Julius

Going to have to give this a watch later, but damn this sucks. It sucks in every industry, in every case of abuse. I know that's it not everywhere...but it's sure starting to feel like it

FINALLY A SHORT HIKE! Heck yeah.

Oh dang that Spiritfarer shadow drop! Also love the look of Garden Story, that can't come soon enough. Looks like a jolly time.

Yep, things as they are the launch lineups aren't great, wouldn't surprise me if another game was announced as being for that launch month, but it's honestly enough to tide me over for now when considering what else is coming. Between Miles Morales, a couple of hours of fun with Astro's Playroom, Kena, and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as a bunch of PS4 games I'll gladly return to or play for the first time on PS5, the glass is half full for me. Sucks with Deathloop being delayed though. I haven't been grabbed by the look of many Bethesda published games before, and this was certainly one of them, but hopefully this delay might give it a bit more space for success not surrounded by the barrage of winter releases, where I feel like it might have slipped under the radar for many. But I'll never be mad at anyone for delaying games at a time like this, the well-being of others should always come first before any product. Good on them, wish them a smooth development

I don't know what exactly I expected the outcome of all of this to be, but it was certainly something along these lines.

1000% this. Everything from the character appearances to the muted colour palette are leaning really heavily on the MCU, and my issue with that is that I can't buy the "yes, this is our vision of the Avengers" line they've been feeding us since the start. Lean more heavily on the comics for design inspiration, have brighter colours, make things look different enough to the point where I'm not questioning why you didn't just talk to Disney about using the MCU likenesses. Give me that cel shaded, comic book art style that we got in Spider-Man's comic book suit! Still one of my favourites. As for the video though, I think Willem and Tobey look a bit off, but Kirsten's face translated really well. Definitely got me in the mood to revisit the game before Miles Morales, been meaning to pick up the DLC and try out the Raimi suit...

Well, WB Montreal have decided to start teasing things again ahead of this weekend. I mean, Batman and Court of Owls seemingly all but confirmed...which is exactly where we were at with all of the teases we got towards the end of last year. Such a weird marketing campaign for this game and how they've teased things in the most uninteresting ways. Will be glad to finally see the game on Saturday, if for no other reason than that we can finally be free of this nonsense that and, of course, I'm excited for Batman!

If there is a contract like the one @Dcubed and @Kaepora_Gaebora have speculated about before, say £25/mth for 24 months or something like £50/mth for 12 months with Game Pass included, I think it could still sell given the current economic climate. It would certainly be something easier for me to swallow, and I'm sure many others - heck, if there were the games to back it at launch (for me, there isn't, even on Game Pass I would just be playing older games for a while - but that's fine) I would pick up a PS5 with a Series X. But if it were going to be sold at a one-off price of £599, especially with Halo being delayed, I think that's a pretty tough sell with what we know right now. We'll have to wait and see I suppose. I'm sure it would still have a solid launch, but £599 for Series X (even if there is a £299 Series S) with potentially no other payment options, no Halo or other major exclusive launch title, etc., just seems to slowly be stacking the cards against them for the early months of next gen.

I always appreciate when a team - especially an indie team - is upfront about their project's development, and even more so when they're honest about the reason why. And even more so again when the reason why is that they want to pack more into the game and flesh it out a bit more. Also feel like that update video is a nice way to whet the appetites of their fans, especially with how they were teasing things, and not be too serious about the game not being out yet.

WHAT?! THIS IS GETTING MULTIPLAYER?! Any reason to return to one of my favourite games of the year I will take. This could be awesome! Can't help but feel it might be filling a gap they had been hoping that TLOU2's Factions might have filled, but hey, I'm over the moon.

Oh nice, completely forgot we'd normally have an Indie World around this time, hopefully have some nice surprises in store. No particular indie games coming to mind right now that I'm looking forward to outside of those mentioned, so hopefully there'll be something new here. @Ganepark32 I think ONL is actually on the 27th? Which if anything perhaps would give Nintendo a little more space to do something, if they did want to try squeezing a Direct in next week. With this coming tomorrow, DC Fandome this weekend, Gamescom ONL next week and the potential for a Direct to drop whenever Nintendo feels like it, as well as that heavily rumoured PlayStation event, feels like August could be going out with a bang. Hopefully plenty of cool announcements coming up

Optimistically I would love to think so, but realistically...it's hard to think so. I do feel like it's been a weird year for them as it is, because strictly speaking in terms of big first party offerings (totally subjective, but by this I mean "big name franchise" - something which I think demands a sizeable marketing campaign on its own to back it up), we've had Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Paper Mario: The Origami King, and we've got Pikmin 3 Deluxe coming up, as well as Bravely Default II (which I don't think we have a release date for yet?). Two of those are remasters/ports, and Animal Crossing originally got delayed out of last year if I recall correctly, so even just going from that it feels like this year wouldn't have stacked up to be much more than it has been, and I'm not too sure COVID has actually made too much of a difference to their slate so far. This isn't me complaining, by the way, I've had a great time with the games I've played on Switch, just think it's seen stronger years. As @Ashley sort of hinted at, we're in this weird space between the first round of games in a number of franchises and their sequels, as well as having a number of projects way off in the horizon (Bayonetta 3, Prime 4). Yes, there are new installments on the way - I think we get the next 3D Mario, BOTW2, and the next Pokémon game, their big hitters, within the next two years - but more immediately, there isn't much to grab onto, and in the next six months to a year, I think COVID is surely only going to become more noticeable in how much it's pushed some games back. I think we're going to see a lot more ports, out of necessity for these companies to have a revenue stream if nothing else, and not just from Nintendo. I'm just not sure what else we can seriously get. Pikmin 3 Deluxe being revealed for release in October suggests to me that Bravely Default II is most likely releasing after that point, so assuming that's in November or December and that 3D World Deluxe and/or a 3D Mario Collection rounds out the year by releasing in the month that doesn't, and I don't think there's much more they might have to release by the end of the year. That would be strong by itself, and I'd be happy as someone who hasn't played those games being ported before, but again, if that's how it plays out, it would be another two ports, and then a sequel to a game in a series which is fairly niche, even by JRPG standards. They could certainly still have a Direct and prove me completely wrong, of course, and I'm ready to be blown away if that is the case. But I'm definitely going into the end of the year more focused on the next gen consoles and trying to temper my own expectations, at this point I'm trying to not get excited about a 3D Mario Collection either just in case that doesn't play out the way it's been rumoured to.

Yeah, precisely! I don't think it's totally unreasonable now that they've finished porting over games which they had already ported to other consoles, I feel like now is just as good a time as any to start cashing in on the history of Final Fantasy on current gen consoles. Look, I love having the NES and SNES Classics to play some of those titles, but if I want to play good versions of those games - you know, THE series which popularised JRPG's in the West? - buying them on outdated consoles with a few cases where there are poor loading times (PS3, Vita), or much worse those horrific smartphone ports, shouldn't be the only alternative to hacking them onto things like the NES and SNES Classic. I mean, a collection like this I would be willing to throw money at for days: Not to forget the other mountains of cash they're sitting on for potential ports, like Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger ports. And then there's stuff which never got released worldwide, or are that rate they might as well not have been (Xenogears, Parasite Eve, Chrono Cross, etc.). I never have a problem with the idea that third parties aren't necessarily bringing the biggest and newest games to Switch, because they really don't have to. But look, if we got Collection of Mana, we can and should absolutely get a Final Fantasy I - VI collection in my mind, so when it comes to third parties, my issue is more with companies like Square Enix holding so tightly onto so many of their IP's for no apparent reason. Since when do Square Enix not want my money?!

My reaction here is the same as with the hopefully coming Mario 3D Collection: as someone who hasn't played it, I'm totally onboard. Though I've only played BOTW at this point, and would like to make myself a bit more familiar with the series as a whole before I would be willing to dip into Skyward Sword. If there's any truth to it, would be curious to see how Nintendo changed the game, if at all, in terms of gyro/motion stuff especially, considering how deeply routed it seems to be in those mechanics. But at the same time, I totally get this reaction. For those who have played the game especially, I do wish there were more newer games on the horizon. Obviously this pandemic doesn't help with that, and I think we're only going to see more and more ports in the next year or two - not to undermine how much work goes into a remaster/port by any stretch, but it's the smarter decision from a business and development perspective right now to still get games out there at a relatively consistent rate, at least until they can return to the office and kick development into full swing on other projects. Though it would be nuts to me if the next 6 months of the Switch is seriously just Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Mario 3D Collection, and Skyward Sword. There has to be something new in that time, at least you would hope. NOW IF SOMEONE COULD PLEASE GO AND POKE THE BEAR THAT IS SQUARE ENIX AND TELL THEM TO GIVE US A FINAL FANTASY I - VI COLLECTION, OR JUST STRAIGHT (not mobile, don't you dare) PORTS OF GOOD VERSIONS OF THOSE GAMES, that'd be really appreciated.

Some more PS5 box art shown, this time for Overcooked: All You Can Eat, Watchdogs: Legion, Far Cry 6, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Taken from the website of JB Hi-Fi, a home entertainment retailer in Australia: So...maybe it's just the lighting, or maybe the cover for Miles Morales just didn't look great, but I've got to say it's starting to grow on me the more that I see it. Maybe it's that the colour scheme almost perfectly contrasts with the Legion and Valhalla box art?

If anyone needs a smile Can't help but feel sorry for City fans, who will surely feel like everything has gone against them once again. Second goal for Lyon shouldn't have stood, in my opinion. Not even the "offside" part of it, which I think can be debated at length - by the letter of the law I guess "interfere" is interpreted as touching the ball or influencing it's direction, but it's tough because a City player wouldn't have been able to touch the ball as it passed through that player's legs -but the fact that the goalscorer took out a defending player and went on to score. Poor refereeing throughout, in my opinion, such as that Lyon dive which was given as a foul but not carded? And then of course Sterling was just unlucky with how he kicked that ball, missing a gaping goal, and Ederson spilling it seemed so unlike him. Listening to Lineker talk about that mistake Sterling made, putting too much power into the ball, is some great insight. It's one of those things which when in the act of playing football seems obvious, but is something easy to overlook. Thing is, I can think of plenty of times in my head that Sterling has done this before, so I think it's something he needs to continue to work on. Lyon deservedly through, though, and don't want to take anything anyway from that. Like I said before, their direct style of play is great to watch, and coupled with their determination and execution of game plans, I think they're the dark horse out of the team's left. Pep respected them too much in the end, and didn't make enough changes when the time came. He knows all to well that you have to make your own luck in football. It's the entire principle that his manager style of play is founded on! I think they win on paper and on their day (which will be most days), and are absolutely favourites. They play some wonderful, aggressive football. And from what we've seen since they've returned, I honestly think they'll win it. But, I wouldn't go so far as to say they would do so at a canter, because while they could, I look at the managers and teams left, and see ways in which each team are best positioned to challenge Bayern: Nagelsmann and Leipzig are plenty familiar with Bayern and I'm sure will have plans already with how to try to counter them; if Neymar and Mbappé turn up, they can read apart any team on that day; and, more immediately, Lyon's counter-attack and pace up front could definitely pose some questions to Bayern's defence, at least going off their high line and just how narrow they were when tracking back. This is all forgetting that these are one-off games, too, and I think back to when Bayern got through to the final 7-0 on aggregate against Barça and were expected to absolutely tear Dortmund apart...and needed a last minute strike in regular time from Robben. Or when they didn't score until very late on against us in 2012 (but our win that year is another story that I throw in as a footballing miracle). But point is, all it's going to take is a couple of mistakes, and any team will capitalise. It was the same for this game between City and Lyon tonight. Either way, these semi-finals should be exciting in their own right, and seem like an excellent chance for each team to prepare for the final should they manage to get through. Can't wait until Tuesday, hoping Neymar's got his shooting boots on this time

Interesting first half in City vs Lyon, Pep definitely needs to change the formation and some personnel. They're just swarmed every single time they get into Lyon's box, they need more bodies in there. Lyon deservedly leading 1-0 in my opinion, been much more direct in going for goal. Need to take a moment to mention how much I've hated Steve McManaman's commentary since the UCL restarted, he says some of the daftest things for a football commentator. Tonight's pick of the bunch (paraphrasing): "Do you think City might be at a disadvantage playing 3-5-2 to match Lyon here, considering it's Lyon's typical formation?" "No, not at all. They have better players, so it doesn't matter if they're playing a formation they're not used to and that the opposition are." Are you kidding me? Of course City's team is almost objectively better on paper, but suggesting that any team can just match an opposition's formation and win, purely based on the fact that they have better players on paper, is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Familiarity with a formation is just as, if not more, important than the formation itself, forgetting all of the other nonsense and the fact that making the tactics and spacial awareness become second nature is the whole point in training on such things. Drives me up the wall.

I mean, part of me kind of doubts that that's the case, but if it is, then that doesn't exactly invoke much confidence either. The game may well be in development to some degree, but it's all muddied a bit by the issues it's clearly had so far. Are they starting from scratch and redoing pre-production, conceptualising new enemies, ideas, level design, etc.? Or have they hit the ground running with the old work that they've done from the previous team and are streamlining that? We might not ever know exactly how far along they were at this point in time right now, but based on how blunt they were with how poorly they though development was going in that update last year, I'd have to guess it's the former. Of course they might use bits and pieces of the old work, and it's not that black and white, but to me it at least sounded like they wanted to start over. Yeah that's what I took it as too. From what I've read before, I know it generally seems to be a bit different in how you get the role and what it entails when it comes to Japanese development, but Retro are a western studio, so I would assume it would be similar to other western studios in that regard. I think my main concern would be why the Lead Producer role is being advertised to begin with. Let's say someone resigned as Lead Producer, as you suggested might be the case (it's a fair point and not one I'd really thought about). It might be the normal process to consider external applicants also, but should there not be someone already on the team familiar enough with the project and the direction that it's going in capable of stepping in, if development is already a year and a half in? Like you said, they should be able to get by without one hypothetically for a little while, but it raises more questions than anything else for me. And for a game which we already knew was having development issues, it doesn't make me feel any more confident as a potential consumer.

Honestly...I think they should push it to Holiday 2024 at this point. Get their Prime Trilogy work completely polished and out in the next year and a half, and then get this to either bookend the life of the Switch, or launch with the Super Switch/Switch 2/Switch On-Switch Off. How they've managed to bottle the production of a sequel to one of their most critically acclaimed series like this is completely beyond me, though. How can you still be looking for a lead producer over a year and a half after the last update we got stated the old work had been effectively canned? I know that Metroid hasn't sold the best in the past, but we all know full well that a Prime Trilogy on Switch would crush the past sales of the games, so why that's seemingly being delayed too while this mess is going on in the background with 4, I can't say. They need to start bringing the series back into focus before 4 even becomes part of the conversation again, we have access to a couple of the older games on the NES and SNES Online apps, but I don't think that's nearly enough. The wait continues I guess

I was thinking about that, and while I think it would be the better move for the console, I feel like it would be similar to shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to third parties. They have a massive deal with CDPR for Cyberpunk 2077 which is now going to have to be positioned as a tentpole in the Series X launch window (obviously coming to other platforms also), but if the Series X got delayed, I do feel like that could come back to haunt their relationship with CDPR in the future. CDPR would have a marketing deal then only really for the One family of consoles, and in the launch year of new a generation of consoles (assuming with a Series X delay Sony wouldn't push the PS5 back), that's a really weak market to push for. Same goes for Yakuza 7 getting its next gen version be exclusive to Series X at launch. While I'm sure it will sell better with its PS4 version, delaying the next gen version for the Series X next year...what would that mean for the PS5 upgrade which is supposed to be coming next year? What would that mean if the PS5 upgrade was ready to go before Series X launching in 2021, would SEGA then want to jump ship? Because while I'm sure the paperwork has already been signed and has seen both companies handsomely rewarded for their marketing/exclusivity deals, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of stipulation about the delay of the Series X, and what it would mean for the marketing and deals for those games in particular. I just feel like they've pigeonholed themselves with showing Halo too early, and announcing it was coming day and date with the launch of next gen. The Series X reveal itself was also a trump card they threw away aimlessly last year at The Game Awards. Even with the changes they've made in terms of going with a focus on Game Pass, learning from a number of the mistakes from last gen's launch for them, they still managed to put themselves in a weak position for the launch of the Series X this year. Back to the potential for a delay for the Series X launch, they're now damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Hopefully they have their new studios firing on all cylinders in a couple of years to put this right, if not even to sell consoles, then at the very least for their players.

Absolutely amazing game by Bayern, well deserved win. Total domination made possible by relentless attacking football. Lovely stuff. Definite shades of Brazil v. Germany back at the 2014 World Cup. Would be a little nervous for them if they end up against City in the semis, though. As I said before, running back, their defence is far too narrow - imagining City's wingers running down those flanks against them on the counter, being supplied by Dr Bruyne? And if we can notice that, you can only imagine how much else someone like Pep might be picking up on. Not saying it will all go to plan for City of they end up against them, but there is one overwhelmingly clear weakness to capitalise on in this Bayern team. Yep, and then next season one of their former players will take the helm and win the treble at the first time of asking But in all seriousness - Barça are in crisis, and have been for years. We see glimpses of it here when things come crashing down, but then it slides under the radar for a long time because they have players who can produce moments of magic. It's no coincidence that things have only gone downhill since Bartomeu took over as president, and with the decisions he's made, has somehow managed to waste the last half decade of Messi's European career, who is now past his peak (despite still having that innate magic spark). Since last winning the Champions League in 2015, they've gone out at the quarter finals four times, and at the semi-finals once, the two years before competition bottling healthy leads against Roma and Liverpool. And let's not forget that they had to overturn a 4-0 deficit against PSG one of those years just to get through the Round of 16. Their domestic form has been erratic throughout the last few seasons too. Honestly, I think even the 14/15 UCL win, despite having the wicked Messi-Suarez-Neymar attacking trio, was riding off the coattails of Guardiola's success quite heavily. The managerial position at Barcelona has been nothing short of a sham since Guardiola left in 2012; seriously, when can we genuinely say they've done anything other than depend on the players' skill and the leftovers of Guardiola's tactics, which are so deeply rooted in the squad and academy, to get by? Maybe, at a stretch, Enrique's more direct approach, but even then it was figured out shortly after that 14/15 UCL by opposition teams. We don't need to look any further back than tonight for proof of this though - Barcelona came out in a 4-4-2 with no real game plan, and stuck with it despite that. A 4-4-2 is great for soaking up pressure...which they did not do. Instead, they were still trying to play exactly how they did a decade ago - playing out from the back. Problem is, they're trying to do the same tricks with the weakest team they've fielded in the last 15 years, maybe even more, so is it any real surprise it comes crashing down like this? Setién will be gone shortly I'm sure, but I just don't know who walks in. Who would want this job? It's a poison chalice, you've got £300 million+ spent across Dembele, Coutinho, and Griezmann, who might not suit even suit the next playing style that they decide to carry. Xavi and Puyol could bring some passion back to the dressing room, but they need an evolution of tiki-taka, or, what could take much longer, a complete overhaul of the squad and the tactics alike, like when Guardiola came in back in 2008.

Such a weird first half. Bayern deservedly leave, but the score could just have easily have been flipped, or it could even be 4-4 right now. That opening 10 minutes was great, open, end-to-end stuff. So many mistakes. Barça aren't as comfortable on the ball as you think they would be, have been playing it backwards way too much, and it's no surprise a team which pushes as high and consistently as Bayern have scored a few. On the other hand, Bayern's defence seem to become quite narrow when going backwards, and when playing such a high line, it's leaving massive open spaces down the flanks for Messi to capitalise on during the counter. Don't see Barça turning it around, but I would not be surprised if they scored a couple. I would expect Bayern's defence to tighten up and play a little deeper, and then go kill Barça off on the counter. Should be an interesting second half.

Gameplay walkthrough following the trailer released during DC Fandome: Coming to PS5, XB Series X, PC, PS4, and XBO in 2021. Original post (14/08/20): WB Montreal are premiering a new game next Saturday, 22nd August, during DC Fandome, at 18:30 BST. Okay, let's be honest, it's one of the worst kept secrets in the industry, it's been too long since we've since a game for a particular DC IP, and it was teased towards the end of last year. Eurogamer also had an article in June talking about the registered domains, and with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League being one and now being confirmed to be real, and Gotham Knights - the rumoured Batman game - the other, it seems all but confirmed. It's going to be Batman.

DC Fandome schedule is up, game will be titled Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

I had been planning on checking it out this weekend, but the guys I was planning on playing with have all ended up busy this weekend I have other stuff I need to get on with anyways, so guess I'll be waiting until the all platforms open beta next weekend. Because I'm sure the servers won't buckle then Definitely something I want to get my hands on regardless, might even just download the beta this weekend to dip in for an hour with some strangers. Not ideal, but I have so many questions about this game and it's progression system that I feel are best answered by checking the game out for myself. It's coming at a weird time for me though, because there are a number of games coming out from the start of September to the very start of October that I have my eye on, namely Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, the remake of Mafia, and then Star Wars Squadrons. So even if I quite like what I try of this game, I might end up just adding it to my wishlist and waiting for it to go on sale down the road, and once some of those potential kinks are ironed out.