Yameen Talpur

Final Fantasy XVI will be the first mainline-numbered Final Fantasy game with a Mature rating. The presumption might be that developer Creative Business Unit III wanted this game to have more violence to accompany its new action-heavy combat, but that’s not the case. The team put little thought into the rating – it just came naturally, according to various members of CBUIII I spoke to for our FFXVI cover story.  “We actually get this question kind of a lot – people ask us if the rating went up because [we] wanted to make a more violent game, and the answer to that is no,” producer Naoki Yoshida says. “On the outside, it doesn’t appear [the rating system] has changed. You still have your E, you still have your Teen, and you still have your Mature. The problem is that over the years, as more games have come out and as we move forward, the regulations within those have actually changed a lot.” Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida Yoshida says the team understands these ratings...

Square Enix and Final Fantasy XVI developer Creative Business Unit III have been open about the game spanning decades of protagonist Clive Rosfield’s life for years. It’s an interesting aspect of this story because it speaks to how broad its horizons might be. What starts as a revenge story will grow into one of war, its effects on people, and ultimately, Valisthea’s place in a fight between Eikons, Dominants, and more over crystals.  It also means we’ll be seeing a lot of Clive’s life. During my cover story trip, I played a few of FFXVI’s opening hours, much of which took place in the past, when Clive is just 15 and his younger brother Joshua even younger. I learned a lot about their relationship with each other as well as with their parents, and more I won’t spoil here. But I also flashed forward to a 28-year-old Clive to catch up with him years after a deeply traumatic childhood event, and CBUIII and Square Enix say we’ll go even further into Clive’s life, into his 30s.  ...

For a licensed racing game, 2021’s Hot Wheels Unleashed was a fun and respectable debut , and now we’ll get to see how developer Milestone builds on that foundation with an upcoming sequel.  Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged arrives on October 19 and retains the fun “little toy car in a big world” presentation with new additions under the hood. Players can now get behind the wheel of motorcycles and ATVs, and the game has over 130 vehicles total at launch. Players race across five diverse environments using new skills: double jumping and lateral dashing. The double jump can be performed at any time to leap over rivals and obstacles, while dashing is great for sideswiping nearby opponents or dodging hazards. Milestone touts increased interactivity between vehicles and objects on and off the track, and playstyles can be customized using perks earned by earning skill points.  Modes include a revamped story-driven campaign starring four original characters, complete with a...

A handful of former CD Projekt Red ( The Witcher 3 , Cyberpunk 2077 ) developers have created a new studio named Blank. to make a character-driven game set in an apocalypse, "with a twist or two."  Cyberpunk 2077 game director and The Witcher 3 co-game director Mateusz Kanik has co-founded Blank. with Jędrzej Mróz and Marcin Jefimow, both former executive producers on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Together, this new studio aims to apply "their years of experience to a clean slate" and bring "beautifully crafted games and unique experiences to players, favoring novel territory rather than well-trodden ground." A press release from Blank. says the studio has no plans to make "clones, or predictable entries."  Alongside the studio reveal, Blank. has released concept art for its unannounced project, which is the aforementioned game set in an apocalypse, which you can see below:  Kanik will serve as the game's director, while Mróz and Jef...

2021's Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City  blended together the stories of the first Resident Evil game and its sequel, Resident Evil 2 ( which received a fantastic remake in 2019 ), and while it wasn't a complete knockout hit, some have been asking for a sequel. It seems one might be on the way.  According to a new report on Sudbury.com , a news organization that covers the Greater Sudbury area in Canada, which is where  Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City  was filmed, Sudbury is receiving an $11 million injection from the provincial government, as reported by PCGamesN . This government is funding 20 local projects through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and while a sequel to  Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City  hasn't officially been named as one of those 20 projects, there is one called "Umbrella Chronicles," and it's receiving $2 million.  If you're familiar with the Resident Evil series, you know "Umbrella Chronicles...

If you’ve heard Joshua Rosfield, the younger brother of Final Fantasy XVI protagonist Clive Rosfield, in trailers and gameplay, there’s a good chance you find that voice very familiar. That’s because it’s Logan Hannan, the voice of Hugo de Rune from Asobo Studio’s A Plague Tale series .  Logan Hannan – The Voice Of Joshua Rosfield Naturally, the voices Hannan uses between Joshua and Hugo are different but there’s a young familiarity to it and it turns out, it was actually his performance as the latter that landed him the role of the former, according to FFXVI localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox.  Koji says the auditions for Joshua’s voice were some of the first to happen. The team chose an actor that was very close to puberty, he says, but at the time, it seemed like it’d work out just fine. In some instances within game development, an actor can record all of their lines in a block of time, but in other instances, that’s not the case. Because FFXVI uses mot...

Developer Mega Cat Studios has released a new trailer for its upcoming pro wrestling RPG, WrestleQuest, alongside news that the game will be released this August.  More specifically, WrestleQuest hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on August 8. This news was revealed in a new "Legends" trailer released by Mega Cat for the game today, which you can check out for yourself below:  As you can see, WrestleQuest continues to look great, and now, we know we only have a few months to wait.  While waiting to learn more, read about how we think wrestling games should expand to more genres (like WrestleQuest is doing), and then read about why WrestleQuest is one of five promising non-WWE wrestling games to watch out for .  WrestleQuest hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on August 8.  Are you picking up WrestleQuest later this year? Let us know in the comments below! from Game Informer https://ift.tt/LA5gpJK via ...

Diablo IV opens its hellish gates to players next week on June 6, but the first review embargo lifts today. I’ve spent dozens of hours roaming Sanctuary over the last two weeks, having completed the campaign, hit level 50, unlocked the Paragon Board, graduated to World Tier III, and devoured as much post-game content as I could in the allotted review period, such as the Whispers of the Dead missions and Helltides.  However, I’m not ready to assign a score until I’ve gotten to play the game under normal conditions: with the servers live and teeming with players hunting Lilith. That means you won’t see a full review until the middle of next week at the earliest. Until then, I’ll give my impressions on the things I can talk about. The short version: Diablo IV is very good. To preface my experience, I played the Sorcerer class at World Tier II, which is essentially the default difficulty setting for experienced players.  Diablo IV’s thrill comes in the increasingly excit...

Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PC Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Release: June 2, 2023 Rating: Teen It’s no secret that Street Fighter V got off to a disastrous start, and despite years of course correction, its flawed foundation made a comeback difficult. By contrast, Street Fighter 6 is a thorough response to its predecessor’s failings, defined by well-considered central mechanics, formidable single-player offerings, and a plethora of smart decisions that make for a powerful opening punch. Those primarily interested in duking it out against other players have a lot to look forward to; between the snappy movement and wealth of strategic options, it’s a joy to play. The biggest addition is the new Drive System, which elegantly combines several mechanics like powered-up special attacks, cancels, and defensive maneuvers under a shared resource. This meter starts fully stocked and replenishes automatically, giving ready access t...