Payday 2 Chains Mask Randomly Appears in British Soap 'Coronation Street'

Let's take a step away from reporting about next-generation announcements and whatnot, and instead let's take a trip over to the UK soap scene. Over here, we have dramas that have been running for decades, Eastenders is probably a popular one that may be at least heard about in the USA. However, there's another one called Coronation Street, but last nights episode seems to have featured a mask from Payday 2.

Originally, I saw this on Twitter when I woke up, thinking it was just a joke. Turns out, it actually happened. So some backstory: I don't know what's going on in Coronation Street, but some blokes found himself resorting to armed robbery and storms a poker game while donning the Chains mask from Payday 2.

It's quite possible that the props department doesn't know about the video game series that finds up to 4 players robbing banks and buildings to rake in the money. But then, perhaps they do know about it and thought it'd be a very niche reference for some viewers who may know about it. The very mask is available on the UK Amazon store (Not an affiliate) and features the same vinyl material, the same creepy long smile, the big red nose, and those dashing vertical blue eyebrows. It costs £49.99! Sheez.

You can watch the clip above, although I'm not sure if there may be region restrictions over the US, so I'm also sharing a screenshot below so you can see it featured in the clip that way should the video not work.

payday 2 mask coronation street

The timing of this is incredibly interesting seeing as this month we've seen the first screenshot from the upcoming Payday 3 that is due to be launching sometime between 2022 and 2023. I'm not saying that Starbreeze has reached out to a popular British soap and decided to use a mask to promote the game, but it just feels like great timing. I will say, it feels nice to see a mask I recognize just appear in a show randomly like this as opposed to actors throwing a plain balaclava over their head or something.

The post Payday 2 Chains Mask Randomly Appears in British Soap 'Coronation Street' by Ben Bayliss appeared first on DualShockers.

Apex Legends Season 7 'Ascension' Announced: New Legend and Map Teased

Apex Legends Season 7

Apex Legends saw some details leaked earlier this month that pointed to the arrival of a new playable Legend and also another Halloween event. The Fight or Fright event was confirmed to be heading to the game as of October 22 and will be available to take part in until November 3. But now, Respawn Entertainment has revealed what to expect from Season 7 which drops on November 4.

The seventh season of Apex Legends is titled Ascension and introduces Horizon, a character with a backstory that finds them floating through space on a journey to gather crystals to save the "kingdom"  but ends up being betrayed by some corporate-looking person. Desperate to keep their promise to their child they do all they can to get back to them. The trailer showing off this story is below.

While Horizon's special skills haven't yet been revealed, going by the leaks earlier this month, there appears to be a camera and tablet that could point to strategic views of the battlefield. There's also a heavy mention of gravity on the official page so we could see some manipulation of gravity.

Part of the trailer shows Horizon escaping the clutches of a black hole and winding up on Olympus. This is the new map that players can jump into when the new season takes place. One of the features of the map is a thing called "Trident" which is said to allow the whole squad to travel the map faster.

Clubs will be heading to the game as well, allowing players to build a community and join a club. There are a new Battle Pass and a new Ranked Season being introduced, and in addition, the game will be available for those on Steam. However, if you were expecting to be able to play this on the Nintendo Switch, you'll be waiting until next year apparently.

Touching on the ranked season, the Olympus map will be in the first split of the rotation with Worlds Edge following shortly after. Respawn says that King's Canyon won't be available in ranked for this season but will be returning at a later date. Players can also expect to not see many large changes to the way the system works due to the studio focusing more on getting crossplay working.

The post Apex Legends Season 7 'Ascension' Announced: New Legend and Map Teased by Ben Bayliss appeared first on DualShockers.

Muv-Luv October 24 2020 Online Event Full Report

Muv-Luv October 24th event report feature

A new Muv-Luv series stream event was held on October 24, titled the Hakuryo aNCHOR Preparatory Academy Online Student Assembly. The stream revealed a new trailer and 2021 release for the Muv-Luv Alternative anime, alongside new info on Project Immortal, Project Mikhail, and TDA04.  We detailed everything below. Note that a subtitled English version of the stream will be coming later. All the slides on the stream are already translated.

Muv-Luv History by ML General Producer tororo (Kazutoshi Matsumura)

The stream started with an explanation of the Muv-Luv series for those unfamiliar with it. Only people who already know ML clicked on this article though so I'll only be going through the biggest points.

Everything started with Yoshimune Kouki writing the drafts for ML (plot, characters, mecha design), a game with a school setting and cute girls, something popular at the time.  Yoshimune didn't understand "moe" so the project got temporarily stalled. Then, Baka-Ouji Persia (Masanori Sugihara), who was making the game with him, told him he wants to do something like Sentou Yousei Yukikaze. That's how Yoshimune wrote ML with a school + mecha setting.

After that, Yoshimune went to talk to a lot of Galge developers for research, but they all told him he's wasting his time and ML won't sell. This actually motivated him even more, as he thought the game will have no competition.

The original ML included two parts, Extra and Unlimited. The third part, Alternative, was announced the day ML was released, and was supposed to release around six months later. But it took three years because of Yoshimune's crazy attention to detail. When the release date of Alternative got announced, Japanese fans didn't believe the date and thought it wouldn't release.

New shots of the prototypes of the FREEing Meiya Sumika Bunny Figures

Before moving on to the next segment, the seiyuu Maria Noda and Chisato Konno quickly showed off the upcoming 2021 bunny figures of Meiya and Sumika by FREEing:

muv-luv sumika bunny figure freeing 2021 october 24 muv-luv sumika bunny figure freeing 2021 october 24 muv-luv sumika bunny figure freeing 2021 october 24 muv-luv meiya bunny figure freeing 2021 october 24 muv-luv meiya bunny figure freeing 2021 muv-luv meiya bunny figure freeing 2021 october 24

These are prototypes and weren't painted yet.

Muv-Luv Worldwide Cosplay Contest, Akira Itsuki Becomes Official Muv-Luv Cosplayer Ambassador

The next segment on stream focused on how aNCHOR is holding a cosplay contest along with World Cosplay, The segment featured cosplayer Akira Itsuki cosplaying Meiya. The contest happened because Yoshimune realized a lot of people like the Muv-Luv characters and think they're cool without necessarily knowing the series. The cosplay contest aims to make ML more popular worldwide.

Itsuki Akira muv-luv meiya cosplay october 24 2020 Itsuki Akira muv-luv meiya cosplay october 24 2020 Itsuki Akira muv-luv meiya cosplay october 24 2020 Itsuki Akira muv-luv meiya cosplay october 24 2020

Akira Itsuki is one of the strongest cosplayers ever, she pretty much made the whole costume herself. She said she first played Muv-Luv when she was "really small" which implies a lot of implications. She's incredibly happy to have been selected as the official cosplayer and ambassador and will try her best so ML gets more popular.

Project Immortal Still Coming in 2021 But Won't Get A Battle Demo In October 2020

The first big chunk of game info on this Muv-Luv October 24 stream. Project Immortal (tentative title) is an Action RPG coming to PC, mobile, where you play as various ML characters and their TSFs, fighting the BETA. On stream, Project Immortal developer Kitakuou, who was crossdressing and cosplaying Yui Takamura from Total Eclipse, explained the game's development is going well, showing some progress regarding the TSFs' motions and battle effects.

However, Kitakuou apologized because they won't be able to release a free demo of the game's battle part as planned this October. He admitted taking forever to get used to remote work, and being a bad manager, which resulted in a lot of communication errors. Kitakuou also jokingly said he realized he doesn't care about the Muv-Luv story at all. Initially he only proposed Project Immortal because he thought TSFs look cool as hell. He kept saying similar jokes, and how he was full of himself because people used to praise him and say he's "so skilled despite being so young". All of this resulted in the demo not happening.

Project Immortal is still launching in 2021 though.

Project Mikhail First Gameplay Reveal, Pre-Alpha Footage

The second game related news announced on the Muv-Luv October 24 stream. Project Mikhail (tentative) is an ML action game also coming to PC and mobile. Unlike Immortal which is top-down view, Mikhail is 3rd person view like traditional mecha games like Armored Core. It will use something akin to a monthly subscription instead of f2p gacha system. Project Mikhail Director Atsushi Kumano explained they are trying to overcome concerns born from accurately depicting the ML universe and its specifications, like how the tank-class BETA are too small for this type of 3D action gameplay.

The game's story parts will be told in an Adventure format (what we call visual novel outside Japan), using the ingame models. Meaning all modifications made to your TSFs will be shown in cutscenes.

Project Mikhail is also launching in 2021.

New Illustrations and Information on Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After 04, Which Actually Won't be Called That

Muv-Luv October 24 TDA new artwork Muv-Luv October 24 TDA new artwork Muv-Luv October 24 TDA new artwork Muv-Luv October 24 TDA new artwork

The next segment had Yoshimune Kouki reveal new stuff on TDA04. He explained the first illustration is the Susanoo flying, with the rainbow semi-circle being the surface of the dimensional boundary. He said he can't reveal yet the artist's name for this artwork.

Moreover, they explained TDA04 will change its name. The official title won't be "Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After 04″. TDA04 will be a big and standalone story, so the new title will make it clear that you can play it even if you didn't play Episode: 00 to Episode 03. Fans can send in suggestions for the new title.

Yoshimune Kouki also explained he had conflicted feelings writing TDA04 at first since he didn't write all the previous stories in TDA. It felt as if he was stealing the story. But he is the original author of Muv-Luv,  so he realized it's fine if he writes the final TDA chapter, that everyone would accept it too, and got over it.

There you have it, the Muv-Luv October 24 event. Tons of Muv-Luv things are happening in 2021 alongside the Alternative anime, so it really is a time to be a Muv-Luv fan. If you've missed it, check our reports on the September 19 event, and the July 3 event. Lastly, we have multiple articles on the August 2019 âge 20th anniversary event here, here and here.

The post Muv-Luv October 24 2020 Online Event Full Report by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.

Takanori Nishikawa, Mages Announce Pet Doll Making School Project

Takanori Nishikawa Chiyomaru Shikura Mages felt pet doll school project story feature

On October 25, Mages held a live stream event, with Takanori Nishikawa and Chiyomaru Shikura announcing a school project for training pet doll creators. That was by far the most surprising reveal on the event, ahead of the Steins;Gate sequel, and the new details for Steins;Gate Zero Elite. and Anonymous;Code. Takanori Nishikawa is also now a special advisor to Mages, helping with all projects.

In Japan, the pet service market is expanding, including making dolls to help owners suffering from mental illnesses such as depression due to the loss of their pet. The pet doll making school by Mages will train new creators to make these kind of dolls. Moreover, this is also to help those who wish to have pets but can't take care of them. This is a growing occurrence in Japan with the aging population and decreasing birthrate.

The project was born through Chiyomaru Shikura and Takanori Nishikawa sharing their experiences with their pets. Chiyomaru Shikura had a cat which passed away a few years ago, while Takanori Nishikawa has an elderly dog. Takanori Nishikawa explained on the stream, and later on Twitter, they want to help pet owners with similar experiences, but also prevent cases where people buy pets, can't take care of them, and abandon them.

Top creators of the doll making industry will be teaching at the school through online classes. If there is enough demand, the school will also consider developing and selling kits for doll production, and create a space where the lecturers will be able to meet with the students to teach them directly.

Chiyomaru Shikura and Takanoshi Nishikawa aka T.M. Revolution have been working together for years now on B-Project. It's a male idol franchise by Mages started in 2015, and produced by Nishikawa. B.Project already got a rhythm game, multiple anime and stage play adaptations, and tons of CD releases.

Takanori Nishikawa is an artist active since 1989. He became much more popular outside Japan after singing multiple songs for Gundam Seed in early 2000s. He's well versed in many otaku things such as Final Fantasy and Eva, and is one of the regular personalities invited when NHK does these huge franchise fan polls thingies on TV.

The pet dollmaking school project was announced at the 30:57 timestamp on the stream, with Takanori Nishikawa joining the stage:

Soon after the event ended, Chiyomaru Shikura teased through Famitsu he already thought up the plot for two more Science Adventure Series games.

The post Takanori Nishikawa, Mages Announce Pet Doll Making School Project by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.

Rainbow Six Siege Halloween Event Turns Your Squad Into Murder Puppets

Rainbow Six Siege is no stranger to doing some out of the ordinary events timed around the holidays, as is tradition for a lot of Ubisoft's other titles like For Honor and more. With Halloween right around the corner, things in Rainbow Six are going to get a little more spooky, and, well…felt-y.

Ubisoft has released a new trailer for this year's Halloween event in Rainbow Six Siege, and compared to years past, it's unlikely to be what you were expecting, at least if you weren't expecting puppet heads and murder. For Halloween this year, Rainbow Six Siege's event is called "Sugar Fright" and takes place within the mind of Operator Frost as she envisions a world of candy, treats, and murderous puppets, with the event transforming players into Muppet-like figures as they race to collect candy.

You can check out the full trailer for the Halloween event below:

Alongside the cosmetic change for players, the Sugar Fright event will feature a new mode called "Candy War" where players compete to collect pieces of candy from fallen players' bodies. The mode itself takes place on a brand new map and, for the first time, allows players to respawn to get right back into the trick-or-treating action.

The Sugar Fright mode in Siege will be available starting tomorrow, October 27, and runs for two weeks until November 10, 2020. Given that Halloween is taking place later this week, the new mode and map seems like the perfect opportunity to ring in the scariest time of the year, especially if you (or a friend) happens to be terrified of puppets. But then again…aren't we all?

Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with the game also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/Series S at a later date.

The post Rainbow Six Siege Halloween Event Turns Your Squad Into Murder Puppets by Ryan Meitzler appeared first on DualShockers.

MLB The Show 21 Info Not Arriving Until Next Year, Platforms Not Yet Announced

Around this time every year, the team over at San Diego Studio tends to reveal next year's iteration of MLB The Show, namely in the form of a cover unveiling of some sort. Well, rather than doing this same strategy in 2020, San Diego Studio is mixing things up.

In a brief message that was posted to Twitter today, MLB The Show 21 was confirmed to be coming next year with the unveiling of a basic logo. No additional details of the project were given. San Diego Studio said that, instead, it will be looking to share more info "in 2021." In the interim, the studio encouraged existing MLB The Show players to keep an eye out for more content headed to the current entry in the series.

The details of the announcement made it sound as though the ongoing pandemic could be one reason for the delay in showing off more of MLB The Show 21 right now, but there could be another factor in play as well. For those who don't remember, Major League Baseball signed a new contract with Sony last year that would allow San Diego Studio to continue working on MLB The Show. However, the biggest change in the contract is that the series would no longer be confined to PlayStation hardware alone. The deal also made clear that future MLB The Show entries could start appearing on new platforms in as early as 2021.

With this in mind, perhaps the reason why San Diego Studio didn't announce any specific details on MLB The Show 21 today is because it has more boisterous plans in the works. It's important to note that even though the existence of next year's title was confirmed today, specific platforms for release still weren't given, meaning that this coming season could be the first in which we see the annualized baseball sim arriving on locations such as Xbox, Switch, and PC.

If you're looking to pick MLB The Show 21 up on platforms outside of PlayStation next year, I wouldn't get too excited just yet, but there does seem to be a decent chance that the game could be heading to new hardware. We'll keep you updated on this story as it continues to develop over the coming months.

The post MLB The Show 21 Info Not Arriving Until Next Year, Platforms Not Yet Announced by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Trophy List (Partially) Shared by Insomniac Games

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

As the follow-up to Insomniac's acclaimed 2018 title and one of the launch titles arriving for the PS5 this holiday season, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is easily one of the biggest releases coming next month. Thankfully, we only have to wait another two weeks until its release, and in the meantime, Insomniac Games is giving Trophy hunters the chance to prep for their next Platinum.

Over on Twitter, developer Insomniac Games shared a preview of the Trophies that players will be able to unlock in the upcoming Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Alongside the Trophy descriptions in a tweet thread, Insomniac also shared some GIFs featuring some gameplay moments and footage from the title.

You can check out the Trophies shared by Insomniac below: note though that if you want to go into Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales spoiler-free, you might want to look away to avoid potential story spoilers.

Miles Morales was officially announced at Sony's PS5 reveal showcase back in June, and since then it was confirmed that the game will be a cross-gen release on both PS5 and PS4. Additionally, Insomniac will also be releasing a remastered version of Marvel's Spider-Man on PS5, which is included with the Ultimate Edition of Miles Morales.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales will release for PS5 and PS4 on November 12, 2020.

The post Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Trophy List (Partially) Shared by Insomniac Games by Ryan Meitzler appeared first on DualShockers.

Xbox and Phil Spencer Still Have Plans for More Acquisitions to Help Bolster Game Pass Lineup

phil spencer xbox microsoft

Hot off the heels of announcing that it would be acquiring Bethesda Softworks in 2021, many have wondered whether or not this would be the end of Microsoft's plans for future acquisitions. Well, based on some new quotes that have today emerged, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Xbox head Phil Spencer recently spoke to GameReactor and was asked about the potential of Microsoft acquiring even more companies in the future. Spencer said that in order to continue to grow Xbox Game Pass, which is one of the company's biggest goals right now, more acquisitions will be needed. "So, with the growth that we are seeing, I expect we will constantly be in this mode of bringing more creators into the fold," Spencer said.

When it comes to what types of studios Xbox might be interested in picking up in the future, well, it's a far cry compared to the type of games you'd see in Bethesda's portfolio. "If we look at what people are playing on Xbox, what Game Pass subscribers are playing, I think what is missing from our portfolio is casual content with a broad appeal. E-rated content (to use an ESRB rating) is not a strength for us," Spencer explained. "We obviously have Minecraft and we have some other franchises. But when I think about expanding the creative palette that our teams have, I think that is critically important."

Spencer's comments on continuing to grow Xbox Game Studios also lines up with what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has expressed as well. Speaking in an interview last month, Nadella said that he expects Xbox Game Studios to continue to grow "where it makes sense." Given what Spencer has said, looking to pick up a studio that focuses on E-rated content might fill that bubble that would "make sense" for Xbox.

Of course, if Xbox does end up announcing a new acquisition of some sort in the future, it could seemingly be divulged at any point. While Microsoft has largely made these acquisition announcements on large stages at the likes of venues such as E3, the Bethesda purchase was simply disclosed on a Monday morning in a blog post. Either way, the future continues to look hopeful for Microsoft as the release of the Xbox Series X/S grows near.

The post Xbox and Phil Spencer Still Have Plans for More Acquisitions to Help Bolster Game Pass Lineup by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Launch Trailer Details the Game's Story

Black Ops Cold War Trailer

Virtual Ronald Reagan needs you! Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has dropped its official launch trailer, offering a cinematic look at Woods and the rest of the Black Ops cast as they travel around the world blowing things up.

As the game's title implies, this entry into the Call of Duty franchise takes place during the Reagan era of the Cold War, when the U.S spread its influence around the world to keep Communist superpowers at bay and suppress other left-wing governments, like Afghanistan's. In this fictional version of the era, a mysterious new force threatens to upset the balance of the Cold War and the fate of the world, leaving Woods and the rest of his team to find and neutralize this threat.


We already know a fair bit about Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The game's multiplayer will be pretty different from last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, for better and worse. From launch, you'll also be able to play with friends across consoles and console generations, so no matter what you or your friends pick up this November, you'll be able to play CoD together. And of course, zombies are coming back to Call of Duty. Sporting an '80s theme, it's the same zombie mode that players know and love, albeit with some changes. Players in Zombies will have access to field upgrades that provide passive buffs and healing items during the game, and will also be able to play with anyone they want thanks to cross-platform and cross-gen capabilities with both PC and consoles.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on November 13 for the PS5, Xbox Series X / S, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

The post Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Launch Trailer Details the Game's Story by Otto Kratky appeared first on DualShockers.

Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising Has Officially Gone Gold

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

As one of the biggest releases toward the end of 2020, Ubisoft's upcoming Immortals Fenyx Rising–formerly known as Gods & Monsters–is set to arrive on pretty much every platform available this December. Coming on both current and next-gen platforms, Immortals is likely to cater to a bunch of different audiences with its Zelda-like inspiration, with the title now "gold" just over a month before launch.

Developer and publisher Ubisoft has announced that Immortals: Fenyx Rising has officially "gone gold" ahead of its release in December, meaning that the game has completed development and is being prepared for launch and shipping. Or in this case, as Ubisoft puts it, the game has "gone GODLY."

Immortals Fenyx Rising was first revealed by Ubisoft at E3 2019 and initially announced under the title Gods & Monsters. Since then the title was renamed and has been reworked a bit, but retains its core idea as an action-adventure game set in a Greek mythology-inspired world. Coming from the development team behind Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals seems to contain a lot of elements from Odyssey alongside some notable influences from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

We recently had the chance to play about four hours of Immortals ahead of its release, and from our hands-on demo with the game, there is already a lot to like from the upcoming title. Though it has a lot of familiarity to past Ubisoft open world-style games and (especially) Breath of the Wild, there are enough elements in Immortals that make it a unique experience in its own right, as well.

Immortals Fenyx Rising will release for PS5, Xbox Series X/Series S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC on December 3, 2020. For more on the game, you can also check out our hands-on written preview from DualShockers managing editor Logan Moore, along with our video preview above.

The post Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising Has Officially Gone Gold by Ryan Meitzler appeared first on DualShockers.