“Let’s make it satanic.”

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Check out one of the newest Megahouse figures announced at the MegaHobby Expo 2020.

The post Get a Closer Look at Megahouse Figures of Dark Souls’ Knight & Chaos Witch Quelaag appeared first on Siliconera.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare continues to break sales records. Activision Blizzard has announced that the game's first-year sales are the highest in Call of Duty's history. However, the company did not provide an exact sales number.

That is a notable achievement given that the figure only covers up to September 30, so the game--which released in October 2019--didn't even need a full year to break the single-year sales record for the franchise. It's not immediately clear which title was previously the record-setter for first-year sales.

Activision also announced that two-thirds of Modern Warfare's lifetime sales were digital. That's good for Activision, as the company makes more money from digital game sales than boxed copies.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time brought back the popular bandicoot with a brand new game, and Good Smile Company is ready to celebrate.

Of course, this celebration entails a brand new and adorable Nendoroid action figure portraying Crash himself.

You can find it available for pre-order at Good Smile’s own American shop or Ami Ami priced at respectively $76.99 and 6,720 yen (which translates into approximately $64).

The actual release date is quite far away, in June 2021 in Japan and July in the west.

Below you can find a gallery and an official description.

Monster Hunter Rise is coming to Switch on March 26, and fans of the series are wondering how it will differ from past entries--including the huge Monster Hunter World. Now, in a new video, developer Capcom has shown off an example of combat using the game's Great Sword--and how some of this entry's new mechanics will work.

This video details your palamute companions, rideable dogs who will fight alongside you. While riding your palamute, you can sharpen weapons, boost stamina, or use potions, meaning that you can move towards your target while also preparing for battle. The video also shows off more of your Wirebug, which is used to gain height and traverse through the environment--but which can also be used in combat.

The video below shows the first two stages of a battle between a hunter and Aknosom, a bird/wyvern hybrid. The fight shows how the Palamute dogs will jump into the battle and fight alongside you, and how the Wirebug can be used in combat to attack from above and escape danger.

Activision Blizzard has reported new financial numbers for the July-September period, and it was a gigantic quarter for the gaming publisher. One section of the company's business that did particularly well was microtransactions. For the three-month period, Activision Blizzard made $1.2 billion from microtransactions, which are called "in-game net bookings."

This is a dramatic 69 percent improvement over the same period last year, when Activision Blizzard made $709 million from in-game net bookings.

Microtransactions are very big business for Activision Blizzard. For the latest reporting period, Activision Blizzard made $1.95 billion in revenue from all of its business combined, so the $1.2 billion figure from microtransactions represents more than half of the company's total revenue.

1) It’s Official!

2) More Lore, Blimey!

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of Jet Set Radio’s release on the Sega Dreamcast in the United States. This may interest you, make you feel incredibly old or, in some cases, both.

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Here’s cosplayer Knightmage with a very good Ghostbusters outfit he made for Halloween.

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Square Enix released a new gameplay trailer and many videos of its upcoming mobile game RANBU: Sangokushi Rumble.

It’s a good chance to see what the game looks like ahead of the Japanese release on November 16 for iOS and Android. A western release has not been announced for now.

You can check it out below, alongside a few videos introducing the main characters at the bottom of the post.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Square Enix has been running a game titled Sangokushi Rumble for several years. This new game has been developed by the same team and it’s finally coming out after a long delay (it was originally announced for 2019)

The original Sangokushi Rumble has been fairly successful, with over 3,500,000 downloads in Japan. As you may gather from the title, it’s set in the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” mythology.

Schrödinger's Vita is both alive and dead. Whichever the case may be, its community loves it.

The post Quantum Suicide Visual Novel Developer Will Attempt to Port to Vita appeared first on Siliconera.

Javelin Gameplay and Builds

Anthem's Updated Skill Trees and Artifacts

Uzaki can definitely be an abrasive character, but there's something about how Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out grows and its cast develops that makes it likable.

The post Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Gets Better as It Goes on appeared first on Siliconera.

If you’ve been itching to slide around corners in fast cars, then this is a good week for you, as Dirt 5 drops on November 6 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

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Blizzard Entertainment released three new trailers of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Shadowlands.

The trailer focus on three areas included in the expansion, Bastion, Maldraxxus, and Ardenweald.

We get to see the colorful and diverse style in which these areas are depicted and their inhabitants.

You can watch them below.

Azur Lane publisher Yostar released quite a few new videos of its popular shipgirl-focused mobile game Azur Lane.

First of all we get an anime-style trailer showing a concert with some of the new idol shipgirls led by Illustrious.

Then we get a TV commercial and more videos that are basically just music videos focusing on the Taihou & Roon duo and Le Malin.

These videos celebrate the latest major in-game event, “Universe in Unison.”

You can check them all out below.

Sharkmob has revealed a new type of Vampire: The Masquerade game - and it's going to be a battle royale.

In a new update on the developer's website outlining its upcoming projects, the studio teased two additional "highly ambitious, AAA quality projects" as well as the new battle royale, which it says will be "a thrilling take on a cult classic IP".

"Experience the next thrilling evolution of Battle Royale multiplayer action games set in the cult classic Vampire: The Masquerade universe where vampire sects are at war across the streets and rooftops of Prague," a game description says (thanks, PCGN). "Choose your playstyle, go solo or together, battling rivals and the hostile Entity who's hellbent on exterminating all vampires. Use your supernatural powers, weapons and blood to become stronger in order to hunt, fight and survive the night."

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Yes, I know that Halloween was yesterday, but 2020 has been such a shitty year I feel like I’m allowed to extend Halloween into November.

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If you were hoping to customize your new PS5 with a fancy faceplate, you may have to wait for an official Sony solution. A company offering replacement PS5 plates in a variety of colors has canceled orders after being threatened with a lawsuit.

Speaking to VGC, a representative from Customize My Plates--which had been known as PlateStation5 until a few days ago--confirmed that it was canceling all plate orders. It cited Sony's legal threats as the reason behind both its name change, which Sony said infringed on its own trademarks, as well as the cancellations.

"… Sony's lawyers told us it was their opinion [that] Sony's intellectual property extended to the faceplates, and that if we continued to sell and distribute them in any country, we would end up in court," the representative said.

Modus has dropped a new teaser for its next-gen psychological horror game, In Sound Mind.

Halloween may be over for another year, but don't let that stop you getting in on bonus spooky stuff - the new trailer also coincides with the release of a playable demo on Steam.

"Discover where the monsters truly reside," the video description teases, before inviting players to jump in with a link to the Steam demo (thanks, GamesRadar+).

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Horses and Star Wars and also Mickey’s birthday?

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Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we grab a crowbar and go hunting headcrabs in the PC shooter classic, Half-Life.

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A company selling custom PS5 faceplates has been forced to cancel pre-orders and remove its products following legal action from Sony.

As reported by our friends at VGC, "PlateStation5.com" had already been required to rebrand following a complaint from Sony that accused the company name's of infringing its trademark.

Now, however, the complaint has gone further, with Sony's lawyers telling the firm that Sony's intellectual property "extended to the faceplates", and that if the company continued to sell and distribute them in any country, it "would end up in court".

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The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny really works to get people invested, and part of that means all sorts of unlocking.

The post The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny Uses Unlocks to Constantly Grow appeared first on Siliconera.

After farming Fatalis, crafting everything I wanted from him, and strolling around SOS signals as a god, I think it’s safe to say I’ve had a hell of a time hunting in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Now that all that’s left is to farm up layered armor, I can look back on this crazy game’s life and reminisce on my favorite moments from it. Because even though Fatalis was one hell of a final hunt, there are many other moments and hunts that are unforgettable for franchise veterans like me and those new players who managed to love the brilliance of World enough to want to dive into its expansion pack.

UPDATE: While our initial focus was on the current-gen console versions of Watch Dogs: Legion, we've also spent time looking at the PC version too with Digital Foundry's PC specialist Alex Battaglia taking a good hard look at a hugely demanding game - a title that challenges mid-range rigs even without ray tracing enabled.

In this extended video, you'll get to see how the ray tracing features work, how they scale and how much of an impact they have on overall performance. You'll also get to see how much of an accelerant Nvidia's excellent DLSS implementation is for this title, plus we take a look at the settings available, how the key presets scale, and come up with our optimised settings for the best bang for the buck experience. It'll certainly be interesting to see how the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 versions compare to what's on offer here, and how performant they are by comparison.

Original story: Have we reached that time in the console generation where the machines start to show their limits - when developers are eagerly looking forward to the next generation? Back in 2013, prior to the release of Xbox One and PlayStation 4, titles emerged that clearly pushed too far, often resulting in poor performance. There's a decent argument that this is the case for Watch Dogs - at least on the standard vanilla Xbox One S. It's a technologically ambitious game that clearly has some performance issues, even with the arrival of a new patch. So, to what extent does the PlayStation 4 improve matters and can the enhanced machines clear up the issues? Or is this game so ambitious, we should wait to play it on PS5 and Xbox Series X?

Dolly hold us in your arms

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Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon.

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ArenaNet has confirmed its MMO Guild Wars 2's release on Steam has been indefinitely delayed.

ArenaNet first revealed Guild Wars 2 would be making its way to Steam back in August. Originally scheduled for release in November, the plan was to release alongside its Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire expansions.

Now, however, the Steam release has been "put on hold for the time being", with no revised release window detailed.

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Madden NFL 21 | $40 | Amazon

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An Oral-B Guide smart toothbrush and a sale on Anker charging accessories lead Sunday’s best deals.

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Cblogs Recap: Week 44

-Dinoracha shares his "negative" thoughts on Paradise Killer.

-Kerrik52 reviews Amnesia: The Dark Descent as part of his Traveler in Playtime blogging series.

-Humantofu wonders where the Epic Games Store will go from now.

-Christopher Harper shares some tips on playing DOOM Eternal.

-TheBlondeBass continues his discussion on heartfelt games with this blog covering Undertale.

-JohnnyVector is looking for the most obscure Sonic the Hedgehog games.

-Lord Spencer reviews Breath of Fire III as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between David Wise's Wizards & Warriors soundtracks and other music.

-Dango is thinking of self-publishing a novel soon, and he will be looking for community's support and feedback.

-Osc continues reporting on the progress of his hobbyist gaming development project.

Ring in November with some new creatures

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Scream-shot Saturday Sundays? Not on your unlife, pal, it’s November. Halloween’s over. I have no contractual obligation to be “spooky” today, so let’s fearlessly dive back into the well of Twitter’s favourite gamedev hashtag. This week: A frog chorus, a living painting, an ominous orb, and a begrudging admission that yes, it’s the scary weekend, fine.

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CD Projekt Red has seen its share price tumble since reports of mandatory six-day workweeks and another Cyberpunk 2077 delay came to light.

Though it was valued at £5.2bn ($6.8 billion) in January 2020, this had raised to £6.1bn ($8 billion) in February following the release of the acclaimed The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch - sending its sales rocketing by 500 per cent - and the success of its Netflix show. It's market cap eventually peaked at £7.4bn ($9.6bn) in August, with individual shares selling for £90 ($116.50).

Now, however, CD Projekt Red's share price has tumbled to around £65 ($85), which is a fall of around 25 per cent (thanks, GI.biz), knocking almost £2 billion from its market cap, the lowest value the company has been since April 2020.

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World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion, Shadowlands, has secured more pre-sales than any other in the game's sixteen-year history.

"We've seen unprecedented engagement trends since the [World of Warcraft] subscriber base doubled following the launch of Classic last year," Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, said on a recent earnings call (thanks, PC Gamer). "Pre-sales of the upcoming Shadowlands expansion are the highest we've seen at this stage ahead of any release."

"Franchise engagement is at its highest level for this stage ahead of an expansion in a decade," said Activision Blizzard COO Daniel Alegre, with Kotick adding that World of Warcraft generates "over $1 billion" in annual net bookings, alongside its FPS series, Call of Duty.

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Sony has confirmed a Demon's Soul soundtrack will release on 26th November 2020.

At first, the score - which has been rerecorded for the remake - will only be available digitally, but it's thought that CD and vinyl versions will also go on sale in December.

To celebrate the news, Sony also released a brief behind-the-scenes video that shows how the score was recorded with a 75-piece orchestra and 40-person choir.

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Final Fantasy XIV has sent ripple effects through the industry ever since its "Reborn" phase roughly seven years ago.

Square Enix proved to the industry that you could truly "save" a game that was in peril: and I say this as someone who witnessed the original incarnation of FFXIV first-hand. It really was a miracle what that team pulled off, recreating XIV into not only one of the best MMOs of all time, but one of the strongest RPG campaigns ever made.

That power has resulted in all sorts of tie-ins and partnerships, which now includes an SSD hardware run. Square Enix has announced that they've collaborated with the manufacturing company I-O Data to provide an "official" Final Fantasy XIV SSD, which is going on sale in Japan on December 2.

It's 500GB in size and is an external SSD via USB 3.2 Gen 1 (without a power adapter requirement). Weirdly, the company even has an app called GigaCrystaPhantom that will allow a quick-transfer of FFXIV from your HDD to the new SSD: which might be helpful to Japanese players who don't want to re-download everything.

It'll run you 11,880 yen (roughly $115 US) if you want it. The price is a little over industry standard (a tad bit more than that figure will get you a 1TB generally), but obviously the license factors in.

SSD [I-O Data via 4Gamer]

There's no way Pikmin 3 came out over seven years ago.

Wait, I'll just check...nah, I don't believe it, it must be a typo. Wait, we reviewed it! That info box looks pretty legit. Maybe it did.

Either way, it's hard to believe it's been that long, as Pikmin 3 has remained a staple of my dusted-off Wii U since. I still head back into the little pint-sized world to blow off some steam from time to time, and the Bingo Battle mode has been a perpetual font of fun for my wife and I.

The Deluxe version on Switch makes things a little easier on us if we want to boot it all back up again, even if it's not a huge upgrade.