Fresh off the streets of Evo 2022, two more characters have been announced for Street Fighter 6, the next evolution of the Street Fighter franchise, launching in 2023. Juri returns with her playfully sadistic ways along with new ninja Kimberly! We sat down with Game Director Takayuki Nakayama to ask him how Kimberly and Juri were designed along with quick bios for the duo. 

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A new era is here

Bust out some beats and shake up your spray cans to welcome the newest ninja to Street Fighter 6. Kimberly invited herself to become Guy’s student, who is the 39th Successor to Bushinryu after defeating his master Zeku, the 38th Successor. Kimberly had an ordinary upbringing, but she’s a prodigy who graduated college early and now wants to be a full-fledged ninja. She is infatuated with ’80s pop culture when the portable cassette player was at its peak popularity, hence why she always carries one with her.

Takayuki Nakayama: In terms of Kimberly’s design, we aimed to create an outfit suitable for her speedy and acrobatic movements since she excels in sports like track-and-field and cheerleading. Pair her brightly colored gi with sneakers suitable for moving around quickly, and you have Bushinryu-like ninja attire, don’t you think? We tried to make her hairstyle and outfit beautifully showcase her striking silhouette since she is an expert at running and airborne attacks. The spray can and portable cassette player on her waist are also used for special moves.

The music she listens to originates from a certain person, but you will have to wait for the story to find out who that is. Let’s see how Kimberly, the Ninja + Pop Star = Ninja Star, performs.

Roll7’s upcoming skater-shooter, Rollerdrome, features a fully original soundtrack, featuring dark retro-futuristic synth beats by the incredible Electric Dragon. I spoke to Ian, the artist behind Electric Dragon, to discuss the process of working on the project and creating this all-new album.

Jemima Tyssen Smith: Hello Ian! I had the pleasure of working with you while you created the incredible all-new music for Rollerdrome. This was such an exciting project for Roll7. What was it that drew you to the project?

Electric Dragon: You summoned me!

Haha – it’s true! Yes, I was actually the first person to reach out to you – we initially wanted just the one track, right?

Yes, that’s just it – I didn’t know the full details of the game at the time, but what I saw was super interesting to me, and I actually offered to do some original work at that point. After that I had a meeting with some of the team and we talked through what was needed in more detail. I’d been in a rut with the album I was working on, and talking to the folks at Roll7 really gave me a burst of inspiration. I think it just all came together really well for everyone involved, actually. I’d always wanted to work on a game soundtrack, and Rollerdrome is an incredible game to be involved with.

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I think when you spoke about the possibility of original tracks that felt perfect for us since we wanted such a specific vibe to the soundtrack. Could you talk a bit about that?

Yeah, so the energy we were after was a soundtrack with the power of synthwave but a distinct 70’s flavour. It felt like it might be quite tricky to balance as we really wanted to avoid going too disco as well – the game has a darkness to it that needed to be echoed in the music. In the end it actually came together quite naturally, though. I basically tackled the soundtrack as if it was sort of from the angle of the 70’s looking forward – very BBC ‘Tomorrow’s World’, you know? And then I was inspired a bit by lots of different things really: 70’s pioneers like Vangellis, Wendy Carlos, Philip Glass, Giorgio Moroder, Tangerine Dream… lots of inspiration from lots of places!

Seeing all of the cool kit you have is so inspiring – it’s all really interesting stuff. What was it that drew you to music and to synthwave in the first place?

I used to have a Commodore 64 as a kid, and my uncle bought me some software for that which was called ‘Utilisynth’. It was very complicated, but I managed to make some awesome wibbly-wobbly noises, and from there on I was sort of hooked

It’s August and things are really heating up—and we don’t just mean outdoors. There’s a tidal wave of new indie titles coming to PS4, PS5, and PS VR this month*, covering a wide variety of genres and playstyles. Here you’ll find wacky sports action, death-defying stunts, alien words, and even a terrifying “vacation” to a secluded cabin… all without the risk of sunburn. Take a look at some of this month’s indie highlights to plan your next adventure.

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Gigabash

It’s time to cause some combat carnage on a gargantuan scale. Passion Republic Games is debuting Gigabash, an all-new multiplayer arena brawler for PS4 and PS5. Humanity has screwed up big-time by uncovering ancient forbidden technology that’s caused massive monsters to pop up across the globe. They’re looking to brawl and party in the only way they know: by causing massive destruction. Fight as a giant mech or monster with up to three other players. Utilize quick movement and unique skills to prove your might, repurpose buildings, landmarks, and infrastructure as your personal beatdown tools, then use your amassed Giga Energy to morph into the ultimate S-Class monster. Come August 5, no city is safe.

Release Date: August 5, 2022 | Publisher: Passion Republic Games | PS4, PS5

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Cult of the Lamb

When a helpless little lamb finds itself saved from doom by a mysterious stranger named “The One Who Waits,” they are awakened to a newfound religious zeal for their savior. Now, they must build their own flock of devoted followers. This dark and humorous action/adventure/strategy game fr

You’ve probably seen a music biopic movie or tv show: a story of the rise-to-fame of some band you know. You’ve probably heard songs by a virtual band, animated characters playing music recorded by real creative artists.

We Are OFK is both of these things.

• OFK is our virtual band, with real songs on streaming services, like any other band you like.
• We Are OFK is a video game about the origin story of our band.

With me so far? Okay so we’re kinda making a biopic about ourselves. An auto-biopic, for you word nerds… 

The story of a music biopic usually goes like this: A small-town artist works hard, isn’t appreciated, and almost gives up. Then they meet a record label executive who “gets it”, or they impress somebody famous at a bar, and that person launches them into stardom. They record an album! They go on tour! They see the world! Sex! Oh no, drugs! …They hit rock-bottom. Their friends are angry or sad or whatever, and some combination of these terrible things motivates the artist to turn their life around. They rediscover their love for music and remember why they do this in the first place. I like these stories! They’re inspiring, but they’re so big.

Do you know how many artists become megastars? It’s not a lot. Most musicians never “make it”, and making music does not pay a living wage. But still, tons of people make music, no matter whether they get paid or not. Those big pop-star stories are inspiring, but I think the people just trying to make anything… that’s magic to me.

Same thing with virtual bands. They’re so glamorous and imaginative, but they’re larger than life. For all of us on Team OFK… we don’t know anyone like that, really. We’re mostly hanging out on couches, doodling, eating sandwiches in a park, or ordering delivery noodles again.

We Are OFK is our indie-sized experiment at making a smaller biopic. A smaller virtual band. An imagined group, created by artists, musicians, and game designers who all know how hard it is to just make something, finish it, and put it out into the world, because we still struggle to do that most days. What would it look like to create virtual musicians who watch performances of these pop-stars on their laptops in bed, and know they’re probably never going to play a stadium concert? We wanted to tell that story – how hard it is to make music, to write even one song, to record another video to post online, and hope someone leaves a nice comment. Getting through day jobs, loneliness, awkward group chats, someone at a party who won’t stop talking to you… all of it.

We made our biopic as a game, because we feel close to this band, our band, and we want you to, too. You’ll decide things they say, what texts they send, how they express themselves as they go through their

Greetings to all of our dedicated Let It Die fans. I am super excited to announce that Deathverse: Let It Die is launching on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 Fall 2022! 

Since our announcement on PlayStation’s State of Play last year, we received lots of great comments from our community. On May 28 and June 5, we also had an open beta test called Limited-Time Open Beta: Destroy the Server! Players from all over the world participated, and the test ended with great success thanks to all of you.

Our game was originally announced for Spring 2022, but due to the results from the open beta, the game’s release was postponed. 

Now, our team here at Supertrick Games is working hard to make this game the best it can be. We are also incorporating the feedback from the open beta survey, so we hope everyone will look forward to the game’s launch.

What is Deathverse: Let It Die?

The game is set after the events of our previous game, Let It Die, where players fight for stardom in the survival TV reality show, “Death Jamboree”. The show takes place in a virtual world known as Deathverse, which was created by the Yotsuyama Group as a destination for people’s souls. 

Upon participating in Death Jamboree, all contestants will be outfitted with a special “Wilson” unit, a robotic device that assists you in combat. Wilsons can transform into either a weapon or shield to assist players in combat and is considered a must-have item by well-to-do consumers everywhere.

If you want to learn more, check out this PS Blog article from our first PlayStation Blog, published right after PlayStation’s State of Play in October 2021. 

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Dev team discusses outlandish weaponry

If you participated in our open beta, players may remember the five weapons that could be used in the matches.

The game’s Director, Shin Hideyuki and the Art team provided some exclusive details behind the game design and artwork about each weapon.

“The design of the basic weapons in Deathverse does not just function to cut or punch opponents but adds a layer of horror as a torture device. All the weapons have a common design, where they have a tank (the shiny blue part) that contains a substance called ‘SPLithium’.”

Machete

“We designed this weapon with the standard movement and action of Deathverse in mind. This weapon can be held with one hand, has variations in speed for certain actions, and is incredibly well-balanced in its ability to go on offense and defense. Its normal attacks are of a 3-hit combo, and players can activate its special attack to destroy opponents’ shields and leave them defenseless for the kill.”