Julius

To be clear, I'm not saying that as if it's any kind of surprised (obviously that was going to be the case), but rather that seeing how good New Pokémon Snap looks by comparison just further emphasises how poor the Sword & Shield engine looks to me.

Unsurprisingly a lot going around right now which seemingly all but confirms Diamond & Pearl remakes are on the way. SwSh and Gen 4 are currently trending on Twitter And Serebii mentioned something called "Legends" is included in this: After seeing New Pokémon Snap earlier...well, nostalgia aside aside, my hype for this is crashing through the floor the closer we get to it being announced. They're just going to be Diamond & Pearl in the ugly and lazy Sword and Shield engine. The DLC for Sword & Shield hinted at them incorporating Wild Areas more? Yeah, we're going to end up with the exact same routes, blocked off by the exact same tree lines. And Cynthia is going to be a walkover. And there won't be Mega Evolution, or Sinnoh forms, but we end up with Dynamax. It hurts. On the upside, the music should be great, but insaneintherainmusic's Sinnohvation album (which is awesome) has that covered for me anyways, so...can we just skip ahead to Gen IX and see what a Pokémon game will look like with a bit of effort and looking like New Pokémon Snap? Please?

Nah, everyone knows the second entry has to be the darker one. Pokémon Snapped

Yeah, of all of the things mentioned, it was reading that Steve would schedule lunch breaks to get a video up which really pushed me over on this. As if I needed to be pushed over on it anymore. It's despicable. And, well, it was bad before, but this article certainly sums everything up in a well articulated and cohesive way which firmly puts the spotlight on André. It's going to be really interesting to see how their contacts in the industry now react to this and treat GameXplain. Crunch, fair pay, and demanding bosses are always a hotbed for discussion (and rightly so); does Nintendo, or anyone else for that matter, really want to be associated with this further? Would you really want to give them early access for previews, reviews, etc.?

Resident Evil Showcase at 22:00 GMT next Thursday (the 21st): Also, can this thread maybe be merged with the other one please? That one's titled Resident Evil Village, but this one was open first and is very much about the same game EDIT: link is up for the stream.

It's looking pretty close! Honestly wouldn't be too disheartened if it did go to INSIDE (though I'm not changing my vote ) because it's been a couple of years since I played it, and I'd love to return to it again. @Hero-of-Time I think you'd like it, it nails it's atmosphere completely, but if I'm remembering right I don't think there's a Plat for it? Not that that's the only thing you care about, but figured it was worth mentioning (does have a few fun collectibles to get along the way though)

Some more info on the official site. (as well as some really nice art and some more screenshots) Key points: Yeah, just based on how this looks, I find stupidly excited. And it's pretty soon!

It looks fantastic, I'm so, so in. Most excited I've been for a Pokémon game in a long time! That shot at the beginning of the player character walking towards the lab, the environments...this is what the core series games should be made to look like

8 minutes of developer gameplay went up the other day, seems to have gone under the radar a bit: Hope we get a State of Play for this next month!

Don't give them ideas, we already got them on 3DS before for the 20th Anniversary for me, it's FireRed and LeafGreen or bust if we're returning to an older Kanto at the end of next month. From the core series, the GBA games are the only ones we didn't get access to on the 3DS, and it gives them the chance to do something similar next year with Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald (for the 20th anniversary of Hoenn), much like they did with Gold, Silver, and Crystal releasing the year following Red, Blue, and Yellow (and Green) came to 3DS. And also because there are a lot of repro carts in circulation these days, it'd be an obvious choice for Nintendo to effectively kill that market for the GBA Pokémon games (and make themselves a bit of pocket money in the process).

Andre's statement: A non-apology if I've ever read one, yikes.

Yeah, maybe! I'm just trying to imagine a good whip animation in first person and every time I'm just imagining the whip flailing about

The context for Katy Perry being in this video was explained in Fortnite too?

I'm not sure that's totally fair. I mean, who here hasn't played a game and loved a fair chunk of it, only to find their interest in it waning later on into the game? I can't speak to your example because I can't remember it (and can't be bothered to look it up), but just going off what you mentioned, if anything, I respect @drahkon for moving on from the game once he started to feel that way, because knowing my own gaming habits, I probably would have forced my way through it, which isn't fair to the game or myself. He plays a lot of JRPG's and loves to grind, so I think he's definitely best positioned to figure out what he wants out of a JRPG at this point, and knows if he'll continue enjoying it. Anyway, I don't think it's fair to single anyone out for this, and I don't think he was being disingenuous/unethical/whatever. He didn't mention anything before about having too many major issues with the game from a technical and gameplay perspective, so when I read his post I just assumed he was getting a refund (totally fair given the current state of the game) because he'd get more doing that than he might trading the game in, which I know he's mentioned doing plenty of times before for games he's completed/done playing. It's no big deal, doesn't hurt anyone, and if anything I appreciate hearing that the refund went smoothly

CDPR making a statement with their 'Commitment to Quality' video, presented by Marcin Iwinski. Feels like it's probably too little too late to be putting a statement out (actions speak louder than words and all that), but yeah, it's a smart PR move, if nothing else. Fair play to them, because in terms of trying to communicate with their audience, they always do a really good job, and I'd say the only issues they have in this regard is that they always seem to be reacting to, rather than getting ahead of, anything negative about themselves. It's a learning experience, and hopefully a humbling one for them too. Can only hope that the performance of the game and the studio's management continues to improve. Marcin goes on to mention that the next-gen update isn't coming until the second half of 2021, and are aiming to get the game back on the PlayStation Store as soon as possible.

Optimism and possibility doesn't align with my actual expectations, so I'll be fine

Statement of intent from Lucasfilm Games, wanting to live up to their predecessors (and unsurprisingly more EA games inbound). Plenty more announcements on the way, too. Big shoes to fill, that's for sure. And a tweet from EA:

Solid overview trailer, but I'm left questioning why they didn't just release that one yesterday?

Well, guess this confirms my thought that Lucasfilm Games was announced so that they could announce games which are in the works but will release after the EA deal, seeing as they only had publishing rights! Ubisoft, and Massive Games in particular (online..?), gives me pause, because Ubi certainly wouldn't have been my first choice. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't a High Republic game, because that seems like what they're trying to build up to after Mandalorian et al with all the published stuff, The Acolyte, etc., that they've got in the works currently.

I'll post a bit more about what I want out of Nintendo's 2021 later, but just to say, with so many anniversaries coming up this year, it's really hard to not imagine that many here with a Wii U/just having played Nintendo games all their life will be left somewhat disappointed. Expecting a whole lot of ports/remasters/remakes because of this (not saying that there won't be anything new, but it's hard to not imagine more games returning than usual). I mean, just thinking of games returning and nothing new, strictly speaking anniversaries, for Pokémon there's Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes, ports of maybe FireRed and LeafGreen for the anniversary, maybe even a remake of Explorers of Sky (might be too early for this) and/or ports of some of the other games? For Zelda: some sort of collection for the earlier 3D games, either split into two (Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess) or with one inevitably missing (probably Majora's Mask out of those four), Skyward Sword HD, maybe ports/a remake of the Oracle games? For Metroid, maybe Prime Trilogy and either ports of older games or another 2D remake (Zero Mission? Can't see them wanting to touch Super Metroid, especially with it already on SNES Online)? For Donkey Kong, maybe Donkey Kong 40 (which in concept sounds like a blast to be honest), and a port of Donkey Kong County Returns? That's a lot of stuff which would could be making a comeback, and like @Vileplume2000 mentions, that's barely scratching the surface of the anniversaries on the way this year, though I do also hope those (relatively) smaller franchises you mentioned get their time in the spotlight too!

GamesRadar interview with Housemarque shines a bit more light on the game. Plenty more in the article itself, which I think is definitely worth a read. Count me even more intrigued by this game

Seemed to sneak under the radar a bit with the Indiana Jones news today, but the next-gen update for the game is up. Also, went back and read some of the thoughts I and others left when this first released, and having played Demon's Souls recently, I find it hilarious just how many of my issues with this game were clearly influenced by From's games. I hadn't played any at the time, but seriously: the lack of fast travel points to try to teach you the level layout? Falls flat because the levels are super bland by comparison (and lacks the awesome shortcuts). The enemies with their backs to you like @Hero-of-Time mentioned in one of his posts way back? Means absolutely nothing and comes across as buggy because of how harmless these enemy types are. Sounds like I'm ragging on the game (still love those last few hours where it gets more linear and focused, best part for me by far), but yeah, now I've played a Souls game this is absolutely a Souls-lite like so many more familiar with those games were saying at launch, and it just falls flat looking back trying too hard to be like those games rather than being its own thing. No-one is playing a Respawn-developed Star Wars game for anything but a good time, so the lack of fast travel just hurts the game because that's not what anyone was hoping for. Really hope they can get that right next time around!

GameXplain Good Vibes Gaming trailer analysis: Also, the fact that Mega Fury Bowser is called God Slayer Bowser in Japan is hilarious to me

Going to third that Dragon Quest XI recommendation by @Hero-of-Time and @drahkon, that game is nothing but an absolute delight

Sound designer Beau Anthony Jimenez has joined the PlayStation Sound team, and this will be his next game he sound designs for. Definitely worth checking out his thread on Twitter detailing his work on TLOU2's breathing system, it's great stuff. Say what you might about the story, Naughty Dog is so ridiculously far ahead of everyone else in the technical department these days, it's crazy! I mean, don't want to get too far ahead of myself here, but sound design normally comes in pretty late on in development, so this makes me the tiniest bit more optimistic that a 2021 release is still possible. Now, if we see some announcement regarding the soundtrack being recorded in the next few months, that's a whole other story. No rush, but my fingers are crossed all the same