Julius

Seems as appropriate a place as any to put this: James Turner, the first Westerner to officially design Pokémon, has left Game Freak to form a new game studio. Well worth the scroll through his Bulbapedia page to see which Pokémon he designed, it's such a solid list. Had no idea he was behind Shadow Lugia, but think Golett/Golurk and Phantump/Trevenant are probably my favourites of his designs!

Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from, and it's a sentiment I've seen going around a lot over the last few weeks. I think there have been some quality moments, but I don't think it's really come together as one cohesive and tightly packaged show so far, and while I'm holding out hope that things improve, with only two episodes left, even if it does I don't think I'll hold the show in the highest regard compared to other Star Wars shows and the films. Which is okay, it's just a bit disappointing. Of all of the Star Wars projects under Disney, this is by far the one we've had the most time to ponder over from initial rumblings to release, so I'm still a little stunned by some of the decisions made; for example, while I respect the hell out of Deborah Chow and think she's done some great work in Star Wars already, she was set up to do so and worked within someone else's structure. I feel like there are a few too many threads here to deliver on successfully for a six episode miniseries. I think this show needed either someone from a film background, or Dave Filoni needed to be more involved, my larger point being that it should have felt like a movie production which just so happened to be split into episodes rather than a TV production trying to feel like a movie; this should absolutely have been filmed on location (outside of California) rather than in The Volume. I feel like I say it about a lot of Star Wars projects, but Filoni wrote Obi-Wan for years across the animated shows, so of all of the people at Lucasfilm best positioned to have some input on this show - especially considering how he spoke to George at length about the prequels time and again! - it would be him. That he's only included in the end credits with a 'Special Thanks' boggles my mind a bit too, I know he's busy with lots of other things, but some of the stuff floating around from the writers of the show in interviews makes me wonder if they really were the best people for Star Wars; I mean, go look at Joby Harold's IMDb page, it's all over the place. As for your spoiler... But yeah, as usual for me with Star Wars, a long post to essentially just say: see where you're coming from, I agree, hopefully they manage to pull something special off with the last two episodes Funny you say that, because watching this episode I did start to think about how if you water it down to its essentials, it was very similar to the events on the Death Star in A New Hope. And this was Part IV of the show...

Beautiful track is beautiful:

Vinland Saga S2 lands January 2023! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Schreier posted this over on ResetEra in response to Game Reactor's findings: So...back to patiently waiting I guess? It's a weird one, as I was under the impression after it didn't turn up during the State of Play that Ragnarök be at Summer Game Fest, but then if TLOU Remake is coming in September, I don't know where they put an announcement for either game, as you'd think the one out first would be the one they next talk about and reveal the date before (whether that's at SGF or elsewhere). We've had mid-summer State of Plays before, so maybe one shows up there, but from memory I feel like they were mainly focused on third party titles they had to talk about, whereas the big stuff is typically saved for the September Showcase...which would seem to be too late for both?

Never realised you had this much faith in Bethesda!

Glances over at how they treated Horizon Zero Dawn Totally agree. If both games are landing in Q1, I think Ragnarök has to launch first; I could see BOTW2 launching in March and then Ragnarök being late January/February. If they don't, think they've got wait it out at least a month. Or at least, I think that would be the sensible thing to do...right? Glances over at how they treated Horizon Forbidden West

Grain of salt and all that, especially because I feel like European retailers and Spanish gaming news outlets have missed the mark a fair bit over the last few years (the Switch not launching with BOTW and some Pokémon magazine "scoops" come to mind)... ...but man, that'd suck if true. As things stand it's the only new SIE game officially slated for the latter half of the year (though I think we all are under the impression that the TLOU Remake is on its way), and it would look far, far worse than other delays just for the fact that it was originally (foolishly) slated for 2021 and because they've gone out of their way to reiterate that it's still coming in 2022. Also feels like it's been a good while since a game was rated and then delayed to be 6+ months away, can't remember off the top of my head when the last time was that it happened for a AAA title, but feels like it's been a while. Always other games to play, always other things to do, and for the health of the game and the team, if it's the right call, then it's the one that needs to be made. Do feel like it would be a terrible look for them if it happens, though; as if we needed more reasons for people piling on consoles they don't own (or do and don't have great interest in). Anyways, if it's true: congratulations to Elden Ring on winning GOTY had a much easier run at it than was originally supposed to be the case, but well deserved! Think we should probably start a betting pool on which of BOTW's sequel, Ragnarök, and Starfield launches last at this point @Dcubed the thread title would need updating with a date even if it released this year, but sure and yeah, does seem like they're lining up TLOU that way, even if it does come as early as September (as the recent leak seems to rather plainly suggest). I suppose they've got third party titles to lean on?

More RE4 Remake to be shown at Capcom's Showcase: Think that already means they've outdone their showing at last year's event

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Ragnarök has been moved seemingly from September to October or super early in November in light of this (which makes sense to me - I mean, when I think "Ragnarök" I think late autumn/winter, not late summer/early autumn!) -- just because if it is coming out this year, you know they want it to be a firm part of the GOTY discussion and get out prior to the TGA's deadline in mid-November, otherwise it'll get buried next year. I do also think there's a small possibility that they just moved it to December 31st so that it was clearly a placeholder date and coming by the end of the year, but not in a specific window, as before I think it was floating around that it was going to come in September based on the order of someone's registered interest on the PS Store? Which, if they're not ready to share a date yet, could be smart to just not put additional pressure on the team. September makes total sense for the TLOU Remake in my mind, though, because it's well placed for Factions to get strong attention in the multiplayer sphere (assuming they're launching alongside one another) as it's a decent distance (and different enough) to the big games we'd expect to see around it, it's a great game to play through in October, and also because, well, Last of Us Day is September 26th, and you know Naughty Dog would love to stick it as close to that date as possible I've actually been thinking a lot about The Last of Us remake since it first came up last year, and I've kind of held back on throwing my thoughts out there out of the blue, but I suppose this is as good a time as any to return to the topic. My view is still similar to before on the plan to remake the game: it's not really an asked for remake, there are other Naughty Dog games like the first Uncharted which I think could do with it more, but the leak was totally unwarranted and it could still turn out to be a spectacular showpiece and tighten the continuity between the original game and Part II mechanically. I actually think a remake just effectively with The Last of Us Part II tech would be a huge missed opportunity -- and it's a shame, because I feel it's a near certainty that this is the direction they've gone in. A direction I think they could have gone in to flesh out the world more and keep the original game intact would be to go back to one of the biggest criticisms of the original game: the lack of player ownership in the ending. Now, I love the ending of TLOU and think a first playthrough of the remake should be kept as is, but I think it would've been really cool if you saw an option to make a decision at the end of the game during a replay -- just how would that have played out? To extrapolate that further, I feel like you could then just continue to add more threads to the story like this to further drive a desire to replay the game multiple times, rewarding the biggest fans of TLOU - more decisions to make throughout the story could become available every time you replay the game, stretching further and further back into the story as you go having a greater impact on the story (multiple endings, different sets of characters the game could end with based on your decisions, etc.) and you could also get some alternative views of the story (for example, playing through a section as a different character or getting some more background on characters). Again, don't think this is the direction they're going in at all, but I think beyond remaking the game, this could have helped people come to terms with the idea of a remake (because of the additional content that makes this the definitive version, and because it's an affordable way in a relatively small scaled and tightly packed story to stretch it out further). Could totally see how a first trailer for this idea would go too... But yeah, anyways, that's my scattered pie-in-the-sky "man, I wish they would've done this rather than what we'll probably get as a close to 1:1 remake" that completely details the thread Back to TLOU Remake as we think we know it, I know it's a decision driven obviously by sales and wanting to tie into the HBO series coming next year, but something which really confuses me about this is that I feel like it does limit the scope of potential expansion for the audience -- let's be honest, because TLOU is on PS4, a TLOU Remake on PS5 is very likely to have a whole lot of players returning to the game, rather than getting new players into the IP. I feel like what they could have done - and hey, maybe will still do - is make a super simplified version of The Last of Us, like Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition or Telltale games, for mobile. Pop that onto app stores at £9.99 when the HBO series launches and just rake it all in. I love The Last of Us, but that game certainly feels like it could be scaled down in such a way, and it would be in line with PlayStation's recent moves in wanting to expand to other areas of the market. Especially in light of the continued limitation of component shortages on the sales of the PS5. Lastly, there is one thing in particular in the TLOU Remake that I'm really curious to see how they'll handle, assuming that they are making it in line with the mechanics of Part II: Anyways, that's all I've got to say about TLOU for now. That was unnecessarily long, but think I'm clearly in the mood to replay the game regardless before the Remake arrives

Watched through Part IV of Obi-Wan twice this morning. Why are these episodes getting shorter?! This episode is 38 minutes long with a 2 minute recap and 4 minutes of credits! Overall, quite liked this episode. Yeah, okay, it's annoying that it was a short one, and I do think there were a few weird shots throughout, but nothing too crazy that I'm desperate to highlight. Felt like the action flowed a lot better this week too, a lot less shaky cam I think? I also think the music was much better this week than it was last week, as while I'm still missing the classic themes and think there were spots to use or hint at them, this episode felt like it leaned so much more on the new theme Williams composed for Obi-Wan, which I'm a fan of and hadn't really been the case, I felt, in earlier episodes. I've been up and down on the show, but still, I love seeing Ewan and Hayden back in action. Gutting that we've only got two episodes left, but it's also one of those rare instances where I don't know if I'd even want a second season, weirdly, other than to see Ewan and Hayden again?

A sequel would serve the purpose of showing off and incorporating Joy-Con drift into gameplay

The new Bend logo continues the growing trend of generic studio/publisher logos and introduces more straight lines than bendy ones? Also further confirmation on and new details on the new IP they've got in the works:

Yeah, I don't know if that move would wreak more of desperation, impatience, or trying to keep Keighley in good stead? I guess they can reiterate it at their own show, but it's an odd move Also, the wording in the quote is driving me a little nuts: surely Game Pass is the service and the addition of time-limited game trials would be an additional feature to existing Game Pass users, rather than it being a service unto itself?

It's a weird one, and I think it could really go either way. Personally, I hope we get one, simply because I think Nintendo's June presentations have consistently been some of the better summer shows since 2016. I think I saw something floating around that Jeff Grubb had heard a few people talking about how Nintendo might have a few smaller things over the next month rather than one big grand event which tells all, and I think that would suit certain games on the horizon which would likely get a solid 5-10 minutes of extended gameplay shown off anyways, like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 or Splatoon 3. Thinking about it, I am kind of surprised that they haven't tried to push for more smaller presentations focused on certain games -- I feel like Treehouse is something which could easily be year-round rather than just in June for E3 (or Not-E3), and I feel like with the right people included, it could get us back to a feeling I know some people miss of getting to know Nintendo higher-ups more as characters and individuals. On the other hand, I feel like some smaller titles, like Live-A-Live, could get absolutely buried if not shown off during a big summer Nintendo presentation as one last reminder that that game actually exists. I can't imagine the sales expectations for that game being impossibly high, mind you, it would just be strange if it didn't get one last final push like that. I also can't help but wonder if Geoff might've stolen some potentially big titles from under Nintendo's nose. I'm not saying it will happen (as I think it'd be a bad idea with how quiet the game has been for...well, forever), but can you imagine if Silksong was going to get shadow-dropped within the next week, and Geoff secured that for Summer Game Fest rather than having it be part of a Nintendo presentation? Him having a show not entirely focused on one brand could certainly help get more and more developers to subscribe to showing their game at the event, especially with how it's quickly turned into the E3 equivalent of Gamescom's Opening Night Live. My final glimmer of hope that we do get something, really, comes from me speculating that, if when dealing with the ESA, Nintendo had to announce their event at least X days prior to the beginning of E3 or their event (i.e. legally obliged due to contracts). With E3 cancelled for the second time this year, I wonder if they can now just treat it like a typical Direct; so, if we're getting it next Tuesday, maybe it's not announced until this Thursday or Friday, as they're under no real obligation to do so any earlier? Let me just hold onto this hope so that I can be crushed by disappointment

Pre-orders for the Collector's Edition won't begin until late July (?!), you can now register your interest:

Berserk is going to be continuing in the hands of some of those Miura trusted most: Nervous after hearing how the accidental ending as a result of his untimely death was perfect in its own way, but we'll see what happens!

This Capcom Showcase is taking place at 15:00 PDT/23:00 BST on Monday, whereas Nintendo's usual E3 Direct/Spotlight/whatever they decide to call it slot has previously been on a Tuesday at 09:00 PDT/17:00 BST for...at least as long I've been on these forums But anyways, yeah, I don't know how excited I am for this year's Capcom Showcase. Their showing last year was a huge letdown and one of the more pointless E3 conferences I've sat through, but hopefully the difference this year will be the fact that we already know what big projects are on the way from them (Street Fighter 6, Resident Evil 4, etc.), so just focusing on showing more of those games and maybe a reveal or two should make for a solid showing.

Still waiting on those damn themes, but for now I'm really digging the latest wave of Switch icons (the BOTW ones in particular): I haven't paid nearly enough attention to the icons available before this! All those Platinum points just sitting there... expiring...the horror! EDIT: suck it, tree huggers

Yeah, that's definitely where they could be going with it, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case (as I've said before). I just think it fits that scene, considering its the first time in the show we see Obi-Wan using the Force again, it's the moment where we first really see him coming back into his own and not hesitating, but acting. Not saying they should have been belting it, mind. If it showed up later at the end of the show when he's more completely rediscovered himself and is stated much more clearly then, I think they really could have planted the seed in that moment by hinting at it, but it's the absence of it completely - hint or a full statement - which is my issue with it. Same with Vader and the Imperial March. Oh yeah, absolutely, I think it being a disappointment musically so far (in my eyes at least) doesn't preclude its potential to still have some standout musical moments, but it's tough to know what to expect now musically because of that lack of connection being set up in the first half of the series. I think they've put themselves into a bit of a corner though, as it's now going to be just as out of place if they're hypothetically belting the Imperial March every time Vader is on-screen as it would be the more generic stuff we've got so far; I always think it's important to take stories as a whole, especially when it comes to a TV series, but with the music of a series it's a bit different, as unless there's a drastic change (i.e. a shift in genre), you're setting yourself up for failure or success as the music later on more often than not will be built on what you hear earlier in a series. We'll have to wait and see, which is pretty much in line with my thoughts on the series in general at the moment. I'd generally agree, but do feel Rogue One is a bit of an exception - at least from my point of view - in that Giacchino had to basically set up one of the most strongest soundtracks in film, what with Rogue One leading directly into A New Hope as it does. I think it's clear from his choices in Rogue One's score that he wanted to set up many of the themes of A New Hope and the original trilogy but tried to pull back on outright stating them where he felt he could, and I guess it's this subversion that you either love or don't, but it worked for me for the most part. Sometimes, though, it's not necessarily subversion, but rather hinting at other characters or events without wanting to bring that character or event into the equation, such as how Obi-Wan's Theme gives nods to so much other Star Wars music without outright stating any of it. Giacchino also does some really cool stuff in the Rogue One to musically tie the Death Star as it is in A New Hope to Rogue One, and I think (at least off the top of my head?) that he's also the only Star Wars composer so far to reference original music from the animated series (The Clone Wars), which I really appreciated too. I think the thing for me is, I can understand where so many other Star Wars projects were coming from with their scores. For the original film, George requested a traditional symphonic score at a time when it was pretty much looked down upon; for Rogue One, whether you like it or not, I can understand the decisions behind Giacchino's score setting up - but trying to not be a collection of only - the music from A New Hope; for The Mandalorian, Favreau and Filoni wanted a cocktail of the legendary Morricone-Western scores of the 60's and Hayasaka-Samurai scores of the 50's. Where there has been new and original music, it's done a good job of either referencing Star Wars, or what inspired Star Wars. The Kenobi soundtrack so far, for me, hasn't done either of those, which is why @Ronnie I think it seems a pretty aimless so far -- because it doesn't sound like it's got strong foundations elsewhere. As such, it's pretty forgettable and is why I probably feel like it's screaming for something more familiar. Yeah, while I like his Rogue One score, Giacchino does have some weaker ones in his catalogue. I still really dislike the decision to have the MCU Spider-Man theme be a reworked version of the 60's cartoon song, because it's campy in the way that the 60's Batman song was campy. And now I can't stop trying to imagine that song used as a launchpad for a theme in a modern, dark and gritty Batman film

To clarify, I like Obi-Wan's Theme -- when I say it's "fine", I mean that more so as a piece of Star Wars and John Williams music, and how it's been used in the show so far (which, to be clear, isn't down to John, as he only worked on writing the composition), rather than it being a bad piece of music. It clearly has the musical identity of a piece of Star Wars music, hinting at almost every piece of music you'd tie to Obi-Wan from the Saga, but like we both seem to agree: it's not the greatest piece of Star Wars music. Nor was I expecting it to - or really want it to - be. I'd have no issue with it turning up in the future in other projects, though what I will say is that there is already so much content with Obi-Wan in now already that I think it would fit better as a one-off theme for this show, and his state at the time of this show, because otherwise it could feel a bit out of place. It hasn't really been stated that boldly yet in the show, in fairness. My issue isn't directed there, it's directed at the rest of the score, and that one example in Part II that I mentioned specifically where I struggle to understand the decision to not use the Force Theme. It could still be used later, of course, but for narrative reasons it would have made perfect sense to use it in that moment, and right now we're three episodes deep in a six episode miniseries with very little - besides the Obi-Wan Theme and very few weirdly put together and placed nods to the Imperial March - connective musical tissue to the rest of Star Wars. I think that's totally fine in something like The Mandalorian, because it's such a separate time and place from the rest of the wider Star Wars story, and when it's not and has those moments where it is more clearly connected to the Saga, it knows it needs to lean on those John Williams themes. The same goes for how Rogue One pretty elegantly traversed the minefield of being a prequel leading directly into A New Hope, which doesn't have the Imperial March, and had its own Vader/Imperial theme, as I mentioned before. This is a story which takes place as close to the midpoint between ROTS and ANH as you could get without being pedantic about it, pulling in characters we've know in pop culture for 45 years now and having them as the main characters of the show, and yet it doesn't seem to want or care to utilise their already established themes. I mean, one in particular which I guess I'll stick in a spoiler tag, but I feel everyone knows about... To put it this way: when I listen back to the scores of most Star Wars films, without visuals, I can get a clear idea of what's going on because of the themes utilised; it's easy to visualise the Binary Sunset while listening to Binary Sunset, or Vader walking down a hall while listening to the Imperial March, or Luke (or someone else) doing something heroic to the backing of the Main Title, or the tragic star-crossed fate of Anakin and Padmé listening to Across the Stars. So far in this show, if I listened back to the score without visuals, I might be able to guess at Obi-Wan's presence from his theme (as it so heavily ties to other characters and events he's closely linked to), and I'd probably be able to gather that the Empire is around in some form or another from the limited hints of the Imperial March, but I swear I wouldn't know that Vader or some of the other legacy characters were in this show based on its score. Likewise, I wouldn't know at all about the contents of the five minute recap just listening to its score, because it sounds so generic. Again, we're only three episodes in (though that is halfway) and we might still get to the point of having some of those major themes return, but so far, to be harsh and to be blunt: the show has been musically incongruous when placed in the larger picture of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. It doesn't even feel like it's subverting those other major themes either, and on the whole it just sounds a little lost to me. I think Natalie Holt did a good job with Loki, especially it's epic main theme (which is easily one of maybe five or six memorable MCU themes?), and I was excited to hear her score Star Wars and so I don't want it to sound like I'm railing on her, but unless someone tied her hands and said "no, don't lean on Williams", I do just struggle to understand some of the decisions made with the show's music so far. It's missing the entire point of a leitmotif/character theme to not think about how they can be used, not go in a different (and frankly, more generic) direction, and this is arguably the piece of content with the strongest ties to the Saga that Lucasfilm has put out under Disney outside of the sequels. I think Michael Giacchino said it best in his post-release interview for Rogue One with StarWars.com: It's interesting to note too that Giacchino only had four and a half weeks to score Rogue One, one of the tightest deadlines for a Star Wars score. I remember hearing after the release of the film that he was hesitant to take on the project, but his brother kind of willed him on and said that he'd had this scored in his head since he was a kid, and just had to dedicate it to paper. You can tell from the score to that film that he's a Star Wars fan and deeply understands Star Wars music. So yeah, I don't know. I don't want to sound like too much of a negative Nancy, it's just that I love the scores of Star Wars - and music as a storytelling device - so much, and kind of expected more. I think some of my opinions would have remained the same, but I imagine the trailers leaning so heavily on themes like Duel of the Fates and Battle of the Heroes didn't help.

Finally got around to seeing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness yesterday. Went in with low expectations, still came away disappointed. So yeah, in a word: disappointed. I go to watch MCU films for fun and not to poke holes in them, but lately it's felt like poking a hole in them just reveals so much more. I'm not expecting them to be as airtight as some of the greatest films ever made, but they don't even feel as tight as they were in Phase Three, or even in weaker parts of the Infinity Saga. I think there's an argument to be made for it being the worst "2" in the MCU. It unfortunately continues the trend of Phase Four feeling like an aimless prologue and not doing much of substance; I think so far in Phase Four, just in terms of the films, I enjoyed Shang-Chi and loved the second half of No Way Home...and that's it. I think they're missing more than they're hitting right now, and while I'm sure that won't have an impact on their box office success (it's simply too big to fail right now), I could see the MCU having a wider impact in the long run on comicbook adaptations and with them seeing the adverse impacts of the MCU fatigue that I think a fair few of us are feeling. Anyways, Thor: Love and Thunder is next up. Not sure how much I'm looking forward to the film, seeing Hench Padmé throughout an entire film is going to be weird (and yes this is how I'll lovingly refer to this Jane Foster look in the MCU -- huge respect for Natalie Portman getting into shape for the role, obviously! I just can't help but imagine her in this shape in the prequels, which is a funny thought ), but hopefully it'll be a better than what we've seen for much of Phase Four so far. Hopefully.

Perfection.