Julius

48 tracks in 6 waves by the end of next year?! Damnnnnnn

Hahahaha wow some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC This Direct is just Nintendo printing money

Oh that sweet Earthbound music Let's goooooooooo

Wait, is Nintendo getting silly in a Direct again? This really is a great Direct!

OH MY GOSH WII SPORTS but Switch?! The end is near, Nintendo going all out

Duuuuuuude Live A Live in 2D-HD? The heck is this Direct?!

Portal on Switch makes so much sense Also KH really for an S-E sounding title for its collection, huh?

Waddle Dee's Weapon Shop is hype

Hahahaha how are we getting Cross on Switch before Trigger?!

Futurama is (reportedly) making a comeback!

Fair shout, I just stared at it for 30 seconds and feel a bit dizzy I've just thrown it in one for the more daring and put up a PG rated one instead. Looking at that original GIF, I never noticed until now just how much they contorted K. Rool's neck for the sake of his hype, very freaky! I hope not, but I also wouldn't bet against it. We're rioting if it's the "one last thing" though

If I'm remembering right I didn't come across any in the first area but did come across some during my first time visiting the second (I remember because Croagunk were being a pain and then one appeared), so I think you should have access at this stage. Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, it's kind of random. A message should pop up on the screen to let you know one's forming (once it has you can check the map to see where it is and set a waypoint to it) and then you've got a few minutes to get there before things start going down inside.

Final Fantasy VI's Pixel Remaster is coming on February 24th! And some pics to feast your eyes on: Now to fix the font and bring it to console

All I'm saying is that there are three pictures of Earth there... ...so are they skipping 2 and going straight to Google Earth 3?!

Announced previously, but the game finally has a trailer: I still need to get to the first, but it's good to know it's not been kicked to the back of the oven!

Well, damn, that sucks. I'm not even at the point where I'm rift hunting but they weren't exactly plentiful to begin with! I normally hard save and back out to the Switch menu but don't close games when I play on my Switch unless I'm swapping to another game entirely, so I guess I'll just need to be careful to not install the patch for now

Finished the seventh and final chapter of The Book of Boba Fett... My overall thoughts on The Book of Boba Fett are that the first few episodes were a bit of a mess, before things finally started to click mid-season, and made for an interesting (and long) finale. It's the weakest of the live-action Star Wars shows so far for me, and I do think overall it was a missed opportunity to do something interesting with Boba, as he feels as much a side character here as he has felt elsewhere -- despite the camera being set on him most of the time, I just don't think he was a good protagonist, and the show generally felt much more disjointed as a result when compared with how both seasons of The Mandalorian fleshed out Mando. It was like they were stuck between wanting to make him cool and making him practical in this world - as if they had to choose between the two - and as a result there really wasn't that much development for him as the show went on. It's a show with cool moments, and cool characters, but it just didn't come together for me as much as I had hoped/expected based on the quality of The Mandalorian. It's a shame I came away feeling that way, but there is plenty to see here if you're a Star Wars fan in the mood for Star Wars, and I'm curious to see what ramifications come out of this show. Elsewhere, and tangentially related...

Some footage of the game running on a base PS4: Obviously a step down from what we've seen on the Pro and PS5, but still, some serious wizardry going on here. I played both The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima on a base PS4 when they released and was astounded at what they achieved with those games on the hardware, and this looks to be the same. Fingers crossed for those load times!

NieR Automata stream coming on the 23rd, though probably not related to the games?

Saw credits roll a few hours ago. Overall, probably the best main story in a Pokémon game for me in a good while (I'm trying to weigh up just how high I hold Sun & Moon's story, and separate my enjoyment of how well the 20th anniversary celebrations were handled from the story -- but if it's better than that, it's probably the best we've had since Gen V). I wasn't a fan of how the last hour or two became a barrage of exposition, cutscenes, and a light sprinkling of battles, though, but was surprised once again by the quality of the soundtrack and, weirdly enough, the cinematography of the last few cutscenes. It really made what was going down feel epic, bordering on what you'd expect to see in the anime. The journey is still a little ways from being over, as I at least want to finish every Request, catch every Pokémon, and reach the maximum rank, so I'll be saving my final impressions for when I've had the chance to get all of that done and absorb the soundtrack. But yeah, I find it really hard to disagree with what @Hero-of-Time said after completing the game. For all of the growing pains with the transition being made into a fully 3D main series game (that is actually designed with 3D gameplay and mechanics in mind) and a fair share of quality of life missteps, and despite this year looking so obscenely stacked when it comes to potential quality titles, I can't see myself not bringing this up when we start talking about personal GOTY's towards the end of the year. I've had an absolute blast playing through this game and can't wait to see how Game Freak incorporates some of these ideas into their next main series entry, as well as what we might see next, if anything, for Legends.

Second trailer for Lightyear:

The fifth Balloon Race suuuuuuuucks EDIT:

The legend himself turns 90 today, the man who provides Star Wars it's oxygen: John Williams! I remember being concerned that he wouldn't see the sequels through to the end due to his age, but he's still kicking on and going strong, thank goodness. He's back to working with Spielberg on The Fabelmans this year and Indiana Jones 5 (directed by James Mangold) next year, so he's definitely got more great stuff left in the tank!

Digital Foundry have released their technical breakdown video for Legends: Arceus -- Looking forward to digging in later!

It's funny, because an entirely different Mew playground rumour was about when me and my friends were playing Diamond & Pearl in primary school, and it was that you could find Mew's fossil (as seen in the first movie) in the Sinnoh Underground.. It would've been cool, and should've been a thing, damn it! Also, regarding the capture of Pokémon as @Happenstance mentioned, my generation's version was L, R, L, L+R to imitate the movement and then final satisfying click of the Poké Ball capture animation.