Chivalry 2 is now feature complete, say developers, but new projects in the same universe are on the way

Few acts in games feel quite as gleefully gratifying as removing a knight’s shiny dome with a halberd swing in medieval multiplayer melee Chivalry 2. In a pastime that’s had several decades to perfect the art of hitting men with sharp objects, that’s quite the accomplishment. Since releasing in 2022, Torn Banner have lavished the player base with free horses, angry peasants, and most recently, the Regicide update – hosting a climatic tete-a-tete between two angry crownmen. With work on No More Room In Hell 2 well underway though, Torn Banner have decided to call it on Chiv 2, which they now consider “feature complete.”

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Pokémon’s New Shrouded Fable TCG Expansion Is Small But Brilliant

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable expansion kicks off on August 8, with preorders available now, and we’ve managed to get our hands on the latest expansion.

Based on the Loyal Three and their Moochi-feeding mythical master, Pecharunt, the Shrouded Fable set features some key players of the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC: Hidden Treasures of Area Zero, amongst new additions. It’s a packed set, with Kingdra ex also making a royal splash in the expansion.

As night falls, Pecharunt ex emerges, commanding the Loyal Three—Okidogi ex, Munkidori ex, and Fezandipiti ex—in their evil mission. Meanwhile, Revavroom ex lights up the battlefield as a Lightning type through Terastallization.

Here’s a firsthand look at our highlights from the Elite Trainer Box, Kingambit Illustration Collection, Kingdra ex-Special Illustration Collection, and some standout cards from Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable.

Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box Preview

The Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box is an absolute must-have if you’re a dedicated trainer. Everything is neatly organized in a collector’s box with four dividers, making storing and transporting your collection easy. Plus, a Pokémon Trading Card Game Live code card for the set is included for digital pack openings. Still, nothing beats ripping open the included boosters!

Inside, you can find nine Shrouded Fable boosters, all bursting with diverse cards to enhance your deck. This is alongside a foil promo card featuring Pecharunt, a powerful addition to your Dark-type deck and a collector’s gem. There’s also 65 card sleeves centered around Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti, all rocking a cool purple and green metallic design, perfect for a new deck build.

Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box – What’s In The Box?

  • Nine Shrouded Fable booster packs
  • Full-art foil promo card featuring Pecharunt
  • 65 card sleeves featuring the Loyal Three
  • 45 Pokémon TCG Energy cards
  • A player’s guide to the expansion
  • Six damage-counter dice and a competition-legal coin-flip die.
  • Two plastic condition markers

Kingambit Illustration Collection Preview

The Kingambit Illustration Collection looks stunning! The titled stage two card is hands down the best card art out of the big boxes in Shrouded Fable in our opinion. Kingambit commands respect and overcomes all challengers. This collection is perfect for those looking to strike, slash, and take command in their battles.

The promo card Kingambit we’ve found inside showcases the big blade Pokémon in a menacing classical painting style, alongside foil cards featuring Pawniard and Bisharp completing Kingambit evolution chain for a cool Steel type playset straight out of the box! There’s also four Shrouded Fable boosters, each a chance to find powerful and rare cards, and codes for Pokémon TCG Live.

Kingambit Illustration Collection – What’s In The Box?

  • 1 full-art foil promo card featuring Kingambit:
  • 2 foil cards featuring Pawniard and Bisharp:
  • 4 Shrouded Fable booster packs
  • A code card for Pokémon TCG Live

Kingdra ex-Special Illustration Collection Preview

The Kingdra ex-Special Illustration Collection is another fantastic addition that we love. This collection adds artistic flair to your deck while strengthening strategy with bench-damaging cards, making it a must-have for collectors.

Inside you’ll find stunning classic Japanese print artwork and powerful gameplay features from the Kingdra ex promo card, another full playset line out of the box with foil cards featuring Horsea and Seadra, codes for Pokémon TCG Live, alongside a set of five Shrouded Fable boosters. It’s nice to see those included as well.

Kingdra ex-Special Illustration Collection – What’s In The Box?

  • 1 full-art foil promo card featuring Kingdra ex
  • 2 foil cards featuring Horsea and Seadra
  • 5 Shrouded Fable booster packs
  • A code card for Pokémon TCG Live

Our Favorites Pulls From Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable

Kingambit – Illustration Rare

Stats:

  • Type: Dark
  • HP: 180
  • Attacks:
    • [D] Dark Slice (50 damage)
    • [D][C][C] Night Slash (90 damage): Switch this Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon.

Rarity: Kingambit Illustration Rare is a literal Pocket Monster. With amazing-looking artwork and two devastating attacks, this card will be very sought after by both players and collectors!

How to Play: Once a player’s Pokémon has put at least 4 damage counters on an opponent’s Bench and active Pokémon, it’s time to bring Kingambit in. Even if there are one or two Pokémon left over under 140HP, Massive Rend will one-shot them.

Fezandipiti – Illustration Rare

Stats:

  • Type: Psychic
  • HP: 120
  • Attacks:
    • Ability: Adrena Pheromone – If this Pokémon has any [D] attached and is damaged by an attack, flip a coin. If heads, prevent that damage.
    • [P] Energy Feather (30 X damage): This attack does 30 damage for each Energy attached to this Pokémon.

Rarity: As an Illustration Rare, Fezandipiti is rare, and it is very playable in dark decks. Expect this one to attract buyers with cash on the hip!

How to Play: Fezandipiti offers a superb blend of offense and defense, making it invaluable in any dark deck. Start stacking Energy on this Pokémon as soon as it hits the Bench, bringing it in to clear out any hush HP active Pokémon with Switch or sacrificing energy for retreating. Make sure to have some Energy Retrievals on hand, just in case!

Pecharunt – Illustration Rare

Stats:

  • Type: Dark
  • HP: 80
  • Attacks:
    • Ability: Toxic Subjugation: As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, put 5 more damage counters on your opponent’s Poisoned Pokémon during Pokémon Checkup.
    • [D][C] Poison Chain (10 damage) Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. During your opponent’s next turn, that Pokémon can’t retreat.

Rarity: Although it can be found easily in Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Boxes, Pecharunt’s ability is very powerful and can be used from the Bench. When in play, this Pokémon can cause 7 damage counters per Pokémon checkup, so there is no doubt this card will be seen in players’ decks quickly.

How to Play: Pecharunt is a fantastic Poisoner and can slow an opponent’s game from the Bench. Ideally, you should use another Pokémon to poison opponents and then use Pecharunt’s ability to enhance the poison. Using it alongside Garbador’s “Poisonous Puddle” ability from Rebel Clash would be a fantastic combination from a player’s Bench, allowing an active Pokémon to clean up!

Pecharunt EX

Stats:

  • Type: Psychic
  • HP: 190
  • Attacks:
    • Ability: Controlling Chains: Once during your turn, you may switch 1 of your Benched [D] Pokémon, except any Pecharunt ex, with your Active Pokémon. If you do, your new Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. You can’t use more than 1
    • Controlling Chains Ability each turn.
    • [D][D] Irritating Burst: 60x damage. This attack does 60 damage for each Prize card your opponent has taken.

Rarity: Pecharunt EX is a rare and powerful card, although not as much as its full-art variant. It’s also extremely playable, so it’s likely to be in high demand!

How to Play: Using Pecharunt EX alongside any Loyal Three EX is a winning combination and allows for switching of Dark types once a turn with no retreat cost. In our opinion, this can really slow down opponents, saving Pecharunt EX when you are low on Prize Cards to devastate an opponent’s active Pokémon.

Where to Preorder Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable

Shrouded Fable is busting out all of the usual box sets and booster bundles, this time centered around the Loyal Three of Kitakami, Okidogi, Munkidori and Fezandipiti.

They’ll all be getting EX cards alongside the malicious Pecharunt, looking to shove its cursed Moochi treats into the face of any human or Pokémon it can. Here are all the details you need to secure the your preorders for Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable, releasing on August 8.

We’re always watching the latest Pokémon deals here on IGN, not to mention giving our readers early previews of upcoming sets such as Twilight Masquerade. Stick with IGN for everything Pokémon TCG for the latest.

Christian Wait is a UK-based freelancer for IGN, you can follow him @ChrisReggieWait on Twitter/X.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Artist Celebrates Second Anniversary With New Illustration

Spotlighting Eunie.

This week marks the second anniversary of the Switch exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and while there’s nothing planned for this occasion, it seems the game’s character designer Masatsugu Saito has shared some new artwork on his social media page.

It’s an illustration of the character Eunie, with some English text on the side to commemorate this two-year milestone. Saito previously shared a similar image marking the launch of the game in 2022.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Pokemon Developer Game Freak Seeking New Talent For Future Projects

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is due out in 2025.

The famous Pokémon developer Game Freak is gearing up for a new era with titles like Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and with this in mind, it appears to be on a recruitment drive.

As highlighted by DenFamiNico Gamer (thanks, Siliconera), the developer is holding a new recruitment campaign on 30th August 2024. Some open positions don’t require previous experience in the games industry, and other roles will require at least three years of relevant work experience.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

EA CEO Says Video Game Actor Strikes Won’t Have ‘Short-Term Impact’ on the Company

Video game actors are currently on strike, in hopes that withholding their work from video game companies will push those companies to agree to better actor protections around the use of AI. However, at least one video game CEO — Andrew Wilson of Electronic Arts — doesn’t think the strike is going to impact his company, at least in the short-term.

In today’s EA earnings call, Wilson answered a question from an investor about the impact of the strike on the business. Put simply, he’s not worried for now. Here’s the full quote:

We deeply value our talented actors who are an important part of the work we do to deliver the incredible entertainment experiences that our players enjoy around the world. We’re working very closely; this is not an EA-specific situation, this is an industry-specific stuation, and we’re working diligently to negotiate at the table. The way it works now in terms of our product specifically is that the strike is limited to games commencing production after September 2023, including live service games. So we don’t expect any near-term disruption to any of the games we have in development or any of the live services we’re currently running. That being said, we’re committed to continuing to bargain in good faith and are hopeful that the parties can expediently resolve our issues at the bargaining table. But we’re not anticipating any significant short-term impact at EA.

Wilson’s confidence likely comes from the fact that EA’s portfolio is almost entirely live service games right now, and games whose development began prior to September 2023 (so, basically every live service game) are not impacted by the strike. The company’s $1.26 billion in net bookings for the quarter was driven by Madden NFL 24, FC Mobile, and FC Online, all live service games, and the rest of its coming fiscal year is much of the same: Madden NFL 25, EA Sports FC 25, NHL 25, and so forth. The Sims 4 and College Football 25, also unaffected.

Its one single-player offering, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is also fine. And while it’s impossible to speak to EA’s release slate further out, it’s probably a safe bet that next year’s release slate likely looks a lot like this year’s, and is entirely populated by games that have been in development for three, four, five or more years. EA, at least, is in a position to weather the storm for a long time.

What Wilson doesn’t mention is how this will impact the company in the long-term. The longer the strike goes, the more in-progress games will be impacted. Any game the studio greenlit after September of 2023 is going to be slowed down if no SAG voice actors will touch it, and this will impact EA’s plans for 2026, 2027, and so on. So while short-term impacts won’t be felt, it’s possible that a strike will start to have affects we’ll see years down the road, especially if a contract is not agreed on soon.

SAG-AFTRA officially called a video game actor strike late last week, beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, July 26. The union has been unable to come to an agreement with video game companies on a new contract for eighteen months, with AI protections being the primary sticking point of negotiations. The union has announced it will hold its first strike picket on Thursday, August 1 at WB Games. We wrote a detailed guide on what the SAG-AFTRA video game strike means for everyday gamers, which you can read right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The official Olympics game ditched Mario & Sonic in favour of mobile & PC – but it’s also pushing NFTs

For the past couple of decades, the official Olympics video games have starred Mario and Sonic and been exclusive to Nintendo devices. Not so, this year. Olympics Go! Paris 2024 is free-to-play and available for PC via the Epic Games Store.

Hear the curl of the monkey’s paw? Yeah, it’s a mobile game port with the touchscreen prompts seemingly still intact, and its publisher is also pushing a “commemorative Paris 2024 NFT Digital Pin collection”.

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Xbox Hardware Revenue Down 42% From Last Year as Activision Acquisition Continues to Boost Content Sales

Xbox hardware sales are way down again in Microsoft’s Q4, while gaming content sales skyrocketed again thanks to the company’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard last year.

The company posted its earnings today, which included a report of hardware revenue down 42% year-over-year. Hardware sales saw a significant dip of 31% year-over-year last quarter as well, though sales were up slightly (3%) in Q2 thanks to a series of holiday discounts and promotions. But hardware was also down 7% prior to that in Q1, and yes, dropping steadily for several quarters prior to that too.

For what it’s worth, Xbox is far from the only console maker seeing dips in hardware sales. Everyone’s impacted, according to Circana’s most recent report. Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo all say “double-digit percentage declines” in May of 2024, and the Switch saw the most significant drop. This is likely reflective of the fact that all three consoles are on the back halves of their life cycles, and is reflective of fairly normal, cyclical industry trends. Xbox has already confirmed that a “next-gen” console is in the works, and has expressed plans to share more information about hardware of some sort around the holiday season.

Gaming revenue overall appears to be doing more than fine in terms of year-on-year comparisons, even setting quarterly records. This is largely due to the boost offered by the acquisition of Activision Blizzard – it wasn’t there to make money for the company last year, now it is, so the numbers have gone up. Gaming revenue was up 44% year-over-year, but with 48 points of net impact from the acquisition, this indicates that Xbox’s not-Activision-Blizzard-related business isn’t doing quiiiiite as well as it was last year. Xbox content and services revenue faired better, up 61% year-over-year, with 58 points of net impact from the acquisition.

Overall, Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division (which includes Xbox as well as other segments such as Windows) brought in $15.9 billion in revenue, up 14% year-over-year. Microsoft will hold its Q4 earnings call and field questions from investors and analysts shortly.

Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet movie production company has apparently sent DMCA takedowns to Garry’s Mod

Earlier this month it was reported that Skibidi Toilet, the YouTube phenomenon, may be heading to film and television via director Michael Bay. Now Invisible Narratives, a production company co-owned by Bay, has apparently sent a DMCA takedown notice to Garry Newman, citing the large number of Skibidi Toilet games and assets advertised within Garry’s Mod.

Skibidi Toilet uses assets derived from Half-Life 2, however, and owes a lot to the Garry’s Mod machinima scene. And the animation’s original creator, best known as DaFuqBoom, is claiming innocence over the DMCA.

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Sonic X Shadow Generations Continues To Show Love For Sonic 06

Brand new music remix shared by Sega.

Need to hear some excellent new music for the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations? Sega has you covered today, as the developer has shared a new remix from the upcoming game.

The new track is a remix of Kingdom Valley, one of Shadow’s levels from the much-maligned Sonic the Hedgehog (or Sonic 06 as it’s often referred to). While the quality of that game may be disparaged, almost everyone can agree that the music is absolutely phenomenal. And this new remix from Audissi Studios does a fantastic job at reimagining the track for the stage’s return in Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com