Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.
Here’s the thing: I find that a lot of gaming-focused mice don’t put ergonomics particularly high on the list of priorities. That’s not to say they can’t be comfortable, but the focus is very clearly on the design and the features that will give the user a competitive edge. And that makes sense, but it’s a lot of money for…
Well, fellow Final Fantasy fans, here’s our chance. For years now we’ve been begging Square Enix for a new 2D, pixel-based Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy Resonance isn’t Final Fantasy XVII, but after the success of the Octopath Traveler series and Dragon Quest remakes, it’s pretty clearly an effort by the…
A persistent issue I have with video game adaptations of stories from…
For some time, Konami has followed the trend with its Castlevania series,…
Inti Creates is one of the most talented retro-style platform developers out there. While Nintendo continues to look for ways to modernise the 2D platformer in its Mario, Donkey Kong, and other properties, Inti Creates focuses on pixels, classic level design, and challenging, taut mechanics. Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is…
Read More
Gosh Ryza’s gorgeous. Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, the game, I mean. Not the character (but yeah, also her). The third and final chapter of Ryza’s story is almost upon us, and I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with the opening chapter or…
Read More
Now that Fire Emblem Engage has settled down a bit, I wanted to talk about the series as a whole, because Nintendo’s inability to see the value of making these games accessible on modern platforms is starting to get frustrating. Related reading: All Fire Emblem titles released in English, ranked!…
Read More
Over in the world of literature, there has been quite the kerfuffle over the last week or so. News broke that the estate of Roald Dahl, and the publisher of his books, Puffin, would be taking the author’s body of work and, on the advice of sensitivity readers, making several…
Read More
Odencat isn’t exactly a household name, but this Japanese studio, behind the likes of Fishing Paradiso and Bear’s Restaurant, has been steadily building up a reputation for interesting ideas, executed well. The team’s next game is called Meg’s Monster, and it’s got a lot of promise. The game’s concept is…
Read More
I am really quite confused by the release of Spy Bros.: Pipi & Bibi’s DX. This is an obscure arcade game that almost no one would remember, from a “series” that never got a sequel. It was one single arcade release, and then it was relegated to MAME history. Sure,…
Read More
Netflix has done something that no other company had really managed to do before; tap into the Japanese film and television market and get a lot of it localised and easily accessible in western markets. While Japanese films remain as rare as hen’s teeth on any of the other subscription…
Read More
“It’s more of the same!” You just know that this is going to be the main comment (and complaint) about Octopath Traveler II. “It’s too much like the first.” Except it’s not. Of course it’s not. Octopath Traveler was a narrative-driven game that focused on the stories of eight distinct…
Read More
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a spinoff of the Yakuza series, but it is also so much more than that, as we explore in this video. Yakuza films and samurai films have a long history in Japanese cinema, and they’re actually more closely related than many might think (thematically, at…
Read More
There are three things I look forward to in a Yakuza game: Exceptional writing and storytelling, a vibrant and interesting open world (rare, given how dull and bloated most open worlds are), and an authentic setting that makes me homesick for Japan. Like A Dragon: Ishin! might not have “Yakuza”…
Read More