June 2023

Arcade racer Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is speeding our way on October 19th, developer Milestone have announced. Like the first surprisingly great game, you’ll race over 130 toy cars through real-world locations, zooming past dinner tables, out of windows, and across gardens. Seems like more good fun, whether you’re a five-year-old or a five-year-old stuck in an adult's body.

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I put olives in my bolognese. Olives, objectively, do not belong in a bolognese. But without fail, I’ll dunk half a jar of those salty little bad boys into my bubbling wok without hesitation. Peppers? Why not. Carrot? Absolutely. Spinach? Don’t mind if I do. My bolognese is about as authentically Italian as Super Mario, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to make Massimo Bottura cry by reminding him of his nonna’s cooking. It’s a dreary Tuesday night and I’m craving my olive-laden concoction. I’m making this bolognese just for me.

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer reminded me a lot of my bolognese. It’s a game created for particular tastes, a unique proposition that sort of defies conventional thinking. A big, bold swing that - if you have the palate for it - is absolutely brilliant.

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Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, its remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, will indeed reuse the original voices.

Previous information on the game had implied this, but was a little unclear. The initial press release stated the remake would "star the original voice characters", while the official Metal Gear Twitter account said: "The story and character voices in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater remain the same from the original game".

Now Konami has stated the original voices will be used without changes.

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Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka has been sentenced to prison for insider trading.

Naka pleaded guilty in March and has now been sentenced to serve two and a half years in jail. In addition, Naka has been fined twice for ¥2.5m and ¥170m (just under £1m total).

However, his defence is seeking a suspended sentence and to lower the fines, claiming Naka "accidentally saw information that was extremely unrelated to [his] work".

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The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red will lay off around 30 employees, as development on its card game spin-off Gwent winds down.

In a recent blog post, the developer reaffirmed its plan to place Gwent's future into the hands of its community.

"The community has always been core to making the game what it is. That's why we had the confidence to move ahead with GWENTfinity in the first place: there isn't really anyone better to take charge of Gwent and see it move into a new era than you," CDPR wrote.

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Somehow it's June already, which means it's time for the Indiescovery crew to suppress our existential dread at the fleetingness of existence and take a look at our favourite indie games from the first (almost) half of 2023! Don't worry, we very quickly realise that June has such a slammed line-up we can probably give it a best-games episode all of its own to make up for the fact that we tackled this topic a bit early.

Listen and subscribe via your podcast provider of choice! Find us on RSS feed, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Deezer, and YouTube.

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The widely admired studio behind XCOM and Civilization, Firaxis Games, have undergone a round of layoffs affecting around 30 employees, according to a report from Axios. Publisher 2K Games later confirmed the news and said the job cuts were due to a “sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities."

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The prosecution is seeking two years and six months in prison for Yuji Naka in his case of insider trading, as well as a fine of 2.5 million yen and a surcharge of 170 million yen. The third trial for the case involving Sonic creator Yuji Naka and former employer Square Enix was held on June 1, 2023 at the Tokyo District Court. The verdict will be revealed on July 7, 2023. [Thanks, DenFamiNico Gamer and Yahoo News!]

This proposal in the insider trading case is not the final sentence. If the Tokyo District Court pursues the prosecution’s proposal, Yuji Naka won't only have to go to prison, but will have to pay the equivalent in Japanese Yen to $17,880 USD as a fine and over $1.2 million dollars as a surcharge.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that defendant Naka misused his authority to gain an unfair advantage over ordinary investors. Meanwhile, the defense asked for a suspension of sentence as well as a reduction of the fine and surcharge, alleging that defendant Naka did not actively seek out insider information during his time at the company, as that the information was mistakenly sent to him.

Exploratory space sim No Man's Sky continues its slow march to out-Doom Doom - by being on every conceivable electronic contraption known to man - with its debut on Mac today, 1st June.

No Man's Sky for Mac machines was announced just under a year ago during Apple's WWDC 2022 keynote, where it took centrestage as a bit of a poster child for the tech giant's new Metal 3 API. At the time, it was expected to release before the end of the year (as was a version for iPad) but that ultimately slipped into 2023.

And now, a year and one ambitious Switch release later, Hello Games has confirmed No Man's Sky arrives for Mac computers today, "built from the ground up with a new rendering pipeline to take full advantage of Metal and Apple silicon".

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The fate of Disco Elysium 2 is currently up in the air, the boss of its development studio has stated, as part of a fresh report delving behind the scenes of the troubled company.

ZA/UM boss Ilmar Kompus made the statement in an interview with People Make Games, in which he was questioned on his buyout of shares in the company and whether or not Kompus illegally used company money to do so. The interview forms part of a longer documentary on the recent events surrounding Disco Elysium.

"The status of this sequel is something that has been jeopardised by this PR campaign as such, and the conflict as such," Kompus said, referring to the publicity ZA/UM has faced from former employees in the past couple of years. Although the lawsuit filed by former executive producer Kaur Kender was dropped, the company is still in the midst of another legal battle against writer Robert Kurvitz, who claims he was, along with Aleksander Rostov and Helen Hindpere, fired "under false premises".

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If you've been playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you will have noticed the difficulty of enemies gradually scaling up as you progress.

It turns out this is due to a secret levelling system in the game that isn't explicitly revealed.

YouTuber Austin John Plays has released a new video that dives into some of the details of this system (thanks for spotting, IGN).

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Activision Blizzard received 114 reports of harassment, discrimination or retaliation by its employees last year, with 29 of these being substantiated by investigators.

In the company's recently released transparency report, which was released into public domain following a request from stockholders (via Axios), Activision Blizzard stated it had taken over three dozen corrective actions as a result of these reports.

These corrective measures included terminating workers for a variety of offences such as using discriminatory language, engaging in physical assault, misgendering others, unwanted advances, retaliation. It also included two cases of non-consensual touching.

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Square Enix revealed that more Final Fantasy VII Remake merchandise is on the way. Pre-orders for a FFVII Remake Shinra Company shoulder pouch are now available from the Square Enix Japanese e-store. The shoulder pouch costs 8,205 JPY (or roughly $60 USD). The expected release date of the pouch is September 30, 2023. The pouch can be used to carry small items, like a phone or wallet, and it includes a small pocket designed to hold cards or public transport passes. It isn't showing up in the worldwide store yet.

The new Final Fantasy VII Remake pouch is made out of polyester and synthetic leather. The pouch is black, and it has a vibrant red embroidery finish. The inside of the pouch is lined with a similar red fabric. The strap of the pouch is removable and adjustable.

You can take a better look at the FFVII Remake Shinra pouch in the gallery below.

[gallery columns="5" link="file" ids="965977,965978,965979,965980,965981"]

Continuing with the Shinra Company theme, on February 2023 Square Enix revealed yet another Final Fantasy VII Remake item inspired by the fictional company. It was an AirPod metal case with the Shinra logo engraved on it.

SNK Global released a statement about the planned rollback netcode update for Samurai Shodown. The initial release window for the update was set for Spring 2023, but it has since been delayed until Summer 2023. The reasons given for pushing back the implementation of rollback netcode are various setbacks and other circumstances that appeared during the preparation of the update.

SNK announced the inclusion of rollback netcode in Samurai Shodown back in November 2022. Ever since, the game received a Community Beta Test for the update back in February 2023. Alongside the announcement of the delay, SNK also announced that a second Community Beta Test for the Samurai Shodown rollback netcode update will be held in June 2023. The exact days the test will happen will be announced at a later date.

You can read the statement SNK put out here:

https://twitter.com/SNKPofficial/status/1664089380242223105

The version of Samurai Shodown to receive rollback is the 2019 reboot of the franchise. Additionally, the Neo Geo Collection included rollback back when it released on June 2020. The collection includes the first five titles in the series, alongside two updates for Samurai Shodown V, one of them never released before.

Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka could serve two and a half years in prison as part of his sentencing for insider trading charges. 

Abema Times reports that prosecutors on the case asked that Naka go to prison for two years and six months in a Tokyo District Court today, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. Prosecutors also demanded that Naka pay a fine of 2.5 million yen (roughly $17,900) as well as a supplementary penalty of 170 million yen (roughly $1.2 million). Naka's defense asked that this fine and prison sentence be reduced, but a final decision on the matter isn't expected until July 7, VGC reports. 

Naka, who also directed Balan Wonderworld, was arrested in November in connection to an insider trading investigation involving the reveal of a new Dragon Quest game. Naka was accused of purchasing 10,000 shares worth 2.8 million yen (roughly $20,000) in Aiming, the company behind the new mobile Dragon Quest game. 

While Redfall’s rough launch and poor reviews scores caught many Xbox fans off-guard, Bloomberg now reports that developers at the studio behind it, Arkane Austin, were aware of the issues for years. The online vampire shooter was pitched as a live service game with microtransactions, but production was apparently…

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Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima almost cancelled Metal Gear Solid 2 and resigned from developer Konami following the events of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack.

Kojima's comments come from a recently-translated interview with magazine Weekly Toyo Keizai (thanks Games Radar), in which he states the game required 300 revisions following 9/11, leaving his team in "crisis mode".

The end of the game has Arsenal Gear (a giant military fortress) crashing into Manhattan, but the final release shows only the before and after, with the rest left to the player's imagination.

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"We've been waiting to finally show Spider-Man 2. It's been a while since we first announced the game, and it was really awesome to really show a full section of gameplay. It was just nice to spend more than a few minutes and show people all the different stuff."

I'm chatting with Spider-Man 2's creative director Bryan Intihar and game director Ryan Smith about last week's PlayStation Direct. After months of wait, Insomniac Games finally lifted the lid on Spider-Man 2's gameplay. For 10 minutes, we were transported to New York, to swing among the skyscrapers with Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they fought off Kraven's hunters, while simultaneously trying to save Dr. Curt Connors' Lizard.

But while the setting and characters were familiar, the game's darker tone was not - something much discussed online afterwards by fans of Insomniac's previous games. The quippy and aimable Peter Parker now seemed frustrated and snappy, while his new Symbiote Suit gave off a very different, reptilian-like vibe. Parker seemed to relish this suit's slithering, writhing potential, and slammed his adversaries to the ground with simmering rage.

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Last week, Insomniac Games showed off Spider-Man 2's seamless transitions between Peter Parker and fellow web-slinger Miles Morales.

These moments in the sequel's gameplay reveal were impressive, invoking memories of similar fluidity from Insomniac's fellow PS5 exclusive Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. But I still had questions. Can we only switch characters at certain story points or will we be able to switch between them freely?

It turns out, the answer is a little bit of both.

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It's some time in the 1200s BCE, a big wooden horse and/or earthquake is cracking open the gates of Troy and a thousand ships are crossing the Aegean - and, about 1500 kilometres away, another legendary ancient civilisation is on the edge of crumbling, too. While Ancient Greece was in full Odyssey mode, Ancient Egypt was heading towards the collapse of its New Kingdom, and with it the Bronze Age.

This is the realm of Total War: Pharaoh, the follow-up from the Total War: Troy studio, which Creative Assembly Sofia announced just last month with a release window of some time later in 2023. Here's the setup: old boy Pharaoh Menerptah's grip on his rule is weakening. New challengers are jostling for power. Plus the Sea Peoples are attacking in waves, law and order's breaking down, and the weather's getting a bit funky, too.

Why Egypt? As director Todor Nikolov put it to me, "because Egypt is quite popular, and was never represented in a Total War title." Usually Egypt was shown in the middle or later historical periods, he explained, such as the Ptolemaic era where "Greeks were all over Egypt" already. The Bronze Age was chosen this time because, "first of all, by that time, it's the New Kingdom of Egypt, and it has grown to be an empire that extends far away from the banks of the Nile."

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The development of Redfall, Arkane's latest multiplayer shooter, was plagued with issues like unclear direction, frequent attrition, and a lack of staff.

That's according to a new report by Bloomberg, speaking to over a dozen anonymous developers who worked on the game.

Microsoft had billed Redfall as its next big exclusive game, but it ultimately proved a critical and commercial failure.

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Street Fighter 6 on PC will include the controversial Denuvo DRM software.

The game's Steam page was quietly updated on 30th May, three days ahead of the game's release tomorrow, with mention of Denuvo Anti-Tamper. The change can be seen listed on SteamDB.

Denuvo's software is known for its tendency to affect performance of games on PC. One of the most recent cases of this was Resident Evil Village, also developed by Capcom. Denuvo was finally patched out of Village in April this year.

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Hello! We have a new series for you! Introducing: What to Play This Month, a roundup of the best games from the past month, the things we're most excited to play that are releasing in the month ahead, a quick rundown of the other things coming up, and a few alternative back-catalogue picks that might make a nice compliment for it all. Expect to see it on the first of every month - or as close to it as possible - from now onwards.

The reasoning behind this one is pretty simple: it feels like more and more games are coming out, and we'd like to help curate those releases for you.

Until now, this has been left to our reviews and other critical writing, where we've been continuously hunting for cool-looking games to either review or take a quick look at for a feature - with that writing acting as a recommendation in itself. But that was it.

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It’s a shame how many good ideas end up disappointing when put into action. The success of visual novels means we’re getting memorable or enjoyable hybrids like Digimon Survive or Devil Survivor! The Persona series’ relationship and daily life systems mean developers try implementing similar mechanics into their own games! I hoped Loop8: Summer of Gods would be good, because it had these elements that called Gnosia and Persona to mind. Unfortunately, it feels both obtuse and pretentious, caught up in how clever it wants to be.

Novus “Nini” Nemo was raised in outer space on a space station. Beings known as Kegai assault the earth below, and people took to the skies in the hopes of escaping it. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out too well, and now he’s in the small, rural village of Ashihara. Its apparently known for being oddly safe from these unknown beings, but that’s about to change. The Kegai are about to pierce a barrier and assault this apparent last bastion. When they do, they’ll “infect” one of the people there, putting them at risk. However, Nini features the Demon Sight ability, as evidenced by being able to see things he shouldn’t and spy on characters’ current actions, moods, and desires, and finds he’s not the only “gifted” or unusual resident in the town. And so, he’ll regularly head into Yomotsu Hirasaka at the town’s shrine with certain neighbors to face the Kegai there and perhaps save the person being used as their host.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable clothes and merchandise will return to Avail retail and online stores for a limited time. The items will be available throughout June 1-11, 2023 in Japan. The lineup includes graphic tees, tote bags, mini-towels, accessory poches, and boxer shorts, inspired by different characters from Diamond is Unbreakable, part 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

The lineup focuses on protagonist Josuke Higashikata, his partner and rival Rohan Kishibe, as well as the main villain of Part 4, Yoshikage Kira. Each item is available in three varieties, each one featuring one of the three aforementioned characters, with the exception of the boxer shorts which are available in two styles inspired by the Stands Crazy Diamond and Killer Queen.

The Japanese prices (tax included) for each item, and their approximate USD prices are the following:

• T-shirt (1,800 JPY or ~$13 USD)
• Boxer shorts (990 JPY or ~$7 USD)
• Pouches (1,200 JPY or ~$9 USD)
• Mini towels (490 JPY or ~$4 USD)
• Tote bags (1,800 JPY or ~$13 USD)

In other JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure news, Medicos Entertainment recently announced a new Nendoroid figure of Yoshikage Kira, alongside the return of the Nendoroid of Rohan Kishibe.

As is common with Atlus games, there's an Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection launch trailer showing what to expect from the Nintendo Switch and PC releases. This is more of a summary, rather than a focused look on a specific element like mapping. After watching, people will immediately find all three games either individually or as a collection in both storefronts.

The launch trailer first shows what it’s like to explore the remastered dungeons. Then, it shows the static, updated art used for characters and locations in town. From there, it focuses on gameplay. We get to see some dungeon biomes, as well as seafaring in Etrian Odyssey III. After that, we see how NPCs can assign quests, we form a five-person party, and learn skills from the sill trees. Near the end of the video, we see how fighting enemies and exploring the dungeon nets us materials to fill up our catalogue and earn new equipment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSeXc8JwwFw&ab_channel=OfficialATLUSWest

The Persona 5 Nendoroid figures of Joker, Morgana, and Futaba Sakura are back in stock. The figures are now available to pre-order from the Good Smile Company online store. The estimated release date for all three figures is October 2023 for Japan, and Q4 2023 for North America. Each figure costs $42.99 USD, or 4,888 JPY for Joker, 4,584 JPY for Morgana, and 5,900 JPY for Futaba. Pre-orders for the Persona 5 Joker, Morgana, and Futaba Nendoroids will close on until July 6, 2023.

The Joker figure includes two face plates, a standard and grinning expression. His mask can be removed, and it also includes interchangeable eyes. A smaller mask for Joker to hold in his hands is included, as well as his knife and pistol.

[gallery size="medium" ids="965941,965942,965943" link="file"]

Meanwhile, the Morgana figure includes several interchangeable parts for his face, including standard, serious, grinning, and his All-Out face expressions, as well as a slingshot and his saber weapons.

[gallery size="medium" ids="965944,965945,965946" link="file"]

If you’ve seen Final Fantasy XVI protagonist Clive Rosfield, you’ve likely noticed he has a black face tattoo on his left cheek. This tattoo connects more widely to the world of FFXVI, Valisthea, and magic’s place in it. 

During my cover story trip to Tokyo, Japan, to speak to developer Creative Business Unit III, I learned a lot about magic in FFXVI and how it affects Clive’s life and everyone in this world. The special tattoo on Clive’s face is the mark of a Bearer, which indicates he can use magic. This might seem like a great ability, but the nations of Valisthea view Bearers as something other than human. These nations brand their Bearers to show they are enslaved, and nations trade Bearers across borders based on who needs their magical abilities. When Clive receives this branding, his life is forever changed. 

In my hands-on time with FFXVI, I saw various other people in The Grand Duchy of Rosaria, Clive’s home at one point, with the same mark. They were completing tasks like fetching water, carrying heavy objects, and more. Flashing forward past the game’s opening hours, Clive is on a mission to assassinate a key figure in a war, and he’s joined by a few other soldiers also bearing the mark. Before this trip, I thought Clive’s tattoo was unique to him, but the mark of a Bearer isn't as unusual in Valisthea as I initially thought. 

Some employees at Bethesda's Arkane Studios reportedly hoped that Microsoft, after acquiring Bethesda in 2020, might cancel Redfall or reboot it as a single-player game, according to a new report from Bloomberg. 

That didn't happen, however, and Redfall launched on May 2 to poor reception from critics and players. Game Informer gave it a 5 out of 10 in our review. Xbox head Phil Spencer said on Kinda Funny Games' Xcast that he was disappointed with the Redfall launch. "I'm upset with myself," he told the Xcast.

Meta has revealed the Meta Quest 3 and it's coming this fall. It will cost $499 for the 128GB headset, but an additional storage option will be available for purchase for those who want more space. 

The Meta Quest 3 offers higher resolution, stronger performance, and a slimmer and apparently more comfortable form factor, according to Meta. Like the Quest and Quest 2, it is completely wireless. 

"Quest 3 combines our highest resolution display and pancake optics to make content look better than ever," a press release reads. "To power those extra pixels, this will be the first headset to feature a next-generation Snapdragon chipset developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. That next-gen Snapdragon chipset delivers more than twice the graphical performance as the previous generation Snapdragon GPU in Quest 2 – meaning you'll get smoother performance and incredibly crisp details in immersive games."

Meta Quest 3 will feature both virtual reality and "Meta Reality" technology to "seamlessly blend your physical world with the virtual one." For example, you could play a virtual board game set up on your real-world coffee table. 

Final Fantasy XVI is out in mere weeks, arriving on PlayStation 5 on June 22. And while the game looks like it’ll be quite a bit of fun to play, questions over the radical shift in tone for the series remain. And in a recent blog, the developers shared some of the thoughts, considerations, and challenges that went…

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June 1 is here, which means it’s Pride Month, baby, and the Queer Games Bundle is back with another massive collection of games, zines, and more for less than the price of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Now that’s a good way to celebrate Pride, ain’t it?

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Despite all the fun that could obviously be had unleashing rampaging sphynxs and hippo-headed warriors on the battlefields of Total War: Pharaoh, Creative Assembly Sofia are currently steadfast in keeping their latest historical release firmly in the realm of history, with “absolutely no plans'' to release a similar expansion to Troy’s Mythos, which added magic and minotaurs to the otherwise relatively grounded Aegean setting.

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Despite a name evoking the opulent leaders of one of history's most famous (and, as I’d soon learn, famously misunderstood) civilisations, Total War: Pharaoh's aspirations don’t start and end with ancient Egypt. Moreso, the next mainline historical Total War aims to capture the struggles and instability of a time period for which ancient Egypt simply had the best seat in the house. “We wanted to make a game about the collapse of the Bronze Age,” Creative Assembly Sofia’s Milcho Vasilev, lead battle designer on Total War: Pharaoh, tells me. “There’s a lot of mystery surrounding it, and we wanted to uncover it.”

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Metroidvanias, Metroid-likes, and Castlevania-likes are games that heavily feature non-linear exploration and cool discoveries that open up parts of an interconnected map. Otherwise known as good game design. A new Humble Bundle has now compiled seven great Metroidvanias for the low price of £12/$15, available here from now until June 20th.

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A new trailer for Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising showed off the character Siegfried and announced that the online beta test will be held in mid-July 2023. Cygames previously delayed the beta from its original May 2023 release window due to instability. Additionally, the third character coming to the game will be revealed in early July 2023 and be accompanied by several updates on the games' new mechanics and game modes.

The official statement came from Creative Director Tetsuya Fukuhara. In it, he apologized for the delay of the beta, but said that the team worked through many of the instability issues. He also stated that the game is on track for their initial target for release, but concrete dates will come after the beta concludes.

In the Granblue Fantasy mobile game, Siegfried is a knight of the kingdom of Feendrache and appears in many of the events in the Dragon Knights series. As seen in his trailer, he appears to have several unique voice lines for battling other knights, such as Lancelot and Percival. He is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue, who has also appeared as Kakashi from Naruto, Kars from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Oda Nobunaga in Nioh 2. He was originally announced back in March and joins the divine general Anila, who was announced in February.

You can catch the trailer below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPhAk-p0q0[/embed]

While there’s no exact release date yet for Black Clover M: Rise of the Wizard King, pre-registrations for the game are now live. As usual, a number of in-game rewards will be doled out both if people sign up and a set number of people express an interest in playing. There is also a contest open to people in Canada, England, and the US.

Signing up at the official site gets people a number of rewards, depending on how much information someone is willing to provide. The site notes that submitting an email gives people Mimosa Vermillion. If you then also get it from the App Store or Google Play ahead of launch, you’ll also get 10 Bond Summon Tickets for the gacha and 100,000 Yul currency. An additional three tickets will be given to everyone who follows the official Twitter.