Twinfinite

Pension funds representing New York City public employees filed a Section 220 Complaint against Activision

Today another chapter has been added to the apparently infinite saga sparked by the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft.

As reported by Axios, a number of New York City-based retirement funds for public servants ( New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, the New York City Police Pension Fund, the New York City Board of Education Retirement System, and the Teachers’ Retirement System for the City of New York) have filed a section 220 complaint against the well-known video game publisher in order to be entitled to inspect company documents relevant to the acquisition deal.

The complaint, filed in Delaware on April 26, alleges that the deal would allow the company’s CEO Bobby Kotick and the board of directors to escape liability for their alleged breaches of fiduciary duties, also linked to the previous allegations of misconduct.

It also alleges that Microsoft’s offer undervalues the company’s value, thus causing damage to its shareholders, including the funds acting as plaintiffs.

According to the complaint, Kotick should have been found unfit to negotiate the deal with Microsoft by the Board, but this did not happen.

The latest update to Final Fantasy XIV might include a homage to one of the most popular sci-fi RPG series in gaming, Mass Effect.

The update came with a lot of new goodies for PvP fans, including a new gameplay mode and plenty of prizes to enjoy with the new tiered systems.

Among those is a gunblade for Gunbreakers called Tropaios Bayonet, and it feels definitely familiar.

While it’s not a straight copy (which is understandable, since this is likely to be a homage and not an official collaboration), it appears to include several elements of the design language from some of the most iconic Mass Effect weapons.

We see the typical curved top of assault rifles like the M-7 Lancer and the M-8 Avenger, or sniper rifles like the Javelin, which also has a similar stock. The color scheme is also very familiar to weapons like the M-29 Incisor.

When wielded, the gunblade glows of a familiar orange color that certainly reminds of Mass Effect’s Omni-tool, but perhaps the most striking feature is the logo/glyph in the middle, which certainly feels like it imitates the iconic “N7” (or M7 perhaps).

You can see what I mean for yourself below.

Disney has released the official trailer for the highly-anticipated Disney+ series, Kenobi, which sees the return of fan-favorite Ewan McGregor as the titular Kenobi.

The trailer builds on the debut trailer about two months ago and shows off more of the Inquisitor and his Sith lackeys chasing down Kenobi around the galaxy to put down one of the last remaining Jedi masters.

In a scene that will hit prequel fans right in the feels, there is a scene where Uncle Owen doubts Kenobi’s great idea to train Luke. See for yourself below.

Also teased is the return of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader. While many are stoked to see Christensen take on the role again, what does have some Star Wars purists a bit concerned is the possibility that Vader and Kenobi would meet in this series and taking away from the iconic moment Kenobi and Vader meet in the original Star Wars film, A New Hope.

We’ll have to wait and see for sure but for now, personally, I’m just happy to see the best part of the prequels – the tragic relationship between McGregor’s Kenobi and Christensen’s Vader – continue to be explored.

Kenobi releases on Disney+ on May 27.

When it comes to action-RPGs, a genre that was popularized by the likes of Diablo, there have been many different takes over the years. You’ve got your looter shooters like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, the hybrid APRG MMO Lost Ark, and more, each sporting a recognizable source of inspiration. However, for Ghostlore, an Steam Early Access title made by the duo of Andrew and Adam Teo, the hallmarks of the genre are presented under an unfamiliar guise, that of a Southeast Asian flavor.

With Sifu breaking onto the scene with its stylish action and challenging gameplay, developers Sloclap have every reason to continue supporting the game. Following the sharing of the upcoming roadmap for the brawler, the first of the big updates coming to Sifu is now live in the form of patch 1.08.

The Spring 2022 content update has some key features that will matter to players of all skill levels. The first is expanded difficulty options, adding to the original Disciple setting with the easier Student difficulty and the harder Master difficulty. A new advanced training mode will also allow players to practise their moves against the various enemies or bosses, giving you more mastery over your martial arts prowess.

In addition, patch 1.08 for Sifu implements the new outfit feature, where players can change the main character’s outfit in the Wuguan, together with support for dark mode and other UI improvements.

Here are the full details of patch 1.08 for Sifu:

In an age where many multiplayer titles are making crossplay a key part of their strategy, one of the biggest sports games in the world is doing just the same. Forgoing the reluctance that has been evident in the past, EA Sports is now moving ahead to implement a limited rollout of crossplay for FIFA 22, which is great considering that it is one of this month’s free PlayStation Plus titles.

As detailed in the latest Pitch Notes from EA, players can give the crossplay functionality a whirl in both Online Seasons and Online Friendlies on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Stadia. In a bid to reduce any potential issues that might crop up thanks to crossplay, EA is choosing to roll it out in this limited manner. Once the feedback is in and the game remains intact, the company will then look to implement crossplay on a larger scale.

If you are eager to jump in, there are some steps to take. Once you are in the main menu of FIFA 22, find the widget at the bottom right-hand corner and open it with the corresponding button prompt. From there, players can enable or disable their crossplay test participation, as well as approximate location matchmaking.

With the Overwatch 2 beta currently underway, many players are getting a taste of the hero shooter sequel that is currently under development at Blizzard. Of course, being a beta and all, there are bound to be issues that crop up every once in a while. The most significant one centers around Wrecking Ball, with a bug causing servers to be overloaded and crashing the game client, and Blizzard has taken the hero off the board as a fix is being sought.

As shared by the official Overwatch Twitter account, the team has noticed that “Wrecking Ball’s powers are a bit too strong on the Beta server,” as such, Blizzard is “disabling him immediately while we work to address a bug that allowed him to cause other players to crash.”

Today Atlus released another daily trailer for its upcoming JRPG Soul Hackers 2, showing one of its demons.

This time around, we take a look at Flauros, which has been part of the Shin Megami Tensei series and even appeared in the latest chapter Shin Megami Tensei V.

As usual, the trailer also includes the daily horoscope, which places Taurus at the top of the luck ranking and Pisces at the bottom.

Soul Hackers 2 releases for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC (Steam and Windows Store) on August 26, just one day after the Japanese launch on August 25.

Developed by Wright Flyer Studios in conjunction with Square Enix, Echoes of Mana is a brand new mobile game based on the Mana JRPG series that’s just been released this past week. The game features plenty of characters across the Mana series, and is free-to-play, though you can expect there to be plenty of in-game purchases and a gacha system to boot.

Since the game’s launch, Echoes of Mana has seen over one million downloads, which is honestly a pretty impressive number considering that the Mana series has always been rather niche. To celebrate the big milestone, players will be able to enjoy new login bonuses for the next week including Lucre, 1,000 Spirit Crystals, and stamina recovery items.

We’ve seen no shortage of Kickstarter success stories over the past few years, but it’s always amazing to hear about games that are somehow able to meet their funding goals in short periods of time, and this Blade Runner tabletop RPG is no exception.

The project went live today, and within just three minutes, it met its funding goal of $13,980. Not only that, it also completely smashed that goal and is sitting at $1,137,465 worth of pledges at the time of writing. It has since met its stretch goals, and will now come with a full color map, custom dice, new character archetype, and more.

The Blade Runner RPG is set in a futuristic noir version of Los Angeles, where players will get together to solve various cases and crimes. The packaging itself looks incredibly well put together and fitting with the dirty cyberpunk vibes of the Blade Runner IP, and backers will be able to check out an early access version of the game soon after the campaign ends with downloadable PDF files and the core rulebook to get started.

Netmarble released another English trailer of Level-5’s online JRPG Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds.

This time around, we get a rather comedic introduction of another playable class in the game, the Destroyer, following the swordsman, the witch, the engineer, and the rogue that we already saw.

Despite his menacing name, the Destroyer is basically a giant with a heart of gold, and he’s voiced by superstar actor Akio Otsuka, whom you may know for Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series and tons more successful roles.

It’s worth mentioning that the game has already been active in Japan for several months, while pre-registration is already available in the west for iOS and Android. You’ll receive an “Explorer Outfit” if you register and the game will also be playable on PC.

You can check out the trailer below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, here’s an official description.

Today third-party developers had new reveals and a release to share about Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons.

We start with PMDG, which released more videos of the much-anticipated Boeing 737-700, showing off the rich customization available for the engine and status displays, and the custom mouse handling developed by the studio.

At the moment, we’re still waiting for a release date and pricing details for this one, but we shouldn’t be too far off.

Speaking of 737, a recently-formed developer named TopKit Simulations is working on a classic model starting with the Boeing 737-400.

xBelow you can see a few images and read the latest development update outlining the state of the project.

Xbox and Bethesda fans rejoice! The publishers have announced the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 will take place on June 12, and with so many developers now part of the Xbox Game Studios family, we’ve been busy salivating over what could possibly show up during the big livestream.

Down below, you’ll find our six predictions for things we’d expect from the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, and then 5 games we’d love to see show up in one form or another. We’ve taken a stab at predicting how these might appear, but a brief cameo would be enough for us in most cases. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the good stuff.

As previously teased, today Blizzard revealed a brand new game for mobile platforms, Warcraft Arclight Rumble.

The game is coming for iOS and Android and pre-registration is already open. A closed beta will come to select regions “soon.”

It’s defined as an “action strategy game” focusing on collectible Warcraft miniatures with a “massive” single-player campaign, multiplayer and co-op support, and even raids.

Five factions will be available, including Alliance, Horde, Beast, Blackrock, and Undead.

Below you can check out the cinematic trailer, the gameplay trailer, a presentation by the developers, the first screenshots, and an official description.

Today Ubisoft wrote another chapter of the infinite saga of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake.

Following multiple delays, leadership for the development of the game will pass from Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai to Ubisoft Montréal.

It’s worth mentioning that Ubisoft Montréal is the developer of the original game, and according to the announcement it will “build upon the work” done by the previous studios and regroup on the scope of the game, which will be released when it’s ready.

Basically, we’ll have to wait longer to even know a new release window.

You can read the full announcement below.

The game was originally announced all the way back in 2020 with a January 21, 2021 release date for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Quite obviously, that did not materialize.

Here’s how it was originally described, even if we don’t know how much of that will still apply to the finished game.

Warner Bros. Pictures officially unveiled the first look of its upcoming psychological horror pic, Don’t Worry Darling, which is scheduled to release exclusively in theaters on Sept. 23, 2022. Feel free to take a gander of the brand new trailer down below, but be warned, it’s pretty eerie stuff.

Clocking in at just under three minutes long, the new footage is equally raunchy as it is disturbing. Boasting top-notch acting talent from the likes of Midsommar’s Florence Pugh, Dunkirk’s Harry Styles, Star Trek‘s Chris Pine, and Crazy Rich Asians’ Gemma Chan, Don’t Worry Darling is bursting at the seams with style and star power.

Helmed by Booksmart’s Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling appears to be a Truman Show-esque pull-the-rug-from-under-you thriller that sees a happy couple living an idyllic life in a peculiarly perfect smalltown. Things take a turn for the worse when Alice (Pugh) begins asking one too many questions about their eerily perfect existence.

For more information, here’s a general overview courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures:

Today, Netflix revealed a brand new trailer promoting all of its upcoming animated series that are coming, in what they are calling Netflix After School. The trailer shows off everything from Kung Fu Panda to Boss Baby, featuring numerous clips from each prominent new and returning series. The most interesting part of the trailer is that it’s the first look fans get at the Sonic Prime.

While brief the trailer ends with Sonic Prime, showing off a clip of everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog speeding around picking up rings. You can check out the trailer, photos, and an official description for the upcoming Netflix original below.

To celebrate the recent 20-year anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Disney and Square Enix teaming up with Big Bad Toy Store to bring fans some pretty cool merchandise. Currently, the two hottest items that have been revealed are a King Mickey plush and two separate pin box collections.

Each of these items official went up for pre-order today. You can check out official images and full descriptions for each of these items right down below:

Today EA Sports and Codemasters released a new trailer of the upcoming F1 racing simulator F1 22.

The trailer focuses the brand new Miami International Autodrome that will make its debut in the new game.

Incidentally, the game will also come with Miami-inspired bonuses for those who pre-order the Champion Edition, including a graffiti livery and clothing items.

You can check out the trailer below.

F1 22 will launch for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on July 1, 2022

Below you can read an official description:

NEW SEASON, NEW RULES

Take your seat for the new era of F1 with the sport’s stunning new cars and a new handling model that recreates the intense wheel-to-wheel racing that’s had us on the edge of our seats so far in the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Plus, test your talent amongst the iconic Florida palm trees around the 19 challenging corners of the vibrant new Miami International Autodrome, and go flat out as F1 Sprint comes to the game for the first time in F1 22.

RACE DAY, REDEFINED

New race options in F1® 22 will give you more control over your virtual F1 race day, with the opportunity to choose between immersive and broadcast style Formation Laps, Safety Car periods, and Pit Stops.

Loot River on PC

Every once in a while, a game appears in the indie scene with an ingenious idea that comes from mashing up iconic games and manages to create something noteworthy. Usually, it has gorgeous, hand-drawn pixel art that blows away viewers or has a compelling atmosphere that sucks you in from the get-go. Loot River captures all those qualities and has much more going for it; however, pieces of its gameplay and how it all comes together hold it back from how great it could be. 

Developed by straka.studio and published with the help of indie fund SUPERHOT PRESENTS, Loot River is a procedurally-generated dungeon-crawler action roguelike that combines weighty Dark Souls combat with spatial block-shifting traversal from the likes of Tetris.

Earlier today, developer OverBorder Studio and publisher Team17 announced that its upcoming Souls-like action-RPG, Thymesia, will be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Aug. 9, 2022.

The news was accompanied by a brand new trailer to whet fans’ appetites. Feel free to check out said video down below:

As you can see above, the new footage really shows off the game’s slick and fluid real-time combat, and sheds light on the dark and gloomy world of Thymesia. Not only will you be taking down legions of creepy monsters, but you’ll also have to contend with a multitude of pesky knight-like enemies, too.

For those on PC, a free demo will be available to test your mettle against the denizens of Thymesia. The demo is available on Steam now until Monday 9th May.

For more information about Thymesia, here’s a general overview courtesy of an official press release we received today:

Today Microsoft revealed and released a brand new color for its popular Xbox Wireless Controller, and it’s “deep pink.”

The controller, which is already available for purchase, comes with a blazing hot combination of pink, white, and black.

The pricing is the usual $64.99, and it’s compatible with Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Windows 10/11, Android, and iOS.

If you’d like to take a good look at what it looks like, you can check out the gallery below.

Since Mass Effect: Andromeda takes place an entire galaxy away, it makes sense that there’s very little in terms of character overlap between the game and the original trilogy. Sure, there are plenty of references to people like Liara and Shepard, but we don’t actually get to see them.

Interestingly enough, there is one beloved character from the original Mass Effect trilogy that is in Andromeda, but they can only be unlocked using a mod that fixes a couple of broken missions in the game. As you can see in a post to the official subreddit below, user Larsonpl showed off the face that Mordin Solus is actually in the game.

In this entertaining, yet somewhat sad, clip Ryder can be seen hallucinating after taking a medicinal plant while on a mission on Kadara, despite SAM’s warnings not to. While on his trip, the Pathfinder hears and sees Mordin Solus’ back, as SAM sings a slightly altered version of the Salarian’s famous “The Very Model Of A Scientist Salarianian” song from Mass Effect 2.

Today NIS America revealed a new trailer of the upcoming turn-based tactics JRPG Disgaea 6 Complete.

The trailer focuses on explaining all the systems you need to know to face the challenges of the game.

You can check it out below.

Disgaea 6 Complete will launch for PS5, PS4, & PC on June 28. You can check out the original announcement and another one. The game is already available for Nintendo Switch.

Here’s how NIS America describes it officially:

“Zed is a boastful zombie who wallows on the lowest rung on the Netherworld ladder alongside his sister Bieko. When a God of Destruction threatens their way of (un)life, Zed must harness his unique ability of Super Reincarnation to stand against the approaching menace. Along the way, he will unite with twisted and colorful denizens of different Netherworlds, face challenges around and within, and see if even an undying hooligan like himself can defy the odds!

Epic Games has just rolled out the Fortnite 20.30 update, which adds a significant amount of new content including Star Wars quests and Lightsabers as weapons to celebrate May the 4th tomorrow, as well as introducing a Doctor Strange NPC.

While the blog post has now released and shares information about the immediate content available in the game, dataminer and popular Fortnite leaker iFireMonkey has also shared a bulk of the new content coming in the update.

The headline additions come in the form of the Star Wars content. Lightsabers have been reintroduced, providing players with a way of deflecting incoming fire as well as dealing heavy melee damage to their opponents. Though, at the time of writing, it remains to be seen if these have been adjusted since they last appeared in the game.

The lightsabers will also be joined by the E-11 Blaster Rifle, which will deal 30 damage per hit and has an unlimited magazine size. It can overheat, however, and when it does it’ll take two seconds to cool down. It has a fire rate of 4.75.

If you have not yet had the chance to try out the award-winning roguelite that is Returnal, now might be the best chance to do so. Having recently gotten a gigantic free update that added co-op and a new mode in Tower of Sisyphus to challenge players, developer Housemarque has now rolled out a new patch that brings even more improvements to the shooter.

The update will require 1.3GB of space and is all about finding the right balance for the Tower of Sisyphus mode. Unfortunately, the patch notes do very little in letting players know exactly what was changed to rebalance things.

However, if you are still curious about what has been tweaked in this latest patch for Returnal, here are the relevant details:

With Sony recently teasing and then finally rolling out a new system software update that enabled support for Variable Refresh Rates (VRR) for compatible televisions, the ball is now in the court of developers to decide if they want to up the graphical game for their titles. Tango Gameworks is one of the studios that has taken up the mantle, with a new update for Ghostwire: Tokyo that brings plenty of improvements, including support for VRR.

In essence, the use of VRR will dynamically sync the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console’s graphical output. This enhances visual performance for PS5 games by minimizing or eliminating visual artifacts, such as frame pacing issues and screen tearing. So players can expect gameplay in Ghostwire: Tokyo to be smoother, have crispier graphics, as well as reduced input lag thanks to the VRR support.

In addition, the new update also reduces the noise of the helpful but incessant Tengu with a new adjustable volume option, a multitude of bug fixes, and improved overall performance. Be sure to check out the full patch notes for all of the details.

Today Atlus released another daily trailer for its upcoming JRPG Soul Hackers 2, showing one of its demons.

This time around, we take a look at Chernobog, who debuted a long time ago and appeared often in the Shin Megami Tensei series, including Shin Megami Tensei V.

As usual, the trailer also includes the daily horoscope, which places Pisces at the top of the luck ranking and Capricorn at the bottom. I guess I better lock myself at home today.

Soul Hackers 2 releases for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC (Steam and Windows Store) on August 26, just one day after the Japanese launch on August 25.

Level Infinite released a new trailer of the upcoming RPG Tower of Fantasy.

The trailer focuses on some of the mounts that you’ll be able to enjoy in the game, from mechanical horses to Akira-like motorbikes and mecha.

You can watch it below.

Here’s what Level Infinite has to say about mounts:

“Wanderers are constantly on the move, traveling all over the planet to restore peace and order to Aida. The scenery may be beautiful but walking and running across the planet gets tiring, and it takes much too long! That is why various mounts are available to help Wanderers get around!

From robotic horses to motorcycles to bi-pedal mechs, there is a unique mount out there for everyone! Let us know what your favorite mount is in the comments below!”

If you’re unfamiliar with Tower of Fantasy, here’s what the developer has to say about it:

“Through an interstellar colonization plan, humans created a new civilization on a planet called Aida.
To mine the comet Mara for a mysterious yet potent energy called Omnium, they built the Tower of Fantasy. But the humans who lusted after resources shall ultimately pay the price for their avarice.

Pietro Ubaldi, the Italian voice actor of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Goron champion Daruk, recently shared in a recorded interview that he will be playing the role of a new character in the upcoming sequel.

This information, via Nintendo Wire, comes from the YouTube channel Lega Hyrule, an Italian channel focused on the Legend of Zelda.

The reporter speaks to Ubaldi and confirms that the voice actor plays the role of an ancestor of Daruk’s, whose exact name he cannot remember. All he can recall is that the character is a “bit more serious” than Daruk was. The reporter asks if the character is Darunia, a Goron from Ocarina of Time, but Ubaldi says he does not remember the names.

This is the first hint of a new character in Breath of the Wild’s sequel, which is due to release in spring of next year. If the character is an ancestor of Daruk, the champion from the first game, then it is possible that this ancestor is the Goron champion who piloted the Divine Beast 10,000 years ago.

Though this information is not a certain confirmation or official announcement, it is not unbelievable because Pietro Ubaldi is a renowned voice actor; not only did he voice characters in the original Breath of the Wild, he is also known for being the Italian voices of Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants, Doraemon from Doraemon, and Reinhardt from Overwatch.

A little over a week ago, PAX East 2022 officially ended, signaling a close to a weekend’s worth of great displays and fun for a lot of interesting video games. And while there were some pretty notable titles there, including Dead Cells and Splitgate, there were a handful of titles that really caught me off guard.

From a rockband roguelike to a cult-building adventure title, these are the 10 surprising PAX East games that stole the show. 

Power Chord

If you’re into Roguelikes and music, then Power Chord is just for you. In this rocking deck-building title, players battle their way through legions of demons, discover new cards to enhance their instruments of destruction, and take back the city, one dive bar at a time.

Alongside rocking music, Power Chord also features some slick visuals and a gameplay loop reminiscent of titles like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, and Darkest Dungeon. The game doesn’t currently have a release date, but is slated for PC when it does come out. 

Jinkees! A brand new fan-made Scooby-Doo project has just debuted on Youtube. Titled, Mystery Incorporated and directed by Dante Yore, the project takes a different look at the franchise, telling a new story through a modern lens, similar to shows like Riverdale.

You can check out a brief description of the plot, the overall vision of Mystery Incorporated, and the pilot episode, “Welcome to Coolsville,” right down below.

Mystery Incorporated is a fresh new series designed to tell the story of the characters from Hanna-Barbera’s “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” with a modern filter for a new generation.

Set in the small town of Coolsville, OH and inspired heavily by shows like “Supernatural”, “Riverdale”, and the original “Scooby-Doo” cartoons. We enter a world where monsters are real, demons guard every crossroad, and spirits lurk in the dark.

The journey begins as Fred Jones sets out to investigate the creature who murdered his parents. His search leads him into resident skeptic Velma Dinkley and the two must form a quick bond to fight back against the evil they have accidentally unleashed.

The cast for Mystery Incorporated includes:

Today third-party developers had more screenshots and a release to share about Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons.

We start with Qbit, which is working on a Boeing 737-800. We get plenty of new screenshots including the 3D modeling both of the exterior and the flight deck.

The aircraft is going to be freeware and will go open source after release. The developer is aiming to “create the best 737 simulation possible” and is looking for people skilled with the Rust programming language willing to help.

If you’d like to follow the project’s progress, you can do so at Qbit’s Discord server.

Netmarble released another English trailer of Level-5’s online JRPG Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds.

This time around, we get a rather funny introduction of another playable class in the game, the Rogue, following the swordsman, the witch, and the engineer we saw earlier.

It’s worth mentioning that the game has already been active in Japan for several months, while pre-registration is already available in the west for iOS and Android. You’ll receive an “Explorer Outfit” if you register and the game will also be playable on PC.

You can check out all three trailers below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, here’s an official description.

A story where reality and fantasy collide.
A grand journey awaits you upon arriving in another world via the virtual reality game [Soul Divers].
Experience the epic that unfolds in 『Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds』, where endless adventures await.

We have some good news here today for those who prefer watching English dubbed anime — The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 SimulDub will begin this week, on May 4 at 5:00 pm ET / 2:00 pm PT on both Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Season 2 is already underway, but that’s only if we’re talking about the subbed version, which is currently on episode four.

These are the voice actors that fans will be hearing in this English dub of the second season:

• Stephen Fu (Wonder Egg Priority) – English voice of Naofumi Iwatani
• Erica Mendez (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) – English voice of Raphtalia
• Brianna Knickerbocker (The Seven Deadly Sins) – English voice of Filo
• Amber Lee Connors (Komi Can’t Communicate) – English voice of Ost Horai
• Dawn M. Bennet (Black Clover) – English voice of Eclair Seaetto 
• Sean Chiplock (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind) – English voice of Kyo Ethnina

For those who can’t wait to see the dubbed episodes as they get released, you can also watch the subbed airings on Wednesdays at 6:00 am PT. No matter what your preference is, you’ll be able to see Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, and a few new characters stand in the face of the Calamity Waves.

Today is a pretty big day for fans of the popular doujin franchise Touhou Project, as we get announcements and a release.

First of all, we get the reveal of The Touhou Empires, a real-time strategy game developed by Neetpia and published by Phoenixx that will launch on PC via Steam at some point in 2022 including an English localization.

Below you can watch a trailer and read an official description.

“The Touhou Empires is a real-time strategy simulation game (RTS) in which you lead Touhou Project characters and fairies with various abilities to fight!

Players command Touhou Project’s catactors and fairies to complete the prepared missions while responding to ever-changing situations!

The game flow is as follows: players collect resources from the map, construct buildings to expand their own camps, and organize their armies to advance and march.
Then, organize your army, march forward, and battle the enemy to complete the mission!

The deciding factor in the game is the “Spell Card”!
Use the abilities of each character to kick the enemy’s ass!

Respawn has just announced that Apex Legends Mobile will be launching worldwide this month. Fans will be able to play the game on iOS or Android devices sooner than expected, as the call for pre-registration wasn’t too long ago.

This version of the game was built from the ground up with mobile devices in mind, so there isn’t any crossplay functionality between it and the other versions on PC and console. With that said, this also means that there are mobile-only modes and features that can’t be played anywhere else.

The excitement for the next season has been building as the launch date approaches, and Respawn has just dropped the gameplay trailer for Apex Legends Season 13: Saviors. The video gives us a good look at Newcastle in action without going in-depth on details for abilities, while also showing the updates that are coming to Storm Point.

We get to see the new IMC Armories that can be found at different locations across the map, the carcass of the giant monster that the Legends fought in the launch trailer, and even some battle pass cosmetics.

Ranked mode is also getting changed next season — though, the trailer doesn’t actually go into detail with the specifics of what’s being adjusted.

You can check out the gameplay trailer for Apex Legends Season 13: Saviors right here for yourself to see some of the new action that’ll be coming to the game soon.

Today, during a conference call hosted by Embracer Group following the news of the acquisition of most of Square Enix’s western studios, we heard some interesting information from Eidos-Montréal studio head David Anfossi.

Anfossi mentioned that the studio has “several” projects in the works, and they’re all using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5.

The studio has previously decided to stop focusing on its own in-game engine and focus instead on where it can make a difference, the content.

Looking at the presentation slides, we also hear that the studio has currently four creative teams, 442 employees at its main location in Montréal, 34 in Sherbrooke, and 5 in Shanghai.

No further information was provided about the nature of the projects in development, but Anfossi did talk at length about the studio’s history with the Deus Ex franchise. That being said, he did not confirm whether one of the projects in the works is a Deus Ex game.

He also defined the studio (sic) as “The home of Thief and Deus Ex franchises.”

He concluded his talk by mentioning that the studio is at its best in 15 years and he’s convinced that “being part of Embracer Group will take Eidos to the next level and make its talents, the gamers, and you very happy.”

The latest Deus Ex game released by Eidos Montreal was Deus Ex: Mankind Divided in 2016, while the latest Thief was launched in 2014.

Embracer Group has been acquiring a lot of studios as of late, but today it had a rather groundbreaking acquisition to announce in the form of Square Enix’s main western developers.

The deal involves the acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and their IP from Square Enix.

Said IP include classics like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and many, many more. The deal will also bring over 50 back-catalog games under Embracer control.

The price of the whole operation is certainly apparently rather inexpensive, especially compared to recent acquisitions, $300 million.

The press release included a comment from Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors:

”We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group. We recognize the fantastic IP, world class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades. It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realize their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer.”

We also hear from Phil Rogers, Square Enix America and Europe CEO: