt-Charizard on the cover appears to be based NOT on the original Charizard, but on THIS feathered Pal clearly based off Charizard’s model, which Pickmon recolored to look more like Charizard again!! This is crazy

https://x.com/SaddestOtaku/status/2030982576458895471

They knock off some of Palworld’s more original monsters too, along with their sensibility that creatures with super-powers isn’t enough - they need guns, too

1:10, pokemon pulls out gatling gun, elephant thing slams down

And Roadhog from Overwatch because why not!

1:30, … Roadhog - maybe slow down shot

Despite all that, they thought they’d use cards instead of Poke-balls - y’know, to be safe

0:52, capturing bear thing into a card

Pocket pair vs pocket game goes crazy, Aptly titled Palslop

https://tinyurl.com/yc3ybpbz

RARE LEGAL PULL

Mar 11th - Valve Addresses New York Loot Box Lawsuit: "We Refuse To Do That.” In a public response statement, defense, Valve argued their cosmetic crates are functionally identical to buying physical blind boxes like Pokémon cards, Labubus, MTG , and other physical collectibles.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-addresses-new-york-loot-box-lawsuit-we-refuse-to-do-that/1100-6538725/#:~:text=Valve%20says,money%2E%22

Editor: Headline and quote

The NYAG demanded Valve disable player-to-player item trading and implement global age tracking. Valve refused, calling transferability a fundamental consumer right, but indicated compliance if New York passes a forcing law.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6300-A6C4-519D-A3F5#:~:text=We%20respect%20New,in%20game%20design.

Editor: Quote

Meanwhile across the pond, Europe is attacking manipulative gaming tactics with major changes to its rating system.

https://www.eurogamer.net/pegi-video-game-age-rating-changes-europe

Editor: Headline

https://tinyurl.com/4ehxmdwr

Editor: Quote

PEGI now links age ratings to in-game monetization and engagement features. Paid random items default to PEGI 16, while NFTs and unrestricted online chat result in PEGI 18. Games using manipulative FOMO mechanics (e.g., time-limited purchases, punishing broken login streaks) are raised to a minimum PEGI 12.

https://shorturl.a`t/Btkuj

Editor: quote.

A game's PEGI rating can drop to 7 if it includes default in-game controls to disable spending. Bosmans noted these systems are currently rare, but the change aims to encourage their development.

PAY LESS IF YOU PLAY LESS

Sony is testing dynamic pricing in the PlayStation Store, at least in the UK

https://psprices.com/news/sony-ab-testing-prices/

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-is-reportedly-running-a-dynamic-ab-pricing-experiment-on-playstation-store

https://www.techradar.com/gaming/sony-is-reportedly-testing-dynamic-pricing-on-its-playstation-storefront-that-changes-the-price-tag-of-over-190-games

Chart: https://psprices.com/news/sony-ab-testing-prices/#:~:text=Sony%20is%20testing%20pricing%20on%20its%20own%20games

Although they found it was tested in the states too. US pricing table with the discounts:

https://lmg.gg/ifCFl

Wasn’t a small pool of games: https://lmg.gg/8flXa

Helldivers 2 quote: https://lmg.gg/RZFus

So if I play nothing except for Uncharted and literally only Uncharted on my PS5, does that mean that I can get Uncharted 2 for FREE??? (this is for the ending joke)

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fvnuyx3lwrao31.jpg

QUICK BITS

RETURN OF THE KING

Mar 11th - Microsoft's GDC 2026 Keynote

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsofts-gdc-2026-keynote-live-report-building-for-the-future-with-xbox

Order of magnitude quote: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/11/project-helix-building-next-generation-of-xbox/#:~:text=It%20delivers%20an%20order%20of,efficiency%2C%20scale%2C%20and%20visual%20ambition.

We got a look at some of the features for the new Project Helix console https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gchnxhvicqmurphv5jkh5uhk/post/3mgsfktotws2g

Developers will be seeing its early alpha in 2027: https://lmg.gg/n9R2c

Mar 11th - Microsoft's Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program is coming back this year — "we’re committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable"

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/rejoice-microsofts-xbox-backwards-compatibility-program-is-coming-back-this-year

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/03/xbox-says-backwards-compatibility-program-will-be-revived-for-25th-anniversary

Mar 12th - Xbox removing all traces of “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign

https://insider-gaming.com/this-is-an-xbox-marketing-campaign-removed-microsoft/

https://www.thegamer.com/microsoft-removing-this-is-an-xbox-marketing/

NUKA RELEASE-A

Mar 10th - McFarlane Toys has accidentally confirmed a Fallout 3 Remaster with a store page

https://gamerant.com/fallout-3-remaster-leaks-mcfarlane-toys/

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/110404/fallout-3-remastered-mentioned-in-mcfarlane-toys-product-list/index.html

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/fallout-3-remastered-mightve-just-leaked-and-mcfarlane-toys-accidentally-spilled-the-nuka-cola

It was found in a new set of toy listings on Brodepot and called “ELITE EDITION 7IN – FALLOUT 3 REMASTERED – #13 T-45B NUKA COLA.”

https://x.com/Mr_Rebs_/status/2031347254338978035

Oblivion shadow drop: https://www.indy100.com/gaming/oblivion-remastered-release-date-elder-scrolls-iv-xbox-ps5-pc-bethesda

CALL OF DUTY IN SPACE

Mar 11th - 13 Years After It Was Cancelled, Star Wars: Battlefront III Prequel Is Playable On PC

https://kotaku.com/star-wars-first-assault-battlefront-3-prequel-beta-revived-download-pc-instal-xbox-360-2000678058

https://games.gg/news/star-wars-first-assault-pc-beta-restored/

Its was put together by a community of dedicated fans who just really wanted to play the game

https://www.eurogamer.net/star-wars-first-assault-gameplay-appears-online-as-fan-effort-tries-to-restore-cancelled-lucasarts-game

The revived game needs a modded version of the Xenia emulator to run, so its not really the most straight forward thing in the world to install, but definitely cool to see

(1:28 and 22:59 for best gameplay clips)https://youtu.be/EKN_oGkEpmA?t=88

1,000 DEV ULTIMATUM

Mar 12th - Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan revealed he left Blizzard after the CFO gave him an impossible financial ultimatum to meet Overwatch League revenue goals or 1,000 developers, including Kaplan, a longtime key Blizzard figure since vanilla World of Warcraft, would lose their jobs.

https://www.ign.com/articles/that-was-the-biggest-f-you-moment-i-had-in-my-career-jeff-kaplan-former-boss-of-the-overwatch-team-finally-reveals-why-he-left-blizzard#:~:text=%22Where,teams%2E%E2%80%9D

Editor: Flash the IGN headline and then the highlighted “selling the Brooklyn Bridge” quote

https://www.eurogamer.net/former-overwatch-lead-claims-he-was-given-a-horrid-ultimatum-meet-revenue-goals-or-1000-developers-would-lose-jobs

Editor: Headline top of page.

Kaplan dropped all this lore on Lex Friedman's Podcast

https://x.com/lexfridman/status/2031848752353309152

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-biggest-fk-you-moment-in-my-career-former-overwatch-director-jeff-kaplan-reveals-why-he-left-blizzard/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAnd,you%E2%80%99%2E

Editor: Highlighted quote about the CFO threatening to lay of 1,000 people.

while promoting his new indie studio’s game, The Legend of California

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2550530/The_Legend_of_California/

Jeff kaplan, former director of overwatch says yadyyadayada kaplan said this in interviews to promote his new game, insert game here, and then California joke.

WIKIGATCHA WAS INEVITABLE

Mar 7th - Someone turned Wikipedia into a gacha game https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/please-send-help-we-cant-stop-opening-packs-in-wikigacha-a-browser-based-card-game-where-you-collect-wikipedia-articles-like-list-of-red-hot-chili-peppers-band-members-or-bariatric-surgery/

https://dev.ua/en/news/wikigacha-1772803160

https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20260308-wiki-gacha/

The game: (editor please show the starting page, and then screenshot a opened pack)

https://wikigacha.com/

I challenge anyone in the audience to beat my ultra rare 1561 Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg deck. You will never beat me!