Pokémon Go looks set to add another battle currency to the ever-popular mobile game, this time focused around raids for Mega Pokémon.

As Pokémon Go prepares to roll-out the first of Pokémon Legends Z-A's new wave of Mega Evolutions next month as part of its upcoming Go Tour Kalos event, the game also appears to have a major rework of its Mega Raid system in the offing.

Datamined information published by The Pokémod Group have spilled details of Link Charges, a new in-game resource that the game's files refer to as "enhanced currency." An in-game description states that Link Charges "can be used to enter Mega Raid in place of Raid passes" and will now be "required to enter Mega Raids remotely."

The addition of a new type PVE battle resource for Mega raids comes as something of a surprise, as Mega battles have existed in the game for years, accessible simply via regular raid passes.

While details remain unconfirmed and subject to change, Link Charges sound like something of a cross between existing raid passes and the Max Energy system introduced more recently specifically for use in Dynamax/Gigantamax battles. The introduction of Link Charges would certainly also delineate Mega raids from regular raid battles — similar to how the use of Max Energy sets Max battles apart.

Unreleased in-game text states that players will be able to "earn Link Charges from activities such as Weekly Challenges, Campfire Check-Ins, and opening Gifts," all of which are free. That said, images showing the Link Charges themselves (which look like futuristic USB sticks) in various bundles suggest the resource will, of course, also be sold via the game's in-game shop.

A new item called "enhanced currency" has been added, along with some variations featuring "RRP" (remote raid pass? idk).
It looks like something that could be sold in the shop, but we're not sure what it does yet.

Seeing this item alongside a remote pass is a bit scary.… pic.twitter.com/gIROUW4DlT

— The Pokemod Group (@thepokemodgroup) January 22, 2026

As ever, Pokémon Go's highly-engaged community have been reacting to the datamined details with their usual mix of excitement and healthy scepticism.

"Are we cooked?" wrote Kind_Cheesecake_8297 on top Pokémon Go reddit The Silph Road. "Asked the frog in the pot," replied EquivalentReality988. "This is just another temperature increase, we've been boiling for years."

But while the introduction of another PVE battle resource has naturally prompted questions over how plentiful it will be (and how much it will cost via the in-game shop), many others have agreed that the game's Mega raids do need some form of shakeup.

Following their most recent rework years ago, Mega raids typically provide enough in-game resource to Mega Evolve a specific Pokémon within a few battles. After that, Mega Pokémon can be set as a Buddy Pokémon to generate Mega Energy for free. Beyond hunting for a Shiny or better stat version of a particular creature, there's little need to then continue raiding — and as an active player, I have to say I don't consider Mega creatures when deciding what to spend my daily raid pass on.

While this is fine for players who have all Mega Pokémon unlocked already, this leaves newer players without others to battle Mega raids alongside (and most Megas require multiple people to take down). Providing an additional resource to battle Mega raids means players can choose to take on the battles in addition to regular raids — just as the Max Particle system works for Dynamax and Gigantamax battles now.

The Silent Hill franchise has stood the test of time for many reasons, not least of which being the haunting, ethereal soundscapes of these survival horror games. And when it came to adapting Silent Hill to film, perhaps the smartest thing director Cristophe Gans did was make sure that series composer Akira Yamaoka was still involved.

Now Silent Hill is back in theaters with the third film in the series, Return to Silent Hill, and Yamaoka is along for the ride again. IGN was recently able to speak with Yamaoka about his work, how composing a Silent Hill movie is very different from the games, and which game he’d like to see adapted next. Read on to see what he had to say. [Note - this interview was performed with the aid of a translator.]

Return to Silent Hill is effectively an adaptation of the Silent Hill 2 game. What makes Yamaoka’s involvement interesting is that this is effectively the third time he’s worked on this particular soundtrack. He scored the original Silent Hill 2 back in 2002, and he rebuilt his work from the ground up for the 2024 remake. Now he’s tackling that soundtrack from a whole new angle for the film version.

Yamaoka explains to IGN that there’s a fundamental difference between scoring for games and scoring for film. One is an interactive medium where the other is linear, and that makes a profound difference.

“One of the major differences between video games and film is, as you know, film is a linear format as opposed to video games, [which are] an interactive format where people have choices,” Yamaoka tells IGN. “People with a controller can decide how they experience the story. We have to create the music and all the elements to be interactive so that it can follow how the player plays the games.”

Yamaoka continues, “But the film is, of course, different; it's a linear format. So what that means is everybody would watch the music at certain scenes, and so it's very much predictable, or it's more pre-decided, because that's what the film experience is. That gives me the opportunity to create a much deeper emotional experience, something that we can have even deeper and sharper creative intent for each moment. That to me is a very different opportunity that I was given compared to video games.”

We asked Yamaoka if there were any particular themes or motifs from Silent Hill 2 he was eager to explore and rearrange for Return to Silent Hill, to which he pointed to a pair of classic songs.

“There are many songs that came from the games, such as ‘Theme of Laura’ and ‘Promise.’ And again, as we discussed earlier, linear format film is different from video games, so that allows us to have music for certain emotional effects that the director would like to share with the audience. To create the experience, we were able to change the tempo and spot, really just specifically have the music in a certain way at the tempo and the tone and tension and temperature so that it would support the specific scene. That is a really just wonderful opportunity that we have for the film. It's much more than the length of the scenes, or maybe just the format of the scenes, but it's just the opportunity that we have to be much more, have a micro-control, specific control to have an emotional delivery. So naturally, I enjoy the process of rearranging the themes, and again, including ‘Theme of Laura’ and ‘Promise’ and other music that came from the games to be very film-specific so that we could deliver the emotional message and vision that Christophe Gans had.”

Yamaoka makes it clear that Gans had a very specific vision for how he wanted his sequel to sound. That included selecting certain themes and songs from other games in the Silent Hill series. It was all about furthering the director’s vision for the film.

“It was a creative vision that the director had, because, of course, he focuses on the emotion and he focuses on how to deliver it” Yamaoka says. “There are certain songs from other Silent Hills that had a very good fit for what he was trying to achieve. And of course, it was not one-directional. It was a communication process where the director and myself had to come to the conclusion that there are maybe certain scenes where we could use different music.”

One of the elements that separates Return to Silent Hill from the source material is that the film includes a series of flashbacks exploring the romance between James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) and Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson). We were curious how Yamaoka wanted to take advantage of that new material and explore a relatively happier period for these characters.

“That's one of the very unique elements of the film, and we had a great creative opportunity to discuss this with the director,” Yamaoka says. “When I saw it, I first tried to approach it in a melancholic way, reading towards romantic music and realized that this is an impossible approach. I had a chance to share this with Christophe Gans and run it by him. He gave me really wonderful feedback, and he suggested that maybe we can shift the direction to a different way, so then I tried that direction.”

Yamaoka continues, “So it was very much a communicative, very creative process and a communication process that we had that, after the impression that I received, I ran the idea by him sometimes by presenting the music to the scenes already. We just had many of our creative thoughts, so we exchanged our ideas a lot. So it was very much a collaborative process, and I really enjoyed it.”

Finally, there’s the question of what the future might hold for the Silent Hill movie series. To date, the films have mostly adapted material from the original three games. Assuming a fourth is greenlit at some point, what game would Yamaoka like to see adapted next?

“Of course, I'd really love to see other Silent Hills become filmed, but if I were to pick one, maybe I would say Silent Hill 4: The Room, because it's the unique Silent Hill in that it was a first-person game experience. And also, the setting is very different from the previous Silent Hills from Silent Hill 1 to 3, which has been transported to a different town, but Silent Hill 4 is different. So naturally, the nature of Silent Hill is different, but still the creative essence - the experience itself - stays the same. So I think it has a wonderful opportunity to become a film and provide the core elements and experience within Silent Hill. And I certainly hope that it'll be directed by Christophe Gans. He's just really wonderful, and I really hope that we have a chance to collaborate on that too, if we have the opportunity.”

Return to Silent Hill hits theaters on January 23. Check out IGN’s Return to Silent Hill review for more on the new film.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Ever since the Steam Deck came out, the humble handheld gaming PC has been going through a renaissance of sorts. Because while these fun-shaped PCs have been around for a while, being made by the likes of Ayaneo and GPD, they’ve now hit the mainstream. I’ve reviewed a lot of these new “mainstream” gaming handhelds, and while they’re all varying levels of good, they’re still not all the same – especially when it comes to opening them up and upgrading the storage.

Pretty much every handheld gaming PC will let you slot in a microSD card to expand your storage, but if you want to upgrade to a faster, more capacious SSD, you’re going to have to pop the handheld open and swap out the drive. I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone, especially if you get queasy at the prospect of tinkering with your electronics, but many of these handhelds make it pretty easy to upgrade.

So I did what any sane person would in this situation, I took all the handhelds in my lab and opened them up, so I could see how easy (or difficult) they would be to upgrade. And while all of these devices do let you swap out your storage, some of them make it quite a bit more difficult than it needs to be.

A Word of Warning

This isn’t meant to be a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade the storage on every handheld. That would make this article extremely long, and I’d urge you to look up teardown guides if you need any guidance on any of these specific handhelds. Just keep in mind that there’s no shame in not being comfy with tinkering with your devices.

If you’re going to do any of this yourself, there are a couple of ground rules of sorts you need to keep in mind. The first of which is to try and work in a static-free environment. If you live in a more arid area, it won’t hurt to wear an antistatic wrist band. I luckily live in New York, so this isn’t something I typically need to worry about, but I’d definitely urge you to lean on the side of caution.

You should also aim to disconnect the battery from the motherboard whenever you’re doing any kind of work on a handheld gaming PC – this also goes for any electronic, to be fair. You don’t want to risk shocking yourself because you did something wrong.

Finally, keep your space organized. There’s nothing worse than going to reassemble a device, only to forget which screw goes where. These handhelds are relatively simple when it comes to the different screws that you have to deal with, but they can absolutely get lost if you don’t keep track of them.

MSI Claw 8 AI+

I haven’t got a chance to actually sit down and review the MSI Claw 8 AI+ yet, despite it coming out more than six months ago. But I have spent a lot of time with it, and it is a great little device, even if the software is incredibly bad. However, there’s one thing it does better than any other handheld I’ve used: its serviceability.

All you need to do to get into the MSI Claw 8 is take out the screws on the back of the device, pry off the back and the SSD is immediately accessible. You don’t have to move any cables out of the way or take out any screws. Just unscrew the M.2 retention screw, pull out the drive and replace it.

Like a lot of handhelds, though, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ uses an M.2 2230 drive. These are tiny little drives that fit in smaller spaces. They’re potentially a little slower than their bigger 2280 counterparts, but not enough that it matters for most people.

Asus ROG Ally X and Xbox Ally X

I’m a huge fan of both the original Asus ROG Ally X and its successor, the Xbox Ally X. Despite their smaller screens, they’re just so comfy to actually use. But while these two consoles look pretty distinct from each other on the outside – largely owing to the Xbox Ally X’s weird controller protrusions – they have a lot in common.

For the Ally X, you just have to remove six screws along the back of the device, three of which are captive, which means they won’t come all the way out. Then, you just pry the back open to get inside. The Xbox Ally X is largely similar, with five screws on the back, and three more along the bottom of the device. Once those are removed you can remove the back of the handheld.

On both of these consoles, though, there is a tiny ribbon cable that runs from the motherboard to the back panel, presumably to power the rear paddle buttons. Be careful you don’t just yank the back of the console off, because it’s very possible you’ll rip one of these cables – I for sure almost did.

Once the back is removed, though, you’ll be able to see the full-sized 2280 SSD right in front of the battery. Just be careful here, the battery cable runs pretty tight above the SSD, and the actual battery connector on the motherboard is very fragile. You’re going to want to take care not to snap anything when you’re disconnecting it.

Luckily, once the battery is disconnected, it’s super easy to remove the M.2 retention screw, pull out the SSD and replace it. And, because it’s a 2280 drive, pretty much anything you find on Amazon will do the job.

Lenovo Legion Go

Handheld gaming PCs would probably still be niche if not for the Steam Deck, so credit where it’s due, but Valve’s handheld is one of the hardest ones to crack open and replace the drive. Valve even went out of its way to try and warn people that opening it would make the Steam Deck more fragile, in a teardown it did with The Verge. But I did it anyway.

Getting the Steam Deck itself open isn’t hard – just take out the screws around the exterior and remove the back panel. But once that’s out of the way, it’s not immediately clear where the SSD is. Turns out, it’s hiding underneath this silver metal bracket right next to the battery and fan. After removing it via three small screws, one of which is hidden underneath silver tape for some reason, I was able to remove this little shield.

Once that’s out of the way, the little 2230 drive is right there, and just like the original Legion Go, the drive is wrapped in mylar tape, but this time it seems like it’s to stop it from shorting against the metal plate that’s placed over it. I’m not entirely sure that’s necessary, but I’d keep it wrapped up around any new SSD you toss in your Steam Deck either way – it can’t hurt.

Lenovo Legion Go S

The Lenovo Legion Go S is probably my favorite handheld, particularly the one that comes with SteamOS installed. It just has such a beautiful design, and it feels so good in the hand. Unfortunately it’s a pain in the ass to actually open it up.

I stared at the Legion Go S for a good few minutes, noting that it only has three screws immediately visible on the chassis, and decided to look up a guide. Luckily, this teardown video from WinDeck Tech was extremely helpful.

After removing the three screws on the bottom of the device, I had to pry off the little strip of plastic that runs along the buttons on the top. Then, there are three more screws under that. But that’s not all, because after those screws are gone, you have to pry the left and right bumper out of their slot to access two more screws under those. Just keep in mind that those are captive screws, and won’t come out.

Once those last two screws are loosened, I started prying it apart, but just like WinDeck Tech explained in his video, the captive screws around the triggers did get stuck a couple times, so I had to gingerly work my way around them, until I eventually got the thing apart.

Luckily, once I worked my way into the system, the SSD is sitting right in the open, right beneath the CPU fan. You just have to remove the power cable, which is also very easy, and you’re good to replace the 2245 SSD the handheld comes with. Luckily, like the Legion Go 2, this handheld is compatible with a full-sized 2280 drive. So at least it has that going for it.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Developer Eldelic Games has just announced Inky Blinky Bob, an upcoming surreal horror-comedy action game in development for PC that has you battling on the ground an in the air in your hot air baloon against all sorts of oddities – most notably the giant floating octopus from which the game takes its name.

“With Inky Blinky Bob, we wanted to create something that feels like Monty Python crash-landed into a Lovecraftian fever dream,” said Eldelic Games CEO Miroslav Ilić. “It’s eerie, explosive, and deliberately absurd, blending unsettling imagery with moments of unexpected humour.” Check out the first trailer above.

While navigating this strange archipelago world, you'll take quests from weird NPCs, accumulate resources, and prepare as best you can to battle against Bob itself by upgrading your weapons and your hot air balloon.

Inky Blinky Bob will be available for PC via Steam on March 20. Wishlist it if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Starting today, Secretlab is offering three different Pokémon-themed Titan Evo gaming chairs. That's great news, at least for fans of Pikachu, Gengar, or Eevee, as those are the super-powered pocket monsters featured on each of the new chairs.

Titan Evo chairs are bolstered, racing-style gaming chairs with wings, tall headrests, and a fair amount of adjustability. Out of the box, they come with comfort features like four-way lumbar support and a cold-cure foam seat the company says is designed to provide uniform pressure for long sessions at your desk. Such comfort claims have held up, at least in IGN's past reviews, like of last year's Titan Evo Nanogen and a 2022 edition Titan Evo. Secretlab also offers a number of add-ons, like armrest upgrades and footrests, for its many chairs.

Like the many other licensed chairs Secretlab offers, these are not at all shy about the intellectual properties they represent. Each chair's colorway is heavily themed after its respective Pokémon and features velour detailing and line drawings of the li'l guys in various poses – as well as 8 Eevolutions of Eevee – on the front and back of the wings. The colors, except maybe on the Eevee one, are very much in your face, so you'll want to be sure you're down with that, considering the hundreds of dollars Secretlab charges for its chairs.

The new Pokémon Secretlab Titan Evo chairs are available in regular and XL sizes (but not small), with prices starting at $684. Orders will start shipping in March 2026.

As I removed the Roccat Burst Core from its box, one of its feet fell off.

Budget gaming mice can, and often will, break eventually – but not normally this quickly. I stuck the foot back on, pressed it into place for 30 seconds, and hoped for the best while expecting the worst from this $20/£15 mouse.

After a few weeks of heavy use, is it as bad as my first impression suggested?

Design and Shape

Foot fiasco aside the Roccat Burst Core has, I'm pleased to say, remained in one piece.

It's actually gone beyond that: it's impressively solid and feels more expensive than it is. The shell feels reassuringly sturdy in my hand and doesn't bend or creak when I squeeze it. I tugged, flicked and pushed at every crevice, and forced the main mouse buttons upwards – everything always returned to its rightful place. It's also worth saying that mice feet are to some extent designed to come off so that you can swap them (although, clearly, they should never fall off!).

But it can't completely hide its cheapness. If I tap the bottom of the mouse, or certain spots on its sides, I hear an echoey rattle, presumably from the scroll wheel. Compared to the best gaming mice, the left and right clicks require more force to depress, making them feel stiff – and when you do click them, they lack the crispness I'm used to.

The two side buttons feel mushy and hollow, the central DPI button is wobbly, and the stiff rubber cable is permanently kinked. No matter how much I twisted and adjusted it, it defaulted to an abrupt left turn out of the top of the mouse, resting on the mouse mat.

It also looks cheap: it's the gaping indents at the bottom of the main mouse buttons and the dark, chunky middle section, varnished in a faux brushed metal.

But I can't knock it too hard for any of these faults. Almost everything is imperfect, but it's all good enough, especially at this price. Those left and right clicks, while not luxurious, are the same low-latency optical switches used in the more expensive Roccat Burst Pro, and should last a long time – meanwhile, the scroll wheel is smoother and tighter than some I've used on mid-range mice, and it even has RGB lighting.

What really stands out is its weight and shape. At 68g it's far lighter than the best budget mouse, the Steelseries Rival 3 Gen 2, and it's particularly nimble for a sub-$50 mouse: it glides quickly around my mousepad with very little force, although the stock feet are a little scratchier than other mice I've tested.

I enjoy the simple, symmetrical shape. Its wider base won't suit very small hands, but everyone else should be fine. My hands are ever-so-slightly larger than average, and I enjoyed using it in fingertip and claw grips as well as palm grip, where the hump filled my hand. It's wide enough to give my index and pinky fingers somewhere to sit at all times, and I used it for long sessions of four hours and more without ever feeling uncomfortable. While it's not pleasant to click, it is pleasant to hold.

Performance and Gaming

The Roccat Burst Core's PixArt PMW3331 sensor is a downgrade from the Roccat Burst Pro and has a meagre maximum DPI of 8,500 DPI. But that number doesn't really mean much: what matters is how it feels while you're gaming. I tested it in Arc Raiders, Fortnite, Hades 2, Norco, and Dishonored 2 – I wanted to see how it dealt with both hectic firefights and casual pointing and clicking.

It performed admirably. I felt like it was tracking my movements precisely, with no noticeable hitching, delays, or overshooting. Cursor movement felt smooth and snappy, and my flick shots landed where I wanted them to. I enjoyed using it no matter what game I was playing and, whenever I died in Arc Raiders – often, sadly – it never felt like the mouse was the reason.

Its maximum polling rate of 1,000Hz – the number of times per second the mouse reports its position to your PC – is far lower than the 8,000Hz allowed by many high-end mice. But as you climb past 1,000Hz, you get diminishing returns in smoothness and responsiveness and unless you're used to high polling rates, this will be absolutely fine. Remember: some FPS pros still play at 1,000Hz.

Its low-latency left and right mouse clicks also never failed, and I could spam them consistently when I was firing semi-automatic weapons.

The 2.4mm lift-off distance – the height above a surface where the mouse stops registering movement – is relatively high and you can't adjust it in the Roccat Swarm software. If you're used to lower LODs then it'll take an adjustment but again, it's fine for most people. I play at low sensitivities so I'm constantly picking up my mouse at the edge of my mousepad and moving it back to the middle, and I had no problems.

The Roccat Burst Core confirms what we already know: the price of a mouse isn't proportionate to its performance. If you spend five times this amount you will, technically, get a more precise sensor that can track faster movements. But it won't feel five times as good. Paying $20 for something this solid makes a lot of sense if you're on a budget.

Software

Roccat's newest software, Swarm II, isn't compatible with the five-years-old Burst Core, and the original Swarm software is so old-school that you can't even download it from Roccat's website. Or not easily, anyway: Roccat's download page is broken so I went to a third-party site to nab it.

It looks amusingly retro, the text size is far too small, and its options are spread across too many tabs – but it handles the basics well. Adjusting sensitivity and polling rate is simple, as is changing the scroll wheel speed and double-click timing.

The scroll-wheel RGB is governed by an "intelligent lighting system" that I found unfathomable. A link that promises to explain the system is broken and when I tried to switch to one of the simpler options – a blinking light, a breathing one, a heartbeat – nothing happened. It's nice that RGB lighting is there for people who want it, but don't expect it to actually work properly.

Samuel is a freelance reporter and editor specializing in longform journalism and hardware reviews. You can read his work at his website.

The debut trailer for Masters of the Universe is now online, and it reveals a first look at Jared Leto as Skeletor as he battles He-Man.

The special effects-heavy trailer sets up the story, with Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam Glenn stuck in a HR job on Earth knowing he's destined for so much more. He eventually finds his sword and ends up on a sci-fi adventure alongside Camila Mendes as Teela and Idris Elba as Duncan / Man-At-Arms, with other friends fans of the franchise will find familiar.

Towards the end of the trailer we see Jared Leto as Skeletor, although we don’t hear him speak. Prince Adam finally becomes He-Man and goes toe-to-toe with Skeletor in a fight.

Here’s the story setup:

In Masters of the Universe, director Travis Knight brings the legendary franchise back to the big screen in this epic live-action adventure. After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto). To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

And here’s the official blurb:

Masters of the Universe is a new, live-action adventure movie based on the classic 80’s toy brand. The thrill-ride of a film delivers breathtaking visuals, heart-pounding action, and exhilarating fun. It has a universally appealing story focusing on heroic transformation, it is about finding the power within. The epic action and visual effects have to be seen on the big screen.

He-Man has existed across cartoons, toys, comics, and films, making it a shared reference point for multi-generational fans. This is a film that all generations of audiences can enjoy. This movie will deliver the nostalgia that fans remember.

Masters of the Universe is based on a well-known Mattel franchise with a long legacy heritage that has been captivating fans for over forty years. Following the astounding global success of Barbie, Masters of the Universe marks Mattel Studios’ next feature film in its growing slate of brand-led entertainment. Even moviegoers who didn’t grow up with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe will love the film for its action, spectacle, and epic visual effects.

The live-action Masters of the Universe movie, from Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios, hits theaters in the U.S. on June 5, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.