Part one of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet expansion is here, Charles Martinet has a new job, the Crew Motorfest invades Oahu, RazerCon celebrates gamer culture.

Finding the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

If you raced through Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, released last fall, you’ve got a reason to go back to it, because a new expansion, the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, will bring more than 200 additional Pokemon to the games.

The first part of the expansion, the Teal Mask, was released last week, and delivers half of those pocket monsters. This takes you to a new region, Kitakami, on an exchange trip, and the new region is expansive.

The story is set during a small-town festival and as you explore, you’ll uncover the real story behind the village’s culture.

Part two of the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, the Indigo Disk, has been scheduled to release before the end of the year.

Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are available now for the Nintendo Switch.

What’s really happening to Charles Martinet, who has been the voice of Mario and friends for decades

He’s taking on the role of Mario ambassador, of course.

Here’s a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet regarding the change of Mario’s voice actor, announced on 8/21. pic.twitter.com/4mOpD2Cx3a

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 7, 2023

The Crew Motorfest an opportunity to drive free, any way you want

With Ubisoft’s first game in what would become the Crew driving game franchise, we were given an open, scaled down version of the United States, and given a story to play while we explored the map. The idea was to provide a reason to drive any type of car in a range of environments.

We’re now on the third game in the franchise and the narrative has been fully jettisoned in favour of a sandbox where you can just drive free.

Set on a version of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, The Crew: Motorfest has grouped the driving into three buckets. There’s the free driving experience where you come across time trials and objectives that you can opt into, there’s a bunch of competitive events that put you into races against other players, and there are playlists, which are a series of activities tied to a theme.

One of the early playlists available is “911 Legacy: A Porsche Story”. In this, you get behind the wheel of a particular vehicle to compete in a race, during which you get a bit of history of the Porsche brand.

Complete the playlist activities and you unlock challenges that will test your virtual driving abilities.

In addition to the wide open world to explore, you can build your own garage of vehicles, including things like buggies and motorcycles, muscle cars, off-road vehicles, and high-performance racing cars.

How you play, and what you drive, is entirely up to you.

The Crew: Motorfest is available now for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Rated teen.

RazerCon airs tomorrow and promises product announcements and giveaways

Razer is a gaming devices company that seems niche because of its unique customer base, but because of the quality and scope of its product line is anything but boutique.

The fourth RazerCon broadcasts live on Thursday, September 21, on its Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube channels.

After a keynote from co-founder and chief executive, Min-Liang Tan, Razer will be announcing new products and showing how its line of Razer Chroma RGB lighting products can be used to customize a gaming system.

Everything kicks off at 10 a.m. PT.