January 2022

Warframe's next expansion will be called Angels of the Zariman.

Revealed by way of a recent developer livestream and then via the game's social media channels, Angels of the Zariman is said to be a "direct follow-up" to The New War, although the Digital Extremes team stopped short of revealing when, exactly, the new content will release, beyond confirming it'll be "coming soon" as part of the Warframe 31.5 update.

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This past week Blizzard announced a survival game set in an all-new universe. There were almost no other details about it and it was described as being at an "early stage", but it seems the studio have been working on it for close to five years already.

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On February 4th, Path Of Exile's next expansion will launch. Siege Of The Atlas will revamp the action-RPGs endgame, letting you customise it by pick-and-mixing content from previous challenge leagues. There's a dramatic new trailer below.

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miHoYo’s N0va Desktop has yet another Genshin Impact live wallpaper, with Hu Tao as the focus character this time. To use it, you will need to first download the N0va application. The wallpaper is available on both Windows PC and Android tablet devices.

In this wallpaper, which has the title “Lingering Aroma of the Solitary Butterfly,” Hu Tao stands at the edge of a pool with a fishing rod in her hand. Like other N0va Desktop wallpapers, everything moves, with lots of different angles and shots of the surrounding Liyue background. There is a brief Qiqi cameo as the two run across the bridge, as well as a scene of Hu Tao and Qiqi peacefully sitting next to each other.

For those who prefer not to have music playing in the background, you can adjust the volume in the UI. Other Genshin Impact live wallpapers from N0va Desktop include characters like Keqing, Tartaglia, and Diluc. There are also live and static wallpapers for other miHoYo games such as Honkai Impact 3rd and Tears of Themis.

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon.

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Nintendo has once again taken aim at YouTube channels streaming soundtracks from its games.

The takedowns started over a year ago now, in December 2020, after which Nintendo fans hit back at the decision to block the soundtracks of games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart Wii by trolling the company on social media.

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Microids has been engaged to create two new video games based upon the words - and worlds - of Agatha Christie.

The French publisher will reportedly "take players into the detective Hercule Poirot's universe through a revisited classic and a brand new adventure", suggesting at least one of the new projects is an entirely new story.

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God of War's latest PC patch is here, and as well as a handful of bug fixes, it's also bringing a DLSS sharpening slider, too.

In a modest update over the weekend, the PC team at Sony Santa Monica deployed Patch v1.0.4 for the critically acclaimed game, which also includes a fix for unresponsive Atreus so that his state is reset if you restart from your checkpoint. It also addressed an issue where "control functionality would be lost if opening inventory during realm travel sequence".

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Me, in 2000: ah, so shaders can make textures in Quake 3 look glowy or wibbly. Me, in 2016: oh, okay, so shaders can also be used to create shoals of fish in Abzu. Me, right now: wait, so shaders can also be used to tell the story of a planet over four and a half billions years, from a lump of molten rock to the formation of mountains, rivers, and human cities.

Humanity, an in-browser shader created by David A. Roberts, is worth the four minutes it takes to watch.

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Halo Infinite has been having trouble with its Big Team Battle mode since launch. Attempts to fix it before Christmas and earlier in January largely failed, with the mode available but matchmaking issues making it near-impossible to play for some.

Now 343 Industries think they've fixed the issue, with a patch due to be deployed sometime after February 3rd.

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Microsoft are making their auto-renewing subscriptions more flexible under pressure from the CMA, the UK's Competition And Markets Authority. The regulator's investigation began in 2019 and ended this past week, with the CMA saying they had "secured undertakings" that impact Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass. The changes include Microsoft refunding and even cancelling subscriptions in cases where customers "haven't used their memberships for a long time."

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All Elite Wrestling is releasing three new Street Fighter collaboration t-shirts. Each t-shirt features one AEW pro wrestler duking it out with a popular Street Fighter character. The standard t-shirt is available for $37.99 until February 9, 2022, at 1 p.m. Eastern.

There are a total of three t-shirts featuring pro wrestlers Britt Baker, Bryan Danielson, and Darby Allin. Baker faces off against Chun-Li, Danielson against Sagat, and Allin against Dhalsim. Each t-shirt only comes in one color, with Danielson's t-shirt in red and the rest in all black. Designing the shirts is Nerds Clothing, a company that Capcom has collaborated with in the past to release Mega Man and Street Fighter merchandise.

https://twitter.com/PWTees/status/1487455620425035781?s=20&t=EwoZaSDm4k_SnovauAilYA

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All Elite Wrestling is a relatively new pro wrestling organization founded in 2019. AEW has previously signed popular wrestlers such as Kenny Omega.

Gundam Ace magazine will start a new manga series, Mobile Suit Gundam: N-Extreme, beginning with the February 2022 issue. This manga is based on the Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. 2 XBoost arcade game and is part of Project N-Extreme. Takashi Minakuchi will work on the manga. [Thanks, ANN!]

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News is scarce on what Mobile Suit Gundam: N-Extreme is about or who the main characters will be. Takashi Minakuchi usually collaborates with an author for manga, providing the illustrations while the author pens the story. He drew for Mamare Touno’s Houkago no Trattoria and Shin Araki’s Hero Classroom.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. 2 XBoost launched in Japan in March 2021 and is part of the 10th anniversary of the Extreme vs. series. The game features units from Mobile Suit Gundam to Gundam Build Divers, with over 200 units available. You can play the game in arcade centers in Japan, and there is no official English version in the works.

If you’re into the military flight simulator DCS World, you’ve likely heard of developer Heatblur Simulations. Recently, they announced a new aircraft.

The developer well-known for its popular F-14 Tomcat module revealed the development of the F-4E Phantom II, which was teased by Eagle Dynamics in a previous trailer.

At the moment, there’s no release date besides a generic “2022,” no pricing info, nor any clear image of the aircraft, but you can watch the trailer below.

If you’re unfamiliar with DCS World, it’s a gorgeous and extremely realistic free-to-play sandbox combat flight simulator for PC that offers a giant lineup of DLC aircraft for those who want to expand the experience.

Incidentally, Eagle Dynamics recently launched a new free trial program that lets you enjoy modules for 14 days every six months for free while you decide whether to purchase them or not.

Here’s how its developers introduce it.

Today Paradox Interactive released a new video about the upcoming major expansion to Crusader Kings 3, Royal Court, which was announced back in May.

The video focuses on explaining a couple of interesting elements coming or being expanded with the DLC, including artifacts and events.

You can watch the video below, alongside the previous one on the basics.

Royal Court is going to launch on February 8, 2022, and below you can check out a summary of its features.

The air date of the upcoming Halo TV series has been announced today on Twitter.

We learn that it will launch on March 24 on Paramount+ bringing the adventures of Master Chief to another kind of screen.

You can check out the teaser below, with a full trailer expected to launch later tonight.

A YouTube channel that uploads video game soundtracks has reportedly been sent over 1300 copyright blocks in one day. This news isn’t shocking if you know Nintendo’s track record when it comes to fan creations and communities, but it’s still a frustrating situation as much of the music that is removed from YouTube is…

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Paramount+ is getting ready to share a fresh look at its upcoming TV show based upon Microsoft's fan-favourite shooter, Halo.

In true Hollywood style, Paramount dropped a trailer for a trailer, giving us a 21-second peek at the big teaser that's set to debut during halftime at the AFC Championship game later today between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs.

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For a limited time, Nijisanji will have goods of Lazulight in their new outfits. As a reminder, Lazulight consists of Pomu Rainpuff, Finana Ryugu, and Elira Pendragon. Orders are open from the Nijisanji website from January 29 to February 18, 2022.

There are two kinds of Lazulight merchandise that you can buy from the Nijisanji website. There are acrylic stands that cost $19.35 each, and badges that cost $8.80 each. The scheduled release window is around late March. Additionally, the website lists the shipping as 2200 JPY ($19.10), though the pricing may change depending on country.

Lazulight debuted their new models on January 29, 2022. All three of them have a mix of Asian and lolita aesthetics in their outfits, with the cross fronts, big sleeves, and frills. Pomu looks like a wa-loli maid, with her hair in twin braids. Meanwhile, Elira has short hair and Finana has her long hair in twin buns.

Most shopkeeping games in my Steam library revolve around earning money to pay off debts. There's nothing wrong with those; they've provided me with several hours of enjoyable gaming. But sometimes you want something a little different. In walks Strange Horticulture with its intriguing take on the genre, weaving mystery and adventure into the mix.

Strange Horticulture sells plants, fungi, and herbs to aid (and abet?) customers who darken your door. Some have serious ailments, such as insomnia or memory loss. Others have more nefarious reasons for coming to you. Things start out small. You have a limited supply of plants and your botany guide only contains information on about a dozen varieties. Correctly identifying plants rewards you with new pages for your guide. Need a quick break from the stream of visitors? Your cat Hellebore is always around for pets (oh that purring!) whenever you'd like.

[caption id="attachment_913116" align="aligncenter" width="600"] So many plants![/caption]

Sega and Creative Assembly released another brand new trailer about the upcoming Warhammer strategy game Total War: Warhammer III.

This time around, we take a look at the Soul Grinders, half-demon, half-machine, available for all four chaos factions.

You can watch the trailer below and read our brand new hands-on preview.

If you’re unfamiliar with Total War: Warhammer III, which is coming for PC (including Game Pass) on Feb. 17, 2022.

Nexon and Arc System Works released a video focusing on one of the music tracks included in their upcoming fighting game DNF Duel.

The video lets us listen to the “TroubleMaker” track that serves as the background music of the western-inspired “Moonlight Tavern” stage, which we also see portrayed without characters.

This follows another similar video focusing on the “Upward” track, and another featuring “On the Sea.”

You can listen below.

DNF Duel doesn’t yet have a full slate of platforms, even if we know that it’ll at least come for PS5, PS4, and PC. an open beta test for PlayStation platforms only was recently hosted and you can check out more videos showcasing the basics of the game.

Square Enix is releasing a new album dedicated to the beautiful music of NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, and today we get a trailer.

The album provides a choral arrangement of ten songs of the game, which is extremely fitting considering the nature of Keiichi Okabe’s music.

It’s releasing between March and April (depending on the region) and can already be pre-ordered at the Square Enix official store both in North America and Europe.

Here’s how Square Enix describes the album:

“We are pleased to present to you a choral arrangement album, featuring songs from NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, originally released on April 22, 2021 and surpassed 1 million units shipped and sold digitally*.

Zombies! Love or hate ‘em, they are still a big part of pop culture. And later this week the next big zombie game, Dying Light 2, releases for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.

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If I dumped 25,000 Lego bricks and pieces in front of you and gave you a few months to build something with them, what would you make? You’d probably be more concerned that I dumped all that plastic on you. But one Zelda fan and Lego builder took all those blocks and created a marvelous looking recreation of the…

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While it was teased in December, the first full trailer for the upcoming Halo TV series was just released and it looks, if nothing else, very expensive.

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All Nippon Airways is now flying an airplane featuring characters from Demon Slayer. Starting January 30, 2022, the airplanes began flying from Haneda Airport in Japan. Videos of the jet plane are available to watch on ANA's official Tiktok account.

Each side of the airplane has different designs. One side features Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke in the midst of battle. The other side features Tanjro in a black and white, calligraphy-style design. ANA originally announced the collaboration in late 2021 and has been teasing the airplane's full design via social media. In addition to the new hull designs, the planes also sport various Demon Slayer-themed travel goods and assortments during the flight.

If you'd like to see more, the #鬼滅の刃じぇっと Twitter hashtag comes up with posts showing off the airplane's exterior, interior, and promotional goods.

https://twitter.com/ANA_Group_News/status/1487325985616072705?s=20&t=xQlY7vEDs5Ys-n5tlq05gA

As previously announced, a new trailer for Paramount’s Halo TV series premiered today, giving us an even better look at the much-anticipated adaptation and a premier date. 

The show starts from the beginning, with Dr. Halsey (played by Natascha McElhon) selling the UNSC on Master Chief’s exceptional combat prowess but, most importantly, his ability to be controlled. But when Chief encounters an ancient artifact, he uncovers a plot that may require him to act independently in a manner that may rub his superiors the wrong way. 

The new trailer provides the first looks at the Covenant, specifically Elites, who look pretty accurate in the brief clips of them battling Master Chief. We also get a glimpse of the show’s more human-toned (and slightly unsettling) Cortana, who is still voiced by Jen Taylor. The biggest adjustment will be getting used to Chief’s new voice, with actor Pablo Schreiber bringing him to life. Lastly, we found out that Halo premieres exclusively on Paramount + on March 24.

What do you think of this new look at Halo? Will you be tuning in on March 24? Let us know in the comments!

Third-party developers have showcased new assets of upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We start with WelshSimulations, which released new renders of the flight deck of its freeware Airbus A340.

Specifically, we take a look at part of the pedestal including the MCDU and the radios, on top of the fuselage that received windows.

A brief video shows work done on the EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) tablet.

You can follow both aircraft’s progress on the developer’s Discord server.

In November 2021, a team of fans at Zelda 64 Reverse Engineering—having spent two years on the project—revealed that they’d painstakingly recreated the entirety of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. Now, only a few months later, we’re getting a good look at one of the main goals of that project: a proper PC port of…

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In honor of the Final Fantasy VII 25th anniversary, Square Enix shared messages from FFVII Remake Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura and Producer Yoshinori Kitase. (As a reminder, Nomura was also the original game’s character designer and Kitase served as director.) In both developers’ messages, they talked about current games and teased additional FFVII projects. There are no details about what they could be, only teases that there are “new developments.”

Here is the full message from Twitter.

Quite a few new FFVII games appeared ahead of the 25th anniversary. FFVII Remake showed up on the PS4 in 2020. This first part covers the initial events in Midgar. Then, the Intergrade upgrade with additional Yuffie storyline appeared for the PS5 and PC in 2021. FFVII The First Soldier, a battle royale spin-off, debuted in 2021 as well.

Today SNK released a new trailer of its upcoming fighting game The King of Fighters XV.

This time around we get another look at a DLC costume that will be offered as a bonus with the digital edition of the game.

It’s called “Classic Leona” and it portrays her costume as it was in The King of Fighters 96. We also get some gameplay as a bonus.

You can check out the trailer just below and see it the costume in action. If you want to see another, you can check out Terry’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves Costume.

Today Marvelous Entertainment shared its financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year, related to the period that ended on December 31, 2021.

According to the documentation released by the company, net sales for the first nine months of the fiscal year were f 18,953 million yen (up 9.6% year-on-year). Operating income was 4,006 million yen (up 19.9% year-on-year).

The company’s Online Business, which focuses mostly on mobile games, actually underperformed due to the “intensifying competitive conditions” of the market. Sales for the segment were 4,571 million yen (down 21% year-on-year) and operating income was 764 million yen (down a whopping 42.6% year-on-year).

Thankfully the Consumer Business (which for Marvelous includes console/pc games and arcade games) saved the day, with sales at 11,469 million yen (up 29.8% year-on-year) and operating income up 68.7% year-on-year at 4,173 million yen.

The strength of the Consumer business was attributed to strong sales of Rune Factory 5 and repeat sales of older catalog titles on the console side, while Pokemon Mezastar was named as the strong performer on the arcade side. It has been played 100 million times by December 2021.

As a result of these factors, the company decided to increase its full-year forecast to 25,000 million yen (up from 24,000) for sales and 4,400 million yen (up from 4,000) for operating income.

The post Marvelous Announces Financial Results Growth Thanks to Console & Arcade Games; Mobile Declines appeared first on Twinfinite.

I've been fascinated lately by micro-RPGs, and specifically micro-JRPGs. Typically crafted in RPG Maker and published on Itch.io, these clever miniatures run a wide gamut, as I learned from a Twitter chat with sraëka-lillian, creator of the experimental OI series. Some, like GeaSaga from Ka·in Works, are full-scale distillations of classic role-playing narrative structures, trimming back all the grinding, exposition and angst to a limber playlength of 10 hours or less. Others snip off and spotlight cherished pieces of those larger games, like slimes or fishing - I'd love to play one dedicated to the act of Getting The Airship, or a demo compilation of Sleepy Starting Villages. Micro-JRPGs are often funny or parodic - there's a certain, baked-in whimsy to the thought of a role-playing game you can polish off in an evening - but they can also be earnest and melancholy. Facets from Far Away Times, for example, is a series of boss dungeons that form a harrowing story about erasing somebody's personality.

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has provided an update on Big Team Battle's ongoing issues and forthcoming changes to the in-game store.

In a blog post, 343 said it has gathered telemetry data from the January 19 patch--which did not fix the issues properly--and is now working on a follow-up patch that should get the mode in better shape. The patch has already been tested and it will be sent in for certification on January 31. If all goes well and the patch is approved, it will then launch for everyone on Thursday, February 3, at the soonest.

Big Team Battle has been facing substantial issues since before the holidays, so it's good news to know a proper fix is coming, and potentially soon.

As for the in-game shop changes, 343 started off by confirming that it's monitoring the feedback surrounding the recent launch of individual items for sale. Looking ahead, 343 said it understands people want to have both bundles and the items inside them available for purchase on their own. The store doesn't currently support this, but 343 is looking into how it can "better meet the needs and expectations" of fans in this department.

"Through the rest of Season 1, our focus is to provide a better offering of individual items and bundles to help players get the customization they would like without having to buy larger bundles," 343 said.