Welcome back to PixelPulse’s Weekly Recap, where we slice through the chaos of the gaming multiverse like a crit knife through a Borderlands boss. This week? The industry was a powder keg of leaks, loot drama, and publisher shenanigans—so let’s pop the safety off and dive in.

## Pokémon’s Teraleak Apocalypse: The Floodgates Burst
Just in time for the launch of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the so-called Teraleak reared its ugly head, spilling not just early builds and cut content, but also a *roadmap of major Pokémon game releases through 2030*. Yeah, you read that right—a decade’s worth of corporate secrets, concept art, and even teases for Gen 10 and a freakin’ Pokémon MMO are out in the wild. Nintendo’s response? A boilerplate “we’re looking into it,” while Game Freak quietly updates their LinkedIn profiles. Meanwhile, Legends: Z-A is off to a strong start, with fans finally getting some closure on Arceus’ most tragic story and—bless ’em—Pokémon Centers finally hiring Nurse Joys that don’t look like they were cloned from the same genetic soup. Progress!

## Battlefield 6: Exploding Sales and Actual Bullets That Miss
EA’s Battlefield 6 detonated onto the scene, selling a record-shattering 7 million copies in three days—the biggest launch in series history. Steam concurrency hit 747k (take a seat, 2042). But it wouldn’t be a modern multiplayer shooter if the bullets actually registered, right? Players reported that entire clips were whiffing through enemies, leading to that classic existential FPS question: “So I’m not crazy?” (No, you’re not, and EA rolled out a hotfix ASAP.)

Elsewhere, XP farming Portal lobbies exploded due to a grindy progression system, Conquest mode got a controversial ticket nerf, and ladder launching entered the meme hall of fame for as long as it lasts before being patched out. Also, Vince Zampella threw shade at EA, claiming Call of Duty only exists “because EA were dicks.” Did he lie? Not even a little.

## Borderlands 4: Loot Drama and Dev Philosophy Debates
Borderlands 4 players are bracing for the end of the infamous “crit knife” builds, with Gearbox prepping nerfs for overpowered combos that can delete bosses on the hardest difficulty. Of course, this sparked the eternal debate: Should OP nonsense be left alone in a mostly single-player, PvE looter? Gearbox’s devs held the line, arguing that power creep kills build diversity and challenge, especially with Invincible bosses on the way. Oh, and Randy Pitchford showed up to remind us that, apparently, only Gearbox truly understands why we love loot. Humility, thy name is not Randy.

## Industry Ups & Downs: Leaks, Departures, and Tributes
- **Assassin’s Creed Boss Marc-Alexis Côté** left Ubisoft after two decades, just as Vantage Studios (bolstered by Tencent cash) takes the reins on Ubi’s biggest franchises.
- **Tomonobu Itagaki**—legendary creator of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden (2004)—passed away at 58. The outpouring from Japanese devs like Sakurai and Harada was moving, and his final message? “I am proud to say that I followed my beliefs and fought to the end.” A true icon.
- **Quantic Dream** (yeah, the Heavy Rain crew) announced a multiplayer game, Spellcasters Chronicles, while reassuring everyone that Star Wars Eclipse is still a thing. Somewhere. Maybe.
- **NVIDIA and Oracle** flexed new AI cloud muscle, and NVIDIA’s DGX Spark petaflop supercomputer made its way to SpaceX’s Starbase, hand-delivered to Elon Musk by Jensen Huang. The future’s so bright, you’ll need ray tracing.

## Deals, Preorders, and Cardboard FOMO
- MTG: TMNT preorders are still live, and Pokémon TCG’s Van Gogh Pikachu card is now worth over $1,000. Scalpers, rejoice.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender MTG sets and Lorcana’s new Whispers in the Well expansion are flying off shelves.
- Hallmark’s new Halo 3 ornament? Chef’s kiss.

## Oh, and the Games
- Pokémon Legends: Z-A is actually good (review in progress, but first impressions are strong—especially on Switch 2).
- Hollow Knight: Silksong keeps patching bugs and translation woes, but the community’s still hooked.
- The Outlast Trials’ PvP “Invasion Mode” is about to make friends enemies—Among Us style.
- The Outer Worlds 2 drops soon, with early access for premium buyers and a Moon Man couch companion you didn’t know you needed.
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger delivers a legit RPG experience. The Digivolution is real, folks.

## Final Save Point
This week was a bombastic reminder that leaks can shake an entire industry, shooters live and die by their netcode, and sometimes, the best loot is the friends (or memes) you make along the way. See you next week, and remember: if you’re holding a crit knife, now’s the time to use it—before the nerf hammer falls.