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Do you think you know everything there is to know about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Then, you can consider participating in the official nationwide quiz about it. Nintendo will hold a The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nationwide Quiz Event from April 7-9, 2023. It will be available in both Japanese and English.

In total, there will be four rounds. You can participate in any or even all of them, and your highest score will be the final result. In order to participate in the quiz, you need to have a Nintendo Account. Here are the times for the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nationwide Quiz:

• April 7, 2023: 10:00 PM - 10:30 PM
• April 8, 2023: 10:00 AM - 10:30 PM, 10:00 PM - 10:30 PM
• April 9, 2023: 10:00 AM - 10:30 PM

The rankings will be announced at 10 PM on April 9. These are all JST, so for those outside of Japan, the quiz will be at 6 AM and PM PT/9 AM and PM ET.

If you use your phone to scan the QR code on the website for the quiz, you can look at some practice questions. They are all multiple choice. Questions range from identifying an enemy from a picture to trivia about the monsters and geography of Hyrule.

The Pokemon Company International revealed the name and logo for the new anime series, and it will be named Pokemon Horizons: The Series. It appeared along with a new trailer. Taito Okiura, vice-president of marketing for the Pokemon Company International, said the series will begin "premiering outside of Japan later this year." There's no exact 2023 release date yet.

Pokemon Horizons will follow dual protagonists Liko and Roy as they explore the mysteries of the world. Liko is a girl with a mysterious pendant and is accompanied by her partner Sprigatito, while Roy wishes to challenge Legendary Pokemon along with his Fuecoco. These four will be joined by a group known as the 'Rising Volt Tacklers' consisting of Friede the leader, Murdock the chef, Orla the mechanic and Mollie the healer. Also appearing are Amethio the Explorer and mascot-suited streamer Nidothing. The trailer also showed the involvement of a black Rayquaza, which viewers may recognise as the shiny variant from the games.

You can watch the trailer for the new Pokemon anime below:

[embed]https://youtu.be/_c_hMehCORQ[/embed]

While it does have a name, the new Pokemon anime series has not had a location confirmed. However the appearance of the Paldean starters and an academy-like setting may lead some to speculate that it takes place at least partly in Paldea, the setting of the recent Scarlet and Violet games.

As of March 31, 2023, Mirai Akari will retire from her activities as a Vtuber. She will stream for the last time on that date. In her announcement tweet, she apologized for how sudden this retirement is and wants to discuss her feelings with her fans during her final stream.

Her announcement tweet contained four images that explain why she wants to retire from being a Vtuber. She stated that she isn’t certain if this is the right choice, but she made this decision after thinking about it for a long time. Though she wants to continue being a Vtuber—everything from streaming to making videos to singing—the main reason she’s retiring is due to differences in values between herself and her managers.

She stated that since Mirai Akari is a virtual Vtuber avatar, she’s not actually disappearing. All of her archives will remain on her YouTube channel. She will no longer be posting anything as Akari, but she will continue to support all of her Vtuber friends and her fans. At the end of her letter, she thanked all of her fans, Vtuber friends, clients, and the staff who helped her to create her avatar. She also apologized for her lack of updates on her YouTube channel. There are several videos that she recorded prior to her decision to retire, so she will upload them before her final day.

Bandai Namco officially revealed the Tekken 8 version of Jack, who is known here as Jack-8. However, we already had an idea he was in the game and on the way. He first showed up in the Lars Alexandersson character trailer. However, this time he gets to stand in the spotlight.

Jack has appeared in pretty much every Tekkeninstallment, and the naming scheme always follows the one used by Jack-8 in Tekken 8. The original “Jack” appeared in the first game. Since then, almost everyone featured a number at the end. The exception is Street Fighter x Tekken’s Jack-X.

Here's the new trailer showing off Jack-8. In it, he faces off against returning fighter King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b4MyA6wPJI&ab_channel=BandaiNamcoEntertainmentAmerica

Also, this is the list of all of the Tekken 8 character trailers that appeared before the Jack-8 reveal.

The Mercenaries DLC will appear in Resident Evil 4 Remake for free starting on April 7, 2023. This mode also existed in the original version of the game. It is a lot more action-packed than the main campaign, and it focuses on killing enemies as fast as possible to get a high score. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Since its original incarnation in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil games have featured a The Mercenaries minigame or something similar. In Resident Evil 4, the version of The Mercenaries allowed you to play as HUNK and the Giant Chainsaw Man. It also featured the unlockable Handcannon weapon. Until Capcom reveals more information on this iteration of The Mercenaries though, it’s unclear just what characters and weapons will be in it.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is a revamped version of original 2005 game. Both the characters and gameplay are re-imaginations of the original. For example, there is a higher emphasis on parrying with your knife in the remake. The story still revolves around secret agent Leon S. Kennedy and his mission to rescue the president's daughter Ashley, though. You can read our review for it here.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC. The Mercenaries DLC for Resident Evil 4 Remake will come out for free on April 7, 2023.

The Pokemon Company will run a Pikachu Campaign at Pokemon Centers in Japan from April 22, 2023 to June 30, 2023. During that time, you will be able to see and purchase a wide variety of Pikachus at the stores. As well, a serial code that players can use to redeem a Pikachu in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be available. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

There are various stages to the Pikachu Campaign. The first part is a My Pikachu doll, which will cost 1,650 JPY (around $12.60). These Pikachu dolls all have slight differences to their expressions, body parts, and tails. You’ll be able to choose the perfect Pikachu for yourself. The catch, however, is that they are not available in the online shops.

If you want to make your My Pikachu purchase more special, you can participate in the Pika Pika Forest or Pika Pika Tree attraction. It will cost 1,650 JPY. It recreates the idea of meeting your own Pikachu in the forest, but you will not be able to pick a My Pikachu yourself. Once you have a My Pikachu, you can create a name tag for it. You will be able to make a name tag from April 22, 2023 to May 31, 2023.

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Koei Tecmo teased what people can expect in each early Atelier Ryza 3 patch, and depth of field fixes and graphics are priorities. The company took to the official site to detail what will come in updates. The first one will focus on the depth of field on every platform. After that, there will be more specific graphical fixes for each platform.

The first Atelier Ryza 3 depth of field update will appear in a patch for the PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC. Koei Tecmo noted that Gust’s adjustments will make the effect “weaker.” The goal, however, is to make it more playable when someone is in some of the game’s larger environments.

After that, there will be two other kinds of updates. One Atelier Ryza 3 patch on the PS4, PS5, and Switch will add graphics options. Koei Tecmo didn’t explain what that will entail or how comprehensive these will be. With the PC version, there will be even more Atelier Ryza 3 depth of field changes. Koei Tecmo noted there will be varying degrees to select, rather than either having it “on” or “off.”

Atelier Ryza 3 is available on the PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC. There's no word yet on when the first depth of field patch could appear.

People now playing the Resident Evil 4 remake on the PS5 may have noticed a bug involving flickering lights. Capcom issued a statement noting it is aware of the problem. It also confirmed that it will release a patch that will fix that issue in Resident Evil 4, while detailing how to mitigate the issue in the meantime.

Capcom didn’t share a video of how the Resident Evil 4 flickering lights bug looks on the PS5. It only noted that it will show up on the bottom half of the screen. It noted that there are three things that can help in the meantime.

The first possible solution is to save. After you have, go to the PS5 home menu and close the game out. Then, choose to restart it.

The other two ways to potentially get rid of this problem while waiting for the Resident Evil 4 remake patch is to try adjusting two options. One is to turn on the Camera’s Motion Blur. The other is to turn off the Display’s Depth of Field. Capcom only mentioned doing one or the other.

The Resident Evil 4 remake is available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the PS5 flickering lights patch is coming.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, Shibuya Scramble Figure  will release a 1/7 figure of Gemini Elf. Pre-orders are open until July 31, 2023. The Yu-Gi-Oh Gemini Elf figure will cost 31,900 JPY, which is approximately $243.50. [Thanks, Denfaminico!]

The Gemini Elf figure will stand at around 26 centimeters tall and is a faithful recreation of the card art. The two elves will stand on a base that resembles the back of a Yu-Gi-Oh card. This is so that it looks like someone has summoned the monster during a game. eStream is also holding a giveaway on Twitter. To participate, you simply need to QRT this Tweet with the hashtags #ヂェミナイ・エルフ and #渋スクフィギュア. It will give away five figures in total.

Here are some more pictures of the Gemini Elf figure:

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Gemini Elf is one of the original Yu-Gi-Oh monsters when the card game launched in 1998. It is a Normal Monster of the Earth attribute and it is a Spellcaster. It has fairly good stats for a 4-star monster, since it has 1900 ATK. However, outside of usage in decks that specialize in Normal Monsters, it has fallen out of the meta.

Phat Company will release 1/7 scale figures of Sabito and Makomo from Demon Slayer in April 2024. Pre-orders are open via AmiAmi and Good Smile Company. Each figure will cost 19,800 JPY, which is around $151.15. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

Though the Makomo figure is just a normal scale one that you can pose, you can actually swap around parts on the Sabito. Not only can you remove his mask if you wish, but you can also replace his wooden sword with a Nichirin sword. Both the Demon Slayer Sabito and Makomo figures will come with their own base stands. Sabito’s look like he is standing on stone. Meanwhile, Makomo’s looks like she is standing on the forest ground with some rocks behind her.

Here are some pictures of Sabito:

[gallery columns="5" ids="956980,956981,956982,956983,956984" link="file"]

Here are some pictures of Makomo:

[gallery columns="4" ids="956976,956977,956978,956979" link="file"]

During the March 2023, Honkai: Star Rail Special Program, it was revealed the first two event banners will feature the characters Seele and Jing Yuan. Seele will be available during the first half of the update. Jing Yuan will follow. In addition, there will be a Departure Warp banner at launch with multiple five-star characters and a guarantee one focus one will be gotten in 50 pulls.

Seele is a five-star Quantum element character on The Hunt Path. She’s from Belobog, residing in its Underworld. While her Event Warp is running, the Light Core Event Warp with the focus In the Night (The Hunt) five-star Light Core will appear.

Likewise, Jing Yuan is also a five-star character. He’s from the Xianzhou Alliance and is a Lightning element character on The Erudition Path. The Light Cone Event Warp focus item during that banner phase will be Before Dawn (The Erudition).

As for the Departure Warp, the first 10 Warps are 20% off. You can pull up to 50 times. If you do, you’re guaranteed at least one five-star character.

The featured five-stars characters on this Honkai: Star Rail banner are:

During the first Honkai: Star Rail Special Program, HoYoVerse revealed the release date. As many expected, it is coming soon. People will be able to start playing through the turn-based RPG on April 26, 2023. Pre-installation starts April 23, 2023. There will also be a PlayStation version of Honkai: Star Rail, though it wasn't specified it will be for both the PS4 and PS5. It's in development, and there's no release date for it yet.

We already had some idea this news would be coming. There had been rumors of an April 2023 release window ahead of this presentation. Not to mention HoYoVerse also recently held a final closed beta for people. Pre-registrations for the game also opened up in February 2023.

Due to said pre-registrations hitting all goals, new players will get a number of rewards when they start. As 5,000,000 people pre-registered and 2,500,000 followed the game on social media, people get a number of items like free currency and a character. The free character is Serval, a four-star Lightning-element unit. Newcomers will also get 100,000 Credits to spend on items and 20 Star Rail Passes to use to pull for characters in the game's gacha. There is also a free avatar cosmetic. Players' profiles can equip a Avatar Trailblazer – Welcome icon.

Season 2 of the new Urusei Yatsura anime will start airing in 2024. The announcement tweet featured Lum winking at the viewer while she’s wearing a school uniform. There are sakura blossoms floating around her as well. It is unclear if this is just an innocuous key visual or if this is meant to be a hint that viewers can expect to see Urusei Yatsura season 2 in Spring 2024. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

Urusei Yatsura was originally a manga series by Rumiko Takahashi (the creator of works such as Ranma ½ and Inuyasha). It ran from 1978 to 1987. The original anime series for it stated in 1981 and the reboot for it debuted in 2022. In it, Ataru is a human and Lum is part of an alien race of Oni. In order to protect Earth from the Oni’s invasion, Ataru must touch Lum’s horns before the week is up, which he succeeds at. However, due to some misunderstandings, Lum believes that Ataru proposed to her at the end of the competition and moved into his house.

Like some of Takahashi’s other works, Urusei Yatsura is a romantic comedy with slapstick elements. The 2022 remake of the anime keeps her signature art style but with more modern colors and shading. Though some of the original actors are still in the industry, the new show has more or less replaced the entire cast as well.

Urusei Yatsura season 2 will start airing some time in 2024.

While much of the Honkai: Star Rail Special Program acted as a refresher going over the characters, story, and worlds for those new to the show, it also mentioned English voice actors appearing in the cast. Six major players from from the Astral Express and Herta Space Station appeared. It also brought up how Belobog is home to this world’s version of Bronya, who people might recognize from Honkai Impact 3rd.

First, here is the cast of English Honkai: Star Rail voice actors who were revealed during the presentation. Those who played one of the betas might have already seen some of them in character profiles and heard them. As each one was introduced, they also introduced themselves.

• Bailu - Su Ling Chan
• Bronya - Madeline Reiter
• Dan Heng - Nicholas Leung
• Herta - PJ Mattson
• Himeko - Cia Court
• Jing Yuan - Alejandro Saab
• Kafka - Cheryl Texiera
• March 7th - Skyler Davenport
• Seele - Molly Zhang
• Welt - Corey Landis
• Yanqing - Amber May

All six of these characters from the cast whose English voice actors were mentioned are playable in Honkai: Star Rail. As people who played one of the betas may recall, both Dan Heng and March 7th joined the player’s avatar, known as the Trailblazer, as part of the story.

An exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of the serialization of the Fist of the North Star manga will be held in Japan sometime in Fall 2023. The venue is located at the Mori Arts Center Gallery located in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. More than 400 original artworks, including new drawings created by Fist of the North Star Artist Tetsuo Hara, will be available to the public. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The new Fist of the North Star exhibition recounts the story of conflict and love between the inhabitants of a turbulent post-apocalyptic world set in the late 19th century. The structure of the exhibition will highlight the most popular episodes of the series. Taking pictures of the exhibition and the original artwork will be allowed. Additionally, the venue will offer many photo spots specially designed to share on social media.

You can check out the key visual promoting the exhibition in the following tweet:

https://twitter.com/40thHokutoNoTen/status/1638709269049806850

In more Fist of the North Star news, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star is available North America and Europe as of March 2023 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. A demo of the game is available now as well.

With a new patch appearing for Resident Evil 5 on Steam, Capcom made it significantly easier to play the multiplayer part of the game in online co-op on Steam with friends. This is due to the removal of the Games for Windows Live service. Previously, joining a co-op game with Steam friends was a bit of a headache. The most reliable way before this patch was to search for your friend's session through the "Join Game" menu and by inputting the right parameters for their game.

However, with the new patch it is as simple as navigating to your Steam friends list and right clicking your friend's user name to jump into their game. Players will no longer have to navigate through the in-game menus in Resident Evil 5 in order to play online co-op with their Steam friends. That said, you will need to make sure that your game is at that the very least on the start screen before you attempt to join them.

From there, once your friend has accepted your request you can pop into their game. For the person hosting the game, if you are in the middle of a chapter you will need to navigate to the pause menu and select "Restart" in order for your friend to jump in. You will have to restart that chapter from your most recent checkpoint, but you'll have your friend with you at the very least!

Resident Evil 5 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and on PC through Steam.

Resident Evil 4 remake offers more than a handful of weapons and item options, but only a few could be considered the best. While a majority of the guns from the original game do appear, there are a few new additions that serve more interesting utility roles. Additionally, there is one item in particular that can make the game significantly easier if the player chooses to invest in it.

Editor's Note: Please keep in mind that the weapons and items in the "best of" list below may contain spoilers for the later hours of Resident Evil 4 remake.

Combat Knife

The Combat Knife is an invaluable weapon. It will allow you parry attacks and perform finishers on enemies. Since Resident Evil 4 remake becomes significantly easier once you get the parry mechanic down, upgrading your Combat Knife is a must. Especially when it comes to close quarters combat.

Once fully upgraded, you will be able to take down most normal enemies with just a few slashes on Standard. This also goes for the Fighting Knife, which is a better version of the Combat Knife and is obtained later in the game. Both of these knives have durability. But keeping both in your inventory will more than pay off.

Bolt Thrower and Attachable Mines

With ammunition you can pick up from enemies you kill or from any missed shot, the Bolt Thrower is a great item for those wanting to conserve on ammo. But what makes the Bolt Thrower really stick out is the Attachable Mines you can craft.

The Resident Evil 4 remake will take players through familiar locations, one of which being the Castle. While some might remember a very specific sword puzzle, which was relatively easy and involved just swapping a pair of swords, the one that appears in this game is a little different. Instead, the Resident Evil 4 remake sword puzzle will have players moving around a total of four swords, and obtaining one by shooting specific medallions found through the room itself.

The first two medallions to unlock the door to obtain the Bloody Sword are found within the room that features the statue impaled by said sword. However, the final is actually directly to your left. Swing your camera left and up, and you will see the final emblem you need to shoot in order to open the door. From there, grab the sword and get ready to solve the puzzle. The solution is fairly simple, which you can find below, including a picture of said solution.

The solution to the Resident Evil 4 remake sword puzzle is as follows:

• Iron Sword - Gold Sword - Bloody Sword - Rusted Sword

One of the more iconic side locations in Resident Evil 4 is making a return. In the Resident Evil 4 remake, players will make their way to the church of the Los Illuminados to locate Ashley Graham, and there is a puzzle there that may be familiar to those who played the original game. However, like a lot of things in the remake, this puzzle has changed somewhat. That doesn't mean the solution is any more complicated. You'll just be solving it in a different way.

The first thing you need to do to complete the puzzle is find the Blue Dial. This item is found on the righthand side of the church in a cabinet. From there, head to left side of the podium and pull down the switch. This will open up the interface where players can use the Blue Dial to begin the Los Illuminados puzzle. Instead of trying to create the Los Illuminados symbol, you want to make sure all of the respective blue, green, and red fragments align properly outside of the logo itself.

You can view the solution to the Resident Evil 4 remake Los Illuminados Church puzzle below.

To mix things up, Capcom added a few extra gameplay mechanics and gimmicks to Residenh Evil 4 in 2023. This includes the inclusion of Attache Case charms in the Resident Evil 4 remake. While not necessary to obtain, they do provide some interesting bonuses and benefits when attached to your case. The option to attach Attache Case charms appears in the early hours of the game, and this can be done at any save point. However, the opportunity to obtain them happens a little further on into the game.

The first time you will be able to obtain Attache Case charms in the Resident Evil 4 remake is when you get access to the shooting gallery. Progressing through the game will have you stumbling upon one of these shooting ranges sooner, rather than later. The shooting gallery is an optional series of challenges players can participate in that will test your accuracy and reflexes. Each challenge will have a specific weapon assigned to it. The higher you score, the more Silver or Gold Coins you are given. Additional challenges will be unlocked as you get through Resident Evil 4 remake. You can see an example of some of the challenges and rewards below.

The formidable Garrador makes a return in Resident Evil 4 remake. Just like in the original, this enemy will pursue the player based on sound cues. However, there is one very simple way to defeat this dangerous enemy. This guide will break down one of the more efficient strategies on how to defeat the Garrador in Resident Evil 4 remake.

The first time the player will encounter the Garrador, chains will be hanging from the ceiling. These can be avoided, and it's highly suggested that the player crouch to avoid making too much noise. You can, of course, strafe the enemy by running around and shooting at it once its claws get stuck in the wall. Both strategies are totally viable and work just fine. I happened to do the second one, since it took the least amount of time.

However, the most important thing in this fight is using a Flash Grenade once the parasite on the Garrador's back becomes exposed. Flash Grenades will instantly kill any exposed parasite on an enemy, which will kill them in a flash. This is the best strategy to kill this enemy quickly, and efficiently.

If you can't manage to find a Flash Grenade in any boxes, you can always craft one after you've bought the recipe from the Merchant. Flash Grenades are invaluable tools in disposing of enemies in the mid to late game, so it's advised you always have a few on hand.

Like all Resident Evil games, the Resident Evil 4 remake will allow for players to put together combinations of herbs to heal their wounds. However, a few adjustments have been made to this system, which may come as a surprise to some series veterans. While First Aid Sprays will always 100% heal your health bar, the standard Green and Red Herb combination will no longer fully top you up. There are also a total of three different types of herbs you can obtain in the game. These are the Green, Red, and Yellow types.

Green and Red can be combined to heal you with varying effectiveness. Whereas combining a Yellow herb in it will increase Leon's total health pool. This will be vital in making certain combat encounters more manageable. It isn't necessary, and you can absolutely play the game without upgrading your health at all. Thankfully, in the remake you can actually combine a both Red and Yellow without need a Green in order to use the mixture. This will up Leon's health, but won't heal him. So it's best to conserve the use of Yellow Herbs for when you can either combine it with a Green and Red or two Greens.

You can find all of the herb combinations in Resident Evil 4 Remake below.

The original Resident Evil 4 was more or less fairly linear in its design, which leant itself well to the title. However, the Resident Evil 4 remake deviates from this truly linear style of gameplay and provides players a lot of options to retrace their steps to engage in "extra" activities and beat it. For this reason, the time you spend in the remake may be longer than you initially expect or anticipate.

How Long Does It Take to Beat Resident Evil 4 Remake?

The Resident Evil 4 remake spans a total of 16 chapters and naturally, each player's mileage will vary concerning how long the amount of time is that they will spend in the game. This is due to the additional side quests you can choose to tackle for Spinels to get upgrades for your arsenal, treasure maps, and more. You can also backtrack during certain segments of the game to pick up treasure that may have not initially been obtainable when you first crossed them. This is due to needing keys to unlock specific chests, often located at very visibly distinct shrines.

That said, having played through the game twice, the average length of Resident Evil 4 remake without incorporating more efficient movement or combat strategy will run you roughly 15-20 hours. This includes completing some side quests to obtain the mentioned weapon upgrades and other such items, like Attache Case charms. Excluding side activities, your playthrough could potentially be less than 10 hours once you memorize map layouts and optimize movement and weapon choice. This can be shaved down even further when the New Game+ option becomes available after beating the game.

Parrying in Resident Evil 4 is an entirely new gameplay mechanic, and an essential one. Knowing how to parry in Resident Evil 4 remake will not only make your time in the game significantly easier, but also help you conserve ammunition and health. While the game does explain how to parry through a tutorial within the first hour of the game, there are a few important things that should be mentioned. Specifically, how to change the button to parry.

While parrying in Resident Evil 4 remake is relegated to pressing the L1 button, players can also assign it to R2. This can be done through the options menu. After opening the options menu, navigate down through the controls tab to the "Parry with R2" selection. From there, you can turn the option to parry with R2 on or off. I suggest playing around with these settings and seeing what feels more comfortable to you.

Also note that turning it on does not mean that players can no longer parry with L1. You will still be able to perform parries with L1, but you can also do them with R2 once this is selected. You can see where you can change the control scheme for parrying below. Please note that button names may vary depending on what platform you are playing Resident Evil 4 remake on.

Gathering is one of the most important and fundamental actions in Atelier games. With Atelier Ryza 3, her staff isn’t enough, and you’ll need to make things like a Woodcutter’s Axe to get different items. Fortunately, it’s one of the easiest gathering tools to make and you’ll probably have everything you need after a quick trip into the Pixie Forest.

While you’d think an axe would need something for the blade, that’s not so with the Atelier Ryza 3 Woodcutter’s Axe! All you need to make one is Eiche. It’s the most basic kind of wood you can get from large logs laying on the ground in Pixie Forest. Hit it with Ryza’s staff, and you’ll get some chunks. 

Once you have two pieces of Eiche, head back to Ryza’s workshop to start making a Woodcutter’s Axe in Atelier Ryza 3. You put one piece in the Effect 1 slot, and the other in Effect 2. This is all you need to finish one. Add it to your on-hand equipment by going to Items in the main game menu, and you’re all set. Make sure you experiment when you’re in the actual field, as sometimes items you wouldn’t expect could be hit with an axe, like a big rock, can be and will yield items.

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Square Enix shared a new character render from patch 6.35 of FFXIV or someone who can be found at the end of Eureka Orthos. This render is none other than Excalibur, the final boss of Eureka Orthos, which can be found in floors 99 and 100 of the new Deep Dungeon. Other previous renders include some of the bosses fought in the new storyline added to FFXIV 6.35, and the bosses found in the new Euphrosyne raid.

Editor’s Note: Spoilers for FFXIV Eureka Orthos will appear below.

You can take a better look at Excalibur's FFXIV character render by clicking on the image below.
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While Excalibur is the final boss of floors 99 and 100 of Eureka Orthos, he should not be confused with the Paladin weapon of the same name. That is a level 125 unique one-handed sword that was added with the rest of the Zodiac Brave Weapons in patch 2.45.

Eureka Orthos is the latest Deep Dungeon included in FFXIV, and the first one added since Heaven-on-High, included in the Stormblood expansion. For those players eager to face off against Excalibur, you can check out the requirements needed to access Eureka Orthos.

Fans of Xenoblade Chronicle 3 can now learn how Monolith Soft made the game’s characters lighting, shading, and facial expressions. Japanese gaming outlet Game Makers recently released to the public the contents of a lecture detailing the process behind creating Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s two toon-style light shaders. The lecture was held at the CEDEC+KYUSHU 2022 conference on November 12, 2022, and Monolith Soft programmer Kei Tateno was in charge of it. [Thanks, Game Makers!]

Because the main theme of the game is “Life and Death,” the developers at Monolith Soft wanted to use lighting and shadows to reflect these themes in the characters facial expressions. In order to achieve this, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 uses shadows with higher contrast on characters, which results in a more distinct look when compared to previous entries.

This was accomplished with the use of a two-light shading system. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 uses point lights, which reflect effects like fire or lamps, combined with directional lights from sources like moonlight. Meanwhile, previous Xenoblade Chronicles entries use a different, more simplified method for representing light sources and shadows on characters.

The latest Hololive product from Good Smile is the Nakiri Ayame Pop Up Parade figure. Orders from the US store will cost $38.99 and are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2023 (October-December). Japanese store orders will on ¥5,500 and are set to ship in September 2023. Pre-orders will remain open until April 23, 2023.

The figure stands approximately 170mm tall and comes set in a mischievous pose held up by a stand. In this depiction, Ayame wears her original outfit. This includes her Oni mask and red and white rope belt.

You can get a look at the figure below. There are no pose options or accessories included.
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Ayame is a member of Hololive's second generation of talents, along with Ozora Subaru, Murasaki Shion, Minato Aqua and Yuzuki Choco. Ayame is one of several Hololive members to get new figures from Good Smile Company, including Yukihana Lamy and Houshou Marine who have scale figures on the way. Designs for Nendoroids of Roboco, Mososuzu Nene and Tokoyami Towa have also been teased.

The Jump Comics Channel on YouTube uploaded a video showcasing the Akatsuki organization from Naruto. All of its members get a little bit of stage time showing off their personalities. But Itachi Uchiha is the one who has the most prominent place in the footage.

The Naruto Akatsuki promotional video is just over a minute long. It does contain some spoilers if you are not caught up with the series, such as Obito’s identity and Sasori’s true face. You can watch the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swq--rdN-2k

In the Naruto series, Akatsuki was an organization of shinobi who did not have an affiliation with a village. Its members have changed since its creation, and the ones in the video are from Nagato’s time as the leader. These are also the members that the audience first sees when Akatsuki starts becoming a more active threat at the beginning of Shippuden.

Though the main Naruto series ended some time ago, it’s been a busy time for its fans. Not only is there a VR attraction, but there was also a popularity poll to decide the main character of a short spin-off. Jump Comics will announce the winner in April 2023, but when it last revealed the interim results, the top three characters were Minato Namikaze, Itachi Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. Itachi’s popularity might have lent to his screentime in the Akatsuki trailer.

GameStop looks to be shutting down stores in Ireland. Due to this, the company announced via its website that a number of services in their Ireland-based stores are no longer available as of March 22, 2023. In the wake of this news, the website announcement encouraged customers to use their existing gift cards and store credit as soon as possible in-store or on the official website.

The services that will no longer be offered or sold are as follows:

• Game Protection
• GameStop Pro Loyalty Memberships
• Gift cards
• Pre-orders(Existing pre-orders will result in a refund for the amount of the deposit.)
• Store credit will still be offered for some items.

This news comes as GameStop's stock price rose 35% on March 22, 2023, as noted by Markets Insider. The increase in stock price comes as the company posted a profit in the fourth quarter of 2022, the first such rise in profit in two years. In order to keep up this profitable operation, CEO Matt Furlong said the company would be cutting costs. As noted in the call notes on Seeking Alpha, part of this would include "exiting" operations in other European countries like Ireland. He also mentioned the company would focus on products like toys and collectibles going forward.

Compile Heart released an announcement trailer for Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution. This is the newest entry in the Neptunia series. In the video, we can see some of the action that you will be able to perform, as well as some new characters. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]

You can view the trailer for Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6qnfOpNNvc&t=6s

The trailer starts off introducing Neptune, Pipi-P, Jaguar, and Lideo. It then moves onto some footage of the game, ranging from exploration to combat to dialog between the girls. Since the game is still in development, these clips might not be what the final product will look like. For a brief moment, we can also see a screen that looks like it’s for character enhancement, as well as a central hub.

We also now know the prices for the game and its various special editions. The normal version will cost 8,580 JPY ($65.50), and the Digital Deluxe Version will cost 12,100 JPY ($92.35). There is also a Victory Special Edition for 12,100 JPY ($92.35) and a Newcomer Welcome Box version for 18,480 JPY ($141.10). More information on what each special edition will contain will appear some time in the future.

Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution will come out in Japan on August 10, 2023 for the PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

In an interview with the official Gundam.info site, Character Designer Mogumo shared their thoughts on the design process for Witch from Mercury characters and their introduction to the Gundam franchise. Mogumo previously created designs for Cygames' upcoming Project GAMM and is part of design group Morion Airlines with writer and planner HISADAKE.

Mogumo begin the interview discussing how they initially considered Gundam as "something on a higher threshold" until they found themselves working on a different Gundam project. As part of their research, they say they watched Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans and has since watched others as well. As part of their impressions of the franchise, they draw attention to the Gundam: The Witch from Mercury characters and their interactions:

Since it's a show about war, where weapons play a part, I knew it would be heavy, but it's more than that. The relationships and bonds between the characters are always portrayed with warmth and that's part of the attraction.

Mogumo also explained that they became involved in the project whilst visiting Sunrise representatives, who invited their unit to take part in the design competition. While initially excited, Mogumo stated that they began to feel some anxiety as the scale of the project dawned on them.

Holostars' online anime shorts series Stars Collection comes to an end on March 24, 2023. Hololive's official Twitter account made the announcement about the Holostars equivalent of the Holo no Graffiti anime. They also revealed that after the final episode, a new series of YouTube Shorts videos will begin.

Check out the official announcement of the final episode of Holostars' stars*collection below. The video showed Uproar!!'s Yatogami Fuma attempting to decipher a message on the screen, which turned out to be the announcement for the final episode. Meanwhile, first-generation’s Hanasaki Miyabi added that from now on they will be transitioning to Youtube Shorts.

https://twitter.com/hololive_En/status/1638865677275795457?s=20

Stars Collection is an online "anime" weekly series of short videos in which Holostars members interact with each other in comedic scenarios. The first episode was released on January 28, 2022. on Holostars' official YouTube channel. Earlier in 2023, Cover shared a commemorative anniversary video.

Meanwhile, the Hololive main branch counterpart anime series Holo no Graffiti is now on its 200th episode. In recent episodes, the English branch has been making more appearances in conjunction with the rest of the company's idols.

The final episode of Stars Collection is scheduled for March 24, 2023 in Japan. The first new Holostars YouTube Short will be released the same day at 8pmJST/4am PT/7am ET.

Nintendo released some details on what the Fell Xenologue DLC will be like in Fire Emblem Engage. There will be several restrictions on your army and play style, which make maps more challenging. As a reminder, you’ll be able to use Lady Nel and Nil in this DLC. However, if they (and Alear) die, then it’ll be an instant game over.

For starters, your units will always return at the end of the a Fell Xenologue chapter even if they die. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing on Casual or Classic. There is a restriction on your units, though. Fell Xenologue units will have a set level and class, as well as a starting inventory. This essentially means that you are unable to use your own characters, which might force you to have to use new strategies.

Lady Nel and Nil will be guest units every single map. Nintendo previously posted information on how you can use them in combat. Lady Nel uses lances and Dragonstones, with the latter weapon allowing her to transform into a Fell Dragon. This makes her a formidable attacker. Nil, on the other hand, is more of a support character. Like Nel, he is a Fell Dragon, but he is unable to transform.

An updated version of Sonic Origins is on the way. Sonic Origins Plus is coming on June 23, 2023 and adds Amy Rose as a playable character and every Game Gear Sonic the Hedgehog game. Knuckles will also be playable in Sonic CD. As a reminder, the original collection only included Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. People can buy this new one as a $39.99 stand-alone or $9.99 add-on for the original. Digital and physical copies

Amy Rose basically becomes a playable character in every console game in Sonic Origins Plus. People can use her in the three mainline games and Sonic CD. Knuckles’ only new addition is in Sonic CD. There will also be Anniversary and Classic Modes added. All DLC is available too.

Here’s the list of Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear games and spin-offs added to the collection.

• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• Tails Adventure
• Tails’ Skypatrol
• Sonic Blast
• Sonic Chaos
• Sonic Drift
• Sonic Drift 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
• Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
• Sonic Labyrinth

If someone gets a physical copy, there are two other additions. It comes with a brief 20-Page art book and a reversible cover.

Back in January 2022, Netmarble announced it was working on The Seven Deadly Sins Origin. This is an open-world game based on the Nakaba Suzuki series of the same name. At GDC 2023, Netmarble offered an extended look at gameplay. An almost three minute long video looks at exploration and fights against enemies.

Things begin with Tristan Liones alongside a fairy. The two head down a hole. He finds a power, which involves with the two finding themselves in.a changed world. As the video goes on, additional characters from the series appear. For example, when showing battle segments, we can see icons and appearances of characters like Howzer and Gilthunder. We also get to see various ways of traveling through the world, such as riding on the back of a monster or diving into water to swim. There’s also some light puzzle solving to reach Bigmoss’ Secret Storeroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlaFVaqvcgg&ab_channel=NetmarbleGlobal

The Seven Deadly Sins Origin is being developed by Netmarble for unspecified consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. The manga is available outside Japan via Kodansha USA. People can stream the anime on Netflix. Kodansha USA also is releasing the Four Knights of the Apocalypse sequel manga outside Japan, and it will get its own anime adaptation.

Square Enix offered a Theatrhythm Final Bar Line DLC music update going over the NieR Automata song add-on. The pack will arrive on March 29, 2023. When it does, it will bring five tracks from the title to the rhythm game. There’s also a new trailer showing some of them being played, so people can get an idea of what the stages are like.

Here’s the latest trailer. It notes that the five NieR Automata songs in the music pack are “Amusement Park,” “A Beautiful Song,” “Dependent Weakling,” “Emil’s Shop,” and “Weight of the World (Kowareta Sekai no Uta).” The video begins with “Dependent Weakling,” then moves onto “A Beautiful Song.” It closes with “Emil’s Shop.”

The wait is NieRly over!

The @NieRGame Series pack for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line will launch on March 29th with the following songs:

- Dependent Weakling
- Weight of the World Kowaretasekainouta - Marina Kawano
- Amusement Park
- A Beautiful Song
- Emil’s Shop pic.twitter.com/4c52rjztKl

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) March 23, 2023

Bandai Namco shared the details of the latest Elden Ring patch, and ray-tracing is a part of the update. Support for it is most notable new feature. However, it will only be for the latest consoles. At the same time, PvP balance adjustments were made and many bugs were fixed.

This new patch, which brings the game to version 1.09, allows PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC players to activate ray-tracing for Elden Ring. To do so on consoles, simply access the Game Options and activate ray-tracing. For the PC, on the other hand, the adjustments are made from the graphics section and is enabled if the device is compatible with this technology.

However, the company also warned that using ray-Tracing in Elden Ring may affect elements such as resolution and frame rate. To ensure the best performance, these are the technical specifications on PC:

Minimum

• Operating System: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12 GB
• Recommended Graphics Setting: 1080p - Low quality – Low Ray Tracing

Recommended

NIS America released The Caligula Effect: Overdose PS5 release date for North America, Europe, and Australia. It previously announced a 2023 release window. While the dates aren't too far apart from each other, depending on where you live it will arrive in either May or June. People in North America will get access to it first on May 30, 2023. Then a European release will follow on June 2, 2023. In Australia and New Zealand, people will see it on June 9, 2023. To go along with that reveal is also a new The Caligula Effect: Overdose character trailer.

While this The Caligula Effect: Overdose character trailer is new, it should look familiar. That’s because, due to this being a port, all of the people are ones who appeared in the game when it showed up in 2018 in Japan and 2019 worldwide. It focuses on members of the Go-Home Club after taking a quick peek at the player’s avatar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOCK1mMTpRI&ab_channel=NISAmerica
This means we could eventually see NIS America also release an additional trailer focusing on the Ostinato Musicians characters found in that route.

The Caligula Effect: Overdose PS5 version release date is May 30, 2023 in North America, June 2, 2023 in Europe, and June 9, 2023 in Australia. It is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC.

Even more new Pokemon are joining the trading card game, as the Pokemon TCG Scarlet and Violet Paldea Evolved expansion arrives on June 9, 2023. As the name suggests, people can expect cards to feature characters from the region. The booster packs even show art of Chien-Pao and Ting-Lu. The Pokemon Center is already taking pre-orders. This follows the first Scarlet and Violet expansion, which releases on March 31, 2023 and adds the new starters and characters like Fidough.

This will mark the appearance of new ex and Tera ex cards. There will 15 of the former and three of the latter. Special illustration and ultra rare cards will appear too. There will also be “hyper rare, gold etched” ones of certain characters.

Here's a look at the new Pokemon TCG Scarlet and Violet Paldea Evolved expansion Elite Trainer Box.
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And here are the details for the four booster packs. The final evolutions of Sprigatito and Quaxly, Meowscarada and Quaquaval, show up on two. The legendaries Chien-Pao and Ting-Lu also appear on the other ones.
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