Siliconera

Ahead of the release of the Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom shared the first episode of a Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater promotional anime. Now that the game is about to release, there are two more episodes to watch. These once again follow Leon S. Kennedy and Ashley Graham in the Mysterious Village.

First, here’s the second episode of the show. In the first one, we saw Leon looking for Ashley. That didn't go so well for him. The second sees him finding her. Now that he has, It focuses on what happens after Ashley “promises” to stay with Leon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q99mSnhXbtM&ab_channel=capcomasia

In the third Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater anime episode, Leon and Ashley turn to a visitor for help. They ask if he can build them a vehicle to get out of town. The gentleman then grabs a chainsaw. Those who played the original game or the chainsaw demo will know where this is going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDgKfauShw&ab_channel=capcomasia

All three of the episodes so far continue a running gag. It is unknown how many more installments there could be in this series of promotional videos.

The Resident Evil 4 remake will appear on the PS4, Ps5, Xbox Series X, and PC on March 24, 2023.

While toys already started appearing for the Super Mario Bros Movie, Lush cosmetics announced it will also sell items like a bath bomb, body wash, soap, and body spray. The company opened up its official landing page for the products ahead of their March 24, 2023 debut. However, people who use the Lush app can already begin getting the various items. As of 9:30am ET on March 23, 2023, it seemed the products were already sold out in the app. [Thanks, Vooks!]

All of the initial Super Mario Bros Movie Lush items tend to be items to help people clean up like soap. Some of the items were already announced. For example, there will be shower gels based on both Mario and Luigi. Bars of soap shaped like a Gold Coin will appear. Lush also offers a line of shower jellies, and there will be ones inspired by Bowser and Princess Peach. There is also a Super Mario question block bath bomb that will contain a random soap that looks like a power-up, like a Fire Flower, inside after dissolving in the bath. The most expensive item will be a body spray perfume inspired by Princess Peach.

This sort of collaboration isn't uncommon. For example, Nintendo and ColourPop had a line of Animal Crossing: New Horizons makeup.

It seems the next HoYoVerse game could get a release date soon. The company announced a Honkai: Star Rail Boarding Preparation Special Program stream with news for March 24, 2023. It will begin at 4:30am PT/7:30am ET/12:30pm CET.

The showcase will appear on the official Twitch channel. HoYoVerse also noted its official YouTube page. If it follows the same pattern as Genshin Impact updates, then the full presentation should appear there after the fact.

HoYoVerse didn't mention what will appear during this Honkai: Star Rail Boarding Preparation Special Program stream, beyond the assumed news. Given it is known as "boarding preparation," this could offer a release date, details about launch characters and initial banners, and insight into changes following the game's multiple betas.

Besto Games revealed a release window and new details about Idol Showdown, its fighting game starring Hololive Vtubers. The title will debut in Spring 2023. It will be a free game available through Steam, according to the new trailer. It will also be entirely free and feature eight playable characters.

At the moment, only part of the Idol Showdown Hololive fighting game’s cast of playable Vtubers is available. The trailer shows off Inugami Korone, Nakiri Ayame, Shirakami Fubuki, and Tokino Sora. A-chan does make a cameo, however, as she appears for one of Sora’s attacks. The other four are still a mystery, and there are no details as to their identities yet.

Here’s the first trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChT2Cdveii0&ab_channel=IdolShowdown%7CBestoGameTeam

The Twitter announcements also revealed more details about its development. Besto worked on the title for over two years now. It will also use rollback netcode.

It isn't uncommon for fans to make free games inspired by Hololive Vtubers. For example, one of the more notable titles is Holocure. It is a Vampire Survivors-like that involves various performers. It also gets regularly updates. For example, in February 2023 that game was updated to add more first and second generation characters from the Japanese branch of the company.

Idol Showdown will appear on PCs in Spring 2023.

Like a Dragon: Ishin is one of several spin-offs in the Yakuza (or Like a Dragon) series. However, what makes this entry so unique is that it takes place in the 1800s and features prominent historical figures of that time period. We had the opportunity to sit down with the Like a Dragon: Ishin! localization team members Senior Localization Producer Marilyn Lee, Editor Jason Gallop, Editor Josh Malone, Translator Shun Fukuda, and Translator Tom Bayles to ask them how they managed to tackle this historical drama, and what advice they would give to aspiring editors and translators.

Kazuma Hashimoto, Siliconera: What were some challenges when localizing Like a Dragon: Ishin, given it takes place in the 1800’s were there any colloquialisms or language unique to that time period that you wanted to make sure came across clearly in the text?

Marilyn Lee: One of the highest priorities of the localization team was to ensure we keep the characterization and tone of the Yakuza series characters but also bring in elements of Edo period Japan into their dialogue. The dialects for Kyo and Tosa were a certainly a challenge. Multiple meetings were had before the team finally decided on the direction to take. Another topic that often came up during the process was what term to localize and what to keep in romanization form as we wanted to keep as much flavor of that time period as we could.

Video game developer Yoko Taro announced his involvement in a new anime series titled Kamierabi GOD.app. The show was announced through a teaser trailer released by Fuji TV. In addition to having Yoko Taro as the writer of the initial draft, JIN will be in charge of writing the final script, with manga artist Atsushi Ohkubo in charge of character designs and Hiroyuki Seshita of animation studio UNEND directing it. Kamierabi GOD.app is set to release in October 2023 in Japan.

Manga artist Atsushi Ohkubo is well known for being the creator of Soul Eater, while Hiroyuki Seshita was the director of the Knights of Sidonia anime. Meanwhile, JIN was the original creator for Kagerou Project. In addition to these creators, the music production studio MONACA will be in charge of composing the soundtrack for the series.

Fuji TV also shared a key visual art, alongside the teaser trailer. The caption reads “God, the world is also going crazy today.” You can check out the teaser trailer and key visual for Kamierabi here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdrzVYkjy34

The official Arc System Works website for DNF Duel went over the Switch version’s features. The Q&A section on the product page for that iteration confirmed that there will be no crossplay compatibility. In addition, this version of the game will not feature rollback netcode like the others. It also noted the Dungeon Fighter Online bonus that comes with physical copy pre-orders. [Thanks, Resetera!]

If you are playing DNF Duel on the Switch, then you will only be fighting people who also own that version. The Q&A noted crossplay is limited to PlayStation platforms. So someone on a PS4 or PS5 could play someone on a PS4 or PS5. The PC version also lacks crossplay.

As for the DNF Duel Switch netcode, it is delay-based. All other versions available now use rollback netcode.

As for the Dungeon Fighter Online bonuses, here’s what you get with the physical copy.

Glamours in Final Fantasy XIV allow players to change the appearance of their gear. You can make your own custom outfits with glamours, which allow you to create your very own look for your Warrior of Light. This option, thankfully, becomes available earlier in the game than it once was. So here's how to unlock glamours in Final Fantasy XIV.

Similar to unlocking the ability to dye your gear, you will need to get your character to Level 15 in any Melee or Caster Job Class. From there, you will need to make your way to Ul'dah if it was not your starting city. Don't worry, as progressing the Main Scenario Quests will take you to Ul'dah if your character started in either of the two starting cities. After you've made your way to Ul'dah, this is where players can being their quest to unlock glamours in Final Fantasy XIV.

Teleport to Horizon and take the Chocobokeep to Vesper Bay. There you can find Swyrgeim at X:12.6, Y:14.4. Picking up the quest "If I Had a Glamour" and completing it will allow you to glamour your gear. Just like dying, glamouring your gear can be done through the character menu.

Nintendo recently introduced twin siblings Nil and Nel, two new main characters in the upcoming Fell Xenologue DLC story in Fire Emblem Engage. Nil is Nel’s twin younger brother. When compared to his outstanding sister, Nil feels a sense of inferiority due to his perceived lack of strength.

Nil’s starting class is Fell Child, same as his sister Nel. However, unlike her, Nil cannot transform into a dragon. While Nel might not be the most adept combatant, he wields axes in the battlefield for the sake of achieving peace. Nil wields the mysterious Revanche axe in footage below, which Alear can obtain from the Ancient Well on the Somniel in the main story of Fire Emblem Engage.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1638530466285514754

Nil is voiced by Takuya Egushi in the Japanese dub of Fire Emblem Engage. Eguchi previously voiced Akihiko Kaji in the anime adaptation of Given, Loid Forger in Spy x Family, and Kurt Vander in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III.

You can Nil's voice in the short clip shared below.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1638530354771554304

Fire Emblem Engage is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch. Wave 4 of the DLC Expansion Pass releases on April 5, 2023 and adds the Fell Xenologue storyline to the game.

There’s an interesting quirk when it comes to the Overwatch 2 character selection screen in the Roadhog’s Catch-a-Mari mode. When people select their avatar, Roadhog announces them. However, he doesn’t just say their name. For some people, he assigns them a nickname or offers a proper title for them. When people were talking about it on Twitter, Senior Writer and Narrative Designer Justin Groot offered a bit of insight into the process. It turns out only some people do, because there wasn’t time to come up with nicknames for everyone. Groot also teased that more could appear at a later date.

First, Groot noted that the Roadhog nicknames in Catch-a-Mari were a result of the “creative environment.”

none of this stuff was ever assigned, but the creative environment on this team gives us room to chase our ideas, and a lot of awesome stuff has come out of that. I'm really grateful for that culture of creative freedom.

— Justin Groot (@JustinGroot3) March 21, 2023

Groot went on to say all the nicknames that do appear when selecting a character during the Overwatch 2 Catch-a-Mari mode during “one quick brainstorming hour before our deadline.”

Nintendo shared new information about Lady Nel, one of the new main characters that will appear in the Fell Xenologue story of Fire Emblem Engage releasing on April 5, 2023. This is the final fourth wave of the Expansion Pass. In this new story, Lady Nel and her brother Nil summon protagonist Alear. Then together they embark on a journey to collect the seven Emblem Bracelets to save the world.

Lady Nel’s starting class is Fell Child. She can wield lances in combat, but most importantly, she can turn into a dragon using Dragonstones thanks to her Fell Dragon lineage. In one of the videos shared by Nintendo, Lady Nel is seen wielding the Représailles axe before turning into a dragon. This mysterious weapon can be obtained from the Ancient Well in the Somniel during the main game.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1638529941590642688

Lady Nel is voiced by Romi Park in the Japanese dub of Fire Emblem Engage. Romi Park is well known for her roles as Temari in the Naruto franchise, Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, and Naoto Shirogane in Persona 4 games and media.

Near the beginning of the Fell Xenologue, Lady Nel and her brother Nil welcome Alear to the Lythos Castle after he responds to their summons and is transported into their world. You can hear her voice in the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemJP/status/1638529764813340674

Players can customize the appearance of their character in Final Fantasy XIV, ranging from their hairstyles, makeup, and even through dying their equipment. However, there are certain prerequisites players must first unlock in order to dye their gear. This guide will break down the relatively simple process of how to dye your gear in Final Fantasy XIV.

First, you will need to get your character to Level 15 in any Melee or Caster Job Class. After that, you will need to have access to Ul'dah. If you have already started in this city, then you will already be able to head to the Vesper Bay to speak to Swyrgeim. If your starting city is not Ul'dah, you will need to progress the Main Scenario Quests in order to gain access to the other major cities. Either way, progression will eventually take you there. This is where players can learn how to dye their gear in Final Fantasy XIV.

Teleport to Horizon or unlock the Aetheryte there, and take the Chocobokeep to Vesper Bay. This is also the most convenient way of getting back to Vesper Bay at any point during your adventures in Final Fantasy XIV. There you can find Swyrgeim at X:12.6,Y:14.4. Undertaking the quest "Color Your World" and completing it will now allow you to dye your gear. Dying gear can be done through the character menu.

Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon sometimes uses social media to discuss different elements of the games. One of his latest tweets went over how a certain finisher ended up added to the 2011 reboot. He noted that there is a Mortal Kombat 9 Living Forest tree stage fatality because people used to claim the second game in the series had one, even though it didn't.

Here's Boon's exact explanation about the Mortal Kombat 9 Living Forest tree stage fatality, which included a video from Mortal_Kombat_Addict. That Twitter account shares a different fatality from an entry in the series every day.

One of the many rumors about #MortalKombat 2 was that the living forest had a stage fatality where the loser can be thrown into the tree’s mouths an eaten

7 games later, we made that rumor a reality in MK9

Video via @MK_habit_addict pic.twitter.com/aYx1Y6E27d

— Ed Boon (@noobde) March 21, 2023

HoYoVerse announced via Twitter that the Honkai Carnival 2023 - Isekai Tea Party, the newest event for the Honkai Impact 3rd, will arrive in the game in the near future. It mentioned event will begin on March 25, 2023. The official art shows characters like Elysia alongside people like Raiden Mei, Kiana Kaslana, Fu Hua, Bronya Zaychik, and Seele Vollerei.

HoYoLAB also kicked off a contest to go along with the event. The contest asks players to make memes based on the new Honkai Impact 3rd event trailer. The winner will get 1,000 in in-game currency.

You can view the animated trailer for the new event below. In the video, various Honkai characters assembled for a party and are taking part in different events. These include the titular tea party, a concert featuring the game's male characters cosplaying, and the main female characters decorating their home base in preparation for the events to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDpkFh0f7xs&t=4s&ab_channel=HonkaiImpact3rd

Honkai Impact 3rd is an action game that released in 2016. It features combat similar to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta series that stresses quickly dodging attacks and counter-attacking.

You can play Honkai Impact 3rd on Android, iOS, and PC via Steam, and the Honkai Carnival 2023 - Isekai Tea Party event will begin on March 25, 2023.

The 32nd Tetris 99 Maximus Cup is about to begin this weekend, and it will offer a chance to earn a Fire Emblem Engage theme. Officially titled the 32nd Maximus Cup – Alear Edition, it will take place March 24-27, 2023. People will need to play enough matches to earn 100 event points to get its limited edition in-game theme.

The Tetris 99 Fire Emblem Engage theme features characters and music from the game. The male and female versions of Alear appear on the left and right sides of the screen. In the field, there's a picture of Emblem Marth. All tetrominos feature Fire Emblem weapon symbols like swords, polearms, axes, fists, bows, daggers, and tomes.

There's also a trailer showing the theme in action.

The #Tetris99 32nd MAXIMUS CUP – Alear Edition will run from 3/24 at 12:00am PT – 3/27 at 11:59pm PT!

Once you’ve accumulated a total of 100 event points, a new theme will unlock, featuring art, music, and Tetrimino designs! @Tetris_Official pic.twitter.com/Fl351vvM0h

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 22, 2023

Vtuber agency Hololive Production is teasing a new art book with art from Yom (Ganbare Douki-chan) and Katsu Somehira. Titled hololive production Art Collection, the book features 196 pages of A4 sized, full-color art work, plus four cover pages. Pre-orders opened on March 18, 2023 and will run while stock lasts. The book will cost ¥4,500 or $32 (plus fees) and is expected to ship in June 2023.

Yom's piece features Hololive members Sakura Miko and Hoshimachi Suisei against a blue sky with cherry blossoms. The piece by Katsu Somehira features Sakamata Chloe and Laplus Darkness from HoloX, as well as Shishiro Botan and Yukihana Lamy from Hololive's 5th generation. You can see both samples in the tweet below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/hololive_En/status/1638359842724417536?s=20[/embed]

Also available are made-to-order print replicas of the 4 cover pages, including the art featured in the samples. They will cost ¥15,400 or $108 each and come with a wood frame and an aluminum plate. Orders including made-to-order items are expected to ship between August and September 2023.

You can get a look at the pieces available below:
[gallery link="file" columns="2" ids="956717,956718,956719,956720"]

Hololive recently held its fourth annual HoloFes, featuring live performances by many of the agency's talents. Following the Fes, Nanashi Mumei from Hololive EN and Akai 'Haachama' Haato from Hololive JP both announced that they would be taking breaks for health reasons.

Gundam is one of Anime's most enduring and influential franchises, but that length also makes it intimidating for newcomers. A given entry could require context from anywhere in the 40 year history of the franchise, making getting into the series a lot harder than simply watching the latest big release. Luckily, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is one of the most accessible entries yet.

Taking place in the "Ad Stella" timeline, The Witch from Mercury (or G-Witch) requires no context from previous entries and, at a very digestible size of 12 episodes and a prologue, it can make for a great introduction to the kinds of themes and motifs of the Gundam franchise. So whether you've been intrigued by some of the Gunpla kits, been charmed by some of the voiced date scenes, or have been wanting to get into the series for a while, here's how to catch up on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury ahead of its second season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGW2JRxWUU&ab_channel=GundamInfo

Ubisoft developed Ghostwriter, which is an AI writer tool that will specialize in writing dialogue for NPCs. The reason the developer provided for the development is a goal to lessen work for the writing staff, as they will no longer have to manually come up with lines for NPCs in a video game. There is also a video introducing how Ghostwriter will work. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Similar to the MTPE (machine translation post-editing) process, there will still be a human behind the scenes. At this point in time, Ubisoft does not seem to plan on completely replacing scriptwriters with Ghostwriter when it comes to NPC dialogue in games. You can input information such as the NPC’s situation and background, and then Ghostwriter will create several lines. The scriptwriter team will then use the lines as drafts and then edit them to create the NPC’s dialog.

You can check out the Ghostwriter introduction video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OeSOXHBvCI&t=1s

As you can see from the above video, the scriptwriter will input a situation and then decide how the character will say the line. The situation in the example is the famous "arrow in the knee" line from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is hosting a Nier: Automata crossover event. From March 22, 2023 to April 5, 2023, the characters 2B, 9S and A2 are available to summon. In addition, a guaranteed 5-star 9S will be available in the Guide 10 for free.

The crossover event features new playable content. This includes limited time Otherworld Hunts and Special Tasks that will reward the player with 9S’s Guidestones, Traveler’s Sacred Seals and Rubies.

The Nier: Automata characters will also get their own Octopath Traveler Memoir events. Individual Memoirs will be permanently available as soon as players unlock the characters. However, crossover Memoirs are limited to the end of the event.

The crossover event also features extra daily gifts and login bonuses. Guidestones for 2B, 9S and A2 will be daily login bonuses, along with Tasty Experience Nuts (L) and Silver and Gold Guidestones. Players can also gain up to 30 Rubies a day, with the number increasing on March 22 and April 4, 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkVo9ZQK86o

The Nier: Automata event is the third crossover event for Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Contient. Previous events saw crossovers with Bravely Default and Triangle Strategy.

The Sand Land movie will air in Japan on August 18, 2023. Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima are collaborating to bring Akira Toriyama’s manga to life. To coincide with World Water Day (considering water’s importance in the work), the Sand Land Twitter account also revealed the first character visuals for the movie.

When Bandai Namco Entertainment first released a trailer for Sand Land, it was unclear what it was going to be. The trailer had referred to it as a “visual adaptation.” However, Bandai Namco had also expressed interest in developing it into a “full IP,” so the movie might not be the only new Sand Land content.

You can check out the new character visuals via the official Sand Land website. So far, they’ve released ones for Beelzebub, Thief, and Rao:

[gallery ids="956618,956617,956616" link="file"]

Crunchyroll announced its new and returning lineup of Spring 2023 anime series. In addition to a number of new simulcasts, returning shows’ seasons will appear. Among the newcomers are Mashle, the Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World spin-off with Megumin, and the Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage spin-off. Among the shows with new or continuing seasons are One Piece, Golden Kamuy, and Vinland Saga. Things will kick off on April 1, 2023.

Here’s the full list of new anime series that will join Crunchyroll for the Spring 2023 season.

Capcom revealed even more Street Fighter 6 footage starring the new additional Lily and classic E. Honda. Both are among the launch roster for the fighting game. The new gameplay is yet another developer match, which

Here’s the Street Fighter 6 developer match involving Lily and E. Honda. The sumo wrestler wins the first round, as a means of showing off some of his moveset. Lily applies significant pressure and wins the second round. The third round involves both characters essentially using their ultimate attacks against each other, before one of them wins.

My pleasure!

Lily and E. Honda soar head-to-head against each other in this special developer match. pic.twitter.com/bwoWxAEtUg

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) March 21, 2023

Lily is new to Street Fighter 6. She debuted in a trailer shared during the February 2023 State of Play. Capcom revealed H. Honda would be returning much earlier. He showed up back in September 2022.

Final Fantasy XI will be switching producers, Square Enix announced. Yoji Fujito will be taking over from Akihiko Matsui, who has been the game’s producer since 2012. Fujito served as the game’s lead director since 2016.

Matsui confirmed in the announcement that he had been considering moving on from his role as the Final Fantasy XI producer during the game’s 20th anniversary events. Part of this was an uncertainty of where to take the game after completing a previously announced three-year plan. Matsui had also been working from a lot of proposals from Fujito, which meant it made sense to him to pass the torch to him.

Fujito’s plans as producer include incorporating new tech into the game along with smaller updates. This will include a major replacement of backend hardware, which will result in an extended maintenance period.

However, Fujito was quick to reassure players that Final Fantasy XI is here to stay, following fears that the game is on the verge of closure. He also stated that he intends to answer fan questions in a future Freshly Picked Vana’diel broadcast. Players outside Japan will also get this information through a separate digest.

Final Fantasy XI is available for PCs. Previous versions for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 are no longer supported.

There is a new trailer and key visual for Hero Classroom, and we now know that Higuchi Kaede will be singing the opening song for it. Higuchi Kaede is a VTuber affiliated with Nijisanji. Meanwhile, Akane Kumada (voice actress and singer) will sing the ending. [Thanks, Comic Natalie!]

The first trailer shows off four of the main characters, as well as introduces the premise. We do not get to hear the opening or ending songs here. Hero Classroom revolves around Blade, a hero who defeated the Demon King. With that out of the way, he’s excited to finally experience life as a normal person and make a hundred friends. Unfortunately, he’s attending Rosewood Academy, which is a school for prospective heroes.
[gallery columns="1" ids="956613" link="file"]

You can watch the trailer for Hero Classroom here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdjuLOiIy4U

As for the four members of the main cast, we have:

Contrary to Seto Kaiba’s claims, it’s not impossible at all to assemble Exodia. Bandai Spirits will release a model kit of Exodia the Forbidden One from the Yu-Gi-Oh series. It will cost 5280 JPY, which is around $39.90, and will come out in August 2023. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

The Figure-Rise Standard Amplified Exodia the Forbidden One model kit will stand at around 210 millimeters tall. There are ball joints in the neck and chest area, so you’ll be able to move them. There are shafts in the waist and shoulders as well, which will increase the variety of poses you’ll be able to have Exodia strike. The chains consist of multiple parts linked together, making them fairly flexible.

Here are some more pictures of the Exodia model kit. Please note that these pictures may be different from the final product:

[gallery columns="6" link="file" ids="956629,956628,956627,956626,956625,956624"]

In the Yu-Gi-Oh series, Exodia the Forbidden One was technically speaking Yugi’s first ace monster before Dark Magician. During his first duel with Kaiba (in the show), he managed to put together Exodia and defeat him. However, Exodia more or less disappeared from Yu-Gi-Oh after Weevil Wormwood (Insector Haga) tossed all of the cards into the ocean.

The Yu-Gi-Oh Exodia the Forbidden One plastic model kit will come out in August 2023.

Yozo Sakagami, or “Gami-P,” has retired from his position as the executive producer for the The Idolmaster franchise. His retirement will go into effect from the end of March 2023. In a letter to his fans on the official The Idolmaster website, he explains his reasoning for his sudden retirement, as well as thanks all of the players who have played and enjoyed the game series. [Thanks, Denfaminico!]

Sakagami has worked on The Idolmaster for 18 years. But he had planned on leaving three years earlier in 2020. This is because if he had retired in 2020, then he could’ve left after working on the series for 15 years, which was a fairly good number. But the COVID-19 pandemic delayed or completely obliterated certain plans and projects that they had been working on.

As he continues in the letter, Executive Producer Sakagami discussed all of his memories with The Idolmaster. He stated that he was impressed when he saw the passion of the players for the arcade version of the game and thanks everyone for their support over the years. He concluded his letter with stating that he will watch over everyone—from the fans to the staff for The Idolmaster—as they walk towards their future. For the time being, there will be no executive producer to replace him just yet.

The latest Fire Emblem Engage DLC trailer revealed the Four Hounds antagonists from the base game will become playable characters known as the Four Winds in Fell Xenologue. At about the one minute mark of the new trailer, this alternate world’s version of Zephia appears. At this point, the new versions of the characters, in some cases their new names, and gameplay involving them appears.

The first of the playable Four Hounds Fire Emblem Engage DLC characters is the Four Winds heroine Zelestia. In the original game, she was known as Zephia. After that, we see the alternate version of Griss, known here as Gregory. Marni is known as Madeline in this alternate storyline. Mauvier’s name remains the same.

In case you missed it, you can see the alternate reality, playable versions of the Four Hounds in the Fire Emblem Engage DLC trailer below. At around the 58 second mark, Zelestia begins explaining the situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_oeDuN3i6M&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica

And here are some screenshots from the trailer showing the four characters in the DLC. In some cases, their outfits look different in the alternate world. For example, Gregory lacks Griss' tattoos and Madeline's outfit is a different color than Marni's.

[gallery columns="2" size="full" link="file" ids="956663,956664,956665,956666"]

March 21th is now officially Beyblade Day in Japan. As well, a new Beyblade project, Beyblade X, will go live in Summer 2023 in commemoration of the 25th anniversary it. Beyblade X will be the fourth anime adaptation of the spinning top toy, featuring a new generation and stadium. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

To begin with, let’s start with why March 21th is Beyblade Day. In the Japanese version of the Beyblade anime, matches preceded with “3, 2, 1, go shoot!” When you write out March 21 in numbers, you get 3/21, like the “3, 2, 1” in the above saying.

Beyblade is not the first franchise to have its own special date. January 31st, for example, is officially Final Fantasy VII Day in Japan. That is because that was the date of the game’s debut in 1997.

https://twitter.com/Hiromorita_/status/1638060492978790400

In terms of the Beyblade X anime, there is not much concrete information about it so far. We know that it will begin in Summer 2023. However, it’s unclear what the new gears and new stadium will look like. There is also little information on the cast and characters. Takara Tomy will update people via its official social media channels.

https://twitter.com/takaratomytoys/status/1637990579459043330

The wave 4 Fire Emblem Engage DLC will arrive rather soon, as there’s a release date for the Fell Xenologue story. The expansion will arrive on April 5, 2023. Nintendo shared a new trailer specifically looking at the add-on. At the very end, it noted it will arrive in two weeks.

Here’s the new footage. It begins with a gravestone for the Divine Dragon. A voice over notes that it is “your grave.” It is then that the male version of Alear meets some new attendants. They are Nel and Nil. They note there are seven Emblem Bracelets. Alear asks where the other four are. Once again, the four nations of Elyos possesses them. We then see alternate versions of the royals and from the original game. However, here they are more antagonistic towards both Alear and each other. After that, we also see different versions of the Four Hounds, the antagonists of the original game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_oeDuN3i6M&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica

As a reminder, past add-ons for Fire Emblem Engage focused on adding Emblem Bracelet characters, rather than adding to the story. Wave 3, for example, added Awakening's Chrom and Robin and Heroes' Veronica.

Spike Chunsoft announced the Anonymous;Code release date. It will launch on September 8, 2023. It will be out for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC (via Steam) and feature English voice options. The SteelBook Launch Edition (featuring art from character designer Haruhisa Nakata) is now open for pre-order via the Spike Chunsoft official website while supplies last. The game will cost $59.99.

You can watch the trailer for Anonymous;Code here:

https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft_e/status/1638299764746797058?s=20

Anonymous;Code is the sixth mainline game in Mages and Chiyomaru Studios’s Science Adventure series of ADV games. It originally came out in 2022 in Japan. The story takes place in an Earth Simulator that supercomputer GAIA created in order to prevent a Y2K38 problem. Pollon Takaoka, who possesses the ability to save and load reality, finds himself wrapped up in a myriad of wild adventures after he runs into the mysterious Momo. For those curious about the gameplay, Mages's president Chiyomaru Shikura streamed over three hours of the game in 2022.

As for the English cast, we know of:

MSCHF Product Studios Inc announced its Tax Heaven 3000 dating sim. The Steam page has gone live, and it will come out on March 31, 2023. It will only be available in English and it focuses on the US federal tax return for 2022.

As you go on dates with Iris, she’ll also help you with your tax return. Tax Heaven 3000 will allow you to seduce Iris and teach you how to charm the US federal government into maximizing your returns for 2022. According to the Steam description of the game, Tax Heaven 3000 will actually teach you how to file your taxes yourself so that you won’t need to hire an expensive service for that.

You can check out the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7kBVOEp_A

Some screenshots from the game show the player and Iris on normal dates. However, there are also some scenes of Iris asking you to fill in your SSN or asking you about additional forms. The game is suitable for “singles without dependents,” so if you’re filing your taxes and you have a dependent, you might need to do some outside research.

Tax Heaven 3000 will come out on March 31, 2023. It will be free-to-play.

The post Dating Sim Tax Heaven 3000 Helps You File Taxes appeared first on Siliconera.

With Atelier Ryza 3, Gust tapped Reche, who formerly appeared as Chelly with EGOIST, to perform the opening theme song “That Summer Hideout” and Suis to sing the ending music "Travelers." Siliconera got a chance hear both singers' thoughts on the experience and game.

Jenni Lada: How did you feel when you found out your song and music would be featured in Atelier Ryza 3?

Reche: As I was still in the early stages of my solo career, wondering if I was well-known even among my fans, I was surprised and happy to be offered this opportunity. It was one of my dreams to sing the theme song for a game.

Suis: For me, summer adventures are a strongly ingrained theme, so I was thrilled at the opportunity to resonate in Ryza's world!

How much backstory and information were you given ahead of time?

Reche: The synopsis of the story, or any other core part of the story, was not shared with me. So I recorded the song while imagining the story from the lyrics I was given.

Suis: I knew it was a summer story, a story about boys and girls growing up, and it had some alchemy. I didn't get to the play the game before recording, so after I finished recording I've been relaxing and enjoying the world of Ryza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USUNt3cClck&ab_channel=KOEITECMOEUROPELTD.

Sony is promoting the release of the upcoming Atelier Ryza 3 in a very peculiar way. A Twitter video shared by Playstation Japan shows the real-world recreation of a very peculiar recipe, one that could be familiar to those who played Atelier Ryza 2 or is preparing for 3. The recipe in question is the Sarding, a pudding made out of, well, sardines.

The video shows in (rather excruciatingly painful) detail every step required to create this sweet and savory “dish.” The video adds a fun twist, since the chef attempting to create the dish is none other than Ryza herself. She can be seen collecting the ingredients in-game, with real-world first person point of view when creating the dish. You can check out the recipe in the tweet below, if you have the stomach for it, that is.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation_jp/status/1637650170707075078

The Atelier Ryza 2 in-game description for the Sarding recipe reads: “A salty pudding snack. Really, it's just a bit of pudding topped with a sardine. It looks terrible, frankly, but it's surprisingly delicious!”

In more appetizing Atelier Ryza news, Gust recently announced that the first Atelier Ryza game will have an anime adaptation, alongside showing the final trailer for Atelier Ryza 3.

The latest addition to the Midnight Suns' ragtag roster of supernatural heroes Dr. Michael Morbius. He is the third DLC character to join the team after Deadpool and Venom, who arrived in January 2023 and February 2023 respectively. The full roster of DLC heroes was originally released back in October, and indicates that X-men member Ororo “Storm” Munroe will be the final character to join.

The Midnight Suns Morbius DLC pack, titled “The Hunger,” is available standalone or as part of the season pass bundle. It will contain the character himself as well as related story missions, a new 'Laboratory' upgrade for the Abbey, and new 'Vampyre' enemies. Morbius appears to be a character specialising in applying and exploiting bleed debuffs and as such pairs well with Blade, the Midnight Suns' other vampire member. You can see the release trailer here, or watch Firaxis' character deep dive below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFssCt66mfY[/embed]

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG with card-based mechanics from XCOM and Civilisation developer Firaxis Entertainment. Players control and customise The Hunter, a legendary monster slayer brought back to life to stop the plans of their mother Lilith. Players team up with other Marvel Comics characters such as Ghost Rider and Iron Man.  When not on missions, the player can train and socialise with the other heroes and can gain bonuses from doing so.

Spike Chunsoft announced a new line of Danganronpa merchandise which includes canvas art and random portrait badges for each Danganronpa character, alongside acrylic stands of Danganronpa characters dressed in formal attire. In addition, a key visual print from Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload will also be available for sale. The new Danganronpa goods are available to pre-order until April 9, 2023 from the Spike Chunsoft Ebten online store.

The key visual print is created by Primo Art using special technology to faithfully recreate the original piece. The Primo Art print costs 36,300 JPY (~$274 USD). Meanwhile, each canvas art item costs 4,400 JPY (~$33 USD.) The acrylic stands for each character cost 5,940 JPY (~$45 USD.) The acrylic badges from Danganronpa 1 cost 880 JPY (~$6 USD,) while the badges from Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa V3 cost 1,100 JPY each (~$8 USD.)

Crunchyroll confirmed an early 2024 release for the anime adaptation of popular manhwa Solo Leveling, also known as Only I Level Up. The adaptation was originally announced during Crunchyroll's Anime Expo 2022 panel, but until now was only confirmed for some time in 2023. The adaptation will be produced by A-1 pictures (Sword Art Online, Fate; Apocrypha) with music from industry veteran Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Gundam: Unicorn). It will appear this winter.

A new teaser trailer was also released, which you can watch below:

[embed]https://youtu.be/eqy85AL70PU[/embed]

Solo Leveling is a Korean web novel-turned-manhwa by Chugong, DUBU and h-goon. It follows Jinwoo Sung, Hunter who travels between dimensions. Jinwoo gains a reputation for incompetence amongst his peers, but after a harrowing incident he resolves to become the strongest Hunter of all. You can read more about it, and the original anime announcement, over on Crunchyroll.

You can also watch the original Solo Leveling anime announcement trailer below.

[embed]https://youtu.be/YvGSK8mIlt8[/embed]

Microsoft shared the list of games coming to the Xbox Game Pass library, and Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is the first among them. The version available is the Prince's Edition, which comes with all DLC. On the other hand, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid will be one of the games leaving the catalog.

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom was originally released in 2018 as a sequel to the critically acclaimed Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The Prince’s Edition includes the DLCs “The Lair of the Lost Lord” and “The Tale of a Timeless Tome,” which expands on the game’s lore and adds new characters and locations.

Below is the full list of games coming to Xbox Game Pass between March 21, 2023, and April 12, 2023:

A teaser site for Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Bouquet of Brilliance (or YuYuYui) has gone live. This is a PS4 and Nintendo Switch version of the mobage of the same name, which ended service in 2022. Aside from all of the content that had been on the mobile game, the console version of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Bouquet of Brilliance will have some new scenarios and illustrations. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Bouquet of Brilliance closed down on October 28, 2022 after around five years and a half of service. In that amount of time, it has accumulated so much content that to pen it all down on paper would fill up over thirty light novel volumes. All of that content will be available in the console version of Bouquet of Brilliance, along with some new stories. There will be eight chapters in total, with both stories original to the game and from the source. It will be fully voiced as well.

There will be a total of 31 characters. Each character has their own unique ability and element. Combat in the game is very similar to tower defense, since you have to prevent Vertexes from reaching a Shinju. In order to do so, you can move your heroes around on the field. You’ll have to think about your characters’ elements, abilities, and attack ranges in order to come up with the optimal strategies.

The Wii U eShop is about to meet its end and shut down soon, just like the Nintendo 3DS eShop, with it closing on March 27, 2023 and cutting off access to buy games. This is something of a tricky situation for folks! Some notable games are honestly cheaper physically, such as Star Fox Zero and Guard. A lot of other “must-haves” went from exclusives to… not, like Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Still, there are some major and notable games worth getting and playing, and these are our recommendations.

The Heavy Hitter Exclusives

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

As you’d expect from an HD remaster, it looks better. Nintendo adjusted the lighting, it runs in 1080p, and features 30fps. However, it also involved the company making adjustments to fine-tune it. There’s a new control scheme, as you might expect from the GamePad. There are fewer Tears of Light to hunt down, you immediately get access to Hero Mode, you can use amiibo to get extra items or unlock the Cave of Shadows dungeon, and there are Miiverse stamps… oh. Oh right, Miiverse is dead.

Takara Tomy Arts announced the release of a new line of capsule toys in Japan, in the form of a new painted Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Disk ring. This new line includes a Duel Disk from each of the eight Yu-Gi-Oh series. The painted Duel Disk rings are scheduled to release on late March 2023. Each capsule toy will cost 300 JPY (or roughly $2 USD). [Thanks, Famitsu!]

The lineup for this new line of capsule toys consists of a total of eight differentmodels, ranging from the first Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters series to Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush!!. That is the latest series, which premiered in April 2022. In October 2021, Takara Tomy released a similar line of Duel Disk rings capsule toys with a metallic finish. The old lineup included only seven rings.

The rings are made of zinc alloy, and their dimensions are roughly 38 to 52 millimeters in radius. Thanks to the new colored paint finish, it is easy to distinguish which series each ring belongs to.

You can check out the new line of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Disk ring in more detail in the gallery below.

[gallery columns="4" link="file" ids="956537,956538,956539,956540,956541,956542,956543,956544"]

The new painted Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Disk ring capsule toys will release in Japan on late March 2023. Each toy will cost 300 JPY (~$2 USD).