A board game hotel called Mimaru Osaka Namba Station is set to open in Osaka, Japan on June 2. In addition to the over 130 different board games available for guests to play, there’s also a special Werewolf and murder mystery room provided for those wanting to immerse in a whodunit experience.
PLAYISM has announced that the remake of Ib will receive English language support with the next update Ver.1.03, which is set to go live on May 17 at 6 p.m. (PDT).
Heaven Burns Red-themed cafés will open in Japan for a limited period between May 19 and July 3. The café’s menu will feature items themed after Heaven Burns Red, along with knife-cut noodles, which is mentioned in the game multiple times as part of a running joke.
Bandai Namco Research has made a portion of its 3D motion datasets available for free on GitHub. They are meant to be used for AI research and development, and can’t be used for commercial purposes.
Beat ‘em up RPG River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is launching outside of Japan on July 21, 2022, for PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. The price is set at $29.99.
Onkyo has announced a NieR:Automata-themed turntable called Portable Turntable OCP-01 NieR to commemorate the game’s 5th anniversary. Purchasers will receive an original NieR-themed slipmat as a bonus.
Tsushima Island to sell Ghost of Tsushima official merchandise, starting April 29. Although the items are already available online, they're still a welcoming addition as souvenirs.
LINE Corporation published the results of a survey they conducted in March 2022 about recent trends in Japan. Games like Apex Legends, Uma Musume, and Pokémon ranked high in the survey results.
Sonic Origins, a compilation of the early Sonic The Hedgehog titles, is coming out on June 23 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam/Epic Games Store).
Hatoverse is a bare-bones pigeon sim (and an obvious riff on the metaverse), but the game is gaining traction in Japan due to the developer’s humorous yet somewhat clever marketing approach.
make.ctrl.Japan2 exhibit is dedicated to games that use alternative controllers. It’s basically a Japanese version of alt.ctrl.GDC.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon☆Breath is coming to countries outside of Japan this summer. The game recently came out in Japan for PS4 and Nintendo Switch on March 24.
