Here, we present some of the most striking images around the world this past week.
Samsung a peut-être réussi à devancer Apple pour la première place des livraisons mondiales de smartphones au cours des trois premiers mois de 2023, mais à bien des égards, les iPhone sont les grands gagnants de l’industrie de la téléphonie mobile pour ce premier trimestre de l’année. Bien que le géant technologique de Cupertino n’ait […]
L’article L’iPhone 14 Pro Max a été le smartphone haut de gamme le plus vendu au monde T1 2023 est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Outre le Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola a également présenté le modèle moins cher Razr 40. Il possède le même écran de 6,9 pouces, mais avec un taux de rafraîchissement de 144 Hz, et l’écran de couverture est également plus petit, de 1,4 pouce. Il est équipé d’un SoC Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 au lieu du Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 du Razr 40 Ultra. La charnière […]
L’article Voici le Motorola Razr 40 avec un écran OLED pliable de 6,9 pouces est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Motorola vient de présenter en Chine le Razr 40 Ultra, son dernier smartphone pliable, comme elle l’avait promis. Il est doté d’un grand écran pOLED LTPO pliable interne de 6,9 pouces avec un taux de rafraîchissement de 1 à 165 Hz et d’une résolution full HD+, et d’un écran pOLED externe de 3,6 pouces avec un taux de rafraîchissement […]
L’article Voici le Motorola Razr 40 Ultra avec son écran OLED pliable de 6,9 pouces est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
L’alternative à Twitter, Bluesky, semble prendre un bon départ. Le réseau social décentralisé est en cours d’élaboration dans le cadre d’une phase de développement sur invitation uniquement, mais il vient de franchir la barre des 100 000 utilisateurs. Les statistiques d’utilisation récemment mises à jour montrent que plus de la moitié de ce nombre a contribué à […]
L’article Bluesky, l’alternative à Twitter, atteint 100 000 membres en version bêta est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
La conférence annuelle des développeurs d’Apple, la WWDC, aura lieu le 5 juin et pourrait être fascinante puisque nous attendons l’arrivée du premier casque de réalité mixte de l’entreprise. Cela semble avoir été confirmé par un intriguant easter egg AR récemment publié. L’easter egg d’Apple projette une ombre statique du logo Apple avec un logo Apple […]
L’article Le Easter Egg d’Apple pour la WWDC 2023 semble confirmer son casque de réalité mixte est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Cela fait un moment que nous attendons la série Galaxy Tab S9 de Samsung, étant donné que la Galaxy Tab S8 de Samsung et ses grandes sœurs ont été annoncés en février 2022. Mais, cette attente pourrait bien être terminée, puisque la Galaxy Tab S9+ et la Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra viennent d’être certifiées. Nashville […]
L’article La certification des Galaxy Tab S9+ et Tab S9 Ultra suggère le lancement est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Alors que les Pixel 8 et Pixel 8 Pro ne devraient pas être présentés avant octobre, le Pixel 8 a visité le Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) et s’est retrouvé sur son site de certification. C’est ce qu’indique MySmartPrice qui note que la certification révèle (sans surprise) que le Pixel 8 prendra en charge la recharge sans fil. Le listing […]
L’article Le Pixel 8 est listé par le site de certification du Wireless Power Consortium est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Dans une récente annonce, Nothing, l’entreprise technologique fondée par Carl Pei et fabricant de l’innovant Nothing Phone (1), a confirmé que le très attendu Nothing Phone (2) inclura effectivement trois ans de mises à jour du système Android et quatre ans de mises à jour de sécurité. Cela correspond aux années d’assistance que le Nothing […]
L’article Nothing confirme que le Phone (2) aura 3 ans de mises à jour est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Bing AI devrait bientôt être utilisable dans d’autres navigateurs que Edge, de sorte que l’armée d’utilisateurs de Chrome puisse obtenir un morceau du chatbot de Microsoft s’ils le souhaitent. Neowin a repéré que le responsable de la publicité et des services Web de Microsoft, Mikhail Parakhin, nous en a dit plus sur la direction que […]
L’article Microsoft s’apprête à lancer Bing AI sur les navigateurs Chrome et Firefox est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
L’interface Android TV de Google équipe des millions de téléviseurs connectés dans le monde, grâce à ses premiers succès dans le domaine de la technologie de diffusion en continu. Avant que l’entreprise ne commence à concéder des licences Android TV à d’autres fabricants, elle a envisagé de fabriquer ses propres appareils de streaming vidéo pour […]
L’article Google a mis fin à la première génération de Chromecast est apparu en premier sur BlogNT : le Blog des Nouvelles Technologies.
Haris Belkebla, l’international algérien, a pris la décision de quitter le Stade Brestois 29 à la fin de la saison. Le club a annoncé cette nouvelle sur ces réseaux sociaux […]
Lire l'article Ligue 1 : Le Stade Brestois officialise le départ d’Haris Belkebla sur Africa Top Sports.
La commission de discipline de la LFP s’est à nouveau réunie mercredi pour décider des sanctions à appliquer aux joueurs ayant reçu des cartons rouges lors de la 37ème journée […]
Lire l'article Ligue 1 : Fin de saison anticipée pour Emmanuel Agbadou, suspendu déjà pour la saison prochaine sur Africa Top Sports.
Six mois après sa séance de tirs au but décisive avec le Maroc contre l’Espagne (0-0, 3-0 tab) en quarts de finale de la Coupe du monde 2022, le gardien […]
Lire l'article Séville : Yassine Bounou donne sa recette pour les penalties sur Africa Top Sports.
L’ex international sénégalais et consultant de Canal+ Habib Beye pourrait ne peut aller jusqu’à la fin de son contrat (juin 2024) et se retrouve dans le viseur de plusieurs clubs […]
Lire l'article Habib Beye : Le technicien sénégalais pourrait quitter le Red Star sur Africa Top Sports.
Pour sa septième finale dans la compétition, le club andalou a disposé de la Roma aux tirs au but (1-1, 4-1 t.a.b) et remporte donc sa septième C3 dans son […]
Lire l'article Ligue Europa : Avec un Bounou héroïque, le Séville FC bat l’AS Roma aux tirs au but sur Africa Top Sports.
Unai Emery penserait à l’international malien pour renforcer le secteur offensif d’Aston Villa. Alors que le mercato d’été approche, Aston Villa aurait préparé une enveloppe de 200 millions d’euros pour […]
Lire l'article Mercato : Aston Villa pense à El Bilal Touré sur Africa Top Sports.
Dans le but de bien préparer la finale retour de la Coupe CAF contre les Young Africans de la Tanzanie, l’USM Alger a rejoint le Centre technique national (CTN) de […]
Lire l'article Coupe CAF : L’USM Alger entre en stage sur Africa Top Sports.
En fin de contrat à Brest, Haris Belkebla va quitter le club où il a évolué durant 5 saisons. Le Stade Brestois lui a rendu hommage sur twitter. « Histoire […]
Lire l'article Ligue 1 : C’est terminé entre Brest et Haris Belkebla sur Africa Top Sports.
Le Togo ne participera finalement pas au tournoi Maurice Rovello prévu à Toulon en France du 5 au 18 juin 2023. La Fédération Togolaise de Football (FTF) évoque des contraintes […]
Lire l'article Tournoi Maurice Rovello : Le Togo renonce à sa participation, les raisons ! sur Africa Top Sports.
Le Nigeria honore l’Afrique à la Coupe du monde U20. Opposés ce mercredi en huitièmes de finale au pays organisateur, l’Argentine, après l’élimination de la Tunisie, les Flying Eagles l’ont […]
Lire l'article Coupe du monde U20 : Le Nigeria sort le pays organisateur et passe en quarts de finale sur Africa Top Sports.
Sous contrat avec le Red Star jusqu’en juin 2024, Habib Beye pourrait quitter le club de National. A en croire Le Parisien, le technicien sénégalais a d’autres ambitions et aspire […]
Lire l'article Red Star : Convoité en Ligue 1 et Ligue 2, Habib Beye annoncé sur le départ sur Africa Top Sports.
Le défenseur de Brighton & Hove Albion, Tariq Lamptey, a exprimé sa détermination à faire un retour en force dans l’équipe des Black Stars après sa non convocation pour les […]
Lire l'article Ghana : Tariq Lamptey se prépare pour revenir plus fort chez les Black Stars sur Africa Top Sports.
La Tunisie n’a pas tenu. Face au Brésil ce mercredi en huitième de finale de la Coupe du monde U20, les Aigles de Carthage Juniors ont complètement craqué, s’inclinant 4-1 […]
Lire l'article Coupe du monde U20 : La Tunisie éliminée en huitièmes de finale par le Brésil sur Africa Top Sports.
Serhou Guirassy va poursuivre sa carrière en Allemagne. Prêté cette saison à Stuttgart par le Stade Rennais, l’attaquant guinéen a comblé les attentes du club de Bundesliga et ne reviendra […]
Lire l'article Serhou Guirassy : Stuttgart lève l’option d’achat de l’attaquant guinéen sur Africa Top Sports.
L’attaquant de Naples, Victor Osimhen, fait partie des trois candidats annoncés pour le titre de Joueur de la saison par la Lega Serie A mercredi. Les deux autres candidats […]
Lire l'article Serie A : Osimhen en course avec Leao et Martinez pour le titre de meilleur joueur de la saison sur Africa Top Sports.
Habitué des finales de l’Europa League et souvent vainqueur de cette compétition ces dernières années, le FC Séville affronte l’AS Rome ce mercredi à Budapest dans la finale de 2023. […]
Lire l'article Ligue Europa : Yassine Bounou et Youssef En Nesyri titulaires avec le FC Séville contre l’AS Rome sur Africa Top Sports.
Le colloque « La science et la lutte contre la pauvreté : Quel chemin parcouru en 20 ans et quelles perspectives pour la suite ? » sera un point culminant pour Esther Duflo. En effet, cela fait un an qu'elle est titulaire de la chaire Pauvreté et politiques publiques au Collège de France. Organisé par cet établissement, le réseau de chercheurs en économie J-PAL et Community Jameel, les rencontres aborderont la progression de la lutte contre la pauvreté grâce à l'inovation et la recherche.
Sophie de Sivry a créé il y a 25 ans, l’Iconoclaste, et s'était associée avec Les Arènes, la maison d’édition de son mari Laurent Beccaria. Ensemble ils ont développé Rue Jacob Diffusion et lancé en 2022 la collection Proche de livres en format poche.
James Wade, enseignant chercheur de l’université de Cambridge, a découvert une autre facette du rôle des bardes. CEn étudiant des textes extraits du Heege Manuscript du XVe siècle, conservés à la bibliothèque nationale d’Écosse, il a découvert que les élites en prenaient largement pour leur grade et que les Monty Python n’avait probablement rien inventé. Lapin tueur et stand up médiéval, les ménestrels ont encore bien des secrets à dévoiler…
Pour entraîner une IA, les chercheurs utilisent un vaste corpus constitué d'articles, blogs, forums, livres… La composition de cet ensemble de textes a une influence directe sur le chatbot et ses réponses, mais elle est tenue secrète : seuls ses créateurs savent ce qu’il y a dans cette boîte noire. David Bamman, professeur à Berkeley (Californie), s’est amusé à faire l' « archéologue de données » pour découvrir ce que GPT-4 a lu et mémorisé …
Les prochaines Nuits de la lecture seront organisées pour la troisième année consécutive par le Centre national du livre (CNL) sur proposition du ministère de la Culture. Elles se tiendront du 18 au 21 janvier 2024 au cours de quatre soirées.
Réuni sous la présidence de Jean-Christophe Rufin, le jury du Prix du Livre de Plage vient de dévoiler la liste des ouvrages en compétition pour la 3e édition d'un des événements littéraires de l'été. Le Prix sera remis aux Sables-d'Olonne le 17 juin 2023, au cours d'une journée littéraire, face à la mer.
La bibliothèque de Genève organisera le jeudi 8 juin une soirée de rencontres littéraires sur le thème « Les sorcières, entre folie et religion ». À cette occasion, elle réunira deux historiens pour un échange autour d'un traité de Jean Wier datant du XVIe siècle et réédité en 2022 : Cinq livres de l’imposture et tromperie, des diables, des enchantements & sorcelleries(Jérôme Million).
Atteint de la maladie de Charcot, l'écrivain italien s’est éteint ce jeudi 1er juin. Sa femme a annoncé la nouvelle sur Instagram, affirmant : « Il restera toujours avec moi, avec nous. »
Hachette Livre et PowerZ, start‐up dédiée aux jeux vidéos éducatifs, lancent « Au-delà des pages », un métavers immersif associant livres et technologies créatives. Un premier voyage se déroulera en ligne, le temps du week-end des 3 et 4 juin prochains, de 13h à 18 h. Chaque visiteur choisira son propre parcours, où trois expériences culturelles sont proposées. Les inscriptions sont gratuites et accessibles à tous.
Le 19 avril 2023 marquait la sortie indispensable du livre Stop Migraine de Caroline Daviau, praticienne en médecine chinoise et autrice de plusieurs guides pratiques dans le domaine santé et bien-être, qui propose une approche intégrative pour mieux comprendre, soulager et prévenir les migraines. Par Nadège Billery.
Pour sa première édition, le Prix Aznavour des Mots d’Amour a récompensé le 22 mai dernier une jeune auteure et son premier roman. Réunis le 22 mai à l’Hôtel Particulier à Montmartre, les membres du jury ont annoncé le nom de la lauréate 2023. La majorité des voix se sont portées sur l’ouvrage de Perrine Tripier, Les guerres précieuses,publié par Gallimard.
Après de longs mois de sécheresse, des pluies torrentielles se sont abattues sur l’Émilie-Romagne au nord de l’Italie. Survenues durant le mois de mai, ces précipitations ont causé de fortes inondations. Les pertes humaines et matérielles sont immenses et la culture est, elle aussi, en danger. Des librairies, bibliothèques et centres d'archives de la région ont été victimes de la catastrophe naturelle.
Fort de ses 4000 visiteurs l’an passé, Carbonne (Commune du Haute-Garonne) s’apprête à retrouver pendant deux jours son public de passionnés de littérature policière, le samedi 10 et dimanche 11 juin. Une trentaine d’auteurs nationaux et internationaux sont annoncés, avec cette année une coloration italienne et une belle dimension jeunesse pour le festival Empreinte Carbonne.
Fin juin 2021, le journaliste et essayiste Éric Zemmour, pas encore candidat aux élections présidentielles 2022, était abandonné par son éditeur Albin Michel. Le directeur général de la maison d’édition, Gilles Haéri, avait défendu sa décision en expliquant que l’auteur avait justement « l’intention de s’engager dans la présidentielle ». De son côté, le chef du parti d’extrême droite Reconquête a porté plainte pour rupture abusive de contrat. Ce dernier réclame à son ancienne maison 3 millions €…
L'heure du bilan est venue pour l'association des éditeurs américains (Association of American Publishers, AAP), qui estime le chiffre d'affaires global de l'industrie, tous domaines confondus, à 28,10 milliards $. La contraction du marché est avérée, à -2,6 % par rapport à 2021.
Le dernier acte attendra quelques mois encore, mais l’on s’approche de la grande scène du IV dans l’OPA de Vivendi sur Lagardère. Ce 14 juin, Bruxelles communiquera sa décision finale, et entre-temps, la cession d’Editis à Daniel Kretinsky devient brûlante. Car l’on attend les avis sur cette vente des CSE et CSEC — les différents comités sociaux économiques.
#LECFestival23 - Créée en 2016, la résidence d'écriture Jean Monnet est un lieu dédié à la création littéraire européenne. Elle accueille en priorité des écrivains, en lien avec le pays à l'honneur du LEC Festival, qui se déroule chaque année. Le lauréat 2023 de la résidence est l'Italien Francesco Forlani.
La 9e édition de Partir en Livre, sur le thème de la liberté se déroulera du 22 juin au 23 juillet. La manifestation proposera des milliers d’événements partout en France métropolitaine et ultramarine, dont un peu plus de 200 labellisés par le Centre national du livre (CNL). Elle est parrainée par Antoine Dole et Diane Le Feyer, les créateurs de Mortelle Adèle, et le magicien Eric Antoine.
Plusieurs centaines de personnes du milieu de la bande dessinée se sont retrouvées pour la soirée d’ouverture du Festival BD de Montréal le jeudi 25 mai. Le 12e FBDM s'est tenu pour la 2e année consécutive du 26 au 28 mai. La soirée, animée par la journaliste et animatrice Marie-Louise Arsenault, a récompensé le meilleur de la bande dessinée publiée en 2022 dans le cadre des 24e prix Bédélys.
Le vidéaste RF Monté, animant la chaîne Linguisticae depuis décembre 2014, décortique et analyse pour nous les langues. Auteur de l’ouvrage Les mots sont apatrides, il a proposé à ActuaLitté une sélection de ses vidéos, en guise de prélude à la lecture de son essai… Comparable à un Dieu du monde linguistique, il ne s'abrite pas derrière un buisson ardent pour nous parler du dialecte divin.
Les élèves participant au Prix ont décerné la distinction à Gaël Bordet pour son roman Djoliba, la vengeance aux masques d’ivoire, publié aux éditions Hélium. Le Département des Hauts-de-Seine dote cette récompense de 1000 € et d'un buste de Chateaubriand. Elle est décernée à un ouvrage à destination du jeune public, en rapport avec la période durant laquelle l'auteur a vécu ou avec les thèmes qu’il a abordés.
Pascaline Lumbroso nous entraîne, avec vivacité et bienveillance, à changer de point de vue sur l’une des étapes essentielles de la vie des femmes, étape à laquelle bien souvent elles ne sont pas préparées. La ménopause, transition naturelle encore trop souvent associée à la vieillesse, est ici valorisée et poussée à être pleinement assumée… Expérience personnelle à l’appui ! Par Caroline Daviau, thérapeute santé et bien être.
Les services de renseignement américains possèdent la plus grande bibliothèque d’encre au monde, avec plus de 12.000 échantillons à leur disposition. Grâce à ce fonds inestimable, les enquêteurs résolvent des affaires criminelles et identifient les faux documents.
La bataille judiciaire entre la fille et héritière d’André Franquin, créateur des Idées noireset de Gaston Lagaffe, et son éditeur historique Dupuis, est « définitivement » terminée. Selon l’arbitrage du mardi 30 mai 2023 prononcé à Bruxelles, « le principe d’une résurrection de Gaston est licite mais Dupuis et Dargaud-Lombard n’ont pas respecté le processus contractuel d’approbation ». Dupuis a d'ores et déjà annoncé la parution d'un futur Gaston, avec sa couverture et une planche.
#RDVBDAmiens2023 – Inspirée par la 35e symphonie de Mozart, Le Chemin vers Pépé nous transporte dans un rêve captivant, entre peur et soulagement, alors que le jeune héros tente de dire adieu à son grand-père. Le dessinateur Stéphane Sénégas et le scénariste Guillaume Carayol dévoilent une œuvre musicale interprétée lors d’un concert à Amiens, ce 3 juin. La BD, elle, sera en librairies la veille.
Fin mars, Ivrea (Piémont), capitale italienne du livre 2022, a présenté un Manifeste pour l’avenir du livre (Manifesto per il futuro del libro), composé de 22 points et de 99 mots-clés. Il a été remis au ministre de la Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, au nom de tout le pays. Une initiative qui représente le premier pas vers une loi globale que les professionnels de l’édition italienne attendent depuis plusieurs années…
Sharebooks est une solution axée sur l’économie circulaire dans le monde du livre. Après une période de croissance significative, illustré par un élargissement de sa clientèle, passant des étudiants aux particuliers, aux ressourceries et aux établissements universitaires, Sharebooks annonce aujourd’hui être placé en redressement judiciaire.
UkraineUnderAttack - L'agression de l'Ukraine par la Russie a intensifié une guerre de l'information et de la culture qui existait déjà entre les deux pays. Pour contrer l'influence du géant voisin, le Parlement ukrainien a adopté à l'unanimité, en 2022, une loi pour interdire les publications russes et biélorusses sur le territoire. Mais le président n'a jamais signé le décret d'application...
C’est une nouveauté de cette 10e édition du prix littéraire des lycéens : deux auteurs ont été primés. Yamen Manai, pour Bel abîme, dans la catégorie Roman, et Jim Bishop, pour Lettres perdues, dans la catégorie BD. La remise des prix a eu lieu ce jeudi 25 mai au Théâtre Saint-Louis à Cholet en présence d’Isabelle Leroy, vice-présidente de la Région des Pays de la Loire, déléguée à la culture, et des 800 élèves des 19 établissements qui ont participé à cette action éducative cette année.
C’est à une exposition unique et jamais vue depuis le XIXe siècle que vous convie le Musée d’Orsay jusqu’au 23 juillet prochain. Sous la direction de Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan et Isolde Pludermacher, Manet et Degas se donnent à voir, non pas à s’expliquer l’un par l’autre mais l’un avec l’autre dans une société en pleine mutation.
Après une rupture amoureuse, un homme s’enferme dans une chambre démunie, uniquement ornée d’un lit, d’un tapis au motif labyrinthique et hypnotique, et d’une armoire remplie de livres. Désœuvré, le personnage se penche sur les étagères pour parcourir les volumes qui composent cette étrange bibliothèque, entièrement constituée de bandes dessinées.
Rima Abdul-Malak a fêté sa première année en tant que locataire de la rue de Valois à l'Assemblée nationale, en audition devant la Commission des affaires culturelles, le mercredi 24 mai dernier. Dans ses réponses aux multiples questions posées par les députés, elle a confirmé l'extension du Pass Culture aux Français de l'étranger en 2024.
Le Prix Bourrienne dévoile les quatre titres de sa sélection finale. Le nom du lauréat sera dévoilé le 20 juin à 14h30. L'heureux élu recevra une dotation de 10.000 €.
La commission des agents littéraires français, qui fait partie du SFAAL (Syndicat français des agents littéraires et artistiques), observe une croissance régulière de leur activité. Cette profession, émergée il y a près de trente ans en France et peu développée jusqu'aux années 2000, connaît désormais une expansion constante.
Créées en 2008, les Rencontres SCELF (Société civile des éditeurs de langue française) de l’Audiovisuel réunissent éditeurs littéraires et producteurs cinéma et audiovisuel pour une journée dédiée à l’adaptation. Ces rencontres se dérouleront au site François Mitterrand de Bibliothèque nationale de France, à l’espace Belvédère, situé au 18e étage de la Tour des Lois, le mercredi 7 juin 2023.
Le thème de la transition écologique s’est imposé à toute vitesse dans le monde des bibliothèques. Il vient bousculer nos habitudes de travail mais aussi tout le projet de la bibliothèque. Et, fatalement, le métier des bibliothécaires. Il apparaît que cette transformation du métier ressemble à un changement de posture professionnelle. Pascal Krajewski, Conservateur de bibliothèque, en balaye les principales facettes.
Le Festival Vox s’est déroulé le samedi 13 mai, de 14h à 19h30, à la Maison de la poésie. Pour sa deuxième édition, des lecteurs et lectrices de livres audio ont donné de la voix.
Après deux semaines de polémique, Ricardo Franco Levi, président de l'Association des éditeurs italiens (AIE), démissionne « avec douleur » de son mandat. Il était en effet commissaire extraordinaire du gouvernement pour l’Italie, pays l'invité d'honneur à la Foire du livre de Francfort 2024.
BONNES FEUILLES - Mère, grand-mère et veuve de 80 ans, Amma abandonne un beau jour la maison de son fils, sans un mot. Hébergée par sa fille, elle y découvre une nouvelle forme de liberté et d’amour...
BONNES FEUILLES - « À la privation de liberté (citoyenne) s’ajoute, selon le terrible constat d’Alina Nelega, la privation de liberté individuelle, ici celle d’une femme qui aime une autre femme et qui ne peut ni l’afficher ni même vivre cet amour. »
150 membres du Parti libéral démocrate (PLD) japonais ont présenté un rapport à leurs confrères. Il sera soumis au gouvernement pour figurer dans le programme économique et fiscal. Et peut-être adopté en juin par le cabinet du Premier ministre Fumio Kishida. Ces nouvelles législations visent à dynamiser les librairies de l’Archipel, qui disparaissent progressivement.
Boris Vian était un grand féru de littérature américaine. Son livre, Et on tuera tous les affreux, vision fantasmée d’un Los Angeles des années 50, a été adapté, non en cinéma ou en série, mais en jeu vidéo. On y retrouvera l’esprit du pastiche de roman noir américain : mystère, humour et l’atmosphère d'une Cité des Anges sublimée par des auteurs comme James Ellroy.
Taiwan fait régulièrement l’actualité de ces derniers mois pour le risque non nul que la Chine envahisse l’île. Quand l’Empire du Milieu s’est développé dans la tyrannie, l’ancienne île Formose s’est tournée vers la démocratie. Un de ses plus célèbres auteurs de science-fiction, Chi Ta-wei, était récemment présent dans l’hexagone pour présenter son travail d’écrivain et ses combats passés et actuels en faveur de plus de tolérance et d’inclusion. ActuaLitté s’est entretenu avec l'écrivain.
FBM24 — L'Italie attend avec impatience le coup d'envoi de la Foire du Livre de Francfort 2024. Pays invité d'honneur, le Bel paese savourera une exposition médiatique conséquente pour sa production littéraire, ainsi qu'un intérêt des éditeurs étrangers. Mais cette mise en avant a pris du plomb dans l'aile, après un scandale économique et familial...
Marie-Hélène Lafon a donné à la Bibliothèque nationale de France l’ensemble de ses manuscrits littéraires. Du Soir du chien à Histoire du fils, en passant par Joseph ou L’Annonce, tous publiés chez Buchet Chastel, ce fonds est une source précieuse pour l’étude de l’œuvre de l’écrivaine, couronnée par plusieurs prix littéraires.
Pour la dernière Grande Librairie de la saison, l'équipe propose de créer collectivement la bibliothèque idéale, remplie des classiques de chacune et chacun. Cet échange se déroulera avec une myriade d'autrices et d'auteurs, sur les livres qui les bouleversent, changent, ennuient, interpellent... Ces débats qui promettent d'être houleux et passionnés, seront diffusés le mercredi 31 mai à partir de 21h sur France 5.
Le 18 mai 2023, le deuxième tribunal intermédiaire de Pékin a confirmé la condamnation de Xu Na, poétesse et membre du mouvement spirituel du Falun Gong. Après des années d’acharnement judiciaire, elle écope de huit ans de réclusion pour avoir posté sur les réseaux sociaux des photographies prises lors de l’épidémie de Covid-19. Celles-ci montraient que les autorités ne contrôlaient pas la situation comme elles le prétendaient...
Le World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), qui abrite désormais les travaux portant sur le développement de l'EPUB, le format standard de la lecture numérique, annonce la publication de la version 3.3 de ce dernier. Elle intègre, pour la première fois, la spécification d'accessibilité.
BookBanUSA — L'escalade de la censure des collections des bibliothèques, aux États-Unis, s'accompagne de plusieurs législations, dans différents États, qui visent la liberté et le professionnalisme des bibliothécaires. Dans l'Arkansas, l'ensemble du réseau des bibliothèques publiques attaque à présent l'administration, en raison d'une loi prohibant les contenus « obscènes » dans les établissements.
La 7e édition du Prix Unicef de littérature jeunesse se clôture avec la révélation des lauréats élus par 25.800 enfants. L’Unicef France annonce, dans le même temps, le thème de l’édition 2024 : la pauvreté à hauteur d’enfant. Celui-ci se déroulera avec le soutien de son nouveau parrain, l’auteur et académicien Erik Orsenna.
Régine Hatchondo, présidente du Centre national du Livre, bras armé du ministère de la Culture en matière de soutien à la chaine du livre, était entendue, le 24 mai dernier, par la Commission des affaires culturelles de l'Assemblée nationale. Outre un panorama des actions de l'établissement, elle a pu esquisser quelques-unes des futures orientations.
Au lycée, ils ont formé un groupe de rock. Maintenant qu’ils ont atteint la trentaine, ils se sentent encroûtés : l’un est harcelé par son supérieur au boulot, la femme de l’autre lui met la pression, et le dernier n’a toujours pas de travail stable. Et s’ils braquaient assez d’argent pour pouvoir recommencer leur vie ? Un one-shot plein de bonne humeur et de nostalgie.
#Imaginales23 – En 1516, Thomas More donnait naissance au néologisme grec « utopie ». Un terme qui, dans sa définition originelle, représente “le lieu qui n’existe pas”. Un idéal sociétal, humain. Mais l’utopie, comme toute chose, est un terme qui a évolué de par son utilisation plus ou moins récurrente à travers les âges dans la littérature. Alors : « L’utopie réalisée ou réalisable » ?
#Imaginales23 – Pour chaque livre, sa couverture. Pour chaque auteur, son illustrateur. Cette année, un certain Laurent Gapaillard est mis en avant par Les Imaginales, à travers une exposition au Musée départemental d’art ancien et contemporain d’Épinal. Malgré une journée pleines d’obligations, l’artiste a accepté d’échanger en fin de soirée, le temps d’un diabolo-citron…
#Imaginales23 – Les Imaginales sont l’occasion pour tous les auteurs et autrices de l’imaginaire de se rassembler et rencontrer leur lectorat. En fin de journée, en longeant une dernière fois les tables recouvertes de livres, le besoin de discuter émerge avant de quitter la Bulle aux livres. Petit entretien en douceur avec Claire Garand, autrice de Paideia (éditions La Volte).
À mi-parcours, le festival littéraire annuel de Saint-Malo, Les Étonnants Voyageurs, dévoile les auteurs qui ont été récompensés avant même le début de l'événement. L'opportunité unique de découvrir de nouvelles voix littéraires et de s'immerger dans un univers d'échanges et de partage autour des cultures du monde.
La Bulle aux livres des Imaginales regroupe des profils d’auteurs et d’autrices très différents. La science-fiction, la fantasy et autres genres de l’imaginaire se côtoient, sans a priori, dans une ambiance joyeuse. Et puis, au milieu de la foule, une figure calme, qu’on ne peut s’empêcher d’aborder : Rakel Haslund, dont le premier roman Après nous les oiseauxa été publié aux éditions Robert Laffont (trad. Catherine Renaud).
#Imaginales23 – La science-fiction, toute une histoire… Ce genre littéraire, depuis le début, s’apparente à une exploration profonde de l’humain et des sociétés. Le tout, à travers la création d’imaginaires… mais quid de la politique ? Fait-elle forcément partie du genre ? À côté de l’émerveillement proposé, un aspect idéologique doit-il nécessairement exister ? En décalant dans le futur les problématiques du présent, est-il toujours question de considérations politiques ?
Georges Thinès (1923-2016) est un écrivain belge de langue française né en 1923 à Liège et décédé en 2016 à Court-Saint-Étienne. D’abord attiré par les lettres classiques, il fut étudiant en philosophie et lettres à la Faculté universitaire Saint-Louis de Bruxelles. Après son engagement à la Royal Navy durant la guerre, Georges Thinès renonce à la philologie et s’oriente vers la psychologie. Professeur à l’université de Louvain, il fut un spécialiste de renommée mondiale dans le domaine de l’éthologie animale. Excellent musicien, fondateur de l’orchestre symphonique de Louvain, il fut encore poète, nouvelliste, romancier, dramaturge, essayiste. Par Armel Job
Quatre récompenses ont été remises ce 25 mai, lors du 13e Salon des Femmes de Lettres au Cercle National des armées. Le Prix Simone Veil et le Prix des Femmes de Lettres sont des distinctions qui célèbrent les écrits féminins et mettent en lumière des ouvrages engagés, qu'il s'agisse de romans, d'essais ou d'ouvrages historiques. Leur objectif premier est de faire découvrir et révéler des femmes marquantes de leur époque, qu'elles soient engagées ou non.
En 2021, l’École de la Librairie a refondu entièrement sa formation de reconversion professionnelle « Créer ou reprendre une librairie », pour la densifier et permettre aux apprenants et apprenantes d’acquérir progressivement les compétences métiers nécessaires à leur projet. En 2023, l’école lance une certification.
#Imaginales23 – Pendant toute la durée du festival des Imaginales, plusieurs expositions permettent de prolonger l’expérience. Entre les murs du Musée départemental d’art ancien et contemporain d’Épinal, un artiste en particulier propose une parenthèse merveilleuse : ActuaLitté n’a pas pu refuser un voyage dans Les mondes de Laurent Gapaillard…
#MontmorillonLivre23 – Rebaptisé Rencontres de Montmorillon, le festival du livre qu’avait fondé Régine Deforges en 1990 a pris une nouvelle orientation. Depuis 2022, Anne-Lise Dyck-Daure en assure la programmation, une “année zéro” qui inaugurait la formule repensée. Pour 2023, Franck Bouysse sera mis à l’honneur, et avec lui, 35 auteurs invités. Un changement d’envergure pour cette commune de 6000 habitants.
La librairie L'ange bleu vient d’annoncer les lauréats des Prix littéraires Mangawa (manga), Bulles de Cristal (bd franco-belge), Comiks (comics), Chimère (roman imaginaire), Real (roman de vie), Mangawa (manga) et Takavoir (2022). Il mobilise 12.000 participants. La cérémonie de remise des prix a été organisée mardi 23 mai au Lycée Charlemagne à Paris.
#Imaginales23 – Parmi les invités étrangers mis en avant cette année par le festival, quel plaisir que de découvrir le visage souriant de Brian Evenson. Avec déjà de nombreux romans à son actif, dont La Confrérie des mutilés (Le Cherche-Midi, trad. Françoise Smith), il se présente ce week-end avec deux récits post-apocalyptiques époustouflants : Immobilité (Payot et Rivage, trad. Jonathan Baillehache) et L’Antre (Quidam Éditeur, trad. Stéphane Vanderhaeghe). Petite discussion dans la Bulle du livre.
Cette 20e semaine, le palmarès reste stable sans noms inédits… sauf pour Fred Vargas. La reine du crime français a sorti ce 17 mai chez Flammarion, Sur la dalle. Les adeptes d’Adamsberg semblaient impatients après six ans d’absence : le livre se hisse en première place des meilleures ventes dès sa première semaine en librairie.
#Imaginales23 – La société dans laquelle nous évoluons est ce qu’elle est : une femme fait face à plus de difficultés, et ce, dans tous les domaines. Et c’est également le cas dans l’édition, notamment en tant qu’autrice. Sujet abordé avec honnêteté et une agréable légèreté lors d’une table ronde qui se déroulait ce matin aux Imaginales, sous les drapés du Magix Deluxe : « Autrices, le chemin de croix.»
Alexandra de Taddeo crée la surprise de ce mois de mai, avec un ouvrage jusqu’à lors resté confidentiel : ni éditeur ni renseignements communiqués. Prévu ce 25 mai, ce roman, L'Amour, sort à travers un label ancien, Editions Privé. Et ce, alors que la jeune femme à rendez-vous ce 28 juin devant le tribunal correctionnel. L’affaire Griveaux n’est pas finie…
Robert Musil est réputé être un auteur difficile. On connaît de lui son imposant et inachevé Homme sans qualités, ses contemporains Les désarrois de l’élève Törless, et les plus au fait ses Journaux ou son De la bêtise. Parmi ses autres textes, il y a notamment des nouvelles, comme L’accomplissement d’un amour, parue en 1911, et rééditée dans la collection poche de Rivages, riche en pépites.
Genre Queer, une autobiographie non binaire de Maia Kobabe (trad. Anne Charlotte Husson chez Casterman) est l’un des ouvrages les plus contestés de l’année 2022, aux États-Unis. Il se hisse même en 5e position du classement des livres les plus censurés. En Australie, la librairie Kinokuniya de Sydney vendait la BD à tous les publics, sans restriction, jusqu’à ce que l’organisme de classification australien intervienne...
Vacant depuis la disparition en mai 2020 de Jean-Loup Dabadie, le fauteuil 19 de l'Académie française fera l'objet d'une nouvelle élection, le jeudi 1er juin 2023. Sept candidatures ont été enregistrées par l'institution littéraire.
Le Château Haut-Brion vient d'acquérir une collection de livres sur le vin, à l'initiative du prince Robert de Luxembourg, président directeur général de la société familiale Domaine Clarence Dillon. Il complète ainsi la collection de milliers ouvrages et d'archives remontant jusqu'à 1500 ans acquis par la famille Dillon.
L'autrice de Berline, publiée aux éditions du Sonneur, a été désignée lauréate du Prix national Lions de Littérature 2023. Le prix lui a été remis à Marseille, le 27 mai, lors de la Convention nationale des Lions de France, par Françoise Bourdon, présidente du jury 2023.
#Imaginales23 – Cette année, Les Imaginales ne se résument pas aux Littératures de l’Imaginaire. En parallèle du festival, qui accapare l’attention des visiteurs en journée, la nuit laisse place à de fabuleuses illuminations, où arts visuels et techniques de mapping se mêlent à une musique flamboyante. Coup de projecteur sur la 8e édition de la Fête des Images !
En fin d’année dernière, les acteurs Olivia Hussey et Leonard Whiting portaient plainte contre la Paramount. Ils accusaient la société de production de les avoir exploités sexuellement et d’avoir distribué des images d’adolescents nus. En cause, l’adaptation cinématographique de Roméo et Juliette par le réalisateur italien Franco Zeffirelli datant de 1968. Mais la plainte a été rejetée par une juge américaine ce jeudi 25 mai.
Yves Bonnefoy (1923-2016) est à juste titre considéré comme l’un des poètes majeurs de la moitié du XXe siècle et du début du XXIe. D’abord proche des Surréalistes, il s’en détachera très rapidement pour mener une œuvre personnelle et exigeante, avec notamment la parution, en 1953, de Du mouvement et de l’immobilité de Douve, unanimement salué par la critique de l’époque.
Après 34 ans de bons et loyaux services, Jérôme Garcin est prêt à poser le masque et rendre la plume. L’animateur de l’émission culturelle de France Inter quittera son siège en fin d’année 2023. On connaît désormais le nom de celle qui lui succédera : Rebecca Manzoni.
#AVeloEntreLesLignes – Zoé David-Rigot et Jaroslav Kocourek sont partis à la découverte des librairies francophones et locales, depuis la France vers la Mongolie. Depuis août 2022 qu’ils sont partis, les deux cyclistes racontent leur périple dans un carnet de bord que ActuaLitté publie. Le récit de cette aventure humaine, c’est À Vélo, entre les lignes.
En plein développement, fortement médiatisées, les technologies d'intelligence artificielle s'« entrainent » en moissonnant et traitant des textes librement accessibles en ligne. Une directive européenne récente introduit même une exception au droit d'auteur pour la « fouille de textes et données », dès lors qu'un contenu est accessible en ligne. Mais les éditeurs peuvent s'y opposer assez simplement...
BookBanUSA — Une école élémentaire de Miami a limité l'accès des élèves à un poème d'Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb, estimant qu'il véhiculait une « incitation à la haine ». Le texte avait fait l'objet d'une plainte déposée par la mère de deux élèves, dans un État, la Floride, où les retraits et censures d'ouvrages dans les bibliothèques publiques et scolaires se multiplient.
#PrixdesDeuxMagots2023 – De nombreux lecteurs, à l’occasion d’un séjour à Paris ou d'une déambulation, réalisent un pèlerinage au café des Deux Magots. Hantent les lieux Rimbaud et Verlaine, s’adonnant pour l'éternité à l’ivresse, en compagnie de Mallarmé. Plus tard, Louis Aragon, Jacques Prévert, Simone de Beauvoir, Boris Vian… Le prix littéraire qui y a élu domicile il y a précisément 90 ans ne peut qu’en être imprégné…
Le vidéaste RF Monté, animant la chaîne Linguisticae depuis décembre 2014, décortique et analyse les rouages du langage. Auteur de l’ouvrage Les mots sont apatrides, il a proposé à ActuaLitté une sélection de ses vidéos, en guise de prélude à la lecture de son essai…
Debra Steidel Wall, à la tête des Archives nationales américaines, a accordé 47 subventions pour des projets menés dans 27 États et dans le District de Columbia. Celles-ci atteignent un montant total de 6,5 millions $, lesquels amélioreront l’accès du public aux documents historiques sur l’esclavage ou encore les femmes Afro-Américaines…
BONNES FEUILLES - Pour toutes les femmes du monde, de l’humiliation à la libération, Phoolan Devi était devenue le symbole de la révolte et du combat. Ce livre est son testament.
PrixPorteDoree23 – Nommée directrice générale du Palais de la Porte Dorée, Constance Rivière a pris ses fonctions en septembre 2022. Elle accompagne donc pour la première fois la remise des prix littéraire et BD du Palais de la Porte Dorée 2023. Un lien de l’établissement avec le monde de l’écrit qu’elle évoque avec nous, alors que les lauréats viennent d’être dévoilés.
PrixPorteDoree23 – Ce jeudi 25 mai 2023, les jurys des deux prix se sont réunis pour saluer Polina Panassenko pour Tenir sa langue (éditions L’Olivier) qui reçoit le Prix Littéraire. David Sala pour Le poids des héros (éditions Casterman), devient lauréat du Prix BD.
Premier prix de photographie professionnelle lancé en France, il fait sortir de l'anonymat les photographes et les aide à déployer leur influence auprès du grand public à travers la presse et l'édition. Aujourd'hui le jury a annoncé, à la BnF, que Juliette Agnel est la 68e lauréate.
L’auteur de polars Nicolas Feuz annonce dans un communiqué qu'il publiera son prochain roman dans la maison d'édition de Joël Dicker, Rosie & Wolfe. Ce nouveau livre paraîtra à l’automne 2023 – les informations sur le titre interviendront au mois de septembre, apprend ActuaLitté.
Du 31 mai au 19 novembre 2023, l’Institut du monde arabe présente Ce que la Palestine apporte au monde. Parmi les expositions à venir, la programmation Les valises de Jean Genet dévoile le contenu des deux « valises » conservées par Jean Genet tout au long de sa vie et remises, quinze jours avant sa mort, à son avocat Roland Dumas. Elle est réalisée en partenariat avec l’IMEC (Institut des mémoires de l’édition contemporaine) de Caen.
Le BIEF (Bureau International de l'Édition française) organise pour la seconde année consécutive Paris Book Market. Les 1er et 2 juin, cet événement réunira des vendeurs de droits français et des éditeurs étrangers.
Les enquêtes de Dan Sommerdahl reprennent pour une saison 2. Le premier épisode Illusions perdues (Lost Dreams) sera diffusé le dimanche 11 juin à 21h10. La série est une adaptation des romans de l’écrivaine danoise d’Anna Grue, qui racontent la vie d'un « détective chauve » nommé Sommerdahl.
Que lire ? Quand les éditeurs ont publié quelque 68.569 nouveautés en 2022 et que l’on comptait 818.558 livres disponibles, la question se pose. Pour y répondre, Babelio a construit un moteur de suggestions et de découvertes de lectures, s’appuyant sur des millions de métadonnées. Le tout à destination du public, mais plus encore, des professionnels de la chaîne du livre.
La Villa Albertine est un établissement culturel soutenu par le ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères. Elle est présente dans 10 grandes villes des États unis. Son objectif principal est de promouvoir la culture française à travers des résidences d’artiste et d’autres évènements variés. Le 24 mai, elle annonçait les noms de ses résidents pour l’année 2024.
Peu de gens le savent, mais Toulouse abrite une des écoles de manga la plus renommée de France. Près du Fer à Cheval, l’EIMA (l’École Internationale du Manga et de l’Animation) forme depuis 7 ans la relève du manga en France.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
If you’ve seen Final Fantasy XVI protagonist Clive Rosfield, you’ve likely noticed he has a black face tattoo on his left cheek. This tattoo connects more widely to the world of FFXVI, Valisthea, and magic’s place in it.
During my cover story trip to Tokyo, Japan, to speak to developer Creative Business Unit III, I learned a lot about magic in FFXVI and how it affects Clive’s life and everyone in this world. The special tattoo on Clive’s face is the mark of a Bearer, which indicates he can use magic. This might seem like a great ability, but the nations of Valisthea view Bearers as something other than human. These nations brand their Bearers to show they are enslaved, and nations trade Bearers across borders based on who needs their magical abilities. When Clive receives this branding, his life is forever changed.
In my hands-on time with FFXVI, I saw various other people in The Grand Duchy of Rosaria, Clive’s home at one point, with the same mark. They were completing tasks like fetching water, carrying heavy objects, and more. Flashing forward past the game’s opening hours, Clive is on a mission to assassinate a key figure in a war, and he’s joined by a few other soldiers also bearing the mark. Before this trip, I thought Clive’s tattoo was unique to him, but the mark of a Bearer isn't as unusual in Valisthea as I initially thought.
Valisthea’s reliance on the magical work of Bearers speaks to its greater reliance on magic in general. While the main scenario will drive Clive’s story forward, localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox says the world of FFXVI isn’t all politics, intrigue, and Clive’s story all the time, and CBUIII worked hard to inject minor, everyday problems into the world. Those problems speak to something larger happening in Valisthea and the driving force behind the game: the depletion of Mothercrystals.
FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai says these massive crystals are akin to oil fields in our world, describing that nations in Valisthea fight for control of them much in the way our societies have fought entire wars over oil.
Koji says if you ask, “How do they do that in Valisthea?” the answer is likely magic powered by the Mothercrystals.
“Why do we need to find a way to make fire hot when we can just use a fire crystal and make the fire hotter? You don’t need to invent bows and arrows in a world where you have magical projectiles that can be shot via a crystal,” he says. “And so because you have these people relying on the magic, they don’t learn how to do a lot of stuff, and they rely in some places too much on these crystals.
“[This reliance] becomes one of those centerpieces in the narrative: what happens when the magic starts to run out? How are we going to pour our water? How are we going to dry our laundry? And instead of figuring out ways to light their cigarettes without a crystal, the first thing they think of is, ‘Well, we need to go and invade this country and get their crystal because that one is still working.’”
Creative director Kazutoyo Maehiro says FFXVI positions magic in this way to explain its basis in a way Final Fantasy games haven’t done in previous releases.
“In the Final Fantasy series, magic is just something that you see in all the games, and it’s never really explained why it’s there,” Maehiro says. “It’s just always there. It’s always been that staple for the series. People use it [and] it’s an everyday thing. Everyone can use it. But we think in past Final Fantasies, it hasn’t really been explained why people have this magic. Why can they use it? Yeah, there’s an MP bar, but what is that empty bar? What happens to the person that’s casting it when they use magic?
“We wanted to introduce those themes in this story that’s focused around the Mothercrystals. And it’s the same thing with the [crystals of Final Fantasy]. What is a Mothercrystal? What are these crystals that people are using to cast these spells? Why is it an everyday thing for them? Let’s explore their everyday lives with this magic. How does that affect their lives? Bringing this concept of magic and making it an actual part of the narrative was something we wanted to do.”
While magic will, from a gameplay perspective, primarily serve as a way to damage enemies, it’s interesting to hear how much thought CBUIII put into its place in Valisthea, and I’m excited to learn more about its role in Clive’s story.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Some employees at Bethesda's Arkane Studios reportedly hoped that Microsoft, after acquiring Bethesda in 2020, might cancel Redfall or reboot it as a single-player game, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
That didn't happen, however, and Redfall launched on May 2 to poor reception from critics and players. Game Informer gave it a 5 out of 10 in our review. Xbox head Phil Spencer said on Kinda Funny Games' Xcastthat he was disappointed with the Redfall launch. "I'm upset with myself," he told the Xcast.
Despite hopes for a new approach to the game following that 2020 acquisition, Microsoft remained hands-off and allowed development on the title to continue as normal, save for canceling a PlayStation 5 version of Redfall.
Bloomberg reports that Arkane began development on Redfall in 2018, a time when ZeniMax, Bethesda's parent company, was still private and not owned by Microsoft. It says behind the scenes, Zenimax was encouraging studios to develop games that could be monetized beyond launch. The company was essentially asking its studios to make what we now call "games as a service" games or live-service games, a type of game popularized by Bungie's Destiny series.
While Zenimax "strongly" urged its studios to create these types of games, according to Bloomberg, it stopped short of forcing it. Redfall was born out of this push, and development began a year after the release of the critically well-received but financially less successful Prey in 2017. Arkane wanted to make something more broadly appealing after Prey's release, and the studio landed on the idea of Redfall.
Development was led by Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare, and the two pitched Redfall as a "multiplayer Arkane game," Bloomberg writes. However, some team members found that confusing, and over time, tension continued to rise as a studio with less than 100 people who had focused on the single-player games of Arkane's past clashed with the multiplayer ideas at play in Redfall. Bloomberg reports that 70% of the remaining staff that worked on Prey left Arkane during the development of Redfall.
Without a clear vision of what this multiplayer game would be, the studio struggled to offset that reduction in staff with new hires. According to Bloomberg, it was challenging to explain what Redfall was to potential hires. Plus, many applying to work at Arkane were looking to work on the type of single-player title the studio is known for, not a multiplayer FPS.
Bloomberg's report goes deeper into all of this, so be sure to read it for the full story.
For more, read Game Informer's Redfall review.
[Source: Bloomberg]
Meta has revealed the Meta Quest 3 and it's coming this fall. It will cost $499 for the 128GB headset, but an additional storage option will be available for purchase for those who want more space.
The Meta Quest 3 offers higher resolution, stronger performance, and a slimmer and apparently more comfortable form factor, according to Meta. Like the Quest and Quest 2, it is completely wireless.
"Quest 3 combines our highest resolution display and pancake optics to make content look better than ever," a press release reads. "To power those extra pixels, this will be the first headset to feature a next-generation Snapdragon chipset developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. That next-gen Snapdragon chipset delivers more than twice the graphical performance as the previous generation Snapdragon GPU in Quest 2 – meaning you'll get smoother performance and incredibly crisp details in immersive games."
Meta Quest 3 will feature both virtual reality and "Meta Reality" technology to "seamlessly blend your physical world with the virtual one." For example, you could play a virtual board game set up on your real-world coffee table.
Compared to Meta Quest 2, the Meta Quest 3 features a 40% slimmer optic profile and Meta says it is a sleeker, more comfortable headset as a result. The Touch Plus controllers have been streamlined and are more ergonomic, according to Meta, as well, as they feature the TruTouch haptics in Meta's Touch Pro controllers. The Meta Quest platform features more than 500 VR games, apps, and experiences, and the library continues to grow, with new VR and mixed reality titles lined up for launch, Meta promises.
We'll see some of those games as a Meta Connect event is scheduled for September 27. There is also a Meta Quest Gaming Showcase happening later today at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
Alongside the reveal of the Meta Quest 3, Meta has announced that the Meta Quest 2, which first launched in 2020, will drop in price to $299 for the 128GB headset and $349.99 for the 256GB headset starting June 4.
Plus, in a new upcoming software update, Meta is updating the Quest 2 and Quest Pro GPU and CPU to get up to a 26% CPU performance increase and up to a 19% GPU speed increase for Quest 2, and 11% for the Quest Pro.
Are you picking up a Meta Quest 3? Let us know in the comments below!
Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka could serve two and a half years in prison as part of his sentencing for insider trading charges.
Abema Times reports that prosecutors on the case asked that Naka go to prison for two years and six months in a Tokyo District Court today, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. Prosecutors also demanded that Naka pay a fine of 2.5 million yen (roughly $17,900) as well as a supplementary penalty of 170 million yen (roughly $1.2 million). Naka's defense asked that this fine and prison sentence be reduced, but a final decision on the matter isn't expected until July 7, VGC reports.
Naka, who also directed Balan Wonderworld, was arrested in November in connection to an insider trading investigation involving the reveal of a new Dragon Quest game. Naka was accused of purchasing 10,000 shares worth 2.8 million yen (roughly $20,000) in Aiming, the company behind the new mobile Dragon Quest game.
Then, less than a month later, Naka was re-arrested on a second charge of insider trading, this time involving the now-defunct mobile battle royale, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. Naka reportedly purchased 120,000 shares in Ateam, the developer behind the game, for approximately 144.7 million yen (more than $1 million).
Now, Naka has been charged and could face more than two and a half years in prison alongside more than $1 million in fines. A final decision on his charges is expected next month.
[Source: Abema Times via VGC]
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 YoshidaYoshida says the team understands these ratings are ultimately meant to protect children from sensitive content, but it’s still more restrictive to what a studio can do in a game. He says before, studios could do “much, much more,” but now, “we’re finding ourselves not able to do as much to get the same rating we did before.” One example he gives is that it’s okay to kill a zombie violently today, but if that character is a human, you’ll push the rating more. Suppose someone’s getting pierced with an arrow, Yoshida says that will no longer be allowed with a Teen rating – it will immediately take you to the M rating “because it’s too realistic now” in instances where games are pushing for higher-fidelity visuals.
He also brings up the differences in rating systems between different world regions. Ultimately, though, CBUIII made the game it wanted to.
“We wanted to create something that was based in reality, that felt really real, and talk about complex and violent themes such as war,” Yoshida says. “You can’t have a war without certain imagery. Clive is in the trenches, he’s fighting for his life, he’s covered with dirt and blood. Once you start limiting that when you’re trying to create something that’s very real [...], it takes the player out of the reality and makes it feel more like a game. That’s what we didn’t want to do. So rather than maintaining the Teen rating, which would have limited a lot of the things that we could do and [what we] show in cutscenes, the Mature rating allows us to tell the story that we wanted to in the way we want to tell it.
“We’re not going out of our way to create content that’s violent or sensationalist. We just wanted to create [...] the story that we wanted to tell that’s going to feel real and the story that’s going to resonate best with players without hiding anything. It’s by allowing ourselves that Mature rating [that we’re allowed] to not hold back and tell the story we want to tell.”
I ask Yoshida if he and CBUIII were worried about pushback from Square Enix since a Mature rating could theoretically limit the player base. He says it wasn’t a big deal, joking that perhaps he’s not as fearful of his corporate overlookers as he should be. But ultimately, he said Square Enix understood why the team needed to be free from rating restraint with FFXVI. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Yoshida is on Square Enix’s board of directors, who are the ones he had to break the news to, either.
Director Hiroshi Takai echoes Yoshida’s thoughts, citing that the Mature rating has “allowed us to be able to [...] show more now that there are fewer restrictions to our narrative and the way we tell our story.”
“The Final Fantasy series has always been about trying to get as many people to play the game as possible, and that’s why historically, this series has aimed for the lower ratings – like the Teen – to get the game into the hands of as many players as possible.”
He says in the past, that was a lot easier because of hardware restrictions. But as consoles become more powerful, visuals become more lifelike, and getting a lower rating is more challenging.
Final Fantasy XVI Director Hiroshi Takai“With the new generations of hardware and the visuals becoming more and more realistic, if you want to tell a story that feels real, it also needs to look real,” Takai says. “By showing the [realistic] visuals, it’s hard to keep that within the realms of a lower rating because it becomes so visceral, and I think you can see this trend since the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 when graphics became a bit more realistic.
“By moving up to a higher rating, it allows us to tell the story we want to tell without having to fake it. If you’re trying to tell a story about war, but you can’t show blood, it’s not going to be realistic.”
Takai reiterates CBUIII isn’t using the Mature rating to make FFXVI hyper-violent – it just helps the team maintain a “real feel.”
Localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox says the Mature rating allowed him to expand on dialogue as “there are certain words that will kick you from a Teen rating to a Mature rating, and if you’re stuck with a Teen rating, you have to avoid those types of words, even if the character seems like a character that would use those types of words.”
Final Fantasy XVI Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji FoxHe says if you get the sense a character is avoiding words they’d likely say, that character doesn’t feel natural anymore, which is something the Mature rating allowed CBUIII to avoid.
“Like it or not, a lot of people in the world swear, and it’s part of how they communicate,” Koji continues. “To have a whole world where no one swears at all, it just doesn’t feel like a real world.” He adds this doesn’t mean every character will swear, though – there are people in the real world who don’t, after all.
“While Clive will use [swear words and Mature language] every now and then, we tried to make it in situations where it fits, like, ‘Oh, a giant boulder is coming towards me.’ Of course, they’re going to say, ‘S---!’ But then he’s not using it in everyday conversation because that’s not Clive’s character.”
If you’ve kept up with FFXVI’s trailers, you’ve already heard and seen how that Mature rating appears in the game’s action and dialogue. That rating (and tone) carries through the hours of the game I played for this cover story trip, too, and I can’t wait to see how far this game pushes it this summer.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
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.
I asked FFXVI creative director Kazutoyo Maehiro about the decision to have the game span decades of the protagonist’s life and the challenges that come with it. To my surprise, he said there weren’t many.
“Overall, I don’t think there were too many challenges when writing Clive’s story,” Maehiro says. “I knew where I wanted to take it and was able to create the story fairly quickly, focusing on that revenge but then also showing the rest of this life.”
Maehiro said the true challenge was writing about things that take a long time in real-life, like wars, which are central to FFXVI’s story.
“The story ended up being something that would take place over a long period of time,” he says. “In a novel, that’d be very easy to do because you just write about it and then you go to the next chapter and 10 years have passed. But when you’re doing that in a game, and you want people to play these things, that requires creating assets and creating things for the end game, and that takes development costs and time as well.
“And so probably the biggest challenge was taking this story that spent so many years and transforming it and translating it into something that players could play in real-time, but also get the sense that time has passed at low dev costs.”
He says that creating one model – say, Clive’s younger model – could take anywhere from one to two years. And FFXVI has at least three Clive models. Add in all the other characters that age over time , and those hours start to add up.
I didn’t get to see any of Clive in his 30s, but I’m excited to see how he differs both as a narrative character and a controllable one compared to the younger versions of himself. Fortunately, we have just under a month to go because FFXVI hits PlayStation 5 on June 22.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
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 animated cutscenes. Other challenges include events designed to test players’ skills such as drifting and evading crashes. For online multiplayer, the game supports cross-play (except on Switch), and players can now create friend parties. Local two-player splitscreen also makes a return.
The popular creation suite from the first game now features a refined Track Editor with expanded features and a Livery Editor update introducing the Sticker Editor to create and save custom patterns and shapes. Best of all, all user-generated content will be sharable cross-platform at launch, though it's unclear if any player-made content from the original can be imported into this game.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Check out some of the sequel's cars in the screenshot gallery below.
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 Jefimow will be executive producers. Mikołaj Marchewka joins the project as its managing director. Two other former CDPR devs in Michal Dobrowolski and Artur Ganszyniec will work on the game as design director and narrative director, respectively. Former Division 48 Studio developer Grzegorz Przybyś is the game's art director.
"We're thrilled to announce Blank. and to start expanding our incredible team," Kanik writes in a press release. "After working for years in an increasingly conservative industry, we're ready to make bold, impactful projects that share our creativity and values. Where the industry champions a dictatorship of the creative individual, we want to give ownership to the team. Where the industry leans on crunch culture, we prefer work-life balance. Where the industry says bigger is better, we're setting our sights on highly polished games with a focus on emotion, story, and craftsmanship."
Mróz writes that the team plans to marry inspired ideas with well-defined scopes to strong teams of support and realistic budgets.
"We're committed to quality craftsmanship and running the studio in a sustainable way," Mróz writes. "We plan to increase our projects' scope as we expand the team and its capabilities."
Blank. is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, and currently consists of 10 team members. It's looking to expand to 60 members to develop its unannounced project.
What do you want to see this studio create? Let us know in the comments below!
2021's Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon 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 Raccoon 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 Raccoon 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" is likely a nod to The Umbrella Chronicles spinoff game. Add in that the film company behind "Umbrella Chronicles" is Raccoon HG Film Productions, the same company behind Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, and the picture gets a little clearer: we might be getting a sequel.
It's important to note this isn't an official confirmation of a sequel. Perhaps Raccoon HG Film Productions is making a different Resident Evil movie unattached to Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City. Only time will tell.
In the meantime, watch our interview with two of the 2021 film's stars and then check out this featurette from Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City with some behind-the-scenes details.
[Source: Sudbury.com via PCGamesN]
Do you want a sequel to Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City? Let us know in the comments below!
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 RosfieldNaturally, 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 motion capture, scenes had to be performed first before voice lines could be recorded. This meant that the first Joshua actor couldn’t record all of his lines in one go. Unfortunately, puberty hit during recording, and “he could no longer sound like an 8-year-old.” He sounded like someone who was 15 years old, Koji says, and “it wasn’t going to work.”
“And it was at this time that I had played enough of A Plague Tale that I thought, ‘Okay, rather than doing another set of auditions, I know exactly who we want. I played this game and he was great in it. Let’s go with [Hannan] from A Plague Tale,’” Koji says. “That ended up working out.”
It’s the scariest aspect of voice recording with children, Koji says, noting that it’s not uncommon. “I imagine no one’s ever been angrier about puberty” than the original actor for Joshua, he adds.
As for why Hannan, Koji says it’s because his performance in the A Plague Tale series encapsulates everything FFXVI developer Creative Business Unit III needed in Joshua.
“When we got the scripts, it was like ‘Okay, we’re going to have this very, very intense scene with a very, very young character,’” Koji says in reference to the murder of Joshua in FFXVI. “We knew having a young kid be there and be happy, we had to put him through literal hell. Because the focus is to make this as real as possible, we didn’t want to go the route of hiring an adult actor and have them do a child’s voice because unless you get someone who’s really, really good at that, they can end up sounding fake.
“On the other hand, we’d be asking an 8-year-old actor to act out the scenes that are super violent. It’s an M-rated game, so we needed to find someone that can produce this visceral performance but also make it sound real.”
If you’ve played A Plague Tale: Innocence, or its sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem, then you know Hannan is quite capable of that considering what Hugo endures in those games.
“I’m thinking, ‘Who did this?’ [while playing A Plague Tale] and I see that it’s a kid at that age and I’m like, ‘This is who we need to bring into the project’ while thinking there’s no way he’s going to say ‘Yes,’” Koji says.
CBUIII contacted Hannan and he was very interested. After his audition, the team thought he was the perfect fit for Joshua.
“I mean, he’s screaming in anguish and that’s very difficult for even an older actor to do without making it sound kind of fake and cheesy, and I think we got these really, really real performances,” Koji says. “Despite Logan being so young, he’s such a great actor and it was such fun to work with him and hopefully, I can use him again in the future.
“Although he’s getting older, so his voice is going to change so I’ll need to cast him for a different type of role, but he’s such a great actor,” Koji adds.
Joshua’s older brother, Clive, is voiced by Ben Starr, a relative newcomer to video game acting. Koji says Starr actually auditioned for a different role, for someone who works with Clive during one of the game’s opening missions.
Ben Starr – The Voice Of Clive Rosfield“It was an audition for one of those characters that Ben Starr came in and he auditioned for that character, and we heard it in the studio and the director was like, ‘Okay, this is good, but you’ve got a really great voice. Can you read this script?” And they handed him the Clive script, even though he came in for a different [role].”
Koji listened and immediately heard the character of Clive.
“After hearing maybe 20 other professional voice actors that had done lots of different games, lots of different movies and theater, and you hear all these different voices thinking, ‘Is this going to be Clive or not?’ And you’re on the fence like, ‘Maybe it could be Clive, I don’t know,’” Koji says. “The minute that we heard Ben Starr, everyone knew that this is the voice, this is the voice of Clive, and all of a sudden, all of the dialogue that I had translated or written up to then, I could hear it in that voice and we knew immediately that was the voice.
“So he came in auditioning for a part that has maybe like 10 lines and he ends up getting to be the hero. I think that was really exciting. It was one of those ‘Eureka’ types of moments where you hear it and immediately you know.”
Koji says after finding Starr, they let the Japanese team hear him as Clive and that team agreed he was the perfect voice for FFXVI’s protagonist. Even though CBUIII has cast a Japanese voice actor for Clive as well, FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida still plays the game in English because of Starr's performance, according to Koji.
We’ll all get to hear more of Joshua and Clive in less than a month when FFXVI hits PlayStation 5 on June 22.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
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, PC, and Netflix (for all subscribers) 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, PC, and Netflix on August 8.
Are you picking up WrestleQuest later this year? Let us know in the comments below!
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 I've spent a good deal of time with the launch version of the adventure. 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 exciting chase for power, whether it be rare loot or powerful skills, to take down scores of foes as quickly and effectively as possible. The experience succeeds in making this hunt for strength engaging, challenging, and satisfying. Progression is less about making the number of your level go up – enemies scale right alongside you, so you’re rarely more than one level higher than them – and more about smartly utilizing the best gear sporting the most useful effects relative to your class and playstyle. The same philosophy applies to the abilities on your skill tree.
Though combat is enjoyable (if a bit mundane in the early hours due to limited offensive options), the fun picked up in a big way once I acquired enough skill points to fill up my hot bar. At that point, it becomes an entertaining and often chaotic dance of blasting apart foes, artfully dodging attacks with the evade maneuver, and timing cooldowns to unleash hell at the perfect moments. I got a kick out of discovering how skills and perks synergize to create fun combos, such as upgrading my fiery serpent summon with a gravitational pull that turned enemies into a bundle of sitting ducks for a chain lightning assault. I rarely respec skills in RPGs, but Diablo IV’s well-balanced difficulty and variety of dangers challenged me to refund powers (at a reasonable gold cost) to experiment with others. That kept the action fresh and prevented me from resting on my laurels for too long.
Tinkering with gear also became a point of near obsession. Diablo IV offers great flexibility in letting players mold weapons and armor to fit their playstyle. Options such as replacing unwanted gear traits with new ones at the Occultist, destroying worthless loot for crafting materials to upgrade equipped items multiple times, slotting in stat-boosting gems, or imbuing gear with affixes to add powerful effects had me gleefully upgrading my loadout like a fantasy-version of Tony Stark. And even when you’ve crafted a winning set, decent loot drops meant I still found superior items often enough, with Legendaries appearing more frequently as the game progressed. For those who hate the idea of constantly visiting the menu to swap out new gear, I usually got a lot of mileage out of simply upgrading my existing gear until I found something that was too good to pass up.
Sanctuary is gigantic, though exploring this biodiverse continent can be a slog, primarily due to how long it takes to get a mount. You’ll spend at least half the game traveling between the relatively limited fast-travel points on foot, and I sometimes grew tired of being constantly assaulted by occasionally suffocating mobs of enemies when I just wanted to reach my destination and soak in the beautifully detailed scenery and great soundtrack. I’m glad there are plenty of things to kill, but there’s rarely a stretch where you’re left alone.
Despite these dangers, uncovering every inch of Sanctuary is largely worthwhile. Raising my Renown became an effective hook, which rewards skill points, money, and even additional potions for discovering new areas and waypoints, and completing quests and dungeons, among other routine ventures. Regularly occurring live events present a variety of combat tests that reward two tiers of treasures depending on how well you perform. I enjoyed most of these and often went out of my way to complete any I stumbled upon. I also liked hunting the dozens of well-hidden Altars of Lilith that grant precious permanent stat buffs. Over 100 sidequests range from simple fetch quests to multi-part story arcs, the latter of which often go in some intriguing directions that make them, for the most part, good side dishes to the main course of the campaign.
My favorite and most intimidating diversions are Strongholds. These tough-as-nails zones present a unique series of combat scenarios tied around a specific story, and conquering them sometimes unlocks a new settlement complete with new side quests and, sometimes, another fast travel point. One tasked me with destroying demonic effigies across a village while its residents swarmed me, and another had me expel the ghost of a man burned at the stake by collecting human ashes to extinguish demonic fires. It took repeated attempts to beat my first Stronghold, but conquering them always feels like a triumph in skill and strategy. The separate rewards these activities bring and how they feed into the broader progression of your Renown and your character create a strong, compelling loop that makes every activity feel rewarding in some way.
The enjoyable action and progression are wrapped around an equally compelling narrative. Lilith’s return unfolds in a lengthy campaign told through beautiful cinematics and the most in-game cutscenes in series history, presenting an engrossing dark tale about escaping the futility of being trapped at the mercy of greater powers vying for control at humanity’s expense. While chock full of references to past games, the story is easy to follow for newcomers since it doesn’t rely on an encyclopedic knowledge of the series to grasp. Having jumped on board the series with Diablo III, I’m no lore expert, but the game treats its history with such an infectious reverence that I kept a wiki open to learn more about a returning face or referenced event due to how engaged I was with the plot. I found a few isolated moments to be outright dumb, but there were many points where I only wanted to mainline the plot because of how excited I was to see what would happen next.
Completing the campaign only made me hungrier to take my beefed-up character into the substantial post-game, which, from what I played, succeeds in offering fun, rewarding tests of my power. Whispers of the Dead present new, limited-time incentives to existing tasks, such as slaying certain monsters or running dungeons in exchange for currency to buy special loot caches. You have to do quite a lot to earn this reward, but they often fold neatly into things I was already doing, so it’s a nice added bonus. I had a great (and sweat-inducing) time completing the capstone dungeon to unlock World Tier III, which introduces Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and an overall tougher challenge. Helltides offer an adequately entertaining mixup by introducing stronger enemies in designated zones that drop separate currency to earn exclusive rewards.
I explored the PvP-focused Field of Hatred, but I couldn’t take full advantage of it due to the small number of fellow media members playing the game (I only encountered one human player throughout my entire pre-launch adventure). However, I found value in exploring even without rivals to slay since you can still kill enemies to collect Red Dust to spend on exclusive store items, such as the Odds and Ends store's risk/reward-style magic scrolls.
As a live-service game, the always-online requirement most often became a mild nuisance when I wanted to take short breaks. I often left it running to avoid the process of reloading into the server (which isn't terribly long given the lack of players but still enough of a process where I avoided it when possible), which required finding a safe space to avoid getting jumped by enemies. Outside of that, I was kicked from the game a couple of times due to ongoing technical tests, which provided a glimpse into what will be the real-life tragedies of players losing progress midway through a tough dungeon or missing out on rare loot due to the randomized delivery.
The most heartbreaking setback I suffered happened when I was unceremoniously kicked from the game right before toppling a difficult boss, forcing me to replay the entire battle. For those who plan to treat Diablo IV as a single-player experience, such instances will likely sting, and I can only hope Blizzard has used this review period to reinforce the servers enough to minimize these setbacks at launch.
The in-game store was disabled during the review period, as was crossplay, but I did get to play a bit of co-op, which was a blast. I also ran into a fair number of glitches during my time (some loading gating access to some areas, NPCs riding invisible horses) that Blizzard promises to have ironed out by the time Diablo IV launches, so I’m looking forward to seeing how much that patch cleans up. Though I still have some questions, I had a great time with Diablo IV. It delivers on its promised return to the darker tone and aesthetic of the earlier games while presenting engrossing, meaningful progression with fun combat, a strong narrative, and numerous activities that made me want to extend my visit to Sanctuary. While it remains to be seen how the experience handles the incoming flood of players once the lights are turned on, I think Diablo fans, old and new, are in for a treat.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the next first-party PlayStation title making the jump to Steam on July 26, marking the series' first appearance on PC.
The 2021 dimension-hopping adventure served as one of the earliest showcases of the PlayStation 5’s tech (namely it’s fast-loading SSD), and the PC version sports additional bells and whistles such as:
Developer Nixxes Software is handling this PC port of the acclaimed action platformer, which sees Ratchet & Clank fighting to stop their old foe Dr. Nefarious from conquering the multiverse with the help of Ratchet's alternate universe counterpart, Rivet. In our review, we scored the game a 9 out of 10, with former editor-in-chief Andrew Reiner writing, "It’s a great continuation of the series that is just a joy to play. It steals your eye with its stunning vistas, makes you care about the characters, and is loaded to the hilt with fan service (especially in the alternate dimension and a weapon you have to assemble)."
Will you be checking out Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on Steam? Let us know in the comments!
Designing combat in a Final Fantasy game seems like a double-edged sword. On one hand, you likely want to appeal to the fans of the series, and on the other, you want to attract new players. But it’s impossible to please everyone when making big changes like developer Creative Business Unit III is doing with Final Fantasy XVI – using a real-time action combat system that couldn’t be further from the series’ classic turn-based roots.
As someone who loves the franchise’s turn-based format and its more action-forward design as of late, and as someone who’s played FFXVI for more than five hours at this point, I’m quite pleased with the combat. It’s fast-paced, action-heavy, and perhaps most importantly, fitting of this world and these characters. I especially like the singular focus on Clive, as you never control any of your party members (although you give combat-related orders to Clive’s dog companion, Torgal).
Designing this combat was the biggest challenge of FFXVI’s development, according to producer Naoki Yoshida (the same Yoshida that’s the director of Final Fantasy XIV).
“Probably the biggest challenge had to do with designing the battle system and going into full real-time action,” Yoshida tells me within Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, office building. “We’ve mentioned in the past that with Final Fantasy XVI, we wanted to bring in a new generation of gamers to the Final Fantasy series, and one of our main focuses during early development was how to do this.”
Yoshida says CBUIII is full of developers that love turn-based games and grew up on them, even within Final Fantasy history. But when it came to designing FFXVI, the team asked itself which games are popular today amongst younger generations of players and which games the team was enjoying these days. It turned out that a lot of the teams’ answers were action games.
“Instead of going back to turn-based, we said, ‘Okay, this is a chance for us to challenge ourselves to try to do something that the series had never done but that we want to really try to do, and that’s moving to the full action-based system,’” Yoshida continues. “There was always the option to maybe try a hybrid type of system where we have action and turn-based elements, but again, rather than trying that and having something that’s not complete and not satisfying, we decided to focus fully on just bringing the action.”
And that action is what you can experience in FFXVI when it launches exclusively on PlayStation 5 on June 22.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Square Enix has revealed that Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai will be released this September.
More specifically, it hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC on September 28. Alongside this release date, Square Enix has released a new trailer showing off more of what to expect in this game set in the Dragon Quest universe.
Check out the new Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai trailer for yourself below:
Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai is a video game adaptation of The Adventure of Dai anime, which is based on a manga, which itself is based on the Dragon Quest game series. It is an action role-playing game that combines visuals from both the manga and anime of The Adventure of Dai, and it will feature a Story Mode and the Temple of Recollection. In the former, you'll play through a standard campaign that adapts The Adventure of Dai, while in the Temple of Recollection, you can fight through a dungeon that changes with each playthrough.
"Beat the monsters that dwell within for exciting rewards that will help you take down enemies that grow stronger the deeper you go," a press release from Square Enix reads. "Players can also collect and equip accessories known as Bond Memories, which augment the abilities and stats of the character they are equipped to. Additionally, each time a Bond Memory is unlocked, scenes from the original manga will be revealed. Bond Memories can also be further powered up by conquering the Temple of Recollection and its challenging ever-changing stages."
Preordering the game on any platform will get you Dai's special "Legendary Hero" outfit and the Bond Memory, "The Hero's Tutor." The digital deluxe edition of the game includes Popp's special "Legendary Mage" outfit, Maam's "Legendary Priest" and "Legendary Martial Artist" outfits, and Hyunckel's "Legendary Swordsman" and "Legendary Warrior" outfits.
Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai began as a popular manga series written by Riku Sanjo and illustrated by Koji Inada in 1989. In 2020, an anime adaptation of this manga began to air, and now, Infinity Strash is a game based on that anime adaptation.
Are you picking up Infinity Strash next month? Let us know in the comments below!
The October 2022 announcement of Silent Hill: Ascension, an interactive streaming series from Genvid Entertainment and Konami, raised some eyebrows from fans but provided little in the way of details. Today, Genvid broke its silence by not only giving us new details on the series but also a trailer.
In this series, which will unfold simultaneously across the globe, those watching can help decide the fates of Ascension's main characters. This means that as the story plays out, the audience will have a say in who survives the surely horrific story, who will be redeemed or damned by their actions, and who will suffer the almost certainly ghastly consequences. According to Genvid Entertainment, not even the developers will know the results of the story until it unfolds.
Silent Hill: Ascension features an ensemble of new characters, monsters, and locations within the Silent Hill universe. Genvid has crafted a real-time interactive system that allows viewers from around the world to decide these characters' fates within the narrative the studio has crafted. Beginning later in 2023, fans can tune in to live story moments where each day is different based on audience interactions.
Silent Hill: Ascension is set to stream later this year. If this unique concept has piqued your interest, you can check out the reveal trailer below.
Reviewed on:
PC
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PC
Publisher:
Capcom
Developer:
Capcom
Release:
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 to a large arsenal of options, but leaves you vulnerable when depleted, setting up a compelling risk/reward dynamic that tinges on every interaction.
Additionally, the game’s pace feels more deliberate than Street Fighter V, creating rewarding back-and-forth exchanges allowing its more cerebral elements to shine. Specifically, the extended range of normal attacks makes careful poking battles more common, and strikes are less advantageous when blocked, meaning aggressors can’t single-mindedly run their offense. The 18-character roster is also a slam dunk, combining returning favorites with cleverly designed newcomers to deliver a wide variety of playstyles and degrees of complexity. Each has a robust move set, and almost every fighter has a unique gimmick that can transform the match.
For instance, Manon is a grappler whose command grabs become more damaging every time one lands, making her an imposing momentum-based character, while Jamie is a Drunken Master-style brawler who gains new moves with each chug. Every major character archetype feels well-represented here, from zoners to rushdown characters, meaning players shouldn’t have a hard time finding someone who speaks to them. While only time will tell how the metagame shakes out, Street Fighter 6’s starting roster and core systems offer an excellent platform to build upon.
And for those less interested in playing against others, the most noteworthy mode is World Tour. This lengthy single-player story lets you explore a semi-open Metro City filled with fisticuff-loving weirdos, side quests, and RPG-lite progression. In addition to being an enjoyably strange adventure, it also successfully introduces and tutorializes some of the game’s deeper systems while offering a largely satisfying series of brawls.
Battles in World Tour are enticing thanks to foes’ unique attack patterns and how each enemy is paired with optional objectives that grant bonus rewards. Best of all, your avatar can learn abilities from the main roster, allowing you to mix the best elements of grapplers, zoners, and rushdown characters into a hilariously broken fighter. I was genuinely surprised by how much there is to this mode, and it took me more than 25 hours to reach the credits. While the World Tour is far from perfect – some fights felt overly chaotic due to how they handle being sandwiched between multiple enemies, and the overarching storytelling leaves much to be desired – it is a solid entry point for new players that will give those uninterested in testing their mettle online plenty to do.
Beyond this, an abundance of inclusions demonstrates an impressive degree of polish. There are multiple control schemes aimed at beginners, party settings, a robust training room, Arcade mode, accessibility options, and a fully realized lobby system. Tack on well-implemented rollback netcode, quick rematches, and the ability to queue up for online games from almost anywhere, and Street Fighter 6 makes it easy to get in and play.
As the series that pioneered fighting games, each new Street Fighter comes with weighty expectations. Street Fighter 6 confidently meets this hype, catering to neophytes and genre veterans by offering the most extensive array of offline offerings the franchise has ever seen alongside a flexible set of core systems and a diverse cast. Between its cohesive aesthetic, the bounty of clever features, and crisp central gameplay, it’s one of the most impressive entries the genre has seen in some time.
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PurchaseFinal Fantasy XVI’s combat is fast, chaotic, and, most importantly, fun. There are plenty of combos to pull off, and in just the small taste of the action during my cover story trip to Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, office, I saw so much variance in setting up Clive’s combative abilities that I can’t wait to see what others do in-game.
I also watched combat director Ryota Suzuki play through some of the most challenging encounters in the game, and unsurprisingly, he excelled, taking maybe one or two hits in the 20 minutes he played. He used combos I didn’t really comprehend – admittedly, he was playing at a much later portion of the game than I had hands-on access with – and it got me thinking: is he excited to see what players do with FFXVI’s combat, much like I was sitting there watching him pull off intricate combos against myriad enemies?
Final Fantasy XVI Combat Director Ryota Suzuki“I’ve always tried to give players a lot of freedom when it comes to the controls and the action in the game, and give them lots of options that they can take and then do their own thing with,” Suzuki tells me. “So I’m expecting that there’s going to be a lot of weird things that they’re going to do with certain abilities. I can’t say what those abilities are, but I already have a few ideas because I’ve left a lot of things open-ended in that way.
“I’m really excited to see what players will do with them because there are definitely things that I didn’t expect, but I do like putting that stuff out there so that they have stuff to play with and surprise me with. When they do things I expected, I’m happy, but I’m also really happy when they [...] do something that is completely unexpected. It’s one of the exciting things about being a developer.”
Like Suzuki, I look forward to seeing what far more advanced players do with FFXVI’s combat, and fortunately, we have less than a month to go.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
On May 27, the development team behind Wii and GameCube emulator Dolphin announced a massive roadblock: Nintendo's legal team was moving to prevent the software from launching on Steam. While the Dolphin team is investigating its options, the project is currently "indefinitely postponed." Here's the full quote from their blog post:
It is with much disappointment that we have to announce that the Dolphin on Steam release has been indefinitely postponed. We were notified by Valve that Nintendo has issued a cease and desist citing the DMCA against Dolphin's Steam page, and have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is settled. We are currently investigating our options and will have a more in-depth response in the near future.
We appreciate your patience in the meantime.
Originally reported by PCGamer, this is not actually a DMCA takedown, just the warning of one. Kellen Voyer, an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and technology law spoke with PCGamer and said, "Here, there is no allegation that Valve is currently hosting anything that infringes Nintendo’s copyright or, more broadly, violates the DMCA. Rather, Nintendo is sending clear notice to Valve that it considers Dolphin to violate the DMCA and should it be released on Steam, Nintendo will likely take further action."
Dolphin has been around for about 20 years now, first developed as closed source in 2003, until it moved to open source in 2008. This past March, the team announced plans to bring the program to Steam, which would have likely increased the number of people with access to its services. If Dolphin's developers decide to fight Nintendo's block, they'll have their work cut out for them. Nintendo is notorious for its brutality in the court of law, whether it's shutting down fan content or pushing for severe punishment for hackers. In the meantime, the service is still available on Dolphin's website, since the team itself has yet to receive any warning directly from Nintendo.
Do you think Dolphin will ever be released on Steam? Let us know in the comments!
Remakes tend to be more exciting than remasters because the improvements often go beyond mere bumps in resolution or framerate. At best, studios reimagine classic experiences in exciting new ways, sand away rough edges, and somehow retain the intangible x-factors that made fans fall in love with these titles in the first place. At the very least, remakes offer a great way to play antiquated or less accessible experiences on modern hardware.
The remake boom has been in full swing in recent years to the point that it’s starting to get tough to keep track of all the projects in the works. Thankfully, we’ve gathered as many of the announced remakes (not remasters) that we could find and gathered them in one neat list, arranged chronologically by release window. This will be an evolving list that will be updated as new remakes are announced and released, so be sure to keep an eye on it over the coming months.
First revealed in 2015, Nightdive Studios’ remake of System Shock has had a long, seemingly unending road. Originally funded via Kickstarter, the game was first slated for December 2017 but has since been delayed multiple times. It has slowly materialized over the years, however, as trailers have become more frequent and Nightdive even released a playable demo on Steam (that you can still download). If nothing else, the remake seems to be faring better than System Shock 3.
Bloober Team is remaking its two Layers of Fear games and mashing them together into a singular experience. This reimagined tale is getting the royal treatment, being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and sporting 4K visuals, ray-tracing, and HDR. While we found the Layers of Fear games to be mediocre experiences separately, we hope combining them in a polished-up form results in stronger scares.
The 1992 survival-horror classic is being dusted off and reimagined. Now a third-person adventure game, players explore the haunted Dercerto Manor as either Emily Hartwood or detective Edward Carnby (portrayed by actors Jodie Comer and David Harbour, respectively) in two unique campaigns. Along the way, they'll encounter supernatural threats and a bevy of elaborate puzzles, and fans can expect to find multiple references to the original.
Final Fantasy VII Remake’s second installment moves beyond Midgar and into uncharted territory. Sure, we’re likely to visit established locations like the Gold Saucer and encounter new versions of old friends, but Rebirth’s story can go a multitude of new directions based on Remake’s events. We’re excited to see what shake-ups Square Enix has in store as long as the snowboarding mini-game remains intact.
Forever Entertainment answered the wishes of Front Mission fans by announcing plans to remake not one, not two, but the series’ first three games. Front Mission 1st Remake landed on Switch in November 2022 and features modernized controls and a reorchestrated soundtrack. 2nd and 3rd Remake will likely get the same treatment, and hopefully, these games will wash away Left Alive’s bad taste.
2012’s Lollipop Chainsaw may not have been a critical darling or a commercial hit, but that’s not stopping publisher Dragami Games from remaking the zany action title. Fans hoping for a Resident Evil or Final Fantasy-caliber update should temper their expectations, however.
Though billed as a full remake, Dragami Games president Yoshimi Yasuda (who produced the original game) stated it will be “as close as possible to a remaster.” He explains the goal is to make Lollipop Chainsaw playable to a new audience rather than reinvent it. The title features overhauled graphics but lacks many of the original’s licensed songs. Co-creators Suda51 and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn will also not be involved. Despite these caveats, maybe Juliet’s second zombified go-around can prove more successful than her first.
Risk of Rain turns 10 years old in 2023, and developer Hopoo Games is celebrating by remaking and improving the popular action platformer. Dubbed Risk of Rain Returns, the new game sports an HD paint job, new survivors, a revamped multiplayer, fresh music tracks, and the design improvements of Risk of Rain 2.
Bloober Team is reviving Silent Hill 2 with a modern coat of paint. The minds behind Layers of Fear and The Medium may not have the greatest critical track record, but hopefully, working with an established (and better) template will yield more positive results. It would be nice to have a good modernized version of Silent Hill 2 after the less-than-stellar HD port from 2012. Silent Hill 2’s release window remains shrouded in fog, but it will come to PC and PlayStation 5 as a timed console exclusive.
The reveal that arguably the best Star Wars game ever was getting a much-needed remake had fans raising their lightsabers in celebration. Unfortunately, the game’s development may have already succumbed to the dark side. It’s been reported, though not yet confirmed, that progress had stalled, and work on the game has switched hands from Aspyr Media to Saber Interactive. Allegedly, Lucasfilm was unhappy with an internal demo, which brought development to a screeching halt for a period (and led to the firing of two directors). Whatever the case, we hope KOTOR can get back on track and eventually see the light of day.
It might not be a new entry, but a remake of Sam Fisher’s first outing is better than nothing after years of waiting. Ubisoft Toronto sits at the helm of the project and plans to rebuild the game from scratch using the Snowdrop Engine while maintaining the classic stealth elements. Outside of recently losing its director (on good terms), it’s unclear how development is faring or when we’ll get to see this fresh spin on the franchise.
Development has been rocky for The Sands of Time’s impending remake, to say the least. Besides the game’s reveal garnering backlash from fans due to its unimpressive graphics, it has been delayed twice: first by two months, then indefinitely. In hindsight, it’s wild to think we were supposed to be playing this in January 2021. In May 2022, Ubisoft announced it had moved development from its fledgling Indian studios back to Montreal, where The Sands of Time was first created. While it's unfortunate that Ubisoft Pune/Mumbai couldn’t bring the remake together, we’re excited to see if Ubisoft Montreal can reapply the same magic.
HD-2D is becoming an increasingly popular template for reviving classic JRPGs. It worked wonders for Live A Live, and Square Enix is giving Dragon Quest III the same treatment. For now, we know next to nothing about the game other than that it’s coming to consoles at a yet-to-be-specified window.
In April, Remedy Entertainment pleasantly surprised the gaming world when it announced it had struck a deal with Rockstar Games to remake Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Remedy sold the IP to Rockstar in 2002, but the two are partnering to revive the gritty crime series that popularized bullet time. The games will be made by Remedy, with Rockstar footing the bill on development and publishing, and target current-gen consoles and PC.
2001's Gothic is getting a faithful glow-up that looks to reintroduce the RPG to a new audience. The combat system and control scheme, a criticism of the original, has been reworked to feel modern and, most of all, playable. Developer THQ Nordic Barcelona even released a playable teaser to obtain feedback and ensure it's on the right track. As 20+ year-old game, Gothic has been a tough game to revisit on PC, making this remake all the more welcomed.
CD Projekt Red’s litany of upcoming projects includes a full remake of the first Witcher game. It’s being built in Unreal Engine 5 by developer Fool’s Theory (with supervision from CD Projekt veterans) and is said to be very early in development. The Witcher, released for PC in 2007, isn’t the easiest game to revisit due to its age and lack of console ports. Now that Geralt and friends are mainstream draws, newer fans can finally experience the adventure that started it all.
Months of rumors proved true when Konami revealed it was remaking arguably the most beloved entry in the Metal Gear series, Snake Eater. Boasting, as Konami put it, "cutting-edge graphics and 3D audio," this new version will faithfully retell the story of Big Boss' origin. Best of all, the iconic theme song is back in full force.
Which remakes are you looking forward to playing the most? Let us know in the comments!
Robosen Robotics has for some years fostered a fun partnership with Hasbro and its Transformers license, including an awesome fully transformable Generation 1 Optimus Prime that would change between robot and truck on its own.
In a similar spirit, the same team now has a new robotic collectible coming to market, this time emulating the Optimus Prime character as he appears in the new Rise of the Beastslive-action film. Instead of full transformation like the previous G1-style incarnation, this new collectible is built as a display piece that can shift between various aerial action poses, speak lines of dialogue, and respond to voice and app commands from your phone or other device.
The figure features 21 precision servo motors and 69 microchips. Even before mounting on his included stand, Prime stands at 16 inches tall.
The team even brought in legendary voice actor Peter Cullen to reprise his role and record brand-new lines for the character to spout.
The new Rise of the Beasts Optimus Prime limited edition collectible will put you back a hefty sum; it’s currently on a preorder sale of $699 (instead of the regular price of $899). If that's not too high a price for controlling an intergalactic hero, he's all yours. The vaunted Aubobot leader will be ready to head out on a mission to your home in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Final Fantasy XVI is the most action-forward game in the mainline series’ history, and while it’s been a point of contention between players excited for this and fans of the franchise who yearn for something turn-based, it’s hard to deny the combat looks flashy and fun. And as someone who’s played a few hours of the game, I can say it is.
While I attribute most of that to how great it feels to control Clive, it turns out there might be some tricks developer Creative Business Unit III learned developing Final Fantasy XIV’s action to make FFXVI’s combat feel even more satisfying beyond the actual gameplay.
“For example, in boss battles, when you have an attack and you may see certain areas on the ground that light up to show that’s where the attack’s going to be, that’s something you might recognize from Final Fantasy XIV,” Naoki Yoshida, the game’s producer, tells me. “Moving to this real-time action-based battle system, we wanted players not to be overwhelmed with what was going on on-screen because there’s a lot going on. We didn’t want any situations where players will be playing and think, ‘Okay, I just took damage. Why did I take damage? I don’t know why.’ They wanted to make it very understandable to players so they didn’t feel like they were being ripped off.”
Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki YoshidaBy creating these visual cues, players can see precisely where attacks are coming from during the chaos of combat.
“It reduces that stress level [in combat],” Yoshida continues. “That’s something from the early stages of battle design that we wanted to incorporate from Final Fantasy XIV because it works well and allows players to know what’s going to happen.”
Yoshida says the direction for this kind of design came from FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai, who, before helping direct CBUIII’s efforts in FFXIV, worked as a VFX animator.
“For him, it’s all about having those effects going on on-screen all the time,” Yoshida says. “He wanted something that was visually stimulating, but he also understands that can make the screen very busy and very difficult for players to understand what’s going on at all times. So [we’ve created] this balance, where you can still have the visual cues and all of the excitement on the screen, but also have cues there so players understand what’s going on. Even if things are going off, you’ll know exactly when to evade. You’ll know exactly where the damage is coming from. A lot of effort was put into creating the system.”
I notice other FFXIV-isms within FFXVI after playing through some of the game’s opening sections during my cover story trip. For example, the icons present throughout the game’s UI resemble what you’d find in the MMO, especially as it relates to main scenario quests and side quests. Even starting and completing missions sounds familiar, with a quick Victory Fanfare jingle that plays as the screen says you’ve finished something.
And, I’m told that FFXVI will, of course, feature puns in quest titles just like those present throughout so many of the scenarios within FFXIV.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Naughty Dog, the renowned developer behind franchises such as Uncharted and The Last of Us, has released a statement on its multiplayer title in The Last of Us universe. In the post, the developer says it needs more time than originally forecasted for the multiplayer project, but softens the blow by teasing an unannounced single-player-focused game.
"We know many of you have been looking forward to hearing more about our The Last of Us multiplayer game," the statement reads. "We're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time. Our team will continue to work on the project, as well as our other games in development, including a brand new single-player experience; we look forward to sharing more soon. We're grateful to our fantastic community for your support – thank you for your passion for our games, it continues to drive us."
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) May 26, 2023
This statement comes on the heels of a report from Bloomberg, which communicated troubles on the development of the title. According to the report, the development team has been scaled back while the studio's leadership decides on a direction.
This multiplayer project was originally in development as a mode for The Last of Us Part II, similar to the multiplayer mode of the original The Last of Us. However, as the scope of both the single-player campaign and the multiplayer mode expanded, Naughty Dog made the call to prioritize the single-player campaign, which came out in 2020. In June 2022, Naughty Dog announced that the multiplayer component was now a standalone project and shared a piece of concept art (above). Earlier this year, Naughty Dog released another new piece of concept art (below) and promised more details on the standalone multiplayer project later this year.
Naughty Dog's most recent all-new game, 2020's The Last of Us Part II, received universal critical acclaim with a 93 on Metacritic but has proven divisive among players. In the time since that launch, Naughty Dog has released the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which included remastered versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and The Last of Us Part I, a remake of The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind. Perhaps the biggest impact The Last of Us has had in 2023 came in the form of the first season of the HBO series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, which garnered widespread praise.
There's no word on when we'll hear more from Naughty Dog on either this multiplayer game or the single-player project it mentioned in this statement, but with this week's PlayStation Showcase neglecting to mention any of the studio's projects, it could be a while before we know substantial details.
Reviewed on:
PlayStation 5
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher:
Daedalic Entertainment
Developer:
Daedalic Entertainment
Release:
(PlayStation 5,
Xbox Series X/S,
PlayStation 4,
Xbox One,
PC), 2023 (Switch)
Rating:
Teen
At times, an event or character can be profoundly impactful to its originating fiction, but not the right choice for a dedicated spotlight project of its own. It’s hard to think of a more potent case in point than The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a game that fundamentally misunderstands the appeal of its source franchise, focusing on a character who, by almost any measure, is the wrong choice for a lead. That said, it’s not impossible to imagine the game that might somehow have made the unusual premise click. This is not that project; like its miserable and piteous lead, this game is best avoided at all costs.
Gollum tracks the story of the titular fellow in the time period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, mostly during his slavery and misuse in Mordor and the related escape to pursue his precious ring. With its drab colors, focus on cruel and unappealing characters and chore-focused gameplay, it feels at odds with most of the core tenets and themes of Tolkien’s fiction. Even stripped of its connection to that vaunted legendarium, the storytelling is poorly paced, meandering, and often incoherent. A promising exploration of the dichotomy between the Gollum and Smeagol character initially seems compelling but is never leveraged in a meaningful way.
Gameplay is split chiefly between old-fashioned linear traversal sequences and clumsy, uninteresting stretches of stealth. In navigation of the stages, the jumping is imprecise, stages are poorly structured to communicate where you can go, and the camera is unwieldy, or sometimes even broken, flipping entirely upside down while climbing or refusing to rotate to view the next necessary jump. I died repeatedly and frequently to jumps that should have been easy or mistakenly guessed where the next platform could be reached. The only small blessing is frequent checkpoints to soften the blow of the endless repeats.
While terrible, I longed for those platforming sequences every time the game switched to one of its plentiful stealth sequences. Unlike any modern stealth game, Gollum has no interesting tricks or tools to enrich these passages. Instead, the slippery protagonist can only glide between the shadows past immeasurably stupid guards, along paths upon which it’s hard to know whether you’ll be seen. No sense of mastery or control over the environment emerges. Again, respawns are constant. Whenever the game asked me if I wanted to reload to the last checkpoint, it was a force of will to continue.
Technical problems and poor implementation abound. Sound mixing often makes voices hard to hear. Character faces (with the exception of Gollum) are poorly animated or not at all. Onscreen figures move in perfect synchrony with one another, like something seen in early PS2 games. Textures are muddy and lack detail. More than once, the game demanded an objective that didn’t function or appear and did not respawn upon a checkpoint restart; only redoing the entire level would fix the problem.
I constantly struggled against the controls, camera, and objectives as they were presented. And nothing about the story or characters of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum offers reason to push past the frustration. As a longtime fan of Tolkien’s fiction, it’s possible that I liked the game even less for the way it seemed to misuse the source material. It’s hard to have a more damning indictment than to say that this Gollum game isn’t for fans of The Lord of the Rings, but here we are.
About Game Informer's review system
PurchaseThis episode of All Things Nintendo asks a simple yet important question: Now that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been out for a couple of weeks, what does the rest of 2023 look like for Switch owners? Marcus Stewart joins Brian to run down what we know so far. But first, the two catch up on the news from the last week.
If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram @BrianPShea. You can follow Marcus on Twitter: @MarcusStewart7.
The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!
Be sure to subscribe to All Things Nintendo on your favorite podcast platform. The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube.
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:35 – Pokémon Home Update Date Mistake
00:05:30 – New Games Added to Game Boy Advance Library
00:22:48 – Samba de Amigo: Party Central Release Date
00:26:53 – Mortal Kombat 1 Gameplay At Summer Game Fest
00:35:17 – Nintendo's Post-Tears of the Kingdom 2023
01:14:22 – Rapid-Fire This or That Predictions
01:22:18 – eShop Gem of the Week: Dredge
If you'd like to get in touch with the All Things Nintendo podcast, you can email AllThingsNintendo@GameInformer.com, messaging Brian on Instagram (@BrianPShea), or by joining the official Game Informer Discord server. You can do that by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the All Things Nintendo channel under "Community Spaces."
For Game Informer's other podcast, be sure to check out The Game Informer Show with host Alex Van Aken, which covers the weekly happenings of the video game industry!
Final Fantasy XVI’s Valisthea is sprawling, comprising a mix of five main nations, various more-linear dungeons, and some open field areas. The primary focus of FFXVI will be playing through Clive’s story and all it entails, but there’s more to the game than just the main scenario.
I was curious about how players will get around Valisthea, especially with developer Creative Business Unit III at the helm. In its MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, mounts are abundant. You can ride chocobos, the Regalia from Final Fantasy XV, Magitek armor, and more. There are dozens of mounts to acquire in-game, and I wondered if that would bleed over into FFXVI.
“To tell you the truth, it’s pretty much just chocobos,” FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai tells me. “In past Final Fantasy games, you’d have canoes or boats or cars to travel in. But in Final Fantasy XVI, because our game is based on that main world map and traveling from that world map and doing fast travel from that, we found that there wasn’t really a need for any kind of expanded type of traversal systems. So yeah, currently, we only have walking and the chocobos.”
However, Takai notes there are parts in the story where Clive will use other types of traversal, but these aren’t accessible elsewhere.
As Takai notes, a lot of FFXVI’s traversal happens through the game’s beautifully designed, tilt-shifted 3D map. You can fast travel from Cid’s hideaway to side quest locations or even main scenario areas. You can also travel to the game’s open field areas by way of fast travel. For the most part, fast travel is how you’ll get around. But within open field areas and more linear areas, you can walk, run, and ride a chocobo to get around, too.
I’m still hoping we’ll acquire something unique and secret, like FFXV’s Regalia Type-F, in which the car you drive around for most of the game turns into a flying vehicle. But if the director says it’s just walking and chocobos, I should temper my expectations. Fortunately, we have less than a month to go until FFXVI hits PlayStation 5 on June 22.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Super Replay returns, and we're checking out Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts! Join us today Friday on Twitch at 2 p.m. Centralas we kick of the adventure, which will continue each week until we roll credits. We'll also have every episode available the next day on our Game Informer Shows YouTube Channel (or you can watch the videos in the above playlist).
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released for the Xbox 360 on November 11, 2008. The third (and, so far, final) entry in Rare's beloved platforming series centers on vehicle creation, where players collect and slap together hundreds of parts to assemble their own wacky contraptions to explore. The bevy of possible combinations and emphasis on player choice and creativity was largely unprecedented at the time, paving the way for future games such as the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. However, this direction would divide fans due to how much it strays from the traditional Banjo formula. So where will I land on it? Let's find out.
Join me, Marcus Stewart, alongside Kyle Hilliard as we explore one of the Xbox 360's biggest hidden gems to see whether it holds up or falls apart like a poorly constructed doohickey.
If you enjoy our livestreams but haven’t subscribed to our Twitch channel, know that doing so not only gives you notifications and access to special emotes. You’ll also be granted entry to the official Game Informer Discord channel, where our welcoming community members, moderators, and staff gather to talk games, entertainment, food, and organize hangouts! Be sure to also follow our second YouTube channel, Game Informer Shows, for to watch other Replay episodes as well as Twitch archives such as Replay, GI Live, and more.
During our Final Fantasy XVI cover story trip, I played a few hours of the game much of the press experienced. But I was also given an exclusive tour of FFXVI’s endgame and other supplementary content by creative director Hiroshi Takai and combat director Ryota Suzuki.
It’s safe to say there’s plenty to play, especially if you enjoy chasing numbers in combat.
FFXVI features an Arcade Mode, allowing players to run through stages they’ve already completed, this time with an on-screen score calculator and combat grader. But a New Game+ playthrough opens up two additional versions, and both are more difficult than the game’s base Story Mode and Action Mode difficulties. It’s important to note you can play through New Game+ on one of these base difficulties if you’d like, but you’re missing a lot of features intended for New Game+. If you’re after treasures you missed or PlayStation Trophies you didn’t collect, Stage Replay might suit your needs better. And if you’re after some combat training or a speedy, destructive action fix, there’s a special training mode, accessible through a statuesque Arete Stone within Clive’s main hub.
New Game+ lets you play through FFXVI with all of your previously unlocked abilities and gear from the jump, but the highlight is Final Fantasy Mode. This increases the game’s difficulty, changes monster placement, and remixes which enemies might appear in combat.
“The main design philosophy is that the first playthrough is about learning Clive, learning the controls, and then enjoying the story,” Suzuki says. “The second playthrough, we want to shift that focus – because the story hasn’t changed – to the action. For example, in Story Mode, while players may encounter waves of enemies, a lot of times, enemies don’t attack at once to allow players to be able to handle everything. In the harder modes of the game, we have removed these limitations so that you have multiple enemies all attacking Clive at the same time.
“Basically, what we’ve done with [Final Fantasy] Mode is give players controlling Clive the sense that they’re always in danger, that death is around the corner, and that you’ll need to really, really pay attention to be able to clear the content.”
In a Final Fantasy Mode New Game+ playthrough, by interacting with the Arete Stone in your hideaways, you can complete Final Fantasy Mode difficulty stages in Arcade Mode or an even more difficult variant called Ultimaniac Mode. Arcade Mode’s global leaderboards will only be active in these two modes.
“[These modes were] pretty much created solely for the hardcore players, those players that pride themselves on their skills in action games,” Suzuki says, noting that the only exclusive reward players can earn from these modes is pride. “[It’s] a challenge that, even for them, is going to be very difficult to complete.”
And Final Fantasy and Ultimaniac Mode are just two things awaiting you in a more challenging run of New Game+. A New Game+ run also allows you to upgrade your weapons further beyond what you can in your initial playthrough. You can also upgrade accessories, which is only possible in the game in a Final Fantasy Mode playthrough in New Game+. You’ll also gain access to the Final Chronolith Trials, or if you’re not in Final Fantasy Mode, just Chronolith Trials.
These trials are the most difficult challenge in FFXVI, Takai says. They consist of multiple stages, each with four rounds of enemies. The first three rounds will be standard waves of monsters, each increasing in difficulty as you progress. The fourth round, however, will feature a boss. Chronolith Trials are also time trials, and every stage contains a list of moves, combos, and objectives you can execute to gain more time. However, pulling these off won’t be easy because there’s no healing in these trials, save for recovery that immediately begins after activating any Limit Break move.
Each Chronolith Trial is based on an Eikon. I watch Takai and Suzuki play through Phoenix’s Trial by Fire. In it, you only have access to Phoenix’s Eikonic abilities, forcing you to play much differently than you might outside these trials, where you can mix and match Eikonic abilities on the fly. And like Arcade Mode, the Chronolith Trials contain a global leaderboard but only in Final Fantasy Mode. As you play through the game, you’ll find stones similar in appearance to the Arete Stone, and interacting with these unlocks Chronolith Trials for you to complete.
I can’t go hands-on with any of this endgame content, but what I watch Takai and Suzuki play is blisteringly chaotic, fast-paced, and sure to bring the challenge fans of Devil May Cry might expect, as Suzuki also helped design combat in Devil May Cry V for Capcom.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Zelda received its second post-release patch last night, and just like its first post-release update, the patch notes cover a lot of ground without diving into many specifics.
Here are the patch notes from Nintendo's website:
Ver. 1.1.2 (Released May 25, 2023)
Audio Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where the sound would play at an extremely high volume in certain conditions.
Additional Fixes
• Fixed an issue in the main quest, “Camera Work in the Depths”, where players could not progress beyond a certain point. Downloading the update will allow players to proceed past that point.
• Several issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.
Alongside fixing the audio issue and the Camera Work in the Depths quest, the "Several issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience," note is covering a lot of ground. It seems most if not all of the duplication glitches players discovered, which allowed them to duplicate rare items in the game with suprisingly little effort, have effectively been removed from the game, according to posters on the r/NintendoSwitch subreddit.
For more on Zelda, you can read Game Informer's Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review, our beginner tips guide, our interview with producer and director Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi, our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo guide, this feature of stupid screenshots, and a tip of how to find interesting sidequests.
The latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved, arrives next month. As the name implies, this new version delivers plenty of evolved forms of Paldean Pokémon while expanding on the pre-existing catalog of Paldean and non-Paldean monsters.
This second expansion in the Scarlet & Violet series of cards brings with it more than 190 new cards, including 15 Pokémon ex cards, Tera Pokémon ex cards with a crystalline appearance, more than 30 Trainer cards, and dozens of Pokémon and Trainer cards with special illustrations. The Pokémon Company sent over several booster packs for us to open and see what we could pull, and those with the special illustrations ended up being the highlight of my pack-opening experience.
You can see my favorite of the cards I pulled in the gallery below.
I was pretty happy with the cards I pulled from the packs. My favorite is probably the special Elite Trainer Box Pikachu card, which features the three Paldean starters in the background, though I also love the Pikachu I pulled from a booster pack. Outside of that, I enjoyed seeing the various Paldean starters' evolved forms, though, for some reason, my pulls skewed heavily toward Quaxly's evolution line. Outside of this most recent generation of Pokémon, I was happy to snag some updated cards of old favorites, such as Gyarados, Raichu, and Tyranitar.
In addition to being the second Pokémon Trading Card Game to bear the Scarlet & Violet name, it's also the second pack to come at a higher price tag. However, The Pokémon Company has at least tried to deliver some benefits to this, as each pack includes more foils, and even the wrapper of each booster pack feels thicker and of higher quality than the original Scarlet & Violet expansion.
Pokémon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved arrives on June 9. For all things Pokémon Trading Card Game, head to our special hub by clicking the banner below!
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher:
THQ Nordic
Developer:
Pieces Interactive
Release:
Before Resident Evil and Silent Hill, 1992’s Alone in the Dark helped lay the foundation for 3D survival horror before the genre even had a name. Players explored a haunted building laden with elaborate puzzles and scary monsters, with gameplay emphasizing thoughtful management of scarce resources. It even featured two playable characters with separate scenarios, an idea later adopted by Resident Evil 2. Numerous sequels of varying quality followed, but it’s been many years since the series was culturally relevant.
Last year, developer Pieces Interactive announced its plans to revisit the celebrated first game and reimagine it for a modern audience. Alone in the Dark rides the recent wave of survival horror remakes, and a dedicated showcase gave us our first look at how the classic is being rebuilt from the ground up.
This new vision of Alone in the Dark largely sticks to the blueprint of the 1992 game. After receiving a disturbing letter from her uncle, Jeremy Hartwood, Emily Hartwood enlists the aid of hardboiled detective Edward Carnby to figure out what happened to him. They visit the haunted Decerto countryside hospital, where Jeremy checked himself in after claiming to be plagued by an evil entity called the Dark Man. Emily is also grappling with a mysterious family affliction known as The Hartwood Curse, and their visit soon spirals into a fight for their sanity and lives. Pieces is going all-in on this remake by enlisting actors Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) and David Harbour (Violent Night, Stranger Things) to lend their voices and likenesses to Emily and Edward, respectively.
Like the original, Alone in the Dark has two separate campaigns for Emily and Edward, and though the story has the same setup, events unfold in a different manner. People behave differently around each character, and they’ll also visit exclusive areas, encouraging players to experience the game twice to see everything. Pieces also teases that progress from the first playthrough, such as the items you find, will have a subtle impact on the second. Fans should expect new twists on the original tale while also keeping an eye out for copious references and easter eggs littered about.
As you explore Decerto and beyond, you’ll be assaulted by all manner of supernatural monsters, from strange insect-like critters to grotesque humanoid creatures made from vines. You can blast them apart with firearms, but ammo is limited, so you’ll have to pick your battles and use your resources, and your environment, wisely. That means relying on melee weapons, hurling stray objects, and triggering hazards such as shooting pools of gas to ignite enemies into flames. Alone in the Dark also places heavy emphasis on puzzle-solving. Decerto is laden with strange contraptions and riddles, and you’ll need to wear your detective hat to find clues pointing to the right direction.
Alone in the Dark is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in time for Halloween on October 25. You can get a taste of what’s to come by playing a free downloadable prequel chapter called Grace In The Dark. Launching today, this brief demo is inspired by Alone in the Dark 2’s Jack in the Dark prologue game and stars the young Grace Saunders exploring Decerto weeks before the main game begins.
With Resident Evil helping usher in a survival horror renaissance with quality new titles and Silent Hill making a comeback, now’s as good a time as any for Alone in the Dark to awaken from hibernation. We just hope Pieces can recapture its magic and remind players why the series was once so highly regarded among horror fans.
In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew reacts to the recent Mortal Kombat 1 reveal and talks about why Mortal Kombat 11's story is significant, shares details behind Game Informer's Planet of Lana review, Marcus' hands-on preview of Exoprimal, and more discussion about The Legend Of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. At the end of the show, Marcus interviews WWE tag team Pretty Deadly about their history with games and their inclusion in WWE 2K23.
Prefer to watch the video version of the podcast? Find it below:
Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard)
The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join host Alex Van Aken every Thursday for a chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who's been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt's shows like the "Fun" And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast.Jump to the timestamps to get to a particular point of discussion:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:08:57 - Mortal Kombat 1 Reveal
00:11:33 - Mortal Kombat 11 Spoilers Begin
00:15:47 - Mortal Kombat 11 Spoilers End
00:21:41 - Street Fighter 6 Open Beta
00:29:33 - Planet of Lana Review
00:45:54 - Exoprimal
01:01:15 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
01:13:25 - PlayStation Showcase Predictions
01:15:15 - House Keeping and Listener Questions
01:19:09 - Interview with Pretty Deadly
During my hands-on time with Final Fantasy XVI for our cover story, I play through the game’s opening hours, which feature moments from Clive’s childhood when he’s 15 years old and a flash forward to a 28-year-old Clive. Here, Clive meets Cidolfus Telamon, or Cid for short – because this is Final Fantasy, after all. Shortly after, Cid brings Clive to a place dubbed Cid’s hideaway.
This hideaway is one of the main hubs in FFXVI. While I’m not sure of its location in Valisthea, the continent where the game takes place, it looks built into a cavernous structure. It features a pub where you speak with locals about what’s going on in the world, side quests to pick up, and a music player, as well. I discover music tracks exploring Valisthea, and while these are new tracks from the score of FFXVI, I suspect music from other Final Fantasy games might also be discoverable.
Cid's hideawayElsewhere in the hideaway, there’s a blacksmith where I can purchase new weapons and gear and upgrade what I have, and there’s a general goods stand for buying things like potions. I also find Harpocatres in the hideaway, who I can interact with as I progress through FFXVI to learn more about Valisthean history.
Hideaway loresman HarpocratesOtto’s Counter is a feature of Cid’s hideaway players will interact with a lot, I suspect. Otto is the manager of sorts for the hub, and his employees will be helpful in Clive’s journey. One of them is Gaute, who handles Alliant Reports. These keep track of Clive’s ongoing relationships, and players can interact with a special menu to read the reports scouts create to record people in trouble across the realm. Clive can fast-travel directly to these locations to help them – or, in other words, complete a sidequest.
Not far from Gaute is The Patron’s Whisper, run by Desiree. At The Patron’s Whisper, you’ll receive gifts from people you’ve helped in the form of crafting resources, Gil (Valisthea’s currency), and more. These gifts are tied directly to the Renown Clive earns around Valisthea as his name and good deeds spread to its people. The rewards from Renown aren’t what you get from completing quests – you’ll get those immediately – but rather, a bonus.
The Patron's WhisperThe third major aspect of Otto’s Counter is the Hunt Board. If you’ve played Final Fantasy XII, this board is familiar because it looks and works similarly. That’s not surprising, considering a good chunk of FFXVI’s team leads worked on FFXII. At this board, you collect bounties and perform hunts throughout Valisthea. Sometimes, you’ll stumble upon a hunt without the bounty, but there’s no need to stress about picking it up. If you complete the hunt, you’ll receive the reward associated with it next time you return to the Hunt Board.
The enemy will be boxed within a virtual arena at a Hunt location. The fight must occur here – exit the arena and the hunt will end, making it easy to escape if you’re in over your head.
Separate from Otto’s Counter but within the hideaway is Clive’s chambers. Here, Clive can read letters he receives. Sometimes these letters will lead to new side quests; other times, they’re updates from characters you’ve interacted with, and sometimes they’re warnings. You can also add some personality to Clive’s room via the Wall of Memories, which begins as empty shelves and spaces where trinkets from Clive’s journey will one day sit as a reminder of what he’s accomplished, where he’s been, and who he’s helped.
Overall, the tour I got of Cid’s hideaway was expansive, but I get the sense there’s even more to it and I’m excited to see all of it when FFXVI hits PlayStation 5 on June 22.
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
As part of this month’s cover story, we traveled to Japan to speak with several of Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III leads. In this exclusive interview, localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox breaks down the lore of Final Fantasy XVI, including its world, characters, political strife, and how the narrative frames crystal-use in exciting ways. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into the world of Valisthea.
Watch the video here:
Editor's note: In the video interview, we incorrectly cited Koji Fox's title as senior translator. His accurate title is localization director.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you enjoy this video because there's another interview with composer Masayoshi Soken on the way. Special thanks to freelance video editor Daniel Berlin for bringing this project to life!
When discussing Final Fantasy XVI’s combat or watching gameplay, it’s hard not to think about other action combat games, such as Capcom’s Devil May Cry series. And if its combat reminds you of DMC, it’s probably because the combat director of FFXVI is Ryota Suzuki, who helped design combat on Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 5. But he also worked on Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.
While the DMC inspirations laced within FFXVI’s combat are hard to miss, Suzuki told me that Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 inspired some of FFXVI's systems as well.
Final Fantasy XVI Combat Director Ryota Suzuki Final Fantasy XVI Combat Director Ryota Suzuki“There’s actually something from Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 that we took and put into Final Fantasy XVI, and that is, as you may or may not know, in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, we had the Assist system where you could give orders to your partner in battle,” Suzuki says. “And by implementing that system, we were able to create the sense of not just one-on-one but multiple people fighting at the same time to create this very frenetic battle system.
“We brought some of that knowledge into creating the system with Torgal [Clive’s companion dog that can be commanded in battle to do different things] and being able to give the pet commands where you’re by yourself but still working together.”
He and the team at Capcom created that Assist system 22 years ago. In it, you give orders to a partner in battle. Doing so creates a period where the main character can’t act. He says Creative Business Unit III didn’t want to do that in FFXVI, so it removed that aspect of the Assist system.
“[That way], when the player gave that order, the player would be able to continue to act, so it’d create more types of frenetic battles where both the partner [Torgal] and the player could still be playing and participating in the battle even though the commands are being given.”
On top of that, Suzuki notes that special actions in FFXVI’s combat were inspired by Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 as well. When you time certain commands just right, it will unlock, in real-time, even more special types of moves, something players experienced with combos in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 will find feels loosely familiar.
“[These special moves] are one of the things we wanted to implement early on [...] that’s not necessary, but players, if they have the skill, would be able to pull off in of those base foundations.”
For more, be sure to check out Game Informer’s exclusive FFXVI coverage hub by clicking the banner below.
Atari and developer Sneakybox have announced Days of Doom, an apocalyptic turn-based tactical roguelite. The game hopes to subvert the expectations of those who are tired of the brown and gray color palettes of other apocalypse settings by placing the action over vibrant and colorful backdrops as you battle through hordes of zombies, raiders, and mutant lizards.
Navigating the wasteland to reach a sanctuary will require strategy, as you must combat the encroaching mutated forces using your group of distinct survivors. Beyond the turn-based tactics at play, you must also manage your scarce collection of resources and keep your wits about you as you maneuver through the hordes of the undead.
Each of the eight survivor classes features unique abilities that can be used to shift your fortunes in battle. For example, the Pyro class allows you to burn enemies and leave them with residual damage each turn while combining the Hydromancer with the Thrasher can drench enemies with water before electrocuting them for a devastating synergy. Players will need to use these abilities to their advantage and think strategically with these abilities to overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds.
And, of course, with it being a roguelite game, players can expect each run to feel unique. More than 50 randomly occurring events present risk-reward scenarios for players during their runs, while more than 70 collectible items and runes can help you turn the odds in your favor in your given run. However, as you play several runs and make progress, you unlock permanent upgrades, such as party size increases and resource accumulation speed.
If you'd like to learn more, you can check out the reveal trailer below.
Days of Doom arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and Atari VCS later this year.
Today’s PlayStation Showcase saw Square Enix unveil a squeaky-clean online shooter called Foamstars.
This wacky new multiplayer shooter pits two teams of four against each other using weapons that shoot, you guessed it, foam. Battlefields are covered in soapy foam, which players can use to their advantage by creating slippery surfaces to slide at high speeds. Foam can also be used in other ways, such as to shield yourself and your teammates from attacks or create vantage points. The trailer shows off a bunch of goofy weapons and the game pretty much feels like the anti-thesis of Splatoon.
Square Enix promises to share more about Foamstars in the future, but it’s coming to PlayStation 5 and 4.
To close out today’s PlayStation Showcase, Sony and Insomniac pulled out the big webs for a new look at Spider-Man 2. The long-awaited sequel is now targeting a release this fall, and an extended gameplay sequence showed us what we can expect.
An opening cinematic reveals some insight into the villainous Kraven the Hunter. Tired of easy prey in the deep jungle, one of his minions suggests a move to a new hunting ground in New York, where the likes of Spider-Man, Black Cat, and Tombstone promise more challenging targets.
The action jumps to six months later in Queens, as a black-suited Peter Parker bursts from a basement to battle some of the Hunter’s goons. The gameplay sequence that follows is impressive, showing off Spider-Man’s new symbiote abilities, which allow for an array of tentacle attacks that can often bring down many opponents at once.
After the battle, Peter learns Kraven’s team is hunting Doctor Connors, otherwise known as the Lizard. And since the hunt is happening in Harlem, he won’t be able to get there in time. He immediately calls Miles, and the perspective changes, suggesting the game (while single-player) allows for change-ups between the two Spider-Man leads.
Miles has some new tricks of his own, including some slick wingsuit capabilities that send him zipping at high speed between buildings, and web lines that let him chart his own path to taking down foes from above during stealth passages.
After a sequence trying to track down the Lizard, we learn that Connors has shed his skin and is clearly growing into a larger reptilian form, with an equally larger appetite. After linking up with his friend, Ganke, and the ominous arrival of Peter in his black symbiote suit, a thrilling chase sequence ensues down the East River, where Peter and Miles are taking down drones, jet skis, and boats as Kraven’s team chases the Lizard.
While it’s not clear why Peter and Miles are so interested in saving the Lizard (traditionally a villain in the stories), there seems to be some information they need from him, making his survival a must.
The rest of the gameplay sequence is equally exciting, from a crash into the water to a headlong escape along the water as The Lizard tries to attack from below. From animation to pacing to camera work – the entire sequence looks like it wouldn’t feel out of place in the next Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Except, of course, Spider-Man 2 is a fully interactive experience where players control the two Spider-Men along the way.
As the extended demo winds down, we see Peter acting in a very un-Peter way, doubling down on aggressive and dangerous tendencies he’s been showing throughout the sequence, leaving Miles worried about his friend and mentor.
Amid several notable reveals and new videos over the course of the PlayStation Showcase this afternoon, Spider-Man 2 stood out for its remarkable polish, taut action, and a focus on complete and uncut gameplay sequences. The game looks fantastic and is one to watch closely in the lead-up to its launch later this year.
Nomanda Studio, the maker of 2018’s Gris, has revealed a beautiful new title called Neva. The game stars a young woman and her wolf companion as they survive a dangerous world together.
The game follows the woman who adopts the wolf as a cub, with players getting to watch it grow up into an adult and the bond that blossoms along the way. The pair must battle dark forces plaguing a dying world. A press release states gameplay includes platforming, combat, and puzzle-solving with minimal UI and a stunning presentation.
Neva is coming in 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.
The 2020 first-person action title Ghostrunner has garnered a strong community of fans thanks to its precise controls and high-octane action. Perhaps that's why, less than a year following its initial PC release, a sequel was announced. However, outside of some concept art, we haven't seen or heard much from developer One More Level or publisher 505 Games.
However, that changed today, as the studio released a first gameplay look for the highly anticipated sequel. Revealed during today's PlayStation Showcase, the trailer shows the game's cyber-ninja protagonist, Jack, participating in the series' trademark fast-paced, always-forward combat and traversal. According to the team, the sequel looks to elevate the formula in every category, including the addition of vehicular combat.
You can see the trailer for yourself below.
Ghostrunner 2 arrives later this year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Bungie is best known as the team behind Halo and Destiny, but it's digging through the crates of its past to bring back one of its original successes, Marathon.
Marathon was first released for the Apple Macintosh in 1994 and was a first-person shooter centering on a space-faring security cop fighting to stop an alien invasion. It was followed by two sequels, with the third entry arriving in 1996. This new Marathon sports a distinctly vibrant look and will also be a first-person shooter, but is a PvP extraction-style experience. Players control a runner in order to, according to the game's website, "compete for survival, riches, and renown in a world of evolving, persistent zones, where any run can lead to greatness."
The game's website also has the following synopsis:
A massive ghost ship hangs in low orbit over a lost colony on tau ceti iv. The 30,000 souls who call this place home have disappeared without a trace. strange signals hint at mysterious artifacts, long-dormant ai, and troves of untold riches. You are a runner, venturing into the unknown in a fight for fame… and infamy. Who among you will write their names across the stars?Marathon is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It will support cross-play and cross-progression but does not have a release window.
One of the biggest 2023 PlayStation Showcase announcements was a confirmation of the long-rumored remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. At the tail end of that announcement, however, was another exciting, admittedly smaller announcement that the first three Metal Gear Solid games will be ported to PlayStation 5 in one presumed package.
The single image above appeared at the end of the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake teaser with the words, "Sneak back into the original games on PlayStation 5," with an autumn 2023 release window. The package is called Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1, which implies more Metal Gears may be on the way. A Volume 2 could, hopefully, finally free Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from its PlayStation 3 prison – the only platform that game has ever been made available on.
Update: According to the game's listing on the PlayStation Store, the package will also include the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Here is how the the listing of included games is worded on the page.
Beat Saber has been promised for PlayStation VR2 for some time, but the game is finally officially available on the platform today as a free update for those who own the PlayStation 4 version of Beat Saber. Revealed during the PlayStation Showcase, a Queen music pack will also be available for the game. The pack will also be available on other platforms where the game is available.
During the PlayStation Showcase event today, the company announced "Project Q," its internal name for a handheld remote-play device.
Check it out below:
Details are scarce as of writing, but we know it'll allow you to play games installed on the PS5 over wifi to the device, except for VR games. Project Q will have an 8-inch screen and the shape and features of the PS5's Dualsense controller.
Additionally, the company revealed PlayStation wireless earbuds, compatible with PS5s and PCs, and smartphones via Bluetooth.
No further info was given, but more details are expected to come "in the near future."
Ubisoft showed off a new look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage at today's PlayStation Showcase. The trailer shows protagonist Basim as he leaps, slides, and fights his way across the ancient streets of Baghdad.
Basim was introduced to Assassin’s Creed players in the earlier release of Valhalla, but this new game jumps back to an earlier time in the character’s life.
The action on display looks slick and modern but strongly calls to mind the flow of gameplay that longtime players may recall from early games in the series, controlling the likes of Altair and Ezio as they moved through large urban cityscapes. The new combat system, in particular, features some especially impressive animations and combat moves. The trailer also suggests that players will have a number of choices in how to approach a given mission, with clear decisions outlined in pre-mission briefings and then the chance to execute on a chosen plan.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is targeting release on October 12 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC.
The fan-demanded sequel to Dragon's Dogma has been announced for some time, but during the 2023 PlayStation Showcase, we got our first look at the game's visual direction with a bit of what appears to be gameplay. The footage lacked U.I., but there is no reason not to believe the game will look like this.
The footage shows a very realistic art style with impressive creatures and magic effects. Unfortunately, a release date for the game was not shared.
The rumors were true. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is getting remade for PlayStation 5 and Xbox.
The remake is officially called Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. A cinematic teaser showcased a jungle filled with dangerous animals vying for dominance, with Naked Snake emerging from the depth of a bog to show off his remade look. Originally released in 2004, the title is a 1960s-era prequel to the Metal Gear series that tells the origin story of Big Boss and lays the groundwork for the entire Metal Gear fiction.
Unfortunately, we don't get to see gameplay, and the title doesn’t have a release window, but the first three Metal Gear Solid games are also being bundled in a collection heading to PlayStation 5 this fall. What do you think of this first look at Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater? Let us know in the comments!
Alan Wake 2 had an appearance today during the PlayStation Showcase event. And as you might've guessed, the trailer left a lot of questions. But it did answer an all-important one: when the game is coming out.
Here's what we gathered: Alan is trapped... somewhere. According to him, he has to write to escape. Ostensibly, that's from the cult members chasing and attacking seemingly everyone within a 50-mile radius. Alan is writing about the police investigation into the death of Robert Nightingale, one of the antagonists of the first game. Here, the trailer splits into multiple perspectives: that of Alan and that of two investigators (one of which is voiced by James McCaffrey, of Max Payne fame, which Remedy also developed). Notably, we see that we'll play at least two different characters in Alan Wake 2: Alan, of course, but then also one of the investigators, a young woman named Saga Anderson.
The trailer closes with the game's release date: October 17, 2023.
Alan Wake 2 was originally announced back at The Game Awards 2021 via a cinematic trailer. This is the first time we've seen the game in action.
During PlayStation's 2023 Showcase Sony showed Towers Of Aghasba – a game about rebuilding a strange alien world. The admittedly early footage from the game shows a character rebuilding a town, gliding through the air on a paraglider, riding and fighting strange creatures, and collecting resources. The trailer also showed flying whales in the sky.
Towers Of Aghasba comes from Dreamlit and appears to be taking ample inspiration from Breath of the Wild and should be arriving next year.
Today’s PlayStation Showcase brought the reveal of Sword of the Sea, a new game from Giant Squid, the development team behind Abzu and The Pathless.
The most striking visuals of the new game come from a vast desert that brings to mind thatgamecompany’s Journey. That’s not coincidence, since Giant Squid’s founder is Matt Nava, who was previously art director at thatgamecompany. But while this new game is destined to draw strong comparisons to that classic title, there were some notable differences on display. First, the desert itself looks much more like a flowing sea, and the character you control like a surfer moving through the water. In certain sequences, the desert seems to actually transform into water, suggesting a mystery at the core of the game.
In the footage shown, we see a focus on flow movement for the protagonist as they ride across the sand and trick off of half-pipes. From surrounding descriptions about the game, we know that you control a character named the Wraith, who was brought back to life to restore life to a ruined world, while facing off against vast leviathans that attempt to block progress.
Sword of the Sea is coming to PS5, but no word yet on a release date.
Ce premier long métrage de la jeune réalisatrice sénégalaise est en compétition au festival de Cannes 2023. Elle se prête au jeu de l’interview. La transcription est précédée d’un montage vidéo réalisé sur place par Hicham Rami. Lire notre critique du film ici. Jeune cinéaste qui présentez votre film à Cannes, que ressentez-vous ? C’est [...]
L’article Entretien avec Ramata-Toulaye Sy à propos de « Banel et Adama » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
La deuxième édition du concours de création littéraire, OSU, s’est tenue le 17 février dernier à Yaoundé. Dans un contexte social où la place de la lecture et du livre n’est pas des plus reluisantes, l’engagement de Christelle Noah, promotrice dudit prix littéraire et par ailleurs fondatrice et Directrice Générale de la maison d’édition Eclosion [...]
L’article La jeune création littéraire à l’honneur avec le prix OSU à Yaoundé est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Sur les traces de Mati Diop, la jeune réalisatrice sénégalaise voit son premier long métrage en compétition au festival de Cannes. Elle y convoque la puissance du cinéma pour appeler à changer nos comportements. Lire l’entretien avec la réalisatrice ici. Au départ, une matrice, lumineuse, indistincte mais féminine. Et un mantra répété par une voix [...]
L’article Banel et Adama, de Ramata-Toulaye Sy est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
La réalisatrice, écrivaine et photographe franco-camerounaise présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son film MK, l’armée secrète de Mandela. Elle fût invitée à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Osvalde Lewat est écrivaine, photographe et réalisatrice de films documentaires multiprimés. Ses films traitent de [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 11 : Osvalde Lewat parle de « MK, l’armée secrète de Mandela » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Le réalisateur, scénariste et producteur guinéen présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son documentaire Au cimetière de la pellicule. Il fût invité à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Votre film est un voyage à la recherche du tout premier film de fiction africain, [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 10 : Thierno Souleymane Diallo parle de « Au cimetière de la pellicule » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Le réalisateur burkinabé présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son film Le Taxi le Cinéma et Moi. Il fût invité à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Le taxi le Cinéma et Moi raconte l’histoire de Drissa Touré, un chauffeur de taxi devenu cinéaste. [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 9 : Salam Zampaligre parle de Le Taxi le Cinéma et Moi est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
La Plantation du planteur est tourné au Cameroun et se déroule des années 60. Il dépeint la lutte d’une jeune femme contre sa famille mais aussi contre sa société pour préserver l’héritage de son père défunt. Le film a remporté deux prix spéciaux : le Prix spécial Plan international Burkina de l’égalité aux filles pour [...]
L’article Débat-forum Fespaco 2023 / 8 : Stéphanie Tum, Irène Nangi and Eystein Dingha Young parlent de La Plantation du planteur est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Les cris de douleur sincères portent et ne sont jamais vains. A plus forte raison quand ils sont mus du feu d’une certaine poésie. Aussi loin que ces cris s’estompent, ils ne s’éteignent jamais. Ils pénètrent en silence les éléments, infusent d’autres principes de vie et relaient les évidences. La psychanalyse sous couvert de psychiatrie [...]
L’article L’odeur de Mayotte, une pathologie coloniale en marche est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Rodney Saint-Eloi a créé en 2003, à Montréal, la maison d’édition Mémoire d’Encrier. A l’occasion de cette date anniversaire, Africultures a rencontré cet éditeur et auteur porteur de lumière. Africultures. Poète, romancier, essayiste, éditeur, Rodney Saint-Éloi, vous faites tout sans céder jamais à l’exigence, parlez nous de votre vie d’écriture. Rodney Saint-Éloi : J’aime l’étiquette d’écrivain-éditeur, [...]
L’article « On ne peut pas se contenter de vendre des livres, on doit changer le monde » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
À l’occasion de la quinzième édition des 72h du livre de Conakry, Sansy Kaba Diakité, le fondateur, revient sur les débuts de l’événement. Reportage depuis la Guinée de Annie Ferret. Rentré de ses études en France, après un stage de six mois à l’Harmattan Paris, Sansy Kaba Diakité crée les éditions l’Harmattan Guinée. À l’époque, [...]
L’article 72 heures dédiées au livre à Conakry : une quinzième édition en route vers la capitale africaine du livre est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
L’auteur et réalisateur mauricien présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son film Regarde les étoiles. Le film en compétition longs métrages a obtenu une mention spéciale du jury. Il fût invité à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Regarde les étoiles (Simin Zetwal) raconte [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 7 : David Constantin parle de Regarder les étoiles (Simin Zetwal) est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
En sortie dans les salles françaises le 3 mai 2023, le nouveau film de Jean Odoutan était également en sélection dans la section Panorama au Fespaco de février 2023. Il communique de bonnes vibrations ! Vous appréciez le cinéma de Jean Odoutan ? Alors courez voir son dernier opus, un des plus réussis. Comme à [...]
L’article Le Panthéon de la joie, de Jean Odoutan est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
L’écrivaine et réalisatrice burkinabé présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son documentaire Al Djanat. Elle fut invitée à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Son producteur Fredéric Féraud s’est joint à l’échange. Le film a obtenu le Prix spécial UEMOA de court métrage documentaire et le Prix Ababacar Samb [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 6 : Chloé Aïcha Boro parle de « Al Djanat » (Paradis originel) est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Chaque mois, le conteur, dramaturge et romancier Raharimanana nous donne rendez-vous sur son chemin nomade. Des mots et images posés sur des paysages sensibles, imaginaires, et leur résonnance avec le monde en train de se (dé)-(re)faire, avec toujours, quelque part, un regard porté VERS un espace à advenir, l’Utopie. Un rendez-vous mensuel, un carnet de [...]
L’article Episode 2. Le prédateur d’histoires qui se réveille en moi est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
La réalisatrice sénégalaise présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son documentaire L’argent, la liberté, une histoire du franc CFA. Elle fut invitée à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Katy Léna Ndiaye est une ancienne journaliste et maintenant réalisatrice de documentaires. Son film « [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 5 : Katy Lena Ndiaye parle de « L’argent, la liberté, une histoire du franc CFA » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Le Fespaco est une vitrine biennale de l’état du cinéma en Afrique. Nous avons vu dans un premier article comment il est aussi une « affaire d’Etat » ainsi que la façon dont les cinéastes traitent le danger terroriste. Nous tentons d’analyser dans la suite de cette série d’articles critiques ce que nous disent les autres films [...]
L’article Fespaco 2023 / 2 : le féminin dans les cinémas d’Afrique est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Le réalisateur angolais présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son film Our Lady of the Chinese Shop. Il fut invité à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums du lendemain. Transcription légèrement résumée. Annick Kandolo : Nous avons le plaisir d’accueillir Ery Claver qui nous vient d’Angola. Ery Claver a [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 4 : Ery Claver parle de « Our Lady of the Chinese Shop » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Le réalisateur tchadien présentait en compétition officielle au Fespaco 2023 son documentaire Amchilini. Il fut invité à en parler avec la presse et les professionnels lors des débats-forums du lendemain. Transcription résumée. Annick Kandolo : Kader Allamine est diplômé de l’Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis au Sénégal avec un master 2 en réalisation documentaire de [...]
L’article Débats-forums Fespaco 2023 / 3 : Kader Allamine parle de Amchilini (Choisis-moi) est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Noces de coton est le sixième roman publié d’Edem Awumey, après notamment un premier récit Port-Mélo, sorti en 2006, Grand prix de littérature de l’Afrique noire, et Les pieds sales, en 2009, sélectionné pour le Prix Goncourt. Dans ce nouveau récit paru aux Editions du Boréal, il met en scène un dialogue entre un planteur [...]
L’article Le dernier roman d’Edem Awumey : Un goût de coton dans la bouche est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Du 5 au 12 mars dernier, le théâtre du Châtelet a accueilli une manif de rêve, Le Châtelet fait son Jazz, dédiée à cette musique-monde. La programmation, éclectique et généreuse, a réjoui les passionné(e)s du genre et enchanté le public venu en nombre à la rencontre des artistes invités. Focus sur le week-end de clôture, [...]
L’article Le Châtelet fait son Jazz. Et le Jazz embrase la ville est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Ce 11 avril 2023 est l’occasion de célébrer la naissance de l’une des figures les plus influentes de la philosophie africaine moderne : le philosophe et homme politique béninois Paulin Hountondji. Ses travaux, enseignés depuis plus de 30 ans dans de nombreuses universités sur le Continent et aux Etats-Unis (nous regrettons leur quasi-absence en France), ont [...]
L’article Le défi de Bado Ndoye : relire Hountondji pour penser l’universel est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Auteur de Vers-bouillage d’un rêveur isolé, Patrick Erwin Michel articule intime et politique pour dessiner une géopoétique qui s’ancre en Haïti. Lettre d’adieu vers un exil forcé, oraison funèbre pour ceux qui sont partis trop tôt, mélancolie des amours que l’on ne caressera plus, Vers-Brouillage d’un rêve isolé est paru aux éditions Floraison en février [...]
L’article Patrick Erwin Michel : « Je refuse ce réel qui s’abreuve de sang et dépouille l’Haïtien de sa dignité » est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
En sortie sur les écrans français le 5 avril 2023, ce documentaire captivant du célèbre réalisateur allemand met les points sur les « i » sur les méthodes agronomiques de reforestation. C’est l’expérience d’un homme qui peut ouvrir à discussion mais cela a le mérite de la clarté et les résultats sont là ! Ce film est [...]
L’article The Forest Maker (L’Homme qui ressuscite les arbres), de Völker Schlöndorff est apparu en premier sur Africultures.
Filipe Savadogo a été délégué général du Fespaco de 1984 à 1996. Il fut ensuite Représentant personnel du Président du Burkina Faso au Conseil permanent de l’OIF, Délégué permanent du Burkina Faso auprès de l’UNESCO et Ambassadeur du Burkina Faso auprès de la République française, de l’Espagne, du Portugal, du Vatican et de Malte jusqu’en [...]
L’article Histoire du Fespaco : entretien avec Filippe Savadogo est apparu en premier sur Africultures.