Julius

So we've just had box art go up for all of the PlayStation Studios titles shown in June's PS5 event, aside from Spider-Man: Miles Morales (which we already had) and Horizon Forbidden West. I'm not even going to say it...but come on! UPDATE: PS5 pre-orders going up on the 22nd..? Imagine that's the US, not sure if it will be worldwide, but seems about right! UPDATE 2: And back to square one...

Looks much more like a placeholder than the other box arts just released, but this and a description have gone up on Amazon:

Potential box art and description from Amazon:

Potential box art and description from Amazon:

Potential box art and description from Amazon:

Two new screenshots: Amazon.au has put up a potential cover for the game, as well as some more details in the description: All I'm saying is, with that and the ratings, there's a whole lot of noise around this game. Could it make launch?

1) My Switch is collecting a little bit of dust at the moment, but hey, at least what I'm playing on my PS4 is also available on the Switch! Really enjoying Final Fantasy IX right now 2) On the Switch, that'd be 3D All-Stars. Haven't played any of those games before, so looking forward to it! But as the next questions are also about that collection, beyond that I have some interest in Pikmin 3 Deluxe (whether or not I pick it up largely depends on if I'm in the mood for it when the end of October rolls around), and like most others here, for me Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity will absolutely be day 1! Just crossing my fingers that the PS5 doesn't drop on that same day, or I don't know what I'll do 3) Guilty as charged 4) I mean, having never played any of them, I feel like it has to be 64 first! I'm looking forward to seeing the evolution of the games, so plan on going through them in order of release. Sunshine could be a blast of nostalgia, and I would like to line it up in time for me to play Galaxy in December. Seems like such a cosy game, so should be a great time around Christmas (I hope)!

Official Link and Zelda artwork for Age of Calamity: Think this is honestly one of my favourite art styles in a game, so glad it's making a return!

Pre-order is now up on ShopTo for £42.85. Just realising I haven't mentioned my own thoughts, but yeah, I'm all in on this! I really enjoyed the exploration of Hyrule in BotW, but if there was one thing that was lacking, it was the story. For me, it was pretty bare. On the one hand, this meant there was some great environmental storytelling, which I really enjoyed, but the culmination with Calamity Ganon felt a bit...shallow, at best, especially after Hyrule Castle was easily one of my favourite parts of the game! It's difficult to build up to a villain which is more a force of nature than anything else, so it doesn't surprise me that the ending was a bit of a letdown for me, but still. I know, I know, don't get too invested in trailers ahead of films and games, but I distinctly remember this moment where we saw the Guardians overrunning Castle Town in the Switch Presentation trailer and I found it enthralling. The thought of playing through that really got me excited - escaping through the town, trying your best to save people along the way? - and one of my main hopes is that BotW2 has a few more local skirmishes (sort of like the ones found in Horizon Zero Dawn) to really flesh things out a bit more. So I'm really excited about this. I'm with @Kav in that this is the only way you get me onboard for this. If this was a Hyrule Warriors 2 which wasn't a prequel of sorts to BotW? I'd be hard out. Like @Kaepora_Gaebora and others have mentioned, what happened 100 years ago was the most interesting story stuff to happen in BotW for me too, almost by default really though, because that's where the bulk of the cutscenes and character development takes place. Great to see a return to this art style of course, and a very smart way to reuse some of these assets and get us back in this world, curious to see if there will be any hints at what is to come in BotW2. Looked a little rough around the edges as I think @Ganepark32 mentioned, hopefully that's just based on an old version or something like that! And one last thing, because a Zelda lore expert I am not, but I've generally been under the assumption it's a different Link in every Zelda game (bar a few instances I know have been confirmed before): is this going to be the first time the same Link has appeared (more specifically: be the main character) in three different main Zelda games (had to specify before some smart person came in and screamed Smash!)? As he'll have been present in BotW, this, and also BotW2 under his belt too (I mean, assuming he doesn't immediately die and the Link we saw was actually a clone... ). That'd be interesting if so!

Some more time in this evening, off to an excavation site next. That section I just got through is probably my favourite in the game so far. Character motivations on the table, a lot of character arcs starting to come to fruition, and the plot continues to get more interesting by the minute. Surprised by how dark this game is at times, considering the general tone of the game, but that stark contrast I'm sure will make for some more memorable moments.

I mean, they're setting a lot of fans up for disappointment I feel if the person who found her is not... Now, what exactly that character would set out to do with Fennec, I'm not too sure. But something interesting, I'd hope (and please nothing like the old EU).

Pre-order for the physical version is now up on the Official UK Store for £49.99, I'm sure other online retailers will follow shortly. Box art is easily one of my favourites on the Switch, looks the right amount of epic A lot of new images on that page, that and a weird border I can't be fussed to crop (sorry ) is why I'll just throw them in the spoiler tag instead, save taking up the whole page!

From the Kena article Game Informer put up today: Am I crazy or is two seconds for a cold boot like that pretty insane?

New article up from GI on what the PS5 brings to Kena.

A few more images from EW, throwing the last one in a spoiler tag just because it confirms a certain location, though I feel like it can be gleaned from the other pics. Nothing too important in that pic, though.

The Gang Blocks Drahkon

So this came out of nowhere! Priced at £49.99, here's the pre-order link for the game on the Nintendo UK Store. Next update coming on 29th September.

EW covers looking great: And some new images of the main faces from last season:

It's been mentioned a bit in the other threads, but as has been discussed before, one of the only ways Nintendo might be able to keep themselves noticeable and competitive this Christmas is to announce a price cut to the Switch. We're 3.5 years in and still haven't seen a permanent price cut! Yes, there's the Lite, but with the Series S confirmed to be selling for £249.99 when it launches in November, do Nintendo need a price cut? And, more importantly...how low do you they should go if they do?

Yeah, I agree, I think at most you've got that £100/$100/€100 price difference between the Digital Edition and the disc version. Even considering the amount they'll surely make back on digital purchases, I think making it a larger difference would cheapen the difference: you're going to get players on with the disc version (rightly) a little miffed that they're having to pay so much more for BC on the games they have physically, and at the end of the day, the PS5 DE is still just a digital version of the premier PS5 product. A 20% difference or so in price between the two seems feasible and fair, but anymore could cause a bit of a backlash I feel. They can go after the Series S with a Slim DE (would not be surprised if Slims are digital only this time around) in a year or two, but even at that great price, it's still a hard sell for those either embedded in the PS ecosystem or for those expecting more from Microsoft's own offering. I think they're even going to have a tough time of it going after just the FIFA/COD/NFL/Destiny/etc. players as it is, it's very different to jumping ship at the start of this current gen I feel. The exclusives are a much bigger piece of the equation than ever before with these two manufacturers, I think. Personally, I'm much more interested in seeing how Nintendo reacts now. As @Dcubed mentioned, this is a much more powerful console than the Switch and comes in a full £30 cheaper - if we weren't going to see it before, then I have to imagine now that there are talks about a (first!) permanent price cut to the Switch.

Xbox Series S reveal trailer:

Have GAME just resurrected themselves to be relevant again? (Potential) Scoops! I know not to expect anything as PlayStation said no PS5 news this week, but, if the plan was to quickly go second after Xbox, I'm sure they have a strategy to get that ball rolling quickly. Simply Games sent this out the other day too (I remember receiving it)... Hmm. One retailer is one thing, but two? Curious. If not tomorrow, or this week, then yeah, it's got to be reeeeeally soon. Entering 3D Chess territory where I'm questioning if Sony said "no PS5 news this week" as bait for Xbox and had something ready to quickly follow them up... I need to lie down!

Yeah, I think you're right. And seeing as I'm leaning towards this being a controlled leak by Xbox, can't help but wonder if that Series X price is bait just to get PlayStation to come out of the coffers? Because Xbox I'm sure are being allowed to be as competitive as they need to be going into this gen (they have no other choice), and as I've mentioned elsewhere before, they have a really bad habit of going first: at E3, the next gen reveal waaaaaaay too early, the console reveal waaaaaaay too early. Maybe PlayStation should wait a little bit longer. I wouldn't put something like this out of the realm of possibility for PlayStation to do (leak a price, get their competitor to match it, then undercut it), and that's the sort of edge and wit Xbox needs to start using to be competitive. Feel like we've been saying that since the event in June leaving it this late is fine (though we're quickly coming up to Switch presentation-to-reveal time), so I don't think it's necessarily just price they're holding out for. I think it might be for the games. I think they want solid release dates for at least the first three months, and want to squeeze in what they can, and have a rough schedule of what we're in for the next six months to a year (from what was already revealed). Like an MCU Phase plan: I mean the PlayStation Studios opening animation is clearly based on something, so might as well go so the way!

Just saw that, had been expecting a 1:1 across the board. Questioning whether I want one at launch (I think games elsewhere will keep me busy, but still...). Damn, Xbox really wants the UK back on side, huh? Should be a very interesting quarter to see how sales go, that price is quite alluring!

The true next gen experience! I don't think we'll be waiting too long, I'd have to imagine we know the price and release date by TGS with so much on show there, so maybe by the end of next week? I would expect PlayStation to just match the Series X with the PS5 at £499/€499/$499, and throw the Digital Edition out at £399/€399/$399. Their console margins might be slim, but having a lower priced Digital Edition I'm sure will offset that in the long run. I don't expect them to mess around by pricing the PS5 higher than the Series X, because while I'm sure it will sell, why play to that crowd who are going to be screaming "more expensive for weaker hardware?!" Wouldn't even be that surprised, based on their history, if they positioned PS5 at £449/€449/$449 just to undercut the Series X, but I'm not expecting it Can't be long now...right?