Julius

Forgot to bring it up, but Jones was back once again at Easy Allies for TGA reactions, and both Kyle and Jones were part of that week's main podcast: Wouldn't say they're quite as all-timer as last year's equivalents, but man, I just miss listening to these guys. I don't really listen to EZA as a podcast anymore - at least the current stuff. Feel like I just cycle back through older episodes of the main podcast and Frame Trap, and recently for around to listening back to the Frame Trap episodes released from lockdown onwards, something I'd dodged doing for a very long time purely because of, well, it being a reminder of such a strange time. I'm also currently watching through Hall of Greats (again), and man, I miss the glory days. The Trial of Kyle Bosman is also S-tier Which brings me to today, when I finally got around to watching most of their deliberations for 2023, what with the end of the year now upon us. I've still got the GOTY discussion to go, but man, I'm shocked that so many of the Allies just straight up skipped some of the strongest GOTY candidates last year, namely Baldur's Gate III. It wouldn't be my pick (based on having only played it in co-op, mind you), but to only have Gabby and Isla beat it and the others to just have thrown in a few hours, when it came out in August/September (depending on your platform), AND considering the fact that they still held their deliberations later than everyone else...I'm at a total loss. I get that they can't play everything, but I had the winner spoiler for me in the comments and am not surprised at all given who is left and who does and does not want to cause a stir during these things, and it's weird to think that a couple of years prior with Brad and Ben present, it's obvious they would've played BG3 and it probably would've won. Similar to how I think Endwalker would've won in 2021 if Ben had actually finished it. Oh well, guess I can only hope that things are handled differently this time next month, if they are planning on holding these deliberations once again it's tough for me because the people my taste most aligned with (Ben and Brad) have long since left, and they were kind of the counterbalances to a lot of the other Allies not getting through as many of the games they probably should've played. Very curious to see how it pans out, in any case. It also seems - from the comments, at least - that Don got shafted, which sucks.

This has pretty much become tradition on here at this point, and it's a great one at that, so thanks for sharing @drahkon, always love seeing your stats breakdown Real shame about Timmy, though... ...not that he didn't have it coming, mind you

And that is credits and a game clear on my first Resident Evil! Played through on Easy, as I mentioned before, because I didn't know the second option wasn't Normal...but in the end that turned out for the better with my time taken to adjust to the tank controls anyways Finally found a use for that MO Disk I'd been keeping at the bottom of the item chest forever, and yes, I did blow up (just the once) trying to carefully go from one room to another in the lab. Not surprised by how certain characters played out, because I mean, some names you just hear through the grapevine, but the game even felt like it managed to get ahead of that with how it's revealed in certain documents anyways. Just one final mention for the Mansion and everything it encompasses from a game design perspective, the sound design of the game, the incredible atmosphere, and those puzzles -- maaaaaaaan, those puzzles. I absolutely adored some of the puzzles in this game, as well as how rewarding some are as a player but also in terms of in-game rewards, such as more powerful weapons or super helpful items -- and (I might be wrong about this?) I think I potentially skipped a boss fight? There was a massive room where a cutscene played out which was clearly set up for one, but never came to pass, because of a puzzle I did earlier in the game and remembered to use after finding a certain annoying critter "protecting" itself as I'd read about in some notes. I lost count of the times I'd find a hint or be part way through a puzzle and rush to grab a pen and something to write on - a notepad, an awkwardly torn scrap of paper, or the back of a stained envelope - before hastily scribbling away. If I had to pick just one part of the game genuinely think this aspect was my favourite That this then is part of an excellent blend of systems, story and lore bleeding into each other, which is very hard to pull off in such a relatively linear and short(ish) game, really makes it clear why this remake was so well received. This was a real blast, and I'm seriously happy that I chose to stick it out despite early issues with the tank controls. I'm looking forward to seeing where the story and mechanics go from here, as well as seeing who turns up elsewhere, and I'm curious to see if the next game can sink its hooks into me in similar fashion. This is one of my favourite playthroughs of the year and I'm glad I squeezed it in -- in an another time where I'd grown up with a GameCube, on tank controls, and boss fights not coming as far as I know they have in the time since, I could easily see this being one I would throw around as being one of my favourites; it's not hard to see why others on N-E and elsewhere speak of it in such high regard and would include the game on their own personal list of favourites. Obviously, this next part probably goes without saying considering where I've ultimately landed on Resident Evil Remake, and that's that I will absolutely be checking out Resident Evil 2 Remake next year -- which I have just now ordered a copy of

First trailer for My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, which will be airing from April 2025. I actually read through the first few volumes of this way back when I started to get into MHA, and it was decent. It ran concurrent to the main series so I do think it's a little bit odd to start My Hero spin-offs with this; think I'd much rather skip to a prequel show about All-Might, if I'm being honest Which has got to be inevitable... right?

Immediately? No, I won't be At some point in the pretty near future, though? Absolutely. All in due time I think I'll be moving onto some jollier and more colourful games to see out the year I doubt I would've got to, or been done with, RE2 by the time it left PS+ next month anyways, but I appreciate the heads-up Very typical that it'd leave around the time I play my first RE, though

Good lord, this is one hell of a game. Finally had my first seriously long stretch of time with the game today (he says, only starting up at the start of the evening) after my previous shorter sessions with it, and have just made my way into what can only be described as a *very* secure location courtesy of a *very* hidden lift. I can't imagine there's particularly long left with how many people/things on my hit list are now crossed off, but given my experience with some other games (ahem...Yakuza) drawing out their finales to kingdom come and me feeling a bit shattered, I'm happy to come back and see the rest of this through tomorrow. And I can't wait. In case it had to be said again, puzzles: Spencer Mansion (the level design, environmental design, atmosphere, enemy compositions...the list doesn't end, seriously): Pretty much everything else I've mentioned before in a positive light: Seriously, if I were taking notes - which I guess I have been, mentally - my only real "negatives" up to this point are that I could take or leave quite a few of the boss fights, and that while an excellent stylistic choice and a way to carry the legacy of the original games on PS1 (and despite the fact that I've pretty much come to terms with them at this point), this game can be tricky to get to grips with purely because of its tank controls, and I think is probably a hard sell to a modern audience/anyone who doesn't have a history with tank controls with that in mind. I bring this up simply to say that sucks, because maaaaaaaan are those people missing out.

The MS-DOS Welltris is coming to the collection. And according to Chris Kohler, more could be on the way: Well, I guess it's time to start the wait for the definitive and complete collection in Tetris Forever And Ever, amirite?

Off the back of the brilliantly weird "This is an Xbox" campaign, Microsoft is apparently looking into the possibility of third parties building Xbox-branded devices, and potentially utilising the Xbox OS. Per Windows Central: He, she, we, they, I, you, it: Xbox.

@Hero-of-Time where are you at with this? I'm a bit curious just knowing your love of Naughty Dog but them also finally taking a bit of a break from TLOU as well?

Just in case there were any questions about it being the case, a physical release has been confirmed for North America and Europe! Only the Collector's Edition will be handled by LRG. Hell yeah

English dub trailer: Exploration and sailing gameplay:

Sounds like it's a great game for anyone not wearing goalie gloves

It's, uh...it's something, I'll tell ya Solid trailer, surprised by the decision to show off so many other characters and not just focus on Supes being back and potentially teasing Lex, they just put it all out there. Probably the right move seeing as this is the tentpole start to the new universe? But it felt a little incoherent and like there wasn't a clear throughline. Lacked any sort of climax for me as a trailer, also runs long for a "teaser trailer", but I am a good enough mix of curious and excited to see something new from DC. I'd score the trailer itself like a 7/7.5. Had to do the same. Interesting decision to go with such an accurate haircut for Guy and yet go blonde over red (which I imagine is how most people have seen Guy), it's not a big deal at all, but I'm curious what the idea behind that was.

My first reaction is that I hate his hair as Clark lol Why is Guy blonde Luthercorp over LexCorp, huh

Rumours have been gathering for a long time about Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion getting remakes, and another "insider" ex1stasis has thrown their hat in the ring to say that Oblivion's is coming next year; sounding like a reveal next month before a potential release in the summer. I think NateDrake was the first to mention this a while back, but who knows at this point? These "insiders" go by strange names and have even stranger ideas when it comes to morals, so eh It's long been rumoured that it would be on UE5 and handled by Virtuous, who are also doing the Snake Eater remake, and that's apparently still the case. I'm very curious about this. Firstly, because, well, Xbox don't really have their IPs remade or remastered all that often, but with all of their pick-ups over the years and the enormous popularity of Elder Scrolls, not to mention VI being at least another 5 years away, this seems a smart time to do it. All of these big IPs going to Virtuous to be remade makes me a bit more excited than they might actually be capable of remaking games well ahead of Snake Eater getting a release date, too. Having not played a Bethesda game before, and having thought about potentially tackling one next year, I think I'll wait to see how this turns out before taking the plunge. Biggest question for me is if this also comes to PlayStation on Day 1, or how they want to handle that. We know The Outer Worlds 2 is, Indy was only given a gap of a few months (which was likely only the case because of Xbox's potentially late call to bring it over to PS5), and there's still a bit of a confusing narrative to these Xbox Game Studios games if you strictly go by the words of Phil and other higher-ups.