December 2023

Disney Dreamlight Valley may be something you can play completely solo, but there are a few systems in the game that require you to have an online connection, including its multiplayer. At times, then, you may be hit with an 'Online Request' that states 'This action requires you to be connected to online services. Do you want to connect.' The problem is, you might already have an online connection when this arises, so what gives?

What the Disney Dreamlight Valley Online Request Means?

As noted, the online request will appear when you're performing an action that requires you to be connected to the internet. The example, I've stumbled upon when playing through the game is when trying to open specific chests that will contain Moonstones, such as the blue chests scattered throughout the magical world. These aren't your ordinary chests that contain Star Coins though, so don't stress too much. Your money-making methods can continue, uninterrupted from connection woes.

Can You Fix 'Action Requires You to Be Connected to Online Services' Error?

In September, Konami announced it was going back to Contra's 2D roots with a sort of reimagining of the NES original dubbed Contra: Operation Galuga. The game, developed by Wayforward, features six playable heroes, and a new trailer runs down each one and what they bring to the table.

The trailer also provides another look at Operation Galuga’s modernized run-and-gun action, which harkens back to the classics with up to four players working together to blast apart enemies. Operation Galuga serves as a reimagining of the first Contra game with a roster of heroes bringing the fight to the Red Falcon terrorist faction, which Konami breaks down below:

Bill Rizer: Field leader of the Contra unit, possessing exceptional physical strength, agility, and mental fortitude. Proficient in all manner of armaments and well-versed in military science. 

Lance Bean: An expert marksman adept with machinery. Was active as a guerrilla fighter before being recruited into the Earth Marine Corps by Bill Rizer.

Ariana: A tremendously skilled warrior from the Galuga Archipelago. After her village was nearly wiped out by Red Falcon's attack, she wages a one-woman war against the enemy forces. 

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Ever since it was announced, it’s been hard to fathom what a live action Zelda movie might look like or what it will be about. Will it follow the archetypal events of the games or chart a completely new story? Will Link still have pointy ears and a green tunic? Well, today the upcoming Nintendo movie’s director, Wes…

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The first trailer for Rockstar’s massive open-world sequel, Grant Theft Auto VI, has already surpassed 85 million views and become the publisher’s second-biggest video on YouTube in record time, less than 24 hours after its debut.

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After years and years of players speculating and fantasizing about what the next Grand Theft Auto game might look like, our first official glimpse is finally here. And less than a day after being published, it’s already nearing 90 million views on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel. It’s safe to say this is a cultural…

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Overwatch 2’s eighth season begins today, and Mauga, the hero shooter’s latest tank, isn’t the only major addition in season eight’s accompanying patch.

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Grand Theft Auto VI’s big first-look trailer is hitting me with some deja vu. Back when Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes dropped its first trailer, my brain had to do a double take as the animations and lighting made me think I was looking at live action for a split second. GTA 6 is doing the same thing for me, and it’s…

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One of Larian’s smartest marketing beats while promoting Baldur’s Gate 3 was showing the world that the game lets you biff a bear. Halsin the druid can transform into a bear (the animal, not the other kind), and if you so choose, he can maintain this form while you consummate their relationship. The ensuing scene…

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Wes Ball, the director of Nintendo's upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie, has discussed some of his ambitions for the project, saying he "would love to see a live-action Miyazaki" - a reference to legendary Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, whose animated work includes Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

Ball, who has previously helmed the three Maze Runner films and is currently working on next year's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, was announced as the director of Nintendo's live-action The Legend of Zelda movie last month, as part of the project's official unveiling.

And now, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Ball has shared a little of his vision for the Zelda film, describing it as "this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn't like Lord of the Rings, it's its own thing. I've always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that."

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A new Octopath Traveler collaboration event, Octolight Conductors: The Prisoner's Odyssey, will appear in Another Eden on December 7, 2023. In addition, developer WFS shared a new trailer and key visual for the upcoming event.

The new playable crossover characters that will appear in Another Eden are Cyrus from the first Octopath Traveler, Partitio from Octopath Traveler II, and Tithi from the Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent mobile game.

Other characters in the collaboration include H’aanit and Olberic from Octopath Traveler, Nicola from Champions of the Continent, and Temenos and Castti from Octopath Traveler II.

You can check out the new Another Eden x Octopath Traveler collaboration event trailer below. The video is available in Japanese, and it includes English captions:

And here is the new key visual art:

Larian Studios shared some Baldur’s Gate 3 player stats, which included the most popular romance (Shadowheart), how many beat the game, and how many people already started or beat the new Honor Mode.

When it comes to romance, Shadowheart was the most popular. Larian noted that 51.3% of all Baldur’s Gate 3 players finished her route. The studio also noted that Karlach and Lae’zel were in the top three most popular romances. However, it didn’t offer percentage details for either of them.

As for actual gameplay data, so far 1.3 million people beat Baldur’s Gate 3 in general, though only 464 finished it in the new Honor Mode. Also, 94% of the people playing made a custom character instead of going with an Origin character. However, Gale was the most popular Origin option, followed by Astarion and Karlach.

Here’s a gallery showing all the infographics Larian Studios shared about the Baldur’s Gate 3 data. It goes over things like most popular romance, most popular subclass, how many beat the game, how many became cheese, how often Scratch was petted, and how many made a custom character.

Cyberpunk 2077 just received a final hurrah via an update that added a number of fixes and new features, such as a working metro system. The new transit system lets V experience a bit more of pedestrian life in Night City, including a few random events on the train. One such event is a recreation of a well-known meme…

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The Batman: Arkham Trilogy packages together three incredible games spanning two console generations and six years of evolving metroidvania sandbox design. Since we’re not getting a new one any time soon, it was great to hear they were finally coming to the Switch, but the end result is apparently a huge…

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Hitman 3 at 60% off. No Man's Sky at 50% off. Tetris Effect: Connected at 50% off. These are great games whether you play them in VR or not, so even if you don't own a headset you might want to check out Steam's VR Fest, which is live now until December 11th.

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It's me, I'm back. Rock Paper Shotgun's dedicated Cyberpunk 2077 reporter. CD Projekt Red continue to pay my rent by releasing regular patches for the once-borked, now-brill open world so I can write news about them. The latest, Update 2.1, is out now and adds new races, car chases, romantic smooches, and a working metro system.

It also marks the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, a new digital bundle which includes both the base game and wonderful expansion Phantom Liberty.

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The Lamplighters League might have officially flopped according to publisher Paradox Interactive, but that hasn't stopped developer Harebrained Schemes from making improvements to the pulp strategy adventure since its arrival - and its latest free update is perhaps its biggest yet, adding a new playable character and a new Events system.

The Lamplighters League, which launched to a mixed reception back in October, blends tactical turn-based action and real-time stealth in a globe-trotting adventure inspired by the classic pulp stories of the 1930s, putting players in control of a disparate group of rogues as they attempt to thwart an occult-obsessed cabal known as the Banished Court.

And as of today, with the launch of The Lamplighters League's 1.3 update, the number of available playable rogues has swelled by one thanks to the arrival of Isaac Greymoor. Described as a "hot-headed, lead-slinging mercenary who wields a deadly light machine gun to devastating effect", Isaac is the son of former Lamplighters League leader Lord Greymoor.

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Microsoft's latest ID@Xbox Game Demo Winterfest event is now underway, this time featuring a total of 33 playable demos for indie titles old and new.

This year's event kicks off today, 5th December, on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, and runs right through to the end of the year on 31st December.

Microsoft has highlighted a number of indie games newly announced for Xbox and getting the demo treatment during Winterfest - including pirate adventure Captain Bones, turn-based rogue-lite dungeon crawler The Land Beneath Us, post-apocalyptic fantasy RPG Vagrus: The Riven Realms, and the self-explanatory Dinosaur Fossil Hunter - over on its Xbox Wire blog.

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A new update for Skyrim Special Edition has introduced "Creations", a method through which community modders can sign up to the "Bethesda Game Studios Verified Creator Program" and then sell their work through the platform to receive royalties.

It's "paid mods", in other words, and a revival of an idea Bethesda launched and abandoned in 2015. The same update also broke existing mods dependent on Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), a commonly used community-made modding toolkit.

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A new exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Cardcaptor Sakura anime series will be held in Tokyo between January 8 and February 4, 2024. A social media account for the 25th-anniversary exhibition is also available now.

The anniversary exhibition will appear in Osaka and Fukuoka at a later date. The first venue will be in the Tokyo Solamachi building, Floor 5, Space 634, near the Tokyo Skytree. Various merchandise goods will be available for purchase at the venue. More information about these items will appear in the future.

You can check out the new poster and announcement for the exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the anime series here:

Netflix uploaded a new trailer for the Yu Yu Hakusho live-action adaptation. It will exclusively appear on the streaming service from December 14, 2023.

You can watch the live-action Yu Yu Hakusho trailer here:

Some characters who appear in the trailer apart from the main four include Toguro (both of them), Botan, Genkai, and Koenma. Considering Karasu and Buu’s appearances, it looks as if the live action adaptation will cover all the way to the end of the Dark Tournament Arc. There are some changes we can see, such as how Genkai becomes Yusuke's teacher. The trailer seems to suggest that Koenma assigns her to him. In the manga and anime, though, Yusuke had to win the right to train with Genkai and Koenma only ordered him to flush out Randou.

Owners of the disc version of Avatar Froniters of Pandora will need to have an online connection to install the game.

As noted by developer Ubisoft, players will need to install a day one patch, which is "mandatory" to start playing the game. This means a one-time internet connection is required. An internet connection is also required for co-op gameplay.

Once this patch is installed, however, those looking to head through Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora solo will be able to do so offline.

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You know that bit at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz? When the twister stops twisting, the farmhouse plummets, and Dorothy pulls back the door to reveal that bright, glorious world stuffed with mystery and magic? That's exactly how I felt when I first stepped out into Pandora.

It's a joyous, breathtaking, mesmerising rush of colour and texture, where light dapples through the canopy and sprinkles jewels of white light into the lakes and streams and waterfalls below. There are birds and fish and deer - well, kind of; the fauna here is fantastical reimaginings of the wildlife we know on Earth - and at first, there's just so much stuff, it kind of hurts your eyes. It kind of hurts your brain. What, exactly, are you supposed to be looking at here? The tree? The vines growing on the tree? The plants growing on the vines that grow on the trees? The deer-esque silhouettes eating the plants growing on the vines that grow on the trees? Where does one life begin and the next end? Where am I supposed to go? What the hell am I supposed to do?

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora even nails The Wizard of Oz's sneaky bait and switch, too. For the first thirty minutes of your adventure, you're confined to the dull, terminally grey world of humankind, a cold place of concrete, steel, and fluorescents. There is no colour here. No light. No hope. It's only after you scurry through dark vents that you'll burst into Pandora, thrown head-first from a life of monotone monotony into a strange, thrilling new technicolour world that you and the Sarentu you embody must explore together.

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Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

Trailers! How very topical. I don't suppose you noticed any big new trailers this week did you? Me neither. Giggle.

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Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Massive
Release: December 7, 2023

The Avatar films are great fun but have never blown me away with original storytelling. Instead, the translation of familiar formulas into a vibrant and visually arresting alien world elevates the films. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora follows that same tack, featuring first-person exploration and combat that borrows liberally from franchises like Far Cry. But here, an enormous and detailed fantasy world breathes life into the experience, making it both more engaging and sometimes needlessly obtuse – but always with a flair for the source material.

After my time spent with open world action adventure Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, all I wanted was a jeep, maybe a jet to get around quicker. The jungles and the plains might be wonderful to look at, but they're too vast, filled with boring tasks, and overly reliant on level-gating to force a sense of progress. Sure, there's some spectacle in narrow escapes from the nasty humans - and their factories that make the plants droopy - but throughout the rebellion I ditched my bow for a shotgun with extended mags and a muzzle brake. For a game that's all, "the humans are bad", I was ready to defect. At least I would've been able to keep my shotgun.

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Sanrio has announced a collection based on the movie RRR, with merchandise of the characters in a chibi style with mascots like Hello Kitty appearing in Japan from December 8, 2023. You’ll be able to buy them from Animate stores.

Aside from Sanrio mascots, characters from RRR appear on goods as well. Some of the Sanrio mascots that are part of this collection include Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, Pochacco, and Hangyodon.

Here is the list of items that are part of the Sanrio and RRR collaboration and their prices:

• Acrylic keyholder with stand: 880 JPY/10,560 JPY box
• Character badge collection: 495 JPY each/3,960 JPY box
• Hand towel: 1,045 JPY
• Stainless steel drink tumbler: 3,080 JPY
• Sticker set: 550 JPY each
• T-shirt: 3,300 JPY

Larian Studios has released another set of statistics for Baldur's Gate 3 which reveal some illuminating statistics.

The accumulative playtime across all players is 452,556,984 hours, which is about 51,662 years. By contrast, 8196 of those years were spent in the character creator, accounting for 15.9 percent of all playtime.

1.3m players have finished the game's campaign at least once since Baldur's Gate 3 first released fully in August. If you're curious like me, you may be wondering what percentage of players this represents. While Larian hasn't specified sales numbers for the game, in August Larian CEO Sven Vincke told Bloomberg it had sold 2.5m copies on Steam during early access.

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League of Geeks has paused development on Jumplight Odyssey "indefinitely", as the studio cuts 50 percent of its workforce.

In a blog update, studio director Trent Kusters called this a "devastating position" for the team to find themselves in.

"Though our commitment to our beloved starship adventure sim is unwavering, rapidly rising operation costs, a worsening AUD/USD exchange rate, poor Early Access sales, and the unprecedented withdrawal of funding opportunities across the industry, have placed us in a position where, as it currently stands, we are unable to sustain the cost of operations through to the release of v1.0, which was planned for Q2 of 2024," Kusters wrote.

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Mortal Kombat 1 launched back in September and became one of our favorite games of the year – read why in Game Informer's Mortal Kombat 1 review here. Since its release, developer NetherRealm Studios has released additional characters, like Invincible's Omni-Man, while teasing other new fighters like Quan Chi and DC's Peacemaker. Now, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon has teased even more new content on the way. 

During the recent CCXP23 event in Brazil, Boon revealed that story DLC is coming, as reported by IGN. 

"Just like we did with [Mortal Kombat 11], we're going to release a second part with more story and we have a big surprise after that," Boon told the crowd at CCXP23. 

Developer Rockstar Games released the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI earlier this week and in 24 hours, it surpassed 100 million views while also nabbing the record for the most views in 24 hours. YouTuber Mr. Beast previously held that record before the GTA VI trailer. At the time of this writing, the trailer has 104 million views on YouTube. 

If you missed it, watch the Grand Theft Auto VI reveal trailer below: 

Rockstar celebrated the achievement yesterday with a quote-tweet of Mr. Beast's tweet revealing the "most views on YouTube in 24 hours" record now belongs to GTA VI. Check it out below: 

🙌❤️ https://t.co/x1eKOE0Qde

Prophecy's Tribes 3: Rivals broke cover earlier this month - or more accurately, came skiing out of cover with a flag in one fist and an electric crossbow in the other. The developers have now shared a bit about how it differs from Hi-Rez's Tribes Ascend, released way back in 2012, which we adored.

Created by a former Hi-Rez subsidiary that includes several of the original Ascend leads, the new shooter retains its celebrated predecessor's emphasis on agility and momentum, but will be a premium game sold for $20 with separately sold cosmetics, rather than a free-to-play affair. It also won't have a singleplayer campaign, much to the probable consternation of Tribes: Vengeance fans, and the indifference of everybody else.

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In the grim darkness of the far future… I will finish my review of Owlcat’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. It turns out that trying to complete an estimated 100-hour RPG during the run-up to The Game Awards is too much for this humble Scriptor. There are still many more tabletop-style planetary maps to discover and plunder, many more character levels to scale, and many more cursed artefacts to tamper with before my protagonist, the closet Chaos worshipper Bruschetta de Plonque, can pronounce herself mistress of the Kronos Expanse - assuming the Inquisition doesn’t claim her first. But after 20 hours of the game, I can absolutely say that I’m looking forward to the next 80. While it doesn’t have the cinematic swagger and raw anecdote-generating capacity of obvious rival Baldur's Gate 3, Rogue Trader has mystique and depth to spare, both in terms of its grotty narrative and its exceedingly busy combat and levelling systems.

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Do you like robots and being given challenges? Then is the sixth door on this year's RPS Advent Calendar is for you!

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Ah, man, this one really stings. League Of Geeks, the developers behind Armello and the upcoming Solium Infernum remake, have announced they've had to pause the development of their spaceship colony roguelike Jumplight Odyssey "indefinitely" as the studio faces mass redundancies. Over 50% of staff have been affected, including the entire Jumplight Odyssey team, and part of their publishing and operations teams.

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The longevity of League of Legends is astounding. Across the industry, developers are trying to grab a share of the lucrative live-service games pie. Since 2009, the enduring popularity of this multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game has made it a golden goose: often imitated, but never replicated.

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Several hours ahead of the Argenti banner in Honkai: Star Rail, HoYoVerse uploaded a trailer focusing on him and his skills. As a reminder, Argenti is a five-star Physical Erudition character who is a member of the Knights of Beauty.

You can watch the “Argenti: Whither Hath the Petals Gone?” trailer for Honkai: Star Rail here:

Pom-Pom is the one sitting across from Owlbert this time, since they had wanted Owlbert’s help in looking for Argenti after he made a mess in the Astral Express. This is both a reference to his trailer and his Companion Mission, which will debut in the second half of Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.5. His Skill deals Physical damage to all enemies. His Burst does basically the same thing but with a higher percentage of his ATK. With his Talent, he can not only restore Energy, but he can also get a stack that’ll increase her Crit Rate.

The 4.3 special program for Genshin Impact “Roses and Muskets” will come out on December 8, 2023. It’ll start airing at 4am PT/7am ET, and you’ll be able to watch it via Twitch. It will also air again after on YouTube.

The English version of the stream shows Lumine with Navia and Chevreuse. HoYoVerse released teasers for the two characters back in November 2023. Navia will be a Geo character, and we already know from cutscenes in the game that she uses a claymore. As for Chevreuse, she is the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol Captain in Fontaine. She will be a Pyro character. Though she’s holding a musket in her splash art, it’s unclear what weapon she’ll use. Both Navia and Chevreuse will use have the Ousia alignment.

Like previous special programs, the Genshin Impact Version 4.3 announcement stream will show a new trailer, reveal the banners and the orders, as well as tease upcoming events. HoYoVerse will also provide codes that players can redeem to get in-game rewards.

The action-adventure genre is one of the kinds of games best-suited for VR experiences, with the original Asgard’s Wrath being an early Oculus staple. After going through part of Asgard’s Wrath 2, it feels like Sanzaru may be building even further on the original while incorporating staples from console action-adventure and action-RPG staples.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 begins shortly after the first game, but in such a way that it invites newcomers into the adventure. Loki, as the god often does throughout many forms of media, betrayed the player and sought power on his own. After breaking out of the tavern where they were trapped, the player character is attacked by what looks like a griffin with Egyptian ornaments and is picked up by the Weavers. (Think of the three as being like the Norns in Greek mythology.) After dubbing the player a Cosmic Guardian, they send you out to track down Loki again.

Bethesda has released a new and quite chunky update for Skyrim Special Edition, which in itself isn't all that remarkable. Sure the game is several years old now, but it is still very popular with players, so why not give the game a boost if it needs it.

However, this particular update has gone down rather badly with Skyrimmers, as it has reintroduced a paid mod platform into the game.

To get you up to speed as to why this has been controversial, all the way back in 2015, Bethesda partnered with Valve to bring paid mods to Skyrim via Steam. However, it was incredibly unpopular with both players and mod makers, and the publisher removed the option to sell Skyrim mods on Valve's platform shortly after this idea made its debut.

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