Julius

An update on the weekend actuals and where that leaves Infinity War so far, from The Hollywood Reporter: It’s absolutely nuts how well it’s performed considering the time of year that it released, and also because virtually no-one was predicting it to break TFA’s record by what is now such a clear margin. As has been the norm since the dawn of the blockbuster, Lucasfilm has congratulated Marvel Studios on their record-breaking accomplishments. With Avengers 4 and Episode IX releasing next year, it’s being widely touted that this record won’t stand for long, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It would definitely be awkward for Marvel to congratulate themselves next year in the event that Avengers 4 breaks the new record, though

Just got back from seeing the film for a second time (in IMAX - if you haven’t seen it in IMAX already, I can’t recommend that you do so enough; you’re quite literally missing out on 26% of the film otherwise!), and I can’t say much else from what I said before. I might try to go again a third time this week, if I can make the time for it. I don’t know what else I’d honestly want to discuss, with or without spoiling the film, but I am curious about how you guys think Avengers 4 might go down next year? I think I’ve got a rough idea or two. I mentioned it before, but it’s worth saying again: this film completely recaptured the sense of awe and majesty that I had when I first saw Star Wars; it’s so well paced and executed, and the score is marvellous (no pun intended). Somewhat tragically, Silvestri is getting next-to-no recognition for his score elsewhere, so I’ll continue to sing his praises here. Also, if anyone’s a box office trivia/follower like I am, weekend estimates (actuals expected tomorrow afternoon) are really worth taking a mental note of. Infinity War has already broken numerous records - and has yet to release in China: • ~ $250 million opening weekend domestically (i.e. in North America) is expected to just about beat the previous opening weekend record of $247 million, set by The Force Awakens in 2015. • ~ $630 million opening weekend worldwide blasts away the previous record of $541 million, set by The Fate of the Furious last year. • ~ $380 million opening weekend internationally is second only to The Fates of the Furious’ $443 million, but again, this was achieved without the film opening in China. Oh, yeah: and it made more at the box office in its opening weekend than Justice League did in its entire run last year domestically, and is only $30 million shy (probably less, considering that Disney always undercuts with their weekend estimates) of beating its entire worldwide run.

It’s going to be such an intense end to the season for us, seeing as we’re still mathematically capable of reaching the top four. To do so, we need to win our next three games - vs. Liverpool at home, vs. Huddersfield at home, and vs. Newcastle away - and hope that Spurs and/or Liverpool drop points in their remaining games. It seems unlikely that we’ll be able to beat Liverpool on goal difference, but we’re not too far off Tottenham’s.

My bad got disgruntled after hearing about what they did to Eidos, so I was wearing red tinted glasses And yeah, I absolutely agree. They always seem a bit too keen to make money/show off what they haven’t got as opposed to actually getting a game developed.

On the topic of Final Fantasy VII Remake being in a poor state, Dan Tsukasa, a game designer living and working in Japan, posted some not-so-cryptic details of the game on Reddit. Things seem slightly worse than many probably thought. From the relevant Power Up! article: Tsukasa’s Reddit, Twitter and ArtStation accounts have seemingly been deleted since these posts were made. Still related to S-E’s poor management skills - but not to FFVIIR - Super Bunnyhop has uploaded a video, based on the words of multiple sources, about Project W - Eidos Montreal’s Final Fantasy. I’d recommend giving it a watch; it’s quite interesting:

Yeah, but Drake & Josh.

I imagine that we should be hearing about Retro’s game too, so we could have what many would consider a tentpole title each month for the rest of the year post-E3, which I think is necessary given the somewhat slow start they’ve had in this regard so far in 2018. I agree with you that we’ll likely see more of Metroid Prime 4 this E3, and I think a well made CG trailer would be more than enough this time around. I think their plan is to release it shortly after next year’s E3 (which would be the right place for it to feature as their flagship title, and to show off gameplay/demo it, if it hasn’t been already), considering that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Metroid: Samus Returns all released in that August - October window. In the seemingly unlikely event that Pokémon doesn’t make it for a release this year, I wonder what they’d have up their sleeves to replace it. Animal Crossing, potentially? It will also be very interesting to see which third parties turn up during Nintendo presentation. Epic with Fortnite? Bethesda with a Fallout game? Or Activision with a Call of Duty title?

Always great to see that S-E haven’t learned a damned thing from their past mistakes. Again. I think there’s a time and a place for news on DLC/season passes, especially when it comes to games with a single-player narrative focus, and now is most certainly not that time. When will they ever learn?

A number of impressions videos are also up:

Yeah, and I thought the amiibo card idea sounds like an evolution of what they did with QR codes in Gen VII. I think @Dcubed‘s idea of the TCG and games being linked by such cards would be pretty awesome, though, at least for younger fans (on a playground, specifically).

Sony have revealed in their financials that they sold 19 million consoles in FY18, which is 1 million less than in FY17 but 1 million more than they had forecasted. They forecast that they will sell 16 million units in this fiscal year, ending March 31st 2019, which would mean that they would only need to sell a further 8 million units in the following fiscal year to ensure that the PS4 is the first console to sell over 100 million units since the Nintendo Wii. To date, 76 million PS4s have been sold, meaning that it should surpass the PS3’s lifetime sales (~84 million) by the end of this year. There are also currently 34.2 million PS+ subscribers, and software sales are impressively up from FY17’s 217.9 million units sold to 246.9 million units sold.

They really can’t keep a lid on it, can they? The cover looks pretty cool (anyone else getting Mortal Kombat vibes?), but editions seems a bit on the excessive side... Just a quick reminder that more news is expected to drop today. I’ve heard it mentioned (literally, I heard it in a podcast) that there are videos going up by a number of news sites today

Yeah, it does look a bit on the generic side. I have to admit, it looks like the sort of game that would be perfect for 3DS - actually, that’s exactly what I thought it was until I realised that Cygames was involved and I decided to do some more research! And yeah, I think you’re right there. I think Nintendo probably found out about it and offered to partner with them to get it overseas, which would be smart. It seems like something that could be fun to dip in and out of if you haven’t got your 3DS/Switch on you while travelling, so it’ll be interesting to see how it performs in the West. Compared to other similar mobile games, I think that the inclusion of the Nintendo logo will be of huge benefit in ensuring the quality of the game to most consumers.

Amended the original post with date and time, thanks. Only PlayStation to go... I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I cannot wait for this year’s E3. With Nintendo in particular, I don’t think we know about anything that’s in store for us beyond July, so they’ve got a massive five month window to fill up. I expect Smash to appear in some capacity during the presentation (probably announcing a release date), but them saying that it will be the first thing talked about during Treehouse fills me with hope that the majority of their video presentation won’t focus too heavily on it, and we get an in-depth look at the start of Treehouse. Hopefully with Sakurai. That guy deserves more love than he gets. Other than Smash, beyond Fire Emblem and Yoshi, I’m really not sure what to expect on the first party side of things during their presentation. Will Pokémon really have more revealed here as opposed to in a dedicated Direct? Even though Prime 4 isn’t expected until next year, at the earliest, will they try to show more of the game? Do they have another game waiting in the wings, like Animal Crossing, if Pokemon isn’t ready for release later this year (which, I assume, is what they’re aiming for)? So many questions. Roll on June 12th.

This is pretty big news. Nintendo are working with Cygames on an all-new IP: Dragalia Lost. Cygames is a relatively new gaming studio, founded by CyberAgent - a Japanese web services company - in 2011, but has since taken the Japanese mobile gaming space by storm with games like Shadowverse and Granblue Fantasy, another mobile RPG, which is their biggest success to date. They are inarguably one of - if not the - biggest developers in mobile gaming, so this is an intriguing move by Nintendo. Granblue Fantasy is most well known for having reunited legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu with just-as-legendary art director Hideo Minaba, who had previously worked together on Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX and Lost Odyssey. And, luckily for us, the duo will unite once again for Dragalia Lost. This is just another one of many big announcements for the studio - 24% of which is owned by DeNA - in recent times, with a number of AAA home console projects already revealed to be in the works, most noticeably including the action-RPG Granblue Fantasy: Project Re: Link (working title), which is in development by Platinum Games, and will again feature a score by Nobuo Uematsu. Dragalia Lost is scheduled for release this summer, and is expected to be released for all mobile platforms. The game will first release in Japan, before making its way to the West.

“...500% increase in profits at the end of FY2018.”

More news on Online coming early May. Smart move by Nintendo. This should get them way ahead of the curb for E3 and Online’s launch, so I hope they go into as much detail as possible. Here’s hoping for some more information on what they plan to do with Virtual Console! EDIT: Greninja’d

Uh oh...

Got back a few hours ago, and WOW. You’ll find no spoilers ahead, just a few things I think deserve your attention during your first/next viewing of the film. I do want to talk about a few things which are totally unrelated to the story, but will likely be completely brushed under the table by most popular reviewers/those with hot takes. Firstly, the film isn’t just visually and audibly impressive: it’s absolutely gorgeous. Sure, that’s to be expected from it being the first film released shot entirely with IMAX cameras, but the CGI quality is just as good as anything seen in James Cameron’s Avatar, and that’s saying something when the primary antagonist, Thanos - who you obviously see a whole lot of throughout the film - could easily appear to be a wrinkly grape that grew some muscular arms and legs. The sound design paired with the visuals of this film gives a real heft to an enormous Titan like Thanos, as well as to the whole Black Order. The film is framed incredibly well - which shouldn’t be too surprising, considering just how good The Winter Soldier and Civil War were too in this regard - and it shows that they didn’t just throw money at it for the sake of making more money. Alan Silvestri returned to score Avengers: Infinity War after being on the sidelines since the first Avengers, and he does not disappoint. Many - myself included - complain about the subdued score and musical themes of the MCU, which, besides the main Avengers theme, hasn’t offered a whole lot, but Silvestri’s return gave us what is, in my opinion, the best score in the MCU to date. Emotions, physicality, and moments which I’m sure will be remembered for a long time to come are perfectly matched by his score. I’ve been with the MCU since the start, but I’ve always found the narrative that “oh, it’s the next Star Wars” to be completely blown out of proportion. For me, these have always just been fun popcorn flicks with well known characters who are easy to invest in and not much more, as films, beyond that. And I really love, and have strong nostalgia for, these films. But this film has changed that. Not only is Infinity War a great popcorn flick, it’s a film of substance which is elegantly paced and beautifully composed, managing to successfully tell a story which is - surprisingly - undeniably relatable in every one of its wrinkles and folds. Just like the very first Star Wars.

From what I’ve seen of the games (probably a couple of hours from reviews and some short gameplay sessions), I actually think that your idea would work really well, @RedShell; it definitely seems like the right type of game for that mechanic/feature I mean to get into the Yakuza games too - they’re on my list of games that I want to play which is, by my own admission, waaaaaaay too long (I’m sure many of you here share my struggle) - but I think I’ll take to it after I’ve played through Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III. I know that they aren’t exactly the same style of game/s (or storytelling) in many ways, but I do feel like there’s an evolution in concepts from Shenmue to Yakuza, from everything that I’ve read/heard/watched about them, so I’d like to take that approach to them. It’s the same sort of way I’m planning to play the 3D Mario and Zelda games (prior to BotW for the latter)

This isn’t surprising at all, but S-E need to get ahead of the curb and do something meaningful to turn around their PR fortunes, because it’s very quickly becoming a mess. Talking specifically about their JRPGs: They’ve been toying with fans about the idea of Remake for far too long; Versus XIII/XV was in development for far too long (yes, I understand they built an engine or two to do so, but it still came out undercooked); and, more recently, Secret of Mana remake/remaster was poorly received, and they somehow messed up porting Chrono Trigger to PC, thinking that the mobile version would do. I don’t know where they go from here, but they need to take it a step at a time, and stop promising titles of world-changing proportions way before they’re ready. And they really do need to stop milking consumers for all that they’re worth, when they are the ones making the mistakes. I understand that they have a bottom line, but any game which is shown and then in development for a further 5+ years should come with free DLC, not annual season passes. They don’t seem to have a problem with games of a relatively smaller scale - such as the Dragon Quest series (admittedly they take too long to be localised, but still), the Bravely series and the upcoming Octopath Traveller - when compared to Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts, so maybe they have delusions of grandeur, because they’ve aimed for the stars and failed to reach them several times now.

Absolutely, and games like Fire Emblem will also serve to attract something of a niche audience (if they haven’t already invested). E3 can’t come soon enough Oh, for sure. Not trying to take anything away from what it’s done already, I just saw many expecting it to have sold upwards of 1.6 million units after it’s amazing start — if I’m remembering right, wasn’t it something crazy like 1 million units sold in its first month?!

Also, it’s worth noting that they’ve made Kimishima’s previous 20 million Switch units sold estimate for the financial year ending 31st March 2019 official. Makes one wonder what wonderful games they’re saving for E3 to announce and release within the following nine months.

Yep, it’s nuts. Shame that ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have really slowed down. Just over 200,000 units sold for each them in the space of three months is way below what many were expecting.

Still listed as “2018 or later” in Nintendo’s financials. It makes me a little nervous that they really are just trying to rush something out if they’re not sure when it’s coming out by this point, but yeah, the official aim still seems to be to have it out by the end of 2018.