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Final Fantasy VII Remake Screenshots Compared to the Original Shows How Far the Game Has Come

4 years ago

Final Fantasy VII Remake is finally here and it modernizes the opening hours of the iconic PS1 game from 1997, turning all of those polygonal characters like Cloud and Aerith, into a brand-new light.

Needless to say, this PS4 game looks very impressive with some of the best visuals that we’ve ever seen. And because it’s been 23 years since the original game launched, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at older screenshots of the game and compare them with the new remake.

How did Sephiroth look in 1997? Well, he looked different that’s for sure.

Author
Greysun Morales

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MLB Reps From All 30 Teams are Forming an MLB The Show Players League

4 years ago

Today, Major League Baseball and San Diego Studio announced that players from all 30 MLB teams will be forming a Players League within MLB The Show 20 using the game’s new custom league feature. Each player will represent and use the team that they are from.

The MLB The Show Players League, according to the MLB, will last 29 games (single game round-robin) and will be three inning games, giving players the opportunity to easily play multiple games a day. At the conclusion of the regular season, a post-season featuring the eight best teams will take place.

Normally a nine inning online game takes at least 45 to 60 minutes to complete, so going three innings is probably the right move here.

The first games are slated to get started tonight at 9 P.M. ET. If you wanted to follow along, the standings will be kept at MLB and you can watch the games live on MLB, MLB Network and MLB The Show’s official Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter accounts. Take your pick.

Author
Ed McGlone

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Aerith’s Voice Actress Celebrates Launch of Final Fantasy VII Remake and It Might Make You Tear Up

4 years ago

It’s incredibly surreal that one of the most anticipated video game remakes of all time, Final Fantasy VII Remake, is now out for everyone to play. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the American voice actress for Aerith, Briana White, had a special stream last night on her Twitch channel and counted down to the game’s launch with her fans.

Once the clock struck at launch, she then popped two very loud party poppers and proceeded to get emotional about the game officially launching.

You can check out the Twitch clip down below and if you want to see more of Briana’s content, you can also watch this video of her playthrough of the original Final Fantasy VII that features John Bentley, the voice actor for Barrett Wallace.

Watch FF7R LAUNCHES TOMORROW! from TheStrangeRebel on www.twitch.tv

Final Fantasy VII Remake is now available to play on PS4, but a PC version will also be coming down the road once the exclusivity period ends.

Author
Greysun Morales

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5 Games With Easter Events Worth Checking Out

4 years ago

Gears 5’s Bunny Hunt

easter events video games

Love chainsawing both people and Swarm in half? Can’t get enough of blowing someone’s head off with one swift shot of your Gnasher Shotgun, but want to enjoy some Easter festivities in the process? First, what’s wrong with you, but second, same!

And apparently, the talented team over at The Coalition feel you, too. That’s why the Bunny Hunt event has returned for a limited time in Gears 5.

For those unaware, Bunny Hunt is basically the Guardian game mode with one or two twists. First, the ‘leader’ of each team (randomly selected at the start of a round) will be given a giant bunny head with ears that’ll poke out over all that waist-high cover.

Author
Chris Jecks

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Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 Delayed Due to COVID-19

4 years ago

In an open letter to players today, Final Fantasy XIV’s producer & director, Naoki Yoshida, provided a development update amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that while his team at Square Enix has so far been able to keep to schedule with patch 5.2 and 5.25, patch 5.3 will not go ahead in mid-June as planed.

Instead, the team is considering whether the delay will be two or three weeks, or if it will be closer to a month. This is the result of logistical challenges brought about by work-from-home social distancing protocols. That and other challenges Yoshida listed within his message:

  • Delayed delivery of graphical assets due to the lockdown of cities in East Asia, North America, and Europe.
  • Delayed voice recording due to the lockdown of cities in Europe.
  • Delays to development tasks performed by Tokyo staff due to work-from-home/shelter-in-place limitations.
  • Production and QA teams operating well below normal capacity due to work-from-home/shelter-in-place limitations.

Yoshida apologized for the delay but pointed to the importance of looking after his team of developers first and foremost. He also extended a warm message of condolences to all affected by the crisis, as well as acknowledging the importance of trying our best to stay positive through entertainment such as videogames.

In other more positive news, you can read our news editor Giussepe Nelva gush over Final Fantasy XIV’s latest Save the Queen quest.

Author
Alex Gibson

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Final Fantasy VII Remake’s Release Celebrated With Message by Yoshinori Kitase

4 years ago

As April 9 turns into April 10 across the world, Square Enix is officially rolling out the massively-anticipated Final Fantasy VII remake.

In order to celebrate, Sony Interactive Entertainment released a video message starring producer Yoshinori Kitase.

In the video, titled “thank you for waiting,” Kitase-san talks about what the team aimed to do with the Remake, briefly listing what we can expect.

You can check it out below. Incidentally, the trailer has a “small print” mention that the gameplay is captured on PC. 

We likely shouldn’t read much into it, as we already know that the exclusivity clause lasts a year, and this kind of trailer is often captured on a development build running on PC, but it’s still  a neat little treat.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Gets Gorgeous Play Arts Kai Figures and Soundtrack Trailer

4 years ago

The Final Fantasy VII Remake releases today (or tomorrow depending on where you live), and Square Enix is pulling out the big guns of additional products.

First of all, we get the pre-orders for a brand new series of Play Arts Kay action figures portraying Tifa, Cloud, Aerith, and Barret

The pricing is the same for all of them, 16,280 yen tax included. It translates to exactly $150.

Cloud will be the first to be released on July 18, 2020. Barret will follow on September 30. Tifa will come out on October 17, and Aerith will be the last, on November 14. 

Predictably, Barret is the tallest, measuring 281 mm, while Aerith is the shortest, at 247 mm. 

Each figure is fully poseable and comes with a Play Arts Kai base with support (since this kind of action figure doesn’t really stand on its own too well). 

All come with different accessories including optional hands, weapons, expressions, or hairstyles. You can see them all in the gallery below.

If you’re more into music, we also get a trailer for the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack. It launches in Japan on May 26 in a standard version for 6,500 yen plus tax (approximately $60) including 7 CD. 

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Doom Eternal’s Battlemode Receives Update Exclusively for Consoles

4 years ago

Battlemode, Doom Eternal’s multiplayer mode is receiving an update exclusively for consoles. The update notes come with a message explaining, “right now, PC balance is performing as intended.”

They continued, saying:

However, after weeks of great community feedback, we agree that Slayers on console are at a slight disadvantage due to the lower overall DPS output possible on a controller. Against the best teams, Slayers were finding it difficult to do enough damage in the small windows the current balance on demons and their abilities were providing.

Despite how that sounds none of the update notes point to anything particularly game changing.

One of the biggest tweaks comes with the respawn time of all demons, increasing to 22 seconds from the previous 20.

The other notable tweak to team dynamics comes with Team Heal. The Team Heal caster no longer sees a 50% return of their health, they get the same 25% as their teammate does under the healing effect. The Mancubus, Pain Elemental, and Archvile have also all received a nerf of some kind.

All of this appears be an immediately applied hotfix whenever you start Doom Eternal, as the update page notes this doesn’t require a download. You can see the full list of changes here.

For those who are on the fence about Doom Eternal, Battlemode is a 2v1 PvP combat mode that pits one player (as the Doom Slayer) against two player-controlled demons. It is a rather hard break from the multiplayer offerings of previous titles in the Doom series, but it highlights the best parts of Doom Eternal.

Author
Cameron Waldrop

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Blue Protocol Gets Charming New Screenshots; Livestream Canceled Due to Coronavirus Emergency

4 years ago

Bandai Namco is continuing to release more screenshots of its upcoming anime-style MMORPG Blue Protocol ahead of the closed beta.

Today we get two new screenshots released on the official Twitter account (sources 1, 2).

The first screenshots show Petari, the quest receptionist. The second image showcases MInsterhorn, a thriving farming village surrounded by fields.

You can check them out below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Echo, Overwatch’s Latest Hero, Will Be Joining the Roster Next Week

4 years ago

The latest hero to join the heroic ranks of Overwatch, Echo, has just been given a release date by Blizzard. As the game’s 11th new hero since launch, and its 32nd overall, Echo the adaptive robot has been a long-awaited addition to the roster. Players will be able to take Echo to the skies soon, as she’ll be launching on April 14 for all players.

Echo has long been known about by players, but not always by that same name. Early into Overwatch’s lifespan, there was well-known concept art for a robot named Iris who had been planned for the game, but was scrapped due to unknown reasons. Iris was noticeably different in design to Echo, sporting a less obvious face and more alien body by comparison.

Author
Jared O’Neill

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Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Not Worried By Competition With Delayed Games; Talk Work Left to Do, Promotion, & More

4 years ago

Today CD Projekt Red hosted its financial results teleconference, and the studio’s executives talked extensively about Cyberpunk 2077.

We hear from president and CEO Adam Kiciński and board members Piotr Nielubowicz and Michał Nowakowski.

First of all, CD Projekt has been planning a digital strategy for marketing since the second half of February. They will unveil new facts about the game and new beats to the players regardless of the lack of physical events.

The developer is working on “smart ways” to present the content to as large a volume of people as possible.

While they can’t share detail yet, there are plans for “beats” from June throughout September.

Asked whether they have concerns about the delays of other games which could cause a pileup of titles being released toward the end of the year, we hear that CD Projekt is aware of the delay of The Last of Us Part II, but they’re “not really worried.”

They argued that games never launch in a moment exclusive to them. September has always been a very competitive period, and if it becomes a bit more competitive “it’s fine.” The studio believes that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a “must-have” game and people are going to choose it because they have been waiting for it.

While nobody knows how many games will end up being released in the same window, but CD Project is “definitely not planning” to move its release date due to anyone else happening to move their launch in the same period.

Moving on to pre-orders, the studio is “happy” about the way they’re progressing, but they can’t share more details. They did say that pre-orders on consoles are lower compared to PC, which is the platform with the highest pre-orders.

For now, they also aren’t ready to talk about future unannounced games, but they will do so after releasing Cyberpunk 2077.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Rocket League Becomes Pong With New Heatseeker Mode Next Week

4 years ago

Rocket League developer Psyonix is introducing a new limited-time mode for the game next week that turns it into a three-dimensional high-speed battle of Pong.

The new mode is called Heatseeker where the ball becomes a heat-seeking missile by automatically moving or flying towards an opposing goal after it’s been hit.

The ball’s speed increases with every hit by players or the backboard if the ball misses the goal. The mode is played with two teams of three and the first team to score seven goals wins.

The limited-time Heatseeker mode will become available for all platforms next week on Thursday, April 16 at 12 p.m. ET and will run through the weekend until Monday, April 20 at 12 p.m. ET.

Players logging in during that period will receive a Hypnoteks player banner, and the mode will grant the same amount of XP as Casual, Competitive, or Extra Mode playlists.

Rocket League is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. An update last month disabled all online features for the Mac and Linux versions of the game due to Psyonix’s plans to update the Windows PC version and the small player base among the two platforms.

Author
Tom Meyer

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Cyberpunk 2077 Facing Localization Issues Due to Recording Studios Closure But They Won’t Delay Release

4 years ago

Today CD Projekt Red hosted its financial results teleconference and the the company’s executives were asked to give more insight on possible issues outside of their control that might impact Cyberpunk 2077’s release.

Specifically, the question mentioned the temporary closure of the Japanese rating board CERO as an example of such possible issues.

Board member Michał Nowakowski answered as follows:

“We have obtained the vast majority of ratings for the game already. The game has been submitted for rating I think […] earlier in March, and by now we have obtained the vast majority of ratings so there is no risk of us not obtaining ratings for the game in any of the major markets or in any of the not-major markets for that matter.”

Nowakowski also mentioned that the developer doesn’t see any physical issues that may hinder the release in September.

We don’t really see any major physical risks related to the launch that may impede us or stop us in any way from launching in September.

That being said, there are issues related to localization and specifically recording of some of the voice-overs, but they shouldn’t cause delays.

CD Projekt is not very worried about it, and in the worst-case scenario, people may have to download the missing recordings in a patch.

“There are some difficulties with the localization process, specifically with recording some of the actors. Most of the studios right now are closed down at least for the time being.

However we have managed to record the vast majority of the voice-overs, but there are always some last pick up sessions.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Director Tetsuya Nomura Shares Gorgeous Cloud Artwork to Celebrate Release

4 years ago

The first game of the Final Fantasy VII Remake officially releases tomorrow (today in Japan), and Square Enix is celebrating.

In order to mark this glorious milestone, Director Tetsuya Nomura, shnared gorgeous artwork via the game’s official Twitter account.

The artwork showcases Cloud, and you can enjoy it below.

Incidentally, while the new character design was taken over by Roberto Ferrari, Nomura-san is the artist behind the original design of Cloud in Final Fantasy VII’s first incarnation.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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6 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Terraforming Ideas to Get the Creative Juices Flowin’

4 years ago

Dig Site

Animal Crossing Terraforming Ideas

Going to the museum with your friends to show off your perfect dinosaur collection is very rewarding but why not bring your love of dinosaurs outside of the museum and onto your island itself? For example, this dig site that was created by 45vong on Reddit is very cool-looking.

They used the terraforming tool to create a deep ditch that’s full of fossils, shovels, and other neat objects. You could even go all the way and place dinosaur fossils at the entrance of your town to really get the vibe going.

Author
Greysun Morales

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NPD Analyst Expects Final Fantasy VII Remake to Be a “Huge Hit”

4 years ago

Today NPD analyst Mat Piscatella mentioned his forecast about the future performance of the Final Fantasy VII remake.

Piscatella, who you may know for being the analyst providing video game statistics every month, shared on Twitter that the original Final Fantasy VII is estimated to be the second best-selling Final Fantasy game in the US in terms of dollar sales (basically total revenue), trailing behind Final Fantasy XV.

Due to that, he expects the game will be a “huge hit.”

We don’t have much longer to wait and see what happens considering that the release date is tomorrow, even if many stores already shipped their copies.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see if the game will overtake its predecessor and Final Fantasy XV.

If you’d like to see and learn more about the Final Fantasy VII Remake , you can play the demo released recently or read our extensive review and our wiki full of guides to help you familiarize with the game.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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One Beat Angel Is an EDM Remix of the Final Fantasy VII Soundtrack and It’s Now Streaming

4 years ago

Today is a very special day for Square Enix fans out there because tonight is the launch of the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake. If you’re counting down the hours until launch or having some sort of release party, then this fist-pumping Final Fantasy VII EDM album from RoboRob will be perfect to play on repeat.

One Beat Angel VII follows the 2019 Billboard-charting album, Kingdom Heartbeats from RoboRob, and tackles 11 of the most popular themes from the original Final Fantasy VII, starting with Prelude and ending with JENOVA.

The tracklist for One Beat Angel FFVII is as follows:

  1. Prelude
  2. Fight On!
  3. Victory Fanfare
  4. Mako Reactor
  5. Who Are You
  6. One-Winged Angel
  7. Aerith’s Theme
  8. Chocobo Theme
  9. On That Day 5 Years Ago
  10. Cosmo Canyon
  11. JENOVA

We’ve also included some samples from the album down below that you might be interested in. Please start off with Aerith’s theme –it’s a bop and a half… the fanfare isn’t bad either:

Aerith’s Theme

One-Winged Angel

Victory Fanfare

Here are some neat CD mockups of the album from RoboRob as well:

Author
Greysun Morales

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Blizzard Comments on BlizzCon 2020: Too Early to Know Whether It’ll Be Feasible

4 years ago

Today Blizzard posted a notice about the feasibility of BlizzCon 2020 following the cancellation of many events due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

While the event hasn’t been canceled, executive producer Saralyn Smith mentions that the developer believes that it’s too early to know whether the event will be feasible.

That being said, Blizzard is continuing to make plans for it, while considering  “a range of scenarios and possibilities.”

That being said, they’ll try their best to provide as much clarity as possible as quickly as they can.

Below you can read the full message:

“Hello Blizzard community,

A gaming convention is probably the last thing on most people’s minds right now, and that goes for many of us at Blizzard too. As events around the world announce cancellations, postponements, or shifts to an online format in response to COVID-19, we’re seeing questions about our plans for this year’s BlizzCon and we want to provide a quick update.

We love BlizzCon, and we know many of you share that feeling and look forward to it as an opportunity to get away for a while, meet up with friends, and have a good time. As so many of us have been isolated for multiple weeks now, surrounded and in some cases directly impacted by the ongoing pandemic-related challenges around the world, we’re looking forward to the time when we can see one another again in person and have something to celebrate together.

While we’re all hopeful things will look better later in the year, the bottom line is that at this point it’s too early to know whether BlizzCon 2020 will be feasible. The health of our community, employees, and everyone who helps with the show is our top consideration. It might be a few months before we know for certain if or how we’ll proceed, but as soon as we have a meaningful update, we’ll share it.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Breathtaking Death Stranding Photos That Make for the Perfect Movie Poster

4 years ago

Despite the mixed reception to Kojima’s Death Stranding when it launched on PS4 last year, nobody can deny that the game is visually outstanding thanks to its gorgeous photo-realistic vistas, and impeccable character animations.

With all of this in mind, imagine the possibility of taking the perfect movie poster in-game by using the newly released photo mode. And other people already have, posting their cinematic masterpieces to sites like Reddit and Twitter for other Death Stranding fans to gawk at.

I gathered up the best of the best Death Stranding photos that would make for a perfect movie poster that you would see hanging up in a cinema.

Let’s check them out!

Author
Greysun Morales

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Legendary Visual Novel Clannad Getting Physical Editions for Nintendo Switch by Limited Run Games

4 years ago

Today Limited Run Games and Sekai Project’s console arm Sekai Games announced two physical editions of Clannad for the Nintendo Switch.

The offering includes a standard version with box and cartridge, and a Collector’s Edition including a Visual Guidebook and the Clannad Arrange Album “Mabinogi.”

You can check out what they look like in the tweets by Limited Run Games below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Pokemon GO Set to Launch Online Leaderboard For its Battle League Tomorrow

4 years ago

Pokemon GO players will be able to check who’s on top of the Battle League from tomorrow thanks to a new online leaderboard system, which was announced today by Niantic. The developer also has a new event featuring Aqua Mouse planned to celebrate.

The board is timed to launch just after the conclusion of the Ultra League and as it transitions to Master. Here are its key features:

  • It will show the top five hundred Trainers in the world and their Trainer nicknames, teams, ranks, ratings, and total matches.
  • Rankings are based on the previous day’s in-game ratings for Trainers rank 7 and up. The leaderboard is scheduled to update between approximately 8:00 p.m. UTC and 10:00 p.m. UTC every day. (Note that leaderboard updates may be delayed by things such as maintenance.)
  • Trainers with active disciplinary action or inappropriate Trainer nicknames will be excluded without prior notice.

As for the Aqua Mouse event, which is set to run this coming Sunday, April 12, here’s how it works:

The more GO Battle League battles you win from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time during the event, the more chances you’ll have to encounter Marill!

During this time frame, Marill will appear as a guaranteed Basic Reward after your first and third wins. Use a Premium Battle Pass, and Marill will appear after every win as a guaranteed Premium Reward!

Trainers will also receive 2× Catch Stardust for catching Marill during this time period. Please note that the encounters that serve as rewards for ranking up, such as the Pikachu Libre encounter at rank 10, will stay the same.

Also, Niantic has increased the number of GO Battle League battle sets on April 12 from 5 to 20, for a total of up to 100 battles.

Author
Alex Gibson

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April Yooka-Laylee Updates to Add 8-Bit Soundtrack, N64 Style Models, & More

4 years ago

Developer Playtonic Games has some treats in store for owners of Yooka-Layle and Yooka-Laylee Impossible Layer this month. Both games are set to receive content updates in the form of new audio, skins, and difficulty options. There’s even a new discount promotion, too.

A blog post today explains that Impossible Layer will a new feature called “State Change” either heightens the difficulty level for veterans or reduces it for those looking for a more accessible experience.

Author
Alex Gibson

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Epic Games Store Offers Two Free Games This Week; Just Cause 4 Next Week

4 years ago

The Epic Games Store is offering another two free PC games this week alongside announcing another two games being available next week.

The first free game is Close to the Sun, a first-person horror adventure game with an aesthetic similar to the Bioshock franchise. The game takes place in an alternate history of 1897 on the Helios, a giant passenger ship invented by Nikola Tesla.

“Born of Nikola Tesla’s vision, the Helios serves as a haven for the greatest scientific minds,” the description of the title reads. “An unbound utopia for research, independent from state and isolated from the gaze of society. Free to push the boundaries of matter and time.”

The other free game this week is Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, an adventure game investigating six cases including murders, missing persons, and more.

Both games are available to download for free on the Epic Games Store beginning today until April 16 at 11 a.m ET.

Epic Games also announced the next two free PC games after this week’s offering including Avalanche Studios’ physics sandbox Just Cause 4 and Wheels of Aurelia. The latter is a “narrative road trip” in 1970’s Italy featuring 15-minute playthroughs and sixteen different endings.

The post Epic Games Store Offers Two Free Games This Week; Just Cause 4 Next Week appeared first on Twinfinite.

Author
Tom Meyer

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New Sakura Wars Trailer Shows Characters & Art by Shigenori Soejima, Noizi Ito, & Ken Sugimori

4 years ago

Today Sega released another new trailer of its upcoming game Sakura Wars, focusing on the art behind the title.

To be more specific, we take a look at the character design of characters created by three famous artists.

The first is Shigenori Soejima, who you’ll likely know as the character designer of Persona 5 on top of a few earlier chapters of the series. In Sakura Wars, he designed Hakushu Murasame. 

Then we get to see the Floral Revue’s very own fangirl and Itsuki Saijo and the local confectionery store clerk Hiromi Hongo. They were designed by Noizi Ito, whom you may know for her work on the Shakugan no Shana and Haruhi Suzumiya novel series.

Last, but not least, we get to see “Peanut” (which seems to be a weird adaptation of the name of the mascot originally named Gekizou-Kun), designed by Pokémon Art Director and Character Designer Ken Sugimori.

Sakura Wars is already available in Japan and it will launch in the west on April 28, 2020, exclusively for PS4.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Borderlands 3 Hotfix Adds a Ton of New Moze Buffs

4 years ago

Gearbox is constantly adding new events and changing up their game in attempts to keep it fresh. Today is no different. This Borderlands 3 hotfix starts two new events while providing multiple buffs for Moze, the Gunner.

The last hotfix was just a week ago. It started this wave of Borderlands 3 Moze buffs, and added the Slot Machine Mania and Trials Take-All mini events.

Those two events are now coming to a close so that this new hotfix can introduce the Rare Chest Riches and Loot Monster Mayhem events. Today’s hotfix will be live by 12:00 PM PST on all platforms.

Rare Chest Riches is actually a returning event from January that increases the chance of legendaries appearing in rare loot chests. Loot Monster Mayhem is a totally new event that causes more loot monsters to show up, and makes it easier to get legendary loot from them.

As for the Moze buffs, the Borderlands 3 website has listed them all. Here are all of the upcoming changes:

  • Explosive Punctuation: Increased the cooldown rate awarded to 8%
  • Hammerdown Protocol: Increased the damage output to 600% and reduced the reload time
  • Click, Click…: Increased damage bonus from 12/24/36% to 20/40/60%
  • Specialist Bear: Increased the damage from +25% to +60%

Iron Bear Weapons

Author
Ethan Anderson

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Let’s Rank Every Doom Eternal Enemy By How Annoying They Are

4 years ago

20. Pinky

doom eternal

At the bottom of our list of Doom Eternal enemies, we start off with our darling Pinky who just loves trying to give you an aggressive hug. Overall, they’re not too annoying since you can easily sidestep them or jump over them.

The fact that Doom Eternal makes their tails the only real viable place to hit them makes them worse than the last game. Stick them in a crowd, however, and they turn into a big ball of “Surprise!”

Author
Nelia-Sol White

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Higurashi When They Cry Hou Chapter 8 Gets Release Date

4 years ago

Today visual novel publisher MangaGamer announced via press release the launch date of Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8: Matsuribayashi.

The conclusion of the popular visual novel series will be released both on Steam and on MangaGamer’s own shop, where pre-orders will grant you a 10% discount. The price will be a quite affordable $7.95.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, here’s how MangaGamer describes it in the press release.

The 58th year of Showa, early summer.
It’s June, and the summer heat has arrived earlier than it does most years. 
By day there are crickets, and by night there are cicadas. 

We’re in Hinamizawa, a small village in the countryside. 
There are fewer than two thousand people here. But every year, there is an event. 

This event is a mysterious death. 
(The series has run from 1979 to 1983) 

On a certain day in June, someone dies, and someone else goes missing. 
The series of deaths is connected to the upheaval surrounding the dam construction project. 
A murder case that was covered up is being reenacted. 
Is it a conspiracy? A coincidence? Or perhaps a curse? 

A different choice… reveals a new end.
A different path… unveils new truths.

What once was thought to be certain, proves malleable, and patterns begin to emerge.

There is no way to avert this tragedy. There is no choice but to give up trying.

But don’t. Fight. 

For the days after the end.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Valorant Dev Riot Games Explains How to Get Closed Beta After High Demand

4 years ago

Valorant, the competitive multiplayer tactical shooter from League of Legends developer Riot Games, launched into closed beta on Tuesday to select Twitch streamers and offered free keys to viewers watching those broadcasts.

The PC game quickly rose into the most-watched game on Twitch reaching over 1.7 million viewers. Valorant continues to hold the top spot at the time of this writing with a little over 900,000 viewers.

Riot Games wrote a blog post on Wednesday to explain how the studio is giving away closed beta keys going forward without overloading its servers.

Potential players will still need to have their Twitch and Riot accounts connected alongside watching “roughly” two hours of streams with drops enabled to be eligible for a key.

Riot Games said it is continually taking all eligible users and giving a “percentage” of them closed beta access. The developer said the selection is random but gives a higher “weight” to those who watched more hours, though said that users do not need multiple streams open, have the streams idle, or to be on Twitch at the very moment to be eligible for access.

The studio also said it is looking into account sellers and warns that buying a Valorant account could result in a ban before the game’s official launch.

The closed beta is scheduled to run until the game’s launch sometime in Summer 2020 and will be free-to-play.

Author
Tom Meyer

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Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Project Announced: News and Goodies Promised

4 years ago

Today Spike Chunsoft announced (via Famitsu) the launch of the Danganronpa 10th Anniversary Project to celebrate the birthday of the popular series.

The first game was launched in November 2010, so the anniversary proper will be at the end of this year.

The project includes several initiatives between 2020 and 2021, highlighted in a series of monthly livestreams that will start in May. Those will focus fully on information on the Danganronpa series.

The publisher plans to announce information about games, merchandise, and more.

The first details will be shared on April 18 during the livestream of the ceremony for the Famitsu/Dengeki Game Awards 2019.

It’ll be interesting to see what Spike Chunsoft will come up with, especially considering that the creator of the series Kazutaka Kodaka has left the company to form Too Kyo Games, with which he’s working on multiple games like Death Come True and Tribe Nine.

That being said, Kodaka-san and the rest of the former Spike Chunsoft developers at Too Kyo games Appear to have maintained a friendly relationship with their former employer, so everything is possible.

Incidentally, the announcement mentioned that the Danganronpa series shipped over 3.5 million units worldwide, which is certainly quite the achievement for a niche franchise.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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This Smash Bros Ultimate Event Lets You Relive the Glory Days of Brawl

4 years ago

Back in January, fans of Super Smash Bros Melee got treated to a nice surprise with an online tournament event in Ultimate that featured characters, stages and items from the Gamecube title. Fast forward to now and it looks like we’re going to get the Brawl version of this event.

Meta Knight isn’t the powerhouse he was back on the Wii. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how this event balances out in this Smash Bros Ultimate Brawl event.

The official title of the event is “Brawl Veterans Represent!” You can see a few of those veterans in the announcement tweet from the Nintendo Versus Twitter account. They even recreated the title screen shot from Brawl with the fighters on the cliff facing towards a blinding light.

Author
Omar Banat

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The Idolmaster: Starlit Season Reveal Event Canceled Due to Coronavirus Emergency

4 years ago

Bandai Namco had a new reveal event for its upcoming rhythm/simulation game The Idolmaster: Starlit Season scheduled for April 19 but it has been canceled.

The announcement was made with a note on the official website of the game.

The note mentions that due to the declaration of the state of emergency by the Japanese government issued yesterday, the publisher determined that it would be difficult to do the livestream keeping in mind the safety of performers and staff involved. As a result, the decision to cancel the event was reached.

Bandai Namco apologizes to those looking forward to the news, and they’re now considering possible timeframes in which to deliver the info on the upcoming game to everyone.

At the moment, we don’t know when the next reveal will be but we’ll keep you posted as soon as Bandai Namco makes an announcement.

The Idolmaster: Starlit Season was initially announced back in January, and it’s scheduled to release in Japan in 2020 for PS4 and PC.

No western release has been announced, for the moment, even if the launch on PC could possibly facilitate a localization.

If you’d like to see more, you can enjoy the first teaser trailer and screenshots and a second batch of images.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Yakuza, Granblue, Persona, & More: Devs Offer Handy Backdrops for Video Chat as People Stay Home

4 years ago

Following the state of emergency declaration by the Japanese government to slow down the spread of Coronavirus, local developers have started an interesting trend.

Since gamers have been asked to stay at home, many are communicating via video chat.

In order to make things more enjoyable and relaxing, developers like Sega, Atlus, Vanillaware, and Cygames have started distributing images with clean environments from their games to be used as video chat backdrops.

Many can be found on social media (sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and you’ll find a few examples here, but this trend is becoming quite viral, so there are plenty more around the internet.

Perhaps involuntarily, many of the images also echo what you can see today in many cities of the world, with mostly empty streets as people remain at home as much as possible.

One thing is for sure: it’s a chance to take in and appreciate the artistry that goes in designing those environments, which often takes a literal backseat to characters.

Granblue Fantasy Versus

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Can You Finish These Ross Geller Quotes from Friends?

4 years ago

Friends is one of the most popular sitcoms of all time and if you’re a fan of the characters like we are, then you must have a well of knowledge in your head that’s specifically sectioned off for iconic quotes.

Yup, this 10-question trivia quiz will test your Ross Geller knowledge and it’ll be pretty difficult to finish all of these quotes from him but I have faith that you all can do well!

Let’s begin, shall we?

We’ll see who’s a true Ross fan and who’s a fake fan.

(All images via Warner Bros.)

Author
Greysun Morales

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fan Creates an Earthbound-Esque Island

4 years ago

We’ve seen Animal Crossing: New Horizons players turn their deserted islands into Hyrule, an obstacle course, a Pac-Man arena, and even Pallet Town from Pokemon Red and Blue, and now, a Japanese fan has turned their island into an Earthbound-esque city that’s based on Onett, the starting town from the Super Nintendo game.

You can see right from the start of the short video that the player is dressed head to toe to resemble Ness –that red ball cap and striped shirt is perfect!

The island has pixelated trees, stop signs, and some other objects that come straight from Earthbound itself. There are also some Undertale easter eggs thrown in the island which might be there because of how Earthbound served as inspiration for the indie RPG.

You can see the video down below or just head to the original tweet itself right here:

Author
Greysun Morales

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5 Anime That Deserve a Proper Conclusion

4 years ago

Spice and Wolf

anime

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an anime that appeals to just about every fanbase in the medium more so than Spice and Wolf. The show is all about the peculiar relationship between a traveling merchant, Kraft Lawrence, and a 600-year-old wolf-deity, Holo.

Throughout the two 12-episode seasons, the bond between Kraft and Holo grows immensely. The romance between the two blossoms, as they explore their world’s fantastical landscape, going on fun adventures together and meeting new people in the process.

Kraft and Holo’s chemistry improves along with each adventure, as they share some of the most genuine, relatable, and hilarious banter ever written in anime. Alas, there can only be so much of a good thing.

Author
Andrew McMahon

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Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Talk RED Engine Innovations, Promotion, & More; September Release Unchanged

4 years ago

Today CD Projekt RED released its consolidated annual report for 2019, and it included relevant information about Cyberpunk 2077.

First of all, we get to take a look at the relevant revenue and income figures, which shows that the popular developer has made quite a lot more money in 2019 than it did in 2018.

You can check out the full table below.

We then hear once again the confirmation by way of president and CEO Adam Kiciński that the whole team has been working from home for a while, and the Coronavirus situation has caused no major disruptions, so the plan to launch Cyberpunk 2077 in September remains unchanged.

“Since mid-March we have been working from home, while ensuring continuity of all our of operations.

Our goals haven’t changed; first and foremost, we intend to release Cyberpunk 2077 in September. We feel motivated and have the necessary tools at our disposal to meet this goal. “

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Final Fantasy XIV’s Save the Queen Quest Proves Once Again the Game’s Outstanding Quality

4 years ago

Final Fantasy XIV’s update 5.25 just introduced the Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr relic weapon questline, and it’s a high point for the game’s storytelling.

Final Fantasy XIV was already very good when it relaunched as A Realm Reborn in 2013, but the development team has been consistently raising the bar in terms of quality, culminating with Shadowbringers.

I have been wondering on whether they’d ever be able to top the latest expansion, and they just did.

The numbering of the patch may mislead you into believing that it’s a minor one, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Providing multiple hours of high-quality content, it certainly feels like a major update.

Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr is its crowning jewel. When I approached it yesterday I had high expectations, but the development team completely blew them out of the water.

Of course, the fact that the quest was written by Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics director Yasumi Matsuno contributed to my excitement. Even if you don’t consider his past achievements, he already proved with the Return to Ivalice raids that he hasn’t lost any of his touch.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Nintendo Uses Animal Crossing Twitter Account to Teach Players How to Use the Bathroom

4 years ago

Even after putting in dozens and dozens of hours into Animal Crossing: New Horizons, going on Twitter and seeing posts related to the life sim game is always entertaining and mind-blowing. Like, did you know that you can poop in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Because nobody told me.

But yeah, it’s true. This comes from an official Nintendo Twitter account for Animal Crossing that’s apparently run by Tom Nook himself, the man behind the Bells.

In the tweeted video, Tom Nook tells us that if you’ve eaten more fruit than necessary, that yes, you can take a seat on a toilet and your “business” will be taken care of.

You can see the villager emptying his body of the eaten fruit in the demonstrated video while somehow keeping his shorts on –wouldn’t we love to know the secret behind that.

They then wash their hands at the sink (definitely not for 20 seconds) and then proceed to go on with their day –there also wasn’t any drying of the hands either. Tom Nook has some explaining to do.

If you’re wondering just what the heck is the point of eating fruit anyways, you can read our handy dandy guide.

Author
Greysun Morales

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