Julius

Next-gen version inbound, with the games also coming to Series X|S and Stadia, as well as the PS5. From IGN: Sucks that there's no free upgrade, I'd be curious to hear the reasoning besides "money" (because there absolutely isn't one). I haven't got the game on PS4 yet, but given that I'm waiting for Yakuza 7 to get a standard edition PS4 release, think I might just get this on PS4 too anyways so that they're all in the same case (for now).

Let the installs...begin.

Yep, been thinking the same lately, definitely want to try getting around to it this year in preparation for whenever Ragnarok does drop. This game was a little daunting originally when I played it back at the end of 2018 (just in terms of some of its darker design elements, hadn't really played much like it by that point), so I'm really curious to see how I gel with it next time around. A load of 2017/2018 games I already find myself wanting to return to, to be honest, so I think I'm finally starting to see the bigger issue with tackling a "backlog", because it's definitely not just a case of playing games I haven't before now there's this, Shadow of the Colossus, NieR:Automata (in preparation for Replicant), etc., and that's just a cursory glance at my shelves. I've even had to stop myself from picking Breath of the Wild back up at times, because when I returned to that to critical path it and finish it off, thinking it'd be only 5-10 hours, I found myself seeing credits roll some 30+ hours later. Need a time machine to stick myself into for a year to do some catching up at this point oh well, so long as we're having fun I guess!

Free PS5 patch is dropping tomorrow! Heck yeah.

New trailer for Cris Tales, which is now coming in July:

Finally! Been waiting for an update on this, really curious to see when it ends up landing (it's a pretty quiet start to the year in terms of games, I'm kind of hoping it lands in March before things start picking up a bit) and if they plan any major changes for the first game in particular; a lot of the rumours seem to be pointing to that getting the biggest overhaul of the three. Never played these before and held off from getting them on PS3 hoping this was waiting in the wings, hope it's turned out well!

Well, there it is (officially)

Yeah, think I saw an ad or two for it as well. Maybe it's just anecdotal as I didn't see much chatter about it on here or elsewhere online, but either way, glad to see it doing quite well for itself!

Nintendo FY3/Q3 2021 earnings report is out, covering the period of 1st October 2020 - 31st December 2020. The Big Takeaways - 11.57 million units sold this quarter between the Switch and Switch Lite, bringing lifetime sales for the Switch family to 79.87 million units sold. This means that the Switch family has surpassed the lifetime sales of the 3DS family (with lifetime sales of 75.94 million units sold) in just under 4 years! Year-to-date sales stand at a hearty 24.1 million units sold. - Off the back of this, Nintendo have once again upped their forecast for this Financial Year, from a projected 24 million units sold to 26.5 million units sold. - Nintendo is on track for their highest operating profit in a financial year ever. In FY 2009, they finished the FY with an operating profit of ¥555.26 billion with the DS and Wii; at the end of Q3 FY 2021, they are already sitting at ¥521.21 billion. - In terms of new games this quarter, it was reported last week that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity had sold 3.5 million units in the same timeframe (with 2.84 million units being sold outside of Japan). Mario Kart: Live Home Circuit sold 1.04 million units. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is a super awkward case where it released on the eve of the last earnings report, but just to give an update on that, it has outdone all expectations (despite what to me seemed like it flying under the radar?) and sold 1.94 million units to date. - Other updates of note: Luigi's Mansion 3 is now at 9.13 million units sold, Ring Fit Adventure is at 8.68 million units sold, Super Mario 3D All-Stars is at 8.32 million units sold, Paper Mario: The Origami King is at 3.05 million units sold, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is at 1.48 million units sold. - Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 19.41 million units this Financial Year thus far, selling 5.04 million units in Q3 alone. This bring it's total to a lofty 31.18 million units sold. - New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has nearly doubled its sales from its original version on the Wii U: 9.82 million units sold on the Switch compared with 5.81 million units sold on the Wii U. - Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield have become the first Pokémon games since Pokémon Gold/Pokémon Silver to surpass 20 million units sold, coming in at 20.35 million units sold. It still has a bit of a way to go to surpass Gold/Silver's haul of 23.1 million units sold and become the second-highest selling pairs in the series, selling 1.33 million units this quarter. Top 10 Best-selling Switch Games as of 31st December 2020 1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 33.41M 2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 31.18M 3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 22.85M 4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 21.45M 5. Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield - 20.35M 6. Super Mario Odyssey - 20.23M 7. Super Mario Party - 13.82M 8. Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!/Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! - 13.00M 9. Splatoon 2 - 11.90M 10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - 9.82M

It's interesting catching up on the discussion about Pixar, especially having watched The Pixar Story on Disney+ last weekend. It's pretty old at this point (released in 2007), but really highlighted to me in a big way just how much Pixar has I think stumbled forwards in the years since. I think a big part of that was focusing on sequels like Finding Dory and Incredibles 2, because even though they were successful financially, I always got the feeling that that's what they were for: to make money. Both wane in quality for me when compared with their predecessors, and I think Pixar - for a little while there - had a bit of an identity crisis after Toy Story 3, at least from the outside looking in. It felt like they were flip flopping between two very different focuses: quality storytelling (which unfortunately I feel has become synonymous with being Oscar bait in many cases), and making money (the sequels; don't dare get me started on Toy Story 4...). For me, growing up, Pixar were untouchable. Toy Story was that film I clung to before I could even speak, taking it out of the VHS after it had finished rewinding, and popping it back in before I could even talk (and my younger brother had a similar experience with Cars, which released here the summer he was born). Sure, that streak couldn't last forever, but besides perhaps A Bug's Life, I can tell you when and where I was in my life when I experienced their first ten films or so for the first time, and they're very deeply threaded into the fabric of my childhood. They still mean a lot to me. I think they set the bar that ridiculously high that even though they still put out some great films, I do find that they just don't have that same magic for me as before. I don't know, maybe it's just me getting older and more cynical, but even with the ones I do enjoy of theirs these days (and I still have one or two I need to catch up on), it feels like retreading old ground a lot of the time to me. And again: don't get me started on Toy Story 4. @Jonnas, when Bob says... ...I think he's speaking more to their handling of adult/mature themes and comedy rather than anything ostensibly dark or twisted (though I would personally add Darla from Finding Nemo and the bin scene from You Story 2 to the list of early Pixar-inducing nightmare sequences). It's a bit of a broad way to put it, but I can see where he's coming from, because Pixar have definitely got much more overt in their tackling of "adult" themes; I don't think you would have found an early Pixar making Soul, for instance. While children might enjoy it and take a lot away from it, for me it falls into that weird gap between being Oscar bait (for lack of a better term) and in terms of its core themes, is aimed more at a more mature audience (not going to say strictly adults or children, because I imagine there are plenty of children mature enough for a film like this, and plenty of adults who aren't). There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it feels like a fair share of their post-Toy Story 3 offerings just don't offer the same depth as the films prior, and instead are very direct in telling you what it's tackling by comparison. I guess it's just down to personal preferences, but those first 10 or so for me offer so much more for both audiences than their contemporary counterparts, and early Pixar reminds me a lot of Ghibli in that way.

Man, I'm gutted for you with this getting delayed @drahkon! Personally was waiting on reviews, and will be still, because it releases the same day as New Pokémon Snap. Smart move for them to delay if the extra time is needed to give them that extra bit of time to polish it, but yeah, it sucks. Kind of makes me grateful we don't have dates for other games expected later this year, because the inevitable delays are going to hit even harder. It's not like there was even much of a difference here anyway though, seeing as we only had about three months of a heads-up from The Game Awards before the March 19th release date, which honestly raises my concern quite a bit more. Again, hopefully it's just polish or down to COVID delays in production, but to be announcing a delay of one month just one month after revealing your release date? Fingers crossed it's not some other reason we've seen grip the industry far and wide over the last year or so in similar cases of short delays (i.e. crunch).

He somehow manages to simultaneously tease that we'll get some substantial news on it this year and give off the feeling that it's in a situation which could be worse than Prime 4 (which would be saying something considering that had a full reboot on production). I generally like to be optimistic about such things, but in Bayonetta 3's case, that's pretty hard to do! Prime 4 is in the same space in my mind, but I like that we actually got an update on that when things started to go sideways; I think it's tough to get the balance right between being a producer of entertainment and being transparent, but I still think Nintendo made the right move coming out and telling us what was up. Can you imagine if we'd only just got an update on it, and one as vague as this? People would be losing their minds! Breath of the Wild 2 I remain optimistic on, though. 35th anniversary of the series this year, 4 years on from the launch of the it's predecessor, it's the only one we've seen in-engine footage of (though engine reuse obviously isn't an option for the others as it is here) and (presumably) a lot of asset reuse. I imagine that they were at least targeting this year, though just how much that gets impacted by COVID and other factors (the reshuffling of other games in the upcoming Switch catalogue as a result of COVID perhaps above all else) I guess we'll see in the coming year. Even if it doesn't make it out this year, I'd still like to expect that we get some sort of an update on it. Fingers crossed!

Yeah, second that, excellent write-up @Nicktendo! I enjoy learning tech stuff about games and consoles from Digital Foundry's videos, but I rarely dive into it (it's pretty intimidating), so thanks for making this much easier to understand Been interesting reading people's thoughts on this. Like others here, I do agree that a Switch Pro seems inevitable; some point to the DSi and New 3DS refinements, but I guess the big difference here is that, unlike in the dedicated gaming handheld market, they actually have some worthwhile competition (RIP Vita). I know I use the Switch as a secondary console (and it's a great one at that - when there's something I want to check out on it ), but it's also their only dedicated gaming platform, so I think there's a bit more pressure to get things right here. Unlike with the Wii U, they don't have a strong handheld to fall back on in the 3DS: this is very much their focus. I guess it depends on where you see Nintendo going (they aren't the Kings of Left Field for nothing), but I struggle to see them moving on from the concept of the Switch anytime soon. A Switch 2 down the line seems inevitable to continue this, but I don't see that coming for a good 3.5 years or so at least, so a mid-gen refresh with a Pro console they can sell for £349.99 makes a lot of sense. It also opens up the possibility of more third party support, and while their first party could probably support this console by itself, why put that pressure on yourself? Not to mention the occasional first party game can have issues in certain areas (like Nick mentioned, the area by the Great Deku Tree in BotW springs to mind), and while Nintendo's art styles rarely demand a higher resolution (though it'd be great to see some better textures used, that's for sure), the boost in performance could be great. 60 fps in the little I played of Odyssey felt fantastic, I'd love that experience in some of their other games too! Plus, I mean, I rarely play games on my Switch and still find myself questioning if I should start putting money aside for a potential Pro, because would I really want to play BotW2 on my current Switch if a Pro launched alongside BotW2? There's absolutely a market for it, I think Nintendo would be leaving money on the table and perhaps be showing a concerning degree of overconfidence in the current Switch's abilities, considering the pivot we'll likely see in the next year or two from third parties to more demanding games running on other platforms. There's a pretty big third party catalogue of games already released for them to start tapping into if they can get a Pro out. ...am I the only one excited because they might have specifically heard something which implies E3 2021 specifically is actually going to happen? And that Nintendo will be there? I feel like they might have just said "June 2021" instead otherwise, but maybe it's me reading into it. Yeah, those leaks were pretty damning, but as interesting of an experience Summer Game Fest - and everyone and their cousins hosting a livestream - was, I would much prefer a week or two of focused gaming news (heck, maybe even a month) compared to the mess we ended up with. If for that alone I'd welcome a Month of Gaming or something similar, with a schedule put up beforehand, because I really hated the random news drops; even as someone with no ties to the industry, I found it pretty exhausting to keep up with, and that's without mentioning the completely lacklustre events we had dotted throughout. Could we finally see the return of a "normal" Nintendo Direct? Who am I kidding, it'll just be E3 2016 all over again but with BotW2 (let me dream)

Setting up shop in the middle of dangerous dungeons takes a toll

Yeah, think this is totally fair, because some of the textures do look really muddy (the rock Liepard is lying on and the wooden sign come to mind). The water does look great though! It does make me miss the older days of pixel art, the great range of vibrant colours in Gen IV and Gen V really popped off the DS screen. Compare that to everything they've done since transitioning to 3D in the core series, where the colours are just so flat and lifeless to me. It's like they saw the colours Ken Sugimori used in his artwork and said "yeah, we'll just do that", but the Kanto Pokémon in particular just look so washed out! Some of the Galar designs definitely do manage to be a bit more vibrant, so I think they're getting there, but I do hope that they go back to some of the earlier Pokémon to give them a bit more colour. I think the colour palette they're using for New Pokémon Snap is just the right balance, so hopefully it's something Game Freak consider for Gen IX in a few years' time.

It's so strange. This and Demon's Souls having PC mentioned initially in its trailer in September makes me wonder if these are internal goals that PlayStation is aware of but aren't ready to set in stone? I mean, looking at Kena for example, that was supposed to be a launch title, so a delay to March doesn't seem too crazy. January 2022 for Athia could be a placeholder date for 2022 in general; that has been in the works for a while already, so maybe Square Enix have told them behind closed doors that 2022 is the aim? How that then works it's way onto this presentation is still confusing, though. Ratchet and Clank and Horizon being a bit more nebulous makes sense I guess, I imagine the former is being polished and the latter is still aiming for later this year of course, but they just want to leave it late to have a short lead-in time from date announcement to release (like when we didn't get the PS5 launch titles announced until after that September event, which was still the strangest part of that whole thing for me). The main one stumping me is Pragmata, you don't just pluck 2023 out of thin air when all official materials say 2022, because a delay of that size being noticed that far out would most likely be related to COVID (we saw other Japanese developers delay their schedules by about 7 months, which was time needed to working from home), but would they have that timetable change this early, and after only revealing it in September? All super weird. Oh well, should keep us guessing at any rate (and I suppose it won't be too long until we know whether there's any accuracy to this)

Not too surprising an update, but it does feel too specific to be a mistake. It's why I think there's still a chance Demon's Souls makes it into PC. Like, seriously, who behind-the-scenes keeps botching these?

@Ronnie, out of interest, have you listened to the guys on GVG talk about this at all? Because it provides some much needed context, and if you haven't, well, it's needed if we're going to say we need to hear both sides. Steve let it slip that he played on/worked two days straight for the Final Fantasy VII Remake review in their 2020 in Review videos, and as mentioned before, Ash has let it slip before that he's had trouble with some bills too, even back at GameXplain. People ran with it and started connecting the dots, so the GVG/former GX guys put out their statements to be fully transparent about it. They couldn't have been clearer in those statements that they didn't want any hate thrown André's/GameXplain's way, and they seem regretful that the situation has got this far in the first place. Steve slipped in mentioning this, but I think that just shows you how much it's still weighing on his mind. And, if you've watched or listened to anything from GVG since, they straight up say that they aren't going to discuss it further, and that their statements are out there if anyone wants to know more. They've even stated time and again that they just want everyone to move on and they want this behind them: they want to focus on GVG now. They didn't throw André under the bus, even if he perhaps deserves it to some extent. They've been nothing but professional in how they've handled things, and again, just look at how many key members of GameXplain left over such a short period, all citing similar conditions. Where there's smoke there's fire, so yes, backlash is deserved (again, to a certain extent). To reiterate: good on André for pledging to change, but that means nothing without action. Only time will tell how much he really means it.

Just gave this a read now, and I agree, it's great that we hear the other side, and that André is more clearly illustrating the steps being taken to make changes there. He's human, mistakes are made, and it's good to see him say he's going to push himself to be better. That's all I'd hope for everyone. But I do think there is a point up to which the backlash was necessary, because otherwise - clearly - these changes wouldn't have come. I haven't followed this too much in terms of actual public reaction, and have more been sticking to the statements made to save myself getting carried away with it, so I can't speak to the "witch hunt". But, with reference to making mistakes: at the end of the day, for anyone in a leadership role, there is a duty of care, for which André above all else was and is accountable. Forget the flat rates for a second, because overworking can be easily done: forgetting to pay your workers is just as bad as knowingly withholding their pay, if not worse, considering that the solution being used now (automated payments) was seemingly suggested numerous times when the GVG guys were there and swept under the table. Again, it's great that he's taking that step now, but this would have taken a matter of minutes and been one less major knock against him in all of this, and would have given the guys the peace of mind they were looking for. And I still think it was very underhanded of him to sneak in a non-compete clause into Derrick's proposed contract just before his kid was born. There's still a lot to learn because this is just the start of him trying to make these improvements, and we still need to see how things shake out with their contacts, as I'm not fully convinced that everyone he had in his address book before is going to be keen to get back to him after all of this. Good in him for making a pledge to change. I hope he can keep it.

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)