Square Enix Announces The World Ends With You Anime Project
Square Enix has revealed that The World Ends With You has become an anime project, and is currently in the works.
A newly-created TWEWY “The Animation” Twitter account notes that a full reveal of the project is coming during Anime Expo Lite on Friday, July 3 at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern (that’s July 4 at 2am UK / 11am AEST).
Anime Expo Lite will be a free livestream this year – it previously teased a collaboration with The World Ends With You during its key art reveal back in late May. You can check out the full TWEWY “The Animation” website here, which features a countdown and a glimpse at the 104 building, an iconic set piece from the 2007 Nintendo DS game, set in the Shibuya ward in Tokyo.
”The Animation”https://t.co/n6wDYuZhLg#TWEWY#すばらしきこのせかい
— すばらしきこのせかい The Animation 公式アカウント (@TWEWY_PR) June 25, 2020
If you’ve never heard of The World Ends With You before, it’s a one-off Square Enix RPG with a massive cult following. The game breathes Shibuya youth culture and was worked on by Final Fantasy and Kingdom Heart’s character designer Tetsuya Nomura. Characters from the game have featured in Kingdom Hearts games since its release, such as 3DS spin-off Dream Drop Distance.
A port of the game was revealed in early 2018 and has since launched on the Nintendo Switch. You can check out our review of the port here, which we called “simultaneously a good port and a bad one.” If you need some more convincing, here’s an opinion piece detailing why you should care about The World Ends With You.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
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Secretlab Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition Gaming Chair Now Available
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You can actually choose between the OMEGA and the TITAN 2020 series chairs, depending on your size. Both have unmistakable Cyberpunk 2077 branding: neon yellow on the backrest accented with “electrical traces and cybernetic augmentation slots,” as well as the Samurai logo embroidered on the back of the chair.
What I’m saying here is this is a really cool chair, and it’s available only in limited quantities (it’s already sold out in the UK, sorry chaps).
If you want to preorder Cyberpunk 2077, it’s currently on sale for $49.95. During yesterday’s Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire livestreaming event, we learned both the Xbox One and PS4 versions will be eligible for a free upgrade to their next-gen versions, which is extremely excellent news.
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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.
Coronavirus: Sweden says WHO made ‘total mistake’ by including it in warning
Microsoft to Permanently Close All But 4 Physical Stores
Microsoft announced the news and said that “the company’s retail team members will continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities and remotely providing sales, training, and support.”
Microsoft has told The Verge that no layoffs will result from today’s decision. Microsoft closed its retail stores in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and had yet to re-open them.
Since then, there focus has obviously shifted to its digital storefronts on Microsoft.com and the stores on both Xbox and Windows PC, which “reach more than 1.2 billion people every month in 190 markets.”
“We deliberately built teams with unique backgrounds and skills that could serve customers from anywhere. The evolution of our workforce ensured we could continue to serve customers of all sizes when they needed us most, working remotely these last months,” Microsoft Corporate Vice Pesident David Porter said in a statement. “Speaking over 120 languages, their diversity reflects the many communities we serve. Our commitment to growing and developing careers from this talent pool is stronger than ever.”
In April, Microsoft explained its plan to take care of its employees in this changed world we are living in, saying how many employees had already shifted to remote work and had how it had continued to “provide regular pay for team members through the pandemic.”
This news arrives in the same year as the launch of Microsoft’s newest console, the Xbox Series X, which is expected to be released in Holiday 2020.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Cuphead Netflix Series Gets a First Teaser
The streaming giant invited fans to take a behind-the-scenes look at the “intricate, nostalgic design” of the animated series in a new teaser shared on Twitter. The short video showcases character concept art for Cuphead (Tru Valentino) and his brother Mugman (Frank Todaro), together with Fleischer-style scenes that have been created to tell the tale of Cuphead, who is described as a “lovable scamp.”
Take an inside peek at the intricate, nostalgic design of The Cuphead Show! pic.twitter.com/EF0kpAi973
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) June 26, 2020
The show’s “ragtag tribe of enthusiastic artists and animators” provide an insightful commentary over the footage, with the team sharing details of everything involved in the creative process, from character creation and storyboarding to the role of the voice actors. The video concludes with another look at the official poster for the series, followed by a “coming soon” title card.
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“Reimagining the Fleischer style with these incredibly relatable siblings is gonna be pretty fresh and new,” executive producer CJ Kettler promised in one clip, while art director Andrea Fernandez suggested that the show would “bring you back to the wonder of childhood.”
Similarly to its video game counterpart, The Cuphead Show will follow the unique misadventures of the world’s colourful characters through 1930s-style animation, however, it will not be a retelling of the game. The character-driven comedy will be hand-drawn, though not entirely to paper this time, and not by Studio MDHR themselves, but rather Netflix’s own in-house animation studio.
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Netflix’s The Cuphead Show does not have a release date yet, so, for now, you’ll have to stick to playing the game.
In our review of the Cuphead game, we praised both its incredible hand-drawn graphics and its meticulous co-op challenge. Though it originally released as an Xbox One game and a PC game, it has since been ported to Nintendo Switch and, as IGN exclusively reported, it’s also on the way to Tesla vehicles as well. It has sold over 4 million copies so far.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
IGN UK Podcast #545: Cyberpunk! Avengers! Ice Creams!
Alongside that, we’ve got thoughts on The Sinner, Snowpiercer and the Harley Quinn TV show, not to mention a new Endless Search favourite, and your excellent emails. Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
IGN UK Podcast #545: Cyberpunk! Avengers! Ice Creams!
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- IGN UK Podcast #543: Our PS5 Reveal Reactions
- IGN UK Podcast #542: The Last of Us Part 2 Preview Impressions (No Spoilers Don’t Worry)
- IGN UK Podcast #541: Your Snyder Cut Feedback
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Read a Free Excerpt of Dwarf Story, by W. W. Marplot
Written by Professor W.W. Marplot, Dwarf Story tells the tale of middle-school student Arty, who stumbles upon “an ax-swinging, bearded, sweaty warrior Dwarf.” Soon he and his friends realize that all manner of magical creatures has converged on their everyday lives, which of course leads to an adventure as the kids follow the clues in an attempt to figure out the mystery behind these critters. “And also,” the book’s logline reminds us, “whether you can give aspirin to Pixies.”
According to Waxing Gibbous Books, Professor Welkin Westicotter Marplot, of Coillemuir, Scotland, “is a collector of esoteric tales of global wisdom and curator of ancient manuscripts. He is a recluse and, as he claims, has been collecting and collating adventure and fantasy stories for over a century.”
Today we’ve got a free sample of Dwarf Story for you to check out. The book, which is available for pre-order now, will be released on June 30. Read on for the excerpt, and check out the cover below as well!
Dwarf Story is available for pre-order now and will be released on June 30 as both an e-book and in paperback.
The Newest iPads Are on Sale for Black Friday Prices
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The newest iPads also work with Apple Pencil, so you don’t need to drop a grand to get a Pro Model if you’re interested in creating digital art. I recommend getting an Apple Pencil and the $10 Procreate app if you have any interest at all in drawing digitally.
Beyond art and web surfing, I use my iPad for reading comics. It’s awesome. The Marvel Unlimited and ComiXology Unlimited apps are great. In fact, you can still sign up for a 60-day ComiXology unlimited trial at no cost to you. If you have an iPad, or any device really, I recommend it.
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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.
