Julius

Over here we get the Friday off for Good Friday and the Monday off as Easter Monday (which I guess might technically be a carryover from not being able to make the Easter Sunday a bank holiday) But honestly when you put it that way I do question why it was billed for the 7th in the first place. Our cinemas would probably still be open anyways but you're right, the Easter weekend was always going to be a weird weekend to premiere. This reeks of someone going to book time off for Easter and then realising that they were about to premiere on what is a national holiday in a bunch of countries

Yeah, I do think it's a really odd decision to not show the wider structure of the game beyond what we've seen in trailers. While it's nice to hear more about combat, I feel like we could get something of an idea for it from the shots we've seen in trailers up to this point. The general structure and flow of the game though? No idea. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I really think they should've led with that rather than a combat focus, because while it's flashy, the exploration (or potential lack thereof) is the one thing which has me a little on edge about XVI. We've seen supposedly wider areas to explore (such as with that shot in one of the trailers where the party is riding on chocobos in the desert). Watching the previews there's definitely a few more QTEs than I would personally like to see, but I guess we'll see how that plays out too. Oh well, don't think it's anything to worry about yet, but yeah, I do wish they focused on that a little more here there are already rumours floating around about the next set of previews coming in April, though, so hopefully the wait won't be too long, and not should it now that Forspoken is out of the way and it's a pretty straight shot at focusing on XVI from now until June 22nd. Exciting times!

It's a-been-a bumped up – to April 5th! Per Variety: Likely targeting some five-day opening records of some sort with this two day bump – opening night was always going to be big, and so was it's opening weekend, so why not stretch that out and open on the Wednesday instead of the Friday, eh?

Hope you take it easy and feel better! But yeah, it definitely feels like it's been much longer. It's been an odd two years for Star Wars, not in terms of quality, but how their conveyer belt of final products has been a bit stop-start, which has definitely resulted in some odd gaps here and there, or then feeling like we're getting a lot all at once. Disney+ has boomed in the meantime while Netflix has started to wane, too, so even just in that space things feel super different. The last 3 years in general feel like they've simultaneously been a month and a decade, too, so there's that I'm of course super excited for Mando S3, but a little nervous, just because I feel like more than the past two seasons, we're going into this kind of expecting big, bombastic, overarching and epic stuff. It'll be cool, don't get me wrong, but I hope there's still time for quieter episodes and moments in amongst all this...and that people don't project too hard if it's not as big and bombastic as it's looked in its marketing. Yep, I think I need to prep myself a bit of a roadmap up to Celebration to catch up on everything, and revisit everything too! In terms of what I need to catch up on, there's Andor (which I can't believe I've managed to stave off until now!), The Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi and I'm going to restart Visions (got a few eps in when it released but was just bad timing and I never got back to it). Elsewhere, I think revisiting all the films is a must, and I'll probably throw in my favourite arcs and episodes from The Clone Wars and Rebels on top of that, too. I replayed Fallen Order last year so I think I'm all good on that front, and maybe if I have time I'll rewatch some of my favourite episodes of Mando and Book of Boba Fett, too. And maybe skip around Kenobi a little bit, or watch it before Revenge of the Sith so I can at least hear the music I want before moving on from prequelish stuff A lot to watch and do in general, March should be a busy one as the prep for Celebration starts! Would appreciate any tips you have to share on stuff to bring and the like

The rumours of previews going live today were real! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO Need to give these a watch first, but apparently based on a Chinese preview which went up early, this will be focused primarily on combat and some story stuff. Bit of a shame considering I know many are a bit more concerned about the game's structure, but we've still got a bit under 4 months until release – I'm sure there's plenty we'll be seeing in the coming months! For now: hype

XVI is going to seemingly be getting the XIV Live Letter treatment at it's turning up at PAX East towards the end of March! A lot of rumours swirling around the last week or so that a preview embargo might be lifting in the next few days, too. Seems like marketing might really be about to kick into high gear...

So...yikes: Luminous Productions will be merging into Square Enix proper as of 1st May 2023. From Square Enix: On the one hand, it's a shame that such a talented team have to go through this, but on the other, it doesn't seem from this announcement that there will be layoffs, so that's a positive? Got to imagine this means the writing is on the wall for the Luminous Engine, seeing as many of their major projects (FFVII Remake projects, Kingdom Hearts 4, and Dragon Quest XII) have already made the transition to Unreal Engine. Final Fantasy XVI send to be using an updated version of XIV's engine, which in itself is a modified version of the Luminous Engine, so XVI could well turn out to be the engine's swansong. As for the announcement though...it's hard to say I'm surprised. It is a shame, but Forspoken, for me, had very little marketing direction and had a tough time showing itself off beyond it's initial reveal as Project Athia.

We finally have a title and a piece of artwork for the upcoming DLC expansion: Shadow of the Erdtree. Let's. Freaking. Gooooooooooooooo! No date, no footage, but I guess this was the closest day to the one year anniversary that they'd be willing to drop some news. And that's totally our boy Miquella riding Torrent I would assume going off to see what he can do about the whole Godwyn situation? I also can't help but wonder if this is a post-ending DLC? Might make sense given that I feel it's been implied that there might be more than one expansion coming – and expansion is the word being used, so it sounds like it'll be pretty sizeable, based purely on what I'm reading about how this is apparently the first time Bandai Namco have used that phrasing for From DLC (apparently Sony used it for The Old Hunters with Bloodborne?). Man, it kind of feels like nothing, but...it also feels like a lot to drop so randomly having recently played through Artorias of the Abyss and completing The Old Hunters last night, it's fair to say that some of From's best work is hiding away in their DLC, so my body is ready. I'm ready to rise once more EDIT: Or is it? I would assume so based on his braids, being barefoot, the white cloth he wears, but I've read around a bit today and seen a really interesting theory that this is in fact a young Marika heading towards the Erdtree after it has been struck by an Elden star. And then another awesome theory based on it being Miquella is that he's trying to fuse his soul with Godwyn's body. So many possibilities. This can't come soon enough!

This one hurts. Look, I don't mind if it's a new game or a remake of Explorers - both are wins in my eyes - but absolutely nothing? Yeah it just hurts! We can only hope that this is simply because the Virtual Console is still open and they don't want to cannibalise sales. I know, I know, how many copies could they really sell of classic Pokémon games in VC in the next month, right? But I mean, not announcing anything here is a great way to ensure people flock to the 3DS eShop to buy those games as people start to panic that they'll never come to the Switch. And I mean, they might not, and if they do I can still imagine them being sold piecemeal rather than being included in NSO, but that's a conversation for another Presents at this point I suppose

Maybe I'm misremembering, but is that the first Presents we've had that explicitly hasn't announced a new game/(re)release? If not it's definitely the first to not do so in a while I feel? That's the weakest Presents we've had for me, at least that I can remember. The Tera Raid trailer was pretty atrocious (I mean, no music while we listen to crystal beams grate our ears, really?), the Scarlet & Violet section finishing and then actually going "the next thing is our last to share with you" before diving into DLC for that game (with no gameplay and just artwork?) is a mind-bender, and I mean Sleep lives, but...so what? How are we getting news on that before the Detective Pikachu sequel?! A second nothingburger of a presentation in less than a week. Concierge looks promising, the PWC artwork looked lovely as always, and the TCG - Classic set is something I'll keep an eye on until I find out I'll need to sell a handful of my vital organs to get my hands on it. Presentation Score: 2.5/10

Committing to Home getting Scarlet & Violet functionality in Early 2023 at the end of Feb is very funny and non-committal to me

"we want to make a game that makes people look forward to getting up in the morning" Uh... that's a mighty lofty ambition that's for sure

A Pokémon Sleep update?! F I N A L L Y GOTY 2023 has arrived

Oh gosh that Pokémon TCG - Classic set looks unreal must...resist...

PV for the first half of Attack on Titan: Final Season - Part 3, which airs this Friday (3rd March) at 15:25 GMT: The main theme will be Under The Tree by SiM. Not long to go now! Friday's going to be a fun one

Started The Old Hunters DLC a couple of hours ago. (that second screenshot might be my favourite that I've taken in the game so far, looks so badass!) Really takes a while to get to that first lamp, huh? yeah, bunch of Hunters around which are plenty of fun to deal with, all sorts of ugliness to encounter in the river of blood and with those squid-faced hulk guys...but man is this some really fun DLC (so far). I'm early and to be honest so far it's a surprising amount of reused assets in terms of environments/structures, but the way they've shifted things around and changed up the colour palette makes areas kind of dragged and dropped from the early main game feel so fresh. It feels like such an efficiently designed piece of DLC at this stage. Anyways, I made it to the first boss and beat him on my second attempt, and it wasn't too long so I've uploaded my failed first attempt and my successful second attempt (albeit split into two halves!). @drahkon, this is for you Man, this boss fight! I kind of wish I got to spend longer with it. The music (oh my word THE MUSIC!!), that introduction cutscene, the transition to the second phase, the boss design, the way it speaks to the core of the tale of Bloodborne and the balance between man and beast, the way it contextualises the river of blood you've just spent so long walking through...just, hot damn, bravo From, that boss hit EVERYTHING I want from a boss fight and that's the first one in this DLC?! I just...there are simultaneously no words and so, so many words that come to mind. That's honestly and genuinely an immediate favourite boss fight – hell, in the second half, it feels more like a dance than it does a fight. I also just need to highlight how efficiently impactful From's cutscenes are in general, but especially here in Bloodborne, and especially with this boss. I can't remember any of their cutscenes running longer than 30 seconds to a minute in length, and yet time after time, it delivers on raising the stakes of a boss fight or bringing attention to a change in the scenery. This game is a freaking masterpiece. And there's still more for me to see!

Vaati with a wonderful vid to commemorate this game's first anniversary (spoilers for those who haven't played Elden Ring!): How the hell has it already been a year?!

It's official: Nintendo will be skipping E3 2023. This follows rumours a few weeks ago that stated The Big Three would all be skipping the ESA's E3 this year. Per VentureBeat: RIP E3 for like the 47th time in the last 4 years. Can't help but also wonder at the back of my mind if this has to do with not having anything they want to show yet, as the silhouette of the Switch's successor begins to form on the horizon. Kind of like how PlayStation skipped E3 2019 (which admittedly wasn't just about clearing mindspace for the PS5, but I'm sure that was one of many of reasons).

Right, seeing as I've seen one of the endings and credits roll as of Tuesday (and have been putting off the game to savour it a little bit ), this is going to be a pretty meaty update! I'm going to try to avoid posting too many clips in this update if I can help it (we'll see how that ages I guess!), but @drahkon I'll try to get some boss clips prepped and dump them all when I'm finished with the game in here for you So, that's been Bloodborne! Nah, who am I kidding, I know there's DLC to head off and complete, as well at these Chalice Dungeons I read so much about in the loading screens I've then got to look up how I'm going to hunt for that Platinum and how to obtain the other endings (I'm guessing one is from refusing?). Here's my final death tally vs bosses in the main game: And my stats and playtime at this point (sub-20 hours, which I'm super happy with!): I'll be back with plenty more to say about the DLC, the Chalice Dungeons, and the Platinum as I get through the rest of what this game has to offer, but to just summarise my final thoughts on my experience with the main game of Bloodborne: this is my favourite From Software game that I've played to date (again, sorry Elden Ring), and I think immediately enters my Top 5 games of all-time. I'll take some time to think about where exactly it lands, but it's in great company for me with Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest XI and The Last of Us! So that's my mega update for now... ...but the hunt goes on!

Seeing as this one's earned the rank of Captain and not freeloading off some 10 year old kid, I'd imagine it's a different one Unless that's what they want us to think...

Feels at this point like we might need a dedicated general Pokémon thread, but anyways...some info on the new animated series is starting to trickle out! I think Pokémon's objective is clear: make it easier to empathise with Pikachu by giving him the role of the working man, following on from his work as a detective Can't wait for Pikatouille, The Electric Mouse of Wall Street, Mad Mice, et al

Well, outside of Tchia getting announced for launch next month straight into the PS+ Game Catalog and still looking like a beautiful melting pot of game mechanics from great games, Goodbye Volcano High and Humanity catching my eye, Street Fighter 6 getting it's release date confirmed as 2nd June and another solid RE4 trailer... That was a total nothingburger of a State of Play. my score: 4/10. Yes, you can skip this one, or just go into the PlayStation YouTube channel and see which trailers catch your eye and watch those. And no, I don't want to talk about it any more than that Oh and the Suicide Squad showing felt even worse than you'd think it would. They showed a trailer and announced the release date in around 5 minutes, giving you moment of hope that you were being released from the pain of it's showing, before they started talking over more footage. Boooooooooo. Oh also where the hell is Little Devil Inside? It's been nearly a year and a half since we last saw it...

Continues to look incredible: That lighting though! Oh, and The Mercenaries is coming, and a Special Demo is on its way soon too

2nd June 2023 it is: The date showed up at the end of its part in the SoP so casually I had to question if it was revealed before

Essentials monthly titles and part of the Game Catalog for next month were revealed in today's State of Play: Tchia is coming to the Game Catalog on Day 1 of its release (March 21st), which is a great get, as are Ghostwire and the Legacy of Thieves Collection (& from what others have said around here, Immortals could be a fun time too?)