Julius

Same. Is it just me, or does it feel like a Nintendo Direct to anyone else? We’re jumping from trailer to trailer and getting through this stuff very quickly; seems like they’ve learned their lesson from E3.

Beta coming Dec. 9th; you can play as Aloy (from Horizon Zero Dawn), exclusively on PlayStation.

“...and visceral experiences.” Visceral. Thanks for reminding us

Why are they still doing what we didn’t like at E3 by showing the audience watching the teasers/trailers?

I don’t need to know much more. I’m totally in! This looks fantastic.

You open with an excellent looking game like Ghost Of Tsushima? Makes you wonder what else we’ve got coming!

WHAT IS THIS

Spelunky 2? Nice!

Likewise. Whilst there’s no killer app, and nothing yet revealed that will personally push me into buying one, I’m glad that they’ve shown consistent support for the platform for those who own them.

Man, a Yasunori Mitsuda composed Episode Ignis is too tempting...

Shame they didn’t show much more (especially seeing as it’s coming in Spring). It seems obvious (from what we saw, at least) that it’s not out to compete visually with other sports titles, and I was expecting some twist as a result; guy said it was sim-heavy, which piques my interest. I’ll be keeping an eye on it for sure.

Guacamelee 2, The Hong Kong Massacre and The Gardens Between look awesome. If they’re starting as they mean to go on, what couldn’t be next?

IGN has been bigging this up for a while too now; Keplek said that we should lower expectations for PSX and raise them for this [Paris Games Week]. Interesting. Maybe PSX will be more about games we already know about, such as release dates for Spider-Man, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus Remake, etc., and updates for games a bit further off (such as The Last Of Us Part II?)? And this will be for their major announcements? Bloodborne 2? Shenmue 1+2 Remastered? I’m getting all excited now; hope it delivers!

C’est l’heure!

I’m trying to go into the film without knowing too much - I’m already avoiding TV spots, international trailers, etc. But now, apparently, Adam Driver (who portrays Ben Solo/Kylo Ren) has let something slip in an interview with some magazine outlet. Seems like I might have to enter a media blackout sooner rather than later. On the upside, though, only 45 days to go! EDIT: seems like it will turn out to be a (very loud) false alarm. Thank the Force.

This Monday!

From PlayStation’s Paris Games Week blog: Man, I’m excited. A new look at Dreams (if it’s still in development) perhaps? 7 new games being announced here makes me wonder about what they might be leaving for PSX, if anything (one of them probably rhymes with Hood-Horn Flu). Roll on 15:00 GMT on Monday!

I think that they’re doing something similar to the Oscar promotion route for films released outside of Oscar season: a film released in May, for instance, could be up for contention in one of the categories, so studios rerelease the film in Oscar season to produce a buzz around the film. Likewise, I think the DLC is already completed, but it makes little sense to go sword-to-cap with Odyssey, and so is being timed to take this and GOTY awards season into account to produce a surge in buzz around Breath of the Wild; if memory serves correctly, there are no major first party games releasing on the Switch in November, so I think it’s highly probable that it drops next month. A relevant example, I think, would be what Guerrilla Games has done with Horizon Zero Dawn’s DLC, the Frozen Wilds, which also releases next month (on the 7th) to bring it back into critics’ minds with GOTY conversations just over a month away. Only thing I can really think of which makes this unlikely is how they’ve been using Directs to convey a lot of news about BotW since it’s release, such as with the Champions amiibo range; then again, we could certainly get a not-so-major-and-revealing Direct next month for this to slip into.

Koizumi-san seems to have hinted that more than just traditional IPs are being prepped for release on the Switch next year, in an interview with Famitsu. The following is a rough translation of what he had to say:

Good thinking. I get the feeling that we’ll be getting a 2018 Switch direct around New Year’s, so, if that turns out to be the case, having the mobile game reveal this week and released within the next 2 - 4 weeks would prop up the Switch game quite nicely if revealed shortly after Christmas. Not that I ever thought it needed something to prop itself up - I was expecting it to drop in this Direct too - but this tactic has certainly been working so far for Nintendo, so I suppose there’s no reason to doubt it this time either

No, it hasn't been. EA didn't get the rights to the SW licenses until 2013; I think there maybe some confusion with Star Wars 1313 here. I have to wonder how much Lucasfilm had a hand in this, and why they're willing to let EA kill a game that's been in development since 2013/2014 that was due for release in late 2019? Seems an odd move. A Destiny-like will be fun, sure, but it's nearly impossible to make players feel like they're having an impact in the Galaxy Far, Far Away when nothing but the basic outline of whatever story they come up with is accepted as canon. A linear, story-driven game lends itself to stuff like this. I'm having a tough time seeing EA still have their exclusive rights when 2023 comes around. At best they will have produced 2 - possibly 3 - Battlefront games, which have proved very divisive amongst players thus far; a game from Respawn, which we still no nothing about; and whatever their replacement is for Visceral's game. They need to change the ways things are done fundamentally: have Lucasfilm hand out the licenses only after a studio has pitched the game to them, and worked with the Story Group for vetting. There are so many other studios/companies deserving of producing a Star Wars game than EA.

@Ronnie similar footage, but more cohesive showing of the gameplay than IGN's:

Ask and you shall receive:

The Star Wars Show has confirmed that a new story trailer will be dropping tomorrow. Less than a month to go!