Author: Zach Barbieri

Japanese developer and publisher SNK, known for franchises like King of Fighters and Fatal Fury, has established KOF Studio which is meant to “carry on the storied legacy” of its fighting game franchises. The studio website explains further that the developer will attempt to “revolutionize” SNK’s large library of Fighting properties in their possession. This follows SNK’s noted attempt to revive several of these IPs over recent years, outside of their King of Fighters series which has seen steady releases over the years. Samurai Showdown saw a new title in 2019, the first mainline release in the series in over…

While taking stock of 2024 for this article I realized 2024 has been an outstanding year for games. Coming off the high of the previous year I think there was an expectation to see a slight dip in releases and breakout games, but I really could not be happier that that is not the case. So many great games, fun experiences, and enjoyable narratives have all been released this year making a summation of the 10 games that stuck with me the most has been very hard, but here we are. This will be the first (and hopefully not last)…

Infinity Nikki, the live service dress-up game, Publisher Infold Games has announced the first major update. Entitled The Shooting Star, it will be released on December 30th across PC, PlayStation 5, IOS, and Android and will run until January 23rd, 2025. This update will add more adventures, limited-time events, and many new outfits to play dress-up with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-lEQMzN5X0 Additionally, players can expect new storylines to be added, as well as platforming challenges that can be encountered throughout the open world. The update features the tagline “Let shooting stars guide paper cranes on their journey of fulfilling dreams.” An official blurb…

Starting in 2025, MMO The Elder Scrolls Online will move away from releasing annual expansions, referred to as chapters, to a more seasonal approach. Seasonal content models have become a more popular model over recent years among live-service and MMO titles. In a blog post from The Elder Scrolls Online Developer Zenimax Online, studio director Matt Firor explained that these seasons will run for “three to six” months and that they will feature “a mix of themed story content, events, store items, dungeons and more.” According to his statement, this move to seasonal context is being made to easy the burden…

Being the holiday season, one item that has always made a good gift, if you could find them, was the influx of Mini-consoles we started receiving many years ago. These consoles have ranged from the NES classic, which was a nightmare to find, to my favorite, the Commodore 64 Mini. Sega had also gotten into the Mini console market as well, releasing several versions of the Genesis mini, taking their most successful console and making it compact with a large library of games. Unfortunately, it looks like Sega plans to stop short of the requested mini consoles of their Saturn…

Following reports that Sony was in talks to purchase Elden Ring developer Fromsoftwares parent company Kadokawa, it appears that Sony will instead be moving into a strategic partnership with them. Rumors had initially suggested Sony was in talks to purchase FromSoftware, in whom they already own a 14% minority stake, with suggestions being made that Kadokawa had approached Sony to outright buy their entire company to stave off a hostile takeover attempt. Kadokawa had confirmed that some talks were taking place with an undisclosed party in November. As noted in a press release from Sony Group, the company has signed…

The owner of GSC Game World Maxim Krippa recently spoke to Forbes Ukraine about their recently released title STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl, their long-awaited sequel in the STALKER series, which last saw a release in 2009. This was initially reported by ITC.ua with the conversation discussing both the profitability of the new title, as well as plans to release DLC in the future. In this interview, Kappa talked about profit, stating: We have already sold enough to make the project profitable. The team worked almost 24/7 before the release. They lived this project, especially against the backdrop of war.…

Upcoming Action RPG Lost Souls Aside has committed to a 2025 Release Window after 9 years in development. This news comes from the newly released gameplay trailer for the title, which confirmed that the PlayStation-funded project, part of the China Hero Project Sony has been investing heavily in, will finally arrive on PS5 and PC in 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hVP2IEreI The minute-long trailer for the game showcases several elements to be featured in the game, including high-detail cut scenes, some of the blazing fast combat in action, as well as exploration. Originally developed by a single person, Bing Yang, the Chinese-developed game…

Masayuki Kato, Founder and Former president of Nihon Falcom, which gave us my favorite RPG series Ys as well as the popular Legend of Heroes, has passed away on Sunday, December 15th, at the age of 78. This news comes from an announcement made by the company yesterday. Kato got his start as a computer technician in the auto industry but quickly fell in love with personal computers as well as their application for Game development and entertainment. this led to him founding Nihon Falcom in 1981, with the plan to publish Japanese games for personal computers in partnership with…

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, the co-operative Live Service title set in The Dungeons & Dragons Universe is being shut down and will be removed from storefronts a little over 3 years after it was initially released. The game’s official Steam page has been updated to reflect this, announcing that the game will be fully removed from sale, and its servers will be shut down on February 24, 2025. A note on the page from the title’s developer Invoke Studios read: We will be shutting down the Dark Alliance servers on February 24, 2025 and it will no longer be…