Julius

It's annoying because you'd imagine their video game fans to some extent to be in the loop, but they're clearly not a great side of video games. Scalping sucks. I think scalpers are my biggest concern when it comes to securing a pre-order, and they're why I would want PlayStation to drop pre-orders at the end of tomorrow's Showcase instead of giving us a date and time for them to drop like Xbox have (in Xbox's case I think it's fine though, seeing as I don't think we've heard about any production issues on their side). I really don't like the idea of giving scalpers a heads-up when it comes to stuff like this, but announcing a date and time is how you guarantee record breaking pre-order numbers, so

Playing the version available on PS4, so I'm guessing like with VII it's a port of the PC remaster?

Sony has cut estimated PS5 production by 4 million units through to the end of the financial year (March 31st 2021) due to a low SOC yield, according to Bloomberg. Also have predictions a bit lower than what was generally expected. Key takeaways: - 15 million units by March 2021 is now 11 million - SoC yields are improving but not quite where they want them - Japanese analyst predicting $449, $399 (though I think this might be more a prediction of how low Sony might be able to go? Not sure) Best get those fingers warmed up for the second those pre-orders go up, if there's any truth to this. Though that's still an insane amount of consoles by March!

Retail boxes: Looking clean. Very easy to distinguish between the two, good idea I think to go with different colours for them at launch.

Put a couple more hours in tonight, pretty sure I'm quite close to the end now. Tomorrow the plan is to grind for a bit, mostly for cash to splash on hunting down/synthesising better weapons (by the way, synthesis is great!) And to get my main party (Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, and Steiner) to a solid level count. Got one or two more abilities I want to learn before this final push too. Think there's a very good chance I finish this tomorrow night, unless something totally unexpected happens with the pacing and story direction! Can't wait

I guess this could belong here? The Guardian's Keza McDonald has an article up with Shigeru Miyamoto, Kenta Motokura, Takashi Tezuka and Yoshiaki Koizumi looking back on Mario for his 35th Anniversary.

So far this is only for the US, but Sony are going to be using air freight to ship the PS5 (unclear if this is supplementary to sea freight). I would imagine this is to ensure as much stock is available as possible for launch, but still, seems a drastic move. Then again, if it ensures there's stock for launch (and with them likely to sell record numbers), I'm sure it will be worth it. There was that report a few months back that they wanted 5 million units shipped by September (this would be for launch), which went on to say they wanted a further 5 million shipped by December. I don't think it's too crazy to think these air freight shipments are bolstering the launch stock with the second round of production. Which is to say that Sony is confident at hell, and rightly so. I wasn't playing games much when the PS4 and Xbox One launched (and certainly wasn't keeping up with the news on it), but I don't think it's crazy to expect the PS5 to dwarf the sales of the PS4. What little I can remember going into this gen was all the hot buzz around "the death of video game consoles" (yikes), and the narrative is completely different now. Even back then I remember reading about stock shortages. Makes one wonder.

Using Baba O'Riley but not hearing the lyrics is such a waste. Such a strange but exciting ad. Eric Lempel's interview with Variety. For me it just evokes memories of CSI: Miami, but okay

Yeah, I'm going to be passing mine on. My younger brother is going to be getting mine the weekend after the PS5 launches. He loves his Switch (to my annoyance it's become a Fortnite machine, but hey, it's his time ) but he barely has any friends who own one. Social gaming is much more of a thing for him growing up than it was for me (I'm introverted so I guess that would have happened either way) so if it means he doesn't feel left out, I think it's the best thing to do. Plus, assuming there are some titles that are cross-gen online NOT TITLED FORTNITE, it'd be nice to game with him now I've moved out. He had been thinking about getting a next-gen Xbox a few months back, so I toyed with the idea of picking him up a Series S for Christmas, as and when that got announced, but checked in with him the other day and he's fine waiting, because he's interested in playing games I already own like VII Remake and Spider-Man. Which gives me an excuse to post this... ...always gives me a good laugh the biggest downside to both sides doing well is that I think it's going to be a while before we see something like this again! I'll see! I'm out until 20:00/20:30, so going to be cutting it close if there's any traffic around. I'd love to, but I also treat these live events like football matches (if it's something I have interest in, anyways), and barely look at my phone, so you'd probably get a couple of responses out of me early on - "Well that looks great", "THE UI LOOKS SO CLEAN", "AND SO IT BEGINS", "Shu has a quarantine beard?!" - before I got a bit quieter as the show went on. Also like taking some time to digest things where I can, though if FF turns up I guarantee you'll see a "YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS" equivalent in here at least

Damn, $399 would be crazy!

CG short is up. Paging @Ronnie! Looks absolutely phenomenal. Holy hell, this must have cost a fortune! Reminds me of the CG shorts for The Old Republic. I know they said CG before, but still, I wasn't expecting movie quality CG. Genuinely looks better than some scenes in the more recent films at times. Stunning environments and vehicles, still not nailed faces and some surfaces in CG (the TIE helmet in the cockpit and the TIE surface when whipping around come to mind), but seriously, incredible. Awesome use of the Imperial March too, the music really tied this thing together in a big way. Praying there's another one!

Great post @Will, also completely agree @Rummy and @Goafer. I haven't always been a big gamer, but I still ended up growing up in a household with a PS1 and PS2! Meanwhile my friend who loved the PS2 ended up with a 360 and has practically written off PlayStation since, and brings it up whenever I see him...no idea why (guess we were just that prime generation for Xbox vs PlayStation console war discussions), and think it's a shame if anything, because I think he'd love a lot of the stuff on the PS4. Same goes for my friends who play exclusively on PC and question why I play games on PlayStation. I can't empathise with that mindset, because games come first for me. I think it's the same for most of us here, though of course being a Nintendo-oriented forum most here have a Nintendo console, but still then I don't think it's this blind loyalty, even during the Wii U. I'm loyal to the games and IP's I want to play above all else, brand loyalty - and the console it ends up on - be damned. If a bunch of the games I love playing ended up on Xbox in some exclusive capacity, then I'd be there. My prediction on price is going to be $499/€499/£449, to match the Series X on all fronts (had said £499 before but that's because I was expecting them to have the same figure across the board, which I don't think will happen now Xbox are coming in at £449). Still wouldn't surprise me if it ended up at £499 with the same prices in the US and Europe, and that's what I'm preparing myself for the most, but honestly, I think it would still be a justified price tag. EDIT: I forgot the Digital Edition. My bad. $399/€399/£399. To Will's point though, it is important to have competitive prices, but there are so many new factors this time around too with a mid-gen upgrade being available for the first time. I feel like the overwhelming majority of the install base on the PS4 doesn't have a Pro, and still require that upgrade - for me, hearing my console wanting to take off during FFVIIR, TLOU2, and Ghost of Tsushima, means I'm going to be there Day 1, even if there are only a couple of titles at launch. This is the reason I've been holding out on a Pro, and I imagine it's a similar situation for many around the world who didn't pick a mid-gen upgrade. What Xbox is offering is definitely enticing though, and those console and Game Pass prices have me ready to pick one up as and when that killer app arrives, and once Xbox Game Studios has kicked production into high gear. I don't think it will be a very competitive generation if you're looking purely at the number of units sold, because I'm expecting PlayStation to run away with it, unless they shoot themselves in the face instead of the foot and do something beyond stupid: £600 launch price (I'd still get one but it wouldn't be a smart move right now), completely nuking their first party offerings (I don't even know how this would happen - pulling funding?) or conceding their relationships in Japan with companies like Square Enix, and allowing Xbox to step in. To put it blunt: anything that would get Jim Ryan sacked. But still, I think by other metrics - hours played is something I wish we could get accurate figures for - Xbox is going to be really competitive this gen, and I think they'll get some mindshare back, even if it doesn't mean hardware sales, thanks to Game Pass. It's clear that that's their main objective this generation, so as long as they deliver on that front, I think we can safely say it's going to be a great generation for both manufacturers. Can't wait until Wednesday

Overview trailer: Guess they had to keep the Direct VO guy in work somehow

I guess this belongs here more than the Series X thread? Over 150 games will be available through Cloud Gaming when Xbox Game Pass Ultimate beta launches on Android tomorrow. I'm just saying, with Yakuza now available on the go, there can be no more excuses

I'm curious to see if it's a 1:1 across the board, or if it's going to end up being say £449 in the UK as opposed to £499, just considering how Xbox has priced their next gen consoles in the UK. Not convinced they need to do that to be honest, but just interested to see how it plays out

Yeah, I installed that on my SNES Mini (as well as IV and V after picking them up on the PS Store, just so I felt like they'd got their fair share out of me), but figured first time through I'd rather stick to the original version. I read through the notes on that and the IV Namingway Edition though, and man do they have some good changes from a QoL perspective. Nice! I'm saving the Plat for closed to Part II, just as an excuse to make sure I go through Remake again always wanted to check out Crisis Core but haven't got a PSP, hope they port it one day!

Yeah that's fair enough, appreciate a good JRPG grind it's funny because the only other turn-based FF's I've played so far had speed up options (the PS4 releases of VII and IX) so VI felt strange to go back to in that regard, but grinding is like comfort food so I didn't mind at all. I've read mixed things about the PSP port, I think it's based on the PS1 version which was included in Final Fantasy Anthology, and if so is infamous for its poor load times. I played it on the SNES Mini (basically picked it up just for that - worth it), but honestly the only other modern alternative that comes to mind is mobile...and those sprites are disgusting. And this is exactly why we need a I - VI Collection for modern consoles. Especially now that VII - XV is on/coming to everything (minus XI as it's a shuttered MMO; XIII because of...issues with PC port hinting that there are going to be problems with porting it in general; and XIV because MMO) - it's time! I just hope they use the original sprites, or otherwise just polish them a bit, because man does Square Enix make some poor decisions on that front with the modern sprites (FF on mobile and the recent DQ I - III ports).

I thought about that too, so if that's the case, they should've just jumped ahead to Six or even Ten if they did want numbers (and if not, should've just started with Xbox X and S imo, still no need for the 'Series'). Or give it an actual name, because we're bound to end up with numbers again anyways (X2 and S2, etc.). Could've just stuck with Scarlet and Lockhart, or heck why not do the colours of the rainbow? Infinity? Zero to denote a restart? And thing is, they went back from 360 to One. There's very little rhyme or reason to their names (I mean I guess 360 might have been more an architecture thing? And One for the all-in-one entertainment system. But then why Series?). They shouldn't have done that or this, in my opinion We saw what happened with the Wii U, and so did they. Even with current gen off the shelves, the last thing you want is for customers to hesitate for a second and think that it's not the newer console. It's just poor branding/marketing otherwise.

VI is probably 30 - 40 hours long I'd say? I finished it with nearly 42 hours on the clock iirc, but that was also with a few hours of totally unnecessary grinding for an item (which was totally worth it) so can definitely shave a bit of time off if you know what you're doing!

Yeah, I think the name is terrible. It's a good job they're taking last gen off the shelves and stopped production, because it could've destroyed their plans. I mean, we saw it with the Wii U. I don't get why they're so adamant about not using numbers; in my opinion, should really have just continued down the path they were on and have the Xbox Two X and S. Down the line it might make a bit more sense of their plan is to have the Series X2 and S2 next, which I think could work a bit more as a differentiator, but...I just don't get the need for the 'Series'. Heck, I think 'Xbox X' and 'Xbox S' would have worked better. It's pretty much the worst differentiator imaginable in my opinion, I mean imagine if we had the first season of The Mandalorian followed by the second season called The Mandalorian Season One. Again, WHY EVEN RISK getting close to a Wii U situation when you're already playing catch-up in hardware sales? And even if you were leading? My favourite reaction from last year's Series X reveal was from Easy Allies. These are people in the industry who had been covering the Scarlet and Lockhart rumours on their podcasts for a year or so by this point, and still had no idea what was going on until the date dropped I think it's the biggest concern for me when it comes to Xbox's plans, besides the first party gap (which they're already hard at work on filling up). They have a great product at a great price with a great service in Game Pass, but the hardware side of things rides on the average consumer being fully aware that this is their next gen offering. I don't think we'll be able to tell for a while how well it's been communicated.

Continued the journey today...after a few hours spent grinding I remember there being difficulty spikes when the world opened up in VI and VII, and though IX had been very good up until then with no need for a grind, I figured why not? I'd probably end up grinding way more at the end of the game otherwise (literally spent 5-10 hours grinding in VI before the final dungeon), and with some characters in the high -teens and others in mid-to-late twenties, yeah, just seemed like the time. Spent a couple of hours grinding the core cast to around LV 40 (kind of last track when listening to the soundtrack and podcasts on the background!) before I caved and looked up the Grand Dragon grind to bring everyone else up to speed too. So suffice to say I shouldn't need to grind for a while Story is still awesome, characters are still great, and man I just love this world and this soundtrack so much. Have no idea how long is left, but still having a blast

Some new info on Legends from the recently released artbook: Key takeaways: - exaggerated landscapes and enemies - new enemy types and bosses - a tease of the multiplayer menus Going to be honest, so much going on in the world, I had pretty much forgot about this! Feels like the announcement was back in June looking forward to checking it out!

I'm pretty sure they have actually said that before though at other events (that there'll be no new PS5 news). Yeah they mentioned it last week as part of PSVR week, that's where it came from Am I the only one that finds it kind of funny they then dropped the PS5 Showcase date and time as early as they feasibly could on Saturday? Would've been been first thing at like 06:00 in LA think I even saw some journalists complaining about it, can't remember who though

Had a busy second half of the week so didn't get back to the game, and only put in a couple of hours in yesterday, but sunk a lot of time into it today to make amends. Love this game. Just got the Blue Narciss... I'm loving this game. Such great towns with awesome layout variety making them fun to explore, a killer soundtrack I'm sure I will continue to rave about long after I've finished the game, and a splendid cast. Everyone is getting their time in the limelight, and everyone has an interesting backstory and intriguing goals, with a lot of character development. Probably going to do a bit of grinding before I move ahead with the plot, just so everyone's on a level playing field after so long apart. Can't wait to spend some more time with it

A lot of people with (potentially) more knowledge about what's going on Wednesday coming out of the woodwork to tease things. I'll throw it in a spoiler tag just in case anyone wants to avoid it And then there are plenty of other rumours swirling around from months back about various other projects. Should be fun to see what comes to fruition and what these insiders will surely say has been held back for a later event if it doesn't turn up here Speaking of whom, I'm curious if anyone has a particular stance one way or the other on insiders? These days it seems like we get more and more legitimate leaks as time goes on!