A new  Final Fantasy VII Remake  mod gives party member Barret Wallace  an updated aesthetic  that hews closer to the pre-development concept art created by famed illustrator Yoshitaka Amano. Although Amano’s paintings are known for imbuing the iconic role-playing series with a touch of ethereal elegance, his remarkable artwork is rarely mirrored within the  Final Fantasy  games themselves. That’s not to say the franchise doesn’t contain beautiful imagery, but it hardly looks like Amano’s one-of-a-kind illustrations. “I feel like what I add to the franchise is my approach differs from a game developer’s approach,” Amano told  Polygon  during  a 2017 retrospective  on the original  Final Fantasy VII . “And I think that gives the art more leeway—it isn’t limited to something that would fit into a game.” That’s probably why I’m so impressed by this  Final Fantasy VII Remake  mod. Not only is it inspired by Amano’s larg...

  Elden Ring  is a stunning open-world RPG that feels like an endless well of surprises. Whether it’s summoning giant glowing jellyfish or the simple joy of trotting around on Torrent, the game provides ample opportunities for players to admire its world. It’s a wonder for any person to behold, but watching a child discover it for the first time feels like a special treat. Lately, to the delight of fans online, streamer Sizzsarz has been streaming  Elden Ring  alongside a special guest: her daughter Evie. Sizzsarz is a variety streamer on Twitch. She first started streaming  Elden Ring  when it came out, and while she primarily streams by herself, every now and then her daughter Evie will hop on her lap and join her. What they do together in  Elden Ring  varies; sometimes Evie will run around with Torrent, and other times Sizzsarz just shows her all the cool monsters in the game’s world. Sizzsarz uses a green screen, so wh...

 Kingdom Hearts   series director Tetsuya Nomura offered fresh insight into the world of his next game,   Kingdom Hearts 4 , in an   interview with Japan’s Famitsu , explaining how the Tokyo-like game world of Quadratum is connected to other worlds in the series and why protagonist Sora looks much more realistic than fans are used to. Nomura also confirmed that, yes,   Sora’s fancy new apartment , his base of operations in   Kingdom Hearts 4 , is located in Tokyo’s swish Aoyama neighborhood. In the interview, which was translated by Kingdom Hearts superfan and streamer Audrey (aka aitaikimochi), Nomura says that  Kingdom Hearts 4  will explore the “contrast” of the real world known as Quadratum and the fictional worlds of Kingdom Hearts. “From Sora’s perspective, Quadratum is a world that exists in the background, a fictional world that is different from his reality,” Nomura told Famitsu. “However, for the people living in...

  Yesterday's online speculation of   Sony potentially buying Kojima Productions   picked up enough attention overnight that Hideo Kojima himself felt the need to comment on the rumours. On   Twitter , the   Metal Gear Solid   and   Death Stranding   creator put an end to the speculative chatter. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has been and will continue to be an independent studio," he said. Funnily enough, Kojima actually fuelled the speculation himself before issuing the statement, as he simply posted the new PlayStation Studios banner doing the rounds with Death Stranding protagonist Sam Bridges on it. This was done from his Japanese account without any context. Of course, the internet took this to mean the Sony acquisition was happening before Kojima shared his statement just under two hours later. This new comment should kill any speculation of a Sony acquisition henceforth, but you know what the interne...

  Last week, Epic and Lego announced their intent to build "a space in the metaverse" for children. Today, Sony and KRIKBI - the investment company behind The Lego Group - announced that they'd each invested $1 billion (around £769m) in Epic Games to aid more broadly with "the company's vision to build the metaverse." As always, all of this is more fun if you replace the word "metaverse" with, for example, "Habbo Hotel." I don't doubt that children will spend a lot of time in virtual spaces in future. It's just that it's the school holidays in the UK at the moment and I have Covid, so my six-year-old and I already spent most of the day in the metaverse called "Kirby And The Forgotten Land". It's a videogame, sure, but we've also spent a lot of time expanding its town and hanging out there to play the fishing minigame. A metaverse, therefore.

  The parent company of Dungeons & Dragons developer Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, announced Wednesday it is acquiring D&D Beyond, one of the franchise’s most popular officially licensed digital toolsets and online storefronts. Wizards said on its official website it has “no plans to stop supporting D&D Beyond,” and all purchases made by consumers will be honored going forward. D&D Beyond is the creation of Curse, and launched in 2017. The platform is, at its core, a web application and mobile app that provides players and Dungeon Masters (DMs) with the tools they need to play D&D in person or online. Features include a character builder, a character sheet, and a digital dice-rolling function. For DMs, it allows users to purchase official campaign books and other materials digitally for use inside the app. Prices for D&D books are traditionally more or less the same on D&D Beyond as they are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local...

  The wait is almost over! After months of rumours, and a surprise announcement during the last Nintendo Direct, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will be hitting Switch consoles around the world tomorrow. This package contains the 1999 PS1 classic  Chrono Cross , along with the never-before-localised sound novel  Radical Dreamers . Chrono Cross is most distinctly remembered for its stunning score - which Square Enix has been acutely aware of, promoting the many accompanying arrangements - and beautiful artwork. And to celebrate the game's upcoming release, Chrono Cross' character designer, Nobuteru Yuuki, has sketched up some gorgeous new artwork featuring two major characters from the game - the Aussie-accented thief Kid and the mysterious Franglais-speaking Harle. Yuuki also had this to say about this upcoming remaster, which has been kindly translated by Genki_JPN on Twitter: "The disturbing state of the world is a shame, but now...