PlatinumGames has officially announced its first self-published game, Project G.G. Directed by Hideki Kamiya, it will be a spiritual follow-up to Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101. Project G.G. (a working title) will be a 'giant hero' game in the vein of Ultraman. No platforms or release date have been announced – in fact, Kamiya says "the finish line is still a long way away". The initial teaser trailer, below, shows a man (from the viewpoint of an excellent dog) transforming to fight a kaiju amid a cityscape: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/project-gg-teaser-trailer"] Project G.G. is a major step for Platinum, which has always partnered with publishers for its work until recently. While the Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101 on Switch was a start, this is the developer's first fully self-published title, and it will be developed at a new 100-person studio in Tokyo that Platinum is currently staffing up. In a message to fans, Hideki Kamiya said: "In the fourteen years since we founded this company, we’ve worked towards the dream of making and releasing a game based on a Platinum intellectual property. Now, we’re finally stepping up to that starting line." He explains that because of restrictions based on other companies owning Platinum's work, sequels and new platform releases have historically been hard or impossible for the developer to push through. "Project G.G. is different", he goes on. "Unlike any of the games we’ve made so far, it’s going to be a 100% PlatinumGames title. For everything from its setting and characters, to its game design and story, to how it’s promoted – PlatinumGames is in full control." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=project-gg-new-platinum-game-first-images&captions=true"] Project G.G. is the second of four game announcements teased on the Platinum website - it's not clear when we'll hear about the others. The first was a release for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, and we also found out today that that game will be released for Switch, PS4 and Steam in North America on May 19, Europe on May 22, and Japan on June 11. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he's very much hoping that 'G.G.' stands for 'gigantic gorilla'. Follow him on Twitter.

Rian Johnson has let slip an industry secret about how the presence of an iPhone in a movie could serve as an early indication as to whether a character is going to be a hero or a villain. Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Knives Out director shared a helpful tidbit for moviegoers, as he revealed that Apple imposes a strict rule that prevents their products from being used by villainous characters in movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/20/knives-out-rian-johnson-on-why-daniel-craig-is-his-perfect-detective"] "I don't know if I should say this or not," he admitted. "Not 'cause it's lascivious or something, but because it's going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write, but forget it, I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but - and this is very pivotal if you're ever watching a mystery movie - bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera." Johnson then joked that "every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret" will now want to "murder" him, as he has divulged the details of a prop spoiler that could potentially help audiences to figure out the on-screen motivations of certain characters before they are officially revealed by the movie's plot. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=59-movies-to-geek-out-over-in-2020&captions=true"] While it is unknown whether any other companies operate a similar mandate over product placement, fans will now be donning their sleuthing hats to identify which character is using an Apple-branded product in Knives Out 2, though they will have to try and not get distracted by the whole new cast, mystery, and location that has been proposed for the sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Rian Johnson has let slip an industry secret about how the presence of an iPhone in a movie could serve as an early indication as to whether a character is going to be a hero or a villain. Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Knives Out director shared a helpful tidbit for moviegoers, as he revealed that Apple imposes a strict rule that prevents their products from being used by villainous characters in movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/20/knives-out-rian-johnson-on-why-daniel-craig-is-his-perfect-detective"] "I don't know if I should say this or not," he admitted. "Not 'cause it's lascivious or something, but because it's going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write, but forget it, I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but - and this is very pivotal if you're ever watching a mystery movie - bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera." Johnson then joked that "every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret" will now want to "murder" him, as he has divulged the details of a prop spoiler that could potentially help audiences to figure out the on-screen motivations of certain characters before they are officially revealed by the movie's plot. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=59-movies-to-geek-out-over-in-2020&captions=true"] While it is unknown whether any other companies operate a similar mandate over product placement, fans will now be donning their sleuthing hats to identify which character is using an Apple-branded product in Knives Out 2, though they will have to try and not get distracted by the whole new cast, mystery, and location that has been proposed for the sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Harmonix, which kicked off the music gaming renaissance via Guitar Hero and Rock Band that filled our homes with rock music, and our closets with plastic instruments, is back with another appealing attempt at keeping the beat alive. Fuser, set for launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch this fall, shows the clear DNA of the studio’s older games like the original Guitar Hero, while blending in some of the music mixing innovation of its recent board game DropMix, for a unique experience that looks to emphasize player choice in every aspect. Fuser’s campaign will put players in the position of a DJ headlining a series of rocking festivals, but this is not about Harmonix finally offering up a competitor to Activision’s DJ Hero. Instead, Fuser is about, well, players fusing together tracks from the promised library of over 100 songs to keep the crowd entertained, satisfy mid-set requests, and achieve new high scores. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/fuser-announcement-trailer-from-the-makers-of-rock-band"] You do that by mixing together different strands of each particular track on four different disc plates. Start off by choosing, say, the drumline to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” mix in the bassline to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” throw in the guitar line of Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” and layer on top the vocals of….Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” if you’re me at least.

We Got the Beat

Each track featured in the game has four different stems (some mix of vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, etc.) you can choose from, and outside of early tutorial-lite suggestions and requests (which I’ll get to in a bit), it’s up to you to mix and match to taste. Harmonix’s music mixing tech – something it showed off so well in the board game DropMix – is kind enough to all the artists involved to make everything sound cohesive, even in a weird mix like the one I described above. There’s an incredible joy in testing different track parts together to find a mix I really grooved with. Though Fuser’s full launch includes a freestyle mode so you can experiment to your heart’s content, while playing a show in the campaign, as I did in the tutorial level, there are some rules to adhere to if you’re interested in scoring well. Throughout the level – which is playable at PAX East 2020 – the audience shouts for specific elements to be thrown into the mix, and completing these timed objectives contributes to your overall score. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=fuser-screenshot-gallery&captions=true"] Requests pop up as you’re playing, with requests for an ‘80s track, or a hip-hop song, or the vocals of Lizzo’s “Good as Hell.” You can ignore them and a little text will pop up expressing their disappointment, but if you’re a score chaser like myself or any long-playing Rock Band fan, you’ll want to satisfy those requests ASAP. Smartly, Harmonix has found plenty of little touches to evoke the key elements of music into the gameplay, since you’re not just trying to beat match a guitar riff or drum pattern anymore. For example, above your virtual DJ plates is a beat counter, measuring out the beat and tempo of the song. Dropping a new track on a beat can earn you more points, even though dropping a track on an offbeat could occasionally be an objective. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/fuser-3-minutes-of-gameplay"] Things get increasingly more complex, and evocative of musicality, in more difficult levels. I was shown a hands-off demo of a much later level, in which objectives included things like changing the key and BPM of a song, hitting on specific beats, satisfying a freshness meter, and more. Watching this level was like watching someone play Guitar Hero on expert for the first time — I knew pretty instantly if I took the controller I’d be fumbling requests, mixing, and more. But I could easily understand the natural progression from what I played to what I was shown, and it had me eager to train up to get there.

Your Song, Your Artist

One of Harmonix’s most intriguing selling points that I only saw a sliver of in the demo was the extrapolation of self-expression at the core of the music mixing. Harmonix really wants to emphasize the player’s power in bringing this DJ fantasy to life through a host of customizable elements. The DJ themselves is entirely customizable, including hair, tattoos, and more. Even the venue can be adjusted to your preferences, from what’s projected onto stage screens to the beach balls being bounced around the audience. (When asked about future DLC content, Harmonix declined to state post-launch plans, instead emphasizing how fully-featured the developers are planning for the launch game to be.) There will even be the option for players to custom-make their own loops that can be implemented as tracks instead of the officially licensed music. I only saw a brief inclusion of it in the hands-off level, but I appreciate Harmonix’s ambition to have its latest music experience revolve around player creativity, not just the creativity of the musicians included. I’m excited by the potential of Fuser from what I saw in my demo, even if many of Harmonix’s plans were more tell than show. Still, the escalation from the tutorial to the advanced stage demonstrates a clear attempt to recapture the magic of jumping from Easy to Expert on the plastic guitar. I’m eager to chase that loop again. Coupled with the customization options, and the joy of mixing music in an environment meant to encourage choices, and Fuser is setting the stage for a comeback I’m eager to take part in. As a longtime music gaming fan, I’m all for seeing a resurgence of it, especially if the barrier to entry doesn’t involve a lot of plastic instruments. And I can’t imagine anyone better suited for the task than Harmonix. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior Editor, Podcast Beyond! Host, and The Beatles: Rock Band is one of his favorite gaming experiences ever. Talk to him on Twitter about your favorite music gaming setlists on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Harmonix, which kicked off the music gaming renaissance via Guitar Hero and Rock Band that filled our homes with rock music, and our closets with plastic instruments, is back with another appealing attempt at keeping the beat alive. Fuser, set for launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch this fall, shows the clear DNA of the studio’s older games like the original Guitar Hero, while blending in some of the music mixing innovation of its recent board game DropMix, for a unique experience that looks to emphasize player choice in every aspect. Fuser’s campaign will put players in the position of a DJ headlining a series of rocking festivals, but this is not about Harmonix finally offering up a competitor to Activision’s DJ Hero. Instead, Fuser is about, well, players fusing together tracks from the promised library of over 100 songs to keep the crowd entertained, satisfy mid-set requests, and achieve new high scores. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/fuser-announcement-trailer-from-the-makers-of-rock-band"] You do that by mixing together different strands of each particular track on four different disc plates. Start off by choosing, say, the drumline to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” mix in the bassline to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” throw in the guitar line of Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” and layer on top the vocals of….Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” if you’re me at least.

We Got the Beat

Each track featured in the game has four different stems (some mix of vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, etc.) you can choose from, and outside of early tutorial-lite suggestions and requests (which I’ll get to in a bit), it’s up to you to mix and match to taste. Harmonix’s music mixing tech – something it showed off so well in the board game DropMix – is kind enough to all the artists involved to make everything sound cohesive, even in a weird mix like the one I described above. There’s an incredible joy in testing different track parts together to find a mix I really grooved with. Though Fuser’s full launch includes a freestyle mode so you can experiment to your heart’s content, while playing a show in the campaign, as I did in the tutorial level, there are some rules to adhere to if you’re interested in scoring well. Throughout the level – which is playable at PAX East 2020 – the audience shouts for specific elements to be thrown into the mix, and completing these timed objectives contributes to your overall score. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=fuser-screenshot-gallery&captions=true"] Requests pop up as you’re playing, with requests for an ‘80s track, or a hip-hop song, or the vocals of Lizzo’s “Good as Hell.” You can ignore them and a little text will pop up expressing their disappointment, but if you’re a score chaser like myself or any long-playing Rock Band fan, you’ll want to satisfy those requests ASAP. Smartly, Harmonix has found plenty of little touches to evoke the key elements of music into the gameplay, since you’re not just trying to beat match a guitar riff or drum pattern anymore. For example, above your virtual DJ plates is a beat counter, measuring out the beat and tempo of the song. Dropping a new track on a beat can earn you more points, even though dropping a track on an offbeat could occasionally be an objective. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/fuser-3-minutes-of-gameplay"] Things get increasingly more complex, and evocative of musicality, in more difficult levels. I was shown a hands-off demo of a much later level, in which objectives included things like changing the key and BPM of a song, hitting on specific beats, satisfying a freshness meter, and more. Watching this level was like watching someone play Guitar Hero on expert for the first time — I knew pretty instantly if I took the controller I’d be fumbling requests, mixing, and more. But I could easily understand the natural progression from what I played to what I was shown, and it had me eager to train up to get there.

Your Song, Your Artist

One of Harmonix’s most intriguing selling points that I only saw a sliver of in the demo was the extrapolation of self-expression at the core of the music mixing. Harmonix really wants to emphasize the player’s power in bringing this DJ fantasy to life through a host of customizable elements. The DJ themselves is entirely customizable, including hair, tattoos, and more. Even the venue can be adjusted to your preferences, from what’s projected onto stage screens to the beach balls being bounced around the audience. (When asked about future DLC content, Harmonix declined to state post-launch plans, instead emphasizing how fully-featured the developers are planning for the launch game to be.) There will even be the option for players to custom-make their own loops that can be implemented as tracks instead of the officially licensed music. I only saw a brief inclusion of it in the hands-off level, but I appreciate Harmonix’s ambition to have its latest music experience revolve around player creativity, not just the creativity of the musicians included. I’m excited by the potential of Fuser from what I saw in my demo, even if many of Harmonix’s plans were more tell than show. Still, the escalation from the tutorial to the advanced stage demonstrates a clear attempt to recapture the magic of jumping from Easy to Expert on the plastic guitar. I’m eager to chase that loop again. Coupled with the customization options, and the joy of mixing music in an environment meant to encourage choices, and Fuser is setting the stage for a comeback I’m eager to take part in. As a longtime music gaming fan, I’m all for seeing a resurgence of it, especially if the barrier to entry doesn’t involve a lot of plastic instruments. And I can’t imagine anyone better suited for the task than Harmonix. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior Editor, Podcast Beyond! Host, and The Beatles: Rock Band is one of his favorite gaming experiences ever. Talk to him on Twitter about your favorite music gaming setlists on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently talked about where he thinks Microsoft will take gaming in the future, beyond the next-gen Xbox Series X, specifically when it comes to business models, monetisation, and cloud streaming services.

Spencer joined Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price for an hour-long episode of the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook podcast to discuss "what lies ahead for Xbox and Project xCloud, thoughts on monetization," among other topics.

One major topic centred around whether he thinks the industry will move from console wars to cloud wars in the future. "I hope not," was his immediate reply. "I think I'm going to have a game console plugged into my television for the next decade plus," he added. "I think the best way for me to play on my television is going to be having a device that downloads the games I want to play, but sometimes I'm not going to be in front of my television, sometimes I'm not in front of a device that has a native capability to play. That's our bet on cloud."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/31/ps5-xbox-series-x-power-increase-is-substantial"]

Microsoft, Google, PlayStation, Nvidia, and the rest of the competitors moving towards game streaming services still have a lot to learn when it comes to monetisation and input, according to Spencer. But his hope is that it will encourage game developers to be more creative with their games in the future.

"Once you get through the pragmatics of making [a game] playable on [multiple screen sizes] then you get to the promise," Spencer said. "You start talking about 'well wait a minute, now if my game isn't just dependent on this one piece of hardware that someone maybe bought five years ago in the home, but actually something that a large cloud provider is updating on the back end and is scalable, then what can I do with our games?'. That is a very cool future up and down. How do we scale the cloud computer to the creative experience that somebody wants to deliver?"

Spencer also thinks that rather than having one machine that plays games, in the future, we'll have multiple devices in the home that we play games on. He looks at how he can listen to music and watch TV on a number of devices these days, whereas in the past it was just one. This is why Spencer thinks you'll have many game-playing machines under your TV and across multiple rooms going forward.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/16/phil-spencer-talks-e3-project-xcloud-and-the-future-of-xbox"]

"One of the things that's always bummed me out about consoles is I usually have one TV in my house that a console is plugged into... The idea that I can't go to any TV in my house and sit down and play the games I wanna go play - we should have that ability."

That is, apparently, what Spencer is already seeing people do with the Microsoft xCloud preview. "The number of people that send me pictures of their Android tablets that they've mounted in certain places and have certain controls set up," he said. "People going out and buying specific devices so they can use remote play, or different streaming scenarios from their console to different screens. I think we're early on in that journey. It's gonna be fun."

Another important part of that journey for Spencer is coming up with new business models. "Our point of view, as Xbox and Microsoft, is that there's not one business model to rule them all. We actually think it's healthy not only for our industry from a monetisation standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint, if multiple business models will work," Spencer said. "I think for us as an industry we should embrace monetisation dexterity because I think it leads to the best creativity."

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Thinking on how business models need to diversify in the future, Spencer explained that he recently went to Africa, where they have a business model based on earning credit. His example was that you watch an advert on a bus or taxi, and that earns you five minutes of time on the internet, which he called "pay to earn, or play to earn." As to how this kind of model would work in gaming, Spencer isn't exactly sure, but he says it could definitely work.

"Could that be a model that works in games? Well absolutely. I think it could," Spencer said. "I dunno if it's gonna completely mirror the business models that we have today. It's not necessarily free-to-play, it's not necessarily ad-funded, it's something different."

However, Spencer also said that he thinks game developers need to be careful when looking into new business models. He warns against finding new ways to get money out of existing players - the 200 million console owners that currently exist - as that's not actually growing the business and is "dangerous" for the industry. Instead, he urges towards attracting new players. "I think we need to find new players and new forms of monetisation to open up those new player bases, and new ways to build games, new creativity, and that's a great path to growth," he said.

The more immediate plan for Microsoft is get the Xbox Series X into the world as it launches in holiday 2020. So far, Microsoft has revealed features that prove the Xbox Series X will be a powerful machine with 12 teraflops of GPU power, making it capable of supporting 120fps. It's also got a small but enticing lineup of launch games which will be supplemented by the system's backwards compatibility. But what makes this generation of consoles different to previous ones are features like Play Anywhere and Project xCloud which, as Spencer said in the podcast, are future visions of gaming beyond the Xbox Series X.

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Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Fans of the ever popular Star Wars franchise think they might have discovered a new Baby Yoda in concept art for the new Star Wars: The High Republic project. The image spotted by fans can be found at about 2:31 during the announcement trailer. In a photo of artist Ian McKay, a board of sketches can be seen behind him, containing some drawings that look rather Yoda-like. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/25/star-wars-the-high-republic-reveal-trailer"] The final two images on the top row look like they could be a new Baby Yoda. Alternatively, these could be just young versions of the Master Yoda fans know and love. But, given the timeline of The High Republic, Yoda would be about 700 years old. With the furthest image looking a little too young, perhaps this means we'll get to meet another younger member of Yoda's species? This is, of course, just concept art. Even if the image is what fans are thinking, it doesn't mean we'll see anything like that in any of the stories. After the way the internet exploded with Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian, if there is a new young cute Yoda, everyone will probably hear about it soon enough. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-the-high-republic-announcement-screenshots&captions=true"] Star Wars: The High Republic is a publishing initiative which will include novels, books, and comics all set around the time when the High Republic thrived and Jedi were more akin to the Knights of the Round table. Hopefully this will fill the Death Star-sized hole in fans' lives until we see a new Star Wars film in 2022. [poilib element="accentDivider"]Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Square Enix has revealed that its games currently in development will be available on both current and next generation consoles, and games exclusively made and released for next-gen consoles will be "somewhat farther down the road". The company, which develops Final Fantasy and will publish Marvel's Avengers, made the announcement in an investor Q&A. President Yosuke Matsuda said: "The next-generation consoles will have backward compatibility, so we plan for the time being to make our new titles available for both current and next-generation consoles. It will therefore be somewhat farther down the road that we release titles exclusively for the next-generation consoles." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] What's interesting here is that mention of backwards compatibility. It may be that Square Enix is only working on current-generation versions of its games right now, because Xbox Series X and PS5 will both play them out of the box. It's not entirely clear from the text - we asked for clarification from Square Enix, but received a no-comment response. Microsoft's new Smart Delivery policy, which allows players to buy a current-gen game and get access to its next-gen version for no extra cost (already adopted by the likes of CD Projekt Red for Cyberpunk 2077), could also be an option. However, Smart Delivery is an opt-in for third-party publishers, who may not want to give multiple copies away for free. Either way, sticking to current-gen releases is an understandable move – releasing next-gen exclusives results in a far smaller pool of potial buyers, particularly when you take into account that PS4 is now the 4th highest-selling console of all time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he is playable exclusively on Ouya. Never forget. Follow him on Twitter.

Music fans, rejoice! Studio Ghibli has released 38 soundtracks from its celebrated anime films across several major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and YouTube Music, though some regions are only displaying a limited number of songs. Hypebeast reports that, in total, 693 tracks from 23 Studio Ghibli films, excluding 1988's Grave of the Fireflies for which the studio doesn't control the rights, are now available across these popular streamers, delighting many listeners around the globe. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/20/our-favorite-studio-ghibli-films-ign-anime-club"] By making Studio Ghibli's music widely available, more people can now be transported to the whimsical worlds of the studio's beloved classics, including the likes of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro. In addition to its catalogue of compositions, Studio Ghibli has also compiled 15 "image albums", featuring music inspired by characters and moments from its films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/23/why-miyazakis-films-are-important-to-animation-ign-anime-club"] This news comes shortly after Netflix added its first wave of Studio Ghibli films to its service for subscribers outside of North America and Japan, with the next batch of titles set to be released on March 1, 2020. Elsewhere, HBO Max previously announced that it had acquired US streaming rights to Studio Ghibli's famed body of work, which will be available to stream on their new platform when it launches in Spring 2020. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-anime-of-the-decade-2010-2019&captions=true"] For more on the Japanese arthouse, read about the two new films Studio Ghibli is working on in 2020, find out about the new Studio Ghibli theme park opening in 2022 and check out our list of Top 10 Hayao Miyazaki movies. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Two more dropouts hit this week's show in Boston.