Lost Sphear Director Atsushi Hashimoto Guest Column: My Favorite Classic JRPGs
RPGs are like toy boxes stuffed with a million different interesting things. I grew up playing them and they’re part of the reason I wanted to get into game development. Almost all of the fun I’ve had gaming was playing an RPG so it’s safe to say that it’s a special genre for me.
RPGs have been a big part of my professional life, too. After I graduated high school, I went to a specialist games development school and then got a job in the industry, where I was lucky enough to work on games like Final Fantasy Legend II and Final Fantasy Explorers. It has been an honour to contribute to a genre that means so much to me.
Hashimoto
Lost Sphear Director Atsushi Hashimoto Guest Column: My Favorite Classic JRPGs
RPGs are like toy boxes stuffed with a million different interesting things. I grew up playing them and they’re part of the reason I wanted to get into game development. Almost all of the fun I’ve had gaming was playing an RPG so it’s safe to say that it’s a special genre for me.
RPGs have been a big part of my professional life, too. After I graduated high school, I went to a specialist games development school and then got a job in the industry, where I was lucky enough to work on games like Final Fantasy Legend II and Final Fantasy Explorers. It has been an honour to contribute to a genre that means so much to me.
Hashimoto
How Two Best Friends Are Running Two of Europe’s Most Exciting Developers
As the Göta river winds into Gothenburg, it slows and widens, opening its mouth to spit triumphantly into the North Sea after a 470 mile journey. It’s a geographical feature co-opted to keep people apart for hundreds of years.
Stone Age settlements sprung up by its side, using it as natural protection from rivals and predators alike. Frightened Medieval Swedes met on its Eastern bank to discuss how to stop the Black Death moving in their Norwegian neighbours to the west (it didn’t work). And today, two of Europe’s most exciting developers take up residence, one on each side, like two little armies of warring nerd Vikings, waiting for a low tide so they can wade out and bash each other to death with mechanical keyboards.
How Two Best Friends Are Running Two of Europe’s Most Exciting Developers
As the Göta river winds into Gothenburg, it slows and widens, opening its mouth to spit triumphantly into the North Sea after a 470 mile journey. It’s a geographical feature co-opted to keep people apart for hundreds of years.
Stone Age settlements sprung up by its side, using it as natural protection from rivals and predators alike. Frightened Medieval Swedes met on its Eastern bank to discuss how to stop the Black Death moving in their Norwegian neighbours to the west (it didn’t work). And today, two of Europe’s most exciting developers take up residence, one on each side, like two little armies of warring nerd Vikings, waiting for a low tide so they can wade out and bash each other to death with mechanical keyboards.
Surreal Japanese Horror Game Gets Surprise Reboot
Update: Kadokawa Corporation and Active Gaming Media Inc. have announced Yume Nikki: Dream Diary, an official reboot of 2004 cult horror game Yume Nikki. It will launch on Steam and Playism on February 23, 2018 for $19.99.
Details about the game are scarce, but based on screenshots and information posted on its official website and Steam page, it appears to be a 3D adventure game that "combines influences from the original game and other recent indie juggernauts." It will feature returning characters as well as characters creator Kikiyama cut from the original Yume Nikki. In the language box on Steam, English and Japanese are marked as available languages for the interface, but "full audio" and "subtitles" remain unchecked, which could mean Yume Nikki: Dream Diary will contain no dialogue, just like the 2004 original.
Vikings Creator on the Return of THAT Character and the Fate of Lagertha
Warning: The following interview contains big spoilers about Vikings' Season 5 winter finale "Moments of Vision."
Vikings aired its action-packed Season 5 winter finale tonight, "Moments of Vision," and with all the big things that happened - the deaths of Astrid and Halfdan, the mental unraveling of Lagertha, Floki offering himself up for sacrifice, and the return of Rollo - we thought it'd be a good time to chat with series creator Michael Hirst (who writes every single episode) and ask him about some of the revelations.
IGN: There've been quite a few battles this year, but this one was cut from a different cloth. We saw it cut back and forth from the fighting to characters preparing for battle. And for death. What was behind this choice?
Vikings Creator on the Return of THAT Character and the Fate of Lagertha
Warning: The following interview contains big spoilers about Vikings' Season 5 winter finale "Moments of Vision."
Vikings aired its action-packed Season 5 winter finale tonight, "Moments of Vision," and with all the big things that happened - the deaths of Astrid and Halfdan, the mental unraveling of Lagertha, Floki offering himself up for sacrifice, and the return of Rollo - we thought it'd be a good time to chat with series creator Michael Hirst (who writes every single episode) and ask him about some of the revelations.
IGN: There've been quite a few battles this year, but this one was cut from a different cloth. We saw it cut back and forth from the fighting to characters preparing for battle. And for death. What was behind this choice?
How That Shocking Magicians Twist Will Change Season 3
This interview contains spoilers for The Magicians Season 3 episode 3, titled "The Losses of Magic."
Magic has consequences. If The Magicians has taught us anything over the past two seasons, it's that severe lesson. Having powers may seem cool and exciting and fun, but it comes at a cost, and Penny (Arjun Gupta) just paid the ultimate price in "The Losses of Magic."
By the end of the jam-packed episode, Penny's "super cancer" reached the point of no return, and while Kady (Jade Tailor) and Julia (Stella Maeve) did their best to save him (even summoning a legit demon to literally eat the cancer out of his body), they were too late. And since Penny had decided to astral project his consciousness outside of his body during the whole encounter – turns out, having a demon eat your cancer is pretty painful! – he's now stuck outside of his dead body where no one can see or hear him. They don't even know he's there. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
How That Shocking Magicians Twist Will Change Season 3
This interview contains spoilers for The Magicians Season 3 episode 3, titled "The Losses of Magic."
Magic has consequences. If The Magicians has taught us anything over the past two seasons, it's that severe lesson. Having powers may seem cool and exciting and fun, but it comes at a cost, and Penny (Arjun Gupta) just paid the ultimate price in "The Losses of Magic."
By the end of the jam-packed episode, Penny's "super cancer" reached the point of no return, and while Kady (Jade Tailor) and Julia (Stella Maeve) did their best to save him (even summoning a legit demon to literally eat the cancer out of his body), they were too late. And since Penny had decided to astral project his consciousness outside of his body during the whole encounter – turns out, having a demon eat your cancer is pretty painful! – he's now stuck outside of his dead body where no one can see or hear him. They don't even know he's there. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
512GB MicroSD Card Announced, Likely Compatible With Switch
The world of storage density took another monumental step forward with the announcement of the 512GB microSD card.
At 512GB, it's the largest capacity microSD card ever created, and it almost certainly will work with Nintendo Switch. However, it hasn't been tested yet, which is why we're saying it "almost certainly" will work, and not "will definitely and 100% totally work for sure."
The card conforms to the MicroSDXC standard, which is the same standard the Nintendo Switch is designed to work with. In fact, Nintendo Switch will work with microSD cards up to 2TB when our future scientists and engineers figure out how to make them a reality.