Comments 85

Re: 20 Years Later, Identity of Metal Gear Solid 3 Eva Voice Actress Revealed

Hydra_Spectre

@PegasusActual93 Cam Clarke was Simba's animated voice actor (until Rob Lowe started voicing him in The Lion Guard) whenever they can't get Matthew Broderick, he was also Simba's singing voice in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, where his speaking voice was Broderick.

Brian Cummings is known for doing the "Coming Soon to Own on DVD and Video" voiceover in Disney DVDs and videotapes (which do include more adult releases from Touchstone and Miramax).

And Jennifer Hale is Cinderella's voice actress in all of her animated appearances except the original 1950 film. Too bad we don't have Paige O'Hara (Belle) in Metal Gear. But we do have Ming Na-Wen (Mulan) in Final Fantasy, but only in that Spirits Within movie.

Re: Square Enix Resolves to Implement 'Aggressive' AI Strategy in 2024

Hydra_Spectre

AI can also be used to restore and remaster low-res assets.
I hope they actually use this AI tech to remaster the backgrounds in their pre-rendered games of old and pre-rendered FMV cutscenes. As long as it's carefully restored.

I saw the "4K remaster" of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - Complete and most of the film was still upscaled from 480p, with some upticks of 1080p. There was even Crisis Core footage that was only 272p. All blown up to 4K, not properly re-rendered.
AI upscaling would probably make the 4K remaster look much better.

Re: The Marvels Director Was Inspired by 'Amazing' Final Fantasy Movie

Hydra_Spectre

I am actually excited for this film, but I have a limited budget for watching films at the cinema. I can only watch one movie per month at most.
And I just watched Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour a couple of weeks ago, which I really loved.
Plus I really wanna watch Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and The Heron, which is coming out at the end of this month where I live.

Also, I missed out on most Marvel movies and shows since Hawkeye, so I would be lost on the lore, especially as I haven't seen the Ms. Marvel series yet. Nor have I seen Secret Invasion yet.

Re: Hideo Kojima Missing from Metal Gear Solid Collection's Credits on PS5, PS4

Hydra_Spectre

@get2sammyb Yeah. But the title is still clickbait/ragebait.
And it seems that they are getting angry at seeing Kojima not credited, when he wasn't involved in the actual porting process and curation of this collection.

What Konami did here is still better than what Square Enix did for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, which outright removed the credits for the original creators. Which is especially egregious in FF5 and FF6.

Re: Hideo Kojima Missing from Metal Gear Solid Collection's Credits on PS5, PS4

Hydra_Spectre

This is wrong. The actual games themselves, when booted up, still credit the original team that made the games AND the HD remasters from Bluepoint.

But the Master Collection's credits won't list Kojima as he wasn't involved in making this specific collection. He wasn't involved in making the digital books, the UI/menu, etc...
He is still credited in the actual games themselves, including the opening and end credits for the actual games.

I love most of your writings here at Push Square, but I don't like misleading clickbait.

Re: Don't Worry, You Can Still Upgrade the PS5 Slim's SSD

Hydra_Spectre

I would say this is a first for a PlayStation revision, since many of them cut corners. But the PS4 Slim had the same functionality as the base PS4.
Also, I think the PSP-2000 and 3000 actually had more RAM than the PSP-1000, and also a better screen. All these despite being slimmer models.

The PS one removed the I/O port. The PS2 Slim removed the hard drive slot, making Final Fantasy XI Online unplayable there. The PS3 Slim and Super Slim gutted out PS2 backwards compatibility and Super Audio CD playback entirely (but kept PS1 backwards compatibility).

Re: Won't Someone Think of the Children? UK Moves to Protect Kids from Loot Boxes

Hydra_Spectre

@nessisonett I know The Evil Within had a heavily-censored CERO D release in Japan, with an uncensored CERO Z DLC being available to allow Japanese players to get an uncensored release.

Something similar can be done for lootboxes. But publishers would see an even bigger hit to their reputation if they sell you paid DLC that only gives you the ability to spend even more for lootboxes.

This law, despite being made to regulate lootboxes, may just end up killing lootboxes altogether. And I am happy with that.

Re: Well Actually, Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater PS5 Will Reuse the Original Voice Lines

Hydra_Spectre

@nessisonett
Very unlikely, because for all the scummy things Konami does, they at least heavily respect their voice actors.
That said, an AI restoration would be great, as long as they don't have AI doing the voice acting of the original actors, like what Disney did for Luke Skywalker in the Disney+ Star Wars shows.

@ATaco
Four of the Japanese voice actors have died already.
Even if they do re-record the voice lines for this remake, they will have to (and probably prefer to) recycle the PS2 voice lines for the characters whose voice actors have died if they want to keep the original cast.
And Konami, being a company that respects the original voice actors, will most definitely recycle the PS2 voice lines for everyone in this remake.

Remember when they reused Brawl's Codec calls for Ultimate? It was because Colonel Campbell's Japanese voice actor died in 2012, and they don't want to recast him out of respect.
If they would do it for Smash Ultimate, they would do it here too.

They also reused some of Kaneto Shiozawa's (Gray Fox) voice lines in MGS2 for the Cyborg Ninja in the Japanese version, even if it was a different character. Strangely, they just had Vanessa Marshall dub them for the English dub of MGS2.

Re: Well Actually, Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater PS5 Will Reuse the Original Voice Lines

Hydra_Spectre

They are most likely doing this because of respect to some of the Japanese voice actors who have died.
Kazumi Tanaka (The Fear) died in 2007, Kenji Fujiwara (SigInt) died in 2020, Kenji Utsumi (Volgin) died in 2013 (also why the Man on Fire has no actual dialogue), and Takeshi Aono (Colonel Cambpell) died in 2012, and they don't want to recast them out of respect.

Konami, even without Kojima, heavily respects their voice actors, at least in Japan.
This is also why the Codec calls were blatantly recycled from Super Smash Bros. Brawl when they brought back Snake in Ultimate. Because that would necessitate recasting Colonel Campbell, and they don't want to do that out of respect for Aono.

This is also why they had Liquid's voice actor voice Ocelot in the Japanese version of MGS4, with it being explained that Liquid fully possessed Ocelot at this point. And that hearing Ocelot's past utterings of "You're pretty good" was supposed to signify that Ocelot finally returned to his senses.
And this is also why The Twin Snakes was released in Japan with the English dub. Because Gray Fox's Japanese actor, Kaneto Shiozawa, died in 2000, and since the game could not just recycle the original voice acting, they used the English dub instead of recasting Gray Fox.

Re: Final Fantasy 16 Was Planned for PS5 and PS4, But the Last-Gen Version Would Have Taken Too Long

Hydra_Spectre

@Ryne-Gaia Yeah. With the upgraded technology, we could have a new Deus Ex that would give Cyberpunk 2077 a run for its money in the eye candy department.

But what I mostly want is a satisfying finale to the Adam Jensen Prequel Trilogy, since Mankind Divided ended in a cliffhanger. It was supposed to be one game but they split it into two because of Square Enix's executive meddling, and the second half was put on hold until now.
Mankind Divided was basically The Empire Strikes Back of this trilogy, but imagine if we never got Return of the Jedi.
That's basically where Deus Ex is at now, until DX5 comes out.

Re: Final Fantasy 16 Was Planned for PS5 and PS4, But the Last-Gen Version Would Have Taken Too Long

Hydra_Spectre

This is good.
We don't want another XV fiasco here.
I loved XV, but the development of that game certainly took a massive toll on the developers and Square Enix; not helped by Square Enix being obsessed with recapturing the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII's success in building an expanded universe.
First, it was Fabula Nova Crystallis, which required reading a creation myth that tied XIII and two different scenarios for XIII (Agito XIII which became Type-0, and Versus XIII which became XV). And that wasn't enough, since XIII was built to have two sequels while XV required an anime miniseries, a movie, and an audio drama before playing to understand the story, and then you had to play standalone DLC stories for each of Noctis' friends and Ardyn, and read a novel detailing the stories of the cancelled DLC. And free updates were made to patch together the unfinished story even after it was released 10 years in the making.

I don't count the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X-2, since those were afterthoughts. And Final Fantasy XII taking place in the same world as Tactics and Vagrant Story was a creative decision from Yasumi Matsuno, and not the higher-ups at Square Enix.

Even Deus Ex was plagued with this, with Square Enix pushing a Deus Ex Universe after the success of Human Revolution. With tons of tie-in comics and novels, a mobile spinoff, and splitting the sequel Mankind Divided into two parts. And then they cancelled Mankind Divided: Part Two when the first half didn't meet their ridiculous expectations, and Eidos Montreal was instead turned into the Marvel Mines before Embracer Group bought Eidos and decided to revive Deus Ex.

At this point, it's a miracle XVI's development went by really smoothly even with COVID.
And it's a miracle it doesn't have Square Enix's expanded universe obsession. For now, at least.

Re: Not Even Sony's Been Able to Avoid the Enormous Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Hype

Hydra_Spectre

I love it whenever the competing companies acknowledge each other in friendly manners.
Almost like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are all rivals but friendly ones who compete with each other to improve each other.
They consider each other worthy opponents and that's what makes them friends.

The first time I saw this was probably with Sony 4K Blu-rays advertising the Xbox One X/S, since PlayStation would not have a 4K Blu-ray player until the PS5.
Sony films like Blade Runner 2049 and Into the Spider-Verse advertised the Xbox One X/S on their Indian releases.

It's sad when fanboys are arguing against each other, when these competing companies are more like friends who compete against each other for improvement. Improvement for each other and themselves.

Re: Expect Some Animated Adaptations of PS5, PS4's Biggest Franchises

Hydra_Spectre

It's crazy how Sony Pictures Animation's reputation was already rock-bottom even before they made The Emoji Movie.
Then they made Into the Spider-Verse and their reputation did a complete 180.

It's crazy how once widely-hated studios like Sony Pictures Animation and Illumination Entertainment are hailed much better than Disney and Pixar right now, while Disney and Pixar have had downfalls with their most recent films being box office bombs or being dumped on streaming.

Re: Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Reportedly Out Next Year

Hydra_Spectre

I just want modern PC/Nintendo Switch/PS5/PS4/Xbox ports of the Hideo Kojima Metal Gear Saga.
But I’m worried if they might Alan Smithee the original dev team. Square Enix did just that for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, Retro Studios did it for Metroid Prime Remastered, and Bandai Namco did it for PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC.
I hate how the original credits keep getting removed from recent retro rereleases. Like giving them the Alan Smithee treatment without their consent.

Re: Sonic Origins Plus Catching Heat for Using Zoomed-In Game Gear Versions

Hydra_Spectre

@Alexface I know the Game Gear had more colours and stereo audio, while the Master System only had mono audio.
And these are emulated bonuses.

In an ideal world, maybe Creative Araya would be hired to remake these games in 16:9.

My ideal for Sonic Origins would be:

  • RSDK remasters of Sonic 1, CD, 2 and 3 with all the features in Origins and Origins Plus
  • Separate Original Sonic 3 Music DLC, where all royalties go to Michael Jackson's estate and composers
  • Sonic Mania Plus shaders
  • Can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, or any combination of two of the four, in all main games
  • Master System/Game Gear games remastered by Creative Araya with RSDK, including toggleable options for MS/GG soundtracks for Sonic 2 8-Bit
  • New RSDK remasters of Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn graphics, Original and Director's Cut modes, toggleable Genesis or Saturn OST), Knuckles' Chaotix, Sonic Spinball Genesis, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Genesis, Sonic Eraser, and SegaSonic the Hedgehog
  • HD remasters of Sonic R and Sonic the Fighters with online multiplayer
  • HD remaster of Sonic World from Sonic Jam
  • Sonic Mania Plus playable as part of Sonic Origins with some additional features if you have Mania Plus save data on your console/PC
  • Museum Mode, but with much more options
  • Mission Mode
  • Classic Modes of each game being Genesis emulations instead of cropped RSDK remasters
  • Easy, Normal and Original Modes from Sonic Jam
  • Support for a wide variety of aspect ratios on PC and mobile depending on the display, ranging from 4:3 all the way to multi-monitor widescreen 48:9
  • Regularly updated standalone mobile ports with all in-game Origins features (free with ads, $1 to remove ads and another $1 to add Origins Plus features like playable Amy)
  • RSDK source code released for free (game data still has to be purchased, but the RSDK is now open source similar to DOOM)
  • Stereoscopic 3D effects like the 3DS versions for VR (Labo VR, PSVR 1 & 2, Oculus/Meta, SteamVR, mobile VR, etc…)

Re: There's a New Persona 5 Game, But It's a Gacha for Smartphones

Hydra_Spectre

Perfect World is a Chinese company most known for making the MMO Perfect World.
They also coproduce a ton of Hollywood films with Universal (which also has Japanese studio Toho coproducing their films) like Jurassic World: Dominion, Us, Cats (2019), Dear Evan Hansen, and Nobody.

I am here to say that a Persona 5 gacha is the worst thing Perfect World ever made. And they’re the people who helped make Cats 2019.
It’s like they’re actively trying to top themselves out in awfulness.

Re: Horizon, The Wire's Lance Reddick Has Passed Away

Hydra_Spectre

This is a massive tragedy.
He was a really great actor. And he was also one of the very few legitimately good things about Netflix's Resident Evil. In fact, his Albert Wesker was a really great performance, so much so that he can even make the worst written lines sound great.

Re: Resident Evil 4 (PS5) - A True Masterpiece Made Even Better

Hydra_Spectre

I personally love the RE4 remake, but it was the remake that was the least necessary.
Code: Veronica would have been great with an RE2make/RE3make style remake. RE0 and another RE1 remake would be great with being adapted to RE2make, RE3make and RE4make's gameplay.

RE5 and RE6 could work well with RE Engine remakes with much better graphics, but most importantly, if they fix the stories with some rewrites and alterations, while bringing back the horror that was gone in those games.
Imagine RE5 and RE6 but actually scary. That would be great.

Re: Endure and Survive HBO's The Last of Us on 4K UHD Blu-ray, with Over 3 Hours of Special Features

Hydra_Spectre

@KidBoruto HBO Max has Dolby Vision and HDR10 on their streams.
What's surprising is that Crave has The Last of Us in 4K SDR, no HDR. But they also have The Raccoons in 1080p only and cropped to 16:9, despite being remastered in 4K for both 4:3 and 16:9. And Crave is missing the specials despite those being remastered in 4K as well.

I'm glad we're getting more physical 4K UHD TV series releases. Especially since HBO only released Euphoria on DVD (not even Blu-ray), even though the show would benefit a lot as it was shot on 35mm film and mastered in 4K.
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (which are distributed by Sony) don't have 4K UHD releases yet despite being mastered in 4K by Sony.

They actually announced that The Raccoons would be coming to Blu-ray, and I won't be surprised if it gets a 4K UHD before Euphoria and Breaking Bad do.
Hell, Embracer Group/Anime Ltd. released a '70s anime series Future Boy Conan in 4K UHD (though it is an early Hayao Miyazaki series, before Studio Ghibli) and a '90s anime series with Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (by Hideaki Anno).
Strangely, GKIDS hasn't released these 4K UHDs in the US, but Anime Ltd. did in the UK, but GKIDS has already released some 4K UHDs.

We got Future Boy Conan in 4K and English before we got a 4K UHD release of Euphoria, one of HBO's biggest current series. FBC was pretty much banned in English-speaking countries because of Alexander Key's estate claiming that Miyazaki plagiarised his book The Incredible Tide for the show. But the legal issues have been settled and they can release the series in English for the first time, and with a 4K remaster too.

Re: Skywalker Saga-Style LEGO Harry Potter Reportedly En Route

Hydra_Spectre

@Orpheus79V We need that. We can even have DLC based on the upcoming New Line Cinema spinoff films like the anime The War of the Rohirrim, which will take place in the Peter Jackson Middle-earth.
And maybe even DLC based on The Rings of Power, which is ambiguous on whether it is part of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth.

Re: French Cathedral Gets Demonic Makeover in Honour of Diablo 4's Upcoming Open Beta

Hydra_Spectre

I'm awaiting the controversy this will bring.
I wouldn't want to do this to a cathedral for marketing.
But then again, this is Activision-Blizzard we're talking about, and they are the absolute kings and queens of shady business in the gaming industry.

I am a Catholic, and I usually don't get offended by games like DOOM and Diablo, but actually modifying a real life cathedral as a marketing stunt just rubs me off the wrong way.
I can get changing a mall, a restaurant, an arcade, or a cinema for marketing like this. But religious grounds are something you should never alter for marketing. Religious sites are pretty much unacceptable targets for marketing.
If they altered a Muslim mosque, they would get tons of backlash, if they were even allowed in the first place. But it's a Catholic cathedral which somehow makes it okay to them.

I love the art. And I guess that real cathedrals have gargoyles in them, which look like stereotypical demons but are actually meant to scare evil spirits and demons from the holy grounds of a cathedral. I guess such a type of artwork would scare away real demons, just like how demons are supposedly afraid of gargoyles.

EDIT: They used canvas panels that could be removed. So these changes are temporary. Still doesn't make it any less inappropriate.

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