August 2023

Potentially Ban-Worthy Diablo 4 Exploit Lets You Transfer Eternal Characters to Seasonal Realm

9 months ago

A newly-surfaced Diablo 4 glitch lets players transfer their Eternal Realm characters into the Seasonal Realm, sparking concern about the potential of a Blizzard ban.

YouTuber Glitch Unlimited posted a video breaking down this inter-realm travel and what it enables. In summary, to exploit the glitch you need to be in a group with a friend in the Seasonal Realm, briefly disconnect your internet, then log back into the Seasonal Realm with your Eternal character.

Eternal characters who exploit this glitch can benefit from the Seasonal Blessing experience boost, which will let them level up faster than they would normally be able to. Eternal Realm characters can also carry over their gear and inventory items, which creates obvious issues for the balance of the Seasonal Realm Blizzard has created.

For example, you can sell your items for gold, creating effective inter-realm gold transfer. You can also give Aspects and items to your Seasonal character by dropping them into your stash. Malignant Hearts, however, do not work in the Eternal Realm.

This is obviously not intended gameplay from Blizzard’s perspective, but it may already be popular. Some Diablo 4 players were unhappy to learn they had to start a new seasonal character to play Season 1 content, including its battle pass. Exploiting this glitch bypasses this requirement.

Author
Wesley Yin-Poole

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The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Gets Big Patch To Address Various PC Performance Issues

9 months ago

The Lord of the Rings Gollum PC Patch Fixes Addresses Issue Performance Update

The Lords of the Rings: Gollum launched in May with myriad issues, making it tough to play through at various points throughout the action-adventure game. Head here to read Game Informer's Gollum review. However, developer Daedalic Entertainment is targeting many of those problems in the game’s PC version with a new patch that’s now live. 

Daedalic published an extensive list of changes for the PC version on the Gollum Steam page. It’s unclear if any of these changes are coming to the game’s console versions, but Game Informer reached out to Daedalic to ask and will update this story if it hears back. As for the PC patch, it includes changes that fix issues with quest markers disappearing, interactable objects becoming non-interactable, checkpoint system bugs, and much more. 

The patch targets both general issues like the ones mentioned above and more specific issues, like fixing the bell in “Thranduil’s Halls – Cellars,” which was automatically placed before players placed it, making progressing the objective impossible. 

Author
Wesley LeBlanc

Tower defence citybuilding has reached its peak with the adorable but deadly Thronefall

9 months ago

I don't know about you, but I've been immensely enjoying the seeming renaissance of tower defence citybuilding games recently. The grimdark horrors of Age Of Darkness: Final Stand might be a bit too hard as nails for my personal liking, but there's something about the act of building up my little settlements and defending them against ever-larger nightly hordes that just unlocks something in my brain that says, 'Yes, more of this, please'. It's the same feeling I got from the blocky delights of Diplomacy Is Not An Option and the deckbuilding, comic-book stylings of ORX, too, but now there's a new kid that's ridden into town who I think might be the king of the lot.

Thronefall is a more minimalist take on the citybuilder tower defender, but while its bright colours might look like the distant cousin of a Townscaper toybox (it is, after all, made by the same dev wot did the equally charming Islanders), this deadly little thing is absolutely genius. It's only just come out in early access today, but I've been having a great time with a pre-release build of it, and can feel it sinking its claws into me with every attempt at its final level.

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Author
Katharine Castle

Tactical CRPG Dark Envoy shows off its many steampunk-fantasy classes and specialisations

9 months ago

Upcoming tactical CRPG Dark Envoy caught my attention when it was announced last year, mainly because it has the undeniably cool combo of high fantasy magic and steampunk firearms. Casting you as a refugee adventurer, you’ll be shooting and/or spell-flinging across the war-ravaged world of Jäan, and you can even bring a friend along for the ride in co-op. We already knew all that good stuff, but the developers have now released a new video that delves deeper into the game’s classes and specialisations. Take a look below.

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Author
Kaan Serin

Alien's iconic Xenomorph is stalking into Dead By Daylight

9 months ago

Multiplayer peekaboo game Dead By Daylight has added countless horror movie icons to its roster of playable villains and survivors in recent months. Behaviour Interactive have already steamrolled through recognisable faces such as Ghostface, Freddy Kreuger, Leatherface, Micheal Myers, and, err, Nic Cage. But the next collaboration takes the scares to outer space since the Xenomorph (the Alien from Alien) is coming to the game. Here’s a brief teaser.

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Author
Kaan Serin

More games should steal Half-Life 2: Lost Coast's developer commentary

9 months ago

If you own Half-Life 2 but never bothered with its freebie tech demo, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, do give it a whirl. Its showcase of HDR lighting might have lost the "Huh, nice" factor it had in 2005, but it’s still a satisfying slice of punchy HL2 combat, with a nod to the original Half-Life that Valve regretted not making in the main game. I know this because Valve told me, via Lost Coast's other innovation: its developer commentary.

I love these things, these spinning speech bubbles inflated with knowledge straight from the FPS coalface. So do Valve, judging by how dev commentary has appeared (in identical, node-activatable form) in most of their games since. They’re interesting and illuminating, don’t interfere with the game unless the player wants them to, and help build design literacy. Why, then, don’t more games offer commentary as well?

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Author
James Archer

Fantasian PC Listing Appears on Steam DB

9 months ago

mistwalker fantasian trailers leo PC steam

It looks like a Fantasian PC port may be headed to Steam. A SteamDB listing for the Hironobu Sakaguchi RPG showed up on SteamDB. When it launched, the game debuted as an Apple Arcade exclusive in two parts. [Thanks, Wario64!]

The SteamDB listing for Fantasian on Steam noted it was updated on August 2, 2023. Various image assets appeared. The “header” one features the Apple Arcade markings crossed out in blue. However, the capsule, library, and logo images are all clean ones. The update history for the listing first showed up on July 19, 2023.

This wouldn't be the first time we heard about a PC version of Fantasian. Sakaguchi discussed the possibility back in February 2023. At the time, the game's creator told IGN, "There are a lot of fans who want to see it on Windows, as well as lots of questions regarding a sequel. I wish to continue to do my best and work on it." However, at the time there were no confirmations that the game would actually appear on other platforms. However, it isn't uncommon for Apple Arcade exclusives to appear on other systems when exclusivity arrangements expire.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Mega Man Appears as Rockham in Sukeroku’s Daily Life Merchandise

9 months ago

mega man sukeroku hamster merchandise

Capcom announced new merchandise involving Mega Man and Sukeroku’s Daily Life. Sukeroku’s Daily Life is a series that depicts the eponymous daily life of illustrator Gotte’s hamster, Sukeroku. Collaboration items depicting Rockham (which is a hamster dressed up like Mega Man) are available via Online Parco. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Items that are available as part of the Mega Man and Sukeroku’s Daily Life merchandise line are:

  • A4 clear file: 550 JPY
  • Glass: 1320 JPY
  • Hand towel: 1100 JPY each
  • Mini canvas board: 2200 JPY
  • Post-it notes set: 1540 JPY
  • Pouch: 1760 JPY
  • Small side bag: 2420 JPY
  • T-shirt: 3850 JPY
  • Trading acrylic stand keyholder: 880 JPY each
  • Trading coaster (with ornament): 880 JPY each
  • Wooden clip: 770 JPY each

There are also prizes that you can get, such as can badges, a jigsaw puzzle, and a reusable bag. You’ll have to try and win them from the Net Catcher in Capcom arcades.

[gallery ids="975759,975758,975757" link="file"]

All of the items feature Rockham posing in some way. Other characters that you can see on the items include Jiro and Kurogane. These are other hamsters dressed as Mega Man characters.

Author
Stephanie Liu

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Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 Wii U Maintenance Finally Ending

9 months ago

Splatoon Maintenance Mario Kart 8 Wii U

The ongoing maintenance for the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 and the original Splatoon will end on August 3, 2023. This will allow players to access online multiplayer once again. Nintendo previously paused network features for the games in March 2023 in order to fix a vulnerability found in the online systems.

Before resuming online play, Wii U owners will need to download an update for each game after the maintenance ends. While Nintendo said the vulnerability is fixed, if more issues arise it may discontinue online support for both Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon on the Wii U at short notice. If that happens, offline play will remain available as usual.

While the Wii U version experienced issues, the fifth wave of DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch appeared on July 12, 2023. This new content included new courses and characters like Petey Piranha and Wiggler.

Meanwhile Splatoon 3 is active on the Switch. Nintendo announced that the game's August Splatfest would be fought over Fame, Money and Love.

Author
Elliot Gostick

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Piplup and Winking Pikachu Squishmallow Pre-orders Open

9 months ago

Piplup and Winking Pikachu Squishmallow Pre-orders Open

The Pokemon Center started accepting pre-orders for the new Piplup and Winking Pikachu Squishmallows. They are both 12 inch versions of the characters. Each one costs $29.99. They are expected to ship in "early September 2023," but there's no exact release date for either one.

Here's the official announcement.

As these are the Pokemon Center versions of the plush, it means both will feature a special patch on the back. These note that they came from this store. Other releases, which will likely show up at places like Walmart and Target, won't feature this additional marking.

Author
Jenni Lada

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New Honkai: Star Rail Character Guinaifen Teased

9 months ago

Honkai: Star Rail Character Guinafen Teased

HoYoVerse subtly introduced the new Honkai: Star Rail character Guinaifen in a new Pom-Pom's Intel promotional note. The point of the “feature” is to discus the performance arts we see when visiting the Xianzhou Luofu. However, the character reveal ended up snuck into a section about acrobatic performances.

There are no details about who Guinafen is in Honkai: Star Rail or what the new character will be like. “Pom-Pom” only offered a brief quote discussing her alongside a piece of official art showing her taking a selfie. This means we don't officially know if she is a four or five-star unit, what her element is, or which Path she follows.

The official description said:

I heard that there’s an acrobatics expert by the name of Guinaifen. Maybe Trailblazers will have the chance to meet her!

And here's a closer look at the image HoYoVerse shared:
[gallery columns="1" size="full" ids="975760" link="file"]

Guinaifen is the second new character to be teased for a future Honkai: Star Rail update. We previously learned about Imbibitor Lunae in a similar way. However, HoYoVerse noted he's a five-star Imaginary character ahead of his official debut, while we don't know that about this one. We've also already seen Imbibitor Lunae in-game, as he showed up during the latest Xianzhou Luofu storyline.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Risae Matsuda Will Be New Voice of Yuna in Sword Art Online

9 months ago

yuna sword art online

Risae Matsuda will take over for Sayaka Kanda as Yuna in Sword Art Online properties. This is because Kanda died in 2021. Kanda originally voiced Yuna in Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale. On her Twitter account, Matsuda said that she will continue to move forward as Yuna along with the songs that Kanda sang.

On the official site for Sword Art Online: Beater’s Cafe, Bandai Namco stated that Sayaka Kanda did an amazing role portraying Yuna, as well as singing songs as the character. It wanted Yuna to continue being a part of the franchise as it continues on. As well, it acknowledged that no one can ever fully replace Kanda as Yuna. While Matsuda will voice her as a character in new stories, she will not cover any of Kanda’s previous songs.

Risae Matsuda is a voice actress who debuted in 2013. Some of her more prominent roles include Chika Sawada in Kageki Shojo and Lucifer in Lapis Re:Lights. She’d also voiced some background characters in Sword Art Online in 2014. As for Sayaka Kanda, she was a Japanese actress and singer. Aside from voicing Yuna in Sword Art Online, she was a live-action actress who portrayed roles like Junko Enoshima on stage. She passed away on December 18, 2021 after apparently falling from a hotel window.

Author
Stephanie Liu

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Pikachu Will Appear at Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama

9 months ago

Pikachu Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama

To celebrate the Pokemon World Championship 2023, Pikachu will be featured at the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama. A special Cup Noodles 3D photo spot with Pikachu as the lid will be available for a limited time. The photo spot and decoration will be on display at the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama throughout August 2-28, 2023.

Other designs featuring the character will also appear at the museum. Aside from the photo spot, there will be Pikachu decorations on the stairs leading up to the second floor of the building.

You can check out the special Pikachu photo spot and stair decoration here:

https://twitter.com/cupnoodle_jp/status/1686542330906435584

The promotion with the Yokohama Cup Noodles Museum is one of the many events and crossovers happening to celebrate the Pokemon World Championship 2023, which will be held in Yokohama between August 8-14, 2023.

Author
Daniel Bueno

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What the Golf's Among Us update hits Switch tomorrow, PC "later this year"

9 months ago

What the Golf - developer Triband's extremely daft, but wonderfully entertaining golfing oddity - is gearing up for a busy few months. First up, its free Among Us collaboration is making the jump from Apple Arcade to Switch tomorrow, 3rd August, and then to PC "later this year". Next, the game will be making its PlayStation debut "soon", with more free content to follow.

What the Golf, if you're unfamiliar, serves up a succession of dependably ludicrous golf-flavoured mini-games, all loosely themed around the notion of hitting things with club. The basic rules are re-jigged and re-written to increasingly improbably degrees with each new level - one stage might see your golf ball turned into an awkwardly rotating office chair, another might send you into space - and the end results is a ceaselessly surprising joy (even if you're not much of a golf fan), that was one of our favourite games of 2019.

Since its initial Apple Arcade release, What the Golf has jumped to PC and Switch, receiving various bits of free post-launch content along the way. One of those updates, the aforementioned Among Us collaboration, arrived on Apple Arcade back in April, but its new overworld and 35+ levels come to Switch tomorrow, 3rd August, with a PC release to follow.

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Author
Matt Wales

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The Witcher producer blames Americans and social media for Netflix series' simplified plot

9 months ago

Tomek Baginski, executive producer on Netflix's The Witcher, has blamed American audiences and social media sites such as TikTok for the series' simplified take on the books' plots.

Speaking to Polish outlet Wyborcza (and translated by Redanian Intelligence), Baginski tried to explain why the TV series had changed plot elements from Andrzej Sapkowski's novels.

The producer explained a lot happens behind the scenes, such as scripts needing to be rewritten due to a cast member falling ill. "There are a lot of understandable reasons why controversial decisions are made, but the viewer does not have this context, so sometimes it hurts because something was better in the book," Baginski reasoned.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Palia Is Like the Bizarre Lovechild of World of Warcraft and Animal Crossing

9 months ago

For the past month, many of my gaming hours every week have been dedicated not to action-packed fantasy adventures like Final Fantasy XVI, but to picking mushrooms, fishing, and crafting furniture in the upcoming cozy MMO: Palia. Channeling the likes of Disney Dreamlight Valley’s community-building, Palia hopes to kick things up a notch by throwing players together in one big server and letting them loose to farm, hunt, and romance NPCs alongside one another, and from what I’ve played so far that premise has enormous potential. I never knew that I wanted to catch bugs and go fishing with my buddies in an online cozy game, instead of fighting alongside them in a battle royale, but here we are – Palia’s got me hooked.

If you aren’t familiar with the genre, cozy games are recognizable for their slower pace, emphasis on homemaking, and social links, with notable entries including Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Most don’t have combat or fail states of any kind, instead putting calmer activities like gardening, fishing, cooking, crafting, and decorating front and center. While many games in the genre have only limited multiplayer components or are strictly singleplayer, the upcoming Palia reimagines the formula as a massively multiplayer online game where social interaction and real-world cooperation is at the heart of things.

Author
Travis Northup

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Palia Kicks Off Closed Beta with a Cozy-as-Heck Cinematic Trailer

9 months ago

Palia, the upcoming free-to-play cozy MMO, is available to a limited number of players starting today via a closed beta, and developer Singularity Six aims to kick the hype train into overdrive with a cinematic trailer that's brimming with personality.

The new trailer, which debuted just moments ago on Palia's official YouTube channel, features many of the MMO's principle characters players will interact with as they complete quests, level up their character's skills, and improve social links, including the all-important romance options, of course.

“We’ve spent years building towards this moment, pouring ourselves into Palia to create a new kind of community sim game that truly feels like a home away from home,” said Aidan Karabaich, Co-Founder and Game Director at Singularity 6. “We see our beta period as the next step in a long-term process to create a game where you and your friends can easily play together, forget the stress of everyday life, and just have fun in your own way. We look forward to welcoming players into the cozy world of Palia and working with our awesome community to refine the game during the beta process and beyond.”

Though the closed beta is only available to a limited few today, on August 10th that will open up to anyone who wants to jump into early access when the open beta begins. To participate in the closed beta, prospective players should create an account on Palia's website before the open beta begins on the 10th for a chance at reciving an invitation. Anyone who signs up will receive a "Kilima Founder's Windmill Decor" in-game item, and will be able to refer a friend for a chance at some extra in-game rewards whenever they finally get to explore Kalima Village.

Author
Travis Northup

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Why an Obscure 2010 DSiWare Game Is the Highest User-Rated Nintendo Game on Metacritic

9 months ago

Last week, a Reddit user by the name of u/SayFuzzyPickles42 took to r/Nintendo to ask a rather strange question:

“Weird question - why is the highest user-reviewed Nintendo game of all time an obscure DSiWare game called Metal Torrent?”

According to FuzzyPickles, they were looking at Nintendo’s user reviews to see where Pikmin 4 had landed, and were surprised to see an obscure DSiWare title called Metal Torrent at the top with a sky-high 9.6 rating. It currently sits above classics like Super Metroid (for Wii), Pokemon SoulSilver, the Metroid Prime Trilogy, and Banjo-Kazooie in the user ratings, despite having a much lower critical Metascore of 62.

In the replies, a handful of fellow redditors offered their theories about this mystery. Maybe this was an example of “meme-brigading,” where a group of community members band together to artificially inflate user scores of a lesser-known game by flooding a page with positive reviews. Maybe there’s an underground cult following that’s just very, very into Metal Torrent. Or maybe it’s just rated so highly because it was (for many) a free game, and people like free things.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Palia Preview – Building A New Life

9 months ago

Palia preview

Platform: Switch, PC
Developer: Singularity 6

Life sims can be great stress relievers by letting you build a digital life from the ground up at a leisurely pace. However, many of those titles offer freeform experiences where more purpose-driven players may struggle with having to make their own fun. Palia aims to satisfy both crowds by tossing dozens of players into a fleshed-out fantasy world to build a life while also embarking on an epic quest. I made a new life for myself within developer Singularity 6’s upcoming free-to-play life sim MMO. While much of it feels familiar, the promise of building a home alongside friends while unraveling a central mystery is enticing for the genre. 

Author
Marcus Stewart

AMD's 7900X3D processor has dropped to $439 at Ebay in the US

9 months ago

I feel a little bad for the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D. This 12-core 3D V-Cache processor sits in the middle of the 8-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D (that ranks as the fastest gaming processor) and the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X3D (that combines excellent gaming and content creation performance).

However, being overshadowed by your siblings is no bad thing, as the 7900X3D has fallen significantly further in price, bringing it back into contention for users that want a lot of cores for content creation tasks and excellent gaming performance. It launched at $600 and now retails for $510, but today on Ebay you can get this processor for just $439 - an amazing price. You even get a free copy of Starfield in the bargain.

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Author
Will Judd

Half-Life 2's Zombie Chopper achievement elevates Ravenholm to a true horror masterpiece

9 months ago

"We don't go to Ravenholm…" Half-Life 2's sixth chapter heading warns, and when you arrive at the outskirts of this abandoned mining town, you immediately see why. This headcrab and zombie-infested cess pit is an absolute horror show right from the off. Moans and screeches assault your ears from every nook and cranny of this dark murder hole, and if the hoarse crow calls and suspiciously high number of propane barrels weren't enough to put you off, the bloodied torsos lodged against its log cabin walls by deep set saw blades certainly will. Every fibre of your being is telling you to get the hell out of this place, and that surely, the Combine forces chasing you down here can't be worse than what's in front of you.

But I'd also add an addendum to that heading that goes something like this: "We don't go to Ravenholm, and definitely not with just a gravity gun." This is a place that demands you to have as much firepower as you can possibly muster, such are the monstrosities that lie in wait here. But what did baby Katharine decide to do when she was playing it alone on her terrible university laptop in the dead of night back in 2010? She decided to have a go at that old Zombie Chopper achievement for no good reason whatsoever. And what followed was even more horrifying than Ravenholm had any right to be.

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Author
Katharine Castle

Baldur's Gate 3's narrator posts hilarious outtakes that tease just how thirsty the game might be

9 months ago

Baldur’s Gate 3 is right around the corner - comes out tomorrow, August 3rd - and everything we’ve learned about the mammoth RPG makes it sounds like an awfully horny romp. Of course, there’s the recently revealed hot villainess that had an entire corner of the internet making the same joke: “I can fix her.” There’s the fact that you can seduce a druid who’s in bear form - as in an actual bear, not the gay slang version of the word. And now, the voice actor behind Baldur’s Gate 3’s narrator has posted several outtakes, giving us gems such as “I’m a bard, I can fuck my way through any problem.” Have a listen here.

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Author
Kaan Serin

The joy of playing Half-Life 2 in VR

9 months ago

Civil Protection officers are shorter than I thought they’d be. Don’t get me wrong, I'm very much a Short King myself, but I assumed the gas mask-wearing enforcers of City 17 would be more vertically intimidating. As I defiantly refuse to pick up litter in Half-Life 2’s opening sequence, I find the approaching officer and his raised electric baton to be weirdly adorable. Until he hits me, of course. The resulting crack gives me such a fright that I fling my arms out and smack my hand against the corner of a bookcase.

This has been my experience of playing the first few hours of Half-Life 2’s excellent fan-made VR mod, a completely free add-on that transforms Valve’s 2004 masterpiece into a full virtual reality experience. Under my direct control, Gordon Freeman is less a time-displaced MIT graduate with a penchant for murder and instead a gawking tourist who’s more interested in staring at canal architecture than liberating humanity. I spend the majority of my time leaning in really close to walls and muttering, “That’s interesting,” before a leaping headcrab shocks me so severely that I damage some more furniture and scare the cat.

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Author
Liam Richardson

Bleach Ichigo and Byakuya Look Up Figures Won’t Appear Until 2024

9 months ago

Bleach Ichigo Byakuya Look Up figures

MegaHouse is about to open pre-orders for two new Look Up figures of Ichigo Kurosaki and Byakuya Kuchiki from the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime. The set of figures costs 8,800 JPY (or about $64). Pre-orders will be available from the Premium Bandai online store from August 3, 2023 at 10am JST (August 2, 2023 at 9pm ET/6pm PT.) The figures are scheduled to release on January 2024 in Japan. We'll then see them appear worldwide after that.

Additionally, purchasing the figure set from the Premium Bandai store includes two zabuton floor cushions as exclusive bonuses. Each one imitates the color pattern of its respective character, and the name of the character is engraved on it as well.

You can get a better look at the new Look Up figures of Ichigo Kurosaki and Byakuya Kuchiki from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War in the gallery below.

[gallery size="medium" link="file" ids="975720,975721,975722,975723,975724,975725"]

The new Look Up figures were originally revealed during the MegaHobby Plus May 2023 event, where two painted prototypes were shown alongside a new G.E.M. figure of Ichimaru Gin. Other recently announced Look Up figures include the figures of Jolyne Cujoh and Stone Free from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Stone Ocean.

Author
Daniel Bueno

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Square Enix NFT Projects Symbiogenesis and Million Arthur Will Continue

9 months ago

symbiogenesis million arthur Square Enix NFT

At the Japan Web3 Game Summit that took place on July 27, 2023, Square Enix held a panel discussing the future of Web3, with a specific focus on its current NFT projects Symbiogenesis and Million Arthur. Million Arthur Producer Keisuke Hata and Symbiogenesis Producer Naoyuki Tamate were among the panelists. Aside from mentioning the core philosophies and designs, they touched on how long the two projects would last. Both could be around for years. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

In total, there will be six chapters in Symbiogenesis. It’s unknown if there will be more content after that or if it will simply end right there. As for Million Arthur, Hata stated that he could see it go for five to ten years. They also stated they hope to continue announcing their goals and getting excited with fans on social media over the two projects.

Square Enix started blockchain research in 2017 and decided to produce Million Arthur in 2021. Hata also stated that he’d always enjoyed collecting things as a child, and he wanted to digitalize that experience. He also explained that the Square Enix Million Arthur project uses Line NFT because of how many people used it and how accessible it was.

Author
Stephanie Liu

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HoYoVerse Will Make It Easy to Quickly Get to Fontaine in Genshin Impact

9 months ago

genshin impact fontaine

As Version 3.8 of Genshin Impact winds down to a close, it’s about time to start thinking about Fontaine. In an official statement via the Genshin Impact Twitter account, HoYoVerse offered some information on how players can easily access the new region. Even if you’re not fully caught up with the main story, you’ll be able to jump right into it.

A 4.0 Teleport Waypoint will make it possible to get to Fontaine in Genshin Impact swiftly.

After Version 4.0 goes live in Genshin Impact, there will be a Teleport Waypoint in the Realm of Farakhkert in Sumeru that will automatically take you to Fontaine. Back when Sumeru first launched, players had to manually traverse to the new region from the Chasm, which lies in between it and Liyue. The only caveat is that you’ll need to first complete the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III. You’ll also need to explore Sumeru. The Realm of Farakhkert is in the desert close to the Girdle of the Sands.

Author
Stephanie Liu

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Fire Emblem Heroes Acrylic Stands Feature Characters Like Roy, Fjorm

9 months ago

Fire Emblem Heroes Acrylic Stands

Nintendo revealed a new series of Fire Emblem Heroes acrylic stands featuring characters like Fjorm, Nifl, Roy, Lilina, and Fae. Each acrylic stand costs 1,980 JPY (or about $14), and they are scheduled to release in October 2023 in Japan. The new batch of Fire Emblem Heroes merchandise is now available for pre-order from empty’s online store.

Fjorm and Nifl are original characters who appear during the Fire Emblem Heroes story. Fjorm’s appearance is based on her Princess of Ice unit, which was drawn by Shigeki Maeshima. Nifl’s design is based on her God of Ice version drawn by Yasuda Suzuhito.

Meanwhile, Roy, Lilina, and Fae appeared in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Roy’s design is inspired by his Brave Lion appearance, which was created by Sachiko Wada. Lilina appears as the Firelight Leader version of the character, and the illustration was drawn by azu-taro. Finally, Fae is depicted as her Childlike Dragon alt, which was drawn by artist Yuji Himukai.

You can take a better look at the new Fire Emblem Heroes acrylic stands in the gallery below.

[gallery columns="5" size="medium" ids="975747,975748,975749,975750,975751" link="file"]

Author
Daniel Bueno

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Xbox Insiders can now stream their console gameplay directly to Discord

9 months ago

Microsoft is currently rolling out a new "highly requested" feature for select Xbox Insiders that'll let them stream their console gameplay directly to Discord, with the capability said to be launching for all Xbox One and Series X/S users "soon".

Judging by Microsoft's post announcing the new feature, getting things working is a pretty straightforward process, piggybacking off the streamlined Discord chat functionality - which replaced the previous mobile device faff - introduced to Xbox last October.

All users need do in order to stream to Discord is press the Xbox button on their controller to access the guide, head to 'Parties & chats', then select 'Discord' from there.

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Author
Matt Wales

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Digital Foundry launches new clips channel

9 months ago

Digital Foundry today launches a new channel on YouTube - DF Clips - which aims to bring more of our work to a wider audience. Looking at the way our content is 'consumed' on YouTube via analytics, it's clear that while we've built up a large audience and an excellent supporter community, YT itself isn't really a platform best suited to longer form, in-depth material. DF Clips aims to shine a light on more of what we do by producing smaller, standalone 'chunks' based primarily on our existing work.

Here's how that works. Similar to Linus Tech Tips' LMG Clips, the major news topics and discussion points in DF Direct Weekly are split up and uploaded as standalone videos. In addition to that formula, we'll also be isolating smaller parts of our larger videos, like making a smaller edit of our AMD 4800S Xbox Series X CPU video that gets straight to the gameplay.

Author
Richard Leadbetter

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Fantasian Steam Listing Raises Hopes that RPG by Final Fantasy Creator Is Finally Coming to PC and Console

9 months ago

A listing for Fantasian — the turn-based RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi — has been found in SteamDB, raising hopes that it will be released on major platforms such as PC and Nintendo Switch.

The listing hints that the game is coming to PC and an official announcement could be arriving soon. If the listing is to be believed, then it’s unclear whether the game will also come to other platforms such as PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox.

People over on X (the social media company formerly known as Twitter), have reacted excitedly to the possible news. Fans of the game have been calling for its release to a wider audience, noting how it’s reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy games due to its turn-based combat.

Author
George Yang

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Woof, Woof, Bang, Bang: Dogs Are Back In Call Of Duty

9 months ago

Look, I only bought Call of Duty: Ghosts back in the day because dog. Dogs in games are great and hilarious, and in Call of Duty I love seeing a dog wearing camo, maybe some goggles, tearin’ shit up, destroying things, barking freely, and just living their best mass-murdering lives. Now dogs are coming back to CoD and…

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Author
Claire Jackson

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You’ve Never Heard Of This Life-Changing Horror Game

9 months ago

Homebody is an unassuming horror game at first, set up similarly to recent socially anxious thrillers like Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) and All My Friends Hate Me (2021): you’re late to meet up with old friends, they may or may not be mad, and there’s a killer, you think. But across the four hours I spend with Game…

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Author
Ashley Bardhan

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Sonic Superstars: Meet Trip, The New Enemy Created By Naoto Ohshima

9 months ago

Sonic Superstars

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Arzest, Sonic Team
Release: 2023

Sonic Superstars takes us back to the 2D era of the franchise, where the gameplay is more straightforward, the story premises are simpler, and the character roster is small. That's certainly the case for the playable roster, featuring just Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, but it's also true for the villain roster. Sonic Superstars sees the return of Dr. Eggman, as well as Fang the Hunter (previously known as Nack the Weasel and Fang the Sniper) from Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic the Fighters, but they're not alone. They're joined by Trip, a new character introduced into the Sonic universe through this game.

Author
Brian Shea