Siliconera

It isn’t uncommon for manga series to involve two related characters from a family with one supposed to be the best and the other essentially an unpowered spare, but then for things to flip and the underdog being the true force to be reckoned with in the story. Bride of the Barrier Master is exactly that, however in this manga the way the heroine and her situation is handled makes it a more engaging twist.

There are supernaturally gifted families in Japan who keep the country safe by maintaining barriers, and Hana and her twin sister Hazuki are part of the lesser Ichise family. Hazuki is an especially gifted and blessed Practitioner, so much so that she’s even summoned a human Shikigami to assist her in her work. However, Hana just… isn’t anything special. Her Shikigami is a butterfly, she’s ignored by other people, and it even seems like her family sort of actively hates her. 

As you might expect, given the nature of these sorts of series, that doesn’t last. On her fifteenth birthday, she suddenly comes into a power even stronger than Hazuki’s. She’s able to summon two human Shikigamis. 

On January 31, 2024, Konami released Silent Hill: The Short Message for the PlayStation 5 entirely for free. The first console entry in the Silent Hill series since Silent Hill Downpour, this bite-sized experience lends itself to the psychological horror elements of the series. However, due to the focus of its narrative and first-person controls, long-time fans of the series may find it lacking. That said, Silent Hill: The Short Message is perhaps the closest thing to a "true" Silent Hill game fans have been looking for since the days of Team Silent.

Editor's Note: Silent Hill: The Short Message and this review of it contains mentions of suicide, self-harm, and abuse.

SuperGroupies announced a new clothing and accessory collection based on Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba from the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series. The items in the new collection are available for pre-order from the SuperGroupies online store until March 4, 2024.

The new SuperGroupies collection includes two items for each character, with an outerwear jacket and a handbag for Yugi Muto. The jacket will be available in S, M, and L sizes. Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba gets a pin set and another handbag. The release date for the items is set to early June 2024.

Here is the price list for the new SuperGroupies Yu-Gi-Oh collection:

• Yugi Muto Model Jacket – 23,100 yen ($153.80)
• Yugi Muto Model Bag – 18,700 yen ($124.50)

Bandai Namco released a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Goku's Next Journey DLC for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The add-on is set to launch sometime in February 2024, but the developer has yet to reveal an exact date for it.

The trailer features a sparring match between Goku, sporting a blue outfit rather than his signature orange, and his son Goten. The father and son banter back and forth as they fight, before showcasing a new Surge activation animation and the match eventually ending with a clash of kamehameha beams.

While the exact contents of the DLC pack have not been listed, if it follows the pattern of previous DLCs then Goku's Next Journey should consist of new super attacks and soul emblems on top of the additional story arc to play through.

You can watch the full gameplay trailer for Goku's Next Journey below:

Konami is holding an official poll on its Silent Hill Twitter (X) account to decide the name for the new monster in Silent Hill: The Short Message. You can choose between four names.

The four choices are Cherry Blossom Monster, Sakura Creature, Sakura Head, and Sakura Body. There is also a Tweet below the poll that shows a picture of the creature for those who may have forgotten it. Masahiro Ito, the designer of the monster and other creatures in the Silent Hill series, retweeted this poll and asked, “What would Anita, the protagonist, call it?”

Incidentally, the famous Pyramid Head has the official name of “Red Pyramid Thing,” which is what James calls him when he first sees him. So whatever the “official” name is for the sakura monster is what Anita would personally use. The monster from Silent Hill: The Short Message has sakura blossoms completely covering its head and crotch area. It has bare legs, and you can’t really see its hands due to the long sleeves of its white sweater.

PQube announced that not only is White Day 2: The Flower that Tells Lies is heading to the PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2024, but it will do so in a Complete Edition that offers all three episodes at once. Back when it appeared on PCs, people needed to go through each installment one at a time.

White Day 2 essentially tells the story of three people, rather than just follow one person like White Day: A Labyrinth Named School did with Lee Hui-min. So in the first episode, people follow Jung Soo-jin and her crush as they’re trapped at Yeondu high school. The second covers Kang Seo-yeon trying to undo a ritual at the school. Finally, the third episode ties into the first game by having Yoo Ji-min trying to help Han Na-young. 

Here is the first trailer for the console release. It also confirms that there will be a physical PS5 version of the game available, in addition to the digital PS5 and Xbox Series X ones.

The Pokémon Company President Tsunekazu Ishihara and professional shogi player Sota Fujii sat down for a conversation in a recent article published in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. The two discussed the similarities between Pokemon and shogi. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

During the interview, President Ishihara said that he has enjoyed playing shogi since childhood as it has been around longer than Pokemon. Meanwhile, Fujii said that he hadn't had much experience with Pokemon until recently but that he has played Pokemon GO.

Ishihara and Fujii commented that both Pokemon and shogi are similar, as both are "mind sports" that promote strategic thinking abilities in 1v1 player scenarios. In both games, players need to observe their opponent’s movements and plan their own moves ahead.

Ishihara jokingly added that, in the 5 and 6-year-old categories for both games, there are some naughty children competing, and the people responsible for both Pokemon and shogi tournaments want them to compete calmly and make it a rule to shake hands and promote sportsmanship behavior.

Glover is coming back once again, and this time a new port of it will appear on the Evercade console and handheld. It will show up in the Piko Interactive Collection 4 on April 30, 2024 for $19.99/£17.99€19.99.

Glover started out as an N64 and PC game back in the day, before eventually heading to the PlayStation as well. It stars a wizard’s glove named Glover trying to retrieve lost crystals that were transformed into balls in a platformer adventure. In 2021, Piko Interactive shared an early rom of the N64 version. This was followed by its PC return in 2022. It is also eventually heading to the PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X. 

First, here’s the trailer showing how the new port of Glover looks when running on an Evercade alongside the other Piko Interactive Collection 4 games.

When One Punch Man: World was first announced, I was a bit apprehensive as I've always had a slight bias against mobile games with heavy action at the center of their gameplay. While I know projects such as Genshin Impact have long proven that intense combat can be incredible on mobile platforms, I've mainly found myself opting out for console versions of these titles. I was surprised when I discovered that One Punch Man: World is one of the best fighting games with adventure elements I've played in some time.

Full disclosure: I am a casual fighting game player at best. So, this review will be from the perspective of someone who is familiar with the genre, but isn't a master at it by any means. That said, I had a blast with my time playing One Punch Man: World. At its core, the game is anchored by a campaign that is currently divided into seven "arcs." Each one centers around a specific hero's story and is broken into "episodes" with heavy cutscenes.

Tekken 8 Producer Katsuhiro Harada revealed exactly when he started thinking about new character Azucena. When sharing a social media post from a fan, he noted that he’s been thinking about creating the newcomer for about seven years. 

This means that around 2017, Harada was probably thinking about the concept behind the character. He noted the idea for her first started coming to mind then. As a reminder, Tekken 7 debuted on consoles and PCs back in 2017. So this means he’d been thinking about her since around the last installment. 

Here’s the full post about the Tekken 8 character Azucena Harada made on social media.

Pocketpair, developer of Survival-Crafting-Creature-RPG Palworld, announced plans to implement anti-cheat features to game, beginning with Player Lists set to arrive in a February 2024 update. These are intended to combat cheating on official servers, but will be optional additions for solo and community-run worlds.

In the statement, Pocketpair reported that it confirmed some connection issues with official servers, which it attributed to the influence of cheaters. The company also affirmed its zero-tolerance policy towards such activities, and it said it is working on dealing with it as a priority.

As part of these countermeasures, the company noted it plans to add player lists and anti-cheat software to Palworld. The player lists feature, which is intended to help identify and ban cheaters, is set to arrive sometime during February 2024, but there is currently no date for the addition of the anti-cheat software.

You can find the full statement from Pocketpair in the tweet below:

Pokemon Center Online Japan is celebrating its eighth anniversary by holding numerous promotions. One of them is a sweepstake that rewards a Pikachu tail pillow. The large pillow will have an overall length of 110cm (~43.3 inches).

People who want to get this pillow will have to undergo numerous steps to enter the sweepstake. First, they must register an account on the Japanese Pokemon Center Online website and opt to receive mail magazines. They can then receive an email that will contain a link to enter the sweepstake.

Users who have applied must also provide a valid and contactable Japanese address for the store to send the item physically. They must not delete the account until the store starts determining the winners on March 1, 2024, and informs the winners a few days later.

Capcom launched new apparel designs inspired by Resident Evil 4 Remake, Street Fighter 6, and Monster Hunter for Amazon Merch on Demand. These new designs are now available to order via the U.S. and Japanese Amazon sites. Each design is available in four different apparel types: regular T-shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt, sweatshirt, and pullover hoodie.

The Street Fighter 6 design features the aged series protagonist Ryu. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil 4 Remake apparel design includes Ada Wong who starred in the Separate Ways DLC. Capcom also added two new Monster Hunter designs based on Deviljho and the Capcom Town booth.

Here are some of the sample images of Capcom's new apparel designs:

Sushiro revealed more information on its upcoming collaboration with Genshin Impact and the merchandise that will appear. You’ll be able to enjoy exclusive menu items, as well as have the chance to get some limited items, between February 21, 2024 and March 24, 2024. 

There will be four different kinds of items on the collaboration menu. The first one is a platter of three nigiri sushi (tamago, maguro, ebi), and the second one is a platter of tuna nigiri (with takuan pickle). You’ll also be able to order shoyu ramen and a soda milk parfait from the menu. The ramen will come with a little Gorou picture and the parfait will come with a Kokomi one. Meanwhile, if you order the sushi, you’ll have a random chance of getting either a Yae Miko, Ayato, Ayaka, or Thoma pick.

A new official Ai Fairouz song featuring the Pokemon Snorlax has appeared on YouTube. It is titled "Kabigon neterunkaai" in Japanese, and the song also has an official English title, which is "You're sleeping soundly, Snorlax." The Pokemon Company revealed that it worked with Minto to produce the music video.

The Japanese-Egyptian voice actress Ai Fairouz is the singer of "You're sleeping soundly, Snorlax!". Prior to this Snorlax song, she has also been involved in the Pokemon franchise by providing Japanese voiceovers for the Levincia Gym Leader Iono in the mobile game Pokemon Masters EX and the anime show Pokemon: Paldean Winds, as well as Alisa in Pokemon Concierge.

Tokyo Logic's Karasuya Sabou composed the song, while itami worked on the music video's animation with Studio Alble's Mizuki Watanabe acting as the latter's producer.

The music video for the Ai Fairouz song is available to watch via the Japanese official Pokemon YouTube channel:

The Suika Game (Watermelon Game) social media account warned users that in late February 2024, it will reset players’ online scores. This only applies to the Nintendo Switch version of the game.

According to Aladdin X, this is due to how the system works on the Nintendo Switch. It did not provide any specific details or further explanations on the matter. It apologizes for the trouble this will cause players, especially those who have very high scores on the online leaderboards. While the online scores will disappear from late February 2024, you will still be able to look at your own personal high scores, since the game saves that data locally.

The ESRB issued its rating for the upcoming action game Stellar Blade and dubbed it “Mature.” This comes after the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) in Korea rated it for players ages 19 and up.

The description shared by the board offered explanations for Stellar Blade being suggested for players ages 17 and up. Some of it involved the way women are depicted in the title. It specifically mentioned the physics for bodies and “revealing costumes.” The degree of violence, which involves various guns and swords and involve blood, also ended up cited. It did note only one swear, with that being the word “shit.”

Here is the full ESRB description as taken from the official site:

McDonald’s Japan announced that the next Happy Meal collaborations toys include Kirby plush and Sanrio’s Pompompurin. The first round of Kirby plushies and Pompompurin toys will appear on February 23, 2024, and the second one on March 1.

The company's X (formerly Twitter) official account shared two posts showcasing the new plushies and toys. When it comes to the new McDonald’s Japan Kirby plush, there will be eight available, with four appearing in each round. The plushies feature Kirby in different poses. The first round also includes a Waddle Dee plush, with the second one including a special yellow Kirby plush.

Meanwhile, the first round of Pompompurin Happy Meal items includes a ball maze toy, a jumping Pompompurin, and a picture matching game. The second round a fridge-shaped mini container with a magnet, a Pompompurin sofa stamp, and a tissue case.

Larian Studios released the Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 6 notes and, as someone might expect, they are huge. The biggest new additions involve some additional animations that add ambiance to the world when romancing characters or hanging around camp, but there are also new fixes to improve the overall experience. 

The actual notes went into more detail about how these animations will look when you are at camp and around your companions. With the kisses, it is random which one you will see or get when you kiss a character you are in a relationship with. However, there are different ones and character heights will be taken into account. As for the new idle animations, there are six total. Halsin, Jaheira, Lae’zel, Minsc, Minthara, and Shadowheart will all do different things than before when they’re relaxing.

Here are the full Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes, as taken from Steam. Note that they do contain spoilers if you haven't beaten the game.

HIGHLIGHTS

Atlus and Vanillaware revealed six new Unicorn Overlord allies and one enemy. Dinah, Morard, Nigel, Ramona, Sanatio, and Yunifi will be on Alain’s side, while Elgor will be another foe.

Three of the new Unicorn Overlord allies are bestrals, which means they belong to humanoid species with animal traits. Dinah leads a group of soldiers called the Snowpetals and is voiced by Sayaka Senbongi. Both Ramona and Morard are part of the Bastorias Frostblooms. She’s the group’s leader and is voiced by Nanako Mori. He’s one of its most valuable warriors and is voiced by Tomoyuki Shimura. Ramona’s adopted (human) daughter Yunifi is an archer with the group. She’s played by Hisako Kanemoto. Sanatio isn’t a beastral, but he is a Heavenswing Knight with the wings of an angel. Mutsumi Tamura is the voice actor for him. Finally, the last new ally revealed is the Knights of the Sacred Heart leader Nigel. Takayuki Ishii provides his voice.

Here’s how all of those characters look in and out of battle.

Square Enix Music is streaming the FFVII Remake soundtrack on its YouTube channel. The stream will run until 11am JST on February 17, 2024.

Here's the stream now for folks to watch:

The stream will play the original FFVII Remake soundtrack, the Plus version of the soundtrack, and the soundtrack for Intergrade. As of the time of writing, the stream is playing “Let the Battles Begin! Break Through” from FFVII Remake. According to the chat, this is a very sudden atmospheric change from the previous song, and that the stream is going through the soundtrack in the order it is on the CD.

Square Enix announced that it will sell its Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories playing cards again.  They will come out on April 27, 2024.

You can pre-order the cards from the Japanese Square Enix store. They cost 3,080 JPY, which would be around $20.50. During their initial run in 2023, pre-orders opened up in June 2023 and the cards shipped out on September 30, 2023. These cards are still not available in the North American store, which means that if you want to purchase them but you live outside of Japan, you’ll need to use a proxy service.

Marvel Studios shared the first trailer for the upcoming X-Men '97 animated series and confirmed its release date as March 20, 2024. The new series is a sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, which aired between October 1992 and September 1997.

The new trailer shows the X-Men facing new and familiar threats after Professor X’s passing in the original cartoon, and shows Magneto as his possible successor. The trailer also showed some voice actors reprising their roles in the upcoming new series, such as Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and George Buza as Beast, and Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm.

You can take a look at the X-Men '97 animated series trailer here:

Meanwhile, some voice actors that participated in X-Men: The Animated Series will also return, but will voice new characters.

In a social media post about the Sora amiibo, Masahiro Sakurai announced that he has finished all of the work he needs to do for Super Smash Bros Ultimate (SSBU). This is because all of the fighters are now available as an amiibo.

This is a translation of Sakurai’s tweet about the Sora amiibo and game:

Sora’s amiibo comes out today! Thank you to everyone who worked on it (this was an amazing accomplishment). The design was always perfect, and the details and the colors look exactly as intended. The pose and sculpting look good as well. Now that all of the fighters have an amiibo, my work on Super Smash Bros Ultimate is basically done. Thank you for everything.

Sora of Kingdom Hearts debuted in Fighter Pas Vol 2 and is the final DLC character for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Since SSBU is no longer getting regular updates in the form of season passes or DLC, creating the amiibos for it was likely the last bit of work for Sakurai and the team.

Square Enix shared new details about the Forest and Sea Chocobo in FFVII Rebirth. In the original Final Fantasy VII, these type of Chocobo were known as the Green and Blue Chocobos due to the distinct color of their feathers.

Forest Chocobos show their strength by jumping on large mushrooms and sliding down the branches of large trees in the forest. Thanks to these Chocobo Cloud and company can enjoy exploring dense forests, where it would be easy to get lost otherwise.

Meanwhile, Sea Chocobos can move freely above the surface of the sea and rivers by spraying powerful water jets from their talons. Sea Chocobos can take players to secret areas that are unavailable by foot

There’s new cosmetic DLC for Sonic Superstars, and it puts Sonic the Hedgehog into a Shadow costume. It is now free on all platforms for consoles and PCs. [Thanks, Wario64!]

Note that the add-on isn’t a part of a patch or official update. You actually need to visit the eShop, PlayStation Store, Steam, or Xbox Store to download it first. Then, once you’re in-game, you will see it as an option in when you’re picking your character. After you choose who you want to be, say that would be Sonic, you can then select Shadow.

Here’s the official art of the Sonic Superstars DLC from Steam, which shows it will put Sonic the Hedgehog in a Shadow costume, rather than transform him into the other character. 

Bandai Namco announced that Tales of Arise will join the Xbox Game Pass catalog in Japan on February 19, 2024, as well as the PS Plus Game Catalog on February 20, 2024. Other Tales titles will be joining the PS Plus Game Catalog as well.

Sony also detailed various other games that will be joining the PS Plus Game Catalogue on the same day. The PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium catalogue will include Need for Speed Unbound, and The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition for the PS5.

Tales of Arise, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Roguebook will be added to both the PS5 and PS4 catalogues. Meanwhile, LEGO Worlds, LEGO Jurassic World, Rogue Lords, and Tales of Zestiria will be the PS4 games added. The PlayStation Premium Classics catalogue will add Resistance: Retribution, Jet Rider 2, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Vesperia.

A rhythm game spin-off based on a property known for its great music usually ends up being a fantastic idea, so GUNVOLT RECORDS: Cychronicle pulling from the Gunvolt series library seems like a good fit! However, a small track list that omits some songs to sell later as DLC and rudimentary design with four difficulty levels can leave it feeling a bit lacking.

A Final Fantasy VII Rebirth-themed collaboration event will appear soon at Tokyo Tower. The event will primarily take place at the Co-Lab Tokyo store located on the second floor of the tower's Foot Town. It will run from mid-February 2024 to early March 2024.

To enter the event, children aged 15 or under can purchase a ticket at ¥2,200 (~$14.65), while those aged older will have to pay ¥2,750 (~$18.32). They will then receive a Final Fantasy VII-branded ticket used to access Tokyo Tower's Main Deck, a Word Rally mini-game sheet, and a branded pen.

The Word Rally game will have participants find panels of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Zack, and Sephiroth that are scattered inside the Tokyo Tower and jot down the words listed on each of them. After submitting a completed entry, they can win a metallic postcard featuring one of the characters.

The store will also feature new merchandise modeled after Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth. People who make purchases of over ¥3,000 will also receive a bonus random circular sticker.

The full merchandise list, along with the item prices in Japanese yen, is available right below:

Kotobukiya announced that the KOF 2001 Angel Bishoujo figure is now available to pre-order via Sideshow, with shipping expected late this year. The figure was previously teased back in August 2023, with a painted prototype appearing earlier in February 2024.

The figure will cost $130 or ¥20,146 with shipping dated between November 2024 and January 2025. The design was based on her original appearance in The King of Fighters 2001 and illustrated by Shunya Yamashita with sculpting by ke (comaccow), both of whom have also worked on several other figures in the Bishoujo Line. Made of ABS and PVC, she stands approximately 5.51" or 14 cm tall and purchases are limited to a maximum of 6 per customer.

You can get a look at the KOF 2001 Angel Bishoujo figure in the gallery below:

When Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 launches at the end of February 2024, we’ll see a new AstralOp character named Songque added to the game. She’s an S-rank unit that people will be able to get from AstralOp Supply banners.

HoYoVerse’s profile described her as a kind person who is also one of the mysterious Seven Shus. She’s trying to become the one for Deception. IIt also notes she’s known for divination. In-battle, she’ll help deal lightning element damage to multiple enemies during a Stellar Burst, will inflict a debuff that increases damage from all elements they take, and any enemy she hits will apparently take on the Paralyze Trauma effect. When there’s no Stellar Outburst, she’ll help Astral Intensity, especially when attacks land, and all enemies will take more damage from elemental attacks.  

There is also a guaranteed drop rate for Songque. Once her banner is live, someone will get her if they pull 60 times on the banner. That offer will be in effect until March 29, 2024.

As a reminder, Songque is the second AstralOp character joining Honkai Impact 3rd in Part 2. The other one debuting in 7.3 is the Dreamseeker. Everyone can earn this character via playing. 

VShojo Vtuber Ironmouse announced a 3D concert will be held online on February 29, 2024. Sayton Gang: Attack of the Magic Cloud will air at 6pm PT/9pm ET.

There’s a first trailer that teases the theme and some of the guest appearances on social media. The theme is Vshojo Academy. While Ironmouse is obviously the star of the show, Projekt Melody, Bubi, and GEEGA also appear in clips.

About a year ago, Ironmouse held another dedicated performance like this. She performed the Mouse Birthday Concert 2023 on January 11, 2023. Again, a few other Vtubers showed up for some songs. That full concert is still available to stream on her official YouTube channel. There was an original song performed, in addition to a number of covers of popular songs and themes from different shows.

The Square Enix Store updated with pre-orders for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth magnets and pins. Each listing involves a set of 12 items and is expected to ship in June 2024, which is after the game’s release.

The set of pins costs $59.88. That features faces of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth characters and their names. It primarily involves protagonists, though there is one pin with Sephiroth and another with the game’s logo.

Here’s the list of characters depicted on those pins:

• Aerith Gainsborough
• Barret Wallace
• Cait Sith
• Cid Highwind
• Cloud Strife
• Red XIII
• Sephiroth
• Tifa Lockhart
• Vincent Valentine
• Yuffie Kisaragi

Square Enix announced the rerelease of the Final Fantasy XIV job icon pins. The pins are expected to release in Japan on May 26, 2024, and they are now available for pre-order from the Japanese Square Enix e-Store.

Each pin costs 660 yen (or about $4.40.) Only the Disciples of War and Magic pins will return for this rerelease, and there are 20 available. Here is a list of all the job icon pins we'll see again later this year:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Blue Mage
• Dancer

Arc System Works and Wakatsuru revealed the third Guilty Gear 25th-anniversary collaboration liquor drink, which will be a rice sake featuring Baiken. The branded Noukaya Oyamanishiki pure rice sake bottle will appear in limited numbers in March 2024.

Wakatsuru will use the same Japanese-made malted rice to produce the Noukaya Oyamanishiki sake drink. With a ratio of polished rice at 55%, the drink will have 16% of alcohol. A single bottle will contain 720ml of the liquor.

The bottles will be available with a tax-inclusive individual price of 3,300 yen (~$22). Wakatsuru will only produce up to 500 bottles featuring this Baiken brand.

Atlus and Kadokawa revealed a new Persona 5 Royal book that will feature 2D artwork and 3D models from the game. Titled Persona 5 Royal Official Design Works, the book will appear in late March 2024. Pre-orders for the book have also opened on select Japanese web stores, with one of them supporting worldwide shipping.

With a total of 272 pages, the book will contain illustrations and CG models while including commentaries from the production staff. It will also feature two long interviews with P-Studio's creative staff that provide more insights into the title's development process.

The book is available for pre-order on Amazon Japan, which supports international shipping with the item priced at ¥3,520 (~$23.48). A more complete ebten DX Pack has also appeared on Atlus D Shop, which at ¥6,270 (~$41.85) adds a B2-sized hanging tapestry and a badge of Violet in Picaresque Mouse form. However, the latter store does not include the set in the WorldShopping widget's list of items eligible for overseas shipping.

There’s a new Vitreous Scourge mount and Platinum currency bundle people can buy for Diablo IV, and it may call to mind the Horse Armor from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It costs $64.99 for a mount, armor for it to wear, trophies, and Platinum currency on Battle.net.

Essentially, this is a currency bundle that includes a Crystal-Clad mount and related items for it. The horse has crystal and demon bones on it, and players get immediate access to it at the Stable once they complete the “Donan’s Favor” quest. There is matching Crystal and Bone Cage armor to equip to the horse, which can be used by anyone and is also at the stable after acquiring the add-on. The two Mount Trophies Banner of Crystal and Bone and Crystal Capita also come with the pack. 

Hololive Production revealed that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will give away digital items based on the former's Vtubers in the latter's official Roblox space. People will be able to obtain wearable hats modeled after Gawr Gura, Mori Calliope, and Sakura Miko from the Hello! Tokyo Friends world.

The government bureau will set a number of quests that players will have to complete in order to receive the hats. The quests will involve buying a number of cosmetics from the lobby shop, exploring the official Tokyo space in Roblox, and collecting coins after each Hololive Vtuber hat has been released.

In addition, only the first 15,000 players who cleared the quests will be able to get the hats. Those who have owned the hats can wear and showcase them in other Roblox worlds.

Square Enix and FUNNYMOVIE released a new FFVII Rebirth promotional animated video in Japan featuring Cloud and date on a Tifa at the Gold Saucer. The video is presented in a 2D animated comedic style.

The video starts with Cloud and Tifa discussing the nice and romantic ride on the Gold Saucer gondola, when Cloud calls her Aerith by accident. After noticing, Tifa tries to get an explanation out of Cloud, who insists that he did not say Aerith, and tries to make up a ridiculous excuse about it.

The excuse that Cloud tries to make work is that instead of Aerith he said “this is a nice seat” in Japanese, which can be pronounced in Kansai dialect as “eeyan kono isu” (ええやんこの椅子,) which Cloud tries to argue is similar to the Japanese pronunciation of Aerith’s name (“Earisu.”) The video concludes with Tifa explaining some of the content that players can expect in FFVII Rebirth.

You can check out the new FFVII Rebirth FUNNYMOVIE animation featuring Tifa and Cloud’s date below. The video is 2 minutes and 46 seconds long and is only available in Japanese.

The latest Bandai Namco financial statement suggests that Blue Protocol is underperforming for the company. The statement for Q3 of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, shows losses due to “new online game titles introduced this fiscal year.” [Thanks, Ryokutya2089!]

The company noted that performance for mainline titles belonging to the Dragon Ball and One Piece series remained stable in Japan and overseas, but new online game titles fell far short of plans. The latest statement appeared on the Japanese gaming website Gamebiz. While Bandai Namco doesn’t directly state that Blue Protocol is underperforming or name it as responsible for the losses, the title is the only online game the company has released for the current fiscal year.

Bandai Namco reported ¥772 billion yen in sales for Q3, an increase of 3.9% compared to the previous fiscal year during the same period of time. However, operating income for the company resulted in ¥78 billion yen, a decrease of 26.3% year-over-year. Going forward, Bandai Namco stated plans to build an optimal and well-balanced title portfolio and strengthen development with an emphasis on quality.