April 2023

Microsoft has said it will appeal today's shock decision by UK regulators to block its $68.7bn Activision Blizzard acquisition - but how will this work, and could it still be a success?

Appealing today's decision will be a lengthy process for Microsoft, and hamper any chance of the deal being approved globally for months - and that's without the separate decisions still due from the US Federal Trade Commission and the EU's European Commission, both of which are still scrutinising the deal for themselves.

"According to the Competition Appeal Tribunal site, straightforward cases are aimed to be dealt with within nine months," games industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls told Eurogamer today. "If the appeal is successful it is then returned to the CMA to review. This again will take some time.

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Humanity is a new puzzle game from the same publisher as Tetris Effect. In the game you, as a dog, must direct an endless stream of humans as they mindlessly walk forward. It's up to you to make sure they reach safety. Join Charles Harte and me as we play a few puzzles (without revealing the final solutions) and make sure Humanity can live on. At least, I think that's what the game is about.

As a bonus, the game is also fully playable in VR using PlayStation VR2, so we took the time to show off that version of the game, as well. It is functionally the same, but it's nice to have an alternate, encompassing way to play.

Developer Young Horses - best known for Octodad: Dadliest Catch and Bugsnax - have released four free games as part of their Free Range collection. They describe the freebies as “the wacky projects we make between games,” which include an ant collectathon and an early prototype of Octodad.

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My name is Katharine and I'm a reformed Pokéaddict. I thought I'd get that out there right at the start, because you can't really talk about Cassette Beasts without talking a bit about Pokémon. Admittedly, the idea of an open world Pokémon-like might have lost some of its shine now that the actual Pokémon games have finally gone and done it themselves with last year's Scarlet and Violet releases, but Cassette Beasts, the debut game from UK micro team Bytten Studio, is banging a different kind of drum to Nintendo's primo monster catcher.

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In my preview of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor I said it was a competent game that essentially offered Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but more. Playing the full thing reveals I was correct, both for better and for worse, which is why you should never doubt me. Are we done here?

Oh alright. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a third-person action game where you play Cal Kestis in his second rip-roaring adventure across a localised part of the galaxy, fighting both the Empire and a very naughty little Sith, with a flanking attack from Cal's own regrets about getting people killed all the time. Crucially though, at least for the purposes of having fun, Cal has one of those hot glowsticks that goes *whummmmm* and cute robot friend BD-1 - but you will often be deploying both in the effort to get a new pair of trousers.

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A sequel to 1992’s classic action-platformer, Flashback 2 is releasing this November on PC and consoles, publisher Microids have announced. The sequel was first announced a couple of years ago with Flashback’s original creator Paul Cuisset in charge, and we finally have our first proper look at gameplay. Take a look at Flashback 2’s updated cyberpunk world below.

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Bandai Namco's official Tales series Twitter account revealed that a new Tales of Arise Shion figure is on the way. On April 27, 2023, pre-orders for it will appear at AmiAmi. It also showed a preliminary photo of it, which only teases the back of the new piece of merchandise. However, it does show that Shion will be wearing a swimsuit from the Tales of Arise Beach Time Triple Pack (Female) DLC. While a worldwide release isn't confirmed yet, AmiAmi does ship worldwide and have an English website.

Here’s the official announcement. It notes that this Shion figure will be a 1/6th scale one, which means it could be about a foot tall. She’s sitting on a beach ball with Hootle on it and holding a water pistol.

／
📢「テイルズ オブ アライズ」のヒロイン
『シオン』 1/6スケールフィギュアが新登場✨
＼

🗓明日4／27(木)より､あみあみにて先行予約を開始！
詳細発表をお楽しみに♪
#テイルズ #TOARISE pic.twitter.com/pN4aNM74jc

— テイルズチャンネル＋ (@tales_ch) April 26, 2023

Starting Honkai: Star Rail reveals the default avatar name for the male and female versions of the Trailblazer, which are Caelus and Stelle. After you get through the introductory segment with Kafka and Silver Wolf, players get to pick their playable character. On the screen showing the two avatar options in Honkai: Star Rail, players are able to decide to “activate receptacle Stelle” or “activate receptacle Caelus.”

The Honkai: Star Rail Trailblazers Caelus and Stelle isn't the first time HoYoVerse had "official" default names for an avatar character. The company also did this for Genshin Impact. There, the decision has a bit more meaning, as the character you don't pick as your avatar appears as their sibling in the main game. In that title, the name for the female avatar is Lumine, and the male avatar is called Aether. It has yet to be seen if the character we don't pick as our protagonist could eventually show up later in the game.

As a reminder, remember to think when making your avatar decision. Once you choose the "Caelus" or "Stelle" option, you can't switch to the other one.

Honkai: Star Rail is available for PCs and mobile devices, and PS4 and PS5 versions are on the way.

HoYoVerse revealed the kit for Baizhu, who will be the new five-star Dendro character in Genshin Impact. Baizhu previously appeared in the story as the owner of Bubu Pharmacy, and he is almost always seen with his talking snake Changsheng. With his Skill and Burst, Baizhu can heal and shield characters.

There is also a new character trailer for Baizhu on the various Genshin Impact YouTube channels. It shows his deep knowledge of medicinal herbs, as he can improvise new prescriptions based on his patients’ needs. You can watch the character trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cZSZksffhk

When he debuts in Genshin Impact as a playable character, Baizhu will be a Dendro Catalyst user. His Skill, Universal Diagnosis, sends out a Gossamer Sprite that will damage nearby enemies three times. It will then return to the user and heal the party based on Baizhu’s Max HP. If there are no enemies for Gossamer Sprite to attack, then it will just heal the party. His Burst, Holistic Revivification, creates a shield every 2.5 seconds. It will both attack the enemy with Dendro DMG and heal the active character.

Disgaea 7, the next entry in the strategy series, is heading westward in Fall 2023, and a new trailer introduces its cast of characters. Things kick off with the new lead, Fuji, as we see him trying to decrease his 10 million HL debt. After that, a number of other folks show up. NIS America also detailed the $99.99 and $158.99 Disgaea 7 Limited Edition options.

The Disgaea 7 character trailer begins with Fuji hassling Hihibana Gendosai. After that, we see Pirilika expressing her joy at coming to Hinomoto while talking to a yellow Prinny with cat ears and whiskers. Fuji and Pirilika then meet, with him explaining Hinomoto isn’t what she hoped it would be. He then forms a contact with Pirilika, which results in him being tricked into doing her bidding for money. Ao also appears in a brief cameo at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jd3LTRAis4&ab_channel=NISAmerica

As for the Disgaea 7 limited edition bundles, each one will be $99.99 or $158.99 regardless of platform. The basic Limited Edition involves a copy of the game, a Steelbook case for it, a Disgaea 7: The Art of War art book, a Songs & Honor soundtrack, a Yunomi tea cup, and a byoubu art display. If you get the more expensive option, it also adds plush toys of Fuji and Pirilika.

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Gotham Knights was supposed to signal a new era for Rocksteady’s Arkham series. Developed by Batman: Arkham Origins studio WB Games Montréal, the superhero action-RPG shared a lot of the same DNA with the memorable Arkham games of yesteryear while adding its own flavor to the iconic formula. It was even moving away…

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The countdown to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom continues and one of the biggest questions leading up to launch is how the game will perform on Switch hardware that’s now over six years old. The answer, according to a ton of new press previews that just dropped? Pretty good, except for when things get…

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What’s better than a drawn-out intergalactic space war causing entire space colonies to crash land into, and utterly destroy Australia on multiple occasions? A cool giant robot that can play rock paper scissors with you, of course.

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Hands-on previews for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have just dropped, and one small gameplay detail stood out to me among all the hype and skepticism about its crafting systems. TotK will contain gacha elements. That’s right. You can obtain crafting materials from a huge gachapon machine, and I’m living…

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The ongoing war between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney is heading to court. Today, Disney and its army of lawyers filed a lawsuit against DeSantis and others over what it calls a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing war between the two.

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Pokémon Go will hold its first-ever Go Fest event in the UK this summer, with a three-day bonanza centred in London's Brockwell Park.

Go Fest 2023 in London will run from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th August, with early bird tickets on sale now (for £27). As with last year's Seattle Go Fest, each day will be split with a half-day in the park, and the rest of the day spent exploring the local area - this time, with bonuses available throughout Greater London.

A version based in Osaka, Japan will run over the same dates, while New York has been chosen to host the event's USA leg on 18th to 20th August.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we discuss the fallout from today's dramatic decision by the UK to block Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Blizzard deal, and whether an appeal could still turn things around.

With the UK regulator issuing a stern warning over how it sees the deal impacting competitiveness among cloud gaming companies, it remains to be seen how much more Microsoft could do to reassure the UK without structurally changing the deal. Or does, perhaps, Microsoft say the UK should not have given up on this so easily, by saying a block on the deal was simply the most straightforward option?

So, do we think an appeal could still succeed? And what will it take? Joining me to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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It's been seven months since the last instalment of developer Jupiter's mighty Picross puzzle series on Switch, meaning there are probably a fair few fans in need of a fresh fix right about now. Luckily, help is on the way, with Picross S9 officially launching tomorrow, 27th April.

This ninth mainline series entry on Switch introduces a grand total of 485 new puzzles, so plenty of fresh deductive, dot-plopping column action to be getting on with. 300 of those are Picross and Mega Picross puzzles, 150 are Clip Picross, 30 are Colour Picross, and the remaining five are Extra puzzles - three of which will require you to link play data from Picross S6, S7, and S8.

Additionally, the local co-op mode introduced in Picross' previous instalment makes a return in S9, meaning up to four players can work together to solve its new conundrums.

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Join hosts Wesley LeBlanc and Kyle Hilliard as the two take a quick look at Bramble: The Mountain King, a spooky and horrific adventure game inspired by Nordic Folklore that plays like Little Nightmares. It comes from Dimfrost Studios and features gorgeous (if not terrifying) visuals and a fun loop of traversal and puzzle solving. And fortunately, you don't have to wait long because it hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC tomorrow on April 27. 

If you're wondering whether it's a game you should pick up, check out roughly 13 minutes of new Bramble: The Mountain King footage in the latest New Gameplay Today: 

Now that April is about to end, Sony revealed the PlayStation Plus Essentials games for May 2023. Like month, every title is playable on both the PS4 and PS5. Starting on May 2, 2023, people can claim Chivalry 2 (PS4, PS5), Descenders (PS4), and Grid Legends (PS4, PS5).

Chivalry II is a 64-player action game that sends people out onto medieval battlefields. It came out on the consoles in June 2021. Normally, it costs $39.99.

Descenders is essentially a BMX game. Players choose a team, then go out into the world to ride. It debuted in August 2020 and normally costs $24.99.

Grid Legends is a new motorsport game for up to 22 players at once. In addition to preset modes, people can create their own races with an in-game creator. It debuted in February 2022. Normally, it costs $59.99.

People can claim the April 2023 PlayStation Plus games Meet Your Maker (PS4, PS5), Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS4, PS5), and Tails of Iron (PS4, PS5) until May 1, 2023. The PlayStation Plus games for May 2023 will be available on May 2, 2023.

Honkai: Star Rail, like Genshin Impact, appeared on both PCs and mobile devices. With a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 version somewhere on the horizon, it's only natural that Honkai: Star Rail should already feature controller support. Thankfully, it does on PCs, but not on mobile yet. Setting up a controller is extremely simple. Just plug in or connect your controller to your PC and you will immediately be able to play the game with your controller of choice. However, you do need to beat the tutorial first.

Again, PC controller support for Honkai: Star Rail is extremely easy to set up. You also don't need to restart the game in order for it to activate, which makes it very convenient. However, players cannot rebind buttons for controller support. The only buttons players can rebind are those used for the PC version of the game, which can be done through the "Settings" menu.

Honkai: Star Rail also features the option to pick a player avatar.  However, there are only two options, and the choice is fairly permanent. While it has no impact on the gameplay, players will want to pick accordingly as to how they'd like to see themselves in the game.

Sumeru is essentially getting its own festival in Genshin Impact, and HoYoVerse detailed how people can take part in the A Parade of Providence Event and what to expect. Things kick off on April 27, 2023. As one might expect, completing certain Sumeru-related Archon and character story quests is recommended. Going through the activities will result in rewards like Primogems, a Crown of Insight, and the free four-star character Faruzan.

How do you take part in the Genshin Impact A Parade of Providence event?

The “entry fee” involves a bit of investment. While it does only require a player get to 30 Adventure Rank, you need to have finished both the Mondstadt and Liyue Archon Quests. If you completed Chapter 1: Act 3: A New Star Approaches, which requires AR 28, then you can begin.

There are some other questions that are also “recommended,” but someone can opt to “Quick Start” in-game rather than complete them. It does note the Inversion of Genesis quest, which involves Nahida and Scaramouche, and Alhaitham’s Vultur Volans Chapter: Act 1 are also recommended.

The Street Fighter 6 demo is now available on PCs and the Xbox Series X. After a week of exclusivity on PlayStation platformers, all players can now try out the game before its release in June 2023.

The demo features a tutorial to get to grips with the new mechanics, and you can try out the moves of both Ryu and Luke in the Character Guide. The demo also offers the ability to create a custom avatar and play part of the World Tour mode. There are also Fighting Ground modes including one-on-one matches and Extreme Battle

Just like the PS4 and PS5 versions, PC and Xbox Series X players will be able to transfer their demo avatars to the full version of Street Fighter 6. They will not be able to transfer World Tour progress, however.

The demo was originally announced at the Street Fighter 6 Showcase on April 20, 2023. The showcase also went into great depth about new gameplay mechanics, with a focus on the World Tour mode. In addition, Capcom also announced the characters that will be released as DLC throughout 2023 and 2024. These include Rashid, AKI, Ed and Akuma.

HoYoVerse announced yet another Honkai: Star Rail launch promotion, and this one involves March 7th appearing in Waze. She's now available as a navigator voice in-game. It is also possible to change the vehicle icon from a car to the Astral Express train. Both are available until June 24, 2023 in the US. Other regions will also apparently get the options later.

HoYoVerse also offered directions for how to access Honkai: Star Rail’s Astral Express and March 7th in Waze. March 7th shows up in the Waze Voice section of the Setting’s Voice & Sound section. As the promotion is currently only available in the US, you’ll find her voice under English. Rather than her name, it’s listed as Honkai: Star Rail. To change the appearance of your car, you need to go into the Settings. While there, scroll to Map Display. In the Car Icon section, you’ll see the train listed as The Astral Express.

Waze is available on Android and Apple iOS devices, and Honkai: Star Rail is available on PCs and mobile devices. People can only use March 7th’s voice in the app until June 24, 2023 in the US. There are also currently Twitch drops for the game.

Last time, you decided that unit veterancy is better than rerolling dice. I'm not surprised, given that rerolling dice is a pretty niche thing only seen in a handful of games, but oh what a glorious niche thing! Fine, fine. We continue. This week, I ask you to choose between the mechanism for controlling magic and the mechanism for controlling a big daft rock. What's better: cool spellcasting gestures, or seizing control of a rolling boulder trap?

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Here's an idea! You know that 2.5-inch laptop drive that you have sitting around ever since you upgraded a year or two back? How about repurposing it as a portable SSD or HDD with this USB-C enclosure? For £6, you can give that drive a new lease on life. Your new drive will be useful too, ideal for backups, moving video files to your TV or just moving game directories between PCs.

n.b. Face in image above is unrelated, I just wanted to fill out the space without drawing attention to the USB cables that stop at the edge. Thanks to my pal Ross for the illustration.

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From the moment Blizzard announced Diablo IV in 2019, it teased the ability for players to ride mounts. This would be a series first, and it seemed like a cool feature to include. But now, Blizzard has confirmed that you actually won’t get to ride a mount right away in its upcoming loot-filled Diablo adventure.

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The only thing more important to Dead Island 2 than its gruesome zombies is the diamond mine of weapons it wants you to kill them with. While each of the action role-playing game’s six playable Slayer characters come with a pair of perfectly capable, calloused fits, none of them really stand a chance without a…

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is out in a few short days and it’s promising some accessibility options that sound incredibly helpful for those looking to take their time acclimating to the game’s potential challenges. One standout feature is the option to slow combat and traversal down so you can take these challenges on…

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There's a bunch of activity going on around developer Amplitude's sprawling historical 4X strategy game Humankind right now, and as part of all that, its newly released Para Bellum Wonder Pack DLC is currently free to claim and keep, but only for a limited time.

The Para Bellum Wonder Pack adds a total of six new cultural wonders, one for each of the game's successive eras. The Stables of Pi-Ramesses are available first in Era 1 and are followed by the Colosseum, the Citadel of Alamut, the Hôtel des Invalides, Whilelmshaven Werft, and, as we step into the modern era, the Pentagon.

As you might imagine, each Wonder brings various benefits to the empires that build them, ranging from increased land movement speed and reduced cavalry/land vehicle upkeep for the Stables of Pi-Ramesses through to increased district fortication and bombardment benefits via the Pentagon. A full breakdown of these bonuses can be found in Amplitude's announcement.

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Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5
Publisher: PlayStation Studios
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Release: April 19, 2023

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores serves fans a substantial dessert that brings the main course of the campaign to a satisfying close. A dangerous new sandbox and a compelling story await Aloy, offering a nice wrap-up that also provides some tantalizing glimpses into the future. 

A new FFVII Remake campaign is referencing Golden Week. From April 26, 2023 to May 8, 2023, you can generate a PTO request form for the Shinra Company. Those are essentially the dates of Golden Week in Japan. You can then Tweet it with the hashtag #神羅カンパニー有休申請 for the chance to win an Amazon gift card worth 7000 JPY.

Since this PTO request form is for Shinra, you are not actually getting any paid time off of work. Of course, it’s a whole other story if the Shinra Company is real and you’re an employee there. It’s fairly easy to fill out the form. First, you choose your department and fill in the date, name, and the days you want off. Then you have to explain why you want time off. At the bottom, there is a box for any additional information. It is a very well-organized form.

This Golden Week PTO form is the sixth campaign for the seven FFVII Remake campaigns. Square Enix has been holding them as part of the 25th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy VII game. Other campaigns included one for Crisis Core: FFVII Reunion, which offered a pillow of the Buster Sword as a prize.

Nijisanji announced a special streaming project to coincide with the Honkai: Star Rail launch under the name NijiRail. For about 4 weeks, 36 VTubers from Nijisanji's Japanese and English branches will play Honkai: Star Rail on stream. This starts today on April 26, 2023. The first three talents starting the event will be Finana Ryugu, Yumedi Kakeru, and Koshimizu Toru.

Check out the announcement for the NijiRail event from the Nijisanji EN official Twitter account here below.

https://twitter.com/NIJISANJI_World/status/1651194412456890371?s=20

Confirmed Nijisanji EN VTubers include Nina Kosaka, Millie Parfait, Luca Kaneshiro, and Vox Akuma. As for the Japanese branch, some of the livers participating are Nagao Kei, Sasaki Saku, Suo Sango, and Kuzuha. The first stream will be Finana Ryugu’s and it will air on April 27, 2023, 8:00 a.m. JST / April 26, 2023, 4:00 p.m. PT.

Nijisanji already previously collaborated with Honkai: Star Rail ahead of its release. Back in March 2023, Shu Yamino, Oliver Evans, and Finana Ryugu streamed the final beta test version of the game, sharing their experiences while playing through a portion of the story.

Lately, the Japanese and English branches of Nijisanji have been working together on various projects. Most notably, a talk show called “We are Nijisanji” featuring talents from both branches is currently airing every Tuesday throughout April 2023.

Square Enix announced its next batch of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line song DLC, and it is the NieR Pack Vol 2. It includes six songs from the series, with the primary focus being on music from the original entry. It costs $4.49 alone. It is also part of the $14.99 Season Pass Vol. 2.

Here’s the full list of Theatrhythm Final Bar Line NieR Pack Vol 2 DLC songs:

• ”Fleeting Words/Outsider” from NieR Replicant
• ”Hills of Radiant Winds” from NieR Replicant
• ”Kaine/Salvation” from NieR
• ”Shadowlord” from NieR
• ”Song of the Ancients/Devola” from NieR
• ”Song of the Ancients/Fade” from NieR

The announcement noting the tracks are live offered a chance to hear “Kaine/Salvation,” “Song of the Ancients/Devola,” and “Fleeting Words/Outsider” in-game.

NIER? Far? Wherever you are, there are new songs to enjoy for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.

The @NieRGame Series Pack Vol 2 can now be downloaded for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, with six select tracks from NIER, NieR:Automata, and NieR: Replicant ver.1.22474487139... pic.twitter.com/TPXHv3xhlo

Idea Factory International announced its next Switch otome will be a "summer" love story, as Charade Maniacs will launch on June 27, 2023. It also confirmed there will be a limited edition. However, pre-orders for that won't open until May 2, 2023, even though the IFI's Online Store product listing is already live.

Charade Maniac is an otome game where the heroine and nine young men are taken to a world called Arcadia. However, one of them isn’t innocent and is a part of the whole scheme. Your goal is to stay alive and find out what’s going on. Naturally, the player can get closer to and fall in love with one of the men who is also there.

As for the limited edition, it will be $89.99. People get a physical copy of the game and a Steelbook case to hold it. Its The Next Act light novel and Behind the Curtain art book are both included. There’s also a copy of the Japanese Curtain Call Drama CD. Finally, people get 10 bromide cards of the main characters.