Julius

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Say what you may about his management of United right now, there’s no doubt that he offers the best press conferences in the game Well worth watching until the very end. You just know he’s been waiting to throw out that statistic ever since Wenger announced he was parting ways with Arsenal

Hidden towards the end of the gameplay demo:

Some shade being thrown at Mourinho and United by some of the writers over at GOAL

That Lan Di staredown It’s a while off, but it gives everyone an abundance of time in which to catch up with the first two (like myself) or replay them, and gives the team plenty of time to polish the game. The environments already look spectacular, and the music as always is brilliant

From Supermassive Games, the developers of Until Dawn, enter the world of The Dark Pictures - A series of standalone cinematic horror games. Players will be challenged to explore and uncover each story with the knowledge that all their choices have consequences and all playable characters can live, any and all can die... Man of Medan is the first game in The Dark Pictures anthology, bringing supernatural horror to the South Pacific. Five friends set sail on a holiday diving trip with a rumored WWII wreck to find. As the day unfolds and a storm rolls in, their trip soon changes into something much more sinister. Who will live? Who will die? It’s down to you. Can you save them all? Man of Medan releases in 2019.

To go into that a bit further: they got a lot of flak for not being as informed as they could be about it, because, even though it was clear that Kyle had done some research, the panelists did not know as much about the topic at hand as he did. It’s made a little more convoluted by the fact that such stories are often ongoing, and there is a three day gap between the recording of the podcast and it going live to what I assume would be the majority of their audience — those whom are not patrons. Of course they got a lot of flak for talking about it from some other crowds, but it would have seemed at the time that that was the main cause of the backlash. I agree with you, though, that this would be the time to buck that trend: the majority of the Allies review games, and they’ve all worked in a high profile working environment in the gaming industry. However, I would argue that Kyle does hold discussions rooted in negativity, like when they talked about Quantic Dream, for example, but avoids talking about the more controversial topics after prior backlash. Maybe they decide to jump in and talk about it, or maybe they don’t. If you’re already listening to a decent range of gaming podcasts, though, I don’t think that the Allies in particular would have a unique perspective to bring to the table here which would change the conversation, just because it has been discussed by virtually everyone else at this point. I think, at best, they’ll reiterate what everyone else has said: Filip is in the wrong, got thoroughly lambasted - and rightly so - and plagiarism is wrong. I’d love for them to talk more about the way that they review games, but I feel that they’ve done it plenty of times in the past, especially on Frame Trap, and could understand Kyle’s reservations about bringing such a large topic to the table of a 1 - 2.5 hour long podcast, when there typically is so much else to get through. I just think that even within Easy Allies, they have another podcast which is more suited to the discussion of this topic.

I can see where you’re coming from, and I for one would certainly want to hear about their views on reviewing games, but let’s not forget that they have received a lot of heat from their audience for talking about controversial topics (off the top of my head, they talked about Pewdiepie last year and something to do with Bethesda and Nazis, neither of which went down particularly well with anyone) in the past. If I recall, Kyle felt uncomfortable bringing up a topic which panelists, or himself, might not know enough about to comment on, but then, of course, I’m sure they’d probably have plenty to talk about with this. Another part of me wants to say that it could still come up, and that they’ve just been waiting until the picture was clear to give some input, but I’m not sure. I just don’t think Kyle wants to get caught up in it, and I don’t blame him. I’m a little sick of hearing about it myself, having listened to it ad nauseam in podcasts since it happened. I think that they can talk about the important topic here - plagiarism - without really delving into what happened with Filip in particular, if that’s what is making them uncomfortable.

Awesome. Love the “v. 2. 18” Maybe a first public look at the behind-closed-doors demonstration that the press got during E3? But perhaps condensed into a shorter gameplay trailer? Hyped for Gamescom now. Shenmue III, Cyberpunk 2077, possibly some Splinter Cell...

Played the demo the other day, and really enjoyed it. Had the first one on my list (which I want to play before the new one) for a while now, but the demo for 4 certainly bumped it up some. Also:

This is getting a physical release in spring of 2019, and is also coming to PS4 and Xbox One, though a window for its release on those platforms has yet to be announced.

Just broke the game a little. Completed the quota with hours to spare at the hour, so I thought I’d take the forklift for a spin around the Harbour, and tried to exit the harbour — which, of course, you can’t do. But Ryo decided to glide through walls and drive over the road, and is now in an ocean of black... It’s funny, but I’ve lost half an hour and a half of progress thanks to this

Not that surprising, given that we got our first teaser at Gamescom last year. Actually, I think the first teaser came out around this time last year — maybe even on August 21st? I was just thinking yesterday that it’s a bit odd that Shenmue I & II releases on Tuesday, the same day that Gamescom starts, so I had a sneaking suspicion. Probably our first “real” trailer, if not a better look at gameplay...probably a short demonstration? I have a feeling that the game will look much better than it did last year, at the very least. Hopefully we get a release date, but I won’t hold my breath

Emery rarely ever puts a team out in a formation that isn’t 4-2-3-1. Lacazette probably doesn’t want to play anywhere but up front, and he provides more than ample competition for Aubameyang. I think any other manager in the Prem would try to put him or Aubameyang out on the wing, or even play both of them up front. I guess Emery’s logic checks out, considering his success at Sevilla and PSG, but still, I think him not adapting his style of play and formation when against some teams which will ask questions of his ways is why Arsenal won’t be in the title race this season, and potentially for a few more. It’s just not as tactically stagnant, because of the level of every team and how competitive it is, as the other leagues that Emery’s managed in, so he won’t get away with sleeping on his laurels like I think he is.

Sneak peek from EZA’s Easy Livin’.

Resistance might be set only six months before The Force Awakens. With a number of novels and comics also covering this period, and with it being set so close, I have a feeling that this could be a one-season series, as opposed to having multiple seasons like Rebels and The Clone Wars.

Yeah, I mentioned this yesterday. I encountered it literally twenty minutes into the game, and so saved and put it down. @Hero-of-Time didn’t have any troubles with it until later on, so I figured it might be fine, so I went back in after closing it and it was fine for the rest of the day. However, I just encountered it again after getting the Phoenix Mirror, so I’m going to save and boot it up again. It’s a bit of a pain just because it’s so sporadic, and clearly isn’t tarnishing only one particular cutscene. It’s a real shame.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with the game so far, and I think I’m about to move on from Dobuita. I’ve just placed an important phone call. Admittedly, the controls, specifically to traverse the world, are quite archaic, and the voice acting (as well as the audio quality of it, as HoT mentioned earlier) leaves much to be desired. I’m finding that QTEs in particular give too short a time to react — literally a blink and you’ll miss it sort of situation, which can be a bit annoying. I also changed the on-screen presentation to “Shenmue Mode”, which is subtitle-free unless I choose to skip dialogue, and it seems far more enjoyable than the default mode so far. I think the font was giving me a headache... But, for a 3D game on this scale that is nearly twenty years old, it still does so much right. The attention to detail in this game is something that is still brushed aside in many modern games. I recall reading that Suzuki and his team even went back and looked at weather reports for the various locations presented in the game to give players a true sense for what it would have been like to be there on a specific day. The music is, as I expected, superb, and the various composers of the game’s score did a splendid job of marrying music to whatever Ryo was going through at a given time. I’m loving going around and talking to everyone, playing arcade games (quick question: are they supposed to be silent?), managing to quadruple the darts high score, and training inbetween appointments. I’m finding it difficult to fund Ryo’s gacha addiction with all of these other fun things to do, though... @Hero-of-Time, I had it happen to me for two cutscenes in a row yesterday when I initially started playing the game, and it seems that just closing the application and restarting it did the trick.

Defensively frail today, but otherwise an excellent performance by Chelsea today. Loved the high pressure (again, though, Arsenal playing an oddly high line?), some great expansive and possessive stuff, but we were so weak on the byline in our defensive third. Willian was very lazy in waiting for the ball to arrive for the first Arsenal goal. Morata looks much more confident than he did last week, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come, and Hazard has two assists in only one half of play, so it’ll be interesting to see his impact when he gets to start a game.

Yeah, I think it looks pretty rough too. It all just looks unnaturally smooth in what we’ve seen so far. I’m not surprised that it’s cel shades 3D, but when they said that it was going to be anime-esque, I was really hoping for some hand drawn stuff (or at the very least, in the style of). This looks more...uh...low budget Cartoon Network. The Clone Wars is on the way next year and they’re likely working on their next major animated series (this seem more in-line with Forces of Destiny than it does Rebels) right now too, so with them having multiple projects on the go at the same time, I guess this look is easier for them to achieve, and means that they’re (hopefully) saving the high budget stuff for whatever is next. Hopefully.

Yeah, that’s actually something I noticed too. Sounds like they were very close to the mic when recording. I’m curious if you’re encountering any of the technical issues that I am? I might try to stick it out anyway, but I’m a bit worried that it might have an effect on the majority of the cutscenes, which I imagine would tarnish anyone’s view of the game.

The opening minutes of this game gave me goosebumps, so I can tell that I’m going to like it loving the music so far However, I’m going to have to put it on hold for now, because I think I’ve found the reason for the patch (I’m going to assume that the update file that installed was not it). When walking around, I interacted with a few items and areas, which resulted in a cutscene, and the first two or three of these worked fine. However, upon entering the dojo and triggering another cutscene, as well as when running into Megumi after getting away from the Hazuki Residence, the cutscenes/on-screen presentations of the interactions just didn’t work. The audio still functioned fine, but I was treated with flesh-coloured strips one time, and a closer look at the item that I most recently interacted with (which was elsewhere in the room, and didn’t initiate the cutscene itself) the second. Kind of sucks, and puts a little bit of a damper on my first play session with Shenmue, especially since I was hoping to just play it for the rest of the day. Seems like massive oversight on SEGA’s behalf, and I’m not quite sure how you wouldn’t find these problems if the game was properly vetted — which does concern me a little. I have to wonder if it’s a problem with every copy of the game, or a problem with an unlucky few? It might be fine for some, but I’m finding it difficult to enjoy these interactions when, well...I can’t see them I’m only half an hour or so in at the moment, so I’ll restart when the patch becomes available (I would assume on Tuesday?). In a more positive light, I’m pleasantly surprised that I’ve already got four silver trophies from my limited time with the game (I turned off trophy notifications, and don’t really go out of my way to get trophies, especially on a first playthrough of a game like this), and I think it’s great that they’re rewarding player intuition in this regard. My first impression of the game itself, that glaring technical issue aside, is a good one, and I can’t wait to get back into it. Oh well, back to another game for now, I guess?