You can never go home again. It's an adage that comes to mind with Final Fantasy VII Remake, an ambitious revisiting of one of the most beloved titles in video game history. The original Final Fantasy VII was the complete package, that rare confluence where a well-crafted world, excellent storytelling and top-notch game mechanics crystallized into a gem of a game. We can speculate about all the reasons why it took nearly a quarter of a century before Square Enix decided to take a stab at remaking Final Fantasy VII. One reason likely involves the desire to make the next big thing and put the company's resources into that.

The Papers Please movie finished up its paperwork and nabbed a release date, Overwatch had puppies play Capture the Flag, Warcraft III is hosting a tournament, you'll soon (probably) be able to buy Geralt's bathtub figurine, and Final Fantasy XV is doing a Half-Life crossover. Yes, it's certainly been a weird week in video game news. Let's recap February 19 to 23. As far as bang-for-your-buck goes, the new Humble Classics Return Bundle (that's a mouthful) might be the best the company's ever featured. More than the average gets you Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Age of Wonders III, Xenonauts, and our 2014 Game of the Year Wasteland 2. Pay more than $15 and Humble throws in last year's Torment: Tides of Numenera and Dreamfall Chapters too.

Sega's popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog is famous for running fast, but now he's slowing down to grab a bite to eat with some extra friendly company. To help promote the upcoming "Sonic Forces" video game, which will be released in Japan on Nov. 9, Sega is turning Hooters outlets across Tokyo from the restaurant's trademark orange to blue. Hooters outlets in Shinjuku, Ginza and Akasaka are planning to decorate their stores with Sonic dolls, hand out "Sonic Forces" coasters and offer a fast-food set that includes French fries, a Sonic-blue colored drink and a chili dog -- Sonic's favorite food. For those who aren't up to speed, video-game-and-food collaborations have been around since the days of Atari, with video game characters showing up in children's cereal or Pac-Man seen drinking 7-Up soda. Now, however, they're becoming more interactive than simply slapping a sticker on a product, and several popular mashups have caught gamers' attention this year.

So this is weird: Square Enix and Ubisoft have announced that this month will mark the beginning of crossovers between Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy. "This collaboration is the result of being huge fans," Ubisoft Montreal game driector Ashraf Ismail says on the UbiBlog. "There's a lot of respect between the two teams and we couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunity to pay homage to each other's work." The first part of this will launch August 30th. If you've snatched the Moogle egg from the Chocobo Carnival in Final Fantasy XV, you'll be gifted an Assassin outfit for Noctis.

Ubisoft Montreal and Square Enix will be collaborating to bring special content for players of "Assassin's Creed" and "Final Fantasy XV." Their partnership was announced at Gamescom this week, and a couple of details about the DLC they will be releasing together have been disclosed as well. The union between the developing teams behind "Assassin's Creed" and "Final Fantasy XV" is going to bear fruits that many fans of both action games have been craving for. The developers have prepared a free DLC and special items that are bound to arrive at the end of this month, UbiBlog Communications Senior Manager Giancarlo Varanini indicated in a blog post. Come Aug. 30, "Final Fantasy XV" players will receive the first installment of free content as part of the collaboration. However, this will only be available to those who have successfully obtained the Dream Egg from the Moogle Chocobo Carnival event.

Welcome back to Gaming IRL, a monthly segment where several editors talk about what they've been playing in their downtime. This month, we've enjoyed (to varying degrees) two flavors of Final Fantasy, explored Fullbright's new game, Tacoma, and lost ourselves in a "button-tapping mash-up between an idle-clicker and a text adventure." To open proceedings, UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith talks about how, when it comes to Final Fantasy XII, third time's a charm. My Final Fantasy completion list (barring those pesky online ones, pschh) had one glaring omission: the (ironically rather MMORPG-styled) Final Fantasy XII. Now that it's arrived on PS4, I got another chance to strike that iteration off the list -- and as they say, third time's the charm.

Final Fantasy XV was in development for 10 years. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people across six different game development studios helped created it. Yet its camera -- a fundamental part of the way players interact with the game's world -- is severely flawed. The weight on the game's metaphorical shoulders was enormous -- not just for the future of Final Fantasy as a game series, but possibly for the entire future of game consoles in Japan, according to game director Hajime Tabata. And it delivered on its enormous promise in many ways. How is it possible that a game into which so much was invested can have such a seemingly simplistic flaw?

Final Fantasy XIV might not be free-to-play, but it just got a whole lot closer. Square Enix has officially removed the 14-day access restriction on free trial accounts. That means you can start a new trial character and play as much FFXIV as you want until you hit level 35. Once that happens you need to either subscribe or start another character. SEE ALSO: Latest'Final Fantasy XV' update straight trolls Trump This marks a major change for one of the last top-tier subscription-based MMORPGs not called World of Warcraft.

Last year was an eventful one in terms of all the interviews I conducted. Here are a few highlights of the interviews I did last year for you to browse at your leisure. The latest in digital print technology brings Bruce Lee's face to life with this S.H. Figuarts rendition. I started the year talking with Bandai about their toy and figure output, specifically at the collector's end of the spectrum. In the time since, we've had all manner of major new announcements in terms of Bandai's Tamashii Nation line as well as a move into more worldwide markets.

Sony has announced the titles that will be coming to its recently announced PlayStation 4 Pro when the new console arrives on the market on Nov. 10. The Japanese multinational conglomerate has also said that the games would come with graphics improvements for the new PlayStation model. Sony revealed two lists of games: one is for the titles that would be enhanced in terms of graphics for the PS4 Pro, while the other is for the video games that would be optimized for the console when they are officially released, as per Game Transfers. For the games that will receive graphics improvements, the list includes: "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided," "Uncharted 4: The Thief Desenlace," "inFamous: Second Son," "inFamous First Light," "Paragon," "Call of Duty: Black Ops III" and "Middle-earth: Shadow of Morder." On the other hand, the list for the upcoming titles for PS4 Pro include: "Final Fantasy XV," "For Honor," "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands," "Watch Dogs 2," "Spider-Man," "Steep," "Dishonored 2, "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and "Killing Floor 2." The second list also mentions "Days Gone," "Farpoint," "Horizon: Zero Dawn," "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare," "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered," "FIFA 17," "Battlefield 1" and "Mass Effect Andromeda."