Industry Mourns Tomonobu Itagaki, Creator Of Dead Or Alive And 3D Ninja Gaiden

Tomonobu Itagaki was a hugely influential figure in the Japanese video game industry. He started Team Ninja in the late 1990s and played a key role in creating many of the action and fighting games we enjoy today. At a recent memorial event, Koei Tecmo’s Yosuke Hayashi shared a story about first meeting Itagaki in 2001. Hayashi remembered being assigned to Itagaki’s team, only to be told there wasn’t anything for him to do.

Code Vein II Prologue Trailer and MagMell Base screenshots published

We’re excited to introduce two new important characters: Iris MagMell (voiced by Ai Kakuma in Japanese) and Jadwiga (voiced by Sayaka Oohara in Japanese). Jadwiga will manage the base’s shops and smithy, with help from her many assistants who sell items both inside and outside. Iris, on the other hand, will be dedicated to researching and developing new equipment to enhance a Revenant’s powers.

The Sonic Movie Universe Keeps Expanding

Paramount is planning a fifth Sonic the Hedgehog movie, following the fourth film currently set for release in March 2027. While the fourth movie’s release date is known, details about the fifth film are still a secret – all that’s been confirmed is that it will take place within the Sonic universe, according to Deadline.

Megabonk gets a new Game Awards nomination after dev pulls it from Debut Indie

Megabonk was up for the Best Debut Indie award on November 17th, and it seemed like a done deal until the developer, Vedinad, pulled out of consideration at The Game Awards the following day. Vedinad felt Megabonk didn’t qualify for the “debut” category because he’d previously released games under different studio names, meaning it wasn’t actually his first game.

Fontworks LETS game font licensing cessation might affect Japanese game developer companies in 2026

The fonts used in LETS are popular with major Japanese game companies. You can find them in titles like Fate/Grand Order (Type-Moon), Granblue Fantasy (Cygames), Monster Hunter Generations and Ultimate (Capcom), Dragon Quest XI & Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix), and Persona 5 & Etrian Odyssey V (Atlus). However, in September 2023, Monotype, a US company, purchased Fontworks, the creators of these fonts.