Julius

TGS 2020: Quick & Dirty - Day 1 Just wanted to quickly run through the two big shows from today, Xbox and Square Enix. Xbox Yeah, so Xbox has an anime mascot in Japan. Because why not? The other big news was that, as previously revealed through price listings, the Series S would be launching nearly $30 lower than was previously mentioned in Japan. Originally it was going to be 32,980 yen, and is now going to be priced at 29,980 yen instead. By the way, Series S pre-orders sold out quickly over there, and though we don't know what the stock allocation looked like, that seems to be a good sign. Then it was a smattering of Phil talking about how Japan was the fastest growing Xbox market (not surprising given some of the numbers they've put up...), Samurai Shodown being announced as Series X|S launch title, and a new trailer for Scarlet Nexus. Oh, and a free Japan World Update coming to Flight Simulator next Tuesday (29th September). Game continues to look great! Square Enix Then it was over to Square Enix, and the somewhat shallow dive into NieR Replicant Ver. 122, which was announced to be releasing 23rd April 2021 in Europe and North America, and the day before in Japan. That's to PS4, PC, and perhaps a bit surprisingly, Xbox One too on Day 1. Continues to look great! The panel was a lot of fun, Yoko Taro is always an interesting character, and today was no different. I think his tweets before the show can give us a bit of insight into that We learned that NieR: Automata has sold over 4.85 million units worldwide, which is insane! And Dragon Quest XI (and it's Definitive Edition) has sold over 6 million units worldwide, which is even more insane! Much deserved, I love that game! And lastly, NieR Re[in]carnation, the mobile game, was announced to be coming to the west. Tomorrow - Day 2 If Day 1 was an appetiser, this is...not really the main course (I mean, look at how stacked Day 3 is!), but a potentially better appetiser! First up of the two major shows today we have SEGA & Atlus TV kicking things off at 12:00 BST. Will we finally see Persona 5 Scramble get a release date for the West? Knowing our luck, probably not! But with it being SEGA's 60th Anniversary, hopefully there will be one or two surprises for them to share! Following that, we have Capcom's Special Program scheduled from 14:00 - 14:50 BST, which they have already said will feature some reveals, as well as a better look at Resident Evil Village! Should be another fun day!

This is great! In terms of this year, hands down, from the games I've played, this has to go to The Last of Us Part II. I heard going into the game that there would be a wide range of accessibility options, so I checked them out at the start of the game and...there was a lot. And by a lot, I mean I think this has to be the golden standard of accessibility in gaming. You can play the game even if you are blind. If that isn't worth recognising, I don't know what is. Here is a list of the 60+ accessibility features in the game, and here is a video showcasing them: And a lovely video on just how much it means to those who do need these features, well worth a watch. These two are a big part of the accessibility in gaming community (Steve worked with Naughty Dog on this, too, so it's interesting to hear about his experiences and how they improved throughout the development of these features): It's awesome. I don't need any of these features myself, but I instantly saw the list and it brought a huge smile to my face. And heck, changing subtitle size and colour should already be a universal standard. I really do hope that more companies, especially on the AAA side, see this and start to incorporate these accessibility features in their own games. Great work by Naughty Dog! However, I don't think that this needs to be something awarded to only one individual or group, and with it being the first time this particular award is being given out, I do hope that earlier examples of this are recognised. One such case I think should be recognised too is Xbox's Adaptive Controller, which released around two and a half years ago: The more players the better

Jason Schreier shared on his podcast, Triple Click (link is timestamped), that he has heard that XVI has been in production for 4 years, and is coming much sooner than people think. This lines up with the rumours that were swirling last year about Unit III ramping up into full production on something, which we now know to be XVI. It also lines up fairly well with familiar names being tied to XVI who worked on XIV's Heavensward expansion, which released in 2015, stepping away from XIV after the expansion was released, and most likely being moved onto XVI. Late 2021/Early 2022 is beginning to look a bit more promising with every tidbit which trickles out about this game (I also think declaring this far out that we have news coming in 2021, and looking at VII Remake's marketing cycle after being reintroduced last year before E3, lines up with this), but of course other factors like COVID still might end up delaying the game. Or a mid-production engine swap, my gut tells me that's something Square Enix might do seems the game is in good hands!

Lupin III: The First looks really good, really digging how well they've translated the art style to CH. Never watched any of these films before (only seen snippets of the Ghibli film), guess now might be the time to start!

They will restock them at a few places I imagine. If I were you I'd just wait for Amazon as most other retailers have proven they can't be trusted at one point or another when it comes to console launches. Anecdotally, I've only heard good things about GAME at launch for consoles (since I asked here I've talked to a few friends about this too), so I imagine it will be fine (that's where my pre-order is, wasn't willing to wait for Amazon to go up out of the blue like GAME had). But Amazon of course is also about as safe a guarantee you can get for the costume arriving on launch day! I imagine they'll get more out available to pre-order before launch, but do we know yet if these new GAME pre-orders are for launch too? Only reason I ask is because I read that some stores in other countries have started trickling out more pre-orders, but they're not expecting them to be delivered until later in November/December. It's going to be hectic either way from here on in trying to secure one, I think.

Yes (and no), it's something between a remake and a remaster of the original NieR Replicant which was exclusive to Japan the NieR released in the west, if I'm remembering right, was based on NieR Gestalt (older protagonist, from what I understand a slightly different story where Nier is the father in Gestalt, vs the brother in Replicant, of the girl on the boxart). Also gameplay looks to be inspired by Platinum's work on Automata, which is nice to see, and those animations look great! Also the devs are hilarious and it's worth watching just to see them bring up the debug mode

I remember wanting to get into the series about a year ago and doing a bit of research about which versions I should pick up. It resulted in this complete confusion about how there was only one half decent version available on home media of the most popular and recognisable anime that just made me give up I'm sure I'll try again someday, but man, it really is confusing!

What's funny is that it's been steadily ratcheting up, I remember hearing weeks back that the game was on the verge of blowing up, and the month before that too. Very interesting to think about, I think there was a particular streamer a little while back who was a big reason for it blowing up the way it has (for some reason I checked out the subreddit when I first heard about it and even then they were talking about it only being a matter of time!). I remember hearing on a podcast too about them needing to take servers down for a bit to do some work, so it's great to see it paying off. And fair play to them for cancelling the sequel given this is blowing up and just deciding to provide new content to this instead, can't imagine that was an easy decision to make. Hopefully those ideas are reworked well enough into the existing game. I've checked it out a few times over the last couple of weeks, playing on my phone with my brother and sister when my brother comes over to visit, and then the internet strangers. It's been a lot of fun, a lot of laughs! Not the most complicated of games to get your head around, which is great, because how many of those complicated games ever actually end up being fun? Highlight of my time playing so far was definitely the crew being right about one internet stranger being the impostor to finish one game, and them returning in the next game, and I followed my gut, making me call a meeting and telling everyone else that they were the impostor again and to vote for him. And I was right

Just a heads-up because I pre-ordered with GAME last week, have your account ready to go but if it doesn't work (I can almost guarantee it won't), checkout as a guest instead, you'll get through much faster. You can add it to your account after by adding the Order # for Tracking, good luck! Yeah I read about that the other day, they added it in after the first batch of pre-orders sold out (so luckily I didn't end up with it) and without telling people/advertising it. Knowing GAME I'm a bit surprised it wasn't there from the offset, I'm guessing they just forgot

23rd April in North America and Europe! And think it's safe to say the Japanese boxart looks a bit better...

TGS trailer: 22nd April 2021 release date at the end of the TGS trailer. Now if that's the date we get it over here I have no idea, but only a bit over 6 months for it to be out in some form! And it still looks nice Japanese boxart:

Arrived a day early! Probably won't pop it in and start it up until the weekend (Super Mario 64 is ace and taking up my gaming time at the moment), but over the last week or two have got quite excited for this. Fingers crossed!

I imagine it'll be split in two again, and/or they're aiming for the manga to end at the same time as the show?

Yeah, I think the confusion and small corner of outrage over this was a bit weird. It's a fully fledged remaster vs just your standard boosted performance. But, I do think their messaging has been cagey at best. For example, this isn't one of the options listed by Nibellion: PS5 standard + $20 upgrade (to the Ultimate Edition) for the Remaster, vs dropping $70 outright on the Ultimate Edition. I think confusion over how it can be purchased is warranted at this point, they haven't been very clear. Wouldn't surprise me if we got a PS Blog entry to clear this all up.

Great news, imagine that pretty much completes our business for the year. Kepa's confidence is rock bottom, I do feel sorry for him. Kepa is an example of one of those young players who just hasn't reached his potential for one reason or another (to me, it's clearly a confidence issue). Had a high potential and to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and was a favourite to take over as the next mainstay goalkeeper in the Spanish national team. In terms of pure potential I'd say that there were more expectations on Kepa joining Chelsea due to his age and price tag (he became the most expensive GK just a few weeks after Alisson had) than there was for Alisson going to Liverpool, but I do feel he had proved himself already at Roma as a solid goalkeeper. I think Alisson was better than Kepa when they arrived, but Kepa was expected to have a higher potential, it just unfortunately hasn't played out that way for us (and for him). And I do think Kepa was overpriced, but that couldn't be helped; that's business with Bilbao for you. They set a price tag with their release clauses and are very resistant to accepting a penny less.

Right, this kicks off today! Xbox at 13:00 - 13:50 BST, probably going to announce that they've acquired Japan but in all seriousness, not really expecting too much from this showing. Maybe a surprise partnership with a Japanese studio at best (but I don't think any game announcements), but think it'll be geared more towards the Series S (think I just saw somewhere that it's going to be $30 lower in Japan? Not sure if that'll be low enough with the Switch in the same price range) and potentially some news on xCloud, which I think is the biggest potential gateway for Japanese customers at this stage into the Xbox ecosystem. Will it happen? No idea! Stream (unsure if this has a translator or subs, so I'll keep an eye out!): And then at 14:00 - 14:50 BST we have the Square Enix show, for which I think all of the games in attendance have been announced? Which is a bit of a shame. Most exciting thing in terms of fresh news I'm sure will be an update on NieR Replicant Ver. 122, and part of me will continue to hold out hope for a Final Fantasy I - VI Collection (but I mean...add some Dragon Quest games to that wishlist!). I don't think DQ XII shows here, imagine that's still cooking. But yeah, it does look like it's morphed more into a NieR showing (though, not complaining!). Stream (w/ English subs): Hopefully a decent pair of shows to open with, and one or two smaller surprises, is all I'm hoping for!

Final season of Attack and Titan starts airing 7th December!

Remaster is going to be exclusive to Ultimate Edition and there will be no upgrade options available for those picking up the standard PS5 edition (for now? Insomniac hasn't been too good on their Twitter account at sticking to one definitive answer). Think my plan for now is to play the game again on PS4 and see how I feel after, but leaning more and more towards picking up the Ultimate Edition instead, because the original game is one of those rare examples of a game where I could see myself going back to it again a few years from now, and the new trophies and assets are a big pull.

Eternals has also been delayed, from next February to next November. Not too shocked at this point, really. Black Widow confirmed to have a new release date of 7th May 2021. This being film of Phase 4 and, if the film does manage to release in May, releasing two years on from Endgame, and just shy of two years on from Far From Home, this is much more important for them than if it came out earlier this year now as was originally planned. They're banking on COVID being under control enough for them to draw a crowd, but also hoping for it to be the first big blockbuster to come out of the gates when people can get back, and reignite that MCU spark for fans. I also imagine that they saw the figures for Mulan and realised they're better off waiting to return to theatres, and I certainly don't think the controversy surrounding Mulan - and the increasing indifference movie fans seem to have towards their live-action remakes of classic animated films - helped it's chances of seeing a delay for theatrical release. It ended up being a very expensive experiment for them, and I'm sure it have them some interesting results, but I wouldn't expect the MCU to come back this way, or the other bigger franchises under the Mouse's flag. The only way I think we would've seen it is if Mulan was a success by their standards, and I think these delays might answer that question. Personally been a bit burnt out on the MCU since Endgame, it was such a fitting and awesome conclusion, and I do think they came out too early with Far From Home. I wanted a long break after Endgame, and now that due to unfortunate circumstances we've ended up with one, I can feel my hunger for the MCU slowly but surely coming back. And Spider-Man: Miles Morales has certainly been a big part of that! Might be time for an MCU rewatch soon...

Nightmare fuel ahead. Some context for what you're about to see: And what a Fall Guy looks like on the inside... I warned you

Them too? I thought it was just going to be SEGA

Because it's never too early for Geoff to announce that The Game Awards is coming on December 10th, live from L.A., London, and Tokyo! Choice quote from the Variety article tied to the announcement (and which is well worth a read, in my opinion): Seems like we have a lot to look forward to! Now just waiting to hear that the cut-off date is towards the end of November, instead of mid-November, otherwise they'll end up putting Cyberpunk 2077 and Demon's Souls out of the running (as well as potentially Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity) for this year. There's no way they get left out, right?

So, listening to some video game music while working today (as you do), and came across this unused Main Theme from IX, from the FFIX PLUS album: That might be one of the best unused tracks I've ever heard? Obviously there's plenty of Melodies of Life in there (as there is throughout the entire game) but damn, I think that might be one of my favourite uses of it. There's a definite charm and power to this one that wasn't necessarily present in the other times you hear Melodies of Life. Seems a bit too energetic to be the overworld theme, and sounds like it was played with the instruments used in Zidane's Theme, so I wonder if it was maybe supposed to be the Title Screen theme instead? Or maybe to be used in the overworld later on in the game? Anyways, just thought I'd share it, because I love it

A lot of (nowhere near as telling, completely wild) rumours swirling around that MGS3 and MGS4 could be added too. Konami has an "Information Program" this Saturday at TGS, I wonder if it'll be announced then? If they are coming, fully expecting bottom of the barrel ports, but it would be interesting to see Konami releasing them. Wonder if they could also come to current gen? And also wonder if they'll leave Kojima's name on it?

I was wondering about that too, and it would make sense. Why would they want to advertise £50 and £40 versions (or something like that) of Miles Morales on the same store, for the exact same game? I don't think they'll be made available digitally on the PS5's PS Store I guess, I think you're right. Also got to imagine some of those older FIFA and annual sports games won't be coming over on the Store too, amongst many others which companies might have plans for Special Editions/Remasters down the road, even if not offering the same upgrade but just boosted performance (e.g. DMC V's Special Edition). Now I'm also stuck wondering where this would leave games like Ghost of Tsushima and TLOU2? I would say God of War too, but that's in the PS+ Collection, at least. They seem ripe for remasters.