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Tag: Videogames

  • Catching Every Announcement at the Pokémon World Championships

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    San Francisco will transform into Lumiose City.
    Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

    Pika pika! Oh, sorry, you don’t speak Pikachu. The Pokémon World Championships, a competition of many Poké mediums, took over Anaheim this past weekend and briefly demoted Mickey to the second most famous dancing mouse in a little costume in Southern California. Rest assured Mickey, Pikachu will be moving on next year as Worlds will head to San Francisco in 2026, along with some huge changes to competition. Here’s every announcement from the Pokémon World Championships, in case you didn’t catch them all.

    While Worlds had plenty of activities for the more casual trainers or those who were eliminated from the competition throughout the weekend, there’s now a destination for fans who want a more traditional convention experience. Alongside the Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco next August, Pokémon XP will make its grand debut as a new fan experience, featuring panels, workshops, special guests, and a store exclusively for ticketed guests. It’ll all lead up to the final day of competition at the Chase Center, the same arena where the Golden State Warriors play — Mewtwo basically has the same stats as a basketball player.

    On Sunday evening, Eternatus reigned terror on the Anaheim convention center. Digitally, of course. For everyone else, they’ll have to complete GO pass tasks this week to encounter Eternatus during the Dark Skies event.

    Normally, the phrase “mega ex” sounds like nightmare fuel for your therapist, but thankfully, in Pokéland, it just means even cooler Pokémon. Mega Charizard X ex, Mega Gardevoir ex, and Mega Lucario ex will soon be unwrapped from a pack near you. Well, if you’re able to score one. New evolution Mega Dragonite is coming too, but we assume it will probably be released after Z-A.

    Mega Gyarados ex, Mega Blaziken ex, and Mega Altaria ex are debuting this Fall to Pocket to a digital pack near you soon.

    Okay, Dhelmise and Empoleon will be there too. Empoleon, Dhelmise, and Vaporeon will be added to Pokémon Unite, with the first joining on September 19. The latter two will be added at a later date.

    For the next main series video game, there will be a new online battle format where trainers try to defeat the most Pokémon during a set amount of time. Each battle helps players rise in the ranks and the ranks reset every season, so you’ll have to consistently play if you want to stay on the leaderboard.

    Pokémon Champions, originally announced in February, will become the new game for the video game portion of the world competition; it will seemingly have a similar play style to Pokémon Stadium. The free-to-start game comes out sometime in 2026 for mobile users (iOS/Android) and Switch players.

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    Alejandra Gularte

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  • PepsiCo is offering gamers AI-powered software—Doritos Silent—that cancels out the annoying crunching sounds from other players 

    PepsiCo is offering gamers AI-powered software—Doritos Silent—that cancels out the annoying crunching sounds from other players 

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    While some fear artificial intelligence will lead the humanity’s eventual destruction or irrelevance, others are using the technology for more practical purposes in the here and now. 

    Consider Doritos. For many, the crunchy snack is synonymous with video games. But while the two often go hand-in-hand, there’s a problem for headphone-wearing gamers: crunching sounds. Many complain that the munching sounds of other players distract them and hurt their performance. 

    AI has come the rescue in the form of Doritos Silent, which, despite being software, is described in a PepsiCo promotional video as “the world’s first AI-augmented snack powered by crunch cancellation.” The software is available for free download but only works with Windows PCs for now.

    Developing it took six months and involved artificial intelligence and machine learning analyzing more than 5,000 crunch sounds, according to the snacks-and-beverage giant. 

    Smooth Technology, an engineering and design studio in New York, helped PepsiCo develop the product. “We all know that gamers love Doritos, but that unmistakable crunch can often disrupt those intense gaming moments,” said Dylan Fashbaugh, the lead developer at Smooth Technology, in a statement. “We’ve worked to ensure gamers can enjoy the crunch of Doritos without disturbing their fellow players, making for a better gaming experience.”

    Of course, many observers might dismiss Doritos Silent as a trivial development, or a mere marketing ploy. A review by PC Gamer called it “profoundly stupid,” while also admitting it worked well enough with Doritos Silent chips if not always with competing crisps (which other players might very well be eating—the software can’t prevent you from hearing your own crunching).  

    But Doritos Silent does perhaps speak to how drawn marketers—including Heineken, which recently offered a gaming PC that doubles as a fridge—are to the video game industry. Globally this year, that industry is expected to generate $188 billion in revenue, up 2.6% from 2022, according to a report from Newzoo, an Amsterdam-based industry tracker.

    It’s also expected to reach 3.4 billion players. At that size, it’s a market PepsiCo and other global marketers can sink their teeth into.

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    Steve Mollman

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