November 2022

There are plans afoot (or should that be, apaw) to introduce a console, complete with its own video games, that is tailored exclusively to dogs. After all, who says man should have all the fun.

The brainchild of the UK-based startup Joipaw, the Joipaw Console will come with a "dog-tailored touchscreen, a height-adjustable stand and an automated treat dispenser." It will run interactive puzzle games, such as a whack-a-mole challenge, that are "constantly new and challenging" for man's best friend (thanks, Axios).

"Add speakers, a microphone and a Full HD camera, and you have the smartest dog tech product to ever hit the market," Joipaw proclaims on the console's reservation page.

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New details have surfaced of an F-Zero Switch game prototype.

YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming interviewed ex-Nintendo programmer Giles Goddard, who now runs his own studio (Chuhai Labs - Cursed to Golf, Carve Snowboarding). Previously he worked on Super Mario 64, Star Fox, and 1080 Snowboarding.

In 2021, Goddard hosted a reddit AMA where he admitted F-Zero was his favourite game on the SNES and that his studio had created an F-Zero prototype with ultra-realistic physics that was never released. DidYouKnowGaming dug deeper.

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To say the in-game economy of Call of Duty’s DMZ mode is funny is an understatement. $40 bucks for a roll of tape? A picture of a dog for $10? $100 for soothing hand cream? (watch out, Sephora). A recently discovered glitch, however, is flooding players’ backpacks with substantial amounts of cash—if they can pull off…

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If it happened to me, then it can happen to you. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s worst evolution method is preventing players from evolving their beloved Pawmo and Rellor over hours and dozens of levels. By the time I went on Reddit to figure out why my Paldean electric mouse wasn’t evolving, he was already level 52…

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If you’re brilliant like me, you’ll have already caught a Ditto and a Zorua in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, through sheer luck. But for lesser mortals, some more direct help might come in useful. Also, you might be after those super-high-level Dittos with the max IVs for your creepy Pokémon breeding needs. We’ve got…

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At WonHobby G 2022 Autumn, Good Smile Company announced work on a new Berserk figure, which will be a Guts Nendoroid. There are no concrete details about it yet. It is so early in development that only a placeholder image appeared as part of the reveal.

Here is the announcement for the Berserk Guts Nendoroid.

#WonHobbyG 2022 Autumn Figure Update!

Good Smile Company
Berserk
Nendoroid Guts

Web Gallery: https://t.co/5659fMTp6l#Berserk #nendoroid #goodsmile pic.twitter.com/p0QFJ64eLP

— GoodSmile_US @axchibi✨(Booth #305) (@GoodSmile_US) November 26, 2022

As part of the WonHobby G 2022 Autumn announcements was a peek at a Street Fighter figure. Good Smile Company showed the Chun-Li costume in her classic Street Fighter costume. This time, she showed up as a painted prototype.

Here's the first look at the figure. She's striking a dynamic pose, with a leg part that makes it look like she's about to start kicking a foe. It also features the character with a more serious faceplate.

#WonHobbyG 2022 Autumn Figure Update!

Good Smile Company
Street Fighter II
Nendoroid Chun-Li

Web Gallery: https://t.co/HmVZrcdXWT#StreetFighter #nendoroid #goodsmile pic.twitter.com/QttvzRhVf7

— GoodSmile_US @axchibi✨(Booth #305) (@GoodSmile_US) November 26, 2022

Shonen Jump’s run of new manga series continues with Ichigoki’s Under Control. This is the third of four new titles debuting in the magazine. It’s written by Seiji Hayashi, who also created I’m from Japan. People can read it in English via Viz Media and Manga Plus.

Ichigoki’s Under Control begins with Kai Ichigoki at school. However, when his friends talk to him, his head turns 180 degrees around. It’s then revealed that his childhood friend Misao Chiisaki is inside his head, essentially piloting him like a mech. She’s essentially a teen mad scientist. After a previous experiment left her incredibly small, Kai took her to the zoo to extract certain ingredients. While doing so, a gorilla attack killed Kai. However, Misao resurrected him by turning him into a robot and acting as his pilot. If she isn’t in the cockpit, his body goes haywire. Until she can make him into a full cyborg, the two need to learn to get by together.

The two other new Shonen Jump manga series are The Ichinose Family’s Deadly Sins and Cipher Academy. The fourth one will appear in December 2022.

As part of the Good Smile Company WonHobby G 2022 Autumn announcements, the Atelier Ryza 3 Reisalin Stout figure appeared. It appears to be rather far along in development. The example shown during the event was a painted prototype.

Here's a closer look at Good Smile Company's first Atelier Ryza 3 figure. She's wielding a staff, as usual. This new one looks like a variation of Celestial Seeker, a weapon she wielded in the original game. There's the same pinwheel design at the top. There's also a flag attached to the top of it. As for her outfit, it calls back to ones worn in the past game both in terms of its color scheme and style.

#WonHobbyG 2022 Autumn Figure Update!

Wonderful Works
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key
Ryza (Reisalin Stout)

Web Gallery: https://t.co/7rynbMzbuQ#AtelierRyza #goodsmile pic.twitter.com/cRQlSWu1Jw

— GoodSmile_US @axchibi✨(Booth #305) (@GoodSmile_US) November 26, 2022

Today, during the CD Projekt Group earnings presentation, the developer shared more details about its plans for the previously-announced sequel of Cyberpunk 2077.

President and joint CEO Adam Kiciński was asked whether CD Projekt expects to enter the pre-production phase of the sequel in 2023.

He mentioned that the developer will start working on the next full Cyberpunk game after releasing the expansion “Phantom Liberty”. Initially, there will be a research and concept phase, which formally isn’t defined as “pre-production” yet. Once the concept is ready, the development will start with pre-production.

From that formal point of view, pre-production probably won’t begin in 2023. That being said, the concept phase will begin next year with smaller teams than the ones working on Phantom Liberty as some developers will join work on the next mainline The Witcher Game (cod-named Polaris).

Incidentally, while the developer did not confirm a second season for the smash-hit anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners, they confirmed plans to do more in the trans-media field with linear media like animation or live-action. We can expect announcements on that front when they are ready.

Luffy’s adventures have taken him beyond the waters of One Piece and into the mainstream, forging the path for international success across multiple mediums, and now the relaunched Trading Card Game (TCG) from Bandai! The first set, Romance Dawn, will take players into the world of One Piece with four starter decks and a booster set based on the foundation of the anime’s lore. The set primarily features the current story arcs from the anime and manga, but also brings favorite characters that have been previously shown. With this list, you’ll be ahead of the curve with knowledge of the top 10 best cards in Romance Dawn: One Piece TCG, from pirate rookies to emperors of the sea when opening packs and buying singles.

Today CD Projekt announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2022.

We hear from chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz that the release of Cyberpunk Edgerunners on Netflix and the positive reception of the related update for the game “visibly” affected sales of Cyberpunk 2077, and the developers are “filled with pride” by the fact that it passed 20 million units sold.

President and joint CEO Adam Kiciński also added that the share of recent positive reviews for the game exceeded 90%.

We also hear that the developer enjoyed the best financial third quarter of its entire history both for revenue and profit. Revenue was at 246 million PLN (almost $55 million) mostly due to strong sales of Cyberpunk 2077, which enjoyed its best sales quarter ever. That’s a 70% growth year-on-year.

On top of that, net profit was 99 million PLN (just south of $22 million) up 504% year-on-year. That’s a 40.2% profitability ratio across the CD Projekt group. The Profitability ratio for the CD Projekt RED segment alone (which focuses on game development) was a whopping 47%.

Nielubowicz added that while Q3 is usually the weakest quarter of the year, this year it is the strongest so far.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have been out for over a week now, and with the early grace period over, it’s time to talk rankings. Scarlet & Violet introduced over 100 new Pokemon into the mix, as well as brought back plenty of powerful Pokemon from previous games. But of course, only ten can stand at the very top of the list. So today, let’s discuss the top 10 best Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

-To keep things fair, we’ll only be going over normal Pokemon. This list will not include Legendary Pokemon and will also stick to Generation 9 Pokemon exclusively.

Unlike with most flavours of PC hardware, the list of good Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals is noticeably smaller than the catalogue of quality, discounted notebooks that Black Friday brought. That’s partly stock running out, and partly retailers just being less willing to extend these sales over the weekend. Killjoys. Still, we’re not out of luck yet, nor out of laptops – as you’ll see below, there’s still a variety of deals to choose from, especially in the UK.

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Classic RPG Heroes of Might and Magic III has been transmuted into a board game, with its Kickstarter campaign currently on over 2.6 million pounds. That's 6000% over its £43,000 funding goal. You people want this. Are you sure you want this?

The board game is a hybrid of competitive deckbuilding and exploration, where 1-4 players travel around an overworld collecting cards to play in separate combat encounters. I do dig deckbuilding, but I suspect this might lack a little magic to anyone who isn't after a nostalgia kick.

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Mirrorshades cannot be the iconic eyewear of modern-day cyberpunk, I learned during a Microsoft Teams meeting. For decades, cyberpunks, hackers, and internauts have donned a cool pair of shiny shades to strike a cool pose. But mirrorshades are a serious security hazard in this age of video calls: other people can see your screen and desk reflected in the lenses. If you're mirrored up, people can gain access to private data or see if you are, for example, playing Windows Solitaire instead of paying attention to the meeting. So what's a 21st-century cyberpunk to wear? It's not like you can go without cool glasses (or stop playing Solitaire during meetings). I have ideas.

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Synced (formerly Synced: Off Planet) is heading into open beta on December 10th, and has quite a few hyphenated terms applied to it. This sci-fi game is both squad-based and match-based, a roguelite hero-shooter, and Tencent's publishing division Level Infinite even go as far as describing it as a rogue-looter, of all things. Whatever you want to call it, though, the main thrust of the game is about finding and taming machine creatures known as Nanos in a techno-apocalypse, mostly so you can battle more Nanos inside a special sealed zone called The Meridian. Come and see what to expect when the beta begins in an exclusive gameplay trailer below.

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With Black Friday now demoted to "Last Friday", it’s the turn of Cyber Monday to host the handful of remaining SSD deals. Thought it’s more than a handful, really – multiple big, stretching fistfuls of quality PC storage deals are still running, and should continue to do so until the clock strikes midnight. Or until they run out of stock. Hopefully the former.

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For what has felt like my entire life (but was probably only the months of October and November) every ad I was served on YouTube was for a sale on Her Interactive's Nancy Drew games. I remember it not only because the content is burned into my brain, but because they themed it around getting involved in cosplay, and got a bunch of cosplayers - and no disprespect to them, because they did a great job - to dress as characters from the games. And I kept thinking, like... what? Apart from Ms Drew, what characters are worth cosplaying from a series of licensed Nancy Drew puzzle games?

Anyway it clearly didn't matter, because I saw the ads so often that I went and bought the most recent one out of curiosity. You win, Her Interactive! Midnight In Salem is a spooky mystery wherein Nancy Drew must solve an arson case (with the Hardy Boys in tow, no less) that has possible occult tie ins. It came out in 2019, and is Nancy Drew #33. 33 Nancy Drew games! Imagine. Also, I cannot download it and I have spent over two weeks trying.

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It was only a few days hence that we spotted a low price on the Ryzen 9 7900X, but for Cyber Monday there's an even better deal on offer at Amazon UK.

The deal price is £456.70, versus a normal price of £600, and is for stock from Amazon US - but that includes shipping, import duty and all other potential fees. There's even the possibility that fees are less than expected, as several US items I've ordered from Amazons overseas have come with small discounts.

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Two of the best gaming mice - and indeed, the best ultralight mouse in the RPS guide to gaming mice that are good - are going exceedingly cheap on Amazon UK today. The Pulsefire Haste and Pulsefire Haste Wireless are ideal for competitive and casual gaming alike, with lightweight designs and high-end specs, and now you can pick either for little.

The wired Pulsefire Haste (£20, normally £50) is the cheaper and lighter option, weighing in at 59 grams, while the wireless Pulsefire Haste Wireless (£40, normally £90) offers more freedom but requires recharging every 100 hours. It also weighs a tiny bit more, at 61 grams.

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In 2010, the makers of Swiss Army knives introduced a new model for the digital age: the Presentation Master. To help you dominate PowerPoint presentations on the battlefields of corporate warfare, the knife's fold-out tools included a laser pointer, a Bluetooth remote control for changing slides, and a USB thumb drive. I need it. This is an amazing cyberpunk PC peripheral, and a rare product targetted at megacorp middle-managers rather the leather-clad rabble of hackers, scavs, and street samurai. I need it so much.

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With the exception of a few expired Razer offers – sleep now, Razer Basilisk Ultimate for $60 – I’m pleasantly surprised how many of Cyber Monday’s best gaming mouse deals have stuck to their Black Friday prices. Don’t fret, then, if you missed these the first time round.

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The regulatory battles between Sony and Microsoft over the latter's Activision Blizzard acquisition are throwing up all manner of headline stories - such as Xbox effectively positioning themselves as third out of three in terms of the major console platform holders, Sony writing off its chances of ever creating an FPS as potent as Call of Duty - and perhaps most intriguing of all, acknowledgement that this console generation is likely to persist until 2027 or even 2028.

The various legal documents make for great reading but do need to be treated with more than a little caution. On the face of it, it appears like we're getting a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the platform holders, who are producing all manner of never-seen-before 'insider' information. However, we also need to remember that all of these disclosures are being driven by very specific agendas and nothing should be taken at face value, no matter how intriguing the information may be.

With that said, the idea of a prolonged console generation absolutely has merit. I'm not sure it's fully understood how hard Microsoft and Sony pushed to make PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X as powerful as they were, given the technologies available to them. Various factors - outlined in depth in this interview with Xbox's chief system architect - demonstrate that the routes forward in producing any kind of next-gen console are (right now, at least) limited to say the least. The basic assumptions we have about new technology being both more performant and cheaper are clearly being challenged.

Developer Offworld Industries, the studio behind Squad, has revealed Starship Troopers: Extermination, a new 12-player cooperative FPS coming to Steam Early Access next year. 

Offworld is making Extermination in collaboration with Sony Pictures Consumer Products and in the game, players will engage in squad-based FPS combat to exterminate the arachnid threat fans of the 1997 film will know really well. Those squads will need to work together in order to complete objectives, acquire resources necessary to continue the fight, build and defend a base of operations, and ultimately, escape to the one extraction point as a team. 

Check out the Starship Troopers: Extermination reveal trailer for yourself below: 

At WonHobby G 2022 Autumn, Good Smile Company detailed a number of anime and manga-inspired figures it is working on them. Among them were a ton of Chainsaw Man figures like Nendoroids and a figma. The Nendoroids and Power figma seem to be furthest along in development. Painted prototypes of all of them appeared. However, a number of supporting cast members will also show up as Pop Up Parade figures.

First, here are the three Chainsaw Man Nendoroids of Aki, Kobeni, and Makima. All three are painted proto
[gallery size="full" ids="941402,941401,941403" link="file"]
Good Smile Company already made two Chainsaw Man Nendoroids so far. One is of Denji, and it includes parts to transform him into Chainsaw Man. The other is of Power. She comes with her cat, Meowy.

Next, here is the Power figma.

#WonHobbyG 2022 Autumn Figure Update!

Max Factory
Chainsaw Man
figma Power

Square Enix shared a new image going over more of the Theatrhythm Final Bar Line cast of characters, and this time the focus is on FFX, FFX-2, FFXII, and FFXIV folks. A total of 18 people came up. However, two of those are different versions of the same characters.

Here's the full list of the latest confirmed characters from FFX, FFX-2, FFXII, and FFXIV. Both heroes and villains appear.

• FFX: Auron
• FFX: Jecht
• FFX: Seymour
• FFX: Tidus
• FFX: Yuna
• FFX-2: Paine
• FFX-2: Rikku
• FFX-2: Yuna
• FFXII: Ashe
• FFXII: Balthier
• FFXII: Fran
• FFXII: Gabranth
• FFXII: Vaan
• FFXIV: Alphinaud
• FFXIV: Thancred
• FFXIV: Y’shtola
• FFXIV: Y’shtola #2
• FFXIV: Yda

Oddly enough, this image does not also confirm Alphinaud's sister Alisaie.

And this is the image in full:

When going through the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Path of Legends storyline, finding the location of the False Dragon Titan might prove a bit challenging. This is because while the island in Casseroya Lake where it lives is very clearly marked, you don’t see an obvious “Titan” Pokemon there when you arrive. Rather, there’s a bit of an investigation that needs to be done.

Also, as a note, there will be spoilers for this part of the Path of Titans storyline below.

How to Find the False Dragon Titan in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

First, you need to make sure you are strong enough to even survive reaching the False Dragon Titan location in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Most of the Pokemon around here are about level 50. (Give or take a few levels.) Also, while we never see the Titans’ levels, my team featured characters at least at level 48.

Recently, I’ve been playing Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope on the Nintendo Switch. The original Mario + Rabbids was one of my favorite Switch games. So far this new entry is even better, adding more chaos and depth to the previous game’s already-great tactical action. But after owning a Steam Deck for a few months,…

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Over Thanksgiving Break, Blizzard revealed the abilities of its newest tank hero, Ramattra, and he’s shaping up to be a pain in the ass for Reinhardt and Mercy players.

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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet may be plagued by a bevy of technical exploits and glitches, but fans of the monster-collecting RPG are still enjoying Paldea’s open world. You can hang out with your monsters in a variety of ways across the new region,, including having a picnic. Some players, however, are taking that “hang…

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I'm extremely excited to announce Inventory Space! A new video series in which Liam and I spend our precious free time with massive live-service games to see how much they demand from our schedules. Are we able to truly experience everything these games have to offer without sacrificing the bits of our daily routines that keep us from withering away at our monitors? How many hours do you really need to invest in order to fully experience a game? And is it even worth it, in the end?

Inventory Space will – hopefully – give you a better idea of whether mammoth games will slot into your life neatly, or not at all.

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Oi, you. Are you looking for a good time? A cosy time? I've got *opens trenchcoat* Townscaper, a no-stress little building toy. You'll see colours for days, mate. Buildings popping up in all manners of shapes and sizes, no objectives or nuffin'. Ahh, you want the new stuff, eh? Well lucky you, I just got some Gourdlets in.

Gourdlets is another city-building sandbox with no purpose beyond placing stuff you think looks nice, only this time little blob dudes will come visit and interact with what you've built. The first taste is free, by which I mean there's an Itch demo you can tinker with while we wait for the Steam version.

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