Julius

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?

Kyle Bosman is back with a new show and a Patreon: Delayed Input. Enjoyed Bosman at Home, and feel like this has a Final Bosman vibe to it, so look forward to seeing how this shakes out!

Had a look again, that might be my bad! I was using the translated version of the Japanese site earlier, seems one or two things got arranged weirdly on the page and November is actually when they're releasing some nice (but completely unrelated) frames I was thinking it was a long wait! Didn't mean to misinform, sorry! All editions of it can be used with the Switch, but you're right, the new Ash White version is launching next Friday. I can't see anything official on the site for the Pikachu bundle, but the US PCMag article for it says it's coming in May, and TechAdvisor UK is saying it is nebulously arriving sometime in the summer. The latter has a price of £124.99 for the Pikachu bundle, but I'm not having any luck finding out where they pulled that from either... EDIT: found it, everyone's seemingly referring to the press release...which is on the Fujifilm website, not the instax one...and not even on the front page at that? Super weird. And there isn't a product page or anything like one for it. But serebii.net is saying the Pikachu bundle is coming to Europe in June? So we'll go with that

World overview trailer: The world looks super cosy...buuuuuuut the lack of extended gameplay footage since it resurfaced feels like a bit of a red flag. I really hope I'm wrong, though, because again, it looks like a super cosy time, especially in the summer!

Interesting! I would say that PlayStation's own first parties have been lacking a bit when it comes to putting out multiplayer experiences, and Firewall's involvement suggests to me that it could be a first-person shooter, which is another department they're lacking in a bit at the moment. Also: glad they stated it's a new IP. Otherwise I'm sure everyone would be screaming from the rooftops that it's Killzone

Interesting stuff, I'm intrigued to see what's so unique about PlayStation's cloud strategy!

Crossing my fingers and toes! As I've learned over the last year, Metal Gear Solid is way too unique and captivating a series to be left to rot by Konami. I try to not get too excited by the possibilities, but seriously, a Bluepoint remake of the first game and a collection coming to modern consoles just makes way too much sense to not happen at some point. Konami can continue cashing in, and I think a ground-up remake from Bluepoint would be a good proving ground that they aren't just making old games look better, but that they can revitalise them to the standards of modern game design. Weirdly I feel like 4 would need the most work, just because of some of the product placement with Apple products? I can imagine Bluepoint implementing both the top-down perspective of the original MGS, and the third-person perspective from later games, so that you can swap between them, and it makes me very excited. Also, the possibilities with Psycho Mantis and the DualSense are endless! And then you've got David Hayter saying he thought it was a pretty baseless rumour but has heard from an insider it might be on the way... ...take all my money.

So now we have asobu, asobo, and asobi? Well, this isn't going to get confusing at all Two birds with one stone here though, supporting Japanese indie devs?! The utter madness okay, but in all seriousness, this is good news, guess we'll see how it turns out!

Nintendo and Fujifilm are teaming up to allow the instax mini Link to connect to the your Switch through the QR code feature, so that you can print your New Pokémon Snap photos (and of course photos from other games too )! There will also be a Pikachu case bundle: This is pretty awesome! The app launches the same day as New Pokémon Snap (next Friday), and the instax mini Link seems to be taking aim at a November release date. Retail price for a standard Link at the moment seems to be around £110, so I've got to imagine the Pikachu bundle will probably weigh in at £130 or more?

The first 45 minutes of gameplay are going up in about 45 minutes courtesy of Game Informer's New Gameplay Today:

Man, that box art looks really slick. Not as brightly coloured, but does the colour palette give anyone else a first impression of it looking a bit like Tokyo Mirage Sessions' cover?

I must have missed that, that's my bad! I'll update my post just to mention that's inaccurate appreciate the update @Map! In which case, yeah, it's the fun side of the internet carrying out business as usual. I swear, you'd think PlayStation flopped last gen and are in freefall with the PS5 right now. The funny thing is I absolutely think there are things PlayStation are doing wrong or could do better, and I do think a lot of that has come to light since the launch of the PS5 (the treatment of Japan Studio and many leaving en masse before that, the whole Days Gone and TLOU debacle Schreier mentioned in his recent article) - in short, I think they're in need of a win, because Xbox have done a great job of dominating the news lately - but it rarely, if ever, feels like a levelheaded discussion about the merits of PlayStation and more piling on. Anyways, talking about Game Pass doing so well, apparently they've crossed the 23 million subscriber mark, which is pretty insane. And that's without having anything new from their own AAA catalogue of IP's on there recently, if my memory serves me right anyways. Can't imagine the bump we'll see towards the end of the year with Halo if everything goes smoothly for them!

Considering that it would make all of zero business sense for Capcom to put it on there anytime soon anyways (unless alternatively Xbox showed up with five truckloads of green and dumped it outside of Capcom), this is quite a brilliant move from Capcom. PlayStation are the ones who look bad if anyone does here, they wouldn't have brought it to Game Pass in the next six months at least anyways and are getting paid now to not do so, and it doesn't exactly hurt their relationship with Xbox. Win-win for them. Although, I would assume this is simply a stipulation of their exclusive marketing deal and nothing more, and with that in mind I can't really blame them. It wouldn't exactly be a worthwhile deal from PlayStation's perspective if by Christmas you could get the game "free" as part of Game Pass. This is much better than what they apparently did with Monster Hunter World (if I'm remembering right, supposedly blocking cross-platform multiplayer, delaying the PC version of the game, and having similar agreements in place for Iceborne) and to a lesser extent I suppose even Monster Hunter Rise. And goodness knows what's going on with Final Fantasy VII Remake, but it doesn't look like that's making it to Game Pass for a good while more either. (EDIT: as H-o-T mentions on the next page, what I thought I was remembering about Monster Hunter World's deal turned out to be hot garbage. My bad!)

Tales be arising 9th September 2021. A win for anime. Looking forward to my first Tales game! 7 minute gameplay trailer: Also coming to next-gen, with 4K and 60fps prioritisation modes and DualSense support: And ufotable (Demon Slayer!) producing the anime sequences. Think they worked on some before, but I had no idea. Yep, this just got bumped up the pecking order a fair bit...

...the ancient European inspired architecture? I mean, who doesn't love a good pillar?

VGC are reporting that Sony is set to announce the PlayStation Plus Video Pass. Doesn't do much for me personally unless Funimation or Crunchyroll somehow tie into the service, which would be interesting to see. It's interesting too because only a couple of weeks ago Netflix obtained the streaming licensing deal for Sony's upcoming film slate (after their theatrical and home entertainment releases), so curious to see how it shakes out. Guess we've just got to wait for more details on what exactly this means, but added value is added value I guess.

This was revealed last year at TGS, closing out SEGA's 60th Anniversary stream. Figured it deserved it's own thread as though I don't think it's totally clear what it actually is yet, it's been spotted on the Japanese PlayStation Store, so surely it can only be a matter of time before we hear more?

Fair play to them, Sony really been on it with the way they've handled this one I feel, like when they postponed the PS5 reveal event (for obvious reasons delaying this benefitted them too), or when Sony Music launched a $100 million fund to support social justice / anti-racist initiatives. I feel I'm pretty powerless in my mindset when it comes to kicking out racism - while I'll stand up for anyone I see or hear about being mistreated and point it out, on a much, much larger scale, it's intimidating to think about, as it's almost always idiots who aren't willing to listen, let alone learn or change - so I'm glad big companies do take a stand. Some might say it's grandstanding or for PR, and hey, maybe part of it is that on a company level, but there are individuals behind these decisions who do want to see change, and they've got reach to an audience many of us simply don't, so it's important that it continues to be part of the conversation.

Yeah, think you mentioned at the start of this that of course his logic was pretty dubious considering he wanted you to pay full price if you love the game, which is impossible to know until you, well, have played the game. Which many wouldn't have been doing at launch in large part down to a variety of factors: as @Sheikah mentioned, the game was a technical joke at launch which likely hit the hardcore gamer crowd harder than it did the more casual audience, and I think a wider issue with Days Gone in particular is just how indistinct it is - when you look at its visual colour palette, it's general gameplay loop, it's genre - to The Last of Us. I know there were recently conversations in another thread about Sony's offering being cut from the same cloth, and while I don't agree with the sentiment being applied generally to their first party offerings, I do think it applies to some degree here. Personally, if I hadn't known Days Gone was another first party PlayStation studio taking a whack at a post-apocalyptic, undead-filled world...well, just looking at it, I would have thought it was Ubisoft or some other big third party publisher trying to stick an open world over the top of a game trying to ride off the tails of TLOU's success. So, while it's great to see Days Gone finally getting more attention after its long list of updates (even if discounted, as part of the PS+ Collection, or as a free game), I think it's failure in Sony's eyes lies squarely with Bend in that regard. It's like if I became a film director today and came out with an epic, fantasty-based space opera; it's clear as day to a casual audience that not only have they seen this elsewhere, they've already seen it knocked out of the park and become part of pop culture's subconscious. I hope it's a lesson Bend take moving forwards, because I've heard many people enjoy Days Gone, and they deserve all the success they can get, but you aren't helping yourself by making such a visually similar game, and that's why I'm excited to see them take a crack at a new IP rather than a sequel next. But, back to the topic at hand and the discussion of price, it's pretty simple in my eyes: beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case, that's just how much publishers value their own IP. Nintendo value their games greatly, and have my respect for sticking with their prices, but not everyone can be Nintendo, whom - as we all seem to agree - are more likely to give you a great game than not. Though, I do have to say, I think it helps massively that their first party studios releases games on a consistent basis of high quality, and exclusively; especially now that we're in a new generation for gaming, many games aren't given the same value in the audience's eyes as they simply aren't the newest and shiniest thing and are being released on last generation consoles first and foremost. Immortals Fenyx Rising was treated the exact same way as Assassin's Creed, and all of their other games, by Ubisoft, who seriously undervalue the value of their games consistently, so I'm not surprised it's price is slashed. Square Enix do the same. The examples @Sheikah gave it Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima I think are good ones, because clearly the quality is there and they are highly valued by their respective publishers, which has seen them decrease in price much more slowly than other games over the last couple of years. Plus, remember with Sony, they want to focus on expanding their audience for IP above all else right now, hence the focus shifting to some degree towards blockbuster titles. God of War is free as part of the PS+ Collection, Horizon Zero Dawn is free this month as part of Play at Home, and that's clearly a move they're making with eyes on those games' sequels in mind: the larger the audience of those games, the more likely they are to crush some records on release. Days Gone I think comes on the other end of this where a sequel seemingly isn't in the works at the moment, and focus is going to be back on The Last of Us for the foreseeable future with Factions, TLOU Remake, and the HBO series, so I think this move to have more people play it is simply playing the long game to grow that IP's audience for its potential return years down the road. They have the numbers and probably didn't see it being played by as many people as they would have liked, hence why they seem so eager to give it away. Plus, from an audience perspective, it adds value to PS+, and now that game doesn't run poorly, the fact that middling reviews are out there, and that we're well removed from launch, I think players' expectations going into that game will be fair and the game will be appreciated more for what it is than what it isn't.

Totally agree, let's get some of these owners out and see more power given to the fans. It's atrocious and they cannot be allowed to get away with it, but my only issue with sanctions (transfer bans, point deductions, European bans, etc.) is that it hurts the players and managers much more than the owners in my opinion, yes it's their money in these clubs, but they're stupid and greedy idea shouldn't see the hard work of their players all be for nothing. I think forcing them out should be the one and only best outcome we could see, to be honest. I guess point deductions at the start of next season could work though, as it's not taking away something they would have already had, but at the same time, it shifts the sense of competition pretty drastically too. I'm not against the idea of sanctions, just think they need to be careful with how it's implemented, otherwise, as with them having to face the press without knowledge of this in the first place, it'll be leaving managers and players alike out in the rain. Do think it highlights just how ridiculous this whole thing is, and how angry every football fan is, just seeing how fans are looking for sanctions against their clubs. That's when you know you've royally messed up. Something crazy like nearly £1 billion spent in the last 8 years right? And very, very little to show for it. So yeah, think it's great he's out! But yeah, think the bigger issue is if the Glazers are allowed to stay. If it's some other useless puppet who takes over from Woodward you probably wouldn't be much better off, and they'd continue to bleed the club dry. I've genuinely felt sorry for United fans since Ferguson left, it's been rough to watch at times. Urgh. This doesn't giveeuch confidence. The issue is if it'll just go under, they (the clubs and owners) will lobby for more power in UEFA, and both they and FIFA are corrupt to the core, so I think there needs to be a hard stance on getting these owners out. Especially FSG and the Glazers in my eyes: whereas both City and Chelsea have benefitted from the money pumped into them, United and Liverpool are very clearly being run as businesses above all else, and have been for some time now. Liverpool have won a couple of big trophies in the past few seasons, but you wouldn't tell it from the size of their recent bigger transfer fees.

Might be the best news United fans have had in nearly a decade? Ed Woodward has reportedly resigned. And good riddance. While it's great that we and City are stepping away from this, I honestly think it shows a complete lack of backbone. Absolute cowards backing out of an absolute shambles of a league, it's so easy to leave when you're on the back foot. Then again, with the Americans and Perez seemingly at the head of all of this, it does make me wonder if they agreed to join not just for the money, but imagine how much weaker the Prem would be even without the four English clubs still in there. Might have seen it as a "join us or get left behind" situation"; to be clear, there's no excuse, and it's clear greed played a big part in this, but I do wonder if there are more politics at play here too. Guardiola seemed to come the closest to speaking his mind out of all of the press conferences, do wonder if City realised they'd potentially stand to lose the most in demand manager in the world - and the one at the core of their current success - if they went through with it. Do wonder who will be the last to leave in England, it's clear that over here at least the Americans were leading the way, and Daniel Levy is a spineless penny pincher, so it'll be fun to see how it all shakes out. What a crazy 48 hours it's been!

Square Enix president and CEO Yosuke Matsuda has confirmed their presence at E3 2021 in an interview with Nikkei. Courtesy of Gematsu: Good stuff. Don't know if this necessarily means having their own show at E3 or just being part of other conferences, but there are games like Babylon's Fall which we haven't heard about for years, and I imagine we'll be getting our next update on Final Fantasy XVI sooner rather than later (I still think they're aiming for it to be out by the end of March next year, so this would seem the right place to show it off again). There's also, of course, the question of when we'll see some Dragon Quest pop up too, as Yuji Horii teased that we'd be seeing all sorts of announcements this year for the 35th anniversary, and I would have to imagine that means some news on XII. As well as maybe some ports please?

So, there's a 99% chance this is nothing, as I would assume it's just the standard renewed trademark, but Konami just trademarked both Metal Gear Rising and Castlevania in Japan. I know it's in the thread title, but seriously, what the hell is going on? Because they've been especially weird this past year or so. Off the top of my head, they've thrown some MGS games on GOG, handed a sequel to a super niche and Japanese exclusive IP from decades ago to an indie developer, launched a brand new IP in Skelattack, launched an online store, and officially ditched the Fox Engine for PES in favour of Unreal. Weird bunch those Konami guys.