Julius

PC features trailer for Spider-Man Remastered: Looks pretty damn great! Required specs from the PS Blog:

The English version of the meaty 8 minute overview trailer which Japan got a couple of weeks ago:

I saw in the Gaming Diary thread that you've recently played Yakuza 0, so I will just suggest what I think is the best advice I think to give with these games: take your time, Persona 5 style. That doesn't mean you need to do everything (lord knows I still haven't learnt how to play mahjong, and I've played 8 of RGG's offerings now), but the best parts of Yakuza are definitely hidden amongst the weeds once you've got a few games in, and you get a grasp on what to expect from the main story. Things like the substories and mini-games are easily some of the best parts of these games, they're definitely worth taking the time to do!

Record got broken again in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, reaching 40.3°C. Just seen about the fires in Wenington, East London, too, several houses burnt to a cinder. It's shocking stuff to see. But don't worry, we still have people in power who deny climate change or are halting drastic changes needed around climate change. Well, at least we've made it through the last 36 hours I guess. Locally, we've got a thunderstorm forecast to start in the next hour which is going to plummet the temperature from 33°C to 23°C before it climbs up a bit again before the sun goes down, so I'm keeping half an eye on the window to open it up and get some cooler air in.

First free update arrives this Friday, and a further two free updates are planned for 2022:

Well, out of the blue, but by no means unexpected, a first look at the game has come courtesy of fighter Mikuru Asakura. From Famitsu: The video from Mikuru Asakura touring the RGG offices:

Anyway you cut it going over 40°C for the first time on record isn't good news

A reminder from Nintendo on the key dates to remember as the eShop winds down, as well as sharing that the sale of the Fire Emblem Fates games will end one month earlier (28th February 2023) than the final purchasing date (27th March 2023): I'm probably going to spend the next few weeks narrowing down my list a bit further before I start picking things up. Still planning on getting a lot, but there are definitely some games I feeli can give a pass.

Echoshift is also coming to the service within the next 24 hours: Interesting strategy to throw this out in July outside of the previous announcement for this month's update, I've got to say. Doesn't exactly scream "we have a rollout plan", that's for sure

Yeah, I thought Season 3 was a bit of a step down from Season 2 too, though it's still very good, definitely been a shift from where I feel like the first season was 90% comedy and 10% serious/romance, to the second season which felt like 70% comedy and 30% serious/romance (which I think is a good sweet spot), whereas the third season felt like it was closer to a 50/50 split. That being said, still had some great references and moments of animation, and some of the funniest moments of the show so far all in one episode... Honestly, the show reminds me a lot of my feelings on Spy x Family. It doesn't do anything wrong - in fact, it does almost everything right - but I see it topping the all-time chart on MAL and it's just tough for me to put the show in the same category as some of the other shows close to the top of the pile; then again, it is nice to see a comedy getting its dues for a change, because it's still must-watch anime if you like to laugh at all when watching TV

Early review scores are looking very solid!

Dune: Part Two has started filming

Update on pre-orders for the Collector's Edition in Europe:

I'm working from home, so over the weekend grabbed some blackout curtains for my room and office in my apartment and will be keeping those and the windows closed. Other than that, got some flannels in the freezer to grab at a moment's notice and apply to the back of my neck if needed, cold shower on standby, and of course plenty of water (which I normally drink anyways, but I'll be tracking it the next few days to make sure I get enough). Oh, and got a good fan pointed at me all day too A bit worried about my dad as he works in delivery and is going to be out on the road today, he's a redhead too which doesn't exactly relieve my worries. Take care out there all

The second trailer for Shinkai's next film, Suzume no Tajimari, continues to show off how beautiful this film will be. That song gives me chills too can't wait!

Well and concisely put darksnowman, I'd agree, especially with your mention of it being poorly thought out/cheaply put together side of things, I really think they made a whip for their own back writing this story as films, and then going "oh hold up, Disney+ is going to be a thing, let's make a miniseries instead!", because I could definitely feel the moments of padding at times. Good moments unfortunately don't make a great story, and I think Kenobi is a lesson Lucasfilm should learn a lot from moving forwards. Unfortunately, for me it just sours Ewan and Hayden coming back that tiniest bit, feel like corners were cut when they deserved so much more

Well it's nice to know there are two of us

Ah, appreciate the clarification! I definitely had a moment first reading it where I questioned it seeing as it sold 12 million in three weeks but staying on that trajectory would've been nuts (mainly because I thought "well, CoD sells most of its copies in the US, GTA V and Red Dead 2 have to be up there too, but for premium games other than those it's likely just then a case of them making up diminishing proportions of Japanese and European games"), so it makes sense. I simply had too much faith in the NPD, and it has now been shaken. Damn it Piscatella, read your dang numbers!

9.73 million copies sold! Absolutely deserved for me, I loved it and Iki Island. It's a long way off but I'll be ready and impatiently waiting for the sequel whenever it arrives

I can't disagree at all, it's one of few games I've played at launch where I'm playing it and it's impossible to not comprehend that you're playing something special. I'm actually really curious when everyone got to that point, actually? Was it a boss, a general feeling, a location? For me it was... It is mounting up to be a bit of a weird GOTY this year though, I've got to say, though it could just be me. Even with most of the games you would have favoured to be GOTY nominees going into 2022 being delayed to next year, Ragnarök is still coming, but it just feels like it has a bit of an impossible task on its hands to beat Elden Ring to GOTY, at least at the most visible awards ceremonies (like The Game Awards). I think knowing what to expect - and having such high expectations - is a bit of a factor in that, I don't think it has that shiny new toy allure that most seem to give greater weight to when it comes to GOTYs, even if I'm confident it will still turn out to be great. I feel like it could fall into the same sort of camp as Naughty Dog games (they're great, but they're expected to be great), and genuinely think the only game which stood a realistic chance of challenging Elden Ring for GOTY is Breath of the Wild's sequel, just considering that Elden Ring caught fire in a very similar way and for similar reasons to Breath of the Wild in 2017 Elden Ring will fully deserve recognition come the end of the year, though, and I feel like that's a feeling that everyone who played it recognised back in February. It's an awesome game. I feel like GOTY discussions this year deeper than a surface level "X is GOTY" are going to quickly become dragging Elden Ring for its weaknesses compared to earlier From games (music, some repetition in mini bosses, some jank to boss battles) and the usual stuff you'd expect when criticising From games (difficulty - which I'd argue is easiest to overcome in this game, but whatever - and then stuff like quest tracking, some jank, etc.). Whereas, on the other hand, Ragnarök I feel will likely be all of us going "well, it's a great game, but GOTY?" and the inevitable "it's more of the same". Should be nice though, after a Year of 9's we've got two potential heavyweights to duke it out for GOTY this year, and that should be fun (and I'll just nominate The Last of Us Part I )

Okay, we knew the game was doing well, but this is nuts: according to Piscatella, Elden Ring is already in the all-time top 10 best-selling premium games in the US! Good (Elden) Lord, that's freaking wild.

ShopTo sent out emails earlier today regarding pre-orders for the game on their site going up tomorrow, and I think it might give us our first confirmation of any kind around the technical specs and modes for this game? Not really unexpected (got to imagine we'll see a mode with 40 fps post-launch), but still, nice to (seemingly) know!

You see, now I just want you to get back into it so that you can post this:

PlayStation has announced PlayStation Stars, a new loyalty programme: The digital collectibles part kind of sounds like it wanted to be NFTs, but apparently isn't: Can't help but wonder if the plan was for these digital collectibles to be something like NFTs, but given the absolute collapse of the NFT market over the last few months, they pivoted? Just given everyone and their mother was trying to push it for a hot second there. Anyways, for me, don't really care about the digital collectibles or missions (I feel trophies is already enough? And things like Astro's Playroom is where I'd want those kinds of digital collectibles thing going on with references to the history of PlayStation), but PS Plus members getting loyalty points just from buying digital games is great, it's something I really like about Nintendo's eShop and is much more appealing to me than just having generic PS Plus Double Discounts. Also, I wonder how the "first to earn a Plat in a local timezone/area" would work? Because in reality the first person will probably be a reviewer/influencer with early access to the game. Even if they didn't launch the competition until launch date or whenever, they could just save a final trophy for it and then pop it when it goes live?

Can't wait to see the Nintendo tweet next year saying "Pikmin - 4 shorts!", causing a brief moment of pandemonium before everyone just gets depressed again