Julius

Thomas Tuchel (former Borussia Dortmund manager) has reportedly held meetings with Arsenal to replace Arsene Wenger at the end of this season. He’d be an excellent match for the style of play I’ve heard that many fans want Arsenal to pursue (more aggressive, counter-attacking football), and would likely be well suited to the Prem considering he coached in the Bundesliga. Makes me a little nervous for us next season.

Never owned an N64, and didn’t actually play my first N64 game until quite recently (Ocarina of Time - on 3DS - last year, which I’ve yet to return to). I’d love to have an N64 Classic Mini, because every single time I see a “Best Games of All Time” list, you can bet I’ve seen a whole lot of N64 titles. It’d be great (especially for someone like me): Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Super Smash Bros., Super Mario 64, etc., the list goes on and on. Same for the Game Boy; I just wasn’t around when these consoles came out (my first interaction with a Nintendo console was probably with a GameCube or Game Boy Advance), so you can bet I’ve got a back log of games to play on each system. Off the top of my head for Game Boy, you’ve of course got the Pokémon games (Gen I and Gen II), Link’s Awakening, Super Mario Land, etc., and I’d be surprised if Tetris didn’t turn up if Nintendo didn’t do this either. I have a lot of games that I want to play on these older consoles, but I also have a lot of games that I want to play from the NES or SNES — yet I’ve abstained from purchasing those Classic Minis up to this point. My main reason for this is that I’d much rather wait to see what’s going on with a Switch VC before committing money to a home-only version of a game I could be playing on the go on my Switch (a second reason would be that Chrono Trigger wasn’t included on the SNES Classic Mini...). As you mentioned, the whole situation with Rare and games they have the rights to, like Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie, means that they likely wouldn’t want the games on a Classic Mini console, because Xbox/Microsoft would only be getting a small fraction of a ~£100 pie. I think that those games would be much more likely to launch on Switch VC because Rare/Xbox/Microsoft would have more control over the game’s price, and would likely pocket a bit more cash as a result. So, whilst I’m all for an N64 Mini and a Game Boy Mini...I just don’t see how it could feasibly work in a world with Switch VC, which I would have to assume that we’re getting. These Classic Mini consoles are a nice collectibles and have a lot of nostalgia to fuel their success, but I don’t think that they should interfere in any way with Nintendo’s plans for Switch VC, assuming that that is in the works. I mention this because I’ve seen people elsewhere on the internet suggest that Switch VC should launch with only NES and SNES titles if it comes later this year, with N64, Game Boy, GameCube, etc., coming down the line after the release of their respective Mini consoles, which is an idea that I’m just not a fan of. I think Nintendo has to be smart about how they handle this. We’re already seeing gamers hold off on purchasing Hollow Knight on PC to play it on Switch, and I think a similar situation could come about if more Classic Mini consoles are released without the Switch VC turning up — the vast majority will just be waiting for the game to come to that service instead.

I actually completely agree with you when it comes to a lot of your points about Noctis. With FFVII Remake coming up in around fifty years, perhaps Cloud will make a return — but I think that, even if he did, Noctis remains a possibility for a number of reasons. The main reason is just how much time and money SE pooled into XV, and how they want to milk the entry for all that it’s worth to recoup a lot of that cost (we’re seeing it already with the DLC season passes, already having a Royal Edition that comes with only the first year of DLC added on, etc.). Utilising Noctis in such a way so that he brings more attention to XV and any potential spin-off games would be a smart angle for SE to pursue, I think. I just don’t think that a lot of the other Final Fantasy protagonists are as marketable as Noctis is (maybe Lightning or Zidane?), and I think that the potential financial benefit to SE could outweigh all the other possible characters they might have otherwise wanted in the game. Maybe they could throw Sephiroth in there (which would be pretty awesome!), but I don’t see many Square Enix properties having much of a chance beyond Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest, for instance, would be at a sizeable disadvantage due to its poor performances in the West when compared with Final Fantasy, and wouldn’t be helped along by the majority of the franchise’s protagonists lacking a recognisable, canonical name. Crono from Chrono Trigger also seems pretty unlikely due to the dormancy of that particular franchise. As you’ve already mentioned, Sora seems unlikely due to how much of a mess negotiations would likely be due to Disney’s involvement with Kingdom Hearts. Maybe one of the Bravely Default characters could make it in, but it doesn’t seem all that likely to me, to be honest. I agree that Cloud is very clearly the Final Fantasy guy, but I really think that it’s worth noting that he was revealed after the announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake at E3 2015, which makes it likely that his inclusion in SSB4 was as something of a [very successful] marketing tool. I’m not sure if they would have been so keen to allow Cloud to be included were it not for Remake having already been revealed, so I think they might approach the new Smash - and who they allow to present them in it - could be determined in a similar fashion.

Don’t own a Pro or a 4K TV, but I’ve got a friend who has one, and I’ve done a quick look around as to what benefits the Pro has vs. the standard models on a HD TV. Here’s what I found: • frame rates will be much more solid all around. • visible graphical improvements over the basic models. • the new network adapter will mean that you will be able to download games/etc. relatively faster. • the SATAIII means that games/apps will load relatively faster. • super-sampling for PSVR. Overall, it seems like small but noticeable improvements all around, and it seems like an upgrade that would be worth it if you play the PS4 quite a lot, especially if you do plan to upgrade to a 4K TV at some point.

I didn’t play Smash Bros. for Wii U, and only dabbled with for 3DS, so I had to do some fun research on trophies, returning characters, etc., from the last game, to put my list together. As a result, I don’t think any of these are too outlandish after cutting out the Chosen Undead from Dark Souls. The Challengers 1. Ice Climbers (Ice Climber) No technical limitations this time around, so they seem a surefire bet to make their return. 2. Wolf (Star Fox) I was surprised to learn that Wolf wasn’t in Smash 4, so I expect him to make his return this time around. 3. Lyn (Fire Emblem) Probably one of - if not the - most popular Fire Emblem character to not be playable in a Smash game, I’ll be genuinely surprised if Lyn doesn’t step up to the mark this time around. Especially seeing as we’re probably going to be losing some other FE characters from 4... 4. Decidueye (Pokémon) I agree with everyone else’s reasoning here: Decidueye is probably the most popular Gen VII final starter evolution, and would compliment Greninja’s and Charizard’s likely returns nicely. 5. Rex (Xenoblade) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is selling extremely well...if we needed any other reason to include Rex in this game. I wasn’t too sure how Pyra could be included (I don’t think a Rosalina/Luma situation would work in the same way) beyond Rex’s Final Smash, so I’ve left her out. 6. Spring Man (ARMS) The most prominent character in the game’s marketing and at the forefront of the game’s cover art, I’ll be surprised if Spring Man didn’t make it in over other ARMS characters. I think he’s pretty much a surefire thing, but I agree with @Jonnas that Twintelle is likely to pop up to (in the event that they add characters beyond Spring Man). 7. Waluigi (Mario) It’s time. It’s always been time. Do it Sakurai. 8. Captain Toad (Captain Toad) The game got a love on Wii U, and will be getting a lot of love on the 3DS and Switch this summer, and he featured in Super Mario Odyssey (in case you didn’t learn that from the Nintendo Direct... ), so I think Captain Toad is on a steady rise. Many are saying that he doesn’t jump, but I’m sure Sakurai could find a workaround to that; if not, just let him jump. Link’s only jumped in two of his many appearances in the Zelda games, so... 9. Fire Emblem Switch protagonist (Fire Emblem) Super Fire Emblem Bros. 10. Dillon (Dillon’s Rolling Western) I’ve got to be honest: I’d never heard of this character prior to the Direct the other week. As some have pointed out here, he has a suspiciously detailed trophy in 4, and he seems to be a character that Nintendo is hoping to make into a mainstay, so I don’t see why he couldn’t turn up this time around. 11. Shovel Knight (Shovel Knight) If there’s going to be any indie presence - which there should be, considering how important indies been to Switch so far - there is no indie character more likely (or deserving) of being included than Shovel Knight. Still, kind of want to see the Snipperclips duo... 12. Professor Layton (Professor Layton) He fences. If Fire Emblem’s presence in Smash over the years has taught me anything, it’s that having a sword increase the likelihood of you appearing tenfold. But on a serious note, this is a character synonymous with Nintendo’s handhelds of the last two generations, and I think he’s deserving of an inclusion. I also don’t want that Yokai Watch kid turning up, so I’m sure Level 5 wouldn’t push that little runt too hard if Sakurai asked for Layton. 13. Bomberman (Bomberman) Classic 80’s character who is extremely well known when considering the franchise’s relatively low sales volume, I think Super Bomberman R’s success is the final entry on a long list of reasons as to why Bomberman should be included. Number one is clearly that Konami will have to do next-to-nothing, and number two is that he’s not Snake, so yeah...it’s happening, I guess. Thought of including Frogger, too, but I think one is enough from Konami, and I’ve never played Frogger and don’t think it’s that well known when compared to Bomberman. 14. Banjo & Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie) Never played Banjo-Kazooie or any other game in the franchise, but Xbox has been playing nice with Nintendo when it comes to cross-platform online, and we know Phil Spencer wants him in. Would be the perfect play before/with a Banjo-Kazooie game announcement in the next year or two, which seems kind of likely, considering how Sea of Thieves is being received. Also been considered for past Smash games, so I think it’s time. 15. Rayman (Rayman) I know his franchise is responsible for the Rabbids, but I don’t want them to be in the game, so I’ll take Rayman. Ubisoft has been on Nintendo’s side through some tough times, and it was great to see Yves and Miyamoto on stage together at E3 last year, so if anything I think his inclusion could just be a thank you from Nintendo for Ubisoft’s support. 16. Steve (Minecraft) Second highest selling game of all time, and killing it over in Japan at the moment, I think we could see Steve make his way to Smash, again, because of how nicely Xbox has been playing with Nintendo as of late. I’m seeing a lot of people say that building would have to be a huge part of his moveset so he’s unlikely to make it in, but I disagree with the notion that this is enough of a reason to not include him. I mean, did Pokémon Trainer even once throw a Poké Ball at an opponent in Brawl? 17. Noctis (Final Fantasy) I don’t think that Cloud is returning, and my list is lacking an oddball third party, realistically appearing human choice. Again, I thought about the Chosen Undead (the protagonist of the first Dark Souls), but I don’t think that’s super likely (the connection of Namco publishing those games and having worked on Smash 4 being the only reasoning that I could think of, which I think is a relatively weak line of argument for the character’s inclusion). Square Enix has been supporting Nintendo a lot too, and they’re seemingly positioning Noctis to be a well known character synonymous with the Final Fantasy brand just as Cloud before him (he’s already appeared in Tekken 7, and you can bet he’s going to make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3 later this year), so I think that if anyone is going to be appearing to represent Square Enix, it would be him. The Stages (Tiebreaker) 1. The Odyssey — travel through the many worlds of Super Mario Odyssey aboard The Odyssey. 2. Hyrule (Vah Ruta) — travel through the land of Hyrule atop the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. 3. Tetris — avoid being crushed by oncoming tetras as you fight your way up the stack, with completed rows vanishing and altering the stage’s layout.

Two spots with some new footage of Infinity War from this weekend’s Halo Tournament (timestamped). Love the first one’s use of a singer for a chilling take on then Avengers theme, and the second one for Tony’s interaction with Peter. Not long to go now Also, probably worth mentioning that Black Panther has passed the first Avengers to become the highest grossing MCU movie in America, and, by the end of this weekend, should be the third highest grossing comic book movie to date worldwide (behind Avengers and Age of Ultron). I don’t think anyone saw that coming...

On the one hand, it is a shame that they can’t yet commit to a release window. But, on the other hand, I agree with @Dcubed: it’s awesome that they’re going to be supporting 10 languages, which is a pretty big undertaking, but one that seems worth taking if they’re still going to be ironing stuff out in the coming months anyway. My hope would be that it’s out no later than the end of June, because the Switch version has been in the oven for quite some time now. Any later than E3 and I can imagine that some might just turn to the PC version of the game.

Nintendo’s E3 2018 site is up, and it’s just as sleek as it was last year.

During CD Projekt’s fiscal year 2017 financial presentation, President Adam Kiciński mentioned that he’d “terribly” like to say something about Cyberpunk 2077, but today is not the time. When asked when we’ll know more, Kiciński commented that he can’t just announce the announcement. Pressed further on what will be showcased at E3, he mentioned that it will be announced “just before” the show. An analysis firm recently suggested that the game could be a cross-generation project involving the next round of PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Asked to comment on this, Kiciński explained that the next generation has not been announced yet, so he can only speculate. Technologically-wise Cyberpunk 2077 is “very advanced.” The studio’s tech is “ready to interface with future generations.” The game is developed in such a way that it can take advantage “of future, very powerful” hardware. Kiciński confirmed that it’ll be possible to create your character and choose among various classes. This pretty much denies a wild rumor that was spread on youtube a few months ago, alleging that the studio had moved to a different design with no classes. Asked whether there will be multiplayer, he confirmed that first of all, the studio is going to deliver a huge story-drive single-player role-playing game as it was the case for The Witcher 3. As for the possibility of adding multiplayer in expansions, he mentioned that he does not like to comment on that, but he won’t say that it’s not going to happen, as the developer already mentioned in the past that they want future projects to include online components at some point. Asked whether the developer is considering the Battle Royale genre for Cyberpunk 2077, Kiciński explained that at the moment they’re considering everything and anything but as of today they’re not discussing the game yet. The first thing they’re actually going to discuss is the immense story-driven role-playing single player experience without any microtransactions whatsoever, or any hidden payments, just as it was the case for The Witcher 3, even if it’s going to be a very different game, with no predefined character, a futuristic world, and 3D movement. Key points: • CDPR will reveal their E3 2018 plans shortly before the conference. • Cyberpunk 2077 is extremely advanced. • Character creation is available, and we will be able to choose among various classes. I can almost smell Cyberpunk 2077 in the oncoming E3 air.

A custom, Wolfenstein II-inspired Switch is going to be given away by Bethesda. And it looks pretty sleek. Details on the giveaway.

A formal invitation to... ...GET HYPED. 34/35 DAYS (depending on where you’ll be in the world come release) AND COUNTING! How would you rank the MCU films to date? And do you expect Infinity War to crush a box office record or two?

I’m really excited for what this game could entail, not just as a playable game (though it admittedly looks like a lot of fun), but as a tool for potential future game designers and developers to get creative and put themselves out there. I’d want to support it for that reason alone, and I’m definitely getting some good vibes from the whole Dreams concept because of this.

They already have Source: “...We haven’t yet put in the facial expressions. Until a month ago, we had put in the facial animations, but for the moment, they’ve been removed.”

CD Projekt Red have opened a third studio in Wroclaw to aid in the development of Cyberpunk 2077; the studio is comprised of 18 veteran game developers, many of whom are former members of Wroclaw-based developer Strange New Things (which was founded by former Techland and IO Interactive developers). Pawel Zawodny, Head of CD Projekt Red Wroclaw, had this to say: CD Projekt President and Joint CEO Adam Kicinski added: Elsewhere, CDPR has also been confirmed to be attending Gamescom this August, and Gwent’s Community Specialist has recently stated in an AMA that there will be no Thronebreaker at E3, which is yet another strong hint that Cyberpunk 2077 will be present this June.

Hellz yeah

The first episode of Kyle Bosman's (of EZA) paper-animated series, Box Peek, is up. It's only a preview episode, so it will be a while before the rest of the series is up, but it's awesome

Kiwami 2 is coming to the West on August 28th!

I think it’s definitely going to be great for the neutrals. We saw it earlier this season and quite a lot in their prior meetings, but Klopp is about as close to Pep’s kryptonite as I can think of at this stage of his career. As for Salah breaking the record, I honestly can’t think of a reason against him breaking it. He’s been in peak form almost all season, and only needs a hat trick of goals to equal the record — with seven games to potentially score them in (probably less considering the likelihood of being rested for UCL matches), I’d honestly put my money on him doing it. It’s insane the near-instant chemistry that he’s had with Firmino and Mané since arriving last summer, which just makes the potential record-breaking that much more eye-opening. If Kane weren’t injured, I’d actually go so far as suggesting that both of them could break it. On a different note but sort of on the same topic, as a Chelsea fan, watching us play in the Prem has only been getting more and more frustrating recently. Conte is very clearly an excellent tactician and a great man-to-man manager, but he just isn’t backed up in the transfer market to allow his desired formation to flourish. Matters are only made worse when I see players like Lukaku, De Bruyne, Salah and Matic enjoying themselves and performing well on a consistent basis at rival clubs. It’s just crushing.

Awesome. I have to imagine a demo on the Switch wouldn’t leave too many pieces lying around either, then! Well, that sucks. I’m guessing that that was by someone working in the game? In which case, I have to imagine they got demoted/fired/moved to another project...

Yeah...the main series Pokémon game demos on eShop (ORAS and SM only, iirc?) were also guilty of containing far more than they needed to and being relatively easy to get into (for dataminers, at least). I really hope they stay quiet on the demo front with the new Pokémon games for Switch, because it’s a seriously odd genre of game to put a demo out for in the first place, besides the fact that it leads to leaked story elements and previously unrevealed Pokémon. I think the reason that they’re having such a big problem with demos isn’t because they’re easy to get into, but because the developers of the demo — and I hate to say this — are being pretty lazy about the actual contents of the demo. The ORAS and SM demos, for example, were created using large amounts of game assets pretty much just copy and pasted from the actual games, with entire locations in the demo present exactly as they are in the game, as well as multiple Pokémon models and items that weren’t present in the demo themselves present in the demo’s code. Ideally, it shouldn’t be the case that the demo is just a pared back version of the game; I think the demo should be screened for required code prior to the movement of assets (i.e. in the case of the Pokémon demos I mentioned above, only Pokémon, items and locations in the demo should be imported from the actual game) so that code is kept at a minimum, and only the bare necessities are included in the final version of the demo. I didn’t play Smash for 3DS/Wii U or keep up with the news on them, so I’ll have to look up whether those demos were datamined as extensively as some other Nintendo games, but I do recall reading that Sakurai is fairly secretive about the Smash games, and that he was left frustrated when Brawl’s cutscenes were leaked online. If that’s anything to go by, I think the demo’s in safe hands, when compared to some their first-party demos from Nintendo.