Music wasn't what brought singer Emi Evans to Japan. But it's what made her stay—and what is making her famous. With her work on Dark Souls and Nier, the British-born singer is quickly creating a name for herself.

Evans is no overnight success. Hers is a long journey that began in Nottingham, England and one that began with little in common with the country where she found her calling. For Evans, despite having a Japanese mother, Japan felt like another world.

"I think part of my disinterest in Japan was because, as I child I looked extremely Japanese and I stood out wherever I went-especially at school," Evans told Kotaku.

"Although no one was particularly mean to me, it was always pointed out to me that I was ‘different' and this annoyed me so much that I just wanted to deny my Japanese roots and be completely English and 'normal' like everyone else." But the last thing Evans wanted to be was run-of-the-mill.

For the first seventeen years of her life, Evans was interested in music. It was all around her at home from a very young age. She, however, wasn't interested in Japan, which is why she never really learned the language, save for words or phrases here and there. Yet, when around the time she was seventeen, Evans suddenly became very interested in Japan and, a year later, she visited for the first time with her parents.

"I remember being so fascinated and overwhelmed by everything—the vibrance of Tokyo, the unfamiliar yet delicious food, the politeness of everyone—and what was the most overwhelming was to think that this amazing and exotic country was actually half of my own background," Evans said. "That made me even more determined to learn the language properly so that I could immerse myself in this newly discovered culture and learn as much as I could about my roots." Evans decided to study abroad at a Japanese woman's university.

While Japan was clean and everyone polite, the budding songwriter found university claustrophobic: all the girls had the same hairdos, they all dressed the same, and they all had similar conversations.

Instead of everyone trying to be different like back in England, Evans said everyone seemed like they wanted to be the same. There wasn't that desire to stand out—perhaps, akin to Evans' own desire back home to be "normal". According to her, "To release my stress I would go back to my student dormitory and blast out Eminem and write angry shouty songs on my guitar which helped a lot!"

Evans, who is also an accomplished cellist, was increasingly becoming interested in expressing herself through music. However, she didn't want to be just another pop singer, like those clogging up the Japanese airwaves.

Much of the Japanese pop music Evans heard seemed formulaic with many of the vocalists singing from the front of their throats and noses instead of from their stomachs. So much of Japanese pop music is based on formulaic chords designed to appeal to Japanese listeners. If Evans was to be a successful singer, she was advised to follow suit—and not draw inspiration from the likes of her biggest influences growing up: Radiohead, Tori Amos, Portishead, Alanis Morrisette, Massive Attack and Bjork.

"I was horrified as I have always delighted in making scrunchy chromatic chords and throwing in unexpected harmonies," said Evans. "I really couldn't bare the thought of writing all my future songs based on these chord templates in order to sell, and it was that that made me realize that if I wanted to continue creating the music that I loved, it would be best to stay independent and I should expect to stay poor and struggling for quite a bit longer."

While in Tokyo, Evans found a collaborator, arranger and composer Hiroyuki Muneta, who was also keen to push the boundaries of music and not simply churn out cookie cutter bubble gum pop, and the two formed the duo freesscape, which continues to release music and tour. The group rehearsed, made music, and cut demos. And Evans also threw herself into her singing, getting gigs singing at weddings, events, and lounges. The part-time singing gigs were a way for her to pay her dues, broaden her range, and network.

"I feel that with the advantage of being in the minority as a foreign singer and speaking Japanese, there are so many opportunities to network and meet composers and producers—and as the music world population in Tokyo is so dense and often interconnected, once you've established yourself a little bit then word of mouth spreads quickly," Evans. The group's music started appearing in mainstream Japanese commercials—and doing it by playing by their own rules and refusing to produce standard J-pop. But perhaps Evans' biggest break would come from the video game world.

After making her game song debut in Nintendo DS title Etrian Odyssey, Evans didn't only create some truly memorable music for Nier—she invented languages to sing it in with 2010 role-playing game Nier. "I took existing 'real' languages such as French, Japanese, and Gaelic and then imagined how they might sound after thousands of years had passed," said Evans. "The aim was to create lyrics which sounded fantastical and otherworldly but yet just familiar enough to grab the listeners attention and make them think, hang on, what language is this? I've heard this before somewhere!" Working under a tight deadline meant that she wasn't able to create a series of grammar for each lingo so that fans could learn and speak them.

For last year's Dark Souls, Evans wasn't asked to create languages, but sing the ending theme "Nameless Song". "I did offer to make up lyrics in a mystical language but the guys at From Software told me they just wanted "aaah" this time," said Evans. "They gave me a very detailed explanation of the scenario behind the song and even during the recording I was given specific instructions of how to sing—not in my usual soft, warm, breathy voice but a thinner cooler tone using less breath." Singing long phrases in a single breath proved challenging, but she eventually was able to capture the game's mood.

"In these last couple of years of being closely involved with the game music world, I've learnt how important music can be to bring emotion and excitement to the players and I've really felt lucky and delighted to have had the opportunity to bring something special to gamers around the world," said Evans.

Most Japanese pop music is formulaic, but Japanese game music is anything but, and composers and lyrics aren't afraid to take chances and try new things. While Evans achieved her dream of making a career in music five years ago and did so on her terms, she's found that creating, recording, and performing game music not only inspires her, but gives her the creative freedom she's always valued.

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Courtesy of Freddie Wong, the US President is reminded of why actual Special Forces troops are selected for their training and fitness, not their K:D ratio.

This was once, in a former life, an entire army of Warhammer 40K miniatures. It is now one of the greatest tributes to id's classic Doom I've ever seen.

There are the obvious conversions. Existing models modified and repainted to look like the bad guys from the game. But I love the extra touches. Like the pieces for door keys.

DOOM Daemon troops for Warhammer 40k [Next Level, via Super Punch]

Grand Theft Auto IV's iCEnhancer series of mods and tweaks takes a Rockstar PC game that looked pretty good already and turns it into - relative to the scale and size of GTAIV - the prettiest video game on the planet.

At least, if realism is your thing.

And if your PC can handle it.

The mod's creator, Hayssam Keilany, writes "Reflections are bugged because of the ROCKSTAR VIDEO EDITOR. It doesn't look like that in-game, don't worry & sorry about that."

Version 2.0 of the mod is now out and free to download at the link below.

iCEnhancer 2.0 [icelaglace]

Or if not warm, then at least fashionable.

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RETRO GAMER LEGGINGS [Black Milk, via Fashionably Geek]

Dear Esther is a terrible video game.

Which would be a problem if Dear Esther was a video game.

What began in 2008 as a mod for Half-Life 2 has, after years of picking up first buzz and then critical acclaim, transformed in 2012 into a full-blown commercial release, with all the updated visuals and polish to go along with it.

Dear Esther drops you on an island in the Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland. Once there, you walk around. Very slowly. Every once in a while, as you make your way around the island exploring its paths and hillsides and trails, you'll be interrupted by a narrator providing you with increasingly fragmented and confusing accounts of yourself, your wife and then...other stuff.

And that's it.

WHAT I LIKED

Gorgeous. I've seen the ageing Source Engine do some neat tricks before, but I have never seen it look as good as it does in Dear Esther. For an island almost entirely devoid of life everything looks, well, alive, and the lighting effects used for the weather and inside caves is stunning.

A Novel Concept. You've probably never played anything like Dear Esther. The way it takes the medium of video games, rips everything out then takes the remaining husk on a walk for a bit of a chat was the reason people went mad for this as a mod, and nearly four years on it's still a refreshingly unique idea. Even if you hate the story, hate the setting and hate British motorways, you should still applaud a game that tries to do something truly unique.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

Wordy Wordsmith. Yeah, you can give indie games a little slack for being over-eager on the use of a thesaurus, but there are moments in Dear Esther where the narrator becomes almost comedic, so intent is he (well, the script) on searching for words longer than four syllables for what feels like the sake of it.

Walk Like a Man. It's a definite design decision to not only skip the inclusion of a "run" button, but to make your regular walking speed nice and slow. You're supposed to do this properly, walk each step as you would in real life, actually explore every inch of the island. It's also because walking triggers randomised narration fragments, and skipping or running would spoil this. But a lot of the island is boring. And if you end up at a dead-end and are forced to backtrack, it can feel like water torture, drip by drip, step by step.

Not a Game. Here's where Dear Esther will fall down for a lot of people. There's just nothing to do. You walk, and see things, and listen to the narrator, but you can't interact with or pick up or affect anything. So all that's keeping you moving is the story (which will not be for everyone, myself included) and some nice visual effects. If you don't dig the story, there's almost nothing left.

THE FINAL WORD

Dear Esther should be applauded for prioritising story over all else, and for taking bold design decisions that adhere to that vision. My problem is that its vision is perhaps too bold, and that by positioning itself as a video game it's actually doing itself a disservice.

The story here may have been better left at just that, a story, because having the player trudge through it one step at a time - even if that was the idea, to better immerse them - often feels like a forced march instead of a journey of discovery. Especially when there's almost nothing to do while on that journey.

In other words, this is a book. An audio book, if you will, in which your mouse and keyboard are as "gamey" as your fingers are when turning the page of a novel.

So, yeah, I didn't like this as a game. I didn't really like it as a story, either. But you know what? Who cares. There's promise here in Dear Esther's structure, if not its execution.

You've likely never played anything like Dear Esther before, something which goes against almost everything you think you know about how a "game" should be designed and played. So if you're at all interested in seeing how games could be if they put the guns down and just started talking, you should at least check it out.

Take the narrator from Bastion. Layer him over the top of some Skyrim machinima. Sit back. Enjoy.

Skyrim: Bastion Narrator Edition [YouTube, via Destructoid]

You've seen the Star Wars: the Old Republic LEGO from Toy Fair, now see the Star Wars: the Old Republic action figures from Toy Fair.

Don't get too worked up; these aren't large, premium figures, they're your standard-sized, over-priced, small-scale Star Wars figures from Hasbro, same as you've probably seen stacked around toy shelves the past decade or so.

Still, given those limitations, they're not bad! Keep an eye out for the bonus Starkiller figure from Force Unleashed II at the end.

All images courtesy of RebelScum.com!

TF2012: Hasbro Press Release [Rebelscum]
2012 International Toy Fair: Hasbro's Action Figures [RebelScum]

Here's three news screens from the upcoming Max Payne 3. Whenever I think Max Payne, I think a trenchcoat diving in slow-motion, a gun blazing from each hand. I guess Rockstar does as well.

Halo 4 will be the first game in the main series to have not been developed by Bungie. If you think that means the new studio at the helm would want to tinker with the design of the game's hero, you are dead right.

McFarlane toys have released the first images of their Halo 4 action figures, and whaddya know, Master Chief - despite having been locked in a cryo chamber between Halo 3 and 4 - has somehow found the time to have a new suit made up, one that goes all Old Snake around the guts and all 80s shoulder-pads around the top.

In addition to the Halo 4 shot, McFarlane also released images of new lines of Halo toys based on Xbox 360 avatars, as well as some new takes on older games in the series, including a pretty fetching ODST Drop Pod.

UPDATE - As some eagle-eyed readers have pointed out, this may not be an entirely new suit! Chief may have actually ripped parts off his old suit. Or they fell off in his sleep. Or he pawned them for bullets. Something!