Julius

Heck. Yes. Seems like a lot for a free update, which is always a great thing. Honestly, as many great games as I've played this year, I think this is going to end up as my GOTY unless something else completely blows me away, because I had such a great time with this game. So while I've already completed the game once to an insane degree, NG+, more trophies, and multiplayer might end up being enough to bring me back. There's still a lot more to play this year though, so we'll see!

I have to imagine that it's going to be a bit of both, as it seems more like the PS4 Pro boosted mode from the little hints we've heard about it from the website data. My guess would be that a game running with enhanced performance only, akin to the Pro's boosted mode, would run straight from the disk, whereas upgraded, PS5 versions of the game will require the disc for authentication and to be downloaded completely (I imagine this is how the Miles Morales PS4 > PS5 upgrade will work, for instance) more akin to what Xbox has done to this point. Could be completely off the mark there, but that's what I'd expect based on what we know and heard from Cerny's presentation, too. While the Xbox One line requires the disc for authentication but is otherwise just a downloaded application in most cases, if I recall, I think that's down more to it not being an integrated feature from launch, as is the plan here.

Gone gold!

Eh, I saw that and immediately thought that these are just error messages to cover every potential outcome, so I'm not too concerned just yet. If we don't hear anything two weeks out from launch, then yeah, I'd be a bit confused about why we haven't heard anything, but it's a whole lot of nothing right now. I genuinely don't think that this will end up impacting many, if any, PS4 players on N-Europe. How many games are even available on PS4? According to this list on Wikipedia (yeah, grain of salt and all that), there are currently 2916 games available on PS4, as well as a number of other games not included in that list, such as arcade ports, PS2 Classics, etc. Let's be generous and just round up to 3500: even if PlayStation's 1% figure is an exaggeration and it's actually something like 5%, that would still "only" be around 175 games which wouldn't be playable. Thinking of how much shovelware there is on the PS Store, as well delisted games, and things like that, I really don't see it being an issue for most gamers. I could be completely wrong and just be naively optimistic here, but at the very least in my mind, first party, third party AAA, AA, and most indie offerings are going to be safe in this transition. And if that 1% figure is correct? That's only going to be around 35 games which won't be making the transition. Again, odds are, this isn't going to impact any of us. Also, PlayStation's messaging being that 99% of PS4 games will be playable makes me think that it's much more likely we'll see a blacklist of games which won't work on the console, rather than a whitelist of games that do, just because that list would be unnecessarily long? But maybe that's just me thinking it's better to put out a shorter list than a long one, because I only see that leading to confusion too. Of course I'm hoping for some clarification sooner rather than later, but am I personally worried that PS4 games I want to play aren't going to be playable on PS5? Not at all.

Still no release date, but can't wait for Minari to finally be out. Really hoping it's released before the end of the year, but at least we got another trailer the other day.

Yep, going to be checking them out for sure, but mainly because I just want to see a little more of Astro's Playroom. A bit surprised Godfall of all games is going to be the other main focus point, but oh well. Still can't decide if I want to play Astro's or Miles first when my PS5 arrives, so hopefully seeing a little bit more helps!

Season 5 of My Hero Academia announced for Spring 2021! Heck yeah. Looking forward to seeing some of these arcs animated, hoping for a bit of a step up from Season 4 now that they're going to be shelving films (for now)

DF breakdown on the raytracing for the remaster:

It's here! Going to start getting it installed for later, not sure how much time I'll put into this today but should have put a decent amount in by the end of the weekend! Hope the story is decent enough, then will hopefully check out online after

I hope he recovers, I wouldn't wish ill health on anyone. But the irony isn't lost on me, and I would hope this would make him take it more seriously (it won't). There is a niggling thought in the back of my mind, though, that this is some kind of stunt, and it speaks to the ignorant malice of Trump that this would even cross my mind for a moment. This administration has been everything except honest, so it's hard to not have that doubt lingering: is it really that farfetched to think that they would announce Trump as testing positive to avoid the next debate, before he can come back in a few weeks, having "fully recovered", and say "coronavirus is weak, it wasn't even that bad"? It's something his supporters would certainly lap up. Hate that's where my mind goes, but here we are

Easy Allies Patron Party later this month, heck yeah! Worth watching just to see Blood not wearing his glasses

It's such a surprising thing when trusting your development studios to make a good game actually ends up with them putting out a game well received by fans It's one of those things for me that while, yes, these studios are owned by EA, the success of their Star Wars games hinged more on their studios pushing for some creative control: DICE's continued support after EA were practically about to pull the plug and bury Battlefront II, and their continued discussions within the community; Respawn throwing Frostbite out, and sticking to their guns by going with Unreal Engine; and Criterion getting a chance at a smaller scale outing, which I can't see being handed to them on a silver platter. All of this is to say that I hope for us Star Wars fans that this is far too little, too late for EA to hold onto the license exclusively. We've had just three major AAA games come out under EA's watch in 7 years, two of which are in a reboot of an already existing series (and wasn't exactly built from the ground up, heavily reliant on much of the work DICE has done on Battlefield), and as of tomorrow we'll have one smaller game (spun off from a mode in one of those three AAA titles). Yes, we saw Visceral and Amy Hennig's game get shot down, but even if that was released by now, that's still such a meagre return in terms of output for the second largest IP in entertainment, and especially considering the size of EA (and the runaway success of things like Ultimate Team). I think they have time for one or two more smaller projects (Republic Commando reboot? A Squadrons sequel, assuming it's successful?), Battlefront III, and a sequel to Fallen Order before they lose exclusivity in 2023. I'm not intimately familiar with EA's complete set of studios, but I could see Disney wanting a High Republic game a few years from now too, so I wonder if that's something they'd trust EA with, and perhaps could already be in the works if they have the manpower for it? Once the deal is up, I would then expect them to still hold onto the license for future Battlefront games and to make a third and final entry starring Cal Kestis, but then I just want to see Lucasfilm make a new licensing arm of their own and let other developers go to town on the franchise, so that we can get some more fresh and exciting Star Wars games out there. EA getting exclusive access to those rights is still the second most bizarre thing to me to come out of the Lucasfilm purchase.

Jamie Foxx reportedly returning as Electro in the next Spider-Man.

Well I completely missed this news Cool cool cool

@Vileplume2000

Hahahahahahaha Sakurai's face at the end of that trailer Steve was not much of a surprise (think it was a well talked about character before Ultimate released as a potential fighter), but Enderman and the others being included the way they are sure is! At least for me, I had been expecting just some Steve recolours or something.

Keanu going all Dead Poet's Society on us but it's a Cyberpunk 2077 ad

The game's page has gone up on the PlayStation website, shedding a bit more light on what the game will be like. First the summary: That last line And key features: Really excited about and curious to see some gameplay for this one. Hope we see or hear a bit more soon, fingers crossed it's coming in the first half of next year!

Yeah, I've heard very and seem very little about it being advertised, and I don't think reviews are going up until Friday? I know that it's a shorter, budget title when compared with the Battlefront games and Fallen Order, but still, I don't think EA are backing this enough (especially seeing as it's going to be standing on the pillars of an online community). I'm interested in seeing how the story plays out, but my expectations really aren't that high for the story. On EA's watch we've had the Battlefront II campaign, which was very predictable, uninspired (Luke killing bugs? Really?) and honestly a bit boring , and Fallen Order. While much, much better (and by far the best Star Wars game EA has to offer, Respawn did a great job), I do think it took quite a while to pick up some momentum, though it really kicks off in the second half. I think of some of my favourite moments in Fallen Order's story and I just don't see Squadrons having similar surprises in store, especially seeing as we've already seen so many characters coming in from the other Star Wars media out there. I really have no idea how long I'm going to end up playing this game. Absolutely in for the campaign (it having a Star Wars story is unfortunately enough to get me onboard), but I really don't know how much I'll play online? I put a lot of time into Battlefront's online (something like 150-200 hours?) and Battlefront II's online (probably half of what I put into Battlefront's?), but I really don't know how long I can see myself putting into Squadrons' online. My biggest concern is it being first-person, I can see that causing a lot of frustration. I still wish that we'd end up with a third-person perspective, but I'm not optimistic about our chances of that. Not long now, at least. I'm a big fan of getting smaller titles you can spend a week or two with, and this will be the third "budget" title I've picked up for around £30 (the other two being Tony Hawk 1+2 and Mafia Definitive Edition) in the last few weeks. Hopefully if this does well we can see a real Battlefront campaign or other single player adventure on a smaller budget. Maybe a Republic Commando revival? All of this just makes me want to break out the PS2 and play the best Battlefront again (the original Battlefront II)

Yeah, from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan for the face model. Literally a different person. Have to wonder why they'd make that call, I know they said Ben's a closer match to Yuri's capture, but still, it's super strange!

Spider-Man Remaster details and Parker's new look from the PlayStation Blog. Gameplay showing off 60 fps Performance Mode: And The Amazing Spider-Man Suit revealed as one of the three new suits to be in the game: Amazing Suit looks great, but such a bizarre choice to change face model 2 years after the original. I know Miles already had one in the first game, but still, seems like such a strange choice to change Pete's in a remaster of all places.

Oh heck yeah, I'd be onboard with that! Or Majima. Or the jolliest Yakuza character of all: Taichi. SUPER FLYING TAICHI KICK

Great points @dwarf, that was an informative read, thanks! Definitely more informed than I am on the matter, so I appreciate your insight When you mentioned the material explanation I think I was thinking of it more as applying only to the work productivity change you mentioned before, and that shift in the work-life struggle leaning overwhelmingly towards work taking priority, but I think that's just an example of me trying to oversimplify things, so that's my mistake! It definitely is across the board, and it's absolutely crazy how much money and work dictates so much of a person's day-to-day life, to the point where sometimes weekends just feel like a short respite from the dread of the work week rather than a time to shift focus to other things. That's the case for me at least, and some others I know. And yeah, honestly, the more I look into and learn about four day work weeks the better an option it seems for improving the workplace. Not even just because it sounds nicer on paper, but it's just about having that time to actually make decent progress elsewhere in life (studying part time, taking up a hobby, writing a book, etc.), rather than feeling like almost all of your energy is being sunk into someone else's gains. It's really difficult to find a decent work-life balance as it is, especially with how much pressure there is on doing well from a very young age especially, and I think it's a bit of an issue from the very bottom. It's one of those things that I absolutely want to see, but just seems too good to become a reality here in the UK (obviously I hope that I'm wrong). I honestly have no idea which side I land on politically, mainly because while I have an arm's length interest in politics and couldn't care much less for major politicians or parties, but I think that's just because since I've been born I've been around in a time where it seems to get consistently worse, where the next guy seems just as incompetent than the last, and little constructive change is made But that's me totally derailing the thread and a topic for another time

I'm also completely clueless, I don't think there have been any rumours about this next one that I can remember. Should be interesting to see who they've chosen to go with!

Next fighter being revealed tomorrow at 15:00 BST! Direct stream link: