The doors to Diablo 4 finally flew wide open this past weekend, ahead of the game's release in a couple of months' time, and more than a million people stampeded through. The purpose was to test Diablo 4 under load and after a rocky start, the game and service held up. Whether it'll hold up again when the doors open even wider this weekend, for the open beta, we'll have to wait and see.

But the other purpose was to show everyone first-hand what Blizzard had been cooking up and to see what everyone thinks of it, and as with players, a wide range of opinions flooded in. Here, I gather a couple of them from within Eurogamer, from senior guides writer Jessica Orr - who's a Diablo 3 regular - and guides writer Marie Pritchard, who comes to Diablo for the first time. What did they think? And with it, what did you think - was it what you were hoping for?

A group of gamers have failed in their attempt to sue Microsoft over its impending $68.7bn Activision Blizzard acquisition.

The 10-strong party lawyered up late last year to launch a lawsuit which claimed Microsoft's buyout would give the Xbox owner too much influence over the games industry "to foreclose rivals, limit output, reduce consumer choice, raise prices, and further inhibit competition".

This week, a judge dismissed the "so-called gamers' lawsuit" as it "does not plausibly allege the merger creates a reasonable probability of anticompetitive effects in any relevant market" (thanks, Foss Patents).

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At a glance

Microsoft has revealed that it has paid developers in its ID@Xbox program more than $4 billion since the initiative first launched in 2013.

A blog post by the program's director Chris Charla reflects on the first ten years of ID@Xbox, including some facts and figures around what it has accomplished so far.

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The studio behind Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden - The Bearded Ladies - have announced a release date for their next game: May 23rd. Miasma Chronicles is another post-apocalyptic tactical RPG, but this time it replaces the anthropomorphic pigs with a friendly robot - who the trailer refers to as your big brother, I should add. Spiritually rather than biologically, of course. If you’re not sold yet, Miasma Chronicles will be showing up to tomorrow's Future Games Show.

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The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition launched to entirely deserved incredulity over its dire performance problems, PC version included. Low framerates, stuttering, lighting glitches, texture popping, wonky shaders... if you could think of a technical woe, it was probably already undermining this remaster’s efforts to rework and enhance the original RPG’s visuals.

Publishers Private Division have since promised a series of updates to get the Spacer’s Choice Edition up to code, with the first of these – v1.1 – releasing late last week. I’ve given it a test on various graphics cards and credit where it’s due, it has bumped up general performance significantly, although many broken parts remain unmended.

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Microsoft has temporarily won a dismissal against an antitrust lawsuit from consumers challenging its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

In a filing spotted by Reuters, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the group of ten plaintiffs "[lacked] allegations" in the complaint they filed last year. The group claim Microsoft's ownerships of Activision Blizzard would harm consumers and competition in the video games market.

However, while US District Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed the case, she also granted the plaintiffs 20 days to refine their lawsuit and resubmit.

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In our sixth episode, the Indiescovery gang belatedly turn our attention to the question of just what the heck we're doing here anyway. The issue of "what makes an indie game an indie game?" is full of twists and turns, and nobody has ever really come up with an answer that covers all the bases. Lucky for us, that's not really what we're talking about here, although we do use that as a jumping-off point for our chat.

Instead, we try to come up with an Indiescovery Manifesto, one that will guide us in the future when we're thinking about what games we ought to cover on the pod. We achieve this through a lively discussion that mainly involves me playing devil's advocate by throwing out ridiculous edge cases until Rachel and Liam want to break down and weep. (What can I say, I never saw a fence I didn't want to touch just to see if it's electrified.)

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, successor to 2017's Breath of the Wild, is out soon. And while there’s a big fancy collector’s edition of the sequel available, which includes a book, Nintendo is this week taking the time to revisit the original, releasing for free a book called The Explorer’s Guide.

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Sony is promoting the release of the upcoming Atelier Ryza 3 in a very peculiar way. A Twitter video shared by Playstation Japan shows the real-world recreation of a very peculiar recipe, one that could be familiar to those who played Atelier Ryza 2 or is preparing for 3. The recipe in question is the Sarding, a pudding made out of, well, sardines.

The video shows in (rather excruciatingly painful) detail every step required to create this sweet and savory “dish.” The video adds a fun twist, since the chef attempting to create the dish is none other than Ryza herself. She can be seen collecting the ingredients in-game, with real-world first person point of view when creating the dish. You can check out the recipe in the tweet below, if you have the stomach for it, that is.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation_jp/status/1637650170707075078

The Atelier Ryza 2 in-game description for the Sarding recipe reads: “A salty pudding snack. Really, it's just a bit of pudding topped with a sardine. It looks terrible, frankly, but it's surprisingly delicious!”

In more appetizing Atelier Ryza news, Gust recently announced that the first Atelier Ryza game will have an anime adaptation, alongside showing the final trailer for Atelier Ryza 3.

Love is Blind has become one of the most popular reality dating shows to release in the 2020s with a new season arriving soon. There are three seasons currently to rank. The Netflix original has taken place in a different big city each season. So far, singles have been selected for the experiment in Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas. This Friday, the experiment that took the United States by storm will take place in Seattle thus giving us a whole new set of contestants to follow obsessively on social media.

Certain cast members tend to rub us the wrong way as we question their intentions, and while it seems painfully obvious that certain singles simply want reality TV fame (cue the “crying” confessional with the spilling of artificial tears), us fans have our red and green flags ready to wave depending on the actions of each contestant. Over the course of each season, we grow to love or loathe each cast and our general sentiment towards them often determines how enjoyable the season is overall.

And that’s what we’ve done here! Our ranking takes into account the general likability of the cast and the major flash points to determine which is the all-time best season of Love is Blind.

After a few months off for Winter, the North American cosplay season is starting to heat up once again, with the year’s first major show—Katsucon—taking place last month just outside of DC.

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In a heavily redacted response to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority relating to its proposed $69BN USD acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has insisted Sony would be able to create its own Call of Duty alternative within the space of 10 years.

Microsoft's newly published document has been submitted in response to the CMA's recent Remedies Hearing, discussing stipulations the regulator may insist upon before it's prepared to approve the deal. And while much has been redacted, it predominantly presents Microsoft's arguments around why its proposed 10-year deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, and its signed agreements with Nvidia, should be sufficient to satisfy the CMA's concerns.

Among all this, though, is the nugget from Microsoft that 10 years should be ample time for Sony to whip up a Call of Duty competitor of its own - while glossing over the rather obvious fact Activision's shooter has had over 20 years to build the kind of brand recognition that's turned it into the juggernaut gaming franchise it is today.

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The latest addition to the Midnight Suns' ragtag roster of supernatural heroes Dr. Michael Morbius. He is the third DLC character to join the team after Deadpool and Venom, who arrived in January 2023 and February 2023 respectively. The full roster of DLC heroes was originally released back in October, and indicates that X-men member Ororo “Storm” Munroe will be the final character to join.

The Midnight Suns Morbius DLC pack, titled “The Hunger,” is available standalone or as part of the season pass bundle. It will contain the character himself as well as related story missions, a new 'Laboratory' upgrade for the Abbey, and new 'Vampyre' enemies. Morbius appears to be a character specialising in applying and exploiting bleed debuffs and as such pairs well with Blade, the Midnight Suns' other vampire member. You can see the release trailer here, or watch Firaxis' character deep dive below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFssCt66mfY[/embed]

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG with card-based mechanics from XCOM and Civilisation developer Firaxis Entertainment. Players control and customise The Hunter, a legendary monster slayer brought back to life to stop the plans of their mother Lilith. Players team up with other Marvel Comics characters such as Ghost Rider and Iron Man.  When not on missions, the player can train and socialise with the other heroes and can gain bonuses from doing so.

EVE Online developers CCP Games are working on a new game set within the EVE universe. That's the good news. The bad news is that it will use blockchain technology, after CCP received $40 million (around £32.7 million) from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

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Capcom seems to have endless creative ways to promote the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake, which has already been hyped to the stratosphere. Previously, the developer uploaded a wacky and hilarious anime promotional video that follows Leon’s short adventure in Spain. Now, the company has decided to collaborate with Gameflavor to create a limited-edition drink called “Resident Evil First Aid Drink Collector’s Box.”

It costs $183.89 and contains several First Aid Spray Drinks, which are attempts to recreate the taste and ingredients from the Resident Evil universe in the real world. You will also receive four Ink Ribbon cans, each filled with one of the four unique herbs found in the game.

Lars Alexandersson, the enigmatic and powerful character of Tekken fame, returns to captivate fans in Tekken 8. Introduced in Tekken 6, Lars has become a fan-favorite due to his unique fighting style and intriguing storyline. As a former officer of the Tekken Force, his presence in the latest installment of the beloved fighting game series ensures thrilling battles, impressive visuals, and an engaging narrative.

In his gameplay trailer, Lars’ dynamic fighting style continues to evolve, combining elements of martial arts and acrobatics to deliver powerful and fluid combat moves. Players can expect a diverse range of attacks, including his signature Lightning Screw and Dynamic Entry, which showcase his speed, agility, and precision. These moves, combined with Lars’ striking character design, make him an appealing choice for both newcomers and seasoned Tekken players alike.

As of today, Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom and all its DLC are available via Xbox Game Pass. Level-5's JRPG is set long after the events of the first game, has a new cast of characters, changes up combat a lot, and adds a sizeable kingdom management element to the game. I know people who like it and people who hate it, which in itself makes it interesting.

There are also a bunch of games leaving Game Pass at the end of the month, including Chinatown Detective Agency.

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Spike Chunsoft announced a new line of Danganronpa merchandise which includes canvas art and random portrait badges for each Danganronpa character, alongside acrylic stands of Danganronpa characters dressed in formal attire. In addition, a key visual print from Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload will also be available for sale. The new Danganronpa goods are available to pre-order until April 9, 2023 from the Spike Chunsoft Ebten online store.

The key visual print is created by Primo Art using special technology to faithfully recreate the original piece. The Primo Art print costs 36,300 JPY (~$274 USD). Meanwhile, each canvas art item costs 4,400 JPY (~$33 USD.) The acrylic stands for each character cost 5,940 JPY (~$45 USD.) The acrylic badges from Danganronpa 1 cost 880 JPY (~$6 USD,) while the badges from Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa V3 cost 1,100 JPY each (~$8 USD.)

Netflix's live-action Gears of War movie is now one step closer to becoming a reality following the news Dune and Doctor Strange screenwriter Jon Spaihts has been hired to handle the script.

Netflix announced it had acquired the rights to adapt Gear of War into movie last November, following earlier unsuccessful attempts by New Line Cinema to get a live-action adaptation off the ground. That version, first trumpeted in 2007, had abandoned all pretence of being set in the game's universe by 2019, when the project became permanently stuck in development hell.

Netflix, however, has specifically described its version as an adaptation of the Gears of War "video game saga", suggesting it'll be more faithful to the source material than Universal's stalled effort - and the streaming service has now announced it'll be down to writer Jon Spaihts, whose Dune screenplay was nominated for an Oscar, to conjure a script into being.

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Season finales are a bittersweet feeling in the entertainment medium. On the one hand, they can prove a satisfying conclusion to a build-up over the course of several months, tying up various plot beats or paving the way for what lies on the horizon.

On the other hand, an established part of your routine is now at its end, leaving a spiky-haired void that you will be eager to fill. This Saturday, we’re about to experience the climax for three major shonen anime that have heated things up in the winter season, and will surely be in the discussion for anime of the year later down the track.

My Hero Academia Season 6, Blue Lock and TRIGUN STAMPEDE will air their season finales on March 25, whipping up a whirlwind of emotions as our protagonists each find themselves in very different positions.

While Deku has finally received the love and support he needs after an agonizing solitary battle, Vash’s situation couldn’t be any more dire as it seems Knives has finally rendered him into a puppet to be manipulated at his will. As for everyone’s favorite jerk, Isagi, his new team’s duel against the World Five is just getting underway. No doubt he is in for a rude awakening once they show off their skills.

EA are removing Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 1 & 2 from sale on April 28th, and closing down online services for all three on December 8th, 2023. If you already own copies of the games you'll still be able to play their offline features, such as Bad Company 2's beloved singleplayer campaign.

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Ubisoft, the publishers behind Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Ghost Recon, tonight announced that an “AI tool” is currently helping its developers write dialogue for some of its games.

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Crunchyroll confirmed an early 2024 release for the anime adaptation of popular manhwa Solo Leveling, also known as Only I Level Up. The adaptation was originally announced during Crunchyroll's Anime Expo 2022 panel, but until now was only confirmed for some time in 2023. The adaptation will be produced by A-1 pictures (Sword Art Online, Fate; Apocrypha) with music from industry veteran Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Gundam: Unicorn). It will appear this winter.

A new teaser trailer was also released, which you can watch below:

[embed]https://youtu.be/eqy85AL70PU[/embed]

Solo Leveling is a Korean web novel-turned-manhwa by Chugong, DUBU and h-goon. It follows Jinwoo Sung, Hunter who travels between dimensions. Jinwoo gains a reputation for incompetence amongst his peers, but after a harrowing incident he resolves to become the strongest Hunter of all. You can read more about it, and the original anime announcement, over on Crunchyroll.

You can also watch the original Solo Leveling anime announcement trailer below.

[embed]https://youtu.be/YvGSK8mIlt8[/embed]

Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released in theaters last week to a resounding “meh, okay” from audiences and critics alike. And now its main star and Jordan Peterson admirer, Zachary Levi, is out here on Twitter asking Neil Druckmann to cast him in the next season of the popular HBO Max series, The Last of Us.

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The former U.S. president Donald Trump still walks free as of the time of writing. But certain AI-generated photos on Twitter tell a different story. These deepfakes depict a world where one of the most powerful white men in America can be treated like any other citizen, meaning actually be held accountable for his…

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Now that Hogwarts Legacy has been out for a considerable time, the community manager of Avalanche Software, Chandler Wood, has revealed the stats of one of the most popular spells in the game. The ability in question is none other than Revelio, which was cast 100 billion times in the first month of its release due to its functionality of showcasing an object’s exact location.

Considering Hogwarts Legacy’s numerous hidden items, like the Field Guide Pages and Collection Chests, it may come as no surprise to see a high volume of usage for this particular spell, especially since it can help get you one step closer to full completion.

Breath still bated for more information on developer Insomniac's upcoming Marvel's Spider-Man 2? Well it looks like we might now have a release month thanks to Venom actor Tony Todd, who - almost certainly without official approval - has claimed it'll be arriving this September.

Todd - whose prolific career has included roles in the likes of Platoon, Candyman, and Final Destination - was announced to be voicing Venom in Spider-Man 2 back in September 2021, at the same time Insomniac confirmed Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter would be returning to voice Peter Parker and Miles Morales respectively.

Since then, official word on the sequel has been almost non-existent, but Insomniac did pop up in December, following a bit of a leak by a writer on the project, to confirm it was aiming to release Spider-Man 2 some time in "fall 2023".

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Wait, I got that wrong — they’ll pay someone to powerwash your house

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Microsoft shared the list of games coming to the Xbox Game Pass library, and Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is the first among them. The version available is the Prince's Edition, which comes with all DLC. On the other hand, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid will be one of the games leaving the catalog.

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom was originally released in 2018 as a sequel to the critically acclaimed Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The Prince’s Edition includes the DLCs “The Lair of the Lost Lord” and “The Tale of a Timeless Tome,” which expands on the game’s lore and adds new characters and locations.

Below is the full list of games coming to Xbox Game Pass between March 21, 2023, and April 12, 2023:

Catalyst Black developer Super Evil Megacorp has expanded its staff following the news of its partnership with Netflix.

As reported by MobileGamer.biz, the studio's new additions, and promotions includes alum from firms such as Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Rockstar.

The appointments include:

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Butters is everywhere on TikTok

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Mob Psycho 100 is always going to draw laughs from the audience due to its silly premise and exaggerated characters. Shigeo Kageyama is an awkward 8th grader with psychic powers and Arataka Reigen is his mentor and happens to be a con man who claims to be the greatest psychic alive (which is a lie, of course). We’ve put together these hilarious memes to help fans enjoy the series and to add some humor to anyone’s day. Without further ado, here are the 10 best Mob Psycho 100 memes that’ll surely put a smile on your face.

We’re a few months away from Final Fantasy XVI’s June 22 release date, and more details about the upcoming not-so-final fantasy-RPG keep tricking out. In addition to learning that the game is approximately 80 hours long, we’ve finally gotten a short-but-sweet glimpse of the cute wolf buddy kicking ass.

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As regulators approach their deadline to approve or reject Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, those for and against the mega merger are filing every last argument they can think of to try and sway the outcome. My favorite one yet involves Microsoft telling Sony to quit whining already and just…

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While HIMYF has been growing into its own thing, the show doesn’t ignore its origins, so throughout season 2, there are still many HIMYM callbacks that certainly leave the fans happy. From cameos to references or just vibes, here is every Easter egg we’ve spotted in the second season of How I Met Your Father so far. Did you notice them all?

Today, Electronic Arts and developer Dice announced plans to sunset a selection of older Battlefield games and Mirror’s Edge later this month. Sadly, the list includes one of the best entries in the Battlefield franchise: Bad Company 2. And while you’ll still be able to play it online until the end of this year, you…

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It’s already been nine years since Ted met the mother in the How I Met Your Mother finale. Even after all this time, we still miss Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lily, and, especially, Barney. The gang always had the same booth at McClaren’s, had slap bets, used to eat “sandwiches”, and made fun of Robin’s career as Robin Sparkles, and we loved them for each of those things.

As any How I Met Your Mother fan will attest, Barney was the breakout character, with his catchphrases, unique way of seeing the world, and love for his friends. His arc in the show might’ve been the best of all as he started as a womanizer without a conscience, and during the run of the show, became a (gasp!) monogamist, a husband, and a father, changing some of his most deplorable qualities and becoming a more lovable person in the end.

That’s why today we want you to join us on Twinfinite’s latest TV trivia quiz. This time is all about Barney Stinson, the man who loves suiting up, playing laser tag, and bedding as many women as possible, while also being a great friend, a fantastic wingman, and a surprisingly good karaoke singer.

Twist: Krakoa is evil in this timeline

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