February 2024

According to Steam, I've spent about 2000 hours playing factory games. Terms like throughput, modularity, and automation are like dog-whistles to me, so when I heard that Shapez 2 was getting a demo for Steam Next Fest this month, I knew my weekend plans were instantly sorted. Well, here we are in the new week. I've finished the Shapez 2 demo twice and logged 10 hours into the game. I see conveyor belts of circles and squares behind my eyelids and the reward system of my brain has been well and truly hijacked. The only way I can continue to do my job effectively is by making my job be about Shapez 2. So here I am.

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In 2021 I went through a bit of a rally phase with WRC 9, as I discovered the joys of watching people play rally games beautifully. And as much as I enjoyed my brief stints with those semi-realistic rally games, I've since longed for more of a blend between a rally-er and a colourful arcade jaunt. For those seeking a similar swinging-the-back-out experience, I'd recommend giving #Drive Rally's demo a go. It might not be as colourful as I'd like, but it's got lovely, errr, dirt feel?

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Action-RPG colossus Elden Ring is reportedly getting a free-to-play mobile adaptation with in-app purchases, which takes inspiration from miHoYo's Genshin Impact. It's being published by Tencent, who apparently acquired the licensing rights to Elden Ring back in 2022 and put a few dozen people to work on a prototype, even as the company acquired a 16% stake in Elden Ring developer From Software.

All that's according to Reuters, who cite three sources "familiar with the matter". I realise that "free-to-play mobile version of Elden Ring with in-app purchases" is a phrase tailormade to give certain players hives and/or cause the speaker to be struck by lightning, but much as I can't help looking over cliff edges, I do find the idea fascinating.

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In the fall of 2001, an unprecedented incident shook the world—the first Gyakuten Saiban (or Ace Attorney) game launched in Japan for Game Boy Advance. You played as greenhorn attorney Ryūichi Naruhodō (later translated to Phoenix Wright) as he bluffed through legal cases by exploiting testimonial contradictions,…

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Japanese eyewear brand Zoff announced a collaboration with Honkai: Star Rail to release glasses based on the popular RPG. The company will open web reservations for the glasses in late April 2024.

Four models of glasses will be available as part of the collaboration. An exclusive wipe and case for the glasses will be included with the purchase of each model. A test corner to try the new glasses will be set up at some physical Zoff stores in Japan, and original capsule toys will also be available.

At the time of writing there is no information on how the new Honkai: Star Rail glasses will look like. More information and details on the new collaboration will appear in the official Zoff website, as well as social media.

Square Enix will review its development system to improve the quality of its games, company president Takashi Kiryu has announced.

Kiryu's comments were made during Square Enix's latest financial results briefing, Bloomberg reported, during which he indicated a policy of reducing outsourced development and focusing on large-scale games developed in-house, with the aim of boosting both the quality of games and profit margins.

The new system is set to be announced in spring, with multiple sources at the conference call stating it will be in effect in April. That would align with the company's new financial year.

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Valiant Hearts: Coming Home looks to be making its way to consoles in the future.

The First World War Ubisoft sequel was previously exclusive to Netflix on mobile, having been announced during 2022's Game Awards. However, this exclusivity may be over soon, as a post by Brazil's ratings board (spotted by VGC) has the game listed for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Valiant Hearts: Coming Home is described as a "dramatic narrative game" by Ubisoft, and sees players following the interweaving stories of James, Anna, Ernst and George. Walt (the first game's canine companion) returns in the sequel to help players work their way through these stories, which include themes of friendship, survival and sacrifice "amidst the turmoil and tragedy of war".

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Nintendo has released its latest quarterly sales numbers, and they are overall expectedly impressive considering 2023 saw the releases of new mainline Zelda and Mario games. But Pikmin 4 and Super Mario RPG, the remake of the 1996 Super Nintendo game, also delivered some notable sales numbers.

You can find the full report here, but here are the notable highlights:

With games like the Resident Evil 4 remake and Death Stranding becoming playable on iPhones, it seems like just about anything can be a mobile game these days. Even Elden Ring, developer FromSoftware’s 2022 open-world RPG, could be coming to phones. At least that’s according to a recent report from news outlet Reuters,…

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In the opening cutscene of Persona 3 Reload, protagonist Makoto Yuki walks by someone with a Pride pin on their bag. The shot lingers for a few seconds, making it hard to ignore this detail, a new addition for this remake of Atlus’ 2006 role-playing game. The moment also ends up serving as a pretty decent…

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As a monster-collecting, knowingly cynical, base-building survival game, Palworld is officially Not My Thing in at least three different ways. But I do like the Steam Deck, as well as feeling a sense of being vaguely useful. Thus, instead of moaning about holding down a button for 20 seconds to plant some berry seeds, I’ve tested how Palworld adapts to life on Valve’s handheld – and worked out which are the best settings to use with the Deck’s modest hardware.

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Every so often, there are games that come out that are made with real models. They're sometimes called "handmade" games, implying pure coders use their prehensile toes, but I really like it every time I see one because I love models. I like little versions of regular things! I just think they're neat. But it really is every so often, presumably because it takes even longer to make a tiny little man out of twigs and spit and scan him into a computer than it does to make him in the computer to start with. Cute miniature puzzle game Lumino City is ten years old, and Trüberbrook is coming up on five. And I first played a tiny snippet of Harold Halibut in 2018. Now, a larger snippet is available for everyone in the Steam Next Fest.

Harold Halibut is a sort of sci-fi, slightly retrofuturist point and click puzzle game about an undersea society on an alien planet. These people's ancestors blasted off to an ocean planet using the technology of a big science corporation and now, though they can't remember why, they're all pootling about under the water looking at fish. In this world of exaggerated sea-science nonsense, Harold stands out as a sort of beige lab handyman.

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You know those wee indie games about opening boxes and organising items and assembling furniture and they're all very cute and colourful and fun and "wholesome"? Miniatures is not one of those games. Oh certainly you will open boxes and organise items and assemble furniture in its Steam Next Fest demo, but it's not cute or colourful or wholesome. Miniatures is more of a psychological horror game, laden with tension and uncertainty. For such a short demo, it built a great mood, and I'm excited for the full game to come later this year.

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Sanrio and Spike Chunsoft have revealed a new collection of merchandise that pairs characters from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony with Sanrio mascots. The companies are selling the new items via lottery on Sanrio's Online Anime Store.

This collaboration pairs Danganronpa V3 characters with the following Sanrio mascots:

1. Kaede Akamatsu with My Sweet Piano
2. Rantaro Amami with Kero Kero Keroppi
3. Miu Iruma with Goropikadon
4. Shuichi Saihara with Pochacco
5. Tsumugi Shirogane with Bonbonribbon
6. Korekiyo Shinguji with Pokoponnikki
7. Maki Harukawa with Cherry Chums
8. Kaito Momota with Bad Badtz-maru
9. Kokichi Oma with Kuromi
10. K1-B0 with Cinnamoroll

Even more Nijisanji English Vtubers have announced breaks from social media or stream cancelations following the termination of Selen Tatsuki. Among the latest members to speak up or take time are Enna Alouette, Fulgar Ovid, Finana Ryugu, Kyo Kaneko, Uki Violeta, and Meloco Kyoran.

Kyo, as a reminder, will be graduating from Nijisanji on February 17, 2024. He canceled his February 5, 2024 stream after the news.

Finana announced a break from social media and streaming. She didn’t note when exactly she will be back, just saying she’ll return “next week.”

Good Smile Company opened up pre-orders for a scale figure of Racing Miku 2023 Version. She’ll come out in February 2025 for Japan and Q3 2025 for North America. The figure will cost 27,800 JPY, which is about $183.99.

The Racing Miku 2023 figure uses the original design that toridamono made for the 2023 Hatsune Miku GT Project. The figure shows her wearing an outfit that’s mostly white, with red accents. There are holes in the shoulders, as well as in the sides, making it a rather revealing figure. Miku’s hair is in her signature pigtails, and she has a white beret as well. There’s a version of her that’s holding a flag saying “Good Smile Racing,” and in the figure, one of the birds is holding the flag instead.

Since this is a scale figure, it does not have any optional parts, nor can you adjust the pose. Miku is standing very excitedly with a big smile on her face. She’s also holding her hands like she’s pointing at something, or she’s trying to signal an L.

Anna Megill has joined CD Projekt Red as lead writer on the studio's upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion.

Megill has over 20 years of experience in the industry, and has previously worked on games such as Control and the upcoming Fable reboot. She will be joined on the narrative team by Alexander Freed, whose previous work includes serving as lead writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic at BioWare.

"I'm so excited to work with this brilliant, creative team," Megill wrote on X. Megill left Fable reboot developer Playground Games last year, saying the time felt "right for new challenges".

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Project Orion is still a deeply mysterious game. We know it is a follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077, we know CD Projekt Red is developing the game in North America (Boston, specifically) as opposed to Poland where the main studio is based, and eventually development will expand to Vancouver, with support from the main Polish headquarters. Beyond those details, we don't know much. Implications from CD Projekt point to it being a sequel, but it could be a spin-off, or something entirely different. Of note, Project Orion was a study from the 50s and 60s about the viability of nuclear power for space travel. Maybe that's what CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077 follow-up will be about.

Xbox has been the talk of the town these past few days after reports claimed first-party games like Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle might be coming to PlayStation. In a response to the reports, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said the company would have more to say in a “business update event” next week,…

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Today, editorial and creative workers at the popular video game and entertainment site IGN announced that they are unionizing with the NewsGuild-CWA.

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As promised, HoYoVerse added Honkai: Star Rail Apple Vision Pro support and explained how it works following the 2.0 update. It also noted that only the US App Store offers Compatibility Mode. 

Essentially, anyone already playing Honkai: Star Rail can begin playing it on Apple’s new headset. They can use their existing account, or they could make a new account. All of the existing servers are supported. So even though the Honkai: Star Rail Apple Vision Pro Compatibility Mode is listed as a US App Store thing, the American, Asian, European, and TW, HK, MO servers are all available. 

In addition to needing a headset, people will need a controller to play with the Apple Vision Pro. HoYoVerse only mentioned ones from consoles being supported by the game and device. While the PS5 Dual Sense made sense, given Honkai: Star Rail is also available on the platform. However, the announcement also confirmed that Xbox One and Xbox Series X controllers will work with the game and Apple Vision Pro.

Honkai: Star Rail is immediately available on the PS5, PC, and Android and iOS mobile devices. The game is now compatible with the Apple Vision Pro following the February 6, 2024 2.0 update.

Takara Tomy revealed boxart designs for its upcoming Zoids - Monster Hunter crossover model kits. It shows how the Zoids will fight the monsters that source the former's armor designs. Beast Liger will face off against Magnamalo, while Sonic Bird will fight Rathalos.

The company has also published a background story on the franchise collaboration's webpage. It tells how the monsters and Felynes from the Monster Hunter universe appear in a Zoids world via a multiverse gate. The monsters attack mankind due to the lack of their original habitats, while the Felynes make friendly contact with humans and offer tips on fighting the monsters while finding a method to return to their original world. The world's defense forces eventually decided to produce special Zoids to deal with the monsters.

The full boxart images are available below, via the Japanese official Zoids X account. The first one features the Beast Liger in Sinister Armor fighting against Magnamalo:

The Weekly Shonen Jump YouTube channel now has voiced manga of Kagurabachi. This is the first time that a series has ever been adapted for a “manga animation” in English. [Thanks, Shonen Jump News!]

You can watch the first three chapters of Kagurabachi as voiced comics here. First, here is chapter 1:

Next, here is chapter 2:

Finally, here is chapter 3:

Microsoft announced the latest Xbox Game Pass games for February 2024, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and the Resident Evil 3 remake are among them. This comes as a free Shantae costume arrives in 1.5 for Bloodstained.

Here’s the list of all the Xbox Game Pass titles joining this month alongside Bloodstained and Resident Evil 3.

• Anuchard (cloud, console, PC) - February 6, 2024
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (cloud, console, PC) - February 14, 2024
• A Little to the Left (cloud, console, PC) - February 14, 2024
• Madden NFL 24 (console, PC) - February 8, 2024
• PlateUp (cloud, console, PC) - February 15, 2024
• Resident Evil 3 (cloud, console, PC) - February 13, 2024
• Return to Grace (cloud, console, PC) - February 20, 2024

Ubisoft Singapore's piracy sim Skull And Bones started development in 2013, and during the subsequent decade-and-change it has seemingly collided with every possible reef in the ocean of videogame production, undergoing a series of delays, reboots and staff departures. Perhaps it will take you the same amount of time to sail across it: this is Ubisoft's "biggest open world" offering, in the words of former creative director Elisabeth Pellen.

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I completely forgot about Brotato in our 2023 game of the year voting because I had played so much, so intensely that I had to uninstall it for my own good and try to flush it out my brain. Brotato arrived on Game Pass today, so you too can enjoy creating problems in your life. I might try to pique your interest with caveated comparisons to Vampire Survivors (and previously have), but I'd rather tell you that what hooked me in the wave survival shmup is constant little opportunities to push your luck and skill trying to create advantages. Death or glory. Likely death. But what if glory?

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A story about a girl who has a ghost best friend nobody else can see, and has to juggle that relationship with her interactions with living people? Sounds fake. Haha, but seriously folks. There's a demo for Paper Ghost Stories: Third Eye Open in the Steam Next Fest, and boy howdy did I like just looking at this game in motion. The clue is in the name, as all the characters look like 2D paper cut out dolls, and all the environments are like papercraft models. It's pretty gorge.

Third Eye Open, out this year, is inspired by the Joss-Papercraft of Southeast Asia (indeed, the start menu is a stage). You play as Ting, a pre-adolescent girl living in Malaysia with her parents. Ting discovers her supernatural ability to see ghosts at a camp, where she meets Xiu, a ghost girl about her own age. The two become friends, and the demo starts in media res when the two are back home.

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Surprise, Nightingale heads. Developers Inflexion Games have just announced their upcoming crafting survival 'em up is arriving into early access two days ahead of schedule. Nightingale was originally set to launch on February 22nd, but will now release on February 20th on both Steam and the Epic Games Store. This is mostly to help the team nip any launch day bugs in the bud a lot sooner during the week, rather than have them lingering in the game over the weekend.

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Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League feels like a perfectly average open world action game that plops out when a finance department locks a brilliant developer in a room and refuses to let them see sunlight for nine years. Rocksteady’s long-awaited live service shooter is aggressively unambitious and seemingly petrified of risk, marrying tight, combo-ratcheting, flow-state combat with some awfully familiar and conventional loot-chasing guff.

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Over the February 3 weekend, reports from different outlets and insiders claimed that a number of big, Xbox exclusives—like Starfield and Gears of War—could possibly end up on PlayStation 5 in the near future. Once the news spread around the internet, the most Xbox-pilled users and creators began theorizing, denying,…

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Sure, there are plenty of great free movies on YouTube—but while YouTube is awesome, it’s not the only game in town. So we decided to put together a list of other sites that also offer free movies, break down the pros and cons of each one, briefly explore what they offer beyond movies, and then dive deep into the…

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Steam Next Fest, which kicked off in 2021 as the successor to the Steam Game Festival, remains one of the best ways to see what good games are on the horizon. The event, which runs several times a year, acts as a hub for in-development titles to offer demos to interested players for a limited time. Previous games seen…

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Idea Factory International’s next Switch otome Switch game is going to be Sympathy Kiss, a title that looks at love in the workplace. At the same time, it features more mature elements and fears, such as things like dealing with the looming concerns about layoffs, getting along with coworkers, and furthering your career. To help learn more, Siliconera spoke with Director Hiroe Aoki about the game and its themes.

Jenni Lada: How did real apps and software developers influence the development of Sympathy Kiss?

Hiroe Aoki: The release ofLover Pretend, a game I previously created, significantly influenced Sympathy Kiss, as I discovered that there are players who enjoy stories set in the modern real world. I decided to be bold and dive deeper into a story that explored that setting.

Sympathy Kiss is a workplace romance otome game that features more mature themes, so how did actual office life influence the tone, storylines, and love interests?

More NieR Automata merchandise like plush, sword replicas, and figures will appear soon for both consumption and for viewing. Sega will release plushes of the characters from February 22, 2024, and replicas of Pod 042, as well as Virtuous Treaty and Virtuous Contract weapons, will appear at Wonder Festival Winter 2024 on February 11, 2024. [Thanks, Denfaminico!]

For starters, the NieR Automata Ver1.1a plush will start appearing in Sega Plaza crane game machines from February 9, 2024. There will be large versions of the three main characters—2B, 9S, and A2—lying down on their front. Then from March 15, 2024, miniature versions of these figures will appear. Finally, from March 28, 2024, miniature versions of them with cat ears will be in the crane game machines.

AYANEO announced another mobile device for playing games, with this time it being an Android-based handheld that looks like the Switch called Pocket S. It pre-launched on Indiegogo ahead of its April 2024 launch, and there’s no price estimate for it yet.

While there are no detachable controllers, the general design of the Pocket S isn’t dissimilar to a Switch, Switch Lite, or even Vita. The placement of the D-pad, analog sticks, and action buttons are all similar, as are the left and right triggers. It does have a 1440p 6” screen, however. 

As for the internals, it is a Adreno A32 GPU Snapdragon G3x device. It works with the AYANEO AYAHome Desktop Launcher for game management and is designed to map mobile games to controllers. The company noted storage can go up to 1TB. Also, while a list of supported games wasn’t shared, the Indiegogo page does show Genshin Impact running in one of the photos.

Here’s the first trailer offering a look at the device. 

Dusky Depths - what a pleasant name for a game. It makes me think of sleepy suburban soap operas, slightly worrying brands of shampoo or chocolate, and easy listening radio shows on long-haul train journeys. It doesn't make me think of getting vapourised by laser beams in an exoplanetary cave system, which is what happened when I gave the demo a try.

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This is a lot so, sit down and take a deep breath. Gina Carano, the actress who was fired from The Mandalorian for “social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities” is now suing Lucasfilm for discrimination and wrongful termination. And, because the comments were made on X,…

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In that strange time period nestled between 9/11 and the Obama administration, the video game industry—specifically the console market—thrived in previously unimaginable ways. With Microsoft and Sony raking in numbers worthy of massive Hollywood production companies and global theater chains, and the mobile gaming…

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A big part of Palworld is, of course, collecting the Pokémon-like Pals themselves, but sometimes, finding or catching a particular Pal can feel like a real chore. Should you happen to be tired of scouring the world to try and capture a specific Pal, the Black Marketeer might just have what you’re looking for.…

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Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is set to arrive on most platforms, including Xbox and Switch, later this month. However, the PlayStation 5 version of the collection won’t include a platinum trophy for collecting all the other trophies. Weirdly, the PlayStation 4 port will.

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