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

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 25 #662

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 25, No. 662.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a holiday theme, and if you know a certain Christmas carol, you’ll quickly determine which words to hunt down. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Carolers count.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Five golden rings.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

RIMS, HIMS, MARS, CHIME, CHIMES, MADS, DATE, DIAL, WAIL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

LORDS, MAIDS, SWANS, LADIES, PIPERS, DRUMMERS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is CHRISTMASDAYS. To find it, look for the C that’s three letters down on the far-left row, and wind across.

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Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Technologies

Judge Blocks Texas App Store Age-Check Law

A preliminary injunction found the Texas law, set to begin Jan. 1, is «more likely than not unconstitutional.»

A new Texas state law set to take effect on Jan. 1 would have required app stores to implement age verification processes. But the law has been put on hold, at least temporarily, by a federal court judge.

As reported by the Texas Tribune, Senate Bill 2420, also known as the Texas App Store Accountability Act, is the subject of a temporary injunction issued by US District Judge Robert Pitman.

Pitman said in his decision that the law as written is broad, vague and «more likely than not unconstitutional.» However, he also wrote the court «recognizes the importance of ongoing efforts to better safeguard children when they are on their devices.»

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The Texas law, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in May, requires app store operators — including Apple, Google, Nintendo, Steam and more — to build age verification processes for the storefronts and to only allow downloads to minors who obtain parental consent. The injunction is a ruling in an October lawsuit filed by the Computer & Communication Industry Association.

CCIA senior vice president Stephanie Joyce said in a statement, «This Order stops the Texas App Store Accountability Act from taking effect in order to preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents, and younger internet users. It also protects parents’ inviolate right to use their own judgment in safeguarding their children online using the myriad tools our members provide.»

Other individuals and the advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas also filed suits over the law, the Texas Tribune reported.

App Store Accountability Act

The bill author, State Senator Angela Paxton, said the bill was meant to give parents «common sense tools to protect their kids and to survive court challenges by those who may have lesser priorities.»

The language of Texas Senate Bill 2420 does not only include mobile app stores from Apple or Google, but any «website, software application, or other electronic service that distributes software applications from the owner or developer of a software application to the user of a mobile device.»

By that definition, websites with links to browser games or mobile game consoles with download options would fall under the Texas law as written. The law also defines mobile devices as including phones and tablets, as well as any other handheld device capable of transmitting or storing information wirelessly.

The parental consent aspect of the law requires those under 18 to have an app store account affiliated with a parent or guardian to purchase or download applications.

Age verification elsewhere

In an effort to keep adult materials out of reach of minors and to protect children from potentially harmful content and interactions, tech companies have been compelled by law or through legal action to verify the age of users.

Roblox, which has a huge audience of minors, began rolling out stricter age verification after investigations and lawsuits hurt its reputation as a safe gaming space. Australia is perhaps the most large-scale example of a government restricting access to online content. In December, Australia began restricting social media access to those 16 and older. Reddit recently challenged that law.

In the US, age verification laws have primarily targeted adult sites. Texas already has a law on the books that requires adult sites to age-block their content. The Supreme Court upheld that law in a June ruling. The UK has also enacted age restriction rules for adult sites as have other US states.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Dec. 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 25.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Of course, there’s a very Christmassy clue involved. And once you solve the entire puzzle, look at the letters used in all the answers and see what they have in common. (5-Across will tell you!) Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.