Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse Getting Plastic Model Kit Reprint of Tarisa’s Shiranui Second

1 year 11 months ago

Japanese manufacturer Kotobukiya is continuing its quest to bring back the old but gold Muv-Luv plastic model kits.

This time around, the manufacturer announced the 1.5 version of Tarisa Manandal’s Type-04 Shiranui Second Phase 2.

It can currently be pre-ordered for 6,930 yen (which translates approximately to $55) and it will be released in September 2022.

If you’re not familiar with the 1.5 version plastic model kits, they’re higher-quality non-scale models with lots of options that tend to be a bit more expensive than the 1/144-scale models, but will definitely look better on your shelf.

This specific model appeared in the visual novel Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse (which is supposed to be released soon on Steam, albeit it’s a few months overdue now) and in the corresponding anime series.

As mentioned above, this is a reprint of a model kit that was released several years ago and has been out of print for a long time.

You can check out what it looks like below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Fire Emblem Warriors Was Brilliant Actually: A Defense Of Musou

1 year 11 months ago

Every time Nintendo puts out news about Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, I brace myself for a wave of anti-musou sentiment on Twitter. Just search “Fire Emblem” and “musou,” and you’ll see Twitter grousing about how Three Houses’ sequel would be so much better if it wasn’t a musou. As someone who loved Fire Emblem

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Sisi Jiang

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QuakeCon Will Be a Fully-Digital Event Once Again This Year

1 year 11 months ago

It’s just been announced that QuakeCon will still be an all-digital event in 2022. The reasoning behind this choice is that an event of this magnitude requires plenty of planning and decision-making that just isn’t currently possible with so much uncertainty in the air.

This is exactly the same fate that befell last year’s QuakeCon, as it was also a fully-digital event due to uncertainties in the face of COVID-19 and all of the health and safety concerns that could have caused issues for planners and attendees.

This year’s digital event will take place from Aug. 18-20, instead of being held in Dallas. There are hopes that the in-person event will return in 2023 with the usual contests, new games, hardware that attendees can try out, an in-person BYOC, custom PC creations, and other attractions.

Currently, the QuakeCon team is already working on virtual BROC events, charity opportunities, online meetups, giveaways, and more.

Those are all of the details we’ve been given so far, but it’s also been stated that more info regarding this year’s event will be coming in June. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop, so check back in with us as the QuakeCon 2022 date approaches.

Author
Ethan Anderson

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Trailer Offers Brief Delight

1 year 11 months ago

A new trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dropped today. Don’t get your hopes up for too much, as there doesn’t seem to be that much new imagery to absorb. Plus, the trailer sits at exactly 30 seconds, so you are only getting a brief look at the perils facing the MCU’s Sorcerer Supreme.

Marvel Studios gave the trailer the title of “Reckoning” and the trailer definitely gives you the sense that Doctor Steven Strange is in some big trouble for the recent multiverse issues ever since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

A presumed alternate reality Baron Mordo (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor once again) gives the title for this trailer, saying “Steven Strange, your reckoning is long overdue.” In the massive muddle of voices calling out to Doctor Stranger in the trailer, the Ancient One (played by Tilda Swinton) can clearly be heard among them.

You can see the trailer for yourself to pick through all the new hints (nothing as massive as Professor X) being given.

Author
Cameron Waldrop

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QuakeCon Will Be a Digital Event Again For 2022

1 year 11 months ago

QuakeCon 2022 will once again be a digital-only event when it returns from August 18 to 20.

The yearly celebration of id Software games like Quake and Doom (and often their Bethesda stablemates) will mark its third anniversary as an online event, but organisers said they're fully committed to returning in-person next year.

They added: "An event of this size required months of planning, and in this case, we had to make decisions when there was still too much uncertainty to commit to successfully executing an in-person QuakeCon."

Organisers said that, while they're disappointed to remain online for another year, the digital event will feature the full programming of an in-person version including online meet-ups, giveaways, charity opportunities, a virtual Bring Your Own Computer event, and more.

QuakeCon usually takes place in Dallas, Texas, and saw upwards of ten thousand people attend its last in-person event in 2019. It dates back to 1996 when around 100 people brought their PCs to a Best Western Hotel in Texas to play Quake and Doom with other fans.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Cook Serve Forever announced, arriving early 2023

1 year 11 months ago

Developer Vertigo Gaming Inc, known for its beloved Cook, Serve, Delicious series, has announced its newest game - Cook Serve Forever.

In this all-new adventure, players will take on the role of Nori Kaga, a food cart chef who has her sights set on making it into the big time, just like her role mode - the glamourous Chef Rhubarb. To achieve her goal, Nori moves to the "bustling solarpunk city" of Helianthus, and starts cooking up a storm.

The game itself will feature "hundreds of recipes" for players to whip up, as well as multiple other side quests, with gameplay "that stimulates the rhythm and tactility of cooking". You can check out the mouth-watering trailer for yourself below (also, look out for Nori's adorable cheeseburger slippers and cupcake bedding).

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Victoria Kennedy

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Prepare To Fix Spaceships With Friends in Fueled Up

1 year 11 months ago

Announced today from indie studio Fireline Games (Intensive Exposure) is a game called Fueled Up.

Fueled Up is described on Steam as:

A chaotic couch co-op spaceship recovery game for up to four players. You and your crewmates must fuel, fix and rescue damaged spaceships before the evil space octopus gets its tentacles on them!

Return the spaceships to safety while dealing with unexpected dangers like wormholes, asteroid showers, and space squids. Keep the engines fueled up, fix hull breaches, and extinguish fires or risk the ship blowing up! There are no boring days in the life of a spaceship recovery engineer!

Fans of the Overcooked games will certainly find the aesthetic of Fueled Up very familiar. This means while you are three friends might indeed fix a few spaceships you might easily end up completely destroying your mutual friendship. There’s no doubt going off the trailer that players are in for a hectic challenge. There will be online co-op as well as local, so you can easily destroy your relationships from a distance as well!

You can see the trailer for yourself here and below:

The only release date given is that you can expect Fueled Up sometime in 2022. As for platforms, Fueled Up will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Author
Cameron Waldrop

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Melty Blood: Type Lumina Shows More Gameplay of Free DLC Characters Powered Ciel & Mario Gallo Bestino

1 year 11 months ago

Today Type-Moon released more gameplay of the upcoming DLC characters that will be released for its 2D fighting game Melty Blood: Type Lumina.

We get to see Powered Ciel and Mario Gallo Bestino in action against Red Arcueid and Michael Roa Voldamjong respectively, and the result is basically the opposite compared to the previous videos from yesterday.

As we already know, characters are going to be released tomorrow, April 14 as part of a free DLC update announced last weekend.

You can check out the videos below.

Here’s how the developer describes Powered Ciel:

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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QuakeCon will be digital-only again this year

1 year 11 months ago

QuakeCon, the Bethesda-run games convention inspired by id Software's classic, will be a digital-only event again this year.

Previously held in-person in Dallas, Texas, the impact of the pandemic means this won't be possible, at least for this year.

The convention will take place digitally from 18th - 20th August.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Certain Affinity, Longtime Halo Franchise Contributing Studio, Entrusted With Evolving Halo Infinite In ‘New And Exciting Ways’

1 year 11 months ago

halo infinite movement

Platform: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: 343 Industries
Release:
Rating: Teen

Certain Affinity, a studio that's helped develop most mainline Halo games since the days of Halo 2, has revealed that it will now work even closer with 343 Industries and Xbox on Halo Infinite. 

Author
Wesley LeBlanc

Touken Ranbu Warriors Gets New English Trailer Focusing on the Boys of the Third Team

1 year 11 months ago

Today Koei Tecmo released a new trailer for the upcoming Musou game Touken Ranbu Warriors.

The trailer focuses on introducing the boys of the second team with English subtitles, also showing off their flashy moves.

You can check them all out below.

Here’s how Koei Tecmo officially describes Touken Ranbu Warriors. You can also watch another gameplay trailermore gameplaythe trailer focusing on the second team, and the trailer showing the third team.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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No Man's Sky Outlaws update lets you be spacepirates

1 year 11 months ago

Hello Games today launched yet another huge free No Man's Sky update, raising the skull 'n' crossbones with the Outlaws update. It focuses on three main things: being a pirate and doing naughty things; reworking and prettifying spaceship combat; and recruiting and training a squadron of NPC pilots to fly alongside you. But oh, there's so much more. Get a glimpse in the new trailer, below.

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Author
Alice O'Connor

Hello Games Says New Project Is So Ambitious It Would 'Seem Impossible' Even With a 1,000 Person Team

1 year 11 months ago

Hello Games' new project would feel impossible to create even with 1,000 people behind it, the developer has said.

Speaking to IGN, studio co-founder and managing director Sean Murray said that, while it's not a sequel to No Man's Sky, the new game is just as ambitious.

He said: "For a while now we've been working on something pretty ambitious in the background. It's a small team but we like it that way.

"Similar to No Man's Sky, it's the kind of project that even if we had a thousand people working on it, it'd still seem impossible."

The game was in "very early" development as of September last year but Murray reassured that, while No Man's Sky is still receiving regular updates and isn't finished by a long shot, the two games aren't impacting each other's development.

"No Man's Sky is not being held back by the next project but neither is the new thing being slowed by No Man's Sky," he said. "We're lucky enough to be able to allow folks to move freely to work on what excites them."

Nothing else is known about Hello Games' new project and this will likely be the case for a while, as Murray has previously said "we've learned our lesson" on talking about games too early after No Man's Sky open (and controversial) pre-release.

Outlaws, the latest No Man's Sky update, completely overhauled space combat and added a pirate underworld to the galaxy-spanning game.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Some of The Absolute Best PS4 Games Are Now $10 For a Limited Time

1 year 11 months ago

There are some absolutely incredible PS4 games on sale right now, with the vast majority dropping to just $10 in the latest spring sales. From God of War to The Last of Us Remastered, Until Dawn, Ratchet & Clank, The Nathan Drake Collection, and more. There are so many great games here, and they've all been discounted.

If you've been playing Elden Ring recently, and want to get even more of what developer FromSoftware has to offer, then should definitely check out Bloodborne as well. It's also down to just $10 at Best Buy, and I promise you won't be disappointed with your purchase.

Greatest Hits PS4 Games on Sale Right Now for $10

Sure, some of these games are available via the PS Plus Collection, and that means likely a part of PS Plus Extra and Premium from June. But, I still argue that nothing beats the feeling of owning your own physical copy that you can use whenever, and even lend to people as well. For $10, you're looking at some of the best games ever made, and that's a bargain.

There are plenty of other great sales going on at the moment, including a few Switch games that have also been discounted at Best Buy, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for just $39.99. Halo Infinite has also seen a massive drop in price, coming down to just $20 for a limited time. For more on the latest and greatest gaming offers, make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter.

Author
Robert Anderson

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PS Plus Was ‘Devastating’ for Oddworld: Soulstorm Sales Says Developer

1 year 11 months ago

Oddworld: Soulstorm being a free game on PlayStation Plus was "devastating" for sales according to its creator.

Lorne Lanning, founder of Oddworld Inhabitants, said the game was downloaded close to four million times through PS Plus, significantly more than the studio's expectations of 50 to 100,000.

Speaking on the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Lanning said there was nothing malicious about the deal on Sony's end but circumstances made it "a double-edged sword".

Soulstorm was free to download in April 2021, the same month it launched, and while Sony has never made clear how it comes to this agreement with developers, it's understood that a one-off payment is made.

Lanning explained that Oddworld Inhabitants and its partner developers were already struggling when they were approached by Sony. "We were hitting a number of legacy, technical, debt issues, and talent issues" he said.

The developer needed more money to finish the game and didn't expect launch sales on PlayStation 5 to earn more than what Sony offered, because in January, when the game was due to launch, there was still a severe shortage of consoles.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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No Man’s Sky Update “Outlaws” Brings New Ships, Improve Space Combat, Pilot Squadrons, & More

1 year 11 months ago

Hello Games is continuing its quest to turn its popular game No Man’s Sky into the ultimate sci-fi simulator, and a new update is coming today.

Numbered 3.85 and dubbed “Outlaws,” the new update comes with plenty of content and features as usual.

You can get a taste in the trailer below.

The Outlaws update includes a new type of ships with charming solar sails, stations and systems under outlaw control, improved space combat, smuggling, new combat effects, the ability to own up to 9 ships, in-atmosphere combat, bigger cargo holds, and much more.

Perhaps one of the most exciting features is the ability to recruit and upgrade your very own fighter squadron with pilots from all over the galaxy.

Other goodies like cloth simulation, a new expedition, energy shields, the ability to play as a pirate yourself, and planetary pirate raids top up the sizable amount of new content.

You can find the full patch notes here.

No Man’s Sky is currently available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version will release this Summer.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Vampire Survivors Patch Adds Major New Relic, Quality of Life Fixes, & More

1 year 11 months ago

Today, indie developer Poncle posted the official notes for the Vampire Survivors 0.5 patch, detailing the important tweaks and bugfixes it will enact, as well as some major gameplay features that are inbound. Included in those changes are a new weapon, a major new relic, and much more.

You can check out a note from the developer and a list of tweaks right down below:

Because of the way I’ve originally tested the game mechanics in Vampire Survivors, most of what we’ve seen so far has somewhat always been from the realm of the expected.

With Arcanas that’s going to change a little.

This new layer of game mechanics will be largely untested due to the large amount of interactions it could have, so there might be major changes to them as we move forward in patches.

Please keep this in mind when discussing Arcanas, there will inevitably be talks about what’s trash and what’s op, but my concern is about people fighting over this kind of stuff and forgetting the main point of the game: having fun.

So I hope you have fun finding new ways to break the game and reach 1fps again, and fingers crossed there won’t be need for nerfs, only buffs 🙂

It’s important to note that players will need to progress to the top of Stage 4 in order to unlock Arcanas as a game mechanic – and that is only the beginning to the fun. For more info, check out the official blog post here.

Vampire Survivors is available via early access on Steam, currently for the low price of $2.69.

Author
Andrew McMahon

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Nintendo, Sony to update subscription guidelines following UK investigation

1 year 11 months ago

Both Nintendo and Sony will change how they market their respective subscription offerings in response to an investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.

The UK regulator had been investigating all of the big three console manufaturers, though Microsoft opted in January to get ahead of its findings and role out changes to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass worldwide.

Now, Nintendo and Sony will also alter their services to offer better guidance for customers, as reported today by GamesIndustry.biz.

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Tom Phillips

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Evil Dead's Ash Williams comes to Resident Evil Village in unexpected but brilliant fan crossover

1 year 11 months ago

Have you ever wondered how Evil Dead’s Ash Williams would fair in the snow-covered world of Resident Evil Village? Well, wonder no more, as someone has brought these two pieces of media together as one, and I won’t lie, it is a match made in (a far from angelic) heaven.

Using footage from 1987’s Evil Dead 2 and 1992’s Army of Darkness, content creator eli_handle_b․wav has replaced Resident Evil Village protagonist Ethan Winters with Ash. The results are both horrifying and amusing all in one.

Instead of ripping himself free from Lady Dimitrescu’s clutches a la Ethan, this rendition of Village sees new hero Ash instead shimmying up to his towering captor and offering to open a bottle of champagne (I mean, someone was going to do it eventually, just look at her).

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Epic Games Invests in Brazilian Developer Aquiris

1 year 11 months ago

Fortnite creator Epic Games has invested in and signed a publishing agreement with Brazilian developer Aquiris.

The studio is best known for the Horizon Chase series and its Apple Arcade release Wonderbox, but Aquiris is also working on a new, currently unannounced game.

Epic Games will publish it alongside an undisclosed number of other future titles, with Aquiris saying the investment will shape the next 15 years of the studio.

CEO Mauricio Longoni said: "We are thrilled to partner with Epic Games. It's a strong endorsement of what Aquiris has built so far, and we can't wait to show the world what we are working on together.

"Epic's publishing power and close collaboration with us on tech, business intelligence, and product development will help us boost the quality and the reach of our titles."

Head of third-party publishing at Epic Games, Hector Sanchez will join the Aquiris board of directors as a result of the investment.

He said: "Aquiris not only have a keen eye for quality game experiences, but have demonstrated great artistic and technical capabilities with their utilization of Unreal Engine in their products.

"We’re honoured to have this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with one of the premiere studios in the growing and important Latin American development scene."

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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No Man's Sky: Outlaws Update Adds Space Pirates

1 year 11 months ago

Space pirates are coming to No Man's Sky today with the Outlaws update.

Developer Hello Games announced that, while the previous Sentinels update focused on ground combat, Outlaws will overhaul space combat and add other new features.

These are headlined by the introduction of a pirate underworld that lets players embody Han Solo in new rebellion and smuggling missions. Outlaws have taken over space stations across the galaxy and turned them into dangerous, lawless places where players can purchase illegal goods and smuggle them out for a considerable cash reward.

The update also adds the speedy Solar Starship, the first new ship type in more than two years, and for players worried about giving up a previous vessel to make room, the number of ships a player can own has increased from six to nine.

Players can also hire their own squadron of wingmen with the Squadrons feature and are encouraged to build their perfect fleet of ships and pilots (which all have different, upgradeable abilities).

Hello Games has promised more speed and excitement in space combat overall with improved handling and visual effects. Enemy starships now have shields while the player's weapon selection has been broadened with new secondary effects such as being able to slow enemy engines or disable shield systems.

Ship versus ship combat can also now occur within a planet's atmosphere and pirates can raid players' settlements. For those who struggle with space combat, Hello Games said accessibility has been "significantly improved" thanks to a new Auto-Follow mode.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Newly Discovered Metal Gear Solid 3 Glitch Let’s You Skip *That* Ladder Scene

1 year 11 months ago

The speedrunning video game scene never ceases to uncover all sorts of unusual glitches, and this latest one is particularly interesting: a recent discovery from Metal Gear Solid 3 speedrunner apel allows one to skip the iconic ladder scene. By equipping a few items and standing in a certain location, Snake ascends the ladder in seconds with his arms spread like an angel’s wings.

If you’re familiar with the ladder scene, you’ll appreciate the irony, because, at least for those who have already played the game, having the option to save yourself climbing what, at times, feels like a never-ending ladder is a real godsend.

In what has now become a signature of the cinematography that Hideo Kojima loves inserting into his games, the ladder scene appears right after Snake takes down a legendary sniper named The End and continues his way to the top of the Krasnogorje mountains. Initially, it presents itself as just another run-of-the-mill segway from one area to the next but then continues to go on and on and on until, as the Snake Eater theme begins to play, you realize the scene has been designed to convey a poignant moment of reflection for the gruff hero.

It’s pretty cool, actually, and certainly worth experiencing once, but for returning players it is otherwise a bit of a bore. For speedrunners, of course, the discovery is a huge boon, saving them minutes of precious time as they attempt to make faster and faster runs of the game. The most recent record, by the way, was 1 hour and 16 minutes, according to speedrun.com — but that was set over a year ago. New records are sure to start flooding in soon, then!

Here’s a video of the ladder glitch from apel’s YouTube channel:

Author
Alex Gibson

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Final Fantasy creator's love for EverQuest inspired series move into MMORPGs

1 year 11 months ago

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final Fantasy, is a huge fan of MMORPGs.

In fact, according to a new interview with IGN, it was his love of EverQuest that led to the development of Final Fantasy 11 - the series' first foray into online gaming.

"My first [MMORPG] was EverQuest. I got absolutely addicted to it and forced a dozen or so SquareSoft staff members at the time to play as well, telling them it was required knowledge. Incredibly, most of them got hooked too, which led to [Final Fantasy 11]," he said.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Elden Ring PSA: Summoning Latenna the Albinauric Near a Dire Wolf Can Have Amazing Results

1 year 11 months ago

With the dust finally beginning to settle following its launch a couple of months ago, Elden Ring still manages to consistently surprise us with all the mind-blowing secrets that FromSoftware smuggled into its epic fantasy action-RPG. From invisible walls that take 50 hits to open up to creepy gatekeepers who secretly steal your souls when you’re not looking, the world of the Lands Between is brimming with super cool discoveries.

And today we bring you a new one that we’ve only just uncovered (H/T, Rasukuclaver and Reddit). Specifically, if you summon Latenna the Albinauric when you’re in close proximity to a dire wolf, she’ll actually mount the dire wolf and begin laying waste to your enemies with a new Freezing Mist attack. Pretty nuts, right?

Go ahead and check out a taster of the recently discovered footage down below:

Author
Dylan Chaundy

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Oddworld: Soulstorm PlayStation Plus deal "devastating" for developer

1 year 11 months ago

While many see the inclusion of their game on Sony's PlayStation Plus service as a real boon, others feel less so. In fact, Oddworld Inhabitants' Lorne Lanning has revealed that getting Oddworld: Soulstorm on PS Plus was "devastating" for the team.

Chatting to Xbox Expansion Pass, Lanning said his team initially thought they would sell roughly 50k units of Oddworld: Soulstorm, and certainly no more than 100k. The studio was also looking for some financial help to keep the game alive, and as such, when Sony approached the team offering an undisclosed amount of money to put its game on PS Plus for its release month, Lanning took the deal.

However, the game's release was delayedby three months due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. And with the game's later release, Lanning said, more people than previously estimated now had access to a PlayStation 5.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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New Blue Lock PV Introduces Us to Speedster Hyoma Chigiri

1 year 11 months ago

We still don’t have a set release date for the upcoming Blue Lock anime adaptation past a 2022 release window, but Bandai Namco certainly hasn’t let up with all the new trailers and PVs. We’ve just gotten a new PV for the show, this time showing off another character.

You can check out the trailer down below:

This PV introduces us to Hyoma Chigiri, the long-haired soccer player known for his speed on the field. He’s one of the main characters we’ll meet on Team Z, and he plays alongside the other main faces like Yoichi Isagi and Meguru Bachira. Though he’s supposed to be one of the fastest players, the story starts off with him seemingly holding back on the field and not performing to his fullest potential.

The Blue Lock anime adaptation is set to start airing this year, and we’ll keep you updated as more info comes our way.

Author
Zhiqing Wan

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Lego Star Wars scalpers target Blue Milk Luke minifigure

1 year 11 months ago

Scalpers are reportedly targeting stock of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - and specifically its Deluxe Edition physical pack which includes an exclusive Lego minifigure.

The minifigure in question is Luke Skywalker, albeit with a unique look - he's chugging down on a carton of his favourite blue milk, and has a frothy-looking milk moustache.

Unfortunately, this cute toy has caught the attention of scalpers looking to resell the figure for plenty of credits on its own. You can't get this version of the minifigure anywhere else - and this is driving up its price on eBay (thanks, Nintendo Life).

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Cook Serve Delicious follow-up Cook Serve Forever announced

1 year 11 months ago

The makers of the Cook Serve Delicious game have announced a new frenetic culinary adventure, named Cook Serve Forever. Once again, it'll have us mashing keys to prepare meals for customers, fingers blurring like a piano virtuoso as we chuck in ingredients and whizz through cooking processes. Come watch the announcement trailer for a peek at its pleasing "solarpunk" setting.

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Author
Alice O'Connor

Save £200 on this premium MSI Creator Z16 gaming laptop

1 year 11 months ago

MSI are one of the best laptop makers around, especially when it comes to their gaming range, balancing value and specs better than some other manufacturers.

The MSI Creator Z16 is an incredibly powerful laptop, with an RTX 3060 and 16GB of memory, available for just £1199 at Amazon right now. That's a £200 saving off the usual RRP.

The laptop has a generous 16 inch QHD+ display. With a 2560x1600 resolution, this gives it a 16:10 aspect ratio, perfect for productivity thanks to greater vertical space. But it's no slouch, with a 120Hz refresh rate and great colour accuracy, so it's ideal for creative work such as photo and video editing.

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Author
Emad Ahmed

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The universal appeal of Chicory: A Colorful Tale and its nuanced take on mental health

1 year 11 months ago

"Could I learn to be a better me? I guess I'll have to try." So sings a magical paintbrush-wielding dog atop a mountain in a colouring book world as they come to terms with what it means to be a hero.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a cute cartoon game on the surface about a (literal) underdog on a heroic quest. But beneath that, the game explores darker, adult themes that touch on perfectionism, imposter syndrome and issues of mental health.

That song, a duet between the player character and the titular Chicory, strikes at the heart of the game, its folky melody and simple lyrics belying a serious message.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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The best microSD cards for the Steam Deck

1 year 11 months ago

Even with PC hardware orthodoxy supporting SSD replacement, I’m convinced that getting one of the best microSD cards for the Steam Deck is the wiser method of expanding its storage. It’s technically possible to swap in a bigger SSD, sure, but compatible M.2 2230 drives are much harder to find than the standard 2280 drives on our best gaming SSDs list – and based on my testing, a good microSD card can be just about as fast as the Deck’s preinstalled SSD.

That’s on top of microSD cards being cheaper, easier to install, easier to remove, and available with much more choice than Steam Deck-compatible SSDs. That’s not to say that any old card will work – Valve’s handheld PC specifically supports UHS-1 microSD cards – but I’ve found and tested a few that will do the job, and do it well.

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Author
James Archer