Julius

It's funny, because I think we're going to see a very noticeable gap in scores between this and the review scores for Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl that wouldn't have been quite as drastic if these weren't releasing so close together? And not to mention being announced together in the same presentation? Pokémon has been tired in a myriad of ways for a long time (which I think is natural, given both a lack of ambition and competition), and I don't think it's at all a coincidence that the big gaming media outlets finally seemed to agree en masse that this was the case with BD & SP, with Legends: Arceus just on the horizon.

Looks like the ability to upload gameplay clips and screenshots directly from the PlayStation 5 to the PS App is finally being rolled out. For now it looks like it's being rolled out in the US, it's seemingly for PS5's only, and will be limited to automatically uploading your captures moving forwards, rather than giving you the option to manually select. One step at a time, but this will finally save time in my group chats on Fridays when one of us witnesses something hilarious in GTA, that's for sure!

So...I guess that wasn't the final trailer? What is going on over at S-E? The hilarity ensues.

My favourite (and in my opinion, the best) GOTY discussion has arrived: the 2021 Easy Allies Awards Deliberations! Guess I know what I'm listening to over the next few days at work

Yeah I'm well aware, that's why I said "even more" and Eclipse, too. EA winding down and announcing titles that are likely the last to be announced under their current exclusivity deal in such a matter-of-fact way over a year before the deal ends makes me think that we could see further projects announced (in addition to those already announced) throughout the rest of the year. The titles announced and revealed by other publishers so far is likely Lucasfilm Games wanting things lined up and ready to go for when that EA deal ends.

Unsurprisingly, Japan gets the better trailer: Love how the title is kind of clickbait for the trailer this time around. Such a strange marketing cycle! But anyways...the 360° video showing off Hisui is pretty cool!

Throwing this in a spoiler tag because I know some might want to avoid it, but it's been shared by official channels - some new Pokémon have been revealed: Strange decision to share them with us just three days from release in the way that they have, though could be because of the leaks, and I suppose they'll want to show it off in marketing and it might have been tough to keep a lid on with reviews going up (I believe the embargo is lifted tomorrow?).

EA have announced three upcoming titles from Respawn (well, two? We already knew about The Sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ). From their press release: We know so little about them that I didn't know if it was worth making dedicated threads for the games, so here we are I've got to imagine they're getting this out of the way in anticipation of their exclusivity deal ending next year, so hopefully this opens up the floor to even more projects being announced. Would love for that FPS to be a Republic Commando reboot/sequel/-like game, and interesting that Hirschmann is leasing development on it - he has ties to producing Star Wars video games dating back to the original Battlefront, as well as a bunch of LEGO games. Worth noting that Bit Reactor are a newly formed studio (I mean, they were revealed last week) comprised of XCOM and Civilization veterans from Firaxis, so very much looking forward to seeing what they turn out too.

Even the key art is pretty nutty

Two months out, but here's the final trailer? The music choice in the second half of the trailer has me bawling one of the messiest trailers I've seen in a long time. Weirdly edited, feels like it shows way too much, the music choice is hilarious...I refuse to believe Team Ninja and S-E are playing this straight (if they ever were up to this point). Feels quirky and campy as hell, I dig it.

Looks like they've finally got around to releasing the Japanese overview trailer from two and a half weeks in English (some of it covers stuff from the overview trailer, but there are one or two new tidbits and some more music to listen to): I'm definitely starting to get excited for Friday now. The game still looks rough visually a lot of the time, and naturally I wish Game Freak had years more for a project like this but that was never to be, but I'm very much looking forward to something fresh. I don't know if a goal of catching all of the Pokémon in a region is going to suit the flow of a game like this, I really dislike what they've got going on with throwing balms and the most basic of dodge mechanics, but I'm more than willing to give it a go with the hope that I'll at least feel a bit refreshed. I think the best sign they've pulled that off is if I don't find myself coming away due to burn out, seeing as we go remakes just two months ago. What I'm also not looking forward to is that this is all but guaranteed to bring up similar debates to those we saw with Breath of the Wild, where longtime fans go in with preconceptions based on prior games (for BotW it was: where are the temples? Where's the music? Where's the story?) and with their mind already more than half made up. I get if a game isn't for people, and for example I have my own issues with Breath of the Wild despite really enjoying the experience (I do wonder if not having too much of a connection to the franchise and not completing a game before shaped that a bit for me), but acting like there's nothing good just because it's a different take or just because it's an open world/more open is a real tired take. That's not really aimed at anyone here re: Arceus (though the Breath of the Wild part might apply to some based on opinions I've seen around here! ), I just struggle to see how the wider discussion around the game doesn't head that way, which will be a shame because, hey, at least they're trying something pretty brave and new (I know, I know, biggest IP ever and that shouldn't be an excuse for them not giving things more time/effort/money/manpower/etc.), and I want to see those new things discussed more than the fact that people go in expecting Breath of the Wild and end up with Monster Hunter. I hope that I'm wrong - weirdly I think Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl rubbed people the wrong way to the point that this might be received even better than it would have otherwise, and I don't think the Pokémon community prior to this game was as narrow as I think the Zelda community was prior to Breath of the Wild - but we'll see. Just for the love of Arceus give us something representing a post-game and continue down the path of trimming some of the fat on some systems and I'll be pretty chuffed.

As revealed today during the Taipei Game Show 2022 stream: the game has gone gold! Just 32 days to go...

An update on this: alongside 8 other former members of SEGA/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and under the banner of NetEase, Toshihiro Nagoshi will lead the aptly named Nagoshi Studio. Really curious to see how this plays out. RGG is a big team but that's a lot of big and longtime players to lose with the franchise at a crossroads, and I'm of course intrigued by the possibilities of what we might see from Nagoshi Studio. I'd bite off Nagoshi's hand and give him a hook for a hand to make him a pirate if we basically got Yakuza set in Hong Kong. On the one hand I love the absurdity Yakuza is known to bring to the mundane day-to-day, so would honestly just love a game centred around an office job, what with its politics and intricacies of getting to learn about something you might not otherwise, but at the same time, I'd love something more akin to Shenmue, with a bit more of a journey and destination to it. Let's travel around Hong Kong and then get to see other parts of Asia explored, damn it!

Started Monster on Tuesday...and I've just finished it. I had a strong feeling it'd be up my alley going in, and yet it still blew me away. Bit of a joke that this isn't available on any streaming platform in the UK or (from what I could tell) even the US right now, but luckily found a playlist on YouTube like I did with Berserk last year. If you're into mystery thrillers, especially one which drags up the great age-old question of what is good and what is bad, I couldn't recommend it enough. It's an absolute masterpiece, I'll definitely be picking up the manga to put it on my shelves at some point down the road, and I look forward to checking out more of Urasawa's works. Next is probably his other most well-known work in 20th Century Boys. Before getting to Monster, last weekend I finally finished watching My Hero Academia Season 5, taking me a bit over a month to do so because it's just such a weak season without any real hook in its opening half a season I had read past the point I imagined that this season would end on in the manga, so wasn't too surprised by the first arc of the season, but I can't believe that they decided to pad it out even more and have that one arc essentially take up the entire first half of the season. Only one thing of real note happens which will have serious implications down the road in that arc, so it was a real head in hands moment. And it's a shame, because as almost happened with me (knowing full well what was coming in the second half of the season), and as I know happened with some of my friends, the temptation to leave this by the wayside was very real, despite the second half of the season ending up being superb. This is where almost all of the meaningful character development in the season happens, and they absolutely nailed their adaptation of one of my favourite parts of the manga. Music was great as always, no real surprise there as Yuki Hayashi rarely misses. Massive missed opportunity by the producers to not at least change the animated sequences for the OP for the final arc of the season in my opinion. A season of two very different halves for me. Also, not sure if anyone saw this, but I think it's worth sharing: Horikoshi shared last month that, should things go smoothly, My Hero Academia's manga will likely finish by the end of 2022. ...which, naturally, is to say it will finish in 2023. Still I can imagine room for another spin-off (maybe a Vigilantes anime adaptation?) or sequel series down the road, but it's pretty crazy and a huge missed opportunity for me that so much of the story has taken place in the students' first year at U.A.. From what I've seen elsewhere some aren't happy with how the manga has seemingly gone since I stopped reading it last year towards the end of the next arc in the anime, so not sure how keen I am to catch up, but the fact that it might be finished being adapted by 2024 is insane to me. They did also confirm that Season 6 is coming (in other news, water is wet), that it's coming in Fall 2022, and we also have the first PV. Re-Destro's theme is fantastic. Lastly, I've been keeping up-to-date with Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2. We're only three episodes in, but so far, so great! Nervous about where the show will end up finishing given the general atmosphere around how the manga ended (I've avoided spoilers, but definitely heard a few impressions sharing the general sentiment of disappointment), but the music is great, animation is brilliant, and it's still gripping. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here! Now to figure out what to watch next...

No worries, happy to help and thanks to you again for all your help with my Sinnoh Dex!

@Glen-i I've grabbed a Union Room, Link Code is 11235813 Shall we trade all four across first and then trade them back? So the trio first and then end on Ho-Oh / Lugia before going back around?

Cool, I've got a haircut at 11:00 tomorrow so will probably be back around 12:30 at the latest, that sound alright with you?

@Glen-i I'm available today from now until 15:30 or during most of this weekend (apart from a few hours around midday tomorrow and Sunday) if you still need Ho-Oh and the Legendary Beasts for your National Dex sorry for the delay, been having a tough time with some screens and games making me feel really nauseous lately, but it's getting there!

New plates have arrived! Appropriate music. First time using PlayStation Direct, very impressed by the quick turnaround. Only real downside is that now some of my accessories don't match the console. I'm still not fully sold on all black, even seeing it in person, as the matte black plates do look a little on the cheap side, but it does match the rest of my set-up a bit more than the white. I'll give it a couple of weeks to see if it grows on me!

I knew PlayStation had marketing deals in place for Call of Duty, but reading around, seems like they were re-upped just before the start of this new generation back in 2020, so I guess this is what Phil is referring to. Which makes sense, but I guess that means at the very least Call of Duty should be on PlayStation until mid-gen, so until 2024 or so. I do wonder what PlayStation's internal thinking is going to be, because Call of Duty is going to leave an enormous multiplayer shooter gap -- is this a gap they are going to try to look to fill themselves, either by reviving an old IP of theirs like SOCOM or Killzone, or perhaps by moving their marketing deal over to Battlefield and hunkering down with EA? Then again, that isn't exactly a franchise in good graces right now (and hasn't been for a while), so maybe they'd want to acquire a particular third party IP which is being swept under the rug but is already something of a name; not a household name to the same extent as Call of Duty, of course, but maybe something like Medal of Honour?

You can now find your PlayStation playing stats from last year in the 2021 PlayStation Wrap-Up report here. Do find it very funny that Death Stranding is front and centre, considering all I've done with it so far is upgrade to the Director's Cut Compared to 2020's stats from last February, some interesting takeaways are: Total playtime in 2021 (895 hours) was only 7 hours less than in 2020 (902 hours), and all this despite the fact that I took a break from gaming which lasted a few months. FIFA more than made up for it I guess, as did my weekly play sessions with some friends on GTA! I played 20 fewer games on modern PlayStation hardware in 2021 when compared with 2020 (16 vs 36). Hours played online increased substantially from 125 hours (14% of total 2020 playtime) to 219 hours (24% of total 2021 playtime), though I suppose I didn't start playing with my friends on a weekly basis until a few months into 2020, so that increase isn't too surprising. I said in last year's post after playing across 156 days in 2020 that I would aim to surpass 200 days played in 2021...and apparently I did. Not sure how that happened. Despite playing substantially fewer games, I got 499 trophies in 2021 compared with 542 in 2020. This is down to going for a few more Platinums (4 in 2021 vs 1 in 2020), but a lot of these and a Platinum popped from the Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut upgrade before I played the Iki Island DLC. Haven't started a game in 2022 yet...and seeing these numbers might be the push I needed.

I mean, there's definitely enough material out there to get some lewd fan fiction going... I think that's enough internet for today.

Finally, a release date (and gameplay overview) appears: 5th April 2022! Starting with whichever trilogy you want is such a smart and inclusive move. Looks stupidly fantastic, though I'm not super keen on the tight over-the-shoulder perspective. That Galaxy Map is huge! Love how it clearly builds on some of the ideas from The Force Awakens and The Clone Wars game, just dialling it all to eleven. This looks well worth the wait! AND OH MY GOD THERE'S A MUMBLE MODE!!!

I mean, I'd guess it's getting a Hisuian form (I think it's why they've not shown off anything about the starter evolutions so far), so maybe it won't be part Ghost-type? I'm pretty nervous about some of the Hisuian forms they might be hiding from us actually. The last few generations have been some of the most contrasting for me when it comes to the quality of some of the designs, some are top tier and others have a Pokémon knock-off vibe to be.

No worries Yep, Typhlosion is my favourite of the bunch too. Thanks Legend of Thunder! For me I think it's just wanting to keep things fresh, I've been using Fire-type starters a lot more over the last few years. But we'll see, with all of the Sinnoh starters being available in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl and there being no version split, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some way to get the other two starters at some point in the game anyways, seeing as you'll have to potentially catch everything anyways. ...so I guess I just convinced myself that I might be getting Cyndaquil