Author: Game Infliction

Square Enix are still focused on blockchain in 2023

New Year’s message, Square Enix’s CEO Yosuke Matsuda reaffirmed the company’s focus on blockchain technology with “multiple blockchain games based on original IPs under development” despite the public backlash against the initiative. This echoes Matsuda’s New Year’s message from last January, where the company first expressed its enthusiasm for an NFT-fueled, metaverse future. More recently, Squeenix partnered with the “environmentally friendly” blockchain firm Oasys, probably to sidestep potential controversies about, y’know, the environmental impact of the technology.

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Random: Perfect Dark’s Vision Of 2023 Is Quite Different To The Real Deal

No alien wars, thankfully.

Over the years, narratives in pop culture mediums have hypothesised over how the future might turn out for the human race: in James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1997 would have seen Earth decimated by Skynet’s new-found sentience; Back to the Future Part II visualised a 2015 in which we’d all be cruising around on hoverboards and rocking self-drying jackets; Blade Runner went wild and thought that the year 2019 would see bioengineered replicants roaming about Earth after escaping off-world colonies.

Now, it’s the turn of Perfect Dark. Released back in 2000 for the N64, Rare’s first-person shooter depicted a world set in the year 2023 during which two alien races – the Maians and the Skedar – are locked in an interstellar war. On Earth, two rival corporations known as The Carrington Institute and dataDyne are both in league with the Maians and the Skedar respectively. Joanna Dark, the game’s protagonist, carries out multiple missions including the elimination of a clone of the President, and the destruction of the Skedar leader on the alien homeworld.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Rally Driver and Racing Game Icon Ken Block Dies in Snowmobile Accident

Rally driver and racing game icon Ken Block has died in a snowmobile accident aged 55.

As reported by ABC News, Block was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident in Utah on January 2 after his snowmobile upended on a steep slope.

Alongside a successful professional racing career, Block also had a significant presence in racing video games, having appeared in several premier franchises including Need for Speed, Dirt, and Forza.

“Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and husband. He will be incredibly missed.”

“We are saddened to hear of the loss of Kenneth and our hearts are with his family and friends so deeply affected,” said the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office.

Block’s auto media and apparel company, Hoonigan Industries, also took to social media to pay respects to its co-founder. “Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and husband. He will be incredibly missed,” it said on Instagram.

Block played himself in the live action scenes of 2015’s Need for Speed, featuring as the Style Icon that the player character strove to impress. He also appeared as a driver in Colin McRae’s Dirt 2 and Dirt 3, and his Hoonigan cars appeared in Forza Motorsport 7 and Forza Horizon 3, 4, and 5.

Image Credit: Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Level-5 Teases New IP Announcement Coming This Year

But will it make it out West?

For most of us Nintendo fans, Level-5 holds a special place in our hearts. Between the Professor Laytons, Inazuma Elevens and Yo-Kai Watches, the chances are that we have all come across the studio at least once or twice in our gaming days. Now, it looks like a new IP is on the horizon.

Shared in the company’s ‘Happy New Year’ card (one of the many compiled by Famitsu), Level-5 announced that 2023 will see us receiving a whole lot of fresh news. This will include details on the upcoming Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road of Heroes (if this title hangs around, that is), as well as the inclusion of a brand new IP.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Koei Tecmo Brings Fate/Samurai Remnant To Switch In 2023, Here’s A First Look

Sharpen your blades.

Many game companies are jumping straight into the announcements this year and this includes Koei Tecmo. Just a few days ago it lifted the lid on the new Type-Moon project, Fate/Samurai Remnant.

This title, based on the popular anime game series, will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch at some point in 2023 and takes on the form of an action RPG. It’s being created in collaboration with Aniplex.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Atlus Is Preparing Several New Game Announcements For 2023

The year will start with the releases of P3P and P4G.

In the same Famitsu article, the Persona developer Atlus has taken the time to thank fans for their support last year. It has also provided a teaser of what’s ahead for 2023.

After the release of titles like Persona 5 Royal and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim in 2022, the company will look torwards the remastered releases of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden. In addition to this, it apparently has “several new unannounced titles” in the making (via Persona Central).

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Best Of 2022: How Do Game Developers And Artists Feel About The Rise Of AI Art?

Should we all be worried, or is it just a fad?

Over the holidays we’re republishing some choice features from the last 12 months. A mix of talking points, interviews, opinion pieces and more from NL staff and contributors, you’ll find our usual blend of thoughtfulness, expertise, frivolity, retro nostalgia, and — of course — enthusiasm for all things Nintendo. Happy holidays!

If you’ve had your ear to the ground for the past couple of years, you’ll have heard at least some of the rumbles of debate over the ethics and impact of AI art. You may have even heard the names of some tools used to create AI art, like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E. But you may also be wondering why these tools have spawned such strong opinions in the news, on social media, and even among people you know. After all, haven’t we been having the “robots will take our jobs” discussion for decades, now?

Read the full article on nintendolife.com