Julius

It's looking like some changes to the PlayStation Stars loyalty programme are nigh... Basically: subscriptions soon won't be giving you points (such as PS+ renewals) and points will now only be valid for 12 months rather than 24 months. Nothing monumental - I'll be honest, I just throw them at Playstation Wallet funds - but it is some change, and not really for the better? But shouldn't change day-to-day use: just remember to spend your points when you have them!

Digital Foundry have released their hands-on impressions of the game: Man, it looks so wonderful

And just like that, it is over. One hell of a journey, and a fantastic ending. The Star Forge has some...issues, let's say, outside of its boss battles I think. At least with default settings, my party kept getting pulled in different directions as a battle initiated on one side and we got flanked on another through the Forge's many corridors, which was a bit of a pain in the ass to manage, much more so than it was actually difficult. I also made the mistake of assuming a certain someone would return to my side and so brought Jolee with me as well as Carth in place of Juhani, and I think that latter swap really made things a bit more nightmarish than they actually were. Loved how consistent the dialogue options were up until the very end. I'll definitely be taking some time to figure out my full thoughts on the game, but my initial impression is that it has to be up there with my favourite Star Wars game like Battlefront II and Republic Commando. I'm also coming away incredibly grateful that through a cruel twist of fate, Aspyr and Saber won't be developing the remake they had announced. I think it's very debatable whether or not they'd be able to deliver a worthy remake, but much more than that, I'm honestly not sure what form a remake could, and perhaps still will at some point, take – I wish the original game as a real-time RPG perhaps had a fully turn-based mode (rather than the Auto-Pause which takes all of the momentum out of the game's battles), but could this game be made effectively today as the third person action RPG it was seemingly going to shape up to be? I'm not quite sure. The cutscenes would allow a big jump in visual quality, but I also wonder what that would do for the scale and feel of the galaxy and its locales – would a higher fidelity make them feel much noticeably smaller than the vastness which the muddier textures of the original allows for? Again, I'm not quite sure. So yeah, a lot to think on after watching credits roll, but this game is rightly spoken of and held in high regard, and I'm very happy I finally got around to playing it!

All wrapped up on the Unknown World, which was a much more involved but really enjoyable detour. Bit of a shame I don't think the game does that great a job in making you aware of when you've picked a "side" in the conflict, so I was a bit taken aback when I walked into an area and got swarmed by folk who were friendly some 10 minutes before, but it is what it is really enjoyed the Temple dungeon though, a lot of battles, and made use of Juhani for a change after levelling her up from whatever she was recruited at. The game has thrown a LOT of Computer Spikes my way on this planet, curious to see if there's any reason for that. Malak with his lower jaw removed is creepy and a really effective touch I feel. Onto the Star Forge!

So, this has turned up 3 days early... So, my gaming plans for my week off are being tweaked I guess, wasn't expecting this I was planning to finish KOTOR today (still the plan), squeeze something smaller scale in between now and Tuesday, then I'd get on Outlaws. Now we're doing back-to-back Star Wars, because, well, is there any other reasonable option?

Totally forgot to respond to this, just wanted to clarify – so while I post the images on X, rather than share the actual post from X itself, like so... I click the image on the X post (to bring it into full view) and then right click/hold and open the image in a new tab (while still compressed through X, it's much better than the resolution you'll get from opening the image from the standard post view). I then copy that image link and paste in here and it fits in seamlessly I find, and doesn't cause the chugging that X posts can do, so it just looks like this: Hope that helps

Just woke up to see the review scores are currently at a 68 on MC (6 reviews) and 63 on OC (5 reviews). Obviously reviews aren't everything, but no/very little potential positive word of mouth combined with a very muted marketing push and not getting this in the hands of more people for launch (again, is Wukong just eating everyone's lunch here?) evidenced not only by its very small footprint on streaming platforms right now but also the scarily low number of reviews for a PlayStation published game at launch. It's really bizarre how none of their learnings from Helldivers 2 has seemingly gone into carting this game around at all. I thought that game had an ABYSMAL marketing campaign - I still think that to this day, it did an awful job of selling people new to the IP on the game - but ultimately it got in the hands of the right people, blew up on game streaming platforms like Twitch and so had great word of mouth to back what is fundamentally a really fun game loop, not to mention that it's fairly unique in the console space. Meanwhile, I've just clocked that you mentioned this game was in dev for 8 years – what released 8 years ago that this game looks almost exactly identical to? Overwatch. Which still has a community, but is nowhere near as big today and its community is either quieter or it has genuinely shrunk over that time between the launch of the original and the middling reception of 2. With that in mind, this has to be up there as one of the most delayed releases in reaction to something else I've seen. I'm just gutted for the devs, it seems like they really put a lot of passion into the game, but it's mental that this isn't the first time I feel like PlayStation have had a multiplayer game just kind of bomb at launch like this since the launch of the PS5 – remember Destruction AllStars? This is giving me the exact same vibes...though at least this got a nice DualSense to release alongside it hopefully PlayStation pay a bit more attention to the lessons they need to learn this time around I guess we'll need to wait and see, perhaps this game will have a slow build, but I feel like it's just been silenced with everything else releasing around it especially considering the weekly cutscene/story angle they were pushing, I'm also really curious to see how long this gets supported for if it doesn't pick up?

I've seen some people concerned about the Steam CCU count but I think that's a bit blown out of proportion considering it's a PlayStation release first and foremost – for me what's most concerning is the fact that it's prime time on a Friday evening for streaming in a lot of places and this game currently has 1.1k viewers. It could warm up over the weekend but ahead of launch word on Helldivers 2 was just about everywhere. I'm not saying this game was ever going to do as well as HD2, but I wonder if Black Myth coming in this week and blowing everyone away has also completely taken the wind out of Concord's sails? It's the hot topic game right now, and there's much more to talk about than just the game itself – there's the controversy, the performance, and loads more. Guess we'll need to wait and see how it pans out, but I agree, it's absolutely insanity. You can tell it was thought up a long time ago with the Guardians of the Galaxy vibes it's gone for with it's characters and marketing – it feels 5 years late at best even on that front

James Spader is returning to voice Ultron in Vision Quest! So here for this, dude's got a voice capable of silencing a crowd with a whisper Here's hoping for some Ultron California

Completed Korriban last night, which might be my favourite of the planets I've visited on this map-gathering quest – very different to a lot of what I'd faced in the game up to that point. Went full RP and donned the Dark Jedi Master Robes while giving into the Dark Side, mainly trying to weaken the Sith as much as I could during my time on their home world and picking off who I could, before donning Qel-Droma's robes, which are essentially upgraded Jedi Master robes, which I'd been rocking before landing on Korriban With that, the Star Forge map is complete, and so the path was charged and followed...before we crash landed at a beach. Sure, I guess we've got time for a Beach Episode™ detour, it's not like the galaxy is at stake or anything Loving it a lot, just got the home stretch left. Should wrap it up over the weekend

10 million copies sold in just 3 days. Well holy hot damn.

New weapon showcase gameplay: Still looking good

Another month, another Metaphor trailer

Man, I always wanted MySims, MySims Agents and MySims Racing back on the Wii, they were plastered all over my copies of Pokémon World Count me curious if this is getting ported! Feel like my sister would love this especially.

Huh, I didn't realise either of these games were ever part of/had ties to the China Hero Project? If that's what you're saying and they were, you'd definitely think Sony would make a much bigger deal out of their connection to the initiative. Could've sworn Stellar Blade was Korean made and backed already before Sony jumped onboard Personally, I only associate the China Hero Project with the look of games like Lost Soul Aside and The Winds Rising, heck even Black Myth: Wukong (which I think would've been part of it if it didn't explode by itself) – games which take forever to come out and go ham on the particle effects. They've definitely defined the look of Chinese-made games for me. Either way, yeah, the PS5 has definitely become a gacha machine, and I imagine that's probably the only thing to keep it remotely relevant in East Asia, and has probably made them much more comfortable in waiting for GTA VI and the surge that will provide in the West. Absolutely. I was reading the other day about how PS5 sales exploded on Alibaba after the release of Black Myth: Wukong (here's a source, not sure if it's the exact article I read but meh). Definitely feels like East Asian development outside of Japan is starting to have a moment, what with Dave the Diver and Lies of P coming out of Korea last year, and Black Myth: Wukong this year.

PlayStation going around Africa and Asia like

News on TGS panels and the presence of certain companies for next month's event have started trickling in... PlayStation Booth PlayStation Presents: Death Stranding 2 – 29th September from 02:30 BST to 03:30 BST Capcom Oh, it's shaping up real good this will be PlayStation's first major presence at TGS since 2019! Seems like next month is for sure PS5 Pro time, but I'm just hoping they announce some 30th anniversary goodies

Music By John Williams, a new documentary on The Maestro, is coming to Disney+ on November 1st and will also be getting a limited theatrical release. Can't wait!!

Deep dive with the devs:

Launch trailer: Reviews are going to be dropping on Monday 26th at 13:00 BST. My expectations are low, but my body is ready

Because in the long-term, this is a game originally labelled as being exclusive to Xbox (on consoles) which is now coming to PlayStation, and so far, I'd argue, the biggest: this game isn't even released yet on Xbox, it's a big IP, and it's AAA. Yes, there's a gap between it releasing on Xbox and PlayStation, yes they still get the game, but announcing this move ahead of launch disincentivises anyone who might have been considering picking up an Xbox because of the exclusivity of the Indiana Jones game (I'm not sure how many people that would be of course, especially considering it's also coming to PC). This isn't the only game to move over to PS5, but I feel like it's a very significant one. Fewer incentives to buy a console generates less desire for people to buy the console. Less people then buy the Xbox. And it's very quickly apparent then where Xbox, at least on the hardware side, ends up in the long-term. That's why this news would matter to people who have an Xbox, and have invested in that ecosystem. Buying a console at launch or early on in the generation is pretty much a vote of confidence in the platform you're picking up - I'm not saying that's how it should be, but that is how it is; "I have confidence that this platform will have the games that I want", and a big part of that may be exclusive games which aren't available on the other platform. Changing strategy midway through the generation the way they have, a huge AAA game for a massive IP like Indiana Jones going from exclusive to releasing on anything - when it might have been a reason you picked up an Xbox in the first place this gen, seeing it was announced just a couple of months into it - and I wouldn't be surprised if Xbox fans might be scratching their heads: if this, and potentially everything else, is heading over to PlayStation, they might feel like they could have got a PlayStation instead. I agree. At the end of the day, though, it's not a two-way street: more and more Xbox published games are coming to PlayStation, and no PlayStation published games are coming to Xbox. I know some people will defend "their" console of choice - I don't really care to do that, and I feel like both have at least been pretty disappointing this gen in terms of first-party games published - but from my perspective I'm thinking more about the people who bought a console with the promise of exclusives which now, well, aren't going to be exclusive. Going into this gen, exclusives were absolutely still the name of the game, and it's why we saw PlayStation announce a new Spider-Man, a new Horizon, and a new God of War before the PS5 released, so for a company to switch up their MO in the middle of a gen I would also argue is anti-consumer (to the people who already own their console).

Say what you might about Xbox's software output, there's no denying that their accessibility hardware initiatives are excellent, and so here's one more: the Xbox Adaptive Joystick. Excellent stuff, really lovely to see Elsewhere for Xbox, the new Series X|S models are now available to pre-order:

New footage of the game out of Gamescom, where hands-on demos are available: Looks really nice still. Maybe a bit concerned the hits look a little...floaty? But we don't even have a release year for it yet, so let it cook I guess

Announced at Gamescom, and might be the highlight. This is being headed up by Tim Miller – who directed the first Deadpool film back in 2016, founded Blur Studio (an amazing VFX studio), and also headed up Love, Death & Robots on Netflix. It will be premiering on December 10th and there will be a total of 15 episodes. Here's the full list of games the series will be covering: A whole lot of big IP there, curious to see which PlayStation IPs get some love – got to imagine Astro is in there, right? Pick of the bunch for me though has to be Armored Core!

Third trailer from Gamescom: That's one creepy crawler