#also i absolutely cannot play this game until it comes out on ps5 so it wont be for a bit but im still excited--

[dent-de-leon]

so if I wanted to make a little Mollymauk to play as in bg3,, what class should I make him in lieu of bloodhunter--

[weirdmarioenemies]

IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT BUGSNAX

Do you know about Bugsnax? You gotta know about Bugsnax! Everyone’s talkin’ ‘bout Bugsnax! The game that baffled viewers of the PS5 reveal, leading to many sarcastic jokes about it being “game of the year”, and leading so many to convince themselves and others that it MUST be secretly a horror game.

And that’s BOGUS! Even kind of rude, if you ask me. Isn’t it sad how so many simply cannot accept that something so unabashedly silly, so proudly whimsical, can exist without a twist? That the core concept, that the developers put so much passion into, isn’t seen as “enough”, and that it apparently must be a sort of cover-up? I sure think it is. It’s basically the new “were they on DRUGS when they made this”!

Of course, when I saw the reveal of Bugsnax, I knew the truth. That this was like a game tailor-made for me specifically. A creature-collecting game where EVERY single creature is not just food with googly eyes (which, by the way, puts EVERY Bugsnak on my Best Ever Characters List), but EVERY single one is based on some sort of invertebrate! Not a SINGLE collectable creature here that I dislike, or even not like that much!

And as we learned more, the passion only grew! Even the regular characters are funny creatures... there are mysteries to be uncovered... there’s a boatload of LGBT+ representation, even! There’s a non-binary character who’s just as prominent as everyone else, who everyone else effortlessly uses the correct pronouns for! 

At this point, I’ve not only become a quite prominent member of the Bugsnax fandom across the wiki and official Discord server, but I’ve now finally played Bugsnax, and it is my favorite piece of media ever. I am not exaggerating. Please, if you get the chance, play Bugsnax (by Young Horses Games, creators of Octodad, by the way!). I could go on for so long. But this is not a game review, it’s a creature review! And this is not just a Funky Friday. It’s Flavor Friday this week!

So I’m going to be talkin’ ‘bout a bunch of Bugsnax! Both some of the most major ones, as well as some of my top favorites. Each Snak’s name will be a link to a video of all their lovely voice clips! I will not be talking about any plot details, but some Bugsnax discussed will be ones not “officially” revealed at the time of the game’s release, so keep that in mind if it may concerns you!

STRABBY

We will start with Strabby, the first Bugsnak ever seen, as well as, without a doubt, the mascot! And I think it’s perfect for the role. It’s simple, it’s iconic, it’s cute, it’s silly, and I would probably say this about any Bugsnak if it were the mascot, but Strabby is the one with an official plush, so here we are!

Strabby is based on a ladybug, and maybe it doesn’t resemble one THAT much, but I still think it makes sense, as a red little “bug” with seeds resembling spots in a way, and being conventionally charismatic overall.

Also, say hello to Sprout! This baby Strabby in a ball is entrusted to the player to take on their adventure, and can be directed with a laser pointer to access small areas, and help catch other Bugsnax!

BUNGER

Strabby may be the mascot, but Bunger is, without a doubt, the breakout star! All Bugsnax are silly, but Bunger is absolutely goofy. This fast food rhino beetle runs around without a care in the world, saying “bungerbungerbunger”, and gleefully knocking any other creature it sees into next Tuesday. They also knock away any traps in their path, but their recklessness and love for ketchup is key to capturing them!

CINNASNAIL

Strabby and Bunger may be the only ones with dancing gifs (for now), but now we enter my FAVORITES! Starting with Cinnasnail, who is absolutely perfect in every way, and of course my number one favorite. A cinnamon roll snail is even a creature concept I’ve come up with and drawn myself over four years ago, and seeing Bugsnax have the same idea for my favorite creature was really magical! Of all the Bugsnax, Cinnasnail not only has my favorite “bug” basis, but maybe also my favorite snack basis. I do not eat cinnamon rolls very often at all, but they are so splendid. As a snail, it is of course rather easy to catch, but it tends to be JUST out of reach... you will need some way to retrieve the trap before it escapes!

FRYDER

Fryder may be cute like all the others, but it’s also really dang cool! I really love the visual of the ketchup cup being the main body, but also like a sort of obscuring hat. Fryder is based specifically on orb-weaving spiders, and unfortunately its ketchup webs did not make it into the final game, but it still behaves uniquely in that it lurks on cave ceilings until tempted with ketchup to come down!

DR SODIE

Dr Sodie is one of many Sodies throughout the game, all delightful and based on specific canned drinks, but Dr Sodie in particular is my favorite, thanks to its name, implying this Sodie has a medical license. At this point, you may be questioning how this is a snack at all, but Bugsnax are only KINDA bug and KINDA snack! This is 100% edible and 100% Bugsnak, baby! Sodie’s anatomy fascinated me even before I played the game, and hearing it SING made it for sure one of my top favorites! It is also one of the ones I was most confused on the bug basis for, until finding out that Sodies are shrimp! I think they have some of the most interesting behaviors, too. They swim happily around, but unlike most Bugsnax, they HATE sauce of all kind, and spray water to wash it all away! How inconvenient... or is it?

CRAPPLE

a CRAB! a CRABAPPLE! Delightful! It’s a bit hard to see here but yes, it does have eyestalks. Crapple is important to me on a personal level, you see. Every day, I eat an apple with peanut butter for breakfast. And Crapple’s favorite sauce is peanut butter! You can even cover Crapple itself with peanut butter! I can make peanut butter apple IN this game! As if it wasn’t perfect enough. Also wonderful is that Crapple is a curious creature and likes to pick things up and bring them back to its lair!

I really do have a lot to say about Bugsnax. But I think this is a good point to stop at for now, given the length of the post! There will be a part 2 in the future, and this one will probably be soon!

[jackdawyt]

Since my last news update in March, today I’m dissecting everything that has come out of the woodwork in April and May regarding Dragon Age 4. So, get some tea and let’s get this show on the road, because we’ve got over 4,000 words of news to delve into!  

Reveal? (game shows/new hire/remaster):

Following the cancellation of E3, EA Play 2020 Live has been officially confirmed as a digital show, taking place on June 11th, at 4:00 pm PST / 7:00 pm EST. 

Before the outbreak cancelled E3 2020, we knew Mike Gamble, the Project Lead on the next Mass Effect game had plans to make a physical appearance at E3/EA Play. So, the question remains, will BioWare still have a presence at EA Play this year?  

Mike Gamble is one of the key members of the Mass Effect team, I highly doubt he’s talking about revealing the next Mass Effect game which is currently in very early stages of development, and won’t release until after Dragon Age 4. Perhaps, Mike back in 2019 was hinting at revealing the heavily rumoured Mass Effect Remaster this EA Play?

Earlier in May, EA had a quarterly conference call and it revealed some fascinating information regarding future unannounced titles. Currently, EA have “one more EA HD title, Four EA Partner titles and two mobiles games still unannounced”. Also, EA said "multiple titles" are set to launch on Nintendo Switch this year.

The EA HD title refers to a remaster of an EA game, hence why most people are speculating at the Mass Effect Trilogy. Venturebeat went on to officially state that this title was indeed the Mass Effect Trilogy.

So, there’s one rumoured possibility for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster to be revealed this EA Play, which is cool! BioWare may have a presence this year after all! But I know you all didn’t come for Mass Effect; you came for Dragon Age. So, what do we know about that franchise and a potential reveal?

Jo Berry, a Writer at EA retweeted EA Play Live’s announcement with a party emoji! 👀  

This could be absolutely nothing, but at a whim, perhaps a reference to a Dragon Age 4 teaser, or EA Motive’s new I.P since she has worked within both teams....  

On top of that, Brianne Battye, Writer at BioWare tweeted about her 8-year journey at BioWare. She’s very grateful for sharing her work, and the awesome people she’s worked with along the way.

Patrick Weekes replied saying they: “Cannot wait for everyone else to see what you've been working on recently. :)”

Then, Brianne said: “Right back at you :)”

Two HUGE witters on the Dragon Age team are excited for everyone else to see what they’ve all been working on recently! 👀 When I saw this tweet, I was trying to stay calm and keep my expectations low, but come on when you see a tweet like this, you just get so excited! The question is, when will we see what they’ve been working on, and is it anytime soon? Please?

Well, there is something else we need to talk about that may relate to a potential tease.

Hilary Heskett, who used to be EA’s Global Product Manager has returned to work at EA and BioWare. Put simply, she’s a Digital Marketer for BioWare.  

Hilary; particularly, was heavily involved in Dragon Age: Inquisition’s marketing! In fact, the majority of her work at EA involved representing BioWare as a brand online creating trailers, key art, screenshots, packaging, and advertisements. So, it’s a fair assumption that she’ll be fulfilling the exact same role for future BioWare titles like Dragon Age 4.  

With Hilary joining the team at this point in development, could the marketing stages of Dragon Age 4 soon begin, perhaps at EA Play? Or later on in 2020? Or is she going to be marketing the Mass Effect Remaster?

I sound impatient, but, in the past BioWare have a habit of starting the marketing stages of their products at least two years before an initial release.  

With that, we’ve got to ask ourselves, is hiring a marketer at this point in time a mere coincidence? or is it preparation for when marketing does start? Are we on the verge of seeing Dragon Age 4 official content soon?  

Not to waffle on, because we’ve got a lot to talk about in this video, but I was hired as a Digital Marketer for an app company in the UK. As I understand it, you normally enter projects, mid-to-end of production, because what would a marketer do in the early stages logically? Your role is to be there for the advertising of the product.  

So, in BioWare’s case, it's my understanding that Hilary has joined the team with one year full-swing production, is she about to begin the marketing stages of the next Dragon Age game? Is the game ready for that stage? If anything, I think with Hilary’s background, she’s the perfect person to market Dragon Age 4.  

On top of EA Play, Geoff Keighley announced Summer Game Fest, a new industry-wide celebration of video games. Showcasing digital news, In-game events, & playable content. EA are headlining the event with EA Play, but there are many other world premieres spread throughout the summer. So, there’s a potential for other trailer reveals later on in the year, not to mention The Game Awards.

And, there’s also this leak that shows Dragon Age 4 on a list of PS5 games from the newest issue of PlayStation magazine UK. PlayStation are having an event on June 4th, so we’ll find out if this leak is true soon enough.

If we’re going to see anything Dragon Age 4 related this year, EA Play is the biggest contender for a reveal. I know the whole world could do with that right now! At this current moment, there is no schedule for the show. However, Saria, myself, Fusselkorn and maybe other content creators will be streaming EA Play, no matter what, so turn those reminders on and come join us in our clown suits.

Development (teases/production):

Moving on to teases and development updates. Currently, BioWare are hiring a ‘Senior Outsource Producer.’

This is a pretty big deal, to those who don’t know what a ‘Senior Outsource Producer’ would do...

“Outsourcing development means to hire out any process of a business to third party. The process helps your company or organization to grow.”

To grant more perspective, during Mass Effect: Andromeda’s development, major aspects of the game's animations were outsourced to other EA studios. 

However, this isn’t going to be the same for Dragon Age 4, this role is for one Producer to help the outsourcing team into a robust and comprehensive department that supports BioWare projects in all aspects of development.  

I have friend in triple AAA games, and they had something to say about outsourcing regarding Dragon Age 4: “To be honest, I'd say (outsourcing is) different per studio due to scope. But with something big like Dragon Age I'd probably say outsourcing would start early to mid-production as they have a hell of a lot to do. Some studios outsource from the get go though so that's also possible. And It's rare that outsourcing starts in the final leg of development.”

What I understand from the job posting is that BioWare are looking to hire a producer who will be dedicated to outsourcing so they can establish a pipeline and maintain proper standards for outsourcing. This hiring was posted in May, so the studio might be a few months early from when they actually have to outsource. However, this process will be coming up soon in major development.  

Moving on. In early April, Mark Darrah went on a twitter rampage sharing many tweets relating to Dragon Age 4. One tweet stated: “Is tweeting more going to make you all speculate more or less?”. Followed by a poll with the answers “more”, “less” & “Dragon Age 4!?”

The following week, Mark Darrah teased his three Wolf-Rook books he has placed on a shelf at home.

Later on, in the month, he decided to stack each of them, prompted with the caption: “Spoiler: these are a terrible building material…”

Just last week, Mark tweeted the Wolf-Rook book once more, with the following meme: “Dear men, what is preventing you from looking like this?”

This cheeky tease encouraged Melissa Janowicz (Gameplay Designer) to join the fun and share her own Wolf-Rook book! She said: “It's an absolutely gorgeous book. I'll treasure it for life.”

Ahhh. The secrets these books could hold about Dragon Age 4’s core concepts.... And Mark Darrah is just staking them together, making book forts out of them, as you do! 😂 Maybe one day, we’ll uncover the secrets held within every page, but that day is not yet upon on.

On the same memey day, Chris Anderson, (Application Development/Publishing Support at BioWare) tweeted: “Other people are teasing things, so what the hell, here's an image that I used in something I was working on today.” With a pink image shown.  

Chris and Melissa followed a Twitter conversation about pink being the “perfect colour for when you need something that screams temp.”

Basically, this pink actually has some context for the development of Dragon Age 4. ‘Temp’ means temporary textures, the first blocked out layer of a texture before actual detailed textures are added.

This can refer to many scenes or models in the early texturing phases, as art assets are still in the approval stages. On a wild, out-there whim, perhaps the team are wrapping up a trailer for a reveal? Maybe?... please?

John Epler (Narrative Director) shared his most controversial opinion of all time:

I loved the Hinterlands, but as a fan of the previous Dragon Age game’s ‘linear with freedom' approach, I appreciate John’s take on open world’s since Dragon Age: Inquisition, perhaps this will shape the way forward for future BioWare titles?  

Alix Wilton Regan, voice actress of the Female British Inquisitor retweeted Autumn Witch’s poll asking if people believe the Inquisitor will return as a voiced appearance in Dragon Age 4. Alix tweeted: “C’mon #DAI Fans, you know what to do ;)”

Patrick Weekes replied to Alix’s post with an eye's emoji 👀.... I think I speak for everyone when I say, in some capacity, the Inquisitor has got to return in the next game!

In another tweet, Patrick Weekes teased potential new companions when a Twitter trend placed 5 Dragon Age characters in 6 different camps went around the platform.  

When choosing their preferred camp, Patrick Weekes tweeted: “Finally, in Camp 7, it's turned into a bit of a mess, with coffee grounds spilled everywhere and the couch inexplicably on fire after a drinking game gone wrong. But that's another story.” 

Of course, there’s not much to tear apart here, but we have acknowledgement of the next party members! It sounds like they’re a wild bunch already!  

In early April, Mark Darrah answered a few current development tweets:

So, that’s...Splendid.

Karin Weekes (Editor) tweeted that they “got to sort/catalog/document updates to made-up languages at work today.”  

Following that tweet, @ladyiolanthe asked Karin: “Do you think BioWare might ever be able to release Qunari, Dwarvish, and Elvhen lexicons in a World of Thedas Volume 3 sort of book? Or is that unlikely since they're ciphers and maybe there isn't a standardized grammatical structure, etc?”

Karin replied with: “That’s an interesting idea - I, for one, would find it a hoot! I might send out some feelers…” Any books of made-up languages I can get my hands on would be greatly appreciated!  

Alain Baxter, (‘Production guy’) tweeted: “BioWare review of content today. All I can say is “Scriplet”. 😎

Apparently a ‘Scriptlet’ is an action verb. Alain is teasing premature scripts as they ‘perform their function’ So, something exciting is going down in the scripts, to be worked on in-engine. Or maybe it’s just an inside joke?

John Epler tweeted a great design message about “how 90% of ‘bad’ decisions are, in fact, the best decision at the time. For John, that will always be the camera zoomed conversations in DA: I. People didn’t like it, and asked why not just make them full scenes. But that’s not the decision they make in-house. It was 'make them simple conversations or else cut them'. Game dev is all about making the best decision you can at the time, with the resources you have .A lot of stuff you thought was weird or awkward came down to a gut call of 'this is the best I can make this and I trust it's good enough'. Sometimes we're right, sometimes not.” 

 Awesome words to think on, Dragon Age 4 will be amazing, I’m sure, but just remember to set your expectations right and realise everything design-wise, happens for a reason.  

Shifting to other design aspects. Jos Hendricks (Senior Level Designer) tweeted:

Mike Jungbluth (Animation Director) tweeted: “Just reviewed something in game that hit THIS LEVEL! Hot damn, moments like this are what I live for.” 

Both tweets are incredibly excited and telling of development for Dragon Age 4, it sounds like they’re building and prototyping an epic scene equivalent in scale to the attack at Haven scene? Perhaps, Solas destroying the Veil? Who knows, but it sounds epic, and I’m living for both dev.'s enthusiasm!

For the final tweet regarding the development side is from Åsa Roos (Principle UX Designer)

A UX designer writing about Solas? That must be for codex entries? Right? More lore on our Rebel God!  

Unannounced Dragon Age Game:

In my previous March news update, I discussed brashly about the developers on Dragon Age 4 still claiming that this project has not officially been announced yet, however, The Dread Wolf Rises teaser in 2018 certainly alluded to an announcement regarding the next Dragon Age title. Following this story, we have many sources providing clarity on Dragon Age 4’s current ‘unannounced’ situation.  

Patrick Weekes confirmed that they are “working on an unannounced game in the Dragon Age universe.”

Patrick said: “We would LOVE to be able to say more. We are really excited about what we’re working on. But we can’t share anything right now. Sorry!”

In April 2019, I painted this unannounced situation rather conspiratorial, I said that perhaps the Dragon Age dev’s can’t share anymore on the next game because Anthem was the next project, and EA are forcing them to not speak on Dragon Age. In an attempt to maintain the crowd by not letting BioWare developers regard Dragon Age 4 as the next working project in the works.

However, I don’t think it’s that deep. I think the developers are just under an NDA, and literally can’t speak about the game.  

In Episode 121 of the Anthem-based ‘Freelancer Codex’ Podcast - as a guest, Melissa Janowicz shared that the developers on the secret Dragon Age team cannot talk about the next game, in fact, they can barely talk about the contents of The Dread Wolf Rises teaser trailer.

Chris Anderson also emphasised this same point in a tweet:

As a side not, someone asked Chris why not lie and come up with fake answers to fool the fans, and Chris said: “That can, unfortunately, get me in nearly as much trouble!”

Which shows the validity and value in BioWare developer tweets. The developers can’t just lie about the project either. Which honestly helps someone like me out.

As we know, a game is coming, yet it’s still is very much unannounced, probably because as Jason Schreier reported in 2018, Dragon Age 4 is going to change at least 5 times in the next two years, perhaps BioWare don’t want to show us anything because they don’t want to set anything in stone, or show gameplay that is not representative of the final game.  

But that doesn’t extend to a CGI trailer, or a full title drop, Maker knows that would be amazing, and is within the realm of possibility.

New Lore/Fun:

We have some new lore, and other fun things I wanted to share.  

Dragon Age Comic Writer, Nunzio DeFillipis talked HUGELY about the red lyrium idol and what was originally planned for their comics.

Nunzio recently mentioned in the Unofficial Bioware Forums that the comic characters from Deception were originally chasing the red lyrium idol.

Nunzio stated that the original plan for the comics would've had the characters retrieve the red lyrium idol. Only to have Solas take it back. Eluding to the idol's planned whereabouts before the plot changed since Joplin's cancellation and BioWare's shift regarding this idol in the comics.

Does this still mean that the location of the red lyrium idol is most likely in the hands of Solas and might only be discovered in Dragon Age 4? Or does the next protagonist have a shot at retrieving the idol before Solas finds it?

It seems like a bummer that the original comic idea was scrapped and the writers were forced to change narrative direction regarding this particular idol.

As a funny tweet I saw. Emily (Domino) Talyor tweeted using her overheard in the office hashtag:

BioWare dev’s can’t even tell their kids, folks.

And, regarding the Fuzzy Freaks livestream. Patrick Weekes’s response to my question, asking how does Solas kill dwarves in their sleep if they have no connection to the Fade, was “very effectively.”  This will be a mystery I will personally be investigating when we have our hands on the game.  

Considering it was really fun for those who watched the Fuzzy Freaks livestream, I’m going to share other silly takeaways:

Patrick Weekes doing a New York accent for the Carta Dwarf is amazing!

“DREAD DUMBASS” - is a jokey dialogue option that Karen Weekes scribbled notes for future reference.  

Patrick likes soft romances and happy endings! IRONICALLY.

Patrick’s style of writing is less high fantasy and more modern.

@DrunkDalish, Co-founder of Dragon Age Day interviewed both Karen and Patrick Weekes. As a lover of Dragon Age lore, these interviews reveal so many loving tidbits that you should read for yourself. However, something I noted that was very significant regarding the future is based on Masked Empire’s ending. So, spoilers for that, but Felassan’s fate isn’t what it seems. Perhaps this elf could come back in the future if needed.

Wellbeing:

And, we come to the last topic, this one is centred on the BioWare staff’s wellbeing. Last year, there was a Kotaku article revealing the crunch and working conditions at BW, there was a lot of worry and confusion in the air that the people working on these games were struggling mentally because of senior management and many other reasons. With that in mind, I’m dedicating a section in these news updates to the wellbeing of the developers, any signs/tweets of positivity and hope will be shared in an effort to see if there has been any change in the BioWare offices since Anthem’s release.

It seems like things are going pretty well and people seem happy and optimistic about the next Dragon Age.  

If there are any major updates to a Dragon Age 4 tease at EA Play, I'll be sure to make an update video, but otherwise, be sure to join our livestream as see for ourselves what waits us this EA Play.

Let me know your thoughts down below, what do you think about a potential EA Play teaser, where are your expectations at?

[riskeith]

hi babe, hope you slept well.. ♥️

answering on the phone is just *takes screenshots* *opens tumblr app* *switch between screenshots and answering* do you also put on my messages on the laptop and answering with your phone usually, because that’s what i do lmao sjshdks. thank god for technology.

(I LOVE BEING CALLED BRO.. i believe that i would’ve been a dudebro in another life tbh..) there is? i’m not super immersed in the fandom actually so i had no idea, do you have any examples? ofc only if you wanna talk about it i know these topics can sometimes be annoying to think about. also you’re right! ‘don’t like don’t read’ is the law. follow it. i can’t believe how some people have the nerve to talk about what other people do creatively... yikes

you should if you ever find yourself not knowing what to read! i think their fics were some of my first in the fandom and they set the bar so high hehe. dude i love how oikawa just wants to see kageyama burn it’s so funny..... he’s so cocky about it while kageyama’s just his moody self. speaking of; one of my fave fics of yours is the swapping jerseys one!

WTF 😭 BABY POOLS AND POOL FLOATIES..... razor please come back to us please. sidenote but do you also think that his powers are 5 star level? hes soo powerful it’s so odd how he’s only 4 star haha... or maybe it’s just me being biased.

YEAH! THE SAVING SCENE IS SO AHHHHH. god especially if they have dialogue while person a is hurting and person b just spills all their feelings and becomes so erratic and scared and person a is like holy shit you love me.... and after everything is okay there’s still some awkwardness and tension and aaa.... 💢💔

OOO. sadly the ps5 is always out of stock it’s crazy how fast it sold out. but i mean it makes sense it’s arguably the most popular console so.. hopefully they restock soon. last of us is such a fun game! and the second part is ~gay~ which is always a plus. i’m not sure which memes you mean? tell me 👁 HAHA that makes sense actually omg... lumine and aether reunion won’t happen until like two years if the updates keep coming the way they are (STOP THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE SO FUNNY.... like hello if you want to unlock the rest of the story you either gacha $pin for it or you imagine it yourself love ♥️😗) talking about this makes me wonder what the other worlds might look like....

your followers are just here to witness us planning our co-op date sjsjdkdjskz. speaking of,,, hehe. i have some fantastic news. i’m at ar level 11 right now and co-op unlocks at level 16... i might just reach that tomorrow (today for you) so i’m just saying hehehehehehehehehehehe.... 😏♥️

BOWL CUT. my cutie little baby. also mullet? sounds nice omg you will probably rock that look... 😳 i’m a non mullet supporter but if cluna has a mullet then call me a yeehaw mullet lover i suppose. can’t believe my wife is a cowboy. OMG YEAH IT MUST FEEL SO NICE your head went bzz bzz. how long did it take for them to accept it? and yeah god ikr some people take hair so seriously which is fair but also i’ve never understood it... like it grows out..? wow you really went from a ballet girl to punk rock style huh. i feel like you’re the both sides of the ‘she was a punk she did ballet’ meme.

memo fic is a jealous fic? mmm smells good. I FIGURED jshdjdkhsjs slow songs are just not your forte, huh? rip. langst is the best yet worst thing ever tbh. and YEAH I DO we’re truly 🤝 ok literally mood sometimes it’s just nice to talk about how much you love a character through another character in a fic yk? so what if this 2k fic contains 1k words about how beautiful oikawa looks? it’s what iwa feels <3 (YOU’RE LEARNING!!!!!!! THATS SO EXCITING!! i guess you just have to drive me around, huh?)

oh i’m in love i’m with that fic my girl. and i knew about that spoiler it’s kind of hard to miss it since it’s everywhere skdhdkdhdk... god, that sounds so good thank you for sharing it. pining iwaizumi hajime >>>>>>>> the air i need to exist 🥺 

THE DAY IS SO SOON CLUNA, it’s literally here soooo soon holy shit i just can’t wait. i played for almost 6 hours today in a row like an idiot and now i never wanna see hilichurls again in my life but hey, one step closer to my baby. prepare yourself.. 😏

AWWW i had a feeling you’d be a tea person. but omg tea effects your sleep? how late is too late for you to drink it? what’s your favorite flavors? 👁 and i’m addicted to both shdkdhsks. i say addicted bc i literally have 6 cups of tea per day easily and like.. 1 or 2 coffee cups per day. it’s really bad but i can’t stop so.. 🙇🏽‍♀️

COLLEGE BOYFIES CLUNA. COLLEGE BOYFIES WITH DIP DYE HAIR. imagine them doing each other’s make up and nails before going to concerts together. imagine xiao in euphoria kind of make up. holy shit. here’s something for your overwhelmed heart jsdhjshska. xiaoven soulmates girl, no doubt about it. THE EDIT THE EDIT THE EDIT!!!! they just look so beautiful. we need scenes with them like Asap. the edit is based on a fic... notes down.

can’t wait to see your screenshots. super excited!!

xo, m.a. (i almost wrote my name down in a haste shshskdjdk... although you’ll find it out soon...)

hiya!! i slept alright~ ahaha

:o that’s smart! but no i don’t LOL whether i’m on my phone or my laptop i just continuously scroll up and down fhdskjfkhsdf i think that’s why i come close to missing some paragraphs some times oops. yay for the ~wonders of technology~

(AIGHT NICE AHAHHA fhsdkjfsh does that mean you’re a bit of a tomboy?) actually coincidentally i came across this thread: https://twitter.com/maxatsuomi/status/1350145589296685057 which gives you an idea lmao (also some things on there i wasn’t even aware of wtf) EXACTLY??? it’s even worse when non content creators try to come for content creators like?????????/ um you’re getting all this food for FREE and yet?????? lmfao the nerve of some people

i def will!! FKJSHFDSKJ yeah that do be their dynamic lolol. and thank you!! i too think i snapped on that one 😩😩 glad others agree ahahah

i actually haven’t really seen him in combat... and when we could trial him i was too busy trying to pass the quests to focus on how he fought fhdkfhsdkfjshf but i do think his abilities are cool!! he have wolf above head 🥺

YEAHHH BOYEEEEEEEEEEE god that reminds me of a scene from a drarry fic (What We Pretend We Can't See wink wonk)

oh damn!! hope they restock soon for your sake~ yissss ive watched a playthrough and omg lev.... my Son. i don’t think i can find the memes again but it was just about the bugs like how if you throw a grenade on the highway everyone will run out of their cars like a flashmob or something hfskfhsdjfkds. (LMAOOOOO) there’s actually a trailer with the other worlds! https://youtu.be/TAlKhARUcoY (it has spoilers tho supposedly lol. none we understand rn at least)

hdsfkhjs. omg you absolute legend!!!! but i also hope that you’re taking care of yourself and prioritising the important things too fhsfhdksdhf. but i am excited hehehehehe

AHHAAHKFHDSKJFSD pls... once i saw someone with an actual proper mullet on the bus and i was like “ew... keith would look like this irl?” FJSDHKFSAHKDASHDFSDJFKJFDSHFKJS. but what can i say i got influenced by all the kpop bois 😔 and hmmm idk? i think my dad didn’t care too much but ik my mum did/does fhsfskfsdfhkf so who knows lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. IT REALLY DOES GROW OUT LMAO LIKE. fhkshkfsdkj my cousin called me a rockstar when she saw it LOL so you’re prob right 🤪

yeah slow songs really just. aren’t LMAO ‘behind this mask of mine’ was based on a slow bts song and i put it in the playlist i had for it (bc obviously) but i wanted to skip it every time hfksjdhfskjdfhskfdkfhkslfhadksfjsdjhfkashkfjsdh. EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!! you are so correct. (hehehe i was gonna say that too that you don’t need to drive bc it’ll take you around 😏 LMAO)

fhkdsj thank!! legit pining iwa.......... more like pining ME mayhaps i just be self projecting 🤪🤪

lolol dw i can fight the hilichurls for you 😩 also who’s your fave enemy to fight! i used to like fighting the treasure hoarders most but the hilichurls are cute.. FHSKJDHFSDFKJSD plus i need their fucking masks my god why are their drop rates so shit hfsdhjfks

i’m not too sure actually? i’ve never been up early enough to test it but i like drinking tea like after dinner... which is the problem AHAHA. hmm well i like matcha a lot LOL but also chai? and then like black tea.... all the other ones too... i used to drink some fruity ones which were nice but we have a lot of the like basic chinese ones at home too and i enjoy those as well lol. wbu?? omg.... m.a........... dfhksdfkjhfkjshfksjd that’s a lot!!!!!!! do you even need to drink water then HKDSJFHKSDFHDKDSHFJKSDH

omg............. ive never seen euphoria LOL but ............. omg ...................... i cannot process thoughts rn.....

xoxo!! c.r. (you mean bc we’ll be playing co-op? you don’t have to if you’re uncomfy fhdskjf my genshin name was literally ‘aether’ up until yesterday FHDFHSDKFSDFJSHFKSDF)

[truemedian]

Everything shown at today’s Day of the Devs 2021 showcase

A long list of indies to look forward to It’s the time of year when big game publishers roll out their blockbuster launches, but there’s always time for the indies, too. Today’s Day of the Devs showcase, part of the Summer Game Fest kickoff, did just that: spotlight the creators bringing some new and interesting things to play. From music and soccer to fishing and anime music, there was a lot shown today. There was also the debut of several games under the Asobu label, which is acting as a “lighthouse” for indie creators in Japan, assisting developers both there and bringing them abroad. Here’s a roundup of every game shown during today’s Day of the Devs showcase: Axiom Verge 2 (Thomas Happ Games): The sequel to Metroidvania Axiom Verge got a new trailer and confirmation that it’s coming to PS4 and PS5. TOEM (Something We Made): Explore an adorable world and take pictures. What more could you want? The way the camera moves between perspectives is a little mesmerizing to watch in motion. Phantom Abyss (Team WIBY): Grab the goods and get out of the temple, before the traps and guardians get you. Every temple is its own, and only one of the many, many adventurers can claim victory over it. Garden Story (Picogram, Rose City Games): Being a hero is cool, but what’s cooler? A heroic grape. Garden Story is a Zelda-like adventure set for this summer. Soup Pot (Chikon Club): Today, the devs of Soup Pot showcased the world outside your soup pot. Grilling and skewering are also available, and will be part of your culinary toolset when Soup Pot drops this fall. A Musical Story (Glee-Cheese Studio): This newly announced game tells a story through rhythm gameplay. It looks like a narrative music game with heavy inspiration from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. I’m definitely interested, and it’s got a Steam demo available right now. LIVE 👏 ON 👏 INDIEGOGO! https://t.co/tOIEXwTeXB Vokabulantis is a co-op stop motion platformer game! All you see is made by hand. AND IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN OUR RIDE!@indiegogo ftw👫#indiegame #stopmotion #crowdfunding pic.twitter.com/NEIoanTKHV — Kong Orange – developer of Vokabulantis (@TheKongOrange) June 10, 2021 Vokabulantis (Wired Fly Stop Motion, Kong Orange, Morten Søndergaard): I cannot stop staring at this gorgeous stop-motion animated adventure. Seriously! The devs show the work that went into creating this specific look, and so far, it seems like it’s really coming together. Road 96 (DigixArt): This branching journey to the border features a lot of different possibilities, some of them mildly terrifying! It’ll be interesting to see how this meshes together narratively when Road 96 launches. The Wandering Village (Stray Fawn Studio): Sure, you can build a city. But what if you built the city on a moving animal’s back? The Wandering Village imagines a world built on a giant creature’s back, dealing with challenges as the creature lumbers along. Unbeatable (D-CELL Games): Unbeatable exploded onto Kickstarter earlier this year, and it’s easy to see why it made such an impact. The mix of bootleg ’90s anime tape aesthetic, pop-punk music, and lane-based rhythm gameplay is just rad! There’s a demo right now and I highly recommend you play it. Death’s Door (Acid Nerve): This looks like a punishing action game, but instead of knights and demons, what about… a bird? Yeah, a bird. Death’s Door somehow walks the fine line between dreary and adorable, and that seems pretty neat. Behind the Frame (Silver Lining Studio): Paint pictures and explore a room in an absolutely gorgeous world. Seriously, this just has good vibes. ElecHead (NamaTakahashi): The first of Asobu’s indie lineup, use your head to charge things with electricity! Old-school looks, platforming, and puzzle-solving abound. Demolition Robots K.K. (Takaaki Ichijo, Throw the warped code out): Asobu’s second game of the showcase, compete with your friends to annihilate buildings and be the best breaker of the city. Walk (Kazumi Games): Asobu’s third game, which was so horrifying and scary that I’m just going to move on now. Looks great for people who love PlayStation 1-era graphics and hate sleep! There’s a demo available, and please cherish this link, because it meant I had to go back to the demo page to get it for you! Moonglow Bay (Bunnyhug, Coatsink): Moonglow Bay has captured my attention every time I’ve seen it. It looks like a very relaxing game that combines some good fishing with cooking and town life; the kind of game I could definitely see myself playing at the end of a long day. Loot River (Straka Studio): A roguelite with vague Tetris vibes, as you can move blocks on the river to create new pathways and platforms to fight on. The idea of paying careful attention to your surroundings, and creating new opportunities by moving the world around you, seems pretty neat. Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena): In one of the most intriguing trailers of the showcase, Despelote is a game about football (or, in the U.S., soccer). It isn’t a FIFA though; it’s more about football as a part of the community, as you play a member of a small crew of kids that go on a journey around their community. It’s got a great look and fascinating concept, and I’m really looking forward to seeing this one come together. Last Stop (Annapurna Interactive, Variable State): Variable State’s narrative adventure closed out the showcase with a release date of July 22, 2021 and a teaser, showing all three of its protagonists and the adventures they undertake. The Virginia team looks like its building up a pretty interesting narrative journey, and thankfully, it won’t be long until we see how it all pans out. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (Night School Studio): In a surprise one-more-thing, Day of the Devs hosted a showcase of some music from the upcoming Oxenfree sequel. During it, symbols and letters appeared. What could they mean? That’s up to y’all to find out, I suppose. I’ll just say that gosh darn it, Oxenfree is rad, and I’m excited to see what Night School does with a second story in this world. Read More Read the full article

[actutrends]

Forget backward compatibility — Xbox One is ‘forward compatible’

I should be upfront and honest with you. I’m writing this story to say that I called it. What did I call? That Xbox One has forward compatibility with the next-gen Xbox. I said that on some random GamesBeat Decides podcast months ago, and I’ve definitely mentioned it on social media. And now, Microsoft is confirming that is the case.

In an interview with games-business publication MCV, Microsoft internal dev boss Matt Booty said the company doesn’t plan to have any next-gen exclusives any time soon. Xbox Series X is launching this fall. Games like Halo Infinite and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 are launching alongside it. But those first-party Microsoft releases are still going to work on your original 2013 Xbox One. If that’s where you want to play them, you’ll have that option.

“As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games — sort of like PC — will play up and down that family of devices,” Booty told MCV. “We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [the next-gen Xbox] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”

The idea of “cross-gen releases” isn’t new. That was a common strategy during the transition from PS3/Xbox 360 to PS4/Xbox One. But Microsoft is going beyond the select cross-gen game and making it a policy.

This is a consumer-friendly move by giving Xbox One owners more time before having to purchase new hardware. But Microsoft is doing it because it fits so well with its current strategy.

Why Xbox One getting forward compatibility with Xbox Series X makes sense

Microsoft’s focus is on getting people to sign up for its Xbox Game Pass service. Fans view that subscription platform as a great value specifically because it gets all first-party Xbox games on their release days. If suddenly, that stops working because you need to buy a new box — well, maybe it’s easier to just cancel Game Pass until that new box is a bit cheaper.

And that’s the main reasons why Microsoft is committing itself to forward compatibility.

Of course, this is just for Microsoft games. Third-party developers and publishers can and may choose to make next-gen exclusive releases. But that seems unlikely. Tens of millions of people own the Xbox One (and PlayStation 4). And it’s going to take a year or so for next-gen devices to reach the required critical mass to produce a blockbuster, profitable hit. The current rumors surrounding Ubisoft’s next Assassin’s Creed game suggest it is cross-gen, for example.

But Microsoft has other reasons why it needs forward compatibility.

Isn’t forward compatibility going to hold back Xbox Series X games?

The concern with forward compatibility is that it’s going to have a detrimental effect on the potential technical performance of the next-gen versions. Xbox Series X has a powerful GPU and CPU. More important, it has hyperfast SSD storage that is going to make the Xbox One and PS4 seem positively ancient.

But if Microsoft’s developers have to make Halo Infinite run on Xbox Series X as well as a 2013 Xbox One (or even the very slightly updated Xbox One S), won’t that drag down the potential of the Series X version?

Yes. Absolutely. Developers can’t assume you have eight superfast CPU cores or an SSD that can stream in content as fast as you need it. Xbox Series X first-party games are going to suffer under an artificial ceiling.

But Microsoft is going to have that problem whether the Xbox One is forward compatible or not. Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere means that all Microsoft games work on both console and PC. And developers cannot assume that PC players have an SSD (although, if you’re a PC gamer and not using an SSD I’m gonna get mad at you).

And a lot of publishers release their games for console and PC. So the industry is going to have a couple years of transition as developers slowly begin leaving HDDs behind. And if you have to support low-spec PCs anyway, why not support the low-spec Xbox One (and PS4) as well?

One last big reason why Microsoft wants forward compatibility is because of Project xCloud. As of now, its streaming technology works by putting thousands of Xbox One S systems in server racks. Sure, Microsoft can afford to upgrade that infrastructure, but if Xbox Series X games work on the current servers, it has some extra time before it has to do that work.

What about PS4 forward compatibility?

Forward compatibility makes a lot of sense for Xbox One. But I think it also makes sense for PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5. Sony, however, doesn’t have all of the same pressures as Microsoft. It isn’t promising that its first-party games will all come to PS Now or PC. So it doesn’t have as many reasons to support this concept. But I still think it would work because Sony’s first-party games are expensive to make. They are such massive productions that they almost aren’t viable unless they have a potential audience of 50 million people.

It’s going to take PlayStation 5 two-to-three years to reach that kind of install base. And Sony’s options to recoup investment on something like God of War 2 aren’t great. It can release it exclusively for PS5 in the first or second holiday to sell hardware as a loss leader. Or it can hold it off a few years until more people own the system.

But if we look back on that first year or so of the PlayStation 4, it’s obvious that PS5 is going to sell fine based on the strength of its brand in the 24 months after its launch. Sony doesn’t need a killer app to sell PlayStations. At least, it didn’t need one for the PlayStation 4 to turn into an unexpected breakout hit.

That doesn’t mean PlayStation 5 won’t have an exclusive at launch or in its first six months. But don’t expect the biggest stuff — the games that have budgets of $100 million or more — to hit as PS5 exclusives before the end of 2020.

And if a PS5 heavy-hitter comes along in the first year or so, Sony may even seriously consider putting it on PS4 as well. But the publisher will likely make that decision on a case-by-case basis instead of Microsoft’s across-the-board policy.

So when does Microsoft cutoff forward compatibility for Xbox One?

The Xbox One lives on, but is it ever going to die? This is about transitioning technology forward and serving the best platform to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. So Microsoft probably has a timetable in mind for phasing out the Xbox One. Booty has already alluded to a “year or two.”

I would expect the Xbox One to reach end-of-life around holiday 2022. That’s enough time for a price drop on a Series X. It’s also enough time for SSD prices to drop to the point where it should be illegal to use a spinning platter on PC. Those two years are also long enough for developers to ship games that take full advantage of next-gen hardware.

Maybe most important, however, is that Microsoft can spend the next two years communicating with fans. It can explain that, sure, these games work on any Xbox, but here’s what you get if you upgrade.

Finally, I expect the phasing-out process to work similarly to how it does with smartphones. By holiday 2022, Microsoft may have an Xbox Series X2 and an Xbox Series S2. And, as part of launching those hardware iterations, it may officially end support for Xbox One.

Regardless of how Microsoft decides to approach it, you can safely assume it’s going to do whatever it takes to make it as painless as possible to maintain a subscription to Xbox Game Pass. That’s what it’s all about for the company, and that’s what will drive its future strategy decisions .

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