Julius

Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill are due to appear tomorrow on Good Morning America in anticipation of the franchise's 40th Anniversary - and Star Wars Celebration - as well as, in all likelihood, an announcement of a new Force for Change initiative alongside the release of a teaser for the The Last Jedi trailer likely to be shown off later this week during SWC. [tweet]851411649575530496[/tweet]

I'm really hoping that we see something Pokémon related soon (I mean, this month or next is typically the usual time for them to drop a game announcement), but I can't help but feel that Pokémon would have their own Direct for such an announcement, as they have recently with the main series games. :/

I have a feeling that these will be transferable unlike Cosplay Pikachu, but I completely see, and agree with, your point. Also, what do people think is next in store for the franchise now? Ash's friends in the trailer for the new movie both have Sinnoh 'mon (Piplup and Lucario), whereas his rival had an Alola 'mon (Incineroar). Been wondering for a while now that SM was a one-off - don't believe we've seen any other new console Pokémon releases since then? - and that Gen VII is both a celebration of what's come before, and a set-up for what is to come (Necrozma, Ultra Beasts, etc.). Sinnoh remakes? An Alola sequel? I don't see them starting off an entirely new generation so soon, but the more I think about it, the more SM looks like Pokemon's swan song on the 3DS, and that whatever we get next - either later this year or next year - will be on the Switch. Worth noting that it's been revealed to be in this year's movie I Choose You, so I think we're going to be seeing it distributed later this year.

I had fully expected Ash Pikachu variants to be our event Pokémon for the year, so this reveal was somewhat unexpected for myself. And with both Ash Pikachu variants and Marshadow being distributed this year, it certainly opens the door for a new game in the near future...

Personally I never played the first game (looking at reviews and non-hardcore fans it seems like I may have dodged something of a DLC bullet), but I loved the teaser and - if the biggest problem with the first game was indeed the story, or rather the lack thereof, and this is game can put out an interesting narrative - I'm certainly interested in Destiny 2. Roll on 6pm tomorrow!

A Polish retailer has seemingly leaked the release date for RDR2 (and no, it's not the placeholder date of December 31st); The listed date is October 3rd 2017. Of course, as with any "leak", take it with a grain of salt (perhaps some pepper too, just to spice things up a bit), and with E3 fast approaching, we should have the confirmation of the release date sooner rather than late (one would hope)!

I've been relatively quiet on the purchasing front when it comes to games for a while now (had other priorities, but I must still be averaging some £15/£20 per month (lately it's been deals on the eShop and PlayStation store). It'll probably sky rocket towards the end of the year when I plan on picking up the Switch and a few games a month to catch up, and until then (and after) I'm going to try to get the most out of my PS4 by purchasing some extremely well received titles.

See, I'm currently in two minds about this. On one hand, they've never moved from one generation of device to another without there being a change in generation, and seeing as this generation has only just started, I can't see them changing from 3DS to Switch only: the install base, of course with the console having just launched, is a fraction of the 3DS'. They also didn't change console part way through the generation with Gen V and BW to BW2. On the other hand, the 3DS, unlike the Switch, was backwards compatible with game cards, meaning that it didn't matter that Gen V was published on the DS, and the only way I can think they'd get around this is by releasing 'Stars' on both consoles, though it could only be eShop only to keep production costs lower for the system with a smaller install base. Sun and Moon did have extremely evident flaws in terms of how smoothly the game performed, though, and I think that this contributes to the argument for a move to the Switch, especially if they are planning on using those HD assets that were found in SM. Personally, I don't want to see 'Stars' on the Switch: the install base is much larger for the 3DS, and if this game is essentially just a port of SM in the way that other third versions are only slightly different to their predecessors, with higher resolution models and 20 or so new Pokémon, I'd be buying it based on the fact that I'm a fan of the franchise and not because I'm interested in the game's content. Adding a new story and making it a sequel, however, changes that, but then why would Pokémon work so hard on a new story and new content only for it to have a much smaller install base and therefore "only" 5-10 million in lifetime sales as opposed to 15-20 on the 3DS as a last hurrah for the franchise on dual screens? I think they have two games in the works, with Stars being a sequel and not a third version as Eurogamer reported, having been worked on alongside Sun and Moon, to be released on the 3DS some time between Q3 2017 and Q2 2018 (judging from movie events too, with what I assume is three planned for this generation - Magearna (2016), Ash Hat Pikachu (2017) and Marshadow (2018)), with a Switch game also in the works for release between Q3 2018 and Q4 2019 (depending on development time).

There's no denying that this is the coolest looking Batman ever put to the silver screen (it's just a shame about the stories thus far)

From what I've seen so far, those poor reviews do seem to be on the extreme side, but then again, one of the parts of this show that needs to be the strongest for this character to show development and emphasise his ability - Iron Fist, trained in martial arts for 15 years and all of that - are the fight sequences, which the lead character seems to be tame, at best, in. Seriously, I think other characters are getting better choreographed fight sequences than the lead, which is a bit worrying. This show needed The Raid crew's support in ideas and flair for fighting sequences in my opinion.

Someone on Reddit was watching the end credits and noticed an English name early on in the credits, which they noted as highly atypical for a Nintendo game (and even more so when it comes to programming). They dug a bit further into the name Corey Bunnel and found this forum. Now, the poster there may not be the same person here, but it's certainly a possibility and worth mentioning (in my opinion). Dude's dream was to live in Japan and work for Nintendo as a game designer; 10 years later, he's worked on Nintendo's best reviewed game since the best reviewed game of all time (OOT). Great motivation for us all!

The title was just revealed during the SXSW SEGA panel as Sonic Forces. Gameplay footage was also shown (and can currently be found on YT, though I assume it will be taken down sooner rather than later) with gameplay impressions (possibly footage too?) expected tomorrow from those covering the game at the event.

I fail to see how Monolith's aid in this deters from the fact that this is Nintendo's developers' first attempt at an "open-air" experience? I mean, to analogise this, there is so much CGI in major blockbuster films these days that the studio producing the film often has to distribute the processing of CGI amongst multiple studios to have the film fully rendered faster than it would be if only the producing studio was rendering the CGI. Last year's Deadpool, for example, "only" had a production budget of $58 million, but this fails to take into account that the director, Tim Miller, distributed quite a lot of work to his own studio, Blur, who are renowned entirely based on their CGI production efforts (either at little expense or none at all, so that budget doesn't exactly seem like a fair reflection in my opinion, but anyhow), which reduced production costs substantially as it was seen as in-house work (his staff were likely paid through means other than the film's budget to save accounting for it). Similar to Deadpool, the CGI in Star Wars films is all worked upon and rendered, to my knowledge at least, by ILM, a subsidiary of Lucasfilm and, by extension, The Walt Disney Company, and it's because of this relationship of ownership that the CGI for Tarkin and Leia could be achieved: this was one in the works well before principal photography of the film actually started. Long analogy short: does ILM producing and rendering the CGI for Star Wars make the films any less a project of Lucasfilm, who they are a subsidiary of? I ask this because Monolith is owned by Nintendo in the same vain - 100% ownership - and, from what I've read, they helped out very similarly to how the CGI rendering companies I listed helped their parent/other companies, mainly with cleaning up textures and helping Nintendo realise this open world fully, which makes sense considering that they are a first-party company with an expertise in open world gaming, as evidenced by some of the entries in the Xenoblade franchise.

I don't know, this seems rather comprehensive for something that would make me "gullible" in any sense of the word. Perhaps I should have added the disclaimed that it was supposedly leaked, but again, that post and the images included seem far too detailed to be written off as pure speculation, so I suppose that makes you a bit of a pessimist (with due reason, of course: this is the Internet!). For those who haven't seen the supposed leaks (more info in the link above):

Didn't get it for Wii U (as I don't have a Wii U) but I'm already looking forward to this game. Still saddens me that the story mode, Subspace Emissary, was cut due to leaks last time around. Perhaps it could be added back in for this version of the game?

I'm really excited for this game to come out on the Switch! As someone who didn't own the Wii U, the depth in content seems just right, as do the addition/return of modes (as someone who hasn't played Mario Kart since the NDS days - Download Play with friends mainly - it's great to see the Battle Mode make a return). We have a family Wii console that doesn't see as much play as it used to - obviously - but a game that always brought me and my siblings together to spend a day or two playing on that thing was SEGA All Stars Racing; besides the other games which I'm of course excited to get when I get my Switch, this is one I genuinely can't wait for, simply because it's been a while since I've played a competitive but fun multiplayer game with my siblings!

From what I recall, the E3 floor plan was leaked a week or two ago, with Nintendo and Sony taking up most of the space on the floor (which confuses me with Scorpio coming out later this year, but anyway). I think we could see a massive blowout at E3, from everything like VC to new game announcements and so on. Heck, wouldn't be surprised if they have a Zelda Collection planned with most (if not all) of the games at a somewhat discounted price.

Actually, I've seen cases where some of the HORI premium screen protectors have peeled off due to the adhesive melting away. Bit of a weird one, but yeah, just keep an eye it would be what I recommend.

Worth mentioning that it's been reported that some screen protectors actually melt when docked (intense gameplay sessions and such), so try and keep that protector somewhat cool if you can!

Really glad to see everyone getting their Switches (or learning of its whereabouts)! Had a Switch haul pre-ordered as soon as Amazon pre-orders went up at 7am on the morning of the presentation, but due to some circumstances out of my control I had to cancel my pre-order and delay my purchase until potentially mid-June (which, I'll admit, is a bit of a bummer). On the other hand, this gives me time to go through some games I had planned to play through before the Switch release but never got around to doing! (I'm looking at you OoT) Hope everyone's stuff manages to arrive today, and that you all have a good Switchmas you kind folk!

Huh, I'll have to keep an eye out for that one. Seems odd. If there is a negative review and it's not titled Breath of the Mild, it'll be a real letdown.

Holy Mario-has-a-hat-with-eyes, this is awesome. Don't think I've seen a score lower than GAMEPRO's yet...

Precisely, and let's not forget for a moment just how massive this game is in the first place. The pacing of the DLC pack release seems just about right, considering everything that we know about the size of the world. This does seem to open the door up to the possibility of more paid-for DLC in the future if it is a success, and considering that this is a first party Nintendo DLC? I don't think there's much to suggest that this pass won't be worth it.