Julius

According to Nate, the Oblivion remake will be both announced and released next month, in April. ...

Coming to PS5, Series X|S and PC.

Been rumours around an Oblivion remake coming pretty soon for a while now, and according to NatetheHate and VGC, it could be dropping within the next 2 months. I need to make an image of me pointing at my own post about Xbox's poor curation at this point, because typing it out every time is tiring

Finished the third arc of my Andor rewatch. One of the greatest arcs in all of serialised Star Wars, one episode of which might genuinely be my favourite episode of Star Wars television, it's just that damn brilliant. The whirlwind of emotions I felt watching this the first time came teeming back this time. Forgot that those speeches were in the same episode, much less back-to-back. What a flex. Two episodes left of this rewatch, and I'm just stunned. I don't really fully settle on things until a rewatch - so many 10's I give on a first viewing/experience have an asterisk of "*but we'll see if it holds up at some point in the future!" - and that same rule applies for Star Wars. Because of this, I'm generally careful about overhyping things in the heat of the moment – I remember finishing the show for the first time when preparing for Celebration in 2023 and saying to my friends "I'm not saying it's for sure better, but it's at least as good as Mando". Well, with two episodes to go, yeah, it's a damn sight better in so many ways, largely in that it feels so different and distinct and yet is so unapologetically still Star Wars. They're doing very different things but this care and attention to writing and character feels like it hasn't been the centre of Star Wars since, genuinely, probably Empire? And I do genuinely think this is the best made Star Wars anything since 1980. Others can disagree; I'll think they're wrong. My favourite surely underrated moment of the show so far is during a torture scene there's a totally throwaway cutaway shot which will mean nothing to so many... ...door closes on the torture scene, camera snaps to the floor, boots trample through the shot and the camera pans up to follow. You know, something a little like this? Like, what an Easter Egg that is. Seriously. Love it. I live for stupid nods like this and hints of leitmotifs (can't wait for S2 to hopefully bring some Rogue One themes back with the characters we know are returning), because I'm a weirdo. Talking to a friend of mine about it and I'm just left wondering how many other shows have as excellent a first season as I think Andor does. In Star Wars, a lot of shows have tended to pick up more/peaked in quality as the show has gone (The Clone Wars in S3/4, Rebels in S3, Mando in S2), but it doesn't feel like there's a huge amount of space above the level of quality Andor S1 reaches for it to climb from. Even outside of Star Wars I think of some of my favourite shows and it's much the same way, middle or final seasons are typically where a lot of shows really come into their own, and Andor just kind of hits that stride in its first season? Crazy. Anyways, yeah, go watch this show if you haven't. Plan a rewatch ahead of S2 releasing next month if you have.

I think it makes sense in this case, simply because the games apparently haven't aged the best, and so I think there's a bit of an adjustment period which will come with that – and so expecting players - especially modern players who can be playing one of any number of things at any given time - to keep those skills in check for the next game to drop sounds like it would result in a bit of a rough time. There are also save transfers between the games as you go through the Gen, which I think kind of ties into the idea you should probably play these fairly close together to have a good time with them these days. From the research I did leading up to the release of and then after completing VI, it sounds like these older games can be a bit gnarly - perhaps even a bit unfair - and do, yeah, releasing them all at once is probably the best idea I think. Isn't that last Astro Bot mission which sounded like it would have an Armored Core tie-in dropping soon, too? There's something afoot. I'd hope so. Could totally see there being trophies for going into debt (which you could do in these older games, but isn't around I'm VI) and unlocking Human Plus, which if I'm remembering right requires you to go so far into debt to unlock before it gives you better abilities/performance of certain parts/aspects. Outside of the potential challenge of the controls and facing off against how the games themselves have aged, I seem to remember all three having pretty low completionist times on HLTB, so can't imagine the Platinums would take too long to get here.

PlayStation Blog has a dedicated post going over the entire history of the Armored Core franchise... Might just be to commemorate the PS1 games coming to PS+, but I wonder if they're hinting that the other games will follow suit?

PS Plus line-up for March has been announced... ...it's Armored Core time baby! Going to give it a beat for someone online to tell me the best button configuration for these Armored Core titles considering they weren't made with dual sticks in mind and are known to be a bit of a nightmare to control! Guess this is the year I finally get to go all-in on this franchise after falling for VI still not sure the order I'll get through them, mind you. Some sick part of me wants to go PS3 games > PS2 games > PS1 games, but we'll see EDIT: totally ignored The Lost Crown being there (because Armored Core!!!). Really solid month!

English voice cast announcement: Some new character descriptions and screenshots can be found over on Gematsu Still no date...reckon they're waiting to see what's up with GTA VI too?

A new event by The Triple-i Initiative is on the way following the success of last year's event, though date and time is still TBC: For reference, their showcase last year was held on April 10th after being announced on 28th March – assuming a similar window between announcement to release here, I imagine they're going to try to get out ahead of the Switch 2 event on 2nd April? Looking forward to it either way!

Sorry, but I have zero idea where this should be put, especially with as little info as they've given, but it's something I want to recognise somewhere and so here's a thread for it To commemorate Chrono Trigger's 30th anniversary today in Japan, the official Square Enix JP Twitter account posted this: This could be a lot of things, or a lot of nothing. It's Square Enix, so get ready for that monkey's paw to curl! Yeah, yeah, okay, let's be realistic first up: I imagine there'll be [Japan-only] concerts. Probably some merch. Maybe an anime or something. A stage play. A mobile game. I don't know, that's what Suikoden did sooooooo I think we should finally see a port of Chrono Trigger come to consoles at long last this year. It's long, long, long overdue at this point. I seriously have no idea why it's taken so long. The Steam version released in like 2018 is functional enough to just bring over virtually as-is, I feel like. On the outskirts of my mind, I do think there's a very, very, small, tiny chance at a HD-2D Remake announcement following the completion of the Erdrick Trilogy HD-2D Remakes after DQ I & II HD-2D release later this year. It really depends on how much Square Enix want to charge for it, but I just can't see them lazily porting it over for, say, £15 and being done with it when they could make so much more with a HD-2D Remake. Anyways, yeah, guess we'll need to wait and see! More importantly: happy 30th, Chrono Trigger! Truly one of the greats

Yep, that's correct. It's been around for a while but I think it really blew up with PUBG? And often finds itself in co-op games nowadays, things like Sea of Thieves, Phasmaphobia, Lethal Company, etc. Seems much more common on PC, so if it is coming to Switch 2, I think it's a smart move. Exhibit A: Exhibit B: Hope that helps clear it up a bit

Cerny touting the 2026 update for PS5 Pro's capabilities bringing it in line with FSR 4. Yeah I don't know exactly what it means either, but reading through the reactions it seems like a big deal

1 million copies sold in the game's first two days: Super impressive stuff!

Started my Andor rewatch on Sunday, figured I'd take it slow and just watched the first episode. So anyways, I got up to the end of Episode 6 last night. Yeah, I stand by everything I've said before in terms of glowing praise for the show. It's tough to determine how I'd rank it personally amongst all of Star Wars purely because of nostalgia for other shows and films, but I'm definitely rewatching this time asking myself "this is the best made Star Wars since Empire, right?" It's just that brilliant. I'll be honest, it's also probably the only time outside of Rebels that I've cared about the Rebel cause – and there's so much more nuance and depth added to that cause in Andor. Now, I do agree with the sentiment that the first arc (Episodes 1-3) is a slow build, but I think it's super important that it is because of how clearly it defines the characters and state of the galaxy. By the end of Episode 3 it feels like the stakes have been raised and there is a sense that there's something special to the show. The second arc (Episodes 4-6), though, for me, is when the show seriously finds its footing and is incredibly blatant in both how Star Wars and un-Star Wars this show is going to be. A New Hope? What hope? You seriously feel the struggle and the stakes starting from this arc, in a way which I think is similar to how they were felt in the final act of Rogue One. There's a desperation and chaos and seriousness to what is happening which adds much-needed depth to the GFFA at this point in the timeline. Some wonderful visuals in these episodes, too. To anyone who hasn't watched the show, or has tried to and bounced off the first few episodes, I urge you to stick with it or return to it as and when you have the time and curiosity to sit through it all – yeah, I'm saying commit to the whole thing, not just the start, because I'm saying the show is simply that good. Just trust me on this. Can't wait to get back to it. S2 is going to be awesome

A new Silent Hill Transmission has been announced for 22:00 GMT on Thursday 13th March, with a focus on uncovering Silent Hill f. https://x.com/SilentHill/status/1899218771375481118 Last we saw it could best be described as "that mushroom game" Curious to see how it's shaken out

Another day, another Switch 2 patent – this one apparently touting OS-integrated voice chat and proximity chat support for first-party titles. Per Wccftech: Proximity chat in Mario Kart while you pass someone by/Blue Shell the leader/Bullet Bill by everyone on the track could be hilarious

New details from Neil in his Creator:Creator interview with Alex Garland: All sounds great to me!

Oh, for crying out loud... April 15th/17th for Indy on PS5. April 25th/29th for Forza on PS5. May 13th/15th for Doom on all platforms. That sounds to me like a classic case of poor Xbox Game Studios release schedule curation. Never change, Xbox, never change. Happy it's getting a physical release, at least. Got to imagine it's a case of MachineGames pushing for it, especially seeing as it's releasing relatively soon after the (poorly timed – shocking, I know) Xbox/PC release back in December.

Did a bit of Googling on the matter back when I played the games and what I found was pretty interesting; just dived down that same rabbit hole to dig it all back up and respond to this. So, Kobolds are part of traditional German folklore (Wikipedia) and are typically portrayed as humanoid. Boyish, little bearded dudes, seems to already be a lack of consensus on what they are exactly, but they certainly weren't dog-like or reptilian. They could also be goblins. Or spirits. Go figure. Anyways, there's then obviously this whole thing with Gygax using the name to create a fictional race in D&D – he just knew them as little forest people, and added fictional elements as he saw fit. The first response on this StackExchange post goes over the whole ordeal of how they went from dog-like to draconic/reptilian, but to summarise, it was basically down to artist interpretation: for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e Monster Manual (1977), an artist by the name of Dave Sutherland gave the creatures their dog-like appearance; not exactly how Gygax saw it (he saw them as "impish"), but he went with it. However, when D&D 3e rolled around, artist Todd Lockwood drew them as being more reptilian in appearance. Dates are important here: the AD&D Monster Manual first released in 1977, whereas D&D 3e's Monster Manual equivalent released in 2000. Suikoden first released in 1995, and I imagine reference to the fictional Kobold race was based on early editions of D&D; it certainly couldn't have been based on 3e's depiction of the race considering, well, it wasn't out yet. Golden Sun first released in 2001, but going by its reported 12-18 month development by Camelot, it's fair to assume they likely didn't get the memo about the change in appearance, or simply didn't care if they stuck with the same name for the race they had already planned for the game. So, yeah – D&D Kobolds are depicted as being reptilian in appearance now (see also: BG3) but were previously depicted as being dog-like prior to D&D 3e, and that's likely why those games mentioned went along with the dog-like appearance of the race then. Because that's what a Kobold had been

Previously rumoured, the Astro Bot PS5 bundles have been confirmed to start releasing in stores globally this week: Astro's Playroom and Astro Bot! Some kids are going to have great birthdays/an awesome Christmas this year with this bundle, that's for sure

Haha yeah, the spacing between the asterisks makes it all look really odd, and then they go and decide that's one word

Isn't it...

Game has been rated for the PS5 by ESRB: Don't do anything silly with this release date, Xbox, leave it until June...

Oof, just noticed when I paused on the Collector's Edition screen (was curious about what was included for the previously leaked €229.99 price) – Early Access from June 24th? It calls out the Digital Deluxe Edition included in the CE (no physical edition at that price? That's wild!) so seemingly all Digital Deluxe Editions will be Early Access? Seems strange for such a story heavy game, and it means getting it on a Tuesday instead of on the Thursday (rather than, say, a Friday instead of a Tuesday)...interesting