January 2021

We've made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today.

Now that the PlayStation 5 is out, Sony is turning its attention to its new console. In Japan, that means almost all its attention, leaving only the standard slim Jet Black 500GB PlayStation 4 as part of the old-gen line-up.

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UPDATE 8/1/21: Following Twitch's removal of the PogChamp emote earlier this week - a decision made in response to controversial remarks by Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierre, who inspired the original emote - the company has announced it will be introducing a new PogChamp emote, each featuring a different face, every 24 hours.

Twitch previously pledged to work with its community to design a new emote for the platform, and, in that spirit, has made the decision to adapt an idea presented by gaming personality Sean Plott. "Create a database of streamer and/or general faces," Plott suggested in a tweet directed at Twitch yesterday. "Whenever someone types PogChamp, display one of those faces at random. Would give a really nice crowd feel to a chat spamming PogChamp and allow the meaning to be tied to all of us instead."

Responding to the post on Twitter, Twitch wrote, "You know what? In the spirit of figuring out 2021 together, let's just roll with it for now!". Rather than serving up random emotes on request, however, it will be introducing a new PogChamp every 24 hours, starting today, 8th January, with an emote based on fighting game streamer Kenny "UnRoolie" McWild - who put his own name forward as a replacement in a tweet yesterday.

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A new Sailor Moon Eternal trailer shows off the villains, including the Dead Moon Circus. Get a glimpse of the Super Sailors in action!

The post New Sailor Moon Eternal Trailer Includes Many Familiar Faces appeared first on Siliconera.

The iconic basketball manga Slam Dunk is getting a new feature animated film.

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Twitch have removed the popular PogChamp emote from their streaming platform, following comments made by the emote’s star about the violent riots in the US Capitol last night. The announcement came just a few hours after the face of PogChamp, fighting game personality Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, made inflammatory remarks about the riots on social media, “encouraging further violence”.

“We can’t in good conscience continue to enable use of the image”, Twitch said.

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After Raven Software nerfed a handful of Call Of Duty: Warzone‘s most overpowered guns yesterday, I thought that maybe the reign of the DMR rifle was over, that maybe I could enter a lobby and not get blapped to death in a matter of seconds. Turns out I was wrong, and that these nerfs aren’t as strong as hoped.

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If you’ve been hunting for 2020’s best CPU for gaming, you’re in luck, as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is finally back in stock over at Currys in the UK at its regular price of £280.

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CD Projekt Red have denied claims made by a supposed anonymous member of the Cyberpunk 2077 development team, which included the claim that they’re planning a huge No Man’s Sky-esque “comeback” revamp in June. The alleged insider’s post has been copied & pasted around forums and recapped in videos for several weeks, probably because it gave fans hope for the game’s future while also giving rubberneckers plenty of drama to gawk at. Last night, CDPR declared it “simply not true.”

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Since England entered into a national lockdown this week I've been contacted by many CEX staff members concerned about the chain's plans to stay operational when all non-essential businesses are supposed to close, and all employees are required to work from home where possible.

CEX is one of several non-essential high street retail chains which have opted to stay open to offer click-and-collect. This is permitted by government guidelines, which describe click-and-collect as a service "where goods are pre-ordered and collected off the premises".

On top of this, CEX continues to offer the opposite service, which it terms Drop & Go. As the name implies, this offering is designed to let customers drop off used goods in-person at CEX stores after having generated a receipt for them online. Payment is subsequently made via bank transfer after the items have been unpacked by staff, cleaned and tested.

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New year; new me is clearly not a mantra that eBay ascribes too as it's back once again with yet another 20 per cent off voucher code just seven days into 2021. That's not a complaint, though, as you can use it to get some terrific deals on a number of new and upcoming console games.

If this isn't your first rodeo you'll be very familiar with the eBay stores that are eligible for the discount code. Namely, it's Boss Deals, The Game Collection and ShopTo. Of course, there is a variety of tech, clothing, homeware and other retailers all featured in the promotion too if something that isn't video games else takes your fancy.

Whatever the case, all you need to do is enter the code 'PACKUP20' at the checkout in order to get the prices below. It's live until 10th January so you've got a few days to ponder any purchases.

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KOF XIV Ultimate Edition will include the base game and all 8 DLC characters.

The post The King of Fighters XIV Ultimate Edition Includes All DLC Fighters appeared first on Siliconera.

Labyrinth of Zangetsu, a new 3D dungeon role-playing game, will attempt to return to the roots of the genre.

The post Prepare to Enter Labyrinth of Zangetsu in 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

Slam Dunk will receive an animated film shortly after the series celebrates its 30th anniversary.

The post Slam Dunk Animated Film Adaptation Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

Koei Tecmo announced it’s filing charges with Kanagawa police against a suspect for allegedly selling an unlicensed DVD filled with naked Dead or Alive characters.

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Back in July 1997, Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump. Now, twenty years later, it has become the biggest-selling manga series ever.

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[Update: Taking the lead from a suggestion by Sean Plott, Twitch has announced that, effective immediately, it will be switching out the "PogChamp" face for one taken from a database of faces, substituting a new image into the role every 24 hours. This motion will now see the famous emote represented by many of the streamers and audience members who make up the Twitch community.]

Original Article:

Twitch has pulled one of the most frequently used, community-established emotes from its chat services following comments yesterday from Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, whose face is represented in said emote.

A recognized personality within the fighting game community, Gutierrez is a Street Fighter player, host, and commentator, as well as the co-founder of video network Cross Counter TV. The "PogChamp" emote – an image of Gutierrez taken from a 2010 Cross Counter TV outtake – has for many years been used in Twitch chat by viewers to express surprise or hype.

Following yesterday's violence in Washington D.C., which saw pro-Trump rioters storm Capitol Hill in efforts to delay, disrupt, and/or overturn the results of November's presidential election, Gutierrez made comments on Twitter concerning the shooting of a woman at the scene, one of five people - including a Captiol Police officer - who died as a result of the chaos.

"Will there be civil unrest for the woman who was executed inside the Capitol today or will the #MAGAMartyr die in vain?" tweeted Gutierrez, before posting video of the fatal shooting, alongside suggestions that Twitter was trying to censor him from doing so.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) intends to investigate Nvidia's recent $40 million acquisition of chip maker ARM. ...

Once a game reaches maturity, how can it keep generating revenue and maintain player interest? We talk about that while analyzing the challenges and opportunities on PC Building Simulator. ...

Download the demo on your Nintendo Switch this evening.

The post The Monster Hunter Rise Demo Will Appear This Evening appeared first on Siliconera.

KOF XIV Ultimate Edition will include the base game and all 8 DLC characters.

The post The King of Fighters XIV Ultimate Edition Includes All DLC Fighters appeared first on Siliconera.

The new Sailor Moon Eternal trailer highlights the villains and the second half of the two-part film!

The post New Sailor Moon Eternal Trailer Includes Many Familiar Faces appeared first on Siliconera.

Takehiko Inoue announced through Twitter that his shonen manga, Slam Dunk, will receive an animated film led by Toei Animation.

The post Slam Dunk Animated Film Adaptation Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

You can now pre-order these adorable Final Fantasy XIV Fat Cat nail clippers and a strange Serpent of Ronka pencil case.

The post New Final Fantasy XIV Items Include Fat Cat Nail Clippers appeared first on Siliconera.

Cyberpunk 2077 - one of the very biggest games of 2020 and also one of the most contentious, most notably because on last-gen consoles, the experience is sub-par to the say the least. The next-gen machines fare better, but there's another contender to consider too: Google's Stadia streaming platform. The closer we looked at the Stadia port, the more interesting it became, and in actual fact, there are scenarios that see it deliver improved visuals over the Xbox Series X rendition of the game.

Following the massive video reveal aired today, Capcom released a press kit with plenty of new screenshots and artwork of Monster Hunter Rise.

We get to see more of the monsters revealed today, alongside the locales and characters included in the game.

We also take a look at gear, including the Amiibo layered armor and the Kamurai set layered armor.

You can take a look at the full gallery below.

Monster Hunter Rise will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021. A demo will be made available today until February 1.

Developer IO Interactive has today showcased the first gameplay of its upcoming Hitman VR mode, which makes playable the entire trilogy via Sony’s PSVR headset.

The montage highlights a number of iconic levels from the modern Hitman trilogy, as well as one or two of the sandboxes set to be introduced in the upcoming Hitman 3.

While experiencing the action from first-person isn’t strictly new to Hitman given that it was an intricate part of classics like Blood Money, the level of immersion in VR already looks dialled up a notch from today’s footage.

One sequence, for example, highlights the ability to tap on the shoulder of a guard before side-stepping to the other side as he turns around and knocking him out with a punch. Now that’s what I call classic deadly hitman tactics, am I right?

From the brief glimpse we’ve seen today, it certainly looks like VR has the potential to take familiar Hitman mechanics and breathe fresh life into them. And for a series that’s been around for a long time, I suspect the new functionality could very well prove a big incentive for lapsed fans to get involved all over again.

Today, during a livestream from Japan, the developers of Monster Hunter Rise provided a sizable update about the game.

First of all, we get to take a look at a new trailer showcasing various aspects of the game.

Not only we see plenty of monsters, but also the ability to ride wyverns and use their power against other monsters. At the end, we see the return of Mizutsune.

After the trailer, we see a video of a new locale included in the game.

The next video is about monsters, starting with a new one named Goss Harag.

While every other console controller on the market uses internal rechargeable batteries, Xbox’s still let you use AA batteries to power them, and new remarks by a Duracell spokesperson possibly shed some light on why this is.

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Yoshi, upon its debut, was a bright green agent of change in the Mario franchise. In its first appearance, it bursts from an egg, growing from newborn to adult in the blink of an eye. Yet for a character so tied to the concept of change and evolution, Yoshi has found itself creatively and conceptually frozen in time…

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From big players to baby cowboys

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LEGO City: Undercover, you were just six days away from retirement!

This week, perhaps to prep for a greater overall Wii U and 3DS eShop shutdown (following the DSiWare debacle), LEGO City: Undercover for Wii U and LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins were removed from the Switch and 3DS eShops respectively. The new landing site for the games simply states that "they will no longer be available for purchase."

Thankfully, these were released during a time when physical copies were more commonplace, so they can be picked up that way if you still want to play them on their respective platforms. Undercover proper was ported to several other systems, but Chase Begins remained on the 3DS.

I know you're probably balking at the idea of going out of your way to pick up The Chase Begins; but game preservation is important, and seeing anything erased from history isn't great.

LEGO City: Undercover [Nintendo]

This year sees the 20th anniversary of Microsoft's first foray into the console market, Xbox. While today the brand is a powerful name in gaming in its own right, things could've been quite different.

Bloomberg's Dina Bass has conducted several interviews with key players involved in the conception, design, and marketing of the then black-and-green brand. The conversations have turned up some fascinating tidbits regarding Microsoft's efforts to enter the console market. Perhaps most shocking of all is the reveal that Microsoft once approached Nintendo with an eye to acquiring the legendary Japanese developer.

According to the former director of third-party relations, Kevin Bachus, however, the meeting with Nintendo wasn't taken quite as seriously as Microsoft had hoped. "They just laughed their asses off," remembers Bachus candidly. "Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went."

Microsoft also approached Japanese developer and Final Fantasy-helmers Square about a possible purchase, with the deal going as far as to reach the "letter of intent" stage. Head of Business Development Bob McBreen recalls what happened next:

"We had one of those big dinners with their CEO and [ex- Microsoft CEO] Steve Ballmer," said McBreen. "The next day, we’re sitting in their boardroom, and they said, 'Our banker would like to make a statement.' And basically, the banker said, 'Square cannot go through with this deal because the price is too low.' We packed up, we went home, and that was the end of Square."

If you're anything like me, you'll spend part of your day today sifting through this new Super Nintendo World landing page; knowing full well it will be a long, long time until you actually manage to get out and visit it.

After the Miyamoto walkthrough, the fan reveal of the Yoshi ride, and the website addition for the Power-Up bands, Universal and Nintendo are finally to unveil the whole enchilada to the public. Yes that's right: the entire park is now available for virtual perusal, as well as the menus for the quick service restaurants.  Oh, and it's all in English!

When hitting the home page, you can scroll around to virtually visit the park, which takes you on a quick tour. By hitting the menu on the top left you can access several areas, including landing pages for the Mario Kart and Yoshi rides, as well as pages for the "activities" (involving the Power-Up band), which link up with the Universal Studios Japan app.

This week, Apex Legends started its Fight Night event, plonking a great big boxing ring onto the Olympus map. Challenging players to cheeky boxing matches has always been a fun part of Apex, so I was pretty excited to jump into an official ring right in the middle of Respawn’s battle royale. Unfortunately, a mere two days after the boxing ring appeared, no one seems to bother dropping there anymore.

I’m very upset. Why? Why will none of you meet me in the ring?

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It’s the new year! And, like everyone else, as the first weeks of January creak by, we turn our thoughts to Sir Anthony Hopkins, two versions of whom join us on this week’s Electronic Wireless Show podcast. Pick your favourite Hopkins in the comments. The Anthonies’ surprise appearance was precipitated by this week’s theme, via listener Malcolm, who emailed in with the suggestion ‘best whales’. Because we thought there might not be enough whales in games, we also added Wales (the country) and a special wails (the sound) Cavern Of Lies.

Tangents this week include, fairly obviously, whaling and what whales might taste like, what role Matthew would have in a whaling operation, and events we have attended where actors have been dressed as video game characters. Also: Matthew reaffirms he didn’t eat any fruit as part of his main Christmas meal.

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