Julius

Some hands-on impressions coming out of Gamescom for this: One of the things mentioned in this round of previews that I don't think we'd heard about before – a battle music select which includes Final Fantasy music. From RPGSite: Love FF OSTs...but man, that's a very bizarre decision. Maybe as a post-game unlock I could see it, but yeah, very weird.

Think this is the first time we've had anyone in the industry talk about whispers going around for something in September beyond mere speculation? So colour me curious. I want something left field which is going to drive people up the wall. Partner Showcase for the Switch 2 with absolutely no Nintendo first-party, anyone? Ah yes, just in time to announce Dragon Questier III HDer-2Dest S: Definitivive Edition being in the works for Switch 2

Opening movie for Episode Aigis:

The PS Blog has been updated with some new details on the game, which alongside the previews I would assume makes up the further info @Ike mentioned was on the way! All looks and sounds incredible. It's a good job we have a good number of games to tide us over for the next 2½ months, if only to help make the wait for this somewhat bearable

A few more hands-in previews have come out following the end of an embargo for time spent with the game at Gamescom: Some really positive previews, very much looking forward to this!

Trying to figure out whether I try to squeeze one last game in between now and Friday or just watch some films/TV in the meantime...

Huh, did someone post in this thread? The latest post I can see is the one I posted with the Mr Bean middle finger GIF...

It's definitely an odd one, and I think is really just another example of PlayStation not understanding this GAAS market they've seemed so desperate to break into. I can't imagine that anyone with their head screwed on even slightly at Firewalk would've thought that the way this game was being released and marketed was a strong sell. Funnily enough, I was listening to a podcast just earlier day from Easy Allies all the way back from April 2016 and they were talking about Paragon, and obviously at the time of recording this being not too far out from Overwatch's release at the time, they rightly said the pitch just wasn't enough of a differentiator from other MOBAs like Overwatch, which did do such a strong job in gameplay but also how easily readable those differences were to people who had only seen gameplay and not got their hands on the game. I think it's applicable here too: these games simply aren't for me and a lot of other people - and I'd argue that the people that it is for are probably already off fully cemented in some other such game anyways - but from the outside looking in, I just don't think that it did a good enough job of showcasing why it was different and, to quote Ben Moore from EZA [again, 2016, talking about Paragon], "you are justifying your existence to me"; it might be incredibly reductive and unfair to the devs to say this, but the general audience reaction when this turned up was "oh, hey, PlayStation are trying to make Overwatch", and so I'm not at all surprised that things have gone the way they have. That the game is then a paid-for product and not free-to-play when Overwatch 2 is? It's asking for trouble. And again, I'm not really convinced that was Firewalk's call to make. I mean, just look at PUBG - it's maybe still a pretty big game these days, but Fortnite dwarfed it in so many ways with its Battle Royale and how it evolved and adapted so quickly, but a very strong and compelling reason for that was the fact that it was F2P whereas PUBG was not. Hell, I'm pretty sure that to this day PUBG is still paid-for? I'm very interested to see what PlayStation's take away is from this year, if there even is one. I'm a little scared for Astro Bot, because some corners of the internet are treating it like the game and poster child which is going to make a statement and singlehandedly force PlayStation's hand to rethink their stance on Japanese studios and smaller games, but it's been a year with a monumental GAAS success in the form of Helldivers 2 which absolutely no-one saw coming, and the unfortunately disappointing reception to and sales of Concord. It has been a very light year for PlayStation otherwise, with no major AAA effort from their own studios - Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin being published partnerships on their end - besides The Last of Us Part II Remastered at the very start of the year, to the point I'm honestly not really sure what PlayStation is supposed to take away from this year when it comes to SIE published games? Besides the already widely agreed upon "man, this GAAS initiative needs another look and some serious consideration"?

An important update on Concord from Firewalk Studios The game is going offline September 6th while they figure things out, sales to cease immediately and full refunds will be offered for the game. Holy damn. Assuming that this doesn't mean Firewalk gets straight up closed by PlayStation, I'm guessing this means a transition to free-to-play and microtransactions?

Well, seems like we have the timely follow-up Dring's earlier report on the Ubisoft end, with shares losing 10% in the last two days and Ubi nearing a 10-year low in the Paris Stock Exchange. Welp, yikes, and jinkies, that ain't a great look any way you try to spin it.

Here's a primer video on the game from producer Shinichi Tatsuke: Love videos like this. Doubt I pick this up myself anytime soon - got a looooooooot of 2024 releases I want to catch up on by year's end, and a goof number of those are already big ol' JRPGs - but badass title and good communication? Think this might be one of the better handled Romancing Saga marketing campaigns we've had in the last few years, so kudos S-E and team

The image isn't working for me so my head canon is that it was this one

Seems like street date has been broken by some retailers over here in the UK – so, best to be wary of potential things being spoiled (in case you weren't already), I know it can be a bit weird for a game like this but cameos and the potential for certain franchise characters meeting up I imagine people not wanting to be spoiled. More importantly, someone's confirmed that this game will have three save files. My least favourite part of Playroom BY FAR was the fact that the only way to play through it again on my PSN profile would be to delete/upload my original save data, so I'm over the moon Also, obligatory: (technically less than that now though!)

Wasn't really sure where to put this, but there's been a bit of a shake-up at the top of Nintendo of Europe as President Stephan Bole has stepped down, with Luciano Pereña taking the reins. There have been some other leadership changes made, too. From Nintendo Life: So...does anyone actually remember ever seeing Bole turn up anywhere of note? I remember Shibata used to show his face from time to time such as at the Switch Presentation in January 2017, but can't remember seeing Bole's face anywhere before after looking him up

Feel like it's a tough one to get a read on considering the might of digital sales in the UK these days, not to mention Ubisoft+ Premium having Early Access bundled in, etc. That being said, I'm still a bit surprised. I know they said before that they were ramping up marketing and spending more than they ever have before, and I defended them when they announced it because I didn't think it would pick up until August, but anecdotally, I just haven't seen it. I don't even think it's down to the reviews, though perhaps the Early Access word of mouth has only strengthened the general "mixed bag" outlook on the game (even if I personally still think this game has got off very lightly, all things considered), what with the bugs and it just feeling very uninspired (or, perhaps, inspired by too many different places). I think it's simply a case, honestly, of this not being an Outlaws game which goes all the way (a la GTA), and so it perhaps lacks that appeal when compared to a generally linear game where you get to play as a Jedi with a lightsaber, and not being marketed well enough. Perhaps it's the pricing, too – it's a known quantity that Ubisoft games get steep discounts just a few months after release, and so asking for £70 for a game which has perfectly timed its release to be £30 or less during Black Friday sales was always asking a lot. I'm not sure I'd feel confident in basing this off of this info coming out, but I do also wonder if we've just hit another strange time for Star Wars where the general conversation just isn't there, perhaps with there being too much content all at once. This isn't the first time that Star Wars has released a game so close to a Disney+ show, what with Fallen Order coming out during the initial S1 run of The Mandalorian and Jedi Survivor coming off the back of The Mandalorian S3 last year, but this is the first time it's happened during the summer and it's off the back of a very middling show in The Acolyte. There were other reasons for Solo's unfortunate failure, but reactions to The Last Jedi being so contentious was certainly one of them. Guess we'll just need to wait and see what happens with upcoming Star Wars projects, though there aren't any ready to come out hot on the heels of this. Off the top of my head we have Respawn's strategy game which we know nothing about, Respawn's Jedi trilogy closer (which, let's be honest, will probably not hit until 2026/2027 towards the end of this gen), Eclipse which seems stuck in limbo because Quantic Dream, the KOTOR Remake which seems very unlikely to ever see the light of day, and Amy Hennig's second attempt at a Star Wars game with Skydance. Yeah, not exactly inspiring much confidence in me right now UPDATE:

Kojima has taken up comedy classes since leaving Konami or is this Liquid Kojima..?

Per the PS Blog, a special celebration will be held inside Astro's Playroom in the hours leading up to release: Absolutely love this!

Another one from Katamari Damacy That's the stuff

Watched those previews today and I've got to say, the game is kind of looking gorgeous (overwhelming UEness of some of it aside) and I'm actually pretty happy it's keeping the mechanics and controls very close to the original. Really dig the easy swapping through types of camo too. Especially after playing through certain stealth sections of Outlaws this past week I found myself craving this level of stealth work (and a remake of MGS, of course), I think it's the right route to take with a very faithful remake in this instance rather than taking the REmake route or, perhaps more extreme, the VII Remake project route. I think it if it conserves the strengths of the original game while being faithful to Kojima's original ideas - and I'm really quite pleased to hear about Kojima's name being plastered all over it as well as the team apparently having a lot of respect for Kojima's work - and is basically a pretty, modern take on the game, then I can convince my friends to pick it up – which I think is going to be much easier to do than convince them to pick up the Master Collection. There aren't that many people who play games my age and younger who are willing to go back to games which are two decades old, and I do think this is clearly targeted at them. I also think doing it this way, rather than diving into the REmake methodology, might help garner some trust in Virtuous, because the next game after this to remake is either going to be Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid (doubt they'll touch Peace Walker because of how different its flow is and goals are, or Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain stuff because, well, they don't need remakes) and so a solid but faithful Snake Eater remake which gives them the tools and foundation to start making remakes of those games could be a smart move for the franchise with where it's at and also not needing to make wholly original stories which depart from Kojima's works. In terms of keeping the franchise as a whole relevant in this day and age? I honestly think it's probably the most respectful way they can go about it – and worst case, the originals are still there, and are readily available at that. Not saying I'm all-in on it just yet, and I think we need to see more of the game with some raw gameplay footage to instill more confidence (even with these previews we're still seeing a lot of recycled footage from trailers and gameplay from the original to get certain points across) – and with Konami being set to turn up at Tokyo Game Show next month, as well as the PS Blog recently revealing that we'll learn the game's release date by the end of the year ("release date [is] to be revealed later this year."), hopefully we won't find ourselves waiting too long. Fingers crossed, eh?

You just had to drag this back up and hurt me today, huh?

Launch trailer: So close I can nearly taste it really hoping we get some cool team-ups here between the Bots to have some franchises cross streams. Just seen that Playroom has been updated too, guessing that's the final character?

New video on the Still World:

Almost forgot to share, but Maximilian Dood was over the moon about this getting announced: Man, ya never know just how much someone's into Tetris until a collection like this happens, ya know?