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Too busy to catch up with all the major goings on in the world of tech from the last week? Trusted Reviews’ Winners and Losers is here to help.

Ahead of E3 2021 and WWDC 2021, the tech world lies in wait for the news cycle to really kick things up a notch, but in the meantime we’ve had plenty of leaks to fawn over before any concrete information drops. Ranging from a potential release date for the Nintendo Switch Pro and a possible refresh for the long-dormant iPod Touch, there’s rumours aplenty.

Luckily, we did come across two pieces of concrete news for this week’s entries, both pulled from the gaming industry. Simply put, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of the Pokémon series, while any LittleBigPlanet players are feeling the brunt of an unprecedented server attack.

Winner: Pokémon fans

Being a Nintendo fan right now is a tricky business, as Breath of the Wild 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, it’s unlikely we’ll see another mainline Mario game this generation and Metroid Prime 4 is completely MIA. For Pokémon fans however, I’d argue that there’s never been a better time in the franchise’s esteemed history.

Earlier this week, the official Pokémon Twitter account dropped a bombshell on everyone, announcing that the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remakes would be coming out November 19, while the enticing Pokémon Legends Arceus will appear soon after on January 28.

By the time Pokémon Legends hits store shelves, players will have had the chance to enjoy no less than three Pokémon titles in the space of a year, when you count the recently released New Pokémon Snap.

Given that all three of these games feature wildly different forms of gameplay, it’s clear that Nintendo is keen on using the popularity of Pokémon – particularly stemming from Pokémon Go – as a means of attracting new players to the Nintendo Switch. For as long as this trend continues, Pokémon fans are unlikely to go for too long without a new game to tide them over.

Loser: The LittleBigPlanet community

The LittleBigPlanet series doesn’t have quite the same command of the zeitgeist that it once did – the last mainline game in the series came out in 2014 (unless you count the spin-off, Sackboy: A Big Adventure), but its impact on modern gaming should not be underestimated. As one of the first big PS3 exclusives, the original game made full use of the console’s network capabilities, showing what could be achieved by connecting players from around the world and offering them the tools to inspire their own creations.

That style of game design has been replicated in other titles like Minecraft, Dreams and Super Mario Maker, but LittleBigPlanet was the first to really do it properly, and do it well. Unfortunately for fans of the series and for the countless levels that have been made over the years, the servers that keep LittleBigPlanet afloat are in a state of absolute disarray.

First reported by IGN back in April, anyone wanting to access the online components of any major LittleBigPlanet title have been met with an error screen, and very little explanation from developer Media Molecule as to what’s behind the issue.

To make matters worse, the servers have now been taken offline completely as some players were targeted with hateful messages.

One can only hope that all of these problems are solved in due course, otherwise the gaming community stands to lose one of its most inspiring examples of creative collaboration. Could you imagine the tears that would roll if some of the most complex creations in Minecraft simply ceased to be? Hopefully, that day never comes.

The post Winners and Losers: Huge news for Pokémon fans, while LittleBigPlanet gets hacked appeared first on Trusted Reviews.