GamersHeroes Sunday, October 19, 2025 2:16 PM Just in time for Halloween, The Sandbox will launch a special Haunted Mansion gaming experience October 31. The post The Sandbox Halloween Celebration Launching October 31 appeared first on GamersHeroes. |
Kotaku Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:35 PM
The Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 delivers 1500W backup power with fast charging for winter emergencies. The post Amazon Clears Out Jackery 1500W Power Station at a Record Low, No More Winter Power Issues appeared first on Kotaku. |
Kotaku Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:17 PM
The Dell Inspiron 15 combines a 10-core Intel processor with 32GB RAM and touchscreen display. The post Dell Goes 4x Cheaper Than a MacBook, Now Listing Its Windows 11 Pro 1TB Laptop for Nearly 70% Off appeared first on Kotaku. |
Kotaku Sunday, October 19, 2025 8:35 AM
This Lego F1 6-pack delivers officially licensed race cars in a mystery box format that turns building into collecting. The post Formula 1 Cars Are Selling for Pennies, LEGO Offloads Remaining Stock During the Austin GP appeared first on Kotaku. |
Kotaku Sunday, October 19, 2025 8:13 AM
The 2024 Mac Mini with M4 chip brings desktop-class performance to a compact design. The post Forget Mini PCs, Apple Quietly Clears Stock of the Latest Mac Mini at a New Record Low appeared first on Kotaku. |
PCGamesN Sunday, October 19, 2025 3:00 PM Expedition 33 was a surprise hit when it launched earlier this year, and you could get my favorite RPG ever for just $1 if you're lucky. |
PCGamesN Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:33 PM Quartet is a loving blend of JRPG excellence inspired by FF6, Octopath Traveler, and Chrono Trigger, and it just added a new bonus dungeon. |
PCGamesN Sunday, October 19, 2025 11:09 AM Previously known as Starfighter Inc, a new In The Black demo lets you try the space sim right now, and it'll continue after Steam Next Fest. |
PCGamesN Sunday, October 19, 2025 9:42 AM Amplitude Studios outlines its first big Endless Legend 2 update in a new State of the Game blog, and invites you to design a minor faction. |
PCGamesN Sunday, October 19, 2025 8:10 AM ESO's Writhing Wall event is yet to dazzle, but Zenimax Online Studios says it's merely an "inkling" of what's to come in the future. |
Twinfinite Sunday, October 19, 2025 1:54 PM  |
Twinfinite Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:41 PM  |
Twinfinite Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:32 PM  |
Siliconera Sunday, October 19, 2025 3:00 PM
There is a surprising wealth of anime and manga series about groups of high school girls starting bands either independent or school club groups, and Rock is a Lady's Modesty is the latest one of them. While ones like K-On and Bocchi the Rock can feel more slice-of-life-like, due to each being yonkoma series, this one is a bit more substantial. It's a typical manga with chapters going into characters' development, and the personalities of leads Lilisa Suzunomiya and Otoha Kurogane really carry things.
Editor's Note: There will be mild spoilers for the first volume of the Rock is a Lady's Modesty manga below.
Rock is a Lady's Modesty kicks off with a strong start. Lilisa seems like the ideal young woman. Even though she's a new transfer student at Oushin's Girl's Academy, everyone idealizes her. She seems to be demure, intelligent, well-spoken, cultured, and the perfect picture of a young lady.
…Except moments after she gives an insightful response about classical music she loves, it's revealed it is the only song name she remembered after cramming last night. Ever since her mother's remarriage to a wealthy real estate magnate, she's been trying to fit in and become a noble maiden.
It's then that she meets Otoha, an already established student who seems like the picture of a pristine and proper lady. They run into each other in the hall, causing Lilisa to drop her handkerchief, and Otoha retrieves it. All of the other students are thrilled by the two idols finally meeting. However, after the fact Lilisa realizes Otoha dropped a guitar pick. The next day, the other is looking for it. Lilisa finds an excuse to meet with her alone in the music room to confirm it is hers and retrieve it.
Which is when Rock is a Lady's Modesty somehow manages to get even more interesting, as we discover Otoha hides the same sort of "uncouth" depths ahead of the two getting into a rock band in the manga. She's an incredible, fanatical drummer who recognized Lilisa's callouses, and she cajoles the other student into a jam session with her. Not to be outdone after being taunted, Lilisa remembers what it was like playing alongside her dad and his band. How much she loved it. She sees Otoha's talent and control of the situation and tries to match it, but realizes the other student has her beat.
It's then that Otoha calls her out and completely disses her! Complete with flipping her the bird! It's so out of place and hilarious. The juxtaposition of these two proper ladies in frilly school uniforms acting like rock stars is incredible. Especially since each seems clearly talented.
From there, it's great to watch Lilisa attempt to maintain her facade and Otoha toy with her. Because Lilisa initially wants nothing to do with her after that experience. She is desperate to be a noble lady, and feels letting word of that performance get out could ruin it. And even though Otoha talked smack, she wants to play again. So much so that it's like a classic cartoon with Otoha showing up in Lilisa's seat at her classroom and overhearing her accidentally mention the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Like we already had an idea of how much fun this series could be from the Rock is a Lady's Modesty anime adaptation, but Yen Press providing the manga too somehow makes it even better. There are these extra nuances and details that really make Lilisa and Otoha's reactions and responses to each other stand out. It's a fun high school rock band manga that fits in well alongside series like K-On and Bocchi the Rock.
Volume 1 of Rock is a Lady's Modesty is available now, and volume 2 of the manga debuts on March 24, 2026. The anime is streaming on Amazon.
The post Rock Is a Lady's Modesty Is a Hilarious high School Band Series appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, October 19, 2025 9:00 AM
I loved Touhou Spell Bubble. I played so much of that Puzzle Bobble style rhythm game, and the soundtrack was fantastic. It's great. I still recommend it! It holds up! QQQbeats is basically a sequel of sorts, only with original characters (and some Vtubers and Vocaloids) with an original storyline. The thing is, even though it does feel like it has some updates, such as online multiplayer immediately available, it isn't as enjoyable.
QQQbeats functions identically to Touhou Spell Bubble, in terms of gameplay. When you enter a stage, a song will play in the background. You get five seconds to fire each bubble before it auto-fires, and your goal is to eliminate bubbles to accrue more points than your opponent. Causing their screen to overflow also massively inflates your count, while giving them a chance to "counter" with an easier stage. When you eliminate a large enough chain, rhythm game indicators will pop up and direct you to tap in time with the music for greater bonuses. When the song ends, the person with the highest score wins.
In Story mode, this can mean unlocking a new character, new song, or perk to help with the puzzle elements while advancing the story of Ceena and Ame as they grow more popular as influencers and face other streamers. It's a fluff story without too much substance, and I actually appreciated the Touhou Spell Bubble storylines revolving around competitions and incidents more.
The other options are two types of multiplayer modes. DUOps is two-player co-op that can be played online or offline. It's fine, but I found it less satisfying than the campaign or competitive Versus. That features an opportunity to play isolated COM Battle matches against the computer, with the player able to set the difficulty, start a local battle, or go online for Casual and Ranked matches. Those are enjoyable, especially if you went through Story to gain access to a lot of stuff. However, I do recommend playing online when taking Japanese time zones into consideration, as I noticed it could take three or more minutes to find an opponent if I played with Central Time in mind.
There are over 50 tracks here in QQQbeats, just like there are in Touhou Spell Bubble, though it involves a lot of unlocking to get to them. These are tied to the Story mode, so you need to go through it and pass matches to access more. I do wish more of the songs were available right away, but it is what it is. Earning BeatCoin via Story and DUOps for things like more songs is also a lot, and I wish we collected the currency at a faster pace. When you do get access to songs, there's a pretty great selection of tracks from popular artists, anime series, Vocaloids, Vtubers, and Touhou Project here. The original tracks also aren't bad.
Unlocking via the Story mode also applies most of the 16 characters in QQQbeats, though right from the start you have the main story protagonist and folks like the Vocaloids Hatsune Miku and Kasane Teto, Touhou Project heroines Marisa and Reimu, and the Hololive Vtubers Shirakami Fubuki and Calliope Mori. Each person has a unique skill they can use when their gauge fills as you make matches in stages, and that can either make it easier to clear a large swath of bubbles or impede your opponent. Folks are fine, but I admit to missing Touhou Spell Bubble's versatility. There are 20 included in that entry, even before buying any DLC. You also can choose their special move, since each has three Spell Cards available, so there's more versatility.
QQQbeats is an entertaining puzzle game with rhythm elements, but I find I didn't enjoy it as much as its predecessor Touhou Spell Bubble. It's great that online multiplayer is present right away, as well as both competitive and cooperative options. There's a pretty strong selection of songs too. The story isn't great though, and the selection of characters don't feel as versatile as the previous game. If you did already pick up and love Touhou Spell Bubble, then QQQbeats is worth your time. If you didn't, then I'd suggest you start there first.
QQQbeats is available for the Switch worldwide.
The post Review: QQQbeats Is an OK Touhou Spell Bubble Follow-Up appeared first on Siliconera. |
Destructoid Sunday, October 19, 2025 2:27 PM
ARC Raiders' open beta is slowly drawing to a close. The game's less than two weeks away from release, and fans are eager to hop into the full experience. However, eagle-eyed players have noticed something different about the game: the graphics are worse than they used to be, by a lot
According to a keen-eyed player who shared their findings on ARC Raiders' official subreddit, the game seems to have significantly downgraded its graphics since the last technical test. While before it had luscious and realistic foliage and strong, atmospheric volumetrics to boot, this current iteration of the title seems to be lacking in both.
Comparison images show that, during the second technical test, ARC Raiders' foliage had a lot more texture, depth, and realism to it, whereas now it appears more jagged and game-y. Likewise, the prior instance has heavy volumetric fog, which significantly improves the atmosphere of a swampy marshland, but the current version has next to none of it.
Graphical downgrades are nothing new in video games and are done all the time, but it appeared that Embark Studios had no particular reason for doing so, given how well the game performs and how much the devs have spent on optimization overall.
And it might just be that this wasn't intended. OssenJ, Embark's community lead, commented on another report that ARC Raiders appears to have been downgraded, chiefly regarding its shading and lighting. "The team will look into this, thanks for letting us know," she wrote.
Visibility might have also been a reason for the devs to reduce foliage density and fog, ARC Raiders being a PVP shooter and all. However, the poorly-rendered, jagged, and shimmering foliage does tell me things weren't done for the sake of improved PVP, as it's an overall eyesore and takes a lot away from the experience.
Having less realistic and rarer foliage, as well as removing volumetrics almost entirely, can and will improve fps on less capable machines like consoles. ARC Raiders is already a well-polished, highly optimized game, so it doesn't make much sense to see devs sacrifice graphical fidelity and compromise the style they've worked so hard to establish just so they could squeeze out a few frames per seconds more on average.
Whether intended or not, the fact remains that ARC Raiders' current version isn't its prettiest, and I certainly hope the devs officially address player concerns, as the game is, in more ways than one, one of the most promising titles of this year.
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The post 'I swore something was off': ARC Raiders players beg devs to revert graphics downgrade appeared first on Destructoid. |
Destructoid Sunday, October 19, 2025 2:01 PM
Whenever Portal was announced as the sole "server browser" option in BF6, I was skeptical. Now, however, witnessing what players are making, I'm quite impressed. And, on that topic, a player has now made literal CoD zombies in BF6, and it even has pack-a-punch machines.
YouTuber Phiality has shared what they've managed to create using Portal's dev kit in Battlefield 6: a full-blown Zombies mode, complete with ray guns (or, rather, an AOE-damage revolver) and pack-a-punch machines. Taking obvious inspiration from the Call of Duty phenomenon of the same name, Phiality has taken Portal to the extreme, making a new custom mode while also expanding maps and adding new weapons to spice things up.
Now, the mode doesn't have actual zombies, at least not yet. Instead, they're bots who walk slowly or run unarmed towards the player, stopping only at chokepoints that would usually be windows or barricades in Call of Duty. You can mow them down using whatever gun you like, and Phiality has made sure you've got more than a few options to choose from, adding extra weapons on top of the game's base arsenal.
The aesthetics are far removed from horror, too, likely due to limitations to Portal, but it's the gameplay that matters.
The mode, much like its inspiration, unfolds in a sequence of waves or rounds, with the Zombies becoming more relentless and dangerous as time goes by. Killing them grants points, which can be used to upgrade weapons or access new parts of maps.
And, because Portal is a fully streamlined experience, you can easily access this mode by going over to your Experience Browser and using the code "2z1e" to immediately hop on. No long and arduous downloads should be necessary to get into the mode, because Portal is just good like that.
Portal is, as the name implies, is a door to a world of community-made servers and experiences in BF6, which range from customized official modes with slight tweaks to wholly new modes like the one above. It's a great way to provide players with something that isn't just the regular queue, but not a replacement for a true, dedicated server browser that is still missing from the game.
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The post Zombies in Battlefield 6? Yes—thanks to the Portal, complete with pack-a-punch and ray guns appeared first on Destructoid. |
Destructoid Sunday, October 19, 2025 1:41 PM
Painkiller could be the ultimate destination for hardcore FPS lovers in the season of Halloween, as the shooter will be released worldwide on PC and consoles.
Painkiller's 2025 version will be a reimagination of the cult classic that became popular among players due to its gore and endless action. With new features and better graphics, it should be a must-pick for those who love FPS. This guide will help you stay on track with the upcoming launch.
Table of contents
Painkiller release countdown
Pinkiller will be going live on Oct. 21 on both PC and consoles. The release date has been known for quite some time now. The following countdown will help you keep track of the exact time when the game goes live on the date mentioned above.
The countdown is based on the following timings.
There's no regional midnight launch for Painkiller. Whether you're on PC or console, you start playing at the same time. Having a regional launch would have allowed Xbox players to get a few hours of extra gameplay, but that's not possible in the case of Painkiller.
Additionally, there's no early access or advanced access, which means you can start playing on Oct. 21 at the earliest. You can choose to spend extra and get the Deluxe Edition, which gets you the Season Pass.
What to expect from Painkiller
In Painkiller, you're stuck in Purgatory with its many enemies and three children of Azazel, and your task is to stop them from unleashing hell on Earth. Expect to enjoy the same brand for endless action, but with new tools in your bag.
Painkiller will also feature enhanced graphics and the option to play in co-op with your buddies. There's an essence of character-building as well, as you can pick between Ink, Void, Sol, and Roch. All four characters have unique perks with key advantages that will be essential to surviving and outlasting the enemies.
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The post Painkiller release countdown: Exact date and time appeared first on Destructoid. |
Destructoid Sunday, October 19, 2025 1:38 PM
The Keeper of the Goal evolution is live in FC 26, with the first real chance for you to upgrade a goalkeeper of your choice.
You'll have to spend 10,000 coins to unlock the evolution, but the upgrades are pretty cool. Moreover, you can chain the card in future evolutions to improve the card further. Let's look at the best options based on the offered upgrades and requirements.
Table of contents
FC 26 Keeper of the Goal evolution requirements
Here are the requirements of the Keeper of the Goal evolution in FC 26.
FC 26 Keeper of the Goal evolution upgrades
The evolution has two levels of upgrades, and there are certain conditions to fulfill.
Level 1 upgrades
Level 2 upgrades
Level 1 upgrade requirements
Level 2 upgrade requirements
Best players to use in Keeper of the Goal evolution
Here are some of my best recommendations for this evolution in terms of the current meta in the game.
Ultimately, there are plenty of great choices, so pay attention to the card fitting well into your squad in terms of chemistry.
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The post Best players for FC 26 Keeper of the Goal evolution appeared first on Destructoid. |
Destructoid Sunday, October 19, 2025 12:43 PM
Battlefield 6 is the most successful game in the franchise, having sold over seven million copies in its opening weekend alone. This many players means EA had to step up and deliver on security measures to keep cheaters at bay, and the company's draconian approach seems to be working very well.
Countless social media posts across just about every Battlefield community on the internet have shown that EA isn't playing this time around. Bans are running rampant throughout the nefarious part of the game's fanbase, with players getting reprimanded for the smallest infractions and the least suspicion of cheating.
No matter if players were using advanced, very effective cheating tools to rack up hundreds of kills per match or using external means to "cheat," like enabling mouse and keyboard on consoles, for example. This last case, usually associated with something called Cronus Zen, appears to be in EA's sights to a great degree, with numerous reports of players getting permanently forbidden from playing Battlefield 6 just because they ran the device.
So, yeah, EA isn't kidding: no cheating is allowed, and neither are external tools. Any semblance of trying to gain what's perceived as an unfair advantage will result in permanent removal from the game, your $70 (or more) be damned. It's a staunch stance, a stern approach, and I'm all for it. Cheating has been a plague on first-person shooters since their inception, but as technology advances, so do hacks of all kinds, including those that perform all bypasses under the sun to avoid detection.
By cracking down on any and all cheats out there, as well as on unfair and unsportsmanlike practices, EA is setting a major precedent in the genre, taking up the mantle as a leading figure in the fight against cheaters. I can't believe I'm writing this, but EA and, by extension, Battlefield Studios, are taking charge and effectively curbing the most devastating practice in the shooter industry.
Yes, yes, they do make you use Secure Boot, enable TPM 2.0, and have a kernel-level anti-cheat enabled while playing the game: things that can and will be taken as potential infringements on player privacy. However, given how effective this approach seems in making BF6 as smooth an experience as it is, I'm on the fence about actually supporting it.
Of course, I value my privacy to the utmost and despise these security measures, but they're a sign of the times and illustrate just how bad cheating has become. It's time things changed, and EA itself seems to think so. And I, for one, am thankful that they do.
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The post EA has implemented draconian measures against cheaters, and it's exactly what shooters need right now appeared first on Destructoid. |
MonsterVine Sunday, October 19, 2025 1:47 PM PopCap Studios has released the launch trailer for Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, a stunning modern remaster of the hit tower defense classic that kicked off one of gaming's most enduring franchises. Launching October 23, the game revisits the quirky lawnside battles between plants and zombies now rebuilt in HD with brand-new content and surprises. The […] |
MonsterVine Sunday, October 19, 2025 11:59 AM SEGA and The Creative Assembly have announced Tides of Torment, the next major content pack for Total War: Warhammer III, launching on December 4, 2025. The release will coincide with the studio's 25th Anniversary Showcase, a special event revealing the future of the Total War franchise. The haunting announcement trailer sets the tone for a […] |