Happy Hump Day! In case you missed it: The 2023 Golden Kitty Award winners have been announced. Here’s how one maker reacted to winning the Developer Tools award.

Now for some news: 

🚗 Tesla is working on a new crossover car – with a more budget-friendly price.

🍎 Apple is reportedly building an EV, but its launch has been pushed back. 

🎞️ Netflix is axing its cheapest ad-free tier in favor of a pricier option. 

We’re barely a month into 2024, and we might already have the biggest game of the year. No, Spider-Man 3 did not drop overnight. It’s a survival-adventure game that’s being described as “Pokémon with guns.”

Since its early-access launch on Steam five days ago, it has sold over 5 million copies, and it’s gotten the gaming world's attention. 

But what is it? Palworld is a survival-adventure game developed by Japanese indie studio, Pocket Pair. The announcement trailer was originally released in 2021, and it starts off fairly cutesy. You control a character roaming a lush and vibrant world where you come across and befriend numerous little critters that can help you build your home, craft tools, and a farm for food.

Then you see the guns. Suddenly, the trailer shifts gear from a cute Animal Crossing / Pokémon vibe to a more FPS atmosphere you might see in some triple-A games. 

That’s where the survival aspect comes in. While the world looks lush, it’s pretty inhospitable, and you have to survive by building shelter, finding food, and fighting enemies – with guns. You can even give your pals (the monsters are called pals) their own guns to fight alongside you.

The controversy: A number of people have noticed some striking resemblance to a certain other Japanese monster-hunting game, but of course, your favorite little pika is bearing arms. According to Kotaku, the developers aren’t too concerned, insisting that the game passed legal reviews and isn’t infringing on Pokémon’s copyright. 

Will you play it?

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