In a blindingly fast world, with so much to keep up with, is there a space to escape where everything slows down and we can sip our favorite beverage in peace? That’s what we, Toge Productions, want to serve in our Coffee Talk series, which soon will have its second game in Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.

Before I continue, let me introduce myself! My name is Arya, Toge Productions’ PR & Communications Manager, and I’m here to tell you a story about how Coffee Talk came about. How it connects to you – the players, the importance of its diverse fantastical cast of characters, a little scoop on the ever-mysterious barista, and everything in between.

Coffee Talk’s origins came from an internal game jam of Toge Productions crew, and it was first called Project Green Tea Latte. Andrew Jeremy, our Music Producer, said that the premise was to recreate the calm vibe of a coffee shop into a game, where we could listen to lo-fi music, hear people talking, and just enjoy the atmosphere. Following the positive player reception to the early demo we were convinced of the game’s potential and decided to give it a go.

What most people don’t know is that we almost chose other games to develop! A detective game and a shop simulation game… We postponed the detective one because we wanted to take some of Coffee Talk’s mechanics for it, so we decided to go with Coffee Talk first.

And the rest, at least for the original Coffee Talk, is history…

Now let’s talk about the sequel, Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, shall we?

In Hibiscus & Butterfly, we try to create more of the same vibe from its predecessor and progress the story of our beloved characters, but now with a richer narrative and new characters. Our fans wanted a deeper narrative, so we obliged with more branching and impactful storylines. Some branches even have bigger consequences!

To accomplish this, we added two great writers to our menu, Junkipatchi and Anna Winterstein. Junki, as the lead writer, focused on the main arc, while Anna expanded the stories of old characters like Hyde, Gala, Bayleys, and others. We really want to create a deeper and more expansive story in this sequel, while not forgetting the chill vibes of Coffee Talk, we have all adored!

We have two new characters here, Riona and Lucas, who have contrasting personalities. Riona is a banshee who, opposite to her kind’s stereotype (terrifying wails and bad luck), wants to be an opera singer. People on social media bullied her for her aspirations, so she really resents those online platforms. On the other hand, Lucas is a loud, slightly brash, and vivacious satyr-influencer, who may have his own layers that you’ll gradually discover as you play the game. With those personalities, you can imagine the dynamics between them would be interesting!

Talking about characters, Hibiscus & Butterfly still has the same diverse cast, with the return of established favorites plus these new faces.  Dio Mahesa, our Lead Artist and Art Director, said that the designs were inspired by his love for D&D creatures like orcs and elves. We chose to create fantasy-inspired characters so we can expl

Today we’re happy to reveal the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for April 2023. All games will be available on Tuesday April 18. Let’s dive in.

PlayStation Plus Extra and Deluxe | Game Catalog

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Kena: Bridge of Spirits | PS4, PS5

Immerse yourself in a story-driven action-adventure set in a charming world rich with exploration and fast-paced combat. Play as Kena, a young Spirit Guide travelling to an abandoned village in search of the sacred mountain shrine. Find and grow a team of tiny spirits known as the Rot who maintain balance by decomposing dead and rotting elements. Enhance your companions’ abilities, create new ways to manipulate the environment and uncover the secrets of a forgotten community hidden in an overgrown forest where wandering spirits are trapped.

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Last week, we asked you to share eye-catching shots of Resident Evil 4’s dependable hero Leon S. Kennedy using the #PSshare and #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

groovy_snake Leon performs a roundhouse kick

ujb3310 Leon serves a brooding look while wearing a winter hat

Blakers549 Leon wears a mafia-inspired suit while holding the Chicago Sweeper

Leon_REBH Leon wears an eye patch with a blue jacket on

Chitochi222 Leon with his gun drawn bathed in red light

JoeCapri Leon in a red suit of armor holding a rocket launcher

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Sports
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on April 19, 2023

Next week we’re getting competitive with awesome sports moments. Share moments that capture the essence of playing a sport from the game of your choice with #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball during the modern era. A true trailblazer in many areas, including sports, media, and the civil rights movement.  

Jackie stood for class, the love of the game, and equality. He was a powerful force of positive change that changed the landscape of sports and the world today.   

As has been tradition each season since 2004, MLB will celebrate the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic MLB debut as he broke baseball’s color barrier throughout the league on April 15, 1947.

In partnership with the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Players Association, and Major League Baseball you can purchase the Jackie Robinson Foundation Charity Pack ($4.99 USD, from April 14, 2023 through April 29, only on US digital platform stores where MLB The Show is sold). PlayStation and San Diego Studio will donate 100% of the proceeds* from this pack after store platform fee deductions are applied to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. These donations will continue to support the JRF/PlayStation-MLB The Show Scholars Program to help reduce the achievement gap in higher education. 

Your purchase of the Jackie Robinson Foundation Charity Pack grants you: 5,000 Stubs, Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) bat skins, Jackie Robinson Day profile icon and a Jackie Robinson profile banner icon for use in MLB The Show 23

Jackie Robinson played a pivotal role in societal change as a champion of racial equality and social justice. In turn, the Jackie Robinson Foundation continues that legacy as one of the best scholarship and leadership development programs for students from underrepresented groups for the past 50 years.  

We’re now in our third year of this groundbreaking partnership with the Jackie Robinson Foundation. We’d like to introduce you to our first cohorts of JRF/PlayStation MLB The Show Scholars:

Kevin Evans 

Cedar Hill, Texas

University of Texas at Austin

Computer Science

Class of 2026

Select High School Accomplishments:

• Graduated in the top 1% of his class
• Academic Awards – English Literature and Physics
• Nati

In just over two months, players will finally get their hands on Final Fantasy XVI, the next mainline installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game follows Clive Rosfield as he harnesses powerful Eikons to overcome his tragic destiny.

Today’s State of Play not only explores intricate details of the story and world lore, but also gives a first glimpse into the game’s party combat and colossal battles with new Eikons.

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You can watch today’s Final Fantasy XVI State of Play in 4K above.

We hope today’s broadcast was exciting for everyone, both for fans keeping up with Final Fantasy XVI updates, and those who are hearing about the game for the first time. Some highlights from today’s show:

Clive’s Hideout

Clive’s Hideout, which serves as his base camp throughout the game, was revealed at State of Play. The footage showcased Clive preparing for upcoming battles by crafting items with gathered materials or tackling training modes.

Players can also complete a variety of side quests as well as Mob Hunts, that allows you to take on stronger enemies. Mob Hunts can be accepted from the Hunt Board where you’ll spot a familiar face from the series – Moogle!

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In just over two months, players will finally get their hands on Final Fantasy XVI, the next mainline installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game follows Clive Rosfield as he harnesses powerful Eikons to overcome his tragic destiny.

Today’s State of Play not only explores intricate details of the story and world lore, but also gives a first glimpse into the game’s party combat and colossal battles with new Eikons.

Play Video

You can watch today’s Final Fantasy XVI State of Play in 4K above.

We hope today’s broadcast was exciting for everyone, both for fans keeping up with Final Fantasy XVI updates, and those who are hearing about the game for the first time. Some highlights from today’s show:

Clive’s Hideout

Clive’s Hideout, which serves as his base camp throughout the game, was revealed at State of Play. The footage showcased Clive preparing for upcoming battles by crafting items with gathered materials or tackling training modes.

Players can also complete a variety of side quests as well as Mob Hunts, that allows you to take on stronger enemies. Mob Hunts can be accepted from the Hunt Board where you’ll spot a familiar face from the series – Moogle!

View and download image

The realm of first-person shooters is largely inhabited by games with military and sci-fi themes. In recent years, FPS games with other themes—particularly fantasy—have somewhat fallen by the wayside. Enter Immortals of Aveum, a big, bright, and beautiful techno-fantasy shooter from EA and the San Rafael-based developer Ascendant Studios. Focusing on a single-player campaign in a carefully-crafted, lore-rich world, Immortals of Aveum is looking to give this beloved genre a magic jolt of new life. We had a chance to look at the game and talk to the game’s director, and we’ve come away spellbound.

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You may not be familiar with Ascendant Studios, but you’re likely familiar with some of the past games the staff has made. Ascendant CEO and Immortals of Aveum director Bret Robbins has a legacy of work on numerous titles, including the Legacy of Kain series, the original Dead Space, and several Call of Duty titles. It was while developing CoD that the idea of Immortals was birthed: when looking at a level design for CoD, he thought about what the scene would be like in a big, bombastic fantasy setting instead.

A world of fantasy

The world of Aveum features a land torn apart—quite literally—by a millennium-long Everwar for control of magical leylines. As the conflict continues, a bottomless rift called “The Wound” grows ever-larger, with a mysterious, towering statue at its center seemingly staring down on everything. Here, you take control of Jak, an aspiring Immortal who was plucked from life as an orphan in the slums to become a Magnus battle mage. He has the rare ability to wield all three “colors” of magic: A Triarch, as he’s called. With these skills, he battles the forces of the almighty magic forces of Rasharn, a superpower warring for leyline control with Jak’s homeland of Lucium. But what long-buried mysteries and secrets is this Everwar obscuring?

What exactly is an Immortal? Despite the traditional definition, these Immortals do not possess eternal life. It’s a name meant to strike fear in the hearts of foes—after all, who is less afraid of death than a person the concept wouldn’t apply to?

“Basically, they’re like the Navy SEALS of our wizard world,” says Robbins. They’re taking on the forces of Rasharn, but human soldiers are far from the onl

PS VR2 owners itching for tense, high-stakes multiplayer gameplay should keep upcoming 4v4 competitive and combative shooter Firewall Ultra on their radar. Developer First Contact Entertainment gave us a first taste of its tactical action in a recent hands-on. First stop: the pre-match safehouse to find our feet and to get to grips with weapon loadouts at its firing range. 

Each loadout comes stocked with two weapons, two items, running the gauntlet of full assault to support weaponry and all paired with a choice of two items that walk the line between explosive and defensive. These presets will be fully customizable. With multiple clips spent (and weapons reloaded with a button press) we were promptly deployed into a series of three round matches. 

As with the original Firewall Zero Hour, teamwork is still key, with sides switching defender and attacker roles as matches progress. The core experience is retooled with player feedback from Firewall Zero Hour (dedicated servers, new skills, contractors, maps, weapons and more) and gameplay and visuals are rebuilt thanks to PS VR2 features and a switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. 

The eyes have it 

4v4 competitive matches are still the heart of Firewall. But First Contact has confirmed a PvE mode is also in the works that will be included come launch. More to come on that soon. 

PvP matches now play out as best of three rounds, with the PS5 SSD shifting players from safehouse to match map and back again in a near-blink of an eye. Eye-tracking makes weapon selection from an on-screen wheel swift and grants greater precision to your aim when closing one eye or looking down sights, subtly repositioning your gun to mirror exactly where you’re looking. 

Flashbangs will blind you if you look at them, but so will flashlights when shone directly in your eyes: in both instances your screen will go all-white for several seconds. Even with your sight restored you’ll briefly have double-vision if your blindness was caused by a flashbang. This, coupled with better hand tracking due to the Sense controller, teases a potentially brilliant strategy: a gun-mounted light’s beam can be hidden by putting your other hand in front of it. Hug a corner and hide your beam until an enemy approaches, then uncover to blind them. Closed eyes or averted gazes are the only deterrent – an inherent risk when bullets can come from any direction. 

And even if you’re benched in death before your teammates, you’re not out of the game. Perspective switches to a small number of security cameras stationed around the map which you can freely rotate around. Spot an opposing team member and keep your gaze locked on them: you’ll mark them with a red outline until they move out of sight. It’s an outline that can be seen by your team regardless of how many walls or stairwells are between them.

Loadouts for every occasion 

Every weapon has tailored haptic feedback so each feels distinct. A cool little detail (that you may want to check when in the safehouse rather than battle) is in the weapon triggers: the resistan