Julius

Third trailer from Gamescom: That's one creepy crawler

Early 2025 it is! Wild the difference two weeks can make to a release year/window, huh? Technical closed beta October 11th - 20th!

December 9th for Xbox and PC...and Spring 2025 on PS5!

WHAT?! Revealed as the stinger at Gamescom's ONL! Loved the first two, very interested in this

You guys are making me feel pretty good about giving this a pass

Still waiting on the PS5 breakdown it's nice though, with the next few weeks being a bit busy anyways I can wait and see how this has shaped up properly before making an informed purchasing decision. Yep, mental numbers. It's already 4th for all-time concurrent users (1.443m), behind only CS:GO (1.818m), Palworld (2.101m) and PUBG (3.257m), and it released on a Tuesday. Word of mouth and time, not to mention it being a three-day weekend some places this coming weekend...I think has a chance at surpassing Palworld. Third game from 2024 to break into the Top 10 all-time CCU, by the way (the one I've not mentioned is Banana, with 917k), so gaming is also just popping off in general anyways. Kind of shows the untapped potential of the Chinese market in the gaming space, once again, and makes things like the PlayStation China Hero Project make much more sense (even if it does take an age to see those games release). I'm hoping off the back of this that China find some ways to support their game developers, it's clear that there's a lot of talent over there but they seem to all be locked in rooms making gacha games. The reviews were solid enough (typically low-to-mid 80s on Metacritic and OpenCritic), though I'm still finding it hard to get a clear answer on how the game is between its boss fights, which was my big concern going into the game – some reviewers say it's more of a boss rush, others highlight that there are things to seek out between bosses like sub-bosses which those other reviewer's then clearly didn't seek out but instead rushed by, etc., so it seems like I'm not going to get a clear picture on what's going on until I get my hands on it myself.

This edit alone makes the whole thing a worthwhile endeavour:

I have a hunch he will probably have his story finished in novels/comics would love to be wrong though I just can't imagine greenlighting this show set in an entirely new era away from the Skywalker Saga and not having that buy-in and investment for at least two seasons before seeing where it's at, if not completing the entire story. They signed off on this knowing S1 sets up the rest of the show with some fascinating players and didn't back it enough to see that through?! Seems like such a waste

The Acolyte will not be getting a S2, per Deadline. Was it the best Star Wars show? Comfortably not. But by the end of the season, the pieces were in place to explore more interesting dynamics and characters we've been waiting to see come to the screen for a very long time. Some of these characters deserved to have their stories seen through to the end. So, it seems like the very vocal minority once again got exactly what they wanted, once again. I'm currently clinging on to how good a time I had at Celebration last year to remind me that it is simply a minority, because those parts of the fanbase can freaking do one. It's very difficult to get a read on Lucasfilm these days, feels like we're getting to a place with these shows very quickly like we did with the films where things are starting to get a bit on the messy side behind the scenes. For me I don't think this is even a quality thing, just agree to have the story seen through and get back to it in a timely manner – stop reacting to the backlash already. The Mandoverse has gone off the rails and we have no idea if/when it'll pick back up beyond Mando & Grogu (Skeleton Crew will be set in the same period but is clearly going for something a bit different), and everything is radio silent on the follow-up to Ahsoka, even if we know it's in the worls. They've taken a chance to throw us into the High Republic with The Acolyte but not backed it all the way – again, it's comfortably not the best Star Wars has to offer, but it's also not the worst and needed more time and budget than it was given to begin with. The only show which is in a good place right now is Andor, and that's because it was agreed for two seasons from the get-go with a veteran at the helm with a clear plan of what they wanted to do from beginning to end. Andor didn't do great numbers in terms of viewing for a Star Wars show, but it's also comfortably one of the best shows they've put out on Disney+ (and, for my money's worth, the best). Lucasfilm Animation is still the only studio I have faith in getting things out consistently of a decent quality where the story is going to be allowed to be seen through all of the way. We're half a decade into Disney+ era Star Wars now, what a joke this is.

Good. From the outside looking in, this game always seemed too interesting and far too big an IP to not come to PlayStation at some point, but at the same time...man it must suck to an Xbox right now, can't help but feel a bit bad for people who've invested in the ecosystem and their future plans for things to turn out the way that they have. It's to be really bizarre if this is the Xbox game people were talking about being revealed at Gamescom to be ported to PlayStation, mind you, considering that it's not even out yet.

Opening October 2nd! Link to the full Direct: Looks wonderful from what they've shown so far. Some of the highlights for me: • the progression walls of certain franchises/objects, like Mario Kart or the ? Block through the years • the amusingly placed rifle in one of the display cases • the card-playing screen floor you can interact with and play through your phone • the Ultra Machine batting cages with the living room backdrops are hilarious • Punished Miyamoto and the Wall of Death • the silence of the museum staff who are acting like they're being held at gunpoint all the way through the video • the custom play tickets where you can add your own Mii are going to make for really neat keepsakes • the giant controllers you can use to play some games lmao that is amazing

...at least they'll have the music and some stellar boss fights to fit between those windows of potential disappointment I am kind of looking forward to seeing *that* boss fight make some PCs chug, though

The PC version finally arrives...on September 17th! It will be a standard edition (£44.99) and a Complete Edition (£64.99, including the game's Expansion Pass), and the demo is available now! This game's score and boss fights

Delayed indefinitely:

Some for the game have gone up, and they seem surprisingly positive? Main takeaway seems to be that it captures the atmosphere of the original well, but retains some of its more archaic elements (even with the updated combat) and so is a fairly faithful remake? In addition to the new story trailer, Japan also got some new gameplay: Seems I might need to keep a bit of a closer eye on this one than I had been intending to...

Mega Game Trials for four games, which include the full game, have been announced as being available from now through Sunday 25th August for NSO members; the games are Tetris Effect: Connected, PowerWash Simulator, Enter The Gungeon and Cassette Beasts. Pretty neat!

Okay, so PlayStation just put up a video with all of the weapons and mechanics overview rolled into one: Why they couldn't just do that from the start, I don't know, a Gamescom countdown or something I guess

Watched the trailer, and... GOLD/ETHAN/JIMMY IS FINALLY GETTING A CARD?!?!?! That is way more important a Z-A update, now they better hope one of those is a Typhlosion and that full art N's Reshiram looks amazing

Not sure how big a deal spoilers would be for a game like this? Maybe for confirming some of the Bots/franchise reps I guess? But nonetheless: it appears that late-game footage of a dev build has leaked, so search for Astro Bot stuff at your own peril I guess – I'm assuming it's a dev build, anyways, as some people who have seen the footage have said it has an fps counter in the corner and the look of a dev build, so, probably..? But can't say as I haven't checked it out myself

And in case it needed to be said: no game announcements or mention of the Switch successor. Definitely looking forward to getting a look at this place either way!

Seems like there's a chance we might get an update on this at the closing ceremony of Worlds: Not really surprising given that they've seemingly given the typical Pokémon Presents of the last few Augusts a pass, and there's been a precedent for news coming out of the closing ceremony of Worlds in the past. Still remember my feverish excitement refreshing serebii.net back in 2009 and seeing they'd finally announced the release windows for the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver outside of Japan Here's hoping! (now watch it be TCG/TCG Pocket-related )

Yeah, this price is terrible. Though I can't exactly say totally unexpected considering, well, current PlayStation, and this is getting driven as being a pretty big deal by them it seems So you can either pay £60 or you can buy the original Until Dawn for £10-£15 physical, its standard RRP on the PlayStation Store is only £17.99, and the real kicker? It's actually still included in the PS+ Extra catalog of games curious to see if it moves at all from that catalog to, say, Premium (TLOU Remastered is in Premium and Part I is a thing) or if they do any funny business like Nintendo have when releasing some Wii U ports on Switch. Having not played Until Dawn myself before and not being blown away by the trailers and comparison videos for this remake/remaster, I doubt I'll get to it anytime soon considering I have a list of spooky games I want to get to in October already...but if it were to make the cut, well, yeah I'm just going to play the original

Thanks, but yeah, I'm aware – my phone's been a bit temperamental when I've tested it before, so just decided it wasn't worth the hassle for me, and I'm also a bit wary of if/when the spoiler tags and titles get fixed, we're potentially going to have spoiler tags all over the forum with completely out of place titles (assuming the titles carry over and are returning, I guess?) So I'm just playing it safe and avoiding talking about things I'd throw in spoilers these days to save myself the busywork of either the hassle or fixing those spoiler tag titles myself in the future (which is also why I'm holding off on posting any updates in the Gaming Diary thread for now)

Won't get too into it, because no spoiler tags, but I came back to the game after taking a break for a few weeks with a monster session today (well, now yesterday). Kashyyyk? Done. Manaan? Done. The Leviathan and The Big "Oh"? Done. Game's definitely been chugging at points and has been a bit buggy (ah, the joys of walking into battle with lightsaber-wielding Sith only to realise the game has unequipped my party's weapons!), but I'm having a great time with it. The Big "Oh" moment, even though I knew it was coming, was really well executed, and I'm loving the variety of side quests – which again has just been the total surprise package of the game for me, besides some excellent character writing and dialogue. Just got to get the final Star Forge map from Korriban, and I have a feeling after that there might only be one or two stops left before credits roll. Looking to keep up the pace and finally scratch this one from the list in the next couple of days

There will be nothing on Silksong at Gamescom's Opening Night Live, per Keighley himself: Smart that he got out ahead of it, though I don't think anyone's too surprised – ONL hasn't exactly been a hotbed of megatons in the past. With it not turning up at any of the events over the summer period...I'm curious to see where it lands now – if we do see it even turn up in the remainder of 2024, that is. It won't be Tokyo Game Show next month; it's very unlikely (but not really impossible, consider it's turned up at both Nintendo and Xbox events before) that it'll turn up at a potential PlayStation Showcase next month; unless Xbox changes plans, they simply don't have another big show on the scale of Not-E3 that will pull in the numbers a game like Silksong is screaming out for. ...which leaves only two options for it to turn up for me, realistically, if we're going to see it this year at an event and not just have an update thrown out in a blog or Twitter post. And neither really leaves space in my mind for a 2024 release, sorry guys. Firstly, to cover the event we actually know is coming and already have a date and time for: The Game Awards in December. It's the only regular show in the gaming events calendar on par with the biggest shows like Nintendo Directs and PlayStation Showcases – and yes, it's way, way bigger than anything else out there these days, and as an individual event in terms of views it surpasses everything else in the regular events calendar. If it turned up at the TGAs I struggle to see a shadow-drop simply because this is a game which could be gunning for TGAs GOTY and other awards, or at least being in the mix, and I don't see why they'd scupper their chances at that – I can't remember the last time a game came out between mid-November (cut-off for nominees for the year at the TGAs) and the end of December which managed to then retain enough of the conversation to be nominated the following year. I could see maybe a demo shadow-drop and 2025 release date if it turns up here? That is, unless Team Cherry simply decide they don't give a damn about awards (which, I mean, I'd personally respect) and went against the grain to deliver a shadow-drop which would be truly unexpected. The other place is the Switch 2 reveal, assuming we get it before the end of the year. The first game shadow-dropped on the Switch during an E3 Direct (sure it was already on PC, but that's not the point), by all means it seems like they have a good relationship, and the Switch has really made good use of the indie scene and some smart deals to help fill out it's calendar – do we have any reason to believe the Switch 2 would be any different? It's also the only thing that isn't part of the typical gaming events calendar which would CRUSH the numbers of dedicated Directs, PlayStation Showcases, and as far as individual events, probably the only thing which challenges the TGAs in terms of viewer numbers (and obviously would probably surpass it, too). Again, though, I don't think this really feels like a place for a shadow-drop - "hey, we're coming to Switch 2, but buy it on Switch right now anyways!" - but again, a demo shadow-drop could work to whet appetites ahead of it coming to Switch 2. Would also be one heck of a launch game alongside whatever Nintendo has cooking. I mean, who knows, maybe it is a blog post...but this game's marketing and release trajectory is getting stranger all the time