Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has the biggest roster in the 3D arena-fighting franchise’s history, but some players still want more. Specifically, more costumes, accessories, and other ways to customize their iconic DBZ fighters’ looks, including with shirts and jackets that pull from deep cuts within the long-running anime’s history.
The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History
One of the most requested outfits is Goku’s pre-Cell Games track jacket that he wears in his off time leading up to the tournament. Another is Piccolo’s yellow “Postboy” shirt he wears in the Trunks Saga filler episode in which he and Goku try to get their driver’s licenses. The streetwear fits aren’t just fan favorites, they also showcase more casual sides of the characters and express a range of personality outside the standard battle outfits.
The Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero subreddit has had fans frequently scratching their heads at why a game that’s bursting with fan service in other areas is missing these key costumes. Some are worried that it simply means Bandai Namco is planning to dole out each new style over months and years through a relentless drip-feed of microtransaction add-ons as it’s done with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. SparkingZero seems destined to be the ultimate DBZ sim, but no DBZ sim is complete without more robust dress-up options.
Enter modders who are at least bringing some of these costume changes to the PC version of the game. A Piccolo Postboy outfit was added to the GameBanana mod repository yesterday. There’s also a mod for Vegeta’s pink “Badman” button-up at NexusMods. Of course, there are plenty of other outfits still missing, like Goku and Vegeta’s “SAB” winter jackets from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie and Gohan’s Kai outfit from the Buu Saga.
I can forgive some of these missing from the game at launch, but too many of the best alternate costumes seem MIA at the moment. I’m not above paying for them all if they get rolled out later. It would have felt more satisfying if they were all late-game unlockables, though.
Every dragon can grant help completing an Episode Battle. Choosing that wish will give you an exclusive item called a Dragon Orb. These can be used only when hovering over an Episode Battle with branching paths, as they make the secondary objectives easier to meet. Even though a lot of these objectives just require you to win within a certain time, using a Dragon Orb for a bit more leeway can be a big help. The only caveat is that you won’t earn victory rewards from it, but that’s not too bad of a trade-off to see some really fun what-if stories.
This option won’t pop up until you’ve come across an Episode Battle with potential branching paths. Although that occurs early on in Goku’s story, those who immediately spent a lot of time in multiplayer modes or received a free Shenron summon—depending upon which edition they purchased—would likely not have seen this. Make sure to keep an eye out for this option if you didn’t see it during your first summon(s)!
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero doesn’t spend much time explaining the nuances of summoning the dragons, and leaves it all for us to discover. As fun as that idea is, nobody likes to feel like they made the wrong choice, especially with how rare it can be to see Porunga and Super Shenron.
The best choice for you depends entirely on preference and how far along you are, but you should be better equipped to select a more favorable option. Go out and make your wishes in confidence!
Play it on: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox Current goal: Make my stronghold a little nicer
If I’m honest, most of my gaming time this weekend will probably go, once again, toward the incredible UFO 50. (I now have my first two cherry carts!) However, it’s probably time I start mentioning other games on occasion here in the Weekend Guide, so instead I’ll talk about something else I’ve been playing lately, Pillars of Eternity, the 2015 fantasy CRPG from Obsidian Entertainment which follows in the footsteps of genre-defining classics like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. It’s absolutely epic in scope, immediately thrusting you into a world with its own rich, captivating history and lore—a world we’ll soon get to revisit in Avowed—but it’s also intimate and personal, with exceptionally well-written characters navigating life in a world filled with conflict and strife.
Early on, your character is awakened to their skills as a Watcher, someone who can see and interact with the souls of others. This not only allows for some great fantasy RPG plot hooks, but also brings the history of the game’s world to life in a way it otherwise wouldn’t be. You might, for instance, encounter someone who, in a past life, was part of the marauding hordes driving others out of their homes, and see how their soul was marred by the trauma of participating in something so monstrous, or you might be pulled into the experience of someone who was persecuted by those hordes. William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It’s true of our world, I think, and in Pillars of Eternity’s Eora, you really feel the way that the past lingers, shaping and haunting the present.
Of course, all the great pleasures of CRPGs are here—gorgeous lands to explore, engaging tactical combat, epic quests—and all of that is crucial to what makes Pillars of Eternity so exceptional. But for now, I’m particularly smitten by the writing, so smart and so rich, and characterized by a tremendous respect for the player, trusting us to come to grips with the world and its history upon being thrown in head-first, and trusting us to appreciate its profound thematic depth without needing to spell things out for us or lampshade what it’s doing. It’s so great to encounter genuinely mature writing in a game, especially when it’s married to gameplay as rich and captivating as what’s on offer here. — Carolyn Petit
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Kenneth Shepard, Carolyn Petit, Zack Zwiezen, Ethan Gach, and John Walker
Image: Square Enix, 505 Games, Capcom, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios / Sega, Blizzard, Sega, Blizzard, Kojima Productions, Screenshot: Capcom
It’s the start of a new month, which means there’s a host of hot, new games coming your way. It can get overwhelming, scanning through the various game marketplaces to decide what you should spend your hard-earned money on, so we’ve gathered 34 games coming out this month that we’re stoked for. We’ve also spotted some great sales you may want to take advantage of, like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the original Resident Evil trilogy, Diablo 4 ahead of its huge expansion, and a bunch of turn-based RPGs at a steal.
We also beg you to check out Yakuza 0 before watching the upcoming Amazon Prime series, let you in on the things we wish we knew before playing the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, and highlight everything Hideo Kojima is working on. Click through for all the helpful hints of the week. You’re welcome.
We’re firmly in the era of the video-game-to-prestige-TV-adaptation pipeline, and you know what? It might not be all that bad. Coming off the impressive results of HBO’s The Last of Usand Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show, we now have the first full trailer for Like a Dragon: Yakuza and it’s looking really good so far.
Total Recall: Why Yakuza Is So Much More Than A Japanese GTA
Out on Prime Video on October 24, Like a Dragon: Yakuzaadapts the hit Sega sandbox action series beloved for mixing criminal underworld drama with fun open-world gaming hijinks. While we don’t get a ton of the off-kilter humor and quirky flamboyancy of the Like a Dragon games (previously known as Yakuza in the West) from the first extended trailer, we do get an introduction to some slick action and high-stakes dialogue.
Here’s a look:
The show will follow former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, played by Ryoma Takeuchi of Kamen Rider fame, as he’s drawn into a conspiracy of rival factions and conflicting allegiances on the streets of Tokyo. Drawing mostly from the original 2005 Yakuza game, the first trailer shows a lot of familiar faces, including the Shimano Family mad dog Goro Majima. About a minute into the trailer, longtime fans are rewarded with his iconic “Kiryu-Chan!” line delivery.
The timing of Like a Dragon: Yakuza’s arrival has been surprisingly fortuitous. While the streaming wars appear to be losing gas, video game adaptations have helped breathe some new life into online TV. And while a subtitled Japanese thriller might have previously seemed like a tougher sell, Hulu’s Shōgun stole the show at the recent 2024 Emmy Awards, and Sony has already doubled-down on further adaptations of its Ghost of Tsushima series, including for its upcoming sequel, Ghost of Yōtei.
And for anyone who’s somehow managed to remain on the periphery of the Like a Dragon/Yakuza games these last several years, there have never been more ways to dip your toes into the Kamurochō district, from the Yakuza Kiwami remakes of the early games to recent turn-based spin-offs like Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. And another game in that lineage has already been announced, with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii starring Goro Majima arriving early next year.
At the beginning of the year, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthlaunched a hell of an opening salvo. The latest installment in the long-running Like a Dragon/Yakuza series is comically full of things to do. On one hand, it’s a turn-based RPG epic, splitting its narrative between two larger-than-life protagonists in entirely different settings complete with their own villains, party members, and side stories. On the other hand, it is more game than anybody could possibly need, housing several side activities, minigames, and at least two-full sized games within itself. If you’re a person whose chief concern about a game is getting the absolute most bang for your buck, there has rarely been a better game to pick up than Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which is now discounted at $42 on both PlayStation and Steam. – Moises Taveras Read More
Shadow of the Erdtree added a fresh set of armor, Rellana’s Armor Set. This unique armor can only be obtained by defeating one of the DLC’s bosses, and then making a purchase from an NPC, so you’ll need to put in a bit of work if you’d like to sport it for yourself.
The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History
Here’s what you need to know about Rellana’s Armor Set and how to get your hands on it.
Rellana’s Armor Set stats and features
Rellana’s Armor Set has a weight of 28.1 when all pieces are equipped.
This armor set provides a hefty chunk of damage negation without pushing your total weight limit as high as some other high-damage resistance gear from the DLC. This makes it a great choice for anyone looking to tank some hits while looking exceedingly rad doing so.
Where to find Rellana’s Armor Set
You can purchase Rellana’s Armor Set from Enia at Roundtable Hold. However, she will not sell this set of armor until you’ve defeated Rellana Twin Moon Knight, the boss of the Castle Ensis legacy dungeon—and you may want to grab a few extra Scadutree Fragments before you attempt that.
Screenshot: FromSoftware / Kotaku
Castle Ensis is found in the northeastern section of Gravesite Plain, and may be the first legacy dungeon you complete during the DLC. If you need help defeating the boss, check out our Rellana Twin Moon Knight boss guide for some tips and tricks.
Screenshot: FromSoftware / Kotaku
Once you’ve defeated Rellana Twin Moon Knight, head back to Roundtable Hold and speak to Enia. Select the “Receive equipment of champions” option, then scroll down and purchase the four pieces of Rellana’s armor, which includes Rellana’s Helm, Rellana’s Armor, Rellana’s Gloves, and Rellana’s Greaves. Equip it when you’re ready to look like one of the DLC’s coolest bosses.
The Crimson Diamond is AVAILABLE NOW!! (Launch trailer)
Play it on: Steam Current goal: Solve an old-fashioned mystery
A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I was captivated by Unavowed, a point-and-click adventure from the folks at Wadjet Eye. Well, I’ve finished that one (it was great) just in time for a brand-new entry in the genre to come along. And while Wadjet Eye’s output is most reminiscent of ‘90s adventure games that offered full voice acting and elegant drag-and-drop interfaces, this new game, The Crimson Diamondfrom designer Julia Minamata, is influenced by an earlier era of adventures, ones that ran in EGA and had you typing in what you wanted your character to do. I can’t wait to explore its mysteries.
The Crimson Diamond is perhaps most reminiscent of Sierra adventures, especially the Clara Bow games which saw their plucky heroine tossed into murder mysteries during the roaring ‘20s. Itcasts you as Nancy Maple, a young woman investigating the discovery of an unusually large and valuable diamond in a town in northern Ontario, Canada. It’s clear from the trailer that her investigations will find her encountering people with motives of their own, some of them sinister, and land her in no small amount of peril. Sign me up!
People often talk about the evolution of adventure games from text parsers to purely graphical interfaces as a net good, as if text parsers were just a crutch, a relic from the genre’s early days that we no longer needed, but I’ve always thought of them as two fundamentally different approaches, each with their own strengths. I think there are ways in which the presence of a text parser can encourage creative thinking that a purely graphics-based interface doesn’t always allow for, and in addition to digging into the plot of The Crimson Diamond, I’m eager to see how it uses this design element that so rarely gets employed in modern games. All in all, it sounds like a perfect fit for a cozy weekend. —Carolyn Petit
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Austin Williams, Carolyn Petit, Moises Taveras, Kenneth Shepard, and Ethan Gach
We’re about halfway through the summer and I’ve given up on avoiding sweat You’re probably about halfway to giving up on Elden Ring’s Shaddw of the Erdtree DLC, but we can help with that. We’ve also got a tip for a free game for you to snag, and some FF14 advice. Read on for more of this week’s best tips.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreelaunched some weeks ago, meaning players have hopefully managed to surmount its immensely difficult fights (the last one in particular) and roll credits on the expansion. However, a contingent of players have found themselves underwhelmed by the conclusion, and the expansion’s narrative content as a whole, since Shadow of the Erdtree is Elden Ring’s only DLC and bears the weight of sending off one of the biggest games of our time.
The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History
Some have expressed frustration with the ramifications, or lack thereof, of Shadow of the Erdtree. Many expected characters from the base game to return in some way, react to the events of the expansion, or simply play a bigger role in it, especially ones who have close ties to Miquella, the DLC’s central character. The lack of consequence, and the absence of new dialogue that’d further the player’s understanding of the story, have been a sore point for folks who are starved for morsels of Elden Ring’s massive, sometimes inscrutable narrative.
There’s a contingent of folks who are especially disappointed in the final cutscene of the DLC, feeling that it does very little to pay off the experience that preceded it. That sentiment is likely bred from the fact that Shadow of the Erdtree ends in a massive fight. I’m talking, like, a huge pain in the ass that is even rigged against the player thanks to insane hitboxes, seemingly unavoidable attacks, and the kinds of long combos that Elden Ring has become infamous for doubling down on. Once you have beaten that absolute unit of a final boss, there’s a cutscene that can be triggered, and many fans of the game are none too pleased with its brevity and lack of oomph, for lack of a better word.
Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree’s ending follow.
For many, this ending to Elden Ring’s saga seems like a whimper rather than a triumphant bang. The scene is straightforward enough (or as clean-cut as FromSoftware’s esoterica can be) and that appears to be the source of the tension. Miquella, the quintessential character of the entire expansion, appears for the first time and effectively doubles down on his goal, or at least restates it. There is no pomp to the affair. Miquella is kneeling throughout the scene, which takes place in a void save for the nearby throne of the Elden Lord, and it is over before you know it. It betrays no significant new insight.
I won’t lie: this does kind of suck ass. I actually get the contingent who were maybe expecting more from the end of this DLC. Elden Ring is an epic, and if this is the end of it, yeah, it’s not exactly what I would’ve expected. But while some are fixated on the short nature of the ending, others are pissed because of how little it appears to add to the story, or at the least their understanding of it all.
Elden Ring, like most of FromSoftware’s oeuvre, is fascinating to digest and think about. I love people who sniff out bits of lore and propose theories about the motivations of characters and the larger schemings of the world. I too have fallen asleep to many Vaatividya videos piercing together scraps of item descriptions into a cogent and deeply tragic narrative. However, these practices have also borne a kind of fan that demands “truth” from these games. People who expect answers for their sleuthing and investment. In my humble opinion, those folks are playing these games—and engaging with art—in a reductive manner, and only getting in the way of their own enjoyment.
The absolute truth of these games is supposed to elide you, you dingbats. Whatever absolute meaning you are trying to wring from them flies in the face of the entire point of FromSoft’s preferred method of storytelling. If Miyazaki wanted players to know everything about the game, he and his team could’ve simply written it out for you in a game rich with endless dialogue, exposition, and scenes pontificating on every minute detail. The fact that these games have never fit that mold should have clued you all into an obvious fact: there is no truth waiting for you at the center of Elden Ring or its expansion.
Disgruntled players who can’t believe that Shadow of the Erdtree would end in such an abrupt and curt manner are outright hoping that there’s a secret ending to be uncovered. Though Elden Ring didn’t have a secret one, it did feature multiple endings depending on what quests you completed and what force/faction you ultimately aligned with. Shadow of the Erdtree lacks a similar framework, and Miyazaki has outright stated that the DLC wouldn’t impact the endings already baked into the game, but that hasn’t stopped a select few from praying that those claims were little more than a red herring.
I find how little I understand Elden Ring to be a fucking joy, y’all. When I do come back to it, I love trying to click the puzzle pieces together. Some of them fit, and others don’t. Some of them may never click and that’s okay. I can master the game’s mechanics and dog-walk half of these bosses in my sleep, but there’s something about the fact that I may never really understand all of its mysteries, including Miquella’s motivations for abandoning the Lands Between and seeking godhood, or whatever people are bent out of shape about. I’ll never really stop exploring the larger-than-life cast of Elden Ring and that keeps the thrill of it alive. I don’t need to know everything about Elden Ring to know that I love it and love being engaged by it. Believe it or not, that’s enough.
A screenshot I took while Remote Playing the Elden Ring expansion this weekend.Screenshot: From Software / Bandai Namco / Kotaku
I used to consider myself a certifiable cloud hater. I’ve never enjoyed my experiences trying to engage with cloud gaming, which allows players to stream their console games to PCs, smartphones, and dedicated handhelds, as well as adjacent remote play technology. In my limited experience, it was always too laggy, made the games look ugly as shit, and needed far too potent a signal to work even passably well. However, I went away this past weekend and didn’t want to lug around either of my consoles, so I gave it an earnest shot again and I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised with how far cloud and remote gaming’s come. – Moises Taveras Read More
If there’s one thing we can all agree on about Destiny 2, it’s that it has a lot of menus, where you probably spend lots of time managing all sorts of little things, from bounties to excess inventory, quest tracking, and more. Honestly, I think I spend a quarter of my time with Destiny not shooting aliens or exploring the surface of Europa or Nessus but just trudging through unintuitive menus laden with tabs and subpages.
But there’s a better way to play Destiny! All you need is an iOS or Android device. If you’re already a regular user of the Destiny companion app, then I don’t need to sing its praises to you, though it’s worth noting that with the Prismatic class introduced in Destiny 2’s latest expansion, The Final Shape, the app is arguably more useful than ever. For those who aren’t acquainted with how it dramatically improves and streamlines the experience of playing Bungie’s sci-fi shooter (especially on PlayStation and Xbox), let me outline a few excellent use cases for this more-than-handy tool.
This guide will only cover app functions that let you manage bounties and inventory. Clan and fireteam management, as well as other social features, are outside the scope of this piece. – Claire Jackson Read More
Since the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, fans of the series have been expressing their excitement over Zelda’s unique gameplay. Chiefly, they are overjoyed about her ability to copy (or echo) items in the environment and use them against her enemies in battle.
Tears Of The Kingdom’s Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism
Echoes of Wisdom finally drops players into a mainline entry of the series as the titular princess. When Link goes missing just as he rescues her from Ganon, dark rifts begin to tear apart Hyrule, and Zelda just barely escapes them. With Hyrule’s typical savior out of the picture, it falls on Zelda to save her land and people, and she accomplishes this with the help of Tri, a fairy she encounters as all is falling apart. Tri grants Zelda the Tri Rod, which allows her to copy objects and other creatures in the world in order to navigate environments, solve puzzles, and carry out battles, and it looks great, and indeed poised for numerous jokes and in-game hilarity.
It all started when a clip of the game’s debut trailer showed Zelda copying a boulder, lifting it and throwing it at an enemy. Many fans noted the fact that in most Zelda games, Link has needed a bracelet that allows him a similar ability, and claimed that Zelda had been quietly getting stronger than her stalwart protector and savior.
Eventually, the memes about Echoes of Wisdom’s new copy ability got progressively out of hand. Many of the ones I saw within a few hours of the announcement poked fun at how Zelda might use a table or a chair in battle, akin to a professional wrestler. By comparison, Link has largely used more typical weaponry like the Master Sword, as well as a bow and arrow or bombs. The emphasis on furniture has spawned its own series of posts about domesticity and interior decoration. From there, things spiraled out of control until we hit the natural conclusion that the internet always escalates to: giving Zelda a glock.
But if I had to pick favorites, these final three are the pinnacle of the posts I saw. Sometimes, the internet can be a really funny place.
It’s actually been really joyous to see communities getting excited for what appears, on its face, to be a novel take on the beloved series. I feel my own fervor for Echoes of Wisdom being stoked with every bit of fanart or memes that I see folks posting online, so please keep it coming. This is the kind of energy I can get behind any day of the week. And yes, you’re all right, we should absolutely give Zelda a gun.
It’s hard to believe that the most famous franchise in fighting game history has never had a guest character before. God of War’s Kratos has been in Mortal Kombat. Yoda was in Soul Calibur. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s roster is now home to more characters from outside the series than from within it. But Fatal Fury’s upbeat denim-clad, city-slicker Terry Bogard (who is also in Smash) will mark the first time someone from another franchise has been playable inside Street Fighter.
The Week In Games: System Shock, Street Fighter 6, And More
The news was announced at the Summer Game Fest showcase as part of Street Fighter VI’s season 2 reveal. In addition to the return of Street Fighter III’s Elena and series villain M. Bison, the game’s second year will also see Terry Bogart and the ninja Mai Shiranui join as well, the result of a collaboration with SNK that first got underway at back at Evo 2022, the fighting game event’s in-person return following the covid-19 pandemic. Fighting game illustrators Toshiaki “ Shinkiro” Mori and Eisuke Ogura created a crossover “welcome back” sign made up of characters from both Street Fighter and Fatal Fury.
“It was a big hit and it was really exciting,” Street Fighter 6 director, Takayuki Nakayama, and producer, Shuhei Matsumoto, who are now the faces of the franchise, told me in an interview at Summer Game Fest conducted via a translator. Teams from both companies kept talking in the years that followed and it eventually culminated in the decision to bring Terry, essentially SNK’s Ken, to the rival franchise. What’s it like remaking an outside character inside the Street Fighter universe?
“When incorporating non-Capcom or non-Street Fighter guest characters into this game, obviously [we] have to respect the IP and the characters and make sure that fans of those characters will appreciate it,” they said. While Terry and Mai will follow the same rules as the existing roster, the whole point of the collaboration in the first place is to also bring along their unique personalities and fighting game flair.
Screenshot: Capcom / Kotaku
Nakayama and Matsumoto demurred when I asked for specifics of what that might mean for their styles and move-sets, but stressed the team has some ideas it’s excited about. “Fatal Fury is a long running series for SNK. Characters like Terry also appeared in other games like King of Fighters, which is also a very long running series. The team who work on Street Fighter 6 are all big fans of fighting games in general, including games like Fatal Fury and King of Fighters. They have a lot of things that they want to incorporate, that people, that they think, that fans of Terry and Mai will like, and that’s something that they’re really putting a lot of energy into.”
But before Terry and Mai arrive later in the year, players will get their hands on M. Bison, the crime syndicate boss who’s been a fan-favorite since Street Fighter II. Ryu killed him at the end of Street Fighter V, but as everyone suspected he’s back and looking weirder than ever. His new grizzled, tattered alt costume, a striking contrast with his traditional imperial uniform, has earned him the nickname “homeless Bison” from some, and a revamped arsenal of moves looks borderline broken.
“In terms of his story and why he looks this way, this is something that you’ll get to learn more [about] when you play arcade mode and see him in World Tour when he’s out,” Nakayama and Matsumoto said. While it’s his comeback to the series, M. Bison’s new kit also marks the return of some old abilities in new forms. One of those is his ultra combo from Street Fighter IV which is now a super art in Street Fighter 6. Other moves play off the story and the crime boss’ new level of deviousness. That includes a back fist combo which plants a psycho mine on the opponent that explodes if M. Bison doesn’t get hit for a while.
“It kind of adds this mind game-type aspect to his gameplay, and kind of forces the opponent to play in a certain way when that happens,” they said. The psycho mine also changes some of the effects and combos of M. Bison’s attacks while it’s active, changing the rhythm of the match as well. He’s also a hybrid charge and command input fighter, meaning some of his abilities require holding inputs while others are just simple sequences. His iconic Double Knee Press attack will now just be a “fireball motion” attack, for example, potentially making him a lot more appealing to more players.
It’s poised to be another neat addition to a game that still feels like it’s in a honeymoon phase with fans. Following the disappointing launch of Street Fighter V, which was marred by numerous complaints and incomplete modes, Street Fighter 6 was a return to form for both the fundamentals and positive mood among fans. Despite being a fighting game rooted in a rich history of arcades and in-person competition, modern Street Fighter is as much a live-service platform as anything else. In May, Akuma arrived in the game by way of an event that was part Twitch Plays Pokémon and part MMO boss fight.
Nakayama and Matsumoto pointed to all of the data they collect from players and the new ways they’re experimenting with online events to help the game evolve. ”We released this infographic that shows something like 20 billion matches that have happened over this past year, which is very surprising,” they said. “When we did the raid boss event with Akuma in the battle hub that was a big hit. That just made [us] realize there should be more opportunities to get people excited about events like that, that’s something [we] want to explore in the near future.”
When they told me it’s easier than ever to see what players do and don’t like, I asked them if it ever felt like there was too much data and they wished they could go back to days when developers were more walled off from community feedback and behavior. “Honestly, not really,” they said laughing. “It’s really exciting to see everyone really have fun and play the game and seeing what what people are interested in.”
One thing at least some players still aren’t always having fun with is Street Fighter’s aggressive microtransaction model. Every once in a while outrage bubbles up when Capcom asks players to pay for something they feel is particularly egregious, like color variants for costumes. There’s also no way to pay exact amounts for lots of the in-game purchases since players first have to buy arbitrary amounts of Fighter Coins that often leave them with left-over premium currency. Is the team happy with the current monetization?
Screenshot: Capcom / Kotaku
“I mean people seem to be very interested in purchasable content especially that associates with the actual characters in the Fighting Ground Mode,” they said. “And we see a lot of interest towards that so it’s something that we will continue looking into and seeing if there’s any new stuff that we can just…but in terms of the system it’s probably going to be as is.”
Reading between the lines, it certainly seems like a version of what you hear from a lot of companies,which is that while lots of people complain about microtransactions, just as many if not more, grudgingly or even happily pony up the money for them. Perhaps the sea of player data the Street Fighter 6 devs have access to was also helpful in bearing that out.
Despite containing just four new characters, the season 2 fighter pass is $30, half the price of the full game. But to sweeten the deal, the full game is currently 50 percent off to celebrate its one-year anniversary. M. Bison, meanwhile, arrives over the summer. But the most important part of Street Fighter 6’s legacy, and its potential future, may lie in more community experiments like the Akuma online event.
“Street Fighter 6 gave [us] an opportunity to try out a lot of new things that [we’d] never done before in any other fighting game,” Nakayama and Matsumoto said. “With Street Fighter 6 [we] feel like [we] were able to see a resurgence of younger audiences who became interested in the game through alternate areas outside of just the fighting.” Hopefully that means more live events are planned for year two. The social experience of arcades was central to how many people fell in love with fighting games to begin with. Finding more ways to recreate that online could be the key to maintaining them.
Elden Ring’s first and only expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, features an exciting new storyline with dozens of hours of gameplay to experience—but accessing it isn’t a walk in the park, and data suggests that there are crucial steps many players haven’t yet taken. If you want to see what the challenging new DLC has to offer, you’ll have to find your way to a well-hidden section of the main game and defeat multiple optional bosses, including one of the toughest in the game: Mohg, Lord of Blood. – Billy Givens Read More
For years now, Bloodbornefans have wanted the popular PS4-exclusive RPGported to PC, hopefully with performance improvements and graphical options. And while FromSoftware’s president Hidetaka Miyazaki didn’t confirm that such a port is happening, he did say he’s not opposed to it and suggested that many people at the studio want a PC port to happen.
The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History
Released nearly a decade ago in 2017 exclusively for PlayStation 4, Bloodborne is one of FromSoftware’s (Dark Souls, Elden Ring) most popular and beloved games. Like many of its other games, Bloodborne is a tough-as-nails action RPG featuring intense boss battles and many secrets. However, unlike many of FromSoftware’s RPGs, Bloodborne has never been ported to other platforms. It remains stuck on PS4. That’s led to people asking over and over again for the Sony-owned Bloodborne to get a PC port. And it sounds like, while Miyazaki doesn’t have anything to announce, he seems into the idea of this fan-favorite RPG finally being playable on something other than a PS4.
In an interview with Miyazaki, PC Gamer asked the president if he would personally like to see Bloodborneported to PC one day.
“I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port,” said Miyazaki in reference to FromSoftware staff sitting with him during the interview. However, he quickly added that if he says he wants a port he’ll “get in trouble” but that he’s not “opposed” to a PC version.
“Obviously, as one of the creators of Bloodborne, my personal, pure honest opinion is I’d love more players to be able to enjoy it,” said Miyazaki. “Especially as a game that is now coming of age, one of those games of the past that gets lost on older hardware—I think any game like that, it’d be nice to have an opportunity for more players to be able to experience that and relive this relic of the past. So as far as I’m concerned, that’s definitely not something I’d be opposed to.”
Of course, while it’s nice to hear that the president of FromSoftware wants a Bloodborne PC port, it doesn’t mean one is happening. Remember, FromSoftware doesn’t own the Bloodborne IP, Sony does. And until Sony decides to fund a port, remaster, or remake, all FromSoftware can do is vaguely go “Yeah, we want one, too!” and that’s it.
Hopefully, as we near the game’s 10th anniversary next year, Sony will realize that they have a literal goldmine on their hands and all the company has to do is post a teaser for Bloodborne on Steam and it will be flooded with pre-orders before it even shares a trailer. At the very least, we know everyone at FromSoftware is down for a port. Now we wait to see what Sony wants…
My best friends and I have a typical rotation of games we play on game nights. These are often competitive shooters or cooperative survival games, which lend themselves particularly well to our needs. However, one night about two years back, we came to an impasse until one of us jokingly tossed out, “Let’s just play Mario Kart.” Within minutes, we had all grabbed our Nintendo Switches, jumped in a call, and booted up the game. We didn’t set it down for about another five hours.
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Stories about Mario Kart 8tend to follow that formula. It is either the first or last game a group will settle on playing, but because it’s so reliably great, it’s just about the only game any group needs once it’s been decided upon. I’ve found Mario Kart 8 endlessly rewarding as both a participant and a spectator since it launched ten years ago, and I reckon it’s still got another ten years in it if we’re being honest.
When it was released in 2014, Mario Kart 8 was the biggest deal on the least incredible platform. Gravity-defying tracks melted folks’ brains back in the day, and the breakout meme of Luigi’s death stare is timeless, but above all, what distinguished Mario Kart 8 was that it’s polished to a tee. New items like the boomerang and the super horn were crowd-pleasing additions, and Mario Kart 8 even adapted to the times and threw in DLC, and a lot of it. By the time its servers were shut down on the Wii U, Mario Kart 8 had become the best-selling game on the console, topping out at about 8.5 million copies sold. Despite the numerous laps it made there, though, it would shine even brighter a few years later as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, where it has also gone on to become the console’s best-selling game, moving an astonishing 61.97 million copies and counting.
In the ten years since it first released, Mario Kart 8 has taken over the damn world.
Every now and then, a game breaks containment. You know a game is big when people who don’t typically play or follow games know about it and play it. Mario Kart 8 is one such game. Hell, it’s arguably a cultural touchstone. If I’m at a party, there’s a good chance the host has a Switch set up with MK8D ready to go. For the first several years of the Switch’s lifetime, anywhere that gamers gathered, you were bound to see clusters of people crowded around a Switch or two playing MK8D. I never actually played my Switch on the move (as was often touted in Switch commercials) but when I first got my hands on MK8D, you’re damn right I played it everywhere I went.
MK8D isn’t just enthralling, though; it’s become part of the lexicon. I can’t tell you the amount of dating profiles I’ve swiped past where girls are openly challenging potential suitors like me, the drift king, to play them in Mario Kart. As video games have become more culturally acceptable and significant, MK8D was there alongside the likes of Fortnite leading the charge on casual and competitive games. It is the avatar of all kart racers and easily one of the most ubiquitous games ever. Mario Kart games certainly enjoyed acclaim, high sales, and fan fervor before, but MK8, and specifically MK8D, earned something above that: prestige and a place in all our lives.
It’s become so huge that Nintendo doubled down on MK8 even after porting it, with all its existing DLC, to the Switch. Though MK8D’s Booster Course Pass was a controversial announcement at the time, it has also added an undeniable wealth of value to one of the most stacked games ever. Over the course of a year and a half, Nintendo added 48 race tracks to the game, as well as eight characters and several smaller fixes and changes. Most of the tracks are remastered from previous games, but some are entirely new, and regardless, MK8D has enjoyed more support and content than most long running-service titles.
The move to continue supporting MK8D to this extent has brought into question whether or not there’s even a need for another Mario Kart game. There will most assuredly be one, but trying to imagine where Nintendo goes from here is a little difficult. MK8 and MK8D have been such decisive and easy wins for the company, I wouldn’t fault Nintendo for just releasing it again on the Switch’s successor, though it’ll almost certainly be backwards compatible. Why not just continue pouring everything into this already quintessential game rather than start from scratch? In a world of games as platforms that are constantly evolving, why not just turn the foundation of this perfect game into the basis for a long, uncomplicated future for the Mario Kart games?
For all its countless strengths and legendary titles, Nintendo hasn’t really enjoyed a success quite like MK8D before, and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t become the company’s Resident Evil 4, which has seemingly haunted every console to ever exist after its release. Much as you never need to give it to a company, I’ve got to give it to Nintendo: it made one of the greatest games ever and accidentally turned it into the most enduring title of the past several generations.
All I’m saying is that 8 is already a symbol synonymous with the concept of the infinity, so it’s all teed up for Nintendo to keep playing this tune forever…and maybe even cut me a check for the idea. I don’t know of any other game I’ve been playing for ten years. I don’t know many other games that I think I’ll still be playing in another ten. If I had to pick one though, I’m all in on Mario Kart 8, and even if you don’t know it yet, you probably are too.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is still seven months away, as the third live-action movie starring the blue blur and his angsty rival Shadow will premiere on December 20. And fans are eagerly anticipating the first trailer for the upcoming movie. Though some lucky ones were able to get a first look at a private event in April, the general public has been waiting to see even a single frame of the film. So much so that we are reaching a peak state of madness not seen since Dr. Gerald Robotnik sent the Space Colony Ark falling to Earth in Sonic Adventure 2.
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I, like several others, had been theorizing Paramount might release the Sonic 3 trailer today, May 16, to pair it with its new (apparently bad) imaginary friend movie If, which is in theaters tonight. In preparation for this, I turned on X (formerly Twitter) notifications for the official Sonic movie account so I would see it right when it went up. After most of the day went by, I’d given up hope. Then, I got a notification for a post from the account, got excited, and was immediately disappointed to see the post was just a retweet of the Paramount+ account breaking down Easter eggs from the Knuckles show now streaming on the service.
Several responses to the post are fans begging for the Sonic 3 trailer and mentioning they also fell victim to the same notification I did. Paramount is definitely aware that fans would like to see a glimpse of the film, as the company’s official YouTube randomly uploaded a clip from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on May 10, then responded to fans who called out the bait and switch.
“Whoever decided to drop this when everyone’s talking about the [Sonic 3] trailer was a genius,” wrote one fan. The Paramount account responded saying, “Yeah, whoever decided to do that is diabolical.” Another user commented that this was a “test” for how ready fans were for the trailer, to which Paramount said “Oh trust me, we know y’all are ready.”
All we know right now is that Paramount Mexico’s TikTok account deleted a comment that said the trailer would be coming “very soon” on May 7. But since it doesn’t seem like it will premiere in time for If, fans are now waiting for any clues. I just want to see my live-action son, Paramount. I watched all of the Knuckles show and he was barely in it. Show me signs of life for Shadow. It’s his year, dammit.
Nintendo’s Pokémonseries has had a powerful grip on pop culture for decades, and it’s doubtful to change anytime soon. The bulk of that power comes from the video and trading card games, along with the eternally ongoing anime and the movies and shows that’ve spun out of that. So how do you make one of the biggest video game properties even bigger? You take the big, bold jump to Hollywood.
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First released in Japan on May 3, 2019 and then the following week in the US, Detective Pikachuwas the first ever live-action Pokémon movie, and also Nintendo’s first video game movie since Super Mario Bros. If anyone ever thought Pokémon would get a big budget flick, they probably didn’t think it’d come courtesy of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, let alone based off a 2016 spinoff game where brand mascot Pikachu is a private eye with the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, the monsters all looked impressively real and tangible in ways fans had always dreamed, but having Deadpool as the leading ‘mon could’ve undercut everything. Was this going to work?
Image: Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures/The Pokémon Company
The answer turned out to be “yes”: Detective Pikachu netted fairly positive reviews and made $450.1 million worldwide. Back then, it’d been the highest-grossing video game movie of its time, at least until the Super Mario movie knocked it off its pedestal last year. If the world hadn’t been hit with the pandemic and Hollywood strikes in the 2020s so far, we’d likely have a sequel by now; Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel was tapped to direct it last year working off a script by Chris Galetta, but it seems at least two years off, minimum. (Coming out as Avengers: Endgamewas still in theaters probably wasn’t right move, either.) As is, it’s a well-regarded movie that made a decent impression in the video game movie space whose future got buried underneath some bad luck.
At the same time, it appears to have made a decent impact when it comes to Pokémon’s transmedia output. The anime was always going to persist whether it did well or not, but the film’s success has certainly helped open Nintendo’s mind to the possibilities of what this franchise could be. Without it, we likely wouldn’t have Pokémon Conciergeor the original drama series Pocket ni Bōken wo Tsumekonde, which is about the reach and impact of Pokémon rather than being set in its world. And this is just what we know about—a Pokémon Direct or two from now, we may learn that Nintendo’s got plans of doing up a movie universe in the vein of what Paramount’s doing with Sonic the Hedgehog.
Image: Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures/The Pokémon Company
Compared to other video game adaptations like Falloutand The Last of Us, or even Arcane, it wouldn’t be wrong to feel like Detective Pikachu has gotten overlooked. Its time in the sun will surely come whenever that sequel rolls around. In that way, it’s like the anime: whatever comes next will hopefully be an evolution that buils upon the winning formula of its predecessor. And if not, well, at least we’ve got a video of Pikachu dancing to brighten the day.
Fans of the original Dragon’s Dogma never dreamed the wonky fantasy RPG might get a sequel. Over a decade later, Capcom delivered a successor that improved on the flaws of the first without shaving off the sharp edges that earned it a cult following to begin with.
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Weeks after it launched, Dragon’s Dogma 2 hasn’t just sold well, it’s been the perfect breeding ground for fun discoveries and strange player tales. It’s also been a lightning rod for debate, despite being one of the highest rated games of 2024. Here are the ups, downs, and everything in-between since Dragon’s Dogma 2’s launched on March 22.
Fans freak out over Dragon’s Dogma 2’s microtransactions
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
The game’s Steam page displays all the things you can buy with real money, many of which are included in the Deluxe Edition. They include camping kits, Wakestones, Portcrystals, and other in-game items that save time and impact gameplay. Reviewers of the game point out that most of the resources are earned easily enough just by playing, but for some players the mere existence of the option to buy them feels like a corrupting influence. The paid item for changing characters’ appearances gets modded into the game on day one.
Steam reviews are a mess
While early reviews were glowing, the game gets slammed on Steam. With a less than 40 percent positive rating in its first day, PC players complain about poor optimization. Performance issues range from glacial framerates in some areas to occasional freezes and crashes. A Capcom rep tells IGN ahead of release that it’s aware of CPU issues and is looking into them.
Players discover the horrors of Dragonsplague
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s NPC companions, called Pawns, are vulnerable to a mysterious illness called Dragonsplague. If left untreated long enough, it triggers a deadly transformation that can wipe out cities. “One of the pawns nukes the entire village because of Dragonsplague and I had no inkling at all that they had caught it,” one player reports. “No voice lines, no comments of staying away from them, no glowing red eyes. My save is now just fucked because of this mechanic.”
One of the surest ways to spot the illness is if Pawns start acting rudely. Players listen carefully for any signs of bad manners, while some kill their companions before ever sleeping over at an Inn. The easiest way to do that is throwing Pawns into the bodies of water inhabited by Brine, misty creatures that kill everything they touch. As a result, players start hurling NPCs off cliffs en masse.
A Pawn pyramid scheme creates free money
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s economy is all over the place, with things like Ox cart rides between cities being relatively cheap, while haircuts cost hundreds, and rooms at Inns can cost thousands. Fortunately, players figure out an exploit for quick cash involving sending Pawns out on quests online for things like killing monsters.
By setting the quest rewards for 10,000, other players can hire the Pawn and collect the bounty. While the first player has to pay it out to send the Pawn on the quest in the first place, an endless number of other players can rent the Pawn to snag the reward. The result is that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Rift dimension becomes flooded with free Pawn money.
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s first patch adds do-overs
One of the weirdest things about Capcom’s RPG ends up being the fact that there’s only one save file that constantly gets updated. Players can’t even start their game over from the beginning until Dragon’s Dogma 2’s first patch on March 29. The update also adds more graphics options for console, makes it easier to get a house earlier in the game, and changes the number of Art of Metamorphosises that can be purchased from 2 to 99.
Capcom takes pity on unwanted Pawns
A player by the name of MrFoxer on the Dragon’s Dogma subreddit notes that Capcom appears to be manufacturing artificial players to rent out Pawns if nobody real is doing it. “You can tell whether an actual player rented your pawn by attempting to view their profile while looking at your pawn’s report,” they write. “If the option is greyed out, it’s a ‘fake player.’” Some fans are crestfallen. “Well thats nice but also kinda sad since no one wants to actually use our Pawn,” one writes. “Oof, 99% of my rents are greyed out,” writes another. “Feels bad, but never mind.”
The server-hopping companions continue to be one of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s most fascinating playgrounds. Pawns who are rented out for real start returning to their players with rotten food as fans try to devise ways to warn one another about possible Dragonsplauge afflictions. Other players prank one another by sending Pawns back with forged Ferristones as gifts.
The worst NPC in the land
Image: Capcom / FX / Kotaku
Meet Martin, the human magistrate from Vernworth that everyone hates. He’s hard to find, breaks quests, and is just an all-around sack of griffon turds. Players can kill him after finding him in Melve yelling at Ulrika for treason and they do.
A one-hit kill “Unmaking Arrow” is a godsend
Survival can be tough in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Massive mythical creatures stalk you at every turn. But none of them can stand up to the Unmaking Arrow, an item so powerful Capcom autosaves the game after you use it. At least one player managed to circumvent this save-scumming safeguard using cheat engine tools and proceeded to kill everything they came across. Regular fans debate the best vocations in the game. Many believe it’s obviously Mystic Spearhand or Magick Archer while others claim the base Thief and Sorcerer roles remain superior.
Players debate the game’s friction
Dragon’s Dogma 2 limits fast travel, doesn’t let you fully restore health unless you’re in town or have camping equipment, and severely limits the amount of junk you can carry in your inventory. The consensus is that the fantasy RPG is friction-heavy compared to other open world games like modern Assassin’s Creed titles, but less unanimous is whether that’s always a good thing or occasionally masks genuine shortcomings. Theresultingconversationisinconclusivebut enlightening.
A second major patch nerfs Dragonsplague
After untold death and destruction, the development team decides to dial back Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Pawn disease. In addition to being more noticeable, the sickness is also less frequent. The April 25 update also reduces how much NPCs banter during quests and removes old treasure chests from players’ maps, in addition to other fixes. What it doesn’t do is markedly improve performance on PC.
Capcom shareholders get an unexpected payout
Dragon’s Dogma 2sells 2.5 million copies in its first 10 days where the first game took a whole month just to sell less than half that amount. That brings the franchise’s lifetime total sales up to 10 million, pushing it well past the cult status it had previously enjoyed for years. “Dragons Dogma 2 was released in the fourth quarter and has performed favorably,” Capcom announced in a revision to its earnings forecast. It increased its projected dividend per company share by $.03. Not enough to afford a night in Bakbattahl but enough that the company also increases salaries for new graduate hires.
