GEMU I NO.1 SELECTION FOR VIDEO GAMES JUNE 2023 ISSUE 12 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH LUCK ALL AROUND The Rise in Popularity of Gacha Games NEW GAMES 2023 Games across all platforms available GAME EQUIPMENT For maximum comfort and quality while gaming
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Gaming Equipment: Best Top 4 Suggested Gaming 03 Accessories For 2023 Honkai Star Rail: Exclusive Interview 06 Genshin Impact Takes Over The World 08 Honkai Impact 3rd: Information on upcoming Forest Capriccio Honkai Concert 10 2
3 EDITOR’S NOTE When your heart is set on something, you get closer to your goal with each passing day.” -Director Joachim Welt of Gemu Magazine QUOTE OF THE MONTH Our cover for this month is Hoyoverse’s newest game Honkai Star Rail, featuring the main characters, The Trailblazers. We’ll be getting an exclusive interview from Hoyoverse themselves about their new and rising popularity of Honkai Star Rail along side their other games. Honkai: Star Rail is a role-playing gacha video game developed by Hoyoverse, published by Hoyoverse in China and worldwide by its subsidiary HoYoverse. It was released on April 26, 2023, for Windows and mobile devices; port for PlayStation 5 is planned with a Q4 release window. It is the fourth installment in the Honkai series, drawing on characters from Honkai Impact 3rd and gameplay elements from Genshin Impact. This issue also features two major topics pertaining Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd alongside news of their latest event. Hoyoverse has made a big impact for the gaming industry with their top teir animation and graphic design qualities. Illiyya Rozman Editor in Chief [email protected] Illiyya* From our p.o.v., we are just grateful to have so many brilliant people and projects to write stories about! We hope you enjoy reading about their wide range of gaming info and their uses in the gaming community and gaming industry. 3
Gaming Equipment: Best Top 4 Suggested Gaming Accessories For 2023 #1 Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Wireless Gaming Headset The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Wireless Surround Sound Gaming Headset is available in different SKUs for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, including some functionality with Windows PCs. These headphones are of an extremely high quality, with powerful 55 millimeter speakers, advanced audio drivers and a fantastic battery that gets 15 hours of use on a single charge. We also liked that they are available in a wide variety of color options and that the design is comfortable for long gaming sessions, even for people that wear glasses. #2 Razer Gaming Mouse Bungee Gaming Accessory The Razer Gaming Mouse Bungee is designed to increase accuracy and precision while PC gaming by offering a space to rest mouse cables. It allows for full freedom of movement and does a great job at cable management, with a weighted base for stability and a rust-free design that will always be aesthetically pleasing while sitting on your gaming desk. We also loved the light and compact form factor, as it weighs just eight ounces. #3 J S Vision Blue Light Shield Gaming Glasses Gaming Accessory This pair of J S Vision Blue Light Shield Gaming Glasses are intended to reduce eye fatigue and damage associated with long gaming, computing and smartphone sessions, with a durable and high quality construction, complete with a one year warranty, and availability in a wide variety of frame sizes and shapes. We also found these glasses to be comfortable for long-term use. Though this item does ship with a case and a cleaning cloth, we found the case to be not particularly sturdy, though it wasn’t a huge deal. Additionally, you cannot wear these over pre-existing glasses, and they do not offer a prescription-based model, which could be an issue for those with poor eyesight. This is a must-have for the best gaming consoles. #4 Redragon K585 DITI One-Handed Gaming Keyboard Gaming Accessory The Redragon K585 DITI One-Handed RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is made from highly durable components, with a mechanical keyboard design that boasts spring activated key switches. We also loved the removable wrist-rest section, which came in handy during certain gaming sessions, and the integrated software suite that allows for a wide variety of key mapping and lighting adjustments. To learn more, scan here 4
Honkai Star Rail: HoYoverse Talks About the Next Honkai Chapter [Exclusive Interview] After taking the world by storm with Genshin Impact – for those who weren’t paying attention to Honkai Impact 3rd -, HoYoverse/MiHoYo is back with Honkai: Star Rail. This time the pressure is palpable and the China-based studio has a lot of high expectations upon them. We talked with the team to see how this Honkai spin-off is coming and what you can expect when it releases. FreeMMOStation: How large is the team currently working on Honkai: Star Rail? And when did development start? HoYoverse: We currently have more than 400 people on the team of Honkai: Star Rail. Since the project was launched, the team has spent years bouncing off ideas and developing together. FreeMMOStation: Did you learn a lot from the development of Genshin Impact and used some of its lessons in Honkai: Star Rail? If so, can you give us some examples? HoYoverse: We hope to create an excellent spiritual sequel to the Honkai series for everyone, while also incorporating turn-based gameplay that we have not tried before. This is an area that we have not explored before, so it brings different challenges to the development team. In the process of development and production, we continue to have excellent new R&D members joining us; at the same time, the development experience of the other products under HoYoverse/ miHoYo, including the production and management of platform resources, rational use of hardware features of each platform for optimization, as well as through experiencing the combat performance and game performance, and so on, have brought us great help in the development of Honkai: Star Rail. HoYoverse: Honkai: Star Rail aims to provide a complete experience of the main features including turn-based strategy combat, vast maps, maze exploration, puzzle-solving, and more. As mentioned above, the two titles of HoYoverse focus on actionoriented games, and we are also very honored to receive the attention and love of the majority of players. In fact, after Honkai Impact 3rd, the team has been thinking about ways to create titles with new gameplays while continuing the spiritual core of the Honkai series to improve the player’s 6
experience and choice. This is also a new challenge for us. In terms of turn-based strategy, it has always been a genre we’ve wanted to try. As one of the classic game genres, the turn-based genre has a prolonged charm of its own. There have been countless marvelous turnbased strategy titles in the past that are loved by players around the world. Unlike the exhilarating on-hit feedback of real-time action games, the excitement of turn-based strategy games come from careful planning, thinking and defeating the enemy. Despite being easy to get started, it allows diverse and flexible playstyles and strategies. Even for the same stage, different characters may make varied combinations. Therefore, turnbased games are not only very friendly to the player with slow hands, but also provide space for expert players who prefer to strategize, allowing them to gradually form a playstyle that suits their own pace and personality. Not only that, while retaining the core of turn-based strategy gameplay, we have also added some new elements such as maze exploration, real-time action, roguelike, and so on to continuously enrich the player’s gaming experience. After all, whether it’s real-time action or turn-based strategy, it is just how we shape the style and immersion of the game. We also hope to organically combine the turn-based gameplay with the lore and narrative of Honkai: Star Rail, so as to reach a wider player base, so that more players may experience the beauty of the Honkai franchise. FreeMMOStation: What is the exact relationship between Honkai: Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd? Where does the new game picks up in terms of lore, what returning characters can we expect, and other things? HoYoverse: The gameplay, story and lore of Honkai: Star Rail will be independent of the other titles from the Honkai series. However, the spiritual core of the Honkai series – the symbiosis and confrontation between human beings and destiny – will continue to accompany players in an extraordinary experience of journeys of the galaxy. As the spiritual sequel to the Honkai series, some old friends in Honkai Impact 3rd – such as Himeko and Seele, will appear in Star Rail in new identities, reuniting with old players. We believe that a lot of players are already aware of this based on the overwhelming response we have seen through social media. As for other Honkai Impact 3rd “Easter Eggs”, we will keep them a little mystery for now and we hope to bring more surprises to you in the future adventures! To learn more, scan here 7
:the video game that’s slowly taking over the world G enshin Impact seems to have come from nowhere. A month ago nobody knew what it was; now ads for it are plastered all over the New York subway and it’s the talk of gaming Twitter. It has raked in more than $100m (£75m) in its first two weeks, placing it among the Chinese games industry’s most successful forays into the global scene. That’s because it’s a pretty good game that looks, sounds and feels expensive, but is available for free – at least at face value. Like Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – which it heavily resembles, at least on a surface level – Genshin Impact is an action-packed role-playing game with a huge world, chock-full of gorgeous vistas to explore by running, climbing and gliding. The appearance might be similar but the feeling is significantly different. Breath of the Wild’s aesthetic is based on the beauty and solitude of nature; Genshin, by contrast, is the theme park version of that. Where BotW was content to merely hint at hidden treasures and leave vast spaces inbetween, you can’t go 30 seconds in Genshin without tripping over some glowy object or mysterious chest. A constant stream of new weapons, trinkets, crafting materials, coins and characters to play with makes i t d a n g e r o u s l y e a s y t o k e e p playing. The catch, though, is this: the game makes money by encouraging players to pay for a chance to win new characters. Playing Genshin Impact means constantly resisting the temptation to spend too much money on it. For players who find it easy to resist the siren call of new shiny things and an ever-expanding collection of characters, it has a lot to offer. It’s playable across PC, PS4 and smartphones (though there are, alas, minor issues on each platform; unwieldy virtual controls on phones, performance problems on console, and questionable button placements). This is a gorgeous, engaging game for a low, low price – but then, the first hit’s always free, isn’t it? To learn more, scan here “Travelers of Genshin Impact” 8
:Information on upcoming Forest Capriccio Honkai Concert Forest Capriccio Concert Venue is set! Concerts in real-life venues are irreplaceable with their stunning audiovisual effects and powerful emotional resonance. Aside from the live stream channel, the concert will be featured at local cinemas around the world and a wonderful beach to usher in an incredible feast for Captains! Stay tuned! Local Event Time: Paris: 19:00, JUL 29 (UTC+2) Los Angeles: 18:00, JUL 29 (UTC-7) Taipei: 20:00, JUL 29 (UTC+8) Hong Kong: 20:00, JUL 29 (UTC+8) Kuala Lumpur: 20:00, JUL 29 (UTC+8) Tokyo: 21:00, JUL 29 (UTC+9) Seoul: 21:00, JUL 29 (UTC+9) *Please follow our official announcement for the details of event venue and ticket drawing. To learn more, scan here 10