May 2020

March felt like it lasted nine years but April seemed to pass by in a blink. Now it's May and who the hell knows what this month will hold. One thing we do know is that Podtoid is looking for your listener questions.

It is the first weekend of the month, and that means Podtoid is taking your questions for the show. We'll also be getting to some of the great inquiries we received last month but didn't have time for. So if you've got a Q for Chris, Occams, Charlotte, Dan, or myself, leave it in the comments below.

Check out last week's episode of Podtoid right here.

God of War

Can we improve visuals on consoles - modern or retro alike - with an external graphics processor? Marseille's mClassic is a new and improved version of the mCable Gaming Edition we covered a couple of years ago. Advertised as a kind of external graphics card, many claims are made for this product, especially across social media where we've seen it described variously as a 4K upscaler, a 1440p upscaler, a means to improve retro gaming graphics and even as a Switch Pro-like upgrade. These are claims that demand testing.

At the nuts and bolts level, the mClassic is an HDMI dongle that attaches to the back of any console to administer post effects, tweaks and scaling. It relies on a micro USB cable to give it power, drawing just 1W of power at peak to drive an on-board ASIC processor. From there it interprets each flat, 2D frame as it arrives from the console, adding contextual anti-aliasing, colour boosts, intelligent sharpening, and then upscaling the result. This is all achieved with no perceptible input lag - something that holds true in my experience. But at a costs of $100, are the visual upgrades truly worth the outlay for modern games - notably for Switch?

During a livestream from Japan, Muv-Luv developer âge announced that that parts 00 to 03 of Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After are coming to Steam.

The studio also revealed that the development of a mobile version is being considered and that the development of episode 04 is progressing.

If you’re unfamiliar with Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After, it’s a series of visual novels originally released for PC as part of the Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles series between 2010 and 2013. 

The rest of Chronicles has been then ported to PS3 as Photonflowers and Photonmelodies. The former has already been released in English on Stgeam (and you can read our review), while the latter should be coming soon. 

Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After is quite interesting as it’s a direct sequel to Muv-Luv Unlimited. It branches off the main trilogy in a much darker way. Yes. if you’re wondering, it’s even darker than Alternative in some of its aspects. You can check out a relevant trailer from the original release at the bottom of the post to gate a glimpse at the cast.

Creator Kouki Yoshimune and producer Kazutoshi Matsumura also talked about localization. They did not make promises about releasing Unlimited The Day After in English for now, but they mentioned that going forward releases in Englsh and Chinese are considered a releavant goal. 

They explained that they want to aim for the world, mentioning that it would be a bummer for Japanese people as well if they had to wait six months for Hollywood movies. 

What the hell is going on in Destiny 2? Is a question I ask myself pretty much every time I jump back into Bungie’s space-wizard adventure. So much has happened since I last played full-time, and worse, so much is locked to the annals of history – seasonal content that’ll never return to Destiny 2. But that impermanence may be about to end. To stop folks missing out in future, Destiny this week announced plans to keep seasonal events around year-round once Year 4 rolls around this autumn.

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With real-world sport on hold and the lockdown keeping people indoors, footballers have more time for non-football things. For Sergio Agüero, that means streaming FIFA 20 - and fans of the game are loving it.

The Manchester City goal machine is playing a fair amount of FIFA Ultimate Team live on Twitch, and he's quickly built up a sizeable audience - Aguero's SLAKUN10 Twitch channel only began life in mid-April and he already has over half a million followers.

So, why are people tuning into Agüero on Twitch? Well, he seems up for a laugh (Agüero streams in Spanish but you get the gist), and he's had his fair share of cute viral clips. We've already reported on the wonderful moment he reacted to missing a sitter with in-game Agüero exactly as his in-game Agüero did.

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We're used to seeing famous actors' faces implanted into footage of movies via the problematic power of the deepfake. But what about famous actors' faces implanted into footage of video games?

That's exactly what one deepfake creator, who goes by the name Jarkan has done, importing Nathan Fillion's face into Uncharted 4 and replacing poor Nathan Drake's virtual chops in the process.

For the uninitiated, deepfake software lets users swap out one person's face for another with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning. It's arrival has been met with a good deal of concern, particularly around fraud and ethical issues.

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It’s an overcrowded alternate-universe fantasy that casually cures racism and sexism

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Time travel and Batman and ghosts, oh my!

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Remakes, no matter their quality, are always a tricky business. How much of an old game's ideas or mechanics do you preserve? What do you update, reinvent, keep as-is, or discard outright from an old game that won't betray its essence, or rile up its fans, while still making it appealing to people new to the experience? After all, the stated purpose of most remake projects is to bring that old experience to new people.

I'm one of those "new people." As I mentioned in my initial impressions of Trials of Mana, I have effectively no experience with Secret of Mana or its SNES-era sequels, knowing them only as Squaresoft games considered by many to be timeless classics.

Now that I'm done with it, the question remains: How did Square Enix's attempt to bring the legendary Seiken Densetsu 3 to modern platforms and contemporary audiences (read: people like me) work out? Does Trials of Mana pass its own trial?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still very young, but it's already been through a series of ups and downs.

After folks started to hit the "endgame," some of the creamy faults started to rise to the top. That said, Nintendo has made it very clear that this is a live service game, and advancements will come over time: most notably, the recent addition of Leif and Redd.

On the flipside, those changes can be contentious. Nintendo recently nerfed monthly interest gains in a bid to defeat time-traveling players. Tarantulas, which I've seen a whopping two of total in all of my time with the game, also got a nerfed spawn rate.

There are a hell of a lot of Warhammer games out there. But while we’ve got grimdark trash and genre-defining classics, there have been very few games set in Games Workshop’s newest setting. The Old World’s been dead a long time – and with few exceptions, nobody’s taken a real crack at Warhammer: Age Of Sigmar’s multi-dimensional mythos. Until this week, when Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster devs Frontier revealed plans to release a Mortal Realms real-time strategy within the next few years.

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Suzaku just released a new and quite interesting video of its upcoming game Sense – 不祥的预感: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story.

The video showcases how the visuals of the game are created. Upon cursory inspection, Sense may seem rendered in 2D, but it comes with a rather intriguing feeling of perspective.

The reason is simple and complex at the same time. Suzaku’s labor of love is actually a 3D game, using layered perspective in 3D environments to create this effect.

You can check out the video below.  

Cloud Imperium Games released a couple of interesting videos showcasing upcoming content to Star Citizen and its single-player campaign Squadron 42. 

The first video starts with an explanation (and a rather hilarious example) of how developers squash bugs with the help of the community.

After that we get to see the way comms work in the single-player version Squadron 42, which has characters actually “acting” in their cockpits.

This will also be implemented in the persistent universe at some point in the future.

The second weapon has the developer showcasing how they create spectacular gas clouds in space. 

You can check them out below. 

A great looking shawl, a deal on craft and hobby ebooks, a tortilla blanket, Twitch Prime rewards, and more lead the pack for Saturday’s best deals.

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Valve has updated Team Fortress 2 and added memorial statues featuring the Soldier as a tribute to Rick May, who died last month.

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Hello! This week we dunk on Elon Musk, check out a cool LEGO Mario game, watch an android do some flips, ask rich companies to help more, check out the new Apex Legends character and meet the new Dooku.

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How Can I Watch the Inside Xbox May 2020 Stream?

For as long as there have been talks of an Uncharted movie, there have been calls for Nathan Fillion to play Nathan Drake. The actor's sarcastic demeanor and physical similarities make him a natural fit for the character, and a deepfake video shows just how easily he could settle into the role. Of course, the technology is also downright unsettling.

Taking a scene from 2016's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, YouTube user Jarkan used deepfake technology to replace Nathan Drake's computer-generated face with Fillion's. The voice remains the same, and it's extremely difficult to tell the clip has been altered. No other characters were changed for the deepfake.

After the scene is played in full, you can view a side-by-side comparison of the deepfake clip compared to the original game. Nathan Drake certainly has a more expressive mouth, but the resemblance is uncanny.

Call of Duty games have occasionally featured third-person modes over the years, but 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is not one of them—or it wasn't one of them. A glitch discovered in the game's Survival mode on PS4 turned the game into a third-person shooter for one player, and it shows potential for an official mode.

Discovered by Reddit user Tkade14 by accident, the third-person "mode" in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare puts the camera far behind the player-character, and their movement remains smooth enough that it doesn't look like a glitch. The player stuck with a knife for much of the footage and no target reticle made shooting a challenge, but they still managed to take out several enemies first.

It isn't the only instance of the glitch happening recently. You can watch another video, also in Survival mode, below.

Disappointingly, there’s not too much munching going on in the trailer for Noita‘s Feast update. Unless, of course, developers Nolla Games are serving up a banquet of roast witch. But rather than sausages or salads, Noita’s platter is a deadly one. Released this week, Feast adds a bounty of spells, artefacts, environmental overhauls and more to the procedurally destructive dungeon-delver.

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[Update: Square Enix released the PS4 Tifa theme for free on the US and EU PSN stores.]

As you may recall, there's a ton of different PS4 themes for Final Fantasy VII Remake, but one of them, at least in the US, has a really strange promotion attached to it.

Yes! It's the Butterfinger (and Baby Ruth/Crunch Bar) one! The really serene "Promise at the Water Tower" theme featuring Tifa. That awesome one with the great color scheme that totally befits a PS4 menu. That same theme that requires you to buy candy bars and prove that you bought them.

Step one: create a Japanese PSN account or log in with your existing one. If you don't have one yet, get one! This tutorial is particularly quick with no nonsense. It's imperative for random stuff like this. Step two: go to this URL and grab the theme, or search for it on the Japanese PSN as "Final Fantasy VII Remake Tifa theme."

That's it! No candy (or jacket) required.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Dynamic Tifa Theme [PSN JP via xenosaga7]

The new Predator game is out and it’s fine. But it does offer a nice selection of masks for fans to unlock and wear. But a mask is more than just a mask. It is a window into a person’s soul. Or in this case a Predator’s soul. So let’s figure out what each mask says about you and your Predator.

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Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Houndoom!

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Destiny 2 players have encountered a glitch that has offered a glimpse into the future of the Tower.

Bungie's shooter is currently in the middle of its 10th season, dubbed Season of the Worthy, and a storyline that involves The Almighty plummeting towards The Last City. The Almighty is a massive Cabal superweapon that was left broken and orbiting the Sun at the end of the Destiny 2 campaign. Now, after a desperate Psion Flayer set The Almighty on a collision course with Earth, players are trying to use the warmind Rasputin to destroy it.

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD.

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Cblogs Recap: Week 18

-Shoggoth2588 announces May's Band of Bloggers prompt, which is all about canceled games.

-Spazzzh20 imagines how the pacific theater in World War II can make for a great Call of Duty story.

-Gus TT Showbiz and his friends are attempting to platinum Fallout 76 and you can follow their journey in doing that.

-Gus TT Showbiz in the second part of his Fallout 76 odyssey.

-Nior shares his thought on playing Tristram which still scares him sometimes.

-Taterchimp announces doing a Final Fantasy XIII charity stream today.

-JoLoBird shares his list of Top 10 games and is inviting the Dtoid community to do the same in his blog.

-Black Red Gaming ranks the Splinter Cell games and tackles Splinter Cell: Blacklist here.

-Shoggoth2588 responds to April's Band of Bloggers prompt with a blog about truly trollish moments in video games.

-LaTerry responds to April's Band of Bloggers prompt by writing about the trollish levels in Mario Maker 2.

This week on Snapshots a skateboarding president, a big dog, a sad hug, gruff cowboy closeups, Spider-Man kicking in the air and a photo taken right before tragedy.

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Watermelons could be found hidden in a few spots throughout Half-Life 2. But for whatever reason only one melon is hidden in Half-Life: Alyx and it can’t even be seen unless players use console commands.

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Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back on the best user-created works from the Giant Bomb community! Whelp, that was a month! It's crazy to think the month of April is officially behind us, but that is indeed the case. With everything that is going on in the world, I did not think my sense of time would be this thoroughly messed up. Hopefully the rest of you have been doing well enough. We have a handful of housekeeping items that I think you will enjoy, so, without further ado, let;s jump into it!

Fate/ Grand Order is one of the most popular mobile games on the market, and figures manufacturers keep announcing new portrayals of its characters. 

This time around we get Scathach in her Heroic Spirit Formal Dress version by QuesQ and Souji Okita Alter with her stage 3 armor by Good Smile Company. 

Both are now available for pre-order at Japanese retailers like Ami Ami, where they’re priced respectively at 16,830 yen (approximately translating into $158) and 20,580 yen ($193).

Scathach’s release is a whole year away (May 2021) and her scale is 1/7.

She’s approximately 25 cm tall, and she’s sculpted by Mederukin with the prototype painted by Ayumu Itsukaichi. 

“From the smartphone RPG “Fate/Grand Order” comes an figure of the Shadow Country’s Queen “Scathach” in a gorgeous dress seen for the Heroic Spirit Formal Dress ascension!

For this truly impressive figure she stands beautiful and tall while the ornamentation is dazzling enough to mistaken for a star.”

Souji Okita is even further away, coming in October 2021. Sculpted by  Beehive and Akinori Urakawa, she’s also in 1/7 scale, 235 mm tall. 

Sculptor: Beehive, Akinori Urakawa

Immeasurable, Unhindered, Unbound. The three beams weave together into Eternity-

“From the popular smartphone game “Fate/Grand Order” comes a scale figure of the Alter Ego class servant and Counter Guardian Okita Souji (Alter) in her Third Ascension appearance.

Free 30-Day Trial | Twitch Prime

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Last week, we all learned not to wear a Halloween costume as a form of virus protection. But also, I tasked you with taking a shockingly silly and dumb idea and having some fun with it.

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From the moment you talk to a Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town love interest, you can see their heart level.

The post Story of Seasons Switch Romance Options All Immediately Have Hearts appeared first on Siliconera.

In early April, veteran voice actor Rick May died after contracting COVID-19. May was known for his work in Star Fox 64 as Peppy Hare, and the actor also played the Soldier character in Team Fortress 2. As a memorial, Valve has included a tribute to May in the game's latest update.

Listed only as "a tribute to Rick May, voice of the Soldier" in the game's patch notes, the latest Team Fortress 2 update erected statues on the game's maps as well as a changed main menu theme. Players have been hearing May's voice lines since the game launched over 12 years ago.

Some players have decided to pay tribute to May in Team Fortress 2 themselves, as well, choosing to play as Soldier and holding a ceasefire when a match begins. Instead of firing at each other, they instead fire their weapons up into the air while standing at one of the statues. Others have used Source Filmmaker to create their own short films paying tribute to him.

Project Sekai, the smartphone rhythm game featuring Hatsune Miku and friends, will enter closed beta testing on May 8, 2020.

The post Project Sekai feat. Hatsune Miku Rhythm Game to Enter Closed Beta Test On May 8 appeared first on Siliconera.

Worried about what sorts of Tales of Crestoria characters you'll get to collect? Well, three SRs will join as you work through the campaign.

The post 3 Free SR Tales of Crestoria Characters Join During the Campaign appeared first on Siliconera.

The Square Enix Stay Home and Play content drip feed begins with cheap JRPGs (for charity) and a cute coloring page.

The post Square Enix Stay Home JRPG Steam Bundle Includes Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest XI, and Final Fantasy XII appeared first on Siliconera.

The psychadelic fever dream simulator LSD: Dream Emulator has gotten an English fan translation focusing on menus and the text-based dreams.

The post LSD: Dream Emulator Will Allow Players to Experience Trippy Dreams in English via Fan Translation appeared first on Siliconera.

Today, Experience showed off an hour's worth of gameplay for Yomi wo Saku Hana, their upcoming Dungeon RPG, including character creation.

The post Check Out An Hour’s Worth of Yomi wo Saku Hana Gameplay Here appeared first on Siliconera.

The new Tamashii Nations Dragon Ball figure will be Goku and kick off a new Imagination Works line of collectibles. He looks like a super Saiyan.

The post A New Tamashii Nations Dragon Ball Figure Is an Imagination Works Goku appeared first on Siliconera.