The creator of the Konami Code, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. The news was announced by composer and former Konami collaborator Yuji Takenouchi. Takenouchi shared a message on Twitter that states that Hashimoto died last night (February 25), and that the composer hopes the legendary programmer and developer continues to “keep making games in heaven”. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/08/08/history-of-awesome-contra"] Hashimoto worked at Konami in the 80s and 90s on classic games such as Snatcher, Gradius, Life Force, and ISS, but he is best known for the creation of the Konami Code; a combination of button inputs used to activate powerful cheats. The code - up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - was first implemented by Hashimoto into the NES version of Gradius as it was found to be too difficult during playtesting. The code would give players a complete set of power ups. The code was subsequently added to dozens of other games over the years. It is perhaps best known for its use in Contra, where it would grant players 30 lives. The Konami code can be found outside of Konami games, too, thanks to its evolution into a pop-culture icon. Fortnite, League of Legends, and Rocket League all have a Konami code, and even Netflix has a secret settings menu that can be accessed by inputting an almost identical code. It also is referenced by Disney’s video games themed movie Wreck-it Ralph. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-top-100-games-of-all-time-2019-update&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

The creator of the Konami Code, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. The news was announced by composer and former Konami collaborator Yuji Takenouchi. Takenouchi shared a message on Twitter that states that Hashimoto died last night (February 25), and that the composer hopes the legendary programmer and developer continues to “keep making games in heaven”. He was 61 years old. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/08/08/history-of-awesome-contra"] Hashimoto worked at Konami in the 80s and 90s on classic games such as Snatcher, Gradius, Life Force, and ISS, but he is best known for the creation of the Konami Code; a combination of button inputs used to activate powerful cheats. The code - up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - was first implemented by Hashimoto into the NES version of Gradius as it was found to be too difficult during playtesting. The code would give players a complete set of power ups. The code was subsequently added to dozens of other games over the years. It is perhaps best known for its use in Contra, where it would grant players 30 lives. The Konami code can be found outside of Konami games, too, thanks to its evolution into a pop-culture icon. Fortnite, League of Legends, and Rocket League all have a Konami code, and even Netflix has a secret settings menu that can be accessed by inputting an almost identical code. It also is referenced by Disney’s video games themed movie Wreck-it Ralph. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-top-100-games-of-all-time-2019-update&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

PlatinumGames has announced The Wonderful 101: Remastered will be released for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Steam on May 19 in North America and May 22 in Europe (no Australian release date available at time of writing). This is being referred to as a "general" release date and, to our knowledge, backers of the game's Kickstarter that paid to receive a copy of the game will still be receiving it in April as stated on the crowd-funding campaign's page. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/the-wonderful-101-remastered-release-date-clip"] In a message to fans, the original version's director, Hideki Kamiya, thanked fans for supporting the game after its commercial failure on Wii U, saying, "I’m considering this a chance to show it to the world again. I’m looking forward to seeing how it measures up." He adds: "This isn’t just a simple port, either. We’ve tuned the controls for each new platform and made several adjustments that should make it easier to grasp and play. On top of that, we’ve improved the image quality and frame rate to suit modern hardware. On the whole, I’d say The Wonderful 101: Remastered is the definitive edition of the game!" The Wonderful 101: Remastered has seen a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, asking for just under £38,000 ($50,000 USD) and receiving £1.4 million ($1.8 million USD) with 9 days still to go. That success has unlocked a number of stretch goals, including a separate 2D game, Luka's First Mission. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-wonderful-101-remastered-kickstarter&captions=true"] The Wonderful 101: Remastered was the first of 4 annoucements teased by PlatinumGames. The second has also been announced today - Project G.G. is a new Hideki Kamiya game, a spiritual follow-on from TW101, and is the studio's first fully self-published game. We awarded the Wii U version of The Wonderful 101 a 7.4 review, calling it "a charming, boisterous and deceptively complex action game". Correction: This story originally stated that an Astral Chain PC port was part of the Kickstarter stretch goals for TW101. This was a mistake - we apologise for the error. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he loves The Wonderful 101, aside from its horrific use of Wii U rumble. Follow him on Twitter.

PlatinumGames has announced The Wonderful 101: Remastered will be released for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Steam on May 19 in North America and May 22 in Europe (no Australian release date available at time of writing). This is being referred to as a "general" release date and, to our knowledge, backers of the game's Kickstarter that paid to receive a copy of the game will still be receiving it in April as stated on the crowd-funding campaign's page. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/the-wonderful-101-remastered-release-date-clip"] In a message to fans, the original version's director, Hideki Kamiya, thanked fans for supporting the game after its commercial failure on Wii U, saying, "I’m considering this a chance to show it to the world again. I’m looking forward to seeing how it measures up." He adds: "This isn’t just a simple port, either. We’ve tuned the controls for each new platform and made several adjustments that should make it easier to grasp and play. On top of that, we’ve improved the image quality and frame rate to suit modern hardware. On the whole, I’d say The Wonderful 101: Remastered is the definitive edition of the game!" The Wonderful 101: Remastered has seen a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, asking for just under £38,000 ($50,000 USD) and receiving £1.4 million ($1.8 million USD) with 9 days still to go. That success has unlocked a number of stretch goals, including a separate 2D game, Luka's First Mission, and a Steam port for Switch exclusive Astral Chain. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-wonderful-101-remastered-kickstarter&captions=true"] The Wonderful 101: Remastered was the first of 4 annoucements teased by PlatinumGames. The second has also been announced today - Project G.G. is a new Hideki Kamiya game, a spiritual follow-on from TW101, and is the studio's first fully self-published game. We awarded the Wii U version of The Wonderful 101 a 7.4 review, calling it "a charming, boisterous and deceptively complex action game". [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he loves The Wonderful 101, aside from its horrific use of Wii U rumble. Follow him on Twitter.

5G connectivity and 8K video seems to be the running theme of the most recent smartphone announcements and the LG V60 ThinQ 5G promises to deliver both of these features at a bargain. Okay, the exact pricing for the V60 ThinQ 5G is still under wraps, but LG told us it should cost less than the existing V50 Thin-Q, which originally retailed for $999. If the final pricing falls somewhere between $699 and $899, this could be one of the best value devices around. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lg-v60-thinq-5g-hands-on-impressions&captions=true"] Even without knowing what the price tag will look like, the LG V60  ThinQ 5G looks like a great smartphone and an impressive upgrade. For starters, it features a 6.8-inch OLED display with an extra tall 20.5:9 aspect ratio and FHD+ (2,460 x 1,080) resolution. LG has also replaced the wide notch found on the V50 ThinQ 5G with a waterdrop notch similar to the one found on the OnePlus 7T. The LG V60 ThinQ 5G display gets even better when you double it with the Dual-View case that will be included for free during its initial release. This special case gives you a second 6.8-inch OLED display to run two apps at the same time, play games on one screen with a virtual game pad on the other, or just split what you’re viewing across the two screens. Around back you might notice the LG V60 ThinQ 5G only has two cameras, whereas the previous version had three. Well LG has simplified its camera setup with a 13MP Super Wide and a 64MP main camera. The main camera does the most heavily lifting of letting you shoot photos at full resolution, pixel binning low-light shots to 16MP when you need to capture more light, and giving you the ability to crop in 2-10 times with only a marginal loss in image quality. Normally we’re not fans of digital crop zooming, but we were genuinely impressed by how much image quality was retained as we punched in. LG also promises the two cameras can capture more realistic 3D photo effects and attain accurate focus faster thanks to a newly integrated time of flight sensor array. Aside from stills, the LG V60 ThinQ 5G will allow you to shoot 8K videos with HDR10+ colors. Additionally, the phone comes equipped with four microphones to power Voice Bokeh, which sets the microphones to pick up in a faux-cardioid pattern to minimize background noise and boost the subject’s voice. In terms of specs, the LG V60 ThinQ is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor you’ll find on all of the major 2020 flagship phones. This central chip is also backed up by 8GB of  RAM and 128GB of storage that comes standard, and you can further expand your data storage space with an up to 2TB microSD card. Lastly the phone comes with a 5,000mAh battery, which LG promises can regain 50% of its charge by plugging it in for just 30 minutes. LG plans to release the LG V60 Thin-Q with a dual-screen case in the coming weeks. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

5G connectivity and 8K video seems to be the running theme of the most recent smartphone announcements and the LG V60 ThinQ 5G promises to deliver both of these features at a bargain. Okay, the exact pricing for the V60 ThinQ 5G is still under wraps, but LG told us it should cost less than the existing V50 Thin-Q, which originally retailed for $999. If the final pricing falls somewhere between $699 and $899, this could be one of the best value devices around. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lg-v60-thinq-5g-hands-on-impressions&captions=true"] Even without knowing what the price tag will look like, the LG V60  ThinQ 5G looks like a great smartphone and an impressive upgrade. For starters, it features a 6.8-inch OLED display with an extra tall 20.5:9 aspect ratio and FHD+ (2,460 x 1,080) resolution. LG has also replaced the wide notch found on the V50 ThinQ 5G with a waterdrop notch similar to the one found on the OnePlus 7T. The LG V60 ThinQ 5G display gets even better when you double it with the Dual-View case that will be included for free during its initial release. This special case gives you a second 6.8-inch OLED display to run two apps at the same time, play games on one screen with a virtual game pad on the other, or just split what you’re viewing across the two screens. Around back you might notice the LG V60 ThinQ 5G only has two cameras, whereas the previous version had three. Well LG has simplified its camera setup with a 13MP Super Wide and a 64MP main camera. The main camera does the most heavily lifting of letting you shoot photos at full resolution, pixel binning low-light shots to 16MP when you need to capture more light, and giving you the ability to crop in 2-10 times with only a marginal loss in image quality. Normally we’re not fans of digital crop zooming, but we were genuinely impressed by how much image quality was retained as we punched in. LG also promises the two cameras can capture more realistic 3D photo effects and attain accurate focus faster thanks to a newly integrated time of flight sensor array. Aside from stills, the LG V60 ThinQ 5G will allow you to shoot 8K videos with HDR10+ colors. Additionally, the phone comes equipped with four microphones to power Voice Bokeh, which sets the microphones to pick up in a faux-cardioid pattern to minimize background noise and boost the subject’s voice. In terms of specs, the LG V60 ThinQ is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor you’ll find on all of the major 2020 flagship phones. This central chip is also backed up by 8GB of  RAM and 128GB of storage that comes standard, and you can further expand your data storage space with an up to 2TB microSD card. Lastly the phone comes with a 5,000mAh battery, which LG promises can regain 50% of its charge by plugging it in for just 30 minutes. LG plans to release the LG V60 Thin-Q with a dual-screen case in the coming weeks. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

PlatinumGames has officially announced its first self-published game, Project G.G. Directed by Hideki Kamiya, it will be a spiritual follow-up to Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101. Project G.G. (a working title) will be a 'giant hero' game in the vein of Ultraman. No platforms or release date have been announced – in fact, Kamiya says "the finish line is still a long way away". The initial teaser trailer, below, shows a man (from the viewpoint of an excellent dog) transforming to fight a kaiju amid a cityscape: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/project-gg-teaser-trailer"] Project G.G. is a major step for Platinum, which has always partnered with publishers for its work until recently. While the Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101 on Switch was a start, this is the developer's first fully self-published title, and it will be developed at a new 100-person studio in Tokyo that Platinum is currently staffing up. In a message to fans, Hideki Kamiya said: "In the fourteen years since we founded this company, we’ve worked towards the dream of making and releasing a game based on a Platinum intellectual property. Now, we’re finally stepping up to that starting line." He explains that because of restrictions based on other companies owning Platinum's work, sequels and new platform releases have historically been hard or impossible for the developer to push through. "Project G.G. is different", he goes on. "Unlike any of the games we’ve made so far, it’s going to be a 100% PlatinumGames title. For everything from its setting and characters, to its game design and story, to how it’s promoted – PlatinumGames is in full control." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=project-gg-new-platinum-game-first-images&captions=true"] Project G.G. is the second of four game announcements teased on the Platinum website - it's not clear when we'll hear about the others. The first was a release for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, and we also found out today that that game will be released for Switch, PS4 and Steam in North America on May 19, Europe on May 22, and Japan on June 11. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he's very much hoping that 'G.G.' stands for 'gigantic gorilla'. Follow him on Twitter.

PlatinumGames has officially announced its first self-published game, Project G.G. Directed by Hideki Kamiya, it will be a spiritual follow-up to Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101. Project G.G. (a working title) will be a 'giant hero' game in the vein of Ultraman. No platforms or release date have been announced – in fact, Kamiya says "the finish line is still a long way away". The initial teaser trailer, below, shows a man (from the viewpoint of an excellent dog) transforming to fight a kaiju amid a cityscape: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/26/project-gg-teaser-trailer"] Project G.G. is a major step for Platinum, which has always partnered with publishers for its work until recently. While the Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101 on Switch was a start, this is the developer's first fully self-published title, and it will be developed at a new 100-person studio in Tokyo that Platinum is currently staffing up. In a message to fans, Hideki Kamiya said: "In the fourteen years since we founded this company, we’ve worked towards the dream of making and releasing a game based on a Platinum intellectual property. Now, we’re finally stepping up to that starting line." He explains that because of restrictions based on other companies owning Platinum's work, sequels and new platform releases have historically been hard or impossible for the developer to push through. "Project G.G. is different", he goes on. "Unlike any of the games we’ve made so far, it’s going to be a 100% PlatinumGames title. For everything from its setting and characters, to its game design and story, to how it’s promoted – PlatinumGames is in full control." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=project-gg-new-platinum-game-first-images&captions=true"] Project G.G. is the second of four game announcements teased on the Platinum website - it's not clear when we'll hear about the others. The first was a release for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, and we also found out today that that game will be released for Switch, PS4 and Steam in North America on May 19, Europe on May 22, and Japan on June 11. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he's very much hoping that 'G.G.' stands for 'gigantic gorilla'. Follow him on Twitter.

Rian Johnson has let slip an industry secret about how the presence of an iPhone in a movie could serve as an early indication as to whether a character is going to be a hero or a villain. Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Knives Out director shared a helpful tidbit for moviegoers, as he revealed that Apple imposes a strict rule that prevents their products from being used by villainous characters in movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/20/knives-out-rian-johnson-on-why-daniel-craig-is-his-perfect-detective"] "I don't know if I should say this or not," he admitted. "Not 'cause it's lascivious or something, but because it's going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write, but forget it, I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but - and this is very pivotal if you're ever watching a mystery movie - bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera." Johnson then joked that "every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret" will now want to "murder" him, as he has divulged the details of a prop spoiler that could potentially help audiences to figure out the on-screen motivations of certain characters before they are officially revealed by the movie's plot. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=59-movies-to-geek-out-over-in-2020&captions=true"] While it is unknown whether any other companies operate a similar mandate over product placement, fans will now be donning their sleuthing hats to identify which character is using an Apple-branded product in Knives Out 2, though they will have to try and not get distracted by the whole new cast, mystery, and location that has been proposed for the sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Rian Johnson has let slip an industry secret about how the presence of an iPhone in a movie could serve as an early indication as to whether a character is going to be a hero or a villain. Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Knives Out director shared a helpful tidbit for moviegoers, as he revealed that Apple imposes a strict rule that prevents their products from being used by villainous characters in movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/20/knives-out-rian-johnson-on-why-daniel-craig-is-his-perfect-detective"] "I don't know if I should say this or not," he admitted. "Not 'cause it's lascivious or something, but because it's going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write, but forget it, I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but - and this is very pivotal if you're ever watching a mystery movie - bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera." Johnson then joked that "every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret" will now want to "murder" him, as he has divulged the details of a prop spoiler that could potentially help audiences to figure out the on-screen motivations of certain characters before they are officially revealed by the movie's plot. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=59-movies-to-geek-out-over-in-2020&captions=true"] While it is unknown whether any other companies operate a similar mandate over product placement, fans will now be donning their sleuthing hats to identify which character is using an Apple-branded product in Knives Out 2, though they will have to try and not get distracted by the whole new cast, mystery, and location that has been proposed for the sequel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.