Persona 5 Royal is something that most fans expected at one point or another, considering the previous two entries in the series came out with updated re-releases, Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden Respectively. Even though it’s become tradition for the series, Persona 5 Royal feels like a step above even the stellar Persona 4 Golden.

At a recent preview event we were able to play roughly one hour of Persona 5 Royal, and even in that small window it was clear how much effort has gone in to making Royal something special for both new and returning fans.

Our demo had four brief sections to play through; a portion of Kamoshida’s Palace introducing the grappling hook, Kamoshida’s boss battle, a daytime event at Kichijoji, and night exploration of Kichijoji. We’ll go over each briefly,

Immediately the first thing I noticed was the visual upgrade, which I didn’t think would be as impressive as it was. Persona 5 was already a fantastic looking game, but there’s a slight upgrade in Royal to make it looks more like Dancing in Starlight, and it works.

Obviously it doesn’t feel like a brand new game, but that extra visual bit helps the game really pop, especially playing in 4K. The other neat part of this is the reworked characters portraits, which are much more animated now.

Instead of mostly static portraits, the character portraits are in constant motion now, helping add to the overall animation of the game.

About halfway through Kamoshida’s Palace the grappling hook is introduced, giving you some new options for infiltration. It’s not as easy as being able to go wherever you want, but in my demo I used the grappling hook to bypass an entire courtyard filled with enemies and climb up a tower.

Persona 5 Royal is expanding on the already massive base game with new characters, new story, new areas, and more. As with Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden, the re-release promises a wealth of new content. At a recent preview event we managed to get our hands on Persona 5 Royal for roughly one hour.

While an hour is just a chip in a massive 100-hour game like Persona 5 Royal, there are still a number of little details we learned. Our demo let us play through parts of Kamoshida’s Palace and explore the new area of Kichijoji in Tokyo.

We’ve compiled everything into a handy list for your perusal, separating the changes we noticed between Kamoshida’s Palace and everything else.

For something more in-depth you can check out our full hands-on preview of Persona 5 Royal.

You Should Play It: Kentucky Route Zero Read More »

And Charles Xavier is a jerk

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Kingdom Hearts fans rejoice - the Disney and Square Enix mash-up series rolls out in force on Xbox One tomorrow.

The bizarrely-named Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue collections are both live now in New Zealand, where it is already 18th February.

Look for them at midnight tonight elsewhere, too.

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Jordanian mobile game publisher Tamatem has netted $3.5 million in Series A funding to increase its presence in the Middle East and North Africa mobile market and expand globally. ...

The closer connections between Danny and his father paint a new picture of Jack Torrance

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After over one decade from the original release on the Nintendo Wii, World of Goo is coming to a Nintendo Switch cartridge.

Thanks to publisher Super Rare Games, you’ll be able to pick up this collectible item of the cult hit starting on February 20.

Besides the cult following for World of Goo, critics also seem to love this game. Right now the Wii Metacritic score is sitting at an impressive 94. The Switch version is lower but still fantastic at 84.

The variation in the scores is likely because physics-based building games were not as prevalent as they are now. Still, it’s worth picking up World of Goo if you’re into these kinds of puzzle games.

These releases are a continuing trend that we’re seeing this generation where anything from classic licensed titles to indies are getting the physical edition treatment.

You may even be familiar Super Rare Games already since they’ve put out physical editions for popular indie titles such as Toki-Tori and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.

Also, if you’ve never played World of Goo before and you prefer to have physical media then this is a great way to expand your game library.

And if you’re a steelbook collector, then for a few dollars more you can pick up the Steelbook edition of the World of Goo physical release.

Both editions will come with the game, a reversible cover, some trading cards and a full manual. You can pick up the standard edition for $32.54 (£29.99) or the Steelbook for $52.07 (£47.99).

You’ll have to act fast on Feb. 20 to get your pre-order in since there will only be 6000 physical copies available for purchase. There is also a 2 game per-person limit to help make scalping the game more difficult.

If you're looking for a bargain on a current-gen console with the PS5 and Xbox Series X on the horizon then you might want to check out Game where you'll find a range of Xbox One X bundles discounted to an all-new low price.

You can get an Xbox One X with one game for £259. The games available include the likes of The Division 2, Metro Saga, Fallout 76 and PUBG. There are also a handful of bundles that come with two games for £279. I've picked out a couple of the standout offers below, or you can browse the full range of Xbox One X bundles on sale.

It needs to be pointed out that these Xbox One X consoles are described as "New in Open Box" by Game. They define this as "some external packaging damage in the form of broken seals or cosmetic box damage". For all intents and purposes, then, these are new consoles you're getting. All your usual statutory rights are in place, too, so if you decide to get one and aren't impressed with what you receive then a return is still possible.

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Video games in the Alien universe are always a tricky-yet-intriguing proposition. There's a checkered track record. Sometimes they end up like Alien: Isolation; sometimes they end up like Aliens: Colonial Marines.

3D Realms almost got a crack at making its own Aliens game with a Left 4 Dead-like bent. 3D Realms vice president Frederik Schreiber revealed that the developer was working alongside Slipgate Ironworks on a game called Aliens: Hadley's Hope, which is named after the human colony that's the setting for much of the Aliens film.

The elevator pitch for Hadley's Hope pegs it as a "storyworld-driven PvE multiplayer adventure [first-person] shooter [that's] dripping with atmosphere, lore, and suspense." It was supposed to be a teamwork-oriented four-person cooperative shooter where squads would fight through levels of "alien protectors" before eventually culminating in a battle against a queen inside her nest. There were going to be several queens and hives, each with their own settings and preceding levels.

All in all, it sounds a lot like Aliens by way of Left 4 Dead. Swarms of alien grunts are probably akin to hordes of zombies. Each queen hunt seems similar to Left 4 Dead's individual campaigns, especially considering how they're described as "unique settings of levels, each with its own style and challenges." However, Hadley's Hope may have been designed to be continually supported, as the pitch mentions "plans to add new content for years." There would have been dozens of campaigns with queen fight scenarios.

Atlus has confirmed that certain scenes in Persona 5, which were considered homophobic and offensive by many fans, will be updated and altered in the Western release of Persona 5 Royal.

Speaking to IGN during a Persona 5 Royal preview event, Atlus Communications Manager Ari Advincula explained that dialogue in certain scenes – specifically ones involving Ryuji and two effeminate male characters – would be changed so that those men were no longer shown in a “negative light.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/03/persona-5-royal-us-release-date-trailer"]

“We actually were able to go through some of the lines that players may not have received as well, look at that feedback, and then [update it] for the current generation,” Advincula said, explaining that they’ve changed both the first scene in which you meet these characters as well as the notorious beach scene they are featured in later on.

The dialogue in these scenes has been widely criticized since Persona 5’s Western launch for a variety of reasons. Many fans consider the depiction of these characters to be offensively stereotypical, presenting the most prominent homosexual characters in Persona 5 as extremely sexually aggressive (toward a minor, no less) and intentionally ridiculous with intent of making their “weirdness” the joke – made worse by the fact that your protagonist provides similarly insensitive responses to their actions.

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While Atlus didn’t share exactly how these scenes would be updated in response to these complaints, Advincula said asking if they would be addressed was one of the first things she did when joining the team. “That's really important to me, and I think it's really important to the community as well.”

Persona 5 still hasn’t been announced for the Nintendo Switch, but publisher Atlus says it doesn’t want fans to give up hope just yet.

Rumors have swirled around a potential Persona 5 Switch port for a long time, with a bogus Best Buy listing even popping up in 2019, but that momentum has slowed considerably. So IGN asked Atlus Communications Manager Ari Advincula if it was finally time for fans to give up on hope for a potential port during a Persona 5 Royal preview event earlier this month, to which she responded “I am a strong believer in ‘never ever give up on hope’.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/17/thieves-den-and-tycoon-gameplay-persona-5-royal-4k"]

The fervor for a port was spurred on by protagonist Joker coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate early last year, but ended up being squelched somewhat when the teased P5S turned out to be Persona 5 Scramble, an entirely new game (and essentially a full-on sequel) coming to Switch. But Advincula says fans making their voices heard is the only way it’ll happen.

“You want what you want,” she explained, “and if you don't let us know it we’re never going to be able to make it.” Advincula said Atlus is listening and does see the desire for Persona 5 on Switch, saying “it’s important to always voice your opinion.”

House Flipper - the closest a millennial can get to appearing on Homes Under the Hammer - will let even more youngsters live out the property dream when it arrives on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next week.

Developed by Empyrean and first released on PC in 2018, House Flipper is an indie sim about turning around disgusting properties for profit. There's repair mechanics, interior design options, and budget management to keep you on your toes. But then so will the cockroaches.

If that sounds like a delight to you, House Flipper lands on PlayStation 4 on 25th February, and Xbox One a day later on the 26th. Carpet diem.

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Racing fans can't think about PlayStation 5 without also wondering about the fate of Gran Turismo. What's the next major advancement for this series? What's the biggest priority for Gran Turismo 7?

In a recent interview (as reported by GTPlanet), Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi made a few forward-looking comments about what Gran Turismo could be like on PlayStation 5 and beyond.

"I think, display resolution-wise, 4K resolution is enough," Yamauchi said.

"Rather than a spatial resolution that you're talking about, I'm more interested in the advancements we can make in terms of the time resolution," he said during a roundtable with Australian media. "In terms of frames per second, rather than staying at 60 fps, I'm more interested in raising it to 120 fps or even 240 fps. I think that's what's going to be changing the experience from here on forward."

It's not a firm commitment or anything, but it's the kind of comment I love to hear as someone who generally cares more about frame rate than visual fidelity. That said, I get the sense that fans are hoping for further refinements and layers to the simulation above all else. GT Sport is super pretty as is.

Obviously, priorities can and will change. I won't be surprised when, one day, after 4K has adequately settled into place, we'll hear that "it's fine, if you're into that sorta thing, but it could be so much better."

Gran Turismo's Future: '4K Resolution is Enough,' But 240fps is the Target [GTPlanet]

The expanded version of Persona 5 is coming to North America next month, and Brian Shea recently got a chance to sit down and play this stylish RPG ahead of release. In today's NGT, he shows off some of the new moves, features, and more.

Shea is joined by fellow Persona fan Joe Juba, as well as me and Alex Stadnik. There's a lot to unpack, but you'll be able to see a new grappling-hook mechanic (okay), one of the revamped boss battles (hmm!), and a look at the new customizable Thieves Den (huh?!). Check it out, OK?

Persona 5 Royal is coming to PlayStation 4 on March 31.

The Phantom Thieves are back in business

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It seems that both an Overwatch cartoon and Diablo anime are in the works. Neither have been confirmed by Activision Blizzard yet but new evidence from a high-ranking employee makes it pretty likely they are in production.

Nick van Dyck, who is the president of the film and TV division of Activision Blizzard, says he has worked on both of these unannounced projects in his LinkedIn profile.

His profile lists him as being the executive producer of a TV adaptation of Diablo that is "rendered in anime style." Apparently it's in pre-production and will be distributed worldwide through Netflix. This isn't the first time we've heard about a possible Diablo animated series for Netflix.

If it really is coming, then it will probably look to follow in the very successful footsteps of the Netflix Castlevania animated series. Season 3, of which, is due out on March 5 and recently got a bloody, monster-filled trailer.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/01/diablo-4-reveal-trailer"]

The Joker’s recent addition to Mortal Kombat 11 is far from the craziest character to ever grace the series’ roster, but it does set a precedent for wacky and out-there guests to enter the fray. To that end, here are five other twisted guest characters who could and should come to Mortal Kombat 11.

Pennywise

Mortal Kombat has an established record of bringing horror icons into its roster, so who better to carry that mantle into Mortal Kombat 11 than Pennywise?

Nvidia has partnered with CD Projekt Red to create a ray-tracing-capable GPU that's customized a la the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077. Put your wallet away because Lady Luck has to pick up this tab.

A handful of Cyberpunk 2077 canary yellow RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards were made by Nvidia for a giveaway. Here's a short video that show what they look like:

The Blue Blur saw a busy weekend with Paramount's Sonic The Hedgehog movie pulling $100 million in its opening weekend.

The post Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Speeds Past $100 Million at Global Box Office appeared first on Siliconera.

More Kingdom Hearts Xbox One games have appeared on the Microsoft Store in New Zealand.

The post Kingdom Hearts Xbox One Collections Begin Appearing on the Microsoft Store appeared first on Siliconera.

Panzer Dragoon came out in 1995 on the Sega Saturn, and almost immediately made history. Not only did it cement the Saturn as a console to remember for all time, but it also helped welcome rail shooters into the home setting. 25 years later, it's being introduced to a new era.

Although it's been known for forever, the Panzer Dragoon remake is coming at some point this year ("winter") to PC and Switch. You can also add Stadia to that list. Announced directly by Google, Panzer Dragoon will headline a new collective of games coming to Stadia: a list that also includes Lost Words: Beyond the Page, The Serious Sam Collection, Spitlings and Stacks on Stacks on Stacks. Everything other than Serious Sam and Panzer Dragoon are coming to Stadia "first." In other words, as a timed exclusive.

Google also reminds us that Doom Eternal, Get Packed, Orcs Must Die! 3 and Baldur's Gate, among "many more games," are coming to Stadia this year. Me? I'm just happy Panzer Dragoon is available on one more platform.

New games coming to Stadia! [Stadia]

Who needs a stream of information when you can point out blurry objects in the background of a low-resolution image?

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In case you missed it, Devil May Cry 3 on Switch will have three significant enhancements:

• The ability to Style Swap
• The ability to weapon swap (in a more advanced way)
• Full local co-op for Bloody Palace

That list bit is really important, as it's a major step-up from similar action games like Bayonetta 2, which are hampered to online-only co-op modes. Now Dante and Vergil can get their co-op on similar to the limited form in the original edition, which was restricted to just one boss battle and the Doppelganger form.

It doesn't take much to make a big, old, empty house feel creepy. Indeed, the more actual, overt threat you add to such a setting, the less fear it inspires - better to let your visitor wander undisturbed, drinking in the silence of the hallways and spotting goblin faces in the contours of broken plaster. This is one thing the creators of The Suicide of Rachel Foster grasp well, though their workmanlike blend of Firewatch and Gone Home is ultimately tripped up by a half-baked story.

A three-hour, first-person psychodrama with a gossamer-thin dusting of puzzles, the game is set in the Timberline Lodge, an abandoned mountainside hotel in 1990s Montana. You can roam about freely from the outset, though chapter breaks teleport you from room to room, and to do so is to be gently assaulted by the peculiarities of a structure that wouldn't seem out of place in Silent Hill. Floorboards creak, window-frames rattle, beams shift under a mounting weight of snow. Photographs stare from the ends of corridors, shrouded objects tempt you to pull back the sheet, and stainless steel kitchens tease your fight-or-flight circuits with their abundance of gleaming points and angles.

Spread over three storeys plus a basement and carpark, the Timberline is closer to a Comfort Inn than some Gothic resort, but in the absence of holidaymakers and staff, its spaces loom. It's also a not-so-discreet homage to The Shining's Overlook Hotel, which means that the sightlines and decor feel vaguely predatory, like they're trying to get into your head. You'll find those legendary geometric carpet patterns, a mountain diorama akin to the Overlook's model maze, and bathrooms painted a diabolical red.

So, Mega Man [Rockman] X DiVE is coming very soon.

Billed as an all-star return of sorts, the mobile game (Android, iOS) is a deep dive into the world of the Mega Man X series, with all sorts of "remember this" paraphernalia and fan service (a playable Vile comes to mind immediately).

Pre-registration is available for every region, though there is a strict list of areas where it's playable now: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. If you do pre-register, you'll get the playable Alia character.

Mega Man X DiVE is out on March 4. Closed beta tests were held late last year, and the game seems fully ready to launch without any further delays.

Pre-register [Capcom] [Thanks Rick!]

I can already feel it. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is going to be ridiculously fun while it lasts. It's the video game equivalent of an obstacle course game show, something I wish we saw far more often.

The competition is online-enabled, so you'll start off facing ninety-nine other players in round-based elimination challenges – some free-for-alls, some team-based – until only one blob is left standing at the bitter end. It's also got that "silly physics mayhem" factor (see: Human: Fall Flat) going for it.

Devolver Digital and developer Mediatonic released the first in a series of behind-the-scenes videos today. Part one has a two-pronged purpose: exploring the quirky game show roots of Fall Guys, and announcing a new date. After a delay, it's looking like a summer 2020 release on PlayStation 4 and PC.

"Our goal was to make Fall Guys the 'greatest game show ever' with clear inspirations from Takeshi's Castle and the lesser-known It's A Knockout," said Mediatonic communications manager Haley Uyrus.

"Both game shows put their contestants in such unusual and sometimes ridiculous scenarios that any advantages obtained through skill would often be mitigated by the bizarre variables of the obstacle courses and bumbling paths of the other contestants. We want players to feel both like they are totally in control while at the same time accepting that there are forces well beyond their control that could just ruin their well-laid plans."

Fortnite has begun teasing its long, long-awaited new season with a Chapter 2: Season 2 ARG - and it's all themed around gold. And cats.

Clues have begun popping up around the world in physical locations, on social media, and within Fortnite itself ahead of Chapter 2 Season 2's release this Thursday, 20th February.

A mysterious advert featuring a golden handprint was first spotted at a metro station in São Paulo over the weekend, before similar posters were found in San Francisco, Melbourne and Paris shortly after.

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Destiny 2 has been having a rough few weeks. It's not like Bungie didn't bounce back, but it's been rough nonetheless.

Several weeks ago, a potentially catastrophic bug wiped out a lot of data following a very casual afternoon reset-time hotfix. It caused a game-wide panic and Bungie had to take down Destiny 2 for the entire afternoon and evening to fix it. After they identified the problem, accounts were rolled back before the bug. Crisis averted.

Then last week, a potentially catastrophic bug wiped out a lot of data following a very casual afternoon reset-time hotfix. It caused a game-wide panic and Bungie had to take down Destiny 2 for the entire afternoon and evening to fix it. After they identified the problem, accounts were rolled back before the bug. Crisis averted. 

Déjà vu, right? Well, it looks like Bungie has identified the issue and is aiming to not have it happen again.

In a huge blog detailing the incidents, Bungie breaks down how inventory management works server-side, and how back in October the publisher "spun up additional servers" to help with the CPU load of the Shadowkeep expansion. What happened is as follows: "one issue was that a small percentage (less than 1 percent) of these servers would crash on start-up due to the volume of servers overwhelming one of the backing databases. Our workaround for this was to simply manually restart the crashed servers each time we detected this issue, and this appeared to address the problem without any discernible side effects for players."

Ok, so it's not quite Lara Croft herself - but Rainbow Six Siege is getting its own Tomb Raider elite skin, and it'll be worn by American SWAT officer Ash.

The skin was unveiled as part of Ubisoft Montreal's two-year roadmap shown at The Six Invitational in Quebec, and will be available "soon after" the launch of next season's Operation Void Edge. There's no set date for this event - the first season of Rainbow Six's fifth year - which is due to add two new operators (Oryx and Iana) along with an Oregon map rework.

As an elite skin, Lara "Ash" Croft will likely need to be purchased in R6 credits, but at least she comes with a unique victory animation, a breaching rounds gadget skin, weapon skins (for the G36C, R4-C, M45 MEUSOC and 5.7 USG), and a unique charm. Time to raid the piggy bank.

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Following on from last month's massive price drop on a 5TB Western Digital drive, you can now get a 4TB Seagate Expansion Desktop Hard Drive for only £64.99 at Amazon UK.

This hard drive is not only compatible with PC but can also be used to give you some extra space for your PS4 or Xbox One. With the increasing storage demands of games these days that 500GB or 1TB internal hard drive does get used up rather quickly!

While this is a spacious drive for the price, the only annoyance I can foresee is the need to plug it directly into the mains as well as your PC or console. The portable versions of these Seagate drives are USB-powered which saves the extra wire. If you have the means to power it easily, though, you could save yourself a decent chunk of money going for this desktop option instead.

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[Update: The SNES Switch controllers are back in stock in North America this morning. Good luck!]

In an ideal world, everyone who wanted a Super Nintendo controller for Switch would be able to buy one, and we'd have access to hundreds of SNES games with our Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions.

In reality, the SNES-style Switch gamepads have been hard to pin down even for tuned-in fans. If you missed the initial batch, it's been a frustrating exercise full of speculation and false-starts. And as for the games, Nintendo continues to take its time adding more SNES titles to the Switch Online library.

Things aren't going great, in other words, but there's a bit of hope.

While the Super Nintendo controllers are still out of stock, here's the latest update as of January 30, 2020: "This item is currently unavailable. Please check back for more news in February 2020."

I think people would be a lot more patient if they knew they stood a real chance of getting their order placed next time around. For now, though, a vague "come back soon" window is all we can rely on.

If you're open to other options, there's always 8bitdo's SN30 Pro and SN30 Pro+.

Newly-published footage of the unreleased StarCraft: Ghost has appeared online, more than a decade after the project was canned.

Ghost was set to be a third-person shooter spin-off from Blizzard's blockbuster RTS franchise, for release on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox.

According to a Twitter user who contacted Kotaku, the leak comes from a work-in-progress build installed to an Xbox 360 developer kit.

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Super Mario 64 is one of my go-tos. I just pop that original cartridge in and Chewie...I'm home.

While nostalgia is definitely a powerful force, I actually believe Mario 64 still holds up. Its worlds, while defined by technical limitations at the time, feel perfectly stuffed without resorting to modern day open world bloat. The "one at a time" objectives are suited for pick-up-and-play sessions or long form speedruns. The sound direction is completely joy-filled. It's just an all-around classic.

That's probably why so many modders keep chasing it. That list includes Kaze Emanuar, who recently released a "Super Mario Sunshine 64" minihack out into the world. The gist: it re-captures the magic of Mario Sunshine (a more divisive entry) inside of the engine of Mario 64. If you're interested in the mod itself, it's listed in the description for the YouTube video.

For everyone else, you can watch the short debut video below or watch a lengthier 30-minute developer commentary.

Need a RAM upgrade? Amazon has discounted a range of DDR4 memory from Crucial to mark the start of a new week, offering up to 45 per cent off single sticks and kits from the company's popular Ballistix Sport and RGB-enabled Ballistix Tactical Tracer lines. Crucial memory already offers some of the best value around, so these discounts make it an excellent time to upgrade your system with more memory, faster memory or both! Here are the best deals from the Monday sale - plus a quick buyer's guide to RAM upgrades.

First, here are the highlights we've spotted:

8GB: If you're buying RAM for a new budget gaming PC, you can pick up 8GB of 2666MHz dual-channel memory for £30 - about £8 less than the usual price. If you plan to upgrade to 16GB of RAM in the near future, it might be worth getting a single 8GB 3200MHz stick for £26 (despite the performance penalty; see our RAM guide below). An RGB 8GB stick is also available for £36, down from £41.

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After a surprise launch, a lot of people seem to be warming up to Pokemon Home. It has its limitations (and even hacks to iron out), but for the most part the interface is clean and a lot of Pokemon Bank transfers have gone smoothly. Now that folks are really acclimating to it and have moved everything over, it seems like some users are uncovering special perks: like this new mystery gift.

According to Serebii, players have allegedly been given a special Magearna for their efforts, though it seems like the offer is bugged for some. Well, that, or it could be a hoax. There's a lot of metadata to search through with Pokemon Home, so it's possible that Nintendo is being cautious about hacks and false positives. Rest assured, more people will probably force the issue once a larger number of players finish out that National 'Dex.

If you happen to receive your gift, feel free to confirm it to Destructoid so we can suss this out and why some people are getting one and some aren't. As a reminder, downloading Home will also provide you with gifts by default, and 35 new creatures can be transferred into Sword and Shield.

Serebii.net [Twitter]