Recent Articles
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US patent office has revoked Nintendo’s patent on summoning characters into battle
After a reexamination ordered by the US Patent and Trade Office director John A. Squires last November, the USPTO has revoked a patent granted to Nintendo for a game mechanic involving “summoning a character and letting it fighter another.” In a patent I described as “incredibly vague,” it seems the…
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Pokémon GO Spotlight Hour for Thursday, April 2nd, 2026
Initially announced on January 31st, 2020, Niantic announced it would begin testing new types of events during February 2020 – Pokémon Spotlight Hour and Mystery Bonus Hour. After testing and user feedback, Niantic combined both events into one and announced what Pokémon and bonuses would be featured in advance. The…
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Tomodach Life’s mobile spinoff, Miitomo, launched in the US 10 years ago today
Nintendo’s popular yet short-lived social networking mobile app, Miitomo, launched in the US 10 years ago today on March 31st, 2016. Notable for being Nintendo’s first-ever mobile game, Miitomo is widely considered an unofficial spinoff of Nintendo’s Tomodachi franchise. It took plenty of inspiration from the quirky social sim series,…
