July 2022

Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted is working through a compelling, character-driven story, one that dives into the personal traumas of some of the game's major characters as they try to deal with the new threat presented by Calus and the Derelict Leviathan. Like the best of Destiny 2's recent stories, it relies heavily on player knowledge from past seasons and expansions.

Generally, this is great, because with Bungie building on events of the recent past, Destiny 2 feels like a world that is changing as a result of the things that happen within it. But if you missed certain previous parts of the story, like the Forsaken or Shadowkeep expansions, this season might have you a little lost.

There's a lot of backstory you need to know to fully appreciate Season of the Haunted, stretching all the way back to vanilla Destiny 2, the Leviathan raid, and more. Here's a quick history lesson that will get you up to speed on everything you need to know about the Leviathan, Nightmares, Caiatl, Crow, and everything else this season--regardless of whether you've been around since the Destiny alpha, or just jumped in with The Witch Queen.

Epic is partnering with Kaws to create the Kawspeely outfit that'll be available on July 2. Kaws is a New York-based artist who is known for his sculpture work on characters and themes. The new Fortnite skin will be another in-game variant of Peely, a well-beloved character.

The Kawspeely outfit will feature the following:

• Kaws Companion Back Bling
• Far From Home Glider
• Ripe On Time Wrap

This is the second Kaws outfit, which previously came with other pieces like the Kaws Back Bling. Those pieces are returning but will now feature the option to change their colors such as the Grey Days style and Noir Nights, in addition to the original style.

The Kaws Skeleton Outfit will also return to the Fortnite item shop alongside Kawspeely. Kaws Skeleton comes in four colors which include:

• Green
• Pink
• Bone-Color
• Orange

Kaws will also have an island in Fortnite's Creative mode that'll be a recreation of the Kaws and Serpentine Hub that launched earlier this year at London's Serpentine North Gallery. The hub will feature an art gallery full of Kaw's work, including the "Kaws New Fiction" art exhibit. The exhibit will also feature paintings, sculptures, and augmented reality artworks developed with Acute Art by Kaws. Players can visit the Kaws and Serpentine Hub inputting the island code 9441-7852-6686.

For more Fortnite news, check out these stories:

Some games make you work hard for their DLC, sometimes making you progress hours in the main game before granting you access. Others let you in right from the start. Luckily for fans of Cuphead, the long awaited Delicious Last Course DLC is an example of the latter. Here's how to reach the new bosses and adventure within minutes of starting a new save file.

Beat the first Run & Gun

After talking to Elder Kettle and completing the optional tutorial, head out the door and across the bridge. Make sure to talk with the Apple on the way, who will give you your first three coins which can be used to purchase new weapons and charms.

On the other side of the bridge, you'll see a white and red circle on the ground. This is your first Run & Gun challenge, Forest Follies. Dash and shoot your way through the killer foliage, grabbing all the coins you can along the way. Return to the map after completing the level, and there will be a new bridge leading you across the river.

The Fallout London Mod team announced that two of their team members, lead technical adviser Ryan Johnson and project lead Dean Carter, were offered jobs at Bethesda.

If you don’t know, Fallout London is an expansive mod for Fallout 4 that's scheduled to release in 2023. Set in the titular city, it’s an ambitious fan project attempting to offer an experience comparable to downloadable content Bethesda might release for the game. The team took to Discord and Twitter to deliver a general announcement, primarily focused on these job offers.

Johnson took the job he was offered: associate level designer at Bethesda. The announcement claimed that the new position will have negligible impact on the project. The announcement states, “Luckily for us, we have known about this move for a while and thus Ropiequet [Johnson's discord handle] has helped collate his knowledge into invaluable design documentation so the rest of the team can work in his stead seamlessly.” concludes by wishing Johnson well, saying "he will be missed," but also expressing excitement for the work he will do with Bethesda.

Carter was offered a position with Bethesda UK to work on Fallout 76, but declined the job to finish Fallout London. The announcement elaborated that it “isn’t easy to turn down your life dream to return to working on a project for free… his selflessness and dedication to the team is something we should ALL appreciate!”

While The Sims 4's most recent DLC pack offered players a more supernatural experience, its upcoming expansion is a return to the series' more normal content as well as the most tumultuous part of a young sim's life: high school. The Sims 4: High School Years hits PC, Mac, and consoles on July 28 and adds thrift shopping, milk tea shops, extracurricular activities, an overhaul to the series' in-game social media, plenty of new actions and character creation options, and the location of Copperdale High School.

According to the expansion's press release, The Sims 4: High School Years allows players to "live out their high school dreams as they make the most out of being a teenager, explore their identity, attend high school, and test boundaries through choices and growth."

“Sims will learn to juggle school and extracurricular events, form lifelong friends, and experience big moments like prom," lead producer George Pigula said in the press release. "They can even develop their own fashion likes and dislikes with the new Trendi app with clothes designed by Depop sellers. High school is an incredibly formative time, and we wanted to give players the chance to create and customize their own, personalized high school experiences before their Sims reach young adulthood.”

Just about every week brings something new to Destiny 2, whether it's story beats, new activities, or interesting new combinations of elements that let players devastate each other in the Crucible. Iron Banter is our weekly look at what's going on in the world of Destiny and a rundown of what's drawing our attention across the solar system.

Back in December, Bungie celebrated the company's 30th anniversary with a Destiny 2 expansion that had all kinds of fun goodies in it. There were guns and armor that referenced Marathon, Myth, Oni, and of course, Halo. There was the hilarious Dares of Eternity game show, hosted by Xur and an unfathomable horse from beyond the cosmos. There was the Grasp of Avarice dungeon, playing on Destiny nostalgia while expertly trolling the player base. And there was Gjallarhorn, Destiny 2's most iconic gun, an overpowered golden rocket launcher that fires missiles that explode into enemy-seeking bombs.

A lot about the 30th Anniversary pack for Destiny 2 was unexpected--including Gjallarhorn--but Bungie took that surprise a step further. When you earned Gjallarhorn in the game, you got an email telling you that you could also own it in real life. Sometime in 2022, the email said, players who earned Gjallarhorn in Destiny 2 would have a chance to buy a Nerf Blaster replica of the rocket launcher. Finally, that time is now.

Respawn Entertainment's free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, has always stood out from the crowd. Compared to other hero shooters and battle royales, Apex Legends' fluid movement mechanics and powerful hero abilities make for a game which appeals to a large audience. But what truly makes Apex Legends stand out in an ever-growing sea of battle royale games is the level of care the narrative team puts into writing and creating the game's characters. While plenty of games have characters with interesting backstories, very few live-service shooters feature this level of detailed lore, with individual stories that curate believable and organic characters.

Every legend is unique--each of them has highly detailed backstories, motives, desires, and pet peeves. Respawn further develops its characters by introducing relationships between the legends themselves. Some of these relationships are romantic, while others are platonic, but the ever-evolving state of each character's interpersonal relationships gives the legends an added layer of depth, with in-game voice lines that change from season to season based on plot developments from previous seasons.

From day one, Respawn has made it quite clear that it values diversity and inclusivity, and seeks to foster a similarly diverse, inclusive community among its playerbase. The game launched with an openly gay character (Gibraltar) and a nonbinary character (Bloodhound). As the game evolved, so did the roster, with later seasons introducing LGBTQ+ characters Loba, Fuse, Valkyrie, and Seer.

With another Nintendo Direct (albeit a miniature one) behind us, Nintendo has released another demo for another highly anticipated game just before its launch, this time for the remake of cult-classic JRPG Live A Live. It's a pattern that the company has established over the years and only improved over time, with many demos now featuring the ability to transfer progress over to the full games once they launch, usually weeks later. It's a free service leveraged powerfully for Nintendo's exclusives--and one that stands in stark contrast to the almost non-existent counterparts offered on Sony and Microsoft's hardware.

While both Microsoft and Sony have recently warmed up again to the idea of game demos in some form, their approaches are far from that of Nintendo. Sony, for example, is kicking off several time-limited game trials for some of its exclusives, with Horizon Forbidden West being one of the first games supported. Like with some of the offered Nintendo games, you'll be able to carry over your Horizon progress should you want to dive into the full game, too.

The catch, however, is that the Horizon game trial isn't free--instead, it's offered as a bonus for subscribers to PlayStation Plus, and only to those currently paying for the service's highest membership tier. It seems misguided to offer trials solely to customers who are already so deeply invested in the ecosystem rather than a broader group of potential new customers. That's especially true considering Sony's decision to not immediately add new exclusives to these PS Plus tiers as soon as they launch.

Respawn Entertainment released a massive update for Apex Legends this week, but it appears the patch may have caused more problems than it solved.

The patch--which was released with no patch notes beyond a vague mention of "stability improvements"--appears to have fixed the issues with Loba's tactical, which had been broken for nearly 50 days. The latest update was likely also intended to address the input lag issue that had been plaguing Xbox players since the 13.1 patch was released last week.

While we can confirm that Loba's bracelet now appears to be functioning as intended, many players are claiming that input lag issues persist. Additionally, the party chat issues that Xbox users have been experiencing for over three months do not appear to have been resolved by the latest update. Even worse, new bugs are beginning to pop up--including one that breaks the player's inventory and prevents them from using legend abilities after crafting at a Replicator.

As you may or may not know, From Software games on the Xbox One and Playstation 4 suffer from a similar problem: apparent frame rate stuttering. The effect is inconsistent, and only negligibly affects play, but is noticeable across titles on the Playstation 4, from Bloodborne to Elden Ring.

In a new Digital Foundry video, Rich Leadbetter discusses a new series of patches for From Software games on PS4. However, these patches can only be implemented on hacked PS4s and are not an official From Software fix.

The reason for the stuttering effect, is that some frames are delivered slightly slower or faster than the standard rate of 33 milliseconds. That difference in delivery appears to the eye as a stutter, even though the game is technically displaying at 30 fps.

The patches correct for this issue by ensuring that frames are delivered at a consistent rate, the same time every time. This eliminates the stuttering appearance. This fix works on Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Elden Ring itself uses a firmware that is not compatible with hacked PS4 consoles, but the patch is available for the network test, and works similarly. However, Elden Ring will still have frame-rate dips, simply because it is a more graphically-demanding game.

In the video, Leadbetter details a conversation with the patches’ creator, hacker Illusion. According to them, From Software uses its own tool for locking frame rate, which causes the inconsistency. Replacing From Software’s own code with a standard Sony frame rate call stops the issue. However, Leadbetter also found that this simple code switch creates another problem: input lag.

Final Fantasy XIV's Patch 6.2 will drop in late August and will include the highly anticipated Island Sanctuary feature. In a new live letter, the FFXIV devs revealed more about what activities players can expect.

Island Sanctuary is like a mini-farming sim within FFXIV. Players can create buildings, take care of creatures, and grow crops--all without having to level up gathering and crafting classes.

These areas will essentially act as a "base of operations" that players can create and customize. Players can also collect materials on the island and create tools. These tools will help players grow and cultivate crops on the island that are different from estate crops--plants you can grow if you own a house in-game. Materials will also be limited to the island and reside in a separate inventory space.

For the crafting element, players can create "handicrafts" that can be exported for island-specific currency. Earned currency can then be exchanged for special items.

For those without houses, Island Sanctuary is a pretty exciting development. Players can also visit each other's islands, and for the interior decorators among the players--it is a customizable venue. It also looks like Island Sanctuary is a completely separate feature from the rest of the game's economy, so there shouldn't be any major Marketboard fluctuations. Estate crops being entirely separate from Island Sanctuary's crops is a surprise, though.

In addition to offering access to a library of games across console, PC, and the cloud, Pass Ultimate also offers plenty of additional perks for subscribers. These include discounts and free items within the service, as well as through third-party applications like Discord.

Best of all, this perks have no additional cost. However, not every perk lasts forever and new things are added fairly regularly, so your time to claim them is limited. Check in on your Xbox console, Xbox Mobile App, or even the PC Xbox App to see what is offered. Once you've claimed it, be sure to check in on the relevant game or service to see if your items are there.

Here are all the perks available to claim as of July 1, 2022

Baldur's Gate 3 is set to get another major content update, Patch 8, prior to leaving early access. Patch 8 looks to be a fairly substantial update, nearly doubling the size of Larian Studios' upcoming RPG.

"Patch 8 is drawing near, and it's going to be roughly 40 GB (so make sure you have space free!), bringing the total install size for Baldur's Gate 3 to approximately 104 GB," Larian Studios writes in a Steam blog post. "As with our previous patches, saves made on Patch 7 or prior will no longer be compatible when updated."

Larian Studios is also using Patch 8 to do a little "digital house-cleaning," as the update will remove the ability to download Patches 1-5. "Patches 6 and 7 will remain available for download, but we encourage all players to update to the most recent version of the game in order to get the latest fixes and content updates," the studio writes.

If you'd like to continue your Patch 7 save file when Patch 8 comes out, follow these steps:

• Right click on the game in your Steam library
• Select properties
• Click the BETAS tab
• In the list under "Select the beta you would like to opt into," select Patch 6
• Close the properties menu

Larian Studios also notes that you should remove any installed Baldur's Gate 3 mods before updating the game and downloading Patch 8.

When World of Warcraft's Dragonflight expansion ushers in a significant rework of the game's current talent system later this year, it will do so with the goal of putting players in control, even if that means letting players make "bad" builds.

Blizzard has outlined its goals and philosophy behind the new talent tree system in a new blog post, giving players of the long-running MMORPG more details on what to expect come the arrival of Dragonflight. Certain core abilities, like basic class-defining combat abilities, non-combat related abilities, and group buffs or spells, will be obtained by each class prior to level 10 without needing to invest any talent points.

As for the rest of a class's toolkit, players will need to select them via the game's talent trees, which are reminiscent of the talent trees from the early days of the MMO. One talent tree will be for the class as a whole, while another will be for a chosen specialization for that class. Players will earn their first class tree point at level 10 and their first specialization point at level 11, after which points for each tree will alternate with each level gained. At level 70, players will have 31 class points and 30 specialization points.

That level of freedom will allow for what Blizzard calls "very bad builds," though the goal is "to keep the player in the driver's seat of their character's growth within their class."

Aniplex and Lasengle are hosting Fate/Grand Order panel at the 2022 Anime Expo, but fans unable to attend will have a place to go to celebrate the game's impending fifth Anniversary. That place? The "Metaverse". A special Fate/Grand Order Metaverse virtual space was opened on July 1, 2022, allowing fans to see some sights on their PC or mobile devices.

Check out the tweet from the game's official account promoting the Fate/Grand Order metaverse space. It's worth pointing out that this is merely a 3D virtual space, and despite recent associations with the term "Metaverse", has no connection to NFTs, blockchain projects, or cryptocurrency. The hosting app Cluster is a "social VR" app similar to the popular VRChat, allowing users to explore and congregate in virtual spaces, with or without a VR headset.

https://twitter.com/FateGO_USA/status/1542766124294582273

Interested fans will need to download the Cluster app to their PCs or mobile devices and register for a free account. Upon registering, they can visit this link or the above tweet to gain access to the special Fate/Grand Order Metaverse space through a nearby portal.

Check out the video below, recorded by Siliconera via Cluster exploring the 3D space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrphsvcJ0Z0

A Junji Ito Uzumaki Nendoroid of Kirie Goshima is in the works. Good Smile Company announced the figure at Anime Expo 2022. It also showed art of the heroine. However, there's no concept art of the chibi figure or prototype available.

Here's the official announcement for the Uzumaki Kirie Nendoroid. It suggests that the figure will feature hair with the story's distinctive spirals. Due to the nature of the reveal, we might not see an unpainted or painted prototype until later in 2022. She, alongside characters like Shuichi Saito and Chie Maruyama, is one of the major characters in the story.

Anime Expo 2022 Figure Update!

Good Smile Company
Uzumaki
Nendoroid Kirie Goshima

Stay tuned for more info!#Uzumaki #goodsmile #AX2022 #GSCatAX2022 pic.twitter.com/XFcBeKKrst

— GoodSmile_US (@GoodSmile_US) July 2, 2022

HoYoverse has finally revealed what's coming in Genshin Impact's 2.8 update when it releases on 13th July, 2022.

Entitled Summer Fantasia, 2.8 brings a new look to the Golden Apple Archipelago, as well as new events, a new character, and a sneaky peek at new location, Sumeru.

You can check out the stunning new look right here:

Read more

Concept art of the upcoming 2024 Call of Duty game and Modern Warfare 2 have allegedly leaked online.

As spotted by ResetEra, Twitter user RealiityUK - although they've had other accounts taken offline by DMCA strikes - shared the images over the weekend, posting a full thread of what seem to be loading screens from the shooter which they say were discovered in Warzone Mobile test files. [UPDATE: This account has, predictably, also now been shut down.]

If true, they show that the multiplayer upcoming maps from Modern Warfare 2 will include a Grand Prix, an oil field, and a museum, as well as others called Codename: SABA, and Hydro.

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Numskull's next Destiny statue is of a character whose voice most Guardians know well; Lord Shaxx, he of "they can't kill you if they're dead, Guardian!" fame and master of the Crucible.

An official Destiny product, this Shaxx statue has been designed in conjunction with Bungie and features "hand-painted features for extra detail". He stands 11.7” (29.7cm) tall and is the sixth Destiny statue in the series after The Stranger, The Drifter, Eris Morn, Cayde-6, and Savathûn, the Witch Queen.

"Charismatic Crucible Handler and former Warlord, Lord Shaxx commands an audience with ease," explains creator Numskull. "With his booming presence, unwavering conviction, and reputation as a ferocious warrior, it's no wonder he's beloved among Destiny fans. We're proud to pay tribute to his brazen character with this epic statue!

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It’s time to get a little chilly with the Super Spooky Village expansion in Teppen. Characters from Resident Evil Village and Ghosts’ n Goblins will appear in Teppen, such as Lady Dimitrescu, Arthur, and Lady Donna. This update will also change the Quest ability, which levels up your character depending on if you meet certain conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N575XdTrnOQ

The story for the Super Spooky Village Teppen expansion follows Ghosts 'n Goblins Arthur, who is going on a journey to save Princess Prin Prin after a cursed villager kidnaps her. In order to do so, he must defeat the four Noble Families. Felicia from Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers’ Revenge will also play a role as a mischievous antagonist for the Noble Families. There is also a mysterious circus, which appears to be the Berry Big Circus from Ace Attorney.

[gallery ids="931525,931524,931523,931522,931521,931520,931519,931518,931517" link="file"]

Aside from new cards, you will also be able to obtain Cammy from Street Fighter as a skin for Nero. She will be part of the third anniversary park, which will launch on July 5, 2022. As well, new items will appear in the Soul Shop, such as music from Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers' Revenge and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All.

505 Games' parent company, Digital Bros., has acquired mobile publisher D3 Go! from D3 Publisher and Bandai Namco.

D3 Go! - which publishes the Puzzle Quest games, including Marvel Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns - will now join the 505 Games US office in Calabasas, California.

The acquisition now gives 505 Games "exclusive ownership of the entire Puzzle Quest franchise", following the 2021 purchase of Infinity Plus Two, the Australian game development studio and original creators of the Puzzle Quest series.

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It took a while, but the Macross franchise is ready to bear fruit for its overseas fans. Roughly 18 months after companies Bigwest, Studio Nue, and Harmony Gold USA struck a deal to permit the worldwide release of Macross properties, officially licensed and localized releases of four Macross anime series will soon go on sale. The announcements came via Bigwest's panel at Anime Expo 2022.

The announcement covers four Macross anime series: 1992's Macross II: Lovers Again, 1994's Macross Plus, 2008's Macross Frontier, and 2016's Macross Delta. Collectively these series have been out of print in English (Macross Plus, Macross II) or simply never made it out of Japan officially (Macross Delta, Macross Frontier). Now that Bigwest controls licensing for the franchise, it has picked new localization and distribution partners. Anime Limited will release Macross Plus on Blu-ray in North America and Europe, while AnimEigo will release Macross II on Blu-ray in the same territories. Nozomi Entertainment will handle Blu-ray releases of the Macross Frontier and Macross Delta anime series.

Surprise, Sony fans! Phantasy Star Online 2 is finally coming to PS4 in the West… a full decade after it first release in Japan on PC.

The ARPG will debut on PS4 on 31st August, six years after it arrived on PS4 in Japan and over a year later than it arrived in the West on Xbox and PC.

Like the versions on other consoles, it will be cross-platform compatible and free-to-play, and carry the "New Genesis" sub-title with fully localised text and character voices in English (thanks, Polygon).

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Bandai Namco has dropped a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming tactical battler, Digimon Survive, which finally releases on 29th July, 2022.

Digimon Survive - which "blends visual novel storytelling with tactical battle elements" - has been a long time coming, having been formally delayed three times to "allocate more time to development" and "enhance the quality of the game".

Featuring over 100 Digimon, this latest game in the Digimon series features a world map that is divided into areas and locations which you will need to scan in order to find "glitches" for clues and items.

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Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) is over for another year, netting a staggering $3,018,320.49 with donations still coming in - that's almost £2.5 million.

In all, the event showcased 134 different speedruns with games such as Left 4 Dead 2, Super Mario World, Portal 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, to name but a few - and racked up over 42,000 individual donations.

Summer Games Done Quick returned this summer with more charity speedruning attempts and an in-person event to complement its online component for the first time in two years in Bloomington, Minnesota.

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Nihon Falcom released a short trailer for the upcoming Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II Crimson SiN. At just under a minute long, it consists of both story and combat scenes. You can see how the game looks during exploration segments, as well as how the various party members' abilities look in combat.

The story follows a murder case in Calvard in which someone witnesses Grendel at the scene. Though Van will be the main character again, the trailer emphasizes Elaine's role too, such as showing how you can control her as you explore the overworld. Characters like Rion, Celis, and Shizuna also appear.

You can watch the trailer for Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II Crimson SiN here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ4jL0ijOgg

Nihon Falcom announced the sequel in early June 2022, with some information on how it will play. For example, the story will be split into chapters, and two chapters will take place at the same time. There will also be stealth mission segments, as well as parts where you have to play a third-person shooter.

The Bleach gang is back, or at least, that's the impression the new trailer for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War gave off. Shown off at Anime Expo 2022 during Viz Media's panel, the video highlights the combatants participating in the manga's concluding story arc. The new series debuts in October 2022 [Thanks, ANN!].

Check it out below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sygUhb8Q2Y

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War adapts the last story arc of the Bleach manga, which was never covered in the anime. The trailer opens with a recitation of the prophecy of "The Confined Quincy King," referring to the foretold revival of Ywach, the ancient king of the Quincy civilization. The Quincy are the people which Bleach character Uryu Ishida is descended from, a group of humans with powers that rival those of Soul Reapers. The trailer then transitions into a montage of many of the characters present in the arc, including the Captains of Soul Society's Gotei 13, and members of the Quincy's elite Stern Ritter. Characters who previously did not appear in an anime adaptation like Bambietta Basterbine, Bazz-B, Jugram Haschwalth, Asguiaro Ebern, Quilge Opie, and Ywach himself will make their debut in Thousand-Year Blood War.

Check out some key art from the panel featuring fighters on both sides.

Today Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse followed up yesterday’s reveal of version 2.8 with another new trailer.

This time around, we get to see the two new outfits that will be introduced with the update coming on July 13.

The first will be an event reward for Fischl. While her overall silhouette remains similar, her color scheme changes to blue and white and she even gets a new hairstyle.

The second is for Diluc, giving him a definitely more aggressive look and different animations and effects. This one will be purchasable via microtransaction.

You can check out both in the trailer below.

I always have certain concerns about PC games heading to consoles. They’re designed to be played right up close, so someone can analyze everything. These sorts of titles may be created with a keyboard and mouse in mind. They’re text-heavy affairs. All three points are ones that might cause concern when on a big screen in a living room. After spending hours with Shadowrun Trilogy on the PS5, which consists of Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong, I was pleasantly surprised by how perfectly all three fit on the system.

As the name suggests, all three entries in this collection are Shadowrun games set in a futuristic, cyberpunk world that is filled with both technology and magic. People are as likely to encounter an elf or orc as they are a human being. Each installment features its own campaign set within the world. Players create a character using one of the five races (which also include dwarves and trolls) and can go with a certain “archetype” that acts as something of a class for their avatar. In each case, this Shadowrunner gets involved in events that might start out personal. Perhaps a former acquaintance is killed, making their dead man’s switch go off, and avenging them gets them an insurance payout. Maybe an estranged father gets in touch, but find the Hong Kong police are involved. There could be a heist gone wrong. In each case, there’s a domino effect that gradually increases the scale of things as time goes on.

People got their first look at a teaser trailer for Trigun Stampede, the upcoming Trigun anime series, at Anime Expo 2022. The trailer was shown at a special panel for the project hosted by Toho and Studio Orange. Manga Creator Yasuhiro Nightow, Character Artist Kouji Tajima (Gantz: O) and Producers Kiyotaka Waki and Yoshihiro Watanabe (Godzilla: Singular Point and Beastars) were in attendance. The series will simulcast on Crunchyroll globally when it airs in 2023 [Thanks, ANN!].

Check out the Trigun Stampede trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bL9RH6kItM

The Japanese website Dengeki Online hosted new gameplay of the upcoming JRPG by Nihon Falcom The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II – Crimson Sin.

The gameplay showcases returning character Renne Bright in action, followed by a look at more combat, Mare’s hacking minigame, and fishing.

You can check it out below.

The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II – Crimson Sin will launch in Japan for PS5 and PS4 on September 29. If you’d like to see more, you can enjoy more recent gameplay and an English trailer that unfortunately doesn’t indicate an English localization for now, and the latest trailer from Japan.

At the moment, this highly-anticipated JRPG has not been announced for the west and the same goes for The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki (which has recently been announced for PS5 and PC in Japan).

Square Enix has revealed the release date of the upcoming tactics JRPG the DioField Chronicle, which was announced earlier this year.

The reveal was made during a broadcast hosted by the Japanese YouTube channel Wasyagana TV and mentions a local release date on September 22 for all platforms besides Steam, which will be on September 23. This usually means that the western release will fall on September 23.

The game is coming for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It’s likely that we’ll get confirmation of the western release date in the next few days.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the broadcast is that the hosts (Mafia Kajita and Yuichi Nakamura) showcased a ton of gameplay, providing a much more extensive look at The DioField Chronicle compared to what we were given the chance to see thus far.

In total, we get to see over an hour of gameplay, including battles and cutscenes, and the game certainly looks interesting.

Incidentally, the version displayed is the one for PS5, in case you were wondering.

You can watch it for yourself below.

At Anime Expo 2022, Spike Chunsoft confirmed it will handle the English release of the Anonymous;Code PS4, Switch, and PC versions. It showed off two videos related to the Science Adventure Series game. It also confirmed there will be a launch edition of the game. While there’s no exact release date for the game beyond 2023, Spike Chunsoft did confirm when pre-orders will open. People can call dibs on the launch edition starting on July 5, 2022.

First, Producer Tatsuya Matsubara appeared in a video talking about the localization for the event.

Next, here’s the English Anonymous;Code Switch, PS4, and PC Anime Expo 2022 trailer.

Studio Trigger, of BNA, Kill la Kill, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners fame, announced a new Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt anime project at Anime Expo 2022. At its panel on July 2, 2022, the studio showed off a short animated sequence and some art promoting the project.

This is the first time official word of a new Panty & Stocking anime production. Back in 2016, when Studio Gainax teased that something was "coming soon.” The original series first aired in 2010, with home video releases through 2019.

https://twitter.com/GAINAX_WEST/status/802074752122654720

In the time since, most of the Gainax staffers that worked on the first Panty & Stocking anime series have gone on to work with Studio Trigger on various projects. These include Director Hiroyuki Imaishi and Character Designer Atsushi Nishigori. In the meantime, Gainax West sold lines of merchandise and opened a Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt theme café  in Kobe's now-defunct Kobe Anime Street space.

Besides the short animated clip and some art of the Anarchy Sisters Panty and Stocking, not much else was shown of what's currently called "New Panty & Stocking" at Anime Expo 2022. Trigger did not confirm if the series will continue the original or reboot it somehow.

Mages released a couple of new trailers of its upcoming game Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix.

The first trailer showcases another look at the extensive customization suite included in the game, on top of a few seconds of battle gameplay.

The second trailer focuses on dialogue scenes, letting us meet some of the actresses featured in the game.

If you’re wondering, both videos appear to be recorded from the Nintendo Switch of the game, as shown by the button prompts at the bottom of the screen.

You can check out the trailers below.

Today third-party developers shared new screenshots of upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons, including a much-anticipated aircraft and three airports.

We finally get to see screenshots of the cockpits of the AccuSim Piper PA-24-250 Comanche by acclaimed developer A2A Simulations.

The developer mentioned that the screenshots were taken straight from the simulator without any processing. The folks at A2A are “working around the clock to make this the very best airplane we’ve ever made in every aspect, physical, visual, and aural.”

The aircraft is not in beta yet, but “progress is moving quicker and quicker every day.”