Julius

It's always sad to see someone go, and I've just realised that I think I've known who Reggie is for most of my life, despite only really getting into gaming in the last few years. Nintendo's E3 presence is certainly going to be different without him -- he always brought a smile to my face when he popped up, at least. Now he gets a well deserved break, and the refreshing of faces over at Nintendo continues.

The Resident Evil community manager has said that more details will be available by the end of the month:

News on a Western release date coming next week:

Untitled Goose Game has been delayed:

From Polygon: I know that a Day One (/Eight) patch is coming to deal with the loading times and some other miscellaneous things, but the game just seems poorly designed. What I read over on PCGamer about them not learning from the problems that games like Destiny -- released like five years ago! -- have had is pretty damning, too. In my opinion, they should have just given the game more time -- and this is EA we're talking about, so if next gen is coming next year, then they're likely more than aware of this. Why not give the game more time to be developed, and wait until next gen so that the hardware -- across the board -- is in a position to best support it? The simple truth is that they announced this game far too early: nearly two years from announcement to release is just far too long for anything that is a new IP that isn't made by a developer at the top of their game in their genre, such as CDPR with Cyberpunk 2077. The real reason that it's launching now is very simple, too: money. Yes, every business is a cash-driven one, but EA making very public mistake (criticising Belgium for their stance on MTX in FIFA) after very public mistake (hiding the fact that Battlefront II was literally structured around MTX) is silly, and is it really any wonder, @Ronnie, that their handling of MTX in any situation grabs a lot of attention now after the scar that Battlefront II has left? Because this industry isn't just driven by money -- it's driven by passion. I would understand the defence of microtransactions if this were anyone but a gigantic multinational company like EA. It's not like they need the money to pay their developers, or for upkeep of games. My biggest problem with Battlefront II honestly wasn't even that the game was structured around MTX and now has a terrible progression system that it's been taken out -- it's that they felt the need to put microtransactions in to begin with. They make nearly $1 billion a year in revenue alone from FIFA Ultimate Team (let's not even take into account that the game is practically the same every year, and has the nerve to be put out with a £59.99 RRP), and you know for a fact that very little of that money gets pumped back into the game, so why didn't they just take the hit with games that are virtually passionless so that they didn't have to include MTX in games like Anthem and Battlefront II, which should be built on nothing but passion for good game design and practises? And the truth is, from everything I've read, the MTX "problem" is just one on a long list of problems with Anthem. This whole situation reminds of what's gone on over at Activision, with nearly 900 people out of a job despite the company posting record profits. This MTX money is going nowhere but to the profits column, because it requires very little upkeep, and to the back pockets of overpaid CEOs and shareholders. @Ronnie, you're right: in some ways, games are cheaper and bigger than ever before. But the truth is that microtransactions just don't need to be as commonplace as they are in the gaming landscape, and especially not in games releasing at an RRP of £59.99 published my mega companies like EA. They're making money hand over fist in one of the most cutthroat industries in the world. I wouldn't be surprised if their heads have already turned away from Anthem and their eyes are fixed on Apex Legends, a game that is getting praised from every direction. Sadly, Anthem will probably be buried by the end of next year -- I just hope that the fine folks over at BioWare aren't the ones that see life-altering repercussions as a result of that.

Seems fitting to post this here are the Scalebound discussions the other day:

Holy smokes! Lan Di looks incredible! Much more polished than he looked at Gamescom last year:

I wasn't quite sure where to put the below news about Google, so I figured I'd make a dedicated thread for this year's GDC, seeing as it's lining up to be a year of note for the conference, as news has also circulated recently that Microsoft would be present to talk about Xbox Live coming to iOS, Android and the Nintendo Switch. It was announced today that Google will be holding a mysterious gaming-related event for the media at 18:00 BST on March 19th, during GDC 2019, with the tone being set for the event very different to previous keynotes that they've held at the conference in recent years; it seems that they'll have something to show: As reported by Kotaku's Jason Schreier last year, Google's been making moves on the gaming industry throughout the 2010s, last year going so far as to holding meetings with major video game companies during GDC 2018 to gauge their interest in their streaming platform, believed to be codenamed Yeti, as well as reportedly courting a number of development studios during last year's E3 -- not with the aim of simply wooing them over with Yeti by their side, but with the prospect of outright purchasing them. Supposedly, as talked about by Schreier in his article last year, their service will take a three-pronged approach: 1. A streaming platform. 2. A form of hardware. 3. Attempts to bring developers under the Google umbrella, by way of aggressive recruiting or even major acquisitions. As many here will be aware, Google held public tests of a streaming platform - Project Stream - towards the end of last year, which came to an end just last month, with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Odyssey being the only game available for these public tests. For those unaware, Project Stream streamed the game through Google Chrome. Could we see hardware next month from Google? A more concrete idea of their plans for gaming? Have they made any major acquisitions already that are to be announced at GDC? And let's not forget Microsoft: what does bringing Xbox Live to iOS, Android and Switch really mean, and how does it fit into their plans for Project Scarlett and xCloud? It seems like the biggest GDC in recent years is knocking on the door -- and I have no doubt that it will be an interesting one, giving us more perspective on the potential future of gaming, whichever way it goes.

100% agree on the love for Ben: his reviews are great, Frame Trap I agree is probably the strongest (at least the most consistent) show that they produce, and his love for games comes across in his honesty -- he'll be one of the first to point out nonsense and argue against it when it comes to big topics. Case in point: the most recent Hottake on the additions to Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition. @Hero-of-Time mentioned Frame Trap being home to much more productive discussions, and I think that how flexible they are about a show's length allows them this freedom to very organically jump from topic to topic, which just doesn't happen on the EZA Podcast -- I still personally enjoy it, but there are definitely parts where I'm rolling my eyes, or am annoyed at how they cut out some of the more interesting parts of the show (i.e. discussions in Love & Respect) to adhere to an approximate show length. Why is the main podcast, with the name of their group, the one with the most restrictions? When I started listening to EZA a bit over two years ago, the main podcast would frequently creep over two hours, and was inarguably much stronger than it is now. Actually, talking about this has made me think that maybe Ben should spearhead the main podcast, and Kyle should helm Frame Trap (or a similar show) -- the lax nature of the latter would be a much better place for bits, because there's a time and place for goofing around, and what better time than just basically sitting around and talking with your friends? They all being their own respective strengths and weaknesses to the table at the end of the day, but I just don't think that their respective strengths are implement in an optimal way. I occasionally listen to Friend Code to see how Damiani is doing, and I think that he's becoming a much better figurehead for discussion, as well as Tabletop Escapades (which, ironically, Ben also hosts) which is probably my second favourite podcast behind Frame Trap. Oh, and shout out to Brad, because he does some great work and is frequently part of some interesting discussions.

Cedric Biscay, Shenmue III producer and CEO of Shibuya Productions (which presents MAGIC), has announced that the first gameplay trailer for the game will be shown at MAGIC Monaco on March 9th. Backers Update #97 also showed off these two new screenshots of the game: Correct me if I'm wrong...but is the first image our first look at a facial animation for Ryo? The textures, backgrounds and faces look amazing I've also just noticed that I still haven't shared my thoughts on the first two games...whoops I'll get to that by the end of the month

While I think Scalebound is a decent shout (I think I saw @markderoos mention it too -- so good shout to you too!), and is certainly one of the largest AAA cancellations of the last few years...I'm not totally convinced. I think @killthenet brings up probably one of the strongest cases for it not being Scalebound, and that is that I can't remember there being too much of a fuss about it either. Granted, we probably weren't shown enough, but I rarely mention read/hear about Scalebound these days outside of it being used to reference Microsoft's relatively poor handling of exclusive games this generation. If there was enough excitement around the game looking back for Nintendo to decide to help revive it, I feel like we would have heard about a publisher like Square Enix trying to scoop it up. I would have suggested that Monolith Soft could have helped them out, but if I recall, the problem with Scalebound wasn't, well, the scale (plus, Monolith Soft are probably busy enough as is -- they've recently expanded, and have hinted that they're working on two games simultaneously: one being their medieval fantasy RPG, and the other likely being the next entry in the Xeno franchise). On Kamiya, the guy probably has one of the most impressive and alluring CVs in gaming right now, considering how action is more often than not being implemented across the wide range of genres. Unless he has a personal investment in Scalebound still seeing the light of day, I doubt he'd still be on board directing the game at this point. Personally, I'd be much more interested if he took what he learned from that experience into another RPG project. Which brings me to my next point: Platinum seem busy enough as is right now. Some looking around (on their official site) tells me that they have around two hundred employees, and I would have to think that they would be strained at that number with all of the projects that they've been working on. Projects planned for release this year are the recently revealed Astral Chain, as well as Babylon's Fall (to be published by Square Enix; if Kamiya isn't working on Bayonetta 3, I wouldn't be surprised if he was working on a new IP like this one); projects pending a release date are Granblue Fantasy: Relink (published by Cygames; think it's worth noting that Platinum officially left the project around a fortnight ago), Bayonetta 3, and two mobile games: Lost Order (Cygames) and World of Demons (Deana). And this isn't to take into account any likely unannounced projects (I'd have to imagine that Yoko Taro is spearheading the development of another game, for example). I'd be interested in seeing how Scalebound has involved if it is still kicking, but until we get something remotely solid hinting at it still existing, I have my doubts

The official site for Astral Chain is up, bringing with it done new details on the game about the story and characters, as well as it's open world city known as The Ark. Well worth checking out, as it has a bunch of awesome new screenshots for the game too.

100% agree. It sets up this strange and toxic cycle of: Influencer teases -> follower expectations run wild -> bar is now higher for whatever they were talking about, so influencer must tease something more extreme -> expectations are now even higher, etc. It's just silly. I listen to the GI Show where Imran appears on a pretty regular basis, and he doesn't really go out of his way to needlessly tease people like some choose to. As I mentioned here a month or two back, they were in the middle of discussions about the next 2D Zelda game on the GI Show, and Imran says that he knows something but didn't want to say it on air, and would tell the other panelists after the end of recording. It's just about being respectful -- he probably knew what was up going into this Direct, but, being in the gaming journalism industry, it was wise and respectful to tease the most out there thing he could as opposed to just saying "Yeah, Link's Awakening is coming with an art style which is going to split opinion." Accurate as Emily Rogers sometimes is, she is one of those needlessly teasing and heightening expectations. She goes out of her way to do it, and remains fairly hit-or-miss. That King Zell guy/gal on ResetEra is probably the only faceless source of info for leaks that I'd put any stock into, because after they've got so much right, it's pretty obvious that they have a contact. Were you talking about SMD64 by any chance? I haven't looked the guy up since the Switch came out (for one, he was so far off with the console's internals), but heard the other day that prior to the Direct he practically said (paraphrasing): I mean, seriously, these guys are the masters of non-statements. I'm not convinced that some of these people are even fans of games.

Good points raised by all. Honestly, I think it just comes down to preference, the size of your hands, and how often/long you use other controllers, too. For instance, the battery life issues mentioned by @Ronnie and @Kav are certainly ones that I can appreciate, and I do think that they need to get rid of the light bar with the DS5 -- even turned down to the lowest brightness, I'd imagine it's a real drain on battery life. I've made a habit of charging controllers after I've used them for more of a couple of hours since the days of the Wiimote, so I don't mind getting up to plug in my DS4 after an average length play session. In addition to battery life improvement, I agree with @Fierce_LiNk that PlayStation should look into having a larger controller variant, because the options should certainly be there for the consumer to choose from. My hands aren't all that large, but the length of my pianist-like fingers makes up for that, and I recall my fingers cramping up a few of years ago, prior to getting a PS4, when I spent the summer playing games on the PS2 with a DS2. I first held a PlayStation controller when I was three or four years old after a family friend gifted us a PS1 with two analogue stick DS1s, memory cards, games, etc., and the only PlayStation home console that I haven't owned was the PS3 (simply due to the price at the time, I ended up picking up and enjoying an Xbox 360; it's controller didn't leave a lasting impression, which probably meant that I thought it was functional, but not to an extent that I'd necessarily praise it). It's probably that consistent presence of a Dualshock in my life, and probably having most of my game time throughout my life on a PlayStation, and it's certainly my preference because of this, much like @drahkon and @Hero-of-Time. I've only heard great things about the Switch Pro Controller though (minus the whole lack of a D-pad situation...), so I'm looking forward to picking one up and trying it out when I get a Switch.

I mean, almost any Star Wars game is going to sell millions of units. From what I recall, it wasn't exactly sat on and left to die -- weren't Factor 5 going through some legal issues at the time it was cancelled, in 2008? I'd imagine that's why LucasArts pulled the plug. I'm not convinced that LucasArts were desperate for a hit, either. Sure, their golden age for Star Wars games was probably earlier that decade, but I believe that the same year Rogue Leaders was cancelled, The Force Unleashed released, which I imagine was a commercial success -- I just looked it up and it sold over one million units in one month, and over seven million units by February 2010, making it the fastest selling Star Wars game at the time. It wasn't exactly a critical success, but from your phrasing, I get the feeling you were talking about sales? Sadly, I'm with @Ronnie on this. It would be a great bit of goodwill by Lucasfilm, and I think it's a great shout @Hero-of-Time, but I just don't see EA wanting to or caring for this to happen especially with the starfighter mode in 2017's Battlefront II probably being the only saving grace of the game, and feeling good enough to arguably deserve its own game. It's a shame, though, because I'd give an arm and a leg for many of those old LucasArts Star Wars games to come over to Switch, but it just doesn't seem feasible given the direction that the franchise has headed in. The wait for 2023 continues...

Started playing this last week, and I'm really enjoying it so far. For anyone wondering, I'm nearing the thirty hour mark, and I'm in the third palace. The art style is great, and consistent throughout, resulting in a UI that is not only snappy, but awesome to just simply look at. The vast majority of battles last maybe a minute, in less than ten button/trigger presses/taps? The story is engaging, characters are interesting, and the time management simulation aspect of the game is surprisingly not at all overwhelming. My only real complaint so far in terms of gameplay isn't even that big, and it's that there were a couple of strange difficulty spikes scattered around very early on (Archangels in the first palace spring to mind), as I was still learning the ropes of the game, but those seem to be falling away as more members join my party and my understanding of the game improves. Something that's confusing me about the game so far, and regarding Ann, and perhaps the biggest part I'm down on so far, though... Anyways, back to gushing about the game: Shoji Meguro's OST is the best [opening thirty hours of a] video game soundtrack that I've listened to so far. Easily. I'm pretty sure about 80% of the soundtrack so far is instantly recognisable, catchy, and hummable. That's actually the main reason for my posting; the theme for the third palace is insanely gorgeous, and it's just one of many great pieces in this game:

Great bit Jones gave the narration of his life!

Imran Khan of Game Informer was on Kinda Funny Games Daily recently (prior to last week's Direct), and teased that Nintendo is planning on reviving a previously cancelled project: Any ideas? From his phrasing, he doesn't seem to indicate whether the project was a first or third party game...and, if anything, perhaps reviving a third party game would make the most sense for Nintendo, in exchange for exclusivity and the potential good will/existing interest in that game? I can't find many cancelled first party Nintendo games that stand out as obvious candidates that should be revived. Perhaps Mega Man Legends 3, or something along those lines?

Hey guys, this is probably a question with a really simple answer, but I can't figure it out, so thought I might as well ask So, I picked up a new phone recently, switching iOS for Android, and thus Safari for Chrome. I mostly use my phone to use these forums, and think I've used it in Chrome before with no problems. Anyways, my problem: when editing comments containing videos and images before, on iOS, all I'd have to do to delete them was backspace a couple of times and they'd be removed from the editor/my post. However, with my new phone, and in Chrome, I can't figure out how to delete the videos or images. I've tried backspaces, long press (to see if it brought up any viable options), requesting the desktop site, etc., but yeah...I can't figure out how to delete media in my posts now? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Aaaaaaaand filming has officially wrapped! Just over ten months to go! It's time for the cogs in the promotional onslaught to finally start churning! We should be getting a title soon, surely? Perhaps even by the end of the month? Can't see them holding onto it until April...

The trailer from the Japanese Direct showcased some more of the 16-bit art style, as well as some more Switch gameplay.

I mean, all we got in September when it was officially announced was a logo -- I don't think it's too surprising that they didn't show anything here. I've barely dabbled with Animal Crossing games -- the extent of my exposure to it is that I watched a friend play Wild World on DS when I was in primary school for a few hours, and they let me borrow it for a day or two -- but unless something has drastically changed since then (or changes with this upcoming title), there's no reason for there to be a long promotional campaign for this game. From my understanding it's light on story, and is something that is perhaps best enjoyed when fired up every day for shorter play sessions. I don't think that it would stand to gain much from starting it's promotional campaign now as opposed to at E3, even with a release date in the latter half of this year -- simply due to the nature of the game. Don't get me wrong, this game is going to be a juggernaut: it will likely end up the best selling game in the series, and the second bestselling Switch game of this year (behind Pokémon). September sounds about right to me -- Pokémon is bound to return this year with a release date in November (based on the last few release dates for Pokémon games, I think we might even be able to pencil in the 15th as the release date for this year's game, assuming that it hasn't been delayed), and will likely be Nintendo's last major game of the year. Luigi's Mansion 3 in October simply makes too much sense, too, though I don't think the release date of that game has that much of an effect on the release date of AC, so Animal Crossing could even be released earlier that month, with LM3 closing out the if it has a release date sitting next to Halloween, for example. I'm thinking of picking up a Switch in April, so I'm definitely starting to take note of which titles releasing this year catch my interest. From this Direct, which I think was really solid, I think my Day 1 must-buys are Link's Awakening (haven't played the original game, like a few others here, which I've only heard great things about; I like the art style, don't @ me) and Dragon Quest XI (played it on PS4 and adored it, apparently so much that now I'm going to love playing it in 16-bit with added story elements!). Super Mario Maker 2 of course has my attention (I love the idea of making my own 2D Mario levels!), and while I think I'll pick it up, I don't know if it'll be Day 1. I have my eyes on Astral Chain, which has great folks onboard, but I'll wait to see some more; I'm on the fence with Fire Emblem: Three Houses (played Awakening last year - really enjoyed it - but from what we've seen so far, it seems to be focusing too much on the parts which didn't add much of anything to Awakening for me) and feel like I need to see more before making; and I'll wait for reviews with regards to Tokyo RPG Factory's Oninaki, as from what I've read and heard, their games have to this point effectively been "good, but not great".