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Blizzard has announced a new charitable campaign where players can buy an in-game pet for World of Warcraft with proceeds going to humanitarian aid groups fighting COVID-19.

Now through April 26 (or until donations reach $1 million), WoW players can donate any amount of money they want to Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres to help the entire WoW community receive at least one new in-game pet. The money will go to the groups’ Crisis Fund that helps with various initiatives related to the pandemic.

If funding reaches $500,000, everyone will get a new monkey pet named Bananas for use in World of Warcraft, regardless of if you personally donated to the campaign. Should funding reach $1 million, every WoW player will receive a pet sloth named Daisy. You can see both pets in the image below; use the slider to quickly see each of them.

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Blizzard also released the descriptions for Bananas and Daisy, and they are delightful. You can read those descriptions below, while the full details on how to donate can be found at the bottom of the page. Blizzard wrote the descriptions for these segments, as published in a blog post.

Bananas: Born on an island off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, little Bananas is a son of King Mukla, a fierce leader of Skymane Gorillas. Luckily, Bananas fell far from the tree and his gentle disposition makes him an ideal travel companion who will brighten your days on Azeroth and beyond.

Daisy: Born on an island off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, little Bananas is a son of King Mukla, a fierce leader of Skymane Gorillas. Luckily, Bananas fell far from the tree and his gentle disposition makes him an ideal travel companion who will brighten your days on Azeroth and beyond.

HOW TO DONATE

• Navigate to the MSF DonorDrive site and select the “Donate To This Event” button at the top of the page.
• Fill in your Donation Amount and select your currency type from the drop down next to it.
• For USD only—Choose PayPal, Amazon Pay, or credit card as payment method.
• For all other currencies click “Next” and enter credit card billing and payment information.
• Click “Pay” to process your donation.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 1.9.0 update has introduced a variety of new content to the game, but the most notable additions are all the new Sanrio-themed villagers, clothing, and furniture. These characters and items are tied to the Animal Crossing Sanrio Amiibo cards, so you’ll need to have those cards before you can invite the villagers and order the furniture in your game.

The Sanrio Amiibo cards first launched in Japan and Europe in 2017 following Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s big Welcome Amiibo update. The card set was not originally available in the US, but they’ll go on sale stateside at Target stores starting March 26. The pack costs $6 and contains all six Sanrio Amiibo cards, each of which unlocks villagers and items themed after popular Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty and My Melody.

If you’ve previously imported the Sanrio Amiibo cards, you’ll be able to use those now to unlock the new villagers and items in New Horizons; otherwise, you’ll need to wait until later this month to pick up a pack up once they go on sale in the US. Once you have the cards, here’s how to get the new Sanrio villagers and furniture.

How To Get Sanrio Villagers And Items

Once you have the Animal Crossing Sanrio Amiibo cards, you’ll need to invite each character to your campsite as you would invite other Amiibo villagers. Select Invite Amiibo from the NookStop terminal in your Resident Services building, then scan one of the Sanrio Amiibo cards to have that villager visit your campsite. You can also scan the villagers in Harv’s island to take screenshots of them in the game’s Photopia mode.

Once you’ve scanned a Sanrio Amiibo card, you’ll be able to order that character’s associated furniture and clothing. These will all be listed in the Promotions tab in Nook Shopping, the same place you can find the recently added Mario items. Note that the fastest way to unlock the Sanrio items is to either scan the villagers at Harv’s island, or scan the cards at NookStop but not invite them to your campsite. Since you can only invite one Amiibo villager to your campsite each day, it would take at least six days to invite the entire set and unlock all of the Sanrio furniture in your game without time skipping that way.

There are six Sanrio Amiibo cards in total. You can see the full list and the associated character each one unlocks below:

• Hello Kitty – Rilla (gorilla)
• Pompompurin – Marty (cub)
• Kiki & Lala – Étoile (sheep)
• Cinnamoroll – Chai (elephant)
• My Melody – Chelsea (deer)
• Kerokerokeroppi – Toby (rabbit)

If you’d like to invite these characters to live on your island, you’ll need to go through the same process as with other Amiibo villagers–which means it will take up to three days to convince them to move in. Talk to the villager when they’re in the campsite and they’ll ask you to craft an item for them. Repeat that two more days and the villager will eventually agree to move to your island. The characters don’t need to move in for you to unlock their items, so if you’re strictly after the Sanrio furniture and clothing, all you need to do is invite each character to your campsite once.

Square Enix Presents takes place today, March 18, and it’s the publisher’s chance to show off some of its biggest upcoming games. Some of these have already been announced and will receive new trailers and gameplay footage, while others are entirely new. Here’s how you can watch Square Enix Presents and what to expect from the show.

How To Watch Square Enix Presents

Part of a new series, meaning we’ll probably also hear more this summer, the first Square Enix Presents will take place today, March 18, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. The show will be available on a proprietary page in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, as well as via the official Square Enix YouTube and Twitch channels.

The presentation will last about 40 minutes, and though the focus will be nearly all on making game announcements, Square Enix says there “might” also be some giveaways.

What To Expect From Square Enix Presents

Square Enix says the following games and series will be showcased during the presentation:

Additionally, there will be new mobile game announcements coming from Square Enix Montreal, as well as a showcase from sister company Taito–best known for arcade shooters like Space Invaders and Darius.

This will be the first time we’ve seen the new Life is Strange, which Square Enix is teasing as a major piece of the show. We know it will star a new protagonist. We also know there will be more footage of Outriders on display, and that game is launching on Xbox Game Pass out of the gate.

One series not mentioned at all in the announcement is Nier, despite the Nier: Replicant remake launching next month and the mobile game Nier: Reincarnation also in the works. If there are any unlisted surprises, it could involve those games.

ID@Xbox, Microsoft’s indie games wing, is teaming up with Twitch to host its first Indie Showcase on March 26. Xbox is promising over 100 games at the event including new debut trailers and gameplay for titles like STALKER 2, Second Extinction, and more.

The ID@Xbox Indie Showcase will premiere on Friday, March 26 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET and will be hosted exclusively on Twitch. Xbox is promising over 100 games total from indie developers worldwide, including from well-known developers like Devolver Digital, DrinkBox, Curve Digital, and more.

Over 25 game reveals and gameplay trailers will also be at the event, though Xbox only names a handful like STALKER 2, Second Extinction, The Ascent, The Wild at Heart, Voidtrain, and Exo One. Though Xbox’s promo image includes games like 12 Minutes.

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This is an indie-focused event, and while some notable titles like STALKER 2 will be present, there will not likely be any reveals from Xbox Game Studios or the newly-acquired Bethesda here. Xbox confirmed there will be a summer event that will have more news from Bethesda, so hold tight.

ID@Xbox is responsible for bringing some of Xbox’s more beloved indie and AA titles to the platform including games like Outlast, Superhot, and Warframe. And with titles like STALKER 2 announced to be at the show, there could be some big surprises still.

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Matt T.M. Kim is News Editor at IGN.

Alongside revealing that Scarlet Nexus will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on June 25, 2021, Bandai Namco has announced that there is currently a Scarlet Nexus anime in development as well.

Bandai Namco shared a trailer focused on Kasane Randall with this news, which gives another glimpse at one of the two playable characters in Scarlet Nexus. As previously revealed, Kasane and the other protagonist, Yuito Sumeragi, will each have their own campaign that will let players experience the story from two different points of view.

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Kasane is a “mysterious scout whose power and skill has gained notoriety among the OSF,” while Yuito is “an energetic recruit from a prestigious political family.”

The Scarlet Nexus anime is set to release worldwide this summer, and will feature both Yuito and Kasane. The series is being produced by Sunrise Inc. and will be broadcast in the US on Funimation.

“Link your minds, unlock the future. In 2020 of the solar calendar, grotesque organisms called Others have begun eating people,” The official description reads. “To take down this new enemy, the Other Suppression Force is formed. Saved by this elite team as a child, psychokinetic Yuito enlists, bravely withstanding the training. On the other hand, prodigy Kasane was scouted for her abilities. But Kasane’s dreams tell her strange things, dragging the two into an unavoidable fate.”

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For more on Scarlet Nexus, check out our first-look preview and and how the game looks to use RPG elements alongside action.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Square Enix’s surprising side-step into the world of battle royale with Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is an effort to reach out to players who are not traditional fans of the JRPG series, says FF7 Remake creative director Tetsuya Nomura.

Talking to Famitsu, Nomura said “the fan demographics for long running IP series do tend to become quite fixed, making it something of a challenge for us to appeal outside of that existing fan group.”

“I think that many in the core audience for [the battle royale genre] will not know about FFVII or maybe even never have played a Final Fantasy game at all,” he continued. “I do want people to discover an interest in the world of FFVII from this game.”

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Nomura admits that Square Enix has no real experience in the battle royale field, but intends on ensuring that The First Soldier is done with “no half measures”. He notes that the project’s producer, Shoichi Ichikawa, is a big player of battle royale games and will provide the expertise, while Nomura himself will only provide “inexpert feedback”.

“I can safely make my reckless proposals, knowing that [Ichikawa-san] is there to keep them in check,” he said.

From Nomura’s perspective, the main focus of The First Soldier will be on gameplay and balance. While little is known of the details of how The First Soldier will play, Nomura reveals that it uses a Job system, influenced by classic Final Fantasy games. These job “styles” will provide unique skills and abilities, and so sound akin to the characters of Apex Legends.

For more from Final Fantasy 7, check out Nomura’s latest comments on plans for FF7 Remake DLC, as well as the reveal of the PS5 version, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

The hunting game The Hunter: Call of the Wild, from Just Cause developer Avalanche Studio’s sister developer Expansive Worlds, is adding a hunting dog as DLC. The Bloodhound dog is coming soon to the hunting game across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC as a $4 USD DLC pack.

Known for its excellent sense of smell and tracking instincts, bloodhounds have been used in real-world hunting for a long time. In the game, the hound will help you track animal blood as you hunt down prey.

Expansive Worlds boss Sacha Karsenty said in a statement that adding a hunting dog was one of the top-requested features from fans since the game launched in 2017.

“With the Bloodhound DLC, we’re incredibly excited to bring one of the most requested features to life, and give players the opportunity to hunt alongside this gentle, yet incredibly effective scent hound,” Karsenty said.

Expansive Worlds recorded the movements of “fantastic real-life dogs” in a studio using motion-capture technology to make the bloodhound look as real as possible in the game.

“Thanks to their amazing performances, we’re able to bring animations to life with even more realism and deliver the experience our players have come to expect,” Karsenty said.

Throughout the DLC, your dog will earn experience points that can be spent on improving tracking skills and other “companion attributes.” Forming a bond with your dog is important, too. Petting it, giving it treats, and being nice to it will help strengthen your bond. What’s more, the dog can be male or female and you can customize its coat. In total, you can have more than 20 dogs in your roster.

Help me out here for some market research. Q: Would you be interested in buying an Xbox Mini-Fridge if we made one for sale?

— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼‍♂️💚U (@aarongreenberg) October 28, 2020