VERACITY IN GAMING
VERACITY IN GAMING
Verity Townsend
Automaton West Editor and translator. She has a soft spot for old-school Sierra adventure games and Final Fantasy VIII (yes, 8!). Can often be found hunting down weird forgotten games and finding out everything about them. Frequently muses about characters and lines from Metal Gear Solid and Disco Elysium. Aims to keep Automaton fresh and interesting with a wide variety of articles.
Hideki Kamiya reacts to the revelation that someone at CLOVERS has a figure of him (sort of) on their desk
A staff member of Hideki Kamiya's new studio CLOVERS happens to have a figure that bears a striking resemblance to the Okami creator himself.
Tango Gameworks resumes full-scale operations under Krafton, opening new office in Tokyo
Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks now has a new office in Tokyo, marking the start of its rebirth under Krafton.
Mecha BREAK opens applications for large-scale closed beta featuring revamped PvPvE mode
Amazing Seesun Games are accepting applications for hit multiplayer mech shooter Mecha BREAK's latest closed beta test until January 14.
Classic robot arcade shooter Strania The Stella Machina to get enhanced Switch release
G.rev's Strania -The Stella Machina- EX, the enhanced version of the nostalgic 2011 robot action shooter, is coming to Nintendo Switch on January 23.
Venus Vacation Prism -Dead or Alive Xtreme- gets 18+ rating in some regions despite lack of nudity, and here’s why
Team Ninja's upcoming Venus Vacation Prism -Dead or Alive Xtreme- has been given the highest age rating in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Ghost of Tsushima Legends anime announced with story by the creator of Psycho Pass
Scheduled for release in 2027, the Ghost of Tsushima Legends anime series will be co-produced by Crunchyroll and Aniplex.
Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is bringing back one of Juliet’s original DLC outfits this February, with a new Nightmare Mode in the works
Producer Yoshimi Yasuda reveals that Juliet is getting her Goth Girl outfit back in a February update to Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP.
Bullet hell shooter Soulers free demo lets you slow down time to turn the tide of battle in your favor
In upcoming shmup Soulers, you can slow down time to avoid the barrage of bullets, as well as call upon your hand-picked tough girl team for support.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 smashes series’ box office records, becoming the fastest earning Sonic movie so far
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 shot up box office charts at supersonic speed, becoming the fastest earning Sonic movie in its first 3 days.
Japan’s empty apartments are being turned into gaming spaces aimed at esports players
A renovation project is aiming to turn Japan’s vacant apartments into high-tech gaming facilities to attract esports players and avid gamers.
NieR Automata inspired experimental RPG HYPERxFANTASY blends deep storytelling, tense sword combat, and high player freedom with striking futuristic visuals
Indie developer ONYXPRISM’s upcoming story and choice-driven RPG HYPERxFANTASY is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2025.
Silent Hill-inspired horror game Welcome to Doll Town’s first episode to release for free in February
Episode 1 of the PlayStation 1-style psychological horror game Welcome to Doll Town will be released for free across all platforms on February 14
Armored Core 6’s veteran players are shooting down anyone trying to cheat or cheese their way up, no matter how overpowered they are
Here's how Armored Core 6's hardcore players are hunting down those who try to cheese their way to victory by spamming moves.
Niantic reveals how Pikmin Bloom is helping people discover hidden places in Kyoto
Pikmin Bloom dev Niantic explains how they ended up running an ongoing tourism event with Japan’s historical capital of Kyoto.
2024 review of major Japanese game companies’ performance
Automaton West's overview of how Japanese game companies like Sony, Nintendo, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Sega and Capcom fared in 2024.
Pokémon TCG Pocket’s huge success prompts developer to double profit forecast
Pokémon TCG Pocket co-developer DeNA revises annual forecast upwards due to the free-to-play app's profitable global success.
MR ELEVATOR devs reveal how they combined digital and analogue inspirations to make the award-winning surreal puzzle game
Coming to Switch and Steam in 2025, MR ELEVATOR involves exploring a person’s memories through trippy Microsoft Paint-style visuals & fragmented voices
Metaphor ReFantazio and Persona series’ Katsura Hashino reveals his approach to directing and producing: “I want to oversee the creative process right to the end.”
Metaphor ReFantazio creative producer and director Katsura Hashino reveals how he approached the creation of Atlus's hit new RPG.
The Exit 8 live-action movie adaptation announced
Toei have revealed a trailer for the movie adaptation of hit indie game The Exit 8, which will be coming out in Japan sometime in 2025.
“I went through hell” Japanese indie dev on how their game was wrongly flagged as a virus, and blocked on Steam
Dungeon Antiqua dev's stressful story reveals how hard it is to distribute a game again once it has been wrongly blocked by antivirus software
Upcoming anime adaptation of adult VN game Nukitashi will be Kadokawa’s “biggest challenge to date”
Production committee notes and new trailer give insight into the upcoming anime adaption of the bizarre Japanese eroge VN Nukitashi.
Elin update lets you force all NPCs to wear panties with new ordinance
The latest update to Elin, the prequel to hit sandbox RPG Elona, introduces an ordinance that lets you make all NPCs in a base wear panties.