Last Chance Launch Savings on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Reduced Double and Triple Packs, plus More!

The rising tide of AI scams targets vulnerable populations; US hosts first military AI conference with global allies; Israeli startup harnesses AI for antibody discovery; AR Rahman advocates AI as tool for music enhancement, not job displacement- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

Pokemon TCG sales have suffered since the release of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, according to store owners. This is blamed on multiple factors, including the economy and series popularity.

Throughout the Series X|S era, Xbox has made a habit of giving away one-of-a-kind consoles to celebrate the release, arrival, or success of certain games and movies. It gave away a Palworld Series S with four unique controllers earlier this year, and a Series X designed to look like it's made of chocolate to mark Wonka's arrival in cinemas. Its latest offering may well be its best to date. A Final Fantasy 14 console to commemorate the MMO finally arriving on Xbox.

We’ll say this up front for those of you still exploring Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s vast world: there are no late-game story spoilers here. As seen in its pre-release debut via a new trailer late last year, the action RPG’s theme song “No Promises to Keep” is performed in-game by Aerith. Behind the scenes though, the track was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the legendary composer behind the iconic soundtracks for much of the Final Fantasy series, including Final Fantasy VII Remake. The song’s vocals were performed by American singer Loren Allred, who brought her spellbinding singing voice to the track, augmenting the beautiful—yet tragic—world of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the epic story told within it.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s lukewarm reception seems to have had an impact on Pokemon TCG sales, which have dropped since the latest Pokemon entries were released on the Nintendo Switch in 2022. Fans were less than thrilled with Game Freak’s latest monster-gathering JRPGs, as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet quickly became some of the lowest-rated mainline Pokemon entries despite their record-breaking launch. Players even started review-bombing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet for various reasons, including their many performance issues.

As artificial intelligence continues to develop and the use of it to replicate voices becomes increasingly common, more video game actors have been expressing their concerns over the technology's use and the negative consequences it could have.

Today I'm all about bang-for-your-buck bundle deals. Because why spend heaps on a hot and current AAA when you can score a low-cost cluster of classics? A Sega Mega Drive Collection, a gaggle of Trines, three Batman games actually worth giving a damn about, every Expanded Universe Star Wars game under the sun—these are the smart plays, my friend.

Ib for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and MACROSS Shooting Insight for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

Helldivers 2 came out of nowhere and took the world by storm, and that continues to be reflected in sales. It was the UK’s best-selling game in February, and it’s been seeing consistent growth in sales in the US as well. On top of that, the game also managed to top the PlayStation Plus charts for top downloads for the month of February. In both North America and Europe, Arrowhead Game Studios’ co-op third-person shooter was No. 1.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has received the version 1.002.000 update, finally bringing the much-requested New Game+ mode, new suits for the two heroes, and a host of new quality-of-life features. The latest patch also adds the ability to replay missions, change the in-game time of day, and some handy accessibility options. The Spider-Man 2 update, however, has also brought an unintended bug. Developer Insomniac Games confirmed that the patch could grant players access to a development game menu, which could end up impacting save files and trophy progress.

In the coming days, Final Fantasy 14 will host the annual Little Ladies' Day and Hatching-Tide holidays as a special, combined event for players to participate in. Though March will be a busy time for Final Fantasy 14 players, those who complete a limited-time quest as part of these holidays will receive a new mount for their effort.

Today, it's time to pay not that much to score quite a heck of a lot, thanks to Humble Bundle. The tastiest component in said package has got to be Nioh 2, top action-RPG and spiritual predecessor of the imminently forthcoming Rise of the Ronin. The latter keeps all the samurai action, strips out the supernatural enemies (plus giant enemy crabs), and adds in a backpack glider not unlike the Bat-tastic one from the Arkham series. Pretty good formula so far, no?