The launch of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is fast approaching on November 14. We had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with the game’s producer, Masaaki Hayasaka, to chat about this stunning remake that brings back the iconic masterpiece in HD-2D.

Masaaki Hayasaka
Producer, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

How HD-2D graphics draw out the full potential of this retro classic

PlayStation Blog: HD-2D has become much more popular since games like Octopath Traveler. What are some of the unique characteristics of this visual style?

In a nutshell, HD-2D is a visual style that combines pixelated characters with 3D backgrounds. Personally, I think this style works better in retro titles. When the original game first came out, players roamed the world while picturing how beautiful the landscapes must be. HD-2D actually brings that world to life.

Even though the game adopts HD-2D, it is still immediately recognizable as Dragon Quest III. What do you think are the most important aspects needed to achieve the iconic Dragon Quest-style?

The most obvious is the color palette. Dragon Quest games are characterized by rich, vivid colors, so we aimed to fully embrace that in the remake as well. If you compare the original game and the HD-2D remake side-by-side, the graphics will look completely different. Even so, the color palettes are similar so it shouldn’t feel far off from what OG players remember.

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Built in tandem with Yuji Horii

What sort of discussions did you have with Yuji Horii (creator of the Dragon Quest franchise), during development?

We connected regularly from the early phases of planning till the very end of development. We exchanged a lot of details. We discussed everything from new features like the Monster Arena and additional narrative episodes, to the game balance of battles, and even the size of the character pixels.

Did you make any changes based on Yuji Horii’s recommendations?

Power shifts as a faction within Avalon seeks to topple the Luttazzi Crime Family in the massive Season 01 update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone. Deploy across new territory in Multiplayer, Zombies, and Resurgence, wield new weapons and Loadout items, test your competitive skills in Ranked Play, and much more.

Season 01 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone launches November 14 on PS5 and PS4.

Multiplayer overview

New Core 6v6 Maps

Hideout (Launch): Master Omnimovement in this training site including target practice, an obstacle course, and vault.

Extraction (Launch): Battle across the landing pads and buildings of D’Avalon Héliport. Occupy the air traffic control tower for premium views.

Hacienda (Mid-Season): Return to the infamous vineyard estate first seen in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Fight in the two-story mansion or around the prestine grounds.

Nuketown Holiday (Mid-Season): Get festive as we celebrate CODMAS later in the season, including a Holiday-themed Nuketown!

New 2v2/6v6 Strike Maps

Heirloom (Launch): Enter a fine art museum that has been vandalized with paint. Navigate the sculptural centerpiece read up on some Avalon art history.

Racket (Mid-Season): There’s been a break-in in this labyrinthine bank vault. Fight around the bulldozer and ambush enemies at every chance.

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New Multiplayer modes

Ransack (Launch): Loot gold bars from crates scattered around the map and bring them back to your team’s stash. Raid the enemy team’s stash and protect your own.

Prop Hunt (Launch): The fan-favorite party mode returns! Blend into the landscape as a prop or be the Hunter, tracking down anything that looks out of place.

Plus, expect more Limited Time Modes as we get into the holiday season with Season 01 Reloaded!

Multiplayer Ranked Play

The definitive Ranked Play experience arrives in Season 01, starting later in November. Compete and climb through the Skill Ranks using the same competitive settings, maps, modes, and weapon restrictions as the Call of Duty: Le

Hello,

This year has already been a very busy one for No Man’s Sky, with 6 updates already this year, including the huge Worlds Update. Our last update, The Cursed, dropped just a couple of weeks ago, and players have been loving the spooky Halloween vibe. 

In game development some features take weeks or months, and others take years. Today we are releasing some features that have been years in the making.

PlayStation 5 Pro

PlayStation 5 Pro releases today and is an incredible feat of engineering. We were so excited to get our hands on it from early days of development. We couldn’t wait to see what was possible in No Man’s Sky with so much power at our disposal! 

We’re excited to be able to share an enhanced version of No Man’s Sky for PlayStation 5 Pro with players at launch. Bringing even more detail and higher image quality than ever possible on console before.

PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) allows for incredible upscaling to provide crisp 4K resolution at 60fps. No Man’s Sky will also be an early supporter of 8k resolution, with the universe looking incredible in 8K at 30fps.

As well as a much sharper resolution at higher framerates, the increased power of the PlayStation 5 Pro has enabled us to ramp up the graphical quality across the board. Players on PlayStation 5 Pro will see improved lighting, with ultra quality reflections and higher quality ambient occlusion in all modes. Explore the most beautiful and detailed alien worlds No Man’s Sky has to offer, for the first time on console.

Not only this, but all of these improvements also come to PS VR2! With our most stunning virtual reality imagery offering an even more immersive experience for Travellers amongst the stars.

Cross-save

Starting from today we are rolling out cross-save support on all platforms. This has been a huge undertaking, and is one of most requested features.

No Man’s Sky now supports cross-play and cross-save between a huge number of platforms including last and current generation consoles (including PlayStation 5 Pro – see below), and PS VR & PS VR 2.

Adding the ability to transfer saves between platforms via a server is especially difficult for No Man’s Sky, as the work involved increases with each platform supported and how long folks have already been playing for. Both those numbers are large for our tiny team. 

It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves exploring across space, building elaborate bases and cataloging their discoveries, with incredibly detailed saves. Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them! We also have players who played once at launch, eight years ago, suddenly loading up that save on a platform that didn’t even exist back then

PlayStation 5 Pro launches worldwide today, November 7. Revealed on September 10, PlayStation 5 Pro is our most advanced and innovative console hardware to date, with key performance features such as an upgraded GPU, advanced ray tracing, and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution.

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The console is available directly from PlayStation and participating retailers globally. Whether you have decided to transfer to the new console from a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, or are entirely new to the PlayStation family (welcome!), here’s what you need to know to get prepped for – and started with – your new PS5 Pro. 

PS5 Pro measurements 

Out of the box, the PS5 Pro console is approximately 388mm x 89mm x 216mm (width x height x depth) and weighs in at around 3.1kg. 

PS5 Pro input/output ports 

A Disc Drive for PS5 can be purchased separately, allowing you to use PS5 and supported PS4 physical discs, and play 4K Blu-ray and DVD discs.

Transfer your data from PS4, PS4 Pro or PS5 to PlayStation 5 Pro

If you own a PS5, PS4 Pro, or a PS4 console, you can transfer your data to your new console. Before you start the transfer, make sure your original console is updated to the latest system software and you’ve synced your trophy information. On both your original console and your PS5 Pro, sign in on your PlayStation Network account . You can transfer your user information, games downloaded to your console’s hard drive or SSD, save data, and select console settings if both consoles are connected to the same network. Go to Settings > System > System Software, select Data Transfer > Continue then follow the on-screen instructions. 

We’ve come so far, and there’s still so much ahead of us. Apex Legends From the Rift rewinds the clock with the new nostalgic LTM Launch Royale, takes you to the original World’s Edge, revives Lifeline to new limits, and rekindles that first drop feeling from season one. It all starts November 5, 2024, including support for PlayStation 5 Pro when the console launches November 7.

Let’s launch royale

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It’s 2019, Apex Legends has just launched, Kings Canyon is the wild frontier, and battle royales were never the same. This new LTM drops you right into that original experience, complete with original everything: weapons, Legends, abilities, ruleset, and map. Conquer Launch Royale Challenges to unlock Legends and earn rewards like Apex Packs and more.

Evo Armor and Ability Upgrades? Nope, not here. Just a blast from the past for those who were here on day zero and a brand-new experience for those who missed out. There’s never been a better time to jump in and see where Legends were born.

Lifeline revived

“We’re in this together. Memba that.”

Lifeline’s habit of getting caught up in chaotic events may have caught up with her, but she’s always got your back. It’s the Ajay Che you know and love, now fully revived, recharged, and ready to drop directly into the action with her aggressive new kit:

• Combat Glide: Hold Jump mid-air to use to D.O.C. to briefly glide, and deploy D.O.C. to revive teammates, leaving Lifeline free to defend.
• D.O.C. Heal Drone: D.O.C. heals nearby allies. D.O.C. can be assigned to follow allies once deployed.
• D.O.C. Halo: throw D.O.C. to activate Halo Shield System. All players inside use Health & Shield consumables faster.

Good support never surrenders to the sidelines. And this Lifeline? She’s not just saving lives—she’s fighting her way to the Champions Podium.

Rift Relics

October had many spooky and epic adventures. What did you enjoy most about last month’s title lineup? 

How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. After the polls close we will tally your votes, and announce the winner on our social channels and PlayStation.Blog. 

What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? Note: re-released games don’t qualify, but remakes do. We define remakes as ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds such as Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
How are nominees decided? The PlayStation Blog editorial team will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll.

On November 7 PlayStation 5 Pro unleashes a new era of impressive visuals. The console enables graphical enhancements like advanced ray tracing, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, and silky smooth framerates of 60hz or 120hz through an upgraded GPU (depending on your TV). 

Of course, crackling new power means little without immersive games to get lost in. This list is a sample of more than 50 games boasting PS5 Pro enhancements at launch, with many more to follow. 

• Alan Wake 2
• Albatroz
• Apex Legends
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• EA Sports College Football 25
• Dead Island 2
• Demon’s Souls
• Diablo IV
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Dying Light 2 Reloaded Edition
• EA Sports FC 25
• Enlisted
• F1 24
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Fortnite
• God of War Ragnarök
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
• Kayak VR: Mirage
• Lies of P
• Lords of the Fallen (2023)
• Madden NFL 25
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Naraka: Bladepoint
• NBA 2K25
• No Man’s Sky
• Palworld
• Paladin’s Passage
• Planet Coaster 2
• Professional Spirits Baseball 2024-2025
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil 4
• Resident Evil Village
• Rise of the Ronin
• Rogue Flight 
• Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
• Star Wars: Outlaws
• Stellar Blade
• Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown
• The Callisto Protocol
• The Crew Motorfest
• The Finals
• The First Descendant 
• The Last of Us Part I
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered
• Until Dawn
• War Thunder
• Warframe
• World of Warships: Legends

To learn more about PS5 Pro, head to playstation.com. What will be the first game you play on PS5 Pro?

*Update: PS5 Pro enhancement for Arma Reforger will be scheduled after November 7.

Having a blast with Astro Bot? I’m sure many of you are still working hard to rescue every last bot from the deepest reaches of space. I’m also sure that many of you have spotted a few PlayStation VIP bots that definitely look familiar… but maybe there are a few that you know you’ve seen before but either can’t quite remember where or are unaware of the historical context behind them. And maybe there are a couple that you don’t recall at all.

Astro Bot is packed with loving tributes to the global history and legacy of PlayStation spanning thirty years, so there were bound to be some deep cuts– so don’t feel too awkward if there’s a VIP you don’t recognize. What’s great is that, with a huge library of classic games available on PlayStation Store or PlayStation Plus Premium, it’s fun and easy to take an interactive history lesson to learn more about that oddball bot that caught your eye. Let’s take a look at some of the references of Astro Bot–and how you can play the games in the classic callbacks. 

Ape Escape

Just when you thought you’d rounded up all those darn dirty apes forever, they’re up to their old tricks again in Astro Bot! Ape Escape was an action/adventure game released in 1999 that made use of the recently introduced DualShock controller on the original PlayStation console. You were tasked with rounding up a gaggle of intelligent (?) apes causing mischief throughout time, and the DualShock was crucial to this, allowing you careful movement to approach and capture the naughty monkeys. Apes On The Loose – the Ape Escape-themed level at the end of the Gorilla Nebula – apes (pun intended) this gameplay quite nicely, requiring you to strategize how to capture all the stage’s raucous primate-bots effectively. 

Play the original Ape Escape at PlayStation Store and as part of PlayStation Plus Premium. 

Loco Roco 

Released on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in 2006, the strikingly colorful LocoRoco stood as one of the system’s marquee titles. The LocoRoco are a blob-like species that live in bright, singing harmony with the planet. When a malevolent force threatens this natural wonder, the LocoRoco fight it off the only way they know how–by rolling along with a smile and a song. When you reach the Going Loco level in Astro Bot at the end of the Camo Cosmos , you’ll be treated to a stage built to resemble Loco Roco’s signature rolling gameplay as you tilt and bounce your way through hazards–you can even press R2 to split into many tiny Astros and fit through small areas, just like in the original. 

If you missed this series, fear not– the original, Loco Roco 2, and Loco