Anime is an acquired taste, so you might not be a fan of stylised fights, speed lines and wacky costumes. Apex Legends is hoping you are though, because the Gaiden event has kicked off to bring some cosmetics influenced by One Piece, My Hero Academia and, possibly, Attack On Titan into the sci-fi battle royale for a limited time. Watch the surprisingly authentic anime-style trailer below.

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No Man’s Sky may not be a gift, since you pay for it, but it certainly keeps on giving, with Hello Games releasing another massive update today.

The new update, titled “Endurance” focuses mostly on your freighter capital ships, and it’s coming out today on all available platforms.

Your massive starships will be upgraded in several ways, including brand new parts and themed building sets, dynamic crewmembers, agricultural modules, the ability to build on their exterior, enhanced textures, improved colors, high-detail surface decoration, and much more.

You may even encounter Organic Frigates that are procedurally generated with a variety of colors, shapes, and tentacle configurations. Encountering them is just the beginning, as you can also recruit them, feed them, evolve them, and send them on missions.

Visuals have also been enhanced with changes made to nebulae, black hole travel, freighter travel, derelict atmospherics, and more.

Space is now richer with materials with new types of asteroids to mine and even automatic ways to do so straight from your capital shops. You may even encounter civilians doing their own mining.

As usual, the update announcement was accompanied by a colorful trailer which you can watch below. You can also read the full (and very long) patch notes.

Today, Night School Studio revealed that their hit 2016 indie puzzle game, Oxenfree, would be crossing over with Roll7’s OlliOlli World via the new VOID Riders DLC. Players will be able to dress as the legendary Oxenfree protagonist Alex while listening to an all-new remix from Oxenfree’s composer, scntfc’s “Beacon Beach,” and much more with this new content.

How to Access Oxenfree Content in OlliOlli World

In order to get your hands on the Oxenfree content in OlliOlli World, you’ll need to find the postcode ‘MV32FR33’, which was embedded via morse code in a video from OlliOlli World and on an Instagram Live broadcast. Once the code has been implemented, you’ll be able to skate around dressed as Alex, listening to scntfc’s awesome songs.

At the moment, there isn’t clear dictation on where to put that code, but we will update this post once it has been clarified.

This collaboration comes at the perfect time for both series, as OlliOlli World celebrated the release of VOID Riders in June (you can check out our official review here), while Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is set to release within the next couple of months, boasting a release window of 2022.

For more information on both titles, including a release date for Oxenfree 2 when it is officially revealed, be sure to check back to Twinfinite for updates. You can also take a look at all the related content we’ve got for both games right down below.

Kotobukiya will be selling figures of the male and female Traveler from Genshin Impact. While pre-orders are not yet open, the company announced that the figures will be available for pre-order in the "near future." The figures are 1/7 scale. Kotobukiya has not announced an official price for either figure.

The 1/7 scale figures recreate both versions of the Traveler protagonist character from Genshin Impact. Aether, the male version, and Lumine, the female version, are twin siblings that travel the universe. At the beginning of the game, players are required to choose one of the characters as the protagonist.

Notably, the figures are based on each character's character card design. Aether, with his arm outstretched, wields his sword and wears a flowing cape. Lumine wields the same sword and wears her white dress. Both figures feature intricate details, such as Aether's earrings, Lumine's floral hairpins, and various metal buckles and accessories. Furthermore, each figure comes with its own stand resembling the terrain of the game's starting area, with a wooden signpost, fences, and grass.

You can get a better look at each Genshin Impact Traveler figure in the screenshots below:

[gallery ids="932418,932419,932420" link="file"]

In a press release, Discord notes that Xbox Insider will be able to use its voice chat feature on their consoles, starting today. The feature coming at a later date for all users. As Discord notes, the feature has been widely requested by users. Previously the company allowed Xbox owners to connect their accounts, but could only be used to display information, like Gamertags.

About two and a half years ago, Zachtronics founder Zach Barth and the studio's audio and narrative director, Matthew Burns, went for a walk.

During the course of their conversation, Barth said that he wanted to shut down the developer. In short, he had become tired of working there.

"I would say over the years game after game it started to feel samey. I felt like my job started to become more boring every day," he tells GamesIndustry.biz. "Every day we explored the same space more thoroughly and we didn't like exploring new spaces."

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Stray has gotten off to an incredible start on Twitch and Steam, with player numbers skyrocketing since the game's launch. However, it turns out it's not just us humans that have fallen for this new release.

Our cats and dogs have also become enamored with the four-legged cuties on screen, with many owners now taking to the internet to share their pets' felines on the whole thing.

First up, let's give the cats their time to shine. It is, after all, the game of their kin.

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Today NIS America announced the release date of the PS5 port of Nihon Falcom’s popular JRPG Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.

The game will launch on Sony’s newest console on November 15th in North America. As usual, European fans will have to wait a little longer, with a release date for the Old Continent set for November 18.

The port was originally announced by NIS America back in March, during the latest livestream of the New Game+ Expo.

Ys VII: Lacrimosa of Dana is quite interesting as it comes with a double perspective. Not only players experience the story from the point of view of traditional Ys hero Adol Christin, but they also play as the mysterious blue-haired maiden Dana.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, you can find a brand new story trailer below, alongside a music clip dedicated to Dana herself.

Wondering when the Destiny 2 Solstice Event 2022 is ending? Well, you aren’t alone, as everyone wants to take advantage of the rewards coming from this great event while it lasts. Here’s what you need to know.

Destiny 2’s Solstice Event is off to a roaring start with plenty of new rewards, activities, and armor to upgrade through a variety of quests. Much like seasonal events in other titles, the Solstice Event, unfortunately, doesn’t last forever. There’s only a limited amount of time to complete everything this event has, and if you’re wondering when will the Solstice Event conclude, we have you covered.

At Develop:Brighton last week, Rebellion's Cari Watterton and Lowtek's Alastair Low shared a talk on the topic of accessibility.

Watterton, who joined the Sniper Elite developer as senior designer of accessibility this March, gave a crash course in making games more accessible, while Low -- founder and director of indie dev Lowtek -- focused on sharing advice about designing for dyslexic players.

In this article we'll cover Watterton's portion of the talk, but stay tuned for more from Alastair Low and designing with dyslexia in mind in the coming weeks.

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In the Mass Effect universe, there is no greater military honor than being granted the title of Spectre. Standing for Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, this position grants the agent extreme power, including the ability to travel to restricted space and even take a life. 

Given how much power and responsibility this role represents, it makes sense that the title of Spectre isn’t just given out willy-nilly. In fact, across the four games so far, we only know of about 10. 

Below, we’ve compiled a list of those 10 Spectres and ranked them based on how important they are to the series. So let’s get started!

Speculate no more! Hello Games revealed the next addition to the ever-expanding universe of No Man’s Sky. It’s called Endurance, and it’s loaded with additions to space (space biome?) and brings the thrills of taking charge of a fleet of starships to your screen. While past updates have broadened the selection of…

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Last year, the MCU introduced a new animated series named What If…? that explored “What If” scenarios for previous MCU movies. With a second season of the animated series on the horizon, rumored to come out later this year, let’s take a look at some of the possible scenarios Marvel could explore within the infinite MCU Multiverse.

It is worth noting that two of the confirmed What If…? Season 2 episodes are ones that revolves around Captain Carter again and another which explores the Gamora we saw in the What If…? Season 1 finale. With these already being confirmed episodes, they will not be included in the list. With that out of the way, these are 10 What If…? Season 2 ideas that Marvel can have for free.

Warning: Some spoilers for previous Marvel Studios projects incoming.

With less than a month to go until No Man's Sky's sixth birthday, developer Hello Games has finally, as of today, hit the big two-oh in terms of post-launch updates for its ever-expanding exploratory space sim, and the studio's latest addition - titled Endurance - takes aim at space bases, aiming to make freighters great again.

Freighters were, of course, one of No Man's Sky's very first post-launch additions, arriving all the way back in November 2016 as part of its game-changing Foundation Update.

While the Foundation Update's other major addition, base building, has undergone several revisions in the year's since its debut, freighters - those giant, habitable, expandable space vessels Travellers are now given early on in their adventures - have not, and their limited building blocks have remained an ongoing frustration for players like me who've long dreamed of constructing something a bit more lavish for their home among the stars.

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Chinese studio Nekcom has raised $8 million in a round of Series A funding in order to fuel game development, R&D and international expansion.

The round was led by Galaxy Interactive, and firm partner and co-head Ryan You will join Nekcom's board of directors.

Nekcom is best known as the maker of the Dying: 1883 and Dying: Reborn, and is currently working on a post apocalyptic title for PlayStation and PC, Showa American Story.

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Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is now 32 years old (I know, I am just as surprised as you and even did a quick Google to check). To honour the occasion, series creator Hideo Kojima has shared a little titbit about its naming.

"I had planned to make this sequel title in the style of 'Indiana Jones' only with the name of the main character," he revealed via Twitter.

"I didn't want to put 'Metal Gear 2' in the title, but the sales staff said to put 'Metal Gear 2' in the title!"

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Netflix lost almost a million subscribers over the past three months, the company has revealed, although this was not as many as it had feared - having forecasted a drop of two million subscribers previously.

In Netflix's latest financial results, the streaming giant revealed that despite airing new seasons of front-runner Stranger Things and other popular series such as The Umbrella Academy.

In the UK, the cost of living crisis is one of the biggest issues currently faced by households, and streaming services are feeling the impact of it. The BBC reported that many people are choosing to cancel their subscriptions in order to compensate for increasing bills and prices. Netflix is likely one of the companies affected by this, with 300,000 of the total 970,000 subscribers lost residing in the EMEA region.

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Marvel's Avengers looks to be getting a selection of beachwear skins, because of course it is.

Summer designs for Thor, Black Widow and Tony Stark have been unearthed in a new datamine of the game, from reliable leaker Miller (thanks, MP1st).

Square Enix is yet to announce the skins officially - and of course, being in the game's files doesn't guarantee they will be released.

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Soulsborne players will be familiar with gargoyle enemies, which recur throughout the games.

Usually they're made of stone but in Elden Ring, they appear to be made of conjoined human flesh. Lovely!

YouTuber Zullie the Witch has made this latest grotesque discovery, zooming in on the Valiant Gargoyles bosses.

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Bungie has filed a lawsuit against an individual for habitually and repeatedly violating Destiny 2's Limited Software Licence Agreement, as well as threats made to staff via social media.

The lawsuit, filed last Friday, accuses a streamer known as Luca Leone of routinely streaming Destiny 2 gameplay with cheats enabled, something he has been banned for multiple times.

The suit alleges that Leone has dodged the bans by creating 13 new accounts, and the creation of each separate account is counted as an individual breach of the LSLA, according to Bungie.

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The first in-development images of Yakuza 8 appeared in a recent office tour video, confirming the return of a few key characters. The video appeared on the YouTube channel of Japanese YouTuber and celebrity Mikuru Asakura, who visited the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio offices in order to discuss a cameo in the upcoming game. Additionally, the video showed how the company performed motion capture for its games. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

The video starts with Asakura meeting with the CEO of Sega Sammy Holdings, Haruki Satomi. After discussing whether Asakura would be interested in appearing as a cameo character, Yakuza 8 producer Masayoshi Yokoyama gave him a tour of the studio's offices. Notably, the office tour offered fans a glimpse at the studio's development process, from character modeling to motion capture.

Towards the beginning of the tour, we can see several developers working on environments, character animations, and event scenes. One event scene featured Yakuza: Like a Dragon protagonists Ichiban Kasuga, Koichi Adachi, and Yu Nanba. Yokoyama added that footage of the event scene had never been released to the public before. Interestingly, Kasuga appears to have a new hairstyle and is only wearing a tanktop.

You can check out the Yakuza 8 images in the video below (images appear around the 9:58 mark):

https://youtu.be/5BZpiZ3HrCA

Undergrave reminds me a lot of Fights in Tight Spaces, which is a good thing. It's a turn-based fighting game where enemies move when you move, so if you move a tile, enemies move a tile, and if they end up next to you, you'll be hit - and you've got about eight hit-points so you can't take much punishment. If you die, it's back around again from the beginning.

There are no cards in the game, like in Fights in Tight Spaces, but you do have abilities. You can dash, jump, and throw your sword, assuming you have enough action points, and although they're powerful moves, there are drawbacks to using each one. Throw your sword and you have to go retrieve it, for example, and dash carelessly and you'll end up in trouble - you don't get to choose how many spaces you go.

Then again, you can dash through a line of enemies, which is incredibly satisfying. Like a samurai in a bamboo forest, you make your move and then watch as two halves of the enemies' bodies slide apart. It's also very satisfying to jump on someone's head, killing them if they're a weaker enemy, while pushing back and stunning enemies around you. Jump is great but it's an expensive ability to use.

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Forza Horizon 5’s Hot Wheels expansion is out and reader, I am in love. Firmly leaning – shoving, really – into the base game’s arcadey side, it’s a gleefully silly collection of physics-mocking race events across an eye-catching tangle of twisting, looping tracks. In between challenges, and flashbacks to covering the floor of my grandparents’ house with ribbons of orange plastic, I’ve also been testing how the DLC’s new skybound setting performs on PC.

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Naughty Dog officially announced its plans to bring The Last of Us Part 1 to PlayStation 5 (and eventually PC) with a shiny new remake that will be a "total overhaul of the original experience" at Summer Game Fest last month.

The remake itself is not due out until September, however, we are already seeing gameplay leaks making their way out into the wild. Déjà vu anyone?

The most recent leaks, which have now been mostly removed from the internet by a very fast-moving Naughty Dog, showed off a scene from very early in the game's narrative.

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Valve has detailed how the current heatwave will affect its Steam Deck hardware, which will shut down completely in high temperatures.

Even before this happens, performance will be "throttled" when the hardware is hot, Valve has said. Honestly, after the past couple of days, I can relate.

"For our friends in the midst of a heatwave, a quick note about Steam Deck in high temperatures," Valve wrote via Twitter last night. "Steam Deck performs at its best in ambient temperatures between zero and 35°C. If the temperature gets higher than this, Steam Deck may start to throttle performance to protect itself."

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Some PlayStation Plus subscribers who own the base Final Fantasy 7 Remake game on PS5 are currently unable to download the Intermission DLC.

The game was recently added to Sony's subscription service having previously been available to purchase on the store.

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Jonat is wandering around in the pitch black while everyone sleeps, even though he is: a) afraid of the dark, and b) a baby. This here is Clanfolk, a settlement sim about a family of Scottish tamagotchis. The first thing you'll be screaming at me, as if I have not noticed, is how recognisably Rimworldy it looks. You're right. Considering RimWorld cribbed plenty of its own notes from Dwarf Fortress and Prison Architect, it might feel incongruous to criticise Clanfolk for clinging too tightly to the hem of its inspiration. Sadly, it's true. It is a drier, slower and more bucolic take on the exact same game.

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QA (quality assurance) staff at Blizzard Albany, the studio behind Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, have announced plans to unionise.

The group, named GWA Albany, has said it is pushing for fairer pay, improved healthcare benefits and more transparency in addressing workplace issues.

Addressing crunch is another key demand, with staff asking for the establishment of "reasonable protocols" to address times when they are asked to work extended hours.

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Stray, the adorable game that sees you take on the role of a lovable cat in a cyberpunk world, has been doing very, very, well since its launch. In fact, it has become the biggest PC launch ever for publisher Annapurna Interactive (which I feel should rename itself Anna-purr-na for the occassion).

At the time of writing, there are 34,139 players on Steam making their four-legged way around Stray's environments, with an overall peak of 62,963.

Figures posted by Steam tracker Benji-Sales show a launch far higher than other recent Annapurna titles.

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Wondering if you can change the appearance of the cat in Stray? Maybe you want it to be a big fluffy Maine Coon like the one you’ve got at home, or a little brown tabby or a Siamese instead of the ginger cat on the cover? Or maybe you just want to have it wear a cute little hat as it tries to escape the cyber city that you find yourself in at the beginning of the game.

Can You Change the Cat’s Appearance in Stray?

Unfortunately, no, you cannot change the appearance of your cat in Stray. The little ginger tabby will forever remain this way, and as much as you may want to whack a sombrero or other accessory on it, you can’t. It’ll always have B-12 on its back, helping it on its way through the cyber city, and will always be a good little ginger kitty.

The most you can do is have your cat wear a paper bag briefly in Stray, but this is only in order to unlock a trophy. Other items that you get like the blanket for Elliott, and the worker’s jacket and hat are nothing more than quest items that cannot be worn by the cat, no matter how cute they may look.

While this may come as disappointing news, fear not, as there’s still plenty of fun stuff you can do as a cat. Go ahead and scratch vinyl in the club, browse through TV channels, play mahjong with the robots and do everything you can in order to escape the cyber city itself.

That’s everything you need to know on whether or not you can customize your cat in Stray. For more on the game, be sure to check out the links below.

Roguelike Metroidvania Dead Cells isn’t dead, so get ready for three more updates over the course of this year. That’s the message from publisher Motion Twin in a new roadmap update on the game’s future, which promises 2023 will be the “most exciting year” for the game so far. The next fresh content update lands sometime this summer, though none of the roadmap’s release windows are concrete yet.

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While the found footage horror sub-genre was catapulted into the limelight with 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and later with 2007’s Paranormal Activity, it’s fair to say that few films have managed to hit those heady highs again. Of course, there have been a few under-the-radar hits like Creep, Host, The Visit, and Unfriended, but the viral word-of-mouth sensation that helped popularise the eerily immersive genre in the first place has largely fallen by the wayside.

If you’re hankering for a solid slice of found footage horror, then we may have just the blood-drenched ticket, though. Yes, Incantation is now streaming on Netflix and, according to FlixPatrol, it has managed to edge its way into the streaming giant’s Top 10 movies with a respectable eighth position, meaning that it’s one of the most watched films on the service at the moment. No small feat for an indie Taiwanese horror pic, right?

For the unaware, Incantation is a supernatural found footage horror movie that opened in theaters in Taiwan earlier this year. The pic managed to do gangbusters domestically, fast becoming the country’s highest-grossing horror film ever, with a $5.7 million box office in just Taiwan alone. As a result of its success, Netflix swooped in and secured an international distribution deal which has led to the movie reaching the streaming service’s Top 10 in 25 countries. Pretty impressive, no?

Electronic Arts is overhauling its technology department, splitting the structure into two pillars, following the announcement of its chief technology officer's upcoming departure.

In an SEC filing released yesterday, spotted by VideoGamesChronicle, the publisher announced Ken Moss will be leaving the company on or around Friday, August 12.

After he leaves, two execs will take on new positions to lead the different pillars EA is now setting up.

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Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has opened a new office in Singapore.

This new location will serve as headquarters for its metaverse-related operations, HoYoverse, which was announced earlier this year.

The office will house "several hundred employees" across a 28,000-square-foot site, the announcement said (via South China Morning Post), and promote a flexible working model.

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I've been lucky enough to test out a bunch of weird and wonderful tech, but I don't always get a chance to share my discoveries in a full review or roundup. That's why this column exists, to highlight bits of tech that might not fit elsewhere but nonetheless deserve a mention. Enjoy!

It feels like there's something of a mechanical keyboard renaissance recently, with boutique brands producing some stunning keyboards with unique designs and advanced features for surprisingly little money. I've selected five of the best that have passed over my desk in the first half of the year, from ultra-premium numbers to more affordable options, so take a look - even if you're not a mechanical keyboard fan, you might find something that sparks something here.

The Lofree 1% is a keyboard looks like a giant ice cube - what more do you want?! Almost everything here is at least partially transparent, from the keycaps and the switches to the chassis, while other components like the PCB are coloured white or silver to add to the gleaming effect. Combined with strong white backlighting behind each key, and you get a keyboard that looks like no other on the market. The only disappointment? The USB-C cable is a standard black affair, so I'd recommend picking up an aftermarket cable if you're going to use it wired.

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Rez is a terribly good video game - a synaesthesic shooter from Tetsuya Mizuguchi and United Game Artists, originally released for the Dreamcast and PS2. Donlan has been a fan for years, and he wondered what Ed Nightingale, who loves music games but had never played Rez, would make of it. Ed played the game, and then they had a nice chat.

Chris: Ed! I am so glad you've finally played Rez. Before we get into the game, I wondered: do you remember when you first heard about Rez? And going in, what was your conception of it? What did you assume you were about to play?

Ed: I have a vague recollection of a wireframe figure and lots and lots of beats from years ago, which immediately seemed distinctive and something I’d want to play. Sadly I never owned a Dreamcast so it just passed me by. I was expecting something experimental, something mesmerising, something trippy. Now I’ve finally played, it didn’t disappoint.

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As part of the main story of Stray, you will eventually find yourself in possession of a Broken Tracker. However, getting it fixed is not going to be a straightforward task. Here’s how to fix the Broken Tracker in Stray so you can continue on your feline adventure.

How to Fix Stray Broken Tracker

As we mentioned, there are several steps to get this thing in working condition again, so follow these steps: