Sypher PK’s Fortnite Skin Gets Cooler As You Notch More Elims
Streamer and content creator Ali “SypherPK” Hassan will be the latest Fortnite-related personality to put his own digital skin in the game when his Icon Series outfit and accessories hit the Fortnite Item Shop next week. SypherPK getting his own set of cosmetics puts him in rarified air, joining the likes of Kathleen “Loserfruit” Belsten, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, and most recently Maria “Chica” Lopez in Fortnite’s Icon Series.
Like the other content creator sets, SypherPK’s will feature his outfit, the Oni’s Curse back bling, Sypher’s Scimitar pickaxe, and the Sypher’s Strut emote. You’ll be able to grab them separately or in a bundle when they arrive in the item shop at 8pm ET on September 22.
The outfit is rather robust in terms of features, coming with a default style that’s essentially just SypherPK in real life along with both reactive and non-reactive ghostly styles. With the reactive style, he gets more ghostly with each kill. If you’re familiar with the Marigold skin’s reactive gold style, then you more or less get it. The outfit also has a masked option, and the accessories will have the same basic style options as the outfit, so you’ll be able to keep them coordinated.
SypherPK Icon Cup
As is standard when Epic introduces new Icon sets, there’ll be a tournament before the set lands in the Item Shop that will give you a chance to win the outfit and back bling for free. And there’s actually a bonus way to earn that skin this time, plus a free wrap, as shown below.
The SypherPK Icon Cup–a zero-build duos tournament–will take place September 21, and top performers, by placement and kills, in each region will get the skin, as usual. But this tourney will also include an alternate leaderboard for kills with a new device called the SypherPK Trap Tower. Top placements there will also get you the outfit and back bling. So that’s neat.
And on top of all that, SypherPK’s team has put together a new Creative map called PIT Island, which will be available as soon as Fortnite’s Chapter 3, Season 4 kicks off. On this map, you’ll be able to chill in the oasis social hub or, of course, shoot people in the free-for-all PvP zone. If you complete the zone’s quests then you’ll earn the Oni Ascension loading screen and the Sypher Is Here spray. Honestly, the loading screen ain’t half bad.
Gallery
The PIT Island map will be sticking around until October 2. The SypherPK cosmetic set will likely remain in the Item Shop until that date as well.
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Berserk Golden Age Arc Anime Blu-Ray Preorders Live At Amazon
Berserk fans looking to rewatch one of the more infamous adaptations of the manga can soon make space on their Blu-ray shelf for a new Golden Age release. Specifically, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc Memorial Edition, a new collection of the 2012-2013 films. Available to preorder now at Amazon and Crunchyroll Store, this film trilogy will be released in the coming months.
Amazon lists the release date as June 18 with free launch-day delivery for Prime members. Meanwhile, Crunchyroll marks the date as August 27. So unless Amazon really is getting the Blu-ray a lot earlier than Crunchyroll for some unknown reason, one of these dates has to be wrong. Preorders at Amazon currently cost $70, and you won’t be charged until your order ships. You’ll get the set for the lowest price offered between the time you order and release, so there’s still a chance that Amazon will wind up matching Crunchyroll’s generous discount that drops the price to $52.49.
The films in this release will feature both English and Japanese dubs, and for extras, you’ll get textless opening and ending songs in the two-disc set. While the cover art says it’s not final, it looks like this release will feature stunning art of Guts in a berserker rage.
The Golden Age arc of Berserk was an interesting experiment to revisit the manga. An anime adaptation originally aired in 1997, but made several major deviations from the source material, something the Golden Age films attempted to avoid. Far more faithful to the manga, the films mixed beautiful animation with CGI to mixed results, but overall, this is still a fantastic retelling of Berserk’s first major arc and it ends during the infamous Eclipse sequence. While the 1997 anime’s take on that brutal event is still horrifying, the Golden Age version is pure nightmare fuel in comparison. Some might say it’s almost as terrifying to watch as Berserk 2016.
Of course, if you’re a firm believer in Berserk 1997, you can get the show in its best format right now at Amazon. The Blu-ray release has regularly sold out several times since its initial release in March, but fresh stock of the 25-episode series is available again at Amazon and Crunchyroll:
Finally, you can never go wrong with the manga. The late Kentaro Miura’s dark fantasy series has been collected in several editions over the years, but the beautifully oversized hardcover volumes are the best of the lot.
Berserk Manga Deluxe Editions
New Study Reveals The Main Reasons People Want To Play Games
GameSpot parent company Fandom has released its fourth annual Inside Gaming report, and one of the key takeaways is that personal expression within games is increasingly important to players. The Inside Gaming report is based on data from Fandom’s 350 million monthly unique visitors, 45 million pages of content, and 250,000 wikis.
The report found that the main reason people play games is to unwind and relieve stress (54%), but a close second was “creation, imagination, and self-expression” (46%). This is up 10% from 2023, demonstrating a growing trend. Within games, the top five in-game customization players seek out to express themselves include character personalization (76%), Gamertags and usernames (48%), communication (35%), signatures and emblems (31%), and emotions and gestures (30%).
The report also found that there is a significant gap between how people express themselves in real life versus online. 80% of respondents said their “gamer personality” is different than their real-life personality. And then 64% said it’s easier to be themselves online rather than in person.
The Inside Gaming report went on to say that 60% of people believe self-expression in gaming is more important than ever before, with the study specifically calling out titles like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox for offering extensive options to personalize their characters. Anyone who has played those games knows very well the depth and scope of what kinds of items, skins, and other in-game wares players can acquire to deck their character out as they see fit.
Additionally, the report touched on how 64% of respondents said gaming communities represent “vital safe spaces” where they feel free to express themselves, unlike how they might be able to in real life.
“From character customization to cosplay and content creation, video games have empowered gamers to explore, express and enhance their identity–nearly two thirds of gamers claim it’s easier to be themselves with a controller in their hands,” Fandom CMO Stephanie Fried said. “With the growing significance of gaming as a means for self-expression and personal evolution, it’s crucial for brands to connect to these motivators to help players bring their gaming personas to life in the real world.”
For more, check out the full study.
