Julius

Not much of a surprise here, best launch in Xbox history: Solid job by Xbox!

Just watched it. The Photo Mode in this game looks gorgeous, but it commits the sin of doing something I'm going to find it very hard to go back to after Ghost of Tsushima: having to pause the game to then open Photo Mode. Just having to hit right on the D-Pad to instantly pause the game and jump into Photo Mode should be standard, in my opinion, for Sony's first party offerings (in instances where it isn't used in the game). It's much faster, which means you're more likely to capture the moment. It's the main reason I captured so many photos in Ghost of Tsushima (hundreds, even!): because it was just so easily accessible. I replayed Spider-Man recently and I don't remember any particular use for right on the D-Pad in that game, so it's a shame if it's not being used again here that it's not being utilised like how Tsushima managed it. I would take a lot more photos if this was more generally utilised, or if we could assign certain buttons to be used for Photo Mode if not, but otherwise, I'll probably top out at 50, at a push, in Miles Morales, when I would probably want to take way more.

Watched it last night and it's made me want to track down the Shadow of the Colossus one over the weekend, I really enjoyed watching it. And damn, I always somehow forget how crazy beautiful Shadow of the Colossus was. Mind you, I did play it on a standard PS4 with a HD TV... ...I think I need to play it again on PS5

I don't believe so, only upgrade paths seem to be for Nioh 2 Complete Edition (free upgrade to 2 Complete Edition Remastered) and Nioh 2 (paid upgrade to Remastered, access to DLC by those paid for on PS4). I guess this is a Spider-Man Remastered situation where they feel the original is justified being sold as a new item because of the 4K textures and boosted framerate, though of course that's only available with the Deluxe Edition at the moment, so I'm kind of surprised Nioh Remastered will be available by itself and not limited to being bundled with the Nioh Collection.

Yeah, if I'm remembering right, haven't they taken collision and hit box detection up to a pretty absurd degree? I know it's turn-based in battles now, but still, imagine that has to be pretty taxing on the hardware even in those battles and elsewhere, like in the mini games. Also I saw an animation of bread being eaten and holy cow, that's a solid animation and some good physics work. Someone taking a vest off on TLOU2 earlier this year, and their rope physics, and now this? Been a great year to see some strides in the animations and physics being used, I love it!

Mine arrived earlier today, I like the packaging and that's about all I can say about it, because same here, I really doubt I'm ever going to use it! Might just open it to feel what the controller is like, oh and to extract the Chromecast though. Maybe. going to cancel the subscription now it's here, because I nearly forgot, and doubt I'll remember if I leave it for later!

Launching 21st May 2021. More of a delay than I had expected, honestly.

Sucker Punch crushing it, reportedly over 5 million sold. Well deserved in my opinion, probably my favourite "traditional" open world (read: open world not called Breath of the Wild, I have issues with that game in a few places, but I loved the exploration aspect and just how open the world felt!), it's of my favourite games of the year so far. Awesome seeing it get a new lease of life with Legends too, though unfortunately I personally haven't put any time into it as I don't really have anyone to check it out with, but it looks like people have been having a lot of fun with it!

And so it begins... Still waiting on the Media Remote and Charging Station, but I don't mind waiting for those. Couldn't resist opening and getting a feel for the DualSense, and it feels really good. Much more natural fit in the hands, feels like the R2 and L2 triggers flair out a bit more which feels nicer, L1 and R1 look substantially bigger to me too. And I like the additional grip to the controller and sticks. Looking forward to seeing how the triggers feels with the motors! Does feel like it comes together a bit abruptly at the end of the grips, the parts don't sit completely flush. Probably the only thing I'd say isn't absolutely ideal from just a feel perspective? But it's not like it's a problem, either. It's going to be a looooooooong 7 days.

Have tracking info now for everything arriving tomorrow, so that's nice. On the other hand, still haven't heard back from GAME about delivery for the console changing from Royal Mail to Yodel, and looking on Twitter/ResetEra, I genuinely don't expect to. Hundreds of instances I've read now where people have paid for DPD/Royal Mail and been charged for it but it's been changed to Yodel without any confirmation, and GAME seemingly haven't got back to anyone. You would think that someone over there would have cottoned on by now. I raised a ticket yesterday morning and DM'd them on Twitter, but looking at their site for contact details, there's seemingly no other way to contact them: in their infinite wisdom, they no longer have a customer service number you can call as they have transitioned to working from home, and their support page points you to the live chat on their website, which is absolutely nowhere to be seen. Part of me remains hopeful that it's an error across the board, especially seeing as all accessories and games are still being shipped by DPD and Royal Mail, as was originally the case. The other part of me is designed to figuring out whether my PS5 turns up in pieces, or if it even turns up at all. And then there's the optimist in me, too, somewhere back there, hoping I get one of the few Yodel drivers who actually does their job. Going to be an unnecessarily stressful next 7 days or so waiting to find out what's actually going on. UPDATE: check Twitter for the 40th time today for an update on this, and of course there's a page hidden on the GAME site somewhere about this, which someone had to do some digging for. Seems like all of those charged now, from what I can tell, are the first wave of pre-orders from 23:00 on the night of the September event...and we're the ones who have had Yodel dumped on us. A 1 in 3 chance and I end up with by far the worst option. Don't even have the option for DPD anymore. Woo. Well, I at least hope everyone else enjoys their PS5 next week

Digital Foundry deep dive. It's long. Very long

Nominees coming next week:

Same thing with me, having not played up until the more recent Yakuza entries I'm going to have to force myself to be patient. And yeah, even though I'll be waiting for that next gen upgrade in March, I'm after that PS4 version so I've got them all in a similar case. I don't understand why SEGA insist on putting out Yakuza in steelbooks at launch, but I guess it's a great way to teach me patience

Cries in Europe while waiting for the PS5

Phil Spencer has played Elden Ring.

Some cool insight from Team Asobi on the PlayStation Blog about how they set out to fully utilise the DualSense's new and unique features. Also seem to be hinting at more Astro being on the way, heck yeah! Final paragraph:

For anyone who is a YouTube Premium member and has been since prior to November 6th, you can claim a free Stadia Premiere Edition. Instructions on how to claim here (but you should get a pop-up when you open YouTube, that's how I found out). Mainly in it for the Chromecast Ultra, but a neat deal nonetheless (I got a Nest Mini last year around this time from them too). Depending on when it arrives, might try a few minutes of some games out, though I did just try Superhot on my phone and the act of spinning slowly seems to cause a bit of stutter.

Well, while I'm still waiting to hear back from GAME about who is going to be actually delivering the console, they've just taken payment for it. So, yay? This ResetEra thread seems to suggest everyone's delivery courier/service has changed to Yodel, so I wonder if it might be a system issue? Because there are people they've charged for delivery who have also been downgraded. Seeing more tweets about it pop up, but nothing from GAME yet to anyone in terms of a response. Probably still overwhelmed by today's Xbox orders. Maybe. Sucks to read. ShopTo are usually really great, hence why they're so trusted (myself included), then they manage to completely bottle the next gen launches.

Haha yep, and leave them out in the rain. Or don't deliver them at all. Joys. Then again, I don't have a fence for them to throw it over as I've moved into an apartment...so that's a win, right? Unless they just throw it at the wall of the building instead... sent their Help Desk a DM on Twitter too, we'll see how that goes. Otherwise, GAME have been fine, and it's been going as smoothly as I could have wanted it to. Processed payments for my DualSense, Pulse 3D headset, and Media Remote over the weekend, should be shipping today or tomorrow. And ShopTo have processed Miles Morales and Demon's Souls, so those should be here in the next few days too. Only thing which might not arrive from them this week could be the DualSense charging station, but I don't really mind waiting on that anyways!

I don't believe that's true, at least not in this instance, as my original order had Royal Mail Tracked 24 as the delivery type for my entire order - and still is for my accessories. The console is the only item to have its delivery type and courier changed. And, like I said, this has happened even to those paying for DPD 24 and other delivery methods. And I went with them because that's one of the places where pre-orders went up first, straight after the PS5 September event, but above all else, because of the Royal Mail delivery option. I live a 5 minute walk from my local Royal Mail depot, and have never had an issue with them; the latest I've had something arrive is about 13:00, and I'm at work until 15:30 on launch day anyways. Royal Mail is definitely the best option for my location, so that's why I stuck with them. I had initially hoped to get one with ShopTo, but they kind of seemingly blundered their weird queue system, and in hindsight I probably could have nabbed another backup with Amazon or someone else (I mean, I was keeping an eye on it all for a friend anyway)... But it is what it is from what I've seen elsewhere with the updates on the Series X | S deliveries due today, it doesn't look like a different retailer would've necessarily done any better. Out of my hands now anyways, just got to try to stay optimistic I guess. But, based on my past experiences with Yodel, that's not easy

And the moment of worry and stress has arrived. Because of course it has. GAME has changed my console delivery courier/type from Royal Mail Tracked 24 to...Yodel (Free Next Day Year Delivery) Sent a ticket in, hope I hear back soon. I've had a bit of a nose around and from what I can see, it seems the change has been made to a number of other people's accounts, even those who paid for things like DPD Tracked 24. I'm really hoping it's some type of error, or something they can look into, otherwise, I don't really rate my chances of it arriving next Thursday

Hope everything goes smoothly for those of you expecting a new Xbox Series X | S to turn up today, enjoy!

Looks like we'll be able to export PS4 saves to the new PS5 remaster after all:

Launch trailer is out, and I am not going to be watching it. Warning: apparently there are some pretty big spoilers for things we haven't yet seen from the game in the trailer.