On Sunday, February 12th, Knott’s is celebrating Good Ol’ Charlie Brown by hosting a Charlie Brown Day during their PEANUTS Celebration. The park invites guests during this special time of year to join in on all the excitement as the PEANUTS gang takes over. To show everyone’s favorite underdog just how special he is, attendees will be encouraged to pay homage to Charlie Brown by sporting his signature bright yellow zig-zag striped tee, black shorts, and red baseball cap outfit. At 12:30pm on the Calico Mine Stage, the PEANUTS characters will perform the musical game show It’s Your Life, Charlie Brown, with the loveable title character getting the surprise of his life. After the show, all guests dressed as Charlie Brown will be invited to gather around the stage for a photo opportunity posing alongside the boy of the hour.
All guests in attendance will also receive a button commemorating Charlie Brown Day, while supplies last. Knott’s PEANUTS Celebration takes place daily January 28 through February 26.
WHEN: Sunday, February 12th, with a special photo opportunity occurring after the 12:30pm Calico Mine Stage show. WHERE: Knott’s Berry Farm – 8039 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, CA 90620
The Peanuts Celebration is back at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. This year, guests can enjoy the decorative ambiance of the celebration as well as a variety of themed foods and shows! We got the chance to attend on January 28th and it was a nice, cool day. Upon entering the main gates, we ran into some fun Peanuts photo booths in the style of comic strips. We also happened upon a fun merchandise booth decked out to resemble Lucy’s Psychiatric help kiosk. In the booth, guests could purchase the official Peanuts Celebration and Pin combo as well as some other items. The event-specific shirt design is fun and energetic with plenty of Peanuts personality.
One thing that the Peanuts Celebration has in spades is shows! Over at the Ghost Town Town Hall guests will find To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA. This exhibit showcases the role that Peanuts has played in NASA going back many decades. You might even find a photo opportunity with everyone’s favorite beagle, Snoopy himself! In the Bird Cage Theater, two shows that cycle throughout the day. One that I particularly enjoyed was Charlie Brown’s Trivia Challenge. This will test the audience’s knowledge of the Peanuts Gang as well as provide fun for everyone in your party. You can also find the Peanuts Sketch School which will teach everyone how to draw Peanuts characters. On the Calico Mine Stage, guests will be thoroughly entertained by Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert. This musical revue features The Jelly of the Month Club indie band as well as Peanuts characters – it’s a total howling good time! Also on the Calico Mine Stage is It’s Your Life, Charlie Brown which features Charlie Brown taking part in the classic game show It’s Your Life! There are even more shows to list but I’ll leave you to the park’s event website for that. Suffice it to say, your party will be well-entertained by what Knott’s has come up with for the Peanuts Celebration.
No Knott’s seasonal event would be complete without food and the Peanuts Celebration is no different. Throughout the park, guests will find that most of the food stops are offering up something fun and different. For instance, the Cornbread Funnel Cake with Honey and Pulled Pork was a favorite during our visit, and I really wanted to try the Berry French Toast Funnel Cake but simply couldn’t eat another bite – I got so filled up by everything. The Carrot Cake Churros with Cream Cheese Filling were a lot softer than those experienced in previous years and they are well worth purchasing. Also, if you are 21 or older, be sure to hit the Calico Saloon for a frosty Boysenberry Hef!
The topper of our visit to the Peanuts Celebration was being able to go through Pig-Pen’s Pig Pen – complete with little adorable piglets. In the Pig Pen you will also find Pig-Pen for a photo opportunity!
Photo Gallery
Merchandise!
Decorations!
Signage!
Welcome!
5 Cents Please
Sparky’s Ranch
Pig-Pen!
Good Eats!
While the Peanuts Celebration is definitely not as transformative as most Knott’s Seasons of Fun events, it’s a welcome dressing of family fun over the usual amount of Knott’s Berry Farm offerings. I’d definitely recommend it – especially if you are a fan of Peanuts or have small children in your party. The Knott’s Berry Farm Peanuts Celebration is happening daily now through February 26, 2023. You can get park hours, ticket info, and more over at their official website.
It’s a good thing being headless doesn’t stop The Beheaded from enjoying some nice wall meat. The hero of Dead Cells will need all the help he can get when Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania launches on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles and the Nintendo Switch March 6 for $9.99: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2101430/Dead_Cells_Return_to_Castlevania
Get an early look at a full minute’s worth of vampire-slaying action by watching the brand-new gameplay reveal from today’s Nintendo Direct – featuring Richter Belmont, Alucard and plenty of soon-to-be dead undead – below.
Pre-orders for the legendary crossover between indie gaming’s favorite flame-headed hero and Castlevania’s vampire slaying badasses are now available on the Nintendo Switch and PC via the Epic Games Store. Anyone new to Dead Cells who wants to get in on the action can also take advantage of some sizable discounts. A bundle including Dead Cells and the Return to Castlevania DLC is available for $22.99, while another including the base game and all released DLC will be available for $31.99 (price may vary slightly between regions and platforms). Check your preferred platform’s store for the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Bundle (Dead Cells + Return to Castlevania) and the Dead Cells: Medley of Pain Bundle (Dead Cells + all DLC).
Front and center in today’s trailers are the inhuman enemies that The Beheaded will face down. Werewolves, blood-suckers, spooky scary skeletons and more are in the way of brand-new loot. Thankfully, Richter and Alucard have given our hero some new toys and abilities that make quick work of these formidable foes. Use Castlevania’s iconic weapons, including the Throwing Axe and Vampire Killer to dispatch monsters, all while teleporting behind enemies with a swing of Alucard’s sword.
However, you’ll need more than fancy tools when facing off against some of Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania’s bosses, including Dracula and Death himself, who players will be able to face for the first time in 15 years. In these battles across two new biomes and featuring a host of new weapons and enemies, players will need to use their wits and calm their nerves to achieve victory against some of humanity’s greatest enemies.
A cooperative, rogue-lite metroidvania-inspired experience, Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game will let players explore the ever-changing island of Dead Cells. Players will have to choose their path carefully inside unforgiving biomes and work their way through Malaise-infected enemies… or die trying. Each death is a chance to mutate into something far more powerful, and to go further every run. Explore. Kill. Die. Mutate. Repeat.
Scorpion Masqué, a multiple award-winning publisher with a strong expertise in evolutive board games has been joined by a group of veteran and decorated designers Antoine Bauza (7 Wonders), Corentin Lebrat (Draftosaurus), Ludovic Maublanc (Cyclades), and Théo Rivière (The Loop), dubbed Kaedama, to bring their vast experiences to the design of the first board game in the Dead Cells universe in conjunction with Motion Twin and Evil Empire.
SQUARE ENIX® today announced the release of the playable demo of upcoming title, OCTOPATH TRAVELER™ II for the Nintendo Switch™ system, the PlayStation®5 (PS5™) console and the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) console. The demo will also be available for PC via STEAM® tomorrow. The OCTOPATH TRAVELER II Prologue demo allows players to choose any of the eight protagonists and play for three hours. Save data will also carry over to the full game which launches on February 24, 2023.
In OCTOPATH TRAVELER II, players will embark on an exciting journey through the brand-new world of Solistia. Developed by the same team behind the beloved original, which has sold over three million copies worldwide*, this installment improves upon the series’ iconic HD-2D visuals: a striking blend of retro 2D characters in a beautiful 3D world.
The game’s new storyline, characters and features make it the perfect entry for newcomers to the series, while also preserving the charm of the original game for veteran players. Players can look forward to following the journey of eight distinct protagonists as they explore the land and conquer enemies in strategic turn-based battles on an adventure all their own.
New and returning gameplay features and elements include:
Break & Boost Battle System – Players must act strategically to exploit enemy weaknesses to “Break” them to inflict more damage, and “Boost” their travelers to enhance their abilities.
Path Actions – Players can interact with NPCs throughout the world in various ways by using actions unique to each character, such as challenging people as the Warrior or stealing belongings as the Thief. Path Actions will vary depending on the protagonist and whether it is day or night.
Brand-New Story and Characters – Players can embark on a grand adventure in the new land of Solistia and experience the intertwined stories of eight new travelers: Hikari (Warrior), Agnea (Dancer), Partitio (Merchant), Osvald (Scholar), Throné (Thief), Temenos (Cleric), Ochette (Hunter), and Castti (Apothecary).
Day/Night Cycle – The townscapes and Path Actions available to each character will change depending on if it is night or day, creating more opportunities for exploration and discovery.
Latent Power – A new battle element in which characters can unleash a powerful ability once the ability’s gauge fills up during combat.
Crossed Paths – Additional stories will unfold between the protagonists as their journey progresses, further intertwining their narratives.
After six massive content updates over two years of Early Access development, independent AA developer ROCKFISH Games is excited to share their much-anticipated open world space looter-shooter, EVERSPACE 2, will be releasing on PC on April 6 and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in Summer 2023.
“EVERSPACE 2 has been, by far, our biggest and most ambitious project at ROCKFISH Games and a true labour of love over the five years it’s been in development, the last two of which in Early Access,” says ROCKFISH Games CEO Michael Schade. “With our release date revealed, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel where our amazing community and players all over the world new to the series will get to experience this adventure full of exciting, white-knuckle space combat and beautiful handcrafted deep space and planetside locations to explore. We’ve invested a hefty eight-digits budget into creating the game we’ve always wanted to make, and the team is now hard at work finaling and polishing all of our launch day content to perfection. Beyond the final chapter of the EVERSPACE 2’s story, there’s still a lot to see!”
As EVERSPACE 2 approaches launch, ROCKFISH Games has piloted away from generation 8 consoles. “Our vision for EVERSPACE 2 has taken us beyond the limitations of previous generation consoles. Our team has spent a significant amount of time trying to create an experience that would satisfy our fans on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but downscaling EVERSPACE 2 to those platforms does not hit the level of quality that we want to deliver,” said Schade. “We’ll be in touch with backers who pledged for copies on console during our Kickstarter to ensure interest is still there for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game and offer refunds in the event they do not have access to those platforms.”
As the team works on adding more enemies, rewards, challenges, catalysts, equipment types and attributes, polished cinematics, perks, customization options, new boss fights, an all-new trading map, and more ahead of 1.0 launch, they have one last reveal: an additional Companion and another star system will be added at launch.
To reflect the significant amount of content added over the course of Early Access, ROCKFISH Games plans to raise the price of the PC version on Steam, Microsoft Store, and GOG from $39.99 to $49.99 on February 20.
ROCKFISH Games have partnered with Maximum Games to bring a physical deluxe edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S to retailers worldwide with pre-orders and further details about the console release to be announced on April 6.
Systemic Reaction has released a free PC demo for the upcoming open-world action-roguelite Ravenbound, playable now through February 13 as part of Steam Next Fest. In addition to this hour-long demo, players can check out a new trailer highlighting the menacing monsters that await in the beautiful fantasy land of Ávalt.
Ravenbound is an action-packed roguelite set in Ávalt, a beautiful fantasy world filled with dangerous creatures inspired by Scandinavian folk tales. You are the Vessel, and within you is the Raven – a powerful weapon forged by the ancient gods to rid the land of darkness. Use skill and wit to defeat ferocious enemies, become stronger and wiser with each run, and save Ávalt from the monsters that threaten its existence.
Key Features
A Beautifully Deadly Open World: Freely explore a unique fantasy world inspired by Scandinavian folklore on foot or on the wings of the Raven. Choose where to go and which challenges to undertake, but beware: this land and its creatures are ever-changing, giving rise to new foes, locations, and trials when you may least expect it!
Intense Action-Roguelite Combat: Arm yourself with steel imbued with magic and face off against fantastic creatures like trolls, huldras, and the fearsome undead draugr in fast-paced, up-close combat where tactics are everything. Each Vessel has just one life to sacrifice, but the abilities you attain will benefit the next Vessel that rises in your place.
Play Your Cards Right: Ravenbound’s deck-building feature gives you access to more powerful gear and weapons with each new life. Expand your deck when you die, but pick carefully: these are the cards your next Vessel will draw. Improve your deck to give each Vessel the best chance to survive and bring the Raven closer to victory.
Ravenbound is available to wishlist now on Steam. For more information, visit www.RavenboundGame.com, and keep up with the latest updates by following the team on Twitter, Facebook, Discord and TikTok.
After the release of Session: Skate Sim last September, which was eagerly awaited by skateboarding fans and already has over 85% positive reviews on Steam, the development and publishing teams at Crea-ture and NACON continue to work on the game. Several patches, additional content and a new Nintendo Switch™ version are in the works as the teams aim to set the benchmark for all skateboarding games with Session: Skate Sim.
Session: Skate Sim is already available on PC, PS5TM, PS4 TM and Xbox Series X|S, and will be coming to Nintendo Switch™ on 9 March 2023 in North America and 16 March in the rest of the world. From today, this version of the game can be preordered to get the Brandalised pack for free, which includes exclusive deck and clothing designs. Considerable work has gone into adapting the controls for the Nintendo Switch™ version, especially on the triggers used for turns, to provide the optimal skateboarding experience.
Among the improvements made, the development team paid particular attention to the early stages of the game and to making it easier to master. With the recent patches, users can enjoy a more balanced learning curve and improved tutorial. Nintendo Switch™ users will also benefit from these improvements.
The developers are also working on new content for existing players. A new pro skater, new map (not a city!), new missions and new equipment items for greater variety in the game are all in development.
More details on improvements to the game and its content will be shared in the coming weeks.
Getting a mixer for content creation is one tough proposition. Prepare to walk through a veritable sea of contenders running the gamut with regards to price, quality, and features. When I was initially creating the GamingShogun studio setup, I went through a wide range of them. For a long time, the go-to for content creators was the GoXLR mixer from TC Helicon. Apparently, the creators of the GoXLR left to found their own company and product line, bringing their incredible experience with them. Enter BEACN. BEACN has created the ultimate mixer for content creators that won’t break your bank – the BEACN Mix and BEACN Mix Create. In this review, we’re mainly focusing on the BEACN Mix Create, but we will be expounding more on the BEACN Mix a bit later in the article.
BEACN Mix Create
The BEACN Mix Create is an attractive mixer. It features an array of control knobs and buttons and features an all black (or all white) plastic body. It is classy, yet minimalist in many ways. On the back of the BEACN Mix Create, you’ll find a single USB-C port. That’s it – no other ports are on the BEACN Mix Create. You might be scratching your head as to how that is possible. After all, the whole point of a mixer is to collect the various sound inputs and outputs of your computer and fine tune each channel to the creator’s liking. The BEACN Mix Create is more of a software based mixer that utilizes the BEACN Mix Create as a sort of control unit. The genius of the system is that, all the channels are virtual. This makes them exceptionally flexible. Using the BEACN Software (and hopefully the BEACN Mic as they pair SO nicely together – it’s really its own ecosystem), you can setup these virtual channels and then control their volume from the BEACN Mix Create control box.
BEACN Mix Create Routing Tables
In the software suite, as you open applications, they will appear in the software which you can then click and drag to the various channels of the device. Want to control your games on one knob, microphone on another, and a music player from yet another? No problem. The BEACN software also allows you to control your audience output and that can be different from what you’re actually hearing in the creator’s output. You can also switch between these two outputs on the fly thanks to a button on the BEACN Mix Create or in the software itself. This is a great way to check in on what your audience is hearing should be streaming and don’t want to guess as to their listening experience.
Of course, the drawback to the BEACN Mix Create is that it doesn’t have any additional ports on the device itself. If, say, you use an XLR microphone, you’ll need an additional input device which will then get imported into the BEACN software as one of your channels. However, I would highly recommend you use the BEACN Mix Create with the BEACN Mic. Each device has its own area in the BEACN software and it is so easy to switch between them.
BEACN Mix
Overall, the BEACN Mix Create is an outstanding virtual audio mixer and control unit – all for an exceptionally reasonable $199 Dollars. Now, BEACN also offers a device called the BEACN Mix. They market this as a straight audio controller and, with it, you lose some of the virtual mixing capabilities (sub mixes, channel paging, mute modes, and the routing table) that the BEACN Mix Create offers. It also only supports four channels. While it has the same four control knobs, it does not feature the other buttons that the BEACN Mix Create does. Both units do have the same beautiful, 5 inch full color screen. The BEACN Mix is sold for $149 Dollars and, while it will work great as a basic audio controller for your computer, if you are a content creator, I would spend the extra $50 Dollars for the Mix Create. You won’t be disappointed. If you are someone who isn’t creating a lot of content but has a variety of audio devices attached to your PC and mainly needs a clean way to manage them, the BEACN Mix is probably right up your alley.
Getting a nice microphone for Zoom calls is easy. Getting a nice microphone for content creation is a whole different thing altogether. Prepare to walk through a veritable ocean of contenders running the gamut with regards to price, quality, and features. When I was initially creating the GamingShogun studio setup, I went through a wide range of them – mostly for review purposes. In addition to a microphone, you will probably end up getting a mixer unit to manage all of your audio inputs and outputs. For many years, the go-to mixer for content creators was the GoXLR. Apparently, the creators of the GoXLR left to found their own company and product line. Enter BEACN. BEACN has created the ultimate microphone and mixer for content creators that won’t break your bank.
BEACN Mic Ports
Recently, I got the chance to check out the BEACN Mic USB microphone. I took everything out of the box and thought – well, it’s a microphone! There isn’t anything overtly different or, dare I say, special about it from a visual standpoint. It comes in white or black color schemes and features an RGB ring just under the foam wind filter. On the aft side of the BEACN Mic you’ll find a USB-C port and headphone jack. What makes the BEACN Mic so special is its built-in and software-based features. After installing the BEACN software suite and plugging in your BEACN Mic, you’re treated to the most powerful microphone control suite I have ever seen – especially for its $279 Dollar price. BEACN touts that it is “a studio in a microphone” and they are very right. Inside the BEACN Mic, you’ll find a dynamic capsule with 50Hz to 20kHz frequency response capable of sampling audio in 32-bit float quality (that’s a big deal which we’ll go into later). It also features an on-board, real-time adaptive noise suppression module which masterfully removes background noise. While you can plug the BEACN Mic into a USB port and use it without the software package, you would be wasting your money in doing so. They are very much designed to work together to bring all of the BEACN Mic’s features to the fore.
BEACN Mic Colors
In the BEACN software suite, you can setup the BEACN Mic’s features. Features like its expander and gate, compressor/enhancer, headphone output, and equalizer. I have to take a moment and give special attention to the BEACN Mic’s equalizer. It is absolutely incredible and easy to setup no matter your skill level. In its basic mode, you can make subtle, easy adjustments to tweak your audio while in its advanced form you’ll find a ton of points to adjust. They’ve even labeled the various regions of the advanced equalizer with labels such as “sub bass”, “broadcast”, “nasal”, “highs & air” to make it easier to understand. The compressor/enhancement features let you adjust the compressor, bass enhancement, and exciter levels – all which, when used in combination, work together to provide a warm and broadcast quality nature to your voice. In terms of audio sampling, the BEACN Mic can sample in 32-bit float. This is a game changer in that it can record a much wider range of audio values. Like. A LOT more. Exponentially more. What’s cool about this is that the folks at BEACN knew that not every system will be able to process 32-bit float audio so they are downscaling it to PCM audio on the microphone at the same time to ensure compatibility.
BEACN Software
While the $270 Dollar price point may sound high (and perhaps it is depending on your budget), it is worth putting into perspective the amount of value that the BEACN Mic provides. For example, one of the best and most popular content creation microphones out there is the Shure SM7B XLR microphone. It retails for $399 Dollars and does not have the on-board noise suppression of the BEACN Mic. It also requires a mixer of some kind as it is an analog/XLR microphone and that will cost you even more money. The BEACN Mic can sound just as good (if not better) as the Shure SM7B, doesn’t require the mixer, and is $100 Dollars less expensive. Now, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, you will probably want a mixer if you are far enough along in your content creation career. If so, you can also select the outstanding BEACN Mix Create which was designed to work in concert with the BEACN Mic (but that’s a review for another time – stay tuned).
Overall, the BEACN Mic really is “a studio in a microphone”. It’s simply the best USB desktop microphone I have ever used. The BEACN Mic is available now for $279 Dollars at BEACN’s official website.
Delve behind the scenes and learn the secrets of the making of this epic wizarding world video game, Hogwarts Legacy.
The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy takes readers on a journey through the creation of this immersive, open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books and the films. Go beyond the game with exclusive interviews with the development team, stunning concept sketches renders, and illustrations to really explore the creation of this unique take on a beloved world.
ORIGINAL CONCEPT ART: Includes many never-before-seen pieces of beautiful concept art used to craft the compelling wizarding world locations from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade to Gringotts and more.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS: Hear from the development team on the process of creating this exciting chapter in the history of the wizarding world.
PEOPLE, PLACES, AND MAGIC: Get an in-depth look at the compelling characters, detailed environments, and amazing magic system that bring Hogwarts Legacy to life.
GO BEHIND THE GAME: Filled with behind-the-scenes fun facts and information about the game-making process, from crafting the setting to developing the gameplay, see the incredible work and talent that goes into creating such an immersive gaming experience.
THE PERFECT COMPANION TO THE GAME: This beautiful volume is an ideal collectible for gamers and fans of the wizarding world.
The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy
Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World
Insight Editions | 9.25 x 12.75 inches | 252 pages
Hardcover| $45.00
978-1647226190 | February 10, 2023
