Julius

Wait, so I shouldn't boycott anything lower than an 80 on a website which puts out the aggregate of something so subjective as opinions and scoring? But yeah, if this is the case (and I mean, I swear it's not the first time we've heard of a big publisher doing this), it sucks. Metacritic and sites like it (MyAnimeList, IMDb, Letterboxd) I feel are useful to get a idea of how something was generally received. While it can make for fun trivia, it's not really something which big companies should be giving a second thought. Unless it's completely crashed and burned (in my mind something like a 60 or lower, but to be honest, you'll probably have heard about it from elsewhere if your MC score is that low, and I say that only because the scoring scale is barely seen below a 7/10), it really shouldn't matter. You know your team and their ambition better than anyone else, would we really have such great games today if everyone cared so much about how it scored? I think of Easy Allies and "Swimming in 7's". There is absolutely a time and a place where a 7 could be what you'll enjoy the most (and likely have more to talk about than a 10), and that's awesome. Personally I find websites like these useful from a user perspective mainly for recommending similar games to ones I've enjoyed, or if I'm split between starting two games, I'll have a poke around to see how they were generally received before diving in, just so that I can temper my expectations somewhat. Again, it's a user-facing website, not an industry-facing one, and there's a reason for that. Especially when PlayStation are focusing on AAA narrative driven experiences, things get even murkier, because how the story is written and executed then becomes another factor which could drag that score down. Now we've got the PS5 patch for God of War and with Ragnarok (I would assume) being released next year at the earliest, I wouldn't be surprised if we heard something about it by the end of this year? Would seem a smart business decision to have that out on PC before the sequel. Also...this has just made me think about the news of The Last of Us remake again, and something I forgot to mention in my post before. I know many in the industry suggested it might be timed with the releases of the HBO series, potentially even use some of their likenesses, etc., but surely porting the original to PC would be the smarter move at some point? Heck, even some Pocket Edition-like remake for mobile, that'd rake it in at £9.99 - £14.99. Maybe they want the remake and Part II bundled so the experience feels consistent (...but surely then you'd have to do that again when a Part III comes out? Just saying), but they're narrowing their market like crazy for a project like that in my eyes. I don't know, just me rambling

Yeah, I do hope that's the case. It's so funny imagining how that conversation would go. Though, while I do agree that I can't see Square Enix wanting to sell either (like I said, they've only really hit their stride in the last few years, unlike Bethesda, who had definitely fallen from grace a bit in recent times), money talks. If Microsoft or Tencent barged in with some crazy offer I have to imagine they'd at least entertain it, even if they didn't accept it. EDIT: Square Enix officially shutting it down. Something could still happen in the future, but yeah, it's wise of them to shut it down now. Rumour-based stock surges are rarely a good thing.

Think I can hear all of us collectively groaning on this one. In my eyes, there are only two potential suitors with the financial backing to get this deal done and a reason to do it: Tencent and Microsoft. Tencent are just buying and investing in everyone, and Microsoft have been trying to break their way into Japan for nearly two decades; this would be a - very aggressive - way of achieving that. It would shore up Game Pass, obviously (I also imagine they're paying a lot more than they perhaps reasonably should be to get Square Enix's games on there now, even years after release), and in my mind at least, would strengthen Xbox much more than the Bethesda deal did, simply because of the diversity it would add to their portfolio. Three of the biggest and most recognisable Japanese non-Nintendo game franchises in Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts, a massive legacy of titles stretching back to the 80's which could pretty much all be dumped onto Game Pass (this isn't the way I wanted us to get a Final Fantasy I - VI Collection...), not to mention the overwhelming success of Final Fantasy XIV Online after it was turned around (I'd imagine that'd be a potential Minecraft situation where you continue to let it be played on everything), and a myriad of other games like NieR, their mobile offerings, etc., as well as the Luminous Engine, which they've put an ungodly amount of time and resources into, and even away from that, in recent years have successfully pivoted many of their biggest projects onto Unreal Engine. I haven't even mentioned Square Enix Europe, who have Tomb Raider, Life is Strange, Just Cause, and the recently published Outriders. Just taking their IP values into account I think this is a potentially bigger deal than the Bethesda one, never mind the fact that if it's Microsoft looking to buy them, Square Enix has ridiculously strong ties with PlayStation across their biggest IP's, and a very healthy relationship with Nintendo too, so the asking price could inflate based purely on that. And let's not forget that their two biggest revealed AAA projects as of right now, Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken, both already have exclusivity deals with PlayStation. In terms of the other console manufacturers, Nintendo might have the cash hidden away to buy out Square Enix, but this would be very unlike them, not to mention that the Switch wouldn't be able to handle what Square Enix has been doing with Final Fantasy for a while now. PlayStation on the other hand already have strong ties with Square Enix without buying them outright, so while this could be a strong move in terms of consolidation, it makes very little financial sense in my eyes from a game sales perspective, and at this point I even feel the impact on console sales would be somewhat minimal. Add to that PlayStation's hard press to forget Japan exists by killing the Vita later this year and the recent closing of Japan Studio, and it's very hard for me to see them chasing Square Enix. Regarding the sale, I hope it doesn't happen, regardless of who it is that's looking to buy. Towards the latter half of last generation, Square Enix finally managed to climb out of the hole they were in and start consistently developing and releasing AAA games. With Final Fantasy XVI, Forspoken, Final Fantasy VII Remake Part II, and Dragon Quest XII are all in the works - not to mention everything else they have planned too - and it would suck for anyone to potentially get in the way of the development schedule. Yes, I own a PlayStation and use it as my main console, but even as someone with plans to pick up a next-gen Xbox at some point down the road, this would anger me more than it would make me want to buy an Xbox. Again, if it's Microsoft, I come back to what I said when we learned that they were acquiring Bethesda last year, about how big acquisitions like this are much worse for the industry than say Sony acquiring Insomniac, because whereas that's a move to consolidate their portfolio with a developer after already maintaining a healthy and stable relationship across many years, this would be another example of what I would deem unnatural growth, which hinders the potential audience for a game more than anything else. I still can't believe seemingly no-one is interested in Konami. Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Suikoden, Pro Evolution Soccer...they have little interest in resurrecting these IP's themselves, and whereas I feel like Square Enix is already earning as much as they reasonably can across their catalogue of games right now, you have a lot of room for growth here I feel, so long as they would be allowed to grow. Forget all of the other IP's for a second: you have an honest and genuine FIFA competitor being transitioned to Unreal Engine, which unlike Frostbite actually consistently works, so imagine the potential you'd have backed by Microsoft, who in my eyes has the financial might to quite easily swoop in and get all of the necessary rights to effectively kill FIFA. Then you make it a subscription-based model after a couple of years of increasing sales, during which you let it still be a full purchase on other platforms but included as part of Game Pass, and there you have it. Guaranteed money, we've seen the sins of Ultimate Team scrubbed from the world, and we can all be happy. But anyways, back to the topic at hand. Again, if it's Microsoft...at what point would we potentially start seeing "monopolisation" thrown around? Because they can never do something as direct as Disney buying Fox, in that neither one of Nintendo or PlayStation would ever sell to them, but they show no signs of letting up when it comes to these acquisitions (they were in for WB Interactive last year, too, before they took themselves off the market). Worrying times. I selfishly hope Square Enix stays put, as it feels like we're still at the start of a renaissance for them on the Japanese side of things, and two of my three most anticipated games are being developed by them (Final Fantasy XVI and Dragon Quest XII). Again, this is still a very big if. It could easily be something Square Enix swats away as soon as an offer is made, so while the prospect of them being sold is definitely cause for concern, I'm not going to give it too much thought until we learn more. But if it is a console manufacturer, regardless of who it ends up being, then we all lose.

Sky: Children of the Light from thatgamecompany (Journey) is coming to the Switch in June. I know that it's been announced for Switch before, but seems a bit strange to me that this update wasn't part of the Indie World Showcase.

Just caught up on this, and while there are some great looking games, main thing I have to say is: ah yes, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon from the up-and-coming indie studio Konami. That gave me a good chuckle. (okay, I know it's being developed by an indie studio, GuruGuru, but still, published by and based on an old Konami IP doesn't exactly scream indie to me)

Lizard brains in search of dopamine. (Name of my new album )

"Switch Pro" Clearly says Game Boy. Yeah that seems about right I don't know who you'd fool with that name or shape, my hands are cramping up just looking at it! Reminds me a lot of that old fake NX leak... Ah, the memories.

Sounds like I got quite lucky with this one, think it was my second trophy unlocked? I did it as part of the game's opening sequence (when you get a couple of waves thrown at you). Probably helped that I had just come off playing the first game on Ultimate difficulty for my NG+ playthrough though! Can certainly empathise with you @bobwhen it comes to the takedowns, it definitely changed the way I played the game quite a bit when trying to get those trophies. It's awkward because it's a high enough amount where you're unlikely to unlock those naturally while playing through the game (especially with how little emphasis I would say there is on highlighting these takedowns), but low enough where it seems achievable if you are going after the Platinum. Far from the most egregious trophies out there (games that demand replays at a higher difficulty which only unlocks after completing the game, and some of those old Naughty Dog ones where you'd have to get X amount of kills with a certain weapon comes to mind when I think of the worst), but it does make me wonder how much QA goes into trophies (if any at all), because some of them here do feel like they weren't given as much consideration and we're tacked on at the end. I think any time where the player has to go out of their way to play in a different way - which isn't necessarily the same in my eyes as trying out different weapons or combat styles, if that's already a focus of your game - is when they should be given a bit more consideration. Because, for example with those takedowns, you just end up in a hideout going up and down in an attempt to do as many as you can.

Well, that clearly went under the radar! Imagine they'll just air that trailer again, but man, that game looks like such a fun time

Official comparison trailer from Bioware: Looks great!

The Yuffie content will be officially titled Episode INTERmission. That's a very Nomura-sounding title Cast, character renders, and some more gameplay details:

Always love me an indie showcase. Silksong? Axiom Verge 2? Bear & Breakfast? Garden Story? Dare I even suggest Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion?!

Damn, some nice stuff in there, particularly what it mentions about pre-downloading updates, customising game library (does this mean I can finally hide FIFA from myself without having to uninstall it? Because that would be an absolute win), and screen zoom. The trophy settings and updates are nice too, as is cross-generation Share Play. Being able to manage storage from the app before you find out you haven't get any space left is also a great win too

I mean I haven't played as many Final Fantasy games as I would have liked to, but I've listened to a lot of their soundtracks (they just ended up in my daily mix) and I would have to imagine it'd be in contention for delivering high quality over a very long period of time consistently (I would have to imagine across more games too?). Almost feels like cheating though when you've got someone like Uematsu, and most of the games he composed for ended up with soundtracks which are about as flawless as you can get. I would throw Dragon Quest into the ring if not for Sugiyama being a right old weirdo and the obvious reliance on previous soundtracks from my limited exposure to the series, but at the same time, it creates nostalgia for games you might be experiencing for the first time, and that's no mean feat. I haven't played any of the Metal Gear games, but have heard one or two tracks from those earlier games and they seem strong, and I think the series as a whole (when we consider Solid too) delivers very consistently on the soundtrack front. Don't think it's a coincidence that we've heaped quite a bit of praise on Konami games here, because even smaller games like Suikoden ended up with some absolutely stellar soundtracks. Hell, even PES I would say had much better soundtrack selection than FIFA back when I was still playing it! Yeah, the Mystery Dungeon games at times touch that Chrono Trigger level of too stupidly good to be true. If we're talking about quality, I think the main series Pokémon games have music which has for a long time been far better than the games themselves. I really wasn't a fan of how Sword and Shield turned out (ditto for X and Y, and to an extent even Sun and Moon), but those soundtracks are still great to my ears. Plus, you can totally cheat and point to some great rearrangements from the anime too!

At this point I hope that they've knocked it out of the park just for you @drahkon crazy that we're two and a half weeks away from launch and it's pretty quiet, have to imagine it will ramp up next week? Unfortunately I'm going through a weird time with games in general and not playing as much as I have over the last year or so, though think that's more to do with what's going on elsewhere. I've actually cancelled most of my pre-orders because, while I'm still looking forward to them, I've still got games left over from last year, and I don't reckon I'd be playing them immediately (due to the myriad of other games, and just not feeling like I'm in the mood). Think the only pre-orders I've kept are Nintendo games, and that's almost solely because their price won't budge anyways. So yeah, look forward to getting this down the road, but don't think I'll be playing it anytime soon. Hope it's good fun for all those that do, I really hope Housemarque have a success story on their hands!

So there's that new Mamoru Hosoda film coming this year. So it's Hosoda's third attempt at the Digimon Movie after Summer Wars I kid (kind of), but hey, if it ain't broke I guess? We best see a King Kazma cameo is all I'm saying. It's a collaborative effort between Studio Chizu and Cartoon Saloon (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, and Wolfwalkers), and they're bringing in former Disney animator Jin Kim for Belle (the pink-haired titular character), so I feel like Hosoda is really gunning for an Oscar win. And, more seriously, it looks like Summer Wars meets Beauty and the Beast to an extent. Which...is intriguing. Loved his previous works (think the only one I haven't watched is his One Piece movie, but as someone who doesn't watch or read One Piece, I guess that makes sense!), and so I'm very excited for this

When I read your post on Friday, I kid you not, I laughed and then realised we were over a week removed from April Fool's Day. First: the leak of The Last of Us remake. I've been thinking about it over the weekend, and the question which keeps springing to mind is "What the hell are they thinking?", not to mention my continued disapproval of Schreier's reporting stance being that it's fine to leak the existence of secretive projects. Maybe it's just me, but it's very, very rare that the existence of a game is leaked before it's official reveal and actually benefits from it (Mario + Rabbids comes to mind as one of the few examples, and that's simply because people were so against it that it leaking actually had people positioned to be blown away by how it was presented). I think back to Elden Ring's reveal at E3 2019, and everyone just immediately going "Oh, hey, look, it's Elden Ring". Can you imagine just how big that reveal would have been if it had never been leaked beforehand? Instead, I've got friends who are big fans of Game of Thrones and G.R.R. Martin but had no idea the game existed for the longest time, because it never wound up in their social media feeds, because it was expected and it felt like there wasn't nearly as much traction to it as there should have been for a game developed by From Software and worked on (to some extent) by G.R.R. Martin. It's an industry largely driven by hype these days, so yes, I do think you're robbing developers of their moment in the spotlight to some extent if you're revealing what they've been working on ahead of any official word. This isn't to say that a potential The Last of Us remake would be met with applause from all directions, but I know that for myself, even having just played the original for the first time last year and it easily being up there as one of my favourite games, I can totally see myself getting excited if you nail the reveal trailer (and this is a first party PlayStation game, so you know they can at least put those out in excellent fashion). Now, if and when it does get revealed, it's people rolling their eyes and going "urgh, it's The Last of Us". Hell, even just think back to The Last of Us Part II's reveal at PSX 2016 and people initially thinking it was something we'd already seen like Days Gone. So yeah, I'm not here for Schreier leaking these things, even if he does good work in bringing light to the plight of many developers out there. I don't think anyone's even come forward to comment on the leak of TLOU's remake in particular and corroborate it, so I think it was fairly shortsighted of Jason to just outright name it (oh, and as if Naughty Dog hasn't gone through enough over the last year or so when it comes to online drama and The Last of Us). Does the article really lose that much if you don't outright say it? I don't think it would, if you just highlight the fact that PlayStation are remaking a legendary first party game from a couple of generations ago...I don't know. There are a few games that could be in my mind, and I think it's pretty different to found footage leaks where companies haven't done their due diligence in keeping their materials safely under wraps (I'm thinking the Elden Ring leaked trailer from a couple of months ago, or the Harry Potter leak we had years ago now). Yeah, agreed. Again, I played it for the first time last year, and that game holds up really well, not to mention the updates it's had over the last few months which have virtually cut loading times out. One of those where if it was a big visual upgrade beyond what The Last of Us Part II managed I could see it doing well with a reveal trailer, but being shared with us for the first time in this way just completely kills it in its tracks for me. I'm just thinking of the first game in Part II's engine when I read this, and well...anyone who's played Part II understands. But back to the article itself, yeah, I agree with H-o-T in not liking how Jim Ryan has run PlayStation since taking over. The problem with only having tentpole releases and being this risk-averse is that you end up with, well, what cinema (and the box office in particular) largely became over the last decade: a collection of reboots and sequels founded on already beloved IP decimating smaller projects. And don't get me wrong, there are some directors who can still thrive when times are like this (Christopher Nolan and Hideo Kojima are quite alike in this regard I feel), but those are very rare exceptions. I think of how Days Gone flourished in Japan in particular, and I do wonder if Jim Ryan and co. just couldn't give less of a damn about Japan (think it's become increasingly clear over the last few months that they don't give them a second thought), and I think it sucks massively that Sony Bend won't get another crack at it - and this is as someone who hasn't played the game themselves, but I mean, it's a massive first party game which is free on PS+ this month, and has been part of the PS+ Collection for PS5 since launch too? Having only big games just puts too much pressure on the team, but more than that, it stifles creativity. Think about some of the biggest trilogies in film and more often than not you'll find directors and writers working on other projects inbetween, and I think it helps to stave off burnout, but also to just flex other creative muscles and ideas. Christopher Nolan in particular comes to mind again, because between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight you had The Prestige, and then between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knights Rises you had Inception; there's a "one for you, one for me" kind of attitude with it, such as we see with many actors who take up bigger gigs so that they can comfortably work on projects their passionate about (I think of those under the Disney umbrella, and actors like Adam Driver in particular). No doubt Naughty Dog has other things in the works, and so does Bend seemingly, but as a producer and distributor, PlayStation needs to recognise that they're getting in the way of some of the industry's most talented minds. Couple this article with the closure of Japan Studio (what the hell happened to their rumoured Rayspace game? And what's going to become of that heavily, heavily rumoured Silent Hill game, seeing as Keiichiro Toyama left with others some six months before the studio closed to start their own studio?), and I do think it's a bit concerning. The difference in messaging between Jim Ryan and Shawn Layden is scarily different, though, and I do think it's very telling that I can't find a Wikipedia article on Jim Ryan. Make of that what you will. It's very clear today - and I think was to some extent back then - that this was a key part of the internal power struggle which resulted in Layden leaving. There isn't a face to attach to PlayStation these days - Shuhei Yoshida has been given the Lucius Fox treatment, Adam Boyes becoming the CEO of Iron Galaxy, Andrew House stepping down, and of course Shawn Layden stepping away from PlayStation. Don't get me wrong: Jim Ryan is a terrific businessman, even if he does say some silly things at times. I still think PlayStation is doing the right thing by focusing on single player games, partnering with studios like Jade Raymond's, and still (for now) being the dedicated home console of choice for most of the big Japanese developers, whether it be marketing deals, timed exclusivity, etc. I still care about the games first and foremost, and for now and the foreseeable future, they're still going to be there. And, of course, it's on Mumbauer and his team to quite an extent that it would have been a TLOU remake (my first thought was genuinely that this was to get to grips with a new engine), as they're the ones who proposed it, but what does it say that they seemingly proposed a remake to a game less than a decade old, and not in the greatest need of it? I guess the underlying message to the article is that it hints not that PlayStation are demanding these games, but that their own internal teams are playing it safe to some degree, which is even more concerning to me. Also, I'm more surprised that they didn't propose an Uncharted remake (which in my opinion needs it much more than The Last of Us, because that game definitely feels aged) or spinoff, and I don't understand the surprise that a TLOU remake would end up at Naughty Dog. Like...yeah, that does seem like it was pretty inevitable. I haven't seen it here, but obviously elsewhere, this has renewed the beaten to death console war narrative. Xbox is doing interesting and different things to PlayStation, as is Nintendo, but I suppose my main concern with Xbox and their single player games in particular right now is how their new studios are actually going to be managed. Buying up studios left and right is going to count for nought if they aren't effectively managed and overseen, and while I want to see them do well, I do think Phil Spencer and co. have a lot to manage over there, because unnatural growth is almost always going to result in some growing pains. We'll have to wait and see, but I hope that Playstation doesn't make a mistake in turning away from what made the PS4 such a runaway success. While I do think quite a bit of Schreier's article is spiced up for obvious reasons, the messaging in Layden's E3 2014 speech I'm sure went pretty under the radar back then, and sounds like generic E3-presenting stuff, but is very different today to the direction they seem to be taking today. Whereas the PS4 seemed to be a place to experiment and grow, the closing of Japan Studio and the secret San Diego team at PlayStation effectively going bust before it was ever made official, never mind all of the internal changes leading up to the release of the PS5, has made for a bit of a rocky ride, looking in from the outside at least. Hopefully it smooths over soon. Good to hear you're enjoying it! If I'm not mistaken, I think @WackerJr has also been looking at playing that games over the last few months. I picked it up myself back at launch but it's just been gathering dust on my shelf as other games have taken precedent and I've got busy with other things, but maybe I'll get to it after Yakuza 6! Managed to find the buried thread for it from last summer.

Honestly, I'm really intrigued by what this is going to mean. We know how Square Enix works when it comes to bringing games to Xbox (specifically Game Pass) at this point: wait for a truckload of money to show up, but until then, show no signs of treating both brands equally (which I think is fair to an extent, just considering how much greater the appetite is for their offerings on PlayStation). But what makes it more intriguing to me is Intergrade. Yes, the timed exclusivity deal for the original version of the game released last year is coming to an end, but what of the next-gen version, which is the only way to access the Yuffie DLC? Is there going to be a separate timed exclusivity deal for that, as seems to be the case? I don't think we've even seen word on that version coming to PC either (could be mistaken here though). I can't see Xbox being particularly excited to get a lesser version of the game on their platform; with all of the caveats over Intergrade I think they'd be better off waiting until that's ready to come to Xbox, but that doesn't seem to be coming in June. Will it come a few months later to Game Pass, because maybe the PlayStation exclusivity is much shorter (have they offered up a truckload of money already)? Or are Xbox owners going to be waiting another year for the best available version of the game to be playable on their platform of choice? It'll be interesting to see what happens I think.

The PC Gaming Show and the Future Games Show are returning on June 13th. Look, PlayStation don't need to have a State of Play the week of E3...but for the love of Shuhei please have the decency to hold it in June.

Yeah was reading about this earlier, and it does have me curious about what's happening (if there is any truth to this, let's not forgets Kojima was also supposed to be spearheading a revival of Silent Hills less than a year ago). Key to this I think is the rumour isn't that Kojima Productions is being bought by Xbox, so we can hopefully not have conversations come up about moneyhatting. If anything, we know PlayStation thought that Death Stranding underperformed from that earnings report a year or so ago, so I imagine it's down to one of a few options: - Kojima needed a huge backing which PlayStation wasn't ready to provide and Xbox could. - PlayStation weren't interested in backing Kojima again just based on the apparent poor performance of Death Stranding (I mean, I imagine the truth lies somewhere here, as we've seen them go hard in on becoming less risk averse over the last few months in particular). - Kojima had an idea he wanted to bring to Game Pass in particular. The last option has me particularly excited, and honestly, I'd hope if there's truth to this rumour that this is the reasoning behind it. Both P.T. and Death Stranding counted on the efforts of its audience to a degree for carrying the game, whether it be figuring out how to actually get to the end of the former, or how collaboration could help massively in the latter. Game Pass would provide Kojima with immediate access to a massive audience to focus on some form of collaboration in a way that releasing a demo or game in a traditional sense wouldn't necessarily. Bigger question for me is the engine they'd use. There's no way it'd be Decima, right, just because that's Sony property? So perhaps Unreal Engine 4/5? I feel like that would make the most sense for Kojima Productions moving forwards as an independent studio anyways, it just gives them more options. Yeah, I'd be gutted personally if his next project was Xbox exclusive, but I've still got a few games of Kojima's to get through anyways at this point. Who knows, by the time this potentially comes around, I might have picked up an Xbox anyways!

Don't think I've ever related to a film as much as I have Minari. Growing up I really never understood why everyone made such a huge fuss about having idols from your own racial background, watching shows or movies with people who share your skin colour, and to be honest, I still don't all that much. Maybe part of that is growing up and not having that, but for me, one of the greatest things about being a child is the pure innocence of being able to see the world through just about anyone's eyes. My skin colour and racial background never once came into account when I thought of my bond to characters like Anakin and Luke, Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Aang and Zuko, or anyone other fictional character I could possibly list from my childhood as having a big impact on me as a person. It still remains the case for me that a good character is a good character, regardless of skin colour, gender, sexuality, or any other reason people might possibly find to divide themselves further, and there's nothing I hate more than what can oftentimes feel like tokenism (whether that be recruitment quotas, role casting, etc.). For me, what has always mattered most is that everyone is given fair consideration, but beyond that, consideration for the most suitable person for whatever role should come squarely down to their capabilities above all else. I can understand more about the importance of characters like Black Panther and Miles Morales in the West, where I do feel like there is a much clearer divide between black and white people (for obvious historical reasons) than there is between white people and Asian people (I'm half English, half Filipino), and so I really don't think the importance of those characters can be overstated. Being of mixed race is its own can of worms, where growing up I didn't feel like I truly belonged anywhere: in England I was Filipino, and in the Philippines I was English. Because of this, despite having shared childhoods with many friends, my experience was wholly different to theirs, and it is still often difficult to relate to them in that sense. I mention all of this because for the first time last year in The Last of Us Part II, a core character, Jesse, was of Asian heritage, and though it doesn't play into his character (pretty much at all from what I can remember), it was the first time I had ever experienced some type of media and actually noticed what they were trying to do. Okay, it was borderline being inclusive for the sake of inclusivity (again: really doesn't play into Jesse's character from what I can remember), but hey, I guess this all has to start somewhere if we are going to see more people from different backgrounds being given equal footing, and so I'm all for it. Which brings me back around to Minari: it feels like it perfectly captured my early childhood experience, in a way nothing else I've experienced has. The awkwardness of feeling isolated in a new place, being surrounded by people who are quick to point out that you look or sound funny (different), but smiling through it all with this unwavering innocence. I swear some scenes could easily have just been taken straight from my childhood, it's scary just how much is clearly shared by first- and second-generation Asian immigrants when it comes to this. The cast blew me away (especially Steven Yeun and Alan Kim, who carries so much of this film on his tiny shoulders), it all just felt so tangibly human to me, and many of those high and low points of the film hit very, very close to home. I definitely found myself welling up a couple of times. These are the types of stories that need to be told when we talk about inclusion, not just having a token black or Asian character shoved into the main cast of some big budget film, but something intimate and personal, because anyone with the slightest hint of empathy will be able to come away from this with more of an understanding of what it has been like for so many. I can't think of many things more important today, in a world unfortunately increasingly divided, than being able to relate to just one more person.

Finished Yakuza 5 last week - it was my only single player game played in March - and I ended up putting nearly 60 hours into it. Completed all but six substories, all of the side story stuff, and I still wanted more. Not a perfect game, by any stretch of the imagination, but I absolutely loved my time with it. It's exactly what I needed, for every minute that I played it, and that means a lot to me personally. Yes, it's long, and I get why it might not gel with some people (it definitely runs at a slower pace most of the time), but it's funny, because I actually felt like the amount of side content and substories actually helped the slower pacing tremendously, and fleshed the characters out a lot; I genuinely don't think you'll enjoy this game as much as you could without experiencing everything the side stories have to show. When talking about Yakuza 5, Yakuza 4 is the game people obviously draw comparisons to, just because of the number of protagonists, and while I would say that that story is better paced, this felt like it weaved the narrative and characters from previous games into the fold in a much more natural way (and also didn't treat the series protagonist like an afterthought). Ironically, Yakuza 4's faster pacing had it show its hand early on way too many occasions (as in, you'll finish one chapter on a cliffhanger and get answers instantly in the following chapter), but I do agree with those that say 5 is somewhat guilty of taking too long to move onto the next plot point (even if you don't do the side stuff). Akiyama and Saejima were great characters in 4, and were even better in 5. It says a whole lot when recently introduced characters return and I have a stupidly big grin on my face. A certain young idol's gameplay and story was great fun too, and that ending On the flip side, though, 5 felt much darker than previous games, to me at least. A few deaths and moments were really disturbing (though 4 definitely has a very disturbing moment), and even Heat Actions seemed way more brutal than they needed to be at times, not helped by health bars vanishing before Heat Actions are complete now, meaning you might be completing QTE Heat Actions against someone you've already pummeled into unconsciousness...again, I can only really describe this as disturbing. Also, the entire meta of this game boils down to: "if you can't beat it, grab it." Seriously, that resolved every potential issue I came across in big boss fights. Oh, and this game never had a silly moment where you were getting up and instantly being shot down back to the floor, as had been the case in all of the previous games. So, yeah, Yakuza 5. Loved it, and for me, I'd say it edges out Yakuza 4. I get some of the criticisms, but seriously think if they'd stuck Persona 5's 'Take Your Time' loading symbol in here, the game might have been better received by both fans and critics; it's the first one where it felt like they wanted you to slow down a little, and while it slowed down a bit too much at times, it's one of my favourite Yakuza experiences. Started Yakuza 6 last night

Yep, intrigued by what Keighley has lined up (wouldn't be surprised if Kojima Productions' next game is there), and curious to see if any of the E3 no-shows have something to show off with Geoff instead. Glad he seemed to hear the message loud and clear about not spreading things out over the whole summer, it just felt like many of the things shown last year weren't strong enough to stand proudly on their own two feet, so got a pretty lukewarm reception, when they could've made a bigger impact as part of a longer list of announcements.

@LazyBoy @Agent Gibbs you two seemed interested, so thought I'd share with you that it's been going up several places over the last week for rental you can find a list of ways to watch it here. Going to be picking it up myself on rental from Prime Video, probably watch it tonight or tomorrow evening, and have pre-ordered the Blu-ray from Amazon too (at the very least to share the experience with my family). I've been waiting to watch this for a while now, because I don't think I've ever identified with a trailer as strongly as I have as the one for this film, so I'm really excited to finally check it out! Just been keeping a general eye out on other Oscar contenders we're waiting to come out over here, and it seems like Sound of Metal should be releasing here in the next few weeks (I've seen April 12th floated out there, but couldn't find anything official). Also started wading my way through a massive pile of Blu-ray's I've had build up over the last year or two, and started keeping a bit of a brief film journal on my phone to try to motivate myself to get to them, which has been going well so far!

Someone else changed it to the title in my absence (thanks!), but I'll add the 2022 release year It's been in the works for quite a while now, I'm more surprised that they're nailing down a year for it instead of keeping quiet (which I feel is the smarter option always, just given the potential for delays due to COVID). Let it cook I say. I'm also surprised it showed up at Square Enix's event of all places