Over the past few years, Microsoft has busily been acquiring first-party studios and solidifying its status as a leader in the video game software space. What gamers perhaps did not expect was for Microsoft to turn its sights to the realm of esports as well. Yet an announcement on the websitesmash.gghas revealed that Microsoft recently acquired the platform, which facilitates the organization of esports tournaments. Smash.gg originally came about in 2015, when a group of esports fans decided to make a space where gamers could easily organizeSuper Smash Bros....

New updates often come with new bugs, and the playable snapshot of theMinecraft1.20 version is no exception. The new update is planned for release some time in 2023 and has some exciting new features including the beautiful cherry blossom biome.Minecraftplayers testing out the new snapshotnaturally beelined for the new biome, albeit with varying levels of success. Minecrafthas come a long waysince it launched in 2011. The open-world sandbox still captures imaginations and enjoys massive popularity among players of all ages, and has received several big updates in its time that added exciting new features like additional biomes, mobs, and structures....

WithMinecrafthaving over 131 million concurrent users in 2020, it goes to show that tons of new players are still trying out this nearly ten-year-old game. The game is so popular that Minecraft Steveeven made his way intoSuper Smash Bros. One of the most important things when playingMinecraftis to ensure important tools aren’t in disrepair. No one wants their weapons breaking right after summoning a Wither so they lose out on a precious Nether Star....

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruinretains many unique quirks from the mainlineMonster Hunterseries. For example, the player character has a personal room in every town or village complete with an item box full of their belongings. In recentMonster Huntergames, it has become the norm to allow players to decorate their rooms with trinkets or pets. The houses inMonster Hunter Stories 2don’t offer the same level of customization, but Riders can learnhow to get Downy Crakesthat will perch cozily in the player’s room....

Today is the day that the originalResident Evilgame launched in Japan, and so it’s a big day for fans of Capcom’s survival-horror franchise. To celebrate, Capcom has made a number ofResident Evil-related announcements, but it seems fans can expect an even bigger news dump next month. Capcom has confirmed that the nextResident EvilShowcase event will take place at some point in April. Capcom didn’t reveal much about what fans can expect from theResident EvilShowcase....

Summary The Red Hair Pirates are one of the most powerful crews inOne Piece. The crew was formed many years prior to the current timeline. Shanks sought some crew members personally, such as Yasopp. Like any crew, the Red Hair Pirates needed some time before they took off. Presently, they are considered the most well-balancedcrew within the Yonko, which says a lot about their prowess. Given their power, it is hardly surprising that the Red Hair Pirates are still going strong in the Final Saga....

Summary Persona 3 Reload’s treatment of Fuuka Yamagishi is one area wherePersona 6would do well to replicate it. While Fuuka was a part ofPersona 3since the original version of the game,Persona 3 Reload’s use of the character is what should be looked at for the future. While she is still largely the same character in terms of storyline and personality, some significant changes were made gameplay-wise. Fuuka’s incarnation inPersona 3 Reloadis her most notable among the game’s releases, and it’s one that should be studied in further detail beforePersona 6comes out....

As manyPokemonfans imagine their favorite Pokedex entries with different looks, one Houndour fan has created an edit of what the Pokemon may look like without its skull mask.Pokemon Gold and Silverintroduced another 100Pokemonto the Pokedex already established with Gen 1, and many of the Gen 2 Pokemon are fan favorites, including the Dark and Fire-type Houndour. WithPokemon Red and Blue, the primary dog-themed Pokemon was Growlith and its evolution Arcanine, butPokemon Gold and Silverchanged that with Houndour, Houndoom, Snubbull, and Granbull....

ThePokemonfan community is by far one of the most creative fandoms in all of pop culture, regularly creating an array of different types of artworks featuring their favorite characters. While its common to see plenty of fan art feature fan-favorites like Pikachu, Charizard, or Bulbasaur, one Pokemon is somewhat surprisingly racking up quite a number of fan-made creations: Mimikyu. A dual-type Ghost/Fairy Pokemon first introduced in Generation 7, Mimikyu is a rather interesting Pokemon that, as its name suggests, mimics Pikachu by wearing a semi-convincing cloth resembling the mascot....

There isn’t much time left for players to take advantage of the Hoenn Celebration Event inPokemon GO. This event increases the spawn rates of variousPokemon from the Hoenn regionas well as features special tasks, raid bosses, and egg pools focused on Hoenn Pokemon. One of the biggest parts of thisPokemon GOevent is the Hoenn Collection Challenge. In order to complete this special challenge, players need to catch all of the Pokemon from a select list of Hoenn Pokemon they can find during the event....

Today’s Pokemon Presents featured the highly anticipated third trailer forPokemon Scarlet and Violet, as well as a longer commentary trailer that discussed all the features that Gen 9 will include. There are many key elements at play inPokemon Scarlet and Violet’s fully explorable,open-world Paldea region, and one of the most compelling is the battle gimmick for Gen 9 – the Terastal phenomenon. With Terastallization, any Pokemon in Paldea can change its type and empower the moves of that same type during a battle, with the effect lasting for the entirety of the encounter....

Summary Despite being over eight years old,Fallout 4remains popular among fans of theFalloutfranchise as one of the series' best mainline installments. Offering over 150 hours of content, the Wasteland adventure continues to call its fans back regularly, with some players even claimingthey have just now beatenFallout 4after eight years. Now, Bethesda is aiming to keep the game alive even longer with a next-gen update slated for release sometime in 2024....

One of America’s most recognizable and talented esports players was celebrated on Saturday night at the 2019 Esports Awards.Mortal Kombat 11EVO Champion Dominique “SonicFox” McLeanwas awarded Esports Awards “Console Player of the Year”. SonicFox took to Twitter after winning the award, announcing “Hey! I won the esports award console player of the year!” SonicFox posted photos of themselves at the award ceremony. The photos showed them playfully “eating” their award....