Julius

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

It's funny reading through everyone's reactions, because as someone who hasn't played 3D World, I was also questioning why it looked so much like Odyssey Looks really good. Don't know if I'm in a rush to get it (still got to play Sunshine and Galaxy from 3D All-Stars), but I look forward to getting around to it...one day

Well here we go, looks like that Lucasfilm Games moniker is already coming into play! To address the elephant in the room: don't see Disney letting this be Xbox exclusive (unless they've given PlayStation something exclusive too), it just wouldn't make much sense financially. Pure speculation, but maybe the licensing agreement and Bethesda developing will mean that while it's on both platforms, but it will be available Day 1 on Game Pass? Then again, the deal doesn't finalise until June 2021, so who knows Also, MachineGames definitely the logical choice for shooting Nazis, though I do hope it's third person rather than first. Because a whip in first person seems like it would be difficult to get right?

Yeah, like @bob mentioned they used real-time CGI screens powered by Unreal Engine 4 a lot of the time for those backgrounds, officially dubbed 'Stagecraft' and unofficially dubbed 'The Volume' during production. It's definitely worth watching the BTS stuff on it, it's really interesting stuff. Though I still agree with you @Ganepark32, it looks really rough at times, especially in sandy environments I found, as well as with some of the droids and movement (start of the first episode felt a bit like Star Tours at times). Never mind how deep into the uncanny valley they go with some of the faces at times! Either way, glad you seemed to enjoy it for the most part

New Switch variant for Mario's 35th Anniversary:

Yeah, I hope so! Been a long while since I've played a Gran Turismo game, not since 3 A-Spec way back when I picked up my PS2 the year before the PS3 launched think this was only detailing the games included in the CES presentation. Which is why we're still waiting on that and Final Fantasy XVI I'll be surprised if Gran Turismo doesn't make it this year, to be honest. XVI is probably Q4 2021 if we're lucky, and Q1/Q2 2022 if we're not (I think the only reason we wouldn't see it release this year is because of COVID delays, because that aside, Unit III have been stupidly consistent with what they've churned out).

New trailer dropping tomorrow at 14:00 GMT: Pretty crazy that this game went quiet for so long. I know it's a port + additional content kind of deal, but still! Got to imagine that's part of the reason they announced the time that the trailer drops this time around, as opposed to just dropping it out of the blue.

The first time I actually noticed online everyone making a real fuss before the show about there being absolutely no PlayStation news at a CES, that you'd only be setting yourself up for disappointment, and we get this It's not a lot, but I'll take it! Out of the ones with specified release months, it's surprisingly the indie games which have my attention the most. Kena looks cosy as hell, Little Devil Inside looked really interesting to me when it was first revealed, and in Stray you get to be a cat surrounded by robots. What's not to like? Solar Ash is probably the one of the indie games that in least interested in, though it might be unfair of me to say that without having tried out Hyper Light Drifter. Hitman III is a pass from me for now, simply because I'd like to try the earlier games first. Destruction AllStars I might give a go, but with only myself and a friend in my online multiplayer group having PS5's at the moment, doubt it'll be something we put any real time into. Returnal I'm really intrigued by, and while I hope it does well, that price tag has me holding off until we know and see a bit more (and potentially until we get reviews). Deathloop's intriguing too, but we all know how busy spring can get, and with how little we currently know about this year's releases, I'm going to hold off to see if there's anything else around that time I might be more interested in. Ghostwire Tokyo had me as being in a few years back when it was first revealed at E3, but learning it was first-person put a bit of a damper on things for me. Ratchet & Clank and Horizon I'm definitely going to be in for (and God of War too, if it does make this year, but I don't think there's much rush). It looks a promising year with that lineup having something pretty much every month, that's for sure, should be another great year for gaming Oh, and wait, Pragmata got delayed to 2023 from 2022? I mean it's not unexpected, but still, weird they'd add that here. Got to imagine January 2022 is a placeholder for Athia because that thing seemed a ways off based on the trailer, surprised they'd add a specified year here, let alone a month, because again, that seems a super weird way in which to give this game a date. Then again, that thing has probably been in development 3-4 years at this point, so it's not totally crazy I guess. Imagine: XVI in 2021, Athia in 2022, VII Remake sequel in 2023? That'd be kind of nuts for Square