Julius

He somehow manages to simultaneously tease that we'll get some substantial news on it this year and give off the feeling that it's in a situation which could be worse than Prime 4 (which would be saying something considering that had a full reboot on production). I generally like to be optimistic about such things, but in Bayonetta 3's case, that's pretty hard to do! Prime 4 is in the same space in my mind, but I like that we actually got an update on that when things started to go sideways; I think it's tough to get the balance right between being a producer of entertainment and being transparent, but I still think Nintendo made the right move coming out and telling us what was up. Can you imagine if we'd only just got an update on it, and one as vague as this? People would be losing their minds! Breath of the Wild 2 I remain optimistic on, though. 35th anniversary of the series this year, 4 years on from the launch of the it's predecessor, it's the only one we've seen in-engine footage of (though engine reuse obviously isn't an option for the others as it is here) and (presumably) a lot of asset reuse. I imagine that they were at least targeting this year, though just how much that gets impacted by COVID and other factors (the reshuffling of other games in the upcoming Switch catalogue as a result of COVID perhaps above all else) I guess we'll see in the coming year. Even if it doesn't make it out this year, I'd still like to expect that we get some sort of an update on it. Fingers crossed!

Great to read you're enjoying it @RedShell! I genuinely think it might be my favourite game of the last generation. So much heart and charm, definitely seems the right thing to help wade through some of COVID (along with a healthy - or unhealthy - dose of Yakuza), or any time, really. Such a jolly time. Only kicker was the music I guess - specifically it's repetition, dependence on older OST's and sound quality in the original release - but as someone who hadn't played a DQ game before this one, I didn't have too much to complain about in that regard, because it was all new to me!

Yeah, second that, excellent write-up @Nicktendo! I enjoy learning tech stuff about games and consoles from Digital Foundry's videos, but I rarely dive into it (it's pretty intimidating), so thanks for making this much easier to understand Been interesting reading people's thoughts on this. Like others here, I do agree that a Switch Pro seems inevitable; some point to the DSi and New 3DS refinements, but I guess the big difference here is that, unlike in the dedicated gaming handheld market, they actually have some worthwhile competition (RIP Vita). I know I use the Switch as a secondary console (and it's a great one at that - when there's something I want to check out on it ), but it's also their only dedicated gaming platform, so I think there's a bit more pressure to get things right here. Unlike with the Wii U, they don't have a strong handheld to fall back on in the 3DS: this is very much their focus. I guess it depends on where you see Nintendo going (they aren't the Kings of Left Field for nothing), but I struggle to see them moving on from the concept of the Switch anytime soon. A Switch 2 down the line seems inevitable to continue this, but I don't see that coming for a good 3.5 years or so at least, so a mid-gen refresh with a Pro console they can sell for £349.99 makes a lot of sense. It also opens up the possibility of more third party support, and while their first party could probably support this console by itself, why put that pressure on yourself? Not to mention the occasional first party game can have issues in certain areas (like Nick mentioned, the area by the Great Deku Tree in BotW springs to mind), and while Nintendo's art styles rarely demand a higher resolution (though it'd be great to see some better textures used, that's for sure), the boost in performance could be great. 60 fps in the little I played of Odyssey felt fantastic, I'd love that experience in some of their other games too! Plus, I mean, I rarely play games on my Switch and still find myself questioning if I should start putting money aside for a potential Pro, because would I really want to play BotW2 on my current Switch if a Pro launched alongside BotW2? There's absolutely a market for it, I think Nintendo would be leaving money on the table and perhaps be showing a concerning degree of overconfidence in the current Switch's abilities, considering the pivot we'll likely see in the next year or two from third parties to more demanding games running on other platforms. There's a pretty big third party catalogue of games already released for them to start tapping into if they can get a Pro out. ...am I the only one excited because they might have specifically heard something which implies E3 2021 specifically is actually going to happen? And that Nintendo will be there? I feel like they might have just said "June 2021" instead otherwise, but maybe it's me reading into it. Yeah, those leaks were pretty damning, but as interesting of an experience Summer Game Fest - and everyone and their cousins hosting a livestream - was, I would much prefer a week or two of focused gaming news (heck, maybe even a month) compared to the mess we ended up with. If for that alone I'd welcome a Month of Gaming or something similar, with a schedule put up beforehand, because I really hated the random news drops; even as someone with no ties to the industry, I found it pretty exhausting to keep up with, and that's without mentioning the completely lacklustre events we had dotted throughout. Could we finally see the return of a "normal" Nintendo Direct? Who am I kidding, it'll just be E3 2016 all over again but with BotW2 (let me dream)

Setting up shop in the middle of dangerous dungeons takes a toll

Yeah, think this is totally fair, because some of the textures do look really muddy (the rock Liepard is lying on and the wooden sign come to mind). The water does look great though! It does make me miss the older days of pixel art, the great range of vibrant colours in Gen IV and Gen V really popped off the DS screen. Compare that to everything they've done since transitioning to 3D in the core series, where the colours are just so flat and lifeless to me. It's like they saw the colours Ken Sugimori used in his artwork and said "yeah, we'll just do that", but the Kanto Pokémon in particular just look so washed out! Some of the Galar designs definitely do manage to be a bit more vibrant, so I think they're getting there, but I do hope that they go back to some of the earlier Pokémon to give them a bit more colour. I think the colour palette they're using for New Pokémon Snap is just the right balance, so hopefully it's something Game Freak consider for Gen IX in a few years' time.

It's so strange. This and Demon's Souls having PC mentioned initially in its trailer in September makes me wonder if these are internal goals that PlayStation is aware of but aren't ready to set in stone? I mean, looking at Kena for example, that was supposed to be a launch title, so a delay to March doesn't seem too crazy. January 2022 for Athia could be a placeholder date for 2022 in general; that has been in the works for a while already, so maybe Square Enix have told them behind closed doors that 2022 is the aim? How that then works it's way onto this presentation is still confusing, though. Ratchet and Clank and Horizon being a bit more nebulous makes sense I guess, I imagine the former is being polished and the latter is still aiming for later this year of course, but they just want to leave it late to have a short lead-in time from date announcement to release (like when we didn't get the PS5 launch titles announced until after that September event, which was still the strangest part of that whole thing for me). The main one stumping me is Pragmata, you don't just pluck 2023 out of thin air when all official materials say 2022, because a delay of that size being noticed that far out would most likely be related to COVID (we saw other Japanese developers delay their schedules by about 7 months, which was time needed to working from home), but would they have that timetable change this early, and after only revealing it in September? All super weird. Oh well, should keep us guessing at any rate (and I suppose it won't be too long until we know whether there's any accuracy to this)

Not too surprising an update, but it does feel too specific to be a mistake. It's why I think there's still a chance Demon's Souls makes it into PC. Like, seriously, who behind-the-scenes keeps botching these?

@Ronnie, out of interest, have you listened to the guys on GVG talk about this at all? Because it provides some much needed context, and if you haven't, well, it's needed if we're going to say we need to hear both sides. Steve let it slip that he played on/worked two days straight for the Final Fantasy VII Remake review in their 2020 in Review videos, and as mentioned before, Ash has let it slip before that he's had trouble with some bills too, even back at GameXplain. People ran with it and started connecting the dots, so the GVG/former GX guys put out their statements to be fully transparent about it. They couldn't have been clearer in those statements that they didn't want any hate thrown André's/GameXplain's way, and they seem regretful that the situation has got this far in the first place. Steve slipped in mentioning this, but I think that just shows you how much it's still weighing on his mind. And, if you've watched or listened to anything from GVG since, they straight up say that they aren't going to discuss it further, and that their statements are out there if anyone wants to know more. They've even stated time and again that they just want everyone to move on and they want this behind them: they want to focus on GVG now. They didn't throw André under the bus, even if he perhaps deserves it to some extent. They've been nothing but professional in how they've handled things, and again, just look at how many key members of GameXplain left over such a short period, all citing similar conditions. Where there's smoke there's fire, so yes, backlash is deserved (again, to a certain extent). To reiterate: good on André for pledging to change, but that means nothing without action. Only time will tell how much he really means it.

Just gave this a read now, and I agree, it's great that we hear the other side, and that André is more clearly illustrating the steps being taken to make changes there. He's human, mistakes are made, and it's good to see him say he's going to push himself to be better. That's all I'd hope for everyone. But I do think there is a point up to which the backlash was necessary, because otherwise - clearly - these changes wouldn't have come. I haven't followed this too much in terms of actual public reaction, and have more been sticking to the statements made to save myself getting carried away with it, so I can't speak to the "witch hunt". But, with reference to making mistakes: at the end of the day, for anyone in a leadership role, there is a duty of care, for which André above all else was and is accountable. Forget the flat rates for a second, because overworking can be easily done: forgetting to pay your workers is just as bad as knowingly withholding their pay, if not worse, considering that the solution being used now (automated payments) was seemingly suggested numerous times when the GVG guys were there and swept under the table. Again, it's great that he's taking that step now, but this would have taken a matter of minutes and been one less major knock against him in all of this, and would have given the guys the peace of mind they were looking for. And I still think it was very underhanded of him to sneak in a non-compete clause into Derrick's proposed contract just before his kid was born. There's still a lot to learn because this is just the start of him trying to make these improvements, and we still need to see how things shake out with their contacts, as I'm not fully convinced that everyone he had in his address book before is going to be keen to get back to him after all of this. Good in him for making a pledge to change. I hope he can keep it.

To be clear, I'm not saying that as if it's any kind of surprised (obviously that was going to be the case), but rather that seeing how good New Pokémon Snap looks by comparison just further emphasises how poor the Sword & Shield engine looks to me.

Unsurprisingly a lot going around right now which seemingly all but confirms Diamond & Pearl remakes are on the way. SwSh and Gen 4 are currently trending on Twitter And Serebii mentioned something called "Legends" is included in this: After seeing New Pokémon Snap earlier...well, nostalgia aside aside, my hype for this is crashing through the floor the closer we get to it being announced. They're just going to be Diamond & Pearl in the ugly and lazy Sword and Shield engine. The DLC for Sword & Shield hinted at them incorporating Wild Areas more? Yeah, we're going to end up with the exact same routes, blocked off by the exact same tree lines. And Cynthia is going to be a walkover. And there won't be Mega Evolution, or Sinnoh forms, but we end up with Dynamax. It hurts. On the upside, the music should be great, but insaneintherainmusic's Sinnohvation album (which is awesome) has that covered for me anyways, so...can we just skip ahead to Gen IX and see what a Pokémon game will look like with a bit of effort and looking like New Pokémon Snap? Please?

Nah, everyone knows the second entry has to be the darker one. Pokémon Snapped

Yeah, of all of the things mentioned, it was reading that Steve would schedule lunch breaks to get a video up which really pushed me over on this. As if I needed to be pushed over on it anymore. It's despicable. And, well, it was bad before, but this article certainly sums everything up in a well articulated and cohesive way which firmly puts the spotlight on André. It's going to be really interesting to see how their contacts in the industry now react to this and treat GameXplain. Crunch, fair pay, and demanding bosses are always a hotbed for discussion (and rightly so); does Nintendo, or anyone else for that matter, really want to be associated with this further? Would you really want to give them early access for previews, reviews, etc.?

Resident Evil Showcase at 22:00 GMT next Thursday (the 21st): Also, can this thread maybe be merged with the other one please? That one's titled Resident Evil Village, but this one was open first and is very much about the same game EDIT: link is up for the stream.

It's looking pretty close! Honestly wouldn't be too disheartened if it did go to INSIDE (though I'm not changing my vote ) because it's been a couple of years since I played it, and I'd love to return to it again. @Hero-of-Time I think you'd like it, it nails it's atmosphere completely, but if I'm remembering right I don't think there's a Plat for it? Not that that's the only thing you care about, but figured it was worth mentioning (does have a few fun collectibles to get along the way though)

Some more info on the official site. (as well as some really nice art and some more screenshots) Key points: Yeah, just based on how this looks, I find stupidly excited. And it's pretty soon!

It looks fantastic, I'm so, so in. Most excited I've been for a Pokémon game in a long time! That shot at the beginning of the player character walking towards the lab, the environments...this is what the core series games should be made to look like

8 minutes of developer gameplay went up the other day, seems to have gone under the radar a bit: Hope we get a State of Play for this next month!

Don't give them ideas, we already got them on 3DS before for the 20th Anniversary for me, it's FireRed and LeafGreen or bust if we're returning to an older Kanto at the end of next month. From the core series, the GBA games are the only ones we didn't get access to on the 3DS, and it gives them the chance to do something similar next year with Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald (for the 20th anniversary of Hoenn), much like they did with Gold, Silver, and Crystal releasing the year following Red, Blue, and Yellow (and Green) came to 3DS. And also because there are a lot of repro carts in circulation these days, it'd be an obvious choice for Nintendo to effectively kill that market for the GBA Pokémon games (and make themselves a bit of pocket money in the process).

Andre's statement: A non-apology if I've ever read one, yikes.

Yeah, maybe! I'm just trying to imagine a good whip animation in first person and every time I'm just imagining the whip flailing about

The context for Katy Perry being in this video was explained in Fortnite too?

I'm not sure that's totally fair. I mean, who here hasn't played a game and loved a fair chunk of it, only to find their interest in it waning later on into the game? I can't speak to your example because I can't remember it (and can't be bothered to look it up), but just going off what you mentioned, if anything, I respect @drahkon for moving on from the game once he started to feel that way, because knowing my own gaming habits, I probably would have forced my way through it, which isn't fair to the game or myself. He plays a lot of JRPG's and loves to grind, so I think he's definitely best positioned to figure out what he wants out of a JRPG at this point, and knows if he'll continue enjoying it. Anyway, I don't think it's fair to single anyone out for this, and I don't think he was being disingenuous/unethical/whatever. He didn't mention anything before about having too many major issues with the game from a technical and gameplay perspective, so when I read his post I just assumed he was getting a refund (totally fair given the current state of the game) because he'd get more doing that than he might trading the game in, which I know he's mentioned doing plenty of times before for games he's completed/done playing. It's no big deal, doesn't hurt anyone, and if anything I appreciate hearing that the refund went smoothly

CDPR making a statement with their 'Commitment to Quality' video, presented by Marcin Iwinski. Feels like it's probably too little too late to be putting a statement out (actions speak louder than words and all that), but yeah, it's a smart PR move, if nothing else. Fair play to them, because in terms of trying to communicate with their audience, they always do a really good job, and I'd say the only issues they have in this regard is that they always seem to be reacting to, rather than getting ahead of, anything negative about themselves. It's a learning experience, and hopefully a humbling one for them too. Can only hope that the performance of the game and the studio's management continues to improve. Marcin goes on to mention that the next-gen update isn't coming until the second half of 2021, and are aiming to get the game back on the PlayStation Store as soon as possible.

Optimism and possibility doesn't align with my actual expectations, so I'll be fine