July 2023

While this weekend's announcement of Final Fantasy 14's next expansion Dawntrail was huge news for fans, for new players yet to jump into Eorzea the prospect of even more story to get through may be a daunting one.

And with the game coming to Xbox consoles next year, there will be a whole new audience looking to start their adventure.

Producer and director Naoki Yoshida likened the game to a TV show that players can binge from the start, and highlighted the Duty Support system as a way to ease in newer players.

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Jagged Alliance 3 seemed like a probable car crash waiting to happen, in part because most Jagged Alliance games are, and in part because its wide-of-the-mark writing was already evident before release. But! It turns out to also be a cannily designed mix of old and new turn-based strategy ideas.

You can now try it for yourself, as there's a demo on Steam.

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"I'm going to put on my golden spike fists and start punch the air rapidly, like this", Amid Evil expansion The Black Labyrinth seems to say. "And if all you monsters in the mist should be pulped, then that's your own fault."

Set before the events of the base game, it looks every bit as bloody, and Blood-y, as its throwback first-person shooter predecessor. It also now has a release date: August 18th.

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Among the Good Smile Company WonHobby 37 Summer figure announcements was the reveal that it is working on a Story of Seasons Nendoroid of Claire. The figure is still early in development. On the official website, only concept art of the character appeared.

Here's a first look at how the Story of Seasons Claire Nendoroid might look, with the figure art showing her in her traditional flannel shirt and overalls. She's also holding a large turnip. It is unknown if the finished figure will also come with any farm animals.
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Claire first showed up in the Story of Seasons game Bokujou Monogatari: Harvest Moon for Girl as the player character's avatar. She also appeared in the PSP version of it, as well as Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town and Harvest Moon DS: Cute. Most recently, we saw her appear in thee remake Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. She’s one of the most frequently appearing female avatar options in the series, with others being Pony or Sara. (However, given people can customize their avatars, they might not know their "default" names.)

At WonHobby 37 Summer, Good Smile Company revealed five Hololive Vtuber figures, with three being new Nendoroids. All of them are prototypes in various stages of development. While four were unpainted, the Laplus Darkness one that showed up was already a painted prototype.

First, here's how Laplus Darkness is looking. It is a scale figure.
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Next is the Shishiro Botan Hololive figure. She's part of the Pop Up Parade line. That means she's a non-standard scale and probably will be about 170mm tall.
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Finally, there were three unpainted prototypes of Hololive Nendoroids. They’re of Momosuzu Nene, Robocosan, and Tokoyami Towa. All three seem to be at about the same stage of the development process. None of them included any additional accessories, so we only have an idea of one pose and face plate for each figure.
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At WonHobby 37 Summer, Good Smile Company announced three new Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal figures. The male leads from all three games are joining the Qset line. It also offered an update on the Persona 5 Royal Nendoroid Doll of Joker. Of the four, the Nendoroid Doll is furthest along in development, as it appeared as a painted prototype.

All three of the Persona 3, 4, and 5 Qset figures only appeared as concept art. Each one shows one of the protagonists in a chibi form sitting in a chair that looks like it is plucked from the Velvet Room.
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As for the Nendoroid Doll, it shows Joker in his Phantom Thief attire. The pose features him brandishing his knife.
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As a reminder, one of the most recently available Good Smile Company Persona figures is one of Futaba Sakura that's being rereleased.

At WonHobby 37 Summer, Good Smile Company offered an update on its Oshi no Ko Nendoroids and Ai Pop Up Parade figure. Of the three, the Pop Up Parade seemed furthest along. A painted prototype of it appeared. The Ruby Nendoroid showed up as an unpainted prototype. Meanwhile, the Ai Nendoroid was announced. We first learned that some of these figures were in development and on the way back in May 2023. In fact, the Pop Up Parade unpainted prototype showed up back then.

First, here's the concept art for the Ai Oshi no Ko Nendoroid. It shows her in one of her B-Komachi outfits.
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At WonHobby 37 Summer, Good Smile Company announced a Richter Belmont Nendoroid based on his Castlevania Nocturne appearance. This is the second Nendoroid based on a character from the series. It's also the first Good Smile Company Castlevania figure of a Belmont, as it only made a pin of Trevor before.

Here's a closer look at Richter Belmont from the announcement. As it is so early in the process, there's no prototype yet. Only official concept art appeared. It does show that he will still end up coming with his family's familiar whip as an accessory. However, there are no other hints about what we can expect from this figure.
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Earlier in July 2023, Netflix announced a release date for the Castlevania Nocturne animated series. It will show up on the service starting on September 28, 2023. The company followed that up with a new teaser for the show.

In case you missed it, here's how that looks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYvJZ3Itw8A&ab_channel=Netflix

Painted prototypes of the VShojo Kson and Nazuna Amemiya Nendoroids appeared at WonHobby 37 Summer. Back in May 2023, Good Smile Company showed off unpainted versions of both. Both appeared in the same poses as before.

First, here's how the Nazuna Amemiya Nendoroid is looking. She's holding her key staff for the pose.
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Next, this is how the Kson Nendoroid is turning out. She's carrying a sword over her right shoulder.
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Both of these figures were first announced back in February 2023. They followed other VShojo Nendoroids of Vtubers like Ironmouse. Other former performers who used to be with the company also inspired figures, three of which are currently available to order via the Good Smile Company official online storefront.

One of the more curious licensing phenomenons of the 80s was the home-exclusive sequel to an arcade game. Manchester's Ocean Software specialised in the trick, creating follow-ups such as Target: Renegade and Yie-Ar Kung Fu 2. However, as the 90s dawned, a general tightening of licensing laws meant fewer home-exclusive sequels appeared. Instead, inspired by an official arcade conversion hit, one company stretched its remit to a spiritual sequel, creating one of the finest shoot-'em-ups of the era in the process.

Developer-publisher The Sales Curve was formed in 1988 by ex-Telecomsoft employee Jane Cavanagh. "Between '85 and '88, I frequently went to Japan on behalf of Telecomsoft, negotiating the sale of our titles in Japan and purchasing arcade game licences," she remembers. "Even though the industry was in quite an embryonic stage, through my travels to Japan, I became convinced that it would be huge." Cavanagh's belief in the games industry compelled her to leave Telecomsoft and start her own company, The Sales Curve, initially to help others with licence acquisition, product development and distribution. "Within the first year, however, we started developing our own titles and self-publishing."

One of Cavanagh's contacts was a coin-op producer named Tecmo. Tecmo had occupied the second rung of arcade game manufacturers before the popularity of side-scrolling shoot-'em-ups such as R-Type and Gradius thrust its 1988 game, Silkworm, into the limelight. As a result, Silkworm was top of Cavanagh's list of potential arcade games to license. "It was relatively easy as I already had a good relationship with Tecmo - I then just had to assemble the creative and management teams," she says. Under the banner of Random Access, The Sales Curve's team focused on the 16-bit games first.

Geras will be joining the Mortal Kombat 1 roster.

A new trailer dropped earlier today shows off Lui Kang's "old friend" in fist-flying action, as well as tease an ominous outcome for the Fire God's new world order.

As Lui Kang himself explains, "Geras is the guardian of the hourglass, a celestial object which lies beyond the realms. The hourglass regulates time and destiny".

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Sundays are for seeing what this new Nolan flick is like. Before you reach for the popcorn, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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Earlier this week, after countless rumours and leaks, GameMill finally confirmed that Super Smash Bros.-style fighting game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 was indeed on the way. Now, however, it seems retailers may have jumped the gun and are listing the game as launching on 24th October.

Whilst we can only take this with the requisite bucket of salt for now, retailers like Amazon UK and Best Buy in the US have already listed the game as releasing at the end of October, even though the launch date has not been formally – or publicly – confirmed.

The release date has caused quite a commotion with fans of the fighting game, as it releases near or on the same day as highly-anticipated titles like the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection, Sonic Superstars, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Spider-Man 2.

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Assassin's Creed Mirage will take just 25 hours to complete – or less, if you're not looking to do a "completionist" run.

In an interview with French YouTuber Julien Chièze – spotted and translated by PCGN – Ubisoft lead producer Fabian Salomon has confirmed that during internal playtesting, it took most players around 20 hours to complete Mirage if they "rushed", and "25-30 hours for completionists".

"Given that we do a lot of playtesting internally at Ubisoft, it's part of our process, we really want to get as close as possible to the players, so we'll say that the latest playtimes we've received average at around 20-23 hours," Salomon said.

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The next Pokémon Presents will take place on 8th August.

That's according to noted dataminer CentroLeaks, who has trawled through the code of the Pokémon Masters EX and discovered what they believe to be confirmation of an upcoming campaign coming to the mobile game.

Given most recent Pokémon Presents shows have been coupled with in-game events across the Pokémon catalogue, some fans now believe that this confirms a Presents is on the way.

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Despite being a day one adopter of the Nintendo Switch, there was one game that I failed to check out at launch: 1-2-Switch. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had all my time, after all. With its sequel now out, I had the chance to finally rectify that mistake and play the game a ton with my family. In the end, Everybody 1-2-Switch isn’t the finest minigame collection you can find on the platform, but it is still one of the more unique and interesting ones. Hosted by Horace, the strange and disturbing horse man, I enjoyed his personality and style that he brought to each run of this game, with his constant commentary giving it some light TV game show vibes.

The core options in Everybody 1-2-Switch are quite varied, with some allowing up to eight players using separate Joy-Cons for one of the main modes, and another letting smartphone owners also play for up to a whopping 100 players. I appreciate that both options exist, especially if you don’t have access to a ton of Joy-Cons. Within the games themselves, you can pick the team competition for varying lengths of time, such as 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and 60-minute sessions. In addition to that, players also have access to a quiz game mode, Bingo, and a handful of unlockable, standalone minigames.

What if you could take the Zen 2 CPU cores found within Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, transplant them onto a PC motherboard, install Windows and actually play PC games on them? Short of hacking the console and somehow crafting drivers for it, it's a pipedream, but we can do the next best thing. AMD recently - and somewhat stealthily - released the 4800S Desktop Kit for Chinese OEMs. It's a Micro ATX motherboard built around the Xbox Series X APU, shipping with 16GB of GDDR6 memory. The integrated GPU is disabled, but it is possible to install Windows on it, you can attach a decent graphics card - and yes, you can play PC games on an Xbox CPU.

The idea that this product even exists is baffling, but there is some logic to it. Not every PS5 or Series X chip that makes it off the production line is functional. There can be imperfections in the silicon that write off the chip - or parts of it. In this case, AMD chooses chips with defective GPUs, disables that graphics component and uses the CPU portion only. As you'll see in the accompanying video - and indeed in the headline image - we can be sure it is Series X silicon because if you put the two chips side by side, they're a match.

Helldivers 2 has been rated.

Popping up on the ESRB website, the sequel has been slapped with a Mature/17+ rating in the US due to its "blood and gore" and "intense violence", suggesting its on track to release later this year as planned.

"This is an action game in which players assume the role of soldiers attempting to win an intergalactic war," begins the game's description on the website.

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Jujutsu Kaisen is coming to Fortnite.

That's according to a number of notable Fortnite dataminers, who've taken to social media over the weekend to reveal that the popular anime and manga series is set to have a crossover event in Fortnite.

Rumours started to fly yesterday, when HypeX tweeted that a "very beloved and well-known" anime collaboration was on the way. Since then, others have stepped forward to claim that that anime is Jujutsu Kaisen.

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Setting the stage is important in games, and This Way Madness Lies does it quite well. Another one of Zeboyd Games’ humor-filled RPGs, this one stars a bunch of magical girls who are also actresses in their school’s drama club. Oh, and the worlds they’re saving actually alternate ones based on the stories of Shakespeare’s plays. So, appropriately enough, it’s constantly playing with the idea of these sorts of productions.

One of the most noticeable elements is that Zeboyd constantly treats as as though we are in the audience. While the actual exploration of worlds based on Shakespeare’s works are handled like an overhead RPG as usual, everything else forces a perspective that makes it seem like everything happening in the game is on a “stage,” and we’re watching from the seats. Battles? We’re behind the four magical girls currently fighting and the enemies are in rows past them. Seeing a story segment? It’s a 2D slice of the story where we’re watching from the side. Breaks between segments? We’re actually backstage and able to have Imogen, the lead, getting a chance to talk with all the other characters who share names with famous Shakespearean heroines.

DICE has confirmed that Battlefield 2042's Update 5.2 will roll out next week.

The update will include a "map rework" of Hourglass – expect improved line of sight, traversal, and "combat encounters" now the size has been reduced – as well as all-out warfare attachments for vault weapons SMGs and LMGs, better squad management through improved squad orders, better ammo crates, and dispersion tweaks to SMGs and LMGs.

The rationale behind shrinking the Hourglass map is to "keep combat focused while having more opportunity to defend yourself through added cover".

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The Summer 2023 anime season is here, and there are tons of new shows to start watching. Things are just kicking off, with services like Crunchyroll and HIDIVE offering simulcasts or even dubs a few weeks after launch. To help broaden our horizons, we decided it's a good time to share the shows we're watching and get a better idea of ones we shouldn't miss.

It's got to be Dungeon Meshi. I've been putting off reading the manga despite all the people raving about it, so the anime coming out might just be the chance I need to finally get around to it.. I love Studio Trigger and its emphasis on flash and style, but I find their best work is when they do something a little different. Plus, writing tends to be a weakness for the studio, so maybe adapting an exiting work will work in Trigger's favor. — Elliot

It's not anime but Link Click season 2 is my pick. Not only is it because I've been waiting ever since season 1 ended with a cliffhanger, but I genuinely love how unique it looks with its aspect ratio, as well as how much smoother the animation is compared to the first season. I'm a little sad that season 2 looks like it will completely drop the episodic nature of season 1 though. Even if you don't plan on watching it, I highly recommend giving the opening a listen. It's really nice to listen to, plus it's impressive how it works when played in reverse too. — Stephanie

New photos and a video which show filming of Amazon Prime's upcoming Fallout TV adaptation have leaked online.

Filming looks to be taking place at a set depicting a Vault-Tec building, with the company's logo painted in white on the floor. One zoomed-in photo shows a van with the writing "Hawthorne Medical Laboratories - A Division of Vault-Tec Corporation", further suggesting the set is a Vault-Tec office of some sort.

Another photo shows an actor filming dressed up in armour and holding a taped together gun, and in the background there looks to be another actor in a white lab coat.

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Masahiro Sakurai, chief developer behind Nintendo's hugely-successful Super Smash Bros. series, has discussed the future of the franchise and his involvement in it.

Sakurai has previously discussed his possible exit from the series after working on it for much of the past two decades. In 2021, with DLC support for Smash Bros. Ultimate finally beginning to wind down, Sakurai even discussed the idea of retirement.

Now, however, Sakurai appears to have changed his mind.

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Sony has announced a new PlayStation 5 system software beta which adds several new options, including accessibility features, quality of life updates, and support for expanded storage.

The beta was announced by Hideaki Nishino on the official PlayStation blog earlier today, along with what to expect and how users can take part.

One of PlayStation's latest accessibility features allows for a second controller to be added to an account to act as an assist controller. Together, the two controllers will act as one, making it easier, for example, for parents to help children on a difficult section of a game.

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NetherRealm Studios has released a new Mortal Kombat 1 trailer focused on the Keepers of Time and Geras, a Mortal Kombat 11 debut character returning as a playable fighter. 

The Mortal Kombat studio has released a steady flow of trailers and gameplay since its MK1 reveal back in May, and that continued over the weekend with a new showcase on the Keepers of Time faction and sand-wielding warrior Geras. In it, we get new looks at Liu Kang, including a new fatality for him, and Geras. 

You can check out the MK1 Keepers of Time trailer for yourself below: 

Over the weekend, MK1 director Ed Boon tweeted an image with what many think might be a new character debuting in the game. Boon writes, “New phone. Who dis?” and circles the unknown character, leading many to believe it’s a tease of a new fighter.

New phone. Who dis? pic.twitter.com/lQa5cyrudA

Sony has revealed a new PlayStation 5 system software beta rolling out today that brings the highly requested audio format, Dolby Atmos, to the console alongside a larger SSD capacity, accessibility features, and more. 

Since the launch of the PS5, audiophiles have asked for Dolby Atmos audio support on the console. Without diving too deep into the nitty gritty, Dolby Atmos is one of the best audio formats when adequately supported. While the PS5’s 3D Tempest audio tech is impressive, players have also wished for Dolby Atmos support. And now, with the latest system software beta, it has arrived. 

“3D Audio powered by Tempest 3D AudioTech can now be enjoyed by those who own compatible Dolby Atmos-enabled HDMI devices such as soundbars, TVs, or home theater systems,” a PlayStation Blog post reads. “Tempest 3D AudioTech specifically renders to the Dolby Atmos audio devices in use – including overhead channels – allowing for even greater levels of immersion in the audio scapes of PS5 games.” 

Dolby Atmos will be a new setting in the “Audio Format (Priority)" section of the PS5’s Audio Output menu, alongside Linear PCM, Dolby Audio, and DTS. 

There seems to be another Divinity: Original Sin sequel in the future, but eager fans will need to wait until well after developer Larian Studios releases Baldur’s Gate 3 to get their hands on it.

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Mortal Kombat constantly tries to one-up itself with increasingly bloody fatalities, as the series has gone from simple spine-ripping moves to finishers that incorporate hellish portals or a hungry dragon. Mortal Kombat 1’s latest trailer takes things one step further with really outlandish (and kinda fun) fatalities. It also confirms that Geras is joining the roster. Take a look below, but be warned: it’s gory, of course.

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'Soulslike but in the Han Dynasty' game Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty released earlier this year, but developers Team Ninja are gearing up for another five months of updates and DLC. A recently revealed roadmap details all the changes coming to the action RPG, from the seemingly small balance tweaks to the hopefully exciting crossovers with fellow Soulsian bedfellows Lies Of P and Nioh.

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Sony revealed that a new PlayStation 5 bundle that includes two DualSense wireless controllers will be available for purchase from August 9, 2023 in Japan. The new PS5 Disc version bundle costs 66,980 JPY (or about $470), while the PS5 Digital Edition bundle costs 55,980 JPY (~$393). Pre-orders for the new bundle are now open in Japan from the Japanese PlayStation online store.

The PS5 console + two DualSense controller bundle is also available in a variety of countries in Europe. It costs 609.99€/£529.99 for the disc version, and 509.99€/£439.99 for the Digital Edition. At the time of writing, we don’t know if the new bundle will appear in North America.

Here is a list of the European countries where the new PlayStation 5 Two DualSense Bundle is available for purchase:

Sometimes short games can inspire intense feelings. Florence is one. Now Venba, by Visai Games, is another. The concept is so good. Following a Tamil family through moments in their new lives in Canada, we see moments in the titular Venba’s life and assist as she makes dishes from her culture at these critical times. The only downside is, I’m coming away from this otherwise delightful dish still hungry.