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Publisher Marvelous has revealed that their upcoming title Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life will be featured in some capacity during the upcoming Wholesome Direct. The Wholesome Direct focuses on upcoming cute, comfy, cozy games, and it will take place this year on June 10th.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remake of the original Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. It will be making its way to the Switch on June 30th, 2023. We’ve already seen some screenshots and trailers for the game, but the Wholesome Direct could be a great chance to get more in-depth footage and details before its official release. Stay tuned!

Did You Know Gaming has another new video exploring a lesser known aspect of video game history. This time around they’re covering a handful of lost Pokémon games that were only available online briefly and are nearly impossible to play today.

The games in question are:

• Pokémon Garden, an interactive Pokémon museum where players could gather together online for tours, trivia, and mini-games
• Pokémon Maze Land, featuring Pokémon shaped mazes
• Pokémon Sky Tower, a trivia competition game
• Pokémon Dream World, an Animal Crossing style game where players could have their own homes and grow berries

Because these games required an active online Internet connection and were only live for a short period of time, they’re in danger of being lost to video game history. Watch the full video above for more info, and to find out how gaming archivists are trying to tackle the issue.

Epic Games has been sending out a new survey to some Fortnite players, and oddly enough, it mentions some popular Nintendo characters. The survey’s primary goal seems to be to assess players’ familiarities with various gaming personalities, properties and characters.

The survey mentions a number of popular game franchises, and a few Nintendo titles are in the mix as well. Specifically, it asks if players have seen or heard of Mewtwo from Pokémon, King Dedede from Kirby, or the Yoshi/Yoshi’s Island franchise.

Is this indicative of skins or other content related to these properties coming to Fortnite in the future? It seems like an unlikely crossover, but stranger things have happened. At the very least, Epic seems to be testing the waters to find out what kinds of games their player base is familiar with. This most likely won’t lead to anything major though, so don’t hold your breath for Yoshi to appear in Fortnite any time soon!

See below for screenshots from the survey itself.

Developer Granzella has announced that they will no longer be continuing or supporting the service of their game Hototogisu Tairan. Hototogisu Tairan is a strategic card battling game only released in Japan on the Nintendo Switch (there’s also a mobile version).

Service for the game will end on June 30, 2023. In-game purchases have also been disabled, and the game itself will be unlisted from digital stores beginning on June 8th. However, if you already have the game downloaded, you’ll be able to make use of it until the closing date at the end of the month.

See below for the developer’s statement regarding the closure (translated from Japanese).

VTubers are all the rage these days, and that includes ones modeled after existing characters. So, who better to transform into a VTuber than fan favorite Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom character Purah? In order to show off their model rigging skills, Reddit user u/Capn_Cinnamon converted Purah’s in-game model from Tears of the Kingdom to be used as a fully functional VTuber.

As seen in this clip, the Purah model can talk, move her arms and hands, and even remove both pairs of glasses if desired. She can also change her hair color at whim (to avoid copyright issues Capn_Cinnamon jokes in the video).

Will Purah and other Zelda themed VTubers become the new hotness? Probably not, but it’s still fun to see fans demonstrate their technical skills with ideas like this one. Now, let’s all hope for a Groose VTuber in the near future.

Jirachi just recently got its own waffle, and now there’s are more new Jirachi themed menu items coming to official Pokémon Cafes in Japan. The big new addition is the Jirachi Sweets Set, which is made up of a few different items with a cute presentation. This includes some cake, ice cream, and cookie desserts all themed around Jirachi’s design and coloring.

In addition to the Sweets Set, you’ll also be able to get special Jirachi designs in your latte foam. It looks just like they’re resting at the top of their Pokéballs! But that’s not all - You’ll also be able to purchase a Jirachi themed placemat, dishes, and silverware separately. It’s a Jirachi bonanza!

Jirachi fans will be able to experience all of this at Pokémon Cafes in Japan beginning on July 1st, 2023.

Nintendo has shared the second episode of their new series focused on creating levels in Super Mario Maker 2. In this episode, Aiden challenges his friends with some tricky brain teaser levels full of puzzles. Maybe you’ll be inspired to create some new levels of your own!

Aiden is back with more Mario fun in the Super Mario Maker 2 game. This time, he’s gotten into brain teasers and is using his imagination to create tricky challenges in a new course. Then, it’s time to put his friend Ryder’s problem solving skills to the test: watch Ryder move Mario around and try to figure out each challenge by using critical thinking! Can he make it through?!

Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp have received a content update. Check out the full details for each game below via perfectly-nintendo.com.

Fire Emblem Heroes

• [Special Maps] The Bound Hero Battle feat. Monica & Edelgard is now live (available until June 9th)
• [Summoning] A new Summoning Focus is now live: Monica & Edelgard’s Battle. It features the following Heroes: Monica (Favored Vassal), Edelgard (The Future), and Hubert (Sinister Servant) (available until June 9th)

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

• [Log-in Bonus] To kick off the 2nd half of the latest Garden Event, all players can now claim the following as special Log-in Bonus: yellow calla lily seed x20 (available until June 10th)

Overwatch 2’s Pride Month 2023 event has officially kicked off, and with it came a number of new icons, name cards, and even a short story about heroes Baptiste and Pharah’s queer identities. They also completely rethemed the city-based map Midtown so that it takes place during a Pride parade.

One detail about this rethemed map that’s catching players’ eyes (besides the numerous rainbow colored decorations) is the fact that the cop cars which used to be scattered around the city have been given some new paint jobs. The vehicles are now painted with subtler green and blue hues, and any association with the police has been completely removed.

The presence of police at Pride events has been a controversial subject for attendees and organizers in the past. Whether or not this was a deliberate decision on Blizzard’s part or simply an aesthetic choice, we can’t say, as they have yet to comment on the matter officially.

You can see this change (as well as several others) for yourself in the video below.

The Great Voyager Box, a new bundle of items for Pokémon GO, is now on sale for a limited time. This bundle is only available through Pokémon GO’s online store, and won’t appear in the app. It costs $19.99 and includes the following items:

• x12 Super Incubator
• x6 Egg Incubator
• x4 Star Piece
• x4 Incense

Click here to check out the box for yourself. According to the official Pokémon GO Twitter account, this will only be available for a limited time.

One of the most entertaining aspects of video game fandom is the creative cosplay outfits. It’s always a treat to see a costume you never expected at a game or anime convention, and this one is no exception. The Pikachu cosplayer pictured above goes by Catherine Pikachu, and they’re clearly extremely dedicated to the celebration of everyone’s favorite electric rodent. You can check out their incredible creation via the tweet below, as it was photographed at last week’s MomoCon in Atlanta, GA.

Catherine’s outfit is made up of over 100 Pikachus plush dolls, plus the Pikachu hood, mask, backpack and suitcase. May this love for Pikachu inspire you to be just as intense with whatever it is that you love!

For more photos and insight into the design of the cosplay, you can follow @CathachuPikachu on Twitter.

It’s time once again to take a look at the games heading to the Switch in Japan. Here’s what’s slated to hit the system for the week ending June 9th, 2023. Remember, this isn’t the final list, as there’s always some surprises each week.

• Super Mega Baseball 4 Ballpark Edition
• Inhabit
• Ultra Foodmess
• Angel Symphony
• Clive ‘N’ Wrench
• Kovox Pitch
• Speed Crew
• SENSEs: Midnight
• Telenet Shooting Collection
• Demon Sword: Incubus
• Move The Box: Classic Block Puzzle

Jazwares has officially unveiled the next releases in their ever expanding line of Pokémon Squishmallows. The first of the new additions is Piplup, the water starter from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Next, is a second version of Pikachu known as Winking Pikachu. This variant looks just like the original Pikachu Squishmallow, but with a wide open grin and a winking eye.

You can see the newly announced Squishmallows above, pictured next to their previously released counterparts. We don’t yet know when or where you’ll be able to get your hands on these, but they’re currently in the works! Stay tuned.

RPG Chained Echoes is about to be updated to Version 1.2, which includes a New Game + option. One of the game’s developers Matthias Linda outlined the details of this patch on Steam, where it is currently available.

Switch owners will have to wait a little bit longer however, before the patch makes its way onto consoles. We don’t have an official date just yet, but Linda says it should be “within the next 1-2 weeks”, so hopefully not too much longer. See below for the full patch notes:

Capcom has shared a special piece of art honoring their collaboration with the Japanese men’s and women’s volleyball teams. The Nations League Tournament begins today, and Capcom is throwing their full support behind the players.

In celebration of this partnership and the big event, Capcom released a brand new piece of artwork. The illustration features characters from Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Mega Man, all of whom appear ready for an intense volleyball session.

Check out Capcom’s original tweet and the full artwork below: