Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 9:36 PM  Let's all get on the same page before going any further: this is not canon. This is not hidden lore, endorsed by Nintendo, that you should arm yourself with and take with you on an official basis every time you play a Mario game from now on. OK? |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 8:30 PM  As Sony and Microsoft continue to battle over the latter's proposed $69 billion dollar purchase of Activision Blizzard, more and more people—relatively powerful and influential people—are being drawn into the debate. |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:30 PM  Ahead of tomorrow's Diablo IV open beta, Blizzard warns that—as was the case last weekend—players will likely suffer from long waits and other server issues as even more folks than last weekend all queue up to try to play the super-hyped sequel. |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 5:55 PM  Respawn just announced its new Apex Legends Sun Squad Collection Event which will give players a chance to earn some sweet, swimsuit-themed character skins. But Apex Legends fans want more—specifically, a slutty swimsuit for character Loba. |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 5:21 PM  The more I learn about the creator of Chainsaw Man, the more I like his vibe. His art assistant just had their explicit work published in a manga anthology featuring gay men, and Tatsuki Fujimoto wants his fans to check it out. |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 5:10 PM  This week, Epic Games revealed Unreal Editor for Fortnite, a toolset that expands on the battle royale's existing creator resources and could completely revolutionize the game in the process. Players have wasted no time offering glimpses into that potential, using the new tools for everything from recreating scenes… |
Kotaku Thursday, March 23, 2023 4:39 PM  Resident Evil 4's long-awaited remake is out tomorrow. And while this soon-to-be-released horror game is a mostly faithful adaptation of the original Capcom classic, not everything from the original game has been recreated in the remake. For example: You monsters who like murdering the mysterious merchant will be… |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:48 PM  It's day one of PAX East and what better way to kick off our show coverage than highlighting a great indie game! We first came across Demonschool back at PAX West last year and have loved it ever since. It's a slick, tactical Persona-like where you play as a band of university students navigating school life by day and beating up ghosties and ghoulies by night. I had a chat with Demonschool's Jenna Stoeber who talked me through what Demonschool is about, the game's many horror inspirations, and what spooky shinanigans players can expect. If the giant skeleton lad in the game's trailer and demo is anything to go by, we're in for a treat. You can watch the full interview by watching the video below:
If you've haven't yet, set your peepers on Demonschool's slick trailer to see what demon hunter Faye and her gang of misfits are up against. There's no concrete release date, but like Jenna said, Demonschool should be out sometime in 2023 with a playable demo available in May. We've got plenty more interviews, demos, and highlights lined up for the rest of the week and you can find all our PAX East coverage by checking out our RPS@PAX tag. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:00 PM  Men Of War 2 doesn't do anything by half measures, as I discovered during a recent tussle with its online multiplayer modes. Whereas Relic's recently released Company Of Heroes 3 will let you pick from its four broad faction types in its WWII RTS battles, Men Of War 2 takes a much more granular view, offering up 14-15 different unit types for each of its three playable nations. That's a dizzying array of infantry, tank and artillery battalions to choose from, and that's before you account for all the individual nuances between its Soviet, USA and German army types. Throw in seven game modes across several different maps, and it's a veritable strategy smorgasbord to stuff your face into. Crucially, though, everyone gets access to some sort of tank, which let's face it, is always going to be the MVP of any WW2 strategy game, and probably the sole reason why we're here in the first place. As Men Of War 2 heads into its first open multiplayer tech test on Steam today (running until March 27th), here's my full report of my mildly doomed multiplayer tankventures in its Combat, Front Line and Incursion modes. |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 11:34 PM Do we dare to hope? |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 10:01 PM Diabolical queue times. |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:38 PM The wait is almost over! |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:05 PM Even more Sonic is speeding to a console near you. |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:04 PM John Wick takes his quizzes as seriously as his revenge. |
Twinfinite Thursday, March 23, 2023 4:42 PM I'm blue, da ba dee da ba di... |
Siliconera Thursday, March 23, 2023 8:00 PM
Square Enix shared a new character render from patch 6.35 of FFXIV or someone who can be found at the end of Eureka Orthos. This render is none other than Excalibur, the final boss of Eureka Orthos, which can be found in floors 99 and 100 of the new Deep Dungeon. Other previous renders include some of the bosses fought in the new storyline added to FFXIV 6.35, and the bosses found in the new Euphrosyne raid. Editor's Note: Spoilers for FFXIV Eureka Orthos will appear below.You can take a better look at Excalibur's FFXIV character render by clicking on the image below. While Excalibur is the final boss of floors 99 and 100 of Eureka Orthos, he should not be confused with the Paladin weapon of the same name. That is a level 125 unique one-handed sword that was added with the rest of the Zodiac Brave Weapons in patch 2.45. Eureka Orthos is the latest Deep Dungeon included in FFXIV, and the first one added since Heaven-on-High, included in the Stormblood expansion. For those players eager to face off against Excalibur, you can check out the requirements needed to access Eureka Orthos. Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC. While there is no release date for Patch 6.4, it will be discussed in the next FFXIV Letter from the Producer Live, which will air at the end of March 2023. The post Square Enix Shares New FFXIV Eureka Orthos Boss Render appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:00 PM
Fans of Xenoblade Chronicle 3 can now learn how Monolith Soft made the game's characters lighting, shading, and facial expressions. Japanese gaming outlet Game Makers recently released to the public the contents of a lecture detailing the process behind creating Xenoblade Chronicles 3's two toon-style light shaders. The lecture was held at the CEDEC+KYUSHU 2022 conference on November 12, 2022, and Monolith Soft programmer Kei Tateno was in charge of it. [Thanks, Game Makers!] Because the main theme of the game is "Life and Death," the developers at Monolith Soft wanted to use lighting and shadows to reflect these themes in the characters facial expressions. In order to achieve this, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 uses shadows with higher contrast on characters, which results in a more distinct look when compared to previous entries. This was accomplished with the use of a two-light shading system. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 uses point lights, which reflect effects like fire or lamps, combined with directional lights from sources like moonlight. Meanwhile, previous Xenoblade Chronicles entries use a different, more simplified method for representing light sources and shadows on characters. Tateno offered an example of this in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where using light normals (the orientation of a surface, and how it responds to lighting) would have created strange and uncanny looking shadows in the faces of characters. You can see examples of both main and directional lighting used in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and the indirect brightness used in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the images below. [gallery ids="956899,956900,956903" link="file"] One of the challenges of introducing this two-light shading system lied in indoor lighting. Indoor lights often come directly from above, which can lead to faces not looking as good as they should. Additionally, the two-light system could sometimes make some facial expressions look different than intended. By making use of light normals and manually adjusting some shadows, the development team managed to overcome these challenges and make facial expressions pop-up under any type of lighting. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is readily available on the Nintendo Switch. On the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo showed a peek at Wave 4 of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC Expansion Pass, coming out sometime before the end of 2023. The post Learn About Character Lighting in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:00 PM
The latest Hololive product from Good Smile is the Nakiri Ayame Pop Up Parade figure. Orders from the US store will cost $38.99 and are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2023 (October-December). Japanese store orders will on ¥5,500 and are set to ship in September 2023. Pre-orders will remain open until April 23, 2023. The figure stands approximately 170mm tall and comes set in a mischievous pose held up by a stand. In this depiction, Ayame wears her original outfit. This includes her Oni mask and red and white rope belt. You can get a look at the figure below. There are no pose options or accessories included. Ayame is a member of Hololive's second generation of talents, along with Ozora Subaru, Murasaki Shion, Minato Aqua and Yuzuki Choco. Ayame is one of several Hololive members to get new figures from Good Smile Company, including Yukihana Lamy and Houshou Marine who have scale figures on the way. Designs for Nendoroids of Roboco, Mososuzu Nene and Tokoyami Towa have also been teased. The Hololive Nakiri Ayame Pop Up Parade figure is available from the Good Smile and Good Smile US stores. Pre-orders are open until April 23, 2023. The post Hololive's Nakiri Ayame Pop Up Parade Figure Arrives in August appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, March 23, 2023 5:00 PM
The Jump Comics Channel on YouTube uploaded a video showcasing the Akatsuki organization from Naruto. All of its members get a little bit of stage time showing off their personalities. But Itachi Uchiha is the one who has the most prominent place in the footage. The Naruto Akatsuki promotional video is just over a minute long. It does contain some spoilers if you are not caught up with the series, such as Obito's identity and Sasori's true face. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swq--rdN-2k In the Naruto series, Akatsuki was an organization of shinobi who did not have an affiliation with a village. Its members have changed since its creation, and the ones in the video are from Nagato's time as the leader. These are also the members that the audience first sees when Akatsuki starts becoming a more active threat at the beginning of Shippuden. Though the main Naruto series ended some time ago, it's been a busy time for its fans. Not only is there a VR attraction, but there was also a popularity poll to decide the main character of a short spin-off. Jump Comics will announce the winner in April 2023, but when it last revealed the interim results, the top three characters were Minato Namikaze, Itachi Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. Itachi's popularity might have lent to his screentime in the Akatsuki trailer. You can watch the Naruto Akatsuki trailer via the Jump Comics YouTube channel. Naruto is available for streaming on services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll. The post Naruto Akatsuki Trailer Focuses on Itachi appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Thursday, March 23, 2023 4:00 PM
GameStop looks to be shutting down stores in Ireland. Due to this, the company announced via its website that a number of services in their Ireland-based stores are no longer available as of March 22, 2023. In the wake of this news, the website announcement encouraged customers to use their existing gift cards and store credit as soon as possible in-store or on the official website. The services that will no longer be offered or sold are as follows:
This news comes as GameStop's stock price rose 35% on March 22, 2023, as noted by Markets Insider. The increase in stock price comes as the company posted a profit in the fourth quarter of 2022, the first such rise in profit in two years. In order to keep up this profitable operation, CEO Matt Furlong said the company would be cutting costs. As noted in the call notes on Seeking Alpha, part of this would include "exiting" operations in other European countries like Ireland. He also mentioned the company would focus on products like toys and collectibles going forward. GameStop as a stock was subject to being bought in mass by Reddit's Wall Street Bets in 2021. This resulted in shares of the game store rising to levels of value it has since shed. GameStop in America will remain open and operational. The post GameStop Ireland Seems to Be Preparing to Close Stores appeared first on Siliconera. |
PC Invasion - FeedDDD Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:14 PM  Men of War II treads upon some of the most tread-upon ground in gaming, media, and world history: World War II. Countless games, films, television series, and more tell these stories from about any imaginable perspective. That said, developer Best Way is a few short months from releasing its fresh take on the World War II RTS subgenre. I was lucky enough to play a few multiplayer matches with some devs and other gaming outlets. I have to say, Men of War II felt distinctly unique, deep, and innovative, despite the limited content in the preview. During the playtest, I played three 2v2 multiplayer matches in which I was paired up with a dev and pitted against another developer/press team. Each match took place on a different map and game mode. The first thing that struck me with the Men of War II preview was the depth, customizability, and control it gives players, even in the Army selection screen. The USA, German, and Soviet Armies were playable in the preview I played. Within each... |
Tabletop Gaming News – TGN Thursday, March 23, 2023 6:00 PM By Fire and Sword, the historical wargame set in the middle of 17th century Europe, has just launched its second edition on Kickstarter, and it is already receiving significant support. Just a day into the campaign, almost $26,000 has been pledged for the $15,000 goal. The new edition promises to be faster, more dynamic, and … |