Julius

Excited for this! The recent preview from Easy Allies' Ben Moore got me hyped again, worth checking out, think Ben is one of the best in the biz at effectively communicating his thoughts. The end of this year is looking absolutely stacked, but still very hyped for this game. The cut-off point for The Game Awards was November 15th last year, or thereabouts, but with next-gen consoles seemingly dropping on the week commencing the 16th (going from the release date for this and games like AC: Valhalla on the 17th), I'm curious if that will be extended until the end of November this time around?

Otherwise known until now by its codename of Lockhart and long rumoured (since the start of last year?) to be a lower level entry point into next gen gaming, the existence of the Xbox Series S has seemingly been confirmed. The manual not having of images of the Series S potentially seems to tie into further ongoing speculation that the console would be sold without a controller for Xbox to reduce its RRP considerably. And Jeff Grubb is saying that we will know more about the console by the end of the month. Interesting times indeed! I do think that the naming conventions of the next gen Xbox offering has been a little confusing at best, even for those in the industry, so curious to see how the public would react. I remember the confusion at The Game Awards last year, and still hear "One X" mistakenly uttered on a frequent basis in a number of gaming podcasts. The Wii U showed just how easy it is for poor naming conventions to hold a console back (among a long list of other reasons, sure), but hopefully for Xbox's sake there's a little less confusion in this situation. As for the existence of the Series S...I couldn't be more excited! Would love to see a monthly payment model that's been thrown around for a while on here for the Series X as a more accessible entry point to next gen, which would be the only way I think I would go about picking one up at launch alongside a PS5, but an entry level next gen offering like the Series S would also satiate my thirst to play some of Xbox's catalogue (in particular, the Halo series). Assuming it would be sold without a controller and Xbox have done their best to keep the price of this down compared to the Series X, I wouldn't be surprised if this thing came in at £299.99, which would be plenty low enough for me to pick it up with Game Pass. I'm sure the PS5 would still be my primary console and get more use in the long term (the abundance of JRPG's and my love of Sony exclusives will make sure of that), but Game Pass and a next gen entry level Xbox for £299.99 would just be too good an offering to turn down. Anything higher and it's difficult to buy into both ecosystems, at least for me, though I would always be willing to wait it out. I think this could be Xbox's chance to be bold get a bit more of the public's mindshare, even if it is shared between PlayStation and Xbox. A hypothetical situation where the Series X is £549, the PS5 is £499, PS5 DE is £429 - £449, and the Series S is as low as £299 - £329 would be a huge potential win for Xbox, especially seeing as Game Pass would mean the initial investment in software could be much lower too.

WB Interactive will be staying put after all. Great news, an acquisition would have surely meant a lot of jobs being lost. Hope WB can now push forward with their IP's and bring some more exciting games to the table!

Well damn. Guess there might have been some truth to those rumours about Street Fighter VI being a disaster after all.

Glad I stopped watching the Chelsea game when I did, would much rather see some moments of Messi magic than us getting hammered, because it's hard to say how many more times we'll get to watch him at this point. I'll be checking the highlights for sure, but I'm guessing we were just as unconvincing throughout the rest of the game as we were in the opening 25. Those last two goals both being from crosses proves just how much we need to invest in, and work on, our defence. As for the Barça game, Messi's goal was absolutely brilliant. I love how intelligently he manages his own game and saves his energy for spurts of pace and brilliance throughout the game, and seeing him run through defenders, get that half a yard, and then score from that position from the floor makes me feel like I'm in high school again. But while it's great to watch Messi save himself, as he should, why the hell does it feel like the rest of the team are doing the same? Few members of the old guard that are still left aside, there's no intensity or passion from the rest of the team, they're not chasing it down, and look absolutely exhausted. It's hard to not compare them to a Barça we've seen before, but they never seemed to be in control of the game, their passes were slow and sloppy, and I think were lucky Napoli couldn't find any consistency in the rhythm of their attacks. That's all apart from De Jong, though, who deserves special mention. His outside of the foot pass to Messi for what would have been the third if not cruelly overturned was absolutely superb, he consistently chased things down unlike his teammate, and was the only one driving other than Messi them forwards towards the opposition goal. Some great footwork to wriggle his way through the opposition at times, too. Yep, agreed. Napoli were very poor in defence, and though I think Koulibaly is a great defender of the goal, he really needs to sort out his footwork if he's going to be moving on up elsewhere. Got to give credit where credit is due to Gattuso, though, for doing such a great job of discipling this Napoli side after what happened under Ancelotti earlier on this season, it was great still seeing that fire in their eyes and them chasing the ball well into stoppage time despite knowing full well that they were out. For the disallowed goal, I can only agree that it's very harsh. Firstly, because De Jong's pass now won't be immortalised in goal reels, but more seriously because while they're abiding the letter of the law, the ball glanced Messi's arm at best, didn't give it any real direction, and I'm sure the outcome would have been the same regardless. I even thought that the Koulibaly was a little on the harsher side too, I can see why it was given, but he clearly wasn't aware that Messi was next to - and then suddenly in front of - him, considering how long he took to start swinging his leg to clear the ball, as well as him going for it at full whack. At the same time, I guess it can be argued that him not being aware of Messi's presence is also just as dangerous, which is why I think it's fair to give it in the end. Overall, I think the takeaway is that Barça need a serious shakeup ahead of their game against Bayern. This team seem so out of it. But, now that we're just having one-off knockout round matches...there's still a chance Barça can find their way to the final and win it, but if tonight is anything to go by, they're going to be heavily reliant on De Jong and Messi in particular to do so.

Well, this has started much worse than I could have predicted. 2-0 down 25 minutes in, and no sign that we've got anything to even try biting back. Don't get me wrong, Bayern are playing great, but we're so sloppy. Swapping over to the Barça game for a bit...

Basically Courtois threatened the foundation of Belgium's golden generation by sleeping with Dr Bruyne's girlfriend at the time, this was back in 2013 or thereabouts. According to Dr Bruyne's autobiography, the national team manager Marc Wilmots actually asked De Bruyne if Courtois could stay on the team, I'm sure because he was probably aware that making the decision himself might have brought about some unwanted toxicity in the dressing room. They've been somewhat cold to one another since. I think it's really interesting watching their general body language towards one another when they share the pitch: last night De Bruyne looked a bit more aggressive in going for goal compared to how I usually feel he plays, and in the World Cup they generally kept their distance. Don't think I've seen them share many words on camera. I think De Bruyne's ex-girlfriend came out a year or so after and said he was actually cheating on her with her best friend at the time, which is why she cheated on him with Courtois? Which I guess is a very roundabout way of saying that she definitely cheated on him, and De Bruyne might have cheated on her - not taking sides here of course, but as they say, no better defence than a good offence, wouldn't be surprised if it's just a lot of mindless finger pointing. Definitely wish the situation wasn't as public as it was because I think it was handled very immaturely, but guess you can say that for half of the news stories popping up these days Personally not the biggest fan of Courtois in any case, though that's less to do with this and more to do with his attitude as time went on after he returned to Chelsea from Atlético. Felt he deserved his poor first season form at Real, but I'm glad he's turned things around since. Anyways, looking forward to tonight! Still have little faith we can turn it around after our injuries and Bayern's recent form, but I hope we'll at least try to get a positive result out of this.

Following his recent mentions of big multiplatform games having deals with PlayStation which would include different levels of exclusivity, Imran Khan has posted this on ResetEra: Interesting times ahead, can't help but wonder what kind of deals PlayStation has lined up, and with whom, especially if they have reached out to all of the big players. Xbox would have been in trouble without this, but with? I appreciate that their strategy is different this time around, but if PlayStation do have exclusives from first and third parties - and/or exclusive events and characters locked onto the PlayStation versions of third party games - lined up to the extent that we're getting something exclusive or which objectively has more content than versions on other systems every month or so, Xbox Series X is going to be dead on arrival, and potentially much worse off than the One moving forwards. If it's true it reads less like PlayStation trying to not just compete, and more like trying to push Xbox out of console manufacturing altogether. It's a very aggressive strategy. Again, I think that's if this is true, and of course assuming that these big publishers have actually agreed to varying degrees of exclusivity with PlayStation. I doubt we'll be waiting much longer to find out more. For anyone wondering about PlayStation Advantage, it's the branding which has been used in the recent marketing blast for Avengers: Curious times ahead. We already know about Deathloop and Ghostwire, and in a few years I'm sure Final Fantasy VII Remake Pt. 2, but what else might join this list I wonder? The rumoured Resident Evil 4 Remake, Street Fighter VI, a Monster Hunter World sequel, Final Fantasy XVI, Persona 6 (which definitely wouldn't be surprising, but I'm sure PlayStation would want to lock it in n)? It's weird to me that they'd want to get timed exclusivity or similar deals for something like Final Fantasy XVI when clearly the numbers are historically in PlayStation's favour in sales relative to Xbox's for the franchise, and I imagine it's a similar situation for the others I've mentioned, so that's why I think a deal like that reads less like trying to bring new more users in, and more like trying to just stop Xbox in their tracks as they try to grow their audience of Japanese software. But then I'm sure there will be deals with games like FIFA, Call of Duty and GTA VI like there has been this generation, it's just difficult to imagine them going any further with that on the western developer side of things.

Some third party mobile gaming accessories Xbox are promoting ahead of next month:

Solid result for City, Varane's mistakes cost Real big time, but I'm surprised City didn't capitalise more with how many chances Madrid were throwing their way. From watching the match I thought that Varane's errors felt less like nerves without Ramos around, and stem more from Militao's shakiness. They were hitting their stride going into half-time, but Madrid came out of the tunnel completely lacking that edge and desire, which was a real shame, especially when compared with their form going into this game. Can't fault Zidane since he's returned though, I think it's astounding that he managed to win La Liga with the weakest Real Madrid team in a long time. Something I can't go without mentioning are De Bruyne's two efforts from the corner flag. Clearly trying to unnerve Courtois and draw him in, but looking at how aggressive he was every single time the goal was in his sights, I think it's still safe to say he's not friends with the big guy. And I couldn't blame him. Pleasantly surprised by Lyon getting through, of course would have loved to see Ronaldo against this City team in the quarters, but there was a clearly more consistent team across those two legs. Really not looking forward to tomorrow for us. This return to Munich is lining up to be really bittersweet. And of course I would love to see Messi produce some magic against Napoli

Oh damn, the opening credits look awesome! Narrated by Charles Martinet too! Synopsis mentions which games they'll be diving into: Very much looking forward to the Final Fantasy episode, I'm 100% going to be watching this thanks for mentioning it Ashley, sure I would have missed it otherwise!

Well, guess that's finally confirmed then, after persisting rumours that a multiplayer Suicide Squad was on the way. More info coming at the DC Fandome. Now, where's Batman?

Seems to have gone away for me now, cheers Shorty

That's crazy good, and apparently it's the most digital sales they've had for a game (2 million units I think I read) too. As for your question: I would have to guess so, if that that report about XV saying that it broke even on its launch day with the five million units it shipped is anything to go by (in stark contrast to the 10 million I think Tabata mentioned was needed to break even before launch). That game was in development hell for the best part of a decade, and had a new engine built for it, so if there's any truth to that report I think FFVIIR should be fine. Also important to remember that that was multiplatform, too, whereas Final Fantasy VII Remake is exclusive for a year, so I'm sure there's some sort of financial deal going on between PlayStation and Square Enix for it to have at least broken even at this point. The only real hiccup with Remake's development was CyberConnect working on the project with oversight from SE, only to then be taken off it for SE proper to take charge. Since the move for Square Enix Japan as a whole - apart from Luminous Productions who are still trying to make sure Luminous Engine doesn't go to waste after their massive investment - to move AAA projects to Unreal Engine 4 (Dragon Quest XI was from the start; Kingdom Hearts 3 was moved to it by the end of production, as was Final Fantasy VII Remake), production seems to have gone much smoother. I think it's a sign going into this next generation that we can finally expect some more typical turnaround times in line with the rest of the industry on their AAA projects using Unreal Engine, and so I would be very surprised if any of Dragon Quest XII, Final Fantasy XVI, and Final Fantasy VII Remake Pt. 2 weren't released by the end of 2023. I think it's kind of hard to gauge profitability on this game too just because of how many high quality assets (in particular the character models of the main cast), mechanics, and animations will likely carry over to the next however many parts we end up getting. If I recall correctly, animation rigs for scenes from later parts were found in the datamine of the demo earlier this year too, so I would guess that a lot of ground moving forward has already had pre-production (of course made somewhat easier considering that this is a remake too). Because of this, I think it's difficult to hone in on this first part and judge it's profitability in a fair way, considering how much of the heavy lifting has likely already been done across the board. Even if they haven't broke even yet, I'm confident they will soon. The game has only just had its first drop in price on the PlayStation Store as part of this month's deals, and the closer we get to Christmas, the closer I'm sure it will get to a solid price for an impulse buy. Then next year there'll be the PC release, which I'm sure will sell really well too.

Yep, same issue here, and I think it's getting worse. It's gone from every hour or so to every fourth or fifth page I visit. Haven't tried my desktop yet, will probably do that tomorrow, but I've run some anti-virus scans and nothing is coming up, so I'm not sure if it's us or if security has just tightened a bit too much for the site? Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fixed sooner rather than later

Thought it showed really well and was a pleasant surprise during PlayStation's State of Play, I knew of the game but did not know of its art style, and having not played it before, I'm very interested. That commentary sounds awesome too. Also coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Linux, for those curious.

Easy Allies have put up a video about Luminous Productions, for those who would like to know a little more behind the team working on this game. Great stuff, guessing this is Damiani who worked on the script, think he's done a really good job! Always nice to see the Allies growing out and trying different things.

Pretty major update on Aeon Must Die considering we literally just saw it as part of the State of Play. Testimonials in the linked Dropbox are very concerning. Of course, grain of salt, will wait until we have more clarification, etc., but that sounds horrible, and puts this game straight into my 'Avoid' pile.

List of what was shown, let me know if I missed anything: Overall, a pretty solid State of Play, I think one of the best paced ones they've had so far not focusing on a particular title like the ones for TLOU2 and Ghost, especially considering the length of it. Those 40 minutes flew by, at least until Godfall showed up. Agree with @Happenstance that it just doesn't seem to demo well, I hope it finds its audience. Getting increasingly tempting to pick up a PSVR now Vader Immortal is around the bend, but going to continue trying to hold out until a PSVR2. For now A couple of missing games here which I found a little odd, like Avengers (why not mention the beta and Spidey exclusivity?) and Mafia Definitive Edition, which both come out next month. Atlus still MIA on bringing Persona 4 Golden to PS4 too, but that was a pie in the sky hope; I was more surprised by the lack of a 13 Sentinels demo, but then maybe these things are being kept until Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show. Now that's out of the way, hopefully we get something on the PS5 before the double hitter of DC Fandome and Gamescom rolls around?

Don't get me wrong, Godfall needed this deep dive. But I don't think it's showing very well, looks very generic to me. That's an interesting point, I do feel like PlayStation does offer a good diversity to their indie titles in particular, and I think it's one of the better things about the indie scene in general that older design styles are being revisited.

Yeah absolutely agreed, love the look of it.

Oh dang, Auto Chess on consoles. That's big.

Well get @drahkon in here, they're showing Genshin Impact! Also now we have Hitman Assassination Trilogy coming to PSVR, half expecting RE8 to get a PSVR mode announced here.

Was just thinking lately we hadn't seen Spelunky 2 for a while! When was the last time, PGW 2017 or something?

Yeah! Felt super low-key as a reveal which I think is a pretty big sell for PSVR. Also, as someone who has never played Braid before, I'm all about the Anniversary Edition. Did not know the game had an art style like that! But...was it originally released in 2008, meaning this is a 13th anniversary celebration of the game with it releasing next year? Seems really odd if so, but hey, I'm in.