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It's sounding like more live-action anime projects are likely on the way, as Crunchyroll and Sony are interested in developing some. The superhero well isn't exactly dry, as there's a whole ocean of IP to adapt from, but for Marvel, apart from its big success with Deadpool & Wolverine, the MCU has been waning in popularity since the release of Avengers: Endgame. That could be part of a broader superhero fatigue, James Gunn's new DCU will be the real test of that, but Hollywood quickly moved on to video game adaptations, with movies like the Sonic the Hedgehog pair of films and the Super Mario Bros. Movie all doing very well, and shows like The Last of Us and Fallout proving very popular. But there's another IP mine that Hollywood is clearly interested in tapping: anime. We've already seen it with the live-action One Piece adaptation, which has done incredible well, and Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is currently working on a Naruto movie - there was also those bad live-action Cowboy Bebop show, ****** Note movie, and Ghost in the Shell adaptation, but still, clearly anime is where it's at next alongside video games). So it shouldn't be surprising to hear that Sony and Crunchyroll are having discussions about more live-action adaptations. Read more View the full article

More than 37 million players were online on Steam for the first time in the PC platform's history thanks to the raging success of ****** Myth: Wukong. As reported by PC Gamer, Steam hit a new record number of concurrent players on August 25, 2024, as exactly 37,266,324 users were online at once according to player tracking website SteamDB. The popularity of Steam is always increasing gradually but this spike in players, taking it from around 34 million during most of July and early August to the eventual 37 million number, coincided with the record-breaking release of ****** Myth: Wukong. The action role-playing game set within ******** mythology and the famous story Journey to the West launched to an enormous 2,223,179 concurrent players on Steam and therefore overtook Cyberpunk 2077 as the most played single-player launch of all time on Valve's platform. It is currently the second most-played Steam game of all time, behind only PUBG. Developer Game Science soon revealed that ****** Myth: Wukong sold 10 million copies in just three days and had three million concurrent players across all platforms. That puts it up there with the likes of Pokémon in the fastest-selling video game category. IGN has reported on a super cool ****** Myth: Wukong secret that lets you summon one boss to beat another boss while you basically do nothing, and on how one optional boss encountered very early in the game is absolutely destroying players. While you’re here, IGN has plenty more ****** Myth: Wukong guides to help you out, including Essential Tips and Tricks, Things ****** Myth: Wukong Doesn't Tell You, and our Boss List and Guides. Not all press has been positive, however, as Game Science has been criticised for telling content creators who were granted a Steam key that they must not include “feminist ***********” or use what are called “trigger words” such as COVID-19 in their coverage. Game Science is also yet to respond to IGN’s previous report compiling numerous sexist comments made by the studio's founders and other developers spanning the last decade. Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. View the full article

It would be an understatement to say that Visions of Mana has high expectations to live up to. There hasn’t been a main entry in the Mana series in nearly 20 years, with only spin-offs and 3D remakes of older games tiding fans over in the meantime. But thankfully, the wait was worth it. Although there are a few glaring flaws, Visions of Mana successfully brings the series into the modern age with excellent combat and class systems, as well as a new cast of likable characters. It's not only a great Mana game, but it’s become one of my personal favorite JRPGs in years. If I could sum up my impressions of Visions of Mana’s storytelling in its opening acts with one word, it would be “simple” – and I mean that as a compliment. I’m a big fan of games tackling complex subjects or having dense lore to comb through, but not everything needs to be complicated just for the sake of it. Visions of Mana keeps its plot straightforward instead of bogging it down with needless exposition — at first, at least. You play as Val, a skilled swordsman who must ******* a group of people chosen to sacrifice their souls to sustain the Tree of Mana. This includes Hinna, Val’s childhood friend and hinted sweetheart, and I found the duo endearing right from the start. You’d normally expect a character in Val’s role as a guardian to be someone who takes things too seriously, but instead he’s cheerful, charming, and brimming with optimism. And rather than dwell on being compelled to sacrifice herself, Hinna is honored to be selected and excited to make her pilgrimage with Val by her side. The party members they gain along the way have their own distinctive personalities that add variety. Careena, for example, is plucky yet irritable, and — for some baffling reason I’m still trying to wrap my head around — speaks with a heavy Texan accent. Morely, meanwhile, is easily the most serious of the group, but it's his blunt attitude that leads to some of the funniest moments. It soon becomes apparent what shaped your new friends into the people they are, and each has a proper arc that gives them a chance to grow as individuals by directly confronting their own flaws. Rather than feeling like side stories, their tales are woven into the central plot in a way that feels organic. Gaining more insight into these characters helped change my entire perspective of them — for instance, Careena begins the journey as a brat and I had initially dismissed her as rude, but by the end, I found her to be one of the most endearing party members. The main story had me intrigued from the very beginning. Visions of Mana’s main story itself had me intrigued from the very beginning, but while I loved the brisk pace of the first half, it slows to an absolute crawl later on. To avoid spoilers, I’m not able to go into detail about what my biggest gripes are, but there’s a large chunk of the final 15 to 20 hours (I rolled credits on the campaign in just under 40) that I strongly felt was unnecessary padding. There ends up being a lot of retreading, and it feels like an unwelcome detour from where the story had been heading. This turning point is also when the simplicity I initially liked was thrown out of the window and the dreaded exposition dumps started to pile up on top of each other. As a whole, I still found the overall story to be enjoyable and the ending to be emotionally satisfying, but these pacing issues later on frustratingly squander much of the early momentum that had been built up. But the real star of Visions of Mana, one that shines even when the story falters, is its combat. Fights are fast and frantic, with a number of systems to keep track of. You have your standard and special attacks alongside moves and spells, such as fireballs or shurikens, to mix things up and exploit ****** vulnerabilities. It’s also strategic because attacking, taking damage, and using moves slowly fills up the Class Strike gauge that then lets you perform a devastating ******* you’ll want to unleash as often as you can (preferably at the exact right moments). During all this, you’ll also incorporate equipable items called Elemental Vessels, each of which provides its own special ability. For example, the Luna Globe will briefly create a small bubble on the battlefield that slows down enemies while speeding up attacks and spell casting times of the party. However, when a character equips any given Elemental Vessel, they will also automatically be swapped to its associated class, which leads me to my absolute favorite mechanic in Visions of Mana: the class system. While the function of the Luna Globe itself will never change, the role, moves, and abilities of the character equipped with it will, and every character has a class entirely unique to them for every element available. The Luna Globe will transform Val into an Aegis, changing him from his default melee role into a tank that lets him wield a lance and shield rather than his usual sword, but Careena will instead become a Moon Charterer and takes on a buff-support role through fan dancing. As an Aegis, Val can use a move to aggro enemies and gains an ability that allows him to survive what would otherwise have been a fatal ***** with 1HP once per battle, and it’s the way these options come into play as you swap around that really highlights the fun of each class The real star of Visions of Mana is its combat and class system. You’ll unlock even more moves and abilities for each Vessel thanks to the Elemental Plot, which acts as an upgrade system. The key difference between those two types of actions is that any moves you learn are permanent and can be equipped regardless of a character’s class, whereas abilities are tied to the class itself. So Val won’t get that protection from a fatal ***** unless he’s an Aegis, but he’ll always have the option to add the aggro move to his repertoire, and that provides an exciting reason not to invest solely in one class. But the coolest part? When equipping an Elemental Vessel to a character for the first time, you get treated to a wonderfully cheesy costume transformation cutscene straight out of a Super Sentai show as they don their new thematic outfits and weapons. Even if I didn’t really want to equip a character with a particular Vessel, I’d always do so at least once because the cinematic never ******* to put a huge grin on my face. And don’t worry — once you’ve done the initial transformation sequence, you can just swap between classes at the press of a button in the menu screen between encounters. Even more depth is added to combat by Ability Seeds, which are obtained through quests, chests, and battles. Some Seeds grant you passive bonuses like upping your stats while others grant you an entirely new move to use. Later on you’ll even be able to transfer the Corestones of defeated enemies and bosses into more powerful Seeds. A particular favorite of mine let me summon a late-game boss at my leisure to unleash some serious damage. All of these systems tie together in a way that encourages strategy over button mashing. I had my preferred classes for certain characters, but some situations called for me to invest upgrade points into a Vessel I’d never use on them just to unlock certain moves, or even reclass them entirely. That might sound restrictive, but I actually liked that it encouraged me to branch out and try classes for characters I initially wouldn't have wanted to, and prevents you from putting all your eggs in one basket. Bosses can be tough if you’re not taking advantage of all your options. For instance, normally I liked to have Morley use the class associated with the water Elemental Vessel, which transforms him into a hybrid of a stage magician and Gambit from X-Men who can stun enemies. But to defeat one particularly challenging boss, I had to switch him to a class that could maximize damage output thanks to its focus on critical hits. This also meant swapping some Ability Seeds that focused on boosting his critical damage and hit rate for complete synergy. You’ll want to make sure you understand how to make the most of each class like this, because bosses in Visions of Mana can be tough even on the normal difficulty level if you’re not taking advantage of all your options. There are some really inventive boss designs, both visually and mechanically. Some might heavily focus on area-of-effect attacks while others will ******* your Elemental Vessel from you, temporarily preventing you from using it. Every boss kept me on the edge of my seat, and slaying them always felt rewarding. Exploration also makes up a huge bulk of Visions of Mana. From lush jungles to snowy tundras to seaside villages, every single location feels unique and lets the gorgeous art style shine — it's vibrant and looks like something out of a storybook, which fits the fantastical tone. Hidden chests and collectables had me exploring every inch of the map and pulled me to optional areas I otherwise would have breezed right by. There are side quests, collectables, and more still left for me to tackle, too, and I can’t wait to ***** right back in to complete everything Visions of Mana has to offer. That said, while the art style itself is great, I did notice a fair share of visual bugs. There are a lot of moments where the lipsyncing didn’t match up, and at one point a character was speaking without their mouth moving at all. I also ran into a few huge framerate drops despite playing in performance mode on PlayStation 5, though these were extremely rare. View the full article

After going open source back in mid 2022, the Wii U emulator Cemu started providing experimental builds with Linux support and now it's out proper with the new Cemu 2.1 release. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Stardew Valley is a titan of the video game industry but creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone wants to see it cross over with another juggernaut to create an experience that some may find jarring. Crossovers have risen in prominence in recent years as publishers and developers chase the popularity of intellectual properties to generate long-term interest. Even games that don't need the help of guest characters like Call of Duty are getting in on crossovers, hosting several franchises like The Boys, ******* on Titan, and Tomb Raider. View the full article

Nothing beats gathering up your friends for a Supermassive game night. Between Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures Anthology, discussing and deciding between you which stereotype teens will survive and which will perish is the closest you can get to being an actual slasher director. Scary movies have always been a communal experience, and now the new The Casting of Frank Stone demo brings that to the ***** by Daylight universe for free. With the launch right around the corner, this is your chance to get a taste of the new DBD spinoff. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The Casting of Frank Stone breaks Supermassive's worst tradition The Casting of Frank Stone release date, trailers, and story DBD spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone finally has a launch date View the full article

After re-releasing the first Resident Evil, GOG have now done the same for Resident Evil 2, getting a load of improvements in along the way. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Both AMD Ryzen 7000 and 9000 CPUs are set to receive some serious performance gains when the Windows 11 24H2 update lands later this year, with gains of up to 35% in some games. Some Intel CPUs will also get a boost, but AMD owners will get the biggest benefit from this Windows 11 24H2 update performance boost, with an average performance gain of 10-11%, depending on the exact CPU. With AMD's latest offerings already being among the best gaming CPUs available, these new gains are likely to widen the gap over Intel's offerings even further. However, with only limited testing being conducted with this update on Intel's chips, it could be a more even ****** than these initial numbers suggest. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: AMD Ryzen 9000X3D CPU launch delayed until CES 2025, says ***** Here's how a Window update will fix AMD's Ryzen gaming CPU performance You won't be allowed to buy the Asus Warhammer 40K GPU after all View the full article

Depending on your Linux distribution, you may need a small fix to get Valve's new game Deadlock to work properly. So here's what you need to know. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

***** by Daylight fans can check out a narrative spinoff of the series The Casting of Frank Stone for the first time with a demo that's available right now. It includes the prologue of the Supermassive Games title, just to give you a teaser of the horror that's to come. View the full article

Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition appears set for an announcement after a rating for the game popped up online. Gematsu spotted Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch via a rating in Taiwan. Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition has been rated for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch in Taiwan. This was also listed as part of the EpicDB (Epic Games Store database site) ***** back in June. [Hidden Content] — Gematsu (@gematsu) August 26, 2024 Worms Armageddon, which is still available today across multiple storefronts, is considered by many to be the best Worms game ever made. Team17’s 1999 turn-based strategy classic launched for PC before getting PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy ****** ports. Players control a team of up to eight earthworms and must defeat the ****** team using everything from melee weapons to airstrikes. It’s unclear what this Anniversary Edition will add to the mix, but fans can probably expect a number of new features and modes, as well as up-to-date multiplayer. The Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition age rating was spotted ahead of today’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, which follows directly after an Indie World Showcase set for 7am Pacific / 10am Pacific / 3pm ***. Perhaps we’ll see an announcement there. We may also see LEGO Horizon Adventures at the Nintendo Direct, too, after Sony accidentally published its release date on the PlayStation website. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Experts in Star Wars Outlaws play a vital role in upgrading Kay Vess’ abilities. If you’re on the hunt for The Hotfixer Teeka, we’ve got the guide you need. Teeka in Star Wars Outlaws is a Jawa found in the deserts of Tattooine, though there are steps to complete to find the specific location—and a fetch quest to tick off before the full list of abilities becomes available. View the full article

The Password Game is tricky at best, but Rule 13 can stump players if they aren’t glued to their lunar calendar and the moon’s phases. Rule 13 asks you to include the moon’s current phase as an emoji, so knowing what the current phase is and what emoji it’s represented by is essential to moving on to the next rule. Fortunately, we’ve included everything you need to know to find out the current moon phase below, as well as a list of all the moon emojis you need to complete this rule. View the full article

Image: AMD AMD promised that Microsoft’s upcoming 24H2 update to Windows 11 would improve performance for its new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, but it’s also giving a significant boost to some older Ryzen CPUs. Hardware Unboxed has tested the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7 7700X and the new Ryzen 7 9700X (Zen 5) on both Windows 11 version 23H2 and 24H2 and found a significant performance increase thanks to Microsoft’s OS update. On average, Hardware Unboxed found an improvement of 10 percent across multiple games running at 1080p resolution on the older Ryzen 7700X running Windows 11 version 24H2. On the latest Ryzen 9700X, Windows 11 24H2 provides an 11 percent performance improvement on average in the same game tests. KitGuru has also tested AMD’s best gaming... Continue reading… View the full article

KitKat has sponsored League of Legends esports for a long time, and now the company’s sweet chocolate bars have made it into the game itself. Fans who attend the 2024 LEC Season Finals in Munich, Germany this weekend will be able to obtain KitKat’s “Have a Break” emote, the company announced on X on Aug. 26. Fortunately for League fans following the competition from home, it will also be obtainable through an online raffle, though the details remain unknown at the time of writing. View the full article

If you want to prepare for WoW The War Within‘s PvP challenge, finding the PvP vendor in the new expansion is a perfect way to start. If you’re looking to spend your gold and resources on some PvP gear to help you climb your rank later on, here’s everything you need to know about the PvP vendor in WoW The War Within, including its location, the gear you can buy, and more. View the full article

Faker is close to playing nearly half of League of Legends’s official roster in pro play after locking in his seventh pick this weekend in the LCK playoffs. During T1’s series with KT Rolster in the 2024 Summer LCK playoffs, Faker locked in Smolder for the first time, a usually dominant ADC champion. It ended up serving the legendary midlaner well, helping T1 win the match and eventually win the series 3-1 to move on to the next round. View the full article

The zodiac plays a huge role in today’s NYT Mini Crossword and the “Point of transition between two zodiac signs” is likely to trip many players up, which is why we have the answer for you along with hints to get you toward the solution. ‘Point of transition between two zodiac signs’ NYT Mini Crossword clue Aug. 27 hints One across clue. Screenshot by Dot Esports Hint one: On the verge.Hint two: It can be any zodiac signs.Hint three: Rearrange “PUCS.”Hint four: Starts with “C.” If you’ve successfully got the word I congratulate you, if not, read on for the solution. View the full article

Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival is gracing the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC after its initial release on Switch in 2022. It will come with platform-exclusive songs. If you pre-order, there will be five free Namco-related tracks to play in the game. View the full article

Experts in Star Wars Outlaws provide a wealth of new abilities and upgrades. One of the most famous faces in Star Wars appears as the High Roller, Lando Calrissian, and we’ll tell you where to find him. While Star Wars Outlaws focuses away from the direct conflict between the Empire and the Rebels, there are still some elements of the larger battle at play throughout the game—with the appearance of Lando Calrissian one of the biggest. View the full article

It's been a while since I last played World Of Warcraft, but that doesn't stop me from listening to the Elwynn Forest theme whenever I need to decompress. And as I understand it, WoW's latest expansion The War Within adds to a game that's largely unrecognisable from those vanilla days. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and with TWW out this very second it does make me think, "Hmmm, what if I do make a return". This happens every time. I'd quite like to see the new continent, the new class features, and the expanded Skyriding. Read more View the full article

Besides a powerful sentinel agent and a mystical skinline, Act Two of VALORANT Episode Nine introduces a new battle pass, featuring several rewards for you to grab. Here’s a list of all player cards, **** buddies, ******* skins, and sprays you can collect during this Act. Like always, the Episode Nine, Act Two battle pass features 50 tiers of rewards, plus five “Epilogue” tiers. You can purchase the premium battle pass for 1,000 VP to unlock a bunch of paid rewards, or stick with the free reward track for a few exciting VALORANT goodies. If you’re not sure whether the battle pass is worth spending money on, we’ve listed all the rewards you can get to help make your decision. View the full article

Get ready to take a trip to the cinema, SatoSugu fans (and possibly a flight too), as Jujutsu Kaisen's Hidden Inventory arc is getting a compilation movie. Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 was some of the best anime I've seen in a while, and while I'm extra fond of certain episodes in particular, it's the season's first arc, Hidden Inventor/ ********** ******, that's the clear standout. From the slice-of-life-esque opening, to the ridiculously high quality of all five episodes, to the emotional beats that absolutely devastate you, it's an arc that could easily work as its own self-contained series. And clearly enough other people feel similarly, as over the week, the anime's official Twitter account announced that the short arc is being turned into a compilation movie, with a planned release of sometime in 2025. Unfortunately, those are all the details available right now, but hey, you could always just rewatch Hidden Inventory to get all your Gojo-Geto shipping needs sorted in the meantime. Compilation movies aren't all that uncommon for popular anime, particularly for series with short episode counts, and considering how long the Shibuya Incident arc is in season 2, Hidden Inventory feels like the perfect arc to cut into a film. Occasionally these films have newly added scenes and touched up animation, but don't hold me to it on this front, as it doesn't always happen. There's also zero word on whether the film will even be released outside of Japan, so you might want to consider saving up for flights and hotels just so you can see last year's biggest anime ship on the big screen. Read more View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Images of Deadlock, the new six-vs-six hero shooter developed by Valve, surfaced online in May 2024. Ever since, eager players have been hungry to learn more about the characters they’ll control in battle. Now, interested players are slowly getting access to the not-so-secret playtest (similar to how Dota 2, Artifact, and Counter-Strike 2 worked over the years), and as a result, we’ve gotten a much more in-depth look at Deadlock‘s initial roster—ranging from flying imps and burly blacksmiths to huge battle robots. View the full article

Reaching level 80 in WoW The War Within unlocks a ton of new content, including some new questlines. One of them, An End to the End, is part of a wider chain in Azj-Kahet. You’re in the right place if you’re wondering how to start or complete this quest. WoW The War Within: An End to the End quest guide Start the chain by speaking to Arak’Nai. Screenshot by Dot Esports In WoW The War Within, An End to the End is part of a quest chain that starts at Widow Arak’nai in Azj-Kahet. You can find her in The Weaver’s Lair at coordinates 56, 44. You need to be level 80 to get the first quest in the chain: Advance to Faerin. View the full article