#COMING TO SWITCH AND STEAM IN THIS THE YEAR 2023??

[souperluminal]

CONGRATULATIONS GHOST TRICK FANS

[arimiadev]

why does aniplex want mahoyo to fail

I love visual novels. being a long time fate/stay night fan and only having heard of mahoyo from hushed whispers about its cinematography, I was super invested when it was announced to be coming to the west and I could finally play an official version of it.

however, a lot of people interested in type-moon works had never heard of mahoyo, let alone it getting an official english translation. but how? aniplex is publishing the game and they're one of the largest anime distributors in the world.

with the console release of mahoyo being almost exactly a year ago and the steam release being just 10 days away, I want to look over some of aniplex USA's bizarre and nonexistent marketing for one of my favorite visual novels.

let's clear up a few things, first.

mahoyo is the shortened form of mahoutsukai no yoru (not to be confused with mahoutsukai no yome, i.e. the ancient magus bride), which has been localized as witch on the holy night. mahoyo was a linear non-eroge visual novel released by type-moon in 2012, being one of the first scripts kinoko nasu (co-founder of type-moon) wrote back in 1996 and adapted into a VN many, many years later.

in April of 2022, a console remaster (switch, playstation 4) was announced with HD assets and voice acting, to be published by aniplex. notably, this console release would contain an english translation and was later confirmed in June to be sold in the west via online retailers. this was huge news, as this meant mahoyo would be the first type-moon visual novel (not including gameplay-oriented titles like fate/extella or fate/grand order) to be officially released in the west, as despite numerous fan translations, their more recognizable visual novels tsukihime and fate/stay night still had not received a localization.

type-moon is the developer behind mahoyo and aniplex is the publisher, meaning that type-moon made the game and aniplex is in charge of distributing (and marketing) the game worldwide.

timeline:

April 11 2022: Mahoyo rerelease announced for consoles (Switch & PlayStation 4), including English translation

July 4 2022: Aniplex confirms Mahoyo will be available to the West, localized under the name Witch on the Holy Night

October 14 2022: 2nd trailer released, more voice actor info announced

November 3 2022: physical pre-orders launched, demo version available

November 18 2022: Aniplex attends Anime NYC with Mahoyo

December 7 2022: Mahoyo released digitally on Switch / PlayStation 4 (Dec 8th in Japan, Dec 7th in America)

December 12 2022: Mahoyo reaches 110k units sold worldwide

January 27 2023: Mahoyo physicals release

July 5 2023: Mahoyo reaches 150k units sold worldwide

September 10 2023: Mahoyo announced for Steam via a now unlisted Aniplex livestream

December 13 2023: Mahoyo will be released on Steam (Dec 14th in Japan, Dec 13th in America)

some of the dates might be a little fuzzy, especially the release dates, as some sources go by japanese time and some go by american timezones, so just be aware of that.

now, let's talk a bit about mahoyo itself.

mahoyo is a masterpiece. it's a niche game not meant for everyone. its cinematography is top notch among visual novels. its writing style can be off-putting to people who want faster-paced stories. it's one of my most beloved visual novels I've ever played, and I've been in this field for almost a decade and have played well over 100 VNs.

mahoyo is a completely linear visual novel—meaning it has no choices or gameplay—that follows aoko, a high schooler mage trying to balance her perfect school president facade with her secret life as a mage, something she has to keep secret at the risk of death. this is one of the lesser known type-moon works but it's well beloved because of the care put into it.

if you've ever heard someone talk about it, it's almost impossible for them to not mention the visuals. mahoyo is one of the most visually impressive visual novels I've ever seen, with its inspired use of artwork and in-game animations. I cannot recommend this VN enough if you like modern fantasy and don't mind linear VNs.

before we dive into aniplex USA's marketing, I want to clarify a few marketing terms for people who don't market visual novels as a job. marketing is not just advertising—it's everything related to how a product communicates with potential users, including its branding, its packaging, its everything. when marketing a game, you have several different avenues: social media, press & influencers, trailers, store pages, and more.

today I want to show you how, based off what I have researched after a long, manic day, aniplex USA has failed mahoyo on all of these accounts.

so let's go back to its western release.

mahoyo has a few official english channels:

website

twitter

facebook

aniplex also has an official english twitter with almost 500k followers where they shared mahoyo very rarely—only 9 tweets about the game ever.

well, surely their other pages are more maintained right—

both accounts stopped posting July 10th/11th, with their last post being about mahoyo going on sale on consoles. let's look at their posts prior to this, though, starting with the twitter.

we can see that the twitter account was made in december of 2022. if we scroll down far enough (it's not hard, given they only have 33 tweets), we can see that their first tweet was on december 6th 2022:

let's go back to our timeline. can you tell me when mahoyo's remaster released digitally?

yes they made both of the english mahoyo social media accounts the day before the game launched

we can very easily add up the entire social media posts for the game thus far:

mahoyo english twitter - 30 tweets and 3 retweets

mahoyo english facebook - 27 posts

aniplex english twitter - 9 tweets

aniplex english facebook - 2 posts

no other english social media accounts were tied to the website, so these are the only ones I looked at. this means in total, there were only 68 social media posts for the console release of mahoyo by the publisher for english audiences.

but what about the steam release? after the game sold over 150k+ units on consoles, surely aniplex was ready to market it a bit more for pc users—

neither account has made a post about the upcoming steam release.

if we look at the twitter, they have 3 tweets since July that do talk about the upcoming steam release- however, these are retweets from the japanese mahoyo account.

we know that this twitter and this facebook account are the official social media for mahoyo as they're linked on the website, so they're definitely meant to be followed for game updates in the west. well, maybe the english aniplex twitter has posted about it—

none of the english aniplex or mahoyo accounts have made a single post about the steam release

that's right, the social media posts I counted above are the only posts for mahoyo on their english accounts, all dating back before the steam release was announced. since then, they have not made a single original post even mentioning the steam release.

meanwhile, the japanese mahoyo twitter has been hustling hard to promote the upcoming steam release—reposting trailers, character bios, and more almost every day with pretty good numbers.

in fact, the japanese mahoyo twitter did such a good job at marketing it that the aniplex USA twitter never mentioned the english mahoyo twiter, instead only @ ing the japanese one in tweets (despite the english one being linked on the website).

why they even bothered making social media accounts and then not running them despite being one of the largest anime distributors in the world I have no clue.

well, maybe they didn't need to rely on social media presence. maybe they were going for the in-person approach and marketing it at conventions.

mahoyo had basically no anime convention presence

the only reference I can find to aniplex notably promoting mahoyo at any western convention is this tweet of them at anime NYC. from someone who was at anime NYC, I've been told that they pushed the game heavily at their booth with TV screens promoting the game.

however, anime NYC is only one anime convention. you cannot hope to sell a game by just attending one anime convention. mahoyo might have had a presence at other american conventions, but I'm unable to find any images or news about this.

maybe they don't understand type-moon

aniplex is the publisher for fate/grand order, one of the most successful mobile games ever created. they're also the distributor for a majority of type-moon related anime, ranging from fate to garden of sinners to side series. aniplex's marketing team should have lots of experience with type-moon properties.

maybe it was promoted in other aniplex titles

I was also unable to find a news post in fate/grand order related to mahoyo's release, despite news posts for other type-moon series (namely fate but also things like melty blood) getting news posts in fate/grand order. I might've missed the news posts when looking back through FGO but I don't believe there was one.

maybe it sold well in other regions but not western ones

(I'm going to be referring only to the console release for these stats, keep in mind)

mahoyo released December 7th/8th 2022 with an english, japanese, simplified chinese, and traditional chinese translations. at the end of the release week, mahoyo's japanese twitter announced the game had sold 110k copies worldwide and famitsu reported that 66,344 of these units were sold in japan. this means we have around 43k units unaccounted for.

we know the game was available in english, japanese, and chinese languages but we don't know what regions. mainland china has a very large visual novel playerbase (I say this as someone who sells visual novels), which means if it were sold there then it's easy to say that a big chunk of that 43k units could be attributed to them—this also means it would be easy to believe that aniplex saw mahoyo selling worse in western countries and took this as a sign to not promote the game any more there.

but was it ever sold in mainland china? from what I could tell—no.

looking at pricing charts for the nintendo eshop and the playstation store, china is not listed on either. furthermore, searching the game's chinese title on the chinese playstation store does not bring back any results. it looks like the only predominantly chinese-speaking regions that were able to buy it are hong kong, taiwan and possibly singapore (the playstation store page for it doesn't look like it's available for purchase anymore).

so what does this tell us?

without any other numbers it's hard to tell how many of the 43k launch week sales came from english-speaking players, but even if we conservatively say that only around 20k of the 110k launch week units were from western countries, that's still almost a million in revenue (and remember, the physical limited edition of the game was available in english for $60, which is $20 more than the digital base version).

maybe the store page is so good they don't need to market it

here's a little secret: store pages matter a lot more than you'd think. there are entire job positions dedicated to tailoring store pages (like a steam game page) to make it perfect for the game's target audience. there's a science to it that includes the artwork, descriptions, tags, screenshots, and more.

let's see what aniplex did for the steam page of mahoyo.

A tale told with vivid colors and rich sound in a classic TYPE-MOON visual novel.

I don't know how to describe this short description charitably other than to say it sounds like a person who's never heard of a visual novel has been tasked with describing a visual novel.

this tells me nothing about the game other than it's a visual novel. I hope you know what type-moon is, because if you don't then you've learned nothing else from this. alright, well, let's look at the screenshots—

there's only 1.

currently as of writing this, there's 10 images uploaded as screenshots (no trailers, they keep adding and removing the trailers for some reason). 9 of these images are just the full artworks from the game while 1 is an actual screenshot.

I really hate this, as you're not actually shown what the game looks like unless you look at the very last screenshot. this will absolutely lead to some people not understanding what they're getting into. what's worse is that some of these CGs are spoilers, especially one in particular featuring my wife touko.

why are we spoiling people instead of showing them screenshots? why not show people what mahoyo actually looks like??

there's also absolutely no use of the announcements section on steam. each game on steam can post announcements related to the game, including upcoming releases, new updates, and more. it's customary to post a steam announcement when a game has a release date announcement. mahoyo's steam page has none.

well they probably released the trailers in english for hype

I wish I had that much hope.

on mahoyo's english website, all of the videos listed are from the official type-moon youtube, which is their japanese channel. type-moon went through the effort to translate these videos. aniplex didn't upload these to their own youtube, where they already upload everything related to the fateverse and nasuverse.

searching up witch on the holy night brings up no results for the trailer—aniplex never uploaded the trailer to their channel.

maybe they got influencers to play it

according to steamdb, the max amount of viewers mahoyo streams have had on twitch was 71 viewers.

furthermore, if we check twitch and look for vods attached to mahoyo, we only find 4 videos total, all of which were posted in the past week. it looks like they didn't even reach out to streamers to play the console release, much less pay them.

over on the press side, it does look like they reached out to at least a few reviewers. for example, on the review by noisy pixel, they clarify that a review copy was provided by the publisher for review purposes. we can add that to the bare minimum of marketing—reaching out to press.

however, they did get for some other influencers to share the game! ...twitter game sale influencers, that is.

there's actually a lot more of these types of tweets for mahoyo than I was expecting when I searched it on twitter. as a friend pointed out, just because it says "#ad" doesn't necessarily mean these were paid for by aniplex—a lot of these links look to be referrals, which means they're getting a cut of any purchases.

let's recap

mahoyo released over 110k copies in the launch week for it's worldwide console release despite very, very limited marketing efforts from its publisher aniplex. now that the game has proven it can sell very well despite being a lesser known linear visual novel, aniplex has done no marketing for the steam release- no tweets, no influencer outreach, no localization of trailers, no announcements via steam, nothing.

so why?

why does aniplex want mahoyo to fail?

even after all of this, I still do not know why. to me, it's clear that the marketing team at aniplex were (most likely) given no budget for this game and just couldn't do anything with it, deciding to spend what little money they had on press outreach and an anime NYC booth.

but why? why didn't aniplex give them a budget, even a small one? why was their budget so tiny they couldn't even afford to tweet? to RT more posts from the japanese twitter? to share the already translated trailers to their own accounts?

I've heard a few excuses like "type-moon hates western fans and probably caused it" but this doesn't make any sense either. why would you authorize a translation of your game and allow your publisher to sell the game overseas but specifically make them not market the game (and what publisher would agree to that)? I've even heard excuses like "they just forgot it was coming out", to which I ask "how does an entire marketing team (a company the size of aniplex absolutely has a team(s) for marketing and not a singular person) forget a release for a game that's already sold over 150k copies?". the only excuse I've seen that I somewhat buy is that they did not have much faith in the game and relied almost entirely on fans doing word of mouth marketing for the game.

I don't think we'll ever get an answer. while I do believe the marketing team at aniplex was most likely given no budget for mahoyo, it still begs the question of why. why did someone at aniplex not want to give mahoyo a marketing budget? why are the japanese accounts for mahoyo and type-moon the only ones doing the marketing?

I hope the information I've provided here is accurate—if it's not, I'll try to update with corrections. I don't want this piece to cast hate towards the staff at aniplex or anyone involved with this projects, I'm just trying to assemble the pieces on what feels like a game being left to word of mouth. I've tried to include as many links to my sources as I could so you could come to your own judgements about what has happened regarding mahoyo's worldwide release.

mahoyo is a visual novel that's dear to me and will absolutely sell well on steam—with an estimated 50-80k wishlists, it's going to have a solid launch despite the zero marketing for its steam release. if you love other type-moon works or want to see an absolutely visually stunning visual novel, please check it out.

— arimia

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles - Update 22/Dec/2023

Oh, making the switch back to Book Four after Holiday Magic has been quite the experience, hehe!

For a start, I have to keep remembering that Book Four is set at the end of Summer instead of winter and lingering descriptions of sparkling snow drifts is a bit out of place! :D

But I have enjoyed reading through the plan of where I was at. I was thinking on just getting stuck back into the writing full steam, but with Christmas break so close on the horizon, I ended up editing instead…the sensible option, lol.

I am really promising myself this time around that I am going to be so much more organized with editing! :D Anyone who has followed me for a while knows it’s not exactly my favourite part, as much as it’s the most important!

So, I resisted the urge to just write and focused on rewriting a couple of bits I knew I wanted adapting, as well as changing a couple of choice sets, then rereading and editing all of what I’ve already written.

It actually puts me in the perfect spot to come back to, which works out well because we’ll be going on Christmas break tomorrow!

We’re all a bit knackered after Holiday Magic’s release and jumping back to Book Four, so I think a rest is much needed…although I keep looking at Book Four’s plans and thinking how desperate I am to get to a certain part coming up, hehe!

Our Christmas break will be from 23rd December 2023 to 3rd January 2024.

That first week back in January we will be coming back into things slowly and getting ourselves organized for the year ahead, as we have some amazing things planned. Though my focus will be completely on Book Four and getting the first demo released!

We hope you all have the most magical festive season if you celebrate it, and if not then just a wonderful time ahead, and a sparkling New Year! It’s gonna be a good one in Wayhaven, hehe! ;D

[satoshi-mochida]

Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II delayed to late February 2024 in the west; PS4 version dropped for PS5 version

Gematsu Source

Aksys Games has delayed the western release of Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II from its previously planned 2023 release window to late February 2024, as well as announced that the PlayStation 4 version has been dropped in favor of a PlayStation 5 version. It will now be available for PlayStation 5, Switch, and PC via Steam when it launches in the west.

Users who purchase Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II through the Aksys Games Online Store will receive an exclusive original soundtrack CD consisting of 14 tracks. Users who previously pre-ordered the PlayStation 4 version will receive an email asking if they want to change their pre-order to the PlayStation 5 or Switch version.

Here is a brief overview of the game, via Aksys Games:

The next installment in the Spirit Hunter series—Death Mark II will keep you wondering… The long-awaited sequel to 2018’s award-winning horror visual novel is coming to Western audiences next year! In Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II, Kazuo Yashiki is back in H City to investigate supernatural occurrences at Konoehara Academy. As in previous games in the series, the developers have drawn on Japanese myths and folklore to create an immersive and nuanced tale of terror. Some old faces return to aid Yashiki in his quest, and a 2D side-scrolling mode offers a new way to explore locations. Be ready, for when a spirit does attack, crucial mistakes mean certain death. Solve the mysterious deaths with help from many of the original characters from the first game—Spirit Hunter: Death Mark.

Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II first launched for PlayStation 4 and Switch on December 1, 2022 in Japan.

View a set of screenshots and the official box art at the gallery.

[tomedonaki-hakujou]

Kamitsubaki City Under Construction: "Ensemble" and "Regenerate" (and "Regenerate Virtual Reality") are coming soon -- and will be in English!!! (AKA: my "PLEASE PLAY KAMICITY" shill post)

What is Kamitsubaki City and Virtual Witch Phenomenon?

A thread for newcomers to Kamitsubaki, in light of the 3 new games upcoming! This is the oversea's first look at Kamitsubaki's stories and creative worlds. (Slightly edited mirror of my thread on Twitter!!)

Kamitsubaki Studio is a Japanese creative music group. They're most known for their music group Virtual Witch Phenomenon -- comprising of their 5 main virtual singer talents: Kaf, Rim, Harusaruhi, Isekaijoucho, and Koko.

Kamitsubaki City Under Construction (henceforth referred to as simply KamiCity) is a series of games that tells the story of a mysterious city in the virtual world that constantly self-destructs and reforms. The members of VWP are characters in KamiCity, and have different names.

ALSO SUBSCRIBE TO VWP!!!! and the individual members too!! They all have such unique and stunning voices, and such beautiful songs too!!! They each have their own style that's drawn their own individual fanbases but they unite so beautifully and melodiously as VWP...

Kaf - Morisaki Kafu

Rim - Tanioki Rime

Harusaruhi - Asanushi Haru

Isekaijoucho - Yorukawa Sekai

Koko - Rinne Koko

The five girls were brought to KamiCity from the real world into the virtual world, as the mystical "witches" who could sing to save them from the apocalypse.

KamiCity as a game series started with KamiCity Emergence, a limited-run mobile game in 2021 in which players solved word puzzles known as "Q's." And then KamiCity Narrative released earlier this year (2023), a VN/TTRPG-style game. Both are Japanese exclusive, though.

KamiCity Ensemble, Regenerate, and Regenerate Virtual Reality are the three new games here.

KamiCity Ensemble is a rhythm game for mobile and Steam. The key visual focuses on the Isotope versions of VWP -- you may know the CeVIO Kafu as one of them.

The isotopes/CeVIOs (now SynthV and VOICEPEAK too) are Kafu, Sekai, Rime, Coko, and Haru. Before now, the Isotopes have had very few involvement or connection with KamiCity, with only Kafu appearing in the "Emergence" soundtrack (NOT the story.) What their connection is to the Witches and KamiCity in-lore is still unknown, which is super interesting!

KamiCity Regenerate is a visual novel for Steam and Switch, seeming to focus on the story of KamiCity in full detail.

In Emergence and Narrative, the story was only in bits and pieces. Regenerate (and Ensemble) is also a huge deal because they're in English too!

The VR version seems to be roughly the same, although having exclusive 3D visuals. It's also undetermined at this point what platform it will be on.

Kamitsubaki Studio has repeatedly blown me away by their music and intrigued me by their world of KamiCity (which is also featured in their music videos) so I'm so excited to see it in full!! PLAY KAMICITY PLEAAAASEEEE!!!!!!!!! and listen to their music/watch the music videos IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!

[vgperson]

What Did I Do In 2022?

Game Translations That Aren't YTTD: 1. Okay, maybe 1.5.

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First of all, while I didn't add it until later in the year (not entirely unmotivated by the Stability of Platforms), my site now has an RSS feed for notable updates of any kind! I mention this upfront because I'm mostly just going over the things that are already listed there. It currently retroactively covers everything back to 2020, but I might add more past stuff over time so it can better serve as a general "everything I've ever done" page.

In February, I translated Kenshi Yonezu's POP SONG (and an interview). Noel The Mortal Fate Seasons 1-7 also got a revamped version on consoles (Switch, PS4); the console versions include a new Season 3.5 translated entirely by me, and the rest of the seasons have a revised script which is more thoroughly edited by me than even the redone Steam translation was.

In March, the update adding Kai to Your Time To Shine came out. Yes, he is Kai.

In April, I finally finished up my unofficial Japanese translation patch for Petal Crash. たのしいね、クラッシュ！ It actually just got some extra attention after the Petal Crash run for RTA In Japan about two days ago, which is kind of wild. Is this what it's like to be famous...? (clueless)

In May, I translated Kenshi Yonezu's Shin Ultraman theme song M87 (interview, interview), and the coupling song from the single, ETA. And there was an article about the 10th anniversary of his debut!

Also in May, the Ib remake came out on Steam in English! Told you they'd contact me. It was later announced to be coming to Switch, scheduled for March 2023.

In August, Your Turn To Die was announced to be coming to Steam. It's planned for early 2023, but to be clear, it'll release first in Early Access still with no final part, though with some exclusive mini-episodes and character profile sheets. Apparently once that's out, the actual completion is estimated for 6 to 12 months later... but, you know. Estimates are hard.

In September, I put together a guide for and officially "released" my Custom Translation Engine plugin for RPG Maker MV, the one I made for the Ib remake, and back-implemented into Your Turn To Die shortly after I was contacted about it coming to Steam. It's fancy (in-game language switching!), convenient (minimal direct editing of code!), and you can use it for your own translation projects if you want!

In October... well, I didn't do anything new for it, but I'll take credit for The Witch's House MV coming to consoles. (Switch, PS4, Xbox) I also translated everyone's favorite Chainsaw Man opening KICK BACK, associated interviews, and the single's coupling song Y'all Should Be Ashamed.

Finally, in December, after lots of spending my time elsewhere and indecision about how I should go about returning to doing some dang free game translations, I concluded that what I'd really wanted to do all year was translate Uri's PEDESTAL.

I think some people latched onto specific parts of Uri's original explanation for why it wasn't being translated, such as the cultural aspects (I honestly winced at her blunt remark that the story was "no good at all"), but while Uri indeed had those doubts at the time of release, the only real reason it wasn't translated at the time is that I did a less-than-ideal rushed playthrough that slightly hurt my overall impression of its quality, and I felt too busy at the time to work on something with lots of text that was likely to be divisive. So similarly, me finally feeling up to it was the reason it did get translated. I probably should've come back to it quite a bit sooner (after I was made to give up a certain other translation, say), but as I alluded to in last year's post, I was self-conscious about "my big return to free game translations" being something that might not have wide appeal. Uh, glad to be past that, hopefully.

Oh, and ever since finishing PEDESTAL, I've been working on all sorts of overhauls to my site, but like... not the kind that actually majorly changes any part of the visible design and annoys people (and if something did change in an annoying way, it's probably accidental). Some of it's just better consideration of mobile browsing (stuff like images or tables sticking out of bounds at mobile resolutions), or making things more convenient for myself behind the scenes (did you know I made a program to add "br"s to every line of all lyrics content before considering I could just have the page code do that, and also better?).

Some more major observable changes include general renovations to the lyrics page (bigger font size, buttons that hide individual languages to aid in side-by-side comparison), and more convenient navigation of OSTER's tweets, such that I could actually imagine someone reading through them all the way from the start without it being too much of a hassle.

----

While I'm glad to be over the PEDESTAL hump, I don't... necessarily have any definite plans for upcoming free game translations. I mostly just have some stuff on a list that I may have to make myself check out soon enough. Also, Game Atsumaru (which you may know as The Site That Hosts YTTD's Japanese Version) is ending in June??? So uh, might have to accelerate checking out stuff on there, though I guess it depends on how many creators are able to migrate. (Nankidai does plan to put YTTD's Japanese browser version up somewhere else.)

As I mentioned, Your Turn To Die's Early Access release on Steam should be coming up early next year with those mini-episodes and character profiles, and the game might be completed within the year. No promises. I mean, I don't have anything to promise, it's not my game.

Speaking of my game... also no promises. But I'd really like to release one. We'll see what happens. There's also a different kind of original project I recently returned to trying to make real, which could come early in the year, but who knows. As should be apparent, I'm working on a lot of different fronts here, so I frequently feel bad about neglecting such-and-such type of creative work, which sometimes means nothing actually gets done and released. Ultimately, though, it's probably better to follow what I most feel like doing, rather than force focus on one thing and end up not actually getting much done.

Which is to say: hoping to finish something in the new year!

[ageless-aislynn]

Okay, I think I finally have actual proof now that I did NOT cause my computer issues. I found a forum where other people with the same make/model and two make/models right next to it all have had similar issues from day one with their PCs. Then Dell revoked all of the previous driver updates they'd been pushing and yesterday, here comes 3 marked critical: BIOS and the Nvidia and Intel graphics drivers, all brand spankin' new (literally released that week or that day in Intel's case) and with the purpose of "fixing bug checks and providing system stability." Bug checks being the official term for a Blue Screen of Death, that is. Normally I wouldn't update on day one of a new release but, well, my computer crashed this morning when I just turned it on and it was sitting idle after about 5 minutes of up-time so I figured that was my sign.

All 3 updates are now applied. If you pray, I'd appreciate it. If you have time to spare me some kind thoughts, to put some positive energy out there in the universe, just whatever, I appreciate it. I didn't realize how much I truly rely on my computer to deal with my anxiety, depression and panic attack issues until not only do I NOT have access to the things I use to try to get through them all, but the computer's switching off at random times has made all of them so much worse.

Yeah, Halo's just a game but it's truly helped me redirect if I'm struggling with anxiety or a panic attack that's looming. Getting really involved in Mass Effect: Andromeda's various romances, making GIFs of them, learning to craft weapons, that sort of thing, it's helped me focus on things other than worrying about RL stuff. I really could use all of those things back, you know? Plus, I was looking forward to so many of the new games I've added to my Steam library. Learning something new can also help redirect my brain when it's spiraling out of control.

And this isn't even to touch on doing creative things like making GIFs, vidding and writing. I'm still working on my "15 Minutes" ch7 by hand but it's so much slower than being able to type it. I was really hoping to have at least this chapter up before Halo s2 starts but I'm not sure if I can, if I'm just scratching away with pencil and paper, not even certain how I'm going to get those words on the Internet anyway.

I mean, just imagine how frustrating it would be if whatever device you use would just blink off with no rhyme or reason, no way to predict when whatever you're doing will just be gone. Sometimes it does it a couple times a day, sometimes 8 times an hour. You can't do 90% of what you usually do online anyway and the other 10% feels like you're walking through a minefield, just waiting to take one wrong step. And nothing works to fix it. Nothing. You spend hours researching, desperate to find The Thing That Will Work and it's just not out there. That's been the past few weeks with this computer.

Considering that my previous computer is ALSO in this make/model line, just back several years, makes me wonder if the issues it began to have out of the blue in October, 2023 are related. I've seen a LOT of mentions in that forum of people whose computer suddenly went bad in Oct, 23. That seems like an awfully big coincidence, doesn't it?

Anyway, just wanted to check in. Hope you're all doing well and here's hoping that I'm now on the road to getting to just... do things on the computer and the Internet again like I used to. I miss it so much and I really miss all of you. Love to you all. 💖

[insertdisc5]

2022, can't show much of you

Once again, some months don't have anything to show because they're spoilers. SORRY!!!! I PROMISE I DREW SOME AMAZING STUFF BUT I CAN'T SHOW IT!!!

And wow I really only drew two things that weren't in black and white. What am I gonna do when it's time for me to go back to color

Alright. What did I do this year, art wise. um

I finished the beta of In Stars and Time! Gonna be honest, I didn't think I was gonna do it. In Stars and Time has been such a Project, and for the longest time I just couldn't see the finish line. But now I do! It's getting closer!!! I couldn't be prouder of what I've made and I can't wait for everyone to experience it. Don't forget to wishlist In Stars and Time on Steam, coming to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023 wink wink nudge nudge ✨

Which means I did a lot of illustrations and pixel art. I've gotten so much better at pixel art??? Sometimes I look at the sprites I did for the prologue and I'm like, oof??? I could do this so much better and faster now. Pixel art is fun. And also, Clip Studio Paint still rules really hard.

In other big news this year, In Stars and Time got selected for the Tokyo Game Show?!?!? What the hell?!?!? I got to go to Japan and show off my game!!! That was such a validating (AND STRESSFUL) experience \o/

I also started doing clay figures more! I am not good at it!!! I like what I did but I am not good at it!!! I should take some classes so I can learn how to make them smoother and learn how to paint 3D objects!!! I like doing it though so I will learn!!! I think it's fine to make art things that you know you could be better at!!! I think it's fine to learn things!!!!!!!

2023, let's have some fun!

✨ 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and 2017 and 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and 2021✨

[wrongpublishing]

Increase Your Literary Body Count in 2024

by Mathew Gostelow.

"In my slut era," I whispered, sending the story out on its ninth simultaneous submission.

At the most recent count, I wrote 60-odd things in 2024 and submitted them a total of 202 times in all. 42 of them were published in some form. Along the way, I racked up 90 rejections. All in all, I published somewhere around 44,000 words in 2023.

I was whoring my stories all over, like some sort of village bike made of ink and shamelessness. I spent a year subbing sluttily. I had a blast doing it too. I got a fair few publications under my belt, made new friends, and learned some lessons as well. Here’s just a few of them…  

Change horses midstream

I’ve discovered I work best when I’m juggling multiple projects at once. It sounds counter-intuitive and I guess it might not work for everyone, but I reckon everyone should try it.

The idea is to have several stories on the go at one time. Three feels ideal. I find that I will inevitably run out of steam on a piece – my interest or focus always flags at some point. Switching to something new acts as a vital palate-cleanser. I’m able to return to each project afresh, bringing new energy and perspective thanks to the time I spent away.

Follow the fun 

Don't be afraid to mix it up. Move out of your comfort zone.

If your latest flash isn’t quite working, why not rewrite it as a poem? Or mash it together with another half-finished piece and see what happens. In a longer piece, it’s okay to jump straight to the scene that's exciting you in that moment. Fill in the gaps and the preamble later.

Try things out. Write flash, write microfiction, write a poem. Seen a shiny prompt? Go for it. Plunge into a genre that you'd normally avoid. You might have fun, you might learn something. You might even end up with a story worth submitting.

Lean into your weird

I'm not saying you're weird, but… you’re totally weird. The way you tell stories is uniquely yours. You understand the world through the filter of your own personal experiences. And you express those observations in wonderfully idiosyncratic ways. 

One thing this prolific year taught me is that I love my writing more when I delve into those quirky parts of me. It could be sharing an oddly-specific fear in a horror story, or playing with words in a way that feels pleasing and musical to me.

Putting those unusual parts of yourself out into the world can be scary, but it's also fun. And I've found that readers and editors seem to respond to it as well.

Sim-subbing is addictive - but tread carefully

Simultaneous submissions are great. Is that one mag taking a bit long to decide on whether they want you piece? Send it somewhere else. Feel those sweet endorphins coursing through your veins. Oh yeah. That’s the stuff.

Here’s what I learned from a year of very heavy simultaneous submissions: Send a piece out to as many places as you like – but only if you're equally happy with ever possible outcome. That’s the important bit.

If you have your heart set on a specific home for a story then for gawd’s sakes don't sub it anywhere else until they have decided. Otherwise you risk tying yourself in knots if/when one of the lesser mags accepts it before your dream publisher has decided.

Play fast and loose!

Themed calls are great. They can be inspiring, sparking fresh ideas in our minds. Or help us to see our existing stories in a new light. But here’s what I learned this year: don’t be afraid to come at the theme from an obtuse angle.

Editors must get tired of reading 50 different permutations of the same story. Your off-kilter take could be just the breath of fresh air they're looking for.

And if you have a story already written when a call comes along and it feels like it's close-ish to what they're looking for, then you should throw it in the mix. What have you got to lose?

A true story from this year:

I had a story accepted after misunderstanding what a themed call was all about. I didn’t read the instructions carefully enough and subbed the wrong thing. I realised immediately after pulling the trigger and considered withdrawing my piece. For some reason, though, I didn't. (Slut era!) The editors saw something in my story and accepted the piece.

Moral: Don’t slavishly follow the theme. Go crazy.

Dilute the sting

Rejections can hurt, especially if you have your sights set on a specific magazine or anthology. But you know what helps? Rebound sex. Er… I mean, rebound submissions. Get that same piece back out there. Heck, send it to two places. Go crazy. You get closure by moving on. Also, the more you submit, the more rejection notches you get on your bedpost. And you know what, after a while you’ll find it starts to sting a lot less. 

So there you go. Lessons from a promiscuous wordmonger. Why not try to up your literary body count in 2024? You might like it. Repeat after me: “Slut era”.

Mathew Gostelow (he/him) is the author of two collections; See My Breath Dance Ghostly, a book of speculative short stories (Alien Buddha Press) and Connections, a flash fiction chapbook (Naked Cat Publishing). He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction. @MatGost

[jeffhirsch]

Super Boom Spring Break Easter Sale!

Few at Dow 10,000 believed me in May 2010 when I forecasted a 500+% market rise that would put DJIA at 38,820 by the year 2025 in my Almanac Investor Newsletter. My 2011 book Super Boom took a deeper dive into the history and analysis of this groundbreaking forecast and the iconic market cycle and pattern that it’s based on. Now that Dow 38,820 has come true, what’s next? AI is clearly the culturally enabling, paradigm-shifting technology I predicted would drive the next phase of this generational Super Boom. Come find out what I expect to happen next. Get my latest outlook on how and why the AI Super Boom will drive the economy full steam ahead and the market higher and higher.

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MoneyShow Easter Sale

Come down to Miami for spring break and join me in person at MoneyShow’s Investment Masters Symposium – The Big Money Pivot – East. April 10-12, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Miami. They have a special Easter Sale this weekend! Join us for 3 days filled with market education from the nation’s top experts on stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, cryptocurrencies, technology, energy, & more. Use $99 Standard Pass Coupon Code HOP99

Register here to join:

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Rally Respite After Big Best Six Months Gains

Monday is the beginning of the last month of the “Best Six Months (BSM)” (November-April) for the Dow and S&P 500 – and what a banner one it’s been so far. From our Seasonal MACD Buy Signal on October 9, 2023, through the close on March 28, 2024, DJIA is up 18.46% and S&P 500 is up 21.19% – more than double the historical average BSM gains. Our Best Six Months Seasonal MACD Sell Signal can trigger anytime on or after the first trading day of April, which is Monday April 1st this year. NASDAQ’s Best 8 Months end in June, which is up 21.47% since our buy signal, not quite double the average but give it time.

The big rewards we have reaped this Best Six Months and year-to-date so far have not left much on the table until later this year. Risks are more elevated now. Sentiment continues to run high. Valuations are extended. Geopolitical tensions have not eased. And persistent inflation pressures have the Fed in no rush to cut rates. As the election campaign rhetoric heats up and the Best Six Months comes to a close be prepared to shift to a more cautious stance when we issue our Best Six Months Seasonal MACD Sell Signal. We do not expect a bear market or major correction. We do not Sell in May and go away. We sell some things, tighten stops and consider defensive positions if warranted.

So sign up today to receive my Best Six Months Seasonal MACD Sell Signal as soon as it triggers!

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[bahamutgames]

Gaming in the Year 2023!!

These each come from (in order) : Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Spotify (I just included it cause why not? Thanks Izzy for letting me on your premium plan lots of love)

I genuinely love these things. Idk why but I get a bit of a kick seeing how much I played over the year. Also ignore my fortnite time I'm genuinely embarrassed by it.

[mojikenstudio]

COMING TO PC & CONSOLES ON 19 JAN 2023 Atma and Raya's coming-of-age story, "A Space for the Unbound", is releasing next year! Accompanied by gorgeous pixel art, join the two high school sweethearts in their supernatural-filled adventure through late 90s Indonesia. - - - - - - - - - Wishlist on Nintendo Switch eShop! US  https://nintendo.com/.../a-space-for-the-unbound-switch/ EU  https://nintendo.co.uk/.../A-Space-for-the-Unbound... Wishlist and play demo on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/.../A_Space_for_the_Unbound/ Wishlist and play demo on GOG! https://www.gog.com/en/game/a_space_for_the_unbound

[satoshi-mochida]

Tokyo Xanadu eX+ for Switch coming west in June

From Gematsu

Aksys Games will release the Switch version of Tokyo Xanadu eX+ in June in the west, the publisher announced.

A four-CD set featuring all 88 songs from the Tokyo Xanadu eX+ soundtrack will be available exclusively via Aksys Games Online Store.

Tokyo Xanadu eX+ first launched for PlayStation 4 on September 8, 2016 in Japan, followed by PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam on December 8, 2017 worldwide, and Switch on June 29, 2023 in Japan and July 13, 2023 in Asia.

Here is an overview of the game, via Aksys Games:

The popular action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom comes to Nintendo Switch! 10 years ago, a colossal earthquake devastated Tokyo and changed the lives of its inhabitants forever. The city has since been rebuilt and life has slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy. However, behind the veil of this newly rebuilt metropolis lies another world, one with a sinister secret. The earthquake that originally destroyed Tokyo was actually caused by the emergence of a mysterious and lethal shadow world known as Eclipse. Now, action must be taken to thwart the legions of Eclipse and ensure the protection of peace!

Watch the announcement trailer below.

Announce Trailer

[yukihime242]

It is that time of the year where I start to do my annual review of the games I have played for the year. I made it sound like I have tons of annual reviews but in truth, I only did one which was last year...

(GIF Source: Imgur thru' Google Image Search)

Ahem, anyway, unlike last year where I categorised my games according to the platform which I played them on, I am going to categorise them as Completed, Currently Playing, and Anticipating. It makes more sense this way, doesn't it?

Obviously, I won't be putting all into one post because that would make it too long. I have also linked the two other posts to the respective titles above so you can just hop over to the other posts if you don't wish to read this one.

Now that's settled, on to the Completed list of games for 2023!

1️⃣ A Little to the Left

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

A Little to the Left is one of the top cozy and organising games during the Covid period and it has excellent reviews on Steam. The only complain many players had with the game is the "unjustified" price tag for the game.

The game revolves around a couple attempting to organise and keep their house tidy but their cat, being a cat, would mess things up. Each level in the game will give you some form of satisfaction after re-organising or solving the puzzles. Of course, you will have their cat coming to mess things up occasionally.

The levels are doable but there are some that are really tricky. Many of you who may wish to play it would definitely want to solve the levels yourselves, but trust me, there are some that are so tricky that I had to google the answer.

But if you are insistent on trying to solve it yourself without any help, then here are a couple of tips. First, you can skip the level you are stuck at and go back to it at the end. I am not sure what is the control function on Switch, but if you are playing on PC, you can open the menu by pressing the ESC key and select the "Let It Be" option to move on to the next level. There is no time limit, so you can take your time to try and solve those puzzles at your own time.

Second, observe every single feature in the level, especially for those which has multiple solutions. Some are easy to solve, such as arranging it into ascending or descending order, or by colours and the like. But it is usually starting from the second solution that is tricky. The tip here is to observe every single feature in the level. Take for example, the leaves at the bottom picture below.

(Picture Source: A Little to the Left Wiki Fandom thru' Google Image Search)

At first glance, you would have guessed that the solution is by the colours. Congrats, you got your first solution, but there are more solutions to discover in this level. You will need to observe every thing in this level. Since the first solution is by colour, what else can you do to solve it? Is it by the leaf shape? Or by the length of the stems?

This is just one of the many levels that is designed as such. It may be liberating for some but there are those who may rage at not being able to figure out solution. My suggestion is to not be afraid to google the answer.

If you like to watch the gameplay of A Little to the Left, I have uploaded some videos onto my YouTube channel. The link will direct you to the playlist of the gameplay I have recorded and uploaded.

2️⃣ Death's Door

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

Death's Door took me almost half a year to complete though the game system said that I only spent slightly over 20 hours to complete...

Anyway, this game talks about this crow that just got a job at the Reaper's Commission, and was assigned his first job. He successfully completed it but got his assigned soul stolen by another crow who has been trapped for years. Our crow chased after the older crow only to witness him sending our assigned soul to a long and large black door, to which the older crow explained that he had to do it in order for him to get his own assigned soul back. Unfortunately, the door did not budge and the older crow asked our crow for help to reap three other large souls to be used to open the door. Our crow reluctantly agreed to help.

The story of Death's Door is simple to follow as long as you pay attention to the dialogue. If not, you can just go google the story. Otherwise, the game mechanics, the UI and controls are all very simple. The only thing that may have you pulling your hair roots out is the battle.

Now, I am more of a casual player but am willing to try such games. I thought it was probably because my dodging skills was horrible but the online guide which I follow has a disclaimer at the homepage of the game guide that said you will die in battle a few times before achieving victory. Alas, it wasn't because of my dodging skills (it still sucks) but that the game was created in such a way.

Of course, it is not impossible to win the battle on the first try, but that the chances of it is quite low; I guess you could say it is a once in a blue moon effort.

If you are interested in trying the game, here are a few advice, not exactly tips, that if you allow me to give.

Firstly, don't be afraid to experiment. The thing about this game is that although the game mechanics and controls are the same for all, there are different playstyles that each player is accustomed to. Some probably swing their weapon like a maniac while some do it with a strategic calculation. Apart from that, there are also weapons you can collect throughout the gameplay, each with varying degrees of damage output. I have seen a player on YouTube use an umbrella to battle. That umbrella's damage output is only 0.5 (the sword assigned to you at the start of the game is 1). However, it seems to work for him, which kinda emphasizes my point here.

Secondly, and those most important advice here, is that surviving is more important than attacking. The boss battles, be it mini bosses or final bosses, including the Avarice, can be frustrating. It is at those points in the game where you will die countless times. Often times you may see an opportunity to attack but it could also be your demise. My suggestion is to dodge more and attack less. Sure, the battle will be dragged longer but it will increase your chances of survival better.

(Picture Source: EIP Gaming thru' Google Image Search)

Thirdly, you don't need necessarily need to achieve 100% completion rate to complete the game. The 100% completion rate is by levelling up your spells, visiting every shrine, and making sure that all pots are planted with a life seed.

While power ups and having a handy potted life seed is good, it is not necessarily needed to complete the game experience. It is possible to complete the game without any of those. Even so, I would still suggest trying to go for it because it will make your battle a tad bit easier to deal with, especially the fire spell (levelling up your fire spell will make your enemies experience continued burning damage after you throw a fire ball at them).

Final advice is to explore every nook and cranny of the map. There aren't any treasure chest with loads of goodies for you to collect, but because there may be some mass souls that you can pick up and exchange it at the vault in the Reaper's Commission for levelled up attack power.

While Death's Door was fun, I don't think I would go back to play it again because of the battle mechanics. It is really very frustrating which could prompt you to lose your interest in the game. However, it is also quite worth losing a few hairs.

3️⃣ Pokemon Scarlet

(Picture Source: Nintendo thru' Google Image Search)

I'd be honest here. At the time of writing, I have yet to complete the game. I am very confident that I could get past the Area Zero with ease but it is the Pokemon League that has me worried. My sister who completed the Violet version a long time ago advised me to level up as many different types of Pokemon as possible before I tackle the Pokemon League.

I have a feeling that this game would very well run over into 2024, but I am not willing to put this game under the 2024 annual review since I am currently near to the end of the story. Moreover, I won't be able to play DLC because my country strangely does not support the e-shop.

Anyway, just like any other Pokemon game (to my knowledge because this is the first of such for me), you are an aspiring trainer ready to take your first big step into the world of Pokemon like Ash Ketchum, except in the Scarlet and Violet version, you got to attend the Pokemon Academy. But, of course, the whole purpose of a Pokemon game is to go out, explore, and catch Pokemon, which will be given to you after a few semesters in the Academy (time skip).

There are three quests for you to take (not optional). The first is the usual Pokemon League quest where you need to tackle the gyms located throughout Paldea. The second quest is helping Arven with his Mabosstiff by battling Titan Pokemon and acquiring some mystical herb. The third quest is to help Cassiopeia take down Team Star. All three are important quests to take on because they are located all over the Paldea region. If you are unsure of the order to go with, you can refer to this guide.

However, if you don't wish to tackle all at once, that my suggestion is to go for the Titan Pokemon quest first. The reason being is because after defeating each Titan Pokemon, your Koraidon, or Miraidon in Violet version, will acquire important skills beneficial to exploring Paldea. Afterwords, you can tackle both the Gym and Team Star together if you wish.

One thing I did to make my game experience smoother is to level up my Pokemon as high as I could. That's because I needed stronger Pokemon to battle the tougher Titan Pokemon. In order to do so, I went Tera Raiding, but that can also prove to get boring very easily.

(Picture Source: IGN thru' Google Image Search)

The big headache for this game is trying to find which Pokemon is best to keep and which is best to release. Of course, the usual strong Pokemon like Garchomp, Dragonite, Tyranitar and the like, are the top choices. But you will still need a wide selection of different types of Pokemon. The easiest way is to get hybrid types, such as Dragonite being a Dragon and Flying type.

Another way is to get the tera types. So, for example, you may encounter a Vaporeon (water type) with an electric tera version. However, the disadvantage of it is that in order to utilise the tera version, you will need to terastalize your Pokemon which has a long cool down between battles.

Overall, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can be quite addicting, but it can also get boring soon. I'd say that it's a double-edge sword. Still, being my very first RPG Pokemon game, it is quite an experience to behold. I do look forward to other similar games like this.

[bedtimestoriesforbrokengirls]

The Daily Dad

Things you might want to know, for Jun 10, 2023:

The First In-Depth Study on ‘Blue Balls’ Reveals a Lot about Sex — “Men are full of shit and women are gullible” isn’t particularly revealing.

Artifact — So I’m playing around with Artifact —the new AI-infused news reader from the people who made Instagram— and much of it mundane stuff… largely indistinguishable from Google News. It does deliver at least one very interesting, unusual feature, though: it looks at the title of every article it recommends, and if it seems clickbaity, Artifact uses generative AI to rewrite the title. This is a delightful behavior, returning me to a lost time when headlines actually tried to convey information.

One man’s nearly 40-year, 8-bit quest to finish his teenage Commodore 64 RPG — I’d love to do something like this. I won’t, but I’d love to.

Toxic ‘manosphere’ podcaster claims ‘all women are whores’ — I have no idea why young men are falling for this shit. I get that they’re targeting the average teenaged boy’s innate sense of persecution and lack of empathy, but aren’t we supposed to be teaching them the rudiments of critical thinking at some point? And what kind of self-respecting dude wants to be part of something called the “manosphere” anyway? Can’t we do better? “Oh yeah, man, I listen to all the podcasts in the Schlongscape!” “I used to be a feminist until my girlfriend dumped me and I discovered the Pro-state!”

It's One of History's Most Famous Experiments. The Drawings Are Hilarious.

A Nintendo Switch Like This Should Frankly Be Illegal — They’re not wrong. That is excessively cute.

’Cracker Barrel Has Fallen’: Far-Right Melts Down Over Pride Month Ads — I’ll be ordering breakfast this weekend. (The smoked breakfast sausage is unreal.)

What Did the Ancient Romans Smell Like? — Considering how fond they were of dumping bodies in the Tiber, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say “I really don’t want to know.”

How to Host a Large Language Model Locally — I propose that we establish The Galactica Protocols for LLMs and all future intelligence enhancers and simulators. “AI”s —I’m half-convinced to stop using that term— should live on home microservers, firewalled from the world.

I just bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, and I regret nothing — I’ve got to admit, it’s a fucking beautiful set of books. And I’m sentimental about World Book… I remember nervously rifling through the “S” volume in the back of my 4th grade class, devouring the entry for “sexual intercourse” over and over. If I recall, it said something like, “The penis enters the vagina. This is usually pleasurable for both parties.” Way to set those expectations, World Book!

Motorbunny Buck Review: Worth Every Penny — I always wanted a Sybian, and this looks like the logical evolution of a 40 year old design.

Data Shows Most Switch Owners Are Women, Gamers React Poorly — Duh. On both counts.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Year I Started Masturbating’ on Netflix, A Raucous Romp About Discovering Pleasure

Male Primate Masturbation May Have Evolved to Prevent STIs

Pat Cooper, ‘Analyze This’ and ‘Seinfeld’ Star, Dead at 93 — Aw. We’re going to be losing more and more of the secondary Seinfeld cast in the decade to come, and I’m not happy about it.

Reddit CEO Says Keeping Explicit Content on the Site Is a ‘Constant Fight’ — TL;DR: Reddit is cracking down on porn, and this is the first move in a longer process. I don’t expect them to repeat Tumblr’s mistake, but they’re going to start tightening the reins to minimize any bad press as they go public.

Exclusive: Donald Trump admits on tape he didn’t declassify ‘secret information’

New Accessory Turns Your Nintendo Switch Into A Steam Deck — If you liked the fixed form-factor of the Switch Lite but went with the full-sized Switch for its screen and the HDMI-out, this gizmo looks like a solid best-of-both-worlds scenario.

[rainynightcreations]

“Your friend has been infected again, find a cure before time runs out. But it won't be easy, sooner or later your friend will relapse and you'll have to find a new cure in a new randomly generated mansion. Will you be able to discover the secret of the mansion and save your friend once and for all?”

Vaccine Rebirth is a re-envisioned version of a game that I released 6 years ago, it has been built from scratch, expanding the original idea, including new gameplay mechanics, enemies, locations, weapons and much more!

It should be coming to Steam, PS5, PS4 and Switch between the end of Q1/and the beginning of Q2 2023.

You can wishlist it on Steam here, it would help a bunch! 😊