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Discover how Japanese culture inspired the upcoming party-brawler PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe

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Hello everyone, I’m Yasuyoshi Yamamura, Art Director at Q-Games. Today I have some development insights to share with you to celebrate the upcoming release of our frantic party-brawler, PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe.

Yasuyoshi Yamamura, Art Director at Q-Games

Since the launch of the very first PixelJunk game on PS3 in 2007, PlayStation has been the spiritual home of the series. From PixelJunk Shooter to Monsters, Racers to Eden; PlayStation players have always supported our goal to explore cool genre mixes and new mechanics. We’re excited to be making a return later this year as PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe prepares to punch in on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Land of the rising fun

Set within a post-apocalyptic world where robots rule and garbage is overflowing, players control a team of robot Scrappers and brawl through the streets of Junktown to clear as much trash as possible. I enjoy drawing robots as a personal hobby, so when one of our game directors had the idea for a game about robot garbage collectors, I was desperate to get started.

Clean up the streets of Junktown as a trash collecting robot

Q-Games has been making games in Kyoto for 23 years and we often take subconscious inspiration from the world around us. But this time, we chose to deliberately bring the game to life using elements of Japanese culture that mean a lot to us. 

Stages are spread across five areas of Junktown, with the first four taking inspiration from real locations in Japan. When it came to art direction, I made the decision to take an authentic look at Japan… and then turn it on its head.

Idol animation

Haruhabara was inspired by the famous shopping district of Akihabara mixed with the striking fashion district Harajuku. I did a lot of research to pick out the iconic aspects that are recognisable. 

Haruhabara – inspired by ‘Electric Town’ Akihabara and fashion district Harajuku.

As well as being famous for video game and electronics stores, Akihabara is well known for its idol culture and I wanted to create enemies that fit that theme. I began sketching three members of what would become Trinity Lovers, the enemy idol group, and based their style on famous J-Pop groups like Perfume. I’ve always been a big fan of robot anime, particularly the old-school trope where things combine to become bigger robots, so we designed the boss sequence to allow the Trinity Lover idols to fuse together for the final showdown.

Trinity Lovers enemy design, from concept to final

The Trinity Lovers are of course supported by their hardcore fans, known as Otabots, who attack players by doing Otagei. This choreographed audience routine of waving neon batons in time to a musical performa

(For Southeast Asia) PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for June + New PlayStation Plus Extra and Deluxe 1st Anniversary Celebration

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A year has flown by so quickly since we rolled out our new PlayStation Plus tiered plans, ushering in new benefits to the service such as our Game Catalog and Classics Catalog, along with Game Trials for blockbuster titles. Whether you subscribe to PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra or Deluxe, it’s been great to see the positive feedback we’ve gotten from players around the world for the quality titles that we offer monthly.

Today, we’re celebrating this wonderful milestone with 10 days of activities for the PlayStation community. It’s also our way of saying thanks to players everywhere for supporting us in this new era for PlayStation Plus.

Now, here are some of the games joining the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog this week:

  • Far Cry 6 (PS4/PS5)
  • Rogue Legacy 2 (PS4/PS5)
  • Inscryption (PS4/PS5)
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4)
  • Killing Floor 2 (PS4)
  • Lonely Mountain: Downhill (PS4)
  • Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator (PS4/PS5)
  • Carto (PS4)
  • Dodgeball Academia (PS4)
  • The Wild at Heart (PS4)
  • Thief (PS4)
  • MX vs ATV Legends (PS4/PS5)
  • Elex 2 (PS4/PS5)
  • Conan Exiles (PS4/PS5)

Classics Catalog:

  • Killzone: Liberation (PS4/PS5)
  • Worms (PS4/PS5)
  • Herc’s Adventures (PS4/PS5)
  • Coded Soul (PS4/PS5)

Game Trial for WWE2K23 (PS4), will also be available on June 20. 

Mid-Year Deals promotion comes to PlayStation Store 

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The Mid-Year Deals promotion comes to PlayStation Store. For a limited time*, mark the halfway point of 2023 with discounts of up to 75% on games and add-ons across multiple genres. That includes the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PS5 Ultimate Edition, EA Sports FIFA 23 (PS5) and Dead Island 2 Deluxe Edition.