June 2021

After the events of Far Cry 5, Ubisoft rightly turned up the volume for its regularly scheduled stopgap game. Rather than place you in the role of gun-wielding saviour, it allows you to become a superhero... who also happens to be quite handy with firearms.

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Hello! All this week Eurogamer is celebrating Pride with a series of stories examining the confluence of LGBT+ communities and play in its many different forms, from video games and tabletop games through to live-action role-play. Kicking things off is Jay, who explores the joyously queer world of Blaseball and beyond.

Blaseball is pretty difficult to explain. On its surface it's a browser-based fantasy sports simulator. Players with randomly generated names like Zephyr McCloud and Justice Spoon bat and pitch their way through 100 games per week for teams like the Ohio Worms and the Hellmouth Sunbeams. And also along the way people get incinerated, or do sick skateboard tricks, or have run-ins with gods.

Blaseball is also pretty commonly regarded as a queer game. That might seem odd, at first, because none of the characters exist beyond lines of text describing their hits, strikes, or untimely deaths. But fans have become a buzzing, communal lore factory, turning the game into something much richer.

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Not only will Kazuha appear for players to pull for, but a weapon specifically designed for him will debut as well.

The post New Genshin Impact Story Quest Will Focus on Kazuha appeared first on Siliconera.

It's been a while since we last heard from a group of modders who decided they'd make their own Dark Souls "sequel", Nightfall. But they've re-emerged with more details on the project, as well as a release date. I am ready to return to Lordran, but I am scared.

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This weekend I have been playing and absolutely loving Laybrinth City: Pierre The Maze Detective. It's an animated, interactive puzzle game that's sort of a cross between Where's Wally and Hidden Folks. In it, you (Pierre, the Maze Detective) must hunt down the mysterious Mr. X, who has stolen the Maze Stone from the local museum and is using it to turn everything into a maze. This is causing no small amount of havok.

It's a beautiful game, with the mazes growing in complexity and size as you go. You start off in the museum, where the exibits have come to life. The city streets are overrun with a festival. Later you enter a magical forest, and run around the giant trees. There's also a magical city-castle, where the statues have come to life and are rebelling against being statues. It is - perish the word - absolutely charming, and full of details. But after playing for a few hours, I realised it didn't remind me as much of Where's Wally as it did of the Usborne Puzzle Adventures.

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Team Fortress 2’s population apparently soared following a patch that took aim at the game’s bot infestation. The June 22 patch had some specific tools to deal with the non-playing spambots that were flooding the game with abusive chat and game-breaking bugs. Now server owners can block new players from immediately launching a votekick, and limit the number of name changes during a match (to mimic other players). The update was followed by a new peak of 151,253 people in-game, the largest number since December of 2020.

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A new Mana game is in development for console.

That's according to franchise producer Masaru Oyamada, who was speaking during the Mana series' 30th anniversary live stream, below (thanks, Gematsu):

"We wanted to announce it by running a cool trailer, but we're only at the start of the 30th anniversary," Oyamada said.

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River, the real-life dog who inspired Dogmeat from Fallout 4, has passed away.

Joel Burgess, studio director at Capybara Games and former developer on Fallout 3, 4 and 76 at Bethesda, took to Twitter to look back at her impact on Fallout 4.

Dogmeat is a recurring dog non-player character in the Fallout series who acts as a possible companion to the player. Dogmeat is one of the most popular companions in the series, and was even a part of trailers made to promote Fallout 4.

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Siren Maniacs might have a third re-print depending on demand. It comes with a short comic by Junji Ito.

The post Official handbook for Siren, Siren Maniacs, May Have Re-Print appeared first on Siliconera.

Items include guitars, socks, umbrellas, yukata, and neon lights.

The post PARCO and Super Mario to Collaborate on Items Like Yukata appeared first on Siliconera.

South Korean company Krafton, which owns popular battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, took part in the investment round alongside others. ...

Today Sega released two more character trailers in English of the upcoming action game Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles, known in Japan as Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hinokami Keppu Tan.

The trailer focuses on Shinobu Kocho and Kyojuro Rengoku. While voices are in Japanese, we finally get English subtitles, making everything easier to understand.

You can find all the videos below.

Today Furyu released a new trailer of its upcoming JRPG Monark.

The trailer showcases the opening cutscene of the game, including the theme song.

You can check it out below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Monark, it’s a school JRPG developed by a team composed by multiple Shin Megami Tensei series veterans.

The game is coming to Japan on October 14 for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. After that, NIS America will publish it in the west for the same platforms plus PC in early 2022.

Below you can read a brief official description that gives you the gist of the story.

“Could you face yourself and the threats around you to save the ones you love? Shin Mikado Academy is engulfed in a madness-inducing Mist, and only you can save everyone inside. Develop your Ego to break the pacts set by the Pactbearers and remove the corrupting Mist.”

Atlus has released another brand new trailer of its upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V, focusing on one of its many demons.

We get to see the demon Turdak in action, following the previous videos we saw over the past few days featuring Jack Frost, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Amanozako, Angel, Daimon, Mermaid, Mandrake, Arioch, Kumbhanda, Feng Huang, and Inugami.

You can enjoy the trailer below.

Hikaru Utada, one of the biggest selling artists in Japan, has announced that they are nonbinary.

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This weekend, Square Enix held a Mana livestream, which announced a slew of new stuff. Great news if you’re a Mana fan!

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River, the gorgeous German Shepherd who played Dogmeat in Fallout 4, has died. She was owned by Joel Burgess, former lead level designer on the game, who would bring River into the studio so the developers could learn from her behaviour. In a lovely Twitter thread that's made me a bit teary, he talks about River's role and how she wasn't just Dogmeat's in-game model, but a companion to both the player and team.

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A Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan project is back online after Take-Two issued a takedown earlier this year.

As Eurogamer reported in February, the GTA 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan projects known as re3 and reVC were hit by a DMCA filed by Rockstar parent company Take-Two that claimed copyright infringement.

The fan-created source code for both games was made available on GitHub, offering a raft of eye-catching improvements over the original games officially available to play today on PC. (For more, check out our feature on how re3 came to be.)

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Omega Force will add even more features to the game's domestics system and custom characters.

The post Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Trailer Shows More New Features appeared first on Siliconera.

This line of inspired goods includes a bag, wallet, and watch.

The post Resident Evil Super Groupies Collaboration Items Include Watches and Wallets appeared first on Siliconera.

The TV version of Gundam Deathscythe Hell that appeared in early June 2021 was the 200th playable mobile suit.

The post Gundam Extreme Vs 2 XBoost Will Have Over 200 Mobile Suits By Adding Dijeh appeared first on Siliconera.

The OST will also come with a special code for an in-game item.

The post Final Fantasy XIV: Death Unto Dawn OST to Release in September appeared first on Siliconera.

Sponsored: New technologies and movements are starting to cater to a new culture of immersion. The companies, games and experiences that embrace those technologies will be the real social and economic winners. ...

Part 3 in a series looking at video game publishing agreements and what developers should look to change if possible to protect their game and their business. ...

WWE wrestler Booker T. Huffman has lost a character copyright infringement lawsuit against Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. ...

DLC is a great way to get players to return to a title they might have put down for a bit, and while Age of Calamity is a fantastic game, this first wave of DLC wasn’t really needed. It felt like padding to a game that was already pretty grindy and didn’t do much to enhance the experience as a whole.

The first wave of DLC has a new difficulty mode, new weapons for Link & Zelda, a new playable character, some new battles and challenges, and items to grind towards. The first issue is that this DLC is meant to be played after you beat the game as its challenges want you to be over or around level 70, so there is no use for the items you get once you finish the limited DLC.

As you beat the new battles and challenges and new ones pop up on the overworld, you quickly realize that there are only a few of them, and they’re just repeating. And to top it all off, you don’t get the new character until you do basically everything in the DLC, so you don’t get a chance to use it in the new content itself. Unless, of course, you replay them.

One of the most significant base game issues isn’t solved, and that’s the repetitive enemy roster. You fought the same old Bokoblins, Guardians, Wizzrobes, and Hinnoxes constantly, well now you’re doing it again; they’re just a bit harder. It’s tiring and at this point, feels like it’s purposely lazy. It’s cool that you get new weapons to play around with, but fighting the same old enemies immediately sucked all the fun out of it.

The new Microsoft consoles are now firmly here and present, and whether you've managed to grab a new Xbox Series X/S already, are getting ready to grab one soon or you're simply building on your lovable library of Xbox One games, there's a lot to pick from. And though the new consoles aren't likely to be discounted soon, the fact that most of the games will carry over means you can grab a deal on bestsellers now, or stack up on the best subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Live Gold for the near future.

So whether you're looking for a new Xbox Series X or S, Xbox games, controllers, Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions or accessories, there are plenty of great deals to tuck into this month.

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Last week, Valheim developer Iron Gate rolled out a patch that was intended to provide players with an extra level of challenge: enemies were tweaked to be more aggressive towards structures, meaning players would have to be more proactive about defending their homes. But some players feel Iron Gate went overboard with these changes, highlighting that the patch has resulted in some strange enemy behaviour - along with the wanton destruction of property.

Over on the Valheim subreddit, players have argued that Valheim's monsters are now too eager to attack buildings, sometimes opting to destroy structures even when standing directly next to the player. This has led to some "immersion-shattering" enemy behaviour, with monsters looking uncertain about who they should be attacking. Some players, meanwhile, are simply exasperated at the amount of damage now being caused in monster raids.

"Earlier today I had a troll invasion and I had three trolls attacking my base non-stop," said Reddit user Squatch11. "I literally couldn't get them to attack me. Half of my base was destroyed before I managed to kill them."

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New SSBU Mii Fighter DLC showed up when Masahiro Sakurai showed off Kazuya, and it will add Dante, Lloyd, and Shantae to the game.

The post Next SSBU Mii Fighter DLC Update Adds Dante, Lloyd, and Shantae appeared first on Siliconera.

During the Kazuya SSBU presentation, Masahiro Sakurai also showed off some of the upcoming amiibo for characters like ARMS' Min Min.

The post SSBU Min Min amiibo Shown Ahead of Its Debut Next Year appeared first on Siliconera.

Get ready for a little Tekken to invade SSBU, as Kazuya Mishima will show up in the game later this week and bring new Spirits, songs, and a stage too.

The post The Kazuya SSBU Release Date is Set for This Week appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest Kazuha Genshin Impact video is here and shows him attempting to write a haiku while also dealing with Beidou and bad guys.

The post Kazuha Tries to Write a Haiku in His New Genshin Impact Video appeared first on Siliconera.

A total of three charging stands are available, with each featuring a unique design.

The post Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Charging Stands Available to Pre-Order appeared first on Siliconera.

The opening movie features a new song by Japanese Virtual Artist KAF.

The post Monark Opening Movie Features 2D and 3D Animation appeared first on Siliconera.

Get ready for the next battle

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The Tachyon Anomaly Event is about to be full time

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The comedian’s lifetime online explains the heart of most of his new songs

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A mobile RPG in the Nier world

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He’ll join Shantae, Skyrim’s Dovahkiin, and Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia

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‘You can’t save yourselves, but you can save your legacy’

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