Jump to content
NEurope

Julius

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    8,154

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    176

Posts posted by Julius

  1. Posted

    3 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

    Indie World is the biggest and highest profile regular indie event that we currently have (across all platforms).  With E3 being gone, I can't see any better opportunity we have for an indie game announcement like a Silksong trailer/release date.

    Only thing potentially bigger than an Indie World is a proper mainline Nintendo Direct; and we're not due another one until September now.

    The Triple III initiative has promise if it carries on being as good as their inaugural event, but right now, Indie World is the best we have. 

    While I agree that Indie World Showcases are the biggest shows consistently released specifically for indie titles, they're often lucky to break the 1 million views mark. They're nowhere near big enough to actually expand the audience for Silksong. 

    Even in lieu of a Direct proper, for something like Silksong, I could see Nintendo coming up with any excuse to have a Partner Showcase and feature the title – I just think it would be going backwards to go from the first game shadow dropping during Nintendo's E3 Direct to an April Indie World Showcase that draws a fraction of the crowd. Heck, I'm sure that Nintendo not turning up with a Direct proper in 2022 is a big reason why it turned up at the Xbox Games Showcase instead. 

    But, for the reasons I said above, I don't think an Xbox Games Showcase would be suitable for this game to shadow drop - they pull in a pretty niche slice of the gaming crowd, all things considered (and the thing being considered is that it's mostly Xbox fans, the smallest traditional platform to release on currently). Summer Game Fest would be absolutely suitable for this and draws in crowds from every platform, it would probably be the best event in terms of sheer eyes-on volume for this to drop during. 

    But, checking the release schedule, I reckon that if we get a shadow drop or release date within the next month for Silksong, it'll be because of Shadow of the Erdtree launching 21st June.

    If Silksong is complete and ready to go, as the recent ratings would seem to suggest, I can easily imagine a scenario where they were waiting to shadow drop it at Xbox or SGF, learned of the Shadow of the Erdtree release date, and spotted that mid-April is pretty open by comparison. I think, at least in the diehard gaming crowd which has been fawning over Silksong updates for ages now, the overlap with the From crowd is pretty huge, and a lot of Hollow Knight's success overall is down to smart release timing and plenty of word of mouth to spread the word about the game. 

    That'd be my guess anyways. Not saying it wouldn't be smart to drop tomorrow, there are just objectively bigger events coming up, and Shadow of the Erdtree is the only genuine reason I can think of wanting to avoid a mid-June release and deciding to just drop on a random Wednesday in April instead. 

  2. Posted

    Stream with the latest updates dropping next Monday (22nd April) at 23:00 BST. 

    Quote

    The United Kingdom ... beckons you forth once more.

    UK inclusion confirmed?!?!?!?!?!

    Is this game the ultimate British Empire power fantasy?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

    Will there be tea and colonies?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 

    Will the Queen somehow return?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

     

    (okay but seriously a joke in this game about the difference between the United Kingdom vs Great Britain would be great)

  3. Posted

    31 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

    Personally I'm hoping to see Mina The Hollower here, as it's been 3,000 years, but nope; everyone else is just hyped for Silksong.

    The years are flying by because I 1000% thought that we'd had a Mina update and new footage more recently than Silksong, but nope, latest stuff I can find is still Q1 2022 for Mina (mostly stuff shortly after that Yacht Club presentation with the game's KS announcement) and June 2022 for Silksong during the Xbox Games Showcase. 

    Some serious mind fudgery going on here. Let's get updates on both! Okay maybe that's a bit much to ask for but eh, why not :p

    24 minutes ago, killthenet said:

    I feel like Silksong might be too big for this 

    It definitely feels that way for me, I feel like a Direct would make the most sense for a shadow drop if it were going to happen, absolutely got the most eyes on them during those. Indie Showcases do middling numbers by comparison.

    There's no chance in hell in my mind that it drops during an Xbox event (even with Game Pass deals and the like) simply because of how poorly it would get communicated that it was dropping on everything. I mean Xbox buy a couple of days of Atlus saying their games are coming to Xbox only in their trailers, for pity's sake! 

    24 minutes ago, killthenet said:

    would undoubtedly be the biggest shadow drop ever if it happens

    Wdym, we get so many fantasy farming sim indies shadow drop all of the time, there's no way Silksong is bigger than those

    :laughing:

  6. Posted

    A whole bunch of games leaving the service this month, 25 in total:

    ps-plus-push-square-2.large.jpg

    ps-plus-push-square-3.large.jpg

    Quote

    Abzu (PS4)
    Adr1ft (PS4)
    How to Survive 2 (PS4)
    The Artful Escape (PS5, PS4)
    Ashen (PS4)
    Last Stop (PS5, PS4)
    I Am Dead (PS4, PS4)
    Absolver: Downfall (PS4)
    My Friend Pedro (PS4)
    The Messenger (PS4)
    Jotun (PS4)
    Sundered (PS4)
    World of Final Fantasy (PS4)
    This Is the Police (PS4)
    This Is the Police 2 (PS4)
    ELEX (PS4)
    Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 (PS4)
    Minit (PS4)
    Observation (PS4)
    Final Fantasy IX (PS4)
    Final Fantasy VII (PS4)
    Final Fantasy VIII Remastered (PS4)
    Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PS4)
    Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition (PS4)
    Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster (PS4)

    Bunch of FF mainline titles bowing out, guess it makes sense as I suppose they wanted that impact up to and shortly after Rebirth, but still: that's one heck of a cull. 

  7. Posted · Edited by Julius

    What have we here? 

    GLRhZDJWkAAcYO1?format=jpg&name=large

    In what feels like a rare event these days, the reverse is suitably gorgeous too – look at all that character art! 

    GLRiqx4XIAATeo4?format=jpg&name=large

    Very excited for this :D going to start the install now, and I'll be back with some impressions later/tomorrow! :bouncy:

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  8. Posted

    2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    Good first half for your lads, @Julius.

    Yup, a solid night in the end, nice to see a big win. Been a disastrous couple of seasons since Ted and co. took over, but hopefully we can finish the season strong and kick on. 

    This team needs some more experienced players around, though, as seen from the spot kick shoving around that went on; it's simply not acceptable. This is what happens when you spend big on a bunch of kids though, I guess, it was good to see Gallagher stepping in but well, there needs to be more to it ::shrug: 

    Actually heard a bit of Dele Alli's punditry on it around them not showing up to be fighting for the pen late on against United but wanting to nab it off the now joint scorer in the league this season when we're already 4-0 up, it's embarrassing. 

    But enough of that, crazy stats time: Palmer is the first to score in 7 (!) successive games at the Bridge, and has scored more goals this season for us in the Prem (20) than Havertz did in three combined (19). If he continues to kick on this then I'll consider City's De Bruyne debt paid off by karma :p

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Edited by Julius

    18 minutes ago, killthenet said:

    The fact he couldn't win the Champions League while at Bayern Munich is proof enough that Guardiola is a bald fraud 

    Yeah, I still find it hilarious that Bayern thought that they wanted and needed Pep so bad - just six months after making it to the UCL final - that they effectively forced out a legend like Heynckes, whose team in 12/13 then went on to break multiple records and won an unprecedented treble. 

    The ultimate middle finger from Jupp because Pep then not being able to win the UCL with that team is probably the only real stain on his CV, I love it :laughing:

    18 minutes ago, killthenet said:

    Both Nolan and Guardiola are utter bores who are absolutely full of themselves.

    Eh, Tenet has massive issues and is pretentious as hell, but up until that point Nolan's films pretty much all bang. I love the Dark Knight trilogy but so many of his "smaller" films I'd argue are a much better showcase of his talents, like Memento or The Prestige. 

    Funnier yet, though - with @Hero-of-Time not rating Nolan in particular - I think Nolan is to modern film what Kojima has been for games and have for a long time - how they tackle their auteurship is kind of freakily similar, they both absolutely need focus and to be reined in - and the critical response to Death Stranding reminds me a lot of the response to Tenet :laughing:

    Edit - didn't see your post before mine @Happenstance so a quick edit, but yeah Nolan's sound mixing sucks ass, idk how but it's got worse over the years :D

  11. Posted

    21 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    I still don't rate the guy. Majority of the time he's walked into a club with a stupid amount of money to spend. 

    It's a weird one, because I see and understand the argument, but I can't say I'd agree. 

    I think the system he utilises requires high skill and technicality, which simply isn't cheaply bought. I do think he would be capable of adapting to lesser teams - to the same extent as Mou dragging Porto and Inter to success, though? Or Fergie churning out several dynasties through the highs and lows at United? I'm not quite sure - because even when he buys these expensive players, not all of them end up working out in his system, but a lot of them come on leaps and bounds in unexpected ways so long as the hard work and dedication is there. Look at the rest of the league - heck, even just across Manchester - and it's obvious that buying power isn't necessarily staying power. 

    Someone like that just seems destined to produce results so long as they have the full backing of the board, and I do also think Pep carries out extensive profiling of the leagues and teams he's being offered to take the reins of - it's just as much a case of him finding a board which trusts him and are willing to back him fully, as it is a case of him having access to unbelievable facilities, budgets, etc. I genuinely think the Barça board created this monster with how they essentially forced Pep into wanting to take time out of the game, and the seemingly unlimited funds of a team like City are all too happy to be invested in such a project. I think Pep could hypothetically be unhappy with Haaland in a year's time and the club would be happy to sell him on if it meant Pep stayed. 

    He's also just a scholar of the sport, more so than any other manager I can think of today. It's clear he has a passion for its history, revisiting ideas from its past, and he's one of the few managers you hear about having met up with other managers, some of whom who aren't necessarily in that top echelon from all over the world for a dinner or a drink to discuss football, beyond just the typical post-game drinks; off the top of my head I can think of Tuchel, Bielsa, Wenger, and a few others, I think he even called Sacchi up at one point to discuss something he was having trouble with. 

    I think the best analogy I can think of is comparing Pep to Christopher Nolan: while I would love to see Nolan make a budget $10 million indie film today, someone of that calibre in their field deserves the backing and freedom to produce films (teams/football philosophies) which pushes their profession and medium forward, and if that means getting backed to a silly degree, then so be it. They're once-in-a-generation talents at their particular role. 

  12. Posted

    Nintendo won't be at Gamescom this year. 

    Per VGC:

    Quote

    In a statement issued to German publication Games Wirtschaft, a spokesperson for the company said it would not be an exhibitor at this summer's event.

    Gamescom 2024 organisers have yet to announce the exhibitor list for the show, which is scheduled to take place in Cologne, Germany, from August 21-25.

    Nintendo attended last year's Gamescom as an exhibitor. According to VGC sources, the company also used the event to show off tech demos for Switch 2 behind closed doors.

    Not too surprising given the context of previous reports that the console's launch got moved back to Q1 2025. 

    I'm really curious to see when they decide to actually announce/reveal this thing, maybe even more so than I am to hear about its launch plans. I genuinely think if it doesn't launch until late Q1 (as in, March) similar to the Switch, they could get away with waiting until January, so as to not potentially hurt Christmas sales and cause confusion. 

    The only real argument I can think against doing that would be potential leaks from the production line, but so long as they aren't stupid and pulling a Wii U and they don't get too gimmick-heavy, I think you could absolutely blast out a 2-3 month marketing campaign for this thing and have it over with. You could even tease an event for Jan with a console silhouette and a bit of a teaser trailer at The Game Awards if you really wanted to, I think you could get away with that much, because as big as that is for the gaming space, I don't feel like TGA news and a console silhouette would permeate through to the Switch demographic without the console before Christmas was over and done with. 

    Nintendo basically turned water into wine with the marketing and release of the Switch last time around compared to how they and competitors had done it before, so yeah, I can't wait to see if they've got any of that sort of magic up their sleeve this time around :D

    • Thanks 2

  15. Posted

    Leverkusen winning their first Bundesliga with 5 games to spare (and up to this point being unbeaten) is unbelievable :bowdown: would be crazy if they managed to remain unbeaten for the last 5 games, and even more so if they win their other competitions with the same record. 

    32 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    Congrats to City on winning the league. :(

    I love his style of football and what he's done for the sport/Prem, but I can't wait for that bald fraud to leave one day :D

  16. Posted

    48 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

    Heads up, physical copies are now out in the wild, and it sounds like the game's coming in hot with some pretty nasty game breaking bugs...

    ... supposedly there's a Day 1 Patch incoming that'll fix some of these bugs, but it may be worth holding off a playthrough for the first couple of weeks at least while people find the worst of these bugs and we either get some workarounds or some further bugfix patches...

    That reads me to a bit like shipping got the game out to backers before it was intended in addition to it already going down to the wire – and as a result it now sounds like they're under even more pressure to rush out fixes now that the game is out in the wild. Which kind of sucks for the devs more than anyone else. My copy hasn't even shipped yet, and I know that's the case for a few others, too. 

    If it does turn out that the problems persist up until and around launch, I don't mind waiting a bit until they're ironed out, more than anything I just want to see what Murayama has cooked up for his final story. I'm not too surprised to hear it's a bit rough currently though, I read impressions of the beta and that was a bit messy too. 

    I just hope the quality is there once it's patched :peace:

  17. Posted

    13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    Majors done a fantastic part of being the antagonist

    Helps when there's no acting involved :laughing:

    13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    the final boxing fight was really well done.

    It really was. Michael B. Jordan directed this one and he's talked about being a fan of anime before - for this particular fight he said he wanted to convey similar emotions and energy to an anime fight, and I think it really shows! Definitely feels unique in the world of fighting films. 

    14 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    Training montage was a bit weak though which was a shame as I always love watching them. 

    Aye, peaked with the first film for me and it feels like they've been trying to claw back to that greatness ever since. 

    Still a banger of a track for it, mind :D

    15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    When Harry Met Sally

    e4c073ca-13fa-425b-863c-a2d4d18a89d4_tex

    Love that film :laughing: real shame Rom-Coms have generally gone the way of the dodo or are straight-to-subscription service schlock, it's most of what my parents brought me up on :cry:

    • Like 1

  18. Posted · Edited by Julius

    Finally getting some more concrete news on next year's animated film which will mark the debut of Avatar Studios: starring Eric Nam and Dave Bautista, with the work-in-progress title of Aang: The Last Airbender. 

    Quote

    Dave Bautista and Eric Nam are set to headline the voice cast for the upcoming “Avatar: The Last Airbender” movie in development at Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios. The film’s working title is “Aang: The Last Airbender.” The news was announced during Paramount’s slate presentation at CinemaCon.

    Joining Bautista and Nam in the voice cast are Dionne Quan, Jessica Matten and Roman Zaragoza. Plot details for the film remain under wraps. Bautista will voice a villain character. The new “Avatar” animated film is set for release on Oct. 10, 2025 from Paramount.

    The studios announced in June 2022 that three standalone “Avatar” animated films were in development. The 2025 film was the first to get a release date. Lauren Montgomery, who worked on the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series, is directing the project, with original series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko executive producing alongside Eric Coleman. William Mata is co-directing. 

    Bautista did some voice work in Ghibli's the Boy and The Heron recently, and I think he'll make a stellar villain, so I'm looking forward to hearing that. Bit of a shame they seem keen to move on from the original cast in most cases (I imagine apart from Zuko?), but I know some have retired and others have expressed interested in those of backgrounds closer to their characters getting the nod over them (heard this for both Korra and Katara), so it's hard to complain; excited to see how it turns out nonetheless :peace:

    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted · Edited by Julius

    Wrecking Crew '98, Amazing Hebereke, and SUPER R-TYPE are landing on the service...today! 

    Quote

    Today, players with a Nintendo Switch Online membership can swing a hammer with Mario, blast through space in the advanced R-9 ship and revel in cute chaos with friends when Super Famicom™ system games Wrecking Crew '98™ and Amazing Hebereke", and Super NES™ title SUPER R-TYPE™ join the Super Nintendo Entertainment System™ Nintendo Switch Online library.

    :peace:

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 4

  22. Posted · Edited by Julius

    Headed over to the Birmingham Gaming Market last Saturday and had a pretty good time (albeit a bit of a sardine-like experience). 

    Going in, I'd done my research on retro games I wanted to get around to picking up a while ago, but I had a few priority items on my mind for this event:

    • Silent Hill 2 - one of the horror games I want to get around to this year, in its original form rather than the remake. 
    • Armored Core games - I adored VI, so I'll be picking up most if not all of these as time goes on, I'm sure! 
    • Suikoden V - the only mainline Suikoden I don't own in some form or another. 

    I also said I wouldn't be picking up any JP copies of games. My main tactic with our early access tickets was to take a quick nose around at high list items on racks/shelves closer to the vendor the first go around and then I'd dig into things truly on subsequent loops. 

    GK40Jt0WUAAjFNS?format=jpg&name=large

    So first game picked up was Armored Core: Silent Line, which I picked up on my first go around the place and spotted out of the corner of my eyes from several stalls away :D chuffed to pick up an Armored Core game, and this one went for £40, which is roughly how much it goes for elsewhere, too. The same vendor also had a PAL copy of Nine Breaker, too, but I didn't pick this up for two reasons: firstly, from my research it seems pretty universally loathed and rated as the weakest entry in the series, and secondly - and perhaps most importantly - it was going for £140. I was tempted (mainly because I know it'll probably go up in price by the time I get to it in the future), but kept my wits about me; I thought it was gone by our third go around which would've made it easier on me, but it had just moved shelf, and I'm glad I didn't pick it up then either. 

    On my second loop I picked up Spider-Man 3 (specifically on PS3) and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, two items high on my PS3 wishlist, from the same vendor. While I've seen them around, I was watching out for copies iin nicer condition - and these would do! They were £18 and £5, respectively. 

    And then...there just weren't any of my other priority items around. I did spot copies of Armored Core V and Verdict Day from a mile off, too, but unfortunately these were JP copies and so I wouldn't be able to play them (they were also £55 and £65, respectively, so not cheap for shelf-fillers). 

    Wanting to make more out of the day and use some more of my budget, I lifted my rule on not picking up any JP titles, and headed back to the same stall (Sore Thumb from up in York) I got Silent Line from with one particular game in mind that I'd spotted on my first pass through...

    GK40JymWkAMF06p?format=jpg&name=large

    Chrono Trigger. Yes, I own it on DS physically and on Steam digitally, but I'd spotted a Japanese SNES copy a while back in great condition which had been put aside for someone at my local retro games store, and well, a JP PS1 copy of the game would take up less space and still looks quite nice, so why not? That set me back £25. I then also picked up Hunter x Hunter: Ubawareta Aura Stone (The Stolen Aura Stone) for just £10, a game I'd heard a little about and picked up because, well, Hunter x Hunter :p 

    Which brings me onto my favourite pick-ups of the day, two games I'd actually been thinking of importing before I treated myself to their English ROMs...

    GK40J1MWAAAQo5F?format=jpg&name=large

    Suikogaiden Volume 1: Swordsman of Harmonia AND Suikogaiden Volume 2: Duel at Crystal Valley. These are spin-off titles to the Suikoden series which are actually text and picture-based adventures more along the lines of a visual novel, the first being set during the events of Suikoden II and the second being set following the events of Suikoden II, incorporating save transfers for character cameos or your player character name from II, and the games also introduce you to Nash, who I know turns up in III; notably, these never made it out of Japan. These are part of the 'Konami: The Best' line (even came with the spine sleeves, which I've popped into their respective cases), and though I was thinking of importing standard copies, getting to pick these up at a gaming market when I recognised their font while flicking through boxes felt special, and so I was happy to make an exception here. Definitely my favourite pick-ups of the day, big fan of the box art. These were £15 each. 

    Overall, I was a bit let down in terms of finding priority items from my retro games list here - I thought Suikoden V was a bit of a long shot, but I watched footage of last year's event and there were 5+ copies of Silent Hill 2 floating around back at that event, and a good few more Armored Core titles, too. I "only" ended up spending £128 of the £300 budget I'd set myself for the event in the end, and half of that was from JP copies of games I didn't go in expecting to buy, but picked up to salvage the day for me a bit in terms of pick-ups. 

    Cool for a first gaming market experience, but I honestly thought my pick-ups at Comic Con a few months ago felt more special (maybe free of the pressure of not being a gaming market), and I do wish they'd have some sort of traffic system in place with arrows on the floor rather than having it be a bit of a free-for all. No doubt I'll be hunting down my priority items in the coming months online, and I'll be looking forward to whatever gaming market I end up at next! 

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 1

  23. Posted

    2 hours ago, Dcubed said:

    "you're watching the Triple-i initiative".  Yes, I know that.  Thank you.

    While I agree, I do think it was the right move for their first show, purely to get it stuck in your head. "Triple-i" as a corner of the industry isn't really discussed all that casually I find, and it's not being run by one of the big dogs or Geoff, so I think they were right to try to basically push awareness of the show on us for future reference. I know I certainly won't be like "what was that show earlier this year again, 'Quadruple-B Irrigation'?" later this year when we're waiting for shows to pop up, it'll be "'Triple-i' was super solid, really hope they turn up with another show!" :laughing:

    Now, that being said, if they mention it more than an average of once every 15 minutes in their next show, then I'm going to change my tune, and they certainly can't return next time saying it nearly as many times as they did this time around. 

    I do also wish they'd just take an extra beat for some of the release dates, some flashed up on-screen and we'd moved on a bit too fast for my liking. 

  24. Posted · Edited by Julius

    Thought that was a really solid show with some great reveals, though the pacing was a bit too breakneck to endure the full 45 minutes. I think you can cap out at 25 minutes top going at that speed, but it's the first showcase I remember watching where the problem was it being too fast rather than far too slow. 

    Some really fun transitions between games, though, like "only a few more rogue-lites (promise)" or my personal favourite: 

    mnYVAKm.png

    Also that time a game being introduced as "from the Never Alone community, a whole new story" turning out to just straight up be Never Alone 2 :laughing:

    Highlights of the show for me were Shadows of Doubt finally coming to consoles and WHAT THE CAR? just looks like good, dumb fun (also loved how obviously it was from the developers of WHAT THE GOLF? :p)

    Hopefully they turn back up later this year, would love to see them turn up again this summer! 

  25. Posted

    Guess Ubisoft really want Prince of Persia to stick around all of a sudden, huh? 

    Quote

    Evil Empire revealed their very first game today, after nearly 5 years of working on post-launch content for Dead Cells. The Roque Prince of Persia is their indie take on the iconic video game and will be launching into Early Access on Steam on May 14th 2024. In this action-platformer roguelite, players will take on the role of the titular Prince and flow between death-defying platforming and acrobatic combat as they battle through the capital city again and again with one goal finda way to save Persia from a Hun invasion wielding dark magic.

     

×