These new Pokémon pinball machines look incredible, but their prices will shock you harder than Pikachu

The merch for Pokémon’s 30th anniversary continues to pile up, and this latest one revealed today is its coolest yet… but also potentially the priciest.

Three models of Pokémon pinball machines from Stern Pinball were unveiled today, and they’re simply amazing-looking. Pinball machines feel like a lost art form in the digital age, and the craftsmanship involved in these machines is something to behold. But man, I had no idea what I was in for when looking at the MSRP.

Pokémon by Stern Pinball comes in three forms with a selection of Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition variants. But as soon as I got interested, I saw the prices of these machines, fell on the floor, got back up, and began wondering where I had gone wrong in life.

These gorgeous pieces of physical gaming memorabilia are priced at $6,999, $9,799, and a thunder-shocking $12,999, respectively. Yeah, that’s 13 THOUSAND American dollars for the special Pikachu and Eevee-emblazoned machine on the right. This is apparently pretty comparable pricing for pinball machines, which is news to me, but wow.

My assumption is that machines like these are targeted to be sold for the ever-endangered species of physical arcades, or maybe even sports bars. But still, $13,000 is a surprising number to see. I could be wrong, but I don’t imagine many millennial gamers with that kind of change lying around, let alone younger gamers who may still be enthralled by the series.

These pinball machines join the pricy Pokémon LEGO sets revealed earlier this year, and I’m sure many more merchandising opportunities are yet to come for the series’ 30th birthday. It will culminate in two weeks on Feb. 27, when Pokémon Day arrives, and The Pokémon Company reveals all that’s coming for the festivities.

For now, I think I just need to start saving up a bit if I’m to be purchasing just about anything else to come for the milestone year. These pinball machines? Yeah, I’m priced out, but I’m hoping for some other, more affordable cool stuff eventually. Instant ramen aisle, here I come.

The post These new Pokémon pinball machines look incredible, but their prices will shock you harder than Pikachu appeared first on Destructoid.

High on Life 2 is now out on PC and consoles, and the general performance on the former platform is below par at best.

There have been instances of several players encountering occasional lags and stutters early on their adventures. The main culprit, once again, appears to be Unreal Engine 5. Thankfully, there are a few tweaks you can make on your own to smooth the performance.

Best High on Life 2 graphics settings

Before I deep dive into my current settings, here are the specifications of my PC.

• AMD Ryzen 5600G
• 16 GB of DDR5 RAM
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12 GB

Here’s the set of settings I have been using to get the best possible gameplay.

• Window Mode: Windowed Fullscreen (depends completely on your personal preferences)
• Resolution: 1920×1080 (depends on your setup)
• Framerate Limit: 60
• V Sync: Disabled
• Graphics Quality: Medium
• Upscaling: NVIDIA DLSS (FSR for AMD devices)
• Upscaling Method: Balanced
• Frame Generation Technologies: Off
• Latency Reduction Technologies: Off
• Motion Blur: Disabled
• Chromatic Aberration: Disabled
• FOV: 90
• View Distance Quality: Medium
• Global Illumination Quality: Medium
• Anti-Aliasing Quality: Medium
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Post Process Quality: Medium
• Texture Quality: Medium
• Effects Quality: Medium
• Foliage Quality: Reduce it to Low if you’re struggling with performance

Here are some key pointers to remember. I have tried with unlimited FPS and 120 FPS. Both seem to cause trouble in the form of stutter. It could be my system, but I believe 60 FPS is a good limit if you have a weak hardware setup. While High on Life 2 is a shooter, it’s not a competitive one. 60 FPS will be more than enough if you manage to keep the stutters away.

V Sync comes disabled by default, and it’s best to keep it that way. The extra feature doesn’t offer much, but consumes a lot more resources.

The post Best High on Life 2 graphics settings for no lag and max FPS appeared first on Destructoid.