I was so taken with one game at EGX 2023 that I returned to play it every day I was there. It's called Book of Abominations and it's a bit like Pokémon - if Pokémon existed in a Lovecraftian nightmare.

Essentially, Book of Abominations is a monster-collecting RPG where you accidentally release monsters into the universe after finding a big, suspiciously evil book. And because it was your fault, it's now your job to find all of these monsters and return them. Most of them are semi-willing to go back inside but some big ones you will need to fight first. Luckily, though, as you capture more monsters, you'll be able to build bigger and better teams to deal with them.

Combat is turn-based and you can get your allied monsters to chip away at the enemy's health until, once you’re confident you can win, you can perform the Capture Ritual to return the monster home. It sounds simple but I couldn't stop going back to play it. Perhaps I was under the influence of a Capturing Ritual myself.

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Black Friday 2023 is donezo, but the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals live on. Here, we’ll continue to round up big savings on all kinds of quality hardware – from the best SSDs and graphics cards to fully prebuilt gaming PCs and laptops.

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Mario gave a healthy injection of life to the gaming industry in 1985 with the first Super Mario Bros. on the Famicom (NES) in Japan. Since then, Mario has introduced many new consoles and has pushed tech-forward into the 3D space and even jumped into space itself.

There’s hardly a more rich and historically significant legacy than Mario in gaming, so collectors have naturally held great interest in the storied franchise. Here are 10 of the rarest and most expensive Mario games that will empty your pockets.

If you’re a fairly new Lethal Company player, chances are good you’ve only just explored some of the more basic Moons like Vow and Experimentation. You don’t quite yet have enough Credits to go to the more dangerous ones like Dine, Rend, or — god forbid — Titan.

And you know what? Take your time. Enjoy the expeditions on Experimentation, because once you start hitting up Titan, you’ll quickly see how insane Lethal Company can get.

Lethal Company is a popular horror multiplayer game from Zeekerss that took the internet by storm when it first released via early access. It quickly surpassed Phasmophobia in terms of peak concurrent players, which is nothing to scoff at. If you’re looking for more games like Lethal Company, we’ve got you covered.

It’s been a while since we’d heard about the Bloober Team and Konami Silent Hill 2 remake. On November 26, 2023, the developer broke its silence with a brief update on social media stating that it is “progressing smoothly.”

Konami first announced the new version of Silent Hill 2 back in October 2022. Since then, there haven’t been too many updates about it. There was a January 2023 interview, during which Bloober Team noted that its take on this installment would be “faithful,” though there would be “adjustments to certain areas.” In this new statement, the developer notes that new updates would come from the publisher, and people will need to wait for Konami’s next statement. 

Here’s the full statement from Bloober Team.

As Bloober Team, we are proud to be a part of Konami’s plans for the Silent Hill franchise. Alongside our partner, we are working to ensure the Silent Hill 2 remake attains the highest quality.

The holiday season is upon us, which also means that things are finally slowing down a little in the video game world. Marvel Snap usually has a pretty regular patch and update schedule, with one major patch and two smaller OTA updates planned for each month. However, with Thanksgiving week, and Christmas holidays and the new year coming up soon, that schedule has been adjusted a little.

Over on the official Marvel Snap Discord server, Second Dinner stated that their next two patches are set to be released on Dec. 5, and Jan. 9, 2024 respectively. In addition to that, there will be no OTA updates in-between those patches.

Games like Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons helped players realize how comforting a life sim can be, and now Spirittea is around to build on that formula. While this time farming isn’t a part of the equation, the idea of managing a bathhouse and collecting spirits is just as satisfying.

Like Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons, Spirittea involves a player moving from the city to a more serene life in the countryside. You’re heading there to write, and a tidy home in a surprisingly bustling small village awaits you. However, not long after moving in you realize that it’s also a community filled with spirits, many of whom forgot who they are due to the nearby bathhouse being out of service. So instead of getting to write the next great novel, you’re catering to supernatural beings’ needs and improving life in the village for everyone. As you find more spirits, earn more money, and settle in, you gradually get a larger, more adept bathhouse and the ability to improve your personal space.

Halo Infinite developer, 343 Industries, is looking for a new multiplayer playlist designer with an emphasis on Forge content.

The recruitment advertisement, which went live earlier this week, makes a clear connection between the success of the sci-fi shooter's multiplayer game and the ability to "work directly" with the Halo community and players who make their own maps and assets in its map-making mode, Forge.

"In this role you'll design, implement, and manage playlists that align with the needs of Halo Infinite. You'll work with partner teams to ensure content (maps and modes) is properly represented in our playlists and aligns with scheduled game events," the ad explains.

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UK games trade body Ukie's diversity initiative, #RaisetheGame, has partnered with recruitment agency Amiqus to launch Empower Up, a "comprehensive platform to equip game companies of all sizes with the knowledge, frameworks, guidance, and resources they need to establish, improve, or grow their equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies".

The companies say that "at the heart of Empower Up" is a practical Health Check tool that companies can use to benchmark where they are "on their EDI journey", as well as provide further advice and guidance on how to move forward.

"Empower Up is suitable for all games companies, wherever they are on their EDI journey," Ukie says. "For those looking to gain more understanding about what EDI is and why it’s important, the Intro To EDI section provides an overview. It also provides a summary of different Diversity Characteristics and Under-Represented Groups, along with some specific advice and guidance on each.

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Nier series producer Yosuke Saito has confirmed that while "[director] Yoko Taro is alive", new Nier games will be released.

In an interview with 4Gamer.net (日本語) and shared by Genki, Saito said that while another Nier game would be coming, the duo was currently working on a "separate" project, and teased that we can expect to hear more about that unannounced game next year.

The news came via "a meeting to talk incessantly about the production of Nier Automata" presentation at the Korean video game show G-STAR 2023 – yes, I love the title, too – in which Saito talked about the development of the original game and hinted at what lay ahead for the fan-favourite series.

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The Division: Heartland has been rated in Taiwan.

The free-to-play third-person action-shooter spin-off was announced in May 2021 and was initially set to release in 2021-22. Ubisoft has since been taciturn about the game's release window, but the rating – which was published earlier this month – intimates that we could be getting a firm release date soon.

Because of "violence, inappropriate language", and "anti-society" leanings – make of that what you will – the shooter has been awarded a PG-15 rating on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.

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If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s for Roblox to have a myriad of One Piece inspired games like Become Pirate King and Prove Mom Wrong. It’s certainly one of the most unique experiences, as you’ll be building an empire from scratch creating One Piece memorabilia for profit. With the latest Become Pirate King and Prove Mom Wrong codes, you can net yourself some good starter cash!

All Become Pirate King and Prove Mom Wrong Roblox Codes

As of Nov. 24, 2023, Become Pirate King and Prove Mom Wrong only has a handful of freebies, but it’s a decent sum of cash for new players:

There’s something about multiplayer indie games where you and your friends go into messed up environments and nightmarish situations that makes for an incredibly fun time, and Lethal Company fits that bill perfectly. Between its simplistic gameplay and surprisingly scary enemies, it's easy to rack up hours in the game without realizing it.

Mechanical keyboards may offer a superior typing experience, but they are also A) expensive, and B) loud. So if you're looking to save money on your next PC build, or you want to play games late at night without incurring the wrath of your household, then the Razer Cynosa Lite will offer a cheaper, quieter experience. It also packs in a lot of features for a budget board, and you get grab this already inexpensive peripheral for less than half-price this Black Friday weekend.

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PlayStation Portal is an interesting gadget, an official, Sony-designed streaming device designed for Remote Play with PS5. It's not a console or a gaming handheld in the traditional sense, which makes reviewing it a little challenging as the quality of the experience is entirely dependent on the quality of your home network. Take on board some simple advice and it's relatively easy to get the best out of Remote Play and therefore the best out of PlayStation Portal - but there's still the sense that Remote Play itself isn't as good as it should be.

My recommendations for optimal conditions for PlayStation Portal starts with setting up a hard link between your PS5 and your router via a LAN cable. You see, there are two steps to data transfer between Portal and console: firstly, the console communicates with your router, then data is beamed out over WiFi to the handheld. By hardwiring the console to the router, you cut out one stage that could potentially increase latency and data loss. Secondly, you should aim to have your Portal as close to your WiFi router as possible for it to get the strongest signal. If you can't do all of those things, the Portal experience will inevitably be degraded or become less consistent to a certain extent. To be clear though, there's nothing stopping you from trying to run the Portal anywhere you want within the constraints set by the device - you can even access your PlayStation 5 over cellular when out and about. However, the further away you get from your console/router in both real and/or internet space, the less optimal the experience is likely to be.

The best PC gaming monitors can run the gamut from ultrawide 8k screens curved like the spacetime around Jupiter, to bespoke esports monitors that refresh faster than the Ticketmaster page for a Taylor Swift concert. But if all you want is for your PC games to look nice while spending as little as humanly possible, here's a screen you can stick on your desk for less than £75 this Black Friday weekend.

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Valve boss Gabe Newell has been ordered to appear in court as part of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games.

As first reported by our friends at GamesIndustry.biz, Wolfire Games – which filed the order earlier this month – brought an antitrust lawsuit against the megacorp back in 2021. Whilst Newell requested a remote deposition due to health concerns, admitting he has "structured his life to minimise exposure to possible COVID-19 transmission", Wolfire insists that there is "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness" and wants him there in person.

Wolfire further asserts that Newell needs to attend in person because it believes he is "uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy", and the company wants to "adequately assess Newell's credibility".

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One of the surprises at the November 2023 Nintendo Indie Showcase was the reveal Backpack Hero was on the Switch immediately. It might not have been as eye-catching as, say, Shantae Advance or Outer Wilds, but the wealth of things to do and depth makes this inventory management dungeon crawler worth the trip.

Purse and her family live in a corrupt kingdom where the king ransacks kingdoms and punishes anyone who heads into the dungeon taking “his” things. Her mother went into that labyrinth’s depths when she was young and never returned. Now after discovering a magic backpack with great holding capabilities on a run, Purse is determined to keep dungeon diving to learn its secrets, find out what happened to her mother, and use what she finds to help rebuild her town.

Gaming laptops are a tougher proposition at a time when the Steam Deck offers portable PC gaming at a fraction of the cost. Yet while Valve's handheld is great for playing indie games and older AAA titles, there are some circumstances where it's simply not fit for purpose. It isn't really suited for twitchy multiplayer shooters, while glossy ray traced experiences are beyond its capabilities. So if you're after that kind of gaming on the go, a laptop remains ideal, and you can get a great portable gaming device for less than a grand this Black Friday weekend.

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We reckon the Intel Core i5-13600K is not only Intel's best processor overall, but the best CPU for gaming currently available. That quality has also meant it's maintained its initial price fairly steadily for the last twelve months. But in both the UK and the US, you can get this excellent CPU for a pretty decent discount this Black Friday weekend.

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Sundays are for holding a book about being calm in one hand while you doomscroll with the other, and trying to keep your toes warm because God knows that's the only thing you have any control over. Let's read some of the week's best writing about games and game-related things (which, as ever when I have to take over this column for a week, I interpret as broadly as possible).

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The Logitech G432 has been our pick for the best gaming headset for ages, and with good reason. It packs a huge amount of quality into a very reasonably priced package. And this Black Friday weekend, that package is even more reasonably priced than usual, as this fantastic headset is down to half-price in both the UK and the US.

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Years ago, one of my university lecturers told me that he didn't really read much that he enjoyed anymore - I suspect he'd been marking one of my essays - but there was a line of poetry he had read the other day that he thought was phenomenal. He then said it out loud, and what I remember him saying was just part of a sentence, just this:

"In winter, when the wolves have nothing to eat but wind..."

I have not been able to track this line down since, so I've almost certainly gotten it wrong. What I will never forget, though, was the way he stressed those three main W words that give the thought its shape and force. Winter, wolves, wind. Each of these was pained, almost: bleached and pummeled tight by the ferocity of the cold as they left his mouth. I was transported by the impromptu performance. I still am. Thank you, Jan.

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Four-legged beat 'em up Them's Fightin' Herds has had quite the journey, having begun life as an unofficial My Little Pony fangame before becoming a legally distinct and well-liked fighter via crowdfunding and Early Access.

Now that journey seems to be an end. News of a patch and some DLC characters earlier this week came alongside the news that these updates would the game's last - meaning that an in-progress story mode will never be completed and certain crowdfunded rewards will never be delivered.

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Half-Life recently received a big update to celebrate its 25th birthday, but a significant bug remained. In a famous scripted sequence during which a long, green tentacle busts through a window and drags away a scientist, the scientist and the tentacle would be mis-aligned, making it look like the scientist floated out of the window of his own volition.

Not anymore. After over twenty years, Valve programmer Ben Burbank has fixed the bug - and explained how he did it.

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There's a quote about early computer animation, which I can't track down now, that before Pixar came along everyone was using it to swoop cameras through outerspace and up a gnat's ass. Or perhaps it was a fly's butt?

I'm glad Pixar used computer animation to tell great stories, but in watching the 24-minute trailer for the technology underpinning Star Citizen, I have come to realise: swooping the camera through outerspace and up to a man's sweaty brow, at least, is actually pretty cool, too.

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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 creations from the previous week. It's weird to think, but Giant Bomb's flurry of GOTY content is right around the corner. While the site's staff will be doing a "Eurovision-like" GOTY live in Los Angeles on December 9th, that week will see the staff doing the expected GOTY roundtable categories and Bombcasts. The live show is NOT going to replace the usual GOTY podcasts.

Speaking of the live performance, the venue for the LIVE GOTY panel on December 9th has changed. To allow for more tickets, Bakalar has switched the venue to the Teragram Ballroom at 1234 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017. There are still general admission tickets available at $30.00 per person. Please be aware that the Teragram Ballroom is a standing room only venue and if you plan to attend the event, should check out the location's advice on how to secure parking or use public transportation to get there.

Thanks to all of you that tuned in and donated during Giant Bomb's Extra Life coverage last week with Dan, Mike, an ill Grubb, Windbag, and several guests from MinnMax! Dan's stream was able to raise $23,401, which put him well past his goal of raising $10,000! For those of you streaming this weekend or some time after that, be aware that Extra Life does not reset its donation pages until the first day of 2024! You can still send in your donations or host charity streams until the final day of 2023!

An "extremely early" Left 4 Dead prototype is now available to play thanks to Counter-Strike's 1.6 update.

According to content creator Gabe Follower, the prototype – called Terror Strike – was "accidentally compiled" and added to the Counter-Strike update, showing how the zombie game's DNA lies firmly in the mod for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and was developed using CS assets, including Counter-Strike weapons.

The files were quickly pulled from the 22nd November update, but not quickly enough to stop them being yoinked and then distributed publicly.

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Over a decade after 2012's Dragon's Dogma, a sequel is finally on the horizon. While the preview trailers and videos have shown exciting new environments and classes, like keeping old features like the Pawn system, there are a few things we're still hoping to see from the full release of Dragon's Dogma 2.

To start with, We hope Capcom continues with its experiments with the class system. The classes (or vocations) revealed so far have been a blend of the old and the new. Though the Fighter, Mage and Magick Archer return, the Mystic Knight has become the Mystic Spearhand with a new weapon. Meanwhile the Strider in Dragon's Dogma 2 has been split into Thief and Archer classes that focus on melee and ranged attacks, respectively. These seem minor changes, but could be signs that larger ones are on the table.

A rating for Prison Architect 2 has popped up in Korea.

At the time of writing, a sequel to Introversion Software's wildly popular management sim has not been formally announced, yet Prison Architect 2 has been rated as suitable for "juvelines" by Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee.

Interestingly, the link that once led to the rating is now dead, and the game doesn't turn up if you search for it, either in English or Korean. So make of that what you will.

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Following a brief break, more new Hatsune Miku x Pokemon collaboration Project Voltage songs returned. The official social media account for the crossover revealed the names of the next four Vocaloid producers who will create Vocaloid songs based on Pokemon motifs and that include sound samples from the games.

The next four Vocaloid producers to participate in Project Voltage will be the following people, and their songs will be released in this order:

• cosMo@Bousou-P: December 1, 2023
• Tota Kasamura: December 8, 2023
• GigaP: December 15, 2023
• Jin: December 22, 2023

The next producer to make a song for the project will be cosMo@Bousou-P. You may recognize him from his more popular works like "The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku" and "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku."

To celebrate The Sims 4's upcoming expansion pack, For Rent, EA is inviting you to "become the ultimate property mogul" and join Llandgraab & Sons Estate Agents for a day to sample what it's like to be on the other end of a tenancy agreement.

On 7th and 8th December 2023, the fictitious agency will be open in central London for fans to get involved in the "immersive pop-up installation" and try out the expansion pack, which – coincidentally enough – also releases on 7th December.

"Aspiring agents and property magnates will not only have the opportunity to get hands-on with the newest expansion pack, but they’ll be able to interact with their favourite characters, Simify themselves in pictures and discover the new world of Tomarang!" EA explains.

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An in-game Idoly Prise crossover event with Love Live Sunshine will run from November 28, 2023 to December 20, 2023 in the mobile game. The three second-year idols Chika Takami, You Watanabe, and Riko Sakurauchi from Aqours will be available to collect in the gacha.

To celebrate the launch of the collaboration, the first ten gacha rolls will be free. Also, the chance to receive a 5-star idol will be doubled during the event period. By logging in during the event period, players can receive Love Live Sunshine outfits for the Idoly Pride characters, as well as other gifts.

You can watch the promotional video for the upcoming in-game event below:

A Switch rating for Borderlands Collection: Pandora's Box has popped up in Germany.

Right now, the collection is only available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and has not yet been confirmed for Switch, which only received a Borderlands 3 port back in October, four years after the threequel was released on other platforms.

Interestingly, it was submitted for classification quite some time ago – the website says Pandora's Box was given its 14+ rating back in August – but it's only now come to the attention of the eagle-eyed folks on the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit and has yet to be added to the Nintendo eShop.

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Sega detailed the Sanrio event set take place in the Japanese version of Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, known in Japan as Project Sekai: Colorful Stage feat. Hatsune Miku on the official social media account. The event will pair each character with a Sanrio mascot and run from December 5-19, 2023.

During this crossover event, players will be able to play the gacha to collect cards featuring new illustrations that will assist them during the live shows. The highest rarity cards (four stars) that will be featured include Hatsune Miku with Hello Kitty, Saki Tenma with Pompompurin, Aoi Momoi with My Melody, Toya Aoyagi with Pochacco, Emu Otori with Cinnamoroll, and Ena Shinonome with Kuromi.

Here’s a list of each Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, aka Project Sekai, character featured in the event and their matching Sanrio mascot:

• Akito Shinonome: Badtz-Maru
• An Shiraishi: Lloromannic
• Aoi Momoi: My Melody
• Emu Otori: Cinnamoroll

Persona 3 Reload releases in early 2024 as a monumental entry. It represents one of the few remakes in series that mostly dealt with the occasional remaster, re-release, or updated version, but never quite a true remake from the ground up. However, Persona 3 Reload should only be the first of several remakes, including a Persona 2 Remake.

Persona 2 has a unique status in the series as not one, but two games that make up its storyline. Innocent Sin released first in 1999 for the PS1 and was followed up a year later with its direct sequel Eternal Punishment in 2000. Sure, Atlus remastered both of these games for the PSP, but only one released outside of Japan.

It was announced on the Professor Layton social media account that further details about Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, the next entry in the series, will be revealed during the upcoming LEVEL5 VISION 2023 II livestream on November 29, 2023 at 9pm JST (7am ET/4am PT). Additionally, other new Level-5 games and their release dates will be shown.

Until now, we haven’t been told anything about when we can expect to see Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. The product listing only stated the launch was "to be determined."

The upcoming new Level-5 video games that will appear at the event and may be assigned release dates during the livestream will be the following:

• Decapolice
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road

Amazon doesn't specifically list this as a Black Friday deal. But it's certainly a bargain that you can take advantage of this Black Friday weekend. AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X processor is available for just either side of half-price, depending on which side of the pond you live on. Regardless, that's a big chunk off one of the best gaming CPUs around.

When Katharine reviewed the 5600X back in 2020, she called it "a stonkingly fast gaming CPU". It's a six-core, twelve thread processor, with each of its Vermeer processors providing speedy single-core performance, making it an ideal CPU for playing both modern multithreaded games, and older single-thread titles. There are of course plenty of faster CPUs around these days, but you'll pay significantly more for those, and it's only prudent to do so if you're looking to get the highest framerates at 1080p. If you're gaming at 4k, then it's your GPU that'll be doing most of the heavy lifting, and your funds are better spent there.

It's also worth noting that the 5600X is highly power efficient, with a TDP of just 65 watts. This makes it both more economical and more environmentally friendly that a lot of CPUs, an important consideration if your energy bills are making you wince.

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Activision wants to recommend games to you based on the livestreams you watch.

According to a patent filed in July and published publicly just last week – snappily entitled "systems and methods of dynamically modifying video game content based on non-video game content being concurrently experienced by a user" – Activision wants to keep track of what you watch and use that data to make personalised recommendations to you.

As spotted by Exputer, this would make a typically passive viewing experience more interactive, and could even mean "generating" a game just for you or modifying an existing game's content to better suit the kinds of things you like to watch in livestreams.

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