April 2023

N64 classic Pokémon Stadium will soon be playable via the Nintendo Switch Online game catalogue.

Pokémon Stadium is most famous for its ability to feature your hard-fought and caught creatures from the Game Boy's Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, which could originally be transferred over for you to play with on your telly.

However, sadly, there's no method for this (yet) on Nintendo Switch. Despite the console now featuring both Game Boy and N64 titles, Red, Blue and Yellow are yet to be made available.

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Wildfrost is a new card battler and Roguelite coming at a time when neither are in particularly short supply. But to play this game is to fall for it a little, so we thought we'd sit down and try to work out why it feels so good to play.

Chris: Bertie! I know you love a good card battler, and so do I. I had felt like I was done, though, at least for a while. Like I'd played enough and they couldn't show me anything new. So it's weird that I'm finding Wildfrost so refreshing?

And what's weirder is that the thing I love most so far isn't a clever twist on the formula or a particular card. What I love is the presentation, specifically the animation. The cards just spring and bounce onto screen here, there's a lovely thick squashiness to them? It's 2D art but it's been animated and brought to life with such care, and that alone keeps drawing me back for another go. What do you reckon?

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EA’s monster-hunting Wild Hearts is getting its first new Kemono species later this week as part of a post-launch update. April 6th will bring new creatures to hunt, new abilities to hunt with, and more ways to enhance your equipment - presumably to get better at hunting.

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When Asus ROG announced its handheld gaming PC on 1st April, many people were sceptical.

One weekend later, and either Asus is showing way too much commitment to the bit, or its handheld PC is real.

Titled the ROG Ally, much hasn't been officially announced in terms of specs or price, but here's what we've seen of it so far.

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I found Citizen Sleeper gently moving. It's one of those experiences that pushed beyond its game boundaries, for me, and spoke to deeper things I hold to be important in my real life: things like friendship and belonging, and helping people out while asking for nothing in return. It touched me on a deeper level, and even months later, I remember it.

But it's a strange game to tell other people about, which is something I was reminded of this morning while finishing the last part of the new three-piece DLC story arc (which is free, by the way, and all episodes are out now). I tried to tell my partner what it was you did in the game. "Well, you go around the space station talking to people, and you roll dice to spend on doing tasks." She looked at me blankly. "It's not my kind of thing," she said, and walked away.

I get where she's coming from: Citizen Sleeper doesn't seem, outwardly, very eventful. There's some detailed character art but beyond that, everything plays out in text. There are no voice overs or animations or cutscenes. It's all, to a large degree, in your head. And when you layer on top of that some clinical boxes for dice rolls, and pie-chart gauges, there's an air of impenetrability about it, at least initially.

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With the imminent arrival of Disney Dreamlight Valley's Pride of the Valley update, developer Gameloft has shared its full patch notes.

From tomorrow (5th April), players can expect to see Pride Rock's own Simba and Nala padding their way through the game, as the doors to the Lion King realm open.

Meanwhile, there will be some new items for players to purchase from Scrooge McDuck including some "mushroom inspired" sets - an actual toad stool, perhaps - and "snazzy bathroom equipment".

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Activision Blizzard has settled a lawsuit lodged by the US Justice Department regarding a controversial tax planned for the wages of esports players.

Overwatch and Call of Duty esports teams were set to be given an effective salary cap, dubbed the Competitive Balance Tax, which was designed to kick in after teams earned over a certain threshold.

This tax "effectively operated as a salary cap, penalised teams for paying esports players above a certain threshold and limited player compensation in these leagues", the US Justice Department alleged.

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Overwatch 2's newest Support hero has leaked ahead of their official reveal by Blizzard. Here's an introduction to Lifeweaver, a plant-based pansexual and the game's first Thai hero.

In a now-deleted article over on PCGamesN, Overwatch 2's senior character technical artist Chonlawat Thammawan revealed a number of inspirations for Lifeweaver (also known as Niran Pruksamanee), such as the mandala shape. Thammawan, who originally pitched the idea of including a Thai character, said Lifeweaver is a celebration of Thai culture, while lead narrative designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie spoke more of the hero's warm character.

As for Lifeweaver's skill set, it all sounds pretty nifty. He uses a technology of his own invention called "biolight" to help heal those that are sick and wounded. Along with these healing abilities, Lifeweaver can also manipulate the positions of Overwatch 2's enemies and even his allies should the need occur. This is all thanks to his Life Grip skill.

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UPDATE 5/4/23: Just a day after Legendary Entertainment announced it had secured the film and television rights to Capcom's Street Fighter series, it's been confirmed the company already has a new live-action movie in the works.

That's according to the official Street Fighter Twitter account, which noted the project will be a co-production between Capcom and Legendary Entertainment. Beyond that, details are scarce, but we're told to expect "more news to come in the future".

ORIGINAL STORY 4/4/23: The film and TV rights to the Street Fighter series have been bought by Legendary Entertainment.

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Since Resident Evil 4 Remake released, there's been an influx of Ashley Graham fanart depicting her as a tiny mouse.

If you're wondering how and why Moushley has turned up on your Twitter feed, even without all the random changes Elon Musk implements daily, here's what happened.

When character redesigns for the remake were first revealed, a few people (myself included) mourned the loss of Ashley's ears poking out from under her hair. I think it's cute! I've always jokingly considered them Dumbo ears, though others see the similarities to a mouse.

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Support mains, relax. Overwatch 2's next playable character is a support hero called Lifeweaver and he’ll be joining the roster alongside Season 4, expected to begin on April 11th. Blizzard had previously said they were committed to bolstering Overwatch 2's support lineup since it’s currently the game’s most taxing and least rewarding role to play. It seems they’re making good on that promise, though, as Lifeweaver’s reported abilities have the potential to sway matches.

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Legendary Entertainment have secured the live-action film and TV licence to Street Fighter, according to a report from Deadline. The production company is currently developing a film, but Capcom are holding their baby tight and will be co-producing any future projects.

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After completing the Fell Xenologue DLC in Fire Emblem Engage, you will be able to unlock the Enchanter and Mage Cannoneer classes. They seem to be more support-oriented classes and were previously enemy exclusive. In order to change a character’s class to either Enchanter or Mage Cannoneer, you will need to use specific items on your unit.

The Enchanter class will let you use items and weapons to power your or an ally’s weapon. Every item or weapon will have a different effect. Some will heal you and your allies, while others will negate chain attacks. Enchanter will also be able to access the Convoy even without standing next to Alear.

The Mage Cannoneer class in Fire Emblem Engage will essentially turn your unit into a ballista. You will be able to launch attacks from a distance using bullets with a variety of effects. Because a longer distance in the game will negatively impact your Hit Rate, you might have to be a bit more careful when choosing which characters to reclass into a Mage Cannoneer.

Fell Xenologue will be part of the fourth and final wave of DLC in the Expansion Pass of Fire Emblem Engage. It will have playable versions of Lady Nel, Nil, and the Four Hounds. This is because they are parallel versions of the characters we are familiar with. Nintendo has previously stated that you will not have access to the units you raised throughout the game for these DLC maps.

Microsoft has announced its next wave of Xbox Game Pass games, this time for the beginning of April.

Arriving today, we have Loop Hero, which is available across console and PC. Our Christian Donlan was rather taken with Loop Hero on its release, awarding it a Recommended badge. You can see a little trailer for it below.

Following this, we then have Iron Brigade arriving on 6th April across cloud and console. Then, on 12th April, Ghostwire: Tokyo will join the service via cloud, console and PC.

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You silly fans. All these years arguing over things you thought were important, like specs, and libraries, and exclusives, and controllers, wasted. Not once have you considered the most crucial thing about a video game console: how good it looks.

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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s next tera raid event might not sound as exciting as Charizard or Greninja making their debut in Game Freak’s latest pair of RPGs, but if you care at all about battling competitively, you’ll want to boot up the game to fight these terastalized Dittos.

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2018 April 1st, the music producer Nosiestorm dropped the single Crab Rave, which became a meme sensation. Since the music video was made with the Unreal Engine 4, it's no surprise that the Nosiestorm ventured into game development, and threw the rave cabe into a shooting game. After three long years of development, Crab Champions was finally launched - on April 1st this year.

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Asus have confirmed that the ROG Ally, a Steam Deck-esque handheld PC announced on April Fool’s Day, is in fact a real device that’s in production right now. There’s no price or release date info as of yet, but it sounds like it will be more of a premium alternative, aiming to beat the Deck on specs like APU power and display performance.

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Procyon Studio announced multiple soundtracks from the three numbered Xenoblade Chronicles installments are on the way in 2023. The company is putting out both the Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition standard OST and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 limited edition OST on August 2, 2023. Then later in 2023, there will be the Trinity Box that includes CDs with music from both of those games and both Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and its Torna ~ The Golden Country expansion.

The Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition soundtrack costs ¥5,000 and is available at CD Japan for $37.65. It includes five CDs worth of music from the game. The announcement noted the 99 songs appear in the order you hear them in-game.

On April 12, 2023, a classic Pokemon spin-off will come to the Switch. The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack library is about to get Pokemon Stadium. Nintendo teased its release basically since announcing this new, optional addition to the service.

Back when it first released, Pokemon Stadium was unique in that it would allow a player to use the Transfer Pak to bring over their Pokemon Blue, Red, and Yellow characters to the game. There’s also a Game Boy Tower feature for playing the games.

However, the main modes of Pokemon Stadium focus on taking part in battles. The Battle Now, Free Battle, Gym Leader Castle, and Stadium all involve using the original Pokemon on teams to fight opponents. There’s also a Kids Club area with minigames like Clefairy Says, Magikarp’s Splash, Sushi-Go-Round, and Thundering Dynamo.

Here’s a trailer showing Pokemon Stadium running on a Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.

Hey Trainers! #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members can play the #Nintendo64 classic Pokémon Stadium – now featuring online multiplayer battles – when it arrives on 12/04! pic.twitter.com/p5040nuM30

The latest chapter of the Fire Emblem Engage manga is now out on Weekly Shonen Jump+. This is an online manga service in which you can read certain chapters of various series for free. Alfred and the other prominent members of the Firene Queendom debut in this chapter.

When the chapter starts, it quickly explains the various territories in Elyos, as well as what Emblem Rings are. Afterwards, when Alear is helping up with the clean-up after the attack from the previous chapter, Etie saves him from falling rubble. He mistakes her as a soldier from Brodia, though she quickly corrects him. When he sees Alfred also easily lifting up rubble, Alear wonders if they really aren’t from Brodia. At the end of the chapter, it ends with mysterious enemies attacking the Ring Chamber.

Players of the Fire Emblem Engage game should be able to note some differences between the source material and the manga. Alfred and the other members of his entourage do not appear until the Ring Chamber attack. That was when they made their debut as playable units in the game. The manga also alludes to Alfred’s health issues, though this was unknown to the player at this point of the game.

Fire Emblem Engage is available on the Nintendo Switch. You can read the Fire Emblem Engage manga on Weekly Shonen Jump+.

Japanese audio software developer AH-Software announced the release a new Synthesizer V AI voice based on the Vocaloid character of Kasane Teto. April 1, 2023 marks the 15th anniversary of the creation of Kasane Teto. The release date for this new voice bank is April 27, 2023. The product will be available in a physical retail edition in Japan, and two different digital downloads. The Kasane Teto voice bank is now available for pre-order from the Synthesizer V official store. [Thanks, DenFamiNico Gamer!]

The physical retail Synthesizer V AI Kasane Teto edition costs 10,780 JPY (or $81 USD). Meanwhile, the downloadable version of the software costs 9,680 JPY (~$73 USD), with a AHS User special edition available for 8,580 JPY (~$64 USD).

In addition, AHS shared a sample of the upcoming Vocaloid voice bank by releasing the latest Kasane Teto song on April 3, 2023. The song is titled “April Star,” and you can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1E3rh4R8eE

Originally created by 2channel users as an April Fool’s 2008 character, Kasane Teto was later included in the UTAU database in 2009, and continues to be a popular Vocaloid character.

In other related news, Porter Robinson in collaboration with Yamaha recently released his official Vocaloid, Po-uta.

Microsoft's perpetually expanding line-up of wireless Xbox controllers continues to flourish with a new 'sustainable' variant released to coincide with this year's impending Earth Day.

The new Xbox Wireless Controller – Remix Special Edition, as it's known, takes some design inspiration from nature, sporting a two-tone green facade - apparently drawing on lichen found in the Pacific Northwest Forest - as well as earthy grips finished with a topographic pattern. It also incorporates a blue underside, presumably representing the sky, or the sea, or a blueberry.

As for the sustainability bit, one third of the controller is made from a mix of reclaimed materials (including plastic jugs and CDs) and regrind - regrind, in this instance, being a process that mechanically recycles leftover Xbox One controller parts into a raw material that can be used to partially create new controllers, Microsoft explains.

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Energy drink maker Monster has another video game trademark victim in its sights - this time, indie game Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals.

According to the game's developer Glowstick Entertainment, Monster has lodged a legal complaint that takes exception to Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals including the word "Monsters" in its title.

Glowstick founder Vincent Livings has chosen to make the situation public via a thread on Twitter (as spotted by TheGamer), and pledged to fight Monster's claim in court.

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With another patch expected today for The Last of Us Part 1 on PC, Naughty Dog has said it is focusing on improving the performance of the game before considering submitting it for Valve's Steam Deck Compatibility Review.

Today's patch will address camera movement and game crashes amongst other fixes. Another patch has been confirmed for Friday by Naughty Dog, which will share details of what the patch contains before it's rolled out.

The Last of Us Part 1's PC port has not been well-received, with the game gaining largely negative reviews on Steam at launch. Naughty Dog responded to the criticism by promising to address issues in patches.

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Layla's powers allows her to participate in just about any role on the team. When I played Redfall during the single-player event in March, I found that Layla's mobilty power, the Lift, was especially useful to get up high and sneak across rooftops to dodge engangements I might have had trouble with alone. Even though there is fall damage, high drops from Layla's Lift didn't result in any damage.

Monster Energy, the energy drink company that puts artificially-flavored gloop in cans next to gaming setups worldwide, is pushing an indie studio to change the name of its game. Glowstick Entertainment’s 2020 horror title, Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals is apparently “confusingly similar to their energy drink,”…

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You can quite literally egg one of the Resident Evil 4 bosses to death. Near the end of the castle chapter, players must fight an evil nobleman who fused himself with a parasite queen. You can easily kill him in two hits, as long as you come armed with golden eggs.

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The Backrooms began as an image. Posted on April 21, 2018, a small thumbnail picture appeared on 4chan’s /x/ board showing a yellow room, its walls all in the wrong places, with gold-yellow carpets and fading yellow flock wallpaper. It was at once entirely innocuous, and somewhat unsettling. And it just sat there, for…

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Originally released in 2010, Desktop Dungeons is a top-down puzzler about whacking beasties in the correct order, exploring the map to heal, and retreating to enjoy your hard-earned taxidermy skills. Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is a recently announced remaster of the tile-based roguelike - freshly coated with 3D graphics and a rewind feature - and it’s now fully launching on April 18th.

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When Marek Markuszewski had finished working on The Witcher 3's Blood And Wine expansion, he wanted to go back to basics and make something by himself, Starward Industries' chief marketing officer Maciej Dobrowolski tells me at GDC. Something that would capture the same kind of cultural Polish heritage as The Witcher - originally adapted from Andrzej Sapkowski's six-strong series of novels - but that would take him on a new, more introspective kind of development journey. It took a while to find, but after a fateful encounter with an investor who'd just sailed across the Atlantic with only a copy of Polish sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible for company, the signs were too good to ignore, Dobrowolski says. And after spending the best part of a year convincing Stanislaw Lem's son (and current rights holder) of the same thing, Markuszewski finally had his something - and a new partner to help him realise it.

"People tell us, 'Don't fuck it up, this guy's important,'" Dobrowolski continues, and no wonder. During the course of our conversation, Lem is described as both a "national treasure" and "mandatory reading in high school" for Polish students, and his hallowed cultural status is something the team's "had to deal with" in bringing the book to life. Despite all this, though, Dobrowolski insists this "isn't a one-to-one adaptation" of Lem's interstellar rescue story gone wrong, and that fans of the book will still find some surprises on the surface of Regis III as they explore its strange canyons, caves and crash sites.

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Normally, when a big game releases, I’ll test how it runs on PC, knock together a best settings guide, respond in the negative to an email that asks if it will run on a GTX 680, and we all move on with our lives. Not so with The Last of Us Part 1, which as you’ve probably seen, has launched in a technical state that’s bleaker than Joel’s face. The first few patches and hotfixes (more are planned) have made it somewhat less terrible on powerful desktops, but I’m sad to report that playing The Last of Us Part 1 on the Steam Deck is not currently worth your time.

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At last year's PAX East, we spent a lot of our time poking around the PAX Rising Showcase booth, which is a collection of indie games curated by PAX itself. Not only did we find a bunch of cool games to play, but we were also able to chat to the games' creators, as all Rising finalists are invited to attend in person to show their work to the public.

This year, though, Rachel and I decided to go one step further. We interviewed the teams behind four of the eleven 2023 finalists, asking the developers behind Go-Go Town!, Paper Trail, Slay the Princess and Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action about their experience of bringing their games to PAX, what they learned along the way, and what it’s like to spend four days standing on your feet talking to thousands of attendees (spoilers: it’s really bloody tiring).

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We learned what was leaving Game Pass only yesterday as we bid farewell to Life Is Strange: True Colors, Moonglow Bay, and The Long Dark. But it seems the subscription gods (and whoever runs that division) saw our frowns, as Microsoft have now announced the next few games hitting the service this fortnight.

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