Julius

Full interview with Epic for context: The absolutely required viewing Digital Foundry breakdown is up: It's kind of crazy that, at least from what I've seen everywhere, this tech demo has a much better reception than Xbox's game reveals last week. Sony are absolutely in control of their messaging at this point, and are nailing it - what could you give more confidence than having the creator of the Unreal Engine, Tim Sweeney, say that "Sony's PS5 storage system is absolute world class. Best on any platform. Better than any high-end PC. It's a dream come true"? It inspires a sort of confidence in what Mark Cerny was talking about a couple of months ago being the right direction for platform architecture going into this next gen. Imagine that once the Ghost of Tsushima State of Play is out of the way tomorrow, we're going to finally see some more about PS5 and it's games in the next two or three weeks. Very excited.

Previews and 15 minutes of gameplay going up in most places: And Gamexplain spoiling us with the soundtrack comparisons... Found myself just skipping around some of the gameplay videos to get a better feel for the world and the soundtrack. Yeah, like I could be much more excited to dive into this for my first time looks and sounds incredible, really excited for the 29th! Nearly made it!

Some official wallpapers...for your desktop have been put up on Nintendo's website. They're all either promotional art or in-game screenshots. Pokémon Sword and Shield definitely come off the worst of those. Xenoblade Chronicles looks like it was made to be seen on as desktop wallpapers.

Okay, so some screenshots of the first Mafia game looks incredible. Definitely remade. Safe to say I'm in now, if I wasn't before.

Okay, so it's an Unreal Engine demo running on PS5 and talk about their new tech. Looks fantastic, always love watching a good tech demo. Not a fan of the carefully stepping through a tight space, though. I know it's a very, very high end tech demo, much more complex than most games will be for some time, but man, you probably shouldn't be showing off a loading screen transition into a cutscene in this thing. Honestly, this got me much more excited for next gen than what Xbox showed off last week. EDIT: And Unreal Engine 5 confirmed, coming next year.

More info coming next Tuesday. Recently finished the second game, haven't played the first even though I've heard great things, and haven't got any experience with the third either (about which I've heard some not-so-great things).

Don't worry, Stadia will probably be next, if that makes you feel any better

PS4 has now shipped over 110.4 million units worldwide. Some more highlights from PlayStation's end of FY briefing...

Speaking of...some more gameplay with Tony over on Jack Black's YouTube channel:

Played a few more hours of this this evening, got to the end of Chapter 9, still having a good time with it. Chapter 8 with the sneaking around in an SRPG was a welcome change of pace after Chapter 7 (particularly loved the character development in Ch. 8, with the treatment of the enemy soldier, Rosie and Largo starting to come around to Isara, etc.), and Chapter 9's battle was unique compared to the rest of the battles so far. The variety in map layout, squad builds, and main objective in each battle is different almost every time, and it gives the game a good flow in this regard. Again, love just how much work has been put in outside of the battles, such as with the inclusion of the, Audience Hall, which lets be frank is wholly unnecessary, but a neat touch nonetheless.

What's really weird to me is that Keighley's event tomorrow is an interview. If they're related at all (which they probably aren't), then I think there's probably only one scenario which suits it. I mean, considering how PlayStation have handled the reveal of everything for the PS5 so far - the logo, those WIRED articles, the controller? - would it really be that insane tomorrow if they revealed the design of the console itself in an interview with Cerny or someone? And then having some gameplay of a game like Demon's Souls and the announcement of the PS5 blowout in June, which lets face it, is looking to be a much stronger focus on software than previous events of the same nature? I don't actually think this would be that insane...if this was going to be delivered in any medium other than a video call. Unless they've got something pre-recorded? It's just really weird. The handling of everything else so far shows that they could just stick an image of the console out there on their MySpace page and have it catch fire. The only other interview I could possibly imagine Geoff hyping to this level would be something like an interview with Kojima. But there's no way he's prepared to be teasing something yet... right? Watch this all totally be off the mark and be an interview with someone like Reggie announcing GameStop's big push to move into the modern era or something.

Okay, so Geoff isn't trying to temper expectations ahead of tomorrow's event like he was for today's. And GameStop Italy is teasing news of a returning PS exclusive franchise coming tomorrow... Hmm.

The announcement was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2! Big get by Keighley.

Revealed during today's Summer Game Fest! Brought into the modern era by Vicarious Vision, who handled the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Original maps, skaters, and songs from the original soundtrack, and new features like online multiplayer.

New Time Attack/Challenge Mode?

Stream's up for the first reveal of Summer Game Fest:

Well turns out it's launching along with the PS5 (go figure!), so not sure if a mod wants to rip this and the discussion onto the PS5 thread. Will feature on the boxes of games, and of course is for all SIE Worldwide Studios projects. Guessing that this means no more of this? Interesting follow-up article with senior VP and head of marketing for SIE, Eric Lempel, over on gamesindustry.biz

Wasn't sure if to stick this here or in the PS5 thread, but anyways... Well, that came out of the blue, even if it makes total sense. Major Marvel Studios intro vibe though...

Ubisoft already taking about DLC... Always find it weird when DLC is announced so far in advance, but hey, if it works

It's always nuts to me just how much Ubisoft has in the works. Off the top of my head this year we've got Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, I'm guessing still that Roller Champions game too? A little research shows they also have 2020 plans for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Quarantine and The Settlers. Then you've got stuff we know are in the works but without any set date, like Beyond Good and Evil 2, Gods & Monsters, and Skull & Bones. And then you've got rumoured stuff which actually seems feasible. Prince of Persia revival? Splinter Cell revival? Mario+Rabbids sequel? And I'm probably either missing something, or they're going to reveal something brand new when this streams. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've got in store for us! And yeah, totally agree @Ganepark32. The reveals and announcements are going to be scattered all throughout the summer, so I won't feel the need to wake up earlier than normal for work or go to sleep stupidly late, because it's not all just shoved pretty carelessly into one week (if that, if we're being honest). The ESA got to dictate the E3 schedule, and obviously being in LA, the US and closer timezones than our own are prioritised; what we've got this time aroind gives developers and publishers a great chance to get a load of people on board, completely control their messaging and not feel like they're going to be old news in a few hours, and potentially at times which are generally agreeable for most of the gaming audience. I'm very excited

Continued with this tonight, getting through to the end of Chapter 7, the desert duel. Holy smokes, I'm not sure if I would call it a difficulty spike necessarily (because once you figure out what you need to do it's manageable), but the game went from a fun little strategic time to hell on earth for my first few tries there. Makes sense in terms of who you're facing in the story, but in terms of gameplay, it felt like a lot being thrown at me with very little time to stick and getting destroyed as a result. I know this is only my second SRPG, but still, damn, that was pretty brutal until I figured out exactly how to handle it. Don't even talk to me about those pillars, and some of them not falling down...ahhhhhh. Really weird hit boxes at times in this game too. Admittedly, I think some of the difficulty was added by myself, and other than some shakeups in gameplay, came down more to my Squad set-up - didn't have enough Lancers on the field, and it was definitely the first time so far in the game where I felt certain classes would be absolutely useless (here it was the Sniper). I knew that there was permadeath to some extent in the game, but I willingly sacrificed a member or two of Squad 7 at the end there to push through to the victory anyway, so was pleasantly surprised to see the guys I'd left for dead back in the barracks. Good to know that because they were still on the field at the end of the battle, they weren't gone for good - was hoping for this sort of logic to be followed, considering how similar things have been handled in the rest of the game. Hopefully they don't hold a grudge That weird experience of mine with Chapter 7 aside (and now that I'm mentally prepared for something like it, probably won't encounter a similar sort of surprise jump again), I'm still really enjoying my time with it. Story's starting to pick up, got a real focus on the main cast, and again, I love just how much effort has been put into fleshing out the world.

Keighley always cracks me up. Plus, his honesty is always appreciated.

Hey, what's in here? Not wanting to burn myself out on - and perhaps more importantly not being in the mood for - starting my next adventure with a certain bandana-wearing hero, and after playing a lot of action games as of late (some not especially great...or good. At all, really), I wanted a drastic change of pace, something a bit slower and more methodical. One of the games which would have fit the bill I ordered from CeX, but it still hasn't turned up; however, this did, so I started earlier this evening. Just under five hours in and having just finished the end of Chapter 5, I'm having a blast. Definitely the change of pace I was looking for. Love the painterly watercolour art style they've got going on, and the scrapbook look of it all too. Flipping through the book and being brought back out to it after a short cutscene or an intense battle just gives you a chance to breathe, and I reckon would make it ideal for shorter gameplay sessions. The game has been great fun from a strategy perspective, the mix of SRPG tactics and basic third-person shooter mechanics make it pretty easy to get into but offers such a wide range of choice, and though I'm still just finding that I'm settling into it, it's proven a great time so far. The music has been good so far (not quite great, but well, not every soundtrack has to be!), but I think what steals my attention here is the attention to the world. What is effectively World War II in an alternate Earth is interesting enough as it is, but the depth added to characters and events in some of the book notes and newspaper articles is way beyond what I was expecting from this game. It just never crossed my mind that they'd put it in, but it makes perfect sense. The characters so far have been interesting, though of course it's still early days, but there have been one or two hints at the exploration of racism with the "dark hairs" being frowned upon, and I'm curious to see how the game handles that, and potentially some other heavy topics associated with war. Choosing exactly what you invest your experience and money earned from battle into is also incredibly gratifying. Can't wait to put some more time into this tomorrow!