Siliconera

Continuing the efforts to try to bring rollback netcode to new and old fighting games, SNK Global announced that a new open beta test for the upcoming The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match will be held between June 5-11, 2023. The open beta will be available for the PS4, and it will also be compatible with the PS5. A PlayStation Plus membership is not required to access the test.

All 36 characters will be available to play during the rollback netcode open beta test for KOF XIII: Global Match. During the test only the online mode will be available, where players will also be able to spectate in matches. Additionally, players will be able to use the practice mode, but only while waiting for other opponents to join the match. Options mode and customize mode to change character color schemes will also be available

To access the rollback netcode open beta test, all you need to do is download the KOF XIII: Global Match Open Beta Test app from the PlayStation Store.

In other SNK news, the company recently revealed that the planned rollback netcode update for Samurai Shodown has been pushed back to Summer 2023.

Street Fighter 6 is experiencing issues with Custom Rooms. Capcom launched the fighting game today, but some players have found themselves unable to create Custom Rooms. The developer confirmed the issue on Twitter and limited functionality for a while to alleviate problems. Editor's Note at 3:20pm ET on June 2, 2023: Capcom noted it is still investigating the issue.

However, whatever the issue is, Capcom is working to fix it. Three hours after the announcement Custom Rooms weren’t working, the company confirmed on Twitter that they were back online. However, four hours after this, Capcom disabled them again, confirming that there is still an ongoing issue. It cited server load as a cause for the problem.

Here's the latest update on the situation regarding Street Fighter 6 Custom Room creation.

We are still investigating the issue preventing the creation of custom rooms. The feature will continue to be limited temporarily until a resolution is found. Thank you for your patience.

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) June 2, 2023

KoMETA, a Vtuber agency centered in the Philippines, announced Miria and Virgil will both graduate on June 26, 2023. It cited “findings on recent actions” and “non-renewal of contracts” as the reason both will be leaving. Their final streams will be staggered, so fans can watch both. The announcement noted Virgil's will be two hours earlier at "6pm," though a time zone isn't noted. Miria's will follow at "8pm."

The departure of Miria and Virgil means that KoMETA will have no active talents as of June 27, 2023. The company launched its first generation in December 2021, with these two performers debuting alongside Elaine. However, in May 2022 Elaine graduated for health reasons.

Here's KoMETA's official announcement regarding its last two Vtubers graduating. It noted it will retire their content, but plans to still pass along fan letters and continue as an agency for performers.

◤ANNOUNCEMENT◢

Notice Regarding Miria and Virgil's Graduation from KoMETA Virtual Live pic.twitter.com/8bnVi97etg

— KoMETA Virtual Live  (@KometaLive) June 2, 2023

People can now hear the Demon Slayer season 3 opening theme song performed on The First Take. Man with a Mission and milet appeared on the YouTube channel to perform "Kizuna no Kiseki." For those unfamiliar, the goal of the channel is to have the original artists perform their songs live, in one take.

Here's the full The First Take version of "Kizuna no Kiseki" by Man with a Mission and milet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFj7d_fnYTU&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

This isn’t the first time a Demon Slayer anime opening theme song appeared on The First Take channel. Both Lisa and Aimer showed up to perform tracks they did for the show. First, Lisa performed "Gurenge" on the channel in December 2019. That was the opening for the first season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpYy6wwqxoo&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

After that, Aimer appeared and performed "Zankyou Sanka" in February 2022. That's the season 2 opening theme song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnzPJhW9XQg&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

Lisa returned to perform "Akeboshi" with Yuki Kajiura in November 2022. That appeared in Mugen Train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEnaMPUCDm4&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

Sony launched its 2023 Days of Play celebration, with sales on the PlayStation Store on PS4 and PS5 games. There are also PlayStation Direct and PlayStation Gear deals as well. The sale kicks off today on June 2, 2023, and it will continue until June 12, 2023. The sale starts and ends at noon local time for each date, respectively.

With all games and DLC combined, the sale contains more than 400 offers. Many of these are first-party titles, with God of War: Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part I, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart all discounted. Both Horizon and Ratchet & Clank are available through the PlayStation Plus catalog, which has a 25% discount on 12-month subscriptions. Existing subscribers can also get 25% off on Premium and Extra upgrades.

Here are some of the notable PS4 and PS5 game deals that can be found in the 2023 Days of Play sale.

GiGO will sell Genshin Impact taiyaki again, as well as offer novelty coasters when you purchase one. In total, there are six variations of taiyaki and fifteen types of coasters. Each taiyaki costs 500 JPY (around $3.60). They’ll be available from June 17, 2023 to July 28, 2023.

The second batch of Genshin Impact taiyaki from GiGO will feature new characters than the first one, which ran from May 10, 2023 to June 10, 2022. This time, you can eat the faces of Tartaglia, Kaeya, Diluc, Ganyu, or Gorou. Each taiyaki will have two expressions, which you can check out when you flip it over. As for the novelty coasters, you will get a random one with every taiyaki purchase. Characters include Kokomi, Razor, Albedo, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Eula, and Yoimiya.

Genshin Impact is currently in the midst of Version 3.7, which features a TCG competition event. The same patch also greatly enhanced the existing Genius Invokation TCG mini-game, such as new modes and cards. Aside from the TCG, 3.7 offers a chance to obtain 5-star characters players may have missed, since it will re-run Yoimiya, Yae Miko, Alhaitham, and Kazuha.

Cotton 100% will be rereleased on the Super Famicom in Japan. New reproduction cartridges of the classic 2D shmup game will be available for sale by Columbus Circle. Cotton 100% is the second entry in developer Success’ iconic “cute ‘em up” series. The new cartridge will cost 7,678 JPY (or roughly $55 USD), and it is scheduled to release in late September 2023. The Cotton 100% Super Famicom reproduction cartridge is now available for pre-order from Amazon Japan. As it is Amazon selling it, people in other regions can purchase it. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

This new rerelease of Cotton 100% comes in a package with newly drawn artwork, inspired by the original Super Famicom boxart. The cartridge will work in the original Super Famicom system, as well as with other compatible consoles.

The original version of the game initially appeared for the Super Famicom console in 1994 in Japan. A PlayStation port of the game came out in 2003 in Japan as well. The game would finally release overseas for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in October 2021.

Most recently, on August 2021 the first entry in the series, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, received a remake for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC under the name Cotton Reboot.

To celebrate the launch of Street Fighter 6, Capcom announced the launch of a new companion site called Buckler's Boot Camp. The site allows access to various information designed to help player's improve including stats, leaderboards and character moves. Also available are a set of in-game items produced in collaboration with Japanese sportswear brand Onitsuka Tiger. These items are wearable by the player's custom avatars and are free to claim until July 3, 2023.

The Buckler's Boot Camp, as well as showing useful Street Fighter 6 statistics and movesets, also can be used to view character costumes, in-game events, and rewards. There is also a minigame there called Pockest. Reminiscent of a Tamagotchi, Pockest allows players to feed and look after a little pixel art monster, eventually training it to grow into a classic Capcom character.

You can find the announcement tweet below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/StreetFighter/status/1664398989083508745?s=20[/embed]

Bandai Namco is going to hold its eighth Blue Protocol live broadcast stream on June 8, 2023. It will air at 4am PT/7am ET/8pm JST on both YouTube and NicoNico as usual. As the Japanese PC launch is coming on June 14, 2023, this could provide a look at what people can expect once the game is live.

Here's the embed for the video. This will be entirely in Japanese with no English translation. However, sometimes information about the worldwide release does come up during these presentations. For example, after announcing the Japanese PC release date for the game during the seventh installment, the team discussed the delay for the worldwide release. A slide came up with English text summarizing the announcement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHDf1_NgO0&ab_channel=BLUEPROTOCOL

According to the Guinness World Records, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the world’s fastest-selling Nintendo title to date. At the same time, it is also the fastest-selling Legend of Zelda video game of all time. The previous holder of the fastest-selling Nintendo title was Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which sold 12.08 million copies in 24 days. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]

Tears of the Kingdom sold 10 million copies in three days. This number includes both physical and digital versions around the world. That would make for a difference of about 2.83 million copies per day between the two in the given periods. Tears of the Kingdom is making Zelda history as we speak.

Tears of the Kingdom is the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, which was also an amazingly popular entry to the The Legend of Zelda series. Even those who are not fans of the series may come across videos of players showing off their various contraptions and constructs in the game. It’s likely that those who purchased the game include those who did not play the first one, but became interested in it through word of mouth.

Once Diablo IV early access launched, people might have noticed issue with various console networks. It also meant an array of error codes appeared. Most notably, people with valid early access saw a “Warning! Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV (code 315306)” message. Blizzard is aware of the issue, in the event it appears again, but it was referencing an issue with server status, rather than the player’s authorization.

Blizzard specifically noted PS4 and PS5 Diablo IV players were getting the 315306 “unable to find a valid license” issue after early access began on June 1, 2023. At the same time, we noticed the PlayStation Network itself experienced some issues.

We are seeing reports regarding PlayStation users experiencing Invalid License errors.

The team is looking into this right now and will update once we have more information.

— Diablo (@Diablo) June 1, 2023

Given this had to do with demand and server availability, the “Warning! Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV (code 315306)” message could return on June 6, 2023. That's when the full game launches worldwide and early access ends.

A little over a month after its release, Honkai: Star Rail continues to print money for HoYoVerse. In a chart that Sensor Tower released for mobile games’ sales between May 18, 2023 and May 24, 2023, it shows that Honkai: Star Rail was the second highest-grossing mobile game during that period. Not only is there a decrease in downloads, but it also made 3% less than last week. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The Top 10 highest-grossing mobile games for May 18-24, 2023 are:

1. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby
2. Honkai: Star Rail
3. Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
4. Monster Strike
5. One Piece: Bounty Rush
6. Puzzle & Dragons
7. Arknights
8. Fate/Grand Order
9. Blue Archive
10. Genshin Impact

The chart also included comparisons in number of downloads and sales differences between this week and the last. A number that stands out is Arknights, which saw a 56% increase in downloads and a 917% increase in revenue.

A new Naruto and Boruto Kinokuniya Pop Up shop collaboration will appear at the Kinokuniya Shinjuku bookstore in Tokyo throughout June 2-18, 2023. Exclusive merchandise featuring popular characters from the franchise dressed as bookstore employees will be sold. The characters that appear as part of the lineup are Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki.

Here is the full lineup and prices (tax included) for items included in the new Naruto and Boruto Kinokuniya Pop Up shop collaboration:

• Pin badges - 550 JPY (~$4 each) or 4,400 JPY (~$32) for the full set
• Acrylic keychains - 880 JPY (~$6) each, or 7,040 JPY (~$50) for the full set
• Pencase - 1,045 JPY (~$7)
• Acrylic stands - 1,815 JPY each (~$13)
• Clear file folders - 990 JPY (~$7)
• Leather sticky note books - 605 JPY (~$4)
• Book stand - 1,430 JPY (~$10)
• Clear bookmarks - 900 JPY (~$6)

A special bonus postcard giftset will be added when spending over 2,200 JPY per purchase at the store.

You can take a better look at the lineup, alongside the bonus postcards in the gallery below.

[gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="966218,966219" link="file"]

The previous Naruto and Boruto Pop Up store appeared on April 2023, and it featured characters in a theme park style setting.

Back when Square Enix would talk about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, part two of the new FFVII Remake series, it suggested a Winter 2023 window. While it hasn't been pinned down yet, we could learn about "when" soon. The official Twitter account for the FFVII line of games offered a brief update from Producer Yoshinori Kitase. In it, he said the team is “working on nailing down a release date.” However, it didn't say if the 2023 window could still be valid.

Here is the official update, which also confirmed development is proceeding as planned.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Developer comment number 1 pic.twitter.com/O4KdGlh4gy

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 2, 2023

Since this is only "comment 1," we could see more commentary about the game's status and progress over the coming weeks and months.

Clear, a hair care brand in Japan, is using Street Fighter to advertise its products near Akihabara station. The large signs will run from June 1-14, 2023. They showcase Guile, Blanka, and Dhalsim, with the message that even strong guys like them care about their hair. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The advertisement shows Guile, Dhalsim, and Blanka searching up Clear products for their unique concerns. Dhalsim, for example, wants to buy tonic that’ll help him grow back his hair. Guile has scalp issues and is experiencing breakage. Finally, Blanka wants something that’ll volumize his hair. Using the Street Fighter characters in this advertisement, Clear shows that even the toughest dudes have their own insecurities. The tagline for this collaboration on Amazon is, "Use Clear to continue your hair." The slogan uses a font similar to the one that appears in retro Street Fighter games.

[caption id="attachment_966241" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Amazon JP[/caption]

Following the MMO-lite formula, players can emote in Diablo IV. However, outside of communication, emoting serves another purpose. Diablo IV introduced more dynamic elements to its open world, with players able to receive buffs by performing specific emotes at various shrines found throughout the world. So outside of being a way to tell other players that you're grateful for their help, you can get buffs, and even buffs through emoting.

How to emote in Diablo IV

To emote in Diablo IV, simply press E on your keyboard or up on the D-pad on your controller to pull up the radial menu. This is where you can access your emotes to complete quests or receive blessings from shrines found throughout the map. I found it's also a nice way to communicate with players you may or may not be voice chatting with, or chatting with in general. A quest in Kyovashad will also teach you how to emote. The quest can be found by the World Tier statue, which is in the northern part of the city.

Additional emotes can be purchased through the in-game cash shop, which are bundled up with cosmetics. These include weapon skins, gravestones, and armor sets.

Diablo IV is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

Diablo IV allows players between platforms to tackle hordes of demons together through cross-play. Enabling cross-play in Diablo IV is extremely easy and will allow you to play with friends regardless of where they are once enabled. In order to enable this option, you will need to go to the "Game" menu. From there, navigate to "Social." You can select "Cross-Network Play," which allows you to enable cross-play. The "Cross-Network Communication" option is less about being able to play with one another, but more about being able to communicate. Once this is active, you can text chat and voice chat with players on other platforms.

[caption id="attachment_966204" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Siliconera[/caption]
The "Social" menu also offers other options, outside of allowing players to enable cross-play in Diablo IV. This is where you can also manage alerts and chat settings, including opacity, colors, and even turning on your "Quick Join."

Quick Join will allow for friends to jump into your party without needing you to accept them. This removes a couple of menus when people are trying to jump into your game, and probably worth turning off unless if you're playing Diablo IV with a dedicated group of friends.

Diablo IV, unlike previous mainline entries in the series, features an in-game shop where players can obtain cosmetics through real money purchases. (Well, I mean, we see one in Diablo Immortal too.) This shop is immediately available to players as soon as they create a character and start their game, and can be brought up by pressing P on your keyboard, or by going to your menu. The shop has a handful of outfits available for each of the several classes in Diablo IV.

[caption id="attachment_966200" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Siliconera[/caption]

How to get items from the Diablo IV cash shop

Outfits and cosmetics will be available on rotation, with each set costing a specific amount of Platinum to obtain. Platinum is exchanged for real money through the "Platinum" tab in the shop. Here, players can purchase varying amounts of Platinum depending on what they want to obtain. Items you can buy and wear include full outfits, trophies, back cosmetics, emotes, tattoos, and even gravestones.

As mentioned previously, these cosmetics will be available on rotation through the shop in Diablo IV. This can be checked on the upper righthand corner of the shop screen. Additionally, the "Add Ons" tab features different purchases, which include bundles. These bundles include Platinum and several cosmetics, ranging from a unique mount and weapon skins.

Ahead of her playable debut, HoYoVerse has uploaded a trailer for Silver Wolf, who will appear as the first five-star in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.1. You can also read a short biography and Q&A with the Stellaron Hunter on HoYoLab. The biography provides some information on things like Silver Wolf’s pistols, as well as the planet Punklorde.

You can check out Silver Wolf’s trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NYW1AzNLi0

In Silver Wolf’s trailer, we see her playing as herself (Bronie) in Honkai Impact 3rd. Kafka bothers her while she’s playing and warns her that Elio foresaw Silver Wolf losing. True to Elio’s scenario, she does. According to the text underneath her name in the trailer, her account got frozen. Her entire trailer has a very futuristic vibe and contains many references to retro video games.

Silver Wolf, alongside Luocha, will be the new 5-stars in Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.1. She, along with Kafka, is one of the tutorial characters in the very beginning of the game. She’s a Quantum Nihility characters who can debuff enemies and increase the ease of Breaking them.

You've got eighteen fighters to choose from in Street Fighter 6. Who should you pick, though? Long-time players might have a good idea, but if you're fairly new to fighting games or the series, are there some solid first choices. I feel these five Street Fighter 6 characters are ones you can pick up fairly easily and start seeing some success with early on in this excellent fighting game. Keep in mind that these have been chosen by someone who's competent at fighters and not a high-level competitor, though. There's likely a lot of depth to these characters that highly skilled players can make use of. If you're looking for some straightforward and fun characters to start your journey with as a beginner, though, you'll still find you can get a lot of use out of the following fighters.

[caption id="attachment_966166" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Capcom[/caption]

Marisa

Ever start trying to attack your opponent and just get blown up by an incoming strike? I guarantee you have, and I guarantee it will happen a lot in this game. If you want to get around that a little bit, Marisa is a character that will serve you best in Street Fighter 6.

World Tour Mode is a sprawling, free-roaming, fighting game RPG in Street Fighter 6. You're able to wander the streets of Metro City and the world beyond, picking fights, growing stronger, and meeting main characters who'll teach you their movesets. What moves should you use, though? When things get tough, what should you do? What should you have been doing to avoid getting in those rough spots to begin with? We've got a few strategies to help you make you an unstoppable force in your global search for strength.

Make Smart Decisions When Designing a Street Fighter 6 World Tour Character

You'll start this mode off by making a character. This character creator will let you make some wild creatures that you can style after favorite characters, beloved fighters, or even yourself. Then again, you can also make some hulking monstrosity with massive arms and legs. It's wide open, but this is one of the first important decisions you'll be making for your character. Your leg and arm length dictate your reach in the mode's fighting matches. If your character is massive, they'll be a massive target. As soon as you start making your character, you can build advantages and disadvantages into them based on how you create. It's something you should keep in mind right from the start.

Ahead of Street Fighter 6's debut, Chun-Li is showing up on Twitch with a special emote. The company revealed a new global emote that anyone can use. All someone needs to do is type "NiceTry" into the chat box. (You can also put in :NiceTry, if you want to bring up a list and pick it out.) This will prompt the new emoji of the Street Fighter icon to appear.

Here's a trailer announcing the Chun-Li global Twitch emote, showing how it looks alongside footage of her fighting in Street Fighter 6.

Got something for you.

Chun-Li is coming to chat with a new global emote, NiceTry, available right now. #SF6 pic.twitter.com/puExAaDbze

— Twitch (@Twitch) June 2, 2023

This isn’t the only piece of Street Fighter 6 “art” appearing alongside the game’s launch. The official Capcom Artworks Twitter account shared a clean copy of the Famitsu issue 1800 cover art. Moyuku Kamimoku drew the image for the commemorative issue, which also featured a special feature on the game.

#SF6… pic.twitter.com/Qfr7xJjAYc

At the end of May 2023, the Square Enix Store opened up pre-orders for the Final Fantasy XVI Steelbook, with the listing suggesting it was $0, plus about $10 shipping. Now those that placed the order are getting cancellation emails noting the listing went up in error. As a refund for the cost of shipping, those who ordered one of the cases will instead get a $10 coupon code. That can be used until November 30, 2023 on "any in-stock game." [Thanks, Wario64 and SharkerTeeth!]

Here's the email one customer received mentioning the error.

They’re canceling the steelbook orders and giving a $10 store voucher in place of a refund? pic.twitter.com/7kNBqBq4uJ

— sean (LadyDevimon Respecter) (@sharkerteeth) June 1, 2023

Another Twitter user by the name of Dashey10 noted the code could be used on a digital game, rather than a physical one.

Back in June 2022, Fanbyte noted that Nintendo worked on a 1-2 Switch sequel that never saw the light of day. Now, the company announced that Everybody 1-2 Switch will release both digitally and physically on June 30, 2023. On that same day, Nintendo will also release four new pastel Joy-Con variants.

There’s no preliminary trailer for it. However, as with the original Switch launch game, it involves using Joy-Cons in an active way to play minigames with minimalistic graphics. It will also be sold both digitally and physically, with copies costing $29.99. There are no details about what sorts of minigames will appear or how many. The announcement only cited “a mix of games and modes.” It also noted that players could use either Joy-Cons or phones to play the games on teams, with the eShop listing saying someone would need internet access and a Nintendo Account on a phone.

Like most modern games, Diablo IV will allow you change the framerate (FPS) the game runs at through it's settings menu. This includes both foreground and background FPS. So if you are noticing that when you tab out of the game, it runs at a significantly lower framerate, this guide will break down how to change both FPS settings in Diablo IV.

Access your options menu and go to the "Graphics" section. Under the "Performance" tab, you will find both the "Max Foreground" and "Max Background" FPS options. Here you can manually adjust what FPS the game is running out when you are tabbed in or tabbed out of the game. This is especially good for streamers to mess with if they will be playing the game in Windowed Mode.

Additionally, if Diablo IV is taxing your PC (especially while fighting World Bosses), you can manually assign a framerate ideal for your rig through this option. However, you cannot input a number and instead will need to play around with the sliders to set your preferred frame rate.

If you want audio to play in the background while you are tabbed out of the game head to the "Sounds" tab and under "Game Sound Output" check the "Play in Background" option. This will allow for audio from the game to play even if it is isn't the main window you currently have open.

Extracting Aspects is an extremely valuable feature in Diablo IV. This allows for players to effectively obtain passive effects from Legendary items, to then reapply them to an item of their choice. In order to Extract Aspects in Diablo IV, players will need to speak to an Occultist and have a Legendary item that they would like to break down. The first Occultist can be found in Kyovashad, which is the first city you will access once you have beaten the Prologue.

What makes this feature so valuable is the ability to apply any Extracted Aspect to any item of their choice, as mentioned above. This means that the item does not need to be a Legendary in order for you to apply said aspect. In fact, applying an Aspect to a Legendary item will overwrite the one currently applied to it. So it is best to save your Legendary items for their Aspects to be extracted and then applied to other pieces of equipment. Additionally, applying a Legendary Aspect extracted from an item can only be applied once. However, if you are applying an Aspect from a Codex of Power, you can imprint that Aspect onto any item indefinitely.

Anycolor, the parent company behind Nijisanji, announced new rules for sending fan letters and gifts to Vtubers. Starting on June 5, 2023, new regulations will only allow up to five items per envelope, with those consisting of photographs, message boards or cards, and postcards. Restrictions also prevent people from providing their social media IDs, personal information, or items that aren’t a part of the approved “gifts.” Also, the company said it will dispose of letters not given to its Vtubers from its Japanese and English branches.

While postcards, photos, and message boards are allowed, there are specific restrictions for how many can be included. People can only include their original art or stories on the message card, and up to three can be in a single letter. You can also include up to five photos. Only one postcard is allowed. You can also include five pieces of paper. However, the limit on total items is five. So you could include one photo, two message cards, and two pieces of paper with writing. You can include your name, but not your ID. Also, in the event you draw on the envelope, you can place that in a second envelope to protect it.

Here is the exact address for a Nijisanji Vtuber fan letter:

ANYCOLOR Inc., (Name of the talent)
Midtown East 11F, 9-7-2
Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 Japan

Anycolor also noted that it won’t take digital fan letters for Nijisanji Vtubers. It also didn’t note if someone about to graduate will get any letters just yet.

Vtuber agency Hololive Production is shutting down one of its English language Twitter accounts, @hololivepro_EN. It will be merging it with another account, @hololive_En. Previously, the Hololive Pro account tweeted exclusively concerning the English branch of Hololive and Holostars, whereas the Hololive En account tweeted news about the various different branches. This included translated tweets.

The Hololive agency has branches for its English, Indonesian and Japanese talents. There are also English and Japanese branches for Holostars, the company's male talent group. The branches are mostly managerial rather than strict separations, as their members interact frequently and branches like EN or ID also cover areas that may not necessarily speak that language primarily.

You can read the official Twitter statement below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/hololivepro_EN/status/1664127130433916930?s=20[/embed]

As usual, HoYoVerse shared its Genshin Impact calendar for June 2023 once the month began. Each month, the company shares a portrait-style calendar image people could use on mobile devices. This features one character whose birthday falls in that month, as well as marked dates showing other birthdays so you know to log-in and collect gifts. This month, the five-star Electro character Cyno is Genshin Impact's featured one.

Here's the June 2023 Genshin Impact calendar. The highlighted birthdays for the month include Itto and Paimon on June 1st, Lisa on June 9th, Venti on June 16th, Yoimiya on June 21st, Cyno on June 23rd, Raiden Shogun on June 26th, and Yae Miko on June 27th.

【カレンダー配布】
旅人さんに日頃の感謝を込めて、2023年6月のカレンダーを配布します！
ぜひスマホ壁紙としてお使いください！#原神 #Genshin pic.twitter.com/HTXXglSjn5

— 原神（Genshin）公式 (@Genshin_7) June 1, 2023

PlatinumGames revealed that the idea of Bayonetta 3’s multiverse concept existed since the first game's creation. Speaking as part of the latest Bayonetta 3 developer diary, Creator Hideki Kamiya revealed that the multiverse was always in the background of the games.

Kamiya and the rest of the team revealed further behind the scenes details around the multiverse concept. The team wanted to see Bayonetta travel the world, with each country being the equivalent of its own movie.

They also discussed the choices behind some of the locations. The Tokyo setting of the first segment of the game was designed to give a striking first impression of seeing Bayonetta in Shibuya. The China setting was originally planned to have large scale battles with entire armies on the Great Wall. They also shared some concept art for the Egypt and France settings.

Kamiya also assured fans that Bayonetta 3 is not the end of the series. He mentioned that he has ideas that could stretch to Bayonetta 9, which is something he has discussed before.

Here's "Developer Diary Episode 3: The Bayonetta 3 Universe."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJaJ16_ZppU&ab_channel=PlatinumGames%E5%85%AC%E5%BC%8F%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB

Developer Ponos announced a new collaboration event between free-to-play mobile game The Battle Cats and the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The new event is available for the smartphone version of The Battle Cats. It started in Japan on June 1, 2023 and will be available until June 15, 2023. Popular Evangelion characters will appear as playable units in the game. [Thanks, PR Times!]

Additionally, cat versions of some of these characters will also be available. Some of the characters available in the collaboration include several EVA Units, like Unit-01, Unit-13, Unit-02, and Unit-08, various Angels, and even a cat-variant of the AAA Wunder. That one is called the “Neko Wunder.”

You can take a look at some of the units included in The Battle Cats x Neon Genesis Evangelion collaboration event here:

[gallery columns="1" size="medium" ids="966015" link="file"]

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure will inspire its first ever stage play adaptation, and it will be a musical focused on Part 1, Phantom Blood. The musical will premiere at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo in February 2024. Information about the casting will be announced at a later date. Ney Hasegawa will be the director, with Motoyoshi Tsuneyasu as the writer, and French producer Dove Attia being in charge of the music for the play. [Thanks, Oricon!]

Ney Hasegawa will direct the stage play. He has previously worked in adapting Under Execution, Under Jailbreak, another of Hirohiko Araki’s works to the stage. Additionally, the script is being written by Motoyoshi Tsuneyasu, who also worked on the stage adaptation of the My Hero Academia manga.

Dove Attia is a French-Tunisian musical producer and French television personality, and he will be in charge of the music for the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure stage play. Attia is also in charge of the music for the upcoming Lupin: The Mystery of the Countess of Cagliostro musical, that will premiere in November 2023.

You can take a look at the poster for the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure musical stage play here:

[gallery columns="1" size="medium" ids="966028" link="file"]

Front Mission 1st Remake is heading to more platforms. It is set to release on Steam, GOG and Epic for PC soon, according to developer Forever Entertainment. Front Mission 1st Remake will also be launching for PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. Forever Entertainment will be offering a release discount on the new platforms. While the game is normally priced at $34.99, a 10% discount will be applied from June 30, 2023 to July 12, 2023. All versions will release worldwide on June 30, 2023.

Here's the first trailer for the ports:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNhYqgGPLE

In addition to the wider release, a demo of Front Mission 1st Remake is now available on PC through Steam, allowing players an opportunity to try the game out before release. Save game data from the demo will carry over to the full game. The demo has not been confirmed for any other platforms, including other PC storefronts.

Front Mission 1st Remake previously released on Switch in 2022. It’s a remake of the first game in the Front Mission series of mech tactics games, originally released for the Super Famicom. Remakes of both Front Mission 2 and Front Mission 3 have also been confirmed, although no release date is currently known.

Another Samba de Amigo game is in development, as Sega announced a VR entry during the Meta Quest Showcase. It will launch in Fall 2023. It will be available on both the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro for $29.99. There will also be a cosmetic pre-order bonus that makes it look like Samba is wearing a Meta Quest 2 VR headset and holding its controllers instead of maracas.

The announcement included some details about how the VR rhythm game will work. Players will hold the Meta Quest controllers like maracas and move in time with the indicators they see in the headset to “play” through its songs. The base game will include 40 tracks. Sega did confirm additional music will appear as DLC. In addition to the single player mode, there will be a World Party option. This allows someone to go online and play through songs with up to seven other people. However, even if you don’t opt to play with others, you can check online leaderboards to compare your scores on songs to others’.

Here's the first batch of screenshots showing at how the VR version of Samba de Amigo will look:
[gallery columns="5" size="full" ids="966047,966048,966049,966051,966052" link="file"]

As a reminder, a new Switch installment in the series is also on the way. Party Central will come to the console in August 2023.

Samba de Amigo will come to the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro in Fall 2023.

A new trailer for Granblue Fantasy: Versus Rising showed off the character Siegfried and announced that the online beta test will be held in mid-July 2023. Cygames previously delayed the beta from its original May 2023 release window due to instability. Additionally, the third character coming to the game will be revealed in early July 2023 and be accompanied by several updates on the games' new mechanics and game modes.

The official statement came from Creative Director Tetsuya Fukuhara. In it, he apologized for the delay of the beta, but said that the team worked through many of the instability issues. He also stated that the game is on track for their initial target for release, but concrete dates will come after the beta concludes.

In the Granblue Fantasy mobile game, Siegfried is a knight of the kingdom of Feendrache and appears in many of the events in the Dragon Knights series. As seen in his trailer, he appears to have several unique voice lines for battling other knights, such as Lancelot and Percival. He is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue, who has also appeared as Kakashi from Naruto, Kars from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Oda Nobunaga in Nioh 2. He was originally announced back in March and joins the divine general Anila, who was announced in February.

You can catch the trailer below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPhAk-p0q0[/embed]

While there’s no exact release date yet for Black Clover M: Rise of the Wizard King, pre-registrations for the game are now live. As usual, a number of in-game rewards will be doled out both if people sign up and a set number of people express an interest in playing. There is also a contest open to people in Canada, England, and the US.

Signing up at the official site gets people a number of rewards, depending on how much information someone is willing to provide. The site notes that submitting an email gives people Mimosa Vermillion. If you then also get it from the App Store or Google Play ahead of launch, you’ll also get 10 Bond Summon Tickets for the gacha and 100,000 Yul currency. An additional three tickets will be given to everyone who follows the official Twitter.

Capcom revealed the alternate Street Fighter 6 costumes, known as “Outfit 2” designs for all 18 characters in the initial roster. The alternate looks for returning and classic characters like Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, or Guile feature the original styles of the characters from previous games. Additionally, Director Takayuki Nakayama appeared on the PlayStation Blog to discuss about some of the re-designs and updates to classic characters, like Cammy.

Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama noted on the PlayStation Blog that developing a new numbered entry in the series was the perfect opportunity to give returning characters a significantly different look from their appearance in past entries. Some characters where especially difficult to re-design, like Chun-Li. Nakayama also commented about Cammy’s radical new design, and said that this new outfit would be akin to Cammy’s civilian clothes, while her classic leotard would be her battle outfit.

You can take a better look at the Street Fighter 6 Outfit 2 trailer showing character costumes here:
https://twitter.com/streetfighter/status/1664028982529097728

June 2023's begun, and that means a new set of FFVII Remake calendar images. Square Enix took to Twitter to release the latest batch. This time, only designs from the remake appear. People can choose between a desktop wallpaper image with key art of both Yuffie and Sonon from FFVII Remake, or mobile portrait-style images of each character separately.

Here's the official announcement with all three options. Since no FFVII characters' birthdays fall in June 2023, no dates are highlighted in the June 2023 calendar. (When this does happen, the day of the character's birthday usually appears with a white circle around it. This happened with Tifa's May 3rd birthday.)

今月のPC・スマホ用壁紙カレンダーは、ユフィとソノン！
今月21日は夏至ですね、日の出から日が沈むまでが最も長い日です。
この日を境にだんだんと日が短くなっていきます。
急に暑くなってきて体調を崩しやすいので、「かいふく」を忘れずに！#FF7R #FF7R_inter pic.twitter.com/IHx94y4v4A

— FFVII REMAKE (@FFVIIR_CLOUD) June 1, 2023

It’s a shame how many good ideas end up disappointing when put into action. The success of visual novels means we’re getting memorable or enjoyable hybrids like Digimon Survive or Devil Survivor! The Persona series’ relationship and daily life systems mean developers try implementing similar mechanics into their own games! I hoped Loop8: Summer of Gods would be good, because it had these elements that called Gnosia and Persona to mind. Unfortunately, it feels both obtuse and pretentious, caught up in how clever it wants to be.

Novus “Nini” Nemo was raised in outer space on a space station. Beings known as Kegai assault the earth below, and people took to the skies in the hopes of escaping it. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out too well, and now he’s in the small, rural village of Ashihara. Its apparently known for being oddly safe from these unknown beings, but that’s about to change. The Kegai are about to pierce a barrier and assault this apparent last bastion. When they do, they’ll “infect” one of the people there, putting them at risk. However, Nini features the Demon Sight ability, as evidenced by being able to see things he shouldn’t and spy on characters’ current actions, moods, and desires, and finds he’s not the only “gifted” or unusual resident in the town. And so, he’ll regularly head into Yomotsu Hirasaka at the town’s shrine with certain neighbors to face the Kegai there and perhaps save the person being used as their host.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable clothes and merchandise will return to Avail retail and online stores for a limited time. The items will be available throughout June 1-11, 2023 in Japan. The lineup includes graphic tees, tote bags, mini-towels, accessory poches, and boxer shorts, inspired by different characters from Diamond is Unbreakable, part 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

The lineup focuses on protagonist Josuke Higashikata, his partner and rival Rohan Kishibe, as well as the main villain of Part 4, Yoshikage Kira. Each item is available in three varieties, each one featuring one of the three aforementioned characters, with the exception of the boxer shorts which are available in two styles inspired by the Stands Crazy Diamond and Killer Queen.

The Japanese prices (tax included) for each item, and their approximate USD prices are the following:

• T-shirt (1,800 JPY or ~$13 USD)
• Boxer shorts (990 JPY or ~$7 USD)
• Pouches (1,200 JPY or ~$9 USD)
• Mini towels (490 JPY or ~$4 USD)
• Tote bags (1,800 JPY or ~$13 USD)

In other JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure news, Medicos Entertainment recently announced a new Nendoroid figure of Yoshikage Kira, alongside the return of the Nendoroid of Rohan Kishibe.