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A Gotham Knights playtest was allegedly added to Steam before being removed - or hidden from public view, anyway.
Although no trace of it remains on Steam - and a Reddit post about the beta was similarly pulled from Reddit because the "automated bots think it might be spam" - details of the app remain for all to see on Steam DB, a website unaffiliated with Steam but monitors and shares information about the PC platform's backend.
Valve has revealed Steam now has over a thousand "verified" games that will play flawlessly on its new handheld system, Steam Deck.
Games that earn a Verified badge meet Valve's own "very high" standards, as described in detail in a new Steam Community forum post.
Let's talk about a Nintendo-published rhythm game that made its name on Nintendo DS and deserves a modern revival. You're probably thinking about Elite Beat Agents, but that's actually not the focus of today's discussion. However, it is important to our story, so let's begin there.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is one of the more surprising success stories from a console that was a goldmine for under-appreciated and unique creative experiences. The game's wacky premise of a cheer squad helping strangers and fighting aliens in a rhythm game played using the touchscreen earned viral success as import websites and magazines touted the wonders of this bizarre iNiS-developed curio. Fast-forward a few years and Nintendo finally rewarded eager fans with a localized release, replacing the songs with Western hits and the cheer squad with spies. To this day, Elite Beat Agents remains one of the company's more bizarre published efforts of the last 20 years.
Sundays are for opening the window a crack. Before you erase the stuffiness, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).
Elden Ring has hit a new concurrent player peak on Steam, hitting almost a million simultaneous players: 953,426 to be precise.
The new record, as displayed on SteamDB, propels it into the most played games ever chart, making it the sixth biggest game ever on Steam, having a higher concurrent player count than titles like Valheim, Fallout 4, Among Us, and Amazon Games' first MMO, New World.
What’s better than playing Kingdom Hearts on a PlayStation or Xbox platform or PC? Kingdom Hearts it on one of those other options and the Switch. In many circles, Kingdom Hearts coming to the Switch was long discussed. Considering the series began 20 years ago and has been available on seemingly every new generation of consoles, it makes sense that a Nintendo release would be the next step. What came as a bit of surprise, though, was that installments would arrive on the Switch as Cloud-based games. Rather than downloading them to your system, you play a streamed version that just isn’t as reliable as having the game directly on it, ready to play whenever and wherever.
Square Enix divided the games into three packages – Kingdom Hearts - HD: 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC. However, I didn’t pick a single one up until the day one patch had been out, so I could ideally play the optimal versions. As it turns out, it was still a frustrating task and waiting for the patch didn’t matter all that much.
Granblue Fantasy developer Cygames just hosted the 8th-anniversary livestream of the game and revealed a new collaboration for the game.
Perhaps surprisingly, the collaboration is with a MMORPG by Square Enix, but it isn’t Final Fantasy XIV. It’s actually the venerable Final Fantasy XI, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in May.
The collaboration will happen at that time, as you can see in the trailer below.
Another trailer shows the new tier 5 jobs, Paladin and Viking. Vikings will use axes and swords, while Paladins will use swords and spears. On top of that, Paladin will be able to equip new shields that will unlock support abilities. They also have different rarities.
Viking will be available on March 10, while Paladin will be available on March 24.
The rank cap is also getting increased from 300 to 325.
If you’re wondering about Granblue Fantasy Relink, news about the game was not shared. This may be surprising for some as it was for me, but in a Director’s Letter post in January (which I completely missed) Tetsuya Fukuhara did mention that news about it would come after the 8th anniversary.
Epic Games is the latest games company to suspend sales of its products in Russia whilst its unprovoked war against Ukraine persists.
In a statement shared to its social media channels yesterday, Epic Games confirmed it was "stopping commerce with Russia" but stopped short of restricting access for Russians entirely in order to "keep all lines of dialogue open".
Cover announced that it opened up auditions for male VTubers who have interest in joining Hololive EN. To date, Hololive EN consists only of female VTubers. This means that those who pass these auditions will be the first male VTubers for the EN branch.
Similar to previous auditions, the requirements are fairly simple. In the case of Hololive, Cover will provide a Live2D model and equipment. In order to successfully make an application, you must be able to continuously deliver content for a year minimum and three times a week. You must also be older than 18, and must have a history of content distribution. This essentially means that you must have some sort of experience with content creation.
The March version update for FFXI is out now, and features new content as well as various gameplay changes. Notably, Square Enix decided to postpone the second part of the planned Voracious Resurgence Chapter 7. An interview with the game's scenario writer, Masato Kato, will also appear on the WE ARE VANA'DIEL anniversary website in March.
One of the major changes coming with the March version update applies to the Treant Ambuscade battle. In addition to having lower health, the enemy's Chelate ability will now apply to summoned alter egos as well. However, Producer Akihiko Matsui noted that the player must have a food buff for the ability to activate. Matsui recommends that players use lower-value food items such as cookies, rather than expensive high-end ones.
The second part of The Voracious Resurgence Chapter 7 will go live in April rather than March. Matsui stated that the main reason for the delay was unexpected bugs that popped up during testing.
Finally, an interview with game writer and scenario designer Masato Kato will appear on the WE ARE VANA'DIEL anniversary website later this month. Prior to his work during the early days of FFXI, Kato also worked on other popular Square Enix titles such as Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. As Matsui stated in his announcement post, Kato has done very few interviews about his work at Square Enix.
Samsung has reportedly been hacked by the same group that attacked Nvidia last week.
According to Bleeping Computer, the hacking group has released almost 190 GB of confidential data and code from a number of Samsung projects, including biometric data, source code for Samsung's activation servers, and "full source code for technology used for authorising and authenticating Samsung accounts".
DLC for Mario Party Superstars may be on the way.
Though we can only take this as a rumour right now - no such DLC has yet been confirmed by Nintendo - a Reddit user (via VGC) reported that an advert on a YouTube video asked them which DLC pack they're most likely to buy: Hot Wheels Unleashed, Mario Kart 8 DLC, Animal Crossing New Horizons Happy Home Paradise, Mario Party Superstars or "none of the above".
My Nintendo is offering a Triangle Strategy alternate box art cover as a new reward. The reward costs 30 Platinum Points and will be available until July 30, 2022. The art consists of the main Triangle Strategy protagonists standing together at a gateway.
In order to obtain the reward, you simply click the "Redeem" button on the website listing. Then you can download a high-resolution Triangle Strategy alternate box art cover and print it using your home printer. Nintendo says to print it at "Actual Size" using letter-sized paper, and it recommends using "Gloss Text-type" paper for maximum effect.
Today, during the livestream to celebrate the 8th anniversary of Granblue Fantasy, Cygames revealed plenty of figures dedicated to the game’s characters.
We get to see a UFO Catcher prize figure dedicated to Siegfried that’s going to be released in August 2022, with one portraying Percival also in the works.
AmiAmi will release a figure portraying Narmaya in her Black Butterfly outfit (with pre-orders starting this year), while Apex Toys is working on Vira in her anime promo skin. She’ll be available for pre-order in summer 2022.
Prisma Wing and Prime1Studio will launch a (likely prohibitively extensive) high-end figure portraying Siegfried, with orders starting in March 2023.
Apex Toys also has Silva in her Gentian Blue skin in the works.
A scale figure of Percival in his classic armor is coming from amie and Altair, and will be sold exclusively at AmiAmi.
last, but not least, Cygames itself will publish a figure of Belial, which will go on pre-order at Granblue Fantasy Fes in December, which, incidentally, this year will be in presence.
You can see all the figures below.
There are new pieces of merchandise featuring the The Quintessential Quintuplets girls available in Japan. This time, the line involves is a selection of blankets and cushions. They are available through Animo. There are five variations of the large cushions, and two options when it comes to the blankets. [Thanks, Hobby Dengeki!]
The first type of blanket depicts the girls bundled up in their winter clothing. These outfits are also what they are wearing in the large cushions, which are 63 x 41 centimeters. The pillows are made of polyester and will cost 6600 JPY (around $57.50) each. The second blanket design shows the girls dressed up like bunny girls, with lots of casino and gambling motifs in the background. Each blanket is around 65 x 90 centimeters big, and will also cost 6600 JPY (around $57.50) each.
[gallery columns="6" link="file" ids="918954,918955,918956,918957,918958,918959"]
Sadako Yamamura, the main antagonist of the horror movie franchise Ringu, started her own official YouTube channel. Kadokawa opened the YouTube channel on March 5, 2022, as part of a promotional campaign for the upcoming Sadako DX movie. The first video featured Sadako giving a house tour. She also revealed future plans for content, which will include video game commentary and cooking food. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
Titled "Sadako's Well Living,” the Youtube channel features the iconic horror character in a more casual setting. In the first video, Sadako introduced herself and stated that the channel will show off the "teenage girl" side of her character. Sadako then crawled out of a TV set in order to give a tour of her house. Notably, the iconic well from the Ringu movie appeared in the background of her Japanese-style room.
In it, Sadako stated that she plans to show herself doing multiple things in the near future. These activities will include playing video games, cooking food, singing, and more casual content like morning routines and Q&A segments. As far video games go, Sadako will reportedly play the upcoming Dead By Daylight Ringu collaboration.
You can check out the first video below:
https://youtu.be/n71dQCpog70
The Sadako DX film will appear in Japanese theatres sometime in Fall 2022. The Sadako YouTube channel will upload more videos in the near future.
