“I felt this was the right moment”. Toshiyuki Itahana, an illustrator best known for his work as a character designer on Final Fantasy IX, has left Square Enix. Confirming the news online, Itahana-san said that the decision to leave was made at the end of 2025 once all of his commitments to the 25th Anniversary…
The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs have had a pretty impressive year. Releasing to almost entirely glowing reviews, it has since gone on to sweep awards and even received two public shout-outs from French President Emmanuel Macron. But as one chapter ends, another begins as the Sandfall devs prepare for their next game. Talking to…
In the first few days of the year, Asus has come in with a pair of gaming glasses that may be a contender for worst-named tech product at CES 2026. As reported by Wccftech, the Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR is a set of glasses with a 240 Hz Micro-OLED screen which projects a virtual…
After sinking way too many hours into some of 2025’s massive hits like Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 over the holiday season, I’d reached critical fatigue and decided to step back and play something much smaller in scope. Something quick and simple for a palate cleanser, you know the drill. Mistakenly, I picked Ball x…
Capcom couldn’t have hoped for a better environment to release Monster Hunter Wilds into. Monster Hunter was already ascendant: World was a breakout success that thrust the series into global awareness, and after glutting itself on Elden Ring the gaming public had a mainstream interest in precise, demanding third person combat and systems-heavy buildcraft. At…
A rock-solid sub-$100 emulation option. Back when I reviewed the TrimUI Smart Pro in 2023, I found it to be a likeable emulation portable which was sadly held back by a lack of processing power and a particularly poor D-Pad. You can imagine, then, why I was so intrigued when TrimUI announced it was having…
There’s a type of myth that survives not because there’s any evidence for it, but because it flatters the preconceptions of a particular group of people. Take the notion that Todd Howard, head honcho over at Bethesda Game Studios, clearly seethes with resentment about how much Obsidian knocked Fallout: New Vegas out of the park….
Code Vein II maintains the core elements of its predecessor, but it feels more like a standalone action-RPG than a sequel. That’s because it greatly expands on the series’ combat systems and ideas to offer a huge amount of customization, while telling an all-new story about vampiric characters called Revenants that’s not linked to the…
There are two obvious reasons you could already be excited for Code Vein 2. One: it’s a soulslike made in-house by the publisher of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series. Two: anime melodrama. If you love characters scream-crying through their emotional beats more than reading FromSoft flavor text like “If the soul is the source of all…
Category: Games January 5, 2026 Maybe the Real Code Vein II is the Friends We Make Along the Way Will Fulton, Xbox Wire Editor Summary Code Vein II arrives on Xbox Series X|S on January 30. Building on the first game’s rich combat, Code Vein II remixes its themes and imagery into an original story…