Julius

Release date for the first wave of Pixel Remasters - I through III - is 28th July. I and II will be £8.99, whereas III will be £12.99, however there is a pre-order promotion on for 20% off. From the wording of the descriptions of the games themselves, these seem to be based on their original versions, so any GBA, PSP or other version bonuses aren't expected. Rearranged soundtrack could be nice, but that font they're using and the wasted space is pretty hard to look at.

Did the site ever do a retrospective on the Andean-Saharan Ice Age? Think it looked something like this:

Goes on Wikipedia and searches "N-Europe" (search results) A few more hits than I'd optimistically expect... ...oh hey, N-Europe is cited on Miyamoto's Wikipedia page! That's pretty cool!

Super Mario Bros. 4K Pixel Remaster incoming

VGC are reiterating that there are two separate Silent Hill games in the works: one being worked on by Bloober, and one by a prolific Japanese dev. So, maybe all isn't lost for SH fans. But still, this is Konami, so...

Konami are entering a "strategic partnership" with Bloober Team. Official press release: Pouring one out for all the Silent Hill fans, gone from hopes of a Kojima project revival with Abandoned to Bloober in the space of a week and a half or so. Konami you numpties.

Yeah, agreed that's a sending off. Obviously I don't think there was the intention there to potentially end Besedin's career from Danielson, but let's say the ref hypothetically gives a yellow instead -- the outcome would be that the players lose their heads and everyone starts shattering each other's knees. It's a red for the danger it causes, not for the intent. Which wouldn't feel much different from what we ended up seeing, as they all started going down like flies towards the end anyways

AND YET ANOTHER TWIST! Great stuff from Ukraine, it's been coming since they started exerting themselves after that sending off, but nearing the last kick of extra time is truly cruel.

Definitely slowed down in that last 15-20 minutes, players looked tired and resigned to going to extra time. Which I guess is good news for us English fans! Fourth match to go to extra time this round, meaning that's been the case for half of the Round of 16. Crazy.

Yeah, Sweden vs Ukraine has been about as wide open as I thought it would be, really fun to watch and end-to-end. Woodwork has had a proper beating by both sides.

Oh, hard disagree, there's definitely worse than that. Exhibit A: Exhibit B: Exhibit C: It's definitely the worst Star Wars film. But anywho, here's to hoping Sweden vs Ukraine is a cracker

Pretty sure it was down to the reality of the arrivals quarantine still in place (is it still 10 days?). I actually think it could come around to bite us back in a weird way now as the home advantage - and the crowd, who had a huge impact today - will be gone in Rome, and as many fans will be wanting to save themselves for the potential semi-final and final over here at Wembley (if the 10 days arrival quarantine is still in place, you wouldn't be able to travel over to Rome and come back and have quarantined in time for those matches), I struggle to see many of them travelling. So it'll be interesting to see. Germany have needed a rebuild for a while, they got lucky after 2014 in that Kimmich turned up in time for the Euro's and basically slotted in there and at Bayern as a replacement for Lahm, but it was only a matter of time, and they've been without a quality out-and-out, tournament bred striker since Klose. And let's not forget that Löw made a point of having culled this squad of its veteran stars for years, before bringing some of them back into the fold anyways. Like you say, they'll be back. Flick is absolutely the right man for the job, but given how close the World Cup is, I hope the German FA give him the time he needs and don't read too much into how far they manage to go there. I've got you @darksnowman:

It wasn't a pretty game by either side, and neither of us really got going. Home advantage had a massive impact on the result you feel, Germany looked intimidated at times. But I'll take that result. Sometimes you need that home advantage or moments of luck to get by.

That was the least hype Olympics trailer I could have imagined for Japan. Where's the hype anime opening?!

Will always rate Kroos for sticking with those adipure 11Pro's. Lovely boots. Been really cagey most of that half, hope it opens up. We've started growing into the game but we need to be more direct, there have been so many times when the pass back to Neuer isn't that fast or where we're pressuring them as they ping it around in their own box but just aren't going for the ball.

Free kick in their corner. Somehow ends up being passed back to our goalkeeper less than 10 seconds later. Been really negative in midfield and defence so far (other than Maguire), they need to get the attackers involved more.

Yes 43,000 fans and only 1,800 being German means I've struggled to hear a lot of what had been said in the preamble leading up to the match. Would not want to be one of those German players right now, that's for sure!

I'm not sure that's totally true, as I've had zero issues with Rest Mode since launch. I did flirt with turning the console off every time I used it very briefly for a few hours around launch, but quickly forgot. *touches all the wood* Only crashes I've had so far were on launch day with Miles Morales, and that turned out to be down to be something I could reproduce through the mode I was playing in (Fidelity) before any major updates beyond the Day 1 patch.

Out of curiosity, can you still hear the game/console it crashes? And are you using a TV with a Game Mode or HDR? Because I think I've read a few accounts where disabling the Game Mode/HDR worked for some. Might be a bit of a pain but have you tried turning the console off rather than putting it into Rest Mode? Not ideal but I know it was a bit of a concern for some at launch. Either way, sounds like you're having a rough go of it with your console so far though, sorry to hear it

Looks like Ghost of Tsushima might be getting a Director's Cut after it was rated by the ESRB: @Mandalore I know you were asking about whether this was getting a PS5 version, so this might end up being what you were looking for. I loved my time with the game and the thought of using adaptive triggers for the sword...but I'd probably have to pass on it myself. Maybe. Maybe... Also...

Apparently it's been confirmed to be legit through Tweetdeck, as it still shows deleted tweets, so...yeah. All but confirmed until we hear more I guess, but that's definitely the one I've been hoping for! Great shout on the time, I hadn't even thought about the time in the US -- if it's going to be today, got to imagine it'll be around midday Pacific just to have everyone in the US covered, which would be around 20:00 this evening; but then again I could be totally off and they could do it at 12:00 Eastern, which would be 07:00 Pacific and 17:00 BST. It'd be a massive day for PlayStation if they announced both on the same day. Not sure if they'd do that, but either way, I think it's their way of getting eyes back on them after going quiet over E3 ahead of a potential State of Play, which would be smart.

There's also this interview with Hulst and Irari by Famitsu which is well worth a read. Some really amusing parts where they have to explain the jokes too I think it's great, they just seemed down on their luck a few years ago and now they've got a big hit on their hands and financial stability. It's got to be great as a creative to have that backing, and I have to imagine it boosts morale and confidence exponentially. I've liked these PlayStation acquisitions so far because they've been for companies that they have already teamed up with shown that they can get great results. It gives me confidence that they'll fit neatly into PlayStation's portfolio moving forwards, as they already have that working relationship, from which they will have already gained insight into expectations, wants, and needs. As soon as PlayStation start pulling the trigger on massive third parties that they don't necessarily have that sort of working relationship with, like Xbox have, I'll be the first to call them out on it. It's why I'm nervous about them not tying down Bluepoint, because Xbox could just as easily try to pull a move for them when they don't have that relationship at all. So, tell us what the deal was with that tweet in Japan about Bluepoint being acquired, PlayStation!

Sony have acquired Housemarque: I take it Returnal was a hit for them in the end then, which is great, as they seemed a bit lost and on the ropes just a few years ago. I'm still looking forward to getting around to playing it, think I'm just waiting on a Quick Save option to be honest. Now can PlayStation please stop messing around and acquire Bluepoint already? EDIT: Uhhhhhhhh guys, PlayStation JP apparently posted this before taking it down: They even included the Slayer of Demons in that lineup between Selene and Aloy. It could be fake, but I'm struggling to see how someone could possibly cobble something like this together that quickly. There was a link to the post which is now dead too. Did someone jump the gun on a Bluepoint acquisition? They don't have a post up about Housemarque, so I'm wondering if they got the two mixed up, but at the same time...the background image has another character included alongside Selene and a different (Bluepoint's) logo. Maybe this is something we'll hear about in the coming weeks?

People have been complaining about the balls in the past? Admittedly the Jabulani was a bit much at the 2010 World Cup, some of those balls flew in almost comically looking back, but knuckleballs are a meta unto themselves, and I always loved figuring it out with a new football each tournament. Yeah, agree with you and @LazyBoy that Sancho has to play tonight. But considering how many times we've said this so far in the tournament, it's hard to go in without doubting that he'll be there!

Yeah, the Laws of The Game dictate that tonight's big game will be boring after last night's matches. If anything I think that Sweden vs Ukraine will be the better one to watch for neutrals, can see both teams giving their all from the first minute to the last. It's tough for me to predict anything other than a Germany win, and yeah I think it could be a pretty boring one. Obviously deep down I'd like to see England do it, but if we go ahead I think it's clear that we don't have the maturity to manage the game and see it through, and on the other side of things, if we go behind I expect Germany's big game experience throughout the squad to shine through. There were glimpses of brilliance from Saka against the Czech Republic, but we're going to need to see that hunger and desire all over the pitch today if we want a result. And, unless there's a dramatic shakeup in the lineup today, I just don't think we've seen anything from this England side so far in the tournament which would point to us turning on the style in the way this Germany team is capable of.