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Bushiroad announced that the third part of the second Hololive collaboration in BanG Dream! Girls Band Party will launch on January 13, 2024. This crossover will feature the Japanese VTubers Houshou Marine, Yukihana Lamy, and Shishiro Botan.

Here is a general summary of the new content featuring the Hololive VTubers:

1. Houshou Marine - Crossover gacha character illustration with Ran Mitake and performance of "Ahoy!! We Are the Houshou Pirates" with Afterglow
2. Yukihana Lamy - Crossover gacha character illustration with Mashiro Kurata and performance of "Fleur" with Morfonica
3. Shishiro Botan - Crossover gacha character illustration with Tomori Takamatsu and performance of "Lioness' Pride" with MyGO!!!!!

And heres a gallery of all the images so far shared with us:

Capcom announced the donation of 120 million yen to support the victims and families affected by the 2024 Sea of Japan earthquake that struck near the Noto Peninsula. The donation amount is equivalent to $826,380. [Thanks, Livedoor News!]

The company announced the donation in a statement shared through its website, alongside a message sharing its condolences for the victims of the earthquake and their families. Capcom detailed that the recipients of this donation would be various local governments affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake. The money will be used for relief and support of the victims as well as restoration of the affected areas.

In addition to Capcom, other Japanese video game companies recently announced various donations. Square Enix and The Pokemon Company offered separate donations of 50 million yen each to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Cover Corporation, owners of the Hololive VTuber agency, also donated 5 million yen to Japan’s Red Cross Society.

Capcom and Tokyo Marui announced the re-release of the Albert Wesker Model 01P airsoft gun replica from Resident Evil 7. The airsoft gun replica is now available from Tokyo Marui for 25,080 yen (or approximately $173) and Amazon Japan (19,475 yen ~$134), which offers overseas shipping. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

The airsoft gun replica includes the model’s name, Albert. W. Model 01P on the right side of the chamber, and the Umbrella Corporation name on the left side. The handle of the gun also includes the Blue Umbrella logo on it.

In Resident Evil 7, Chris Redfield uses the gun as part of his standard equipment when collaborating with Blue Umbrella on the cleanup of the Baker House Incident. The gun is a modification based on the Samurai Edge pistol used by S.T.A.R.S. members of the Raccoon City Police Department.

You can take a better look at the Resident Evil 7 Albert W Model 01P airsoft gun in the gallery below:

Sanrio is partnering with the Japanese Red Cross Society to offer a special Kenketsu-chan x Kuromi pin to people who donate blood and utilize the blood donation web membership service "Love Blood". Users can get the pin after earning 20 points through the service.

By donating blood to the Japanese Red Cross, donors can obtain one of the Kenketsu-chan x Kuromi pins, which feature four different designs for each blood type. The souvenir pins can be obtained nationwide across Japan at any Japanese Red Cross Society blood donation site.

The A-blood type pin shows a bunch of hearts with Kuromi looking mischievous and Kenketsu-chan winking in front of a giant A. For the O-blood-type pin, Kuromi is winking while Kenketsu-chan is jumping in front of a giant O with stars. For the B-blood type pin, Kuromi and Kenketsu-chan are both sitting in front of a giant B with stars. The AB-blood-type pin features a chuckling Kuromi with Kenketsu-chan in front of a giant AB with hearts.

The four souvenir pin designs can be viewed below:

Shimamura’s Avail announced the release of a new line of Persona 5 apparel that includes clothing items inspired by the game, as well as a headband shaped like Morgana. The new clothing line will go on sale on January 20, 2024.

The new Persona 5 clothing line will be sold at a variety of Avail physical stores throughout Japan and will also be available for purchase from the official Avail online store. Here is the full list of the new Persona 5 Avail clothing line, alongside their prices:

• T-Shirts: 1,800 yen (~$12)
• Sweatshirts: 2,300 yen (~$16)
• Parkas: 2,800 yen (~$19)
• Roomwear: 2,800 yen (~$19)
• Socks: 390 yen (~$3)
• Tote Bag: 1,800 yen (~$12)
• Poach: 1,200 yen (~$8)
• Headband: 1,200 yen (~$8)

PQube and Mages announced that Konosuba: Love For These Clothes Of Desire! will be releasing on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on February 8, 2024. The game was initially announced to be localized by PQube back in June 2023, but no release date for the game was revealed at the time.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Love for These Clothes of Desire! is a visual novel based on the popular light novel, manga, and anime series which follows Kazuma, a regular guy reincarnated and transported into another world as an adventurer. The game tells a brand new Konosuba adventure where Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness encounter a new curse and must find a way to break it.

A "mysterious black slab" alters the deepest desires of whoever touches it, which alters the personalities of Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness. By dressing up each character in "exciting, unexpected" outfits that bring satisfaction to the Konosuba characters, the curse can be broken. In order to craft the outfits, players must go on quests to gather resources and money. Each outfit has its own storyline, so players are encouraged to craft all of the outfits in order to experience all of the different comedic plot lines that Kazuma, Megumin, Aqua, and Darkness find themselves in.

Nintendo released a brand new trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet promoting the Mythical Pecha Berry mystery gift that came to unlock the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero epilogue on January 11, 2024. The Mythical Pecha Berry mystery gift item was first teased in the trailer announcing the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet epilogue back in December 2023.

The trailer describes the Mythical Pecha Berry as an item with an "alluring aroma" that may cause "something special to happen at Peachy's in Mossui Town,” teasing the Mythical Pecha Berry's role in the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero epilogue. In order for players to be able to obtain the Mythical Pecha Berry, they will need to have access to the internet to claim the mystery gift.

In order to play through the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero epilogue, players will need to have completed a "certain postgame event" in Pokemon Scarlet or Pokemon Violet, and have completed the stories of The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. This means players must have purchased The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk DLC expansion packs from the Nintendo eShop. Players will also need to purchase The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero from the Nintendo eShop. Once the conditions have been met, players will be able to start the epilogue.

The announcement of the new Beastmaster limited job for Final Fantasy XIV answers a question in an interview I had years ago with Naoki Yoshida about a tamer class he had in the works at the time, but was shelved due to issues. With the long-awaited reveal of the FFXIV Beastmaster limited job, I feel like there's a lot it could do to improve upon from Blue Mage.

Blue Mage is the first of its kind, as it is a limited job in FFXIV. It came out during the Stormblood storyline as part of Patch 4.5. Unlike other jobs, Blue Mage, and soon Beastmaster, functions a bit differently from the others. The Beastmaster will likely take after the Blue Mage in having a compendium of creatures for players to collect.

Idea Factory International announced it will release the Date a Live: Ren Dystopia game outside of Japan. It will appear on the PC via Steam in 2024, with standard and deluxe editions available. 

As in past games, players follow Shido Itsuka as he deals with Spirits and ensures their powers don’t harm Japan and the world. Said Spirits also tend to be women who are interested in him. Which works out, as the way Shido keeps Spirits from causing damage is he dates them to seal their power. This latest entry introduces a new character named Ren and follows players as they date and deal with more Spirits.

Here’s the first gallery of screenshots Idea Factory International shared with us highlighting different CGs from the story.

Square Enix offered a look at and new details about the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Hidden Hope expansion set cards, which adds new Limit Breaks and Final Fantasy: Record Keeper. It is expected to launch on August 2, 2024.

There are few details about the new Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Limit Breaks will be like. It was first announced back in August 2023. The official announcement only mentioned new “custom-themed cards.” Square Enix also didn’t bring up what the Buy-a-Box Promo card will be for this set yet.

Here’s a closer look at some of the new cards that will join Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. The total count will include 130 normal variaties and 162 premium foil ones.

The new 1.4 Hello Kitty Island Adventure update is live, and it brings with it a story update, furniture customization, and a Luck & Lanterns Lunar New Year event. Immediately after downloading the patch, players will find the Frosty Fashion Frenzy event is live.

The new 1.4 update is about both temporary and permanent additions. The two new features that will always be there involve new decorating options and Spirit of Friendship Island lore. If someone has been keeping up with the story, the main quest now has new quests to complete. Also if My Sweet Piano is at My Melody’s shop and on the island, you can head to her to customize the appearance of your furnityre pieces. 

As for the new Hello Kitty Island Adventure seasonal activities, Frosty Fashion Frenzy runs January 11-19, 2024 and is followed by the Luck & Lanterns Lunar New Year January 19, 2024 through March 1, 2024. The former is a daily login event with free clothing as gifts. The latter involves gathering dragon pearls around the island to exchange for Year of the Dragon cosmetics.

Nintendo shared a new Mario vs Donkey Kong Switch trailer that shows off its two new worlds. This video offers brief glimpse at the Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit areas, as well as other new features.

This means that there will be nine worlds in Switch version of the game. The original game only offered seven. Each of the seven in the GBA game also had a Plus variant, which will also return for this release.

Here’s the full list of Mario vs Donkey Kong Switch worlds. Presumably Merry Mini-Land and Slippery Summit will appear before World DK, which was the final world in the original version:

• Mario Toy Company
• Donkey Kong Jungle
• Fire Mountain
• Spooky House
• Mystic Forest
• Twilight City
• Merry Mini-Land
• Slippery Summit

EA and Respawn released a collection of Apex Legends FFVII Vtuber assets for people to use. They’re available on the official site alongside past Gaiden and Revenant ones.

The file is about a 47mb download. It consists of three sorts of materials. One is Nessie Moogle mascot that has idle, cheer, dance, and sleep animations. It also has Twitch integration toggles that react to follows, raids, and subs. There are two sorts of overlays, with one featuring Aerith’s yellow flowers and the other showing materia from the series. Finally, there is a Vtuber Wattson Moogle Blanket “outfit” based on the new skin for the character in Apex Legends. That makes it look like the person is wearing the character’s new hat and coat.

Respawn also shared a brief FFVII Apex Legends Vtuber assets video clip showing the Wattson Moogle Blanket in action. It showed the Vtuber Vienna the Cosmic Dragon using it. It highlights the various patches that reference characters like the Chocobo, Cait Sith, and Cactaur.

Wakatsuru Saburomaru Distillery revealed a new malt whiskey drink inspired by Dizzy from the Guilty Gear series. It will start accepting orders for the Guilty Gear 25th Anniversary Blended Malt Dizzy Ver. drink on January 18, 2024. Only 1,000 bottles of this drink will be made, and each of them will have a price tag of 13,200 yen (~$90). The company will only allow a person to order up to two bottles simultaneously.

Wakatsuru will blend the Saburomaru sake with British-made malt whiskey to produce this drink. By using over 50% Saburomaru malt and resulting in a drink with 50% alcohol, it will re-enact Dizzy's character setting, as she is half-human and half-Gear. The drink will also combine the tastes of the sweet Sherry cask and the rustic peated whiskey.

This drink will appear as the second batch of a collaboration between the Wakatsuru Saburomaru Distillery and Arc System Works to celebrate the Guilty Gear series' 25th anniversary. The first batch appeared in December 2023, and it featured malt whiskey drinks modeled after Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske. All stocks for these drinks were already sold out by the time the company revealed the new whiskey.

Nihon Falcom canceled the Falcom jdk Band Live 2024 concert in Tokyo, which was originally scheduled to take place on January 13, 2024. In its press release, the company cited safety concerns due to a bomb threat on the venue as the primary reason for the cancellation.

On January 6, 2024, Kichijoji Club Seata's contact center received an email containing a bomb threat. The perpetrator claimed that they would bomb the facility and harm its staff and visitors within a specified time frame that included January 13, 2024—the date when Falcom jdk Band's concert would be held.

Club Seata immediately contacted the police to report the threat. The authorities noted that it had also received the same report from many other live house clubs all around Japan. However, no bombing incidents happened in reality, so the police suggest a high probability of this being a prank or crime committed for fun.

Falcom added that 246 Livehouse Gabu, which will host the Osaka concert on January 26, 2024, also received the same threat and is temporarily shutting down its premises. However, the venue will reopen on January 22, 2024, so the concert will go as planned. The third concert in Nagoya on January 27, 2024, does not seem to be affected as its venue, ell.Fits All, did not report such a threat.

Bandai Namco revealed the last two Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash characters are Suguru Geto and Yuta Okkotsu. There’s also a new trailer showing how both will look in the game.

Yuta first debuted as the star of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manga and anime. However, since then he’s also become a prominent supporting cast member in the main series, especially in later parts of the story. It appears that his character design for the game is based on his earlier appearance, rather than his current one in the series. Meanwhile Suguru Geto is one of the primary antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen and a former classmate of Satoru Gojo.

Here’s the latest trailer for the Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash. It begins with looking at Yuta. He’ll be able to summon Rika to fight alongside him. At the 30 second mark, Suguru shows up.

In case you missed it, here’s the full roster of 16 Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash characters:

• Aoi Todo

A Mega Man Battle Network theme will appear at Capcom Cafe in early 2024. Capcom announced that it will change the theme starting on January 26, 2024, and that it will run until March 25, 2024. It will be available at both of the cafe's active outlets on the 3rd floor of Grandscape Ikebukuro in Tokyo and the 13th floor of Daimaru Umeda in Osaka.

Capcom has also shared a key visual for the special cafe theme. It hints that the collaboration will focus on the NetNavis MegaMan.EXE, ProtoMan.EXE, Bass.EXE, Colonel.EXE, and SearchMan.EXE. The cafe's collaboration themes usually come with merchandise based on the featured characters and a food and beverage menu inspired by the franchise. However, Capcom has still yet to reveal the details of this theme. It will make another announcement in the near future.

Cygames’ latest showcase revealed a Granblue Fantasy: Relink PS4 and PS5 demo, a Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising save data bonus, and an upcoming Lucilius battle. The trial will drop on the PlayStation Store on January 12, 2024.

The demo announcement included some details about what to expect at the one hour and four minute mark of the presentation. Cygames offered apologies for it not being on Steam as well. It will offer three experiences. There will be a Tutorial, an example fo the Story Mode, and a brief Quest Mode experience with three quests from the game. The story is apparently nearly identical to the one in-game. As for Quest Mode, it can be played offline or online and includes 11 characters.

Here are the 11 characters that can be used in the Quest Mode part of the demo:

• Charlotta
• Ghandagoza
• Gran

Houshou Marine now has over 3 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. Cover made an announcement on Hololive Production's official X social media account to celebrate the occasion. It added that Marine has become the first Japanese Hololive VTuber to reach the milestone.

As of January 11, 2024, Houshou Marine's YouTube channel has over 3.1 million subscribers recorded. This means she has also surpassed Kizuna AI's channel—which has around 3 million subscribers at the same time—and become the second overall most subscribed VTuber on YouTube. The first spot goes to the Hololive English VTuber Gawr Gura, who stands at 4.42 million subscribers.

Cover's announcement tweet celebrating Houshou Marine reaching 3 million subscribers is also available to view right below:

Animate will sell several pieces of merchandise for Honkai: Star Rail. Certain stores in Japan will also feature standees of the characters for you to take pictures of. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The list of items is available on the site. You’ll be able to get:

• Acrylic keyholders: 1100 JPY
• Acrylic standees: 1760 JPY
• Badges of Light Cones: 495 JPY
• Character can badges: 550 JPY
• Mouse pad: 2310 JPY

All of the items will be available or ship out from mid-March 2024. The goods all use the key visual of the characters, which appear when you pull them or when they use their Ultimates. Most of the items have 27 variations, so you might not be able to buy items for newer characters. As for the standees, you’ll be able to find them in:

Toshimaen Garden Spa has announced an upcoming collaboration with HoYoVerse’s Honkai: Star Rail. The campaign will run from January 17 to February 18, 2024. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The Honkai: Star Rail spa collaboration will focus on Dr Ratio, since he canonically likes to take baths. You’ll be able to get an exclusive Dr Ratio towel for every collaboration entry ticket you have. For a limited time, you’ll also be able to eat at the spa’s restaurant and order from a collaboration menu. There will be a seafood pasta (1680 JPY) that’s supposed to make you smarter, as well as either grape juice or apple juice (700 JPY each). You’ll also be able to get stickers and postcards featuring the key visuals for Kafka and Dr Ratio.

Nijisanji and Anime Impulse announced that Vtuber Selen Tatsuki will not be a part of the Nijisanji EN Block Party. She was set to be part of a Saturday Night Vibes event, the HOPCONcert 3 concert, and a sold-out meet and greet.

This comes after a chain of events that started at the end of December 2023. Nijisanji pulled a cover of “Cup of Coffee” by LilyPichu that Selen created and sang. The performer encouraged unofficial uploads. Almost immediately after, Selen and Nijisanji announced she was on medical leave. She was released from the hospital the first week of January 2024.  

Here’s the official announcement from Nijisanji, which confirmed that only the Selen Tatsuki Anime Impulse meet and greet, which was supposed to take place on January 13, 2024 and cost $50 for a three-minute visit, will be refunded. People who purchased tickets to the other events to see her will not get refunds. 

SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement with AI voice technology company Replica Studios that will allow voice actor members to “safely create and license a digital replica of their voice.” Voice actors responded with confusion and outrage, stating that this would affect their livelihood and that no one ever approved of this agreement. [Thanks, Metro!]

The agreement with Replica Studios will allow voice actors to license a digital voice replica that can later be used in game development and other media projects. According to SAG-AFTRA's website, this will allow AAA video game studios and other companies to access SAG-AFTRA talent via Replica. This is, according to the statement, “an important step towards the ethical use of AI voices.”

Lego will open up pre-orders for its Animal Crossing-themed sets from January 20, 2024 in Japan. They'll come out on March 1, 2024. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

Each Lego set will allow you to recreate your Animal Crossing house or community locales. You’ll also be able to get little Lego figures of the various characters, such as Isabelle or Julian. As well, there will be limited supply of “Maple’s Pumpkin Garden,” which will come with Maple, a watering can, a fence, a pumpkin, a tree, and a ladder. This is going to be a bonus with orders while supplies last for Lego Japan.

Maple's Pumpkin Garden will be a polybag, as it was one of the ones that Lego revealed for 2024. But we do not yet know the release window for it. It also does not say on the North American store whether or not it'll come as a bonus when you order. As a note, the January 20, 2024 pre-order date is for Lego Japan. As the release dates for both countries are the same, though, there's a high chance that the North American store will also open up pre-orders on that date.

Square Enix will re-release the Wayfinder necklaces from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. You can pre-order them from the Japanese Square Enix website and they’ll ship out from April 27, 2024.

Each necklace costs 2750 JPY, which is about $18.90. However, the Square Enix e-Store does not offer international shipping, and the North American store doesn’t have the Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Wayfinder necklaces. Those outside of Japan who wish to purchase it will likely need to employ some sort of proxy service.

Laplus (La+) Darkness will go on a streaming hiatus due to health reasons. It might take her about two weeks to recover, though she will post more details on her social media account in regards to when she’ll return.

According to the Tweet, she went to the hospital where the doctors diagnosed her with vocal cord nodules. These are benign white masses that form in the vocal folds, which can cause throat pain, vocal hoarseness, and vocal fatigue. They can also restrict airflow levels while talking. Because of this, she cannot stream or sing, thus will take a break in order to recover. The doctors told her that it would take about two weeks for the nodules to go away. However, that’s just an estimate, which is why her return window is unknown.

Over the past few years, Laplus has taken several breaks from streaming in order to focus on her health. In May 2023, she contracted COVID-19, for example. However, issues with her throat have started cropping up from around late 2023. In November 2023, she stated that she might take a small break from streaming since she’d been singing and yelling so much.

Sanrio announced a Bungo Stray Dogs merchandise collection. You’ll be able to find merchandise of eight different character and mascot pairs in the Sanrio Anime Store from January 10-24, 2024.

The merchandise are all available as part of the Sanrio Anime Store lottery. It will cost 880 JPY per attempt, and you’ll receive your prizes from early March 2024. If you don’t want to test your luck, you can also purchase items directly from the Sanrio Anime Store. However, there are some exclusive prizes in the lottery that you can’t buy.

The prizes are:

• S Prize: Cushion
• A Prize: Mug
• B Prize: Acrylic standees
• C Prize: Acrylic charm (chainable)
• D Prize: Square can badges
• E Prize: Acrylic card

Valve has put out a statement on its website in regards to how Steam will handle games that use AI technology. In short, Steam will allow developers to publish games with AI-generated assets in them, provided they fill out a disclosure section.

Developers have to describe what kind of AI their game uses. There will be two categories: pre-generated AI and live-generated AI. In the disclosure section, the developer needs to promise that the game does not include illegal or copyright-infringing content. If approved, information about the title using AI will appear on the store page for the game. Users will also be able to report any illegal content in live-generated or pre-generated AI games.

In the statement, Valve also apologized for taking so long to come to a decision in regard to AI. The company explained that they needed time to research and discuss AI with game developers to better understand its usage and risks.

Studio Bones stands out as one of the greatest anime production companies in the industry, with the likes of My Hero Academia, Darker than Black, Ouran High School Host Club, Fullmetal Alchemist, and more behind it. It is now back for its 25th anniversary with a new original anime called Metallic Rouge.

In some ways, Metallic Rouge feels like a culmination of everything that came before it. It has elements of My Hero Academia and RahXephon in its mecha and super-powered vibes. It captures the futuristic Mars style of Carole & Tuesday, plus some of its musical elements. It even features character designs from Toshihiro Kawamoto, who shaped the look of Cowboy Bebop (though that isn’t from Bones itself).

The blockchain game Captain Tsubasa -Rivals- will have dedicated mobile app versions on iOS and Android, and its release date is now known. Mint Town and KLab's subsidiary BLOCKSMITH&Co. announced that they will release the game app as a free-to-play title on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The Japanese press release noted that the currently ongoing web browser version has a high entry hurdle due to it being a Web3-based game. It gave assurance that the addition of a free-to-play version and credit card payment for in-app purchases will provide easier access to the game. People who have played the original browser game will also be able to link their accounts in the mobile apps.

The mobile app pre-registration webpage mentioned a campaign where the developers will add more Gacha Tickets and Amazon Gift code winners with a higher number of pre-registrants. The Japanese press release revealed that they have reached the third tier with over 80,000 pre-registrants. The fourth and last tier at 100,000 people will add one more Gacha Ticket for a total of four and 50 more Amazon Gift code winners to 100 in total.

SuperGroupies announced that the Bloodborne Hunter coat and other merchandise based on Lady Maria and the Doll are back. Six items inspired by the FromSoftware game are now being sold again in Japan.

While these items are available in the Japanese storefront, they haven’t returned in the US one. However, WorldShipping does allow people to buy from the Japanese site and ship it worldwide.

All of these items first ended up announced back in July 2023 and are different than the 2020 collection. Here’s a full list of all the items you can get again alongside the Bloodborne Hunter coat, as well as their prices.

• The Doll Model Scarf - ¥14,300 (~$130)
• Hunter Model Bi-fold Wallet - ¥15,400 (~$140)
• Hunter Model Coat (sizes medium through XXL) - ¥29,700 (~$270)

The Pokemon Company International announced that the next new Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion will be Scarlet & Violet Temporal Forces. That will launch on March 22, 2024. 

This time around, there will be two Elite Trainer boxes and booster packs. All of them will feature the Paradox Pokemon versions of legendaries like Suicune and Virizion. Both of these, as well as other Scarlet and Violet characters, will appear. Pokemon ex and Tera type shifted ex cards will appear, as well as ACE SPEC cards. However, only seven ACE SPEC are in this set. 

Here’s the official list of some of the rarer cards in the set from The Pokemon Company International:

• 2 Tera Pokemon ex cards
• 6 Gold-etched cards
• 7 ACE SPEC Trainer and Special Energy cards
• 10 Special Illustration Pokemon and Supporter cards
• 13 Pokemon ex cards
• 22 Illustration cards

IGN released a new video showcasing gameplay from Dragon's Dogma 2, this time focusing on the Trickster vocation. This vocation, which is what classes are referred to in the game, is new to the series and was previously revealed at the showcase held in late November 2023.

The Trickster in Dragon's Dogma 2 has a very different style of gameplay when compared to the other vocations. Its censer attacks do negligible damage, but pull attention from enemies. They can then buff the damage of their Pawn companions, who can lay in to the befuddled foes. There are several other smoky shenanigans available to the Trickster, including re-deployable shadow clones, Area-of-Effect taunts and illusory walls or platforms. The IGN video also shows some ways of combining these tricks with the astral projection ability, tricking enemies into jumping off ledges to their doom.

You can watch the full video via IGN's Youtube channel below:

Masahiro Sakurai announced that his YouTube series “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games” will end in 2024. This comes alongside a new video going over the UI feature that allows people to pause or skip in-game cutscenes.

Here is the official message from Masahiro Sakurai about his “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games” series ending. It appeared on the Community section of his YouTube channel. It didn’t offer any actual expected end date for the show. It only noted it will stop sometime this year.

Ling Xiaoyu’s BFF Panda is the latest Tekken 8 character to get her own trailer. The Bandai Namco video focuses on gameplay, showing how she’ll fight in this entry.

Like Kuma, Panda uses a variation of the Mishima style. The video begins with her apparently going through a bit of hop scotch before into matches. At the one minute mark, we see what happens when she goes into a match against Ling Xiaoyu, as there will be a special opening involving the two dancing and singing together.

As usual, here’s a directory of Tekken 8 character trailers that appeared before the one for Panda.

• Asuka Kazama

Takara Tomy revealed two new Zoids model kits with crossovers from Capcom's Monster Hunter series. The kits will feature the Beast Liger with Magnamalo's Sinister Armor and the Sonic Bird with Rathalos Armor. The company will open pre-orders for both kits on January 12, 2024.

Both the Beast Liger and Sonic Bird debuted in the 2019 anime show Zoids Wild ZERO. The Beast Liger appeared from the first episode as the starting Zoid for the show's protagonist Leo Conrad. Meanwhile, the Sonic Bird appeared right in the middle of the show in episode 26 as Jake Ramon's Zoid.

The Zoids from the more recent Wild series in the late 2010s are known to have controller handlebars near their heads, unlike the earlier entries which featured enclosed cockpits. As such, these new scaled model kits will come with miniature pilots who will ride on top of them.

The official announcement tweet from the Zoids franchise's official X account is also available to view right below:

Kadokawa has released the first tankobon manga volume of Melty Blood Type Lumina: Piece in Paradise. It is available in Japanese both physically and digitally with a price tag of ¥748 (~$5.16). The physical book is available to order on Amazon Japan with worldwide shipping while stocks last. The digital version is also purchasable internationally on BookWalker.

Enterrise and Capcom announced the release of a new Resident Evil Village pachislot machine. The machine started operating on January 9, 2024, at pachislot parlors throughout Japan.

The new Pachislot Resident Evil Village is based on the Pachislot Resident Evil 7 Hazard Rush machine, released in Japan in 2020. Since the pachislot games don’t involve actual gameplay, the different stages of the machine adopt the aesthetic of the game. These stages include the titular Village, Castle Dimitrescu, Moreau’s Reservoir, the Village tunnels, and the Megamycete. Scenes from the game were recreated for the machine.

Triggering certain conditions and slot combinations leads to events such as Judgement Evil and Panic Zone. Both of these events have different chances of achieving a Climax Battle against one of the lords of the Four Houses, which in turn also leads to a Hazard Rush. These sequences replicate the plot of Resident Evil Village. Chris Mode is one of the special events advertised, which leads to various scenes imitating the sequence near the end of the game in which players control Chris Redfield.

Square Enix Holdings has announced that it donated 50 million yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society to support the victims affected by the 2024 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024. The equivalent in dollars would be approximately $346,120. [Thanks, Gamebiz!]

In a statement shared on the official Square Enix website, the company expressed its “deepest sympathies” to the victims of the Noto peninsula earthquake and wished for the earliest possible recovery of those affected. The 2024 Sea of Japan earthquake occurred on the evening of January 1, 2024.

The earthquake struck 4.3 miles (or 7 km) away from land, in an area close to the Noto Peninsula located in Ishikawa Prefecture. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6 M, and it affected several Prefectures on the west coast of Japan, with tsunamis producing waves of up to 4.2 meters.

HoYoVerse has released a Collected Miscellany video for Chevreuse, a new playable character in Genshin Impact. She is a 4-star Pyro Polearm in the current banner.

You can watch the Genshin Impact Chevreuse trailer here:

In general, like other Collected Miscellany videos, it covers her Talents and her utility in battle. To summarize, Chevreuse is a good exploration support unit because of her passive, which reduces Stamina when sprinting. Chevreuse is also an enabler unit for Overloaded reactions, which requires Pyro and Electro.

She specializes so much in Overloaded reactions that she has a passive that’ll lower an opponent’s Electro and Pyro RES after they’re hit with Overloaded if the party consists purely of Pyro and Electro. Her Elemental Skill seems to be her bread and butter. After she fires her Elemental Skill, she can heal the party.