Julius

In a shocking twist that we totally didn't see coming courtesy of a leak, the game is indeed arriving November 8th, as confirmed at Gamescom's ONL:

The DualSense Edge, seemingly PlayStation's answer to the Xbox Elite line of controllers, was just announced at Gamescom... ...and it sure looks edgy. Paddles, modular sticks, black face buttons and D-pads...and I'd assume better battery life, but we'll need to wait and see on that I guess No details as of yet, PlayStation seem to be sound asleep with no official teaser upload or PlayStation Blog entry (as promised by Geoff). So see you in a couple of hours for those details I guess. UPDATE: official video upload; And details from the PS Blog (no details on launch date or price): Loving the PlayStation symbols embossed onto the touchpad!

To be fair to Stardew Valley, Harvestella is also a very generic-looking action RPG I'm sort of having the opposite reaction where I think they're trying to get whatever they've agreed to with Square Enix for Harvestella out of the way ahead of a potential September Direct but I'll take anything at this point, so if they means they turn up unannounced to Gamescom, so be it!

What in the Universal Studios' Super Nintendo World is going on?!

Well, looks like someone pulled the trigger early on putting an ad up on SEGA's Japanese channel: it seems that the game will be releasing 8th November. Got to imagine we'll get confirmation at Gamescom ONL tonight? One day before Ragnarök...I'm sure Kratos is shaking is his boots

So while there is naturally a lot of asset reuse going on (as we've seen in the trailers so far, I've seen a couple of comparison videos and the world looks largely unchanged), I do think a whole lot of conclusions were jumped to with BOTW2 before the game was even announced, and I think it's a massive reach to say that the game "was supposed to be a quick asset-reuse sequel". I remember in the months following the release of BOTW back in 2017 many people were saying "well, they've got the world already, we'll have a sequel in two or three years a la Majora's Mask because it's pretty much there, ain't it?" which I think has perpetuated this idea that, well, that was the plan, when we have no real idea. Asset reuse would've cut down on development time compared to not reusing assets, that's just a natural conclusion to arrive at, but a comparatively, potentially faster developed sequel is not necessarily "just" going to be a "quick asset-reuse sequel". Like you say though, the gap between 3D (and well, just any mainline) Zelda releases have been growing wider, and what little we do know about BOTW2's development is that basically they had a bunch of ideas which got too big for DLC and grew out of control into its own thing. We've seen the GDC talks, there was a lot that they didn't do anything with in the first game, and I don't think it's hard to believe that they didn't even show everything back then. COVID is a factor and I think it's genuinely poor form to not admit that it would have been. However, if we're going to question it being the biggest reason for the game taking as long as it has? I mean, considering that we've had a delay during/"post"-COVID (in quotes because, well, the worst has passed in the West for now, but it's still obviously a thing) from a 2022 release (announced at E3 last year) to 2023 (announced earlier this year), it's clearly not the current reason for the delay to 2023. But COVID clearly would have had an impact, I'd imagine at least 12 months and likely longer if we're being frank, especially considering that we got a first trailer at E3 2019. Let's say that hypothetically the game was aiming for an early 2021 launch before COVID was a factor: COVID would have hit at the worst possible time for the game's development (around the midway point and heading into the final 12-15 months before launch). And, like you say, this is Zelda, and this is Nintendo, the wait has been getting longer between releases: COVID would have had a huge impact on their production flow, sure, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that "downtime" ended up spawning new ideas or fresh perspectives on the game which meant they actually ended up further back in production once they returned, sat down, and went "so, I've been thinking about X, and why don't we try Y, or Z?" That would seem like a very, very Nintendo thing to happen. Which brings me back to asset reuse and what you were saying about if something went wrong with this game's development: I don't think anything went wrong, necessarily, in the sense that games like Final Fantasy VII Remake and Metroid Prime 4 had to be moved to entirely different studios after a few years of development not going as planned, but I do think some of their ideas - whether they came back with more after COVID would've slowed things down in speculation and conjecture on my part - are taking more resource to implement than they first thought it might, whether that's the patented mechanics or mechanics we've seen in the game's trailers. Or, what I think would make a lot more sense, some idea they have for the land of Hyrule has spun out of control or taken longer to implement than they might have thought. Like I said above, the ground level seems to be pretty much unchanged in the trailers (other than enemy composition), and while yes they're adding stuff to the sky and - we assume - an underground, I think we'd be right to assume that these are going to be slithers of the map compared to the size and scale of the land presented in BOTW, and so I just can't see them leaving that to be pretty much as it was in BOTW the same given that exploring every nook and cranny of the land of Hyrule was the entire selling point of BOTW's open world. Even if the sky and underground each somehow were so massive that they each took up 25% of the explorable space in the game, there's no way that I could see Nintendo and this team green-lighting keeping 50% - the land - virtually the same. Whether it's a Dark World, time travel to a past Hyrule, or something else altogether (like an urbanisation sim aspect where you go around building and rebuilding villages and the like at ground level), I think whatever their plans are for the land of Hyrule is going to be what's taken up so much of their time. If I'm wrong and they've "just" added a sky and underground, then so be it, I'll be right there with you and a little dubious about what's been taking so long. But I don't think we know nearly enough about the game to come out with absolute statements like it being a "quick asset-reuse sequel", and definitely not enough to say that "COVID is not an answer" to the question of why it's ended up with a 6 year development cycle. COVID will be one of many reasons that it's taken so long. Also, I agree with @Sheikah, BOTW did have DLC (yeah okay it wasn't massive, but it still would have taken resource), and they could easily be pushing BOTW2 back to polish it further for a launch alongside the Switch 2. We'll just need to wait and see, this is one of those games where I'm willing to settle on and wait as long as Nintendo feels they need to nail it

Schreier with the scoops: reportedly moving to develop under Saber Interactive from Aspyr. Not surprising given the news a few weeks ago about two of its directors being fired and being delayed indefinitely. Let the long wait begin!

PSVR2 is set to launch in early 2023: As much as I want to be there Day 1...I think I'll need to try to be sensible, and to wait and see what they've got cooking for the launch window to see if it'll be worth being there from the start – as much as I've enjoyed my time with the PS5, exclusive games hasn't been it's forte since launch. Got to imagine supply will be pretty limited, and early 2023 is this the window where the cost of living crisis is really set to be in full swing over here in the UK, so...

Ahead of Gamescom's Opening Night Live landing tomorrow night, Keighley has shared the date for this year's Game Awards:

We saw players in co-op riding around on a pair of Koraidon and a pair of Miraidon in the trailer we got a couple of weeks ago as part of the multiplayer section, so maybe not a stand-in in that particular case, unless plans have changed? (Timestamped to the relevant part) I do think it could easily serve as a stand-in for the mascots up until whenever you get them, though! I remember being worried when Fairy type was first announced that it'd have a huge impact on using Dragon types casually, and even though I think on the competitive scene it has had its place as a strong counter to dragons and for things like field set-up (especially when first introduced), it hasn't really trickled down to casual play I'd say simply because the thing going for Dragon types a lot of the time is their combination of generally strong stats and great coverage. Just from a casual perspective, I don't think Fairy had nearly as much impact as Dark and Steel did back in the day from what I've read and understand about how things played out back then. Yeah, I can totally see that. Nidoqueen/Nidoking, Rhydon, Wooper/Quagsire, Marshtomp/Swampert, the Flygon line, Claydol, Groudon, Garchomp... Seriously though, how dare you! I'd need to sit down and properly think about what type would be my second favourite after Dragon, Ground is great, but I could also see it being Rock or Steel? Or Fighting...hmm. Yeah, I'll think about it! Yeah, I think we talked about how much they remind us of Reshiram and Zekrom back during the initial reveal, so I'm with you in that I'd hope they don't go back to that type combo. A monotype with a clear focus on diverging movesets like you suggest would be really neat! I think Pokémon sometimes falls into this weird spot where some type of form/evolution/change more often than not has to result in a type change, but I think the idea of a monotype Pokémon which adapted to what was needed at the time (fire getting the ball rolling back in ancient times and electricity in the future) and will continue to do so would be pretty neat from a lore perspective too!

As of a couple of days ago, we are now in the longest gap between main series Zelda titles. Now, obviously COVID is a huge part of the reason for this, and it's not the end of the world that we're still waiting for the game, I just think it's an interesting milestone to throw out there. What's actually blowing my mind is that it's been nearly 5 ½ years since Breath of the Wild launched! I didn't even play it at release, but can vividly remember all of the talk here and on YouTube about the game, seeing bucketloads of gameplay, and even having conversations with customers at my job at the time about their adventures. Crazy how quickly the time has gone!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return, the BTS documentary for Obi-Wan Kenobi, starts streaming 8th September: My feelings for the show aside, I'm excited for this – it's been a long, long time since we've had Ewan and Hayden in BTS stuff, and the prequels haven't exactly been given the exhaustive treatment that the original trilogy has in the time since they released. Also, poster:

Ah cool, yeah that sounds about right. Over here it's 70 mph, pretty sure there are places across Europe (and much of the world) where there are going to be exceptions (such as the Autobahn in Germany), but was trying to get a general idea if that was also true over in Portugal (and Spain). Oh yeah, for sure, there are pleeeeeeenty of cars which can go faster than that (I mean, I'm pretty sure they have to in order to be road legal, kind of have to if 70 mph is going to be the general maximum legal speed limit on motorways and the like!). I don't know if it still stands, but last I checked an American company called SSC had a car (the Tuatara) which broke the speed record for a road legal car at 330 mph (which a quick Google search tells me is around 530 km/h). It's nuts and extremely excessive, but I love it (especially seeing as I've been reading about that car in magazines since I was a kid ) The main reason I was curious was just to feed into my hypothesis of Cyclizar's (man that's such a great name!) maximum speed being in line with a generally accepted maximum legal speed limit of 70 mph, kind of goes out the window a little if Portugal and Spain are on a mad one with some 90 mph roads but 70 mph seemingly being the limit over there as it is in much of the world means my hypothesis can still fly. Yeah okay, the Pokémon world isn't exactly 1:1 with our own, but we know there are cars and pretty much every other real life vehicle in there, and especially given that this is a Pokémon with a wheel in its chest and which people ride around on, I'd guess that the 70 mph speed it can achieve wasn't plucked out of thin air and is more for Cyclizar to be comparable - and perhaps even used in the place of - cars and other vehicles in that fictional world. Will it impact gameplay? I kind of doubt it. But, it would be kind of cool though if Koraidon had a lower max speed but a greater rate of acceleration (feeding into being untamed) compared with Cyclizar, who could offer a smoother ride!

Meanwhile, us Chelsea fans after losing 3-0 to Leeds: Outfought and out-thought. Mendy howler aside - and for the love of all that is good stop messing around at the back like that - Leeds thoroughly deserved the win. It's games like this where it's so plainly obvious (and has been the case since our last league win some 5 years ago to be fair) that we simply aren't going to be challenging for the title like we used to be, with all the finals we reach and occasional wins we get in those I'm reminded a bit of the early 2010s Real Madrid. Yeah, I know we've got a new owner now and obviously it'll take time to transition to a new structure, so I can't be too harsh, but Tuchel saying in an interview before the Spurs game last week that he didn't even know what the objective for the season really was doesn't exactly fill me with confidence

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Cyclizar too, an instant team member for sure! As for the connection, I think the official site gives us a couple of hints; the following is from Cyclizar's page: I'm not sure if this is a legendary per se, because there are just a few things which make it seem like an everyday Pokémon to me: in the way they showed it off, the way it's talked about on the official site, and not hiding details for it like they are still doing for Koraidon and Miraidon. But I think it's the modern day incarnation of those Pokémon, if Koraidon is indeed a past variant/form and Miraidon is a future variant/form, and I think their relationship with humans is key to trying to figure out the relationship between these three. Koraidon seems very much untamed, though seemingly is tamed by humans at some point, considering its rideable; Cyclizar, I would guess, is what Koraidon evolved into (not in the literal Pokémon sense) after forming a relationship with humans over a long time. To make it clear and more along the lines of "survival of the fittest" rather than going the Lamarck transmutation route (i.e. "the genetic variants/creatures with longer necks can reach taller trees with fruit on and so can remain nourished, whereas ones with shorter necks can't and die off" vs "we've been stretching our necks for generations trying to get to these damn fruit on these darn tall trees, and thus have evolved to have longer necks"), I imagine Cyclizar is a domesticated branch of Koraidon, and either the Koraidon died off, were hunted to extinction, went into hiding, whatever. I don't think it's a coincidence at all that they've chosen to highlight that it lives with humans, and also just so happens to be capable of attaining a speed - 70 mph - which is typically towards the top end of what you'd expect any human-controlled vehicle to be going legally (obviously there are exceptions, would be curious to know what the top speed allowed by the roads and law is in Portugal and Spain on roads which enable it). As for Miraidon, I would guess it necessitates a future need to go faster than even a Cyclizar can on a regular basis (don't think it's a coincidence that it clearly has some design quirks inspired by jets), potentially due to the globalisation of high speed air travel (or the future being a hellscape). Regardless, I think it's interesting that they seem to be going down the route with these three Pokémon of more directly commenting on the evolving relationship between creatures and humans. That's been the case in Pokémon in the past, sure, but if they are all linked - and I agree with Glen, I imagine they are - I'd like to think it's Game Freak and TPCi starting to crank up the heat a bit and start talking a bit more about things like extinction, symbiotic relationships, etc., in their games. Also, assuming those three are connected, I feel like this all but confirms what I think everyone thought: that Koraidon and Miraidon are Dragon types? Which would be neat, considering we haven't had a Dragon type on a main series cover since Gen V (well, outside of remakes -- thanks for ruining the streak BDSP!)! And also because it's the best/coolest type

A new Pokémon, Cyclizar, has been revealed in a trailer highlighting the game's competitive play (to tie in with World's):

Trophy list has leaked and looks very doable, nothing related to difficulty but I think would take at least two playthroughs from what I can remember of the game (mainly thinking about leaving Ellie hanging and that being a conversation/interaction in the original). Just a couple of weeks to go

8 minutes of gameplay were shared earlier today through Nvidia: Additionally, an in-game cutscene was release via the game's own channel, and it's pretty dazzling with its use of cinematography: They also released the OST from the in-game cutscene. Continues to look great, but the long wait continues for anything concrete on it. At least they're taking their time and continuing to show off the game in awesome ways during the wait!

Can't not post the comunicado oficial: Nutty transfer. No idea if it'll pay off - it's still absolutely nuts that the reaction to United signing objectively world class players these days is seriously questioning if it'll actually even work - but that sure is one hell of a signing, the best CDM around at the moment and arguably has been the best to come through and stick around in the last decade. I still can't believe a few days ago it was going to be Rabiot they were going for as their main midfield target with De Jong not wanting to leave Barça. It's absolutely barmy.

Anniversary Update with NG+ dropping 27th September.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is coming to Steam and the Epic Game Store on 27th September 2022: The new Anniversary Update (also coming to PS4 and PS5) which includes New Game+ and new abilities, will also be dropping the same day.

A new novel, Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars, is set to release 7th March 2023 to help bridge the gap between Fallen Order and Survivor.

It's looking more and more like United might actually sign Casemiro; I think there were some rumours a few weeks ago going around that he was going to get a pay bump from Real, but United are reportedly ready to double his salary. Considering he's won all there is to win at Real, I honestly can't blame him. Worst case, they continue losing, but he experiences a new league and culture; best case, they actually turn things around, though I think plenty more is needed than this I think it could help sort out their spine more than any of the other recent signings they've made. Even more than the Ronaldo signing last year, this one seems like it could be scary just considering it should break up the hilarious duo of McFred, and especially seeing as United have needed a proper DM for 5+ years. Pretty funny that they make a move like this after Pogba leaves when one of the things he needed most was a DM to let him roam more freely at United. It'd also be a great chance for Fred and Casemiro to warm up their partnership ahead of the World Cup in November. The scarier part to me is that they were being linked so heavily with Rabiot before this and now they seem to seriously be trying to get one of the best defensive mids of the last decade (and he's only 30!).

The GOTY-elect still killing it: 16.6 million units shipped as of the end of June.

Yeah I wouldn't say the control scheme bothered me, so much as it was a point of curiosity as, at least from the PS2 games I've played, it felt like most of the curiosities with controls were hashed out in those earlier years in the generation. This game's controls just felt positionally older than the game is? I think right stick to dodge was just odd because of the camera angle compared to a lot of other games I feel use it, which I think normally have a higher positioned camera (it's definitely a little odd to be using it when the camera swings down to be behind or around Kratos), and jamming R2 for QTEs was odd I think just because of the range of the thing on the DualShock 3 compared to the DualShock 2? I think I was over it in the sense that I could play the game by my second session without really needing to think about it, but those two things stood out – there are definitely some other games with odd control schemes from that generation which have taken some time to adjust to, I think it's just God of War's age relative to them which made it really stick out to me and make it feel older than it is. Never a big issue but more of a "huh, right stick to dodge? Jam R2 to open a chest? That's certainly a choice." The camera bothered me though, I hope and expect that gets better in God of War II. I wasn't too surprised by that to be fair, there's definitely a scale of camera quality and control which fluctuates a fair bit in that generation (probably a hangover from PS1 titles in the case of many sequels), and in all fairness God of War does some really cool cinematic stuff with its camera in cutscenes to compensate for that a little bit. It's pretty crazy to contrast cameras in 3D games and realise that some of the earliest big examples, like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, hold up much better in my opinion than in games that followed them; think that just retroactively justifies Nintendo's approach to game feel helping some of their games age more gracefully. Speaking of today's standardised controls in games (and just trends of nuances which carry over a lot in general), I do wonder if/when things change up, how some of today's games are going to feel in the future for people who will be coming back and playing them for the first time. I can already imagine the over-the-shoulder third-person camera in games like God of War and The Last of Us being considered as making the game feel sluggish or slow, or the patched in lock-on for Ghost of Tsushima is Up on the D-pad and that's definitely an oddity for a game like that I feel. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day thinking of more examples