Square Enix announces the release date of their next game… and the fans have not taken it well

Square Enix announces the release date of its upcoming game… and fans are not happy about it, as they have announced that it uses AI to create part of its art.

Square Enix has been doing a good job with their games for a few years now. With a greater focus on their old catalog, releasing more small and medium-sized games, giving space and budget to their bigger games, they are doing interesting things. They still need to improve the marketing of their non-AAA games, but it seems like they are on the right track. Except for their marked obsession with NFTs, generative AI, and everything that causes allergic reactions in players.

Stable Diffusion ACCESS

Last Tuesday, January 16th, in a post on the PlayStation blog, they revealed the release date of their upcoming game, Foamstars: February 6th. This game is a 4vs4 third-person multiplayer shooter for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 that strongly resembles Splatoon, but with a k-pop-inspired aesthetic. Something they hope will reach a different and broader audience.

The problem for Square Enix is that the game has not been well received. Because, according to the game’s producer, Kosuke Okatani, the development team has used AI-generated assets. While he has emphasized that all design aspects have been developed by humans, the reality is that some game icons and disc covers have been created through Midjourney. This can also create several problems for them in the medium and long term.

The most obvious one is that, as we have already mentioned, the public does not feel particularly excited about the idea of playing a game that uses AI-generated art. However small it may be, the public’s perspective on this type of content is becoming less favorable, and Square Enix seems to be aware of this, clarifying that 0.01% of the game’s art, or even less, is generated by AI. Which does not solve the problem at hand.

Foamstars will be released on February 6th for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. In addition, from February 6th to March 4th, all PlayStation Plus users will be able to play it for free. At least, those who are not bothered by its use of Midjourney to create game assets.

Stable Diffusion ACCESS

Get ready for April’s PlayStation Plus games: Here’s the one you can’t miss!

With the arrival of new games with which to destroy the controller with the flick of a thumb, the eternal question arises: which one to hit first?

April’s PlayStation Plus games are about to be released: on Tuesday, April 4, ‘Meet your maker’, ‘Sackboy: A big adventure’ and ‘Tails of iron’ will finally be available. And with the arrival of new games with which to destroy the controller at the stroke of a thumb, comes the eternal question: Which one to hit first?

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Plataforming, adventure or raideo?

It depends a lot on your personal tastes, but here the first one we’ll try will be ‘Sackboy’. What can we do, we have such a nice memory of ‘Little Big Planet’ that we can’t resist to see what its protagonist does on PS5, with a classic platformer that drinks, and a lot, from the Mario saga (and specifically from Super Mario 3D World) without taking away a bit of charm. Admit it: no matter how much of a Sony fan you are, you’ve ever wished Miyamoto would release a couple of games on your PlayStation.

Sackboy’ is made with love and affection for the genre, but also for a character somewhat mistreated by time. If only for the good old days, it’s worth going back to a mythical saga. But of course, if we go to the good old (modernized) times, we don’t want to lose sight of ‘Tails of Iron’: a 2D ‘Dark Souls’ a little shorter than usual (at a certain age, believe us, it’s a good thing) and that goes to the point, with a spectacular and different narrative. Okay, it’s not ‘Hollow knight’, but it’s worth a look.

For once, the third in discord is not that we can’t recommend it, it’s that it’s an absolute novelty! And the first reviews leave it as a mixture of ‘Minecraft’, ‘Super Mario Maker’ and… ‘Doom’. How you stay. With a first-person gameplay, ‘Meet your maker’ consists of setting up the best possible defensive barrier in your base with enemies, traps and mazes so that your rivals can’t enter and rob you… while you go to do the same in their bases. Simple and fun.

To choose just one of the three games, we would need a whiteboard and several lists of pros and cons. Fortunately, in April, PlayStation Plus games were able to keep fans happy, so let’s hope the good times continue in May!