Pokemon X/Y director Junichi Masuda recorded a message for fans attending the Japan Expo in France this week. The video goes into detail regarding the game’s connection to France and how the country provided inspiration for the project. A roundup of what Masuda shared can be found below.

– Monorparle is said to be an ancient soul that presents itself in sword form
– The team decided early on to go with the theme of “Beauty” for the sixth generation
– This is also the meaning of “Kalos” in Ancient Greek
– France was decided on as Kalos’ inspiration because during the brainstorming period, the staff wanted to go with a country that boasts some of the most tourists; a fashionable country with a sophisticated culinary taste and linguistics
– France was considered to be a perfect fit for what was in mind for Kalos
– Masuda traveled to France in 2011 with some of the team to collect material for Pokemon X/Y
– Lumiose City was inspired by France
– Lumiose City includes a large tower similar to the Eiffel tower
– Inspired by other cities as well such as Lyon and Reims
– Players will see similar areas in the Kalos region
– Not only is the region inspired by the larger cities that France is known for, but also the smaller areas that often go unnoticed by many outsiders
– Ex: far-west part of the map has an area with various standing stones
– Masuda added the stones after getting the idea from visiting the Neolithic menhir collections located in Carnac of north-western France

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In Japan, Atlus has released the “Sanat DLC” mission for Shin Megami Tensei IV. Pricing for the content is set at 300 yen.

The DLC begins as the Chaos King known as Sanat invades Tokyo, resulting in the downfall of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro. Players will need to defeat Sanat in order to unlock his fusion and add him to their party.

You can find screenshots of the Sanat DLC above. Note that despite what’s being reported, there’s still one more piece of Shin Megami Tensei IV DLC hitting Japan next week.

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This data comes from a survey done by gaming social network “Pixwoo”. 2000 people who identified themselves as “gamers” were questioned, and they’re all from the UK:

– Average gamer in the UK is married
– They play, on average, for about 2.5 hours a day, five days a week
– Average age is 35
– They stay up until (on average) 10:58PM playing games
– The data stays relatively consistent from male the female gamers

– Average gamer owns two consoles, 18 games
– Takes around a month to complete each game
– Most of them argue more than twice a week with their partner about gaming (not sure if this means about games themselves or gaming habits)
– About 5% say gaming is a “constant cause” of arguments
– 15% have broken up with someone due to their love of gaming

– Average gamer has about 5 online friends
– 29% say they’ve met at least one of their online friends face-to-face
– 33% play multiplayer games locally
– 25% play online
– 20% play with their online friends consistently
– 44% will purchase an Xbox One, PS4, or gaming PC in the next 12 months
– Most popular console was Wii, followed by PS3, then Xbox 360

Via CVG

We have new details on Hero Bank, SEGA’s new IP for the 3DS. You can find the latest information batch below.

– The young boy who participates in fights to earn money is in debt
– He owes the sum of one billion yet
– Reason for his debt is unknown
– The boy needs to participate in Hero Battles in order to pay it off
– Kaito Gosho is facing a problem that can happen to just about anyone (being in debt of one billion yen)
– This week’s trailer shows Kaito briefly concerned about how he’ll pay off such an absurd amount of money, and it doesn’t take long for him to confidently shout out that he’ll take on the Hero Bank
– Hero Battles take place in a virtual arena
– Wear hero gear to participate in virtual fights for money at the arena
– Need to execute intense actions to get the crowd going to earn more money
– Can access various heroes who will be the actual characters fighting the battles while Kaito controls them using his Hero Gear
– Invest and enhance heroes to give you a better chance of winning the battles using their unique abilities and attributes
– Many heroes to collct
– Out on December 19 in Japan

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The Super FX chip allowed for games like Star Fox and Yoshi’s Island to be conceived and executed, and having it installed inside cartridges– while it may have been more expensive for developers– certainly kept the SNES cost down far enough where Nintendo could manage to sell as many units as they did and further fund the development of such interesting gaming experiences! It definitely would have been cool to see what the SNES would have looked like if every game was able to use the chip though…

Via Nintendo Life