Julius

Free upgrade. And oh deary me, a photo mode?! Wow, this is so unlike Square Enix guess I'm going back for that Platinum this year instead of waiting around for Part II then!

YUFFIE! AHHHHHHHH They're making us buy this again, aren't they?

Kena being in August feels so right, definitely has that cosy, late summer game vibe. Selfishly kind of sucks it's so far away, but by all means, let it cook, there's plenty of other stuff to play, and it's important that Ember Lab get it right. Also, did we see that mask in the last trailer? Because you can definitely tell they were the ones to make that Majora's Mask fan film just based on that Also effectively nips the bud on the whole CES list of dates I guess? Unless we're going to argue it got delayed six months due to COVID, which is totally possible

Okay but seriously, how many times can you show Oddworld?

Yeah, though it looked good! I still really just want to see a solid 10 minutes of gameplay or so without interruption just to get a better idea of the moment-to-moment gameplay flow, though. Yeah, same boat here (and it's weird me not being hyped as heck for an event for a change). One meaningful update on a game beyond June, like footage for Horizon or something like that, would leave me satisfied. Feels weirdly low stakes, but it's nice for a change.

Anyone else tuning in? I almost fell asleep watching the return of the animations similar to what we saw at last year's PS5 events

Original game development at Japan Studio is winding down, reports VGC. Their original efforts include Gravity Rush, Knack, and Ape Escape, and in recent years they have been probably most noticed for their role in developing 2018's Shadow of the Colossus and last year's Demon's Souls alongside Bluepoint Games. This follows Project Siren/Team Gravity leader Keiichiro Toyama leaving with Sony Japan veterans Kazunobu Sato and Junya Okura to form Bokeh Game Studio late last year. Bloodborne producer Masaaki Yamagiwa also left earlier this week, amongst others. According to VGC's sources, this is happening because Japan Studio hasn't been profitable enough in recent years, but also because of the shift in power away from Japan to the US internally at PlayStation over the last half a decade or so. It is unclear at this time what will become of their External Development Department (the team which collaborated last year with Bluepoint on Demon's Souls), but one source suggested it would continue as is. ASOBI Team, the studio behind Astro Bot, appears unaffected, and will remain a standalone studio, with some remaining members of Japan Studio being moved over to ASOBI for their next endeavours. This sucks.

For a split second there... This countdown has been a serious rollercoaster of emotions

Alright, I'm going to try to keep my expectations in check. Not so much my wildest hopes and dreams, but of a bit ramble about what we might expect to see. Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Remakes are inevitable...right? - Personally, there's no question in my mind that this is the year we return to Sinnoh. Yes, it's the 25th anniversary of the series as a whole, but this is the longest it's taken for them to remake a core series title from its initial release (it's Diamond & Pearl's 15th anniversary this September, vs the 12 years it took to remake Ruby & Sapphire), it would follow the trend of having a pair of remakes every other generation since HeartGold & SoulSilver with Gen IV after the release of the opening pair of games set in a new region, and to push my point even further, Sinnoh is the only region from the core series titles which we haven't returned to in any form since Platinum released in 2008. So, yeah, this would be well overdue! For me personally, then, it's not a question of whether or not Sinnoh games are coming this year, but rather a question of if they are announced here, and the only reason I dare suggest for a moment that they wouldn't is simply based on what I remember of past remake reveals: the last three remakes - HeartGold & SoulSilver (2009), Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire (2014), and Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee! (2018) - were all officially revealed for the first time in May of the year they were released, the latter two pair releasing in November of the same year they were revealed, and HeartGold & SoulSilver in September of the same year (in Japan). I had to look this up for FireRed & LeafGreen (2004), as I would have been too young at the time to be in the know, but apparently those were officially revealed in September 2003 and released in Japan in January 2004. Point is, the longest wait from official reveal to launch has been about six month or less, and if Diamond & Pearl remakes do end up being announced tomorrow for a November release (and considering the last five pairs of games, starting with Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire in 2014, have all been released in November, I think that's a fair to predict that these would come in November too) then it will be the longest we've waited from official reveal to release for any Pokémon core series remake to date. This isn't me saying that we won't see them tomorrow - I'm in the cart which thinks we do, simply because it's the anniversary celebration, and it's the only time a potential remake reveal has landed in an anniversary year of the series - but if we don't for whatever reason see a core series title announced tomorrow (and considering COVID could be a factor in any delay to such news, though they announced Sun & Moon with art and renderings from around the office in the year it was released, so...), then May seems the other likely slot they might try to fit it into. If you want some totally wild and unfounded speculation I've thrown around in my head, I think it's totally possible that the Switch Pro and BotW2 were aiming for November of this year, and because it doesn't make sense to release such massive titles on the same system in the same month, the remakes could have been planned to be released in September (their anniversary month) to free room up for that in November. Again, totally unfounded speculation on my part - Pokémon kills it in Q4 - but it's just something interesting to think about, I think. Not that I really think that's happening Now, I think it would be a pretty big misstep if we ended up with something else other than Sinnoh remakes this year - regardless of the form they would take - but this is Game Freak we're talking about. If Gen VII taught us anything, it's that a) they care enough about major anniversaries to basically make a new pair of games Pokémon Anniversary: The Video Game for one (I loved Sun & Moon for that, even if I think it fell short in other areas), and b) they really don't care too much about past precedent. I mean, we ended up with a second pair of Kanto remakes in a brand new subseries with the Let's Go games before getting Sinnoh remakes, the first multi-platform Pokémon generation, and the first enhanced editions (albeit a pair of them, for a change) in nearly a decade at that point. I think Diamond & Pearl remakes are the obvious choice to go with this year, and are more likely than the next pair of true and proper Let's Go games if that series does continue (a second pair of Johto remakes before a first pair of Sinnoh remakes would seriously cause some uproar), but they could go another direction. This is basically me talking myself down from a ledge here, but Red 2 & Blue 2 (aka Kanto's Back Again Again Again Again Again: Give Us Your Money Edition) or a brand new pair of games isn't totally impossible. Unlikely? Yes. Do I think we'll get Sinnoh games instead of those? Yes. But impossible? No. As for the reveal itself of potential Diamond & Pearl remakes, logically it would be the thing you close on (unless somehow even with Diamond & Pearl reveals, for the 25th anniversary, they decide to tease the development of Gen IX for next year if it is a noticeable step up from Sword & Shield in its ambition, but I don't see it). If you're going full-on Sword & Shield engine with Wild Areas, stick on Professor Rowan's Laboratory while you give us some environmental shots, I don't expect them to go too crazy with the reveal simply because compared to other remakes, again, this would be the furthest out we've seen anything. If it's top-down like the Let's Go games, but keeping the core series mechanics, either make that clear or, again, jjust tease some environmental shots. Whatever you do, I find it hard to believe you can come up with something worse than the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire reveal. It's called the Advance for a reason - Okay, so Game Freak ported the Gen I games over so that we could return to Kanto on the 3DS back in 2016 for the 20th Anniversary. Please don't do that again! As fun as those earlier games can be to return to, with the later release of Gen VII titles and ports of the Gen II on the 3DS, you could play through six of the seven generations of core series titles at that time on your 3DS, thanks also to backwards compatibility with DS titles. The only generation missing? Gen III, the Game Boy Advance titles. You want to send us back to Kanto again for the 25th Anniversary? Release FireRed and LeafGreen on the Nintendo Switch's eShop. Sell them for £10 - £15 each, you don't have the issue you might end up with for later DS titles where they were designed for two screens, and the best part is that it's Hoenn's 20th anniversary next year, so you can then port over Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald for that too. Easy money. Nintendo Switch: Ports Extraordinaire - I don't think this necessarily needs to take time up here and can just be scattered throughout the year, but the Wii U saw a lot of ports back in 2016 for the 20th Anniversary, with various spin-off titles making it over: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, Pokémon Ranger, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure. A lot of these depended on a second screen or a touch screen, so I don't know how feasible it would be to see some of these come over, but if they could find a way to port the Ranger games over in a collection, I think they'd go over great. The Trozei games, from what I remember, wouldn't need too much changed to make them a single screen experience, too, so maybe those could come over? The you've got Pinball, the Puzzle games, the TCG games...there are a lot of Pokémon spin-offs! Personally I'd want to see Pokémon Colosseum or XD: Gale of Darkness come over, just because I think they were - and are still - a pretty unique spin on the formula, and I loved watching my friend play them on his GameCube growing up. And a port of the original Pokémon Snap later in the year once the hype for New Pokémon Snap has died down would absolutely be welcome (or heck, even just make it an add-on for that game). Spinning off like a Hitmontop - And yes, the 20th Anniversary also saw a number of spin-offs too, so continuations/remasters/remakes of old series, or completely new series, would be great to see. Back in 2016 the Wii U version of Pokkén Tournament was released, Detective Pikachu released in Japan, Super Mystery Dungeon made its way to Europe and Australia after releasing in 2015 in Japan and North America, I'm pretty sure another one of those Japanese arcade puck games got released, and let's not forget that Pokémon GO turns 5 this year and will likely have a bunch of events coming up (if they haven't already announced them), though I don't think this is necessarily the place for that. In terms of what I'd love to see, I know we only got Rescue Team DX, but the sooner we get an Explorers of Sky remake, I think @Glen-i will agree, the better! In terms of other series they could bring back, I'd love Ranger to get a new game to serve as a bit of a reboot, just because I don't think those games would necessarily be best ported over, but would need a lot of work on a mechanics level to translate that experience to the Switch. I have no idea how popular Pokkén Tournament ended up being, and I have no idea how Bandai Namco's teams are structured - so it could by all means be the same people working on New Pokémon Snap, though I kind of doubt it based on just how different they are mechanically - but that always seemed like a shoe-in for a sequel to me. In terms of new spin-off titles, I'm not super sure. It's hard to bet against some other Pokémon app being announced, but other than that, the only real thing springing to mind would be a Pokémon Warriors game, though I'm not sure how likely it would be we'd get one this year just with the ongoing support Age of Calamity is getting. Seriously, though, if and when they do get around to it, that'll be the easiest money they've ever made, and maybe one of the only realistic ways to surpass Age of Calamity's great sales figures in a massive way. I kind of envision this as Pokémon just running amok and you playing as a trainer, catching and swapping between Pokémon on your way up to the top, levelling them up as you go, helping save some region from certain demise. To make later playthroughs rewarding, have other trainers from throughout the franchise's history unlock which you can use in a New Game+, such as using Red's team from Mt Silver, Cynthia's team from Diamond and Pearl, Youngster Joey's Rattata/Raticate, etc. It would be such an easy game to support in that way, and heck, you thought Dexit in Sword & Shield was bad? Because could season pass the absolute stuffing out of a game like that. Updates on already announced titles - A pretty safe thing to expect, but also a pretty easy thing to forget: updates on Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Unite as @Ashley and @Londragon mentioned, respectively, are a great shout. We also haven't heard about the Detective Pikachu (video game) sequel since it was first announced in May 2019, so that could turn up, and I think another look at New Pokémon Snap now that it's just over 2 months away - and wasn't at last weeks Nintendo Direct - would be a smart choice. I don't expect to see much of New Pokémon Snap, just because I don't think a deep dive necessarily helps sell that game any better than short snippets, and at most before the game's release (but not necessarily here in this presentation) I think we might see a playthrough of a level or two, just to share with those not familiar with the first game what they can expect. But again, I think that game is a fairly easy one to market in short snippets, so I don't think it should take up too much time here.

All aboard!

Yeah, can definitely be odd seeing the graphical style be somewhat refined going from one episode to another, before downgrading somewhat going into the next!

Oh wow haha, I actually had everything typed out before that edit of yours and must have forgot to submit my reply That Platinum will be mine, definitely picking this up on PlayStation (please don't have any stupid trophies...). Probably my second favourite Star Wars campaign next to the original Battlefront II. I haven't played KOTOR, which sounds blasphemous coming from me, but I didn't have an easy way to access it growing up, and experienced a lot of that era (and The Old Republic MMO) through it's music, The Old Republic Galactic Timeline Records (which are awesome), and Wookieepedia entries, as well as parts of Let's Play's, so that'll be a weird one to get around to at some point (though hopefully we won't be waiting too long at this rate for that to be ported over too). And both I believe of us I believe, nice memory! I think H-o-T mentioned wanting to revisit it when it leaked on the eShop to see how it holds up, and I'm always down to play mid-2000's Star Wars games where I get to be a clone in a meaningful campaign, because they're better than what we got from EA. Yeah, I said it. Don't @ me. Or do. I don't discriminate. I really think PlayStation might have broken an embargo with how early they stuck it up... Original Battlefront and Battlefront II next please!

Have you decided on a watch order yet? I would say chronological order is the way to go (certainly helps with experiencing the earlier parts of the show I feel, when things hadn't quite just clicked into place, and also the presence of a certain Rodian senator), but saying that, I think it's a bit of a missed opportunity that Disney+ doesn't have the option to sort the show by order of events vs order of release (I also feel like they could do something similar with their MCU content, but maybe it's just me).

Yeah no surprise at all, amazed me they ever thought overhauling it might work? Yeah, completely agreed. I know some here had a fun time with it, but the comparisons by gaming outlets to the redemptions we saw for No Man's Sky and Sea of Thieves always felt a bit unfounded to me, considering that I always thought those games, while not exactly flourishing at their lowest points, still seemed to have a pretty active user count at those points, and pretty decently sized followings, whereas Anthem just didn't. A healthy but relatively small community I feel helped No Man's Sky in particular with their NEXT update.

Yikes. According to Schreier, it's as good as dead. UPDATE: official communication.

Seems like Loki got delayed a little to June 11th.

Bad Batch is coming May 4th!

In the space of one week I've gone from my manager not signing me off in time for my grade increase and pay rise next month (next chance would be September) after completing hours of courses outside of work, to everyone in my department (hundreds of people) being given the same grade increase and pay rise starting from next month (nearly a 20% bump), regardless of whether you've been with the company for 6 months or 2 years, and regardless of whether or not you've completed the tens of hours of courses (this will now go towards putting 'Senior' in front of my job title in September and that's about it). And they managed to mess up the paperwork for all of this, so everyone has annual pay statements with the incorrect figure. I work for a bank, and the irony of this is not lost on me at all. To add some more drama to this all, I first learned about this on Monday from a colleague on another team (who hadn't completed those courses I had for the grade and pay increase) where they were all individually called by one of the department heads and sworn to secrecy. My manager wasn't in on Monday, so yesterday was pretty awkward until after work, when another member of my team started poking at her for answers, and we all got called into a meeting individually this morning to confirm this all. On the one hand, I'm grateful to have a job with plenty of security which I can do from home, and obviously for the bonus and salary bump. On the other hand, though, it's hard to not feel somewhat hard done by after completing tens of hours of courses (much of that outside of work) over the course of the last year to learn that my manager hadn't signed off on things in time for me to get a pay/grade increase next month, to learn that not only am I getting it, but everyone else is too, regardless of their experience, and that's the part which kind of stings for me – my particular team does objectively more complex work (we've spent most of the last 9 months on rectifying payment holiday issues caused by the system we have in place, and the frontline staff who processed them) and yet we've ended up with pay on par with the people causing the problems. And we're talking people who can't do something as simple as consistently leave their staff ID in their notes in case of future issues, which has meant more work for us. I probably sound ungrateful, but I'm just confused by it all more than anything, especially when three months ago we were told we wouldn't be getting a bonus and now the entire department is getting a substantial bump in salary. It's tough to know what to make of it, especially it being my first full-time job (2 years completed in 2 weeks' time), but it's further cemented for me that this is a means to a financial freedom I want to gain before I go to university, rather than a career path I want to see through to the end.

Patch 1.2 delayed. Seriously can't catch a break, kind of sucks to see.

This game sure gets a lot of trailers... ...but hey, I'm not complaining this is probably the best one yet! Think I'll save that second Automata playthrough for after this instead now, after reading some thoughts of those who played the original and Automata, it seems like I might end up appreciating Automata more that way. Excited either way, less than two months now!

That's a great shout. I've been putting it off picking it up on Switch just because I've got so much to play anyways, but the option to have it available elsewhere is always a welcome one! Oh man, I had just managed to forget just how poorly timed that trailer was too. I could totally see GTA V turning up here now that you mention it... And yeah, totally agree, for me it feels pretty low stakes because I have so much I'm already looking forward to, but I'd love to be surprised. Definitely doesn't have the pressure last week's Nintendo Direct had on it with such a long gap and not much known about the next few months. I know @Ronnie wants more of a reason to be excited for the next few months on his PS5, but personally, for me it's pretty stacked with just third party stuff (NieR Replicant, Mass Effect Legendary Edition) and me having a good list of games I want to play anyways (though I do hope there's something he comes away excited for from this SoP!). Add the fact that I have a Switch in there too and I'm up to my neck in stuff I'm looking forward to, it's hard to not feel spoilt sometimes.

New trailer:

£7.77 / $7.77 / €7.77 off You know Square Enix would totally do it

This would be the ultimate flipping off of Xbox imaginable to be honest, seeing as the exclusivity deal ends in April I'm just here for the chaos if it does happen.

IT'S HAPPENING I'll update it with the Nintendo announcement when we get it, which should be coming shortly, considering it leaked on the eShop a few weeks back. Unless PlayStation have just broken an embargo, which is totally possible, considering it's not up anywhere else yet... UPDATE: here it is, in the description on Aspyr's channel's trailer description... Heck yeah. The original Battlefront and Battlefront II next please!