Please note that many of these games are really good games, and pacing issues aren’t indicative of them being bad by any stretch. With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s tale of a turbulent development cycle is well known at this point, which ultimately resulted in a breakup between series creator Kojima and developer Konami. And while the game is still excellent in so many ways – cracks do rear their head, especially in the pacing department. The game starts off really strong with missions slowly building in complexity as you track down Skull Face, but after a certain point in the game – players are subjected to repeated missions that increase the difficulty and put additional conditions for completion. This particular stretch feels especially jarring, considering how varied levels previous games featured. To add to that, completing these missions is absolutely vital to achieving the game’s ending.

The Nintendo Switch had a pretty good week in the UK. According to the latest sales data from Gfk Chart-Track for the week ending November 17th, Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! debuted in fourth and sixth respectively in the physical retail sales chart. Combined sales for the two would make them the most successful titles of the week, however. Digital sales aren’t factored into the equation, so actual sales will likely be higher.

Along with being a success in its own right, Pokemon Let’s Go helped boost sales for other Switch titles. As per GamesIndustry.biz, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sales were up 94 percent. Super Mario Party and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild saw an increase in sales by 25 percent and 52 percent respectively. Even Just Dance 2019 saw a 465 percent sales leap thanks to the Switch version, though its inclusion in a hardware bundle that also had Pokemon Let’s Go definitely helped.

Launch week physical sales for Pokemon Let’s Go, however, are down 60 percent next to Pokemon Sun and Moon (2016) for the Nintendo 3DS. Compared to Pokemon X and Y, which released in 2013, sales are down 5 percent. There are a fair number of reasons for this, such as stock issues (leading to some pre-orders not being fulfilled) and a smaller install base compared to the 3DS Pokemon titles. It’s worth waiting to see how many more Switch owners react to the games over the next month, especially when the Christmas season is in full swing.

It will also be interesting to see how Pokemon GO players react. The NPD Group recently reported almost 15 percent of the mobile game’s players in the US were interested in purchasing a Switch to play Pokemon Let’s Go. Since the latter implements quite a few elements from the mobile title, it could further help mobile players make the transition more easily.

Pokemon’s year long legendary celebration continues as of May 4, granting trainers any of the Alola based 3DS games a brand new legendary monster to add to their collection. This go around, the box legendaries of the main Generation 6 titles are yours for the taking.

After a short trip to Gamestop in the US, Players of Pokemon Sun or Ultra Sun will be granted the Dark/Flying type bringer of destruction Yvetal, first introduced in Pokemon Y, while Ultra Moon or Moon trainers gain Xerneas from Pokemon X. The distribution is significant to Ultra game trainers as they are given the pokemon opposite to the one they’ll find in their title.

Details on the Pokemon weren’t available as of press time, but if it’s anything like past distributions, players will be given a stronger Monster holding a rare item should they redeem their code within one of the Ultra games.

Destiny 2

Prior to Destiny 2 launching on PC, Bungie noted that certain overlays and programs may not be supported. Later, when bans were going out left and right, PC players believed it was due to third party plug-ins. While this evidently wasn’t the case, Bungie did believe that the thousands of bans were completely justified and wouldn’t overturn a single one. It then admitted in true Bungo fashion that some bans might have been accidental. Never change, Bungie.

 Stream Sniping – Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

While the PC gaming world is going wild for chicken dinners in Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, some of the more creative among the player base have been taking advantage of streamers, and the fact that they’re pretty publicly broadcasting their position to their viewers. “Stream-Sniping” is the act of using a livestream to locate the broadcasting player in order to kill them. While it can be hard to prove, recently a streamer called Lotoe received a ban for it after a fateful match with other streamers, kicking off a rather large tiff that eventually saw comments from Battlegrounds community staff.

The results for Pokemon Sun and Moon’s latest global live event are in and oddly enough, players have failed to complete it.

The challenge this time around was to scan one million Pokemon in game from different QR codes using the Island Scan mode. Unfortunately, the community only managed to scan about 660,000 Pokemon in total.

There are still rewards to be gained from participating. Scanning a single QR code will net you 217 Festival Coins and if you registered your game sync ID at Pokemon Global Link, then an additional 217 Festival Coins will be granted. Then again, there would have been better rewards if the community had successfully completed the challenge.

The first global live event for Pokemon Sun and Moon was even more daunting though. Players had to catch 100 million Pokemon worldwide and despite the popularity of the latest 3DS release, they fell far short. What could the next potential challenge be? Let us know in the comments.

A new Global Event has gone live for Pokemon Sun and Moon, involving players all across the world while guaranteeing some great rewards if successfully completed.

The Global Event tasks players with catching or defeating one million Pokemon. Sounds easy enough but these Pokemon must be found using the Island Scan feature, which can only be used after 100 points are earned from scanning in-game QR codes.

The event will began at 8 PM PST/11 PM EST on December 26th and will be running till 23:59 UTC on January 9th 2017. This is the second Global Event for the 3DS title and much more forgiving than the first which tasked players with capturing 100 million Pokemon worldwide. The end result was 16.5 million, thus explaining why this month’s event is slightly more realistic.

What are your thoughts on the new Global Event in Pokemon Sun and Moon? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

Nintendo’s Pokemon Sun and Moon isn’t all about passing rites of passage, trading with friends and ultimately challenging the Elite Four. It also features some worldwide challengers which players all around the globe can join in. Unfortunately, the first global challenge – which started in November and challenged players to catch 100 million Pokemon in both titles – didn’t really go well.

As per the official English blog for the game, the goal was “just missed” but the Japanese blog noted that players only captured 16.5 million Pokemon worldwide. While that’s still pretty impressive, that’s nowhere near the goal.

Players are receiving 100 coins as a consolation prize of sorts (the grand prize was to be 100 Festival Coins). Double rewards will also be granted if your game sync ID is registered the Pokemon Global Link.

What do you hope to see in the next global challenge for Pokemon Sun and Moon? Let us know in the comments below and remember to keep it realistic.

Pokemon Sun and Moon has long been much anticipated, but it turns out it’s having unprecedented success in Europe. The most successful launch in the history of the Pokemon franchise in the UK has seen more than 1.5 million copies shipped in the first week on the market and more than 368,000 in the UK alone.

According to Gfk Chart Tracker Pokemon Sun debuted at number three on the chart. While Pokemon Moon and Pokemon Sun are selling separately, if they were selling as one game, they would be first on the UK sales charts, according to Gfk Chart Tracker.

So far, the North American sales numbers have not been announced, but considering the popularity of the series around the world, it’s a safe bet it’s been a success. If you’re one of those looking to buy Pokemon Sun and Moon, check out our list of 15 things players hate about the games first.

Call it the Pokemon GO effect or a testament to the massive popularity of the franchise but Pokemon Sun and Moon has been on fire since releasing. Along with being the most pre-ordered titles in the series’ history, Nintendo of America revealed that Pokemon Sun and Moon are also the fastest selling games it’s ever launched in the United States.

In less than two weeks, sales are already at 3.7 million units, which is 85 percent higher than Pokemon X and Y in the same period of time. Nintendo also noted that both games sold a combined 1.5 million units within the first week of launching in Europe.

Pokemon Sun and Moon debut quite the number of changes for the series. Along with removing the traditional Gym Leaders route to becoming a Pokemon Master, they have more robust character customization, variations on established Pokemon, new Starters, 4 player arena combat and much more. What are your thoughts on the games? Let us know below.