Shyam Sundar

Shyam Sundar

Shyam Sundar Baishnab (died 4 December 2000) was a Bangladeshi folk singer. He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 2008 by the Government of Bangladesh for his contribution to music.[2]

Career

Baishnab originated from Chittagong.

Video video

Video video

This list of most-liked YouTube videos contains the top 30 videos with the most likes of all time. The like count is taken directly from the page of the video itself. YouTube implemented a like and dislike button on these pages in March 2010, part of a major redesign of the site. This served as a replacement for their five-star rating system;[1] YouTube's designers found the previous system ineffective because the options to rate a video between two and four stars were rarely selected.[2]

The music video for LMFAO's song "Party Rock Anthem" stood as the most liked video on YouTube in 2012, with 1.56 million likes, until the video for Psy's "Gangnam Style" surpassed it in September that year, yielding more than 1.57 million likes.[3] Following this accomplishment, "Gangnam Style" entered the Guinness World Records book as the most liked video on YouTube and on the Internet as of 2012.[4] Psy's video remained the most liked on YouTube for nearly four years until August 27, 2016, when Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" featuring Charlie Puth surpassed it with 11.21 million likes. Less than a year later, on July 25, 2017, Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" featuring Daddy Yankee claimed the top spot with 16.01 million likes.

As of April 2020, BTS are the only artists to have four videos in the top 30, while Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and Blackpink have two.

FICCI

FICCI

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business organisations in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purshottamdas Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organization in India.[4] It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, including SMEs and MNCs. The chamber has an indirect membership of over 250,000 companies from various regional chambers of commerce. It is involved in sector-specific business building, business promotion and networking. It is headquartered in the national capital New Delhi and has a presence in 12 states in India and 8 countries across the world

Services

ATA Carnet

FICC is India's sole national issuing & guaranteeing association for ATA Carnets[6] ATA Carnets are used by TV / Film crews, journalists, engineers, musicians and industry for temporary moving equipment across borders. FICCI issues and endorses carnets, guarantees the payment of duties and taxes to customs (both domestic and foreign) authorities[7]

Allied Organisations

Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry

Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry (CIFTI) caters to the Indian food Industry. It deals with policies, trade affairs and capacity building.[8] CIFTI provides institutional support and partners with the Government and the Indian private sector in promotion and development of Indian food processing industry. CIFTI was established by FICCI in 1985. It is currently led by Mr. Sanjay Khajuria who serves as its president.[9]

Arbitration and Conciliation Tribunal

FICCI Arbitration and Conciliation Tribunal (FACT) provides arbitration services for settling commercial disputes. FACT was established in 1952[10] and aims at settling business disputes outside the traditional framework offered by courts of law through arbitration and conciliation, as the case may be.[11]

Alliance for Consumer Care

FICCI Alliance for Consumer Care (FACC) is a dedicated centre set up by FICCI along with Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India to enhance consumer care practices and facilitate stakeholder interaction.[12] It facilitates prompt redressal of consumer grievances, a dialogue between the business and consumers and promotion of responsible business practices.[13]

Ladies Organisation

FICCI Ladies Organisation was established in 1983 to promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women in India.[14]

Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence

Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence is a joint initiative of FICCI and the Aditya Birla Group. The center aims at development of inclusive and holistic CSR practices.[15] This centre also organises the Businessworld FICCI CSR Award, an annual award aimed at identifying & recognising remarkable CSR initiatives.[16]

Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CMSME)

Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is an affiliated body of FICCI. It was established in December 2013.[17] It aims to connect MSMEs with mentors, incubators & accelerators and assist them through capacity building programs & services; deliberate of policy concerns of the sector; and provide regular interface between Industry, Government and regulators.[18] In terms of the scope of work, CMSME is similar to FICCI with the only differentiation being the exclusive focus on Micro, Small and Media enterprises in India.[19]

CASCADE

FICCI Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying Economy (CASCADE) was launched on 18 January 2011 and aims to run consumer sensitisation drives on the impact of using smuggled, contraband and counterfeit products across India.[20][21] The body is also engaged in capacity building of law enforcement agencies and research. It has estimated an annual tax loss to government of India due to smuggling and counterfeits at Rs 26,190 crore.[22]

Initiatives

Millennium Alliance

FICCI's Millennium alliance aims at supporting and scaling-up low-cost, innovative solutions.[23] It is a joint initiative of FICCI, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and the United States Agency for International Development.[24] It was launched during July 2012 as an inclusive platform for social impact funds, venture capitalists, corporate foundations, early investors, and donors to support and scale innovative solutions for base of the pyramid populations in India and around the world.[25]

Invest India

Invest India is a public-private partnership between Government and FICCI. A joint venture between FICCI (51% equity), Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (India) (34%) and State Governments of India (0.5% equity each),[26] Invest India was given a clearance by the Indian cabinet during September 2009 to set up under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956.[27] The initiative aims at speedy implementation of foreign investment projects in India and improving the climate for domestic investments.[28]

Technology Commercialisation

DRDO–FICCI Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialisation (ATAC) Programme

DRDO and FICCI started the ATAC programme in February 2009 with an objective to create commercial linkages for DRDO technologies for use in civilian products and services.[29][30] The Explosives Detector Kit developed by DRDO is being commercialised under this initiative.[31] Bio-toilets based upon the bio-digester technology developed by DRDO is another such technology being commercialized under the program.[32] It is projected that DRDO will install 18000 bio-toilets across India in cooperation with various states, Union Territories, FICCI and Ganga Action Plan. Besides, over 10000 bio-digesters are being installed in passenger coaches of the Indian Rail.[33]

Notable alumni

Krishna Kumar Birla (1974–75)[34]

Hari Shankar Singhania (1979–80)[35]

R. P. Goenka (1986–87)[36]

Chirayu Amin (2000–01)[37]

Rajeev Chandrasekhar (2007–08)[38]

Rajan Mittal (2009–10)[39]

Amit Mitra, noted economist and the current Finance Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal was Secretary General, FICCI during 1994–2011.[40]

Naina Lal Kidwai is the Past President, FICCI.[41] She is the qualified Chartered Accountant(CA) as a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI). She is the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School.[42] and currently is the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India.

DHFL

DHFL

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL) is a deposit-taking housing finance company, headquartered in Mumbai with branches in major cities across India.[2][3] DHFL was established to enable access to economical housing finance to the lower and middle income groups in semi-urban and rural parts of India. DHFL is the second housing finance company to be established in the country.[4] The company also leases commercial and residential premises. DHFL is among the 50 biggest financial companies in India.[5]

DHFL is rated ICRA D by ICRA Limited

History

DHFL was established and incorporated by Rajesh Kumar Wadhawan on 11 April 1984. The name of the company was changed to Dewan Housing Development Finance Ltd. and later to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation.[7]

In 2010, DHFL acquired Deutsche Postbank Home Finance unit for ₹1079 crores.[8] On 18 December 2013, DHFL acquired 74% stake DHLF Pramerica Life Insurance Company Ltd.[9]

On 29 January 2019, Cobrapost, an Indian investigative journalist group, published an exposé of DHFL for using various shell corporations to siphon more than ₹ 31,000 crores of public money for the personal gains of the DHFL's primary stakeholders: Kapil Wadhawan, Aruna Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.[10] In the same article, Cobrapost also raised allegations of political donations worth crores of rupees, in violation of Section 182 of Companies Act, 2013 for political donations, made by DHFL to MODI BJP Bharatiya Janata Party.[11] DHFL filed a response with the Bombay Stock Exchange saying the allegations raised by Cobrapost were untrue. DHFL, also rebutted these allegations in a hosted investors / analysts conference and clarified that the ₹ 31,000 crore loans mentioned in the allegation comprise of its project loan portfolio. Also the company tried to clarify that the advances commented by Cobrapost should be ₹ 21,000 Crores and not ₹ 31,000 crores. Following the Cobrapost allegations, Indian credit rating agencies reaffirmed their high safety rating for the financial instruments issued by DHFL.[12]

Even after the emergence of serious allegations of misconduct against its business, the Indian credit rating agencies continued to issue high safety ratings for the DHFL financial products, but, on 6 June 2019, DHFL defaulted on its debt repayment, resulting in a debt rating downgrade, immediately wiping out 16% of the value from its stock price. At the time, the fall in DHFL stock price was a all year low. This rapid decline in stock price resulted in a loss of investor confidence.[13][14]

On 20th November 2019, the Reserve Bank of India removed the board of directors of the company citing corporate governance failure and the company's defaulted payment obligations.[15]

Current issues and Probes against DHFL

In 2019, DHFL stopped payment of bonds and defaulted on its loan obligations. This caused its stock to fall over 97% and a government intervention in the company.[16][17][18][19][20]

In August 2019, as efforts to draft a resolution plan by restructuring DHFL debt into equity, a few of the DHFL bond holders moved to the debt recovery tribunal, which could impact the resolution process.[21] The company meanwhile offered to repay all investors in full with due process of inter-creditor-agreement.[22]

In October 2019, the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at several places of DHFL offices and promoter residences and found links of money laundering activity in loans given to firms closely linked to the promoters of the company.[23] Additionally the trail of the loan given by DHFL to Sunblink real estate in 2010 lead to gangster Iqbal Mirchi, an accomplice of the organized crime mastermind Dawood Ibrahim.[24]

On November 20th, 2019, under Section 45-IE (I) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Indian central bank removed the board of directors of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL). The reasons cited by the banking regulator for the dismissal of the DHFL board of directors were: inadequate governance and the various defaults on its payment obligations.[25]

On January 27, 2020, the promoter of DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The arrest was connected to his firm's alleged involvement in providing loans to the organized criminal enterprise of Dawood Ibrahim.[26] On February 22, 2020, the PMLA court granted bail to Kapil Wadhwan. The Bombay high court upheld the bail decision by PMLA court, rejecting Indian Enforcement Directorate requests to stay the bail application.[27]

The ED has linked Yes Bank for various fraud and transactions amounting to 3700 crores as debentures in DHFL. The central bank appointed administrator at Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) has ordered a transaction audit at the non-bank lender after allegations of money laundering surfaced in the aftermath of the regulatory action on Yes Bank. [28]

Operations

As of June 2018, DHFL has 209 branches and 113 service centres.[29] It also has a representative office in London.

Love Wedding Repeat

Love Wedding Repeat

Love Wedding Repeat is an upcoming romantic comedy film written and directed by Dean Craig. It stars Olivia Munn, Sam Claflin, Aisling Bea and Eleanor Tomlinson.

It is scheduled to be released on April 10, 2020, by Netflix.

Premise

Troubles arise for a man when he is abruptly reunited with an old flame at his sister’s wedding.

Cast

Olivia Munn as Dina

Sam Claflin as Jack

Aisling Bea as Rebecca

Freida Pinto as Amanda

Eleanor Tomlinson as Hayley

Joel Fry as Bryan

Allan Mustafa as Chaz

Jack Farthing as Marc

Tim Key as Sidney

Production

The film was announced in April 2019, with Olivia Munn, Sam Claflin, Freida Pinto and Eleanor Tomlinson cast. Filming is due to begin in Italy in May.[1][2]

Release

In May 2019, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film.[3] The film was released on April 10, 2020

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake[a] is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The game is a remake of the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Square Enix developed the remake as a multi-part series, with the first entry released for the PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020, with timed exclusivity for one year.

Players control mercenary Cloud Strife as he and a group known as AVALANCHE oppose Shinra, a megacorporation, from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. The gameplay combines real-time action with other strategic elements.

Remake was announced in 2015 following years of fan requests and rumors. Several key staff members returned, including character designer Tetsuya Nomura as director and main character designer, director Yoshinori Kitase as producer, writer Kazushige Nojima, and music composer Nobuo Uematsu. The staff redesigned the characters to balance realism and stylization.

Final Fantasy VII Remake aims to retell the story of the original Final Fantasy VII. Players control Cloud Strife, a former Shinra soldier turned mercenary who joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fight the Shinra Corporation, who have been draining the planet's life energy. The game is a full remake with real-time polygonal graphics, as opposed to the pre-rendered environments of the original.[1][2]

Exploration and battle mechanics both take place in real-time, like Final Fantasy XV. The game features an altered "Active Time Battle" (ATB) system from the original, which gradually fills up slowly, or can fill faster with attacks. Once it is filled, the player can halt the action and use special abilities such as magic, items, and special moves. The player can also assign these special abilities to shortcut buttons, allowing them to play entirely in real-time without pausing. Each special ability uses up a segment of the ATB bar.[3] The player can also switch between party members at any time. Each party member has their own individual skills, such as Cloud's close-quarters melee attacks and Barret's long-range distance attacks.[4] Players are also able to use magic and summons, and a Limit Break gauge allows characters to perform more powerful attacks once charged. Producer Yoshinori Kitase stated that while the game has more real-time elements, there would still be strategic elements, such as selecting weapons and magic for each character to wield.

Cloud Strife is a former first-class SOLDIER, an elite class of fighters who work for the Shinra Electric Power Company which rules the world. Disillusioned with his former employer, Cloud joins Avalanche, an eco-terrorist organization, to bomb Shinra's energy reactors. Shinra drain spiritual energy from the planet, called mako, to provide power and create technologies. Cloud's terrorist cell is led by the temperamental Barret Wallace. After the first bombing Cloud is haunted by memories of Sephiroth, a mysterious and powerful former high-ranking SOLDIER. Cloud also becomes reacquainted with his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart who is affiliated with Avalanche and fights off strange ghost-like hooded creatures.

After the second bombing, Cloud is split from everyone and meets Aerith Gainsborough who is being chased by Shinra. Aerith is the last descendant of the ancients who were the original stewards of the planet and have magical powers. Shinra believes they can use her power for gains. After finding Tifa, the group learn that Shinra plans to drop the plate where rich people live onto the slum where Avalanche hides in retaliation for the attacks on the mako reactors. Cloud, Tifa and Barret fail to stop Shinra's plan with most of their terrorist cell being killed. Meanwhile Aerith, helping with evacuations, is caught by Shinra.

While cleaning out the rubbles after the destruction of their slum, Tifa, Cloud and Barret discover an underground Shinra research lab. Horrified by the experiments they find inside, they decide to attack Shinra headquarters and rescue Aerith before she is subjected to anything like it. While saving Aerith, the group also rescues a talking wolf-like creature called Red XIII who joins their fight. Aerith explains that the strange ghost-like hooded creatures the group has been fighting are called Whispers. Their job is to ensure destiny happens. If someone tries to change the future from what is meant to be, they will automatically correct it even if it means bringing someone back from the dead. Meanwhile Sephiroth steals an experiment from Shinra thought to be connected to the extinction of the ancients.

On their way to escape the headquarters, Sephiroth murders the president of Shinra which makes his son Rufus the new leader of the company. Meanwhile the building becomes engulfed in Whispers. The group escape on a half-built highway while fighting off their pursuers, Cloud on a motorcycle and the rest in a truck. At the end of the highway the characters catch up to what appears to be a Sephiroth from an alternative timeline. Sephiroth offers the group the freedom to choose their own destiny if they can defeat the Whispers. Afterwards Sephiroth offers Cloud to join him. When Cloud refuses, Sephiroth gives him seven seconds to change whatever he wants. Cloud apparently goes back in time and saves Zack Fair's life creating multiple unacknowledged time paradoxes.

After Cloud returns to his group, they agree to continue chasing the Sephiroth from their own dimension despite no one having explained to them who he is.

Development

Background

Final Fantasy VII was developed by Square for the PlayStation console and released in 1997.[5] Its staff included producer and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, director and co-writer Yoshinori Kitase, artist Yusuke Naora, character designer Tetsuya Nomura, and writer Kazushige Nojima.[6] The game was a critical and commercial success, and established the Final Fantasy series as a major franchise.[5] It was expanded through the multimedia project Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, comprising additional games, films, and other media.[7]

In the early 2000s, Square announced a remake for PlayStation 2 alongside Final Fantasy VIII and IX, but nothing further was heard of the project.[8][9] It was abandoned because of the increased challenge of developing on new hardware, and would have necessitated cutting content.[10] The staff were also preoccupied with developing Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels, and Remake would have been an equally large or larger project hard to undertake at the same time. Once the XIII series ended, the team was free to pursue other projects.[11]

Demand for a remake grew following a PlayStation 3 tech demo at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, showcasing the opening of VII with Square's new Crystal Tools engine. Further demand came during the game's impending tenth anniversary in 2007. On both occasions, Square denied that any remake was in development,[12][13][14] for reasons including their focus on new games, the necessity to cut elements to make a remake manageable, the difficulty of developing for modern hardware, and the amount of development time it would require.[15][16][17][18][19]

The Remake project finally began when Final Fantasy producer Shinji Hashimoto broached the subject to Kitase, Nojima, and Nomura. All three were reaching a stage of life that they defined as "that age": all felt that if they waited much longer, they might not be alive to or would be too old to develop a remake, and passing the project on to a new generation did not feel right.[20][21][22] Another reason for developing the remake was that Square Enix was creating a growing library of PlayStation 4 titles, and the team hoped to increase the console's popularity.[22]

Design

The game entered full production by late 2015, led by Business Division 1, an internal production team within Square Enix.[23][24][25] While Nomura was involved with the project from the start, he only discovered he was the director after seeing himself credited in an internal company presentation video, as he had expected Kitase to fill the role. He revealed that Kitase himself thought Nomura expected to become director.[20] Nomura worked as director for both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III.[26] Despite there already being a story in place, which greatly simplified production on some fronts, Nojima was brought back in to create new story material.[11][20] Another project leader was Naoki Hamaguchi, who had previously served as a programmer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and project lead for Mobius Final Fantasy.[24] The game's soundtrack has contributions from original Final Fantasy VII composer Nobuo Uematsu, along with Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki.[27] It features newly arranged and orchestrated tracks from the original game, in addition to original material such as "Hollow", a theme song by Uematsu.[27] It was the first time Uematsu and Kitase had worked together since Final Fantasy X (2001), with Kitase initially believing Uematsu would refuse as he had long since left Square Enix and found success as an independent composer.[28]

While the team had the option of merely creating a remastered version of VII with better graphics as many fans had requested, they noted that its graphics and many of its mechanics had become dated by modern standards. With this in mind, they decided to do a full remake, rebuilding the game systems to suit contemporary tastes and using current gaming technology to recreate the world of VII.[20][22] This decision triggered the creation of Remake's action-based battle system, in addition to the most representative modern title for the Final Fantasy series being the 2009 fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy. With this in mind, the battle system draws from that action-based style while not going over to an entirely action-based system.[11] Nomura and Mitsunori Takahashi are handling the battle system, the latter of whom had worked on both the Kingdom Hearts series and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.[29] One of the game designers was Kyohei Suzuki, a veteran of the company's Business Division 4 who had previously worked as a planner for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts Coded.[30] The team aimed to retain all the original gameplay mechanics that were well-liked by players.[29]

While developing the scenario, the team needed to work carefully, so the game did not come over as too nostalgic. They also needed to make decisions about what could be carried over from the original and what needed adjustment due to changes in social norms since the original's release.[10][11][23] The scenario for the first installment was completed in December 2015.[31] The game is fully voiced, with the original plan being for the voice actors from the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to reprise their roles.[23][31] Ultimately, the English characters were recast for Remake.[32] According to Kitase, choosing a new generation of voices for the characters was part of the game's rebirth as Remake.[33]

Rather than using the character models and graphical style of Advent Children, which by that point had been developed using ten-year-old technology, the team decided to create new designs and models for characters: Nomura wished to balance the realism of Advent Children with deformed stylization. Nomura was in charge of the revamped main character designs, while designer Roberto Ferrari was in charge of designs for secondary characters. Character modeling was supervised by Visual Works, Square Enix's CGI development branch.[10][23]

Rather than developing their own engine, Square Enix licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 to develop the game, with Square Enix and Epic Games Japan working together to optimize the engine for Remake.[34][35] The team also received technical assistance from the developers of Kingdom Hearts III, as the latter game was developed using the same engine.[31] The game's lighting is augmented with the lighting engine Enlighten.[36] To help with the action gameplay and video quality, Square Enix originally partnered with video game developer CyberConnect2, with the two companies keeping in close contact due to different development styles.[10]

In 2017, the game's development focus shifted from being developed with external partners to being a primarily internal project.[24] One of the most significant changes was the fact that the game was planned as a multi-game release: according to Kitase, this was because trying to fit the game onto a single release would entail cutting large parts of the game, which went against the team's vision. By splitting the game into multiple parts, the team can give players more substantial access to areas in the game, such as within the city of Midgar, which was mostly inaccessible in the original.[10] Each game is planned to be on a similar scale to Final Fantasy XIII.[11] The first installment focused on the city of Midgar due to its iconic status among the Final Fantasy community.[33]

Release

Rumors of a Final Fantasy VII remake appeared in 2014.[37] It was announced at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) during the PlayStation conference, and received a standing ovation.[38][39] Visual Works created the announcement trailer.[20] Square Enix's stock prices rose to their highest rating since November 2008, and the YouTube release of the reveal trailer garnered over 10 million views in the following two weeks.[40][41] The game was next showcased at the 2015 PlayStation Experience, demonstrating cutscenes and gameplay from the opening sequence.[42]

During the Final Fantasy 30th anniversary opening ceremony event hosted by Square Enix in Tokyo on January 31, 2017 — the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII— the game's first piece of CGI key art was unveiled, along with announcements for a collaboration event with Mobius Final Fantasy.[43] On February 18, Nomura revealed two screenshots, showing off the updated HUD.[44] Due to its lack of footage since 2015, switch to internal development, and other projects Nomura was involved in, there were concerns about the status of the project. Speaking following E3 2018, Nomura stated that the game was in development, with his full attention shifted to it when Kingdom Hearts III was completed.[26][45]

After years without substantial footage, a teaser trailer was shown during PlayStation's May 2019 State of Play broadcast. Kitase announced that the team had wanted to "try something new" on the State of Play broadcast by showing the trailer.[46] The release date, March 3, 2020, was revealed the following month in a second teaser trailer during an orchestral concert dedicated to the music of Final Fantasy VII in Los Angeles.[47] Further release details were announced at the company's E3 2019 press conference, including different editions of Remake.[48] Kitase later clarified at the event that Square Enix had yet to determine the number of games in the Remake series, adding that they were in the process of planning the second installment.[49]

An extended gameplay showcase and demo was playable at E3 2019, demonstrating parts of the opening mission, including some of the exploration, combat system, and first boss battle. The playable demo has received a positive reception in early previews, with praise towards the graphics, gameplay and combat system.[4][50][51][52][53][54] At E3 2019, it won three awards at the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show, Best Console Game, and Best Role-Playing Game,[55] as well as the best looking Unreal Engine game at E3 2019.[56] Extended footage of the demo, as well as an additional trailer, was featured at the 2019 Tokyo Game Show.[57] In December 2019, it was announced that the game would be a timed PlayStation 4 exclusive until 2021, with no further details about its release on other platforms.[58][59] In January 2020, the team decided to push the release date back from March 3 to April 10, 2020.[60] A demo of the game was released on the PlayStation Store on March 2, 2020, covering a part of the first chapter.[61]

On March 30, 2020, Square Enix announced that Europe and Australia would be receiving physical copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake early, due to growing concerns of COVID-19's effect on distribution.[62][63] This does not apply to digital downloads, as they are not directly impacted by the global supply chain. The official release date for digital copies remains April 10, 2020.

Reception

Final Fantasy VII Remake received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[64]

Tamoor Hussain, writing for GameSpot, declared that while Remake is only the initial entry in a full reimagining of the original game, "It is rich in details that were previously unexplored, realizes new storytelling ambitions with confidence, and presents fresh perspectives that feel both meaningful and essential." He summarizes that it "tells a smaller, more personal Final Fantasy 7 tale and marries it with a smart mashup of action and RPG gameplay to deliver a must-play experience."[71]

Notes

UFC 249

UFC 249

UFC 249: Ferguson vs. Gaethje is a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship originally planned to take place on April 18, 2020 at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California.[1] Due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, the event was eventually postponed (see section below)

Background

A UFC Lightweight Championship bout between the current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former interim champion Tony Ferguson (also The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos welterweight winner) was slated to headline this event.[1] The pairing had previously been scheduled and cancelled for various reasons on four separate occasions (The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber Finale, UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans, UFC 209 and UFC 223) over the last four years.[3][4][5][6] The bout was cancelled for a fifth time due to issues related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic (see section below).

A featherweight bout between Jeremy Stephens and Calvin Kattar was expected to take place at UFC 248.[7] However, Stephens was removed from the card in mid-January with an injury.[8] The pairing was rescheduled for this event.[9]

A heavyweight bout between Shamil Abdurakhimov and Ciryl Gane was scheduled for the event. However, it was announced on March 5 that Gane was forced to pull out of the event after he was struck by a pneumothorax in training and the bout was eventually scrapped.[10]

A welterweight bout between former Bellator Welterweight Champion Lyman Good and Belal Muhammad was scheduled for this event.[11] The pairing was previously expected to meet at UFC 205 in November 2016, but Good was pulled from that event after being notified by USADA due to a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test.[12] However, Good pulled out due to injury on April 4 and the bout was scrapped.[13]

A women's strawweight bout between former UFC Women's Strawweight Champions Jéssica Andrade and Rose Namajunas was expected to co-headline the event.[14] The pairing met previously at UFC 237 in May 2019, when Andrade won via second round TKO to capture the title.[15] However, Namajunas pulled out on April 8 due to personal reasons, with her manager citing a pair of deaths in the family related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic as the reason.[16][17]

COVID-19 pandemic

On March 12, New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order restricting mass gatherings and sporting events due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[18] On March 16, UFC president Dana White announced via a letter to employees shared to the public that this event "is still scheduled as planned, but the location may change".[19] On March 18, the New York State Athletic Commission announced that the event would not be sanctioned to take place at the event's original site, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.[20] On March 23, White revealed that he already had a new location for this event, but would only confirm that it will be held behind closed doors.[21] He added two days later that the card could feature a different lineup depending on the logistics.[22]

Khabib Nurmagomedov stated on March 30 that he was in Dagestan and his participation at the event could be jeopardized by travel bans related to the pandemic.[23] He stated on April 1 that he would probably not be competing at the event due to those restrictions and reinforced that people should be in quarantine nowadays.[24][25] He later confirmed that he would compete if a location was given and they were able to move him there, but did not see it happening.[26]

The UFC announced on April 6 that Nurmagomedov would be replaced by former WSOF Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje, with an interim title to be disputed between him and Tony Ferguson.[27] The rest of the card also suffered a few changes, with the following fights being added as well:[28]

A heavyweight bout between former UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The bout was originally scheduled to headline UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik on March 28, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.[29]

A heavyweight bout between Greg Hardy and Yorgan de Castro; the bout was originally scheduled for UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik.

A welterweight bout between Vicente Luque and Niko Price; both fighters were expected to face different opponents at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris.

Islam Makhachev was expected to face Alexander Hernandez in a lightweight bout, but was removed from the event due to travel restrictions and replaced by Omar Antonio Morales Ferrer.

A bantamweight bout between Marlon Vera and former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Ray Borg; Vera was expected to compete against a different opponent at UFC

Ottman Azaitar was expected to face Khama Worthy in a lightweight bout, but was removed from the event due to travel restrictions and replaced by Michael Johnson.

A light heavyweight bout between Ryan Spann and Sam Alvey; Alvey was expected to compete against a different opponent at UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik.

The following fights were removed from the event and are expected to be rescheduled for future cards:[28]

A light heavyweight bout between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cuțelaba (a rematch from their meeting at UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo).[31]

A heavyweight bout between Ben Rothwell and Gian Villante.

A middleweight bout between Karl Roberson and Makhmud Muradov.

A bantamweight bout between Hunter Azure and Umar Nurmagomedov.

A location for the event was not revealed, but Dana White said the UFC's temporary home would host U.S.-based fighters who aren't barred from traveling domestically.[32] It was later revealed that the event was expected to take place at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California, the site of several events for the defunct World Extreme Cagefighting and Tachi Palace Fights promotions.[33]

On April 9, White announced that this event would not take place as scheduled after top-level executives at both Disney and ESPN intervened, while saying that all future events are currently postponed.[34][35] It was later revealed that the 40th Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, influenced the decision of canceling the event