June 2023

I think it's fair to say that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum captured the headlines for all the wrong reasons on its debut with bugs, performance issues, an erratic camera and unreliable controls. Now on its latest 1.3 patch, I'm finally able to test the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S - but even with the extra attention, I haven't played a game in such a dire state for a tech review for a long time. At least not since Shadow of Mordor way back in 2014 on PS3, an infamous porting disaster.

Gollum is fundamentally flawed in ways that go way beyond its frame-rate, which isn't great. The game design is almost taken straight from the dark ages of PS2 movie license tie-ins - an era where movie franchises were invariably turned into 3D platformers with awkward controls, a disastrous camera, and in the worst cases, bugs, bugs and more bugs. Given that, the £50/$60 price is inexcusable - but there's still some interest to be found in examining exactly what's gone wrong here.

Daedelic Entertainment first announced Gollum in 2019 - an Unreal Engine project with some interesting ideas - a mixture of stealth, 3D platforming and a good versus evil judgement system. For the stealth sections you use shadows and bushes to crawl past enemy orcs, while in platforming bits you navigate caves by clambering up walls, often with mundane goals like pillaging ID tags from dead orcs. Beyond its technical failings, which we'll get onto shortly, the biggest gameplay issue is in terms of its visual design. It's often difficult to see where to go next in murky caves, to judge whether a nearby wall is climbable or whether it'll lead to Gollum plummeting to their doom.

A former Activision Blizzard employee has claimed he was fired for writing jokes parodying corporate greed in World of Warcraft.

Blizzard scribe Eric Covington says he wrote jokes "lampooning generic corporate gree" for the game's Loot Specialist loot goblin, a character working for the in-game Venture Company.

However, Covington claims Blizzard leadership then "saw a reflection" in his words, and he was swiftly fired after nine years of service.

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EA will lay off the majority of staff at its mobile game studio Firemonkeys, a new report has revealed.

Up to two thirds of the company's workforce is expected to be let go, Kotaku Australia says.

EA top brass reportedly flew to Firemonkeys' Melbourne office to deliver the news last week. The studio had been working on multiple EA mobile game projects, including Real Racing 3, Need for Speed: No Limits and The Sims FreePlay.

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A new Naruto and Boruto Kinokuniya Pop Up shop collaboration will appear at the Kinokuniya Shinjuku bookstore in Tokyo throughout June 2-18, 2023. Exclusive merchandise featuring popular characters from the franchise dressed as bookstore employees will be sold. The characters that appear as part of the lineup are Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki.

Here is the full lineup and prices (tax included) for items included in the new Naruto and Boruto Kinokuniya Pop Up shop collaboration:

• Pin badges - 550 JPY (~$4 each) or 4,400 JPY (~$32) for the full set
• Acrylic keychains - 880 JPY (~$6) each, or 7,040 JPY (~$50) for the full set
• Pencase - 1,045 JPY (~$7)
• Acrylic stands - 1,815 JPY each (~$13)
• Clear file folders - 990 JPY (~$7)
• Leather sticky note books - 605 JPY (~$4)
• Book stand - 1,430 JPY (~$10)
• Clear bookmarks - 900 JPY (~$6)

A special bonus postcard giftset will be added when spending over 2,200 JPY per purchase at the store.

You can take a better look at the lineup, alongside the bonus postcards in the gallery below.

[gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="966218,966219" link="file"]

The previous Naruto and Boruto Pop Up store appeared on April 2023, and it featured characters in a theme park style setting.

A little over a month after its release, Honkai: Star Rail continues to print money for HoYoVerse. In a chart that Sensor Tower released for mobile games’ sales between May 18, 2023 and May 24, 2023, it shows that Honkai: Star Rail was the second highest-grossing mobile game during that period. Not only is there a decrease in downloads, but it also made 3% less than last week. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The Top 10 highest-grossing mobile games for May 18-24, 2023 are:

1. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby
2. Honkai: Star Rail
3. Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
4. Monster Strike
5. One Piece: Bounty Rush
6. Puzzle & Dragons
7. Arknights
8. Fate/Grand Order
9. Blue Archive
10. Genshin Impact

The chart also included comparisons in number of downloads and sales differences between this week and the last. A number that stands out is Arknights, which saw a 56% increase in downloads and a 917% increase in revenue.

Back when Square Enix would talk about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, part two of the new FFVII Remake series, it suggested a Winter 2023 window. While it hasn't been pinned down yet, we could learn about "when" soon. The official Twitter account for the FFVII line of games offered a brief update from Producer Yoshinori Kitase. In it, he said the team is “working on nailing down a release date.” However, it didn't say if the 2023 window could still be valid.

Here is the official update, which also confirmed development is proceeding as planned.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Developer comment number 1 pic.twitter.com/O4KdGlh4gy

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 2, 2023

Since this is only "comment 1," we could see more commentary about the game's status and progress over the coming weeks and months.

Following the MMO-lite formula, players can emote in Diablo IV. However, outside of communication, emoting serves another purpose. Diablo IV introduced more dynamic elements to its open world, with players able to receive buffs by performing specific emotes at various shrines found throughout the world. So outside of being a way to tell other players that you're grateful for their help, you can get buffs, and even buffs through emoting.

How to emote in Diablo IV

To emote in Diablo IV, simply press E on your keyboard or up on the D-pad on your controller to pull up the radial menu. This is where you can access your emotes to complete quests or receive blessings from shrines found throughout the map. I found it's also a nice way to communicate with players you may or may not be voice chatting with, or chatting with in general. A quest in Kyovashad will also teach you how to emote. The quest can be found by the World Tier statue, which is in the northern part of the city.

Additional emotes can be purchased through the in-game cash shop, which are bundled up with cosmetics. These include weapon skins, gravestones, and armor sets.

Diablo IV is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

Diablo IV, unlike previous mainline entries in the series, features an in-game shop where players can obtain cosmetics through real money purchases. (Well, I mean, we see one in Diablo Immortal too.) This shop is immediately available to players as soon as they create a character and start their game, and can be brought up by pressing P on your keyboard, or by going to your menu. The shop has a handful of outfits available for each of the several classes in Diablo IV.

[caption id="attachment_966200" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Siliconera[/caption]

How to get items from the Diablo IV cash shop

Outfits and cosmetics will be available on rotation, with each set costing a specific amount of Platinum to obtain. Platinum is exchanged for real money through the "Platinum" tab in the shop. Here, players can purchase varying amounts of Platinum depending on what they want to obtain. Items you can buy and wear include full outfits, trophies, back cosmetics, emotes, tattoos, and even gravestones.

As mentioned previously, these cosmetics will be available on rotation through the shop in Diablo IV. This can be checked on the upper righthand corner of the shop screen. Additionally, the "Add Ons" tab features different purchases, which include bundles. These bundles include Platinum and several cosmetics, ranging from a unique mount and weapon skins.

Diablo IV allows players between platforms to tackle hordes of demons together through cross-play. Enabling cross-play in Diablo IV is extremely easy and will allow you to play with friends regardless of where they are once enabled. In order to enable this option, you will need to go to the "Game" menu. From there, navigate to "Social." You can select "Cross-Network Play," which allows you to enable cross-play. The "Cross-Network Communication" option is less about being able to play with one another, but more about being able to communicate. Once this is active, you can text chat and voice chat with players on other platforms.

[caption id="attachment_966204" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Siliconera[/caption]
The "Social" menu also offers other options, outside of allowing players to enable cross-play in Diablo IV. This is where you can also manage alerts and chat settings, including opacity, colors, and even turning on your "Quick Join."

Quick Join will allow for friends to jump into your party without needing you to accept them. This removes a couple of menus when people are trying to jump into your game, and probably worth turning off unless if you're playing Diablo IV with a dedicated group of friends.

For my money, one of the most interesting aspects of a game’s creation is the composition and orchestration of its music. With Final Fantasy, that’s doubly the case because for me, and I imagine for so many others, the music of this series is one of its best parts. Be it lo-fi channels, new arrangements, compilations, piano versions, or something else, Final Fantasy music makes its way into many of my playlists. 

That’s why I was so excited to chat with composer Masayoshi Soken about his score for Final Fantasy XVI. You might recognize his name as he’s also the composer of Final Fantasy XIV. Still, if you don’t, there’s a chance it’s a name you come to remember following the release of FFXVI, because after more than three hours of hands-on time with the game in Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, office, I’m confident we’re about to get a banger of a score. 

In talking with Soken, I wanted to speak to him about some of the major themes and melodies of any Final Fantasy game – things like the Prelude, the main theme, the Victory Fanfare, and more – and he had plenty to say. In this four-part series, I’ll be breaking down different aspects of the music that excite me and hopefully you too. 

The latest entry in Capcom’s fighting game franchise, Street Fighter 6, broke the all-time concurrent players record on Steam making it the most-played fighting game at launch on PC. I guess it’s safe to say that “CapGod” is so back.

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This article is part of our new women in gaming series Makers of Now.

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This article is part of our new women in gaming series Makers of Now.

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On June 1, Diablo IV’s early access began and it just worked. No ubiquitous error codes. No server crashes. No major bugs. Some players on console are encountering a nasty license code issue with a bizarre workaround, but more broadly, and especially on PC, things appear to be going surprisingly smoothly. And after…

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Bandai Namco is going to hold its eighth Blue Protocol live broadcast stream on June 8, 2023. It will air at 4am PT/7am ET/8pm JST on both YouTube and NicoNico as usual. As the Japanese PC launch is coming on June 14, 2023, this could provide a look at what people can expect once the game is live.

Here's the embed for the video. This will be entirely in Japanese with no English translation. However, sometimes information about the worldwide release does come up during these presentations. For example, after announcing the Japanese PC release date for the game during the seventh installment, the team discussed the delay for the worldwide release. A slide came up with English text summarizing the announcement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHDf1_NgO0&ab_channel=BLUEPROTOCOL

According to the Guinness World Records, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the world’s fastest-selling Nintendo title to date. At the same time, it is also the fastest-selling Legend of Zelda video game of all time. The previous holder of the fastest-selling Nintendo title was Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which sold 12.08 million copies in 24 days. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]

Tears of the Kingdom sold 10 million copies in three days. This number includes both physical and digital versions around the world. That would make for a difference of about 2.83 million copies per day between the two in the given periods. Tears of the Kingdom is making Zelda history as we speak.

Tears of the Kingdom is the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, which was also an amazingly popular entry to the The Legend of Zelda series. Even those who are not fans of the series may come across videos of players showing off their various contraptions and constructs in the game. It’s likely that those who purchased the game include those who did not play the first one, but became interested in it through word of mouth.

Street Fighter 6 is experiencing issues with Custom Rooms. Capcom launched the fighting game today, but some players have found themselves unable to create Custom Rooms. The developer confirmed the issue on Twitter and limited functionality for a while to alleviate problems. Editor's Note at 3:20pm ET on June 2, 2023: Capcom noted it is still investigating the issue.

However, whatever the issue is, Capcom is working to fix it. Three hours after the announcement Custom Rooms weren’t working, the company confirmed on Twitter that they were back online. However, four hours after this, Capcom disabled them again, confirming that there is still an ongoing issue. It cited server load as a cause for the problem.

Here's the latest update on the situation regarding Street Fighter 6 Custom Room creation.

We are still investigating the issue preventing the creation of custom rooms. The feature will continue to be limited temporarily until a resolution is found. Thank you for your patience.

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) June 2, 2023

Once Diablo IV early access launched, people might have noticed issue with various console networks. It also meant an array of error codes appeared. Most notably, people with valid early access saw a “Warning! Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV (code 315306)” message. Blizzard is aware of the issue, in the event it appears again, but it was referencing an issue with server status, rather than the player’s authorization.

Blizzard specifically noted PS4 and PS5 Diablo IV players were getting the 315306 “unable to find a valid license” issue after early access began on June 1, 2023. At the same time, we noticed the PlayStation Network itself experienced some issues.

We are seeing reports regarding PlayStation users experiencing Invalid License errors.

The team is looking into this right now and will update once we have more information.

— Diablo (@Diablo) June 1, 2023

Given this had to do with demand and server availability, the “Warning! Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV (code 315306)” message could return on June 6, 2023. That's when the full game launches worldwide and early access ends.

Clear, a hair care brand in Japan, is using Street Fighter to advertise its products near Akihabara station. The large signs will run from June 1-14, 2023. They showcase Guile, Blanka, and Dhalsim, with the message that even strong guys like them care about their hair. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The advertisement shows Guile, Dhalsim, and Blanka searching up Clear products for their unique concerns. Dhalsim, for example, wants to buy tonic that’ll help him grow back his hair. Guile has scalp issues and is experiencing breakage. Finally, Blanka wants something that’ll volumize his hair. Using the Street Fighter characters in this advertisement, Clear shows that even the toughest dudes have their own insecurities. The tagline for this collaboration on Amazon is, "Use Clear to continue your hair." The slogan uses a font similar to the one that appears in retro Street Fighter games.

[caption id="attachment_966241" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Amazon JP[/caption]

Ahead of her playable debut, HoYoVerse has uploaded a trailer for Silver Wolf, who will appear as the first five-star in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.1. You can also read a short biography and Q&A with the Stellaron Hunter on HoYoLab. The biography provides some information on things like Silver Wolf’s pistols, as well as the planet Punklorde.

You can check out Silver Wolf’s trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NYW1AzNLi0

In Silver Wolf’s trailer, we see her playing as herself (Bronie) in Honkai Impact 3rd. Kafka bothers her while she’s playing and warns her that Elio foresaw Silver Wolf losing. True to Elio’s scenario, she does. According to the text underneath her name in the trailer, her account got frozen. Her entire trailer has a very futuristic vibe and contains many references to retro video games.

Silver Wolf, alongside Luocha, will be the new 5-stars in Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.1. She, along with Kafka, is one of the tutorial characters in the very beginning of the game. She’s a Quantum Nihility characters who can debuff enemies and increase the ease of Breaking them.

Continuing their annual tradition, developer Don’t Nod have announced that all three episodes of Tell Me Why will be free to keep for the rest of June. Rather than spending money on the game, the team asks that you might consider donating that money to “trans creators, trans-inclusive charities local to you, and trans people in need,” in honour of Pride Month. Regardless, the supernatural mystery is one of the best recent adventure games and is well worth the time.

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It's time for the next gathering of the RPS Game Club! From 4pm BST today, June 2nd, we'll be chatting about all things Citizen Sleeper - your favourite moments, your most heart-breaking questlines, and lots more. We've been having a swell time revisiting one of our favourite games from last year for this month's Game Club, and we hope you've had fun playing it as well. So why not come and join in the discussion? See you at 4pm sharp!

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Hey again! We're currently looking for someone with the talent, ambition and experience to be the next Deputy Editor of Eurogamer. Perhaps that's you?

As the site's previous Dep Ed, I can say it's a job with a great mix of responsibility and freedom. The successful candidate will be someone able to assist in steering the site's direction, while still regularly writing and generating ideas themselves - and helping others around the site do so.

We're looking for a seasoned writer and editor able to uphold Eurogamer's unique style and values, as well as someone keen to make their mark on the website.

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Electronic Arts is partnering with sports brand Nike on its web3-enabled .Swoosh "digital community experience".

The partnership will allow for "immersive experiences" and "brand new levels of customisation" within EA's sports games.

Further, "in future EA Sports titles, EA Sports and Nike plan to make select .Swoosh virtual creations available allowing members and players unique new opportunities for self-expression and creativity through sport and style."

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UPDATE 7TH JUNE: What. A. Thread. I've laughed, I've been watery-eyed, and I've been taken back to the carefree days of my childhood. To everyone who took part, thank you. Seriously, thank you.

It's taken me a long time to decide upon a winner because there are so many brilliant memories. I've said it before about the Zelda and Star Wars memories and I'll say it about the Street Fighter memories too: if anyone ever asks you why people play games, show them the comments here. They warm my nerdy heart.

There's something slightly different about the Street Fighter memories, though. I notice themes emerging from the memories of each game, and a big one here, which is fundamental to what the game is about, is competition - and with it, rivalries. There have been some spectacular stories about overcoming challenges and beating - or being beaten by - an incumbent champion. Shout out to MrE26 (search for their names and you'll find their comments), turbografx16, Faseli and Neuroniky in this regard. Neuroniky, I really felt for you!

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The saga of the Starfield Xbox controller has been going on for months, but we now have our first official look at the sleek retro-sci-fi-style gamepad and its corresponding headset from the extended Starfield direct at Microsoft’s Xbox showcase. They might just be my favorite-looking Xbox accessories yet.

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Snatching up Diablo IV’s $90 Deluxe or $100 Ultimate editions is supposed to give you four days of early access to the loot-grinding RPG ahead of its June 5 global release. While this early entry into the gates of Hell is welcomed, some folks, myself included, have run into an issue unrelated to the minor server woes:…

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Grand Theft Auto Online might be close to a decade old, but it’s still popular and getting big updates from developer Rockstar. In fact, its next big, free expansion is out later this month with a focus on aerial warfare and smuggling. But it’s also adding some nice quality-of-life changes that’ll make it easier to…

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Sony showed a ton of games during its long-awaited PlayStation 5 showcase, but one that was notably absent was Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Fans immediately assumed the worst, fearing the remake’s sequel might end up taking years longer to release than previously planned. A new message from the developers at Square Enix…

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If you’ve sunk any amount of time into Tears of the Kingdom, then you certainly have come across a shrine or two that at first glance didn’t make much sense. You’ve Ultrahanded and fused to no avail and have thus turned to the internet for answers. The Jiukoum “Built For Rails Shrine” is one of the tougher shrines ,…

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When we were putting together a list of the best boss fights in the Legend of Zelda series here at Kotaku, we all had a collective moment of accepting Breath of the Wild, widely regarded as a defining moment in the series’ long history, wouldn’t be represented. The Wii U/Switch game is an achievement in open-world…

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Sony launched its 2023 Days of Play celebration, with sales on the PlayStation Store on PS4 and PS5 games. There are also PlayStation Direct and PlayStation Gear deals as well. The sale kicks off today on June 2, 2023, and it will continue until June 12, 2023. The sale starts and ends at noon local time for each date, respectively.

With all games and DLC combined, the sale contains more than 400 offers. Many of these are first-party titles, with God of War: Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part I, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart all discounted. Both Horizon and Ratchet & Clank are available through the PlayStation Plus catalog, which has a 25% discount on 12-month subscriptions. Existing subscribers can also get 25% off on Premium and Extra upgrades.

Here are some of the notable PS4 and PS5 game deals that can be found in the 2023 Days of Play sale.

GiGO will sell Genshin Impact taiyaki again, as well as offer novelty coasters when you purchase one. In total, there are six variations of taiyaki and fifteen types of coasters. Each taiyaki costs 500 JPY (around $3.60). They’ll be available from June 17, 2023 to July 28, 2023.

The second batch of Genshin Impact taiyaki from GiGO will feature new characters than the first one, which ran from May 10, 2023 to June 10, 2022. This time, you can eat the faces of Tartaglia, Kaeya, Diluc, Ganyu, or Gorou. Each taiyaki will have two expressions, which you can check out when you flip it over. As for the novelty coasters, you will get a random one with every taiyaki purchase. Characters include Kokomi, Razor, Albedo, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Eula, and Yoimiya.

Genshin Impact is currently in the midst of Version 3.7, which features a TCG competition event. The same patch also greatly enhanced the existing Genius Invokation TCG mini-game, such as new modes and cards. Aside from the TCG, 3.7 offers a chance to obtain 5-star characters players may have missed, since it will re-run Yoimiya, Yae Miko, Alhaitham, and Kazuha.

To celebrate the launch of Street Fighter 6, Capcom announced the launch of a new companion site called Buckler's Boot Camp. The site allows access to various information designed to help player's improve including stats, leaderboards and character moves. Also available are a set of in-game items produced in collaboration with Japanese sportswear brand Onitsuka Tiger. These items are wearable by the player's custom avatars and are free to claim until July 3, 2023.

The Buckler's Boot Camp, as well as showing useful Street Fighter 6 statistics and movesets, also can be used to view character costumes, in-game events, and rewards. There is also a minigame there called Pockest. Reminiscent of a Tamagotchi, Pockest allows players to feed and look after a little pixel art monster, eventually training it to grow into a classic Capcom character.

You can find the announcement tweet below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/StreetFighter/status/1664398989083508745?s=20[/embed]