March 2023

But to be clear, the new colours sport the same enhanced physical design as the original.

Nintendo released information on Marni, or Madeline, as she will appear in the Fell Xenologue DLC for Fire Emblem Engage. This is a parallel version of Marni from the base game. Instead of being an enemy and one of the Four Hounds, she is Alear’s ally and one of the Four Winds.

Marni’s starting class will be a General. Though she has poor Speed, she more than makes up for it with her Defense and Attack stats. Like other Heavy Armor classes in the game, though, she will likely have fairly low Magic Defense. That means that she will have to stay away from mages.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1640970519389548544

Ruriko Aoki will reprise her role as Marni. Aside from voicing Marni in Fire Emblem Engage, Aoki also previously appeared as Riina Tada in The Idolmaster CInderella Girls and Touko Aozaki in Witch on the Holy Night. In the short clip that the Fire Emblem Twitter uploaded, she talks in a very polite and modest manner.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1640969892626300935

People who still have 3DS and Wii U eShop download codes for things like games have a few more days to use them. Nintendo announced an extension for using them, despite closing the eShop on March 27, 2023. People in North America and Europe have until April 3, 2023. The cut-off date in Japan is April 4, 2023.

This is something of an apology. On March 27, 2023, Nintendo ended up cutting off the ability to redeem 3DS and Wii U eShop download codes for things like games and videos early. As a result, it offered an additional week to make up for it.

As a reminder, Nintendo decided to close both of these storefronts in February 2022. At the time, it suggested it was “part of the natural lifecycle.” While people won’t be able to buy games or demos, they can get games they already own, update them, and pick up some free 3DS themes.

Kadokawa opened up pre-orders for a figure of Nero from Fate/Grand Order in her Silk of Venus garb. You can pre-order her from the Kadokawa Store or AmiAmi until May 21, 2023. She will ship out in January 2024, and you will be able to purchase her for 24,800 JPY. That would be around $189.40. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

You'll be able to swap Nero's expression between a blank one and a smiling one. A much bigger and innocent smile appears on the bonus face plate you can get for pre-ordering. The Venus’s Silk Nero figure has a sheer plastic in the slit of her dress and you can see her leg through it. She’s holding a rose in her left hand and a golden wine chalice in her right, and the sculptor recreated the ripples in the silks.

Here are some more pictures of the Fate/Grand Order Silk of Venus Nero figure:

[gallery columns="8" ids="957440,957441,957442,957443,957444,957445,957446,957447" link="file"]

We can’t have Pochita in our hearts, but we can wear him on our feet. Bandai opened up pre-orders for a pair of Chainsaw Man Pochita slippers via Premium Bandai. The slippers will cost 4,400 JPY (around $33.60) and will ship out in June 2023. Premium Bandai does not offer international shipping. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Pre-orders are open from March 29, 2023 to May 31, 2023. The Chainsaw Man Pochita slippers only come in 25 cm, The whole thing is mostly made of polyester, though there is PVC at the bottom of the shoes to prevent slipping. The slippers faithfully recreate the chainsaw handle on Pochita’s back, as well as the chainsaw blade sticking out from his face. You can also see the string that pulls the chainsaw's motor and acts as Pochita's tail on the inside of the slipper.

Here are some more pictures of the Pochita slippers:

[gallery ids="957451,957452,957453" link="file"]

In Chainsaw Man, Pochita is Denji’s little devil pet and friend who gives him his powers as the titular Chainsaw Man. Pochita does not have a lot of screen time compared to other characters. However, he is nonetheless very popular due to his cute design and relationship with Denji. For those who wish to carry Pochita around with them, Good Smile Company will release jewelry that draw inspiration from Pochita, Denji, and Power.

Resident Evil 4 remake—a complete reimaging of the classic 2005 survival horror game out now on consoles and PC—follows Capcom’s previous Resident Evil refreshes. Following the somewhat standalone Resident Evil 1 remake, we got the excellent Resident Evil 2 remaster. After that, we got the good if a bit short remaster…

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Here I was expecting The Last of Us’ long-awaited arrival on PC to be a mostly non-eventful yet worthy addition to fans’ Steam libraries. The series just celebrated a hit HBO TV adaptation and the Part I remake on PS5 definitely makes a compelling case to revisit this storied game…certainly the PC version would be in…

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Six or seven days a week, MinerHoboJo fires up his PlayStation 5 and signs into Twitch or YouTube to stream a five-year-old game—Blackout, the first Call of Duty battle royale. By his own estimation, and community consensus, Miner is the game’s global leader in solo wins and kills. (There are no public stats for…

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Pedro Pascal clearly gives it his all no matter what role he’s diving into. Nothing has convinced me more of this fact than Pascal’s recent turn as the face of mobile game Merge Mansion, which now includes his attendance at a real-life recreation of the in-game manor. Pascal not only showed up but also showed out.

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Last November, Activision Blizzard made a shocking decision when it suddenly ended its partnership with Netease, the company which brought games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft to China, after 14 years. Now we know why. According to the New York Times, Netease suggested it could sway Chinese regulators on…

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The Razer Naga Trinity is the RPS MMO mouse of choice, or at least it was the highest-ranking MMO option the last time we did some Reader's Choice polls, so I thought you might like to know that this popular rodent is more than half-off on Amazon at present as part of the firm's Spring Sale. That makes it a great time to pick up a mouse that's like three models in one...

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The WD SN850x is something of a favourite around these parts, capturing our 'best PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming' crown, and today it's also one of the best value SSDs thanks to a heavy discount as part of Amazon's Spring Sale.

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Alt.Ctrl.GDC is a regular fixture at the Game Developers Conference, and this year I spotted some properly incredible creations from its largely student-led group of exhibitors. There was a big focus on co-op games and time trial demos in this year's cohort, with nearly every stand having some sort of whiteboard pinned up that was constantly being scrubbed out with new fastest lap times and corresponding visitor names. There was also lots of friendly hooting emanating from them as well, as mates and strangers attempted to co-ordinate their gaggles of limbs to steer various game characters in the right direction.

It was excellent fun, and I sampled a bunch of games that used toasters, intricate pulley systems, papier-mache tree stumps, bike wheels and more in place of your typical controllers and mice and keyboard. There were also plenty more I didn't get to try out, mainly due to time, and you can see the full list over on GDC's website. For now, though, here are some personal highlights of what I saw, including the largest bowler hat I think I've ever seen in my life.

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Are you a fan of RPGs where you make friends with adorable critters? Not a fan of trapping said friends into small balls, only letting them out to fight gangs and other Godlike creatures? Well, Cassette Beasts might be the game for you. It's a Pokémon-like where you’ll still be beating up wildlife creatures in turn-based combat, but rather than capturing them, you record their likeness on the titular tapes and then transform into those same street cone-wearing crabs and metal-clad wolves. It looks like an energetic, nostalgic romp, and it’s coming to PC and Game Pass on April 26th.

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Bloober Team have issued a statement about their upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, clarifying rumours about the project’s release schedule and sales expectations. Last week, Polish site Bankier spoke with Bloober Team’s CEO Pitor Babieno in an interview that was mistranslated and began to circulate online. The mistranslations mentioned the remake was “technically ready” for launch, but Bloober Team have clarified these “statements have been taken out of context, due to inaccurate translations.”

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Wildfrost, the card-battling roguelike from Caveblazers studio Deadpan Games and artist Gaziter, now has a released date, and will be hitting the deck on Switch and PC on 12th April.

Wildfrost sends brave adventurers on a perilous journey through monster-infested tundra and icy mountains as they battle to reach the mysterious Sun Temple and save the town of Snowdwell from an everlasting winter - a quest that'll require "determination, sharp strategy and deck-building skills", according to its developer.

Stats and skills are randomised at the start of a run once players have selected their preferred Leader, and, along the way, there'll be companions to rescue and recruit, elemental treasures to unearth, merchants only too willing to flog their wares to weary adventurers, plus "wondrous wobbly charms" - with each decision contributing to a battle deck that's unique to a run.

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Developer Deck13, best known for its Souls-likes The Surge and Lords of the Fallen, has announced a three-month delay for its desert-based action-RPG Atlas Fallen, with the game now scheduled to arrive on 10th August.

The delay news comes just weeks after Deck13 confirmed a 16th May release for Atlas Fallen, with the studio now saying it's pushing that launch back to August in order to "deliver the best possible version" of the game.

"Our goals has always been to create a memorable action-RPG experience in a unique setting, with exciting gameplay and the option for fully playable seamless co-op with a friend," the developer explained in a statement shared on Twitter. "We'd love to give the game some extra time which will allow us to deliver the best possible version of Atlas Fallen."

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Sackboy: A Big Adventure headlines the PlayStation Plus games list for April, available to Essential, Extra and Premium tier subscribers.

Also on the list are Meet Your Maker and Tails of Iron, all available to download for PlayStation 4 and PS5 from Tuesday 4th April until Monday 1st May 2023.

If you're yet to give it a go, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is the multiplayer platforming spin-off for LittleBigPlanet hero Sackboy, which originally launched back in November 2020.

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Forspoken might not have particularly dazzled on release, but anyone eager for more will have their wish granted - publisher Square Enix has now revealed - on 26th May, when the beleaguered action-RPG's previously announced prequel DLC, In Tanta We Trust, arrives.

In Tanta We Trust's action takes place 25 years before the events of the main game, after protagonist Frey is catapulted back in time to the Purge of the Rheddig - the battle that devastated the land of Athia and drove the Tantas, its corrupted matriachs, to madness.

The DLC's ensuing quest to save Athia promises a new set of magical abilities for Frey, new companion Tanta Cinta, and "unique, vertically-designed" environments to explore.

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Reddit user Capable_Afternoon687 proposed a "spinning Beyblade of death", created by fusing four fans and four logs, alongside attaching food to an arrow to fire and distract enemies or a puffshroom to create "a flying smoke bomb".

Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: Ingame Studios
Release: March 28, 2023
Rating: Mature

On paper, Crime Boss: Rockay City is bombastic, star-studded, and promises a city-spanning adventure about a criminal organization’s rise to the top. The actual game, however, is anything but. The gameplay is unbalanced, buggy, repetitive, and boring. The celebrity-filled cast is exciting at first glance, but crude and humorless writing weighs down the already-phoned-in performances of characters voiced by Michael Madsen, Michael Rooker, Vanilla Ice, and more. The single-player roguelite campaign lacks any of the genre’s typical hooks, and bugs can prevent progress at critical points in a run. Multiplayer works, but the two cooperative modes offer up the same mindlessly dull rotation of missions you’ll play dozens of times throughout the campaign. All of this combines to create an aimless package not worth playing with experiences executed significantly better in other games.    

Sony announced the April 2023 PlayStation Plus games for people who subscribe to the lowest "Essential" tier of the service. All three available for both people with a PS4 or PS5. When April 4, 2023 rolls around, people can claim Meet Your Maker, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Tails of Iron.

Meet Your Maker is an entirely new game launching on the day it debuts on PlayStation Plus. Those who don't subscribe would need to pay $29.99 for it. It is a first-person game you can play alone or cooperatively as you build up your Outpost maze to stop other players who invade it, while preparing yourself to head into the Outposts others designed.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is the latest platformer starring the Sony mascot. It can be played alone or in co-op with another person. It first launched in November 2020 and normally costs $59.99.

Tails of Iron is a 2D action-RPG with Soulslike elements. Players follow the Rat Throne heir attempting to drive away the frogs and become the new lord of the land. It launched in September 2021 and normally costs $24.99.

People will be able to claim the March 2023 PlayStation Plus games Code Vein (PS4), Minecraft Dungeons (PS4) and Battlefield 2042 (PS4, PS5) until April 3, 2023. The PlayStation Plus games for April 2023 will be available on April 4, 2023.

People will learn more about Forspoken’s characters and world in the In Tanta We Trust DLC in about two months. Square Enix offered a release date for the add-on. It will debut on May 26, 2023. It also explained how the DLC’s story will go. Frey will still star in it, but this will be a prequel.

While the announcement didn’t note if the Forspoken DLC begins after the ending or during Frey’s adventure, it did establish that Frey will be going back in time. While she still exists, she’ll go 25 years into the past to the Purge of the Rheddig. She and Tanta Cinta will use their powers to deal with the Break. However, given the nature of the game, this could mean that there will be significant spoilers if someone hasn't already finished Frey's story.

This means that the add-on will launch after Luminous Productions is absorbed into Square Enix. At the end of February 2023, Square Enix announced the merger. That is set to happen on May 1, 2023. When it was announced, Luminous confirmed its efforts ahead of then would be focused on Forspoken patches and the add-on.

Forspoken is available on the PS5 and PC, and the In Tanta We Trust DLC arrives May 26, 2023.

Capcom released the next entry in what is basically its unofficial series of Street Fighter 6 developer match videos. This time, the footage shows how an older fighter fares against a newer one. The latest Street Fighter 6 bout involves Cammy taking the stage alongside Manon. It takes place at the King Street Stage tied to Cammy.

As is common with these fights, one character gets to “win” the first, and the other comes out on top in the second. The goal is to sort of show off certain people’s normal attacks initially. Then in the third round of this Street Fighter 6 match between Cammy and Manon, we get to see finishing moves.

Beginning operation.

Cammy and Manon dance across the stage in battle in this special developer match. pic.twitter.com/tWILfvXpaH

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) March 28, 2023

In a Twitter post, Square Enix answered the question of why Cloud was unable to see the Whispers in FFVII Remake until Aerith grabbed onto him. Whispers are wraith-like enemies in the game that appear in both cutscenes and as enemies Cloud can fight.

The reason that Cloud was able to see the Whispers was because he touched the ones that were trying to attack Aerith in FFVII Remake. It is not because of his contact with Aerith herself. Touching a Whisper that’s touching Aerith will not allow you to see them. Cloud could see them because the Whispers deemed him as someone who can manipulate the fate of the planet.

These are the same reasons why Barret could see them. He is also someone who can influence the planet’s destiny, and he touched a Whisper that was observing Cloud. Rufus also came into contact with a Whisper while he was fighting Cloud.

Whispers are an enemy exclusive to the remake of FFVII. They seem to appear whenever events start to veer off the course of destiny. Aerith appears to have a deep connection with the Whispers, though Square Enix has not confirmed anything as of yet.

The time has come once again for PlayStation enjoyers to fire up their console’s jet engine and check out April’s helping of PlayStation Plus games. Imma keep it a buck with you, I half expected Sony to come out of the gates swinging with a cavalcade of Capcom titles this month, more specifically Resident Evil games…

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The Legend of Zelda series is one of the most widely celebrated in all video games, and for good reason. Even the worst Zelda game is in a class of its own, but all of them have their occasional drawbacks. We’re here today to break down the best and worst parts of each mainline game, from the iconic original NES…

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Battle royales and the culture that surround them have collected a litany of archetypes, creating a sort of BR zodiac that can help you understand the machinations of the people you encounter in Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or PUBG. Maybe you feel like one or more of these stereotypes sorta kinda speak to you,…

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If you ever suspected that your version of the legendary weapon, Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings, could trigger shields that would absorb more damage than seemed normal, Blizzard’s QA department might have just proved you right. As it turns out, Val’anyr’s stats contained an extra zero. Whoops! What’s more, this bug…

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Minecraft is setting forth for adventure in the Forgotten Realms, as developer Mojang teams up with Wizards of the Coast for an official Dungeons & Dragons DLC launching this "spring".

The newly announced DLC - created in collaboration with developer Everbloom Games - takes players across five familiar Forgotten Realms locations, including Candlekeep and Icewind Dale, all reimagined in chunky block-o-vision, just as you'd expect in a Minecraft crossover.

The DLC, however, goes the extra mile and then some by introducing a fully voiced 10-hour story campaign enabling adventurers and their friends - playing as either barbarians, paladins, wizards, or rogues, complete with associated abilities - to take on familiar D&D enemies including beholders, mimics, mindflayers, and, yes, dragons.

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A Wrestling RPG with a ton of Character | Wrestle Story Interview PAX East 2023 Read More »

Vtubing has been part of the mainstream for some time now, with streamers pivoting to using Live2D or even 3D models in place of webcams. Thanks to the general success of HoloLive and other groups such as Nijisanji or VShojo, the scene is now full with colorful and eclectic characters. They appear either through talent agencies or on their own as unique talents. Vtubing is intimidating on the outside, but getting into is a lot simpler than you may think! However, it will require a decent PC and investing in an avatar.

Here is a list of the best VTuber software for streaming on YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

VTube Studio

Without a doubt, VTube Studio is the standard for software that almost every VTuber uses. It is extremely light on processing power and continually received upgrades since its initial release. While it does cost money to remove the watermark on VTube Studio, you can effectively use it for free and see if it's the right fit for you.

In the past, VTube Studio could only exclusively be used at its best when paired with an iOS device, such as an iPhone (and a line of very specific iPhone models). Now PC users can use their webcams for fairly decent tracking for their models as well.

That said, while VTube Studio is fairly inexpensive as far as software goes, it still requires some expensive components. However, it is arguably the best software out there, as it allows for VTubers to basically set their own hotkeys for expressions, and model changes, along with other functionalities other software does not.