Four days after the US joined Israel in airstrikes on Iran, the official White House X account posted a video. Captioned "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" and set to Childish Gambino's Bonfire, it mixed real footage of the military strikes with killstreak animations taken straight from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. They even added in-game XP popping up for each hit, like you'd see on your screen after taking out an enemy.

It got over 36 million views on X. Reactions were all over the place. Some people thought it was genuinely cool. Veterans' groups called it "inappropriate and juvenile."

The Trump administration has now used Pokémon's theme song in ICE raid videos, put Master Chief from Halo in an ICE recruitment post, and pulled killstreak footage from Call of Duty for war coverage. They’re probably using gaming to reach younger audiences and make military and law enforcement actions feel exciting and badass rather than serious.

Honestly I think this is insane.

I’m also wondering if Microsoft or Activision gave permission for their game to be used this way? Probably not. Which puts Microsoft in an awkward position, especially given that they're also in the news this week with a brand new console announcement.

Everyones have been wondering whether Xbox even wants to be in the console business anymore. Between Game Pass, cloud gaming, and putting their games on PlayStation, it felt like they were slowly backing away from hardware altogether. Turns out, not quite.

Microsoft has confirmed a new console codenamed Project Helix, announced by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. The details are still pretty thin, but what we know is that it's being positioned as a hybrid between a traditional console and a gaming PC. The big pitch is that it will be "the most open Xbox ever" with support for Windows and multiple storefronts including Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. So basically, it's an Xbox that can also just be a PC.

GDC kicks off this week on March 9, and Sharma is expected to share more with developers there, so we should get a clearer picture soon.

Worth noting the context too. Phil Spencer is gone. Sarah Bond left unexpectedly. Asha Sharma is the third major Xbox leadership figure in a short stretch but at least the announcement is generating excitement rather than just memes about Xbox having no games.

Pokemon has had a rough few years in terms of reputation. Scarlet and Violet launched in a pretty rough state, and while people still played them the criticism was bad. So it's surprising that the franchise's highest rated game ever has just dropped on Switch 2.

Pokemon Pokopia sits at an 89 on Metacritic based on 50 reviews, with a 93% recommendation rate on OpenCritic. So what even is it?

Pokopia is not a traditional Pokemon RPG. You play as a Ditto who has taken on a human form and winds up on an island that needs rebuilding. Critics have compared it to Animal Crossing and Minecraft, calling it a game about creativity and gradual, satisfying progress rather than gym badges and Elite Fours.

The cozy game genre has exploded in recent years. Stardew Valley, Cozy Grove, Disney Dreamlight Valley, all prove there's a massive audience that just wants to build things and vibe rather than fight bosses. Pokemon stepping into that space and doing it this is pretty cool.

That’s it for now.
Till next time - framerate