Yostar and Nexon are celebrating 18 months in operation for the mobile RPG Blue Archive. To commemorate the "1.5 Year Anniversary" milestone, animation studio Yostar Pictures created a special Blue Archive anime short. The short stars a number of popular characters from the game's roster having a swimsuit-clad firefight in the middle of a crowded shopping mall.

Check it out below. English subtitles are available via the closed captions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5wNrdOMrNg

The 9-minute Blue Archive anime short features no less than 23 playable students from the game's roster. On the Japanese are about 81 playable chraracters (not including variants of existing ones). Serika, Nonomi, Hoshino, Shiroko, and Ayane from Abydos High School are seen shopping for a summer outing at the mall. They encounter Izuna, Mimori, Tsubaki, Chise, Shizuko, and Kaede of the Allied Hyakkiyako Academy, and try out some swimsuits. They also encounter students from Gehenna Academy's Prefect Team (Hina, Ako, Chinatsu, and Iori) and Gourmet Research Society (Junko, Izumi, Haruna, and Akari). Even Trinity's Make-Up Work Club (Azusa, Hifumi, Hanako, and Koharu) gets involved once the bullets start flying.

The Summer Medleyfaire has arrived in New World.

In a blog post that outlines the latest update, Amazon Games says the team "took a stylish approach to immersive characters and settings" and whether you prefer "pirates or musical themes, every aspect of this celebration radiates summer fun".

Right now you can only participate in the aforementioned summer fun via the Public Test Realm (PTR), but the event should be rolling out to all players later in July.

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The UK government has told the UK games industry that if it won't take action on loot boxes, it will draw up legislation that will.

As noted by our colleagues at our sister site GamesIndustry.biz, the government today told game publishers that the luxury of regulating itself will cease if it does not take control of the sale of loot boxes to children and young people as those that use loot boxes are "more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial, and problem gaming-related harms".

Back in June 2020, the UK Government announced it would launch a call for evidence on loot boxes in response to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies, and began inviting responses from the public in September.

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Scalpers are already trying to flog limited edition versions of God of War Ragnarök for more than twice the retail price.

Pre-orders are now open for the four different editions of God of War Ragnarök - the most expensive of which, the Jotnar Edition, is priced at £230. As Tom explained at the time, this includes lots of fancy physical items and a digital code for the game - but no disc.

Given the limited numbers, it probably comes as no surprise that already the more collectible editions have already sold out on official retail sites like GAME and the official PlayStation Store. And, perhaps even more predictably enough, it looks like too many scalpers have laid their dirty hands on the pre-orders (or pretending to, anyway) and are listing them on auction places for massively inflated prices online.

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The alpha test for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight has replaced gendered language in its character creation screen.

Whilst previously, the menu offered the choice of either a "male" or "female" body type, Blizzard has now removed gendered language and now simply offers the choice between "Body 1" and "Body 2".

"The new body type labels are merely text changes within the character creation screen and barber shop," explains Wowhead (thanks, NME). "Where it previously gave players the option to select Male or Female body types, it now simply refers to them as Body 1 and Body 2 respectively."

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Takumi Kitamura has been cast as Yusuke Urameshi, the protagonist of the upcoming live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho. Kitamura previously portrayed protagonist Takemichi Hanagaki in the live-action movie of Tokyo Revengers, which was the highest grossing Japanese film in 2021. There has been no information as of yet in regards to the other members of the main four. [Thanks, ANN!]

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Comic Natalie has provided a cast interview with Kitamura in regards to his casting as Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho. He states that he thought it was a joke and laughed when he found out he got the role. He also notes that Yu Yu Hakusho is a historical work that serves as the root of Japanese pop culture. In regards to the character, Kitamura hints that this adaptation of Yusuke may be darker than the original depiction in the manga.

Welcome to the second instalment of PlayStation 3: chasing the 1080p dream. This is DF Retro's most expansive project yet, spanning an entire console generation, with John Linneman looking to track full HD support for Sony's eighth generation machine including some of the best - and the worst - titles for the system. In the first episode, we tracked the PS3's beginnings, why Sony targeted 1080p in its marketing and what the final games looked like in the first couple of years of the console's life cycle. This second part continues into the PS3's 'difficult' period, where first-party triple-A juggernauts were thin on the ground with the 'Triple' still struggled to compete in them multi-platform arena up against Xbox 360. As for 1080p gaming... we bore witness to one unmitigated triumph, but elsewhere, the full HD picture wasn't quite as crystal clear as we might have hoped.

Still, moving into 2008, Sony made plenty of agreeable moves for its console. Big exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift were crowd pleasers, the console received a welcome price-cut and mistakes of the past were rectified - rumble returned to PlayStation controllers, for starters. And with a couple of years of development under their belts, at least there was movement in the right direction for multi-platform titles. Game development started to skew more towards features and fidelity as opposed to resolution, meaning that the period covered by part two of our video looks pretty lean for the purposes of our story, even though the console's fortunes were improving overall.

Someone has completed Elden Ring in two and a half hours without levelling up or taking a single hit.

Unlike some no-hit runners that typically zip through the game quickly by avoiding bosses and entire areas, Streamer Ainrun - who's admittedly something of an expert at completing From Software games without getting hit - completed his no-hit run and took on the Grafted Scion, the first boss battle that typically requires you to jump off a cliff and die to proceed.

"I’ve been doing no-hit runs and speed runs of From Software games ever since 2020, starting with Dark Souls 1,” Ainrun told Kotaku.

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With the summer heat rising, it's time to cool off with the Multipurpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon Evangelion Unit-01. The Toei Movie Village theme park has opened up a Neon Genesis Evangelion-themed water park event as of July 16, 2022. The full title of the attraction is “Splash! Evangelion Kyoto Base 2022.” It will consist of two Angels hosing guests with water cannons. Participants will use items like “Eva Ponchos” and “A.T.F. Shields” in order to protect themselves from the spray. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm1a-qs318g

Along with Angels, there will also be a 15-meter tall Evangelion Unit-01 statue present. For those who want some refreshments at the park, Toei Movie Village will offer shaved ice that comes in an appropriately Evangelion-themed cup. It will look like Evangelion Unit-01 forcing its way through an A.T. Field. Each shaved ice will cost 2500 JPY (approximately $18.05).

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The Evangelion water park will run at irregular intervals throughout summer. It will be open every weekend from July 16 to September 3, 2022. The exception is July 23 to August 14, in which it will be open every day. You can purchase a rain poncho that resembles Evangelion Unit 01 for 3,480 JPY ($25.15 USD). The kids’ size is 2,480 JPY (about $17.90 USD). As for the A.T.F. Shield, it costs 1000 JPY, which is about $7.20 USD.

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Sundays are for putting a big pot of sauce on. Before you let it sit, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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As part of this year’s TennoCon celebrations, Warframe developer Digital Extremes has given fans a nice big look at the free-to-play sci-fi shooter's ambitious Duviri Paradox expansion, which is currently due to launch some time in "winter 2022".

The Duviri Paradox will be Warframe's latest open-world expansion, following the likes of Plains of Eidolon and Heart of Deimos, and plunges players into the extremely weird world of Duviri, featuring a sort of fantasy western aesthetic shot through with floating islands and fractals.

It's also a world that appears to exist inside of the head of new big bad Dominus Thrax, who additionally serves as its less-than-benevolent ruler. Everyone living within Thrax's domain is trapped inside an endless time loop, doomed to be executed over and over and over again.

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TennoCon is Digital Extremes' annual Warframe event that unites fans and usually gives them plenty to cheer about in terms of game announcements. That was certainly the case today; this year's TennoCon livestream delivered a new Warframe expansion called The Duviri Paradox, which was only outdone by Digital Extremes announcing its next flagship game. The studio revealed it has begun development on a fantasy game called Soulframe.

Few details for Soulframe were given, but you can take your first look at the art direction and vibe in the trailer above. You can also go to the studio's official website to solve a puzzle to see additional concept art and screens.

Warframe has long been one of the most successful free-to-play games out there, almost coming on a decade since release. You can take a look at what is coming next to this wild sci-fi expeirence in the trailer below.

The first expansion for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is coming on July 20, 2022, and it's time for Jack to take on the Warrior of Light. Square Enix and Team Ninja revealed a detailed  Stranger of Paradise expansion trailer on July 15th. Titled Trials of the Dragon King,  the expansion will add a new series of jobs, a new weapon type, and a new set of encounters to use them in.

Check out the trailer below.

Note that some of the scenes shown may constitute spoilers for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g9EVPMhOqU

Trials of the Dragon King is the first of three planned Stranger of Paradise expansions. The two others are titled Wanderer of the Rift and Different Future, though they don't have release windows or details as of yet. One wrinkle is that Square Enix isn't selling the expansions separately. Thusly, those interested will need to pick up the Season Pass, which will unlock all three missions as they release.

The Trials of the Dragon King trailer shows a matchup against the Warrior of Light. Here the Warrior is dressed in a suit of armor close to that of his appearance in Dissidia Final Fantasy. That design was in turn inspired by Yoshitaka Amano's original Final Fantasy concept art. The trailer also shows matches against Bahamut, as Jack and the party pursue their deal.

SD Gundam Battle Alliance is just past a month from its August 25, 2022 release date, and excitement is building. To commemorate reaching 50,000 followers on the official Twitter account, Bandai Namco uploaded the SD Gundam Battle Alliance intro movie to its YouTube channel.

Check it out below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaCVRJ1NReU

The intro video emphasizes the multiversal nature of Battle Alliance's premise. Teams of Gundams from across multiple series take on similarly grouped villains. For example, the RX-78-2, Zeta, and ZZ Gundam face off against the Zeong, Quebeley, and The O. The G-Self and Turn A defend against the Turn X, while Reborns Gundam and 00 Gundam fight on the sidelines. Master Gundam calls in several Destroy Gundams to eliminate the God Gundam/Destiny Gundam duo. Wing Gundam and Unicorn Gundam take on the Neo Zeong and Epyon. The SD Gundam Battle Alliance intro also previews the game's large-scale boss battles, where players confront mega-sized enemies. These include the Big Zam, Shamblo, Devil Gundam, Apsaras III, and Calamity War Mobile Armor.

Digital Extremes - the studio behind free-to-play sci-fi shooter Warframe, has announced Soulframe, a new fantasy themed action-MMORPG set in a sister universe to Warframe.

Soulframe will be Digital Extremes' first new game in over five years, following on from 2017's short-lived team-based FPS The Amazing Eternals, but details remain slight at this juncture.

Like its predecessor, Soulframe will adopt a free-to-play model when it eventually arrives at some unspecified future point, and Digital Extremes has shared a few additional details in an interview with The Washington Post. Here, it explains Soulframe will be built around "slow and heavy" melee combat, have a focus on exploration, and will feature a hub world similar to Warframe's open-world planets. That world is said to be "a little angry about what's been done to it", causing the ground to shift throughout the day - leading to some proceduralism within the (presumably explorable) cave networks and crevasses beneath its surface.

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Digital Extremes - the developer behind popular free-to-play sci-fi shooter Warframe, has announced Soulframe, a new fantasy themed action-MMORPG set in the Warframe universe.

Soulframe will be Digital Extremes' first new game in over five years, following on from 2017's short-lived team-based FPS The Amazing Eternals, but details remain slight at this juncture.

Like its predecessor, Soulframe will adopt a free-to-play model when it eventually arrives at some unspecified future point, and Digital Extremes has shared a few additional details in an interview with The Washington Post. Here, it explains Soulframe will be built around "slow and heavy" melee combat, have a focus on exploration, and will feature a hub world similar to Warframe's open-world planets. That world is said to be "a little angry about what's been done to it", causing the ground to shift throughout the day - leading to some proceduralism within the (presumably explorable) cave networks and crevasses beneath its surface.

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A new free-to-play game from the studio behind online sci-fi ARPG Warframe was teased during the TennoCon 2022 livestream today, taking the action MMORPG shenanigans into the realm of fantasy. Called Soulframe, we don’t know a lot about it yet, but developers Digital Extremes showed off some early footage. Replace your space pantaloons with your wizard robe before you watch the very first trailer below.

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Today Digital Extremes hosted TennoCon and announced a brand new game titled “Soulframe” alongside the reveal of new content for Warframe.

We start with the announcement of Soulframe, a new title by the studio’s veterans led by Warframe creative director Steve Sinclair.

It’s going to be a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC, and it doesn’t currently have a release date.

Yet, we get to see a trailer, which you can enjoy below.

That being said, Digital Extremes isn’t moving away from Warframe. At the end of the livestream, Sinclair handed the baton (actually it was boxers) to live ops and community director Rebecca Ford, who is going to take over as Warframe’s creative director.

Alongside the announcement, we got to see trailers for upcoming content.

Specifically, we get to see a reveal trailer for Veilbreaker, placing the players in the armor of the Grineer lancer Kahl-175 once again, following up from The New War.

A second trailer introduces The Duviri Paradox, which prompts the player to control an outlaw known as the Drifter in a new open world-based expansion.

The UK Government has today told the games industry it must take action on loot boxes, or risk future legislation.

In particular, it says children and young people should not be able to buy loot boxes without parental consent. However, it's allowing the games industry to regulate itself for now.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a call for evidence on loot boxes in 2020, and found that players who purchase loot boxes are "more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial and problem gaming-related harms". But it did not explicitly conclude that loot boxes are the same as gambling.

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More of online sci-fi action RPG Warframe’s upcoming The Duviri Paradox expansion was shown off at today’s TennoCon 2022 event. We got to take a look at some of the roguelite flavour that’s been injected into the expansion’s mostly monochrome open-world. Dress like a mime when you watch the trailer below, so you can silently ooh, ahh and quizzically scratch your head.

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Warframe is getting a surprise next expansion called Veilbreaker, today’s TennoCon 2022 livestream has revealed. It’ll be reviving heroes from last year's The New War expansion, and bringing back some old villains, too. Suit up and watch the announcement trailer below.

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Today Atlus released another daily trailer of the upcoming JRPG Soul Hackers 2, focusing on one of the locations and a dish that will be featured in the game.

We return once again to the Pizzeria “Bon Appetite” where apparently you can order pizza named “Beginner’s Bianca.”

Basically, that’s a tomato-less pizza that exists in a few variations depending on where you get it. “Bianca” in Italian means “white.”

Like most daily trailers, we also get the daily horoscope, which sees Taurus at the top of the fortune ranking and Libra at the bottom.

You can check the video out below.

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.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community-created works from the previous week. For those of you that tuned into the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run last weekend, I want to thank you for your support and words of encouragement! Overall, the event managed to raise over $3,000 for the National Network Of Abortion Funds! If you missed the event, don't worry as you can still donate to the team using this link! Special commendations are in store for nickieroonie for playing Cuphead with their feet and managing to get reported by IGN as news!

A few programming and staff notes for this and next week! During the week of July 18th, Jess hopes to get a new Hot Takeouts up on the site before she leaves for vacation. If you don't see her on the site during that week, that is the reason. Also, if you are on Twitter, you might be aware that Jan set up an NGL account where you can ask him anonymous questions. Please be nice, but he's already answered over 100+ questions at this point.

There's no way to get around it. I have to, in the process of constructing this post, write the name "Slopper Johnson: Graviton Agent." I don't like the feel of it in my mouth or in my brain, but as a game, Slopper Johnson is too interesting to ignore. It's a roguelike in which you construct your actions during combat by wiring together modules as you would with a modular synthesizer.

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Today third-party developers had new reveals to share on top of a new add-on release for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We start with a small update about the Boeing 757-200/300 in the works at Bluebird Simulations, showcasing the rear end of the aircraft with a single screenshot.

The textures are still placeholders and the developer mentions that there is “a ton of work left to really bring the exterior to life.” including decals with rivets and panel lines.

The aircraft is still planned for a release in Q2 or Q3 of 2023.

Halo Infinite's many modes and features have been trickling out piecemeal, and next up is the scifi shooter's co-op campaign. Eight months after the game first launched, co-op is now in public beta testing for those who have been signed up to the Halo Insider program for at least three months and who have an Insider XP level of 5 or higher.

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Kadokawa released two more videos of the second cour of the popular romantic comedy anime A Couple of Cuckoos.

The videos showcase the brand new opening and ending cutscenes that will adorn the new episodes, alongside the two new songs.

These are “Glitter” performed by Sumika and “HELLO HELLO HELLO” by Eir Aoi.

The second cour of the anime will immediately follow the first (which is currently airing), and it’ll debut on July 23.

If last week’s trailer and the images are any indication, we can expect an obvious summery theme, with swimsuits, yukata, and fireworks, which are very common elements in this kind of story when the summer months hit.

Western viewers will be able to continue enjoying the anime on Crunchyroll which just aired the first cour.

You can check out the videos below.

The next free update for The Sims 4 will add options which let you define the sexual orientation of your Sims. That includes support for straight, gay and bi Sims, as well as those who are asexual or aromantic. In a blog post about the feature, design lead Jessica Croft also detailed the system's limitations and said they consider it "a version 1.0".

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Sony have completed their purchase of Destiny developers Bungie. The $3.6 billion acquisition was first announced back in January, and Bungie tweeted yesterday that they were "proud to officially join the icnredible team at PlayStation."

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Mages released another trailer of its upcoming game Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix.

The trailer showcases two of the actresses featured in the game, Mai Nikotama and Virginia Glynnberets.

As usual, we get to see their customization and a brief look at battle gameplay.

Rhe video appears to be recorded from the Nintendo Switch of the game, as shown by the button prompts at the bottom of the screen.

You can watch the trailer below.

Back 4 Blood developers turtle Rock Studios has given players a brief look at its upcoming second expansion.

Although the team said it would "love" to confirm the release date, it needed "a bit more time" but served up a single new screenshot - you can see it in the embedded tweet below; there's a cult, body parts, and some strange symbols daubed around the place - to whet our collective appetites.

It also teased that the new expansion will probably include Act 5 with some clever word play on Twitter.

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Today Pearl Abyss released a full-fledged trailer showing off the gameplay of the awakening version of the newst class Drakania for the first time.

She has a full dragon wing (only one), a double spear (yes, it’s actually two spears, not a spear and a shield), and… a chainmail cocktail dress? Don’t ask me. I don’t know.

We also get a look at a cinematic cutscene to set the atmosphere.

About her weapons, they’re called “Trion” which means “spear” in dragon language. It has two forms. The “Hexeblood” form is two actual spears, while the “Dragonblood” form turns one of the spears into a dragon horn (the thing that looks like a shield) capable of crushing her opponents.

The Hexeblood style is quicker and more agile, while the Dragonblood style is more powerful and devastating.

The Awakening also has a release date, and you’ll be able to enjoy it on all versions of the MMORPG with the update coming on July 27, 2022.

You can check the video out below and see how Awakening Drakania plays.

CD Projekt - the publisher behind studio CD Projekt Red, developer of The Witcher games and, of course, Cyberpunk 2077 - has seen its share value plummet by over 75 percent.

That's according to Business Insider Poland, which says that the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 has wiped the value of the then most-valuable games company in Europe from over 40 billion Polish złoty - that's around £7.11bn - to less than zł10 billion - about £1.77bn.

The drop in CD Projekt's value - whilst still remaining one of Poland's most valuable companies - reportedly takes it back to a value last seen around 2017.

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Ghost of Tsushima has sold almost 10m copies since it launched in July 2020.

As part of the two-year anniversary celebrations, developer Sucker Punch revealed a number of stats about how we've played the game, including news that 9.73m copies have been sold since it released in the summer of 2020.

Other intriguing stats include the news that since launch, players have taken 78m photos, played 91.4m Legends mode missions, hosted 540.8m duels, and seen a staggering 998.5m standoffs.

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Summer means many things, including pool parties, eating too much ice cream, going out camping, and uh…apparently video game sales? I don’t question the companies taking part in the annual summer sales we see across digital stores. Instead, I nod in approval and begin spending money on games I likely won’t play…

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On July 9, late into the night, Twitch streamer Ainrun roared in relief after beating Elden Ring’s final boss. After a grueling two-and-a-half hours he had finished the game without taking a hit from any enemy or spending a single rune to make his character stronger. “Oh my god it’s over dude, let’s go, yes!” he said…

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Today Japanese manufacturer Kotobukiya hosted its Kotobukiya Collection Online 2022 Summer event, and it has a treat in store for Muv-Luv Alternative fans.

The kit will reproduce a Type-77 Gekishin in United Nations colors, and unlike most of the many plastic model kits from the popular visual novel franchise Kotobukiya is reprinting as of late, this one is brand new, inspired by the Muv-Luv Alternative anime (which is currently being re-aired in Japan and will get a second cour in October) in a similar fashion to the previously-announced Type-97 Fubuki.

At the moment, a prototype has not been revealed yet, and the announcement was accompanied simply by the artwork below straight from the anime.

Incidentally, those who want more Muv-Luv visual novels will soon be able to enjoy Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse Remastered, which will launch on Steam on July 20 localized in English for the first time. If you’re interested, I’d advise staying tuned on Twinfinite over the next few days.

What makes the Steam Deck the most unique piece of gaming hardware currently available? You might be tempted to suggest its impressive graphical horsepower crammed into such a small form factor, or portable access to Steam, or even the software gymnastics it does to make Windows games play on Linux. That’s all cool…

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