PCGamesN Saturday, December 24, 2022 3:21 PM  Nvidia RTX graphics cards aren't blessed with a smell we can all obsess over like the Steam Deck vent, but fear not: company eggheads have figured out the exact odour of its Ampere range. Y'know… for science. Continue reading Nvidia shower set gives RTX 3000 a signature smell with a surprise MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Nvidia RTX 4080 review, Nvidia RTX 4070 rumours, Best graphics card in 2022 |
PCGamesN Saturday, December 24, 2022 12:55 PM  The Steam Deck is 2022's ultimate Christmas present, but once you've unpacked the portable gaming PC and wiped a single tear after admiring its beauty, you'll need some games to play. Valve's done a lot of leg work to tell you what's supported and what isn't with Verification, but this traffic light system only goes far. Continue reading Top Steam Deck games to play over the holidays MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best SSD for gaming, How to build a gaming PC, Best gaming CPU |
PCGamesN Saturday, December 24, 2022 9:57 AM  Alice in Wonderland's trippy themes are coming to Appalachia, courtesy of a Fallout 76 theatre group that plans a Tarantino-inspired stage play adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel. The Wasteland Theatre Company is currently working on the script and artistic direction for the MMORPG stage play adaptation, which it says should 'open' sometime next year. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Fallout 76 Mutations, Fallout 76 Perk Cards, Buy Fallout 76 |
Twinfinite Saturday, December 24, 2022 12:00 PM Treehuggers unite! |
Twinfinite Saturday, December 24, 2022 11:47 AM She did WHAT!?! |
Siliconera Saturday, December 24, 2022 3:00 PM
Spy x Family is the kind of series that is recognizable on sight. Part of this is because some of the characters really stand out. While Loid Forger is a little more subdued, Anya and even Yor are noticeable at a glance. The latest line of Uniqlo Spy x Family shirts tends to play on that by incorporating the same sort of dynamic character designs and expressiveness as the anime and manga itself. To start, all of the Spy x Family shirts follow the same sort of quality levels as typical Uniqlo items. So if you purchased, say, one of the Final Fantasy 35th anniversary shirts, expect it to be about the same softness and weight. It's 100% cotton, so it breathes. I did notice it is a little stiff the first time I wore it, but after the initial wash and first outing, it is quite a comfortable shirt. I also really like the quality of the printing on the designs. The smaller or more focused ones really look amazing. For example, design no. 2 with Bond on the pocket looks great. It's minimalistic, and Bond's face is well recreated. Though the best example of a fantastic design and print job involves the "I like peanuts I hate carrots" Anya shirt. The lettering is crisp. It's perfectly centered. Most importantly, each of her four facial expressions is captured exactly, so you get the precise details and capture the novelty of the situation. Both of these designs get what is special about these Spy x Family characters. Their personalities come through. At the same time, there's a universal brightness and joy to them that means even if someone doesn't recognize the reference, each one is still delightful. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="944354,944355" link="file"] It's probably also why the no. 4 design with both Bond and Anya works so well. It features side profiles of each character. Bond is as stoic as ever, while Anya is her cheerful self. The design is crisp, with the white outline of the series' logo over their images. Their names are at the bottom as Bond x Anya, to reference the Spy x Family connection. Plus, the nature of the design draws your eye and keeps it focused on the duo. The downside here is, due to the color of Bond's coat and background, it is pretty much impossible to see the S, P, F, A, and M in Spy x Family printed across the pictures. It's that same sort of design direction that keeps the no. 3 Spy x Family Uniqlo shirt with the full Forger family on it from being perfect. This is a very busy design that references the opening of the anime adaptation. There's a television set with the series' logo beneath it. Yor, Anya, and Loid appear on the screen, with S, P, and Y letters behind them. The issue is the design means the Anya portion of the image doesn't stand out in the same way as Yor's or Loid's. Her pink hair blends into the pink background behind the P. Also, because of the font choice, the center letter looks like an O, rather than a P. So it seems like it is spelling out "soy" instead of "spy." It is still a great shirt and a generally good idea. Just the final implementation kept it from perfection. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="944356,944357" link="file"] In general, the latest Spy x Family Uniqlo shirts feature some fantastic designs that highlight important characters. Each one keeps both their personality and the general ambiance and art direction of the anime adaptation intact. Some are a bit more pleasing to the eye and well-executed than others. But overall, they're all winners. The latest Spy x Family Uniqlo shirts debuted in November 2022. They are available on the official site in child sizes 7-8Y through 13Y and adult sizes XXS through XXXL. The adult shirts are $24.90, while the children's styles are $14.90. The anime can be found streaming on Crunchyroll, while the manga is being localized by Viz Media. The post Spy x Family Uniqlo Shirts Capture the Series' Personality appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, December 24, 2022 1:00 PM
Calling all monster appreciators! Have you ever fantasized about kissing a dinosaur on the lips? Have you ever wondered about what it would be like for a bigfoot to hold you in his giant hairy arms? Well, wonder no longer, since you can make that your reality in Raptor Boyfriend. Despite the game's tongue-in-cheek nature and objectively funny premise, Raptor Boyfriend is a surprisingly serious and sincere dating sim once you get past the visuals. However, the sheer amount of melodramatic angst starts to drag the narrative down with the speed of a extinction event meteor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsVv8vQMWsQ First of all, before we start, I would like to note that the development team behind Raptor Boyfriend consists of only three people. This is an impressive game and achievement for such a small group! As such, I played the game with that in mind. This is also why I brushed aside some minor technical issues and lack of meaningful dialog branches. In fact, for how small a development team, the game feels quite polished. I will say that I wish the menu was easier to navigate, since I sometimes did not know where my cursor was. Some things I felt should be intuitive, like pressing B to fully exit the menu, are absent in the game. The story of Raptor Boyfriend is fairly simple. You play as a girl named Stella, who moves to Ladle with her father after the death of her grandmother. Ladle (which is obviously a reference to Forks, Washington) is full of cryptids. On her first day of school, she befriends Robert (a raptor), Taylor (a bigfoot), and Day (a fae). Oddly enough, Day is the only character from the main trio who seems to lack a direct Twilight reference in her name. The three of them become friends, and the rest of the game focuses on Stella's attempt to date one of them. The game employs a narrative in which Stella looks back on the year. Personally, I felt like there were way too many comments from "future Stella," which negatively affected the overall pacing of the game. For a game that focuses so much on the characters, I found them unbearable when in a group. When Stella was one-on-one with them, it was not so bad. But once they were together, it was very difficult to believe they were friends. None of them seemed to converse with each other. When they did, the dialog felt forced. Every chapter follows the same format. The group hangs out together and then makes plans for later. Before those plans, Stella has some time to call and hang out with a love interest of her choice. Choosing who to hang out with is the only choice you make that has any real meaning. It does not appear that the dialog options actually affect how much they like you. All of the hangouts end on a negative note, and then the chapter ends.
It also became more difficult to sympathize with them or Stella as the game progressed. The most egregious example followed an argument that threatened to drive the friend group apart right before Christmas. Stella is really worried about this. But, she also points out that this split might sabotage her chances to get with one of them. It felt like all she cared about was getting a kiss and a partner, rather than genuine concern over the potential collapse of her friend group. Because the it doesn't feel like a real friend group, there was no tension in the split. It also felt unbelievable that someone like Stella could have the charisma to act as the glue in such a situation. That leads to something I constantly wondered about as I played Raptor Boyfriend. The game is a satire, but how much of the game was genuine? Obviously, the idea of dating a raptor is ridiculous, and the way the game frames him as a really sexy character is a joke. But the way that the game deals with each character's growing pains and trauma is something you have to take seriously. Stella clearly has some sort of social anxiety, given quickly she spirals in crowds, and the game does a pretty good job in portraying it. The situations that trigger it can seem minor, but you have to remember that these characters are in high school. I certainly remember how everything felt world-shattering when I was that age. Stella is intensely uncool. Almost every piece of her dialog is desperately cringy. Her friends are not any better. So her gushing about how cool everyone is and how much attention they pay her got tiring fast. While I can believe that this is part of the satire – that Stella is so uncool that these objectively uncool characters seem cool in comparison – I could not tell if this was the writers' intention. The game focused almost exclusively on everyone's messy personal lives, instead of providing some moments to connect to them as normal people. If we look at other absurd dating sims, such as Dream Daddy, past conflict and trauma were not the only things they talked about. Yet, that's all that happens in conversations in Raptor Boyfriend. It meant that the general mood for the game was awkward and sour, which honestly did not equal a fun experience. [caption id="attachment_944111" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Raptor Boyfriend is a fairly interesting game, though the premise loses its appeal after a while as it becomes a straightforward visual novel. Its linear nature and lack of meaningful dialog options, as well as the frankly generic and trope-filled characters can make it difficult to play more than once unless you like collecting things. Overall though, it is a pretty smooth experience, albeit with some bumpy grammar and consistency. It does a good job at portraying issues like social anxiety and PTSD in a grounded light. Unfortunately, its dour mood and lack of meaningful player choice make it a forgettable experience despite its unforgettable name. Raptor Boyfriend is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC. The post Review: Raptor Boyfriend Could Be More Absurd appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, December 24, 2022 11:00 AM
Another video game series is getting its own line of Squishmallow stuffed animals, as plush toys of Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Knuckles the Echidna, and Shadow the Hedgehog joined the collection. All four are immediately available at Toy Drops. These appear to only be available while supplies last. There are two ways to get the plush toys. People can buy them individually or in a group. A single one is $19.99 for an eight inch tall plush toy. The full set of four is $74.99. These are the direct links to each one. As of 10:45am ET on December 24, 2022, all of the styles were in stock. Here's a closer look at all four of the different Sonic the Hedgehog Squishmallows of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. Each one features accents from their character designs. For example, Sonic and Shadow both feature quills on their heads and backs. Knuckles' spines and tail appear. Tails has two tails. This isn't the first time video game Squishmallow stuffed toys appeared. Pokemon ones are also on the way. Initially, Pikachu and Gengar ones appeared in the North American Pokemon Center online. After they sold out, a Spring 2023 restock was announced. The post Sonic the Hedgehog Squishmallows Debut appeared first on Siliconera. |
