The News

Today we are so happy to announce Ghost of Yōtei, the latest game from Sucker Punch and the introduction of our new hero, Atsu.

When we set out to make a new Ghost game, we wanted to maintain the core pillars established in Ghost of Tsushima: playing as a wandering warrior in Feudal Japan, offering freedom to explore at your own pace, and highlighting the beauty of the world. 

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We also wanted to continue to innovate. To create something fresh but familiar, we looked beyond Jin Sakai’s story and the island of Tsushima, and shifted our focus to the idea of the Ghost instead. At Sucker Punch we love origin stories, and we wanted to explore what it could mean to have a new hero wearing a Ghost mask, and uncovering a new legend. This led us to Ghost of Yōtei: a new protagonist, a new story to unfold, and a new region of Japan to explore. 

While we aren’t diving into story specifics yet today, we can reveal that Atsu’s journey takes place in 1603, more than 300 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima. Our story is set in the lands surrounding Mount Yōtei, a towering peak in the heart of Ezo, an area of Japan known as Hokkaido in present day. In 1603, this area was outside the rule of Japan, and filled with sprawling grasslands, snowy tundras, and unexpected dangers. It’s a far cry from the organized samurai clans who lived in Tsushima, and it’s the setting for an original story we can’t wait to tell.

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This is also Sucker Punch’s first game built from the ground up for PlayStation 5, and we’re excited to build on the visual foundation we established in Ghost of Tsushima by making the world feel even more real. We have massive sightlines that let you look far across the environment, whole new skies featuring twinkling stars and auroras, even more believable movement from wind on grass and vegetation, and more improvements we’ll share in the future. Our new setting also gives us the opportunity to introduce new mechanics, gameplay improvements, and even new weapons. 

Our trailer today offers a glimpse into this world, but there’s so much more to show, and we’ll have much more to share in the months ahead, including details about Atsu’s journey and the people (and animals) she’ll meet along the way. We are forever grateful for the success of Ghost of Tsushima, and we can’t wait for you all to experience Ghost of Yōtei in 2025. 

 Marcellus Williams, whose murder conviction was questioned by a prosecutor, died by lethal injection Tuesday evening in Missouri after the US Supreme Court denied a stay.

The 55-year-old was put to death around 6 p.m. CT at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

Williams’ attorneys had filed a flurry of appeal efforts based on what they described as new evidence – including alleged bias in jury selection and contamination of the murder weapon prior to trial. The victim’s family had asked the inmate be spared death.

The US Supreme Court’s action came a day after Missouri’s supreme court and governor refused to grant a stay of execution.

The high court offered no explanation for its decision, which is common for cases on its emergency docket. There were no noted dissents in two of Williiams’ appeals. In a third, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have granted the request to pause the execution.

Williams was convicted in 2001 of killing Felicia Gayle, a former newspaper reporter found stabbed to death in her home in 1998.

“We hope this gives finality to a case that’s languished for decades, re-victimizing Ms. Gayle’s family for decades,” Gov. Mike Parson said in a statement read by Trevor Foley, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections. “No juror no judge has ever found Williams’ innocence claim to be credible. Two decades of judicial proceedings and more than 15 judicial hearings upheld his guilty conviction. Thus the order of execution has been carried out.”

In a statement after the execution, one of Williams’ attorneys, Larry Komp, said his client maintained his innocence to the end.

“While he would readily admit to the wrongs he had done throughout his life, he never wavered in asserting his innocence of the crime for which he was put to death tonight,” Komp said. “Although we are devastated and in disbelief over what the State has done to an innocent man, we are comforted that he left this world in peace.”

Moments after the high court decision was made, another of Williams’ attorneys, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, told CNN’s Jake Tapper the state was prepared to kill an innocent man.

“They will do it even though the prosecutor doesn’t want him to be executed, the jurors who sentenced him to death don’t want him executed and the victims themselves don’t want him to be executed. We have a system that values finality over fairness, and this is the result that we will get from that.”

“It is news to all of us, and I think that it should be a shame to all of us, that we have a system that will let a man be executed in spite of all of this, really is not a system of justice,” the attorney said.

In a statement posted on X, the NAACP said “Missouri lynched another innocent Black man. Governor Parson had the responsibility to save this innocent life, and he didn’t … We will hold Governor Parson accountable. When DNA evidence proves innocence, capital punishment is not justice – it is murder.”

Recently, the top prosecutor in St. Louis County joined Williams’ attorneys in asking for the conviction to be overturned after new testimony from the 2001 trial prosecutor and recent DNA testing showed evidence contamination.

The case highlighted the issue of potentially putting an innocent person to death – an inherent risk of capital punishment. At least 200 people sentenced to death since 1973 were later exonerated, including four in Missouri, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Williams’ last moments

Williams’ last statement, witnessed on September 21, was “All Praise Be to Allah In Every Situation!!!” Williams was a devout Muslim, an imam for prisoners and a poet, according to his legal team.

Williams’ last meal included chicken wings and tater tots, said Karen Pojmann, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections.

He had a final visit with Imam Jalahii Kacem from around 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CT.

Around 4:50 p.m., the Department of Corrections received word that all petitions had been denied by the US Supreme Court, and about an hour later, witnesses, including Williams’ son and two of his attorneys, were moved into the viewing area of the prison, Pojmann said at a news conference.

At 6 p.m., state Attorney General Andrew Bailey notified the Department of Corrections that there were no legal impediments to the execution. The lethal injection was administered at 6:01 p.m. and Williams was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m., Pojmann said.

Around 100 demonstrators were present on the prison grounds protesting capital punishment and Williams’ execution, Pojmann said.

No one from Gayle’s family was present for Tuesday’s execution.

Attorneys on both sides tried to intervene

Williams’ lawyers and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filled a joint brief Saturday asking the Missouri Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court for a “more comprehensive hearing” on Bell’s January motion to vacate Williams’ 2001 conviction and sentence.

The St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which handled the trial against Williams, argued in the motion that DNA testing of the knife used in the killing might suggest Williams was not Gayle’s killer.

But that effort unraveled at a circuit court hearing last month, after new DNA testing revealed the murder weapon had been mishandled prior to the 2001 trial – contaminating the evidence meant to exonerate Williams and complicating his quest to prove his innocence.

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 A Memphis man testified on Monday that he and a second person shot and killed rapper Young Dolph after Big Jook, the brother of rapper Yo Gotti, put a hit on him.

Cornelius Smith identified himself and Justin Johnson as the two people seen on a 17 November 2021, surveillance video exiting a white Mercedes outside a Memphis, Tennessee, cookie store about 30 seconds after Young Dolph entered the store and then opening fire in broad daylight.

Smith was testifying in the first day of Johnson’s trial on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and being a felon in possession of a gun.

Smith also faces murder and conspiracy charges. Johnson’s attorney, Luke Evans, told the jury in opening statements that they should not trust Smith’s testimony because he was just trying to save himself. Johnson is innocent, Evans said. Photos of him wearing clothes like the person in the video do not mean he is the same person, Evans said.

Deputy district attorney Paul Hagerman, in opening statements, said Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr, was determined to make it on his own as an artist, and also with his own label, Paper Route Empire.

“Trying to make it on your own can create enemies,” Hagerman said.

He noted that the Yo Gotti-founded rival record label Cocaine Muzic Group (now known as Collective Music Group) wanted Young Dolph to work for them, but he turned them down. Young Dolph later wrote diss tracks directed at the label, its artists, and its “number two person”, Big Jook.

Young Dolph had survived previous shootings. He was shot multiple times in September 2017 after a fight outside a Los Angeles hotel. In February of that year, his SUV was shot at in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 100 times. The incident was the inspiration for the song 100 Shots. He said he survived because he had bulletproof panels in his vehicle.

Big Jook, whose real name was Anthony Mims, was shot and killed outside a restaurant in January 2024, according to media reports.

Smith, who said he was shot in the arm and the leg by Young Dolph’s brother, Marcus Thornton, as he fled the cookie store shooting, testified that he received only $800 prior to his arrest. He said his attorney was later paid another $50,000 by Big Jook.

Asked by Hagerman how he felt after shooting Young Dolph, Smith said: “I wasn’t feeling nothing at the time. I’m not gonna lie. I was trying to get some money.”

Smith testified that his young son had died a few months before and he had started “popping pills and not caring about nothing”. His conscience started bothering him only later after he sobered up in jail, he said.

Jermarcus Johnson pleaded guilty in June 2023 to three counts of serving as an accessory after the killing by helping Smith and Justin Johnson, his half-brother.

Jermarcus Johnson acknowledged helping the two shooting suspects communicate by cellphone while they were on the run from authorities and helping one of them communicate with his probation officer. Jermarcus Johnson has not been sentenced.

Hernandez Govan has pleaded not guilty to organizing the killing.

Young Dolph began his career by releasing numerous mixtapes, starting with 2008′s Paper Route Campaign. His multiple studio albums include his 2016 debut King of Memphis. He also collaborated on other mixtapes and albums with fellow rappers Key Glock, Megan Thee Stallion, TI, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz and others.

He had three albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, with 2020′s Rich Slave peaking at No 4.

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