Julius

Essentials monthly games for February:

She's a beaut

EZA's 2022 Awards Deliberations are up, coming in at 5½ hours: And the edited awards showcase: Bit of a shame this awards season has been a pretty uncompetitive one compared to recent years (not that Elden Ring doesn't deserve to bring home GOTY, mind you), so I'm kind of glad it's at an end. At least the Allies do a good job with their discussions and adding in some sillier categories to keep things fresh

Well, that's one less thing to plough through in the month leading up to Celebration I guess, and one less thing to talk about in lines too! It's a weird one this delay for me, because I don't feel like we've actually seen that much of the game, which is fine - it's shaping up to be a very direct sequel from a story and gameplay perspective, so similar to perhaps Ragnarök, there just might not be that much they want to show ahead of release. At the same time, though, I think this has a marketing deal with PlayStation because they've been tweeting about it every few days, and so I'm honestly a bit surprised by the delay; maybe not seeing much by this point should've been taken as a sign, but I kind of assumed it was going smoothly. Just realised this delay also brings it up to within two weeks of Tears of the Kingdom (or at least it's current release date as things stand), so I'm kind of selfishly hoping it's comparable in length to the first game and has avoided bloat...which I feel like we've been seeing a lot more of as of late.

I was confident going in that it would be the first great video game adaptation, and I was expecting an 8/10. So even with my relatively high hopes compared to what's come for it, it's blown even my expectations away. I think, simply, it's a case of Sony actually understanding the value of their IP and giving it the resource it thoroughly deserves. Neil Druckmann is a great creative in his own right, but given this is his first crack at television, he was paired with the right man in Craig Mazin, who wrote and created Chernobyl, and it's not hard to see why that was a smart decision. Gustavo Santaolalla returned after his excellent work with the two Last of Us games to compose the show's main theme and worked alongside David Flemming in composing the rest of the show's music. The licensed music so far has evidently been carefully selected and they've nailed it every time so far, the CG so far has mostly been limited to wide background shots and there's been a bunch of practical effects throughout, and, three episodes deep, I don't think they've put a single foot wrong in terms of casting. It's not a 1:1 adaptation (even if the first episode definitely leaned into that and made it seem like it would be close to one), but it's also not doing the video game adaptation thing of using the same characters but just making something up. They're adapting a universally excellent story in a way which suits the medium they're adapting it to - the flashbacks so far have all been brilliant so far and it's a technique put to great effect in television, but one that simply wouldn't work nearly as well in a game - and that, to me, shows how much care has been poured into it. If it keeps going at this rate, I really think it stands a chance at opening the floodgates to storytelling in video games finally getting more the praise it deserves from a much wider audience. It's been brilliant, and with my favourite parts of the story still to come, I'm having a hard time imagining how they could be made better – but I'm confident they'll take a good crack at it.

Sony have outright denied the contents of Bloomberg's article: This is the second time now they've denied the contents of a Bloomberg article, and by the same author too – Mochizuki. Yikes Pessimistically, at a stretch, I guess a case could be made that they're trying to save face to stakeholders – but that seems incredibly unlikely.

I mean, a combination of an economic crisis in the wake of a global pandemic which saw components shortages impact virtually every hardware product under the sun was always going to mean this would be the case, right? A premium price product when people are bleeding cash was never going to break pre-order records, was always likely to struggle to meet projections (which, by the way, is for stakeholders to not go crazy, not really for us consumers to go crazy over), and much less one which requires a premium price console to even run the thing. All-in it's £1k at the moment to get a PSVR2, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I don't think this has nearly as much to do with first-party support as has been suggested, it's down to age-old supply and demand, and demand can't be there if there isn't enough disposable income for many to reasonably consider making a purchase. I'm skipping this and the Edge controller, despite having the disposable income, simply because I think it seems like a stupid way for me to invest money in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Let's also not forget that there's also a knock-on effect stemming from the components shortages which means that there are far fewer PS5s in people's homes now than would have been projected in 2018/2019 when PlayStation would have been planning their slates and hardware lineups for the first half of this gen. A slump to start isn't a bad thing, so long as the support is consistent moving forwards, and I don't think we have any reason to believe that the support won't be there. Hell, Jim Ryan has even been frank about where VR is at right now; this is from a Washington Post article released in October 2020, a few weeks before the launch of the PS5: I'm not expecting crazy sales numbers when all is said and done from the PSVR2, but I'll be surprised if it goes the way of the Vita, and even more surprised if it doesn't surpass the sales of its predecessor. I don't think it's fair to simultaneously be on Sony's back for blowing their metaphorical load too early with games like God of War, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, et al, but then also be on their back for not knowing what's in store. There's more than enough at launch for those looking to dive in to justify doing so from where I'm sitting.

Finished catching up on this week's episode, Episode 3: Long Long Time. We're three episodes in of nine now, and while the first two episodes certainly felt like a near 1:1 adaptation with some reshuffling (for pacing and to throw off players a little bit, and definitely more changes in Episode 2 than in Episode 1, which was virtually 1:1 with some stuff added in) and stuff thrown in to give context to new viewers, this is the first episode to feel like it was taking the source material of the game, fleshing it out, and taking it to greater heights. Again, still some weird stuff when it comes to reshuffling the deck on lines, like getting the final line from the Boston QZ at the end of this location instead, but it still kind of works, it's just a little distracting. To sum up my thoughts, this wasn't just a great episode of The Last of Us, this is a damn great episode of television, and a beautiful one at that. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best episode yet, and honestly, I think it's going to be a hard one to top. That I'm saying that about this part in the story, though, when my favourite parts are yet to come? This episode is a 10/10 for me, the first (and hopefully not last) episode I'm going to give that score to. Adapted excellently where necessary, built out the world naturally, and expertly handled fleshing out two characters we simply didn't get enough of in the game and were excavated wonderfully in a medium suited more to doing so than a game. BRA-f'ing-VO If you aren't watching this show already, I've got to ask – where the hell have you been, what on earth are you doing, and why are you still waiting for me to finish this sentence before bringing up Episode 1 on your TV?!

PlayStation are promising a steadier supply of PS5s in the wild this year, which they announced alongside the release of a new TV spot:

Reggie chiming in has definitely put a smile on my face

Already been renewed for a second season after just two episodes have aired: Find this super interesting, and I don't feel like it's a foregone conclusion that they jump straight to adapting Part II. For one, II takes place roughly five years after I, so they might want Bella Ramsey to age up a bit (was shocked to learn she's already 19!). I could see them maybe trying to do that through having her lose weight (I think her round face and cheeks are definitely what helps her portray an early teen), and considering where Part II takes Ellie it would make sense, but personally I'm never a fan of that being forced on someone for a role. On the other hand, though, I don't think you'd call an adaptation of Part II, well, The Last of Us Season 2? At least not with Druckmann around, considering how clear an homage it is to The Godfather and Part II, which he loves. A second season could absolutely get rebranded to Part II down the line and this could just be an early marketing thing, but I also feel like waiting a few years and then coming back to adapt Part II is the obvious way to secure platform growth (more people will watch the show in the years that pass once it's finished ending, streaming will become more widespread, etc.). Selfishly, I also do just think they could do a prequel series here with Tom and Joel earlier on in their adventures, which is a new and unique story they could tell designed from the ground-up for this medium. Druckmann seems like the type (kind of like Kojima) where he loves the idea of tackling actual film/TV just as much as he does games, so I feel like not needing to adapt an already beloved story could give him free reign again. I also just think it'd be smart to potentially tie into their new live service Factions game. And it bides them time to prep for adapting Part II, which will likely be at least twice as long as adapting Part I, and is much, much, much heavier. Anyways, as for why this is happening after only two episodes, well the numbers and growth they've seen week-on-week over at HBO are all kinds of nuts: Lastly, I didn't write up my thoughts on Episode 2, and I don't think I'll flesh it out as much as I did for Episode 1: it's still a great adaptation (still solid 9/10 for me), but much more than in Episode 1, there's a lot of creative liberty taken. Some additions, like the intro, I loved, whereas elsewhere they've grabbed distinct lines from later on in the game than when the show is currently up to and kind of forced it in earlier, which was...honestly, really disorienting. And the way the episode ends, well, that's a very interesting change (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've seen the episode). There's also a change to how the Infected work here compared to the games which makes me wonder if it's a hint at some mechanics for next-gen TLOU, such as Part III or Factions II? But yeah, still 9/10 for me. Can't wait for Monday!

GoldenEye arrives this Friday (27th January): (direct trailer embed for the lazy):

Yep, couldn't agree more. It's got some interesting set-pieces and concepts, but for a few years now I've viewed Nolan as being to film what Kojima is to games: he's really interested leaning into doing things only possible in the medium he's working in, and, like Kojima, can occasionally take things too far when there's no-one else in the room. And at this point there isn't, so a biopic like Oppenheimer should (I hope) rein him in a little bit. It's a strange question, but how did you got on with the sound/volume of the film? Rewatching Nolan films the last few years - and this was PAINFULLY apparent when I watched Tenet, which I did at home because, y'know, COVID - I've started to take note of how often I have to reach for the remote to put the volume up or down, sometimes even in the same scene! It's crazy to me that someone so invested in film and film history has absolutely zero interest in making his films suitable for anything other than an IMAX format. Which is stupid when 99% of the people who will ever watch his films will be doing so from the comfort of their own homes In fairness, they got Ludwig Gorannson (Creed, Black Panther, Mando) in to replace him, but of all of Nolan's films, this did feel like the first since Inception which was really screaming for Zimmer's BWOOOOOOOOOOMPing drones. I still find it a little funny that Zimmer chose Dune over Tenet (the right move, his score for the film is stupidly good and it's something he's said he's wanted to do since he first read the book) because at the time they were planning on releasing them pretty close together, but because of COVID, Nolan forced Tenet's release through anyways and Dune didn't release for another year or so after that, so he very well could have done both! You know, if he were a psychic or something

It's a bunch of UK-only stats, and shouldn't be much of a surprise, but the show has resulted in a huge jump in sales for both Remastered and Part I. Seems like it would be really smart to announce something around the time the show ends, huh?

Was joking with a friend the other day about how AoT would get a Part 3 announced for Final Season and it'll end on a cliffhanger for a film. But oh no it's worse, Part 3 is being split into two parts (cours): And the trailer: This...surely...it's actually going to end this year right? Right?!

Anyone else getting deja vu? Let's try this again; here's the latest trailer for Relink! And there was also another demo shown: Looks incredible, even more so than it has before. Animations look fluid, the colour pops, it looks ready to go. It really looks ready to go, so here's the release date from the trai– ...aaaaaaaaand they're still just saying it's arriving in 2023. See y'all once again later this year (I hope). There's no way my next update in this thread will once again be in December...right? Right..?

Yep, totally agree. I mean we've still got eight episodes to go, so it could still go that way...but I'm pretty confident it won't. Well, I really hope it won't... I think the interesting thing about the games you mention which are already heavily reliant on narrative that could be adapted is that it speaks more than anything else to strong writing, whether it be in terms of dialogue, pacing, or structure, in ways many other games just aren't (and in fairness, may not even be attempting to). I think it just speaks to a very strong understanding of good storytelling based on the foundations of the last 50 years of film and learning lessons from that and then finding ways to make that fun to experience interactively. I think the really exciting thing with narratives in games like TLOU is that we are still incredibly early in terms of really seeing where great storytelling in games can go, and I do think the possibilities are pretty much endless. Not to say there weren't great narratives in games before TLOU and the like, but being able to convey emotions through voice and motion capture in HD allows for easy interpretation of the source material. I think of something like MGS which is heavily reliant on its medium at some of its most interesting story beats, and it's clear there's just so much in a game of that time that would be difficult to translate without losing something – the experience of it being a game for and depending on the medium for great moments for one, but then also the limitations of the hardware really help your imagination to fill in the gaps. Bit of a ramble but oh well, that's what I'm here for Looks over at Uncharted...

We previously heard that Returnal was coming to PC in early 2023, but now we have a date: February 15th.

Tchia is coming this Spring:

My opinion? Absolutely. Again, only one episode in, so it's tough to tell how it'll flow overall, meaning I'm not sure if it'll be better to wait and binge it all or just keep up with it weekly, but - if they can keep up the pace they've set with the first episode - a 9/10 adaptation of a 10/10 video game story is still excellent and well worth checking out. It's really clear that they've taken the time and care the source material deserves with this adaptation with what we've seen so far. Would love to read your thoughts if you do check it out, especially as someone who isn't familiar with the source material, because I feel like that would be a very valuable perspective to hear!

The trailer for Mando S3: And well... Very solid trailer. Less than two minutes, which I like (save some surprises!), a little lacking on the music side of things (not at all indicative of the show's OST, but hey, hype trailer music has its place!), some good reveals, didn't pull all that much from the Celebration trailer. Very curious to see how this is received by those not caught up on Book of Boba Fett... Anyways, not the best Mando trailer we've had, not the best Star Wars trailer we've had, but again, just very solid – its enough to get people thinking about subscribing to Disney+ again if they aren't currently, that's for sure. For me at least, the third season with Star Wars shows has usually been where things have really started to pick up, so I can't wait to see what's in store; I'm super excited! What's it now, a bit under six weeks to go? All aboard the hype train (also think this might be the sign I need to start thinking about catching up on Andor and TBB!)

Just finished Episode 1: When You're Lost In The Darkness. I have some scattered thoughts to share, and always knew this would be an interesting show for me to watch at this time just given how many times I played through TLOU last year alone (four times, by the way), so it's hard to not draw very direct and specific comparisons with the game burned into my mind. Yes, I will be comparing this with the game, but no, I won't be jumping ahead and spoiling the game/story, I'll be focusing on the show. Anyways, scattered thoughts: Overall, for a first episode lasting nearly 80 minutes, if this is a sign of things to come, then this is very easily going to be one of the best adaptations of a video game to live-action to date. It's a bit shy of perfect, but honestly, I'm surprised they got it as close to perfect as they did. I'll gladly take it. That being said, there are already some creative decisions made in this first episode which have me scratching my head a little bit when I think of how much the game absolutely nailed every story beat we've seen so far, and it falls short of reaching that bar a few times. With all that in mind, I'm going to give this first episode a 9/10 – I can't wait to see how they go about adapting the rest, and certainly hope they can stick to this high bar they've now set themselves, but am a little nervous about how other major scenes might be tweaked in this adaptation. It opens up in Boston, Pittsburgh comes down the road (heh)

Poster for Mando S3: Looks like a comic book cover, which is to say I love it

Game Science released a fun little stop-motion short to commemorate the Chinese New Year... ...and the end of the short reveals that Black Myth: Wukong is taking aim at a Summer 2024 release. Still no platforms announced outside of PC just yet, though from my point of view this one seems ripe for Xbox to pick up, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Would love to see this on PlayStation (I mean, some Chinese games do release on PlayStation exclusively, so maybe there's hope?), but I'm not going to hold out for that, considering how much Xbox loves to throw money at people these days. Anyways, I'll see y'all next January for the delay to 2025