I’m sitting here jamming to the newly-released Final Fantasy IX music collection on Spotify. I finished The Last of Us Part II on Sunday (review coming soon) and like many people, I definitely have some strong feelings about the game.

A Diablo II remaster might be coming in late 2020

You might have noticed that there wasn’t really much fanfare over the 20th anniversary of Diablo II. ActuGaming (via TweakTown) reports that there’s a remaster coming, and we could see a reveal by the end of 2020 with a release by 2021.

Diablo II is well-known for being one of the greatest ARPGs of all time, as well as one of the pioneers of the genre. I don’t know how I feel about a remaster though – do I really want to go through Act III again?

It’s the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX

Square Enix is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX with a whole bunch of stuff, like the release of a new collection of FFIX music onto select streaming services, interviews with the original creators of the game (Kazuhiko Aoki, Toshiyuki Itahana and Hiroyuki Ito), and…a blog post.

Even though I was a latecomer to FFIX, having played it years after release, I still think of it as the most well-written of the Final Fantasy games. The story is equal parts poignant and hilarious, and the cast of characters is some of the zaniest you’ll find in any RPG. Highly highly recommended, remember: this was Square in its prime.

It’s also currently 50% off on Steam!

Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown announced

While we’re on the subject of old games, a long time ago I used to play Test Drive 3: The Passion on the family 286. It had a concept that was very foreign at the time: basically, an “open-world” racing game where you’d be driving on highways and local roads, rather than a set course. You could drive literally anywhere, like on the train tracks or go off-road. You even had to follow the speed limit in some areas or get ticketed by the police.

It was way ahead of its time. Even the manual was hilarious.

Fast-forward to today, and now Test Drive Unlimited is a series developed by Nacon. Today, they announced Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown with no release date as of yet.

I’m a little concerned though, since this is the description:

I love the open-world aspect, but…lifestyle experience? Life of luxury? What? I just want to race and drift around in fun cars.

Ars Technica interviews Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, creators of Star Control

Guess classics will be the theme of the day. Ars Technica recently released a long-form interview with Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, creators of the Star Control franchise (that’s 1 & 2, we don’t talk about 3).

If you haven’t played Star Control 2, you are missing out on one of the greatest space RPGs ever created. There’s a free version floating around called The Ur-Quan Masters.

“Frungy, the sport of kings!”

Pokémon Go Reaches $3.6 Billion in Revenue

Here’s the insane stat of the day: Pokémon Go has made over $3.6 billion dollars during its lifetime. I’m surprised, and not surprised at the same time: it definitely had a cult following, but come on – how many people have you seriously seen playing the game lately? (pre-COVID)

My own Pokémon Go tale started like everyone else’s on the game’s release day: July 6, 2016. Except I was in Prague at the time, and LITERALLY EVERYBODY was playing this game back in the USA. So I installed it and was probably the only person playing it in the country at the time, since it hasn’t been officially launched in the Czech Republic at the time. Fun times.