Square Enix shared the first FFVII Rebirth January 2024 calendars, and this time Yuffie and Red XIII get to be the featured characters. While both appeared in FFVII Remake and its DLC, they will be playable members of the main party in the second part.

Here are the two Red XIII FFVII Rebirth January 2024 calendars. As there are no characters from the game with birthdays this month, none of the dates are highlighted to remind people.

Rebellion co-founders Chris and Jason Kingsley have been recognised for their services to the economy as part of the King's New Year Honours list. This recognition has seen the brothers each being awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

The Kingsley siblings co-founded Rebellion, which is best known for the Sniper Elite series, in Oxford all the way back in 1992. Since its conception in the early 90s, the company has since expanded to include comic, book, board game, film and TV work under its umbrella.

Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley called it an "incredible honour" to be awarded a CBE. "It, in part, reflects the growth and success of Rebellion but also the wider UK games industry. Games are now the leading form of entertainment media," he wrote.

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Rebellion co-founders Chris and Jason Kingsley have been recognised for their services to the economy as part of the King's New Year Honours list. This recognition has seen the brothers each being awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

The Kingsley siblings co-founded Rebellion, which is best known for the Sniper Elite series, in Oxford all the way back in 1992. Since its conception in the early 90s, the company has since expanded to include comic, book, board game, film and TV work under its umbrella.

Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley called it an "incredible honour" to be awarded a CBE. "It, in part, reflects the growth and success of Rebellion but also the wider UK games industry. Games are now the leading form of entertainment media," he wrote.

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Steamboat Willie is now in the public domain, so as has come to be expected, someone has made a horror game starring a grotesque villain inspired by the original Mickey Mouse.

Called Infestation 88, this upcoming release is following in similar footsteps of slasher film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and the horrifying Winnie's Hole, and the more directly Steamboat Willie-inspired first-person shooter, Mouse, announced last year. This time, developer Nightmare Forge Games has taken an innocent and beloved children's character and given it a sinister makeover.

You can see a short teaser for it below.

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Steamboat Willie is now in the public domain, so as has come to be expected, someone has made a horror game starring a grotesque villain inspired by the original Mickey Mouse.

Called Infestation 88, this upcoming release is following in similar footsteps of slasher film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and the horrifying Winnie's Hole, and the more directly Steamboat Willie-inspired first-person shooter, Mouse, announced last year. This time, developer Nightmare Forge Games has taken an innocent and beloved children's character and given it a sinister makeover.

You can see a short teaser for it below.

Read more

Not long after Baldur’s Gate 3 debuted on the Xbox Series X, a save bug also appeared. While the problem is still lingering in 2024, Larian Studios shared a step-by-step process on social media that involves using a Larian account and cross-saves as a workaround.

How this process works is someone would need to make a Larian account. From there, you need to go into the game on the Xbox. If you head into options, you can enable the cross-save feature and enable the ability to automatically upload the five most recent saves that were made while playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Xbox Series X to deal with the bug. The developer also noted you need to go through the process of turning on cross-saves each time the issue comes up and you lose your saves, so you can then download the five most recent saves. 

Larian Studios also didn’t note when this save bug will be fixed. The last update on it came on December 31, 2023. It did note that both it and Microsoft are aware of the issue. Only the Xbox Series X is affected by the problem.

Here’s the full announcement going over the four steps to mitigate after effects for the issue. 

The Japanese magazine Famitsu released a series of 163 messages from various game developers asking them about their aspirations for the 2024 new year. Hideki Kamiya, the founder of PlatinumGames who also worked on titles like Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Okami, Astral Chain, and Bayonetta, answered that he hopes to get a job in the game industry again this year. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Ever since his retirement from Platinum Games in October 2023, Hideki Kamiya has been officially unemployed. Apparently, this dormancy has been impacting him over time. He noted:

I want to get a job making games so that I can have a meal.

It seems that the retired game developer wishes to reappear to develop video games once again with the new year. Rather than spending time on social media, he hopes to regain relevancy and employment in the video game industry in 2024. He also said:

According to a 2024 New Year’s message from the Square Enix director and president Takashi Kiryu, he stated he feels "there is a possibility" that AI " will fundamentally change the way we make things." After watching this advent in technology boom over the past year, he decided that it would be best for the company to embrace it.

Takashi Kiryu’s statement on AI comes from his observance of its ability to remain relevant in the public eye. Though it has taken some time to normalize the use of it, he suggests there is potential for it in the digital entertainment field. He even mentioned that Square Enix believes in the potential it to change the way the company creates things.

Here is the full part of his statement in the Square Enix New Year's message for 2024 concerning AI.

Listen, I know we've spent the better part of the holidays harping on about all our favourite games of 2023 (and many more besides as part of our bonus Selection Boxes), but here's another one for you that I mainlined in a single day over Christmas and absolutely loved. It's Makoto Wakaido's Case Files Trilogy Deluxe - a collection of not three, but four detective stories in which you go about solving grizzly murders across different towns and villages in Japan. In short: if you like the investigation bits of Ace Attorney and need something to whet your appetite before the Apollo Justice Trilogy comes out on January 25th, this will be 100% up your street. It's currently just over a fiver in the Steam Winter Sale, and there's a free demo you can try as well for good measure.

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Listen, I know we've spent the better part of the holidays harping on about all our favourite games of 2023 (and many more besides as part of our bonus Selection Boxes), but here's another one for you that I mainlined in a single day over Christmas and absolutely loved. It's Makoto Wakaido's Case Files Trilogy Deluxe - a collection of not three, but four detective stories in which you go about solving grizzly murders across different towns and villages in Japan. In short: if you like the investigation bits of Ace Attorney and need something to whet your appetite before the Apollo Justice Trilogy comes out on January 25th, this will be 100% up your street. It's currently just over a fiver in the Steam Winter Sale, and there's a free demo you can try as well for good measure.

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Square Enix representative director and president Takashi Kiryu has written a new year's letter outlining the Final Fantasy publisher's plans for 2024, while offering a few reflections on the year that was. The topline: they want to do more with generative "AI" machine learning tools, and they're still dead keen on metaversy VR/AR stuff. The blockchain remains a "focus", too, though it gets much less of a billing than in 2023's new year letter from Square Enix’s previous president Yosuke Matsuda.

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Square Enix representative director and president Takashi Kiryu has written a new year's letter outlining the Final Fantasy publisher's plans for 2024, while offering a few reflections on the year that was. The topline: they want to do more with generative "AI" machine learning tools, and they're still dead keen on metaversy VR/AR stuff. The blockchain remains a "focus", too, though it gets much less of a billing than in 2023's new year letter from Square Enix’s previous president Yosuke Matsuda.

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Microsoft president Brad Smith has changed his tone somewhat towards UK regulatory body the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), admitting its initial plan to block the company's Activision Blizzard buyout was "tough and fair".

Speaking with the BBC's Today Program earlier this week, Smith said it actually "pushed Microsoft to change the acquisition that we had proposed, for Activision Blizzard to spin out certain rights that the CMA was concerned about with respect to cloud gaming."

Smith continued: "I think the CMA vindicated its position but still created a pragmatic path forward for innovation and investment. I think that is good for everyone."

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Microsoft president Brad Smith has changed his tone somewhat towards UK regulatory body the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), admitting its initial plan to block the company's Activision Blizzard buyout was "tough and fair".

Speaking with the BBC's Today Program earlier this week, Smith said it actually "pushed Microsoft to change the acquisition that we had proposed, for Activision Blizzard to spin out certain rights that the CMA was concerned about with respect to cloud gaming."

Smith continued: "I think the CMA vindicated its position but still created a pragmatic path forward for innovation and investment. I think that is good for everyone."

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every week, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, let's return kick off the new year with a jumbo-sized edition with even more games from across our Christmas holiday. Expect unexpectedly laid-back stressful horror, slow-motion stunting gunfights, a watercolour world, spaceships, mecha, and far too many legs. Check out these attractive and interesting indie games!

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every week, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, let's return kick off the new year with a jumbo-sized edition with even more games from across our Christmas holiday. Expect unexpectedly laid-back stressful horror, slow-motion stunting gunfights, a watercolour world, spaceships, mecha, and far too many legs. Check out these attractive and interesting indie games!

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Sega Europe has announced some big changes to its leadership structure, including the return of former president Jurgen Post.

Post rejoins as COO of West Studios and regional managing director as of today. He previously served as president and COO for Sega Europe from 2012 to 2017, during what the publisher described as a "period of exponential growth."

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Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley and CTO Chris Kingsley have been made 'Commanders of the Order of the British Empire' in the King's New Year's Honours List.

The co-founders of the UK game developer had already received OBEs (Officers of the Order of the British Empire) in 2019 (for Chris) and 2012 (for Jason).

They've both received CBEs for services to the creative industries.

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Baldur's Gate 3 players are still experiencing issues with game saves on Xbox, with some losing their progress as a result.

The award-winning RPG released on Microsoft's consoles last month, however many have experienced issues getting their games to save. Both Microsoft and developer Larian acknowledged this following the game's Xbox launch, but issues are still persisting weeks later.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Larian assured players Microsoft is working on an official fix for the game's save issues, which it said are being caused by a firmware issue. However, due to the festive period, there is a reduced workforce, so things are taking longer than normal to smooth out.

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Baldur's Gate 3 players are still experiencing issues with game saves on Xbox, with some losing their progress as a result.

The award-winning RPG released on Microsoft's consoles last month, however many have experienced issues getting their games to save. Both Microsoft and developer Larian acknowledged this following the game's Xbox launch, but issues are still persisting weeks later.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Larian assured players Microsoft is working on an official fix for the game's save issues, which it said are being caused by a firmware issue. However, due to the festive period, there is a reduced workforce, so things are taking longer than normal to smooth out.

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Square Enix will be actively pushing into the generative AI field, exploring how it can be used in the company's internal games development.

The plans emerge from the Japanese publisher's annual New Year's Letter from its company president – this time penned by Takashi Kiryu, who took over from Yosuke Matsuda after the latter stepped down at the end of his ten-year tenure.

Kiryu observed that, while the potential for artificial intelligence has been debated for a few years, the rise of ChatGPT last year "made it apparent that the applicability of generative AI was by no means limited to text."

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Square Enix will be "aggressive in applying AI" and other "cutting-edge technologies" to its development and publishing functions.

CEO Takashi Kiryu has shared his annual new year letter, setting the tone for the company in 2024.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential implications had for some time largely been subjects of academic debate," he said of AI development in 2023.

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Square Enix will be "aggressive in applying AI" and other "cutting-edge technologies" to its development and publishing functions.

CEO Takashi Kiryu has shared his annual new year letter, setting the tone for the company in 2024.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential implications had for some time largely been subjects of academic debate," he said of AI development in 2023.

Read more

VR studio First Contact Entertainment has shut down. The company, which is behind PSVR and PSVR2 games Firewall Zero Hour and Firewall Ultra, said the "lack of support for VR within the industry" was a factor in its decision.

First Contact Entertainment shared the news just before Christmas, via a statement on Facebook. "After almost 8 years of working with the most amazing team I've ever had the pleasure of being part of, I'm sad to announce that we will be closing our company First Contact Entertainment by the end of the year," reads the statement.

"The lack of support for VR within the industry has eventually taken its toll. As a AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed [going] forward. We are a team of fearless innovators willing to push new technologies to its limits."

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VR studio First Contact Entertainment has shut down. The company, which is behind PSVR and PSVR2 games Firewall Zero Hour and Firewall Ultra, said the "lack of support for VR within the industry" was a factor in its decision.

First Contact Entertainment shared the news just before Christmas, via a statement on Facebook. "After almost 8 years of working with the most amazing team I've ever had the pleasure of being part of, I'm sad to announce that we will be closing our company First Contact Entertainment by the end of the year," reads the statement.

"The lack of support for VR within the industry has eventually taken its toll. As a AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed [going] forward. We are a team of fearless innovators willing to push new technologies to its limits."

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Jukai Studio announced its closure over the holidays, despite launching its horror survival title Stray Souls last October.

In a statement shared to social media on December 22, the developer cited "many reasons" for its decision to shut down, including the closure of its publisher Versus Evil, cyberbullying, poor reception to Stray Souls, and bad sales.

"We did everything in our power to bring the project to completion in the best possible form, but throughout the entire duration we, our publisher staff, other publisher dev teams and our close ones were constantly attacked by a cyber persecutor, and some of you, as our community, were also tormented with unwanted messages and emails," the developer said.

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Happy new year all. What's the weather like where you are? We've got Amber and Yellow warnings in London - I do not understand what these terms mean, but I'm going to add a Sapphire warning for escalating Maw activity. The creature was pretty lively over the Xmas weekend, but Graham managed to soothe it with posts about gaming-related new year resolutions and, of all things, the Spike Video Game Awards. We can expect the Maw's petulance to mount during January, a lean month for announcements and revelations, but there are a few tasty morsels in the offing - a new Prince of Persia and Tekken 8, for instance. Fingers crossed we can build up some kind of momentum.

Some new game releases we are pointing our telescopes at this week: Skeleton Rebellion (4th Jan), a scrappy offbeat RPG with claymation elements in which you are a skeleton trying to overthrow some mages, and The Night Is Grey (5th Jan), a point-and-click adventure about a beardy bloke and a little girl stuck in the woods with some weirdo wolves. If you like, you can also play a free drinking game I've just invented in which you do a shot for every time I accidentally write 2023 instead of 2024.

Happy new year all. What's the weather like where you are? We've got Amber and Yellow warnings in London - I do not understand what these terms mean, but I'm going to add a Sapphire warning for escalating Maw activity. The creature was pretty lively over the Xmas weekend, but Graham managed to soothe it with posts about gaming-related new year resolutions and, of all things, the Spike Video Game Awards. We can expect the Maw's petulance to mount during January, a lean month for announcements and revelations, but there are a few tasty morsels in the offing - a new Prince of Persia and Tekken 8, for instance. Fingers crossed we can build up some kind of momentum.

Some new game releases we are pointing our telescopes at this week: Skeleton Rebellion (4th Jan), a scrappy offbeat RPG with claymation elements in which you are a skeleton trying to overthrow some mages, and The Night Is Grey (5th Jan), a point-and-click adventure about a beardy bloke and a little girl stuck in the woods with some weirdo wolves. If you like, you can also play a free drinking game I've just invented in which you do a shot for every time I accidentally write 2023 instead of 2024.

As usual, the Japanese magazine Famitsu kicked off 2024 by sharing messages from 163 game developers regarding their future plans for this year and asking them to reflect on the previous year’s accomplishments. Daisuke Ishiwatari, the general director of the Guilty Gear series, detailed the direction of Arc System Works in the coming year. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Daisuke Ishiwatari expressed his concerns with the game development side of the industry in his statement. He believes that there should be a space for new indie developers to become relevant in the market, and that they should be allowed to fail and grow.

As part of his statement, Ishiwatari noted:

To sum it up, we are living in an era in which failure is not an option… Young people who are aiming to become game developers are losing the opportunity to nurture their own creativity.

The keywords Ishiwatari reported for the video game industry in 2024 are “core markets,” “indie,” “corporate development schemes,” and “compliance.” The keywords for his own goals at Arc System Works are “challenge,” “pioneering,” “return,” and “dawn.”

The Japanese magazine Famitsu released a series of messages from 163 game developers asking them about their aspirations for the year 2024. Shinjiro Takata, the product manager at the Atlus 1st Production division responsible for the Shin Megami Tensei series, detailed his current involvement with the upcoming Vanillaware title Unicorn Overlord, as well as hinted at other future plans for additional Atlus games. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

As is the plan, Unicorn Overlord is still scheduled to be released on March 8, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch.

Shinjiro Takata mentioned that there is more than just Unicorn Overlord in the works at Atlus. According to his aspirations for 2024, he is ready to prepare additional an additional title, as well as other games. in the future.

Here's the message in which he teased other new Atlus games:

In 2024, we plan to release Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord and one other title… At the same time, I’d like to prepare projects for the future.

With the rollover of every month, Marvel Snap gets a brand new season to shake things up. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Planet Hulk season in Marvel Snap.

Everything New in Marvel Snap’s Planet Hulk Season

Marvel Snap Planet Hulk Season Start and End Date

The Planet Hulk season is set to start on Jan. 3, 2024, and will run till Feb. 7, 2024, at 11 a.m. Pacific Time.

As one of the best Fallout games, Fallout 4 has been around since 2015 and players have been wanting Bethesda to follow up 4 with something, anything really. Fast forward to 2023 and Team FOLON has been cooking up a game-sized mod for Fallout fans to enjoy. Here’s 10 reasons why you should care about Fallout: London.

According to an official announcement from Cover, the New Year’s outfit reveal streams for Hololive English Advent Vtubers have been postponed due to the earthquake and disasters that struck Japan on January 1, 2024. This was announced directly on social media this morning.

The members of Hololive English Advent were originally scheduled to each reveal a new outfit on January 1, 2024. That date will be redecided to respect the immediate crisis at this time. Cover noted that the company will keep fans updated via social media when a new date has been decided to show the Vtubers’ new outfits.

See the official announcement in the post below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/hololive_en/status/1741814165432623354[/embed]

The earthquake and disaster that struck Japan on January 1, 2024 is currently still ongoing, and more information will be released as it progresses. Currently, we know that Ishikawa and its surrounding prefectures have been heavily negatively impacted by the disaster. The recorded earthquake’s tremors measured a maximum seismic intensity of 7, the highest on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s seismic intensity scale. A major tsunami warning has been issued for most of Japan’s western coastline, and evacuation orders have been called for Ishikawa, Niigata, Toyama, and Yamagata.

The New Year’s outfit reveal streams for the members of Hololive English Advent must be postponed and will be moved to a later date due to the earthquake that struck Japan today.

Platform: PlayStation 5
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: February 29, 2024
Rating: Teen

Final Fantasy VII is full of iconic scenes. Whether you're talking about the well-known sequences already depicted in Remake or the upcoming gut-punch at the Forgotten Capital, the Remake trilogy allows fans to experience these moments in their most fully realized forms. While this middle portion of Final Fantasy VII, which Rebirth depicts, focuses on Aerith and the looming specter of Sephiroth, so much of Rebirth's depiction emphasizes the deepening of relationships.

Now that Headbangers: Rhythm Royale has had some time to breathe, I really can’t help but feel like this minigame based battle royale is still not quite on par with Fall Guys. It’s close, but certain elements hold it back a bit. 

Like Fall Guys, Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is a battle royale in which 30 players go through rounds by playing music-based minigames to determine which player is the best. Each person has a mascot character, like the titular Fall Guys, only here they are pigeons. It’s designed to follow a quick get in, place in the group, get out, go again gameplay loop as well too. 

Fallout: London has been in the works for five years now, culminating in a seriously impressive mod for Fallout 4 that’s essentially a brand new game set in a radiated England rather than North America. After missing its planned release window in 2023, it now has a full release date - and it’s only a few months away.

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Fallout: London has been in the works for five years now, culminating in a seriously impressive mod for Fallout 4 that’s essentially a brand new game set in a radiated England rather than North America. After missing its planned release window in 2023, it now has a full release date - and it’s only a few months away.

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Happy New Year! Now that 2024 is here, it’s time to push it the hell out of the way and look ahead to 2025. At least, that’s what it feels like the game industry is increasingly saying I should do. A number of recently revealed titles have been slapped with 2025 release windows, so I can’t help but wonder how next year will shape up and, most importantly, what the awards seasons will look like.  

There are still hundreds of games yet to fill the 2025 release calendar, but let’s pretend they won’t exist. Let’s say 95% of the game industry collectively decided to take a year off. Making games is obscenely hard, and to avoid crunch, everyone decided to take some well-deserved (and well-compensated) R&R, so these seven titles are the only ones to launch in 2025. What’s Game Awards host Geoff Keighley to do come December? Continue the show anyway; those trophies aren’t going to award themselves. 

To save yourself three hours of cringy celebrity presenters and Genshin Impact commercials, I’ve taken the liberty of spoiling the event here. Be sure to check back next December to see how right I am.