Things haven’t been going great for Xbox recently. Microsoft is facing stiff resistance in its attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. It released hardly any big exclusive blockbusters last year. And it just cut over 10,000 jobs last week, including many senior developers at Halo Infinite studio 343 Industries.…
Epic Games and Iron Galaxy have announced they’re sunsetting their melee battle royale Rumbleverse, six months after launch. Live services will go offline on February 28th at 4PM GMT/10AM CST/11AM ET. In a blog post from the team, Iron Galaxy shared that Season Two will be Rumbleverse’s last, but it should be receiving one final update soon to remove the game's monetisation. This continues the trend of me discovering a new battle royale game, thanks to the announcement of its death.
I've played Shiny Shoe's upcoming roguelike Inkbound once before, and not only is it markedly different to their previous game Monster Train, but it also featured the snappiest turn-based combat I'd seen. With that in mind, I dove into the game's recent technical test with fellow RPS Treehouse-dwellers Ollie and James to sample the game at a more leisurely pace, and to draw upon their greater strategic expertise. Did the combat hold up? Were they pleased to be dragged into a co-op session with me? Yes... and no. We had fun, but it didn't come quite as naturally without the guiding hand of the developers showing us the ropes.
Last time, you decided that a pre-boss battle supply cache is better than resources too good to use. Honestly, I'm proud of you. Look at you, freely using all the full range of tools at your disposal, not living in fear of the future, living a life glorious and full of fireworks than stocking up to do it all over again. I can't be you, but I'm happy for you. This week, you must chose between vivacious violence and virtual reality. What's better: mixed dual-wielding, or VR support?
The horror of Junji Ito is coming to the Island. Creative outfit Neighbor Metaverse Studios put together a Junji Ito Fortnite virtual attraction for Netflix. The streaming giant is using it to promote its Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre anime series. Fans of Fortnite, Junji Ito, or both can visit the map in-game and play around in five customized maps inspired by the stories covered in the manga and anime.
Check out a trailer for the attraction below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MR8cDkbgb0
The Junji Ito Fortnite attraction shows players in various skins running around the customized spaces, which include a rain-blasted haunted house, a dilapidated school, and an urban scene. The maps are inspired by the short stories Hanging Balloons, Tomie's Photography, Tombstone Town, Headless Sculpture, and Soichi's Lapdog. The Junji Ito Maniac series also adapts the stories, though the anime does not involve Fortnite in any way, shape, or form.
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Meta and The Order: 1886 developer Ready at Dawn are shutting down all servers and services for Echo VR.
After 1st August (at 10am Pacific), the game will no longer be playable.
In a blog post sharing this news, the developer called this a difficult decision, but one that was made "for many good reasons".
Once again, Hololive Vtuber Hoshimachi Suisei returned to The First Take to perform another song. As promised, the performance aired on the channel on February 1, 2023. In a single take, Hoshimachi Suisei performed "Michizure."
First, here is the latest Hoshimachi Suisei The First Take performance. As of 8:40am ET, it already passed 285,000 views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szONkV3l21g&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE
“Michizure” is one of Hoshimachi Suisei’s most recent songs. It appeared on her album Specter, which appeared in January 2023. You can see a full sample of that album in the trailer below. The “Michizure” segment came up at the 51 second mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdxROihdIEY&ab_channel=SuiseiChannel
As for The First Take, the channel is known for inviting established singers and tasking them with singing one of their songs in a single take. Hoshimachi Suisei was the first Vtuber to perform on the channel. She performed "Stellar Stellar" the first time. Within five days, it hit six million views. As of February 1, 2023, that performance passed 7,685,000 views.
Koei Tecmo's upcoming Fate franchise game now has a store presence. A product page for Fate/Samurai Remnant on PC has gone live via the Steam marketplace. Early last week, a page went up for the game on the PlayStation Network Store, though it's just a placeholder without much information. [Thanks, KaroshiMyriad!]
The Steam store page for Fate/Samurai Remnant on PC is similarly anemic. Its minimum and recommended system requirements are currently blank, and its release window is still limited to 2023. Notably, it does reveal the expected language support for the game. It'll be available in English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Korean. However, the voice dub for the game will be exclusively Japanese.
Check out the teaser trailer, which debuted on December 31, 2022, during Type-Moon's yearly New Year's Eve broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PazfxkDW3RU
Fate/Samurai Remnant is a new action-RPG spin-off, set during the Edo period of Japanese history. It seems to involve a "new Holy Grail War" and a "Waxing Moon Ritual". The protagonist appears to become a Master in a Holy Grail War, inadvertently summoning a Servant, whose identity is unconfirmed.
I guess a more than 45% increase in revenue will have to do
As usual, a new month means a new Genshin Impact calendar, and the February 2023 one stars new character Alhaitham. The Japanese Twitter account released the latest image for people to use for the month. The image is designed to fit as a wallpaper on mobile devices. Also, as usual, it keeps track of Genshin Impact characters' birthdays for the month.
First, here's how the new Genshin Impact February 2023 calendar looks.
[gallery columns="1" size="full" ids="949238" link="file"]
As for birthdays, these are the days you’ll want to stop into Genshin Impact to get “gifts” from characters. Note that as his birthday is now the first to appear this month, it meant Alhaitham got picked as the character for the month.
In February 2022, Beidou was the featured character.
This is the second month in a row with a "new" Genshin Impact character as the featured one. The January 2023 calendar starred Scaramouche, aka The Wanderer. His was the first birthday to come up that month.
Nexon kicked off the Blue Archive 1.5 Anniversary celebration for the English-language edition of the game. Players will join their Students once again at the beach, in a follow-up to January's "Abydos Resort Restoration Task Force" event. This one, called "Biz Trip! Momoyodou Beach Shack Franchise Plan", will continue and conclude the storyline established previously. The event adds four new playable characters, one of which is available for free. The celebration also includes goodies for players, including up to 100 free rolls on the featured banner.
Check out a preview trailer for the Blue Archive 1.5 Anniversary event Biz Trip! Momoyodou Beach Shack Franchise Plan below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHn6wPJW3Zg
The next Tomb Raider launches on Lara’s birthday
A few years ago, after a long day of working on Star Wars Battlefront or Battlefield, a group of EA DICE developers would gather in the studio for an evening of Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons, and other tabletop games.
Over time, this hobby sparked a creative urge within the group.
"I know that DICE will forever make shooters, but [I asked the group] if we could do anything, what would we do?," recalls Dennis Brännvall, previously creative director at DICE. "Everyone was like, 'We'd make RPGs because that's what we love, that's what we grew up with, that's what we play.' So that's what we wanted to do.
For the past three seasons in Fortnite, players have aided chirpy AI voice AMIE as part of the game's meandering ongoing storyline.
This week, a fresh set of narrative quests saw AMIE finally bid farewell to players - for the time being, at least - as she sets off in search of her creator, now installed in a fresh robot body.
While this storyline has been ongoing for a while, the identity of the robot body AMIE constructs has come as something of a surprise. It's a robot body that long-time Fortnite fans are very familiar with, as it was a playable character included in the game's Chapter 1 Season 6 battle pass back in 2018.
Valorant’s passionate community is often quick to snap at Riot Games when it comes to weapon skins. Players hungry for cool designs to justify their (admittedly steep) price tag push the development teams to innovate bolder and more interesting concepts. Sometimes, though, that challenge sees skin appearances edge close to jeopardizing the competitive integrity at the core of the Valorant experience.
It’s never crossed that line, of course, but when I spoke with Riot Games VFX Artist Nicolas Ceriani in a recent interview, I wanted to get an idea of what extent the team goes to consider the tactical implications of their designs. Notably, Ceriani was involved in the development of the Xenohunter skin bundle, which was scrutinized by the Valorant community for featuring a radar screen that displayed the in-game map. It wasn’t so much the map itself that was the problem but the reduced peripheral vision and its large size caused those who upgraded the skin to feature it.
When I quizzed Ceriani about the development process behind that particular design, here’s what he told me:
“Competitive integrity is one of the key aspects we never lose sight of when making new content, so these kinds of questions come up constantly. We have playtest sessions every week fully dedicated to testing new skins. This is obviously where we hunt for bugs, but also get a feel for these trickier situations where a weapon has something that could work in or against your favor. We specify these important testing points prior to the session so that the testers know what to specifically pay attention to. Then it’s a matter of balance, we just need to play with the right levers. Is the screen too distracting? We can resize it, move it, and reduce the VFX intensity. Is the Neptune aquarium too see-through? Just slightly raise that water opacity, and we’re done.
Warner Bros. Games and Avalanche Software have pulled back the curtain on their upcoming RPG, Hogwarts Legacy, with a brand new launch trailer that teases what fans can expect from the eagerly-anticipated title.
Go ahead and take a gander at the freshly released footage down below:
As you can see, the new launch trailer runs through your first day in the titular school of magic, replete with lessons from some recognizable faces like Professor Weasley and a sneak peek at a… *checks notes* Levioso levitation spell being cast. There’s even some mandrakes and a few hidden easter eggs in the footage for all you eagle-eyed Potterheads out there.
Interestingly, the new video also divulges some elements of Hogwarts Legacy’s narrative. Namely, you’ll be stepping into the shoes of a fifth-year student who has the gift of being able to tap into an ancient, all-powerful magic. Intriguing!
While we do get to see some magic-based combat gameplay and some narrative teases, the central enigma at the heart of Hogwarts Legacy’s story still largely remains shrouded in mystery. But the wait is almost over, as the launch of the game is just around the corner, folks!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is finally available to stream
Finally, following a reveal in November 2020, there’s a Tomb Raider Reloaded release date. The roguelike game will appear on mobile devices on February 14, 2023. That also happens to be Lara Croft’s birthday. In addition to it being on the App Store and Google Play storefronts with ads and in-app purchases, it will also be available to people with Netflix subscriptions. Netflix users won’t see ads or additional purchases.
To go along with the Tomb Raider Reloaded release date announcement, there’s also a new trailer. It begins by showing some cinematic segments. However, at the 27 second mark it shows what gameplay will look like. This will be a top-down adventure, with players helping Lara safely traverse levels while fighting any enemies in her way. While she doesn’t speak in the trailer, Keeley Hawes will play the character. In the past, Hawes played the role in games like Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Tomb Raider: Underworld.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-73d8ukz8tM&ab_channel=TombRaider
The trailer doesn’t show any of the customization elements. As people play, you can get new weapons, perks, runes, and permanent upgrades. There will also be different cosmetic outfits for her to wear.
Artist and Atelier Ryza Character Designer Toridamono previewed a pair of new figures based on the series. The new Ryza Cheongsam figure shows series protagonist Reisalin "Ryza" Stout and her best friend Klaudia Valentz dressed in stylized cheongsam. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]
According to Toridamono's post, the figures pictured are prototypes created by Phat! Company, a figure studio. Based on Toridamono's designs for Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy, the Ryza cheongsam figure incorporates a version of the iconic garment (also known as a qipao or simply "China dress"). Beside Ryza, another cheongsam figure is based on Klaudia Valentz, Ryza's companion and party member.
[gallery size="medium" ids="949201,949202,949203" link="file"]
The pair wear contrasting dresses, with Ryza dressed in black and Klaudia dressed in white. The figures also feature alternative hairstyles, focusing on hair buns and Chinese-style ornaments.
In the preview, Toridamono praised the "fresh look" of the figures. They also noted that the Ryza figure is sold separately from the Klaudia one. However, buyers of both figures can pose them together with their fingers intertwined, as shown in the photos.
The end of an era is about to arrive for one of the Pokemon games. The Pokemon Company International announced that the Crown Zenith expansion will be the last set of cards added to Pokemon Trading Card Game Online. As the game's time is drawing to a close and it is being replaced by Pokemon Trading Card Game Live, no further sets will be added. March 1, 2023 is the cut-off date, though supported cards and codes ahead of that date can be redeemed in the game until it is officially shut down.
The official announcement offered an additional explanation for the lack of expansions past Crown Zenith in Pokemon Trading Card Game Online. Development is being halted in order to offer additional support to the new game. This also means the Pokemon TCG Championship Series 2023 season, though the developers will keep up with bug fixes until the game is shuttered. The last collections and cards that will will be added are the Crown Zenith Kleavor VStar Special Collection, Lucario VStar Special Collection, and Pikachu VMax.
It will be an end of an era for PlayStation 5 owners who also subscribe to PlayStation Plus. To coincide with the console's launch in November 2020, Sony offered a special selection of games. The PlayStation Plus Collection games involved free access to 20 PS4 games for new PS5 owners. Now on May 9, 2023, that offer will end. Sony confirmed it on the PlayStation Blog.
Here's how the PlayStation Plus Collection PS4 games worked for PS5 owners. If someone subscribed to the service and owned a PS5, they could get access to 20 games. These would be permanently accessible after being claimed and could be played at any time after being downloaded. These consisted of 10 first-party and 10 third-party titles.
Here's the full list from the original announcement.
The latest Build-a-Bear crossover involves another Sanrio icon. However, it isn't Hello Kitty or one of the other, older members of the family. Rather, now people can pick up a Cinnamoroll plush at Build-a-Bear. The US and UK sites both list the character. On both sites, it is set as an online exclusive. It is £24/$32. In the US, there is also a Sleeper Gift Set for $45.50.
This Cinnamoroll plush features the character standing up. It has the same trademark long ears, blue eyes, and pink cheeks. Cinnamoroll is embroidered on his left foot. There’s also a Build-a-Bear patch on his right paw. The $45.50 set includes a $13.50 pair of Cinnamoroll pajamas for him to wear.
Here's a closer look at the stuffed animal, both with and without the optional sleeper outfit.
[gallery size="full" ids="949262,949263,949265" link="file"]
Cinnamoroll isn't the first Sanrio plush character to show up at Build-a-Bear. In the past, Hello Kitty's shown up at the store. There's no current Hello Kitty available there yet. However, there is a sign-up page for people to provide an email and be notified when she appears there again.
Inkbound totally gets it. It understands what makes a Roguelike really compelling and exciting. This is the new game from Monster Train developer Shiny Shoe, so perhaps that's no surprise - because if any game can claim to have taken the Slay the Spire formula and made something memorable out of it, something of its own, it's Monster Train. Still, it's not an easy thing to do.
The magic revolves around, I think, an equation of powerfulness. It's in allowing the player to break the game in their favour if they gather the right abilities and upgrades and power-ups, just as you can in Slay the Spire, and just as you can in Hades. It conjures that beautiful moment where you suddenly make light of all the heavy work that's come before, and for a glorious moment, nothing seems to be able to touch you. And Inkbound absolutely understands that. I've made myself coo with delight.
I mentioned Hades there - Inkbound is much more like Hades than Slay the Spire. There are no cards but hotbar abilities, and as in Hades, your abilities can be transformed and modified. Also, you're in a 3D world and you run around it in real-time. And there are NPCs to talk to with illustrated character portraits. And when you progress from a chamber, you choose which kind of chamber comes next. It's very familiar; it's almost as if, having 'done' Slay the Spire, Shiny Shoe looked at the newest popular Roguelike when working out what to do next.
Plenty of indie games deal with anxiety and depression, but few contain such raw and mighty anguish as A Space for the Unbound. Following a group of teenagers through the difficulties of school life and beyond - beyond in space as much as time - it's appropriately awkward at times, rushing over-eagerly in some areas, dawdling for far too long in others and frequently figuring it out as it goes. With that teenage earnestness comes buckets of charm though and, more importantly, a genuine, raw sincerity. A Space for the Unbound feels a lot, and it feels hard, and it's intoxicating as a result.
After a big and frankly traumatic prologue, which concludes with one of the most memorably upsetting first-person sequences I've experienced, A Space for the Unbound settles in as a kind of slice-of-life narrative adventure following Atma, a teenage boy at school in 90s Indonesia. Its setting is a blessing. The rural town you jog around is both quaint and otherworldly, a handful of connected roads featuring the nostalgic everyday - food carts, convenience stalls, a couple of strolling locals - but standing up isolated against the bubblegum pixel-art skyboxes like old Western movie sets, two-dimensional and out of time.
A Pokemon fanatic named AffectionateWay721 has shared his plan to pop the big question with the game’s Reddit community, which involves a Pokemon Love Ball as the engagement ring box.
It’s certainly novel, and absolutely adorable. If you’re asking us, though, he should add the famous “I choose, you” to end his proposal speech, too. Cheesy, maybe, but we think it’s important he reminds her she’s more important than the franchise!
Just kidding, he’s already got that covered with his plan for the special moment, which he’s decided will occur during comic-con while they’re cosplaying as Ash and Misty. It’s set to make it the first time Ash and Misty will be a couple getting engaged, as the TV show never actually explored a possible relationship between the two characters.
Pokemon became a phenomenon when it appeared in 1996 as a Game Boy video game. Over the years, Pokemon has become one of the highest-grossing media empires in the world. There’s Pokemon everything when it comes to merchandise: from the ring box seen above to video games, animated TV series, manga comics, films, a musical, trading card games, and even a theme park, transforming people all over the globe into Pokemon Trainers.
Let’s hope the happy couple make as good a team, improve each other as much and live happily ever after as Ash and Pikachu did.
Developer Storm in a Cup has announced its latest project, Steel Seed, with a debut announcement trailer that teases a world in ruins, forcing humanity underground to start anew while AI occupies the surface. Contrary to the typical sci-fi story of mankind’s fight against the machines, though, it’s actually humans who have caused Earth’s downfall, though. It’s tentatively scheduled for a release in 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
But as you’ll see above, a new threat has arisen on the surface whose origin remains unclear as to whether it is human or AI. Players are set to uncover the meaning behind the chaos, with the protagonist wielding a rather fearsome-looking blade as they must contend with the monstrosities that await.
Steel Seed marks a notable shift from Storm in a Teacup’s previous work, as the team also released Close to the Sun in 2019: a first-person horror game set in 1897. The team’s latest work will blend action-adventure and stealth into one final package, with the trailer giving off vibes eerily reminiscent of Nier: Automata and Steelrising.
Be sure to check back with Twinfinite as more information becomes available on Steel Seed. If you like what you saw, leave us a comment below!
It’s a fresh crisis of faith from a director who used to love them
Sony’s PlayStation Plus Collection is coming to an end
The controversy has sparked debate among Final Fantasy 14 players
Sometimes the only thing someone wants from a movie is some scares, some laughs, some blood, some victims that are easy to root for, some plot twists, and, especially, some werewolves. In those times, Dog Soldiers is the film to stream.
Now on Tubi, Dog Soldiers is a film about a group of soldiers whose routine military exercise in the Scotland wilderness turns into one of their worst nightmares about real werewolves who want to eat them. The film has charismatic performances from actors who hadn’t hit it big back then but are recognizable now a script full of fun moments, and incredible costumes for its supernatural creatures.
Dog Soldiers was the film debut of director Neil Marshall, proving he could do horror, tongue-in-cheek humor, and gore all in one movie, managing all those genres and fitting them together. Since then, he’s done other scary movies like The Descent, 2019’s version of Hellboy, and The Reckoning.
Surprisingly, the werewolf horror film earned 3$ million when it was released in Europe back in 2002, becoming a modest cult hit and was named one of the best werewolf movies ever. It still has good reviews from both critics and audiences, as the film has an 80% critics rating and a 79% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Dog Soldiers was written and directed by Neil Marshall and starred Sean Pertwee (Gotham), Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy), Emma Cleasby (Doomsday), and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones). You can see the film on Tubi.
After recent leaks revealed this early, PlayStation has officially announced the titles that PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers can add to their library on Feb. 7. There are some great picks here, with an asymmetrical multiplayer title and an expansion for a popular free-to-play looter shooter.
Without further ado, here are the February 2023 PlayStation Plus Essential games as revealed by the PlayStation Blog.
This might be the end of Black Adam, The Batman, and Don’t Worry Darling at the Top of HBO’s streaming charts as, per Flix Patrol, an agoraphobic thriller with an incredible Zoë Kravitz performance is moving up spots day by day, and is looking to take their place. The movie? Steven Soderbergh’s Kimi.
The modern Rear Window-like picture is not only 5th in the United States but also is in the top three in countries as different as Bulgaria, Vietnam, and India. It looks like the whole world is craving a thriller where your AI personal assistant might be both hero and a villain.
Kimi tells the story of Angela Childs (Zoë Kravitz), a tech worker who suffers from agoraphobia due to a previous assault. Her work is monitoring incoming data for Kimi, an Alexa-like product. When Angela receives a recording that appears to capture a violent sexual assault and murder, she must do what scares her most: leave her home.
Surprisingly, the film didn’t have a cinema release and went directly to HBO. The movie was a success with critics, as it has a 92% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the public felt differently as it only has an audience score of 53%.
The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and starred Zoë Kravitz (The Batman), Byron Bowers (Irma Vep), Rita Wilson (Girls), and Erika Christensen (Parenthood). You can watch Kimi on HBO Max.
People can get a better look at the character concept art, designs, and models used for the various Bayonetta 3 Demon Masquerade designs for characters like Madama Butterfly and Gomorrah in a new PlatinumGames video. The latest Umbran Studies installment featured Director Yusuke Miyata introducing the works. As Bayonetta goes through the game, she'll encounter certain demons. She can then team up and essentially fuse with them to use their abilities and unleash special attacks.
Here's the Bayonetta 3 Demon Masquerade "Umbran Studies — Character Design Vol. 4" video. Turning on closed captioning adds English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sDaDZAq9v0&ab_channel=PlatinumGamesOfficial
If there’s a specific Bayonetta 3 Demon Masquerade design you’d like to see, like Madama Butterfly or Gomorrah, here’s the full list of which demons appear and when. Keep in mind that not every one showed up in the showcase.
The roster of pricey pop culture statues continues to grow. A new Poison Ivy figure will run Batman superfans almost $1,400 to own. It's manufactured by Prime 1 Studio as part of its Museum Masterline series. [Thanks, Dengeki Hobby!]
Formally called the Poison Ivy Batman: Hush (Skin Color Version), the new Poison Ivy figure depicts the iconic Batman villain as she appears in the 2002 "Hush" storyline. There is one difference, however. This version shows Ivy with a natural skin tone. A second Prime 1 Batman: Hush figure shows Ivy with a more "canon-friendly" light green skin tone.
[gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="949207,949208,949209,949210" orderby="rand" link="file"]
The Museum Masterline Poison Ivy figure is designed at 1/3rd scale and stands at 78.4cm tall (about 30 inches). The design shows Ivy sitting on one of her mutated vines. It costs about $1,349 on Prime 1 Studio's site, but its Japanese retail price is 193,490 Yen (about $1,490).
James Mangold is in talks to helm one of the first new DCU movies
