Julius

And teaser poster:

I was aware of the Mana Collection in Japan, but hadn't read about the trademarks, but you're right: they trademarked both Final Fantasy Adventure and Secret of Mana, and quite recently at that. Seems like a great idea to bring it West!

Firstly, good going with the job search! Fingers crossed for you Shooting an email over to them seems like a good bet, as feedback is feedback, even if it is just being informed that they feel that you were overqualified for the role at the time. If you don't get a response, then you can just conclude that your suspicions were true and that maybe it wasn't a real job, but spending a few minutes on an email for some possible closure over not getting a role will always be a potential net gain, in my opinion. Have you received a response from them informing you outright that you were rejected, or do you just think it's been too long since you applied, so you have been? Just asking because I can't tell from your post? If it's the former, something along the lines of:

Apparently the Nintendo JP page for the Direct hints that their won't be a 3DS presence in the Direct, so if that's the case, then I guess that is a sure sign that the writing is on the wall apparently it also mentions that we won't be seeing anything for smartphones here, so we could be buckling up for 35 minutes of Switch goodness I was just thinking about this yesterday, and given the phenomenal success of Octopath Traveler, I have to imagine that they've fast tracked development so that we can see a lot more games from them than the already announced Final Fantasy games coming to Switch this year. The pessimist in me thinks that maybe they're just retweeting because we're going to see shadow drops for FFVII and FFIX, etc., but I'm rarely ever that pessimistic, so on the flip side, I think that they could easily just throw the kitchen sink at us Ports of classic titles in their catalogue like Final Fantasy I - VI (a collection would be awesome), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest I - IX, etc., are almost a no-brainer. We've seen the success that the NES and SNES Classics had, and if a key reason for not having Virtual Console on Switch truly is because the games didn't garner the attention that they perhaps deserved, then perhaps the exposure of a Direct would be perfect as a launchpad for those classic titles. I mean, we've already seen them do it with the FF titles that they're bringing to Switch And that's not to mention all the sequels we could see! I don't see us getting much in this Direct - I don't think they'll want to risk cannibalising sales for the already announced FF ports - but Square Enix have to know that they're sitting on a goldmine, so hopefully they don't take too long!

It got me in the mood to watch some of their E3 press conference from last year again, and while there are some great showings for games like TLOU2 (I'm still in shock at how good that game looks, especially the animations), it definitely had some pacing issues, and not too many surprises Hopefully their skipping E3 this year drives Xbox and Nintendo to try to knock it out of the park!

Shawn Kayden, talking to Game Informer about PlayStation missing E3 this year: Pretty much confirms that they simply didn't have anything major to show outside of the already announced games, and not wanting to commit to E3 in June in particular probably means, as has been talked about before, that they still haven't committed to a rollout structure and promotional campaign for the PS5's launch.

The Olympics are next year, and in Tokyo, no less, so I would have to think that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is almost a foregone conclusion for next year? Let's Go, Swiitch Sports Deluxe!

I seriously doubt it. I can't recall a time when a core series Pokémon game has been revealed during a Nintendo Direct. Off the top of my head, X & Y got their own (awesome) Pokémon Direct in the January of 2013; we got what must have been like a thirty second teaser for Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire in May 2014 (I think only box art, titles, and release date?); Sun & Moon were first announced and teased during the 20th Anniversary Direct in February 2016 on Pokémon Day, in a Pokémon Direct, and I don't think we got anything more until May (?); we didn't see Ultra Sun & Moon until June of 2017, again in a Pokémon Direcr; and we first saw Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee in May of last year. Seems much more likely than tomorrow, sadly. TPC really love doing their own thing... Even though the last generation was first announced during Pokémon Day in 2016, I'm not sure if they'd even show us more of Gen VIII at this stage. It will undoubtedly be the biggest game on Switch this year, but given that it'll be a part of a greater and much more diverse Switch 2019 lineup than the 3DS 2016 lineup, I don't know if there's the need for a nine month rollout with these games as there was with Sun & Moon

Oh right, thanks, had no idea! Funnily enough, it was the thought of the Hollow Knight DLC shadow dropping making me doubt if Final Fantasy VII actually could, because two shadow drops in one Direct would seem a bit much. Also, might we finally get some more news on Shin Megami Tensei V? Don't think we've seen anything since the January 2017 Switch Presentation...

Well, add another one to the tally for king zell, then got to wonder how long before the Nintendo ninjas figure out who their contact is! Really looking forward to the Direct tomorrow, as I'm thinking of finally picking up a Switch in the next month or so. Hoping for Prime Trilogy, like everyone else, as I haven't played any of those games yet! I'm glad that they're finally saying that we'll see more of Three Houses, as the Fire Emblem fans have waited patiently for quite a while now for more news, so it's good that they 'll get the chance to learn some more. I'm not aware of whether or not Final Fantasy VII is getting a physical release, but I assume not, so maybe we'll see a shadow drop tomorrow? Probably a shadow drop for the Hollow Knight DLC, too.

So, Chained Echoes - a 16-bit JRPG set in a world where fantasy meets mechs - looks absolutely gorgeous! It's still got just under four weeks left to be funded, and is nearly halfway there. Seriously considering backing it for the sprite quality and the honesty about development time - even though it looks so polished and far along already, I think it shows a lot of respect for backers.

And that's a wrap for Artoo, too!

No, it doesn't cut it off, so you can continue exploring after

It's worth mentioning that he's only being paid anywhere near that much because it's a free transfer (and his agent deserves a raise, clearly), but I agree with you 100%: I don't even think he's £200,000 per week good. Speaking of which, that's probably much closer to what he's being paid per week, because I seem to recall reading that Italy have pretty high tax rates in place for the wealthy? EDIT: Turns out its 43% tax for those earning over €75,000.

I've got to agree. Some of those shots have CG backgrounds that look like they were produced a decade ago, considering just how poorly the backgrounds blend with the actors/props. And if I can see that on my phone...I don't want to imagine what it'll look like on the big screen oh, and Genie looks awful too. Why did they decide to not go with CG there? The only good thing from that trailer for me was the music, but trailer music is rarely ever utilised in the film, so... The annoying part is that this film will do great at the box office, and, inevitably, even more undesired live-action remakes will be given the green light as a result.

How on Earth are we down 4-0 in the opening 25 minutes?! It's like we're aiming to finish outside of the spots for European competition at this rate...

Warner Bros. Japan announced today that Level 5 is producing a Ni no Kuni movie, which is coming to Japan this summer. From AnimeNewsNetwork:

So, we were just talking about rumours and potential leaks the other day, and well...we might have a date for the next Direct king zell over on ResetEra teased "13 is your lucky number..... and am out". I'm going to go out on a whim and assume that they're referring to the Direct being held on February 13th (i.e. next Wednesday), and not 13 months from now... Anyways, from what I recall, he's a pretty reliable source when it comes to stuff like this, and only really tends to get information out a few days ahead of Nintendo's events and Directs. I'll have a look around to see if I'm recalling that correctly, or if I'm misremembering.* They've also apparently talked before about what they've heard is coming in 2019...but I haven't read it myself from the source, so I won't post that stuff here *UPDATE: Seems like the real deal to me. Some examples are that they teased The World Ends With You shortly before last January's Direct Mini; talked the day before about the reveal event in Japan for Pokémon Let's Go, as well as saying that the games would be Yellow remakes; and hinted at Animal Crossing shortly before it was announced last year, too. I also found their post where they talked about games coming in 2019, so for anyone interested:

Didn't support it on Kickstarter, but I recall seeing it and reading about it last year (I might have mentioned it somewhere on here? EDIT: Found it). Really glad to hear that it's got a publisher and is coming to Switch! If they can get this out a few months before this year's Pokémon game (maybe in the summer?) then I could see it performing really well, so fingers crossed for their development Here's the (nearly one year old!) trailer for the game:

The complete version of the recreation of P.T. in Dreams:

So you don't think they'll be trying their hands at a 2D Metroidvania Roguelike with Souls elements which makes you feel like Spider-Man? Well, I guess this is getting a 7.9 from IGN... I kid, I think you're bang on the money @drahkon interested to see what Respawn come up with, they've got a big end to the year coming!