George Yang

IGN • September 19th, 2023

Tales of Arise Producer Is Open to Bringing Older Tales Games to the West

In 2021, Bandai Namco’s Tales of Arise took home the award for Best Role Playing Game at The Game Awards. Since its release, it has gone on to sell over 2 million copies across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

Two years later, it’s getting a new story expansion called Beyond the Dawn , which takes place one year after the events of the main game. The party of six meets a young girl named Nazamil, who is half Renan and half Dahnan, fated to fall under the curse of a mask.

Crunchyroll • July 25th, 2023

Amazon Games’ Mike Zadorojny on What Makes Blue Protocol a Stand Out MMORPG

Blue Protocol is a new anime-style MMORPG developed by Bandai Namco and published by Amazon Games. It takes place on the planet of Regnas, where the overuse of technology has created space-time distortions. As the player character, you’re tasked with saving a world that’s on the brink of destruction.

Crunchyroll sat down with Amazon Games franchise leader Mike Zadorojny to talk about Blue Protocol and what players should expect from the game.

Game Developer • July 3rd, 2023

Stampede: Racing Royale is an automotive riff on battle royale

Sumo Digital development director Paul Hollywood worked on many racing games during his career. When he was at Evolution Studios and Sony, he created the first two games in the MotorStorm series: 2006’s MotorStorm and 2008’s MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.

Fangoria • June 15th, 2023

Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake 2 Goes Full Survival Horror Mode

As Remedy Entertainment walked me through a demo of Alan Wake 2, I was immediately taken aback by its breathtaking visuals and environments. The setting was a mix of modern Resident Evil and the supernatural elements of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Alan Wake 2 follows two separate protagonists in FBI agent Saga Anderson and the author Alan Wake. Saga investigates a murder mystery in the small town of Bright Falls while Alan is trapped in a nightmare world, trying to get out.

Game Developer • June 15th, 2023

A PvP mode in Escape Academy? It's actually a good fit

Coin Crew Games released its first game back in July 2022: Escape Academy. It’s a puzzle game where players must solve escape room activities within a certain time limit. The story follows a young student and their journey through a school where the best escape artists hone their craft.

Game Developer • June 12th, 2023

Why Microsoft thinks 2024 will be the year of Xbox

The 2023 Xbox Games Showcase had a strong showing as Xbox Game Studios revealed its lineup of new titles coming later this year and beyond. During a roundtable after the showcase, titled “What’s Next for Xbox,” four Microsoft executives discussed the future of the Xbox platform: Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, corporate vice president Sarah Bond, head of Xbox Studios Matt Booty, and Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard.

Game Developer • June 12th, 2023

Why NetherRealm went with a "Kameo" mechanic for Mortal Kombat 1

Mortal Kombat 1’s defining new feature is the “Kameo” system, which is an assist mechanic where a character briefly comes into battle to help players turn the tide. They can support players by extending combos or breaking combo chains from opponents. Kameos can even knock opponents out of midair when timed right.

Wired • June 3rd, 2023

Chun Li Finally Has an Asian American Voice Actor

When voice actor Jennie Kwan started out in the 1990s, she auditioned for a video game that wasn’t released yet. She recalls going to the engineering producer’s home studio in Laurel Canyon, a mountainous neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Digital Trends • April 28th, 2023

The Mega Man Battle Network esports scene is thriving in 2023

Imagine that your Nintendo Switch didn’t have the ability to connect online and that the competitive game you’re currently playing only supported local multiplayer. It’s a little hard to picture in 2023, right? That’s what Mega Man Battle Network fans had to deal with during the early 2000s. If you wanted to have a battle with your friend during Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance days, they’d have to be within your immediate vicinity and have a Link Cable available to connect two GBAs.

Rolling Stone • January 31st, 2023

Inside the Art of 'Breaking' Video Games

How fast can a game be beaten — and how many tricks can a player use as they do it? With “game breaking,” users look for loopholes in a game’s design and use them to get past difficult enemies. Different players have different approaches: Speedrunners, for example, find the fastest way to finish, while “map clippers” twist “mechanics” — the rules by which the digital universe is bound — to see what they can get away with before it becomes a problem for developers, or crashes the game completely.

Rolling Stone • December 8th, 2022

A$AP Rocky Always Dreamed of Being Part of a Video Game

When Electronic Arts asked A$AP Rocky to be part of its latest racing game, Need for Speed Unbound, the answer came quickly. “I grew up on Need for Speed, so I just felt like it was only right, you know?” the rapper says. “That was one of those things that we all grew up on. I was interested off the bat.”

Variety • November 29th, 2022

‘The Boys’ Star Karen Fukuhara Makes Her Video-Game Debut With ‘The Callisto Protocol’

Developed by Striking Distance Studios, “The Callisto Protocol” is a survival horror game set in the Black Iron Prison on one of Jupiter’s moons, Callisto. Players assume the role of an inmate named Jacob Lee, played by “Transformers” and “Shotgun Wedding” star Josh Duhamel. He meets Dani Nakamura, the leader of a resistance group called Outer Way, and together they must uncover the Black Iron Prison’s dark secrets and escape with their lives. Dani is portrayed by “The Boys” star Karen Fukuhara.

Variety • November 11th, 2022

How ‘God of War Ragnarök’s’ Thor Was Inspired by The Hulk

“God of War Ragnarök” is one of 2022’s most explosive video games. Focusing on Norse mythology, the game features the folklore’s most iconic figures such as Heimdall, Freya, Odin, and Thor.

Thor, in particular, has received tons of attention due to his prominent role in the game and overall popularity in pop culture. Thor has many layers to him, both physically and emotionally. Variety sat down with narrative director Matt Sophos, art director Raf Grassetti, and voice actor Ryan Hurst to talk about how Sony Santa Monica approached the god of thunder.

Los Angeles Times • October 24th, 2022

Warner Bros.' 'Gotham Knights' video game blasts open doors for diversity in voice acting

The casting process for the main characters in Warner Bros. Games’ , “Gotham Knights,” started out by being as open as possible during the first round of interviews. This allowed the studio to get a wide pool of talent, but also “so we get diversity in the room,” said narrative director Ann Lemay.

Digital Trends • August 15th, 2022

The DioField Chronicle was inspired by League of Legends, not Final Fantasy Tactics

The DioField Chronicle, a new IP developed by Lancarse and published by Square Enix, is the latest in a growing trend of tactical RPG games. While plenty of those kinds of games have come out this year already (including Triangle Strategy, Relayer, and Digimon Survive). The DioField Chronicle intends to put its own spin on the genre and stand out in a crowded field.

Inverse • June 10th, 2022

'Tales of Arise' producer on the secrets behind 2021’s best video-game romance

How do you follow up happily ever after?

According to the team behind Tales of Arise, which took home the 2021 Game Award for Best Role Playing Game, you don’t.

Digital Trends • May 30th, 2022

Yakuza's selective English dubbing reminds me of going home

When Sega announced in 2018 that Yakuza spinoff title Judgment would receive an English dub, I was pretty excited. While I really enjoyed 2017’s Yakuza 0 and its original Japanese voice track, I’m the type of person who prefers listening to English dubs when watching anime or playing Japanese RPGs.

NPR • May 27th, 2022

Xbox promotes Asian characters and creators amid calls for greater diversity in games

Asian characters have a long history in video games, thanks to Japanese giants like Nintendo and Sony. Now, US-based Microsoft is taking pains to acquire, promote, and create more games with Asian characters — as the industry responds to increased calls for diverse representation.

Complex • May 16th, 2022

The Live-Action ‘Halo’ Series Delivers High Impact Sci-Fi Storytelling

Taking video game plotlines and adapting them for television has had a shaky past. What kind of story should the series portray? Should it be an exact retelling of the source material? If so, why not just play the game itself? For gamers and television fanatics, it’s important that a new experience is created that’s appropriate for the medium. This challenge is what Paramount+ has taken on with the critically acclaimed Halo series (streaming now on the platform). Taking the iconic Xbox franchise

GamesRadar • May 4th, 2022

Sifu devs on the challenge of bringing Mandarin Chinese to the action brawler

Sifu is a game that relies heavily on Chinese culture. And, in its attempt to create something authentic to its source material, and adhere to cultural differences, developer Sloclap sought to include Mandarin Chinese voiceovers from the game's launch.