Julius

Hosts for this year's E3 have been revealed:

I was listening to this week's episode of Frame Trap from Easy Allies and Brad and Huber were both raving about the little that they could (both saying it might be one of the best feeling third-person shooters of the last few years, heard it does some interesting stuff with triggers too), and I feel like what they talked about informed me a lot more on the game than some of the gameplay clips I've seen up to this point. It looks like a couple of reviews have somehow slipped through ahead of tomorrow's embargo lifting too, and both seem very positive. I'll wait until the embargo lifts tomorrow and I can get a clearer picture of the game's overall flow, I think that's been the toughest part to sell me on so far, especially as someone who hasn't played many roguelikes. I've got to finish Red Dead first anyways, and I do feel like I'm starting to get a craving for a JRPG, but if this isn't too long (which I wouldn't expect it to be?), I can see myself caving and having to check it out for myself sooner rather than later. If Demon's Souls is anything to go by, the price likely won't be dropping by too much in the next six months anyways. Also, @drahkon's enthusiasm for the game has been constant these last few months, and I think it's finally starting to wear off on me

Yeah, I think it's an excellent tool! I definitely look up trophy guides ahead of playing some games or towards the end of others I've really enjoyed too, it's a great reference point, and helps to make a decision on what I do want to chase and what I won't (the latter turned out to be pretty much every Yakuza game up until 6 ). Thanks! Yeah, I find it works well, then I just keep the case of the game I'm playing next to the system for when I finish it, and like Huber from Easy Allies, my favourite thing after completing a game is then deleting it from the console after (on the PlayStation consoles at least). Got to get that additional dopamine kick plus taking the labels off too is always fun, got to feed that lizard brain! Only issue is the Switch cases being so damn tiny. I shouldn't complain, because it's great for the environment, but even on my smallest text option for my label maker, I have to trim it down a bit and it still finds a way to brush on things and peel off, like with my Sunshine label Yeah, folders are definitely one of the things I miss most from the PS4 so far. I'm sure they'll come eventually (...right?) but until then, I've got a good few games I own digitally that I'll just forget I own (the ports of the Resident Evil games for instance, or Symphony of the Night). In a sense I personally find the PS+ free games and PS+ Collection counterproductive in a weird way, just because it means it's more games to put space between me and the other digital games I own. I think I'm going to start collecting first party titles (and some exclusives) physically in particular too, so even though I could have owned Ratchet & Clank three times digitally if I'm remembering right (free on PS+, PS+ Collection and then as part of the Play at Home initiative) that copy of Ratchet & Clank arrived today after I hunted down a non-PS Hits version. Now, whether my mind changes when my bookcase is filled completely I'm not sure, but I could also just get another one. Or move to a bigger place. But for now, especially with how films come and go on streaming services too, think my physical collection will only continue to grow. Not a hoarder I swear

Yeah, for sure, the irony of gaming coming back bigger and stronger than ever for the one generation I personally heard about it potentially going away non-stop (and this as someone who at the time wasn't really following game news) is hilarious to me. I think a big part of PlayStation's - and the industry's - resounding success in recent years also lies with the revitalisation of Japanese development after what happened the generation before with HD development, and I think it's two-fold: big third party Japanese publishers like Square Enix and Capcom have seen a resurgence in recent years I feel as they have not only adjusted to developing on modern platforms but have made genuinely great games as a result, but also the average consumer being more open to new and weird experiences, which I think many Japanese games can offer (for better and worse). I think it might have something to do with the globalisation of things we've seen over the last 5 - 10 years as the reach of the internet and social media has spread, such as with anime (I mean, just look at how great the Demon Slayer film is doing!), and I think we've started seeing a similar thing for international films in recent years, strengthened by things like Parasite's critical success last year. I'm not saying these things weren't big before, but to me, it feels like the general audience is more willing to take risks and try new things, accepting that a good film or game is a good film or game, and that it doesn't matter where it came from or just how "different" it is. And it's easier than ever before to get a recommendation too. On the topic of digital and physical media, when it comes to games, I tend to split between the two. If there's a big release, whether it be a remaster, remake, or a brand new game, I go with physical because it's often a little bit cheaper at launch than digital (and generally this is the case for already released games unless a game is on sale digitally too). However, if it's an indie or effectively a straight port - especially if I need to go out of my way to find a physical version - then I stick with digital. Same goes for games I tend to hop in and out of, like FIFA, or anything I play online with friends, as there are times where we have longer sessions and hop between games. Especially if it's a port of a game which would cost a small fortune physically (ahem, Suikoden). But the PS3 and Vita stores nearly going away the other week has certainly reinforced the need for physical for me, and makes me want to go through this summer and pick up everything I want from those stores anyway (pain as it is now that the web store is no longer there). It's funny you mention that, because I actually seem to have the opposite issue. Maybe it's down to the lack of folders/organisation options on the PS5 (and Switch, if I'm remembering right?), but when I buy digital games, they get absolutely buried. Even for free games like the monthly PS+ games and the PS+ Collection, I add them to my library and unless it's something I want to play in the moment, it's effectively lost to the aether once it's no longer in that row of games greeting you when you start the console up. I remember last year not too long before lockdowns started, I definitely felt like I wasn't getting the most out of some games, as my mind was already trailing to the next. I'm no @Hero-of-Time when it comes to getting through games at a decent clip (are any of us? ), but I got through more games last year than I ever have before, even with some long breaks thrown in when I wasn't feeling like gaming or was on one of my anime marathons. What helped me massively was getting a better idea of roughly how many hours I had to invest in each game to at least complete its main story (and if I enjoy it I can always stick with it for longer, which has happened a lot!) from HowLongToBeat. I had a label maker lying around, so I stuck these times on all of my games, and then I pick around 10 which are really picking my fancy and set them aside in a pile separate from my other games. Like so: Knowing that I probably play games for 2-3 hours on weekdays and 4-5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays (sometimes more, sometimes less), it made it easier for me to break down how long I'd be spending with each game, and then it just became a question of what I was in the mood for out of those. Once I get near the end of a pile I'll either clear it or add a few more if my mind has changed a little on what I want to play at the time, I just add a few more to the pile from the other games (I haven't been in the mood for a JRPG lately for instance, so action-oriented games have been getting played and replaced by others, but I do feel that pang for them starting to set in). For instance, from the above, I've been saving Squadrons for a weekend where I'm in a Star Wars mood (I played it at launch but was ill so it's been on that pile for a while now as I'll probably need to start over), and I know I could probably complete Sunshine or Galaxy during the week, maybe throw in a weekend too if I'm in a mood for hunting everything down. Obviously, I don't have this option with digital, which is why I think I have a big problem getting to some older games at the moment: it's just not taking up the mindshare that my physical pile of games are. A lot of the Nintendo games I know I want to play on the NES and SNES apps just slip to the back of my mind, though when I remember to get around to one of them, I get through a few of the digital games on my Switch, which is always nice!

I mean, considering that it goes beyond a typical stock shortage and everyone is still hamstrung by the chip shortage as a result of the pandemic, it is pretty insane that it's still managed to outsell the PS4 they've sold all that they've shipped, which is just over half of what they initially projected to have shipped by their year end. And I genuinely think the demand would have been there for it to sell double what it has done, which would have mean doubling the PS4's sales - which is insane! Crazy to think that we're all but guaranteed to see record-breaking numbers again next-gen already at this early stage because of this (obviously granted that there isn't another chip shortage some 7 more years down the road for some reason or another).

Only played for about an hour this evening. After cleaning up a couple of quests and doing a few jobs, I crossed the border with Irish to Mexico... ...and had what I'm sure would have been a great moment completely ruined by the game itself. The music started kicking in, which went on for about a minute before some wolves came at me. I'd tipped my hat and said hello to a stranger on the road before, so I knew things were somewhat muted for the music to be front and centre, so I tried to shoot at the wolves as they had already started attacking my horse. Well, another stranger on the road - who was also being targeted by said wolves - took the gunshots to mean that I wanted a firefight, and started shooting at me. My horse got killed by the wolves, I had to kill a stranger to survive, and had to stand around waiting for another horse to arrive. Tried to use my most recent auto-save to see if I could enjoy that moment properly, but because of the way the game works, I ended up at a safe place I hadn't even visited yet on the other side of Mexico. So yeah, that grinds my gears a bit. Which brings me to the AI in this game probably being where it most shows its age, because even when you capture someone alive with the lasso for someone who just got robbed/harassed/whatever in a town, everyone always seems to think I'm inclined to go on a killing spree with only my lasso out.

Xbox's results from Microsoft's Q3 FY21 are very impressive. I do wonder if they'll start sharing numbers with us again when it comes to console sales anytime soon. Though the current limitations on production and distribution, I imagine, might make them want to consider doing otherwise, when they stopped posting numbers last generation, it felt like they were essentially admitting defeat. The numbers don't even need to be better, but transparency for both console sales and Game Pass uptake I feel would be better for transparency and I think show them as being a bit more confident this time around.

Yep, really looking forward to it! And finally! Yeah, the movie and some parts of the first few seasons can definitely be rough, that's for sure. I've seen the whole show through a few times now, so when I return to it in comfortable just sticking to the essential arcs. I've had a quick flick through and if you are going to do any skipping of episodes mainly to get to The Bad Batch, I'd go with Gizmodo's essential arcs. It was put out before the seventh season was released last year, so I'd watch that based on the chronological order, then also add the first four episodes of season 7 (the introduction of the Bad Batch) as well as the last four episodes of season 7, which is the climactic finale to the show, to the end. At a rough count that's probably still some 70+ episodes, so a bit over half of the series, and I've already noticed one or two episodes missing which I'd probably stick in myself as personal picks, but aren't really all that essential. All of this being said, once you've seen 70+ episodes of the show considered essential, I personally think it might be difficult to do a more complete rewatch of the show later on, knowing that what you left out is likely weaker/not wholly necessary to the plot. Personally I think it highlights how great a job Lucas, Filoni, et al did in turning the ship around just considering how weak some parts of the earlier seasons (and the movie) were, you see the growth of the team and Filoni in particular has his identity as a director comes through more and more as the series goes on. No greater case to make for this point than considering how many weren't Ahsoka fans in the earlier seasons and film, and I think you could be missing out a bit if you care about the development of the production/writing/etc. of the show in that sense; I think sticking to only the "essential" arcs could make it seem like Ahsoka was better written than many make out from the outset. But, I guess you could also just take my word for it!

Bah, looks like you're right, I got ahead of myself. The wording of the translation I was reading made it seem like it was adding a lot. My interest has tempered, but looks like it's being received positively at least! Still, cool that it got an update now, and so far out from release too. Gives me hope that Nintendo do the obvious thing (which probably means they won't) and get some new content to other games of theirs with large install bases, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe; nearly 35 million copies out in the wild, sell a nice package of stuff for £15 a pop, even if they hit only a fraction of the player base with it they'd be absolutely raking it in. Especially depending on how badly some games have been hit by COVID, it's an easier way to keep your fans happy.

Wow, they actually got around to adding stuff to it nearly two and a half years after release - I really thought it had been left for dead a long time ago! I held off on picking it up purely because I heard how little replay value there was compared to other Super Mario Party games. I'll wait for impressions, but what they're adding sounds like a lot of fun!

Continued my journey this evening and just finished up at Fort Mercer. Game's definitely got into its groove a bit more and continues to grow on me. At the moment, I've changed my approach on quests and am talking to all of the Strangers I can find, and just pick away at whatever chooses my fancy and is in the general direction I'm heading anyways. What I've learned is to not pick flowers at night, because a cougar leaping on you out of nowhere will scare the crap out of you and make you bite your own tongue What I'm quite liking is the size of the map that I've experienced so far. Everywhere feels a stone's throw away from the next, so I've found myself using the fast travel option less and less - unless it's on the other side of the map and there's nothing else to hit on the way - and just taking in the vibe if the game more, running into helpless people whose wives keep getting hung and who die the moment I arrive. Oh well Other than that, I do have one major (minor) complaint, and that is the shotgun. Every other gun I own gives at least as much feedback through the DualShock as the shotgun, and honestly, most of them make it vibrate more. It's very jarring, and gives the shotgun I own at the moment no reason at all to be picked up, because it just doesn't feel great to use. Also been some weird NPC interactions. First time I arrived at Thieves' Landing I started walking towards the saloon only for this guy to rush out with a shotgun and kill me in a couple of hits, completely unprovoked and unrelated to any of the quests I had on me. I saved a guy from a cougar who then kept running, and running, which meant the music didn't go away, which meant after my earlier run-in with a cougar I was on edge after accidentally killing my horse. Yeah, I slipped and pulled R2 for the first time ever in a video game and ended up shooting my own horse at night surrounded by a pack of cougars. Go figure! there have also been one or two times where the writing just went off. Bonnie lecturing John on being a murderer after very kindly and calmly asking for some help with tracking something down just felt really out of the blue. The game continues to grow on me. It's still rough around the edges, and I think it could definitely do with being modernised in some way, even at this early point. I know the Xbox backwards compatible versions are the best way to experience it, but forgetting all of the technical issues, it just feels a bit clunky at times, like it's getting in it's own way (such as with the map like I mentioned before), and that is where it shows its age. Whether it's just a new coat of paint or being remade to stand proudly alongside it's sequel, I think it would benefit greatly from it, because I do get the sense that there's something special there.

Developer message: Had no idea it was the 25th anniversary of the series, there are so many of them this year!

This is a win for anime: Replicant has topped the UK sales charts. Suck it and weep, FIFA I'd been looking forward to this for a while, but it was one of the game pre-orders I cancelled a couple of weeks ago after I noticed just how many games on my shelves I still hadn't touched. I went to pre-order it a few times at the start of last week but managed to stop myself Do hope those playing are having a great time!

Yeah, definitely! Between this and the Switch I'm sorted on just new titles, then you their in ports and remasters of games I haven't played and suddenly my backlog doubles in size And then if we think The Last of Us' Factions could well be aiming for the latter stages of this year (depending on how much they've fleshed it out) in October/November, it's a pretty solid year all things considered, especially seeing as there's likely more to be announced. Horizon internally is probably aiming for a Q4 2021 release, and I genuinely think, internally, that has been the aim for Final Fantasy XVI too. Now, do I actually think that either of them will actually hit this year? Forget my usual optimism, and forget COVID impacting development and every other reason to delay them, because PlayStation have seemingly shipped just over half of their reduced projected shipments (6.5 million of 11 million, reduced from 15 million) as of the end of last month. It just straight up makes zero financial sense for Square Enix to be launching a new Final Fantasy exclusively on a console with an install base a fraction of what it could be. Horizon I suppose you could make the case is cross-gen and so doesn't need to rely so heavily on the number of PS5's in the wild, but unless XVI becomes cross-gen, I think Square Enix will wisely hold out, even if they do manage to finish it by the end of the year.

Right?! I did the same, read the tweet and was like "oh cool, that's a nice trailer", then I started doing something else before seeing everyone else's responses! Would love to see some more of Little Devil Inside, agreed that it's probably a bit too early for Kena as I imagine that would be saved hopefully for something bigger in June/July?

Only mentions extended gameplay for Rift Apart and updates on indies, but still, a State of Play is a State of Play

New gameplay trailer: And looks like we'll be seeing more in this week's State of Play!

I haven't, I'm guessing that would be Red Dead Revolver? I think I've seen it a few times before while going through the PS Store sales, but it never clicked for some reason or another until just now I hadn't really heard too much about it, but you've put it on my radar now so... *adds to wishlist* Yeah it seems to have taken its time reducing to be honest! I've been wanting to pick it up to just add it to my shelves, as I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point, but after cancelling a bunch of pre-orders recently I figured I should play the one that's already on my shelf before I pick it up. Am I remembering right that you skipped RDR2 at launch because of the news that came out about Rockstar's crunch and staff treatment? I remember being excited for that game but not planning to play it at launch (as I hadn't played the earlier Redemption), but that certainly went some ways to souring some excitement for it at the time.

Spielberg rolling up his sleeves for some Oscar bait with the West Side Story teaser. One of the few shows I saw in a theatre growing up, and I remember really enjoying it, so I'm looking forward to this

Buuuuuuuuump. I've traded in the Yakuza-laden streets of Kamurocho for my first foray into Rockstar's take on the Wild West. I'm only a few hours in, and I think only a few missions away from returning to Fort Mercer. I'll say that it's been interesting so far. While I've played other Rockstar games before, and play GTA V on a weekly basis with friends, I haven't experienced their storytelling outside of a couple of hours put into GTA (which I bounced right off of). Going in, I'd heard about the PS3 version - which I'm playing - being the worst version to play, but in general it hasn't been any more rough in my experience than other big, ambitious, realistically art styled PS3 games I've played before this. Now I say this, in large part because when you're out in the areas between settlements, which is most of the time, the game runs and plays well...but that hasn't really been the case in settlements. At all. Having the first time you take control of John Marston in Armadillo be consumed by the frame rate tanking hard was extremely distracting, almost to nauseating if I'm being honest. So far, I'm enjoying the gunplay, because the auto-aim is something I'm used to now thanks to GTA, and though it lowers the difficulty of the game in terms of gameplay, I'm mainly here for the story and the setting. Plus, head-canon, John Marston is an experienced dude, I don't mind him being so skilled. Also, dead eye is awesome (even if very overpowered), I'm finally starting to adjust to the horses, and I'm quite happy at the moment picking away at the missions I can find. But the standout thing so far for me so far has to be the atmosphere: when the music kicks in and the sun is setting while you're chasing guys down on horseback, it's hard not to smile. I grew up watching a handful of Wild West films thanks to channel-hopping, and it just nails that vibe to its core. And I swear that the sky and lighting still adds more to the atmosphere of most games from the following generations, experienced my first thunderstorm in the game earlier and I was taken aback by how great it looked. Something that's been a little jarring is the dependence on the map built into the moment-to-moment gameplay loop so far, whether it be finding where to go next or setting a waypoint, it does feel a little archaic. To be fair, I feel the same way about GTA V too, so maybe it's just me I think I'll take on a few of the side quests as I go along, but I won't go out of my way for them, as I think they haven't been implemented too greatly from what I've experienced so far. The first side quest I think you get access to has you go to an area and press triangle to investigate, go back to speak to an NPC for the next part, go back to the same area as before and press triangle to investigate again, go back to speak to a different NPC for the next part...you can see why I'm bouncing off it a little so far. Anyways, I'm glad I'm getting around to this game now. I've been meaning to play it for a long time, so look forward to seeing where it goes from here. Very early days, but I feel positive on it so far.

Enjoyed playing this the last couple of weeks, and in the early hours this morning, I completed the game. Could have finished it last weekend, but I spent the last week or so playing a lot of minigames and chipping away at what I could to get my hands on... As soon as I saw the completion rate for the Plat was substantially higher than it was other games in the series, I looked up a guide to understand why, and yes, being able to not play through the game a second time definitely made me want to go for it, especially seeing as I'd done most of it already. Unfortunately, the ones I had left had some major grinding elements to them (maxing out stats, certain substories, and the Clan Creator especially), but I didn't mind buckling down to get them. For a series that now means so much to me, it felt like showing my appreciation for what they've achieved. Because man, this freaking series! I finished Zero a bit over a year and a half ago, and another six games later, the Kiryu Saga is complete. It's been such a great escape, especially throughout everything that's been going on in the world over the last year, and the fact that I've gone out of my way to save some of them for tougher times, knowing just how much they can boost my mood, and really strengthened my love for these games. They're embedded in my mind as getting me through this last year: Kiwami and Kiwami 2 back-to-back when everything started really picking up with COVID; Yakuza 3 after a couple of months of working from home was starting to wear me down; Yakuza 4 was the first game I played after I moved out of my parents' house and into my first apartment; and now Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 6 back-to-back over the last month or so, after what felt like a never-ending winter which really did a number on my mental well-being, and I've been feeling a bit lost when it comes to my own direction lately. It's taught me to never dare to underestimate the power of putting a smile on someone else's face. The substories and main story walk this very fine line between being as serious as The Godfather and making you break out in fits of laughter, it puts you through the emotional wringer with how well it draws you in with a laugh, puts tears in your eyes, then leaves you grinning wistfully. But there's so much more to the substories than just being hilarious detours, there are important messages to take away into your own life. Seek out the opportunity to help others, embrace the weirdness around you, and always stay true to yourself. Yakuza 6, perhaps more than any other game in the series, drives home the secret truth strength of the series: just how great the character writing is. They have mastered controlling your emotions, the ability to instantly attach you to characters, to make you want to protect someone like a brother or to want to seek rage-filled revenge. It's the strength of the character writing and how great a job they do of making you invested in the cast of this world which makes the twists and turns of Kiryu's story hit so damn hard. I highlight 6 in particular because it's more of an epilogue to the story than the epic culminations that we saw at the end of 4 and 5, which both felt like finale material, and for better or worse, it relegates key characters from the earlier games to the sidelines to return the limelight back to Kiryu. It's funny, because so deep into the series, it's hard to comment on the game, because it feels so familiar every time that I pick up the controller to play one of these games now that I feel like I've said my piece on a lot of it in the earlier games. To be clear, though, I think that's not a weakness of the series, but a strength, and it's what allows them such freedom in their creativity. But, returning to the Dragon Engine after being away from it since Kiwami 2, I have to say, boy, are these games serious lookers. Though, it can be a bit rough at times - when ragdolls are flying about, heck the karaoke of all things is the most technically flawed thing in the game for some reason with its weird frame rate drops/screen tearing which only impacts the input bar and not the background footage - and having certain areas from earlier games cut out definitely felt a bit odd (especially when one of those areas was only completed in 5 after being teased since the second entry!). I really didn't want this game to end. The melancholic jolliness of Today is a Diamond (don't read those translated lyrics, because they hurt) perfectly encapsulated what this game was all about for me. I feel like I could play another game from RGG - I actually have Judgment already installed on my PlayStation - but I'm wary of burnout, and think I'd rather save it for when I truly feel I next need to escape to Kamurocho. Plus, I'm still waiting on that standard PS4 version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, damn it!

Oh man, to each their own I guess, but I'm not sure that I agree. Definitely some pacing issues, some character arcs weren't nearly as fleshed out as others, but it felt very much in line with The Winter Soldier and Civil War in a lot of ways, both of which I really enjoyed. It endeared me much more to the returning characters in the main cast, an advantage longer form entertainment has over films. Add me to the camp also surprised by just how much freedom Disney clearly let them have when it came to things like how race was handled, I wasn't at all expecting it, but the fact that it's 2021 and things like this are still happening means that it's absolutely a message that we need to see more taking up the opportunity to clamp down on. What made this more substantial to me was that it clearly wasn't the only thing the show shined a light on. I really enjoyed it, but again, the risk it took to say something actually meanwhile - in a show which, let's be honest, didn't have to for it to be a success or get eyes on it - really boosted it in my mind. @Happenstance rightly mentioned that Marvel has a history of doing this in the comics and animated shows, but them doing it here almost shines a light on how little that opportunity has been taken elsewhere, even elsewhere across the Mouse's empire. Also, loved the music, especially the callbacks (both direct and subtle) to the Cap films. Henry Jackman is great! But I've got to highlight my favourite scene in the show, because the music plays such a massive part in it... While I enjoyed WandaVision, it fell off hard for me in the latter episodes, so I'm just glad this show was pretty consistent in quality from start to finish. Look forward to seeing how Loki turns out!

Just had my first haircut at my barber's in over a year. Greatly underestimated just how much I needed that! Also the weather's been nice lately, which has definitely given me a much-needed boost after what felt like the longest winter (working from home and not being able to go out much due to lockdowns and the weather). Look forward to walking around a bit this summer, I've gone so pale over the last year

There's a new trailer for Shin-chan. You know, just to cruelly remind us that it isn't coming to the West this summer. Hope we hear something about it sooner rather than later, rarely do I get hyped just to experience a game's vibe.

An announcement being teased for May 7th... I wonder what it'll be? The lower stakes thing here would probably be a PC announcement, as it's only on Stadia at the moment, but that deal only started today with the release of the next-gen version. So it's probably going to be a sequel, or (hopefully not) something like a film/TV series, right?