Last year in July, the midpoint
of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Sucker Punch Productions released their
massive action-adventure game for the PlayStation 4, “Ghost of Tsushima.” An
epic adventure set in 1274 Japan during the Mongol invasions, the game set
players on a dangerous quest as a lone samurai organizing a desperate
resistance on the island of Tsushima against a vicious Mongol Khan. “Ghost of
Tsushima” was positively received; and while created by Western developers the
game got plenty of praise in Japan. In fact, the local government of the real
island of Tsushima was so impressed that he gave two of the development team
quite the uncommon honor.
IGN tells us that Jason Connell and Nick Fox of Sucker Punch
Productions, leaders of the development team for “Ghost of Tsushima,” were
named as permanent honorary ambassadors of tourism for Tsushima City on the
same-named island in Japan as of last week. Said honor was bestowed on them by
Tsushima Mayor Hiroki Hitakatsu, who noted that Fox and Connell helped spread
the name and history of the island to the world “in such a wonderful way.” They
are also the first honorary Tsushima tourism ambassadors to be named such for
promoting “through their works.”
I've had a really fortunate career but this is almost hard to even process. Thank you Tsushima. 😍 https://t.co/C5GB2IkDVm
— Jason Connell (@artenvelope) March 5, 2021
The accolades for the “Ghost of
Tsushima” developers were done online due of course to the pandemic. However,
the Tsushima government is looking towards the future, when travel restrictions
might lighten up as more people are vaccinated against COVID. With the help of
Sony interactive, the Japanese island city is developing a new tourism ad
campaign using the PS4 videogame as a base, encouraging visitors to Tsushima to
explore the island and the real-life historical landmarks featured in its game
version. Mayor Hirakatsu has even extended invitations to their new permanent tourism
ambassadors and the rest of Sucker Punch Productions to visit the island
someday.
Tsushima is located just north of
Kyushu Island between it and South Korea, along the Korea Strait. Known as one
of the first islands of Japan in its mythological creation, Tsushima was among
the locations invaded by Mongols during the 13th Century. At present
it is completely encompassed by Tsushima City (established in 2004) and is part
of Nagasaki prefecture.
Image from PlayStation Lifestyle
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