#fanbyte

[lupincentral]

Oh my God it’s finally happening!

A brand-new work in the Lupin IIIRD spin-off series, tentatively titled Lupin the IIIRD THE MOVIE is coming to Japan in 2025. While not confirmed at time of writing, the film is also likely to be localised and released worldwide.

Directed by Takeshi Koike (of Redline and previous Lupin the IIIRD fame), the film is set to be feature-length and 2D animated, in line with previous entries.

While details are currently scarce, the teaser trailer (shown at the bottom of this article), mentions that Yūya Takahashi will be returning to write the screen play, and that James Shimoji is also back to handle the soundtrack. Katsuhito Ishii is also on board as a creative adviser. The teaser shows footage from the previous three spin-off films, some clips of the new one (which appears to be Zenigata focussed), and ends with a glimpse at a shaken and beaten-up figure, with the phrase “You don’t know the real Lupin III”.

The Lupin the IIIRD spin-off series first began in 2012, with The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Labelled “hard and dangerous”, Fujiko Mine took the franchise in a vastly different direction from what fans were used to at the time, telling a darker story diving deep into the femme fatales past, and exploring her relationship with a slightly edgier Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon (and yes, it’s also the one where she has sex with Inspector Zenigata). While the fanbase was divided on this at the time, over the years, a deeper appreciation for the Fujiko Mine series has formed, and more recently, it was given the title of “anime of the decade” by website Fanbyte.

From there, the series continued in the form of three films - Jigen’s Gravestone, Goemon’s Bloodspray, and Fujiko’s Lie. Continuing the storyline and tone from the show, the films shone a spotlight onto each character in a way we had never seen up until that point, helping to create a gorgeous looking film trilogy that no Lupin fan should miss (you can read our review for each by clicking here, if it takes your fancy)! This latest entry appears to follow a similar trend, with Inspector Zenigata getting his time to shine - judging by the teaser and the images released today by Comic Natalie.

Takeshi Koike, who directed the films and acted as a character designer on the original Fujiko series, is a Japanese animator, illustrator and film director. He has previously worked on animated features such as Redline and Afro Samurai - with his first folly in the Lupin series being with the 2012 spin-off show, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. It is great to see him back at the helm for a fourth film, and we cannot wait to see the see the direction things go - especially after the ending of Jigen's Gravestone, which saw the tease of the return of a fan favourite villain (who can be seen in this trailer, if you look carefully)!

More details are sure to be released on this upcoming film next year - stay tuned!

[scarskelly]

The Dramatic Dream World of DDT Pro-Wrestling by Scar The Skelly [DAMNATION T.A]

Next up, Damnation T.A. Please click the slides for their best quality and check out the presentation notes below.

Presentation Notes

Daisuke Sasaki

Fanbyte article about that one time Sasaki had a sword, written by Sasaki expert Sarah Kurchak.

[jcmarchi]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Cover Story And Our Favorite Games Of 2023 | GI Show

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-cover-story-and-our-favorite-games-of-2023-gi-show/

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Cover Story And Our Favorite Games Of 2023 | GI Show

In this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show, special guest Michael Higham (Fanbyte, GameSpot) joins us to discuss our Final Fantasy VII Rebirth cover story, The Finals review, and our favorite games of 2023.

The Game Informer Show #686 Podcast:

[embedded content]

Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard), Michael Higham (@MichaelPHigham)

The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join host Alex Van Aken every Thursday to chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who’s been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt’s shows like the “Fun” And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast. 

The Game Informer Show – Podcast Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Intro

00:03:41 – Cover Story: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

00:23:41 – The Finals Review

00:38:08 – Top Ten Games of 2023

01:39:28 – Housekeeping

[tradmais]

O Bilionário Mais Jovem do Mundo: Quem é? Muitos sonham em ter uma casa própria pa... https://theciranda.com/o-bilionario-mais-jovem-do-mundo-quem-e?feed_id=37027&_unique_id=67e31b8acbd9d

[bersergner-blog]

Escape from Tombstone - Modern Beat 'em ups (Bibliography)

Bibliography:

HEROCONCEPT [Online]. Available at: https://www.heroconcept.com/mayhem-brawler/ AMAZON [Online]. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cobra-Kai-Karate-Continues-Nintendo/dp/B08GR3SJZG?th=1 THEKOALITION (2022) [Online]. Available at: https://thekoalition.com/2022/cobra-kai-2-dojos-rising-ps5-review-mr-miyagi-would-be-disappointed STEAM (2023) [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2114970/Skinny__Franko_Fists_of_Violence/?l=japanese AMAZON [Online]. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Numskull-Games-Final-Vendetta/dp/B09VYB5W6Y STEAM (2019) [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/980300/One_Finger_Death_Punch_2/ STEAM (2019) [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1049320/River_City_Girls/ STEAM (2022) [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1920480/River_City_Girls_2/?l=greek&ref=steamdeck.news RPGAMER (2019) [Online]. Available at: https://rpgamer.com/review/stay-cool-kobayashi-san-a-river-city-ransom-story-review/ PLAYSTATION (2019) [Online]. Available at: https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/concept/233395 PUSHSQUARE [Online]. Available at: https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps4/monkey_king_hero_is_back HIGHERPLAINGAMES [Online]. Available at: https://higherplaingames.com/switch/fight-n-rage-game-review/ STEAM (2017) [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/447290/Redeemer_Enhanced_Edition/ GAMEREACTOR (2010) [Online]. Available at: https://www.gamereactor.eu/shank-review/ ARSTECHNICA (2020) [Online]. Available at: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/04/streets-of-rage-4-review-this-beat-em-up-revival-beats-them-all/ FANBYTE [Online]. Available at: https://www.fanbyte.com/legacy/sifu-is-a-sharp-but-uncomfortable-action-movie EUROGAMER (2016) [Online]. Available at: https://www.eurogamer.net/rockstars-the-warriors-game-is-now-available-on-ps4 WORDPRESS (2017) [Online]. Available at: https://thevideogamestribe.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/mortal-kombat-shaolin-monks/ HEXUS (2005) [Online]. Available at: https://m.hexus.net/gaming/previews/ps2/1153-urban-reign/EUROGAMER [Online]. Available at: https://www.eurogamer.net/double-dragon-gaiden-rise-of-the-dragons-out-this-summer STEAM [Online]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2405060/KIBORG/

[noescape-vg]

Media layoffs are nothing new anymore. Surprise and anger has been replaced with this kind of exhausted resignation (no pun intended), this beleaguered acceptance that “this is just the way things are.” The games media industry is certainly no stranger to cuts and closings. Fanbyte gutted, Launcher gone… every other site shedding handfuls of talented people seemingly by the day. It paints a bleak picture. Even before today, the accepted wisdom has already changed to “don’t try to get a job as a critic or a journalist in this industry, at least not right now,” because there are just very few safe, stable options. 

Vice shuttering Waypoint, though, is a total unmooring gut-punch.

What does Waypoint mean to games media? I mean, just ask around. Folks all over what’s left of social media have been talking about the often profound effect Waypoint‘s mere existence has had on them, either as freelancers trying to make a name for themselves in a cutthroat industry or simply because of the content the site published. Some of the keywords people have used to describe the criticism and journalism put out by Waypoint: humane. Holistic. Comprehensive. Thoughtful. Life-changing. 

I think a lot about this speech from Brassed Off, where Pete Postlethwaite’s character Danny Ormondroyd refuses to accept the award for a national brass band competition after his band, the Grimley Brass Band, wins for their rendition of the William Tell Overture. “This band behind me’ll tell you that that trophy means more to me than aught else in the whole world. But they’d be wrong,” he says. “The truth is, I thought it mattered. I thought that music mattered. But it doesn’t bollocks. Not compared to how people matter.” Waypoint understood this. It was a site that specialized in games criticism that focused on the people who made and played them. Losing it feels like losing a piece of one’s soul. It isn’t like death, per se, but a comprehensive diminishing, a removal of life’s color in a meaningful sense.

Former Waypoint Editor-in-Chief Austin Walker reposted the site’s mission statement in response to the news today. I’ve spent the afternoon slowly reading through it and digesting it. In the post, Walker talks about how terrifying nights in Dragon’s Dogmaare (can confirm, holy shit) and how, in order to complete some of the game’s more involved quests, he would have to plan extensively in advance; and prior to departure, he would set a titular waypoint to guide him. 

Waypoints in the context of games, Walker continues, are “the first (and brightest) illustration of a player’s intention.” They are ways of orienting ourselves to our goal in inherently unfamiliar environments combined with statements of purpose: we are going to the place to do a thing, and in so doing we will have Played The Game. “Before we assault the fortress, before we start the race, before we leap from one star system to another, we set a waypoint,” he wrote. “They are the marks we leave on the map, the beacons we place in the dark that declare, yes, we will walk into the night.”

I didn’t get too terribly far through Death Stranding, but waypoints were one of the basic mechanics I loved—and grew to rely on—in my short play sessions. There are different kinds of waypoint markers in Death Stranding, including purely social ones, just little digital pips that let you know someone else had been there before, or liked a bridge you made, or warned of BTs in the area before your baby in a jar could wake up to tell you. These signs of life – also seen in games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring – made the empty world feel less barren. It helped make me as the player feel less alone. 

Losing Waypoint feels scary. As others have commented, it feels like the end of a specific era of game criticism, one where thoughtful, considered writing about games and the culture around them had an institutional home, is officially over. But like the little thumbs-up or emoji strewn across the alien America of Death Stranding, I don’t think Waypoint – what it as an institution stood for, what its people represented, what its body of work entails – needs to go away entirely. We can carry its mission forward. We can set new waypoints. We can continue to walk into the night.

Waypoint‘s raison d’être is as follows: 

be a guide to games culture

investigate how and why people play games

make readers think, laugh, and ask new questions about games and the world around them

Games will not save us. But we cannot escape them. They are reflections of the way we interact with work, with household chores, with our friends, family and neighbors, with the world itself. For as long as video games exist, for as long as there is a digital culture to speak of, we can continue to light beacons in the night for ourselves and whoever else might come this way.

[skyeheron]

Research: Gen Z Design Tastes

I then felt it was important to get a better understanding of Gen Z design aesthetics and tastes so that I could apply this research to my work. Even though this article is for Interior Design it gives a broad view on general preferences and styles.

"From funky light fittings to 70s pattern-mixing, enter a room decorated by a Gen Zer and you’ll find a trove of unique items. This generation loves bringing a sense of individuality to their spaces, and the interior design trends they champion are proof of just that" (Fanbytes, 2022):

Natural Materials - From rattan furniture to woven wall art and hanging plants, natural materials are one of the most obvious design preferences for Gen Z. Afterall, "it stands to reason that the generation most concerned with climate change and sustainability would lean towards a more natural, homespun aesthetic". 

Looking at incorporating this within my work would work well I think due to creating an eco-friendly brand suited to the ocean and ocean lovers.

Scandi Maxilmalism - "Also known as “Danish Pastels” or “Avant Basic”, this style trend is focused primarily on building vibrant colour onto basics: white walls and wooden floors". Examples of this are adding pastel colours that look pyschedelic or are checked and floral patterns.

Throwback Style - Gen Z again love Nostalgia, "‘ from 90s wall stickers to ‘70s conversation pits, Generation Z is bringing the throwbacks back to the forefront. Retro chairs and accessories are rife, with zany wall colours and framed vintage prints and posters adorning the walls".

[leonaquitaine]

Just a quick post to announce my first published article @ Fanbyte!

Check it out, and let me know what you think. =)

[bikiniarmorbattledamage]

Actvision Blizzard decides to "improve" diversity in their games by quantifying things like ethnicity, culture and sexual orientation.

Just another, sadly unsurprising step in Blizzard's long, long journey of promising a more diverse respesentation followed by more sexism and tokenism every time.

If you don't see what's wrong with that picture, please stop to ask youself how you'd represent something like ethnicity or gender on a numeric scale. And what would 0 on that scale be.

Thankfully, most of the fandom and media seems to react to this idea with well-deserved bewilderment and mockery (like comparisons to phrenology, a racist pseudoscience). Also with obligatory mentions of how this does the opposite of improving the company's image in the light of their bigoted, toxic work culture and corrupt business practices.

Moreover, despite now edited-out claims in the official announcement about the diversity tool, Overwatch 2 developers deny using it or even knowing about it prior to the media buzz.

If we could put a number on how out of touch this is, ActiBlizz PR would score off their little dystopian charts!

But hey, it's not like we've been pointing out for years that Blizz seems to do diversity by begrudgingly ticking off boxes on a list of superficial character features (and only after ticking some boxes multiple times), right?

~Ozzie

Media reporting on the matter:

Activision Inexplicably Introduces Tool to Rate Character Diversity Metrics - FanByte

Activision Blizzard Discusses Tool to Calculate Diversity in Video Game Characters, May Also Be Investing in Lab Coats - The Mary Sue

Activision Blizzard's New Diversity Game Tool Comes Across Terribly & Activision Blizzard’s Diversity Tool Has A Long, Even More Embarrassing History - Kotaku

‘Overwatch 2’ staff say they never used Activision Blizzard’s diversity tool - NME

Activision's "Diversity Tool" Is F*cking Awful - The Jimquisition (video)

edit: Added the NME link

[autumnslance]

Topics include the expansion of the free trial, politics and social topics in FFXIV and how they relate to the real world, how character popularity does NOT impact their determined fates, how main characters with sidequests don’t have plot armor, Yoshida’s thoughts on WoW making gender swaps free and the FFXIV take for that, and finally about the 5.3 scenario and dungeon, “The Hero’s Gauntlet”:

“You have the player as the Warrior of Darkness, who saved the realm of The First. And so now, the people of The First come together to help,” Yoshida shares. “It’s going to feel like a lot of things that the player was involved in throughout the story connect in this content. Of course, it’s an instance dungeon, but as you fight through this dungeon, you’ll see. The scenario is going to get really exciting as well. So perhaps it might be nice to take your trust NPCs to go in there and enjoy the story.”

Before wrapping up our chat, he teases, “There is a sort of hidden feature, so to speak. So, once everything is settled down, you might want to try to see what that is.”

[brotheralyosha]

“The Irishman plunges further into the dark water of mob violence and corruption than any of Scorsese’s prior epics. Beyond Ace Rothstein’s cluelessly embittered monologue about his disappointment at ending up back as a bookie after his tenure as a Las Vegas kingpin in Casino or Henry Hill’s curdled, paranoid American Dream in Goodfellas is Frank Sheeran rotting alone in a nursing home, crippled by arthritis and rejected by his family, giving a confession he doesn’t care about to a priest he doesn’t know. He feels nothing for his many victims, or for their families, and has no idea of the terror in which his family lived or the private suffering they endured in his shadow. His life amounts to nothing more than a handful of murderers enriching themselves for a brief moment in time before being swallowed up by old age, disease, and violence”

. . .

“The Irishman has no easy answers. It grants no catharsis. In the end there’s only an old man sitting in a nursing home room, too frightened of himself even to close his door, too bound up in bonds of blood and soured affection that he never truly understood to admit his crimes even when every participant save him is long since dead. This is Scorsese’s gangland masterpiece, a horror story about venal, stupid men building castles out of blood and sand to avoid the unbearable pain of knowing themselves.”

[game-levels]

"Just package physical carts in little SD card holders with cover art so small you need a magnifying glass to get a good look at it."

[halcyon-witness]

new forgotten worlds episode!

[unsortedmess]

Where did u hear that

Review/reaction at Fanbyte specifically. Definitely a range of opinions around but by all accounts it's not THAT.

[silenciobarnes]

Fanbyte

Zombieland 2 – Been waiting for this. [green_message]Source: http://bit.ly/2Yajmt4 [/green_message] Follow me on Facebook at http://bit.ly/Y8tk2w

from Fanbyte

[bugunguncel]

Popüler sosyal medya uygulaması TikTok, tüm dünyayı etkisi altına alan koronavirüs salgını nedeniyle evlere kapanılan bir yıllık süreç içinde küresel olarak büyümeye devam etti. TikTok, yakaladığı bu büyüme ivmesini müzik endüstrisine de uyarlamayı başardı.

TikTok birçok müzik sevdalısına başarı getirdi

Son aylarda TikTok, müzik endüstrisinde ilgi çekecek başarı öykülerinden bazılarına ev sahipliği yaptı. Örneğin uygulamada yer alan Nathan Evans isimli bir kullanıcı, Yeni Zelanda bölgesinin 19. yüzyıla ait olan The Wellerman isimli parçasıyla büyük viral fırsatı yakaladı ve bununla birlikte bir plak şirketiyle anlaşma imzaladı. Daha sonrasında ise kendine albüm yapma fırsatı ele geçirdi.

Bu haliyle bakıldığında müzik endüstrisi uzmanları için TikTok’un en önemli ve yıkıcı unsurlarından biri, uygulamada hangi şarkıların viral haline geleceğinin tahmin edilememesi olarak görülüyor. Büyük pop şarkıları uygulamada telif hakları gerekçesiyle genellikle bulunamazken, eski ve imzasız parçalar ve dikkat çekici remixler TikTok’un algoritması tarafından öne çıkarılıyor.

TikTok, medyada genel olarak bir tür meydan okuyucu uygulama olarak kendini tanıtsa da bu, rakamlara farklı yansıyor. Sosyal medya pazarlama şirketi Fanbytes’in müzik ortaklığı müdürü olan Dylan Pasqua’nın söylediklerine göre, TikTok aslında Instagram ya da YouTube’a kıyasla apayrı bir seviyede. Zira firmada tonlarca görüntüleme almak artık çok kolay bir hal almış durumda. Bununla beraber uygulama çok yüksek bir büyüme oranına sahip.

Pasqua ayrıca, Universal, Sony ve Warner gibi plak şirketlerine imza atan sanatçılarla TikTok’taki varlıklarını inşa etmeye çalıştıklarını ifade etti. Müdür açıklamasında müşterilerin YouTube’da 3 milyon, TikTok’ta ise 17,4 milyon gibi ortalama izlemeye oynadığından söz etti. Ki bu gidişata bakıldığında oldukça sıradan bir orana tekabül ediyor.

Bununla birlikte Apple Music ve Spotify gibi akış hizmetlerinden farklı olarak TikTok, bir video paylaşım uygulaması olduğu için ilk önceliğini müzik paylaşmaya kanalize etmedi. Kullanıcılarına müzik parçalarını ücretsiz olarak sunması da, tartışmaları beraberinde getirdi. Zira sektördeki kişiler, uygulamada kullanılan müziklerin en az yüzde 50’sinin lisanssız olduğunu iddia etti. Bu da elbette DMCA kuralları gereği telif ihlallerinin devreye girmesini ve büyük yasal işlem tehditlerine neden oldu.

TikTok’un müzik piyasasında yaptığı bu devrimsel girişimin sonuçları ilerde nasıl etkiler yaratacak sorusunu ise hep birlikte göreceğiz.

Kaynak: TechRadar

Kaynak: Shiftdelete.net