February 2022

With just over a month to go until its full release, Sony's latest State of Play unveiled a fresh batch of details on Polyphony Digital's PlayStation exclusive Gran Turismo 7 - including some surprising new modes, a look at the vastly improved customisation options as well as a more detailed look at its new weather system.

The 30 minute presentation reestablished the line that this is a Gran Turismo game that's returning to the series' roots, with a fresh focus on optimisation and the player's journey from starting behind the wheel of a humble starter car after the more stripped-back, multiplayer-focussed Gran Turismo Sport.

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Proper weather implementation is something of a holy grail for racing games - it's why the feature bounces in and out of various series in the genre, why it's entirely absent in most and why we've been waiting for almost 14 years for it to make its debut in iRacing (can we really honestly get it this year please?)

Having had a brief glimpse at its implementation in Gran Turismo 7 in tonight's State of Play presentation, I think we might well have a new standard setter for the feature.

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Today Sony Interactive Entertainment and Polyphony Digital aired an extensive livestream about the upcoming racing game Gran Turismo 7.

The presentation showcased a few bits of data about the game, including over 400 car types, 34 locations, and 97 layouts.

We then take a look at the campaign and new features including the Gran Turismo Cafe, where you can complete “Menus” that you can complete by winning races and challenges. You will unlock the cars on the menu and learn about them.

The Brand Central location lets you purchase your favorites among approximately 300 cars. You can also find a museum for each manufacturer.

At the used car dealer you can purchase cars at a cheaper price, but some may be even more pricey than when they were originally launched.

The Legendary car dealership specializes in vehicles that have left their mark on history.

The video also showcases tracks, challenges, multiplayer, and much more. Of course, everything looks amazing, including the cars, the weather, and the sky, all the way to the precise simulation of the stars and planets in every location.

The simulation also appears to be rather advanced, including the interaction with the atmosphere and puddles.

Tuning was showcased, including a ton of performance parts that can be swapped and used to customize your cars.

Third-party developers had a ton of reveals about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator to share, alongside a couple of releases.

We start with Lionheart Creations, who provided a couple of new screenshots of the rather unique (as a matter of fact, only three were built) LearAvia Lear Fan 2100, a turboprop designed by aviation legend Bill Lear.

Your calendar is not lying. It’s only the first week of February, but according to reports, Warner Bros. has decided to get in early and kick the upcoming Suicide Squad game all the way into 2023.

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For the last few years, a Guitar Hero player called Schmooey was widely believed to be the best in the world, having racked up achievements and displayed feats that other players thought impossible. A discovery made last year, however, shows there was a very good reason for that.

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Long has the internet wondered what developer Yacht Club Games would do to follow up the success of the indie darling Shovel Knight. We now know the answer is Mina the Hollower, a gorgeous homage to Zelda and Game Boy titles of old, and we're going hands-on with the title on today's edition of New Gameplay Today!

Join John Carson and Alex Stadnik as they fill you in on everything you need to know about Mina. We detail the non-spoiler parts of the story and dive into who our new mouse protagonist is and why she's collecting as many bones as she can in the process.

After years of building out the world and characters of Shovel Knight through expansions and side adventures, developer Yacht Club Games is finally ready to create something unrelated to the dirt-digging hero. The studio is taking to Kickstarter once again to fund its newest project Mina the Hollower, which features a mousey protagonist with a familiar penchant for moving soil. I’ve spent quite a bit of time hands-on with the game’s demo, and while it’s a very early vertical slice, my first adventure with Mina offered a difficult yet promising look into what the final game may have in store.

Rami Ismail is a game development consultant, game developer podcaster, and a budding airplane pilot. You can find him on Twitter at @tha_rami.

2021 is over, for better or worse.

Let’s get two things out of the way. First, I did not play Halo Infinite. Since I was 13 years old, I have played every single Halo campaign we could with the same group of friends, in co-op. Halo Infinite does not have co-op campaign yet, which means we’re waiting until we can play it together. Second, I’ve been a bit of a mess so this list is going to be a bit of a mess.

While we eagerly await an official announcement from Tango Gameworks and Bethesda about the release date of Ghostwire: Tokyo, an upcoming PlayStation Showcase has already spilled the beans. As per the description of the scheduled video, Ghostwire: Tokyo will be launching this coming March 25.

Following its delay, fans waiting to jump into Tokyo and start blasting at spirits will get to do so in just one month’s time. Based on the various trailers that we have seen thus far, and definitely in the PlayStation showcase, this is set to be a more action-packed experience that has the signature survival horror elements seen in Tango Gameworks’ other titles.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ghostwire: Tokyo, the game was first revealed back in 2019 during Bethesda’s E3 press conference. With a release date now more or less confirmed, here’s the official story description of Ghostwire: Tokyo:

“GhostWire: Tokyo, a new action-adventure game brought to you by the team at Tango Gameworks.

Today Konami announced its financial results for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2022, which ended on December 31, 2021.

The publisher mentions that the Digital Entertainment Business, which includes console and mobile games, on top of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, performed strongly, and the other businesses are also recovering from the impact of COVID-19.

As such, the whole company’s revenue increased by 12% year-on-year, while profit grew by 30.2%.

Looking at the Digital Entertainment business, revenue grew by 6.4% and profit grew by 6.5%. year-on-year.

An interesting note comes from the amusement business, which normally takes care of the development and distribution of arcade machines. Under its umbrella, Konami has released the Konami Amusement Game Station, a service that offers access to arcade games like Bombergirl on PC and mobile platforms.

According to the publisher, this service continues to grow and enjoyed solid performance.

Nintendo Switch has now sold 103.54m units worldwide, meaning it has beaten the company's hugely-successful Wii (which finished on 101.6m).

No other Nintendo home console comes close, though the DS handheld family shifted some 154m units over its long lifespan.

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Today Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results for the first nine months of the fiscal year, related to the period ended on December 31, 2021.

We learn that the company’s net sales and operating profit have dropped respectively by 6% and 9.3% year-on-year.

That being said, the results are still extremely strong compared with historical data and lose out to the previous year just because they’re compared with the giant called Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The Holiday season also pulled the numbers for both net sales and operating profit considerably closer to the previous fiscal year’s records than they were after the first six months.

Today Nintendo announced its quarterly financial results and published an update to the number of Switch units shipped worldwide since the console’s launch.

The data is updated as of December 31, 2021, when the latest fiscal quarter (which began on October 1) ended.

Specifically, the infographic below shows exactly how many Nintendo Switch units have been shipped to retailers. 103.54 million units of the hybrid console have hit the shelves before the end of the Holidays (at least in the west. In Japan, the Holidays end in January). We also get to see software units, and numbers for older consoles.

This means that the console has shipped 10.67 million units worldwide during the quarter (compared to 3.9 million PS5 and 200,000 PS4 units shipped by Sony in the same period).

Several new cast members for the Shenmue anime have been revealed. One of the actors previously appeared in Shenmue III and will reprise her role in the upcoming anime. Furthermore, Japanese traditional rock band NARUDORA will perform the ending theme for the Shenmue anime. The song is titled "Sympathy." [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Sega revealed the voice actors for Shenhua, Nozomi, and Guizhang, along with official comments from each actor. Haruka Terui, who voiced Shenhua Ling in Shenmue III, will reprise her role in the anime series. Nozomi Harasaki will be voiced by Haruka Fushimi, and this will be the voice actor's first major role in an anime. Ryuichi Kijima, who plays Mitsuki in the Boruto anime series, will voice Guizhang.

https://twitter.com/shenmue_anime/status/1489010742758023171?s=20&t=ru8Lg_62ljGXHrfYPdGtzQ

As mentioned, NARUDORA, a 4-member Japanese alternative rock band, will perform the Shenmue anime's ending theme song. Formed in 2013, the band has frequently done street performances as well as live shows. While the title of the ending theme has been confirmed, there is no official trailer or music video as of yet.

This week is video game industry earnings report week, which means we get a sense of how well each of the major platforms is doing, like Nintendo Switch outselling the Wii and that Sony can't make enough PlayStation 5 consoles.

Amongst the news, one small nugget spotted in Sony's earnings report was how the company is going to allocate the $3.6bn it spent on acquiring Bungie.

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Following on from Nintendo's earnings report today, the company has disclosed that the Switch is only just in the "middle of its lifecycle".

During Nintendo's earning report, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said sales of the Nintendo Switch continue to grow and have already surpassed 100m units sold. While the rate of sales has slowed down over the last 12 months, something that has been attributed to the ongoing chip shortages that have also plagued PlayStation 5 sales, Furukawa is not concerned this is on ongoing trend.

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Pokémon Legends: Arceus is now the second fastest selling Switch game in Japanese history.

Physical sales of the new game in Japan hit 1.43m within three days of release, according to figures in Famitsu.

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After a busy period of acquisition announcements from both Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has been asked whether it too planned to purchase other developers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering how well it's doing its own thing, Nintendo's boss said no.

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First launched in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has now sold more units than the Kyoto-based game company’s previous top home console, the Wii.

“Sales [of the Switch] rose to the second-highest level ever, despite scarcity due to delays in production and distribution (especially in North America) since Black Friday,” stated

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You might need to wait until next year to pop Superman's eyeballs like a pair of over-ripe laser strawberries, if a rumour is to be believed. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is delayed into 2023, a new report claims, though Warner Bros haven't yet formally announced any such hold-up for the next game from the creators of the Batman: Arkham games.

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Famitsu announced that Pokemon Legends: Arceus sales during its first three days of release have reached an estimated number of 1,424,657 copies sold in Japan. The outlet counted physical sales in the country from January 28 to January 30, 2022. This number does not factor in digital sales. However, Famitsu did include sales of the physical download cards that gave buyers access to the game once they entered the serial number found within it. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

With this number, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has become the second best-selling Switch game during its launch week in Japan . It immediately went above Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The remakes recorded 1,395,642 physical units sold in November 2021. All of the aforementioned games surpassed Pokemon Sword and Shield, which sold 1,364,544 units during their first three days of release in 2019.

Bandai Spirits will release a Hololive Ichiban Kuji lottery in mid-June 2022. It will cost 700 JPY (around $6.10) per attempt. Teaser images were released, but they only show a small preview of what the prizes look like. Neither the full pictures nor the specific date for the collection are available yet. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Though we can't see the full image or product, we do know which VTubers will appear as well as the types of merchandise. The full list of merchandise can be found below:

• Minato Aqua canvas tapestry
• Inugami Korone canvas tapestry
• Usada Pekora canvas tapestry
• Shirogane Noel canvas tapestry
• Houshou Marine canvas tapestry
• Chokonokko figure
• Canvas board
• Rubber charms
• Last One Prize: Illustration board set
• Double Chance Campaign: Illustration board set

Artists who will provide illustrations for the Hololive Ichiban Kuji include magako and necomi. From the teaser, it is possible to see that necomi will draw Pekora's tapestry, while magako is in charge of Noel's. More specific information on the prizes will appear at a later date. The other artists included are Piromizu, Ryosuke Fukai, and Fly.

A recent financial report from Nintendo revealed the Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes have sold 13.97 million units worldwide. A majority of these sales came from the October to December 2021 holiday period. Total software sales in general saw a significant increase during that time period.

The latest sales numbers make Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl the ninth best-selling Switch titles to date. Of the 13.9 million units sold, approximately 10 million units were sold outside of Japan.

In comparison, Famitsu previously reported back in December 2021 that the two remakes had sold a combined 6 million units worldwide since launch. Earlier in November, the remakes had sold 1.3 million units in the first week of launch. The next best-selling titles, Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, have sold a cumulative 14.3 million units since their 2018 release.

Sales for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles have surpassed the 100 million unit mark. As of December 31, 2021, the Nintendo Switch, Lite, and OLED consoles have sold an estimated 103.54 million units worldwide. This makes the Nintendo Switch the fifth best-selling video game console in history, beating out the original PlayStation and Nintendo Wii. Currently, the PlayStation 4 is the fourth best-selling console, with 116 million units sold.

Nintendo released the total sales numbers in a recent earnings report. The 2021 holiday season proved to be an important time for the console, as the Nintendo Switch saw a large boost in sales for all three models. Specifically, the report revealed that the Nintendo Switch console sales reached 10.67 million units in FY2022 Q3 (September to December 2021) alone. That's nearly triple the amount sold in the previous quarter.

Notably, the newer Switch OLED model sold approximately 3.99 million units, with most of the sales happening during the Q3 period. Furthermore, Q3 sales were likely boosted by the release of the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes in November 2021. As such, total software sales in FY2022 so far have reached 179.29 million units.

Below are the sale numbers for each console model for the 2022 fiscal year so far:

Hello there! This is one of those wonderful occasions where we get to welcome someone new to the Eurogamer family - so without further ado, I'm very happy to introduce Victoria Kennedy, Eurogamer's new news reporter!

You might have already seen Victoria's name pop up on the site, writing about *that* fridge door in Guardians of the Galaxy, fascinating new studio Gardens or updating us on the phenomenal looking Bloodborne PSX demake, as well as making an appearance in the very welcome return of the Eurogamer Newscast - and her dog The Captain has been guest-starring in video calls since she started on Monday.

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Not to be outdone by the traditional platform holders, Facebook parent company Meta announced its earnings yesterday - and revealed the Quest content store has surpassed $1bn in purchases.

The milestone reflects a huge growth in spending on the store, which rose from a monthly average last year of $12m to $51.3m (thanks, Road to VR).

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Star Citizen, the still-in-development sci-fi game which has now earned $400m in user funding, has decided to change what goes on its product roadmap.

Developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) said it is doing this because many of Star Citizen's "most passionate players" were taking features added to the roadmap as "promises", and getting upset when they were delayed.

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Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been a massive success for Nintendo, with the title being the fourth best-selling boxed copy of the franchise in the UK, and second fastest-selling Switch game in Japan.

Capitalising on that success, Nintendo has launched a series of advertising campaigns in an unmistakably Nintendo style that targets a more casual market.

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The newly-released Bloodborne PSX demake has had an unbelievable debut, having been downloaded more than 100, 000 times in less than 24 hours.

The recent demake from Unreal Engine 4 tech artist and engineer Lilith Walthe saw Bloodborne going back to Sony's PlayStation 1 roots. Gone were the more realistic graphics of modern games, and in place fans were treated to a wonderful and pixelated nightmare. Eurogamer's Ian Higton gave it a whirl, delighting in the demake's ability to combine two of his favourite things - Retro games and spanking werewolves.

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Monster Hunter Rise outsold Resident Evil Village last year.

Capcom has released its sales figures up until 31st December 2021, highlighting its 'platinum games' that sold over a million units.

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