January 2023

Snazzy Stardew Valley-like town simulator My Time At Sandrock is running its first open beta for multiplayer next week, allowing owners of the game to hop into a separate multiplayer area set in a "semi-fictional" version of Sandrock's past that includes "compressed stories happening 50 years before single-player events". A pseudo prequel is an interesting form for a multiplayer mode to take, especially considering this is the pseudo sequel to My Time At Portia.

The beta will run from January 12th - January 20th, after which any progress you've made will be wiped.

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Before our Christmas break, I left you with a big winter decision, and I return to see that you have dynamic snow is better than seasonal events. Having hugely enjoyed recent real-world snow but not really done much in terms of seasonal events, yes, this feels correct. Well done. Now our hunt for the best thing resumes, with a choice between rill rill and cold steel. What's better: calling found phone numbers or giant swords?

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Robots! Flesh! Fleshy robots! Robo-worms! Swirly Big Hero 6 lookalikes! Upcoming sci-fi Soviet FPS Atomic Heart seems chock-full of weird, mostly robotic things that want to kill you, and its latest trailer shows off all the ray-traced reflections and particle effects you can admire as they do so. We've seen a lot of this before, but it doesn't half look pretty - and now at 4K, if you can handle that. I worry for my poor 1080p-tier GPU, though at least there's also freshly-announced DLSS 3 support.

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Steam's Winter Sale is still ongoing, with thousands of sales on games big and small. You only have ~24 hours left to nab yourself some good savings, so get at it! I've put down a handful of my own recommendations below, but I'm sure you can find other gems if you scroll for long enough. And of course, other giants like Elden Ring and the LEGO games are also heavily discounted.

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You can grab free games from every corner of the internet these days. Well, that's if you consider 'at no extra cost' free. One such place is Amazon Prime, where members can claim and keep six free games from now until the end of the month, with 2017 horror The Evil Within 2 leading the pack. The other freebies are Elsewhere, Breathedge, Beat Cop, Faraway 2, Lawn Mowing Simulator, and Chicken Police - Paint it RED!

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I had great plans for the games I was going to play over the Christmas break. Elden Ring! Tunic! Our game of the year Vampire Survivors! And I did try to play some of them, for a bit. Elden Ring and Tunic were both too hard for my state of mind, which was as robust as pink candyfloss. Even Vampire Survivors wigged me out because it's so visually busy by the end game, and I was in a more "Ferrero Rocher and jigsaw of the London Underground map" sort of place. My downfall was seeing PowerWash Simulator on sale on Steam. I bought it, and then played it for 40 hours.

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Vampire Survivors was one of 2022 biggest hits, sinking its teeth into me and countless other victims. The RPS Treehouse even named the bullet hell beast the best game of 2022 In a Steam community blog, developer Poncle celebrated the mega-successful year they just had, highlighting their accolades and the fact they were the most played game on Steam Deck over the last six months - half of that playtime probably came from me in my bed; you’re welcome, Poncle. But, despite their Vampire-y success, the devs have already begun to tease something "not exclusively related" to their big hit.

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Over New Year, the English seaside town of Scarborough received a rare Arctic visitor: a walrus, dubbed Thor, who rested in the harbour for several days. A feel-good novelty story in the news! What many news outlets politely neglected to mention is that, to the delight and horror of the gathered crowds, Thor had a big ol' wank in front of everyone. Thankfully, one chronicler of modern English culture is brave enough to capture this moment. Yes, absolutely a walrus cracking one off is now in Duke Smoochem, that astonishing upcoming Duke Nukem 3D level made by Dan Douglas.

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Annual tech bonanza CES is underway over in Las Vegas this week, and Nvidia have used the occasion to announce the latest graphics card in their RTX 40 series family, the RTX 4070 Ti. Out tomorrow, January 5th, at a starting price of £799 / $799, Nvidia say it's faster than their previous flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti, and will "max out" 1440p monitors.

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Dasher the reindeer has found a side gig in 20 Minutes Till Dawn, a neat survive 'em up that's like Vampire Survivors but with guns you have to aim. She's been added as a human woman in a festive coat who intermittently turns into an invulnerable deer that can charge about the screen, plunging into enemies that would normally kill you in a heartbeat. She might be a little overpowered, but hey, it's Christmas.

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While there has not been an update for the standings so far in the Naruto character popularity poll, there is a second special poll that you can take part in for a limited time. From January 5-17, 2023, you can vote for which character you would want to learn from the most. As per usual, you can place your votes at the official website for the Naruto P99 poll.

The “Whose Apprentice Would You Like to Become?” poll does not include all of the Naruto characters. It consists of five who have been teachers or mentors in the series. Even then, it does not include everyone. Your options for this Naruto poll are:

• Asuma Sarutobi
• Jiraiya
• Kakashi Hatake
• Might Guy
• Minato Namikaze (Fourth Hokage)

Characters like Kurenai and Tsunade are absent, for some reason. This is despite the fact that Kurenai was the leader of Team 8, and Tsunade was Sakura’s teacher during the timeskip. In Kurenai’s case, this might be because we did not see her have a special bond with a particular student. For Asuma, we saw a lot of scenes between him and Shikamaru during the Naruto series.

Nintendo introduced emblem Micaiah, also known as the “Emblem of Dawn” in Fire Emblem Engage. She possesses mysterious magical abilities that grant her the power of foresight and the ability to heal others. Micaiah is an Emblem that specializes in support and healing, thanks to her high magic stat and healing abilities, and allows other units to use staves. She deeply respects the protagonist, Alear, for their generosity and always putting others over themselves.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1610901957505601536

Micaiah's Synchro Skill is called "Staff Wielder,” and it allows any unit to use staves. By combining this with classes with high mobility or cavalry units, they can offer effective healing to the entire party. Her Engage Weapon, "Shine," creates a source of light in an area after attacking with Light magic. "Amplify" is her Engage Skill, and it increases the range of staves, allowing to support and heal enemies from far away. Finally, Micaiah's Engage Technique is called "Great Sacrifice." It leaves Micaiah with 1 HP in order to heal all allies. If used by a Draconic unit, it will leave 30% of their HP.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1610902944744099842

Natsuko Kuwatani voices Micaiah in the Japanese dub of Fire Emblem Engage. She has previously voiced the same character in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Kasuga in the Sengoku Basara franchise, and Furudo Erika in Umineko: When They Cry.

Leading up to the release of Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.3, Square Enix has provided a look at the new armor sets and minions that will accompany the update. These images of the new gear set, mounts, and minions that players can obtain in FFXIV Patch 6.3 appeared on the official Final Fantasy XIV website. This was accompanied by other screenshots featuring scenes from the next tier of Aglaia raids.

Editor's Note: Please keep in mind that the following images will contain spoilers for Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.3, along with descriptions of upcoming content.

Players will be able to obtain a total of two different mounts and minions, along with a new set of gear from the Aglaia raids, through FFXIV Patch 6.3. The minions include a Corgi, and what appears to be a small ghost resembling Mama from Nier Re[in]carnation. Whereas the two new mounts include a large, pink elephant and another airship. A single player is shown riding the elephant. It is unknown if the airship will allow for multiple people to ride it. The gear from the Aglaia raid follows the same kind of design as previous sets. However, this new tier includes more pieces of armor and is adorned with crystals.

You can take a look at the new mounts, minions, and gear set below.

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A new Street Fighter comic is on the way called Street Fighter Masters: Cammy. As the title suggests, Cammy will be the star of this new series. David Lumsdon will write it, while the artist is Alberto Alburquerque. It will show up on March 22, 2023. Udon also already shared its six cover variants.

So far, two characters will take center stage in the story. Cammy is called into action for a new MI6. Her assignment is to deal with Seth. One of the cover variants also shows Juri, suggesting she'll play a part in the story.

There are six different cover variants for this Cammy comic. Four will be available, while two are only going to be sold by Udon. Genzoman drew the A cover, Alberto Alburquerque did the B one, and the D version is a Chamba Incentive Cover. C is a blank cover for sketches. The A, B, C, and D variants will be available everywhere. A and B will be $4.99, while C will be $5.99. The D option is $20.

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The Tempus Adventurer's Guild is expanding its influence. After teasing a new development on January 4, 2023, the plans were detailed more fully. New Hololive Tempus Vtubers will join the unit. Starting from January 7, 2023, the party will grow from its current four VTubers to eight. The unit will remain all-male, however.

Hololive Production launched a new teaser for the new Tempus members via the Holostars English YouTube channel. Each of the new streamers will hold their debut stream on YouTube on January 7, 2023, revealing more about themselves, their characters, and their plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUIRCX1DKb0

The teaser shows the four original members of Tempus going off on a journey, and bringing along some previously unrevealed members and meeting new friends in the land of Xenokuni (or just "Xeno"). An eastern land of craftsmen, they meet new characters to join the party. The trailer also features dialog and lines from the existing Tempus characters, teasing scenarios that detail their fictional first meetings.

The four new Tempus members are:

Gavis Bettel, a jester-like "fool" character. His design came from artist Makoto Senzaki.

https://twitter.com/senzakimakoto/status/1610834860431790080

Machina X Flayon, the guild's resident mecha pilot. His design comes from artist Shokuen.

https://twitter.com/oxSTL/status/1610834971425398786

As the release date of Like A Dragon: Ishin approaches, Sega released details on the game's various physical bonuses. One pack even includes a "life-size" wall scroll (called a tapestry in Japan) of protagonist Ryouma Sakamoto. These are only announced for Japan.

An update to the official Japanese website for Like A Dragon: Ishin (called Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin Kiwami in Japan) unveiled the game's various pre-order bonuses and physical editions. The most luxurious pack is the Super DX pack, sold on the Sega Store via online retailer Ebten for 19,899 Yen (about $149 USD). A version without the tapestry goes for 12,419 Yen (about $93 USD). The pre-order bonuses are currently only offered for the Japanese PS4 and PS5 editions of the game.

The life-size tapestry of Ryouma Sakamoto shows him wearing a Shinsengumi uniform with sword drawn. It's over 200cm long (about 6.5 feet), and made of suede.

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Besides the aforementioned tapestry, the Like A Dragon: Ishin Super DX pack also includes a bamboo folding fan with two designs. One side bears the crest of Ryouma Sakamoto, and the other side bears Saito Hajime's crest. Another item is a sitting cushion. The top has a stylized rendering of the game's logo illustration, while the bottom shows a collection of all the characters' crests. Finally, a six-sticker set of the principal characters' family crests is included, alongside an extra large bromide card of the poster illustration.

Koei Tecmo offered a better look at one of Ryza's costumes in Atelier Ryza 3. She wears new everyday attire in the main game. However, there will be temporarily free DLC someone can get to change her appearance. A new Atelier Ryza 3 video shows how her early purchase bonus Summer Look will look in-game.

Here's Koei Tecmo's video clip. It noted this is the first in a series of reveals involving the Atelier Ryza 3 Summer Look costumes.

Starting today, we'll be sharing a first in-game look at the Early Purchase Bonus "Summer Look" Costume Set for #AtelierRyza3.

We kick things off with Ryza.

Learn more:https://t.co/4sc7q8O9RQ#KTfamily pic.twitter.com/wx6s4VNE89

— KOEI TECMO EUROPE (@koeitecmoeurope) January 5, 2023

There's a new update on Genshin Impact revenue due to earnings from mobile income. Sensor Tower data suggested it is over $4 billion. It also noted that Android and iOS players downloaded and installed the game over 126.4 million times. [Thanks, GameIndustry.biz!]

Genshin Impact earnings steadily climbed since launch, with it hitting $1 billion in revenue back in March 2021. In May 2022, it passed the $3 billion mark. For reference, the game launched in September 2020. By October 2020, it made over $100 million in income from Genshin Impact. That initial milestone happened over two weeks.

One of the next big events in Genshin Impact will be the return of Liyue's Lantern Rite. This annual affair involves things like special activities, opportunities to earn free four-star characters, and giveaways. The first one was held February 10-28, 2021, while the second appeared January 25, 2022 through February 12, 2022.

The Solidigm P41 Plus 2TB SSD is a top performer amongst QLC drives, and now it's down to $122 at Newegg in the US. That's nearly $25 cheaper than the next-lowest price, at Amazon, and a solid deal on a high-spec drive that can hit up to 4125MB/s reads and 3325MB/s writes.

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The developers behind text-based political sim Suzerain have announced their follow-up, a narrative RPG called The Conformist. It's set in the same universe and fictional country as Suzerain, although it takes place before the events of that game. Instead of leading the country of Sordland, this time players will guide the government propagandist Orwin through the city of Holsord, as you make tough decisions, befriend NPCs, and keep your family safe.

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The EVGA Z20 is part of a new breed of mechanical gaming keyboards that use optical switches, reducing the latency of inputs and raising longevity to seriously silly levels. It normally costs £130, but its price has been dropping steadily on Amazon UK - and now it's reached a new low-water mark of £52.79.

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Imagine a battle royale game, right, but instead of dropping into an arena with one life and no guns, you actually start with your loadout and can respawn as many times as you like while you fight over control points in 9v9 matches. Now stop imagining that, because it's exactly what you'll get to do when Control mode temporarily returns to Apex Legends next week as part of the Spellbound Collection Event. I think the idea's got legs.

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EA have dropped the ball. If you logged into Madden NFL 23 during at least a 22-hour period last week, there's a good chance your Connected Franchise Mode saves have been permanently corrupted. If that wasn't galling enough, the corrupting period (from Wednesday December 28th to Thursday 29th) came immediately after EA gave people the go ahead to log in.

EA have said they expect to recover 40% of the saves, the wallies.

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The Nintendo Switch has quickly become the prime console for RPGs and JRPGs. The library has grown tremendously over the years, which means it’s time to pick out the best JRPGs you can play on the Switch right now.

Fire Emblem Three Houses

Fire Emblem Three Houses isn’t just one of the best JRPGs you can play on the Switch, it might very well be the best game in the Fire Emblem series, period.

The mobile game space has been on a roller coaster for the past few years as the gaming industry looks to crack the code on reaching the “on-the-go” market space and earning top dollar. Two of the longest-standing mobile games, PUBG: Mobile and Genshin Impact, have reached a point of great success that not many games, mobile or non-mobile, can say they will ever reach.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, PUBG: Mobile has crossed the threshold of $9 billion earned. The mobile version of the popular battle royale launched as free-to-play in March 2018, racking up 1.1 billion installs on mobile devices since its debut. Between Jan. and Sept. 2022, the game was installed 104.4 million times and earned $1.6 billion in revenue, which was down compared to 2021’s modest earnings of $2.2 billion.

Conversely, Genshin Impact has reached $4 billion in revenue earned, having done that significantly faster since the game launched in 2020. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to those following the game, as Genshin Impact reached the billion-dollar mark six months after its launch, rapidly reaching the $4 billion mark back in March 2022. In the same period of Q1 to Q3 2022, the title generated $1.4 billion, despite a seven percent dip in global installs during that same period.

Since it first launched in December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 has proven a truly divisive game amongst fans and critics alike. Upon release, CD Projekt Red’s ambitious dystopian adventure was besieged by performance issues that obscured players from fully enjoying its scope.

Twinfinite’s Alex Gibson scored the game as a 4 out of 5, acknowledging that the two weeks’ worth of patches available at that point “…have made sizeable improvements to its stability since launch, but that doesn’t excuse the situation nor have they done much for the millions of players still enduring near-unplayable and unacceptable performance on previous generation consoles.”

In the meantime, the team at CD Projekt Red have been diligently tinkering, adding additional content and repairing the damage so that the product more closely matches the intended vision. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the community, with Cyberpunk recently claiming Steam’s 2022 “labor of love” award.

The fan-voted honor represents games that have seen significant progress and care since release, with Cyberpunk edging out titles such as No Man’s Sky — another game initially lambasted for its shortcomings.

Of Cyberpunk, the Steam Awards page describes, “this game has been out for a while. The team is well past the debut of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.”

The holidays may be over, but GTA Online is the gift that keeps on giving, as Rockstar Games has just revealed a boatload of new goodies are coming to the multiplayer version of GTA V. Included with those freebies are a flair gun and lots of incentives attached to your favorite missions.

To be exact, you’ll get double rewards on First Dose Missions, Fooligan Jobs, and much more. The full list of additions coming can be seen right down below.

HBO Max has released a behind the scene look into The Last of Us TV series, featuring iconic reimagined scenes within the video game and commentary from various crew members about the riveting storyline.

The beginning of the video showcases a series of clips of the filming process, including a crucial moment between Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey) and Riley Abel (Storm Reid) from the DLC, The Last of Us: Left Behind. Then, viewers can learn more about when the story takes place and the fungus disease that started the outbreak, differing from a typical virus due to its mind-altering properties.

A Frog’s Tale

Developer: Norman Company, Mythcarver Games

Genre: RPG, Adventure

Release Date: 2023

A Frog’s Tale is an upcoming turn-based RPG that places an interesting emphasis on music, featuring an adorable amphibious protagonist to boot. You play as Norman, a young frog looking for an extraordinary artifact that has the power to bring the dead back to life. 

You’ll use Norman’s froggy strength to hop and fight your way through obstacles, including rhythmic-based puzzles that stand in the way of progressing.  

There was certainly no shortage of TV show content to enjoy in 2022. We’ve seen a huge number of different series excel over the past 12 months; some thrive in a furious climax, and even older ones enjoy a lease of life in unforgettable moments.

There has been much change on the small screen, given all of the recent developments in the television industry, such as the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery. It’s resulted in the gradual reduction of HBO Max, Netflix’s similarly game-changing subscriber loss, and the failure of several smaller streamers to thrive. Yet the change has allowed a few shows to really shine bright and flourish, in a year that could have been seen as overloaded by mediocrity due to sheer volume. So which shows really came out on top? Let’s do one of our signature rankings, shall we?

Move to the side Everything Everywhere All at Once, Amsterdam, and Bad Santa, as Hulu has a promising new (but old) contender rising to the top of Hulu’s charts: David Ayer’s Fury. According to FlixPatrol, the

According to Flix Patrol, this 2014 World War II epic has been climbing up spots in most streaming platforms and has become the number-one movie in numerous different countries, such as Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Ecuador. The film is also number four on Hulu in the United States and climbing spots with every day that passes.

Fury tells the story of a US tank crew fighting in World War II. The small crew and their tank, nicknamed Fury, have been together since the North African campaign, but after the death of one of his own, a new private is assigned to the team in what might be Fury’s last ride. 

The film was a film written and directed by David Ayer (The End of Watch) and starred an incredible crop of stars and up-and-coming actors. The cast was led by Brad Pitt (Ocean’s Eleven), with Shia LaBeouf (Transformers), Logan Lerman (Hunters), Michale Peña (End of Watch), Jon Bernthal (We Own This City), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), and Scott Eastwood (Fast & Furious 8).

Fury was a box office success as it earned $211 million worldwide on a $68 million budget. It also worked pretty well with both critics and especially audiences, as it has a 76% critics rating and an 84% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

You can watch Fury on Hulu, iTunes, and Starz.

Rejoice Rian Johnson’s fanatics as his new project will drop in less than a month. On Jan. 26, everyone can see Poker Face, his newest project with Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) as the lead.

Johnson himself has shared the series’ last trailer on his Twitter account with great enthusiasm.

The trailer makes it seem as if Poker Face is going to be a fun ride, and Lyonne might be the perfect actor for the mix of drama and comedy the series is trying to deliver.

The Western, as a genre, has fascinated audiences in almost all forms of media. From pulp western novels to comic books to the on-screen Westerns, the wild west has a lot of resonance for Americans and some people outside the US. Video games are no exception, despite having fewer westerns than other mediums. Despite this, there are some very creative and fun executions of this age-old genre. As such, some of the best games of all-time are cowboy games.

This is a list of the best games where you can play a rooting, tooting cowboy, or at least emulate the tropes of cowboy westerns. These games are the best cowboy games this side of the Mississippi.

2023 is already offering great movies just a week into the year with M3GAN. The unapologetically silly horror romp already set the internet ablaze with the titular character’s dead-pan knife-wielding dancing in the trailer, but ahead of its theatrical release, the horror-comedy is already receiving rave reviews from critics with a spectacular 96% on RottenTomatoes.com.

The film is Gerard Johnston’s second entry into the genre, following up his 2014 horror-comedy – which he also wrote and edited – Housebound. The feature-length directorial debut received strikingly similar praise, netting a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with its outrageous and hilarious blend of frights and laughs.

Critics are calling the film a more-than-welcome update to the “killer doll” formula, merging the likes of the terrifying Chucky and the stoic androids of Westworld and packing them into a flamboyant and stylish 4-foot-tall bundle of sass and slash written (by Malignant’s Akela Cooper) with all the sardonic self-awareness that newer horror audiences love.

M3GAN tells the story of the recently orphaned Cady and her roboticist aunt Gemma’s well-meaning gesture of giving her niece a robotic prototype to act as a friend and protector. When the android-doll hybrid, M3GAN, becomes self-aware, it begins taking its duties for Cady’s safety to very extreme and very violent lengths.

With the film’s early critical success, Johnston continues to be a voice in subversive horror to keep an eye on with his already finely tuned directorial voice and genre-reflexive stylings that take the tried-and-true formulas and flip them on their heads with delightful effect.

M3GAN stars Allison Williams as Gemma, Violet McGraw as Cady, and Amie Donald/Jenna Davis as the body and voice of M3GAN, respectively, and hits U.S. theaters on Jan. 6, 2022.

He wants you to show him the money. He wants you to help him, help you. He wants to be a good man again. Who on earth could this chap be? Yep, you guessed it: it’s none other than the one and only Tom Cruise, folks!

A Hollywood icon, a suave and debonair gent, and one of the most recognizable faces in, well… the world, ol’ TC is simply the gift that keeps on giving. So, to celebrate the award-winning movie star, we thought we’d put together a quote quiz to test your knowledge of the devilishly handsome fella.

Honestly, it couldn’t be easier. We’ll give you a quote from one of his famous pics, and all you need to do is identify what film the quote is from. Could it be balls-to-the-wall actioner Top Gun? Could it be the box office disaster that is The Mummy? Or could it be the bonkers, side-splitting hilarity of Tropic Thunder? The choice is yours!

So, without further delay, whip up a long island iced tea and hop in your cockpits as we take on Twinfinite’s quiz of the day. Can you name all these classic Tom Cruise films from just a single quote? Let’s find out, shall we? Good luck!

Destiny 2 has become a vast and incredible franchise over the years and has amassed an amazing fan base in the process. Now, one of these fans has gathered a community to create what appears to be the best fan animation that’s come about for the game, maybe ever.

That creator’s name is Average Matty, and with the help of his community and more, they just released the first episode of their new mini-series, Ace.

From a cinematic standpoint, it looks pretty impressive. The animation and voice acting both look like they could have come from a AAA studio, and the story seems interesting as well. From what we can surmise from the first episode, it seems the story is set to revolve around the son of fan-favorite Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6.

One big question that the intro to this series doesn’t seem to answer is when exactly this occurs within the Destiny universe. At the beginning of the episode, we see the main character, Ace, defeat a Hive Guardian, which was recently introduced in the Witch Queen DLC last year.

Riot Games is preparing to launch a new season of content for its tactical shooter Valorant, and as per usual there’s a cinematic trailer to hype up the occasion. Called Revelation, the four-minute anime sequence showcases our favorite Agents at various locations around the world, including the upcoming new map that will form the crux of Episode 6’s content when it arrives next week.

As we’ve discussed in our recent overview feature recapping everything we know about the upcoming map so far, it does indeed look like it will be set in some sort of ancient city location. Harbor and Astra can be seen on a mission to unlock its secrets using Harbor’s special amulet, all while other members of Brimstone’s crew are busy with their own business — Sage practicing against bots; Omen snipping a bonsai tree, and Fade dealing with someone tailing her in an Istanbul nightclub. Notably, several of the shots tease the return of fan-favorite map Split, which is coming back into rotation next week.

Valorant Episode 6, Act 1 will launch on Tues/Wed next week (depending on your region), and as mentioned before it will feature a new map along with a new battle pass and premium skin bundle. Stay tuned to Twinfinite for more as we dive into Early Access from tomorrow.

Sony’s CES 2023 press conference has come and gone, and the company brought plenty of big announcements out for the event.

In addition to providing updates on the state of the PlayStation 5, the company also had news regarding new software and technology related to their current console. Key among these was the reveal of a brand new piece of accessibility-minded tech and some new titles slated for release on its upcoming PSVR 2 headset, which is still slated for release next month.

We’ve compiled all of the bigger announcements down below, along with links to more detailed coverage where appropriate.

With the second season of the Goblin Slayer anime hitting sometime this year, a new teaser trailer has been released to serve as a season two promo, giving plenty of goblin slaying action. Sadly, the trailer is light on information, as no further story details or a premiere date outside of the 2023 window are revealed.

The series had a pretty wide gap between releases, as the first season came out five years ago in 2018. The Goblin’s Crown film closed some of this gap as it came out in 2020 and adapted the fifth light novel of the series. The new series will likely start with the sixth novel as things ramp up, judging by all the goblin slaying seen in the new trailer.

The series is also set to branch out wider into other media as a Goblin Slayer video game titled Goblin Slayer: Another Adventure – Nightmare Feast has been announced for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. This will be set in the Goblin Slayer universe and feature an original story.

The above information is all that is known, however. The announcement included the title, platforms, and that tiny bit of story information. The publisher and developer are currently unknown, which is rather unusual for a game with known platforms.

From its earliest days, Pokemon launched into a stratosphere of fame that necessitated careful consideration of its branding.

Pikachu is very much the face of the franchise, thanks to its marketability and design. But if it had been called, say, Elemouse, would it have had quite the same staying power? I posit not, as that sounds more like a French surname than a suitable monster delineation.

The sprawling RPG series has had all kinds of weird and wonderful beasts over of the years, and many of them have names that inspire intrigue. Some very much do not, so we thought we would list them for your edification; the top 5 best and worst Pokemon names!