Another weekend draws near, this time preceded by a Friday the 13th, in October of all months. Spooky vibes for sure, but if you’re looking to ward off some bad luck, might I suggest playing some video games?

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Activision Blizzard is now officially part of Microsoft.

Within hours of the UK Competition and Markets Authority giving the long-debated acquisition a final green light, Microsoft announced today that it has completed the deal, making Activision Blizzard a wholly owned subsidiary.

The deal was first announced January 18 of 2022, but held up by regulatory hurdles in the UK, EU, and US.

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Sonic Superstars sprints to stores next week, and while I’ve wrapped up the main adventure and partaken in the other activities, such as Battle Mode, one big highlight eludes my evaluation: co-op. 

One of Superstars’ biggest selling points is to take down Eggman with up to three other players. Unfortunately, co-op is restricted to local play. Living alone and working remotely makes couch co-op a tricky proposition, and the only way for me to test this is by using the PS5’s Share Play feature with another editor, but that feature won’t work until the game launches next Tuesday. Until I can get a sense of what it’s like to take down badniks with another person, my general thoughts on Sonic Superstars is that if you’re looking for a Genesis-era throwback, Sonic Team and Arzest have nailed it – for better and worse. 

Controlling Sonic and his pals perfectly captures the feel of his classic adventures. As a Genesis kid once obsessed with Sonic, the platforming physics feel on point, allowing childhood muscle memory to take hold. Each character is enjoyable to use, with Amy being the standout due to her ability to double jump and her hammer that destroys enemies. If you were worried about Superstars being a repeat of Sonic 4, you can rest easy. However, that also means old annoyances are preserved, such as the pain of slowly regaining running momentum and the inability to stop on a dime. Basically, any likes or dislikes you have about old-school Sonic platforming return in full force in Superstars. 

The video game industry just got a lot smaller. The long and winding saga of Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard has finally come to a close with the companies announcing the completed merger today following one last greenlight from regulators in the UK. Call of Duty is now part of Xbox and the…

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Arma developer Bohemia Interactive has issued a statement criticising the use of in-game images by people online claiming it to be real war footage from Israel and Palestine.

In a statement released on social media, the studio shared its guide to identifying 'fake news' videos, which it had originally published when Arma 3 was used to spread misinformation around the war in Ukraine.

"With the tragic events currently unfolding in the Middle East, we feel it is vital to share once again our statement concerning the use of [Arma 3] as a source of fake news footage," the statement said.

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It's official: Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, the company behind franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, for a colossal $69 billion. 

Earlier this morning, the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority approved Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The CMA was the last hurdle for Microsoft's acquisition after it received approval in more than 40 countries and regions, including the U.S. earlier this summer. The deadline for Microsoft to close this deal was October 18, but reports indicated the company was planning to finalize it today, October 13. That has now happened, and Activision Blizzard is officially part of Xbox's first-party studio umbrella.

Xbox released the video below to celebrate its acquisition: 

Twenty months after it was first announced, Microsoft’s unprecedented deal to buy Call of Duty and Candy Crush publisher Activision Blizzard for $69 billion appears to have beaten its final boss. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority revealed on Friday that it has provisionally approved the tech giant’s latest…

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Microsoft has now formally acquired Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn - the biggest company buyout in video games industry history.

Today's long-awaited deal closure finalises a process that has dragged on through almost two years of regulatory approvals and legal wrangling. Finally, however, it is done - hours after the UK ultimately gave the deal a green light.

Microsoft now owns Activision, including the world's biggest first-person shooter franchise Call of Duty, alongside the rights to Spyro, Skylanders, and Guitar Hero.

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DICE's once-ramshackle, apparently much-improved near-future shooter Battlefield 2042 is free to play this weekend, granting access to the game's Season 6 "Dark Creations" content offerings, amongst other things. BUT WAIT. There's an asterisk over the word "free" on the promo art! Everybody drop to cover! See, these are the tiny details you have to watch out for in Battlefield. That asterisk could be the equivalent of the glint on a sniper rifle, aimed squarely at your wallet, purse and/or khaki-coloured bumbag. Let's zoom in on the footnote...

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Myunna has been revealed in Fragaria Memories and is the knight that serves Sanrio mascot, Cogimyun. This is the latest in a string of new knight introductions that Sanrio has been posting daily on social media to hype up its new multimedia fantasy project.

According to her bio, Myunna encourages Cogimyun by being a diligent worker. With a fluffy and soft outward appearance, the knight always makes an earnest effort, even when they are running on empty. Myunna is voiced by Tokudome and designed and illustrated by Yogisya.

Meet Myunna in the post below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/fragaria_sanrio/status/1712755084172607488?s=20[/embed]

Myunna is the final member of the Blue Bouquet in Fragaria Memories. With all of the Red and Blue Bouquet members having now been revealed, that leaves only the Noir Bouquet left to look forward to. Yesterday, we met the knight of Lala from the Little Twin Stars, Louterstella.

Myunna, the knight who serves Cogimyun, was introduced on the Fragaria Memories official social media account and website. More knights will continue to be announced in the future.

The post Meet Myunna, the Sanrio Fragaria Memories Knight of Cogimyun appeared first on Siliconera.

After the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority blocked Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty and Diablo maker Activision Blizzard earlier this year over cloud gaming concerns, Microsoft brought a new deal to the table. In this new deal, Ubisoft would get the rights to Activision Blizzard cloud game streaming in the U.K. for 15 years, theoretically quelling the CMA's concerns. The CMA granted Microsoft a preliminary approval last month and now, a few weeks later, the U.K. regulatory agency has finally given Microsoft the full approval it needs. 

CD Projekt turned to AI technology to replicate a Cyberpunk 2077 Polish voice actor who passed away in 2021.

The late Miłogost Reczek's voice was reproduced by an AI algorithm for Phantom Liberty - the base game's recent expansion - for its Polish-language release.

In a statement shared with Bloomberg, CD Projekt said it had obtained permission from Reczek's family to recreate the actor's voice in this way for the expansion.

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The upcoming Lollipop Chainsaw remake's game design is now described as a remaster, rather than a remake.

Producer Yoshimi Yasuda made the announcement earlier today on social media.

Last year, Yasuda stated Lollipop Chainsaw RePop won't update the original's story or aesthetics. "We want to make it so that the game can be as close to the original version as possible," Yasuda said, echoing the only major aspect which will be changed is the game's licensed music soundtrack.

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If you've ever spoken to the ripperdoc character Viktor Vektor in the Polish localisation of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, you've been talking to a cyborg. Technically, of course, most characters in Cyberpunk 2077 are cyborgs, but in this case, I'm referring to one voice actor posing as another using voice-cloning technology, following the second actor's death.

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The latest Pokemon and Hatsune Miku song for Project Voltage has been released. This time, Mitchie M was in charge of producing the single called  “Mirai Donna Darou,” or “I wonder what the future will be like.”

The title is a play on words as its lyrics contain the word “Miraidon,” which is the Legendary Pokemon from 2022's Pokemon Violet. The song itself includes additional clever Japanese puns in it, which have been translated into English subtitles.

The new Hatsune Miku Project Voltage single debuted with a fully animated music video on YouTube. Miku sings about several Pokemon in the track, including Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Clefable, and many more. The single also features many samples from the Pokemon games, as well as a ‘Pokerap,’ of sorts.

Which Pokemon sounds and samples can you hear in the crossover song? You can listen and watch the music video below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG05Sm68z4s[/embed]

Mitchie M has been producing Vocaloid music for over a decade now. Some of his most popular tracks include “Viva Happy” and “Ohedo Julia-Night,” which also have animated Hatsune Miku music videos to check out.

One of my favourite studio names of the last few years comes from the team that made PinOut. PinOut was basically Tron: The Pinball Game. Against a humming, buzzing, looping backdrop of glorious retro-futurist dance music, you raced across the highways and gutters of an endless swooping, arcing table, ricocheting off bumpers, finding secret paths and feeling like you were the single most vital part of a luminous living machine. It was a rush, a trip. And the studio? The studio was called Mediocre.

Such a brazenly inaccurate name speaks to a great and quirky seam of buried confidence, I think. It's intoxicating. Who wouldn't love a studio that made a classic and still named itself Mediocre? And now - nobody, as far as I'm aware, from Mediocre involved - who wouldn't love a brilliant pool game called Subpar Pool?

Subpar Pool. The thrill of it. Incredible Pool? No thanks. Brilliant Pool? Move along. Subpar Pool? My cheeks grow flushed. My hands sweat a little. The night, as the poet says, opens its eyes. And all this before I'd discovered that Subpar Pool is the work of Martin Jonasson, who bent resource management and puzzling into such ingenious ludic pretzels with games like Rymdkapsel and Twofold Inc. And who, with Holedown, gave us a preview of what we're getting here: playful physics, confidently weaponised. Nothing Subpar about it.

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Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya has started his own YouTube channel following his departure from PlatinumGames.

So far there's only one video, in English and Japanese, in which he discusses his decision to leave the studio and his thoughts on making curry, of all things.

"I'm over it. I'm so over it," he says at the start of the video as he leaves the office. "I am Hideki Kamiya, unemployed. Welcome to my channel."

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Since October 8, 2023, the VTuber talent agency VShojo has been teasing the debut of a new member. This time, it introduced us to Matara Kan. Her concept is that she is a “cockroach woman” who may be threatening the lives of her fellow VShojo members, as well as her viewers. Her Television Debut stream will be on Twitch on Sunday, October 15, 3:30 pm PT / 6:30 pm ET.

A monochromatic teaser video was uploaded to the official VShojo social media account to announce the Matara Kan debut stream. In the video, we get a glimpse of Matara Kan's hand gracefully holding a cup of wine. The clip then reveals that she has been watching her own debut teasers all along from a television screen.

You can watch the full Matara Kan debut teaser video below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/VShojo/status/1712588964878754065[/embed]

Matara Kan’s social media was also linked alongside the announcement. She has been actively posting in anticipation of her debut since earlier today.

[embed]https://twitter.com/MataraKan/status/1712589530312688122?s=20[/embed]

The talent agency capped off the announcement by uploading new artwork that features the cockroach woman next to other VTubers in the VShojo agency.

Anyone who has doubted the depth of the crisis at Unity in recent months need only look at its consequences: it takes more than a storm in a teacup to capsize a CEO. John Riccitiello's retirement from the company – effective immediately, no less – is indeed a vanishingly rare thing in the games business, where blame for failure and poor judgement all too often trickles down the org chart and leaves top management unscathed.

Riccitiello's name and reputation, however, was impossible to disentangle from the unforced errors that have collapsed Unity's relationship with so many developers. From his tenure at EA being (rather unfairly) summarised as "he's the loot box guy" to his ill-judged but highly revealing description of developers who don't focus on monetisation as "fucking idiots," a significant portion of Unity's customer base had drawn a line through Riccitiello's career that connected directly to Unity's grasping and ultimately disastrous attempt to change its financial terms.

There simply wasn't any way for Unity to offer up a sacrificial scalp from further down the org chart; the buck, for once, had stopped at the top and had nowhere else to go.

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Following the quick sell-out of the exclusive Pokémon Van Gogh merchandise, and subsequently the Pikachu trading card, on Pokémon Center websites, The Pokémon Company has announced it'll be giving fans another opportunity to get Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat.

The card was initially a free add-on for Pokémon Center customers, given out at a rate of one card for each item in the Van Gogh collection bought.

This time around, only orders with Pokémon Trading Card Game products will be eligible for a card. A minimum purchase of £30/$30 is required, and the giveaway is limited to one card per order.

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Arma 3 developer Bohemia Interactive has commented on the use of footage taken from its military shooter being used online to spread misinformation about Israel and Palestine.

The studio has also re-shared a guide it originally released last year, when Arma 3 footage was being used to create fake videos purporting to show the conflict in Ukraine.

"With the tragic events currently unfolding in the Middle East, we feel it is vital to share once again our statement concerning the use of Arma 3 as a source of fake news footage," Bohemia wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

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What is Friday without an article about an amusing mod that we have found. This week, a rather freight-ening mod has pulled into that station we call Starfield, which swaps out every ship in the game with that of Thomas the Tank Engine. Because, of course.

This "Really Useful Starfield" mod was created and uploaded by the aptly named Trainwiz, who has kindly provided us with a rather sinister backstory explaining Thomas' arrival in space.

"For his crimes against God and his invention of murder, Thomas was smote, thusly. Rejected from Hell and obviously never going to get into Heaven, they say that the Tank Engine has been banished to wander the stars forever, unable to satiate his bloodlust and unable to find peace in his heart," Trainwiz begins.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: mirages, strange places, and superheroes.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

What a breath of fresh air Assassin's Creed Mirage is. After a trilogy of hulking, hundred-hour Assassin's Creed sagas, I'm far enough through Mirage - in one week - that the end is in sight. And I don't want to leave. Ubisoft Bordeaux's version of Baghdad feels dense, detailed, lived-in and exotic, all sun-drenched and alluringly unknown. And the history nerd in me is enjoying learning all about the period's advancements in technology and astronomy.

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Our Game of the Week is Saltsea Chronicles, a beautiful seafaring adventure filled with choices and different islands to visit. There are people to meet, radios to listen to, dreams to sail and cultures to explore. I thought it was wonderful, and I hope anyone playing it over the weekend has a really magical time.

And now I'm finished, I've become intrigued by a simple question: why does this game that's largely filled with conversations and dialogue choices feel so much, not just like an adventure, but actual travel?

I think there are probably endless answers to this question, and the biggest one - which I want to touch on the least, because I want people to uncover it for themselves - comes down to the fact that each island you visit is so different to the last one. Each island in the Saltsea has its own culture, its own way of being in the world. It feels like travel because you're moving between really distinct, hand-made places.

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The developer of Lords of the Fallen has warned an update is still due for the Xbox version of the game to bring parity with the PC and PlayStation 5 versions.

The game has been available for press and content creators ahead of its release today, with frequent patches attempting to stabilise its performance.

The Xbox version was not made available for review and it appears the delay in this patch may be the reason.

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To report this morning that Microsoft has won over the UK regulator and can complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard was a relief.

It was interesting, to begin with. It was even a bit fun being able to speak to all these interesting legal types and business leaders, on all sides, about the whole process.

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Social media users are attempting to pass off videos of Bohemia Interactive's military shooter Arma 3 as real-life footage of the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which erupted into open war this week. Several of these mocked-up videos have circulated on Tik-Tok and Xitter, one of them purporting to show a member of the Hamas group shooting down Israeli helicopters. Bohemia Interactive have now released a statement calling on their community to publish and share Arma 3 footage responsibly, while offering advice on how to spot a fake.

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Microsoft's revised deal to purchase Activision Blizzard.

This leaves the door open for Microsoft to finally complete its proposed $68.7bn acquisition of the Call of Duty and Overwatch maker, over a year and half since it was first announced.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), the CMA wrote: "We've cleared the new deal for Microsoft to buy Activision without cloud gaming rights. In August, Microsoft made a concession that would see Ubisoft, instead of Microsoft, buy Activision's cloud gaming rights.

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has given Microsoft the approval needed to finally acquire Activision Blizzard.

The regulator blocked the $68.7 billion deal earlier this year, primarily over concerns about competition in the cloud gaming space.

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If you've been looking to stock up on the spooks and scares in anticipation of this year's impending Halloween, the Epic Games Store has your back; next week's freebie over there is The Evil Within, the acclaimed horror from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. And it's joined by the Eurogamer recommended Eternal Threads.

The Evil Within - which was created by Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, the studio Mikami departed earlier this year - released all the way back in 2014, dragging players, in the role of rugged police detective Sebastian Castellanos, along on a positively bonkers ride through the shape-shifting likes of a dilapidated asylum, a fading mansion, a mannequin factory, and more.

It's a return to the kind of nail-bitingly tense third-person survival horror Mikami's Resident Evil games - particularly the revolutionary Resident Evil 4 - were known for, and it all plays out like an enthusiastic love letter to the horror genre as a whole, packing in everything from sadistic chainsaw-wielding cannibals to J-horror-style hair ghosts. It's great, despite a few rough edges.

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UPDATE 13/10/23: Internet sleuths, you were so very close; the real new voice of Mario has finally been revealed, and it was indeed one of the two names left after narrowing down a leaked Super Mario Bros. Wonder cast list - just not the one everybody thought it was.

Kevin Afghani - whose previous roles include Arnold in Genshin Impact and Raditz in Dragon Ball R&R - has now confirmed he'll be providing the 'whoops' and 'wahoooooos' of Mario in Switch's upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, following August's sad news that Charles Martinet would be hanging up his big red hat.

"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.," Afghani wrote in a message confirming his casting on shared on social media. "Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!"

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DLsite added support for nine more languages, adding up to fourteen languages you can purchase fanmade goods. This is due to an increase in foreign customers who want to use the site. It plans on increasing the number of works in these new languages, as well as further improving on its translation services.

Here are the languages you can browse DLsite in. Ones in bold are new.

• Bahasa Indonesia
• English
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Simplified Chinese
• Spanish
• Swedish

Bandai will release a new collection of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gashapon capsule toy keychains. The collection will appear in Japan on the third week of October 2023. Each capsule toy will cost 300 yen (or about $2). There will be a total of five different keychains as part of the new collection. [Thanks, Dengeki Hobby!]

The new capsule toys include two mini figurines of Link holding a bow with an ancient arrow, with and without his cloak, the Master Sword on a pedestal, the letter Z from the BotW logo along with the Master Sword, and a silhouette of Link holding a bow and arrow while jumping.

You can check out the new Breath of the Wild capsule toy keychains in more detail on the gallery below.

The new Fragaria Memories boy for the day is Louterstella, who is the older brother of Klarkstella. Illustrator Ugonba designed him and his brother. He protects people with the power of astrology, and he only shows his true feelings before Louterstella, Kiki, and Lala.

Kiki and Lala are, of course, the names of the Little Twin Stars characters from Sanrio. Kiki is the younger brother and Lala is the older sister. Like Lala, Louterstella has pink hair, though he also has blue highlights in them to represent Kiki. Klarkstella has a similar hair color but with the colors flipped. Both twins are members of Blue Bouquet.