Julius

Some of the kind of smaller parts from Hermen Hulst's Q&A. Sony Bend officially working on a new open world IP (aka Schreier was right, not much of a surprise there) More plans to expand into the PC space (Uncharted 4 was recently potentially spilled as part of those documents from a week or two ago) An update on Team Asobi Just give me the next Astro Bot already

Yeah, unfortunately it delays the PS5 kicking into high gear. For God of War in particular it makes me wonder if they're having to keep the Bifrost to travel between realms? If I'm remembering right those paths were something they needed to facilitate the limitations of developing for the PS4 and we're probably planning a different and faster method originally, so I guess like flying mounts in Forbidden West, it's probably not happening this time around? For God of War and Horizon I know Hulst mentioned in the Q&A that they're being affected by limited access to performance capture studios and the cast, and the PS5 is straggling well behind their initial estimates due to the impacts of COVID on production. Purely from a business perspective, taking out the actual impacts on the creative process which may result in a delay, I think it's a matter of them balancing the books (or more realistically boosting their profits). If they were internally forecasting some 25 - 30 million PS5's to be in the wild for the launch of the next God of War, Gran Turismo, etc., and were forecasting potential unit sales for each game from that, I think they probably realised that they had to do it. I don't think Sony ever said the next God of War would be exclusive, but I'm pretty sure they did say that GT7 would be (even looking at the game's page on the official site it only mentions the PS5), so now my question is whether or not Final Fantasy XVI will still remain a PS5 exclusive, because I have to imagine those conversations are happening with Square Enix behind the scenes. Such a weird time. I know we were expecting a transitional period anyways, but still!

On track and seemingly aiming at this holiday season, per Herman Hulst's latest Q&A:

Also coming to PS4 per Herman Hulst's Q&A:

Officially delayed to 2022. No real surprises there, always seemed like a reach to grab consumer mindshare going into this gen, but still sucks all the same. Santa Monica straight up killing my optimistic takes over here Gives me more time to go back and play through the first one again though, so I'm not complaining, and it's not like we're aching for great games these days as it is

Yeah, I get where you're coming from, and at the very least, we know that it won't be revealed during this E3 Direct. But coming out and saying something like this very heavily implies that there is hardware to reveal, acknowledging the rumours, and I mean, it may well be the case that if the hardware is revealed beforehand that it's not immediately available for pre-order or they announce a deeper dive for later in the summer; there could be a reason we would go into this E3 Direct expecting more hardware news otherwise. I don't think they needed to clarify at all whether or not the Direct was going to be focused exclusively on software (why even mention it?), so it's either coming before E3 or a bit down the road (not this month). I lean towards the former partly because it's been thrown out there by insiders that we'd hear about it before, but more importantly because - especially now that we have a confirmed Treehouse - there's zero reason to keep a new model, footage of games running on it, etc., and it being played hidden away during what I would assume to be a livestream. Directs are huge anyways, but their E3 ones especially so. Nintendo going last and closing out E3 as they normally do - even when it's not on a show floor - shows that they know the importance of having all eyes on you, and I think it would be a bit of a waste to not have it turn up here in some capacity, namely being what the games are being played on. Guess we'll have to wait and see, but I would lean towards it coming before. Could totally be wrong and they could announce tomorrow that we won't see it until next month, but it's just a gut reading from their wording. The E3 and Switch presentation trailers for Breath of the Wild are among my favourite game trailers, so I'm really hoping that we get something like those. Also just show me a bigger town (rebuilt Castle Town?) and maybe a new character and my hunger will be satiated...for now

Nintendo E3 Directs have consistently been anywhere between good and great in my eyes since I started watching them, and even in off years they're still one of the better events at E3, and other Directs in the year normally make up for them. The part where it mentions a focus on games "mostly releasing in 2021" kind of knocks down my high hopes for the Breath of the Wild sequel, especially given the length of the Treehouse. I think this year was always me being optimistic for that game, but I'll continue to have that outlook until they tell us otherwise! With regards to the rumoured hardware, I agree with @Vileplume2000. The rumours were saying that it would be a pre-E3 announcement, and the fact that they emphasise the Direct focusing exclusively on software actually makes me think it's more likely that we see said hardware ahead of E3, because I see little reason to explicitly state that you're only bringing software (they absolutely could have left that morsel out). Guess we'll have to wait and see, but if we see an announcement pre-E3, then the Treehouse could end up showing live gameplay on the new hardware, which I was hoping for anyways! Weren't both the E3 2018 and E3 2019 Directs just a smidge over 40 minutes too? They do always tend to go by quickly though! Considering that the latter half of 2021 is virtually empty besides Pokémon and Skyward Sword, I think it could end up being pretty packed. Or at least that's what I'll go in hoping E3 2016 was the first E3 I watched live, and I remember just having Treehouse on in the background after coming home from college, occasionally looking up to see something completely hype-worthy from Breath of the Wild. Love the Treehouses for this reason. Yeah, it sucks that it's shorter this time around, but like you mentioned, COVID and not having floorspace (potentially doing it from home as they did with some of the others?) is probably the reason why. But it's another thing which knocks down my Breath of the Wild sequel expectations, considering just how long they showed the first game off for at E3 2016, only having a 3 hour Treehouse here makes it tough to be optimistic.

All aboard the hype train

Nintendo decided it was easier to announce a museum than the new Switch model. Press release from the JP site:

Just seen about Ancelotti leaving Everton for Real Madrid, and it's hard to not feel sorry for Everton fans, but I can see why Ancelotti would take the opportunity. That team is in dire need of a crazy restructure, though, and I doubt that's happening this summer, so is the plan to just keep the fire warm for next summer if/when they sign Mbappé and Zidane returns with the support he and the team deserves? It also feels like he completely forgot what happened in the season after he won La Décima, when he didn't defend the European crown, finished second with 100+ goals scored in La Liga, and didn't get very far in the Copa del Rey - pretty much pushed aside for the same reasons he was given the boot when he was with us at Chelsea. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out, but as with most Real appointments, I don't see this ending very well in the end for Ancelotti.

Yeah, I hate the name New Nintendo Switch, but I think it's the most likely. But I don't want it to be called that, so I'm with @BowserBasher. Call it the Super Nintendo Switch you cowards!

Probably sounds like I hated the game considering how much I've got listed down as being negatives to be honest just one of those that didn't click with me unfortunately! I like to check out reviews after I've made my posts just to try to get a better sense on where I've landed compared to the general consensus, or just to see if anyone was crazy hot or cold on a game (and I also just think it's great to get other perspectives, it's why I enjoy coming here so much!), and Huber gave it 3.5/5 stars back in the day when he reviewed it, which is a score I'd probably agree with to be honest. I also probably sound a bit harsh because I've played some brilliant games so far this year (long may that continue) I agree with @Aperson, I think the game was held back by the film just based on the game's content and how some scenes are stitched together. I think presentation is really important, so if I'm ever going "Oh wait, we're fighting now?" after a cutscene where you're setting up the boss fight, I think you've done something wrong. Still, I am looking forward to giving Rift Apart a go next week, and even based on the gameplay videos we've seen I've still got high hopes that (for me) it'll be a step up from Ratchet & Clank 2016.

If we don't get something like this for the GTA V coming to Switch announcement, then we have no choice but to riot.

Going off of the rumours about DLSS and some of the things mentioned about a potential boost by people in this thread, it sounds like a pretty sizeable step up to me. I think the 2DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, and Switch Lite are a bit different in that they're handheld focused. The jump in technology just isn't there for three of those (one's 2D, one's got a bigger screen, and one's a handheld version of the Switch where you can play less games, so I can see why you wouldn't be crazy about bringing that to E3) and even for the New 3DS, the number of games where a boost was evident (especially at such a low fidelity) was pretty low, as was the number of exclusive titles for the system. Not that exclusive titles are expected for this new Switch model (...yet), but point is, the New 3DS wasn't really a true benchmark in that few games seemed to make use of its increased power and faster processing. Whatever this new Switch model is, assuming the rumours are all true, it'll be the first time Nintendo does anything close to a mid-gen refresh for their home consoles, and I think they need to drive that point home, especially considering just how well the Switch is doing. One of the biggest issues I have experienced with the Switch is in open world games, so if I can walk through a densely forested area in the Breath of the Wild sequel without the frame rate going crazy, or the myriad of other issues being addressed that I've read about here and elsewhere when it comes to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I think they need to drive that home. In 2021 there's a much bigger audience than ever before for games, and more enthusiasts that are willing to drop a pretty penny on the best versions of consoles. This new model will do well regardless, but I think it would be a pretty serious misstep by Nintendo to turn up at E3, with potential footage in trailers or raw gameplay from Treehouse being shown for games like the Breath of the Wild sequel and Legends: Arceus, and not be showing off those games running at their absolute best.

And thus begins the tragic tale of how Nicktendo willed the Wii U 2 into existence... I mean, still waiting on folders and themes over 4 years since launch, so...probably not? I think today makes the most sense to be honest, we're two weeks from the day we expect the Direct/Spotlight/whatever they want to name it this time™ will be, and maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't recall them leaving it this late to announce it for the past few E3's. I know this year's E3 is digital, so maybe that has something to do with it, but it does feel odd being this close and not knowing. Then again, they could genuinely leave it until the Monday of that week I wouldn't be all that surprised! I'm hopeful for today at least. Drop news on the new Switch model, giving us two weeks to fully digest it, and end every tweet/press release about it with "Please tune into our E3 Spotlight on June 15th for more info about this new model and to see it in action for the first time!"

I've listened to them a whole lot over the last few years, but I don't think I've seen them mentioned here (could be wrong about that), though I imagine some here have probably come across them at some point: I feel like JAGMO (the JApan Game Music Orchestra, sometimes referred to as the Symphonic Gamers Orchestra) deserve to be watched and listened to by everyone. Unsurprisingly their focus is on Japanese games (also it should come as no surprise that they've done an Undertale suite considering how well that game went down over there), but there's a lot of depth to their compositions and I seriously think that they have some of the best video game music suits you can find. I need to highlight a couple. They ended up doing 4+ hours of music spanning the entirety of the Suikoden main series a year or two ago now, and it's insane. I've avoided music from the games I've yet to play to the best of my ability (though the opening of their 4+ hours of music starts with a medley of the opening themes of all of the games which has me very hyped!), but naturally I've got to highlight their work on Suikoden II. They exploded the cook-off theme into the Can Can and it's awesome They also did a spine-tingling Chrono Trigger suite. It feels fresh, which is nice considering just how many CT covers there are out there (not that that's a bad thing, obviously!). We've barely scratched the surface, but point is, there's a lot that they've done that's well worth taking the time to hunt down, I have a lot of it playing in the background as I work. There's also their Mega Man 2 & 3 suite, Pokémon Red & Blue suite (that Bike Theme though, and that sweet, sweet transition into Rocket Hideout!), HeartGold & SoulSilver suite, Final Fantasy suite, Monster Hunter suite, Fire Emblem Awakening suite, MOTHER/Earthbound suite, Donkey Kong Country 2 suite, Shadow of the Colossus suite...the list seriously feels like it never ends, it's insane. I love a good orchestra, and a good suite/medley even more so, so if they weren't already on your radar - now they are, go listen to them!

So almost every volume that I order of Berserk except for for the first few volumes has turned up, it got dispatched in the middle of the week so I imagine it ended up getting delayed due to the Bank Holiday weekend. No big deal, but I do hope it arrives soon, as I'm itching to dig into the manga at this point. In lieu of those turning up, over the weekend I instead got around to watching Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey and Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent. A lot of the same issues as the first film for me, mainly poor pacing as it blitzes through several volumes with each film and some poor examples of how to use CG (though I think III ends up with the least CG and generally uses it much better than the two films which preceded it), yet the source material still pierces through all of that. I don't think the second film does much to step up from the first, but I think the third film genuinely does the best it can with how much it needs to adapt - which is one hell of an achievement if you consider that all three of these films released within a year! - and I don't think its any coincidence that each of these films ended up longer than the last; I think they knew that they needed to pace it out better and stretch it a bit more. The third film has that scene, which I genuinely think I'll never grow tired of seeing play out, even if I find it horrifying every single time that I do see it. I also found it interesting that it introduced elements here not in the anime that I knew to expect from the manga, such as Skull Knight, genuinely one of the most badass characters in these films (and that's saying something). It was also great seeing what happened after that scene which I you don't get in the 1997 anime, and considering that they didn't introduce a certain someone in that, I guess they did kind of put themselves in corner there. My favourite part though... Also my favourite version of Blood and Guts is in the credits, genuinely think it's up there with Guts' Theme and Behelit as one of the best in the Berserk library of music. So yeah, now it's just waiting for the early volumes of the manga to turn up so that I can make my way through the Golden Age arc one final time before seeing the rest of this series, and I seriously can't wait to. And no, in case you're wondering: I won't be watching the 2016 anime

RATCHET & CLANK | 2016 I grew up in a time when character-driven platformers were being played a whole lot by my friends and their older siblings, and I remember watching them play games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Ratchet & Clank, being handed the controller a few times and just having fun with them as we ran around collecting things and hitting anyone we came across. Besides playing Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly on my PS2, though, I don’t think I owned any other games like that, and I never got particularly far into Enter the Dragonfly either. Of all of the genres I missed out on growing up, this was the one I always felt like was something I completely missed out on and would never get to experience for the first time as a kid. So, ahead of Rift Apart releasing next Friday, I completed 2016’s Ratchet & Clank over the last few days, and I came away fairly mixed on it, though I’d probably lean towards it more in a positive light rather than a negative one. I’ll focus on the positives first. I really liked the game’s art style, it’s very vibrant and richly coloured that it looked exactly how I remember games like this looking when I was younger. The game also felt pretty much exactly how I remember those games feeling: not extremely tight in its platforming, a little floaty at times, but giving you a good chunk of space to explore for Holo Cards, Gold Bolts, and collecting bolts, which were fun to seek out. My favourite level was Gaspar – by a decent amount – getting to fly around with the jetpack (I seriously wish this was implemented into every level), a whole lot of combat, very few puzzles and cutscenes breaking up the pacing, what felt like an ongoing Metroid reference throughout (the brains?), I think it’s probably the strongest level in the game by some margin because it’s one of the few times it doesn’t feel like the game is getting in its own way, even if each level does look and feel quite distinct from the rest. The weapon variety in this game was great, with new weapons regularly coming in to shake things up, and it was a whole lot of fun figuring out which weapons would work well together; my go-to was throwing down a Groovinator to get everyone dancing, then tossing a Proton Drum in behind that for Area of Effect damage, which would often free me up to focus on other enemies storming in from elsewhere. Mr Zurkon – and by extension Zurkon Jr.! – was hilarious (the game definitely got a good few chuckles from me throughout, especially Solitary Bill!), I always kept him on hand in case some random enemy came up out of nowhere to keep them at bay, and the Sheepinator got a good laugh out of me towards the end of the game too. I kid you not, I saved the RYNO for the last boss fight and it got them down to 1% in less than 15 seconds, to the point that I had to awkwardly wait around for the final boss to do The Clank parts of levels were generally fun brain teasers where you got a chance to traverse the level by throwing Gadgebots around; I had an absolute blast going for gold in the hoverboard cups – even if getting under 01:35 on Rilgar requires a near-perfect run, which was…annoying, given just how easy getting under the challenge time on Kalebo was thanks to shortcuts, and I also think that it’s one of the buggier sections of the game with just how poorly some hit boxes detect – and would have actually loved to see more of them; and the air combat sections were generally a good way of shaking things up too (especially with the nods to Star Fox – Do a barrel roll! – and noticing the Resistance logo for the first time here before it turned up elsewhere). Unfortunately, though, there are some negatives to go over, the biggest one being how overly reliant the game is on the cutscenes from the movie to get by and tell a “story”. I came here for fun above all else, and do feel like story expectations are low in a game like this where it’s basically just something to point you forwards and even doing it well goes unnoticed by most, but it’s just so flat and forgettable here that I think it genuinely holds the experience back some. So many of these characters have cool designs that scream exaggerated personalities, and yet I can only probably remember less than half of their names. Not only that, the cutscenes are really poorly laced into the story itself, and the best example of this is how the penultimate boss fight starts out with a cutscene where the bad guy pretty much goes “Hey Ratchet” and we instantly transition into the fight – no reasoning, no comment from Ratchet, nothing. It leads to one of many very awkward transitions in the game from cutscene to gameplay and back, and outside of a couple of chuckles, I thought that the cutscenes were very forgettable themselves too. Doesn’t help that the PS5 has yet to receive an update for us to turn off the notification regarding gameplay recording stopping due to being in a cutscene, which I was reminded of again and again and again throughout (no fault of the game, but it definitely got on my nerves, and it’s been a long time since I’ve come across so many cutscene notifications). I encountered quite a lot of bugs, if we want to call them that (I mean I guess they are), throughout the game. Enemies clipping into and through walls (especially after explosions), Ratchet getting caught on the terrain a number of times, I was surprised by just how many rough spots I encountered. Like I mentioned before, I think the hoverboard races were probably the worst when it came to this, and there were times where I wouldn’t hit anything and feel like I was being penalised for going too fast or jumping too high, it was pretty frustrating at times. There were also some audio issues, where talking to certain characters in completely open spaces would result in some echoing, though I think that’s an issue I’ve had in the Spider-Man games too, though other than that I do want to highlight just how good the sound design was in this game, every weapon and interaction sounded distinct from the next (though I’m fairly sure I heard some sound effects from the old LEGO games, which was a nice blast from the past too I suppose!). The levels in the first half of the game felt very cookie-cutter to me, and though improved a lot in the second half of the game, this game commits what I consider a level design sin in that it introduces a new mechanic for the first time in the final level of the game, one which slows down your progress and steers you away from having as much fun as you might have been up to that point, and felt very much at odds with what I expected going into the final level. Considering just how the level plays out anyways, and how you’re going to have to blast your way through to some extent, just further highlights what I feel was a poor decision. Just to briefly mention enemy variety, because it didn’t feel like it mixed things up all that well, and how other than the very first level which the game opens with I don’t think you see or really interact with anyone who feels like they’re living in this world, it feels very much like a 2000’s video game in that regard. I know it’s a remake to some extent of the original game, but that first look at what we saw in Rift Apart with getting to interact with normal people living in this world I didn’t go into this game expecting to be blown away by its soundtrack, and yeah, other than that main theme which turns up every now and then, I don’t think there were any particular tracks of note. Though, very annoyingly and related to music, the music playing in the final cutscene fades out waaaaaaaay too early – it was like it was building up to a nice crescendo and then just got cut off – and it’s genuinely been on my mind a lot since I finished the game. Why would you possibly think that was a good idea? It makes my blood boil! For me, though not a great game, Ratchet & Clank is by no means a bad one. I think it’s good, a fun time, and I’m glad that I played it, but it just didn’t sink its hooks into me deep enough to make me want to take on Challenge Mode and play through it again. This all being said, I’m still very excited for Rift Apart next week, as this felt like a nice appetiser and quickly got me up to speed with what I should expect going into that.

Fire Emblem Warriors too I think? But other than that, yeah, not all that many. Always found it super bizarre that SNES games were New 3DS exclusive too, but I'm sure there's probably a reason for that.

Yeah, completely agree with @Hero-of-Time and @Ashley on this one that we're getting an announcement before E3 and then gameplay shown during E3 on the (Super) Switch Pro/2/Whatever™. More than ever before, considering the games most expect to turn up as well as this potential new hardware, I really hope that we see a Treehouse this year. We've talked before about how Nintendo could follow something like a smartphone refresh, so I think the Switch line in general is going to be a lot more fluid in terms of a hard stopping point before the next Switch. They've said before how they want the Switch to last longer than a typical generation, and as others have pointed out in the past, this would be one such way to achieve that. Also, with the Pokémon release dates we got last week, I thought it was weird that we didn't get a Pokémon event, but it makes a lot of sense in hindsight if the new and more powerful Switch model is going to be shown in action during E3. The development time they've had since the reveal of Legends in particular, and the more powerful hardware, I imagine will show the game running far, far better than what we saw before, which will only further the drive for this newer model. It does also make me wonder about Bayonetta 3 (which seems to be having internal troubles) and Metroid Prime 4 (which we know had troubles and rebooted development at the start of 2019), because I get the impression that we haven't seen anything at all not just because of the delays they've had and Nintendo's consistency with the Switch for relatively short announcement-to-release windows (we easily could have seen a CG tone piece for either at this point), but because those teams might have been given a higher benchmark to work towards in this newer model at the same time things like the Zelda sequel would have been getting off the ground. It's shaping up to be an interesting next two weeks leading into E3, that's for sure. I think the biggest concern is going to be stock of the actual thing, as the chip shortage is still an issue and demand is obviously going to be insane for a potentially limited supply.

Caught up on Episodes 4 and 5 of The Bad Batch this morning, and yeah, I'm still really enjoying it. Agree with @Ronnie that 4 was a bit weaker, but I felt 5 was a nice return to form, with some great character interactions. Roll on next week!

GET INNNNNNNNNN Thank God there was little to no drama this time around, waiting until penalties twice when we've got here before had me very nervous. Though my mouth dropped and it went way too quiet at that Mahrez shot, and Mason Mount coming off before the game finished definitely had me nervous going into the last 10 minutes. City never really got going, we were worthy of the win. Controlling the game through disruption, Kanté bossing it as always, Azpi was on fire at the back. City missed not having Fernandinho or Rodri in the middle from the start, because they looked shaky throughout; Pep got it wrong choosing Sterling, and City were snuffed out tonight. I do feel for De Bruyne - especially as the last time we were here I was excited for him hopefully getting through to our first team - it was a bit of a dirty foul by Rudiger, and reminded me of the Ramos challenge on Salah a few years ago. Feel bad for Thiago Silva too, he's a living legend and deserved the full 90 minutes, but Christensen came on today and I think only had one awkward moment, otherwise was absolutely solid. Such a young squad, only looking up from here I hope, and the England lads have me very excited (that's probably a bad sign ) for the Euro's.

For the first time we're leading in a Champions League final. I don't know how to feel

Look forward to reading your thoughts @drahkon! I've been half tempted to return to this (and the first game) over the last few weeks, especially as I played it on a base PS4. So far I've staved it off well enough - there are so many other games to play, it's seriously an embarrassment of riches at times - but the release of the 60fps patch for Part II means the game is slowly calling me...

Yeah it's awesome! She's been on the receiving end of a lot of undeserved stick for the longest time, and while it sucks that I imagine her coming out got delayed because of that, I'm glad she felt comfortable enough to come out and share this now - I can't imagine hiding something like this for so long (also found it way too funny and pure that she continued hiding her name from Huber in fear he'd blurt it out). If anyone hasn't seen it yet, I think it's well worth watching this week's Easy Update, it's really well done: From an Easy Allies community perspective, I think a very, very strange silver lining to last year's post in recognition of what was going on following George Floyd's murder - and being in support of BLM - is that a whoooooole lot of idiots came out against it, and the guys pretty much told them they don't want their support. A community will never be without flaws, but I think it weeded some people out who otherwise might have otherwise kicked off over Isla's news. The last couple of months I thought I was going crazy thinking her voice was changing and I noticed her skin was looking smoother too, but never put two and two together! There was a question in last week's Fast & Loose where someone asked them all to stand up - just so we could laugh I guess at them wearing shorts - but Isla was pretty fast to shut that down, and I think Kyle said he wouldn't either, and I didn't flag it at all then either. I also want to highlight Damiani here, the guy's been respecting Isla's pronouns for years, calling her "they/them" even when she's not around, which really didn't look easy at times; you could see him catching himself and making sure he got it right. The guy gets a lot of undeserved flak, but it's obvious he's a genuinely good guy who's conscious of his thoughts and actions, and I know he's really good with this on Friend Code too (where I also feel he's constantly getting better as a host), so yeah, good on him!