Technologies

Pokemon Legends: Z-A Gives Us First Look at Mega Dragonite, Wild Mega Evolutions

Trainer customization and detective work are also returning to Lumiose City.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A is bringing back mega evolutions, the battle gimmick that first appeared in the X and Y games, but is also bringing us new twists, including brand-new mega evolutions.

A recent Pokemon Presents video walked us through a few different features of the game, including the new and returning mechanics from the series’ last romp through Lumiose City. Mega evolution, which allows you to temporarily evolve certain Pokemon if they’re equipped with a corresponding stone, is coming back in Legends: Z-A, alongside trainer customization. But we’re also getting a few updates to the battle mechanic from Gen 6.

Here’s what we’ve learned about the game so far.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A release date

Legends: Z-A will be available Thursday, Oct. 16 on Switch and Switch 2.

Z-A adds new mega evolutions and rogue mega evolutions

Mega evolutions were a focal point of the X and Y story, and a big part of the competitive scene until Gen 7 came out. X and Y introduced 28 mega evolutions, with another 20 coming in the Gen 3 remakes, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Mega evolution allows you to give even fully evolved Pokemon a temporary stat boost, a new ability and sometimes even a type change.

Legends: Z-A is adding to the list of megas, prominently featuring the new Mega Dragonite in the trailer. No details yet on whether Mega Dragonite has a change in type or what its new ability is, but I would guess it has something to do with the eight different wings all over its body.

The other big change with mega evolution is the addition of rogue mega evolutions — wild Pokemon that are able to mega evolve on their own. It’s an interesting change from the Gen 6 games, where mega evolutions were only encountered in battles against gym leaders and similarly powerful trainers.

Legends: Z-A brings back Lumiose City’s fashion scene, detective work

In Pokemon X and Y, trainers could shop at various cities to customize their attire, from hats and hoodies to socks, shoes and skirts. You could also change your hairstyle by visiting salons. That kind of customization is back in Legends: Z-A, as the trailer showed its trainer in a variety of styles ranging from sporty to chic.

Part of X and Y’s postgame content was the Looker Detective Agency, where players could help a Lumiose City detective investigate some mysteries. Players will get to work with Emma, «the best detective in Lumiose,» and seemingly the grown-up version of a child who featured prominently in the Looker Bureau missions in X and Y.

Detective work in Legends Z-A appears to be a system for accepting quests from people around the city who need help with their problems, like trash Pokemon hanging out on restaurant tables outside.

Other Pokemon staples return, like a Pokemon researcher, Mable, who needs you to catch Pokemon to help with her research, and a shady criminal organization — in this case, Corbeau and his Rust Syndicate.

Overall, Legends Z-A seems to be leaning into the city life of Lumiose, which could be a fun flavor for the game. But more than anything else, I hope we’ll see more new mega evolutions and other expansions to returning mechanics.

Bonus: New Pokemon Champions info

Today’s Pokemon Presents also gave us some new details on Pokemon Champions, the upcoming battle-focused game that will be available on both Switch and mobile devices. The game seems to be pretty exclusively a battle simulator, and we’ve now learned that it allows you to pull in your teams from Pokemon Home or recruit new Pokemon either temporarily for free or permanently by using in-game currency.

You can also train your Pokemon within Champions, allowing you to adjust competitive-focused stats like individual values and effort values, which affect stat numbers, and natures, which boost one stat and lower another. The Pokemon games have made a lot of changes to make training easier and less time-consuming, and this appears to be another step in that direction, though I have several questions about the in-game currency and how players can earn it.

Pokemon Champions will be available sometime next year, with no precise release date set. I wonder if this will be an attempt to split the competitive scene from the mainline games, making it easier for people to collect and train Pokemon for competition and removing the pressure of robust competitive systems from the mainline games. We’ll find out whenever we get info about Gen 10.

Technologies

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Technologies

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Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal