September 2023

The animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has garnered critical acclaim since its release in theaters last month. As fans know, the best way to follow up a good TMNT project is to make a video game out of it, and that’s exactly what's happening next year. 

Publisher Outright Games, along with Paramount and Nickelodeon, have announced a new untitled TMNT game in development set within the Mutant Mayhem universe. It will feature the same striking visual design and follows a new story set months after the movie's events. There’s no word yet on if the film’s ensemble cast will reprise their roles.

In terms of gameplay, a press release only hints that the project involves “combining energetic ninja teamwork gameplay with a humorous narrative, players will take control of the Turtles as they interact with a host of memorable characters from the franchise and fight to save this stylized take on New York City from a new mutant threat.” Outright Games has experience working on games based on kid-friendly licenses, making titles based on Star Trek: Prodigy, How to Train Your Dragon, Paw Patrol, and Peppa Pig. 

Publisher Tilting Point has revealed Cypher 007, a new top-down action game starring James Bond, coming to Apple Arcade on iOS devices later this month. It launches on September 29 and takes players into "The Mind Trap." 

Because it's an Apple Arcade game, it will require a subscription. But after subscribing, the game is technically free-to-play and will feature zero microtransactions, like all Apple Arcade games. In it, you'll be able to unlock new gadgets and weapons, build resources, collect outfits and new character models from across the franchise, and more. 

Check out the Cypher 007 teaser trailer for yourself below: 

"The criminal mastermind Blofeld and head of Spectre has once again hatched a plan to sabotage his archenemy James Bond," the game's description reads. "This time, he has utilized brainwashing techniques known as 'The Mind Trap,' holding Bond captive in a mental prison in an attempt to turn him into the ultimate double agent. Play as Agent 007 on his most challenging missions yet – escape the Mind Trap, defeat Blofeld, and put an end to the Cypher program." 

Every now and then I think back to my first experience of Fortnite, back in the dingy early-mid 2010s - a clever but laborious wave defence game inspired by Minecraft and CliffyB's childhood memories of building sofa cushion forts. I compare this project, which seemed pretty much doomed at the time, with the globe-straddling free-to-play battle royale/concert venue/art gallery/Olympic sport/all-swallowing multiverse Fortnite has become, and I feel extremely old. My sense of time's crushing burden is not alleviated for learning that Epic are staffing up for work on "a new experience in the Fortnite ecosystem", which sounds a lot like a Fortnite open worlder. What fresh hell is this, Epic? When will enough be enough?

Read more

So years ago there was this The Sims spin-off series called MySims. It was a cutesy sort of life simulation that took cues from the original game, but tried to be unique and cut back a bit. As I went through Fae Farm, I couldn't shake the MySims vibe it was giving me. From the generic character designs to presenting a world that was fine, but not exactly filled with an inviting community or memorable characters, it doesn't stand out. It feels, in some ways, like it is forgoing the depth of other titles in the genre in the name of adding more action-game and quest elements. And sure, going through your quest checklist is satisfying! However, Fae Farm doesn’t stand out in the way Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley do due to Phoenix Labs forcing me to play how the team wanted. 

Atlus released a new Persona 5 Tactica character trailer introducing Haru Okumura, codenamed Noir. Haru is a gentle and calm person, although she can also be a bit naive. Although she is the rich heir to a renowned corporation, she doesn’t look down on people. Haru once went under the monicker of “Beauty Thief.”

In contrast with her kind and upbeat personality, Haru is also a ruthless fighter and can act a bit scary in battle. Her melee weapon of choice is an axe, and she uses grenade launchers as her ranged weapon. Her Persona is Milady, and she focuses on Psychokinesis and Gun skills in combat.

The new Persona 5 Tactica trailer shows off one of the new abilities Haru can use. It is called “Kifujin no Shoutaijou,” which roughly translates to "A Lady's Summon." It is a powerful attack that deals Psychokinesis damage in a large area, and gathers all enemies affected by it in the same spot of the map. This skill is ideal to protect other allies from impending attacks, or to combo with other attacks.

Take a better look at the new Persona 5 Tactica character spotlight trailer introducing Noir here:

https://twitter.com/p_kouhou/status/1699256105279558077

Additionally, at the end of the trailer Erina and Ann praise Haru for her powerful voice when fighting enemies, saying that they though it sounded really impressive.

Tokyo-based company Anique launched a Serial Experiments Lain AI chatbot to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the cult-classic anime and PlayStation game. This new experimental AI project is powered by OpenAI and has pulled training data from the original anime's script and utilizes archived voice over work from Kaori Shimizu, the original voice of Lain Iwakura. Fans are able to converse with Lain in both English and Japanese in real-time, and over time she will grow and learn from her conversations.

Under the supervision of Serial Experiments Lain Producer Yasuyuki Ueda, Anique was able to develop the base personality for AI Lain. The friendlier AI Lain becomes, the longer the conversations will get. She will also become more expressive visually. Also, over the next 6 months, Anique will recruit fans to help further evolve AI Lain's personality.

There will be updates to AI Lain's knowledge and special events commemorating different holidays including Halloween, Christmas, New Year's, and Valentine's Day. The content schedule can be viewed below:

[caption id="attachment_982595" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan[/caption]

Nintendo announced the games being added to the Nintendo Switch Online library for September 2023. They include Kirby’s Star Stacker (SNES), Quest for Camelot (Game Boy), Downtown Nekketsu March: Super-Awesome Field Day! (NES), and Joy Mech Fight (NES). Many of this month’s releases previously never released in the West.

Kirby’s Star Stacker is a falling block puzzle game. Originally released as a Game Boy game, the Switch Online release is the Super Famicom remake. While the Game Boy game had previously seen a release in North America and Europe, this remake has been Japan exclusive until now.

Quest for Camelot is an action-adventure game based on the 1998 animated movie of the same name. It’s the second licensed movie tie-in game released for the Switch Online service, after Goldeneye 007 for the N64. In a weird coincidence, both of these movies star Pierce Brosnan.

Downtown Nekketsu March: Super-Awesome Field Day! is a spin-off from the Kunio-kun/River City Ransom franchise. This is a sports game where characters can compete in four athletic events. This is another game which has seen limited release in the West. It’s previously only been released outside Japan as part of the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle compilation.

Read more...

Blizzard confirmed in a September 5 interview that not only will its loot-chasing action-RPG Diablo IV get long-term support in the form of its quarterly seasons, but the game will also receive a new paid expansion every year.

Read more...

Who doesn’t love a good nap? In Baldur’s Gate 3, much of your time is spent in combat using your limited spell slots and getting pummeled within an inch of your life, all of which can be restored by taking a rest at camp. Like a child who doesn’t want to go to sleep because they’re having too much fun, you might be…

Read more...

In a new interview with Famitsu, Nintendo has revealed there are no plans for any DLC or expansions for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. As spotted by Eurogamer, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma told the Japanese publication that he’d “done everything” there was to do in this incarnation of Hyrule.

Read more...

We have now fully entered the era of Starfield by way of its September 6 launch, and that also means we’ve entered the era of Starfield mods. You may have already seen some, such as a controversial one that integrates Nvidia rendering tech into the game, but another recently published PC mod improves a commonly cited…

Read more...

It can feel good to put the controller down at the end of Armored Core VI, comforted by the knowledge that you survived its most brutal skill check bosses and learned to configure your complex mech for whatever new hazard Rubicon threw your way. It would be a mistake not to pick it back up again though, as Armored…

Read more...

Final Fantasy 14 won't be going free-to-play anytime soon.

Each new expansion of Square Enix's MMORPG has extended its meme-worthy free trial to include more and more of the game. As announced recently at the Las Vegas Fan Fest, that free trial will be expanded to include Stormblood up to level 70 when next expansion Dawntrail is released next year.

But will the company ever reach a point where that free trial is extended to the full game? Director Naoki Yoshida told Eurogamer it won't, though the free trial will likely be expanded further.

Read more

With summer teetering on the precipice, threatening to tumble into a rainy, windswept autumn any day now, EA is wisely hedging its bets with its two newly announced The Sims 4 Kit packs - both arriving Thursday, 7th September - giving us sun, fun, and swimwear on one side, and resolutely indoor luxury living on the other.

The Sims 4's Poolside Splash Kit, obviously enough, is all about appropriate attire for those lazy afternoons spent lounging with a margarita in one hand and a 700-page tome about the history of biscuits in the other (or, you know, whatever). That means the likes of shorts, trunks, vests, sandals, and bathing suits, sporting, as EA puts it, a "plethora of patterns, colors and trendy cuts" designed to compliment a variety of skin tones and body shapes.

Finishing touches come in the form of various aquatic accessories, including sunglasses, sandals, rainbow nails, floaties (including at least one rubber ring), and more.

Read more

Jeff Gardiner, veteran RPG developer, said he's "thrilled, not threatened" by the success of other RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3.

Eurogamer spoke to the ex-Bethesda producer at Gamescom and discussed the current state of RPGs: why they're so popular and how the success of Larian's latest game was raising expectations of the genre.

"I am thrilled, not threatened by great RPGs," said Gardiner, when asked about Baldur's Gate 3. "I love playing them. I would never be upset by this. I think it brings more people into the fanbase of RPGs. As an RPG creator and player I really believe in RPGs - I always have since I started playing them when I was a kid until now... I will celebrate their success, I'll be their biggest fans forever. I am absolutely thrilled by it."

Read more

Producer Eiji Aonuma and Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi sat down with Japanese magazine Famitsu to discuss the development and future of the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. Aonuma says there will be no DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. According to his other comments, it appears the development team may be considering taking the series in a new direction and setting as well. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

When discussing the intricacies of how The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom came to be, two core concepts continued to be stressed during the interview: simplicity and versatility. The development team used these ideas as a base for expanding the fun to be had in the game’s world. The element of fun was prioritized and developed first before even beginning to design the world. It was thanks to this, according to Aonuma and Fujibayashi, that the underground map was actually completed in a surprisingly short amount of time.

With the amount of content already in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Fujibayashi mentioned that the team doesn't know what the next game in The Legend of Zelda series will look like, but it is being thought about at this point in time.

Bandai Namco revealed new One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 DLC characters with screenshots. When it announced Character Pass 2, it only showed Gear 5 Luffy and showed silhouettes of other characters like Uta. But we knew two more would join in The Battle of Onigashima Pack. Now we know Kaido and Yamato will be the other two joining One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 when that add-on drops in September 2023.

First, here's a look at Yamato in One Piece Pirate Warriors 4. Two screenshots showed various attacks. In one of them, he is wearing his mask as he attacks.
[gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="982640,982639" link="file"]

Next, here's the initial look at the Kaido DLC character in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4.
[caption id="attachment_982642" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Alone in the Dark’s reboot will skip the scares of Halloween in favour of the bleak terrors of January, as publishers THQ Nordic announced that their star-studded revival of the classic horror series has been delayed to 2024.

Read more

Sea of Stars developers Sabotage Studio have confirmed that they’re already working on DLC for their warmly-received love letter to classic RPGs, along with their next standalone game. Helping them along the way is Sea of Stars’ fantastic reception, which has seen the game sell a year’s worth of copies in just one week.

Read more

In the grim darkness of the far future, the galaxy is your oyster. Or at least it will be, once you've played 100 hours of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, an RPG from Pathfinder developer Owlcat in which you can buy planets, configure your genocidal Dark Eldar friend to strike ten times a turn, and gaze on ruefully as a demon explodes out of your Psyker's head.

An immediate and shameful disclaimer: I can't match Nic Reuben's deep knowledge of the 40K tabletop universe, which saw him ruminating upon the mysteries of the Koronus Expanse back in 2022, while holding Owlcat's feet to the fire over the absence of space dwarves. The nearest I got to playing 40K as a lad was its Battlefleet Gothic spin-off (which none of my friends were interested in, so when I say "playing", I mean that I sat in a room staring glumly at some unpainted Lunar-class Cruisers while other kids went out and climbed trees). The framing I'm working with instead, based on an hour of hands-off Rogue Trader gameplay, is that it's sort of Warhammer Mass Effect, but with XCOM-style turn- and grid-based combat, and while there are opportunities to be a compassionate hero, you fundamentally only have the option of playing Renegade. Let's dig in!

Read more

Starfield is a massive open-space RPG with hundreds of planets and solar systems to explore, so you’re going to need all the tips and tricks you can get to survive the vast black of the cosmos. One of the best tips a Redditor recently discovered relates to an XP boost you get from simply having more sex.

Read more...

Ubisoft’s open seas pirate fantasy from hell has lost its third creative director. Kotaku has learned that Elisabeth Pellen, who began working with the Skull and Bones team back in 2018, left Ubisoft Singapore to return to the French publisher’s Paris headquarters earlier this summer. The game’s long-awaited closed…

Read more...

In a recent interview, Larian Studios has confirmed that cross-platform co-op is currently on the roadmap for Baldur’s Gate 3. Though a date for the feature’s launch wasn’t confirmed, the studio said that it has a sense of when it’s likely to arrive, and that it had been an early goal for the game’s development.

Read more...

Developer Gunfire Games has confirmed it's readying a new update for its celebrated (and million-selling) Souls-like shooter sequel Remnant 2, promising that more quality of life updates, bug fixes, performance improvements, and a "potato mode" will be with players "soon".

That news comes via Remnant 2 principal designer Ben Cureton, who shared a list of the upcoming patch's headline features on social media. The aforementioned "potato mode" is, alas, unlikely to fulfil all your wildest, possibily erotic potato-slaying fantasies, more likely being some under-the-hood changes Gunfire has made to push Remnant 2's settings below those previously allowed - hopefully meaning improved performance on lower-spec PCs.

Performance improvements have, of course, been a focus for Gunfire following Remnant 2's slightly wobbly launch, and Cureton's post makes it explicitly clear the incoming patch will include more. That comes alongside the introduction of toggle aim and hold sprint, "dozens" of enemy updates, material refund changes for weapon deconstruction, PlayStation icon selection, and proper EXP rewards for instances where Summons make the kills.

Read more

Anycolor put out a message about its sustainability practices, as well as the actions that it took to protect Nijisanji Vtubers. Other information that the message covers includes its ESG data. You can read the whole statement (in English) via the official Anycolor website.

For starters, Riku Tazumi, who is the CEO of Anycolor, stated that the company will “strive for sustainable business activities” to help people “enrich their lives” with its livers’ content. However, he did not detail what kind of sustainable practices the company involves itself in.

All of the ESG data for Anycolor is as of FY2022. During FY2022, there were 113 cases of defamation and privacy rights violations, 3 cases of “trolling” and other obstructions of business, and 1 case of threats and stalking. All of these numbers also include the number of lawsuits that Anycolor filed against the perpetrators. Anycolor has a task force that focuses on dealing with people who threaten or defame its livers. This task force’s main duties include working with external lawyers, as well as offering support to Nijisanji Vtubers when they want legal help.

A Meiji chocolate contest will come to Street Fighter 6 in Japan as part of a new Street Voter event focused on the Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato chocolate snacks. People playing in the Japanese servers will be able to vote on which of the two Meiji chocolate brands is their favorite. The team with the most votes will receive a special avatar item to commemorate the occasion. Furthermore, a new artwork featuring Chun-Li and Juri was revealed.

The Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato Street Voter event will start in Japan on September 12, 2023 at 4pm JST, and will last until September 25 at 3:59 pm JST. To vote in the Street Voter events, people need to find Eternity in the Street Fighter 6 Battle Hub and after talking to them will be able to vote in the contest.

You can check out the new Chun-Li and Juri art celebrating the Street Fighter 6 Meiji chocolate Kinoko no Yama vs Takenoko no Sato contest here:

https://twitter.com/StreetFighterJA/status/1699195707280793700

Kanro will be at TGS 2023 to sell Braon gummies. These gummies are supposed to be “brain food” to help with esports. This year, Kanro is teaming up with Shinobism Gaming. Pro players from the company will be at the Kanro booth selling Braon gummies that have their signatures on them. [Thanks, PR Times!]

Shinobism Gaming and Kanro started development on Braon gummies in 2021. The main selling point of the gummies is the fact that it’s a candy, which makes them easy to carry around and fast to eat. Kanro has always sold sugary items toward athletes, as well as esports players. But, according to Kanro, this is the first time that a company has sold gummies that were developed in cooperation with an esports team. It’s also the first time that a company has marketed gummies as “brain food” to help people perform better in a competition that requires their brains.

You’ll be able to purchase the Braon gummies at TGS 2023, as well as online. The special edition box (which is a special Street Fighter one) is only available at a reduced price at TGS 2023. The box set costs 2000 JPY and a pack of two costs 500 JPY. The Street Fighter special edition box is also 2000 JPY but only if you’re buying it from TGS 2023.

The esports Braon gummies from Kanro will be at TGS 2023, as well as available online. TGS 2023 will take place from September 21 to September 24, 2023.

Capcom issued updated worldwide stats for different actions and activities in Resident Evil 4 Remake, and one had to do with Ashley. It turns out she was rescued 7,398,187 times. The latest update show on September 6, 2023. It also included stats about knife usage, play time, enemy kills, deaths, and weapons used.

Here's a list of some of the Resident Evil 4 Remake stats. Note that if you visit the official website to check, you won't be able to see all of the details unless you hit certain points in-game and are logged in.

The first episode of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet anime Paldean Winds, appeared on the official YouTube channel. This four-episode animated web series is produced by WIT STUDIO, who also animated Pokemon: Hisuian Snow back in 2022. Paldean Winds was announced during the Pokemon Presents showcase that aired on August 8, 2023.

The Pokemon: Paldean Winds anime is set in the Paldea region from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and tells the story of three students at Naranja Academy. Each one is striving to achieve their own unique dreams. The first episode of Paldean Winds focuses on Ohara, a skilled flutist, as she is preparing for an upcoming concert that is causing her a lot of stress. She and her other two classmates, Aliquis and Hohma, are tasked with making a video about their school. The three cannot seem to agree on anything and clash as they attempt to make the video, which leads to Ohara running away to Glaseado Mountain with her partner Pokemon Fuecoco.

The full 11-minute episode can be viewed on YouTube.

Square Enix announced the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis pre-load is now live, letting people download the mobile game on devices ahead of September 7, 2023. We can immediately start installing after grabbing it from Google Play or the App Store. Apple's storefront notes it is a 1.3GB download. The company also confirmed the official Discord is open.

The official announcement didn't note exactly when those who download the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis pre-load can begin playing. The reveal only noted, "Official service will start tomorrow, September 7, PDT." This could mean 12am PT/3am ET/9am CET/4pm JST.

Accompanying the announcement was a look at another one of the game's wallpapers. As you play, you can change the way your home screen looks. This means animated images of different characters from the game. The newest one shows the Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier characters Glenn, Lucia, and Matt.