July 2020

I've been really digging the Pokemon: Twilight Wings series so far.

If you haven't seen it yet, the objective is to provide more background info on the world of Pokemon Sword and Shield, diving into the lives of gym leaders and other important figures of this generation. You can catch up on every episode here: they're only a few minutes long each.

So far we've followed the journeys of Bea, Hop, Nessa and Oleana, but this recent episode (Moonlight) centers around Allister, the Ghost-type gym leader. As expected it's short, sweet and even touching. It's also continuing the core storyline of Twilight Wings that serves as the underlying foundation of the series: the tale of John, a sick kid who resides in a children's hospital.

Seriously, there's no continuity with the "core anime" and you don't have to have Sword and Shield experience to get the gist of each episode (though it helps fill in some details). Give it a shot!

Twenty-twenty has felt as though it's lasted 17 years, and yet we still have six more months of this nightmare ahead of us. I am not looking forward to what the back half of this year has in store for us, but one thing I am looking forward to is answering your Podtoid questions.

Hearing from the community has been an absolute bright spot for the Podtoid team this week, and as it's the first new show of the month, we're reaching out to you once more looking for your questions. If you have something you want to know from us, ask us in the comments below. The more creative the question, the more likely we'll answer it on air.

Wondering where you'll watch TWEWY anime next year? Funimation has you covered.

The post Funimation Will Stream The World Ends With You Anime appeared first on Siliconera.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players have hit out at Activision for what they say are "fake" claims about this weekend's double XP promotional event.

"This is not some stupid 'conspiracy theory' that I have, It's actually true, at least in Multiplayer," explained u/Radeni (thanks, Dexerto).

"For those of you who play hardpoint, you know that if you're on the Hardpoint the moment it spawns, it gives 450 XP, so with double XP it gives 900XP (as it did before), but this time around, It's still 450XP. I hope I'm not the only one who noticed this because it's quite outrageous."

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EA has confirmed that Star Wars: Squadrons will permit players to decide if they want to see other people's customisation options in their games, as well as revealing that the flight mechanics and HUD elements will be entirely changeable and optional, too.

"Some players aren't going to want to see any of [other player's customisation choices]," creative director Ian S. Frazier told IGN. "It won't matter how plausible it is, they just want to keep it to exactly what we've seen in the films, no more and no less, and we totally get that. And so we have an option in the game to hide everybody else's cosmetics. So if you flip that on, then all of a sudden, if you want to put a racing stripe or whatever on your own TIE Fighter, you'll see it, but everybody else's is just going to look like a normal boilerplate TIE Fighter for you."

This also applies to your own cockpit experience, too; you can decide to have the information that's usually fed to your HUD display only available via cockpit instruments, for instance, or decorate the cockpit with your own good luck charms.

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Emerging at a time of unprecedented technical innovation in the arcade, the story of Capcom's Final Fight is remarkable. Building from the semi-success of the original Street Fighter, the firm revolutionised the side-scrolling brawler with the debut of Final Fight, originally known as Street Fighter '89. Brilliant art design, fast-paced kinetic fighting and a pounding soundtrack combined with the technical brilliance of the CPS-1 board to create a revelation and one year later, the game would achieve further popularity from the arrival of a mega-successful - but controversial - Super Famicom/Super NES conversion.

But that barely scratches the surface of the origins of the epoch-making arcade game that introduced Mike Haggar, Guy and Cody. In a DF Retro special, John Linneman, Audi Sorlie and a range of talking heads from the retro community aim to deliver the definitive Final Fight retrospective, starting off the deep dive into the title's beginnings and assessing the original arcade release before delivering analysis of every single conversion of Final Fight ever made, from the dual Super Famicom/Super NES releases, through the brilliant Mega-CD port (actually developed by Sega) all the way through to Mighty Final Fight, a super deformed rendition of the original game for the NES arriving years after the release of its next-gen console successor.

Giancarlo Esposito - or Breaking Bad's Gustavo Fring, as you might better know him - will reportedly star in Far Cry 6.

The news post on GameReactor that first hinted at the rumour has now, curiously, been taken offline. But as our friends at VGC report, a recent interview by Esposito in which he discusses his appearance in a "huge" video game led GamesReactor to claim that Ubisoft's as yet unannounced AAA project is a new Far Cry game.

Esposito further added that the development of the secret game required him to develop a "new style of acting".

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If Team Fortress 2‘s last update cut the fingers off the game’s unruly bots, then Valve have followed it up by cutting out their tongues. This week’s update for the venerable hat-blaster has doubled down on muting suspicious accounts, removing voice chat from players who’ve had their text privileges removed. But while that might keep the troublesome bots at bay, it seems some unlucky new players have been left without a voice in the teamwork-heavy shooter.

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This week we review GTA Online, watch a parrot attack, check out Horizon: Zero Dawn running on a PC, remember Amazon’s failed game, and debate the best Reese’s Cup shape.

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No easy answers in Night City!

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Today Yostar hosted its “Take a Stroll in Yokosuka From Home With Mikasa-Senpai” online event and had a few reveals in store for Azur Lane fans.

First of all, we get the reveal of the PR3 ships that will be released within a new collaboration with World of Warships. 

If you’re not familiar with PR or “Priority” shipgirls, they’re powerful units that require a ton of grinding to acquire and even more to grow to full efficiency. 

They will be released on July 9 and we already know that they’re coming to the English servers at the same time as the Japanese and Chinese ones.

The identity of these shipgirls may perhaps be a bit surprising for some, but probably not for those who follow World of Warships.

We’re getting light cruiser Mainz and battlecruiser Odin from Iron Blood, battleship Champagne from Iris Libre, and heavy cruisers Cheshire and Drake from the Royal Navy. 

You can see their illustrations and trailer below.

Izanagi Games announced today that their interactive movie game Death Come True will release on PCs via Steam on July 17 at 5pm JST.

The post Death Come True Will Come to Life on Steam on July 17, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

How did you expect Fortnite to celebrate the USA’s Independence Day? Fireworks, Rockets. Llamas and musicians falling from the sky? Instead, Epic have more appropriate plans for 2020’s 4th of July celebration. As Black Lives Matter protests continue into the Summer, the monolithic battle royale hopes to use its new party island to educate – broadcasting Øpus United’s anti-racism presentation We The People throughout the day.

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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 Lunatone!

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Announced this weekend at the digital FunimationCon 2020 event, The World Ends With You The Animation is a new anime launching in 2020 and is based on popular RPG game The World Ends With You.

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Blizzard has confirmed plans to merge its less-populated World of Warcraft servers with more populated ones.

In a post on the official forums, the team said the decision to "connect the low-population realms to other existing realms" will give players more opportunities without having to shell out for server transfers.

"World of Warcraft is best when you have a community of other players around you, and while numerous ways to participate in cross-realm play have been added to the game over the years, there are still many aspects of the experience that are realm-based," wrote community manager, Kaivax (thanks, PC Gamer). "From your history with your guild to your interactions with the economy around you, a realm with a healthy population provides more opportunities, and it's been several years since we last connected some realms."

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Overcooked 2's next serving of DLC, Sun's Out Buns Out, is out on PC on 5th July, 2020, with a console release coming "later this month".

The update - which is free - boasts a "new pair of lovable canine chefs who are ready to help (or hinder) players in the heat of the kitchen", summer recipes such as an ice cream float or a summer salad, new levels that take you to five new destinations, and a summer celebration with a parade in which you can "expect fireworks, confetti, and floats to spice up your game".

The new content will bring "a combo of sunshine and celebration to the Onion Kingdom", publisher Team17 said in a press release, adding: "With new chefs, kitchens and recipes, you're sure to have a sizzling good time!"

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Maxime Béland has resigned from his post at Ubisoft.

In a statement issued to our sister site VGC, Ubisoft confirmed Béland had left his position "effective immediately" but added it would continue to investigate the allegations made against him.

Béland was suspended last week as the publisher/developer reportedly put two senior executives and "several other employees" on leave as it began investigating claims of misconduct after multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment have been made against a number of Ubisoft employees, including Tommy Francois, Maxime Béland, and Andrien "Escoblades" Gbinigie.

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Good Smile Company is one of the most prominent figure manufacturers in the world. 

Its brands include the ultra-popular Figma and Nendoroid lines on top of scale figures and more.

If you have asked yourself where those figures are devised and created, Good Smile shared a couple of interesting video.

The first is a cute music video shot at Good Smile’s offices in Akihabara, mixing an upbeat song with a look at the premises and at the sculptors and painters working on their creations.

The second video is a more extensive one aired yesterday during Anime Expo Live providing a much deeper dive into the office and what goes on there.

Funnily, Muv-Luv fans may recognize a certain Lancia Stratos. That isn’t too surprising considering that Good Smile used to have a stake in Muv-Luv’s publishing company ixtl before it was acquired by Avex and renamed into Anchor.

You can enjoy both videos below.

Today MiHoYo released a brand new trailer of its upcoming open-world action RPG Genshin Impact.

The trailer is rather interesting as it showcases the day and night cycle in the city of Mondstadt and highlights another interesting feature.

The music changes dynamically with the time of day, as it was explained in the previous video.

You can watch (and listen) below.

If you want to try Genshin Impact, registrations for the beta are available at the official site.

The Reaper's Game is about to begin...

Ghost of Tsushima is out soon, but what actually happened back in 1274? Learn a bit more about the Mongol Invasions of Japan.

The post Learn More About the History Behind Ghost of Tsushima (Updated) appeared first on Siliconera.

It'ss a good time to be a shmup historian, as recent years have seen both old and new examples of the genre blasting back on multiple platforms with reckless abandon. Case in point: Jaleco classic P-47 Thunderbolt, the latest addition to Hamster's Arcade Archives range.

Initially released back in 1988, (as P-47: The Freedom Fighter), P-47 Thunderbolt is one of a number of shump titles that use World War II as the setting for some fast-paced anachronistic action. Players guide a lone fighter over a dense forest, a snowy mountain range, a huge battleship and a scorching sunset, taking down wave after wave of enemy fighters attacking from land, sea, and air. Basic weapon drops offer an edge in combat, while speed boosts help the player successfully evade returning fire.

You can check out the sky-high action in the video below, courtesy of World of Longplays.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: World Preview | $22 | Amazon

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Phineas and Ferb, the well-liked Disney cartoon with the extremely angular-headed protagonist, has been off the air for a solid five years now, which makes the impending release of a movie very welcome. Now that movie has a release date.

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During a panel at KurotsukiCon, publisher Sekai Project’s CEO Chris Ling had a few interesting announcements to share.

We learn that the localization of Harumade Kururu by Sumikko Soft is nearly finished and a build for QA should be coming soon. The Steam release is slated within 2020.

Love’s Sweet Garnish 2 by Canvas and Garden should be released in 2020 in English with a release in Chinese coming first in Q3. 

Sekai Project is also confident about managing to release The Ditzy Demons Are in Love with Me – Fan Disc in 2020.

Island Diary by Watakubi is nearly complete with the English translation already done and edited. It’s coming in winter 2020.

Below you can check out a few development assets. 

Today Teamkill Media provided another small glimpse of its “Cosmic Horror” game Quantum Error.

The video, posted to celebrate Independence Day, actually showcases the game’s RPG (as in Rocket-Propelled Grenade launcher, not Role-Playing Game) tested with what is likely a custom firework-like explosion effect shattering zombies into pieces with the explosion.

You can check it out below. 

Quantum Error is coming for PS4 and PS5. 

If you want to see more, you can enjoy the first trailer from a few weeks back and a second video. You can also read about the story below.

“When the Monad Quantum Research Facility – 30 miles off the shore of CA – is attacked by an unknown entity, engulfing the complex in flames and putting it into a full containment lock-down, a distress call is sent for mutual aid to the Garboa Fire Dept in San Francisco, CA.

Fire Chief Sturgis answers the call and sends you – Capt. Jacob Thomas – your partner Shane Costa and a crew by helicopter to the Monad Facility.

Following the latest closed beta of Blue Protocol, its Bandai Namco has been somewhat silent besides a livestream in which the development team addressed beta feedback.

Today they finally took to Twitter to provide an update alongside two new screenshots showing one of the game’s characters and what appears to be a demon costume and accessories 

The developers mention that they will work hard on development for a while in order to make sure that player feedback is reflected in the game.

While it won’t come at regular intervals, they will keep sharing news on the situation of development via Twitter.

Today Izanagi Games announced the release date of the PC version of the cinematic adventure game Death Come True.

The game will launch on Steam on July 18, so it’s only a couple of weeks away from release. 

The Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android versions are already available, but the announced PS4 version is still pending.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, Death Come True is the latest work of Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka.

You can read an official description below.

Is this a movie? Or is it a game? The second teaser has been released for Death Come True, the new FMV game from Kazutaka Kodaka, creator of the Danganronpa series.

IzanagiGames Inc. (located in Tokyo, Japan and led by CEO Shinsuke Umeda) has released the second teaser for Death Come True. The game is a new full-motion video game written and directed by Kazutaka Kodaka, creator of the Danganronpa series.

Appearing in Death Come True will be Kanata Hongo (as the main character Makoto Karaki), Chiaki Kuriyama (as police investigator Akane Sachimura), Win Morisaki (as police investigator Nozomu Kuji), Yuki Kaji (as the hotel concierge), Chihiro Yamamoto (as psychopath girl Nene Kurushima), and Jiro Sato (as news anchor Kenichi Mino).

Music will be done by Masafumi Takada, the composer behind the Danganronpa Series, The Evil Within, killer7, and more.”

An Mahotsukai no Yoru English translation is in the works, and this one sounds like it won't be dropped halfway through.

The post Type Moon’s Mahotsukai no Yoru Is Getting a (New) English Fan Translation appeared first on Siliconera.

Cblogs Recap: Week 27

-LaTerry reveals this month's Band of Bloggers prompt, which is all about water levels in this summer month.

-Rico the Penguin debates the idea of video games costing more.

-Nior goes into a deep and excellent analysis of The World Ends With You.

-Shoggoth2588 gushes about the Coromon demo.

-Exber shares with us the list of GOTY awards of games he played in 2019.

-Black Red Gaming shares his five most anticipated game releases in July.

-Shoggoth2588 gives us an update on his June gaming habits.

-BRAVO F1VE reviews Ori and the Will of the Wisps and finds it a worthy successor.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between some tunes in Chrono Cross and some folk music.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of several games to some popular music.

-Exber writes a poem inspired by Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

This week on Snapshots: Some more Last of Us 2 photos, a demon covered in sparks, a sad angel, some gorgeous environments, and a Spider-Man spiral.

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The loveable mascot from all the Fallout games was recently added to Smash Bros. So, it felt like a great time to have some fun with Vault Boy and I asked you creative people to spread Vault Boy to other games.

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The evening sky is overrated. Don’t go there for awesome fireworks. Look at these clips of video gaming’s best fireworks. We’ve got to start with Mario.

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Diablo III's Season 21 content is now live for all regions and platforms, bringing with it new class sets, item and skill changes, and season journey rewards. You'll be able to get cosmetic rewards previously available from Season 9 as part of the content update, but there are a couple of new additions, as well.

Season 21's theme is Trials of Tempests, and during the season your character will occasionally channel an elemental power that you can utilize for a short time. You can crush enemies with snowballs, breathe lightning, rain meteors, conjure a flame wall, or even cast tornadoes.

Those who complete the season's journey in the Trial of Tempests will get the Stupendous Contraption pet and the Industrial Portrait frame. This is in addition to the Season 9 items that are also available for completing it.

July is here, and it's shaping up to be another busy month for Pokemon Go. On top of all the in-game events Niantic has lined up over the next few weeks, a new batch of Field Research tasks is now live, and if you complete enough of them, you'll earn a new Research Breakthrough reward: Larvitar.

Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in July, your reward will be an encounter with Larvitar, the base form of the powerful Tyranitar. There's also a chance that the Larvitar you encounter will be Shiny, so there's a good incentive to complete as much Field Research as you can this month.

As a refresher, Field Research tasks are distributed via Poke Stops. The first one you complete each day will net you a stamp, and collecting seven stamps will lead to a Research Breakthrough. You can see the full list of July's Field Research tasks, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.

Ubisoft executive Maxime Beland has resigned from his position on the company's editorial team following accusations of assault and sexual harassment. Beland had previously been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation, and the investigation is continuing despite his departure.

Ubisoft confirmed Beland's resignation in a statement to GameSpot, adding that VP of editorial and creative services Tommy François has been placed on disciplinary leave as a second investigation is conducted and one employee from Ubisoft Toronto had been fired outright.

Watch Dogs product and brand marketer Andrien Gbinigie, who was accused of sexual assault in June, worked out of the Ubisoft Toronto location. However, Ubisoft did not confirm if he was the employee in question.

“We’ll be talking about the release date pretty soon," Stratton said. "We haven’t announced that yet – I can’t do that now. It’s really made great progress. Panic Button, the studio we work with on that, as I’ve said before they’re masters of the platform. … we released Doom Eternal on all the same platforms we released Doom 2016, and I thought that was a real feather in the cap of our tech team, and I think this will be the same for Panic Button and our engine team as well because it kind of starts with their core that gets passed along and the optimization that’s done. I think it’ll be every bit as good as Doom 2016 was, and I’m super excited for people to get it." "Doom 2016 on the Switch felt a little bit like an experiment – that type of game, the mature nature of it, and the first-person shooter, how’s it going to play? It was fantastic on the platform, so I think we’ll take another step with Doom Eternal coming out just because it’s kind of established itself as something that really does work on the Switch, and it’s such a big, fantastic game.