August 2022

The winner of Splatoon 3’s Splatfest World Premiere has been decided. Team Rock has prevailed and has taken the crown, beating both Team Paper and Team Scissors in each region.

This special Splatfest was a free demo that took place on Saturday, August 27 and lasted for 12 hours across all world regions. It was designed to give players a taste of what to expect when Splatoon 3 releases in September.

Players could choose between Team Rock, Team Paper, and Team Scissors. The first six hours featured standard Turf War battles with two rival teams battling it out. The second six hours added Tricolor Turf War battles into the mix, a brand new 4v2v2 mode.

Because Team Scissors was in the lead at halftime, the players on this team were sandwiched between players from Team Rock and Team Paper during the Tricolor Turf War battles. This seemed to turn the tides, allowing Team Rock to emerge victorious by the end of the night.

Though Team Rock won in all regions, the score breakdown was slightly different across North America, Europe, and Japan. Here’s how the teams fared in each region.

In North America, Team Rock scored 25 points, Team Paper scored 10 points, and team Scissors scored 0 points.

In Europe, Team Rock scored 25 points, Team Paper scored 10 points, and team Scissors scored 0 points.

In Japan, Team Rock scored 25 points, Team Paper scored 0 points, and team Scissors scored 10 points.

Points were determined by the popularity of each team as well as player clout in both halves of the Splatfest.

Yes indeed, the release date for Spy x Family Cour 2 has finally been unmasked. Viewers will be able to see part two of season one on Oct. 1, 2022. That’s right, only a little over a month wait for the next slice of the Forger family adventures.

There’s even a new key art visual for fans waiting for the new part. You can see that below in a tweet from the English version of the official Spy x Family Twitter account.

If you’re interested in seeing the official Tweet regarding the news (in Japanese, of course) that can be found below here. Though, you might need to open it elsewhere to actually let Twitter translate it.

RPG Time: The Legend of Wright may be a video game played on screens, but the world it invokes feels as physical and present as an arts and crafts hobby. The game's unique aesthetic immediately draws eyes and and evokes childhood memories, as Andrew noted in his review. We had the opportunity to grill RPG Time's Designer Tom Fujii about the game, his inspiration for Kenta's story, and the prospects of seeing a real-life RPG Time tabletop game.

Siliconera (Josh Tolentino and Andrew Kiya): RPG Time's story is about a boy named Kenta, an aspiring game designer. Is there a real-life backstory to that concept?

Tom Fujii: When I was in elementary school, I had a friend who was good at crafting and let me play with his handmade games. Although the setting was not at school but in his room, the moments when I played the games he made for me became a wonderful memory of my childhood.

Clearly, a lot of love went into making this game, and it shows in all the little details. Is there anything you'd like players to look out for?

Tom Fujii: I crammed a lot of love and ideas into the game, so I’d like players to enjoy it until the end. I’ve also drawn ideas here and there that don't relate to the progress of the game, such as in the corners of the notebook, so make sure to check them out as well!

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Amplitude Studios
Release: TBA

Endless Dungeon, the successor to 2014’s Dungeon of The Endless, is a tower defense twin-stick shooter created by French developer Amplitude Studios; and after my hands-on session at Gamescom 2022, it has the potential to be the next big roguelite. 

Valve has commenced rolling out a new version of its Steam Mobile app.

Not everyone will be able to give it a try just yet, though, as right now it's only available as part of "a limited beta". Valve said it's holding off from a public release in order to ensure the app works on "so many different phones and devices".

"We’ve rebuilt the app on a new framework and modernized the design," Valve said in a brief blog post on the website, before cheekily adding: "(2015 called and wanted their app back).

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Blizzard is redesigning Diablo Immortal's legendary crests to "help differentiate" them from the eternal legendary chests that cost players real money.

Responding to a post in the game's subreddit, lead designer Wyatt Cheng said that the team not only wanted to ensure the colours were different, but also change their shape, too, so "players know exactly what they're getting when they make a purchase".

"This is artwork that we're working on to help differentiate the Legendary Crest (which will become [the] Orange one) from the Eternal Legendary Crest (which will remain the purple one in the middle, that yields gems that can be sold on the Market)," Cheng explained.

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Game Developers and fans who’s like to hear more insight on game creation now have one more resource thanks to Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai.

Sakurai-san recently launched his own YouTube channel Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, in which he promises to “reflect on his work in the games industry and offer insightful and easy-to-understand advice about game development.”

According to Sakurai-san himself, this is his personal initiative and isn’t associated with Nintendo, and the goal is “to try and help make games around the world a little more fun.”

While Nintendo is not involved, he received permission to share Smash. Bros development documents, so fans have that to look forward to as well.

The initiative actually spans two channels, one exclusively in Japanese and one with English subtitles, that already achieved 294,000 and 348,000 subscribers at the moment of this writing.

Sakurai-san explained that he’s not doing this to make a profit, so he won’t run ads on the channel. He simply wants to help out and share his experience.

In order to keep things manageable and light-hearted, videos will be bite-sized, generally clocking at under five minutes.

Below you can take a look at those that have already been published, including an introduction in which Sakurai-san explains the philosophy behind the project and a video showcasing all the games he has worked on.

If you want to immediately dive into the nitty-gritty of game development it starts with the third video below.

Those who have been thinking that in-person gaming events are dead may want to hold off on the funeral because they aren’t, as proven by Gamescom 2022.

The organizer of the event that concluded today at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, reached out with a press release mentioning that the event drew 265,000 visitors from over 100 countries across its five days.

While this is down from the 373,000 recorded in 2019, it’s quite an achievement considering that tickets were limited due to the pandemic.

Roughly 1,100 exhibitors from 53 countries attended, while trade visitors were 25,000.

That being said, the online programming was also successful, with 130 million views as of Saturday evening, with Opening Night Live watched by 12 million gamers.

The event is set to return in 2023 from August 23 to August 27. Opening Night Live will also return on August 22.

The press release included a statement from Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – the German games industry association, who mentioned that the event exceeded the organization’s expectations.

“Finally, gamescom is back in full force. Despite the significant challenges for everyone involved this year, the unique atmosphere was palpable everywhere right from day one. After more than two years of exclusively digital events, it was a great joy for the industry and community to be able to meet in person. On the whole, gamescom 2022 exceeded our expectations: This live comeback together with our newly expanded digital offerings means that we are ideally positioned for the successful hybrid future of gamescom.”

Twinfinite was on site in Cologne, and you can expect tons of coverage, interviews, and previews over the next few days.

Sony Interactive Entertainment hosted a panel at CEDEC (basically the Japanese GDC), in which Global Developer Technology Department Manager Kenjo Akiyama provided some interesting details on the habits of PS5 and PS4 users.

The data focuses on engagement with free-to-play games, online multiplayer, physical versus digital purchases, DLC, trophy acquisition, PlayStation VR utilization, and more.

We start with a look at the ratio of “Active Devices” summing both PS4 and PS5. The definition of “active device” means a console that has played at least a game in each given month between April 2021 and June 2022.

We notice that summing bot consoles it’s quite stable in all regions, but Akiyama-san mentioned that it’s increasing at a steady pace in favor of PS5 as players make the switch to PS5.

Konosuba is no doubt one of the best isekai anime out there. It has both the humor and heart to make it a fan favorite in the genre. It’s already gotten two seasons and a movie, but fans are still looking forward to the future. Here’s when the third season of Konosuba will be coming out.

Konosuba Season 3 Release Date

At present, while we know the third season of Konosuba is in production with production studio Drive. However, there is not a currently known release date or window, though speculation says it could come out as early as January 2023.

It is highly possible that full production of the main series will truly begin after the Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World spin-off has begun airing, as it’s possible that had taken precedent, but that’s only speculation. For the time being, yes, fans are getting a third Konosuba season, but it is likely still a little bit off.

While the first two seasons of Konosuba were produced by Studio Deen, Drive will be taking over the series. For those who maybe aren’t sure what this Konosuba show is all about, Crunchyroll explains the plot as:

Third-party developers provided new assets about upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons, on top of new releases.

We start with DC Designs, which provided a brand new video of the AV-8B Harrier II. This time around we get to see vertical take-offs and landings, which are the bread and butter of the aicraft.

Kevin Le Moigne is an artist from France who has worked on projects like Arcane (the League of Legends animated series), and Netflix’s Klaus.

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The main reason Sony put Spider-Man on PC was to make money. However, the main reason PC gamers were so excited about it—apart from the fact it remains very good!—was because it would let them mod a PlayStation game to hell and back.

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The Vimana Agama World Quest in Genshin Impact has many complex puzzles and mandatory tasks that you must finish for a bigger mission of the game. With this guide, we’ll help you along your journey and provide details about each arc of this long adventure.

Now that Insomniac’s vision of Spider-Man received a remastered version of PC, it’s time to revisit Marvel’s Spider-Man once again. And what better way to do that than with mods? From new shaders to new costumes, skies the limit when it comes to the imagination of modders. Here are the 10 best Spider-Man PC mods you should have installed right now.

A tweet from the author/illustrator of the Made in Abyss manga, Akihito Tsukushi, announced today that the upcoming final episode of the anime’s second season will be an hour long. Said finale episode will be airing this Wednesday, Aug. 31.

You can see the tweet below. It’s very short and to the point.

Made in Abyss season two premiered on July 6 and is set to end in a few days on Aug. 31. The anime is produced by Kinema Citrus. A third season of Made in Abyss has yet to be announced, but there was a nearly five-year gap between seasons one and two, so it might not be coming anytime soon.

Though, during that gap, three films were produced. It’s possible that cycle will be repeated and this won’t be all there is to Made in Abyss for the near future.

Those films are:

SD Gundam Battle Alliance on PS5

It’s tough to beat a Gundam game in terms of what they bring to the table. The pure joy of watching two robots fight is simply awe-inspiring and surely something we all mimed with toys at some point. From top to bottom, SD Gundam Battle Alliance feels like a love letter to longtime fans of the anime, as you essentially play a Gundam historian. However, those with only cursory knowledge of the story may find the narrative of the game to be incredibly convoluted.

While he does have his low points, Nicolas Cage is one of the best actors in the game when it comes to his filmography. There’s a very high chance you’ve seen at least one of his movies, probably even one we cover below. We’ve compiled a list of the 30 best Nicolas Cage movies ever in no particular ranking.

At this week's Gamescom 2022 event, Sega released a trailer detailing the story for Sonic Frontiers, as well as some of the gameplay. In the trailer, which Sonic meets a mysterious enemy and fights against mechanical foes. There are also glimpses of how Sonic can use his speed and fists in battle, and you will likely be able to unlock more skills throughout the game.

Aside from the story and battle system, the trailer shows some of the locales that you will be able to speed through. There are classic stages where you collect coins, but there is also a more open-world element. Indeed, Sonic Frontiers is the first open-world game in the franchise, taking the series in a new direction.

You can watch the Sonic Frontiers story trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCaAos6FeV0

During Gamescom, some leaks and spoilers appeared, and Sega has issued a ban on fan recording. This ban comes after Sega discovered that the autosave feature was still present at the Sonic Frontiers demo booth. This meant that players could keep on advancing from where the previous player left off, and progress beyond what Sega intended. They then posted these spoilers (such as a water level and fishing minigame) online.

One of the surprises introduced by SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy all the way back in 2018 was “Cutie Terry” or “Fatal Cutie,” the female version of popular hero Terry Bogard.

Thanks to Japanese figure manufacturer Kotobukya, you’ll finally be able to display her on your shelf, as she will get her own figure as part of the popular “Bishoujo” series.

You can pre-order her on Ami Ami for 13,800 yen, which translates pretty much precisely into $100 at the current exchange.

She will release on Aprile 2023, and her prototype is sculpted in 1/7 scale by Yoshiki Fujimoto, resulting in approximately 230 mm in height.

As usual for the Bishoujo series, she’s based on an illustration by Shunya Yamashita.

Below you can check out a gallery of images showing her in all her glory.

3D Realms and THQ Nordic showcased new gameplay of their upcoming real-time strategy game Tempest Rising.

Specifically, they showcased a full look at the first mission including the briefing, which will certainly prove familiar to those who love classics like the Command & Conquer series.

One interesting addition is the ability to ask questions and receive more details. That being said, Tempest Rising definitely wears its inspiration on the sleeve.

You can check it out below and see just how familiar it feels.

Tempest Rising, which was revealed a few weeks ago, is coming to PC in 2023.

The game promises three playable factions that are fully asymmetrical, each with its own economy and playstyle, on top of different combat units.

There will be two full narrative campaigns with cutscenes in between each mission. Each campaign has 15 missions and they’re set in the same period, allowing you to witness the same events from different points of view.

On top of the campaigns, players can also expect skirmish games, custom games, and ranked multiplayer with matchmaking.

During the Nintendo Treehouse Live on August 25, 2022, Nintendo showed off Harvestella. This game will be a lifestyle simulation game with combat and RPG elements. Square Enix has also revealed some new information on the story, jobs, pets, animals, and more. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

In the Treehouse video, we can see how farming works in Harvestella. You can water crops such as Stellar Wheat, Carrops, and more. Like in Stardew Valley, you can put items in a shipping box and at the end of the day, you will get money. You are free to do whatever you want -- farming, exploring, etc. -- throughout the day, but you must go to sleep at night.

You can check out the Harvestella portion of Nintendo's Treehouse Live broadcast below. The whole stream, which included looks at Splatoon 3, is at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yk9MIdWQLk

House of the Dragon has recently aired its second episode, continuing to give us a look into the machinations of the House Targaryen almost two centuries before Game of Thrones. The main Game of Thrones series was known for progressing through time between and during episodes at a quicker rate than most other shows, so is this the case with House of the Dragon? Well, Twinfinite has the answer for you as this is whether or not there is a time skip between episodes one and two of House of the Dragon.

Is There a Time Skip Between Episodes 1 & 2 in House of the Dragon?

The short answer is yes, there is a time skip between the two episodes of roughly six months. There are multiple occasions during episode two where characters will reference the first episode’s events as being half a year ago, namely the death of Queen Aemma and newborn Prince Baelon.

The time skip between episodes one and two is looking like it’s not going to be the only time skip during the season. No specific spoilers for episode three, but the preview does show that the next episode will take place at least close to a year later.

There will be plenty of more significant time skips as the season progresses though, as characters will be aging rather quickly throughout the first season. There is even supposed to be a time skip of roughly 10 years likely between episodes five and six. Something that is made even more apparent by how characters like Rhaneyra are going to be going through a casting change during the season.

The Aranyaka quest is one of the longest storylines in the newest Genshin Impact Version 3.0 update. So, if you need any help along the way, we’ve put together this guide that explains each chapter and what World Quests you’ll need to complete to progress further in this mission.

How To Complete the Aranyaka Quest in Genshin Impact

Players can unlock the Aranyaka Quest by going to a particular area and encountering a few little creatures while walking around Sumeru. Here’s everything you must do to complete this intricate mission within Genshin Impact:

Aranyaka Quest: Part 1

Do you have that food from your childhood that you just love, even though you know it’s not, objectively, that great? There’s something about the memory of that taste that is amazing, even if you know the sophistication of your palette has evolved a lot in the intervening years. That’s a bit how I feel about the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. I can recall with crystal clarity being gathered around a TMNT arcade cabinet with my friends, pumping in tokens to try and beat Shredder before the birthday party ended. Or spending a weekend banging my head against the wall of the first NES game and its absurd sewer challenges. The Cowabunga Collection exists to service the nostalgic recollection of these types of experiences, and it does so with aplomb. Are these truly great games worth remembering? That’s up for debate.

Digital Eclipse and Konami have worked together to craft an especially impressive collection of early Turtles video gaming fun. 13 titles are available to peruse and enjoy, running the gamut between arcade, NES, SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy releases. At their core, these games are restored in a form very close to their original incarnations, and it’s a lot of fun to spend time in the ones you know to remember individual sequences and smile. If the phrase “tonight I dine on Turtle soup” rings some bells in your distant memory, it’s likely you may feel the same.

HTC Vive is running a sale across its VR hardware from 29th August to 11th September.

The timing of this couldn't have fallen (or been planned) better on HTC's part. Combined with the current cost of living crisis in the UK and the price hikes of both PlayStation 5 and Meta Quest 2, a discount is sorely welcomed.

For UK customers, the full list of discounts includes:

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Sony is beginning to make a more active push into the mobile games market, as the company has just announced their acquisition of Savage Game Studios, a mobile-focused developing studios that has produced on-the-go shooter experiences.

Savage CEO Michail Katkoff goes on to explain that while their plan had always been to remain as a relatively small-sized and nimble studio so they could retain their freedom to experiment, the acquisition by Sony makes sense as they share this vision and aren’t risk-averse either:

Established in 2020 and led by myself and fellow Co-founders Nadjim Adjir and Michael McManus, Savage Game Studios was born of our many years of mobile game development experience spanning a number of massively successful global IP. Our guiding vision was a creative space where experimentation and taking risks weren’t warily avoided, but rather eagerly embraced. We’ve all worked at big studios and while we respect the advantages of ample resources, we wanted to stay small and nimble so we could call our own shots.

“So why then,” you may be thinking to yourself, “would you join PlayStation Studios?” We made this deal because we believe that PlayStation Studios’ leadership respects our vision for how we can best operate and succeed, and because they too are not afraid to take chances. All of that, plus the ability to potentially tap into PlayStation’s amazing catalog of IP and the fact that we will benefit from the kind of support that only they can provide… The harder question to answer would be “why not?”

HoYoVerse has released a trailer for the Herrscher of Human: Ego battlesuit that will appear in Honkai Impact 3rd for Elysia. The video is available in Chinese, but with subtitles in multiple languages. The video is over eight minutes long and mostly focuses on how the development team approached designing the outfit. There are some spoilers for Honkai Imapct 3rd in regards to Elysia.

Part of the process involved deciding what concepts would go into the battlesuit, as the team wanted to give Elysia all of the things that made humanity beautiful. This would then turn her into a symbol of beauty as well. The Herrscher of Human: Ego suit will represent what Elysia’s true self is, as opposed to when she was restrained.

After she enters Herrscher form, the design represents her divinity through elements such as flowers in her eyes. Her veil also looks like wings, and she moves like how a mermaid swims. According to the design team, her animations will look like what happened was not a battle, but rather a dance.

The full trailer for the Herrscher of Human: Ego battlesuit is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QvbmPkqv8I

We now have a concrete date for when to expect Spy x Family season 2: October 1, 2022. Though Crunchyroll had announced in the past that the show would resume in the Fall 2022 anime season, the exact date was unclear. There is also a new trailer to show off the main visual for the second season.

Animator Kazuaki Shimada drew the main visual for the second season of Spy x Family. He has also worked on the show as a director, as well as the character designer. The main visual shows Anya in the forefront and striking a peace sign. Bond, the dog who appeared briefly at the end of the first season, is just behind her. All of the other main characters, as well as new one who will appear in season 2, are on the picture as well.

You can see the trailer for the new key visual here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_FRSErTKGo

Sony announced that it is acquiring mobile developer Savage Game Studios. Compared to recent game industry acquisitions like Sony's purchase of Destiny 2 developer Bungie and Microsoft's buy of US-based publisher Activision Blizzard, this merger is more low-profile. Savage Game Studios was founded in 2020 and has not yet launched a game. In 2021 it raised funding for to open in Helsinki, Finland and Berlin, Germany, to work on a "AAA mobile live service action game". The blog post trumpeting the announcement said that it's still too early to say more about that project, but work on it continues.

As for the role of Savage Game Studios in the new PlayStation Studios ecosystem, founder and CEO Michail Katkoff said positive things about Sony's respect for Savage's creative vision. Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, promised that the addition of Savage to the roster would be "similarly additive" to its efforts to release games on PS4, PS5, PS VR 2, and PC. Savage will join a newly created Mobile Division at PlayStation Studios, operating independently from the console development arm. It'll focus on "innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP."

Netflix has reportedly canceled its Resident Evil series after just one season. 

This news comes from a report from Deadline, which reports that Netflix has decided not to move forward with a second season of the show following the release of Season 1 last month. As far as why, there’s no official reason as of yet but considering Netflix’s past, it’s likely that Resident Evil didn’t meet expectations in terms of both critical and audience response. The show will now join many other shows canceled after just one season at the streamer including Cowboy Bebop, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and more.

Deadline notes that Resident Evil’s release came right after the highly anticipated Season 4 of Stranger Things, which might have led to its less-than-stellar first weekend on the service. However, the series still debuted in the number two spot, behind Stranger Things, pulling in 72.7 million watch hours. Deadline reports that viewers watched Resident Evil for 73.3 million hours in its second week, taking the number three spot on Netflix, before dropping out of Netflix’s Top 10 by week three. 

Sony has acquired Savage Game Studios, which will join the company’s newly created PlayStation Studios Mobile Division. 

This new division will operate independently from PlayStation’s console development and instead focus on creating “innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP,” according to a PlayStation Blog post. Savage Game Studios is one of the first studios to join this new division, and PlayStation says the Savage team is working on a “new unannounced AAA mobile live service action game.” 

“Today, we announced that we have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Savage Game Studios, a hugely talented team of creatives with many years of experience making some of the most popular mobile games enjoyed by players around the world,” head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst writes in the blog post. “They were founded a few years ago with the goal of fearlessly exploring bold new ideas. We share their timeless ambition to innovate, along with a continued drive to expand our audience and bring PlayStation to more people than ever before, making them a perfect fit to join PlayStation Studios.” 

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law episode two formally reintroduced Emil Blonsky/Abomination to the MCU and showed off a bunch of the Banner family — including the pride of their brood, Ched Banner. However, there was one quick scene that featured Bruce and Jen talking on the phone that came and went while leaving one massive question: Where is Hulk’s Spaceship going in She-Hulk?

Where Is Hulk in Space in She-Hulk?

It’s hard to say where Hulk is flying that Sakaarian spaceship for sure right now because he was intentionally vague about where he was going. Obviously, being in a Sakaarian ship would lead most people to believe that the greenest Avenger is heading back to Sakaar to tie up some loose ends. Still, there’s no way to currently know for sure where Hulk is going.

However, that won’t stop people from speculating. While Hulk was on Sakaar from the end of Age of Ultron until Thor Ragnarok, two years passed. There’s just a whole chunk of time that was essentially lost there, and it’s possible he could be settling past disputes or trying to figure out exactly what happened while he was there.

Potential Planet Skaar Storyline in MCU

One potential storyline that would make the most sense involves Hulk having a son named Skaar while on Sakaar (Planet Skaar storyline). He was left for dead back on the distant planet, but Skaar eventually makes his way back to Earth following the destruction of Sarkaar. The Hulk’s son seeks revenge but much like in the MCU, Banner seems to have some gaps in memory that initially make him forget Skaar.

Vaporware is a word that gamers never want to hear. It indicates a game or product that is publicly announced, but never officially released nor canceled. The kind of product that’s stuck in a limbo where it’s not “dead,” but it’s not clear if any actual work is being done on it.

When developers and publishers talk about these games, they may shoot a blank stare and hesitantly clarify that the game is still being made, but it almost feels like the window of opportunity is shut. Waiting any longer feels fruitless because why wait for something that probably doesn’t exist?

In 2022, there is no shortage of games that can be classified as vaporware. Here are five such titles that we’re convinced are not coming anytime soon.