Hello, Shacknews. I’ve managed to keep my feet on the ground this week and now I’m here with a full round of news, memes, and entertainment. This is the Friday edition of Evening Reading.
In case you missed it at Shacknews:
Your weekly reminder to check out Shackmaps, our growing collection of video game maps to help enhance your gameplay experience!
And, because it’s the weekend, go find yourself something to play!
Around the Gaming Horn
Here’s some rapid-fire news to wrap up your week.
As part of today’s Pokemon Day reveals, the GameCube’s Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is coming to Nintendo Switch Online!
Plus, Kanto’s legendary birds are coming to Pokemon Unite!
We just released patch 1.5 fixing some soft blockers and network issues. It’s out on all platforms except Switch 2 (will come in a couple of days, during these days cross-play with Switch 2 will not work). Read more here: https://t.co/UbKgf92DUL
— Tarsier Studios (@TarsierStudios) February 27, 2026
Reanimal has a fresh update.
Get a peek at what’s coming to Rocket League. We’ll learn more next week.
And a new expansion is coming to Where Winds Meet.
And now… Other Stuff From The Internet!!!
Today in Bubbletron
Be sure to play Bubbletron today!
Pokemon Day celebration!
ポムケン散歩おじさん pic.twitter.com/qD1M8zj2HG
— ラムフォード (@Rumford_S) February 27, 2026
Unleash the dogs of war!
Head empty. No thoughts. Treat? Treat? Treat? Treat? pic.twitter.com/agNoFcSNNM
— Tom Fawkes 🔥🔮 (@TomFawkes) February 27, 2026
Floof!
Flightless Bird? Nah this mfer fly as hell pic.twitter.com/dUAUw5hJJB
— Marci Kat (@MarciKatUWU) February 27, 2026
Skatebird!
They bounce! 🧡💚💙#Pokemon #PokemonDay pic.twitter.com/mymw4cp37b
— 🥖kekeflipnote🥖 (@Kekeflipnote) February 27, 2026
Bouncy!
pombon can’t spell pic.twitter.com/8f5InitTUu
— pey 🍉🌸 (@pmackism) February 27, 2026
I’ve owned my dog long enough to know that this only works for so long.
Nothing but the Hotfix
Blindfolded runs have been done enough that they got a whole weekend to themselves!
GDQ’s Hotfix shows air every week and you can catch them all at the Games Done Quick Twitch account.
This week in Shaqnews
Time to Shaqt a fool again.
IT’S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!
Swerve Strickland is the best at what he does. It’s still his house.
Tonight in video game music
To wrap up this Pokemon Day celebration, here’s Pokemon Colosseum/Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness composer Tsukasa Tawada, returning to his classic Miror B battle theme from Pokemon Colosseum.
That’s it for the last Friday Evening Reading for February! Be sure to keep the spirit of the classic Evening Reading alive by jumping into the comments about whatever you see here or whatever randomness you’d like to discuss. Join the conversation and dive into the Shacknews Chatty comment thread below. If you want to go new school and find different ways to leave your feedback or talk about whatever, join us in the Official Shacknews Community Discord.
Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.
Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can’t enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?
