Honkai: Star Rail – Version 1.4 Special Program Announced for September 29th

File this one under 'Sh*t We Love to See': the man behind Kazuma Kiryu's Japanese voice got up on stage at Tokyo Game Show and performed a live cover of Baka Mitai. Takaya Kuroda, who's been voicing Kiryu since the PS2 days of Yakuza, put in a belter of a performance which appeared to have just about everyone up on their feet and singing along.

In the opening hall of the Makuhari Messe this Tokyo Game Show was an enormous, monolithic tribute to HoYoverse, a company fast becoming one of PlayStation’s most important developers. While the juggernaut Chinese studio may not get the same recognition as the likes of Naughty Dog or FromSoftware, its games are absolutely colossal in scale – and to underline our point, the company is registering greater profit margins than the entirety of Sony’s gaming division right now.

Update, 9/25/23: During Capcom's Tokyo Game Show presentation, the publisher announced that Resident Evil Village and its Winters' Expansion are coming to iOS on October 30. The game will be playable on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad Air and iPad Pro with the M1 chip or later. The Winters' Expansion includes the Shadows of Rose story campaign.

There are many unsightly euphemisms for the various stages of game development. My favourite used to be "sunsetting", aka cancelling a live service game, aka "we dragged the servers outside and smashed them with bats, gangland style". But now there's a new front-runner, "simmering". You know what's simmering? Quantic Dream's Star Wars: Eclipse, that's what. "Can I say it still exists? Because it exists," the developer's Lisa Pendse has revealed in a new interview from this year's Tokyo Game Show. "It's just not ready. It's simmering." Hmm.

The Star Wars franchise has had several major highs over the years with the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. However, while future titles like Star Wars Outlaws look good, there are questions regarding titles like Star Wars Eclipse.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

Studio Lights, a Shinjuku-based studio that worked on the environment lighting and cutscene lighting for both Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken, has announced “isekai action RPG” Mononoke no Kuni. It will launch for PC via Steam in spring 2024, with plans to also release on PlayStation, Switch, iOS, and Android. A specific PlayStation platform was not announced.

Something that many video game fans have grown tired of over the last decade or so are video games that get announced by big-time publishers or developers and then aren’t seen again for many years. To them, it’s kind of insulting to try and hype them up about a game that potentially won’t arrive for years. If it’s a year or two? That can be fine. But 3-5 years or more? That just makes gamers wonder why the title was announced in the first place. One such title this happened with was Star Wars Eclipse, a title by Quantic Dream that was revealed in 2021.

Sonic Team and Arzest shared some new information on Sonic Superstars during TGS 2023, including for the new Battle Mode. As revealed in the trailer, the mode supports up to four players locally (and can be played with bots) or eight players online. You can either make a room or join one when playing online. Check it out below, courtesy of IGN.

Microsoft made a number of announcements during its Xbox Digital Broadcast at Tokyo Game Show 2023, most of which revolved around Japan and Japan-inspired games and updates. Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Head of Xbox Creator Experience Sarah Bond talked about the importance of the Japanese market. "Japan will always have a special place in my heart for pioneering innovative ways to play, from the Game Boy, to PSP, to the Switch," Spencer said.

Star Ocean The Second Story R brings classic RPG action to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on November 2. This is a complete remake of the RPG Star Ocean the Second Story (SO2), which was released on the original PlayStation in 1998, critically acclaimed for its Dual Protagonist system, 3D combat, deep skill systems, Private Actions, multiple endings, and much more.

Omega 6 The Video Game, the new title from original Star Fox and F-Zero artist Takaya Imamura, has been signed by a publisher and is scheduled for release on Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2024.