Julius

Saber CEO Matthew Karch is once again stating that the game is still being worked on. He said the same thing last April, too. Per VGC: If - IF - this game still exists, I think they need to shut up and keep quiet until they can come out with a re-announcement trailer and some gameplay to boot. Could see Lucasfilm wanting to save such an announcement for 2027 to line up with the 50th anniversary of Star Wars...

Celebration panels for next month in Japan have been announced: Curious to see what gets livestreamed. The big blockbuster panels for me are: • Mando and Grogu – no clue how much they show here. Is there enough cobbled together for a trailer? I'd hope so. Probably going to be Celebration-exclusive, though. • Lucasfilm Animation's 20th anniversary – possibility of a new series announcement? • Andor S2 – imagine the first arc might get shown to attendees? • Ahsoka – S2 announcement...maybe? Feels like it could be a repeat of the Kenobi panel in 2023 where nothing new gets announced, but should still be a great time! • Bit Reactor/Respawn turn-based strategy game panel – FINALLY! • 50 Years of ILM • Closing Ceremony – where we going next? I think they might skip next year in favour of building anticipation for a 50th in 2027, probably in the US (Anaheim would be closest to *everything*). That being said, it's the 50th, and I could see them wanting to share the love in some way; it'd be really neat to have multiple venues around the world, I'm just not sure how that would work in terms of guests and reveals. Bunch besides this I'd be curious about too, like Doug Chiang's panel, an hour with Oscar Isaac, and screenings of the Clone Wars and Rebels finales (DUDE, THESE WITH A CROWD?!). I'm shocked that there isn't a 20th anniversary panel for Revenge of the Sith or a 10th anniversary panel for The Force Awakens, I have to imagine it's simply a case of it being staged in Japan this year which has made it a struggle to get as many guests. The lineup of panels, at a glance, I think looks light – or, at least, lighter – than in 2022, and obviously we had a bunch of bombshells in 2023 during the Lucasfilm Showcase. I think what this really highlights is how little progress it feels like there has been on the projects announced in 2023, and with the 50th just 2 years away, I imagine there's a sense of wanting to time things for announcement/release in 2027 in a way which would make it too early to announce/show some things off here. It is also only a 3-day Celebration vs the 4-day experiences of 2022 and 2023. That being said? People are going to be in Japan. I'm sure that'll more than make up for any perceived shortcomings of this year's Celebration, and I'm sure it'll be a wonderful time

Ugh, yeah, ones like these suck. For the longest time I remember the RGG games had chapter completion trophies just be a black screen too, seems like they've learned their lesson and changed it to be the final shot of each chapter, and each chapter naturally ending on a bit of a cliffhanger makes them so pleasant to look at now What I do for some particularly terrible ones is make sure I've got the clips set up for 30 seconds on Platinum pops only, which means I can scrub through and get a nice clean screenshot. Remember having to do this for Armored Core VI if I'm remembering right, the Platinum shot will just be the rating of your final mission (the Plat will almost certainly an S-rank replay of the final mission) but using the clip I grabbed a screenshot from the cutscene before and it looked much better! I love this one Ooo, let's share a nightmare I had with one of my Plats. Jedi: Survivor! Thought I only had one trophy left to obtain as it was quite late and I was admittedly pretty tired - the one for the bounty hunter quest line - and so, knowing how that ends and who turns up, you can imagine how excited I was to scrub through that last 30 seconds to get the right look for the Platinum screenshot I'd save elsewhere. Problem was, buried deep in the trophy list was another trophy I'd missed...and so it didn't pop. And not only did it not pop, the trophy which was left and for which my Plat popped for that game was simply get 10 perfectly timed precision releases – which I did at a meditation point because it was the most reliable way to do it. Painful. This actually made me go through some of my default Plat screenshots on the PS5, and man, there's just so many more bad than there are good! Figure I might as well share the high- and lowlights now that I've checked them out The Good The Bad & The Ugly Shame I don't have any of my PS4 Plat screenshots anymore, but I guess that gives me a good excuse to play newer versions of those games with their own trophy lists I don't think I've logged into PSNProfiles since...2021 maybe? I actually logged in the other day to see if there was anything on there, but apparently I haven't synced it to my PSN account for a minute Gaiden would be a very worth 850th! And that auto-pop just makes a brilliantly short game all the shorter

What better place than this to talk about the planned festivities for God of War's 20th anniversary? A new in-game DLC for Ragnarök titled "Dark Odyssey" is coming, as well as some neat merch and a 20th Anniversary Retrospective for the series. Finally, something insiders can eat some dirt over (the rumoured Greek Saga remasters). Feels good Also somewhat tempers expectations for Bloodborne's 10th anniversary in 2 weeks...

Just gave this a watch, and even as probably one of the softer Trophy Hunters around here...yeah, I can definitely relate on most of these My problem is I try to save the final boss/story beat/whatever as the final trophy if I'm going for a Plat, so, for example, in Infinite Wealth, this would mean doing eeeeeeeverything else before the final chapter (hence my current Dondoko predicament; the Dondoko Delusion, if you will). I mainly do this because if I roll credits I'm typically done with a game unless I know ahead of time there's something else in store for me. There are times where this backfires, too, though. Spider-Man 2, you stupidly fun but also stupidly trophy-designed game, WHY IS THE FINAL SUIT YOU COLLECT LOCKED BEHIND THE CREDITS AND PART OF SOME DUMB FINAL PUZZLE. Grinds my gears, I tell you! This ties into the Plat screenshot, actually, because Spidey 2's is guaranteed to be stupid because of this. On the flipside, games like The Last of Us Part I and Elden Ring? Designed to capture the logo at the start of credits – super clean, love it. The ones I can't relate to as much are the multiplayer ones - I don't think my friends would put up with me for very long if I asked them to grind a Plat out with me, much less for Helldivers 2, because I gave the trophy list a quick look and some of them are pretty bonkers! - and, of course, saving a special Plat for a certain milestone. I simply don't Plat enough games to do this - and if I did, let me tell you, some games wouldn't be getting played in this lifetime because I'd be holding out for some of my favourites - but, anecdotally, the occasional Plat has been a milestone and I'm like "oh, hey, that's neat that it was this game!" I think I like the idea of planning it - something like a Final Fantasy VII something being #7, #70, #77, #700, #707, #777, etc. - more than I do the idea of personally earning the Plat in that many games. ALSO! Feel like they missed out on a big one: save scumming! Are you a real trophy hunter if you haven't save scummed through the cloud for something like an alt ending in a From Software game? Thanks for sharing H-o-T, that gave me a good laugh very curious to find out which game is being saved/played for your next milestone...

Ah, I meant sunnier than here in the UK in October, rather than sunnier than Berlin. My bad I'm expecting nice weather in Berlin in June! Maybe some showers though? I mean, @drahkon please confirm for Germany, but I definitely found that to be the case for most shops across quite a few countries I visited that shared borders with Germany growing up (Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands) so wouldn't be too surprised! I've technically been in Germany before, for all of 30 minutes as we parked the car there and walked back over the bridge to visit a park in Luxembourg, but still Thanks for the heads-up – yeah, I'm planning on having this Berlin trip probably be the last one on my current passport and then send off for a new one before my travels (hopefully) in October/November, as I know some countries can get a bit weird about having 6 months or less on your passport!

PlayStation logo has been spotted in Starfield Creations... Reckon they're aiming for an April release too?

Hell yeah, have a great time @drahkon Speaking of holidays – I'm planning to be in Berlin in June and hopefully somewhere in Europe a good bit sunnier in October, as me and my docs are looking into me having pretty severe SAD, so this seems like a wonderful way to give myself the excuse to leave the UK behind for a week before it all goes to crap (well hopefully not this year but we'll see) Mine needs renewing in the next 12 months as it expires next spring, but I'm really not looking forward to joining the Ugly Passport Club

Awesome stuff, thanks Ashley Muhahahahahaha now I'm going to SPOIL EVERYTHING, I'LL SPOIL IT ALL

2 weeks and 5 days remain. (no I didn't miss the 3-week mark I don't know what you're talking about)

Collector's Edition trailer: Still wild to me that it comes with a code for the Digital Deluxe Edition for the price it is Not to even mention the early access weirdness

Are there any updates on a spoiler tag fix? Only asking because of the Switch 2 event/potential launch and some shows in the next few months on the horizon, imagine (well, I hope) there will be games at/around launch we might find ourselves wanting to use spoiler tags for. I know we can copy them from elsewhere but as a mobile-centric user, it can be a bit of a pain (have to go and edit an old post with a spoiler tag, highlight from the text before up to the text after the spoiler tag, copy, paste, delete all copied text...) (also asking because I accidentally initiated one just now )

I finally finished the 112-episode epic that is YuYu Hakusho last weekend. Still got to check out the 2018 OVAs, but man oh man, what a show. The characters were excellent, think this show does a much better job than HxH does of having a more well-rounded cast with the girls as part of team YYH. Favourites were probably Kuwabara, Kurama, Shiziru and Ogre/George. Music was awesome. The entire premise is great. Think my favourite arc was Chapter Black, it's probably the closest the show gets to HxH, felt like a prototype for the Yorknew City arc in HxH, which is my favourite arc in that story so yeah really enjoyed the Dark Tournament too, of course, but what really surprised me - knowing how abruptly YYH was wrapped up due to Togashi's health going in - was just how well things wrapped up. Yes, it's a bit rushed, and if you were to compare the Demon World Tournament in the final arc, Three Kings, to the Dark Tournament, then yeah, obviously Dark Tournament is a better tournament arc – but I don't think that's the point of the Three Kings arc or the Demon World Tournament at all; focusing on how characters are now choosing to act, how they act differently to the start of the show or the similar Dark Tournament, the terms by which Yusuke chooses to define the tournament...it's brilliant. That being said, it does still feel the hype of a typical tournament arc at times, as there was a moment towards the end where I was screaming "HOLY SMOKES IS THAT FREAKING {spoiler} ENERGY?!" and was clearly hyped as all hell watching the final show's matchup. What a fight! There is SO MUCH growth and character development squeezed out of the final arc, and while I would've loved to see the story continue, there's beauty in endings, and especially so in this one. There's a moment in the Demon World Tournament where Kurama senses a presence and everyone is cheering the same character on, and it just floored me. Just as much as Hunter x Hunter, YuYu Hakusho is about bonds: with others, with yourself, and the lasting impact you leave on those around you. I'm going to score it a 9.5/10 purely because I consider HxH a 10 and do think HxH is overall a stronger story (albeit ironically also unfinished), but man, what a ride. Those 90s anime vibes – does anything come close?

Oh yeah so anyways after my post I immediately continued and finished Andor just couldn't leave it where it was! 11/10, would - and will - Andor again. This show has so much to say, that last episode ...well, besides that post-credits, still not the biggest fan of that as it's just a little too on the nose for my liking 5 weeks or so now until S2 kicks off? Seriously cannot wait Right then, now that I'll be staying subscribed to Disney+ for a little while (at least until Andor S2 is done), might be time to catch up on some other shows...

Beat my first Super Helldive (max difficulty) with randoms the other night; I actually disconnected from them during extraction on the final of the three missions (had this happen a couple of times, always a pain but ramps things up!) and so had to fight off SHD with 3 lives (reduced due to only me being in the lobby) which was pure chaos. Going in one of the guys commented on the chat on what a Lv 19 was doing in Super Helldive – I then proceeded to die the least to be fair to him, there was no venom to it, I think he was just genuinely shocked (as was I). The community aspect of this game has honestly been brilliant and it's by far the most fun I've had playing multiplayer with randoms in the longest time, possibly ever! Just calling in items to help each other, for example on the intense World War field type planet I mention below I had my Jump Pack and me and one stranger had the entire map to cross to extract...so I call in another Jump Pack for him and we hop on over. That aspect of sharing and helping each other out is so pure and simple fun. Over the course of the last week I've gone from Lv 10 to Lv 22 just playing with randoms, and probably in about half the playtime. Accidentally joined one person on an Extreme dive and then things just escalated from there. Me and a friend picked up our first Premium Warbonds, I went with Polar Patriots because of the bulky Star Wars look to the armour and helmets, and I'm now on the last page of that, and like Page 7 or something of the free one. No doubt in my mind I'll probably be picking up another Premium Warbond sooner rather than later. Yeah, honestly, I love this game. At this point it's seriously getting in the way of me getting back to Infinite Wealth right now, probably a combination of the idea of being at a point where I feel like I *need* to grind (be it Dondoko or dungeons) in IW whereas I'm *happy* to grind it out in Helldivers 2, and that's no shade on IW, I think I'm just more in the mood for this right now Love the enemy variety (duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude the AT-AT/AT-M6 styled walkers of the Automatons?!), the stratagems are super fun (500kg bomb? Why the heck not!), only a couple of levels now until I get the Exo Suit and get to go all Metal Gear up in here. The planets have me genuinely awestruck at times, there was one in particular where it was very World War field feeling planet and I think it was my first game on Helldive difficulty? Super intense stuff, probably my favourite individual match I've played. So far my main loadout has become the 500kg bomb, Orbital/Napalm strike (orbital for Automatons, Napalm for Terminids/Illuminate), Laser Cannon and the Jump Pack. Primary weapon is the Scythe, having two laser weapons can take a bit of time to take things down, but the unlimited nature of the ammo (being cooldown-based) + how it slows some enemies (the AT-STs come to mind) or melts some bots after a hot second has worked out for me on every difficulty so far. I did pick up the Railgun to free up some requisition slips space (see below), so maybe I'll try that out, might need to research my next weapons loadout a little bit. There are like slight annoyances I've come across, but they're few and far between. Biggest is probably that I didn't realise requisition slips max out at 50k, so I've probably missed out on 30-50k just through simply not noticing it. Guess it's on me, but why the limit? Let me save, damn it! But yeah anyways this game is awesome think I'm going to plan to hold off on the controller until I've put 75+ hours in, so that it'll be around £1 or less justified by each hour of play

2 million in the first week: Good stuff

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?